THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, VVHAT IT IS. VVITH ALL THE KINDES, CAVSES, SYMPTOMES, PROGNOSTICKES, AND SEVERALL CVRES OF IT. IN THREE MAINE PARTITIONS with their seuerall SECTIONS, MEMBERS, and SVBSECTIONS. PHILOSOPHICALLY, MEDICINALLY, HISTORICALLY, OPENED AND CVT VP. BY DEMOCRITVS Iunior.
With a Satyricall PREFACE, conducing to the following Discourse.
AT OXFORD, Printed by IOHN LICHFIELD and IAMES SHORT, for HENRY CRIPPS. Anno Dom. 1621.
HONORATISSIMO DOMINO NON MINVS VIRTVTE SVA QVAM GENERIS SPLENDORE, ILLVSTRISSIMO GEORGIO BERKLEIO, BARONI DE BERKLEY, MOVBREY, SEGRAVE, D o DE BRVSE, ET GOVR.
DOMINO SVO Multis Nominibus Obseruando, HANC SVAM MELANCHOLIAE ANATOMEN, D. D. DEMOCRITVS Iunior.
DEMOCRITVS IVNIOR to the Reader.
GEntle Reader, I presume thou wilt be very inquisitiue to knowe what personate Actor this is, that so insolently intrudes vpon this common Theater, to the worlds view, arrogating another mans name, whence hee is, why he doth it, and what hee hath to say? Although, as Seneca in ludo in mortem Claudii Caesaris. hee said, Primum sinoluero, non Respondebo, quis coacturus est? I am free borne, and may chuse whether I will tell, who can compell me? And could here readily reply with that Aegyptian in Lib. de curiositate. Plutarch, when a curious fellowe would needs knowe what he had in his basket, quum vides velatam, quid inquiris in rem obsconditam, it was therefore couered because he should not knowe what was in it. Seeke not after that which is hid, if the contents please thee, Modo haec tibi vsui sint quemuis authorem fingito. Wecker. and bee for thy vse, suppose the man in the Moone, or whom thou wilt to bee the Author; I would not willingly be knowne. Yet in some sort to giue thee satisfaction, which is more then I need, I will giue a reason, both of this vsurped Name, Title, and Subiect. And first of the name of Democritus, least any man by reason of it should be deceaued, expecting a Pasquill, a Satyre, or some ridiculous Treatise (as I my selfe should haue done) or some prodigious Tenent, or paradox of the earths motion, of infinite worlds in infinito vacuo, ex fortuita Atomorum collisione, in an infinite wast, so caused by an accidentall collision of motes in the Sunne, all which Democritus held, Epicurus and their master Leucippus of old maintained, and are lately [Page 2] reuiued by Copernicus, Brunus, and some others. Besides it hath been alwaies an ordinary custome, as Lib. 10. c. 12. Multa à maleè fer alis in Demo riti nom [...]n commenta data, nobili [...]ati [...] auto ritatis (que) eius perfugio [...]tibus. Gellius obserues, for later writers and impostors, to broach many absurd and insolent fictions, vnder the name of so noble a Philosopher as Democritus to get themselues credit, and by that meanes the more to be respected. 'Tis not so with me,
My intent is no otherwise to vse his name, then Mercurius Gallobelgicus, Mercurius Britannicus, vse the name of Mercury, and Democritus Christianus, &c. Although there bee some other circumstances for which I haue masked my selfe vnder this visard, and some peculiar respects, which I cannot so well expresse, vntill I haue set downe a briefe character of this our Democritus, what hee was, with an Epitome of his life.
Democritus, as he is described by Hip. epist. Damaget. Hippocrates and Laert lib. 9. Laertius, was a little wearyish olde man, very melancholy by nature, au [...]rse from company in his latter times, Hortulo sibi cellulam seligensibi (que) seipsum includens vn [...] eus (que) solitarius. and much giuen to solitarinesse, a famous Philosopher in his age, Floruit Olympiade 80.7 [...]0 annis post Troiam. Coaevus with Socrates, wholly addicted to his studies, at the last, and to a priuate life, writ many excellent workes. A great Diuine, according to the diuinity of those times, an expert Physitian, a Polititian, an excellent Mathematitian, as his Diacos [...], quod cunctis operibus facile excell [...]t. L [...]t. Diacosmus, and the rest of his workes doe witnesse. He was much delighted with the studies of husbandry, Volucrum voces & linguas intellig [...]e se dicit. Abderitani epist. Hpp [...]c. saith Col. lib. 1 cap. 1. Columella, and often I finde him cited by Constant. lib. de agricult. passim. Constantinus & others treating of that subiect. He knewe the natures, differences of all Beasts, Plants, Fishes, Birds, and as some say, could vnderstand [Page 3] the tunes and voices of them. In a word he was Omnifariàm doctus, a generall Scholler, a great student, and to that intent that he might better contemplate, Sabellicus exempl. lib. 10. oculis se priuauit vt melius contemplationi [...] daret, sublimi vir ingenio prosunde cogitationis &c. I finde it related that he put out his eyes, and was voluntarily blinde, and yet saw more then all Greece besides, and Naturalia, Moral [...]a, Mathematica, liberales desciplinas arti [...]m [...] [...] um [...]e itiam callebat. writ of euery subiect, Nihil in toto opificio naturae de quo non scripsit. A man of an excellent wit, profound conceit, and to attaine knowledge the better in his younger yeares, he trauelled to Aegypt and Veni Athenas & nemo me nouit. to Athens to confer with learned men, Idem contemptui & admirationi habitus. admired of some, despised of others. After a wandring life, hee setled at Abdora a towne in Thrace, and was sent for thither to be their lawmaker, Recorder, or Towne-clearke as some will, or as others, he was there bread and borne. Howeuer it was, there hee liued at last in a garden in the suburbs, wholy betaking him to his studies, and to a priuate life. Solebat ad portii [...]nb [...]la [...]e [...], Hippocrates epit. Dameg. Sauing that sometimes hee would walke downe to the hauen, Per [...]etiso [...] pul [...]o [...] agitare solebat Democritus. [...]ven. Sat 7. and laugh hartely at such variety of ridiculous obiects which there he saw. Such a one was Democritus.
But in the meane time how doth this concerne me, or vpon what reference doe I vsurpe his habit? I confesse indeed, that to compare my selfe vnto him for ought I haue yet said, were both impudency and arrogancy. I doe not presume to make any parallel, antistat mihi millibus trecentis, Non sum dignus praestare matellam. Mart. paritus sum nullus sum. Yet thus much I will say of my selfe, and that I hope without all suspition of pride or selfe conceit, that I haue liu'd a silent, sedentary, solitary, priuate life, mihi & musis in the Vniuersity this twentie yeares, and more, penned vp most part in my study. And though by my profession a Diuine, yet turbine raptus ingenij, as Scaliger. he said, out of a running wit an inconstant, vnsetled minde, I had a great desire (not able to attaine to any superficiall skill in any) to haue some smattering in all, to be aliquis in omnibus, nullus in singulis, which In The [...]et. Plato commends, and out of him Psis. Stoic. l 3. diff. 8. Dogma cupidis & curiosis ingeniis imprimendum, vt sit talis qui nulli rei seruiat, aut exactè vnum aliquid elaboret, alia negligens, vt artifices, &c. Lipsius approues and furthers, as fit to be imprinted in all curious wits, [Page 4] not be a slaue of one science, or dwell altogether in one subiect, as most doe, but to roue abroad, centum puer artium. And to haue an ore in euery mans boat, Delibare gratum de quocun (que) cibo & pittisare de quocun (que) dolio i [...]cundum. to tast of euery dish, and sip of euery cup, which saith Essais lib 3. Montagne; was well performed by Aristotle, and his learned country man Adrian Turnebus. This rouing humour (though not with like successe) I haue euer had, and like a ranging Spaniel that barkes at euery bird hee sees, leauing his game, I haue followed all sauing that which I should, and may iustly complaine, and truely, which Praefat. bibliothec. Gesner did in modesty, that I haue read many books but to little purpose, for want of good method, I haue confusedly tumbled ouer many Authors in our Libraries, with small profit, for want of art, order, memory, iudgement. I neuer trauelled but in a Map or Card, in which mine vnconfined thoughts haue freely expatiated, as hauing euer beene especially delighted with the study of Cosmography. Ambo fortes & fortunati Mars idem magisterii dominus iuxta primam Leouicii regulā. Saturne was Lord of my geniture, culminating, &c. and Mars principall significator of manners, in partile coniunction with mine Ascendent; both in their houses, &c. I am not poore, I am not rich; nihil est, nihil deest: I have nothing, I want nothing; all my Treasure is in Mineruas Tower. Preferment I could neuer get, although my friendes prouidence care, alacritic and bounty was neuer wanting to doe me good, yet either through mine owne default, infelicity, want or neglect of opportunity, or iniquitie of times, preposterous proceeding, mine hopes were still frustrate, and I left behind, as a Dolphin on shore, confined to my Colledge, as Diogenes to his tubbe. Sauing that sometimes as Diogenes went into the citty, and Democritus to the Hauen to see fashions, I did for my recreation now and then walke abroad, and looke into the world, & could not choose but make some little obseruation, not as they did to scoffe or laugh at all, but with a mixt passion, Hor. Bilem saepè, iocum vestri mouere tumultus, I did sometime laugh and scoffe with Lucian, and Satyrically taxe with Menippus, weepe with Heraclitus, sometimes againe I was Per. petulanti splene cachinno, [Page 5] and then againe Hor. Secundum moenia locus erat frondosis populis opacus, vitibus (que) sponte natis tenuis prope aqua defluebat placide murmu [...]ans, vbi sedils & domus Democriti conspiciebatur. vrerebilis ecur, I was much mooued to see that abuse which I could not amend. In which passions howsoeuer I may sympathise with him or them, 'tis for no such respect, I shroude my selfe vnder his name, but either vnder an vnknowne habite, to assume a little more liberty and freedome of speech; or if you will needs know, for that reason and onely respect, which Hippocrates relates at large in his Epistle to Damogetus, wherein he doth expresse how comming to visit him one day, he found Democritus in his garden at Abdera, in the subburbes, i vnder a shady bowre, Ipse compositè consedebat supergenua volumen habens & vtrin (que) alia patentia parata dissecta (que) animalia cismulatim strata quorum viscera rimabatur. with a booke on his knees, busie at his study, sometimes writing, sometime walking. The subiect of his booke was Melancholy and Madnesse, about him lay the carkasses of many seuerall beasts, newly by him cut vp and Anatomised, not that he did contemne Gods creatures as he told Hippocrates, but to find out the seate of this atra bilis, or Melancholy, whence it proceeded, and how it was ingendred in mens bodies, to the intent he might better cure it in himselfe, and by his writings and obseruations, Cum mundus extra se fit & mente captus sit & nesciat se languere vt medelam adhibeat. teach others how to preuent and auoid it: which good intent of his Hippocrates highly commended, and Democritus Iunior is therefore bold to imitate, and because he left it vnperfect, to prosecute and finish in this Treatise.
You haue had a reason of the Name, if the title or inscription offend your grauitie, were it a sufficient iustification to accuse others, I could produce many sober Treatises, euen Sermons themselues, which in their fronts carry more phantasticall names. Howsoeuer it is a kind of policy in these dayes, to prefixe a phantasticall title to a booke which is to be sold, for as larkes come downe to a day-net, many vaine Readers will tarry & stand gasing like silly passengers, at an Anticke picture in a painters shoppe that will not looke at a iudicious piece. And indeed as Scaliger epist. ad Patisonem nihil magis lectorem iunitat quam inopinatum argumentū, ne (que) vendibilior merx est quam petulans liber. Scaliger obserues, nothing more inuites a Reader then an Argument vnlooked for, Lib. 20. ca. 11. miras sequuntur inscription [...] festiuistates. vnthought of, and selles better then a scurrile Pamphlet. Many men saith Gellius, are very conceited in their inscriptions, and [Page 6] able (as Praefat. Nat. hist. patriobstetri cem parturienti filiae accersenti moram inijcere possunt. Pliny quotes out of Seneca) to make him loyter by the way, that went in haste to fetch a mid-wife for his daughter, now ready to lie downe. For my part I haue honourable Anatomy of Popery. Anatomy of immortalitie, Angelus Scalas, Anatomy of Antimonie &c. presidents for this which I haue done. I will cite [...]one for all, Anthony Zara pap.episc. his Anatomy of wit, in foure Sections, Members, Subsections &c. to be read in our Libraries.
If any man accept against my Subiect, and will demand a reason of it, I can alleadge more then one, I write of Melancholy, by being busie to auoid Melancholy. There is no greater cause of Melancholy then idlenesse, no better cure then businesse as Cont. li. 4. ca. 9 non est cura melior quam labor. Rhasis holds: and howbeit stuitus labor est ineptiarum, to be busied in toyes is to small purpose, yet heare that diuine Seneca, better aliud agere quam nihil, better doe to no end, then nothing. I write therefore as Non quod de nouo quid addere aut à veteribus pretermissumsed propriae exercitationis causí. P. Aegineta confesseth of himselfe, not that any thing was vnknowen or omitted, but to exercise my selfe, which course if some tooke, I thinke it would be good for their bodies, and much better for their soules: when I first tooke this taske in hand, this I aymed at; Erasmus. vel vt lenirem animum scribendo, to ease my mind by wrtting, for I had t grauidum cor, faetum caput, Which I was very desirous to be vnladen of, and could imagine no fitter evacuation then this. Besides I could not well refraine, for vbi dolor ibi digitus, one must needs scrat where it itcheth. I was not a little offended with this Malady, and for that cause, as he that is stunge with a Scorpion, I would expell clavum clavo, Otium otio dolorem dolore sum solatus. comfort one sorrow with another, idlenesse with idlenesse: or as he did, of whom Obseruat. li. 1 Foelix Plater speakes, that though he had some of Aristophanes frogs in his belly, still crying Brecec'ekex coax coax, oop, oop, oop, and for that cause studied Physicke seuen yeeres, and trauelled ouer most part of Europe to ease himselfe: to doe my selfe good I turned ouer such Physitians our Libraries would afford, & haue taken this paines. And why not? Cardan professeth hee writ his bookes De consolatione after his sonnes death, to comfort himselfe, so did Tully write of the same subiect with [Page 7] the same intent, after his daughters departure, if it be his at least, or some impostors put out in his name, which Lipsius probably suspects. Concerning my selfe I can peraduenture affirme that which Marius did in Salust, Que illi audi [...]e &c ligere solent eorum partim vidi egomet, alia gessi, quae illi literis ego militando didici nunc vos existimate facīa an dicta pluris sint that which others heare of or read of, I felt and practised my selfe, they got their knowledge by bo [...]kes, I mine by melancholising, Expert [...] crede Roberto. Something I can speake out of experience, and with her in the Poet, Dido Verg. Haudignara malimiseris succurrere disco. I would helpe others out of a fellow feeling, and as that vertuous Lady did of old, Camden Ipsa elephantiasi correpta elephantiasis hospitium construxit. being a leaper her-selfe, bestow all her portion to build an H [...]spitall for leapers I wil spend my time & knowledge which are my greatest fortunes, for the common good of all. Yea but you wil inferre, that this is Iliada post Homer [...]m. actum agere, an vnnecessary worke, crambē bis coctam apponere, the same againe and againe in other words How many excellent Physitians haue written iust Volumes and elaborate Tracts of this subiect? no newes at all, all that which I haue is stolne from others, Martialis. Dicit (que) tibi tua pagina fur es. I hold vp my hand at the barre amongst the rest, & am guilty of fellony in this kind, habes consitentem reum, I am content to be pressed with the rest. 'Tis most true, tenet insanabile multos scribendi Cacoethes, and Eccles. vlt. there is no end of writing of bookes, as the wiseman found of old, in this Libros eunuchi gignunt, steriles pariunt. scribing age, especially wherein D. King praefat. lect. Ionas, now the right Reuerend I., Bishop of London. the number of bookes is without number, as a worthy man saith, Presses be oppressed, and out of an itching humour, that euery man hath to shew himselfe Homines famelici gloriae ad oftentationem eruditionis vndi (que) congerunt. Buchananus. desirous of fame and honour, he will write no matter what, and scrape together it bootes not whence. Effascinati etiam laudis amore &c. Iustus Baronius. Bewitched with this desire of fame, etiam medi [...]s in morbis to the disparagement of their health, and scarce able to hold a penne, they must say something, Ex ruinis aliene existimationis sibi gradum ad famam struunt. and get themselues a name saith Scaliger, though it be to the downefall and ruine of many others. They commonly pretend publike good, but as Omnes sibi famam quaerunt & quovis modo in orbem spargi contendunt vt nouae alicuius rei habeantur Authores. Praefat. Bibliothec. Gesner obserues, 'tis pride and vanity that egges them on, no newes or ought worthy of [Page 8] note, but the same in other termes. As Apothecaries wee make new mixtures euery day, and power out of one vessell into another, and skimme of the creame of other mens witts, picke out the choice flowers out of their tild gardens, to set out our owne sterill plots. A fault that euery writer findes as I doe now, and yet faulty themselues, Plautus. trium literarum homines, all theeues pilfer out of old writers to stuffe vp their new comments, scrape Ennius dunghills and out of E. Democriti puteo. Democritus pitt. By which meanes it comes to passe, Non tam refertae bibliothecae quam cloacae. that not only Libraries and shoppes, are full of our putid papers, but euery close-stoole and iakes; they serue to put vnder pies, to Et quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis. lappe in spice, and keepe rostemeat from burning. With vs in France saith Epist a [...] Petas. In regno Franciae omnibus seribendi datur libertas, paucis facultas. Scaliger, euery man hath liberty to write, but few abilitie, Olim literae ob homines in precio nunc sordent ob homines. heretofore learning was graced by iudicious schollers, but now noble sciences are vilified by base and illiterate scriblers, that either write for vaine-glory, or need, or to get money, or as parasites to flatter and collogue with some great man, Inter tot mille volumina vix unus à cuius lectione quis melior euadat, immo potius non peior. amongst so many thousand Authors, you shall scarce find one by reading of whom you shall be any whit better, but rather much worse. Lib. 5 de sap. Cardan findes fault with Frenchmen and Germanes for this scribling to no purpose, non inquit ab edendo deterreo, modo novum aliquid inueniant, he doth not barre them to write, so that it be some new inuention of their owne; but we weaue the same webbe still, and twist the same rope againe and againe, or if it be a new inuention, 'tis but some bable or toy, and who so cannot inuent? Sterile opertet esse ingenium quod in hoc scripturientum pruritu. &c. Hee must haue a barren wit, that in his scribling age can forge nothing. Cardan praefat ad consol. Princes shew their armies, richmen vaunt their buildings, souldiers their manhood, and schollers vent their toyes they must read, they must heare whether they will or no. So that which Principibus & doctoribus deliberandum relinquo, vt arguantur authorum furta & millies repitita tollantur, & temere scribendi libido coerceatur aliter in infinitum progressura. Gesner so much desires, if a speedy reformation be not had by some Princes edicts and graue superuisors, to restraine this libertie', it will runne on in infinitum. Who shall read them? as already, we shall haue a vast Chaos and [Page 9] Onerabuntur ingenia ne [...]o legendis sufficit. confusion of bookes. For my part I am one of the number, I doe not denie it, I haue onely this of Macrobius to say for my selfe, Omne meum nihil meum, 'tis all mine and none mine. As a Bee gathers waxe and hony out of many flowers, and makes a new bundell of all, I haue laboriously Quicquid obi (que) bene dictū facio meum, & illud nunc meis ad compendium nunc ad fidem & authoritatem alienis exprimo verbis, omnes authores meos clientes esse arbitror &c. Sarisburiensis ad Policrat. prol. collected this Cento out of many Authors, the method onely is mine owne, and I must vsurpe that of Praefat. ad Syntax. med. Wecker è Terentio, nihil dictū quod non dictū prius, methōdus sola artificem ostendit, we can say nothing but what hath beene said [...], the composition and method is ours onely, and shewes a scholler. Oribasius, [...], Auicenna, haue all out of Galen, but to their owne method, our Poets steale from Homer, Diuines vse Austins words verbatim still, and our story-dressers doe no other; Nec araneară textus ideo melior quia exse fila gignuntur, nec noster ideo vilior quia ex alienis libamus vt apes. Lipsius aduersus dialogist and it is no more preiudice for me to write after others, then for Aelianus Montaltus that famous Physitian, to write De morbis capitis after Iason Pratensis, Hernius, Hildishem, &c. one Logitian, one Rhetoritian after another. Oppose what thou wilt I solue it thus. And for those other faults of Barbarisme Nec araneară textus ideo melior quia exse fila gignuntur, nec noster ideo vilior quia ex alienis libamus vt apes. Lipsius aduersus dialogist Doricke dialecte, extemporanean stile, [...]autologies, apish imitation, a rapsodie of seuerall rags gathered together from seuerall dunghills, & confusedly tumbled out: without art, inuention, iudgement, witte, learning, harsh, absurd, insolent, indiscreet, ill composed, vaine, scurrile, idle, dull, and drie; I confesse all, thou canst not thinke worse of me then I do of my selfe. All I say is this, that I haue Vno absurdo dato mille sequuntur. presidents for it, others as absurd, vaine, idle, illiterate; &c. and perhappes thou thy selfe, Nonimus & qui te &c. we haue all our faults, scimus & hanc veniā &c. Non dubito multos lectores hic fore stultos thou censurest me, so haue I done others, and may doe f thee, Caedimus in (que) vicem, &c. 'tis lex talionis, quid pro quo. Goe now censure, criticize, scoffe and raile.
[Page 8] [...] [Page 9] [...] [Page 10] Thus as when women scold haue I cried whore first, and in some mens censures, I am afraid I haue ouershot my selfe, Laudare se vani, vituperare stulti, as I doe not arrogate, I will not derogate. Be it therefore as it is, well or ill, I haue assaid. Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli, let the world iudge, and so it will, and when all is done: laudamur ab his culpamur ab illis. 'Tis the common fate of all writers, and I must endure it.
One or two things yet I would haue amended if I could, That is, first to haue reuised the copie, and amended the stile which now floues ex tempore, as it was first written: but my leasure would not permit, Feci nec quod potui nec quod volui. For the rest it went against my Genius, to prostitute my muse in English, my intent was to haue it exposed this more cótract in Latin, but I could not get it printed. Any scurrile pamphlet is welcome to our mercenary Printers in English, but in Latin they will not meddle with it, which is one of the reasons that Aut artis inscij, aut quaestui, magis quā literis student. hab Cantab. & Lond. excus. 1576 Nicholas Carre in his Oration of the paucity of English writers giues, that so many flourishing wits are smothered in obliuion, lye dead and buried in this our nation.
That last and greatest exception is, that I being a Divine haue medled with Physicke.
As Menedemus told Chremes haue I so much leasure or little businesse of mine owne, as to looke after other mens matters which concerne me not? Heare me speake. There bee many other subiects I doe easily grant, both in humanity and diuinity fit to be treated of, and of which had I written ad ostentationem only, to shew my selfe I should haue rather chosen, and in which I could haue more willingly luxuriated, and better satisfied my selfe and others; but that at this time I was fatally driuen vpon this rocke of Melancholy, and carried away by this by streame, which as a rillet is deducted frō that maine channell of my other studies, in which I haue pleased [Page 11] and busied my selfe at idle houres, as a subiect most ne [...]essary and commodious. Not that I preferre it before Diui [...]ty, which I doe acknowledge to be the Q [...]eene of professi [...]ns, and to which all the rest are but as handmaids, but that [...] Diuinity I saw no such great need. For had I written posi [...]uely, there be so many books in that kinde, so many Com [...]entators, Treatises, Pamphlets, Expositions, Sermons, that [...]hole teemes of Oxen cannot drawe them, and had I-been as [...]rward or ambitious as some others, I might haue happily [...]inted a Sermon at Paules Crosse, a Sermon in S. Maries [...]xon, a Sermon in Christchurch, or a Sermon before the right [...]onorable, a Sermon before the right Worshipfull, a Ser [...]on, a Sermon, &c. But I haue euer beene as desirous to sup [...]esse my labours in this kinde, as others haue been to presse [...]d publish theirs. To haue written in controuersie, had bin [...] cut of an Hydra's head, Et inde catena quaedam fit quae haeredes etiam ligat. Cardan. lis litem generat, one begets ano [...]er, so many duplications, triplications, and swarmes of que [...]ons, that hauing once begunne, I should neuer make an [...], and that with such eagernesse & bitternesse in such que [...]ons they proceed, that as Hor. ep [...]d. lib. od. 7. he said, furor ne caecus, an rapit [...] acrior, an culpa, responsum date? Blinde fury or errour, or [...]hnesse, or what it is that egges them I knowe not, I am [...]re many times, which Epist 86. Casulano presbit. Austin perceaued long since, tempe [...]te contentionis serenitas charitatis obnubilatur, with this [...]mpest of contention, the serenity of charity is ouerclowded, [...]d there bee too many spirits coniured vp already in this [...]nde in all sciences, and more then we can tell how to lay: & [...]e so furiously rage and keep such a racket, that as Lib. 12. cap. 1, mutos nasci, & omni scientia egere satius fuisset, quam sic in propriam perniciem insanire. Fabius [...]d, it had beene much better for some of them to haue bin borne [...]mbe, and altogether illiterate, then so farre to dote to their [...]ne destruction. 'Tis a generall fault, as Seuerinus the Dane [...]mplaines. Infoelix mortalitas inutilib [...] quaestionibus ac disceptationibus vitam traducimus naturae principes thesauros in quibus grauissimae morborum medicinae collocatae sunt interim intactos relinquimus. Nec [...] ipsi solum relinquimus sed & alios prohibemus, impedimus, condemnamus ludibriis (que) afficimus. Vnhappy men, as wee are, wee spend our dayes in [...]profitable questions and disputations, leauing in the meane [...]e those chiefest treasures of nature untouched, wherein the [...] medicines for all manner of diseases are to be found, and doe [...] only neglect them our selves, but hinder, condemne, forbid & [Page 12] scoffe at others, that are willing to enquire after them. These motiues at this present haue induced mee to make choice of this medicinall subiect. If any Physitian in the meane time shall inferre, Ne sutor vltra crepidam, and finde himselfe grieued that I haue intruded into his profession; I will tell him in briefe, I doe not otherwise by them, then they doe by vs. If it be for their aduantage, I knowe many of them which haue taken orders in hope of a Benefice, 'tis a common transition, & why may not a melācholy Diuine, that can get nothing but by Simony, professe Physicke? Drusianus an Italian ( Crusianus, but corruptly, Tr [...]themius calls him) Quod in praxi minime fortunatus esset medicinam reliquit, & ordinibus initiatus in Theologiâ postmodū scripsit. Gesner Bibliothecâ. because he was no [...] fortunate in his practise, forsooke his profession, and writ afterwards in Diuinity. Marsilius Ficinus was semel & simul, [...] Priest and Physitian at once, and P. Iunius. T. Linacer in his olde age tooke Orders. The Iesuits professe both at this time, many o [...] them permissu superiorum, Surgeons, Panders, Bawds, & midwiues, &c. Many poore country Vicars for want of othe [...] meanes are driuen to their shifts, to turne Mountibanckes. Quacksaluers, Empirickes, and if our greedy Patrons hol [...] vs to such hard conditions, as commonly they doe, they wil [...] make some of vs at last turne Taskers, Costermongers, se [...] Ale as some doe or worse. Howsoeuer in vndertaking this taske, I hope I shall commit no great errour or indecorum, if all be considered aright. I can excuse my selfe with In Hegiasticon, ne (que) enim haec tractatio alienae videri debet à Theologo. &c agitur de morbo animae. Lessius the Iesuite in like case, 'tis a disease of the Soule, on which I am to treate, and as much appertaining to a Diuine as to a Physitian; and who knowes not what an agreement there is betwixt these two professions? A good Diuine either is o [...] ought to be a good Physitian, a Spirituall Physitian at least as our Sauiour calles himselfe, and was indeed, Matt. 4.23. Luk. 5.18. Luk. 7. & 8. They differ but in obiect, the one o [...] the Body, the other of the Soule, and vse diuers medicines [...] to cure; One the vices and passions of the Soulei, Anger Lust, Desperation, Pride, Presumption, &c. by applying tha [...] Spirituall Physicke; as the other vse proper remedies to bodily diseases. Now this being a common infirmitie of Body [Page 13] and Soule, and such a one as hath as much need of a Spirituall as a corporall cure, I could not find a fitter taske to busie my selfe about, a more apposite Theame, so necessary, so commodious, and generally concerning all sorts of men, that should so equally participate of both, and require a whole Physitian. A Diuine in this compound mixt malady can do little alone, a Physitian in some kinds of Melancholy much lesse, both make an absolute cure. s Alterius sic altera poscit opem, and 'tis proper to them both, and I hope not vnbeseeming me, who am by my profess on a Diuine, and by mine inclination a Physitian. I had Iupiter in my sixt house, &c. In the Theoricke of Physicke I haue taken some paines, not with an intent to practise, but to satisfie my selfe, which was a cause likewise of the first vndertaking of this Subiecte.
If these reasons doe not satisfie thee good Reader, as Alexander Munisicus that bountifull Prelate, sometimes Bishop of Lincolne, when he had built sixe Castles, ad inuidiam operis eluendam saith M r. In Newarke in Nottinggamshire. Cum duo edificasset castella ad tollendam structionis inuidiam & expiandam maculam duo instistituit caenobia & collegis religiosu impleuit. Camden, to take away the enuy of his worke, (which very words Nubrigensis hath of Roger that rich Bishop of Salisburie, that in King Stephens time built Shirburne Castle, & that of Deuises) to take away the scandall or imputation, which might be thence inferred, built so many Religious houses. If this my Discourse be too medicinall, or sauour too much of humanity, I promise thee that I will hereafter make thee amends in some Diuine Treatise. But this I hope shall suffice when you haue more fully considered of the Reasons following, which were my chiefe Motiues. The generalitie of the Disease, the necessitie of the cure, & the cōmoditie or common good, that will arise to all men by the knowledge of it, as shall at large appeare in the ensuing Preface. And I doubt not but that in the end you will say with me, that to Anatomise this humour aright, through all the members of this our Microcosinus, is as great a taske, as to find out the Quadrature of a Circle, or all the Creekes and sounds of the North-East or North-West passage, [Page 14] and all out as great a Discouerie, as that Hungrie Ferdinando de Quir. anno. 1612 Amsterdami impres. Spaniards of Terra Australis Incognita, as much trouble as to perfect the Motion of Mars and Mercurie, which so much crucifies our Astrologers, or to rectifie the Gregorian Kalender. I am so affected for my part, and hope as Praesat ad Characteres spero enim ( [...] Policles) libros nostros meliores inde futuros quod istiusmodi memoriae mandata reliquerimus ex praeceptis & exemplis nostris ad vitam accomodatis vt se inde corrigant. Theophrastus did by his Characters, that our prosteritie ô friend Policles, shall be the better for this which we haue written, by correcting and rectifying that which is amisse in themselues by our examples, and applying our precepts and cautions to their owne vse. But I am ouertedious, I proceed.
Of the necessitie and generallity of this which I haue said, if any man doubt, I shall desire him to make a briefe Suruay of the world, as Epist 2. lib. 2. ad Donatum paulisper te crede subduci in ardui montis verticem celsiore, speculare inde rerum iacentium facies, & oculis in diuersa porrectis fluctuantis mundi turbines intuere, iam simul tu videbis aut misereberis. Cyprian aduiseth Donat, supposing himselfe to be [...]ra [...]sported to the toppe of some high mountaine, & thence to behold the tumults and chances of this wauering world, and he cannot chuse but either laugh at it or pittio it. S. Hierome out of a stronge imagination, being then in the wildernesse, conceiued with himsele that he then saw them dauncing in Rome, and if thou shalt either conceiue, or clime to see, thou shalt soone perceiue all the world is madde, that it is melancholy, dotes: that it is (which Epichthonius Cosmopolites expressed not many yeeres since in a Mappe made like a Fooles head, with that Motto) Caput Heleboro dignum, a cras [...]d head, and needs to be reformed; That Kingdomes and Prouinces are Melancholy, Citties and Families, all Creatures, Vegetall, Sensible, and Rationall, and that all Sorts, Sects, Ages and Conditions, from the highest to the lowest, haue need of Physicke. For indeed who is not a foole Melancholy, madde? and folly Melancholy madnesse are but one disease; Dementiae sit actio nota in patrem & suium luxuriosos. Seneca controuersi. lib. 2. cont. 7 aut in eum qui filio diem dixit luxurioso lib 6. cont 7 &c. 3. lib. 10. But Portius Latro pleads against vs all. sit actio dementiae generalis Delirium is a common name to all. Alexander, Gordonius, Iason Pratensis, Sauanorola, Guiaenerius, Montaltus, confound them, as differing More or lesse, some madder then some. secundum magis & minus, so doth David Psal. 37.50. I said vnto the fooles deale not so [Page 15] madly, and t'was an old Stoicall Paradoxe, omnes stultos insanire, Idem Hor. lib. 2. Sat. 3. Damasippus Stoicus probat omnes stultos insanire. all fooles are mad. And who is not a foole, who is free from Melancholy? who is not touched more or lesse in habite or in disposition? If in disposition, ill dispositions begette habits if they perseuere saith Tom. 2. sympos. lib. 5. cap. 6 animi affectiones, si duitiùs inhaereant, prauos generant habitus. Plutarch, hab [...]ts either are or turne to diseases, 'Tis the same which Tully mainetaines in the second of his Tusculanes, omnium insipientum animi in morbo sunt, & perturbatorum, al fooles are sicke, and all that are troubled in mind, for what is sickenesse but as Lib. 28 cap. 1. Syntax. art. mirab. morbus nihil est aliud quā dissolutio quedā ac perturbatio faederis in corpore existentis, sicut & sanitas est consentientis benè corporis consummatio quaedam. Gregorie Tholosanus defines it, a dissolution or perturbation of the bodily league, which health combines: and who is not sicke or ill disposed, in whom doth not passion, anger, enuy, discontent, feare and sorrow raigne? who labours not of this disease; giue me but a little leaue, and you shall see by what testimonies, confessions, arguments I will euince it, that most men are mad: that they had as much need to goe a Pilgrimage to the Anticyrae, (as in Lib. 9. Geograph. plures olim gentes nauigabant illuc sanitatis causa. Strabos time they did as in our dayes they goe to Compestella our Lady of Sichem, or Lauretta to seeke for helpe: that it is like to be as prosperous a Voyage as that of Guiana, and that there is much more need of Hellebor then of Tobacco.
That men are so misaffected, Melancholy, mad, heare the testimony of Solomon, Ecces. 2.1 2. And I turned to behold wisedome, madnesse and folly, &c. And vers. 23. All his dayes are sorrow, and his trauell griefe, and his heart taketh no rest in the night. So that take Melancholy in what sence you will, properly or improperly, in disposition or habite, for pleasure or for paine, dotage, discontent, feare, sorrow, madnesse, for part or for all, truely or metaphorically, 'tis all one. The hearts of the sonnes of men are euill, and madnesse is in their hearts while they liue, Eccles. 9.3. Wisemen themselues are no better, Eccles. 1.18. in the multitue of wisedome is much griefe, and he that increaseth wisedome, increaseth sorrow, cap. 2.17. he hated life it selfe, nothing pleased him, he hated his labour, all as Eccles. 1. 14. he concludes, is sorrow, griefe, vanitie, vexation of spirit. And though hee were the wisest man in the [Page 16] world, sanctuarium sapientiae, and had wisedome in abundance, he will not vindicate himselfe, or iustifie his owne actions, Surely I am more foolish then any man, and haue not the vnderstanding of a man in me, Prou. 30.2. Bee they Solomons words, or the words of Agur, the sonne of Iakeh, they are Canonicall, Dauid a man after Gods own heart, confesseth as much of himselfe, Psal. 73.21. & 22. so foolish was I and ignorant, I was euen as a beast before thee, and condemnes all for fooles, Psal. 93. & 32.9. and 49.20. he compares them to beasts, horses and mules in which there is no vnderstanding. The Apostle Paul accuseth himselfe in like sort. 2. Cor. 11. & ver. 21. I would you would suffer a little my foolishnesse, I speake foolishly. The whole head is sicke saith Esay, and heart is heauy, cap. 1.5. and makes lighter of them, then of oxen and asses, the [...]xe knowes his owner, &c. read Deut. 32.6. Iere. 4. Amos 3.1. Ephes. 5.6. be not mad, be not deceiued, foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you? how often are they branded with this Epithete of madnesse and folly? No word so frequent amongst the Fathers of the Church and Diuines, you may see what an opinion, they had of the world, and how they valued mens actions.
I know that we thinke farre otherwise, and hold them most part wise men that are in authority, Princes, Magistrates, Iure haereditario sapere iubentur Euphormio. Satyr richmen, they are wisemen borne, all Polititians and Statesmen must needs be so, for who dare speak against them: and on the other, so corrupt is our iudgement, wee esteeme wi [...]emen fooles. As Democritu [...] well signified in an Epistle of his to Hippocrates: Apud quos virtus insania & furor esse dicitur. The Abderites account vertue madnesse. Many good men haue no better fortune in their ages: Achish 1. Sam. 21.14. held Dauid for a madde man. 2. Reg. 7. Elisha and the rest were no otherwise esteemed. Dauid was derided of the common people. Psal. 9.7. I am become a monster to many: and generally wee are accounted Fuerunt alij similis amentiae, &c. quod de Christianis Plinius lib. 10. epist 97. fooles for Christ, 1. Cor. 14. We fooles thought his life madnesse, and his end without honour. Wisd. 5.4. Christ and his Apostles were censured in like sort, Iohn 10. Mark 3. Actes 26. 'Tis [Page 17] an ordinary thing with vs, to account honest, deuout, religious, plainedealing men, idiots, asses, that cannot lie and dissemble, shift, temporise as other men do, Quis nisi mentis inops &c. take bribes, &c but feare God and make a conscience of their doings. But the Holy Ghost that knowes better how to iudge, he calles them fooles, The foole hath said in his heart, Psal. 53.1. and their wayes vtter their folly. Psal. 49.14. Quid insanius quam pro momentaneâ [...]icitate aeterais te mancipare supplicus. For what can bee more madde, then for a little wordly pleasure to procure vnto themselues eternall punishment? as Gregorie and others inculcate vnto vs.
And all those great Philosophers, the world hath euer had in admiration, and whose workes we doe so much esteeme, that gaue precepts of wisedome to others, inuentors of Arts and Sciences, Socrates the wisest man of his time by the Oracle of Apollo, whom his two schollers In fine Phaedonis. Hic finis fuit amici no [...]tri o Eucrates nostro quidem iuditio omni [...]m quos e [...]pe ti [...] mus opti [...]i aepprime s [...]p tissimi [...] [...] ssimi. Plato and Xe [...]nti 4 de dictis Socratis ad finem. talis fuit Socrates quem omniū optimum & faelicistimum statuam. Xenophon so much extoll and magnifie, with those honorable titles, of best and wisest of all mortall men, the happiest and most iust. Those seuen wise men of Greece, those Brittan Druides, Indian Brachmanni, Aethiopian Gymnosophists, Magi of the Persians, Apollonius of whom Philostratus, non doctus sed natus sapiens, wise from his cradle, Epicurus, so much admired by his scholler Lucretius.
And all those, of whom we read such Auaxegoras olim mens dictus ab antiquis. Hyperbolicall elogiums, as of Aristotle that he was wisedome it selfe in the abstract, Regula naturae, naturae miraculum, ipsa eruditio, daemonium hominis, sol scientiarum mare, Sophia, antistes literarum & sapientiae, vt Scioppius olim de Scalig. & Hensius, Aquila in nubibus, Imperatur literatorū, columen literarum, abyssus eruditionis. a miracle of nature, breathing libraries, as Eunapius of Longinus, lights of nature, gyants for wit, quintescence of wit, Diuine Spirits, Eagles in the clouds, falne from heauen, Gods, Spirits, Lampes of the world, Dictators, Monarches Miracles; Superintendents of wit and learning, &c. as Aelian said of Protagoras and Gorgias, we may say of them all, tantum à sapientibus abfuerunt, quantum à viris pueri; they [Page 18] were children in respect, infants, not Eagles, but Kites, nouices, illeterate Eunuchi sapientia, Lib. 3. de sap. cap. 17. & 20. omnes Philosophi aut stulti aut insani, nulla anus nullus aeger ineptius delirauit. Lactantius in his books of Wisedome, prooues them to be disards, fooles and asses, madmen, and so full of absurd and ridiculous tenents and positions, that to his thinking neuer any old woman or sicke person doted worse. Democritus à Leucippo doctus haereditate stattitia reliquit Epicure. Democritus tooke all from Leucippus, and left saith he, the inheritans of his folly to Epicurus, Hor. 1. epicureae. insanionti dum sapientiae &c. The like he saith of Socrates, Aristippus and the rest, making no difference Nihil interest inter hos & bestias nisi quod loquātur de sap. lib. 26. cap. 8. betwixt them and beasts, sauing that they could speake. Cap de virt. Theodoret in his Tract De cur. grec. affec. doth manifestly euince as much of Socrates, held wisest of the rest, that of all others he was most sottish, a very madman in his actions and opinions. If you desire to heare more of Apollonius that great wiseman, sometime paralelled by Iulian the Apostate to Christ, I referre you to that learned Tract of Eusebius against Hierocles, and for them all to Lucians Piscator, Icaromenippus, Neciomantia their actions, opinions ingeneral were so prodigious, absurd, ridiculous, which they broched and maintained, as he said. ‘Nescio an Anticyram ratio illis destinet omnem.’ I thinke all the Anticyrae will not restore them to their wits, Ab vberibus sapientiae lactati caecutire non possunt. If these men now, that had Cor Zenodoti & iecur Cratetis. Zenodotus heart, Crates liuer were so sottish, and had no more braines then so many Beetles, what shall we thinke of the commonalty? what of the rest?
Yea, but will you inferre, that is true of Heathens, if they be conferred with Christians, 1. Cor. 3.19. the wisedome of this world is foolishnesse with God, earthly and diuelish as Iames calls it, 3.15. they were vaine in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was full of darkenesse. Ro. 1.21. & 22. ver. when they professed themselues wise became fooles. In some sence, Christiani Crassiani, Christians are Crassians, and if compared to that wisedome no better then fooles. God is onely wise, Rom. 16. onely good as Austin well contends, Lib de nat. boni. and no man liuing can be iustified in his sight. God looked downe from heauen vpon the children of men, to see if any did vnderstand, Psal. 53.2.3. but [Page 19] all are corrupt, erre, Rom. 3.10. none doth good, no not one, Iob aggregates this 4.18. behold he found no stedfastnes in his seruants, and laid folly upon his Angels, 19. how much more on them that dwel in houses of clay? In this sence we are all as fooles, and the Hic profundissimae Sophiae fodinae. Scripture alone is Arx Mineruae, we and our writings are shallow and vnperfect. But I doe not so meane, but euen in our ordinary actions, we are no better thē fooles. All our actions as Panager. Traiano. Omnes actiones exprobrare stultitiam videntur. Plinie told Traian, vpbraid vs of folly, our whole course of life is but matter of laughter: we are not soberly wise, and the world it selfe, which ought at least to be wise by reason of his antiquitie, As Ser. 4 [...]. in domi Pal. mundus qui ob antiquitatem deberet esse sapiens semper stultizat & nullis flagellis alteratur sed vt puer vult rosis & floribus coronari. Hugo de Prato Florido will haue it, semper stultizat, is euery day more foolish then other, the more it is whipped the worse it is, and as a child will still be crowned with roses and flowres. Iouianus Pontanus Antonio Dial, brings in some laughing at an old man, that by reason of his age was a little fond, but as he admonisheth there, Ne mireris mî hospes de hoc sene, meruaile not at him onely, for tota haec ciuitas dilirium, al our towne dotes in like sort, Insanum te omnes pueri claemant (que) puc [...]ae. Hor. wee are a company of fooles. Aske not with him in the Poet, Plautus Aulular. Laruae hunc intemperiae insaniae (que) agitant senem? what madnesse ghostes this old man, but what madnesse ghostes vs all? for we are all as bad as he, and not senex bis puer, but say it of vs all, semper pueri, yong and old, all dote, as Lactantius proues out of Seneca, and no difference betwixt vs and children, sauing that maiora ludimus, and grandioribus pupis, they play with babies of clouts and toyes, and we play with greater babies. We cannot accuse or condemne one another being faulty our selues, or as Adelph. Act. 5 scen. 8. Mitio vpbraided Demea, insanis aufer te, for we are as mad our owne selues, and 'tis hard to say which is the worst. And 'tis vniuersally so, when Ant dial. Supputius in Pontanus, had trauelled all ouer Europe, to conferre with a wiseman, he returned at last without his arrand, and could find none. Lib. 3. de sap. pauci vt video sanae mentis sunt Cardan concurres with him, few there are (for ought I can perceiue) well in their wits. So doth Tully Stulte & incaute omnia agi video. I see euery thing to be done foolishly and vnaduisedly.
Insania non omnibus eadem. Erasmus chil. 3. cent. 10 nemo mortalium qui non aliqua re desipit, li [...]et alius alio morbo laboret hic libidinis ille auaritiae, ambitionis inuidiae. They dote all but not alike, [...], not in the same kinde, one is couetous, a second lasciuious, a third ambitious, a fourth enuious, &c. as Damisippus the Stoicke hath well illustrated in the Poet, Hor lib. 2. sat. 3. desipiunt omnes atque ac tu. 'Tis an inbred malady in euery one of vs, there is seminarium stultitiae, a seminary of folly, which if it be stirred vp or get an head, will runne in infinitum, and infinitely varies, as wee our selues are seuerally addicted, saith Li 1. de aulico. Est in vno quoque nostrum seminarium ali quod stultitiae, quod siquando excitetur in infinitum facile excrescit Balthazar Castilio: and cannot so easily be rooted out, it takes such fast hold, as Tully holdes, altae radices stultitiae, Tibullus. stulti praetereunt dies. their wits are a woolgathering. so we are bred, and so we continue. Some say there be two maine defects of wit, Error and Ignorance, Prima (que) lux vitae prima suvoris erat. to which all others are reduced, by Ignorance we know not things necessary, by Error we know them falsly. Ignorance is a priuation, Error a positiue Act, from Ignorance comes vice, from Error heresie &c. But make how many kinds you will, diuide and subdiuide, few men are free, or that doe not impinge on some one kind or other. So fooles commonly dote. Sic plerum (que) agitat stultos inscitia, as hee that examines his owne and other mens actions, shall finde.
Charon in Lucian, as hee wittily faines, was conducted by Mercurie to such a place, where hee might see all the world at once, and after hee had sufficiently vewed and looked about, Mercurie would needs know of him, what he had obserued, hee told him that hee saw a vast multitude and a promiscuous, hee could discerne cities like so many Hiues of Bees, wherein euery Bee had a sting, and they did naught else but sting one another, some dominering like Hornets bigger then the rest, some like filching wasps, others as Drones. Dial. contemplantes. Tom. 2. Ouer their head were houering a confused company of perturbations, hope, feare, anger, auarice, ignorance, &c and a multitude of diseases hanging ouer, which they still pulled on their heads. Some were brawling, some fighting, [Page 21] riding, running, for toyes and trifles, and such momentary things. In conclusion he condemned them all, for madmen, fooles, idiots, asses. O stulti quaenam haec est amentia? O fools o madmen he exclaimes, insana studia, insani labores, &c. mad indeauours, mad actions, mad, mad, mad. Heraclitus the Philosopher, out of a ser [...]ous meditation of mens actions fell a weeping, and with continuall teares bewailed their miseries, madnesse, and folly. Democritus on the other side fel a laughing, their whole life to him seem'd so ridiculous, and hee was so far caried with this Ironicall passion, that the cittizens of Abdera tooke him to be mad, and sent therefore Embassadours to Hippocrates the Physitian, that hee would exercise his skill vpon him. But the story is set down at large by Hippocrates himselfe, in his Epistle to Damogetus, which because it is not impertinent to this Discourse, I will insert verbatim almost, as it is deliuered by Hippocrates himselfe, with all the circumstances belonging vnto it,
When Hippocrates was now come to Abdera, the people of the citty came all flocking about him, some weeping, some entreating of him, that he would doe his best. After some little repast, he went to see Democritus, all the people following him, whom he found (as before) in his garden in the suburbs all alone, Subramosae platano sedentem. Solum, discalceatum, super lapidem, valde pallidum ac macilentum promissâ barbâ, librum super genibus habentem. sitting vpon a stone vnder a plane tree, without hose or shooes, with a booke on his knees, cutting vp seueral beasts and busie at his study. The people stood gazing round about to see the congresse, Hippocrates after a little pause, saluted him by his name, whom he resaluted, ashamed almost that he could not call him likewise by his name, or that hee had forgot it. Hippocrates demanded of him what he was doing? He told him that he was De furo [...]e mania melancholiae scribo vt sciam quopacto in hominibus gignatur, fiat, erescat, cumuletur, minuatur, haec inquit animalia que vides, propterea seco non dei opera perosus, sed fellis bilis (que) naturam disquirens. busie in cutting vp seuerall beasts, to finde out the causes of madnesse, and melancholy. Hippocrates commended his worke, admiring his happinesse and leasure. And why, quoth Democritus, haue not you that leasure? Because, replied Hippocrates, domesticall affaires hinder me necessary to be done, for our childrē, expences, diseases, frailties and mortalities which happen, wife, children, seruants, and [Page 22] such businesse which depriue vs of our time. At this speech Democritus profusely laughed (his friends and the people standing by weeping in the meane time and lamenting his madnesse) Hippocrates asking the reason why he laughed: he told him at the vanities and fopperies of the time. To see men so empty of all vertuous actions, to hunt so farre after gold, hauing no end of ambition, to take such infinite paines for a little glory, and to be fauored of men, to make such deepe mines into the earth for gold, & many times to find nothing, with losse of their liues and fortunes. Some to loue dogges, others horses, some to desire to be obeyed in many prouinces Austin lib. 1. in Genes. Iumenti & seruitui obsequium rigide postulas, et tu nullum praestas alijs nec ipsi deo. and yet themselues will knowe no obedience. Vxores dutunt mox foras eijciunt. Some to loue their wiues dearely at first, and after a while to forsake and hate them, begetting children, with much care and cost for their education, yet when they growe to mans estate, Pueros amant mox fastidiunt to despise them, neglect and leaue them naked to the worlds mercy. Quid hoc ab insania deest. Doe not these behauiours expresse their intolerable folly? When men liue in peace they couet warre, detesting quietnesse, Reges elegunt, deponunt. deposing kings and aduancing others in their stead, murdering some men to beget children of their wiues. How many strange humours are in men? When they are poore and needy they seeke riches, and when they haue them they doe not inioy them, but hide them vnder ground, or else wastfully spend them. O wise Hippocrates, I laugh at such things being done, but much more when no good comes of them, and when they are done to so ill purpose. There is no truth or iustice found amongst them, for they daily plead one against another, Contra parentes, fratres ciues perpetuo rixantur, & inimicitias agunt. the sonne against the father and the mother, brother against brother, kindred and friends of the same quality, and all this for riches, whereof after death they cannot be possessors. And yet notwithstanding they will defame & kill one another, commit all vnlawfull actions, contemning God and men, friends and country. They make great account of many senselesse things, esteeming them as a great part of their treasure, statues, pictures, and such like moueables, deare bought, and so cunningly wrought, as nothing but speech [Page 23] wanteth in them, Idola inanita amant animata odio habent sic pontificij. and yet they hate liuing persons speaking to them. Others affect difficult things, if they dwell on firme land, they will remoue to an Iland, and thence to land againe, being no way constant in their desires. Credo equidem viuos ducent è marmore vultus They commend courage and strength in warres, and let themselues be conquered by lust and auarice, they are, in briefe, as disordered in their minds, as Thersites was in his body. And now mee thinkes O most worthy Hippocrates, you should not reprehend my laughing, perceauing so many fooleries in men: Suam stultitiam perspicit nemo sed alter alterum dexidet. for no man will mocke his owne folly, but that which hee seeth in another, and so they iustly mocke one another. The drunckard calls him a glutton, whom he knowes to be sober, many men loue the Sea, others husbandry, briefly they cannot agree in their owne trades and professions, much lesse in their liues & actions.
When Hippocrates heard these words, so readily vttered without premeditation to declare the worlds vanity, full of ridiculous contrariety, hee made answer that necessity compelled men to many such actions, and diuerse wills ensuing from diuine permission, that we might not be idle, being nothing is so odious to them as sloth and negligence. Besides men cannot foresee future euents, in this vncertainty of humane affaires, they would not so marry, if they could foresee the causes of their dislike and separation, or parents if they knew the houre of their childs death, so tenderly prouide for them: or an husbandman sowe, if he thought there would be no increase; or a marchant aduenture to sea, if hee foresawe shipwracke; or be a magistrate, if presently to bee deposed. Alas, worthy Democritus, euery man hopes the best, and to that end he doth it, and therefore no such cause of laughter.
Democritus hearing this excuse, laughed againe alowd, perceauing he did not well vnderstand what he had said concerning perturbations and tranquillity of the minde. Insomuch, that if men would gouerne their actions by discretion & prouidence, they would not declare themselues fooles, as now they doe, and he should haue no such cause of laughter, [Page 24] but, quoth he, they swel in this life as if they were immortall, for want of vnderstanding. It were enough to make thē wise, if they would but consider the e mutability of this world, and how it wheeles about, nothing firme and sure, he that is now aboue, to morrow is beneath, he that sate on this side to day, to morrow is hurled on the other: and not considering these things they fall into many inconueniences and troubles, coueting thinges of no profit, and thirsting after them, tumbling headlong into many calamities. So that if men would attempt no more then what they can beare, they should lead contented liues, & learning to know themselues would limit their ambition, Deni (que) sit finis quaerendi cum (que) habeas plus, pau periem metuas minùs & finire laborem incipias, partis quod auebas, vtere. Hor. they would knowe then that nature hath enough without seeking such superfluities, and vnprofitable things, which bring nothing with them but griefe and molestation. As a fat body is more subiect to diseases; so are rich men, there are many that take no heed what happeneth to others by bad conuersation, and therefore overthrowe themselues in the same manner through their own fault, not foreseeing dangers manifest. These are things (ô more then mad quoth hee) that giue me matter of laughter, by suffering the paines of your impieties, as your auarice, envy, mutinies, vnfatiable desires, conspiracies, and other incurable vices; besides your Astutum vapido seruat sub pectore vulpem. Et cum vulpe positus pariter vulpinarier. Cretisandū cum Crete. dissimulation and hypocrisie, bearing deadly hatred one to the other, and yet shadowing it with a good face, flying out into all filthy lusts, and transgressions of all lawes, both of nature & ciuility. Many things which they haue left off, after a while they fall to againe, husbandry, nauigation, Dirruit aedificat mutat quadrata rotundis. and leaue of againe, fickle and vnconstant as they are, when they are young they would be old, and old young. Qui fit maecenas vt nemo quam sibi sortem seu ratio dederit seu sors adiecevit illa contentus viuat, &c. Hor. Princes commend a priuate life, priuate men itch after honour, a magistrate he commends a quiet life, a quiet mā would be in his office, and obeyed as he is, and what is the cause of all this but that they knowe; not themselues. Some delight to destroy, one to build, another to spotle, one country to enrich another and himselfe. Quâ qui inre ab infantibus differunt, quibus mens & sensus sine ratione i [...]est quicquid sese bis offert volupe est. In all these things they are like children, in whom is no iudgement or counsell, and [Page 25] resemble beasts, sauing that beasts are better then they, as being contented with nature. Idem Plutare. When shall you see a Lion hide gold in the ground, or a bull contend for a better pasture, when a Bore is thirsty he drinks what will serue him and no more, and when his belly is full he ceaseth to eat: but men are immoderate in both; as in lust, they couet carnall copulation at set times, men alwaies ruinating thereby the health of their bodies. And doth it not deserue laughter, to see an amorous foole torment himselfe for a wench, weep, howle for a mishapen slat, a dowdy, sometimes that might haue his choice of the finest beauties? Is there any remedy for this in Physick? I doe anatomise & cut vp these poore beasts, Vt insaniae causam disquiram bruta macto & seco cum hoc potius in hominibus inuestigandum esset. to see the cause of these distempers, vanities, and follies, yet such proofe were better made on mans body, if my kinde nature would endure it. Totus à natiuitate morbus est. Who from the houre of his birth is most miserable, weak and sickly, when he sucks he is guided by others, when hee is growne great practiseth vnhappinesse, In vigore furibundus; quum decrescit insanabilis. and is sturdy, and when old a child againe and repenteth him of his life past. And here being interrupted by one that brought bookes, hee fell to it againe, that all were madde, carelesse, stupid. To proue my former speeches, looke into Courts or priuat houses. Cyprian ad Donatum. qui sedet crimina iudicaturus, &c. Iudges giue iudgement according to their own aduantage, doing manifest wrong to poore innocents to please others. Notaries alter sentences, & for mony loose their deeds, some make false monies, others-counterfeit false weights, some abuse their parents, yea corrupt their owne sisters, others make long libells and pasquills, defaming-men of good life, and extoll such as are lewd and vitious, some robbe one, some another. Tu pessimus omnium latro es as a thiefe told Alexander in Curtius. damnat foras iudex quod intus operatur. Cyprian. Magistrats make laws against theeues, and are the veriest theeues themselues. Some kill themselues, others dispaire not obtaining their desires; some dance, sing, laugh, feast, and backbite, whilst others sigh, languish, mourn and lament, hauing neither meat, drinke, nor cloaths. Vultus magna cura magna animi incuria. Am. Marcellinus. Some pranke vp their bodies and haue their minds full of execrable vices: some trot about to beare Horrenda res est vix duo verba sine rmendacio proferuntur: & quamuis solennitèr homines adveritatem dicendam inuitentur, peierare tamen non dubitant vt ex decem testibus vix vn us verum dicat. Calu. in 8, Ioh. serm. 1. false witnesse, and say anything [Page 26] for mony, and though Iudges knowe of it, yet for a bribe they winke at it, and suffer false contracts to preuaile against equity. Women are all day a dressing, to please other men abroad, and goe like sluts at home, not caring to please their owne husbands whom they should. Seeing men are so fickle, so sottish, so intemperate, why should I not laugh at those to whom Sapientiam insaniam esse dicunt. folly seemes wisdome, and will not bee cured, and perceaue it not? It grewe late, and Hippocrates left him, and no sooner was he come from him, but all the cittizens came about him flocking to knowe how he liked him [...] he told them in briefe, that notwithstanding those small neglects of his attire, body, diet, Siquidem sapientiae suae admiratione me compleuit. Democritum offendi sapientissimum virum qui solus potest omnes homines prudentiores redder [...] the world had not a wiser man, a more learned, a more honest man, and they were much deceaued to say that he was mad.
Thus Democritus esteemed of the world in his time, and this was the cause of his laughter: and good cause he had.
Neuer so much cause of laughter as now, neuer so many fooles and mad men. Plures Democriti nunc non sufficiunt, opus Democrito qui Democritum rideat Eras. mor. 'Tis not one Democritus will serue turne to laugh in these dayes, we haue now need of a Democritus to laugh at Democritus, one iester to flout at another, one foole to fleare at another; A great Stentorean Democritus as bigge as that Rhodian Colossus. For now as Policrat. lib. 3. cap. 8. è Petron. Salisburionsis said in his time, totus mundus histrionem agit, the whole world plaies the foole, we haue a new Theater, a new Sceane, a new comedy of errors, a new company of personat Actors If Democritus were a liue now, he should see strange alterations, a new company of counterfeit visa [...]ds, whislers, Cumane Asses, Maskers, Mummers, painted puppets, outsides, phantasticke shadowes, Gulls, Butterflies, Monsters, giddy heads, &c. Many additions, much increase of madnesse, were he now [Page 27] to trauell, or could get leaue of Pluto to come see fashions as Charon did in Lucian, to visit our cities of Moronia Pia, and Moronia foelix, sure I thinke he would breake the rimme of his belly with laughing. Iuuen. Si foret in terris rideret Democritus seu &c. A Satyrrical Roman in his time thought all vice, folly, and madnesse were at a full sea, Innen. Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit: but we flow higher in madnesse, fa [...]re beyond them. Hor. Mox daturi progeniem vitiosiorem, Father Angelo the Duke of Ioyoux going barefoot ouer the Alps to Rome &c. and the latter end (you know whose Oracle it is) is like to be worst: but speake of times present. If Democritus were aliue now, and should but see the superstition of our times, our Superstitio est insanus error. Religious madnesse as Lib 8. hist. Belg. Meteran calles it, Religiosam insaniam. If he should meete a Cappuchine, a Fransciscan, a Iesuite, a shauedcrowned Monke in his robes, a begging Frier, or their threecrowned Soueraigne Lord the Pope, poore Peters Successor, servus seruorum dei, to depose kings with his foote, to tread on Emperours neckes, make them stand bare foote and barelegged at his gates, hold his bridle and stirrupe &c. If he should see a Si cui intueri vacet quae patiuntur superstitiosi, inueniet tam ind [...]cora honestis tam indigna liberis, tam dissimiliae sanis vt nemo fuerit dubitaturus furere, eos fi cum paucioribus furerent Seneca. Prince creepe so deuoutly to kisse his toe, what would he say, coelum ipsum petitur stultitiâ. Had he met some of our deuout Pilgrimes going barefoote to Ierusalem, Rome, Saint Iago, Saint Thomas Shrine, to creepe to those counterfeit and maggot-eaten Reliques, had he beene present at a Masse, and seene those kissing of paxes, crucifixes, cringes, duckings, their seuerall attires and ceremonies, pictures of Saints, Quid dicam de eorum indulgentijs, oblationibus, votis solutionibus ieiunijs caenobitis, vigiliis somniis, horis organis, cantilenis, campanis, simulachris missis, purgatoriis, mitris, breuiarijs, bullis, lustralibus aquis, rasuris, vnctionibus candelis, calicibus, crucibus, mappis, cereis, thuribulis, incantationibus, exorcismis, sputis, legendis, &c. Baleus de actis Rom. Pont. Indulgences, ceremonies, Pardons, Vigils, fasting, feasts, praying in gibberish, & mumbling of beads, had he heard an old woman say her prayers in Latine, their sprinkling of holiwater, and going a precessiō, &c. Their breuiaries, buls, hollowed, beanes exorcismes, pictures, curious crosses, fables and bables. Had he read the Golden Legend, the Turks Alcoron, or Iewes Talmud, the Rabbines comments, what would he haue thought? How dost thou thinke would he haue beene affected? Had he more particularly examined a Iesuits life amongst the rest, [Page 28] he should haue seene an hypocrite professe pouerty, Dum simulant spernere acquisiuerunt sibi triginta annorum spacio bis centena millia librarum annua. Arnoldus. & yet possesse more goods and lands then many Princes, to haue infinite treasures and reuenewes: Et quum interdiu de virtute loquuti sunt sero in latibulis clunes agitant labore nocturno. Agrippa. Vow virginity, talke of holinesse, and yet ind [...]ed a notorious bawd and famous fornicator, Monks by profession, and such as giue ouer the world and the vanities of it, and yet a Machiauellian rowt, [...] interested in all matters of state: holy men, peacemakers, & yet composed of enuy, lust, ambition, hatred, and malice, firebrands, adulta patriae pestis, traitors, assassinats, haec itur ad astra, 1. Tim. 3. 13. but they shall preuaile no longer, their madnesse shal be euident to all men. and this is to supererogate, and merit heauen for themselues and others. Had he seene on the other side some of our nice and curious Schismaticks in another extreame, abhorre all ceremonies, and rather loose their liues and liuings then doe or admitte any thing they haue formerly done, though things indifferent: Formalists ready to imbrace and maintaine all that is o [...] shall be proposed, in hope of preferment: Another Epicurean company lying at lurch as so many vultures, watching for a prey of Church goods, and ready to rise by the downefall of any: As Quid tibi videtur facturus Democritus si horum spectator contigisset? Lucian said in like case, what dost thou thinke Democritus would haue done, Benignitatis sinus solebat esse nunc litium officina curia Romana. Budaeus, had he beene spectator of these things?
Or had he but obserued the common people followe like so many sheep, one of their fellows drawne by the hornes over a gap, some for zeale, some for feare, ready to dye before they will abiure any of those ceremonies, to which they haue beene accustomed; others out of hypocrisie frequent Sermons, knock their breasts, turne vp their eyes, pretend zeale, desire reformation, and yet professed vsurers, gripes, monsters of men, harpyes, diuels, in their liues to expresse nothing lesse.
What would he haue said to see, heare, and read so many bloody battles, so many thousands slaine at once, o vnius ob noxam furias (que), without any iust cause, to satisfie one mans priuat spleene, lust, auarice? &c. proper men, able both in body and mind, sound, led like so many Bellum rem plane belluinam vocat Morus, Vtop. lib. 2. beasts to the slaughter and in the flower of their yeares, and full strength, as it were, [Page 29] sacrificed to Pluto as so many sheep, 40000 at once. Pater in siliū, affinis in affinē, amicus in amicum, &c. Regio cum Regione, regnū regno colliditur. Populus populo in mis tuam pernitiem belluarum instar sanguinolentè ruentium. Father to fight against the sonne, brother against brother, kinsman against kinsman, kingdome against kingdome, prouince against prouince, Christians against Christians, infinite treasures consumed, townes burned, florishing citties sacked and ruinated, goodly countries depopulated and left desolate, olde inhabitants expelled, maids deflowred, &c. & whatsoeuer torment, misery, mischiefe, the diuell, fury and rage can inuent, to their owne ruine and destruction. Had he beene present at those late ciuill warres in France, Gallorum decies centum millia ceciderunt, Ecclesiarum 20 millia fundamentis excisa. Wherein lesse then in tenne yeares ten hundred thousand men were consumed, saith Collignius, 20 thousand Churches ouerthrowne: or at our late Pharsalian fields in the time of Henry the sixt, betwixt the houses of Lancaster and Yorke, an hundred thousand men slaine, Pont Huterus. one saith, Comineus, vt nullus non execretur & admiretur crudelitaetem & barbaram insaniam, quae inter homines eodem sub caelo natos eiusdem linguae, sanguinis, religionis exercebatur. another ten thousand families ouerthrowne; that no man can but maruell, saith Comineus, at that barbarous immanity, for all madnesse, committed betwixt men of the same nation, language and religion. Lucan. Quis furor ô ciues? Why doe the Gentiles so furiously rage, saith the Prophet Dauid, Psal. 2.1. But we may aske why doe the Christians so furiously rage? Vnfit for Gentiles, much more for vs so to tyrannize, as the Spaniard in the East Indies, that killed vp in 42 yeares (if we may beleeue Bishoppe of Cusco an eye witnesse. Bartholomeus à Casa their own Bishop) 12 Millions of men with stupend and exquisite torments, neither should I ly, saith he, if I said 50 Millions. I omit those French Massakers, Sicilian Euensongs, Read Meteran, of his stupend cruelties the Duke of Aluas tyrannies, our Gunpowder machinations, and that fourth fury, as Hensius Austriaco. one calls it, the Spanish Inquisition, which quite obscures those ten persecutions. Is not this Iansenius, Gallobelgicus, 1596. Mundus Furiosus inscripsio libri. Mundus furiosus, a mad world, as he tearmes it, would this, thinke you, haue inforced our Democritus to Laughter, or rather haue made him turne his tune and alter his tone, and weep with Fleat Heraclitus an rideat Democritus. Heraclitus, or rather howle and Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent. roare and teare his haire in commisseration or stand amazed, or as the Poets faine, that Niobe was for [Page 30] griefe quite stupefied and turned to a stone. I haue not yet said the worst. That which is more absurd and Arma amens [...]apio nec sat rationis in armis mad, In their tumults, ciuill and vniust warres, (for all are not to bee condemned) tumults, broyles, &c. They commonly call the most harebraine bloodsuckers, Crudel [...]ssimos saeuissi [...] (que) latrones fertissim [...] haberi pro pugn [...]o [...] fidissimos d [...] habent, brutá persuasione donati. strongest theeues, the most desperat villaines, treacherous rogues, inhumane murderers, cruell and dissolute caytiffes; courageous and generous spirits, heroicall and worthy captaines, Eobanus Hessus, qui [...]us omn [...] in his vita pla [...]et non vlla iuvat nisi morte nec vllam esse putant vitam quae non assu [...]sceret armis. braue men at armes, valiant and renowned souldiers, possessed with a brute perswasion of false honour, as Pontus Huter in his Burgundian history complaines. Boterus in Amphitheatridion. And that which is more to be lamented, they perswade them that by these bloody warres, as Busbequius Turk epist per cedes & sanguin [...]m patere hominibus ascensum in coelum putant. Lactant. de falsa relig. lib. 1. cap 8. Turkes doe their Commons, to incorage them to fight, If they die in them they goe directly to heauen, and shall be canonized for Saints: no greater honour then to die in the field: as Africanus is extolled by Ennius, & Mars and Herculi cadē porta ad coelum p [...]tu [...]t, qui mag [...]m generis hum [...] i partem perdidit. Hercules, and I knowe not how many besides of old, went this way to heauen, that were indeed bloody butchers, prodigious monsters, hellhounds and ferall plagues, & deuourers, common executioners of humane kinde, as Lactantius truely proues, and Cyprian to Donat. Madet orbis mutuo sanguine, the earth wallowes in her owne blood, and for that, which if it be done in priuate, a man shall bee rigorously executed, Homicid um quum committunt singuli, crimen est; quum publice geritur, virtus vocatur, Cyprian. Prosperum & foelix scelus virtus vocatur. and which is no lesse then murder it selfe, if the same fact be done in publike, in warres it is called vertue, & the partie is honoured for it. Iuvenal. Crucem tulit hic diadema. One is crowned for that which another is hanged for, and made a Knight, a Lord, an Earle, a Duke (as De vanit. scient. de princip. nobilitatis. Agrippa notes) for which another should haue hung in gibbets, as a terror to the rest. A poore sheep-stealer is hanged for stealing victuals, compelled peraduenture by necessity of that inexorable cold, hunger and thirst, to saue himselfe from staruing: but a Pansa rapit quod Natta reliquit. Tu pessimus omnium latro es, as a theefe told Alexander in Curtius. great man in office may securely rob whole prouinces, vndoe thousands, pill and pole, [Page 31] oppresse ad libitum, flea, grinde, tyrannize, inrich himselfe by spoyles of the commons, and be vncontrolable in all his actions, and after all bee recompenced with turgent titles, honored for his good seruice, and no man dare find fault, or Non ausi mutire, &c. Aesop. mutter at it.
How would our Democritus haue beene affected to see a wicked caitiffe, or Improbum & stulium si diuitem multos bonos viros in seruitute habentē, ob id duntaxit quod ei continget aureorum numismatū cumulus vel appendices & additamenta numismatum. Morus Vtopia. foole, a very idiot, a funge, a monster of man, to haue many good men, wisemen, learned men to attend vpon him with all submission, as an appendix to his riches, for that respect alone, because he hath more wealth and mony, Eorum (que) detestantur Vtopienses insaniam qui diuinos honores ijs impendunt quos sordidos & auaros agnoscunt non alio respectu honorantes quam quod d [...]tes sint Idem lib. 2. and to honour him with diuine titles, and bumbast Epithets, whom they know to be a disard, a foole, a couetous wretch, &c. because he is rich. To see a filthy loathsome ca [...]casse, a Gorgons head puffed vp by parasites, assume this vnto himselfe, glorious titles, in worth an infant, a Cuman asse, a painted sepulcher, an Aegyptian temple. To see a withered face, a diseased, deformed, cākred complexion, a viperous minde, & Epicurean soule set out with orient pearls, Iewels, diadems, perfumes curious elaborate workes; and a goodly person of an angelicall diuine countenance, a Saint, an humble minde, a meeke spirit cloathed in ragges, begge and now ready to be starued. To see a silly contemptible slouen in apparell, ragged in his coat, polite in speech, of a diuine spirit, wise: another neate in cloaths, spruce, full of curtesie, empty of grace, wit, talke non sense.
To see so many lawyers, aduocates, so many thousand sutes in one Court sometimes so violently followed. Cypr. 2. ad Donat epist. Vt reus innocens pereat sit [...]cens Iudex damnat foras quod intu [...] operatur. A Lamb executed, a Woolfe pronounce sentence, latro arraigned, and fur sit on the bench, the Iudge seuerely punish others, and doe worse himselfe. Lawes altered, misconstered, interpreted pro and con, as the Ergo Iudicium nihil est nisi publica merces. Petronius. Quid faciant leges vbi sola peounia reguat. Idem. Iudge is bribed or affected, as a nose of wax, good to day none tomorrow: or firme in his opinion, cast in his. Sentence prolonged, changed ad arbitrium Iudicis, still the same case, Hic arcentur haereditatibus liberi, hic donatur bonis alienis falsum consulit alter testamentum corrumpit &c. Idem. one thrust out of his inheritance [Page 32] another falsely put in by fauour, false forged deeds or wills. Incisae leges negliguntur, lawes made and not kept, or if put in execution, Vexat censura columbas. they be some silly ones that are punished. As put case it be fornication, [...] father will disinherit or abdicat his childe quite casseere him (out villaine be gone, come no more in my sight) a poore man is miserably tormented with losse of his estate perhaps, goods, fortunes, good name, for euer disgraced, forsaken, and must doe pennance to he vtmost: but in a great person tis no offence at all, a common and ordinary thing, no man takes notice of it; he iustifies it in publike, and peraduenture braggs of it. Quod tot sint fures & mendici magistratuum culpa fit qui malos imitaxtur praeceptores qui discipulos libentius verberant quam docent. Morus vtop. l 1 Many poore men, younger brothers, &c. by reason of bad policy, and idle education, are compelled to begge or steale, and then hanged for theft. Libentius verberant quam docent, as Schoolmasters doe, rather correct their pupills, then teach when they doe amisse, Decernuntur furi gravia & [...]orrenda supplicia quum potius prouidendum multo soret ne fures sint ne cuiquam tam dira furandi aut pereundi sit necessitas. Idem. They had more need prouide there should be no more theeues and beggars, as they ought by good policy, and take away the occasions, then let them runne on, as they doe, to their destruction. And take away likewise those occasions of wrangling, a multitude of liers, and compose controuersies by some more compendious meanes. Whereas now for euery toy and trifle they goe to law, Boterus de augment. vrb. lib. 3. cap. 3. Mug it litibus insanum forum, & saeuit inuicem discordantium rabies, they are ready to pull out one anothers throats, and for matters of commodity, E fraterno corde sanguinem eliciunt. to squise blood, saith Hierom, out of their brothers heart, diffame, lye, disgrace, backbite, raile, sw [...]are and forsweare, fight & wrangle, spend their goods, Milvus rapit ac deglubit. liues, fortunes, friends, vndoe one another, to enrich an Harpy Aduocate, that prayes vpon them both, and cries Eia Socrates, Multitudo perd [...]ntium aut pereuntium (Plutarch) huc coeunt non vt dys sacra faciani, sed vt contentiones hi [...]perag [...]nt. Eia Xantippe; or some corrupt Iudge, that like the Kite in Aesop, while the Mouse and Frogge fought, carried both away. Generally they pray one vpon another, as so many rauenous birds, brute beasts, deuouring Fishes, no mediū, Petronius de Crotone ciuitate. omnes hic aut captantur aut captant, aut cadauera quae lacerantur, aut corui qui lacerant, ei [...]her deceaue or be deceaued; teare others or be torne in peeces thēselues. Euery man for himselfe, for his own ends, his own guard, No charity, [Page 33] Nemo coelum nemo iusiurandum nemo Iouem plus [...]is facit sed om [...]nes apertis oculis bona sua computant. Petronius. loue, friendship, feare of God, alliance, affinity, consanguinity, Christianity can containe them, but if they bee any waies offended, or that string of commodity bee touched they fall fowle. Old friends become bitter enimies on a suddaine, for toyes and small offences, and they that erst were willing to doe all mutuall offices of loue and kindnesse, now reuile and persecute one another to death, with more then Vatinian hatred, and will not be reconciled. So long as they are behouefull they loue or may bestead each other, but when there is no more good to be expected, as they doe by an old dogge hang him vp or casseire him; insteed of recompence, reuile him, and when they haue made him an instrument of their villany, make him away. In a word, euery man for his owne ends: our summum bonum is commodity, and the Goddesse we adore is Dea moneta, Queene Mony, to whom wee daily offer sacrifice, which steeres our hearts, hands, Paucis charior est sides quam pecunia. Salust. affections, all: that most powerfull Goddesse, by whom wee are reared, depressed, eleuated, Prima fere vota & cunctis &c. Et genus & formam Regina pecunia donat. esteemed, the sole commandresse of our actions, for which we pray, runne, ride, goe and come, labour and contend as fishes doe for a crumme that falleth into the water. It is not worth, wisdome, learning, honesty, religion, or any sufficiency for which we are respected, but Quantumquis (que) sua nummorum seruat in arca tantum haebet & fidū. mony: honesty is accounted folly, knauery policy; Non à peritiased ab ornatu & vulgi vocibus habemur excellentes. Cardan l. 2. de cons. men admired out of opinion, not as they are, but as they seeme to be: such shifting, lying, cogging, plotting, counterplotting, cosening, dissembling, Periurata suo postponit numina lucro mercator. Vt necessarium sit vel Deo displicere, vel ab hominibus contemni, vexari, negligi. that of necessity one must highly offend God if hee be conformable to the world, or else liue in contempt, disgrace & misery. One takes vpon him temperance, another austerity, a third an affected kinde of simplicity, when as indeed he, and he, and he, and the rest are Qui Curios simulant & Bacchanalia vivunt. hypocrites, ambodexters, outsides, Tragelapho similes vel centauris sursum homines deorsum equi. like so many turning pictures, a lion on the one side, a lambe on the other. How would Democritus haue beene affected to see these things?
To see a man turne himselfe into all shapes like a Camelion, or as Proteus to act twenty parts at once for his aduantage, [Page 34] to temporize and vary like Mercury the planet, good with good, bad with the bad; of all religions, humors. inclinations, to fawne like a Spaniel, rage like a Lion, barke like a Curre, fight like a Dragon, sting like a Serpent, as meeke as a Lambe, and yet againe grinne like a Tygre, weepe like a Crocodile, insult ouer others, and yet others insult ouer him, here command, there crouch, tyrannize in one place, be baffled in another, a wise man at home, a foole abroad to make others merry.
To see a man protest friendship, kisse his hand, Arridere homines vt saeuiant blandiri vt fallant. Cypr. ad Donatum. smile with an intent to doe mischiefe, or cosen him whom hee salutes, Loue and hate are like the two endes of a perspectiue glasse, one multiplies, the other makes all things lesse, magnify his friend vnworthy with hyperbolical elogiums, his enemy albeit a good man to vilifie & disgrace him with the vtmost liuor and malice can inuent.
To see men wholy led by affection, admired and censured out of opinion without iudgement: an inconsiderate multitude, like so many dogges in a village, if one barke all barke without a cause; if a man be in fauour, or commended by some great man, all the world applauds him, Odit damnatos. Iuu. if in disgrace in an instant all hate him.
To see a man Agrippa epist 28. lib. 7. Quorum cerebrum est in ventre ingenium in patinis. to weare his braines in his belly, his guts in his head, an hundreth Okes on his backe, to deuoure an hundred Oxen at a meale, nay more, to deuoure houses, or as those Anthropophagi, Ps. They eat vp my people as bread. to eat one another.
To see a man role himselfe vp like a snowe ball from base beggery, to right worshipfull and right honorable titles, iniustly to screw himselfe into honors and offices; another to starue his Genius to gather wealth, Distinguit pauimentum lae [...]ior h [...]res, Hor. which his prodigall son melts and consumes in an instant.
To see a Scholler crouch and creepe to an illiterate pesant for a meales meat. A Scriuener better paid for an Obligation; a Faukner receaue better wages then a Student; a Lawier get more in a day, then a Philosopher in a yeare, better paid for an houre, then a Scholler for an yeares study.
To see a fond mother like Aesopes A [...]e, hugge her child to death, a Doctus spectare lacunar. wittall winke at his wiues ho [...]esty; and too perspicatious [Page 35] in all other affaires; one stumble at a strawe, and leap ouer a blocke; penny wise, pound foolish; Tullius. Est enim proprium stultitiae aliorum cernere vitia obliuisci suorum. Idem Aristippus Charidemo apud Lucianum. Omnino stultitiae cuiusdam esse puto, &c. finde fault with others and doe worse himselfe.
To see wise men degraded, fooles preferred, horses ride in a Coach, men drawe it; dogges deuoure their masters; Towers build Masons; Children rule; old men goe to schoole; women weare the breeches, Oves olim mite pecus nunc tam indomitum & edax vt homines deuorent oppida diruant, &c. Morus Vtop. lib. 1. sheepe demolish townes, deuoure men, &c. And in a word, the world turned vpside downeward. Diuersos varijs tribuit natura furores. To insist in euery particular were one of Hercules labours, there's so many ridiculous instances, as moates in the Sunne. Quantum est in rebus inane? And who can speake of all? Crimine ab vno disce omnes, take this for a tast.
But these are obuious to sense, triuiall and well knowne, easie to be discerned. How would Democritus haue beene mooued, had he seene Democrit. ep. pred. Hos deierantes & potantes deprehenderet, hos vomentes illos verberantes alios litigantes, insidias molientes suffragantes ve [...]ena miscentes, in amicorum accusationem subscribentes, hos glo [...]ia illos ambitione, cupiditate, mente captos, &c. the secrets of their hearts? If euery man had a window in his breast, which Momus would haue had in Vulcans man, or that which Tully so much wished, it were written on euery mans forehead, quid quis (que) de repub. sentiret, what he thought or that it could be effected in an instant, which Mercury did by Charon in Lucian, by touching of his eyes, to make him discerne semel & simul rumores & susurros.
That he could cubiculorum obductas fores recludere, & secreta cordium penetrate, which Ad Donatum ep. 2. l. 2. O siposses in specula sublimi constitutus, &c. Cyprian desired, open doores and locks, shoots bolts, as Lucians Gallus did with a feather of his taile: or Gyges inuisible ring, or some rare perspectiue glasse, or Otacousticon, which might so multiply species, that a man might heare and see all at once, Cuckolds hornes, forgeries of Alcumists, the Philosophers stone, &c. and all those workes of darknesse, foolish vowes, hopes, feares, and wishes, what a deale of laughter would it haue afforded? he should haue seene windmills in one mans head, an Hornets neast in anoother. [Page 36] Or had beene present with Icaromenippus in Lucia [...] at Iupiters whispering place, O Iupiter contingat mihi aurum haereditas, &c. M [...]ltos da Jupiter ann [...]s. Dementia quanta est hominum turpissima vota dijs insusurrant si quis admouerit aurem conticescunt & quod scire homines nolunt Deo narrant Senec. ep 10. l. 1. and had heard one pray for raine, another for faire weather; one for his wiues, another for his fathers death, &c. how would hee haue beene confounded? Would he, thinke you, or any man else say that these men were well in their wits, haec sani esse hominis quis sanus iuret Orestes? Can all the Hellebor in the Anticyra cure these men?
And that which is more to be lamented, they are madde like Senecas blinde woman, and will not acknowledge it, or Eo (que) grauior morbus quo ign [...]tior periclitanti. seeke for any cure of it. Que ledunt oculos festinas demeresi quid est animum differs curandi tempus in annū. Hor. If our legge or arme offend vs, we seeke by all meanes possible to redresse it, Si cap [...]t crus dolet brachium &c. Medicum accersimus, recte &c honeste si par etiam industria in animi morbis poneretur. Ioh. Peletius Iesuita, lib. 2. de hum. affec. morborum (que) cura. and if wee labour of a bodily disease we send for a Physitian; but for the diseases of the minde, we take no notice of them: lust harroes vs on the one side, anger, envy, ambition, on the other: We are torne in peeces by our passions as so many wild horses, one in disposition, another in habit, and one is melancholy, another mad, Et quotusquis (que) tamen est qui contra tot pestes medicum requirat vel aegrotare se agnoscat? ebullit ira &c. Et nos tamen agros esse negamus. Incolumes medicum recusant. Praesens aetas stultitiam priscis exprobrat. Budaeus de asse lib. 5. and which of vs all seeks for helpe, or doth acknowledge his error, or knowes he is sicke? Euery man thinks with himselfe, egomet videor mihi sanus, I am well, I am wise, and laughs at others. And 'tis a generall fault amongst vs all, that f which our forefathers haue approued, diet, apparell, opinions, humours, customes, maners, wee deride and reiect in our time as absurd, Senes pro stultis habent iuvenes. Balthasar Castilio. old men account Iuniors all fooles. Turkes deride vs, we them. Italians Frenchmen, accounting them light headed fellowes; the French scoffe againe at Italians, and at all their seuerall customes, Greekes haue condemned all the world but themselues of Barbarisme, the world as much vilifies them nowe. Wee accompt Germanes heauy dull fellowes, explode many of their fashions; they as contemptibly thinke of vs: Spaniards laugh at all, and all againe at them. So are wee fooles and ridiculous, absurd in all our actions, carriages, diet, apparell, [Page 37] customes, and consultations, and Clodius accusat maechos. scoffe and point one at an other, and in conclusion we are all fooles. A priuate man if he be resolued with himselfe, or set of an opinion, accounts all idiots and asses that are not affected as he is, that thinke not as he doth, and scornes all in respect of himselfe, Statim sapiunt, statim sciunt, neminē reuerentur, neminnem imitantur, ipsi sibi exemplo. Pli. epist. l. 8. will imitate none, heare none but Nullus alteri sapere concedit ne desipere videatur, Agrip. himselfe. As Plinie said, a law, and example vnto himselfe: and that which Hippocrates in his Epistle to Dionysius reprehended of old, is verefied in our times, Quis (que) in ali [...] superfluvm esse censet, ipse quod non habet nec curat, that which he hath not himselfe or doth not esteeme, he accounts superfluitie, an idle qualitie, August. qualis in oculis hominū qui inuersis pedibus ambulat talis in oculis sapientum & Angelorum qui sibi placet aut cum passiones dominantur. a meere foppery in another. Thus not acknowledging our owne errors, imperfections, we securely deride all others, as if we alone were free and spectators of the rest, accounting it an excellent thing as indeed it is: Alienâ optimum frui insaniâ, to make our selues merry with other mens obliquities, when as he himselfe is more faultie then the rest, mutato nomine de te fabula narratur, he may take himselfe by the nose for a foole, he is a conuict madman, as Austin well inferres, in the eyes of wisemen and Angels hee seemes like to one that to our thinking walks with his heeles vpward. So thou laughest at me, and I at thee, both at a third, and he returnes that of the Poet vpon vs both. Plautus Menechim. Hei mihi insanire me aiunt, quum ipsi vltro insaniant. We accuse others of madnesse, of folly, and are the veriest disards our selues, or else peraduenture in some cases we are Nunc sanitatis patrocinum est insanientium turba. Seneca. all mad for companie, and so 'tis not seene, Necesse est cum insanientibus furere nisi solus relinqueris. Petronius. no notice taken of it.
But put case they doe perceiue it, and some one be manifestly conuict of madnesse, Ho [...]. quoniam non est genus vnum stultitiae qua me insanire putas? he now takes notice of his folly, be it in action, gesture, speech, a vaine humour he hath in building, spending, courting, scribling, for which he is ridiculous to others, Stultum me fateor liceat concedere veris at (que) etiam insanum. Hor. on which he dotes, he doth acknowledge as [Page 38] much: yet with all the Rhetoricke thou hast, thou canst not so recall him, but to the contrary notwithstanding he will perseuere in his dotage. 'Tis amabilis insania, & mentis gratissimus error, so pleasing so delitious, that he Odi nec possum cupiēs non esse quod odi. Ouid. errore grato libenter omnes insanimus. cannot leaue it. He knowes his error but will not seeke to decline it, tell him what the euent will be, beggery, sorrow, sickenesse, disgrace, shame, losse, madness, yet Amator scortum vitae praeponit iracundus vindictam fur praedam parasitus gulam ambitiosus honores auarus opes &c. odimus hec et accersimus. Cardan. lib. 2. de consol. an angry man will prefer vengeance, a lasciuious his whore, a theefe his bootie, a glutton his belly before his welfare. Tell an Epicure, a Co [...]etous man, an ambitious man, of his irregular course, weine him from it a little, pol me occidistis amici, he cries anon, you haue vndone him, and as Pro. 26. P 1. a dogge to his vomite, he returnes to it againe: no perswasion will take place, no counsell say what thou canst Clames licet & mare coelo confundas, surdo narras demonstrat, as Plutarch. Gryllo. suilli homines. So Clemens Alexandrinus cals thē Elpenor and Gryllus and the rest of Vlisses companions, those swinish men, he is irrefragable in his humour, he will be a hogge still, bray him in a morter, he will be the same. If he be in an heresie or some peruerse opinion, setled as some of our ignorant Papists are, conuince his vnderstanding show him the seuerall follies, and absurd fopperies of that faction, make him say, veris vincor, make it as cleare as the sunne, non persuade bis etiamsi persuaseris? he will erre still, peeuish and obstinate as he is, and as he said, Tūllie. si in hoc erro, libentèr erro, nec hunc errorem auferri mihi volo; I will doe as I haue done, as my predecessors haue done, Malo cum illis insanire quā cum aliis bene sentire. and as my friends now doe: I will dote for company. Say now, are these men Qui inter hos enutriuntur non magis sapere possunt quam qui in culina bene olere. Petron. mad or no, are they ridiculous? cedo quemuis arbitrum, are they sanae mentis, sober, wise, and discreet? haue they common sence? I am of Democritus opinion for my part, I hold them vesanum exagitant pueri innuptae (que) puellae worthy to be laughed at, a company of disards, that they may goe ride the asse, or all saile along to the Anticyrae, in the ship of fooles for company together. I need not much labour to prooue this which I say otherwise then thus, or make any solemne protestation, of sweare, I thinke you will beleeue me without an oath, say at a word, are they fooles? I referre it to you (though you be likewise fooles your selues.) Il'e stand [Page 39] to your censure, what thinke you?
But for as much as I vndertooke at first, that Kingdomes, Prouinces, Families, were Melancholy as well as men, I will examine them in particular, and that which I haue hitherto dilated ar randome, and in more generall termes, I will now particularly insist in, and proue with more speciall and euident Arguments, Testimonies, Illustrations, & that in briefe. Hor. lib. 2. Sat. 2. Nunc accipe quare desipiant omnes aequè ac tu. My first Argument is borrowed from Solomon, an arrowe drawne out of his Sententious quiner, Prou. 3.7. Be not wise in thine owne eyes, and 26.12. Seest thou a man wife in his owne conceite; more hope is of a foole then of him. Superbam stultitiam Pliny calles it. 7. epist. 21. quod semel dixi fixum ratū que sit. Isay pronounceth a woe against such men, cap. 5.21. That are wise in their owne eyes, and prudent in their owne sight. For hence we may gather that it is a great offence, and men are much deceiued that thinke too well to themselues, and an especiall Argument to conuince them to folly. Many men saith multi sapientes proculdubio fuissent, si se iam non putassent ad sapientiae summum peruenisse. Seneca, had beene without question wise, had they not had an opinion before hand, that they had attained to perfection of knowledge already, before they had gone halfeway. They had too good a conceit of themselues, and that marred all; of their Worth, Art, Learning, Iudgement, Eloquence, their good parts, all their Geese are Swannes, and that manifestly prooues them to be no better then fooles. In former times they had but seuen wise men, and now you can scarce finde so many fooles, nostra vti (que) regio saith Tam praesentibus plena est numinibus vt facilius possis deum quam hominem inuenire. Petronius, Our time is so full of deified spirits, diuine soules, that you may sooner find a God then a man amongst vs, we thinke so well of our selues, and that is an ample testimony of much folly.
My second Argument is grounded vpon the like place of Scripture, which though before mentioned in effect, now againe for some reasons is to be repeated. Fooles saith Dauid by reason of their transgressions, &c. Psal. 107.17. Hence Museulus inferres all trangressours must needs be fooles. So we read Rom. 2. Tribulation and anguish is on the solue of euery man that doth euill, but all doe euill. And Isay 65.14. [Page 40] My seruants shall sing for ioy, Malefactors and yee x shall crie for sorrow of heart, and vexation of mind. 'Tis ratified by the common consent of all Philosophers. Dishonesty saith Cardan is nothing else but folly and madnesse, Hor Probus quis nobiscum viuit? shew me an honest man, Nemo malus qui non stultus, 'tis Fabius Aphorisme, In Ps. 49. qui momentanea sempiternis qui d [...]la pidat heri absentis bona, moxin ius vocandus et damnandus. to the same end. If none honest, none wise, all fooles. And well may they be so accounted, for who will say that he is a wiseman (saith Musculus) that preferres m [...] mentary pleasures to eternitie, that spends his masters goods in his absence, forthwith to be condemned for it? Who will say that a sicke man is wise, that eates and drinkes to ouerthrow the temperance of his body? can you account him wise or discreet, that would willingly haue his health, and yet wil do nothing that should procure or continue it? per quam ridiculū est homines ex animi sententia viuere & quae Diis ingrata sunt exequi, & tamen a solis Diis velle saluos fieri, quum propriae salutis curam abiecerint. Theodoret ca. 6. de prouid. lib. de curat. grec. affec. Theodoret out of Ptolimus the Platonist, holdes it a ridicul [...]us thing for a man to liue after his owne lawes, to doe that which is offensiue to God, and yet to hope that he should saue him, and when hee voluntarily neglects his owne safety, and contemnes the meanes, to thinke to be deliuered by an other: Who will say these men are wise.
A third Argument may be deriued from the precedent, Sapiens sibi qui imperiosus quem ne (que) pa [...] peries, nec mors nec vincula terrent. Responsare cupidinibus contemnere houores sortis & in seipso totus teres at (que) rotundas. Hor. 2. ser. 7. all men are carried away with passion, discontent, lust, pleasures, &c, Therefore more then Melancholy, quite madde, bruit beasts, and void of all reason, as Chrysostome contends, or rather dead or buried aliue, as Conclus. lib. de vic. offer. certum est animi morbis laborantes pro mortuis censendos. Philo Iudaeus concludes it for a certeinty, of all such that are carried away with passions, or labour of any disease of the mind: where is feare and sorrow, there Lib. de sap. vbi timor adest sapientia adesse nequit. Lactantius stiffely mainetaines, wisedome cannot dwell. Seneca and the rest of the Stoikes are of opinion that where is any the least perturbation, wisedome cannot bee found. What more ridiculous as Quid insanius Xerxe Hellespontum verberante, &c. Lactantius vrgeth, then to heare how Xerxes whipped the Hellespont, threatned the mountaine Athos, and the like. To speake ad rem, who is [Page 41] free from passion? Ecclus. 21.12. Where is bitternesse, there is no vnderstanding. Prou. 12.16. an angry man is a foole. Mortalis nemo est quem non attingit dolor, morbusue, as 3. Tusc. Ininria in sapientim non cadit. Tully determines out of an old Poeme, no mortall man can auoide sorrow and sickenesse, and sorrow is an vnseparable companion of Melancholy. In hom. 6. in 2. epist. ad Cor. cap. 3. hominem te agnoscere nequeo cum tanquam asinus recal [...]itres, lasciuias vt taurus hin nias vt equus post mulieraes, vt vrsus ventri indulgeas, quum rapias vt lupus, &c. at inquis formam hominis habeo, id magisterret, quum feram humana specie videre me putem. Chrysostome pleades farther yet, that they are more then madde, very beasts stupified and voide of common sence: For how saith he shall I know thee to be a man, when thou kickest like an asse, neyghest like an Horse after women, rauest in lust like a Bull, rauenst like a Beare, stingest like a Scorpion, rakest like a Wolfe. as suttle as a Foxe, as impudent as a Dogge; shall I say thou art man that hast all the Symptomes of a beast? how shall I know thee to be a man by thy shape? that affrights memore, when I see a beast in likenesse of a man.
Beroaldus will haue drunkards; and such as more then ordinarily delight in drinke to be madde. The first pot quencheth thirst, the second makes them merry, the third for pleasure, quarta ad insaniam, the fourth makes them madde. If this position be true, what a Catalogue of madmen shall we haue? what shall they be that drinks foure times foure? Nonne supra omnem furorem, supra omnem insaniam reddent insatissimos? I am of his opinion, they are more then mad. worse then mad.
The Epist. Demageto. Abderites condemned Democritus for a madman, because he was sometimes sad, and sometimes againe profusely merry. Hâc patriâ saith Hippocrates, ob risum furere & insanire dicunt, his countrey men hold him mad, Declamat. because he laughes, Amicis nostris Rhodi dicito, ne nimium rideant aut nimium tristes sunt and therefore hee desires him to aduise all his friends at Rhodes that they doe not laugh ouer much, or be ouer sad; Had those Abderites beene conuersant with vs, and had but seene what Per multum risum poteris cognoscere stultum. flering and grinning there is in this age, they would certainely haue coucluded wee had beene all madde.
Aristotle in his Ethickes holds, Foelix Idem (que) sapiens to be wise and happie are reciprocall termes, bonus idem (que) sapiens honestus, Tully. But no man is happy in this life, none good, therefore no man wise. Offic. 3. cap. 9 [...]. We may peraduenture vsurpe the [Page 42] name, or attribute it to others for fauour, as Carolus Sapiens &c. and describe the properties of a wise man, as Tully doth an Orator, Xenophon Cyrus, Castilio a Courtier, Galen Temperament, An Aristocrasie is described by polititians, but where shall such a man be found?
A man is a miracle of himselfe, but Trismegistus addes, Maximum miraculum homo sapiens, a wise man is a wonder.
Alexander when hee was presented with that rich and costly Casket of king Darius, and euery man aduised him what to put in it, he reserued it to put in Homers Workes, as the most precious Iewell of humane wit, and yet Hypercrit. Scaliger vpbraides Homers Muse, Vtmulier aulica nullius pudens. Nutricem insanae sapientiae, a nurcery of madnesse, impudent as a Court Lady, that blusheth at nothing. Iacobus Mycillus, Gilbertus Cognatus, Erasmus, and almost all posteritie admire Lucians luxuriant wit, and yet Scaliger reiects him in his censure, and calls him the Cerberus of the Muses. Socrates whom all the world so much magnified, is by Lactantius and Theodoret condemned for a foole. Plutarch extolls Senecas wit beyond all the Greekes, nulli Secundus: yet Epist. 33. quando fatuo delectari volo non est longè quaerēdus, me video. Seneca saith of himselfe, when I would solace my selfe with a foole, I reflect vpon my selfe, and there I haue him. Lib. 1. de sap. Cardan and Saint Bernard, will admitt none into this Catalogue of wise men, Vide miser homo quia totum est vanitas, totū stultitia totum dementia, quicquid facis in hoc mundo praeter id solum quod propter Deum facis. but onely Prophets and Apostles; how they esteeme themselues you haue heard before. We are worldly wise, admire our selues and seeke for applause, but heare Ser. de miser. hum. Saint Bernard, quanto magis for as es sapiens, tanto magis intus stultus efficeris &c. in omnibus es prudens, cura teipsum insipiens: the more wise thou art to others, the more foole to thy selfe. I may not denie but that there is some folly approued, a Diuine furie, an Holy madnesse, euen a spiritual drunkennes in the Saints of God themselues. Sanctam insaniam Bernard calles it, (though not as [Page 43] blaspheming dum iram et odium Deo reuera ponit. Vorst us, In. 2. Platonis dial. 1. de iusto. would inferre it as a passion incident to God himselfe) but familiar to good men, as that of Paul, 2 Cor. he was a foole, &c. and Rom. 9. he wisheth himselfe to be anathematised for thē. Such is that drunkennes which Ficinus speakes of, Virg. 1. ecl. 3. when the soule is eleuated and rauished with a diuine taste of that heauenly Nectar, and which Poets deciphered by the sacrifice of Dionysius, and in this sence with the Poet insanire lubet, as Austin exhortes vs, ad ebrietatem se quis (que) paret, lets all be mad and Ps. inebriabuntur ab vbertate domus. drunke. But wee commonly mistake, and goe beyond our commission, we reele to the opposite part, In psal. 104. Austin. we are not capable of it, In Platonis Tim. sacerdos Aegyptius. and as he said of the Greekes, Vos Graeci semper pueri, vos Britanni, Galli, Germani, Itali, &c. you are a company of fooles.
Proceed now à partibus ad totum, or from the whole to parts, and you shall find no other issue, the parts shall bee sufficiently dilated in this following Preface. The whole must needs follow by a Sorites or Induction. Euery multitude is mad, Hor. vulgus insanum. bellua multorum capitum, precipitate and rash without Iudgement, a roaring rout. Roger Patet ea diuisio probabilis &c ex. Arist. Top. lib. 1 cap. 8. Rog. Bac. epist. de secret. art. & nat. cap 8. non est iudicium in vulgo. Bacon proues it out of Aristotle, Vulgus diuidi in oppositum contra sapientes, quod vulgo videtur verum, falsum est; that which the commonaltie accounts true, is most part false, they are still opposite to wise men: begin them where you will, goe backeward or forward, choose out of the whole packe, and you shall find them all alike, neuer a barrell better herring.
Copernicus is of opinion the earth is a plannet, moues and shines to others, as the Moone doth to vs. Digges, Gilbert, Keplerus and others defend this Hypothesis of his in sober sadnesse, and that the Moone is inhabited; if it be so, that the Earth is a Moone, then are we all lunaticke within it.
I could produce such arguments till darke night, but according to my promise, I will descend to particulars. This Melancholy extends it selfe not to men onely, but euen to vegetall and sensible creatures; I speake not of those creatures which are Saturnine, Melancholy by nature, as lead & such like Minerals, or those Plants, Rue, Cypresse, &c. and [Page 44] Hellebor it selfe, of which De occult philos. lib. 1. cap. 25. & 19. eiusd. lib. Agrippa treates, Fishes, Bird [...], and Beastes, Hares, Conies, Dormise &c. Owles, Batte [...], Nightbirds, &c. but that artificiall, which is perceiued i [...] them all. Remoue a Plant, it will die for fullen, which is [...] specially perceiued in Palme trees, as you may read at [...] in Lib. 10. cap. 4 Constantin's husbandry, that Antipathy betwixt the [...] and the Cabbage, Vine and Oyle &c. Put a bird in a cage he will die for fullennesse, or a beast in a penne, or take his yong ones or companions from him, and see what effect it will cause? but who perceiues not these common passions of sensensible creatures, feare, sorrow, &c. Of all other dogges are most subiect to this disease, in so much that some hold they dreame as men doe, and through violence of Melancholy run mad, I could relate many stories of dogges that haue died for griefe, and pined away for losse of their masters, but they are common in euery See Lipsius epist. Author.
Kingdomes, Prouinces, and Politike bodies are likewise sensible and subiect to this disease, as De politia illustrium lib. 1. cap. 4. vt in humanis corporibus variae accidunt mutationes corporis animi (que) sic in repub. &c. Boterus in his Politikes hath proued at large. As in humane bodies saith hee, there be diuers alterations proceeding from humours, so there be many diseases in a Common-wealth, which doe as diuersly happen from seuerall distempers, as you may easily perceiue by their seuerall Symptomes. For where, you shall see the people ciuill, obedient to God and Princes, iudicious, peaceable and quiet, rich, fortunate, Vbireges philosophantur. Plato. and florish, to liue in peace, in vnitie and concord, a country well tilled, many faire built and populous Citties, vbi incolae nitent, as old Lib. de reru. Cato said, the people are neat, polite and terse, that Country is free from Melancholy: As it was in Italie in the time of Augustus, now in China, now in many other florishing Kingdomes of Europe. But whereas you shall see pouertie, barbarisme, beggery, plagues, warres, rebellions, seditions, mutinies, contentions, Idlenesse, Riot, Epicurisme, the land lie vntilled, waste, full of bogges, fennes, desarts, &c. Citties decayed, villages depopulated, and the people squalid, vglye, vnciuel, that kingdome, that countrye must needes bee discontent [Page 45] and Melancholie, hath a sicke body and had neede to be reformed. Now that cannot well be effected, till the causes of these maladies be first remoued, which commonly proceede from their owne default, or some accidentall inconuenience: as to be site in a bad clime, too farre North, sterill, barren place, as the deserts of Lybia, desarts of Arabia, places voide of waters, as those of Lop and Belgian in Asia, or in a bad aire, as at Alexandreta, Bantan, Pisa, &c. or in danger of the Seas continuall inundations, as in many places of the Low-Countries, and else where, or neere some bad neighbours, as Hungarians to Turkes, Polonians to Tartars, or almost any bordering Countries, they liue in feare still, and by reason of hostile incursions are often times left desolate. So are Citties by reason Mantua vae misero, nimium vicina Cremonae of warres, fires, plagues, invndations, wild beasts, decay of trades, barred hauens, the Seas violence, as Antwerpe may witnesse of late, Syracuse of old, Brundusium in Italy, Douer with vs, Interdum à feris vt olim Mauritana &c and many that at this day suspect the Seas furie and rage, and labour against it as the Venetians to their inestimable charge. But the most frequent maladies are such as proceed from themselues; as first when Religion and Gods Seruice is neglected, they doe not feare God, obey their Prince, where Atheisme, Epicurisme, Sacriledge, Simonie, &c. and all such impieties are freely committed, that Country cannot prosper. When Abraham came to Geraris, and saw a bad land, he said sure the feare of God was not in that place. Delitijs Hispaniae an. 1604 nemo malus nemo pauper, optimus quis (que) at (que) ditissimus. Pie sancte (que) viuebāt summa (que) cum veneratione & timore, diuina cultui sacris (que) rebus incumbebant. Cyprian Echouius a Spanish Corographer, aboue all other Citties of Spaine commendes Barcino, in which there was no begger, no man poore, &c. but all rich and in good estate, and he giues the reason, because they were more Religious then their neighbours; why was Israel so often spoyled by their enemies, led into captiuitie, &c. but for their Idolatry, neglect of Gods word, for sacriledge, euen for one Achans fault? and what shall we expect that haue such multitudes of Achans, Churchrobbers, simoniacall Patrons, &c. how can they hope to florish, that neglect Diuine duties, that liue most part like Epicures.
[Page 46] Other common grieuances are generally noxious to a body politicke obserued by Aristotle, Bodine, Boterus, Iunius, Arniseus, &c. I will onely point at s [...]me of the chiefest. Boterus polit. lib. 1. cap. 1. cum nempe princeps rerum gerendarum imperitus, segnis oscitaus, sui (que) mun [...]ris immemor, aut fatuus est. Impotentia gubernand [...], ataxia, confusion, ill gouernment, which proceeds from vnskilfull, slothfull, griping, couetous or tyrannising magistrates, when they are fooles, idiots, children, proud partiall, vndiscreet, oppressors, tyrants, not able or vnfit to manage such offices, Non viget respub. cuius caput infirmatur. Salisburiensis cap. 22. many noble Citties and florishing Kingdomes by that meanes are desolate, the whole body grones vnder such heads, and all the members must needs be misaffected, as at this day those goodly Prouinces in Asia Minor, &c. grone vnder the burden of a Turkish gouernement, and those vast kingdomes of Muscouia, Russia. See D [...]. Fletchers relation and Alexander Gaguinus history. vnder a tyrannising Duke. Who euer heard of more ciuill and rich populous countries then those of Greece, Asia, and that miracle of countries, Not aboue 200. miles long 60. broad according to Adricomius. the Holy Land, that in so small a compasse of ground could mainetaine so many Townes, Cities, produce so many fighting men? Aegypt another Paradise, now barbarous & desart & almost waste, by a despoticall gouernement of an imperious Turke, that spoiles all wheresoeuer he comes, insomuch that Sabellicus. si quis incola vetus, non agnosieret. si quis peregrinus, ingemisceret. an Historian complaines, if an old inhabitant should now see them, he would not know them, if a traueller or a stranger, it would grieue his heart to see them. Whereas Aristotle notes, nouae exactiones, noua onera imposita, new burdens and exactions daily come vpon them, Polit l. 5 e 6 crudelitas principum impictas scelerum violatio legum peculatus pecuniae publicae, &c. they must needs be discontent, R. Dallington 15 [...]6 [...] conclusio libri. as a iudicious countriman of ours obserued not long since in a Suruaye of that grear Duchy of Tuscany, that the people liued much discontent, as appeared by their manifold and manifest complainings in that kind. That the state was like a sicke body which had lately taken Phisicke, whose humours are not yet well setled and weakened so much by purging, that nothing was left but Melancholy.
Whereas the Princes and Potentates are immoderate in lust, Hypocrites, Epicures, of no Religion, but in shew. Quid hypocrisi fragilius? what so brittle and vnsure, what sooner [Page 47] subverts their estates then wandring and raging lust, on their subiects wiues, daughters, to say no worse. They that should facem praeferre lead the way to all vertuous actions, they are the ring-leaders, oftentimes of all mischiefe and dissolute courses, & by that meanes their countries are plagued, Boterus. lib. 9. cap. 4 polit. Quo fit vt aut rebus desperatis exulent aut coniuratione subditorum crudelissimè tandem trucidentur. and they themselues often ruined, banished or murdered by conspiracie of their subiects, as Sardanapalus was, Dionysius Iunior, Heliogabalus, Periander, Pisistratus, Tarquinius, Timocrates, Childericus, Appius Claudius, Andronicus, Galeacius Sforcia, Alexander Medices, &c.
Whereas the Princes or great men are malitious, enuious, factious, ambitious, emulators, they teare a commonwealth asunder, as so many Guelfes and G [...]bellines, and disturbe the quietnesse of it, Mutuis odiis & caedibus exhausti &c. and with mutuall murders let it bleede to death, our histories are too full of such barbarous inhumanities, and the miseries that issue from them.
Whereas they be like so many horseleaches, hungry, griping, Lucra ex malis sceleratis (que) causis. couetous, or such as preferre their priuate before the publike good. For as Salust. he said long since, res priuatae publicis semper offecere. Or whereas they be illiterate, ignorant, wise onely by inheritance, and in authority by birthright, there must needs be a fault, Imperium suapte sponte corruit. a great defect: because as an Apul. primus Flor. Ex innume rabilibus pauci Senatores genere nobil [...]s, è consularibus pauci b [...]ni, è bonis adhuc pauci eruditi. old Philosopher affirmes, such men are not alwayes fit. Of an infinite number, few alone are Senators, and of those few, fewer good, and of that small number of honest good and noble men, fewe that are learned, wise, discreet and sufficient, able to discharge such places, it must needs turne to the confusion of a state.
For as the Non solum vitiae concipiunt ipsi principes sed etiam infundunt in ciuitatem plus (que) exemplo quam peccaeto nocent Cic. 1. de legibus. Princes are, so are the people, qualis rex talis grex. If they be lasciuious, riotous, Epicures, factious, couetous, ambitious, illiterate, so will the Cōmons most part be. Idle vnthrifts and prone to lust, drunkards, and therefore poore and needy and vpon all occasions ready to mutine and rebell; discontent still, complaining, murmuring, grudging, apt to all outrages, thefts, treasons, murders, innouations, in debt, cosoners, shifters, outlawes, Profligatae famae [Page 48] ac vitae. It was an Salust. Semper in ciuitat e quibus opes nullae sunt bonis inuident, vetera odere, noua ex [...]ptant odio suarum rerum mutari omnia petunt. old Polititians Aphorisme, They that are poore and bad, enuie rich men, hate good men, abhorre the present gouernment, wish for a new, and would haue all turned topsie turuie. When Catiline rebelled in Rome, he got a company of such deboshed rogues together, they were his familiars and coadiutors, and such were all your rebells most part in all ages, Iacke Cade, Tom Straw, Kette and his companions.
Where they be generally riotous, and contentious, where there be many diseases, many discords, many lawes, many law suits, many lawyers, and many Physitians, it is a manifest signe of a distempered Melancholy state, as 3. De legibus prosligatae in repub. disciplinae est inditium, Iurisperitorrum numerus & medicorum copiae. Plato long since maintained: for where such kind of men swarme, they will make worke for themselues, and make that body Politike diseased, which was otherwise found. A generall mischiefe in these our times, an vnsensible plague, & neuer so many of them: which are now multiplied (saith In praef. s [...]ud. Iuris. multiplicantur nunc in terris vt l [...]custae, non patriae parentes s [...]d pes [...]es, pessimi homin [...]s m [...]ore ex parte superciliosi contentiosi, &c. licitum latrocinium exercent. Mat. Geraldus a Lawyer himselfe) as so many locusts, not the parents bu [...] the plagues of a Countrie, and for the most part. a supercilious, bad, couetous, litigious generation of men. Dousa epid loqunteleia turha vultures t [...] gati. Crumenimulga natio, &c. A purse-milking nation, a clamorous company, gowned vulters, theeues, & Seminaries of discord, that take vpon them to make peace, but are indeed the very disturbers of our peace, a company of irreligious Harpyes, scraping, griping Catchpoles (I meane our common hungry Pettifoggers, rabulae forenses, loue and honour in the meane time, all good lawes, and worthy Lawyers, that are as so many Iuris consulti domus oraculum cíuitatis Tully. Oracles, and pilots of a well gouerned Common-wealth.) Without Art, without Iudgement, that doe more harme as Lib. 3. Liuie said, Quam bella externa, flammae, morbiue, then sicknesse, warres and diseases. And as Iuye doth by an Oake, embrace it so long, vntill it haue got the heart out of it, so doe they by such places they inhabite, no counsell at all, no iustice, no speech to be had nisi eum praemulseris, he must bee fed still, or else he is as mute as a fish, better open an Oyster without a knife. Experto crede (saith Policrat. lib. Salisburiensis) in manus [Page 49] eorum millies incidi, & Charon immitis qui nulli pepercit vnquam, his longè clementior est. I speake out of experience, I haue beene a thousand times amongst them, and Charon himselfe is more gentle then they, Is stipe contentus & hi asses integres sibi multiplicari iubent. hee is contented with his single pay, but multiply still, they are neuer satisfied. And besides they haue damnificas linguas, as he termes it, nisi funibus argenteis vincias, they must be feed to say nothing, Plus accipiunt tacere quam nos loqui. and gette more to hold their peace, then we can to say our best. They will speake their clients faire, and inuite them to their tables, but as he followes it, [...]otius iniustitiae null [...] capitalior quam corum qui cum maxime decipium id agu [...]t vt honi viri esse videantur. of all iniustice there is none so pernitious as that of theirs, which when they deceiue most, will seeme to be honest men. They take vpon them to be peacemakers, & fouere causas humilium, to helpe them to their right, patrocin [...]ntur afflictis, Nam quocunque modo causa procedat hoc semper agitur vt loculi impleantur etsi au [...] ritia nequit satiari. but all is for their owne good, vt loculos pleniorum exhauriant, they pleade for poore men gratis, but they are but as a stale to catch others. If there be no iarre, Camden in Norfolke qui si nihil sit litium è iuris apicibus lites tamen serere callent. they can make a iarie, and out of the law it selfe find still some quirke or other, to set men at oddes, and continue causes so long, till they haue inriched themselues, and beggered their clients. Lib. 2. ce Heluet. repub. no [...] explicandis sed moliendis controuersiis operā dant ita vt lites in multos annos extrahantur summa cum molestia vtrius (que) partis & dum integra patrimonia exhauriantur. Simlerus complaines amongst the Suissers of the Aduocates in his time, that when they should make an end, they begin controuersies and protract their causes many yeeres, perswading them their title is good, till their patrimonies be consumed, and that they haue spent more in seeking then the thing is worth, or they shall get by the recouery. So that he that goes to law, as the Prouerbe is, Lu [...]um auribus tenent. holds a wolfe by the eares, or as a sheepe in a storme runs for shelter to a brier, prosecute his cause, he is consumed, if he surcease his suite he looseth all, what difference? Hor. Quid refert ferro pereamue ruinâ? They had wont heretofore saith Austin to end matters, per communes arbitros; and so in Switserland we are informed by Lib. de Heluet. repub. Iudices quocun (que) pago constituunt qui amicâ aliquâ transactione si fieri possitlites tollant. Ego maiorum nostrorum simplicitatem admiror qui sic causas grauissimas composuerint, &c. Simlerus) they had some common arbitrators, or [Page 50] dayesmen in euery towne, that made a friendly composition betwixt man and man, & he much wonders at their honest simplicitie, that could keepe peace so well, and end such great causes by that meanes. Our forefathers as Camden. a worthy Corographer of ours obserues, had wont Pauculis cruculis aureis, with a few golden crosses and lines in verse, make all conueiances, assurences; and such was the candor and integrity of succeeding ages, that a Deede (as I haue oft seen) to conueye a whole Manour, was implicite cōtained in some twenty lines or thereabouts. But now many skinnes of Parchment will scarce serue turne, he that buyes and selles a house, must haue a house full of writings, there be so many circumstances, so many words, such Tautologicall repetitions of all particulars (to auoid cauillation they say) but we find by our wofull experience, that to subtle wits it is a cause of much more contention and variance, and scarce any Conueiance so accurately penned by one, which another will not find a crack in, or cauell at, if any one word be misplaced, any little error, all is disanulled. That which is law to day is none tomorrow, that which is found in one mans opinion, is most faulty to another; that in conclusion, heare is nothing amongst vs but contention & confusion, new stirs euery day. mistakes, errors, cauills, and at this present, as I haue heard in some one court I know not how many 1000 causes: no person free, no title almost good, with such bitternesse in following, so many flights, procrastrinations, delayes, forgery, such cost, violēce & malice, I know not by whose fault, Lawyers, Clients, laws, both or all: but as Paul reprehended the 1. Co. 6.5.6. Corinthians long since, I may more appositely inferre now. There is a fault amongst you, and I speake it to your shame, Is there not a Sulti quando demum sapictis. Psal. 49.8. wise man amongst you, to iudge betweene his brethren, but that a brother goes to law with a brother?
I could repeate many such particular grieuances which much disturbe a body politike, to shut vp all in briefe, where good gouernment is, prudent and wise Princes, there all things thriue and prosper, peace and happinesse is in that [Page 51] land, where it is otherwise, all things are vgly to behold, inculte, barbarous, vnciuill, a paradise is turned to a wildernesse. This Island among the rest, our next neighbours the French and Germanes may be a sufficient witnesse, that in a short time by that prudent policy of the Romanes was brought from barbarisme; see but what Caesar reports of vs, and Tacitus of those old Germanes, they were once as vnciuill as they in Virginia, yet by planting of Colonies, & good lawes, they became from babarous outlawes, Saepius bona materia cessat sine artifice Sabellicus de Germaniâ si quis videret Germaniam vrbibus hodie excultam, non diceret vt olim tristem cultu asperam coelo, terram informem. to be full of rich and populous cities, as now they are, & most florishing kingdomes; and so might Virginia, and those wild Irish haue beene ciuilised long since, if that order had beene heretofore taken, which now begins of planting Colonies &c. I haue read a By his Maiesties Attorney Generall there. Discourse printed A o. 1612. Discouering the true causes, why Ireland was neuer intirely subdued or brought vnder obedience to the crowne of England, vntill the beginning of his Maiesties happie raigne. But if his reasons were throughly scanned by a Iuditious Politition, I am afraid he would not altogether be approued, but that it would turn to the dishonour of our nation, to suffer it to lie so long wast. Yea, and if some traueller should see (to come neerer home) those rich vnited Prouinces of Holland, Zeland, &c. ouer against vs; those neat Citties and populous Townes, full of most industruous Artificers, As Zeipeland Bempster in Holland &c. See Bertius descript: Hol. so much land recouered from the Sea, and so painefully preserued by those Artificiall inuentions, From Gaunt to Sluce, from Bruges to the Sea &c. so many nauigable channells, from place to place, made by mens hands, &c. and on the other side so many thousand acres of our fennes lie drowned, our Citties thinne, and those vile, poore and vgly to behold in respect of theirs, our trades decayed, our still running riuers stopped, and that beneficiall vse of transportation wholy neglected, so many hauens void of Shippes and Townes, so many Parkes and Forrests for pleasure, barren Heaths, so many Villages depopulated &c. I thinke sure he would find some fault.
I may not deny but that this nation of ours, doth benè audire apud exteros, is a most noble, a most florishing kingdom [Page 52] by common consent of all Ortelius, Boterus, Mercator, Meteranus &c. Geographers, Historians, and hath many such honourable Elogiums. And as a learned countriman of ours right well hath it, Iam inde non belli gloria quā humanitatis, cultu inter florentissimas orbis christiani gentes imprimis floruit, Camden, Britt. de Normannis. Euer since the Normans first comming into England, this country of ours, both for Military matters, and all other matters of ciuilitie, hath beene paralelled with the most florishing kingdomes of Europe, and our Christian world, a blessed, a rich country, and one of the fortunate Isles. And for some things Geog. Kicker. preferred before all other countries, for expert Seamen, & our laborious, discoueries, arte of Nauigation, true Merchants, they carry the bell away from all other nations, euen the Portingales and Hollanders themselues, Tam hieme quam aestate intrepidè su [...]cantt Oceanum & duo illorum duces non minore audaciá quam fortunâ totius orbem terrae circumnauigarunt. Amphitheatridi. Boterus. without all feare saith Boterus, furrowing the Ocean, Winter and Summer, and two of their Captaines with no lesse valour then fortune, haue sailed round about the world. We haue besides A Fertile soile, good aire, &c. Tin, Lead, Wooll, Saffron, &c. many particular blessings which our neighbours want, the Gospell truely preaced, Church Discipline established, long peace and quietnesse, free from exactions, forraine feares, inuasions, domesticall seditions, well manured, Tota Britannia vnica vel [...]t arx. Boterus. fortified by arte and nature, and now most happy in this fortunate vnion of England & Scotland, which our forefathers haue much laboured to effect, and desired to see: But in which we excell all others, a wise, a learned, a religious King, another Numa, a second Augustus, a true Iossah, most worthy Senators, a learned Cleargy, an obedient Commonalty, &c. Yet amongst many Roses some Thistles grow, some bad weeds and enormities which much disturbe the peace of this Body politike, & Eclipse the honor & glory of it, fit to be rooted out, and withall speed to be reform [...]d.
The first is idlenesse, by reason of which wee haue many swarmes of rogues and beggers, thieues, drunkardes, and discontented persons, many poore people in all our Townes, Ciuitates ignobiles as Lib. 1. hist. Polidore calls them, base Citties, inglorious, poore, small, and rare in sight, and thinne of inhabitants. Our land is fertile wee may not deny, full of all good things, & why doth it not then abound with Cities, as well as Italie, France, Germany, the Low countries, [Page 53] because their policy hath beene otherwise, and we are not so thrifty, circumspect, industrious; idlenesse is the malus Genius of our nation. For as Increment. vrb. lib. 1. cap. 9. Boterus iustly argues, fertility of acountry is not enough, except art and industry be ioyned vnto it. Many kingdomes are fertile, but thin of inhabitants, as that Dutchy of Pedemont in Italy, which Leander Albertus so much magnifies, for Corne, Wine, Fruits, &c. yet nothing neere so populous as those which are more barren. Anglia excepto Londino nulla e [...]t ciuitas memorabilis licet ea natio rerum omnium copia abundet. Boteras. England saith he,( London only excepted) hath neuer a populous citty, & yet a fruitfull country. The lowe Countries haue three citties at least for one of ours, and those farre more populous and rich, and what is the cause but their industry and excellency in all manner of trades? Their commerce which is maintained by a multitude of tradesmen, so many excellent Chanels made by art, & opportune hauens, to which they build their citties: All which we haue in like measure, or at least may haue. But their chiefest lodestone, which drawes all manner of commerce and marchandize, which maintaines their present estate, is not fertility of soyle, but industry that enricheth them, the gold mines of Peru, or Noua Hispania may not compare with them. They haue neither gold nor siluer of their owne, wine nor oyle, or scarce any corne growing in those vnited Prouinces, little or no wood, Tinne, Lead, Iron, Silke, Wooll, or any stuffe almost, or any mettle: & yet Hungary, Transiluania, that bragge of their Mines, fertile England cannot compare with them. I dare boldly say that neither France nor Italy, Velence in Spaine, or that pleasant Andalusia with their excellent fruits, wine and oyle, two haruests, no nor any part of Europe is so florishing, so rich, so populous, so full of good ships, of well built citties, so abounding with all things necessary for the vse of man. 'Tis our Indies an Epitome of China, and all by reason of their industry and commerce. Industry is a lodestone to drawe all good things, that alone makes countries florish, citties populous, Populi multitudo diligenti cultura saecundat solum. Boterus lib. 8. cap. 3. & will enforce by reason of much manure, which necessarily follows a barren soyle to bee fertile, and good. Tell mee Polititian [Page 54] why is that fruitfull Palaestina, noble Greece, Aegypt, Asia Minor so much decayed, and falne from that they were? The ground is the same, but the gouernment is altered, the people are growne slothful, idle, their good husbandry and industry is decayed. May a man beleeue that which Aristotle in his Politicks, Puusanias, Stephanus relates of old Greece? where are those 400 citties of Aegypt, those 100 citties in Creet? are they now come to two? What saith Pliny of old Italy? Bosius and Machiauell, both proue them now nothing neere so populous, and full of citties as of old. Many will not beleeue but that our Iland of great Brittaine is now more populous then euer it was: but let them read Beda, Leland, and others, and it most florished in the Saxon Heptarchy, and in the Conquerers time was farre better inhabited, then at this present. See that Domesday booke, and shewe mee now those thousands of parishes, which are now decayed, citties ruined, villages depopulated, &c. The lesser the Territory is, commonly the richer it is, Paruus sed benè cultus ager. As those Imperiall citties and free States of Germany may witnesse, Suitsers, Rheti, Wallownes, Tuscany, Pedemont, Mantua, Venice in Italy, Raguse, &c. That Prince therefore, as Polit. lib. 3. c. 8 Boterus aduiseth, that will haue a rich country, and faire citties, let him get good trades, priuiledges, and painefull inhabitants, artificers, and suffer no rude matter vnwrought, as Tinne, Iron, wooll, Lead, &c. To bee transported out of his country. For dying of cloaths, and dressing, &c. A thing in part seriously attempted amongst vs, but not effected. And because industry of men, and multitude of trades so much auailes to the ornament and enriching of a kingdome, Selym the first Turkish Emperour, procured a thousand of good artificers to bee brought from Tauris to Constantinople. The Polanders indented with Henry Duke of Aniou their new chosen King, to bring with him an hundred families of artificers into Poland. Edward the third, our most renowned king, to his eternall memory, brought cloathing first into this Iland, transposing some families of Artificers from Gaunt hither. How many goodly citties could I reckon [Page 51] vp, that liue wholy by trade, where thousands of inhabitants liue singular well by their fingers ends; as Florence in Italy, by making cloath of gold; great Millan by silke and all curious works; many citties in Spaine, many in France, Germany haue none other maintenance, especially those within the Land. Noremberge in Germany sited in a most barren soyle, yet a noble imperiall citty, by the sole industry of Artificers; and so is Basil, Spire, Cambray, Francfurt, &c. It is almost incredible to relate what Lib. edit. à Nicholas Tregaul. Belga A o 1616. de Christ. exped. in Sina [...]. Mat. Riccius the Iesuit and some others, relate of the industry of the Chinese most populous coūtries, not a beggar, or an idle person to be seen, & how by that meanes they prosper and flourish. Wee haue the same meanes, able bodies, pliant wits, matter of all sorts, Wooll, Flax, Iron, Tinne, Lead, wood, &c. Many excellent subiects to worke vpon, only industry is wanting. In most of our citties (some few excepted) like Spanish loyterers, wee liue wholy by tipling, Innes and Alehouses, Malting are their best ploughs, their greatest traficke to sell ale. Lib. 13. Belg. hist Non tam laboriosi vt Belge, sed vt Hispani otiatores vitam vt plurimū otiosam agentes. artes manuariae quae plurimum habent in se laboris & difficultatis, maiorem (que) requirunt industriam, à peregrinis & exteris. exercentur, habitant in piscosissimo mari, interea tamen tantum non piscantur quantum insulae [...]ufficerit, sed à vicinis emere coguntur. Meteran, & some others obiect to vs, that we are no whit so industrious as the Hollanders: Manuall trades, saith he, which are more curious or troublesome, are wholy exercised by strangers, they dwell in a Sea full of fish, but they are so idle they will not catch so much as shall serue their owne turnes, but buy it of their neighbours. Pudet haec opprobria nobis, & dici potuisse, & non potuisse refelli, I am ashamed to heare this obiected by strangers, and knowe not how to answere it. Amongst our citties there is onely Vrbs animis numero (que) potens et robore gentis. Scaliger. London that beares the face of a citty, Camden. Epitome Britanniae, a famous Emporium, second to none beyond seas a noble Mart. But sola crescit decrescentibus alijs, and yet in my slender iudgement, defectiue in some things. The rest ( Yorke, Bristow, Norwich, Worcester, &c. some few except) are in meane estate; poore and ful of beggers, by reason of their decayed trades, idlenesse of their inhabitants, and riot, which had rather begge or loyter, and be ready to starue then worke. I may not deny but that something may be said [Page 52] in defence of our citties, M r Gainsfords argument because Gentlemē dwell with vs in the country villages, our citties are less is nothing to the purpose put 300 or 400 Villages in a Shier [...], & euery village yeeld a Gentleman, what is 4000 families to increase one of our citties or to contende with theirs which stand thicker, and whereas ours vsually consist of 7000. theirs consist of 40000 inhabitants. that they are not so faire, thicke sited, populous, as in some other countries, we want Wine and Oyle, their two haruests, we dwell in a colder ayre, & therefore must a little more liberally Maxima pars victus in carne consistit. Polid. lib. 1. hist. seed of flesh, as all northern countries doe. And our prouision will not therefore extend to the maintenance of so many: yet notwithstanding we haue matter of all sorts, an open [...]ea for trafficke as wel as the rest, goodly Hauens. And how can we excuse our negligence, our riot, drunkennesse, &c. and such enormities that follow it. We haue excellent lawes enacted, you will say, seuere statutes, houses of correction, &c. to small purpose it seemes, it is not houses will serue, but citties of correction, Ref [...]enate monapolii licentiam pauciores aelantur ocio, reddatur agricolatio lanisicium instauretur vt sit honestum negotium quo se exerceat otiosa illa turba. Nisi his malis medentur, frust [...]a exercent iustitiam. Mor. Vtop. lib. 1. our trades generally ought to be reformed, wants supplied. In other countries they haue the same grieuances I confesse, tumults, discords, contentions, law-sutes, many laws made against thē to represse those innumerable brawles and law sutes, excesse in apparell, diet, decay of tillage, Regiae dignitatis non est exercere imperium in mendicos sed in opulentos. Non est regnisecus sed carceris esse custos. Idem. especially against rogues & beggars, Egiptian vagabonds (so tearmed at least) which haue Collunies hominum mirabiles excocti sole, immundi veste, faedi visu, furtis imprimis acres, &c. swarmed all ouer Germany, Poland, as you may read in Cranzius and Aventinus; As those Tartars and Arabians at this day doe in all those Easterne countries. Nemo in nostrâ civitate mendicus esto, saith Plato, hee will haue them purged from a Seneca. Haud minus turpia principi multa simplicia, quam medico multa funera. cómonwealth, Ac pituitam & bilem à corpore. as a bad humour from the body, they are like so many vlcers and boyles, and must be cured before the melancholy body can be eased. What Carolus Magnus, the Chinese, the Spaniards, Duke of Saxony, and many other states haue decreed in this case, read Arniseus cap. 19. Boterus lib. 8. cap. 2. Osorius de rebus gest. Eman. lib. 11. When a country is ouerstored with people, as a pasture is oft ouerlaid with cattle, they had wont in former times to disburden themselues by sending out Colonies, or by wars, as those old [Page 53] Romanes, or by imploying them at home about some, publike buildings, as bridges, rode waies, for which those Romans were famous in this Iland: As Augustus Caesar did in Rome, the Spaniards in their Indian Mines: See Lipsius Admiranda. Aqueducts, bridges, those stupend workes of Trainn, Claudius, those Appian and Flaminian waies may witnesse, and rather then they should be idle, as those Amasis Aegypti rexlegē promulgauit vt omnes subditi quotannis rationem redderent vnde viverent. Egyptian Pharoes, to taske their subiects to build vnnecessary piramids, channels, lakes, &c. to diuert thē from rebellion, riot, drunkennesse, &c.
Another eye-sore, is that want of conduct, and nauigable riuers, a great blemish, as Lib. 1. de Increm. vrb cap. 6. Boterus, Cap. 5. de Increm. vrb. Quas flumen lacus aut mare alluit. Hippolitus à Collibus & other polititians hold, if it be neglected in a commonwealth. Admirable cost and charge is bestowed in the Lowe countries on this behalfe, in the Dutchy of Millan, Territory of Padua in Incredibilem commoditatem vectura mercium tres flunij nauigabiles &c. Boterus de Gallia. France, Italy, China, and so likewise about corriuations of waters to moisten and refresh barren grounds, to dreane fennes, bogges and moores. Massinissa made many inward parts of Barbary and Numidia in Africke, before his time inculte and horrid, fruitfull and battable by this meanes. Great industry is generally vsed all ouer those Easterne coū tries in this kinde, especially in Egypt, about Babylon, and Damascus, as Vertomannus relates, about Bercelona, Segonia, and many other places of Spaine: by reason of which their soile is much improued, and infinite commodities arise to the ininhabitants. The Turkes of late attempted to cut that Istmos betwixt Africke and Asia which some Pharoes of Herodotus. Egipt had formerly vndertaken, but with ill successe, and Serres the French historian speakes of a famous Aqueduct in France, intended in Henry the fourths time from the Loyre to the Seane & from Rhodanus to Loyre. The like to which, was formerly assaied by Domitian the Emperour, Charles the great went about to make a chanel from Rhine to Danubius. Bil. Pirkimerus descrip. Ger. the ruins are yet seen about Wessenberg: frō Rednich to Altimul. Vt nauigabilia inter se occidentis & septentrionis littera fierent. from Arar to Mosella which Cornelius Tacitus speakes of in the 13 of his Annalls, by Charles the great and others. Much cost hath formerly beene bestowed in either new making or amending decayed hauens, which Claudius the Emperour with infinite cost attempted at Ostia, our Venetians at this day to preserue their [Page 54] citty. Many excellent meanes to enrich their Territories, haue beene fostered, inuented in most Prouinces of Europe, as planting some Indian plants amongst vs, Silkwormes, Maginus Geogr. the very Mulbery leaues in the plaines of Granado, yeeld 30000 crownes per annum to the King of Spaines coffers, besides those many trades and artificers that are busied about them. In France a great benefit is raised by salt, &c. Whether these things might not be as happily attempted with vs, and with like successe it may be controuerted. Silkwormes, Vines, Firtrees, &c. Cardan exhorts Edward the 6. to plant Oliues, and is fully perswaded they would prosper in this Iland. With vs nauigable riuers are most part neglected, our riuers are not great I confesse, by reason of the narrownesse of the Iland, yet they runne smoothly and euen, and might as well be repaired many of them (I meane Wie, Trent, Ouse, Thamisis at Oxford (the defect of which we feele in the meane time) as the riuer of Lee from Ware to London. Camden in Lincolnshire Fossedike. Bishop Atwater of old made a Channell from Trent to Lincolne nauigable, which now, saith M r Camden is decayed, and much mention made of Ankors, and such like monuments found about old Neare S. Albones. Verulamium, ships haue formerly come to Exeter, and many such places, whose Channels, Hauens are now barred and reiected. We contemne this benefit of carriage by waters, & are therefore compelled in the inner parts of this Iland, because carriage is so deare, to eat vp our commodities, our selues, and liue like so many Boares in a stye, for want of vent and vtterance. We haue many excellent hauens, royall hauens, Falmouth, Porchmouth, Milford, &c. which haue few ships in them, little or no trafficke or trade, which haue scarse a Village on them, able to beare great citties, sed viderint politici. I could here iustly taxe many other neglects, abuses, errours, defects amongst vs & in other countries, depopulatiōs riot, drunkennesse, &c. and many such, quae nunc in aurem susurrare non libet, but I must take heed, ne quid grauius dicam that I doe not ouershoot my selfe. I am forth of my element, and sometimes veritas odium parit, as he said, veriuice and [...]atemeale is good for a Parret.
[Page 55] We haue good lawes, I deny not, to rectifie such enormities, and so in all other countries, but it seemes to small purpose many times. Wee had need of some generall visiter in our age, that should reforme what is amisse: another Attila Tamberlin, Hercules to striue with Achelous, Augeaestabulum purgare, to subdue tyrants, as Lilius Giraldus. Nat. Comes. he did Diomedes and Busiris: to expell theeues as he did Cacus and Lacinius; to vendicate poore captiues, as hee did Hesione: to passe the torrid zone, and the desarts of Lybia, and purge the world of monsters and Centaures. Or another Theban Crates to reforme our manners, to compose quarrells, end controuersies, as in his time he did, & was therefore adored for a God in Athens. Apuleius. l. 4 Flor. Lar familiaris inter homines aetatis suae cultus est litium omnivm & iurgiorum inter propinquos arbiter & disceptator. Aduers. iracundiam inuidiam, auaritiam, libidinem caetera (que) animi humani vitia, & monstra Philosophus iste Hercules fuit. Pestes eas mentibus exegit omnes, &c. And as Hercules purged the world of monsters and subdued them, so did he fight against Enuy, lust, anger, auarice, &c. and all those ferall vices and monsters of the minde. It were to bee wished we had some such visitor, or if wishing would serue, one had such a ring or rings as Timolaus desired in Votis Nauig. Lucian, by vertue of which he should be as strong as tenne thousand men, or an army of Gyants, goe inuisible, open gates & Castle doores, haue what treasure he would, transport himselfe in an instant to what place he would, alter affections, cure all manner of diseases, that hee might range all ouer the world, and reforme all distressed states and persons, as he would himselfe. He might reduce those wandring Tartars into order that infest China on the one side, Muscouy, Poland on the other; and tame those vagabond Arabians that robbe and spoile all those Easterne countries, that they should neuer vse more Carauans or Ianisaries to conduct them. Hee might root out Barbarisme out of America, and fully discouer Terra Australis Incognita, find out all those Northeast & North west passages, dreane those mighty Moetian fennes, cut down those Hirciniā woods, irrigate those barren Arabian desarts, &c. Cure vs of our Epidemicall diseases, Scorbutum, plica, morbus Neapolitanus, &c. End all our idle controuersies, cut of our tumultuous desires, inordinate lusts, root out heresie, schisme and superstition, which now so crucifies the world. [Page 54] [...] [Page 55] [...] [Page 56] Purge Italy of luxury and riot; Spaine of superstition and iealosie, Germany of drunkenesse, and all our Northerne countries of gluttony and intemperance. But as L. Lacinius taxed Timolans, you may vs. These are vaine absurd and ridiculous wishes, not to be hoped: all must be as it is, there is no remedy for it, it may not be redressed.
Because therefore it is a thing so difficult, impossible, and farre beyond Hercules labours to be performed; let them be as they are, let them Stultum Iubeo esse libenter. Et qiu sordidus est sordescat adhuc. tyrannize, Epicurize, oppresse, luxuriate and consume themselues, liue in riot, misery rebell, wallow as so many swine in their owne dung, and liue in a reprobate sense. I will yet to satisfie & please my selfe, make an Vtopia of mine owne, a poeticall commonwealth of mine owne, in which I will freely domineere, build citties, make lawes, statutes, as I lift my selfe. And why may I not? Hor. Pictoribus at (que) poetis, &c. You knowe what liberty Poets haue euer had, and besides my predecessor Democritus was a Polititian, a Recorder of Abdera, a law maker, as some say, and why may not I presume as much as he did? Howsoeuer I wil aduenture. For the Site if you will needs vrge me to it, I am not yet fully resolued, it may be in Terra Australis Incognita, there is roome enough (for of my knowledge neither that hungry Spaniard, Ferdinando de Quir. 1612. nor Mercurius Britannicus haue yet discouered halfe of it) or else one of those floting Islands in Mare del Sur, which like the Cyanian Isles in the Euxine Sea, alter their place, and are accessible onely at set times, and to some few persons. There is roome enough in the inner parts of America, and the Northerne coasts of Asia. But I will choose a site whose latitude shall be 45 degrees, in the midst of the temperate zone, or vnder the Aequator the longitude for some reasons I will conceale. It shall be diuided into 12 Prouinces, and those by hils, riuers, rodewaies, or some more eminent limits exactly bounded. Each Prouince shall haue a Metropolis, which shall be so placed as a Center almost in a circumference, and the rest at equall distances, 12 miles asunder, and in them shail be sold all things necessary for the vse [Page 57] of man, no market townes, markets, or faires, for they do but beggar citties (no village shall stand aboue eight miles from a city) except those emporium's which are by the Seaside, generall Marts. as Antwerpe, Venice, Bergen of old, London, &c. cities most part, shalbe situate vpō nauigable riuers or lakes, creekes, hauens, and for their forme regular, round, square, or long square, with faire and straight streets, houses vniforme built of bricke and stone, like Bruges, Bruxells, Regium Lepidi, Millan, Mantua, Crema, Cambalu in Tartary, described by M. Polus, or that Venetian Palma. I will admit very few or no suburbs, and those of baser building, walls only to keepe out man and horse, except it be in some frontier townes, or by the Sea side, and those to be fortified With walls of earth, &c. after the latest maner of fortificatihn, and site vpon conuenient hauens, or opportune places. Ne tantillum quidem soli incultum relinqui tur, vt verum sit ne pollicem quidem agri in his regionibus sterilē aut insaecundum reperiri. Marcus Hemingius Augustanus de regno Chinae. l. 1. c. 3 I will haue no bogges, fennes, marishes, vast woods, desarts, heaths, commons, but all inclosed, for that which is common and euery mans, is no mans: the richest countries are still inclosed, as Essex, Kent, with vs, &c. Spaine, Italy, and where inclosures are least in quantity, they are best husbanded, as about Florence in Italy, Damascus in Syria, &c. which are liker gardens then fields. I wil not haue a barren aker in all my Territories, not so much as the tops of muntaines, where nature fayles it shall bee supplied by art, Incredibilis nauigiorum copia nihilo pauciores in aquis quam in continenti commorantur, M. Riccius expedit in Sinas, lib. 1. c. 3. lakes and riuers shall not be left desolate, All publike high waies, bridges, corriuations of waters, Aqueducts, Channels, publike works, buildings, &c. out of a common stocke cuririously maintained and kept, no depopulations, ingrossings, alterations of wood, arable, but by the consent of some common superuisors that shall be appointed for that purpose, Ita lex agraria olim Romae. & shall foresee what reformation ought to be had in all places, what is amisse, how to helpe it, Hic segetes illic veniunt faelicius vuae, arborei faetus alibi at (que) iniussà virescunt gramina Virg. 1. Georg. Et quid quae (que) ferat regio & quid quae (que) recuset. What ground is aptest for wood, what for c corne, what for cattle, what for gardens, orchards, fishponds; &c. what for Lords, Tenants, &c. and in what quantity how to be manured, tilled, rectified, and what proportion is fit, because priuate possessors are many times idiots, ill husbands, [Page 58] oppressors, couetous, and knowe not how to improue their owne, or else wholy respect their owne, and not publike good.
Vtopian parity is a thing to be wished for rather then effected, and Platoes community in many things impious, absurd, and ridiculous, it takes away all splendor and magnificence, I will haue seuerall orders, degrees of nobility, & such a proportion of ground belonging to euery Barony, So is it in the kingdome of Naples and France, &c. he that buyes the land shall buy the Barony, hee that by riot consumes his patrimony, and ancient demeanes, shall forfet his honours. My forme of gouernement shall bee Monarchicall, &c. few lawes but those seuerely kept, and plainely put downe and in the mother tongue, that euery man may vnderstand. Euery citty shal haue a peculiar trade or priuiledge by which it shall be maintained, Herodotus Erato lib. 6 cum Aegyptiis Lacedemonij in hoc congruunt quod eorum praecones tibicines coqui & reliqui artifices in paterna artificia succedunt & coquus à coquo gignitur & paterno opere perseuerat. Idem Marcus Polus de Quinsay. Ide Osorius de Emanuele rege Stufitano. Riccius de Synis. and parents shall teach their children one of three, & bring them vp & instruct them in the mysteries of their trade. Common granaries shall be in all townes, publike schooles. I will haue certaine shippes sent out for new discoueries euery yeare, & certaine discreet men appointed to trauell into all neighbour kingdomes by land, which shall obserue what artificiall inuentions, good lawes are in other countries, customes, alterations, or ought else, concerning warre or peace, which may tend to the common good. Ecclesiastical discipline, penes Episcopos, subordinaet as the other. No impropriations, no lay patrons of Church liuings, or one priuate man, but those Rectors of Benefices to be chosen out of the Vniuersities, examined and approued as the literati in China. No parish to containe aboue a thousand Auditors. Simlerus in Heluetia. Of Lawyers, Aduocats, Phisitians, Surgeons, &c a set number, Vtapienses tausidicos excludunt qui causas callide & vafre tractent & disputent Iniquissimum censent hominem vllis obligari legibus quae aut numerosiores sunt, quam vt perlegi queant, aut obscuriores quam vt à quouis possint intelligi. Volunt vt suam quisq, causam agat, eam (que) referat ludici quam narraturus fuerat patrono, sic minus erit ambagium, & veritas facilius eticietur, Morus Vtop lib. 3. and euery man, if it bee possible to plead his own cause, to tell that tale to the Iudge which he doth to his Aduocate. Those aduocates Medici ex-publico victum sumunt, Boterus lib. 1. cap. 5. de Aegyptiis. and Physitians which are allowed, to be maintained out of the common treasure, no fees [Page 59] to be giuen or taken, vpon paine of loosing their places, and those officers aptly to be disposed in all Prouinces, villages, citties, as common arbitrators to heare all causes and end all controuersies, no controuersie to depend aboue a yeare. These and all other inferiour magistrats to be chosen Mat. Riccius expedit. in Sinas lib. 1. cap. 5. de examinatione electionum copiose agit, &c. as the literati in China, or by those exact suffrages of the Contarenus de repub. Venet.11. Venetians, & those againe not be eligible, or capable of magistracies, honours, offices, Osorius lib. 11. de rebus gest. Emanuelis. Qui in literis maximos progressus fecerint maximis honoribus afficiuntur, secundus honoris gradus militibus assignatur postremi ordinis mechanicis doctorum hominum Iudicijs in altiorum locū quis (que) praefertur, & qui à plurimis approbatur, ampliares in repub. dignitates consquitur. Qui in hoc examine primas habet, insigni per totam vitam dignitate insignitur, marchioni similis, aut duci apud nos. except they be sufficiently qualified for learning, manners, and that by the strict approbation of deputed examinators, Cedant arma togae. first Schollers to take place, then Souldiers, & he that inuents any thing for publike good in any art or science, writes any treatise, or performes any noble exploit at home or abroad, Ad regendam rempub soli literati admittuntur, nec ad eam rem gratiâ magistratuum aut regis indigent, omnia ab exploratâ cuius (que) scientia & virtute pendent. Riccius lib. 1. cap. 5. shall be accordingly inriched, In defuncti locum eum iussit subrogari qui inter maiores virtute reliquis praeiret non fuit apud morta'es vllū excellentius certamen aut cuius victoria magis essèt expetenda; non enim inter celeres celerrimo non inter rebustos Robustissimo, &c. Nullus mendicus apud Sinas, nemini san [...] quamuis oculis turbatus sit, mendicare permitiitur, omnes pro viribus laborare coguntur, caeci molis trusatilibus versandis addicuntur, soli hospitiis gaudent, qui ad labores sunt inepti, Osor, li. 11. de reb. gest Emanuelis. Hemingius de regno Chinae lib. 1 cap. 3. Gotardus Arthus Oriental, Ind. descript. honoured, and preferred.
I will suffer no x Beggars, Rogues, Vagabonds, or idle persons, that cannot giue an account of their liues, If they be impotent, lame, blind, they shall be sufficiently maintained in Hospitalls built for that purpose, and highly rewarded for their good seruice they haue formerly done, if able, they shall be inforced to worke. For I see no reason ( Quae haec iniustitia vt nobilis quispiam aut faenerator qui nihil agat, lautam & splendidam vitam agat, otio & delitijs, quum interim auriga, faber, agricola quo respub. carere non potest, vitam adeo miseram ducat, vt peior quam iumentorum sit eius conditio. Iniqua Respub. 'quae dat parasitis, adulatoribus, inanium voluptatum artificibus, generosis & etiosis tanta munera prodigit, at cōtra agricolis, carbonarijs, aurigis, fabris, &c. nihil prospicit, sed eorum abusa labore florentis aetatis fame penset & [...]rumnis. Morus Vtop. lib. 2. as he said) why an Epicure or idle drone, a rich glutton, an vsurer, should liue at ease and doe nothing, and liue in honour, in all maner of pleasures [Page 60] and oppresse others, when as in the meane time a poore laborer, a smith, a carpenter, an husbandman that hath spent his time in continuall labour, as an Asse to carry burdens, to doe the commonwealth good, and without-whom we cannot liue, shall bee lef [...] in his old age to begge or starue, and lead a miserable life, worse then a iument. As In Segouia nemo otiosus nemo mendicus nisi per aetatem aut morbum opus sasere non po [...]est nulli deest vnde victum quaerat aut quo se exerceat. Cyprianus Echouius Delit. Hispaniae, nullus Geneuae otiosus ne septennis puer, Paulus Henzner Itiner. all conditions shall bee tied to their taske, so none shall be ouer tired, but all shall haue their set times of recreations and Holidaies, indulgere Genio euen to the meanest artificer, or basest seruant, once a weeke to sing or dance, or doe whatsoeuer he shall please, like those Saturnalls in Rome, as well as his master, murder, adultery, shall be punished by death, Pa [...]peres non peccant quum extrema necessitate coacti rem alienam capiunt Ma [...]donat, summula quaest. 8. art. 3. Ego cum illissentio, qui licere putant à diniteclam accipere, qui tenetur pauperi subnenire. Emanuel Sa. Aphor. confess. but not theft, except it be some more greuous offence, or notorious offenders.
No man shall marry vntill he Aliter Aristoteles a man at 25. a woman at 30. Polit. be 25, no woman till shee be 20. Lex olim Lycurgi bodie Chinensium, vide Plutarchum, Riccium, Hemingium, Arniseum, Neuisanum & alios, de hac quaestione. nisi aliter dispensatum fuerit, and because many families are exhaust and vndone by great dowres, Apud Lacones olim virgines sine dote nubebant. Boter, Lib. 3. c 3. none shall be giuen at all, or very little, and that by superuisers rated, they that are fowle shall haue a greater portion, if faire none at all, or very little, Lege cautum non ita pridem apud Venetos ne quis patritius dotem excederet 1500 coronatorum. howsoeuer not to exceed such a rate as those superuisers shall thinke fit. And when once they come to those yeares, pouerty shall hinder no man from marriage, or any other respect, Buxdorsius Sinagog. Ind. sic Judei Leo Afer Africa descript ne sint aliter incontinentes, ob reipub. bonum. Vt Augustus Caesar orat, ad coelibes Romanos olim edocuit. but all shall rather be inforced then hindred. Morbo laborans qui in prolem facile diffunditur ne genus humanum foeda contagione ledatur, iuuentute castratur, muliere tales procul à consortio virorum ablegantur &c. Hector [...]oethius hist. lib. 1. de veterum Scotorum moribus. Except they be deformed, infirme [...]or visited with some greeuous haereditary disease, in body or minde, in such cases vpon a great paine, or mulct, man or woman shall not marry, other order shall be taken for them, if people ouer abound, they shall be eased Vt olim Romani, Hispani hodie, &c. by colonies.
Riccius lib. 1. cap. 5. De sinarum expedit. fro Hispani cogunt Mauros arma deponere. No man shall weare weapons in any citty. The same attire [Page 61] shall be kept, and that proper to seuerall callings, by which they shall be distinguished.
I will haue no priuate Monopolies, waights & measures the same throughout, and those rectified by the Prim. Mob. & Suns motion, threescore miles to a degree according to obseruation, 1000 geometricall pases to a mile, 5 foot to a pace, 12 inches to a foot, &c. and from measures knowne it is an easie matter to rectifie waights, &c. to cast vp all and resolue bodies by Algebra, Stereometry. sed quo feror hospes? To prosecute the rest would require a volume. Manum de Tabella, I haue beene ouer tedious in this subiect, I could haue here willingly ranged, but these straights wherein I am included, will not permit.
From Commonwealths and citties, I will descend to families, which haue as many coarsiues & molestations, as frequent discontents as the rest. Great affinity there is betwixt a Politicall and Oeconomicall body, as they haue both likely the same period, as Lib. 4. de rep. cap 2. Bodin holds, offiue or six hundred yeares so many times they haue the same meanes of their vexation and ouerthrowes, as namely riot, a common ruine of both, riot in building, riot in profuse spending, riot in apparell, &c. be it what kinde soeuer, it produceth the same effects. Camden in Cheshiere. A Chorographer of ours speaking obiter of ancient families, why they are so frequent in the North, continue so long, and are so soone extinguished in the South, and so few; giues no other reason but this, luxus omniae dissipauit, riot hath consumed all. Fine cloaths and curious buildings came into this Island, as he notes in his annalls, not so many yeares since, non sine dispendio hospitalitatis, to the decay of hospitality. Howbeit many times that word is mistaken, and vnder the name of Bounty and Hospitality; is shrowded Riot, & prodigality, and that which is commendable in it selfe well vsed, is now become by his abuse the bane and vtter ruine of many a noble family. For many a man liues like the rich glutton, consuming himselfe and his substance by continuall feasting & inuitations, like Iliad. 6. lib. Axilon in Homer, keeps open house [Page 62] for all commers, giuing entertainment to all that visit him, Vid. Puteani Comum. Goclenium de portentosis caenis nostrorum temporum. keeping a table beyond his meanes, and a company of idle seruants, he is blowne vp on a suddaine, and as Actaeon was by his hounds, deuoured by his kinsmen, friends and multitude of followers. Mirabile dictuest quantum obsoniorum vna domus singulis diebus absumat ste [...]nuntur mensae in omnes pene horas calentibus semper eduliis descript. Britainie. It is a wonder, what Paulus Iouius relates of our northerne countries, what an infinite deale of meat we consume on our tables; that I may truely say tis not bounty, not hospitality, as it is often abused, but riot in excesse and prodigality, it brings in debt, want and beggery, hereditary diseases, consumes their fortunes, and ouerthrowes the good temperature of their bodies. To this I might here well adde their inordinate expence in building, those phantasticall houses, turrets, walks, parkes, &c. gaming, excesse of pleasure, & that prodigious riot in apparell, by which meanes they are compelled to giue vp house, and creep into holes. But o [...] this elsewhere. As it is in a mans body, if either head, heart, stomacke, liuer, spleane, or any one part bee misaffected, all the rest suffer with it, so is it with this Oeconomicall body. If the head be naught, a spendthrift, a drunkard, a whoremaster, a gamester, how shall the family liue at ease? Adelph. act. 4. sc, 7. Ipsa si cupiat salus seruare prorsus non potest hanc familiam, as Demea said in the comedy, safety her selfe cannot saue it. A good honest painefull man many times hath a shrew to his wife, a sickly, dishonest, a slothfull, foolish, carelesse woman to his wife, a prowd peeuish flurt, a liquorish prodigall Queane, and by that meanes all goes to ruine: or if they differ in nature, he is thrifty, she spends all, he wise, she sottish & soft, what agreement can there be, what friendship? Like that of the thrush and Swallow in Aesope. Insteed of mutuall loue, kinde compellations, whore and thiese is heard, they fling stooles at one anothers heads. Amphit: Plauti. Quae intemperies vexat hanc familiam? All enforced marriages commonly produce such effects, or if on their behalfes all be well, man and wife agree well together, they may haue disobedient vnruly children, that take il courses to disquiet them, Paling Filius aut fur. their sonne is a theese, daughter a whore, C [...]tus cum mure duo galli simulin aede & glotes binae nunquam viuunt sine lite. a step-mother, or a daughter in law distempers all, Res augusta domi. or else [Page 63] for want of meanes, many tortures arise, debts, dues, fees, dowries, legacies to be paid, by meanes of which they haue not where withall to maintaine themselues in that pompe as their predecessors haue done, or bring vp or bestow their children to their callings, to their birth and quality, When pride and beggery meete in a family they roar and howle, & cause as many flashes of discontents, as fire and water when they meet make! thunder claps in the skies. & will not descend to their present fortunes. Often times too, to aggrauate the rest concurre many other inconueniences, vnthankfull friends, bad neighbours, negligent seruants, casualties, taxes, mulcts, losse of stocke, enmities, emulations, losses, suretiship, sicknesse, death of friends, and that which is the gulfe of all, improuidence, ill husbandry, disorder and confusion, by which meanes they are drenched on a sudden in their estates, and at vnawares precipitated insensibly, into an inextricable labyrinth of ca [...]es, woes, want, griefe, discontent, and melancholy it selfe.
I haue done with families, and will now briefly run ouer some few sorts and conditions of men. The most secure, happy, Iouiall and merry in the worlds esteeme, are Princes and great men, free from melancholy, but for their cares, miseries suspitions, Iealosies and discontents. I referre you to Xenophous Tyrannus, where king Hieron discourseth at large with Simonides the Poet, of this subiect. Of all others they are most troubled with perpetuall feares, anxieties, insomuch, that as he said in Lib. 7. cap. 6. Valerius, if thou knewest with what cares and miseries this robe were stuffed, thou wouldest not stoope to take it vp. Or put case they be secure and free frō feares and discontents, yet they are void Pellitur in bellis sapientia, vigeritur res. of reason too oft, and precipitate in their actions, read all our histories, & what is the subiect, Stultorum regum & populorum continet aestus. How mad they are, how furious, and vpon small occasions, rash and inconsiderate in their proceedings, euery pag [...] almost will witnesse, delirant reges, plectuntur Achiui.
Next in place, next in miseries and discontents, in all maner of harebraine actions are great men, procul à Ioue procul à fulmine, the neerer the worse. If they liue in Court they are vp and downe, ebbe and flowe with their Princes fauours, [Page 64] Ingenium vultu stat (que) cadit (que) su [...], now aloft to morrow down Lib. 5. hist. Rom. Similes abaculorum calculis secundum computantis arbitrium modo aerei sunt modo aurei ad nutum regis nunc beati sunt nunc miseri as Polybius describes them, like so many casting counters now of gold, to morrow of siluer, that vary in worth as the computant will, now they stand for vnits, to morrow for thousands, now before all and anon behinde. Beside they torment one another with mutuall factions, emulations: one is ambitious, another enamored, a third in debt, ouerrunnes his fortunes, aerumnosi (que) Solones. In Sa 3 a 4 th sollicitous with cares, &c. But for these mens discōtents anxieties, I referre you to Lucians Tract, de mercede conductis De miser. curialium. Aeneas Sylvius, Agrippa, and others.
Of Philosophers and Schollers, I haue already spoken in generall termes, those superintendents of wit and learning, & Minions of the Muses. — 1. Dousa epid. lib. 1. car. 13. mentem (que) habere queis b [...]nam
Et esse Hoc cognomento cohonestati Romae qui cat [...]ros mortales sapie [...]iá praest [...] rent tesis Plin. lib. 7. cap. 31. corculis datum est. — Insanire parant certa ratione modo (que) mad by their book they Those acute and subtile Sophisters so much honored, haue as much need of Hellebor as others. Read Lucians Piscator, and tell how hee esteemed them? Agrippas tract of the vanity of sciences, nay read their own works, their absurd Tenents, prodigious paradoxes, & risum teneatis amici? you shall finde that of Aristotle true, nullum magnum ingenium fine mixtura dementiae, they haue a worme as well as others. And they that teach others wisdome, patience, meeknesse, are the veriest disards, harebraines and most discontent. Solomon. In the multitude of wisdome is griefe, & he that increaseth wisdome, increaseth sorrow. I need not quote mine author, they that laugh and contemne others, and condemne the world of folly, are as ridiculous, and lie as open as any other. Communis i [...]risor stultitiae. Democritus that common flowter of folly, was ridiculous himselfe; and barking Menippus, scoffing Lucian, satyricall Lucilius, Petronius, Varro, Persius, &c. may bee censured as well as others. Bale, Erasmus, Hospinian, Viues, explode as a vast Ocean of Obs and Sols. Schoole diuinity, Wit whether wilt [...] A labyrinth of intricable questions, vnprofitable contentions. If diuinity be so censured, and corculum Theologiae Thomas himselfe, what shall become of humanity? Ars stulta, what can she plead? What can her followers say fo [...] themselues. Much learning [...]. cere-diminuit-brum. hath crackt their [Page 65] sconce, and taken such root, that tribus Antyceris caput insanibile, Hellebor it selfe can doe no good. Rhetoritians, Orators can perswade other men what they will, quo volunt vnde volunt, moue, pacifie, &c. but cannot settle their owne braines. Lib. 2 ca. 13. multo anbelitu iactatione furentes pectus, frontem caedentes &c. Fabius esteemes no better of most of them, either in speech, action, gesture, then as men beside themselues. In Naugerio. Fracastorius a Poet himselfe, freely grants all Poets to bee mad, and so doth Sifuror sit Lyaeus &c quoties furit, furit, furit, amans, bibēs, & Poeta, &c. Scaliger and who doth not: aut insanit homo, aut versus facit, Hor. Sat. 7. l. 2. You may giue that cē sure of them in generall, which S r. Tho. Moore once did of Germanus Brixius Poemes in particular. ‘— vehuntur In rate stultitiae, syluan habitant Furiae.’ Budeus in an Epistle of his to Lupsetus, will haue Ciuill Law to be the Tower of wisedome, another honours Physicke the Quintescence of nature, a third rumbles them both downe, and sets vp the flagge of his owne peculiar science. Your supercilious Critickes Notemakers, Antiquaries find out all the ruines of wit amongst the rubbish of old writers, Morus vtop. lib. 1. Pro stultis habent nisi aliquod sufficiant invenire, quod in aliorum scriptis vertant vitio, all fooles with them that cannot finde fault, they correct others, and are hote in a cold cause, puzzell themselues to finde out how many streetes in Rome, houses, gates, towres, &c. what clothes the Senators did weare ìn Rome, what shooes, how they sate, where they went to the closestoole, how many dishes in a messe; what sauce: which for the present for an historian to relate is very ridiculous, is to them most precious elaborate stuffe, & they admired for it, Quosuis authores absurdis commentis suis percacant & stercorant one saith, they bewray and daube a company of bookes & good Authors with their absurd Comments, a company of foolish Notemakers, that with their deleatur d. alij legūt sic, meus codex sic habet &c. make bookes deare, themselues ridiculous, and doe no body good. But I dare say no more of, for, with, or against them, because I am liable to their lash as well as the rest.
That Delirus & amens dicatur merito, Hor. Seneca. louers are mad I thinke no man will denie, Amare [Page 66] simul & sapere ipsi Ioui non datur, Iupiter himselfe cannot intend both at once, Ovid. met. Non benè conueniunt, nec in vnâ sede morantur, maiest as & amor. Tully when he was inuited to a second marriage, replied he could not, simul amare & sapere, he could not doe both together. Plutarchus Amatorio. est amor insanus Est orcus ille, vis est immedicabilis, est rabies insana, loue is madnesse, a hell, an incurable disease, unpotentem & insanam libidinem, Epist. 39. Seneca calles it, an impotent and raging lust. I shall dilate this subiect apart, in the meane time let louers sigh out the rest.
Syluae nuptialis lib. 1 num. 11 omnes mulieres vt plurimū stultae. Neuisanus the Lawier holds it for an axiome, most womē are fooles, Seneca men, I could cite more proofes and a better Author, but for the present let one foole point at another. Lib. 4 num. 11 sapientia & diuitiae vix simul possideri possunt. Neuisanus hath as hard an opinion of They get their wisdome by eating piecrust some. richmen, wealth and wisedome cannot dwell together, stultitiam patiuntur opes, [...]. opes quid [...]m mortalibus sunt amentia. Theogonis. and they doe commonly infatuare cor hominis, besot men, and as we see it, fooles haue fortune. For besides a naturall contempt of learning, which accompanies such kind of men, and all artes which should excolere mentem, polish the mind, they haue most part some gullish humour or other, by which they are led, one is an Epicure, an Atheist, a gamester, a third a whoremaster, Insanagulae, Insanae substructiones insanum venandi studi um discordia demens. Aene. Virg. one is mad of hawking, hunting, cocking, another of carousing, horseriding, spending: a fourth of building, fighting, &c. Insanit veteres statuas Damasippus emendo. Damasippus hath a humour of his owne, to be talkt of. Heliod. insanus Carthaginensis ad extremum orbis sarcophago testamento me hoc iussi condier & vt viderem an quis insanior ad me visendum vsque ad haec loca penetraret. Ortelius in Gad. Heliodorus the Carthaginian another. In a word, as Scaliger concludes of them all, they are statuae erectae stult [...]tiae, the very statues or pillers of folly. Choose out of all stories, him that hath beene most admired, Alexander a worthy man but furious in his anger, ouertaken in drinke; Caesar and Scipio valiant and wise, but vaine glorious, ambitious: Vespatian a worthy Prince, but couetous. Liuye. Ingentes virtutes, ingentia vitia. Hannibal as hee had mightie vertues, so had he many vices, as Machiauell of Cosmus Medices, he had two distinct persons in him, I will determine of all, they are like double pictures, they are wise [Page 67] on the one side, and fooles on the other. I will say nothing of their diseases, emulations and such miseries, let pouertie plead the rest in Aristophanes Plutus.
Couetous men amongst the rest are most mad, c they haue all the Symptomes of Melancholy, feare, sadnesse, suspition, &c. as shall be proued in his proper place. Danda est Hellebori multo pars maxima auaris, I might say the like of angry, peeuish, enuious, Hor. Quisquis ambitione mala aut argenti pallet amore, quisquis luxuria tristique superstitione. ambitious, pers. Anticyras melior sorbere meracas. Epicures; Atheists, Schismatikes, Heretikes, hi omnes habent imaginationem laesam, saith Orat. de Imag. ambitiosus & audax nauiget Antic [...]ras. Nymannus, & their madnesse shall be euident. 2. Tim. 3.9.
Cap. de alienat. mentis. Foelix Platerus is of opinion, all Alcumists are mad, out of their wits, Dipnosophist. lib. 8. Athenaeus saith as much of Fidlers, dance [...]s, Tibicines mente capti Erasmus Chil. 4. cent. 7. Musitions, omnes Tibicines insaniunt, vbi semel esslant, auolaet illico mens, in comes Musicke at one eare, out goes wit at another. Proud and vaineglorious persons are certainly mad. and so are Brou. 30. Insana libido. hic rogo non furor est non est haec mentula demens Mart epig. 74. lib. 3. lasciuious, I can feele their pulses beat hither, horne mad some of them, to let other lie with their wiues, & winke at it.
To insist Mille puellarum & puerorum mille furores. in all particulars, were an Herculean taske, to Vter est insanior horum Hor. Ouid. Virg. Pli. reckon vp insanas substructiones, insanos labores; mad labours, endeuours, carriages, ridiculous actions, gestures, insanam gulam, insaniam villarum, insana iurgia, as Tully tearmes them: madnesse of villages, hypocrisie, inconstancy &c. braules, contentions, would aske an expert Vesalius to anatomise euery member. Shall I say? Iupiter himselfe, Apollo, Mars, &c. doted, and monster-conquering Hercules that could subdue the world and help others, could not relieue himselfe in this, but mad hee was at last. And where shall a man walke, conuerse, with whom, in what Prouince, Citty, not meet with Segnior Deliro, or Hercules Furens, Maenades & Corybantes? Their speeches say no lesse. Ouid. 7. met. E fungis nati homines, vt olim Corinthi primeni illius: loci accolae, quia stolidi & fatui fungis nati dicebantur, idem & alibi dicas. E fungis nati homines, or els they fetched their pedegree frō those that were strooke by Sampson with the Iawbone of an asse. Or from Deucalion & Pyrrha's stones, for Durum genus sumus, we are too stony hearted, and sauour too much of the [Page 68] stocke, as if they had all heard that inchanted horne of Astolpho that English Duke in Ariosto, which neuer sounded but all his Auditors were mad, & for seare ready to make away themselues; Arianus periplo maris Euxini, portus cius meminit. & Gillius [...] h. 3. de Bospher. Thracio & laurus insana quae allata inconuiuium conuiuas omnes insaná affecit. Guliel. Stukius coment, &c. or landed in that mad hauen in the Euxine Sea of Daphnis insana, all mad. Whom shall I except? Stoikes? Sapiens Stoicus, and he alone is subiect to no perturbations, neuer dotes, neuer mad, neuer sad, drunke, because vertue cannot be taken away as Illum contendunt non iniuriâ affici non insamiâ non inebriari quia virtus non eripitur ob constantes comprehensiones Lipsius psys. Stoic. lib. 3. diffi. 18. Zeno holdes, by reason of a strong apprehension, but he was mad to say so. Tarreus Hebus epig. 102. l. 8 Anticyrae coelo huic est opus aut dobebrâ, he had need to be bored, and so had all his fellowes, as wise as they wil seeme to be. Chrysippus himselfe liberally grants them to be fooles, as well as others, at sometimes, vpon some occasions, Amitti virtutem ait per ebrietatem, aut atribilarium morbum, it may be lost by drunkennesse or Melancholy, he may be sometime crased as well as the rest, Hor. ad summum sapiens nisi quum pituita molesta. I should here except that omniscious, only wise fraternitie Fratres sanctae Roseae crucis. of S t Roses Crosse, if at least there be any such: as Hen. An sint quales s [...]nt vnde nomen illud asciuerint. Neuhusius makes a doubt of; and Elias artifex their Theophrastian master; For they are all Solus hic est sapiens alij voli tant velut vmbrae. betrothed to wisedome, if we may beleene their disciples and followers. I must needs except Sapientiae desponsati. Lipsius, and the Pope, and expunge their name out of the Catalogue of fooles. For Lipsius saith of himselfe, that hee was In epist. ad Balthas. Moretum. humani generis quidam poedagogus voce & stilo, a grand Segnior, a Master, a Tutor of vs all, and for thirteene yeeres he bragges, how he sowed wisedome in their Low-countries, Reiectiunculā ad Batauum. cum humanitate literas & sapientiam cum prudentiâ: he shall be Sapientum octavus. The Pope is more then a man, as Felinus cum r [...]li [...]uis. his parasites often make him, a demi-god, and besides he cannot erre: and yet some of them haue bin Magitians, Heretikes, Atheists, and as Platina saith of Iohn the 22. Etsi vir literatus, multa stoliditaetem & leuitatem prae se ferentia egit, stolidi & socordis vir ingenij, a scholler sufficient, yet many things he did foolishly, lightly. I can say no more then, but they are all mad, their wits are euaporated, and as Ariosto faines lib. 34. kept in iarres aboue the Moone.
Conuict fooles and madmen vpon record; and I am afraid past cure: many of them, Plautus Menecisin. crepunt ingenia, the Symptomes are manifest, they are all of Gotam parish: Iu. Sat. 14. Quum furor haud quum sit manifesta phrenesis, what remaines then, Or to send for a cooke to Anticyrae to make Hellebor pottage sett [...]braine pottage. but to send for Lorarios officers to carry them al together for company to Bedlam.
If any man shall aske in the meane time, who I am, that so boldly censure others, tu nullane habes vicia? haue I no faults. Aliquantulū tam en inde me solabor quod vna cum multis & sapientibus & celeberimis viris ipse insipiens sim quod de se Menippus Luciani in Necyomantia Yes more then thou hast whatsoeuer thou art. Nos numerus sumus, I confesse I am as foolish, as mad as any one.
To conclude, this being granted that all the world is Melancholy or mad, dotes, and euery member of it, I haue ended my taske, and sufficiently illustrated that which I tooke vpon me to demonstrate at first. At this present I haue no more to say, His sanā mentē Democritus, I can but wish my selfe, and them a good Physitian, and all of vs a better mind.
And although for these aboue named reasons, I had a iust cause to vndertake this subiect, to point at these particular species of dotage, that so men might acknowledge their imperfections, and seeke to reforme what is amisse, yet I haue a more serious intent at this time, and to omit all impertinent digressions, to say no more of such as are improperly Melancholy, or mataphorically mad, lightly mad, or in disposition: my purpose and endeuour is, in this following discourse to Anatomise this humour of Melancholy, through all his parts and species, as it is an habite or an ordinary disease, and that philosophically, medicinically, to [...] causes, symptomes, and seuerall cures of it, that it may [...] [Page 70] better auoided. Mooued thereunto for the generality of it, and to doe good, it being a disease so frequent, as Haec affectio nostris temporibus frequentissima. Mercurialis obserues in these our dayes, so often happening, saith Cap. 15. de Mel. Laurentius, in our miserable times, as few there are that feele not the smart of it, of the same mind is Aelian Montaltus, De animâ, nostro hoc saeculo morbus frequentissimus. Melancthon, and others. Consult 98. adeo nostris temporibus frequenter ingruit vt nullus fere ab eius labe immunis reperiatur, & omnium fere morborum occasio existat. Iulius Caesar Claudinus calles it the fountaine of all other diseases, and so common in this crased age of ours, that scarce one of a thousand is free from it: and that Hypocondriacall winde especially, which proceedes from the short ribbes. Being then as it is a disease so grieuous, so common, I know not how to do a more generall seruice, and spend my time better, then to prescribe meanes how to preuent and cure so vniuersall a malady, and Epidemicall disease, that so often, so much crucifies the body and mind.
If I haue ouershot my selfe in this which hath bin hitherto said, or that it hath bin, which I am sure some will obiect too light and Comicall for a Diuine, too Satyricall for one of my profession, I will presume to answere with Mor. Encomsi quis calumnietur leuius esse quam decet Theologum, aut mordacius quā deceat Christianum. Erasmus, in like case, 'tis not I, but Democritus, Democritus dixit, you must consider what liberty those old Satyrists haue had, 'tis a Cento collected from others, not I, but they that say it.
If I doe a little forget my selfe, I hope you will pardon it, and to say truth, why should any man be offended, to take exceptions at it?
If any be displeased, or take ought vnto himselfe, let him not expostulate or cauill with him that said it (so did Epist. ad Dorpium de Moria siquispiam offendatur & sibi vindicet, non habet quod expostulet cum eo qui scripsit, ipse si volet, secum agat iniuriā vtpote sui proditor qui declarauit hoc ad se propriè pertinere. Erasmus excuse himselfe to Dorpius, (si parua licet componere magnis) and so do I) but let him be angry with himselfe, that so betraid and opened his owne faults in applying it to himselfe, Siquis se lesum clamabit, aut conscientiam prodit suam aut certè metum. If he be guilty and deserue it, let him amend who euer he is, and not bee [Page 71] angry. He that hateth correction is a foole. Prou. 12.1. If hee be not guilty, it concernes him not, 'tis not my freenesse of speech, but a guilty conscience, a gauled backe of his owne that makes him winch. I denie not this which I haue said sauours a little of Democritus, Hor. Quamvis ridentem dicere verum quid vetat? one may speake in iest, and yet speake truth. Obiect then and cauill what thou wilt, I warde all with Vt lubet feriat, abstergam hos ictus Democriti Pharmaco. Democritus buckler, his medicine shall salue it, strike where thou wilt and when. Democritus dixit, Democritus will answere it. It was written by an idle fellow, at idle times about our t Saturnalian or Dionysian feasts, when as he said nullum libertati periculum est, seruants in old Rome had liberty to say and doe what them list. When our Countrimen sacrificed to their goddesse Rusticorum dea preesse vacantibus & otiosis putabatur cui post labores agricola sacrificabat Plin. li. 3. cap. 12. Ouid. lib. 6. Fast. lam. quo (que) cum fiunt antiquae sacra Vacunae. Ante Vacunales stāt (que) sedent (que) focos. Rosinus. Vacuna, and set turning an apple with a pot of ale and a toste by their Vacunall fires, I writt this and published this. The time, place, persons, and all circumstances apologize for me, & why may I not then be idle with others? speake my mind freely, If you denie me this liberty, vpon these presumptions I will take it: I say againe, I will take it.
No, I recant, I will not, I confesse my fault and acknowledge a great offence, I haue ouershot my selfe, I haue spoken foolishly, rashly, vnaduisedly, absurdly, I haue anatomized mine owne folly. And now me thinkes vpon a sudden I am awaked as it were out of a dreame, I haue had a rauing fit, and ranged vp and downe, in and out, I haue insulted ouer most kind of men, abused some, and offended others, wronged my selfe, and now being recouered, and perceiuing mine error, crie with Ariosto. lib. 39 Staf. 58. Orlando, Soluite me. Pardon that which is past, and I will make you amends in that which is to come; I promise you a more sober discourse in my following Treatise.
If through weakenes, folly, passion, discontent, ignorance, I haue said amisse, let it be forgotten and forgiuen, and to euery priuate man. As z Iu. Caesar Scaliger besought Cardan, Si quid vrbaniuscule lusum à nobis, per deos immortoles te oro [Page 72] Hierom. Cardane ne quid mali de me suspiceris. I beseech him in his words, that he would not mistake me, or thinke amisse. And if hereafter in Anatomising this sirlie humour, my hand slip, and as an vnskilfuil prentise, I launce too deepe, and cut through skinne and all at vnawares; or make it smart, or cut awry, Quas aut iniuria fudit aut humana parum cauit natura. Hor. pardon a rude hand, an vnskilfull knife, 'tis a most difficult thing to keepe an euen hand, a perpetuall tenor, and not sometimes to lash out; difficile est Satyram non scribere, there be so many obiects to diuert, inward perturbations to molest, and the very best may sometimes erre, aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus; it is impossible not in so much to ouershoot: opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum. But what needes all this? I hope there will no such cause of offence be giuen; if there be, I presume of thy good fauour and gratious acceptance, and out of an assured hope and confidence thereof, I will begin.
Lectori malè feriato.
TV vero caueas edico quisquis es, ne temere sugilles authorē huiusce operis, aut cauillator irrideas. Imò ne vel ex aliorum censurâ, tacitè obloquaris (vis dicam verbo) nequid nasutulus ineptè improbes, aut falso fingas. Nam si talis reuera sit, qualom praese fert Iunior, Democritus seniori Democrito saltem affinis, aut eius Genium vel tantillum sapiat; actum de te, censorem aequè ac delatorem Si me commorit me iùs non tangere clamo. Hor. aget econtrâ ( petulanti splene cum sit sufflabit te in iocos, comminuet in sales, addo etiam & Deo Risui te sacrificabit.
Iterum moneo, ne quid cauilleris, ne dum Democritum Iuniorem conuicijs infames, aut ignominiose vituperes, de te non malè sentientem, tu idem audias ab amico cordato, quod olim vulgus Abderitanum ab Hippoc. epist. Damageto, accersitus sum, vt Democritum tanquam insanū curarem, sed postquam conueni non per Iouem desipientiae negotium sed rerum omnium receptaculū deprehendi eius (que) ingenium demiratus sum. Abderitanos vero tanquam non sanos accusaui veratri potione ipsi potius eguisse dicens. Hippocrate, conciuem benè meritum & popularem suum Democritum, pro insano habens. Ne tu Democrite sapis, stulti autem & insani Abderitae. Mart. Abderitanae Pectora plebis habes. Haec te paucis admonitum volo (malè feriate Lector) abi.
THE SYNOPSIS of the first Partition.
- In Diseases consider.
Sect. 1.
Memb. 1.
- Their Causes
Subsect. 1
- Impulsiue, sinne, concupiscence, &c.
- Instrumentall, intemperance, all second causes, &c.
- or Definition, Member, Diuision,
Subs. 2.
- Of the Body 300, which are
- Epidemicall, as Plague, plica, &c.
- Or Particular, as Gout, Dropsie, &c.
- Or Of the head or minde.
Subs. 3.
- In disposition, as all perturbations, euill affections, &c.
- Or Habits as
Subs. 4.
- Dotage.
- Phrensie.
- Madnesse.
- Extasie.
- Lycanthropia.
- Chorus sancti Viti.
- Hydrophobia.
- Possession or obsession of Diuels.
- Melancholy. See ♈.
- Of the Body 300, which are
- Their Causes
Subsect. 1
-
[Page]♈ Melancholy, in which consider.
- Its Aequiuocations, in Disposition, improper, &c. Subs. 5.
-
Memb. 2, To its explication a digression of anatomy in which obserue parts of
Subs. 1.
- Body hath parts
Subs. 2.
- Contained as
- Humours 4. blood, fleame, &c.
- Spirits, vitall, naturall, animall,
- Or Containing
- Similar, spermaticall, or flesh, bones, nerues, &c. Subs. 3.
- Dissimular, braine, heart, liuer, &c, Subs 4.
- Contained as
- Or Soule and his faculties, as
- Vegetall. Subs. 5.
- Sensible. Subs. 6.7.8.
- Rationall. Subs. 9.10.11.
- Body hath parts
Subs. 2.
-
Memb. 3.
- Its Definition, name, difference, Subs. 1.
- The part and parties affected, affection, &c. Subs. 2.
- The matter of melancholy, naturall, vnnatural, &c. Subs. 4.
- Species or kinds which are
- Proper to parts, as Of the head alone, Hypocondriacall, or windy melancholy. Of the whole body. with their seuerall causes, symptomes, prognosticks, cures.
- Or Indefinite, as Loue melancholy, the subiect of the thirde Partition.
- Its Causes in generall. Sect. 2. A.
- Its Symptomes or signes. Sect. 3. B.
- Its Prognosticks or Indications. Sect. 4.4.
- Its Cures, the subiect of the second Partition.
-
[Page]A
Sect. 2, Causes of Melancholy are either
- Generall, as
Memb. 1.
- Supernaturall.
- As from God immediatly, or by second causes, Subs. 1
- Or from the Diu ell immediatly, with a Digression of the nature of Diuells. Subs 2.
- Or mediatly by Magitians, Witches. Subs. 3.
- Or Naturall
- Primary as starres, p [...]oued by Aphorismes. Signes from Phisiognomy, Metoposcopy, Chiromancy, Subs. 4.
- or Secundary, as
- Congenit inward from
- Old age, Temperament, Sub. 5.
- Parents, it being an hereditary disease. Subs. 6.
- or Outward or adventitious which are
- Euident, outward, remote, aduē titious, as
- Necessary, see ♉.
- Or Not necessary as
M. 4.
Sect. 2.
- Nurses, Sub. 1.
- Education, 2.
- Terrors, affrights, 3.
- Scoffes, calū nies, bitter iests, 4.
- Lösse of liberty, seruitude, imprisōmēt. 5
- Pouerty and want. 6.
- An heape of other accidēts death offriēds losse, &c. 7.
- Or Continent Inward, antecedent, nearest.
Memb. 5.
Sect. 2.
- In which the body workes on the mind and this malady is caused by precedent diseases, as agues, pox, &c, or temperature innate, Sub. 1.
- Or by particular parts distempered, as braine, heart, spleen, liuer, Mesentery Pylorus, stomacke, &c. Subs 2.
- Euident, outward, remote, aduē titious, as
- Congenit inward from
- Supernaturall.
- Particular to the three Species. See ♊.
- Generall, as
Memb. 1.
-
[Page]♊ Particular causes.
Sect. 2.
Memb. 5.
- Of head Melancholy are
Subs. 3.
- Inward
- Innate humour, or from distemperature adust.
- A hot braine, corrupt blood in the Braine.
- Excesse of venery or defect.
- Agues or some precedent Disease.
- Fumes arising from the stomacke, &c.
- Or Outward
- Heat of the Sunne immoderate
- A blowe on the head.
- Ouermuch vse of hot wines, spices, garlicke, onyons, hotbaths, ouermuch waking, &c.
- Idlenesse, solitarinesse, or ouermuch study, vehement labour, &c. Passions, perturbations, &c.
- Inward
- Of hypocondriacall or windy melancholy are
- Inward
- Default of spleene, belly, bowels, stomacke, mysentery, meseriack veines liuer, &c.
- Moneths, or hemrods stopt, or any other ordinary Euacuation.
- Or Outward
- Those six non-naturall things abused.
- Inward
- Ouer all the body are
Subs. 5.
- Inward Liuer distempered, stopped, ouer hot, apt to ingender melancholy, Temperature innate.
- Or Outward. Bad diet, suppression of Haemrods &c. and such euacuations, passions, cares &c. those six nonnaturall things abused.
- Of head Melancholy are
Subs. 3.
-
[Page]♉. Necessary causes as those sixe non-naturall things which are.
Sect. 2.
Memb. 2.
- Diet offending in
Subs. 1.
- Substance
- Bread, course and blacke, &c.
- Drinke thicke, thinne, sowre, &c.
- Water vncleane, milke, oyle, vineger, wine, spices, &c.
- Flesh
- Parts, heads, f [...]et, entrals, fat, bacon, blood, &c.
- Kinds Beefe, Porke, Veneson, Hares, Gotes, Pigeons, Peacocks, Fenfoule, &c.
- Hearbs, Fish, &c.
- Of fish, all shell-fish, hard and slimy fish, &c.
- Of hearbs, pulse, cabbage, mellons, garlick, onions, &c.
- Al roots, raw fruits, hard and windy meats.
- Quality as in Preparing, dressing, sharpe sauces, salt meats, Indurate soweed, fried, broyld, all made dishes,
- Quantity.
- Disorder in eating, immoderate eating, or at vnseasonable times, &c. Subs. 2.
- Custome, delight, appetite altered, &c. Subs. 3.
- Substance
- Retention & Evacuation, Sub. 4. Costiuenesse, hot bathes, sweating, issues stopped, Venus in excesse, or in defect, phlebotomy, purging, &c
- Ayre, Hot, cold, tempestuous, darke, thicke, foggy, moorish, &c. Subs. 5.
- Exercise Subs. 6. Vnseasonable, excessiue, or defectiue of body or minde, solitarinesse, idlenesse, a life out of action, &c.
- Sleepe and waking, vnseasonable, inordinate, ouermuch, ouerlittle, &c. Subsect. 7.
-
[...]emb 3.
Sect. 2 Passions and perturbations of the minde.
Subs. 2. With a digression of the force of imagination.
Sub. 2. and division of passions into
Sub 3.
- la
[...]scible
- Sorrow cause and symptome, Sub. 4.
- Feare cause and symptome, Subs. 5.
- Shame, Repulse, disgrace, &c. Subs. 6.
- Enuy and malice Subs. 7.
- Emulation, hatred, fact on, desire of reuenge. Subs. 8.
- Anger a cause. Subs. 9.
- Discontēts, cares, miseries, &c. Sub. 10.
- or concupiscible
- Vehement desires, ambition, Subs. 11.
- Couetousnes, [...]. Subs. 12.
- Loue of pleasures, gaming in excesse, &c. Subs. 13.
- Desire of praise, pride, vaineglory, &c. Sub. 14.
- Loue of learning, study in excess, with a digression of the misery of Schollers, and why the Muses are melancholy. Subs. 15.
- la
[...]scible
- Diet offending in
Subs. 1.
-
[Page]B. Symptoms of melancholy are either.
Sect. 3.
- Generall as of
Memb. 1.
- Body as ill digestion, crudity, winde, dry braines, hard belly, thicke blood, much waking, heauinesse and palpitation of heart, leaping in many places, &c. Subs. 1.
- or minde
- commòn to all or most Feare and sorrow without a iust cause, suspition, iealosie, discontent, solitarinesse, irksomenesse, continuall cogitations, restles thoughts, vaine imaginations, &c. Subs. 2.
- or Particular to priuate persons according to
Sub. 3. & 4.
- Caelestiall influences, as of ♄. ♃. ♂. &c. parts of the body, heart, braine, liuer, spleen, stomack, &c
- Humours
- Sanguine are merry still, laughing, pleasant, meditating on plaies, women, musicke, &c.
- Phlegmaticke, slothfull, dull, heavy, &c.
- Cholerick, furious, impatient, subiect to heare and see strange apparitions, &c.
- Blacke, solitary, sad, they thinke they are bewitched, dead &c.
- Or mixt of these 4 humours adust, or not adust, infinitely varied, &c.
- Their seueral custōms conditions inclinatiōs, discipline, &c. Ambitious thinks himselfe a kinge, a lord; couetous runnes on his mony; lasciuious on his mistris. Religious hath reuelations, visions, is a Prophet, or troubled in minde. A Scholler on his booke, &c.
- Continuance of time, as the humour is intended or remitted, &c.
- Pleasant at first, hardly descerned, afterwards harsh, and intolerable, if inueterate.
- Hence some make three degrees
- 1. Falsa cogitatio.
- 2. Cogitata loqui.
- 3. Exequi loquuta.
- By fits or continuat as the obiect varies, pleasing, or displeasing.
- Simple, or as it is mixt with other diseases, Apoplexies, gout, Caninus appetitus, &c. so the symptomes are various.
- Particular to the three distinct species. See ♋ Memb. 2.
- Generall as of
Memb. 1.
-
[Page]♋ Particular Symptoms to the three distinct species.
Sect. 3.
Memb. 2.
- Head Melancholy.
Sub. 1.
- In Body Headach, binding, heauinesse, vertigo, lightnesse, singing of the eares, much waking, fixed eyes, high colour, red eyes, hard belly, dry body, no great signe of melancholy in the other parts.
- or In minde Continuall feare, sorrow, suspition, discontent superfluous cares, sollicitude, anxiety perpetuall cogitation of such toyes they are possessed with, thoughts like dreames, &c.
- Hypocondriacall or windy melancholy.
Subs.
[...].
- In Body Winde, rumbling in the guts, belly ake, heat in the bowels, conuulsions, crudities, short wind, sowre and sharp belchings, cold sweat, paine in the left side, suffocation, palpitation, heauines of the heart, singing in the eares, much spittle and moist, &c.
- or In minde. Fearefull, sad, suspitious, discontent, anxiety &c. Lasc [...]uious by reason of much winde, troublesome dreames, affected by sits, &c.
- Ouer al the Body.
Sub. 3
- In Body Blacke, most part leane, broad vaines, grosse, thicke blood, their haemoerodes commonly stopped, &c.
- or In minde Fearefull, sad, solitary, hate light, auerse frō company, fearefull dreames, &c.
- A reason of these symptomes.
Memb. 3.
- Why they are so fearefull, sad, suspitious, without a cause, why solitary, why melancholy men are witty, why they suppose they heare and see strange voices, visions, apparitions.
- Why they prophecie, and speake strange languages, whence comes their crudity, rumbling, convulsions, cold sweat, heauinesse of heart, palpitation, cardiaca, fearefull dreames, much waking, prodigious phantasies.
- Head Melancholy.
Sub. 1.
-
[Page]C Prognosticks of melancholy.
Sect. 4.
- Tending to good as
- Morphew, Scabbes, Itch, Breakings out, &c
- Blacke Iandise.
- If the Hemrods voluntarily open.
- If varices appeare.
- Tending to euill as
- Leanenesse, drinesse, holloweyed, &c.
- Inueterate melancholy is incurable.
- If cold, it degenerats often into Epilepsie, Apoplexie, Dotage, or into Blindnesse.
- If hot, into madnesse, Despaire [...] and violent death.
- Corollaries and questions
- The grieuousnesse of this aboue all other Diseases.
- The diseases of the minde are more grievous then those of the Body
- Whether it be lawfull in this case of melancholy for a man to offer violence to himselfe. Neg.
- How a melancholy or mad man offering violence to himselfe, is to be censured.
- Tending to good as
THE FIRST PARTITION
THE FIRST SECTION.
THE FIRST MEMBER.
THE FIRST SVBSECTION. Mans Excellency, Fall, Miseries, Infirmities. The causes of them.
MAN, Mans Excellency. the most excellent, and most noble creature of the World, the principall and mightie worke of God, and wonder of nature, as Zoroastes calls him, the Magnum miraculum. marvaill of marvaills, as Plato, the Mundi Epitome, natura delitie. Abridgment and Epitome of the World, as Pliny tearmes him, Microcosmus, a little World, a model of the World, Finis rerum omnium cui sublunaria seruiunt Scaliger. exerc. 365. sec. 3. valef. de sacr. Phil. c. 5. Soueraigne Lord of the Earth, and sole Commander and Governour of all the Creatures in it: to whose Empyre they are all subiect in particular, and yeeld obedience, farre surpassing all the rest, not in body only, but in soule, Vt in numismate Caesaris Imago, sic in homine Dei. Imaginis Imago, Gen. 1. created to Gods owne Imago mundi in corpore, Dei in animâ. Exemplum (que) dei quis (que) est in imagine parvâ. Image, to that immortall and incorporeall substance, with all the faculties and powers belonging vnto it, was at first pure, divine, perfect, happy, Ephel. 4.24. Created after God in true holinesse and righteousnesse: Deo congruens, free from all manner of infirmities, and put in Paradise, to knowe God, to praise and glorify him, to doe his will. ‘V [...] dijs consimiles parturiat Deos;’ as an old Poet saith, to propagate the Church. But this most [Page 2] noble creature, Heu tristis & lachrimosa commutatio ( Palanterius. one exclaimes) O pittifull change [...] is falne from that he was, and forfeited his estate, become miserabilis homuncio, a castaway, a caitiffe, one of the most miserable creatures of the World, if he be considered in his owne nature, an vnregenerate man, & so much obscured by his fall (that some few reliques excepted) he is inferiour to a beast. Ps. 49.20. Mans fall and misery. Man in honour that vnderstandeth not is like vnto beasts that perish, so Dauid esteemes him: a monster by a stupend Metamorphosis, Lasciuiâ superat Equum, impudentia canem, astu Vulpem furore Leonem. Chrys. 23. Gen. a Beast, a Dogge, a Hogge, what not? Quantum mutatus ab illo? How much altered from that hee was, before blessed and happy, now miserable accursed: Gen. 3.17. He must eat his meat in sorrow, subiect to death and all manner of infirmities, all kinde of calamities. Ecclus. 40.1 Great trauell is created for all men, and an heauy Yoke on the sonnes of Adam, from the day that they goe out of their mother's wombe vnto that day they returne to the mother of all things. Namely their thoughts, & feare of their hearts, & their imagination of things they wait for, and the day of death. To him that sitteth in the glorious throne, to him that sitteth beneath in earth and ashes, from him that is cloathed in blew silke, and weareth a crowne, to hi [...] that is cloathed in simple linnen. Wrath, enuy, A description of Melancholy. trouble, and vnquietnesse, and feare of death, and rigor, and strife, and such things come to both Man and Beast, but seauenfold to the vngodly. All this befalls him in this life, and peradventure aeternall misery in the life to come.
The impulsiue cause of all these miseries in man, this privation or destruction of Gods Image, Impulsiue cause of mans misery and infirmities. the cause of death and diseases, of all temporall and aeternall punishments, was the sinne of our first parent Adam, Gen. 3.17. in eating of the forbidden fruit, by the Divells instigation and allurement. His disobedience, pride, ambition, intemperance, incredulity, curiosity, from whence proceeded originall sinne, & that generall corruption of mankinde, as from a fountaine flowed all bad inclinations, and actuall transgressions, which cause our several calamities, inflicted vpon vs for our sinnes. And this belike is that which our fabulous Poets haue shadowed vnto vs in [Page 3] the tale of Iila cadens reginen manibus decussit & vna pernitiem immisit miseris mortalibus atr [...]. Hesiod. 1. oper. Pandoras box, which being opened through her curiosity; filled the world full of all manner of Diseases. It is not curiosity alone, but all other crying sinnes of ours which pull these severall plagues and miseries vpon our heads. For Vbi peccatum▪ ibi procella, as H [...]m 5 ad populum Antioch. Chrysostome well obserues. Ps 107.17. Fooles by reason of their transgressions, and because of their ini [...]ities are afflicted. Prov 1▪ 27. Feare commeth like sudden desolation, & destruction like a whirlewind, affliction & anguish because they di not feare God. Quod autem crebrius bellae concutiant, quod sterilitas & fames sollicitudinem cumulent, quod saevientibus morbis valetudo frangitur, quod humanum genus luis populatione vastatur ob peccatum omnia. Cyp. Are you shaken with warres, as Cyprian well vrgeth to Demetrius, are you molested with dearth and famine, is your health crushed with raging diseases? is mankind generally tormented with Epidemicall maladies, t'is all for your sinnes. Haggei the 1.9.10. Amos the 1. Ier. 7. God is angry, punisheth and threatneth, because of their obstinacy & stubburnesse, they will not turne vnto him, Si raro desuper pluvia descendat, si terra situ pulveris squaleat, si vix [...]eiunas & pallidas herbas sterilis gleba producat, si turbo vineam debilitet &c. Cyprian. If the earth be barren then for want of raine, if dry and squalid, it yeeld no fruit, if your fountaines be dryed vp, your wine, corne, and oyle blasted, if the ayre be corrupted, and men troubled with diseases, tis by reason of your sinnes. Which like the blond of Abel cry lowd to Heaven for vengeance, Lament. Ier. cap. 5.15. that wee haue sinned, therefore our hearts is heauy, Isay. 59.11.12. VVee roare like Beares, and mourne like Doues, and want health, &c. for our s [...]nes and trespasses. But this we cannot endure to heare, or to take notice of it. Ier. 2.30. We are smitten in vaine, and receaue no correction. & cap. 5.3. Thou hast striken them, but they haue not sorrowed, they haue refused to receaue correction, they haue not returned. Mar. 14.3. Herod could not abide Iohn Baptist, and Philostratus lib. 8 Vit. Apollonij iniustitiam eius, & sceleratas nuptias & caetera quae praeter rationem fecerat morborum causas dixi [...]. Domitian could not endure Apollonius tell the causes of the plague at Ephesus, his iniustice, his incest, adultery, and the like.
To punish therefore this blindnesse, and obstinacy of ours as a concomitant cause and principall agent, is Gods iust iudgement in bringing these calamities vpon vs, to chastise vs, I say, for our sinnes, and to satisfie Gods wrath. For the law requires obedience or punishment, as you may read at [Page 4] large, Deut. 28.15. If they will not obey the Lord, and keepe his Commandements and Ordinances, then all these curses shall come vpon them. 16. Cursed in the towne and in the field &c. 18. Cursed in the fruit of thy body &c. 20. The Lord shall send thee trouble and shame, because of thy wickednesse. And a little after, Vers. 17. The Lord shall smite thee with the botch of Aegypt, and with Emrods, and with Scab and Itch, and thou canst not be healed. 28. Deus quos diligit castigat. And with madnesse, blindnesse, and astonishing of heart. This Paul seconds. Rom. 2.9. Tribulation and anguish on the soule of euery man that doth euill. Or else these chastisements are inflicted vpon vs for our humiliation, to exercise and trie our patience here in this life, to bring vs home, to make vs knowe God & our selues, to informe vs, and teach vs wisdome. Isay. 5.13. Ver 15. Therefore is my people gone into captiuity, because they had no knowledge, therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against this people, & he hath stretched out his hand vpon them. He is desirous of our salvation, Nostre salutis auidus continetèr aures vellicat, ac calamitate subinde nos exercet L [...]uinus Lemn. l. 2. c. 29. de occult. nat. mir. Nostrae salutis auidus, saith Lemnius, and for that cause pulls vs by the eare many times, to put vs in minde of our duties. Vexatio dat intellectum. Isay. 28.13. That they that erred might haue vnderstanding (as Isay speakes 29.21. and so bee reformed. I am afflicted and at the point of death, as Dauid confesseth of himselfe, Psal. 88.15. & ver. 9. mine eyes are sorrowfull through mine affliction. And that made him turne vnto God. Great Alexander in the midst of all his prosperity, and by a company of Parasites deified, and now made a God, when he saw one of his wounds bleed, remembred that he was but a man, and remitted of his pride, In morbo recolligit se animu [...], as Lib. 7 [...] cum iuditio [...] & facta recog [...] cit & se intuetur. Dum fero lenguorem fero religionis amorē, expers languoris non sum, memor huius amoris. Pliny well perceaued, In sicknesse the minde reflects vpon it selfe, and with iudgement suruayes it selfe, and abhorres his former courses , insomuch that he concludes to his frend Marius, Summum esse totius Philosophiae, vt tales esse perseueremus, quales nos futures esse infirmi profitemur. that it were the period of al Philosophy, if we could so continue being sound, or performe but [...] of that which we promised to doe being sicke. Who so is wis [...] [...]hen will consider those things, as Dauid did, Ps. 1 44. vers. last. And whatsoever fortune befall him, make vse of it. If he be in sorrow, need, sicknesse, or any other adversity, seriously to consider with himselfe, why this or that malady, misery, [Page 5] this or that incurable disease is inflicted vpon him; it may be for his good, Petrarch. sic expedit, as Peter said of his daughters ague. Bodily sicknesse is for his soules health, perijsset nisi perijsset, had he not beene visited, he had vtterly perished Prov. 3.12. for the Lord correcteth him whom he loueth, euen as a father doth his child in whome he delighteth. If he be safe and sound on the other side, and free from all manner of infirmity, Hor. epist. lib. 1.4. & cui
Yet in the middest of all his prosperity, let him remember that Caveat of Moyses, Deut. 8.11. Qui stat videas necadat. beware that he doe not forget the Lord his God, that he be not puffed vp, but acknowledge them to be his good gifts and benefits, and vse them aright.
Now the instrumentall causes of these our infirmities, Instrumentall cause of our infirmities. are as diverse, as the infirmities themselues, starres, heauens, elements, &c. and all those creatures which God hath made, are armed against sinners. They were indeed once good in themselues, and that they are now many of them pernicious vnto vs, is not in their nature, but our corruption, which hath caused it. For from the fall of our first parent Adam, they haue beene changed, the earth accursed, the influence of starres altered, the foure elements, Beasts, Birds, Plants, are now ready to offend vs. The principall things for the vse of man is Water, Fire, Iron, Salt, Meale, Wheate, Hony, Milke, Oyle, Wine, Cloathing, good to the Godly, to the Sinners turned to euill. Ecclus 39.26. Fire, and Haile, and Famine, and Death, all these are created for vengeance, Ecclus 39.29. The Heauens threaten vs with their Comets, Starres, Planets, with their great coniunctions, Ecclipses, oppositions, quartiles, and such vnfriendly aspects. The aire with his Meteors, Thunder and Lightning, intemperate heat and cold, mighty windes, tempests, vnseasonable weather; from which proceeds, dearth, famine, plague, and all manner of Epidemicall diseases; consuming infinite myrriads of men. As at Cairo in Egypt every [Page 6] third yeare, it is related by Boterus de In: vrbium. Boterus and others, 300000. of the plague, and 200000. in Constantinople, every fift or seaventh at the vtmost. How doth the earth terrifie & oppresse vs with those terrible Earthquaks, which are most frequent in Lege hist relationem Lod. Frois de rebus Iaponicis. ad annum 1596. China, Iapan, and those Easterne Climes, swallowing vp sometimes 6. Citties at once. How doth the water rage with his inundations, irruptions, flinging downe Townes, Citties, Villages, Bridges, &c. beside shipwracks, whole Ilands are sometimes suddenly overwhelmed with al their inhabitants, as in Guicciard. descrip. Belg. anno 14▪21. Zeland, Holland, & many parts of the continent drowned, as the Giraldus Cambrens. lake Ern [...] in Ireland. Ianus Dousa ep. lib. 1. car. 10. Nihil (que) praeter arcium cadauera patenti cernimus freto. How doth the fire rage that mercilesse element? Consuming in an instant whole Citties. What towne of any antiquity or note, hath not beene once, againe and againe, by the fury of this mercilesse element defaced, vtterly ruinated, and left desolate. To descend to more particulars, how many creatures are at deadly fuid with mē? Lions, Wolues, Beares, &c. Some with Hoofes, Hornes, Tusks, Teeth, Tailes: How many noxious Serpents and venomous creatures, ready to offend vs with stings, breath, sight, or quite kill vs? How many pernitious fishes, plants, gammes, fruits, seeds, flowers, &c. could I reckon vp on a s [...]ddaine, which by their very smell many of them, to [...]ch, tast, ca [...]se some grievous m [...]lady, if not death it selfe. Some make mention of a thousand severall poysons: but these are but trifles in respect. The greatest enemy to man, is man himselfe, Homo homini lupus, homo homini demon. who by the Divells instigation, is still ready to doe mischiefe to himselfe and others, his owne executioner, a Wolfe, a Divell to himselfe, and others. Sometimes by the Divells helpe, as Magitians, Miscent oconita nouercae. Witches: sometimes by impostures, mixtures, poysons, stratagemmes, single cumbats, warres. We hacke and hew one another, as if we were ad inter [...]ionem [...]ti, like C [...]dmu [...] souldiers borne to consume one another. T'is an ordinary thing to read of an 100000, and two hundred thousand men sla [...]ne in a battaile. Besides all ma [...]r of tortures, br [...]sen bulls, racks, wheeles, strappadoes, [Page 7] gunnes, enginnes, &c. Lib. 2. epist. 2. ad Donatum. Ad vnum corpus humanum supplicia plura, quam membra. Wee haue invented more torturing instruments, then there be severall members in a mans body, as Cyprian well obserues. To come neerer yet, our own parents by their offences, indiscretion, and intemperance are our mortall enemies. Ezech. 18.2. The fathers haue eaten sower grapes, & the childrens teeth are set on edge. They cause our griefe many times, and put vpon vs haereditary diseases, ineuitable infirmities: They torment vs, and wee are as ready to iniure our posteritie.— Hor lib. 3. Od. 6. mox daturi progeniem viciosiorem, & the latter ende of the world, as 2. Tim. 3.2. Paule foretold, is still like to bee worst. We are thus bad by nature, bad by kinde, but farr worse by art, every man the greatest enemy vnto himselfe. We study many times to vndoe our selues, abusing those good gifts which God hath bestowed vpon vs, Health, Wealth, Strength, Wit, Learning, Art, Memory, to our owne destruction, Ezech. 18.31. Perditio tua ex te. As Macc. 3.12. Iudas Machabeus killed Apollonius friends with his owne weapons, we arme our selues to our owne ouerthrowes, and vse Reason, Art, Iudgment, all that should helpe vs, as so many instruments to vndoe vs. As S. Austin confesseth of himselfe in his humble Confessions, promptnesse of Wit, Memory, Eloquence, they were Gods good gifts, but he did not vse them to his glory. If you will particularly know how, and by what meanes, consult Physitians, and they will tell you, that it is in offending in some of those six non-naturall things, of which I shall after Part 1. Sec. 2 Memb. 2. dilate more large; they are the causes of our infirmities, our surseting & drunkennes, our immoderate insatiable lust, & prodigious riot. Plures crapula, quam gladius, it is a true saying, the borde consumes more then the sword. Our intemperance it is, that pulls so many severall incurable diseases vpon our heads, that hastens Nequitia est que te non sinet esse senem. olde age, perverts our temperature, and brings vpon vs sudden death. And last of all, that wuich crucifies vs most, is our owne folly, want of government, our facilitie and pronenesse in yeelding to our several lust, and giving way to euery passion and perturbation of the minde, by [Page 8] which meanes we metamorphize our selues, and degenerate into beasts. As that Homer. Il. Poet obserued of Agamemnon, that when he was well-pleased, and could moderate his passion, he was — os oculos (que) Iovi par: like Iupiter in feature, Mars in valour, Pallas in wisdome. another god; but when he was angry, he was a Lion, a Tiger, a dogge, &c. there was no signe or likenesse of Iupiter in him; so wee, as long as wee are ruled by reason, as long as we correct our inordinate appetite, and conforme our selues to Gods word, are as so many liuing Saints, but if we giue reines to Lust, Anger, Ambition, Pride, and follow our owne wayes, wee degenerate into beasts, transforme our selues, ouerthrow our constitutions, Intemperantia, luxus, Ingluvies, & infinita huiusmodi flagitia, quae divinas poenas merentur. Crato. provoke God to anger, and heape vpon vs this of Melancholy, and all manner of incurable diseases, as a just and deserued punishment of our sinnes.
SVBSEC. 2.
MEMBR 1.
• Definition , • Number ,
and • Division of Diseases.
WHat a Disease is, almost every Physitian defines. Fern. Path. lib. 1. cap. 1. morbus est affectus contra naturam corpori insidens. Fernelius calleth it an Affection of the Body, contrary to Nature. Fuch. Institut. lib. 3. sec. 1. cap. 3 à quo primum viciàtur actio. Fuchsius and Crato, an hinderance, hurt, or alteration of any action of the Body, or any part of it. Dissolutio foederis in corpore vt sanitas est consummatio. Tholosanus, a dissolution of that league which is betweene Body and Soule, and a perturbation of it: as health is the perfection, and makes to the preseruation of it. Lib. 4 cap. 2. morbus est habitus contra naturam, qui vsum eius, &c. Number of Diseases. Labeo in Agellius, an ill habite of the Body, opposite to nature, hindering the vse of it. Others otherwise, all to this effect.
How many Diseases there are, is a question not yet determined. Cap. 11. lib. 7. Pliny reckons vp 300. from the Crowne of the Head, to the sole of the Foote: elswhere he saith, morborum infinita multitudo, their number is infinite. Howsoeuer it was [Page 9] in those olde times, it bootes not; in our dayes I am sure the number is much augmented: for besides many Epidemicall diseases vnheard of, and altogether vnknowne to Galen and Hippocrates, as Scorbutum, Small pox, Plica, Sweating Sicknesse, Morbus Gallicus &c. we haue many proper, and peculiar almost to euery part. No man amongst vs so sound, of so good a constitution, that hath not some impediment of Body or Minde. No man free from some Disease or other. quis (que) suos patimur manes, we haue all our infirmities, first or last, more or lesse. There may bee peradventure in an age, or one of a thousand, like Zenophilus the Musician in Cap. 50. lib. 7. centum & quin (que) vixit annos sine vllo incommodo. Pliny, that may happily liue 105. yeeres, without any manner of impediment. A Pollio Romulus, that may preserue himselfe Intus mulso foras oleo. with wine and oyle. A man as fortunate as Q. Metellus, of whom Valerius so much bragges. A man as healthfull as Otto Herwardus, a Senator of Ausburrow in Germanie, whom Exemplis genitur: praefixis Ephemer. cap. de infirmitat. Leouitius the Astrologer brings in for an example, and instance of certaintie in his Arte, who because he had the significators in his geniture fortunate, and free from the hostile aspects of Saturne and Mars, being a very olde man, Qui quoad pueritiae vltimam memoriam recordari potest, non meminit se aegrotum decubuisse. could not remember that euer he was sicke. Lib. de vitâ longâ. Paracelsus may bragge, that he could make a man liue 400 yeares or more, if he might bring him vp from his Infancie, and diet him as he lift; and some Physitians hold, that there is no certaine period of mans life; but it may still by temperance, and Physicke, be prolonged. We finde in the meane time, by common experience, that no man can escape, but that of Oper. & dies. Hesiod is true:
If you require a more exact division of these ordinarie Diseases, which are incident to men, I referre you to See Fernelius Path. lib. 1. cap. 9.10.11.12. Fuchsius institut. lib. 3. sec. 1. cap. 7 Wecker. Syntax. Physitians; they will tell you of Acute and Chronicke, First and Secundary, Lethales Salutares, Errant Fixed, Simple Compound, [Page 10] Connexed, or Consequent, belonging to parts, or the whole, in Habit, or in Disposition, &c. My division at this time (as most befitting my purpose) shall be into those of the Body and of the Minde. For those of the Body, a briefe Catalogue of which Fuschius hath made, Institut. lib. 3. sec. 1. cap. 11. I refer you to those voluminous Tomes of Galen, Areteus, Rhasis, Avicenna, Alexander, Paulus, Aetius, Gordonius, Guianerius: And those exact Neotericks, Savanarola, Capiuaccius, Donatus Altomarus, Hercules de Saxonia, Mercurialis, Victorius Faventinus, Wecker, Piso, &c. that haue methodically, and elaborately written of them all. Those of the Mind and Head, I will briefly handle, and a-part.
SVBSEC. 3. Division of the Diseases of the Head.
THese Diseases of the Minde, forasmuch as they haue their chiefe seat, and Organs in the Head, are commonly repeated amongst the diseases of the Head, which are divers, and vary much according to their site. For in the Head, as there be divers parts, so there be divers grievances, which according to that division of Praefat. de morbis capitis. In capite vt variae habitant partes, ita variae querela ibi eveniunt. Hernius, which he takes out of Arculanus, are inward or outward (to omit all others which belong to the Eyes and Eares, Nostrils, Gummes, Teeth, Mouth, Palat, Tongue, Wesell, Choppes, Face, &c.) belonging properly to the Braine, as baldnesse, falling of haire, furfair, lice, &c. Of which reade Hernius Montaltus, Hildisheim, Quercetan, lason Pratensis &c. Inward belonging to the skinnes next to the Braine, called durae, and Pia mater, as all headaches, &c. or to the Ventricles, Caules, Kells, Tunicles, Creekes, and parts of it, and their passions, as Caro, Vertigo, Incubus, Apoplexie, Falling Sicknesse. The diseases of the Norues [...];, Crampes, Stupor, Convulsion, Tremor, Palsye: or belonging to the excrements of the Braine, as Catars, Sneezing, Rhumes, Distillations: or else those that pertaine to the Substance of the Braine it selfe, in which are conceiued, Frensye, [Page 11] Lethargye, Melancholy, Madnesse, weake Memory. Sapor, or Coma, Vigilia & vigil Coma. Out of these againe I will single such as properly belong to the Phantasie, or Imagination, or Reason it selfe, which Cap. 2. de Melanchol. Laurentius calles the Diseases of the Minde; and Hildisheim, morbos Imaginationis, aut Rationis laesae, which are three or foure in number, Frensye, Madnes, Melancholy, Dotage, and their kindes: as Hydrophobia, Lycanthropia, Chorus sancti viti, morbi daemoniaci: which I will briefely touch and point out, insisting especially in this of Melancholy, as more eminent then the rest, and that through all his kindes, causes, symptomes, prognosticks, cures. As Lonicerus hath done de Apoplexiâ, and many others, of many such particular diseases. Not that I finde fault with others which haue written of this subiect before, as Iason Pratensis, Laurentius, Montaltus, T: Bright, &c. they haue done well in their severall kindes and methods, yet that which one omits, another may happily see; that which one contracts, another may enlarge. To conclude with Cap. 2. de Phisiologiâ sagarum, quod alij minùs rectè fortasse dixerint, nos examinare, meliùs diiudicare, corrigere studeamus. Scribanius, that which they haue neglected, or perfunctoril y handled, we may more thoroughly examine, that which is obscurely deliuered in them, may be perspicuously dilated and amplified by vs; and so may bee made more familiar and easie for euery mans capacity, and common good, which is the chiefe end of my Discourse.
SVBSEC. 4. Dotage, Phrensie, Madnesse, Hydrophobia, Lycanthropia, Chorus sancti viti, Extasis.
DOtage, Fatuity, or Folly, Defirham, Detage. is a common name to all the following Species, as some will haue it. Cap. 4. de Mol. Laurentius and Art. Med. cap. 7 Altomarus comprehend Madnesse, Melancholy, and the rest, vnder this name, and call it the summum genus of them all. If it be distinguished from them, it is naturall or in [...], which comes by some defect of the Organs, and ouermoist Braine, as wee see in our common-fooles; and is for the [Page 12] most part intended or remitted in most men, and thereupon some are wiser then other: or els it is acquisite, an Appendix or Symptome of some other disease, which comes or goes, or if it continue, a signe of Melancholy it selfe.
Phrenitis, Phrensie. which the Greeks deriue from the word [...], is a Disease of the Minde, with a continuall Madnesse or Dotage, which hath an acute feuer annexed, or els an inflammation of the Braine, or the Membranes or Kells of it, with an acute Feuer, which causeth Madnesse, and Dotage. It differs from Melancholy and Madnesse, because their Dotage is without an ague: this continuall, with waking, or Memory decayed &c. Melancholy is most part silent; this clamorous, and many such like differences are assigned by Phisitians.
Madnesse, Madnesse. Phrensie, and Melancholy are confounded by many Writers, as Celsus: others leaue out Phrensie, and make Madnesse, and Melancholy but one Disease, which Pleri (que) Medici vne complexu perstringunt hos duos morbos, quod ex eâdem causā oriantur, quod (que) magnitudine & modo solum distent, & alter gradus ad alterum existat. Iason Pratensis. Iason Pratensis especially labours, and that they differ onely secundùm maius or minus, in quantity, the one being a degree to the other, and both proceeding from one cause. They differ intenso & remisso gradu, saith Lil. Med. Gordonius, as the humor is intended or remitted. Of the same minde is Pars maniae mibi videtur. Areteus, Alexander Trallianus, Guianerius, Savanarola, Hernius, and Galen himselfe writes promiscuously of them both, by reason of their affinity, but most of our Neotericks doe handle them a-part, whom I will follow in this Treatise. Madnesse is therfore defined to be a vehement Dotage, or rauing without a feuer, farre more violent then Melancholy, full of anger, and clamor, horrible lookes, actions, gestures; and troubles the Patient with farre greater vehemency both of Body and Minde, without all feare and sorrow, with such impetuous force, and boldnesse, that sometimes three or foure men cannot hold them. Differing onely in this from Frensie, that it is without a Feuer, and their Memory is most part better. It hath the same causes as the other, as Choler adust, and Blood incensed, Braines inflamed &c. Insanus est, qui state debits, & tempore debito per se non momentaneam & fugacem, vt vini, solani, Hyoscyami sed confirmatamhabet impotentiam benè operandicirca intellectum. lib. 2. deintellestione. Fracastoriu [...] addes a due time [Page 13] and full age to this definition, to distinguish it from children, and will have it to be a confirmed Impotency, to separate it from such as accidentally come and goe againe, as by taking Henbane, Nightshade, Wine, &c. Of this Fury there be divers Of which reade Faelix Plater cap. 3. de mentis alienatione. kindes, Extasis, Enthusiasmes, Revelations, and Visions, so often mentioned by Gregory and Beda in their Workes; Obsession, or Possession of devils, Sybilline Prophets, and Poëticall Furies: such as come by eating noxious Herbes, Tarantulas stinging, &c. which some reduce to this. The most knowne are these, Lycanthropia, Hydrophobia, Chorus sancti viti.
Lycanthropia, which Avicenna calles Cucubuth, Lycanthropia. others Lupinam insaniam, or Woolfe madnesse, when men runne howling about graues and fields in the night, and will not be perswaded but that they are Wolues, or some such beasts. Lib. 6. cap. 11. Aetius and Lib. 3. cap. 16. Paulus call it a kinde of Melancholy, but I should rather referre it to Madnesse, as most doe. Some make a doubt of it, whether there be any such Disease. Cap. 9. art. med. Donat ab Altomari saith, that he saw two such in his time: and De praestig. damonum. lib. 3. c. 21. Wieru [...] tels a Story of such a one at Padua 1541, that would not beleeue to the contrary, but that he was a Woolfe. He hath another Story of a Spaniard, that thought he was a Beare. Observat. lib. 10. de morbis cerebri. cap. 25. Forestus confirmes as much by many examples, one amongst the rest, of which he was an eye-witnesse, at Alemar in Holland, of a poore Husband-man, that still haunted about graues, and kept in Churchyards, of a pale, blacke, vgly, and fearefull looke. Such belike, or little better, were King Praetus Hippocrates. lib. de Insaniâ.Daughters, that thought themselues Kine: And Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel, as some Interpreters hold, was only troubled with this kinde of Madnesse. And this Disease perhaps gaue occasion to that bold assertion of Lib 2. cap. 8. homines interdumlupos fieri, & econtra. Pliny, that some men were turned into Wolues in his time, and from Wolues to men againe. And to that fable of Pausanias, of a man that was ten yeares a Wolfe, and afterwards returned to his former shape. And Met. lib. 1. Ouide tale of Lycaon. He that is desirous to heare of this Disease, or of more examples, let him reade Austin in his 1 [...]. Book [...] de Cevitate Dei. cap. 5. Mizaldus cent. 5.77. Sckenkius [Page 14] lib. 1. Hildesheim spicel. 2. de Maniâ. Forestus lib. 10. d [...] de m [...]rbis cerebri, Olaus Magnus, &c. This Disease, saith Avicenna, troubleth men most in February, and is now-a-dayes most frequent in Bohemia and Hungary, saith Cap. de Maniâ. Hernius. They lye hid most part all day, & goe abroad in the night, barking, Vicerata crura sitis ipsis adest immodica, pallidi linguâ siccâ. howling at graues and deserts, they haue vsually hollow eyes, and scabbed legges and thighes, very dry and pale, saith Cap. 9. art. Hydrophobia. Altomarus: he giues a reason there of all the symptomes, and sets downe a briefe cure of them.
Hydrophobia, is a kinde of Madnesse, well knowne in every Village, which comes by the biting of a mad dogge, or scratching, saith Lib. 3. cap. 9. Aurelianus, or touching, or smelling alone sometimes, as Lib. 7. de Venenis. Skenkius proues, and is incident to many other creatures as well as men: so called, because the parties affected, cannot endure the fight of water, or any liquor, supposing still they see the picture of a dogge in it. And that which is more wonderfull, though they be very dry, (as in this malady they are) they will rather dye, then drinke. Lib. 3. cap. 13. de morbis acutis. Caelius Aurelianus, an ancient Writer, makes a doubt whether this Hydrophobia, be a passion of the Body, or the Minde. The part affected is the Braine, the cause, poyson that comes from the mad dogge, which is so hote and dry, that it consumes all the moisture in the body. Spicel. 2. Hildesheim relates of some that died so mad, and being cut vp, had no water, scarce blood, or any moisture left in them. To such as are affected, the feare of water beginnes at 14. dayes after they are bitten, to some againe, not till 40. or 60. dayes after: commonly saith Hernius they beginne to raue, flye water, and glasses, to looke red & swell in the face, some [...]0. dayes after (if some remedy bee not taken in the meane time) to lye awake, to be pensiue sad, to see strange Visions, to barke & howle, to fall into a sown, and sometimes sittes of the Falling sicknesse. Skenkius 7. lib. de Venenis. Some say, little change like whelpes will be seene in their vrines. If any of these signes appeare, they are past recouery. Many times these symptomes will not appeare, till six or seuen moneths after, saith Lib. de Hydrophobia. Codronchus, and sometimes not till seuen yeare, [Page 15] and 18. yeares, Guisnerius, 12: Albertus: six or eight moneths after, Galen, Baldus the great Lawyer died of it, an Austin Fryar, and a woman in Delph [...], that were Observat. lib. 10.25. Forrestus Patients, were miserably consumed with it. The common cure in the Countrey (for such at least as dwell neere the Sea side) is to ducke them ouer head and eares in Sea water; some vse charmes, euery good wife can prescribe Medicines. But the best cure to bee had in such cases, is from the most approved Physitians: they that will reade of them, may consult with Diascorides lib. 6. cap. 37. Hernius, Hildisheim, Capinaccius, Forrestus, Sckenkius, and before all others Codronchus an Italian, who hath lately written two Bookes of this Subiect.
Chorus sancti Viti, or Saint Vitus dance, Chorus Sancti Viti. the lascivious dance. Lascivam choream. To. 4. de morbis amentium. Tract. 1. Paracolsus cals it, because they that are taken with it, can doe nothing but dance till they be dead. It is so called, for that the parties so troubled, were wont to goe to Saint Vitus for helpe, and after they had danced there a while, they were Eventu vt plurimū remipsā comprobante. certainly freed. T'is strange to heare how long they will dance, and in what maner, ouer stooles, formes, tables, euen great bellyed women sometimes (and yet neuer hurt their childe) will dance so long, that they can stirre neither hand nor foot, but seeme to be quite dead. One in red clothes they cannot abide. Musick aboue all things they loue, and therefore the Magistrates in Germany will hire Musitians to play to them, and some lusty sturdy companions to dance with them. This Disease hath beene very common in Germany, as appeares by those relations of Lib. 1. cap. de Mainaâ. Sckenkius, and Para [...]els [...] in his booke of Madnesse, who bragges how many seuerall persons he hath cured of it. Faelix Platter, de mentis alienat, cap. 3. reports of a woman in Basil whom he saw, that danced a whole moneth together. The Arabians call it a kinde of Palsye, Bodi [...]e in his 5. Booke de Repub. cap. 1. speaks of this infirmity, and Monauius in his last Epistle to Scoltzius, and in another to Dudithus, where you may reade more of it.
[Page 16] Cap. 3. de mentis alienatione. Fuschius institut. lib. 3. sec. 1. cap. 11. Faelix Plater. Cap. 4. de Mel. Laurentius adde to these another Fury that proceedes from Loue, and another from Study, another divine or religious Fury, but these more properly belong to Melancholy; of all which, I will speake PART. 3. a-part, intending to write a whole Booke of them.
SVBSEC. 5. Melancholy in disposition, improperly so called. Aequivocations.
MElancholy, [...] subiect of our present Discourse, is either in Disposition, or in Habite. In Disposition, is that transitory Melancholy, which goes and comes vpon every small occasion of sorrow, neede, sicknesse, trouble, feare, griefe, passion, or perturbation of the Minde, or any manner of care, discontent, or thought, which causeth anguish and vexation of the Spirits, any wayes opposite to pleasure, mirth, joy, delight, or causing frowardnesse in vs, or a dislike; In which Aequivocall and improper sence, we call any man Melancholy, that is dull, heavy, sad, sowre; lumpish, ill-disposed, solitary, or any way mooued, or displeased. And from these Melancholy Dispositions, De quo homine securitas? de quo sertum gaudium? quocun (que), se cenvertis in terrenis rebus amaritudinem animae inveniet. Au [...] in Psal. 85. no man liuing is free, no Stoicke, none so wise, none so happy, so patient, so generous, so godly, so divine, that can vindicate himselfe, so well composed, but more or lesse, somtime or other, he feels the smart of it. Iob. 1.14. Man that is borne of a woman, is of short continuance, and full of troble. Zeno, Cato, Socrates himselfe, whom Omni tempore Socratem eodem vultu videri sive domum rediret, sive domo egrederetur. Aelian so highly commends, for a moderate temper, that nothing could disturbe him, but going out, and comming in still Socrates kept the same countenance, what misery soener befell him: if wee may beleeue Plato his Disciple, was much tormented with it Q. Metellus, in whom Lib. 7. cap. 1, natus in florentissimâ totius Orbis ciuitate, nobiliss [...] parentibus, corporis vires habuit, & rarissimas animi dotes, uxorem, conspicuam, pudicom, [...], liberos, consulare decus, sequentes triumphos &c. Valerius giues an instance of all happinesse, [Page 17] the most fortunate man then liuing, borne in that most flourishing city of Rome, of noble parentage, a proper man of person, well qualified, healthfull, rich, honourable, a Senatour, a Consull, happy in his wife, happy in his children, &c. yet this man was not free from Melancholy, he had his share of sorrow. Aelian. Polycrates Samius, that flung his ring into the Sea, because he would participate of discontent with others, and had it miraculously restored to him againe shortly after, by a fish taken as no angled, was not free from Melancholy dispotions. No man can secure himselfe, the very gods had bitter pangs, and frequent passions, as their owne Homer. Il. Poëts put vpon them. In generall, Lipsius cent. 3. ep. 45. vt coelum, sic nos homines sumus illud ex intervallo nubibus obducitur & obscuratur. In rosario flores spinis intermixti. Vita similis aeri, vdum modo sudum, tempestas, serenitas, ita vices rerum sunt praemia gaudiis, & sequaces curae. as the heaven it selfe is, so is our life, sometimes faire, sometimes ouercast, tempestious, and serene; as in a rose, floures and prickells, in the yeare it selfe, a temperate Sommer sometimes, a hard Winter, a drought, and then againe pleasant showres: so is our life intermixt with ioyes, hopes, feares, sorrowes, calumnies: Invicem cedunt dolor & voluptas, there is a succession of pleasure and paine.
Euen in the middest of laughing, there is sorrow, as Prov. 14.3. extremū gaudii luctus occupat. Solomon holdes: euen in the middest of all our Feasting and Iollity, as Natalitia inquit celebrantur, nuptiae bic sunt at ibi quid celebratur quod non dolet, quod non transit? Austin infertes in his Com. on the 41. Psalme, there is sorrow and discontent. Nothing so prosperous and pleasant, but it hath Apuleius 4. florid. nihil quicquam homini tam prosperum, divinitùs datum, qūin ei admixtum sit aliquid difficultatis, vt etiam in amplissimâ quâquâ laetitiâ, subsit quapiam vel parva quarimonia, coniugatione quâd [...] mellis, & fellis. some Gall in it, some complaining, some grudging, t'is alla [...], a mix't passion. We are not here as those Angels, and coelestiall Powers, and Bodies, Sunne and Moone, to finish out course without all offence, with such constancy, to continue for so many ages: but subiect to infirmities, miseries, interrupt, tossed and tumbled vp and downe, carried about with euery small blast, often molested and disquieted [Page 18] vpon every small occasion, Caduca nimirūm & fragilia, & pueril [...]bus consen [...]anea crepundiis, sunt vta que vires & opes-humanae vocantur, affluun [...] sub [...]to, repente d [...]abuntur, nullo in loco nul lâ [...]n personâ, stabilibus nixa radicibus consistunt, sed incertissimo flatu fortunae, quos in sublime extulerunt improviso recursu destitutos in profundi miseriarum valle miserabilitèr immergunt, Valerius lib. 6. cap. 11. vncertaine, brittle, and so is all that wee trust vnto. huic saeculo parum aptus es aut potius omnium nest [...]orum conditionem ignoras, quibus reciproca quodam nexu &c. Lorchanus Gallobelgicus. lib. 3. ad annum [...]598. And he that knowes not this, and is not armed to endure it, is not fit to liue in this World, (as one condoles our time) he knowes not the condition of it, where with a reciprocall tye, pleasure and paine are still vnited, and succeeds one another in a ring. Exi è mundo, get thee gone hence if thou canst not brooke it, there is no way to avoide it, but to arme thy selfe with Patience, with Magnanimitie, to Horsum omnia studia dirigi debent, vt humana fortitèr feramus. oppose thy selfe vnto it, to suffer affliction as a good Souldier of Christ; as 2 Tim. 2. Paul adviseth, constantly to beare it. But for as much as so few can embrace this good counsell of his, & vse it aright, but rather as so many brute beasts, giue way to their passions, and voluntarily subiect and precipitate themselues into a Labyrinth of cares, woes, miseries; and suffer themselues to be ouercome by them, and cannot arme themselues with that patience as they ought to doe, it falleth out oftentimes that these Dispositions become Habits, and many Affects contemned, as Epist. 96 lib. 10. affectus frequentes contempti (que) morbum faciunt, sicut Distillatio vna nec adhuc in morem adducta, tussim facit, assidua & vetut phusim. Seneca notes, makes a Disease. Euen as one Distillation not yet growne to custome, makes but a cough, but continuall and inveterate, causeth a consumption of the lungs: so doe these our Melancholy provocations, and acco [...]ding as the humor it selfe is intended, or omitted in men, or that their temperature of Body, or Rationall soule is better able to make resistance; so are they more or lesse affected. For that which is but as a flea-biting to one, causeth vns [...]fferable torment to anothe [...], and that which one by his singular moderation, and well-composed carriage can happily ouercome, a second is no whit able to sustaine: but vpon every small occasion of griefe, disgrace, losse, crosse, rumor, &c. yeeldes so farre to passion, that his complexion is altered, his digestion hindred, his sleepe gone, his spirits obscur [...]d, and his heart heauy, his Hypocond [...]ies missaffected, winde, crudity on a sudden overtake him, and he himselfe overcome with Melancholy. So that as the [Page 19] Philosophers make Calidum ad octo: frigidum ad octo. eight degrees of heate and colde. Wee may make 88. of Melancholy, as the parties affected are diversly seased with it, or haue beene plunged more or lesse into this Infernall gulfe, or waded deeper into it: but all these Melancholy fits howsoeuer, pleasing at first, or displeasing, violent and tyrannizing over those whom they sease on for the time, yet these men are but improperly so called, Vna hirundo non fac [...]t aestatem. becaus [...] they continue not; but come and goe, as by some objects they are mooued. This Melancholy on which wee are to treate, is an Habit, morbus sonticus, or Chronichus, a Chronick or continuate disease, a setled humor, as Lib. 1. cap. 6. Aurelianus, and Fuchsius lib 3. sec. 1. cap. 7. Hildisheim fol. 130. others call it, not errant, but fixed, and as it was long increasing, so now being (pleasant, or painefull) growne to an habite, it will hardly be remooued.
SEC. 1.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSEC. 4. Digression of Anatomy.
BEfore I proceede to define the Disease of Melancholy what it is, or to discourse farther of it, I hold it not impertinent to make a briefe Digression of the Anatomy of the Body, and Faculties of the Soule, for the better vnderstanding of that which is to follow; because many hard wordes will often occurre, as Myrache, Hypocondries, Haemrods &c. Imagination, Reason, Humors, Spirits, Vitall, Naturall, Animall, Nerues, Veines, Arteries, which of the Vulgar will not be so easily perceiued, what they are, how sited, and to what end they serue. And besides, it may peradventure giue occasion to some men, to examine more accurately, and search farther into this most excellent Subiect, that haue time and leasure enough, and are sufficiently informed in all other worldly businesses; as to make a good bargain, buy, and sell, to keepe and make choyse of a good Hauke, Hound, Horse &c. [Page 20] but for such matters as concerne the knowledge of themselues, they are wholly ignorant & carelesse, they know not what this Body and Soule are, how combined, of what parts and Faculties they consist, or how a man differs from a dog. And what can be more ignominous and filthy (as De Anima, Turpe enim est homini ignorare sui corporis vt ita dicam aedificium, praesertim cum ad valetudinem & mores, haec cognitio plurimum conducat. Melancton well inveighes) then for a man not to know the structure and composition of his owne Body, especially since the knowledge of it, tends so much to the preservation of his health, and information of his manners. To stirre them vp therefore to this study, to pervse those elaborate works of Galen, Avicen, Bauhinus, Plater, Vesalius, Falopius, Laurentius, &c. which haue written copiously in Latin; or that which some of our industrious Countrimen haue done in our Mother Tongue, not long since, De vsu partium. as that translation of History of Man. Columbus, and D'Crooke. Microcosmographia, in 13. bookes, I haue made this briefe Digression. Because that which Syntaxi. Weaker, De Animâ. Melancton, Institut. lib. 1. Fernelius, Phisiol. lib. 1. & 2. Fuschius, and those Tracts De Animâ (which haue more compendiously handled, and written of this Matter) are not at all times ready to be had. To giue them some small taste, or notice of the rest, let this suffice.
SVBSEC. 2. Division of the Body. Humors, Spirits.
OF the parts of the Body, there be many Divisions: The most approued is that of Anat. l.1. c. 18. Laurentius, out of Hippocrates: That is, into parts Contained, or Containing. Contained; are either Humors, Humors. or Spirits.
A Humor is a liquid or fluent part of the Body, comprehended in it, for the preservation of it, and it is either innate and borne with vs, or adventitious and acquisite. The Radicall or innate, is dayly supplied by nourishment, which some call Cambium, and make those secundary Humors of Ros and Gluters to maintaine it: or acquisite, to maintaine those [Page 21] foure first primary Humors, comming and proceeding from the first Concoction in the Liuer, by which meanes Chilus is excluded. Some divide them into profitable and excrementitious Humors, Pituita and Blood profitable; the other two excrementitious. But In Micro succos, sine quibus animal sustentari non potest. Crato out of Hippocrates will haue all foure to be juyce, and not excrements, without which no living Creature can be sustained: which foure, though they be comprehended all in the Masse of the Blood, yet they haue their severall affections, for which they are distinguished from one another, and from those adventitious peccant, or Morbosos humores. diseased humors, as Melancton cals them.
Blood, is a hote, sweete, temperate, red humor, Blood. prepared in the Miseriacke veines, and made of the most temperate parts of the Chilus in the liuer, whose office is to norrish the whole Body, to giue it strength and colour, being dispersed by the veines, through every part of it. And from it Spirits are first begotten in the Heart, which afterwards by the Arteries, are communicated to the others parts
Pituita, or Fleame, is a cold and moist humor, Fleame. begotten of the colder part of the Chilus, (or white juyce comming of the meate digested in the Stomacke) in the Liver, his office is to nourish, and moisten the Members of the Body, which as the tongue, are mooved, that they be not over-drye.
Choler, is hote and dry, bitter, Choler. begotten of the hotter parts of the Chilus, and gathered to the Gall: it helpes the naturall heate, and sences, and serues to the expelling of excrements.
Melancholy, cold and dry, thicke, blacke, sowre, Melancholy begotten of the more faeculent part of nourishment, and purged from the Spleene, is a bridle to the other two hote Humors, Blood, and Choler, preseruing them in the Blood, and nourishing the Bones: These foure Humors haue some Analogy with the foure Elements, and to the foure Ages in Man.
To these Humors, you may adde Serum, Serum, Sweats, Teares. which is the matter of Vrine, and those excrementitious Humors, of the third Concoction, Sweat, and Teares.
Spirit, is a most subtile vapor, Spirits. which is expressed from the [Page 22] Blood, and the Instrument of the Soule, to performe all his Actions, a common tye or medium, betwixt the Body and the Soule, as some will haue it, or as Spiritalis anima. Paracelsus, a fourth Soul of it selfe. Melancthon holds the Fountaine of these Spirits to be the Heart, begotten there, and afterward convayed to the Braine, they take an other nature to them. Of these Spirits there be three kindes, according to the three principall parts, Braine, Heart, Liver; Naturall, Vitall, Animall. The Naturall are begotten in the Liuer, and thence dispersed through the Veines, to performe those naturall actions. The Vitall Spirits are made in the Heart of the Naturall, which by the Arteries, are transported to all the other parts: if these Spirits cease, the Life ceaseth, as in a Syncope or Swouning. The Animall Spirits are formed of the Vitall, brought vp to the Braine, and diffused by the Nerues, to the other Members, giue sence and motion to them all.
SVBSEC. 3. Simular Parts.
COntaining Parts by reason of their more solid substance, Simular parts. are either Homogeniall, or Hetrogeniall, Simular, or Dissimular: so Aristotle divides them, lib. 1. cap. 1. de hist. Animal. Laurentius cap. 20. lib. 1. Simular or Homogeniall, are such, as if they be divided, are still divided into parts of the same nature, as water into water. Of these, some bee Spermaticall, some Fleshy, or Carnall. Laurentius cap. 20. lib. 1. Anat. Spermaticall are such as are immediatly begotten of the Seed, which are Bones, Grisles, Ligaments, Membranes, Nerues, Arteries, Veines, Skinnes, Fibers, or Strings, Fat.
The Bones are dry and hard, Bones. begotten of the thickest of the Seede, to strengthen and sustaine the other parts: some say there be 304, some 307, or 313 in a Mans body. They haue no nerues in them, and are therefore without sence.
A Gristle, is a substance softer then Bones, and harder then [Page 23] the rest, flexible, and serues to maintaine the parts of motion.
Ligaments, are they that tye the Bones together, and other parts to the Bones, with their subseruing tendons: Membranes office is to couer the rest.
Nerues or sinewes, are Membranes without, Nerues. and full of Marrow within, they proceede from the Braine, and carry the Animall Spirits for sence and motion. Of these some be harder, some softer; the softer serue the sences, and there be seuen paire of them. The first be the Opticke Nerues, by which wee see; the second moue the Eyes; the third paire serue for the Tongue for taste; the fourth paire for taste in the Palate; the fift serue the Eares; the sixt paire is most ample, and runnes almost ouer all the Bowels; the seuenth paire mooue the Tongue. The harder Sinewes serue for the motion of the Inner parts, proceeding from the Marrow in the Backe, of whom there be thirty Combinations, seuen of the Necke, twelue of the Brest, &c.
Arteries, are long & hollow, Arteries. with a double skin to convay the vitall spirits, to discerne which the better, they say that Vesalius the Anatomist was wont to cut vp men aliue. In these they obserue the beating of the Pulse. They arise in the left side of the heart, and are principally two, from which the rest are deriued, Aorta and Venosa. Aorta is the root of all the other, which serue the whole body; the other goes to the lungs, to fetch aire to refrigerate the Heart.
Veines, are hollow and round like pipes, Veines. arising from the Liuer, carrying blood and naturall spirits, they feed all the parts. Of these there be two chiefe, Vena porta, and Vena Caua, from which the rest are corrivated. That Vena porta is a Veine, comming from the concaue of the liuer, and receauing all those meseriacall veines, by whom he takes the Chilus from their stomacke and guts, and conveies it to the Liuer. The other convaies blood from the liuer to nourish all the other dispersed members. The branches of that Vena porta, are the Meseriacall and Haemorroïdes. The branches of the Caua, are inward, or outward. Inward seminall or emulgent. Outward in the head, armes, feet, &c. and haue severall names.
[Page 24] Fibrae or strings, white and solide dispersed through the whole member, Fibrae, Fat, Flesh. and are right, oblique, transuerse, all which haue their severall vses. Fat, is a simular part moist without blood, composed of the most thicke and vnctuous matter of the blood. The Cutis est pars simularis à vi cutificâ, vt interiora muniat. Capiuacc Anat. pag. 252. skinne couers the rest, and hath Cuticulam or a little skinne vnder it. Flesh is soft and ruddy, composed of the congealing of blood, &c.
SVBSECT. 4. Dissimular parts.
DIssimular parts, are those which wee call Organicall or Instrumentall, & they be Inward or Outward. The chiefest outward parts are situate forward or backward. Inward, the crowne and forepart of the head, scull, face, forehead, tē ples, chinne, eyes, eares, nose, &c. necke, brest, chest, vpper and lower part of the belly, hypocondries, navell, groyne, stanks, &c. Backward, the hinder part of the head, backe, shoulders, sides, loynes, hyp-bones, os sacrum, buttockes, &c. Or ioynts, armes, hands, feet, legges, thighes, knees, &c. Or common to both, which because they are obuious and well knowne, I haue carelesly repeated, ea (que) praecipua & grandiora tantum, quod reliquum, ex libris de animâ, qui volet, accipiat.
Inward Organicall parts which cannot be seen, are diverse in number, and haue seuerall names, functions, and divisions, but that of Anat. lib. 1 c. 19, Celebris est & pervulgata partium divisio in principes & ignobiles partes. Laurentius is most famous, into Noble or Ignoble parts. Of the noble there bee three principall parts to which all the rest belong, and whom they serue, Braine, Hart, Liuer. According to whose site, three Regions, or a threefold division is made of the whole Body. As first of the Head in which the Animal Orgaines are contained, and Braine it selfe, which by his Nerues giues sense and motion to the rest, and is as it were a privy Counsellor, and Chancellour to the Heart. The second Region is the Chest, or middle Belly, in which the Heart as king keepes his court, and by his Arteries [Page 25] communicates life to the whole body. The third Region is the lower Belly in which the liuer resides, as a legat à latere, with the rest of those naturall Organes, seruing for concoction, nourishment, expelling of excrements. This lower Region is distinguished from the vpper by the Midriffe, or Diaphragma, and is subdiuided againe by D. Crooke out of Gallen and others. some into three concauiti [...]s, or regions, vpper, middle, and lower. The upper of the Hypocondries, in whose right side is the Liuer, the left the Spleene. From which is denominated Hypocondriacall Melancholy. The second of the Navell and Flancks, diuided from the first by the Rimme. The last of the watercourse, which is againe subdivided into three other parts. The Arabians make two parts of this Region, Epigastrium, and Hypogastrium. Vpper or lower. E [...]igastrium they call Mirach, from whence comes Myrachialis Melancholia, sometimes mentioned of them. Of these seuerall Regions I will treate in briefe and apart. and first of the third Region, in which the naturall Organs are contained.
But you that are Readers in the meane time, Suppose you were now brought into some sacred Temple, or maiesticall Pallace (as Vos vero veluti in templum ac sacrarium quoddam vos duci putetis, &c Suauis & vtilis cognitio. The lower Region Naturall Organs. Melanthon saith) to behold not the matter only, De animâ, but the singular art and workmanship, & counsell of this our great Creator. And tis a pleasant and profitable speculation, if it be considered aright. The parts of this Region which present themselues to your consideration and view, are such as serue to nutrition or generation. Those of Nutrition serue to the first or second concoction. As the oesophagus or Gullet which brings meat and drinke into the Stomacke. The Ventricle or stomacke, which is seated in the midst of that part of the belly beneath the Midriffe, the kitchin as it were of the first concoction, and which turnes our meat into Chilus: It hath two mouthes, one aboue, another beneath. The vpper is sometimes taken for the stomacke it selfe; the lower or neather dore (as Wecker cals it) is named Pylorus. This stomacke is sustained by a large Kell or Ka [...]ll, called Omentum. Which some will haue the same which Paeritoneum, or rimme of the [Page 26] belly. From the Stomacke to the very Fundament, are produced the Guts or Intestina, which serue a little to alter and distribute the Chilus, and conuay away the excrements. They are divided into small and great, by reason of their site and substance, slender or thicker. The slender is Duodenum or whole gutte, which is next to the stomacke, some twelue inches long, saith Lib. 1. cap. 12. Sect. 5. Fucshius. I [...]iunum or empty gutt continuate to the other, which hath many Meseriacke Veines annexed to it, which take part of the Chilus to the liuer from it. Ilion the third, which consists of many crinckles, which serues with the rest to receaue, keepe, and distribute the Chilus from the Stomacke. The thicke guts are three, the Blind gut, Colon, and Right gut. The Blinde is a thicke and short gut, hauing one mouth in which the Ilion and Colon meet: It receaues the excrements, and convayes them to the Colon. This Colon hath many windings, that the excrements passe not away to fast. The Right gut is straight, and convayes the excraments to the Fundament, whose lower part is bound vp with certaine Musckles, called Sphincteres, that the excrements may be the better contained, vntill such time a man be willing to goe to the stoole. In the midst of these guts is situated the Mysenterium or Midriffe, composed of many Veines, Arteries, and much fat, seruing chiefly to sustaine the guts. All these parts serue the first concoction. To the second, which is busied either in refining the good nourishment, or expelling the bad, is chiefly belonging the Liuer, like in colour to congealed blood, the shop of blood, situate in the right Hypocondry, in figure like to an halfe moone, Generosum membrum, Melancton stiles it; a generous part, it serues to turne the Chilus to blood, for the nourishment of the body. The excrements of it are either Cholericke or Watery, Which the other subordinate parts convay. The Gaule placed in the concaue of the Liuer, extracts Choler to it, the Spleene. Melancholy, which is situate on the left side overagainst the Liuer, a spungy matter, which drawes this blacke choler to it by a secret vertue, and seeds vpon it, convaying the rest to the bottome of the stomacke, to [Page 27] stirre vp appetite, or else to the guts as an excrement. That watery matter the two Kidnies expurgate, by those emulgent veines, and Vreteres: The emulgent drawe this superfluous moisture from the blood, the two Vreteres convay it to the Bladder; which by reason of his site in the lower belly, is apt to receaue it, hauing two parts, necke and bottome: the bottome holds the water, the necke is constringed with a muscle, which as a porter keepes the water from running out against our will.
Members of generation are common to both sexes, or peculiar to one; which because they are impertinent to my purpose, I doe voluntarily omit.
Next in order is the middle Region, Middle Region. or chest which comprehends the vitall faculties and parts: which as I haue said is seperated from the lower belly, by the Diaphragma or Midriffe, which is a skinne consisting of many nerues, membranes, and amongst other vses it hath, it is the instrument of laughing. There is also a certaine thinne membrane full of Sinewes, which covereth the whole chest within, and is called Pleura, the seat of the disease called Pleurisie, when it is inflamed; some adde a third skinne, which is called Mediastinus, which divides the chest into two parts, right and left. Of this Region the principall part is the Heart, which is the seat and fountaine of life, of heat, of spirits, of pulse and respiration, the Sonne of our body, the king and sole commander of it: The seat and organe of all passions and affections, Primum viuens vltimum moriens, it liues first and dies; last in all creatures. Of a paramidicall forme, and not much vnlike to a Pineapple, a part worthy of Haec res est praecipuè digna admiratione, quod tantâ affectuum varietate cietur cor, quod omnes restristes & laetae statim corda feriunt & mouent admiration, that can yeeld such variety of affections, by whose motion he is dilated or contracted, to stirre and command the humours in the body. As in sorrow, melancholy; in anger, choler; in ioy to send the blood outwardly, in sorrowe to call it in; moouing the humours as Horses doe a Chariot. This Heart though it bee one sole member, yet it may bee divided into two creekes; Right and Left. The Right is like the Moone increasing, bigger [Page 28] then the other part, and receaues blood from Vena Caua, distributing some of it to the Lunges to nourish them, the rest to the left side to ingender spirits. The left creeke hath the forme of a Cone, and is the seat of life: which as a torch doth oyle, drawes blood vnto it, begetting of it spirits and fire; and as fire is in a torch, so are spirits in the blood, & by that great Artery called Aorta, he sends vitall spirits all ouer the body, and takes ayre from the Lungs, by that Artery which is called Venosa; So that both creekes haue their vessels, the right two Veines, the left two Arteries, besides those two common aufractuous eares which serue them both, the one to hold blood, the other aire, for seuerall vses. The Lunges is a thinne spungy part like an Oxe huffe, saith Phisiol. l. 1. c. 8. Fernelius, the towne Clarke or Crier ( Vt orator Regi: sic pulmo vocis instrumětum annectitur cordi, &c. Melancthon. one tearmes it) the instrument of voice, as an Orator to a King annexed to the Heart, to expresse his thoughts by voice. That it is the instrument of voice, it is manifest, in that no creature can speake, or vtter any voice that wanteth these lights. It is besides the instrument of respiration, or breathing: and his chiefe office is to coole the Heart, by sending aire vnto it, by the Venosall Artery, which veine comes to the lungs by that aspera arteria, which consists of many grisles, membranes, nerues, taking in aire at the nose and mouth, and by it likewise exhales the fumes of the Heart.
In the vpper Region seruing the animall faculties, vpper Region the chiefe Organ is the Braine, which is a soft marrowish and white substance, ingendred of the purest part of seed and spirits, included by many skinnes, and seated within the skull or braine-pan, and it is the most nobled Organe vnder Heaven, the dwelling house and seat of the soule, the habitation of wisdome, memory, iudgement, Reason, and in which man is most like vnto God, and therefore nature hath couered it with a skull of hard bone, and two skinnes or membranes, whereof the one is called dura mater or meninx, the other pia mater. The dura mater is next to the skull, aboue the other, and includes and protects the braine. When this is tataken [Page 29] away the pia mater is to be seene, a thinne membrane, the next and immediate couer of the braine, and not couering only but entring into it. The Braine it selfe is divided into two parts, the fore and hinderpart; the fore-part is much bigger then the other, which is called the little braine in respect of it. This forepart hath many concavities, distinguished by certaine ventricles, which are the Receptacles of the Spirits, brought thither by the Arteries from the Heart, and are there refined to a more heauenly nature, to performe the actions of the Soule. Of these ventricles there be three, Right, Left, and Middle. The Right and Left answere to their site, & beget animall spirits; if these be any way hurt, sense & motion ceaseth. These ventricles moreouer, are held to be the seat of the common sense. The Middle ventricle, is a common concurse and cauity of both; and hath two passages, the one to receaue Pituita, the other extends it selfe to the fourth creeke, in this they place Imagination, and Cogitation, and so the three ventricles of the forepart of the Braine are vsed. The fourth Creeke behinde the head is common to the Cerebell or little braine, and marrowe of the back-bone, the least and most sollid of all the rest, which receaues the animal spirite from the other ventricles, and convaies them to the marrowe in the backe, and is the place where they say the memory is seated.
SVBSECT. 5. Of the Soule and his faculties.
ACcording to 2 -De animâ cap. 1. Aristotle, the Soule is defined to bee [...], perfectio & actus primus corporis Organici, vitam habentis in potentiâ: the perfection or first Act of an Organicall Body, hauing power of life, which most Scaliger. exercit. 307. Tollet. in lib. de animâ cap. 1. &c. Philosophers approue. But many doubts arise about the Essence, Subiect, Seat, Distinction, an subordinate faculties of it. For the Essence and particular knowledge of it, of al other things [Page 30] it is most hard (be it of Man or Beast) to discerne, as 1. De anima cap. 1. Aristotle himselfe, Tuscul. quaest. Tully, Lib. 6. Doctor Val. Gentil. c. 13. pag. 1216. Picus Mirandula Aristot. Tolet, and other Neotericke Philosophers confesse. Animâ quae (que) intelligimus, & tamen quae sit ipsa intelligere non valemus. Wee can vnderstand all things by her, but what shee is we cannot apprehend. Some there fore make one Soule, diuided into three principall faculties, others, three distinct Soules. Which question of late hath bin much controuerted by Picolominaeus, & Zabarel Spiritualem animam à reliquis distinctam, tuetur, etiam in cadauere inhaerentem post mortem per aliquot menses. Paracelsus will haue foure Soules, adding to the three granted faculties, a Spirituall Soule. And Coelius lib. 2. cap. 31. Plutarc. in Grillo. Lips. Cent. 1. epist. 50 Jossius de Risu & Fletu. some againe, one soule of all Creatures whatsoeuer, differing only in Organs. And that Beasts haue reason as well as Men, though for some defect of Organs not in such measure. Some make a doubt whether it be all in all, and all in every part, which is amply discussed in Zabarel amongst the rest. The Philip. de anima cap. 1. Coelius 20 antiquit. cap. 3. Plutarch. de placit. Philos. common Diuision of the Soule, is into three principall faculties; Vegetall, Sensitiue, & Rationall, which make three distinct kinde of liuing Creatures: Vegetall Plants, Sensible Beasts, Rationall Men. How these three principall faculties are distinguished and connected, Humano ingenio inaccessum videtur; is beyond humane capacity, as De vit. & mort. part. 2 c. 3. prop. 1. De vit. & mort 2. c. [...]2. Vegetal soule. Subsect 2. Taurellus, Philip, Flauius, and others suppose. The inferior may be alone, but the superior cannot subsist without the other; as Sensible includes Vegetall, Rationall both, which are contained in it, saith Aristotle, vt Trigonus tetragono. As a Triangle in a Quadrangle.
Vegetall, the first of the three distinct faculties, is defined to be a substantiall Act of an Organicall body, by which it is nourished, augmented, and begets another like vnto it selfe. In which definition three seuerall operations are specified, the first is Nutritio est alimenti transmutatio viro naturalis, Scal exerc. 101. Sec. 17. Attraction. Nutrition, whose obiect is nourishment, meat, drink, and the like, his Organ the Liuer in sensible creatures, in Plants the root or sap. His office is, to turne the nutrimēt into the substance of the body nourished, which he performes by naturall heat. This nutritiue operation hath foure other subordinate functions, or powers belongiug to it, Attraction, Retention, Digestion, Expulsion. See more of Attraction in Scal. exerc. 343. Attraction is a ministring [Page 31] facultie, which as a Lodestone doth Iron, drawes meat into the stomacke, or as a lampe drawes oyle, and this attractiue power is very necessary in Plants, which sucke vp moisture by the root, as another mouth into the sap, or another stomacke. Retention keeps it being attracted into the stomack, Retention. vntill such time it be concocted, for if it should passe away straight, the body could not be nourished. Digestion, Digestion. is performed by naturall heat, as the heat of a torch consumes oyle, wax, tallowe: so doth it alter and digest the nutritiue matter. Indigestion is opposite vnto it, for want of naturall heat. Of this Digestion there be three differences, Maturation, Maturation. Elixation, Assation. Maturation, is especially obserued in the fruits of trees: which are then said to be ripe, when the feeds are fit to be sowne againe. Cruditie is opposed to it, to which gluttons, Epicures, and idle persons are most subiect, which vse no exercise to stirre vp naturall heat, or choake it, as to much wood puts out a fire. Elixation, Elixation. is the boyling of meat in the stomacke, by the said naturall heat, as meat is boyled in a pot to which corruption or putrefaction is opposite. Besides these three severall operations of Digestion, Order of concoction fourefold. there is a fourefold order of concoction, Mastication or chewing in the mouth, C [...]ylification of this so chewed meat in the stomacke: The thitd is in the Liuer to turne this Chylus into blood. The last is Assimilation, which is in every part. Expulsion. Expulsion is a power of Nutrition, by which he expells all superfluous excrements, and reliques of meat and drinke by the gutts, bladder, pores; as by purging, vomiting, spitting, sweating, vrine, haires, nailes, &c.
As this Nutritiue faculty serues to nourish the Body, Augmentatis. so doth the Augmenting faculty (the second operation or power of the Vegetall faculty) to the increasing of it in quantity, according to all Dimensions, long, broad, thicke, & to make it growe, til it come to his due proportion and perfect shape: which hath his period of augmentation, as of consumption & that mo [...] [...]ertaine, as the Poet obserues: [Page 32]
The last of these Vegetall faculties is Generation, Generation. which begets another, by meanes of seed like vnto it selfe, to the perpetuall preseruation of the Species. To this faculty they ascribe three subordinate operations: The first to turne nourishment into seed, &c.
Life and death concomitants of the Vegetall faculties. Necessary concomitants or affections of this Vegetall facultie is life, and his privation death. To the preseruation of life the naturall heat is most requisite, though siccitie and humidity, and those first qualities be not excluded. This heat is likewise in Plants, as appeares by their increasing, fructifying &c. though not so easily perceaued; In all bodies it must haue radicall Vita consistit in calido & humido. moisture to preserue it, that it be not consumed, to which preseruation our clime, country, temperature, and the good or bad vse of those six non naturall things auaile much. For as this naturall heat and moisture decay, so doth our life it selfe, and if not prevented before by some violent accident, or interrupted through our owne default, is in the end dryed vp by old age, and extinguished by death for want of matter, as a lampe for want of oyle to mainetaine it.
SVBSECT. 6. Of the sensible Soule.
NExt in order is the Sensible Facultie, which is as farr beyond the other in dignitie, as a Beast is preferred to a Plant, hauing those Vegetall powers included in it. It is defined an Act of an organicall Body, by which it liues, hath sense, appetite, Iudgement, breath, and motion. His obiect ingenerall is a sensible or passible qualitie, because the sense is affected by it. The generall Organ is the Braine, from whom principally the sensible operations be deriued. This Sensible Soule is divided [Page 33] into two parts, Apprehending, or Moouing. By the Apprehensiue power wee perceaue the Species of Sensible things present or absent, and retaine them as waxe doth the print of a Seale. By the Mouing, the Body is outwardly caried from one place to another: or inwardly moued by Spirits and Pulse. The Apprehensiue faculty is subdiuided into two parts, Inward, or Outward. Outward as the fiue senses. Of Touching, Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, Tasting; to which you may adde Scaligers sixt sense of Titillation, if you please. Inward are three; Common sense, Phantasie, Memory. Those fiue outward Senses, haue their obiect in outward things only, and such as are present, as the eye sees no colour except it be at hand, the Eare sound. Three of these Senses are of commodity, Hearing, Sight, Smell: Two of necessity, Touch, and Tast, without which wee cannot liue. Besides the Sensitiue power is Actiue, or Passiue, Actiue, as in sight, the eye sees the colour; Passiue as it is hurt by his obiect, as the eye by the Sunne-beames. According to that Axiome, Visibile forte destruit sensum. Or if the obiect be not pleasing, as a bad sound to the eare, a stinking smell to the nose, &c. Sight. Of these fiue Senses, Sight is held to bee most pretious, and the best, and that by reason of his obiect, it sees all the body at once, by it wee learne, & discerne all things, a sense most excellent for vse. To the Sight three things are required, the Obiect, the Organ, & the Medium. The Obiect in generall is Visible, or that which is to be seen, as colours & all shining bodies. The Medium is the illumination of the aire, which comes from Lumen est actus persp [...]cui. Lumen à luce prouenit lux in corpore lucido, light, commonly called Diaphanum, for in darke we cannot see: the Organ is the Eye, and chiefly the apple of it; which by those opticke Nerues, concurring both in one, convayes the sight to the cō mon sense. Betwixt the Organ and Obiect a true distance is required, that it be not too neere, or too farre of. Many excellent questions appertaine to this sense, discussed by Philosophers, as whether this sight bee caused Intra mittendo, vel extra mittendo, &c. By receauing in the visible Species, or sending of them out, which Satur. 7. c. 14. Plato, In Phaedon. Plutarch, Lac. c 8. de opif. de 1. Macrobius, [Page 34] De pract. Philos. 4. Lactantius, and others dispute. And besides it is the subiect of the Perspectiues, of which Alhasen the Arabian, Vitell [...], Roger Bacon, Baptista Porta, Guidus Vbaldus, &c. haue written whole volumes.
Hearing, Hearing. a most excellent outward sense, by which wee learne and get knowledge. His obiect is sound or that which is heard; the Medium the aire, the Organ the eare. To the sound which is a collision of the aire, three things are required; a body to strike, as the hand of a Musitian, the body stroken, which must be solide and able to resist; as a bell, lute-string, not wooll or spunge: the Medium, the aire, which is Inward or Outward; The Outward being stroke or collided by a solide body, still strikes the next ayre, vntill it come to that inward naturall ayre, which as an exquisite Organ is contained in a little skinne formed like a drumme head, and strucke vpon by certaine smal instruments like drum-stickes, conuayes the sound by a paire of Nerues, appropriated to that vse, to the common sense, as to a iudge of sounds. There is great variety and much delight in them, for the knowledge of which consult with Boëthius, and other Musitians.
Smelling. Smelling, is an outward sense which apprehends by the Nostrills drawing in aire. And of all the rest it is the weakest sense in men. The Organ is the Nose, or two little hollow peeces of flesh a little aboue it: the Medium the ayre to men, as water to fish: the Obiect, Smell, arising from a mixt Body resolued, which whether it be a quality, fume, or vapor, or exhalation, I will not now dispute, or of their differences, and how they are caused. This sense is an Organ of health, as Sight & Hearing, saith Lib. 19. cap. 2. Agellius, are of discipline, and that by avoiding bad smells, as by choosing good, which doe as much alter & affect the body many times, as Diet it selfe.
Tast. Tast, a necessary sense, which perceaues all sauors by the Tongue and pallet, and that by meanes of a thinne spittle, or watery iuyce. His Organ is the Tongue with his tasting nerues, the Medium a watery iuyce, the Obiect, Tast, or sauor, which is a quality in the iuyce, arising from the mixture of the things [Page 35] tasted. Some make eight Species or kindes of sauors, bitter, sweet, sharpe, salt, &c. all which sick men (as in an ague) cannot discerne, by reason of their Organs misaffected.
Touch, the last of the senses and most ignoble, Touching. yet of as great necessity as the other, and of as great pleasure. This sense is exquisite in men, and by his nerues dispersed all ouer the Body, perceaues any tactile quality. His Organ the Nerues: his Obiect is those first qualities, hot, dry, moist, cold, and those that followe them, hard, soft, thicke, thinne, &c. Many delightsome questions are moued by Philosophers about these fiue senses; their Organs, Obiects, Mediums, which for breuity sake I omit.
SVBSEC. 7. Of the Inward Senses.
INner Senses are three in number, so called because they are within the braine-panne, as Common Sense, Phantasie, Common Sense. Memory. Their obiects are not only things present, but they perceaue the sensible Species of things to Come, Past, Absent, such as were before in the sense. This common sense is the Iudge or Moderator of the rest, by whom we discerne all differences of obiects; for by mine eye I doe not knowe that I see, or by mine eare that I heare, but by my common sense, who iudgeth of Sounds, Colours: they are but the Organs to bring the Species to be censured, so that all their obiects are his, and all their offices his: The forepart of the braine is his Organ or seat.
Phantasie, or Imagination, which some call Aestimatiue, Phantasie. or Cogitatiue, confirmed, saith Phis. l. 5. c. 8. Fernelius, by frequent meditation, is an inner sense, which doth more fully examine the Species perceaued by common sense, of things present or absent, and keepes them longer, recalling them to minde againe, or making new of his owne. In time of sleepe this faculty is free, & many times conceaues strange, stupend, absurd shapes [Page 36] as in sicke men we commonly obserue. His Organ is the middle cell of the Braine, his Obiects all the Species communicated to him by the Common sense, by comparison of which hee faines infinite other vnto himselfe. In Melancholy men this faculty is most powerfull and strong, and often hurt, producing many monstrous and prodigious things, especially if it be stirred vp by some terrible obiect, presented to it from cō mon sense, or memory. In Poets and Painters Imagination forcibly workes, as appeares by their seuerall fictions, Antickes, Images: As Ovids house of sleepe, Psyches pallace in Apuleius, &c. In men it is subiect and gouerned by Reason, or at least should be, but in Brutes it hath no superior, & is Ratio Brutorum, all the reason they haue.
Memory. Memory layes vp all the Species which the Senses haue brought in, and records them as a good Register, that they may be forth-comming when they are called for by Phantasie and Reason. His object is the same with Phantasie, his Seat and Organ the backe part of the braine.
The affections of these Senses, are Sleepe and Waking, common to all sensible creatures. Sleepe is a rest or binding of all the outward senses, and of the common sense, for the preseruation of body and soule, Affections of the Senses, Sleep, & Waking. as Exercit. 280. Scaliger defines it. For when the common sense resteth, the outward senses rest also. The Phantasie alone is free, and his commander Reason, as appeares by those Imaginary dreames, which are of diverse kindes, Naturall, Diuine, Daemoniacall, &c. Which vary according to humours, Diet, Actions, Obiects, &c. of which Artimedorus & Cardan haue written great volumes. This ligation of senses proceeds from an inhibition of Spirits, the way being stopped by which they should come, which stopping is caused of vapors arising out of the stomacke, which fill the Nerues, by which the spirits should be convayed. When these vapors are spent the passage is open, and the spirits performe their accustomed duties, so that Waking is the action and motion of the senses, which the spirits dispersed ouer all parts, cause.
SVBSECT. 8. Of the Moouing Faculty.
THis Moouing Facultie, is the other power of the Sensatiue soule, which causeth all those Inward, and Outward animal motions in the body. It is divided into two faculties, the power of Appetite, and of Moouing from place to place. Appetite. This of Appetite is threefold, as some will haue it, Naturall, as it signifies any such inclination, as of a stone to fall downward, and such actions as Retention, Expulsion, which depend not of sense, but are Vegetall, as the Appetite of meate, & drinke, hunger, and thirst. Sensitiue is common to Men and Brutes. Voluntary the third or intellectiue which commaunds the other two in men, and is a curbe vnto them, or at least should be: but for the most part is captiuated & overruled by them, and men are led like beasts by sense, giuing raines to their cō cupiscence, and severall lusts. For by this appetite the Soule is led or inclined, to followe that good which the senses shall approue, or avoid that which they hold evill, his Obiect being good or evill, the one he embraceth, the other hee reiecteth. According to that Aphorisme, Omnia appetunt bonum, all things seeke their owne good, or at least seeming good. This power is inseperable from sense, for where sense is, there is likewise pleasure and paine. His Organ is the same with the Common sense, and is diuided into two powers, or inclinations, Concupiscible or Irascible: or as T.W. Iesuite, in his passions of the minde. one translates it, Coueting, or Anger-inuading, Impugning. Concupiscible couets alwaies pleasant and delightsome things, and abhorres that which is distastfull, harsh, or vnpleasant. Irascible, Velcurio. quasi aversans per iram & odium, as avoiding it with anger and indignation. All affections and perturbations arise out of these two fountaines, which although the Stoicks make light of; we hold naturall, and not to be resisted. The good affections are caused by some obiect of the same nature, and if present [Page 38] they procure ioy, which dilates the Heart, and preserues the body: If absent, they cause Hope, Loue, Desire, Cōcupiscēce. The Bad are Simple, or mixt: Simple for some bad obiect present, as sorrowe which contracts the Heart, macerates the Soule, subuerts the good estate of the body, hindering all the operations of it, causing Melancholy, and many times death it selfe: or future as Feare. Out of these two arise those mixt affections, and passions of anger, which is a desire of revenge, Hatred which is inveterate anger, Zeale which is offended with him which hurts that he loues, and [...] a compound affection of Ioy and Hate, when wee reioyce at other mens mischiefe, and are grieued at their prosperitie, Pride, Selfe-loue, Emulation, Envy, Shame, &c. of which elsewhere.
Moouing from place to place, is a faculty necessarily following the other. For in vaine were it otherwise to desire and to abhorre, if we had not likewise power to prosecute or eschewe, by moouing the body from place to place: by this faculty therefore wee locally mooue the whole body, or any part of it, and goe from one place to another. To the better performance of which three things are requisite. That which moues, by what it moues, that which is moued. That which moues is either the efficient cause or end. The ende is the obiect, which is desired or eschewed; as a Dog to catch a Hare, &c. The efficient cause in man in Reason, or his subordinate Phantasie, which apprehends this good or bad obiect, in Brutes Imagination alone which moues the Appetite, the Appetite this facultie, which by an admirable league of nature, and by mediation of the spirits, commands the Organe by which it moues: and that consists of Nerues, Muscles, cordes, dispersed through the whole body, and contracted & relaxed as the Spirits will, which moue the Muscles, or Nerui à spiritu mouentur, spiritus ab animâ, Melācthon. Nerues in the midst of them, and drawe the cord, and so per consequens the ioint to the place intended. That which is moued is the body, or some member apt to moue. The motion of the body is diverse, as going, running, leaping, dancing, sitting, & such like, referred to the predicament of Situs. Worms [Page 39] creepe, Birds flye, Fishes swimme: and so of parts, the chiefe of which is Respiration or breathing, which is thus performed, the outward ayre is drawne in by the vocall Artery, and sent by mediation of the Midriffe to the Lungs, which dilating themselues as a paire of bellowes, reciprocally fetch it in and send it out to the heart to coole it: and from thence now being hot convay it againe, still taking in fresh. Such a like motion is that of the Pulse, of which because many haue written whole bookes, I will say nothing.
SVBSEC. 9. Of the Rationall Soule.
IN the precedent Subsections, I haue anatomised those inferiour Faculties of the Soule; the Rationall remaineth, a pleasant, but a doubt full Subiect, as Velcurio. Iucundum & anceps subiectū. one termes it, and with the like brevity to be discussed. Many erronious opinions are about the Essence and Originall of it, how it comes into the Body. Some hold that it is ex traduce, as Phil. 1. de Animâ, Tertullian, Avicenna, and many Goclenius in [...] pag. 302. Bright. in Phis. Scrib. lib. 1. &c. late Writers, that one man begets another, Body and Soule: or as a candle from a candle, to be produced from the Seede. Lib. an mores sequantur. &c. Galen holdes the Soule Crasin esse, to be the Temperature it selfe. The Read Aeneas Gazeus Dial, of the immortality of the Soule. Pythagorians hold Metempsychosis, and Palingenesia, that Soules go from one body to another, as men into Wolues, Beares, Dogges, Hogges, as they were inclined in their liues. In Gallo. Lucians Cock was first Euphorbus a Captaine, a Horse, a Man, a Sponge, Nicephorus hist. lib. 10. cap. 35. Iulian the Apostata, thought Alexanders Soule was descended into his Body. Plato in his Phaedon, for ought I can perceiue, differs not much from this opinion, that it was from God at first, and knew all, but being inclosed in the Body, it forgets, & learnes anew, which he cals Reminiscentiam, or recalling, and that it was put into the Body at first for a punishment, and thence it goes into a beasts, & after Phaedro. 10000 yeares, is to returne into the former body againe. Others deny [Page 40] the immortality of it, which Pomponatius of Padua decided out of Aristotle, not long since. Plinius Auunculus cap. 7. lib. 2. & lib. 7. cap. 55. Lucretius lib. 1. Averroes. Others grant the immortality of it, but they make many fabulous fictions in the meane time of it, after the departure from the Body. Like Plato's Elisian Fields, and that Turkie Paradise, the Soules of good men they deisied; the bad saith Bonorum Lares, malorum verò larvas & Le mure [...] Austin, became devils, as they supposed; with many such absurd tenets, which Austin hath confuted, Hierom, and the other Fathers of the Church, which hold, that the Soule is created of nothing, and so infused in the Childe or Embrio in his Mothers wombe, six moneths after the Some say at 3. dayes, some six weekes, others otherwise. conception, not as those of brutes, which are ex Traduce; and dying with them, vanish into nothing. This Reasonable Soule, which Austin calles a Spirituall substance, mouing it selfe, is defined by Philosophers to be the first substantiall Act of a Naturall, Humane, Organicall Body, by which a man liues, perceiues, and vnderstands, freely doing all things, and with election. Out of which Definition we may gather, that this Rationall Soule includes the powers, and performes the duties of the two other, which are contained in it, and all three Faculties make one Soule, which is inorganicall of it selfe, although it be in all parts, & incorporeall, vsing their Organs, and working by them. It is divided into two chiefe parts, differing in office onely, not in Essence. The Vnderstanding, which is the Rationall power apprehending: the Will, which is the Rationall power mouing, to which two, all the other Rationall powers are subiect and reduced.
SVBSEC. 10. Of the Vnderstanding.
VNderstanding, is a power of the Soule, Melancton. by which we perceiue, know, remember, and Iudge aswell Singulars as Vniversals, hauing certaine Innate notices or beginnings of arts, a reflecting action, by which it iudgeth of his owne doings, and examines [Page 41] them. Out of this Definition besides his chiefe office, which is to apprehend, iudge all which he performes, without the helpe of any Instruments or Organs, three differences appeare betwixt a man and a beast. As first, the sence onely comprehends Singularities, the Vnderstanding vniversalities. Secondly, the sence hath no innate notions, thirdly Bruts can not reflect vpon themselues. Bees indeed make neate and curious workes, and many other Creatures besides, but when they haue done, they cannot iudge of them. His obiect is God, Ens; all nature, and whatsoeuer is to bee vnderstood: which successiuely it apprehends. The obiect first mouing the Vnderstanding, is some sensible thing, after by discoursing the Minde findes out the corporeall substance, and from thence the spirituall. His actions, some say, are Apprehension, Composition, Division, Discoursing, Reasoning, Memory, which some include in Invention, and Iudgment. The common Divisions are of the Vnderstanding, Agent, and Patient. Speculatiue, and Practicke. In Habite, or in Act. Simple, or Compound. The Agent is that which is called the Wit of Man, acumen or subtilty, sharpnesse of invention, when he doth invent of himselfe without a Teacher, or learnes anew, which abstracts those intelligible Species from the Phantasie, and transferres them to the passiue Vnderstanding, Nihil in intellectu, quod non priùs fuerat in sensu. because there is nothing in the Vnderstanding, which was not first in the sence: that which the Imagination hath taken from Sence, this Agent iudgeth of, whether it be true or false; and being so iudged, he committes it to the Passible to bee kept. The Agent is a Doctor or Teacher, the Passiue a Scholler; and his office is to keepe, and farther iudge of such things as are committed to his charge: as a bare and rased table at first, capable of all formes & notions. Now these Notions are two-fold, Actions or Habits: Actions, by which we take Notions of, and perceiue things; Habits, which are durable lights and notions, which wee may vse when we will. Velc. Some reckon vp eight kindes of them, Sence, Experience, Intelligence, Faith, Suspition, Errour, Opinion, Science, to which are added Art, Prudency, [Page 42] Wisdome: as also The pure part of the Conscience. Synterisis, Dictamen rationis, Conscience; so that in all there be 14 Species of the Vnderstanding, of which some are innate, as the three last mentioned, the other are got by doctrine, learning, Vse. Plato will haue all to bee innate, Aristotle reckons vp but fiue intellectuall Habits; two speculatiue, as that Intelligence of the Principles, and Science of conclusions: Two practicke, as Prudency, whose end is to practise, Art to fabricate, Wisdome to comprehend the vse and experiments of all notions, and habits whatsoeuer. Which Division of Aristotle, if it be considered aright, is all one with the precedent; for three being innate, and fiue acquisite; the rest are improper, imperfect, and in a more strict examination excluded. Of all these I should more amply dilate, but my subiect will not permit. Three of them I will only point at, as more necessary to my following Discourse.
Syntherisis, or the purer part of the Conscience, is an innate Habit, and doth signifie a conseruation of the knowledge of the Law of God and Nature, to know good or euill. And as our Divines hold, it is rather in the Vnderstanding, then in the Will. This makes the maior proposition, in a practicke Syllogisme. The Dictamen rationis, is that which doth admonish vs to doe Good, or Euill, and is the minor in the Syllogisme. The Conscience is that which approues Good or Euill, justifying or condemning our Actions, and is the Conclusion of the Syllogisme: as in that familiar example of Regulus the Romane, taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, and suffered to goe to Rome, on that condition he should returne againe, or pay so much for his ransome. The Syntherisis proposeth the question, his word, oath, promise is to be religiously kept, although to his Enemy, and that by the Law of Nature. Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris. Doe not that to another, which thou wouldst not haue done to thy selfe, Dictamen applies it to him, and dictates this or the like: Regulus thou wouldst not another man should falsifie his oath, or breake promise with thee. Conscience concludes, therefore Regulus, thou doest well to performe thy promise, and oughtest keepe thine oath. More of this in Religious Melancholy.
SVBSEC. 13. Of the Will.
WIll, is the other power of the Rationall Soule, Res ab intellectu monstratas recipit vel reiicit, approbat vel improbat. Philippus Ignoti nulla cupido. which couets or avoides such things as haue beene before iudged, and apprehended by the Vnderstanding. If good, it approues it, if euill, it abhorres it; so that his obiect is good, or evill. Aristotle cals this our Rationall Appetite; for as in the Sensatiue, we are carried to good or bad by our Appetite, ruled and directed by Sence: so in this we are carried by Reason. Besides, the Sensatiue Appetite hath a particular obiect, good or bad, this an vniversall immateriall, that respects onely things delectable and pleasant, this Honest. Againe, they differ in liberty. The Sensuall appetite seeing an obiect, if it bee a convenient good, cannot but desire it; if euill, avoide it: but this is free in his Essence, Melancton. Operationes plerum (que) ferae, etsi libera sit illa in essentià suâ. much now depraued, obscured, and falue from his first perfection, yet in some of his operations still free, as to goe, walke, mooue, at his pleasure, and to choose whether it will doe, or not doe, steale, or not steale. Otherwise in vaine were Lawes, Deliberations, Dehortations, Exhortations, Counsels, Praecepts, Rewards, Promises, Threates and punishments: and God should be the Author of sinne. But in In civilibus libera, sed non in spiritualibus. Osiander. spirituall things we will no good, prone to euill, (except we be regenerate, and led by the Spirit) we are egged on by our naturall concupiscence, and there is [...], a confusion in our powers, Tota voluntas aversa à Deo. Omnis homo mendax. our whole Will is averse from God, & his Law, not in naturall things onely, as to eate and drinke, lust, to which we are led headlong by our temperature, and inordinate Appetite,
we cannot resist, our cōcupiscence is originally bad, our Hart euill, the seate of our affections, captivates and enforceth our will: So that in voluntary things wee are averse from God [Page 44] and goodnesse, bad by nature, Vel propter ignorantiam, quod bonis studiis non fit instructa mens vt debuit, aut divinis praeceptis exculta. ignorance, worse by Art, Discipline, Custome, we get many bad Habits, and suffer them to domineere and tyrannize ouer vs, and the Deuill is still ready, and at hand, with his bad suggestions to tempt our depraued will to some ill-disposed action, to praecipitate vs to destruction: except our Will be not swayed and counterpoised againe, with some divine Praecepts, and good motions of the Spirit; which many times restraine and hinder vs, and checke vs when we are in the full careire of our dissolute courses. So Dauid corrected himselfe, when he had Saul at a vantage. Revenge and Malice were as two violent oppugners on the one side, but Honesty, Religion, Feare of God, with-held him on the other.
The Actions of the Will are Velle, and Nolle, will and nill: which two wordes comprehend all, and they are, Good or Bad, accordingly as they are directed: and some of them freely performed by himselfe, although the Stoicks absolutely deny it, and will haue all things inevitably done by Destiny, imposing a fatal necessity vpon vs, which wee may not resist; yet wee say that our will is free in respect of vs, and things contingent, howsoeuer in respect of Gods determinate counsell, they are inevitable and necessary. Some other actions of the Will are performed by his inferiour powers, which obey him as the Sensatiue and Mouing Appetite, as to open our eyes, to goe hether and thether, not to touch a Booke, to speake faire or foule, but this Appetite is many times rebellious in vs. It was, as I said, once well agreeing with reason in vs, and there was an excellent consent and harmony betwixt them, but that is now dissolued, they often jarre, Reason is over-borne by Passion. ‘Fertur equis auriga, nec audit currus habenas.’ as so many wilde horses runne away with a chariot, and will not be curbed, we know many times what is good, but will not doe it, as she said,
[Page 45] lust counsels one things, reason an other, there is a new reluctancy in me. We cannot resist, but as Phaedra confessed to her nurse, Seneca Hippol. quae loqueris, vera sunt, sed furor suggerit sequi peiora. she said well and true, and she did acknowledge it, but headstrong passion and fury, made her to doe that which was opposite. So Dauid knew the filthinesse of his fact, what a loathsome, foule, crying sinne Adultery was, yet not withstanding he would commit murder, & take away another mans Wife, enforced against Reason, Religion, to follow his Appetite.
Those Naturall and Vegetall powers, are not commanded by Will at all; for who can adde one cubit to his stature? These other may, but are not, and thence come all those headstrong Passions, and violent perturbations of the Minde; And many times vitious Habits, customes, ferall Diseases, because we giue so much way to our Appetite, and follow our inclination, like so many beasts. The principall Habits are two in number, Vertue, and Vice, whose peculiar Definitions, Descriptions, Differences, and kindes are handled at large in the Ethicks, and are indeed the Subiect of Morall Philosophie.
MEMB. 3.
SVBSEC. 1. Definition of Melancholy. Name, Difference.
HAving thus briefly Anatomized the Body and Soule of Man, as a preparatiue to the rest; I may now freely proceede to treate of my intended Subiect, to most mens capacity, and after many ambages, perspicuously define what this Melancholy is, his Name and Difference. The Name is imposed from the matter, and the Disease denominated from the materiall cause: as Bruel obserues, [...], quasi [...], from blacke Choler. And whether it bee a cause or an effect, a Disease, or Symptome, let Donatus Altomarus, and Salvianus decide, I will not contend about it. It hath severall [Page 46] Descriptions, Notations and Definitions Melancholicos vocamus, quos exuperantia vel pravitas Melancholiae ita malè habet, vt indè insaniant, vel in omnibus, vel in pluribus iis (que) manifestis, sive ad rectam rationem voluntatem pertinent, vel electionem, vel intellectus operationes. Fracastorius in his second Booke of Intellect. calles those Melancholy, whom aboundance of that same depraued humor of blacke Choller hath so misaffected, that they become mad thence, and dote in most things, or in all, belonging to election, will, or other manifest operations of the Vnderstanding. Pessimum & pertinacissimum morbum, qui homines in bruta degenerarecogit. Melanelius out of Galen, Ruffus, Aetius describe it to be a bad and peevish Disease, which makes men degenerate into beasts. Galen, a privation or infection of the middle cell of the Head, &c. defining it from the part affected, which Panth. Med. Hercules de Saxoniâ approues lib. 1. cap. 16. calling it a depravation of the principall function: and Fuchsius lib. 1. cap. 23. Arnoldus Breuiar. lib. 1. cap. 18. Guianerius and others: By reason of blacke Choler, Paulus addes. Haliabbas simply cals it a commotion of the mind. Arateus, An [...]r anim [...] in vn [...] contentione defixus abs (que) febre. a perpetuall anguish of the soule, fastened on one thing, without an ague: which Definition of his, Mercurialis de affect. cap. lib. 1. cap. 10, taxeth: but Aelianus Montaltus defends, lib. de morb. cap [...]ap. 1. de Melan: for sufficient and good. The common sort define it to be a kinde of dotage, without any feaver, hauing for his ordinary companions, feare and sadnesse, without any apparant occasion. Laurentius, cap, 4. Piso, lib. 1. cap. 43, Donatus Altomarus cap. 7. art. medic. Iacchinus in com. in lib. 9. Rhasis ad Almansor cap. 15. Valecius exerc. 17. Fuschius institut. 3. sec. 1. cap. 11. &c. Which common definition, howsoeuer approved by most Cap. 16. lib. 1. Hercules de Saxoniâ will not allow of nor David Crusius, Theat. morb. Herm. lib. 2. cap. 6. he holdes it vnsufficient: as Eorum definitio morbus quid, non sit potius, quam quid sit explicat. rather shewing what it is not, then what it is: as omitting the specificall difference, the phantasie and Brain: but I descend to particulars. The summum genus is Dotage, or Anguish of the Mind, saith Areteus, of a principal part, Hercules de Saxoniâ addes, to distinguish it from Cramp and Palsie, and such diseases as belong to the outward sence and motions ( depraved) to distinguish it from Folly and Madnesse (which Montaltus makes angor animi to separate) in which, those functions are not depraved, but rather abolished, ( without an ague) is added by all to sever it from [Page 47] Phrensie, and that Melancholy, which is a pestilent Feaver. ( Feare and Sorrow) make it differ from Madnesse (without a cause) is lastly inserted to specifie it from all other ordinary passions of Feare and Sorrow. We properly call that Dotage, as Cap. 4 de Mel. Laurentius interprets it, when some one principall faculty of the minde, as Imagination, or Reason is corrupted, as all Melancholy persons haue. It is without a Feaver, because the humor is most part colde and dry, contrary to putrefaction. Feare and Sorrow are the true Characters, and inseparable companions of Melancholy, as hereafter shall be declared.
SVBSECT. 2. Of the part affected. Affection. Parties affected.
SOme difference I finde amongst Writers, about the principall part affected in this disease, whether it be the Brain or Heart, or some other Member. Most are of opinion, that it is the Braine, for being a kinde of Dotage, it cannot otherwise be, but that the Braine must be affected, as a Simular part be it by Per conscensū, sive per Essentiā. consent or Essence, not in his Ventricles or any obstructions in them, for then it would be an Apoplexie, or Epilepsie, as Cap. 4. de Mel. Laurentius well obserues; but in a colde, dry distemperature of it in his substance, which is corrupt, and become too colde, or too dry, or els too hote, as in mad-men, and such as are inclined to it: & this Sec. 7. de mor. vulgar. lib. 6. Hippocrates confirmes, Galen, Arabians, and most of our new Writers. Marcus de Oddis, in a consultation of his, quoted by Specel de Melancholiâ. Hildisheim, and fiue others there cited, are of the contrary part, because Feare and Sorrow, which are passions, are seated in the Heart: but this obiection is sufficiently answered by Cap. 3. de Mel. pars affecta cerebrum, sive per conscensum, siue per cerebrum contingat, & procerum auctoritate & ratione stabilitur. Montaltus. Who doth not deny but that the Heart is affected, but not principally. The Heart indeed is affected, as Lib. de Melancholiâ, cor verò vicinitatis ratione vnâ afficitur, ac septum transuersum ac stomachus cum dorsali spina. &c. Melanelius proues out of Galen, by reason of his vicinity; and so is the M [...]driffe, and many other parts. They doe compati, and haue [Page 48] a fellow feeling by the Law of Nature: but forasmuch as this malady is caused by precedent Imagination, and the Appetite, to whom Spirits obey, are subiect to those principall parts, the Braine must needs be primarily misaffected, as the seate of Reason, and then the Heart, as the seate of Affection. Lib. 1. cap. 10. Subiectum est cerebrum interius. Capiuaccius, and Mercurialis haue copiously discussed this question, and both conclude the subiect is the Inner Braine, and from thence it is communicated to the Heart, and other inferiour parts, which sympathize and are much troubled, especially when it comes by consent, and is caused by reason of the Stomacke, or myrache, as the Arabians tearme it, or whole Body, Liver, or Rarò quisquā tumorem effugit lienis, quihoc morbo afficitur. Piso. Splene, which are seldome free, Pylorus, Mesariacke, Veines, &c. For our Body is like a Clocke, if one wheele be amisse, all the rest are disordered, the whole Fabricke suffers: with such admirable Art and Harmony is a man composed, such excellent proportion, as Lodouicus Vives in his Fable of a man hath elegantly declared.
Quis affectus. As many doubts almost arise about the See Donatum ab Altomar. Affection, whether it be Imagination or Reason alone, or both. Hercules de Saxoniâ proues out of Galen, Aetius, and Altomarus, that the sole fault is in Facultas Imaginandi, non cogitandi, nec memorandi laesa hic. Imagination. Bruel is of the same mind: Montaltus in his his second Chapter of Melancholy, confutes this Tenet of theirs, and illustrates the contrary, by [...]any examples, as of him, that thought he was a shell-fish, of a Nunne, of a desperate Monke, that would not be perswaded, but that he was damned. Reason was in fault aswell as Imagination, which did not correct this Error; they make away themselues often-times, Lib. Med. cap. 19. part. 2.7. rac. 15. cap. 2. and suppose many absurd and ridiculous things. Why doth not Reason detect the Fallacy, settle and perswade if shee bee free? Lib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. cap. 18. Avicenna therefore holdes both corrupt, to whom most Arabians subscribe. The same is maintained by Lib. 3. cap. 5. Areteus, Gordonius, Guianerius &c. To end the controversie, no man doubts of Imagination, but that it is hurt and mis-affected heere; for the other I determine with Hildisheim spicel. 2. de Melanchol. fol. 2.7. & fol. 127. Quando (que) etiam Rationalis si affectus inveteratas sit. Albertinus Bottonus, a Doctor of Padua, that it is first in Imagination, and afterwards in Reason, if the Disease be inveterate, [Page 49] or as it is more or lesse of continuance.
To the part affected, I may heere adde the parties, Parties affected. which shall be more opportunely spoken of els-where, heere onely signified. Such as haue the Moone, Saturne, Mercury misaffected in their genitures, such as liue in over-cold, or overhot Climes: Such as are borne of Melancholy parents: as offend in those 6. non-naturall things, are blacke, or of an high Sanguine complexion, Qui parvum caput habent, insensati pleri (que) sunt. Arist. in Physiognomiâ that haue little heads. That haue a hot Heart, moist Braine; hote Liuer, and cold Stomacke, haue bin long sicke: such as are solitary by nature, great Students, giuen to much contemplation, idle, leade a life out of action, are most subiect to Melancholy. Of Sexes both, but men more often, yet Areteus lib. 3. cap. 5. women when they are, farre more violent, and grievously troubled. Of seasons of the yeare, the Autumne is most Melancholy. Of peculiar times, old age, from which it is almost an inseparable accident; and this Malady is most frequent in such as are of Qui propè statum sunt. Areteus. middle age. Some assigne 40 yeares, Gariopontus 30, Iobertus excepts neither yong nor old: Medijs convenit aetatibus. Piso. Aetius and Areteus ascribe into the number not onely Pronus ad Melancholiam, non tam moestùs, sed & hilares, iocosi, chachinnā tes, irrisores, & qui plerum (que) praerubri sunt. discontented, passionate, and miserable persons, swarty blacke, De quartana. but such as are most merry and pleasant, scoffers, and high colored. Generally saith Rhasis, Qui sunt subtilis ingenij, & multae perspicacitatis de facili incidunt in Melancholiam. l. 1. cont. Tract. 9. the finest wits, and most generous spirits, are before others obnoxious to it; so that I cannot except any of any complexion, of any condition, sexe, or age; but Nunquam sanitate mentis excidit, aut dolore capitur. Erasm. fooles and Stoicks, which according to In laud. caluit. Sinesius, are neuer troubled with any manner of passion. Erasmus vindicates fooles from this Melancholy Catalogue, because they haue most part moist braines, and light Hearts, Vacant conscientiae carnificinâ, nec pudefiunt, nec verentur, nec dilacerantur millibus curarum, quibus tota vita obnoxia est. they are free from ambition, envy, shame & feare, they are neither troubled in conscience, or macerated with care, to which our whole life is so much subiect.
SVBSECT. 4. Of the Matter of Melancholy.
OF the Matter of Melancholy, there is much question betwixt Avicen and Galen, as you may reade in Lib. 1. Tract. 3. contràdic. 18. Cardans Contradictions, Lib. 1. cont. 21. Valesius controversies, Montanus, Prosper Calenus, Capivaccius, Bright cap. 16 Bright, Lib. 1. cap. 6. desanit, tuendá. Ficinus, that haue written either whole Tracts, or copiously of it, in their severall Treatises of this Subiect. Quisve aut qualis sit humor, aut quae istius differentiae, & quomodogignantur in corpore, scrutandum, hâc enim in re multi veterum laboraverunt, nec facilè accipere ex Galeno sententiam ob loquendi varietatem. Leonart. Iacchinus com. in 9. Rasis. cap. 15. Cap. 16. in 9. Rasis. What this humor is, or whence it proceeds, how it is ingendred in the Body, neither Galen, nor any old Writer hath sufficiently discussed, as Iacchinus thinkes: the Neotericks cannot agree. Montanus in his consultations, holdes Melancholy to be materiall or immateriall: and so doth Arculanus: the materiall is one of the foure humors before mentioned, and naturall or adventitious, acquisite, redundant, vnnaturall, artificiall. Paracelsus wholly reiects and derides this division of foure humors and complexions, but our Galenists ingenerally approue of it, subscribing to this of Montanus.
This naturall Melancholy is either Simple, or Mix't, offending in Quantity or Quality, varying according to his place, where it setleth, as Braine, Splene, Meseriacke veines, Hear, Wombe, and Stomack: or varying according to mixture of those naturall humors amongst themselues, or foure vnnaturall adust humors, as they are diversly tempered and mingled, If naturall Melancholy abound in the Body, which is colde & dry, so that it be more Secundùm magis aut minùs si in corpore fucrit ad intemperiem plusquam corpus salubritér ferre poterit: indè corpus morbosum efficitur. then the Body is well able to beare, it must needs be distempered saith Faventinus, and diseased: and so of the other, if it be depraved, whether it arise from that other Melancholy, or Choler adust, or from Blood, produceth the like effects, and is as Montaltus contends, if it come by adustion of humors, most part hote and dry. Some difference I finde, whether this Melancholy matter may be ingendred of all foure humors, about the color and temper of it. Galen [Page 51] holdes it may be ingendred of three alone, excluding Fleame or Pituitae, whose true assertion, Lib 1. controvers. cap. 21. Valesius and Menardus stiffly maintaine, and so doth Lib. 1. sec. 4. cap. 4. Fuchsius, Montaltus, Consil. 26. Montanus. How say they should white become black? But Hercules de Saxoniâ, and Cardan, are of the opposite part: it may be ingendred of Fleame, etsi rarò contingat, Lib. 2. contradict. cap. 11. it seldome comes to passe: so is De feb. Tract. 4. diff. 2. cap. 1. non est negandum ex hâc fieri Melancholicos. Guianerius and Laurentius cap. 14. and Melancthon in his booke de Animâ, and Chapter of humors, hee calles it asininam, dull, swinish Melancholy, and saith that he was an eye-witnesse of it: so is In Syntax. Wecker. From Melancholy adust ariseth one kinde, from Choler another, which is most brutish: another from Fleame, which is dull; & the last from Blood, which is best. Of these some are cold and dry, others hote and dry, Variè aduritur & miscetur, vnde variae amenti [...]m species. Melancthon. varying according to their mixtures, and as they are intended & remitted. If the humor be cold, it is saith Humor frigidus delirij causa: furoris calidus &c. Faventinus, a cause of dotage, and produceth milder symptoms, if hote, they are rash, rauing mad, or inclining to it. If the Braine be hote, the animall spirits are hote, and madnesse followes, and violent actions: if cold, fatuity and sottishnesse, Lib. 1. cap. 10. de affect cap. Capivaccius. Nigrescit hic humor, aliquando supercalefactus, aliquandò superfrigefactus. cap. 7. The colour of this mixture varies likewise according to the mixture, bee it hote or cold, t'is sometimes blacke, sometimes not. Altomarus. The same Humor hic niger aliquandò praeter modum calefactus, & aliàs refrigeratus evadit: nam vrentibus carbonibus ei quid simile accidit, qué durante flammâ, pellucidissimè candent, eá extinctâ prorsus nigrescunt. Hippocrates. Melanelius proues out of Galen: and Hypocrates in his booke of melancholy, if at least it be his, giuing instance in a burning coale, which when it is hote, shines, and when it is cold, lookes blacke, and so doth the humor. This diversity of Melancholy matter, produceth diversity of effects. If it be within the Guianerius. diff. 2. cap. 7. body, and not putrified, it causeth blacke Iaundise: if putrified, a Quartan ague: if it breake out to the skinne, Leprosie; if to parts, severall Maladies, as Scurvy &c. If it trouble the minde, as it is diversly mix't, it produceth severall kindes of Madnesse and Dotage, of which in their place.
SVBSECT. 5. Of the species or kindes of melancholy.
VVHen the matter is divers and confused, how should it otherwise be, but that the Species should be divers and confused? Many new and old Writers haue written confusedly of it, confounding Melancholy and Madnesse, as Non est Mania nisi extensa Melancholia. Hernius, Guianerius, Gordonius, Salustius Salvianus, Iason Pratensis, Savan [...]rola, that will haue Madnesse no other then Melancholy in Extent, differing, as I haue said, in degrees. Some make no distinct Species, as Ruffus Ephesius an olde Writer, Areteus, Cap 6. lib. 1. Aurelianus, Paulus Aegineta: others acknowledge a multitude of kindes, and leaue them indefinite, as 2 Ser. 2. cap. 9 Morbus hic est omnifarius. Aetius in his Tetrabiblos, Species indefinitae sunt. Avicenna lib. 3. Fen, 1. Trac, 4. cap. 18. Arculanus cap. 16. in 9. Rasis. Montanus med. part. 1. Si aduratur naturalis Melancholia, alia fit species, si sanguis, alia, si flava bilis alia diversa à primis: maxima est inter has differentia, & tot Doctorum sententiae, quot ipsi numero sunt. If naturall melancholy be adust, it maketh one kinde, if blood, another; if choler, a third, differing from the first, and so many severall opinions there are about the kindes, as there bee men themselues. Savanorola Rub. 11. Tract. 6. cap. 1. de aegritud. Cap. will haue the kinds to be infinite, one from the myrache, called myrachialis of the Arabians; another stomachalis, from the stomack, another from the liuer, heart, wombe, haemrods: Quaedam incipiens, quaedam consummata. one beginning, another consummate. Melancthon seconds him, Cap. de humor. lib. de Animâ variè aduritur & miscetur ipsa Melancholia, vnde variae amentium species. as the humor is diversly adust and mixt, so are the Species diuerse: but what these men speake of species, I thinke ought to be vnderstood of symptomes, and so doth Cap. 16. in 9. Rasis. Arculanus interpret himselfe: Infinite species and symptomes: and in that sense, as Io. Gorrheus acknowledgeth in his medicinall definitiōs, the species are infinite, but they may be reduced to three kindes, by reason of their seat, Head, Body, and Hypocondries. This threefold division is approoved by Hippocrates in his booke of Melancholy (if it be his, which some suspect) by Galen lib. 3. de loc. affectis cap. 6. by Alexander lib. 1. cap. 16. Rases lib. 1. Continent. Tract. 9. lib. 1. cap. 16. Avicenna, [Page 53] and most of our new Writers. Th. Erastus makes two kinds; one perpetual, which is Head melancholy, the other interrupt, which comes and goes by fits, which he subdivides into the other two kindes, so that all comes to the same passe. Some againe makes foure or fiue kindes, adding Laurentius cap. 4. de Melan. Loue melancholy to the first, and Lycanthropia. The most receiued division is into three kindes. The first proceeds from the sole fault of the Braine, and is called Head melancholy: the second sympathetically proceedes from the whole Body, when the whole temperature is Melancholy: The third ariseth from the Bowels, Liuer, Splene, or Membrane, called Mesenterium, named Hypochondriacall, or windy melancholy, which Cap. 13. Laurentius subdivides into three parts, from those three Members, Hepaticke, Splenaticke, M [...]sariacke. Loue melancholy, which Avicenna calles Ilishi, and Lycanthropia, which he calles Cucubuthe, are commonly included in Head Melancholy: but of this last, which Gerardus de Solo calles Amoreos, and most Knight melancholy, with that of Religious melancholy, and all the other kindes, of Loue melancholy, I will speake of a-part by themselues, in my third Partition. The three precedent species are the subiect of my discourse, which I wil anatomize, and treat of, through all their causes, symptomes, cures, together, and a-part, that euery man that is in any measure affected with this malady, may know how to examine it in himselfe, and apply remedies vnto it.
It is a hard matter I confesse to distinguish these three species, one from the other, to expresse their seuerall causes, symptomes, cures, being that they are so often confounded amongst themselues, hauing such affinity, that they can scarce be discerned, by the most acuratest Phisitians themselues; and so often intermixt with other diseases, that the best experienced haue beene plunged. Montanus consil. 26. had a patient that had this disease of Melancholy, & Caninus Appetitus both together. And consil. 23. with Vertigo. 4.89. & 116. consult. consil. 12 Iulius Caesar Claudinus, with Stone, Gout, Iandice. Trincauellius with an Ague, Iandice, Caninus appetitus, &c, Hildesheim spic. 2. fol. 166. Paulus Regolius a great [Page 54] Doctor in his time consulted in this case, was so confounded with a confusion of Symptomes; that he knewe not to what kinde of Melancholy to referre it. Trincauellius Tom. 2. consil. 15 & 16. Trincauellius, Fallopius, and Francanzanus, three famous Doctors in Italy, all three conferred with about one party at the same time, gaue three different opinions. And in another place Trincauellius being demanded what he thought of a melancholy young man, to whom he was sent for, ingeniously confessed hee was indeed melancholy, but he knewe not to what kinde to reduce it. In his 17. consultation, there is the like disagreement about a melancholy Monke. Sometimes they cannot well discerne this Disease from others. In Reinerus Solenanders counsels, Sect. 3. consil. 5. He and D. Brande, both agreed that the patients disease was Hypochondriacal melancholy, D. Matholdus said it was Astma and nothing else. Guarion. cons. med. 2. Solenander and Guarionius, lately sent for to the melancholy Duke of Cleue with others, could not define what Species it was, or agree amongst themselues. The Species are so confounded as in Caesar Claudinus his 44. consultation for a Polonian Count. In his iudgement Laborauit per essentiam & à toto corpore. he labored of head melancholy, and that which proceeds from the whole temperature both at once. I could giue instance of some that haue had all three kindes, semèl & simùl, & some successiuely. In such variety of Symptomes, causes: How difficult a thing is it to treat of severall kinds apart; to make any certainty amongst so many casualties, distractions, when seldome two men shall be like affected per omnia? T'is hard I confesse, yet neverthelesse I will adventure through the midst of these perplexities, and led by the clewe or thred of the best writers, extricate my selfe out of a labyrinth of doubts and errors, and so proceed to the causes.
SECT. 2.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Causes of Melancholy. God a cause.
IT is in vaine to speake of Cures, or thinke of remedies, vntill such time as we haue considered of the causes, as Primo artis curatiuae. Galen prescribes Glauco, and the common experience of others confirmes, that those cures must needes be vnperfect & lame to no purpose, wherein the causes haue not first beene searched, as Nostri primum fit propositi affectionum causas indagare, res ipsa hortari videtur, nam alioqui earum curatio manca & inutilis esset. Prosper Calenius well obserues, in his tract de Atrâ bile to Cardinall Caesius. Insomuch that Path. lib. 1. cap 11. rerum cogn [...]scere causas medicis imprimis necessarium, sine quâ nec morbum curare, nec praecauere licet. Fernelius puts a kinde of necessity in the knowledge of the causes, and without which it is impossible to cure, or to preuent any manner of disease. Empericks may ease, and sometimes helpe, but not throughly root out, sublata causâ tollitur effectus, as the saying is, if the cause be remoued the effect is likewise vanquished. It is a most difficult thing I confesse, to bee able to discerne these causes whence they are, and in such Tanta enim morbi varietas ac differentia, vt non facilè dignoscatur, vnde initium morbus sumpserit, Melanelius è Galeno. variety to say what the beginning was. Faelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. He is happy that can performe it aright. I will adventure to guesse as neere as I can, and rip them all vp, frō the first to the last Generall and particular, to every Species, that so they may, the better be discried.
Generall causes, are either supernaturall or naturall. Supernaturall are from God and his Angels, or by Gods permission frō the Divell and his ministers. That God himselfe is a cause for the punishment of sinne, and satisfaction of his Iustice, many examples and testimonies of holy Scriptures make evident vnto vs. Psal. 107.17. Foolish men are plagued for their offence, and by reason of their wickednesse. Gehezi was stroken with Leprosie, 2. Reg. 5.27. Dauid plagued for numbring his people. 1. Par. 21. Sodom and Gomorah swallowed vp. And this Disease is peculiarly specified. Psal. 107.12. He brought down [Page 56] their heart through heauinesse. Deut. 28.28. He stroke them with madnesse, blindnesse, and astonishment of heart. 1. Sam. 16.14 An evill spirit was sent by the Lord vpon Saul to vex him. Dan. 5.21. Nabucadnessar did eat grasse like an Oxe, and his heart was made like the beasts of the field. Heathen stories are full of such like punishments. Lycurgus because hee cut downe the Vines in his Country, was by Bacchus driuen into madnesse, so was Pentheus and his mother Agaue for neglecting their sacrifice. Gaguinus, lib. 3 cap. 4. quod Dionysii corpus discoperuerat [...]n insaniam incidit Lactaut. instit lib. 2. cap. 8. Censor Fuluius ran mad for vntiling Iuno's Temple, to couer a new one of his owne, which hee had dedicated to F [...]rtune, Mente captus & summo animi maerore consumptus. and was consumed to death with griefe and sorrow of heart. If we may beleeue our pontificiall writers, they will relate vnto vs as many-strange and prodigious punishments in this kind, inflicted by their Saints. As how Clodoueus sometime king of France, the sonne of Dogebert lost his wits for vncouering the body of S. Dennis: and how a Idem lib. 9. sub. Carol. 6. sacrorum contemptor templi foribus effractis dū D. Iohannis argenteum simulachrum rapere contendit, simulachrum auersà facie dorsum ei versat, nec mora sacrilegus sit mentis [...]nops, at (que) in semet insan ens in proprios artus desaeuit. sacrilegious Frenchman, that would haue stolne away a silver Image of S. Iohn at Birburge, became franticke on a suddaine, raging and tyrannizing ouer his owne flesh. Of a Giraldus Cā brensis lib. 1. c. 1. Itinerar. Cambriae. Lord of Rhaduor that comming from hunting late at night, put his Dogges into S. Auans Church ( Llan-Auan they call it) and rising betimes next morning, as Hunters vse to doe, found all his Dogges madd, and himselfe suddainely stroken blind. Of Tyridates an Armenian King, for violating some holy Nuns▪ that was punished in like sort, with losse of his wits. But Poets and Papists may goe together for fabulous tales, let them free their owne credits. How soeuer they faine of their Nemesis, and of their Saints, or by the Diuels meanes may be deluded, we finde it true, that Vltor à tergo Deus, He is God the Auenger, as Dauid stiles him, and that it is our crying sinnes that pulls this and many other maladies vpon our owne heads. Delrio Tom. 3▪l6 sec. 3. quaes 3. That he can by his Angells, which are his Ministers, Ps. 44.1. strike and heale, saith Lib. 8. Cap. de Hierar. Dionysius, whom he will, that he can plague vs by his creatures; Sunne, Moone, and Starres, which hee vseth as his instruments, as a husbandman, saith Zanchius, doth an Hatchet, Haile, Snowe, Windes. &c. ‘ [Page 57] Claudian. Et coniurati veniunt in Classica venti.’ as in Iosuah's time, as in Pharaohs time in Egypt, they are but as so many Executioners of his Iustice: Hee can make the proudest spirits stoupe, and cry out with Iulian the Apostat, Vicisti Galilee; or with Apolloe's Priest in De Babilâ Martyre. Chrysostome, O Coelum, ô Terra vnde hostis hic. What an enemy is this? And pray with Dauid, acknowledging his power, I am weakned and sore broken, I roare for the very griefe of mine heart, mine heart panteth, &c. Psal. 38.8. O Lord rebuke mee not in thine anger, neither chastise me in thy wrath, Psal. 38.1. make mee to heare ioy and gladnesse, that the bones which thou hast broken may reioyce, Psal. 51.8. & ver. 12. Restore to me the ioy of thy saluation, and stablish me with thy free spirit. For these causes belike Lib. 1. cap. 5. prog. Hyppocrates would haue a Physitian take special notice, whether the disease come not from a diuine supernaturall cause, or whether it followe the common course of nature. Paracelsus holds that such spirituall diseases (for so he calls them) are spiritually to be cured, or not at all, But this is farther discussed by Lib. 1. de Abditis rerū causis Fernelius, and Respons. med. 12. Res. I. Caesar Claudinus, to whom I referre you, how this place of Hyppocrates is to be vnderstood.
SVBSEC. 2. A Digression of Divels, and how they cause Melancholy.
HOw farre the power of Divels doth extend, and whether they can cause this or any other Disease, is a serious question and worthy to be considered, for the better vnderstanding of which, I will make a briefe digression of the nature of Diuells. And although the question bee very obscure, according to Lib. 1. cap. 7. de orbis concordia. In nulla re maior fuit altercatio maior obscuritas, minor opinionum concordia, quam de daemonibus & substantiis separatis. Postellus, full of controuersie and ambiguity, yet as in the rest, I will adventure to say something of it. In former times as we read, Acts 23. The Sadducees denied that there were any such spirits, or Divells or Angells. So did [Page 58] the Peripateticks, and Aristotle himselfe, as Pomponatius stifly maintaines, and Scaliger in some sort grants. Epicures and Atheists are of the same mind in generall, because they neuer saw them. Plato, Plotinus, Porphyrius, Iamblicus, Proclus, insisting in the steps of Trismegistus and Socrates, make no doubt of it: Nor Stoicks but that there are such spirits, though much erring from the truth. Concerning the first beginning of them, the Pererius in Genesin lib. 4. in cap. 3. ver. 23. Thalmudists say that Adam had a wife called Lilis, before he married Eue, and of her hee begat nothing bnt Divels. The Turkes See Strozzius Cicogna omnifariae Mag. lib. 2. cap. 15. Io. Aubanus, Bredenbachius. Alcoron is altogether as absurd and ridiculous in this point, but the Scripture informes vs Christians, how Lucifer the chiefe of them, with his associats, Angelus per superbiam seperatus à Deo qui in veritate non stetit. Austin. Nature of Divels. fell from heauen for his pride, and ambition, created of God, placed in heauen, & sometimes an Angell of light, now cast downe into Hell, and deliuered into Chaines of darknesse, Pet. 2.2.4. to be kept vnto damnation. That foolish opinion in the meane time, of those which will haue them to be nothing, but the soules of men departed, Nutriuntur & excrementa habent, quod pulsata doleant solido percussa [...]orpore. Proclus confutes at large, in his booke de Animâ & Doemone.
He liued 500 yeares since. Psellus a Christian, and sometimes tutor saith Cuspinian to Michael Parapinatius, Emperor of Greece, a great obseruer of the nature of Diuells, holds that they are Apuleius: spiritus animalia sunt animo passibilia, mente rationalia, corpore aeria, tempore sempiterna. corporeall, and haue aeriall bodies, that they are mortall, liue and dye, that they are nourished and haue excrements, that they feele paine if they be hurt (which Cardan confirmes) or stroken: and if their bodies be cut, with admirable celeritie they come together againe. Austin in Gen. lib. 3. de lib. arbit. holds as much, Mutata casu corpora in deteriorem qualitatem aeris spissioris. That in their fall their bodies were changed into a more aeriall & grosse substance. That they can assume all manner of shapes at their pleasures, appeare in what likenesse they will themselues, that they are most swift in motion, and can passe many miles in an instant, and so likewise Cyprian in Epist. montes etiā & animalia-transferre possunt: as the divell did Christ to the top of the Pinacle: & Witches are often translated. See more in Strozzius Cicogna, lib. 3. cap. 4. Omnif. Mag. Per aera subducere & in sublime corpora ferre possunt, Biarmannus. Percussi dolent & vruntur in conspicuos cineres, Agrippa. l. 3. c. 19. de occult. Philos. transforme bodies of others [Page 59] into what shape they please, and with admirable celerity remoue them from place to place. Zanchius, Bodine, Spondanus and others are of opinion, that they can cause a true Metamorphosis, as Nebucadnezar was really translated into a Beast, Lots wife into a pillar of salt; Vlysses companions into Hogges & Dogs by Cyrces charmes: Turne themselues & others, as they doe witches into Cats, Dogs, Hares, Crowes, &c. Strozzius Cicogna hath many examples. lib. 3. omnif. mag. cap. 4. & 5. which he there confutes. That they can bee seene when and in what shape, and to whom they wil, saith Psellus, Tametsi nil tale viderim nec optem videre: Though he himself never saw them nor desired it; & vse sometimes carnall copulation (as elsewhere I shall Part. 3. Sect. 2 Memb. 1. Sub. 1. Loue Melancholy. proue more at large) with women and men. Many will not beleeue that they can be seen. Marcus of his credit told Psellus that he had often seen them. Paracelsus confesseth that he saw them divers times, & conferred with them, and so doth Alexander. ab Genial dierū. Ita sibivisum & compertum quū prius an essent ambigeret. Alexandro, that he so found it by experience, when as before he doubted of it. Many deny it, saith Lauater de spectris, part. 1. c. 2. & part. 2. c. 11. because they never saw them themselues. But as he reports at large all ouer his booke especially cap. 19. part. 1. they are often seene. Cardan lib. 19. de subtil relates of his father Facius Cardan; that after the accustomed solemnities, Fidem suam liberet. A o 1491. 1 [...]. August. he coniured vp seauen Diuels in Greek apparell. about 40 yeares of age, some ruddy of complection, & some pale, as he thought, he asked them many questions, and they made ready answere, that they were aëriall Diuels, that they liued and died as men did, sauing that they were farre longer liued (7. or. 8. hundred Sic Hesiodus de Nymphis vivere dicit 10. aetates phaenicū vel 9.7.20. yeares) and that they did as farre excell men in dignitie, as we doe iumentes, and were as farre excelled againe of those that were aboue them, they knewe all things, but might not reveale them to men, and ruled and domineered ouer vs, as wee doe ouer horses, the best Kings amongst vs, and the most generous spirits, were not comparable to the basest of them. Sometimes they did instruct men, and communicate their skill, and sometimes againe terrifie [Page 60] them to keepe them in awe, as they thought fit.
That they are mortall, besides these testimonies of Cardan many other Divines and Philosophers hold. The Cibo & potu vti & venere cum hominibus ac tandem mori. Cicogna 1. part. l. 2. c. 3 Platonists and many Rabbines, Porphyrius and Plutarch, as appeares by that relation of Thamus. Plutarch de defect. oraculorum. The great God Pan is dead. Apollo Pithius ceased; and so the rest. S. Hierome in the life of Paul the Ermite tells a story, how one of them appeared to S. Anthony in the wildernesse, and told him as much. Lib. de Zilphis & Pigmeis. Paracelsus of our late writers stiffly maintaines that they are mortall, and liue and die, as other creatures doe. But these paradoxes of their mortalitie, taking of shapes, transposing bodies, & carnall copulations are sufficiently confuted by Zanc. cap, 10. lib. 4. Pererius in his Comment, and Tostatus questions on the 6. of Gen. Th. Aquin. S. Austin, Wierus, Th. Erastus, Delrio. To. 2. lib. 2. quaesh. 29. They may deceaue the eyes of men, but none take true bodies, or make a reall Metamorphosis: but as Cicogna proues at large they are Omnia spiritibus plena & ex eorum concordia & discordia omnes boni & mali effectus promanant omnia humana reguntur. paradox. veterū de quo Cicogna. omnif. mag. lib. 2 cap. 3. Illusoriae & praestigiatrices transformationes ominif. mag. lib. 4. cap. 4. meere illusions and cosenings; yet thus much in generall. Thomas, Durand, and all the rest grant, that they haue vnderstanding far beyond men, and can probably coniecture, and Austin in lib. 2 de Gen. ad literam cap. 17. partim quia subtilioris sensus acumine, partim scientia callidiore vigent & experientiá, propter magnam longitudinem vitae, partim ab Angelis discunt. &c. foretel many things, they can cause and cure most diseases, that they haue excellent skill in all arts and sciences, And that the most illiterate Divell is Quovis homine scientior, as Lib. 3. omnif. mag. cap. 2. Cicogna maintaines out of others. They knowe the vertues of Hearbes, Plants, Stones, Mineralls, &c. Of all Creatures, Birds, Beasts of the 4. Elements, Starres, Planets, and can aptly apply them and make vse of them as they see good: knowing the causes of all Meteors, and the like. Quum tanta sit & tam profunda spirituum scientia mirum non est tot tant [...]s (que) res visu admirabiles ab ipsis patrari, & quidem rerum naturalium ope quas multo melius intelligunt, multo (que) peritius suis locis & temporibus applicare norúnt quam homo, Cicogna. They can produce miraculous alterations in the ayre, and most wonderfull effects. But that which Bodine lib. 4. Theat. nat. thinks that they can tell the secrets of a mans heart is most false. His reasons are weake, & sufficiently confuted by Zanchius lib. 4. cap; 9. and others.
[Page 61] As for those orders of good and bad Divells, which the Platonists hold, is altogether erronious, and those Ethnicks, Orders. boni and mali Genij, are to be exploded. That which De Deo Socratis, adest mihi divinâ sorte daemonium quoadam à primâ pueritia me sequutum, saepe dissuadet impellit nunquam instar vocis. Plato. Apuleius, Xenophon and Plato contend of Socrates Daemonium, is most absurd. That which Plotinus of his, that he had likewise Deum pro Daemonio, and that which Porphiry concludes of them all in generall, if they be neglected in their sacrifice they are angry, and send many plagues amongst vs; but if pleased then they doe much good, is as vaine as the rest, and confuted by Austin lib. 9. cap. 8. de Civit. Dei. Eusebius lib. 4. praeparat. Evangel. cap. 6. and others. Yet thus much I finde, that our Schoolemen and Agryppa lib. 3. de occul. ph. c. 18 Zanch. Pictorius Pererius, Cicogna l. 3. c. 1. &c. other Diuines make nine kinds of bad Divels, as Dionysius hath done of Angels. In the first ranke are those false Gods of the Gentiles, which were adored heretofore in severall Idols, and gaue Oracles at Delphos and elsewhere, whose prince is Belzebub. The second ranck is of Liers, and Aequivocaters, as Apollo Pythius, and the like. The third are those vessels of anger, inventers of all mischiefe, Vasa irae. c. 13 as that Theutus in Plato. Esa calls them vessels of fury; their prince is Beliall. The fourth are malitious revenging Diuels, and ther prince is Asmodeus. The fift kind are coseners, such as belong to magitians & witches, their prince is Satan. The sixt are those aëriall Diuells that Quibus datū est nocere terrae & mari, &c. corrupt the ayre & cause plagues, thunders, fires, &c. spoken of in the Apocalips, and Paul to the Ephesians names them the princes of the ayre, Meresin is their prince. The seauenth is a distroyer, captain of the furies, causing warres, tumults, combustions, vproares, mentioned in the Apocalips, and called Abaddon. The eight is that accusing or calumniating Diuell, whom the Greeks call Diabolus, that driues vs to dispaire. The ninth are those tempters in seueral kindes, and their prince is Mammon. Psellus makes six kinds, but none aboue the Moone: but Gazeus cited by Phisiol. Stoichorum è Senec. lib. 1 cap. 28. Lipsius will haue all places full of Angels and Divels, aboue and beneath the Moone, aetheriall and aeriall, which Austin cites out of Varro lib. 7. de ciuitat. Dei cap. 6. Vs (que) ad lunā animas esse aethereas vocari (que) heroas, lares, genios. The celestiall Divels aboue, and aeriall beneath: or as some [Page 62] will Gods aboue, Semidei, or halfe Gods beneath, Lares, Heroes, Genij, which clime higher, if they liued well as the Stoicks held, but grouel on the ground as they were baser in their liues, neerer to the earth: and are Manes, Lemures, &c. Mart. Capella. They will haue no place void, but all full of spirits, diuels, or some other inhabitants. Plenum coelum, aër, aqua, terra, & omnia sub terrâ, saith Nihil vacuum ab his vbi vel capillum in aere vel aquâ iaceas. Gazeus. Not so much as an haire breadth empty in heauen, earth, or waters, aboue or vnder the earth. The earth is not so full of flies in summer, as it is at all times of invisible Divels, this Lib. de Zilph. Paracelsus stiffely maintaines, & that they haue every one their severall Chaos. Lib. 7. cap. 3.4 & 5. Syntax. art. mirab. Gregorius Tolosanus makes seauen kindes of aetheriall Divels, according to the number of the seauen Planets. Saturnine, Iouial, Martiall, &c. which liue about them, and as so many assisting powers cause their operations, and will haue, in a word, as many of them as there be starres in the skies. Comment. in dial, Plat. de amore, cap. 5. Vt sphaera qualibet super nos ita praestantiores habet habitatores suae spherae consortes, vt habet nostra. Marcilius Ficinus seemes to second this opinion out of Plato, or from himselfe I know not, as every Spheare is higher, so hath it more excellent inhabitants: which belike is that Galileus à Galileo, & Kepler aimes at in his nuncio Syderio, when he will haue Saturninas & Iouial accolas. Saturnine & Iouial inhabitants. And Ticho Brahe doth in some sort touch or insinuate in one of his Epistles, but these things In loca detrusi sunt infra coelestes orbes in aerem scilicet & infra vbi Iudicio generali reservantur. Zanchius explodes, cap. 3. lib. 4.
So that according to these men, the number of these Spirits must needs be infinite. For if that bee true that some of our Mathematitians say: that if a stone should fall from that starry heauen, or eight Spheare, and should passe euery houre an hundreth miles, it would bee 65. yeares or more before it would come to ground, by reason of the great distance of heauen from earth, which containes, as some say 170 Millions 803 miles, besides those other heauens, whether they bee Christalline or watery which Maginus ads, which peradventure holde as much more, how many such spirits may it containe? And yet for all this [...].63. art. 9. Thomas, and Albertus, and most hold that there be farre more Angels then Divels.
But be they more or lesse, Quod supra nos nihil ad nos. We [Page 63] are only to speake in breefe of these sublunary Divels, for the rest, Sublunary diuels and their kindes. our Divines hold that the Diuell hath no power ouer stars, or heauens. Virg. 8. eg. Carminibus coelo possunt deducere lunam &c. those are poeticall fictions, and that they can Aen. 4. sistere aquam fluvijs, & vertere sidera retro, &c. as Canidia in Horace, tis all false. Austin: hoc dixi ne quis existimet habitare ibi mala daemonia, vbi Solem & I unam & Stellas Deus ordinauit. & alibi. nemo arbitraretur Daemonē coelis habitare cum Angelis suis. vnde lapsum credimus. Idem Zanchius l 4. c. 3. de Angelis malis. Pererius in Gen cap. 6. lib. 8. in ver. 2. They are confined vntill the day of iudgement, to this sublunary world, and can worke no farther then the foure Elements, and as God permits them. Wherefore of these sublunary Diuels, Psellus makes six kindes, fiery, aeriall, terrestriall, watery, and subterranean Diuels, besides those Fairies, Satyres, Nymphs, &c.
Fiery Diuels are such as commonly worke by blasing starres, fire-drakes, & counterfeit Sunnes and Moones, which never appeare, saith Cardan, but they signifie some mischiefe or other to come vnto men: Our stories are full of such apparitions. Some thinke they keep their residence in that Hecla, mountaine in Island, Aetna in Sicily. Lypera, Vesnuius, &c. These Divels were worshipped heretofore by that superstitious [...], and the like.
Aeriall Divels are such as keepe quarter most part in the Domos diruunt muros Deijciunt immiscent se turbinibus & procellis & pulverem instar columnae evehunt Cicogna. l. 5. c. 5. ayre, cause many tempests, thunder, and lightnings, teare Okes, fire Steeples, Houses, strike Men and Beasts, make it raine stones as in Liuies time, wooll, Frogges, &c. Counterfeit armies in the ayre, as at Vienna before the comming of the Turkes, and many times in Rome, as Quest. in Liu. Machivell hath illustrated by many examples. These can corrupt the ayre, & cause plagues, cause tempests, shipwracks, fires, inundations. At Mons Draconis in Italy there is a most memorable example in De bello Neapolitano. lib. 5. Ionianus Pontanus. And nothing so familiar if (we may beleeue those relations of Saxo Grammat. Olaus Magnus, Damianus A-Goes) as for Witches & Sorcerers, in Lapland, Suffitibus gaudent Idem Iust. Mart. in Apol. pro Christianis. Lituania, and all ouer Scandia, to sell winds to Marriners, and cause tempests, as Marcus Polus the Venetian relates likewise of the Tartars. These kinds of Diuels are much delighted in Sacrifice, saith Porphyrius, and held all the world in awe, & had seueral names, Idols, Sacrifices in Rome, Greece, [Page 64] Egypt, and at this day tyrannise over and deceaue those Ethnicks and Indians, being adored and worshipped for In Dei imitationem. saith Eusebius. Gods. And are now as much respected by our Papists, saith Et nunc sub diuorum nomine coluntur à pontificiis. Pictorius, vnder the names of Saints. These are they which Cardan thinkes desire so much carnall copulation with Witches, transforme bodies, and are so very cold, that serue Magitians. His father had one of them, as he is not ashamed to Lib 18. de rerum var. relate, an aeriall Divell bound to him for 20 and eight yeares. As Agrypa's dog had a diuell tied to his coller, some thinke, and Paracelsus (or else Erastus belies him) had one confined to his sword pummell: others weare them in rings &c. Iannes and Iambres did many things of old by their helpe, Simon Magus, Cinops, and Tritemius of late, that shewed Maximilian the Emperour his wife after she was dead, & verrucam collo eius, saith Lib. 3. cap. 3. de magis & vene ficis, &c. Nereides. Godelman, so much as the wart in her necke. Delrio lib. 2. hath many examples of their feats: And Cicogna lib. 3. cap. 5. Wierus in his bookes de praestig. daemonum, &c.
Water diuels, are those Naiades or water Nymphes, which haue beene heretofore conversant about Waters and Riuers. The water, as Paracelsus thinks, is their Chaos, wherein they liue, some call them Feries, and say that Habundia is their Queene, these cause inundations, many times shipwracks, & deceaue men seuerall waies, as Succubae or otherwise. Lib. de Zilphis Paracelsus hath seuerall stories of them, that haue liued and bin married to mortall men, and so continued for certaine yeares with them, and after vpon some dislike haue forsaken them. Such a one was Aegeria with whom Numa was so familiar, Diana, Ceres, &c. Lib. 3. Olaus Magnus, hath a long narration of one Hotherus a King of Sueden, that hauing lost his company, as hee was hunting one day, mette with these water Nymphes or Fayries, and was feasted by them. And Hector Boëthius, of Mackbeth and Banco, two Scottish Lords, that as they were wandering in the Woods, were told their fortunes by three strange women. To these heretofore they did vse to sacrifice, by that [...], or divination by waters.
Terrestriall Divells, are those Pro salute hominum excubare se simulant sed in eorum pernitiem omnia moli [...]tur. Aust. Lares, Genij, Faunes, Satyrs, [Page 65] Dryades, Oreades, Hamadryades. wood-nymphs, Foliots, Fairies, Robin good fellows, Trulli &c. Which as they are most conversant with men, so they doe them most harme. Some thinke it was these alone that kept the Heathen people in awe of old, and had so many Idols, & Temples erected to them. Of this range was Dagon amongst the Philistines, Beli amongst the Babylonians, Eluas Olaus vocat. lib. 3. Astartes amongst the Sydonians; Baal amongst the Samaritans; Isis and Osyris amongst the Egyptians, &c. Some put our Fairies into this rancke, which haue beene in former times adored with much superstition, with sweeping their houses, and setting of a payle of cleane water, good victuals and the like, and then they should not be pinched, but finde mony in their shooes, and bee fortunate in their enterprises. These are they that dance on heaths and greenes, as Part. 1. c. 19. Lauater thinks, and Lib. 3. cap. 11. Eluarum choreas Olaus lib. 3. vocat. saltum adeo profunde in terras imprimūs vt locus insigni deinceps virore orbicularis sit, & gramen non pareat. Olaus Magnus, and are sometimes seene by old women and children. Hieron. Pauli, in his description of the city of Bercino in Spaine, relates how they haue beene familiarly seene neere that towne, about fountaines and hills. Lib. de Zilph. & Pigmeis. Olaus lib. 3. Paracelsus reckons vp many places in Germany, where they doe vsually walke in litle coats, some two foot long. A bigger kind there is of them, called with vs Hobgoblins, and Robin good fellowes, that would in those superstitious times, grinde Corne for a messe of milke, cut wood, or doe any manner of drudgery worke: They would mend old Irons, in those Aeolian Iles of Lypara, in former times, and haue beene often seene & heard. Lib. 7. cap, 14. qui & in famulitio viris & faeminis inseruiunt Tholosanus calls them Trullos and Getulos, and saith that in his time they were common in many places of France. Dithmarus Bleskenius, in his description of Islande, reports of a certainty, that almost in euery family they haue some such familiar spirits. And Faelix Malleolus in his booke de crudelitate demonum, affirmes as much, that these Trolli, or Telchiues, are very common in Norway, and Ad ministeria vtuntur. seene to doe drudgery worke. To drawe water, saith Wierus, lib. 1. cap. 22. dresse meat or any thing. Another kinde of these there are, which frequent forlorne Where treasure is hid, as some thinke, or some murder, or such like villany committed. houses, which the Italians call Foliots, most part in [...]oxious, Lib, 16. de rerum varietat. Cardan holds: They will make strange noyses in [Page 66] the night, fling stones, rattle chaines, shaue men, fling downe platters, stooles, chests, sometime appeare in the likenesse of Hares, Crowes, Frogges, Dogges, &c. Epist. lib. 7. Plinius Secundus remembers such a house at Athens, which Athenodorus the Philosopher hired, which no man durst inhabit for feare of Diuels. Whether I may call these Zim and Ophin which Isay cap. 13.21. speakes of I make a doubt. These kind of Divells many times appeare to men, & afright them out of their wits sometimes walking at Meridionales daemones Cicogna cals them, or Alastores, l. 3 cap. 9. noone day, sometimes at nights, coū terfeiting dead mens Ghosts, as that of Caligula, which, saith Suetonius, was seene to walke in Lauinia's gardens; and are frequently seene circa sepulchra & Monasteria. Lauat. lib. 1, cap. 19. In Monasteries and about Churchyards, and foretell mens deaths, by seuerall signes, as knocking, gronings, &c. See more of these in the said Lauater. Thyreus de locis infestis, part. 3. cap. 58. Pictorius, Delrio, Cicogna, lib. 3. cap. 9. Negromancers take vpon them to raise and lay them at their pleasures. And so likewise those which Mizaldus calls Ambulones that Lop a Desart in Asia, noted for such walking spirits, by M. Polus. walke about midnight on great Heathes and desart places, which, saith Part. 1. c. 19 [...] Abducunt eos a recta viá, & viam iter facientibus intercludunt. Lauater, drawe men out of the way, and lead them all night a by-way, or quite barre them of their way: these haue, seuerall names in seueral places. Hieronim. Pauli in his book of the hils of Spaine, relates of a great Mons sterilis & nivosus vbi intempestâ nocte vmbrae apparent. hill in Cantabria where such spectrums are to bee seene. Lauater and Cicogna haue variety of examples, of Spectrums and walking Diuells in this kinde.
Subterranean Diuells, are as common as the rest and doe as much harme. Olaus Magnus lib. 6. cap. 19. makes six kinds of them, Some bigger some lesse. These, saith In Cosmograp. Munster, are commonly seene about mines of mettals, And are some of thē innoxious, some againe doe harme. The mettal-men in some places account it good lucke, and a signe of treasure, and rich Ore when they see them. Georgius Agricola, in his book de subterraneis animantibus, cap. 37. reckons vp two more notable kinds of them, which hee calls Vestiti more metallicorum gestus & opera eorum imitantur. Getuli and Cobali, which are cloathed after the manner of mettal-men, and will many times [Page 67] imitate their workes. Their office, as Pictorius and Paracelsus, thinke, is to keepe treasure in the earth, that it bee not all at once revealed: and besides Immisso in terrae carceres vento horribiles terraemolus efficiūt quibus saepe non domus modo et turres sed ciuitates integrae et insule haustae sunt Their offices, operations, studdie. Cicogna averres, that they are the cause many times of horrible Earthquakes. Which swallow vp sometimes not houses only, but whole Ilands and Citties, in his 3 booke, cap. 11. he giues many instances.
Thus the Diuell raignes, and in a thousand severall shapes As a roaring Lion still seekes whom he may devoure, 1 Pet. 5. by Earth, Sea, Land, Ayre, as yet vnconfined, he rageth while hee may to comfort himselfe, as Lanctantius 2 de origine erroris cap. 15. hi maligni spiritus per omnem terram vagantur, & solatium perditionis sua perdendis hominibus operantur. Lactantius thinkes, with other mens falls, hee labours all he can to bring them into the same pit of perdition with him. For Mortalium calamitates epulae sunt malorum demonum. Synesius. mens miseries, calamities, and ruines, are the Divels banqueting dishes. By many temptations and severall engins, he seeks to captiuate our soules. The Lord of lyes, saith Dominiss men dacis à seipso deceptus alios decipere cupit, adversarius humani generis, Inventor mortis, superbiae institutor, radix malitiae, scelerum caput, princeps omnium vitiorum, surit inde in Dei contumeliam, hominem pernitiem. de horum conatibus & operationibus lege Epiphanium, 2. Tom lib. 2. Dionysium cap. 4. Ambros. Epist. lib. 10. ep. 8. & 84. August. de Civ. Dei lib. 5. cap, 9, lib 8 cap. 22 lib 9▪18 lib. 10▪21.7 Theophil. in 12. Mat. Basil ep. 141. Leonem Ser 60. Theodoret in 11. Cor. Ep 2. Chrysost, hom. 53. in 12 Genes. Greg. in 1. Cap. Ioh. Barthol. de prop. l 2. c. 20. Zanchium lib 4. de malis angelis. Perer. in Gen. lib. 8. in cap. 6.2. Origen. saepe preliis intersunt itinera & negotia nostra quaecun (que), dirigunt cladestinis subsiliis optatos saepe praebent successus. Austin, as hee was deceaued himselfe, hee seekes to deceaue others, the ringleader to all naughtinesse, as he did by Eue and Cain, Sodome, and Gomorah, so would hee doe by all the world. Sometimes he tempts by couetousnes, drunkennesse, pleasure, pride, &c. he studies our ouerthrowe, and seekes our destruction. And although hee pretend many times humane good, and venditate himselfe for a God, by curing of seuerall diseases, aegris sanitatem, & caecis luminis visum restituendo, as Austin declares, lib. 10. de Civ. Dei, cap. 6. as Apollo, Aesculapius, Isis of old haue done, divert plagues, and assist them in warres, portend our good, yet nihil his impurìus, scelestius, nihil humano generi infestius, nothing so impure, nothing so pernitious, as may well appeare by their tyrannicall, and bloudy sacrifices of men to Moloch, and which are still in vse amongst those Barbarous Indians, their severall deceits & cosenings to keepe men in obedience, their [Page 68] superstitious impositions of fasts, penury, &c. heresies, superstitions, observations of meats, times, &c. by which they Et velut mancipia circumfert, Psellus. crucify the soules of mortall men, as shall be shewed in our Treatise of Religious Melancholy. Medico adhuc tempore finitur malignari, as Lib. de transmut. Malac. epis. Bernard expresseth it, by Gods permission he rages awhile, hereafter to be confined to hell and darknesse, Godelmanus cap. 3. lib. 1. de Magis, Idem Zanchius lib. 4. cap. 10. & 11. de malis angelis which is prepared for him and his angels, Mat. 25.
How farre their power doth extend, it is hard to determine, we finde by experience, that they can hurt not our fields only, cattell, goods, but our bodies and minds. At Hammel in Saxony. A o 1484.20. Iunij, The Divell in the likenesse of a pied piper, carried away 130. children, that were never after seene. Many times men are Nocivâ Melancholia furiosos efficiunt, & quando (que) penitus intersiciunt. G. Picolomineus Idem (que) Zanchius cap. 10. lib 4. si Deus permittat corpora nostra mouere possunt, alterare, quouis morborū & malorum genere afficere, imo & in ipsa penetrare & saevire. afrighted out of their wits, carried away quite sometimes, and severally molested by his meanes. Plotinus the Platonist, lib. 14. adversus Gnost. laughes them to scorne, that hold the Divell can cause any such diseases. Many thinke he can worke vpon the body, but not vpon the minde. But experience pronounceth otherwise, that hee can worke both vpon body and minde. Tertullian is of this opinion, cap. 22. Inducere potest morbos & sanitates. that he can cause both sicknesse and health, and that secretly Viscerum actiones potest inhibere latenter & venenis nobis ignotis corpus inficere. Taurellus adds, by clancular poysons hee can infect the bodies, and hinder the operations of the bowels, though we perceaue it not, closely creeping into them, saith Irrep [...]ntes corporibus occultè morbos fingunt, mentes terrent, membra distorquent. Lips. Phil. Stoic. lib. 1. c. 19 Lipsius, & so crucifie our soules. For being a spiritual body, he struggles with our spirits, saith Rogers, & suggests according to De rerum var. l. 16. c. 93. Cardan, verba sine voce, species sine visu, envy, lust, anger, &c. As he sees men inclined. The manner how he performes it, Biarmannus in his Oration against Bodine sufficiently declares, He Quum mens immediatè decipi nequit primum mouet phantasiam & ita obfirmat vanis conceptibus vt ne quem facultati aestimatiue, rationiue locum relinqu [...]t. Spiritus malus inuadit animam, turbat sensus, in furorem coniicit. Austin de vit, B [...]at. begins first with the phantasie, and moues that so strongly that no reason is able to resist. Now the Phantasie he moues by mediation of humors: Although many Physitians are of opinion [Page 69] that the Divell can alter the minde, and produce this disease of himselfe. Quibusdam medicorum visum, saith Lib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. cap. 18. Avicenna, quod Melancholia contingat à daemonio. Of the same mind is Psellus, & Rhasis the Arab. lib. 1. Tract. 9. Cont. à daemone maximè proficisci, & saepe solo. that this disease proceeds especially from the divell, & from him alone. And Arculanus cap. 6. in 9. Rhasis, Aelianus Montaltus in his 9. cap. confirmes as much, that the diuell can cause this disease; by reason many times that the parties affected prophecie, speake strange languages, but non sine interuentu humoris, not without the humour as he interprets himselfe, no more doth Avicenna, si contingat à daemonio, sufficit nobis vt convertat complectionem ad choleram nigram, & sit causa eius propinqua cholera nigra, the immediat cause is choler adust: and there vpon belike this humour of melancholy, is called Balneum Diaboli, the Diuels Bath: the Divell spying his opportunity of such humours, driues them many times to dispaire, fury, rage, &c. mingling himselfe amongst those humours. And this is that which Lemnius goes about to proue, Immiscent se mali genij prauis humoribus, at (que) atrae bili, &c. And Cap. de mania lib. de morbis Cerebri Daemones quum sint tenues & incō prehensibiles spiritus se insinuare corporibus humanis possunt & occultè in visceribus operti valetudinem vitiare, somniis animas terrere & mentes furoribus quatere. Insinuant se melancholicorum penetralibus intus ibi (que) considunt & delitiantur tanquam in regione clarissimorum siderū cogunt (que) animum furere. Iason Pratensis that the Diuell being a slender incomprehensible spirit, can easily insinuate and winde himselfe into humane bodies, and cunningly couched in our bowels, vitiate our healths, terrifie our soules with fearefull dreames, and shake our minde with furies. And in another place. These vncleane spirits setled in our bodies, and now mixt with our melancholy humours, doe triumph as it were, and sport themselues, as in another heauen. Thus he argues, and that they goe in and out of our bodies, as Bees doe in a hiue, and so prouoke vs and tempt vs as they perceaue our temperature inclined of it selfe, and most apt to bee deluded. Lib. 1. cap. 6. occult. Philos. Agrippa and Part. I. cap. 2. de spectris. Lauater are perswaded that this humour invites the Diuell to it, wheresoeuer it is in extremity, and of all others Melancholy persons are most subiect to diabolicall temptations, and illusions, and most apt to entertaine them) and the Divell best able to work vpon them. But whether by obsession, or possession, or otherwise, I will not determine, t'is a difficult question. Delrio the [Page 70] Iesuit Tom. 3. lib. 6. Springer and his Colleague mall. malef. P. Thyreus. Hieroninus Mengus Flagel. daem. and others of that rancke of pontificiall writers, it seemes by their exorcismes and coniurations approue of it, hauing forged many stories to that purpose. A Nunne did eat a lettice Sine cruce & sanctificatione sic à daemone obsessa. dial. Greg pap. cap. 9. without grace, or signing it with the signe of the Crosse, and was instantly possessed. Durand. lib. 6. Rational. cap. 86. num. 8. relates that he saw a wench possessed in Bononia with two Divells, by eating an vnhallowed Pomegranet, as shee did afterwards confesse, when she was cured by exorcismes. And therfore our Papists doe signe themselues so often with the signe of the Crosse, ne daemon ingredi ausit, and exorcise all manner of meats, as being vncleane or accursed otherwise, as Bellarmine defends. Many such stories I finde amongst Pontificiall writers, to proue their assertions, let them free their owne credits: some few I will recite in this kinde out of most approoued Phisitians. Cornelius Gemma lib. 2. de nat. mirac. cap. 4. relates of a young maid, called Katherine Gualter a Coupers daughter, A o 1571. that had such strange passions and conuulsions, that three men could not sometimes hold her, shee purged a liue Eele, which he saw a foot and a halfe long, and touched himselfe, but the Eele afterward vanished, shee vomited after some 24 l of black stuffe of all colours, twice a day for foureteene dayes: and after that shee vomited great balls of haire, peeces of wood, pigeons dung, parchment, Goose dung, coles; and after them 2 pound of pure blood, & then againe coles, and stones, of which some had inscriptions, bigger thē a walnut, some of them peeces of glasse, brasse, &c. Besides strange paroxismes of laughing, weeping, and extasies, &c. Et hoc inquit cum horrore vidi, this I saw with horror. They could doe no good on her by physicke, but left her to the Clergy. Marcellus Donatus lib. 2. cap. 1. de med. mirab. hath such another story of a country fellow, that had foure knifes in his belly, Instar serrae dentatos indented like a sawe, every one a spanne long, and a wreath of haire like a globe, with much baggage of like sort, wonderfull to behold. How it [Page 71] should come into his guts, he concludes, Certè non alio quam daemonis astutiâ & dolo. Langius epist. med. lib. 1. epist. 38. hath many relations to this effect, and so hath Christophorus à Vega. Wierus, Skenkius, Scribanius, all conclude that they are done by the subtilty and illusion of the Diuell. If you shall aske a reason of all this, t'is to try vs and our faith, t'is for our offences, and for the punishment of our sinnes, by Gods permission they doe this, Carnifices vindictae iustae Dei, as Lib. 28. cap. 26. To. 2. Tholosanu [...] stiles them, Executioners of his will: or rather as David, Psal. 7 [...]. ver. 49. Hee cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger, indignation, wrath, and vexation by sending out of evill angels. So did he afflict Iob, Saul, The lunaticks and daemoniacall persons whom Christ cured, Mat. 4.8. Luc. 4.11. Luc. 13. Marc. 9. Tobit. 8.3. &c. This I say happeneth for a punishment of sin, for their want of faith, incredulity, weaknesse, distrust, &c.
SVBSEC. 3. Of Witches and Magitians how they cause melancholy.
YOu haue heard what the Deuill can doe of himselfe, now you shall heare what hee can performe by his instruments, who are many times worse (if it be possible) then hee himselfe, and to satisfie their revenge and lust, cause more mischiefe, multa enim mala non egisset daemon, nisi provocatus à sagis, as De Lamijs. Erastus thinkes; much harme had neuer beene done, had he not beene provoked by Witches to it; He had not appeared in Samuels shape, if the Witch of Endor had let him alone; or represented those serpents in Pharao's presence, had not the Magitians vrged him vnto it: nec morbos vel hominibus, vel brutis infligeret: Erastus maintaines, si sagae quiescerent; men and cattle might goe free, if these Witches would let him alone. Many deny Witches at all, or if there be any, they can doe no harme: of this opinion is Wierus lib. 3. cap. 53 de praestig. daem. Austin Lerchemer a Dutch writer, Biarmanus, [Page 72] Ewichius, Euwaldus. our countriman Scot: but on the contrary are most Lawyers, Divines, Physicians, Philosophers, Austin. Hemingius, Daneus, Chytreus, Zanchius, Aretius, &c. Delrio, Springer, Cuiatius, Bartolus, consil. 6. To. 1. Bodine daemomant. lib. 2. cap. 8. Godelman, Damhoderius, &c. Paracelsus, Erastus, Scribanius, Camerarius, &c. The parties by whom the Deuil deales, may be reduced to these two, such as command him in shew at least, as Conjurers, or such as are commanded as Witches, that deale ex parte implicitè, or explicitè, as the Rex Iacobus Daemonol. l. 1. c. 3 King hath well defined; Many subdivisions there are, and many severall Species of Sorcerers, and Witches, Inchanters, Charmers &c. and haue beene tolerated heeretofore some of them; and Magicke hath beene publikely professed in former times, in An Vniversity in Spaine in old Castile. Salamancae, and some other places, though after censured by severall Oxford and Paris, see finē. P. Lumbardi. Vniversities, and now generally contradicted. That which they can doe, is as much almost as the Deuill himselfe, who is still ready to satisfie their desires, to oblige them the more vnto him. They can cause tempests, stormes, which is familiarly practised by Witches in Norway, Island, as I haue proued. They can make friends enemies, and enemies friends, Steriles nuptos & inhabiles. by philters, Erastus. turpes amores conciliare, enforce loue, hurt, and infect men and beasts, vines, corne, cattle, make wo [...]en abortiue, not to conceaue, barren, men and women, vnapt and vnhable, married and vnmarried, 50 severall wayes, saith Bodine: flie in the aire, meete when & where they will, as Cicogna proues, & Lauat. de spect. part. 2. cap. 17. make men victorious, fortunate, eloquent. And therefore in those ancient Milles. Monamachies and combats, Adolphus Scribanius. they were searched of old, they had no Magicall charmes; they can make D. Luther. in primum praeceptum. stick-free's, such as shall endure a rapiers point, or musket shot and neu'r be wounded, Lauater Cicog. represent dead mens shapes, alter and turne themselues and others into severall formes, at their pleasures: And last of all cure, and cause most diseases, Erastus. to such as they hate, and this of Virg. Aeneid. 4. incantatricem describens: Haec se carminibus promittit soluere mentes: Quas velit ast alijs duras immittere curas. Melancholy amongst the rest. Paracelsus To. 4. de morbis amentium. Tract. 1. in expresse wordes affirmes, multi fascinantur in melancholiā, [Page 73] many are bewitched into Melancholy, out of his experience. The same saith Daneus lib. 3. de sortiarijs. Vidi inquit, qui melancholicos morbos gravissimos induxerunt: I haue seene those that haue caused Melancholy in the most grievous maner, Godelmannus cap 7. lib 1. nutricum mammas praesiccant, solo tactu podagram, Apoplexiam, Paralisin, & alios morbos quos medicina curare non poterat. dried vp womens pappes, and cured goute, palsy, this and Apoplexy, Falling Sicknesse, which no Physicke could helpe: solo tactu, by touch alone. Ruland in his 3. Cent. cura. 91. giues an instance of one Dauid Helde a yong man, who by eating cakes which a Witch, gaue him mox delirare coepit; began to dote on a sudden, and was mad, F.H.D. in Factus inde Maniacus, spic. 2. sol. 147. Hildisheim, consulted about a Melancholy man, thought his disease was partly Magicall, and partly naturall, because hee vomited peeces of iron and leade, and spake such Languages as he had neuer beene taught: but such examples are common in Scribanius, and others. The meanes by which they worke, are commonly Char [...]es, Images, as that in Hector Boethius of King Duffe: characters stamped of sundry mettals, and at such and such constellations, knots, amulets, words, Philters, &c. which generally make the parties affected melancholy, as Omnia Philtra etsi inter se differant, hoc habent cōmune, quod hominem efficiant melancholicum. ep. 231. Scolzij. Monauius discourseth at large in an Epistle of his to Acolsius, giuing instance in a Bohemian Baron that was so troubled, by a Philter taken. Not that there is any such power at all, in such spels, charmes, and barbarous words, but that the deuill doth vse such meanes to delude them.
SVBSEC. 4. Starres a cause. Figures from Phisiognomy, Metoposcopi, Chiromancy.
NAturall causes, are either Primary and Vniversall, or Secundary and more Particular. Primary causes are the Heauens, Planets, Starres, &c. by their influence, as our Astrologers hold, producing this and such like effects. I will not heere stand to discusse obitèr, whether Starres be causes, or signes, or to apologize f [...]r Iudiciall Astrology. If either Sextus Empericus, Picus Mirandula, Sextus ab Heminga, Pererius, [Page 74] Erastus, Chambers, &c. haue so farre prevailed with any man, that hee will attribute no vertue at all to the Heavens, or to Sunne and Moone, more then he doth to their signes, at an In-keepers post, or Tradesmans shoppe, or generally condemne all such Astrologicall Aphorismes, approved by experience, I referre him to Bellantius, Pirouanus, Marascallerus, Goclenius, S r Christopher Heydon &c. If thou shalt aske me what I thinke. I muste Cum illo dicam, doctis hisce erroribus versatus sum. answere, they doe incline, but not compell; no necessitie at all: Astra regunt homines, & regit astra Deus. Agunt, non cogunt: and so gently incline, that a wise man may resist them; sapiens dominabitur astris: they rule vs, but God rules them. All this mee thinkes Chirom. lib. 5. Quaeris à me quantum operantur astra, dico in nos nihil astra vrgere, sed animum proclives trahere, qui sic tamen liberi sunt, vt si ducem sequantur rationem, nihil efficient, sin vero naturam, id agere quod in brutis ferè. Iohan. de Iudagine hath comprised in briefe. Quaeris à me quantum in nobis operantur astra? &c. Wilt thou know how farre the starres worke vpon vs? I say they doe but incline vs, and that so gently, that if we will be ruled by reason, they haue no power ouer vs; but if we follow our owne nature, and be led by sence, they doe as much in vs, as in brute beasts, and we are no better. So that I hope I may iustly conclude with Caelum vehi culum divinae virtutis, euius mediante motu, lumine, & influentià, Deus elementaria corpora ordinat & disponit. Th. de Veio Caietanus in Psal. 104. Caretan, that Caelum is vehiculum divinae virtutis &c. that the Heauen is Gods Instrument, by mediation of which, he governes & disposeth these elementary bodies, or a great booke, as one cals it, wherein are written many strange things, for such as can reade, Mundus iste quasi lyra ab excellentissimo quodam artifice concinnata, quē qui norit, mirabiles eliciet harmonias. I. D [...]e Aphorismo 11. or an excellent harpe, made by an eminent workeman, of which he that can but play, will make most admirable musicke. But to the purpose.
Medicus sine caeli peritiá nihil est, &c, nisi genesim sciverit, ne tantillum poterit. Lib. de podagrâ. Paracelsus is of opinion, that a Physitian, without the knowledge of starres, can neither vnderstand the cause, or cure of any disease, either of this, or goute, no not so much as tooth-ache: Except he see the peculiar geniture & Scheame of the party affected. And for this proper Malady, he will haue the principall and primary cause of it proceede from the Heauen, ascribing more to sta [...]res then humors, Constellatio in causa est: & influentia caeli morbum hunc movet, interdum omnibus alijs amotis. Et alibi. Origo eius à caelo petenda est. Tr. de morbis amentium. and that the constellation [Page 75] alone many times produceth melancholy, all other causes set apart. He giues instance in Lunatick persons, that are depraved of their wits by the Moones motion; and in another place, referres all to the Ascendent, and will haue the true & chiefe cause of it to be sought from the Starres. And t'is not his opinion onely, but many Galenists & Philosophers, though they not so stifly & peremptorily, maintaine as much. This variety of melancholy-symptomes, proceede from the starres, saith Lib. de anima cap. de humorib. Ea varietas in Melancholia, habet caelestes causas. Melancthon. The most generous melancholy, as that of Augustus comes from the coniunction of Saturne and Iupiter in Libra: the bad, as that of Catilines from the meeting of Saturne and the Moone in Scorpio. Iouianus Pontanus in his 10. booke, ☌♄ & ♃ in ♎. and 13. Chap. de rebus caelestibus, ☌, ♂ & ☽ in ♏. discourseth to this purpose at large. Ex atrâ bile varij generantur morbi &c. Ex atrâ bile varij generantur morbi, per inde vt ipse multum calidi aut frigidi in se babuerit, quum vtri (que) suscipiendo quā aptissima sit, tamet si suâpte naturâ frigida sit. An non aqua sic afficitur à calore vtardeat, [...] à frigore, vt in glaciem concrescat, & haec varietas distinctionum alij flent, rident, &c. many diseases proceede from blacke choler, as it shall be hote or cold: & though it be cold in his owne Nature, yet it is apt to be heated, as water may be made to boyle, and burne as bad as fire: and made as Ice, and thence proceed such variety of symptomes, some madde, some solitary, some laugh, some rage &c. The cause of all which intemperance, he will haue chiefly and primarily to proceede from the Heauens, Hanc ad intemperantiam gignendam plurimum confert ♂ & ♄ positio ☿ &c. from the position of Mars, Saturne, and Mercury. His Aphorismes be these: ☿ Quoties alicuius geniturâ in ♍ & ♓ adverso signo positut horoscopum portilitèr tenuerit, at (que) etiam à ♂ vel ♄ □ radio percussus fuerit, natus ab insaniâ vexabitur. Mercury in any geniture, if he shall be found in Virgo, or Pisces his opposite signe, and that in the Horoscope, irradiated by those quartile aspects of Saturne or Mars, the childe shall be mad or melancholy. Again, Qui ♄ & ♂ habent, alterum in culmine, alterum imo caelo, cum in lucem venerit melancholicus erit, à quâ sanabitur, si ☿ illos irradiarit. He that shall haue Saturne or Mars, the one culminating, the other in the 4. house, when he shall be borne, shall be melancholy, of which he shall be cured in time, if Mercury behold them. Hâc configuratione natus, aut lunaticus, autmente captus. If the Moone be in coniunction or opposition at the birth-time, with the Sunne, or Saturne, or Mars, or a quartile aspect with them, ( è malo caeli loco, Leouîtius addes) many diseases are signified, [Page 76] especially the Head and Braine is like to be mis-affected with pernicious humors, to be melancholy, lunaticke, or mad. Cardan addes quartâ lunâ natos, Eclipses, Earthquakes. Garceus and Leovitius wil haue the chiefe Iudgment to be taken from the Lord of the Geniture, or when there is no aspect betwixt the Moone and Mercury, and neither behold the Horoscope: or Saturne and Mars shall be Lord of the precedent coniunction or opposition in Sagittary, or Pisces, of the Sunne or Moone, such persons are commonly Epilepticke, dote, Daemoniacall, Melancholy: but see more of these Aphorismes in the aboue-named Pontanus. Garceus cap. 23. de Iud. genitur. Sconer. lib. 1. cap. 8. which he hath gathered out of Ptolomeus centiloquio, & quadripartito tribuit omnia melancholicorum symptomata syderum influentijs. Ptolomy, Albubater, and some other Arabians, Iunctine, Ranzovius, Lindhout, Origan &c. but these men you will reiect peradventure, as Astrologers, and therefore partiall Judges: but heare the Testimony of Physitians, Galenists themselues. Arte Medicâ, accedunt ad has causas affectiones syderum. Plurimum incitant & provocant influentiae caelestes. Velcurio lib. 4. cap. 15. Crato confesseth the influence of starres to haue a great hand in this Disease, so doth Iason Pratensis, Lonicerus praefat. de Apoplexiâ, Ficinus, Fernelius, &c. Hildesheim spicel. 2. de Mel. P. Cnemander acknowledgeth the starres an vniversall cause, the particular from parents, from the vse of these 6. non-naturall things. Baptista Portae mag. lib. 1. cap. 10.11.15. will haue them causes to every particular individuum. Instances and examples to evince the truth of these Aphorismes, are common amongst those Astrologian Treatises. Cardan in his 37. geniture, giues instance in Math. Bologinus. Camerarius hor. natalit. centur. [...]. genit. 6, & 7. of Daniel Gare, and others: but see Garceus cap. 33. Luc. Gauricus Tract. 6. de Azemenis, &c. The time of this Melancholy is, when the significators in any geniture are directed according to Art, as the Hor: moone, Hylech &c. to the hostile beames or termes of ♄ and ♂ especially, or any fixed starre of their nature, or if ♄ by his revolution, or transitus, shall offend any of those radicall promissors in the geniture.
Other signes there are taken from Phisiognomy, Metoposcopy, Chiromancy, which because Iohn de Indagine, and Rotman, the Landsgraue of Hassia his Mathematician, not [Page 77] long since in his Chiromancy; Baptista Porta in his coelestial Physiognomy, haue proved to haue great affinity with Astrology: to satisfie the curious, I am more willing to insert. The generall notions Polemus. Adamantus. Io de Indag. c. 9. Montaltus c. 22. Physiognomers giue, be these: Blacke color argues naturall melancholy: so doth leannesse, hirsutnesse, broade veines, much haire on the browes, saith Caput paruum qui habent, cerebrum habent & spiritus plerum (que) angustos, facilè incidunt in Melancholiam rubicundi, Aetius. Idem Montaltus cap. 22. è Galeno. Gratanorolus cap, 7. & a little head, out of Aristotle, high sanguine, red color, argues head melancholy: those that stutter, and are balde, will be soonest melancholy, as Avicenna supposeth, by reason of the drinesse of their braines: but he that will know more of the severall signes of humors, and wits out of Physiognomy, let him consult with Antony Zara, anat. ingeniorum. sec. 1. memb. 13. & 14. Chiromancy hath these Aphorismes to foretell melancholy. Tasneir lib. 5. cap. 2. who hath comprehended the summe of Iohn de Indagine: Tricassus, Coruinus and others in his booke, thus hath it: Saturnina à Rascetta per mediam manum decurrens, vsq ad radicem montis Saturni, à parvi [...] lineis intersecta, arguit Melancholicos. Aphoris. 78. The Saturnine line going from the Rascetta, through the hand, to Saturnes mount, and there intersected by certaine little lines, argues melancholy: so if the Vitall and Naturall make an acute angle. Aphoris. 100. The Saturnine Epaticke, and Naturall lines, making a grosse triangle in the hand, argue as much: which Goclenius cap. 5. Chiros. repeates verbatim out of him. Ingenerally they conclude all, that if Saturnes mount be full of many small lines and intersections, Agitantur miserijs, continuis inquiet udinibus, ne (que) vnquam à solitudine liberi sunt, auxiè affliguntur amarissimis intra cogitationibus semper tristes, suspitiosi, meticulosi, cogitationes sunt velle agrum colere, stagna amant & paludes &c. Io. de Indagine lib. 1. such men are most part melancholy, miserable, and full of disquietnesse, care, and trouble, continually vexed with anxious & bitter thoughts, alway sorrowful, fearefull, suspitious, they delight in husbadry, buildings, pooles, marshes, springs woods, walks &c. Thaddeus Haggesius in his Metoposcophia, hath certaine Aphorismes derived from Saturnes lines in the fore-head, by which he collects a melancholy disposition: & Caelestis Physiog. lib. 10. Baptista Porta makes observations from those other parts of the body, as if a spot be ouer the splene; Cap. 14. lib. 5. Idem, maculae in vn [...]lu nigrae, lites, rixas, melancholiam significant ab humore in corde tali. or in the nailes, if it appeare black, it signifies much care, contention, griefe, and melancholy: The [Page 78] reason, he referres to the humours, and giues instance in himselfe, that for seuen yeares space, had such continuall blacke spots in his nailes, and all that while was in perpetuall Lawsutes, controuersies for his inheritance, feare, losse, of honour, banishment, griefe, care &c. and when his miseries ended, the blacke spots vanished. Cardan in his booke de libris proprijs, tels such another story of his owne person, that a little before his Sonnes death, he had a blacke spot which appeared in one of his nailes, which dilated it selfe, as hee came neerer to his end. But I am ouer tedious in these toyes, which howsoeuer in some mens too severe censures, they may be held absurde and ridiculous, I am the bolder to insert, as not borrowed of circumforanean roagues and Gipsies, but out of the writings of worthy Philosophers, and Phisitians, yet liuing some of them, & Regious Professors in famous Vniversities, who are able to patronize that which they haue said [...], and vindicate themselues from all cavillers and ignorant persons.
SVBSECT. 5. Old age a cause.
SEcundary, peculiar causes, efficient, so called in respect of the other precedent, are either congenitae, internae, innatae, as they terme them, inward, innate, and inbred: or els outward and adventitious, which happen to vs after wee are borne: congenit or borne with vs, are either naturall, as olde age, or praeter naturam, as Lib. 1. Path. cap. 11. Fernelius cals it, that distemperature, which we haue from our Parents seede, it being an hereditary disease. The first of these which is naturall to all, and which no man living can avoide, is Venit enim properata malis inopina senectus. Et dolor aetatem iussitinessemeam. Boethius met. [...]. de consol. Philos. olde age, which being colde and dry, and of the same quality as melancholy is, must needes cause it by diminution of spirits and substance, and increasing adust humors. And therefore Cap. de humoribus lib. de Animâ. Melancthon averres out of Aristotle as an vndoubted truth, senes plerun (que) delirasse in senectâ, that old men familiarly dote ob atram bilem, or [Page 79] blacke choler, which is then super-abundant in them. And Rhases that Arabian Phisitian in his Cont. lib. 1. cap. 9. calles it, Necessarium accidens decrepitis & insepabile. a necessary and inseparable accident, to all old and decrepit persons. After Psal. 90.10. 70. yeares (as the Psalmist saith) all is trouble and sorrow, and common experience confirmes the truth of it, in all weake old persons, especially in such as haue liued in action all their liues, and haue had great employment, much businesse, much command, and many seruants, to oversee, and leaue off ex abrupto: as Meteran. Balg. hist. lib. 1. Charles the fift did to King Philip, resigne vp all on a sudden: they are overcome with melancholy in an instant. Or if they doe continue in such courses, they dote at last, senex bis puer, and are not able to manage their estates, through common infirmities incident to their age, ful of ache, sorrow and griefe, children againe, disardes the Carle many times as they sit, and talke to themselues, they are angry, waspish, displeased with euery thing, suspitious of all, wayward, covetous, hard, saith Tully Sunt morosi anxij & iracundi, & difficiles senes, si quaerimus etiam avari. Tully de senectute. selfewilled, superstitious, selfe-conceited, braggers, and admirers of themselues, as Lib. 2. de aulico. Senes avari, moresi, iactabundi, philauti, deliri, superstitiosi, suspitiosi &c. Balthasar Castilio hath truly noted of them. This naturall infirmity is most eminent in olde women, and such as are poore solitary, and liue in base esteeme and beggery, and such as are witches: In so much, that Lib. 3. de Lamijs cap. 17. & 18. Wierus, Baptista Porta, Vlricus Molitor, Ewichus, doe referre all that witches are said to doe to Imagination alone, and this humor of melancholy: and whereas it is controverted, whether they can bewitch cattle &c. to death, ride in the aire vpō a cowlstaffe, out of a chimny toppe, transforme themselues into cattes, dogges, &c. translate bodies from place to place, meete in companies, and daunce as they doe, or haue carnall copulation with the Divel, they ascribe all to this redundant melancholy, which domineeres in them, to Solanum op [...] lupi adeps, lac asini &c. sanguis infantium &c. somniferous potions, and naturall causes, the Diuels policy. Nō laedunt omninò saith Wierus, aut quid mirum faciunt de Lamijs lib. 3. cap, 36. vt putatur, solam vitiatam habent phantasiam: they doe no such wonders at all, onely their Corrupta est ijs ab humore Melancholico phantasia. Nymanus. Braines are crazed. Putant se laedere, quando non laedunt. They thinke they are witches and can doe hurt, but doe not. But this opinion Bodine, Erastus, [Page 80] Daneus, Scribanius, explode: and Lib. 3. cap. 4. omnif. mag. Cicogna confutes at large. That witches are melancholy, they deny not, but not out of a corrupt phantasie alone, so to delude themselues and others, or to produce such effects.
SVBSEC. 6. Parents a cause by propagation.
THat other inward inbred cause of Melancholy, is our temperature in whole or part, Vt arthritici Epilept. &c. which wee receiue from our parents, which Lib. 1. cap. 11. path. Fernelius cals praeter naturam, or vnnaturall, it being an haereditary disease: for as he iustifies, quale parentum maximè patris semen obtigerit, tales evadunt similares, spermaticae (que) partes, quocun (que) etiam morbo pater quum generat tenetur, cum semine transfert in prolem: Such as the temperature of the father is, such is the sonnes; and looke what disease the father had when he begot him, such his son will haue after him, Vt filij non tam possessionum quam morborum [...]aeredes sint. and is as well inheritor of his infirmities, as of his lands. And whereas the complexion and constitution of the father is corrupt, there saith Epist. de secretis artis & naturae cap. 7. nam in hoc quod patres corruptisunt, generant filios corruptae complexionis, & compositionis, & silij eorum eadem de causa se corrumpunt, & sic deriuatur corruptio à patribus ad filios. Roger Bacon, the complexion of the sonne must needes be corrupt, and so the corruption is deriued from the father, to the sonne. Now this doth not so much appeare in the composition of the Body, according to that of Non tam inquit Hippocrates gibbos & cicatrices orà & corporis habitum agnoscis ex ijs, sed verum incessum, gestus, mores, morbos &c. Hippocrates: in habit, proportion, scarres, and other lineaments, but in manners and conditions of the Minde: ‘Et patrum in natos abeunt cum semine mores.’ Seleucus had an anchor on his thigh, and so had his posterity, as Trogus recordes, lib. 15. Lepidus in Pliny. lib. 7. cap. 17. was purblind, and so was his sonne. That famous family of Aenobarbi, were knowne of old, and so surnamed from their red beardes, as the Austrian lippe at this day, and those Indians flat noses are propagated, the Bavarian chinne, and goggle eyes amongst the Iewes, as Sinagog. [...]ud. Buxendorfius obserues: their voice, pace, gesture, lookes, is likewise deriued, and all the rest of their conditions and infirmities; such a mother, such a [Page 81] daughter; their very Affectus parentum in faetus transeunt, & puerorum malitia parentibus imput anda. lib. 4. cap. 3. de occult. nat. mirac. affections Lemnius contends to follow their seede, and the malice and bad conditions of children, are many times wholly to be imputed to their parents. I neede not therefore make any doubt of Melancholy, but that it is an hereditary disease. Ex pituitosis pituitosi, ex biliosis biliosi, ex lienosis & melancholicis, melancholici. Paracelsus in expresse words affirmes it lib; de morb. amentium. To. 4. Tract. 1. and so doth Epist. 174. in Scoltzius. nascitur nobiscum illa alitur (que) & vna cum parentibus habemus malum hunc assem. Io. Peletius lib. 2. de curâ bumanor [...] affectuum. Crato in an epistle of his to Monauius. Montaltus proues cap. 11. out of Hippocrates and Plutarch, that such hereditary dispositions are frequent, & (hanc inquit) fieri reor ob participatam melancholicam intemperantiam, speaking of a patient: I thinke he became so by participation of Melancholy. Lib. 10. observat. 15. Forestus in his medicinal observations, illustrates this point, with an example of a Merchant his patient, that had this infirmitie by inheritance. Lodovicus Mercatus a Spanish Physitian, in that excellent Tract, which he hath lately written of hereditary diseases. Tom. 2. oper. lib. 5. reckons vp Leprosie, as those Maginus Geog. Galbots in Gascony, hereditary Lepers, Pox, Stone, Goute, Epilepsie &c. and amongst the rest, this, and Madnesse after a set time, comes to them, which he calles a miraculous thing in Nature, and sticks for euer to them as an incurable Habit. And that which is more to be wondred at, it skippes in some Families the Father, and goes to the Sonne, Saepè non eundem, sed similem producit effectum, & illaeso parente transit in nepotem. or takes euery other, and sometimes euery third in a lineall descent, and doth not alwayes produce the same, but some like, and a symbolizing disease. And these secundary causes so derived, are commonly so powerfull, that as Dial. praefix. genituris Leouitij. Wolfius holdes, saepè mutant decreta siderum, they doe often alter the primary causes, and decrees of the heavens. For these reasons belike the Church and common-wealth, humane and divine Lawes, haue conspired to avoide hereditary diseases, forbidding such marriages as are any whit allied; and as Mercatus adviseth all Families, to take such, si fieri possit quae maximè distent naturâ, to make choice of those that are most differing in cōplexion from thē: if they loue their owne, and respect the common good. And sure I thinke, that it hath beene ordered by Gods especiall providence, that in all ages there should be, as vsually there [Page 82] is, once in Bodine de rep. cap. de Periodis reip. 600 yeares, a transmigration of Nations, to amend and purifie their brood, as we alter seed vpon our land, and that there should be, as it were, an invndation of those Northerne Gothes and Vandales, Scythians, and many such like Nations, which came out of that continent of Scandia, and Sarmatia, as some suppose, and ouerranne as a deluge, most parts of Europe and Africke, to alter for our good, our complexions, which were much defaced with hereditary infirmities, which by our lust and intemperance we had contracted. A sound generation of strong & able men were sent amongst vs, as those Northerne men vsually are, and innocuous, free from riot, and free from diseases. To qualifie vs, and make vs as those poore naked Indians are generally at this day; and these about Brasile, as a late Claudius Abauille Capuchian, in his voyage to Maragnan 1614 cap. 45. Nemo ferè aegrotus sano omnes & robusto corpore vivunt annos 120. 140. sine medicinà. Idem Hector Boethius de Insulis Orchid Damianus à Goes de Scandiâ Writer relates) in the Isle of Maragnan, free from all hereditary, or other contagion, where as without help of Physicke they liue commonly 120 yeares, or more. And such are the common effects of temperance, and intemperance; but I will descend to particulars, and shew by what meanes, and by whom especially this infirmity is derived vnto vs.
Filij ex senibus natirarò sunt firmi temperamenti, old mens children are seldome of a good temperament, as Scoltzius supposeth, consult. 177, and therefore most apt to this disease: and as Lib. 4 cap. 3. de occult. nat. mir. Tetricos plerun (que) filios senes progenerant, & tristes r [...]ius exhileratos. Levinus Lemnius farther adds, olde men beget most part wayward, peevish, sad, melancholy sons, and seldome merry. He that begets a childe vpon a full stomacke, will either haue a sicke childe, or a crased sonne: as Coitus super repletionem pessimus, & filii qui tum gignuntur, aut morbosi sunt, aut stolidi. Cardan thinkes. Contradic, med. lib. 1. tract. 5. contradic. 18. or if the parents be sicke, or haue any great paine of the head, as megrim, headache, as Hieronimus, Dial. praefix. Leovitio. Wolfius doth instance in a child of Sebastian Castilio's, or if a drunken man get a childe, it will neuer likely have a good braine. Gellius lib. 12. cap. 1. ebrij gignunt ebrios, one drunkard begets another, saith Lib. de educ. liberis. Plutarch: whose sentence De occult. nat. mir. temulentae & stolidae mulieres liberos plevum (que) producunt sibi similes. Lemnius approues lib. 1. cap, 4. foolish, drunken, or hairebraine women, most part bring foorth children like vnto themselues: and so likewise, he that lies [Page 83] with a menstruous woman. Intemperantia veneris quam in nautis prasertim in sectatur Lib. 2. cap. 8. de occult. nat. mir. Good Master Schoolemaster doe not english this. Lemnius, qui vxores ineunt, nullâ menstrui decursus ratione habitâ, nec observato interlunio, praecipua causa est noxia, pernitiosa, & quarta lunâ concepti, infaelices plerum (que) & amentes, deliri, stolidi, omnibus bonis corporis at (que) animi destituti: ad laborem nati, inquit Eustathius vt Hercules, & alij. Buxendorfius cap. 31. Synagog. Iud. Ezek. 18. Iudaei maximè insectantur foedum hunc, & immundum apud Christianos concubitum, & vt illicitum abhorrent, apud eos prohibent: & quod Christiani toties leprosi, amentes, tot morbilli, tam multi morbi epidemici acerbi, & venenosi sint, in hunc immundum concubitum reijciunt, & crudeles illos in pignora vocant, qui quartâ lunâ profluente hâc mensium illuvie concubitum hunc non perhorrescunt. Damnavit olim divina lex, & morte mulctavit huiusmodi homines, Levit. 18.20. & inde nati si qui deformes aut mutili, pater delapidatus quod non contineret ab Drusius obseru. lib. 3. cap. 20. immundâ muliere. Gregorius Magnus petenti Augustino nunquid apud Beda eccl. hist. lib. 1. cap. 27. respons. 10. Britannos huiusmodi concubitum toleraret, severè prohibuit, viris suis tum misceri faeminas in consuetis suis menstruis &c, I spare to English this which I haue said. Another cause some giue inordinate Diet, as if a man eate garlicke, onions, or fast over-much, or study too hard, or be over-sorrowfull, dull, heavy, their children, saith Nam spiritus cerebri si tum male afficiantur, tales procreant, & quales fuerint aff [...]ct [...]s, tales filiorum: ex tristibus trist [...]s ex iucundis nascuntur. &c. Cardan subtil. lib. 18. will be subiect to madnesse & melancholy: for if the spirits of the braine be fusled, or mis-affected by such meanes, at such a time, their children will be fusled in the braine: they will be dul, heavy, discontented all their liues. Some are of opinion, and maintaine that Paradoxe or Probleme, that wise men beget commonly fooles, and which Fol. 129 mor. Socrates children were fooles. Sabel. Erasmus maintaines in his Moriâ, fooles beget wise men. Cardan subt. lib. 12. glues this cause, quoniam spiritus sapientum ob studium resolvuntur, & in cerebrum feruntur à corde: because their naturall spirits are resolued by study, and turned into animall, drawne from the heart, and those other parts to the braine. Lib. 1. cap 4. de occult. nat. mir. Lemnius subscribes to that of Cardan, and assignes this reason quod persoluant debitum languidè, & oscitantèr, vndè faetus a parentum generositate desciscit: they pay their [Page 84] debt, as Paul cals it, to their wiues but sparingly and remissely, doe their businesse, by which meanes their children are weakelings, and many times idiots and fooles.
Some other causes are giuen, which properly pertaine to, and proceede from the mother: If shee be ouer-dull, heavy, angry, peevish, discontented, and Melancholy, not onely at the time of conception, but euen all the while she carries the childe in her wombe, saith Fernelius path. lib. 1. cap. 11. her sonne will be so likewise affected, and worse. de occult. nat. mir. Lemnius ads, lib. 4. cap. 7. if she grieue over-much, be disquieted, or by any casuality be affrighted and terrified by some fearefull obiect, heard or seen, she endangers her child, and spoiles the temperature of it: Pica morbus mulierum. for the strange Imagination of a woman, workes effectuall vpon her childe, that as Baptista Porta proues, Phisiog. coelestis, lib. 5. cap. 2. she leaues a marke vpon it, which is most especially seene in such as long for such and such meates, the childe will loue those meates, saith Fernelius, and be addicted to those humors: Baptista Porta loco praed. Ex leporum intu itu pleri (que) infantes edunt bifido superiore labello. If a great-bellied woman see a Hare, her childe will often haue an Hare lip, as we call it. Garceus Iuditijs genitur arum cap. 33. hath a memorable example of one Thomas Nickell, borne in the city of Brandeburge A [...] 1551. Quasi mox in terram collapsurus, per omnem vitam incedebat cum mater gravida, ebrium bominē sic incedétem viderat. that went reeling and staggering all the dayes of his life, as if he would fall to the ground, and all was because his mother being great with childe, saw a drunken man so reeling in the street. So many seuerall wayes are we plagued and punished for our fathers defaults: In so much, that as Fernelius truly saith, Optimum benè nosci. Maxima pars felicitatis nostrae benè nasci, quam ob-rem praeclarè bumano generi consultum videretur, si soli parentes bene habiti & sani liberis operam darent. it is the greatest part of our felicity to be well borne, and it were well for humane kinde, if onely such parents as are sound of body and minde, should be suffered to marry. An husband man will sowe none but the best and choicest seede vpon his land, he will not reare a bull or an horse, except he be well shapen in all parts, or permit him to couer a mare, except hee be well assured of his breed: wee make choice of the best rammes for our she [...]pe, and reare the neatest kine, keepe the best dogges, quanto id diligentiùs in procreandis liberis observandum? and how carefull then should we be in begetting of our children? [Page 85] In former times some Infantes infirmi praecipitio necati Bohems lib. 3 cap. 3. apud Lacones olim. Lipsius epist. 85. cent. ad Belgas. Dionisio Villerio. si quos aliqua membrorum parte inutiles notaverint, necari iubent. countries haue beene so chary and provident in this behalfe, and so sterne, that if a childe were crooked or deformed in body or minde, they made him away: so did the Indians of olde, by the relation of Curtius, & many other wel gouerned commonwealths, according to the Discipline of those times. Heretofore in Scotland, saith Lib. 1. Daveterum Scotorum moribus- morbo comitialidementiâ, maniâ, leprâ, &c. aut simili labe, quae facilè in prolem transmittitur, laborantes inter eos ingenti factâ indagine inuentos, ne gens foedâ contagione lederetur, ex ijs nata, castraverunt, mulieres huiusmodi procul à virorti consortio allegârunt, quod si harum aliqua concepisse inveniebatur, simul cum faetunondum aedito, desodiebatur viva. Hector Boëthius, if any were visited with the falling sicknesse, or madnesse, goute, leprosie, or any such dangerous disease, which was likely to be propagated from the father to the sonne, he was instantly gelded: a woman kept from all company of men, and if by chance hauing some such disease, shee were found to bee with childe, shee with her brood were buried aliue: and this was done for the common good, lest the whole nation should be injured or corrupted. A severe doome you will say, and not to be vsed amongst Christians, yet more to be looked into then it is. For now by our too much facility in this kinde, in giuing way to all to marry that will, our too much liberty & indulgence in tolerating all sorts, there is a vast confusion of hereditary diseases, no family secure, no man almost free from some grievous infirmity or other, when no choice is had, but still the eldest must marry, as so many stallions of the Race, or if rich, be they fooles or disardes, lame or maimed, vnable, intemperate, dissolute, exhauste through riot, as he said, Euphormio Satir. iure hereditario sapere iubentur; they must be wise and are by inheritance, it comes to passe that our generation is corrupt, we haue many weake persons both in body and minde, many ferall diseases raging amongst vs, pocky families, out fathers bad, and we are like to be worse.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSECT. 1. Bad diet a cause. Substance. Quality of meates.
ACcording to my proposed method, hauing opened hitherto these secundary causes, which are inbred with [Page 86] vs, I must now proceede to the outward and adventitious, which happen vnto vs after we are borne. And those are either Euident, Remote, or inward Antecedent, and the nearest: Cont [...]nent causes some call them. These outward, remote, praecedent causes are subdivided againe, into necessary and not necessary. Fecit omnia delicta quae fieri possunt circa res sex non-naturales, & eae fuerunt causae extrinsecae, ex quibus postea ortae sunt obstructiones. Necessary (because we cannot avoide them, but they wil alter vs, as they are vsed, or abused) are those six non-naturall things, so much spoken of amongst Physitians) and which are principall causes of this disease. For almost in every consultation, where as they shall come to speake of the causes, the fault is found, and this most part objected to the patient, peccavit circa res sex non naturales: he hath still offended in one of those sixe. Montanus consil. 22. consulted about a Melancholy Iewe, giues that sentence, so did Frisemelica in the same place: and in his 244. counsell, censuring a melancholy souldier, he giues that cause of his malady, that he offended in all those sixe non-naturall things, which were the outward causes, from which came those inward obstructions: & so in the rest.
These six non-naturall things, are Diet, Retention, and Evacuation, which are more materiall then the other, because they make new matter, or els are conversant in keeping or expelling of it. The other foure are Aire, Exercise, Sleeping & Waking, and perturbations of the Minde, which onely alter the matter. The first of these is Diet, which consist's in meate and drinke, and causeth Melancholy, as it offends in Substance or Accidents, that is, quantity, quality, or the like. And well it may be called a materiall cause, since that as Path. lib. 1. cap. 2. Maximum in gignendis morbis vim obtinet, pabulum, materiam (que) morbi suggerens: nam nec ab atre, nec à perturbationibus, vel aliis evi: dentibvs causis morbi sint, nisi consentiat corporis praeparatio, & humorum constitutio. Vt semel dicam vna gula est omnium morborum mater, etiamsi alius e [...] genitor. Ab hoc morbi sponte saepè emanant, nullá aliâ cogente causâ. Fernelius hath it: It hath such a power in begetting of diseases, and yeeldes the matter and sustenance of them, for neither aire, nor perturbations, nor any of those other evident causes take place, or worke this effect, except the constitution of body, and preparation of humors doe concurre. That a man may say, This Diet is the Mother of Diseases, let the father be what he will, and from this alone Melancholy, and many other maladies arise. Many Physitians I confesse, haue written copious volumes of [Page 87] this one Subiect, of the nature and qualities of all manner of meats, as namely Galen, Isaac the Iew, Haliabbas, Avicenna, Mesue Arabians, Gordonius, Villanouanus, Wecker, Iohannes Bruerinus syttologia de Esculentis, & Poculentis, Michael Sanavorola, Tract. 2. cap. 8. Anthony Fumanellus lib. de regimine senum. Curio in his comment on Schola Salernae, Godefridus Stekius arte Med. Marsilius Cagnatus. Ficinus, Ranzovius, Fonseca, Lessius, Magninus, regim. sanitatis, Frietagius, Hugo Fridevallius &c. besides many other in Cogan, Eliot. English, & almost euery peculiar Physitian, discou [...]seth at large of all particular meates in his Chapter of Melancholy: yet because these books are not at hand to every man, I will briefly touch what kind of meats ingender this humor, through their severall species, and which are to be avoided. How they alter and change the matter, spirits first, and after humors, by which we are preserued, and the constitution of our body, Fernelius and others will shew you: I hasten to the thing it selfe. And first of such Diet as offends in substance.
Beefe, a strong & hearty meat, (cold in the first degree, Beefe. dry in the second Galen lib. 3. cap, 1. de alim. sac.) is condemned by him, and all succeeding Authors, to breed grosse melancholy blood: Good for such as are sound, and of a strong constitution, for labouring men, if ordered aright, corned, yong, of an oxe, (for all gelded meats in every species are held best) or if old, Frietagius.such as haue bin tyred out with labour, are preferred. Aubanus and Sabellicus commend Portingall Beefe to be the most savory, best, & easiest of digestion; we commend ours: but all is rejectèd, and vnsit for such as lead a resty life, or any wayes inclined to melancholy, or dry of complexion: Tales Galen thinkes, de facili melancholicis aegritudinibus capiuntur.
Porke, of all meats is most nutritiue in his own nature, Porke. but altogether vnfit for such as liue at ease, or are any wayes vnsound of body or mind: Too moist, full of humors, and therfore noxia delicatis saith Sanavorola, ex earum vsu vt dubitetur, an febris quartana generetur: naught for queasie stomacks, Isaacke. in so much, that frequent vse of it, may breed a quartan ague.
[Page 88] Savaenarola discommends Goats flesh, Goat. and so doth Non laudatur, quia melancholicum praebet alimentum. Bruerinus, lib. 13. cap. 19. calling it a filthy beast, and rammish, & therfore supposeth it wil breed rank and filthy substance: yet kid, and such as are yong, and tender, Isaac excepts, Bruerinus and Galen lib. 1, cap. 1. de alimentorum facultatibus.
Hart, Hart. and red Deere Male audit cervina (inquit) Frietagius crassissimum & atribilarium suppeditat alimentū. hath an euill name, it yeeldes grosse nutriment; a strong great grained meat, and next vnto a horse. Which although some countries eate, as Tartars, and they of China: yet Lib. de subtiliss dietâ Equina caro & asin na, equinis danda est hominibus & asinin [...]s. Galen condemnes. Yong foales are as commonly eaten in Spaine as red Deere, and to furnish their Navies often vsed; but such meats aske long baking, or seething, to qualify them, and yet all will not serue.
All Venison is melancholy, and begets bad blood, a meat in great esteeme with vs, (for we haue more Parkes in England, then there are in all Europe besides) in all our solemne Feasts. T'is somwhat better, hunted then otherwise, & well prepared by cookery, Venison, Fallow Deere. but generally bad, & seldome to be vsed.
Hare. Hare, a black meat, melancholy & hard of digestion, it breeds Incubus often eaten, & causeth fearefull Dreames, & so doth all Venison, & is condemned by a Iury of Physitians. Mizaldus, and some others, say, that Hare is a merry meat, & that it will make one faire, as Martials Epigram testifies to Gellia, but this is because of the good sport it makes, & merry company, & good Discourse that is commonly at the eating of it, & not otherwise to be vnderstood,
Parum absunt à naturâ lepo [...]ū. Bruerinus lib. 13 cap. 25. pullorum tenera & optima. Conies are of the nature of Hares. Conies. Magninus compares them to Beefe, Pig, & Goat. Reg. sanit. part. 3. cap. 17. yet yong Rabbits, by all men are approued to be good.
Generally, all such meats as are hard of Digestion, bree [...]e melancholy. Areteus lib. 7. cap. 5. reckons vp heads and feete, Illaudabilis succi nauseam provocant. bowels, braines, entrals, marrow, fat, blood, skinnes, & those inward parts, as Heart, lungs, ljuer, splene &c. They are rejected by Isaack lib. 2. & part. 3. Magninus part. 3. cap. 17. Bruerinus lib. 12. Savanarola Rub. 32. Tract. 2.
Milke, Milke. and all that conies of milke, as Butter and Cheese, [Page 89] Curds, &c. increase Melancholy (whay only excepted) which is most wholsome: Piso. Altomar. some except Asses milke. The rest, to such as are sound, is nutritiue and good, especially for yong children, but because soone turned to corruption, Curio Frietagius. Magninus. part. 3. cap. 17. Mercurialis de affect. lib. 1. cap. 10. excepts all milke meats in Hypocondriacall melancholy. Fowle. not good for such as haue vncleane stomacks, or bee subiect to headach, or haue greene wounds, Stone, &c. Of all Cheeses, I take Banbury Cheese to be the best, ex vetustis pessimus, the older, stronger, and harder, the worst, as Langiuus discourseth in his Epistle to Melanchthon, cited by Mizaldus. Isac. part. 5. Galen. lib. 3. de cibis boni sacci. &c.
Amongst Fowle, Wecker Syntax. Theor. p. 2. Isaack. Bruerinus. lib. 15. c. 30. & 31. Pecocks and Pigeons, all fenny Fowle are forbidden, as Ducks, Geese, Swans, Hearnes, Cranes, Coots, Didappers, Waterhens, and all those Teales, Curres, Sheldrakes, and peckled Fowles, which come hether in winter, out of Scandia, Muscovy, Greeneland, Freiseland, which halfe the yeare be couered all ouer with snowe, and frozen vp. Though these be faire in feathers, pleasant in tast, & haue a good outside, like hypocrites white in plumes, & soft, their flesh is hard, blacke, vnwholsome, dangerous melancholy meat, grauant & putrefaciunt stomachum, saith Isaack. part. 5. de vol. their young ones are more tolerable, but young Pigeons he quite disprooues.
Rhasis, Fishes. & Cap. 18 par. 3. Magninus discommend all Fish, and say they breed Viscosities, slymy nutriment, little and humorous nutriment, Savanorola adds cold, moist, and phlegmaticke, Isaack and therefore vnwholsome, for all cold and melancholy complections. Others make a difference, reiecting onely amongst freshwater fish, Eele, Tensh, Lamprey, Crawfish, which Bright approues cap. 6. and such as are bred in muddy and standing waters, and haue a tast of mud, as Franscisus Bonsuetus poetically defines. lib. de aquatilibus.
Lampryes Paulus Iouius cap. 34. de piscibus fluvial. highly [Page 90] magnified, and saith none speake against them but inepti and scrupulosi, some scrupulous persons, but Omni loco & omni tempore medici detastantur anguillas praesertim circa solstitium. Damnantur tum sanis tum aegris. Eeles cap. 33. he abhorres in all places, at all times, all Physitians detest them, especially about the solstice. Gomesius lib. 1. cap. 22. de sale doth immoderately extol all Sea-fish, which others as much vilifie, & aboue the rest dried, sowced, indurate fish, as Ling, Fumados Red-herrings, Sprats, Stockfish, Halberdine, poore Iohn, all shelfish. Cap. 6. in his Tract of Melancholy. Tim. Bright excepts Lobstar and Crab. Messarius commendes Salmon, which Bruerinus contradicts lib. 22. cap. 17. Magninus reiects Conger, Sturgeon, Turbit, Maquarell, Scate. Carp, is a fish of which I knowe not well what to determine: Franciscus Bonsuetus accounts it a muddy fish, Hippolitus Salvianus in his booke de Piscium naturâ & praparatione, which was printed at Rome in fol. 1554. in most elegant pictures, esteemes Carp no better then a slimy watery meat. P. Iouius on the other side disallowing tench, approues of it. So doth Dubrauius in his bookes of Fishponds. Freitagius Optimè nutrit omnium Iudicio inter prime notae pisces gustu praestanti. extols it for an excellent wholsome meat, and puts it amongst the Fishes of the best rancke: and so doe most of our country Gentlemen, that store their ponds almost with no other Fish. But this controuersie is easily decided in my iudgement by Bruerinus lib. 22. cap. 13. The difference ariseth from the difference and site and nature of pooles, Non est dubium quin pro vivariorum situ, ac naturâ magnas alimentorum sortiantur differentias, alibi suauiores alibi lutulentiores. sometimes muddy, sometimes sweet, they are in tast as the place is from whence they be taken. In like manner almost we may conclude of other fresh-fish. But see more in Bellonius, Oribasius, lib. 7. cap. 22. Isaack. lib. 1. especially Hoppolitus Salvianus, instar omnium solus, &c. Howsoeuer they may be wholsome and approued, much vse of them is not good; P. Forestus in his Medicinall obseruations, Obseruat. 16. lib. 10. relates that Carthusian Friers, whose liuing is most part Fish, are more subiect to Melancholy then any other order, and that hee found by experience, being sometimes their Phisitian ordinary at Delft in Holland. He exemplifies it with an instance of one Buscodnese a Carthusian of a ruddy colour, and well likeing, that by solitary liuing and fish eating became so misaffected.
[Page 91] Amongst hearbes to be eaten, I finde Gourds, Cowcumbers, Coleworts, Millions disallowed, Hearbs. but especially Cabbage. It causeth troublesome dreames, and sendes vp blacke vapors to the braine. Galen. loc. affect. lib. 3. cap. 6. of all hearbs condemnes Cabbage. And Isaack. lib. 2. cap. 1. animae gravitatem facit, it brings heauinesse to the soule. Some are of opinion, that all rawe hearbs and sallets breed Melancholy blood, except Buglosse and Lettice, Crato consil. 21. lib. 2. speakes against all hearbes and worts, except Borrage, Buglosse, Fennel, Parsly, Dill, Bawm; Succory. Magninus regim. sanitatis 3. part. cap. 13. omnes herbae simplicitèr malae, viâ cibi. All hearbes are simply evill to feed on, as he thinkes, and so did that scoffing Cooke in Pseudolus. act. 3. scen. 2. Plautus:
As our Italians and Spaniards doe make a whole dinner of Hearbes and Sallets, by which meanes as he followes it.
Quare rectius valetudini sua quis (que) consulet qui lapsus priorum parentum memor eos planè vel omiserit vel parcè degustárit Kersteius cap. 4 de vero vsu med. They are windie, and not fit therefore to be eaten of all men rawe, though qualified with oyle, but in brothes or otherwise. See more of these in every In Mizaldo de Horto. P. Crescent. Herbastein &c. Husbandman and Herbalist. Roots, Etsi quorundam gentium opes sint, saith Bruerinus, the wealth of some countries and sole food, are windy & bad, or troublesome to the head; as Onions, Garlicke, Scallions, Rootes. [Page 92] Turneps, Carrets, Radishes, Parsnips; Crato lib. 2. consil. 11. disallowes all roots, though Cap. 13. part. 3 Bright in his Tract. of Mel. some approue of Parsnipps, & Potatoes. b Magninus is of Crato's opinion, InteV [...]ctum turbant producunt insaniam, audiui inquit Magninus quod si quis ex ijs continue per annum comedat in insaniam caderet. cap. 13. Fruits. Improbi succi sunt. Cap. 12. they trouble the minde sending grosse fumes to the braine, make men mad, especially Garlike, Onions, if a man liberally feed of them a yeare together. Guianerius. Trac. 15. cap. 2. complaines of all maner of Roots, and so doth Bruarinus euen Parsnipps themselues, which are the best, lib. 9. cap. 14. pasticanarum vsus succos gignit improbos. Crato consil. 21. lib. 1. vtterly forbids all manner of Fruits; as Peares, Apples, Plums, Cherries, Strawberries, Nuts, Medlers, Serues, &c. Sanguinem inficiunt, saith Villanouanus, they infect the bloud and p [...]trifie it Magninus holds, and must not therefore be taken, viâ cibi, aut quantitate magnâ. not to make a meale of, or in any great quantity. De rerum varietat. In Fessa plerŭ (que) morbosi quod fructus comedăt ter in dic. Cardan makes that a cause of their continuall sicknesse at Fessa in Africke, because they liue so much on fruits, eating them thrice a day. Laurentius approues of many fruits in his tract of Melancholy, which others disallow, and amongst the rest Apples, which many likewise commend, as Sweetings, Pairemaines, Pippins, as good against melancholy. But to him that is any way inclined to, or touched with this malady, Cap. de Melancholiâ. Nicholas Piso in his Practicks forbids all fruits, as windie, or to be sparingly eaten at least, and not raw. Amongst other fruits Lib. 11. cap. 3. Pulse. Bruerinus forth of Galen, excepts Grapes and Figges, but I finde them likewise reiected. All Pulse are naught, Beanes, Pease, Fitches, &c. They fill the braine, saith Isaack with grosse fumes, breed blacke thicke blood, and cause troublesome dreames. And therefore that which Pythagoras said to his Schollers of old, may bee for ever applyed to melancholy men▪ à fabis abstinete, Eat no Pease nor Beans: yet to such as will needs eat them, I would giue counsell to prepare them according to those rules that Arnoldus, Villanouanus, Frietagius prescribe, for eating and dressing Fruits, Hearbs, Roots, Pulse, &c.
Spices cause hot and head melancholy, Spices. and are for that cause forbidden by our Phisitions, to such men as are inclined [Page 93] to this malady, as Pepper, Ginger, Cinnamon. Cloues, Mace, Dates, &c. Hony and Sugar. Bright cap 6. excepts hony. Some except Hony, to those that are cold it may be more tolerable, but Hor. apud Scoltzium consil. 186. Dulcia se in bilě vertunt, they are obstructiue. Crato therefore forbids all spice in a consultation of his, for a melancholy Schoolemaster, Omnia aromatica, & quicquid sanguinem adurit: so doth Fernelius consil. 45. Guianerius tract. 15. cap. 2. Mercurialis cons. 189. To these I may adde all sharpe and sower things, or luscious and ouer sweet, or Fat, as Oyle, Vineger, Veriuice, Mustard, Salt. As sweet things are obstructiue, so these are corrosiue. Gomesius in his bookes de Sale lib. 1. cap. 21. highly commends Salt; so doth Codronchus in his Tract de sale Absynthij. Lemn. lib. 3. cap. 9. de occult. nat. mir. yet common experience findes Salt and salt meats to be great causes of this disease. And for that cause belike those Egyptian Priests abstained from salt, euen so much as in their bread, vt sine perturbatione anima esset, saith my Author, that their soules might be free from perturbations.
Bread that is made of baser grain; as Pease, Beanes, Oates, Bread. Ric, or Ne comedas crustam choleram quia gignit adustam. Schol. Sal. ouer hard baked, and crusty blacke, is much spoke against, as causing melancholy iuyce and winde. Ioh. Maior in his first booke of his history of Scotland, contends much for the wholsomnesse of oaten bread; It was obiected to him the liuing at Paris in France, that his countrimen fed on Oates & base graine, as a disgrace, but hee doth ingeniously confesse that Scotland, Wales, and a third part of England, did most part vse that kinde of bread, but that it was as wholsome as any graine, and yeelded as good nourishment. And yet Wecker out of Galen calls it horse meat, & fitter for iuments then for men to feed on. But read Galen himselfe lib. 1. de cibis boni & mal. succi. more largely, discoursing of Corne & Bread.
All black Wines, ouer hot compound strong thick drinks, Wine, Beers. as Muscadine, Malmesie, Allegant, Rumny, Browne bastard, Metheglen, and the like, of which they haue 30 severall kinds in Muscovy, all such made drinkes are hurtfull in this case, to such as are hot, or of a sanguine cholericke complection, or [Page 94] young, or inclined to head melancholy. For many times the drinking of wine alone causeth it. Vinum turbidum. Arculanus cap. 16 in 9. Rhasis puts in wine for a great cause, especially if it be immoderately vsed. Guianerius Tract. 15. cap. 2. tells a story of two Dutch-men, to whom hee gaue entertainement in his house, that in Ex vini potentis bibitione duo Alemani in vno mense Melancholici facti sunt. one months space were both melancholy by drinking of Wine, one did naught but sing, the other sighe. Galen l. de causis morb. cap. 3. Mathiolus on Dioscorides, and aboue all other Andreas Bachius lib. 3. c. 18.19.20. haue reckoned vp those inconveniences that come by wine. Yet notwithstanding all this to such as are cold, or sluggish melancholy, a cup of wine is good physick, and so doth Mercurialis grant, consil. 25. in such cases, if the temperature be cold, as to most melancholy men it is, wine is much commended, if it be moderately vsed. Cider and Perry are both cold and windy drinks, Cider, Perry. & for that cause to be neglected, and so are all those hot spiced strong drinks.
Beere, Beere. if it be over new or over stale, ouer strong, or not sod, smell of the caske, sharp or sower is most vnwholsome, it frets and gauls, &c. Henricus Ayrerus in a Hildesheim spicel. fol. 273. consultation of his, for one that laboured of Hypocondriacall melancholy discommends Beare. So doth Crassam generat sanguinem. Crato in that excellent counsell of his lib. 2. consil. 21. as too windy because of the Hoppe. But he meanes belike that thicke black Bohemian beare vsed in some other parts of About Danzick in Spruce Hamburg. Germany,
As that old Henricus brincensis. Poet scoffed, calling it Stygiae monstrum conforme palud [...], a monstrous drinke like the riuer Styx. But let thē say as they lift to such as are accustomed vnto it, it is a most wholsome (as Potus tumsalubris tum Iucundus. lib. 1. Polidor Virgil calleth it) and a pleasant drinke, [Page 95] it is more subtil and better for the hop that rarifies it, & hath an especiall vertue against melancholy, as our Herbalists cō fesse. And Fuchsius approues. lib. 2. sect. 2. Instit. cap. 11. and many others.
Standing Waters, thicke and ill coloured, Waters. such as come forth of Pooles and Motes, where hemp hath beene steeped, or slimy fishes liue are most vnwholsome, putrified and full of mites, [...]reepers, slimy, muddy, vncleane, corrupt, impure by reason of the Sonnes heat: and still standing they cause foule distemperatures in the body and minde of man, and are vnfit to make drinke of, or to dresse meat with, or to bee Galen. l. 1. de san tuend. cauendae sunt aquae que ex slagnis hauriuntur & quae turbidae & male otentes, &c vsed about men inwardly or outwardly. They are good for many domesticall vses, to steep Malt, water Cattle, &c. or in time of necessity, but not otherwise. Some are of opinion that such fat standing waters make the best Beere, and that seething doth defecate it as Innoxiă reddit & benè olentem. Cardan holds lib. 13. subtil. it mends the substance and savour of it, but it is a paradoxe. It may bee stronger such beare, but not so wholsomes as the other, as Contendit haec vitia coctione uō emendari. Iobertus truely iustifieth out of Galen, Paradox dec. 1. Paradox. 5. that the seething of such impure waters doth not purge or purifie them. Pliny lib. 31. cap. 3. is of the same Tenet. And P. Crescentius agricult. lib. 1. & lib. 4. cap. 11. &c. 45. such waters are naught, not to be vsed, and by the testimony of Lib. de bonitate aquae, hydropem auget, febres putridas, splenē, tusses, nocet oculis malum habitum corporis & colorem. Galen, Breed Agues, Dropsies, Pleurisyes, Spleneticke, and melancholy passions, hurts the eyes, causeth a bad temperature & disposition of the whole body and bad colour. And this Iobertus stiffly maintaines Paradox. lib. 1. par. 5. that it causeth bleare eies, bad colour, & many loathsome diseases to such as vse it. This which they say stands to good reasō, for as geographers relate of the water of Astracan, it breeds wormes in such as drinke it. I. Aubanus Bohemius referres that Aquae ex niuibus conctae strumosos faciunt. Struma, or poke of the Bauarians & Styrians to the nature of their waters, And Method. hist. cap. 5. halbutiunt Labdoni in Aquitania ob aquas at (que) hi morbi ab aquis in corpora deriuantur Bodine of some families in Aquitania that stutte, which he supposeth to proceed from the nature of their water, and that the filth is deriued from the water to their bodies, So that they that vse filthy standing, ill coloured, muddy water, [Page 96] must needs haue muddy, ill coloured, impure, & infirme bodies. And because the body workes vpon the minde, they must haue grosser vnderstandings, dull, foggy, melancholy spirits, and be really subiect to all manner of infirmities.
To these noxious simples, we may reduce an infinite number of compound artificiall made dishes, of which our Cooks affoord vs as great variety, as Taylers doe fashions in our apparell. Such are Edulia ex sanguine & suffocato parta. Hildesheim. Puddings stuffed with blood, or otherwise composed, Baked meats, sowced, indurate meats, fryed and broyled, buttered meats, condite, powdred, and ouerdryed, Cupedia vero placentae bellaria commenta (que) alia curiosa pistorum & coquorum g [...]stui seruientium conciliant morbos tū corporitum animo insanabiles. Philo Iudeus lib de victimis. P. Iov. vi [...]a eius all cakes, Simnels, Bunnes, Cracknels made of butter, spice, &c. Fritters, Pancakes, Pies, Salsages, and al those seuerall sauces, sharpe or ouer sweet, of which Scientia popinae, as Seneca calls it, hath serued those As lettice steepd in wine birdes fed with fenell and sugar, as a popes concubin vsed in Aninion Stephanus. Apician tricks, and perfumed dishes, which Animae negotium illa facessit et de templo dei immundū stabulum facit. Peletius. 10. cap. Adrian the 6, Pope, so much admired in the accounts of his predecessor Leo Decimus: And which riot and prodigality haue inuented, and these doe generally ingender grosse humors, fill the stomacke with cruditîes, & all those inward parts with oppilations. Montanus consil. 22. giues instance in a melancholy Iew, that by eating such tart sauces, made dishes, and salt meats, with which he was ouermuch delighted, became melancholy, and was evill affected. Such examples are familiar and common.
SVBSEC. 2. Quantitie of Diet a cause.
THere is not so much harme proceeding from the substance it selfe of meat, and quality of it in ill dressing & preparing of it, as there is from the quantity, disorder of time and place, vnseasonable vse of it, Animae negotium illa facessit et de templo dei immundū stabulum facit. Peletius. 10. cap. intemperance, or overmuch or ouer little taking of it. A true saying it is, Plures crapula quam gladius, this gluttony kills more then the sword. And that of Lib. 11. cap. 52. Homini cibus v [...]ilissimus simplex; aceruatio ciborum pestisera, & condimenta pernitiosa, multos morbos, multa fercula sera [...]t. Pliny. Simple diet is the best, and heaping vp of seuerall meats is pernitious, and sauces worse, many dishes bring many [Page 97] diseases. 3.1. doc. 2 cap Nihil deterius quam si tempus iusto ongius comedendo protrabatur & varia ciborum genera coniungā tur, inde morborū scaturigo quae ex repugnantia humorii oritur. Avicen cries out, that nothing is worse then to feed on many dishes, or to protract the time of meats longer then ordinary, from thence proceed our infirmities, and t'is the fountaine of all diseases, which arise out of the repugnancy of humors. Thence, saith Path. lib. 1. cap. 14. Fernelius, comes crudities, winde, oppilations, cachochymia, plethora, &c. and what not.
As a lampe is choaked with a multitude of oyle, or a little fire with ouermuch wood quite extinguished: so is the naturall heat with immoderate eating strangled in the body. Pernitiosa sentina est abdomen insaturabile; one saith, an insatiable paunch is a pernitious sinke, and the fountaine of all diseases both of body and minde. N [...]mia repletio ciborum facit melancholicum. Mercurialis will haue it a peculiar cause of this private disease. Solenander consil. 5. sect. 3. illustrates this of Mercurialis, with an example of one so melancholy, ab intempestiuis commessationibus, vnseasonable feasting. Comestio superstua cibi, & potus quantitas nimia. Crato confirmes as much, in that often cited councell, 21. lib. 2. putting superfluous eating for a maine cause. But what need I seeke farther for proofes? Heare Hippocrates himselfe lib. 2. Aphoris. 10. Impura corpora quanto magis nutris tanto magis laedi [...]: putrefacit enim alimentum vitiosus humor. Impure bodies the more they are nourished, the more they are hurt, for the nourishment is putrified with vitious humours.
And yet for all this harme, which apparantly follows surfeiting and drunkennesse, see how wee luxuriate and rage in this kinde, quam Vid. Goc'en. de portentosis cenis &c. portentosae caenae, prodigious suppers, what Fagos, Epicuros, Apitios our times afford? Lucullus Ghost walkes still, and every man desires to sup in Apollo: Aesops costly dish is ordinarily serued vp, and if they bee Ingeniosi ad Gulam. witty in any thing it is ad gulam. If they study any thing at all, it is to please their pallat, and to satisfie their gut. Venter Deus, wearing their braines in their bellies, and their guts in their heads. as Epist. 28. l. 7. quorum in ventre ingenium in patinis &c. Agrippa taxed some Parasites of his time, rushing on their owne destruction, as if a man should runne vpon the point of a sword, vs (que) dum rumpantur comedunt., In lucem c [...] nat Sertorius. all day all night, let the Physition say what he will, imminent danger, & ferall diseases be now ready to seaze vpon them, they will eat till they burst againe, and, Seneca. Strage animantium ventrem [Page 98] onerare, and rake over all the world, as so many Mancipis gulae dapes non sapore sed sumptu aesiimantes. Seneca consil ad Helvidium. slaues and belly Gods, & totus orbis ventri nimis angustus, the whole world cannot satisfie their appetite. And what immoderate drinking in every place? As if they were fruges consumere nati borne to no other end but to eat and drinke. Quae fuerant vitia mores sunt: t'is now the fashion of our times, an honour, and a credit to haue a strong braine and carry his liquor wel; the sole contention who can drinke most and fox his fellowe soonest. T'is the summum bonum of our Tradesmen, their felicity, tantâ dulcedine affectant, saith Pliny, lib. 14. cap, 22. Vt magna pars non aliud vitae praemium intelligat, they will labour hard all day long to be drunke at night, striue to hurte themselues. They invent newe trickes, as Sausages, and Anchoues, Tobacco, Caueare, pickled Herrings, &c. and salt meats to increase their appetite, and study how to hurt themselues by taking Antidotes, Et quo plus capiant irritamenta excogitantur. to make themselues carry their drink the better: Foras portantur vt ad conuiuium reportentur, repleri vt exhauriant & exhauriri vt bibant. Ambros. And when naught else serues, they will goe forth or bee carryed out to empty their gorge that they may drinke afresh: & make lawes contra bibendi fallacias, and Ingentia vasa velut ad ostentationem, &c. bragge of it when they haue done, Gratiam conciliant potando. inviting and encouraging others to doe as they doe, and loue them dearely for it: no glew like to that of goodfellowship, so did Alcibiades in Greece, Nero, Bonosus, Heliogabalus in Rome, or Alegaebalus rather, as he was styled of old, as Notis ad Caesares. Ignatius proues out of some old coynes. Our Dutch men invite all commers, with a peale and a dish, making barrels of their bellies, incredibile dictu, as Bohemus in Saxoniá. adeo immoderatè & immodestè ab ipsis bibitur vt in compotationibus suis non cyatbis solum & cantharis sa [...] infundere possint sed repletū mulctrale apponant & scutellâ inieEtâ hortentur quemlibet ad libitum potare. one of their owne countrimen complaines: Dictu incredibile quantum huiusce liquoru immodesta gens capiat plus potantem am ciss [...]m hábent & serto coronant inimi [...]issimum è cotra qui non vult & caede & fustibus expiant. Quantum liquoris immodestissima gens capiat, &c. How they loue a man that will bee drunke, and crowne him & honour him for it. Hate him that will not pledg him, stab him, kill him, a most intolerable offence and not to be forgiuen. So in Poland, he is the best seruitor, and the honestest fellowe, saith Alexander Gaguinus, Qui melius [...]i [...]it pro salute domini melier habetur minister. that drinks most healths to the honour of this master, hee shall bee rewarded as a [Page 99] good seruant; and thus they many times wilfully pervert the good temperature of their bodies, stifle their wits, strangle nature, and degenerate into beasts.
Some againe are in the other extreame and draw this mischiefe on their heads by overmuch fasting. Pining a daies, saith Qui de die ieiunant & nocte vigilant facilè cadunt in melancholiam & quinaturae modum excedunt. cap 5. lract. 15. cap. 2. longa fau [...]is tole [...]amia vt iis sape accidit qui tanto cum seruore Deoseruire cupiunt per ieiunium quod maniaciefficiantur ipse vidilaepe. Guatinerius, and waking a nights, as many Moores, & Turks in these our times doe. Anchorites Monkes, and the rest of that superstitious rancke (as the same Guianerius witneseth) that he hath often seene to haue happened in his time: that such men through immoderat fasting haue been frequently mad. And of such men belike Hyppocrates speaks, 1. Aphor. 5. when as he saith, In tenui victu egrí delinquunt ex quo fit vt maiori afficiantur detrimento, maior (que) fit errer tenui quam [...]le i re victu. They more offend in two sparing diet & are more damnified, then they that feed liberally and are ready to surfeit.
SVBSECT. 3. Custome of diet, Delight, Appetite, Necessity, how they cause or hinder.
NO rule is so generall which admits not some exception, to this therefore which hath beene hitherto said, and all those inconveniences which proceed from the substance of meats, or intemperate and vnseasonable vse of them, custome somewhat detracts, and qualifies, according to that of Hyppocrates, 2. Aphoris. 50. Quae longo [...] pore consueta sunt etiam si deteriora minùs i [...]ssuetis molestare solent. Such things as we haue beene long accustomed to, though they be evill in their owne nature; yet they are lesse offensiue. Otherwise it might well be obiected, that it were a meere Qui medicè vi [...]t, miserè vivit. tyranny to liue after those strict rules of Physicke. For Consuetudo altera natura. custome doth alter nature it selfe, and to such as are vsed to them it makes bad meats wholsome, and vnseasonable times to cause no disorder. Cider and Perry are windy drinks, so are all fruits windy in themselues, and cold most part, yet in some parts of Herefordshire, Glocestershire, Worcestershire. England, Normandy in France, [Page 100] Guipuscoa in Spaine, t'is their common drinke, & they are no whit offended with it. In Spaine, Italy, and Africke, they liue most on roots, on raw hearbs, Leo Aser. l. 1. solo camelorum lacte contenti nil praeterea delitiarum ambiunt. Camels Milke, and it agrees well with them, which to a stranger would cause much greuance. In Wales, lacticinijs vescūtur, as Humfry Lluyd confesseth, & Cambro-Brittaine himselfe in his elegant Epistle to Abraham Ortelius, they liue most on whit-meats. In Holland Fish, Flandri vinū, butiro, dilutum bib [...]nt (nauseo referens) vbi (que) butirum inter omnia fercula & bellaria locum obtinet. Stephan praefat. Herod. Roots, Butter. With vs Maxima pars victus in carne consistit, we feed on flesh most part, saith Lib. 1. hist. Aug. Polydor Virgil, as all northerne countries doe, and it would be very offensiue to vs, to liue after their diet, or they to liue after ours. We drinke beare, they wine, they vse oyle, we butter: wee in the North are P. Iovius descrip. Britonum. they sit eat & drinke all day at dinner, in Island, Moscovy, and those northerne parts great eaters, they most sparing in those hotter countries: and yet they and we following our owne customs are well pleased. In China the common people liue in a manner altogether on roots & hearbs, & to the wealthiest, horse, Asse, Mule, Dogges, Cats flesh is as delightsome as the rest, as Expedit in Sinas lib. 1. cap. 3. hortensium herbarum & olerum apud Sinas quam apud nos longe frequentior vsus, complures quippe de vulgo reperias nulla alia re veltenuitatis vel religionis causa vescentes. Equus, mulus, asellus, &c. aequè fere vescuntur ac pabula omnia, Mat Riccius. lib. 5. cap 12. Mat. Riccius the Iesuite relates, that liued many yeares amongst them. The Tartars eat raw meat, & most commonly Tartari mulis equis vescuntur & crudis carnibus & fruges contemnunt dicentes hoc iumentorum pabulum & boum non hominum. horseflesh, drincke milke and blood as the Nomades of old, ‘Et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino,’ They scoffe at our Europeans for eating bread which they cal tops of weeds, and horse meat, not fit for men. And yet Scalliger accounts them a sound and witty nation, liuing an hundred yeares; euen in the ciuillest countries of them they doe thus, as Benedict the Iesuit obserued in his trauels from the great Mogors court by land to Paquin, which Riccius contends to be the same with Cambalu in Cataia. In Scandia their bread is vsually dried fish, & so likewise in the Shetland Iles. And their other fare as in Island, saith Islandie descriptione: victus eorum butiro, lacte, caseo, consistit: pisces loco panis habent, potus aqua aut serum sic vivunt sine mediciná multi ad annos 200. Dithmarus Bliskenius Butter, Cheese, and Fish, their drinke water, their lodging on the [Page 101] ground. In America in many places their bread is roots, their meat Palmitos, Pinas, potatos, &c. & such fruits. With some, Fish, Serpents, Spiders; and in some places they Patagones. eat mans flesh raw, and rosted, even the Emperour Benso. & Fer. Cortesius lib. novus orbis inscripto Metazuma himselfe. In some places againe, Linschcoten cap 56. palmae instar totiꝰ orbis arboribus longè praestantior &c. one tree yeelds them Coquernuts, meat and drinke, fire, fuell, apparell, with his leaues, oyle, vineger, cover for houses, &c. And yet these men going naked, feeding course, liue commonly 100. yeares, and are seldome or never sicke, all which diet our Physitians forbid. In Westphaling they feed most part on fat meats and wourts, knuckle deepe, and call it Lips. Epist. cerebrum Iouis. In the Low countries with roots. In Italy Frogges and Snailes are vsed. The Turks, saith Busbequius, delight most in fried-meats. In Muscouy Garlicke and Onions, are ordinary meat and sauce, all which would be pernitious to such as are vnaccustomed vnto them: delightsome to them, and all is Teneris assuescere multum est because they haue beene brought vp vnto it. Husbandmen and such as labour can eat salt, fat bacon, grosse meat, hard cheese, &c. course bread at all times, and goe to bed and labour vpon a full stomacke, which to some idle persons would bee present death, and is against all the rules of Physicke; so that custome is all in all. Our trauellers finde this by common experience when they come into farre countries, & vse their diet, they are Repentinae mutationes noxam pariunt. Hippoc. Aphoris. 21. Epid. 6. sect. 3. suddainely offended, as our Hollanders and Englishmen when they touch vpon the coasts of Africke, and those Indian Islands, are commonly molested with Calentures, Fluxes and much distempered by reason of their fruits. Bruerinuslib. 1. cap. 23. Peregrina, etsi suavia, solent vescentibus perturbationes insignes adferre, strange meat though pleasant, cause notable alterations and distempers. On the other side vse and custome mitigates or makes all good againe. Mithridates by often vse, which Pliny wonders at, was able to drinke poyson; & a maid, as Curtius records, that was sent to Alexander from King Porus, was brought vp with poyson from her infancy. The Turkes, saith Bellonius obseruat. lib. 3. cap. 15. take Opium familiarly a dramme at once, which we dare not take in graines. Simpl. med. cap. 4. lib. 1. Garcius [Page 102] ab Horto records of one, whom he saw at Goa in the East Indies, that tooke ten drammes of Opium in three daies; and yet Consultò loquebatur, spake vnderstandingly, so much can custome doe. Hernius lib. 3. cap. 19. prax. med. Theophrastus speakes of a Shepheard that could eat Hellebor in substance. And therefore Cardan concludes out of Galen, consuetudinem vtcun (que) ferendam nisi valde malam. Custome is howsoeuer to be kept, except it be extreame bàd, and he adviseth all men to keepe their old customes, and to In dubijs consuetudinem sequatur adolescens & in caeptis perseueret. continue as they beganne, bee it diet, bath, exercise, &c. or whatsoeuer else.
Another exception is Delight, or Appetite, to such & such meats. Though they be hard of digestion, melancholy: yet as Fuchsius excepts cap. 6. lib. 2. Institut. sect. 2. Qui cum voluptate assumū tur cibi ventriculus auidius cō plectitur expeditius (que) concoquit & quae displicēt aversatur. The stomacke doth readily digest, and willingly entertaine such meats as wee loue most, and are pleasing to vs, and abhorres on the other side such as we distast. Which Hippocrates confirmes Aphorism. 6.38. Some cannot endure Cheese, out of a secret Antipathy, or to see a rosted Ducke, which to others is a Nothing against a good stomacke, as the saying is. delightsome meat.
The last exception is necessitie, pouerty, want, hunger, which driues men many times to doe that which otherwise they are loath, and cannot endure, and thankfully to accept of it. As Beuerage in shippes, and in seiges of great Citties, to feed on Dogges, Catts, Rats, and Men themselues. Three outlawes in Lib. 7. hist. Scot. Hector Boethius being driuen to their shifts, did eat raw fish, & flesh of such fowle as they could catch in one of the Hebrides for some few months. These things doe mitigate or disanull this which hath beene said of Melancholy meats, and make it more tolerable, but to such as are wealthy liue plentiously, at ease, and may take their choice, & refraine if they will, such meats are to be forborne, if they bee inclined to, or suspect melancholy, as they tender their healths: Otherwise if they be intemperate, or disordered in their diet, at their perill be it. Qui monet amat, Aue & caue.
SVBSEC. 4. Retention and Evacuation a cause, and how.
OF Retention and Evacuation, there bee diverse kindes, which are either concomitant, assisting, or sole causes many times of melancholy. 3 io artis. Galen reduceth defect & abundance to his head; others Quae excernū tur aut subsistunt. all that is seperated or remaines. In the first ranke of these I may wel reckon vp Costiuenesse, and keeping in of our ordinary excrements, which as it often causeth other diseases, so this of Melancholy in particular. Ex ventre suppresso, inflammationes capitis, dolores, caligines crescunt. Celsus lib. 1. ca. 3. saith, it produceth inflamation of the head, dulnes, cloudinesse, headach, heavinesse, &c. Prosper Calenus lib. de atrâ bile. will haue it distemper, not the Organ onely, Excrementa retenta, mentis agitationem pareresolent. but the minde it selfe by troubling of it. And sometimes it is a sole cause of madnesse, as you may read in the first book of Cap. de Mel. Skenkius medicinall observations. A young Marchant going to Nordeling Faire in Germany, for tenne daies space never went to stoole, at his returne he was tam delirus, vt vix se hominem agnosceret. grievously melancholy, thinking that he was robbed, and would not bee perswaded but that all his mony was gone. His frends thought hee had some Philtrum giuen him, but Cnelinus a Physition being sent for, found his aluus astrictus causa. costiuenesse alone to bee the cause, and therevpon gaue him a Clister, and he was speedily recouered. Trincauellius consult. 35. lib. 1. saith as much of a melancholy Lawyer, to whom he administred Physicke: Other Retentions and Evacuations there are, not simply necessary but at sometimes, as Fernelius accounts them, Path. lib. 1. cap. 15. as suppressions of Haemrods, monthly issues in weomen, bleeding at nose, immoderate vse or no vse at all of Venus: or any other ordinary Issues.
Sive pernares, siue haemorroides.Detention of haemrods, or monethly Issues, Villanouanus Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18. Arculanus cap. 16. in 9, Rhasis, Vittorius Faventinus pract. mag. Tract. 2. cap. 15. Bruel &c. put for ordinary causes. Euschius lib. 2. sec. 5. cap. 30. goes farther, and [Page 104] saith, that Multi intempestiuè ab Haemorroid bus curati melancholiâ correpti sunt. Incidit in Scyllam &c. many men vnseasonably cured of the haemrods, haue beene corrupted with melancholy, seeking to avoide Scilla, they fall into Charibdis. Galen lib. de hum. commen. 3. ad text. 26. illustrates this by an example of Lucius Martius, whom hee cured of madnesse, contracted by this meanes: And Lib. 1. de Manid. Sckenkius hath two other examples of two Melancholy and mad women so caused from the suppression of their moneths. The same may be said of bleeding at nose if it be suddainly stopt, and haue beene formerly vsed, as Breviat lib. 7. cap. 18. Villanouanus vrgeth. And Non sine magno incommodo eius cui sanguis à naribus promanat noxij sanguinis vacuatio impediri potest. Euschius, lib. 2. sect. 5. cap. 33. stifly maintaines, that without great danger such an issue may not be stayed.
Venus omitted produceth like effects. Mathiolus epist. 5. lib. penult. Noui quosdā prae pudore à coitu abstinent [...] torpidos pigros (que) factos nonnullos etiam melancholicos praeter modum m [...]stos timidos (que) auoucheth of his knowledge some that either through bashfulnesse abstained from Venery, and therevpon became very heauy and dull; and some others that were very timorous, Melancholy, and beyond all measure sad. Orbasius med. collect. lib. 6. cap. 37. speakes of some, Nonnulli nisi coeant assidue capitis gravitate infestantur. dicit se nouisse quosdam trisles & melancholicos it a factos intermissione Veneris. that if they doe not vse carnall copulation, are continually troubled with heauinesse and headach; & some in the same case, by intermission of it. Not vse of it hurts many. Arculaus cap. 16, in 9. Rhasis & Magninus part. 3. c. 5. hold because it Vapores venenatos mittit sperma ad cor & cerebrum. Sperma plus diureten [...]um transit in Venenum. sends vp poysoned vapours to the braine and heart, And so doth Galen himselfe hold, that if this naturall seed be over long kept (in some parties) it turnes to poyson. Hieronimus Mercurialis in his chapter of Melācholy, cites this for an especiall cause of this malady, and of Graues producit corporis & animi aegritudines. Priapismus, Satyriasis, &c. Haliabbas. 5. Theor. cap. 36. reckons vp this and many other diseases. Villanouanus Breviar. lib. 1. c. 18. saith he knewe Ex spermate supra modum retento monachos & viduas melancholicos saepè fieri vidi. many monkes, and widdowes grievously troubled with melancholy and that from this sole cause. Aelianus Montaltus. cap. 27. de melanchol. confirmes as much out of Galen: so doth Wierus, and Christopherus a Vega de art. med. lib. 3. cap. 14. relate many such examples of men, Melancholia orta a vasis semina [...]ys in vie [...]o. women, that hee had seene so [Page 105] melancholy. Foelix Platter in the first booke of his observations Nobilis senex Alsatus iunenem vxorem duxit at ille cholico dolore & multis morbis correptus non potuit praestare officium mariti vix inito matrimonio aegrotus. Illa in horrendum furorem incidit ob venerem cohibitum vt omnium eam inuisentium congressum voce vultu gestuexpeteret & quū nō consentirent molossos Anglicanos expetijt magno clamore. tels a story of an ancient Gentleman in Alsatia, that married a young wife and was not able to pay his debts in that kinde, for a long time together by reason of his severall infirmities, but she by reason of this inhibition of Venus fell into a horrible fury, and desired every one that came to see her, by words, lookes, and gesture to haue to doe with her, &c. Bernardus Paternus a Physitian, saith hee knewe a good honest godly Priest, that because he would neither marry, nor make vse of the Stews fell into grievous melancholy fits. Hildesheim spicel. 2. hath such another instance of an Italian melancholy Priest in a consultation had A o 1580. Vidi sacerdotem optimum & pium qui quod nollet vti venere, in melancholica symptomota incidit. Iason Pratensis giues instance in a married man, that after his wiues death abstaining Ob abstinentiam à concubitu incidit in melancholiam. after marriage became exceeding melancholy. To these you may adde if you please, that conceited tale of a Iew, so visited in like sort, and so cured out of Podgius Florentinus.
Intemperate Venus is all out as bad in the other extreame, Galen. lib. 6. de morbis popular. sect. 5. tert. 26. reckons vp Melancholy amongst those diseases which are Quae à coitu exacerbantur. exasperated by Venery, so doth Avicenna 2.3. cap. 11. Oribasius loc. citat. Ficinus lib. 2. de sanitate tuenda, Marsilius Cagnatus, Montaltus c. 27. Guatinerius Tract. 15. cap. 2. Magninus c. 5. part. 3. Superfluum coitum ca [...] som ponunt. giues the reason because Exsiccat & infrigidat corpus, spiritus consumit &c. caveant ab hoc sicci ve [...]ut inimico mortali. it infrigidates and dries vp the body consumes the spirits; and would therefore haue all such as are cold and dry, to take heed of it and avoid it as a mortall enemy. Iacchinus in 9. Rasis cap. 15. giues the same cause, & instance in a patient of his that married a young wife in a hot summer, Ita exsi [...]catus vt ab melancholico statim fuerit i [...]sanus ab humectantibus curatus. and so dryed himselfe with chamber-worke that hee became in short space from melancholy mad, hee cured him by moistning remedies. The l [...]ke example I finde in Lael us à Fonte Eugubinus consult. 1 29. of a Gentleman of Venice, that vpon the like occasion became from melancholy mad: Read the story at large in him.
[Page 106] Any other Evacuation stopped, will cause it, as well as these aboue-named, be it bile, Ex cauterio & vlcere exsiccato. vlcer, issue &c. Hercules de Saxoniâ lib. 1. cap. 16. and Gordonius verifies this out of their experience. They saw one wounded in the head, who as long as the sore was open, lucida habuit mentis intervalla, was wel, but when it was stopped, redijt melancholia, his melancholy fit seased on him againe.
Artificiall Evacuations are much like in effect, as hotehouses, bathes, blood-letting, purging, vnseasonably, and immoderatly vsed. Gord. cap. 10. lib. 1. discommends colde bathes as noxious. Bathes Siccum reddūt corpus. dry too much, if vsed in excesse, be they naturall, or artificiall, and offend extremae hote, or cold; one dries, the other refrigerates in extreames. Montanus consil. 237. saith, they overheate the Liuer. Ioh. Struthius Stigmat. artis lib. 4. cap. 9. contends, Si quis longius moretur in ijs, aut nimis frequenter, aut importunè vtatur humores putrefacit. that if one stay longer then ordinary at the Bathe, or goe in too oft, or at vnseasonable times, he putrifies the humors in his body. To this purpose writes Magninus lib. 3. cap. 5. Guianerius Tract. 15. cap. 21. vtterly disallowes all hote Bathes in melancholy adust. Ego anno superiore quendam guttosum vidi adustum, qui vt liberaretur de guttâ, ad balnea accessit, & de guttâ liberatus, maniacus factus est. I saw, saith he, a man that laboured of the goute, who to be freed of his malady, came to the Bathe, and was instantly cured of his gout, but got another which was worse, and that was Madnesse. But this iudgment varies as the humour doth, in hote, or colde. Baths may be good for one melancholy man, bad for another: that which may cure it in one party, may cause it in another.
Phlebotomy. Phlebotomy many times neglected, may doe much harme to the body, when there is a manifest redundance of bad humors and melancholy blood; and when these humors heate and boyle, if this be not vsed in time, the parties affected so inflamed, are in great danger to be mad: but if it be vnadvisedly, importunely, immoderately vsed, it doth as much harme by refrigerating the body, dulling the spirits, and consuming them: as Ioh. Curio in his 10. chap. well reprehends, it doth more harme then good, such kind of letting blood, On Schola Salernitana. and the humors rage much more then they did before, Calefactio & ebullitio per venae incisionem magis saepè incitatur & augetur maiore impetu humores per corpus discurrunt. and is so farre from avoiding melancholy, that it increaseth it, and weakeneth the sight. Lib. de flatulentá Melancholiâ. frequens sanguinis missio corpus extenuāt. Prosper Calenus obserues, except they keepe a very [Page 107] good diet after it. Yea, and as In 9. Rhasis. atram bilem parat & visum debilitat. Leonartus Iacchinus speakes out of his owne experience, Multo nigrior spectatur sanguis post dies quosdam, quam fuit ab initio. the blood is much blacker to many men after their letting of blood, then it was at first. And for this cause belike, Salust. Salvinianus lib. 2. cap. 1. will admit or heare of no blood-letting at all in this Disease, except it bee manifest it proceede from blood, he was as it appeares by his owne words in that place, master of an hospitall of madmen, Non laudo eos qui in desipientiá, docent secandam esse venam frontis, quia spiritus debilitatur indè, & ego longâ experientiá observaui in proprio Xenecdochio quod desipientes ex phlebotomiâ magis laeduntur, & magis desipiunt, & melancholici saepè fiunt inde peiores. and found by long experience, that this kinde of evacuation either in head, or arme, or any other part, did more harme then good,
Purging vpward and downeward, in abundance of bad humors omitted, may be for the worst, so likewise as in the precedent, if it be ouermuch, or too frequent, or violent, it Vires debilitat. weakeneth their strength, saith Fuschius lib. 2. sec. 2. cap. 17. or if they be strong, or able to endure Physick, yet it brings it to an ill habit, they make their bodies no better then an Apothecaries shop, and this, and such like infirmities must needs follow.
SVBSEC. 5. Bad Aire a cause of Melancholy.
AIre is a cause of great moment, in producing this or any other Disease, being that it is still taken into our bodies by respiration, and our more inner parts. Impurus aer spiritus deijcit, infecto corde gignit morbos. If it be impure and foggy, it deiects the spirits, and causeth diseases by infection of the heart, as Paulus hath it lib. 1. cap. 49. Avicenna lib. 1. Gal. de san. tuendâ. Mercurialis, Montaltus &c. Sanguinem densat, & humores. lib. 1. Path. 1. cap. 13. Fernelius saith, a thicke aire thickneth the blood and humors. Lib. 3. cap. 13. Lemnius reckons vp two maine things most profitable, and most pernitious to our bodies, Aire and Diet: and this peculiar Disease nothing sooner causeth ( Lib. de quartaná, ex acre ambiente contrabitur humor melancholicus. Iobertus holds) then the Aire wherein we [Page 108] breath and liue. It offends commonly if it be to Aelianus Montaltus cap. 11. calidus & siccus, frigidus & siccus, paludinosus, crassus. hote & dry, or too cold and dry, thick, fuligenous, cloudy, blustering, or a tempestuous Aire. Bodine in his 5. booke de repub. cap. 1. and 5. cap. of his method of history, proues that hote countries are most troubled with melancholy, and that there are therefore in Spaine, and Africke, and Asia minor, great numbers of mad men, in so much that they are compelled in all Cities of note, to build peculiar Hospitals for them. Leo Afer Multa hic in Xenodochiis fanaticorum millia quae strictissimè catenata seruantur. lib. 3. de Fessa vrbe: and Zuinger confirmes as much: and Gordonius will haue every man take notice of it. Note this, saith he, that in hote Countries, it is farre more familiar then in cold. Lib. Med. parte 2. cap. 19. Intellige quod in calidis regionibus frequenter accidit mania, in frigidis autem tardè. Although this be not alwayes true: for as Lib. 2. Acosta truly saith, vnder the Aequator it selfe, is a most temperate habitation, and wholesome Aire, a Paradise of pleasure: the leaues euer greene, cooling showres. But such as are intemperately hote, as Hodopericum. cap 7. Iohannes à Meggen, found in Cyprus, others of Malta, and the Holy land, where at some seasons of the yeare, is nothing but sand, their rivers dried vp, and the Aire scorching hote, and Earth: in so much, that many Pilgrims going barefoot for Devotions sake, from Ioppa to Ierusalem vpon the hot sands, often run mad. Pantheo seu pract. Med. l-b. 1 cap. 16. Venetae mulieres quae diu sub sole vivunt, aliquando melancholicae evadunt. Hercules de Saxoniá a Professor in Venice, giues this cause, why so many Venetian woemen are melancholy, quod diù sub sole degant, they tarry too long in the Sun. Montaenus consil. 21. amongst other causes, assignes this, why that Iew his patient was mad, quod tam multum exposuit se calori & frigori, he exposed himselfe so much to heat & cold. And for that reason in Venice, there is little stirring in those brick-paved streets in Sommer about noone, they are most part then a-sleep: As they are likewise in the great Mogors Countries, and all over the East Indies. At Aden in Arabia, as Navig. lib. 2. cap. 4. commercia nocte, horí secundâ ob nimios qui saeviunt interdiu aestus exercent. Lodovicus Vertomannus relates in his travels; they keep their markets in the night, to avoide extremity of heat: & in Ormus, like cattle in a Pasture, people of all sorts lye vp to the chinne in water all day long. At Burgos in Porting all, Messina in Sicily, all ouer Spain & Italy, their streets are most narrow, to avoid the Sun beames. The Turkes weare great Tulipantes, [Page 109] ad fugandos solis radios, to refract the Sun beams, & much inconvenience, that hote Aire of Bantam in Iaua yeelds to our men, that sojourne there for traffick, where it is so hote, Morbo Gallico laborantes exponunt ad solem, vt morbos exsiccent. that those that are sicke of the pox, lye commonly bleaching in the Sun, to dry vp their sores. The hardiest men are offended with this heat, & stiffest clownes cannot resist it, as Constantine affirmes agricult. lib. 2. cap. 45. Those that are naturally borne there, cannot Hippocrates 3. Aphorismorum idem ait. endure it, much lesse weakelings & strangers. Amatus Lusitanus, cent. 1. curat, 45. records of a yong maide, that was one Vincent a curriers Daughter, some 30 yeares of age, that would wash her haire in the heat of the Day, in Iuly, & so let it dry in the Sun Quum ad solis radios in leone longam moram traheret, vt capillos flavos redderet, in maniam incidit. to make it yellow, but by that meanes tarrying too long in the heat, she inflamed her head, and made herselfe mad.
Cold Aire in the other extreme, is almost as bad as hote, and so doth Montaltus esteeme of it cap. 11. if it be dry withall. In those Northerne Countries the people are therefore generally dull, heavy, and many witches, which (as I haue before quoted) Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus, Baptista Porta ascribe to melancholy, But these colder Climes are more subiect to naturall melancholy, not this artificiall, cold and dry: For which cause, my countriman Mundus alter & idem seu Terra Australis incognita. Mercurius Britannicus belike, puts melancholy men to inhabite iust vnder the Pole. the worst of the three is a Crassus & turbidus aer tristem efficit animam. thick, cloudy, misty, foggy, aire, or such as comes from sennes, moorish grounds, lakes, muckels, draughts, sinkes, where any filthy carcasses or carrion lies, or from whence any stinking fulsome smell comes; Galen, Avicenna, Mercurialis, new & old, hold that such aire is vnholesome, and ingenders melancholy, plagues, and what not? Commonly called Scandarone in Asia minor. Alexandreta, an hauen towne in the Mediterranean Sea, is much condemned for a bad aire. Littuania, Ditmarshe, Pomptina paludes in Italy, the territories about Pisa, Ferrara, &c. Rumny marsh with vs, the Hundreds in Essex, the Fennes in Lincolneshire. Cardan de rerum varietate lib. 17. cap. 96. findes fault with the site of most of those rich and populous cities in the Low countries, as Bruges, Gant, Amsterdam, Leyden, [Page 110] Vtrect &c. the aire is bad; and so Stockholne in Sueden, Regium in Italy: our Salesburry and Linne. They may be commodious for navigation; this new kind of fortification, and many other good & necessary vses, but are they so wholesome? Old Rome hath descended from the hils to the valley, and t'is the site of most of our new cities, & held best to build in plaines, to take the oportunity of rivers. Leander Albertus pleads hard for the aire and site of Venice, though the black moorish sands appeare at every low water; the Sea, Fire, and Smoake, as he thinks, qualifyes the aire: and Atlas Geographicus memoriâ valent Pisani quod crassiore fruantur acre. some think, that a thick foggy aire helpes the Memory, as them of Pisa in Italy; and our Camden out of Plato, commends the site of Cambridge, because it is so neare the Fennes. But let the site of such places be as it may, how can they be excused that haue a delicious seat, a pleasant aire, & al that nature can affoord, & yet through their owne nastinesse & sluttishnesse, & immund sordid maner of life, suffer their aire to putrifie, & themselues to be choaked vp. Many citties in Turkie do malè audire in this kind: Constantinople it selfe, where commonly carrion lies in the street. Some find the same fault in Spaine, euen in Madrit the Kings seat, a most excellent aire, & pleasant site, but the inhabitants are slouens, & the streets vncleanely kept.
A troublesome tempestuous Aire is as bad, as impure, rough & foule weather, impetuous windes, cloudy darke dayes, as it is commonly with vs, coelum visu foedum, Lib. 1. Hist. Lib. 2. cap. 41. aura densa accaliginosa tetrici homines existunt & subtristes. & cap. 3 stante subsolano & Zephiro maxima in mentibus hominum alacritas existit, mentis (que) erectio ubi caelum solis splendore nitescit. Maxima deiectio maeror (que) si quando aura caliginosa est. Polidore cals it a filthy sky, & in quo facilè generantur rubes: as Tullyes Brother Quintus, wrote to him in Rome, being then Quaestor in Britaine. In a thicke and cloudy aire, saith Lemnius, men are tetricke, sad, and peev [...]sh: and if the Westerne windes blow, and that there be a calme, or a faire sunshine day, there is a kinde of alacrity in mens mindes, it cheares vp men and beasts: but if it be a turbulent, a rough, cloudy, stormy weather, men are sad, lumpish, and much deiected, angry, waspish, dull and melancholy. This was Georg. Virgils experiment of old:
and who is not wether-wise against such and such coniunctions of Planets, moued in foule weather, dull & heavy in such tempestuous seasons? Hor. gelidum contristat Aquarius annum: the time requires, and the Autumne breeds it, winter is like vnto it, vgly, foule, squalid: the aire workes on all men, more or lesse, but especially on such as are melancholy, or inclined to it, as Lemnius holdes, Mens quibus vacillat abacre citò offenduxtur. & multi insani apud Belgas ante tempestates saeviunt aliter quieti. Spiritus quo (que) aerii & mali geniialiquando se tempestatibus ingerunt, & menti humanae se latentur insinuant, eam (que) vexant, exegitant, & ut fluctus marini, sic humanum corpus vemis agit [...]tur. they are most moued with it, & those which are already mad, roue downe-right, either in, or against a tempest. Besides, the divell many times takes his oportunity of such stormes, and when the humors by the aire be stirred, he gets in with the aire, and exagitates our spirits, and vexeth our souls: and as the Sea waues, so are the spirits and humors in our bodies, tossed with tempestuous windes and stormes. To such as are melancholy therefore, Montanus consil. 24. will haue tempestuous and rough aire to be avoided: & consil. 27, all night aire, & would not haue them to walke abroad, but in a pleasant d [...]y. Lemnius lib. 3. cap. 3. discommends the South & Easterne windes, commends the North. Montanus consil. 31 Aer noctu densatur & cogit moestitiam. will not any windoes to be opened in the nigh. Consil. 229. & consil. 230. he discommends especially the South winde, and nocturnall aire. So doth lib de [...]si [...]e & Osucide. Plutarch: The night and darkenes makes men sad, & so doe all subterranean vaults, darke houses in caues & rocks, desart places cause melancholy in an instant, especially such as haue not beene vsed to it, or otherwise accustomed. Read more of aire in Hippocrates, Aetius lib. 3. à capit. 171. ad 175. Orbasium à cap. 1. ad 22. Avicen lib. 1. can. Fen. 2. doc. 2. Fen. 1. cap. 123. to the 12. &c.
SVBSECT. 6. Immoderate Exercise a cause, and how. Solitarinesse, Idlenesse.
NOthing so good, but it may be abused: nothing better then Exercise, if oportunely vsed for the preservation of the body: nothing so bad, if it bee vnseasonable or overmuch. Fernelius out of Galen, Path. lib. 1. cap. 16. saith, Multa defatigatio spiritus virium (que) substantiam exhaurit, & corpus refrigerat. Humores corruptos qui aliter à naturâ concoqui & domari possint, & demum blandè excludi irritat, & quasi in furorem agit, qui postea mota camerinâ, tetro vapore corpus varie lacessunt, animū (que) that much exercise and wearinesse, consumes the spirits & substance, & refrigerates the body, & such humors which nature would haue otherwise concocted & expelled, it stirres vp, and makes them rage. Which being so inraged, diuersly affect, and trouble the body and minde: so doth it if it be vnseasonably vsed, vpon a full stomacke, or when the body is full of crudities, which Fuchsius so much inveighs against, lib. 2. instit. sec. 2. cap. 4. giving that for a cause, why boyes in Germany are so often scabbed, because they vse exercise presently after meates. In Venimecum. Liber sic inscripto. Bayerus puts in a caveat against such exercise, because it Instit. ad vit. Christ. cap. 44. cibos crudos in venas rapit, qui putrescentes illic, spiritus animales insiciunt. corrupts the meat in the stomacke, and carries the same iuyce, raw, and as yet vndigested into the veines (saith Lemnius) which there putrifies and confounds the animall spirits. Crato consil. 21. lib. 2. Crudi hec humoris copia per venas aggeritur, vnde morbi multiplices. Exclaimes against all such Exercise after meate, as being the greatest enemy to concoction that may be, and cause of corruption of humors, which produce this & many other diseases. Not without good reason then, doth Salust Salvianus lib. 2. cap. 1, and Leonartus Iacchinus in 9. Rhasis, Mercurialis, Arculanus, and many other, set downe Immodicum exercitium. immoderate exercise, as a most forcible cause of melancholy.
Opposite to Exercise is Idlenesse, or want of Exercise, the bane of body and mind, the chiefe author of all mischiefe, ore of the seauen deadly sinnes, & a sole cause of this & many other [Page 113] maladies, the Divels cushion, as Hom. 31. in 1. Cor. 6. nam quum mens hominis quiescere non possit, sed continuò circa varias cogitationes discurrat, nisi honesto aliquo negotio occupetur, ad Melancholiam sponte delabitur. Gualter cals it, his pillow, & chiefe reposall. For the mind can neuer rest, but still meditates on some thing or other, except it be occupied about some honest businesse, of his owne accord it rusheth into melancholy. Crato consil. 21. vt immodicae corporis exercitatio, nocet corporibus, ita vitae deses, & otiosa otium animal pituosum reddit viscerum obstructiones & crebras fluctiones & morbos concitat. As too much & violent exercise offends on the one side, so doth an idle life on the other (saith Crato) it fils the body full of fleam, grosse humors, & all maner of obstructions, rhumes, catarres &c. Rhasis cont. lib. 1. tract. 9. accompts of it as the greatest cause of Melancholy: Et vidi quod vna de rebus qu (que) magis generat Melancholiam, est otiositas. I haue often seene (saith he) that Idlenesse begets this humor more then any thing els. Montaltus cap. 1. seconds him, Reponitur otium ab aliis causa, & hoc à nobis observatum eos huic malo magis obnoxios qui planè otiosi sunt, quam eos qui aliquo munere versantur exequendo. out of his experience, that those that are idle, are farre more subiect to melancholy, then such as are conversant or emploied about any office or businesse. De tranquill. animae: sunt quos ipsum otium in animi coniicit aegritudinem. Plutarch reckons vp Idlenes for a sole cause of the sicknes of the Soule: There are those (saith he) troubled in mind, that haue no other cause but this. Homer. Iliad. 1. brings in Achilles eating of his owne heart in his Idlenes, because he might not fight. Mercurialis consil, 86. for a melancholy yong man vrgeth Nihil est quod aequè Melancholiam alat ac augeat, ac otium & abstinentia à corporis & animi exercitationibus. this as a chiefe cause, why was he Melancholy? because idle. Nothing begets it sooner, encreaseth & continueth it ofter then Idlenesse. A Disease familiar to all Idle persons, an inseparable companion to such as liue at ease, a life out of action, & haue no calling or ordinary employment to busie themselues about. Especially if they haue bin formerly brought vp to businesse, & vpon a sudden come to lead a sedentary life, it crucifies their Soules, & seaseth on them in an instant: And is such a torture, that as wise Seneca well saith, malo mihi malè quam mollitèr esse: I had rather be sick thē idle. This Idlenesse is either of body or mind. That of body is nothing but intermitting Exercise, which if we may beleeue Path. lib. 1. ca. 17. exercitationis intermissio inertem calorem languidos spiritus & ignavos, & ad omnes actiones segniores reddit cruditates, obstructiones, & excrementorum prouentus facit. Fernelius, causeth crudities, obstructions, excrement all humors, Nihil magis excaecat intellectum, quam otium. Gordonius de observat. vit. hum. lib. 1. [Page 114] quencheth the naturall heate, dulls the spirits, and makes them vnapt to doe any thing whatsoeuer.
As ferne growes in vntill'd grounds, & all maner of weeds, so doe grosse humors in an Idle body, Ignavum corrumpunt otia corpus. A horse in a stable that never travailes, an hawke in a mew that neuer flies, are both subiect to Diseases, which left vnto themselues are most free from any such incumbrances. An idle dog will be maungye, & how shall an idle person thinke to escape? Idlenesse of the minde is much worse then this of the body. Seneca. Aerugo animi, rubigo ingenij: the rust of the Soule, Moerorem animi, & maciem Plutarch calls it. a plague, a hell it selfe, maximum animi nocumentum, Galen cals it. Sicut in stagno generantur vermes, sic & otioso malae cogitationes. Seneca. As in a standing poole, wormes and filthy creepers increase; so doe evill & corrupt thoughts in an idle person. In a commonwealth where there is no publike enemy, there is likely ciuill warres, & they rage vpon themselues: and this body of ours when it is idle, and knowes not how to bestow it selfe, macerates & vexeth it selfe with cares & griefes, & false-feares, suspitions, it tortures and preyes vpon his owne bowels, and is neuer at rest. This much I dare boldly say, that he or she that is Idle, be they of what condition they will, neuer so rich, well allied, fortunate, happy, let them haue all things in abundance, all felicity that heart can wish and desire, all contentment, and so long as he or they are idle, they shall neuer be pleased. Well they may build castles in the aire for a time, and sooth vp themselues with phantasticall humors, but in the end they will proue as bitter as gall, they shal be still discontent, suspitious, Prov. 18. Pigrum deijciet timor. Heautontimorumenos. fearefull, jelous, sad, fretting, and vexing of themselues: so long as they be idle, it is vnpossible to please them. Otio qui nescit vti, plus habet negotij, quam qui negotium in negotio: as that Lib. 19. cap. 10 Agellius could obserue. He that knowes not how to spend his time, hath more businesse, care & griefe, anguish of minde, then he that is most busie in the middest of all his businesse: Otiosus animus nescit quid volet: An idle person (as he followes it) knows not when he is well, or what he would haue, or whether [Page 115] he would goe, quum illuc ventum est, illinc lubet, he is tired out with every thing, displeased with all, aweary of his life: nec benè domi, nec militiae, neither at home, nor abroad, errat, & praeter vitam vivitur, he wanders, and liues besides himselfe.
Cosen German to Idlenesse, and a concomitating cause, which goes hand in hand with it, is Piso, Montaltus, Mercurialis. &c. nimia solitudo, too much solitarinesse, by the testimony of all Physitians, Cause and Symptome both: but as it is heere put for a cause, it is either coact, enforced, or els voluntary. Enforced Solitarinesse is commonly seene in students, Monkes, Friers, Anchorites, that by their order and course of life, must abandon all company, and society of other men, and betake themselues to a private life; Such as liue in prison, or in some desert place, and cannot haue company, as many of our countrey Gentlemen doe in solitary houses, they must either be alone without company, or liue beyond their meanes, and entertaine al commers, as so many hostes, or els converse with their seruants and hindes, such as are vnequall, inferior to them, and of a contrary disposition; or els as some doe, to avoide solitarinesse, spend their time in alehouses, & addict themselues to some vnlawfull disports, or dissolute courses. Some againe are cast vpon this rocke of solitarinesse for want of meanes, or out of a strong apprehension of some infirmity, disgrace, or through bashfulnesse, rudenesse, simplicity, they cannot apply themselues to others companie. This inforced solitarinesse takes place, and produceth this effect soonest in such as haue spent their time Iovially peradventure in all honest, recreations, in all good company, & are vpon a sudden confined, & restrained of their liberty, and barred from their ordinary associates: solitarinesse is very irkesome to such, most tedious, and a sudden cause of great inconvenience.
Voluntary solitarinesse is that which is familiar with Melancholy, and gently brings on as a Siren, a shooing-horne, or some Sphinx to this irrevocable gulfe, Aquibus malum, velut à primariâ causâ occasionem nact [...] est. a primary cause Piso cals it, most pleasant it is at first to such as are Melancholy [Page 116] giuen, to walke alone in some solitary groue, betwixt wood and water, by some brooke side, and to meditate vpon some delightsome and pleasant subiect, which shall affect him most, amabilis insania, and mentis gratissimus error. A most incomparable delight to build castels in the aire, to goe smiling to themselues, acting an infinite variety of parts, which they suppose, and strongly imagine they act, or that they see done. Blandae quidem ab initio, saith Lemnius, to conceiue and meditate of such pleasant things somtimes, Iucunda rerum praesentium, praeteritarum, & futurarum meditatio. present, past, or to come, as Rhasis speakes. So delightsome these toyes are at first, they could spend whole dayes and nights without sleep, euen whole yeares in such contemplations, and phantasticall meditations, which are like so many dreames, and will hardly be drawne from them, winding and vnwinding themselues as so many clocks, and still pleasing their humors, vntill at the last the Sceane turnes vpon a sudden, and they being now habitated to such meditations and solitary places, can indure no company, can thinke of nothing but harsh and distastefull subiects: Feare, sorow, suspition, substructicus pudor, discontent, cares, and wearinesse of life, surprise them on a sudden, and they can thinke of nothing els: continually suspecting, no sooner are their eyes open, but this infernall plague of melancholy seaseth on them, and terrifies their soules, representing some dismall obiect to their mindes, which now by no meanes, no labour, no perswasions they can avoide, haeret laters lethalis arundo, they cannot be rid of it, Facilis descensus Averni: Sed revocare gradum, superas (que) evadere ad auras Hic labor, hoc opus est. Virg. they cannot resist. I may not deny but that there is some profitable Meditation, Contemplation, and kinde of Solitarinesse to be embraced, which the Fathers so highly commend, Hieronymus dixit oppida & vrbes videri sibi tetros carceres, solitudo Paradisus, solum scorpionibus infectum, saccho amictus, humi cubans, aquâ & herbis victitans, Romanis praetulit delitijs. Hierome, Chrysostome, Cyprian, Austin, in whole Tracts, which Petrarch, Erasmus, Stella, and others so much magnify in their bookes, a Paradise, a Heauen on earth, if it be vsed aright, good for the body and the Soule: As many of those old Monkes vsed it, to diuine contemplations, as Similus a courtier in Adrians time, Dioclesian the Emperour retired themselues &c. Or the bettering of their knowledge, as [Page 117] Democritus, Cleanthes, and all those excellent Philosophers haue euer done, to sequester themselues from the tumultuous world, or as Plinies villa Lauretana, Tullies Tusculane, Iovius study, that they might better vacare studijs & Deo, serue God, and follow their studies. These men are neither solitary, nor idle, as the Poët made answere to the husbandman in Aesop, that obiected Idlenesse to him: he was neuer so idle, as in his company: or that Scipio Africanus in Offic. 3. Tully, nunquam minus solus, quam quum solus; nunquam minus otiosus, quam quum esset otiosus: neuer lesse solitary then when he was alone, never more busy then when he seemed to bee most idle. But it is farre otherwise with these men, they are diuels alone, as the saying is, homo solus aut Deus, aut daemon: a man alone is either a Saint, or a divell, and Eccles. 4. vae soli in this sense, woe be to him that is alone. These men degenerat from men, and from sociable creatures, become beasts, monsters, inhumane, vgly to behold, Misanthropi: they do euen lothe themselues, & hate the company of men, as so many Timons, Nebuchadnessars: by too much indulging to these pleasing humors, and through their owne default. So that which Mercurialis consil. 11. sometimes expostulated with his Melancholy patient, may be iustly applyed to every solitary & idle person in particular. Naturae de te videtur conqueri posse, quod cum ab eâ temperatissimum corpus adeptus sis, tam praeclaerum á Deo ac vtile donum non contempsisti modò, verum corrupisti, faedasti, prodidisti, optimam temperaeturam otio, crapula & aliis vitae erroribus &c. Natura de te videtur conqueri posse &c. Nature may iustly complaine of thee, that whereas shee gaue thee a good holesome temperature, a sound body, and God hath giuen thee so divine and excellent a soule, so many good parts, and profitable gifts, thou hast not onely contemned and reiected them, but hast corrupted them, polluted them, ouerthrowne thy temperature, and perverted those gifts with riot, idlenesse, solitarinesse, and many other wayes, thou art a traitor to God and Nature, an enemy to thy selfe and to the world. Perditio tua ex te: thou thy selfe art the efficient cause of thine own misery, by not resisting such vaine cogitations, but giuing way vnto them.
SVBSEC. 7. Sleeping and Waking causes.
WHat I haue formerly said of Exercise, I may now repeat of Sleepe. Nothing better then moderate Sleep, nothing worse then it, if it be in extreames, or vnseasonably vsed. It is a receiued opinion, that a Melancholy man cannot sleep over-much, Somnus supra modum prodest, it is an onely Antidote, and nothing offends them more, or causeth this malady sooner, then Waking: yet in some cases Sleepe may doe more harme then good, in that slegmatick, swinish, and sluggish Melancholy, that Melancthon speakes of, that thinks of waters, sighing most part &c. Path. lib. 1. cap.: 7. Fernel. corpus infrigidat omnes sensus, mentis (que) vires torpore debilitat. It duls the Spirits if ouer-much, & senses, and fils the head full of grosse humors, causeth distillations, rhumes, and great store of excremen [...]s to the braine, and all the other parts, as Lib. 2. sec. 2. cap. 4. Magnam excrementorum vim cerebro & alij [...] partibus conseruat. Fuchsius speakes of them, that sleep like so many dormice. Or if it be vsed in the day time, or vpon a full stomacke, the body ill composed to rest, or after hard meates it increaseth fearefull dreames, Incubus, night waking, crying out, and much vnquietnesse: such sleep prepares the body, as Io. Ratzius l. de rebus 6. nonnaturalibus. praeparat corpus talis Comnies ad multas periculosas aegritudines. one obserues, to many perilous diseases. But as I haue said, waking over-much, is both a symptome, and an ordinary cause. It causeth drinesse of the Braine, frensye, dotage; and makes the body dry, leane, hard, and vgly to behold, as Instit ad vitam optimam. cap. 26 cerebro siccitatem adfert, phrenesin & delirium, corpus. aridum facit, squalidum, strigosam, humores adurit temperamentum cerebri corripit, maciem inducit: exsiccat corpus, bilem accendit, profunde: reddit oculos; calorem auget. Lemnius hath it. The temperature of the Braine is corrupted by it, the humors adust, the eyes made to sink into the head, choler increased, and the whole body inflamed: and as may be added out of Galen 3. de sanitate tuendâ, Avicenna 3.1. Naturalem calorem dissipat, lesa concoctione cruditates facit. Attenuant invonum vigilatae corpora noctes. it ouerthrowes the naturall heate, it causeth crudities, and hurts concoction, and what not? Not without good cause Crato consil, 21. lib. 2. Hildisheim spicel. 2. de delir. & Mania. Iacchinus, Arculanus on Rhasis, Guianerius, and Mercurialis, reckon vp this over-much waking, as a principall cause.
MEMB. 3.
SVBSEC. 1. Passions and perturbations of the Minde, how they cause Melancholy.
AS that Gymnosophist in Vitae Alexand. Plutarch, made answere to Alexander, demanding which spake best, euery one of his fellowes did speake better then the other: may I say of these causes, to him that shall require which is the greatest, euery one is more grieuous then other, and this of passion the greatest of all. A most frequent and ordinary cause of Melancholy, Grad. 1 c. 24. fulmen perturbationum, as Piccolomineus cals it, this thunder and lightning of perturbation, which causeth such violent and speedy alterations in this our Microcosine, and many times subverts the good estate and temperature of it. For as the Body workes vpon the Mind, by his bad humors, disturbing the Spirits, sending grosse fumes into the Braine; and so per consequens disturbing the Soule, and all the faculties of it, with feare, sorrow &c. which are ordinary symptomes of this Disease: so on the other side, the Minde most effectually workes vpon the Body, producing by his pa [...] ons and perturbations, miraculous alterations, as Melancholy, Despaire, cruell diseases, and sometimes death it selfe. In so much, that it is most true which Plato saith in his Charmides: omnia corporis mala, ab animâ procedere, that all the Perturbationes claui sunt, quibus corpori animus seu patibulo affigitur. Iamb. de mist. mischiefes of the Body, proceede from the Soule; and as Democritus in Lib. de sanitat. tuend. Plutarch vrgeth, damnatam tri animam à corpore, that if the Body should in this behalfe bring an action against the Soule, surely the Soule would be cast and convicted, Prolog. de virtute Christi. Quae vtitur corpore, vt faber malleo. that by her supine negligence, had caused such inconveniences, as hauing authority ouer the Body, and vsing the Body as an instrument, as a Smith doth his hammer, saith Cyprian, imputing all those vices and maladies to the Minde. And so doth Vit. Apollonii. lib. 1. Philostratus, non coinquinatur corpus, nisi consensu animae, [Page 120] the Body is not corrupted but by the Soule. Lib. de Anim. ab inconsiderantiâ & ignorantiâ omnes animi motus. Lod. Vives will haue such turbulent commotions proceed from Ignorance, and Indiscretion. All Philosophers impute the miseries of the Body to the Soule, that should haue governed it better, by command of Reason, and hath not done it. The Stoicks are altogether of opinion, (as De Phisiol. Stoic. Lipsius, and Grad. 1. c. 32. Piccolomineus record) that a wise man should be [...], without all maner of passions and perturbations whatsoeuer, as Epist. 104. Seneca reports of Cato, the Aelianus. Greekes of Socrates, and Lib. 1. cap. 6. si quis ense percusserit eos, tantum respiciunt. Io. Aubanus of a nation in Aphricke, so free from passion, or rather so stupid, that if they be wounded with a sword, they will onely looke backe. Terror in sapiente esse non debet. Lactantius 2. instit. will exclude all feare from a wise man: others except some other pa [...]ons. But let them dispute how they will, set downe in Thesi, giue precepts to the contrary; we find that of De occult. nat. mir. l. 1. c. 16. nemo mortalium qui affectibus non ducatur, qui non movetur, aut saxum, aut deus est. Lemnius true by common experience: No mortall man is free from these perturbations; or if he be so, sure he is either a god, or a blocke. They are borne with vs, and bred vp with vs, we haue them from our parents by inheritance, à parentibus habemus malum hunc assem, saith Instit. lib. 2. de humanorum affect. morborum (que) curat. Pelezius, nascitur vná nobiscum, alitur (que): t'is propagated frō Adam, Cain was melancholy, Epist. 105. as Austin hath it, and who is not? Good discipline, education, Philosophy, Divinity (I may not deny) may mitigate and restraine these passions, in some few men at some times, but most part they domineere, and are so violent, Granatensis. that like a torrent, torrens velut aggere rupto, beares downe all before, and ouerflowes his bankes, sternit agros, sternit sata, they ouer-whelme Reason, Iudgment, and pervert the temperature of the Body. Virg. Fertur equis auriga, nec audit currus habenas. And such a man saith Austin, that is so led De civit. Dei l. 14. c. 9. qualis in oculis hominiī qui inversis pedibus ambulat, talis in oculis sapientum cui passiones dominantur. in a wisemans eye, is no better then he that stands vpon his head. It is doubted by some, gravioresne morbi à perturbationibus, an ab humoribus, whether humors, or perturbations, cause the more grievous maladies. But wee finde that of our Saviour Mat. 26.41. most true The Spirit is willing, the Flesh is weake, we cannot resist: And [Page 121] And that of Lib. de decal. passiones maxime corpus offendunt & animā, & grauissimae & frequentissimae causae melancholiae, dimoventes abingenio & sanitate pristinà. lib. 3. de anim. Philo Iudaeus, Perturbations most offend the body, and are most frequent causes of melancholy, turning it out of the hinges of his health Vives compares them to VVindes vpon the sea, some onely moue as those great gales, but some turbulent quite ouerturne the ship. Those which are light and easy, and more seldome, to our thinking doe vs little harme, & are therefore contemned of vs: Yet if they be reiterated, Vt gutta lapidem, sic paulatim hae penetrant animum. (as the raine (saith Austin) doth a stone, so doe these perturbations penetrate the minde, V [...] valentes rectè morbi animi vocantur. and as one obserues, produce an habit of Melancholy at the last, and hauing got the mastery in our soules, may well be called Diseases.
How these passions produce this effect, Fraena & stimuli animi, uelut in mari quaedam aurae leues, quae & placidae, quaedam turbulentae: sic in corpore quaedam affectiones excitant tantum, quaedam ita movent, vt de statu Indicii depellant. Imaginatio mouet corpus ad cuius motum excitantur humores & spiritus vitales quibus alteratur. Agrippa hath handled at large, occult. Philos. lib. 1. cap. 63. Cardan. lib. 14. subtil. Lemnius lib. 1. cap. 12. de occult. nat. mirac. & lib. 1. cap. 16. Suarez Met. disput. 18. sect. 1. art. 25. T. Bright cap. 12. of his melancholy Treatise. Wright the Iesuit in his booke of the passions of the minde, &c. Thus in briefe. To our imagination commeth by the outward sense or memory, some obiect to be knowne (residing in the former part of the Braine) which he misconceauing or amplifying, presently communicates to the Heart, the Seat of all affections. The purer spirits forthwith flock from the braine to the Heart, by certaine secret channels, and signify what good or bad obiect was presented, Beeles. 13. 26. The Heart alters the countenance to good or evill, and distractiō of the minde causeth distēperature of the Body. which immediatly bends it selfe to prosecute, or avoid it; and withall draweth with it other humors to helpe it: so in pleasure concurre great store of purer spirits, in sadnes much melancholy blood, in ire, choller. If the Imagination be very apprehensiue, intent, and violent, it sends great store of spirits to or from the Heart, and makes a deeper impression, and greater tumult, as the humours in the body bee likewise prepared, and the temperature it selfe ill or well disposed, the passions are longer and stronger. So that the first steppe and fountaine of all our grieuances in this kinde, is Spiritus & sanguis à lesa Imaginatione contaminantur humores enim mutati actiones animi immutant. Piso. laesa Imagidatio, [Page 122] which misinforming the Heart, causeth all these distemperatures, alteration and confusion of spirits and humors. By meanes of which so disturbed, concoction is hindred, and the principall parts are much debilitated; as Montani consil. 22. Hae vero quomodo causent melancholiam clarum, quod concoctionem impediant & membra principalia debilitent. D. Navarra well declared, being consulted with Montanus about a melancholy Iew. The spirits so confounded the nourishment must needs be abated, bad humours increased and crudities, thicke spirits ingendred, and melancholy blood. The other parts cā not performe their functions, hauing their spirits drawne from them by vehement passion, but faile in sence and motion; so we looke vpon a thing and see it not, heare & obserue not, which otherwise would much affect vs, had we beene free. I may therefore conclude with Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18. Arnoldus, Maxima vis est phantasiae, & huic vni ferè, non autem corporis intemperiei, omnis melancholiae causa est ascribenda: great is the force of Imagination, and much more ought the cause of melancholy to be ascribed to this alone, then to the distemperature of the body. Which Imagination because it hath so great a stroke in producing this malady, and is so powerfull of it selfe, it will not be impertinent to my present discourse, to make a breefe Digression, of the force of it, and how it causeth this alteration.
SVBSEC. 2. Of the force of Imagination.
VVHat Imagination is, I haue sufficiently declared in my Digression of the Anatomy of the Soule. I will only now point at the wonderfull effects and power of it; which as it is eminent in al, so most especially it rageth in melancholy persons in keeping the species of obiects so long, mistaking, amplifying them by continuall and strong Ab Imaginatione oriuntur affectiones quibus anima componitur aut turbata deturbatur. Io. Sarisburiens. Metalog. lib. 4. cap. 10. meditation, vntill at the length it produceth reall effects, and causeth this and many other maladies. And although this Phantasie of ours be a subordinate faculty to reason, and should [Page 123] be ruled by it, yet in many men, through inward or outward distemperatures, defect of organs, which are vnapt or hindred, or otherwise contaminated, it is likewise vnapt, hindred and hurt. This we see verified in sleepers, which by reason of abundance of humors and concurse of vapours troubling the Phantasie, imagine many times absurd and prodigious things, and in such as are troubled with Incubus, or witch ridden, as we call it, if they lie on their backs, they suppose an old woman rides them, and fits so hard vpon them, that they are almost stifled for want of breath; when there is nothing but a concourse of bad humours, which trouble the Phantasie. This is likewise evident in such as walke in the night in their sleep, and doe strange feats: Scalig. exercit. these vapours moue the Phantasie, the Phantasie the Appetite, which mouing the animall spirits, causeth the body to walke vp and downe, as if they were awake. Fracastorius lib. 3. de intellect. referres all Extasies to this force of Imagination, such as lye whole daies together in a Traunce; as that Priest whom Quiquotics volebat mortuo similis iacebat auferēs se à sensibus & quum pungeretur dolorem non sensit. Celsus speakes of, that could seperate himselfe from his senses when he lift, & lye like a dead man void of life and sence. Verbis & vnctionibus se consecrant daemoni pessimae mulieres, qui ijs ad opus suum vtitur & earum phantasiam regit ducit (que) ad loca ab ipsis desiderata, corpora vero earum sine sensu permanent quae vmbra cooperit diabolus vt nulli sint conspicua, & post vmbrâ sublatâ proprijs corporibus eas restituit l. 3. c. 11. Wier. Cardan bragges of himselfe that he could doe as much, and that when hee lift. Many times such men when they come to themselues, tell strange things of Heauen and Hell, what visions they haue seene as that S r Owen in Mathew Paris, that went into S t Patricks Purgatory, the Monke of Euesham in the same Author. Those common apparitions in Bede and Gregory, and S r Bridgets revelations. Wien. lib. 3. de Lamijs cap. 11. &c. 8. reduceth, as I haue formerly said, & all those tales of Witches progresses, dauncing, riding, transformations, operations, &c to the force of Idem Nymannus orat. de Imaginat. Imagination, and the Divels illusions. The like effects, almost are to be seene in such as are awake: How many Chimaeras, Anticks, golden mountaines, and Castles in the ayre doe they build vnto themselues? I appeale to Painters, Mechanicians, Mathematitians. Some ascribe all vices to a false and corrupt Imagination, Anger, Revenge, Lust, Ambition, Covetousnesse, which preferres false before that [Page 124] which is right and good, deluding the soule with false shews and suppositions. Denario medico. Bernardus Penottus, will haue heresie and superstition to proceed from this fountaine, as he falsely imagineth, so he beleeueth, and as hee conceaueth of it, so it must be, and so it shall bee, Contra gentes hee will haue it so. But most especially in passions and affections, it shewes strange and evident effects: what will not a fearefull man conceaue in the darke; what strange formes of Divels, Witches, Goblins? Lauater imputes the greatest cause of spectrums, & the like apparitions to feare, which aboue all other passions, begets the strongest Imaginations, saith Solet timor prae omnibus affectibus fortes Imaginationes gignere, post amor, &c. l. 3. c. 8. Wierus, and so likewise loue, and sorrow, ioye, &c. Some dye suddainly, as shee that saw her sonne come from the battle at Canna, &c. Iacob the Patriarke by force of Imagination made peckled lambs, laying peckled roddes before them. Persina, that Aethiopian Queene in Heliodorus, by seeing the picture of Perseus and Andromeda, insteed of a Blackemoore was brought to bed of a faire white child. And if wee may beleeue Bale, one of Pope Nicholas the thirds Concubines, by seeing of a Ex viso vrso talem peperit. Beare was brought to bed of a Monster. If a woman (saith Lib. 1. cap. 4. de occult. nat. mir. si inter amplexus & suauia cogitet de vno, aut alio absente, eius effigies solet in faetu elucere. Lemnius) at the time of her conception, thinke of another man present or absent, the child will be like him. Great bellied women whē they long, yeeld vs prodigious examples in this kinde, as Moles, Warts, Scarres, Hare-lips, Monsters, especially caused in their children, by force of a depraued phantasy in them. Ipsam speciem quam animo effigiat, faetui inducit: she imprints that stampe vpon her child which shee Quid non faetui adhuc matri unito subitá spirituum vibratione, per neruos quibus matrix cerebro coniuncta est, imprimit impregnatae Imaginatio; vt si imaginetur malum granatum, illius notas secum proferet faetus, si leporem, infans editur supremo labello bifido & dissecto, vehemens cogitatio mouet rerum species Wier. lib. 3. c. 8. conceaues vnto her selfe. And therefore, Lodovicus Vives lib. 2. de Christ faem: giues a speciall caution to great bellied women, Ne dum vterum gestent admittant absurdas cogitationes sed & visu auditu (que) faeda & horrenda deuitent. That they doe not admit of such absurd conceits and cogitations, but by all meanes avoid such horrible obiects, heard or seene, or filthy spectacles. Some will laugh, weep, sigh, groane, blush, tremble, sweat, at such things as are suggested vnto them by their Imagination. [Page 125] Avicenna speakes of one that could cast himselfe into a palsie when hee list, and some can imitate the tunes of Birds and Beasts, that they can hardly be discerned. Dagobertus and S r Frances scarres and wounds, like to those of Christs, (if at the least any such were) Occult. philos. lib. 1. cap. 64. Agrippa supposeth to haue happened by force of Imagination: that some are turned to Wolues, from Men to Women, and Women againe to Men (which is constantly beleeued) to the same Imagination; or from Men to Asses, Dogges, or any other shapes. Lib 3 de lamijs cap. 10. Wierus ascribes all those famous transformations to Imagination, that in Hydrophobia they seeme to see the picture of a Dog, still in their water, Agrippa lib. 1. cap. 64. that melancholy men, and sicke men conceaue so many phantasticall visions, apparitions to themselues, and haue so many absurd suppositions, as that they are Kings, Lords, Cocks, Beares, Apes, Owles, that they are heavy, light, transparent, great and little, sencelesse and dead (as shall bee shewed more at large in our Sect. 3. memb. 1. subsect. 3. Sections of Symptomes) can be imputed to naught else but to a corrupt and false Imagination. It works not in sicke and melancholy men only, but even most forcibly sometimes in such as are found, it makes them suddainely sicke, and Malleus malefic. fol. 77. corpus mutari potest in diversas aegritudines ex forti apprehensione. alters their temperature in an instant. And sometimes a strong apprehension, as Fr. Vales. l. 5. cont. 6. nonnunquam etiā morbi diuturni consequūtur, quādo (que) curantur. Valesius proues, will take away Diseases: in both kindes it will produce reall effects. Men if they see but another man tremble, giddy, or sicke of some fearefull disease, their apprehension and feare is so strong in this kinde, that they will haue the same disease. Or if by some Southsayer, wise-man, fortuneteller, or Physition, they be told they shall haue such a disease they will so seriously apprehend it, that they will instantly labour of it. A thing familiar in China, saith Riccius the Iesuite, Expedit in Sinas l. 1. c. 9. tantum porro multi praedictoribus hisce tribuunt, vt ipse metus fidem faciat, nam si praedictum ijs fuerit ta [...]i die eos morbo corripiendos, ij vbi dies advenerit, in morbum incidunt, & vi metus afflicti, cum aegritudine, aliquando etiam cum morte colluctantur. If it be told them they shall be sicke on such a day, when that day comes they will surely be sicke, and will be so terribly afflicted, that sometimes they dye vpon it. D. Cotta in his discouery [Page 126] of ignorant practitioners of Physicke cap. 8. hath two strange stories to this purpose, what fancy is able to doe: The one of a Parsons wife in Northamptonshiere, A o 1607. that comming to a Physition, and told by him that she was troubled with the Sciatica, as he coniectured (a disease shee was free from) the same night after her returne, vpon his words fell into a grieuous fit of the Sciatica. And such another example he hath of another goodwife, that was so troubled with the cramp, after the same maner she came by it, because her Physition did but name it. Sometimes death it selfe is caused by force of phantasie. I haue heard of one that comming by chance in company of him, that was thought to be sicke of the Plague (which was not so) fell downe suddainely dead. Another was sick of the Plague with conceit. One seeing another let blood, falls downe in a sowne. Another, saith Subtil. 18. Cardan out of Aristotle, fell downe dead (which is familiar to women at any gastly sight) seeing but a man hanged. A Iew in France, saith Lib. 3. de animá cap. de me- Lodovicus Vives, came by chance over a dangerous passage, or plancke, that lay over a Brooke in the darke, without harme, the next day seeing what danger hee was in, fell downe dead. Many will not beleeue such stories to be true, but laugh commonly at them, when they heare of them; but let these men consider with themselues, as Lib de Peste. Peter Byarus illustrates it, if they were set to walke vp on a plancke on high, they would be giddy, vpon which they dare secure walk vpon the ground. Many, saith Agrippa, Lib. 1. cap. 63. Ex alto despicientes aliqui prae timore contremiscunt, caligant, infirmātur sic singultus, febres, morbi comitiales quando (que) sequūtur, quando (que) recedunt. strong hearted men otherwise, tremble at such sights, dazell and are sicke if they looke but downe from an high place, and what moues them but conceit? As some are so molested by Phantasie, so some again by Fancy alone, & a good conceit, are as easily recouered. We see commonly the Tooth-ache, Gout, Falling-sicknesse, biting of a mad Dog, and many such maladies, cured by Spells, Words, Characters, and Charmes, and many greene wounds magnetically cured, which Goclenius in a booke of late hath defended. All the world knowes there is no vertue in such Charmes, but a strong conceit and opinion alone, as Lib de Incantatione. Imaginatio subitum humorum & spirituum motum infert, vnde vario affectu rapitur sanguis, ac vna morbificas causas partibus affectis eripit. Pomponatius [Page 127] holds, which forceth a motion of the humors, spirits, and blood, which takes away the cause of the malady from the parts affected. The like we say of all our magicall effects, superstitious cures, and such as are done by Mountebanks & Wisards. An Empiricke many times, and a silly Chirurgeon, doth more strange cures then a rationall Physition. Nymannus giues a reason, because the patient puts his cōfidence in him, Aegri persuasio & fiducia, omni arti & cō silio, & medicinae praeferenda. Avicenna. which Avicenna preferres before art, precepts, and all Remedies whatsoever. Tis opinion alone, saith Plures sanat in quem plures confidunt. lib. de sapientiâ. Cardan, that makes or marres Physitions, and he doth the best cures according to Hippocrates, in whom most trust. So diversly doth this phantasie of ours affect, turne & winde, so imperiously command our bodies, which as another Proteus or a Camelion can take all shapes; and is of such force, as Ficinus addes, that it can worke vpon others as well as our selues. How can otherwise bleare eyes in one man cause the like affection in another? Why doth one mans Cur oscitantes oscitent. Wier. yawning make another yawne? Marsilius Fici nus lib. 13. c. 18. de Theolog. Platonicâ. Imaginatio est tanquam Proteus vel Chamelion corpus proprium & alienum nonnunquam afficiens. One mans pissing provoke a second many times to doe the like? Why doth scraping of trenchers offend a third, or hacking of files, &c. Why doth a carcasse bleed when the murtherer is brought before it, some weekes after the murther hath beene done? Why doe Witches and old women fascinate and bewitch children, but as Wierus, Paracelsus, Cardan, Mizaldus, Valleriola, and many Philosophers thinke, the forcible Imagination of the one party, moues and alters the spirits of the other. Read more of this subiect, in Wierus lib. 3. de lamijs cap. 8.9.10. Franciscus Valesius med. controvers. lib. 5. cont. 6. Marcellus Donatus lib. 2. cap. 1. de hist. med. mirabil. Leuinus Lemnius de occult. nat. mir. lib. 1. cap. 12. Cardan. lib. 18. de rerum var. Corn. Agrippa de occult. philos. cap. 64.65. Camerarius 1. cent. cap. 54. hornrum subcis. Nymannus in orat. de Imag. Laurentius, and he that is instar omnium, Fienus a famous Physition of Antwerpe, that writ three bookes de viribus Imaginationis. I haue thus farre digressed because this Imagination is the medium deferens of passions, by whose meanes they worke and produce many times prodigious effects; and as the phantasie [Page 128] is more or lesse intended or remitted, and their humors disposed, so doe perturbations moue more or lesse, and take deeper impressions.
SVBSEC. 3. Division of Perturbations.
PErturbations and passions which trouble the phantasie, though they dwell betweene the confines of sense & reason, yet they rather follow sense then reason, because they are drowned in corporeall organs of sense. They are commonly T.W. Iesuite. reduced into two inclinations, Irascibile and Concupiscibile. The Thomists subdiuide them into eleuen, six in the Coueting, and fiue in the Invading. Aristotle reduceth all to pleasure & paine; Plato to loue and hatred, 3. De animâ. Vives to good and bad. If good it is present, and then we absolutely ioy and loue, or to come, and then we desire, and hope for it. If evill we absolutly hate it; if present it is Sorrow, if to come, Feare. These 4. passions Ser. 35. Hae 4 passiones, sunt tanquam rotae in curtu, quibus vehimur hoc mundo. Bernard compares to the wheeles of a Chariot, by which we are carried in this world. All other passions are subordinate vnto these foure, or six, as some will? Loue, Ioy, Desire, Hatred, Sorrow, Feare: All the rest, as Anger, Envy, Emulation, Pride, Iealousie, Anxiety, Mercy, Shame, Discontent, Dispaire, Ambition, Avarice, &c. are reducible vnto the first, and if they be immoderate, they Horum quippe immoderatione [...]tiritus marcescunt Fernelius lib. 1. path. cap. 18. consume the spirits, & melancholy is especially caused by them. Some few discreet men there are, that can gouerne themselues, and curb in these inordinate affections, by religion, Philosophy, & such divine precepts, of meeknesse, patience, and the like: but most part for want of gouernment, out of indiscreation, ignorance, they suffer themselues wholy to be led by sense, & are so far from repressing rebellious inclinations, that they giue all encouragement vnto them, leauing the raines, and vsing all provocations to further them: bad by nature, worse by art, discipline, [Page 129] Malâ consuetudine deprauatur ingenium ne bene faciat. prosper Calenus, lib. de atrâ bile. plura faciunt homines è consuetudine quam è ratione. Teneris assuescere multum est. Video meliora probo (que) deteriora sequor Ovid. custome, education, and a perverse will of their own, they follow on, wheresoeuer their vnbridled affections will transport them, and doe more out of custome, selfe-will, then out of Reason. Contumax voluntas, as Melanchthon calls it, malum facit, this stubborne will of ours, perverts our iudgements, which sees and knowes what should and ought to be done, and yet will not doe it. Mancipi [...] gulae. Slaues to their severall lusts, and appetite, they precipitate, and plunge Nemo laeditur nisi à seipso. thē selues into a labyrinth of cares, blinded with lust, blinded with ambition, Multi se in inquietùdinē praecipitant ambitione & cupiditatibus excaecati, non intelligunt se illud a dijs petere quod sibi ipsis si velint praestare possint. Si a curis & perturbationibus quibus assidue se macerant temperare vellent. They seeke for that at Gods hands, which they may giue vnto themselues, if they could but refraine from those cares and perturbations, wherewith they continually macerate themselues. But giuing way to these violent passions of feare, griefe, shame, revenge, hatred, malice, &c. They are torne in peeces, as Actaeon was with his owne dogges, and Tanto studio miseriarum causas & alimenta dolorum quaerimus vitam (que) secus f [...]licissimam tristem et miserabilem efficimus. Petrach praesat. de Remedijs &c. crucifie their owne soules.
SVBSEC. 4. Sorrowe, a cause of Melancholy.
IN this Catalogue of Passions, Sorrow. Insanus dolor. which so much torments the Soule of man, and causeth this malady (for I will breifly speake of them all, and in their order) the first place in this Irascible Appetite, may iustly be challenged by Sorrowe. An inseparable companion, Timor & maestitia, si diu perseverent, causae & soboles atri humoris sunt & in circulumse procreant Hippoc. Aphoris. 23 l 6. Idem Montaltus cap. 19. Victorius Faventinus pract. mag. The mother and daughter of Melancholy, her Epitome, Symptome, and chiefe cause: as Hippocrates hath it, They beget one another and tread in a ring [...], for Sorrow is both cause and Symptome of this Disease. How it is a Symptome shall be shewed in his place. That it is a cause all the world acknowledgeth, Dolor nonnullis insaniae causa fuit, & aliorum morborum insanabilium, saith Plutarch to Apollinus; [Page 130] a cause of madnesse, a cause of many other diseases, a sole cause of this mischiefe, Multi ex maerore & metu huc delapsi sunt.Lemn. l 1. c. 16. Lemnius calls it. And so doth Rhasis cont. l. 1. Tract. 9. Gulanerius Tract. 15. cap. 5. And if it take root once it ends in despaire, as Multa cura & tristitia facivnt accedere melancholiā (cap. 3. de mentis alie nat.) si altos radices agat in veram fixam (que) degenerat melancholiam & in desperationem desinit. Faelix Platter obserues, and as in Ille luctus, eius vero soror desperatio simul ponitur. Cebes table may well be coupled with it. Animarum crudele tormentum, dolor inexplicabilis, tinea non solum ossa, sed corda pertingens, perpetuus carnifex, vires anime consumens, iugis nox & tenebrae profunde, tempestas & turbo, & febris non apparens, omni igne validiùs incendens longier & pugna finem non habens—crucemcircumfert dolor faciem (que) omni tyranno crud [...]liorē praese fert. Chrysostome in his seauenteenth Epistle to Olimpia, describes it to be, a cruell torture of the Soule, a most inexplicable greefe, a poysoned worme, consuming body and soule, and gnawing the very heart, a perpetuall executioner, continuall night, profound darknesse, a whirelewind, a tempest, an ague not appearing, heating worse then any fire, and a battle that hath no end: It crucifies worse then any Tyrant, no torture, no strappado, no bodily punishment is like vnto it. T'is the Eagle without question which the Poets fained to gnawe Nat. Comes Mythall 4, c. 6. Prometheus Heart. And no heavinesse is like vnto the heavinesse of the heart. Ecclus 25.15.16. It dries vp the bones, saith Solomon, cap. 17. Pro. makes them hollow-eyed, pale, and leane, furrow-faces, dead looks, wrinkled browes, riueled cheekes, dry bodies, Crato consil. 21. lib. 2. moestitia universum infrigidat corpus, calorem innatum extinguit, appetitum destruit. Cor refrigerat triflitia spiritus exsiccat innatum (que) calorem obruit, vigilias inducit concoctionem labefactat, sanguinem incrassat, exaggerat (que) melancholicum suscum. It hinders concoction, refrigerates the heart, takes away stomacke, colour, & sleep; thickens the blood. Fernelius lib. 1. cap. 18. de morb. causis. Contaminates the spirits. Piso. Overthrowes the naturall heat, and perverts the good estate of body and mind, and makes them weary of their liues, cry out, howle & roare for very anguish of their soules. David confessed as much, Psal. 38.8. I haue roared for the very disquietnesse of mine heart. And Psal. 119.4. part. 4. v. my soule melteth away for very heauinesse, vers. 83. I am like a bottle in the smoake. I Marc. 6.1011. Antiochus complained that he could not sleep, and that his heart fainted for griefe. Christ himselfe, Vir dolorum, out of an apprehension of griefe, did sweat blood, Mark. 14. His soule was heavy to the death, but no sorrow was like vnto his. Crato consil. 21. lib. 2. Spiritus & sanguis hoc contaminatur Piso. giues [Page 131] instance in one that was so melancholy by reason of Maerore maceror marcesco & consenesco miser, ossa at (que) pellis sum miserâ macretudine. Plautus. griefe: and Montanus consil. 30. in a noble matron, Malum inceptum & auctum à tristitiâ sola. that had no other cause of this mischiefe. I.S, D.in Hildesheim fully cured a patient of his, that was much troubled with melancholy, and for many yeares, Hildesheim, spicel. 2. de melancholiâ. maerore animi postea ac [...]dente in priora symptomata incidit. but afterwards by a little occasion of sorrow, he fell into his former fits, and was tormented as before. Examples are common, how it causeth melancholy, desperation, & sometimes death it selfe. Ecclus. 38.15. Of heauinesse comes death. Worldly sorrow causeth death, 2. Cor. 7.10. Psal. 31.10. My life is wasted with heauinesse, and my yeares with mourning▪ Why was Hecuba saide to be turned to a Dog? Niobe into a stone? But for griefe, she was senselesse and stupid. Seuerus the Emperour Herodian lib. 3, m [...]erore magis quam morbo cō sumptus est. died for griefe; and how Bothwellius atribilarius abijt, Bizarrus Genuensis hist &c. many myriades besides. Tanta illi est feritas, tanta est insania luctus.
Melancthon giues a reason of it, In maestitia cor quasi percussum constringitur, tremit & languescit cum acrisensu doloris. In tristitia cor sugiens attrahit ex Splene lentum humorem melancholicum. qui effu [...]us sub costis, in sinistro latere hypochondriacos status facit quod sa [...]è accidit ijs qui diuturna curâ & mestitiâ conflictantur. Melancthon. the gathering of much melancholy blood about the Heart; Vives 3. de anima c. de maerore. Sabin in Ovid. which collection extinguisheth the good spirits, or at least dulleth them, sorrow strikes the heart makes it tremble and pine away, with great paine: And the black blood drawne from the Spleane, and diffused vnder the ribbs, on the left side, makes those perilous hypocondriacall convulsions, which happen to them that are troubled with Sorrow.
SVBSEC. 5. Feare.
COsen german to Sorrow is Feare, or rather a sister; fidus Achates, and continuall companion, an assistant and a principall agent in procuring of this mischiefe; a cause and symptome as the other. In a word as Lib. 3. Aen. 4. Virgil said of the Harpies, I may iustly say of them both,
This fowle fiend of Feare was worshipped heretofore for a God amongst the Lacedaemonians, & most of those other torturing Et mentem ideo deam sacrarunt & vt bonā mentem concederet Varro Lactantius, August affections, and so was sorrow amongst the rest, vnder the name of Angerona Dea, they stood in such awe of them. As Austin de Ciuit. Dei lib. 4. cap. 8. notes out of Varro. Feare was commonly Lilius Girald. Syntag. 1. de dijs miscellaneis. adored and painted in their Temples with a Lions head; & as Macrobius records 1. 10. Saturnaliū Calendis Ion. feriae sunt di [...] Angeronae, cui pontifices in sacello Volupiae sacra faciunt, quod angores & animi sollicitudines propitiata propellat. in the Calends of Ianuary Angerona had her holyday, to whom in the Temple of Volupia, or Goddesse of pleasure, their Augures and Bishops did yearely sacrifice; that being propitious to them, she might expell all caeres, anguish, & vexation of the mind for that yeare following. Many lamentable effects this Feare causeth in men, as to be red, pale, tremble, sweat, Timor inducit frigus cordis pal pitationem vocis defectum at (que) pallorem. Agrippa. lib. 1. cap. 63. Timidi semper spiritus habent frigidos. Mont. it causeth sudden cold and heat to come over all the body, palpitation of the heart, Syncope, &c. It amaseth many men that are to speake, or shew themselues in publike assemblies, or before some great personages, as Tully confesseth of himselfe that he trembled still at the beginning of his speech; and Demosthenes that great Orator of Greece before Philippus; It confounds voice and memory, as Lucian wittely brings in Iupiter Tragoedus, so much afraid of his auditory, when hee was to make a speech to the rest of the Gods, that he could not vtter a ready word, but was compelled to vse Mercuries helpe in prompting. Many men are so amased and astonished with feare, they knowe not where they are, what they say, Effusos cernēs fugientes agmine turmas, quis mea nunc inflat cornua Faunus ait. Alciat. what they doe, and that which is worst, it tortures them many days before with continuall feare and suspition. It hinders many honorable attempts, and makes their hearts ake, sad and heavy. They that are in feare are never free, Metus non solum memoriam consternat sed & institutum animi omne & laudabilem conatum impedit. Thucidides. resolute, secure, never merry, but in continuall paine, that as Vives truely said, Nulla est miseria maior quam metus, no greater misery, no racke, nor torture like vnto it, ever suspitious, anxious, sollicitous, [Page 133] they are childishly drooping, without reason, without iudgement, Lib. de fortitudine & virtute Alexandri. vbi prope res adfuit terribilis. especially if some terrible obiect be offered, as Plutarch hath it. It causeth many times suddaine madnesse, and almost all manner of diseases, as I haue sufficiently illustrated in my Sect. 2. Mem. 3. Subs. 2. Digression of the force of Imagination, and shall doe more at large in my Section of Sect. 2. Mem. 4. Subs. 3. Terrors. Feare makes our Imagination conceaue what it list, it invit's the Divel to come to vs, as Subtil. 18. lib. timor altrahit ad se Daemones, timor & error multum in hominibus possunt. Agrippa and Cardan avouch, and tyrannizeth over our phantasy more then all other affections, especially in the darke. We see this verified in most, as Lib. de spectris cap. 3 fortes rarò spectra vident quia minús timent. Lavater saith, Quae merunt fingunt, what they feare they conceaue and faigne vnto themselues, they thinke they see Goblins, Hagges, Divels, and many times become melancholy thereby. Cardan. subtil. lib. 1 [...]. hath an example of such a one, so caused to bee melancholy, by sight of a Goblin all his life after. Augustus Caesar durst not sit in the darke, nisi aliquo assidente, saith Vita eius. Suetonius, Nunquam tenebris evigilauit. And t'is strange what women and children will conceaue vnto themselues, if they goe over a Church-yard in the night, or lye, or bee alone in a darke roome, how they sweat and tremble on a sudden. Many men are troubled with future events, foreknowledge of their fortunes, destinies, as Severus the Emperour, Adrian and Domitian, Quod sciret vltimum vitae diem, saith Suetonius valde sollicitus, much troubled in mind because he foreknewe his end; with many such, of which I shall speake more opportunely in Sect. 2. Mem. 4. Subs. 7. another place.
SVBSEC. 6. Shame and Disgrace, causes.
SHame and Disgrace cause most violent passions, and bitter panges, Ob pudorem & dedecus publicum ob errorem cō missum saepe mouentur generosi animi, Faelix Plater lib. 3. de alienat. mentis. Generous minds are often moued with shame, to dispaire for some publike disgrace. And he, saith Philo lib. [Page 134] de provid. Dei. Qui mentem subiecit timoris dominationi, cupiditatis, doloris, ambitionis, pudoris, faelix non est, sed omnino miser, assiduis laboribus torquetur & miseriâ. That subiects himselfe to feare, desire, griefe, ambition, shame, is not happy, but altogether miserable, tortured with continuall labour, care, and misery. And it is as forcible a batterer as any of the rest: Multi contemnunt mundi strepitum, reputant pro nihilo gloriam, sed timent insamiam, offensionem, repulsam, Voluptatem severissimè contemnunt, in dolore sunt molliores, gloriam negligunt, franguntur infamid. Many men contemne the tumults of the world, and care not for glory, and yet they are afraid of infamy, repulse, disgrace, (Tul. offic, lib. 1.) they can severely contemne pleasure, beare griefe indifferently, but they are quite battered and broken with reproach & obloquy. And are so deiected many times for some publike iniury, disgrace, as a boxe on the eare by their inferiour, to be ouercome of their aduersary, foiled in the field, to be out in a speech, or some fowle fact, &c that they dare not come abroad all their liues after, but melancholize in corners, and keepe in holes. The most generous spirits are most subiect to it. Spiritus altos frāgit et generosos. Hieronimus. Aristotle because hee could not vnderstand the motion of Euripus for griefe and shame drowned himselfe. Caelius Rhodiginus antiquar. lec. li. 29. cap. 8. Homerus pudore consumptus, was swallowed vp with this passion of shame, because he could not vnfolde that fishermans riddle. Sophocles killed himselfe Ob Tragediam explosam mortē sibi gladio consciuit. because a Tragedie of his was hissed of the stage. Valer. Max. lib. 9. cap. 12. Lucretia stabbed her selfe, & so did Cum vidit in triumphum se servari, causâ eius ignominiae vitandae, mortem sibi consciuit. Plut. Cleopatra, when she saw that she was reserued for a triumph, to avoide the infamy. Gravius contumeliam ferimus, quam detrimentum, ni abiecto nimis animo sinius. Plutarch. in Timol. Antonius the Roman, Bello victus, per tres dies sedet in prorâ navis, abstinens ab omni consortio, etiam Cleopatrae, postea se interfecit. after he was ouercome of his enemy, for three dayes space sate solitary in the forepart of the ship, abstaining from all company, euen of Cleopatra her selfe, and afterwards for very shame, butchered himselfe, Plutarch vita eius. Apollonius Rhodius Cum malè recit asset Argonautica, ob pudorem se exulavit. wilfully banished himselfe, forsaking his country, and all his deare friends, because he was out in reciting his Poems, Plinius lib. 7. cap. 23. Quod piscatoris aenigma soluere non posset. In China t'is an ordinary thing for such as are excluded in those famous trials of theirs, or should take degrees, for shame and griefe to loose their wits. Qadam pro verecundiá simul & dolore, in insaniam incidunt, eo quod à literatorum gradu in examine excluduntur. Mat. Riccius expedit. [Page 135] ad Sinas lib. 3. cap. 9. Hostratus the Frier, tooke that booke which Reuclin had writ against him, vnder the name of Epist. obscurorum virorum, so to heart, that for shame and griefe he made away himselfe. Hostratus cucullatus adeo graviter ob Ruclini librum, qui inscribitur, Epistolae obscurorum virorum, dolore simul & pudore sauciatus, vt seip sum interfecerit. Iovius in elogijs. A graue and learned Minister, and an ordinary Preacher at Alcmar in Holland, was one day (as he was walking in the fields for his recreation) suddenly taken with adaske or loosenesse, & therevpon compelled to take the next ditch; but being surprised at vnawares, by some Gentlewomen of his Parish wandring that way; Propter ruborem confusus, statim cepit delirare. ob suspitionem quod vili illum crimine accusarent. was so abashed, that he did neuer after shew his head in publike, or come into the pulpit, but pined away with melancholy. Pet. Forestus med. obseruat. lib. 10. obser. 12. so shame amongst other passions can play his prize.
I know there be many base, impudent, and brasen-faced roagues, that will Hor. nullâ pallescere culpâ, be mooued with nothing, take no infamy or disgrace to heart, laugh at all: let them be proued, perjured, stigmatized, convict roagues, theeues, traitors, loose their eares, be whipped, branded, carted, pointed at, hissed, reviled, and derided, with Ps. Impudice. B. Ita est. Ps sceleste. B. dicis vera. Ps. Verbero. B. quippini. Ps. furcifer, B. factū optime. Ps. socifraude. B. sunt mea istaec. Ps. paricida. B. perge tu. Ps. sacrilege. B. fateor. Ps. periure B. vera dicis. Ps. pernicies adolescentum. B. ac [...]ri [...]. Ps. fur. B. babe. Ps. fugitive. B. bombax. Ps. fraus populi. B. pla [...]issimè. Ps. Impure leno caenum. B. cantoraes probos. Pseudolus Act. 1. Scen. 3. Ballio the baud in Plautus, they reioice at it, cantores probos: ba and Bombax what care they: yet a modest man, one that hath grace, a generous spirit, one that is tender of his reputation, will be deeply wounded, and so grievously affected with it, that he had rather giue myriades of crown [...]s, loose his life, then suffer the least diffamation of his honor, or blot in his good name. And if so be that he cannot avoide it, as a Nightingale, quae cantando victa moritur, saith [...]m. 7. [...] Pli [...]i [...]. Mizaldus, dies for shame if another bird sing better, he languisheth and pineth away for shame and griefe.
SVBSECT. 7. Envy, Malice causes.
ENvy and Malice are two linkes of this chaine, and both as Guianerius Tract. 15. cap. 2. proues out of Galen, 3. Aphorism. com. 22. Multos vidimus propter invidiam & odium in melancholiam incidisse: & illos potissimum quorum corpora ad hanc apta sunt. cause this malady by themselues, especially if their bodies be otherwise disposed to Melancholy. T'is Valescus de Taranta, & Foelix Platerus observation, Invidia affligit homines, adeò & corredit , vt bi melancholici penitus fiant. that envy so gnawes many mens hearts, that they become altogether melancholy. And therefore belike Salomon, Prov. 14.13, cals it, the rotting of the bone. Cyprian, vulnus occultum.
the Sicilian tyrants never invented the like torment. It crucifies their soules, and withers their bodies, makes them hollow-ey'd, His vultus minax, torvus aspectus, pallor in facie, in labijs tremor, stridor in dentibus &c. pale & leane, and gastly to behold. Cyprian ser. 2. de zelo & liuore. Vt tinea corrodit vestimentum, sic invidia eum qui [...]latur, consumit. As a moth gnawes a garment, so saith Chrysostome doth envy consume a man: to be a liuing Anatomy, a Skeleton, to be a leane and Pallor in ore sedet, macies in corpore toto. Nusquam recta aciet liuent rubigine dentes. pale carcasse, quickned with a Diaboli expressa Imago, toxicum charitatis, venenum amicitiae abissus mentis, non est eo monstruosius monstrum, damnosius damnum, vrit, torret, discruciat, macie & squalore conficit. Austin Domini primi Advent. fiend. Hall in Charact. For so often as an envious man, sees another man prosper, to be enriched, to thriue and be fortunate in the world, to get honors, offices, or the like, he repines and grieues.
he tortures himselfe if his equall, friend, neighbour be preferred, commended, doe well. If he heare of it, it gaules him a-fresh, and no greater paine can come to him, then to heare of another mans well-doing, t'is a dagger at his heart every such obiect. He lookes at him, as they that fell downe in Lucians rocke of honor with an envious eye, and will damage himselfe to doe the other a mischiefe: As he did in Aesope, loose one eye willingly, that his fellow might loose both. [Page 137] His whole life is Sorrow, and euery word he speakes a Satyre, nothing fattes him but other mens ruines. For to speake in a word, Envy is nothing els but Tristitia de bonis alienis, sorrow for other mens good, be it present, past, or to come: & gaudium de adversis, & Statuis cereis Basilius eos comparat, qui liquifiunt ad praesentiam Solis, quo alij gaudent & ornātur. Muscis alii quae vlceribus gaudent, amaena praetereunt, sistunt in faetidis. ioy at their harmes, opposite to mercy, Misericordia etiam quae tristitia quaedam est, saepè miserantis corpus male afficit, Agrip. lib. 1. cap 63. which grieues at other mens mischances, and misaffects the body in another kinde; so Damascen defines it, lib. 2. de orthod. fid. Thomas 22. quest. 36. art. 1. Aristotle li 2.2. Ret. cap. 4. & 10. Plato Philebo, Tully 3. Tusc. Greg. Nic. lib. de virt. animae cap. 12. Basil. de Invidiâ. Pindarus Od. 1. Ser. 5. & we finde it true. T'is a common disease, and almost naturall to vs, as Insitū mortalibus à naturâ recentem aliorum faelicitatem aegris oculis intueri. hist. lib. 2. Tacit. Tacitus holdes, to envy another mans prosperity: And t'is in most men an incurable disease. Legi Chaldaeos, Graecos, Hebraeos consului sapientes pro remedio invidiae: hoc enim inveni, renunciare faelicitati & perpetuò miser esse. I haue read, saith Marcus Aurelius, Greeke, Hebrew, Chaldie authors, I haue consulted with many wise men, for a remedy for envy, I could finde none, but to renounce all happinesse, and to be a wretch and miserable for euer. T'is the beginning of Hell in this life, and a passion not to be excused. omne peccatum aut excusationē secum habēt, aut voluptatem, sola invidia vtra (que) caret, reliqua vitia finem habent, ira defervescit, gula satiatur, odium finem habet, invidia nunquam quiescit. Euery other sinne hath some pleasure annexed to it, or will admit of an excuse, envy alone wants both. Other sinnes last but for a while, the gut may be satisfied, anger remittes, hatred hath an end, envy neuer ceaseth. Cardan lib. 2. de sap. Divine and humane examples are very familiar, you may run and read them, as that of Saul and David, Cain and Abel, angebat illum non proprium peccatum, sed fratris prosperitas, saith Theodoret, it was his brothers good fortune gauled him. Rachel envied her sister being barren Gen. 30. Iosephs brethren him Gen. 37. Dauid had a touch of this vice, as he confesseth Vrebat me aemulatio propter stultos. Psal. 73. and Hier. 12.1. Ieremy, and Hab. 1. Habacucke, they repined at others good, but in the end they corrected themselues. Psal. 75. fret not thy selfe &c. Domitian envied Agricola for his worth, Invidit privati nomen supra principis attolli. that a private man should be so much glorified. Tacit. hist. lib. 2. part. 6. Cecinna was envied of his fellow-citizens, because he was more richly adorned. But of all others Periturae dolore & invidia. si quem viderint or [...]iorem, se in publicum prodijsse. Platina dial. amorum. women are [Page 138] most weake, ob pulchritudinem inuidae sunt faeminae? Musaeus: aut amat, aut odit nihil est tertium. Granatensis. They loue or hate, no medium amongst them. Ant. Guianerius lib. 2. cap. 8. vit. M. Aurelii. faemina vicinam elegantius se vestitam videns leaenae instar in virum insurgit. &c. Agrippina like a woman if she see her neighbour, more neat or elegant, richer in tires, Iewels, or apparell, is enraged, & like a lionesse sets vpō her husband, & rails at her, scoffes at her, and cannot abide her: so the Roman Ladies in Tacitus did at Salonina Cecinnas wife, Quod insigni equo & aestro veheretur, quāquā nullius cum iniuriâ ornatum illum tanquam lesigravabantur. because shee had a better horse, and better furniture, as if she had hurt them with it, they were much offended: And as our Gentlewomen doe at all their meetings, one repines or scoffes at anothers brauery and happinesse. Myrsine an Atticke wench, was murthered of her fellowes, Quod pulchritudine omnes excelleret puellae indignatae occiderunt. because she did excell the rest in beauty. Constantine Agricult. lib. 11. cap, 7. euery Village will yeeld such examples.
SVBSECT. 8. Aemulation, Hatred, Faction, Desire of revenge.
OVt of this roote of envy, Latè patet invidiae foecunda pernities, & livor radix omnium malorum, fons cladium inde odium surgit, emulatio. cyprian, ser. 2 do de Livore. spring those ferall branches of faction, hatred, livor, emulation, which cause the like grievances, and are, serrae animae, the sawes of the soule: or as Cyprian describes it, Qualis est animi tinea, quae tabes pectoris zelare in altero vel aliorum faelicitatem suam facere poenam & velut quosdū pectori suo admouere carnifices, cogitationibus & sensibus suis adhibere tortores, quise intestinis cruciatibus lacerent, non cibus talibus laetus, non potus potest esse iucundus; suspiratur semper & gemitur, & doletur dies & noctes, pectus sine intermissione laceratur. a moth of the soule, a consumption, to make another mans happinesse his misery, to torture, crucifie, and execute himselfe, to eat his owne heart. Meat and drinke can doe such men no good, they doe alwayes grieue, sigh and grone, day and night, without all intermission, their brest is torne asunder: and a little after. Quisquis est ille quem aemularis, cui invides, is te subterfugere potest, at tu non te, vbicun (que) fugeris, adversarius tuus tecum est, hostis tuus semper in pectore tuo est, pernitics intus iuclusa, ligatus es vinctus zelo deminante captivus, nec solatia tibi ulla s [...]bveniunt: binc diabolus inter initia statim mundi, & pf [...]t primus, & perdidit, Cyprian. ser. 2. de zelo & livore. Whosoeuer he is, whom thou [Page 139] doest emulate and envy, he may avoide thee, but thou canst neither avoide him, nor thy selfe, wheresoeuer thou art, he is with thee, thine enemy is euer in thy brest, thy destruction is within thee, thou art a captiue, bound hand and foot, as long as thou art malitious, and envious, and canst not be comforted. It was the divels ouerthrow: and whensoeuer thou art affected with this passion, it will be thine. And yet no passion so common.
Every society, corporation, and private family is full of it, it takes hold almost of all sorts of men, from the Prince, to the Plowman, euen amongst Gossips it is to bee seene; scarce three in a company, but there is siding, faction, emulation betwixt two of them, some simultas, jarre, private grudge, hart-burning in the midst of them. Scarce two Gentlemen dwell together in the countrey, but there is emulation betwixt them and their servants, some quarrell or some grudge betwixt their wiues, or children, friends, and followers, some contention about wealth, gentry, precedency, &c. by meanes of which, like that frog in Rana cupida aequadi bouem se distenbebat &c. Aesope, that would swell till she was as big as an oxe, but burst her selfe at last: they will stretch beyond their fortunes, callings, & striue so long, that they consume their substance in Law sutes, or otherwise in hospitality, feasting, to get a few bumbast titles &c. to outbraue one another they will tire their bodies, macerate their soules, and begger themselues.
Honest Aemulatio alit ingenia [...]: Paterculus poster. vol. emulation in studies, in all callings is not to bee disliked, t'is ingeniorum cos, as one cals it, the whetstone of wits: As Th [...]mistocles was roused vp with the glory of Miltiades, Achilles trophyes moued Alexander: but when it is immoderate, it is a plague, and a miserable paine. What a deale of money did Henry the [...], and Francis the first King of [Page 138] [...] [Page 139] [...] [Page 140] France, spend at that Anno 1519. betwixt Ardes and Quine. famous interview? and how many vaine courtiers, seeking each to outbraue other, spent themselues, and died beggars. Spartian. Adrian the Emperour was so galled with it, that he killed all his equals: so did Nero. This passion made Plutarch. Dionysius the tyrant, banish Plato, and Philoxenus the Poët, because they did excell, and eclipse his glory, as he thought. When Richard the first, and Philip of France, were fellow souldiers together, at the siege of Achon in the Holy land, and Richard had approoued himselfe to be the more valiant man, and al mens eyes were vpon him, it so galled Philip, Francum vrebat Regis victoria, saith mine Iohannes Heraldus lib. 2. cap. 12. de bello sacro. Author, tam aegrè ferre Richardi gloriam vt carpere dicta, calumniari facta: that he cavelled at all his proceedings, and fell at length to open defiance, he could containe no longer, but hasting home, Nulla dies tantum poterit lenire furorem. Aeterna bella pace sublata gerunt. Iurat odium, nec ante invisum esse desinit, quam esse desiit. Paterculus, vol. 1. invaded his territories, and professed open warre. Hatred stirres vp contention, Prov. 10.12. and they breake out at last into immortall enmity, virulency, and more then Vatinian hate and rage, to persecute one another, their friends and followers, and all their posterity, with bitter taunts, and hostile warres, scurrile invectiues, libels, calumnies, fire and sword, and the like, and will not be reconciled. Witnesse that Guelfe and Gebelline faction in Italy: that of the Adurni and Fregosi in Genoa: that of Cneus Papirius, and Quintus Fabius in Rome: Caesar and Pompey: Orleans and Burgundy in France: Yorke and Lancaster in England. Yea this passion so Ita saeuit haec stigia ministra, vt vrbes subvertat aliquando, deleat populos, provincias alioqui florentes redigat in solitudines, mortales vero miseros in profunda miseriarum valle miserabiliter immergat. rageth many times, that it subverts not men only and families, but euen populous cities, & flourishing kingdomes, are brought into a wildernesse by it. This hatred, malice, faction, and desire of revenge, invented first all those racks and wheeles, strappadoes, brasen bulles, severall engins, prisons, Inquisitions, seuere lawes to macerate and torment one another. How happy might we be, and end our time with blessed dayes, and sweet content, if we could containe our selues, and as we ought to do, put vp iniuries, learne humility, meeknesse, patience, forget and forgiue, as in Paul 3. Col. Gods word we are inioyned; compose such small controversies amongst our [Page 141] selues, moderate our passions in this kinde, and thinke better of others, as Rom. 12. Paul would haue vs, then of our selues: be of like affection one towards another, and not avenge our selues, but haue peace with all men. But being that we are so peevish and perverse, so factious and seditious, so malicious, envious: we doe invicem angariare, maule and vexe one another, and torture, and disquiet our selues, precipitate our selues into that gulfe of woes and cares, and aggravate our misery, and melancholy, and heape vpon vs hell and eternall damnation.
SVBSEC. 9. Anger a cause.
ANger, a perturbation [...], which carries the spirits outwards, and prepares the body to melancholy, and madnesse it selfe: Ira furor brevis est: and as Grad. 1. c. 54. Piccolomineus accompts it one of the three most violent passions. Ira & moeror, & ingens animi consternatio, melancholicos facit. Arateus. Ira immodica gignit insaniam. Arateus sets it downe for an especiall cause, and so doth Senecae ep. 18. lib. 1. of this malady. Reg. sanit. parte 2 cap 8. in apertam insaniam mox ducitur iratios. Magninus giues the reason, ex frequenti irá supra modum calefiunt, it ouer-heates their bodies, and if it be ouer-frequent, it breakes out into manifest madnesse, saith Ambrose. T'is a knowne saying, furor fit laesâ saepiùs patientia, the most patient spirit that is, if he be often provoked, will be incensed to madnesse, it will make a divell of a Saint. And therefore Basil belike in his Homily de Irâe, cals it tenebras rationis, morbum animae, & daemonem pessimi [...]m: the darkening of our vnderstanding, and a bad angell. Gilbert. Cognato interprete. Multis & praesertim senibus, ira impotens insaniam fecit, & importuna calumnia, haec initio perturbat animum, paulatim vergit ad insaniam Porrò mulierum corpora multa infestant, & in hunc morbum adducunt, praecipuè si quem oderint aut invideant &c. hec paulatim in insaniam tandem evadunt. Lucian in Abdicato To. 1, will haue this passion to worke this effect of madnesse, especially in old men and women, anger and calumny (saith he) trouble them at first, and after a while breake out into open madnesse: many things cause fury in women, especially if they loue or hate ouermuch, or envy, or be much grieued, [Page 142] or angry, these things by little and little lead them on to this malady. From a disposition, to an habit, for there is no difference betwixt a mad man, and an angry man, in the time of his fit: Anger, as Lactantius describes it lib. de Irâ Dei ad Donatum, cap. 5. is Saeva animi tempestas tantos excitans fluctus, ut statim ardescant oculi, os tremat, lingua titubet, dentes concrepan [...] &c. saeua animi tempestas &c. making his eyes sparke fire, and stare, his teeth gnash in his head, his toung stutter, his face pale, or red, and what more filthy imitation can be in a mad man. They are voide of reason, inexorable, blinde, and like ora tument irâ, servescunt sagui ne venae, lumina Gorgonio saevius angue micant. Ovid. beasts and monsters for the time, say and doe they know not what, curse, sweare, raile, fight, and what not? what can a mad man doe more? as he said in the comedy, Terence. Iracundiâ non sum apud me. If these fits be immoderate, or continue long, or frequēt, without doubt they prouoke madnes. Montanus consil. 21. had a melancholy Iew to his patient, he ascribes this for a principall cause, Irascebatur leuibus de causis, he was easily moued to anger. Aiax had no other cause of his madnesse; and Charles the 6. that Lunaticke French King, fell into this misery, out of the extremity of this passion, and desire of revenge and malice, Infensus Britannie Duci, & in vltionem versus, nec cibum cepit, nec quietem , ad Calendas Iulias 1392. comites occidit &c. incensed against the Duke of Britaine, he could neither eate, drinke, nor sleepe for some dayes together, and in the end about the Calends of Iuly 1392. he ranne mad vpon his horse back, drawing his sword, and striking all came neare him promiscuously, and so continued all his life. Aemil. lib. 10. gall. hist. Aegesippus de excid. vrbis Hieros. lib. 1. cap. 37. hath such a story of Herod, that out of an angry fit, became mad, and Indignatione nimia furens, animi (que) impotens, exiliit de lecto furentem non capiebat aula &c. leaping out of his bed, killed Iosippus, and plaid many such Bedlam prankes, all the court could not rule him, for a long time after: sometimes he was sorry & repented, much grieved for that he had done, by and by mad againe. In hote cholerick bodies, nothing so soone causeth madnesse, as this passion of Anger, besides many other diseases, as Pelesius obserues cap. 21. lib. 1. de hum. affect. causis. Sanguinem imminuit, fel auget: and as An ira possit hominem interimere. Valesiu controverts. med. controvers. lib. 5. contr [...]. 8, many times kils them quite out. If this were the worst of this passion, it were more tolerable, Abernethy. but it ruines and subverts whole townes, As Troy, sae [...]e memorem Iunonis obiram. citties, families, & [Page 143] kingdomes; Nulla pestis humano generi pluris stetit, Seneca de Ira lib. 1. no plague hath done mankinde so much harme. Looke in all our histories, and you shall almost meet with no other subiect, but what a Stultorum regum & populorum continet astus. company of hairebraines haue done in their rage. We may doe well therefore, to put this in our precession amongs the rest: from all blindnesse of heart, from pride, vaine-glory , and hypocrisie, from envy, hatred and malice, anger, and all such pestiferous perturbations, good Lord deliuer vs.
SVBSEC. 10. Discontents, Cares, Miseries, &c. causes.
DIscontents, cares, crosses, miseries, or whatsoeuer it is, that shall cause any molestation of spirits, griefe, anguish and perplexity, may well be reduced to this head, (preposterously placed heere in some mens Iudgments they may seeme) yet in that Aristotle in his Lib. 2. Invidia est dolor & ambitio est dolor &c. Rhetoricke defines these cares, as he doth envy, emulation &c. still by griefe, I thinke I may well ranke them in this Irascible row; being that they are as the rest, both causes and symptomes of this Disease; & cause the like inconveniences, and are still accompanied with anguish and griefe. Dementes curae, insomnes curae, damnosae cura, tristes, mordaces, carnifices &c. biting, eating, gnawing, cruell, bitter, sicke, sad, vnquiet, pale, tetricke, miserable, intolerable cares, as the Insomnes, Claudianus. Tristes Virg. Mordaces Luca. Edaces Hor, maestae. Amarae Ovid. damnosae. Inquietae Mart. Vrentes Rodentes Mant. &c. Poets call them, worldly cares, and are as many in number as the Sea sands. Galen lib. 3. c. 7. de locis affectis. homines sunt maximè melancholici, quandò vigiliis multis & sollicitudinibus & laboribus & curis fuerint circumventi. Galen, Fernelius, Faelix, Platter, Valescus de Taranta &c. reckon afflictions, miseries, and all these contentions and vexations of the minde, as principall causes, in that they take away sleepe, hinder concoction, drye vp the body, and consume the substance of it. They are not so many in number, but their causes be as diverse, and not one of a thousand free from them, or that can vindicate himselfe, whom that Ate dea, Homers goddesse Ate, hath not involued into this discontented ranke, or plagued with some [Page 144] misery or other. A generall cause, a continuate cause, an inseparable accident to all men, is discontent, care, misery; were there no other particular affliction (which who is free from?) to molest a man in this life, the very cogitation of that Omnia imperfecta confusa, & pertubatione plena. Cardan. common misery, were enough to macerate him, and make him aweary of his life: to thinke that he can neuer be secure, but still in danger, sorrow, griefe, and persecution. For to begin at the first houre of his birth, as Lib. 7. nat. hist. cap. 1 hominem nudum & ad vagitum edit natura. Flens ab initio devinctus iacet &c. Pliny doth elegantly describe it, he is borne naked, and fals a [...]. Lachrymans natus sum, & lachrymans morior. &c. whining at the very first, he is swadled and bound vp like a prisoner, and cannot helpe himselfe, and so he continues to his liues end. No estate, age, sexe, can secure himselfe from this common misery. A man that is borne of a woman, is of short continuance, and full of trouble, Iob 14.1. & vers. 22. and while his flesh is vpon him, he shall be sorrowfull, and while his soule is in him, it shall mourne.
All his dayes are sorrow, and his trauels griefes, his heart also taketh not rest in the night Eccles 2.23. And cap. 2.11. all that is in it is sorrow and vexation of spirit Initium caecitas, progressum, labor, exitum, dolor, error omnia: quem tranquillum quaso, quem non laboriosum aut anxium diemegimus? Petrarch. Ingresse, progresse, regresse, egresse, all alike, blindnesse seaseth on vs in the beginning labor in the middle, griefe in the end, error in all. What day ariseth to vs without some grief or care, or what so secure, & pleasing a morning haue we seene, that hath not bin ouercast before the euening? One is miserable, another man is ridiculous, a third odious. One complaines of this grievance, another of that, and Vb [...] (que) periculum, vbi (que) dolor, vbi (que) naufragium, in hoc ambitu quocun (que) me vertam. Lipsius. every-where danger, contention, anxiety in all places, goe where thou wilt, and thou shalt finde discontents, cares, woes, complaints, incumbrances, exclamations; as hee said of old, Homer. Nil homine in terrâ spirat miserum magis almâ: no creature so miserable as man, so generally molested, Multis repletur homo miserijs, corporis miserijs, animi miserijs, dum dormit, dum vigilat, quocun (que) se vertit. Lusus (que) rerum temporum (que) nascimur. in miseries of body, in miseries of mind, miseries of hart, in miseries asleep, in miseries awake, in miseries wheresoeuer he turnes. Bernard. Nunquid tentatio est vita humana super terram? a meere temptation is our life. Austin confess. lib. 10. cap. 28. potest [Page 145] molestias & difficultatès pati? who can endure the miseries of it? Prosperai in adversis desidero, & adversa prosperis timeo, quis inter haec medius locus, vbi non fit humanae vitae tentatio. In adversity I wish for prosperity, and in prosperity I am afraid of adversity, what medium may be found? where is no temptation? what condition of life is free? Cardan consol. sapientiae labor annexus, glorie invidia , divitiis curae, soboli solicit udo, voluptati morbi, quietipaupertas, vt quasi luendorum scelerum causâ nasci, hominem possis cum Platonistis agnoscere. Wisdome hath labor annexed to it, glory envy, riches cares, children & incumbrances, pleasure & diseases, rest & beggery goe together, as if a man were therefore borne, as the Platonists hold, to be punished in this life for some precedent sins. Or that as Lib. 7. cap. 1. Non satis estimare an mélior parens natura homini, an tristior noverca fuerit, nulli fragilior vita pavor, confusio, rabies maior, vni animantium ambitio datus, luctus, avaritia, vnis [...]spitio. De consol lib. 2 Nemo facile cum conditione sia concordat, iuest singulis quod imperiti petant, experti horreant. Pliny complaines, Nature may be rather accompted a stepmother, then a mother vnto vs, all things considered: no creatures life so brittle, so full of feare, so mad, so furious, onely man is plagued with envy, discontent, griefe, couetousnes, ambition & superstition. Our whole life is like an Irish Sea, wherein there is nought to be expected but tempestuous stormes, and troublesome waues, no Halcyonian times, wherein no man can hold himselfe secure, or agree with his present estate; but as Boethius inferres p there is something in every of vs, which before triall we seeke, & hauing tryed, abhorre: Esse in honore iuvat mox displicet We earnestly wish, & eagerly covet, & are est soones aweary of it: and thus, Hor. Inter spem (que), metum (que), timores inter & iras, betwixt hope and feare, suspitions, angers, betwixt fallings in, fallings out &c. we leade a contentious, a discontent, a tumultuous, a melancholy, miserable life. Some few amongst the rest, or some one of a thousand, may be Pullus Iovis in the worlds esteeme, or Gallinae filius albae, an happy and fortunate man, because rich, faire, well allied, in honour and office: yet peradventure aske himselfe, & he will say, that of all others, Hor. he is most miserable, vnhappy. A fair shooe, hic soccus novus elegans, as Cn. Graeccinus. he said, sed nescis vbi vrat, but thou knowst not where it pincheth. It is not another mans opinion can make me happy, but as Ep. 9. lib. 7. Miser est qui se beatissimum no [...] indicat, licet imperet mundo non est beatus, quise non putat, quid enim refert qualis status tuus sit, si tibi videturmalus. Seneca well hath it, He is a miserable wretch, that doth not accompt himself happy, though he be Soveraigne lord of a world, he is not happy, Sua cui (que) calamitas praecipuae [Page 146] if he thinke himselfe not to be so: for what availeth it what thine estate is, or seeme to others, if thou thy selfe dislike it. It is a common humor of all men to thinke well of other mens estates, and to dislike their owne: Hor. epist. l. 1. 4 cui placet alterius, sua nimirum est odio sors: and Hor. ser. 1. Sat. 1. quî fit Mecaenas &c. Many men are of such a nature, that they are pleased with nothing saith Lib. de curat. graec. affect. cap. 6. de provident. Mu [...]us nihil placet, at (que) adeo & divitias damnant, & paupertatem: de morbis expostulant, benè valen es grauiter ferunt, at (que) vt semel dicam, nihil eos delectat, &c. Thevdoret, neither riches nor poverty, they complaine when they are well, and when they are sicke, grumble at all fortunes, prosperity & adversity; they are troubled in a cheape yeare, in a barren, plenty or not plenty, nothing pleaseth them, warre nor peace, with children, nor without. This for the most part is the humor of vs all, to be discontent, miserable, and most vnhappy, as we thinke at least, and shew me him that is not so, or that euer was otherwise? Quintus Metellus his fortune & happinesse is much admired amongst the Romans, in so much, that as Vix vllius gentis, aetais, ordinis, hominem invenias, cuius faelicitatem fortunae Metelli cōpares. Vol. 1. Paterculus mentioneth of him, you can scarce finde of any nation, order, age, sexe, one for happinesse to bee compared vnto him, he had in a word bona animi, corporis, & fortunae, goods of mind, body & fortune: so had P. Mutianus Crassus, Lampsaca that Lacedaemonian Lady, was such another in Lib. 7 Regis filia, regis vxor, regis mater. Plinies conceipt, a Kings daughter, a Kings Wife, a Kings mother: P. Crassus Mutianus quin (que) habuisse dicitur rerum bonarum maxima quod esset ditissimus, quod esset nobitissimus, eloquentissimus, Iurisconsu [...]tissimus, Pontifex maximus. and al the world esteemes as much of Polycrates of Samos. The Greekes bragge of their Socrates, Phecyan, Aristides, the Romans of their Q [...]i nihil vnquam mali aut dixit, aut fecit, aut sensit, qui bene semper fecit, quod aliter fa [...]t non potuit. Solomon Eccles. 1.14. Catoes, Curioes, Fabricioes for their cōposed fortunes, & retired estates goverment of passions, and contempte of the world: Yet none of all these was happy, or free from discontent, neither M [...]tellus, Crassus, nor Polycrates, for he died a violent death, & so did Cato. And how much euill doth Lactantius and Theodoret speake of Socrates, a weake man, and so of the rest. There is no content in this life, but as e he said, all is vanity and vexation of spirits euen in the middest of all our mirth, jollity and laughter, is sorrow & griefe: or if there be true happines amongst them, [Page 147] t'is but for a time, Hor art. Toet. Desinit in piscem mulier formosa supernè: a faire morning turnes to a lowring afternoone. One is borne rich, dies a begger: sound to day, sicke tomorrow: so many casualties there are, that as Seneca said of a citty consumed with fire, Vna dies interest inter maximam civitatem & nullam, one day betwixt a great citty, and none: so many grievances from outward accidents, & from our selues, our own indiscretion, inordinate appetite, one day betwixt a man, and no man. And which is worse, as if discontents and miseries would not come otherwise fast enough vpon vs; homo homini daemon, we maul, persecute, and study how to sting, gaule and vexe one another, with mutuall hatred, preying vpon, & devouring one another, as so many Omnes hic aut captantur, aut captant, aut cadauera qu [...] lacerantur, aut corui qui lacerant. Petron. ravenous birds, and as juglers, panders, bawdes, cosening one another, as so many Homo omne monstrum est ille nam superat feras, lupos (que) & vrsos pectore obscuro [...]egit. Hens. wolues, tigers, divels: men are euill, wicked, malicious, treacherous, and Quod Pa [...]erculus de populo Romano, durante bellopunico per anno [...] 115 aut bellum inter cos, aut bell [...] p [...]aeparatio, aut ins [...]da pax: idem ego de mundi [...]olis. naught, not louing one another, or louing themselues, not hospitall, charitable and sociable as they ought to be, but counterfeit dissemblers, ambodexters, all for their owne ends, hard-hearted, mercilesse, pittilesse, and to benefit themselues, they care not what mischiefe they procure others. As Theocritus Edill. 15. Praxinoe and Gorgo in the Poët, when they had got in to see those costly fights they cried, benè est, & would thrust out all others: when they are rich themselues, in honour, preferred, and haue euen what they would, they debarre others of those pleasures which youth requires, and they formerly haue inioyed. They tyre out others bodies with continuall labour, they themselues liuing at ease, caring for no body els, sibi nati, and are so farre many times from putting to their helping hand, that they seeke all means to depresse, euen those whom they are by the Lawes of nature bound to relieue and helpe as much as in them lies, they will let them caterwaule, sterue, begge and hang before they will any wayes (though it be in their power) assist or ease them: Qu [...]ndo in adolescemiâ sa [...] ipsi vixerint, laut [...] & liberius voluptates suas expleverint. Illi gnatis imponunt duriores continentie leges. so vnnaturall are they many times, so hard, so churlish, so dogged, of so bad a disposition. And being so brutish, so divelishly bent one towards another, how is it possible [Page 148] but that we should be discontent of all sides, full of cares, woes and miseries.
If this be not a sufficient proofe of our discontent, examine euery condition and calling a-part. Kings, Princes and Monarchs seem to be most happy, but look into their estate, you shall finde Lugubris Ate luctu (que) fero regū tumidas obsidet arces. Res est inquieta faelicitas. them to be most incumbred with cares, in perpetuall feare, agony, suspition, jelousie, that as Plus aloes quam mellis habet Non humi iacentem tolleres Valer. lib. 7, cap. 3. he said of a Crowne, if they knew but the discontents that accompany it, they would not stoope to take it vp. Rich men are in the same predicament, as I shall proue elswhere, and their wealth is brittle, & like childrens rattles: they come & goe, there is no certainty in them; those whom they elevate, they doe as suddenly depresse, and ouerthrow them in a vale of misery. The middle sort of men are as so many asses to beare burdens; or if they be free, and liue at ease, they spend themselues & consume their bodies and fortunes with luxury and riot, contention, emulation &c. The poore I referre for another Sec. 2. memb. 4 subject. 6. place, and their discontents. The like you may say of all ages: children liue in a perpetuall slauery, still vnder that tyrannicall gouernment of masters, yong men, and of riper yeares, subiect to labour, and a thousand cares of this world; Rarus faelix idem (que) senex. Sexeca in [...] er. ateo. old are full of aches of their bones, crampes and convulsions, a burden to themselues and others, after 70 yeares all is sorrow, as Dauid speakes, they doe not liue, but linger. If they be found, they feare diseases, if sicke, a weary of their liues: non est vivere sed valere vita. One complaines of want, another of servitude, Omitto a [...]os exules captiuos mendicos, quos nemo audet faelices dicere. Cardan lib. 8 cap. 46 derer. var. another of a secret or incurable disease, of some deformity of body, of some losse, danger, death of friends, shipwrack, persecution, imprisonment, disgrace, repulse, Spretae (que) iniuria forme. cō tumely, calumny, vnkindnesse, scoffes, floutes, vnfortunate marriage, single life, too many children, false servants, vnhappy children, barrennesse, banishment, oppress on, frustrate hopes, and ill successe &c. Hor. Talia de genere hoc adeo sunt multa, loquace vt delassare valent Fabium. Fabius cannot tell halfe of them; they are the subiect of whole volumes, and shall some of them be more opportunely dilated elswhere. In the [Page 149] meane time this much I may say of them, that generally they crucifie the soule of man, Attenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curae. Plautus. attenuate our bodies, dry them, wither them, rivell them vp as so many rotten apples, make thē skin and bone as so many anatomies (as he said, ossa at (que) pellis est totus, it a curis macet) they make tempus faedum & squalidum, cumbersome dayes, ingrata (que) tempora, slow dul and heavy dayes, make vs howle and roare, and teare our haires, as sorrow did in Haec quae crines evellit, aerumna est. Cebes table, and groane for the very anguish of our souls. Our hearts faile vs, as it did Dauid Psal. 40. 12. for innumerable troubles that compassed him; and to confesse with Hezekiah, Isay 58.17. behold for felicity I had bitter grief: to weep with Heraclitus, to curse the day of our birth: with Ieremy 20, 14. and our stars with Iob: and hold that axiome of Silenus. Optimum non nasci, aut cito mori. Plinius. better neuer to haue beene borne, and the best next of all to die quickly: or if we must liue, to abandon the world, as Timon did, creep into caues & holes as our Anachorites, cast all into the Sea, as Crates Thebanus, or as Theombrotus, Ambrociato's 400 auditors, precipitate our selues to be rid of these miseries.
SVBSEC. 11. Concupiscible appetite, as Desires, Ambition.
THese Concupiscible and Irascible Appetites, are as the two twists of a rope, mutually mixt one with the other, and both involving and twining about the Hart: both good, as Austin holds lib. 14. cap. 9. de civit. Dei: Bonae si rectam rationem sequuntur, malae si exorbitant. if they be moderate, both pernitious if they be exorbitant. And this concupiscible Appetite, howsoeuer it may seeme to carry with it a shew of pleasure and delight, and our concupiscences most part affect vs with content, & a pleasing obiect, yet if they be in extreames, they rack and wring vs on the other side. A true saying it is, Desire hath no rest, and is infinite in it selfe, endlesse, and as The Buouie. Prob. 81. one cals it, a perpetuall racke, Molam as [...] nariam. or horse mill, according [Page 150] to Austin still going round as in a ring. And they are not so continuall as divers, faciliùs atomos denumerare possem, saith Tract. de Inter. de. cap. 62. Bernard, quam motus cordis, nunc haec, nunc illa cogito: you may as well reckon vp the motes in the Sun, as thē Circa quamlibet rem mundi haec passio fieri potest, q [...]ae superflue diligatur. Tract. 15 cap. 17 It extends it selfe to euery thing, as Guianerius will haue it, that is superfluously sought after: or to any Feruentius de siderium. feruent desire, as Fernelius interprets it; be it in what kind soeuer, it tortures if immoderat, and is, according to Imprimis vero Appetitus &c. 3. de alie [...]. ment. Plater and others, an especiall cause of melancholy. Multuosis concupiscentijs dilaniantur cogitationes meae, Cons. l. 11. c. 29 Austin confessed, that he was torne apieces with his manifold desires: and so doth Per diversa loca vagor nullo lo temporis momento quiesco, talis & talis esse cupio, illud at (que) illud habere desidero. Bernard complaine, that he could not rest for them a minute of an houre: this I would haue, and that, & then I desire to be such & such. T'is a hard matter therfore to confine them, being they are so various and many, and vnpossible to apprehend all. I will only insist vpon some few of the chief, and most noxious in their kind, as that exorbitant Appetite and Desire of Honor, which we commonly call Ambition; Loue of money, which is Couetousnesse, and that greedy desire of gaine, Selfcloue, and inordinat desire of Vainglory, or Applause, Loue of Study in excesse, Loue of Women, (which will require a iust volume of it selfe) of the other I will briefly speake, and in their order.
Ambition, Ambition. a proud covetousnesse, or dry thirst of Honor, a great torture of the mind, composed of envy, pride, and covetousnes, a gallant madnes, one Hall. defines it, Ambros. lib. 3. super Lucam. aerug [...] animae. Ambrose, a canker of the soule, an hidden plague: Nihil animum cruciat, nibil molestius inquietat, secretum virus, pestis occulta &c. ep. 126. Bernard, a secret poyson, the father of liuor, & mother of hypocrisie, the moth of holinesse, & cause of madnes, crucifying & disquieting all that it takes hold of. ep. 88. Seneca cals it, rem sollicitam, timidam, vanam, ventosam, a windy thing, a vain, sollicitous and feareful thing. For commonly they that like Sysiphus role this restlesse stone of Ambitiō, are in a perpetual Nihil infaeliciut his quantus ijs timor, quantae dubitatio, qu. vetus cenatus, quanta sollicitudo, nulla illis à molestiae vacua hora. agony, still Semperia [...]onitus, semper pouidus, quid dicat faciatve, ne displicent humilitatem simulat, honestatem mentitur. perplexed, semper taciti tristès (que) recedunt, Lucret. doubtfull, timorous, suspitious, loth [Page 151] loth to offend in word or deed, still cogging and colloging, embracing, capping, cringing, applauding, flattering, fleering wayting, visiting at mens doores with all affability, counterfeit honesty and humility. And if that will not serue, if once this humor, as Cypr. prolog. ad ser. To. 2. cunctos honorat, vniversis inclinat, subsequitur, obsequitur, frequentat curias, visitat optimates, amplexatur, applaudit, adulatur: per fas & nefas è lat ebris in omné gradum vbi ad [...] tus patet, se ingerit, discurrit. Cyprian describes it, possesse his thirsty soul, ambitionis salsugo vbi bibulam animam possidet, by hook and by crook he will obtain it, & from his hole he will clime to all honors and offices, if it be possible for him to get vp, flattering one, bribing another, he will leaue no meanes vnassaid to win all, It is a wonder to see how slauishly these kind of men will subiect themselues, when they are about a canvas to every inferiour person, what paines they will take, runne, ride, cast, plot & countermine, protest and sweare, vow, promise, what labours vndergoe, earely vp, downe late, how obsequious and affable they are, how popular and curteous, Turbae cogit ambitio regem inservire vt Homerios Agamemnonem querentem inducit. how they grinne and fliere vpon euery man they meet, what feasting and inviting, how they spend themselues and their fortunes, in seeking that many times, which they had much better be without, as Plutarchus. quin convivemar, & in otio nos oblect. mus, quoniam in prō plu id nobis fit &c- Cyneas the Orator told Pyrrhus, with what waking nights, painefull houres, anxious thoughts, and bitternesse of mind, inter spem (que) metum (que), distracted and tired, they spend the interim of their time. There can be no greater plague for the present. If they doe obtain their sute, which with such cost and sollicitude they haue sought, they are not so freed, their anxiety is anew to begin, for they are never satisfied, Vt b [...]dera arbori adhaeret, sic ambitio &c. but as a dog in a wheele, a bird in a cage, or a squirell in a chain, so g Budaeus compares them, they clime and clime still, with much labour, but neuer make an end, Lib. 3. de contemptu rerum for tuitarum. Magno conatu & impetumo [...]ē tur, super eodem centro rotati, non proficiunt, n. c ad finem perveniunt. neuer at the top. A Knight would be a Baronet, and then a Lord, and then an Earle, &c. a Doctor, a Deane, & then a Bishop: from Tribune to Praetor, from Bailiffe to Maior; first this office, and then that, as Pyrrhus in • Plutarch, they will first haue Greece, and then Africke, and then Asia, and swell with Aesops frog so long, till in the end they burst, or come down with Seianus and Gemonias scalas, and breake their owne necks: as Euangelus the piper in Lucian, Vita Pyrrbi. that blew his pipe so [Page 152] long, till he fell down dead. If he chance to misse, and haue a canvas, he is in a hell on the other side, so dejected, that he is ready to hang himself, turne Heretick, Turke, or Traitor in an instant. Enraged against his enemies, he Ambitio in insaniam facilè delabitur si excedat. Patricius l 4 tit. 20. de regis instit. railes, fights, slanders, detracts, envies, murders: and for his owne part, si appetitum explere non potest, furore corripitur, if he cannot satisfie his desire, as Lib. 5. de rep. cap. 1. Bodine obserued, he runs mad. So that both wayes, hit or misse, he is distracted so long as his Ambition lasts, he can looke for no other but anxiety and care, discontent and griefe in the meane time, and Imprimis vero appetitus seu concupiscentis nimia rei alicuius honestae velinhonestae, phantasini [...] laedunt, vnde multi ambitiosi, Philauti, irati, nuari &c. insani. Faelix Plate. l. 3. de mentis alien. madnesse it selfe, or violent death in the end. The event of this is commonly to be seene in populous Citties, or in Princes Courts: for a courteour's life, as Budaeus describes it, is Aulica vita colluvies ambitionis, cupiditatis, simulationis, imposture, fraudis, ix [...]idi [...], su [...]b [...] Titanice, diversorium aula, & commune conventiculum assentandi-artisicum &c. Budaeus de ass [...]. lib. 5. a gallimaufry of ambition, lust, fraud, imposture, dissimulation, detraction, envy pride, the Court a common conventicle of flatterers, time-seruers, polititians &c. If you will see such discontented persons, there you shall likely find them.
SVBSECT. 12. [...]. Covetousnesse a cause.
PLutarch, in his To [...]. 2. stexamines, omnes miseriae causas, vel à coxtumaci irâ, vel à furioso contendendi studio, vel ab iniusta cupiditate originem traxisse scies. Idem sere Chrysostomus com. in cap. 6. ad Roman. ser. 11. booke whether the diseases of the body, be more grieuous then those of the soule; is of opinion, that if you will examine all the causes of our miseries in this life, you shall finde them most part, to haue had their beginning from stubborne anger, or that furious desire of contention, or some iniust or immoderate affection, as Covetousnesse in this place. Hippocrates therefore in his Epistle to Cratena an Herbalist, giues him this good counsell, that if it were possible, Si verò Crateua inter caeteras herbarum radices, avaritia radicem secare posses amaram, vt nullae reliquiae essent, probè scito &c. amongst other [Page 153] hearbs, hee should cut vp that weed of couetousnesse by the roots, that there be no remainder left, and then knowe this for a certainty that together with their bodies, thou maist quickly cure all the diseases of their minds. For it is indeed the patterne, Image, Epitome of all Melancholy, the fountaine of many miseries, and much discontent, care and woe; this inordinate desire of gaine, to get or keepe mony, as Cap. 6. Dietae salutis; avaritia est amor immoderatus pecuniae vel acquirende vel retinendae. Bonaventure defines it: or as Austin describes it, a madnesse of the Soule; Gregory a torture, Chrysostome, an insatiable drunkennes; Cyprian, blindnesse, a plague subverting kingdomes, families, an Malus est mor bus male (que) afficit avaritia, siquidē censeo &c. avaritia difficilius curatur quam insania quoniam hac omnes fere medici laborant. Hippocr. ep. Abderit. in curable disease; Budeus, an ill habit, yeelding to no remedies; neither Aesculapius nor Plutus can cure them: a continuall plague, Ferum profecto dirum (que) vlcus animi, remedijs non cedens, medendo exasperatur. saith Solomon, and vexation of spirit, another Hell. I knowe there be some men that are of opinion that couetous men are happy, and worldly wise, onely wise, and that there is more pleasure in getting of wealth then in spending, and that there is no pleasure in the world like vnto it. What is it trowe you that makes a poore man labour all his life time, carry such great burdens, fare so hardly, macerate himselfe, and endure so much misery, vndergoe such base offices with so great patience, to rise vp early and ly downe late, if there were not an extraordinary delight in getting and keeping of this mony? What makes a Merchant that hath no need, satis super (que) domi, to range all ouer the Extremos currit mercator ad Indos. Hor. world, through all those intemperate Zones of heat and cold; voluntarily to venture his life, and be content with such miserable famine, nasty vsage, in a stinking ship, if there were not a pleasure & hope to get mony, which doth season the rest, and mitigate his paines? What makes them goe into the bowels of the earth, an hundreth fadome deepe, endangering their dearest liues, enduring damps & filthy smels, when they haue enough already if they could be content, and no such cause to labour, but an extraordinary delight they take in riches? This may seeme plausible at first shew, and a popular and strong argument: but let him that so thinks consider better of it, and hee shall soone perceaue that it is farre otherwise then he supposeth: it may be happily peasing [Page 154] at the first, as most part all melancholy is, or such men may haue some lucida intervalla, pleasant symptomes intermixt, but generally they are all fooles, disards, mad-men, miserable wretches, Divitiae vt spinae animum hominis timoribus, sollicitudinibus, angoribus mirificè pungunt, vexant, cruciant. Greg in hom liuing besides themselues in perpetual slavery, feare, suspition, sorrow, and discontent. plus aloes quam mellis habent. Damasippus the Stoicke in Horace, proues that all mortall men dote by fits, some one way, some another, but that couetous men are Danda est Hellebori multo pars maxima avaris. madder then the rest: & he that shall truely looke into their estates, and examine their symptoms, shal find no better of them, but that they are all Luk. 12.20, Stulte hac nocte eripiam animam tuam. fools, as Nabal was, Re & nomine, 1. Reg. 15. For what greater folly can there be or Opes quidem mortalibus sunt dementia Theo [...] madnesse, then to macerate himselfe when he need not; and when as Cyprian notes, ep. 2. lib. 2. exonerare cum se possit & relevare ponderibus, pergit magis fortunis augentibus pertinacitèr incubare. hee may be freed frō his burden and eased of his paines, will goe on still, his wealth increasing, when he hath enough to get more, to liue besides himselfe, to Miser abstinct & timet vti Her. starue his Genius, keepe backe from his Non amicis non liberis non ipsi sibi quidqud impertit. possidet ad hoc tantum, ne possidere altero liceat &c. Hieron ad Paulin. tam deest quod habet quam quod non habet. wife and children, neither letting them nor other frends vse or enioy that which is theirs, by right, and which they much need perhaps, like a hog, or dog in the manger, he doth onely keepe it because it shall doe no body else good, hurting himselfe and others; and for a little momentary good, damne his owne soule. They are commonly sad and tetricke by nature, as Achabs spirit was because he could not get Nabals vineyard, 1. Reg. 22. and if he part with his mony at any time, though it be to necessary vses to his owne children, he brawls & scolds his heart is heauy, much disquieted he is, and loath to part from it. He is of a wearish, dry, pale constitution, and cannot sleep for cares and worldly businesses, his riches, saith Solomon, will not let him sleep, and vnnecessary businesse which he heapeth on himselfe; or if he doe sleep, t'is a very vnquiet, interrupt, vnpleasing sleepe: And though he be at a banquet, or at some merry feast, he sighes for griefe of heart (as Ep 2. lib. 2. suspirat in convivio, bibat licèt gemmis & toro molliore marcidum corpus condiderit, vigilat in plumâ. Cyprian hath it) and cannot sleepe though it be vpon a downe bed; his [Page 155] wearish body takes no rest, Angustatur ex abundantiá contristatur ex apulentià infaelix prasentibus bonis infaelitior infuturis. troubled in his abundance, and sorrowfull in plenty, vnhappy for the present, and more vnhappy in the life to come. Basil. He is a perpetuall drudge, Illerum cogitatio nunquam cessat qui pecunias supplere diligunt. Guianer. tract. 15 cap. 17. restlesse in his thoughts & never satisfied, a slaue, a wretch, a dust worm, semper quod idolo suo immolet sedulus observat Cypr. prolog. ad sermon. st [...]ll seeking what sacrifice he may offer to his golden God, per fas & nefas, he cares not how, his trouble is endlesse, Hor. 3. Od. 24 Quo plus funt potae plus suiuntur aquae. crescunt divitiae tamen, curtae nescio quid semper abest rei: his wealth increaseth, and the more hee hath, the more Hor. l. 2. Sat. 6. O si angulus ille proximus accedat qui nūc deformat agellū. hee wants. Lib. 3 de lib. arbit. Immoritur studys & amore senescit babendi. Austin therefore defines covetousnesse, quarumlibet rerum inhonestam & insatiabilem cupiditatem, an vnhonest & vnsatiable desire of gaine, and in one of his Epistles compares it to Hell, Avarus vir inferno est similis. &c. modum non habet hoc egentior quo plurae habet. which devoures all, and yet never hath enough, a bottomlesse pit, an endlesse misery. And that which is their greatest corsiue, they are in continual suspition, feare, and distrust. He thinks his owne wife and children are so many theeues, & go about to cosen him, his servants are all false: Timidus Plutus, an old proverb, as fearefull as Plutus, so doth Aristophanes and Lucian bring him in fearefull still, pale, anxious, and suspitious, trusting no man. Erasm. Adag. chit. 3. cent. 7. pro. 72. Nulli fidentes omnium formidant ope [...] ideò pauid [...] malum vocat Euripides metuunt tempestates ob frumentum, amicos ne rogent, inimicos ne ledant, fures ne rapiant, bellum timent, pacem timent, summos medios, insimos. They are afraid of tempests for their corne, they are afraid of their friends least they should aske something of them, begge, or borrow, they are afraid of their enemies least they hurt them, theeues least they rob them, they are afraid of warre and afraid of peace, afraid of rich, afraid of poore, afraid of all. Last of all they are afraid of want that they shall dy beggars, which makes them lay vp still, and dare not vse what they haue, what if a deare yeare come, or dearth, or some losse? & were it not that they are loath to Hall char. lay out mony on a rope they would hang themselues, and sometimes dy to saue charges, and make away themselues, if their corne or cattle miscarry; though they haue abundance left, as Agellius lib. 3. cap. 1. interd [...] [...] sceleris perueniunt ob lucrum vt vitam propriam commutent. Agellius notes. Lib. 7. cap. 6. Valerius makes mention of one that in a famine sold a mouse for 200 pence, and famished himselfe: Such are [Page 156] their cares, Omnes perpetuo morbo agitantur, suspicatur omnes timidus sibi (que) ob aurū insidiari putat nunquam quiescens. Plin. proem lib. 14. griefes, and perpetuall feares. These symptomes are elegantly expressed by Theophrastus in his Character of a covetous man, Cap. 18. In lecto iacens interrogat vxorem an arcam probe clausit, an capsula &c. Electo surgens nudus & abs (que) calceis accensa lucernâ omnia obiens & lustrans, & vix somno indulgens. lying in bed, he askes his wife whether she shut the trunks, and chests fast, capcase sealed, and whether the Hall doore be bolted, and though she say all is well, he riseth out of his bed in his shirt bare-foot and bare-legged to see whether it be so with a darke lanthorne searching every corner, scarse sleeping a winke all night. Lucian in that pleasant and witty dialogue called Gallus, brings in Mycillus the Cobler disputing with his Cocke, sometimes Pythagoras: where after much speech Pro and Con, to proue the happinesse of a meane estate, and discontents of a rich man, Pythagoras his Cocke in the ende to illustrate by examples that which he had said, brings him to Gnyphon the Vsurers house at mid-night, and after that to Eucrates: whom they found both awake, casting vp of their accounts, and telling of their mony, Curis extenuatus vigilans & secum supputās. leane, dry, pale, and anxious, still suspecting least some body should make a hole through the wall, and so get in, or if a Rat or Mouse did but stirre, starting vp on a suddaine, and running to the doore to see whether all were fast. Plautus in his Aulularia, makes old Euclio Caue quenquā alienum in aedes intromiseris, Ignem extinguivolo, ne causae quidquam sit quod te quisquā queritet. Si bona fortuna veniat ne intromiseris. Occlude sis fores ambobus pessulis. Discrucior animi quia domo abeundum est mihi. Nimis herculè inuitus abeo, nec quid agam scio. cōmanding Staphyla his wife to shut the dores fast, and the fire to be put out, least any body should make that an errant to come to his house; & as he went from home, seeing a Crow scrat vpon the muck-hill returned in all hast, taking it for malum omen, an ill signe his mony was digged vp, with many such. He that will but obserue their actions, shall find these and many such passages not fayned for sport, but really performed, and verified indeed by such covetous and miserable wretches.
SVBSECT. 13. Loue of gaming, &c, and pleasures immoderate.
IT is a wonder to see how many poore distressed miserable wretches, one shall meet almost in every path and street, begging for an almes, that haue beene well descended, and sometimes in flourishing estate, now ragged, tottered, & ready to be starued, lingering out a painefull life, in discontent & griefe of body and minde; and all through immoderate lust, gaming, pleasure, riot. And t'is the common end of all sensuall Epicures and brutish prodigals, that are stupified & carried away headlong with their severall pleasures and lusts. Lucian in his Tr. de Mercede conductis hath excellent wel deciphered such mens proceedings in his Such another picture you shal haue in S. Ambrose second booke of Abel and Cain. picture of Opulentia, whom he faines to dwell on the top of an high mount, much sought after by many sutors, At their first comming they are generally entertained by Pleasure and Dalliance, and haue all the content that possibly may be giuen, so long as their mony lasts: but when their meanes faile, they are contemptibly thrust out at a backe doore headlong, & there left to Shame, Reproach, Despaire. And hee at first that had so many attendants, parasites & followers, young and lusty, richly arrayed, and all the dainty fare that might be had, with all kinde of welcome & good respect, is now vpon a sudden stript of all, Ventricosus, nudus, pallidus, Leua pudorens occultans, dextrae seipsum strangulās. occurrit autem exeunti paenitentia bis miserum conficiens &c. pale, naked, old, diseased and forsaken, cursing his starres, & ready to strangle himselfe; hauing no other company but Repentance, Sorrow, and Griefe, Derision, Beggery, and Contempt, which are his dayly attendants to his lifes end. As the Luk. 15. prodigall sonne had musick, merry company, dainty fare at first, but a sorrowful reckning in the end: so haue al such vaine delights and their followers. Boethius. Tristes voluptatum exitus & quisquis voluptatum suärum reminisci volet, intelliget, as bitter as gaull and wormewood is their last, griefe of minde, madnesse. The ordinary rocks vpon which such men doe impinge [Page 158] and precipitate themselues, are Cards, and Dice, Haukes, and Hounds, Insanum venandi studium one cals it, insanae substructiones, their mad structures, disports, playes, &c. when they are vnsociably vsed, imprudently handled, and beyond their fortunes. Some men are consumed by mad phantastical buildings, by making Walkes, Orchards, Gardens, Bowers, and such places of pleasure, Inutiles domos, In Oecon [...]m. quid si nunc ostendam eos qui magná [...]i argenti domus inutiles aedificant inquit Socrates. Xenophon calls them, which howsoever they be delightsome things in themselues, and acceptable to all beholders, an ornament, and befitting some great men, yet vnprofitable to others, & the sole overthrowe of their estates. Forestus in his obseruations hath an example of such a one that became melancholy vpon such an occasion, hauing consumed his substance on such an vnp [...]ofitable building, which would afterward ye [...]ld him no advantage. Others are Sarisburiensis Polycrat. lib. 1. cap. 4. venatores omnes adhuc institutionē redolent Centaurorum. Raró invenitur quisquam eorum modestus & grauis, rarò continens & vt credo sobrius u [...]quam. overthrowne by those madde disports of Hauking and Hunting; honest recreations & fit disports for some great men, but not for every base inferiour person; whilest they will maintaine their Faukoners, and Dogs, & hunting Nagges, their wealth, saith Salmutze, runnes, away with Dogs, and their fortunes fly away with Haukes. They hunt & persecute beasts so long, till in the end they themselues degenerate into beasts, Panc [...]ol. Tit. 23. avolant op [...]s cum accipitre. as Insignis venatorum stultitia & supervacanea cura eorum qui dum ni ni [...]i venationi insistunt ipsi ab [...]e [...]ta omni hum [...]nitate inferas d [...]generant, vt Act [...]on, &c. Agrippa taxeth them. Sabin in Ovid Metamor. Ac [...]aeon like, as he was eaten to death by his own Dogges, so doe they devoure themselues and their patrimonies, in such idle and vnnecessary disports, neglecting in the meane time their more necessary businesse, and to follow their vocations. Over mad too sometimes are our great men in following of it, doting too much on it, Agrippa de vanit s [...]nt. Insan [...]m venandi studum, d [...]m à novalibus arcentur agrico [...]e, sabtraliumini p [...]aedia rus [...]cis, aeri colonis praecluduntur, s [...]lue & pra [...]a pa [...]oribus. vt augeantur pascua f [...]ris. — Maiestatis reus agricola si gustárit. When they driue poore husbandmen from their tillage, as Sariburiensis obiects▪ polycrat. lib. 1. cap. 4. and f [...]ng downe country farmes, and whole townes to make Parkes, end Forrests, staruing men A novilib [...] sui [...] arcentur agricolae dum ferae habeant vagandi libertatem is [...]is, [...] pa [...]u [...] [...]geantur, p [...]edi [...] s [...]b [...]rahuntu [...] &c. Sariburiensis to feed beasts, and Feris quam ho minibus aquiores Cambd. d [...] Guil. Conq. qui 36. Ecclesias matrices depopulatus est ad Forestam novam. Mat. Paris. punishing in the [Page 159] meane time such a man that shall molest their game, more seuerely then him that is otherwise a common hacker, or a notorious theafe. But great men are some waies to be excused, the meaner sort haue no evasiō why they should not be counted madde. Podgius the Florentine tells a merry story to this purpose, condemning the folly and impertinent busines of such kinde of men. A Physition of Millan, saith he, that cured mad men had a pit of water in his house, in which he kept his patients some vp to the knees, some to the girdle, some to the chinne, pro modo in saniae, as they were more or lesse affected. One of them by chance that was well recouered, stood in the doore, and seeing a gallant ride by with an Hauke on his fist, wel mounted, and his Spaniels after him, would needs know of him to what vse all this preparation serued; hee made answere to kill certaine fowle: the patient demanded againe what his fowle might be worth which he killed in a yeare, he replied 3 or 4 Crownes; & when he vrged him farther, what his Dogs, Horse and Haukes stood him in, hee told him 100 Crownes: with that the patient bad him be gone as he loued his life and welfare, for if our master come and find thee here, he will put thee in the pit amongst mad-men vp to the chin: Taxing the madnesse and folly of such vaine men that spend themselues in such idle sports, neglecting their businesse and necessary affaires. Leo Decimus that hunting Pope is much discommended by Tom 2. de vitis illustrium. l. 4 de vit. Leon. 10 [...]. Ionius in his life, for his immoderate desire of hauking and hunting, in so much, that as hee saith hee would sometimes, liue about Ostia weeks & moneths together, and leaue suters Venationibus adeo perdite studebat & aucupijs. vnrespected, Buls and Pardons vnsigned, to his owne preiudice, and many private mens losse. Aut infaeliciter venatus tam impatiens inde vt summos saepè vires acerbissimis contumelijs oneraret & incredible est quali vultus animi (que), habitu dolorem [...]racundiam (que) praeferret &c. And if he had beene by chance crossed in his sport, or his game not so good, he would be so impatient, that hee would revile and miscall many times men of great worth with most bitter taunts, and looke so sowre, and be so angry and wispesh, so grieued and molested that it is incredible to relate it. But if hee had good sport, and had beene well pleased on the other side, incredibili munificentiâ, with vnspeakable bounty he would reward all [Page 160] his fellow hunters, and deny nothing to any suter when hee was in that mood. To say truth, t'is the common humour of all gamesters, as Galateus obserues, if they winne no men living are so Iouiall and merry, Vnicui (que) autë hoc à natura insitum est vt doleat sicubi erraverit aut deceptus sit. but if they loose, though it be but a trifle, two or three games at tables, or a dealing at Cards for 2 d a game, they are so cholericke and tetty that no man may speake with them, and breake many times into violent passions, oaths, imprecations, and vnbeseeming speeches, little differing from mad men for the time. Generally of all Gamsters and gaming, if it be excessiue, thus much wee may conclude, that whether they winne or loose for the present, the commō Catastrophe is Iuven. Sat. 8 Necenim loculis comitantibus itur ad casum tabule, posita sed luditur arca. Lemnius instit. cap 44. mendaciorum quidem & periurio [...]um & paupertatis mater est alea, nullum habens patrimoniireverentiam, quum illud effuderit, sensim in furta delabitur & rapinas. Saris. policrat. lib. 1. c. 5. beggery, for a little pleasure they take, and some small gaines and gettings now and then, their wiues and children are wringed in the meane time, and they themselues rue it in the end. I will say nothing of those prodigious prodigals, & Platus in Aristeph. calls all such gamsters mad men. Si in insanum hominem contigero. Spontaneum ad se trahunt furorem, & os & nares & oculos rivos faciunt furoris & diversoria chrysost hom. 71. mad Sybaritical spendthrifts, qui (que) vnâ comedunt patrimonia mensà; that eat vp all at a breakfast, or at a supper, and amongst Bauds, Parasites & Players, consume themselues in an instant, Seneca. Irati pecunijs, as he saith, angry with their mony: Hall. VVhat with a wanton eye, aliquorish tongue, a gamesome hand, when they haue vndiscreetly impoverished themselues, & intombed th [...]ir ancestors in their bow els, they may lead the rest of their dayes in prison, as many times they doe, and there repent at leasure; and when all is gone begin to be thrifty In Sat. 11. Sed deficiente crumena, & crescente gula quis te manet exitus.—rebus in ventrem mersis. but Sera est in fundo parsimonia, t'is then too late to looke about; their end is misery, sorrowe, shame, and discontent. I may not here omit those two maine plagues and common dotages of humane kind, Wine & Women, which haue infatuated and besotted Myriades of people. To whom is sorrow saith Solomon, Pro. 23.29. to whom is woe, but to such a one that loues drinke? it causeth sorrow and bitternesse of mind, Sirac. 31.21. Vinum furoris, Ieremy calls it, 25. cap. as well he may, for insanire facit sanos, it [Page 161] makes sound men sicke and sad, and wise men Poculum quasi sinus in quo saepe naufragium faciunt iactura tum pecunia tū mentis, Erasm. in Proverb. calicum remiges. chil 4. cent. 7. Prov. 41. mad. A true saying it was of him, Vino dari laetitiam & dolorem, drinke causeth mirth, and drinke causeth sorrow, drinke causeth poverty and want, (Prov. 21) shame and disgrace. Multi ignobiles evasere ob vini potum, &c. (Austin) amissis honoribus profugi aberrarûnt: Many men haue made shipwracke of their fortunes, and goe like rogues and beggars, that otherwise might haue liued in good worship and happy estate, and for a few howres pleasure, or Liberae vnius horae insaniam aeterno temporis taedio pensant. free madnesse, as Seneca tearmes it, purchase vnto themselues eternal tediousnesse and trouble. That other madnesse is women, Apostare facit cor: saith the wiseman, pleasant at first, but as the rest bitter as wormewood in the end, Prov. 5, 4. and sharp as a two-edged sword. And (7.21) her house is the way to hell, and goes downe to the chambers of death. What more sorrowfully can be said; they are miserable in this life, mad, beasts, lead like e Oxen to the slaughter: and that which is worse, whoremasters and drunkards shal be iudged: amittunt gratiam, saith Austin, perdunt gloriam, incurrunt damnationem aeternam. They loose grace and glory, and gaine hell and eternall damnation.
SVBSECT. 14. Philautia, or Selfe-loue, Vaineglory, Praise, Honour, Immoderate applause, Pride, overmuch ioy, &c
SElfe-loue, Pride, and Vaine-glory, which Chrysostome cals one of the Divels three great nets, Sagitta quae animam interficit leuiter penetrat sed non leve infligit vulnus sup. cant. Bernard, an arrowe which pearceth the Soule through, and slayes it, a slye insensible enemy not perceaued. Where neither anger, lust, covetousnes, feare, sorrow, &c. nor any other perturbation can lay hold on vs, this will slily and insensibly pervert vs, Quem non gula vicit Philautia superauit, saith Cyprian, whom surfeting could not ouertake, Selfe-loue hath overcome. Qui omnem pecuniarum contemptum habent & nulli Imaginationi totius [...]nuidise immiscuerint, & tyrannicas corporis concupiscentias sustinuerint hi multoties capti à vana gloriâ omnia perdiderunt. He that hath scorned [Page 162] al mony, bribes, gifts, vpright otherwise and sincere, hath inserted himselfe to no fond Imagination, and sustained all those tyrannicall concupiscences of the body, hath lost all his honour, captivated by Vain-glory, Chrysoft. sup. Ioh. A great assault, and cause of our present malady, although we doe most part neglect it, take no notice of it, yet this is a most violent batterer of our Soules, and causeth Melancholy and Dotage. This pleasing humour, this soft and whispering popular ayre, Amabilis insania, this delectable frensy, most irrefragable passion, Mentis gratissimus error, this most acceptable disease, which so sweetly sets vpon vs, ravisheth our senses, lulls our soules asleep, puffes vp our hearts as so many bladders, and that without all feeling, Hac correpti non cogitant de medela that those that are misaffected with it, neuer so much as once perceaue it, or thinke of any cure. Wee commonly loue him best in this Dij talem terris avertite pestem. malady that doth vs most harme, and are most willing to be hurt; adulationibus nostris libentèr fauemus, saith Ep. ad Eustochium de custed. virgin. Hierome, we loue him, wee loue him for it: Lips. Epist. ad Bonciarum. O Bonciari suaue suaue fuit à te tali haec tribui, t'was sweet to heare it. Though we seeme many times to be angry Hieron: Et licet nos indignos dicimus & calidus rubor ora perfundat, attamé ad laudem suam intrinsecus animalaetatur. and blush at our owne praises, yet our soule inwardly reioyceth, it puffes vs vp and makes vs swell beyond our bounds, and forget ourselues. Her two daughters are lightnesse of mind and immoderate ioy and pride. Now the common cause of this mischiefe ariseth from our selues or others, Nec enim mihi cornea fibra est. Per. wee are actiue and passiue. It proceeds inwardly from our selues, as wee are actiue causes, from an overweening conceit wee haue of our good parts, own worth (which indeed is no worth) our boū ty, fauour, grace, valour, strength, wealth, patience, meeknesse, hospitality, beauty, temperance, gentry, knowledge, wit, science, art, learning, Emanibus il lis nascentur viola. Per. 1. Sat. our excellent gifts & fortunes, for which Narcissus like we admire, flatter, and applaud our selues, and thinke all the world esteemes so of vs. We bragge and venditate our Omnia enim nostra supra modum placent. Fab. l. 10 cap. 3. owne workes, and scorne all others in respect of vs, Instati scientia, Paul tearmes vs, our wisdome, Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina. verum gaudent scribentes & sevenerantur. & vlira si taceas laudant quicquid scripsere beati. Hor. ep. 2. l. 2. our learning, all our geese are swannes, and as basely esteeme and vilify other mens, as we doe, over-highlye prise our owne. [Page 163] We will not suffer them to bee in secundis, no not in tertijs, what? Mecum confertur Vlysses? Though indeed they be far before vs. Only wise, only rich, fortunate, valorous, and faire, as that prowd Luk. 18.10. Pharisie, they are not (as they suppose) De meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan. like other men, of a purer pretious mettle. Novi quendam, saith Chil. 3. Cent. 10. pro 97. qui se crederet neminem vlla in re praestantinē. Erasmus, I knew one that thought himselfe inferior to no man liuing. And such for the most part are your Princes, Potentates, great Philosophers, Poets, Historiographers, Authors of Sects or Heresies, and all our great Schollers. As Consul. ad Pammachium, mundi Philosophus gloriae animal, & popularis aura & rumorum venale mancipium. Hierom defines, A naturall Philosopher, glories creature, and a very slaue of rumor, fame, and popular opinion. Vobis & famae me semper dedi, saith Trebellius Pollio, I haue wholly consecrated my selfe to you & Fame; and that vaineglorious Tullius. Orator, is not ashamed to confesse in an Epistle of his to Marcus Lecceius: Vt nomen meum scriptis tuis illustretur. Ardeo incredibili cupididate, &c. I burne with an incredible desire to haue my Inquies animus studio aeternitatis noctes & dies angebatur. Hensius orat. funeb. de Scal. name registred in thy book. Out of this fountaine proceed all those cracks and bragges,— Hor. art. Poet. speramus carmina fingi posse linenda cedro, & leni seruanda cupresso.— Od. vlt. lib. 2. Non vsitatâ nec tenuiferar pennâ.—nec in terra morabor longius. Od. 25. lib. 2. nil parvum aut humilimodo nil mortale loquor. Od. vlt. lib. 3. Ovid. Iam (que) opus exegi. Vade liber faelix Paligen. Dicar qua violens obstrepit Aufidus.—Exegi monumentum are perennius. I am (que) opus exegi, &c. &c many such cōmon with writers. Not so much as Democharis on the In lib. 8. Topicks, but he will be immortall, and every common Poet will be renowned. This puffing humour is it hath produced so many great Tomes, that hath built so many famous monuments, Castles and Mausolean Tombes, to haue their names aeternised, Digito monstrari, & dicier hic est, to haue their names inscribed as Phryne on the wals of Thebes, Phryne fecit; This causeth so many battles, Et noctes cogit vigilare serenas. Long [...]ournies, Magnum iter intendo sed dat mihi gloria vires, a little applause, Pride, Selfeloue, Vaineglory. This is it which makes them take such paine, and breake out into such ridiculous straines, this high conceit of themselues, De ponte deijcere. to scorne al others; and brings them to that height of insolency, that they cannot endure to be contradicted, Nihil libenter audiunt nisi laudes suas. or heare of any thing but their own [Page 164] commendations, as Hierom notes of such kinde of men. When as indeed, in all wisemens iudgements they are Quae maior dementia aut dici aut excogitari potest quam sic ob gloriam cruciari. Insaniam istam domine longe fac à me Austin cons. lib. 10 cap. 37. mad, beside themselues, derided and a common obloquy, insensati and come farre short of that which they suppose or expect. Hor. Sat. 1. l. 2. O puer vt sis vitalis metuo.
Another kinde of mad men there is opposite to these that are insensibly madde, and knowe not of it, such as contemne all praise and glory, and thinke themselues most free; when as indeed they are most mad: calcant sed alio fastu: a company of Cynicks, such as are Monkes, Hermites, Anachorites, that contemne the world, contemne themselues, contemne all titles, honors, offices: & yet in that contempt, are more proud then any man liuing whatsoever. They are proud of humility proud in that they are not proud, saepe homo de vanae gloriae contemptu, vaniùs gloriatur, as Austin hath it, confess. lib. 10. cap. 38. as Diogenes, intus gloriantur, they bragge inwardly, & feed themselues fat with a selfe conceit of sanctity, which is no better then Hypocrisie: they goe in sheeps russet many great men, that might maintaine themselues in cloath of gold and seeme to be deiected, humble by their ordinary gesture and apparell, much mortified in their outward carriage, whē as inwardly they are swolne full of pride, arrogancy, & selfeconceipt. And therefore Seneca adviseth his frend Lucilius, Epist. 13. Illud te admoneo, ne eorum more fatias, qui nō proficere sed conspici cupiunt, quae in habitu tuo aut genere vitae notabilia sunt Asperum cult [...] & vitiosum caput, negligentiorem barbam, indictum argento odium, cubile humi positum, & quicquid ad laudem perversa via sequitur, evita. in his attire and gesture, outward actions, especially to avoid all such things as are more notable in themselues: as a rugged attire, hirsute head, horrid beard, contempt of mony, course lodging and whatsoeuer leads to Fame that opposite way.
All this madnesse yet proceeds from our selues, the maine engine which batters vs is from others, we are meerely passi [...]e in this businesse: a company of parasites and flatterers, that with immoderate praise and bumbast Epithites, glosing titles, false elogiums, so bedaub and applaud, gild ouer many [Page 165] silly and vndeseruing man, that they clap him quite out of his wit. Res imprimis violenta est, as Hierome notes, this common applause is a most violent thing, that fattens men, erects and deiects them in an instant. Per. Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum. It makes them fat and leane as frost doth Conies. Quis eorum tam bene modulo suo metirise nouit , vt eum assiduae & immodicae laudationes no [...] [...]oueāt. Hen. Steph. And who is that mortall man that can so containe himselfe, that if he be immoderatly commended and applauded, will not be moved. Let him be what hee will, those Parasites will overturne him. If he be a souldier then Themistocles, Epaminondas, Hector, Achilles, and the valour of both Scipioes is to litle for him, he is invictissimus, serenissimus, multis tropheis ornatissimus, although he never durst look his enemy in the face, If he be a big man, then is he a Sampson, another Hercules: If he make a speech, another Tully or Demosthenes: as of Herod in the Acts, the voice of God and not of man: If hee can make a verse, Homer, Virgil. And then my silly weake Pathicke takes all these elogiums to himselfe, if he be a Scholler so commended for his much reading, excellent stile, method, &c. hee will eviscerate himselfe like a spider, study himselfe to death, ‘Laudatas extendit ales Iunonia pennas,’ Peacocke like he will display all his feathers. If hee be a souldier and so applauded, as another Livius Gloria tantum elatus non irâ iu medios hostesirruere, quod completis muris conspici se pugnātem a muro spectanibus egregiū dicebat Philip, hee will ride into the thickest of his enimies. Commend his housekeeping, and he will begger himselfe, commend his temperance hee will starue himselfe. — laudata (que) virtus ‘Crescit, & immensum gloria calcar habet,’ he is madd, madd, madd, no whoe with him he will ouer the I demens & seuas curre per Alpes. Aude aliquid &c. vt pueris placeas & vt declamatio fias. Iuv. Sat. 10 Alpes to be talked of, or to maintaine his credit. Commend an ambitious man, or some prowd Prince or Potentate, Si plu [...] aequo laudetur, saith In moriae E [...] com. Erasmus, cristas erigit, exuit hominē, deum se putat: he sets vp his crest & will be no longer a man, but a God. How did this work with Alexander, that would needs be Iupiters sonne, and goe like Hercules in a Lions skin. Commodus the Emperour was so gulled by his flattering Parasites, that he would be called Hercules. Antonius ab assentatoribus evectus Liberū se patrem appellari iussit & pro deo se venditans redimitus hederà & coronâ velatus aurea, & thyrsum tenens cothurnis (que) succinctus, curru velut Lib. pater vectus est Alexandrie. Pater. vol. post. Antonius the Roman would be crowned with Ivy, and carried in a Chariot, & [Page 166] adored for Bacchu [...]. Cotys king of Thrace would be married to Mineruae nuptias ambit, tanto furore percitus, vt satellites mitteret ad videndūnum Dea in thalamum venisset, &c. Minerva, and sent three severall messengers one after another, to see if she were come to his bed-chamber. Such a one was Aelian. lib. 12. Iupiter Menecrates, Maximinus Iovianus, Dioclesianus Herculeus, Sapor the Persian king, brother of the Sunne and Moone, and our kings of China and Tartaria in this present age. Such a one was Xerxes that would whip the Sea, & send a challenge to mount Athos, and such are many foolish Princes, brought into a fooles Paradise by their Parasites. And t'is a common humour incident to all men, when they are in great place, haue done wel, or deseru'd well, to applaud and flatter themselues. Sequitur (que) superbia formam. livius lib. 11, Oraculum ost vivida saepe ingenia luxuriare hác & evanescere multos (que) sē sum penitus amisisse. Homines intuentur at siipsi non esset homines. They haue good parts & they know it, you need not tell them of it, out of a conceit of their worth they goe smiling to themselues, and perpetuall meditation of their trophies and plaudits, they run at the last quite mad, & loose their wits. Petrarch. lib. 1. de contemptu mundi, confessed as much of himselfe, and Cardan in his 5 booke of wisdome giues an instance of a Smith of Millan, a fellow cittizen of his Galeus de Rubeis civis noster faber ferrarius ob inventionem instrumenti Cocleae olim Archimedis dicti prae laetitia insaniuit. one Galeus de Rubeis, that being commended for the refinding of an Instrument of Archimedes, for ioy rann madde. Plutarch in the life of Artaxerxes hath such a like story of one Chamus a souldier, that wounded king Cyrus in battle & grew therevpon so Insaniâ postmodum correptus ob nimiam inde arrogantiam. arrogant that in a short space after hee lost his witts. So many men, if any new honor, office, preferment, possession, or patrimony, ex insperato fall vnto them, for immoderate ioy and continuall meditation of it, cannot sleep, Bene ferre magnam disce fortunam. Hor. Fortunam reverentèr habe, quicun (que) repente Dives ab exili progredier [...] loco. Ausonius. or tell what they say or doe, they are so ravished on a suddaine. Epaminondas therefore the next day after his Leuctrian victory, Processit squalidus & submissus vt hesterni diei gaudium intemperans hodie, castigaret, Vxor Hemici 8. came abroad all squallid and submisse, & gaue no other reason to his friends of his so doing, then that hee perceaued himselfe the day before, by reason of his good fortune to be too insolent, ouermuch ioyed. And that wise and vertuous Lady, a Queene Catherine Dowager of England, in [Page 167] private talke said that Nutrius se fortunae extremum libenter experturum dixit, sed sinecessitas alterius subinde imponeretur, optare se difficilem & adversam: quod in hac nulli vnquam defuit solatium, in alterá multis consilium &c. Lod. Vives. she would not willingly endure the extremity of either Fortune, but if it were so that of necessity shee must vndergoe the one she would be in adversity, because comfort was neuer wanting in it, but still counsell moderation and gouernment, were defectiue in the other. They would not moderate themselues.
SVBSEC. 15. Loue of Learning, or overmuch study. With a Digression of the misery of Schollers, and why the Muses are Melancholy.
LEonartus Fuchsius Institut. lib. 3. sect. 1. cap. 1. Faelix Platter l.3. de mentis alienat: Peculiaris furor qui ex literis fit. speakes of a peculiar Fury which comes by overmuch Study. Fernelius lib. 1. cap. 18. Nihil magis auget, ac assidua studia, & profundae cogitationes. puts study, contemplation, and continuall meditation, an especiall cause of madnesse: and in his 86. counsel. cites the same words. Io. Arculanus in lib. 9. Rhasis ad Almansorem cap. 16. amongst other causes reckons vp studium vehemens, so doth Levinus Lemnius, lib. de occult. nat. mirac. lib. 1. cap. 16. Non desunt qui ex Iugi studio & intempestiua lucubratione huc divenerunt, hi prae caeteris enim plerum (que) melancholia solent infestavi. Many men (saith he) come to this malady by continuall Study is a continuall & earnest meditation applied to something with great desire. Tully. study, and night waking, and of all other men Schollers are most subiect to it: and such Rhasis addes, Et illi qui sunt subtilis ingenii & multae praemeditationis de facili incidunt in melancholiam. that haue commonly the finest wits. Cont. lib. 1 tract. 9. Marsilius Ficinus de sanit. tuenda. lib. 1. cap. 7. puts Melancholy amongst one of those 5 principall plagues of Students, t'is a common maul vnto them all, and almost in some measure an inseparable companion. Varro belike for that cause calls Tristes Philosophos & severos, severe, sad, dry tetricke, are common Epithites to Schollers. And Ob studiorum sollicitudinem, lib. 5. Tit. 5. Patritius [Page 168] therefore in the institution of princes, would not haue thē to be great students. For as Machiauel holds study weakens their bodies, dulls their spirits, abates their strength and courage, and good Schollers are never good souldiers: which a certaine Gothe well perceaued, when his country men came into Greece and would haue burned all their bookes, hee cryed out against it by all meanes they should not doe it, Gaspar Ens. Thesaur polit. Aposteles. 31. Graecis hanc pestem relinquite quae dubium nō est quin brevi omne ijs vigore ereptura Martios (que) spiritus exhaustura sit Vt ad arma tractāda plane inhabiles futuri sint. leaue them that plague, which in time will consume all their vigour, and martiall spirits. The Knoles Turk. hist. Turkes abdicated Cornutus the next heire from the Empire, because hee was so much giuen to his booke, and t'is the common Tenet of the world, that learning dulls and diminisheth the spirits, and so per consiquens produceth Melancholy.
Two main reasons may be given of it, why studēts should be more subiect to this malady then others. The one is they liue a sedentary, solitary life, sibi & musis, free from bodily exercise, and those ordinary disports which other men vse: & many times if discontent and Idlenesse concurre with it, they are precipitated into this gulfe on a sudden: but the commō cause is ouermuch study, too much learning, as Acts 26.24. Fesius told Paul, hath made thee madde; t'is that other extreame which effects it. So did Trincavellius lib. 1. consil. 12. & 13. finde by his experience in two of his patients, a yong Baron, and another, that contracted this malady by too vehement study. So Forestus obseruat. lib. 10. observ. 13. in a yong divine in Lovain, that was mad, & said Nimijs studijs melancholicus evasit, dicens se Bibliam in capite habere. he had a Bible in his head. Marcilius Ficinus de sanit. tuendâ. lib. 1. cap. 1.3.4. & lib, 2. cap, 16. giues many reasons, Cur Melancholiâ assiduâ, crebris (que) deliramentis vexentur corum animi, vt desipere cogantur. why students dote more often then others: The first is their negligence: Solers quilibet artisex instrumenta sua diligentissimè curat, pencillos pictor, malleos iucundes (que) faber ferrarius, miles equos, arma [...]venator auceps, aues & canes, Cytheram cytharedus &c. soli musarum myste tam negligentes sunt, vt instrumentum illud quo mundum vniversum metiri solent, spiritum scilicet penitus negligere videantur. other workemen looke to their tooles, a Painter will wash his pencils, a Smith will looke to his hammer, anvil, forge: an husbandman will mend his plow-irons, and grinde his hatchet if it be dull, a faukoner or huntsman will haue an especiall care of his haukes, hounds, horses, dogges &c. [Page 169] a musitian will string and vnstring his lute &c. onely Schollers neglect that instrument, their braine and spirits I meane, which they dayly vse, and by which they range ouer all the world, which by much study is consumed. Vide saith Luciā, ne funiculum nimis intendendo, aliquando abrumpas: thou twist not the rope so hard, till at length it Arcus & arma tui non sint tractanda Diana. Si nunquam cesses tendere mollis erit. Ovid. breake. Ficinus in his 4. c. giues some other reasons, Saturne and Mercury the Patrons of Learning, are both dry Planets: and Ephaenter. Origanus giues that same cause, why Mercurialists are so poore, & most part beggers because their praesident Mercury had no better fortune himselfe, he can helpe them to knowledge, but not to money. The second is contemplation, Contemplatio cerebrum exsiccat, & extinguit calorem naturalē vnde cerebrum frigidum & siccum evadit quod est melancbolicum. Accedit ad hoc, quod natura in contemplatione cerebro prorsus cordi (que) intenta, stomachum, hepar (que) destituit, vnde ex alimentis male coctis, sanguis crassus & niger efficitur, dum nimio otio membrorum superflui vapores non exhalant. which dries the braine, and extinguisheth naturall heat; for whilst the spirits are intent to meditation about in the head, the stomacke and litter are left destitute, and thence comes black blood, & crudities, for want of concoction, & for want of exercise, the superfluous vapors cannot exhale &c. The same reasons are repeated by Gomesius lib. 4. cap. 1. de sale. Cerebrum exsiccatur, corpora sensim gracilescunt. Nymanus orat. de Imag. Io. Voschius lib. 2. cap. 5. de peste: and something more they adde, that hard students are commonly troubled with goutes, catarres, rhumes, cacexia, bad eyes, stone and colicke, Studiosi sunt Cacectici, & nunquam benè colorati, propter debilitatē digestiuae facultatis, multiplicantur in ijs superfluitates, Io. Voschius parte 2. cap. 5. de peste. crudities, opilations, vertigo, windes, crampes, consumptions, and all such diseases as come by ouer-much sitting; they are commonly leane, dry, ill coloured, spend their fortunes, loose their wits, and many times their liues, and all through immoderate paines, and extraordinary studies. If you will not beleeue the truth of this, looke vpon great Tostatus, and Thomas Aquinas workes, & tell me whether those men tooke paines? peruse Austin, Ierome &c. and many thousands besides.
and labour hard for it: so did Seneca, by his owne confession, [Page 170] epist. 8. Nullus mihi per otium dies exit, partem noctis studijs dedico, non vero somno, sed oculos vigiliâ fatigatos, cadentes (que) in operam detined. not a day that I spend idle, & part of the night, & keep mine eyes tired with waking, & now slumbering to their continuall taske. Heare Tully pro Archia poeta. whilst other loytered, & tooke their pleasures, he was continually at his booke: and so they doe that will be Schollers, and that to the hazard I say, of their health, fortunes, wits, and liues. How much did Aristotle and Ptolomy spend? how many crownes per annum, to perfect Arts, the one about his history of creatures, the other about his Almagest? how many poore Schollers haue lost their wits, or become dizardes, neglecting all worldly affaires, and their owne health, wealth, esse, and bené esse to gaine knowledge? for which after all their paines, in the worlds esteeme they are accompted ridiculous, and silly fooles, Idiots, Asses and (as oft they are) reiected, contemned, and derided, doting, mad. Looke for examples in Hildisheim spicel. 2. de Maniâ & delirio, reade Trincavelius lib. 3. consil. 36. & consil. 17. Montanus consil. 233. Iohannes Hanuschius Bohemus, natus 1516 eruditus vir ex nimijs studijs in Phraenesin incidit. Montanus in: stances in a Frenchman of Tolosa. Garceus de Indic, genit. cap, 33. Mercurialis consil. 86. consil. 25. Prosper Cardinalis Caecius ob laborem, vigiliam & diuturna studia factus melancholicus. Calenus his booke de atra bile. Goe to Bedlam and aske. Or if they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reason of their cariage, because they cannot ride a horse, which euery clowne can doe, salute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common swasher can doe, Pers. Sa. 3. hos populus ridet &c. they are laughed to scotne, and They cannot fiddle, but as Themistocles said, he could make a small towne become a great city. accompted silly fellowes by our gallants. And many times such is their misery, they deserue it: Pers. Sat. 3. a meere Scholler, a meere Asse.
Thus they goe commonly meditating vnto themselues, thus they sit, such is their action and gesture. Fulgosus lib. 8. cap. 7. makes mention, how Th. Aquinas supping with King Lewes of France ▪ vpon a sudden knocked his fist on the table, and cried, conclusum est contra Manichaeos, his wits were a wool-gathering, as they say, and his head busied about other matters; Lib. 2. cap. 18. when he perceiued his errour, he was much Thomas rubore confusus dixit de argumeto cogitasse. abashed. Such a story there is of Archimedes in Vitruvius, that hauing found out the meanes to know how much gold was mingled with the siluer in King Hierons crowne, ran naked forth of the bathe, and cried [...], I haue found: Plutarch. vita Marcelli nec sensit vrbem captam, nec milites in domum irruentes, adeò intentus studijs &c. & was commonly so intent to his studies, that he neuer perceiued what was done about him, when the citty was taken, & the souldiers now ready to rifle his house, he tooke no notice of it. S r Bernard rode all day long by the Leman lake, and asked at last where he was. Marullus lib. 2. cap. 4. It was Democritus carriage alone that made the Abderites suppose him to be mad, and send for Hippocrates to cure him: if he had beene in any solemne company, he would vpon all occasions fall a-laughing. Theophrastus saith as much of Heraclitus, because he continually wept, and Laertius of Menedemus Lampsacus, because he ran about like a mad man. Sub Furiae larvâ circumiuit vrbem, dictitans se exploratorem ab inferis venisse delaturum daemonibus mortalium peccata. saying he came from hell as a spye, to tell the divels what mortall men did. Your great students are commonly no better, silly fellowes in their [...]utward behaviour, ridiculous to others, and no whit experienced in worldly businesses. Novi meis diebus, pleros (que) studiis literarum deditos, qui disciplinis admodum abundabant, sed hi nihil civilitatis habebant, ne [...] rempubl. nec domesticam regere norant. Stupuit Paglarensis & furti villicum accusavit, qui suem faetam vndecem porcellos, asinam vnum duntaxat pullum enixam retulerat. I knew in my time many Schollers, saith Aenaeas Sylvius, (in an Epistle of his to Gaspar Sciticke, Chancelor to the Emperour) excellent well learned, but so rude, so silly, that they had no common civility, nor knew not [Page 172] how to manage their domesticke or publike affaires. Paglarensis was amased, and said his farmer had surely cosened him, when he heard him tell that his sow had eleuen pigs, & his Asse but one foule.
And for this reason, because they are commonly subiect to such hazards and inconveniences, as dotage, madnesse, simplicity &c. Io. Voschius would haue good Schollers to be highly rewarded, and had in some extraordinary respect aboue other men, and to haue greater Inre privile giandi qui ob commune bonum abbreviant sibi vitam. priuiledges then the rest, that adventure themselues, and abbreviate their liues for the publike good. But our patrons of learning are so farre now-a-dayes, from respecting the Muses, and giuing that honour to Schollers, and reward which they deserue, and are allowed by these indulgent priviledges of many noble Princes, that after all their paines taken in the Vniversities, coste & charge, expences, irksome houres, laborious taskes, and wearisome dayes,, dangers, hazards, barred interim from all pleasures, which other men haue, mewed vp like haukes all their liues, if they chance to wade through them, they shall in the end be reiected and contemned, and which is their greatest misery, driuen to their shifts, exposed to want, pouerty and beggery.
If there were nothing els to trouble them, the conceipt of this alone we [...]e enough to make them all melancholy. All other trades and professions after some seuen yeares prenticeship, are inabled by their trade to liue of themselues. A merchant adventures his goods at Sea, and though his hazard be great, yet if one ship returne of foure, he makes a sauing voyage. An husband-mans gaines are certaine, onely Schollers me thinkes are vncertaine, vnrespected, subiect to all casualties, and haz [...]rds. For first not one of a many prooues to be a Scholler, all are not capable and docile, Quotannis fiunt consules & proconsules. Rex & Poeta quotannis non nascitur. Sigismund the Emperor could make a knight as he said, but neither he nor all the Emperours in the world can make a good Schollar. ex omni ligno non fit Mercurius: howsoeuer they may be willing to take paines, and to that end sufficiently informed, and liberally maintained by their Parents: or if they be, yet all mens wils are not answerable to their wits, they can apprehend, but will not [Page 173] take paines; they are either seduced by bad companions, vel in puellam impingunt, vel in poculum, and so spend their times to their friends griefe, and their own vndoings. Or put case they be studious, industrious, of ripe wits, and happily good capacities, then how many diseases of body and mind must they endure? no labour in the world like vnto study. It may be, their temperature will not endure it, but in striving to be excellent, to know all, they loose health, wealth, wit, life and all. Let him yet happily escape all these hazards, and is now consummate and ripe, he hath profited in his studies, & proceeded with all applause, after many expences, he is now fit for preferment, where shall he haue it? he is as farre to seek as he was (after twenty yeares standing) at the first day of his comming to the Vniversity. For what course shall he take, being now capable and ready? The most parable and easy, and about which most are imployed, is to teach a schoole, turne Lecturer or Curat, and for that he shall haue falconers wages, 10 per annum, and his diet, or some small stipend, so long as he can please his Patron or the Parish; if they like him not, as vsually they doe not aboue a yeare or two, serving-man like, he must goe looke a new Master: if they doe, what is his reward?
his labour for his paines, to keep him aliue till he be old, and that is all. If he be a trencher Chaplin in a Gentlemans house, as it befell Satyricon. Euphormio, after some yeares seruice, he may perchance haue a liuing to the halfes, or some small Rectory with a crack't chamber-maide, to haue & to hold during the time of his life. If he bend his forces to some other studies, with an intent to be à secretis to some nobleman, or in such a place vnder an Embassador, he shall find that such men rise like Prentices one vnder another, as so many trades; when the Master is dead, the forman of the shop commōly steps in his place. Now for Poëts, Rhetoritians, Historians, Philosophers, As colit astra. Mathematitians, Sophisters &c. they are like grashoppers, [Page 174] sing they must in Sommer, and pine in the Winter, for there is no prefermēt for them. And so they were at first, if you will beleeue that pleasant tale of Socrates, which he told faire Phaedrus vnder a Plane-tree, at the banks of Imenus; about noon when it was hote, and the grashoppers made a noyse, he tooke that sweet occasion to tell him a tale, how grashoppers were once Schollers, Musicians, Poëts &c. before the Muses were borne, and liued without meat and drinke, and for that cause were turned by Iupiter into grasshoppers. And may be turned again, for any reward I see they are like to haue; or els in the mean time, I would they could liue like them without meat & drinke, like so many Aldouerandus de Avibus l. 12. Gesner. &c. Manucodiatae those Indian birds, I meane that liue with the aire and dew of heauen, and need no other food: for being as they are, many of them for want of meanes are driuen to hard shifts, from grashoppers they turne humblebees and wasps, ad filthily and basely prostitute themselues, and the Muses, to satisfie their hunger-starued panches, and get a meales meat. And t'is the common fortune of most Schollers, to be servile and poore, and as so many fidlers, to serue great mens turnes for a small reward, they are Or as horses know not their strength, they consider not their owne worth. like Indians, they haue store of gold, but know not the worth of it, they vnder-value themselues, and so by those great men are kept down. Let them haue all that Encyclopaedian, all the learning in the world, they must keep it to themselues, Inter inertes & Plebeios ferè iacet vltimum locum habens, nisi tot artis, virtutis (que) insignia, turpitèr, obnoxîe supparisitando fascibus subiecerit proteruae insolentis (que) potentiae. Lib. 1. de contempt. rerum fortuitarum. and liue in base esteeme, and starue, except they will submit, as Budaeus well hath it, so many good parts,, so many ensignes of Arts, vertues, and be slauishly obnoxious to some illiterat potentate, & liue vnder his insolent worship, or his honor, like a parasite. For to say truth, artes hae non sunt Lucratiua, as Guido Bonat that Astrologer could foresee, they be not gainfull Arts.
Poverty is the Muses Patrimony, and as that Poëticall divinity [Page 155] teacheth vs, when Iupiters daughters were all married to Gods, the Muses alone were left solitary, Helicon forsaken of all suters, and I beleeue it was, because they had no portion, and euer since, all their followers are poore, and left vnto themselues. In so much, that as In Satyricon. Intrat senex, sed cultu non ita speciosus, vt facilè appareret eum hâc notá literatū esse, quos divites odisse solent. Ego inquit, Poetasum, Quare ergo tam malè vastitus es? Propter hoc ipsū, amor ingenii neminem vnquam divitem fecit. Petronius argues, you shall likely know them by their cloathes: There came saith he, by chance into my company, a fellow not very spruce to look on, that I could perceiue by that note alone he was a Scholler, whom commonly rich men hate, I asked him what he was, he answered, a Poet; I demanded againe why he was so ragged, and he told me this kind of learning neuer made any man rich.
All which our ordinary students, right well perceiuing in our Vniversities, how vnprofitable these Poëticall, Mathematicall, and Philosophicall studies are, how litle respected, how few patrons, apply themselues in all haste to those three cō modious professions, of Law, Physick, and Divinity, Oppressus paupertate animus nihil eximium aut sublimè cogitare potest, amoenitates literarū, aut elegantias, quoniam nihil praesidii in his ad vitae commodum videt primo negligere , mox od sse incipit. Hens. reiecting the Arts in the mean time, or lightly passing of them over, as pleasant toyes, fitting only table-talke, and to furnish them with discourse. And this was the common practice of Poland, as Cromerus obserued not long since, in the first book of his History, their Vniversities were generally base, not a Philosopher, a Mathematitian, an Antiquary &c. to be found of any note amongst them, because they had no set reward or stipend, but every man betook himselfe to Divinity, hoc solum in votis habens opimum sacerdotium, a good Personage was their aime. Euen so is it with vs, to get an office in some Bishops court, to practise in some good Towne, or a Benefice is the marke we shoot at, as being only advantageous, [Page 176] the high-way to preferment.
Although many times, for ought I can see, these men faile as often as the rest in their proiects, and are as vsually frustrated of their hopes. For let him be a Doctor of the Law, an excellent Civilian of good worth, where shall he practise and expatiate? their fields are so scant, and the Civill Law with vs so contracted with prohibitions, so few causes, by reason of those all-devouring municipall Lawes, quibus nihil illiteratius, saith Epist. Erasmus, an illiterate and a barbarous study, (for though they be never so well learned in it, I can hardly vouchsafe them the name of Schollers, except they be otherwise qualified) and so few courts are left to that profession, so few offices, and those commonly to be compassed at such rates, that I know not how an ingenious man shall thriue amongst them. Now for Physitians, there are in every Village so many Mountibanks, Empiricks, Quacsalvers, Paracelsians as they call themselues, Wisards, Alcumists, poore Vicars, cast Apothecaries and Physitians men, Barbers, and Goodwiues that professe great skill, that I know not how they shal maintaine themselues, or who shall be their Patients. Besides, there are so many of both sorts, and some of them such Harpies, and so covetous, so clamorous, and so impudent; as Io. D [...]usa Epiden lib. 2. car. 2. he said, litigious Idiots.
that they cannot well tell how to liue by one another, but as he said of clocks, they were so many, Plantia. maior pars populi aridâ [Page 177] reptant fame: they are almst starued many of them, and ready to devoure one another, so many Pettifoggers and Empericks; such imposters, that an honest man cannot well tell how to compose & cary himself in such a society, to liue with credit amongst them.
Last of all to come to our Divines, the most worthy profession, and worthy of double honour, but of all others most distressed & miserable. If you will not beleue me heare a brief of it, as it was not many yeares since, publikely preached at Pauls crosse, Io. Howson 4 o Novembris 1597. the sermon was printed by Arnold Hartfield. by a graue Minister then, and now reverend Bishop of this land. We that are bred vp in Learning, and destinated by our Parents to this end, we suffer our childhood in the Grammer schoole, which Austin cals magnam tyrannidem, & grave malum, and compares it to the torments of martyrdome, when we come to the Vniversity, if we liue of the Colledge allowance, as Phalaris obiected to the Leontines, [...], needy of all things but hunger and feare; or if wee be maintained but partly by our Parents cost, doe expend in vnnecessary maintenance, books and degrees, before we come to any perfection, fiue hundreth pounds, or a thousand markes. If by this price of the expence of our time, our bodies and spirits, our substance and patrimonies, we cannot purchase those small rewards, which are ours by Law, and the right of inheritance, a poore Personage, or a Vicarage of 50 per annum, but we must pay to the Patron for the lease of a life (a spent and outworne life) either in annuall pension, or aboue the rate of a copy hold, and that with the hazard and losse of our soules, by Simony and periury, and the forfeiture of all our spirituall preferments, in esse and posse, both present and to come, what father after a while will be so improvident, to bring vp his son to his great charge, to this necessary beggery? What Christian will be so irreligious, to bring vp his son in that course of life, which by all probability and necessity, cogit ad turpia, enforcing to sin, will entangle him in simony and periury! when as the Poet saith, Invitatus ad haec aliquis de ponte negabit: a beggars brat taken from the bridge where he sits a-begging, if he knew the inconvenience, had cause [Page 178] to refuse it. This being thus, haue not we fished faire all this while, that are initiated divines, to finde no better fruits of our labours, Per. Sat. 3. hoc est cur palles, cur quis non prandeat hoc est? doe we macerate our selues for this? If this be all the respect, reward, & honour we shall haue, Mart. frange leves calamos, & scinde Thalia libellos: let vs giue ouer our books, and betake our selues to some other course of life? to what end should we study? Mart. quid me literulas stulti docuere parentes: what did our parents meane to make vs Schollers, to be as far to seek for preferment after twenty yeares study, as we were at first: why doe we take such paines? quid tantum insanis invat impallescere chartis? if there be no more hope of reward, no better incouragement. I say againe, Frange leves calamos, & scinde Thalia libellos; let's turne souldiers, teare our books, or turne them into gunnes and pikes, leaue all, and betake our selues to any other course of life, then to continue longer in this misery.
Yea but me thinkes I heare some man except at this which I haue said, that though this be true which is said of the estate of Schollers, & especially of divines, that it is miserable and distressed at this time, and that the Church suffers shipwrack of her goods, & that they haue iust cause to complain; there is a fault, but whence ptoceeds it? if the cause were iustly examined, it would be retorted vpon our selues, if wee were cited at that Tribunall of Truth, we should be found guilty, and not able to excuse it. That there is a fault amongst vs, I confesse, and were there not a buyer, there would not be a seller, but to him that will consider better of it, it will more then manifestly appeare, Lib. 3. de cons. that the fountaine of these miseries proceeds from these griping Patrons. In accusing them, I doe not altogether excuse vs, both are faulty, they and we: yet in my iudgment, theirs is the greater fault, more apparant causes, and more to be condemned. For my part, if it be not with me as I would, or as it should, I doe ascribe the cause as Cardan did in the like case, meo infortunio potiùs quam illorum sceleri, to I had no money, I wanted impudence, I could not scamble, temporise, dissemble: non pranderet olus &c. mine owne infelicity, rather then their naughtinesse: [Page 179] Although I haue bin bafled in my time by some of them, & haue as iust cause to complaine as another. For the rest t'is on both sides, facinus detestandum, to buy and sell liuings, to detaine from the Church that which Gods and mens Lawes haue bestowed on it, but in them most, and that from the covetousnesse and ignorance of such as are interrested in this businesse, I name covetousnesse in the first place, as the root of all these mischiefes, which Achan-like compels them to commit sacriledge, and to make Simoniacal compacts, & what not to their owne ends, Deum habent iratum, sibi (que) mortem aeternā acquirunt, alijs miserabilem ruinam. Serrarius in Josua 7. and that kindles Gods wrath, brings a plague, vengeance, and an heavy visitation vpon themselues, and others. Some out of that insatiable desire of filthy lucre, to enrich themselues, care not how they come by it, per fas & nefas, hooke or crooke, so they haue it. And some when they haue with riot and prodigality, embezelled their estates to recouer themselues, make a prey of the Church, robbing it, Nicephorus l. 10. cap. 5. as Iulian the Apostate did, spoile Persons of their revenewes (in keeping halfe backe ( Lord Cook in his Reports second part. fol. 44. as a great man amongst vs obserues:) and that maintenance on which they should liue: by meanes of which Barbarisme is increased, and a great decay of Christian professors; for who will apply himselfe to these divine studies, or his son or friend, when after great paines taken, they shall haue nothing wherevpon to liue? But with what event doe they these things? they are commonly vnfortunate families that vse it, accursed in their progeny, and as common experieuce evinceth, accursed thē selues in all their proceedings. With what face as S r Henry Spelman. de non temerandis Ecclesus. he quotes out of Austin, can they expect a blessing or an inheritance from Christ in Heauen, that defraud Christ of his inheritance here on earth. I would all our Symoniacal Patrons, & such as detaine Tithes, would read that judicious Tract of S r Henry Spelman & S r Iames Sempill Knights, which they haue written of that subiect. But though they should read, it would be to small purpose, clames licet & mare coelo confundas, thunder and preach hell and damnation, tell them t'is a sin, they will not beleeue it, denounce and terrify them, they haue 1 Tim. 4. [...]. cauterised [Page 174] consciences, they doe not attend, as the inchanted adder, they stop their eares. Call them base, irreligious, prophane, barbarous, and Pagans, Atheists, Epicures, as some of them surely are, with that baud in Plautus, Euge, they cry and applaud themselues, with that Miser, simulac nummos contemplor in arcâ: say what you will, quocun (que) modo rem. Take you Heauen, let them take money. Hor. A base, prophane, Epicurean, hypocriticall rowt; for my part, let them pretend what zeal they will, counterfeit Religion, and bleare the worlds eyes, bumbast themselues, and stuffe out their greatnes with Church spoiles, shine like so many Peacocks, so cold is my charity, so defectiue in this behalfe, that I shall neuer thinke berter of them, then that they are rotten at core, their bones are full of Epicurean hypocrisie, & Atheisticall marrow, that they are worse rhen Heathens. For as Dionysius Halicarnasseus obserues antiq. Tom. 1. de steril. trium annorū sub Elia sermone. Rom. lib. 7. Primum locum apud omnes gentes habet patritius deorum cultus, & geníorum, nam hunc diutissimè custodiunt, tam Graeci, quam Barbari &c. primum locum &c. Greekes and Barbarians obserue all religious rites, and dare not breake them for feare of offending their gods; but our Simoniacal contracters, our senceles Achans, our stupified Patrons, feare neither God nor divell, they haue evasions for it, it is no sin, or not due iure divino, or if a sin, no such great sin &c. And though they be daily punished for it, yet as Chrysostome followes it, nulla ex poena fit correctio, & quasi adversis malitia hominum provocetur, crescit quotidiè quod puniatur: they are rather worse then better, and the more they are corrected, the more they offend: but let them take their course, Ovid. Fast. Rode caper vites, goe on still as they begin, t'is no sin, let them reioyce secure, Gods vengeance will overtake them in the end, and these ill-gotten goods, as an Eagles feathers, De malè quaesit [...]s vix gaudet tertius haeres. will consume the rest of their substance. It is Strabo lib 4. Geog. aurum Tholosanum, and will produce no better effects. Nihil facilius opes evertit, quā avaritia & fraude parta. Etsi enim seram addas tali arcae & exteriore ianuâ, & vecte eam communias, intus tamen fraudem & avaritiam. &c. In 5. Corinth. Let them lay it vp safe, & make their conveyances neuer so close, locke & shut doore saith Chrysostome, yet fraud & covetousnes, two most violent theeues, are still included, and a little gaine euill gotten, will subvert the rest of their goods. The Eagle in Aesope, seeing a peece of flesh now ready to be sacrificed, swept it away with her clawes, & [Page 181] carried it to her nest, but there was a burning coale stuck to it by chance, which vnawares consumed her, young ones, nest and all together. Let our Simoniacall church-chopping Patrons, and sacrilegious Harpyes, look for no better successe.
A second cause is Ignorance, and from thence contempt, successit odium in literas ab ignorantiâ vulgi, which Acad. cap. 7. Iunius well perceiued; this hatred and contempt of Learning proceeds out of Ars neminem habet inimicum praeter ignorantem. Ignorance, as they are themselues barbarous, idiots, and dull, illiterate and proud, so they esteem of others: Sint Mecoenates, non deerunt Flaece Marones; let there be bountifull Patrons, and there will be painfull Schollers in all Sciences. But when they contemne Learning, & think themselues sufficiently qualified, if they can write & read, or scamble at a piece of Evidence, or haue so much Latin as that Emperor had, He that cannot dissemble, cannot liue. qui nescit dissimulare, nescit vivere, they are vnfit to doe their country service, or to performe or vndertake any action or imployment, which may tend to the good of a Cō mon-wealth, except it be to fight, or to doe country Iustice, with common sence, which every thresher can likewise doe. And so they bring vp their children, rude as they are themselues, vntaught, vncivill most part. Shall these men Iudge of a Schollers worth; that haue no worth themselues, that know not what belongs to a Students labours, that cannot distinguish betwixt a true Schollar, and a drone? or him that by reason of a voluble tongue, and some triuantly helps, steales and gleanes a few notes from other mens haruests, and so makes a faire shew, and him that is truly learned indeed: that thinks it no more to preach, then to speak, and no more D r King, in his last Lecture on Ionas, now the right Reverend L. Bishop of London. then to run away with an empty cart, as one said, & thervpon vilify vs, and our pains, & scorne vs, & al Learning. Quibus opes & otium, hibarbaro fastu literas contem [...]unt. Because they are rich, and haue other means to liue, they think it concernes them not to know; or to trouble themselues with it, a fitter task for yonger brothers, and poore mens sons, and no whit beseeming the calling of a Gentleman. In former times kings Princes, and Emperours were the only Schollars, excellent in all faculties: Iulius Caesar mended the yeare, and writ his own [Page 182] commētaries, Spartian. solliciti de rebus aimis. Antoninus, Adrian, Nero, Severus, Iulian &c. Nicet. 1. Anal. fumis lucubrationum sordebāt. Michael the Emperour, and Isacius, were so much giuen to their studies, that no base fellow would take so much pains. Orion, Perseus, Alphonsus, Ptolomeus, famous Astronomers: Sabor, Mithridates, Lysimachus admired Physitians: Plato'es kings all. Euax that Arabian Prince, a most expert Iueller, and an exquisit Philosopher: The Kings of Aegypt were Priests of old, and chosen from thence, Idem rex hominum, Phoebi (que) sacerdos: but those heroical times are past, the Muses are now banished in this bastard age, ad fordid [...] tuguriola, to meaner persons, confined alone to Vniversities. In those dayes, Schollers were highly beloued, Grammaticis olim & Dialecticis, Iuris (que) Professoribus, qui specimen eruditionis dedissent, eadem dignitatis insignia decreverunt imperatores, quibus ornabant heroes. Erasm ep. 10. [...]abio [...]epsic. Vien. Hiensius praefat. poematum. honoured, esteemed, as Virgil by Augustus, Horace by Mecoenas, Princes companions, and highly rewarded. And t'was fit it should be so, d quoniam illis nihil deest, & minimè egere solent, & disciplinas quas profitentur, soli à contemptu vindicare possunt, they needed not to beg so basely, as they compel Servile nomen Scholaris iam. Schollars in our times to complain of poverty, or crouch to a base chuffe for a meales meat, but could vindicat themselues, and those Arts which they professed. Now they would, and cannot; Hand facilè emergunt &c. some want meanes, others will, all want Media quod noctis ab horâ sedisti, qua nemo faber, qua nemo sedebat, qui docet obliquo lan [...] deducere ferro. rara tamen merces Iuven. Sat. 7. incouragement, as being forsaken almost and generally contemned. How deare of old, and how much respected was Plato of Dionysius? how deare to Alexander was Aristotle? Plutarch to Traian? Seneca to Nero? Simonides to Hieron how much respected? Catullus. Iuven. Sed haec prius fuere, nunc recondita senent quiete, those times are gone. Et spes & ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum: as he said of old, we may truly say now, he is our Amulet, our Nemo est quem non Phaebus hic noster, solo intuitu lubentiorem reddat. Sunne, our sole comfort and refuge, our Ptolomy, our common Mecoenas, Iacobus munificus, Iacobus pacificus, mysta Musarum, Rex Platonicus: Grande decus columen (que) nostrum: A famous Scholler himselfe, and the sole Patron, Pillar, and sustainer of Learning. Let mee not be malitious and lye against my Genius, I may not deny but that we haue a sprinkling of our Gentry, heere and there one, excellently well learned, ‘Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto:’ [Page 183] but they are but few in respect of the multitude, the major part (& some again excepted, that are indifferent) are wholly bent for haukes and hounds, and carried away many times with intemperat lust, gaming, and drinking. If they read on a book at any time, t'is an English Chronicle, S r Huon of Burdeaux, Amadis de Gaul &c. a play-book, or some pamphlet of Newes, & that at such times only, when they cannot stir abroad, to driue away time, Rarus enim fermè sensus communis in illâ Fortunâ Iuven. Sat 8. Quis enim generosum dixerit hunc qui, Indignus genere & praeclaro nomine tantum Insignis. Iuv. Sat. 8. their sole discours is dogs, hawks and horses, and what newes? If some one haue bin a travailer in Italy, or as far as the Emperors Court, wintered in Orleance, and can court his Mistris in broken French, he is compleat, and to be admired. l Otherwise he & they are much at one, no difference betwixt the Master and the man, but worshipfull titles: winke and choose betwixt him that sits down, (cloaths excepted) and him that holds the Trencher behind him: yet these men must be our Patrons, and wise by inheritance. Mistake me not Vos ô patritius sanguis, you that are worthy Gentlemen, I honour your names and Persons, and with all submissenes prostrate my self to your censure and service.
There are amongst you I doe ingeniously confesse, many well deseruing Patrons, and true patriots of my knowledge, besides many hundreths which I neuer saw, no doubt, or heard of, Pillars of our cōmonwealth, I haue often met with myselfe, and conferred with diverse worthy Gentlemen in the Country, no whit inferiour, if not to be preferred for divers kind of learning to many of our Academicks. whose worth, bounty, learning, forwardnes, and true zeale in religion, and good esteem of all Schollars, ought to be consecrated to all posterity: but of your rank there are a deboshed, corrupt, covetous, illiterat crew again, a prophane pernitious company, irreligious, impudent and stupid, I know not what Epithets to giue them, enimies to Learning, confoūders of the Church, and the ruine of a Common-wealth. Patrons they are by right of inheritance, and put in trust to dispose such liuings to the Churches good; but they commonly respect their own ends, commodity is the steer of all their actions, and him they present in conclusion, that will giue most; no penny, Ipse licet Musisvenias comitatus Homere, Nil tamen attuleris Ibis Homeref [...]ras. no pater noster, as the saying is. A Clark may offer himself, and [Page 184] proue his Et legat historicos, authores noverit omnes tanquam vngues digitos (que) suos. Juv. Sat. 7. worth, learning, honesty, religion, zeale, and they will commend him for it; and if he be a man of extraordinary parts, they will flock afarre off, to heare him as they did in Apuleius; to see Psyche: multi mortales confluebant ad videndum saeculi decus, speculum gloriosum: laudatur ab omnibus, spectatur ab omnibus, nec quisquam non rex non regius, cupidus eius nuptiarum petitor accedit, mirantur quidem divinam formam omnes, sed vt simulachrum fabrè politum mirantur; many mortall men came to see faire Psyche the glory of her age, they did admire her, commend, & desire her for her divine beauty, and gaze vpon her; but as on a picture, none would marry her, quod indotata, faire Psyche had no money. Tu verò licet Orpheus sis saxa sono testudinis emolliens, nisi plumbea eorum corda, auri vel argenti malleo emollias &c. Salisburiensis Policrat. lib. 5. ca. 10. So they doe by learning.
He shall haue all the good words that may be giuen, Euge bene: no need. Dousa. epod. lib. 2. —dosipsae scientia, sibi (que) congiarum est. a proper man and t'is pitty he hath no preferment, all good wishes, but he will not preferre him though it be in his power, because he is indotatus, he hath no mony. Or if he do giue him entertainement, let him be never so well qualified, or pleade affinity, consanguinity, sufficiency, he shall serue 7 yeares as Iacob did for Rachel before he shall haue it. Quatuor ad portas Ecclesias itur ad omnes sanguinis aut Simonis, praesulis at (que) Dei. Holcot. If he will enter at first, he must come in at that Simoniacall gate, come off soundly, and put in good security to performe all covenants, or else he will not deale with him or admit him. But if some poore scholler, or some person chaffe will come & offer himselfe, or some trencher Chaplaine, that will take it to the halfes, thirds, or accept of what he will giue him, hee is wellcome, and be conformable, and preach as he will haue him, he likes him: and then as Hierome said to Cromatius, patellà dignum operculum, such a Patron, such a Clearke, the cure is supplied, and all parties pleased. And so that is still verified in our age which Lib. contra Gentiles de Babila martyre. Chrysostome complained of in his time, Qui epulentiores sunt in ordinem parasitorum cogunt eos, & ipsos tā quam canes ad mensas suas enutriunt, eorum (que) impudentes Ventres iniquarum canarum reliquijs differtiunt, ijsdem pro arbitrio abutentes. Rich men keepe these Lecturers and fawning Parasites like so many Dogges at their tables, and filling their hungry guts with the offauls of their meate, they abuse them at their pleasure, and make them say what they please. Praescribunt imperant in ordinem cogunt ingenium nostrum prout ipsis videbitur astriugunt & relaxant vt papilionem pueri aut bruchum filo demittunt, aut attrahunt, nos à libidine suá pendere aquum cē sentes. Heinsius. As children doe by a bird or butterfly in a string, pull him & let him out as they lift: doe they by their trencher Chaplins, prescribe, command their wits, & let in and out, as to them it seems best. If the Patron be precise, so must his Chaplaine be, or if he be Papisticall, he must be so too, or else bee turned out. And these are those Clearkes which serue the turne, and whom they commonly entertaine, and present to Church liuings, whilst in the meane time wee that are Vniversity men, like so many hide-bound Calues in a pasture, tarry out our time, & wither away as a flower vngathered in a garden, and never vsed: or as so many candles illuminate our selues alone, obscuring one anothers light, and are not discerned here at all, the least of which translated to some darke roome, or to some country benefice, where it might shine apart, would giue a faire light, and be seene over all. whilst we lye waiting here as they did at the poole of Siloa, till the Angell stirred the water, expecting a good houre, they step betweene and beguile vs of our preferment. I haue not yet said. If after long expectation and much and earnest fuit of our selues and friends, we obtaine a small benefice at last: our misery begins a fresh, we light vpon a crackt title, or stand in feare of some precedent Lapse, or some litigious people, that will not pay their dues without much repining, or compelled by long suit; all they thinke well gotten that is had from the Church, and by such vncivill, harsh dealings, they make their poore Minister a weary of his place, if not of his life: and put case they bee quiet honest men, make the best of it, as often it falls out, hee [Page 186] must turne rusticke, and dayly converse with a company of Idiots and Clownes.
Nos interim quod attinet (nec enim immunes ab hac noxá sumus) idem reatus manet, idem nobis & si non multò gravius crimen objici potest: nostrâ enim culpâ fit, nostrâ incuriâ, nostra avaritiâ, quod tam frequentes foedae (que) fiant in Ecclesiâ nundinationes, tot sordes invehantur, tanta grassetur impietas, tanta nequitia, tam insanus miseriarum Euripus, & turbarum aestuarium, nost [...]o inquam omnium (Academicorum imprimìs) vitio fit. Quod tot Respub. malis afficiatur, à nobis seminarium, vltro malum hoc accersimus, & quavis contumeliâ, quavis interìm miseriâ digni, qui pro virili non occurrimus. Quid enim fieri posse speremus, quum tot indiès sine delectu pauperes alumni, terrae filij, & cujuscun (que) ordinis homunciones, ad gradus certatim admittantur? qui si definitionem distinctionem (que) vnam aut alteram memoritèr edidiscerint, & pro more tot annos in dialecticâ posuerint, non refert quo profectu, quales demum sint, Idiotae, nugatores, otiatores, aleatores, compotores, indigni, libidinis voluptatumq: administri, ‘Sponsi Penelopes, nebulones, Alcinoi (que),’ modò tot annos in Academiâ insumpserint, & se pro togatis vendicârint; lucri causâ, & amicorum intercessu praesentantur: Addo etiam & magnificis nonnunquam elogijs morum & scientiae, & jam valedicturi testimonialibus bisce literis, amplissimè conscriptis in corum gratiam honorantur, ab ijs, qui fidei suae & existimationis jacturam proculdubiò faciunt. Doctores enim & Professores (quod ait Iun. Acad. c. 6 ille) id vnum curant, vt ex professionibus frequentibus, & tumultuarijs potius quam legitimis, commoda sua promoueant, & ex dispendio publico suum faciant incrementum. Id solum in votis habent annui plerum (que) magistratus, vt ab incipientium numero Accipiamus pecuniam demittamus asinum vt apud Patavinos Italos. pecunias emungant, nec multum interest qui sint, literatores an literati, modo pingues, nitidi, ad aspectum speciosi, & quod verbo dicam, pecuniosi sint. Hos non ita pridem perstrinxim is in Philosophastro Comedia latinâ, in Aede Christi Oxon. publicè habitâ Anne 1617. Feb. 16 [...]0. Philosophastri licentiantur in artibus artem qui non habent. Theologastri (soluant modò) [Page 187] satis super (que) docti, per omnes honorum gradus evehuntur & ascendunt. At (que) hinc fit quod tam viles scurrae, tot passim Idiotae, larvae pastorum, circumforanei, vagi, bardi, fungi, crassi, asini, merum pecus in sacrosanctos Theologiae aditus illotis pedibus irrumpant, praeter inuerecundum frontem adferentes nihil, vulgares quasdam quisquilias, & scholarium quaedam nugamenta, indigna quae vel recipiantur in trivijs. Hoc illad indignum genus hominum & famelicum, indigum, vagum, ventris mancipium, quod divinas hasce literas turpiter prostituit, hi sunt qui pulpita complent, & in aedes nobilium irrepunt, & quum reliquis vitae destituantur subsidijs ob corporis & animi egestatem, aliarum in repub: partium minimè capaces sint, ad sacram hanc anchoram confugiunt, sacerdotium quovisinodò captantes, non ex sinceritate quod 2. Cor. 7.17. Paulus alt sed cauponantes verbum Dei. Ne quis interim vitis bonis detractum quid putet, quos habet Ecclesia Anglicana quamplurimos, egregiè doctos, illustres, intactae famae vi [...]os, & plures forsan quam quaevis Europae provincia; ne quis à florentissimis Academijs, quae viros vndiquâ (que) doctissimos, omni virtutum genere suspiciendos abundè producit. Et multò plures vtra (que) habitura, multo splendidior futura, si non hae sordes splendidum lumen ejus obfuscarent, obstaret corruptio, & cauponantes quaedam Harpyae, proletarij (que) bonum hoc nobis non inviderent. Nemo enim tam caecâ mente qui non hoc ipsum videat, nemo tam solido ingenio qui non i [...]telligat, tam pertinaci iudicio qui non agnoscat, ab his Idiotis, circumforaneis, sacram pollui Theologiam, ac caelestes musas quasi prophanum quiddam prostitui. Viles animae & effrontes (sic enim Lutherus Comment. in Gal. alicubi vocat) lucelli causa vt musca ad mulctra, ad nobilium & heroum mensas advolint, in spem sacerdotij, cuiuslibet honoris, officij, in quamvis aulam, vrbem se ingerunt, ad quodvis se ministerium componunt. ‘—vt nervis alienis mobile lignum—ducitur—’ Hensius. offam sequentes psittacorum more, in praeda spem quidvis effutiunt; obsecundantes Parasitae ( Ecclesiast. Erasmus ait) quidvis docent, [Page 188] dicunt, scribunt, suadent, & contra conscientiam probant, non vt salutarem reddant gregem, sed vt magnificam sibi parent fortunam. Opiniones quasvis & docreta contra verbum De [...] astruunt, ne non offendant patronum, sed vt retineant fauorem procerum, & populi plausum, sibi (que) ipsis opes accumulent. Eo etenim plerum (que) animo ad Theologiam accedunt, non vt rem divinam, sed vt suam faciant, non ad Ecclesiae bonum promovendum, sed expilandum, quaerentes quod Paulus ait, Non quae Iesu Christî sed quae sua, non domini thesaurum, sed vt sibi suis (que) thesaurisent. Nec tantum ijs qui vilioris fortunae & abiectae sortis sunt, hoc in vsu est: sed & medios, sūmos, elatos, ne dicam episcopos hoc malum invasit. ‘ Pers. Sat. 2. Dicite pontifices in sacris quid facit aurum?’ Salust. [...] summos saepe viros transversos agit avaritia, & qui reliquis morum probitate praelucerent, hi facem praeserunt ad simoniam, & in corruptionis hunc scopulum impingentes, non tódent pecus sed deglubunt, & quocun (que) se conserunt, expilant, exhauriunt, abradunt, magnum famae suae, si non animae naufragium facientes: vt non ab infimis ad summos, sed à summis ad infimos malum promanâsse videatur, & illud verum sit quod ille olim lusit, Emerat ille prius, vendere iure potest. Simoniacus enim (quod cum Leone dicam) gratiam non accipit, si non accipit, non habet, & si non habet, nec gratus potest esse, nec gratis dare. Vtcun (que) vel vndecun (que) malum hoc originem ducat, non vltrò quaeram, ex his primordijs caepit vitiorum colluuies, omnis calamitas, omne miseriarum agmen in Ecclesiam invehitur. Hinc tam frequens simonia, hinc ortae querelae, fraudes, imposturae, ab hoc fonte se derivârunt omnes nequitiae. Ne quid obiter dicam de ambitione, Adulatione plusquam aulicâ, &c. Hinc ille squalor Academicus, tristes hac tempestate Camenae, quum quivis homunculus artium ignarus, his artibus assurgat, hunc in modum promoveatur & diteseat, ambitiosis appellationibus insignis, & multis dignitatibus augustus vulgi oculos perstringat, benè se habeat, & grandia gradiens maiestatem quandam ac amplitudinem prae se serens, miram (que) sollicitudinem, barbâ reverendus, togâ nitidus [Page 189] purpurâ coruscus, & famulorum numero maximè conspicuus. Quales statuae (quod ait Budeus de Asse lib. 5. ille) quae sacris in aedibus co- [...] lumnis imponuntur, velùt oneri cedentes videntur, acsi insudarent, quum revera sensu sint carentes, & nihil saxeam adiuvent firmitatem: Atlantes h videri volunt, quum sint statuae lapideae, fungi forsan & bardi, nihil à saxo differentes. Quum interim docti viri & vitae sanctioris ornamentis praediti, his iniquâ sorte serviant, puris nominibus nuncupati, humiles, obscuri, multo (que) digniores licet, egentes, inhonorati vitam privam privatam agant, tenui (que) sepulti sacerdotio, vel in collegiis suis in aeternùm incarcerati, ingloriè delitescant. Sed nolo diutius hanc movere sentinam, hinc illae lachrymae, lugubris musarum habitus, abjectum (at (que) haec vbi siunt, ausum dicere, & putidum Campian. putidi dicterium de clero vsurpate) Patidum vulgus, inops, rude, sordidum, melancholicum, miserum, despicabile, contemnendum.
MEMB. 4.
SVBSEC. 1. Non-necessary, remote, outward, adventitious or accidentall causes: as first from the Nurse.
OF those remote, outward, ambient, Necessary causes I haue sufficiently discoursed in the precedent member the Non-necessary follow, of which, saith Proem. lib. 2. nulla ars constitui potest. Fuchsius, no art can be made, by reason of their vncertainty, casualty, and multitude; so called not necessary, because according to Lib. 1. cap. 19 de morborum causis. Quas declinare licet aut nulla necessitate vtimur. Fernelius they may be avoided, and vsed without necessity. Many of these Accidentall causes, which I shall intreat of here, might haue well beene reduced to the former, because they cannot be avoided, but fatally happen to vs though accidentally, and at vnawares, at some time or other: the rest are contingent and inevitable, and more properly inserted in this rancke of causes. To reckon vp all is a thing vnpossible, of some therefore of the most remarkable, of these contingent causes which produce Melancholy, I will briefly speake and in their order.
[Page 190] From a childs Nativity, the first ill accident that can likely befall him in this kinde is a bad Nurse, by whose meanes alone, he may be tainted with this Quo semel est imbusa recens servah [...]t odo [...]em Tesia diu. Hor. malady from his cradle. Aulus Gellius lib, 12. cap. 1. brings in Phauorinus that eloquent Philosopher, proving this at large, Sicut valet ad fingendas corporis at (que) animi similitudines vis & natura seminis, sic quo (que) lactis proprietas. Ne (que) id in hominibus solum, sed in pecudibus animadversum Nam si ovium lacte haedi aut caprarum agni alerentur constat fieri in his lanam duriorem in illis capillum gigni severiorem that there is the same vertue and property in the milke as in the seed, and not in men alone but in all other creatures: he giues instance in a Kid and Lamb, if either of them sucke of the others milke, the Lamb of the Goats, or the Kid of the Ewes, the wooll of the one will bee hard, the haire of the other soft. Giraldus Cambrensis Itinerar. Cambriae. lib. 1. cap. 2. confirmes this by a notable example which happened in his time. A sow pigge by chance sucked a Brach, and when she was growne, Adulta in ferarum persequutione ad miraculum vs (que) sagax. would miraculously hunt all manner of Deere, and that as well or rather better then any ordinary hound. His conclusion is, Tam animal quodlibet quam homo ab illa cuius lacte nutritur naturam cō trabit. that Men and Beast [...] participate of her nature and conditions, by whose milke they are fed. Phauorinus vrgeth it farther and demonstrats it more evedently, that if a Nurse be Improba informis impudica tem de it [...] nutiix &c. quoniamin morib us essormandis magnun sepe partem agenium altricis & natura lactis tenet. mishapen, vnchast, vnhonest impudent, drunke , Hircanae (que) admorunt vbera Tigres. Virg. cruell, or the like, the child that sucks vpon her breast will be so too; and all other affections of the mind and diseases almost are ingraffed, as it were, and imprinted into the temperature of the Infant, by the Nurses milk; as Pox, Leprosie, Melancholy, &c. Cato for that reason would make his servants children sucke vpon his wiues breast, because by that meanes they would loue him and his the better, and in al likelyhood agree with them. A more evident example that the minds are altered by milke, cannot be giuen then that of Dion which Lib. 2. le Caesaribus. he relates of Caligulas cruelty, it could neither be imputed to father or mother, but to his Nurse alone, that anointed her paps with blood still, which made him such a murderer, and to expresse her to a haire. And that of Tiberius who was a common drunkard, because his Nurse was such a one. Et si delira fuerit ( Beda cap. 27. lib. 1. Eccles. hist. one obserues) infantulum delirū faciet, if she be a foole or dolt, her child shee nurseth will take after [Page 191] her, or otherwise be misaffected; Which Franciscus Barbarus lib. 2. cap. vlt. de re vxoriâ, proues at full; and Ant. Guiuarra lib. 2. de Marco Aurelio. The child will surely participate. For bodily sicknesse there is no doubt to be made. Titus, Vespatianus son was therefore sickly because his Nurse was so, Lampridius. And if we may beleeue Physitions, many times children catch the pox from a good Nurse. Botaldus c. 61. de lue vener. Ne insitivo lactis alimento degeneret corpus & animus corrumpatur. for these causes Phauorinus, and Marcus Aurelius would not haue a child put to nurse at al, but every mother to bring vp her own, of what condition soever she be. Which some women most curiously obserue, & amongst the rest, Stephanus. that Queene of France a Spaniard by birth, that was so precise and zelous in this behalfe, that when in her absence a strange Nurse by chance had suckled her child, she was never quiet till she had made the infant vomit it vp againe. But she was too iealous, if it be so, as many times it is, they must be put forth, I would then advise such mothers as To 2. Nutrices non quasvis, sed maxime probas deligamus. Plutarch doth in his booke de liberis educandis, and Nutrix non fit lasciva aut temulenta. Hier. S. Hierome lib. 2. epist. 27. Laetae, de institut. fil. Magninus part. 2. Reg. sanit. cap. 7. that they make choice of a sound woman, of a good complection, honest, and free from diseases, if it be possible, & all passions and perturbations of the mind, as sorrow, feare, griefe, Prohibendum ne stolida lactet. folly, melancholy. For such passions corrupt the milk and alter the temperature of the child, which now being Pers. Vdum & molle lutum, is easily seasoned and perverted. And if such a Nurse may be found out, let Phauorinus and M. Aurelius plead how they can against it, I had rather accept of her then the mother her selfe. For why may not the mother be a whore, a peevish drunken flurt, a waspish cholerick slut, a crased peece, a foole (as many mothers are) as soone as the Nurse? There is more choice of Nurses then Mothers; and therefore except the mother bee most vertuous, staid, & a woman of excellent good parts, & of a sound cōplection, I would haue all children in such cases committed to strangers. And t'is the only way; as by marriages they are engrafted to other families to alter the breed, or if any thing bee amisse [Page 192] in the mother as Lodovicus Mercatus contends, Tom. 2 lib. de morb. haered. to prevent diseases and future maladies, to correct and qualifie the childs ill disposed temperature, which he had from his parents. This is an excellent remedy, if good choice be made of such a Nurse.
SVBSEC. 2. Education a cause of Melancholy.
EDucation of these accidentall causes of melancholy, may iustly challenge the next place: for if a man escape a bad Nurse, he may be vndone by evill bringing vp. Lib. de morbis capitis cap. de mania. haud postrema causa supputatur educatio inter has mentis abalienationis causas. Injusta noverca. Iason Pratensis, puts this of Education for a principall cause, bad parents, step-mothers, Tutors, Masters, Teachers, too rigorous and too severe, or too remisse or indulgent on the other side, are often fountaines and furtherers of this disease. Parents and such as haue the tuition and oversight of children, offend many times in that they are too sterne, alway threatning, chiding, brawling, whipping, or striking; by meanes of which their poore children are so disheartned & cowed that they never after haue any courage, or a merry houre in their liues, or take pleasure in any thing. There is a great moderation to be had in such things, as matters of so great moment, to the making or marring of a child. Some fright their children with beggars, bugbeares, and hobgoblins if they cry, or be otherwise vnruly, but they are much too blame in it, many times saith Lavater de spectris, part. 1. cap. 5. ex metu in morbos graves incidunt, & noctu dormientes clamant, for feare they fall into many diseases, and cry out in their sleep, and are much the worse for it all their liues: these things ought not at all, or to be sparingly done, and vpon iust occasion. Tyrannicall, impatient, harebraine Schoolemasters, are in this kind as bad as hangmen and executioners, they make many children endure a martyrdome all the while they are at Schoole, with bad diet, if they boord in their houses, and too [Page 193] much severity and ill vsage, they quite pervert their temperature of body and mind: still chiding, railing, frowning, lashing, tasking, keeping, that they are fracti animis moped many times, and aweary of their liues, and thinke no slavery in the world (as once I did my selfe) like to that of a grammer Scholler. S. Austin in his first booke of his confess. and 4. c. calls this schooling meticulosam necessitatem, And elsewhere a martyrdome, and confesseth of himselfe, how cruelly he was tortured in mind for learning Greeke, nulla verba noveram, & saevis terroribus & paenis, vt nossem instabatur mihi vehementer, I knew nothing and with cruel terrors and punishments I was dayly compeld. Praefat. ad Testam. Beza complaines in like case of a rigorous Schoolmaster in Paris, that made him by his continuall thundering and threats, once in a mind to drowne himselfe, had he not met by the way with an vncle of his that vindicated him from that misery for the time, by taking of him to his house. Trincavellius Lib. 1. consil. 16. had a patient 19 yeares of age extreamely melancholy, ob nimium studium Tarvitij & praeceptoris minas, by reason of overmuch study, and his Tutors threats. Many masters a [...]e hard hearted and bitter to their servants, and by that meanes doe so much deiect them, and with terrible speeches and hard vsage so crucifie them, that they become desperate, and can never be recalled.
Others againe in that other extreame doe as much harme by their too much remisnesse, their servants, children, schollers, are carried away with that streame of drunkennes, Idlenesse, gaming, and many such irregular courses, that in the end they rue it, curse their parents, and mischiefe themselues. Too much indulgence causeth the like, many fond mothers especially, dote so much vpon their children like Aesops ape, till in the end they crush them to death. Corporum nutrices animarum novercae, pampering vp their bodies to the vndoing of their soules: they will not let them bee Prov. 13.24. Hee that spareth the rod hates his son. correct ed or controled, but still soothed vp in every thing they doe, that in conclusion, they become headstrong, i [...]corrigible & gracelesse; [Page 194] They loue them so foolishly, saith Lib. 2. de consol. Tam stulte pueros diligimus vt odi [...]se potius videamur, illos non ad virtutem sed ad iniuriam non ad eruditionem sed ad luxum, non ad vitam sed voluptatem educates Cardan, that they rather seeme to hate them, bringing them vp not to vertue but iniury, not to learning but riot, not to sober life and conversation, but to all pleasure and licentious behaviour. Who is hee [...]f so little experience that knowes not that of Fabius to bee true, that Lib. 1. cap. 3 educatio altera natura alterat animos & voluntatem at (que) utinam inquit liberorum nostrorum mores non ipsi perderemus, quum infantiam statim delitijs solvimus, mollior [...]sta educatio, quam indulgentiam vocamus nervos omnes, & mentis & corporis frangit, fit ex his consuetudo, inde natura. Education is another nature altering the mind and will, and I would to God (saith hee) we our selues did not spo [...]le our childrens manners, by our overmuch cockering and nice education, and weaken the strength of their bodies and mindes; that causeth custome, custome nature, &c. And for these causes Plutarch in his booke de lib. educ. and Hierom epist. lib. 2 epist. 17. to Laeta de institut. filiae, giues a most especiall charge to al parents, and many good cautions about the bringing vp of children, that they be not committed to vndiscreet, passionate, bedlā tutors, light, giddy headed, or covetous persons, and spare for no cost, that they may bee well nurtured and taught, it being a matter of so great consequence. For such parents as doe otherwise, Plutarch esteemes like them that are more carefull of their shooes then of their feet, that rate their wealth aboue their children. And he, saith Cardan, that leaues his son to a covetous Schoolmaster to be informed, or to a close Abby to fast and learne wisdome together, Perinde agit ac siqui [...] de calceo sit so licitus, pedem nihil curet. Iuven, Nil patri minus est quam filius. doth no other, the [...] that he be a learned foole, Lib 3. desapient, qui avaris paedagogis pueros alendos dant, vel clausos in caenobus ieiunare simul & sapere, ni [...]il aliudagunt, nisi vt sint vel non sine stulissia eruditi, vel integrâ vitâ sapientes. or a sickly wise man.
SVBSECT. 3. Terrors and affrights causes of melancholy.
TVlly in the 4. of his Tusculanes, distinguisheth these terrors which arise from the apprehension of some terrible obiect heard or seene, from all other feares, & so doth Patritius lib. 5. Tit. 4. de regis institut.: and of all feares they are [Page 193] most pernitious and violent, and so suddainely alter the whole temperature of the body, moue the soule and spirits, & strike such a deepe impression, that the parties can never bee recovered, causing a more grievous and fiercer melancholy, as Faelix Plater, cap. 3. de mentis alienat. Terror & metus maximè ex improviso accidentes. ita animum commovet, vt spiritus nunquam recuperet, graviorem (que) melancholiam terror facit, quam quae ab internae causa fit. Impressio tam fortis in spiritibus humoribus (que) cerebri, vt extractâ tota sanguineâ massa, egrè exp [...]imatur. Et haec horrenda species melancholie frequentèr oblata mihi omnes exercens viros, iuvenes, senes. speaks out of his experience, then any inward cause whatsoeuer: and imprints it selfe so forcibly in the spirits, braine, humors, that if all the masse of blood were let out of the body, it could hardly be extracted. This horrible kind of melancholy (for he so termes it) had bin often brought before him, and troubles and affrights commonly men and women, yong and old, of all sorts. This Terror is most vsually caused, Lib. de fort. & virt-Alex. praesertim ineunte periculo vbires quippe adsunt terribiles. as Plutarch will haue, from some imminent danger, when some terrible obiect is at hand, heard, or seen, or conceiued, Fit a visione horrenda, revera apparente, vel per insomnia. Platerus. truly appearing, or in a A Painters wife in Basil 1600. Somniavit filium bello mortuum, inde melancholica consolari noluit. dreame: and many times the more sudden the Accident, it is the more violent. Arthemedorus the Grammarian lost his wits by the sudden sight of a Crocodile, Laurentius cap. 7. de melan. The Quarta pars comment de Statu religionis in Gallia sub Carolo 9 [...] 1572. Massacre at Lions 1572. in the raigne of Charles 9. was so terrible and fearefull, that many ran mad, some died, great-bellied womē were brought to bed before their time, and generally all affrighted and agast. Many lose their wits Ex occursu daemonum aliqui furore corripiuntur, & experientiâ notum est. by the sudden sight of some spectrum or divell, a thing very common in all ages. Lavater. part. 1. cap, 9. or if they be but affrighted by some counterfait divels in iest, they are the worse for it all their liues: Some by sudden fires, earthquakes, inundations, or any such dis [...]all obiects. Themison the Physitian fell into an Hydrophobia, by seeing one sick of that disease, Dioscorides lib. 6. cap. 33. or by the sight of a m [...]nster, a carcase, they are disquieted many moneths after, and cannot endure that roome where a coarse hath bin, or for a world would not be alone with a dead man, or lye in that bed many moneths after, [Page 194] [...] [Page 193] [...] [Page 194] where a man had died. At Puellae extra urbem in prata excurrentes &c. mesta & melancholica domum redijt per dies aliquot vexata, dum mortua est. Plater. Basil a many of little children in the Spring-time, went to gather flowres in a meddow, and at the townes end, where a malefactor hung in gibbets, all gazing at it, one by chance flung a stone, and made it stir, by which accident, all the children affrighted, ran away; one slower then the rest, looking back, and seeing the stirred carcase wag towards her, cried out it came after her, and was so terribly affrigted, that for many dayes she could not be pacified, but melancholy, died Altera trans-Rhenana ingressa sepulchrum recens apertum, vidit cadaver, & domum subitò reversa, putavit eam vocare, post paucos dies obijt, proximo sepulchrocollocata. Altera patibulū serò praeteriens, metuebat ne vrhe exclusâ illic pernoctaret vnde melancholica facta per multos annos laboravit. Platerus. In the same towne another child beyond the Rhine, saw a graue opened, and vpon the sight of the carcase, was so troubled in mind, that she could not be comforted, but a little after died, and was buried by i [...] Platerus observat. lib. 1. A Gentlewoman of the same City saw a fat hogge cut vp, and when the intrals were opened, and a noysome savor offēded her nose, she much misliked, & would no longer abide: a Physitian in presence, told her, that as that hog was, so was she, full of filthy excrements, and aggravated the matter by some other lothsome instances, in so much, that this nice Gentlewoman apprehended it so deeply, that she fel instantly a-vomiting, and was much distempered in mind & body, that with all his Art & perswasions, for some moneths after, he could not restore her to her self, she could not forget it, or remoue the obiect out of her sight, Idem. Many cannot endure to see a wound opened, but they are sick, or a man executed, or sick of any fearefull disease, as possession, Apoplexies, bewitched: Subitus occursus inopinata lectio. or if they read by chance of some terrible thing, they are as much disquieted, as if they had seen it. Hecates sibi videntur somniare, they dreame of it, & cōtinually think of it. As lamētable effects are caused by such terrible obiects heard, as seen, auditus maximos motus in corpore facit, & ánimo, & nullus sensus tot alienationes facit, as Lib de auditione. Plutarch holds, no sence makes greater alteration of body and mind: let thē beare witnes that haue heard those Tragical allarums, outcries, hideous noises, which are many times suddenly heard in the dead of the night by irruption of enemies, accidentall fires &c. those Effuso cernens fugientes agmine turmas, quis mea nunc instat cornua Faunus ait. Alciat. embl. 122 panick feares, which often driue men [Page 195] out of their wits, bereaue them of sence, vnderstanding & all, some for a time, some for all their liues, they never recover it. The Iudg. 6.19. Midianites were so affrighted by Gideons souldiers, they breaking but every one a pitcher; and Plutarchus vita e [...]us. Hannibals army by such a panick feare, discomfited at the wals of Rome. Augusta Livia hearing a few Tragícall verses recited out of Virgil, Tu Marcellus eris &c. fell down dead in a sown. Edinus King of Denmarke, by a sudden sound which he heard, In furorem cum socijs versus. was turned into fury with all his men. Cranzius lib. 5. dan. hist. & Alexander ab Alexandro lib. 3. cap. 5. Amatus Lusitanus had a patient, that by reason of bad tydings became, Epilepticus cent. 2. cura 90. & Cardan subtil. lib. 18. saw one that lost his wits by mistaking of an Eccho. If one sence alone can cause such violent commotions of the mind, what may we think when hearing, sight, and those other sences are all troubled at once? as by some earthquakes, thunder, lightning, tempests &c. At Historica relatio de rebus Iaponicu Tract. 2. de legat. regis Chinensis à Lodovico Frois Iesuita, A o 1596. Fuscini derepentè tanta aeris caligo, & terraemotus, vt multi capite dolerent plurimus cor maerore & melancholiâ obrueretur. tantum fremitum edebat, vt tonitru fragorem imitari videretur, tantam (que) &c. In vrbe Secai tam horrificus fuit, vt homines vix sui compotes essent, à sensibus abalienati, maerore oppressi tam horrendo spectaculo. &c. Fuscinum in Iapona there was such an earthquake, and darknes of a sudden, that many men were offended with head-ache; many overwhelmed with sorrow and melancholy. At Meacum whole streets and goodly palaces were ouerturned at the same time, and there was such an hideous noyse withall like thunder, & a filthy smell, that their haire stared for feare, and their hearts quaked, men and beasts were incredibly terrified. In Sacai another city, the same earthquake was so terrible vnto them, that many were bereft of their sences; & others by that horrible spectacle so much amased, that they knew not what they did. Blasius a Christian, the Reporter of the newes, was so affrighted for his part, that though it were two moneths after, he was scarce his own man, neither could he driue the remembrance of it out of his mind. And many times euen some yeares after, they will tremble afresh at the Quum subit illius tristissima noctis Imago. remembrance or conceipt of such a terrible obiect, euen all their liues long, if mention be made of it. Cornelius Agrippa relates out of Gulielmus Parisiensis, a story of one, that after a distantfull purge which a Physitian had prescribed to him, was so much moued, Qui solo aspectu medicinae movebatur ad purgandum. that at the very sight of Physick he would be distempered, [Page 196] as much at the pres [...], though he never so much as smelled to it, the very sight of Physick long after, would giue him a purge; nay the very remembrance of it would effect it: Sicut viatores si ad saxum impegerint, aut nautae memores sui casus non ista modo quae offendunt, sed & similia horrent perpetuò & tremunt. like travellers and Seamen, saith Plutarch, that when they haue bin sanded or dashed on a rocke, for euer after feare not that mischance onely, but all such dangers whatsoeuer.
SVBSECT. 4. Scoffes, Calumnies, bitter Iests, how they cause Melancholy.
IT is an old saying, Leviter volant, graviter vulnerant Bernarde. A blow with a word, strikes deeper then a blow with a sword: and many men are as much gauled with a calumny, Ensis sauciat corpus, mentem sermo. scurrile & bitter iest, a libel, a pasquill, or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoeuer. Princes and Potentates, that are otherwise happy, and haue all at command, are grievously vexed with these pasquilling libels, and Satyrs: the Caesars themselues in Rome, were commonly taunted. Adrian the sixt Pope, Iovius in vita eius, gravissimè tulebat famosis libellis nomen suum ad Pasquilli statuam fuisse laceratum, decrevit (que) ideo statuam demoliri &c. was so highly offended, and grievously vexed with Pasquillers at Rome, that he gaue command that statue should be demolished and burned, and the ashes flung into the riuer of Tyber, and had done it forthwith, had not Lodovicus Suessanus a facete companion, disswaded him to the contrary, by telling him, that Pasquils ashes would turne to frogs in the bottome of the riuer, and croake worse and lowder then before. The Prophet David replies, Psal. 123.4. that his soule was full of the mocking of the wealthy, and of the despitefulnesse of the proud, and Psal. 55.4. for the voice of the wicked &c. and their hate, his heart trembled within him, and the terrors of death came vpon him. Feare and horrible feare &c. and Psal. 69.20. Rebuke hath broken mine heart, and I am full of heavinesse. Who hath not like cause to complain, & is not so troubled, that shal fall into the mouths of such men? for many are of so Petulanti splene cachinno. petulant a spleene, and [Page 197] haue that figure Sarcasmus so often in their mouths, so bitter, so foolish, as Curial. lib. 2. Ea quorundam est inscitia, vt quoties loqui toties mordere licere sibi putent. Baltasar Castilio notes of them, that they cannot speake, but they must bite, they had rather lose a friend then a iest, and what company soeuer they come in, they will be scoffing, humoring, misusing or putting gulleries of some or other, till they haue made by their humoring and gulling, Ter. enuch. ex stulto insanum: and all to make themselues merry. To make a foole a madman is all their sport, and they haue no other felicity then to scoffe and deride others; they must sacrifize to the god of laughter, with them in Lib. 2. Apuleius once aday, or els they shal be melancholy themselues, they care not how they grinde and misuse others, so they may exhilerate themselues. Leo Decimus that scoffing Pope, as Iovius hath registred in the 4. book of his life, took an extraordinary delight in humoring of silly fellowes, and to put gulleries vpon them, Laudando & mira ijs persuadendo. by commending some, perswading others to this or that; he made ex stolidis stultissimos, & maximè ridiculos, ex stultis insanos: he made soft fellowes starke noddies, and such as were foolish, quite mad before he left them. One memorable example he recites there of Tarascomus of Parma a Musitian, that was so humoured by Leo Decimus, and Bibiena his second in that busines, that he thought himself to be a man of most excellent skill, (who was indeed a ninny) they a made him set foolish songs, and invent new ridiculous precepts, which they did highly commend, as to tye his arme that plaid on the lute, to make him strike a sweeter stroke, Et vanâ instatus opinione, incredibilia ac ridenda quaedam Musices praecepta commentaretur &c. and to pull downe the Arras hangings, because the voice would be clearer, by reason of the reverberation of the wall. In like manner they persuaded one Baraballius of Caieta, that he was as good a Poët as Petrarch, and would haue him to be made a Laureat Poët, Vt voces nudis parietibus illisae suavius ac acutius resilirent. & invite all his friends to his installment, and had so possessed the poore man with a conceipt of his excellent poëtry, that when some of his more discreet friends told him of his folly, he was very angry with them, and told them, Immortalitati & gloriae suae prorsus invidentes. they envied his honour and prosperity. It was strange, saith Iovius, to see an old man of 60 yeares, a venerable and graue old man, so gulled. [Page 198] But what cannot such scoffers do, especially if they find a soft creature on whom they may worke: nay to say truth, who is so wise, or so discreet, that may not be humoured in this kind, especially if some excellent wits shall set vpon him; he that maddes others, if he were so humoured, would be as mad himselfe, as much grieued and tormented. For all is in these things as they are taken, if he be a silly soule, and do not perceiue it, it is wel, he may hapily make others sport, & be no whit trobled himself; but if he be apprehensiue of his folly, & take it to hart, thē it torments him worse thē any lash: a bitter jest, a slander, a calumny pierceth deeper then any losse, danger, bodily pain, or iniury whatsoeuer. Especially if it shall proceed from a virulent tongue, it cuts, saith Dauid, like a two edged sword. And they smote with their tongues, Ier. 18.18. and that so hard, that they leaue an incurable wound behind them. Many men are vndone by this means, moped, and so deiected, that they are neuer to be recovered; and of all other men living, those which are actually melancholy, or inclined to it, are most sensible (as being suspitious, cholerick, and apt to mistake) and impatient of an iniury in that kind, they aggravate it, and so meditate continually of it, that it is a perpetuall corsiue, not to be recovered, till time weare it out. And although they peradventure that so scoffe, doe it alone in mirth and merriment, and hold it, optimum alienâ frui insanià, an excellent thing to inioy another mans madnes; yet they must know, that it is a mortall sin, as 2.2. d ae quaest. 75. Irrisio mortale peccatum. Thomas holds, and as the Prophet Psal. 15.3. David denounceth, they that vse it, shall never dwell in Gods Tabernacle. Such scurrile iests, flouts, and Sarcasmes, therefore ought not at all to be vsed; especially to such as are in misery, or any way distressed: for to such arumnarum incrementa sunt, as Balthasar Castilio lib. 2. de aulico. he perceiued. In multis pudor, in multis iracundia &c. many are ashamed, many vexed, and angred, and there is no greater cause or furtherer of melancholy. For that cause, al those that otherwise approue of jests in some cases, will by no means admit them in their companies, that are any way inclined to this malady, non iocandum [Page 199] cum ijs qui miseri sunt & aerumnosi, no iesting with a discontented person. T'is Castilio's caveat, and De sermone lib. 4. cap. 3. Io. Pontanus, and Fol. 55. Galateus. Galateus, and eve [...]y good mans.
If a man be liable to such a iest, or obloquy, or haue bin overseen, or committed an offence: yet it is no good manners or humanity, to vpbraid or hit him in the teeth with his offence, or to scoffe at such a man, such iests as he Tales ioci ab iniurijs non possint descerni. Galateus fol. 55. saith, are no better then iniuries, byting iests, mordentes & aculeati, they are poysoned iests, and leaue a sting behind them, and ought not to be vsed.
And if these rules could be kept, we should haue much more ease and quietnes, then we haue, and lesse melancholy: whereas on the contrary, we study to misuse each other, how to sting and gaul, like two bores, bending all our force and wit, friends meanes, to crucify one anothers soules; by meanes of which, there is little content and charity, much virulency, hatred, malice, and disquietnes amongst vs.
SVBSECT. 5. Losse of liberty, servitude, imprisonment, how they cause melancholy.
TO this Catalogue of causes, I may well annexe losse of liberty, servitude, or imprisonment, which to some persons is as great a torture as any of the rest. Though they haue all things convenient, sumptuous houses to their vse, faire walkes and gardens, delicious boures, galleries, good fare & diet, and all things correspondent: yet they are not content, because they are confined, & may not come and goe at their [Page 200] pleasure, and haue, and doe what they will, but liue Miserum est alienâ vivere quadrá. Iuv. alienâ quadrá, at another mans command. As it is Crambe bis cocta. in meates, so is it in all other things, places, societies, sports, let them be neuer so pleasant, commodious, wholesome, so good, yet omnium rerum est satiestas. The children of Israell were tired with Manna, it is irksome to them so to liue, as to a bird in a cage, or dog in his kennell, they are awoary of it. They are happy it is true, and haue all things to another mans iudgment, that heart can wish, or that they themselues can desire, bona si sua nôrint: yet they loath it, and are tired with the present: Est natura hominū novitatis avida, mans nature is stil desirous of newes, variety, delights, and our wandring affections are so irregular in this kind, that they must change, though it be to the worst. Bachelors must be married, & married men would be Bachelors; they doe not loue their own wiues, though otherwise faire, wise, vertuous and well qualified, because they are theirs: our present estate is still the worst, we cannot endure one course of life long, & quod modo vouerat odit, one calling long, esse in honore iuvat, mox displicet, one place long; Hor. Romae Tybur amo ventosus, Tybure Romam, that which we earnestly sought, we now contemne. Hoc quosdam agit ad mortem (saith De Tranquill. animae. Seneca) quod proposita saepè mutando in eadem revoluntur, & non relinquunt novitati locum, Fast idio caepit esse vita, & ipsus mundus, & subit illud rapidissimarum deliciarum, Quous (que) eadem? This alone kils many a man, that they are tied to the same still, as a horse in a mill, a dog in a wheele, they run round without alteration or newes, their life growes odious, and the world loathsome, and that which crosseth their furious delights, What? still the same? Marcus Aurelius and Salomon, that had experience of all worldly delights and pleasures, confessed as much of themselues, that what they most desired, was lothsome at the last, and that their lust could never be satisfied, all was vanity and affliction of mind.
Now if it be death it self, another Hell, to be glutted with one kind of sport, dieted with one dish, tied to one place, [Page 201] though they haue all things otherwise as they can desire, and are in heauen to another mans opinion, what misery and discontent shall they haue that liue in slauery or in prison it self Quod tristius morte, in servitute vivendum, as Hermolaus, told Alexander in Lib. 8. Curtius worse then death is bondage. Boterus lib. 1. polit. cap. 4. Equidem ego is sum qui servitutem extremum omnium malorum esse arbitror: I am he saith Boterus. lib. 1. polit. cap. 4. Boterus that accompt servitude the extremity of misery. And what misery doe they endure that liue vnder those hard task-masters, in gold-mines, tin-mines, lead-mines, stone-quarries, cole-pits, like so many mouldewarpes vnder ground, condemned to the gallies, to perpetual drudgery, hunger, thirst, and stripes, without all hope of deliuery? How are these womē in Turkie affected, that most part of the yeare come not abroad, and those Italian and Spanish dames that are mewed vp like hawkes, & locked vp by their jelous husbands? how tedious is it to them that liue in stoues and caues halfe a yeare together; as in Island, Muscovy, or vnder the If there be any inhabitants Pole it selfe, where they haue six moneths perpetuall night. Nay, what misery and discontent doe they endure, that are in prison, they want all those six non-naturall things at once, good aire, good diet, exercise, company, sleep, rest, ease, &c. that are bound in chaines all day long, suffer hunger, and as In Toxari. Interdiu quidem collum vinctum est, & manus constricta, noctuvero totum corpus vincitur, ad has miserias accedit corporis faetor, strepitus eiulantium, somni brevitas, haec omnia planè molesta & intolerabilia. Lucian describes it, must abide that filthy stink and ratling of chaines, howlings, pitifull out-cryes that prisoners vsually make; these things are not only troublesome, but intollerable. They lye nastily amongst todes and frogs in a darke dungeon, in their own dung, in pain of body, in pain of soule: as Ioseph did. Psal. 105.18. they hurt his feet in the stocks, the iron entred his soule. They liue solitary alone, sequestred from all company, but heart-eating melancholy, and for want of meat, must prey vpon themselues. Well might In 9. Rhasis. Arculanus put long imprisonment for a cause, especially to such that haue liued Iovially, in all sensuality and lust, and vpon a sudden are estranged and debarred from all manner of pleasures: As Huniades and Richard the second, Valerian the Emperor, Baiazet the Turke. If it be irksome to misse our ordinary cō paniōs [Page 202] and repast for once or an howre, what shall it be to lose them for euer? If it be so great a delight to liue at liberty, and to inioy that variety of obiects the world affords, what misery and discontent must it needs bring to him that shall now be cast headlong into that Spanish inquisition, to fall from Heauen to hell, to be cubbed vp vpon a sudden, how shall he be perplexed? what shall become of him? William the Conquerors eldest sonne. Robert, Duke of Normandy, being imprisoned by his elder brother Henry the first, ab illo die inconsolabili dolore in carcere contabuit, saith Mathew Paris: From that day forward pined away with grief. Camden in Wiltsh. miserum senem ita fame & calamitatibus in carcere fregit inter mortis metum, & vitae tormenta &c. Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the second man from king Stephen, he that built that famous castle of Deuises in Wiltshire, was so tortured in prison with hunger, and all those calamities accompanying such men, Seneca. vt vivere noluerit, mori nescierit, he would not liue, and could not dye, betwixt feare of death, and torments of life. Francis King of France, Vies hodie. was taken prisoner by Charles the 5th, ad mortem ferè melancholicus, saith Guicciardine, melancholy almost to death, and that in an instant. But this is as cleare as the Sun, and needs no farther illustration.
SVBSEC. 6. Pouerty and Want causes of Melancholy.
POverty and Want are so violent oppugners, so vnwelcome guests, so much abhorred of all men, that I may not omit to speak of thē apart. Poverty although (if it be cō sidered aright to a wise, vnderstanding, truly regenerate and contented man) it be donum Dei, a blessed estate, the way to Heauen, as Com. ad Hebraeos. Chrysostome cals it, Gods gift, the mother of modesty, and much to be preferred before riches (as shall be shewed in his Part. 2. Sec. 3. Memb. 3. place) yet as it is esteemed in the worlds censure, t'is a most odious calling, vile and base, a severe torture, and most intolerable burden, we Quem vt difficilem morbum pueris traedere formidamus. Plutar. shunne it all cane petus & angue, as being the fountain of all other miseries, cares, woes, [Page 203] labours, and grievances whatsoever. To avoid which, we wil take any pains, extremos currit mercator ad Indos. We will leaue no hauen, no coast, no creek of the world vnsearched, though it be to the hazard of our liues, we will diue to the bottome of the Sea, to the bowels of the earth 100 fathome deep, and through all fiue Zones, and both extremes of heat and cold: we will turne parasites and slaues, prostitute our selues, sweare and lye, damne our bodies and soules, forsake God, abjure Religion, steale, rob, murder, rather then endure this vnsufferable yoke of poverty, which doth so tyrannize, crucify, and generally depresse vs.
For look into the world, and you shall see men generally esteemed according to their meanes, and happy as they are rich; In the vulgar opinion, if a man be wealthy, no matter how he gets it, of what parentage, how qualified, how vertuously endowed, or villainously inclined; let him be a bawde, a gripe, an vsurer, a villain, a Pagan, a Barbarian, a wretch, so that he be rich (and liberall withall) he shall be honored, admired, adored, reverenced, and highly Omnis enim res, virtus, fama, decus, divina humana (que) pulchris divitijs parent. Hor. Ser. l. 2. Sat, 3. Clarus erit fortis iustus, sapiens etiam rex. Et quicquid volet Hor. magnified. The rich is had in reputation because of his goods, Eccl. 10.31. He shall be befriended; for riches gather many friends, Prov, 19.4. multos numerabit amicos, all Et genus & formam regina pecunia donat: Mony addes spirits courage, &c. happines ebbes and flowes with his mony, he shall be accompted a gratious Lord, a Mecoenas, a benefactor, a wise, discreet, a proper, a valiant man, a fortunate man, of a generous spirit. Pullus Iovis & gallinae filius albae: a hopefull, a good man, a vertuous, honest man. Quando ego ie Iunonium puerum, & matris partum verè aureum, as Epist. vlt. ad Atticum. Tully said of Octavianus Augustus, while he was adopted Caesar, & an Our yong master, a fine towardly gentleman, God blesse him, and hopefull, why? he is heire apparent to the worshipfull, honorable &c. heire apparant of so great a Monarchy. All O nummi nummi vobis hunc praestat honorem. honour, offices, applause, grand titles, and turgent Epithets are put vpon him, omnes omnia bona dicere, all mens eyes are vpon him, God blesse his good worship, his honor; Exinde sapere eum omnes dicimus, ac quis (que) fortunam habet. Plautus Pseud. Every man speakes well of him, every man presents him, seeks and sues to him for his loue, favour, and protection, to serue him, belong vnto him, every man riseth to him, as to Themistocles in the Olympicks; if he speak as of Herod, Vox Dei, non hominis, [Page 204] the voice of God, and not of man: All the graces, Veneres, pleasures, elegances attend him, Aurea fortuna principum cubiculis reponi solita. Iulius Capitolinus vita Antonini. golden Fortune accompanies him, and lodgeth with him, & as to those Roman Emperours is placed in his chamber. — Securâ naviget aurà, fortunam (que) suo temperet arbitrio, he may saile as he will himselfe, and temper his estate at his pleasure, Ioviall dayes, splē dor and magnificence, Petronius. sweet Musick, dainty fare, the good things, and fat of the land, fine cloaths, and rich attires, soft beds, and fine pillowes a [...]e at his command, all the World labors for him, thousands of Artificers are his slaues, to drudge for him, work, and run and poast for him. Euery man seekes his Multi illum invenes, multae petiere puellae. acquaintance, his kinred, to match with him, vxorem ducat Danaen, when, and whom he will, hunc optant generum Rex & Regina, he is an excellent Dummodo sit dives barbarus ille placet. match for my sonne my daughter, my neece &c, Quicquid calcaverit hic, Rosa fiet, let him goe whether he will, all happines attends him, euery man is willing to entertain him, he sups in Plut in Lucullo. A rich chamber so called. Apollo wheresoever he comes; what preparation is made for his Panis pane melior. entertainment? fish and fowle, spices and perfumes, all that sea & land affords. What cookery, masking, mirth to exhilerate his person? Iuvenal. Sat. 5. Da Trebio, pone ad Trebium, vis frater ab illis Illibus? What dish will your good worship eat of? what sport will your honour haue? hawking, hunting, fishing, fowling, buls, beares, cards, dice, cocks, players, tumblers fidlers, jesters &c. they are at your good worships command. Faire houses, gardens, orchyards, Bohemus de Turcis & Bredenbach. galleries, pleasant walkes, delightsome places, they are at hand, in aureis lac, vinum in argenteis, adolescentulae ad nutum speciosae, a Turkie Paradise, Heauen vpon earth. And though he be a filly soft fellow, and scarce haue common sence, yet if he be borne to fortunes, as I haue said, Euphormio. iure haereditario sapere iubetur, he must be wise, Qui pecuniam habent ela [...] sunt animi: lofty spirits, brave men at armes, all rich men are generous, couragious. &c. valiant and discreet by inheritance, he must haue honor and office in his course. Nemo nisi dives honore dignus. Ambr [...]s. 2. offic. 21. none so worthy as himselfe: He shall haue it, at (que) esto quicquid Servius aut Labeo. It is not with vs, as amongst those Athenian Senators of Licurgus in Plutarch, he preferred that deserued [Page 205] best, and was most vertuous and worthy of the place, Non fuit apud mortales vllum excellentius certamen, non inter celeres celerrimo, non inter robustos robustissimo &c. not swiftnesse, or strength, or wealth, or friends carried it in those dayes; but inter optimos optimus, inter temperantes temperantissimus, the most temperate and best. We haue no Aristocraesie but in contemplation, all Oligarches, wherein a few rich men domineere, and doe what them list, and are priviledged by their greatnes. Quicquid libet licet. They may freely trespasse, and doe what they please, no man dare accuse them, no not so much as mutter against them, there is no notice taken of it, they may securely doe it, and liue after their own Lawes, and for their mony, get pardons, indulgences, redeem their souls from Purgatory and Hell, clausum possidet arca Iovem. Let them be Epicures, or Atheists, Libertines, Machiavilians (as often they are) if they wil themselues, they may be canonized for Saints, they shall be Cum moritur dives concurrunt vndi (que) cives: Pauperis ad funus vix est ex millibus vnus. honourably interred in Mausolean tombes, commended by Poets, registred in Histories, haue temples, and statues erected to their names, è manibus illis nascentur viola. If he be bountifull in his life, and liberall at his death, he shall haue one to sweare, as he did by Claudius the Emperour in Tacitus, he saw his soul go to Heauen, and be miserably lamented at his death. Ambubaiarum collegia &c. Trimalcionis Topanta in Petronius rectâ in coelum aebijt, went right to Heauen: a base queane, Et modo quid fuit ignoscat mihi Genius tuus, noluisses de manu e [...]es nummos accipere. thou wouldest haue scorned in thy misery to haue a penny from her, and why? modio nummos metijt, she measured her mony by the bushell. These prerogatiues doe not vsually belong to rich men, but to such as are most part seeming rich, let him haue but a good Hee that weares silke, sattin, velvet, & gold lace, must needes be a Gentleman. outside, he carries it, most men are esteemed according to their clo [...]hes. In our gullish times, him, whom you peradventure in modesty would giue place to, as being deceived by his habit, and presuming him some great worshipfull man, beleeue it, if you shall examine his estate, he will likely be proved a serving-man of no great note, my Ladies taylor, or his Lordships barber, or some such gull, a Fastidius Briske, a S r Petronell Flashe, a meere outside. Only this respect is giuen him, and wheresoever he comes, he may call for what he wil, [Page 206] and take place, by reason of his outward habit.
But on the contrary if he be poore Pro. 15.15. all his daye: are miserable, he is vnder hatches, dejected, rejected and forsaken, poore in purse, poore in spirit. Though he be honest, wise, learned, wel-deserving, noble by birth, and of excellent good parts: yet in that he is poore, he is contemned, neglected, In tenui rara est facundia panno. Inven. If he speake what babler is this? Nullum tam barbarum, tam vile munus est, quod non lubentissimè obire vetint gens vilissima Ecclus. his nobility without wealth, is Hor. proiectâ vitior algâ, and he not esteemed: nos viles pulli nati infelicibus ouis, if once poore, we are metamorphosed in an instant, base slaues, and vile drudges, borne to labour, to misery, to carry burdens, like juments, pistum stercum comedere with Vlysses companions, and as Chremilus obiected in Aristophanes, Plutus act. 4. salem lingere, lick salt, to empty jakes, fay channels, carry out durt & dunghils, sweep chimnies, rub horse heeles &c. Leo Afer cap. vlt. lib. 1. edunt non vt benè vivant, sed vt fortiter laborent. Hemsius. Others eat to liue, but they liue to drudge, footstooles for rich-men, to tread on, blocks for them to get on horseback on, Pauper paries factus, quem caniculae commingant. walls for them to pisse on, or as new grauel for dogs to scumer on. They are commonly such people, rude, silly, superstitious Idiots, nasty, vncleane, lowsy, poore, deiected, slauishly humble: and as Lib. 1. cap. vlt. Leo Afer obserues of the commonalty of Africke, naturâ viliores sunt, nec apud suos duces maiore in precio-quam si canes essent: Deos omnes illis infensos diceres tam pannosi fame fracti, tot assidue malis afficiuntur. base by nature, and no more esteemed then dogs, miseram, laboriosam, calamitosam vitam agunt, & inopem, infaelicem rudiores asinis, vt brutis planè natos dicas: no learning, no knowledge, no civility, scarce common sence, nought but barbarisme amongst them, belluino more vivunt, ne (que) calceos gestant ne (que) vestes, like roagues and vagabonds they goe barefoot and barelegged, Nihil omninò meliorem vitam decunt, quam ferae in siluis iumenta in terris. Leo Afer. leading a laborious, miserable, wretched, vnhappy life, like beasts and iuments, if not worse: their discourse is scurrility, their summum bonum, a pot of Ale. There is not any slauery which they will not vndergoe, Inter illos pleri (que) latrinas evacuant, alij culinariam curant, alij [...]st abularios agunt, & id gerus similia exercent &c. like those people that dwel in the Ortelius in Helvetiâ. Qui habitant in Caesia valle vt plurimum latomi, in Oscellâ valle cultorum fabri, sumarij in Vigetiâ, sordidum genu, hominum, quod repurgandis caminis victum parat. Alps, [Page 207] chimny-sweepers, Iakes-fermers, durt-daubers, vagrant rogues, they labour hard, and yet cannot get clothes to put on, or bread to eat. But what can poverty giue els, but I write not this any wayes to vpbraide or scosse at, or misuse poore men, but rather to condole and pity them by expressing &c. beggery, fulsome nastinesse, squalor, contempt, drudgery, labor, vglinesse; pediculorum & pulicum numerum? as Chremulus Act 4. Plaut. he wel followed it in Aristophanes, fleas and lice, pro pallio vestem laceram, & pro pulvari lapidem benè magnum ad caput, rags for his rayment, and a stone for his pillow, pro cathedrâ ruptae caput vrnae, he sits in a broken pitcher, or a block for a chaire, & malvae ramos pro panibus comedit, he drinks water, and liue's of wort leaues, pulse, like a hog, or scraps like a dog, vt nunc nobis vita afficitur, quis non putabit insaniam esse, infaelicitatem (que) as Cremulus concludes his speech, as we poore men liue now a-dayes, who will not take our life to be Paupertas durum onus miseris mortalibus. infelicity, misery, Vexat censura columbas. and madnes. If they be of little better condition then those hunger-starued beggars, wandring roagues, those ordinary slaues, and day-labouring drudges; yet they are commonly so preyed vpon by poling officers for breaking Lawes, by their tyrannising land-lords, so flead and fleeced by perpetuall Deux ace non possunt & six cinque soluer e nolunt: Omnibus est notum quater tre solu [...]re totum. exactions, that though they doe drudge and fare hard, and starue their Genius, they cannot liue in some Scādia, Africa, Lituana, Turciea &c. countries; but what they haue is instantly taken from them, the very care they take to liue to be drudges, to maintain their poore families, their trouble and anxiety takes away their sleepe, Eccle. 3.11. Sir. 31.1. makes them aweary of their liues: when they haue taken all pains, and doe their vtmost and honest indeavors, if they be cast behind by sicknes, or overtaken with yeares, no man pitties them, hard-hearted and mercilesse f vncharitable as they are, they leaue them so distressed, to beg, steale, murmure and Montaigne in his Essaies speakes of certaine Indians in France, that being asked how they liked the country, wondred how a few rich men could keep so many poore men in subiection, that they did not cut their throates. rebell. The feare of this misery compelled those old Romanes, whom Menenius Agrippa pacified, to resist their governors: outlawes & rebels in most places, to take vp seditious armes, and in all ages hath caused vproares, murmuring, seditions, rebellions, thefts, murders, mutinies, jarres and contentions in every common-wealth, grudging, repining, complaining, discontent in every private family, because [Page 208] they want means, to liue according to their callings, to bring vp their childrē, it breaks their hearts, they cannot doe as they would doe. No greater misery thē for a Lord to haue a Knights liuing, a Gentlemā a Yeomās, not to be able to liue according to his birth and place. Pouerty and want are generally corsiues to all kind of men, especially to such as haue bin in good and flourishing estate, & are suddenly distressed, Augustas animas animoso in pectore versant. The rest as they haue base fortune, so haue they base mindes withal, and they are not touched with it. nobly borne, liberally brought vp, and by some disaster and casualty, miserably deiected. And that which torments them more, if once they come to be poore, they are forsaken of their friends, most part neglected, & left vnto themselues. Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris, left cold and comfortlesse, nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes, all flye from him as from a rotten wall, now ready to fall on their heads. Pro 19.4. Poverty separates them from their Prov. 19.7. though he be instant, yet they will not. neighbours. And that which is worse yet, if he be poore Non est qui doleat vicem, vt Petrus Christum, iurant se hominem non novisse. every man contemnes him, insults over him, oppresseth him, aggravates his misery.
nay they are odious to their own brethren, and dearest friends. Prov. 19.7. his brethren hate him if he be poore. Hor. omnes vicini oderunt, his neighbors hate him, Prov. 14.20. Ter. Eunuchus act 2. sc. 2. omnes me noti ac ignoti deserunt, as he complained in the comedy, friends and strangers all forsake me. And that which is most grievous, poverty makes men ridiculous, nil habet infaelix paupertas durius in se, quam quod ridicvlos homines facit, they must endure Quid quod materiam praebet, causam (que) iocaendi. Si toga sordida sit. Iuven. Sat. 3. iests, taunts, flowts, blowes of their betters, & take all in good part to get a meales meat: Hor. magnum pauperies opprobrium iubet quidvis & facere & pati, he must turne parasite, j [...]ster, foole, slaue, and drudge to get a poore living, and be buffeted when he hath all done, as Vlysses was by Melanthius Odiss. 17. in Homer, and reviled, and must not so much as mutter against it. He must turne roague, villain; for as the saying is, Necessitas cogit ad turpia, poverty alone [Page 209] makes men theeues, roagues, rebels, murderers, traitors, assasinats, because of poverty we haue sinned, Eccles. 27.1. sweare & forsweare, beare false witnes, lye, dissemble, any thing, as I say, to advantage our selues, and to relieue our necessity. Mantuan. Culpae sceleris (que) magistra est, when a man is driuen to his shifts, what will he not doe? betray his father, Prince, and country, turne Turke, forsake Religion, abjure God and all. nulla tam horrenda proditio, quam illi lucri causâ perpetrare non ausint. De Africa lib. 1. cap. vlt. Leo Afer. It makes many an vpright man otherwise, had he not bin in want, to take bribes, to be corrupt, to doe against his conscience, to sell his tongue, heart, hand &c. and vse indirect meanes to help his present estate. A great temptation to all mischiefe, it compels some miserable wretches to counterfeit seuerall diseases, to dismember, make themselues blind, lame, to haue a more plausible cause to beg, and loose their limmes to recover their present wants [...] and that which is worst, it makes them through anguish and wearisomnesse of their liues, to make away themselues. They had rather be hanged, drowned &c. then to liue without means
Gaspar vilela Jesuita epist. Iapon. lib. In Iaponia t'is a common thing to stifle their children if they be poore, or to make an abort, which Aristotle commends. In that civill commonwealth of Mat. Riccius expedit. in Sinas lib. 1. cap. 3. China, the mother strangles her child, if she be not able to bring it vp, and had rather lose it, then sell it, or haue it endure such misery as poore men doe; Vel bonorum desperatione, vel malorū perpessione fracti & fatigati plures violentas manus sibi inferunt. many make away themselues. Apitius the Roman, when he cast vp his accompts, and found but 100000 Crownes left, murdred himselfe for feare he should be famished to death. P. Forestus in his medicinall observations, hath two memorable examples, of two brothers of Louain, that being destitute of meanes, became both melancholy, and in a discō tented [Page 210] humor massacred themselues. Another of a merchant, learned, wise otherwise and discreet, that out of a deep apprehension he had of a losse at Seas, would not be perswaded but as Hor. Ventidius in the Poët, he should die a beggar. In a word this much I may conclude of poore men, that though they haue good Ingenio poteram superas velitaire per árces, ut me plura leuat sic grave mergit onus. Alciat. parts, they cannot shew thē, or make vse of them: haud facilè emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat res angusta domi: the wisdome of the poore is despised, and his words are not heard. Eccles 9.16. Ter. amittunt consilium in re, as Gnatho said. Hor. Sat. 3. lib. 1. Sapiens crepidas sibi nunquam nec soleas fecit, a wise man never cobled shooes, as he said of old, but how doth he proue it? I am sure we find it otherwise in our dayes, Petronius. pruinosis horret facundia pannis. Herodotus vitae eius Scaliger in Poet. potentiorum aedes ostiatim adiens aliquid accipiebat canēs carmina sua concomitante eum puerorum choro. Homer himselfe must beg if he want meanes, and as by report he sometimes did goe from doore to doore, and sing ballads, with a company of boyes about him. This common misery of theirs must needs distract them, make them discontent and melancholy, as commonly they are, wayward, still murmuring and repining, ob inopiam morosi sunt, quibus est malè, as Plutarch quotes out of Euripides, & that comicall Poet well seconds.
if they be in adversity, they are more suspitious and apt to mistake, they thinke themselues scorned by reason of their misery: And therefore many generous spirits in such cases, withdraw themselues from all company. And it is not without cause, for we see men cōmonly respected to their means, and vilified if they be in bad clothes. Plutarch vita cius. Philopoemenus the orator was set to cut wood, because he was so homely attired. Vita Ter. Terentius was set at lower end of Cecilius table, because of his homely outside. And Gomesius lib. 3 cap. 21. de sale. Dantes that famous Italian Poët, because his clothes were but meane, could not be admitted to sit down at a Feast. Gnatho scorned his old familiar friend, because of his apparell. Ter. Enuch. Act. 2. Scen. 2. Hominem video pannis, annis (que) obsitum, hic ego illum contempsipraeme; He that hath [...] per annum comming in more then others, scornes him that hath lesse, and is a better man. Pro. 30.8. sc. 1. and t'is the common fashion [Page 211] of the world. That such men as are poore, may iustly be discontent, melancholy, and complain of their present misery, and all may pray with Prov. 30.8. Solomon, Giue me O Lord neither riches nor poverty, feed me with food convenient for me.
SVBSECT. 7. An heape of other Accidents causing melancholy. Death of friends, losses &c.
IN this Labyrinth of Accidentall causes, the farther I wander, the more intricate I find the passage, multae ambages, & new causes, as so many by-paths, offer themselues to be discussed. To search out all, were an Herculean worke, and fitter for Theseus. I will follow mine intended thred, & point at only some few of the chiefest. Amongst which, losse and death of friends may challenge a first place, multi tristantur, Death of friends. as 3. de Animâ cap. de maerore. Vivès well obserues, post delicias, convivia, dies festos, many are melancholy after some feast, holiday, merry meeting, or some pleasing sport, some at the departure of friends only, whom they shall shortly see again, weep and howle, & look after them as a cow lowes after her calfe, or a child takes on that goes to schoole after holidayes. Montanus consil. 232. make mention of a country woman, that parting with her friends and natiue place, became grieuously melancholy for many yeares; and Trallianus of another so caused for the absence of her husband. If parting of friends alone can worke such violent effects, what shall death doe, when they must eternally be separated, never here to meet again? This is so grievous a tormēt for the time, that it takes away all appetite, desire of life, and extinguisheth all delights, it causeth deep sighes and groanes, teares, exclamations, howling, roaring, and many bitter pangs, and by frequent meditation extends so far sometimes, Patres mortu [...]os coram astantes & filios &c. Marcellus Donatus. that they thinke they see their dead friends continually in their eyes, obuersantes imagines, as Conciliator confessed he saw his mothers ghost presenting her [Page 212] selfe still before him. They that are most stayed and patient, are so furiously carried headlong by this passion of sorrow in this case, that braue discreet men many times forget them selues, and weep like children, many moneths together, as Rachel did, and will not be comforted. How doth Praefat. lib. 6. Quintilian complain for the losse of his son, to despaire almost: and Cardan lament his only child, in his book de libris proprijs, & elswhere in many other of his tracts. Alexander, a man of a most invincible courage, after Ephestions death, as Curtius relates, triduum iacuit ad moriendum obstinatus, lay three dayes together vpon the ground, obstinate to dye with him, and would neither eat nor drink, nor sleep: so did Adrian the Emperor bewaile his Antinous, Hercules Hylas, Orpheus Euridice, Dauid Absolon, Austin his mother Monica, Niobe her children, in so much, that the Ovid. Met. Poëts fained her to be turned into a stone, as being stupified through the extremity of griefe. Plut. vita eius. Aegeus signo lugubri filij consternatus, in mare se praecipitē dedit, impatient of sorrow for his sons death, drowned himself. Our late Physitians are full of such examples. Montanus consil. 242. Nobilis matrona melancholica ob mortem mariti. had a patient troubled with this infirmity by reason of her husbands death many yeares together, & Trincaevelius lib. 1. cap. 14. had such another, almost in despair after his mothers departure, vt se fermè praecipitem daret; and ready through distraction to make away himself: and in his 15 counsell, tels a story of one, that was 50 yeares of age, that grew desperat vpon his mothers death, and cured by Falopius, Ex matris obitu in desperationem incidit. fell many yeares after into a relapse, by the sudden death of a daughter which he had, and could never after be recovered. The fury of this passion is so violent sometimes, that it daunts whole kingdomes and cities. Vespasians death was pitifully lamented all ouer the Roman Empire, totus orbis lugebat, saith Aurelius Victor. Alexander commanded the battlements of houses to be pulled down, mules & horses to haue their manes shorne off, and many common souldiers to be slain, to accōpany his deare Ephestions death, which is now practised amongst the Tartars, that when Mathias à Michou. Bolerus Amphitbeat. a great [Page 213] Cham dieth, 10 or 12 thousand must be slaine, and amongst those Lo. Vertomanus. M. [...]olus Venetus. pagan Indians their wiues and seruants voluntary dy with them. Leo Decimus was soe much bewailed in Rome, after his departure that as Ionius giues out, Vita eius. publica hilaritas & all good fellowshipe, and peace, and mirth, and plenty died with him when Augustus Caesar died, saith Paterculus orbis ruinā timueramus wee were all afraid, as if heauen had fallen vpon our heads. Lib. 5. de asse. Budaeus records, how that at Lewes the 12. death tā subita mutatio, vt qui priùs digito coelū attingere videbantur, nunc humi derepente serpere, sideratos esse diceres: they that were earst in heauen, vpon a sudden, as if they had bin planet stroken, lay groueling on the ground. How were we affected here in England for our Titus, delitiae humani generis, Prince Henries immature death, as if all our liues had exhaled with his? In a word as he Mat. Paris. saith of Edward the first, at the newes of Edward of Caernarvan his sons birth, immortalitèr gavisus, he was immortally glad; may we say on the contrary of friends deaths, immortalitèr gementes, we are many of vs as so many turtles, eternally deiected with it.
There is another sorrow which ariseth from the losse of Temporall goods and fortunes, which equally afflicteth, Lo [...]e of goods and may goe hand in hand with the precedent: losse of time, losse of honor, office, of good name, of labor, frustrate hopes, may much torment, but in my Iudgment there is no torture like vnto this, or that sooner procureth this malady and mischief. Invenalis. Ploratur lachrymis amissa pecunia veris: it wrings true teares from our eyes, and many sighs and sorrow from our hearts, and often causeth habituall melancholy it selfe. Guianerius tract. 15.5, repeats this for an especiall cause: Multi qui res amatas perdiderant, vt filios opes non [...]erantes recuperare pròpter assiduā talium considerationem melancholici fiunt vt ipse vidi. Losse of friends, and losse of goods, makes many men melancholy, as I haue often seene by continuall meditation of such things. The same causes Arnoldus Villanovanus inculcates Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18. ex r [...]rum amissione, damno, amicorum morte &c. many men are affected like Staniburfius Hib. Hist. Irishmēin this behalfe, that if they haue a good skimiter, had rather haue a blow on their arme, then their weapō hurt, they had rather loose their liues, then their [Page 214] goods: and the griefe that commeth hence continueth long, saith Cap 3 melancholia frequenter venit ob iacturam pesuniae victoriae repulfā morte liberorum, quibus longo post tempore animus torquetur, & à dispositione fit habitus. Plater, and out of many dispositions, procureth an habit. Consil. 26. Montanus and Frisemelica cured a yong man of 22 yeares of age, that so became melancholy ob amissam pecuniam, for a summe of mony which he had vnhappily lost. Scenkius hath such another story, of one that became melancholy because he had ouershot himselfe, and spent his stock in vnnecessary buildings. Nubrigenfis. Roger that rich Bishop of Salisbury, exutus opibus & castris à rege Stephano, spoiled of his goods and Manors by King Stephen; vi doloris absorptus, at (que) in amentiam versus, indecentia fecit, through grief ran mad, and spake and did he knew not what. Terence the Poët drowned himselfe for the losse of some of his Comedies which suffered shipwrack. When a poore man hath made many hungry meales, got together a small summe which he loseth in an instant; a Scholler spent many an houres study to no purpose, and his labours lost &c. how should it otherwise be? I may conclude with Gregory, temporalium amor quantum afficit, cum haret possessio, tantum quum subtrahitur, vrit dolor; riches doe not so much exhilerate vs with their possession, as they torment vs with their losse.
Next to Sorrow still I may annexe such accidents as procure Feare, as besides those Terrors which I haue Sec 2. Mem. 4. Subsec. 3. Feares from ominous accidents, destinies foretold. before touched, and many other feares (for they are infinite) there is a Feare which is commonly caused by prodigies and dismall accidents, which much trouble many of vs. As if a Hare crosse the way at our going forth, or a Mouse gnaw our clothes: If they bleed three drops at nose, the Salt fall towards them, a black spot appeare in their nailes &c. with many such, which Delrio To, 2 lib. 3. sec. 4. Austin Niphus in his booke de Augurijs. Polidore Virg. lib. 3. de Prodigijs. Sarisburiensis Policrat. lib. 1. cap. 13. discusse at large, they are so much affected, that with very strength of Imagination and Feare, and the divels craft, they pull those Accersunt sibi [...]. misfortunes they suspect vpon their owne heads, and that which they feare shall come vpon them, as Salomon foretelleth, Pro. 10.24. and Isay denounceth 66.4. which [Page 215] if they could neglect and contemne, would not come to passe. Eorum vires nostrâ resident opinione, Si non observemus, nihil valent. Polidor. vt morbi gravitas aegrotātiū cogitatione, they are intēded & remitted as our opiniō is fixed more or lesse. N.N. dat poenas saith Consil. 26 lib. 2 Crato of such a one, vtinā non attraheret: he is punished, & is the cause of it Harme watch harme catch. himself. As much we may say of thē that are trobled with their fortunes or ill destinies foretold, multos angit praescientia malorum. The fore-knowledge of what shall come to passe crucifies many men, fore-told by Astrologers or Wisards, bee it ill accident or death it selfe. Severus, Adrian, Domitian, can testifie as much, of whose feare and suspition Sueton, Herodian, and the rest of those writers tel strange stories in this behalfe. Invenis sollicitus de futuris frustra, factus melancholicus. Montanus Consil. 31. hath one example of a young man exceeding melancholy vpon this occasion. Metus futurorum maximè torquet Sinas, as Expedit in Sinas lib. 1. cap. 3. Matthew Riccius the Iesuite informeth vs in his Commentaries of those countries, of all nations they are most superstitious, and much tormented in this kind; and attribute so much to their divinators, vt ipse metus fidem faciat, that feare it selfe and conceit cause it to Timendo praeoccupat quod vitat vltro, provocat (que) quod fugit, gaudet (que) maeren [...] & lubens miser fuit. Heinsius Austriaco. Vnfortunate marriage. fall out: If he fore-tell such a day that very time they will be sicke, vimetus afflicti in aegritudinem cadunt, and many times dye as it is foretold. A true saying, Timor mortis morte peior, the feare of death is worse then death it selfe, and the memory of it to some rich men is a bitter as gaule, Ecclus. 41.1 a worser plague cannot happen to a man, then to be so troubled in his minde. Amongst these irksome Accidents vnfortunate marriages may bee ranked, a condition of life appointed by God himselfe in Paradise, an honourable and happy estate, & as great a felicity as can befal a man in this world, A vertuous woman is the crowne of her husband. Pro. 12.4 but she &c. if the parties can agree as they ought, & liue as Lib. 17. epist. 105. Seneca liu'd with his Paulina: but if they be vnequally matched or cannot agree, a greater misery cannot be expected, to haue a scold, a slut, a harlot, a fool, a [...]ury, or a fiend, there can be no greater plague Eccl. 26.14. He that hath her is as if he held a Scorpion. & 26.25. a wicked wife makes a sorry countenance, an heavy heart, & he had rather dwell with a lion then keep house with such a wife [Page 216] Her Titionatur, candelabratur, &c. properties Iovianus Pontanus hath described at large, Ant. dial. Tom. 2. vnder the name of Euphorbia. Or if they be not equall in yeares. Cicilius in Agellius lib. 7. cap. 23. cō plaines much of an old wife, dum eius mortem inhio, egomet mortuus viuo inter viuos, whilst I gape after her death, I liue a dead man amongst the living. The same inconvenience befalls women. Hiegans virgo inuita cuidam è nostratibus nupsit &c. A young Gentlewoman in Basil was maried, saith Faelix Plater observat. lib. 1. to an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect, shee was continually melancholy, and pined away for griefe, and though her husband did all he could possibly to giue her content, in a discō tented humour at length she hanged her selfe. Many other stories he relates in this kind. Duxi vxorem quam ibi miseri [...] non vidinati filij alia curae. Ter. Act. 5. Scen. 4. Demea Adelp. Thus men are plagued with women, they againe with men, when they are of diverse humours and conditions, he a spendthrift, and she sparing, one honest, the other dishonest, &c. Parents many times disquiet their children, and they their parents. Pro. A foolish sonne is an heavinesse to his mother. Iniusta novercae: A step-mother often vexeth a whole family, which made Cato's sonne expostulate with his father, why he should offer to marry his client Solinius daughter, a young wench. Cuius causâ novercam induceret, what offence had he done that he should marry againe? Vnkinde, vnnaturall friends, Evill neighbours, bad servants, debts and debets, suretiship the bane of many families, Sponde praesto noxa est, he shall be sore vexed that is surety for a stranger. Pro. 11, 15. and he that hateth suretiship is sure. Contention, brawling, law-sutes, falling out of neighbours and friends, discordia demens, Virg. Aen. 6. are equall to the first, grieue many a man and vexe his soule. Nihil sane miserabilius eorum mentibus, as De increm. vib. lib. 3. cap. 3. tanquam diro mucrone confossi his nulla requies nulla delectatio, sollicitudo, gemit [...]s, furor, desperatio, timor tanquam ad perpetuam aerumnaus infaeliciter rapti. Boter holds, nothing so miserable as such men, full of cares, griefes, anxieties, as if they were stabbed with a sharpe sword, feare, suspition, desperation, sorrow, care griefe, are the ordinary companions of such men. Our Welchmen are noted by some of their Humfredus Lluid epist ad Abrahamum Ortelium. Litibus & controversiis vs (que) ad omnium bonorū consumptionem contendunt. owne country men to consume one another in this kinde, but whosoever they are that vse it, these are their ordinary symptōes, especially if they be [Page 217] convict or overcome, Spretae (que) iniuria formae. cast in a sute. Aerius put by a Bishopricke by Eustachius turned hereticke, and liued after discontented all his life. Quae (que) repulsa gravis Every Repulse, heu quantâ de spe decidi. Disgrace, Infamy, will almost effect as much, and that a long time after. Hipponax a Satyricall Poet, so vilified & lashed two Painters in his Iambicks, vt ambo laqueo se suffocarent, Lib. 36. cap. 5. Pliny saith, both hanged themselues. All oppositions, dangers, perplexities, discontents, Nihil aequè amarum, quam diu pendere: quid [...] aequiore animo serunt praecidi spem suam quam trahi. Seneca cap. 3. lib. 2. de Den. Virg. Plater observat. lib. 1. to liue in any suspence are of the same nature, potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos? Who can be secure in such cases? Vnkind speeches trouble many. A Glasse-mans wife in Basil became melancholy because her husband said he would marry again if she died. No cut to vnkindnes, as the saying is, a frown, or a hard speech or bad look, especially to courtiers, or such as attend vpon great persons is present death, Ingeniū vultu stat (que) cadit (que) tuo, they ebbe & flow with their masters favors. Some persons are at their wits ends, if by chance they overshoot thēselues in their ordinary speeches, or actions, which may after turne to their disgrace, or haue any secret disclosed. Ronseus epist. miscel. 3. reports of a gentlewoman 25 yeares old, that falling fowle with one of her Gossips, was vpbraided with a secret infirmity (no matter what) in publike, and so much grieued with it, that she did therevpon solitudines quaerere, omnes ab se ablegare, ac tandem in gravissimam incidens melancholiam contabescere, forsake al company and in a melancholy humour pine away. Others are as much tortured to see themselues reiected contemned, scorned, disabled, or Turpe relinqu [...] est. Hor. left behind their fellowes. Lucian brings in a Philosopher in his Lapith. conniuio, much discontented that he was not invited amongst the rest. Praetextatus a robed Gentleman in Plutarch would not sit downe at a feast because he might not sit highest, but went his waies all in a chase. We see the common quarrellings that are ordinary amongst vs for taking of the wall, precedency and the like, which though they be toyes in themselues, and things of no moment, yet they cause much hartburning amongst vs. Nothing perceth deeper then a contempt or disgrace, Scimus enim generosas naturas nulla re citius moveri aut gravius affici, quam contemptu ac despicientiâ. especially [Page 218] if they be generous spirits, scarce any thing affects thē more, then to be despised or vilified, Crato consil. 16. lib. 2. exemplifies it, and common experience confirmes it. Of the same nature is oppression, Eccles. 7.7. surely oppression makes a man mad. Banishment a great misery as Tyrteus describes it, in an Epigram of his.
Polynices in his conference with Iocasta in In Phaeniss. Euripides reckons vp fiue miseries of a banished man, the least of which alone were enough to deject some pusillanimous creatures. Oftentimes a too great feeling of our own infirmities or imperfections of body or mind, will rivell vs vp, as if we be visited with some lothsome disease, offensiue to others, or troblesome to our selues, as a stinking breath, deformity of our lims, crookednes, losse of an eye, leg, hand, palenesse, leanesse, rednesse, baldnesse, losse of haire, or want &c. hic vbi fluere caepit, diros ictus cordi infert, saith In laudem calvit. Sinesius, he himselfe troubled not a little ob comae defectum, the losse of haire alone, strikes a cruell stroke to the heart. Acco an old woman, seeing by chāce her face in a true glasse: (for she vsedfalse flattering glasses belike at other times, as most gentlewomen doe) animi dolore in insaniam delapsa est, Caelius Rhodiginus lib. 17. cap. 2. Ovid. Brotheus the son of Vulcan, because he was ridiculous for his imperfections, flung himself into the fire. Some are faire, but barren, and that gaules them. Hanna wept and did not eate, and was troubled in spirit, and all for her barrennesse. 1. Sam. 1. and Gen. 30, Rachel said, in the anguish of her soule, giue me a childe, or I shall die; another hath too many, one was neuer married, and that's his hell, another is, and that's his [Page 219] plague. Some are troubled in that they are obscure, other by being traduced, slandred: no tydings troubles one, ill reports and rumors, and bad tydings or newes, hard hap, ill successe, va [...]n hopes another: one is too eminent, another is too base borne, and that alone tortures him as much as the rest: one is out of action, imployment, another ouercome and tormented with worldly cares, and onerous busines. But what Non mihi si centum lingue sint or [...] (que) centum Omnia causar [...]m percurrere nomina possem. tongue can suffice to speak of all.
Many men catch this malady by eating certain meats at vnawares, as henbane, nightshade, cicuta, mandrakes &c. by philters, wandring in the Sun, biting of a mad dog, a blow on the head, stinging with that kind of spider called Tarantula; an ordinary thing, if we belieue Sckenkius lib. 7. de venenis, In Calabria and Apulia in Italy. Cardan subtil. lib. 9. Scaliger exercitat. 185. Their symptomes are merrily described by Iovianus Pontanus. Ant. dial. how they daunce altogether, Quae gestatae infaelicem & tristem reddunt, curas augent, corpus siccant, somnii minuūt. and are cured by Musick. Lib de gemmis Cardan speakes of certain stones, if they be carried about one, which will cause melancholy & madnes, he cals them vnhappy, as an Adamant, Selenites &c. which drye vp the body, increase cares, diminish sleep. Cresias in Persicis makes mention of a Well in those parts, of which if any man drinke, Ad vnum diem mente alienatus. he is mad for 24. houres: but these relations are common in all writers.
These causes if they be considered and come alone, I doe easily yeeld, can doe little of themselues, or seldome, or apart, though many times they are all sufficient euery one, yet if they doe concurre, as oftentimes they doe, vis vnita fortior: Et quae non obsunt singula, multa nocent [...]punc; they may batter a strong constitution; & as Intus besti [...] minutae m [...]ltae necant. num [...]uid minuti [...]sima sunt grana a [...]enae? s [...]d si arena [...]plius in navom m [...]tatur, mergit illā: quam minu [...] gullae [...] namen [...] st [...]man [...], domus eijciua [...] timendae [...] m [...]il [...]d [...]s, si non mag [...]itudinis. Austin said, many graines and smal sands sinke a ship, many smal drops make a flood &c. often reiterated, many dispositions produce an habit.
MEMB. 5.
SVBSEC. 1. Continent, inward, antecedent, next causes, and how the body workes on the minde.
AS a purly hunter, I haue hitherto beaten about the circuit of the forrest of this Microcosme, & haue followed only those outward adventitious causes; I will now breake into the inner roomes, and rip vp the antecedent immediate causes which are there to be found. For as the distraction of the mind, amongst other outward causes and perturbations, alters the temperature of the Body, so the distraction & distemperature of the Body, will cause a distemperature of the Soule, and t'is hard to decide which of these two doe more harme to the other. Plato, Cyprian, and some others, as I haue formerly said, lay the greatest fault on the Soule, excusing the Body, others again accusing the Body, excuse the Soule, as a principall Agent. Their reasons are, because Mores sequū tur temperaturā corporis. the manners doe follow the Temperature of the Body, as Galen proues in his book of that subiect, Prosper Calenius de Atrâ bile, Iason Pratensis cap. de Maniâ, Lemnius lib. 4. cap. 16. and many others. And that which Gualter hath commented hom. 10. in epist. Iohannis is most true, concupiscence and originall sinne, inclinations, and bad humors are Scintillae latent in corpore. radicall in every one of vs, and cause these perturbations, affections, and severall distempers, offering many times violence vnto the Soule. Euery man is tempted by his own concupiscence, Iames 1.14. and the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weake, and rebelleth against the spirit, as our Gal. 5. Apostle teacheth vs: that me thinks the Soule hath the better plea against the body, which so forcibly inclines vs, that we cannot resist, Nec nos obniti contra, nec tendere tantū Sufficimus. How the Body being materiall, worketh vpon the immateriall Soule, by mediation of humors & spirits, which participate of both, ill disposed organs, Cornelius Agrippa [Page 221] hath discoursed lib. 1. de occult. Philos. cap. 63.64.65. Levinus Lemnius lib. 1. de occult. nat. mir. cap. 12. & 16. & 21. institut. ad opt. vit. Perkins lib. 1. Cases of Con. cap. 12. T. Bright cap. 10 11, 12, in his Treatise of Melancholy. For as Sicut ex animi affectionibus corpus languescit, sic ex corporis vitijs, & morborum pleris (que) [...]ruciatibus, animā videmus hebetari. Galenus. anger, feare, sorrow, obtrectation, emulation &c. si mentis intimos recessus occupârint, saith Lib. 1. cap. 16. Lemnius, corpori quo (que) infesta sunt, & ille teterrimos morbos inferunt, cause grievous diseases in the Body, so bodily diseases affect the Soule by consent. Now the chiefest causes proceed from the Corporis it [...]dem morbi animam per consensum à lege consortii afficiunt, & quanquam obiecta multos motus turbulentos in homine concitent, praecipua tamen causae in corde & humoribus, spiritibus (que) consistit &c. Heart, humors, spirits: as they are purer, or impurer, so is the Mind, and equally suffers, as a lute out of rune, if one string, or one organ be distempered, all the rest miscary, corpus onustum externis vitijs, animum quo (que) praegravat vna: The Body is domicilium animae, her house, abode and stay, and as a torch, giues a better light, and a sweeter smell, according to the matter he is made of, so doth our Soule performe al her actions, better or worse, as her organs are disposed; or as wine savours of the caske where it is kept, the Soule receiues a Tincture from the Body, through which it workes. We see this in old men, children, Europeans, Asians, hote and cold Climes; Sanguine are merry, Melancholy sad, Phlegmatick dull, by reason of abundance of such humors, and they cannot resist such passions as are infflicted by them. For in this infirmity of humane nature, as Melancthon declares, Hor. the Vnderstanding is so tied to, and captivated by his inferiour sences, that without their helpe he cannot exercise his functions, and the Will being weakned, hath but a small power to restrain those outward parts, but suffers her selfe to be over-ruled by them; that I must needs conclude with Lemnius, spiritus & humores maximum nocumentum obtinent, spirits and humors doe most harme in Humores pr [...] vi mentem obnubilant. troubling the Soule. How should a man choose but be cholerick and angry, that hath his body so clogged with abundance of grosse humors? or melancholy, that is so inwardly disposed? Thence comes then this malady, Madnesse, Apoplexyes, Lethargies &c. it may not be denied.
Now this Body of ours is most part distempered by some [Page 220] [...] [Page 221] [...] [Page 222] precedent diseases, which molest his inward organs and instruments, and so per consequens causeth Melancholy, according to the consent of the most approued Physitians. Hic humor vel à partis intemperie generatur, vel relinquitur post inflāmatisnes, vel crassior invenis cōclusus, vel torpidus malignam qualitatê contrabit. This humor (as Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. cap. 18. Arnoldus breviar lib. 1. cap. 18. Iacchinus comment. in 9. Rhasis cap. 15. Montaltus cap. 10. Nicholas Piso cap. de Melan. &c. suppose) is begotten by the distemperature of some inward part, innate, or left after some inflammations, or els included in the blood after an Saepè constat in febre hominē melancholicū, vel post febrem reddi aut alium morbum. Calida intemperies innata, vel à febre contracta. ague, or some other malignant disease. This opinion of theirs concurres with that of Galen lib. 3. cap. 6. de locis affect. Guianerius giues an instance in one so caused by a quartan ague, and Montanus consil. 32. in a yong man of 28 yeares of age, so distempered after a quartan, which had molested him 5 yeares together. Hildisheim spicel. 2. de Maniâ, relates of a Dutch Baron, grievously tormented with melancholy after a long Rarò quis diuturno morbo laborat qui non sit melancholicus. Mercurialis de affect. capitis lib. 1. cap. 10 de mel. ague, Galen lib. de atrâ bile cap. 4. puts the plague a cause. Botaldus in his booke de lue vener. cap. 2. the French pox for a cause: others Phrensy, Epilepsy, Apoplexy, because those diseases doe often degenerate into this. Of suppression of haemrods, haemorrogia, or bleeding at nose, menstruous retentiōs, or any other evacuation stopped, I haue already spoken. Only this I will adde, that such melancholy as shall be caused by such infirmities, deserues to be pittied of all men, and to be respected with a more tender compassion, according to Laurentius, as comming from a more inevitable cause.
SVBSECT. 2. Distemperature of particular parts.
THere is almost no part of the Body, which being distempered, doth not cause this Malady, as the Braine and his parts, Hart, Liver, Splene, Stomack, Matrix or Wombe, Pylorus, Mirache, Mesentery, Hypocondries, Meseriack veines, and in a word, saith Ad nonum lib. Rhasis ad Almansor cap. 16. Vniversalites à quacun (que) parte potest fieri melancholicus. Vel quia aduritur, vel quia non expellit superfluitatem excrementi. Arculanus, there is no part [Page 223] which causeth not melancholy, either because it is adust, or doth not expell the superfluity of the nutriment, Savanarola Pract. maior. rubric. 11. Tract. 6. cap. 1. is of the same opinion, that melancholy is ingendred in each particular part, and A Liene, iccinore, vtero, & alijs partibus oritur. Crato in consil. 17. lib. 2. Gordonius, who is instár omnium, lib. med partic. 2. cap. 19. confirmes as much, putting the Materia melanchol ae aliquando in cerebro, aliquar do [...]s corde, in s [...]omacho, hepate, ab bypocondrijs, myrache, splene, cum ibi remanet, humor melancholicus. matter of melancholy, sometimes in the Stomacke, Liuer, Heart, Braine, Splene, Mirach, Hypocondries, when as the melancholy humor resides there, or the Liver is not well cleansed from Melancholy blood.
The Braine is a familiar and frequent cause, too hote, or to cold, Ex sanguine adus [...]o, intra vel extra caput. through adust blood so caused, as Mercurialis will haue it, within or without the head, the braine it selfe being distempered. Those are most apt to this disease, Qui calidum cor habent, cerebrum bumidum, facilè melancholici. that haue a hot Heart, and moist Braine, which Montaltus cap. 11. de Mel. approues out of Haliabbas, Rhasis, and Avicenna. Mercurialis consil. 11. assignes the coldnes of the Braine a cause, and Salustius Salvianus med. lect. lib. 2. cap, 1. will haue it Sequitur mélancholia malam intemperiem. frigidam & siccam ipsius cerebri. arise from a cold and dry distemperature of the Braine. Piso, Benedictus, Victorius Faventinus, will haue it proceed from a Saepè fit ex callidiore cerebro, aut corpore colligente melancholiam. Piso. hote distemperature of the Braine; and Vel per propriam affectioné, vel per consensum, cum vapores exhalant in cerebrum. Montaltus cap. 14. Montaltus cap. 10. from the Braines heat, scorching the blood. The Braine is still distempered by himselfe, or by consent: by himselfe or his proper affection, as Faventinus cals it, Aut ibigignitur melancholicus fumus, aut ali [...]de vebitur, alterando animales facultates. or by vapors which arise from the other parts, and fume vp into the head, altering the animal faculties.
Hildesheim spicel. [...]. de Maniâ, will haue it caused from a Ab intemperie cordis, modo calidiore, modo f [...]r [...]idiore. distemperature of the heart, sometimes hote, sometimes cold. A hote Liuer, and a cold Stomack, are put for vsuall causes of melancholy, or overmoist Stomack, and a cold belly. Mercurialis consil. 11. & consil. 6. consil. 86 assignes a hote Liver, and cold Stomack for ordinary causes. Epist. 209. Scoltzij. Monavius in an epistle of his to Crato in Scoltzius, is of opinion, that Hypocondriacall [Page 224] Melancholy may proceed from a cold Liuer, the question is there discussed. Most agree that a hote Liuer is in fault, Officina humorum hepar concurrit &c. the Liuer is the shop of humors, and especially causeth melancholy by his hote and drie distemperature. Ventriculus & venae meseriacae concurrunt, quod hae partes obstructae sunt, &c. The Stomacke, and Meseriacke veines doe often concurre, by reason of their obstructions, and thence their heat cannot be avoided, & many times the matter is so adust, and inflamed in these parts, that it degenerates into Hypocondriacall melancholy. Guianerius cap. 2. Tract. 15. will haue the Meseriacke veines a sufficient Perse sanguinem adurentes.cause alone. The Splene concurres to this malady, by all their consents, and suppression of Haemrods, dum non expurgat altera causa lien, saith Montaltus, if it be Lien frigidus & siccus cap. 13. too cold and dry, and doe not purge the other parts as he ought. Consil. 23. Montanus puts the Splen obstructus. splene stopped for a great cause. De arte med. lib. 3, cap. 24. Christophorus à Vega reports of his knowledge, that he hath knowne melancholy caused from putrified blood in those Seed veines and wombe. A sanguiuis putredine in vasis seminarijs & vtero, & quando (que) à spermate d [...]u reten [...]o, vel sanguine menstruo in melancholiam verso per pu [...]efactionem, vel adust [...]onem. Arculanus from that menstruous blood turned into melancholy, and seed too long detained, (as I haue already declared) by putrefaction or adustion.
The Misenteriū, or Midriffe, Diaphragma is a cause, which the Magirus. Greekes called [...]: because by his inflammation, the mind is much troubled with convulsions and dotage. All these most part offend by inflammation, corrupting humors and spirits, in this non-naturall melancholy: for from these are ingendred fuliginous and black spirits. And for that reason E [...]go efficiens [...]sa melancholie est calida & sicca intemperies, non frigida & sicca quod multi opinati sunt [...]oritur enim à calore cerebri [...] sanguine &c. [...]um quod aroma [...]a sanguinem incendant, solitude vigiliae febris precedens meditalio studium, & h [...] omnia calefaciunt ergo ratum sit &c. Montaltus cap. 10. de causis melan. will haue the efficient cause of melancholy to be hote and dry, not a cold & dry distemperature, as some hold, from the heate of the Braine, rosting the blood, and immoderate heate of the liuer and bowels, and inflammation of the Pylorus. And so much the rather, because that as Galen holds all spices inflame the blood, solitarinesse, waking, agues, study, meditation, all which heate; and therefore he concludes that this distemperature causing melancholy, is not colde and dry, but hote and dry. But of this I haue sufficiently treated [Page 225] in the matter of Melancholy, and hold that this may be true in non-naturall Melancholy, which produceth madnes, but not in that naturall, which is more cold, and being immoderate, produceth a more gentle dotage. Cap. 13. de melanch. Which opinion Geraldus de Solo maintaines in his Comment vpon Rhasis.
SVBSEC. 3. Causes of head Melancholy.
AFter a tedious discourse of the generall causes of Melancholy, I am now returned at last to treat in briefe of the three particular Species, and such causes as properly appertain vnto them. And although these causes promiscuously concurre to each and every particular kind, and commonly produce their effects in that part which is most weake, ill disposed, and least able to resist, and so cause all three species; yet many of them are proper to some one kind, and seldome found in the rest. As for example, Head melancholy is commonly caused by a cold or hote distemperature of the Brain, Laurentius cap. 5. de melan. Salust. Salvianus before mentioned lib. 2. cap. 1. de re med. will haue it proceed from cold: but that I take of naturall melancholy, and such as are fooles & dote; for as Galen writes lib. 4. de puls. 8. and Avicenna, A fatuitate inseparabilis cerebri frigiditas. a cold and moist Braine is an vnseparable companion of folly. But this adventitious melancholy which is here meant, is caused of an hote and dry distemperature, as Ab interno calore assatur. Damascen the Arabian, lib. 3. cap. 22. thinkes, and most writers. Altomarus and Piso call it Intemperies innata exurens, slavam bilem ac sanguinem in melancholiam convertens. an innate burning vntemperatnesse, turning blood and choler into melancholy. Both these opinions may stand good, as Bruel maintaines, and Capivaccius, si cerebrum sit calidius, Si cerebrum sit calidius, fiet spiritus animalis calidior, & delirium maniacum si frigidior fier fatuitas. if the Braine be hote, the animall spirits will be hote, and thence comes madnesse: if cold, folly. Dauid Crusius Theatro morb. Hermet. lib. 2. cap. 6. de atrâ bile, grants melancholy to be a disease of an inflamed Brain, but cold, notwithstāding of it selfe: calida per accidens, frigida per se, hote by accident [Page 226] onely. I am of Capivaccius mind for my part. Now this humor according to Salvianus, is sometime in the substance of the Braine, sometimes contained in the Membranes and tunicles that couer the Braine, sometimes in the passages of the Ventricles of the Braine, or veines of those Ventricles. It followes many times Melancholia capitis accedit post phrenesim aut longam moram sub sole, aut percussionem in capite. cap. 23. lib. 1. Phrensie, long diseases, agues, long abode in hote places, or vnder the Sun, a blow on the head, as Rhasis informeth vs: Piso addes solitarinesse, waking, inflammations of the head, proceeding most part Qui bibit vina potentia, & saepè sunt sub sole. from much vse of spices, hote wines, hote meats; all which Montanus reckons vp consil. 22. for a Melancholy Iew; and Hernius repeates cap. 12. de Maniâ, hote bathes, garlick, onions, saith Guianerius, bad aire, corrupt, much Curae validae largioris vini & aromatum vsus. waking &c. retention of seed, or abundance, stopping of haemorrogia, the Midriffe misaffected; and according to Trallianus l. 1.16. immoderate cares, troubles, griefes, discontent, study, meditation, and in a word, the abuse of all those 6. non-naturall things. Hercules de Saxoniâ cap. 16. lib, 1. will haue it caused from a A Cauterio & vlcere exsiccato. cautery, or boyle d [...]yed vp, or any issue. Amatus Lusitanus cent. 2. curâ 67. giues instance in a fellow that had a boyle in his arme, and Ab vlcere curato incidit in insaniam, aperto vulnese curatur. after that was cured, ran mad, and when the wound was open, he was cured againe. Trincavelius consil. 13. lib. 1. hath an example of a melancholy man so caused by overmuch continuance in the sun, frequent vse of Venery, and immoderate exercise. And in his consil. 49. lib. 3. from an Agalea nimis ca [...]fa [...]a. headpeece overheated, which caused head melancholy. Prosper Calenius brings in Cardinal Caesius for a patterne of such as are so melancholy by long study: but examples are infinite.
SVBSECT. 4. Causes of Hypocondriacall or windy Melancholy.
IN repeating of these causes, I must crambě bis coctam opponere, say that againe which I haue formerly said, in applying them to their proper Species: of Hypocondriacall or flatuous [Page 227] melancholy, which the Arabians call Myrachiall, & is in my iudgement the most grievous and frequent, though Bruel and Laurentius make it least dangerous, & not so hard to be knowne. His causes are inwarde or outwarde. Inward from diverse parts or organes, as midriffe, spleene, stomacke, liver, pylorus, wombe, diaphragma, meseriacke veines, stopping of Issues, &c. Montaltus, cap. 15. forth of Galen recites Exuritur sanguis & venae obstruuntur quibus obstructis prohibetur transitus Chyliad iecur, corrumpitur & in rugitus & flatus vertitur. heate and obstruction of those meseriack veines, as an immediate cause, by which meanes the passage of the Chylus to the liver is detained, stopped or corrupted, and turned into rumbling and winde. Montanus consil. 233. hath an evident demonstration Trincavellius, lib. 1. cap. 12. and Plater obseruat, lib. 1. for a Doctor of the Law visited with this infirmity, from the said obstruction and heate of these Meseriacke veines, and bowels: quoniam inter ventriculū & iecur venae effervescūt. The veines are inflamed about the liver and stomacke. Sometimes those other parts are togither misaffected, and concurre to the production of this malady. A hote liver and colde stomacke or colde belly: looke for instances in Hollerius, Victor Trincavelius, consil. 35. lib. 3. Hildesheim Spicel. 2. fol. 132. Solenander consil. 9. pro cive Lugdunensi, Montanus consil. 229. for the earle of Monfort in Germany. 1549. & Frisimelica in the 233. consultation of the said Montanus. I. Caesar Claudinus giues instance of a cold stomacke and overhote liver, almost in every consultation, consult. 89. for a certaine Count, and consult. 106. for a Polonian Baron, by reason of heate the blood is inflamed, and grosse vapors sent to the Hart and braine. Mercurialis subscribes to them, consil. 86. Stomacho [...]aeso robur corporis imminuitur & reliqua membra alimento orbata &c. the stomacke being misaffected, &c. which he cals king of the belly, because if hee be distempered, all the rest suffer with him, as being deprived of their nutriment, or fed with bad nourishment, by meanes of which, come crudities, obstructions, winde, rumbling, griping, &c. Hercules de Saxoniâ besides heate, will haue the weakenesse of the liver & his obstruction a cause, facultatem debilem iecinoris, which he Cap. 12. cals the minerall of melancholy. Laurentius assignes this reason, because the liver overhote [Page 228] drawes the meate vndigested out of the stomacke, and burneth the humors. Montanus col. 244. proues that sometimes a colde liver may be a cause. Laurentius, cap. 12. and Trincavelius, lib. 12. consil. and Gualter Bruel seemes to lay the greatest fault vpon the Spleene, that doth not his duty in purging the liver as he ought, being to great or to little, in drawing too much blood sometimes to it, and not expelling it, as P. Cnemiandrus in a Hildesheim. consultation of his noted, tumorem lienis he names it, and the fountaine of melancholy. Diocles supposed the ground of this kinde of melancholy, to proceede from the inflamation of the pylorus, which is the nether mouth of the Ventricle. Others assigne the Mesenterium or midriffe distempered by heate, the wombe misaffected, stopping of of hemrods, with many others. All which Laurentius, cap. 12. reduceth to three, Mesentery, liver and Spleene, from whence he denominates Hepaticke, Spleniticke, and Meseriacke Melancholy.
Outward causes, are bad diet, care, griefes, discontents, & in a word al those 6. non-natural things, as Montanus found by his experience, consil. 244. Solenander consil, 9. for a citizen of Lyons in France giues his reader to vnderstande, that hee knew this mischiefe procured by a medicine of Cantharides, which an vnskilfull Physition gaue vnto his patient to drinke ad venerem excitandam. But most commonly feare, griefe, and some sudden commotion, or perturbation of the minde beginnes it, in such bodies especially as are ill disposed. Melancthon. tract. 14. cap. 2. de animâ, wil haue it as common to men, as the mother to women, vpon some grievous trouble dislike, or discontent, Montanus consil. 22. pro delirante Iudaeo confirmes it, Habuit saena animi symptomata quae impediunt concoctionem, &c. grievous symptomes of minde brought him to it. Randoletius relates of himselfe, that being one day very intent to write out a Physitions notes, molested by an odde occasion, he fell into an hypocondriacall fit, to avoide which he dranke the decoction of wormewood, & was freed. Vsitatissimus morbus cum sit, vtile est huius visceris accidentia considerare nec l [...]ve periculū huius causas morbi ignorantibus. Melancthon, (being the disease is so troublesome and frequent) holdes it a most necessary and profitable study, for every man to [Page 229] know the accidents of it, and a dangerous thing to be ignorant, and would therefore haue most men, in some sort to vnderstand the causes, symptomes and cures of it.
SVBSEC. 5. Causes of melancholy from the whole Body.
AS before, the cause of this kind of melancholy is inward or outward. Inward, Iecur aptum ad generandū ca lem humorem, splen natura imbecillior Piso. Altomarus. Guianerius. when the liver is apt to ingender such an humor, or the Spleene weake by nature and not able to discharge his office. A melancholy temperature, retention of haemrods, monthly issues, bleeding at nose, long diseases, agues, and all those sixe non-naturall things. But especially Melancholiam quae sit à redundantia humoris in toto corpore victus imprimis generat qui cum humorem parit. bad diet as Piso thinks, as pulse, salt meate, shell-fish, cheese blacke wine &c. Mercurialis out of Averroes and Avicenna condemnes all hearbs. Galen. lib. 3. de loc. affec. cap. 7. especially cabbage. So likewise feare, sorrow, discontents, &c: but of these before.
You haue had at last the generall and particular causes of melancholy: now go & bragge of thy present happines whosoever thou art, bragge of thy temperature, and of thy good parts, insult, triumph, and boast? thou seest in what a brittle state thou art, how soone thou mai'st be deiected, how many severall waies, by bad diet, bad aire, a small losse, a little sorrow, or discontent, an ague, &c: how many sudden accidents may procure thy ruine, what a small tenure of happynes thou hast in this life, how weake & silly a creature thou art. Humble thy selfe therefore vnder the mighty hand of God. 1. Pet. 5.6. know thyselfe, acknowledge thy present misery, & make right vse of it, qui stat videat ne cadat. Thou dost now florish & hast bona animi, corporis, & fortunae, goods of body, mind, and fortune, nescis quid serus secum vesper ferat, thou knowest notwhat stormes & tempests the late evening may bring with it. Be not secure, be sober and watch, Ausenius fortunam reverenter habe, if fortunate and rich: if sicke and poore, moderate thy selfe, I haue said.
SECT. 3.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Symptomes or signes of melancholy in the body.
Symptomes are either Quaedam vniversalia particularia quaedam manifesta quaedam in corpore quaedam incogitatione & animo quaedam à stellis quaedam ab humoribus quae vt vinum corpus variè dispoxit, &c. Diversa phantasmata pro varietate causae externae internae Vniversall or particular, saith Gordonius, lib. med. cap. 19, part. 2. to persons, to species, some signes are secret, some manifest, some in the Body, some in the minde, & diversly vary, according to the inward or outward causes, Capivaccius. or from starres according to Iovianus Pontanus, de reb. coelest. lib. 10. cap. 13. and celestiall influences or are from the humors diversly mixt, Ficinus, lib. 1. cap. 4. de san. tuēdà: as it is hote, cold, naturall, vnnaturall, intended or remitted, so will Aetius haue melancholica deliria multiformia, diversity of melancholy signes. Laurentius ascribes thē to their several temperatures, delightes, natures, inclinations, continuance of time, as they are simple or mixt with other Diseases, as the causes are divers, so must the signes be & almost infinite, Altomarus, cap. 7. art. med. And as wine producet diverse effects, or that herbe Tortocolla in Lib. 1. de risu Fol. 17. Ad eius esum alij sudant alij vomūt, flent, bibunt, saltant, alij rident, tremunt, dormiunt, &c. Laurentius, which makes some laugh, some weepe, some sleepe, some dance, some sing, some howle, some drinke, &c. So doth this our melancholy humour, worke severall signes in severall parties.
But to confine them, these generall symptomes may bee reduced to those of the Body or of the Minde. Those vsuall signes appearing in the Bodies of such as are melancholy bee these, cold and dry, or they are hote and drye, as the humour is more or lesse adust. And from T. Bright c. 20 these first qualities arise many other second, as that of Nigres [...]it hic humor aliquando supercalefactus, aliquando superfrigefactus. Melanel. e Gal. colour, blacke, swarty, pale, ruddy, &c. some are impense rubri, as Montaltus cap. 16. obserues out of Galen. lib. 3. de locis affectis, very redde and high coloured. Hippocrates in his booke de Interprete F. Calvo. Insaniâ & Melan. reckons vp these signes, that they are Oculíhis excauantur venti gignuntur circum praecordia & acidiructus sicci fere ventres. Vertigo, tinnitus aurium, somni p [...]s [...]lli somnia terribilia & interrupta. leane, withered, hollow-eyed, [Page 231] looke old, wrinkled, harsh, much troubled with winde, and a griping in their bellies, or belly-ake, bealch often, dry bellies and hard, deiected lookes, flaggy beards, singing of the cares, vertigo, light-headed, little or no sleepe, and that interrupt, terrible and fearefull dreames. The same symptomes are repeated by Melanclius in his booke of Melancholy collected out of Galen, Ruffus, Aetius, by Rhasis, Gordonius, & all the Iuniors, Assiduae eae (que) acidae ructationes quae cibum virulentum pisculentum (que) nidorem etsi nil tale ingestum sit referant ob cruditatem. Ventres hisce aridi somnus plerum (que) parcus & interruptus somnia absurdissima turbulenta. corporis tremor, capitis grauedo, strepitus circa aures, & visiones ante oculos, ad venerea prod [...]gi. continuall sharpe and stinking belchings, as if their meat in their stomacke were putrified, or that they had eaten fish, dry bellies, absurd and interrupt dreames, and many phantasticall visions about their eyes, vertiginous, apt to tremble, and prone to Venery, Altomarus Bruell. Piso. Montaltus. Some adde palpitation of the hart, Some adde short winde, heart-ake, or heavinesse of heart. cold sweat, as vsuall symptomes, and a kind of leaping in many parts of the body, saltum in multis corporis partibus, and a kind of itching saith Laurentius on the superficies of the skinne, like a flea-biting sometimes. Frequentes habent oculorum nictationes. Aliqui tamen fixis oculis plerum (que) sunt. Montaltus cap. 21. puts fixed eyes and much twinkling of their eyes for a signe, and so doth Avicenna, oculos habentes palpantes, trauli vehementèr rubricundi, &c. l. 3 Fen. 1. Tract. 4. cap. 18. that they stutte most part, which hee tooke out of Hippocrates Aphorismes. Cont. lib. 1. Tract. 9. Signa buius morbi sunt plurimus soltus, sonitus aurium, capitis gravedo, lingua titubat, oculi excavantur, &c. Rhasis makes headach, and a binding heavinesse for a principall token, as much leaping of winde about the skinne as well as stutting, or tripping in speech, &c. hollow eyes, grosse veines, and broad lippes. And although they be commonly leane, hirsute, vncheareful in coū tenance, withered, and not so pleasant to behold, by reason of those continuall feares, griefes, and vexations; yet their memories are most part good, they haue happy wits, and excellent apprehensions. Their hot and dry braines make them they cannot sleepe, Ingentes habent & erebras vigilias, Areteus. Mighty and often watchings, sometimes waking for a month, a yeare together. In Pantheon cap. de Melancholia. Hercules de Saxoniâ faithfully averreth, that he hath heard his mother sweare, shee slept not for seauen months together: Trincauellius Tom. 2. consil. 10. [Page 232] speakes of one that waked 50 dayes, & Skenkius hath examples of two yeares. In naturall actions their appetite is greater then their concoction, multa appetunt pauca digerunt, as Rhasis hath it, they couet to eat, but cannot digest. And although they Alvus arida nihil deiiciens, cibi capaces nihilominus tamen extenuati sunt. doe eat much, yet they are leane, ill liking, saith Areteus, withered and hard, much troubled with costiuenesse, crudities, oppilations, spitting, belching, &c. Their pulse rare and slow, except it be of the Nic. Piso. Inflatio carotidum &c. Carotides which is very strong; but that varies according to their intended passions or perturbations, as Struthius hath proued at large, Spigmatica artis lib. 4. cap. 13. To say truth in such Chronicke diseases the pulse is not much to be respected, there being so much superstition in it, as Andreas Dudeth Rahamo. epist lib 3. Crat. epist. multa in pulsibus superstitio ausum etiam dicere tot differentias quae describuntur à Galeno ne (que) intelligi à quoquā nec observari posse. Crato notes, and so many differences in Galen, that he dares say they may not be obserued, or vnderstood of any man.
Their vrine is most part pale, and low coloured, Vrina pauca, acris, biliosa, Areteus, Not much in quantity, but this in my iudgement, is all out as vncertaine as the other, varying so often according to severall persons, habits, and other occasions, not to be respected in Cronick diseases. T. Bright. c. 20 Their melancholy excrements in some very much, in others little, as the Spleene playes his part, and thence proceeds wind, palpitation of the Heart, short breath, plenty of humidity in the stomack heavinesse of heart and heart-ake, an intolerable stupidity & dulnesse of spirits. Their excrements or stoole hard, black to some, and little. If thy heart, braine, liuer, spleane be misaffected, as vsually they are, many inconveniences proceed from them, many diseases accompany, as Incubus, Post. 40. aetat. [...]num, saith Iacchinus in 15.9. Rhasis. Idem Mercurïalis cō sil 86. Trincavelius Tom. 2. consil. 17. Apoplexy, Epilepsie, Vertigo, those frequent wakings & terrible dreams, intempestiue laughing, weeping, sighing, sobbing, blushing, trembling, sweating, swouning, &c. Fernelius consil. 43. & 45. Montanus consil. 230. Galen. de locis affectis lib. 3. cap. 6. All their senses are trobled, they thinke they see, heare, smell, and touch, that which they doe not, as shall be proued in the following discourse. Gordonius modo rident modo slent, silent, &c.
SVBSECT. 2. Symptomes or signes in the Mind. Feare.
ARculanus in 9. Rhasis ad Almansor. cap. 16. will haue these symptomes to be infinite, as indeed they are, varying according to the parties, for scarce is there one of a thousand that dotes alike, Laurentius cap. 16. Some few of greater note I will point at; and amongst the rest, Feare and Sorrow, which as they are causes, so if they persevere long, according to Aphorism & lib. de melan. Hippocrates, Lib 3. cap. 6. de locis affect. timor & maestitia si diutiùs perseuerent &c. Galen &c. they are most assured signes, inseparable companions, and characters of melancholy; Of present melancholy, and habituated, saith Montaltus cap. 21. and common to them all; Avicenna: and that Omnes exercent metus & tristitia, & sine causa. without a cause, tunent de non timendis, Gordonius: quae (que) momenti non sunt, although not all alike, saith Altomarus, Omnes timent licet non omnibus idem timēdi modus. Aetius. Tetrab, lib. 2. sec. 2 cap 9. yet all feare, Ingenti pavore trepidant. some with an extraordinary and a mighty feare, Areteus. Multi mortem timent, & tamen sibi ipsis mortem consciscunt, alij caeli ruinam timent. Many feare death, and yet in a contrary humor make away themselues, Galen lib. 3. de loc. affec. cap. 7. Some are afraid that Heauen will fall on their heads: some they are damned, or shall be. Feare of imminent danger, losse, disgrace still torments them &c. that they are all glasse, and therefore will suffer no man to come neare them, that they are all corke, as light as feathers, others as heavy as Lead, some are afraid their heads will fall off their shoulders, that they haue frogs in their bellies &c. Non ausus egredi domo ne deficeret. Montanus consil. 23. speakes of one that d [...]rst not walke alone from home for feare he should sowne, or die. A second Multi daemones timent, latrones, insidias. Avicenna. feares euery man he meetes will rob him, quarrell with him, or kill him, a third dare not venture to walke alone for feare he should meet the divel, a theefe, be sick, feares all old women as witches, and every dog or cat he sees, he suspecteth to be a divell, another dare not goe ouer a bridge &c. or come heare a poole; some are Alij. comburi, alij de rege. Rasis. afraid to be burned, or that the Ne terra absorbeantur, Forestus. ground will sinke vnder them, or ne terra dehiscat. Gordonius. swallow thē quicke, or that the King will call them in question for some fact they neuer [Page 234] did Rhasis cont. and that they shall surely be executed. The terror of such a death troubles them, and they feare as much, and are equally tormented in mind, Alij timore mortis tenentur, & malâ gratiâ principum putāt se aliquid commisisse, & ad supplicium requiri. as they that haue committed a murder, and are as pensiue without a cause, as if they were now presently to be put to death. Plater cap. 3. de mentis alienat. they are afraid of some losse, danger, that they shall surely lose liues, goods, and al they haue, but why they know not. Trincavelius consil. 13. lib. 1. had a patient that would needs make away himselfe, for feare of being hanged, & wold not be perswaded for three yeares together, but that he had killed a man. Plater. observ. lib. 1. hath two other examples, of such as feared to be executed without a cause. If they come in a place where a robbery or any offence hath bin done, Ille charissimos, hic omnes homines citra discrimen timet. they presently feare they are suspected, and many times betray thēselues without a cause. Lewes the 12 French king suspected euery man a traitor that came about him, durst trust no man, Alij timent Insidias. Aurelianus lib. 1. de mor. Cron. cap. 6. Alij formidolo suomnium, alij quorundam. Fracastorius lib. 2. de Intellec. Alius domesticos timet, alius omnes. Aetius. some feare all alike, some certaine men, and cannot endure their companies, are sick in them, or if they be from home. Some suspect treason still, others are afraide of their dearest & nearest friends, Melanenilius è Galeno, Ruffo, Aetio, and dare not be alone in the darke, for feare of hobgoblins and divels: he suspects every thing hee heares or sees a diuell, and imagineth to himselfe a thousand Chimeras & visions; another dates not be seen abroad, Hic in lucem prodire timet; tenebras (que) quaerit, contrà ille caliginosa fugit. loues darkenesse as life, and cannot endure the light, or to sit in lightsome places, his hat still in his eyes, he will neither see, nor be seen by his good will. Hipocrates lib. de Insaniâ & Melancholiâ. He dare not come in company for feare he should be misused or disgraced, or ouershoot himselfe in gesture or speeches, or be sicke, he thinkes euery man obserues him, or aimes at him, derides him, owes him malice. Most part Quidam larvas & malos spiritus, ab inimicis veneficiis & incantationibus sibi putant obiectari (Hipocrates) potionem se ve [...]eficam sumpsisse putat; & de hâc ructare sibi crebr [...] videtur. Idem Montaltus cap 21. Aetius lib. 2. & [...]lij. Trallianus lib. 1. cap. 16. they are afraid, they are bewitched, possessed, or poisoned by their enemies; and sometimes they suspect their nearest friends: he thinks something, speakes or talkes within him, or to him, and he belcheth of the poison. Christophorus à Vega lib. 2. [Page 235] cap. 1. had a patient so troubled, that by no perswasion or Physick could be reclaimed. Some are afraid that they shall haue euery fearefull disease they see others haue, heare of, or read. If they see one possessed, bewitch't, or an Epileptick Paroxisme, a man shaking with the palsy, or giddy-headed, reeling, or standing in a dangerous place &c. for many dayes after it runs in their mindes, they are afraid they shal be so too, they are in the like danger, as Perkins cap. 12. sec. 2. well obserues in his Cases of conscience. And many times by Imagination they produce it. They cannot endure to see any terrible object, as a Monster, a man executed, a carcase, or heare the diuell named, or any Tragicall relation, but they quake for feare, hecates somniare sibi videntur, Lucian. they dreame of hobgoblins, and cannot get it out of their mindes a long time after: they applie all they see, heare, read, to themselues; as Observat. lib. 1 quando ijs nil nocet nisi quod mulieribus melancholicis. Faelix Plater notes of some young Physitians, that studying to cure diseases, catch them themselues, and will be sick, and apply all symptomes they find related of others, to their owne persons. Generally of them all de inanibus semper conqueruntur & timent, saith Areteus, they complaine of toyes and feare —timeo tamen metus (que) causae nescius causa est metus. Hensius Austriaco. without a cause. As really tormented and perplexed for toyes and trifles, (such things as they will after laugh at themselues) as if they were most materiall and essentiall matters indeed worthy to bee feared, and will not be satisfied. Pacifie them with one, they are instantly troubled with some other feare, they are alwayes afraid of something or other, which they foolishly imagine or conceiue to themselues, troubled in mind vpon euery small occasion, still complaining, grieuing, vexing, suspecting, discontent, and cannot be freed so long as melancholy endureth: yet for all this as Cap. 15. in 9. Rhasis, in multis vidi praeter rationem semper aliquid timent, in caeteris tamen optimè se gerunt, ne (que) aliquid praeter dignitatem committunt. Iacchinus notes, in all other things they are wise, stayed and discreet, and doe nothing vnbeseeming their dignity, person or place, this foolish, ridiculous and childish feare excepted, which so much, and so continually tortures and crucifies their soules, and so long as melancholy lasteth, cannot be avoided.
[Page 236] Sorrow is that other Character and inseparable companion, fidus Achates, as all writers witnes, a common symptome, a continuall, and still without any evident cause of griefe, Altomarus cap. 7. Areteus tristes sunt. maerent omnes, & siroges eos reddere causam non possunt, they looke as if they had newly come forth of Trophonius den. And though they laugh many times, and seeme to be extraordinary merry, as they will by fits, yet extreme lumpish again in an instant, dull and heavy semel & simul, merry and sad, but most part sad, Mant. Egl. 1. Si qua placent abeunt inimica tenacius haerent, sorrow sticks by them still, continually gnawing as the vulture did Ovid. Met. 4. Titius bowels, and they cannot avoide it. No sooner are their eyes open, but after terrible and troublesome dreames, their heavy hearts begin to sigh: they are still fretting, chasing, Heautontimorumenoi, vexing themselues, Inquies animus. disquieted in mind, with restles vnquiet thoughts, discontent. Lugubris Ate frownes vpon them, in so much that Areteus well cals it, angorem animi, a vexation of the mind. They can hardly be pleased or eased, though in other mens opinion most happy, goe, tarry, run, ride, — Hor. lib. 3. ode 1. post equitem sedet atra cura: they cannot avoide this ferall plague, let them come in what company they will, Virgil. haeret lateri laethalis aruudo, as a Deere that is struck, the griefe remaines, and they cannot be relieued. As Mened Hoautont. Act. 1. sc. 1. he complained in the Poët.
He came home sorrowfull, and troubled in his minde, his servants did all they possibly could to please him; one pulled of his socks, another made ready his bed, another his supper, & did their vtmost endeavors to ease his griefe, and to exhilerate him, but he was profoundly melancholy he had lost his son, illud angébat, and his paine could not be remoued. And thence it proceeds many times, that they are a weary of their [Page 237] liues, taedium vitae is a common symptome, tarda fluunt ingrata (que) tempora, they are soone tired with all things, Taedium vitae. dislike all, a weary of all, sequitur nunc vivendi, nunc moriendi cupido, saith Aurelianus lib. 1. cap. 6. but most part Altomarus. vitam damnant, discontent, disquieted, perplexed vpon euery light or no occasion, obiect, often tempted to make away themselues, Seneca. vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt, they cannot dye, they will not liue; they complaine, weep and lament, and thinke they lead a most miserable life, especially if they be alone, idle, and parted from their ordinary company, or molested, displeased, provoked: griefe, feare and discontent, or some passion, forcibly seaseth on them Yet by and by when they come in company again which they like, or be pleased, suam sententiam rursus damnant, & vitae solatio delectantur, Luget & semper tristatur, solitudinem amat, mortem sibi precatur, vitam propriam odio habet. as Octavius Horatianus obserues lib. 2. cap. 5. they condemne their former dislike, and are well pleased to liue. And so they continue, till with some fresh discontent they be molested again, and then they are aweary of their liues, and shew rather a necessity to liue, then a desire. Iul. Caesar, Claudinus consil. 84. had a Polonian to his patient so affected, Suspition. Iealousie. that through feare & sorrow, with which he was still disquieted, hated his own life, and still wished for death, and to be freed.
Suspition and Ielousie, are generall symptomes, they are commonly distrustfull, apt to mistake, facilè Irascibiles, Facilè in iram incidunt. Areteus testy, pettish, peeuish, and ready to snarle vpon every Ira sine causa, velocitas irae. Savanarola pract. maior. Velocitas irae signum Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. ca. 18 Anger sine causa. smal occasion, cum amicissimis, and without a cause. If two talke together and whisper, or iest, or tell a tale in generall, he thinks presently they meane him, applies all to himselfe, de se putat omnia dici. Or if they talke with him, hee is ready to misconster every word they speake, and interpret it to the worst he cannot endure any man to looke steedily on him, speak to him almost, or laugh, iest, or be familiar, or hem, or point, or cough, spit, or make a noyse sometimes, &c. Suspitio, dissidentia symptomata. Crato epist Iulio Alexandrino consil. 185. Scoltzii. He thinks they laugh or point at him, or doe it in disgrace of him, circumvent him, contemne him, he is pale, red, and sweats for feare and anger least some body should obserue him. Hee workes [Page 138] vpon it, and long after this false conceit of an abuse troubles him. Montanus consil. 22. giues instance in a melancholy Iew that was so waspish and suspitious, tam facilè iratus, that no man could tell how to carry himselfe in his company.
Inconstancy. Inconstant they are in all their actions, vnapt to resolue of any businesse, they will and will not, perswaded to and fro vpon every small occasion, or word spoken: and yet if once they be resolued, obstinate, hard to be reconciled. If they abhorre, dislike, or distast, by no counsell or perswation to bee remooued. Yet in most things wauering, vnable to deliberat through feare, faciunt & mox facti poenitet, Areteus. avari & paulò post prodigi. Now prodigall, and then covetous, they doe, and by & by repent them of that which they haue done, soone weary, and still seeking change, erected and deiected in an instant, animated to vndertake, and vpon a word spoken againe discouraged.
Passionate. Extreame passionate, quicquid volunt, valdè volunt, & what they desire, they doe most furiously seeke: envious, malitious, and covetous, muttering, repining, discontent, peeuish, iniuriarum tenuces, prone to revenge, and most violent in all their Imaginations: and yet of a deeper reach, excellent apprehension, iudicious, wise and witty, of profound iudgement in somethings, although in others, non rectè iudicant inquieti, saith Fracastorius, lib. 2. de intell. And as Arculanus, cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis, tearmes it Iudicium plerum (que) perversum, corrupticum iudicant honesta inhonesta, & amicitiam habent pro inimicitia: They count honesty dishonesty, friends as enimies, they will abuse their best friends, & dare not offend their enimies. Cowards most part, & ad inferendā iniuriā timidissimi, saith Cardan lib. 8. cap. 40. de rerum varietate. Loth to offend, and if they chance to overshoot themselues in word or deed, they are miserably tormented and frame a thousand dangers and inconveniences to themselues, ex muscâ elephantum, if once they conceit it. Amorous. And yet againe many of them desperate, harebraines, rash, carelesse, and none so fit to be Assassinates. They are prone to loue, and Facile amant Altom. easie to be taken. Propensi ad amorem [Page 239] & excandescentiam, Montaltus cap. 21. quickly inamored and dote vpon all, loue one dearely till they see another, and then they dote on her. Et hanc & hanc & illam & omnes. Yet some againe cannot endure the sight of a woman abhorre the sexe, as that same melancholy. Bodine. Duke of Muscovy, that was instantly sicke if he came but in sight of them, and that Io. Maior vitis Patrum, fol. 202. Paulus Abbas eremitae tanta solitudine perseverat vt nec vestem nec vultum mulieris ferre possit &c. Anchorite, that fell into a cold palsie when a woman was brought before him.
Humorous they are beyond all measure, one supposeth himselfe to be a Dogge, Cock, Beare, Horse, Glasse, Butter, Humorous. &c. He is a Giant, a Dwarfe, as strong as an hundred men, a Lord, Duke, Prince, &c. And if he bee told he hath a stinking breath, a great nose, or is sicke, or inclined to such or such a disease he beleeues it eftsoones, and by force of Imagination will worke it out. Many of them are immouable and fixed in their conceipts, and others vary vpon every obiect heard or seene. As, if they see a stage-play, they runne vpon that a weeke after, if they heare musicke and see dancing, they haue naught but Bagpipes in their braines, if they see a cumbate they are also for armes. Generally as they are pleased or displeased so are their continuall cogitations pleasing or displeasing. If abused an abuse troubles them long after, if crossed that crosse, &c. Restles in their thoughts, and continualy meditating, Velut aegri somnia, vanae finguntur species. More liker dreames then men awake, cogitationes somniātibus similes, id vigilant quod alij somniant cogitabundi. Still, saith Avicenna, they wake as others dreame, and such for the most part are their Imaginations and conceits, Omnes exercent vanae intensae (que) animi cogitationes. (Nic. Piso. Bruel) & assiduae. absurd, vaine, foolish toyes, yet they are Curiosi de rebus minimis. Areteus. most curious and sollicitous continually, & supra modum Rhasis. cont. lib. 1. ca. 9. praemeditantur de aliquâ re. As serious in toyes as if it were a most necessary businesse and of great moment, and still thinking of it. Though they doe talke with you, and seeme to be otherwise imployed, and to your thinking very intent & busie, still that toy runnes in their mind, that feare, that suspition, that castle in the ayre, that waking dreame whatsoeuer it is. Nec interrogant, saith Lib. 2. de intell. Fracastorius, nec interrogatis rectè respondent. They doe not much heed what you say, their [Page 240] mind is of another matter, aske what you will, they doe not attend. T'is proper to all melancholy men, saith Hoc melancholicis omnibus proprium vt quas semel Imaginationes valdè receperint non facilè reijciant sed hae etiam vel invitis semper occurrant. Mercurialis consil 11. What conceit they haue once entertained, to be most intent, violent, and continually about it. Invitis occurrit, doe what they will they cannot be rid of it, against their wills they must thinke of it. Perpetuò molestantur, nec oblivisci possunt, they are continually troubled in company, out of company, at meat, at exercise, at all times and places, they cannot forget it.
Consil. 43. Crato, Cap. 5. Bashfulnesse. Laurentius, and Fernelius, put bashfulnesse for an ordinary symptome, subrusticus pudor, or vitiosus pudor, is a thing which much hants and torments them, though some on the other side according to Lib. 2. de Intell. Fracastorius bee inverecundi & pertinaces, impudent and peevish. Most part they are very shamefast; and that makes them with Pet. Blesensis to refuse honours, offices and preferments, which sometimes fall into their mouthes, they cannot speake or put forth themselues as others can, timor hos, pudor impedit illos, timorousnesse and bashfulnesse hinder their proceedings. For that cause they seldome visite their friends, except some familiars of small or no complement, they are hard to be acquainted with, especially of strangers, they had rather write their minds then speak and aboue all things loue Solitarinesse. Solitarinesse. Ob voluptatem an ob timorem soli sunt, I rather thinke for feare, sorrow, &c.
As Bellerophon in Il. 3. Homer.
They delight in woods and waters, desart places, Orchards, Gardens, private walkes, back-lanes, averse Simalum exasperatur homines odent & solitaria petunt. from company, as Diogenes in his tub, or Timon misanthropus, they abhorre [Page 241] all company at last, even their neerest acquaintance, & most familiar friends, confining themselues wholy to their Chambers, f [...]g [...]nt homines sine causa, saith Rhasis, & odio habent. cont. lib. 1. cap. 9. It was one of the chiefest reasons why the Citizens of Abdera suspected Democritus to be melancholy and mad; because that as Hippocrates related in his Epistle to Philopoemenes, Democritus solet noctes & dies apud se degere, plerum (que) autem in speluncis sub a maenis arborum vmb [...]is vel in tenebris & mollibus herbis, vel ad aquarum crebra & quieta fluenta, &c. he forsooke the Citty and liued in groues & hollow trees, or vpon a greene bancke by a brooke side, or confluence of waters all day long and all night. Quae quidem (saith he) plurimùm atra bile vexatis, & melancholicis eveniunt, deserta frequentant, hominum (que) congressum aversantur. Gaudet tenebris alitur (que) dolor. Ps. 62. Vigilaui & factus sum velut nycticorax in domicilio passer solitarius in templo.. Which is an ordinary thing with melancholy men. The Aegiptians therefore in their Hieroglyphicks, expressed a melancholy man by a Hare sitting in her forme, as being a most timorous and solitary creature, Pirerius Hieroglip. lib. 12. But this and all precedent symptomes are more or lesse apparant, as the humor is intēded or remitted, hardly perceaued in some or not at all, most manifest in others. Besides these, to speake in a word, there is nothing so vaine, absurd, ridiculous, extravagant, impossible, incredible, so monstrous a Chymera, so prodigious and strange, Et quae vix audet fabula monstra parit. such as Painters and Poets durst not attempt, which they will not really feare, faine, suspect & Imagine vnto themselues. All extreames, contrarieties, and contradictions, and that in infinite varieties, Melancholici planè incredibilia sibi persuadent, vt vix omnibus saeculis duo reperti sunt, qui idem Imaginati sunt, Erastus de Lamijs. Scarse two of two thousand that concurre in the same symptomes. I will adventure yet in such a vast confusion and generality, to bring them into some order, and so descend to particulars.
SVBSEC. 3. Particular Symptomes from the influence of Starres. Parts of the Body and Humours.
SOme men haue peculiar Symptomes, according to their temperament and Crisis, which they haue from the Stars [Page 242] and those celestiall influences, variety of wits and dispositions, as Anthony Zara contends, Anat. ingen. sect. 1. memb. 11.12.13.14. plurimum irritant influentiae caelestes, vnde cientur animi aegritudines & morbi corporum. Velc. l. 4. c. 5. One saith, diverse diseases of the body and mind proceed from their influences, Sect. 2 memb. 1. subs. 4. as I haue already proued out of Ptolomy, Pontanus, Lemnius, Cardan, and others, as they are principall significators of maners, diseases, mutually irradiated, or Lords of the geniture, &c. Ptolomeus in his centiloquy, or Hermes, or whosoever else the author of that Tract, attributes all these symptomes which are in melancholy men to celestiall influences: which opinion Mercurialis de affect. lib, 1. cap. 10. reiects; but as I say, De reb. coelest. lib. 10. cap. 13. Iovianus Pontanus, and others stiffely defend. That some are solitary, dull; heavy, churlish, some againe blith, buxome, light, and merry, they ascribe wholy to the starres. As if Saturne be predominate in his nativity, and cause Melancholy in his temperature, then J. de Indagine Goclenius. he shall bee very austere, sullen, churlish, blacke of colour, profound in his cogitations, full of cares, miseries, and discontents, sad & fearefull alwaies silent, solitary, still delighting in husbandry, in Woods, Orchards, Gardens, Rivers, Ponds, Pooles, darke walkes and close: Cogitationes sunt velle aedificare, velle arbores plantare, agros colere, &c. Catch Birds, Fishes, &c. and still contriuing and meditating of such matters. If Iupiter domineirs, they are more ambitious, still meditating of kingdomes, magistracies, offices, honors, or that they are Princes, Potentates, and how they would carry themselues, &c. If Mars they are all for warres, braue combats, Monomachies, testy, cholericke, harebraine, rash, furious, and violent in their actions. They wil faine themselues Victors, Commanders, are passionate & satyricall in their speeches, great braggers, ruddy of colour. If the Sunne they will bee Lords, Emperours, in conceipt at least, and Monarchs, giue Offices, Honours, &c. If Venus, they are still courting of their mistresses and most apt to loue, amorously giuen, they seeme to heare musicke, plaies, see fine pictures, dancers, merriments, and the like. Ever in [Page 243] loue, and dote on all they see. Mercurialists are solitary, much in contemplation, subtile, Poets, Philosophers, & musing most part about such matters. If the Moone haue a hand they are all for perigrinatiōs, sea voiages, much affected with travels, to discourse, read, meditate of such things; wandering in their thoughts, divers, much delighted in waters, to fish, fowle. &c.
But the most immediate Symptomes proceed from the Temperature it selfe, and the Organicall parts, as Head, Liver, Spleene, Mes [...]riacke Veines, Heart, Wombe, Stomacke, &c. and most especially from the foure humours in those seats whether they be hot or cold, naturall vnnaturall, intended remitted, simple or mixt, and their diverse mixtures, and severall adustions, combinations, which may bee as diversly varied, as those Humidum calidum frigidū siccum. foure first qualities in Com. in 1 cap. Iohannis de Sacrobosco. Clavius, and produce as many severall Symptomes and monstrous fictions as wine doth effects, which as Andreas Bachius obserues lib. 3. de vino cap. 20. are infinite. Those of greater note bee these.
If it be naturall Melancholy, as T. Bright. cap. 16. hath largely described, either of the Spleene, or of the veines falty by excesse of quantity, or thicknesse of substance, it is a cold and dry humour, as Montanus affirmes consil. 26. and the parties are sad, timorous, and fearefull. Prosper Calenus in his booke de atrâ bile will haue them to be more stupid then ordinary, cold, heavy, dull, solitary, sluggish, Simultam atram bilem & frigidam habent. Hercules de Saxonia cap. 16. lib. 7. Si residet melancholia naturalis tales plu ̄ bei coloris aut nigri stupidi solitary. will haue these that are naturally melancholy, to be of a leaden colour or blacke, and so will Guianerius cap. 3. tract. 15. and such as thinke themselues dead many times if it be in excesse. These Symptomes vary according to the mixture of the other humours not adust, or the mixture of those foure humours adust, which is vnnaturall Melancholy. For as Trallianus hath written cap. 16. lib. 7. Non vna melancholiae causae est nec vnus humor vitij parens sed plures & alius aliter mutatus vnde non omnes eadē sentiunt symptomata. There is not one cause of this melancholy, nor one humour which begets it, but divers diversly intermixt, from whence proceeds this variety of Symptomes. [Page 244] And those varying againe as they are hot or cold. Humor frigidus delirij causa, humor calidus furoris. Cold melancholy (saith Benedic. Vittorius Faventinus pract. mag.) is a cause of dotage, and more mild symptomes, if hot or more adust, of more violent passions, and furies. Fracastorius lib. 2. de Intellect, will haue vs to consider well of it, Multum refert quam vs (que) melancholia teneatur hunc fervens & a ccensa agitat, illum tristis & friges occupat, hi timidi ill▪ inuerecun di intrepidi, &c. with what kinde of Melancholy every one is troubled, for it much availes to knowe it, one is enraged by fervent heat, another is possessed by sad and cold, one is fearefull, shamefast; the other impudent and bold. As Aiax, Arma rapit superos (que) furens in praelia poscit: quite mad or tending to madnesse: nunc hos nunc [...]mpetit illos. Bellerophon on the other side, solis errat malè sanus in agris, wanders alone in the woods, one despaires, weepes, and is weary of his life, another laughes, &c. All which variety proceeds from the severall degrees of heat and cold, or diverse adustiō of the foure humours, which in this vnnaturall Melancholy, by corruption of blood, adust choler, or melancholy natural, T. Bright cap, 16, Treat. Met. by excessiue distemper of heat, turned in comparison of the naturall, into a sharpe lye by force of adustion, cause according to the diversity of their matter, diverse and strange Symptomes, which he reckons vp in his following chapter. So doth Cap. 16, in 9. Rasis. Arculanus, according to the foure principall humours adust, & many others.
As for example, if it proceed from sleame, which is seldome and not so frequent as the rest, Bright. c. 16. it stirres vp dull symptomes, and a kinde of stupidity, or impassionate hurt: they are sleepy, saith Pract. maior. Somnians piger frigidus. Savanorolae, dull, slowe, cold, blockish, asselìke, Asininam melancholiam, De anima. cap de humor si à phlegmate sē per in aquis fere sunt & circa fluvios, plorant multum, &c. Melancthon calls it, they are much giuen to weeping, and delight in waters, ponds, pooles, rivers, fishing, fowling, &c. Arnoldus breviar. 1. cap. 18. They are Pigra nascitur ex colore pallido & albo. Hercules de Saxoniâ. pale of colour, slowe & apt to sleep, heavy, Savanorola. much troubled with head-ach, continuall meditation, and muttering to themselues, they dreame of waters, Muros cadere in se aut submergitiment cum torpore & segnitie & fluvios amant talet Alexander, cap. 16. lib. 1. that they are in danger of drowning, and feare such things, Rhasis. They are fatter then others that are melancholy, paler, of a muddy complection apter to spit, Semper serè dormìt somnolentia. cap. 16. lib. 7. sleep more troubled with rheume then the [Page 245] rest, and haue their eyes still fixed on the ground. Such a patient had Hercules de Saxonia, a widdowe in Venice, that was fat and very sleepy still, and Christophorus à Vega another affected in the same sort. If it be inveterate or violent the symptomes are more evident, they plainely dote and are ridiculous to others, in all their gestures, actions, speeches. Imagining impossibilities, as he in Christophorus à Vega: that thought he was a tunne of wine, Laurentius. and that Siennois that resolued with himselfe not to pisse, for feare he should drown all the town.
If it proceed from blood adust, or that there be a mixture of blood in it, Cap. 6. de met. Si à sanguine venit rubedo oculorum & faciei plurimus risus. such are commonly ruddy of complection, and high coloured, according to Salust. Salvianus, and Hercules de Saxonia. And as Savanorola, Vittorius Faventinus Emper. farther adde, Venae oculorū sunt rubrae inde an precesserit vini & aromatum vsus & frequens balneum. Trallianus lib. 1.16. an praecesserit mora sub sole. the veines of their eyes be red, as well as their faces. They are much inclined to laughter, witty and merry, conceipted in discourse, pleasant, if they bee not farre gone, much giuen to musicke, dancing, and to bee in womens company. They meditate wholy of such things, and thinke Ridet patiens si à sanguine putat se videre choreas musicam audire ludos &c they see or heare plaies, dancing, and such like sports. If they bee more strongly possessed with this kind of melancholy, Arnoldus Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18. As hee of Argus in the Hor. epist. lib. 2. quidam haud ignobilis Argis , &c. Poet that sate laughing all day long, as if he had been at a Theater. Such another is mentioned by Lib. de reb. mir. Aristotle, liuing at Abidos a towne of Asia minor, that would sit after the same fashion as if he had beene vpon a stage, and sometimes act himselfe, sometimes clap his hands, and laugh as if hee had beene well pleased with the sight. Wolfius relates of a country fellowe called Brunsellius, subiect to this humour, Cum inter cō cionandum mulier dormiens è subsellio caderet & omnes reliqui qui id viderent riderent tribus post diebus, &c. that being by chance at a sermon, saw a woman fall of from a forme halfe a sleepe, at which obiect most of the company laughed, but he for his part, was so much moued, that for three whole dayes after he did nothing but laugh, by which meanes he was much weakned, and worse a long time after. Such a one was old Sophocles, and Democritus himselfe had hilare delirium, much in this vaine. Laurentius cap. 3. de melan. thinkes this kind of melancholy, Insania laeta. which is a little adust with some mixture of blood to be that [Page 246] which Aristotle meant, when he said melancholy men of all others are most witty, which causeth many times a divine ravishment, and a kind of Enthusiasmus, which stirreth them vp to be excellent Philosophers, Poets, Prophets, &c. Mercurialis consil. 110. giues instance in a young man his patient, sanguine melancholy; Inuenis ingenij & non vulgaris erudi ionis. of a great wit, and excellently learned.
If it arise from choler adust, they are bold and impudent, and of a more hairebraine disposition, Si à cho [...]era furibundi interficiunt se & alios, putant se videre pugnas. apt to quarrell, and think of such things, battels, combats, of their manhood, furious, impatient in discourse, stiffe, irrefragable and prodigious in their tenēts, and if they be moued, most violent, outragious, and ready to disgrace, Vrina subtilis & ignea, parum dormiunt. provoke any, to kill themselues and others, Arnoldus, starke mad by fits, they sleep little, their vrine is subtle and fiery. Guianerius. In their fits you shall heare them speake all maner of languages, Hebrew, Greeke & Latin, that neuer were taught or knew them before. Apponensis in com. in 1. Prob. sec. 30. speakes of a mad woman that spake excellent good Latin; and Rhasis knew another, that could prophecy in her fit, and foretell things truly to come. Tract. 15. c. 4. Guianerius had a patient could make Latin verses when the Moone was combust, otherwise illiterate. Avicenna and some of his adherents will haue these symptomes, when they happen, to proceed from the diuell, and that they are rather daemoniaci, possessed, then mad or melancholy, or both together, as Iason Pratensis thinks; Immiscent se mali genij &c. but most ascribe it to the humour, which opinion Montaltus cap. 21. stiffly maintaines, confuting Avicenna and the rest, referring it wholly to the quality and disposition of the humour & subiect. Cardan de rerum var. lib. 8. cap. 10. holds these men of all other fitte to be Assacinats, bold, hardy, fierce and adventerous, to vndertake any thing by reason of this choler adust. Ad haec perpetranda furore rapti ducuntur, cruciatus quosvis tolerant, & mortem & furore exacerbato audent ad suppli [...]ia plus irritantur, mirum est, quantam habeant in tormentis patientiam. This humor saith he, prepares them to endure death it selfe, and all maner of torments with invincible courage, and t'is a wonder to see with what alacrity they will vndergoe such tortures, vt supra naturam res videatur: he ascribes this generosity, fury, or rather stupidity, to this adustion of choller and [Page 247] melancholy: but I take these rather to be mad or desperat, thē properly melancholy: for commonly this humor so adust & hote, degenerates into madnesse.
If it come from melancholy it selfe adust, those men, saith Avicenna, Tales plus caeteris timent, & continuè tristantur, valde suspitiosi, solitudinem diligunt corruptissimas babent imaginationes, &c. are commonly sad & solitary, and that continually, & in excesse, more then ordinary suspitious, more fearefull, and haue long, sore, and most corrupt Imaginations; cold and black, bashfull and so solitary, that as Si à melancholia adusta tristes, de sepulchris somniant, timent ne fasci nétur, putāt se mortuos, aspici nolunt. Arnoldus writes, they will endure no company, they dreame of graues still, and dead men, & thinke themselues bewitched or dead: if it be extreme they think they heare hideous noyses, see and talke Videntur sibi videre monachos nigros & daemones, & suspensos & mortuos. with blacke men, & converse familiarly with divels, & such strange Chimeras and visions, Gordonius. or that they are possessed by them, that some body talkes to them, or within them. Tales melancholici plerum (que) daemoniaci. Montaltus consil. 26. ex Avicenna. Valescus de Taranta had such a woman in cure, Quâv̄is nocte se cum daemone coire putavit. that thought euery night she had to doe with the Divell: and Gentilis Fulgosus quaest. 55. writes, that he had a melancholy friend, that Semper ferè vidisse militem nigrum praesentē. had a blacke man in the likenesse of a souldier, still following him wheresoeuer he was, Laurentius cap. 7. hath many stories of such as haue thought thēselues bewitched by their enemies; and some that would eate no meat as being dead. Anthony de Verdeur. Anno 1550. an Advocate of Paris fell into such a melancholy fit, that he belieued verily he was dead, he could not be perswaded otherwise, or to eat or drink, till a kinsman of his, a scholler of Bourges did eat before him, dressed like a corse. This story saith Serres, was acted in a comedy before Charles the ninth. Some thinke they are beasts, wolues, hogges, & cry like dogges, foxes, bray like asses, and low like kine, as King Praetus daughters. Quidam mugitus boum aemulantur, & pecora se putant, vt Praeti filiae. Hildisheim spicel. 2. de Maniâ, hath an example of a Dutch Baron so affected, and Trincavelius lib. 1. consil. 11. another of an other nobleman in his country, Baro quidam mugitus boum, & rugitus asinorum & alior [...] animalium voce [...] effingit. that thought he was certainly a beast, and would imitate most of their voices, with many such symptomes, which may properly be reduced to this kinde.
If it proceede from the severall combinations of these 4 [Page 248] humors, the symptomes are likewise mixt. One thinkes himselfe a giant, another a dwarfe; one is heavy as lead, another is light as a fether. Marcellus Donatus lib. 2. cap. 41. makes mention out of Seneca, of one Seneccio a rich man, Omnia magna putabat, vxo [...]em magnam, grandes equos, abhorruit omnia parva, magna pocula, & calceamenta pedibus maiora. that thought himselfe and every thing els he had, great: a great wise, great horses, could not abide little things, but would haue great pots to drinke in, and great hose, and great shooes bigger then his feet. Like her in Lib. 1. cap. 16. putavit se vno digito posse totū mundum contevere. Trallianus, that thought she could shake all the world with a finger, and was afraid to crush her hand together, lest she should crush the world like an apple in pieces: or him in Galen, that thought he was Sustinet humeris caelum cū Atlante. Alij caeli ruinam timent. Atlas, and sustained heauen with his shoulders. Another thinks himselfe so little, that he can creep into a mousehole: one feares heauen will fall on his head, one is a cock, and such a one Cap. 1. Tract. 15. alius se gallū putat, alius lusciniam. Guianerius saith, he saw at Padua, that would clap his hands together, & crow. Trallianus. Another thinks he is a nightingale, and therefore sings all night long: another he is all glasse, a pitcher, and will therefore let no body come neare him, and such a one Cap. 7. de mel. Laurentius giues out vpon his credit, that he knew in France. Christophorus à Vega lib. 3. cap. 14. Sckenkius and Marcellus Donatus lib. 2. cap. 1. haue many such examples, & one amongst the rest of a Baker in Farara, that thought he was composed of butter, and durst not sit in the sun, or come neare a fire, for feare of being melted: of another that thought he was a case of lether, stuffed with wind. Some laugh, some weep &c. Some haue a corrupt eare, eyes, some smelling. Anthony Verduer. Lewes the eleuenth had a conceipt every thing did stinke about him, all the odoriferous perfumes they could get, wold not ease him, but still he smelled a filthy stinke. A melancholy French Poët in Cap. 7. de mel. Laurentius, being sick of a fever, and trobled with waking, by his Physitians was appointed to vse vuguentum populenum to anoint his temples; but he so distasted the smell of it, that for many yeares after, all that came neare him he imagined to smell of it, and would let no man talke with him but aloofe off, or weare any new clothes, because he thought still they smelled of it; in all other things, [Page 249] wise and discreet, and would talke sensibly, saue only in this. A gentleman in Limosingen, saith Anthony Verdeur, was perswaded he had but one leg, affrighted by a wilde boare, that by chance strooke him on the leg: he could not be perswaded his leg was sound (in all other things well) vntill two Franciscans by chance comming that way, fully remoued him from that conceipt. Sed abundè fabularum audivimus.
SVBSECT. 4. Education, custome, continuance of time, condition mixt with other diseases, by fits, inclination &c.
ANother great occasion of the variety of these symptomes, proceeds from custome, discipline, education, and severall inclination. Laurentius cap. 6. This humor will imprint in melancholy men the obiects most answerable to their condition of life, & ordinary actions, & dispose men according to their severall studies & callings. If an ambitious man become melancholy, he forthwith thinks he is a King, an Emperour, a Monarch, & walkes alone, pleasing himself with a vain hope of some future preferments, or present as he supposeth, and withall acts a Lords part, and takes it vpon him, some statesman or magnifico, and makes congies, giues intertainment, lookes big, &c. Francisco Sansovino records of a melancholy man in Cremona, that would not be induced to belieue, but that he was Pope, gaue pardons, made Cardinals &c. Lib. 3. cap. 14, qui se regem putavit regno expulsum. Christophorus à Vega makes mention of another of his acquaintance, that thought he was a King, driuen from his kingdome, and was very anxious to recouer his estate. A covetous person is still conversant about purchasing of lands and tenements, & plotting in his mind how to compasse such and such Manors, as if he were already Lord of it, & able to goe through with it all he sees is his, re or spe, he hath deuuored it in hope, or else in conceipt esteemes it his own; like him in Dipnosophist. lib. Thrasilaus putavit omnes maues in Piraeum portum appellantes suas esse. Athenaeus, that [Page 250] thought all the ships in the hauen to be his own. A lascivious inamorato, plots all the day long to please his mistris, acts and struttes, and carries himselfe as if she were in presence, still dreaming of her, as Pamphilus of his Glycerium, as some doe in their morning sleep. de hist. med. mirab. lib. 2. c. 1. Marcellus Donatus knew such a Gentlewoman in Mantua, called Eleonera Meliorina, that constantly belieued she was married to a King, and Genibus flexis loqui cum illo voluit, & adstare iam tum putauit &c. would kneele downe, & talke with him, as if he had bin there present with his associats, & if she had found by chance a piece of glasse in a muck-hill, or in the street, she would say that it was a Iewell sent from her Lord & husband. If devout and religious, he is all for fasting, prayer, ceremonies, almes, interpretatiōs, visions, prophecies, revelations, Gordonius. quod sit Propheta, & inflatus à spiritu sancto. he is inspired by the Holy Ghost, full of the Spirit: one while he is saued, another while damned, or still troubled in mind for his sins &c. more of these in the third Partition, of Loue Melancholy. Qui forensibus causis insudat nil nis [...] arresta cogitat, & supplices libellos alius non nisi versus facit. P. Forestus. A Schollers mind is busied about his studies, he applaudes himselfe for that he hath done, or hopes to doe, one while fearing to be out in his next exercise, another while contemning all censures, envies one, emulates another, or els with indefatigable paines and meditation, consumes himselfe. So of the rest, all which vary according to the more remisse, and violent impression of the obiect, or as the humor it selfe is intended or remitted. For some are so gently melancholy, that in all their carriage, and to the outward apprehension of others, it can hardly, be discerned, and yet to them an intolerable burden, and not to be indured. Gordonius. Quaedam occulta quaedam manifesta, some signes are manifest and obvious to all at all times, some to few, or seldome, or hardly perceiued, let them keep their own counsell, none will suspect them. Some dote in one thing, and are most childish, ridiculous, and to be wondred at in that, and yet for all other matters, most discreet & wise. To some it is in disposition, to another in habit; and as they of heat and cold, we may say of this humor, one is melancholicus ad octo, a second two degrees lesse, a third halfe way. T'is superparticular, sesquialtera, sesquitertia, and superbipartiens [Page 251] tertias quintas Melancholiae &c. all those Geometricall proportions are too little to expresse it. Trallianus lib. 1.16. alij intervalla quaedā habent, vt etiam con sueta administrent, alij in continuo delirio sunt &c. It comes to some by fits, comes & goes, to others it is continuate, many saith Prag. mag. Vere tantum & autumno. Faventinus in spring & fall onely are molested, some once a yeare, as that Roman, Lib. de humoribus. Galen speaks of: Guianerius. one at the coniunction of the Moone alone, or some vnfortunate aspects, a second once peradventure in his life, hath á most grievous fit, euen to the extremity of madnesse or dotage, and that vpon some ferall accident or perturbation, terrible obiect, and that for a time, neuer so before, neuer after. A third is moved vpon all such troublesome obiects, crosse fortune, disaster and violent passions, otherwise free, once troubled in three or foure yeares. A fourth, if things be to his mind, or be in action, is most jocund, and of a good complexion: if idle, caried away wholly with pleasant dreames and phantasies, but if once crossed & displeased, his countenance is altered on a sudden, and his heart, heavy, irksome thoughts crucifie his soule, & in an instant he is aweary of his life. A fift complaines in his youth, a sixt in his middle age, the last in his old age.
Generally thus much we may conclude of all melancholy almost. That it is Levinus Lemnius, Iason Pratensis. blanda ab initio. most pleasāt at first, I say mētis gratissimus error, a most delightsome humor, to walk alone & meditate, & frame a thousand phātastical Imaginatiōs vnto thēselues. They are never better pleased thē whē they are so doing, they are in Paradise for the time, & cannot wel endure to be interrupt: with him in the Poet, Hor. Pol me occidistis amici, non servastis ait! you haue vndone him, he complains, tel him what inconvenience will follow, what wil be the event, all is one, canis ad vomitum, Facilis discensus Averni. t'is so pleasant, he cannot refraine. He may thus continue peradventure many yeares, by reason of a strong temperature, or some mixture of busines, which may divert his cogitations: but at the last laesa Imaginatio, his phantasy is crased, and now habituated to such toyes, cannot but work still like a fat, the Sceane alters vpon a sudden, and Feare and Sorrow supplant those pleasing thoughts, suspition and discontent, and perpetuall anxiety succeed in their [Page 252] places, so by little and little that shooing-horne of Idlenes, and voluntary solitarines, melancholy that ferall fiend is drawne on, & quantum vertice ad auras aethereas, tantum radice Virg. in Tartaratendit, she was not so delitious at first, as now she is bitter and harsh. A canker'd soule macerated with cares and discontents, taedium vitae, impatience precipitates them into vnspeakable miseries. They cannot indure company, light, vnfit for action, and the like. Corpus cad [...] verosum. Psal. 67. cariosa est facies mea prae agritudine animae. Their bodies are leane and dried vp, withered, vgly, look harsh, very dull, and their soules tormented, as they are more or lesse intangled, as the humor hath bin intended, or according to the continuance of time they haue bin troubled.
To discerne all which symptomes the better, Lib. 9. ad Almansorem. Rhasis the Arabian makes three degrees of them. The first is, falsa cogitatio, false conceipts, and idle thoughts; the second is, falso cogitata loqui, to talke to themselues, and vtter their minds & conceipts of their hearts by their words; Practica maiore. the third is to put in practise that which they think or speak. Sauanarola Rub. 11. tract. 8. cap. 1 de aegritud. cap. confirmes as much, Quum ore loquitur quae corde concepit, quū subito de vna re ad aliud transit, ne (que) rationem de aliquo reddit, tunc est in medio at quum incipit operari qu lo quitur in summo gradu est. when he beginnes to expresse that in words, which he conceiue's in his heart, or talkes idlely, or goes from one thing to another, which Cap. 19. Partic 2. Loquitur secum & ad alios, ac si vere praescentes. A [...]g cap 11 lib. de cura pro mortuis gerend [...] Rasi [...]. Gordonius cals, nec caput habentia, nec caudam, he is in the middle way: Quum res ad hoc deuenit, vt ea quae cogitare coeperit, ore promat, at (que) actus permisceat, tum perfecta melancholia est. but when he begins to act it likewise, and to put his fopperies in execution, he is then in the extent of melancholy, or madnes it selfe. This progresse of Melancholy you shall easily obserue in them that haue bin so affected, they go smiling to themselues at first, at length they laugh out; at first solitary, at last they can indure no company: or if they doe, they are now dizards, past sence and shame, quite moped, they care not what they say or doe, their whole actions, words, gestures, are furious or ridiculous. At first his mind is troubled, he doth not attend what is said, if you tell him a tale, he cries at last, what said you? but in the end he mutters to himselfe, as old women doe many times, or old men when [Page 253] they sit alone, vpon a sudden they whoop and hollow, or run away, and sweare they see or heare players, Melancholicus se videre & audire putat daemones. lavater de spectris parte 3. cap. 2. diuels, hobgoblins, ghosts, or strike, or strut, &c. grow humorous in the end: Like him in the Poët, saepè ducentos, saepè decem seruos, he will dresse himselfe, and vndresse, carelesse at last, and growes insensible, stupid or mad. Wierus lib. 3. cap. 31. He howles like a wolfe, barkes like a dog, or raues like Aiax and Orestes, heares Musick or outcries, which no man els heares. As Michael a musitian. he did whom Amatus Lusitanus mentioneth cent. 3. cura. 55. or that womā in Malleo malef. Springer, that spake many languages, and said she was possessed. That Farmer in Lib. de atrâ bile. Prosper Calenius, that disputed & discoursed learnedly in Philosophy and Astronomy, with Alexander Achilles his master, at Bologne in Italy. But of these I haue already spoken.
Who can sufficiently speake of these symptomes? or prescribe rules to comprehend them, they are so irregular in themselues, Proteus himselfe is not so divers, I may as well make the Moone a new coat, as a true Character of a melancholy man, as soone find the motion of a bird in the aire as the heart of man, of a melancholy man. They are so confused, divers, intermixt with other diseases; as the species are confounded (as Part. 1. subsec. 2. memb. 2. I haue shewed) so are the symptomes. Sometimes with headache, Cacexia, dropsy, stone; as you may perceiue by those severall examples and illustrations, collected by De delirio melancholiâ & maniâ. Hildisheim spicel. 2. Mercurialis consil. 110. cap. 6. & 11. with headache, Epilepsie, Priapismus, Trincavelius consil. 12. lib. 1. lib. 3. consil. 49. with gout, caninus appetitus. Montanus consil. 26. & 23.234.249. with Falling-sicknesse, Headache, Vertigo, Lycanthropea &c. I. Caesar Claudinus consult. 4. consult. 89. & 116. with gout, agues, Haemrods, stone, &c. who can distinguish these melancholy symptomes so intermix't with others, or apply them to their seuerall species, confine them into method? T'is hard I confesse, yet I haue disposed of them as I could, and will descend to particularize them according to their species. For hitherto I haue expatiated in more generall lists or termes, speaking promiscuously [Page 254] of all such ordinary signes, which occurre amongst writers, not that they are all to be found in one man, for that were to paint a Monster, a Chimera, not a man, but some in one, some in another, and that successiuely, or at severall times.
Which I haue bin the more curious to expresse and report; not to vpbraid any miserable mā, or by way of derision, I rather pity thē, but the better to discerne thē, to apply remedies vnto them, & to shew that the best & soundest of vs all is in danger, how much we ought to feare our own fickle estates, and remember our miseries and vanities, examine & humiliate our selues, & seek to God, & call to him for mercy, that needs not seeke for any rods to scourge our soules, since we carry them in our bowels, & that our soules are in a miserable captivity, if the light of grace & heauenly truth, doth not shine continually vpon vs: & by our discretion to moderate our selues, to be more circumspect and wary in the midst of these dangers.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSEC. 1 Symptomes of head Melancholy.
Nicholas Piso. si signa circa vē triculum non apparent, nec sanguis malè affectus, & adsunt timor & maestitia, cerebrum ipsum existimandii est &c. IF no symptomes appeare about the Stomacke, nor the blood be misaffected, and feare and sorrow continue, it is to be thought the Braine it selfe is troubled, by reason of a melancholy iuyce bred in it, or other wayes conveyed into it, and that euill iuyce is from the distemperature of the part, or left after some inflammation. Thus far Piso. But this is not alwayes true: for blood & hypocondries both are often affected, euen in head melancholy. The common signes if it be by essence in the head, are ruddinesse of face, high sanguine complexion, most part rubore saturato, Facie sunt rubente & liuescente, quibus etiam aliquandò adsunt pustulae. one cals it, a blewish, and sometimes full of pumpels, with red eyes. Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. 2. Tract. 4. cap. 18. Duretus in his notes vpon Hollerius, makes this a principall signe of head melancholy, if they be facie admodum ruhente: so doth Montaltus and others, forth of Galen de loc. [Page 255] affec. lib. 3. cap. 6. Io. Pantheon cap. de Mel. si cerebrum primario afficiatur, adsunt capitis gravitas, fixioculi &c. Hercules de Saxoniâ to this of rednes of face, addes heavinesse of the head, fixed and hollow eyes. Laur ent ca. 5. si à cerebro ex siccitate tum capitis erit leuitas, sit is, vigilia, paucitas super fluitatum in oculi [...] & naribus. If it proceed from drinesse of the Brain, then their heads will be light, vertiginous, and they most apt to wake, and to continue whole moneths together without sleep. Few excrements in their eyes & nostrils, and often bauld by reason of excesse of drinesse. Montaltus cap. 17. If it proceed from moisture, dulnes, drowsines, headache followes; and as Salust. Salvianus cap. 1. lib. 2. out of his own experience found, Epilepticall, with a multitude of humors in the head. They are very bashfull, if ruddy, and apt to blush, and to be red vpon all occasions, praesertim si metus accesserit. But the chiefest symptome to discerne this species, as I haue said, is this, that there be no notable signes in the Stomack, or elswhere, digna as Si nulla digna laesio ventriculo, quoniam in hâc melancholiâ capitis exigua nonnunquā ventriculi pathemata coeunt, duo enim haec membra sibi invicem affectionem transmitt unt. Montaltus termes them, or of greater note, because oftentimes the passions of the stomack concurre with them. Wind is common to all three species, and is not excluded, only that of the Hypocondries is Postrema magis flatuosa. more windy then the rest, saith Hollerius Aetius tetrabib. lib. 2, sec. 2. cap. 9. & 10. maintaines the same, si minus molestia circa ventriculum aut ventrem , in ijs cerebrum primari [...] afficitur, & cura [...]e op [...]rtet hunc affectum per cibos flatus exortes, & bonae co [...] coctionis. &c. [...]cer [...]brum afficitur sine ventriculo. if there be more signes, and more evident in the head then elswhere, the Brain is primarily affected, and prescribes head melancholy to be cured by meats amongst the rest voide of wind, and good iuyce, not excluding wind, or corrupt blood euen in head melancholy it self: but these species are often confounded, & so are these symptomes, as I haue already proued, and therefore by these signes not so easie to be discerned. The symptomes of the mind are superfluous, and continuall cogitations: Sanguinem adurit caput calidius, & inde fu [...] melancholisi adusti, [...]ni [...]um exagitant. for when the head is heated, it scorcheth the blood, and from thence proceed melancholy fumes which trouble the mind. Avicenna. They are very cholerick, and soon hote, solitary, sad, watchfull, discontent. Montaltus cap. 24. If any thing trouble thē they cannot sleep, but fret themselues still, till another obiect mitigate it, or time weare it out. They haue grievous passions, and immoderate perturbations of the mind, feare, [Page 256] sorrow &c. yet not so continuate, but that they are sometimes merry, and that which is more to be wondred at, and that by the authority of Lib. 3. de loc. affect. cap. 6. Galen himself, by reason of a mixture of blood, praerubri iocosis delectantur, & irrisores plerum (que) sunt, if they be ruddy, they are delighted in iests, and oftentimes scoffers themselues, conceipted, and as Rhodericus à Vega comments on that place of Galen, merry and witty, & of a pleasant disposition, and yet grievously melancholy anon after: omnia discunt sine doctore, saith Areteus, they learne without a teacher; and as Cap. 6. Laurentius supposeth, those feral passions & symptomes of such as think themselues glasse, pitchers, feathers &c. speak strange languages, proceed à calore cerebri (if it be in excesse) from the Braines distempered heat.
SVBSECT. 2. Symptomes of windy or Hypocondriacall Melancholy.
IN this Hypocondriacall or flatuous melancholy, the symptoms are so ambiguous, saith Hildesh. spicel. 2. de melan. In Hypocondriacâ melancholiâ adeo ambigua sunt [...]ymptomata vt etiam exercitatissimi medici de loco affecto statuere non possint. Crato in a counsell of his for a noblewoman, that the most exquisite Physitians cannot determine of the part affected. Mathew Flacius consulted about a noble matron confessed as much, that in this malady he wi [...]h Hollerius, Fracastorius, Falopius, and others, being to giue their sentence of a party labouring of Hypocondriacall melancholy, could not find out by the symptomes, which part was most especially affected; some said the wombe, some heart, some stomack &c and therefore Crato consil. 24. lib. 1. boldly averres, that in this diversity of symptomes, which commonly accompany this disease, Medici de loco affecto nequeunt statuere. no Physitian can truly say what part is affected. Galen lib. 3. de loc. affec. reckons vp these ordinary symptoms, which all the Neotericks repeat out of Diocles: only this fault he finds with him, that he puts not Feare and Sorrow amongst the other signes. Trincavelius excuseth [Page 257] Diocles lib. 3. consil. 35. because that oftentimes in a strong head & constitution, a generous spirit, and a valiant, these symptoms appeare not, by reason of his valor and courage. The rest are these, beside Feare & Sorrow, Acidi ructus, cruditates, astus in praecordijs, flatus, interdum ventriculi dolores vehemen [...]es: sumpto (que) cibo cō coctu d [...]fficili, sputum humidū, id (que) multum sequitur &c. Hip. lib. de mel. Galenus, Melanelius è Ruffo & Aetio. Altomarus, Piso, Montaltus, Bruel Wecker &c. sharpe belchings, and fulsome crudities, heat in the bowels, winde, and rumbling in the guts, vehement gripings, and paine in the belly and stomacke at some times, and after meat that is hard of concoction, much watering of the stomacke, and moist spittle, cold sweat, importunus sudor, vnseasonable sweat all ouer the Body, as Octavius Horatianus lib. 2. cap. 5. cals it, cold ioynts, indigestion, Circa praecordia de assiduâ inflatione queruntur, & cum sudore totius corporis importuno, frigidos articulos saepe patiuntur indigestione laborant, ructus suos insuaves perhorrescunt, viscerum dolores habent. they cannot endure their own fulsome belchings, continuall wind about their Hypocondries, griping in their bowels, praecordia sursum convelluntur, midriffe and bowels are pulled vp, the veines about their eyes looke red, and swell from vapors and winde. Their eares sing now and then, Vertigo & giddinesse come by fits, turbulent dreames, drynesse, leanesse, apt they are to sweat vpon all occasions, of all colors and complexions. Many of them are high colored, especially after meales, which was a symptome Cardinall Caecius was much trobled with, and of which he complained to Prosper Calenus his Phisitian, he could not eat, or drink a cup of wine, but he was as red in the face as if he had bin at a Maiors feast. That symptome alone vexeth many. Montaltus ca. 13. Wecker. Fuschius cap. 33. Altomarus ca. 7. Laurentius c. 73 Bruel. Gordon. Some again are black, pale, ruddy, somtimes their shoulders and shoulder blade akes, there is a leaping all ouer their bodies, palpitation of the heart, & that cardiaca passio, grief in the mouth of the stomack, which maketh the patient think his heart it self aketh, and somtimes sowning. Montanus consil. 55. Trincavelius lib. 3. consil. 36. & 37. Fernelius consil. 43. & 43. Hildesheim, Claudinus &c. giue instance of every particular. The peculiar symptomes which properly belong to every part, be these. If from the stomack, saith Pract maior dolor in co & ventositas, nausea. Savanarola, t'is full of pain, wind. Guianerius ads, vertigo, nausea, much spitting &c. If from the myrache, a swelling & wind in the Hypocondries, a lothing, & appetite to vomit, pulling vpward. p If from the heart, aking & trembling of it, much heavines. If from the liuer, there is vsually a [Page 258] paine in the right Hypocondry. If from the Splene, hardnes & grief in the left Hypocondry, a rumbling, much appetite and small digestion, Avicenna. If from the Meseriack veines and liuer on the other side, little or no appetite. Herc. de Sax. If from the Hypocondries a rumbling, inflation, concoction is hindred, often belching &c. and from these crudities, windy vapors ascend vp to the Brain, which trouble the Imagination, & cause feare, sorrow, dulnes, heavines, & many terrible conceipts & Chimeras, as Lemnius well obserues lib. 1. cap. 16. as Vt atra den sa (que) nubes soli offusa radios & lumen eius intercipit & offuscat sic &c. a blacke and a thick cloud couers the Sun, and intercepts his beames and light, so doth this melancholy vapor obnubilate the mind, and inforce it to many absurd thoughts and Imaginations, and compell good, wise, honest, discreet men otherwise (arising to the Brain Vt fumus e tamin [...]. from the lower parts as smoak out of a chimny) to dote, speak and doe that which becomes them not, their persons, callings, wisdomes. One by reason of those ascending vapors & gripings, rumbling beneath, will not be perswaded but that he hath a serpent in his guts, a viper, another frogs. Trallianus relates a story of a woman that imagined she had swallowed an Eele or a serpent; & Faelix Platerus observat. lib. 1. hath a most memorable example of a country man of his, that in the Spring-time by chance falling into a pit where frogs & frogs-spawn was, & a little of that water swallowed, began to suspect that he had likewise swallowed frog-spawn, and with that conceipt and feare, his phantasy wrought so far, that he verily thought he had yong liue frogs in his bellie, qui vivebant ex alimento suo, that liued by his nourishment, & was so certainly perswaded of it, that for many yeares together, he could not be rectified in his conceipt. He studied Physick seuen yeares together to cure himself, and travelled into Italy, France, and Germany, to conferre with the best Physitians about it, & A o 1609, asked his counsell amongst the rest, he told him it was wind, his conceipt &c. but mordicus contradicere & ore & scriptis probare nitebatur: no saying would serue, it was no wind, but reall frogs: and doe you not heare them croake? Platerus would [Page 259] haue deceiued him, by putting liue frogs into his excrements: but he being a Physitian himself, would not be deceiued, vir prudens, alias & doctus, a wise & a learned man otherwise, a Doctor of Physick, & after seuen yeares dotage in this kind, [...] Phantasiâ liberatus est, hee was cured. Laurentius & Goulart haue many such examples, if you be desirous to read thē. One commodity aboue the rest which are melancholy, these windy flatuous haue, lucida intervalla, their symptomes & pains are not vsually so continuate as the rest, but come by fits, feare & sorrow, & the rest: yet in another they exceed all others, and that is, Hypocondriaci maxime affectaet coire, & multiplicatur coitus in ipsis, eo quod ventositates multiplicantur in hypocondriis, & coitus saepè allevat bas ventositates. they are luxurious, incontinent, & prone to Venery, by reason of wind, & facilè amant, & quamlibet ferè amant. Iason Pratensis. & Cont. lib. 1. tract 9. Rhasis is of opinion that Venus doth many of them much good, the other symptomes of the mind be common with the rest.
SVBSEC. 3. Symptomes of melancholy abounding in the whole Body.
THeir Bodies that are affected with this vniversall melancholy, are most part black, Wecker▪ melancholicus succus toto corpore redundans. the melancholy iuyce is redundant all ouer, hirsute they are, & leane, they haue broad veines, their blood is grosse & thick. Splen natura imbecillior. Montaltus cap. 22. Their Splene is weake, & a Liuer apt to ingender the humor; they haue kept bad diet, or haue had some evacuation stopped, as haemrods, or moneths in woemen, which Lib. 1. cap. 16. Interrogare convenit an aliqua evacuationis retentio obuenerit, viri in haemor: mulierum menstruis, & vide faciem similiter an sit rubicunda. T rallianus in the cure, would haue carefully to be inquired, and withall to obserue of what complexion the party is of, black or red. For as Forrestus and Hollerius contend, if Naturales [...]igri acquisiti à toto corpore saepe rubicundi. the y be black, it proceeds from abundance of naturall melancholy, if it proceed from cares, discō tents, diet, exercise &c. they may be as well of any other colour, red, yellow, pale, as black, and yet their whole blood corrupt: praerubri colore saepè sunt tales, saepè flavi, saith Montaltus cap. 22. [...]he best way to discerne this species is to let [Page 260] them blood, if the blood be corrupt, thick & black, and they withall free from those Hypocondriacall symptomes, Montaltus cap. 22. Piso. ex colore sanguinis si minuas ve nam si fluat niger &c. or not so grievously troubled with them, and those of the head, it argues they are melancholy à toto corpore. The fumes which arise from this corrupt blood, disturbs the mind, and makes them fearefull and sorrowfull, heavy hearted, as the rest, dejected, discontented, solitary, aweary of their liues, dull & heavy, and if far gone, that which Apuleius wished to his enemy by way of imprecation is true in them. Apul lib. 1. semper obviae species mortuorum quicquid vmbrarum est vspiam quicquid lemurum & larvarū oculis suis aggerunt, sibi fingunt, omnia noctium occursacula, omnia bustorum for midamina, omnia sepulchrorum terriculamenta. Dead mens bones, hobgoblins, ghosts are euer in their minds, and meet them still in euery turne, all the bugbeares of the night, and terrors and fairybabes of tombes and graues are before their eyes, and in their thoughts, as to woemen and children if they be in the darke alone. If they heare, or read, or see any tragicall object, it sticks by them, they are afraid of death, and yet aweary of their liues. &c.
MEMB. 3.
SVBSECT. 1. Immediate cause of these precedent Symptomes.
TO giue some satisfaction to melancholy men, that are troubled with these symptomes, a better means in my Iudgment cannot be taken, then to shew them the true causes whence they proceed, not from diuels, as they suppose, or that they are bewitched, or forsaken of God, heare or see &c. as many of them think, but from naturall & inward causes, that so knowing them, they may better avoid the effects, or at least indure them with more patience. The most grievous and common symptomes are Feare & Sorrow, & that without a cause, to the wisest and discreetest men in this malady not to be avoided. The reason why they are so, Aetius discusseth at large, Tetrab. 2.2. his first probleme out of Galen lib. 2 de causis, sympt. 1. For Galen imputeth all to the cold that is black, and thinks that the spirits being darkned, and the substance as the Brain cloudy and darke, all the obiects thereof [Page 261] appeare terrible, and the Vapores crassi & nigri à ventriculo in cerebrum exhalant. Ber. Platerus. mind it selfe by those darke, obscure, grosse fumes ascending from black humors, is in continuall darknes, feare & sorrow, and divers terrible monstrous fictions in a thousand shapes & apparitions, and violent passions, by which the Brain and phantasy are troubled and eclipsed. Calidi hilares, frigidi indispositi ad laetitiam, & ideo solitarij, taciturni, non ob tenebras internas vt medici volunt sed ob frigus. multi melancholici nocte ambulant intrepidi. Fracastorius lib. 2. de Intellect. will haue cold to be the cause of Feare and Sorrow, for such as are cold, are ill disposed to mirth, dull and heavy, by nature solitary, silent, and not for any inward darknes, as Physitians thinke; for many melancholy men dare boldly be and continue, and walke in the darke, and delight in it: solum frigidi timidi, if they be hote they are merry, and the more hote, the more furious, and void of feare, as we see in madmen: but this reason holds not, for then no melancholy proceeding from choler adust, should feare. Averroes scoffes at Galen for his reasons, and brings fine arguments to refell them, which are copiously censured and confuted by Aelianus Montaltus cap. 5. & 6. Altomarus cap. 7. de mel. Guianerius tract. 15. cap. 1. Bright cap. 17. Laurentius cap. 5. Valesius med. contr. lib. 5. cont. 1. Intemperies facit succum nigrum, nigrities obscurat spiritū, obscuratio spiritus facit metum & tristitiā. Distemperature they conclude, makes blacke iuyce, blacknesse obscures the spirits, the spirits obscured, cause feare and sorrow. Laurentius cap. 13. thinks these black fumes offend especially the Diaphragma or Midriffe, and so perconsequens the mind, which is obscured as Vt nubeculae Solem offuscat. Constantinus lib. de Melan. a cloud by the Sun. To this opinion of Galen, almost all the Greekes and Arabians subscribe, and Latines new & old, internae tenebrae offuscant animum, vt externae nocent pueris, as children are affrighted in the darke, so are melancholy men at all times, Altomarus cap. 7. causam timoris circumfert ater humor passionis materia, & atri spiritus perpetuā animae domicilio offundunt noctem. as hauing the inward cause with them, & still carrying it about. Which black vapors whether they proceed from the black blood about the heart, as T.W. Ies. thinks in his Treatise of the passions of the mind, or stomack, splene, midriffe, or all the misaffected parts together, it boots not, they keep the mind in a perpetuall dungeon, and oppresse it with continuall feares, anxieties, sorrowes &c. It is an ordinary thing for such as are sound, to laugh at this dejected pusillanimity, and those other symptomes of melancholy, to [Page 262] make themselues merry with thē, & to wonder at such, as toyes & trifles, which may be resisted and withstood, if they will themselues: but let him that so wonders, consider with himself, that if a man should tell him of a sudden, that some of his especiall friends were dead, could he choose but grieue, or set him vpon a steep rock, where he should be in danger to be precipitated, could he be secure? his hart would trēble for feare, & his head would be giddy. P. Byarus Tract. de pest. giues instance, as I haue said, Pone exemplū quod quis potest ambulare super trabem quae est in via, sed sisit super aquam profundam loco pontis non ambulabit super eam, eo quod imaginetur in animo & timet vehementer, formae cadendi impressâ, cui obediunt membra omnia, & facultates reliquae. and put case (saith he) in one that walkes vpon a planke, if it lye on the ground, he can safely doe it, but if the same planke be laid ouer some deepe water, insteed of a bridge, he is vehemently moued, and t'is nothing but his imagination, forma cadendi impressa, to which his other members and faculties obey. Yea, but you infer that such men haue a iust cause to feare, a true obiect of feare, so haue melancholy men an inward cause, a perpetuall fume & darknes, causing feare, grief, suspition, which they carry with thē, an obiect which cannot be remoued, remoue heat of the Liuer, a cold stomack, weak splene, remoue those adust humors & vapors arising from them, black blood from the heart, take away the cause, & then bid them not grieue, nor feare, or be heavy, dull, lumpish, otherwise counsell can doe little good; you may as well bid him that is sick of an ague, not to be adry, or him that is wounded, not to feele paine.
Suspition followes Feare & Sorrow at heeles, arising out of the same fountaine, so thinks Lib. 2. de Intellectione suspitiosi ob timorem & obliquum discursum & semper inde putant sibi sieri insidias. Laurentius c. 5. Fracastorius, that feare is the cause of suspition and still they suspect some trechery, or some secret machination to be framed against them, still they distrust. Restlinesse proceeds from the same spring, variety of fumes makes them like and dislike. Solitarinesse, avoiding of light, that they are weary of their liues, hate the world, arise from the same causes, because their spirits and humours are opposite to light, feare makes them avoid company, and absent themselues, least they should be misused, hissed at, or overshoot themselues, which still they suspect. They are prone to venery by reason of winde. Angry, waspish, and fretting [Page 263] still, out of abundance of choler, which causeth fearefull dreames, and violent perturbations to them, both sleeping & waking. That they suppose they haue no heads, flye, sinke, they are pots, glasses, &c. is wind in their heads. Illud inquisitione dignum cur tam falsa recipiant, haberè se cornua esse mortuos nasatos esse aves, &c. Fracastorius accounts it a thing worthy of inquisition, why they should entertain such false conceits, as that they haue hornes, great noses, that they are Birds, Beasts, &c. And why they should thinke themselues Kings, Lords, Cardinals. For the first 1. Dispositio corporis. 2. Occasio Imaginationis. Fracastorius giues two reasons: One is the disposition of the body; the other the occasion of the phantasie; as if their eyes be purblind, their eares sing, &c. To the second Laurentius answeres, the Imagination inwardly or outwardly moued, represents to the vnderstanding, not intisements only to favour the passion or dislike, but a very intensiue pleasure followes the passion, or displeasure, and the will and reason are captivated by delighting in it.
Why Students and Lovers are so often Melancholy and mad, the Philosophers of In prob lib. de coelo. vehemens & assidua cogitatio rei erga quam afficitur spiritus in cerebrum evocat. Conimbra giues this reason, because by a vehement and continuall meditation of that, wherewith they are affected, they fetch vp the spirits into the braine, & with the heat brought with them, they incend the braine beyond measure, and the cells of the inner senses, dissoluing their temperature, which being dissolved they cannot performe their offices as they ought.
Why melancholy men are witty, which Aristotle hath long since maintained in his Problems; and that Melancholici Ingeniosi omnes sūmi viri in artibus & disciplinis siue circum imperatoriam aut reipub. disciplinam omnes ferè melancholici, Aristoteles. all learned men, famous Philosophers, and Law-giuers, ad vnum ferè omnes Melancholici, haue still beene melancholy; is a Probleme much controverted. Iason Pratensis will haue it vnderstood of naturall Melancholy, which opinion Melancthon inclines to in his bookes de Animâ, and Marsilius Ficinus de san. tuen. lib. 1. cap. 5. but not simple, for that makes men stupid, heavy, dull, being cold and dry, fearefull, fooles, and solitary, but mixt with the other humors, fleame onely excepted: and they not adust, Adeo miscentur vt sit duplū sanguinis ad reliqua duo. but so mixt as that blood be halfe, with little or no adustion, that they bee neither too hot [Page 264] nor too cold. Aponensis cited by Melancthon, thinks it proceeds from melancholy adust, excluding all naturall melancholy as too cold. Laurentius condemnes his Tenent, because adustion of humours makes men mad, as Lime burnes when water is cast on it. It must bee mixt with blood, and somewhat adust, and so that old Aphorisme of Aristotle may bee verified, Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae. no excellent wit without a mixture of madnesse. Fracastorius shall decide the controversie, Lib. 2. de Intellectione. pingui sunt Minerva phlegmatici; sanguinei amabiles, grati, hilares, at non ingeniosi, cholerici celeres motu & ob id contemplationis impatientes. Melancholici solum excellentes &c. Phlegmaticke are dull: Sanguine louely, pleasant, acceptable and merry, but not witty: Cholericke are too swift in motion and furious, impatient of contemplation, deceitfull wits; Melancholy men haue the most excellent wits, but not all, this humour may be hot or cold, thicke or thinne, if too hot they are furious and mad, if too cold, dull, stupid, timorous and sad, if temperate, excellent, rather inclining to that extreame of heat then cold. And this sentence of his wil agree with that of Heraclitus, a dry light makes a wise mind, temperate heat and drynesse are the chiefe causes of a good wit; therefore saith Aelian, an Elephant is the wisest of all brute beasts, because his braine is driest, & ob atrae bilis copiam, this reason Cardan approues subtil. lib. 12. and Io. Baptista Silvaticus, a Physition of Millan, in his first controversie, hath copiously handled this question: Rulandus in his Problems, and others.
Weeping, Sighing, Laughing, Itching, Trembling, Sweating, Blushing, hearing and seeing strange noyses, visions, winde, cruditie, are motions of the body, depending vpon those precedent motions of the mind; Neither are teares, affections, but actions, as Scaliger holds, Trepidantum vox tremula quia cor queritur. the voice of such as are afraid, trembles, because their heart is shaked. Conimb. prob. 6. sect. 3. de somno. why they stutte or faulter in their speech, Mercurialis, and Montaltus cap. 17. giue like reasons out of Hippocrates, Ob ariditatem que reddit nervos lingue torpidos. drinesse, which makes the nerues of the tongue torpid. Fast speaking which is a symptome of some few, Aetius will haue caused Incontinentia lingue ex copiâ slatuum, & velocita [...] Imaginationis. from abundance of wind, and swiftnesse of Imagination: Calvities ob [...]ccitatis excessū baldnesse comes from excesse of drynesse, hirsutenesse [Page 265] from a dry temperature. The cause of much wakeing is a dry braine, continuall meditation, discontent, feares, and cares, that suffer not the mind to be at rest. Incontinency is from winde and an hot liver, Montanus consil. 26. Rumbling in the gutts is caused from winde, and winde from ill concoction, weaknesse of naturall heat, or a distempered heat and cold. Aetius. Palpitation of the heart from vapors, and heavinesse, and aking from the same cause. Tetrabil. 2. ser. 2. cap 10. That the belly is hard winde is a cause, and of that leaping in many parts. Rednesse of the face, and itching, as if they were fleabitten, or stung with pisse-mires, from a sharpe subtile winde. Laurent. c. 13. Cold sweat from vapors arising from the Hypocondries, which pitch vpon the skin, leanenesse for want of good nourishment. Why their appetite is so great, Aetius answeares. Os ventris frigescit, cold in those inner parts, cold belly and hot liver causeth crudity, & intention proceeds from perturbations, Ant. Ludovicus prob. lib. 1. sect. 5. de atraebilarijs. our soule for want of spirits cannot attende exactly to so many intentiue operations being exhaust, & overswayd by passion, she cannot consider the reasons, which may disswade her frō such affections.
Subrusticus pudor, vitiosus pudor. Bashfulnesse and blushing, is a passion proper to men alone, and is not only caused for Ob ignominiā aut turpidme [...] facti, &c. some shame or ignomy, or that they are guilty vnto themselues of some fowle fact cō mitted, but as De Symp. & Antip. cap. 12. laborat facies ob praesentiam eius qui defectum nostrum videt & natura quasi opē latura, caloré illuc mittit calor s [...]nguinem trahit. vnde rubor, audacesnon rubent, &c. Fracastorius well determines, ob defectum proprium, & timorem, from feare, and a conceit of our defects; The face labours and is troubled at his presence that sees our defects and nature willing to helpe sends thither heat, heat drawes the subtilest blood, and so we blush. They that are bold, arrogant, & carelesse seldome or never blush, but such as are fearefull. Anthonius Lodovicus, in his booke de pudore, will haue this subtile blood to arise in the face, not so much for the reverence of our betters in presence, Ob gaudium & voluptatem foras exit sanguis aut ob melio [...]is revertentiam aut ob subitum occursum aut si quid incautius exciderit. but for ioy and pleasure, or if any thing at vnawares shall passe from vs: a suddaine accident, occurse, or meeting. Any obiect heard or seene, or that wee bee staied before our betters, or in company we like not, or if any thing molest and offend vs, erubescentia turnes to rubor, blushing [Page 266] to a continuate rednesse. Alexander Aphrodiensis makes all bashfulnesse a vertue, eam (que) serefert inseipso experiri solitum etsi esset admodum senex. Sometimes the extremity of the eares tingle and are red, sometimes the whole face. Etsi nihil vitiosum commiseris, as Ludovicus holds: though Aristotle is of opinion, omnis pudor ex vitio commisso. All shame from some offence. But we finde otherwise, it may as well proceed Saepè post cibii apti ad ruborem ex potu vini, ex timore saepè & ab hepate calido cerebro calido, &c. from feare, a hot liver saith Duretus, notis in Hollerium. From a hot braine, from winde, the lungs heated, or after drinking of wine, strong drinke, perturbations, &c.
Laughter what it is, saith 2. De oratore quid ipse risus quopacto concitetur vbi fit, &c Tully, how it is caused, where it is, and so suddainely breakes out, that desirous to stay it we cannot, and how it comes to possesse and stirre our face, veines, eyes, countenance, mouth, sides, let Democritus determine. The cause that it often affects melancholy men so much, is given by Gomesius lib. 3. de sale, genial. cap. 18. abundance of pleasant vapors, which in sanguine melancholy especially, break from the heart, Diaphragma titillant quia transversum & numerosum. quâ ti [...]illatione motu fe [...]u at (que) arterijs distentis spiritus inde latera venas os otulos occupant. and tickle the midriffe, because it is transverse and full of nerues: by which titillation the sense being moued, and arteries distended, or pulled, the spirits from thence moue and possesse the sides, veines, countenance, eyes. See more in Iossius de risu & fletu, Vives 3 de Animâ. Teares, as Scaliger defines, proceed from griefe and pitty, Excalesaectione humidi cerebri nam ex sicco lachryme non flu [...]nt. or from the heating of a moist braine, for a dry cannot weepe.
That they see and heare so many phantasmes, Chimeraes, noyses, visions, &c. as Fienus hath discoursed at large in his bookes of Imagination, and Res mirandas imaginantur & putant se videre quae nec vident nec audiunt. Lauater de spectris part. 1. cap. 2.3.4. their corrupt phantasie makes them see and heare that which indeed is neither heard nor seene. Qui multum iciunant aut noctes ducunt insomnes, they that much fast, or want sleep, as melancholy and sicke men commonly doe, they see visions or such as are very timorous by nature, or mad and distracted. As they that drinke wine thinke all runnes round, when it is in their owne braine; so is it with these men, the falt and cause is inward, as Galen affirmes, Insani, & qui morti vicinisunt, res quas extra se videre putant intra oculos habent. mad men and such as are neere death, quas extra se videre putant Imagines intra oculos [Page 267] habent, t'is in their braine, which seemes to be before them, the braine as a convexe glasse reflects solid bodies. The Organs corrupt by a corrupt phantasie, as Lemnius lib. 1. cap. 16. well quotes. Pravorū humorum & spirituū agitatio v [...]ro citr [...] (que) [...] cerebri pere [...]antes, &c. cause a great agitation of spirits, and humors, which wander too and fro in all the creekes of the braine, & cause such apparitions before their eyes. Sicknesse is an ordinary cause of such sights. Cardan. subtil. lib. 18. M [...]ns aegra laboribus & ieiunijs fracta, facit eos videre, audire &c. And. Osiander sawe strange visions, and Alexander ab Alexandro both in their sicknesse which he relates, de rerum variet at. lib. 8. cap. 44. Albategnius that noble Arabian on his death bed, saw a shippe ascending and descending, which Fracastorius records of his friend Baptista Turrianus. Pentheus in his madnesse too sons, Euripides. and too Thebes, every thing double. Weake sight & a vaine perswasion withall, may cause as much, and second causes concurring, as an Ore in water makes a refraction, & seemes bigger, bended, double, &c. The thicknesse of the aire may cause such effects, or any obiect not well descerned in the darke, feare and phantasie will suspect to be a Ghost, a divell, &c. Seneca. quod metuun nimis nunquam amoveri posse, nec tolli putant. Quod nimis miseri timent, hoc facile credunt. Wee are apt to beleeue, and mistake in such cases. Marcellus Donatus, lib. 2. cap. 1. brings in a story out of Aristotle, of one Antepheron which likely saw wheresoever he was, his own Image in the ayre, as in a glasse. Vitello lib. 10. perspect. hath such another instance of a familiar acquaintance of his, that after the want of three or foure nights sleepe, as he was riding by a rivers side, saw another riding with him, and vsing all such gestures as he did, but when more light appeared, it vanished. Eremites & Anachorites haue many such absurd visions, revelations by reason of much fasting, and bad diet, many are deceaued by legerdemain, as Scot hath well shewed in his book of the discovery of witchcraft, and Cardan. subtil. 18. by suffites, perfumes and suffumigations, perspectiue glasses, and such naturall causes, as you may perceaue in Baptista Porta, Albertus and others, Glow-wormes, Fiere-drakes, Meteors, rotten wood, &c. But most part it is within the braine, although [Page 268] I may not deny, but that oftentimes the divell deludes them, and takes his opportunity to suggest and represent such vaine obiects to sicke melancholy men, and such as are ill affected.
The hearing is as frequently deluded as the sight, from the same causes almost, as hee that heares Bells, will make them sound what he list. Theophilus in Galen, thought he heard musicke, from vapors which made his eares sound, &c. Some are deceaued by Echoes, some by roaring of waters, or concaues and reverberation of ayre in the ground & hollow places or wals. Blowing of Bellows and knocking of Hammers, if they apply their care to the cliffe. At Barry an Isle in the Severne mouth they seeme to heare a smiths forge: so at Lypara and those sulphurious Iles, and many such like which Olaus speakes of in the continent of Scandia, and those Northerne countries. Cardan. de rerum var. lib. 15. cap. 84. mentioneth of a woman, that still supposed she heard the Divell call her, and speaking to her, she was a Painters wife in Millan: and many such illusions of voices, which proceed most part from a corrupt Imagination.
Whence it comes to passe, that they prophecie, speake severall languages, talke of Astronomy, and other vnknowne sciences to them: (of which they haue beene ever ignorant.) Memb. 1. Sub. 3. of this Partition. cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis. I haue in briefe touched, only this I will here adde, that Arculanus, Bodin lib. 3. cap. 6. daemonol. and some others Signa daemonis nulla sunt nisi quo [...] loquantur ea quae ante nes [...]ebant vt Teut [...]n [...]cū aut aliud Idioma. &c. hold, as a manifest token that such persons are possessed with the Divell: so doth Hercules de Saxoniâ, and Apponensis, and fit only to be cured by a Priest. But Tract. 15. c. 4. Guianerius, Cap. 9. Montaltus, & Lemnius, lib. 2. cap. 2. referre it wholy to the ill disposition of the Miravis concitat humores ard [...] (que) vehemen [...] [...]entem exagitat quum, &c. humour, and that out of the authority of Aristotle prob. 30.1. because such symptomes are cured by purging, and as by the striking of a flint fire is inforced, so by the vehement motions of spirits, they doe elicere voces inauditas, compell strange speeches to be spoken: another argument he hath frō Platoes reminiscentiae, but in this I should rather hold with Avicenna and his associats, that such symptomes proceed from evill spirits, which take all opportunities of humours decayed, or otherwise to pervert the soule of a man, and besides [Page 269] the humour it selfe, is Balneum Diaboli, the Divels bath and as Agrippa proues, doth entice him, to seize vpon them.
SECT. 4.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Prognosticks of Melancholy.
Prognosticks, or signes to come, are either good or bad. If this malady be not hereditary, & taken at the beginning, there is good hope of cure, recens curationem non habet difficilem, saith Avicenna, lib. 3. Fen. 1. tract. 4. c. 18. That which is with laughter, of all others is most secure, gentle, and remisse. Herc. de Saxonia. Si melancholicis h [...]moroides supervenerint aut varices v [...]l vt quibusdam placet aqua inter cutem, soluitur malum. If that evacuation of haemrods, or varices which they call the water betweene the skinne, shall happen to a melancholy man, his misery is ended. Hippocrates Aphor. 6.11. Galen. lib. 6. de morbis vulgar. com. 8. confirmes the same, and to this Aphorisme of Hippocrates all the Arabians, new and old Latines subscribe; Montaltus. cap. 25. Her. de Sax. Mercurialis, Vittorius Faventinus, &c Skenkius lib. 1. observat. med. cap. de Maniâ. illustrats this Aphorisme, with an example of one Daniel Federer a Coppersmith, that was long melancholy, and in the end madde about the 27 yeare of his age, these varices or water began to arise in his thighes, and he was freed from his madnesse. Marius the Roman was so cured some say, though with great paine. Skenkius hath some other instances of women that haue beene cured by flowing of their months, which before were stopped. That the opening of the haemrods will doe as much for men, all Physitians iointly signifie, so they bee voluntary some say, and not by compulsion. All melancholy men are better after a quartane Cap 10. de quartanâ. Iobertus saith, scarce any man hath that Ague twice: But whether it free him from this malady, t'is a question. for many Physitians ascribe all long Agues for especiall causes, and a quartane Ague amongst the [Page 270] rest. Cum sanguis exit per supersiciem & residet melancholia per scabiem, morpheam nigram, vel expurgatur per inferiores partes vel per vrinā &c non erit. &c & splen magnificatur & varices apparent. Rhasis cont. lib. 1. tract. 9. When melancholy gets out at the superficies of the skinne, or settles breaking out in scabbs, leprosie, morphew, or is purged by stooles, or by the Vrine, and that the spleene is inlarged, and those varices appeare, the disease is dissolued. Guianerius cap. 5. tract. 15. addes Dropsy, Iandise, Disentery, Leprosy, as good signes, to these Scabbes, Morphewes, and breaking out, and proues it out of the 6. of Hippocrates Aphorismes.
Evill Prognosticks on the other part. Inveterata melancholia incurabilis, if it be inveterate it is Quia iam conversa in naturā. incurable, a commō axiome, aut difficultèr curabilis, as they say that make the best, hardly cured. This Galen witnesseth, lib. 3. de loc. affect. cap. 6. In quocun (que) sit à quacun (que) causa Hypocond. praesertim semper est longa, morosa nec facilè curari potest. be it in whom it will, or from what cause soever, it is euer long, wayward and tedious, and hard to be cured, if once it be habituated. As Lucian said of the Gout, she was the Regina morborum & inexorabilis. Queene of diseases, and inexorable, may we say of melancholy. And yet Paracelsus will haue all diseases whatsoeuer curable, and laughs at all them which thinke otherwise, as T. Erastus par. 3. obiects to him. Although in another place, hereditary diseases he accounts incurable, and by no art to bee remoued. Omne dilirium quod oritur à paucitate cerebri incurabile Hildesheim, spicel. 2. de maniâ. Hildesheim spicel. 2. de mel. accounts it lesse dangerous if only Sisola Imaginatio laedatur & non ratio. Imagination be hurt, and not reason, Mala à sanguine servete, deterior à bile assatá pessima ab atra bile putrefactà. the gentlest is from blood, Wourse from choler adust, but the worst of all from Melancholy putrified. Difficilier cura eius quae fit vitio corporis totius & cerebri. Bruel esteemes hypocondriacall least dā gerous, and the other two species (opposite to Galen) hardest to be cured. Difficilis curaetu in viris multo difficilior in faeminis. The cure is hard in man, but much more difficult in women. And both men and women must take notice of that saying of Montanus consil. 230. pro Abbate Italo, Ad interitum plerum (que) homines comitatur licet medici levent plerum (que) tam [...]a non tollunt vnquam sed recedit ace [...]bior quam antea minima occasione aut errore. This malady doth commonly accompany them to their graue , Physitions may ease and it may lye hid for a time, but they cannot quite cure it, but it will returne againe more violent & sharp then at first, and that vpon every small occasion or error. Periculum esine degeneret in Epilepsiam Apoplexiam, Convulsionem, caecitatem. Oftentimes [Page 271] it degenerats into Epilepsy, Apoplexy, Convulsions, and blindnesse: by the autority of Hippocrates & Montalt. c. 25. Laurentius. Herc. de Saxon. Galen all averre, If once it possesse the ventricles of the braine, Salust Salvianus addes, if to the optick nerues, blindnesse. Mercurialis consil. 20. had a woman to his patient, that from Melancholy became Epilepticke and blind. Her. de Saxonia, Aristotle, Capivaccius. If it come from a cold cause or so continue cold, or increase, Epilepsy, Convulsions follow and blindnesse, or else in the end they are moped, sottish, and in all their actions, speeches, gestures, ridiculous. Favent. humor frigidus sola deliris causa. furoris vero humor calidus. If it come from an hot cause, they are more furious, & boisterous, and in conclusion mad. Calescentem melancholiam saepius sequitur mania, Hernius calls madnesse sobolem melancheliae if it heat and increase that is the common event, Alexander. lib. 1 cap. 18. per circuitus, aut semper insanit, by fits, or altogether. If it come from melancholy naturall adust, and in excesse, they are often daemoniacall, Montanus.
Montalt c. 15 Raromors aut nunquam nisi sibi ipsis inferant' Seldome this malady procures death, except, which is the greatest and most grievous calamity, and the misery of al miseries, to make away themselues, which is a frequent thing and familiar amongst them. T'is Lib. de Insania. Fabio Calu [...] interprete. Hippocrates observation, & Galens words, etsi mortem timent, tamen plerun (que) sibi ipsis mortem consciscunt, lib. 3. de locis affect. cap. 7. the doom of all Physitians. T'is Nonnulli violent as manus sibi inserunt. Rabbi Moyses Aphorisme. The prognosticon of Avicenna, Rhasis, Aetius, Gordonius, Valescus, Altomarus Salust Salvianus, Capivaccius, Hercules de Saxoniâ, Piso, Bruel, Fuchsius all &c.
So farre forth doth the torture and extremity of his misery torment him, that he can take no pleasure in his life, but is in a manner inforced to offer violence vnto himselfe, to be freed from his present insufferable paines. So some, saith [Page 272] Lib. 2. de Intell. saepe mortem sibi consciscunt ob timorem & tristitiam taedio vitae affecti ob furore & desperationem. Est enim inferi &c. Ergo sic perpetuo afflictati vitam odiunt se pre ipitant his malis carituri aut intersiciunt aut tale quid committunt. Fracastorius, in fury, but most in despaire, sorrow, feare, and out of the anguish and vexation of their soules, offer violence to themselues: for their life is vnhappy and miserable. They can take no rest in the night, nor sleepe, or if they doe slumber, fearefull dreames astonish them. In the day time they are affrighted still by some terrible obiect, and torne in pieces with suspition, feare sorrow, discontents, cares, shames, anguish &c. as so many wild horses, that they cannot be quiet an houre, a minute of time, but euen against their wils they are intent, and stil thinking of it, they cannot forget it, it grindes their soules day and night, they are perpetually tormented, they can neither eat, drinke, or sleep. Psal. 107.18. their soule abhorreth all meat, and they are brought to deaths doore, V. 10. Ps. 107 being bound in misery and iron: they Iob. 3.3. curse their starres with Iob, Iob. 6.8. and day of their birth, & wish for death, & murmure many times against the world, friends, man-kinde, themselues, euen against God himselfe in the bitternes of their passion, Seneca. vivere nolunt, mori nesciunt, liue they will not, dye they cannot. And in the midst of these squalid, vgly, and such irksome dayes, they seek at last, finding no comfort, In salutis suae desperatione proponunt sibi mortis desiderium Oct. Horat. lib. 2. cap. 5. no remedy in this wretched life, to be eased of all by death. Omniae appetunt bonum, and for their good as they hope, sub specie at least, vel quia mori pulchrum putant, saith Lib de Insaniae Sic sic iuvat ire pervmbr [...]s. Hippocrates, vel quia putant indese maioribus malis liberari, to be freed as they hope. Though many times as Aesopes fishes they leap from the frying-pan into the fire it selfe, yet they hope to be freed by this meanes, and therefore, saith Cap. 3. de mentis alienat vasli degunt dum tā dem mortem quam timent suspendio aut submersione aut a'iqua vel al a vi vt multa tristia exempla vimus. Faelix Platerus, after many tedious dayes at last, either by drowning, hanging, or some such fearefull end, they precipitate, or make away themselues: many lamentable examples are dayly seene amongst vs. T'is a common calamity, Arculanus in 9. Rhasis cap. 16. cauendum ne ex alto se praecipitent aut aliosledant. a fatall end to this disease: They are condemned to a violent death by a Iury of Physitians, and furiously disposed, caried headlong by their tyrannising wils, inforced by miseries, & there remaines no more to such persons, if that heavenly physitiō by his assisting grace and mercy alone doe not prevent, [Page 273] no humane perswasion, or art can helpe, to be their own butchers, and to f execute themselues. Socrates his cicutae, Lucretias dagger, Timons halter, are yet to be had, and Catoes knife, Neroes sword are left behind them, as so many fatall engins bequeathed to posterity, & will be vsed to the worlds end, by such distressed souls, so intolerable, vnsufferable, grievous and violent is their paine, O omnium opinionibus incogitabile malum. Lucian. mortes (que) mille mille dum viuit neces gerit, perit (que). Heinsius Austriaco. so vnspeakable, so continuate. One day of griefe is as an hundred yeares, as Cardan obserues: T'is carnificina hominum, angor animi, as well saith Areteus,h a plague of the soule, an epitome of hell, and if there be an hell vpon earth, it is to be found in a Melancholy mans heart: And that which scoffing Lucian said of the gout in [...]est I may truely say of Melancholy in earnest.
Siculi non invenere tyranni maius tormentum. No torture of body like vnto it, no strappado's, hot-irons, Phalaris bulls: all feares, griefes, suspitious, discontents are swallowed vp & drowned in this Euripus, this Irish sea, this Ocean of misery, as so many small brookes. This is the Hic omnis imbonitaes & insu [...]uitas consistit vt Tertulliani verbis vtar. orat. ad martyres Quintescence of humane adversity; all other diseases whatsoever are but fleabitings to Melancholy in extent. T'is the pith of them all, and a melancholy man is that true Prometheus which is bound to Caucasus, the true Titius whose bowels are still by a vulter devoured, as Poets faine, and so doth Vita Herculis Lilius Giraldus interpret it, of anxieties and those griping cares. In all other maladies whatsoever, we seeke for helpe, if a legge or an arme ake through any distemperature or wound, or that wee haue any ordinary disease aboue all things whatsoever, we desire help and health, a present recovery, if by any meanes possibly it may be procured. We will freely part with al our other fortunes substance, endure any misery, drinke bitter potions, swallow those distastfull pills, suffer our ioints to be feared, to be cut off, any thing for future health; so sweet, so deare, so pretious aboue all other things in this world is life: but to a melancholy man, nothing so tedious, nothing so odious, that which they so carefully seeke to preserue, Quid est miserius in vita quam velle mori. Seneca. he abhorres: he alone, so intolerable are his paines. Some make a question graviores morbi corporis an animi, whether the diseases of the body or mind be more grievous, but there is no comparison, no doubt to be made of it, multo enim saeuior longe (que) atrocior, est animi quam corporis cruciatus, Lemnius lib. 1. cap. 12. the diseases of the minde are farre more grievous. So Cardan testifies de rerum var. lib. 8 cap. 40. Tom. [...]. Libello an graviores passiones &c. Maximus Tyrius a Platonist, and Plutarch haue made iust volumes to prooue it. Ter. Dies adimit agritudinem hominibus, in all other diseases [Page 275] there is some hope likely, but these vnhappy men are borne to misery, past all hope of recovery, incurably sick, and the longer they liue, the worse they are, death alone must ease them.
Another doubt is made by some Philosophers, whether it be lawfull for a man in such extremity of paine and griefe, to make away himselfe, and how such men that so doe, are to be censured. The Platonists approue of it, that it is lawfull in such cases, and vpon a necessity, Plotinus lib. de beatitud. cap. 7. and Socrates himself defends it, in Plato's Phaedon, if any man labour of an incurable disease, he may dispatch himselfe if it be to his good. The Stoicks in generall, and Patet exitus, si pugnare non vultis, licet fugere quis vos tenet invitos? De provid. cap 8. Seneca amongst the rest, quamcun (que) veram esse viam ad libertatem, any way is allowable that leades to liberty. Epist. 24.71.82. He cōmends Cato, Dido & Lucretia, for their generous courage in so doing, and others that doe it, to avoid a greater mischief, or to free thēselues from misery, & to saue their honor, De ponte deijcere. or vindicate their good name, as Cleopatra did, as Vibius Virius, & those Campanian Senators in Livy, (Dec. 3. lib. 6.) to avoid the Roman tyranny, that poisoned themselues: how many myriads besides in all ages, qui sibi lethum insontes peperere manu &c. Mac. 14.42. Razis in the Machabees is magnified for it; Sampsons death approued. And in wars for a man to run rashly vpon imminent danger & present death, is accompted valor & magnanimity, As amongst Turkes and others. to be the cause of his own, & many a thousands ruine besides, to commit wilfull murder in a manner, of himself & others, is a glorious thing, and he shall bee crowned for it. The Bohemus de morbis gentium. Maessegatae of old, or I know not what nation besides, did stifle their old men, to free thē from those grievances incident to that age. S r Thomas Moore in his Vtopia commends a voluntary death, if he be sibi aut alijs molestus, troublesome to himself or others, ( Lib. 2. praesertim quum tormentum ci vitae sit bonâ spe fretus acerba vita velut à carcere se eximat vel ab alijs eximi suà voluntate patiatur. especially if life be a torment to him) let him free himselfe with his own hands from this tedious life, as from a prison, or suffer himselfe to be freed by others. It is an ordinary thing in China, saith Mat. Riccius the Iesuite, Expedit. ad Sinas lib. 1. cap. 9 vel bonorum desperatione, vel malorum perpessione fracti & fatigati, vel manus violentas sibi inferunt vel vt in micis suis aegrè faciant, &c. if they be in despaire of better fortunes, or tired & tortured [Page 276] with misery, to bereaue themselues of life, and many times to spite their enemies the more, to hang at their doores. Austin himself de Civit. dei lib. 1. cap. defends a violent death, so that it be vndertaken in a good cause, nemo sic mortuus, qui non fuerat aliquando morit urus, quid autem interest quo mortis genere vita ista finiatur, quand [...] ille cus finitur, iterum mori non cogitur? &c. no man so voluntarily dies, but volens n [...]lens, he must dye at last, and our life is subiect to innumerable casualties, who knowes when they may happen, vtrum satius est vnam perpeti moriendo, an omnes timere vivendo, So did Anthony, Galba, Vitellius, Otho, Aristotle him selfe &c. Aiax in despair &c. Cleopatra to saue her honor. better suffer one, then feare all. Inertius deligitur diu vivere quam in timore tot morborum semel moriendo, nullam deinceps formidare. And a harder choice to liue in feare, then by once dying, to be freed from all. Theombrotus. Ambrociata perswaded I know not how many hundreds of his auditors, by a luculent oration he made of the miseries of this, & happines of that other life to precipitate thēselues. Cuetius lib. 1 [...] Calenus and his Indians hated of old, to dye a natural death, the Circumcellians and Donatists, lothing life, compelled others to make them away, with many such: but these are false & Pagan positions, & vpon a wrong ground. No euill is to be done, that good may come of it: reclamat Christus, reclamat scriptura, God, and all good men are Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes. Hor. against it. Plautus. Male meretur, qui dat mendico quod edat, nam & illud quod dat perit, & illi producit, vitam ad miseriam: he that giues a beggar an almes, as that Comical Poët said, doth ill, because he doth but Laequeus praecisus cont. 1. l [...]b. 5. quidam naustragio facto, amissis tribue liberis, & vxore, suspendit se, precidit illi quidam ex praeterenutibus laqueum, A liberato reus fit maleficij. Seneca. See D Kings 14. Lect. on Ionas. D Abbots 6 Lect. on the same Prophet. prolōg his miseries. But Lactantius lib. 6. cap. 7. de vero cultu, cals it a detestable opinion & fully, confutes it lib. 3. de sap. cap. 18. and Austin cap. 61. ad Dulcitium Tribunū, Hierom to Marcella of Blesillas death, Non recipio tales animas &c. he cals such men martyres stultae Philosophiae. Cyprian de duplici martyrio, Si qui sic moriantur, aut infirmitas, aut ambitio, aut dementia cogit eos. Arist. 3. Echic. 7. it needs no confutation. This only let me adde, that in some cases those As to be buried out of Christian buriall with a stake &c. lose their goods &c. hard censures of such as offer violence to themselues, are to be mitigated, as in such as are mad, beside themselues, or knowne to haue bin long melancholy, [Page 277] and that in extremity, they know not what they doe, deprived of reason, Iudgment, all Navis destituta nauclero in terribilem aliquem scopuium impingit. as a ship that is voide of a Pilot, must needs impinge vpon the next rock or sands, and suffer shipwrack. Observat. P. Porestus hath a story of two melancholy brethren, that made away themselues, and for so foule a fact, were accordingly censured to be infamously buried, &c. as in such cases they vse: but vpon father examination of their misery and madnes, the censure was Seneca tract. 1. lib. 8. cap. [...] Lex Homici [...]ta inse insepulrus abiciatur, contradicitur [...]o quod asserre sibi manus coactus sit assiduis malis, summam infaelicitatum suarum in hos [...] quod existima bat licere misero mori. revoked, & they were solemnly interred. Thus of their goods & bodies we can dispose, but what shal become of their soules, God alone can tell, his mercy may come inter pontem & fontem, inter gladium et ingulum: quod cuivis contigit cuiquam potest. Who knowes how he may be tempted? is it his case, it may be thine; we ought not to be too rash & rigorous in our censures, as some are, charity will iudge the best. God be mercifull to vs all.
THE SYNOPSIS OF THE SECOND PARTITION.
- Cure of melancholy is either
-
Sect. 1. General to all which containes
- Vnlawfull means forbidden.
Memb. 1. From the Divell, Magitians, Witches &c. by charmes, spels, incantations, Images &c.
- Quest. 1. Whether they can cure this or other such like diseases?
- Quest. 2. Whether if they can so cure, it be lawful to seek to them for help?
- or Lawfull meanes which are
- Memb. 2. Immediatly from God, A love principium, by prayer &c.
-
Memb. 3.
- Quest. 1. Whether Saints and their Reliques can helpe this infirmity?
- Quest. 2. Whether it be lawfull in this case to sue to them for aide?
- or
Memb. 4. Mediatly by Nature, which concernes and workes by
- Subsect. 1. Physitian, in whom is required science, confidence, honesty &c.
- Subsect. 2. Patient, in whom is required obedience, constancy, willingnesse, patience, confidence, bounty &c. not to practise on himselfe.
-
Subsect. 3.
Physicke which consists of
- Diaeteticall ♈
- Pharmaceutical ♉
- Chirurgicall ♊
- Vnlawfull means forbidden.
Memb. 1. From the Divell, Magitians, Witches &c. by charmes, spels, incantations, Images &c.
- Particular to the three distinct species. ♋ ♌ ♍ Sect. 5.
-
Sect. 1. General to all which containes
-
[Page 280]♈
Sect. 2. Diaeteticall which consists in reforming those sixe non-naturall things, as in
- Diet rectified. 1. Memb.
- Matter and quality. 1.
Subsec.
- Such as are easy of digestion, well dressed, hote, sod, &c. yong, moist, of good nourishment &c.
- Bread of pure wheat, well baked.
- Water cleare from the fountaine.
- Wine and drinke not too strong. &c.
- Flesh
- Mountaine birds, partridge, phesant, quailes &c.
- Hen, capon, mutton, veale, kid, rabbet &c.
- Fish That liue in gravelly waters, as pike, pearch, trowt. Seafish, solid, white &c.
- Hearbs Borage, buglosse, bawme, succory, endiue, violets, in broth, not raw &c.
- Fruits & roots Ray sins of the Sunne, apples corrected for winde, oranges &c. parsnips, potatoes &c.
- or 2. Quantity At seasonable and vsuall times of repast, in good order, not before the first be concocted, sparing, not ouermuch, of one dish.
- Matter and quality. 1.
Subsec.
- 2. Rectification of Retention and Evacuation, as costiuenesse, Venery, bleeding at nose, moneths stopped, bathes, &c,
- 3. Aire rectified, with a digression of the Aire.
- Naturally in the choice and site of our country, dwelling place, to be hote and moist, light, wholesome, pleasant, &c.
- Artificially, by often change of aire, avoiding windes, fogs, tempests, opening windowes, perfumes &c.
- 4. Exercise
- Of Body and Minde but moderate, as hawking, hunting, riding, shooting, bowling, fishing, fowling, walking in faire fields, galleries, tennis, barre &c.
- Of minde, as Chests, cards, tables, &c. to see playes, maskes, &c. serious studies, businesse, all honest recreations.
- 5. Rectification of waking and terrible dreames.
- 6. Rectification of passions and perturbations of the minde. ♎.
- Diet rectified. 1. Memb.
-
[Page 281]♎
Memb. 6. Passions & perturbations of the mind rectified.
- From himselfe
- Subsect. 1. By vsing all good meanes of help, confessing to a friend, &c.
- Avoyding all occasions of his infirmity.
- Not giuing way to passions, but resisting to his vtmost.
- or from his friends.
- Subsect. 2. By faire & foule meanes, counsell, comfort, good perswasion, witty devices, fictions, and if it be possible to satisfie his minde.
- Subsect. 3. Musicke of all sorts aptly appplyed.
- Subsect. 4. Mirth, and merry company.
-
Sect. 3. A consolatory digression containing remedies to all discontents and passions of the minde.
- Memb. 1. Generall discontents and grievances satisfied.
- Memb. 2. Peculiar discontents, as deformity of Body, sicknesse, basenesse of birth, &c.
- Memb. 3. Poverty and want, and such calamities and adversities.
- Memb. 4. Against servitude, losse of liberty, Imprisonment, Banishment &c.
- Memb. 5. Against vaine feares, sorrowes, for death of friends, or otherwise.
- Memb. 6. Against Envy, livor, hatred, malice, emulation, ambition, and selfeloue &c.
- Memb. 7. Against repulses, abuses, iniuries, contempts, disgraces, contumelies, slanders, and scoffes &c.
- Memb. 8, Against all other grievous, and ordinary symptomes of this disease of Melancholy.
- From himselfe
-
[Page 282]♉
Sect. 4. Pharmaceutice or Physicke which cureth with medicines, with a digression of this kinde of Physick, is either
Memb. 1.
Subsect. 1.
- Generalll to all,
- Alteratiue
- Simples altering melancholy, with a digression of Exotick Simples 2.
Subsect.
- Herbes.
3. Subsect.
- To the heart, borage, buglosse, Scorzenera &c.
- To the head bawm hoppes, nenuphar &c.
- Liuer, Eupatory, artimesia &c.
- Stomack, wormewood, centaury, penyroyall.
- Splene, Ceterache, ashe, Tameriske.
- To purify the blood, endiue, succory, &c.
- Against wind, origan, fennell, anniseed &c.
- 4. Precious stones, as smaragdes, chalidonies &c. Minerals, and mettals, gold &c.
- Herbes.
3. Subsect.
- or cōpounds altering melācholy, with a digression of compounds.
5. Subsect.
- Inwardly taken
- Liquid
- fluid
- Wines, as of Hellebor, buglosse, Tameriske &c.
- Syrups of borage, buglosse, hops, Epithyme, endiue succory &c.
- or cōsisting
- Conserues of violets, maydenhair, borage, buglosse, roses &c.
- Confections; Treacle, Methridate, Elegmes or Linctures.
- fluid
- or solid as those aromati all confections.
- hote
- Diambra dianthos.
- Di [...]margeritum calidum.
- Diamoschum dulce.
- Electuarium de gemmis.
- Laetificans Galeni & Rhasis.
- or colde
- Diamargeritum frigidum.
- Diarrodon A [...]batis.
- Diacorolli, Diacodium, with their tables.
- Condites of all sorts &c.
- hote
- Liquid
- or Outwardly vsed, as
- Oyles of camamile, Violets, Roses, &c.
- Ointments; alablastritum, populeum &c.
- Liniments; plasters, caerotes, cataplasmes, frontals, fomentations, Epithimes, sacks, bags, odoramēts, posies &c.
- Inwardly taken
- Simples altering melancholy, with a digression of Exotick Simples 2.
Subsect.
- or Or Purging. ☽
- Alteratiue
- or Particular to the the three distinct Species. ♋ ♌ ♍.
- Generalll to all,
-
[Page 283]♌ Medicins purging melancholy are either
Memb. 2.
- Simples purging melancholy.
- 1. Subsect. Vpward as vomits. Asrabecca, laurell, white Hellebor, Scylla, or Sea-onyon, Antimony, Tobacco.
- or downeward. 2.
Subsect.
- More gentle; as Sena, Epithime, Polipodie, Mirabolanes, Fumitory &c.
- Stronger; aloes, lapis Aremenus, lapis lazuli, Black Hellebor.
- or 3.
Subsect. cōpounds purging melā
[...]holy.
- Superior parts
- Mouth
- swallowed
- Liquid, as potions, Iulipes, Syrupes, wine of hellebor, buglosse &c.
- Solid, as lapis Armenus, & Lazuli, pilles Indie, pilles of Fumitory &c.
- Electuaries, Diasena, confection of Hamech, Hierologadium &c.
- or Not swallowed, as gargarisms, masticatories &c.
- swallowed
- or Nostrils; sneezing powders, odoraments, perfumes &c.
- Mouth
- or Inferior parts, as Clisters strong and weake, and suppositories of Castilian sope, hony boyled &c.
- Superior parts
- Simples purging melancholy.
- ♊ Chirurgicall Physicke, which consists of
Memb. 3.
- Phlebotomy, to all parts almost, and all the distinct Species.
- With knife, horseleeches.
- Cuppinglasses.
- Cauteries, and searing with hote irons, beating.
- Dropax and Synapismus.
- Issues to severall parts, and vpon severall occasions.
-
[Page 284]♋
Sect. 5. Cure of head melancholy.
Memb. 1.
- 1. Subsect.
- Moderate diet, meate of good juyce, moistning, easy of digestion.
- Good Aire.
- Sleepe more then ordinary.
- Excrements dayly to be avoided by art or nature.
- Exercise of Body and minde not too violent, or too remisse, passions of the mind, and perturbations to be avoided.
- 2. Blood-letting if there be need, or that the blood be corrupt, in the arme, forehead &c. or with Cupping-glasses.
- 3. Preparatiues and purgers.
- Preparatiues, as Syrupe of borage, buglosse, Epithime, hoppes, with their distilled waters &c.
- Purgers, as Montanus and Mathiolus, Helliborismus, Quer [...]etans Syrup of Hellebor, Extract of Hellebor, Pulvis Hali, Antimony prepared, Rulandi aqua mirabilis: which are vsed, if gentler medicines will not take place, with Arnoldus vinū buglossatum, Sena, cassia, mirobolanes, aurum potabile, or before Ham [...]ch, Pil. Indae. Hiera, P [...]l. de lap. armeno, lazuli.
- 4. Averters.
- Cardans nettles, frictions, clisters, suppositories, sneezings masticatories, nasals, Cupping-glasses.
- To open the haemrods with horseleeches, to apply horseleeches, to the forehead without s [...]arification, to the shoulders, thighs▪ Issues; boaring, cauteries, hote irons in the suture of the crowne.
- 5. Cordials, resolvers, hinderers.
- A cup of wine, or strong drinke.
- Bezars stone, amber, spice,
- Conserues of borage, buglosse, Roses, Fumitory.
- Confection of Alcermes.
- Electuariū laetificans Ga [...]eni, Rhasis &c.
- Diamargeritū frig. diaboraginatū &c.
- [Page 285] Odoraments of roses, violets.
- Irrigations of the head, with the decoctions of nymphea, lettice, mallowes &c.
- Epithemes, oyntments, bagges to the heart
- Fomentations of oyle for the belly.
- Bathes of sweet water, in which were sod mallowes, violets, roses, water-lillies, borage flowres, rams heads &c.
- 6. Correctors of Accidents, as
- To procure sleepe.
- Inwardly taken
- Simples Poppy, Nymphes, lettice, roses, purslan, henbane, mā drake, nightshade, opium &c.
- or cōpounds.
- Liquid, as syrupes of poppy, verbasco, violets, roses.
- Solid, as requies Nicholai,
- Philonium Romanū
- Laudanum Paracelsi.
- or outwardly vsed as
- Oyles of Nymphea, poppy, violets, roses, mandrake, nutmegs.
- Oderaments of vineger, rosewater, opium.
- Frontals of rosecake, rosevineger, nutmeg.
- Oyntments, alablastritum, vnguentum populeum, simple or mixt with opium.
- Irrigations of the head, feete, spō ges, Musick, murmure and noyse of waters.
- Frictions of the head, & outward parts, sacculi of Henbane, wormwood at his pillow &c.
- Inwardly taken
- and are Against terrible dreames, not to suppe late, or eate pease, cabbage, venison meates heavy of digestion: vse bawme, horsetongue &c,
- Against ruddinesse and blushing, inward and outward remedies.
- To procure sleepe.
-
[Page 286]2.
Memb. Cure of melancholy ouer the Body
- Diet, preparatiues, purgers, averters, cordials, correctors as before,
- Phlebotomy in this kinde more necessary and more frequent,
- To correct and clense the blood with Fumitory, Sena, Succory, dandelion, endiue &c.
-
♍ Cure of Hypondriacal or windy melancholy. 3.
Memb.
-
Subsect. 1.
- Phlebotomy if need require.
- Diet, preparatiues, averters, cordials, purgers as before, sauing that they must not be so vehement.
- Vse of penyroyall, wormewood, centaury sod, which alone hath cured many.
- To provoke vrine with Anniseed, daucus, asarum &c. and stooles if need be by clisters and suppositories.
- To respect the splene, stomack, liuer, hypocondries.
- To vse treacle now and then in winter.
- To vomite after meales sometimes if it be inveterate.
- 2. To expell winde.
- Inwardly taken
- Simples
- Rootes. Galanga, gentian, Enula, Angelica, calamus Aromaticus, Zeodary, China, condite ginger, &c.
- Herbes. Penyroyall, rue, calamint, Bay leaues, & Berries, Scordium, Bettany, Lavander, camamile, Centaury, wormewood, Cumin, brome, orange pils.
- Spices. Saffron; cynamom, mace. nutmeg, pepper, muske, Zeodary with wine &c.
- Seedes. Anniseede, fennell seede, anmi, cary, cumin, nettle, Bayes, parsly, grana paradisi.
- or compounds, as Dianisum, Diagalanga, Diacimnū Diacalaminthes, Electuarium de bacchis Lauri, Benedicta laxativa &c. pulvis Carminatinus, & pulvis descript. Antidotario Florentino, Aromaticum rosatū, Methridate.
- Simples
- or Outwardly vsed, as Cupping-glasses to the Hypocō dries without scarification, oyle of camamile, rue, anniseed, their decoctions &c.
- Inwardly taken
-
Subsect. 1.
THE SECOND PARTITION THE CVRE OF MELANCHOLY.
THE FIRST SECTION.
THE FIRST MEMBER.
THE FIRST SVBSECTION. Vnlawfull Cures reiected.
INveterate Melancholy, howsoever it may seeme to bee a continuate, inexorable disease, and most hard to be cured, accompanying them to their graues most part, as Consil. 23 [...], pro Abbate Italo. Montanus obserues, yet many times it may be helped even that which is most violent, or at least, according to the same Consil. 23. aut curabitur aut certè minus afficietur, si volet. author, it may be mitigated and much eased. Nil desperandum. It may be hard, but not impossible, for him that is most grievously affected, if he bee but willing to be helped.
Vpon this good hope I will proceed, vsing the same method in the Cure, which I haue formerly vsed in the rehearsing of the causes; first Generall, and then Particular, & those according to their severall species. Of these Cures some bee Lawfull, some againe Vnlawfull, which though frequent, familiar, and often vsed, yet iustly censured, and to bee controverted. As first, whether by these diabolicall meanes, which [Page 288] are commonly practised by the Divell & his Ministers, Sorcerers, Witches, Magicians, &c. by Spells, cabalisticall words, Charmes, Characters, Images, Amulets, Ligatures, Philtures, Incantations, &c. This Disease and the like may be cured? and if they may, whether it be lawfull to make vse of them, or for our good to seeke after such meanes in any case? The first whether they can doe any such cures, is questioned amongst many writers, some affirming, some denying. Valesius cont. med. lib. 5. cap. 6. Malleus Malleficar, Hernius, lib. 3. pract. med. cap. 28. Caelius lib. 16. cap. 16. Delrio Tom. 3. Wierus lib. 2. de praestig. daem. Lavater. de spect. part. 2. cap. 7. Holbrenner. the Lutheran in Pistorium, Polydor. Virg. lib 1. de prodig. Tandlerus, Lemnius, (Hippocrates, & Avicenna amongst the rest) deny that spirits or divels haue any power over vs, & referre all with Pomponatius of Padua to naturall causes and humors. Bodinus Daemonomantiae. lib. 3. cap. 2. Arnoldus, Marcellus Empiricus, I. Pistorius, Paracelsus Apodix. Magic. Agrippa lib. 2. de occult. Philos. cap. 36.69.71.72. & lib. 3. cap. 23. & 10. Marsilius Ficinus de vit. caelit. compar. cap. 13.15.18.21. &c. Gale [...]ttus de promiscuâ doct. cap. 24. Iouianus Pontanus To. 2. Plin. lib. 28. cap. 2. Strabo lib. 15. Geog. Leo Suavius: Goclenius de vng. armar. Cardan de subtil. brings many proofes out of Solomons decayed workes, old Hermes, Artesius, Costaben Luca &c. that such cures may be done. They can slanch blood cure gouts, Epilepsies, biting of mad dogs, Melancholy, &c. by their spells and charmes. Alij dubitant an daemon possit morbos curare quos non fecit alij negant sed quotidiana experientia confirmat magos magno multorum slupore morbos curare singulos corporis partes citra impedimē tum permeare & medijs nobis ignotis curare. Many doubt, saith Nicholas Taurellus, whether the divell can cure such diesases as hee hath not made, and some flatly deny it, howsoeuer common experience confirmes to our astonishment, that Magitians can worke such feats, and that the divell without impediment can penetrate through all the parts of our bodies, and cure such maladies by meanes to vs vnknowne. Daneus in his tract de Sortiarijs subscribes to this of Taurellus, Erastus de lamijs, and so doe most Divines, that out of their excellent knowledge and long experience they can cōmit Agentia cum patient bus coniungunt. agentes cum patientibus, colligere semina rerum, ea (que) materiae applicare, as Austin inferres de civ. [Page 289] Dei & de Trinit. lib. 3. cap. 7. & 8. they can worke stupend & admirable conclusions; wee see the effects onely but not the causes of them. Nothing so familiar as to heare of such cures, Sorcerers are too common, Cunning men, Wisards, & whitewitches, as they call them, in every village, that if they bee sought vnto, wil helpe almost all infirmities of body & mind, that to doubt of it any longer, Haec alij rident, sed vereor ne dum nolumus esse creduli vicium non effugiamus incredulitatis. or not to beleeue, were to runne into that other Scepticall extreame of incredulity, saith Taurellus. Leo Suavius in his Comment vpon Paracelsus, seemes to make it an art, which ought to be approued. Pistorius and others stiffly maintaine the vse of charmes, words, characters, &c. Ars vera est, sed pauci artifices reperiuntur, The art is true but there be but a few that haue skill in it. Marcellus Donatus lib. 2 de hist. iur. cap. 1. proues out of Iosephus eight booke of antiquities, that Refert Solomonem mentis morbos curasse, & daemones abegisse ipsos carminibus , quod & coram Vespasiano fecit Eliaser Solomon so cured all the diseases of the mind by spells, charmes, and droue away Divells, and that Eliaser did as much before Vespasian. Langius in his med. epist. holds Iuppiter Menecrates, that did so many stupend cures in his time, to haue vsed this art, and that he was no other then a Magician. Many famous cures are dayly done in this kinde, this Divell is an expert Physitian, as Godelman calls him, lib. 1. cap. 18. and God permits many times these Witches and Magicians to produce such effects, as Lavater, cap. 3. lib. 8. part. 3. cap. 1. Polid. Virg. lib. 1. de prodigijs, Delrio & others admit. Such cures may be done, and as Paracels. Tom. 4. de morb amen. stiffly maintaines, Spirituales morbi spiritualiter curari debent. they cannot otherwise be cured but by spells, seales, and spirituall physicke. Sigillum ex auro peculiare ad Melancholiam, &c. Arnoldus lib. de sigillis sets downe the making of them, so doth Rulands and many others.
Hoc posito, they can effect such cures, the maine question is whether it be lawfull in a desperat case, to craue their help, or aske a Wisards advice? T'is a common practise of some men to goe first to a VVitch, and then to a Physitian, if one cannot the other shall, Flectere si nequeunt superos Acheronta mouebunt. Lib 1. de occult. Philos. nihil refert an deus an diabolus angeli an immundi spiritus aegro opē ferant modo morbus curetur. It matters not, saith Paracelsus, whether it be God or the Divell, Angels or vncleane spirits cure him, so that he be [Page 290] eased. He calls a Magus Minister & Vicarius Dei. Magician Gods Minister and his Vicar, applying that of vos estis Dij prophanely to them, for which he is lashed by T. Erastus part. fol. 45. And else where he encourageth his patients to haue a good faith, Vtere forti Imaginatione & experieris essectum, dicant in adversum quicquid volunt Theologi. a strong imagination, and they shall finde the effects, let Divines say to the contrary what they will. He proues and earnestly contends that many diseases cannot otherwise be cured, Incantione orti, incantione curari debent. If they be caused by incantation, Idem Plinius contendit quosdā esse morbos qui incantationibus solum curentur. they must be cured by incantation. Constantius lib. 4. approues of such remedies, Bartolus the lawyer. Peter Aerodius rerum Iudic. lib. 3. tit. 7. Salicetus, Godefridus, with others of that sect, allow of them; modò sint ad sanitatem quae à magis fiunt secùs non. So they be for the parties health and good or not at all. But these men are confuted by Remigius, Bodin dam. lib. 3. cap. 2. Godelmannus lib. 1. cap. 8. Wierus, Delrio lib. 6. quaest. 2. To. 3. mag. inquis. Eraestus de Lamijs, all our Qui talibus credunt aut adcorum domu [...] euntes aut suis domibus introducunt aut interrogant sciant se fidé christianam & Baptismum prev aricasse & Apostatas este. Austin. de superst, observ. boc pacto à Deo deficitur ad diabolum P. M [...]rt. Divines, Schoolemen, and such as write cases of conscience are against it, the Scripture it selfe absolutely forbids it as a mortall sin, Levit. cap. 18.19.20. Deut. 18. &c. Rom. 8.19. Evill is not to be done that good may come of it. Much better it were for such patients as are so troubled, to endure a little misery in this life, then to hazard their soules health for ever, and as Delrio counselleth, Mori praestat quam superstitiose sanari disquis. mag. lib. 2. cap. 2. sect. 1. quaest. 2. Tom. 3. much better dye then be so cured. Some take vpō them to expell Divells by naturall remedies, and magical exorcismes, which they seeme to approue out of the practise of the primitive Church, as that aboue cited of Iosephus, Eliaser; Iraenius, Tertullian, Austin. Eusebius makes mention of such, and Magicke it selfe hath beene publikely professed in some Vniversities, as of old in Salamanca: but condemned Anno 1318 by the Chancellour and Vniversity of P. Lumbard. Paris. Our Pontificiall writers retaine many of these adiurations, & formes of Exorcismes still in their Church, besides those in Baptisme vsed, they exorcise meats, and such as are possessed as they hold, in Christs name. Read Hieron. Mengus cap. 3. Thyreus part. 3. cap. 58. what exorcismes they prescribe, besides those ordinary meanes of Suffitus, gladiorumictus, &c. suffumigations, cutting the [Page 291] ayre with swords, cap. 57. hearbs, oders. Of which Tostat. treates. 2. Reg. c. 16. quaest. 43. you shall find many vaine frivolous superstitions, formes of exorcismes among them not to be tolerated.
MEMB. 2. Lawfull cures first from God.
BEing so clearely evinced as it is, that all vnlawfull cures are to be refused, it remaines to treat of such as are to be admitted, & those are commonly those which God hath appointed, The Lord hath created medicines of the earth, and he that is wise will not abhorre them. Eccles. 38.4. by vertue of stones, hearbs, plants, mettles, &c, and such like which are prepared and applied to our vse, by art & industry of Physitians, who are the dispensers of such treasures for our good, and to bee s honoured for necessities sake, Gods immediate ministers, to whom in our infirmities wee are to seeke for helpe. Yet not so that wee rely too much, or wholy vpon them, A Iove principium, wee must first beginne with prayer, and then vse Physicke, not one without the other, My son faile not in thy sicknesse but pray vnto the Lord and hee will make thee whole, Eccles. 38.9. Hue omne principium [...]ut refer exitum Hor. 3. carm. Od. 6. but both together. To pray alone and reiect ordinary meanes, is to doe like him in Aesope, that when his cart was stalled, lay flat on his backe and cryed aloud helpe Hercules, but that was to little purpose, except as his friend advised him, rotis tute ipse annitaris, hee whipt his horses withall, and put his shoulder to the wheel. God works by means, as Christ cured the blind man with clay and spittle. Orandum est vt sit mens sana in corpore sano. As we must pray for health of body and mind, so we must vse our vtmost indeavours to preserue and continue it. Some kinde of Divells are not cast out but by fasting and prayer, and both necessarily required, not one without the other. For all the physicke wee can vse, art, excellent industry, is to no purpose without calling vpō God Nil iuvat immensos Cratero promittere montes. It is in vaine to seeke for helpe, runne, ride, except God blesse vs.
We must vse prayer and physicke both together: and so no doubt but our prayers will be availeable and our physicke take effect. T'is that Ezechiah practised 2. Kings 20. Luke the Evangelist, and which wee are enioyned Coloss. 4. not the patient only, but the Physition himselfe. Hippocrates an heathen required this in a good practitioner, and so did Galen. lib. de Plat. & Hipp. dog. lib. 9. cap. 15. and in that tract of his, an mores sequntur temp. cor. cap. 11. t'is a thing which he doth inculcate, Scientia de Deo d [...]bet in medico infixa esse. Mesue Arabs. sanat omnes langores deus. For you shall pray to your Lord that hee would prosper that which is given for ease and then physicke for the prolonging of life. Eccl. 38.14 and many others. Hiperius in his first booke de sacr. scrip. lec. speaking of that happinesse and good successe, which all Physitians desire, and hope for in their cures, Omnes optant quandam in medicinâ faelicitatem sed hanc nō est quod expectent nisi deum vera fide inuocent at (que) aegros similirer ad ardentem vo [...]tionem excitent. tells them that it is not to be expected, except with a true faith they call vpon God, & teach their patients to doe the like. The councell of Lateran Canone 22. decreed they should doe so, the Fathers of the Church haue still advised as much, whatsoever thou takest in hand, saith Lemnius è Gregor exhor ad vitam opt instit. cap. 48. quicquid meditaris aggredi aut perficere deum in consilium adhibeto. Gregory, let God be of thy counsell, and consult with him. That healeth those that are broken in heart (Ps. 147.3.) and bindeth vp their sores. Otherwise as the Prophet Ieremy cap. 46.11. denounced to Aegypt, in vaine shalt thou vse many medicins, for thou shalt haue no health. It is the same counsell which Commentar lib. 7 ob infelicem pugnam contristatus in aegritudinem incidit ita vt à medicis curari non poterat. Cominaeus that politick historiographer giues to all Christian princes, vpon occasion of that vnhappy overthrowe of Charles Duke of Burgundy, by meanes of which he was extreamely melancholy, and sick to death: In so much that neither physick, nor perswasion could doe him any good, percauing his preposterous errour belike, adviseth all great men in such cases, In his anuni malis princeps imprimis ad deum precetur & peccatis ve [...]iam exoret inde ad medicinam, &c. to pray first to God, and [Page 293] with all submission and penitency to confesse their sinnes, and thē to vse physicke. The very same fault it was which the Prophet reprehends in Asa king of Iuda that hee relied more on physicke then on God, and by all meanes would haue him to amend. And is a fit caution to be obserued of all other sorts of men. The Prophet David was so observant of this precept, that in all his misery and vexation of mind, hee put this rule first in practise. Psal. 77.3. When I am in heavinesse I will thinke on God. Psal. 86.4. Comfort the soule of thy servant, for vnto thee I lift vp my soule. & ver. 7. In the day of trouble will I call vpon thee for thou hearest me. Ps. 54.1. Saue me O God by thy name &c. Psal. 87. Psal. 20. And t'is the common practise of all good men. Ps. 107.13. when their heart was humbled with heavinesse, they cryed to the Lord in their trouble, and hee delivered them from their distresse. And they haue found good successe in so doing, as David confesseth, Psal. 30.11. Thou hast turned my ioy into mourning, thou hast loosed my sacke, and girded me with gladnesse. And therefore hee adviseth all others to doe the like, Psal. 31.24. All yee that trust in the Lord, be strong and he shall establish your heart. It is reported by Greg. Tholoss. To. 2. lib. 28. c. 7. Syntax. In vestibulo templi Solomon. liber remediorum cuius (que) morbi fuit quem revulsit Ezekias quod populus neglecto deo nec invocato sanitatem inde peteret. Suidas, speaking of Ezekiah, that there was a great book of old, of king Solomons writing, which contained medicines for all manner of diseases, and lay still open as they came into the Temple: but Ezekiah king of Ierusalem caused it to bee taken away, because it made the people secure, to neglect their duties in calling and relying vpon God, out of a confidence on those remedies. Livius lib. 23. strepunt aures clamoribus plorantium sociorū, saepius nos quam deorum invocantium opem. Minutius that worthy Consull of Rome in an Oration he made to his souldiers, was much offended with them, and taxed their ignorance that in their misery, called more on him then vpon God. A generall fault it is all over the world, and Manutius his speech concernes vs all, we rely more on Physicke, and seeke more to Physitians then to God himselfe. And as much falty are they that prescribe, as they that aske, respecting more their gaine, and trust to their ordinary receipts and medicines many times, then to him that made them. I would wish all patients in this [Page 294] behalfe, in the midst of their melancholy to remember that of Siracides, Ecc. 1.12. & 12. The feare of the Lord is glory & gladnesse and reioycing. The feare of the Lord maketh a merry heart, and giueth gladnesse and ioy, and long life. And all such as prescribe physicke to beginne in nomine Dei, as Mesue did, to imitate Lelius à Fonte Eugubinus, Rulādus adiū git optimamorationem ad finem empiricorum. Mercurialis consil. 25. ita concludit. Montanus passim &c. & plures alij &c. that in all his consultations still concludes with a prayer for the good successe of his businesse, and to remember that of Crato one of their predecessors, fuge avaritiam, & sine oratione, & invocatione Deinihil facias. Avoid covetousnesse, and doe nothing without invocation vpon God.
MEMB. 3. Whether it be lawfull to seeke to Saints for aide in this Disease.
THat we must pray to God no man doubts, but whether we should pray to Saints in such cases, or whether they can do vs any good, it may be lawfully cōtroverted. Whether their Images, Shrines, Relliques, consecrated things, holy water, benedictions, those divine amulets, holy exorcismes, and the signe of the Crosse be availeable in this disease. The Papists on the one side stiffly maintaine, how many melancholy, mad, daemoniacall persons are dayly cured at Saint Anthonies Church in Padua, at S t Vitus in Germany, by our Lady of Loretta in Italy, our Lady of Sichem in the low Countries? Lipsius. Quae & caecis lumen, agris salutem, mortuis vitam, claudis gressum reddit, omnes morbos corporis, animi, curat, & in ipsos daemones imperium exercet, she cures halt, lame, blind, al diseases of body and minde, & commands the divel himselfe, saith Lipsius, 25000. in a day come thither, 1. Cap. 26. quis nisi numen in vnū locum sic induxit? who brought them? in auribus, in oculis omniū gesta, nova nouitia. New news lately done, all our eyes & eares are full of her cures, and who can relate them all. They haue a peculiar Saint almost for euery peculiar infirmity, for [Page 295] poyson, gowts, agues, Petronella; S r Romanus for such as are possessed, Valentine the falling sicknes. S • Vitus for madmen, &c. and as of old Lib. 2. cap. 7. de Deo. morbis (que) in genera descriptis deos reperimus. Pliny reckons vp gods for all diseases, Febri fanum dicatum est, Selden. prolog. cap. 3. de dijs Siris Rosinus. And Lilius Giraldus repeats many of her ceremonies: all affections of the mind were heretofore accounted gods. Loue and Sorrow, Vertue, honor, liberty, Contumely, Impudency, had their temples, Tempests, seasons, Crepitus ventris, dea Vacuna, dea Cloacina, there was a goddesse of Idlenes, a god desse of the draught, or Ieakes, Prema, Premunda, Priapus, bawdy gods, and gods for See Lilij Giraldi syntae [...]ma de dijs &c.all offices. Varro reckons vp 30000 gods, Lucian makes Podagra the Gowt a goddesse, and assignes her Priests & Ministers; and Melancholy comes not behind: for as Austin mentioneth lib. 4. de Civit. dei cap. 9. there was of old Angerona dea, & she had her chappell & feasts, to whom saith 12. Cal. Iaunarij forias celebrabant vt angores & animi sollicitudines propitiata depellat. Macrobius, they did offer sacrifice yearely, that she might be pacified as well as the rest. T'is no new thing you see, this of Papists, & in my iudgment that old doting Lipsius might haue fitter dedicated his Hanc dive pennā consecravi Lipsius. pen after all his labors, to this our goddesse of Melancholy, then to his Virgo Hallensis, & haue bin her Chaplin, it would haue becomed him better. But he poore man, thought no harme in that which he did, & will not be perswaded but that he did well, he hath so many patrons & honorable precedents in the like kind, that iustifies as much, as eagerly, & more then he there saith of his Lady & Mistris: read but superstitious Coster & Gretsers Tract de Cruce. Laur. Arcturus Fanteus de Invoc. Sanct. Bellarmine, Delrio dis. mag. Tom. 3. lib. 6. quaest. 2. sec. 3. Greg. Tholosanus Tom. 2. lib. 8, cap. 24. Syntax. Strozius Cicogna lib. 4. cap. 9. Tyreus, Heironymus Mengus, & you shall find infinite examples of cures done in this kind, by holy water, reliques, crosses, exorcismes, amulets, Images, consecrated beades, &c. Barradius the Iesuite boldly giues it out, that Christs Countenance, & the Virgin Maries, would cure Melancholy if one had looked stedfastly on them. And P. Morales the Spaniard in his booke de pulch. Ies. & Mar. confirms the same out of Carthusianus, and I know not whom, that it [Page 296] was a common proverb in those dayes, for such as were trobled in mind, to say, Eamus ad videndum filium Mariae, as they doe now goe to S t Anthonies in Padua, or to S • Hilaries at Poicters in France. Iodocus Sincerus Itin. Galliae edit. 1617. Huc mente captos deducunt, & statis orationibus, sacris (que) peractis in illum lectum dormitum ponunt &c. In a closet of this Church there is at this day S • Hilaries bed to be seen, to which they bring all the madmen in the country, and after some prayers and other ceremonies, they lay them downe there to sleepe, and so they recouer. It is an ordinary thing in those parts to send all their madmen to S. Hilaries craddle. They say the like of S • Tubery in In Gallia Narbonensi. another place. Giraldus Cambrensis Itiner. Camb. cap. 1. tels strange stories of S r Cirisius staffe, that would cure this and all other diseases. Read Lipomannus, or that goldē Legend of Iacobus de Voragine, and you shall haue infinite stories, or those new relations of our Em. Acosta. com. rerum in Oriente gest. à societ. Jes. Anno 1568. epist. Gonsalui Fernandes. Anno 1560. è Ia [...]oniâ. Iesuites in Iapona and China of Matt. Riccius, Acosta, Loiola, Xauerius life &c. Iasper Belga a Iesuite, cured a mad woman by hanging S • Iohns Gospell about her neck, & many such. Holywater did as much in Iapona &c. Nothing so familiar in their works, as such examples.
But we on the other side seek to God alone. We say with David Psal. 46.1. God is our hope and strength, and helpe in trouble, ready to be found. For their Catalogues of examples we make no other answere, but that they are false fictions, or diabolicall illusions, counterfeit miracles. We cannot deny but that it is an ordinary thing on S r Anthonies day in Padua, to bring divers mad men & daemoniacall persons to be cured; but we deny that such parties are so affected indeed, but so prepared by their Priests, by certain oyntments and drammes, to cosen the commonalty, as Spicel. de morbis demoniacis, sic à sacrificulis parati vnguentis Magicis corpori illitis, vt stultae plebeculae persuadeant tales curari à S [...] Antonio. Hildesheim well saith; the like is commonly practised in Bohemia, as Mathiolus giues vs to vnderstand in his preface to his Comment vpon Diascorides, tricks only to get opinion and money, meere impostures. Aesculapius of old that counterfeit God, did as many famous cures, his Temple, as Greg. lib. 8. tuius fanum aegrotantiū multitudine refertum, vndiqus (que) & tabellis pendeatibus in quibus sanati languores erant inscripti. Strabo relates, was dayly full of patients, & as many several tables, inscriptions, pendants, donaries, &c. to be seen in his Church, as at this day at [Page 297] our Lady of Loretta's in Italy. It was a custome
to doe the like, informer times they were seduced and deluded as they are now. T'is the same divell still, called heeretofore Apollo, Mars, Neptune, Venus, Aesculapius &. as Mali angeli sumpserunt olim nomen Iovis, Iunonis , Apollinis, &c. quos Gentiles deos credebant, nunc S t i Sebastiani, Barbarae &c. nomen habent, & aliorum. Lactantius lib. 2. de orig. erroris cap. 17. obserues. The same Iupiter and those bad Angels, are now worshipped and adored by the names of S • Sebastian, Barbara &c. Christopher and George are come in their places. Our Lady succeedes Venus, and so of the rest, as Parte 2. cap. 9. despect. Veneri subs [...]ituunt Virginem Mariam. Lavater writes, and so they are deluded. Ad hec ludibria Deus connivet frequenter vbi relicto verbo Dei ad Satanam curritur, quales hi sunt qui aquam lustralem, crucem &c. lubricae sidei hominibus offerunt. And God often winkes at these impostures, because they forsake his word, and betake themselues to the diuell, as they doe that seeke after holywater, crosses &c. Wierus lib. 4. cap. 3. What can these men plead for themselues more then those heathen gods, the same cures done by both, the same spirit that seduceth: or put case they could help, why should we rather seek to them, then to Christ himself? since that he so kindly invites vs to him, come vnto me all ye that are heavy laden, and I will ease you Mat. 11. and we know that there is one God, one Mediator betwixt God and man Iesus Christ (Tim. 2.5.) who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men. We know that we haue an Charior est ipsis homo quam sibi. Advocate with the Father, Iesus Christ, 1 Iohn 2.1. that there is no other name vnder Heauen by which we can be saved but by his, who is alwayes ready to heare vs, and sits at the right hand of God, Paul and from Bernard. whom we can haue no repulse, solus vult, solus potest, curat vniversos tāquā singulos, & Austin. vnū quem (que) nostrum vt solum. We are all as one to him, & cares for vs all as one, and why should we seek to any other but to him.
MEMB. 4.
SVBSEC. I. Physitian, Patient, Physick.
OF those divers gifts which our Apostle Paul saith, God hath bestowed on man, this of Physick is not the least, [Page 298] as most necessary, and especially conducing to the common good of mankind. Next therefore to God in all our extremities ( for of the most high commeth healing, Ecclus 38.2.) We must seek to, and rely vpon the Physitian, Ecclus 38. In the sight of great men he shall be in admiration. who is manus Dei saith Hierophilus, and to whom he hath giuen knowledge, that he might be glorified in his wondrous works. With such doth he heale men, & taketh away their paines, Ecclus 38.6.7. when thou hast need of him, let him not goe from thee. The houre may come that their enterprises may haue go [...]d successe, ver. 13. It is not therefore to be doubted, but if we seek a Physitian as we ought, we may be eased of our infirmities, and to such a one as is sufficient, and worthily so called; for there be many mountebanks, quacksaluers, Empericks, in every street almost, and in every village, that take vpon them this name, & make this noble & profitable Art to be euill spoken of, and contemned, by reason of such base and illiterate artificers: but such a one I speake of, as is approued, learned, skilfull, honest, &c. of whose duty Wecker Antid. cap. 2. & Syntax. med. Crato. Iulius Alexandrinus lib. de med. Hernius prax. med. l. 3. cap. 1. &c. treat at large. For this particular disease, he that shall take vpon him to cure it, Tom. 4. Tract. 1. de morbis amentium. Horum multos non nisi à Magis curandas, & Astrologis quoniom origo eius à caelis petenda est. Paracelsus will haue to be a Magician, a Chimist, a Philosopher, an Astrologer. Thurnesserus, Severinus the Dane, and some other of his followers require as much: many of them cannot be cured but by Magicke: and Lib. de Podagrâ. Paracelsus is so stiffe for his Chimicall medicines, that in his cures he will admit almost of no other Physick, deriding in the mean time Hippocrates, Galen, and all their followers: but Magick and all such remedies, I haue already censured, and shall speak of Chimistrie Sec. 5. elswhere. Astrology is required by many famous Physitians, Ficinus, Crato, Fernelius, Langius. I. Caesar Claudilus consult doubted of & exploded by others, I will not take vpon me to decide the Controuersy. Paracelsus goes farther, and will haue his Physitian Praedestionatum ad hūc curandum. predestinated to this mans cure, and this malady, and time of cure, of gathering of herbs, of administring Astrologically obserued, which Thurnesserus, & some Iatromathimaticall professors, are too superstitious in my Iudgment. [Page 299] Helleborus curat, sed quòd ab omni datus medico vanum est. Hellebor will helpe, but not alway, not giuen by euery Physitian &c. but these men are too peremptory, and selfe-conceited as I think. But what doe I doe, interposing in that which is beyond my reach? a blind man cannot iudge of colors, nor I of these things. Only this much I would require, Honesty in every Physitian, that he be not ouer carelesse or covetous, Harpy like to make a prey of his patient, as an hungry Surgeon often doth prolong & wierdraw his cure so long as there is any hope of pay, Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo. M [...]ny of them to get a fee, will giue Physick to euery one that comes, when there is no cause, and so irritare silentem morbum, as Quod saepè evenit lib. 3. cap. 1. cum non sit necessitas. Frustra fatigant remediis aegros, qui victus ratione curari possunt. Hernius. Hernius complaines, stirre vp a silent disease which often fals out, which by good counsell alone, good advice alone might haue bin composed, or by rectification of those 6. non-naturall things, otherwise cured. This is naturae bellum inferre, to oppugne Nature, and to make a strong body weake. Arnoldus in his 8. and 11. Aphorismes, giues cautions against it, and expresly forbids it. Modestus & sapiens medicus nunquam properabit aapharma cum, nisi cogente necessitate. 41. Aphor. prudens & pius medicus cibis priùx medicinal. quā medicinis puri [...] morbum expellere satagit. A wise Physitian will not giue Physick but vpon necessity, and first try medicinall diet, before he proceed to medicinall cure. And in another place laughs those men to scorne that think, longis syrupis expugnare daemones, & animi phantasmata, they can purge the diuell by Physick. Another caution is, that they proceed vpon good grounds, if so be there be need of Physick, & not mistake the disease; Breviar. lib. 1. cap. 18. they are often deceiued by the Similitud [...] saepé bonis medicis imponit.similitude of symptomes saith Hernius, & I could giue instance in many consultations, wherein they haue prescribed opposite Physick. Somtimes they goe too perfunctorily to worke, in not prescribing a iust Qui melancholicis praebent remedia non satis valida. Longiores morbì imprimis solertiam medici postulant, & fidelitatem, qui enim tumultuariè hos tractant, vires (que) abs (que) vllo commodo laedunt & frangunt, &c. course of Physick, to stirre vp the humor, and not to purge it, doth oftentimes more harme then good. Montanus consil. 30. inveighs against such perturbations, that purge to the halfes, and tire Nature, and molest the body to no purpose. T'is a crabbed humor to purge; and as Laurentius cals this disease, the reproch of Physitians, and for [Page 300] that cause more carefully to be respected. Though the Patient be averse, saith Laurentius, desire help, and refuse it again, though he neglect his own health, it behoues a good Physitian, not to leaue him helplesse. But most part they offend in that other extreame, they prescribe too much Physick, and tire out their bodies with continuall potions to no purpose. Aetius Tetrabib. 2. ser. 2. cap. 90. will haue them by all meanes therefore Nature remissionem dare oportet. to giue some respit to Nature, to leaue off now and then: and Lelius à Fonte Aegubinus in his consultations found it (as he there witnesseth) often verified by experience, Pleri (que) hoc morbo medicinâ nihil proficisse visi sunt, & sibi demissi invaluerunt. that after a deale of Physicke to no purpose, left to themselues, they haue recouered. T'is that which Nic. Piso, Donatus Altomarus, still inculcate, dare requiem Naturae, to giue Nature rest.
SVBSEC. 2. Patient.
VVHen all these precedent cautions are accurately kept, and that we haue now got a skilfull honest Physitian to our mind, if his Patient will not be conformable vnto him, and be content to be ruled by him, all his endeavors will be to no good end. Many things are necessarily to be obserued and continued on the Patients behalfe, first that he be not too niggardly miserable of his purse, or think it too much he bestowes vpon himself, to saue charges, endanger his health. Abderitani epist. Hipoc. The Abderites when they sent for Hipocrates, promised him what reward he would, quicquid auri apud nos est, libenter persoluemus, etiamsi tota vrbs nostra [...]rum esset. all the gold they had, if all their city were gold, he should haue it. Another thing is, that out of bashfulnes, he doe not conceale his grief, if ought troble his mind, let him freely disclose it. Stultorum incurata pudor malus vlcera celat, and by that meanes procures to himselfe great mischief, and runnes into a greater inconvenience: He must be willing by all meanes to be cured, and voluntarily desire. Pars sanitatis velle sanari fuit. Seneca. T'is a part of [Page 301] his cure, to wish his owne health. And not deferre it too long.
Et
by this meanes many times, De animá Barbarâ tamen immanitate, & deplorandâ inscitiâ contemnunt praecepta sanitatis, mortem & morbos vltro accersunt. or through their ignorance in not taking notice of their disease and danger of it, contempte, supine negligence, extenuation, wretchednes & peeuishnesse, they vndoe themselues, & often out of a preiudice, a lothing, a distaste of Physick, they had rather dye or doe worse, then take any of it. Barbarous immanity Melancton termes it, and folly, to be deplored, so to contemne the precepts of health, good remedies, and voluntarily to pull death, and many maladies vpon their own heads. Though many againe are in that other extreame too profuse, suspitious and jelous of their health, too apt to take Physick vpon euery small occasion, to aggravatè euery small passion, imperfection, impediment; if their finger doe but ake, run, ride, send for a Physitian, as many Gentlewomen frequently doe; and when he comes, Melancholici plerum (que) medicis sunt molesti, vt alia aliis adiungant. they make it worse then it is, by amplifying that which is not. Consil. 173. è Scolizio. Melancholicorū boc ferè proprium est, vt graviora dicant esse symptomata, quid revera sunt. Hier. Capivaccius sets it downe as a common fault of all melancholy persons, to say their symptomes are greater then they are, to be lye themselues. And which Mercurialis notes consil. 53. to be more troublesome to their Physitians, then other ordinary Patients, that they may haue change of Physicke.
A third thing to be required in a Patient, is confidence to be of good cheare, and haue good hope that his Physitian can help him. Oportet infirmo imprimere salutem, vtcum (que) promittere etsi ipse desperet. Nullum medicamentum efficax nisi medicus etiam fuerit, fortis Imaginationis. Damascen the Arabian requires likewise in the Physitian himself that he be confident he can cure him, otherwise his Physick will not be effectuall, and promise him withall, that he will certainly help him, make him beleeue so [Page 302] at least. De promise. doct. cap. 15. quoniam sanitatis forma anima medici continet. Galeottus giues the reason, because the forme of health, is contained in the Physitians mind; and as Galen holds, Spes & confidentia plus valent quam medicina. confidence and hope doe more good then Physicke. And he cures most, in whom most are confident. Paracelsus assignes it for an only cause, why Hipocrates was so fortunate in his cures, not for any extraordinary skill hee had, but Faelicior in mediciná ob fidem Ethnicorū. because the common people had a most strong conceipt of his worth. To this of confidence, we may adde perseverance, and obedience, constancy, not to change his Physitian, or dislike him vpon every toy, for he that so doth, saith Aphoris. 89. aeger qui plurimos consulit medicos, plerum (que) in errorem singulorum cadit. Ianus Damascen, or consults with many, falls into many errors, or that vseth many medicines. It was a chiefe caveat of Nihil ita sanitatem impedit, ac remediorum crebra mutatio, nec venit vulnus ad cicatricē in quo diversa medicamenta tentantur. Seneca to his friend Lucilius, that she should not alter his Physitian, or prescribed Physick, Nothing hinders health more, a wound can never be cured that hath severall plasters. Crato consil. 186. taxeth all melancholy persons of this fault, Melancholicorum proprium quum exeorum arbitrio non fit subita mutatío in meliùs, àlterare medicos qui quidvis &c. T'is proper to them if things fall not out to their minde, & that they haue not present ease, to seeke another & another, twenty one after another, & they still promise all to cure them, try a thousand remedies, & by this meanes they encrease their malady, and make it most dangerous and difficill to be cured. They try many saith Montanus, and profit by none: and for that cause consil. 24. he inioynes his patient before he take them in hand, Imprimis hoc statuere oportet requiri perseverantiam & tolerantiam. Exi [...]uo enim tempore nihilex &c. perseuerance and sufferance, for in such a small time no great matter can be effected, and vpon that condition he will administer Physicke, otherwise all his endeauour and counsell would be to small purpose. And in his 31. counsell for a noble matron, he tels her, Si curari vult;opus est pertinari perseverantiâ, fideli obedientiâ & patientiâ singulari si tardet aut desperet, nullum habebit effectum. if she will be cured, she must be of a most abiding patience, faithfull obedience, and singular perseverance, if she remit or despaire she can expect or hope for no good successe. Consil. 230. Consil. 31. Dum ad varia se conferunt, nullo prosunt for an Italian Abbat he makes it one of the greatest reasons why this disease is so incurable, Aegritudine amittunt patientuam, & indè morbi incurebiles. because the parties are so restlesse, and impatient, & will therefore haue him that intend to be eased, to take Physicke [Page 303] Non ad mensē aut annum, sed oportet toto vitae curriculo curationi operam dare. not for a moneth, a yeare, but to apply himselfe to their prescriptions, all the dayes of his life. Last of all it is required that the patient be not too bold to practise vpon himselfe without an approued Physitians consent, or to try conclusions, if he read a Receipt in a Book, for so many grossely mistake, and doe themselues more harme then good. Many things saith Prasat. deuar. med. In libellis quae vulgò versantur apud literatos incautiores multae legunt, à quibus decipiuntur eximia illis, sed portentosum hauriunt venenum. Penottus, are written in our Bookes, which seeme to the Reader to be excellent remedies, but they that make vse of them are often deceiued, and take for Physicke, poyson. I remember in Valleriolas observations, a story of one Iohn Baptist a Neapolitan, that finding by chance a pamphlet in Italian, written in praise of Hellebor, would needs adventure on himselfe, and took ʒ j for ℈ j and had not he bin sent for, the poore fellow had poysoned himselfe. From whence he concludes out of Damascenus 2. & 3. Aphor. Operari ex sibris abs (que) cognitione & sollerti ingenio periculosum est. vnde monemur quam insipidum scriptis authoribus credere quod hic suo didicit periculo. that without exquisite knowledge, to worke out of bookes, is a most dangerous thing, and how vnsavory a thing it is to beleeue Writers, and take vpon trust, as this Patient perceiued by his own perill. I could recite such another example of mine owne knowledge, of a friend of mine, that finding a Receipt in Brassiuola, would needs take Hellebor in substance, and try it on himselfe, but had not some of his friends come to visit him by chance, he had by his indiscretion hazarded himselfe, many such I haue obserued. These are those ordinary Cautions, which I would think fit to be noted, and he that shall keepe them, as Consil. 23. hee omnia si quo ordine decet egerit vel curabitur, velcertè minus afficietur. Montanus saith shall surely be much eased, if not throughly cured.
SVBSEC. 3. Physicke.
PHysicke it selfe in the last place is to be considered, for the Lord hath created medicines of the earth, and he that is wise will not abhorre them, Ecclus 38.4. and ver. 8. of such doth the Apothecary make a confection &c. Of these medicines there be diuers and infinite kindes, plants, mettals, animals, [Page 304] &c. and those of seuerall natures, some good for one, hurtfull to another: some noxious in themselues, corrected by art, very wholesome and good, simples, mixt &c. and therefore left to be managed by discreet and skilfull Physitians, and applyed to mans vse. To this purpose they haue invented method, and severall rules of art, to put these remedies in order, for their particular ends. Physick, as Hipocrates defines it, is nought els but Fuchsius cap. 2. lib. 1. addition & substraction, & as it is required in all other diseases, so in this of melancholy it ought to be most accurate, it being as In pract. med. haec affectio nostris temporibus frequentissima, ergo maximè pertinet ad nos huius curationē intelligere. Mercurialis acknowledgeth, so common an affection in these our times, and therefore fit to be vnderstood. Severall prescripts and methods I find in severall men, some take vpon them to cure all diseases with one medicine, severally applyed, as that Panacea, Aurum potabile, so much controverted in these dayes, herba solis &c. Paracelsus reduceth all diseases to 4 principall heads, to whom Severinus, Ravelascus, Leo Sauius, and others adhere and imitate. And those are Leprosy, Gout, Dropsy, Falling-sicknesse. To which they reduce the rest, as to Leprosy vlcers, itches, surfures, scabbes &c. To Goute, stone, cholick, toothache, headache &c. To Dropsy, Agues, Iaundies, Cacexia &c. To the Falling-sicknesse belong Palsy, Vertigo, Crampes, Convulsions, Incubus, Apoplexy, Mother, Melancholy &c. Si aliquis horum morborum summus sanatur, sanantur omnes inferiores. If any of these foure principall be cured, (saith Ravelascus) all the inferiour be cured, and the same remedies commonly serue: but this is too generall, and by some contradicted: for this peculiar disease of Melancholy, of which I am now to speake, I find severall cures, severall methods, and prescripts. They that intend the practick cure of Melancholy, saith Duretus in his notes to Hollerius, set down nine peculiar scopes or ends Savanorola prescribes 7 especiall Canons. Aelianus Montaltus cap. 26, Faventinus in his Empiricks, Hercules de Saxonia &c, haue their severall iniunctions and rules, all tending to one end. The ordinary is threefold, which I meane to follow. [...], Pharmaceutica, & Chirurgica. Diet or Liuing, Apothecary, Surgery, which Wecker, Crato, Guianerius &c [Page 305] and most prescribe, of which I will insist, and speake in their order.
SECT. 2.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Diet rectified in substance.
[...] or Victus, Diet, Liuing, according to Instit. cap. 8. sect. 1. victus nomine non taem cibus & potus, sed aer, exercitatio, somnus, vigilia, & reliquae res sex non-naturales continentur. Fuchsius and others comprehend those six non-naturall things, which I haue before specified, are especiall causes, and being rectified, a sole or chief part of the Cure. Sufficit plaerum (que) regimen rerum sex nonnaturalium. Io. Arculanus cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis, accompts the rectifying of these six a sufficient cure. Guianerius Tract. 15. cap. 9. cals it propriam & primam curam, the principall cure, so doth Montanus, Crato, Mercurialis, Altomarus &c. first to be tried, Lemnius instit. cap. 22. cals them the hinges of our health, Et in his potissima sanitas consistit. no hope of recovery without them Reinerus Solenander in his 7. consultation for a Spanish young Gentlewoman, that was so melancholy, she abhorred all company, and would not sit at table with her familiar friends, prescribes this Physick aboue the rest, Nihil hic agendum sine exquisita vivendi ratione &c.no good to be done without it. Si recens malum sit ad pristinum habitum recuperandum alia medelá non est opus. Areteus lib. 7. cap. an old Physitian, is of opinion that this is enough of it self, if it be not too farre gone. Consil. 99 lib. 2 si celsitudo tuae rectam victus rationem &c. Crato in a consultation of his for a noble patient, tels him plainly, that if his Highnes will keep but a good diet, he will warrant him his former health. Moneo. Domine vt sis prudens ad victum, sine quo caetera remedia frustra adhibentur. Montanus consil. 27. for a nobleman of France, admonisheth his Lordship to be most circumspect in his Diet, or els all his other Physicke will be to small purpose. The same iniunction I find verbatim in I. Caesar Claudinus, Respon. 34. Scoltzij consil. 183. Tralliauus cap. 16. lib. 1. and Omnia remedia irrita & vana sine his. Novistis me pleros (que) ita laborantes victu potius quam medicamentis curasse. Laelius à Fonte Aegubinus often brag that they haue done more cures in this kind by rectification of Diet, then all other Physick. So that in a word I may say [Page 306] to most melancholy men, as the Fox said to the Wesell, that could not get out of the garner, macra cauum repetes, quem macra subisti, the six nonnaturall things caused it, and they must cure it. Which howsoeuer I doe heare treat of, as proper to the Meridian of melancholy, yet neverthelesse that which is here said, will generally serue Modo non multum elongetur. most other diseases, and ease them likewise, if it be obserued.
Of these six non-naturall things, the first is Diet properly so called, which consists in meat and drink, in which we must consider Substance, Quantity, Quality, and that, opposite to the precedent. Si interna tantum pulpa devoretur, nom superficies torrida abigne. In Substance such meats are generally commended, which are Lib 1. cap. de melan. cap 7. calid [...] & humidus cibus cō coctufa ilis. status aexo [...]tes elixi non assi, ne (que) cibi frixi sint. moist, easy of digestion, and not apt to ingender winde, not fryed nor rosted, but sod, saith Valescus, Altomarus, Piso &c. hote and moist, and of good nourishment; Crato consil. 21. lib. 2. admits rost meat, if the burned and scorched superficies, the browne we call it, be pared off. Salvianus lib. 2 cap. 1. cryes out of cold and dry meats, Benè nutriētes cibi tenella aetas multum valet carnes non virosae, nec pingues.yong flesh and tender is approued, as of kid, rabbets, chickens, veale, mutton, capons, hennes, partridge, Phesant, and all mountain birds. Galen takes exception at mutton, but without question he meanes that rammy mutton, which is in Turkie and Asia minor, which haue those great fleshy tailes, 28 • weight, as Vertomanus witnesseth navig. lib. 2. The leane of fat meat is best, and all maner of brothes and pottage, with burrage, lettice, and such wholesome herbes are excellent good, especially of a cock, all spoon meat. Arabians commend brains, but Inimica stomacho. Laurentius cap. 8. excepts against them, and so doe many others: Not fryed or buttered, but potched best.Egges are justified as a nutritiue wholesome meat. Butter and oyle may passe, but with some limitation, so Consil. 16. Nō improbatur butyrum & oleum, si tamen plus quam par sit non profundatur. sacchari & mellis vsus vtiliter ad ciborum condimenta comprobatur. Crato confines it, and to some men sparingly at set times, or in sauce, & so sugar and hony are approued. Mercurialis consil. 88. acerba omnia evitentur. All sharp & sowre sauces must be avoided, and spices, or at least seldome vsed: and so saffron sometimes in broth may be tolerated, but these things may be more freely vsed, as the temperature of the party is hot or cold, or as he shall find offence or inconvenience by them. The thinnest, whitest, smallest wine is best, not thicke, nor [Page 307] strong, and so of Beere, the middling is fittest. Bread of good wheat, pure, well purged from the bran, Laurentius cap. 8. would haue it kneaded with raine water, if it may be had. Pure water by al means vse, which as Auro aquae melior. Pindarus holds, Watrr. is better then gold. It is a wonder to read of those Opera gigantū dicit aliquis. stupend Aqneductes, and infinite cost hath bin bestowed in Rome of old, Constantinople, Carthage, Alexandria, and such populous cities, to conveigh good and wholesome waters, read De aquae duct. Frō tinus, Lipsius de Admir. Curtius fons à quadragesimo lapide in vrbem opere arcuato perductus. Plin. lib. 36.15. Plinius lib. 3. cap. 11. Strabo in his Geogr. that Aqueduct of Claudius was most eminent, fetched vpon arches 11 miles, euery arch 109 foot high, they had 14 such other Aqueducts, besides lakes and cisternes, 700 as I take it, Quae (que) domus Romae fistulas habebat & canales &c. every house had private pipes and chanels to serue them for their vse. Lib. 2. cap. 20. Peter Gillius in his acurate description of Constantinople, speaks of an old cisterne which he went down to see 336 foot long. 180 foot broad, built of marble, couered ouer with archworke, and sustained by 336 pillars, 12 foot asunder, and in 11 rowes, to contain sweet water. Infinit cost in chanels and cisternes from Nilus to Alexandria hath bin formerly bestowed to the admiration of these times, Iod. à Meggen cap. 15. perig. Hieros. Bellonius. their cisternes so curiously cemented and composed, that a beholder would take them to be all of one stone: when the foundation is laid, & cisterne made, their house is halfe built. That Segouian Aqueduct in Spaine, is much wondred at in these dayes, Cyprian Echovius delit. Hisp. aqua profluens inde in omnes ferè dom' ducitur in puteis quae (que) aestive tempore frigidissima conseruatur. vpon three rowes of pillars, one aboue another, convaying sweet water to euery house: but every city almost is full of such Aqueducts. Amongst the rest M r Hugh Middleton. he is eternally to be commended that brought that new streame to the Northside of London at his owne charge: and M r Otho Nicholson founder of our water-works and elegant Conduit in Oxford. So much haue all times attributed to this Element, to be conveniently provided of it; for private families in what sort they should furnish themselues, let them consult with P. Crescentius de Agricult. lib. 1. cap. 4. and the rest.
Among Fishes those are most allowed of, Fish. that liue in gravelly [Page 308] or sandy waters, pikes, pearch, trout, gudgeon, smelts, flounders &c. Hippolitus Salvianus takes exception at Carp, but I dare boldly say with De piscibus lib. habent omnes in lautitijs modo non sunt è canoso loco. Dubrauius, it is an excellent meat if it come not from De pisc cap. 2. lib. 7. plurimum prastat ad vlititatem & iucunditatem. Idem Trallianus lib. 1. cap. 16. Pisces petrosi & molles carne.muddy waters, that it retaine not an vnsavory tast, Erinacius Marinus is much commended by Oribasius. Aetius, and most of our late Writers.
Ecsi omnes putredini sunt obnoxij vbi secundis mensis incepto iam priore devorentur cemmodi succi prosunt qui dulcedine sunt praediti. vt dulcia cerasa, poma &c. Crato consil. 21. lib. 2. censures allmaner of fruits, as subiect to putrefaction, yet tolerable at some times, after meales at second course, they keep down vapors, and haue their vse. Sweet fruits are best, as sweet cherries, plummes, sweet apples and pippins, which Laurentius extols, as hauing a peculiar property against this disease, but they must be corrected for their windinesse, ripe grapes are good, and raysins of the Sun, Fruits. muskemillions well corrected, and sparingly vsed. Figs are allowed, and almonds blanched. Trallianus discommends figs, Lib. 2. cap. 7. Salvianus oliues and capers, which Montanus consil. 24. others espe [...]ially like of, and so of pistick nuts. Montanus and Mercurialis out of Avenzoar admit peaches, Pyra qua grate sunt sapore, cocta mala poma, tosta & saccharo vel anisi semine conspersa vtiliter statim à prandio vel à coenâ sumi possunt, eo quod ventriculum roborent, & vapores caput petentes reprimant. Mont. peares and apples baked after meales, only corrected with sugar and anniseed or fennelseed, & so they may be profitably taken, because they strēgthen the stomack, and keep down vapors. • The like may be said of preserued cherries, plummes, marmalit of plummes, quinces &c. but not to drinke after them; Punica mala aurantia commodè permittuntur modo non sint austera & acidae. pomegranats, Oranges are tolerated, if they be not too sharpe.
Mercurialis pract. Med. Crato will admit of no herbes but borage, buglosse, endiue, fennell, anniseed, bawme. Callenius and Arnoldus admit of lettice, spinage, beets &c. The same Crato will allow no roots at all to be eaten. Some approoue of potato's, parsnips, but all corrected for winde. No raw fallets; but as Laurentius prescribes in brothes, and so Crato commends many of them: or to vse borage, hoppes, bawme, steeped in their ordinary drinke. Mercurialis pract. Med. Avenzoar magnifies the iuyce of a pomegranat if it be sweet, and especially Rosewater, Olera omnia praeter boraginem, buglossum, intybum, feniculum, anisum melissum vitari debent. which he [Page 309] would haue to be vsed in every dish, which they put in practice in those hot countries, about In Syria. Damascus, where if wee may belieue the relations of Vertomannus, many hogsheads of Rosewater are to be sold in the market, it is in so great request with them.
SVBSEC. 2. Diet rectified in quantity.
MAn alone, saith Lib. 2. de consol. solus homo edit. bibit (que) &c. Cardan, eates and drinkes without appetite, and vseth all his pleasure without necessity, animae vitio, and thence come many inconveniences vnto him. For there is no meat whatsoeuer, though otherwise wholesome and good, but if it be vnseasonably taken, or immoderatly vsed, more then the stomack can well beare, will ingender crudity, and doe much harme. And therefore Consil. 21. si plus ingeratur quam par est, & ventriculus tolerare possit, nocet, & cruditates generat &c. Crato adviseth his patient to eat but twice a-day, and that at his set meales, by no meanes to eat without an appetite, or vpon a full stomack, and to put seuen houres difference betwixt dinner and supper, which rule if we did obserue in our Colledges, it would be much better for our healths. But custome that tyrant so prevailes, that contrary to all good order and rules of Physick we scarce admit of fiue. If after 7 houres tarrying he shall haue no stomack, let him differre his meale, or eat very little at his ordinary time of repast. This very counsell was giuen by Prosper Calenus, to Cardinall Caesius laboring of this disease; and Observat. lib. 1. assuescat bis in die cibos sumere certâ semper horâ. Platerus prescribes it to a patient of his to be most severely kept. Guianerius admits of three meales a day, but Montanus consil. 23. pro. ab. Italo, ties him precisely to two: and as he must not eat overmuch, so he must not absolutely fast; for as Celsus contends lib. 1. Iacchinus cap. 15. in 9. Rhasis, Ne plus ingerat cavendum quam ventriculus ferre potest. semper (que) surgat à mensâ non satur. repletion and inanition may both doe harme in two contrary extreames. Moreouer that which he doth eat, must be well Siquidem qui semimansum velociter ingerunt cibum, ventriculo laborem inserunt, & flatus maximos promovent. Crato. chewed, and not hastily gobbeled, for that causeth crudity and wind, and by all meanes to [Page 310] eat no more then he can well digest, melancholy men most part haue Multa appetunt, pauca digerunt. good appetites, but ill digestion, and for that cause they must be sure to rise with an appetite, and that which Socrates and Disarius the Physitians in Macrobius so much require, Saturnal. lib. 7 cap. 4. and S t Hierom inioynes Rusticus, to eat and drink no more then will Modicus & temperatus cibus & carni & animae vtilis est. satisfie hunger and thirst. Hegiasticon reg. 14.16. vnciae per diem sufficiant computato pane came ovis vel alijs absonijs, & totidem vel paulo plures vnciae potus. Lessius the Iesuite holds 12, 13, or 14 ounces, or in our Northerne countries 16. at most, (for all students, weaklings, and such as lead an idle sedentary life,) of meat, drinke, bread &c. a fit proportion for a whole day, and as much or little more of drink. Nothing pesters the body and mind sooner then to be still fed, to eat and ingurgitate beyond all measure, as many doe, Idem reg. 27. plures in domibus suis brevi tempore pascentes, exstinguuntur, qui si triremibus vincti fuissent, aut gregario pane pasti sani & incolumes in longam aetatem vitam prorogassent. by ouermuch eating and continuall feasts, stifle Nature, and choke vp themselues, which had they liued coursely, or like gallyslaues bin tyed to an oare, might haue happily prolonged many faire yeares.
As great inconvenience comes by variety of dishes, which causeth the precedent distemperature, Nihil deterius quam diuersa nutrientia simul adiungere, & comedendi tempus prorogare. then which, saith Avicenna, nothing is worse, to feed on diversity of meats, or ouermuch, Sertorius like in lucem caenaere, and as they commonly doe in Muscovy and Island to prolong their meales all day, or all night. Our Northerne countries offend, especially in this, and we in this Island, ( ampliter viventes in prandijs & coenis, as Lib. [...]. hist. Polydore notes) are most liberall feeders, but to our owne hurt. Excesse of meat breedeth sicknesse, and gluttony causeth cholericke diseases, by surfeiting many perish, but hee that dieteth himselfe prolongeth his life, Ecclus 37.29.30. Wee account it a great glory for a man to haue his table daily furnished with variety of meats, but heare the Physitian, he puls thee by the eare as thou sittest 'and telleth thee, Cib [...]rum varietate & copiâ in eadem mensâ nihil nocentius homini ad salutem. Tr. Valeriola ab. lib. 2. cap. 6. that nothing can be more noxious to thine health, thē such variety & plenty. To avoid therefore all those inflations, torments, obstructions, crudities, and diseases that come by a full diet, the best [Page 311] way is to Nullus cibum sumere debet nisi stomachus sit vacuus. Gordonius lib. med. lib. 1. cap 11.feed sparingly of one or two dishes at most, E multis edulijs vnum elige, relictis (que) caeteris ex eo comede. to chuse one of many, and to feed on that alone, as Crato adviseth his patient. The same counsel Lib. de atrâ bile Simplex sit cibus, & non varius, quodlicet dignitati tuae ob cōvivas difficilè videatur &c. Prosper Calenus giues to Cardinall Caesius, to vse a moderate and simple diet, & though his table be iovially furnished, by reason of his state and guests; yet for his owne part to single out some one savory dish and feed of it. The same is inculcated by Celsitudo tuae prandeat solus abs (que) apparatu aulico, contentus sit illustrissimus princeps duobus tantum ferculis, vino (que) Rhenano solum in mensâ vtatur. Crato consil. 9. lib. 2. to a noble personage affected with this grievance, hee would haue his higlinesse to dine or sup alone, without al his honourable attendance and courtly company, with a private friend or so, a dish or two, a cup of Rhenish wine, &c. Montanus consil. 24. for a noble Matrone inioynes her one dish, & by no meanes to drinke betwixt meales. The like consil. 229. he will allow his patient Semper intra satietatem à mensâ recedat vno ferculo contentus. one only dish.
It much availes likewise to keepe good order in our diet Crato. Multum refert non ignorare qui cibi priores &c liquidae praecedant carnium iura, pisces, fructus &c. Caena brevior sit prandio. to eat liquid things first, brothes, fish, and such things, as are sooner corrupted in the stomacke, harder meats of digestion must come last. Crato would haue the supper lesse then dinner, which Cardan. contradic. lib. 1. tract. 5. contradic. 18. disallowes, and that by the authority of Galen. 7. art. curat. cap. 6. & for foure reasons he will haue the supper biggest. I haue read many treatises to this purpose, I knowe not how it may concerne some few sick men, but for my part generally for all, I should subscribe to that custome of the Romanes, to make a sparing dinner, and a liberall supper. All their preparation and inuitation was stil at supper, no mention of dinner. Many reasons I could giue, but when all is said pro and con. Tract 6. contradict. 1. lib. 1. Cardans rule is best, to keepe that we are accustomed vnto, though it bee naught, and to follow our disposition and appetite in some things is not amisse, to eat sometimes of a dish which is hurtfull, if we haue an extraordinary likeing to it. Alexander Severus loued Hares and Apples aboue all other meats, as Lampridius relates in his life; one Pope porke, another Peacocke, &c. Super omnia quotidianum leporem habuit & pomis indulsit.
[Page 312] These few rules of diet he that shall keep shall surely find great ease and speedy remedy by it. It is a wonder to relate that prodigious temperance of some Hermites, Anachorites, and Fathers of the Church, hee that shall but read their liues written by Hierom, Athanasius, &c. how abstemious heathens haue beene in this kind, those Curios and Fabricios, the old Philosophers, as Pliny recordes lib. 11, Xenophon lib. 1. de vit. Socrat. Emperours and Kings, Nicephorus Eccles. hist. lib. 18. cap. 8. of Mauritius, Lodovicus pius, &c. cannot but admire them, this haue they done voluntarily, and in health; what shall these private men doe that are visited with sicknesse, and necessarily Aegiptij otim omnes morbos curabant vomitu & Ieiunio Bohemus lib. 1. cap. 5. inioyned to recover, and continue their health? It is a hard thing to obserue a strict diet, & qui medicè vivit, miserè viuit, as the saying is, yet he that loues himselfe, will easily endure this little misery, to avoid a greater inconvenience, è malis minimū, better do this then doe worse.
MEMB. 2. Rectifying, Retention and Evacuation.
I Haue declared in the causes, what harme costiuenes hath done in procuring this disease, if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or meane at least, as indeed it is, & to this cure necessarily required, maximè conducit, saith Montaltus cap. 27. it very much availes. Debet per aemaena exerceri, & loca viridiae excreris prius arte vel naturâ alvi excrementis. Altomarus cap. 7. commends walking in a morning, into some faire greene pleasant fields, but by all meanes first, by art or nature he will haue these ordinary excrements evacuated. Piso calls it Beneficium ventris, the benefit, help, or pleasure of the belly, for it dothmuch ease it. Laurentius cap. 8. Crato consil. 21. l. 2. prescribes it once a day at least: where nature is defectiue, art must supply, by those lenitiue electuaries, suppositaries, condite prunes, turpentine, clisters, as shall be shewed. Prosper Calenus lib. de atr. bile. commends Clisters in Hypocondriacall melancholy, stil to be vsed as occasion serues. Hildisheim spicel. 2. de mel. Primum omnium operam dabis vt singulis diebus habeas beneficium venteis, semper cavendo nealuus sit diutius astricta. Peter Cnemand. in a consultation [Page 313] of his pro Hippoe. will haue his patient continually loose and to that end sets downe there many formes of Potions & Clisters. Mercurialis consil. 88. if this benefit come not of it's owne accord, prescribes Si non [...]ponie Clisteribus purgatur. Clisters in the first place, so doth Montanus consil. 24 & consil. 31. & 229. hee commends Turpentine to that purpose. The same he ingeminats, consil. 230. For an Italian Abbot. T'is very good to wash his hands and face often, to haue faire linnen about him, to be decently and comely attired, for sordes vitiant, nastinesse defiles, & deiects any man that is so voluntarily, or compelled by want, it dulleth the spirits.
Bathes are either artificiall or naturall, both haue their speciall vses in this malady, and as Balneorum vsus dulcium si quid aliud ipsis opitulatur. Credo haec dici cum aliquâ iactantia inquit Montanu [...] consil. 26. Alexander supposeth lib. 1. cap. 16. yeeld as speedy a remedy, as any other physicke whatsoever. Aetius would haue thē dayly vsed, assidua balnea. Tetra. 2. sect. 2. cap. 9. [...] Galen crakes how many severall cures he hath performed in this kind by vse of bathes alone, and Ruffus pills, moistning them which are otherwise drye. Rhasis makes it a principall cure. Tota cura sit in humectando, to bath and afterwards annoint with oyle. Iason Pratensis, Laurentius, cap. 8. and Montanus set downe many peculiar formes of artificiall bathes. Crato consil. 17. lib. 2. commends Mallowes, Camomile, Violets, Burrage to be boyled in it, & sometimes faire water alone, and in his following counsell, Balneum aquae dulcis solum saepissime profuisse compertum habemus. So doth Fuchsius lib. 1. cap. 33. Frisimelica lib. 2. consil. 42. in Trincavelius. Some besides hearbes, will haue a Rams head and other things boyled. In quibus ieiunus diu sedeat eo tepore, ne sudorem excitet, aut manifestum teporem, sed quadam refrigeratione bumectent. Fornelius consil. 44. will haue them continued 10. or 12. daies together, to which hee must enter fasting, and so continue in a temperate heat, and after that frictions all over the body. Lelius Aegubinus, cons. 142. and Christ. Aererus. in a consultation of his, holdes once or twice a weeke sufficient to bathe, the Aqua non sit calida, sed tepida, ne sudor [...] quatur. water to be warme not hot, for feare of sweating. Faelix Plater. observ. lib. 1. for a melancholy lawyer, Lotiones capitis ex lixiuio, in quo herbas capitales coxerint. will haue lotions of the head still ioyned to th [...]se bathes, with a lye wherein capitall hearbes haue been boyled. [Page 314] Cap. 8. de mel. Laurentius speakes of bathes of milke, which I find approued by many others. And still after bath, the body to bee annointed with oyle of bitter Almonds, of Violets, new or fresh butter, Aut axungia pulli. Piso. Capones grease, especially the backe bone, and then lotions of the head, embrocations &c. These kinde of bathes haue beene in former times much frequented, and diversly varied, and are still in generall vse in those Easterne countries. The Romanes had their publike Bathes, very sumptuous and stupend, as those of Antoninus and Dioclesian. Plin. lib. 36. saith there were an infinite number of them in Rome, and mightily frequented, some bathed seauen times a day, as Commodus the Emperour is reported to haue done. Vsually twice a day, and they were after annointed with most costly ointments wee haue many ruines of such Bathes found in this Iland, amongst those parietines and rubbish of old Roman townes. Lips. de mag. Vrb. Rom. lib. 3. cap. 8. Rosin. Scot of Antwerpe, and other Antiquaries tell strange stories of their Bathes. Gillius lib. 4. cap. vlt. Topogr. Constant. reckons vp 155 publike. Therme. Nymphea. Bathes in Constantinople of faire building, they are still Sandes lib. 1 saith, their women goe twice a weeke to the bathes at least. frequented in that citty by the Turks of all sorts, men and women, and all over Greece, & those hot countries. Epist. 3. Busbequius in his Epistles is very copious in describing the manner of them, how their women goe covered with a maid following with a box of oyntment to rub them. The ritcher sort haue private Bathes in their houses, the poorer goe to the common, and are generally so curious in this behalfe, that they will not eat or drinke vntill they haue bathed, before and after meales some, Nec alvum exceraūt, quin aquam secum portext, quá partes obscaenas lavent. Busbequius ep. 3 Leg. Turciae. and will not make water (but they will wash their hands) or goe to the stoole. Leo Afer, lib. 3. makes mention of 100 severall Bathes at Fez in Africk, most sumptuous, and such as haue great revenewes belonging to them. Buxdorf. cap. 14. Synogog. Iud. speakes of many ceremonies amongst the Iewes in this kinde, they are very superstitious in their Bathes, especially women.
Naturall Bathes are praised by some, discommended by others, but it is in a diverse respect. Hildisheim spicel. 2. de mel. Hypocon. si non adesset iecoris caliditas, Thermas laudarem, & si non nimia humoris exsiccatio esset metuenda. Marcus de oddis in Hip. [Page 315] affec. consulted about Bathes, condemnes them, because of the heat of the liver, and because they dry too fast, and yet by and by in another Fol. 141. counsell for the same disease, he approues of them, because they cleanse by reason of the sulfur, and would haue the water of them to be drunke. Areteus cap. 7. commends allum Bathes aboue the rest, and Thermas Lucenses adeat ibi (que) aquas eius per 15 dies potet & calidarum aquarum stillicidijs tum caput, tum ventrienlum de more subijciat. Mercurialis consil. 88. those of Luca in that Hypocondriacall passion, He would haue his patient tarry there 15 dayes together, & drinke the water of them, and to be bucketed or haue the water powred on his head. Iohn Baptistà Silvaticus cont. 64. commends all the Bathes in Italy, and drinking of their water, whether they be Iron, Allum, Sulphur. So doth In Panth. Hercules de Saxoniâ. But in that they cause sweat, and drye so much, he confines himselfe to Hypcondriacall melancholy alone, excepting that of the head and the other. Trincavelius consil. 14. lib. 1. preferres those Aquae porrectanae. Porrectan Bathes before the rest because of the mixture of brasse, iron, allum, and consil. 35. lib. 3. for a melancholy lawyer, & consil. 36. in that Hypocondriacall passion, the Bathes of Aquae Aquariae. Aquaria, & 36. consil. the drinking of them. Frisimelica consulted amongst the rest in Trincavelius, consil. 42, lib. 2. preferres the waters of Ad aquas Aponenses velut ad sacram anchoram confugiat. Apona before all artificiall Bathes whatsoever in this disease, and would haue one nine yeares affected with Hypocondriacall passions, fly to them, as to an 10. Baubinus lib. 3. cap. 14. hist. admir. Fontis Bollensis in ducat. Wirtemberg. laudat aequas Bollenses ad melancholicos morbos maerorem fascinationem, alia (que) animi pathemata. holy anchor. Of the same minde is Trincavelius himselfe there, and yet both put a hot liver in the same party for a cause, and send him to the waters of S. Helen which are much hotter. Montanus consil. 230. magnifies the Balnea Chalderina. Chalderinian bathes, & consil. 237. & 239. he exhorteth to the same, but with this caution, Hepar externè vngatvr ne calefiat. that the Liuer be outwardly anointed with some coolers, that it be not ouerheated. But these bathes must be warily frequented by melancholy persons, and such as are very cold of themselues, for as Gabelius concludes of al Dutch Bathes, and especially of those of Baden, they are good for all cold diseases, Nocent calidis & siccis cholericis & omnibus morbis ex cholera hepatis splenis (que) affectionibus. naught for cholericke, hote and dry, and all [Page 316] infirmities proceeding of choler, inflammations of the spleene and liuer. Our English Bathes as they are hote, must needs incurre the same censure. But D Turner of old, and D Iones haue written at large of them. As for sweating, vrine, bloodletting by haemrods, or otherwise, I shall elswhere more oportunely speake of them,
Immoderate Venus in excesse, a cause, or in defect, so moderatly vsed to some parties an only helpe, a present remedy. Peter Forestus cals it, aptissimum remedium, a most apposite remedy, Soluit Venus rationis vim impeditam, ingentes iras remutit, &c. remitting anger, and reason, that was otherwise bound. Avicenna Fen. 3.20. Oribasius med. collect. lib. 6. cap. 37. contend out of Ruffus and others, Multi comitiales, melancholici, insani, huisus vsu solo sanati. that many madmen, melancholy, and laboring of the falling sicknesse, haue bin cured by this alone. Montaltus cap. 27. de melan. will haue it driue away sorrow and all illusions of the braine, to purge the heart and braine from all ill smokes and vapors that offend them, Si omittatur coitus, contristat & plurimum gravat corpus & animum. and if it be omitted as Valescus supposeth, it makes the mind sad, the body dull and heauy. Marcellus Donatus lib. 2. med. hist. cap. 1. tels a story to confirme this out of Alexander Benedictus, of a maide that was mad, ob menses inhibitos, cum in officinam meritoriam incidisset, à quindecim viris eâdem nocte compressa, mensium largo profluvio, quod pluribus annis ante constiterat, non sine magno pudore mane menti restituta decessit. But this must be warily vnderstood; for as Arnoldus obiects lib. 1. breviar. 18. cap. quid coitus ad melancholicum succum? what affinity haue these two? Nisi certo constet nimium semen aut sanguinem causam esse, aut amor precesserit , aut &c. except it be manifest that superabundance of seed, or fulnesse of blood be a cause, or that loue, or an extraordinary desire of Venus haue gone before. Montaltus cap. 27. will not allow of moderate Venus to such as haue the gout, palsy, Epilepsy, Melancholy, except they be very lusty, and full of blood. Athletis, Artheriticis podagricis nocet, nec opportune prodest, nisi fortibus, & qui multo sanguine abund [...]nt. Idem Scaliger exer 269. Turcis ideo luctatoribus prohibitum. Lodovicus Antoninus lib. med. miscel. in his Chapter of Venus, forbids it vtterly to all wrestlers, ditchers, laboring men &c. De sanit. tuen. lib. 1. Ficinus and Lib. 1. cap. 7. exhaurit enim spiritus, animū (que) debilitat. Marsilius Cagnatus put Venus one of the fiue mortal enemies of a student: it consumes the spirits, and weakeneth the braine. Haliabbas the Arabian 5. Theor. cap. 36. and Iason Pratensis make it the fountaine [Page 317] of most diseases, Frigidis & ficcis corporibus inimicissima. but most pernitious to them which are cold and dry, a melancholy man must not meddle with it, but in some cases. Plutarch in his book de san tuendâ, accompts of it as one of the three principall signes and preseruers of health, temperance in this kind, Vesci intra sacietatem, impigrum esse ad laborem, vitale semen conservare. To rise with an appetite, to be ready to worke, & abstaine from Venery, tria saluberrima, are three most healthful things. We see their opposites how pernitious they are to mankind, as to all other creatures they bring death, & many ferall diseases. Immodicis brevis est aetas & rara senectus. Aristotle giues instance in sparrows, Nequitiae est quae te non sinit esse senem. which are parum vivaces ob salacitatem, short liued because of their salacity, which is very frequent, as Scoppius in his Priapeijs will better informe you. The extreames being both bad, Vid Montan. Pet. Godefridum Amorum lib. 2. cap. 6. curiosum, &c.the medium is to be kept, which cannot easily be Thespiadas genuit. determined. Some are better able to sustaine, such as are hote and moist, phlegmatick as Hipocrates insinuateth, some strong and lusty, well fed, like Hercules, Vide Lampridium vit. eius, 4 Proculus the Emperour, Et lassata viris &c. Messalina the Empresse, and by Philters, and such kinde of lascivious meats, vse all meanes to Vid. Mizald. cent. 8 IX. Lemnium lib. 2. cap. 16. Catullum ad Ipsithillam, &c. Ovid. Eleg. 3. & 6. &c.inable themselues, and brag of it: others impotent, of a cold and dry constitution cannot sustaine those gymnicks without great hurt done vnto their owne bodies, of which number are melancholy men for the most part.
MEMB. 3. Aire rectified. With a digression of the Aire.
AS a long-winged Hawke when he is first whistled off the fist, mounts aloft, and for his pleasure fetcheth a many circuits in the Aire, still soaring higher and higher, till he become to his full pitch, and in the end when the game is sprung, comes down amaine, and stoupes vpon a sudden: so will I, hauing now come at last into these spatious fields of Aire, wherein I may freely expatiate and exercise my selfe, for [Page 318] my recreation a while roue, and wander round about the world, and mount aloft to those aetheriall orbes and celestiall spheres, and so descend to my former elements againe. In which progresse, I would first see whether that relation of the Frier of Nich. de Lynna cited by Mercator in his Mappe. Oxford be true, concerning those Northerne parts vnder the Pole, as whether there be such 4. Euripes, & a great rocke of Lodestones which may cause the needle in the compasse still to bend that way, and what should be the true cause of the variatiō of the compasse, Mons Sloto. Some call it the highest hil in the world next Teneriffe in the Canaries Lat. 81. is it a magneticall rock or Pole-star as Cardan will, why at the Azores it looks directly North, otherwise not? whether rules may be made of it: as 11. grad. Lond. variat alibi. 36. &c. Whether the Sea be open and navigable by the Poles, and which is the likeliest way that of 1612. Bartison the Hollander, or by fretum Dauies, or Nova Zembla. Whether 1612. Hudsons discoveries bee true of a new found Ocean, or any probability to passe by the Straights of Anian to China by the Promontory of Tabin. And if there be, I should soone perceaue whether Lib. 2 cap. 64 de nob. civitat. Quinsay, & cap 10. de Cambalu. Marcus Polus the Venetians narration bee true or false of that great citty of Quinsay and Cambalu, whether there bee any such places, or that as Lib 4. expedit ad Sinas cap 3. & lib. 5. cap, 11. Mat. Riccius the Iesuite hath written, China and Cataia be all one, the great Cham of Tartary, and the King of China be the same. Xuntain and Quinsay, and that citty of Cambalu be the same with Paquin, or such a wall 400. leagues long to part China from Tartary. Whether M. Polus in Asia Pres. Iohan. meminit. Presbyter Iohn be in Asia or Africke. Whether Lat. 10. Gr. Aust. Guinea be an Island or part of the Continent, or that hungry Ferdinando de Quir. Anno. 1612. Spaniards discovery of Terra Australis Incognita or Magellanica, be as true as that of Mercurius Britannicus, or his of Vtopia, or his of Lusinia. And yet in all likelyhood it may bee true, for without all question it being extended frō the Tropicke of Capricorne, to the Circle Antarticke, and lying as it doth in the Temperate Zone cannot chuse but yeeld in time, some flourishing kingdomes to succeeding ages, as America did vnto the Spaniards. As I goe by Madagascar I would see that great bird Alarum pennae continent in longitudine 12. passus Elephantum in sublime tollere potest Polus lib. 3. c. 40. Rucke that can carry a man and horse, or an [Page 319] Elephant. And afterwards in Africke examine the fountains of Nilus, whether Lib. 2. Herodotus, Natur. quaest. lib. 4. cap. 2. Seneca, Plin. lib. 5. c. 9. Strabo lib. 5. giue a true cause of his annuall flowing, Lib. de reg. Congo.or Pagaefetta discourse rightly of it, or of Niger and Senega, Examin Cardan, Exercit. 47. Scaligers reasons and the rest. I would obserue al those motions of the Sea, and from what causes, from the Moone, or earths motion. Why in that Ocean of Sur it is scarce perceaued, in our Brittish Seas most violent, in the mediterranean and Red Sea so vehement, irregular and diverse? Why the current in that Atlanticke Ocean should still be towards the North, and why they can come sooner then goe? And so frō Moabar to Madagascar in that Indian Ocean, the Marchāts come in three weekes, as Exercit. 52 de maris motu causae inuestigar dae prima reciprocationis, secunda varietatis, tertia celeritatis, quarta cessationis, quinta privati [...] nis, sexta contrarietatis. Scaliger discusseth, they goe backe scarse in three months, with the same or like winds. The continuall current is from East to West. Whether mount Athos Caucasus Atlas bee so high as Pliny, Solinus, Mela relate, aboue Clouds, meteors, and equall to the greatest depths of the Sea, which is as Scaliger holds, 1580. paces, Exerc. 38. alij 100. paces. I would see those inner parts of America, whether there be any such great citty of Manoa, as hee relates, or golden countries of Guiana, Amazons or giganticall Patagones in Chica. Patritius saith 52 miles in heighth.The pike of Teneriffe how high it is? 70 miles or 52, as Patritius holds: see that strāge Luge alij vocant Geor. Wernerus. aquae tanta celeritate erumpunt & absorbentur vt expedito equiti aditum intercludant. Cirknick zerksey lake in Carniola, whose waters gush so fast out of the ground, that they will overtake a swift horseman, and by and by with as incredible celerity supped vp, which Lazius and Warnerus make an argument of the Argonautes sailing vnder ground. I would examine the Caspian Sea, and see where and how it exonerates it selfe, after it hath taken in Volga, Iaxares, Oxus, and those great rivers; what vent the Mexican lake hath, & that of Trasumene, at Peruziū in Italy. I would finde out with Traian the fountains of Danubius, of Ganges, Oxus, see those Aegyptian Pyramids, Traianes bridge, Grotta de Sibilla, Lucullus fish-ponds; the Temple of Nidrose, &c. Many strange creatures, mineralls, vegetalls, Zoophites were fit to be considered in such an expedition, & amongst the rest [Page 320] that of Commentar. Muscovit. Herbastein of his Tartar lambe, Hist. Scot. l. 1. Hector Boethius goose-bearing tree in the Orchades, Vertomannus lib. 5. cap. 16. mentioneth of a tree that beares fruites to eat, wood to burne, bark to make ropes wine and water to drinke, oyle, and sugar and leaues as tiles to cover houses, flowers for cloths, &c. Vertomannus wonderfull palme, that fly in Hispaniola that shines like a torch in the night, that one may see well to write. Those sphericall stones in Cuba which nature hath so made. &c. I would examine that demonstration of Alexander Piccolomineus, whether the earths superficies be bigger then the Sea: or whether that be true which Iordanus Brunus scoffes at, that if God did not detaine it, the Sea would overflow the earth. I would examine the true site of that terrestriall Animal insectum Cusino vt quis legere & scribere possit sine alterius ope luminis. Vid. Pererium in Gen. Paradise, and where Ophir was, where Solomon did fetch his gold. I would examine all Plinies, Solinus, Straboes, S. Iohn Mandevills, Olaus Magnus, Marcus Polus lies. Correct those errors in Navigation, reforme Cosmographicall Chartes, and rectifie longitudes, if it were possible, obserue some better meanes to finde them out. Or I would finde a convenient place to go down with Orpheus, Vlysses, Hercules, In Necyomantia Tom. 2. Lucians Menippus, at S. Patricks Purgatory at Trophonius den, Hecla in Island Aetna in Sicily, &c. to descend, & see what is done in the bowels of the earth. If it be 21500 miles in Or plaine as Patritius holds which Austin, Lactantius, and some others held of old, round as a Trencher. compasse, his Diameter is 7000 miles from vs to our Antipodes and what shall bee comprehended in all that space? What is in the centre of the earth, or is it pure element only, as Aristotle decrees inhabited as Lib. de Zilphis & Pigmeis, they penetrat the earth as we doe the ayre. Paracelsus thinks with creatures, whose Chaos is the earth with Fairies, as the woods and waters according to him, are with Nymphes or as the ayre with spirits. Or is it the place of Hell as Virgill in his Aeneades, Plato, Lucian, Dantes, and others poetically describe it, and as many of our Divines thinke, or of Purgatory and Limbus patrum, as Gallucius, Concl [...]u [...] Ignatii.or Ignatius parler. Virgil sometimes Bishoppe of Mentz was therefore called in question, because he held Antipodes, and so by that meanes tooke away the seat of Hell, or so contracted it that it could beare no proportion to Heaven, & contradicted that opinion of Austin, Basil, Lactantius, that held the earth round as a trencher, but not as a ball. If it bee no [Page 321] materiall fire as Soncinas disputes, it may bee there or elsewhere, for sure some where it is. If it bee sollid earth, t'is the fountaine of mettles, waters, which by his innate tēper turns ayre into water, which springs vp in several chinks to moisten the earths superficies, and that in a tenfold proportion, as Aristotle holds, or else these fountaines come directly from the sea by As they come from the Sea so they return to the Sea againe by secret passages as in all likelihood the Caspian sea vents it selfe into the Euxine or Ocean.secret passages, and are so made fresh againe by Seneca nat. quaest. lib. 3. cap. 4.5.6 7.8.9.10 11.12 de causis aquarum perpetuis. running through the bowels of the earth, and are either thicke, thinne, hot, cold, as the matter or mineralls are by which they passe. Or else it may be full of winde, which sometimes breaking out causeth those horrible Earthquakes, which are so frequent in these dayes in Iapan, China, and oftentimes swallow vp whole Citties. Let Lucians Menippus consult with, or aske of Tiresias, if you will not beleeue Philosophers, hee shall cleere all your doubts when he makes a second voiage. In the meane time let vs consider of that which is sub dio, and finde out a true cause, if it be possible, of such accidents, Meteors, alterati [...]ns, as happen aboue ground. Whence proceed that variety of manners, and a distinct character as it were to severall nations? Some are wise, subtill, witty; others dull, heavy, some bigge, some little, as Bodine proues at large, method. cap. 5. some soft & some hardy, barbarous, civill, Ad caput bonae spei incolae sunt nigerrimi, Si Sol causa cur non Hispani & Itali aeque nigri in eadem latitudine aeque distā tes ab aequatore bi ad Austrum illi ad Borcam? quisub Presbytero Iohanne habitant subfusci sunt in Zeilan & Malabar nigri aequè distantes ab Aequatore eodem (que) coeli paralelo, sed hoc magis mirari quis possit in tota Americâ nusquam nigros inveniri prater paucos in loco Quarena illis dicto, quae huius caloris causa efficiens celiue an terrae qualitas an soli proprietas autipsorum hominum innata rario aut omnia Ortelius in Africa. Theat. black, dunne: white; is it from the ayre, or from the soyle, or influence of starres, or some other secret cause? Why doth Africae breed so many venom beasts, Ireland none, whence comes this variety of complections, colours, plants, birds, beasts, At Quito in Peru plus auri quam terrae foditur in Auri sodinis. Giraua.mettals, peculiar almost to every place? How comes it to passe that in the same place, in the same latitude, to such as are Perioeci, there should be such difference of soil, mettall, ayre, &c. Mosco in 53. deg. of lat: extreame cold, as all those countries are, hauing one perpetuall hard frost all winter long: Regio quocun (que) anni tempore temperatissima. Ortel multas Galliae & Italiae regiones molli tepore & benigna quadam temperu prorsus antecellit. Iouius. England neere the same latitude, and Ireland very moist and [Page 322] warme, and more temperate in winter then Spaine, Italy, or France. Is it the Sea that causeth this difference, and the ayre that comes from it? why then is Lat. 45. Danubij. Ister so cold neere the Euxine, Queuira. lat. 40. Quenira, or Nova Albion in America bordering on the Sea, so cold in Iuly, that our In. S. Francis Drakes voiage. Englishmen could hardly endure it? Norembega in 45 lat. all the Sea frozen Ice, and yet in a more Southerne latitude then ours. Our climes breed lice, come to the Azores, by a secret vertue of that ayre they are instantly consumed and all our European vermin almost, Ortelius, Aegypt is watered with Nilus, and not farre from the Sea, and yet there it seldome or never raines: Rhodes an Iland of the same nature, and yet our Ilands ever dropping & inclining to raine. Is it from Topicke starres, apertio portarum such aspects of Planets, or dissolving ayre, or thicke ayre, which causeth this and those differences of heat & cold? that as Bodine relates of a Portingall Embassadour comming frō Lisbon. lat. 38 Lisbon to Dāzik lat. 54. Danzike in Spruce, found greater heat there then at any time at home. The torrid Zone was by our Predecessors held to be inhabitable, but by our moderne travellers found to be most temperate, bedewed with pleasant raines, and moistning shewers, in some parts, as Acosta describes, most pleasant and fertile. In some againe hard, dry, sandy, barren, a very desart & still in the same latitude. Many times we finde great diversity of ayre in the same The same variety of weather Lod Guicciardine, obserues betwixt Leige and Aix not far distāt. descrip. Belg. country, by reason of the site to Sea, hills or dales, want of water, nature of soyle, and the like: as in Spaine, Estramadura is dry, sandy, barren most part, extreame hot, by reason of his plaines, Andalusia another Paradise, and Valence a most pleasant ayre, and continually greene. And so is it about Magi [...]. Quadus. Granado, on the one side fertill plaines, on the other continuall snowe to bee seene all summer long on the hill tops. In the heat of Sūmer, in the kings Pallace in Escuriall, the ayre is most temperate, by reason of a cold blast which comes from the snowy moū taines hard by, when as in Toledo it is very hot, so in all other countries. But the causes of these alterations are common, by reason of their neerenesse to the middle region, but this diversity [Page 323] of ayre in places equally site, elevated, and distant frō the Pole can hardly be satisfied with that diversity of Plants Birds, Beasts, which is so familiar with vs, with Indians, every where: the sunne is equally distant, the same verticall stars, the same irradiations of Planets, aspects alike, the same neerenesse of Seas, the same superficies, the same soyle, or not much different. The Philosophers of Conimbrae will refer this diversity to the influence of that Empyraean heauen. Clavius & others coniecture otherwise, but they be but coniectures. About Damascus in Syria Comagena, is a Vertoman. Nav. lib. 1. c. 5. Paradise by reason of the plenty of waters, in promptu causa est, and the Deserts of Arabia barren because of rocks, and barren sands, dry mountains, which by no art can be manured, t'is evident, Bohemia is cold by reason it lies all along to the North. But why should it be so hot in Aegypt, or there never raine? Why should those Strabo. Etesian Easterne winds blowe continually in some places, and at set times in the dog dayes only, here perpetuall drought, there dropping shewers, here foggy mist, there a pleasant ayre, here As vnder the Aequator in many parts, shewers here at such a set time, winds at such a time. &c.terrible thunder and lightning at such a season, frosen seas, there open in the same latitude, to the rest no such thing, nay quite opposite is to bee found? Sometimes as in Peru on the one side the moūtaines it is hot, on the other cold, with infinite such. Who can giue a reason of this diversity of Meteors, that it should raine Lapidatum est Liuye. Stones, Ferd. Cortes [...] us lib. Novus orbis inscript. Frogges, Mice, &c. Aristotles reasons are exploded by Paracelsus, his principles confuted, and other causes assigned. Sal, Sulphur, Mercury, in which they are so expert that they can alter Elements, and seperate at their pleasure, make perpetuall motions, imitate thunder, snowe, haile, the Seas motions, giue life to creatures, as they say, without generation, & what not. P. Nonius Salaciensis, and Kepler, take vpon them to demonstrate that no Meteors, Clowds, Fogges, &c. Cardan. saith Vapours rise 288 miles frō the earth, Eratosthenes 48. miles. Vapours arise higher then 50 or 80 miles, and all the rest to bee purer ayre or element of fire. Which De subtil. l. 2. Cardan, In Progymnas. Tycho, and Praefat. ad Euclid. Catop. Iohn Pena manifestly confute by refractions, and many other arguments. If as Tycho proues the Moone be distant frō [Page 324] vs betwixt 50 and 60 Semediameters of the earth, & as Peter Nonius will haue it, the ayre be so angust, what proportion is there betwixt the other three elements and it? to what vse serues it? is it full of spirits which inhabit it as the Paracelsians and Platonists hold, the higher the more noble, Manucaudiatae, a Bird that liues cō tinually in the ayre and are never seene on ground but dead. see Vlisses Aldovrandus Ornithol. Scal. exerc. 229. or full of Birds, or a meere Vacuum to no purpose? It is much controverted betwixt Tycho Brahe and Christopher Rotman the Lansgraue of Hassias Mathematitian in their Astronomicall Epistles, whether it be the same Diaphanum cleerenesse, matter, of the Ayre and Heavens, or two distinct Essences. Christopher Rotman, Iohn Pena, Iordanus Brunus, with many other late Mathematitians, contend that it is the same and one matter throughout, sauing that the higher it is the purer it is, and more subtill. Epist. lib. 1. p. 83. Ex quibus constat nec diversa aeris & aetheris Diaphana esse nec refractiones aliunde quam à crasso aere causari.— Non dura aut impervia sed liquida subtilis motui (que) planetarum facile cedens. Tycho will haue too distinct matters of heauen and ayre, but to say truth, with some small qualification, they haue one and the selfe same opinion, about the Essence and matter of Heavens, that it is not hard and impenetrable, as Peripateticks hold, transparent, of a quinta essentia, but that it is penetrable and soft as the ayre it selfe is, and that the Planets moue in it as Birds in the ayre, fishes in the sea. This they proue by the motion of Comets, and otherwise, which are not generated, as Aristotle holds in the ayeriall region of hot and dry exhalations, and so consumed, but as Anaxagoras and Democritus held of old of a celestiall matter, and as In Progimnas. Tycho, In Theoria nova Met. coelessium. 1578. Helisaeus Roeslin, Thaddeus Hagesius, Pena, Rotman, Fracastorius, demonstrate by Paralaxes, refractions, motions, and Multa sane hinc consequntur absurda & si nihil aliud tot cometae in aethere animadversi quinullius orbis ductum comitantur idissum sufficienter refellunt. Tycho aftr. epist. pag. 107. other sufficient reasons, farre aboue the Monne: exploding in the meane time those Eccentricks and Epicycles. Which howsoeuer Ptolomy, Alhasen, Vitello, Maginus, Clavius, and many of their associats stiffely maintaine, to be reall orbs, excentricke, concentricke, circles aequant &c. are absurd and ridiculous. For who is so mad to thinke that there should be so many circles, like subordinate wheeles in a clock, al impenetrable and hard, as they faine, adde and substract at their pleasures. In Theoric. Maginus makes eleuen Heavens, all subdiuided [Page 325] into their orb [...] and circles, and all too little to serue those severall appara [...]ces, Fracastorius 72. Homocentricks, Ticho Brabe, Nicholas Rhamerus, Helisaeus Roeslin, haue severall hypotheses of their owne inventions, and they bee but inventions, as most of them acknowledge, as we admit of Aequators, Tropicks, Colures for doctrines sake (though Ramus think them all vnnecessary) they will haue them supposed only for method and order, as Tycho hath fained: I knowe not how many subdiuisions of Epicycles in Epicycles, &c. to calculate & expresse the Moons motion: But when all is done, as a supposition and no otherwise. Not (as they hold) hard, impenetrable, subtill, transparent, &c. or making musicke, as Phythagoras maintained. If the heauens be penetrable, as these men deliuer and no lets, it were not amisse in this aeriall progresse to make wings, and fly vp, as that Turke in Busbequius, made his fellowe Cittizens in Constantinople beleeue hee would performe: & some new fangled wits me thinks should sometime or other finde out: or if that may not be; yet with a Galelies glasse, or Icaro-menippus wings in Lucian, cōmand the Spheares and Heavens, and see what is done amonst thē. Whether there be generation and corruption in the Heavens as some thinke by reason of aetheriall Comets, that in Cassiopea 1570. that A o 1607, &c. & many like, or that they were created ab initio, and shew themselues at set times; and as Helisaus Roeslin contends, haue Poles, Axeltrees, Circles of their owne, and regular motions. Ancoelum sit coloratum? Whether the Starres be of that bignesse, distance, as Astronomers relate, so many in An sit crux & nubecula in coelis ad PolumAntarcticum; quod ex Corsalio refert Patritius. number, 1026. or 1725, as I. Bayerus; or as some Rabbins, 29000. Myriades ; or as Galelye discovers by his glasses infinite, the least Starre in the eighth Spheare 18 times bigger then the earth, Theor. nova coelest. Meteor. whether they bee thicker parts of the orbs, as Aristotle deliuers; or so many habitable worlds, as Democritus; whether they haue light of their owne, or from the Sunne, or giue light round, as Patritius discourseth: Whether light bee of ther Essence; whether they be hot by themselues, or by accident cause heat? Whether [Page 326] there be such a Precession of the Aequinoxes, as Copernicus holds, or that the eight Spheare moue. An benè Philosophētur, R. Bacon, & I. Dee Aphoris [...]de multiplicatione specierū. Whether there be any such Images ascending with each degree of the Zodiack in the East, as Aliacensis faines. An aequae super coelum, as Patritius, &c. Or to omitt all smaller controversies, or matters of lesse moment, to examine that maine controversie of the earths motion, now so much in question. Pythagoras maintained it of old, Democritus, and many of their Schollers, reviued since by Copernicus; not as a truth, but as a supposition, as he confesseth himselfe in his Preface, but now maintained in good earnest by Kepler, Rotman, Gilbert, Digges, and some other of his followers. For if the earth be the Center of the world, stand still and the heavens moue, as the most receaued opinion is, Quis ille furor, &c. What Fury is that, saith de Magnete.D r Gilbert. that shall driue the Heavens about with such incomprehensible celerity in 24 houres, whē as every point of the Firmament, and in the Aequator must needs moue as Commen in [...]. cap sphera Io. de Sac. Bosc. Clavius calculats, 176660 in 1. l 24 [...] th. part of an houre; and an arrow out of a bowe, must goe seauen times about the earth, whilst a man can say an Ave Maria, if it keepe the same space, or compasse the earth 1884 times in an houre, which is supra humanam cogitationem, beyond humane conceipt. A man could not ride so much ground, going 40 miles a day, in 2904 yeares, as the Firmament goes in 1 24 houres, quod incredibile videtur: and the Dist. 3 gr. à Polo. Pole starre, 2 which to our thinking scarce moueth out of his place, goeth a bigger circuit then the Sunne, whose Diameter is much bigger then the Diameter of the Heaven of the Sunne. To avoid therefore these impossibilities, they ascribe a triple motion to the Earth, the Sunne immouable in the Center, and salue all apparances better then any other way whatsoever; calculate all motions, much more certaine then by those Alphonsine, or any other tables, which are grounded frō those other suppositions. Now if the earth moue, it is a Planet & shines to them in the Moone, and to the other Planetary Inhabitāts, [Page 327] as the Moone and they doe to vs vpon the Earth: but shine she doth, as Galelye, Luna circum [...] terrestris Planeta quum sit consentaneum est esse in lunâ viventes creaturas: & singulis Planetarum globis sui serviunt circulatores, ex quâ consideratione de eorum incolis summâ probabilitate cō cludimus, quod & Tychoni Braheoex solá consideratione vastitatis eorum vastitatis eorum visum fuit. Kepler dissert. cum nunc sid, fol. 29. Kepler, and others proue, and then per consequens the rest of the Planets are inhabited, as well as the Moone, which hee grants in his dissertation with Galelies Nuncius Siderius, Temperare non possum, quin ex inventis tuis hoc moneam veri non absimile, non tam in lunâ, sed etiam in loue & reliquis Planetis incolas esse, Kepler. fol. 26 Si non sint accole in Iovis globo qui notent admirandam hanc variatatem oculis, cui bono quatuor illi Planetae Iovem circumcursitant. that there be Iouiall and Saturnine inhabitants &c. & that those severall Planets haue their severall moones about them, as the earth hath hers, as Galileus hath already evinced by his glasses 4 about Iupiter, and 2 about Saturne (though Sittius the Florentine, cavell at it) and Kepler the Emperors Mathematician, confirmes out of his experience, that he saw as much by the same helpes. Then the earth and they be Planets alike, It may be the green children came thence, which Nubrigensis speakes of. Rerum Anglic lib. 1. cap. 27. de viridibus pueris. inhabited alike, mouing about the Sunne, the common center of the world alike: And we may inferre with Brunus, that which Melissus, Democritus, Leucippus maintained in their ages there be Infiniti alij mundi, vel vt Brunus, terre huic nostrae similes. infinit worlds and infinite earths, because infinite starres & Planets like vnto this of ours. Kepler. fol. 2. dissert. quid impedit quin credamus ex his initijs, plures alios mundos detegendos, vel vt Democrito placuit, infinitos. Kepler betwixt iest and earnest in his perspectiues, Lunar Geography. dissertat cum nunc syder. seemes in part to agree with this, and partly to contradict, for the planets he yeelds them to be inhabited, he doubts of the stars, and so doth Tycho in his Astronomical Epistles, out of a consideration of their vastity and greatnes, break out into some such like speaches, that he will neuer belieue that those great & huge bodies were made to no other vse, then this that we perceiue, to illuminate the Earth, a point insensible in respect of the whole. But who shall dwell in these vast Bodies, Earths, Worlds, Quid igitur inquies si sint in caelo plures globi, similes nostrae telluris, an cum illis certabimus, quis meliorem mundi plagam teneat. Si nobiliores illorum globi nos non sumus creaturarum rationalium nobilissimi, quomoda igitur omnia propter bominem? quomodó nos domini operum Dci? Kepler. sol. 29. if they be inhabited, rationall creatures, [Page 328] as Kepler demands? or haue they soules to be saued, or doe they inhabit a better part of the World then we doe, or are we or they Lords of the World, and how are all things made for man? Difficile est nodum hunc expedire, eo quod nondum omnia quae huc pertinent, explorata habemus, t'is hard to determine, this only he proues that we are in praecipuo mundi sinu, in the best place, best world, nearest the Heart of the Sun. These and such like prodigious Paradoxes, inferences must needs follow, if it once be granted, which Rotman, Kepler, Gilbert, Diggeus, Galely, and others maintaine of the Earths motion, that it is a Planet, and shines as the Moone doth, which containes in it His argumentis planè satisfecisti, do maculas in Luna esse maria, do lucidas partes esse ter [...]ā. Kepler. fol. 16. both land and sea as the Moone doth, for so they find by their glasses, that Maculae in facie Lunae, the brighter parts are Earth, the duskier Sea. Which Plutarch and Pythagoras formerly taught: and manifestly discerne hils and dales, & such like concavities, if we may subscribe to, and belieue Galelies observations. But to avoid these Paradoxes of the Earths motion, our later Mathematitians haue rolled all the stones that may be stirred, and to salue all apparances & obiections, haue invented new hypotheses, and fabricated new systemes of the World, out of their own Dedalian heads. Fracastorius will haue the Earth stand still as before, and to avoid that grosse supposition of Eccentricks and Epicicles de hath coyned 72 Homocentrickes, to solue all apparances. Nicholas Ramerus will haue the Earth the Center of the World, but moueable, & the eighth Spheare immoueahle, the fiue vpper Planets to moue about the Sun, the Sun and Moone about the Earth. Of which Orbes Tycho Brahe puts the Earth the Centre immoueable, the Stars moueable; the rest with Ramerus, the Planets without Orbes to wander in the Aire, and keep time and distance, true motion according to that vertue which God hath giuen them. Fn Hypothes. de mundo. Edit. 1597. Helisaeus Roeslin censureth them both, with Coperinicus and Ptolemaeus as vnsufficient: one offends against naturall Philosophy, another against Opticke principles, a third against Mathematicall, as not answering to Astronomicall observations, one puts a great space [Page 329] betwixt Saturnes Orbe, and the eighth Spheare, another too narrow. In his own hypothesis he puts the Earth as before, the vniversall Centre, the Sun Center to the fiue vpper Planets, to the eighth Spheare he ascribes diurnal motion, & Eccentricks and Epicycles to the seuen Planets, which hath bin formerly exploded, and so dum vitant stulti vitia in contraria currunt, as a tinker stops one hole, and makes two, he corrects them, & doth worse himself; reformes some, & marres all. In the mean time the world is tossed in a blanket amongst them, they tosse the Earth vp and down like a ball, make her stand and goe at their pleasures; one saith the Sun stands, another he moues, a third comes in, taking thē all at rebound: and left there should any Paradox bee wanting, Io. Fabritius de maculis in Sole. Witeb. 1611. he findes certain spots or clouds in the Sun, by the help of glasses, by means of which the Sun must turne round vpon his own center, or they about the Sun. Fabricius puts only three, & those in the Sun, Apelles 15. & those without the Sun, floating like the Cyanean Isles in the Euxine Sea. The Lugduni Bat. A o 1612. Hollander in his dissertatiunculâ cum Apelle censures all, and so whilest these men contend about the Sun and Moon, like the Philosophers in Lucian, it is to be feared the Sun & Moon will hide themselues, & be as much offended as Ne se subducant, & relictâ statione decessū parent, vt curiositatis finem faciant.she was with those, & send another message to Iupiter by some new-fangled Icaromenippus, to make an end of all these curious controversies, & scatter them abroad. But why should the Sun and Moon be angry, or take exceptions at Mathematicians and Philosophers? when as the like measure is offered vnto God himselfe, by a company of Theologasters, they are not contented to see the Sun and Moone, and measure their site and biggest distance in a glasse, calculate their motions, or visite the Moone in a Poëticall fiction, or a dreame, as he saith, Hercules tuam fidem Satyra Menippea edit. 1608. Audax Facinus & memorabile nunc incipiam, ne (que) hoc saeculo vsurpatum prius, quid in Lunae regno hâc nocte gestum sit exponam, & quo nemo vnquam nisi somniando pervenit: He and Menippus: or as Sardi Venaeles Satyr. Menip. A o 1612. Peter Cunaeus, Bonâ fide agam, nihil eorum quae scripturus sum verum esse scitote &c. quae nec facta, nec futura sunt, dicam, Puteani Comus sic incipit, or as Lipsius Satyre in a dreame. stili [Page 330] tantum & ingenij causâ, not in jest, but in good earnest they will transcend Spheares, Heauen, Starres, into that Empyr [...]an Heauen, soare higher yet, and see what God himself doth, and his Angels, about what he busies himself. The Iewish Talmudists take vpon them to determine how God spends his whole time, somtimes playing with Leviathan, somtimes overseeing the world &c. like Lucians Iupiter, to see who offered sacrifice, and tell the houres when it should rain, how much snow should fall in such a place, which way the wind should stand in Greece, which way in Africke. In the Turkes Alcoran, Mahomet is taken vp to Heauen vpon a Pegasus sent a purpose for him, as he lay in bed with his wife, and after some conference with God, is set on ground again. The Pagans paint him and mangle him after a thousand fashions, and our Haereticks and Schismaticks, and some Schoolmen, come not farre behind, some paint him in the habit of an old man, and make maps of Heauen, number the Angels, tell their severall Tritemius lib. de 7 secundis. names, offices, some deny God and his providence, some take his office out of his hand, and will They haue fetched Traianes soule out of Hell, and canonize for Saints whom they list. bind and lose in heauen, release, pardon, forgiue, and be quarter master with him, some call his Godhead in question, his power, attributs, omnipotency. an possit plures similes creare deos, an ex scarabeo deum &c. & quo demum ruetis sacrificuli? some by visions & revelations, take vpon them to be familiar with God himself, and to be of privy counsell with him, they will tell how many, Napier. Brightman. and who shall be saued, and when the World shall come to an end, what yeare, what moneth, and whatsoeuer els God hath reserued vnto himself, and to his Angels. But hoo? I am now gone quite out of sight, I am almost giddy with roving about, I could haue ranged farther yet, but I am an infant, and not Ve me pluma levat, sic grave mergitonus. able to diue into these profundities, not able to vnderstand, much lesse to discusse: I leaue the contemplation of these things, to stronger wits, that haue better ability, and happier leisure to wade into such Philosophicall mysteries: my melancholy spaniels quest, my game is sprung, and I must come down and follow.
[Page 331] Iason Pratensis in his book de morbis capitis, and Chapter of Melancholy, hath these words out of Galen, Veniant ad me audituri quo esculento, quo item poculento vti debeant, & praeter alimentum ipsum, potum (que) ventos ipsos docebo item aeris ambientis temperiê insuper regiones quas eligere, quas vitare ex vsu sit. let them come to me to know what meat and drinke they shall vse, and besides that I will teach them what temper of ambient Aire they shall make choice of, what wind, what countries they shall choose, and what avoide. Out of which words of his, this much we may gather, that to this cure of melācholy, amongst other things, this Rectification of Aire is necessarily required. This is performed, either in reforming Naturall or Artificiall Aire. Naturall, is that which is in our election to choose or avoide, and t'is either generall to Countries, Provinces, or particular to Cities, Townes, Villages, or private houses. What harme those extremities of heat or cold doe in this malady, I haue formerly shewed, the medium must needs be good, where the aire is temperate, serene, quiet, free from bogs, fens, mists, all manner of putrefaction, contagious and filthy noysome smels. The Leo Afer, Maginus &c. Aegiptians by all Geographers are commended to be hilares, a conceited and merry Nation, which I can ascribe to no other cause then to the serenity of their Aire. They that liue in the Orchades are commended by Lib. 1. Scot. hist. Hector Boethius and Lib. 1. de rer. var. Cardan, to be faire of complexion, long-liued, most healthfull, free from all maner of infirmities of Body & mind, by reason of a sharp purifying Aire, which comes from the Sea. The Booetians in Greece were dull and heavy, Crassi Boeoti, by reason of a foggy Aire in which they liued, Attica most acute, pleasant and refined. The Clime changeth not so much customes, maners, wits, as Bodine hath proued at large, method, hist. cap. 5. as constitutions of their Bodies, and temperature it self. In all particular Provinces we see it confirmed by experience, as the Aire is, so are the Inhabitants dull, heavy, witty, subtill, neate, cleanly, clownish, sick and sound, In Maginus. Perigert in France the Aire is subtill, healthfull, seldome any plague or contagious disease, but hilly and barren, the men sound, nimble and lusty, but in some parts of Quienne ful of moores and marishes, the people dull and heavy, & subiect to many infirmities. Who sees not a great difference betwixt [Page 332] Surrey, Sussex, and Rumny marsh, the woods in Lincolnshire, and the Fens. He therefore that loues his health, if his ability will giue him leaue, must often shift place, & make choice of such as are wholsome, pleasant, and convenient, there is nothing better then change of Aire in this Malady, & generally for health, to wander vp and down, as those Haitonus de Tartaris. Tartari Zamolhenses, that liue in hords, and take oportunity of times, places, seasons. The Kings of Persia had their Summer and Winter houses, in Winter at Sardes, in Summer at Susa. The Turkes liue somtimes at Constantinople, somtimes at Adrianople &c. The Kings of Spaine haue their Escuriall in heat of Summer, The Aire so cleare it neuer breeds the plague. Madritte for an wholesome seat , Villadolite a pleasant site &c. variety of secessus, as all Princes and great men haue, and their severall progresses to this purpose. Lucullus the Roman had his house at Rome, at Baiae &c. Leander Albertus in Campaniâ, è Plutarcho vita Luculli. Cum Cn. Pompeius, Marcus Cicero, multi (que) nobiles viri L. Lucullum aestivo tempore convenissent, Pompeius inter coenandum familiariter iocatus est eam villam imprimis sibi sumptuosam & elegantem videri fenestris, porticibus &c. When Cn. Pompeius, Marcus Cicero (saith Plutarch) & many noble men in the Sommer came to see him, at Supper Pompeius iested with him, that it was an elegant and pleasant Village, full of windowes, galleries, and all offices fit for a Summer house; but in his Iudgment very vnfit for Winter: Lucullus made answere, that the Lord of the house had wit like a Crane, that changeth her Country with the season, he had other houses furnished, and built for that purpose, all out as commodious as this. So Tully had his Tusculane, Plinius his Lauretan Village, & euery Gentleman of any fashion in our times, hath the like. The Godwin. vita Io, Voysye al. Harman. Bishops of Exeter had 14 severall houses all furnished in times past. In Italy though they liue in Cities all Winter, which is more Gentleman-like, al the Summer they come abroad to their Country houses to recreate themselues. Our gentry in England liue most part in the Country (except it be some few Castels) building most part still in bottomes, (saith Descript. Brit. Iovius, or neare woods, corona arborum virentium, you shall know a Village by a tufte of trees at it, or about it, to avoid those strong windes, where with the Island is infested, and cold Winter blasts. Some discommend all moted houses, as vnholesome, as Camden saith of [Page 333] In Oxford shire. New-elme, that it was therfore vnfrequented, ob stagni vicini balitus, and all such places as be neare lakes or riuers. But I am of opinion, that these inconveniences will be mitigated, or easily corrected by good fires, as one reports of Venice that graueolentia, & fog of the moores, is sufficiently qualified by those innumerable smokes. But it is not water simply that so much offends, as the slime and noysome smels, that accompany such ouerflow'd places, which is but at some few seasons after a flood, and is sufficiently recompenced with sweet smels and aspects in Sommer. Ver pingit vario gemmantia prata colore. Howsoeuer they be vnseasonable in winter, or at some times, they haue their good vse in Summer. If so be that their meanes be such, as they may not admit of any such variety, but must make choice once for all, and make one house serue all seasons, I know no men that haue giuen better rules in this behalfe, then our husbandry writers. Lib. 1. cap. 2. Cato and Columella prescribe a good house to stand by a navigable riuer good highwayes, & good soile, but that is more for cō modity then health. The best soile commonly yeelds the worst Aire, a dry sandy plat is fittest to build vpon, & such as is rather hilly then plain, as being most cōmodious for hawking, hunting, wood, waters, and all maner of pleasures. Perigort in France is barren, yet by reason of the excellency of the Aire, and such pleasure that it affords, much inhabited by the Nobility; as Noremberge in Germany, Toledo in Spaine. Our Countriman Tusser will tell vs so much, that the fieldone is for profit, the woodland for pleasure & health, the one commonly a deep clay, the other a dry sand: provision may be had elswhere, and our townes are generally bigger in the woodland then the fieldone, more frequent and populous, & Gentlemen more delight to dwel in such places. Sutton Coldfield in Warwickeshire (where I was once a Grāmer Scholler) may be a sufficiēt witnes, which stands, as Camden notes, loco ingrato & sterili, but in an excellent Aire, and full of all maner of pleasures. And he that built S r Francis Willoughbye. Wullerton in Nottingamshire, is much to be commended (though the tract be sandy barren [Page 334] about it) for making choice of such a seat. Constantine lib. 2. cap. de agricult. commends mountainous, hilly, steep places aboue the rest by the Sea side, and such as look towards the Montani & maritimi salubriores acclives, & ad Boream vergentes.North, such as is the generall site of Bohemia, serenat Boreas, the Northwind clarifies, but neere lakes or marishes, in holes, obscure places, or to the South & West he vtterly disproues, those windes are vnwholsome, putrifying, & make men subiect to diseases. The best building for health according to him is Oportet igitur ad sanitatem domus in altioribus aedificare, & ad speculationem. in high places, Prope paludes, stagna & locae concava vel ad Austrum, vel ad occidentem, inclinatae domus sunt morbosae. and in an excellent prospect. P. Crescentius in his 1. lib. de Agric. cap. 5. is very copious in this subiect, how a house should be wholsomly sited, in a good coast, good Aire, wind &c. Varro de re rust. lib. 1. cap. 12. Hieme crit vehementer frigida, & aestate non salubris, paludes enim faciunt crassum aerem, & difficiles morbos.forbids lakes and rivers, marish grounds, they cause a bad aire, grosse diseases hard to be cured: Vendas quot assibus possis, & si nequeas, relinquas. if it be so that he cannot helpe it, better as he aduiseth sell thy house and land, then lose thy health. He that respects not this in choosing of his seat, or building his house, is mente captus, mad, Lib. 1. cap. 2. in Orco habitat. Cato saith, & his dwelling next to Hell it selfe saith Columellae, he commends the middle of an hill vpon a descent. Baptista Porta Villae lib. 1. cap. 22. censures Varro, Cato, Columella, and those ancient Rusticks, approuing many things, disallowing some, and will by al means haue the front of an house stand to the South, which how it may be good in Italy I know not, in our Northerne Countries I am sure it is best. Stephanus a Frenchman praedio rustic. lib. 1. cap. 4. subscribes to this, approuing especially the Descent of an hill South or South-East, with trees to the North, so that it be well watered, a condition in all sites, which must not be omitted, as Herbastein inculcates lib. 1. Iulius Caesar, Claudinus a Physitian, consult. 24. for a Nobleman in Poland, melancholy giuen, adviseth him to dwell in a house inclining to the Aurora musis amica. Vitruv.East, and Aedes Orientem spectaentes v [...] nobilissimus inhabitet & cu-ret vt sit aer clarus, lucidus, odoriferus. Eligat habitationem optimo aere iucundam. by all means to provide the Aire be cleare and sweet, which Montanus consil. 229. counselleth the Earle of Monfort his patient, to inhabit a pleasant house, and in a good Aire. If it be so the naturall Site may not be altered [Page 335] of our citty, towne, village, yet by artificiall means it may be helped. In hote countries therfore they make the streets of their cities very narrow, all ouer Spaine, Africke, Greece, and many cities of France, in Languedocke especially, & Provence, those Southerne parts: Montpelier the habitation and Vniversity of Physitians is so built, with high houses, narrow streets, to keep out these scaulding beames, which Tacitus commends lib. 15. Annal. as most agreeing to their health, Quoniam angustiae itinerum, & altitudo tectorum non perinde Solis calorem admittit. because the hight of buildings, and narrownesse of streets, keepe away the Sun beames. In our Northerne countries we are opposite, we commend straight, broad, faire streets, as most befitting and agreeing to our Clime. Of that artificiall site of houses I haue sufficiently discoursed, if the site of the house may not be altered, yet there is much in choice of such a chā ber or roome in opportune opening and shutting of windowes, excluding forrain aire & windes, and walking abroad at convenient times. Consil. 21. lib 2. frigidus acr, nubilosus, densus vitandus, aquè ac venti septentrionales &c. Crato a German commends East and South site, disallowes cold aire and Northerne winds in this case, rayny weather and misty dayes, free from putrefaction, bogs and muckhils. If the Aire be such, open no windowes, come not abroad. Montanus will haue his Patient not to Consil. 24. stirre at all if the wind be big, stand how it will, and consil. 27, and 30. not to Fenestram non aperiat. Discutit Sel horrôrem crassi spiritus mentens exhilerat, non enim tam corpo [...], quam & animi mutationē, inde subeunt pr [...] caeli & ventorū rat [...], & sani aliter affecti sint caelo nubilo aliter sercuo. De natura ventorum see Pliny lib. 2. cap. 26.27 28. Strabo lib. 7. &c. open a casement in bad weather, or a boisterous season, and consil. 299. he especially forbids vs to open windowes in a South wind. The best site for a chamber windowes in my Iudgment are North, East, South, & which is the worst, West. Levinus Lemnius lib. 3. cap. 3. de occult. nat. mir. attributes so much to Aire, and rectifying of wind and windowes, that he holds it alone sufficient to make a man sick or well, to alter body and mind. A cleare Aire cheares vp the spirits, exhilerates the mind, a thicke, blacke, misty, tempestuous contracts, ouerthrowes. Great heed is therefore to be taken at what times we walke, how we place our windowes, lights & houses, how we let in or exclude this ambient Aire. The Aegyptians to avoid immoderat heat, make their windowes on the top of the house like chimnies, with two tunnels to draw [Page 336] a through Aire. In Spaine they commonly make great opposite windowes without glasse, still shutting those which are next to the Sun: many excellent means are invented to correct Nature by Art. If none of these wayes help, the best way is to make an artificiall Aire, which howsoeuer, is profitable & good, and that is still to be made hot and moist, & to be seasoned with sweet perfumes, Altomarus cap. 7. Bruel. aer sit lucidus, bene olens, humidus. Montaltus idem cap. 26. olfactus verum suduium Laurentius c. 8. and as light as may be, to haue roses and violets, and sweet smelling flowres still in their windowes, posies in their hands. Laurentius commends water lillies, a vessell of warme water still to evaporate in the roome, which wil make a more delightsome perfume, if there be added Orange flowres, pils, citrons, Rosemary, cloues, bayes, Rose-water, Rose vineger, Belzoin, Ladanum, Styrax, and such like gummes, which make a pleasant and acceptable perfume. Tract. 15. cap. 9 ex redolentibus herbis & folijs vitis viniferae salicis &c. Guianerius prescribes the Aire to be moistned with water, and sweet hearbs boyled in it, with vine & sallow leaues &c. Pavimentum aceto & aquâ rosaceâ irrorare. to besprinkle the ground and posts with rose-water, rose-vineger, which Avicenna much commends. Laurentius cap. 8.Of colors it is good to behold green, red, yellow and white, and by all means to haue light enough, with windowes in the day, wax candles in the night; for though they loue to be darke, yet darknes is a great increaser of it. And although our ordinary aire be good by nature or art, yet it is not amisse as I haue said, still to change it, no better Physick for a melancholy man then change of aire, and variety of places, to travel abroad, and see fashions. Lib. 1. cap. de morb. Afrorum. In Nigritarum regione tanta aeris temperies, vt si quis alibi morbosus eo advehatur, optimae statim sanitati restituitur, quod multis accidisse, ipse meis vidi oculis. Leo Afer speaks of many of his countrymen so cured, without all other Physick: amongst the Negroes, there is such excellent Aire, that if any of them be sicke elswhere, and brought thither, he is instantly recouered, of which he was often an eye-witnesse. Lib. de peregrinat. Lipsius and Zuinger, and some other, adde as much of ordinary travell. No man saith Lipsius, in an Epistle to a friend of his, now ready to make a voyage: Nec quisquam tam lupis aut frutex quem non titillat emena illa varia (que) spectio locorum, vrbium, gentium &c. can he be such a stocke or stone, whom that pleasant speculation of countries, cities, townes, will not affect? In so much [Page 337] that Mutatio de loco in locum, Itinera & voiagia longa & indeterminata, & hospitari in diversis diversorijs. Rhasis cont. lib, 1. Tract. 2. doth not only commend, but inioyne travell, and such variety of obiects to a melancholy man, and to lye in seuerall Innes, to be drawne into severall companies, Montaltus cap. 36. and many Neotericks are of the same mind. Celsus adviseth him therefore that will continue his health, to haue varium vitae genus, diversity of callings, occupations, to be busied about, Modo ruri esse modo in vrbe, saepius in agro venari &c. sometimes to be in the city, sometimes in the country, now to study or worke, to be intent, then againe to hauke or hunt, swimme, runne, ride, or exercise himselfe. A good prospect alone will ease Melancholy, as Gomesius commends lib. 2. cap. 7. de Sale. The citizens In Catalonia in Spaine. of Barcino saith he, otherwise penned in, melancholy, and stirring little abroad, are much delighted with that pleasant prospect their citty hath into the Sea, and so are the Neapolitanes, and inhabitants of Genua to see the ships, boates, and passengers goe by, out of their windowes, their whole citties being site on the side of an hill, like Pera by Constantinople, so that every house almost hath a free prospect into the Sea. Euery cuntry is full of such Laudatur (que) domus longos quae prospuit agros. Some delight to see Passengers go by in great high Rodewayes &c.delightsome prospects with vs, those of the best note are Glassenbury Towre, Beuer Castle, Rodway Grange &c. & which I may not omit for vicinities sake; Oldbury in Warwickeshire, where I haue often looked about me with great delight, and at the foot of which Hill, At Lindley in Lecestershire. I was borne. In Icon. animorum. Barcley the Scot commends that of Greenwich Towr for one of the best prospects in Europe, to see London on the one side, the Thames, ships, and pleasant meddowes on the other. But I roue, the summe is this, that variety of actions, obiects, aire, places, are excellent good in this infirmity and al others, good for man, good for beast. Aegrotantes oves in alium locum transportan daesunt, vt alium aerem & aquā participantes coalescan [...] & corroborentur. Constantine the Emperour lib. 18. cap. 13. ex Leontio, holds it an onely cure for rotten sheepe, and any manner of sicke cattle. Lelius à Fonte Aegubinus that great Doctor, at the latter end of many of his consultations (as commonly he doth set down what successe his Physick had) in melancholy most especially approues of this aboue all other remedies, as appeares consult. 69. consult. 229. &c. Alia vtilia, sed ex mutatione acris potissimum curatus. Many other things helped, but change of aire was it [Page 338] which wrought the cure, and did most good.
MEMB. 4. Exercise rectified of Body and Minde.
TO that great Inconvenience, which comes on the one by immoderate & vnseasonable exercise, and too much solitarinesse and idlenesse on the other, must be opposed as an Antidote, a moderate and seasonable vse of it, and that both of Body and Mind, as a most materiall circumstance, & much conducing to this cure, and to the general preservation of our health. For which cause Hierome prescribes Rusticus the Monke, that he be alwayes occupied about some busines or other, Ne te daemon otiosu inveniat. that the divell doe not finde him idle. The Amasis compelled euery man once a yeere to tell how he liued. Aegyptians of old, and many flourishing common-wealths since, haue injoyned labor and exercise to all sorts of men, and to giue an accompt of their time, to prevent those grievous mischiefes that come by Idlenes. The Turkes inioyne all men whatsoever, of what degree, to be of some trade or other, the grand Senior himself is not excused. Nostra memoriâ Mahometes Othomannus qui Graeciae imperiū subvertit, quum oratorum postulata audiret externarum gētiū, cochlearia lignea assiduè caelabat., aut aliquid in tabula effingebat. In our memory (saith Sabellicus) Mahomet the Turke, he that conquered Greece, at that very time when he heard Embassadors of other Princes, did either carue and cut wooden spoones, or frame something vpon a table. Sands fol. 73 of his voiage to Ierusalem.And this present Sultan makes notches for bowes. The Iewes are most seuere in this examination of time, and all well governed places, townes, families, and every discreet person will be a law vnto himself. For this Disease in particular, Non est cura melior quam in iungere ijs necessaria & oportuna operum administratio illis magnum incrementum, & que repleant animos eorum, & incutians ijs diversas cogitationes. Cont. 1. tract. 9. there can be no better cure, then continuall businesse, as Rasis holds, to haue some imployment or other, which may set their mind aworke, and distract their cogitations. If it be of the Body, Guianerius allowes that which is gentle, Ante exercitium leuet toto corpore fricationes conveniunt. Ad hunc morbum exercitationes quum rectè & suo tempore fiunt, mirificè conducunt, & sanitatem tuentur &c. and that after those ordinary frications, which must be vsed every morning. [Page 339] Montaltus cap. 26. and Iason Pratensis vse almost the same words, highly commending Exercise if it be moderate, a wonderfull helpe so vsed Crato cals it, and a great meanes to preserue our health, as adding strength to the whole Body, increasing naturall heat, by meanes of which the nutriment is well concocted in the stomacke, liuer and veines, few or no crudities being left, is happily distributed ouer all the Body. Besides it expels excrements by sweat, and other insensible vapors; in so much, that Lib. 1. de san, tuend. Galen prefers exercise before all Physick, and rectification of Diet, or any regiment in what kind soeuer. Exercitium naturae dormientis stimulatio, membrorum solatium, morborum medela, fuga vitiorum, medicina languorum, destructio omnium malorum. Crato. Fulgentius out of Gordonius, de conser, vit. hom. lib. 1. cap. 7. termes Exercise, a spurre of a dull sleepy nature, the comforter of the members, cure of infirmities, death of diseases, destruction of all mischiefes and vices. The fittest time for exercise is a little before dinner, or a little before supper, Alimentis in ventriculo probè concoctis. or at any time when the Body is empty. Montanus consil. 31. prescribes it euery morning to his patient, and that as Ieiuno ventre vesica & alvo ab excrementis purgato fricatis membris, lotis manibus & oculis &c. Lib. de atra bile. Calenus ads, after he hath done his ordinary needes, rubbed his body, washed his hands and face, combed his head, & gargarized. What kind of Exercise we should vse, Galen tels vs lib. 2. & 3. de sanit. tuend. Quous (que) corpus vniversum intumescat, & floridum appareat, sudorem (que), &c. till the Body be ready to sweat, and roused vp, ad ruborem, some say, non ad sudorem, lest it should dry the Body too much; some inioyne frequent and violent labor and exercises. epid. 6. Hippocrates confounds them, but that is in some cases to some peculiar men; Omninè sudorem vitent cap. 7. lib. 1. Valescus de Tar. they most forbid it, and by no meanes will haue it goe farther then a beginning Sweat, as being Exercitium si excedat, valde periculosum. Salust. Salvianus de re med. lib. 2. cap. 1. perilous if it exceed.
Of these labors, exercises and recreations which are likewise included, some properly belong to the Body, some to the mind, some more easy, some hard, some with delight, some without, some within doores, some naturall, some are artificiall. Amongst bodily exercise Galen commends ludum parvae pilae, to play at ball, be it with the hand or racket, in tennise courts or otherwise, it exerciseth each part of the Body, and doth much good, so that they sweat not too much.
The ordinary sports which are vsed abroad, are Hauking, [Page 340] hunting, hilares venandi labores one cals them, because they recreate Body and Mind, Camden in Staffordshire. Frideuallius lib. 1. cap 2. optimum omnium exercitationum, multi ab hoc solummodo morbis liberati. I. Iosephus Quercetanus dialec. polit. sec. 2. cap. II. inter omnia exercitia praestā tiae laudem meretur. another the k best exercise that is, by which alone many haue beene Chyron in mōte Pelio praeceptor heroum eos à morbis animi venationibus & puris cibis tueba tur. Maximus Tyrius. freed from ferall diseases. Hegesippus lib. 1. cap. 37. relates of Herod, that he was freed from a grievous melancholy by that meanes. Xenophon in Cyropaed. graceth it with a great name, Deorum munus, the gift of the gods, a princely sport, which they haue euer vsed, saith Langius epist. 59. lib. 2. as well for health as pleasure, and doe at this day, it being the sole almost and ordinary sport of all our Noblemen in Europe and elswhere all ouer the World, Bohemus de mor. gent. lib. 3, cap. 12. stiles it therefore studium nobilium, communitèr venantur, quod sibi solis licere contendunt, t'is all their study, all their exercise, ordinary businesse, all their talke, and indeed some dote too much after it, they can doe nothing els, discourse of nought els. Paulus Iovius deser. Brit. doth in some sort taxe our Nobilitas omnis fere vrbes fastidit, castellis, & liberiore coelo gaudet, generis (que) dignitatem vità maxime venatione, & salconum aucupijs tuetur. English Nobility for it, for liuing in the Countrey so much, and too frequent vse of it, as if they had no other meanes, but hauking and hunting to approue themselues Gentlemen with.
Hauking comes next to Hunting, the one in the Aire, as the other on the Earth, a sport as much affected as the other, by some preferred. Jos. Scaliger comment. in Cir. in. fol. 344. Salmutb. 23. de Nov. repert. com. in Pancir.It was neuer heard of amongst the Romanes, invented some 1200 yeares since, and first mentioned by Firmicus lib. 5. cap. 8. The Greeke Emperors began it, and now nothing so frequent, he is no body that in the Season hath not a Hauke on his fist. A great Art, and many bookes written of it. It is a wonder to heare, Lonicerus. Geffreus. Jovius. S r Anthony Shurlies relations. what is related of the Turkes officers in this behalfe, how many thousand men are imployed about it, how many haukes of all sorts, how much revenewes consumed on that only disport, how much time is spent at Adrianople alone euery yeare to that purpose. The p Persian Kings hawk after butterflies with sparrowes made to that vse and stares, lesser hawkes for lesser game, and bigger for the rest, that they may produce their sport to all seasons. The Muscouian Emperors reclaime Eagles to flye at [Page 341] Hindes, foxes &c. and such a one was sent for a present to Hacluit.Queene Elizabeth: some reclaime ravens, castrils, pies &c. and manne them for their pleasures.
Fowling is more troublesome, but all out as delightsome to some sorts of men, be it with guns, lime, nets, gins, strings, pitfals, pipes, calls, stawking-horses, setting dogges &c. or otherwise, some much delight to take Larkes with day-nets, small birds with chaffe-nets, plouers, partridge, Herons, snite &c. Henry the third, King of Castile, as Mariana the Iesuite reports of him lib. 3. cap. 7. was much affected Coturnicum aucupio. with catching of quailes, and many Gentlemen take singular pleasure at morning and euening to goe abroad with their Quailpipes, and will take any paines to satisfie their delight in that kind. Tycho Brahe that great Astronomer, in the Chorography of his Isle of Huena, and castle of Vraniburge, puts downe his nets, and the manner of his catching of small birds, as an ornament, and a recreation, wherein he himselfe was sometimes imployed.
Fishing is a kind of hunting by water, be it by nets, weeles, boates, Angling, or otherwise, and yeelds all out as much pleasure to some men, as dogs, hawkes. Non minorem voluptatem animo capiunt quam qui feras insectantur aut missis canibus comprehendunt, quum retia trahentes squamosas pecudes in ripas adducunt. When they draw their Fish vpon the banke, saith Nic. Henselius Silesiographiae cap. 3, speaking of that extraordinary delight his countrymen took in Fishing, and in making of pooles. Iames Dubravius that Moravian in his book de pisc. telleth, how travelling by the highwayes side in Silesia, he found a Nobleman More piscatorum cruribus ocreatus. booted vp to the groines, and wading himself, pulling the nets, and laboring as much as any fisherman of them all: and when some be like obiected to him the basenesse of his office, he excused himself, Si principis venatio leporis non sit inhonesta, nescio quomodo piscatio cyprianorum videri debeat pudenda. that if other men might hunt hares, why should not he hunt carpes? Many Gentlemen in like sort with vs, will wade vp to the armeholes vpon such occasions, & voluntarily vndertake that to satisfie their pleasure, which a poore man for a good stipend would scarce be hired to vndergoe. Plutarch in his book de soler animal. speakes against all Fishing, Omninò turpis piscatio nullo studio digna illiberalis credita est, quod nullum habet ingenium, nullam perspicaciam. as a filthy, base, illiberall imployment, as hauing neither wit nor perspicacy [Page 342] in it not worth the labor. But he that shall but consider the variety of baites, and pretty devices which our Anglers haue invented, peculiar lines, false flyes, severall sleights &c. will say, that it deserues as much commendation, requires as much study, and perspicacy as the rest, and much to be preferred before many of them. Because hawking and hunting are very laborious, much riding, and many dangers accompany them, but this is still and quiet: & if so be the Angler catch no fish, yet he hath a wholesome walke to the brooke side, pleasant shade, by the sweet siluer streams, he hath fresh aire, & sweet smels of fine fresh meddow flowres, he heares the melodious harmony of birds, he sees the swannes, herons, duckes, waterhens, cootes &c. and many other fowle with their brood, which he thinketh better then the noyse of hounds, or blast of hornes, and all the sport that they can make.
Many other sports and recreations there be, much in vse, as Ringing, bowling, shooting, which Askam commends in a iust volume, and hath in former times bin inioyned by Statute, as a defensiue exercise, and an Praecipua hinc Anglis gloria, crebrae victeriae partae. Iovius.honor to our land, as wel may witnes our victories in France. Keelpins, tronkes, coits, pitching barres, hurling, wrestling, wasters, foot-ball, quintans &c. and many such, which are the common recreations of country folkes. Riding of great horses, running at ring, tilts and turnaments, horse-races, wilde-goose chases, which are the disports of greater men, and good in themselues, though many Gentlemen by that meanes, gallop quite out of their fortunes.
But the most pleasing of all outward pastimes is that of Cap. 7. Areteus, deambulatio per amaena loca.
Ambulationes subdiales quas hortenses aurae ministrant. sub fornice viridi pampinis virētibus concameratâ. To walke amongst Orchards, Gardens, Bowers, & Arbors, arteficiall Wildernesses, and greene thickets, Arches, Groues, Pooles, Fishponds, betwixt wood and water in a faire Meddowe, [Page 343] by a riuer side, to disport in some pleasant plaine, or runne vp a steepe hill, or sit in a shady seat, must needs bee a delectable recreation. S. Bernard in his description of his Monastery, is almost rauished with the pleasures of it. A sicke Sedet agrotus cespite viridi & cum inclementia Canicularis terras excoqui [...] & siccat stumina, ipse securus sedetsub arborea fronde, & ad doloris sui solatium naribus suis gramineas redolet species, pascit oculos herbarum amaena viriditas, aures suavi modulamine demulcet pictarum concentus anium &c Deus bone quanta pauperibus procuras solatia. man (saith he) sits vpon a greene banke, and when the dog-star parcheth the Plaines, and dries vp Riuers, hee sits in a shady bower, Fronde sub arboreâ ferventia temper at astra, & feeds his eyes with variety of obiects, hearbes and trees, and to comfort his misery he receaues many delight some smels, and fills his ears with that sweet and various harmony of Birds; good God, saith he) what a company of pleasures hast thou made for man. Hee that should be admitted on a suddaine to the sight of such a Pallace as that of Escuriall in Spaine, or to that which the Moores built at Granada, Fountenblewe in France: the Turks gardens in his Seraglio, or vpon the bancks of that Thracian Bosphorus, the Popes Beluedere in Rome, those famous gardens of the Lord Chantelow in France, could not choose though he were neuer so ill apaid, but be much recreated for the time; or many of our Noblemens gardens at home. To take a Boat in a pleasant evening and with musicke Iucundissima deambulatio iuxta mare & navigatio prope terram. to rowe vpon the waters which Plutarch so much applauds, must needs refresh and giue content to a melancholy dull spirit. To see some Pageant, or sight go by, as at Coronations, Weddings, and such like solemnities, Pet. Gillius Paul. Hentzeus Itinerar. Italiae. 1617. Iod. Sincerus. Itinerar. Galliae, 1617. Symp. lib. 1. quest. 4. to see an Embassadour or a Prince met, receaued, entertained with Masks, shews, fireworks, &c. To see two kings fight in single combat, as Canutus and Edm. Ironside, or a battle fought, or one of Caesars triumphs in old Rome reviued, or the like. To be present at an Interviewe, Betwixt Ardes and Guines. 1519. as that famous of Henry the 8 th , & Francis the first so much renowned all over Europe, to the sight of which many times they will come hundreds of miles, giue any mony for a place, and remember many yeares after with singular delight. Bodine when hee was Embassadour in England, said he saw the Noblemen goe with their robes to the Parliament house, summâ cum iucunditate vidimus, hee was much affected with the sight of it. Pomponius Columna, saith Iouius [Page 344] in his life, saw 13. Frenchmen, and so many Italians once fight for a whole army, Quod iucundissimum spectaculum in vitâ dicit suâ, the pleasantest sight that ever he saw in his life. Paterculus vol. post.When Iulius Caesar warred about the bancks of Rhine, there came a Barbarian Prince to see him, and the Roman army, & when he had beheld Caesar a good while, Quos antea audivi inquit hodie vidi deos. I see the Gods now, said he, which before I heard of, nec faeliciorem vllum vitae meae aut optaui, aut sensi diem. It was the happiest day that ever he had in his life: such a sight alone were able of it selfe to driue away melancholy, if not for ever, yet it must needs expell it for a time.
The Country hath it's recreations, the Citty it's severall Gymnicks and exercises, Maygames, Feasts, Wakes, & merry meetings to solace themselues; the very being in the coū try, that life itselfe is a sufficient recreation to some men to enioy the pleasures of that life, as those olde Patriarkes did. Dioclesian the Emperour was so much affected with it, that he gaue over his Scepter & turned gardner, Constantine writ 13 bookes of it. Lysander when Embassadours came to see him, bragged of nothing more then of his Orchard, hi sunt ordines mei. What shall I say of Cincinnatus, Cato, Tully, and many such, how haue they beene pleased with it, to prune to plant,
Iocundus in his preface to Cato, Varro, Columella, &c. put out by him, confesseth of himselfe that hee was mightily delighted with these husbandry studies, and tooke extraordinary pleasure in them: if the Theorick or speculation can so much affect, what shall the place and exercise it selfe, the practicke part doe? The same confessions I finde in Herbastein, Portae, Camerarius, and many others that haue written of that subiect. [Page 345] If my testimony were ought worth, I could say as much of my selfe. I am Verè Saturninus. No man euer tooke more delight in Springs, Woods, Groues, Gardens, Walkes, Fishponds, Riuers, &c. But Tantalus à labris sitiens fugientia captat flamina. And so doe I, Velle licet, potiri non licet.
Every Citty almost hath it's peculiar Walkes, Groues, Theaters, Pageants, Games, and seuerall recreations, euery country some peculiar Gymnicks to exhilerate their mindes, and exercise their bodies. The Boterus lib. 3. polit. cap. 1. Greeks had their Olympian, Pythian, Istmian games: Athens hers, Corinth hers. Some for Honors, Garlands, Crownes, for See Athenaeus dipnoso. buty, dancing, running, leaping, like our siluer games. The Ludi votivi, sacri, ludicri Megalenses, Cereales, Florales Martiales, &c. Rosinus 5.12. Romans had their Feasts, Playes, Naumachies places for sea fights. See Lipsius Amphitheatrum Rosmus lib. 5.Theaters, Amphitheaters able to containe 70000 men, wherein they had severall delightsome shewes to exhilerate the people, 1500. Men at once, Tigers, Lions, Elephantss, horses, Dogges, Beares, &c. Gladiators, Cumbats of men with themselues, with wild beasts, & wild beasts amongst themselues; dancers on ropes, Comedies, Tragedies publikely exhibited at the Emperours and Citties charge, and that with incredible cost & magnificence. In the low Countries, as Lib. vlt. & l.1. ad finem. consuetudine non minus laudabili quam veteri cō tubernia Rhetorum Rhythmorum in vrbibus & municipijs. Certis (que) diebus exercebant se sagittarij seblopetarij, gladiatores &c. Alia ingenij animi (que) exercitia quorum praecipuum studium principem populum tragaedijs, comaedijs fabulis scenicis alijs (que) id genus ludis recreare. Meteran relates, before these wars they had many solemne Feasts, Plaies, Challenges, Colledges of Rimers, Rhetoricians, Poets, as in Italy they haue solemne Declamations, of certaine select yong Gentlemen in Florence to exercise themselues. All seasons almost, and al places haue their seuerall pastimes, some in Somer, some in Winter, some abroad, some within, some of the body, some of the mind, & seuerall men haue their seuerall recreations, exercises. Suetonius. Domitian the Emperor was much delighted with catching of flies; Lampridius. Alexander Severus was much pleased to play with whelps and young Pigges. Spartian. Adrian was so much enamored on dogs and horses, that hee bestowed monuments and tombes on them, and buried them in graues. In fowle wether, or when they can vse no other convenient sports, by reason of the [Page 346] time, as we vse Cock-fighting to avoid idlenesse. Delectatus lusu catulorum, Porcellorum, vt perdices inter se pugnarent, aut vt aves paruulae sursum & deorsum volitarent, his maximè delectatus vt solitudines publicas sublevaret. Severus vsed Partridges and Quailes, and to keepe Birds in Cages, with which he was much pleased, when at any time he had leasure from publike cares, and businesse. He had, saith Lampridius tame Phesants, Ducks, Partridges, Peacocks, & some 20000 Ringdoues and Pigeons. Busbequins the Emperours Oratour, when he lay in Constantinople, and could not stirre much abroad, kept, to recreat his mind, and busie himselfe to see them fed, almost all manner of strange Birds and Beasts; This was something though not to exercise his body, yet to busie his mind. Conradus Gesner at Zuricke in Suitzerland kept so likewise for his pleasure a great company of wilde beasts, and as he saith himselfe, tooke great delight to see thē eat their meat. Turkie Gentlewomen that are perpetuall prisoners, still mewed vp according to the custome of the place, haue little else besides their houshold businesse, or to play with their childrē to driue away time, but to dally with their Cats, which they haue in delitijs, as many of our Ladies and Gentlewomen vse Monkies, and little Dogs. The ordinary recreations which we haue in Winter, & in most solitary times busie our minds with, are Cardes, Tables, and Dice, Shouelboard, Chesse-play, the Philosophers game, small truncks, musicke, masks, singing, dancing, vlegames, catches, purposes, Brumales laetè vt possint protrudere noctes. like that of Psyche in Apuleius.merry tales, newes, &c. Many too nicely take exceptions at Cards, They accoūt them vnlawfull because sortiligious Tables, and Dice, and such lusorious lots, whom Gataker well confutes. Which though they be honest recreations in themselues, yet may iustly be otherwise excepted at, as they are often abused, and forbidden as things most pernitious, insanam rem & damnosam, as Institut c 44. In his ludis plerum (que) non ars aut peritia viget sed fraus, fallacia, dolus, astutia, casus, fortuna, temeritaslocum habent, non ratio, consilium, sapientia &c. Lemnius cals it, For most part in these kinde of disports, t'is not art or skill, but subtilty, cunnycatching, knauery, chance and fortune carries all away. Not to passe away time for honest disport, but for filthy lucre and couetousnesse of mony. Abusus tam frequens bodiè in Europa vt pleri (que) crebro harum vsu patrimonium profundant exhaustis (que) facultatibus ad inopiam redigantur. A thing so common all over [Page 347] Europe at this day, and so generally abused, that many men are vtterly vndone by it, their meanes spent, patrimonies consumed, they and their posterity beggered, besides swearing, wrangling, drinking, losse of time, and such inconveniences which are ordinary concomitants. Vbi semel prurigo ista animū occupat aegre discuti potest sollicitantibus vndi (que) eiusdem farinae hominibus damnosas illas voluptates repetunt, quod & scortatoribus insitum &c. For when once they haue got a haunt of such companies, and a habit of gaming, they can hardly be drawne from it, but as an itch it will tickle them, and as it is with whoremasters once entred, they can hardly leane off. Vexat mentes insana cupido, they are madd vpon their sport. So good things may be abused, and that which was first invented to Instituitur ista exercitatio non lucri fed valetudinis & oblectamenti ratione & quo animus defatigatus respiret nouas (que) vires ad subeundos labores denuò concipiat. refresh mens weary spirits, when they come from other labours and studies to exhilerate the minde, to entertaine time and company, tedious otherwise in those long solitary winter nights, and keepe them from wourse matters, an honest exercise is contrarily perverted.
Chess-play is a good exercise of the mind, for some kind of men, and fit for such melancholy, as Rhasis holds, as are Idle, and haue extrauagant impertinent thoughts, or are troubled with cares, nothing better to distract their minde, and alter their meditations: but if it proceed from overmuch study, in such case it may doe more harme then good, it is a game too troublesome for some mens braines, too full of anxiety, all out as bad as study, and besides it is a testy, cholericke game, and very offensiue to him that looseth the Mate. D. Haward vita eius. William the Conquerer in his younger yeares playing at Chesse with the Prince of France. ( Dauphine was not annexed to the Crowne of France in those dayes) loosing a Mate knocked the Chess-board about his pate, which was a cause afterward of much enmity betwixt them. For some such reason it is belike, that Patritius in his 3. booke Tit. 12. de reg. institut. forbids his Prince to play at Chesse, hauking & hunting, riding &c. he will allow of, and this to other men, but by no meanes to him. In Muscouy where they liue in Stoues & hot-houses all winter long, and come seldome or little abroad, it is again very necessary, & therefore in those parts, saith • Herbastein, much vsed. At Pessa in Africke, where the like inconuenience [Page 348] of keeping in doores is through heat, it is very laudable, and as Inter Cives Fessanos latrunculorum ludus vsitatissimus, l. 3. de Africa. Leo Afer relates, as much frequented. A sport fit for idle Gentlemen, and Souldiers in Garrison, and Courtiers that haue naught but loue matters to busie themselues about, but not altogether so convenient for such as are students. The like I may say of Cl. Bruxers Phylosophy game, D Fulks metromachia, Ouranomachia, and the rest of those curious games.
Dancing, Singing, Masking, Mumming, Stage-playes, howsoeuer they be heauily censured by some seuere Catoes, yet if opportunely and soberly vsed, may iustly be approued. Melius est fodere quam saltare, saith Austin, but what is that if they delight in it? Tully. Nemo saltat sobrius. But in what kind of dance? I knowe these sports haue many oppugners, whole volumes writ against them, and some againe because they are now cold and wayward, past themselues, cauell at all such youthfull sports in others, as he did in the Comedy, they thinke them Illicò nasci senes, &c. Some out of preposterous zeale obiect many times triuiall arguments, and because of some abuse will quite take away the good vse, as if they should forbid wine because it makes men drunke, but in my iudgement they are too sterne; there is a time for all things, for my part I subscribe to the Kings Declaration, and was ever of that minde, those May-games, Wakes, & Whitson ales, &c. If they bee not at vnseasonable times, may iustly be permitted. In Franconia a Province of Germany, saith De mor. gent. Aubanus Bohemus, the old folkes after Evening prayer went to the Alehouse, and the younger sort to dance, and to say with Policrat. lib. 1. cap. 8. Salsburiensis, Satins fuerat sic otiari, quam turpiùs occupari; better to doe so, then wourse, as without question otherwise (such is the corruption of mans nature) many of them will doe. And for that cause, Playes, Maskes, Iesters, Gladiators, Tumblers, Iuglers, &c. and all that crewe is admitted and winked at. Idem Saris. buriensis. Tota [...]ocularium se e [...]a procedit, & ide [...] spectacula admissa sunt, & infinita tyrocinia vanitatum, vt his occupentur qui pernicio [...]iu [...] [...]tiari solent: that they might bee busied about such toyes, that would otherwise more pernitiously [Page 349] be idle. Evill is not to be done, I confesse, that good may come of it, but this is evill per accidens, and in a qualified sence, to avoid a greater inconuenience may iustly bee tolerated. S • Thomas Moore in his Vtopian commonwealth, as hee will haue no man idle, so will he haue no man labour over hard, Nemo desidit otiosus ita nemo asinino more ad seram noctem laborat nam ca plusquam servilis aerima quae tamen vbi (que) plerum (que) opificum vita est exceptis Vtopiensibus qui diem in 24. horas dividunt sex duntaxat operi deputant reliquum à somno & cibo cuius (que) arbitrio permittitur. to bee toyled out like an horse, t'is more then slauish infelicity, and the life of most of our hired seruants, and tradesmen elsewhere (excepting his Vtopians) but halfe the day allotted for worke, and halfe for honest recreations, or what soeuer imployment they shall thinke fit themselues. If one halfe day in a weeke were allotted to our ordinary Servants, for their merry meetings by their hard masters, or in a yeare some feasts, like those Roman Saturnals, I thinke they would labour harder all the rest of the yeare, and both parties would better bee pleased; but this needs not you will say, for some of them doe naught but loiter all the weeke long.
This which I ayme at, is for such as are Fracti animis, troubled in mind, to ease them, overtoyled on the one part to refresh; over idle on the other, to keepe themselues busied. And to this purpose as any labour or imployment will serue to the one, any honest recreation will conduce to the other; of which, as there be divers sorts & peculiar to seuerall callings, ages, sexes, conditions, so there be proper for severall seasons and those of seuerall natures, to fit that variety of humours which is amongst men, that if one will not, another may take place, some in Somer, some in Winter, some gentle, some more violent; some for the minde alone, some for body and mind; some without, some within doores; new, old, &c. as the season serueth, and as men are inclined. It is reported of Philip. Bonus that good Duke of Burgundy, by Lodov. Vives in epist. and Pont. Heuter in his history, that the said Duke at the marriage of Eleonora sister to the king of Portugall at Bruges in Flaunders, which was solemnised in the deepe of Winter; when as by reason of vnseasonable weather he could neither hauke nor hunt, and was now tired with cards, dice, &c. and such other domesticall sports, or to see Ladies dance with [Page 350] some of his Courtiers, he would in the Euening walke disguised all about the Towne. It so fortuned as he was walking late one night he found a country fellow dead drunke, snorting on a Bulke, he caused his followers to bring him to his pallace, and there stripping him of his old clothes, and tyring him after the Court fashion, when he waken [...]d, he and they were all ready to attend vpon his Excellency, and perswaded him he was some great Duke. The poore fellow was serued in state all day long, after supper he saw them dance, heard musicke, and all the rest of those Court-like pleasures, but late at night when he was well tipled and againe fast asleepe, they put on his old robes, and so conuayed him to the place where they first found him. And the fellow had not made them so good sport the day before, as he did now whē he returned to himselfe, all the iest was to see how he Quid interest, saith Lodov. Vives, betwivt this one dayes dreame and all our life. looked vpon it. In conclusion, after some little admiration the fellow told his friends he had seene a vision, and constantly beleeued it, and would not otherwise be perswaded, and so the iest ended. H. Stephan. praefat. Herado.i Antiochus Epiphanes would often disguise himselfe, and steale from his Court, & goe into Marchants, Goldsmiths, and other tradesmens shoppes, and sit and talke with them, and sometimes ride and walke alone, and fall aboord with any Tinker, Clowne, Seruingman, Carrier, or whomsoeuer he met first. Sometimes he would ex insperato, giue a poore fellow mony to see how he would looke, or on set purpose loose his purse as he went, to watch who found it, & withall how he would be affected, and with such obiects hee was much delighted. Many such tricks are ordinarily put in practise by great men, to exhilerate themselues and others, all which are harmelesse iests, and haue their good vses.
But amongst all those Exercises, or recreations of the mind within doores, there is none so generall, so aptly to be applyed to all sorts of men, so fit and proper to expell Idlenesse and Melancholy, as that of Studye. To read, walke and see Mappes, Pictures, Statues, old Coynes of severall sorts in a fayre Gallery, arteficiall workes, perspectiue glasses, old reliques, [Page 351] Roman antiquities, variety of colors. A good picture is muta poësis, and though, as 3. De Anima. Vives saith, artificialia delectant, sed mox fastidimus, artificiall toyes please but for a time yet who is he that will not be moued to see those well furnished Galleries of those Roman Cardinals, so wel stored with all moderne Pictures, old statues and antiquities? Or in some Princes or great Noblemens houses, to see such variety of tyres, faces, so many, so rare, and such exquisite peeces of mē, birds, beasts, &c. to see those excellent landskips, and Dutch-works, curious cuts of Sadlier of Prage, Albertus Durer, Vrintes, &c. such pleasant pieces of perspectiue, Indian Pictures made of fethers, China works; frames, motions, exotick toyes, &c. Who is he that is now wholy ouercome with idlenesse, or otherwise inuolued in a Labyrinth of worldly cares, troubles, and discontents, that will not bee much lightned in his mind by reading of some inticing story, Poeme, or some pleasant bewitching discourse, which will drawe his attentiō along with it. To some kind of men it is an extraordinary delight to study, to looke vpon a Geographicall mappe, and to behold, as it were, all the remote Provinces, Townes, Citties of the world, and never to goe forth of the limits of his study, to measure by a Scale and Compasse, their extent, distance, examine their site, &c. What greater pleasure cā there be then to view those elaborate Maps of Ortelius, Atlas Geog. Mercator, Hondius, &c. To peruse those bookes of Citties, put out by Braunus, and Hogenbergius. To read those exquisite descriptions of Maginus, Munster, Merula, Boterus, Leander Albertus, Camden, Leo Afer, Adricomius, &c. Those famous expeditions of Christoph. Columbus, Americus Vesputius, Marcus Polus the Venetian, Lod. Vertomannus, Alosius Cadamustus, &c. Those acurat diaries of Portingalls, Hollanders, of Bartison, Oliuer à Nort, &c Hacluits voiages, P. Martyr, Benzo, Lerius, Linchcoftens relations, Hodaeporicums of Iod: a Meggen Brocard the Monke, Bredenbachius, Io. Dublinius, Sandes, &c. to Ierusalem, Aegypt, and other remote places of the world; to read Bellonius observations, P. Gillius his [Page 352] Survaies, Those parts of America set out and curiously cut in Pictures by Fratres à Bry. To see a well cut herball, all Hearbs, Trees, Flowers, Plants expressed in their proper colours to the life, as that of Mathiolus vpon Dioscorides, Delacampius, Leobel, Bauhinus, and that last voluminous and mighty herball of Noremberge, wherein almost every Plant is to his owne bignesse. To see all Birds, Beasts, and Fishes of the Sea, Spiders, Gnats, Serpents, Flies, &c. and all creatures set out by the same art, and truely expressed in liuely colours with a true description of their natures, vertues, qualities &c. as hath been accuratly performed by Aelian, Gesner, Vlysses Aldrouandus, Bellonius, Hippolitus Salvianus, &c. What more pleasing studies can there be then the Mathematickes, Theorick or Practick part. Talis est Mathematum pulchritudo, saith Lib. de cupid. divitiarum. Plutarch, vt his indignum sit divitiarum phaleras istas & bullas & puellaria spectacula comparari, such is the excellency of those studies, that al those ornaments and bubbles of wealth are not worthy to be compared to them, crede mihi ( Leon. Diggs prefat. ad perpet. prognost. saith one) extingui dulce erit Mathematicarum artium studio, I could euen liue and dye with those studies, Plus capio voluptatis, &c. and take more pleasure, true content of mind in them, then thou dost in all thy wealth, how rich soeuer thou art. The like pleasure there is in all other studies, to such as are truely addicted to them, as well may witnesse those many laborious houres, dayes, and nights, spent in the voluminous Treatises written by them; the like content. Poetices lib. Iulius Scaliger was so much affected with Poetry, that hee brake out into a patheticall protestation, that he had rather be the author of such twelue verses in Lucan, then Emperour of Germany. Seneca prefers Zeno & Chrysippus two doting Stoicks (he was so much enamored on their workes) before any Prince or generall of an army, such content there is in study. Isaac Wake Musae re [...]nantes. K. Iames 1605, when he came to visit our Vniuersity of Oxford, & amongst other aedifices, now came to see that famous Library renued by S r Thomas Bodley, in imitation of Alexander, at his departure brake out into that noble speech, If I were not a King I [Page 353] would be a Vniuersity man. Si vnquam mihi in fatis sit vt captivus ducar si mihi daretur optio hoc cuperem carcere concludi his catenis illigari cum hisce captivis concatenatis aetatem agere. And if it were so that I must be a prisoner, if I might haue my wish, I would desire to haue no other prison then that Library, and to bee chained together with my fellow writers. So sweet is the delight of study, the more learning they haue (as he that hath a dropsie, the more hee drinks the thirstier he is) the more they couet to learne, & the last day is prioris discipulus, harsh at first, radices amarae, but fractus dulces, according to that of Isocrates, the more they are inamored with the Muses. Hensius the keeper of the Library at Leiden in Holland, was mewed vp in it all the yeare long, and that which to their thinking should haue bred a lothing, caused in him a greater liking. Epist. Primiero plerum (que) in Bibliothecam me confero in quâ simulac pedem posui foribus pessulum obdo, ambitionem autem amorem libidinem &c. excludo quorum parens estignavia, imperitiae nutrix & in ipso aeternitatis gremio inter tot illustres animas sedē mihi sumo, tam ingenti quidem animo, vt subinde magnatum me miseriaet, qui faelicitatem hanc ignorant. I no sooner, saith he, come into the Library, but I bolt the doore to me, excluding lust, ambition, avarice, and all such vices, whose nurse is idlenesse the mother of ignorance, and melancholy her selfe, and in the very lap of aeternity, amongst so many divine soules I take my seat, with so lofty a spirit and sweet content, that I pitty all our great ones, and richmen that knowe not this happinesse. Whosoeuer he is therefore that is ouerrunne with solitarinesse, or carried away with pleasing melancholy and vaine conceits, and for want of imployment knowes not how to spend his time, or crucified with worldly care, I can prescribe him no better a remedy then this of study, to compose himselfe to the learning of some art or science. Provided alwaies that his malady proceed not from overmuch study, for in such cases hee addes fuell to the fire, and nothing can bee more pernitious; let him take heed he doe not outstretch his wits, and make a Skeleton of himselfe; or such Inamoratoes as read nothing but play-bookes, Idle Poems, Iests, Amadis de Gaul, the Knight of the Sun, the seauen Champians, Palmerin de Oliua, Huon of Burdeaux, &c. Such many times proue in the ende as mad as Don Quixot. Study is only prescribed those that are otherwise idle, troubled in mind, and carried headlong with vaine thoughts and Imaginations, to distract their cogitations (although variety of study, or some serious subiect would doe the former no harme) and diuert their continuall [Page 354] meditations another way. Nothing in this case better then study, semper aliquid memoritèr ediscant, saith Piso, let them learne something without booke, or read some booke. Read the Scripture which Hiperius lib. 1. de quotid. script. lev. fol. 77. holds auailable of it selfe, Animus elevatur inde à curis multâ quiete & tranquilitate fruens. the minde is erected thereby from all worldly cares, and hath much quiet and tranquillity. Paule bids pray cōtinually, quod cibus corpori lectio animae facit, saith Seneca, as meat is to the Body, such is reading to the Soule. Otium sine literis mors est, et vivi hominis sepultura. Seneca. To be at leasure with out bookes is a another Hell, and to be buried aliue. Cap. 96. lib. 17 de rer. var. Cardan calls a Library the physicke of the soule, Fortem reddunt animum & constantem & pium colloquium non permittit animum absurdá cogitatione torqueri. Divine authors fortifie the minde, make men bold & constant, and (as Hyperius addes) godly conference will not permitte the minde to be tortured with absurd cogitations. Rhasis inioynes continuall conference to such melancholy men, and would haue some body still talke seriously, or dispute with them, & sometimes Altercationibꝰ vtantur quae non permittunt animum submergi profundis cogitationibus de quibus otiose cogitat & tristatur in ijs. to cauell and wrangle (so that it breake not out to a violent perturbation) for such alteration is like stirring of a dead fire to make it burne a fresh, it whets a dull spirit, and will not suffer the minde to be drowned in such profound cogitations which melancholy men are commonly troubled with. Bodin prefat. ad meth. hist Ferdinand and Alphonsus both Kings of Arragon and Sicily, were cured by reading of history, one of Curtius, the other of Liuy, when no other Physicke would take place. Operum subcis cap. 15. Camerarius relates as much of Laurence Medices. Heathen Philosophers are so full of diuine precepts in this kinde, that as some thinke they alone are able to settle a distressed mind. Hor. Sunt verba & voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem, &c. Epictetus, Plutarch, and Seneca, qualis ille quae tela, saith Lipsius, adversus omnes animi casus administrat, & ipsam mortem, quomodo vitia cripit, infert virtutes? When I read Seneca, Fatendum est cacumine Olimpi constitutus supra res humanas mihi videor, quū illum lego supra ventos & procellas & omnes res humanas. me thinks I am aboue all humane fortunes, on the top of a hill aboue mortality. If this comfort may be got by Phylosophy, what shall be had from Divinity? What shall Austin, Cyprian, Gregory, Bernards divine meditations afford vs? Nay, what shall the Scripture it selfe? which is like an Appothecaries shop, wherein are remedies for all infirmities of body and mind, purgatiues, alteratiues, [Page 355] coroboratiues, lenitiues, &c. Every disease of the Soule, saith In Ps. 36. omnis morbus animi in Scripturis habet medicinā tantum opus est vt qui sit aeger non recuset potionem, quam Deus temperavit. Austin, hath a peculiar medicine in the Scripture, this only is required, that the sicke man take but the potiō which God hath already tempered. In moral. speculum quo nos intueri possimus. Gregory calls it a Glasse wherein we may Hom. 28. vt incantatione virus fugatur ita lectione malum. see all our infirmities, ignitum colloquium, Psalm. 118.140. Origen a Charme. And therefore Hierome prescribes Rustious the Monke, Iterum at (que) iterum moneo, ut animae sacrae scrip. lectionem occupes. Masticat diuinum pabulum meditatio. continually to read the Scripture, and to meditate on that which he hath read: for as mastication is to meat, so is meditation on that which we read. I would for these causes with him that is melancholy, to vse both humane and diuine authors, voluntary to impose some taske vpon himselfe, to diuert his melancholy thoughts. To study the art of memory, Cosmus Rosselius, Pet. Rauennas, Scenkelius detectus, &c. that will aske a great deale of attention, or let him demonstrate a proposition in Euclide in his 5. last bookes, extract a square root, or study Algebra, Napiers Logarithmes, or calculate spaericall Triangles, cast a Natiuity, or goe read Suisset the Calculators workes, Scaliger de Emendatione temperum, till he vnderstand it, read Scotus or Suarez. Metaphysicks, or schoole Diuinity, Occam, Entisberus, Durand, &c. If those other doe not affect him: he may apply his mind to Heraldry, Antiquity, or make a Comment vpon Aelia Lelia Crispis, as many Idle fellows haue assaid, or rather then doe nothing, vary a Tot tibi sunt dotes virgo quot sidera coelo. Verse a thousand waies, as Putean hath done. If such voluntary tasks, pleasure and delight, or crabbednesse of such studies will not yet diuert their idle thoughts, and alienate their imaginations, they must be compelled, saith Christopherus à Vega, cogi debent, lib. 3. cap. 14. Vpon some mulct, if they performe it not, ex officio incumbat, or losse of credit or disgrace, such as are our publike Vniuersitie exercises; for as he that plaies for nothing will not heed his game no more will voluntary imployment so throughly affect a student, except he be very intent of himself, & take an extraordinary delight in the study about which he is conuersant; it must be of that nature his businesse, which volens nolens he must necessarily vndergoe, & without great losse [...], shame or [Page 356] hinderance he may not omit,
Now for women, instead of studies they haue curious needle-workes, cut-workes, bone-lace, &c. to busie themselues about, houshold offices, &c. or some gossippings: old folkes haue their Beads. An excellent inuention to keepe them from Idlenesse, that are by nature melancholy and past all affaires, to say so many Paternosters, Avemaries, Creedes, if it were not prophane and superstitious. In a word, Body and minde must be both exercised, not one but both, and that in mediocrity; otherwise it will cause a great inconvenience. If the Body be ouertired, it tyres the mind. The minde oppresseth the Body; as with Students oftentimes it falleth out, who as Tom 1. de sanit tuenda qui rationem corporis non habent sed cogunt mortalem immortali ter restrem aetheriae aequale praestare idustriam caeterum vt Camelo vsu venit quod eibos praedixerat cum eidem servirent domino & parte oneris levare illum Camelus recusasset paulo post & ipsius cutem & totum onus cogeretur gestare (quod mortuo boue impletum) Itaanimo quo (que) contingit dum defatigato corpori, &c. Plutarch obserues, haue no care of the Body, but compell that which is mortall, to doe as much as that which is immortall, that which is earthly, as that which is atheriall, but as the Oxe tired, told the Camel, (both seruing one master) that refused to carry some part of his burden, before it were long he should be compelled to carry all his packe, and his skinne to boot (which by and by the Oxe being dead fell out) the Body may say to the Soule, that will giue him no respuit or remission, a little after an ague, Vertigo, Consumption, seaseth on them both, all his study is omitted; and they must be compelled to be sicke together: hee that tenders his own good estate, and health, must let them drawe with equall yoke both alike, Vt pulchrā illam & amabilē sanitatem praestemus. that so they may happily inioy their wished health.
MEMB. 5. Waking and terrible dreames rectified.
AS Waking that hurts; by all meanes must be auoided, so Sleep which so much helps, by all meanes, Interdicendae Vigiliae, somni paulo longiores conciliandi. Altomarus cap. 7. somnus supra modum prodest, quouismodo conciliandus. Piso. must be procured, by nature or art; inward or outward meanes, & to be protracted longer then ordinary, if it may bee, as being an especiall helpe. It moistens and fattens the Body, concocts, and helpes digestion, as we see in Dormice, and those Alpine Mice that [Page 357] sleepe all Winter, which Gesner speaks of when they are so found sleeping vnder the snowe in the dead of Winter, as fat as butter. It expells cares, pacifies the mind, refresheth the weary limmes after long worke,
The fittest time is Crato cons 21. lib. 2 duabus aut tribus horis post coenam quum iam cibus ad fundum ventriculi resederit primum super latere dextro quiescendum, quod in tali decubitu iecur sub ventriculo quiescat, non gravans sed cibum calfaciens, perinde ac ignis lebetem qui illi admouetur, post primum somnū quiescendum latere sinistro, &c two or three houres after supper, when as the meat is now setled at the bottome of the stomacke, and t'is good to lye on the right side first, because that at that site the liver doth rest vnder the stomacke, not molesting any way but heating him as a fire doth a kettle, that is put to it. After the first sleepe t'is not amisse to lye on the left side, that the meat may the better descend: and sometimes againe on the belly, but neuer on the backe. Seauen or eight houres is a competent time for a melancholy man to sleep, as Crato thinks; but as many doe, to ly in bed and not sleepe, a day or halfe a day together, and giue way to pleasing conceits and vaine imaginations, is many waies pernitious. To procure this sweet moistning sleepe, is first to take away the occasions (if it be possible) that hinder it, and then to take such inward or outward remedies, which may cause it. Heat and drynesse must first be remooued, Saepius accidit melancholicis vt nimium excicca to cerebro vigilijs attenuentur. Ficinus l 1 c. 24 an hot and dry brain neuer sleeps well, griefe, feares, cares, expectations, anxieties, great businesses, & all violent perturbations of the mind must in some sort bee qualified, before wee can hope for any good repose. He that sleeps in the day time, Vt sis nocte ievis sit tibi caena brevis. or is in suspence, feare, or any way troubled in mind, or goes to bed vpon a full stomack, may neuer hope for quiet rest in the night; nec enim meritoria somnum admittunt, as the Iuven. Sat. 3. Poet saith, Ins & such like troublesome places are not for sleep. He that will intend to take his rest, must goe to bed animo securo, quieto & libero, with a Sepositis curis omnibus quantum fieri potest vnà cum vestibus &c. Kirkst. secure and quiet mind: and if that will not serue, or may not be obtained, to seek then such meanes as are requisite. To lye in clean linnen and sweet, before he goes to bed to heare Ad horam somni aures suavibus cantibus & sonis delinire. sweet Musicke, which Ficinus commends lib. 1. cap. 24. or as Iobertus med. pract. lib, 3. cap. 10. [Page 358] Lectio iucunda, aut sermo ad quem attentior animus convertitur, aut aqua ab alto in subiectum peluim delabetur &c. Ovid. to reade some pleasant Author till he be asleepe, or haue a bason of water still dropping by his bed side, or to lye neare that pleasant murmure, lene sonantis aquae, Some flood-gates, arches, fals of water, like London Bridge, or some continuate noyce, which may benumme the common sence. Piso commends frications, Andrew Borde a good draught of strong drink before one goes to be bed, I say a nutmeg and ale, or a good draught of muscadine, with a toste and nutmeg, or a posset of the same, which many vse in a morning, but me thinks for such as haue dry braines, are much more proper at night: some prescribe a Aceti sorbitio.sup of vineger as they goe to bed, a spoonfull saith Aetius Tetrabib. lib. 2. ser. 2. cap. 10. & lib. 6. cap. 10. Aegineta lib. 3. cap. 14. Piso, a little after meate, Attenuat melancholiam. & ad conciliandum somnum iuvat. because it rarifies. melancholy, and procures an appetite to sleepe. Donat. ab Altomar. cap. 7. and Mercurialis approue of it, if the malady proceed from the Quod lieni acetum conveniaet.splene. Salust. Salvian. lib. 2. cap. 1. de re med. Hercules de Saxoniâ in Pan. Aelianus Montaltus de morb. capitis. cap. 28. de Melan. are altogether against it. Cont. 1. tra. 9. meditandum de [...]ceto. Rhasis seemes to deliberate of it, though Simeon commend it (in sawce peradventure) he makes a question of it: as for bath, fomentations, oyles, potions, simples or compounds inwardly taken to this purpose, I shall speake of elswhere. If in the midst of the night they lye awake, which is vsuall, to tosse and tumble, Sect. 5. Memb. 1. Subsect. 6. and cannot sleepe, Lib. de san [...]tuenda. Ranzovius would haue them, if it be in warme weather, to rise and walke three or foure turnes, till they be cold, about the chamber, and then goe to bed againe.
Against fearefull and troublesome dreames, Incubus and such inconveniences, wherewith Melancholy men are molested, the best remedy is to eat a light supper, & of such meats as are easy of digestion, no hare, venison, beese &c. not to lye on his back, not to meditate or think in the day time of any terrible obiects, or especially talke of them before he goes to bed. For as he said in Lucian after such conference, Hecates somniare mihi videor, I can think of nothing but hobgoblins: and as Tully notes, In Som. Scip fit enim ferè vt cogitationes nostrae & sermones pariant aliquid in somno quale de Homero scribit Ennius, dequo videlicet saepissime vigilans solebat cogitare & loqui. for the most part our speeches in the daytime, [Page 359] cause our phantasy to worke vpon the like in our sleepe, as Ennius writes of Homer. And for that cause when Aristeae hist. Ptolomy King of Egypt had posed the 70 Interpreters in order, he asked the 19 th man, what would make one sleepe quietly in the night, he told him, Optimum de coelestibus & honestis meditari, & ea facere. the best way was to haue diuine and celestiall meditations, and to vse honest actions in the day time. Lib. 3. de causis corr. art tam mira monstra quaestionum saepe nascuntur inter eos, vt mirer eos interdum in somnijs non terreri, aut de illis in tenebris audere verba facere, adeo res sunt monstrosae. Lod. Vives wonders how Schoolemen could sleepe quietly, and were not terrified in the night, or walke in the darke they had such monstrous questions, and thought of such terrible matters all day long. They had need amongh the rest to sacrifice to God Morpheus, whom Icon. lib. 1. Philostratus paints in a white and black coat, with a horne and Iuery box full of dreames, of the same colors, to signifie good and bad. If you will know how to interpret them, read Artemidorus and Cardan, but how to help them I must referre you to a more Sec. 5. Memb P. Subs 6. convenient place.
MEMB. 6.
SVBSEC. 1. Perturbations of the minde rectified. From himselfe, by resisting to the vtmost, confessing his griefe to a friend, &c.
VVHosoeuer he is that shall hope to cure this malady in himselfe or any other, must first rectifie these passions and perturbations of the mind, the chiefest cure consists in them. Animi perturbationes summè fugiendae, metus potissimum & tristitia, eorum (que) loco animus demulcendus hilaritate, animi constantiâ, bená spe, removendi terrores, & eorum consortium quos non probant. Feare and Sorrow are especially to be avoided, and the mind to be mitigated with mirth, constancy, good hope, all vaine terrors, bad obiects are to be remoued, and all such persons in whose companies they be not well pleased. Gualter Bruel-Fernelius consil. 43. Mercurialis consil. 6. Piso, Iacchinus cap. 15. in 9. Rhasis, Capivaeccius, Hildisheim &c. all inculcate this as an especiall meanes of their cure, that their Phantasiae eorum placidè subvertendae, terrores ab animo removendi. mindes be quietly pacified, vaine conceipts diverted, if it be possible, vvith terrors, cares, fixed studies, cogitations, Ab omni fixâ cogitatione quouismodo avertantur. and vvhatsoeuer it is [Page 360] that shall any vvay molest or trouble the minde, because that otherwise there is no good to be done. Cuncta mala corporis ab animo procedunt, quae nisi curentur, corpus curari minime potest. Charmid. The Bodies mischiefs as Plato proues, proceed from the Sòule: and if the minde be not first satisfied, the Body can neuer be cured. Crato in that often cited Counsell of his for a Nobleman his patient, when he had sufficiently informed him in diet, aire, exercise, Venus, sleep, concludes with these as matters of greatest moment, quod reliquum est animae accidentia corrigantur, from which alone proceedes Melancholy, they are the fountaine, the subiect, the hinges wheron it turnes, & must necessarily be reformed. Jra bilem movet, sanguinem adurit, vitae'es spiritus accendit, maestitia vniversum corpus infrigidat, calorem innatum extinguit, appetitum destruit, concoctionem impedit, corpus exsiceat, intellectum pervertit. Quamobrem haec omnia prorsus vitanda sunt & pro virils fugienda. For anger stirres choler, heates the blood and vitall spirits, Sorrovv on the other side refrigerates the Body, and extinguisheth naturall heat, ouerthrovves appetite, hinders concoction, dries vp the temperature, and perverts the vnderstanding. Feare dissolues the spirits, infects the Heart, attenuates the Soule: and for these causes all pass [...]ons & perturbations must to the vttermost of our power, and most seriously be remoued. Aelianus Montaltus attributes so much to them, De Mel. ca 26 ex illis solum remedium muli [...] ex visis auditis &c. sanati sunt. that he holds the rectification of them alone to be sufficient to the cure of Melancholy in most patients. Many are fully cured when they haue seene or heard &c. inioy their desires, or be satisfied in their mindes; and Galen the common master of them all, from whose fountaine they fetch water, brags lib. 1. de san. tuend. that he for his part hath cured many of this infirmity, solum animis ad rectū institutis, by right setling of their mindes. Yea but you will heere inferre, that is excellent good indeed if it could be done, but how shall it be effected, by whom, what Art, what meanes? hic labor hoc opus est. T'is a Natural infirmity, a most powerfull adversary, all men are subiect to passions, and Melancholy aboue all others, as being distempered by their innate humors, abundance of choler adust, weaknesse of parts, outward occurrences, and how shall t [...]ey be avoided; the wisest men, greatest Philosophers of most excellent wit, reason, Iudgment, divine spirits, cannot moderate themselues in this behalfe, such as are found in Body and Mind, Stoicks, heroes, Homers gods, all are passionate, and furiously [Page 361] carried somtimes, and how shall we that are already crased, fracti animis, sick in Body, sick in Mind resist? we cannot performe it. You may advise and giue good precepts, as who cannot? but how shall they be put in practice? I may not deny but our passions are violent, and tyrannize ouer vs, yet there be means to curbe them, though they be headstrōg, they may be tamed, they may be qualified, if he himselfe or his friends, will but vse their honest endeavors, Treviribus annitendum tum in praedictis, tum in alijs, à quibus malum velut à primariâ causâ occasionem nactum est, imaginationes absurdae, falsae (que) & maestitia quaecun (que) subierit, propulsetur, aut aliud agendo, aut ratione persu [...]dendo, earum mutationem subitò facere. or m [...]ke vse of such ordinary means, as are commonly prescribed.
He himselfe (I say) for from the Patient himselfe, the first and chiefest remedy must be had, for if he be averse, peevish, waspish, and giue way wholly to his passions, and will not seek to be eased, or be ruled by his friends, how is it possible he should be cured? but if he be willing at least, gentle and tractable, & desire his own good, no doubt but he may magnā morbi dep [...]nere partē, be eased at least, if not cured. He himself must doe his vtmost endeavour to resist, & withstand the beginnings, principijs obsta. Giue not vvater passage, no not a little, Ecclus 25.27. if they open a litle, they will make a great breach at length. Whatsoeuer it is that runneth in our minds, vain conceipt, be it pleasing or displeasing, which so much affects or troubleth vs, Lib. 2. cap. 16. de occult. nat. q [...]s [...]uis huic malo obnoxius est, acriter obsistat, & summâ curâ obluctetur, nec vllo modo foveat Imaginationes tacite obrepentes animo, blandas ab initio & amabiles, sed quae adeò convalescunt, vt nullà ratione excuti queant. by all p [...]ssible meanes he must withstand it, expell those vaine, false, frivolous Imaginatious, absurd conceipts, vaine sorrovves, from which saith Piso, this Disease primarily proceedes, and takes his first occasion or beginning, by doing something or other that shall be opposite vnto thē, thinking of something els, persvvading by reason, or hovvsoeuer to make a suddaine alteration of them. Though he haue hitherto run in a full Career, and precipitated himself, following his passions, giuen reines to his appetite, let him now stop vpon a sudden, curbe himself in; and as Lib. 2. cap. 16. de occult. nat. q [...]s [...]uis huic malo obnoxius est, acriter obsistat, & summâ curâ obluctetur, nec vllo modo soveat Imaginationes tacite obrepentes animo, blandas ab initio & a [...]biles, sed quae adeò convalescunt, vt nullà ratione excuti queant. Lemnius adviseth, striue against vvith all his povver, to the vtmost of his endeavour, and not cherish those fond Imaginations, vvhich so covertly creep into his Minde, most pleasing and amiable at first, but bitter as gall at last, and so headstrong, that by no reason, art, counsell, or persvvasion they may be shaken off. Though he be farre gone, & [Page 362] habituated vnto them, yet as 3 Tusc. ad Apollonium. Tully and Plutarch advise, let him oppose, or prepare himselfe against them, by premeditation or reasons, or as we doe by a crooked staffe, bend himself another way.
If it be idlenesse hath caused this infirmity in him, or that he perceiue himselfe giuen to solitarinesse, to walke alone, and please himselfe with fond Imaginations, let him by all means avoide it, it will in the end be his vndoing, let him goe presently, taske or set himself a-worke, get some good company. If he proceed, as a gnat flies about a candle, till at length he burne himselfe, so in the end he will vndoe himselfe. If it be any harsh obiect, ill company, let him presently goe from it. If by his own default through ill diet, bad aire, want of exercise &c. let him now begin to reforme himselfe. It vvould be a perfect remedy against all corruption, if as Epist. de secretis artis & naeturae cap. 7. de retard. sen. remedium esset contra corruptionem propriam, si quilibet exerceret regimen sanitatis, quod consistit in rebus sex non-naturalibus. Roger Bacon hath it, vve could but moderate our selues in those six non-naturall things. Pro aliquo vituperio non indigneris, nec pro amissione alicuius rei, pro morte alicuius, nec pro carcere, nec pro exilio, nec pro alia re, nec irascaris, nec timeas, nec doleas, sed cum summa presentia bec sustineas. If it be any disgrace, temporall losse calumny, death of friends, imprisonment, banishment, be not troubled vvith it, doe not feare, be not angry, grieuè not at it, but vvith all courage sustaine it. Tu contra audentior ito, Gordonius lib. 1. cap. 15 de conservit. Quod si incommoda aduersitatis infortunia boc malum invexcrint bis infractum animum opponas Dei verbo, eius (que) siducia te suffulcias &c. Lemnius lib. 1.16.If it be sicknesse, ill successe, or any adversity that hath caused it, oppose an invincible courage, fortifie thy selfe by; Gods vvord, Or othervvise, malabonis persuadendae, set prosperity against adversity, as we refresh our eyes by seeing some pleasant medow, fountaine, picture, or the like, recreate thy Minde by some contrary obiect, some more pleasing meditation, diuert thy thoughts. Yea but you inferre again facile consilium damus alijs, we can easily giue counsel to others, every [Page 363] man as the saying is, can tame a shrew, but he that hath her, si hic esses, aliter sentires, if you were in our misery, you would find it otherwise, t'is not easily performed. We know this to be true, we are led captiues by passion, appetite, wee should moderate our selues, but we are furious [...]y caried, we cannot make vse of such Precepts, we are ouercome, sick malè sani, distempered, and habituated in these courses, we can make no resistance; you may as well bid him that is diseased not to feele paine, as a melancholy man not to feare, not be sad, t'is within in his blood, his braines, his whole temperature, it cannot be remoued. But he may choose whether he will giue way too farre vnto it, he may in some sort correct himselfe. A Philosopher was bitten with a mad dog, and as the nature of that disease is to abhorre all waters, and liquid things, and to thinke still they see the picture of a dog before them: He went for all this reluctante se to the Bathe, and seeing there as he thought in the water, the picture of a dog, with reason ouercame this conceipt, quid cani cum balneo? what should a dog doe in a bathe, a meeee conceipt. Thou thinkest thou hearest and seest divels, black men &c. t'is not so, t'is thy corrupt phantasy, settle thy Imagination thou art well. Thou thinkest thou hast a great nose, thou art sick, every man laughes thee to scorne, perswade thy selfe t'is no such matter, this is feare onely and vain suspition. Thou art discontent, thou art sad and heavy, but why, vpon what ground? consider of it, thou art ielous, timorous, suspitious, for what cause? examine it throughly, thou shalt finde none at all, or such as is to be contemned, such as thou thy selfe wilt deride, and condemne in thy selfe, when it is past. Rule thy selfe then with reason, satisfie thy selfe, accustome thy selfe, weane thy selfe from those fond conceipts, vaine feares, strong Imaginations, restlesse thoughts. Thou maist doe it, Est in vobis assuescere, as Plutarch saith, we may frame our selues as we will. As he that weares an vpright shooe, may correct the obliquity, or crookednes, by wearing it on the other side: we may ouercome passions if we will. Quicquid sibi imperauit [Page 364] animus obtinuit, as Lib. 2. de Ira. Seneca saith, nulli tamferi affectus, vt non disciplinâ perdomentur, whatsoeuer the Will desires she may command, no such cruell affections, but by discipline they may be tamed. Voluntarily thou wilt not doe this or that which thou oughtest to doe, or refraine &c. but when thou art lashed like a dull Iade, thou wilt reforme it, feare of a whip will make thee doe or not doe. Doe that voluntary then which thou canst doe, and must doe by compulsion: thou maist refraine if thou wilt, and master thine affections. Cap. de affectibus animae, vt in civitatibus contumaces, qui non cedunt politico imperio, vi coercendisunt, ita Deus nobis indidit alteram imperij formam, si cor non deponit vitiosum affectum, membra foras coercenda sunt, ne ruant in quod affectus impellat, & locom otiva quae herili imperio obtemperat, alteri resistat. As in a city saith Melancton, they doe by stubborne rebellious roagues that will not submit themselues to politicall gouernment, compell them by force, so must we doe by our affections. If the heart will not lay aside those vitious motions, and the phantasy those fond Imaginations, we haue another forme of gouernment, to enforce & restrain our outward members, that they be not led by our passions. If appetite will not obey, let the Mouing faculty ouerrule her, let her resist, and compell her to doe otherwise. As in an ague, the Appetite could drinke, sore eyes that itch would be rubbed; but Reason saith no, and therefore the Mouing faculty will not doe it. Our Phantasy would intrude a thousand feares, suspitions, Chimeras vpon vs, but we haue reason to resist, yet we let our Reason be ouerborne by our appetite. Imaginatio impellit spiritus, & inde ne [...]vi moventur, &c. & obtemperant, Imaginationi & Appetitui mirabili federe ad exequendum quod iubent. Imagination enforceth spirits, which by an admirable league of Nature, compell the nerues to obey, and they our seueral lims; we giue way to our passions. And as to him that is sicke of an ague, all things are distastefull and vnpleasant, non ex cibi vitio saith Plutarch, not in the meat, but in our taste, so many things are offensiue to vs, not of themselues, but out of our corrupt Iudgment, ielousy, suspition, and the like, we pull these mischiefes vpon our own heads.
If then our Iudgment be so depraued, our reason ouer-ruled, Will precipitated, that we cannot seeke our own good, or moderate our selues, as in this Disease commonly it is, our best way for ease is to impart our misery to some friend, not to Strangulat inclusus dolor, at (que) exe [...]tuat intus. Ovid. Trist. lib. 5. smother it vp in our own brest, alitur vitium, crescit (que) tegendo &c. Virg. 3. Geor. and that which was most offensiue to vs, a cause of [Page 365] feare and griefe, quod nunc te coquit, another hell, when as wee shall but impart it to some discreet, trusty and louing friend, is Participes inde calamitatis [...] nostrae sunt, & velut exoneratâ in eos sarcinâ onere levamur. Arist. Ethic. lib. 9. instantly remoued by counsell happily, wisdome, perswasion, advise, his good meanes, which we could not otherwise apply vnto our selues. Lenit animū simplex vel saepe narratio, the simple narration many times easeth our distressed minde, and in the midst and greatest extremities so many haue bin relieued by As David did to Ionathan 1. Sam. 20. exonerating themselues to a faithfull friend, he sees that which we cannot see for passion and discontent, he pacifies our mindes. Whosoeuer then labors of this malady, by all meanes let him get some trusty friend, Ovid. semper habēs Pyladem (que) aliquem qui curet Orestem, a Pylades, to whom freely and securely he may open himselfe. It is the best thing in the world,as De Tranquil. cap. 7 optimum est amicum fidelem nancisci, in quem secreta nostra infundamus, nihil aequè oblectat animū, quam vbi sint preparata pectora, in quae tutò secreta descendāt, quorum cō scientia aequè ac tua. Quorum sermo solitudinem leniat, sententia consilium expediat, hilaritas tristitiam dissipet , conspectus (que) ipse delectet. Seneca adviseth in such a case, to get a trusty friend, to vvhom vve may freely and securely poure out our secrets, nothing so delights and easeth the minde, as vvhen we haue a prepared bosome, to vvhich our secrets may descend, of whose conscience we are assured as our ovvne, vvhose speech may ease our succorlesse estate, counsell relieue, mirth expell our mourning, & vvhose very sight may be acceptable vnto vs. It was the counsell which that Politicke Commentar. lib. 7. Ad Deum confugiamus, & peccatis veniam precemur, inde ad amicus, & cui plurimum tribuimus, nos patesaciamus totos & animi vulnus quo affligimur, nihil ad reficiendum animum efficacius. Commineus gaue to all Princes & others distressed in minde, by occasion of Charles Duke of Burgundy, that was much perplexed, first, to pray to God, and lay himselfe open to him, and then to some speciall friend, vvhom vve hold most deare, to tell all our grievances to him, nothing so forcible to strengthen, recreate and heale the vvounded soule of a miserable man.
SVBSEC. 2. Helpe from friends, by counsell, comfort, faire and foule meanes, vvitty deuices, satisfaction, alteration of his course of life, remouing obiects &c.
VVHen the Patient of himselfe is not able to resist, o [...] ouercome these heart-eating passions, his friend; or Physitian must be ready to supply that which is wanting. If his weaknesse be such, that he cannot discerne what is amisse, correct or satisfie, it behoues them by counsell, comfort or perswasion, by faire or foule meanes to alienate his mind by some artificiall invention, or by some contrary passion, to remoue all obiects, causes, companies, occasions, as may any wayes molest him, to humor him, please him, divert him, and if it be possible, by altering his course of life, to giue him satisfaction. If he conceale his grievances, and will not be knowne of them. Observando motus, gestus, manus, pedes, oculos, phantasiam. Piso. They must obserue by his lookes, gestures, motions, phantasy, vvhat it is that offends him, and then to apply remedies vnto him: many are instantly cured, when their mindes are satisfied. Mulier melancholiâ correpta ex longâ viri peregrinatione, & iracundè omnibus respondens quum marius, domum reversus praeter spem &c. Alexander makes mention of a woman, that by reason of her husbands long absence in travel, that vvas exceeding peeuish and melancholy, but vvhen she heard her husband vvas returned, beyond all expectation, at the first sight of him she vvas freed from all feare, wvithout helpe of any other Physicke, restored to her former health. Trincavelius consil. 12. lib. 1. hath such a story of a Venetian, that being much trobled with melancholy, Prae dolore moriturus, quum nunciatum esset vxorem peperisse filium, subitò recuperauit. and ready to dye for griefe, vvhen he heard his vvife vvas brought to bed of a sonne, instantly recouered. As Alexander concludes, Nisi affectus longo tempore iusestauerit tali artificio Imaginationes curare oportet praesertim vbi malum ab his velut à primaria causa occasionem babuerit. if our Imaginations be not inveterate, by this art they may be cured, especially if they shall proceed from such a cause. No better way to satisfie, then to remoue the obiect, cause, occasion, if by any Art or meanes possibly we may finde it out. If he grieue, stand in feare, be in suspition, suspence, or any way molested, satisfie his mind, Solvitur malum, [Page 367] giue him satisfaction, the cure is ended, alter his course of life there needs no other Physick. If the party be sad, or otherwise affected, consider saith Lib. 1. cap. 16. si ex tristitia aut alio affectu ceperit speciem considera, aut aliud quid corum quae subitam alterationem sacere possunt. Trallian, the manner of it, and all circumstances, and forthwith make a sudden alteration, by remouing the occasions, avoide all terrible obiects, heard or seene, Evitandi monstrifici aspictus, &c. monstrous and prodigious aspects, tales of diuels, spirits, ghosts, tragicall stories, to such as are in feare they strike a great impression, and renew many times, and recal many chimeras and terrible fictions into their mindes. Ne (que) enim tam actio aut r [...]c [...] datio [...] edi [...] cet sed c [...] vel gestu alter us Imaginationi oduntr [...]e [...]4e [...]en [...] Galat de mor cap 7 de Tranquil praee [...]ue vitentur [...]rif [...]es. & omnia deplorantes, trā quilluati inimicus est comes perturbatus omnia gemens. Make not so much as mention of them in private talke, or a dumbe show tending to that purpose, such things saith Galateus, are offensiue to their Imagination. And to such as are in sorrow u Seneca forbids all sad companions, and such as lament, a groaning companion is an enemy to quietnesse. Illorum quo (que) hominum a quorum consortio abhorret presentia amovenda, nec sermonibus ingratis obtundendi, si quis insaniam ab insaniâ, sic curari aestimet, & proteruè vtitur magis quam aeger insanit. Crato consil. 184. Scoltzij. Or if, there be any such party with whose presence the Patient is not well pleased, he must be remoued, gentle speeches, and faire meanes must first be tried, no harsh language vsed, vncomfortable words, and not expell, as some doe, one madnesse with another, he that so doth is madder then the Patient himselfe: all things must be quietly composed, eversa non evertenda, sed erigenda, things down must not be deiected, but e [...]ea [...]ed as Crato counselleth, Moltiter ac suaviter aeger tractetur, nec adea adigatur quae non curat. he must be quietly and gently vsed, and not to doe any thing against his mind, but by little and little. As an horse that starts at a d [...]um or trumpet, and will not endure the shooting of a piece, may be so manned by Art, and animated, that he can not only endure, but is much more generous at the hearing of such things, much more couragious then before, and much delights in it: they must not be reformed ex abrupto, but by all Art & insinuation, made to such companies, aspects, obiects, they could not formerly away with. Many at first cannot endure the sight of a greene wound, a sick man, which afterward become good Surgeons bold Empericks: a horse starts at a rotten post afarre off, which comming neere, he quietly passeth. T'is much in the manner of making such kind of persons, [Page 368] be they neuer so averse from company, bashfull, solitary, timorous, they may be made at last with those Roman matrons, to desire nothing more then in a publike shew, to see a full company of gladiators breathe out their last. If they may not otherwise be accustomed to brooke such distastefull and displeasing obiects, the best way then is generally to avoide them. Montanus consil. 229. to the Earle of Momfort a courtier, and a Melancholy Patient of his, his advice is to go leaue the Court, by reason of those continual discontents, Ob suspitiones, curas, aemulationem, ambitio [...]ē, iras &c. quas locus ille ministrat, & quae secissent melancholicum. cares suspitions, emulations, ambition, anger, Ielousy, which that place afforded, and which surely caused him to be so Melancholy at first: maxima quae (que) domus seruis est plena superbis, a company of scoffers and proud Iacks, are commonly conversant & attendant in such places, and able to make any man that is of a soft quiet disposition, as many times they doe, ex stulto insanum, if once they humor him, a very Idiot or starke mad. A thing too much practised in all common societies, and they haue no better sport then to make themselues merry by abusing some silly fellow, or to take advantage of another mans weaknesse. In such cases, as in a plague; the best remedy is, citò, longè, tardè: (for to such a party, especially if he be apprehensiue, there can be no greater misery) to get him quickly gone, farre enough off, and not be ouerhasty in his returne. If he be so stupid, that he doe not apprehend it, his friends should take some order with him, and by their discretion supply that which is wanting in him, as in all other cases they ought to doe. If they see a man Melancholy giuen, solitary, averse from company, please himselfe with such private and vain Meditations, though he delight in it, they ought by all meanes to seek to divert him from it, to dehort him, to tell him of the event and danger that may come of it. If they see a man idle, that by reason of his meanes otherwise, will be take himself to no course of life, they ought seriously to admonish him, he makes a noose to intangle himself, his want of imploiment will be his vndoing. If he haue sustained any great losse, suffered a repulse, disgrace &c. if it be possible relieue him. If [Page 369] he desire ought, let him be satisfied, and if it may conveniently be, giue him his hearts content. If that may not be hoped or expected, yet ease him with comfort, chearefull speeches, faire promises, and good words, perswade him, advise him. Many saith Et nos non paucos sanavimus animi motibus ad debitum recovocatis lib. 1. de sanit. tucu. Galen haue bin cured by good counsell and perswasion alone. Heauinesse of the heart of man doth bring it dovvne, but a good word reioyceth it Prov. 12.25. and there is be that speaketh words like the pricking of a sword, but the tongue of a wise man is health Vers. 18. Oratio nam (que) saucij animi est remedium, a gentle speech is the cure of a wounded Soule, as Consol. ad Apollonium. Si quis sapienter & suo tepore adbibeat. Remedia morbis diversis diversa sunt, dolentem sermo benignus sublevat. Plutarch contends out of Aeschylus and Euripides: if it be wisely administred, it easeth griefe and paine, as diuerse remedies doe many other diseases. A wise and well spoken man may doe much in such a case, a good Orator alone, as De nat. deorū. consolatur afflictos, deducit perterritos á timore, cupiditates imprimis & iracundias comprimit. Tully holds, can alter affections by power of his eloquence, comfort such as are afflicted, erect such as are depressed, expell & mitigate feare, lust, anger &c. and how powerfull is the charme of a discreet and deare friend. Ille regit dictis animos, & temperat iras. What may not he effect? As Heauton. Act. 1. Sc. 1. Ne metue, ne verere, crede inquam mihi aut consolando, aut consilio, aut reiuvero. Chremes told Menedemus, feare not, conceale it not O friend, but tell me what it is that troubles thee, and I shall surely helpe thee by comfort, counsell, or in the matter it selfe. Novi faeneratorem avarum apud meos sic curatum, qui multam pecuniam amiserat. Arnaldus lib. 1. breviar. cap, 18. speakes of an Vsurer in his time, that vpon a losse much melancholy & discontent, was so cured. As Imagination, feare, griefe, cause such passions, so conceipts alone, rectified by good hope, counsell &c. are able again to help: and t'is incredible how much they can doe in such a case, as Lib. 1. consil. 12 Incredibile dictu quantum iuuent. Trincavelius illustrates by an example of a Patient of his. Porphyrius the Philosopher in Plotinus life, written by him, relates of himselfe, that being in a discontented humor through vnsufferable anguish of mind he was going to make a way himselfe, but meeting by chance his master Plotinus, who perceiuing by his distracted lookes all was not well, vrged him to confesse all vnto him; which when he had heard, he vsed such comfortable speeches to him, that he redeemed him è faucibus Erebi, pacified his vnquiet mind, in so much, that he was easily reconciled to himselfe, and much abashed [Page 370] to thinke afterwards that he should euer entertaine so vile a motion. By all meanes therefore, all maner of faire promises, good words, gentle perswasions are to be vsed, not to be to rigorous at first, Nemo istius modi conditionis hominibus insultet, aut in illos sit severior verum miseriae potius indilescat, vicem (que) deplo et lib 2 cap. 16. or to insult ouer them, not to deride, neglect or contemne, but rather as Lemnius exhorteth, to pitty them, and by all plausible meanes to seeke to reduce them: but it satisfactiō may not be had, milde courses, promi [...]es, comfortable speeches, & good counsell will not take place, then as Christopherus à Vega determines lib. 3. cap. 14. de Mel. to hā dle them more roughly, Cap. 7. Idem Piso. Laurentius cap 8. to threaten and chide saith Altomarus, terrify sometimes, or as Salvianus will haue them, to be lashed and whipt, as we doe by a starting horse, Quod timet nihil est, vbi cogitur & videt.that is affrighted without a cause, or as Vná vice blā diantur, vná vice ijsdem t [...]rroreni [...]cutiant. Rha sis, one while to speake faire and flatter, another while to terrifie and chide, as they shal see cause.
When none of these precedent remedies will availe, it will not be amisse, which Savanorola and Aelian Montalius so much commend, clavum clavo pellere, Si vero fucrit ex novo malo audito, vel exanimi accidente, aut de amissione mercium, aut morte amici, introducantur noua contraria his, quae ipsum ad gaudia moueant, de hoc semper niti debemus &c. to driue out one passion with another, or by some contrary passion, as they doe bleeding at nose by letting blood in the arme to expell one feare with another one griefe with another. Lib 3 ca 14. Christophorus à Vega accompts it rationall Physick, non alienum à ratione: & Lemniut much approues it, Lib. 1. cap. 5. sic morbum morbo, vt clavism clauo retūd mus & malo nodo malum cuneum adhibemus. Novi ego qui ex subito hostium incursu, & inopinato timore quartanam depulerat. to vse a hard wedge to an hard knot, to driue out one disease with another, to pull out a tooth, or wound him, that the paine of the one, may mitigate the griefe of the other, & I knew such a one that was so cured of a quartan ague, by the sudden comming of his enemies vpon him. If we may beleeue Lib. 7. cap 50. In acie pugnens febre qu [...]tana liberatus est. Pliny, whom Scaliger cals mendaciorum patrem, the father of lies, Q Fabius Maximus, that renowned Consull of Rome, in a battle fought with the King of the Allobroges, at the riuer Isaurus, was so rid of a Quartanague. Valesius in his controversies, holdes this an excellent remedy, and if it be discreetly vsed in this malady, better then any Physick.
Sometimes againe by some Iacchinus cap. 15. in 9. Rhasis. Mont. c. [...]6 fained lye, strange newes, [Page 371] witty device, artificiall invention, it is not amisse to deceiue them. As they hate those saith Lib. 1. cap. 16. aversantur eos qui ecrum affectus rident contemnunt. Si ranas aut viperas comedisse se putāt comedere, debemus & spem de cura saecere. Alexander, that neglect or deride them, so they giue eare to them that vvill sooth them vp. If they say, they haue svvallovued frogs or a snake, by all meanes grant it, and tell them you can easily cure it: t'is an ordinary thing. Philodotus the Physician cured a Melancholy King, that thought his head was off, by putting a leaden cap thereon, the weight made him perceiue it, and freed him of his fond Imagination. A woman in the said Alexander, swallowed a serpent as she thought, he gaue her a vomit, and conveyed a serpent, such as she conceiued, into the bason, vpon the sight of it she was amended. The pleasantest dotage that euer I read, saith Cap. 8. de mel. Laurentius, was of a Gentleman of Senes in Italy, who was afraid to pisse, left all the town should be drowned, the Physitians caused the bels to be rung backward, and told him the towne was on fire, wherevpon he pissed, & was immediately cured. Another thought his nose so big, that he should dash it against the wals if he stirred; his Physitian took a great peece of flesh, and holding it in his hand, pinched him by the nose, and made him beleeue that flesh was cut from it. Forestus observat. lib. 1. had a melancholy patient, who thought he was dead, Cistam posuit ex medicorum consilio prope eum in quem alium semortuum fingentem posuit, hic in cista iacens &c. he put a fellovv in a chest, like a dead man by his bed side, and made him erease himselfe a little, and eat: the melancholy man asked the counterfeit, vvhether dead men vse to eat meate, he told him yea, vvhereupon he did eate likevvise, and vvas cured. Lemnius lib. 2. cap. 6. de 4. complex. hath many such examples. And Iovianus Pontanus lib. 4. cap. 2 of Wisd. of the like: but amongst the rest I find one most memorable, registred in the French Chronicles, Series 155 [...]. of an Advocate of Paris before mentioned, who beleeued verily he was dead, &c. I read a multitude of such examples, of melancholy men so cured by such artificiall inventions.
SVBSEC. 3. Musicke a remedy.
MAny and sundry are the meanes, which Philosophers & Physitians haue prescribed to exhilerate a sorrowfull heart, to divert those fixed and intent cares and meditations, which in this malady so much offend; but in my Iudgment none so present, none so powerfull, none so apposite as a cup of strong drinke, mirth, Musick, and merry company. Ecclus 40.20. Wine and Musicke reioyce the heart. Rhasis cont. 9. Tract, 15. Altomarus cap. 7. Aelianus Montaltus cap. 26. Ficinus, Bened. Victor. Faventinus, are almost immoderate in the commendation of it, In 9. Rhasis. magnam vim habet Musica. a most forcible medicine, Cap. de Maniā. Admiranda profectò res est, & digna expensione quod sonorum concinnitas mentem emolliat, fistat (que) procellosas ipsius affectiones. Iacchinus cals it. Iason Pratensis, a most admirable thing, and worthy of consideration, that can so mollifie the Mind, and stay those tempestuous affections of it. Musica est mentis medicinae maestae, a roaring-meg against Melancholy, to ereare and reviue the languishing Soule, Languensanimus inde erigitur, & reviuiscit nec tam aures assicit, sed & sonitu per arterias vndi (que) diffuso spiritus tum vitales, tum animales excitat mentem reddens agilem &c. affecting not only the eares, but the very arteries, the vitall & animall spirits, it erects the mind, & makes it nimble. Lemnius instit. cap. 44. And this it will effect in the most dull, seuere, and sorrowfull Soules, Musica venustate suâ mentes severiores capit &c. expell griefe with mirth, and if there be any cloudes or dust, or dregs of cares yet lurking in our thoughts, most powerfully it wipes them all away. Salisbur. polic. lib. 1 cap. 6. and that which is more, it will performe all this in an instant. Animos tristes subitò exhilerat, nubilos vultus serenat, austeritatem reponit, iucunditatem exponit. Barbariem (que) facit deponere gentes; mores instituit, iracundiam mitigat. Cheare vp the countenance, expell austerity, bring in hilarity (Girald. Camb. cap. 12. Topog. Hiber.) informe our manners, mitigate anger; Athenaeus Dipnosophist lib. 14. cap, 10. calleth it, an infinite treasure to such as are indowed with it. Dulcisonum reficit tristia corda melos, Eobanus Hessus. Many other properties Cythara tristitiam iocundat, timidos furores attenuat, cruentam saeuitiam blande reficit, languorem, &c. Cassiodorus epist. 4. reckons vp of this our divine Musick, not only to expell the [Page 373] greatest griefes, but it doth extenuate feares and furies, appeaeseth cruelty, awakeneth heauinesse, and to such as are watchfull, it causeth quiet rest, it takes away splene and hatred, and cures all irksomnesse and heavinesse of the Soule: Castilio de aulic. lib. 1. fol. 72. laboring men that sing to their worke, can tell as much, and so can souldiers when they goe to fight, whō terror of death cannot so much affright, as Musick animates. It makes a child quiet, the nurses song &c. In a word it is so powerful a thing, that it ravisheth the Soule, and carries it beyond it selfe, helpes, eleuates, extends it. Scaliger exercit. 302. giues a reason of these effects, Quod spiritus qui in corde agitant, tremulum, & subsultantem recipiunt aerem in pectus, & inde excitātur, à spiritu musculs moventur &c. because the spirits about the Heart, take in that trembling and dancing aire into the Body, & are moued together, & stirred vp with it, or els the mind, as some suppose, harmonically composed, is rowsed vp at the tunes of Musicke. And t'is not only men that are affected with it, but almost all other creatures. You know the tale of Orpheus, that could saxa movere sono testudinis &c. make stocks and stones as well as beasts, other animals dance after his pipe. Arion that made M r Anthony in Descript. Cornwal, saith they wil come and dance at the sound of a trumpet.fishes follow him, which as common experience evinceth, are much affected with Musick. De cervo, equo, cane, v [...]so idem compertum musicâ afficiuntur. All singing birds are much pleased with it, especially nightingales, if we may beleue Calcagninus, and bees amongst the rest, though they be flying away, when they heare any tinkling sound, will tarry behind. Harts, hinds, horses, dogges, beares, are exceedingly delighted with it, Scal. exero. 30 2. Elephants Agrippa addes lib. 2. cap. 24. and in Lidia in the midst of a lake there be certain floating Ilands, that after good Musick will dance. But to leaue all declamatory speeches in praise of Numen inest numeris. divine Musick, I will confine my self to my proper subiect: besides that excellent power it hath to expell many other diseases, it is a soueraigne remedy against Saepē graves morbos modulatum carmen abegit, & desperatis conciliavit opem.Despaire and Melancholy, and will driue away the Divell himselfe. Canus a Rhodian Fidler in Lib. 5. cap. 7. maerentibus maerorem adim [...]m, laetantem, vero seipso reddam hilariorem, amā tem calidiorem, religiosum divino numine correptum, & ad deos colendos paratiorem. Philostratus, when Apollonius was inquisitiue to know what he could doe with his pipe, told him, that he could make a melancholy man merry, & him that was merry, much merrier then before, a louer more inamored, [Page 374] a Religious man more divine. Natalis Comes Myth. lib. 4 c. 12 Chyron the Centaure is said to haue cured this and many other Diseases by Musick alone: as now they doe those, saith Lib. 5. de rep. curat musica furorē, Sancti Viti. Bodine, that are troubled with S t Vitus bedlam dance. Exilire è convivia. Cardan. subtil. lib. 13. Timotheus the musitian compelled Alexander to skip vp & down, & leaue his dinner (like the tale of the Friar & the Boy) whom Austin de civ. dei lib. 17. c. 14. so much commends for it. Who hath not heard how Davids harmony droue away the evill spirits frō King Saul, 1. Sam. 16. and Elisha when hee was much troubled by importunate Kings, called for a Minstrell, and when hee plai'd the hand of the Lord came vpon him, 2. Kings, 3. Iason Pratensis cap. de Maniâ hath many examples, how Clinias and Empedocles cured some desperately melancholy, and some mad by musick alone. And because it hath such excellent vertues, belike Ilid. 1. Homer brings in Phemius playing, and the Muses singing at the banquet of the Gods. The Greekes & Romans, and all ciuill commonwealths haue graced Musicke, & made it one of the liberall sciences, all Princes and Emperours, and persons of any quality, maintaine it in their Courts; No mirth without Musicke. S r Thomas Moore in his absolute Vtopian commonwealth, allowes Musick as an appendix to euery meale, and that throughout to all sorts. Cormineus. Lewes the xi. when he inuited Edward the 4. to come to Paris, told him that as a principall entertainement, he should heare sweet voices of children, exquisite musicke, he should haue a—and the Cardinall of Burbon to be his Confessor, which he vsed as a most plausible argument: as to a sensuall man, indeed it is. In musicis supra onmem fidem capior & oblector choreas libentissime aspitio, pulcharum saeminarum venustate detineor otiari inter has solutus curis possum. Scaliger of himselfe ingeniously confesseth, exercit. 274. I am beyond all measure affected with Musicke, I doe most willingly behold them dance, and am mightely detained & allured with that grace and comelinesse of faire women, and I am well pleased to be idle amongst them. And what young man is not? As it is acceptable to most, so especially to a melancholy man. Provided alwaies, his disease proceed not originally from it, that he be not some light inamorato, some idle phantasticke, who capers in conceit all day long, and thinks of nothing else, but [Page 375] how to make Gigges, Sonnets, Madrigals in commendation of his Mistresse. In such cases Musicke is most pernitious, as a spurre to a free horse, it will make him runne himselfe blind or breake his wind, it will make such melancholy persons mad, and the sound of those Gigges & Horne-pipes, will not be remoued out of their eares a weeke after. Many men are melancholy by hearing musicke, but it is a pleasant melancholy that it causeth, and therefore to such as are discontent, in woe, feare, sorrow, or deiected, it is a most present remedy, it expells cares, alters their grieued minds, and easeth in an instant. Otherwise, saith Sympos. quaest. 5. musica multos magis dementat quam vinum. Plutarch, Musica magis dementat quam vinum. Musicke makes some men mad; like Astolphos horne in Ariosto: and Animi morbi vel à musica curantur vel inferuntur. Theophrastus right well prophecied, that diseases were either made by Musicke, or mittigated.
SVBSEC. 4. Mirth and merry company remedies.
MIrth and merry company may not bee separated from Musicke, both concurring and necessarily required in this businesse. Mirth saith Lib. 3. de Animâ laetitia purgat sanguinem valetudinem cō firmat, colorem induit, florentem nitidum, gratum Vives, purgeth the blood, confirmes health, causeth a fresh, pleasing fine colour, proroges life, whets the wit makes the body young and liuely and fit for any maner of imployment. The merrier heart the longer life, a merry heart is the life of the flesh, Pro. 14.30. and this is one of the three Salernitan Doctors. Doctor Merriman, D. Diet, and D. Quiet Spiritus temperat, calorem excitat, naturalem virtutem corroborat, iuuenile corpus diù seruat, vitam prorogat ingenium acuit, & hominem necotijs, quibustibet aptiorem reddit. Schola Salern. which cure all diseases. Mens hilaris, requies, moderata dieta. Dum contumeliâ vacant & festiua lenitate mordent mediocres animi aegritudines saenare solent, &c. Gomesius praefat. lib. 3. de sael. gen. is a great magnifier of honest mirth, by which (saith he) we cure many passions of the mind in our selues, & in our friends, which De mor. fol. 57. amamus ideo eos quisunt saceti & iocundi. Galateus assignes for a cause, why wee loue merry companions: and well they deserue it, being that as Regi sanit. part 2. nota quod amicus bonus & dilectus socius narrationibus suis. iucundis superat omnem melodiam. Magninus holds, a [Page 376] merry companion is better then any musicke. And as the saying is, comes incundus in viâ pro vehiculo, as good as a wagon to him that is wearied on the way. For these causes, our Physitions generally prescribe this as a principall engine, to b [...]tter the walls of Melancholy, a chiefe Antidote, and a sufficient cure of it selfe. By all meanes, saith De aegritud. capitis. omni modo generes letitiam in ijs de ijs quae audiuntur & videntur aut odorantur aut gustantur aut quocun (que) modo sentiri possut, & aspectu formarū multi decoris & ornatus & negotiatione incunda & blandientibꝰ ludis & promissis distrahantur eorum animi de re aliqua quam timent aut dolent. Mesue procure mirth to such men, in such things as are heard, seene, tasted, or smelled or any way perceaued, and let them haue all entisements & faire promises, the sight of excellent beauties, tiars, ornaměts, delightsome passages, to distract their minds from feare and sorrow, and such things on which they are so fixed and intent. Vtantur venationibꝰ, ludis, iocis, amicorum consortijs, quae non sinunt animum turbari vino & cantu & loci mutatione & biberiâ & gaudio, ex quibus praecipus delectantur. Let them vse Hunting, sports, playes, iests, merry company, as Rhasis prescribes, which will not let the minde to be molested, a cup of good drinke now and then, heare musicke and such companions, with whom they are especially delighted, or such sports. Piso. Ex fabulis & ludis quaerenda delectatio Altomarus cap. 7. His versetur qui maxime grati sunt, cantus & chorea adlaetitiam prosunt. Merry tales, or toyes, singing, dancing, and whatsoeuer else may procure mirth: and by no means Praecipue valet ad expellendam melancholiam stare in cantibus, ludis & sonis & habitare cum familiaribus & praecipue cum puellis iocundis., saith Guianerius, suffer them to be alone. Benedictus Victorius Faventinus in his Empericks, accounts it an especiall remedy against Melancholy, to heare and see singing, dancing, maskers, mummers, to converse with such merry fellowes, and faire maides. Not to bee an auditor only, or a spectator, but sometimes an Actor himselfe. Dulce est desipere in loco, to play the foole now & then is not amisse, there is a time for all things. Socrates himselfe would be mery sometimes, and sing, and dance, and take his liquór too, or else Theodoret belies him, and old Cato and the rest. Xenophon in his Sympos. brings in Socrates as a principall actor, no man merrier then himselfe, and sometimes he would ride a cockhorse with his children, though Valer. Max. cap. 8. lib. 8. Interposita arundine cruribus suis cum silijs ludens ab Alcibiade risus est. Alcibiades scoffed at him for it; and well he might for now and then, saith Plutarch, the most vertuous, honest, and grauest men will vse Feasts, iests, and toyes, as we do [...] sauce to our meats. Machiauel in [Page 377] the 8 th book of his Florentine history, giues that note of Cosmus Medices, the wisest and grauest man of his time in Italy, That he would Hominibus facetis & ludis puerilibus vltra modum deditus, adeo vt si cui in eo tam grauitatem quam leuitatem considerare liberet, duas personas distinctas in eo esse diceret. sometimes play the most egregious foole in his carriage, and was so much giuen to iesters, players, and childish sports to make himselfe merry, that he that should but consider his gravity on the one part, his folly and lightnesse on the other, would surely say that there were two distinct persons in him. And me thinks he did well in it, though De nugis curial. lib. 1.4. magistratus & viri graues à ludis levioribus arcendi. Salisburiensis be of opinion that Magistrats, Senators, and graue men should not descend to lighter sports, ne respub. ludere videatur: But as Themistocles, still keep a sterne and constant carriage. I commend Cosmus Medices, and that Castruccius Castrucanus, then whom Italy neuer knewe a worthier Captaine, another Alexander, if Machiauel doe not deceaue vs in his life: when a friend of his reprehended him for dancing beside his dignity (belike at some cushen dance) he told him againe, qui sapit interdiù, vix vnquā noctu desipit, he that is wise in the day, may dote a little in the night. Machiauel vita eius, ab amico reprehensus quod praeter dignitatem tripudijs operam daretrespondit, &c Paulus Iovius relates as much of Pope Leo Decimus, that he was a graue, discreet, stai'd mā, and yet sometimes most free and too open in his sports. And t'is not altogether There is a time for all things, to weepe, laugh, mouine, and dance, Eccles, 3.4. vnfitte or misbeseeming the gravity of such a man, if that Decorum of time and place, and such circumstances be obserued. Hor. Misce stultitiam consilijs brevem, and as S r Iohn Harrington Epig. 50. he said in an Epigram to his wife, I would haue every man say to himselfe, or to his friend.
Those old Lil. Giraldus hist. deor. Syntag. 1. Greekes had their Lubentiam Deam goddesse of Pleasance, and those Lacedemonians instructed from Lycurgus did Deo Risuisacrificare, after their warres especially & in times of peace, which was vsed in Thessaly, as it appeares by that of Lib. 2. de aur. as. Apuleius, who was made an instrument of their laughter himselfe: Eò quod risus esset laboris & modesti victus condimentum. Because laughter and merriment was to season their labours and modester life. C. Calcag. epig. Risus enim divûm at (que) hominum est aeterna voluptas. Princes vse Iesters, Players, and haue those Masters of Revels in their Courts. The Romanes at euery supper (for they had no solemne dinners) vsed musicke, Gladiators, Iesters, &c. And so did the Greekes. Besides musicke, in Xenophons Sympos. Philippus ridendi artifex, Philip a Iester was brought in to make sport. Ctesias reports of a Persian King, that had 150 Maids attending at his table to play, sing, and dance by turnes, and Syntag. de Musis. Lil. Giraldus of an Aegyptian Prince that kept 9. Maids still to wait vpon him, and those of most excellent feature and sweet voices, which afterwards gaue occasion to the Greekes of that fiction of the 9. Muses. And this and many such meanes, to exhilerate the hearts of men, haue beene still practised in all ages, as knowing there is no better thing to the preseruation of mans life. What shall I say then, but to euery melancholy man,
And as Marsilius Ficinus concludes an Epistle to Bernard Canisianus, and some other of his friends, will I to all good students. Vivite ergo laeti O amici procul ab angustia vivite laeti. Liue merrily O my friends, free from cares, perplexity, anguish, griefé of minde, liue merrily, laetitià coelum vos creavit, Jterum precor & obtestor viuite leti illud quod cor vrit negligite. Againe and againe, I request you to be merry; if anything trouble your hearts, or vex your soules, neglect and contemne it, Laetus in praesens animus quod vltra oderit curare, Hor let it passe. He was both Sacerdos & Medicus, haec autem non tam vt sacerdos animi mando vobis quam vt medicus nam abs (que) hác vnâ tânquâ medicinarū omniam vitâ medicinae omnes ad vitam producendam adhihitae moriuntur. viuite laeti. And this I inioyne you not as a Divine alone, but as a Physitian, for without this mirth, which is the life & Quintescence of all Physicke, all medicines & whatsoeuer is vsed or applied to prolong the life of man, is dull, dead, & of no force, dū fata sinunt vivite laeti, Seneca. Be merry. It was Tiresias the Prophets counsell to Lucian Necyomantia. To 2. Menippus, that trauelled all the world ouer, and downe to Hell it selfe to seeke content, and his last farewell to Menippus, to be merry. Omnia mundana nugas aestima. hoc solū totà vitâ persequere vt praesentibus benè compositis, minimè curiosus, aut vlla in re sollicitus, quamplurimum potes vitam hilarem traducas. Contemne the World (said he) and count all that is in it vanity and toyes, this onely couet all thy life long, not be curious, or ouer sollicitous in any thinge, but with a well composed and contented state to inioy thy selfe, and aboue all things to be merry. T'is the same advice which euery Physitian in this case rings to his patient, as Capivacoious to his, Hildesheim Spicel. 2 de Man. sol. 161. Studia literarum & animi perturbationes fugiat & quantum potest incundè vivat aevoid overmuch study and perturbations of the mind, and as much as in thee lies liue at hearts ease. Prosper Calenus to that melancholy Cardinal Caesius, Lib. de atra bile. Grauioribus curis ludos & facetias aliquando interpone iocos & quae solent animum relaxere. amidst thy serious studies and businesses, vse iests and conceits, playes, & toyes, and whatsoeuer else may recreate thy minde. Nothing better then mirth, and merry company in this malady, Consil. 30. Mala valetudo aucta ac consracta est tristitiâ, ac propterea exhileratione animi remouenda. It beginnes with sorrow, saith Montanus, it must bee expelled with hilarity.
But see the mischiefe, many men knowing that merry cō pany is the only medicine against melancholy, will therefore neglect all other businesse, and in another extreame spend all [Page 380] their daies amongst good fellows in a Tauerne, or an Alehouse, and knowe not otherwise how to spend their time but in drinking. Florishing wits and men of good parts, good fashion, good worth, basely prostitute themselues to euery rogues company, to take Tobacco, and drinke, to sing scurrile songs. Iuven. Sat. 8. Invenies aliquem cum percussore iacentem, permistum nautis aut furibus, aut fugitivis. which Thomas Erastus obiects to Paracelsus: that he would lie drinking al day long with Car-men and Tapsters in a brothell house. They drown their wits, seeth their braines in ale, consume their fortunes, loose their time, weaken their temperatures, and confound their Soules, goe from Scilla to Charybdis, and vse that which is an helpe to their vndoing, Hor. Quid refert ferro per eamuè ruinâ? As good be melancholy still as drunken beggers. Company a sole comfort, and an only remedy to al manner of discontent, is their sole misery and cause of perdition, as Hermione lamented in Euripides, malae mulieres me fecerunt malam. Euill company mar'd her, may they iustly complaine bad companions haue beene their bane. For, Ter. malus malum vult vt sit sui similis, one drunkard in a company, one theefe, one whoremaster, will by his good will make all the rest as bad as himselfe, Hor. Etsi nocturnos iures te formidaere vapores, bee of what complection you will, inclination, loue or hate, be it good or bad, if you come amongst them you must doe as they doe, yea [...]. though it bee to the preiudice of your health you must drinke. And so like Grashoppers, whilst they sing ouer their cuppes all summer, they starue in winter, and for a little vaine merriment, shall finde a sorrowfull reckoning in the end.
SECT. 3.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. A Consolatary Digression, containing the Remedies of all maner of Discontents.
BEcause in the praecedent Section, I haue made mention of good counsell, comfortable speeches, perswation, how necessarily they are required to the cure of a discontented or troubled mind, how present a remedy they yeeld, and many times a sole sufficient cure of themselues; I haue thought fit in this following Section a little to Digresse, (if at least it bee to digresse in this subiect) and to collect and gleane a few remedies, and comfortable speeches out of our best Orators, Philosophers, Diuines, and Fathers of the Church, tending to this purpose. I confesse many haue copiously written of this subiect, Plato, Seneca, Plutarch, Xenophon, Epictetus, Theophrastus, Xenocrates, Crantor, Lucian, Boëthius, and so of late, Sadoletus, Cardan, Budeus, Stella, Petrarch, Erasmus, Lib. de lib. propriis Hos libros scio multos spernere, nam faelices his se non indigere putant, infaelices ad solatium miseriae non sufficere. Et tamen faelicibus moderationem, dum inconstantiam humanae faelicitatis docent praestant, infaelices si omnia rectè aestimare velint faelices reddere possunt. besides Austin, Cyprian, Bernard. &c. And I shall but actum agere, yet because these Tracts are not so obuious and common, I will Epitomise and briefly insert some of their diuine precepts, reducing their voluminous and vast Treatises to my small scale, for it were otherwise impossible to bring so great vessels into so small a creeke. And although (as Cardan said of his booke de consil:) I knowe before hand, this Tract of mine many will contemne and reiect: they that are fortunate, happy, and in flourishing estate, haue no need of such consolotary speeches; they that are miserable and vnhappy, thinke them vnsufficient to ease their grieued minds, & comfort their misery. Yet I will goe on, for this must needs doe some good to such as are happy, to bring them to a moderation, and make them reflect on and knowe themselues, by seeing the vnconstancy of humane felicity, others misery: and to such as are distressed, [Page 382] if they will but attend and consider of it, it cannot chuse but giue some content and comfort. Nullum medicamentum omnes sanare potest, sunt affectus animi qui prorsus sunt insanabiles, non tamen artis opus sperni debet, aut medicine, aut Philosophiae. T'is true no medicine can cure all diseases, some affections of the mind are altogether incurable, yet these helps of art, Physicke and Phylosophy must not be contemned. Arrianus and Plotinus are stiffe in the contrary opinion, that such precepts can doe little good, but sure I thinke they cannot chuse but doe some, and vpon that hope I will aduenture. Hor. Non mens hie sermo, sed quem precepit. Not my speech this, but of Seneca, Plutarch, Epictetus, Austin, Bernard, Christ and his Apostles. If I make nothing, as Lib. 2. Essays, cap. 6. Montagne said in like case, I wil marre nothing, t'is not my doctrine but my study, & I hope I shall doe no body wrong to speak what I thinke, & shall not be blamed in imparting my mind. If it be not for thy ease, it may for mine owne, so Tully, Cardan, and Boethius writ de consol. as well to helpe themselues as others, be it as it will, I will assay.
Discontents and grieuances are either generall or particular: generall are warres, Plagues, dearths, fires, inundations, vnseasonable weather, Epidemicall diseases which afflict whole kingdomes, territories, citties: or peculiar to priuate men, Alium paupertas alium orbitas, hunc morbiillum timor, alium iniuriae hunc insidiae illum vxor filij distrahūt. Card. as cares, losses, death of friends, pouerty, wan [...], sicknes, orbities, iniuries, abuses, &c. generally all discontent, Boethius lib. 1. met. 5. homines quatimur fortunae salo. No condition free, quis (que) suos patimur manes. Euen in the midst of our mirth and i [...]llity there is some grudging, some complaint, as Apuleius 4. storid. Nihil homini tam prosperè datum divinitus quin ei admixtum sit aliquid difficultatis in amplissima qua (que) laetitia subest quaedam querimonia coniugatione quadam mellis & fellis. he saith our whole life is a Glucupicron, a bitter sweet passion, hony & gall mixt together, we are all miserable and discontent who can deny it? If all, and that it be a common calamity an inevitable necessity, all distressed, then as Cardan inferres, Si omnes premantur quis tu es qui solus evadere cupis ab ca lege quae neminem praeterit, cur te non morta [...]emsa [...]tum & vniuersi orbis regem fieri non doles. who art thou that hopest to goe free? Why dost thou not grieue thou art a mortall man, & not gouernour of the world? Ferre quam sortē patientèr omnes nemo recuset. Puteanus epist. 75. Ne (que) cuiquam praecipuè dolendum in eo quod acciait vniversis. If it be common to all, why should one man be more disquieted then another? If thou alone wer'st distressed, [Page 383] it were indeed more irksome, and lesse to be indured, but when the calamity is common, comfort thy selfe with this, thou hast more fellowes, Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris, t'is not thy sole case, and why shouldst thou be more impatient? Lorchan Gallobelgieus lib. 3. Anno 1598. de Belgis. Sed ehe [...] inquis euge quid agamu [...]-vbi pro Epithalanis Bellonae stagellū, pro musica [...]armenia terribiliū lituorum & titbarum audios clangorem, pro [...] taedis nuptiali- [...] bus villarum pagorum vrbium videas incendis, vbi pro iubilo lamenta, prorisufietus aerem cō plent. I, but alas wè are more miserable then others what shall we doe? besides private miseries, we liue in perpetuall feare and danger of common enimies, we haue Bollonas whips and pitifull outcries, for Epithalamiums; for pleasant musick, that feare full noyse of ordinance, Drummes, and war-like Trumpets still sounding in our eares; insteed of nuptiall torches wee haue firing of townes and citties; for triumphs, lamentations; for ioy, teares. Jta est profecto & quisquis haec videre abnuis huic saeculo parum aptus es aut potius nostrorum omnium conditionem ignoras quibus reciproco quodam nexu laeta tristibus, tristia laetis invicem succedunt. So it is, and so it was, and ever will be. And hee that refuseth to see and heare this, to suffer this is not fit to liue in this world, & knowes not the common condition of all men, to whom so long as they liue with a reciprocall course ioyes and sorrowes are annexed, and succeed one another. It is ineuitable it may not bee avoided, & why thē shouldst thou be so much troubled? Grave nihil est homini quod fert necessitas, as In Tusc. è vet. Poeta. Tully deemes out of an old Poet, that which is necessary, cannot be greiuous. If it be so, then comfort thy selfe in this. Cardan. lib. 1 de consol. est consolationis genus non leue, quod à necessitate sit siue feras, fiue non feras ferendum est tamen. That whether thou wilt or no, it must be indured: make a vertue of necessity, and conforme thy selfe to vndergoe it, Seneca. Si longa est levis est, si gravis est brevis est, If it be long t'is light, if grieuous it will not long last. It will away, dies dolorem minuit, & if naught else, yet time will weare it out, Omni dolori tempus est medicina ipsum luctum extingit iniurias delet omnis mali oblivionem affe [...]t. obliuion is a common medicine for all losses, iniuries, griefes, and detriments whatsoeuer, Habet hoc quo (que) commodum omnis infelicitas suaviorem vitam cum abierit relinquit. & when they are once past, this commodity comes of infelicity, it makes the rest of our life sweeter vnto vs. Virg. At (que) haec olim meminisse iuuabit, the privation & want of a thing many times makes it more pleasant and delightsome then before it was. Wee must not thinke the happiest of vs all to escape here without some misfortunes, Heauen and Earth are much vnlike. d Those heavenly [Page 384] bodies indeed are freely carried in their orbes without any impediment or interruption, Lorchan. Sunt nam (que) infera superis humana terrenis longè disparia. Etenim beatae mentes feruntur liberè & sine vllo impedimento stellae aetherij (que) erbes cur sus & conversiones suas iam saeculis innura erabilibus constantissimè cōficiūt: verum homines magnis angustijs. Ne (que) hac naturae lege est quisquā mortalium solutus. to continue their course for innumerable ages, and make their conversions, but men are vrged with many difficulties, and haue many hinderances, oppositions, still crossing, interrupting their indeavours and desires. And no mortall man is free from this law of nature. We must not therefore hope to haue all things answere our owne expectation, & to haue a continuance of our good successe and fortunes. Fortuna nunquam perpetuò est bona, and as Minutius Faelix the Roman Consul told that insulting Coriolanus, drunke with his good fortunes, looke not for that successe thou hast hitherto had, Dionysius Halicar. lib. 8. non enim vnquam contigit, nec post homines natos invenies quenquam cui omnia ex animi sententiâ successerint, ita vt nulla in re fortuna sit ei adversata. It never yet happened to any man since the beginning of the world, nor ever will to haue all things according to his desire, or to whom fortune was never opposite and averse. Whatsoeuer is vnder the Moone is subiect to corruption, alteration, and so long as thou liuest vpon earth looke not for other. In terris purū illum aetherem non invenies, & serenos animos, nimbos potius procellas, calumnias. Lips. cent. misc. ep. 8. Thou shalt not here finde peaceable and chearefull daies, quiet times, but rather clouds, stormes, calumnies, such is our fate.
I, but thou thinkest thou art more miserable then the rest, other men are happy in respect of thee, their miseries are but flea-bitings to thine, thou alone art vnhappy, none so bad as thy selfe. Yet if as Socrates said, Si omnes homines sua mala s [...]as (que) curas in vnum cumulum conferrent aequis divisuri portionibus, &c. All the men in the world should come and bring their grievances together, of body, minde, fortune, sores, vlcers, madnesse, Epilepsies, agues, and all those common calamities of beggery, want, servitude, imprisonment, and lay them on a heape to bee equally divided, wouldst thou share alike and take thy portion, or be as thou art? Without question thou wouldst be as thou art: Quod vnusquis (que) propria mala novit, aliorum nesciat, in causa est, vt se inter alios miserum putet. Cardan. lib. 3. de Consol. Plutarch. de Consol ad Apollonium. every man knowes his owne but not other mens defects & miseries; and 'tis the nature of all men still to reflect vpon themselues, their owne misfortunes, not to examine or consider other mens, not to conferre themselues with others. To recount their miseries, [Page 385] but not their good gifts, fortunes, benefits, which they haue, to ruminate on their aduersity, but not once to think on their prosperity, not what they haue, but what they want, to look still on them that goe before them, but not on those infinite numbers that come after them. Quam multas putas quise coelo proximos putarent totidem regulos si de fortunae tuae reliquijs pars ijs minima contingat. Boeth. de consol. lib. 2. pros 4. Where as many a man would thinke himselfe in heauen, a petty Prince, if he had but the least part of that fortune which thou so much repinest at, abhorrest & accountest a most vile, a wretched estate. How many thousāds want that which thou hast, how many myrriades of poore slaues, captiues, of such as worke day and night in Cole-pits, Tinne mines, with sore toile to maintaine a poore liuing, of such as labour in body and mind, liue in extreame-anguish, & pain, all which thou art free frō. O fortunatos nimiū bona si sua norint, thou art most happy, if thou couldst be content, When thou commest here after to want that which now thou hast thou wilt say thou wast happy. and acknowledge thy happinesse, be silent then, Hesiod. 1. oper. Esto quod es quod sunt alii sine quemlibet esse, quod nō es nolis, quod potes esse velis. rest satisfied, desine, intuens (que) in aliorum infortunia solare mentem, comfort thy selfe with other mens misfortunes, and as the moldiwarpe in Aesope told the Fox, complaining for want of a taile, and the rest of his companions, tacete quando me oculis captum videtis, you complain of toyes, but I am blind, be quiet. It is Aesop. Fab. said of the Hares, that with a generall cōsent they went to drown themselues, out of a feeling of their misery, but when they saw a company of Frogges more fearefull then they were, they began to take courage and comfort themselues. Confer thine estate with others, Similes aliorum respice caesus, mitiùs istaferes. Be content and rest satisfied, for thou art well in respect of others, consider aright of it, thou art full wel as thou art. Seneca. Quicquid vult habere nemo potest, no man can haue what he will, Illud potest nolle quod non habet. Hee may chuse whether he will desire that which he hath not. Thy lot is falne, make the best of it. Si dormirent semper omnes nullus alio faelicior esset. Cardan If we should all sleepe at all times, who then were happier thē his fellow? Our life is but short, a very dream and while we looke about, Seneca de Ira Immortalitas adest, eternity is at hand. Plato Axiocho. An ignoras vitam hanc perigrinationem &c quam sapientes cum gaudio percurrunt. Our life is a pilgrimage on earth, which wise men passe with great alacrity. If thou be in woe, sorrow, want, or distresse, in paine or sicknesse, thinke of that of our Apostle, [Page 386] God chastiseth them whom he loueth: They that sowe in teares, shall reap in ioy, Ps. 126.6. As the Fornace proueth the Potters vessell, so doth temptation try mens thoughts, Ecclus 25.5. 'tis for Sic expedit, medicus non dat quod patiens vult sed quod ipse bonum seit. thy good. Perijsses nisi perijsses. Hadst thou not beene so visited, thou hadst beene vtterly vndone, as gold in the fire, so men are tried in adversity, Deus vnicum habet filium sine peccato nullum sine flagello: God, saith Confess 6. Austin, had one Sonne without sinne, none without correction. Nauclerum tempestas, athletam stadium, ducem pugna, magnanimum calamitas, Christianum vero lē tatio probat & examinat. An expert sea man is tried in a tempest, a runner in a race, a Captaine in a battle, a valiant man in adversity, a Christian in temptation and misery, Basil. Homil. 8. Wee are sent as so many souldiers into this world, to striue with the world, flesh, diuell, our life is a warfare, and who knowes it not, Ideo Deus asperum fecit iter ne dum delectantur in viâ obliviscantur eorum quae sunt in patria. and therefore peradventure this world here is made troublesome vnto vs, that as Gregory notes, we should not be delighted by the way, and forget whether we are going.
Goe on merrily to heauen. If the way bee troublesome, and you in misery, in many grieuances, on the other side you haue many pleasant obiects, sweet smells, delight some tasts, musick, meats, hearbs, flowres, &c. to recreat your senses. Or put case thou art now forsaken of the world, deiected, cōtemned, yet comfort thy selfe, as it was said to Agar in the Wildernes, Boeth. pros [...]ult Manet spectator cunctorum desuper praescius deus, bonis praemia malis supplicia dispensans. God sees thee, he takes notice of thee. There is a God aboue that can vindicate thy cause, that can relieue thee. For thy part then cast all thy care on him, thy burden on him, rely on him 1. Pet. 5.7. Psal. 55.22. trust in him, and he shall nourish thee, care for thee, giue thee thine hearts desire, say with David. God is our hope & strength in troubles ready to be found. 46.1. for they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion, which cannot be remoued. Ps. 1 24.1.2 as the mountaines are about Ierusalem, so is the Lord about his people, from hence forth and for ever.
MEMB. 2. Deformity of Body. Sicknesse. Basenesse of Birth, peculiar Discontents.
PArticular discontents and grieuances, are either of Body, Mind, Fortune, which as they wound the Soule of man, and produce this of melancholy, and many great inconueniences, by that Antidote of good counsell and perswasiō they may be eased or expelled. Deformities and imperfections of our bodies, as lamenesse, crookednesse, deafenesse, blindnesse, be they innate or accidentall torture many men: yet this may comfort them, that those imperfections of the body doe not a whit blemish the soule, or hinder the operations of it, but rather help and much increase it. Thou art lame of Body, deformed to the eye, yet this hinders not but that thou maist be a good, a wife, vpright honest man. Rarò sub eadē lare honestas & forma habitant. Seldome, saith Plutarch Honesty and Beauty dwell together. And oftentimes vnder a thredbare coat, lies an excellent vnderstanding, saepe sub attritâ latitat sapientia veste. A silly fellow to looke to, may haue more wit, learning, honesty, then he that struts it out Ampullis iactans, &c. and is admired in the worlds opinion, Vilis saepè cadus nobile nectar habet. The best wine comes out of an old vessel. How many deformed Princes, Kings, Emperours, could I reckon vp, Philosophers, Orators, Hanniball had one eye, Appius Claudius, Timoleon, blind, Iohn King of Bohemia, and Tiresias the Prophet. Nox habet suas voluptates. The night hath his pleasures; and for the losse of that one sense, such men are commonly recō penced in the other; they haue excellent memories, and other good parts, musicke, and many recreations. Many Philosophers and Diuines haue euirated themselues, and put out their eyes voluntarily the better to contemplate. Angelus Politianus had a tetter in his nose continually running, fulsome in company, yet no man so eloquent and pleasing in his workes. Aesope crooked, Socrates purblind, long legged, [Page 388] hairy, and Democritus withered, Seneca leane and harsh, vgly to behold, yet shew me so many flourishing wits, such divine spirits. Rebid. vit. eius. Ignatius Loiola the founder of the Iesuits, by reason of an hurt he receaued in his legge, at the siege of Pampelona the chiefe towne of Nauarre in Spaine, vnfit for warres and lesse serviceable at Court, vpon that accident betooke himselfe to his beads, and by that meanes got more honour, then ever he should haue done with the vse of his limmes, & propernesse of person, Macrobius. Vulnus non penetrat animam: a wound hurts not the Soule. Galba the Emperour was crookbacked, Epictetus lame, that great Alexander a little man of stature, Augustus Caesar of the same pitch A Alexander Gaguinus hist. Polandiae. Corpore parvus eram cubito vix altior vno, sed tamen in parvo corpore magnus eram. Dom. 1306. Vlad [...]slaus Cubitalis that Pigmy king of Poland raigned, & fought more victorious battles, then any of his long shanked predecessors. Nullam virtus respuit staturam, Virtue refuseth no stature, and commonly your great vast bodies, and fine features, are sottish and dull, leaden spirits. Their body, saith Lib. 2. cap. 20. oneri est illis corporis moles, & spiritus minus viuidi. Lemnius, is a burden to them, and their spirits not so liuely, nor they so erect and merry. Non est in magno corpore mica saelis. Let Bodine in his 5. cap. method. hist. plead the rest, the lesser they are, as in Asia, Greece, they haue generally the finest wits.
Sicknesse, diseases trouble many, but without a cause, Multis ad salutem anime profuit corporis agritudo, Petrarch. It may be 'tis for the good of their Soules. Pars fati fuit, the flesh rebels against the spirit, that which hurts the one, must needs help the other. Sicknesse is the mother of modesty, and putteth vs in mind of our mortality, and when we are in the full careere of worldly pompe and iollity, shee pulleth vs by the eare, and maketh vs knowe our selues. Lib [...]7. summa est totius Philosophiae si tales, &c. Pliny calls it the summe of Phylosophy, If wee could but performe that in our health which we promise in our sicknesse. And were it not for such gentle remembrances, men would haue no moderation of themselues, they would be wourse then Tigers, Lions. If thy disease be continuate & painefull to thee, it will not surely last: beare it with patience, women endure much sorrow in childbed, and yet they will not containe, and those that are barren wish for this pain: be couragious, Non tam mari quam praelio virtus etiam lecto exhibetur. vincetur aut vincet aut tu sebrē relinques aut ipsate. Seneca. There is as much valor [Page 389] to be shewed in thy bed, as in an army, or at a sea-fight, aut vincetur aut vincet, thou shalt be rid at last. In the mean time let it take his course, thy mind is not any way disabled. Bilibaldus Pirkimerus Senator to Charles the 5. ruled all Germany lying most part of his dayes sicke on the gout vpon his bed. The more violent thy torture is, the lesse it will continue: and though it be seuere and hideous for the time, comfort thy selfe as Martyres doe, with honour and immortality.
Basenesse of birth is a great disparagement to some men, especially if they be wealthy, beare office, and come to promotion in a commonwealth, then as Boethius lib. 2 pros. 4. huic sensus exuperat sed est pudori degener sanguis. hee obserues, if their birth be not answerable to their calling, and to their fellows, they are much abashed and ashamed of them selues. Some scorne their own father and mother, deny brothers & sisters, and the rest of their kindred and friends, and will not suffer them to come neere them, when they are in their pompe, accounting it a scandall to their greatnesse, to haue such beggerly beginnings. Simon in Lucian hauing now got a little wealth, changed his name from Simon to Simonides, because there were so many beggers of his kinne, and set the house on fire where he was borne, because no body should point at it. Others buy titles and cotes of Armes, and by all meanes skrew themselues into ancient families, falsifying pedegrees, vsurping Scutchions, and all because they would not seeme to be base. The reason is, for that this Gentility is so much admired by a company of outsides, and so much honour attributed vnto it, Gasper. Ens polit. thes. as amongst Frenchmen and Venetians the Gentry scorne the Commonalty, and will not suffer them to match with them, they depresse them, and make them as so many Asses to carry burdens. In our ordinary talke and fallings out, the most opprobrious and most scurrile name we can fasten vpon a man, or first giue, is to call him base rogue, beggarly rascall, and the like. Whereas in my iudgement this ought of all other grieuances to trouble men least, of all vanities & fopperies, to brag of gentility is the greatest; for what is it they crake so much of, and challenge such superiority, as if [Page 390] they were demy-Gods? Birth? it is, non ens: a meere flash, a ceremony, a toy, a thing of naught. Consider the beginning, present estate, progresse, ending, and then tell mee what it is? Alij pro pecunia emunt nobilitatem, alij illū lenacinio alij ve, neficijs, alii parricidiis multis proditio nobilitatem conciliat, pleri (que) adulatione detractione, calumniis, &c. Agrippa de vanit. sci. Oppression, fraud, cosening, vsury knauery, baudery, murder, & tyranny, are the beginnings of many ancient families: Ex homicidio saepe orta nobilitas & strenuâ carnificinâ. One hath beene a bloodsucker, a parricide, the death of many a silly soule in some vniust quarrels, and seditions, made many an Orphan and poore widdow, and for that he is made a Lord or an Earle, and his posterity Gentlemen for ever after. Another hath beene a Bawd, a Pander to some great man, a parasite, a slaue Plures ob Prostitutas filias vxores nobiles facti, multos venationes, rapinae, raedes praestigia, &c. prostituted himselfe, his wife, daughter, to some lasciuious Prince, and for that he is exalted. Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous whoremasters, and sturdy drinkers; Many come into this roe by flattery or cosening, search your old families, and you shall scarce finde of a multitude, as Aeneas Silvius obserues, qui sceleratum non habent ortum. Cum enim hos dici nobiles videmus qui divitiis abundant, divitiae veroraro virtutis sunt comites, quis nō vidit ortum nobilitatis degenerem, hunc vsurae ditarunt, illum spolia, proditiones, hic venesitiis ditatus, ille adulationibus huic adulteria lucrum pr [...]bent. nonnullis mendacia, quidam ex coniuge quaestum faciunt, pleri (que) ex natis &c. That haue not a wicked beginning. They are commonly noble that are wealthy, and vertue and riches seldome settle on one man, who then sees not the base beginning of nobility, spoyles enrich one, vsury another, treason a third, witchcraft a fourth, flattery a fift, lying, stealing, bearing false witnesse a sixt, adultery the seauenth, &c. One makes a foole of himselfe to make his Lord merry, another dandles my young master, a third marries a crackt peece, &c. Now may it please your good worship, your Lordship, who was the first founder of your family? the Poet answers, ‘ q Aut Pastor fuit, aut illud quod dicere nolo.’ Are he or you the better Gentleman? If he, then we haue traced him to his forme. If you, what is it of which thou boastest of so much that thou art his sonne. Thy great great great Grandsier was a rich citizen, and then in all likelyhood an Vsurer, a Lawyer, and then a — a Courtier and then a — a country Gentleman, and then he scraped it out of sheep &, &c. And you are his heire of all his vertues, fortunes, titles, so then what is your gentry, but as Hierom saith, Opes antiquae, [Page 391] inveteratae divitiae, ancient wealth. That is the definition of gentility. The Father goes often to the Diuell to make his Son a Gentleman. For the present. What is it? It began, saith Robusta improbitas. à tyrannide incepta, &c. Agrippa, with strong impiety, with tyranny, oppression, &c. and so it is maintained, wealth beganne it, (no matter how got) wealth con [...]inueth and increaseth it. Those Roman Knights were so called, if they could dispend per annum so much, Gasper Ens thesauro Polit. In the Kingdome of Naples, and France, he that buies such lands buies the honour, title, Barony together with it, & they that can dispend so much amongst vs, must be called to beare office, to be Knights or fine for it. And what now maintaines our Gentry but wealth, Hor. Nobilitas sine reproiectâ vilior algâ. Without wealth Gentry is nothing worth, nothing so contemptible & base. Syl [...]up. lib. 4. num 111. Disputare de nobilitate generis sine diuitijs, est disputare de nobilitate stercoris, saith Neuisanus the Lawyer, to dispute of gentry without wealth, is (sauing your reuerence) to discusse the originall of a Mard. So that it is wealth alone that denominates, that which maintains it, giues esse to it: & what is their ordinary exercise, wherein lies their worth and sufficiency? Omnium nobilium sufficientia in eo probatur si venaticam, noverint si ale [...], si corporis vires ingentibus poculis commonstrēt si naturae robur numeroso venere probent, &c. If hee can hauk & hunt, ride a horse, play at Cards & dice, swagger & drinke, take Tobacco with a grace, weare his cloaths in fashion, court and please his mistris, talke bigge sustian, Dissicile est vt non sit superbus dives Austin. ser. 24. insult, scorne, contemne others, and vse a little mimicall and apish complement aboue the rest, hee is a compleat, well qualified Gentleman, these are most of their imployments. What is Gentry, Nobility then but as Nobilitas nihil aliud nisi improbitas, furor, rapina, latrocinium, humicidium, luxus, venatio, violentia &c. Agrippa defines it, a sanctuary of knauery & naughtinesse, a cloake for vvickednes, & execrable vices, of pride, fraud, contēpt, boasting, oppression, dissimulation, lust, gluttony, malice, fornicatiō, adultery, ignorance, impiety, a nobleman therefore in some likelyhood, as he concludes, an Atheist, an oppressor, an Epicure, The foole took away my Lord in the maske t'was apposite. a gull, a disard, an illiterat idiot, an outside, a proud foole, & an arrant asse. What doest thou vant of now? Miraris aureas vestes, equos, canes ordinem famulorum, lautas mensas, aedes villas, praedia, piscinas, sylvas, &c. haec omnia stultus assequi potest. Pandalus noster lenocinio nobilitatus est. Aenaeas Sylvius. What doest thou gape & vvonder at? admire him for his braue apparell, [Page 392] horses, dogges, braue houses, manors, orchards, gardens, vvalkes? Bellonius observ. lib. 2. Why, a foole may be possessor of this as vvell as he, and he that accounts him a better man, a noble man for hauing it, he is a foole himselfe Now goe and brag of thy gentility? This is it belike which makes the Turkes at this day scorne nobility, and all those huffing bumbast titles, which so much elevate their poles: except it be such as haue got it at first, or maintaine by some supereminent quality, or excellent worth, And for this cause the Ragusian common-wealth, Suitzers, & the Vnited Provinces, exclude all such degrees of hereditary honors, and will admit of none to beare office, but such as are learned, like those Athenian Areopagites, wise, discreet, & wel brought vp. The Mat, Riccius lib. 1. cap. 3. ad regendam remp. soli doctores aut licentiati adsciscuntur &c Chinenses obserue the same customes, no man amongst them noble by birth, out of their Philosophers and Doctors they chuse magistrats, their Loisij, Mand [...]rini, literati, licentiati, and such as haue raised themselues by their worth, are their noblemen only, thought fit to gouerne a cō mon-wealth, and why then should any that is otherwise of worth, be ashamed of his birth? how much better is it to say with him, Egomeis maioribus virtute praeluxi, to boast himself of his vertues, then of his birth. Pertinax, Philippus Arabs, Maximinus, Probus, Aurelius &c. from cōmon souldiers became Emperors. Cato, Cincinnatus &c. Pius 2 dꝰ. Sixtus 5 •, &c. Popes. Socrates, Virgil, Horace, libertino patrenatus. Olaus Magnus lib 18. Saxo Grammaticus. à quo rex Sueno, & caetera Danorum regum stemmata. The Kings of Denmarke fetch their pedegree, as some say, from one Vlfo, that was the sonne of a beare. Hercules, Romulus, Alexander, out of Olympias Confession, Themistocles, King Arture, William the Conquerour &c. bastards, and almost in euery kingdome, the most ancient families haue bin at first Princes bastards, and their worthiest captaines, brauest spirits in all our Annales, haue bin base. Castruccius Castrucanus a poore childe, found in the fields exposed to misery, became Prince of Luke and Senes in Italy, a most complete souldier, and worthy captaine, Machiauel compares him to Scipio or Alexander. And t'is a wonderfull thing, Vita Castruccij. Nec praeter rationem mirum videri debet, si quis rem considerare velit omnes eos vel saltem maximā partem qui in hoc terrarum orbe res praestantiores aggressi sunt, at (que) inter caeteros aevi sui heroes extell [...]er [...]t aut obscuro, aut abiecto loco editos, & prognatos fuisse obscuris & abiectis parentibus. Eorum ego Catalogum infinitum recenfere possem &c. saith he, to him that shall consider of it, that all those , or the [Page 393] greatest part of them, Curtius. that haue done the brauest exploits heere vpon earth, and haue excelled the rest of the Nobles of their time, haue bin still borne in some abiect obscure place, or of base and obscure abiect Parents. I could recite a great Catalogue of them, every kingdome, euery Province will yeeld innumerable examples: and why then should basenes of birth be obiected to any man? who thinks worse of Tully for being Arpinas, or Agathocles that Sicilian King, for being a Potters son. Iphicrates & Marius were meanely borne. Who thinks better of any man f [...]r his nobility? To speak as I think, as Vt meritò dicam quod simpliciter sentiā Paulum Schalichium scriptorē, & doctorem, pluris facio quam comitem Hunnorum & Baronē Zkradinū. Encyclopaediam tuam, & orbem disciplinarū omnibus provincijs antefero. Baleus epist. nuncupat. ad 5. cent. vltimas, script Brit. Bale did to P. Schalichius, I more esteem thy worth, learning, honesty, then thy Nobility, honor thee more that thou art a Writer, a Doctor of Divinity, then Earle of the Hunnes, Baron of Zkradine, or title to such and such Prouinces, &c. who doth not so indeed? Abdolominus a Gardner, whom Alexander for his vertues made King of Syria. How much better is it to be borne of mean parentage, and to excell in worth, to be learned, and well qualified, and to be fit for any maner of emploiment in country and common-wealth, warre & peace, then to be Degeneres Neoptolemi, as may Nobles are, only wise, because rich, otherwise idiots, illiterate, vnfit for any manner of service. Thou hast had so many noble Ancestors, what is that to thée? vix ea nostra voco, If children be proud, haughty, foolish, they defile the nobility of their kindred Ecclus 22.8 when thou art a disard thy selfe, quid prodest Pontice longo stemmate censeri? &c. I conclude, hast thou a found body, and a good Soule, good bringing vp, art thou vertuous, honest, well learned, well qualified, religious, are thy conditions good? thou art a true Noble man, be not ashamed of thy birth, thou art a Gentleman all the world ouer, and shalt be honored, when as he, strip him of his fine cloathes, Send them both to some strange place, ad ignotos you shall see the difference. Bacon. Essays. dispossesse him of his wealth, is a funge, like a peece of coyn in another country, that no man wil take, and shall be contemned.
Let no terrae filius, or vpstart, insult at this which I haue said, or worthy Gentleman take offence, I speak it not to detract from such as are well deseruing, truly vertuous and noble: I doe much respect and honour true gentry and Nobility, [Page 394] I was borne of worshipfull Parents my selfe, in an ancient family, but I am a yonger brother, it concernes me not: or had I bin some great Heire, richly endowed, so minded as I am, I should not haue bin eleuated at al by it, but so esteemed of it, as of all other humane happines, honors &c. they haue their period, are brittle and vnconstant. As Fluvius hic illustris humanarum rerum Imago, quae par vis ductae sub initijs in immensum crescunt, & subitò evanescunt. exilis hic primo fluvius in admirandam magnitudinem excrescit, tandem (que) in mari Euxino evanescit. I. Stukius perip. mar. Euxini. he said of that great riuer Danubius, it riseth from a small fountaine, a little brook at first, somtimes broad, somtimes narrow, now slow, then swift, increased at last to an incredible greatnesse by the confluence of many riuers, it vanisheth in conclusion, looseth his name, and is suddenly swallowed vp of the Euxine Sea I may say of our greatest families, they were mean at first, augmented by rich marriages, purchases, offices, they continue for some ages, with some little alteration of circumstances, fortunes, places &c. by some prodigall sonne, or for want of issue they are defaced in an instant, and their memory blotted out.
So much in the meane time I doe attribute to gentility, that if he be well descended of worshipfull or noble Parentage, he will expresse it in his conditions.
he will be more affable and courteous, gently disposed, of fairer carriage, better temper, of a more magnanimous, heroicall and generous spirit, then that vulgus hominum, those ordinary boores & pesants, qui adeò improbi, agrestes, & inculti plerum (que) sunt, ne dicam malitiosi, vt nemini vllum humanitatis officium praestent, ne ipsi Deo si advenerit, as Sabinus in 6. Ovid. Met. fab. 4. one obserues of them, a rude, brutish, vncivill, wild, a cu [...]rish generation, cruell and malicious, uncapable of discipline, & such as haue scarce common sence. And it may be generally spoken of all, which Lib. 1. de 4 cō plectionibus. Lemnius the Physitiā said of his travels into England, the common people were silly, sullen, dogged clownes, sed mitior Nobilitas, ad omne humanitatis officium paratissima, the Gentlemen were courteous and civil. If it so fall out (as often it doth) that such pesants are preferred by reason of their [Page 395] wealth, chance, error, &c. or otherwise, yet as the cat in the fable, when she was turned to a faire maid, would play with mice; a curre will be a curre, a clowne a clowne, he will likely sauor of the stock whence he came, and that innate rusticity can hardly be shaken off. And though by their education such men may be better qualified, and more refined; yet there be many symptomes by which they may likely be descried, an affected phantasticall carriage, a tayler-like sprucenes, a peculiar garbe in all their proceedings, a beggars brat will bee commonly more scornefull, imperious, insulting, insolent then another man of his ranke.
Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum [...]. set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride a gallop, a gallop, &c.
he forgets what he was, domineeres &c. and many such other symptomes he hath, by which you may know him from a true Gentleman. Many errors and obliquities are on both sides, noble, ignoble: yet still in all callings as some degenerate, some are well-deseruing, and most worthy of their honors. And as Busbequius said of Solyman the magnificent, he was tanto dignus imperio, worthy of that great Empire, many meanly descended are most worthy of their honor, and well deserue it, And many of our Nobility, (which one said of Hephaestion, Ptolomaeus, Antigonus &c. and the rest of Alexanders followers, they were all worthy to be Monarches and Generals of Armies) deserue to be Princes. Many Noblemen are an ornament to their order, many poore mens sons are singularly well endowed, and most eminent, and well-deseruing for their worth, wisdome, learning, vertue, valour, integrity, excellent members, and pillars of a common-wealth. And therefore to conclude that which first I intended, to be base by birth, meanly borne, is no such disparagement.
MEMB. 3. Against pouerty and want, with such other adversity.
ONe of the greatest miseries that can befall a man in the worlds esteeme, is Pouerty or want, which makes men steale, beare false witnes, sweare & forsweare, contend, murder and rebell, which breaketh sleep, and causeth death it self, [...], Nullū paupertate gravius onus. no burden, saith Menander, so intollerable as Poverty, it makes men desperate, it erects and deiects, census honores, census amicitias, money makes, but this marres &c. and all this in the worlds esteeme, yet if it be considered aright, it is a great blessing in it selfe, a happy estate, and yeelds no such cause of discontent, or that men should therefore accompt themselues vile, miserable, vnfortunate. CHRIST himself was poore, borne in a manger, & had not a house to hide his head in all his life, Ne quisirae diuine aut Iudi [...]iū putaret, aut paupertas exosa foret. Gualter in cap. 2. ver. 18. Luc. lest any man should make Pouerty a Iudgment of God, or an odious estate. And as he was himselfe, so he informed his Apostles and Disciples, they were all poore, Prophets poore, Apostles poore. Acte 3. Siluer and gold haue I none: as sorrowing saith Paul, and yet alway reioycing, as hauing nothing, and yet possessing all things, 2. Cor. 6.10. All your great Philosophers haue bin voluntarily poore, not only Christiās, but all the rest. Crates Thebanus was adored for a god in Athens, Inter proceres Thebanos nume [...]atus lectum habuit [...], frequens famulitium, domus amplas &c Apaleius Flo [...]. lib. 4. a noble man by birth, many seruants he had, and honorable attendance, much wealth, many manors fine apparell, but when he saw that all this all the wealth in the world was but brittle, vncertaine, and no whit auailing to liue well, he flung his burden in the Sea, and renounced his estate. Those Curij and Fabritij wil be renowned to the worlds end, for contempt of these fopperies, wherewith the world is so much affected: amongst Christians I could reckon vp many Kings & Queenes that haue forsaken their Crownes and fortunes, and wilfully abdicated themselues from these so [Page 397] much esteemed toyes, P. Blesensis epist, 72, & 232. oblatos respui honores ex onere metiens motus ambitiosos rogatus non ivi &c.many that haue refused honors, titles, and all this vain pompe and happines, 'which others so ambitiously seek, and carefully study to compasse & attain. But Sudat pauser foras in opere, dives cogitatione, hic os aperit oscitatione, ille ructatione, gravius ille fastidio quaē hic inediâ cruciatur. Bernard. ser. conferre both estates, and it will easily appeare, there is no such oddes, no such extraordinary happines in the one, or misery in the other. He is rich, wealthy, fat, what gets he by it? Pride, insolency, lust, ambition, cares, feares, suspition, troble, anger, emulation, and many filthy diseases of body and mind. He hath indeed variety of dishes, better fare, swet wine, pleasant sawce, dainty Musick, gay cloathes &c. & all that which Missyllus admired in Gallo. Tom. 2. Lucian, but withall he hath the gowt, dropsies, Apoplexies, palsies, stone, pox, rhumes, catarres, crudities, oppilations, Et è contubernio faediat (que), olidi ventris mors tandem educit. Seneca epist. 103. Melancholy &c. lust enter in, anger, ambition, with their variety of dishes, and many such maladies, which the poore man knowes not of. As Saturne in Satur. 'epist. Lucian, made answere to the poore commonalty (which because of their neglected Saturnall Feasts in Rome, made a grievous cō plaint and exclamation against the Richmen) that they were much mistaken in supposing such happines in riches, you see the best said he, but you know not their seuerall gripings & discontents: they are like painted wals, faire without, rottē within, diseased, filthy, crasy, full of intemperances effects. Et quota pars haec eorum quae istos discruciant sinoscetis metus & curas quibus abnoxy sunt, planè fugiendas vobis divitias existimaretis. And who can reckon halfe, if you but knew their feares, cares, Vos quidem divitos putatis faelices, at nescitis eorum miserias. anguish of mind and vexation, to which they are subiect, you would hereafter renounce all riches. Yea, but he hath the world at will that is rich, the good things of the Earth, he is a happy man, Et diis similes stulta cogitatio facit. adored like a god, a Prince, every man seeks to him, applauds, honors, admires him. He hath honors indeed, abundance of all things, but as I said, withall Flamma simul [...]ibidinis ingreditur, ira, furo [...] & superbia, divitiarum sequeld. pride, lust, anger, emulation, feares, cares, suspition enter in with his wealth, for his intemperance he hath aches, crudities, gowts, and all manner of diseases. Chrys. Omniū oculis, odio, insidys expositus somper sollicitus, fortunae ludibriū. He is exposed to hatred, envy, perill and treason, feare of death, of degradation &c. and the higher he climes the greater is his fall.— Hor. [...]d. 2. l. 10 [...]. cellae graviore casu decidunt turres, [Page 398] feriunt (que) summos fulgura montes, the lightning commonly sets on fire the highest towres, Quid we faelicem toties iactastis amici, qui cecidit stabili non fuit ille locu. Boeth. in the more eminent place, he is the more subiect to fal. For the rest of his prerogatiues which wealth affords, as he hath more, his expen [...]es are the greater, when goods increase, they are increased that eat them, & what good commeth to the owners thereof, but the beholding thereof with their eyes Ecclus 4.10. an euill sicknesse Solomon cals it, & reserued to them for their euill 12 vers. And therefore S. Iames bids them, weep and howle for the miseries that shall come vpon them, their gold shall rust and canker, and eat their flesh as fire. Iames 5.1.23. I may then boldly conclude with Cap. 6. de curat. graec. affect. cap. de providentiā. quotiescun (que) divitijs affluentē hominem videmus eum (que) pessimum, ne quaeso hunc beatissimii imputemus, sed infaelicem censeamus &c. Theodoret, quotiescun (que) divitijs affluentem,f As often as you shall see a man abounding in wealth, and naught withall, I beseech you call him not happy, but esteeme him vnfortunate, because he hath many occasions offered to liue iniustly: on the other side, a poore man is not miserable, if he be good, but therefore happy, that those euil occasions are taken from him. Wherein now consists his happines, or what priviledges hath he more then other men? or rather what miseries, what cares and discontents hath he not more then other men?
T'is not his wealth can vindicate him, nil iuvat immensos Cratero promittere montes. sint Craesi & Crassi licet, non hos pactolus aureas vndas agens eripiet vnquam e miserijs. Craesus or rich Crassus cannot now command health, or get himselfe a stomack. Florid lib. 4. dives ille cibo interdicitur, & in omni copiâ suâ cibum non accipit, cum intereatotum eius servitium hilave fit, at (que) epuletur. His worship, as Apuleius describes him, in all his plenty & great provision is forbidden to eate, or els hath no appetite, when as in the meane time, all his houshold are merry, & the poorest servant that he keepes, doth continually feast. T'is bracteata [Page 399] falicitas, as Epist. 115. Seneca termes it, tin-foyl'd happines if it be happines at all. His gold and guard, and clattering of harneys, and fortifications against outward enemies, cannot free him from inward feares and cares.
Looke how many servants he hath, and so many enemies, he suspects, for liberty he intertaines ambition, his pleasures are no pleasures, and that which is worst, he cannot be private, or inioy himselfe as other men doe, his states is a servitude. Hor. & mihi curto Ire licet mulo vel si libet vs (que) Tarentum. A country man may travell from kingdome to kingdome, Province to Province, citty to citty, and glut his eyes with delightfull obiects, hauke and hunt, & vse all ordinary disports, without any notice taken, all which a Prince or a great man cannot doe. A poore man takes more delight in an ordinary meales meat, which he hath but now and then, then they doe with all their exotick dainties and continuall Viandes, quippe voluptatem comendat rarior vsus, t'is the rarity that makes a thing acceptable and pleasant: which made Epicurus sometimes voluntarily fast. But they being alwayes accustomed to the same Et in cupedijs gulae cocus & pueri illotis manibus ab exoneratione ventris omnia tractant &c. Cardan lib. 8 cap. 46. de rerum varietate. dishes, of fish, flesh, or whatsoeuer els, are therefore cloved, Nectar it selfe growes, loathsome to them, they are weary of all their fine palaces, they are to them but as so many prisous. A poore man drinkes in a wooden dish, and eates his meat in wooden spoones, wooden platters, earthen Vessels, and such homely stuffe: the other in gold, siluer, and pretious stones, but with what successe? in auro bibitur venenum, feare of poyson in the one, security in the other. And such is the whole tenor of their liues, and that which is the consummation and vpshot of all, death it selfe. The rich man [Page 400] liues like Diues Iovially heere on Earth, make the best of it; and boastes himselfe in the multitude of his riches Psal. 49.6. & 11. he thinks his house called after his own name, shal continue for euer, but he perisheth like a beast, ver. 20. his way vtters his folly, ver. 13. malé parta, malé dilabuntur, like sheep they lye in the graue 14. Puncto descendunt ad infernum, for all their Physitians and medicines inforcing Nature, a souning wife, families cōplaints, friends teares, Dirges, Masses, naenias, funerals, for all Orations, counterfeit hired acclamatiōs, elogiums, Epithaphes, herses, black mourners, solemnities, obelisks, and Mausolean tombes, if he haue them at least, Ad generum cereris sine caede & sanguine pauci descendunt reges & siccâ morte tyranni. he dies like a hog, goes to hell with a guilty conscience, and many a poore mans curse: his memory stinkes like the snuffe of a candle when it is put out, scurrile libels, and infamous obloquies accompany him. When as poore Lazarus is Dei sacrarium, the Temple of God, liues and dies in true devotion, hath no more attendants but his own innocency, the heauen a tomb, desires to be dissolued, buried in his mothers lap, and hath a company of God shall deliuer his soule from the power of the graue, Psal. 49.15. Angels ready to convay his soule into Abrahams bosome, he leaues an euerlasting and a sweet memory behind him. Crassus and Sylla are indeed still recorded, but not so much for their wealth, as for their victories: Croesus for his end, Solomon for his wisdome.
But consider all those other vnknowne, concealed happinesses which a poore man hath (I call them vnknowne, because they be not acknowledged in the worlds esteeme, or so taken.) O fortunatos nimium bona si sua nôrint: but happy they are in the mean time if they would take notice of it, or make vse, or apply it to themselues. A poore man wise is better then a foolish King. Eccl. 4.13. Austin in Psal. 76. omnis philosophiae magistra, ad coelum via. Pouerty is the way to heauē, the mistris of Philosophy, the mother of religiō, vertue, sobriety, sister of innocēcy & an Bonae mentis soror paupertas.vpright mind. How many such Paedagoga pietatis, sobria, pia mater, cultu simplex, habitu secura, consilio benesuada. Apulcius. encomions might I add out of the Fathers, Philosophers, Orators. It troubles many that they are poore, and they account of it as a great disgrace, a shame and a reproach, but to whom, or why? Cardan. Opprobrium non est paupertas: quod latro eripit, aut pater non reliquit cur mihi vitio daretur? fortuna divitias invidit, non aquilae, non, &c. If fortune hath envied me wealth, theeues haue robbed [Page 401] me, my father haue not left me such revenewes as others haue, that I am a yonger brother, basely borne, am I therefore to be blamed? an eagle, a bull, a lion is not reiected for his poverty, & why should a man? I liue sparingly, am clad homely, fare hardly, is this a reproach? am I the worse for it? am I contēptible for it? am I to be reprehended? A learned man in Lib. 4. num. 218. quidam deprehensus quod sederet loco nobilium, mea nobilitas ait, est circa caput, vestrae declinat ad caudem. Neuisanus was taken downe for sitting amongst Gentlemē, but he replied, my nobility is about the Head, yours declines to the taile, and they were silent. Let them mocke, scorne and revile. t'is not thy scorne, but him that made thee so. He that mocketh the poore, reprocheth him that made him. Prov. 11.5. and he that reioyceth at affliction, shall not he vnpunished. And for the rest, the poorer thou art, the happier thou art, ditior est & non melior, saith Tanto beatior es, quanto collectior. Epictetus, he is richer, not better then thou art, nor so free from lust, envy, hatred, ambition.
Happy he, in that he is Non amoribus inseruit, nonappetit honores, & qualitercum (que) relictus satis habet hominem se esse meminit, invidit nemini, neminem despicit, nemi [...]m miratur, sermonibus mal gnis non attendit aut alitur. Plinius. freed frō the tumults of the world, he seekes no honours, gapes after no preferment, flatters not, envies not, but liues privately, and well contented with his estate,
He is not troubled with successions, feare of invasions, factions, emulations,
Gyges regno Lydiae inflatus suscitatum misit Apollinem ax quis mortalium se faelicior esset. Aglaium Arcadum pauperimum Apollo praetulit, qui terminos agri sui nunquam excesserat, rure suo contentus. Valer, lib. 1. cap. 7. A secure, quiet, Hor.—haec est Vita solutorum miserâ ambitione, gravi (que). hapy state he hath, if he could but acknowledge [Page 402] it. But here is the misery, that he will not take notice of it, he repines at richmens wealth, braue hangings, dainty fare, as Xenoph. Tyran. Simonides objected to Hieron, he hath all the pleasures of the world, and it troubles him that he hath not the like; but in the mean time he doth not consider the others miseries, his infirmities of body and mind, that accompany his estate, but still reflects vpon his false conceiued woes and wants, whereas if the matter were duly examined, Omnes divites qui caelo & terra frui possunt. he is in no distresse at all, he hath no cause to complaine
he is not poore, he is not in need. Seneca epist. 15. panem & aquam natura desiderat, & haec qui babet ipso cum love de faelicitate contendat, Cibus simplex, famem sedat vestis tenuis frigus arcet. Sen. ep. 8. Nature is content with bread and water, and he that can rest satisfied with that, may contend with Iupiter himselfe for happinesse. Iacob desired no more of God but bread to eat, and clothes to put on in his iourney, Gen. 28.20. Benè est, cui deus obtulit, parcâ quod saetis est manu, bread is enough Psal. 84. to strengthen the heart. And if you study Philosophy aright, saith Sirecte philosophemini quicquid aptam moderationem supergreditur oneri potius quam vsui est. Maudarensis, whatsoeuer is beyond this moderation, is not vsefull, but troublesome. Lib. 7.16. Cereris munus & aquae poculum mortales quaerunt habere, & quorum saties nunquam est, luxus autem sunt caetera, non epulae. Agellius out of Euripides, accompts bread and water enough to satisfie Nature, of which there is no surfet, the rest is not a feast, but riot. Satis est diues qui pane non indiget, ni [...]niū potens qui seruire non cogitur. Ecquid cum faeuces vrit sitis, aurea querit pocula? ambitiosa non est fames &c. S • Hierome esteemes him rich, that hath bread to eate, and a potent man that is not compelled to be a slaue: hunger is not ambitious so that it haue to eate, and thirst doth not preferre a cup of gold. It was no Epicurean speech of an Epicure, he that is not satisfied with a little, will neuer haue enough. And if thou canst be content, thou hast abundance, nihil est, nihil deest, thou hast nothing, and thou wantest nothing.
T'is thy want alone that keepes thee in health of body and minde, and that which thou persecutest and abhorrest as a ferall [Page 403] plague, is thy Physitian and O noctes caenae (que) deum. chiefest friend.
how happy art thou if thou couldest but be content. Godlines is great gaine, if a man can be content with that which he hath. 1 Tim. 6.6. And all true happinesse in a meane estate. I haue a little wealth as he said, I ipsuis miscell ep. 40. sed quas animus magnas facit, a kingdome in conceipt.
I haue enough, and desire no more. Let them take wealth, so that I may haue security, benè qui latuit, bené vixit, though I liue obscure, [...] vi [...]ereeti [...] [...] as D [...]men said Adelph. [...] 4, quam [...] eg [...], quam [...] non [...], v [...] S [...]c. [...]. yet I liue cleane and honest, and when as the lofty oake is blowne downe, the silly reed may stand. Let thē take honour, so that I may haue hearts ease. I doe not envy at their wealth, titles, offices, [...]iemus ep. 62. erimus (as he comforted himselfe) quando illi non erunt, when they are dead & gone, and all their pompe vanished, our memory may flourish. Let him be my Lord, Patron, Baron, Earle, & possesse so many goodly Castels, t'is well for me Hoc erat in votis modus agri non ita parvus hortus vb [...] & tecto vicinus iugis aquae fons, & paulū silue & t. Hor. Sat. 6. lib. 2 ser. that I haue a poore house, and a little wood, and a Well by it &c.
I liue I thanke God as merrily as he, and triumph as much in this my meane estate, as if my father and vncle had bin my Lord Treasurer, or my Lord Maior. He feeds of many dishes, I haue one, Hierome. qui Christum curat, non multum curat quam de pretiosis cibis stercus conficiat, what care I of what stuffe my excrements be made? Seneca consil. ad Albinum ca. 11. qui continet se intra naturae limites paupertatem non sentit, qui excedit eum in opibus, paupertas sequitur. He that liues according to Nature, can not be poore, & he that exceedes, can neuer haue enough, totus non sufficit orbis, the whole world cannot giue him content. A small thing that the righteous hath, is better then the riches of the vngodly Psal. 37.16. & better is a poore morsell with quietnes, then abundance with strife, Prov. Be content then, enioy thy selfe: for what wantest thou to expostulate the matter? [Page 404] or what hast thou not better then a rich man? Quid non habet melius pauper quam dives, vitam, valetudinem, cibum, somnum, libertatem, &c. Cardan health, children, security, sleep, friends, liberty, diet, apparell, & what not, and that which I am sure he wants, a merry heart. Passing by a village in the Territory of Millan, saith S. Austin, I saw a poore begger, that had got belike his belly full of meat, iesting & merry, I sighed & said to some of my friends that were then with me, What a deale of trouble, madnes, pain & griefe doe we sust [...]in & exaggerate vnto our selues, Confess. lib. 6. Transiens per vicum qnendum Mediolanensem animadverti pauperem quendam mendicum iam credo saturum iocantem at (que) ridentem, & ingemui & loquutus sum cum amicis qui mecum erant &c. to get that secure happines, which this poore beggar hath prevented vs of & which we peradventure shall neuer haue. For that which he hath now attained with the begging of some small peeces of siluer, a temporall happines, & present hearts ease, I cannot compasse vvith all my carefull windings, & running in & out. Et certè ille laetabatur, ego anxius, securus ille, ego trepidus. Et si percotaretur me quispiam an exultare mallem, an metucre, responderem exultare: & sirursus interrogaret, an ego talis essem, an qualis nunc sum, meipsum curis consectum eligerem, sed perversitate, non veritate. And surely the begger vvas very merry, but I vvas heavy: he vvas secure, but I timorous. And if any man should aske me novv, whether I had rather be merry, or still so sollicitous & sad, I should say, merry. If he should aske me againe, whether I had rather be as I am, or as this begger vvas, I should sure choose to be as I am, tortured still vvith cares & feares, but out of peevishnes, & not out of truth. That which S [...] Austin said of himselfe heere in this place, I may truely say to thee thou discontented wretch, thou covetous niggard, thou churle, thou ambitious and swelling toade, t'is not want but peevishnesse which is the cause of thy woes, settle thine affection thou hast enough.
O si nunc m [...]r [...]rer inquit quanta & qualia mihi imperfecta ma [...]erent, sed simensibus decem vel octo supervixe [...]o, omnia redigam ad libe [...]am ab omni debito credito (que) me explicabo, praetereunt interim men, es de [...]em & octo & cum illis anni & adhuc restant plura quam priùs, quid igitur speras ô insane finem quem rebus tuis non inveneras in inventâ, in senectá impositurum. O dementiam quum ob curas & negotia tuo iudicio sis insaelix, quid putas futurum quum plura supererint. Cardan lib. 8. cap. 40. derer, variet, tacete inquit talpa, quando me oculis captum videtis. make an end of scraping, purchasing this manor, this field, that house, for this and that child, thou hast enough for thy selfe and them, inioy thy selfe at length, and that which thou [Page 405] hast, the mind is all, be content, thou art not poore, but rich. How many deafe and dumb, halt and lame, blind, miserable persons could I reckon vp, that are poore, and withall distressed, in imprisonment, banishment, gallyslaues, condemned to the mines, quarries, to gins and dungeons, perpetuall thraldome, then all which thou art richer, thou art more happy, to whom thou art able to giue an almes, a Lord in respect, a petty Prince, Non in paupertate, sed in paupere (Seneca) non re, sed opinione laboras. be contented then I say, repine and mutter no more.
Yea but this is good counsell indeed, and rightly applied to such as haue it, and will not vse it, that haue a competency, that are able to worke and get their liuing by the sweat of their browes by their trade, that haue something yet, he that hath birds, may catch birds, but what shall we doe that are slaues by nature, impotent and vnable to help our selues, meere beggars, that languish and pine away, that haue no meanes at all, no hope of meanes, no hope of delivery, or of better successe? It is an easy matter when ones belly is full, to declame against fasting, qui satur est pleno laudatieiunia vē tre. Seneca pleaded hard for poverty, and so did these Philosophers, but in the mean time One of the richest men in Rome. he was rich himself, they had wherewithall to maintain themselues; but no man liuing can expresse the anguish and bitternes of our soules, but we that endure it, wee are distressed, forsaken, in torture of Body, of mind, in another hell: and what shall we doe? Qui iacet in terrâ non habet vnde cadat. Comfort thy selfe with this yet, thou art at the worst, and before it be long it will either ouercome thee, or thou it. If it be violent it cannot endure, aut solvetur, aut solvet: thou art not so poore as thou wast borne, and as some hold, much better to be pittied, then to be envied. And though thou beest now peradventure in extreame want Iames 1.2. My brethrē, count it an exceeding ioy when you fall into diuerse temptations. and misery, Afflictio dat intellectum, quos Deus diligit castigat. Deus optimum quem (que) aut mala valetudine aut luctu afficit. Seneca. it may be t'is for thy farther good to try thy patience, and exercise thee in this life, trust in God, and rely vpon him, and thou shalt be Quam sordet mihi terra quum coelum i [...]t [...]eor. crowned in the end. The world hath forsaken thee, thy friends and fortunes all are gone, yet know this, that the very haires of thine head are nū bred, [Page 406] that God is a Spectator of all thy miseries, he sees thy wrongs, woes and wants, and Psal. 12.7. de terrá inopem, de stercore crigit pauperem. can helpe thee in an instant, when it seemes to him good. Micah 7.8. Reioice not against me O mine enemy, for though I fall, I shall rise, when I sit in darknesse, the Lord shall lighten me, Remember all those Martyrs what they haue endured, the vtmost that humane rage and fury could invent, with what Preme preme ego cum Pindaro [...] immersabilis sum sicut suber super maris. septum. Li [...]sius. patience they haue borne, with what willingnesse embraced it. Though he kill me, saith Iob, I will trust in him: thou maist be restored as he was. The poore shal not alway be forgotten, the patient abiding of the meeke shall not perish for euer Psal, 10.18. & ver. 9. The Lord will be a refuge of the oppressed, a defence in due time of trouble. Non si male nunc & olim, Hic vre hic seca vt in aeternum parcas, Austin. Dijs fruitur iratis, superat & crescit malis. Mutium ignis, Fabritium paupertas, Regulum, tormenta, Socratem venenum superare non potuit. sic erit semper, a good houre may come vpon a sudden. dabit Deus his quo (que) finem. expect a little. Yea but this expectation is it which tortures me in the meane time. Seneca. futura expectans praesentibus angor, whilest the grasse growes, the horse starues: Nemo desperet me [...]ora lapsus. despaire not, and hope well. Spes alit agricolas, he that sowes in teares shall reape in ioy Ps. 126.7. that may happen at last which neuer was yet. A desire accomplished delights the soule, Prov. 13.19.
a lowring morning may turne to a faire afternoone: th [...] [...]pe that is deferred is the fainting of the heart, but when the desire commeth it is a tree of life, Prov. 13.12. Many men [...]e most wretched and miserable at first, but afterwards mo [...] happy, and oftentimes it so fals out, as Lib 7. Flor. hist. Omnium faelicissim [...]s & [...]ocupletissim [...]s &c. incarceratus saepè adolescentiam periculo mortis habu [...]t, solicitudinis & discriminis plenam &c. Machiavel relates of Cosmus Medices that most fortunate and renowned citizen of Europe, that all his youth was full of perplexity, danger and misery, till 40 yeares were past, and then vpon a sudden the Sun of his honor brake out as through a cloud. Huniades was fetched out of prison, and Henry the 3 of Portugall out of a poore Monastery, to be crowned Kings. Multa cadunt inter cali [...]em suprema (que) labra, beyond all hope and expectation many things fall out, and who knowes what may happen? [Page 407] nondum omnium dierum Soles occiderunt, as Philippus said, all the Sunnes are not yet set, a day may come to make a mendes for all, Though my father and mother forsake me, yet the Lord will gather me vp. Psal. 27.10. waite patiently on the Lord and hope in him Psal. 37.7. be strong, hope & trust in the Lord, & he shall comfort thee, and giue thee thine hearts desire Ps. 27.14. Fret not thy selfe because thou art poore, or not so well for the present as thou wouldst bee, or not respected as thou oughtest to be, by birth, place, or that which is a double corsiue, that thou hast beene happy, honorable and rich, and art now distressed and poore, a scorne of men, a burden to the world, irksome to thy selfe and others, thou hast lost all. Miserum est fuisse faelicem I confesse it is a great misery to haue beene happy, to haue beene rich, but yet easily to be endured. Laetior successit securitas quae simul cum divitijs cohabitare nescit, Cambden. Security succeeds, and to a iudicious man a far better estate. The losse of thy goods and mony is no losse, Pecuniam per didisti fortassis illa te perderet manens, Seneca. thou hast lost them, they would otherwise haue lost thee. If thy mony be gone, Expeditior es ob pecuniarum i [...]cturam. Fortuna opes auferre non animum potest, Seneca. thou art so much the lighter, and as S • Hierome perswades Rusticus the Monke, Bonae mens nullum tristioris fortunae recipit incursum, Valer. lib. 4. cap. 1. Qui nil potest [...]per [...]re desp [...]ret n [...]hil. to forsake all and followe Christ, gold and silver are too heavy mettals for him to carry that seekes heauen. Zeno the Philosopher lost all his goods by shipwrack, Iubet me posthac fortuna ex [...]e [...]tius Philosophari. he made light of it, fortune had done him a good turne. Come then what can come, befall what may befall, infractum invictū (que) animum opponas, rebus angustis animosus atque fortis appare. Hor. Od. 11. lib. 2. Hope and Patience are two soueraigne Remedies for all,
If it cannot be helped, Aequam memento reb [...]s in arduis servare mentem. lib. [...]. Od. 3. make the best of it, as at a game at tables, so doe by all such ineuitable accidents.
If thou canst not fling what thou wouldest, play thy cast as well as thou canst. Vt quimus quod aiunt quā do quod volum' non licet. Ter. A [...]d. Act. 4. Sc. 6. Conforme thy selfe to thy present fortune, and cut thy coat according to thy cloath. Bee contented [Page 408] with thy losse, non licet omnibus adire Corinthum, we may not all be Gentlemen, all rich but because mortal men want many things, Cap. 6. de providentia. Mortales cum sint rerum omnium indigi ideo Deus alijs divitias aliis paupertatem distribuit vt qui opibus pollent materiam subministrent qui vero inopes exercitatas artibus manus admoueant. Therefore, saith Theodoret, hath God diversly distributed his gifts, wealth to one, skill to another, that rich men might encourage and set poorer men aworke, poore men might learne severall trades to the common good. As a peece of Arras is composed of seuerall peeces, some wrought of silke, some of gold, siluer, cruell of diverse colours all to serue for the exornation of the whole, Musick is made of seuerall discords & keyes, a totall summe of many small numbers: so is a Commonwealth of seuerall inequall trades and callings. Si sint omnes aequales necesse est vt omnes fame periant quis aratro terram sulcaret quis sementem faceret quis plantas sereret quis vinum exprimeret? If all should be Craesi and Darij, all idle, all in fortunes equall, who should till the land? As Liv. lib. 1. Menenius Agrippa well satisfied that tumultous rout of Rome, in his elegant Apologe of the belly and the rest of the members. Who should build houses make our seuerall stuffes for rayments? wee should all bee staru'd for company, as Poverty declared at large in Aristophanes Plutus, and sue at last to be as we were at first. All things then being rightly examined and duly considered as they ought, there is no such cause of so generall discontent, 'tis not in the thing it selfe but in our mind, as wee moderate our passions and esteeme of things. Nihil aliud necessarium vt sis miser (saith Cardan) quam vt te miserum credas. Let thy fortune be what it will, 'tis thy minde alone that makes thee poore or rich, Lib. 3. de consol. miserable or happy. So for all other things, they are as old Heautontim, Act. 1. Sc. 2. Chremes told vs, as we vse them.
Parents, friends, fortunes, country, birth, aliance, &c. ebbe and flowe with our conceit; please or displease, as we accept and conster them, or apply them to our selues. Faber quis (que) fortunae suae, and in some sort I may truly say, prosperity and adversity are in our owne hands. But will we or nill we, make the worst of it, and suppose a man in the greatest extremity, 'tis a fortune which some indefinitly preferre before prosperity, [Page 409] of two extreames it is the best. Luxuriant animi rebus plerum (que) secundis, men in Fo [...]tuna quem nimium fouet stultum facit Pub. Mimus. prosperity forget God and themselues. In adversity many mutter & repine, despaire, &c. both bad I confesse, — Hor. vt calceus olim ‘Si pede maior erit subvertet, si minor vret.’ And as a shooe too big or too little, one pincheth, the other sets the foot awry. sed e malis minimū. Aduersity is to be preferred, Boeth. lib. 2. haec fraeno indiget illa solatio, illa fallit haec instruit. The one deceaues, the other instructs, & therefore many Philosophers haue voluntarily sought aduersity, and so much commend it in their precepts. Demetrius in Seneca esteemed it a great infelicity, that in his life time he had no misfortune, miserum cui nihil vnquam accidisset adversi, aduersity then is not so heauily to be taken, and wee ought not in such cases so much to macerate our selues; there is no such odds in pouerty and riches. To conclude in Epist. lib. 3. vit. Paul Ermit. libet eos nunc interrogare qui domus marmoribus vestiunt qui vno filo villarum ponunt precia huic seni modo quid vnquam defuit, vos gemâ bibitis ille concavis manibus naturae satisfecit ille pauper paradisum capit vos avaros gehenna suscipiet. Hieroms words, I will aske our magnificos that build with marble, and bestow a whole manor on a thred, what difference betwixt them and Paul the Ermite, that bare old man: they drinke in Iewels, he in his hand; hee is poore and goes to Heauen, they are rich and goe to Hell.
MEMB. 4. Against Servitude, losse of liberty, Imprisonment, Banishment.
SEruitude, losse of liberty, Imprisonment, are no such miseries as they are held to be: we are all slaues and seruants the best of vs all: as we doe reuerence our masters, so doe our masters their superiors; Gentlemen serue Nobles, & Nobles are subordinate to Kings, Omne sub regno graviore regnum, Princes themselues are Gods seruants, reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis. They are subiect to their owne lawes, and as the Kings of China, endure more then slauish imprisonment, to maintaine their state and greatnesse, they neuer come abroad. Louers are slaues to their mistris, rich men to their mony, [Page 410] Courtiers to lust and ambition, and all slaues to our affections, who is free? Why then dost thou repine? Satis est potens, Hierom saith, qui servire non cogitur. Thou carriest no burdens, thou art no prisoner, no drudge, and thousands want that liberty, those pleasures which thou hast. Thou art not sicke, & what wouldst thou haue? but nitimur in vetitum, we must all eat of the forbidden fruit. Were wee enioyned to goe to such and such places, we would not willingly goe: but being barred of our liberty, this alone torments our wā dering soule that we may not goe. A cittezen of ours, saith Consol. lib. 5. Cardan, was 60 yeares of age, and had never beene forth of the walls of the citty of Millan, the Prince hearing of it cō manded him not to stirre out, being now forbidden that which all his life he had neglected, he earnestly desired, & being denied, dolore confectus mortem obijt, he died for griefe.
What I haue said of seruitude, I say againe of imprisonment. We are all prisoners. What is our O Generose, quid est vita nisi carcer animi. life but a prison? We are all imprisoned in an Iland. The world it selfe to some men is a prison, our narrow seas as so many ditches, & when they haue cōpassed the Globe of the earth, they would same goe see what's done in the Moone. In Herbastein. Muscovy and many other northerne parts, all ouer Scandia they are imprisoned halfe the yeare in Stoues, they dare not peepe out for cold. At Vertomannus Aden in Arabia they are imprisoned all day long with that other extreame of heat, and keep their markets in the night. What is a ship but a prison? And so many citties are but as so many hiues of Bees? But that which thou abhorrest many seeke. Women keepe in all winter, and most part of summer to preserue their bewties, some for loue of study: Demosthenes shaued his beard because he would cut off all occasion of going abroad: how many Monks and Friers, Anachorites, abandon all the world? Monachus in vrbe piscis in arido. Art' in prison? make right vse of it, and mortifie thy selfe; Vbi verior contemplatio quam in solitudine, vbi studium solidius quam in quiete? Where may a man contemplate better then in solitarinesse, or study more then in quietnesse. Many worthy men haue been imprisoned all their liues, and it hath been occasion of great honor [Page 411] and glory to them, much publike good by their excellent meditation. Boethius neuer writ so elegantly as in prison, Paule so deuoutly, for most of his Epistles were dictated in his bands. Ioseph, saith In Ps. 76. non ita laudatur Ioseph cum srumenta distribueret ac quum carcerem habitaret. Austin, got more credit in prison, then when he distributed corne, and was Lord of Pharaoh's house. It brings many a lewd fellow home, many wandring rogues it settles, that would otherwise haue been so many ranging Tygers, and haue ruinated themselues and others.
Banishment is no grieuance at all, Omne solum forti patria &c. & patria est vbicun (que) benè est. That's a mans countrey where he is well at ease. Many trauell for pleasure to that city, saith Seneca, to which thou art banished; and what a part of the Citizens are strangers borne in other places, Boethius. Incolentibus patria, 'tis their country that are borne in it, and they would thinke themselues banished to goe to the place which thou leauest, and from which thou art so loth to part. T'is a childish humour to be discontent at that which others seeke, to preferre, as base Islanders and Norvegians doe their owne ragged Island, before Italy or Greece, the Gardens of the world, 'tis want of iudgement. All places are distant from heaven alike, and the Sunne shines happily as warme in one citty as in another, and to a wiseman there is no difference of climes: friends are euery where to him that behaues himselfe well, and a Prophet is not esteemed in his owne country. Alexander, Caesar, Traian, Adrian, were as so many land leapers, now in the East, now in the West, little at home, and Polus Venetus, Lod. Vertomannus, Pinzonus, Cadamistus, Columlumbus, Americus Vesputius, &c. Vascus Gama, Drake, Candish, Schouten, got al their honour by voluntary expeditions. But you say such mens trauell is voluntary, wee are compelled, and as malefactors must depart: the pleasure of peregrination, variety of obiects will make amends for it, and so many nobles Tully, Aristides, Themistocles, Theseus, Codrus, &c. as haue been banished, will giue sufficient credit vnto it.
MEMB. 5. Against Sorrow for death of friends or otherwise, vaine feare, &c.
DEath and departure of friends are things generally grievous, Cardan. de consol. lib. 2. Omnium quae in humanâ vitâ contingunt, luctus at (que) mors sunt acerbissima, the most austere & bitter accidents that can happen to a man in this life, in aeternum valedicere, to part for ever, to forsake the world and all our friends, 'tis vltimum terribilium, the last and the greatest terror, and most irksome and troublesome vnto vs. And though we hope for a better life, aeternall happinesse, after these painfull and miserable daies yet we cannot cōpose our selues willingly to dye, the remembrance of it is most grieuous vnto vs, especially to such as are fortunat and rich, they start at the name of death, as a horse at a rotten post. Say what you can of that other world, with Benzo. Metezuma that Indian Prince, Bonum est esse hic, they had rather be here. And many generous spirits, and graue staid wise men otherwise are so tender in this, that at the losse of a deare friend they will cry out, houle and roare, and teare their haire, Summo mane vlulatum oriuntur p [...]ctora percutientes &c. miserabile spectaculum exhibentes Ortelius in Graeciâ. lamenting many months after, houling as those Irish women and Greekes at their graues, & commit many vndecent actions, and almost goe besides themselues, as he said in the Poet.
What shall I doe?
Mezentius would not liue after his sonne.
and Pompe'is wife cryed out at the newes of her husbands death. Lucan. Turpe mori post te solo non posse dolore. and she would needs runne vpon the swords point after Eurialus departure.
O let me die, some good man or other make an ende of mee. How did Achilles take on for Patroclus death? a black cloud of sorrowes ouershadowed him, saith Homer. Iacob rent his clothes, and put sack-cloth about his Ioynes, and sorrowed for his sonne a long season, and would not be comforted, but would needs goe downe into the graue vnto his sonne. Gen. 37.34. Many yeares after, the remembrance of such friends, of such accidents is most grievous vnto vs, to see or heare of it, though it concerne not our selues but others. Scaliger saith of himselfe, that he neuer read Socrates death, in Platoes Phaedon, but he wept: Confess. lib. 1. Austin shed teares when he read the destruction of Troy. But howsoeuer this passion of sorrow bee violent and bitter, and seaseth familiarly on wise, valiant, discreet men, yet it may be withstood, it may be diuerted. For what is there in this life, that it should be so deare vnto vs? Or that we should so much deplore the departure of a friend? The greatest pleasures are common society, to enioy one anothers presence, feasting, hauking, hunting, woods, hills, musicke, dancing, &c. all this is but vanity and losse of time, as I haue sufficiently declared. As Alcumists spend that little which they haue to get gold and neuer find it, we lose & neglect aeternity, for a little momentary pleasure which we cannot enioy, nor shall neuer attaine to in this life. Wee abhorre death, paine and griefe, all, and yet we wil doe nothing of that [Page 414] which should vindicate vs from it, but rather voluntarily thrust our selues vpon it. Amator scortum vitae praeponit, iracundus vindictam parasitus gulam, ambitiosus honores, avarus opes, miles rapinam, fur praedam, morbos odim & accersumus. Card. A Letcher preferres his Whore before his life, or good estate, an angry man his revenge, a parasite his gut, ambitious honours, covetous wealth, a theefe his boety, a souldier his spoile, we abhorre diseases, and yet we pull them vpon vs. We are neuer better or freer from cares then when wee sleep, and yet which we so much avoid and lament, death is but a perpetuall sleepe: our life is tedious and troublesome vnto him that liues best, death makes an end of our miseries, and yet we cannot consider of it; no pleasure here but sorrow is annexed to it, repentance followes it. Comedi ad sa [...]ietatem grauitas me offendit, parcius edi non est expletum desiderium, venereas delitias sequor, hinc morbus lass [...]udo, &c If I feed liberally I am likely sicke or surfet; If I liue sparingly my hunger and thirst is not allaid, I am well neither full nor fasting: if I liue honest I burne in lust; If I take my pleasure, I tire & starue my selfe, & doe iniury to my body and soule. 'Tis both waies troublesome to me to rise and goe to bed, to eat and provide my meat, cares and contentions attend me all day long, feares and suspitions all my life, I am discontented, and why should I so much desire to liue? But an happy death will make an end of all my woes and miseries, why should not I then say with old Simeon, since I am so well affected, Lord now let thy servant depart in peace, or with Paul, I desire to be dissolved & to be with Christ. Beata mors quae ad beatam vitam aditum aperit, 'tis a blessed houre that leads vs to a Est enim mors piorum faelix transitus de labore ad refrigerium, de expectatione ad praemium de agone [...]d brauium. blessed life, and blessed are they that dy in the Lord. But life is sweet, & death is not so terrible in it selfe, as the concomitants of it, a loathsome disease, paine, horrour, &c. and many times the manner of it, to be hanged, to be broken on the wheele, to be vnburied or so. As Socrates told Cato it concernes me not, what is done with me when I am dead. Facilis iactura sepulchri. I care not so long as I feele it not, let them set mine head on the pike of Teneriffa, and my foure quarters in the foure parts of the world, let Wolues or Beares deuoure me.
‘— L [...]. Coelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam.’ The heavens couer him that hath no tombe. So likewise for our friends, why should their departure so much trouble vs? [Page 415] they are better, as we hope, and why then dost thou lament, as those doe, whom Paul taxed in his time, 1. Thess. 4.13. that haue no hope. 'Tis fit there should be some solemnity, and 'tis a naturall passion to weep for our friends, an irresistable passion to lament, yet after a dayes mourning or two comfort thy selfe for thy heavinesse, Ecclus. 38.17. When Phaedon. Socrates was dying, his friends Apollodorus and Crito with some others, were weeping by him, which he perceauing asked them what they meant, Ob hanc causam muliores ab ligâram ne talia fa [...]erent, nos haec audientes er [...] buimus & destitimus à lachrymis. for that very cause he put all the womē out of the roome, vpon which words of his they were abashed, and ceased from their teares. Lib. de consol. Tully was much grieued for his daughter Tulliola's death at first, vntill such time that he had confirmed his mind with some Philosophicall precepts, Praeceptis p [...]ilosophiae confirmatus adversus omnem fortunae vim & te consecrata in coelum (que) recepta tanta affectus laetitia sum ac voluptate quantum animo capere possum ac exultare plane mihi videor, victor (que) de omni do [...]ore & fortuna triumphare. and then hee began to triumph over fortune and griefe, and for her reception into heauen to be much more ioyed, then before he was trobled for her losse. If an heathen man could so fortifie himselfe from Philosophy, what shall a Christian from Diuinity? Why doest thou so macerate thy selfe? 'tis an ineuitable chance, an euerlasting act of Parliament, all must Vt lignum vri natum, arista secari sic homines meri. dye.
It cannot be reuoked, we are all mortall, and these all commanding Gods and Princes dye like men. O weake condition of humane estate, Sylvius exclaimes, Nic. Henselius Breslagr sol. 47. Ladislaus King of Bohemia 18 yeares of age, in the flowre of his youth, so potent, rich, fortunate and happy, in the midst of all his friends, amongst so many 20 Then present. Physitians, now ready to be To Magdalen the daughter of Charles the 7. of France Obeunt noctes (que) dies (que), &c. maried, in 36 houres sickned and died. Tombes and monuments haue the like fate data sunt ipsis quo (que) fata sepulchris, Kingdomes, Prouinces, Townes, and Citties haue their periods, and are consumed.
Epist. Tul. l. 3. Returning out of Asia, when I sayled from Aegina toward Magera, I began (saith Servius Sulpitius in a consolatory Epistle of his to Tully) to view the country round about. Aegina was behind me, Megera before, Pyraeus on the right hand, Corinth on the left, what flourishing townes heretofore, now prostrat and overwhelmed before mine eyes. I beganne to thinke with my [Page 416] selfe. Alas why are we mē so much disquieted with the departure of a friend, whose life is much shorter? Quum tot oppidorum cadavera ante oculos proiecta iaceant. when so many goodly Cities lye buried before vs. Remember ô Servius thou art a man, and with that I was much confirmed, and corrected my selfe: Correct then thy selfe likewise, and comfort thy selfe in this, that we shall rise againe; and as Tully said Iucundior (que) multo congressus noster futurus, quam insuavis & acerbus digressus. Our meeting againe shall be much more pleasant, then our departure was grieuous. I but he was my most deare and loving friend, my sole friend. Thou maist bee ashamed, saith Deremed. sortuit. Seneca to confesse it in such a Erubesce tanta tempestate quod ad vnam anchoram stabas tempest as this to haue but one anchor, goe seeke another: & for his part thou dost him great iniury to desire his longer life, Vis aegrum morbidum & sitibundum — gaude potius quod his malis liberatus sit. Wilt thou haue him crased & sickly still, or to be freed from his miseries? thou hast more need reioyce that he is gone. Another he complaines of a most sweet wife, such a wife as no mortall man euer had so good a wife: I reply to him in Senecae's words, if such a woman at least ever was to be had, Vxorem bonā aut inuenisti, aut sic fecisti, si inueneris, aliam habere te posse ex hoc intelligamus: si feceris benè speres, salvus est artifex. He did either so finde her or make her, if he found her, he may as happily finde another; if hee made her, as Critobulus in Xenophon did by his, he may as good cheap informe another, he need not despaire, so long as the same master is to be had. But was she good? had shee beene so tried peraduenture as that Ephesian widdow in Petronius, by some swaggering souldier, she would not haue held out. Many a man would be willingly rid of his: before thou wast bound, now thou art free, Stulti est compedes licet aureos amore. & 'tis but a folly to loue thy fetters, though they be of gold. Come into a third place you shall haue an aged father sighing for a sonne, or a forlorne sonne for his deceased father. But why? Prior exijt, prior intravit, he came first and he must goe first. What wouldst thou haue the laws of nature altered, and him to liue alwaies? Iul. Caesar, Augustus, Alcibiades, Galen, Aristotle, lost their fathers young▪ and why on the other side shouldst thou so heavily take the death of thy little sonne, was he not mortall? He was a fine childe indeed, but who can tell whether he would haue been an honest man? He might haue proued a theefe, a rogue, a spendthrift, [Page 417] a disobedient child, vexed and galled thee more then all the world beside, he might haue wrangled with thee and disagreed, or with his brothers, as Eteocles, & Polynices, and broke thy heart; he is now gone to eternity as another Ganymede in the flowre of his Deus quos diligit inveues rapit. Menander. youth, as if he had risen, saith Consol. ad Apol Apollonius filius tuus in flore decessit ante nos ad aeternitatem digressus tā quam e conuivio abiens priusquā in errerem aliquemè Temulentiâ incideret. quales in longâ senectâ accidere solent. Plutarch, from the midst of a feast, before he was drunck, the longer he had liued the wourse he would haue beene, and quo vita longior, Ambrose thinkes, culpa numerosior, more sinfull, more to answer for he would haue had. If hee was naught thou maist be glad he is gone, if good be glad thou hadst such a sonne. Or art thou sure he was good? It may be he was an hypocrite as many are, and howsoeuer he spake thee faire; it may be he prayed amongst the rest that Icaromenippus heard at Iupiters whispering place in Lucian, for his fathers death. Or put case he was good, suppose the best, may not thy dead sonne expostulate with thee, as hee did in the same Tom. 1. tract. de luctu. Quid me mortuum miserum voca [...] qui te sum multo faelicior? aut quid acerbi mihi putas contigisse? an quia non sum malus, senex, vt tu facie rugosus, incurvus, &c. O demens quid tibi videtur in vitá boni? nimirum amisi dicis caenas, &c Longè melius non esurire quam edere; non fitire, &c. Gaudepotius quod m [...]rbos & febres effugerim augorem animi, &c. E [...]ulatus quid prodest, quid lachrymae, &c. Lucian. Why dost thou lament my death, or call me miserable, that am much more happier then thy selfe, what misfortune is befalne mee? Is it because I am not bald, crooked, old, rotten, as thou art? What, haue I lost some of your good cheere, gay cloaths, singing, dancing, kissing, merry meetings, &c. is that it? Is it not much better not to hunger at all then to eat, not to thirst then to drink to satisfie thirst, not to be a cold then to put on cloaths to driue away cold? You had more need reioyce that I am freed from diseases, agues, cares, anxieties, liuor, loue, covetousnesse, hatred, enuy, malice, that I feare no more theeues, tyrants, enemies as you doe. What good doe your teares, to what end? Weepe no more then 'tis to no purpose? And as Tully aduiseth vs in the like case, Non quos amisimus, sed quantum lugere par sit cogitemus. Thinke what we doe, not whom we haue lost. So David did 2. Sam. 12.22. While the child was yet aliue, I fasted and wept, but being now dead why should I fast? can I bring him againe, I shall goe to him, but he cannot returne to me. The Thracians weept stil when a child was borne, and feasted & made mirth when any man was buried, Sardus de mor. gent. and so should we rather bee glad [Page 418] for such as dye well, that they are so happily freed from the miseries of this life. If our present weaknesse be such, we cā not moderate our passions in this behalfe; we must diuert thē by all meanes by doing something, thinking of some other thing, or by Praemeditatione facilem reddere quem (que) casum. Plut. consol ad Apollonium. Assuefacere nos casibus debemus Tully 3. Tusc. premeditation make such accidents familiar vnto vs, as Vlysses that wept for his dog, but not for his wife quod paratus esset animo obfirmato, (Plut. lib. de anim. tranq.) accustome our selues, & harden before hand by seeing other mens calamities, and applying them to our selues. And so for false feares and all other fortuit inconueniences, mischances, calamities, to resist and prepare our selues, not to faint or to be discouraged at all.
for he that so faints & feares, and yeelds to his passion, flings away his owne weapons, makes a cord to bind himselfe, and pulls a beame vpon his owne head.
MEMB. 6. Against Envy, liuor, emulation, hatred, ambition, selfeloue, and all other affections.
AGainst all those other Qui Invidiam ferre non potest, ferre contemptum cogitur. passions and Affections, there is no better remedy, then as Marriners when they goe to Sea, prouide all things necessary to resist a tempest; to furnish our selues with Philosophicall and diuine precepts: to ballance our hearts with loue, charity, meeknesse, patience, and counterpoise those irregular motions of enuy, liuor, spleene hatred, with those opposite vertues, as wee bend a crooked staffe another way. To oppose bounty to couetousnes, fortitude to pusillanimity, meeknes to anger, humility to pride, to examine our selues for what cause we are so much disquieted, on what ground, what occasion is it, a iust or a fained cause, and then either to pacifie our selues by reason, or to divert [Page 419] by some other obiect or contrary passion: or as they that play at wasters, exercise themselues by a few cudgells how to avoid an enimies blowes: arme our selues against all such violent incursions, which may invade our minds. Many times we repine and mutter without cause, wee giue way to passions, we may resist and will not. Socrates was bad by nature, enuious, as he confessed himselfe, lasciuious, but as hee was Socrates, he did correct and amend himselfe. Thou art malitious, enuious, couetous, no doubt and lascivious, yet as thou art a Christian correct and moderate thy selfe. 'Tis something I confesse, and able to moue any man, to see himselfe contemned, neglected, disgraced, Occupet extremum scabies mihi turpe relinqui est. Lipsius epist. left behind, some cannot endure it, not Lipsius himselfe, a man discreet otherwise, yet too weak and passionate in this as his words expresse, collegas olim quos ego sine fremitu non intueor, nuper terrae filios, nunc Maecenates & Agrippas, summo iam monte potitos. But he was much to blame for it, to a wise staid man all this is nothing, we cannot all be honoured and rich, all Caesars, if wee can be content, our present state is good, and in some mens opinion to be preferred. Let them goe on, get wealth, offices, titles, honours, and preferments, and what they will themselues, by fraud, imposture, simony, and indirect meanes, as many doe, by bribery, flattery, and parasiticall insinuation, by impudence, and time-seruing, let them goe before, crosse me on every side, Lipsius epist. me non offendunt modò non in oculos incurrunt, as he said, correcting his former error, they doe not offend me, so long as they runne not into mine eyes. I am inglorious and poore, compositâ paupertate, but I liue secure and quiet: they are dignified, and haue great meanes, pompe and state, they are glorious, but what haue they with it? Gloria comitem habet invidiam pari onere premitur retinendo ac acquirendo. Envy, trouble, anxiety, as much labour to maintaine their place with credit, as to get it at first. I am contented with my fortunes, spectatorè longinquo, and loue Neptunū procul à terrâ spectare furentem: he is ambitious and not satisfied with his: but what Quid aliud ambitiosus sibi parat quam vt probra eius pateant nemo vivens qui non habet in vita plura vituperatione quam laude digna, his malis non melius occurritur, quam si benè latueris. gets he by it? to haue all his life laid open, his reproaches seen, not one of a thousand but he hath done more worthy of dispraise [Page 420] and animadversion, then worthy of commendation, no better meanes to helpe this then to be private. Let them runne, ride, striue as so many fishes for a crumme, scrape, clime, catch, and snatch, cosen, and collogue, temporise and fleire, take all amongst them, Et omnes fama per vrbes garrula laudet. and get what they can, it offends me not,
I am well pleased with my present fortunes. ‘— Hor. Viuo & regno simul ista relinquens.’ I haue learned in what state soeuer I am therewith to be cō tent. 1. Philip. 11. Come what can come I am prepared, ‘Nave ferar magnâ an parvâ ferar vnus & idem.’ I am the same. I was once so mad to bussell abroad, & seeke about for preferment, tire my selfe and trouble al my friends and had my proiects, hopes, and designes, amongst the rest, but now as a mired horse that struggles at first with all his might and meane to get out, but when hee sees no remedy, that all his beating will not serue, lies still, I haue labored in vaine, and rest satisfied,
MEMB. 7. Against Repulse, Abuses, Iniuries, Contempts, Disgraces, Contumelies, Slanders, Scoffes, &c.
I May not yet conclude, or hope to remoue passions, or quiet the mind, till such time as I haue likewise remoued some other of their more eminent and ordinary causes, which produce such grieuous tortures and discontents, to remoue all I cannot hope, to point alone at some few of the chiefest, is all I ayme at.
Repulse. Repulse and Disgrace are two maine causes of discontent, [Page 421] but to an vnderstanding man not so hardly to be taken, Caesar himselfe hath beene denyed, Paederatus in 300. Lacedemoniorum numerū non electus risit, gratulari se dicens civitatem habere 300. cives se meliores. and when two stand equall in fortune, birth, and all other qualities alike, one of necessity must lose. Why should'st thou take it so grieuously? It hath beene a familiar thing for thee thy selfe to deny others. If every man might haue what he would, we should all be deified, Emperours, Kings, Princes, if whatsoeuer vain hope suggests vnsatiable appetite affects, our preposterous iudgement thinks fit, should be granted, we should haue another Chaos in an instant, a meere confusion. It is some satisfaction to him that is repelled, that dignities, honours, offices are not alwaies giuen by desert, or for worth, but for loue, affinity, friendship affection, Kissing goes by favour. great mens letters, or as commonly they are bought and sould. Indignissimus plerum (que) praefertur, Vatinius to Cato, illaudatus laudatissimo. It is an ordinary thing in these times to see a base, impudent asse, illiterate, vnworthy, vnsufficient to bee preferred before his betters, because hee can put himselfe forward, because he looks bigge, hath a faire outside, can temporise, collogue, insinuate, or hath good store of mony, wheras a more discreet, modest, & better deseruing man shall haue a repulse. Erasmus, Lipsius, Budaeus, Cardan, died poore, Gesner was a silly old man, baculo innixus, amōgst all those huffing Cardinals and swelling Bishopps that flourished in his time and rid on foot-cloaths. It is not learning, worth, wisdome that preferres men, but as the wise man said, Solomon. Eccles. 9. 11. Chance. They had wealth and honour, but Cardan comforted himselfe with that, Stella Fomahant immortalita em dabit. the starre Fomahant would make him immortall. But why shouldst thou take thy Cāvas so to hart? It may be thou art not fit. Ovid. Met. Magna petis Phaethon & quae non viribus istis, &c. as Iames & Iohn the sons of Zebedy did aske they knew not what, nescis temerarie nescis, thou dost as another Suffenus ouerweene thy selfe, thou art wise in thine own conceit, but in other mens more mature iudgement altogether vnfit to manage such a businesse. Or be it thou art more deseruing then any other, God in his providence hath reserved thee for some other fortunes, sic superis visum. Thou art [Page 422] art humble as thou art, it may be hadst thou beene preferred, thou wouldst haue forgotten God and thy selfe, insulted over others, contemned thy friends, Magistratus virum indicat. beene a block, or a tyrant or a demigod, sequitur (que) superbia formam. Ideo boni viri aliquando gratiam non accipiūt ne in superbiam eleventur ventositate iactantiae ne altitudo muneris negligentiores essiciat. Therefore, saith Chrysostome, good men doe not alwaies finde grace and favour, least they should be pressed vp with turgent titles, growe insolent and prowd.
Iniuries are very offensiue, and so much the more in that they thinke veterem ferendo inuitant novam, by taking one they provoke another: but it is an erroneous opinion: for if that were true, there would bee no end of abusing one another, lis litem generat; 'tis much better with patience to beare or quietly to put it vp. If an asse kicke me, said Socrates, shal I strike him againe, and when Aelian. his wife Xantippe stroke him and misused him, to some friends that would haue had him strike her againe, he replied that hee would not make them sport, or that they should stand by, and say Eia Socrates eia Xantippe, as we doe when dogges sight animate them the more by clapping of hands. Many men spend themselues, their goods, friends, fortunes, vpon small quarrels, and sometimes at other mens procurements, with much vexation of spirit and anguish of minde, that with good aduise, or mediation of friends might haue beene happily composed, or if patience had taken place. Patience in such cases is a most soueraigne remedy, put it vp, conceal, or dissemble it, to Iniuriarum remedium est oblivio. forget & forgiue, Mat. 18.22. Mat.5 39. not 7 but 77 times, as our Sauiour inioines vs stroken, to turne the other side: as our Rom. 12.17. Apostle perswads vs, to recompence no man evill for evill, but as much as is possible to haue peace with all men. Not to avenge our selues, and wee shall heap burning coales vpon his head. If he contend with thee, submit thy selfe vnto him first, yeeld to him, it may be by that meanes thou maist win him, Hehodorus. favore & benevolentiâ etiam immanis animus mansucseit, soft words pacifie wrath, and the fiercest spirits are so soonest ouercome; a generous Lion will not hurt a beast that lies prostrate. It is reported by Gualter Mapes an old Historiographer of ours, that liued 400 yeeres [Page 423] since, that king Edward Senior, and Leolin Prince of Wales, being at an Interview neare Aust vpon Severne in Glostershire, Camden in Glouc. and the Prince sent for, refused to come to the King, he would needs goe ouer to him: which Leolin perceiuing, Vs (que) ad pectus ingressus est, àquam & cimbā amplectens, sapientissime rex ait, tua humilitas meam vicit superbiam, & sapientia triumphauit ineptiam coll [...] ascende, quod contra te fatuus erexi, intrabi [...] terram quam hodiefecit tuam benignitas &c. went vp to the armes in water, and embracing his boat, would haue carried him out vpon his shoulders, adding that his humility and wisdome had triumphed ouer his pride and folly. And therevpon was reconciled vnto him, and did his homage. If thou can'st not so win him, put it vp, if thou beest a true Christian, a good divine, an imitator of Christ, thou wilt pray for thine enemies, Rom. 12.14. and blesse them that persecute thee, be patient, meeke, humble &c. An honest man will not offer thee iniury, probus non vult, if he were a brangling knaue, 'tis his fashion so to doe, Pro. doe not answere a foole according to his folly. If hee bee thy superiour, Contend not with a greater man. Pro. beare it by all meanes, grieue not at it, t'is an ordinary thing for great men to vilifie and insult, oppresse, iniure, to take what liberty they list, and who dare speake against them? Miserum est ab eo laedi, à quo non possis queri, from whom is no appeal: t'is hard I confesse to be so iniured, but be thou patient, and leaue revenge vnto the Lord. Ps 45. Rom. 12. Vengeance is mine, and I will repay saith the Lord. Nemesis comes after, serò, sed serio, stay but a little, and thou shalt see Gods iust Iudgment ouertake him. Thou shalt see that of Samuel to Agag 1 Sam. 15, 33. thy sword hath made many women childlesse, so shall thy mother be childlesse amongst other women [...] they shall bee recompenced according to the workes of their hands, they shall haue sorrow of heart, and be Haman shall be hanged on that gallhouse he provided for Mordocheus. Este [...] 7. destroyed from vnder the heauen, Thre. 3.64.65.66. only be thou patient, Apud Christianos non qui patitur, sed qui facit iniuriam miser est. Leo. ser. vincit qui patitur, and in the end thou shalt be crowned, but if thou resist, and goe about vim vi repellere, as the custome of the world is, to right thy selfe, or hast giuen iust cause of offence, 'tis no iniury thē but a condigne punishment, thou hast deserued as much. A te principium, in te recidit crimen quod à te fuit, peccasti quiesce, as Ambrose expostulats with Cain l. 3. de Abel & Cain. Valerius lib. 4. cap. 1. Dionys. of Syracuse in his exile was made stand without doore, patienter ferendū, fortasse [Page 428] nos tale quid fecimus, quum in honore essemus, he wisely put it vp, and laid the fault where it was, in his owne pride and scorne, which in his prosperity he had formerly shewed others. By many indignities we come to dignities. Tibi subijcito quae siunt alijs furtum, convitia &c. & in ijs in te admissis non excandesces. Epictetus. This is thanke worthy saith our Apostle, if a man for conscience towards God, 1 Pet. 2. endure griefe, and suffer wrong vndeserued: for what praise is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? but if when you doe well, ye suffer wrong, & take it patiently, there is thankes with God, for hereunto verily were ye called. Qui mala non fert, ipse sibi testis est per impatientiam quod bonus non est, he that cannot beare iniuries, witnesseth against himself that he is no good man, as Gregory holds. Siquidem maelorum propriū est inserre damna, & honorum pedissequa est iniuria. T'is the nature of all wicked men to doe iniuries, as it is the property of all honest men patiently to beare them. Iniury is their foot-boy, and as a lacky, followes them wheresoeuer they goe. And if there were no other respect then of Christianity, religion and the like, to induce men to be long-suffering and patient, yet me thinks the nature of iniury it selfe, is sufficient to keep them quiet, the tumults, vproares, miseries, discontents, anguish, dangers that attend vpon it, the commō experience might stay them. Hoc scio pro certo quod si cum stercore certo, Vinco seu vincor, semper ego maculor. The more they contend, the more they are involved in a Labyrinth of woes, t'is an hydras head, the more they striue, the more they may; and as Praxiteles did by his glasse, when he saw a scurvy face in it, brake it in pieces: but for that one, he saw many more as bad in a moment: for one iniury done, they provoke another cum foenore, and twenty enemies for one. Noli irritare crabrones, oppose not thy selfe to a multitude; Obloquutus est, probrum (que) tibi intulit quispiam, siue vera is dixe [...]it, sive falsa, maximam tibi coronā texueris, si māsuetè convicium tuleris. Chrys. in 6. cap. ad Rom. ser. 10. but if thou hast receiued a wrong, wisely consider of it, and if thou canst possibly, compose thy selfe with patience to beare it: This is the safest course, and thou shalt find greatest ease to be quiet.
o I say the same of scoffes, slanders, cōtumelies, obloquies, pasquilling libels, and the like, which may tend any way to our disgrace, t'is but our opinion, if we could neglect or contemne them, or with patience digest them, they would reflect on those that offered them first. As he that had a scold to his wife, when she brawled, he plaid on his drumme, and by that [Page 425] meanes madded her more, because she saw that he would not be moued Diogenes in a crowd when one called him back, & told him how the boyes laughed him to scorne, ego inquit, non rïdeor, he took no notice of it. Socrates was brought vpon the Stage by Aristophanes, and misused to his face, but he laughed as if it concerned him not, and as Aelian relates of him, whatsoeuer good or bad accident or fortune befell him, going in, or comming out, Socrates still kept the same countenance. Euen so should a Christian souldier doe, as Hierome describes him, per infamiam & bonam famam grassari ad immortalitatem, march on through good & bad reports to immortality, Tullius epist. Dolabe [...]e. tu forti sis animo, & tua moderatio, constantia, eorū infamet iniuriā. not to be moued. No better way, then to neglect contemne, or seeme not to regard it, to make no reckoning of it, deesse robur arguit dicacitas. They scoffe & raile at me, saith one, Lipsius elect. lib. 2. cap. vlt. Latrant me, iaceo ac taceo. &c. and barke at me, on euery side , but I like that Albanian dog, sometimes giuen to Alexander for a present, vindico me ab illis solo contemptu, I lye still and sleep, vindicate my selfe by sole contempt alone. Let them raile then, scoffe & slander, sapiens contumeliâ non afficitur, a wise man Seneca thinkes, is not moued, because he knowes, contra Sycophantae morsum non est remedium, there is no remedy for it, Kings and Princes, wise, graue, prudent, holy, good men, divine, are all so serued alike. Pers. Sat. 1. O Iane à tergo quem nulla ciconia pinsit, God himselfe is blasphemed: nondum faelix es se te nondum turba deridet. It is an ordinary thing so to be misused, Regium est cum bene feceris malè audire, the chiefest men, and most vndeseruing of it, are so serued, let him take his course. And as that lusty courser in Aesope, that contemned the poore Asse, Tuate conscientia solare in cubiculum ingredere, vbi securè requiescas. Minuit se quodammodo probantis conscientiae secretum. Boethius lib 1. pros. 4. came by and by after with his bowels burst, and a pack on his back, and was derided of the same Asse, cōtemnentur ab ijs quos ipsi priùs contempsere, & irridentur ab ijs quos ipsi priùs irrisere, they shall be contemned and laughed to scorne of those whom they haue formerly derided. Let them curse and sweare, faine and lye, doe thou comfort thy selfe with a good conscience, in sinu gaudeas, when they haue all done, a good conscience is a continuall feast, innocency will vindicate it selfe. Elogium mihi pro [Page 426] foribus, my posy is, not to be moued, that Ringātur licet & maledicant Palladium illud pectori oppono. Non Moueri: consisto modestiae veluti sudi innitens, excipio & frango stultissimum impetum liuoris. Putean. lib. 2. ep. 58. my Palladium, my brestplate, my buckler, with which I warde all iniuries, offences, lies, slanders, I leane vpon that stake of modesty, and so receiue & breake asunder all that foolish force of Liuor and Splene, And he whosoeuer he is that shall obserue these short instructions, without all question he shall much ease and benefit himselfe. Many men are very testy by nature, apt to mistake, apt to quarrell, apt to provoke and misinterprete to the worst, every thing that is said or done, and therevpon heap vnto themselues a great deale of trouble, and disquietnesse to others, smatterers in other mens matters, tale-bearers, whisperers, liers, and by those bad courses accumulate much euill to their owne soules, qui contendit, sibi convitium facit, their life is a perpetuall braule, they snarle like so many dogges with their wiues, children, servants, neighbours, and all the rest of their friends, they can agree with no body; But to such as are iudicious and meek, and quiet, these matters are easily remedied: they will forbeare vpon all such occasions, neglect or contemne, or take no notice of them, dissemble, or wisely turne it off. If it be a naturall impediment, as a red nose, squint eyes, crooked legs, or any such imperfection or infirmitie or disgrace, reproach, the best way is to speake of it first thy Bion said his father was a roague, his mother a whore to prevent obloquy, and to shew that nought belonged to him but goods of the mind. selfe, and so thou shalt surely take away all occasions from others to iest at it, or to cōtemne it, that they may perceiue thee to be carelesse of it. Vatinius was wont to scoffe at his own deformed feet, to prevent his enemies obloquies and sarcasmes in that kind, or els by prevention, as Cotys King of Thrace, that brake a company of fine glasses presented to him, with his own hands, lest he should be ouermuch moued when they were broken by chance. And sometimes again, so that it be discreetly and moderatly done, it shall not be amisse to make resistance, to take down such a sawcy companion, no better means to vindicat himself to purchase finall peace: for he that suffers himself to be ridden, or through pusilanimity or sottishnes will let euery man baffle him, shall be a common laughing-stock for all to flowt at. As a curre that goes [Page 437] through a Village, if he clap his taile between his legs, and run away, euery curre wil insult ouer him, but if he brisle vp himself, and stand to it, giue but a countersnarle, there's not a dog dare meddle wi [...]h him: much is in a mans courage & discreet carriage of himself.
Many other grievances there are, which happen to a man in this life, from friends, wiues, children, seruants, masters, cō panions, neighbours, our own defaults, ignorance, errors, infirmities, &c. and many good remedies to mitigate and oppose them, many divine precepts to counterpoise our hearts, speciall antidotes both in Scriptures and humane Authors, which who so will obserue, shall purchase much ease & quietnes vnto himself, I will point at a few. Those Propheticall Apostolicall admonitions, are well known to all, what Solomon, Siracides, our Saviour CHRIST himself hath said tending to this purpose: as Feare God, obey the Prince: be sober & watch: pray continually: be angry, but sin not: remember thy last: fashion not your selues to this world &c. striue not with a mighty man: recōpence good for euil: let nothing be done through contention or vainglory, but with meeknes of mind euery man esteeming of others better then himselfe. Or that Epitome of the Law & the Prophets, which our Saviour inculcated, loue God aboue all, thy neighbour as thy selfe. And whatsoeuer you would that men should doe vnto you, so doe vnto them, which Alexander Severus writ in letters of gold, and vsed as a motto, and Lib. 2. ep. 25. Hierom commēds to Celantia as an excellent way, amongst so many intisements and worldly prouocations to rectify her life. Out of humane Authors take these few cautions, Nosce teipsum. know thy selfe. Sorte tuâ contentus abi. Be contented with thy lot. Ne fidas opibus , ne (que) parasitis trahunt in praecipitium. Trust not wealth, beauty nor parasites, they will bring thee to destruction. Pacem cum hominibus habe, bellum cum vitijs. Otho 2 Imperat symb. Haue peace with all men, warre with vice. Daemon te nunquam oti [...] sum inveniat. Hierom. Be not idle. Diu deliberandum quod statuendum est semel. Looke before you leape. Insipientis est dicere non putâram. Beware of had I wist. Ames parentē siaequum, alitèr feras, praesles parentibus pietatem, amicis dilectionem. Honor thy parents, speake well of friends. Be temperate in 4 things, lingua, loculis, oculis, & poculis, watch thine eye, Comprime linguam. Quid de quo (que) viro & cui dicas saepè caveto. Libentius audias quam loquaris. moderat thine expenses, Heare much, speake little. Keepe thine own counsell, reueale not thy secrets, be silent in thine intentions, Fuge susorrones.Percōtatorē fugito. &c. Giue not eare to tale-tellers, bablers, [Page 428] be not scurrilous in conversation: iest without bitternes: giue no man cause of offence: set thine house in order. Sponde praesto noxa. Ta [...]e heed of suretyship. Tecum habita. Liue not beyond thy meanes. Bis dat qui citò dat. Giue chearefully. Pay thy dues willingly. Be not a slaue to thy money. Post est occasio calva. Omit not occasion, loose no time. Be humble to thy superiour, respective to thine equall, affable to all, Nimia familiaritas parit contemptum. but not familiar. Flat [...]er no man. Mendacium servile vitium. Lye not, dissemble not. Keep thy word and promise, be constant in a good resolution. Speake truth. Be not opinatiue, maintaine no factions. Lay no wagers, make no comparisons. Arcanum ne (que) tu scrutaberis vllius vnquam, commissum (que) teges. Hor. lib, 1. ep. 19. Nec tua laudabis studia aut aliena reprē des. Hor. ep. lib. 18. Find no faults, meddle not with other mens matters. Admire not thy selfe. Ne te quaesiueris extra. Be not popular. Insult not. Fortunam reverentèr habe. Stultum est timere, quod evitari non potest. Feare not that which cannot be avoided. Accuse no man, commend no man rashly. Goe not to Law without great cause. Ama tanquam osurus. Cast not off an old friend, Be not fond of faire words. Be not a neuter in a faction. Moderate thy passions. Nullum locum putes sine teste. Thinke no place without a witnes. Secreto amicos admone, lauda palam. Admonish thy friend in secret, commend him in publike. Keepe good company. Vt ameris amabilis esto. Loue others to be beloued thy selfe. Doe not prostitute thy soule for gaine. Make not a foole of thy selfe to make others merry. Marry not an old Cronie or a foole for money. Be not ouer sollicitous or curious. Dum fata sinunt vivite laeti [...] Seneca. Liue merrily as thou canst. Id apprime in vitá vtile, Ex alijs observare sibi quod ex vsu siet. Ter. Take heed by other mens examples. Goe as thou wouldst be met, sit as thou wouldest be found, Dum furor in cursu currenti cede furori Cretis [...]ndum cum Crete. Temporibus servi nec contra flamina flato. Yeeld to the time, follow the streame. Wilt thou liue free from feares and cares? Nulla certior custodia innocentia, inexpugnabile munimētum munimento non egere. liue innocently, Keepe thy selfe vpright, Neminem citò laudes vel accuses. thou needest no other keeper &c. Look for more in Seneca, Plutarch, Epictetus &c. and for defect, consult with cheese-trenchers, and painted cloathes.
MEMB. 8. Against Melancholy it selfe.
Vnicui (que) suum onus intolerabile videtur. EVery man saith Seneca, thinkes his own burthen the heaviest, and a melancholy man aboue all others complains most, Wearines of life, abhorring all company & light; feare, sorrow, suspition, bashfulnes, and those other dread Symptomes of body and mind, must needs aggravate this misery: yet conferred to other maladies, they are not so haynous as they be taken. For first this disease is either in habit or disposition, curable or incurable. If new and in disposition, t'is commonly pleasant, and it may be helped. If inveterate, or an habite, yet they haue lucida intervalla, sometimes well, and somtimes ill. And amongst a many of inconveniences, some comforts are annexed to it. As first it is not catching, and as Erasmus cōforted himself, whē he was grievously sick of the stone, though it was most troublesome, and an intolerable pain to him, yet it was no whit offensiue to others, not lothsome to the spectators, gastly, fulsome, terrible, as plagues, Apoplexies, leprosies, wounds, sores, tetters, pestilent agues are, which either admit of no company, or terrify or offend those that are present. In this malady that which is, is wholly to themselues: and those symptomes not so dreadfull, if they be compared to the opposite extreames. They are most part bashfull, suspitious, solitary &c therefore no such ambtious, impudent intruders, as some are, no smell-feasts, praters, pā ders, parasites, bawdes, drunkards, whoremasters, necessity compels them to be honest. They are freed in this from many other infirmities, solitarines makes them more apt to contemplate, suspition wary, which is a necessary humor in these times Plautus. Nam pol qui maximè cavet, is saepè cautor captus est, he that takes most heed, is often circumvented and overtaken. Feare and sorrow, bashfulnes keeps them temperate & sober, and frees them from many dissolute acts, which iollity and [Page 430] boldnes thrust men vpon. They are no sicarij, theeues assassinates. As they are soone deiected, so they are as soone, by soft words and good perswasion ereared. If they dote in one thing they are wise and well vnderstanding in most other. If it be inveterate, they are insensati, most part doting, or quite mad, insensible of any wrongs, ridiculous to others, but most happy and secure to themselues. And Dotage is a state which many much magnifie and commend: simplicity, folly, as he said, Petronius Catal. hic furor ô superi, sit mihi perpetuus. Some think fooles and disards liue the merriest liues, they are not macerated with cares, tormented with feares, anxieties as other wise men are: and in some Busbequius Sandes lib. 1. fol. 86. conntries, as amongst the Turkes, honorèd as Saints, and abundantly maintained out of the common stock. They are no dissemblers, liers, hypocrites, for fools and madmen tell commonly truth. In a word as they are distressed, so are they pittied, which some hold better then to be envyed, better to be sad then merry, better to be miserable then happy: of two extreames it is the best.
SECT. 4.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Of Physicke which cureth with Medicines.
AFter a long and tedious Discourse of these six non-naturall things, and their severall rectifications, all which are comprehended in Diet, I am come now at last to Pharmaceutice, or that kind of Physick which cures by medicines, which Apothecaries most part make or mingle, or sel in their shops. Many cavill at this kind of Physick, and hold it vnnecessary, vnprofitable to this or any other disease, because those countries which vse it least, liue longest, and are best in health, as Lib. 1. hist. Hector Boethius relates of the Isles of Orchades, the people are still sound of Body and Minde, without any vse of Physick, they liue commonly an 120 yeares. Damianus A-Goes, [Page 431] Saxo Grammaticus, Bohemus, say the like of them that liue in Norway, Lapland, Finmarke, Biarmia, Corelia, and all ouer Scandia, & those Northerne countryes, they are most healthfull, and very long liued, in which places there is no vse at all of Physick, the name of it is not once heard. Dithmarus Bleskenius in his accurate description of Island 1607, makes mention amongst other matters, of the inhabitants manner of liuing, Victus eorum caseo & lacte consistit, potus aqua & serum, pisces loco panis habent ita multos annos saepè 250. abs (que) medico & medicinâ vivunt. which is dried fish insteed of bread, milke, butter & cheese & salt meates, most part they drinke water & whay, and yet without Physick or Physitian, they liue many of them 250 years. I find the same relation by Lerius, and some other Writers of the Indians in America. Paulus Iovius in his description of Brittaine, and Levinus Lemnius obserue as much of this our Island, that there was of old no vse almost of Physick amōgst vs, and but little at this day, except it be for a few nice citizens, surfetting courtiers, Lib. de 4 complex. and staulfed Gentlemen lubbers. The country people vse kitchin Physick, and common experience tels vs, that they liue freest from all manner of infirmities, that make least vse of Physick. Many are ouerthrowne by preposterous vse of it, and thereby get their bane, that might otherwise haue escaped, some think Physitians kill as many as they saue, and who can tell Iuven. quot Themison aegros autumno occiderit vno? many that did ill vnder the Physitians hands, haue happily escaped, when they haue bin giuen ouer by them, and left to God and Nature, and themselues. T'was Pliny's dilemma of old, Omnis morbus laethalis aut curabilis, in vitā definit, aut in mortem. Vtro (que) igitur modo medicina inutilis, si laethalis, curari non potest, si curabilis, non requirit medicum [...] Natura expellet. Euery disease is either curable or incurable, a man recouers of it, or is killed by it, both wayes Physicke is to be reiected. If it be deadly, it cannot be cured, if it may be helped, it requires no Physitian, Nature will expell it of her selfe. Plato made it a great signe of an intemperate & corrupt cō monwealth, where Lawyers and Physitians did abound, and the Romanes distasted them so much, that they were often banished out of their city. It is no art at all, as some hold, the beginning, practice, and progresse of it, all is naught, full of imposture, incertainty, and doth generally more harme then good. The Diuell himselfe was the first inventor of it, Inventum [Page 432] est medicina meum, said Apollo, and what was Apollo but the Diuell. The Greeks first made an art of it, and they were all deluded by Apollos sonnes, priests, oracles. If we may beleeue Varro, Pliny, Columella, most of their best medicines were deriued from his oracles. Aesculapius his son had his temples erected to his Deity, and did many famous cures, but as Lactantius holds, he was a Magitian, a meere impostor, and as his successors, Phaon, Podalirius, Melampius, Menecrates (another god) by charmes, spels, and ministery of bad spirits, did most of their cures. The first that euer wrote in Physick to any purpose, was Hippocrates, and his Disciple and commentator Galen, whom Scaliger cals Fimbriam Hippocratis, but as Praefat. de contrad. med. Cardan censures them both, immethodicall & obscure, as all those old ones are, their precepts confused, their medicines absolete, and now most part reiected. Those cures which they did, Paracelsus holds, were rather done out of their patients confidence, Opinio facit medicos: a faire gowne, a velvet cap, the name of a Doctor is all in a [...]l. and good opinion they had of them, then out of any skill of theirs, which was very small he saith, and they themselues Idiots and Infants, and all their Academicall followers. The Arabians receiued it from the Greekes, and so the Latines adding new precepts and medicines of their own, but so imperfect still either through ignorance of Professors, Impostors, Mountebanks, Empiricks, disagreeing of Sectaries, envy, couetousnes and the like, they doe much harme amongst vs. They are so different in their consultations, prescriptions, mistaking many times the parties constitution, disease and causes of it, they giue quite contrary Physick, Contrarias proferunt sententias. Cardan. one saith this, another that, out of singularity or opposition, as he said of Adrian, multitudo medicorum principem interfecit, a multitude of Physitians hath killed the Emperour. Besides there is much imposture and malice amongst them, all arts saith Lib. 3. de sap. Omnes artes fraudem admittunt, sola medicina spon [...]e eam accersit. Cardan, admit of cosening, Physick amongst the rest doth appropriate it to her selfe, and tels a story of one Curtius a Physitian in Venice, because he was a stranger, and practised amongst them, the rest of the Physitians did still crosse him in all his precepts. If he prescribed hote medicines, [Page 433] they would prescribe cold, miscentes pro calidis frigida, pro frigidis humida, pro purgantibus astringentia, binders for purgatiues, omnia perturbabant. If the party miscarried, Curtium damnabant, then Curtius killed him, that disagreed from thē: If he recouered, then Omnis agrotus propriâ culpa perit, sed nemo nisi medici beneficio restituitur Agrippa. they cured him themselues. Much emulation, imposture, malice there is amongst them: or if they be honest and meane wel, yet a knaue Apothecary that administers the Physick, and makes the medicine, may doe infinite harme, by their old absolete doses, adulterine drugs, bad mixtures, quid pro quo &c. see Fuchsius lib. 1. sec. 1. cap. 8. Cordus Dispensatory, and Brassiuolas examen simpl. &c. But it is their ignorance that doth most harme, their art is wholly coniecturall, vncertaine, imperfect, and got by killing of men, many diseases they cannot cure at all, as Apoplexy, Epilepsy, Stone strangury, Gowt, Tollere nodosam nescit medicina Podagram, quartan agues, a common ague somtimes stumbles them all, they cannot so much as ease, they know not how to iudge of it. If by pulses, that doctrine some hold is wholly suspitious, and I dare boldly say with Lib. 3. Crat. epist. Winceslao Raphaeno, Ausum dicere tot pulsorum differentias quae describuntur à Galeno, nec à quoquam intelligi, nec obseruari posse. Andrew Dudeth, that variety of pulses described by Galen, is neither obserued nor vnderstood of any. And for vrine, that is meretrix medicorum, the most deceiptfull thing of all, as Forestus and some other Physitians, haue proued at large. The most rationall of them, and most skilfull are so often deceiued, that as Lib. 28. cap. 7. syntax art. mirab. Mallem ego expertis credere solum quā mere ratiocinantibus, ne (que) satis laudare possum institutum Babylonicum &c. Tholosanus inferres, I had rather beleeue & commit my selfe to a meere Empirick, then to a meere Doctor, and I cannot sufficiently commend that custome of the Babylonians, that haue no professed Physitians, but bring all their Patients to the market to be cured. Which Herodotus relates of the Aegyptians, Strabo, Sardus, and Aubanus Bohemus of many other natiōs: but I wil vrge these cavilling arguments no farther, left some Physitian should mistake me, and deny me Physick when I am sick: for my part, I am well perswaded of Physick. I can distinguish the abuse from the vse, in this and many other Arts and Sciences. I honor the name, and magnify the calling, as I am inioyned to honor the Physitian for necessities sake. The knowledge of the Physitian lifteth [Page 434] vp his head, and in the sight of great men he shall be admired. The Lord hath created medicines of the earth, and he that is wise will not abhorre them, Eccles. 58.1. Only this I wil adde, that this kind of Physick is very moderatly and advisedly to be vsed vpon good occasion, when the former of Diet wil not take place. And t'is no other which I say, then that which Arnoldus prescribes in his 8 Aphoris. Brudens & pius medicus morbum ante expellere s [...]tagit cibis medicinalibus quam puris medicinis. A discreet & godly Physitian doth first endeavour to expell a disease by medicinall diet, then by pure medicine, and in his ninthe, Modestus & sapiens medicus nunquam properabit ad Pharmaciam nisi cogente necessitate. he that may be cured by Diet, must not meddle with Physick: and in his 11 Aphoris. A modest and wise Physitian will neuer hasten to vse medicines but vpon vrgent necessity, & that sparingly too: because as he addes in his 13 Aphoris. Cuicun (que) potest per alimenta restitui sanitas, fugiendus est penitus vsus medicamentorum. Quicun (que) pharmacatur inventute, deflebit in senectute. Whosoeuer takes much Physicke in his youth shall soon bewaile it in his old age: Purgatiue Physick especially, which doth much debilitate Nature. For which causes some Physitians refrain from the vse of Purgatiues, or els sparingly vse them. H [...]ldish spic. 2. de mol. fol. 276 Nulla est fermè medicina purgans, quae non aliquam de viribus & partibus corporis depredatur. Henricus Ayrerus in a consult for a melancholy person, would haue him take as few purges as he could, because there be no such medicines, which doe not steale away some of our strength, and rob the parts of our body, weakes Nature, & cause that Cachochimia, which Lib. 1. & Bart. lib. 1. cap. 12. Celsus and others obserue, or ill digestion, and bad iuyce through all the parts of it. Galen himself confesseth, that purgatiue Physicke is contrary to Nature, & takes away with it some of our best spirits, & consumes the very substance of our body. But this without question is to be vnderstood of such purgers as are vnseasonably or immoderatly taken, they haue their excellent vse in this aswell as most other infirmities. Of alteratiues and Cordials, no man doubts, be they simples or compounds. I will amongst that infinite variety of medicines which I find in euery Pharmacopea, euery Physitian, Herbalist &c, single out some of the chiefest. 2. de vict. acut. Omne purgans medicamentum, corpori purgato contrarium &c. succos & spiritus adducit, substantiam corporis ausert.
SVBSEC. 2. Simples proper to Melancholy. Against Exoticke Simples.
MEdicines properly applyed to Melancholy, are either Simple or Compound. Simples are Alteratiue or Purgatiue. Alteratiues are such as correct, strengthen Nature, alter, or any way hinder or resist the disease, and they be hearbes, stones, minerals &c. all proper to this humor. For as there be diuerse distinct infirmities, continually vexing vs,
so there be severall remedies, as Hernius praef. prax. med. Qunt morborum sunt Id [...]ae, tol remediorum g [...]nera [...]arijs potentijs decorata. he saith, for euery disease a medicine, for euery humor; & as some hold, euery clime, euery countrey, and more then that, euery private place hath his proper Remedies growing in it, peculiar almost to the domineering and most frequent maladies of it. As P [...]nottus denar. med. Quaecun (que) regio producit simplicia, pro [...]orbis regionis. Crefcit rarò absin [...]b [...]um in Italiâ, quod ibi ple [...]un (que) morbi cal [...]di, sed cicuta, papaver, & herba frigidae apud nos Germanos & Polonos vbi (que) provenit abs [...]nthium. one discourseth, Wormwood growes sparingly in Italy, because most part there they be misaffected with hote diseases, but henbane, poppy, & such cold hearbes, With vs in Germany, Poland, great store of it in euery waste. Baptista Porta Physiognomicae lib. 6. cap. 23. giues many instances and examples of it, and brings many other proofes. For that cause belike that learned Fuchsius of Noremberge, Quum in villun venit, considera [...]it quae ibi crescebant medicamenta, simplicia frequentiora, & ijs plerun (que) vsus distillatis & aliter alimbecū id [...]ò argenteum circumferens. when he came into a Village, considered alwayes what herbes did grow most frequently about it, & those he distilled in a siluer limbecke, and made vse of others amongst them as occasion serued. I know that many are of opinion, our Northerne simples are weake, vnperfect, not so well concocted, of such force as those in the Southerne parts, not so fit to be vsed in Physick, and will therefore fetch their drugs a farre off, Sena, Cassia out of Aegypt, Rubarbe from Barbary, [Page 436] Aloes from, Zocotora, Turbith, Agerick, Mirabolanes, Hermodactils, from the East Indies, Tobaccho from the West, and some as farre as China, Hellebor from the Antycerae, or that of Austria which beares the purple flowre, which Mathiolus so much commends, and so of the rest. In the Kingdome of Valence in Spaine, Herbae medicis vtiles omnium in Apulia feracissimae. Geog. Ad quos magnus berbariorum numerus vndi (que) consiuit. Sincerus Itiner. Galliae. Maginus commends two mountaines, Mariola, and Rena Golosa famous for simples. Leander Albertus, Baldus mons propè Be [...]acum herbilegis maxime notus. Baldus a mountain neere Benacus in the territory of Verona, to which all the herbalists in the country continually flock. Ortelius Apulia, Munster mons maior in Histria: others Montpelier in France. Prosper Altinus preferres Aegyptian simples, Garcias ab Horto, Ind [...]an before the rest, another those of Italy, Crete &c. Many times they are ouer curious in this kind, whom Fuchsius taxeth Instit. lib. 1. sec. 1. cap. 8. that think they doe nothing, except they rake [...]uer all India, Arabia, Aethiopia for remedies, and fetch their Physicke from the three quarters of the World, and from beyond the Gar [...]mentes. Many an old wife or country woman doth often more good with a few knowne and common garden herbs, Qui se nihil efficisse arbitrā tur nisi Indiam, Aethiopiam, Arabiam, & vltra Garamātesàtribus mundi partib [...]s exquisita remedia corradant. Tutiûs saepe medetur rustica anus vna &c. then our bumb [...]st Physitians, with all their prodigious, sumptuous farre-fe [...]ched, [...], coniecturall medicines. Without all question if we haue not these rare Exotick simples, we haue that at home which is in vertue equivalent vnto them, ours will serue as well as theirs if they be takē in a proportionable quantity, be fitted & qualified aright, if not much better, and more proper to our constitutions. Opium in Turkie doth scarce offend, with vs in a small quantity if stupifies, cicuta or hemblock is a strōg poison in Greece, but with vs it hath no such violent effects, so that I conclude with Parte 2. de pest. cap. 17. Io. Voschius, (who as he much inveyes against those Exotick medicines, so he promiseth by our European, a full cure, and absolute of all diseases à capite ad calcem.) nostrae regionis herbae nostris corporibus magis corducunt, our own simples agree best with vs. It was a thing that Fernelius much laboured in his French practice, to reduce all his cures to our proper and domestick Physick. So did Martin Rulandus in Germany, and T.B. with vs, as appeareth by a [Page 437] Treatise of his divulged in our tongue 1615, to proue the sufficiency of our English medicines, to the cure of all manner of diseases. If our drugs be not altogether of such force, or so apposite, it may be, if like industry were vsed, those far-fetched drugs would prosper as well with vs, as in those countreyes whence now we haue them, as well as Cherries, Artichokes, Tobacco, and many such. There haue bin many worthy Physitians, which haue tried excellent conclusions in this kind, and many diligent, painfull Apothecaries, as Gesner, Gerard, &c but amōgst the rest those famous publike Gardēs of Padua in Italy, Noremberge in Germany, Leiden in Holland, Montpelier in France, (and ours in Oxford now in fieri, at the cost and charges of the right Honorable the Lord Dauers) are much to be cōmended, wherein all Exotick Plants almost are to be seene, and a liberall allowance yearely made for their better maintenance, that young students may be the better informed in the knowledge of them: which as Instit. lib. 1. cap. 8 sec. 1. ad exquisitam curandi rationem, quorum cognitio imprimis necessaria est. Fuchsius holds is most necessary for that exquisite maner of curing, & and as great a shame for a Physitian not to know them, as for a workeman not to know his axe, saw, squire, or any other toole, which he must of necessity vse.
SVBSEC. 3. Alteratiues. Hearbes. Other Creatures, &c.
AMongst those 800 simples, which Galeottus reckons vp lib. 3. de promisc. doctr. cap. 3. and many exquisite Herbalists haue written of; these few following alone, I finde appropriated to this humor: Of which some be Alteratiues, Quae caecā vi as specificâ qualitate morbos futuros arcent. (Lib. 1. cap. 10. Instit. Phar. which by a secret force saith Renodaeus, and speciall quality expell future diseases, and perfectly cure those which are, and many such incurable effects. This is aswell obserued in other plants, stones, minerals, and creatures as in herbes, in other maladies as in this. How many things are related of a mans scull? what [Page 438] severall vertues of cornes in a horse leg, Galen lib. epar lupi epaticos curat. of a Wolfes liuer, &c. of seuerall Stercus pecoris ad Epilepsiam &c. excrements of beasts, all good against severall diseases. What extraordinary vertues are ascribed vnto plants? Satyrium and eruca. Penem erigunt, vitex & nymphea semen extinguunt, Sabina faetum educit. some herbes prouoke lust, some againe, as aguus Castus, water-lilly, quite extinguish feed, poppy causeth sleepe, Prestpintle, rocket. Cabbige resisteth drunkennes &c. and that which is more to be admired, that such and such plants, should haue a peculiar vertue to such particular parts, Wecker. Vide Osw [...]ldum Crollium lib. de Internis [...]erum signaturis, de herbis particularib [...]s particui [...] convenientibus. as to the head Anniseeds, foalesoot, Betony, Calamint, Eye bright, Lauander, Bayes, Roses, Rue, Sage, Marjoram, Piony &c. for the lungs Calamint, Lichoras, Enula campana, hysop, horehound, water Germander &c. for the heart, borage, buglosse, saffron, bawme, basil, Rosemary, Violets, roses &c. For the stomack woormewood, mintes, betony, bawme, centaury, Sorel, purslane. For the Liuer, Darthspineor Camaepitys, germander, agrimony, fennell, Endiue, Succory, Liuerwort, Barbaries. For the splene, maiden-haire, fingerfearne, dodder of thyme, hops, the rind of ashe. For the kidneyes grummell, parsly, saxifrage, plantaine, mallow. For the wombe, magwort, pennyriall, fetherfew, savine &c. For the ioynts Cam [...]mile, S Iohnswort, Organ, rue, couslips, Centaury the lesse, &c. and so to peculiar diseases. To this of melancholy you shal finde a Catalogue of herbs proper, and that in euery part. See more in Wecker, Renodeus, Hernius lib. 2. cap. 19. &c. I will briefly speake of some of them, as first of alteratiues, which Galen in his third book of diseased parts, preferres before diminutiues, and Trallianus brags, that he hath done more cures on melancholy men Idem Laurentius cap. 9. Borage. by moistning, then by purging of them.
In this Catalogue, Borage and Bugl [...]sse may challenge the chiefest place, whether in substance, iuice, roots, seedes, flowres, leaues, decoctions, distilled waters, extracts, oyls, &c for such kinde of hearbs be diuersly varied. Buglosse is hotte and moist, & therefore worthely reckoned vp amongst those hearbs, which expell melancholy, and D [...]cor Borage gaudiasemper eg [...]. exhilerate the heart. Galen. lib. 6. cap. 80. de simpl. med. Dioscorides lib. 4. cap 123. [Page 439] Pliny much magnifies this plant. It may be diuersly vsed; as in Broth in Vino infusum hilaritatem facit Wine, In Conserues, Syrups, &c. It is an excellent cordiall, and against this malady most frequently prescribed.
Melissa Baume, hath an excellent vertue to alter Melancholy, Bawme. be it steeped in our ordinary drinke, extracted or other wise taken Cardan. subtil. lib. 18. much admires this hearbe. It heats and dries, faith Lib. 2. cap. 2. prax. med. mirā vilaetitiam praebet, & cor confirmat, vapores m [...]lancholices purgat à spiritib [...]s. Hernius in the second degree, and with a wonderfull vertue it comforts the heart, and purgeth all melancholy vapors from the spirits. Mathiol in lib. 3. cap. 10. in Dioscoridos. Besides they ascribe other vertues to it, Proprium est ei [...]s animum bilarem reddere, concoctionem iuvare, cerebri obstructiones resecare, solitudines sugare, solicitas imaginationes tollere. Scorzonera as to helpe concoction, to cleanse the braine, and expell all carefull thoughts, and anxious imaginations: The same words in effect are in Avicenna, Pliny, Simon Sethi, Fuchsius, Leobel, Delacā pius, and every Herbalist. Nothing better for him that is melancholy then to sleep this and Borage in his ordinary drink.
Mathiolus in his fift booke of medicinall Epistles, reckons vp Scorzonera, Non solum ad viperarum morsus comitiales vertiginosos, sed per se accommodata radix tristiti [...]m discutit, bilaritatem (que), conciliat. Gerard. Hop. not against poyson only, falling sicknesse, and such as are vertiginous, but to this malady; the root of it taken by it selfe expells sorrow, and causeth mirth and lightnesse of heart.
Lupulus hop is a soueraigne remedy, Fuchsius cap. 58. Plant hist. much extols it, Bilem vtram (que), detrabit. sanguinem purgat. it purgeth all choler, and purifies the blood Mathiol. cap. 140. in 4. Dioscor. wonders the Physitions of his time made no more vse of it, because it rarifies and cleanseth, we vse it in our ordinary beare, which before was thick and fulsome.
Worwood, Centaury, Penneriall, are likewise magnified and much prescribed, as I shall after shew, especially in Hypocondriake melancholy, daily to be vsed sod in whay: and as Ruffus Ephesius, Lib. 7. cap. 5. Areteus relate, by breaking wind, helping concoction, many melancholy men haue been cured by the frequent vse of them alone.
And because the Spleene and blood are often misaffected in melancholy, I may not omit Endiue, Succory, Dandelyon, Fumetory, &c. which cleanse the blood, Scolopendria Cuscuta, [Page 440] Ceteratche, mugwort, Liuerwort, Asne, Tamerisk, Genist, Maydenhaire, &c. which much helpe and ease the Spleene.
To these I may adde Roses, Violets, Capers, Fethersewe, Scordium, Staechas, Rosemary, Ros Solis, Betony, Saffron, ocyme, sweet Apples, Wine, Tobacco, Sanders, &c. And to such as are cold, the Hernius lib. 2. consil. 185. Scoltzij cons. 77. Decoction of Guacum, Salsaperilla, Sassafras, the flowres of Carduus Benedictus, which I finde much vsed by Montanus in his consultations, Iulius Alexandrinus, Lelius Aegubinus, and others. Praef [...]denar. med. Omnes capitis dolores & phantasmata tollit, scias nullam herbam in terris huic comparandam viribus & bonitate nasci. Bernardus Penottus preferres his Herba Solis, or dutch Sindawe, before all the rest in this disease, and will admitte of no hearbe vpon the earth to be comparable vnto it. It excels Homers Moly, and cures this, falling sicknesse, and almost al other infirmities. The same Penottus speakes of an excellent Balme out of Apponensis, which taken to the quantity of three drops in a cup of wine, Optimum medicamentum in celeri cordis confortatione, & ad omnes qui tristantur &c. will cause a suddaine alteration, driue away dumps, and cheare vp the heart. Ant Guianerius in his Antidotary hath Rondoletius Elenum quod vim habet miram ad hilari [...] tem, & multi pro secreto habent. Sckenkius observ. med. cen. 5. obser. 86. many such, and Iacobus de Dondis the Aggregator, repeats ambergreese, nutmegs, and all spice amongst the rest. But that cannot be generall, Amber and spice wil make a hot braine mad, good for moist. Garcias ab Horto hath many Indian plants, whose vertues he much magnifies in this disease. Lemnius instit. cap. 58. admires Rue and commends it to haue excellent vertue, to Afflictas mentes releuat, vanas animi Imaginationes & Daemones expellit. expell vaine imaginations, Divells, and to ease afflicted soules. Other things are much magnified by Sckenkius. Mizaldus. Rhases. writers, as an old Cock, a Rammes head, a Wolfes heart borne or eaten, which Mercurialis approues; Prosper Altinus, the water of Nilus, Gomesius all Sea water, and at seasonable times to be sea sicke: gotes milk, whay. &c.
SVBSEC. 4. Pretious st [...]nes, Mettals, Minerals, Alteratiues.
PRetious stones are diuersly censured, many explode the vse of them or any minerals in Physicke, of whom Thomas Erastus is the chiefe, in his Tract against Paracelsus, and in an Epistle of his to Peter Monavius Cratonis epist. vol 1. Credat qui vult gemmas mirabilia efficere, mihi qui & ratione & experientiâ didici aliter rem habere, nullus facile persuadebit falsum esse verum. that stones can work any wonders, let them beleeue that list, no man shall perswade me, for my part I haue found by experience there is no vertue in thē. But Mathiolus in his Comment vpon Lib de gemmis Dioscorides is as profuse on the other side in their commendation, so is Cardan, Renodeus, Encelius, Marbodeus, &c. Margaritae & corallum ad melancholiam praecipuè valent. Mathiolus specifies in Chorall, and Oswaldus Crollius Basilchim. preferres the salt of Chorall. Christoph. Encelius. lib. 3. cap. 131. will haue them to be as so many soueraigne medicines against Melancholy, sorrow, feare, dulnesse, and the like. Praefat ad lap. prec. lib. 2. sec. 2. de mat. med. Regum coronas ornant, digitos illustrant, supellectilia ditant, à fascino tuentur, morbis medentur, sanitatem conseruant, mentem exhilerant, tristitiam pellunt. Renodeus admires them besides they adorne Kings Crownes, grace the fingers, Margaritae & gemmae spiritus confortant cor & melan [...]holiam fugant. enrich our houshold stuffe, defend vs from enchantments, preserue health, cure diseases, they driue away griefe and cares, and exhilerate the mind The particulars be these.
Granatus a pretious stone so called, because it is like the kernels of a Pomegranate, an vnperfect kind of Ruby, though somewhat ruddy, yet more obscure then a Ruby, it comes from Calecut, Encelius lib. 3. ep. 4. Suspens [...]s vel [...]bibitus trist [...]tie multum resistit, & correcreat. if hung about the necke, or taken in drinke, it much resisteth sorrow, & recreates the heart. The same properties I finde ascribed to the Iacinthe and Topaze, Idem cap 5. & cap 6. de Hyacintho & Topazio. Iram sedat, & animi tristitiam p [...]llu. they allay anger, griefe, diminish madnesse, and much delight and exhilerate the mind. Lapis hic gestatus aut ebib [...]tus prudentiam auget, nocturnos timores pellit, insanos hác sa [...]vi & quum lapidem abiecerint, erupit iterum stultiti [...]. If it be either carried about, or taken in a potion, it will increase wisdome, saith Cardan, expell feare, hee brags that he hath cured many mad men with it, which when they laid [Page 442] by the stone, were as mad againe as ever they were at first. Petrus Bayerus, lib. 2. cap. 13. veni mecum. saith as much of the Cryselite, Inducit sapientiam, fugat stultitiam. Idem Cardanus. lunaticos iuvat. a frend of wisdome, an enimy to folly Pliny lib. 37. Solinus cap. 55. Albertus lapid. Cardan. Encelius, lib. 3. c. 66. much magnifies the vertue of the Beryll, Confert ad bonum intellectum comprimit malas cogitationis, &c. Alacres reddit. it much availes to a good vnderstanding, and represseth vaine conceits, evill thoughts, causeth mirth, &c. In the belly of a swallow, there is a stone food called Chelidonius, Albertus Encelius cap. 44. lib. 3. Plinius lib. 37. cap. 10. Iacobus de Dondis: dextro brachio alligatus sanat lunaticos, insanos, facit amabiles, iucundos. which if it be lapped in a faire cloath, & tied to the right arme, will cure lunaticks and mad men, and make them amiable and merry.
There is a kind of Onyx called a Chalcidonye, which hath the same qualities, and Valet contra phantasticas illusiones ex melanch [...]lià. availes much against phantasticke illusions which proceed from melancholy, and preserues the vigor and good estate of the whole body.
The Eban stone which Goldsmiths vse to slicken their gold with, borne about, or given to drinke, Amentes sanat, tristitiam pell [...]t, ir [...]n &c. hath the same properties or not much vnlike.
Levinus Lemnius Institut. ad vit. c. 58. amongs other Iewels makes mention of two. Carbuncle and Corall, Valet ad fugandos timores & daemones, turbulenta somnia ab [...]git, & nocturnos puerorum timores compescit. which driue away childish feares, divells, overcome sorrowe, and hung about the necke represse troublesome dreames, all which properties almost Cardan giues to that greene coloured Somnia laeta facit argenteo annulo gestatus. Emm [...]tris, if it be carried about, or worne in a ring.
Mercurialis admires the Emerald for his vertues in pacifying all affections of the mind, others the Saph [...]re, which is the Atrae bili adversatur, omnium gemmarum pulcherrima, caelicolorem refert, animam ab [...], [...]ores in melius mutat. fairest of all pretious stones, of skie c [...]lour, and a great enemy to blacke choler frees the minde mends manners, &c. Iacobus de Dondis in his Catalogue of Simples, [...]ath A [...]ber Greece, os in Corde cerui, Longis moeroribus faeliciter medetur, [...] &c. the bone in Stagges heart, a Monocerots horne, Bezoors stone, Sec. 5. Memb. 1. S [...]bs. 5. of which elsewhere, it is found in the belly of a beast in the East Indies, brought into Europe by Hollanders and our country men Merchants. Renodeus cap. 22. lib. 3. de ment. med. saith hee saw two of those beasts aliue, in a Castle of the Lord of Vitry at Conbert.
[Page 443] Lapis Lazuli and Armenus because they purge, shall bee mentioned in their place.
Of the rest in briefe thus much I will adde, out of Cardan Renodeus, cap. 23. lib. 3. Randoletius lib. 1. de Testat. cap. 15. &c That [...]estamen lapidum & gemmarum maximū fert auxilium & iuuamen vnde qui dites sunt gemmas secum ferre student. almost all Iewels and pretious stones, haue excellent vertues to pacifie the affections of the mind, for which cause rich men so much couet to haue them: Margaritae & vniones quae à conchis & piscibus apud Persas & Indos, valdè cordiales sunt, &c. and those smaller vnions which are found in shells amongst the Persians and Indians, by the consent of all writers, are very cordiall, and most part availe to the exhileration of the heart.
Most men say as much of Gold, and some other Minerals as these haue done of pretious stones. Erastus still maintaines the opposite part. Disputat in Paracelsum cap. 4. fol. 196. hee confesseth of Gold, Aurum laetitiam generat, non in corde, sed in arcâ avarorum. that it makes the heart merry, but in no other sense but as it is in a misers chest: at mihi plaudo simul ac nummos contemplor in arcâ, as he said in the Poet: aurum potabile, he discommends and inueighs against, Minerals. by reason of the corrosiue waters which are vsed in it. Which argument our D r Guinne vrgeth against D r Antonius. Epist ad Monauium. Metallica omnia in vniversum quuvismodo paratae, nec tutò, nec commodè intrae corpus sumi. Erastus concludes all their Philosophicall stones and potable gold, &c. to bee no better then poyson. Paracelsus and his Chymisticall followers will cure all manner of diseases with Mineralls, Aurum non aurum. Noxium ob aquas rodentes. accounting them the only physicke on the otherside. Paracelsus cals Galen, Hippocrates, and al their adherents, Infants, Idiots, Sophisters, &c. not worthy the name of Physitions, for want of these remedies, and bragges that by them he can make a man liue 160 yeares, or to the worlds end. But these are both in extreames, the middle sort approue of Mineralls, though not in so high a degree. Lemnius lib. 3. cap. 6. de occult. nat. mir. commends Gold inwardly and outwardly vsed, as in Rings, excellent good in medicines; and such mixtures as are made for melancholy men, saith Wecker. Antid. spec. lib. 1. to whom Renodeus subscribes, lib. 2. cap. 2. Ficinus lib. 2. cap. 10. Fernel. meth. med. lib. 5. cap. 21. de Cardiacis, Andernacus, Quercetanus, Oswaldus Crollius, Euonymus, Rubeus, and Mathiolus in his fourth booke of his Epistles, Andreas a Blawen epist. ad [Page 444] Mathiolum, as commended and formerly vsed by Avicenna, Arnoldus, and many others. Nonnulli hic supra modum indulgent, vsum etsi non adeò magnum non tamen abijciendū censeo. Mathiolus in the same place approues of potable Gold, Mercury, and many other Chymicall confections, and goes so farre in approbation of them, that he holds Ausum dicere neminem medicum excellentem qui non in hâc distillatione chimicâ sit versatus. Morbi Chronici devinci citra metallica vix possunt aut vbi sanguis corrumpitur. no man can be an excellent Physitian that hath not some skill in Chymicall distillations, and that Chronicke diseases can hardly be cured without minerall medicines. Look for Antimony amongst purgers.
SVBSECT. 5. Compound Alteratiues, censure of Compounds, and mixt Physicke.
Fraudes hominum & ingeniorum capturae officinas invenere istas, in quibus sua cui (que) venalis pro mittitur vita, statim compositiones & mixturae inexplicabiles ex Arabia & India, vlceri parvo medicina à rubro mari importatur. PLiny lib. 24. cap. 1. bitterly taxeth all compound medicines. Mens knavery, imposture, and captious wits haue invented these shops, in which every mans life is set to sale: and by and by came in those compositions and inexplicable mixtures, farre fetcht out of India and Arabia, a medicine for a botch must be had as farre as the red Sea, &c. And 'tis not without cause which he saith, for without question they are much to Arnoldus Aphor. 15. Fallax, medicus qui potens mederi simplicibus, composita dolose aut frustra quaerit blame in their compositions, whilst they make infinite variety of mixtures, as Lib. 1. sec. 1. cap. 8. Dum infinitae medicamenta miscent, laudem sibi comparare student, & in hoc studio alter alterum superare conatur, dum quis (que) quo plura miscuerit, eo se doctiorem putet, inde fit, vt suam prodant inscitiam, dum ostentant peritiam & se ridiculos exhibeant &c. Fuchsius notes, They thinke they get themselues great credit and excell others, and to be more learned then the rest, because they make more variations, but he accounts thē fooles, and whilest they brag of their skill, and thinke to get themselues a name, they become ridiculous, & bewray their ignorance and error. A few simples well prepared and vnderstood, are far better then such a heap of non-sense confused compoūds. Many times as Agrippa taxeth, there is by this meanes, Multo plus periculi à medicamento quam à morbo &c. more [Page 445] danger from the medicine then from the disease, when they put together they knowe not what, or leaue it to an illiterate Apothecary to be made, they cause death & horror for health. Those old Physitions had no such mixtures; a simple potion of Hellebor, in Hippocrates time was the ordinary purge, and at this day, saith Expedit in Sinas lib 1. cap. 5. Praecepta medici dant nostris diversa, in medendo non infaelices, pharmacis vtuntur simplicibus herbis, radicibus &c. tota eorum medicinae nostrae herbariae praeceptis continetur nullus ludus huius artis quis (que) privatus à quolibet magistro eruditur. Mat. Riccius in that flourishing commonwealth of China, Their Physitions giue precepts quite opposite to ours, not vnhappy in their Physicke: they vse altogether roots, hearbs, and simples in their medicines, and all their physicke in a manner is comprehended in an herball, no science, no schoole, no art, no degrees, but like a trade, every man in private is instructed of his master: Let the best of our rationall Physitions demonstrat, & giue a sufficient reason of those intricate mixtures, why iust so many simples in Methredate, or Treacle, why such or such quantity, may they not be reduced to halfe, to a quarter? Frustra fit per plura (as the saying is) quod fieri potest per pauciora. 300 simples sometimes in a Iulip, potion or a little pill, to what end or purpose? I knowe what Opusc. de Dos. Alkindus, Capivaccius, Montagna, and Simon Eitouer, the best of them all, and most rationall haue said in this kind; but nether he nor they nor any one of them, giues his Reader in my iudgement, that satisfaction which he ought, why such, so many simples. Rog. Bacon hath taxed some errors in his tract de graduationibus, explaned some things but not cleared. Mercurialis in his booke de composit, medicin. giues instance in Hamech, and Philonium Romanum, which Hamech an Arabian, and Philonius a Roman long since composed, but crassè as the rest. If they bee so exact, as by him it seemes they were, and those mixtures so perfect, why doth Fernelius alter the one, and why is the other absolete? Subtil. cap. de scientijs. Cardan taxeth Galen for presuming out of his ambition to correct Theriacum Andronachi, & we as iustly may taxe all the rest. Galens medicines are now exploded and reiected, and what Nicholas Meripsa, Mesve, Celsus, Scribanius, Actuarius, &c. writ of old, are now most part contemned. Mellichius, Cordus, Wecker, Quercetan, Rhenodeus, the Venetian. Florentine states haue [Page 446] their seuerall receipts, and Magistralls: They of Noremberge haue theirs, and Augustana Pharmacopea, peculiar medicines to the Meridian of their citty: London hers, every Citty, Towne, almost euery priuate man hath his owne mixtures, compositions, receits, magistralls, precepts, as if hee scorned antiquity, and all others in respect of himselfe, but euery man must correct and alter to shew his skill, euery opinatiue fellow must maintaine his owne paradox, be it what it wil. Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi: they dote, and in the meane time the poore patients pay for their new experiments, and the Commonalty rue it.
Thus others obiect, thus I may conceaue out of the weaknesse of my apprehension, but to say truth there is no such fault, no such ambition, no nouelty, or ostentation as some suppose, but as Quercitan pharmacop. restitut. cap. 2. nobilissimum & vtilissimum inventum summa cum necessitate adinuentum & introductum. one answers, this of cōpound medicines, is a most noble and profitable invention, found out, brought into physicke, with great iudgement; wisdome, counsell and discretion. Mixt diseases must haue mixt remedies, and such simples are commonly mixt, as haue reference to the part affected, some to qualify, the rest to comfort, some one part, some another, Cardan and Brassiuola both hold that Nullum simplex medicamentum sine noxà, no simple medicine without hurt or offence, and although Hippocrates, Erasistratus, Diocles of olde, in the infancy of this art, were content with ordinary simples, yet now, saith Cap. 25. Tetrabib. 4. ser. 2. necessitas nunc cogit aliquando nova quaerere remedia, & ex simplicibus composita facere tum ad saporem, odo rem, palati gratiam, ad correctionem simplitium, tum ad futuros vsus conseruationem, &c Aetius, necessity compelleth to seeke for new remedies, and to make compounds of simples, as well to correct their harmes, if cold, dry, hot, thicke, thinne, insipid, noysome to smell, to make them sauory to the palat, pleasant to tast & take, and to preserue them for continuance by admixtion of sugar, hony, to make them last months, and yeares for severall vses. In such cases compound medicines may be approued, and Arnoldus in his 18 Aphorisme doth allow of it. Cum simplicia non possunt necessitas cogit ad composita. If simple cannot, necessity compells vs to vse compounds, and for receipts and magistralls, dies diem docet, one day teacheth another, & they are as so many words or phrases, quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula si volet vsus. Ebbe and flowe with the season, and as [Page 447] wits vary so they maybe infinitely varied. Quis (que) suum placitum quo capiatur habet. Euery man as he likes, Lips. Epist. and so many men so many minds, and yet all tending to good purpose, though not the same way. As all arts and sciences, so physick is daily perfected amongst the rest, horae musarum nutrices, & experience teacheth vs euery day many things, which our predecessors knewe not of. Nature is not effe [...]te as he saith, or so lauish to bestow all her gifts vpon an age, but hath reserued still some for posterity, to shew her power, that she is still the same and not old or consumed. But I digresse.
Compound medicines are inwardly taken, or outwardly applyed. Inwardly taken be either liquid or solid, liquid, are fluid or consisting. Fluid as Wines and Syrupes. The wines ordinarily vsed to this disease, are Wormewood wine, Tamarisk, & Buglossatum, wine made of Borage and Buglosse. The composition of which is specified in Arnoldus Villanonanus, of Borage, Bawme, Buglosse, Cinnamon, &c. And highly commended for his vertues. Sanguinem corruptum emaculat scabiem abulet lepram curat spiritus recreat & animá exhilerat. Melancholicos humores per vrinam educit & cerebrum à crassis aerumnosis melancholiae sumis purgat quibus addo dementes & furiosos vinculis retixendos plurimum iuvat & ad rationis vsū ducit. Testis est mihi conscientiae quod viderim matronam quandam hinc liberatam quae frequentius ex iracundia demens & impos animi dicendae tacenda loquebatur adeofurens vt ligari cogeretur. Fuit ei praestantissimo remedio viniistius vsus indicatus à peregrino homine mendico eleemosinā praeforibus dictae matronae implorante. It driues away Leaprosie, Scabbes, cleeres the blood, recreats the spirits, exhilerates the minde, purgeth the braines of those anxious blacke melancholy fumes, and cleanseth the whole body of that blacke humour by vrine. To which I adde, saith Villanonanus, that it will bring madde men and such raging Bedlams as are tied in chaines to the vse of their reason againe. My conscience beares me witnesse that I do not lye, I saw a graue matron helped by this meanes, shee was so cholericke and so furious sometimes, that she was almost mad, & beside her selfe, she said and did she knewe not what, scolded, beate her maids, and was now ready to be bound, till shee dranke of this Borage wine, and by this excellent remedy was cured, which a poore forriner, a sillye beggar taught her by chance, that came to craue an almes from dore to dore. The iuyce of Borage if it be clarified and drunke in wine will doe as much, the rootes sliced & steeped, &c. saith Ant. Mizaldus art. med. who cites this story verbatim out of Villanovanus, and so doth Magninus a Physitian of Millan in his Regyment of health. Such another excellent compound water I finde in Rubeus d [...] destil. [Page 448] sec. 3. which he highly magnifies out of Savanarola, Iis qui tristantur sine causa & vitant amicorū societatem & tremunt corde. for such as are solitary, dull, heavy, or sad without a cause, or bee troubled with trembling of heart. Other excellent compound waters for melancholy he cites in the same place, Modo non inflammetur Melancholia aut calidiore temperamento sint. if their melancholy be not inflamed, or their temperature over hot. Euonymus hath a protious Aquavitae to this purpose, for such as are cold. But he and most commend Aurum potabile, and euery writer prescribes clarified whay with Borage, Buglosse, Endiue, Succory &c. of Goats milke especially, some indefinitely at all times, some 30 dayes together in the spring, euery morning fasting a good draught. Syrupes are very good and often vsed to digest this humor in the heart, spleene, liuer, &c. As syrupe of Borage, de pomis of King Sabor absolete, of Thyme and Epithyme, Hops, Scolopendria, Fumitory, Maidenhaire, Bizantine, &c. These are most vsed for preparatiues to other physicke, mixt with distilled waters of like nature, or in Iulips otherwise.
Consisting are conserues or confections, conserues of Borage, Buglosse, Bawme, Fumitory, Succory, Maidenhaire, Violets, Roses, Wormewood, &c. Confections, Treacle, Mithridate, Eclegmes or Linctures, &c. Solid, as Aromaticall confections, hot, Diambra, Diamargaritum calidum, Dianthus, Diamoschum dulce, Electuarium de gemmis, laetificans Galeni & Rhasis. Diagalinga, Diacimynū, Dianisum, Diatrion piperion, Diazinziber, Diacapers, Diacinamomum. Cold, as Diamargaritum frigidum, Diacorolli, Diarhodon abbatis, Diacodion, &c. as euery Pharmacopoeia will shew you, with their tables or losinges that are made out of them; with Condites & the like.
Outwardly vsed as occasion serues, as Amulets, Oyles, hot and cold, as of Camomile, Staechados, Violets, Roses, Almonds, Poppy, Nymphea, Mandrake, &c. to be vsed after bathing, or to procure sleepe.
Oyntments composed of the said species, oyles and wax, &c, as Alablastritum, Populeum, some hot, some cold, to moisten, procure sleep, and correct other accidents.
[Page 449] Liniments are made of the same matter to the same purpose, Emplasters made of hearbs, flowres, roots, &c. with oyles and other liquors mixt and boyled together.
Cataplasmes, salues, or pultises made of greene hearbs pounded, or sod in water till they be soft, which are applyed to the Hypocondries, and other parts when the body is empty.
Caerotes, are applied to seuerall parts, and Frontalls to take away paine, griefe, heat, procure sleep. Fomentations or spunges wet in some decoctions. Epithemata or those moist medicines laid on linnen to bath and coole seuerall parts misaffected.
Sacculi or little bagges of hearbs, flowres, seeds, roots, & the like, applyed to the head, heart, stomach. &c. odoraments, balls, perfumes, posies to smell to, all which haue their seuerall vses in melancholy, as shall be shewed, when I treat of the cure of the distinct Species by themselues.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSECT. 1. Purging simples. Vpward.
MElanagoga, or melancholy purging medicines, are either Simple or Compound, and that gently or violently purging vpward or downeward. These following purge vpward. Hernius datur in sero lactis aut vino. Asarum or Asrabecca, which as Mesue saith, is hot in the second degree and dry in the third, it is commonly taken in wine, whay, or as with vs the iuyce of two or three leaues or more sometimes, pounded in posset drinke, qualified with a little liquorish or aniseeds, to auoid the fulsomenesse of the tast, or as Diaserum Fernelij. Brassiuolam Catart. reckons it vp amongst those simples that only purge melancholy, and Ruellius confirmes as much out of his experience, that it purgeth Veratri modo expurgat cerebrum, roborat memoriam, Fuchsius. black choler like Hellebor it selfe. Galen lib. 6. simplic. & Crassos & bi [...]osos humores per vomitum educit. Mathiolus ascribe other vertues to it, and will haue it purge other humors aswell as this.
[Page 450] Laurell, by Hernius methodiad prax. lib. 2. cap. 24. is put amongst the strong Vomitum & menses cit valet ad Hydrop. &c. purgers of melancholy, it is hot and dry in the fourth degree, Dioscorides lib. 4. cap. 114. addes other effects to it. Pliny sets downe 15 berries in drinke for a sufficient potion, it is commonly corrected with his opposites, cold and moist, as iuyce of Endiue, Purslane, and is taken in a potion to seauen graines and a halfe. But this and Asrabecca every Gentlewoman in the country knowes how to giue, two knowne vomits.
Scillae or Sea onyon is hot & dry in the third degree, Brassiuola in Catart. out of Mesue and others, and out of his own experience will haue this Simple to purge Materias atras educit. melancholy alone. It is an ordinary vomit, vinum Scilliticū mixt with rubell in a little white-wine.
White Hellebor, which some cals sneezing powder, a stróge purger vpward, which some reiect as being too violent, Mesve and Averroes will not admit of it, Ab arte id [...]o reijciendum ob periculum suffocationis. by reason of the danger of suffocation, Cap. 26. magna vi educit & molestia cum summâ. and great paine and trouble it puts the poore patient to, saith Dodonaeus. Yet Galen, lib. 6. simpl. med. and Dioscorides cap. 145. allow of it. It was indeed Quondam terribile. terrible in former times, as Pliny notes, but now familiar, in so much that many tooke it in his time Multi studiorum gratia ad providenda acrius quae commentabantur. that were students, to quicken their wits, which Persius Sat. 1. obiects to Accius the Poet, Ilias Acci ebria veratro. Medetur comitialibus melancholicis pod [...] gricis vetatur senibus pueris mollibus & effaeminatis, &c. It helps Melancholy, the falling sicknesses: madnesse, gout, &c. but not to be taken of old men, youths, such as are weaklings, nice or esseminate, troubled with headach, high coloured, or feare strangling, saith Dioscorides. Collect. lib. 8. cap. 3. In affectionibus ijs quae diffi ul [...]èr curantur Hellebo rum damu [...]. Oribasius an olde Physitian hath written very copiously of it, and approues of it, in such affections, which can otherwise hardly bee cured. Hernius l. 2. prax. med. de vomitorijs, wil not haue it vsed, Non sine summâ cautione hoc remedio vtemur est enim validissimum, & quum vires Antimonij contemnit morbus, in auxilium evo [...]atur, modo validae vires efflorescant. but with great caution, by reason of his strength, and then when Antimony will doe no good, which caused Herm philus to compare it to a stout Captaine as Codronchus obserues c. 7. comment. de Helleb. that will see all his souldiers goe before him, [Page 452] and come last himselfe, Aetius tetrabib cap. 119. ser. 2. iis s [...]lum dari vult Hellebo [...]um album qui s [...]cus spem non habent, non iis qui Syncop [...]n timent &c. when other helps saile in inveterate melancholy in a desperate case, this vomit is to be taken. And yet for all this if it be well prepared it may bee Cum salute muliorum. securely given at first. Cap. 12 de morbis cap. Mathiolus bragges that hee hath often to the good of many made vse of it, and Hernius, that he hath happily vsed it prepared after his owne prescript, and with good successe. Christopherus a Vega, lib. 3. cap. 14. is of the same opinion, that it may be lawfully giuen, and our country Gentlewomen find it by their common practise, that there is no such great danger in it. D r Turner speaking of this plant in his herball, telleth vs that in his time, it was an ordinary Receipt among good wiues, to giue white Hellebor in powder to ij Nis fael [...]issime [...] nos [...]ro [...] parat [...] He [...]bo [...]o [...].waight, and he is not much against it. But they doe cō monly exceed, for who so bold as blind bayard, and prescribe it by penniworths, and such irrationall waies, as I haue heard my selfe market folkes aske for it in an Apot [...]ecaries shoppe: but with what successe God knowes, they smart often for their rash boldnesse and folly & break a vaine, or make their eyes ready to start out of their heads, or kill themselues. So that the fault is not in the Physicke, but in the rude and vndiscreet handling of it. Hee that wil [...] knowe therefore how, when to vse it, how to prepare it a right, and in what dose, let him read Hernius lib. 2. prax. med. Brassiuola de Catart. Godefridus Stegius the Emperor Rodolphus Physition c. 16. Mathiolus in Dioscor. and that Exquisite commentary of Baptista Codronchus, which is instar omnium, de Helleb. alb. where he shall finde great diuersity of examples and Receipts.
Antimony or Stibium which our Chimists so much magnifie, is either taken in substance or infusion, &c. and much prescribed in this disease. It helpes all infirmities, saith Jn lib. 5. Di [...]scor. cap. 59. omnibus opitulatur morbis quos atrabilis excitaevit c [...]m [...]ialibus iisq, presertim qui Hypocondriacas obtinent passiones. Mathiolus, which proceed from blacke choler, falling sicknesse, and all Hypocondriacall passions, and for farther proofe of his assertion he giues severall instances, of such as haue beene freed with it. Andreas Gallus Tridentinus medicus salutem huic medicamento post deum debe [...]. One of Andrew Gallus a Physitian of Trent, that after many other essaies, imputes the recouery of his health, next after God, to this remedy alone. Another of George Handshius, [Page 452] that in like sort when other medicines failed, Integrae sanitati brevi r [...]stitutus Id quod alijs accidissescio, qui hoc mirabili medicamento vsi sunt. was by this restored to his former health, and which of his knowledge others haue likewise tried, and by the helpe of this admirable med [...]cine, haue beene restored. A third of a parish Priest at P [...]age in Bohemia, Qui melanchol [...]us factus p [...]ne d [...]si [...]i [...]bat, mult [...]q, st [...]lte loque [...]atur, h [...]ic exhibitum 12 gr [...]subium, quod paulo po [...] [...]ram bilem ex alvo eduxit (vt [...] vid [...] qui [...] tanquam [...]d miracul [...]m ad [...]ui testari possam) & ram [...]nta t [...]nquam [...]rn [...]s disse [...]a in part [...]s to [...]um exc [...]em [...] tu [...] [...] repr [...] s [...]abat. that was so farre gone with melancholy that he pla [...]ely doted, and spake he knewe not what, but after he had taken [...] graines of Stibium (as I my selfe saw and can witnesse, [...] I was called to see this miraculous accident) hee was purged of a d [...]ale of blacke choler, like little gobbets of [...]le [...]h, and all his [...] were like blacke blood▪ (a medicine fitte [...] for a horse [...] yet it did him so much good that the next day hee was [...] cured. This very story of this Bohemian P [...]i [...]st [...] relates verbatim, Exoter. experiment▪ ad [...]ar [...] 6. with great approbation of it. Hercules d [...] Saxo [...] [...]lls it a profitable medicine, if it be taken af [...]er me [...]t to 6 o [...] 8 [...] to such as are apt to vomit. Iacobus [...] a [...] P [...] sitian on the other side, lib. 2. de Ve [...]e [...]is [...] [...] this, and saith he took 3 graines only vpon [...] and some others commendation, but it almost killed him, [...] vpon he concludes Anti [...]o [...] venea [...]n, non med [...]. Antimony is rather a [...] med [...] cine. Th. Erastus concurres with him in his opinion, and [...] doth A [...]lian Montaltus cap. 30. de melan. but what doe I talke? t'is the subiect of whole bookes, I might cite [...] century of authors pro and con. I will conclude with Crato [...]is ep [...]st. sec vo [...] ad Monavium [...]. In [...]tram (que) partem [...] medicamentum, si recte vtantur secus venenum. Zu [...]ger, Antimony is like Scand [...]rbegs sword, which is either good or bad, strong or weake as the party is that prescribes it, or that vseth it, a worthy medicine if it be rightly applyed to a strong man, otherwise poyson. For the preparing of it, look in Evonimi thesaurus, Q [...]ercetan, Oswaldus Crollius Basil. Chim. Ba [...]il. Valentius &c.
Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent T [...]bacco, which goes farre beyond all their Panaceas, potable gold, and Philosophe [...]s stones, a soveraigne Remedy to all diseases. A good vomit I confesse, a vertuous herbe if it be well qualified, opportunely taken, & medicinally vsed, but as it is commonly abvsed by most men, which take it as Tinkars doe ale, t'is a [Page 463] plague, a mischiefe, a violent purger of goods, lands, health, hellish, divelish and damned Tobacco, the ruine & overthrow of Body and Soule.
SVBSEC. 2. Simples purging melancholy downeward.
POlipodye and Epythime are without all exceptions gentle purgers of melancholy. Dioscorides will haue them purge fleame, but Brassiuola out of his experience averreth, that they purge this humor, they are vsed in decoction, infusion &c. simple, mixt &c.
Mirabolanes all fiue kindes, are happily [...] d [...]tur melancholicis & quaternarijs. vsed against melancholy and quartan agues, Brassivola speaks out [...]f a thousand experiences, he gaue them in pills, decoction &c. look for peculiar receipts in him.
Staechas, Fumitory, Dodder, herbe Mercury, roots of capers, Genista or broome, pennyriall, and halfe boyled Cabbage, I find in this Catalogue of purgers of black choler, Mill [...]es horum vi [...]es expertus sum. Origan, fetherfew, Ammoniack Salnitrum, sal ammonia [...], Draco [...]ij [...]adix, dictam [...]m.salt, saltpeter. But these are very gentle, alypus, dragon root, centaury, ditany, Colutea, which Fuchsius cap. [...]168 and others take for Sene, but most distinguish. Sene is in the middle of violent and gentle purgers downward, hote in the second degree, dry in the first. Brassiuola cals it Calet ordine secundo, sic at pri [...], a [...]ue [...]sus o [...]ia vitia atrae bil [...]s valet, sanguin [...]m [...]dat, [...]pirit [...]s illustrat, maerorem discutit he [...]ba mirisica. a wonderfull herbe against melancholy, it scowres the blood, illightens the spirits, shakes off sorrow, a most profitable medicine, as Cap. 4. lib. 2. Dodoneus termes it, invented by the Arabians, and not heard of before. It is taken diuers wayes in powder, infusion, but most commonly in the infusion, with ginger or some cordiall flowres added to correct it. Act [...]arius commends it sod in broth with an old cock, or in whay which is, the common convayer of all such things as purge black choller, or steeped in wine, which Hernius accompts sufficient without any farther correction.
[Page 454] Aloes by most is said to purge choler, but Aurelianus lib. 2. cap. 6. de morb. cron. Arculanies cap. 6. in 9 Rhasis, Iulius Alexandrinus consil. 185. Scoltz. Crato consil. 184. Scoltz. prescribe it to this disease, as good for the stomacke, and to open the Haemrods, out of Mesue, Rhasis, Serapio, Avicenna. Menardus epist. lib. 1, epist. 1. opposeth it, Aloe Recentiores negant ora venarum r [...]secare. doth not open the veines, or moue the Haemrods, w [...]ich Leonhartus Fuchsius paradox. lib. 1. likewise assumes; An aloe aperiat ora venarum lib 9 cont. 3 but Brassiuola and Dodoneus defend Mesae out of their experience, let Valesius end the controversie.
Lapis Armenus and Lazuli, are much magnified by Vapores absterg [...]t à vitalibus partibus. Alexander, lib. 1. cap. 16. and Auicenna, A [...]tius, Ac [...]arius, if it be well washed that the water be no more coloured, fiftie times some say. Tract. 15. cap. 6. Banus Alexander tantam lapide Armeno confidentiam habuit, vt omnes melancholicas passi [...]nes ab co curari posse [...]rederet, & ego indesaepissim [...] vsus sum, & in eius exhibitione nunquam fraudatus fui. That good Alexander saith Guianerius, put such confidence in this one medicine, that he thought all melancholy passions might be cured by it, and I for my part haue often times happily vsed it, and was neuer deceiued in the operation of it. The like may be said of Lapis Lazuli, though it be somewhat weaker then the other. Garcias ab Horto hist. lib. 1. cap. 65. relates that the Maurorum medici hoc lapide plerum (que) purgant melancholiam &c. Physicians of the Moores, familiarly prescribe it to all melancholy passions, and Mathiolus epist. lib. 3. Quo ego saepè faeliciter vsus sum & magno cum auxilio. Bragges of that happie successe which he still had in the administration of it. Nicholas Meripsa puts it amongst the best remedies sec. 1. cap. 12. in Antidotis, Si non hoc nihil restat nisi Helleborus & lapis Armenus. and if this will not serue saith Rhases, then their remaines nothing, but Lapis Armenus and Hellebor it selfe. Valescus and Iason Pratensis much commende Puluis Hali which is made of it, Iames Damascen lib. 2. cap. 22. Hercules de Saxonia &c. speake well of it. Consil, 184. Scoltzij. Crato will not approoue of it, this and both Hellebors he saith, are no better then poyson. Victor Trincauelius lib. 2. ca. 14. Found it in his experience Multa corpora vidi gravissime hinc agitata, & stomacho multu obfuisse. to be very noysome, to trouble the stomacke, and hurt their bodies that take it ouermuch.
[Page 455] Blacke Hellebor that most renowned plante, and famous purger of melancholy, which all antiquity so much vsed and admired, was first found out by Melampus a shepheard as Plinie recordes lib. 25. cap. 5. Cum vidissat ab eo curari capras furentes, &c. Who seeing it to purge his goates when they raued, practised it vpon Elige and Caelene king Praetus daughters, that ruled in Arcadia, neare the fountaine Clitorius, and restored them to their former health. In Hippocrates time it was in onely request; in so much that hee writ a booke of it, a fragment of which remaines yet, Theophrastus, Lib. 6. simpl. meà. Galen, Plinie, Caelius Aurelianus, as antient as Galen, lib 1. cap. 6. Areteus lib. 7. cap. 5. Oribasius lib. 7. suorum collect; a famous Greek, Aetius ser. 3. cap. 112 & 113. P, Aegineta Galens ape lib. 7. cap. 4. Actuarius and Trallianus lib. 5. cap. 15. Cornelius Celsus onely remaining of the old Latines lib. 3. cap. 23. extoll and admire this excellent plant, and it was generally so much esteemed of the ancients for this Disease amongst the rest, that they sent all such as were crased, or any way doted to the Anticyrae, to be purged, where this plant was to be had. In Strabos time it was an ordinary voyage, Nauiget Anticyras. A common prouerbe amongst the Greekes and Latines, to bid a disarde or a madman goe take Hellebor; as in Lucian Menippus to Tantalus, Tantale desipis, ellebero epoto tibi opus est, eo (que) sanè meraco. Thou art out of thy little wit O Tantalus, and must needs drinke Hellebor, and that without mixture. Aristophanes in vespis, drinke Hellebor &c. and Harpax in the Pseudo [...]. act. 4. s [...]en. vlt helleboro hisce hominibus opus est. Comedian, told Simo and Ballio two doting fellowes, that they had need to be purged with this plant. Lilius Geraldus saith, that Hercules after all his mad pranckes vpon his wife and children, was perfectly cured by a purge of Hellebor, which an Anticyrian administred vnto him. They that were found commonly tooke it to quicken their wits, as I find it registred by Agellius lib. 17. cap. 15. Carneades the Academicke when he was to write against Zeno the Stoike, purged himselfe with Hellebor first, which Petronius puts vpon Chrisyppus. In Satyr. In such esteem it continued for many ages, till at length Mesue and some other [Page 456] Arabians beganne to reiect and reprehend it, vpon whose authoritie for many following ages, it was much debated and quite out of request, held to be poyson and no medicine; and is still oppugned to this day by Crato consil. 16 lib. 2. & si multi magni viri probent, in honam partem accipiant medici si non probem. Crato and some Iunior Physitians. There reasons are, because Arist [...]le lib. 1. de plant. cap. 3. said Henbane and Hellebor were poyson, and Alexander Aphrodiseus in the preface of his problemes, said (speaking of Hellebor) Vescuntur veratro coturnices quod hominibus toxicum est. Quailes fedde on that which was poyson to men. Galen lib. 6. Epid. com. 5. Tex. 35. confirmes as much, Constantine the Emperour in his Geopon [...], attributes no other vertue to it, Lib. 23. cap. 7.12.14. then to kill mice, and rats, flies and mouldewarpes, and so Mizaldus. Nicande [...] of old, Geruinus and Skenkius, & some other Neotericks that haue written of poysons speake of Hellebor in a chiefe place. De var. hist. Nicholas Leonicus hath a story of Solon that beseiging I know not what citie, steeped Hellebor in a spring of water, which by pipes was conuaied into the middle of the towne, and so either poysoned them, or else made them so feeble and weake by purging, that they were not able to beare armes. Notwithstanding all these cauels and obiections, most of our late writers doe much approue of it. Corpus incolume reddit, & iuvenile efficit. Garri [...]pontus lib. 1. cap. 13. Codrochus com. de helleb. Falopius consil. 15. Trincav [...], Montanus 239. Frisemelica consil. 14. Hercules de Saxonia, so that it be opportunely giuen. Iacobus de D [...]ndis Agg. Amatus Lusit. cent. 2. cent. 66. God. Stegius cap. 13. H [...]llerius and all our Herbalists subscribe. Veteres non sine causà vsi sunt Difficilis ex Helleboro purgatio, & terroris plena, sed robustis datur tamen &c. Fernelius meth. med. lib. 5. cap. 16. confesseth it to be a terrible purge and hard to t [...]e, yet well giuen to strong men, and such as haue able [...]. P. [...]orestus and Capiuaccius forbid it to be taken in su [...]tance, but allow it in decoction or infusion, both which waye, Pet. Monauius commends aboue all others, Epist. [...]1. Scoltzii, Iacchinus in 9. Rasis commends a receipt of his owne preparing; Hildesheim spicel 2. de melancholia, hath many examples how it should be vsed, diuersitie of [...]ece [...]pts. Hernius l [...]b. [...]. prax med. cap. 24. calles it an Innocens medicamentum modò ritè paretur. innocent medicine howsoeuer, if it be well prepared. The roote of it is onely in vse, which may [Page 457] be kept many yeeres, and by some giuen in substance, as by Brassiuola amongst the rest, who A [...]sit. tactantia. bragges that he was the first that restored it againe to his vse, and telles a story how he cured one Melatasta a madman, that was thought to be possessed, in the Duke of Ferraras court with one purge of blacke Hellebor in substance: the receipt is there to be seene, his excrements were like inke, In Catart. Ex vnâ solâ euacuatione furor cessavit & quietus inde vixit. Tale exemplum apud S [...]kenkium & apud Scoltzium epist. 231. P. Monavius se stolidum cu [...] asse iactat hoc epoto tribus aut 4. vicibus. he perfectly healed at once. Vidus Vidius a Dutch Physitian will not admit of it in substance, to whom most subscribe, but as before in the decoction, infusion, or which is all in all in the Extract, which he preferres before the rest, and calles suaue medicamentum, a sweete medicine, an easie, that may be securely giuen to women, children and weakelings. Quercetan in his Spagir: Phar: and many others tell wonders of this Extract, Paracelsus aboue all the rest is the greatest admirour of this plant; and especially his extract, he calles it Theriacum, terrestre Balsamum, an other Treacle, a terrestiall Bawme, instar omnium, all in all, the Vltimum refugium extremū medicamentum, quod caetera omnia claudit, quaecun (que) aeteris laxativis pelli non pussunt ad hunc pertinent, si non huic nulli cedūt. sole and last refuge to cure this malady, the goute, Epilepsie, leprosie &c. If this will not, no Physicke in the world will but minerall, it is the vpshot of all. Mathiolus laughes at all those that except against it, and though some abhorre it out of the authoritie of Mesue, and dare not aduenture to prescribe it, Testari possum me sexcentis hominibus Helleborum nigrum exhibuisse nullo prorsus incommodo &c. yet I (saith he) haue happily vsed it sixe hundreth times without offence, & haue communicated it to diuers worthy Physitions, who haue giuen me great thankes for it. Looke for receipts, dose, preparation, and other cautions concerning this simple in him, Brassiuola, Codronchus and the rest.
SVBSEC. 3. Compounde purgers.
COmpounde medicines which purge melancholy, are either taken in the superior or inferior partes: superior at mouth or nostrils. At the mouth swallowed, or not swallowed: [Page 458] If swallowed liquid or solid: liquid as compound wine of Hellebor, Scilla or Sea onyon, Sena, Vinum Scilliticum, Helleboratum, which Pharmacop. Optimum est ad maniam & omnes melancholicos effectus, tum intra assumptum tum extra secus capiti cum linteolis in eo madefactis tepidè admotum. Quercetan so much applaudes, for melancholy and madnesse, either inwardly taken, or outwardly applied to the head, with little peeces of linnen dipped warme in it. Oximel Scilliticum, Syrupus Helleboratus maior and minor in Quercetan, and Syrupus Genistae for Hypocondriacall melancholy in the same Author, compound Syrupe of Succorie, of Fumitory, Polipody, &c. Hernius his purging cockebroth. Some except against these Syrupes, as appeares by Epist. Math. lib. 3. Tales syrupi nocentissimi, & omnibus modis extirpandi. Vdalrinus Leonoras his Epistle to Mathiolus, as most pernitious and that out of Hippocrates, cocta mouere & medicari non cruda, no raw things to be vsed in Physicke; but this in the following Epistle is exploded and soundly confuted by Mathiolus, many Iulips, potions, Receipts, are composed of these, as you shall find in Hildesheim spicel. 2. Hernius lib. 2. cap. 14, George Skenkius Ital. med. prax. &c.
Solid purgers are confections, electuaries, pilles by themselues or compound with others, as de lapide Lazulo, Armeno, Pil. Indae, of Fumitorie, &c. Confection of Hamech, Diasena, Diapolipodium, Diacassia, Diacatholicon; Weckers Electuar de Epithymo, Prolomies Hierologadium, of which diverse receipts are daily made.
Aetius 22.33. commends Hieram Russi, Trincauelius consil. 12. lib. 1. approues of Hiera, non inquit inuenio melius medicamentum, I finde no better a medecine he saith. Heruius addes pil. Aggregat. pilles de Epithymo, pil. Ind. Mesue, described in the Florentine Antidotary, Pilulae sine quibus esse nolo, Pilulae Cochiae cum Helleboro, Pil. Arabicae, Foetidae, de quin (que) generibus mirabolanorum &c. More proper to Melancholy: not excluding in the meane time, Turbeth, Manna, Rubarbe, Agaricke, Elescophe, &c. which are not so proper to this humour. For as Montalius holdes cap. 30. & Montanus cholera etiam purganda, quod atrae sit pabulū, choller is to be purged because it feedes the other: and some are of an opinion, as Erasistratus and Asclepiades maintained of [Page 459] old, against whom Galen disputes, Purgantia censebant medicamenta, non vntā humorem attrahere, sed quemcun (que) attigerint iu suam naturam convertere. that no physick doth purge one humour alone, but all alike or what is next. Most therefore in their receipts and magistrals which are coined here, make a mixture of seuerall simples and compounds, to purge all humours in generall as well as this. Some rather vse po [...]ions then pilles to purge this humour, because that as Hernius and Crato obserue, hic succus à sicco remedio aegrè trahitur, this iuyce is not so easily drawne by dry remedies, and as Montanus aduiseth 25. cons. All Religantur omnes exsiccantes medicine, vt Aloe, Hiera, piula quaecun (que). drying medicines are to be repelled as Aloe, Hiera, and all pilles whatsoeuer, because the disease is drie of it selfe.
I might heare insert many receipts of prescribed potions, boles &c. the doses of these, but that they are common in euery good Physitian, and that I am loth to incurre the censure of Forestus lib. 3. cap. 6. de vrinis, Contra eos qui linguâ vulgari & Vernáculâ remedi [...] & medicamenta praescribunt, & quibusvis communia faciunt. against those that diuulge and publish medicines in their mother tongue, and least I should giue occasion thereby to some ignorant Reader to practise on himselfe, without the consent of a good Physitian.
Such as are not swallowed, but onely kept in the mouth, are Gargarismes, vsed commonly after a purge when the body is soluble and loose, Or Apophlegmatismes, masticatories, to be held and chewed in the mouth, which are gentle, as Hysope, Origan, Penneriall, Thyme, Mustard, strong as Pellitorie, Pepper, Ginger, &c.
Such as are taken into the nostrels, Errhina are liquid or drie, iuice of Pimpernell, Onyons &c. Castor, Pepper; white Hellebor &c. To these you may adde odoraments, perfumes, and suffumigations &c.
Taken into the inferiour parts are Clysters strong or weake, suppositaries of Castilian sope, hony boyled to a consistence, or stronger of scammony, Hellebor, &c.
These are all vsed, and prescribed to this maladie vpon seuerall occasions, as shall be shewed in his place.
MEMB. 3. Chirurgicall Remedies.
IN letting of blood three maine circumstances are to bee considered. Quis, quantum, quando. Who, how much, when. That is, that it bee done to such a one as may endure it, or to whom it may belong, that is, that he be of a competent age, not to young nor to old, ouer weake, fat or leane, sore laboured, but to such as haue neede, and are full of bad blood, & noxious humours, and may be eased by it.
The quantity dependes vpon the parties habite of body, as he is strong or weake, full or empty, may spare more or lesse.
In the morning is the fittest time, some doubt whether it be best fasting or full, Cum cruditas abest à ventriculo. whether the moones motion or aspects of planets be to be obserued, some affirme, some denie, some grant in acute but not in Cronicke diseases, whether before or after Physicke. 'Tis Hernius Aphorisme à Phlebotomià auspicandam esse curationem, non à pharmaciâ, you must begin with blood-letting and not Physicke; some except this peculiar malady. But what doe I? Horatius Augenius a Physitian of Padua hath lately writ 17 bookes of this subiect, Iobertus &c.
Particular kindes of blood-letting in vse Fernelius lib. 2 cap. 19. are three, first is that opening a veine in the arme with a sharpe knife, or in the head, knees, or any other partes as shall be thought fit.
Cupping glasses with or without scarification, ocissime compescunt, saith Fernelius they worke presently, and are applied to seuerall parts, to diuert humours, aches, winde &c.
Horse-leaches, are much vsed in melancholy, applied especially to the haemrods. Horatius Augenius lib. 10. cap. 10. and many others, preferre them before any euacuations in this kind.
Renodeus lib. 5 cap. 21. de h is Mercurialis lib. 3. de composit. med. cap. 24. Hernius lib. 1. prax. med. Wecker &c. Cauteries or fearings with hot yrons, combustions, boarings, [Page 461] launcings, which because they are terrible, Dropax and Synapismus are inuented, by plaisters to raise blisters, and eating medicines of pitch, mustardseed, and the like.
Issues still to be kept open, and made as the former, and applied in and to seuerall parts, haue their vse heare on seuerall occasions, as shall be shewed.
SECT. 4
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Particular cure of the three seuerall kindes of head Melancholy.
THe generall cures thus briefly examined and discussed, it remaines now, to applie these medicines to the three particular species or kinds, that according to the seuerall parts affected, each man may tell in some sort how to helpe or ease himselfe. Of head Melancholy first, In which, as in all other good cures we must begin with Diet, as a matter of most moment, able oftentimes of it selfe to worke this effect. I haue read saith Laurentius cap. 8. de Malanch. That in old diseases which haue gotten the vpper hand or an habite, the maner of liuing is to more purpose, then whatsoeuer can be drawne out of the most pretious boxes of the Apothecaries. This Diet as I haue said, is not onely in choice of meat & drinke, but of all those other non-naturall things. Aire to be cleare and moist most part. Diet moisting, of good iuyce, easie of digestion, and not windie, drinke cleare, and well brewed, not to strong nor to small. Make a melancholy man fat, as Cont. lib. 1. cap. 9. festines ad impinguationem, & cum impinguantur, remouetur malum. Rhases saith, and thou hast finished the cure. Exercise not too remisse nor too violent. Sleepe a little more then ordinarie. Excrements daily to be auoided by Art or Nature, & which Fernelius inioynes his patient consil. 44. aboue the rest to auoide all passions and purturbations of the mind. Concerning the medicinall part, Beneficium ventris. he that will satisfie [Page 462] himselfe at large (and this precedent of Diet,) and see all at once; the wholr cure and manner of it in euery distinct speties; let him consult with Gordonius, Valescus, with Prosper Calenius lib. de atrabile ad Card. Casium, Laurentius cap. 8. & 9. de mel. Aelian. Montaltus de mel. cap. 26.27.28.29.30. Donat ab Altomari cap. 7. artis med. Hercules de Saxonia in Panth. cap. 7. Sauanorola Rub. 82. Tract. 8. cap. 1. Scenkius in Prax. curat. Ital. med. Hernius cap. 12. de morb. cap. Victorius Fauentinus Pract. Magn. & Empir. Hildshem Spicel. [...]. de man. & mel. F. Platter, Stockerus, Bruel, P. Bayerus, Forestus Fuchsius, Capiuaccius, Iason Pratensis. Salust. Saluian. de re med. lib. 2. cap. 1. Iacchinus in 9. Rhasis, Piso, Hollerius &c. That haue culled out of those old Greekes, Arabians, and Latines, whatsoeuer is obseruable or fit to be vsed. Or let him reade those counsels and consultations of Hugo Senesis consil. 13. & 14. Renerus Solinander consil. 6. sec. 1. & consil 3. sec. 3. Crato consil. 16. lib. 2. Montanus consil. 20.22.229. and his following counsels, Laelius à Fonte Egubinus consult 44.69.77.125.129.142. Fernelus consil. 44.45.46. Iul. Caesar Claudinus, Mercurialis, &c. Where in he shall find particular receipts, the whole method, preparatiues, purgers, correctors, averters, cordials in great varietie and abundance. Out of which, because euery man cannot attend to read or peruse them, I will collect for the benefite of the reader, some few notes.
SVBSECT. 2. Blood-letting.
PHlebotomy is promiscuously vsed before and after Physicke, commonly before, and vpon occasion is often reiterated, if there be any need at least of it. For Galen and many others make a doubt of bleeding at all in this kind of head melancholy. If the malady saith Piso cap. 23. & Altomarus cap. 7. Fuchsius cap. 33. Si ex primario cerebri affectu melancholici euaserint, sanguinis detractione non indigent nisi ob altas caus [...] sanguis mittatur, vt si multus in vasis &c. frustra enim fatigatur corpus &c. shall proceed primarily from [Page 463] the misaffected braine, the patient in such case shall not need at all to be let blood, except the blood otherwise abound, the veines be full, inflamed blood, and party ready to run mad. Laurentius cap. 9. approues of it out of the authoritie of the Arabians, but as Mesue, Rhases, Alexander, Competit ijs phlebotemia frontis. especially in the head, to open the veines of the fore-head, nose and eares, they set cupping glasses on their shoulders, hauing first scarrified the place, they apply horseleaches on the head, and in all melancholy diseases, whether essentiall or accidentall they cause the haemrods to be opened, hauing the eleuenth Aphorisme of the 6 booke of Hippocrates, for their ground and warrant, which saith, that in melancholy and madmen, the varicous tumor haemorroides appearing doth heale the same. Valescus prescribes blood-letting in all, three kinds, whom Salust. Saluian followes, Si sarguis ab [...]det quod scitur ex venarum repletione victus ratione praecedente, risu aegri, [...]t [...]te & alus. Tundatus mediaena & [...] anguis apparet cla [...]us & [...]ber supprimatur, aut si vere, si niger aut crossus permittatur fluere pro viribus aegri, dein post 8 vel 12 diem aperiatur cephalica partis magis affectae, & venaf [...]ontis aut. sanguis provocatur setis per nares. &c. If the blood abound, which is discerned by the fulnesse of the veines, his precedent diet, the parties laughter, age, &c. begin with the median or middle veine of the arme, if the blood be ruddy and cleare stop it, but if blacke in the springetime, or a good season, or thicke, let it run, according to the parties strength, and some eight or twelue dayes after, open the head veine, and the veines in the forehead, or prouoke it out of the nosthrils, or with cupping glasses, &c. Trallianus allowes of this, Si quibus consuctae suae suppressae sunt menses &c. talo secare oportet aut vena frontis si sanguis peccet cerebro. if their haue been any suppression or stopping of blood at nose, or haemords, or women's months, then to open a veine in the head or about the ancles. Yet he doth hardly approue of this course, if melancholy be fited in the head alone, or in any other dotage, Nisi ortum ducat à sanguine, ne morbus inde augeatur phlebotomia refrigerat & exiccat, nisi corpus sit valde sanguineum rubicundum. except it primarily proceed from blood, or that the malady be increased by it, for blood-letting refrigerates and dries vp, except the body be very full of blood, and a kind of ruddinesse in the face. Therefore I conclude with Areteus, Cum sanguinem detrahere [...]portet, deliberatione indiget. Aretaeus lib. 7. cap. 5. before you let blood, deliberate of it: and well consider all circumstances belonging to it.
SVBSECT. 3. Preparatiues and purgers.
AFter blood-letting we must proceede to other medicines, first prepare, and then purge, Augeae stabulum purgare, make the body cleane before we can hope to doe any good. Gualter Bruel would haue a practitioner beginne first with a Clyster of his, which he prescribes before blood-letting, the common sort as Mercurialis, Montaltus cap. 30. &c. first proceed from lenitiues to preparatiues, and so to purges. Lenitiues are well known, electuarium lenitiuum, Diaphenicum, Diacatholicon, &c. preparatiues are vsually syrups of Borage, Buglosse, Apples, Fumitory, Thyme and Epithyme, with double as much of the same decoction or distilled water, or of the waters of Buglosse, Bawme, Hoppes, En [...]iue, Scolopendry, Fumitory, &c. or these sod in whay, which must be reiterated and vsed for many dayes together. Purges come last, which must not be vsed at all, if the malady may be otherwise helped, because the weaken nature and dry so much, and in giuing of them, A lenioribus auspicandum. Valescus, Piso, Bruel, rarius (que) medicamentis pu rgantibus vtendum, ni sit opus. we must begin with the gentlest first. Some forbid all hot medicines as Alexander and Saluianus &c. Ne insaniores inde siant, Hot medicines increase the disease Quia corpus exiccant, morbū augent. by drying too much. Purge downeward rather then vpward, vse potions rathen then pilles, and when you begin Physicke, perseuere and continue in a course, for as one Guianerius Tract 15. cap. 6. obserues, mouere & non educere in omnibus malum est. To stirre vp the humour (as one purge commonly doth) and not to prosecute, doth more harme then good. They must continue in a course of Phisicke, yet not so that they tire and oppresse nature, da [...]da quies naturae, they must sometimes remit, and let nature haue some rest. The most gentle purges to begin with, are Piso. Sena, Cassia, Epithyme, Myrabolanes, Catholicon. If these preuaile not, we may proceed to stronger as the confection of Hameche Pil. Indae, Fumitorie, [Page 465] de Assaieret, of Lapis Armenus and Lazuli, Diasena, Or if pilles be to drie; Rhasis saepē valent ex Helleboro. some prescribe both Hellebors in the last place, among the rest Areteus Lib. 7. Exiguis medicamentis, morbus non obsequitur. because this disease will resist a gentle medicine. Laurentius and Hercules de Saxoniâ, would haue Antimony tried last Modò cautè [...]etur & robustis. if the party be strong, and it warily giuen. C [...]nsil 10 lib. 1 Trincauelius preferres Hierologodium, to whom Francis Alexander in his Apol. rad. 5. subscribes, a very good medicine they account it. But Crato in a counsell of his, for the Duke of Bauarias Chauncellor wholly reiects it.
I find a vast Chaos of medicines, and confusion of receipts and magistralls, amongst writers appropriated to this disease, some of the chiefest I will rehearse. Plinius lib. 31 cap. 6. Navigationes ob vomitionem prosunt plurimis mo [...]bis capitis & omnibus ob quae Helleborum bibitur. Idem Diascorides lib 5. cap. 13. Avicenna tertia imprimis. To be Sea-sicke, first is very good at seasonable times. Helleborismus Mathioli, with which he vaunts and boasts hee did so many so great and such excellent cures, Nunquam ded [...]us quin ex [...]ná aut alterâ assumptione Deo invante fue [...]int ad salutem restituti. I neuer gaue it saith he, but after once or twice taken, by the helpe of God they were happily cured. The manner of making of it he sets downe at large in his third booke of Epist: to George Hanshkius a Physitian. Gualter Bruel and Hernius make mention of it with great approbation, and so doth Skenkius in his memorable cures, and experimentall medicines cent. 6. obser. 87. That famous Helleborisme of Montanus, which he so often repeats in his consultations and counsells, as 28. pro melan. sacerdote, & consil. 248. pro Hypocondriaco, and crackes Longo experimento a se obseruatum esse ad melancholices sine essensâ egregiè curandos valere. to be a most soueraigne remedie for all melancholy persons, Lib. 2. inter composita purgantia melancholiam. which he hath often giuen without offence, and found by long experience and observation to be such.
Quercetan preferres a Syrupe of Hellebor in his Spagirica pharmac: and Hellebors Extract cap. 5. of his inuention likewise ( a most safe medicine, Jdem Responsione ad Aubertum, veratrum nigrum alias timidum & periculosum vini spiritu etiam & oleo commodum sic vsui redditur, vt etiam pueris tutò administrari possit. and not vnfit to be giuen children) before all remedies whatsoeuer.
Paracelsus in his booke of blacke Hellebor, admires this [Page 466] medicine, but as it is prepared by him. Certum est huius herbae virtutem maximā & mirabilem esse, parum (que) distare à balsamo. Et qui norit eo rectè vti plus habet artis quam tota s [...]r bentium cohors, aut omnes Doctores in Germaniâ. It is most certaine saith he, that the vertue of this herbe is great, and admirable in effect, and little differing from Balme it selfe, and he that knowes well how to make vse of it, hath more Art then all their bookes containe, or all the Doctors in Germany can shew.
Aelianus Montaltus in his exquisite work de morb capitu ca. 31. de melan. sets a special receipt of Hellebor of his owne, which in his practise Quo foelicitèr vsus sum. he fortunatly vsed, because it is but short, I will set it downe.
R Syrup de pomis ℥ ij, aquae borag. ℥ iiij,
Ellebori nigri per noctem infusi in ligaturâ
6. vel 8. gr. mane factâ colaturâ exhibe.
Other receipts of the same to this purpose you shall find in him. Valescus admires puluis Hali, and Iason Pratensis after him, the confection of which our new London Pharmacopaea hath lately reuiued. Hoc posito quod alie medicinae, non valeant, isla tune Dei miseri cordia valebit, & est medicina coron ta, quae secretissimè teneatur. Put case, he saith, all other medicines faile, by the helpe of God this alone will doe it, and tis a crowned medicine which must be kept in secret.
R Epithymi ℥ ss, lapidis lazuli agarici ana ʒ ij,
Scammonij, ʒ j, Chariophillorum numero 20. pulueri
sentur omnia, & ipsius pulueris scrup 4. singulis septimanis assumat.
To these I may adde Arnoldi vinum Buglossatum or Borrage wine before mentioned, which Lib. de artis [...], [...]med. Mizaldus calles vinum mirabile, a wonderfull wine, and Stockerus vouchsafes torepeate verbatim amongst other receipts. Rubeus his Sect 3. Optimum remedium aqua composita Savanorolae. compound water out of Savanor [...]la. Pinetus his Balme; Cardans puluis Hyacinthi, with which in his booke de curis admirandis, he boastes that he had cured many melancholy persons in eight dayes, which Sckenkius obseru. med cent. 2 observ. 31. Sckenkius puts amongst his obseruable medicines: Altomarus his Syrupe, with which Donatus ab Altomari cap. 7 Testor Deum me multos melancholicos [...] solius syru [...]pi vsu curasse, factâ prius purgatione. he calls God so solemnly to witnesse, he hath in this kind done many excellent cures, and which Sckenkius cent. 7. med. obser. 80, mentioneth. Rulandes admirable water for melācholy, which cent. 2. cap. 96. he calles Spiritum vitae aureum, Panaoeam, what not, and his absolute medicine of 50. Egges, curat. empir, [Page 467] cent. 1▪ cur. 5. to be taken three in a morning with a powder of his. Centum ova & vnum quoiibet mane sumant tria ova sorbilia cum sequenti pulvere supra ovum asperso , & continuent quous (que) assumpserint centum & vnū, maniacis & melanchol [...]cis vtilissimum remedium. Fauentinus prac Empir: doubles this number of egges, and will haue 101. to be taken by three in like sort, which Salust Saluian approoues de re med. lib. 2. cap. 1. with some of the same powder till all be spent, a most excellent remedy for all melancholy and madmen.
R Epithymi, thymi ana drachmas duas, sacchari albi vnciam vnam, croci grana tria, Cinamomi drachmam vnam, misce fiat puluis.
All these yet are nothing to those Quercetan cap 4. Phar. Oswoldus Crollius. Chimicall preparatiues, of Aqua Chelidonia, quintesence of Hellebor, salts, extracts. Aurum Potabile &c. D • Anthony in his booke de auro potab. edit. 1600. is all in all for it. Cap. 1. Licet tota Gallenistarum schola, mineral a non sine impio & ingrat [...] fastu à sua practica detestentur tamen in gravioribus morbis omni vegetabilium derelicto subsidio ad mineralia confugiunt, licet ea temerè ignaviter & inutiliter vsurpent. Ad finem libri. And though all the schoole of Gallenists, with a wicked and vnthankefull pride and scorne detest it in their practise; yet in more grieuous diseases, when all their vegetalls will doe no good, they are compelled to seeke the helpe of mineralls, though they vse them rashly, slackely, vnprofitably, and to no purpose.
Rheuanus a Dutch Chimist, in his booke de Sole è puteo emergente takes vpon him to Apologise for Anthony, and sets light by all that speake against him. But what do I meddle with this great controuersie, which is the subiect of many Volumnes? Let Paracelsus, Quercetan, Crollius, and the brethren of S t. Roses crosse defend themselues as they may. Crato, Erastus, and the Galenists oppugne Paracelsus, he bragges on the other side, he did more famous cures by this meanes, then all the Galenists in Europe, and calls himselfe a Monarche, Galen, Hippocrates, infants, illiterate, &c. Codronchus de sale absinthij. One droppe of their Chimicall preparations, shall do more good, then all their fulsome potions▪ Erastus and the rest of the Galenists vilifie them on the other, as Hereticks in Physicke, Idem: Paracelsus in medicinâ quod Lutherus in Theologiâ. Paracelsus did that in Physicke, which Luther in Diuinitie. Disput. in eundem parte 1. Magus, ebrius, illiteratus, daemonem praeceptorem [...] familiares &c. A drunken rogue, he was a base fellow, a Magitian, he had the diuell for his master, diuels his familiar companions, and [Page 468] what hee did was done by the helpe of the diuell. Thus they contend and raile, and euery Marte write bookes Pro and Con. & adhuc sub Iudice lis est, let them agree as they will, I proceede.
SVBSEC. 4. Auerters.
AVerters and purgers must goe together, as tending all to the same purpose, to diuert this rebellious humor, and turne it another way. In this range Clysters and Suppositories challenge a chiefe place, to draw this humor from the braine and heart, to the more ignoble parts. Piso. Some would haue them still vsed some few dayes betweene, and those to be made with the boyled seeds of Annis, Fennell, and bastard Saffron, Hoppes, Thyme, Epithyme, Mallowes, Fumitory, Buglosse, Polypody, Sene, Diasene, Hamech, Cassia, Diacatholicon, Hierologodiū, oyle of Violets, sweet Almonds, &c. Such things as prouoke vrine most commend, but not sweat. Trincauellius consil. 16. cap. 1. in head melancholy forbids it, P. Byarus and others approue frictions of the outward parts, and to bathe them with warme water.
Adde to these Cardans nettels. Sneesings, masticatories and nasalls, are generally receiued, Montaltus cap. 34. Hildesheim spicel. 2. fol. 136. & 138. giue seuerall receipts of all three, Hercules de Saxonia relates of an Empirick in Venice, Aqua fortissima purgans os, nares, quam non vult auro vendere. that had a strong water to purge by the mouth and nosthrils, which he still vsed in head melancholy, which he would sell for no gold.
To open months & Haemrod [...], is very good Physicke, Mercurialis consil. 6. & 39. haemorroidum & mensium provocatio i [...]uat, modo ex eorum suppressione ortum habuerit. If they haue been formerly stopped, Fauentinus would haue them opened with horse-leaches, and Hercules de Sax. Iulius Alexandrius const. 185. Scoltzij, thinks aloes fitter, Laurentius, Bruel &c. most approoue horse-leaches in this case, to be applied to the forehead, P. Bayerus lib. 2. cap. 13 naribus. &c. nosthrils, and other places.
Montaltus cap. 29. out of Alexander and others prescribes [Page 469] Cucurbitulae siccae, & fontanelia crure sinistro. cupping glasses and issues in the left theigh , Areteus, lib. 7. cap. 5. Hildisheim spicel 2. Vapores à cerebro trahendi sunt frictionibus vniuersi, cucurbitulis siccis humeris ac dorso affixis, circa pedes & crura. Paulus Regolinus, Syluius, will haue them without scarification, applied to the shoulders and back theighs and feet. Fontanellam aperi iuxta occipitium aut brachium. Montaltus cap. 34. Biddes open an issue in the arme, or hinder part of the head. Balani, ligaturae, frictiones &c. Piso inioynes ligatures, frictions, suppositories, and cupping glasses, still without scarification, and the rest.
Cauteries and hot irons are to be vsed Cauterium fiat suturâ coronali diù fluere permittātur loca vlcerosae Trepano etiam cranij densitas imminui poterit, vt vaporibus fuliginosis exitus pateat. in the future of the crowne, and the seared or vlcerated place suffered to run a good while. Tis not amisse to bore the scull with an instrument to let out the fuliginous vapours. Salust Saluianus de re med. lib. 2. cap. 1. Quoniam difficulter cedit alijs medicamentis ideo fiat in vertice cauterium, aut crure sinistro infra genu. Because this humour hardly yeelds to other Physicke would haue the head cauterised, or the left leg beneath the knee, Fiant duo aut tria cauteria cum ossis perforatione. and the head bored in two or three places, because it much auailes to the exhalation of the vapours. Vidi Rome melancholicum, qui adhibitis multis remedijs, sanari non poterat, sed cum craneum gladio fractum osset, optimè sanatus est. I saw saith he a melancholy man at Rome, that by no remedies would be healed, but when by chaunce he was wounded in the head, and scull broken, he was excellently cured. And another to the admiration of the beholders, breaking his head with a fall from on high, was instantly recouered of his dotage. Gordonius cap. 19. part. 2. would haue these cauteries tried last, Et alterum vidi melancholicū, qui ex alto cadens, non sine astantium admiratione liberatus est. when no other Physicke will serue, Radatur caput, & fiat cauterium in capite, procuidubio ista faciunt ad fumorum exhalationem, vidi melancholium à fortuná gladio vulneratum, & cran [...]um fractum, quamdiu vulnus opertum curatus optime, at quum vulnus sanatum reversa est mania. The head to be shaued and bored to let out fumes, which without doubt will doe much good. I saw a melancholy man by chaunce wounded in the head with a sword, his brainepan broken, so long as the wound was open hee was well, but when his wound was healed his dotage returned againe.
Guianerius cap. 8. Tract. 15. cured a nobleman in Sauoy by boring alone, Vs (que) ad duram matrem trepanari feci, & per mensem aperte stetit. leauing the hole open a month together, by meanes of which after two yeeres melancholy and madnesse [Page 470] he was deliuered. All approue of this remedie in the future of the crowne, but In 9 Rhasis. Arculanus would haue the cautery to be made with gold. In many other parts these cauteries are prescribed for melancholy men, as in the thighes, ( Mercurialis consil. 86.) armes, legges. Idem consil. 6. & 39. & 25. Montanus consil. 86. &c. but most in the head, Sinullum aliud sufficit medicamentum. If other Physicke will doe no good.
SVBSECT. 5. Alteratiues and Cordialls, corroberating, resoluing the relliques, and mending the Temperament.
BEcause this humour is so maligne of it selfe, and so hard to be remoued, the reliques are to be cleansed, by alteratiues, cordialls, and such meanes, the temper is to be altered and amended, with such things as fortifie and strengthen the heart and braine, Cordis ratio semper habenda quae cerebro cō patitur, & sese invicem afficiunt. which are commonly both affected in this maladie, and doe mutually misaffect one another: which are still to be giuen euery other day, or some few dayes inserted after a purge or such other Physick, as occasion serues, and are of such force, that many times they helpe alone, and as Arnoldus holdes in his Aphorismes, Aphor. 38. medicina Theriacalis prae caeteris eligenda. are to be preferred before all other medicines in what kind soeuer. Amongst this number of Cordialls and Alteratiues,, I doe not find a more present remedie then a cup of wine or strong drinke, and if it be soberly and opportunely vsed. It makes a man bold, hard, coragious, Galen. de temp. lib. 3. cap. 3. moderatè sumptum acuit ingeniū. whetteth the wit, if moderately taken, and as Plutarke saith, Symp. 7. quaest. 10. it makes those which are otherwise dull, Tardos aliter & tristes thuris in modum exhalare facit. to exhale and euaporate like franckincense. Viribus resiciendis cardiacū eximium, nutriend [...] corpori alimentum optimum, aetatem floridam facit, calorem innatum sovet, concoctio [...]em iuvat, stomachum roborat, excrementis viam parat, vrinam mouet, somitum conciliat, venena frigida, status dissipat, crassos humores attenuat, coquit, discutit &c. A famous Cordial Mathiolus in Dioscoridem, calles it, and an excellent nutriment to refresh the body, it makes a good color, a florishing age, helps concoction, fortifies the stomacke, takes away obstructions, provokes vrine, expells excrements, procures [Page 471] sleepe, cleares the blood, expells wind and all cold poysons, attenuates, concocts, dissipates all thicke blacke vapors, and fuligenous humors. And that which is all in all and to my purpose, it takes away feare and sorrow: It glads the heart of man, Psal. 104.15. & giues life it selfe, spirits, wit, &c. For which cause the ancients called Bacchus, Liber pater à liberando, and Pausanias. sacrificed to Bacchus and Paltas still vpon an alter. Siracides 3 [...]. 28. Wine measurably drunke, and in time brings gladnesse and chearefulnesse of mind, it cheareth God and men. Iudges 9.12. laetitiae Bacchus dater, it makes an old wife dance, and such as are in misery to forget all and be Legitur & prisci Catonis saepe mero caluisse virtus. merry. ‘Bacchus & afftictis requiem mortalibus affert, Crura licet duro compede vincta forent.’ Therefore Solomon Prov. 31. 6. bids wine be giuen to him that is ready to perish, and to him that hath griefe of heart, let him drinke that he forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. Sollicitis animis onus eximit. Nothing speedier, nothing better: which the Prophet Zachary perceaued when he said, Cap. 10.7. that in the time of Messias they of Ephraim should bee glad, and their heart should reioyce as through wine. It is a most easie and parable remedy, a common, a cheap, still ready against feare, sorrow, and such troublesome thoughts that molest the mind; as brimstone with fire, the spirits on a suddaine are inlightned by it. No better physicke, saith Tract. 1. cont. lib. 1 Non est res laudabilior eo vel cura melior. qui melancholicus, vtatur societate hominum & biberia & qui potest sustinere vsum vini non indiget aliâ mediciná, quod. eo sint omnia ad vsum necessaria huius passionis. Rhasis, for a melancholy man; and hee that can keepe company and carouse, needs no other medicines, 'tis enough. His countriman Avicenna. 3.1. doct. 2. cap. 8. proceeds farther yet, & will haue him that is troubled in minde or melancholy, not to drinke only but now and then to be drunke: excellent good physick for this and many other diseases. Magninus Reg. san. part. 3. cap. 31. will haue them to bee so once a month at least, and giues his reasons for it, Tum quod sequatur inde fudor vomitus vrina à quibus superfluitates à corpore removentur & remanet corpus mundum. because it scoures the body by vomit, urine, sweat of all manner of superflùities, and keeps it cleane. Of the same minde is Seneca the Philosopher in his booke de tranquil. animae lib. 1. cap. 15. nonnunquam vt in alijs morbis ad ebrietatem vs (que) veniendum. Curas deprimit, tristitiae medetur. [Page 472] It is good sometimes to be drunke, it helps sorrow depresseth cares, and so concludes his tract with a cup of wine: Habes Serene charissime qua ad tranquilitatem animae pertinent. But these are Epicureall tenents, tending to loosenesse of life, luxury and Atheisme, maintained alone by some Heathens, dissolute Arabians, prophane Christians, and are exploded by Rabby Moses Tract. 4. Guliel. Placentius lib. 1. cap. 8. Valescus de Taranta, and most accuratly by Io. Silvaticus, a late writer and Physitian of Millan, med. cont. cap. 14. where you shall finde this tenent copiously confuted.
Howsoeuer you say, if this bee true, that wine and strong drinke haue such vertue to expell feare and sorrow, & to exhilerate the minde, euer hereafter lets drinke and be merry.
I say with him in Lib. 15.2. noct Alt. Vigorem animi moderato vini vsu tucamur & calefacto simul refoto (que) animo si quid in eo vel frigidae tristitiae vel torpentis verecundiae fuerit diluamus. Agellius, let vs maintaine the vigor of our soule with a moderate cup of wine, & drink to refresh our minds, if there be any cold sorrow in it, or torpid bashfulnesse lets wash it all away. Let's driue downe care with a cup of Ale: & so say I, Theocritus edil. 13. vino dari letitiam & dolorem. for all this may be done, so that it be modestly, soberly, opportunely vsed: Otherwise, as Lib. 14.5. nihil pernitiosies viribus, si modus absit, venenum. Pliny telleth vs. If singular moderation be not had, nothing so pernitious, tis poyson it selfe. Let not good fellowes triumph therefore (saith Mathiolus) that I haue so much commended wine, if it be immoderatly taken, insteed of making glad, it confounds both body and soule, it makes a giddy head, a sorrowfull heart. And 'twas well said of that Poet of old. Wine causeth mirth and griefe, Renodeus. nothing so good for some, so bad for others, especially as Mercurialis consil. 25. Vinū frigida optimum, & pessimum ferinâ melancholiâ. one obseues, qui à causà calida malè habent, that are hot or inflamed. And so of spices, they alone, as I haue shewed cause head melancholy themselues, they must not vse wine as an Fernelius consil 44. & 45. vinum prohibet assiduum & aromata. ordinary drinke, or in their diet; but to determine with Laurentius c. 8. [Page 473] de melan. Wine is bad for madmen, and such as are troubled with heat in their inner parts or braines, contrary to them, but to melancholy which is cold, as most is, Wine is very good.
I may say the very same of the Decoction of China roots, Sassafras, Sarsaparilia, Guaiacū. China, saith Manardus makes a good colour in the face, takes away melancholy and all infirmities proceeding from cold, and so Salsaperilla prouokes sweat mightely. Guaiacum dries, Claudinus consult. 89. & 46. Montanus, Capivaccius consult. 188. Scoltzij, make frequent and good vse of Guaiacum, & China, Modo ie [...]ur non incendatur. so that the liver be not incensed, good for such as are cold, as most melancholy men are, but by no meanes to be mentioned in hot.
Borage, Bawme, Saffron, Gold, I haue spokē of, Montaltus cap. 23. commends Scorzonera roots condite, Garcius ab Hor to plant. hist. lib. 2. cap. 25. makes mention of an hearbe called Datura, Per 24 horas sensum doloris omnem tollit & ridere facit. which if it be eaten for 24 houres following takes away all sense of griefe, and makes them incline to laughter & mirth: and another called Bauge, like in effect to Opium In extasim cogit omni solitudine liberat & tenue quid videre facit. which puts them for a time into a kinde of Extasis, and makes them gently to laugh. One of the Roman Emperors had a seed, which hee did ordinarily eat to exhilerate himselfe.
Hildrsheim spicel. 2. Christopherus Ayrerus preferres Bezoars stone, and the confection of Alkermes before all other cordials, and Amber in some cases. Alkermes omnia vitalia viscera mirè confortat. Alkermes comforts the inner parts, and Bezoar stone hath an especiall vertue against all melancholy affections, Contra omnes melancholicos affectus confert ac certum est ipsius vsu omnes cordis & corporis vires mirum in modum refici. it comforts the heart and corroborats the whole body. Succinum vero albissimum confortat ventriculum, statum discutit, vrinam mouet. &c. Amber prouokes vrine, helps the stomake, breaks wind, &c. After a purge 3 or 4 gr. of Bezoar stone, and 3 gr. of Amber Greece, drunke or taken in Borage or Bugloffe water, in which gold hot hath beene quenched, will doe much good, and the purge shall diminish lesse (the heart so refreshed) of the strength and substance of the body.
R. confect. Alkermes ℥ ss lap: Bezoar ℈j.
Succini albi subtilis. puluerisat. ℈ij cum
Syrup: de cort: citri, fiat electuarium.
[Page 474] To Bezaors stone most subscribe Manardus, and Garcias ab Horto aromatum lib. 1. cap. 15 aduersus omnes morbos melancholicos conducit & venenum. Ego inquit vtor in morbis melancholicis &c. & deploratoshuius vsu, ad pristinam sanitatem restitui See more in Banhimus booke de lap, Bezaor. cap. 45. many others, it takes away sadnesse, and makes him merry that vseth it, I haue seene that haue beene much displeased with faintnesse, swounding and melancholy, & taking the waight of three grains of this stone, in the water of Oxtongue haue beene cured. Garcius ab Horto brags, how many desperate cures he hath done vpon melancholy men by this alone, when all Physitians had forsaken them. But Alchermes many except against, in some cases it may helpe if it be good and of the best, such as that of Montpelier in France, which Edit. 1617. Monspelij electuarium sit preciosissimum Alchermes &c. Todocus Sincerus Itinerario Galliae so much magnifies, and would haue no traueller to omit to see it made. But it is not so generall a medicine as the other. Fernelius consil. 49. suspects Alchermes by reason of his heat, Nihil morbum hunc aeque exasperat, ac alimentorum, vel calidorum vsus. Alchermes ideo suspectus, & quod semel moneam, caute adhibenda calida médicamenta. nothing, saith he, sooner exasperats this disease then the vse of hot working meats and medicines, and would haue them therefore warily taken.
Diamargaritum frigidum, diambra, Diaboraginatum, Electuarium latificans Galeni and Rhasis, De gemmis, Dianthos Diamoscum dulce & amarum, Electuarium Conciliatoris, syrup. Cidoniorum de pomis, conserues of Roses, Violets, fumitory, Enula campana, Satyrion, Lemans, Oranges Pills condite, &c. haue their good vse.
R Diamoschi dulcis & amari ana ʒ ij, diabuglossati daboraginati sacchari violacij ana ℥ j. misce cum syrupo de pomis.
Euery Physitian is full of such receipts; one only I will adde for the rarenesse of it, which I finde recorded by many learned Scenkius lib. 1 observat. de Maniâ, ad mentis alienationem, & desipientiam vitio cerebri abortam in manuscripto codice Germanico tale medicamentum reperi. Authors, as an approued medicine against dotage, head melancholy and such diseases of the braine. Take a Caput arietis nondum experti venerem vno ictu amputatum, cornibu [...] tantum demotis integrii, cum lana & pelle, benè elixàbis, tum aperto cerebrum eximes, & addens ar [...] mata &c. Rams head that neuer medled with an Ewe, cut off at a blowe, and the hornes only cut away, boyle it well skinne and wooll together, after it is well sod take out the braines, and put these [Page 475] spices to it, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Mace, Cloues ana ℥ ss, mingle the powder of these spices with it, & heat them in a Platter vpon a chafingdish of coles together, stirring thē well that they doe not burne, take heed it bee not ouermuch dried, or drier then a calues braines ready to be eaten. Keepe it so prepared, and for three daies giue it the patient fasting, so that he fast two howres after it. It may bee eaten with bread, in an egge or broath, or any way so it bee taken. For 14 daies let him vse this diet, drinke no wine &c. Gesner. hist. animal. lib. 1. pag. 917. Caricterius pract. cap. 13. in Nichol de metxi pag. 129. Iatro. Witenberg, edit. Tubing. pag. 62. mention this medicine, though with some variation, hee that list may try it, Cinis testudinis vstus & vino potus melancholiam curat. & rasura cornu Rhinocerotis &c. Sckenkius. and many such.
Odoraments to smell to, of Rose water, Violet, Flowers, Bawme, Rose-cakes, Vineger, &c. doe much recreate the braines and spirits, and as some say nourish, 'tis a question commonly controuerted in our schooles, an odores nutriant; let Ficinus lib. 2. cap. 18. decide it, Instat in matrice quod sursū & deorsum ad odoris sensum. praecipitatur. many arguments he brings to proue it. Montanus consil. 31. prescribes a forme, which he would haue his melancholy patient neuer to haue out of his hands. If you will haue them spagirically prepared, looke in Oswaldus Crollius basil. Chimica.
Irrigations of the head shauen, Ex decocto florum nympheae, lactucae, violarii, chamomillae, altheae, capitum veruecum &c. of the flowres of water lillies, Lettice, Violets, Chamomile, wild Mallowes, wethers heads, &c. must be vsed many mornings together. Montanus consil. 31. would haue the head so washed once a weeke. Lelius à Fonte Egubinus consult. 44. for an Italian count troubled with head melancholy, repeats many medicines which hee tried, Inter auxilia multa adhibila duo visa sunt remedium adferre vsus seri caprini cum extracto Hellebori, & irrigatio ex lacte Nympheae violarum &c. suturae coronali adhibita, his remedijs sanitatem pristinam adeptus est. but two alone which did the cure, vse of whay made of Goats milke with the extract of Hellebor, and Irrigations of the head, with water lillies, lettice, violets, camomile, &c. vpon the suture of the crowne. Confert & pulmo arietis, calidus agnus per dorsum divisus exenteratus admotus sincipiti. Piso commends a Rammes lunges applied hot to the forepart of the head, or a young lamb diuided in the backe, exenterated &c. all acknowledge the chiefe cure to consist in moistning throughout. Some, saith Laurentius, vse powders and caps to the braine; but forasmuch as such [Page 476] aromaticall things are hote and dry, they must bee sparingly vsed.
Vnto the Heart we may doe well to apply bagges, Epithemes, oyntments, of which Laurentius c. 9. de melan. giues examples. Bruel prescribes an Epitheme for the heart of Buglosse, Borage, water-lilly, Violet waters, sweet wine, Bawm leaues, Nutmegs, cloues, &c.
For the Belly make a Fomentation of oyle, Semina Cumini, rutae, dauci, anethi, cocta. in which the seeds of cummin, Rue, Carrets, Dill, haue beene boyled.
Bathes are of wonderfull great force in this malady, much admired by Lib. 3. de locis affect. Galen, Tetrab. 2. ser. 3. cap. 10. Aetius, Rhasis, &c. of sweet water in which is boyled the leaues of Mallowes, Roses, Violets, Waterlillies, Wethers heads, flowres of Buglosse, Camomile, Melilot, &c. Guianer. cap. 8. tract. 15. would haue them vsed twice a day, and when they come forth of the Bathes, their back-bones to bee annointed with oyle of Almonds, Violets, Nymphaea, fresh capon grease &c.
Amulets and things to be borne about, I finde prescribed, taxed by some, approued by others, looke for them in Mizaldus, Porta, Albertus, &c. A ring made of the hooffe of an Asses right forefoot carried about, &c. I say with Phar. lib. 1. cap. 12. Renodeus they are not altogether to be reiected, Piony doth help Epilepsie, pretious stones most diseases, Aetius cap 31 Tetr 3. ser. 4. a Wolues dung caried about helps the Cholick, Dioscorides, Vlysses Aldouerandus de araneâ. a Spider an Ague, &c. Such medicines are to be exploded that consist of words, characters, spels, and charmes, which can doe no good at all, but out of a strong conceit, as Pomponatius proues; or the Diuels poliicy, that is the first founder and teacher of them.
SVBSEC. 6. Correctors of accidents to procure steepe. Against fearefull dreames, rednesse, &c.
VVHen you haue vsed all good meanes and helps of alteratiues, auerters, diminitiues, yet there will be [Page 477] still certaine accidents to be corrected and amended, as waking, fearefull dreames, flushing in the face to some, to some ruddinesse, &c.
Waking by reason of their continuall cares, feares, sorrowes, dry braines, is a symptome that much crucifies, melancholy men, and must therefore be speedely helped, and sleep by all meanes procured, which sometimes is a sufficient remedy of it selfe without any other physick. Skenkius in his obseruations hath an example of a woman that was so cured. The meanes to procure it, are inward or outward. Inwardly taken, are simples or compounds, simples, as Poppy, Solo somno curata est citra medici auxiliū. fol. 154. Nymphaea, Violets, Roses, Lettice, Mandrake, Henbane, Nightshade or Solanum, Saffron, Hempseed, Nutmegs, Willowes: with their seeds, iuyce, decoctions, distilled waters, &c. Compounds are syrups or opiats. syrup of Poppy, Violets, Verbasco which are commonly taken with distilled waters.
R diacodij ℥ j dioscordij ʒ ss aquae lactucae ℥ iij ss mista fiat potio ad horam somni sumenda.
Requies Nicholai, Philonium Romanum, Triphera magna, pilulae de Cynoglossae, Dioscordium, Laudanum Paracelsi, Opium, are in vse, &c. Country folks commonly make a posset of hempe-seede, which Fuchsius in his berball so much discommends, yet I haue seene the effect, and it may be vsed where better medicines be not to be had.
Laudanum Paracelsi is prescribed in two or three graines, with a dramme of Dioscordium, which Oswald. Crollius commends. Opium it selfe is most part vsed outwardly, ʒ j to smel to in a ball, though commonly so taken by the Turkes to the same quantity Bellonius obseruat li. 3. c. 15. lassitudinem & labores animi tollunt inde Garcias ab Hor to lib. 1. cap. 4. simp. med. for a cordiall, and at Goa in the Indies the dose 40 or 50 graines.
Rulandus calls requiem Nicholai, vltimum refugium, the last refuge; but of this and the rest looke for peculiar receipts in Victorius Faventinus cap. de phrenesi, Hernius cap. de Mania Hildesheim spicel. 4. d [...] somno & vigil. &c. Outwardly vsed as oyle of Nutmegs by extraction, or expression with Rosewater to annoint the temples, oyles of Poppy, Nenuphar, [Page 478] Mandrake, Purslan, Violets to the same purpose.
Montanus consil. 24. & 25. much commends odoraments of Opium, Vineger, and Rosewater, Laurentius cap. 9. prescribes Pomanders and nodules, see the receipts in him. Codronchus Abs [...]thium somnos allicit olfactu. wormewood to smell to.
Vnguentum Alablastritum, populeum, to annoint the temples, nostrils, or if they be too weake to mixe Saffron & Opium. Take a graine or two of Opium, & dissolue it with three or foure drops of Rose-vineger in a spoone, and after mingle with it as much vnguentum populeum as a nut, vse it as before: or else take halfe a dram of opium, vnguentum populeum, oyle of Nenuphar, rosewater, rosevineger, of each halfe an ounce, with as much virgin wax as a nut, annoint your temples with some of it. ad horam somni.
Sacks of wormwood, Read Lemnius li. ber. bib. ca. 2. of mandrake. Mandrake, Hyoscyamus sub ceruicali veridis. Henbane, Roses made like pillows and laid vnder his head are mentioned by Plantam pedis inungere pinguedine gliris dicunt efficacissimum & quod vix credi potest dentes inunctos ex sorditie aurium canis somnum profundum conciliare &c. Cardan de rerum variet. Cardan and Mizaldus, to annoint the soles of the feet with fat of a dormouse, the teeth with earewax of a dogge swines gaul, hares eares: charmes, &c.
Frontlets are well knowne to euery good wife, Rosewater and Vineger with a little womans milke, and Nutmegs grated vpon a Rosecake applied to both temples.
For an emplaster take of Castorium a dramme and halfe, of Opium halfe a scruple, mixt both together with a little water of life, and make two small plasters thereof, and apply them to the Temples.
Rulandus cent. 1. cur. 17. cent. 3. cur. 94. prescribes Epithemes and lotions of the head, with the decoction of the flowres of Nymphaea, Violet leaues, Mandrake roots, Henbane, white Poppy. Hercules de Saxonia, stillicidia or droppings, &c. Lotions of the feet doe much availe of the said hearbs, by these meanes, saith Laurentius, I thinke you may procure sleep to the most melancholy man in the world. Some vse horseleeches behind the eares, and apply Opium to the place.
Plantam pedis inungere pinguedine gliris dicunt efficacissimum & quod vix credi potest dentes inunctos ex sorditie aurium canis somnum profundum conciliare &c. Cardan de rerum variet. P. Bayerus lib. 2. c. 13. Veni mecum lib. sets downe some remedies against [Page 479] fearefull dreames, and such as walke and talke in their sleepe. Baptista porta Mag. nat. lib. 2. c. 6. to procure pleasant dreams and quiet rest, would haue you take Hippoglossa, or the herbe horsetongue, Bawme, to vse them or their distilled waters after supper, &c. Such men must not eate Beanes, Pease, Garlicke, Onyons, Cabbidge, Venison, Hare, Blacke wines, or any meat hard of digestion to supper, or lye on their backes, &c.
Rusticus Pudor, bashfulnesse, flushing in the face high colour, ruddinesse are common greiuances which much torture many melancholy men, when they meet a man or come in Aut si quid incautius exciderit aut, &c. company of their betters, strangers, or after a meale, or if they drinke a cup of wine or stronge drinke, they are as red and flect and sweat, as if they had beene at a Maiors feast, praesertim si metus accesserit, it exceedes, Nam quâ parte pauor simul est pudor additus illi Statius. they thinke euery man obserues it, takes notice of it, & feare alone wil effect it, suspition without any other cause. Sckenkius obseruat. med. lib. 1. Speakes of a waiting gentlewoman in the Duke of Sauoyes Court, that was so much offended with it, that she offered Byarus a Physitian, all that she had to be cured of it. And 'tis most true, that Olisipponensis medicus. pudor aut iuuat aut laedit. Antony Lodouicus, saith in his booke De Pudore, Bashfulnesse either much hurtes or helpes, such men I am sure it hurtes. If it proceede from suspition or feare, De mentis alienat. Foelix Platter prescribes no other remedie but to reiect and contemne it. Id populus curat scilicet, suppose one looke red, what matter is it, make light of it.
If it trouble at, or after meales, (as Facies nonnullis maximè calet rubet (que) si se paululum exercuerint nonnullis quiescentibus idem accidit faeminis preserti [...], causa quicquid seruidum aut halituosum sanguinem facit. Iobertus obserues, med. pract, lib. 1. lib. 7.) or after a little exercise or stirring, as many are hot and red in the face, or if they do nothing at all, and especially women, hee would haue them let blood in both armes, first one, then another, two or three dayes betweene if blood abound, to vse frictions of the other parts feet especially, and washing of them, because of that consent which is betwixt the head and the feete. Interim faciei prospitiendum vt ipsa refregeretur vtrum (que) p [...]aestabit freques lotio ex aqua rosarum violarum nenupharis, &c. And with all to refrigerate the face, by washing it often with rose, violet, nenuphat, lettice, louage waters and the like: but the best of [Page 480] all is that lac virginale, or strained liquor of Litargy. It is diuersly prepared by Iobertus thus. R. lithar. argentij ℥ j cerussae candidissimae. ʒ iij. caphurae. ℈ ij. dissoluantur aquarum solani, lactucae, & nenupharis ana ℥ iij. aceti vini albi. ℥ ij. aliquot horas resideat, dein de transmittatur per philt. aqua seruetur in vase vitrio, ac eâ bis terue facies quotidie irroretur. Ad faciei rubarem aqua spermatis ranarum. Quercetan spagir. phar. cap. 6. commends the water of frogs spaune for ruddinesse in the face. Rectè vtantur in estate floribus Cichory saccharo conditis veisaccharo rosaceo, &c. Crato consil. 283. Scoltzij would faine haue them vse all sommer, the condite flowers of Succorie, strawbury water, roses, (cupping glasses are good for the time) consil. 286. & 285. and to defecate impure blood with the infusion of Sene, Sauory, Bawme water. Solo vsu decocti Cichorij. Hollerius knew one cured alone with the vse of Succory boyled, & drunke for fiue moneths, euery morning in the summer.
Vtile imprimis noctu faciem illinire sanguine leporino & mane aqua fragorum vel aqua è floribus verbasci cû succo limonum distillato abluere It is good ouernight to annoint the face with Hares blood, and in the morning to wash it with Strawbury water, and cowslip water, of the iuyce of distilled Lemmons, or to vse the seeds of Mellons, or kernells of Peaches, beaten small, or the roots of Aron, and mixt with wheat branne, to bake it in an ouen, and to crumble it in strawbury water, Vtile rubenti faciei caseum recentem imponere. or to put fresh cheese curdes to a red face.
If it trouble them at mealetimes that flushing, as oft it doth, with sweating or the like, they must auoide all strong drinke, and drinke very little, Consil 21. lib. unico vini haustu sit contentus. one draught saith Crato, and that about the middest of their meale, auoide at all times indurate salt, [...] especially spice and windy meat.
Idem consil. 283. Scoltzij laudatur condit. rose caninae fuctus ante praendium & caenàm ad magnitudinem castaneae Decoctum radicum Sonchi si ant [...] cibum sumatur valet plurimum. Crato prescribes the condite fruit of wilde rose, to a nobleman his patient to be taken before dinner or supper, to the quantity of a Chesnut. It is made of sugar, as that of Quinces. The decoction of the roots of sowthistle before meate by the same Author is much approued. To eate of a baked apple some aduise, or of a preserued Quince, Comminsced prepared, with meat in stead of salt, to keepe downe fumes: not to study or to be intentiue after meales.
R. nucleorum persic seminis melonum ana ℥ ss. [Page 482] aquae fragorum ll.ij. misce vtatur mane.
Cucurbit. ad scapulas appositae. To apply cupping glasses to the shoulders is very good. For the other kind of ruddinesse which is setled in the face with pimples &c. because it pertaines not to my subiect, I will not meddle with it. I referre you Cratos Councels, Arnoldus lib. 1. breuiar cap. 39. 1. Rulande, Peter Forestus de Fuco lib. 31. obser. 2. To Platerus, Mercurialis, Vlmus, Randoletius, Hernius, and others that haue written largely of it.
Those other grieuances and symptomes of headach, Vertigo, deliquium, &c. which trouble many melancholy men, because they are copiously handled a part in euery Physitian, I doe voluntarily omit.
MEMB. 2. Cure of melancholy ouer all the Body.
VVHere the melancholy blood possesseth the whole Body with the Braine, Piso. it is best to begin with bloodletting. Mediana prae caeteris. The Greekes prescribe the Mediana prae caeteris. Median or middle veine to be opened, and so much blood to be taken away as the patient may well spare, and the cut that is made must be wide enough. The Arabians hold it fittest to be taken from that arme, on which side there is more paine and heauinesse in the head. If blacke blood issue foorth, bleede on, if it be cleere and good, let it be instantly suppressed, Succi melancholici malitia à sanguinis bonitate corrigitur. because the malice of melancholy is much corrected by the goodnesse of the blood. If the parties strength will not admitt much euacuation in this kind at once, it must be assayed againe and againe, if it may not conueniently be taken from the arme, it must be taken from the knees and ancles: especially to such men or women whose haemrodes or moneths haue beene stopped. Perseuerante mal [...] ex quacun (que), parte sanguis detrahi debet. If the malady continue, it is not amisse to euacuate in a part, in the forehead, and to virgins in the ancles, which are melancholy for loue matters, so to widdowes that are much grieued and troubled with sorrow and cares: for [Page 482] bad blood flowes to the heart, and so crucifies the mind. The haemrods are to be opened with an instrument or horseleaches, Obseruat. fol. &c. see more in Montaltus cap. 29. Skenchius hath an example of one that was cured by an accidentall wound in his thigh, much bleeding freed him from melancholy. Diet, Diminutiues, Alteratiues, Cordialls, correcters as before, intermixt as occasion serues, Studium sit omne vt melancholicus impinguetur: ex quo enim pingues & carnosi illico sani sunt. all their studdy must be to make a melancholy man fatte, and then the cure is ended. Diuretica or medicines to procure vrine are prescribed by some in this kind, hote and cold: hot where the heat of the liuer doth not forbid, colde where the heate of the liuer is very great, Hildesheim spicel. 2. Inter calida radix petroselini apij feniculi Inter frigida emulsio seminis mellonum cum sero caprino quod est commune vehiculum. amongst hote are Parsley rootes, Louage, Fennell &c. colde Mellon seedes, &c, with Whay of Goats milke, which is the common conueigher.
To purge and purifie the blood, vse Sow thistle, Succory, Sena, Endiue, Carduus Benedictus, Dandelion, Hoppe, Medenhaire, Fumitorie, Buglosse, Borage &c. with their iuyce decoctions, distilled waters, Syrrups, &c.
Oswaldus Crollius basil. Chim. much admires salt of coralls in this case, and Aetius Tetrabib. ser. 2. cap. 114. Hieram Archigenis, which is an excellent medicine to purifie the blood, Non est aliud medicamentum quod huic co [...] [...]arari possit. for all melancholy affections, falling sicknesse, none to be compared to it.
MEMB. 3.
SVBSECT. 1. Cure of Hypocondriacall Melancholy.
IN this Cure as in the rest, is especially required the rectification of those sixe non naturall things, aboue all a good Diet, which Montanus consil. 27. Inioynes a French Nobleman, Hoc vnum premoneo domine vt sis diligeas circa victum sine quo caetera remedia frustra adbibentur. To haue an especiall care of it, without which all other remedies are in vaine. Bloodletting is not to be vsed, Piso. except the patients body be very full of blood, & that it be deriued from the liuer and spleane to the stomache and his vessels, then Laurent [...]s cap. 15. renul [...]o [...]is gratia [...]enam internam alterius Brachij se [...]a [...]. to draw it backe, to cut the inner vaine of either [Page 483] arme some say the saluatella, and if the maladie be continuat, Si Pertinax morbus venam fronte secabis. [...]ruel. to open a veine in the forehead.
Praeparatiues and Alteratiues may be vsed as before, sauing that heere must be respect had aswell to the liuer, spleene, stomacke, hypocondries, as to the heart and braine. To comfort the Ego maximā curam stomacho delegabo. Octa. Horatianus lib. 2. cap. 5. stomacke and inner parts against wind and obstructions, by Areteus, Galen, Aetius, Aurelianus, &c. and many later writers, are still prescribed the Decoctions of Wormewood, Centaury, Penneriall, sod in Whay and dayly drunke: many haue beene cured by this medicine alone.
Codronchus in his book De sale absin, magnifies the salt of Wormewood aboue all other remedies, Citius & efficatius suas vires exercet quam solent decocta as diluta in quantitate multa, & magna cum assumentium molestia de sumpta. Flatus hic sal efficaciter dissipat vrinam mouet humores crassos abstergit, stomachum egregié confortat cruditatem nauseam appetentam mirum in modum renouat, &c. which workes better and speedier then any other simple whatsoeuer, and much to be preferred before all those fulsome decoctions and infusions, which much offend by reason of their quantity, this alone in a small measure taken expells winde, and that most forcibly, mooues vrine, clenseth the stomacke of all grosse humours, crudities, helpes appetite &c. Arnoldus hath a Wormewood wine which he would haue vsed, which euery Pharmacopaea speakes of.
Diminutiues and purgers may Piso. Altomarus Laurentius cap. 15. be vsed as before, of hiera, manna, cassia, which Montanus consil. 230, For an Italian Abbat in this kind preferres before all other simples. His vtendum saepius iteratis, à vehementioribus semper abstinendum ne ventrem exasperent And these must be often vsed, still abstaining from those which are more violent, least they doe exasperate the stomacke &c. and the mischiefe by that meanes be increased. Though in some Physitians I find very stronge purgers, Hellebor it selfe prescribed in this affection. If it long continue, vomits may be vsed after meate, or otherwise gently procured with warme water, oximell &c. now and then. Fuchsius cap. 33. prescribes Hellebor it selfe, but still take heed in this malady, which I haue often warned of hote medicines, Lib. 2. cap. 1. Quoniam caliditate coniuncta est siccitas quae malum auget. because (as Saluianus addes) drought followes heate, which increaseth the disease: and yet Baptista Siluaticus contro. 34. [Page 484] forbiddes cold medicines, Quisquis frigidis auxilijs hoc morbo vs [...]s fuerit is obstructionem alia (que) symptomata augebit. because they increase obstructions, and other bad symptomes. But this varies as the parties doe, and [...]is not easie to determine which to vse. Ventriculus plerum (que) frigidus epar calid [...], quomodo ergo ventriculum califaciet vel refrigerabit hepar sine alterius maximo detrimento. The stomacke most part in this infirmitie is hote, the liuer cold, scarce therefore which Montanus insinuates consil. 229. for the Earle of Monfort, can you helpe the one, and not hurt the other: much discretion must be vsed, take no Physicke at all he concludes, without great need. Lelius Aegubinus consult. 77. for an Hypocondriacall Germaine Prince, vsed many medicines, Significatum per literas in [...]red [...]bilem vtilitatem ex decocto Chinae & Sassafras percepisse. but it was after signified to him in letters, that the decoction of China and Sassafras, and salt of Sassafras, wrought him an incredible good. In his 108. Consult. he vsed as happily the same remedies: this to a third might haue bin poyson, by ouerheating his liuer and blood.
For the other parts looke for remedies in Sauanarola Gordonius, Iohnson &c. one for the Spleene amongst many other I will not omit, cited by Hildeshiem spicel. 2. and prescribed by Matt. Flaccus and out of the authoritie of Beneuenius. Antony Beneuenius in an Hypocondriacall passion, Tumorem [...]plenis incurab [...]lem sola cappari curauit cibo tali agritudini apti [...]simo. So'o (que) vsu aquae in quo faber serrarius saepe candens ferrum extin [...]erat, &c. Cured an exceeding great swelling of the Spleene with Capers alone, a meate befitting that infirmitie, and frequent vse of the water of a Smithes forge, by this Physicke he cured a sicke man, whom all other Physitians had forsaken, that for seuen yeeres had beene Spleniticke. And of such force is this water, Animalia quae apud hos fabros educ [...]ntur exiguos habent lienes. that such creatures as drinke of it haue commonly little or no Spleene. See more excellent medicines for the Spleene in him. Auerters must be vsed to the liuer and Spleene, and to scoure the Meseriack veines, and they are either to open, or prouoke vrine. You can open no place better then the haemrods, which if by horse-leaches they be made to flowe, Si hemorroides fluerent nullum praestantius esset remedium quae sanguisugis admotis prouocari poterunt, obseruat lib. 1. pro hypoc. leguleio. there may not be againe such an excellent remedie, as Plater holdes. Salust. Saluian will admit no other blood-letting but this, and by his experience in an hospitall which he kept, he found all mad and melancholy men worse for other blood-letting. [Page 485] Laurentius cap. 15. calles this of horse-leaches, a sure remedie to empty the Spleene and Meseriacke membrane. Onely Montanus consil. 248., is against it, Alijs apertio haec in hoc morbo videtur vtilissima mihi non admodum probatur quia sanguinem tenuem attrabit & crassum relinquit. to other men saith he, this opening of the haemrods seemes to be a profitable remedy, for my part I doe not approue of it, because it drawes away the thinnest blood, and leaues the thickest behind.
Aetius, Vidus Vidius, Mercuriaelis, Fucshius recommend Diuretickes, or such things as prouoke urine, as Anniseeds, Dill, Fennell, Germander, ground Pine, &c. sod in water or drunke in powder, and yet Lib. 2 cap. 13. omnes melancholici debent omittere vrinam prouocantia quoniā pe [...] ea educitur subtile & remanet crassum. P. Bayerus is against them. All melancholy men saith he, must auoide such things as prouoke vrine, because by them the subtile or thinnest is euacuated, the thicker matter remaines.
Clysters are in good request, Trincauellius lib. 3. consil. 38. for a yong Nobleman, esteemes of them in the first place, and Hercules de Saxoniâ Panth. lib. 1. cap. 16. is a great approuer of them. Ego experientiá prohaui multos Hypocendriacos solo usu Clysterum fuisse lanatos. I haue found (saith he) by experience, that many hypocondriacall melancholy men, haue beene cured by the sole vse of Clysters, receipts are to be had in him.
Besides those fomentations, irrigations, inunctions, odoraments prescribed for the head, In eruditate optimum ventriculum arctius alligari. there must be the like outwardly used for the liuer and Spleene, Stomach, Hypocondries, &c. In crudity saith Piso, 'tis good to bind the stomacke hard, to hinder wind, and to helpe concoction.
Of inward medicins I need not speake, the same cordialls as before. ʒj. Theriacae vere preser [...] & aestate. In this kind of melancholy, some prescribe Treacle in winter, especially before or after purges, or in the Springe as Auicenna, Consil. 12. lib. 1 Trincauellius Mithridate, Cap. 33. Montaltus Piony seedes, Vnicornes horne; os de corde cerui, &c.
Amongst Topickes or outward medicines, none are more precious then bathes, but of them I haue spoken. Fomentations to the hypocondries are very good, of wine and water in which are sod Sothernwood, Melilot, Epithyme, Mugwort, Sena, Polypody, as also Trin [...]auellius consil. 15 cerotum prosene melancholi [...]ho ad iecur optimum. Cerotts, Emplastra pro splene Fernelius consil. 45. Playsters, Liniments, Oyntments, for the spleene and liuer, hypocondries, [Page 486] of which looke for examples in Laurentius, Iobertus lib. 2. cap. 1. prac. med. Montanus consil. 231. Montaltus cap. 33. Hercules de Saxonia, Faventinus: and so of Epithemes, digestiue powders, bagges, oyles, Octauius Horatianus lib. 2 [...] cap. 5. prescribes calasticke Cataplasmes, or drie purging medicines. Piso Dropax é pice nauali & oleo rutatio affigatur ventriculo & toti metaphreni. Dropaces, of pitch and oyle of Rue applied at certaine times to the stomacke, to the metaphrene, or part of the backe which is ouer-against the heart. Aetius synapismes, Montaltus cap. 35. would haue the thighes to be Cauteria cruribus inusta. cauterised, Mecurialis prescribes beneath the knees, Lelius Aegubinus, consul. 77. for an Hypocondriacall Dutch-man, will haue a cautery made in the right thighe, and so Montanus consil. 55. The same Montanus consil. 34. approues of Issues in the armes, or hinder part of the head. Bernardus Paternus in Hildishem spicel. 2. would haue Fontanelle sint in vtro (que) crure. Issues made in both thighes. Ligatures, Frictions and cupping glasses may be vsed as before.
SVBSEC. 2. Correctors, to expell winde, Against costiuenesse, &c.
IN this kind of Melancholy, one of the most offensiue symptomes is winde, which as in the other species, so in this hath great need to be corrected and expelled.
The medicines to expell it, are either inwardly taken or outwardly. Inwardly taken to expell winde, are simples or compounds. Simples, are hearbs, roots, &c. as Galanga, Gē tian, Angelica, Enula, Calamus Aromaticus, Valerean, Zeodori, Iris, condit Ginger, Aristolochy, Cicliminus, China, Dittander, Pennerial, Rue, Calaminte, Bayberries, & Bay-leaues. Betany, Rosemary, Hissope, Sabine, Centaury, Minte, Chamomile, Staechas, Agnus castus, Broome flowers, Origan, Orange pills, &c. Spices, as Saffron, Cinnamon, Bezoa [...] stone, Myrrh, Mace, Nutmegs, Pepper, Cloues, Ginger, seeds of Annise, fennell amni, Cary, Nettle, Rue, &c. Iuneper berries, grana [Page 486] Paradisi. Compounds, Dianisum, Diagalanga, Diaciminū, Diacalaminth, Electuariū de baccis lauri, Benedicta laxativa, Pulvis ad flatus Antid. Florent, pulvis Carminativus, Aromaticum Rosatum, Triacle, Mithridate, &c. This one caution of Cavendum hic. diligenter a multū calesacientibus at (que) exiccantibus siue alimenta suerint haec siue medicam en [...]a nonnulli enim vt ventositates & rugitus compescant buinsmodi vientes medicamentis plurimum peccant morbū sic augentes, debent enim medicamenta declinare ad calidum vel frigidum secundum exigentiam circumstantiarum vel vt patiens inclinat ad cal. & frigidum. Gualter Bruel is to be obserued in the administring of these hot medicines and dry, that whilst they covet to expell winde they doe not enflame the blood, and increase the disease, sometimes as he saith, medicines must more decline to heat, sometimes more to cold, as the circumstances requires, & as the parties are inclined to heat or cold.
Outwardly taken to expell windes, are oyles, as of Camomile, Rue, Bayes, &c. fomentations of the hypocondries, with the decoctions of Dill, Penneriall, Rue, Bay leaues, cummin &c. bagges of Camomile Flowers, Anniseed, Cummin, Bayes, Rue, Wormwood, oyntmēts of the oyle of Spikenard, Wormwood, Rue, &c. Cap. 5. lib. 7. Areteus prescribes Cataplasmes of Camomile Flowers, Fennell, Anniseeds, Cummin, Rosemary, Wormwood leaues, &c.
Piso. Bruel. mirè status resoluit. Cupping lasses applied to the hypocondries, without scarification doe wonderfully resolue winde. Fernelius consil. 43 much approues of them at the lower end of the belly, Iulius Caesar Claudinus respons. med. resp. 33. admires these cupping glasses, which he calls out of Galen, Velut incantamentum quoddam exfloucso spiritu dolorem ortum levant. a kinde of enchantment, they cause such present helpe.
Empiricks haue a myriade of medicines, which I voluntarily omit. Amatus Lusitanus cent. 4. cura. 54. for anhypocondriacall person, that was extreamely tormented with winde, prescribes a strange remedy. Put a paire of bellowes end in a Clyster pipe, and putting it into the fundamen [...] open the bellowes, so drawe forth the winde Natura non admittit vacuum. He vaunts that he was the first inuented this remedy, & by meanes of it speedely eased a melancholy man. Of the cure of this flatuous melancholy read more in Fienus de Flatibus cap. 20. & passim alias.
Against Headach, Vertigo, vapors which ascend forth of the stomacke to molest the head, read Hercules de Saxonia, and others.
[Page 488] If Costiuenesse offend in this, or in any other of the three species, it is to be corrected with suppositories, clysters, or lenitiues, pouder of Sene, condite Prunes, &c. ‘ R, Elect. lenit. è succo rosar. an ℥ j. misce.’ Take as much as a nutmeg at a time, halfe an houre before dinner or supper. or pil. mastichinae ʒ j. in six pills, a pil or two at a time. See more in Montanus consil. 229. Hildesheim spicel. 2. P. Cnemander, and Montanus commend Terebinthinā cypriam haebeant familiarem ad quantitatem deglutiant nucis parvae tribus horis ante prandium vel coenam, ter singulis septimanis provt expedire videbitur Nam praeterquā quod aluum mol lem essicit, obstructiones aperit, ventriculum purgat, vrinam provocat, hepar mundificat. Cyprian Turpentine, which they would haue familiarly taken, to the quantity of a small nut, two or three howres before dinner and supper, twice or thrice a weeke if need be, for besides that it keepes the belly soluble, it cleeres the stomacke, opens obstructions, cleanseth the liver, provokes vrine
These in breife are the ordinary medicines which belong to the cure of melancholy, which if they bee vsed aright, no doubt may doe much good, not one, but all or most, as occasion serues.
ANALYSIS OF THE THIRD PARTITION
- Loue and Loue Melancholy,
Memb. 1. Sect. 1.
- Praeface or introduction. Subsect. 1.
- Loues definition, Pedegree, Obiect, Faire, Amiable, Gratious and pleasant, from which comes beauty, grace, which all desire and loue, parts affected
- Division or kindes
Subsect. 2.
- Naturall in things without life, as loue and hatred of elements, & with life as vegetall wine and elme, sympathy, antipathy, &c.
- Sensible as of Beasts, for pleasure, preseruation of kinde, mutuall agreement, custome, bringing vp together, &c.
- or Rational
- Simple which hath three obiects as
Memb. 2.
- Profitable, Sub. 1. Health, wealth, honour, we loue our benefactors, nothing so amiable as profit, of that which hath a shew of commodity.
- Pleasant.
Sub. 2.
- Things without life, made by art, pictures, sports, games, sensible obiects, as Hawkes, Hounds, Horses. Or men them selues for similitude of manners, naturall affection, as to friends, children, kinsmen, &c. for glory, such as commend vs.
- Of women, as
- Before marriage as Heroicall Melancholy, Sect 2. vide ♈.
- Or after marriage, as Iealousy. Sect. 3. vide. ♉.
- Honest Sub. 3. Fucate in shew by some error or hypocrisie, some seem and are not, or truly for vertue, honesty, good parts, learning, eloquence. &c.
- or Mixt of al 3 which extēds to
Memb. 3.
- Common good, our neighbour, country, friends, which is Charity, the defect of which is cause of much Discontent and Melancholy.
- or God.
Sect. 4.
- In Excesse, vide ♊.
- In Defect. vide ♋.
- Simple which hath three obiects as
Memb. 2.
-
[Page 490]♈ Heroicall, or Loue Melancholy in which consider.
- Memb. 1.
- His pedegree, power, extent to vegetalls and sensible creatures as well as men, to spirits, divels, &c.
- His name, definition, obiect, part affected, tyranny.
- Causes.
Memb. 2.
- Starres, temperature, full [...]iet, place, country, clime, condition, Idlenesse. Subs. 1.
- Naturall allurements, and causes of loue, as Beauty his praise how it allureth? Comlinesse, grace, resulting from the whole or some parts, as face, eyes, haire, hands, &c. Sub. 2.
- Artificiall allurements and provocations of lust & loue, gestures, apparell, dowre, mony, &c.
- Quaest. Whether beauty owe more to art or nature. Subs. 3.
- Opportunity of time and place, conference, discourse, Musicke, singing, dancing, amorous tales, lascivious obiects, familiarity, gifts, promises, &c. Subs. 4.
- Bauds and philters, Subs. 5.
- Symptoms, or signes.
Memb. 3.
- Of Body Drinesse, palenesse, leanesse, waking, sighing, &c. Quaest. An detur pulsus amatorius.
- or of mind.
- Bad as
- Feare, sorrow, suspitiō, anxiety, &c.
- An hel, torment, fire, blindnes, &c
- Dotage, slavery, neglect of busines
- or Good as Sprucenes, neatnes, courage, aptnesse to learne musicke, singing, dancing, poetry, &c.
- Bad as
- Prognosticks Despaire, madnesse, phrensie, death, &c. Memb. 4.
- Cures
Memb. 5.
- By labour, diet, physicke, abstinence. Subs. 1.
- To withstand the beginnings, avoid occasions, faire & fowle meanes, change of place, centrary passion, witty inventions, discommend the former, bring in another. Subs. 2.
- By good counsell perswasion, frō future miseries, inconveniences, &c. Subs. 3.
- By Philters, magicall, and poeticall cures, Subs 4.
- To let them haue their desire disputed pro and con.
- Impediments remoued, reasons for it. Subs. 5.
-
[Page 491]♉ Iealousie,
Sect. 3.
- His name, definition, extent, power, Tyranny. Memb. 1.
- Division Aequivocations kinds
Subs. 1.
- Improper
- To many beasts, as swannes, Cocks, Buls.
- To kings and Princes of their subiects, successors. To frends, parents, tutors ouer their children or otherwise.
- Or Proper
- Before marriage, corrivals, &c.
- After as in this place our present subiect.
- Improper
- Causes.
Sect. 3.
- In the parties themselues
- Idlenesse, impotency in one partie, melancholy, long absence.
- They haue beene naught themselues.
- Hard vsage, vnkindnesse, wantonnesse.
- Inequality of yeares, persons, fortunes, &c.
- Or Frō others. Outward entisements and provocations of others.
- In the parties themselues
- Symptoms Memb. 2. Feare, sorrow, suspition, anguish of mind, strange actions, gestures, looks, speeches, locking vp, outrages, severe laws, prodigious trials, &c.
- Prognosticks. Memb. 3. Despaire, madnesse, to make away them selues and others.
- Cures.
Memb. 4.
- By avoiding occasions,
- Alwaies busie, neuer to be idle.
- By good counsell, advise of friends,
- To contemne or dissemble it. Subs. 1.
- By prevention before marriage, Platoes communion,
- To marry such as are equall in yeares, birth, fortunes, beauty, of like conditions, &c.
- Of a good family, good education.
- To vse them well.
-
[Page 492]♊ Religious Melancholy.
Sect. 4.
- In excesse or such as doe that which is not required.
Mem. 1.
- A proofe that there is such a species of Melancholy, Name Obiect God, what his beauty is, how it allureth? Part and parties affected, superstitious Idolaters, Prophets, Hereticks, &c Subs. 1.
- Causes.
Subs. 2.
- From others
- The divells allurements, false miracles, Priests for their game
- Polititians to keepe men in obedience, Bad instructors, Blinde Guides.
- Or From themselues Simplicity, feare, ignorance, solitarinesse, melancholy, curiosity, pride. vaineglory, decaied Image of God.
- From others
- Symptoms
Subs. 3.
- Generall Zeale without knowledge, obstinacy, superstition, strange devotion, stupidity, cōfidence, stiffe defence of their tenents, mutuall loue, & hate of other sects, beliefe of incredibilities, impossibilities.
- Or Particular
- Of Hereticks, pride, contumacy, contempt of others, wilfulnes, vaineglory, singularity, prodigious paradoxes
- In superstitious, blind zeale, obedience, strange works, fasting, sacrifices, oblations, prayers, vowes, pseudomartyrdome mad and ridiculous customes, observations.
- In Pseudoprophetes, visions, revelations, dreams, prophecies new doctrines, &c. of Iewes, Gentils, Mahometans, &c.
- Prognosticks Subs. 4. New doctrines, paradoxes, blasphemies, madnesse, stupidity, despaire, damnation.
- Cures.
Subs. 5.
- By Physick if need be, conference, good counsell, perswasion, compulsion, correction, punishment, qu. an cogi debent? affir.
- In Defect. Vide paginam sequentem.
- In excesse or such as doe that which is not required.
Mem. 1.
-
[Page 493]♋ Religious melancholy in defect as
Memb. 2.
- Secure, void of grace and feare. Epicures, Atheists, Magitians, Hypocrites, such as haue cauterised consciences, or in a reprobate sense, worldly secure, some Philosophers, Impenitent Sinners. Subs. 1.
- Or Distrustfull, or too timorous, as desperat. In despaire consider.
- His definition, Equivocations, part and parties affected.
- Causes.
Subs. 2.
- The divell and his allurements. Rigid Preachers, that wound their consciences, Melancholy, contemplation, solitarinesse.
- How Melancholy & Despaire differ
- Distrust, weaknesse of faith.
- Guilty conscience for some offence committed, misunderstanding Scriptures.
- Symptoms Subs. 3. Feare, sorrow, anguish of mind, extreame tortures and horror of conscience, fearefull dreames, conceipts, visions, &c.
- Prognosticks, Blasphemy, violent death. Subs. 4.
- Cu
[...]es
Subs. 5.
- Physicke as occasion serues, conference, not to be idle or alone.
- Good counsell, good cō pany, all comforts and contents, &c.
THE THIRD PARTITION LOVE MELANCHOLY.
THE FIRST SECTION.
THE FIRST MEMBER.
THE FIRST SVBSECTION. The Preface.
THere will not bee wanting, I presume, some or other that will much discommend some part of this Treatise of Loue Melancholy, and obiect (which Encom. Moriae leviores essenugas quam vt Theologum deceant. Erasmus in his Preface to S r Thomas Moore suspects of his) that it is too light for a Divine, too Comicall a subiect to speake of Loue Symptomes, and fit alone for a wanton Poet, or some such idle person. And some againe out of an affected grauity will dislike all for the name sake before they read a word, dissembling with him in Quoties de amatorijs mentio facta est tam vehementer excandui tam severâ trislitia violari aures meas obsc [...]no sermone nolui, vt me tā quam vnum ex Philosophis intuerentur. Petronius, and seeme to be angry that their eares are violated with such obscene speeches, that so they may be admired for graue Philosophers, and staid carriage. But let these Cavilleirs and counterfeit Catoes knowe, that Loue is a species of Melancholy, and a necessary part of this my Treatise, which I may not omit, of which many graue and worthy men haue written whole volumes, Plato, Plutarch, Plotinus, Avicenna, Leon: Hebreus in three large Dialogues, Xenophon sympos. Theophrastus, if we may beleeue Atheneus [Page 496] lib. 13. cap. 9. Picus Mirandula, Marius Aequicola, both in Italian, Kornmannus de linea Amoris, lib. 3. Petrus Godefridus hath handled in three books, &c. and which almost euery Physitian, as Arnoldus Villanouanus, Valleriola obseruat. med. lib. 2. obser. 7. Aelian: Montaltus, and Laurentius in their Treatises of Melancholy, Iason Pratensis de morb. cap. Valescus de Taranta, Gordonius, Hercules de Saxonia, Savanarola, Langius, &c. haue treated of a part, and in their works. I excuse my selfe therefore which Peter Godefridus, Valleriola, Ficinus, and in Med. epist. li. 1. epist. 24. Cadmus Milesius teste Suida, de hoc Erotico Amore. 14. libros scripsit nec me pigebit in gratiam adolescentum hac scribere epistolam. Langius words. Cadmus Milesius writ foureteene books of Loue, Carpunt alij Platonicam maiestatem quod amori nimium indulserit Dycearchus & alij sed malè. Omnis amor honestus & bonus & amore digni qui benè dicunt de Amore. and why should I b e ashamed to write an Epistle in favour of young men, of this subiect? Dycearchus, and some other carpe at Platoes maiesty that hee would vouchsafe to write of such loue toyes, but without cause (as Ficinus pleads) for all loue is honest and good, and they are worthy to be loued that speake well of loue. Being to speake of this admirable affection of loue (saith Valleriola.) there lies open a vast and philosophicall field to my discourse, by which many louers become mad: let me leaue my more serious meditations, & wander in these philosophicall feildes, & looke into these pleasant groues of the muses, Med. obser. lib. 2. cap. 7. de admirando amoris affectu dicturus ingens patet cā pus & Philosophicus, quosaepè homines dicuntur ad insaniam libeat modò vagaris, &c. Que non ornent modo sed fragrantia & succulentia Iucundâ plenius alant, &c. where with vnspeakable variety of flowers, we may make garlands to our selues, not to adorne vs only, but with their pleasant smel and iuyce to norish our soules, and fill our mindes desirous of knowledge &c. After an harsh an vnpleasing discourse of melancholy, which hath hitherto molested your patience, and tired the author, giue him leaue with Lib. 1. praefat. de amoribus agens relaxandi animi causa laboriosissimis studijs satigati quando & Theologi si his invari & invare illaesis moribus volunt. Godefridus the lawier, & Laurentius cap. 5. to recreate himselfe in this kinde after his laborious studdies, since so many graue diuines and worthy men haue without offence to manners, to helpe themselues and others voluntarily written of it. Heliodorus a Bishop penned a loue story of Theagines and Cariclia, and when some Cato's of his time reprehended him for it, choase rather saith Hist. lib. 12. cap. 34. Nicephorus, to leaue his bishopricke then his [Page 497] booke. Aeneas Sylvius an ancient Divine, and past 40. yeares of age as Prefat. quid quadragenario convenit cum amore. Ego vero agnosco a matorium scriptum mihi non convenire. Aeneas Silvius praefat. qui iam meridiem praetergressus in vesperum feror. he confesseth of himselfe, (after Pope Pius quintus) endited that wanton history of Eurialus and Lucretia. And how many superintendents of learning, could I reckon vp that haue written of light subiects, Beroaldus, Erasmus, &c. giue me leaue then to refresh my muse a little & my weary Readers, to Vt severiora studia his amaenitatibus lector condire possit. Accius. season a surly discourse; with a more pleasing aspersion of loue matters: edulcare vitam convenit, as the Poet inuites vs, curas nugis &c. t'is good to sweeten our life with some pleasing toyes to rellish it, and as Pliny tells vs, magna pars studio sorum amaenitates quaerimus, most of our students loue such pleasant toyes. And though Macrobius teach vs otherwise, that those old Saeges banished all such light Treatises from their studies, to Nurses cradles, to please only the eares; yet out of Apuleius I will oppose as honorable Patrons, Solon, Plato, Babylonius & Ephesius qui de Amore scripserunt vter (que) amores Myrrae Cyrenes & Adonidis. Suidas. Xenophon, Adrian &c. And which he vrgeth for himselfe, accused of the same fault, In Som. Scip. esacrario sue tum ad cunas nutricum sapientes olim eliminarûnt, solas aurium delicias profitentes. ‘ Mart. Lasciua est nobis pagina, vita proba est.’ howsouer my lines erre, my life is honest. But I need no such Apologies, I need not as Socrates in Plato did cover his face when he spake of loue: it is no such lasciuious, obsceane or wanton discourse, but chast and honest, and most part serious and euen of religion it selfe. Ficinus comment. cap. 17. Amore incensi inveniendi amoris, amorem quaesivimus & invenimus. Incensed (as he said) with the loue of finding loue, we haue sought it, and found it. And thus much I haue thought good to say by way of preface, least any man (which Haec praedixi ne quis temere nos putaret scripsisse de amore, lenocinijis de praxi fornicationibus adulteriis &c. Godefridus supected) should obiect vnto me lightnesse, wantonnesse, rashnesse, in speaking of loues causes, entisements, symptomes, remedies, lawfull and vnlawfull loues, and lust it selfe, Taxando & ab his deterrendo humanam lasciuiam & insaniam sed & remedia docendo non igitur candidus lector nobis succenseat, &c. Commonitio erit invenibus haec hisce vt abstineant nugis, & omissâ lascivia quae homines reddit insanos virtutis incumbant studijs. (Aeneas Silvius) & curam amoris si quis nescit hiuc poterit scire. I speake it onely to taxe and deterre others from it, not to teach it, but to apply remedies vnto it. Condemne me not good Reader then, or censure me hardly, if some part of this Treatise to thy thinking be too light, but [Page 498] consider better of it, pardon what is amisse, speak well at least and if thou likest it, wish me good successe. Extremum hunc Arethusa mihi concede laborem. I beginne.
SVBSEC. 2. Loues beginning, Obiect, Definition, Division.
LOues limits are ample and great, & a spacious walke it hath beset with thornes, and for that cause, which Exercitat. 301 Campus amoris maximus & spinis obsitus nec lovissimo pede transvolandus. Scaliger reprehends in Cardan, not lightly to be passed ouer. Least I incur the same censure, I will examine all the kinds of loue, his nature, beginning, differences, obiects, how it is honest or dishonest, a vertue or vice, a naturall passion or a disease, his power and effects, how farre it extends: of which although something hath beene said in the first Partition, in those Sections of Perturbations ( Grad. 1. c. 29. Ex Platone, primae & communissimae perturbationes ex quibus caeterae oriuntur, & earum su [...] pedishiquae. for loue and hatred are the first and most common passions, from which all the rest arise, and are attendant, as Picolomineus holds) I will now more copiously dilate through all his parts and severall branches, that so it may better appeare what Loue is, and how it varies with the obiects, how in defect, or (which is most ordinary and common) immoderate and in excesse, it causeth Melancholy.
Loue vniuersally taken, is defined to be a Desire, as a word of more ample signification: and though Leon: Hebreus the most copious writer of this subiect, in his third Dialogue makes no difference, yet in his first Dialogue, hee distinguisheth them againe, and defines loue by Desire. Amor est [...]oluntarius affectus & desiderium re bonâ fruendi. Loue is a volū tary affection and desire to inioy that which is good. Desiderium optantis amor eorum quibus fruimur amoris principium desiderii finis, a natum adest, optatum deest. Desire wisheth, Loue inioyes, the ende of the one is the beginning of the other: that which we loue is present, that which we desire is absent. Principio lib. de amore. O [...]er [...] p [...]etium est de am [...]e considera [...]e, vtrum Deus an Daemon, an passio quaedam anime, an parim Deus, partim Daemon, passio partim, &c. Amor est actus [...]nimi bonum desiderans. It is worth the labour, saith Plotinus, to consider wel of Loue, whether it be a God or a Divell, or passion of the mind, or partly God, partly Divell, partly passion. He concludes loue to [Page 499] participate of all three to arise from Desire, of that which is beautifull and faire, and defines it to be an action of the minde, desiring that which is good. Magnus Daemon con [...]i [...]io. Plato calls it the great Divell, for his vehemency and souerainty ouer all other passions, & defines it an Appetite, Boni pulchri (que) fruendi desiderium by which we desire some good to be present. Ficinus in his Comment addes the word Faire to this Definition, Loue is a desire of inioying that which is good & faire. Austin dilates this common Definition, and will haue loue to be a Delectation of the heart, Godefridus, lib. 1. cap. 2 Amor est delectatio cordis alicuius ad aliquid propter aliquod desiderium in apperendo & gaudium perfruendo per desiderium currens, requiescens per gaudiū. for something which we seeke to winne or ioy to haue, coveting by desire, resting in ioy. Non est amor desiderium aut appetitus vt ab omnibus bactenus traditum. Nam potimur cum amatá re non manet appetitus. Est igitur affectus quo cum re amatá aut vnimur, aut vnionem perpetuamus. Scaliger exerc. 301. taxeth all these former Definitions, and will not haue Loue to be defined by Desire or Appetite, for when we inioy the thing we desire, there remaines no more Appetite, as he defines it, Loue is an affection by which we are either vnited to the thing we loue, or perpetuate our vnion, which agrees in part with Leon Hebreus.
Now this loue varies as his obiect varies, which is alwayes Good, Amiable, Faire, Gratious and Pleasant. Omnia appetunt bonum. All things desire that which is good, as we are taught in the Ethicks, or at least that which to them seemes, to be good, from this goodnesse comes beauty, from beauty grace, and comlinesse, which result as so many rayes from their good parts, which makes vs to loue it, and so to couet it: for were it not pleasing and gracious in our eyes, we should not seeke it. Nemo amore capitur [...]isiqui fuerit ante fo [...] ma specie (que) delectatus. No man loues (saith Aristotle 9. mor. cap. 5.) but hee that was first delighted with comlinesse and beautie. As this faire obiect varies, so doth our loue, for as Proclus holdes, Omne pulchrum amabile, euery faire thing is amiable, and what we loue is faire and gratious in our eyes. or at least we doe so apprehend, and esteeme of it still. Amabile obiectum amoris & scopus cuius adeptio est finis cuius gratiâ amamus. Animus enim aspirat vt eo fruatur, & formam boni habet & praecipuè videtur & placet, Picolomineus, grad. 7. cap. 2. & grad. 8. cap. 35. Amiablenesse is the obiect of loue, the scope and end is to obtaine it, for whose sake we loue, and which our mind couets to enioy. And it seemes to vs especially faire and good, for good, faire, and vnity, cannot [Page 500] be separated. Beautie shines Plato saith, and by reason of it's spendor and shining causeth admiration, and the fairer the obiect is, the more eagerly it is sought. For as the same Plato defines it, Forma est vitalis fulgor ex ipso bono manans per ideas s [...]mina, rationes umbras effusus, animos excitans vt per honum in vnum redigantur. Beautie is a liuely shining or glittering brightnesse, resulting from effused good By Ideas, seeds, reasons, shadowes, stirring vp our minds, that by this good they may be vnited and made one. Others will haue beauty to be the perfection of the whole composition, Pulchritudo est perfectio cō positi ex congruente ordine men surâ & ratione partium consurgens, & venustas inde prodiens gratia dicitur & res omnes pulcbrae gratiosae. caused out of the congruous symmetry, measure, order and manner of parts, and that comelinesse which proceeds from this beautie is called grace, and from thence all faire things are gratious. And grace and beauty are so wonderfully annexed, Gratia & pulchritudo ita suauiter animos demulcent ita vehementer alliciunt & adeo mirabiliter connectuntur vt invnum confundant & distingui non possint, & sunt tanquā radii & splendores divin [...] solis in rebus variis vario modo fulgentes. so sweetly and gently winne our soules, and strongly allure, that they confound our iudgement and cannot be distinguished. Beauty and Grace are like those beames and shinings that come from the glorious and diuine Sun, which are diuerse, as they come from the diuerse obiects and please and affect our seuerall sences. Species pulchritudinis hauriuntur oculis auribus aut concipiuntur interná mente. As the species of beauty are taken at our eyes, eares, or conceiued in our inner Soule as Plato disputes at large in his Dialogue de Pulchro, Phaedro, Hyppias, and after many sophisticall errors confuted, concludes that Beautie is a grace in all things, delighting the eyes, eares, and Soule it selfe; and as as Valesius inferres hence, whatsoeuer pleaseth our eares, eyes, and Soule must needs be beautifull and faire, and delightsome to vs. Nihil hinc magis animos concil [...]at quam Musica pulchrae picturae ades, &c. And nothing can more please our eares then Musicke, or pacifie our minds, faire houses, pictures, Orchards, Gardens, Fields, a faire Hawke, a faire horse is most acceptable vnto vs: whatsoeuer pleaseth our eyes and eares, we call beautifull and faire, In reliquis sensibus voluptas in his pulchritudo & gratia. Pleasure belongeth to the rest of the sences, but Grace and Beautie to these two alone. As the obiects varie and are diuerse, so they diuersly affect our eyes, eares, and Soule it selfe. which giues occasion to some, to make so many seuerall kindes of Loue as their bee obiects: One Beauty [Page 501] ariseth from God, another frō his creatures, their is a beauty of the Body, a beauty of the soule, a Beauty from vertue, forma martyrum as Austin cals it, quam videmus oculis animi, which we see with the eies of our soul, which Beauty as Tully saith, if we coulde discerne with these corporall eies, admirabiles sui amores excitaret, would cause admirable affections, and rauish our Soules. This other Beautie which ariseth from those extreame parts, and those graces which proceed from gestures, speeches and seuerall motions and proportions of creatures, men and women, (especially from women, which made those old Poets put the three Graces still in Venus company, as attending on her, and holding vp her traine) are infinite almost, and varie their names with their obiects, as loue of mony, couetousnesse, loue of Beauty, Lust, Conuinio Platonis. Immoderate desire of any pleasure, concupiscence, friendship, loue, good will, &c. and is either vertue or vice, honest, dishonest, in excesse, defect, as shall be shewed in his place: Heroicall Loue: Religious Loue, &c. which may be reduced to a twofold Diuision, according to the principall parts which are affected, the Braine and Liuer. Amor & amicitia which Scaliger exercitat. 301. Valesius and Melancthon warrant out of Plato, [...]. Out of that speech of Pausanias belike, that makes two Veneres and two loues. Duae veneres duo amores quarum vna antiquior & sine matre caelo nata quam caelestem venerem nuncupamus, altera vero Iunior à Ioue & Dione prognata quam vnigarem venerem vocamus. One Venus is ancient without a mother, and descended from heauen, whom we call caelestiall; The yonger, begotten of Iupiter and Dione, whom commonly we call Venus. Ficinus in his Coment vpon this place cap. 8. following Plato, calles these two loues, two diuells, Altera ad superna crigit altera deprimit ad inferna. or good or bad angells according to vs, which are still houering about our Soules, Alter excitat hominem ad divinam pulchritudinem lustrandam cuius causa philosophiae studia & iustitiae, &c. The one rears vs to heauen, the other depresseth vs to hell; the one good which stirres vs vp to the contemplatiō of that divine beauty for whose sake we performe Iustice, and all godly offices, study Phylosophy, &c. the other base in respect and bad, and yet to be respected, for indeed both are good in their owne natures: procreation of children is as necessary as that finding out of truth, but therefore called bad, because it is abused, and which drawes our soules [Page 502] from the speculation of that other, to viler obiects. So far Ficinus. S t Austin lib. 15. de civ: Dei & sup. Psal. 64. hath deliuered as much in effect. Omnis creatura cum bona sit & bene amari potest & male. Every creature is good, and may bee loued well or ill. And Duas ciuitates duo faciunt amores Ierusalem facit amor Dei, Babilonem amor saeculi, vnusquis (que) se quid amet interroget & inveniet vnde sit civis. Two citties make two loues, Ierusalem & Babylon, the loue of God the one, the loue of the world the other, of these two citties we are all cittizens, as by examination of our selues we may soone finde, and of which. The one loue is the root of all mischiefe, the other of all good. And in his 15. cap. lib. de mor. Ecclesiae, he will haue those foure cardinall vertues to be naught else but loue rightly composed, in his 15 booke de civitat. Dei cap. 22. he calls Vertue the order of Loue, whom Thomas following 1. part. 2. quaest. 55. art. 1. and quaest. 56.3 quaest. 62. art. 2. confirmes as much, and amplifies in many words. Alter mari ortus ferox varius fluctuans inanis Iuvenum mare referens, &c. Alter aurea catena caelo demissa bonum furorem mentibus e mittens, &c. Lucian to the same purpose hath a division of his owne, One loue was borne in the Sea, which is as various and raging in young mens breasts as the Sea it selfe, & causeth burning lust: the other is that golden chaine which was let downe from heauen, and with a diuine Fury rauisheth our Soules, made to the image of God, and stirres vs vp to comprehend that innate and incorruptible beauty, to which we were once created. Beroaldus hath expressed all this in an Epigram of his,
[Page 503] This two-fold diuision of Loue, Origen likewise followes in his Comment on the Canticles, one from God, the other from the diuell as he holds (vnderstanding it in the worser sence) which many others repeate and imitate. Both which (to omit all subdiuisions) in excesse or defect, as they are abused or degenerate cause melancholy in a particular kind, as shall be shewed in his place. Austin in another place makes a three-fold Diuision of this Loue, which we may vse well or ill. Triasunt que amari à nobis benè vel male possunt Deus proximus mundus. Deus supra nos iuxta nos proximus infra nos mundus. Tria Deus, duo proximus, vnū mundus babet, &c. God our neighbour, and the world: God aboue vs, our neighbour next vs, the world beneath vs. In the course of our desires God hath three things, the world one, our neighbour two. Our desire to God is either from God, with God, or to God, and ordinarily so runnes. From God when it receiues from him, whence and for which it should loue him: with God when it contradicts his will in nothing: to God, when it seekes to repose and rest it selfe in him. Our Loue to our neighbour, may proceede from him, and runne with him, not to him: from him, as when we reioyce of his good safety, and well doing: with him, when we desire to haue him a fellow [...] and companion of our iourny in the way of the Lord: not in him, because there is no aide or hope or confidence in man. From the world our loue: comes, when wee come to admire the creator in his workes, and glorifie God in his creatures. With the world it should run, if according to the immutability of all temporalties, it should be deiected in aduersitie, or ouer eleuated in prosperitie: To the world if it would settle it selfe in his vaine delights and studies. Many such partitions of loue I could repeate and subdiuisions, but least (which Scaliger obiects to Cardan Exercitat. 501.) Ne confundam vesanos & faedos amores beatos, scelerum cum puro divino & vero, &c. I confound filthy burning lust with pure and diuine Loue, I wil follow that accurate Diuision of Leon. Hebreus dial. 2. Betwixt Sophia and Philo, where he speakes of Naturall, Sensible, and Rationall loue, and handleth each a part. Naturall loue or hatred, is that Sympathy or Antipathy which is to be seene in animate and inanimate creatures, in the foure Elements, Mettalls, Stones, Plants, Herbes, and is especially obserued in vegetalls: as betwixt the Vine and Elme a great [Page 504] Sympathie, betwixt the Vine and Cabbage, betwixt the Vine and Oliue, Aliciat. Virgo fugit Bromium, betwixt the Vine and Bayes, a great Antipathie, the Vine loues not the Bay, Porta. vitis laurum nōamat nec eius odorem si prope crescat enecat. lappa lenti ad versatur. nor his smell, and will kill him, if he grow neere him; the Burre and the Lintle cannot endure one another; the Oliue and the Myrtle embrace one another, in roots & branches if they grow neere. Read more of this in Picolomineus grad. 7. cap. 1. Sympathia olei & myrti ramorum & radinum se complectentium. Mizaldus. secret. cent. 1.47. Crescentius lib. 5. de agric. Baptist a porta de mag. lib. 1. cap. de plant. odio & Element. sym. Fracastorius de sym. & Antip. of the loue and hatred of Planets, consult with euery Astrologer: Leon Hebreus giues many reasons, and moraliseth them withall.
Sensible Loue, is that of brute beasts, of which the same Leon Hebreus dial. 2. assignes these causes. First for the pleasure they take in the act of generation, male and female loue one another. Secondly, for the preseruation of the species, and desire of young broode. Thirdly, for that mutuall agreement as being of the same kind. Fourthly, for custome, vse, and familiaritie, as if a dogge be brought vp with a Lyon and a Beare, contrarie to their natures, they will loue each other. Hawkes, dogges, horses loue their masters and keepers, many stories I could relate in this kind, but see Gillius de hist. Anim. lib. 3. cap. 14. those two epistles of Lipsius of dogges & horses, Agellius &c. Fiftly. for bringing vp, as if a bitch bring vp a kid, a hen ducklings, an hedgesparrow a cuckowe &c.
The third kinde is Amor cognitionis, as Leon calls it, Ratitionall loue and is proper to men, on which I must insist. This appeares in God, Angels, Men. God is loue it selfe, the fountaine of loue, the disciple of loue as Plato stiles him, the seruant of peace, the God of loue and peace, haue peace withall men, and God is with you.
Charitas munifica qua mercamur de Deo regnum Dei. By this Loue saith Gerson we purchase heauen, and buye the kingdome of God. This Polanus partit. Zanchius de natura Dei c. 3. copiose de hoc amore Dei agit. Loue is either in the Trinity [Page 505] it selfe, for the holy Ghost is the Loue of the Father and the Sonne, &c. Iohn 3.35. and 5.20. and 14.31. or towards vs his creatures, as in making the world. Amor mundum fecit, Loue saith Dial. 3. Leon made the world, and afterwards in redeeming of it, God so loued the world, that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne for it. Iohn. 3.16. Behold what loue the Father hath shewed on vs, that we should be called the sonnes of God. 1. Ioh. 3.1. Or in his prouidence in protecting of it: either all in generall, or his Saints elect and Church in particular: whom he keepes as the apple of his eye, whom he loues freely, as Hosea 14.5. speakes. Juven. Charior est ipsis homo quam sibi. Not that we are faire, nor for merit or grace of ours, for we are most vile and base, but out of his incomparable loue and goodnesse, out of his diuine nature. And this is that Homers golden chaine, which reacheth downe from heauen to earth, by which euery creature is anexed and depends of his Creator. He made all saith Gen. 1. Moses and it was good, and he loues it as good.
The loue of Angels and liuing soules is mutuall amongst themselues, and towards vs militant in the Church, and that loue God, there is ioy in heauen for euery sinner that repenteth, they pray for vs, are sollicitors for our good, Theodoret. è Plotino. Castigenij.
Loue proper to mortall men, is the third member of this subdiuision, and the subiect of my following discourse.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSEC. 1. Loue of men, which varies as his obiects, profitable, pleasant, honest.
VAlesius lib. 3. contro. 13. defines this Loue which is in men, To be Affectus nunc appetitiuae potentiae nunc rationalis alter cerebro residet alter epate, cor &c. an affection of both powers, Appetite & Reason. The rationall resides in the Braine, the other in the Liuer, [Page 506] (as before hath bin said out of Plato and others) the Heart is diuersly affected of both, and caried a thousand wayes by consent. The Sensatiue most part ouerrules Reason, the soule is caried hudwinked, & the vnderstanding captiue like a beast. Cor varie inclinatur nunc gaudens nunc maerens statim ex timore nascitur Zelotipia, furor, spes, desperatio. The Heart is diuersly inclined, sometimes they are merry, sometimes sad, and from Loue arise hope and Feare, Ielousie, Furie, Desperation. Now this loue of men is diuerse, and varies as the obiect varies, by which they are entised, as vertue, wisedome, eloquence, profit, wealth, money, fame, or honour, comelinesse of person, &c. Leon Hebreus in his first Dialogue reduceth them all to these three, Vtile, Iucundum, Honestum, Profitable, Pleasant, Honest: of which he discourseth at large, and whatsoeuer is beautifull and faire, is referred to them, or any way to be desired. Ad vtile sanitas refertur vtilium est ambitio, cupids, desiderium, potius quae amor, excessus auaritia. To profitable, is ascribed Health, Wealth, Honour, &c. Which is rather ambition, Desire, Couetousnesse then Loue. Friends, children, loue of women, and all delightfull and pleasant things are referred to the second. The loue of honest things consists in vertue and wisedome, and is preferred before that which is profitable and pleasant. Picolom. grad. 7. cap. 1. The morall vertues are conuersant about that which is profitable & pleasant: Intellectuall about that which is honest. Lib. de amicit. vtile mundanum carnale Iucundum spirituale honestum. Saint Austin calles profitable, worldly, Pleasant carnall, Honest spirituall. Ex singulis tribus fit charitas & amicitia quae respicit deum & proximum. Of and from all three result, Charitie, Friendship, and true Loue, which respects God and our neighbour. Of each of these I will briefly dilate and shew in what sort they cause melancholy.
Amongst all these faire entising obiects which procure Loue, and bewitch the Soule of man, there is none so mouing, so forcible as profite, and that which carieth with it a shew of commoditie. Health indeede is a precious thing, and to recouer and preserue which we will vndergoe any misery, drinke bitter Potions, freely giue our goods: restore a man to his health, his purse lies open to thee, bountifull he is, and thankfull and beholding to thee, but giue him wealth and honour, giue him gold, or what shall be for his aduantage and preferment, and thou shalt command his affections, [Page 507] oblige him eternally to thee, heart and hand, life and all is at thy seruice, thou art his deare and louing friend, good and gracious Lord and master, Mecaenas, he is thy slaue and thy vassall, most affectioned and bounden in all duety, tell him good tidings in this kind, there spoke an angell, a blessed honour that brings in gaine, he is thy creature, and thou his creator; he hugges thee and admires thee: he is thine for euer. No Lodestone so attractiue as that of profite, none so faire an obiect as that of gold, Benefactores praecip [...]è amamus. Viues 3. de Anima. nothing winnes a man sooner then a good turne; bounty and liberalitie command Body and Soule.
Gold of all other is a most delitious obiect, a sweet light, a goodly luster it hath, gratius aurum quam solem intuemur saith Austin, and we had rather see it then the Sunne. Sweete and pleasant in getting, keeping, it seasons all our labours, intolerable paines we take for it, base imployments, bitter flouts and taunts, long iourneyes, heauy burdens, all are made light and easie by this hope of gaine, At mihi plaudo simul ac nūmos contēplor in arcâ. The sight of gold refresheth our spirits, and rauisheth our harts, as that Babylonian garment and Ios. 7. golden wedge did Achan in the campe, the very sight and hearing of it wil set a fire his soule with desire of it, and make a man run to the Antipodes, or tary at home and turne parasite, lie, flatter, prostitute himselfe, sweare and beare false witnesse, he wil venture his body, kill a king, murder his father, and damne his Soule to come at it. Formos [...]r auri massa, as Petronius Arbiter. he well obserued, the masse of gold is fairer then all your Graecian pictures, what euer Apelles, Phydias, or any doting painter could euer make, we are inamored with it, Invenalis. Prima ferè vota & cunctius notissima templis, diuitiae vt crescant. All our labours, studies, endeuours, vowes, prayers and wishes are to get it, how to compasse it. If we [Page 508] get it, as we thinke we are made for euer thrice happy, princes, lords, &c. if we loose it, we are dull, heauy, deiected, discontent, miserable, desperate and mad. Our estate, and benè esse ebbes and flowes with our commoditie, and as we are endowed and enriched so are we beloued: it lasts no longer then our wealth, when that is gone and the obiect remoued, farwell friendship: as long as bounty and good cheere and rewards were to be hoped, friends enough; and they were tied to thee by the teeth, and would follow thee as Crowes doe a carcasse: but when thy goods are gone and spent, the lampe of their loue is out, and thou shalt be contemned, scorned, hated, iniured. Lucian in Timon. Lucians Timon when hee was in prosperitie, was the sole spectacle of Greece, onely admired, who but Timon, euery body, loued, honored, applauded him, euery man offered him his seruice, and sought to be kinne to him, but when his gold was spent, and his faire possessions, farwell Timon, none so vgly, none so deformed, so odious an abiect as Timon, no man so ridiculous of a sudden, they gaue him a penny to buy a rope, no man would know him.
And 'tis the generall humor of the world, commoditie stirres our affections throughout, we loue those that are fortunate and rich, or by whom we may receiue mutuall kindnesse, or hope to receiue like curtesies, or get any good, or gaine, or profit, and hate those, and abhorre on the otherside, which are poore and miserable, or by whom we may sustaine losse or inconuenience. And euen those that were euen now familiar and deare vnto vs, our louing and long friends, neighbours, kinsmen, alies, and with whom wee haue conuersed and liued as so many Geryons for many yeres past, striuing still to giue one another all good content and entertainement, with mutuall inuitations, feastings, disports, offices, for whom we would ride, run, spend our selues, and of whom we haue so freely and honorably spoken, and giuen all those turgent tiltes and magnificent elogiums, most excellent and most noble, worthy, wise, graue, [Page 509] and magnified beyond measure, learned, valiant, &c. If any controversy arise betwixt vs, some trespas, iniurie, some parte of our goods be detained, a piece of land come to be litigious, or any way crosse vs in our suit, or touch the string of our commoditie, we detest him and depresse him vpon a sudden, neither affinity, consanguinitie, or old acquaintance can containe vs, but rupto iecore exierit Caprisicus, a golden apple sets Per. altogether by the eares, as if a marow bone were flunge amongst Beares, father and sonne, brother and sister, kinsmen are at oddes, and looke what malice, deadly hatred can inuent, that shall be done, Terribile, dirum, pestilens, atrox ferum, mutuall iniuries, desire of revenge and how to hurt him and his, are al our studdies. If our pleasuers be interrupte wee can tollorate it, our bodies hurte wee can put it vp, & be reconciled, but touch our cōmodities, wee are most impatient, faire becomes foule, the graces are turned to Harpyes, friendly salutations to bitter imprecations, mutuall feastings, to plotting villanies, minings and counterminings, good words to Satyrs and inuectiues, we reuile, econtra, nought but his imperfections are in our eyes, he is a base knaue, a diuell, a monster, a caterpiller, a viper, an hogrubber &c. desinit in piscē mulier formosa supernè, the sceane is altered on a sudden, loue is turned to hate, mirth to melancholy: so furiously are we most part bent, and our affections fixed vpon this obiect of our commodity, vpon money. The desire of which in excesse is couetousnesse, ambition tyranniseth ouer our Soules, as Part. 1. Sec. 2, memb. Sub. 12. I haue shewed, and in defect crucifies as much, as if a man by negligence, ill husbrandry, improuidence, waste and consume his goods and fortunes, beggery followes, melancholy, he becomes an abiect, odious, 1. Tim. 5.8. and worse then an infidell in not prouiding for his family.
SVBSEC. [...]. Pleasant obiectes of Loue.
PLeasant obiectes are infinite [...], whether they be such as haue life or be without life. Inanimate Countries, Prouinces, Towres, Townes, Citties, as he said. Lipsius epist. Camdeno. Pulcherimam insulam videmus, etiam cum non videmus, we see a faire Island by description when we see it not, The Leland of S r. Edmondsbury. Sunne neuer saw a fairer Citty, Thessala Tempe. Orchardes, Gardens, pleasant Walkes, Groues, Fountaines, &c. The heauen it self is said to be Caelum serenum, caelum visu foedum, Polidorus lib. 1. de Anglia. faire or foule, faire buildings, faire pictures, all artificiall, elaborate and curious workes, and clothes giue an admirable lustre, we admire good clothes and gaze vppon them vt pueri Iunonis auem, as children do on a peacock. A faire dogge, Credo equidem viuos ducent è marmore vultus. a faire horse and hawke, &c. are most gratious in our sight, and acceptable vnto vs, and whatsoeuer els may cause this passion, if it be superfluous or immoderately loued, as Guianerius obserues. These things in themselues are pleasing and good, singular ornaments, necessary, comely, and fit to be had, but when we fixe an immoderate eye and dote on them ouer much, this pleasure may turne to paine, may cause much more sorrow, discontent vnto vs, worke our finall ouerthrow, and cause melancholy in the end. Many are carried away with those bewitching sports of gaiming, hawking, hunting, and such vaine pleasures as Part. 1. sec. 2. memb. 3. I haue said, some with immoderate desire of fame, to bee crowned in the Olympikes, knighted in the field, &c. and by these meanes ruinate themselues. The lasciuious dotes on his faire mistrisse, the Glutton on his dishes, which are infinitely varied to please the palate, The Epicure on his seuerall pleasures, The superstitious on his Idoll, and fattes himselfe with future ioyes, as Turkes feede themselues with an imaginary perswasion of a sensuall paradise, and seuerall pleasant obiects diuersly affect diuers men. But the fairest [Page 511] obiects, and enticings, proceede from men themselues, which most frequently captiuate and allure men, and make them dote beyond all measure vpon one another, and that for many respects. First, as some suppose by some secret force of starres, quod me tibi temperat astrum? Similitudo morum parit amicitiam. They doe singularly dote on such a man, and hate againe, and can giue no reason for it. Mart. Non amo te Sabidi, &c. Alexander admired Ephestion, Adrian Antinous, &c. The Physitians referre this to their Temperament, Astrologers to trine and sextile aspects, or opposite of their seuerall Ascendents, lords of their genitures, loue and hatred of planets, but most to outward graces. A merry companion is welcome and acceptable to most men, and therefore saith De sale geniali lit. 3. cap. 15. Gomesius, Princes and great men entertaine iester's, and Players commonly in their Courts. But pares cum paribus facillime congregantur, 'tis that similitude of manners which ties most men in an inseparable linke, as if they be addicted to the same studies or disports, they delight in one anothers companies, birdes of a feather will gather together: if they be of diuers inclinations or opposite in manners, they can seldome agree. Secondly, Viues 3. Aima. affability, custome, and familiaritie may conuert nature many times, though they be different in manners, as if they be country mē, fellow studēts, colleagues, or haue bin fellow souldiers, Qui simul fecere naufragium, aut vna pertulere vincula, vel consilij coniurationis [...]e societate [...] guni [...] [...] & [...] sensos Caesaria [...] dominatus conciliauit. Aemilius Lepidus & Iulius Flaccus quum essent inimicissimi, censores renūciti simu [...]t [...]tes illico deposu [...]re. Scultetus cap. 4. de causis Amor. brethren in affliction, affinity, or some such accidental occasion, though they cannot agree amongst themselues, they will sticke together like burres, and hold against a third, or after some discontinuance enmitie ceaseth, or in a forraine place. A third cause of Loue and hate may bee mutuall offices, commend him, vse him kindly, take his part in a quarrell, relieue him in his misery, thou winnest him for euer, doe the opposite, and be sure of a perpetual enemie. Isocrates Daemonico praecipit vt quum alicuius amicitiam uellet illum laudet, quod laus initium amoris sit, vituperatio simultatum. Prayse & dispraise of each other do as much, though vnknowne, as Suspec. lect. lib. 1. cap. 2. Scoppius by Scaliger, and Casaubonus, mulus mulum scabit. Who but Scaliger with him, what Encomions, Epithites, Elogiums. Antistes sapientiae, perpetuus dictator literarum, ornamentum, Europae miraculum, [Page 512] noble Scaliger incredibilis ingenij praestantia &c. dijs potius quā hominibus per omnia comparandus. scripta eius aurea ancylia de caelo delapsa, poplitibus veneramur flexis &c. but when they began to varie, none so absurd as Scaliger so vile and base, as his Bookes de Burdonum familia, and other Satyricall invectiues may witnesse, Ouid in Ibin, Archilochus himselfe was not so bitter. Another great tye or cause of loue is consanguinity, parents are deare to their children, children to their parents, brothers and sisters, cosens of all sort [...], as an hen and chickens all of a knott: every crow thinks her ow [...]e bird fairest. Many memorable examples are in this kinde, and tis portenti simile, if they doe not: a mother cannot forget her childe, Salomon so found out the true mother: loue of parents cannot be concealed, tis naturall, and they that are inhumane in this kinde, are vnworthy of that aire they breathe, & of the 4 elementes. yet many vnnaturall examples wee haue in this ranck, Rara est concordia fratrum. of hardhearted parents, disobedient children, of disagreeing brothers, nothing so common. The loue of kinsmen is growen cold, many kinsmen (as the saying is) fewe friends, if thine estate be good, & thou able par pari referre to requite their kindnesse, their will be mutuall correspondence, otherwise thou art a burden most odious to them aboue all others. The last obiect that ties man and man is comlinesse of person, and beautie alone, as men loue women with a wanton eye: which [...] is called Heroicall or Loue Melancholy. Other loues saith grad. 1. cap. [...]. Picolomineus are so called with some contraction, as the loue of wine, gold, &c. but this of women is predominant, in an higher straine, whose part affected is the liuer, and this Loue deserues a longer explication, and shall be dilated a part in the next Section.
SVBSECT. 3. Honest obiects of Loue.
Beautie is the common obiect of all Loue, Viues 3. de Anima. vt paleam succinum sic formam amor. as let drawes a straw, so doth beauty loue; vertue and honesty are as great motiues, and giue as faire a lustre as the rest, especially if they be sincere and true, and not fucate, but proceeding frō true forme, and an incorrupt Iudgement! For many times mē are deceived by their flattering Gnathoes, dissembling Camelions, outsides, hypocrites, that make a shew of great loue learning, pretend honesty, vertue, zeale, modesty, with affected lookes and counterfeit gestures: faigned protestations steale away many times the hearts and favours of men, & deceiue them, specie virtutis & vmbrâ, when as reuera and indeed, there is no worth or honesty at all in them, no truth, but meere hypocrisie, subtlety, knavery, and the like. As true friends as he that Caelius Secundus met by the highwaies side; & hard it is, in this temporizing age to distinguish such kind of men, or to finde them out. Such men as these for the most part belong to great men, and by this glozing slattery, affabilities and such philters of theirs, so diue and insinuate into their favours, that they are taken for men of excellent worth, wisedome, learning, demygods, and so screw themselues into dignities, honors, offices: but these men cause rash confusion often, and as many stirres, as Ieroboams councellours in a cō monwealth, and overthrow themselues and others. Tandlerus & some others make a doubt whether loue & hatred may be compelled by philters, or charracters, Cardan & Marbodius by pretious stones and amulets, Astrologers by election of times, &c: as Sect. sequent. I shall elsewhere discusse. The true obiect of this honest loue is vertue, wisedome, honesty, and Nihil divinius homine probo. reall worth, and this loue cannot deceiue or be compelled, vt ameris amabilis esto, loue it selfe is the most potent philtrum, vertue and wisedome, gratia gratum faciens, the sole and onely [Page 514] grace, not counterfet but open, honest, simple, naked, Iames. 3.17. descending from heaven, as our Apostle hath it, an infused habit frō God, which hath given several gifts, as wit, learning, tongues, for which they shall be amiable and gracious, Eph. 4.11. as to Saul stature and a goodly presence, 1. Sam. 9.1. Ioseph found favour in Pharao's court, Gen. 39. for his Gratior est pulchro veni [...]s è corpore virtus. for his person. And Daniel with the prince of the Eunuches, Dan. 19.19. Christ was gracious with God and men, Luk. 2.52. there is still some peculiar grace as of good discourse, eloquence, wit, honesty, which is the primouent, & a most forcible loadstone to draw the favours & goodwils of mens eies, eares, & affections vnto them. When Iesus spake they were all astonied at his answers (Luk. 2.47.) and wondred at his gracious words which proceeded from his mouth. An orator steales away the harts of men, & as another Orpheus; quo vult, vnde vult, he puls thē to him by speach alone, a sweet voice causeth admiration, and he that can vtter himselfe in good words, in our ordinary phrase we call him a proper man, a divine spirit. For which cause belike those old Poets made Mercurie the gentleman vsher to the Graces, and captaine of eloquence, & those Charites to be Iupiters and Eurymones daughters, descended from aboue. Though they be otherwise deformed, crooked, vgly to behold, these good parts of the minde denominate them faire. Plato commends the beauty of Socrates, yet who was more grim of countenance, sterne and gastly to looke vpon, and so are and haue bin most of your Philosophers, as Orat. 28 deformes plerum (que) philosophi ad id quod in aspectii cadit, ea parte elegantes quae oculos sugit. Gregory Nazianzen obserues, deformed most part in that which is to be seene with the eies, but most elegant in that which is not to be seene. Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste. Aeesope, Politianus, Melancthon, Gesner, &c: withered old men, very harsh and impolite to the eie, but who was so terse, polite, eloquent, generally learned, temperate and modest? Honesty, vertue, faire conditions are great entisers to such as are well given, and much availe to get the favor and good wil of men. Abdolominus in Curtius, a poore man, (but which mine Author notes, Causa ei paupertatis sicut pleris (que) probitas fuit. the cause of his poverty was his honesty) was for his [Page 515] modesty & continency from a private person, for they found him digging in his garden, saluted king, and preferred before all the magnificoes of his time, iniecta ei vestis purpura auro (que) distincta, a purple embrodered garment was put vpon him, Ablue corpus, & cape regis animum & in cam fortunam quā dignus es, continentiam istam pr [...]fer. and they bad him wash himselfe, and as he was worthy take vpon him the stile and spirit of a king, continue his continencie, and the rest of his good parts. Operae pretium audire, &c. It is worthy of your attendance Livie cries, Qui prae divitijs humana spernunt nec virtuti locum putani nisi opes effluant, Q. Cincinnatus consensu patrum in dictatorem Romanum electus. you that scorne all but riches , and giue no esteeme to vertue, except they be wealthy withall, Q. Cincinnatu had but sowre acres, & by the consent of the Senate was chosen Dictator of Rome. Of such accompt were Cato, Fabritius, Aristides, Antoninus, Probus. For their eminent worth, so Caesar Traian Alexander admired for valour, Titus delitiae humani generis and which Aurelius Victor hath of Vespatian the dilling of his time, as Edgar Etheling Englands darling. Edgar Etheling was in England, for his Morum suaevitas obuia comitas promptae officia mortalium animos demerentur. excellent vertues, their memory is yet fresh and sweet, and we loue them many ages after, though they be dead. Suavem memoriam sui reliquit, saith Lipsius of his friend, living and dead they are all one. Epist. lib. 8. semper amaui vt tu scis M. Brutum propter eius summum ingenium suavissimos mores, singularem probitatem & constantiam, nihil est mihi crede virtute formosius nihil amabilius. I haue ever loved as thou knowest (so Tully wrote to Dolobella) Marcus Brutus for his great wit, singular honesty, constancie, sweete conditions, and belieue it there is nothing so amiable and Ardentes amores excitaret si simulacbrum cius ad oculos penetraret. Plato Phaedone. faire as vertue. And as S. Austin comments on the 84. Psalme, Est quaedam pulchritudo iustitiae quam videmus oculis cordis amamus & exardescimus vt i [...] martyribus quum eorum membra bestiae lacerarint, etsi alias deformes, &c. There is a peculiar beauty of Iustice, which we see with the eies of our harts, and loue, and are inamored with, as in Martyrs, though their bodies be torne a pieces with wilde beasts, yet this beauty shines, and we loue their vertues. The Lipsius ma [...]dus ad Phys. Stoic. lib. 3. diff. 17. solus sapiens pulcher. Stoikes are of opinion, that a wise man is only Faire, and Cato in Tullies 3. de Finibus, contends the same, that the lineaments of the minde are farre fairer then those of the body, and a wise and good man is onely faire. Franc. Belforest in hist. An. 1430. It is reported of Magdalen Queene of France, and [Page 516] wife to Lewes the 11th, a Scottish woman by birth, that walking forth one evening with her Ladies, shee spied M c Alanus one of the kings Chaplines, a silly, old, Erat antem faedè deformis et eá formâ, quâcitius pueriterreri possent, quā inuitari ad osculum puellae hardfavoured man, fast a sleepe in a bower, and kissed him sweetly; & when the young Ladies laughed at her for it, shee replyed that it was not his person, but shee did embrace and reverence the divine beauty of Deformis isle etsi videatur seneae diuinum animum habet. his Soule. Thus in all ages vertue hath bin adored, admired, & a singular luster hath proceeded from it, and the more vertuous he is, the more gracious, the more admired. No man so much followed vpon earth as Christ himselfe; and as the Psalmist saith, 44.3. he was fairer then the sonnes of men. Chrysostome, hom. 8. in Mat. Bernard ser. 1. de omnibus sanctis, Austin, Cassiodore, Hier. in 9. Mat. interpret it of the Fulgehat vultu suo, fulgor, & divina maiestas homines adse trahens. beauty of his person, there was a divine Maiestie in his lookes, and it shined like lightning, and drew all men to it, but Basil, Cyril, lib. 5. super 53. Esay, Theoderet, Arnobius, &c. of the beauty of his divinity, Iustice, Grace, eloquence, &c. Thomas in Psal. 44. [...]of both, and so doth Baradius and Peter Morales, lib. de pulchritud. Iesu. & Mariae, adding as much of Ioseph and the vergin Mary. Be they present or absent, neere vs or a farre of, this beauty shines, and will attract men many miles to come and see it. Plato and Pythagoras left their country, to see those wise Aegyptian Priests. Apollonius travelled into Aethiopiae, Persia, to consult with the Magi, Brachmanni, Gymnosophists. The Q. of Sheba came to visit Salomon, and many saith Praefat. bib. vulgar. Hierome came out of Spaine and remote places 1000 miles, to see that eloquent Livy. No beauty leaues such an impression, or strikes so deepe, A true-loues knot. or linkes the soules of men closer then vertue. For that reason belike Homer faines the three Graces to be linked & tyed hand in hand, because the harts of men are so firmely vnited with such graces. O dulcissimi laquei qui tam faeliciter deuinciunt vt etiam à vinctis deligantur, qui à gratijs vincti sunt cupiunt arctius deligari, & in vnum redigi. O sweet bands (Seneca exclaimes) which so happyly combine, that those which are so bound by them, loue their binders, and desire with all much more harder to be bound, and as so many Geryions to be vnited into one. For the nature of true friendship is to combine, to be like affected, of one minde, [Page 517] Statius. Velle & nolle ambobus idem, satiata (que) toto mens aeuo, as the Poet saith stil to continue one & the same. And where this loue takes place there is peace & quietnes, a true correspondence, perfect amitie, a Diapason of vowes and wishes, the same opinions, as betwixt David and Ionathan, He loued him as he loued his owne soule. 1. Sam. 15.1. Damon and Pithias, Pilades & Orestes, Virg. 9 Ae [...]. Qui super exanimem sese coniecit amicum confossus. Nysus and Euryalus, Theseus & Pyrithous, Amicus animae dem dium. Austin. confess. 4. cap. 6. Quod de virgilio Horatius & serues animae demidium meae. they will liue and die together. Where this true loue is wanting there can be no firme peace, frendship from teeth outward, counterfeit, or for some by respects, so long dissembled til they haue satisfied their owne ends, which vpon every small occasion breakes out into enmity, open warr, defiance, heartburnings, whisprings, calumnies, contentions, and all manner of bitter melancholy discontents. And those men which haue no other obiect of their loue, then greatnes, wealth, authoritie &c, are rather feared then beloued; and howsoeuer borne with for a time, yet for their tyranny and oppression, griping, coueteousnesse, currish hardnesse, folly, intemperance, impudence and such like vices they are ingenerally odious, Nec amant quemquam nec amantur ab vllo. abhored of al, both God and men. Non vxor saluum te vult non filius, omnes vicini oderunt, wife & children freinds neighbours all the world forsakes them, would faine be rid of them, and are compelled many times to lay violent hands on them or Gods iudgments ouertake them, insteed of graces come furies. So when faire 1. Sam. 25.3. Abigall, a woman of singular wisdome, was acceptable to David, Naball was churlish and euell conditioned, and therefore reiected. Ester. Mardochy was receiued when Haman was executed. And though they florish many times, such hypocrites and temporising foxes, and bleare the worlds eies by flattery, briberie, dissembling their natures, or other mens weaknesse that cannot soe soone apprehend their tricks, yet in the end they will be discerned, and precipitated on a sudden, surely saith David, thou hast set them in slippery places, ps. 73.5. as soe many Seiani they will come down to the Gemonian scales, & Eusebius in Amm. Marcellinus lib. 14. Ammianus, he that was in such authority ad iubendū imperatorē, castdowne headlong on a sudden. Or put case they escape [Page 518] and rest vnmasked to their liues end, and after their death, their memory stinkes as a snuffe of a candle put out, and those that durst not so much as mutter against them in their liues, will prosecute their name with Satyrs, Libells, and bitter imprecations, and they shall male audire in all succeeding ages, and be odious to the worlds end.
MEMB. 3. Charity, composed of all three kindes, Pleasant, Profitable, Honest.
BEsides this loue that proceedes from Profite, Pleasure, Honesty, as one good turne askes another in equitie, or that proceedes from the law of nature, or from discipline and Philosophy; there is yet another loue compound of all these three, which is Charitie, commanded by God, which no man can well performe, but he that is a Christian, and a true regenerate man. That is, Vt mundus duobus polis sustentatur, ita lex dei amore dei & proximi duobus bis fundamētis vincitur, machina mundicorruit si v [...]a de polis turbatur, lex perit diuina si vna ex his. To loue God aboue all, and our neighbour as our selfe. Other Obiects are faire and very beautifull I confesse, kindred, alliance, friendship, the loue that we owe to our Countrey, nature, wealth, pleasure, honour, and such morall respects, &c. A man is beloued of a man in that he is a man, but all these are farre more eminent and great, when they shall proceede from a sanctified spirit, that hath a true touch of Religion, and a reference to God. Nature bindes a man to loue his Parents, and this loue cannot be dissolued, as Tully holds, De amicit. charitas parentum dilui nisi detestabili scelere non p [...]test. without detestable offence: but much more Gods Commaundement, which enioynes a filiall loue and obedience in this kind. Fraternitas lapidum fornicibus similima casura nisi se inuicem sustentaret Senec. The loue of brethren is great, and like an arch of stones, where if one be displaced, all comes downe, no loue so forcible and strong, honest, to the combination of which nature, fortune, vertue happily concurre, yet this loue comes short of it. Dulce & decorum pro patria mori, Dij immortales dici non potest quantum charitatis nomem illud habet. Tully. and it cannot be expressed, what a deale of Charitie that one name of [Page 519] Countrey containes. The Decij did se devouere Horatij, Curtij, Regulus, Codrus, sacrifice themselues for their Countries peace and good.
Fiftie thousand natiue English men, lost their liues willingly at Battell Albye in defence of their Countrey. Anno. 1347. Iacob Mayer. Annal Fland. lib. 12. P. Aemilius l. 6. speaks of six Senators at Callis, that came with halters in their hands, to the K. of England to die for the rest. This loue makes so many writers take such paines, so many Historigraphers, Physitians, &c. or at least as they pretend for common good, and their Countries sake. Tully. Sanctum nomen amicitia sociorum communio sacra, Friendship is an holy name and a sacred communion of friends. Lucianus Toxari. amicitia vt sol in m [...]lo, &c. As the Sunne is in the firmament, so is friendship in the world, a most diuine and heauenly band, take this away and take all pleasure, all ioy, comfort, happinesse and true content out of the world, the greatest tye, and as the Poet decides, is much to be preferred before the rest.
Sirac [...]des. A faithfull friend is better then Plutarke pretiosū numisma. gold, a medicine of misery, and Zenophon. verus amicus prestantissima possessio. an onely possession, yet all this loue of friends, all three loues put together, are little worth, if they proceede not from a true Christian illuminated soule, if it be not done for Gods sake. Though I had the gift of Prophesie, spake with tongue of men and angels, though I feed the poore with all my goods, & giue my body to be burned, & haue not this loue, it profiteth me nothing. 1. Cor. 13.1, 2, 3. This is an all apprehending loue, loue with an addition, loue [...], loue of God, and loue of men, Greg. per amore dei proximi gignitur & per hunc a morē proximi, dei nutritur. The loue of God begets the loue of man, and by this loue of our neighbour, the loue of God is nourished and increased. By this happy Vnion of loue, Pi [...] colomineus grad. 7. cap. 27. hoc faelici amoris nodo ligantur familiae ciuitates &c. all well gouerned families and citties are combined, the heauens annexed, and diuine soules complicated, the world it selfe composed, and all that is in it conioyned in God and reduced to one. Veras absolutas haec parit vertutes, radix omnium virtutum mens & spiritus. This loue causeth true and absolute vertues, the life and spirit and root of euery vertuous action, it finisheth prosperitie, Diuino calore animos incendit incensos purgat purgatos cleuat ad Deum, deum plac [...]t hominem deo conciliat. Bernard. easeth aduersitie, corrects all naturall incumbrances, inconueniences, sustained by Faith and Hope, which with this our loue make an indissoluble twist, a Gordian knot, an Aequilater Triangle. And yet the greatest of them is loue, 1. Cor. 13.13. which inflames eur soules with a diuine heate, and being so inflamed purgeth, and so purged eleuates to God, makes an attonement and reconciles vs vnto him. Ille inficit hic perficit ille deprimit hic eleuat, hic tranquillitatem ille curas parit, hic vitam recte informat ille deformat, &c. That other loue infects the soule of man, this cleanseth, that depresseth, this creares, that causeth cares and troubles, this quietnesse of mind, this informes, that deformes our life, that leades to repentance, this to heauen. For if once we be truely linct' and touched with this Charity, we shall loue God aboue all, our neighbour as our selfe, as we are inioyned, Mark. 12.31. Mat. 19.19. and performe all those dueties and exercise those operations of a good Christian.
[Page 521] This loue suffereth long, it is bountifull, it enuieth not, boasteth not it selfe, is not puffed vp, It desceiueth not, it seeketh not his owne things, is not prouoked to anger, it thinketh not euill, it reioyceth not in iniquitie, bu in truth. It suffereth all things, beleeueth all things, hopetht all things, 1. Cor. 13.4, 5, 6, 7. it couereth all trespasses, Prou. 10.12. a multitude of sinnes, 1. Pet. 4. it will defend the fatherlesse and widowe, Isai. 1.17. will seeke no reuenge or be mindfull of wrong, Leuit. 19.18. Will bring home his brothers oxe if he goe astray as he is commanded, Deu. 22.1. Will resist euill, giue to him that asketh, and not turne from him that borroweth, blesse them, that curse him, loue his enemie, Mat. 5. beare his brothers burden, Galat. 6.2. He will be Hospitall, and distribute to the necessities of the Saints, he will if it be possible haue peace with all men, feede his enemy if he be hungry, if he be a thirst giue him drinke, he will make himselfe equall to them of the lower sort, reioyce with them that reioyce, weepe with them that weepe Rom. 12. he will speake truth to his neighbour, courteous and tender hearted, Forgiuing others for Christs sake, as God forgaue him. Ephe. 4.32 he will be like minded, Phil. 2.2. Of one Iudgement. Be humble, meeke, long suffering, Coloss. 3. forbeare, forget and forgiue, 12.13.23. and what he doth shall be heartily done to God, and not to men. Be pittifull and courteous, 1. Pet. 3. seeke peace and follow it. He will loue his brother not in word and tongue, but in deed and truth, Ioh. 3.18. and he that loues God, Christ will loue him that is begotten of him, Iohn 5.1. &c. This should we willingly doe, if we had a true touch of this Charitie, of this diuine loue, if we would performe this which we are inioyned, forgette and forgiue, and compose ourselues to those Christian lawes of loue.
Angelicall soules, how blessed, how happy should wee be, how might we triumph ouer the diuell, and haue another [Page 522] heauen vpon earth.
But this we cannot doe, and which is the cause of all our woes, miseries, discontent, melancholy, Deliquium paetitur Charitas odium eius loco succedit Basil. 1. ser. de institut. mon. want of this Charitie. We doe inuicem angariare, contend, consult, vexe, torture, molest & hold one anothers nose to the grinstone hard, prouoke, raile, scoffe, calumniate, challenge, hate, (hard-hearted, implacable, malicious, peeuish, inexorable as we are) to satisfie our lust or priuate spleene, for Nodum in scirpo quaerentes. toyes trifles, and impertinent occasions, spend our selues, goods, friends, fortunes, to be reuenged on our aduersary, to ruine him and his. 'Tis all our study our practise and businesse, how to plot mischiefe, mine and countermine, defend and offend, warde our seluess, iniury others, hurt all: as if wee were borne to doe mischiefe, and that with such egernesse and bitternesse, with such rancor, malice, rage, and furie, we prosecute our intended designes, that neither affinitie or consanguinitie, loue or feare of God or men can containe vs, no satisfaction, no composition will be accepted, no offices will serue, no submission, though he shall vpon his knees as Sarpedon did to Glaucus in Homer, acknowledging his error, yeelde himselfe with teares in his eyes, begge his pardon, we will not relent, forgiue, or pardon, till we haue confounded him and his, made dice of his bones as they say, see him rot in prison, friends, followers, & omne inuisum genus, rooted him out and all his posteritie. Monsters of men, as we are Dogs, Wolues, Hircanae (que) admorúnt vbera tigres. Tygers, Bulles, Beares, Feindes and Diuells, we doe not onely contend, oppresse, and tyrannise our selues, but as so many firebrands we set on, and animate others, our whole life is a perpetuall combate, a conflict, a set battle, a snarling fit, Eris dea, is setled in our tents, Heraclitus. Omnia de lite, opposing wit to wit, wealth to wealth, strength to strength, fortunes to fortunes, friends to friends, as at a Sea-fight, we turne our broade sides, or two milstones with continuall attrition we fire our selues, or breake anothers backes, and both are ruined and consumed in the end. Miserable wretches as we are to fat and enrich our selues wee care not [Page 523] how we get it, how many thousands we vndoe, whom wee oppresse, by whose ruine and downefall we arise, whom we iniurie, fatherlesse children, widowes, common societies to satisfie our owne priuate lust. And though we haue myriades, abundance of wealth and treasure (pittilesse, mercilesse, remorseless [...] as we are, and vncharitable in the highest degree) and our poore brother in need, sickenesse, and in great extremitie, and now ready to be starued for want of food, we had rather as the foxe told the Ape, his taile should sweepe the ground still, then couer his buttockes, rather spend it idlely, consume it with dogges, hawkes, hounds, vnnecessary buildings, apparell, ingurgitate, or let it be lost, then they should haue part of it, Si in ge [...]ennā abit, pauperi qui non dat, quid de eo fiet qui pauperem denud [...]t, Austin. rather take from him that little which he hath, then relieue him.
Or like the dogge in the manger, neither vse it our selues, nor let others make vse of it, or inioy it, part with nothing while we liue, and for want of disposing our houshold, and setting things in order, set all the world together by the eares after our death. Poore Lazarus lies howling at his gates, for a few crums, he onely seeks chippings, offalls, let him roare and howle, famish and eate his owne flesh, he respects him not. A poore decayed friend and kinsman of his sets vpon him by the way in all his iollity, and runs begging bareheaded by him, coniuring by those former bands of friendship, alliance, consanguinitie &c. vncle, cosen, brother, father. Per ego has lachrimas dextram (que), tuam te, si quidquam de te merui, fuit aut tibi quidquam dulce meum, miserere mei. Shew some pitty for Christs sake, pitty a sick mā, an old man, he cares not, ride on, pretend sickenesse, incuitable losse of limmes, goods, pleade suertiship, and shipwracke, fires, common calamities, shew thy wants and imperfections.
Crudeles tollite claudum, sweare, protest, take God and all his Angels to witnesse, quaere peregrinum, he is not touched with it, pauper vbi (que) iacet, ride on, he takes no notice of it. Put vp a supplication to him in the name of a thousande Orphanes, [Page 524] an hospitall, a spittle, a prison as he goes by, they crie out to him for aide, ride on, surdo narras, he cares not, let them eate stones, deuoure themselues with vermine, rot in their owne dunge he cares not. Shew him a decayed hauen, a bridge, a schoole, a fortification &c. or some publique good, ride on, good your worship, your honour, for Gods sake, for your countreys sake &c. ride on. But shew him a role, wherein his name shall be registred in golden letters, and his bounty commended to all posterity, his armes set vp, and his deuices to be seene, and then peraduentue he wil stay and contribute, or if thou canst thunder vpon him as Papists doe with satisfactory and meritorious workes, or perswade him by this means he shall haue his soule out of hell, & free it frō Purgatory, then in all likelyhood he will listen & stay, or that he haue no children, no neere kinsman, heire he cares for at least, or cannot well tell how and where to bestowe his possessions (for carry them with him he cannot) it may bee then he will build some schoole or hospitall in his life, or bee induced to giue liberally to pious vses after his death, for I dare boldly say that vaineglory, that opinion of merit, & this inforced necessity, when they knowe not otherwise how to leaue them, or what better to doe with them, is the maine cause of most of our good works. I will not say this to derogate from any good mans charitable devotion or bounty in this kind, or censure any good worke, no doubt there be many sanctified, heroicall, and worthy minded men, that out of true zeale & for vertues sake, diuine spirits, that out of commiseration and pitty extend their liberalty, and as much as in them lies doe good to all men, cloath the naked, feede the hungry, comfort the sicke & needy, releeue all, forget & forgiue iniuries, as true charity requires; yet most part there is simulatum quid a deale of hypocrisie in this kinde, much default and defect. Ionius vitae eius. As Cosmus Medices that rich cittizen of Florence confessed to a neere friend of his, that would knowe of him why he built so many publike and magnificent buildings, and bestowed so liberally on Schollers, not that he loued [Page 525] learning more then others, but to Immortalitatem beneficio literarum immortali gloriosa quadam cupiditate concupiuit. Quod cives quibus benefecisset perituri maenia ruitura etsi regio sumptu aedisicaeta non libri. eternize his own name, to be immortall by the benefit of Schollers: for when his friends were dead, walls decayed, and all inscriptions gone, books would remaine to the worlds end. Vaineglory and emulation (as to most men) was the cause efficient, & to be a trumpeter of his own same was his sole intent, so to do good that al the world may take notice of it. Such for the most part is the charity of our times, such our benefactors, Mecaenates & Patrons. Shew me amongst so many myriades a truly deuout, a right, honest, vpright, meeke, humble, a patient, innocuous innocent, a mercifull, a louing, a charitable man. Hor. Probus quis nobiscum vivit? Shew me a Caleb, or a Iosua. He that shall examine this Durum genus summus. iron age wherein we liue, where charity is cold, & iam terras Astraea reliquit, & the Divell loose, & see one man vilifie and insult over his brother, Tull. pro Rosc. mentiri vis causa mea ego verè cupide & libenter mentiar tuâ causa & si quā do mea vis peierare vt palulum tu compendy facias paratum fore scito. as if he were an innocent, oppresse, tyrannise, pray vpon, torture him, vex, gaul, torment and crucifie him, starue him, where is charity? to see men sweare and forsweare, lye, and beare false witnesse, to aduantage themselues, preiudice others, hazard goods, liues, fortunes, to be reuenged on their enemies, men so vnspeakable in their lusts, vnnaturall in malice, such bloody designements, Italian Blaspheaming, Spanish renouncing, &c. where is charity? He that shall see so many law sutes, such endlesse contētions, such plotting, vndermining, so much mony spent with such egernesse of fury, euery man for himselfe his owne ends, the Diuell for all, so many distressed soules, such lamentable complaints, so many factions conspiracies, seditions, such grudging, repining, discontent, so much emulation, enuy so many brawles, quarrels, monomachies, &c. where is charity? To see and read of such cruell warres, tumults, vproares, bloody battels, so many Gallienus in Treb. Pollio lacera occide mea mente irascere. Rabie [...]iecur incendente feruntur praecipites Vopiscus of Aurelian tantum fudit sanguinis quātum quis vini potauit. men slaine, so many citties ruinated &c. (for what else is the subiect of all our stories almost, but Bills, Bowes, and Gunnes) so many murders and massacres, &c. where is charity? To see men wholy deuote to God, Churchmen, professed Diuines, holy men, Euangelij tubam belli tubam faciunt in pulpitis pacem in colloquijs bellum suadent. to make the trumpet [Page 526] of the Gospell the trumpet of warre, a company of helborne Iesuits, and fiery spirited Friers, facem praeferre to all seditions as so many fierbrands set all the world by the eares (I say nothing of their contentions and rayling bookes, whole ages spent in writing one against another, and that with such virulency and bitternesse Bioneis sermonibus & sale nigro) and by their bloody inquisitions that in 30. yeares Bale saith consumed 39 Princes, 148 Earles, 235 Barons, 14755 Commōs worse then those ten persequtions, where is charity? He that shall obserue and see these things may say to them as Cato to Caesar, credo quae de inferis dicuntur falsa existimas, sure I think thou art of opinion there is neither Heauen nor Hel. Let them pretend religion, zeale, make what shewes they will, giue almes, peace makers, frequent sermons, if wee may gesse the tree by the fruit, they are no better then Hyprocrites, Epicures, Atheists, with the Psal. 13.1. foole in their hearts they say there is no God. Tis no maruell then if being so vncharitable, hard-hearted as we are, we haue so frequent and so many discontents, such melancholy fits, so many bitter pangs, mutuall discords, all in a combustion, often complaints, so common grieuances, generall mischiefes, so many plagues, warres, vproares, losses, deluges, fires, inundations, Gods vengeance, and all the plagues of Egypt come vpon vs, since wee are so vncharitable one towards another, so respectlesse of God, and our neighbours, and by our crying sinnes pull these miseries vpon our owne heads. If we had any sense or feeling of these things sure we should not goe on as we doe, in such irregular courses, practise all manner of impieties, our whole carriage would not be so auerse from God. If a man would but consider, when he is in the midst and full career of such prodigious and vncharitable actions, how displeasing they are in Gods sight, how noxious to himselfe, as Solomon told Ioab. 1. Kings 2. the Lord shall bring this blood vpon their heads. Prov. 1.27. sudden desolation and destruction shall come like a whirlewind vpon them: affliction, anguish, the reward of his hand shall be giuen him. Isa, 3.11. &c. they shall fall into the pit [Page 527] they haue digged for others, and when they are scraping, tyrannising, getting, wallowing in their wealth, This night, O foole, I will take away thy soule, what a seuere account they must make, and how Benefacit animae suae vir misericors. gratious on the other side a charitable man is in Gods eyes, haurit sibi gratiam. Mat. 5.7. blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy. He that lendeth to the poore giues to God, and how it shall be restored to them again how by their patience and long suffering they shall heape coales on their enimies heads. Rom. 12. and hee that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy shall finde righteousnesse and glory. Surely they would checke themselues, curb in their vnnaturall inordinate affections, agree amongst themselues, abstaine from doing evill, amend there liues and learne to do good. Behold how comely and good a thing it is for brethren to liue together in Concordia magnaeres crescunt discordia maximae delabuntur. vnion: it is like the pretious oyntment, &c. How odious to contend one with the other. Lipsius. Miseri quid luctatiunculis hisce volumus, ecce mors supra caput est, & supremum illud tribunal, vbi & dicta & facta nostra examinanda sunt. Sapiamus. Why do we contend and vex one another, behold death is ouer our heads, and we must shortly giue account of all our vncharitable words and actions, thinke vpon it, and bee wise.
SECT. 2.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Heroicall loue causing melancholy. His Pedegree, Power, and Extent.
IN the precedent Section mention was made amongst other pleasant obiects, of this comelinesse & beauty which proceeds from women, which causeth Heroicall, or loue melancholy, and is more eminent aboue the rest, and properly called Loue. The part affected in men is the liuer, and therefore called Heroicall, because commonly Gallants & Noble [Page 528] men, the most generous spirits are possessed with it. His power and extent is very large, Memb. 1. Subiect. 2. and in that twofold diuision of Loue, Amor & amicitia. [...] & [...], those two Veneres which Plato and some others make mention of, it is most eminent, and [...] called Venus, as I haue said, or Loue it selfe. Which although it be denominated from men, and most euident in them, yet it extends and shewes it selfe in vegitall and sensible creatures, and those incorporeall substances (as shall bee specified) and hath a large dominion and soueraignty ouer them. His pedegree is very ancient, and deriued from the beginning of the world, as Phaedrus orat. in laudem amoris [...]l [...]tonis convivio. Phaedrus contends, and his Ante Deos omnes primum generauit amorem. parentage of such antiquity, that no Poet could euer find it out. Hesiod makes See the morall in Plutarch of that fiction. Terra and Chaos to be Loues parents, before the Gods were borne: Plutarch amator: libello, will haue loue to be the sonne of Iris & Favonius, but Socrates in that pleasant dialogue of Plato when it came to his turne to speake of Loue, telleth this tale. When Venus was bo [...]ne all the Gods were inuited to [...] banquet, and amongst the rest, Affluentie Deus. Porus the God of bounty and wealth. Penia or pouerty came a begging to the doore. Porus well whitled with Nectar (for there was no wine in those dayes) walking in Iuppiters garden, in a Bowre met with Penia, and in his drinke got her with child, of whom was borne Loue, and because hee was begotten on Venus birth day, Venus still attends vpon him. The morall of this is in Cap. 7. comment. in Plat. conuinium. Ficinus. Another tale is there borrowed out of Aristophanes: See more in Valesius lib. 3. cont. med. & co [...]tr. 13. In the beginning of the world, men had foure armes and foure feet, but for their pride because they compared themselues with the Gods, they were parted into halfs and now peraduenture by Loue they hope to bee vnited againe and made one. Otherwise thus, Viues 3. de anima Oramus te vt tuis artibus & caminis nos resingas & ex duobus vnum facias quod & fecit & exinde amatores vnum sunt & vnum esse petunt. Vulcan met two Louers, and bid them aske what they would and they should haue it, but they made answer, O Vulcane faber Deorum &c. O Vulcan the Gods great Smith, we beseech thee to worke vs a new in thy fornace, and of two nake vs one, which hee presently did, and euer since true louers are all one, and desire to be vnited. Many such tales you shall finde in Leon Hebraeus dial. 3. and [Page 529] their See more in Natales Comes Imagiues Deorū Philostratus de Imaginibus. Lihus Giraldus Syntag. de diis &c. morall to them. The reason why loue was still painted young, because young men are most apt to loue: soft faire & fat, because such folkes are soonest taken: naked, because all true affection is simple and opens he smiles, because merry and giuen to delights: hath a quiuer, to shew his power, none can escape: is blinde, because he sees not where he strikes, whom hee hits, &c. His power and Soueraignty is expressed by the [...] pety Pope [...]a [...]cs habet superorum & inferorum as Orpheus, &c. Poets, in that he is held to be a God, and a great commanding God, aboue Iuppiter himselfe, Magnus Daemon, as Plato calls him, Iuvenis pingitur quod amore plerum (que), i [...]uen [...]s capiantur sic & [...]ollis, formosus. nudus quod simplex & a [...]rtus hic affect [...], ridet quod obteclamentum per se ferat, cum pharetra, &c & the strongest and merriest of all the Gods according to Lib. [...]3. cap. 5. Dypnosophist. Atheneus. Amor vivorum, rex amor rex & deum, as Euripides, the God of Gods, and gouernour of men, that conquers all, Regnat & in superosius habet ille deos Ovid. domineers ouer all, and can make mad and sober whom he list; insomuch that Cecilius in Tullies Tusculanes, holds him to be no better then a foole or an Idiot, that doth not acknowledge loue to be a great God.
That can make sicke and cure whom he list. Homer and Stesichorus were both made blinde, if you will beleeue Dial 3. Leon Hebraeus for speaking against his godhead: he is of that power, maiesty, omnipotency, and dominion, that no creature can withstand him: Iuppiter himselfe was turned into a Bull, a Swanne, and what not for Loue, how did he insult ouer al the other Gods? Dial Deorum Lucian brings in Iuppiter complaining of Cupid that he could not be quiet for him, that monster conquering Hercules was tamed by him:
Apollo that could cure all diseases, Nullis amor est medicabilis herbis. could not cure himselfe of this, and therefore Plutarch in Amatorio, Dictator quo creato cessant reliqui magistratus. Socrates calls Loue a tyrant, & brings him triumphing in a Chariot, whom Petrarch imitates in his [Page 530] triumph of Loue, and Fracastorius in an elegant Poeme expresseth at large, Cupid riding, Mars and Apollo following his Chariot, Psyche weeping, &c.
In vegetall creatures what a Soueraignty Loue hath, by many pregnant proofes and familiar examples may bee proued, especially of Palme trees, which are both he and she, and expresse not a sympathy but a loue passion, as by many obseruations hath beene confirmed. Constantine de Agric. l.10. cap. 4. giues an instance out of Florentius his Georgickes, of a Palme tree that lou'd most feruently, Ne (que) prius in iis desiderium cessat dum diiectus consoletur. videre enim est ipsam arborem incurvatam vltro ramis ab vtris (que) vicissim ad osculum exporrectis. Man [...]festa dant mutui desiderii signa. and would not bee comforted vntill such time her loue applied himselfe vnto her, you might see the two trees bend and of their owne accords stretch out their boughs to embrace and kisse one another: They will giue manifest signes of mutuall loue. Ammianus Marcelimus lib. 24. reports that they marry one another, and fall in loue if they grow in sight, and when the winde brings the smell to them, they are maruellously affected. Philostratus in Imaginibus obserues as much, and Galen. lib. 6. de locis affectis, cap. 5. y they will be sicke for loue, and ready to die and pine away, which the husbandmen perceauing, saith Multas palmas contingens quae simul crescunt rursus (que) ad amantem regrediens eam (que) manu attingens quasi osculum mutuo ministrare videtur & expetiti concubitus gratiam facit. Constantine, stroke many Palmes that growe together, and so stroking againe the Palme that is enamoured, they carry kisses from the one to the other: or tying the leaues and branches of the one to the stem of the other, will make them both florish and prosper a great deale better: Quam vero ipsa desideret, affectu ramorú significat & ad illum respicit amanter, &c. which are enamored they can perceaue by the bending of their boughs, and inclination of their bodies. If any man thinke this which I say to be a tale let him read that story of two Palme trees in Italy, the male growing at Brundusium, the female at Otranto (related by Iouianus Pontanus in an excellent Poem, sometimes Tutor to Alphonsus Iunior King of Naples, his Secretary of State, and a great Philosopher) which were barren, and so continued a long time, til they came to see one another by growing vp higher, though many Stadiums asunder. Pierius in his Hierogliphiks, and Melchior Guilandinus memb. 3. tract. de papyro, cites this story of Pontanus for a truth. See more in Salmuth comment in Pancirol. de [Page 531] Nouarepert. Tit. 1. de nouo crbe, Mizaldus Arcanorum lib. 2. Sandes voiage lib. 2. fol. 103. &c.
If such fury be in Vegetals what shall we thinke of sensible creatures, how much more violent and apparent shall it be in them?
Common experience and our sense will informe vs, how violent bruit beasts are carried away with this passion, horses aboue the rest. — furor est insignis equarum. Dial. deorum. confide mater leonibus ipsis familiaris iam factus sum & saepe conscendi eorum terga & apprehendiiubas equorum more insidens, eos agito & illi mihi caudis adblandiuntur. Cupid in Lucian bids Venus his mother be a good cheere, for he was now familiar with Lions, and often times did get on their backes, and hold them by the mane, and ride them about like horses, & they fawne vpon him with their tayles. Bulls, Beares, and Bores are so furious in this kinde that they kill one another: but especially Cocks, Leones prae amore furunt. Plin. l.8. cap. 16. Arist. l.6. hist. animal. cap. 17. of his booke of Hunting. Lions and Harts, Which are so fierce that you may heare them fight halfe a mile off, saith Turberuile, & many times kill one another, or compell them to abandon the Rutte, that they may remaine masters in their places; and when one hath driuen his corrivall away, he raiseth his nose vp into the aire, and lookes aloft as though he gaue thanks to nature, which gaue him such great delight. How Birds are affected in this kinde, appeares out of that of Aristotle, that will haue them to sing ob futuram Venerem for ioy or in hope of their venery which is to come. Fishes pine away for loue and wax leane, if De sale lib. 1. cap 21. Pisces ob amorem marcescunt, pallescunt &c. Gomesius authority may be taken so loue tyranniseth in dumb creatures. Yet this is naturall for one beast to dote vpon another of the same kind, but what strange fury is that, when a Beast shall dote vpon a man? Saxo Grammaticus lib. 10. Dan. hist. hath a story of a Beare that loued a woman, [Page 532] and kept her in his denne a long time, and begot a sonne of her, out of whose loynes proceeded many Northerne Kings: this is the originall belike of that common tale of Valentine and Vrson. Aelian, Pliny, Peter Gillius are full of such relations. A Peacock in Leucadia lou'd a maid, and when she died, the Peacock pined. Plin. 1 b. 10. cap 5 quum (que) ab orta tempestate periisset Hernias in sicco piscis expirauit. A Dolphin lou'd a boy called Hernias, and when he died, the Fish came a land and so perished. The like ads Gellius lib. 10. cap. 22. out of Appion Aegypt. lib. 15. a Dolphin at Puteoli loued a child, and would come often to him, and let him get on his backe and carry him about, Postquam puer morbo abiit, & ipse Delphinus periit. and when by sicknesse the child was taken away, the Dolphin died. Pleni sunt libri quibus serae in homines instá matae fuerunt in quibus ego quidem semper ascensum sustinui veritus ne fabulosa crederem. donec vidi lyncem quem habui ab Assyria sic affectum erga vnum de meis hominibus, &c. Euery booke is full (saith Busbequius the Emperors Orator with the Grand Senior not long since, epist. 3. legat. Turc.) & yeelds such instances, to beleeue which, I was always afraid, least I should be thought to giue credit to fables, vntill I saw a lynx which I had from Assyria, so affected towards one of my men, that it cannot be denied but that he was in loue with him. When my man was present, the beast would vse many notable entisements and pleasant motions, and when he was going, hold him backe, and looke after him when hee was gone, very sad in his absence, but most iocund when he returned: and when my man went from me, the beast expressed his loue with continual sicknes, and after he had pined away for some fewe dayes, died. Such another story he hath of a Crane of Maiorca that loued a Spaniard, that would walke any way with him, & in his absence would seeke about for him, and make a noise that hee might heare her, and knocke at his doore, Desiderium sum testatus post iuediam aliqunt dierum interiit. and when he tooke his last farwell, famished her selfe. Such pretty pranks can Loue play with Birds, Fishes, Beasts: and if all bee true that is credibly reported, with the Spirits and Diuells themselues: who are as much inamored, and dote (if I may vse that word) as any other creature whatsoeuer. For if those stones bee true that are written of Incubus and Succubus, of Nymphes, lasciuious Faunes and Satyres, and those heathen Gods which were Divells, or those familiar meetings in our daies and company of Witches and Diuells, there is some probability for it. I knew [Page 533] that Biarmannus, Wierus lib. 3. cap. 19. & 24. & some others stoutly deny it, that the Diuell hath no carnall copulation with women, that the Diuell takes no pleasure in such facts, meere phantasies all such relations of Incubi, Succubi, lies and tales. But Austin. lib. 15. de ciuit. Dei. doth acknowledge it. Erastus de Lamijs, Iacobus Sprenger, and his colleagues, &c. Zanchius cap. 16. lib. 4. de oper. Dei. Dandinus in Arist. de animâ lib. 2. Text, 29. com. 30. Bodin lib. 2. cap. 7. and Paracelsus, Qui haec in at [...]e bilis aut Imaginationis vim referre conati sunt, nihil faciunt. a great champion of this Tenent amongst the rest, which giue many peculiar instances, and by many testimonies, proofes, & confessions euince it. Hector Boethius in his Scottish history hath three or foure such examples, which Cardan confirmes out of him lib. 16. cap. 43. of such as haue had familiar company many yeares with them, and that in the habit of men & women. Philostratus in his 4 th book de vitâ Apollonij, hath one memorable in this kind, which I may not omit: Of one Menippus Lycius a young man of 25 yeares of age, that going betwixt Cenchreas and Corinth met such a phantasine in the habit of a faire Gentlewoman, which taking him by the hand carried him home to her house in the suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phaenitian by birth, and if hee would tarry with her, Cantantem audies & vinum bibes, qual [...] antea nunquam bibisti, te riualis turbabit nullus, pulchra autem pulch [...]o contenta viuam, & mo [...]iar. she should heare him sing and play, and drinke such wine as neuer man druncke, and no man should molest him, but she being faire and louely, would liue and dye with him, that was faire and louely to behold. The young man a Philosopher otherwise staied and discreet, and able to moderate his passious, though not this of loue, stayed with her a while with great content, and at last married her, to whose wedding amongst other guests came Apollonius, who by some probable coniectures found her out to be a Serpent, a Lamia, and that all her furniture, was but as Tantalus gold described by Homer, no substance but meere illusions. When she sawe her selfe descried, she wept, and des [...]ed Apollonius to say nothing; but he would not be moued, and therevpon she, Plate, House, and all that was in it vanished in an instant, Multifactum hoc cognovere quod in media Graecia gestii sit many thousands tooke notice of this fact, for it was done in the middle [Page 534] of Greece. Sabine in his comment on the 10 th of Ovids Metamorphosis, at the tale of Orpheus, telleth vs of a Gentleman of Bavaria, that for many months together bewailed the losse of his deare wife, at length the Diuell in her habit came and comforted him, and told him because he was so importunate for her, that she would come and liue with him againe, on that condition he would be new married, and neuer sweare and blaspheame as he vsed formerly to doe, for if hee did she would be gone: Rem curans domesticam vt ante peperit aliquot liberos semper tamen tristis & pallida. He vowed it, and married, and liued with her, she brought him children, and gouerned his house, but was still pale and sad, & so continued, till one day falling out with him, he fell a swearing. shee vanished therevpon, and was neuer after seene. Haec audivi à multis fide dignis qui asseuerabant Ducem Bavariae eadem retu [...]sse Duci Sax [...]iae pro veris. This I haue heard, saith Sabine, from persons of good credit, which told me that the Duke of Bauaria told it for a certainty to the Duke of Saxony. One more I relate out of Florilegus, an honest historian of our nation, because he telleth it so confidently, as a thing in those dayes talked of all ouer Europe. A young Gentleman of Rome the same day that he was married, after dinner with the Bride and his friends went a walking into the fields, and towards Euening to the Tennis court to recreate himselfe, whilst he plaied, he put his ring vpō the finger of Venus statua, which was thereby made in brasse, after he had sufficiently plaied, & now made an ende of his sport, he came to fetch his ring, but Venus had bowed her finger in, and he could not get it off. Whereupon loath to make his company tarry at the present, there left it, intending to fetch it the next day, or at some more conuenient time, and went thence to supper, and so to bedde. In the night when he should come to performe those nuptiall rites, Venus steppes betweene him and his wife (vnseene, vnfelt of her) and told him that she was his wife, and that he had betrothed himselfe vnto her by that ringe, which he put vpon her finger, she troubled him for some following nights. He not knowing how to helpe himselfe, made his moue to one Palumbus, a learned Magician in those dayes, who gaue him a letter, & bade him at such a time of the night, in such a crosse [Page 535] way at the townes end, where old Saturne would passe by with his associates, in precession, as commonly he did, deliuer the letter with his owne hands to Saturne himselfe: the young man of a bold spirit accordingly did it, and when the old feind had read it, he called Venus to him, which [...]id before him, and commanded her to deliuer his ringe, which forthwith she did, and so the Gentleman was freed. Many such Fabula Daemarati & A [...]iri [...]oni [...] in Herodoto. lib. 6. Er [...]to stories I find in seuerall Authors, to confirme this which I haue said; and though many be against it, yet I for my part will subscribe to Lactantius lib. 14. cap. 15. Deus angelos misit ad [...]elam [...] generis humanised illos cum hominibus commorantes dominator ille terrae salacissimus p [...]ulatim ad vitiae pellexit, & mulierum congressibus inquinauit. God sent Angels to the tuition of men, but whilst they liued amongst vs, that mischieuous all commander of the earth, and hote in lust, entised them by little to this vice, & defiled them with the company of women: And to Anaxagoras de resurrec. Quidam ex illis capti sunt amore virginum & libidine vict [...] defecerunt ex quibus gigantes qui vocantur na tisunt. Many of those spirituall bodies ouercome by the loue of maides, and lust failed, of whom those were borne we call Gyants. Iustin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Sulpitius Seuerus, Eusebius, &c. to this sense make a twofold fall of Angels, one from the beginning of the world, another a little before the deluge, as Moses teacheth vs, openly professing that these Genij can beget, and haue carnall copulation with women, many Diuines stiffely contradict this, but I will conclude with Phisiologie Stoicorum lib. 1. cap. 20. si spiritus vnde semen iis &c. at exempla turbant ros mulierum quotidianae confessiones de mis [...]ione omnes asserunt & sunt in [...]ac [...] Lo [...]nio exempla Lipsius, that since examples, testimonies, Pererius in Gen. lib. 8 cap 6 ver. 2. Zanc. &c and confessions of those vnhappy women are so manifest on the other side, and many euen in this our towne of Louan, that it is likely to be so. Vnum dixero non opinari me vllo retrò aeuo ta [...]tam copiam Sa [...]yrorum & salacium istorum Geniorum se oftendisse quantum nunc quotidiane narrationes & iudiciales [...] proserunt. One thing I will adde, that I suppose that in no age past, I know not by what destiny of this vnhappy time, there haue neuer appeared or shewed themselues so many lecherous diuells, Satyres and Genij, as in this of ours, as appeares by the daily narrations, and iudiciall sentences vpon Record. Reade more of this question, in Austin de ciui [...]at. dei lib. 15. Wierus lib. 3. de Praestig. Daem. Giraldus Cumbrensis Itinerar. Camb. lib. 1 Malleus malefic. quaest. 5 part. 1. Iacobus Ruessus. lib. 5. cap. 6. fol. 54. Godelman lib. 2. [Page 536] cap. 4. Erastus, Delrio, Lipsius, Bodine demono. lib. 2. cap. 7. Pererius in Gen. lib. 8. in 6. cap. ver. 2. &c.
SVBSEC. 2. How loue tyranniseth ouer men. Loue or Heroicall melancholy, his definition, part affected.
YOu haue heard how this tyrant Loue rageth amongst brut beasts & spirits, now let vs consider what passions he causeth amongst men. Virg. Improbe amor quid non mortalia pectora cogis? Horresco referens, I am almost afraid to relate, amased, For it is a shame to speake of those things which are done of them in secret. Ephe. 5.12. and ashamed, it hath wrought such stupend and prodigious effects, such foule offences. Loue indeede (I may not denie) first vnited Prouinces, built Citties, and by a perpetuall generation preserues mankind; propagates the Church, but if he rage, he is no more Loue, but burning lust, a disease, Frensie, Madnesse, Hell.
Plutarch amator lib. Est orcus ille, vis est immedicabilis, est rabies insana.
He subuerts kingdomes, ouerthrowes citties, townes, families, and makes a massacre of men; thunder and lightning, warres, fires, plagues, haue not done that mischiefe to mankinde, as this burning luste, this brutish passion. Let Sodome and Gomorrha, Troia, and I know not how many Citties beare record, & fuit ante Helenam, &c. Besides those daily monomachies, murders, effusion of blood, rapes, riot and immoderate expence, to satisfie their lusts, beggery, shame, losse, torture, punishment, disgrace, lothsome diseases, that proceed from thence, worse then calentures and pestilent feauers, those often Gouts, Poxe, conbustians, &c. which torment the body, and that ferall melancholy which crucifies the Soule in this life, and euerlasting torments in the world to come.
Notwithstanding they know, these and many such miseries, threats, tortures will surely come vpon them, rewardes, exhortations, è contra, yet either out of their own weakenes, [Page 537] a depraued nature or loues tyranny, which so furiously rageth, they suffer themselues to bee ledde like an oxe to the slaughter. Facilis descensus Auerni, they goe downe headlong to their owne perdition, they will commit folly with beastes, men leauing the naturall vse of women, as Paul saith, Rom. 1.27. burned in lust one towards another, and man with man wrought filthinesse.
Semiramis equo, Pasyphae tauro, Aristo Ephesius asinae se commiscuit, Fuluius equae, alij canibus, capris, &c. vnde monstra nascuntur aliquando, Centauri, Syluaui, & ad terrorem hominum prodigiosa spectra. Nec cum brutis sed ipsis hominibus rem habent, quod peccatum Sodomia vulgo dicitur, & frequens olim vitium apud Orientales illos fuit, Gracos nimirum, Italos, Afros, Asianos. Lilius Giraldus vitacius. Hercules Hylam habuit, Policletum, Dionem, Perythoonta, Abderum & Phryga, alij & Euristium ab Hercule amatum tradunt. Socrates pulchorum Adolescentum causâ frequens gymnasium obibat, flagitioso (que) spectaculo pascebat oculos, Pueros amare solis philosophis relinquendum vult Lucianus dial. Amorum. quod & Philebus & Phaedon, Riuales, Charmides & reliqui Platonis dialogi satis super (que) testatum faciunt, quod vero Alcibiades de codē Socrate loquatur, lubens conticesco, sed & abhorreo; tantum incitamentum praebent libidini. At hunc perstrinxit Theodoretus lib. de curat. graec. affec. cap. vltimo. Quin & ipse Plato suum demiratur Agathonem, Xenophon Cliniam, Virgilius Alexin, Auacreon Bathyllum, Quod autem de Nerone, Claudio, caeterorum (que) portentosâ libidine memoriae proditum, mallem à Petronio, Suetonio, caeteris (que) petatis, quando omnem fidem excedant, quam à me expectetis: sed vetera querimur. Busbequius. Apud Asianos, Turcas, Italos, nunquam frequentius hoc quam hodierno die vitium; officinae horum alicubi apud Turcas, & frequentes querelae, etiam inter ipsos coniuges hac de re, quae virorum concubitum illicitum calceo iu oppositam partem verso magistratui indicant; nullum apud Italos familiare magis peccatum, qui & post Achilles Tatius lib. 45 Lucianum & Lucia [...]us Charidemo. Tatium, scriptis volumnibus defendunt. Iohannes de la Casa Beneuentinus Episcopus diuinum [Page 538] opus vocat, suaue scelus, adeo (que) iactat se non alia vsum Venere. Nihil vsitatius apud monachos, Cardinales, sacrificulos, etiam Non est haec mentula demens mart. furor hic ad mortem, ad insaniam. Joui [...]s musaeo. Angelus Politianus ob pueri amorem violentas sibi manus iniecit. Et horrendum sanè dictu, quantum apud nos patrum memoriâ scelus detestandum hoc saeuierit. Quum enim Anno 1538. prudentissimus Rex Henricus Octauus, cucullatorum, caenobia & sacrificorum cóllegia, votariorum, per venerabiles legum doctores Thomam Leum, Richardum Laytenum visitari fecerat &c. tanto numero reperti sunt apud eos scortatores, cinaedi, ganeones, padicones, puerarij, paederastae, Sodomita, ( Prefat lectori lib. de vitis pontif. Balei verbis vtar) Ganymedes, &c. vt in vnoquo (que) eorum nouam credideris Gomorrham. Sed vide si lubet eorundum Catalogum apud Baleum, puellae, inquit, in lectis dormire non poterant ob fratres neeromanticos. Haec si apud votarios, monathos, sanctos scilicet homunciones, quid in foro quid in aulâ factum suspiceris? quid apud nobiles, quid inter fornices, quam non faeditatem, quam non spurcitiem? Sileo interim turpes illas & ne nominandas quidem monachorum Mercurialis cap. de Priapismo. mastrupationes, Tribades illas mulierculas, quae se inuicem fricant, & praeter Eunuchos etiam ad venerem explendam, artificiosa illa veretra habent: Et quod magis mirere, foemina foemniā Constantinopoli non ita pridam depetijt, ausa rem plenè incredibilem, mutato cultu mentita virum de nuptijs sermonem init, & breui nuptaest: sed authorem ipsum consule Busbequium. Omitto Herodotus lib. 2. Euterpe vxores insignium virorum non stati m vitá sunctas tradunt condiendas, ac ne eas quidem foemin [...]rs quae formosae sunt, sed qua [...]riduo ante defunctas, ne cum ijs salinarij concüban [...] &c. salinarios illos Aegyptiacos, qui cum formosarum cadaueribus concumbunt, & eorum vesanam libidinem, qui etiam Idola & imagines deperiunt. Nota est fabula Pigmalionis apud Metamor. 13. Ouidium. Mundi & Paulini apud Aegesippum belli Iud. lib. 2. cap, 4. Pontius C. Caesaris legatus referente Plinio lib. 35. cap. 3. quem suspicor eum esse qui Christum crucifixit, picturis Atalantae & Helenae adeò libidine incensus, vt tollere eas vellet, si natura tectorij permisisset, alius statuā bonae Fortunae deperijt, ( Aelianus lib. 9. cap. 37.) alius bonae deae, &c. Et ne qua pars probro vacet. Seneca de [...]ra li. 11. ca. 18. Raptus ad stupra, (quod ait ille) & ne Nullus est meatus ad quē non pateat aditus impudicitiae Clemens Alex. paedag li. 3. ca. 3. os quidem [Page 539] á libidine exceptum▪ Heliogabalus per omnia caua corporis libidinem recepit, Lamprid. vita eius. Vt verum planè sit, quod apud Tom. [...]. Gryllo. Plutarchum Gryllus Vlissi obiecit. Adhunc vs (que) diem apud nos ne (que) mas marem ne (que) foemina foeminam amauit, qualia multa apud vos memorabiles & praeclari virifecerunt, vt viles missos faciam, Hercules imberbem sectans socium, amicos deseruit &c. Vestra libidines intra suos naturae fines coercerinon possunt, quin instar fluuij exudantes atrocem foeditatem, tumultum, confusionem (que) naturae gignant in re venerea, nam & capras, porcos, equos, inierūt viri & foeminae insano bestiarum amore exarserunt, vnde Minotauri, Centauri, Syluani, Sphinges &c. Sed ne confutando doceam, nolo quem diutius hisce sordibus inquinare.
I come at last to that Heroicall Loue, which is proper to men and women, and is a frequent cause of melancholy, and deserues much rather to be called burning lust, then by such an honourable title. There is an honest loue I confesse which is naturall, and no man liuing can auoid it. Aeneas Siluius. Iuvenal. qui nunquam visae flagrauit amore puellae. Et qui vim non sensit amoris, aut lapis est aut bellua. He is not a man but a blocke, a very stone that hath not felt the power of it, dote we either young or old as Chaucer. he said, and none are excepted but Minerua and the Muses, for Cupid in Tom. 1. dial. deorum Lucianus. amore non ardent musae. Lucian complaines to his mother Venus, that amongst all the rest his arrowes could not pierce them. But this is a common passion, an honest, for men to loue in the way of marriage. You know marriage is honourable, a blessed calling, appointed by God himselfe in Paradise, it breedes true peace, tranquillity content and happinesse, when they liue without iarring, scolding, louingly as they should doe.
[Page 540] As Seneca liued with his Paulina, Abraham and Sara, Orpheus & Euridice, Arria & Poetus, Artemisia & Mausolus, & Rubenius Celer, that would needs haue it ingrauen on his tombe, that he had liued with Ennea his wife, 43. yeeres, 8. moneths, and neuer fell out: there is no happinesse like vnto it, no loue so great as this of man and wife, no such comfort. Omnis amor magnus, Propert. sed aperto in coniuge maior, when they loue at last as fresh as they did at first, as Homer brings Paris kissing Helena, after they had bin married ten yeeres, protesting withall, that he loued her as deere as he did the first houre he was married. And in their old age when they make much of one another, and say as he did to his wife in the Poet.
'Tis an happy state this indeed, but this loue of ours is immoderate, inordinate, and not to be comprehended in any bounds. It will not containe it selfe within the vnion of marriage, or applie it selfe to one obiect, but it is a wandring extrauagant, a domineering, a boundlesse, an irrefregable passion: sometimes this burning lust rageth after marriage, and then it is properly called Ielousie, sometimes before, and then it causeth this Heroicall melancholy, it extends sometimes to corriualls, sometimes it produceth rapes, incests, murders, &c. & is confined within no termes, of yeares, sexe or whatsoeuer else. Some furiously rage before they come to discretion or age. Junonem habeam iratam si vnquam meminerim me virginem fuisse. Infans enim paribus inquinata sum, & subinde maioribus me applicui, donec [...]d aetatem perueni, vt milo vitulum, inde ta [...] rum, &c. Quartilla in Petronius neuer remembred she was a maid, & the wife of Bath in Chaucer cracks,
[Page 541] Generally women begin Pubescere as they call it, Epictetus cap. 42 mulieres statim ab anno 14. mouere incipiunt &c. attrectari se sinūt & exponunt. Leuinus, Lemnius. at 14 yeeres old, and then they begin to offer themselues, and some to rage. Lib. 3. fol. 126. Leo Afer saith that in Africke a man shall scarce finde a maide at 14, yeeres olde, they are so forward, and many amongst vs after they come into the teenes, doe not liue but linger. What prankes in this kind the middle age hath plaid, is not to be recorded. Si mihi sint centum linguae, sint ora (que) centum, no tongue can sufficiently declare, euery story is full of men and womens vnsatiable lust, Nero's, Heliogabali, Bonosi, &c. They neye after other wiues (as Ieremy cap. 5.8. complaineth) like fed horses, or so many towne-bulles, as many of our great ones doe. Of womens vnnaturall, De mulierum inex haustâ libidine luxu (que) insatiabi iomnes aeque regiones conqueri posse existimo, Stephanus. vnsatiable lust, what countrey, what village doth not complaine.
What breache of vowes, and othes, furie, dotage, madnesse might I reckon vp. Yet this is more tollerable in youth, and such as are yet in their hote blood; but for an old foole to dote, and an old leacher, what more odious, what more absurd? and yet what so common? How many decrepit, hoarie, harsh, writhen, burstenbellied and crooked, toothlesse, bald, bleare-eyed, impotent, rotten old men shall you see flickering still in euery place. One gets him a young wife, another a Curtisan, and when he can scarce lift his legge ouer a sil, and hath one foote already in Charons boat, when he hath the trembling in his ioynts, the goute in his feete, a perpetuall rhume in his head, and all his moysture dried vp and gone, and cannot spit from him; a very child againe that cannot dresse himselfe, or cut his owne meat, yet he will be dreaming of, and honinge after wenches, what can be more vnseemely? Worse it is in women then in men, when she is Hiat (que) turpis inter arid [...]s nates podex. so old a crone, a beldame, she can neither see, nor heare, goe nor stand, a meere Cadauerosa adeò vt ab inferis reversa videri possit, vult adhuc catullire. Erasmus. mor. carcasse, a witch, and can scarce feele; yet she catter woules, and must haue a stallion, a Champion, she must and will marrie againe, and betroth [Page 542] her selfe to some young man, Nam & matrimonijs est despectum senium. Aeneas Siluius that hates to looke on, but for her goods, abhorres the fight of her, to the preiudice of her good name, her owne vndoing, griefe of her friends, ruine of her children.
But to enlarge or illustrate this power and effects of loue, is to set a candle in the Sunne. Quid toto terrarum orbe communius, quae ciuitas, quod oppidum, quae familia vacat amatorum exemplis? Aeneas Siluius. quis trigesimum annum natus nullum amoris causa peregit i [...]sig [...]: facinus, ego de me facio coniecturam quem amor in mille pericula misit. It rageth amongst all sorts and conditions of men, but it is most euident amongst such as are young and lusty, in the flower of their yeres, nobly descended, high fedde, and such as liue idle and at ease, and for that cause which our Diuines call lust, or this Forestus, Plato. ferinu [...] insanus amor, this mad and beastly passion, as I haue said, is calcalled by our Phisitians, Heroicall loue, and a more honourable title put vpon it, Amor nobilis as Pract. maior. Tract. 6. cap. 1. Rub. 11. de aegrit. cap. quod his multum contingat. Sauanorola stiles it, because noble men make a common practise of it, and are so commonly affected with it, Auicenna lib. 3. Fen. 1. tract. 4. cap. 23. calleth this passion Hishi, and Haec agritudo est sollicitudo melancholica in quí homo applicat sibi continuam cogitatione super pulchrit u [...]ine ipsius quam a mat, gestuum, morum. defines it, to be a disease or melancholy vexation or anguish of mind, in which a man continually meditates of the beauty, gesture, manners of his mistris, and troubles himselfe about it. And desires as Sauanorola addes with all intention and egernesse of mind, to compasse or inioy her, Animi forte accidens quo quis rem habere nimiâ auiditate con [...]upiscit vt ludos venatores, aurum & opes auari. as melancholy hunters trouble themselues about their sports, couetous their gold and goods, so is he tormented still about his mistris. Arnoldus Villanouanus in his booke of Heroicall loue, defines it, Assidua cogitatio super r [...]m desiderat [...]m, cum confidentia obtinendi, vt [...]pe apprehensum deiectabile, &c. a continuall cogitation of that which he desires with a confidence or a hope of compassing it; which definition his commentator cauells at. For continuall cogitation is not the genus, but a symptome of loue, wee continually thinke of that which we hate and abhor, as well as that which we loue, and many things we couet and desire, without all hope of attaining. Carolus a Lorme in his questions, makes a doubt, An Amor sit morbus, whether this Heroicall loue be a disease: Morbus corporis petius quam [...]nimi. Arnoldus will haue it improperly [Page 543] so called, and a disease rather of the body, then of the mind. Tully in his Tusculanes, calls it a furious disease of the mind, Plato madnesse it selfe, Ficinus his Commentator cap. 12. a species of madnesse, but Rhases a Amor est passio melancholica melancholy passion, and most Physitians make it a species, or kind of melancholy (as will appeare by the Symptomes) and treat of it apart: whom I meane to imitate, and to discusse it in all his kinds, to examine his seuerall causes, to shew his symptomes, prognostickes, effects, that so it may be with more facilitie cured.
The part affected in the meane time as Ob calefactionem spirituum pars anterior capi [...]is laborat ob consumptionem [...] [...]. Arnoldus supposeth, is the former part of the head for want of moisture, which his Commentator reiects. Langius med. epist. lib. 1. cap. 24. will haue this passion fited in the liuer, and to keepe residence in the heart, [...] in mente concepto spiritus in corde & [...]core incendens. and proceed first from the eyes to bee carried by our spirits, and kindled with imagination in the liuer and heart, cogit amare iecur, as the saying is. For that cause Hemer faines, that Tityus liuer (who was enamored on Latona) was still gnawed by two vultures day and night in hell, Quod talem carnificinam in adolescentum visceribus amor faciat inexplebilis. For that young mens bowels that are inamored, are so continually tormented by loue. Gordonius cap. 2. part. 2. Testiculi quoad causā coniunctam, e par antecedentem possunt esse subiectum. will haue the stones an immediate subiect or cause, the liuer an Antecedent. But Proprie passio cerebri est ob corruptam imaginationem. properly it is a passion of the braine, Odiss. & metam or4. Ouid. as all other melancholy, by reason of corrupt immagination, and so doth Iason pratensis, cap. 19. de morb. cerebri, (who writes copiously of this Eroticall loue) place and reckon it amongst the affections of the braine. Cap. de assectibus. Melanthon de animâ confutes those that put the liuer a part affected, and Guatinerius Tract. 15. cap. 13. & 17. though many put all the affections in the heart, referres it to the braine. Ficinus cap. 7. in Conuiuium Platonis, will haue the Est in sanguine melancholico huiusmodi aestus. blood to be the part affected. Io. Frietagius cap. 14. noct med. will haue all foure affected, heart, liuer, braine, blood, but the maior part concurre [Page 544] vpon the braine, Est corrup [...]io imaginatiuae & aestimatiuae facultatis, ob formam fortiter affixam corrupt u (que) indicium vt semper de eo cogitet, ideo (que) recte melancholicus appellatur. Concupiscentia vehemens ex corrupto iudicio aestimatiue vi [...]tutis. 'tis imaginatio laesa, and both imagination and reason are misaffected, because of his corrupt iudgement, and continuall meditation of that which he desires, he may truely be said to be melancholy. If it be violent, or [...] disease inueterate, as I haue determined in the precedent partitions, both imagination and reas [...]n are misaffected, first one, then the other.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSEC. 1. Causes of Heroicall Loue. Temperature, full Diet, Idlenesse, Place, Climat, &c.
OF all causes the most remote are starres. Comment i [...] conuiuium Platonis. Irretiuntur citò quibus nascentibus Venus fuerit in Leone, vel Luna ven [...]r [...]m vehementer a [...]pe [...]erit, & qui eadem complectione sunt praediti. Ficinus cap. 19. saith they are most prone to this burning lust, that haue Venus in Leo in their Horoscope, or that the Moone and Venus bee mutually aspected, or such as be of Venus complection. Plerum (que) am [...]tores sunt, & si faemine mere, trices, lib. de audiend. Poet. Plutarch interpretes Astrologically that tale of Mars and Venus, That in whose genitures Mars and Venus are in coniūction, they are commonly lascivious, and if women queanes, as the good wife of Bath confessed in Chaucer.
Aptiores ad masculinam venerē sunt quorum genesi venus est in signo masculino, & in Saturni finibus aut oppositione, &c. Prolomeus in quadripart: plurade his & specialia habet Aphorismata longo procul dubio vsu confirmata, & ab experientiâ multâ perfecta, inquit commentator eius Cardanus. Chiromantici ex cingulo veneris plerum (que) coniecturam saciunt, & monte veneris, de quorum decretis, Tasnerum, Iohan. de Indagine, Goclenium, caeteros (que) si lubet, inspicias. Physitians coniecture wholly from the temperature and complection, [Page 545] Phlegmaticke persons are seldome taken according to Ficinus Comment. cap. 9. naturall melancholy lesse then they, but once taken they are neuer freed, though most are of opinion flatuous or hypocondriacall melancholy are most subiect of all others to this infirmitie. Valescus assignes [...]ir strong imagination for a cause, Bodine abundance of wind. Sanguine are soone coste, and most apt to loue, and by their good willes saith h Lucian, would haue about with euery one they see: the colts euill is common to all complections. Guianerius Tract. 15. cap. 14. referres it i to the hote temperature of the coddes, and such as are very spermaticke and full of seede, for which cause yong men, such as are strong set, of able bodies, are subiect to it. Hercules de Saxonia, hath the same words in effect. But most part such are most apt that [...] young and lusty, and liue at ease, stall-fed, free from [...] Idle persons.
The place it selfe makes much wherein we liue, the clime and aire, and discipline if they concurre. In our Misnia saith Galen neere to Pergamus, thou shalt scarce finde an adulterer, but many at Rome, by reason of the delights of the place. All hote and Southerne Countries are prone to lust, and farre more incontinent, then those that liue in the North, as Bodine discourseth at large Method. hist. cap. 5. Molles A [...]atici, so are Turks, Greeks, Spaniardes, Italians, and all that latitude: and in those Countries, such as are more fruitfull, Agri Neapolitani delectatio elegantia amaenitas vix intrae modum huma [...]um consistere videtur vnde &c. Leander, Albertus in Campaniâ. plentifull, and delitious, as Valence in Spaine, Capua in Italie, as Haniballs souldiers can witnesse, Canopus in Aegypt, Sibarys, Baiae, Tota Cypri insula del tijs incumbit, & ob id tantum luxurae dedita vt sit olim veneri sacrata. Ortelius. Lampsacus olim Priapo sacer ob vinum generosum, & loci deli [...]s, Idem. Cyprus, Lampsacus. In Naples, the fruits of the soyle and pleasant aire eneruates their bodies, and alters constitutions. In Italie and Spaine, they haue their stewes in euery great Cittie, as in Rome, Venice, Florence: which as some say hath 90000. inhabitants, of which 10000. are [Page 546] whores, and yet for all this, euery gentleman almost hath a peculiar mistris, fornications, adulteries, are no whereso common: how should a man liue honest amongst so many prouocations? Now if youth, greatnesse, libertie I meane, and that i [...]punitie of sinne, which Princes take vnto themselues in this kind shall meet, what a gappe must it needs open to all manner of vice. For commonly Princes and great men make no scruple at all of such matters, but with that whore in Spartian: quicquid libet licet, they thinke they may doe what they list, professe it publikely, and rather bragge of it with Proculus, that write to a friend of his in Rome, Lampridius. Quod decem noctibus centum virgines fecissèt [...] mulieres. what famous exploits hee had done in that kinde, then any way be abashed at it. Vita cius. Nicholas Saunders relates of Henrie the 8. (I rather thinke slaunders) quod paeucas vidit pulchriores quas non concupierit, & paucissimas non concupierit, quas non violârit. He saw few faire maides that he did not desire, and desired few whom he did not inioy; nothing so familiar amongst them, 'tis most of their busines: Sardanapalus, Messalina, and Ione of Naples, are not comparable to If they containe themselues many times 'tis not virtutis amore, non deest voluntas sed facultas. meaner men and women. Solomon of old had a thousand concubines, Assuerus his Eunuches, and keepers, Nero his Tigillinus panders and baudes, the Turkes and Muscouites Xeriffes, and Persians, are no whit inferior to them in our times. Delectus fit omnium puellarum toto regno formâ praestantiorum, (saith In Musco [...]ia. Ionius) pro imperatore, & quos ille linquit, nobiles habēt. They muster vp wenches as we doe souldiers, and haue their choice of all the beauties their countries can afford, & yet al this cannot keep them from adultery, incest, Sodomy, and such prodigious lustes. We may conclude that if they be fortunate and rich, high fed and idle withall, it is almost impossible they should liue honest, or not rage and precipitate themselues into all those inconueniences of burning lust.
Idlenesse ouerthrowes all. Vacuo pectore regnat amor, loue [Page 547] tyranniseth in an idle person. If thou hast nothing to doe, Hor. Inuidiâ vel amore miser torquebere. Thou shalt be hailed apieces with enuy, lust, or some passion or other, Polit. 8. num. 28. vt naptha ad ignem sic a [...]mor ad illos qui torpescunt otio. Homines nihil agende malè agere discunt; 'Tis Aristotles Simile, as a match or touchwood takes fire, so doth an idle person loue. Quaeritur Aegistus quare sit factus adulter &c. was Aegistus a whoremaster? You need not aske a reason of it. Ismenedora stole Baccho a woman a man, no maruaile saith In amatorio. Plutarch, Luxurians opibus more hominum mulier agit. Principes plerum (que) ob licentiam & affluentiam diui [...]tartum is [...]am possionem solent incur [...]re She was rich, and doth but as men doe in that case. The Poets therefore did well to faine all shepheards louers, and to giue themselues to songs and dalliances, because they liued such idle liues. For loue as Seneca describes him, Iuuentae gignitur, luxu nutritur, ferijs alitur, otio (que), inter laetae fortunae bona. Youth begets him, riot mainetains him, idlenesse nourisheth him, &c. which makes Gordonius the Physitian cap. 20. part. 2. call this disease the proper passion of nobilitie. And if a weake iudgement and a strong obiect shall concurre, how saith Hercules de Saxonia shall they resist? Sauanorola appropriates it almost to Ardenter appetit quictiosam vitā agit & cō muniter incurrit haec passio solitarios deliciose viuentes, in comi [...]ètes, religiosos. &c. Monkes, Friers, and religious persons, because they liue solitary, fare well, and doe nothing as well hee may, for how should they otherwise choose? Diet alone is able to cause it: A rare thing to see a young man or woman, that liues idlely, and fares well, of what condition soeuer, not to be in loue. As the wife of Bath in Chaucer telles.
Especially if they shall further it by choice Diet, as many times they doe, feede liberally, and by their good will eate nothing else but lasciuious meats, Vinum inprimis generosum, legumen, fabas, radices omnium generum benè conditas & largo pipere àspersas, carduos hortulanos, lactucas, Sed nihil eru [...]e faciunt bulbi (que) salaces. Improba nec prosit iam satureia tibi. Ouid. erucas, rapas, porros, caepas, nucem piceam, amigdalas dulces, electuaria, syrupos, succos, cocleas, conchas, pisces optime praeparatos, auiculas, testiculos ainmalium, oua, condimenta diuersorum generum: molles lectos puluinaria, &c. [Page 548] Et quicquid ferè medici impotentiae rei venereae laboranti praescribunt, hoc quasi diasatyriō habent in delitijs, & his dapes multo delicatiores, mulsum, exquisitas & exoticas fruges, aromata, placentas, expressos succos mul [...]is serculis variatos, ipsum (que) vinum suauitate vincentes, & quicquid culina, pharmacopaea, aut quae (que) ferè officina subministrare possit. Et hoc plerun (que) victu quum se ganeones infarciant, Petronius. curani [...] m [...]x cibis validio [...]ibus &c. vt ille ob Creseida suam, se bulbis & cocleis curauit, etiam ad venerem se parent, & ad hanc palaestram se exerceant, quí fieri possit vt non miserè depereant, vti ille apud Scenkium qui post potionem, vxorem & quatuor ancillas proximo cubiculo cubantes compresit. vt non penitu [...] insaniant? Aestuans venter citò despuit in libidinem, Hieronimen ait. Pers. Sat. 3. Post prandia, Callyroen dae, quis enim continere se potest? Siracides. non amor & vinum nil non moderabile suadent. Luxuriosares vinum, fomentum libidinis vocat Augustinus. Non Aetna non Vesuvius tantis ardoribus aestuant, ac iuueniles medullae vino plenae, addit Epist ad olimpiavi. Hieronimus: vnde ob optimum vinum Lampsacus olim Priapo sacer; Et haec si vinum simplex & per se sumptum praestare po [...]it, quam non insaniam, quem non furorem à caeteris expectemus? De sale lib. 1. cap. 3. cap. 21. Gomesius salem enumerat inter ea, quae intempestiuā libidinem prouocare solent, Et salatiores fieri foeminas ob esum salis contendit, Venerem ideo dicunt ab Oceano ortam, & foeta mater Salacea Oceani coniux, & verbum fortasse salax a sale esfluxit. Mala Bacchica tantum olim in amoribus praeualuerunt, vt coronae ex illis statuae Bacchi ponerentur. Garcias ab Horto aromatum lib. 1. cap. 28 Cubebis in vino maceratis vtunt [...]r Indi orientales, ad venerem excitandam, & Surax radix ad coitum summè facit si quis comedat aut infusionem bibat membrum subito erigitur. Leo Aser lib. 9. cap. vltimo. Surax radice Africani. Chinae radix eosdem effectus habet, talis (que) herbae meminit mag. nat. lib. 2. cap. 16. Que non solum edentibus sed & genitalia tangentibus tantum valet vt coire suaqusè desiderent, quoties fere velint, possint, alios duodecies prosecisse alios ad 60. vices peruenisse resert. Baptista Porta ex India allatae, cuius mentionem facit & Theophrastus. Sed insinita his similia apud Rhasin Mathiolum, Mizaldum, caeteros (que) medicos occurrunt, quorum ideo mentionem feci, ne quis imperitior in hosscopulos impingat, sed pro virili tanquam syrtes & cautes consulto effugiat.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSECT. 2. Other causes of Loue Melancholy. Sight, Beautie from the face, eyes, other parts, and how it pierceth.
MAny such causes may be reckoned vp, but they cannot auaile, except oportunitie be offered of time, and place, and those other beautifull obiects, or artificiall entisements, as kissing, conference, discourse, gestures concurre, and such like lasciuious prouocations. Kornmanus in his booke de Linea Amoris, makes fiue degrees of lust, out of Lucian Tom. 4. dial. Amorum. Lucian belike, which he handles in fiue Chapters. Visus, colloquium, conuictus, Oscula, Tactus. Sight of all other is the first steppe to this vnruly loue, though sometime it be preuented by relation or hearing, or rather incensed. For there bee those so apt and credulous and facile to loue, that if they heare of a proper man or woman, they are in loue before they see them, and that meerely by relation as Achilles Tatius obserues. Ea enim hominum intemperantium libido e [...] vt etiam fama ad amand [...] impellantur, & audientes aeque affici [...]ntur, acvidentes. Such is their imtemperance and lust, that they are as much maimed by report, as if they saw them. Calisthenes a rich young Gentleman of Byzance in Thrace, hearing Formosam Sostrato filiam audiens v [...]orem cupit & folâ illius auditione ardit. of Leucippe Sostratus faire daughter, was farre in loùe with her, and out of fame and common rumour was so much incensed, that he would needs haue her to be his wife. And sometimes by reading they are so affected, [...]ines. Quo [...]ies, de [...]anthe [...] Xenopho [...]s lo [...]sum perlogo, itaariums affectus sum, ac si coram [...]utue [...]r As he in Pulchritudinem sibi ipsi confi [...]gunt. Lucian confesseth of himselfe, I neuer read that place of Panthea in Xenophon, but I am as much affected as if I were present with her. Such persons commonly faine a kind of beauty to thē selues, and so did those three Gentlewomen in Balthasar Castilio, fall in loue with a young man; whom they neuer knew, but onely heard him commended, De aulico lib. 2. fol. 116. for there is a grace cómeth from hearing, Gratia venit ab [...]itur aeque ac visu et species amorís in phantasiam recipiuntur solá relatione. Piccolomineus, grad. 8. cap. 38. as a morall Philosopher informeth vs. as well as frō sight, & the species of loue are receiued into the phantasie by relatiō alone, Interdū & absentes amanues: [Page 550] sometimes we loue those that are absent, saith Epist. Philostratus, and giues instance in his friend Athenodorus, that lou'd a Maid at Corinth whom he neuer saw, non oculi sed mens videt. Beauties encomion. We see with the eyes of our vnderstanding. But the most familiar and vsuall cause of Loue, is that which comes by sight, which conuayes those admirable wrayes of beauty and pleasing graces to the heart. Plotinus deriues Loue from sight, [...], quasi [...], Proper. si neseis oculi sunt in amore duces, the eyes are the harbengers of loue, and the first step of loue is sight, as Amoris primum gradum visus habet, vt aspiciatrem amatam. Lilius Giraldus proues at large, hist. deor. syntag. 13. which a [...] two sluces let in the influence of that diuine, powerfull, Soule rauishing, and captiuating Beauty: which, as Achilles Tatius lib. 1. Forma telo quouis acutior ad inferendum vulnus per (que) oculos amatorio vulneri aditum patefaciens [...]n animum penetrat. one saith is sharper then any dart or needle, and wounds deeper into the heart, and opens in a gap through our eyes to that louely wound, which pierceth the soule it selfe: Eccles. 18. through it loue is kindled like a fire. This amazing, confounding, admirable amiable Beauty, In totâ rerum natura nihil f [...]rm [...] diuinius nihil augustius nihil pre [...]iosius, cui [...]s vires hinc facil [...] intelliguntur &c. then which in all natures treasure, saith Isocrates, there is nothing so maiesticall and sacred, nothing so divine, louely, pretious, whose power hence may bee descerned, we contemne and abhorre generally such things as are foule and vgly to behold, but loue and couet that which is faire. 'Tis Beauty in all things which pleaseth and allureth vs. It was Beauty first that ministred occasion to art, to finde out the knowledge of caruing, painting, building, to finde out models, perspectiues, rich furnitures, & so many rare inventions. Whitenes in the Lilly, red in the Rose, purple in the Violet, a lustre in al things without life, the cleere light of the Moone, the bright beames of the Sunne, splendor of Gold, pure marble, sparkling Diamond, the excellent feature of the Horse, the maiesty of the Lion, the colour of Birds, Peacocks tayles, the siluer scales of Fish, we behold with singular delight and admiration. v And which is rich inplants, S. L. delightfull in flowres, wonderfull in beasts, Bau [...]s. prob. [...]. deform [...]. but most glorious in men, doth make vs affect it and earnestly desire it, as when we heare any sweet harmony an eloquent tongue, see any excellent quality, curious worke of man, elaborate art, or any thing that is exquisite, [Page 551] there ariseth instantly in vs a longing for the same. Wee loue such men but most part for comelinesse of person. Inuidemus sapientibus iustis nisi beneficijs assidue amorem extorquent solos formosos amamus & primo velut aspectu benevolentia cō iungimur & eos tanquam Deos co [...]imus, libentius iis seruimus quā aliis imperamus maiorem (que) &c. We envy (saith Isocrates) wise, iust, honest men, except with mutuall offices and kindnesse, some good turne or other, they extortibis loue from vs, only faire persons we loue at first sight, and desire their acquaintance, and adore them as so many Gods: we had rather serue them then command others, and account our selues more beholding to them the more seruice they enioyne vs. Though they be otherwise vitious, vnhonest: wee loue them, fauour them, and are ready to doe them any good office for their Formae maiestatem Barbari verentur nec alii maiores quamquos eximiâ forma natura donata est. Herod. lib. 5. Curtius 6. Arist. Polit. beauties sake; though they haue no oth [...] good quality beside. Many men haue been preferred for their person alone, chosen Kings, Saeul was a goodly person and a faire, Maximinus chosen Emperour, &c. Beauty is a dowre of it selfe, a sufficient patrimony, an ample commendation, an accurate epistle, as Dial. Amorum. Lucian, c Apuleius, Tiraquellus, and some others conclude. Imperio digna forma, Beauty deserues a kingdome, saith Abulensis, paradox. 2. cap. 101. immortality, and more haue gotte this honour and eternity for their beauty, then for all other vertues besides: and such as are faire Lucian. Tom. 4 Charidemo qui pulchri merito apud Deos & apud homines ho [...]ore affecti. are worthy to be honoured of God and men. Ganymedes was therefore fetched by Iuppiter into heauen, Hephaestion deare to Alexander, Antinous to Adrian, 2. de magia. Lib. 2. connub. cap. 27. virgo formosa etsi oppido pauper abunde est dotata Plato calls Beauty therefore a priuiledge of nature, naturae gaudentis opus, Muta commentatio quavis epistolae ad commendandum efficatior. a dumbe comment, Theophrastus, a silent fraud, still Rhetoricke Carneades, that perswades without speech, a kingdom without a guard, because beautifull persons commande as so many Captaines, Socrates a tyranny, Isocrates. plures ob formam immortalitatem adepti sunt quam ob reliquas omnes virtutes. which In ipsos tyrannos tyrannidem exerect. tyranniseth ouer tyrants themselues. And 'tis a great matter, saith Illud certe magnum ob quod gloriari possunt formosi, quod ro [...]stis necessarum sit laborare fortem periculis se obiiccere sapientem, &c. Xenophon, and of which all faire persons may worthely bragge of that a strong man must labour for his liuing, if he will haue ought, a valiant man must fight and endanger himselfe for it, a wise man speake and shewe [Page 552] himselfe and take paines; but a faire and beautifull person doth all with ease, he compasseth his desire without any paines taking: God and men, Heauen and Earth conspire to honour him, euery one pitties him aboue othe [...]s, if he be in need, Maiorem vim habet ad commendandum forma, quam accurate scripta epistola. Arist. and all the world is willing to doe him good. Heliodor. lib. 1. Cariclia fell into the hands of Pyrats, but when al the rest were put to the sword, she alone was preserued for her person. Kno [...]les hist. Turcica. When all Constantinople was sacked by the Turke, Irene escaped, and was so far from being made a captiue with the rest, that she euen captivated the grand Signior himselfe. Formosam barbari verentur & ad aspectum pulchrum immanis animus mansueseit, Helud. lib. 5. The Barbarians stand in awe of a faire woman, and at a beautifull aspect, a fierce spirit is pacified. Beasts them [...]elues are moued with it. Sinalda was a woman of such excellent feature, Tantae formae fuit vt cum vincta loris, feris exposita foret equorum calcibus obterenda, ipsis iumentis admirationi suit; laedere no [...]erunt. and a Queene, that when shee was to be troden on by wild horses for a punishment, the wild beasts stood in admiration of her person, (Saxo Grammaticus lib. 8. Dan. hist.) and would not hurt her. Inanimate creatures I suppose haue a couch of it; when a drop of Apuleius aur asmi. Psyches Candle fell on Cupids shoulder, I thinke sure it was to kisse it; and as [...] Helidorus holds, aer ipse Amore inficitur, the aire it fel [...] is in loue. But men are mad, Parum abfuit quo minus faxū ex homine faétus sum, ipsis statuis immobiliorem me fecit. stupefied many times at the [...] of it, amased, as Lib. 3. Lucian in his Imagines, cōfesseth of him [...] was at his mistris presence voi [...] of all [...] if he had seen a Gorgons head: which was no [...], as Veteres Gorgonis fabulâ confinxerunt eximium formae decus stupidos reddens. Cael [...]us interprets it, lib. 13. cap. 9. but [...] [...] scence of Beauty, as without doubt the [...] the first fiction of it. Hor. Ode. 5. Miseri [...], poore wretches are compelled at the very sight [...] lookes to runne mad, or make away themselues▪ [...] lib. 1. brings in Thyamis almost besides himselfe, when hee saw Cariclia first, Aspectum virginis sponte fugit insa [...]us fere, & impossibile existimans vt simul eam aspicere quis possit, & intra temperantiae metas se continere. and not daring to looke vpon [...] time, for he thought it [...]mpossible for any man [...] to [...]ee her and containe himselfe. The very same of Beauty will fetch them to it many miles of, such an attractiue power this loadstone [Page 553] hath, ouer hedge, ditch, thicke and thinne, as they did to see Apu [...] [...] lib. 4. Mu't mer [...]s h [...]gis ui [...]er [...]us &c. Psyche, many mortall men came farre and neere to see th [...]t glorious obiect of her age. Paris for Helena, Corebus to Troia. Illis Romam qui forte diebus venerat insano Cassandra incensus amore. And not only come to see, but as to a F [...]ulkoner doth an hungry hauke houer about and follow, and giue attendance and seruice, and spend goods liues and all their fortunes, looke after and runne to see. When faire Museus [...] [...]ila autem be [...]e mora a [...]er aedem quacun (que) vagabatur, Sequentem mentem hab [...]bat & oculos & corda virorum. Hero came abroad, the eyes, hearts, and affections of her spectators were still attendant on her. Charmides in Plato was a pro [...]er yong man, and in comelinesse of person, and all good qualities farre exceeding other men, whensoeuer faire Charmides came abroad, Praecaeteris corporis proceritate & egregiâ ind [...]le mira [...]d [...]s apparebat, caeteri autem capti eius amore vid [...]antur, &c. they seem'd all to be in loue with him (as Critias describes their carriage) and were troubled as it were at the very sight of him, many came neere him, many followed him wheresoeuer hee went. Many a man will condemne these men that are so enamored, for fooles, but some againe commend them for it, many reiect Paris iudgement, and yet Lucian approues of it, & much admires Paris for his choice, hee would haue done as much himselfe, and by good desert in his mind, Beauty is to be preferred In Charidemo sapientiae merito putchritudo praefertur & opibus. before wealth or wisdome. Ind [...]g [...] nihil est Troas fortes & Achiuos tempore ta [...] longo p [...]pessus e [...]e labores. Athaeneus D [...]pnosophist. lib. 13. cap. 7. holds it no such indignity for the Troians & Greeks to contend tenne yeares, to spend so much labour, so many men liues for Helens sake, Di [...]na quidem fac [...]es p [...]o quâ [...]elebires Achilles v [...] Priamus, belli [...]sa pro [...]a [...] pro [...]a for so faire a Ladies sake.
That one woman was worth a kingdome, 100000 other women, a world it selfe. The same testimony giues Homer of the old men of Troy, that were spectators of that single combat betwixt Paris and Menelaus at the Seian gate, when Helena her selfe stood in presence, they said all, the warre was worthely prolonged and vndertaken [...] mat [...] [...] for her sake. Curtius lib. 5 Great Alexander married Roxane, a poore mans child only for her person, and 'twas well done of Alexander, and heroically [Page 554] done, I admire him for it: Orlando was mad for Angelica, & who doth not condole his mishap. Thisbe died for Piramus, Dido for Aeneas, who doth not weepe, as Confess. Austin did in commiseration of her estate; shee died for him, mee thinkes (as he said) I could weepe for her.
But this is not the matter in hand, what prerogatiue this Beauty hath, of what power and soueraignty she is, and how farre such persons that so much admire her, and dote vpon her, are to be iustified no man doubts: the question is how & by what meanes this Beauty produceth this effect? By sight: the Eye betraies the soule, and is both Actiue and Passiue in this businesse; it wounds and is wounded, and is an especiall cause and instrument, both in the subiect and in the obiect. It conuayes these beauteous rayes, as I haue said, vnto the heart. Vt vidi vt perij. Quid. Fastis. Mars videt hanc, visam (que) cupit. Shechem saw Dinah the daughter of Leah, and hee defiled her. Gen. 34.2. Iacob, Ràhel. 29.17. for she was beautifull and faire▪ Dauid espied Bersheba a farre off, 2. Reg. 11.2. the Elders Susanna, and were captiuated in an instant. Ammon fell sicke for Thamars sake, 2. Sam. 13.2. The Beauty of Ester was such, that she found fauour not only in the fight of Assuerus but of all those that looked vpon her. Gerson, Origen, and some o [...]hers, contend that Christ himselfe was the fairest of the sonnes of men, and Ioseph next vnto him, spetiosus praesilijs hominum, & they will haue it literally taken, his very person was such, that he found grace and fauour of all such as looked vpon him. Ioseph was so faire, that as the ordinary Glosse hath it, filiae decurrerent per murum, & ad fenestras, they ran to the top of the walls, Antonius vbi vexit in Asiam & vidit Clopatrameandem exarsit. and to the windowes, as wee doe commonly to see some great personage goe by: as Mathew Paris describes Matilda the Empresse going through Cullin. Lib. de pul [...]brit. Iesu & Mariae. P. Morales the Iesuite saith as much of the Virgin Mary. Anthony no sooner saw Cleopatra, but, saith Appian lib. 1. hee was enamored on her. Lucian Charidemo. supra omnes mortales foelicissimum si hác frui possit. Theseus at the first sight of Helen was so besotted, that hee esteemed himselfe the happiest man in the world if he might enioy her. When Venus came first to heauen, [Page 555] her comlinesse was such, that (as my author saith) Omnes dij complexi sunt, & in vxorem fibi dari petierunt, Nat. Comes de Venere. all the Gods came and saluted her, and each of them went to Iuppiter, and desired he might haue her to be his wife. When faire Antilogus came in presence, as a candle in the darke his beauty shined, and all mens cies (as Vt cum lux noctu affulget, omnium oculos incurrit sic Antiloquus, &c. Xenophon describes the manner of it) were instantly fixed on him, and moued at the sight, in somnoh that they could not conceale themselues, but that in gesture or lookes it was discerned and expressed. These other senses, hearing, touching, may much penetrate and affect, but none so much, none so forcible as Sigh [...]. Forma Briseis medijs in armis mouit Achillem, Achilles was touched in the midst of a battell. Iudith captiuated that great captaine Holofernes, Dalilah Sampson, Rosamond Deleuit omnes ex animo mulieres. Henry the second, Roxolana, Solymon the Magnificent, &c.
Achilles Tatius lib. 1. Clitiphon ingeniously confesseth, that he no sooner came in Loucippes presence, but that he did corde tremere, & oculis laseiuius intueri, Statim ac eam contemplatus sum, occidi oculos à virgine auertere conatus sum sed illi repugnabant. he was wounded at the first sight, his heart panted, and he could not possibly turne his eyes from her. So doth old Calysiris in Heliodorus. lib. 2. Isis Priest, and a reuerent old man, that by chance at Memphis seeing that Thracian Rodophe, could not hold his eyes off her, Pudet dicere, non celabo tamen Memphim ve [...]iens me vicit & continentiam expugnauit, quam ad senectutem vsq, seruaram; oculis corporis, &c. I will not conceale it, she ouercame me with her presence, and quite assalted my continency, which I had kept vnto mine olde age, I resisted a long time my bodily eyes with the eyes of my vnderstanding, at last I was conquered, and as in a tempest carried headlong. No, saith [Page 556] Imag. Polystrato. si illam saltem intuearis statuis immobiliorem se faciet si conspexeris eam, non relinquetur facultas oculos ab ea amouendi abducet te alligatum quocun (que) voluerit vt ferrum ad se trahere ferunt adamantem. Lucian of his mistris, shee is so faire, that if thou dost but see her, shee will stupesie thee, kill thee straight, and Medusa like turne thee to a stone, thou canst not pull thine eies from her, but as an adamant doth iron, she will carry thee bound headlong whether she will her selfe.
It holds both in men and women, Dido was amazed at Aeneas presence; and as he feelingly verified out of his experience.
So Museus of Leander, nusquam lumen detorquet ab illâ. and In the Knights Tale. Chaucer of Palamon.
If you desire to knowe more particularly what this Beauty is, how it doth Influere, how it doth fascinate (for as all hold loue is a fascination) thus in briefe. Ex debita totius proportione apta (que) partium compositione. Piccolomineus. This comelinesse or beauty ariseth from the due proportion of the whole, or from each severall part. For an exact delineation of which, I referre you to Poets, Historiographers, and those amorous writers, To Lucians Imagines, and Charidemus, Xenophons description of Panthea, Petronius Catalectes, Heliodorus Cariclia, Tatius Leucippe, Longus Sophistas Daphnis and Cloe, Balthasar Castilio, lib. 14. de aulico, Laurentius cap. 10. Aeneas Siluius his Lucretia, and euery Poet almost, which haue most accurately described a perfect beauty, an absolute feature, and that through euery part, both in men and women. Each part must concurre to the perfection of it, for as Seneca saith, Epist. 33. lib. 4. Non est formosa mulier cuius crus laudatur & brachium, sed illa, cuius simul vniuersa facies admirationem singulis partibus dedit. Shee is no faire woman, whose arme, thigh, &c. are commended, except the face and all the other parts bee [Page 557] correspondent, and the face especially giues a lustre to the rest. The Face is it which commonly denominates faire or fowle, arx forma facies, the Face is Beauties Tower, and though the other parts be deformed, yet a good face carries it, ( facies non vxor amatur) that alone is most part respected, principally valued, & of it selfe alone able to captiuate.
Glyceras too faire a face was it that set him on fire, too faire to be beheld. It was Aeneas countenance rauished Q. Dido, Os humeros (que) Deo similis, he had an angelicall face.
And though for the most part this beauty bee most eminent in the face, ye [...] many times those other members yeeld a most pleasing grace, and are alone sufficient to enamour, as a high browe like vnto the bright heauens, white and smooth like the polished alabaster, a paire of cheeks of Vermilian colour, a blacke browe, corall lippe, white and round necke, dimple in the chinne, black eye-browes, sweet breath, white & euen teeth, which some call the sale-peece: a fine soft round pappe, which giues an excellent grace, ( Ouid. Forma papillarum quam fuit apta premi: & vrebant oculos durae stantes (que) mamillae.) A flexen haire, golden haire was euer in great account, for which Virgil commends Dido, When Cupid slept. Caesariem auream habentem vbi Psyche vidit mollem (que) ex ambrosia ceruicem inspexit crines crispos purpureas genas candidas (que) &c. Apuleius. Nondum sustulerat flavum Proserpina crinem. And crines nodantur in aurum. Apollonius Argonaut. lib. 4. Iasonis flaua coma incendit cor Medeae. Homer commends Helena, and makes Patroclus, and Achilles yellow and golden hair'd, Pulchricoma Venus: and Cupid himselfe was yellow hair'd:
Leland commends Guithera King Arthurs wife for a faire [Page 558] flaxen haire, and Paulus Aemilius, Clodoueus that faire King of France. In laudem calui: splendidâ comâ quis (que) adulter est, allicit aurea coma. Sinesius holds euery effeminate fellow or adulterer is faire hair'd: and Apuleius, that Venus herselfe, Goddesse of Loue cannot please, Venus ipsa non placeret comis nudata capite spoliata si qualis ipsa Venus cum fuit Virgo omni gratiarum choro stipata & toto cupidinum populo concinnat [...], baltheo suo cincta cinnama fragrans & balsama si calua processerit placere no [...] potest Vulcano suo Though shee come accompanied with the Graces, and all Cupids traine to attend vpon her, girt with her owne girdle, and smell of Cinnamon and Bawme, yet if shee be bauld, or bad haird, shee cannot please her Vulcan. A little hand, a straight and slender body, a small foot, and well proportioned legge, a soft and white skinne, &c. haue their peculiar graces. Plautus Cas. Nebula haud est mollior ac huius cutis est, aedipol papillam bellulam. Though in men these parts are not so much respected; a grimme Saracen sometimes a martiall hirsute face pleaseth best, a blacke man is a pearle in a faire womans eye, and many women, as Fol. 5. Siservum viderint aut statorem altius cinctum aut puluere' perfusū aut histrionem in scenam traductum, &c. Petronius obserues, sordibus calent (As many men are more moued with kitchen wenches, and a poore country market-maid, then with all these illustrious Court and Citty Dames.) will sooner dote vpon a slaue, a Seruant, a Durt-dawber, a Cooke, a Player, if they see his naked legges, or armes, though he be all in ragges, obscene and durty, then vpon a Noble Gallant, Embroadered Courtiers all in Gold. Galen. Iustines wife a Cittizen of Rome fell in Loue with Pylades a Player, and was ready to run mad for him, had not Galen himself helped her by chance. Faustina the Empresse on a Fencer. There is not one of a thousand falls in loue but their is some one part or other, which pleaseth him most, and enflames him aboue the rest: All parts are attractiue, but especially the eyes, which are loues fowlers, Hensius. Aucupium amoris, the shoowinghornes, and as Athaeneus lib. 13. dip. cap. 5. and Tatius hold, Sunt enim oculi praecipuae pulchritudinis sed es lib. 6. the chiefe feats of loue, as Iames Lernutius hath facetely expressed in an elegant Ode of his.
Scaliger calls the eyes, Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis, contactum nullis ante cupidinibus Proper. lib. 1. Cupids arrowes, the tongue, the lightning of loue, the papps, the tents: Balthasar Castilio, the causes, the chariots of loue, the lamps of loue,
Loues Orators, In Catalect. Petronius,
Loues Torches, Tuchbox and Matches, De Sulpitia lib 4. Tibullus.
Lean [...]r at the first sight of Hero's eies was incensed saith Musaeus.
Iacob. Cornelius Am [...]on traegaed. act. 1. sc. 1. A moderne Poet brings in Ammon complaining of Thamar.
Epist. & in deli [...]is. Abi & oppugnationem relinque quam flamma non extinguit nam ab amore ipsa flamma sentit incendium: quae corporum penetratio, quae tyrannis haec, &c. Philostratus Lemnius cries out of his mistris eies, they had so enflamed his foule, that no water could quench it. What a tyranny, saith he, what a penetration of bodies is this, thou drawest me with violence, and swallowest me vp, as Charybdis doth Saylers, with thy rockie eies, he that falls into this gulfe of Loue can neuer get out. The strongest beames of beauty are still darted from thy eies, and as men catch dotrells, by putting out a legge or an arme, by those mutuall glances of the eyes they first inveagle one another. Of all eies, by the way, black are the most amiable, entising, and the fairest.
Jliad. 1. Homer vseth that Epithite of Ox-eyed, in describing Iuno, because a round blacke eye is the best, and the farthest from blacke the worse. Which Hist. lib. 1. Polidore Virgil taxeth in our nation, Angli vt plurimum caesiis oculis, wee haue gray eyes for the most part. Many commend on the other side Spanish Ladies, and those Sands relations. fol. 67. Greeke Dames at this day, for the blacknesse of their eyes.
Now last of all, I will shew you by what meanes Beauty doth fascinate, bewitch, as some hold, and worke vpon the Soule of a man by the eie. For certainely I am of the Poets minde, Loue doth bewitch vs, and strangely change vs,
Heliodorus lib. 3. proues it at large, Amor per oculus nares poros instuens, &c. Mortales tum summopere fascinan [...]ur quando fre [...]uentissimo intuitu aciem visus ad aciem d [...]rigentes [...]amp;c. Ideo si quis nito [...]e polleat oculorum, &c. that Loue is witchcraft, it gets in at our eyes, pores, nostrels, and ingenders the same qualities, and affections in vs, as were in the party whence it came. The manner of the fascination, as Ficinus comm. 10. cap. con. Plat. declares it, is thus. Mortall men are then especially bewitched, when as by often gazing one on the other, they direct sight to sight, and ioyne eye to eye, and so drinke and sucke in loue betweene them, for the beginning of this disease is the Eye. And therefore he that hath a cleere eye, though he be otherwise deformed, by often looking vpon him will make one mad, and ty [...] him fast to him by the eyes. Leonard. Varius lib. 1. cap. 2. de fascinat. telleth vs that by this enteruew, Spiritus puriores fascinantur, oculus à se [...]adios emittit, &c. the purer spirits are infected, the one eye pearceth through the other with his rayes, which he sends forth: and many men are of such excellent piercing eyes, that which Suetonius relates of Augustus, their brightnesse is such they compell their spectators to looke off, and they can no more endure them, then the Sunne beames. Lib. de pulchr. Ies. & Mar. Barradius lib. 6. cap. 10. de Harmoniâ Evangel. reports as much of our Sauiour Christ, and Lib. 2. cap. 23. colore triticum referente crine slauâ acribus oculis. Peter Morales of the Virgin Mary, whom Nicephorus describes likewise to haue beene yellow hair'd, of a wheat colour, but of a most amiable and piercing eie. The rayes, as some think, sent from the eyes, carry certaine spirituall vapors with them, and so infect the other party. I knowe they that hold visio fit intra mittendo will make a doubt of this, but Ficinus proues it from bleare eyes, [...]ippi solo intuitu alios lippos faciunt & patet vna cum radio va [...]o [...]em corrupti sanguinis emanare cuius contagione oculus spectantis infi [...]itur. That by sight alone make others bleare-eyed, and it is more thē manifest, that the vapour of the corrupt blood doth get in together with the rayes, and so by the contagion the spectators eyes are infected. Other arguments there are of a Basilisk, that kils a far off by sight alone, as that Ephesian did, of whom Vita Apollo [...]. Philostratus speakes, of so pernitious a sight, hee poisoned all hee looked steddily on: and that other argument menstruae [Page 562] faeminae, out of Aristotles Problems, that contaminats a looking glasse with beholding it. Sic radius à corde percutientis missus regimen proprium repetit cor vulnerat per oculos & sanguinem inficit & spiritus subtili quadam vi. Castil. lib. 3, de aulico. so the beames come from the agents heart, and by the eyes infect the spirits about the patients and inwardly wound, and so the spirits infect the blood. So she complained in Apuleius, Thou art the cause of my griefe, thy eyes peircing through mine eyes to my inner parts, haue set my bowels on fire, and therefore pitty me that am now ready to dy for thy sake. Ficinus illustrates this with a familiar example of that Marhusian Phaedrus and Lycias. Lycias in Phaedri vultum inhiat Phaedrus in oculos Lysiae scintillas suorum defigit oculorum cum (que) scintillis, &c. Sequitur Phaedrus Lyciam quia cor suum petit spiritum, Phaedrum Lycias quia spiritus propriam sedem postulat. Verum Lycias. &c. Lycias hee stares on Phaedrus face, and Phaedrus againe fastens the balls of his eyes vpon Lycias, and with those sparkling rayes sends out his spirits. Lib. 10. Causa omnis & origo omnis praesentis doloris tute es. Isti enim tui ocu [...]i per meos oculos ad intima delapsi praecordia acerrimum meis medullis com mouent incēdiū ergo miserere tui causa pereuntis. The beames of Phaedrus eyes are easily mingled with the beames of Lycias, and spirits are ioyned to spirits. This vapour begot in Phaedrus heart, enters into Lycias bowels, & that which is a greater wonder, Phaedrus blood is in Lycias heart, & thence come those ordinary loue speeches, my sweet heart Phaedrus, and mine own selfe, my deare bowels. And Phaedrus again to Lycias, O my light, my ioy, my soule, my life. Phaedrus followes Lycias, because his heart would haue his spirits, and Lycias followes Phaedrus, because he loues the seat of his spirits, both follow, but Lycias the more earnest of the two. The riuer hath more need of the fountaine, then the fountaine of the riuer, as iron is drawne to that which is touched with a loadstone, but drawes not it againe, so Lycias drawes Phaedrus. But how comes it to passe then, that a blinde man loues that neuer saw? 'Tis true indeed of naturall and chast loue, but not of this heroicall passion, or rather brutish burning lust, on which we treat, we speake of wandring, wanton, adulterous eyes, which as Castilio de aulico lib. 3. fol. 228. Oculi vt milites in insidijs semper recubant & subitò ad visum sagittas emittunt, &c. he saith, lye still in wait, as so many souldiers, and when they spie one fixed on them, sho [...]t him through and presently bewitch him. Especially when they shall gaze and glote, as wanton louers doe one vpon another, and with a pleasant eye conflict, participate one anothers soules. And here you may perceaue how easily and how quickly we may be taken in loue, since at the twinkling of an eye, Phaedrus [Page 563] spirits may so pernitiously infect Lyceas blood. Nec mirum si reliquos morbos qui ex contagione nascuntur cō sideremus pestem pruritum scabiem, &c. And tis no wonder if we but consider how many other diseases as closely, and as sodenly are token by infection, Plague, Itch, Scabs, Flux, &c. The spirits taken in will not let him rest, that hath receaued them, but egge him on. ‘ Lucretius. Id (que) corpus mens vnde est saucia amore,’ as we may manifestly perceaue a strange eduction of spirits, by such as bleed at nose after they be dead, at the sight of the murderer, but read more of this in Lemnius lib. 2. de occult. nat. mir. cap. 7. Valleriola lib. 2. obser. cap. 7. Valesius contro: Ficinus, Cardan, &c.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSECT. 3. Arteficiall allurements of Loue, causes and provocations to lust. Gestures, Cloathes, Dowre, &c.
NAturall Beauty is a strong loadstone of it selfe, as you haue heard, a great temptation, and peirceth to the very heart, but much more when those artificiall entisements and prouocations of Gestures, Clothes, Iewels, Pigments, Exornations, In Beauty that of fauour is preferred before that of Colours and decent motiō is more then that of fauour. Bacons Essayes. shall be annexed vnto it, and other circumstances, opportunities of time, and place shall concurre, which of themselues alone were all sufficient, each one in particular to produce this effect. It is a question much controuerted by some wise men, An forma debeat plus arti an naturae, whether naturall or arteficiall obiects be more powerfull, but not decided: for my part I am of opinion, that though beauty of it selfe be a great motiue, and giue an excellent lustre in sordibus and in beggery, as a Iewell on a dunghill, it will shine and cast his rayes, it cannot be suppressed as Heliodorus faines of his Cariclia, though she were in beggers weeds: yet as it is vsed, arteficiall is of much more force. Iohn Lerius the Burgundian cap. 8. hist. nauigat. in Brasil. is altogether on my side. For whereas (saith he) at our comming thether, wee found both men and women starke naked as they were born, [Page 564] without any couering, so much as of their priuities, & could not be perswaded by our French men that liued a yeare with them to weare any. Multi tacite opinantur commercium illud adeo frequens cum barbaris nudis ac praesertim cum f [...]minis ad libidinem provocare, at minus multo noxia illorum nuditas quam nostrarum faeminarum cultus. Ausum asseuerare [...]endidum illum cultum, fucos, &c. Many will thinke that our so long commerce with naked women, must needs bee a great prouoc [...]tion to lust, but he concludes otherwise, that their nakednesse did much lesse entice them to lasciuiousnesse, then our womens cloathes. And I dare boldly affirme (saith he) that those glittering attires counterfeit colours, head-geares, curled haires, plaited co [...]te [...], cloakes, gownes, costly stomachers, garded and loose garments, & all those other accoutrements, wherewith our country women counterfeit a beauty, and so curiously set out themselues, cause more inconuenience in this kinde, then that Barbarian homelinesse, although they be no whit inferior vnto them in Beauty. I could euince the truth of this by many other arguments, but I appeale (saith he) to my companions at that present, which were all of the same minde. His country man Montagne in his Essayes, is of the same opinion, and so are many others. Out of whose assertions thus much in breese we may conclude that Beauty is more beholding to art then to nature, & stronger prouocations proceed from outward ornaments, then such as nature hath prouided. It is true that those faire sparkling eyes, white neck, corall lippes, turgent pappes, Rose-coloured cheekes, &c. of themselues are potent entisers, but when a comely arteficiall, well composed look, gesture, an affected carriage shall be added, it must needs be farre more forcible then it was, when those curious needleworkes, variety of colours, Iewels, pendants, launes, faire and fine linnen, embroderies, calamistrations, oyntments, &c. shall bee added, they will make the veriest doudy otherwise a Goddesse, when nature shall be farthered by art. For it is not the eye of it selfe that entiseth to lust, but an adulterous eye, as Peter tearmes it 2.2.14. a wanton, a roling lasciuious eye, A wandring eye, which I say taxeth, 3.16. Christ himselfe, and the Virgin Mary had a beautifull eye, as amiable an eye as any persons, saith Haermo. evangel. lib. 6. cap. 9. Barradius, that euer liued, but withall so modest, so chast, that whosoeuer looked on them, was freed from that passion [Page 565] of burning lust, if we may beleeue Serm. de concep. virg. phisiognomia virginis omn [...] mouis ad castitatem. Gerson & 3 sent. d [...] 3 q 3 m [...]rum virgo formosissima sed à n [...]mine concupita. Bonaventure, there was no such Antidote against it, as the Virgin Maries fa [...] 'Tis not the eye but carriage of it, as they vse it, the eye is a secret Orator, the first bawde, and with priuate lookes, winking glances, and smiles, as so many dialogues they make vp the match many times, and vnderstand one anothers meanings, before euer they come to speake word. Aeneas Sylv. Eurialus and Lucretia were so mutually enamored by the eye, and prepared to giue one another entertainment, before euer they had conference: and that Heliodor. l. 2. Rodophe Thracia tam ineuitab [...]l [...] fascino Instruct [...] tam exactè oculis intuens attraxit v [...] si in ill [...]m quis i [...]cidisset fieri non posset quin caperetur. Thracian Rodophe, was so excellent at that dumbe rhetoricke, that if she had but looked vpon any one almost, saith Calisiris she would haue bewitched him & he could not possibly escape it. For as Lib 3. De providenti [...]. animi fenestrae oculi, et omnis improba [...] pe [...] [...] cel [...]s s [...]anquam canales intioit. Saluianus obserues, the eyes are the windowes of our sonles, by which as so many channels, all dishonest concupiscences get into our hearts. They reueale our thoughts, and as they say, frons animi Index, but the eye of the countenance. I may say the same of smiling, gate, nakednesse of parts, gestures, &c. To laugh is the proper passion of a man; an ordinary thing to smile, but those counterfeit composed, affected, artificiall and reciprocall, and counter smiles, are the dumbe shewes and prognosticks of greater matters,
They make an art of it, as the Poet tells vs.
And 'tis as great an entisement as any of the rest.
She makes thine heart pant, with Vel cent [...]m Charites ridere putares Museus of Hero. a pleasing gentle smile of hers: Hor. Od 2 [...]. lib. 1. dulce ridentē Lalagen amabo, dulce loquentē, I loue Lalage as much for smiling as for discoursing, delectata illa risit [Page 566] tam blandum, as he said in Petronius, of his mistris, being well pleased she gaue so sweet a smile. It wonne Ismenius, as hee Mustathius l. 5 confesseth, Ismene subrisit amatorium, Ismene smiled so louingly vpon me the second time I saw her, that I could not chuse but admire her. All other gestures of the body will enforce as much (many women dote vpon a man for his complement only, & good carriage, they are wonne in an instant) and amongst the rest an vpright, a comely carriage, curtesies, gentle salutations, cringes, a mincing gate, a decent and an affected pace: Which the Prophet Esay obiected to the daughters of Sion, 3.16. they minced as they went, and made a tinkling with their feet. When they shew their faire hand, fine foot and legge withall, magnum sui desiderium, nobis relinqunt, saith Vel si forte ve stimentum de industria eleuetur vt pedum ac tibiarum pars aliqua conspiciatur dum templum aut locum aliquem adi [...]rit. Balthasar Castilio lib. 1. they set vs a longing, and so when they pull vp their petty-coats, & outward garments as vsually they do, to shew their fine stockings, gold fringes, laces, embroderings (it shall goe hard but when they goe to Church, or to any other place all shall bee seene) 'tis but a springe to catch Woodcocks; and as Sermone quod non faem. viris cohabitent. Non loquuta es lingua sed loqunta e [...]gressu non loquuta es voce sed oculis loquuta es clarius quam voce, &c. Chrysostome telleth them downe right, though they say nothing with their mouths, yet they speake in their gate, they speake with their eyes, they speake in their carriage of their bodies. And what shall wee say otherwise of that baring of their necks, shoulders, naked breasts, armes and wrists, to what end are they but onely to tempt men to lust. Nakednesse, as I haue said, is an odious thing of it selfe, remedium amoris, yet it may bee so vsed in part, Plin. lib. 33. c. 10 Campaspen nudam picturus Apelles amore eius illaqueatus est. & at such times that there can be no such entisement as it is. Dauid so espied Bersheba, the Elders Susanna. Apelles was inamored with Campaspe when hee was to paint her naked. Tiberius in Suet. c. 42. supped with Sestius Gallus an olde leacher, libidinoso sene, eâ lege vt nudae puellae administrarent some say as much of Nero, & P. Huter of Carol. Pugnax. Amongst the Babyloniās, it was the custome of some lasciuious Q. to dance Friskin in that fashion, saith Curtius l. 5. & In Tyrrhenis conviviis nudae mulieres ministrabant. Sardus de mor. gent. lib. 1. The Tuskans at some set banquets had naked women to attend vpon them, which Leonicus de Varia [Page 567] hist lib. 3. cap. 96. confirmes of some other baudy nations. Nero would haue filthy pictures still hanging in his chamber, which is too commonly vsed in our times, and Heliogabalus, Etiam coram agentes, vt ad Venerem incitarent, So things may be abused. Spartian. Antoninus Caracalla spied his mother in law with her breasts amorously laid open, he was so much moued, that he said, Ah si liceret, which she by chaunce ouerhearing, replied as readily, Quicquid libet licet. And vpon that temptation he married her, this obiect was not in cause, not the thing it selfe, but that vnseemely vse, vndecent carriage of it.
But when you haue all done, veniunt à veste sagittae, the greatest prouocations of lust are from our apparell. God makes, they say, man shapes, and there is no motiue like vnto it, a filthy knaue, deformed queane, a crooked carcasse, a witch, a rotten post, an hedgestake may be so set out and tricked vp, that it may make all out as faire a shew, as much enamour as the rest: many a filthy fellow is so taken. Primum luxuriae aucupium, one calles it the first snare of lust, De immod. mulier: cultu, Bossus aucupium animarum, lethalem arundinem, a fatall reed, the greatest bawde, forte lenocinium. Not that comelinesse of clothes is therfore to be condemned, & those vsuall ornaments: there is a decency and decorum in this as well as in other things, and fit to be vsed, becomming seuerall persons, and befitting their estates, he is onely phantasticall, that is not in fashion, when a manner of attire is generally receiued: but when they are so new fangled, so vnstaide, so prodigious in their attires, beyond their meanes and fortunes, vnbefitting their age, place, qualitie, condition, what should we otherwise thinke of them. Why doe they adorne themselues with so many colours of herbes, flowers, curious needleworkes, deuices of sweet smelling odors, with those inestimable riches of precious stones, pearles, diamonds, emeralds, &c. Why doe they crowne themselues with gold and siluer, vse coronets and tires of seuerall fashions, decke themselues with pendants, bracelets, earings, chaines, girdles, [Page 568] rings, pinnes, spangles, embroderies, shadowes, rebatoes, ribbins; why doe they make such glorious shewes with their feathers, fannes, maskes, furres, laces launes, tif [...]inies, ruffes, falls, calls, cuffes, damaskes, veluets, tinsells, cloth of gold, siluer, tissue? with colours of heauens, starres, planets, the strength of mettalls, stones, odors, flowers, birds, beastes, fishes, and whatsoeuer Africke, Asia, America, sea, land, arte and industrie of man can afford? Why doe they vse and couet such noueltie of inuentions, such new f [...]ngled tyres, and spend such inestimable somes on them? To what end are those crisped, false haires, painted faces, as Petronius fol. 95. quo spectant flexae comae quo comae quo facies medicamine attrita & oculorum mollis petul [...]ntia quo incessus tam compositus &c. the Sat [...]ists obserue, such a composed gate, not a steppe awry? why are they like so many Sybarites, or Neroes Poppaea, Assuerus concubines so costly, so long a dressing, as Caesar was marshalling his armie, or an hawke in pruning? Ter. Dum moliuntur, dum comuntur annus est, such setting vp with corkes, streightning with whale-bones, but as a day-net catcheth larkes, to make young men stoupe vnto them. Quid sibi vult pixidum turba, saith Tom. 4. dial. Amor. vascula plena multae in felicitatis, om men maritorum opulentiam in haec impendunt, dracones pro monilibus habent, qui vtina [...] verè dracones essent, Lucian. Lucian, pots, glasses, oyntments, irons, combes, bodkins, setting stickes, and bestow all their patrimonies and husbands yearely reuenues on such fooleries, vse dragons, waspes, snakes, for chaines, inamelled Iewells on their necks, eares, dignum potius foret [...]e [...]ro manus ist as religari, at (que) vtinam monilia verè dracones essent, they had more neede some of them be tied in Bedlam with iron chaines, and haue a whippe for a fann, and haire-cloathes next to their skines, in steede of wrought smocks, and haue their cheekes stigmatised with a hote i [...]on some of them in steede of painting if they were well serued. But why is all this labour, all this cost; preparation, riding, running, farre fetched, and deare bought stuffe? but as hee saith, Castilio de aulic lib. 1. mulieribus omnibus hoc imprimis in votis est vt formosae sint aut si reipsa non sunt videantur tamen esse, & si qua parte natura desuit artis suppetias adiungunt, vnde illae faciei vnctiones dolor & cruciatus in arctandis corporibus, &c. Because forsooth they would bee faire and fine, and where nature is defectiue, supplie it by arte, Sanguine quae vero non rubet, arte rubet, Ouid. and to that purpose they annoynt and paint their faces, crush in their feet and bodies, and hint and crucifie themselues, sometimes in laxe clothes, an hundred yeardes I thinke in a gowne, a sleeue, and sometimes againe [Page 569] so close, vt nudos exprimant artus. Modo caudatas tunicas. &c. Bossus. Now long tailes and traines, and then short, vp, downe, high, lowe, thicke, thinne, &c. Why is all this, but with the whore in the Prouerbes to intoxicate some or other, to be admired, to be gazed on, to circumuent some nouice? as many times they doe, that instead of a Lady he loues a cappe and feather, in stead of a maide, a ruffe bande, faire and fine linnen, a coronet, a flowre, a painted wascore, or a pied petticote, in stead of a proper woman.
Why doe they keepe in so long together, a whole winter sometimes and will not be seene, but by torch or candlelight, and come abroad with all the preparation may be, Orat in ebrios. Impudentèr se masculorum aspectibus exponunt insolenter comas iactantes trahunt tunicas pedibus collidentes oculo (que) petulanti risu effuso ad tripudium insanientes omnè adolescentum intemperantiam in se prouocantes [...]d (que) in templis memo [...]iae martyrum consecratispomoerium ciuitatis & officinà fecerunt impude [...]tiae. when they haue no businesse but onely to shew themselues? Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur vt ipsae, why doe they goe with such a counterfeit gate, which Lib. de victimis. fracto incessu, obtutu, lasciuo, calamistratá cincinnata, fucata, recens lota purpurissata pretioso (que) ami [...]tu, palliolo spirans vnguenta, vt iuuenum animos circuueniat. Philo Indaeus reprehends them for, and vse such gestures, apish, ridiculous, vndecent attires, vse those perfumes, oyntments in publike: come to heare Sermons so frequent, is it for deuotion? or rather as s Basil telles them, to meet their sweet-hearts, and see fashions, for as he saith commonly they come so prouided to that place, with such gestures and tires, as if they should goe to a dauncing-schoole, or to a stage-play, or baudie house sitter then a Church. They make those holy Temples consecrated to Gods martyrs, and religious vses, the shoppes of impudence, dennes of whores and theeues, and little better then brothel houses. When we shall see these things dayly done, their husbands banckrupts, if not cuckolds, their wiues light huswiues, daughters dishonest, and here of such dissolute actes, as daily we doe, how should we thinke otherwise, what is their end, but to deceiue and inueagle young men? [Page 570] As tow doth fire, such entising obiects produce their effects, how can it be otherwise? When Venus stood befoe Anchises as Hymno veneri dicato. Homer faines in one of his hymnes; in her costly roabes he was instantly taken.
And when Medoea came in presence, attended by her Nymphes and Ladies, as shee is described by Argonaut. lib. 4. Apollonius.
Such a relation we haue in Plutarch in the life of Anthonie, when the Queenes came and offered themselues to Anthony; Regia domo ornatu (que) certantes, sese ac formam suam Antonio offerentes, &c. Cum ornatu & incredibili pompâ per cydnum fl [...]uium nauigarēt aurata puppi ipsa ad similitudinem veneris ornata puellae gratijs similes, pueri [...]upidinibus, Antonius ad visum stupefactus. with diuers presents and entising ornaments, Asiaticke allurements, with such wonderfull ioy and festiuitie, they did so inueigle the Romanes, that no man colde containe himselfe, all was turned to delight and pleasure. The women transformed themselues to Bacchus shapes, the men children to Satyrs and Pans, but Anthonie himselfe was quite besotted with Cleopatras sweet speeches, Philters, beautie, pleasing tires, for when she sailed along the riuer Cydnus, with such incredible pompe in a guilded shippe, her selfe dressed like Venus, her maides like the Graces, her Pages like so many Cupids, Anthonie was amased and [...] de lib. prep. apt beyond himselfe, Heliodorus lib. 1. brings in Dameneta [Page 571] stepmother to Cnemon, whom she sawe in his robes and coronets, quite mad for the loue of him. It was Iudiths Pantoffles that rauished the eyes of Holofernes. And Amictum Chlamyde & coronis quum primum aspexit Cnemonem ex potestate mentis excidit. Cardan is not ashamed to confesse, that seeing his wife the first time all in white, he did admire and instantly loue her. If these outward ornaments were not of such force, why doth Ruth. 3.3. Naomi giue Ruth counsell how to please Boaz? and Iudith seeking to please Holofernes, washed and annoynted her selfe with costly oyntments, and dressed her haire, & put on costly tires? The riott in this kinde hath bin excessiue in times past, Cap. 19.5. no man almost came abroad but curled and annoynted. Iuuen. Sat. 6. Et matutino sudans Crispinus amomo, quantū vix redolent duo funera, one spent as much as two funerals at once, & with perfumed haires, Hor. lib. 2. ed. II. et rosa canos odorati capillos Assyriâ (que) nardo. What strange things doth Cap. 27. Sueton relate in this kinde of Caligulas riot? and Pliny li. 12. & 13. Read more in Dioscorides, Vlmus, Arnoldus, Randoletius de fuco & decoratione, for it is now an art, as it was of old, as Epist. 90. Seneca recordes, officinae sunt odores coquentium. Women are bad, and men are worse, no difference at all betwixt their and our times, Quicquid est boni moris leuitate extinguitur, & politurâ corporis, muliebres munditias antecessimus, colores meretricios virisumimus, tenero & molli gradu suspendimus gradum, non ambulamus. nat. quaest. lib. 7 [...]. cap. 31. Good manners as Seneca complaines, are extinct with wantonnesse, in tricking vp themselues men goe beyond women, men weare harlots colours and doe not walke, but iet and daunce, hic mulier, hac vir, more like Players, Butterflies, Baboones, Apes, Antickes then men, and so ridiculous wee are in our attires, and for cost so excessiue, that as Hierome said of old, Vno filo villarum in sunt pretia, vno lino decies sestertium inseritur, 'tis an ordinarie thing to put a thousand Oakes, or an hundred oxen into a sute of apparrell, to weare a whole Manner on his backe. What with shooe-ties, hangers, points, cappes and feathers, scarffes, bands, cuffes, &c. in a short space their whole patrimonies are consumed. Heliogabalus is taxed by Lampridius, and admired at in his time for wearing iewels in his shooes, a common thing in our times, not for Emperours and Princes, but almost for seruingmen and taylors: all the flowres, starres, and constellations, [Page 572] gold and precious stones doe condescend to set out their shooes. To expresse the luxurie of those Romane matrons, they had Liu. l. 4. dec 4. lex Valeria and Oppia, and a Cato to contradict, but no lawes will serue to expresse the pride and insolency of our times, the prodigious riot in this kind. Lucullus wardrope is put downe by our ordinary cittizens, and a coblers wife in Venice, a Curtesan in Florence is no whit inferiour to a Queene, if our Geographers say true, and why is all this, Why doe they glory in their Iewels (as Quid exultas in pulchritu dine panni, quid gloriaris ingem mis, vt sacilius incites ad libidinosum incendium. Mat. Bossus de Immoder. mulie. cultu. he saith) or exult and triumph in the beautie of clothes, why is all this cost? to incite men the sooner to burning lust. They pretend decencie and ornament, but let them take heede, least whilst they set out their bodies, they doe not damne their soules, 'tis Epist. 113. sulgent monil [...]bus moribus sordent, purpurata vestis conscientiae pannosa. cap. 3 17. Barnards councell: shine in Iewels, stinke in conditions, haue purple robes and a torne conscience. Let them take heed of Esayes prophesie, that their slippers and tires be not taken from them, sweet balles, bracelets, earings, vailes, wimpells, crisping pinnes, glasses, fine linnen, hoods and lawnes and sweet fauours, they become bald, burnt, and stinke vpon a sudden. And let maides take heed, as De virginali habitu, dum ornari cultius dum euagari virgines volunt, desinunt esse virgines. Clemens Alexandrinus lib. de pulchr. anime, ibidem. Cyprian aduiseth them, least while they wander too loosely abroad, they loose not their maidenhead: and like Aegyptian temples, seeme faire without, but proue rotten carkasses within. How much better were it for them to follow that good councell of Tertullian, De virginali habitu. dum ornari cultius dum euagari virgines volunt, desinunt esse virgines. Clemens Alexandrinus lib. de pulchr. anime, ibidem. To haue their eyes painted with chastitie, the word of God inserted to their eares, Lib. 2. de cultu mulierum. oculos de pictos verecundiá, inserentes in aures sermonē dei, anneclentes crinibus iugum Christi, caput maritis subijcientes, sic facile & satis eritis ornatae: vestite vos serico probitatis, byssino sanctitatis, pur [...]urâ pudicitiae taliter pigmentatae deum habebitis amatorem. Christs yoke tied to their haire, to subiect themselues to their husbands. If they would doe so, they should bee comely ynough, clothe themselues with the silke of sanctitie, damàske of deuotion, purple of piety and chastitie, and so painted, they shall haue God himselfe to bee a suiter: Let whores and queanes pranke vp themselues, Suas habeant Romanae lasciui [...], purpurissâ ac cerâssa ora perungat, fomenta lididinum & corruptae mentis indicia, vestrum ornamentū deus sit, pudicitia virtutis studium. Bossus. let them paint their faces with minion and cerusse, they are but fuell of lust, and [Page 573] signes of a corrupt soule: if ye be good, honest, vertuous and religious matrons, let sobrietie, modestie and chastitie be your honour, Plautus. and God himselfe your loue and desire. Mulier rectè olet vbi nihil olet, then a woman smelles best, when she hath no perfume at all, and more credit in a wise mans eye and iudgment they get by their plainenesse, and seeme more faire then they, that are set out with bables as a butchers meat is with prickes, and puffed vp and adorned like so many Iayes with varietie of colours. It is reported of Cornelia that vertuous Romane Lady, great Scipios daughter, Titus Sempronius wife, and the mothor of the Gracchi, that being by chaunce in company with a Campanian, a strange gentlewoman, (some light huswife belike, that was dressed like a may lady, and as most of our gentlewomen are, Solicitiores de capitis sui decore. quam de salute, inter pectinem & speculum diem perdunt, concinniores esse malunt quam honestiores & rempub. minus turbari curantquam caman. Seneca. was more sollicitous of her head-tires, then of her health, that spent her time betwixt a combe and a glasse, and had rather be faire then honest (as he said) and her common-wealth turned topsie turuie, then her tyres marred.) And shee did nought but bragge of her fine robes, and Iewels, and prouoked her to shew hers. Cornelia kept her in talke till her children came from schoole, and these said she are my iewells, and so deluded and put off a proud, vaine, phantasticall idle huswife. How much better were it for our matrons to doe as she did, to goe ciuelly and decently, Lucian. Honestae mulieris instar quae vtitur auro pro eo quod est, ad ea tantum quibus opus est, to vse gold as it is gold, and for that vse it serues, and when they need it, then to consume it in riotte, begger their husbands, prostitute themselues, inueagle others, and peradventure damme their owne soules. How much more would it be for their honour credit? so doing, as Hierome said of Blesilla, Non sic Furius de Gallis non Papyrius de Sa [...]itib [...] Scipio [...] Numan [...]â t [...]ium [...]h [...] as illa se vincend [...]i [...] hac parte. Furius did not so triumph ouer Gaules, Papyrius of the Samnites, Scipio of Numantia, as shee did by her temperance; pullà semper veste, &c. they should insult and domineere ouer lust, folly, vaine-glory, and such inordinate, furious and vnruly passions.
But I am ouertedious I confesse, and whilst I stand gaping after fine clothes, there is another great allurement (in [Page 574] the worlds eyes at least) which had like to haue stole out of sight: and that is money, veniunt à dote sagittae. Many men if they doe but heare of a great portion', are more mad then if they had all the beautious ornaments, and all those good parts arte and nature can afford, they care not for honesty, bringing vp, birth, beautie, person, but for money. If she be rich, then she is faire, then she burnes like fire, they loue her dearely, like pigge and pie, and are ready to hang themselues if they may not haue her. Nothing so familiar in these dayes, as for a yong man to marry an old wife as they say for a piece of good, and though she be an old crone, and haue neuer a tooth in her head, neither good conditions, nor good face, a naturall foole, but onely rich, she shall haue twentie yong gallants to be her suiters in an instant. As she said, non me sed mea ambiunt, 'tis not for her sake, but for money, and an excellent match it were (as hee added) if she were away. So on the otherside, many a young maid will cast away her selfe vpon an old doting disarde, that hath some twentie diseases, one eye, one legge, neuer a nose, no haire on his head, nor wit in his braines, nor honesty, if he haue Vxorem ducat Danaen, &c. money she will haue him before all her other suiters. Ouid. Dummodo sit diues barbarus ille placet. If he be rich, he is the man, and a fine man and a proper man: Iuuenalis. De moribus vltima fiet quaestio, for his conditions she will enquire after them another time, or when all is done, the match made, and euery body gone home. This is not amongst your dustwormes alone, poore snakes that will prostitute their soules for money, but with this baite you may catch your most potent, puissant, and illustrious Princes. Alexander Gaguinus Sarmat. Europ. descript. Iagello the great Duke of Lituania, 1386. was mightily enamored on Hedinga, in so much that he was turned Christian, and was baptized himselfe by the name of Vladislaus, and al his subiects for her sake, but why was it? she was daughter and heire of Polande, and his desire was to haue both kingdomes incorporated into one. Charles the great was an earnest suiter to Iraene the Empresse, but saith Tom. 3. annal. Zonoras P ob regnum, to annexe the Empîre of the [Page 575] East to that of the West. But what is the euent of all such matches, that are so made for money, goods, or by deceipt, or for burning lust, quos foeda libido cōiunxit, what followes? they are almost mad at first, but 'tis but a flash, as chaffe and straw soone fired and burne vehemently for a while, but are out in a moment, are all such matches so made by those allurements of burning lust, where there is no respect of honesty, parentage, vertue, religion, education, and the like, they are extinguished in an instant, & in stead of loue comes hate, for ioy repentance, and desperation it selfe. Franciscus Barbarus in his first booke de re vxoria cap. 5. hath a story of one Phillip of Padua that fell in loue with a common whore, and was now ready to runne mad for her; his father hauing no more sonnes, let him inioy her, Libido statim deferbuit fastidium caepit & quod in eâ tantopore adamauit aspernatur, & ab aegritudiue liberatus in angorem incidit. but after a few dayes, the young man began to lothe her, and could not so much as endure the sight of her, and from one madnesse fell into another. Such euent commonly haue all such louers, and he that so marries, and for such respects, let him looke for no better successe, then Menalaus had with Helen, Vulcan with Venus, Theseus with. Phaedra, Minos with Pasyphae, and Claudius with Messallinae, shame, sorrow, miserie, melancholie, discontent.
SVBSEC. 4. Importunitie and opportunity of the place, conference, discourse, singing, dauncing, musicke, amorous tales, obiects, kissing, familiaritie, tokens, presents, dribes, promises, protestations, teares, &c.
ALl these allurements hitherto are afarre off, and at a distance, I will come neerer to those other degrees of Loue, which are conference, kissing, dalliance, discourse, singing, dancing, amorous tales, obiects, presents, &c. which as so many Syrens steale away the hearts of men and women. [Page 576] For as Tatius obserues lib. 2. De puellae voluntate periculum facere solis oculis non [...]st satis, sed [...]ficatius aliquid agere oportet, ibi (que) etiae machinam alteram adh [...]bere, ita (que) manus tange, digitos constringe at (que) inter stringendum suspira, si haec agentem, ae quo se animo feret, neque facta huiusmodi aspernabitūr tum vero dominam appella eius (que) collum suauiare. It is no sufficient triall of a maids affectiō by her eyes alone, but you must say something that shall be more auaileable and vse some other forcible engines. And therefore take her by the hand, wring her fingers hard, and sigh withall, and if she take this in good part, and seeme not to be much auerse, then call her mistris, and take her about the necke and kisse her, &c. But this cannot be done, except they first get opportunitie of liuing or comming together, ingresse, egresse and regresse; letters and commendations may doe much, outward gestures, actions, but when they come to liue together in an house, loue is kindled on a sudden. Many a Seruingman by reason of this opportunitie and importunitie inueigles his masters daughters, many a gallant dotes vpon a Doudie, many Ladies dote vpon their men, as the Queene in Ariosto did vpon the dwarfe, many matches are made in hast, which had they bin free, or come in company of others, or seene that variety which other places afford, would neuer haue looked one vpon another. Or had not that opportunity of discourse & familiaritie been offered, they would haue loathed those and contemned; whō for want of better choice & other obiects, they are fatally driuen on, and by reason of their hote blood, idle life, full diet, &c. are forced to dote vpon what comes next. And many times those which at the first sight cannot fancie or affect each other, but are harsh and ready to disagree and disgrace, offended with each others carriages, and in whom they finde many faults, by this liuing together in a house, conference, kissing, colling, and such like allurements begin at last to dote insensibly one vpon another.
It was the greatest motiue that Potiphars wife had to dote vpon Ioseph, and Tatius lib. 1. Clitiphon vpon Leucippe his vncles daughter, because the plague being at Bizance, it was his fortune for a time to soiourne with her, to sit next her, as he telleth the tale himselfe in Tatius lib. 2. (which though it be but a fiction, is grounded vpon good obseruation, and doth [Page 577] well expresse the passions of louers) he had oportunitie to take her by the hand, and handle her pappes, In mammarum attractu non aspernanda inest iucunditas, & attrectatus &c. which made him mad. Ismenius the orator makes the like confession in Eumathius lib. 1. That when he came first to Sosthenes house, & sate at table with Cratistines, his friend, Ismenea Sosthenes daughter, waiting on them with her armes bare (which moued him much) was still ready to giue attendance on him, to fill him drinke, and her eyes were neuer offhim, but still smiling on him, and when they were risen, and shee had gotten a little oportunitie, Manus ad cubitum nuda, coram astans fortius intuita. Tenuem de pectore spiritum ducens digitum meum pressit, & bibe [...] pedom pressit, mutuae compressiones corporum, laebiorum commixtiones, pedum cōnexiones, &c. & bibit eodem loco, &c. she came and dranke to him, and withall trodde vpon his toes, and would come and goe, and when she could not speake for the company, she would wringe his hand, and blush when she met him: and by this meanes first she ouercame him, bibens amorē hauriebam simul , she would kisse the cup and drinke to him, and smile, and drinke where he dranke, on that side of the cup, by which mutuall compressions, kissings, wringing of hands, treading of feete, &c. Ipsam mihi videbar sorbillare virginem, I was drunke in loue vpon a sudden.
This opportunitie of time and place, with their circumstances are so forcible motiues, that it is vnpossible almost for two young folkes equall in yeeres to liue together, and not be in loue, especially in great houses, Princes courts, where they are idle, in summo gradu, fare well, liue at ease, and cannot tell otherwise how to spend their time. Ouid. [...]. lib. 2. ele [...]. [...]. Illic Hippolitum pone, Priapus erit, when as I say, nox, vinum & adolescentia, youth, wine and night shall concurre, 'tis a wonder they be not all plunged ouer head and eares in loue. If there be seuen seruants in an ordinarie house, you shall haue three couple in some good liking at least, and amongst idle persons how shall it be otherwise? Night alone that one opportunitie is enough to set all a fire, and they are so cunning in great houses, that they make their best aduantage of it; Many a gentlewoman, that is guiltie to her selfe of her imperfections, paintings, impostures, will not willingly be seene in the day time, but as De aulico lib. 1. fol. 63. Castilio noteth in the night, [Page 578] Diem vt glis odit, taedarum lucem super omnia mauult. She hates the day like a dormouse, and aboue all things loues torches and Candlel-ight, and if she must come abroad in the day, she couets as Vt Adulterini mercatorum panni. in a Mercers shoppe, a very obsuscate and obscure sight. And good reason she hath for it. Nocte latent mendae, and many an amorous gull is fetched ouer by that meanes. Gomesius lib. 3. de sale cap. 22. giues instance in a Florentine gentleman, that was so deceiued with a wife, she was so radiantly set out with rings and Iewels, lawnes and laces, gold and gaudy deuises, that the young man tooke her to be a goddesse, (For he neuer saw her but by torchlight) but after the wedding solemnities, when as he viewed her the next morning without her tires, and in a cleere day, she was so deformed, such a beastly creature in his eyes, that he could not endure to looke vpon her. Such matches are frequently made in Italie, where they haue no other opportunitie to wooe but when they goe to Church, or as Busbequius epist. in Turkie see them at a distance, they must enterchange few or no words, till such time they come to be married, and then as Sardus lib. 1. cap. 3. de morib. genr. and Paranympha in cubi [...]ulum adducta capillos ad cutem referebat, sponsus inde ad eam ingress [...] cingulam soluebat, nec prius sponsam aspexit interdi [...] quam ex ill [...] factus esset pater. Bohemus relate of these old Lacedaemonians, the bride is brought into the chamber, with her haire girte about her, the bride-grome comes in, and vnties the knot, and must not see her at all by daylight till such time as he is made a father by her. In those hotter countries these are ordinarie practises at this day, but in our Northerne parts amongst Germanes, Danes, Brittaines, the continent of Scandia and the rest, we assume more libertie in such cases, we allowe them as Bohemus saith, to kisse comming and going, & modo absit lasciuia, in cauponam ducere, to talke merrily, sport and play, sing and dance, so that it be modestly done, and go to the alehouse and tauerne together. And 'tis not amisse, though Serm. cont. concub. Chrysostome, Cyprian, Hierome, and some other of the Fathers, speake bitterly against it: but that is the abuse which is commonly seene at some drunken matches, dissolute meetings, or great vnruly feastes. Lib 2. epist. ad silium & virginem, & matrem viduam. epist. 10. dabit tibi barba [...]ulus quispiam manum, sustentabit lassam, & pressis digitis aut tentabitur aut tentabit, &c. A young pickitiuanted trimbearded fellow saith [Page 579] [...] [Page 578] [...] [Page 579] Hierome, will come with a company of complements, and hold you vp by the arme as you goe, and wringing your fingers, will so be entised, or entise: one drinkes to you, another embraceth, third kisseth, and all this while the fidler playes or finges a lasciuious songe, a fourth singles you out to daunce, L [...]quetur ali [...] xutibus & quicquid metuit dice [...]e significabit affectibus. Inter bas ta [...]tas voluptatum illecebras, etiam [...]err [...]as mentes l [...]bido [...]. Diffici [...]e inter epulas seruatur pudicitia. one speakes by beckes and signes, and that which he dares not say, signifies by passions: amongst so many and so great prouocations of pleasure, lust conquers the most harde and crabbed mindes, and scarce can a man liue honest, amongst feastings and sportes, or at such great meetings. For as he goes on, Clamore vestium ad se iuvenes vocat capilli fasciolis comprimuntur criśpati, cingulo pectus arctatur capilli vel infrontē vel in aures deflu [...]nt, palliolum interdum cadit, vt nudet humeros, & quasi videri noluerit [...]estinans celat, quod volens detexerit she walkes along, and with the ruffling of her clothes, she makes men looke at her, her shooes creak, her paps tied vp, her wast pulled in to make her looke smal, she is straight girded, her haires hange loose about her eares, her vpper garment sometime falles, and sometimes tarries, to shew her naked shoulders, and as if she would not be seene, she couers that in all haste, which voluntarily she shewed. And not at feastes, playes, Pageants, and such assemblies, Serm. contrae concubin. In sancto & reuerendo sacramentorum tempore multas occasiones, vt illis placeant, qui e [...]s vident praebent. but as Chrysostome obiects, these trickes are put in practise, at Seruice time in Churches, and at the Communion it selfe. If such dumbe shewes, signes, and more obscure significations of loue can so moue, what shall they doe that haue full libertie to sing, daunce, kisse, cull, and vse all manner of discourse and dalliance? The very Tone of some of their voyces, a pretty pleasing speech, an affected tone they vse, is able of it selfe to captiuate a young man; but when a good wit shall concurre, arte and eloquence, fascinating speech, pleasant discourse, the Syrens themselues cannot so inchant. Descrip. Brit. P. Iouius cōmends his countriwomen to haue an excellent faculty in this kind, aboue all other nations, and amongst them the Florentine Ladies: some preferre Romane and Venetian curtesans, they haue such pleasing tongues, and such Res est blanda canor discunt cantare puellae pro sacie, &c. Ouid. 3. de art. amandi. elegancy of speech, that they are able to ouercome a Saint, pro facie multis vox sua lena fuit. Tantâ gratiâ vocis famam conciliabat saith Petronius, tam dulcis sontis permulcebât aera, vt putares inter auras cantare Syrenum concordiam. She sange so sweetly [Page 580] that shee charmed the aire, and thou wouldest haue thought thou haddest heard a consort of Syrens. To heare a faire young gentlewoman to play vpon the Virginalls, Lute, Viall, Imagines si cantantem audieris ita demulcebere, vt parentum & patriae statim obliuiscaris. and sing to it, must needs be a great entisement. If thou diddest but heare her sing saith Edyl. 18. ne (que) sane vlla sic Citheram pul [...]re nouit. Lucian, thou wouldest forget father and mother, forsake all thy friends and follow her. Helena is highly commended by q Theocritus the Poet for her sweet voye, and musicke, none could play so well as she, & Daphnis in the same Edyllion.
A sweet voice and musicke are powerfull intisers, Centum luminibus cinctum caput Argus habebat, Argus had an hundred eyes, all so charmed by one sillie pipe, that he lost his head. Clitiphon complaines in Lib. 2. puellam [...]ithera canen [...] vidim [...]s. Tatius of Leucippes sweet tunes, he heard her play by chaunce vpon the lute, and sing a pretty song to it in commendation of a rose, and that rauished his heart. It was Iasons discourse as much as his beauty, or any other of his good parts which delighted Medaea so much.
It was Cleopatras sweet voice and pleasant speach, which inueagled Anthony aboue the rest of her entisements, Verba ligant hominum vt Taurorum cornua funes, as bulles hornes are bound with ropes, so are mens hearts with words. Her words burne as a fire, Eccle. 9. 10. Roxolana bewitched Solomon the magnificent, & Shores wife by this engine ouercame Edward the fourth, Catullus. Omnibus vna omnes surripu it veneris. The wife of Bath in Chaucer confesseth as muche.
[Page 581] Many silly gentlewomen are fetched ouer in like sort, by a company of gulls and swaggering companions, that haue nothing in them but a fewe players endes and complements, and can discourse at table of Knights and Lords, combats, of other mens trauells, braue aduentures, and such common triuiall newes, ride and daunce, and sing old ballet tunes, and weare their clothes with a good grace; a fine sweet gentleman, a proper man, who could not loue him? She will haue him though all her friends say no, though she beg with him. Amatorius sermo vehemens vehemētis cupiditatis incitatio est. Tacius li. 1. And some againe are incensed by reading amorous toies. Palmerin de Oliua, the knight of the sun, &c. or hearing such amorous tales of louers & descriptions of their persons, lasciuious discourses, set them on fire, and such like pictures or wanton obie&s in what kinde soeuer; no stronger engine then to heare or reade of loue toyes, fables and discourses ( Aeneas Siluius. nulla machina validior quā lectio lasciuae historiae saepe etiam huiusmodi fabulis ad surorem incenduntur. one saith) & many by this meanes are quite mad. Ismenius as as he walked in Sosthenes garden, being now in loue, when he saw so many [...]umathius li. 1. picturae parant animos ad venerem &c. Horatius ad res venereas intemperantior traditur, nam cubiculo suo [...]sic specula dicitur habuisse disposita vt quocun (que) respixisset imaginē coitus referrent. Suetonius vit. eius. lascuious pictures: Thetis marriage & I know not what, was almost beside himself. And to say truth with a lasciuious obiect who is not moued, to see others dally, kisse, dance, and much more when he shall come to bee an actor himselfe.
To kisse and to be kissed, which amongst other lasciuious provocations is as a burden in a songe, and a most forcible Batterie, a great allurement, a fire it selfe, prooemium aut anticoenium the prologue of burning lust as Apuleius adds, lust it selfe, Hor. Venus quinta parte sui nectaris imbuit. A strong assault, that conquers captaines and those all commanding forces, Hensius. domas (que) ferro sed domaris osculo: And tis a continuall assault, Petronius Catalect. hoc non deficit incipit (que) semper, it is allwaies fresh and and as ready to begin at first, as Catullus ad Lesbiā, da mihi basia mille deinde centum &c. he said basium nullo fine terminatur sed semper recens est, and hath a fierie touch with it.
Especially when they shall be lasciuiously giuen, Apu [...]eius lib. 10. & Catalect. as he said, & me pressulum deosculata Fotis.
The soule and all is moued, Petronius. Proseleos ad Circen. Iam pluribus osculis labra crepitabant, animarum quo (que) mixturā facientes, inter mutuos complexus animas anhelantes: Petronius. hasimus calentes, & transfudimus hinc & hinc labellis errantes animas, valete cura. They breathe out their soules and spirits together with their kisses saith Animus coniungitur & spiritus etiam no ster per osculum effluit, alternatim se in vtriusque corpus in fundentes commiscent. Animae potius quam corporis connectio. Balthasar Castilio, and change hearts and spirits, and mingle affections as they doe kisses, and it is rather a connection of the minde then of the body. And although these kisses bee delightsome and pleasant, as Lucian Tom. 4. Ganymedes kisse to Iupiter, Nectare suauior animarum catena. Sweeter then nectar hony, or Eumathius lib. 4. Oscula merum amorem stillantia, Loue dropping kisses, for
Yet they leaue a bitter impression, they are destructiue. ‘ Ouid. amand. Eleg. 18. Et quae me perdunt, oscula mille dabat.’
They are the bane of these miserable louers. There be honest kisses, I denie not, osculum charitatis, friendly kisses, modest kisses, officious and ceremoniall kisses, &c. but these are too lasciuious kisses, Ouid. Implicuit (que) suos circum mea colla lacertos▪ & ‘ Cum capitae liment solitis morsiunculis & cum mamillarū pressiunculis Lip. od. a [...]t lec. lib. 3. Brachia non hederae non vincunt oscula conchae.’ Columbatim (que) labia conferentes morsiunculis labiorum. they cling like Iuy, or an Oyster, bill as Doues meretritious kisses, biting of lips, cum additamento: such kisses as shee gaue to Gyton, innumera oscula dedit non repugnanti puero ceruicem inuadens, innumerable kisses, &c. More then kisses, or too homely kisses: as those that Apulcius miles. 6. Et vnum bland en [...]is linguae admulsum longe mellitum. [...] post. lib. 11. Arctius eam complex us caepi suauiari, iam (que) pariter patentis oris inhali [...]u cinnameo & occursantis linguae ill [...]s [...] nectario, &c. hee speaks of, Accepturus ab ipsa venere. 7. suauia &c. with such other obscenities, that vaine louers vse, which are abominable and pernitious. If as Peter de Ledesm [...] cas. cons. holds, euery kisse a man giues his wife after marriage, be mortale peccatum, a [Page 583] mortall sinne, what shall become of all such Oscula qui sumpsit si non & caetera sumpsit, &c. immodest kisses and obscene actions, the forerunners of brutish lust, If not lust it selfe? what shal become of them, that often abuse their owne wiues? but what haue I to doe with this? That which I aime at is to shew you the progresse of this burning lust: and to epitomise all this which I haue hitherto said, with a familiar example out of Musaeus: Obserue but with me the proceedings of Leander and Hero. They began first to looke one on the other with a lasciuious looke,
The same proceeding is elegantly described by Apollonius in his Argonauticks, betwixt Iason & Medaea, by Eumathius in his ten books of the loues of Ismenius and Ismene, Achilles Tatius betwixt his Clitiphon & Leucippe; & in that famous tale of Petronius of a Souldier and a Gentlewoman of Ephesus, [Page 584] that was so famous all ouer Asia for her chastity, & that mourned for her husband, the Souldier woed her with such Rhetoricke as Louers vse to doe,— placitone etiam pugnabis amori, &c. at last, frangi pertinaciam passa est, he got her good will, not only to satisfie his lust, Corpus plaecuit mariti sui tolli ex arca at (que) illi quae vacabat cruci adfigi. but to hange her dead husbands body on the crosse, which hee watched, insteed of the theeues which was newly stolne away, whilst he wo'd her in her Cabin. These are tales you will say, but they haue most significant Morals, and doe well expresse those ordinary proceedings of doting Louers.
Many such allurements there are, Nods, Iests, Winkings, Smiles, Wrastlings, Tokens, Fauours, Symbols, Letters, &c. For which cause belike, Godfridus lib. 2. de amor. would not haue women learne to write) many such prouocations when they come in presence, they will and will not.
They will deny and take, refuse and yet earnestly seeke, Denegat & pugnat sed vult super omnia vinci. repell to make them come with more eagernesse, and haue a thousand such seuerall entisements: for as he saith.
Imagines Deorum, fol. 327. varios amores facit quos aliqui intrepretantur multiplices affectus & illecebras alios puellos puellas, alatos alios faces habentes manibus, alios poma aurea, alios sagittas alios laqueos &c. And for this cause belike Philostratus in his Images, makes diuers loues, some young, some of one age some of another, some winged, some of one sexe, some of another, some with torches, some with golden apples, some with darts, ginnes, snares, and other [Page 585] engins in their hands, as Propertius hath prettely painted them out, lib. 2. & 29. and which some interpret diuerse entisements, or diuerse affections of Louers; which if not alone, yet ioyntly may batter and ouercome the strongest constitutions. It is reported of Decius and Valerianus, those two notorious persecutors of the Church, that when they could inforce a young Christian by no meanes (as Epist, lib. 3. vita Pauli Eremitae. Hierom records) to sacrifice to their Idols, by no torments or promises, they tooke another course to tempt him: they put him into a faire Garden, and set a young Curtesan to dally with him, Meretrix speciosa caepit delicatius stringere, colla complexibus & corpore in libidinem cō citato &c. shee toke him about the necke and kissed him, and that which is not to be named, manibus (que) attrectare &c, and all those entisements which might be vsed, that whom Torments could not, Loue might batter. But such was his constancy, shee could notouercome, and when this last engine would take no place, they left him to his owne waies. At Camden in Glocestershire. Huic praefuit nobilis & formosa Abbatissa, Godwinus comes in dolo. subtilis non ipsam sed sua cupiens reliquit nepotem suum formâ elegantissimum tā quam infirmum donec reverteretur , instruxit &c Barclye in Glocestershire, there was in times past a famous Nunnery (saith Gualter Mapes, an old Historiographer of ours, that liued 400 yeares since) Of which there was a Noble and a faire Lady abbesse: Godwin that subtill Earle of Kent travelling that way. (seeking not her but hers) leaues a Nephew of his, a proper yonge Gallāt, (as if he had been sicke) with her, til he came back againe and giues the young man charge so long to counterfeit, till he had deflowred the Abbesse, and as many besides of the Nunnes as he could: and leaues him with all rings, iewels, girdles, and such toyes to giue them still, when they came to visit him. The young man willing to vndergoe such a businesse, plaid his part so well, that in short space he got vp most of their bellies, and when hee had done, told his Lord how he had sped. Ille impiger regem adit Abbatissam & suas praegnantes edocet exploratoribus missis probat & ijs eiectis à domino suo manerium accept [...]. His Lord makes instantly to the Court, tells the King how such a Nunnery was become a bawdy house, procures a visitation, gets them to bee turned out, and begges their lands to his owne vse. This story I doe therefore repeat, that you may see of what force such entisements are, if they be opportunely vsed, and how hard it is euen for the most auerse and sanctified soules to resist such allurements. Iohn Maior in the life of Iohn the Monke, that liuing [Page 586] in the dayes of Theodosius, commēds the Ermite to haue beene a man of singular continency, and of a most austere life, but one night by chance the Diuel came to his Cell in the habit of a young market wench, that had lost her way, & desired for Gods sake some lodging with him: Post sermones de casu suo suavitate sermonis conciliat animū hominis, manū (que) inter colloquia & risus ad barbam protendit. & palpare cepit ceruicem suam & osculari. quid multa? captiuum ducit militem Christi. Complex vra euanescit, demones in aere monachum riserunt. The old man let her in, and after some common conference of her mishappe, she beganne to inveagle him with laesciuious talke, and tests, & to play with his beard, and kisse him, and doe wourse, t [...]ll at last she quite overcame him. As he went to addresse himself to that busines, she vanished on a suddaine, and the Diuels in the aire laughed him to skorne. Whether this be a true story, or a tale, I will not much contend, it serues to illustrate this which I haue said.
Yet were it so, that these of which I haue hitherto spoken, and such like entising baites be not sufficient, there be many others which will of themselues incende this passion of burning lust, amongst which, Dancing is none of the least, and because it is an engine of such force, I may not omit it. Incitamentum libidinis, Petrarch calls it, the spurre of lust. Multae inde impudicae domū rediere, plures ambiguae, melior nulla. Many women that vse it haue come dishonest home, most indifferent, none better. Turpium delitiarum comes [...]est externa saltatio ne (que) certe facile dictu quae mala hinc visus haurlat, & quae pariat colloquia, monstrosos inconditos gestus, &c. Another tearmes it the companion of all filthy delights and entisements, and tis not easily told what inconveniences come by it, what scurrile talke, obscene actions, and many times such monstrous gestures, such lasciuious motions, such wanton tunes, meretritious kisses, homely embracings,
That it will make the spectators mad. A thing neuerthelesse frequently vsed, and part of a Gentlewomans bringing vp, to sing, and dance, and play on the Lute, or some such instrument, Iuv. Sat. 11. before she can say her Pater noster, or ten Commandements, 'tis the next way their parents thinke to get them husbands, they are compelled to learne, and by that meanes, Hor. l. 5. Od. 6. incestos amores de tenero meditantur vngue; 'Tis a great allurement as it is often vsed, and many are vndone by it. Thais in [Page 587] Lucian inueagled Lamprias in a dance. Herodias so far pleased Herod, that she made him sweare to giue her what shee would aske, Iohn Baptists head. Hauarde vita eius. Robert Duke of Normandy riding by Falais, spied Arlette a faire maid as she was dancing on a greene, and was so much enamored with the obiect, that Of whom hee begat William the Conqueror, by the same tokē she tore her smock downe, saying &c. he must needs lye with her that night, Owen Tudar wonne Queene Catharines affection in a dance, falling by chance with his head in her lappe. Who cannot paralell these stories out of his experience? When Xenophon in Symposio or Banquet, had discoursed of Loue, and vsed all the engines that might be deuised, to moue Socrates amongst the rest, to stirre him the more, he shuts vp all with a pleasant Enterlude or dance of Dionysius and Ariadne, Principio Ariadne velut sponsa pro dijt ac sola recedit, prodiens illico Dionysius ad numeros cantante tibia saltaebat, admirati sunt omnes saltantem iuvenem ipsa (que) Ariadne vt vix potuerit conquiescere po [...] stea vero cum Dionysius eam aspexit, &c. Vt autem surrexit Dionysius erexit simul Ariadnem, licebat (que) spectare gestus osenlantium &c inter se complectentium qui a [...]t [...]m spectab [...]nt, &c. Ad extremum videntes eos mutuis amplexibus implicatos & iam iam ad thalamum ituros. qui non duxerant vxores iurabant vxores se ducturos, qui autem du [...]erant, conscensis equis et incitatis, vt iisdem fruerentur domum festinarunt. First Ariadne dressed like a Bride, came in and tooke her place, and by and by Dionysius entred, dancing to the Musicke. The spectators did all admire the young mans carriage, and Ariadne her selfe was so much affected with the sight, that shee could scarce sit. After a while Dionysius beholding Ariadne, and incensed with Loue, bowing to her knees, embraced her first, and kissed her with a grace, she embraced him againe, and kissed with like affection, as the dance required: but they that stood by & saw this, did much applaud and commend them both for it. And when Dionysius rose vp, he raised her vp with him, and many pretty gestures, & embraces, and kisses, & loue complements passed betweene them; which when they saw, faire Bacchus and beautifull Ariadne so sweetly and so vnfainedly kissing each other, so really, they swore they loued indeed, and were so enflamed with the obiect, and beganne to rouse vp themselues, as if they would haue flone. At the last when they saw them still, and so willingly embracing, and now ready to goe to the Bride-chamber, they were so rauish [...]d with it, that they that were vnmarried, swore they would forthwith marry, and those that were married, called instantly for their horses, and gallopped home to their wiues. What greater motiue can there be to this burning lust? What so violent an [Page 588] oppugner? Not without a good cause therefore so many graue men speake against it, Vse not the company of a woman, saith Siracides, 8. 4. that is a singer or a dancer, neither heare least thou be taken in her craftinesse. Nemo saltat sobrius, Tully holdes, he is not a sober man that danceth, and for that reason belike Domitian forbad the Roman Senators to dance, and for that fact remoued some of them from the Senate. But these you will say are lasciuious dances, & 'tis the abuse that causeth such inconuenience, And I doe not well therefore to condemne, or speake against it. You misinterpret, I doe not condemne it; I hold it not withstanding an honest disport, a lawfull recreation, if it be modestly and soberly vsed. I am of Plutarchs minde, Quae honestā voluptatem respicit, aut corporis exercitium contemni non debet. that which respects pleasure alone, honest recreation, or bodily exercise ought not to bee reiected and contemned. Salust discommends singing and dancing in Sempronia, not that she did sing or dance, but that shee did it in excesse, 'tis the abuse of it. Many will not allow men and women to dance together, Apuleius l. 10. Puelli puellae (que) virenti florentes aetatulâ, formâ conspicui, veste nitidi, incessu gratiosi, graecanicam saltantes pyr [...]hicam, dispositis ordinati monibus decoros ambitus inerrabant nunc in orbem flexi, nunc in obliquam seriem connexi, nunc in quadrū cuneati, nunc inde seperati, &c. because it is a prouocation to lust: they may as well with Lycurgus and Mahomet cut downe all Vines, forbid the drinking of wine, because it makes some men drunke. I see no such inconuenience, but that they may so dance, if it bee done at due times, and by fit persons. Let them take their pleasures, and as he said of old, young men & maids, flourishing in their age, faire and louely to behold, well attired, and of comely carriage danced a Greek Galliard, and as their dance required, kept their time, now turning, now tracing, now a part, now altogether, &c. and it was a pleasant sight. Our greatest Counsellers and most stai'd Senators at sometimes dance. And 10. leg. [...], &c. huius causa oportet disciplinam constitui, vt tam pueri quam pu [...]llae choreas celebrent spectentur (que) ac spectent, &c. Plato in his commonwealth, will haue dancing scholes to bee maintained, that young folkes might meet, be acquainted, see one another, and be seene; nay more, he would haue them dance naked, and laughes at those that laugh at it. But Eusebius praepar. Evangel. lib. 13. c. 12. [Page 589] and Theodoret, lib. 9. curat. graec. affect. worthely lash him for it; and well they might: for as one saith, Aspectus enim nudorum corporum lam mares quam saeminas irritare solet ad enormes laesciui [...] appetitus. The very sight of naked parts, causeth enormous & exceeding concupiscences, and stirres vp both men and women to burning lust▪ There is a meane in all things, this is my censure in breese. Dancing is a most pleasant recreation of body and minde, if conueniently vsed, a furious motiue to burning lust, if abused. But I proceed.
If these allurements doe not take place, the more effectually to moue others, and satisfie their lust, they will sweare and lye, promise, protest, forge, counterfeit, bribe, flatter, and dissemble of all sides. Many men to fetch ouer a younge woman, widdowes, or whom they loue, will not sticke to giue out, as he did in Petronius, that he was master of a ship, and kept so many seruants, and to personate their part the better, take vpon them to bee Gentlemen of good houses, well descended and allied, and hire apparell at brokers, some Scauingers or prick-louse Taylers to attend vpon them for the time, sweare they haue great possessions, Nam donis vincitur omnis amor Catullus, l. 1 eleg. 5. bribe, lye, cog, and foist, how dearely they loue, when as they are no such men, they meane nothing lesse.
When Louers sweare, Venus laughes, Venus haec periuria ridet. Periuria rid [...]t amantum Iuppiter & vent [...]s irrita serre iubet, Tibul. lib. 3. & 6. And Iuppiter smiles: if promises, and protestations will not auaile, they fall to bribes, tokens, gifts, Catul. Plurimus auro conciliatur amor: as Iuppiter corrupted Danae with a golden showre, they will fall in her lap. And women are not farre behind men in this kinde,
Ah crudele genus, nec tutum faemina nomen Tibul l. 3. eleg 4. They can counterfeit as well as the best, with handkerchiefs [Page 590] and wrought nightcaps, purses, poesies, and such toyes, as he complained,
When nothing else will serue, their last refuge is their teares. As Quartilla in Petronius, when nothing would moue, fell a weeping, & as Balthasar Castilio paints them out; Lib. 3. His accedunt vultus subtristis, color pallidus, gemebunda vox, ignita suspiria lachrimae prope innumerabiles. istae se statim vmbrae offerunt tanto squalore et in omni fere diverticulo tanta macie vt illas iamiam moribundas putes. To these Crocodiles teares, they will adde sobbes, fiery sighes, and sorrowfull countenance, pale colour, leanenesse, and if you doe but sti [...]re abroad, these fiends are ready to meet you at euery turne, with such sluttish neglected habit, deiected looke, as if they were now ready to dye for your sake, and how saith hee shall a young novice thus beset escape? But beleeue them not. On either side men are as false, let them sweare, protest, and lye; Ovid. quod vobis dicunt. Dixerunt mille puellis, they loce some of them those eleuen thousand Virgins at once, and make them beleeue each particular, he is besotted on her, or loue one till they see another, and then her alone: like Milo's wife in Apuleius, lib. 2. Si quem conspexerit speciosae formae iuuenē, venustate eius sumitur, & in eum animum intorquet. 'tis their common complement in that case, they care not what they say or doe. As for women they haue teares at will,
When Venus lost her sonne Cupid, she sent a crier about, to bid euery one that met him take heed.
Lib 3. Mille vix anni suff [...]cerent ad omnes illas mach [...]ationes dolo [...] commemorandos, quos [...]iri & mulieres vt se inuicem [...]mveniant, excogitare solent. A thousand yeares, as Castilio conceaues, will scarce serue to reckon vp those allurements and guiles, that men and women vse to deceaue one another with.
SVBSEC. 5. Bawds, Philters.
WHen all other Engins saile, and that they can proceed no farther of themselues, their last refuge is to flye to Bawds, Panders, Magicall Philters, & receipts, rather then fayle, to the Diuell himselfe. Flectere si nequeunt superos Acheronta monebunt. And by those indirect meanes many a man is ouercome, and precipitated into this malady, if he take not good heed. For these Bawds first, they are euery where so common and so many, that as he said of old Croton, Petronius. omnes hic aut captantur aut captant, either inueagle or be inueagled, we may say of most of our cities, there be so many professed cunning Bawds in them. Besides bawdery is become an art, or a liberall science, as Lucian calls it, and there bee so many tricks and subtelties, so many nurses, oldwomen Panders, letter carriers, beggers, Phisitians, Friers, Confessors employed about it, that nullus tradere stylus sufficiat, on saith. Such occult notes, Tritemius. Steganography, Polygraphy, cūning cōuayances in this kinde, that neither Iuno's Iealosie, nor Danaes custody nor Argo's vigilancy can keepe them safe. 'Tis the last and common refuge to vse a Catull. eleg 5. lib. 1. V [...]nit in exitium c [...]llida le [...]a meum. Bawds helpe, an old woman in the businesse, as Ouid 10. met. Myrrha did when shee doted on Cyniras, and could not compasse her desire, the old Iade her Nurse was ready at a pinch, dic inquit, opem (que) me sine ferre tibi—& in hac mea (pone timorem) sedulitas erit apta tibi, feare it not, if it be possible to be done, I will effect it: let him or her be neuer [Page 592] so honest, & watched, reserued, 'tis hard but one of these old women will get accesse: and scarce shall you finde, as De vit. Eremit cap. 3. ad sor [...]rē. Vix aliquam reclusuram huius temporis solam inuenies, ante cuius fenestram non anus garrula vel nugigerula m [...]lier sedet, quae eam fabulis occupet rumoribus pascat, huius vel illius monachi, &c. Austin obserues, in a Nunnery, a maid alone, but if she cannot haue egresse, before her windowe, you shall haue an old woman, or some prating Gossip tell her some tales, of this Clarke, and that Monke, or describing, or commending some young Gentleman or other vnto her. As I was walking in the street (saith a good Fellow in Petronius) to see the towne seru'd one [...]uening, Agreste olus anus vendebat & rogo inquam mater nunquid scis vbi ego habitem? de [...]ectata illa vrbanitate tam stultá & quidni sciam inquit? consurrexit (que) & caepit me praecedere; diuinam ego putabam &c. nud [...]s video meretrices, & in lupanar me adductum sero execratus aniculae insidias. I spied an old woman in a corner selling of Cabbages and roots (as our Hucksters se [...] Plummes, Apples, and such like fruits) mother, quoth he, can you tell where I dwell? she being well pleased with my foolish vrbanity, replied, & why sir should I not tell? and with that she rose vp and went before me; I tooke her for a wise woman, and by and by she led me into a by-lane, and told me there I should dwell; I replied againe I knewe not the house, I perceaued on a suddaine by the naked wher [...]s, that I was now come into a bawdy house, and then too late I beganne to curse the trechery of this old Iade. Such tricks you shall haue in many places, and amongst the rest it is ordinary in Venice, in the Iland of Zante, for a man to bee Bawd to his owne wife. No sooner shall you land or come a shore, but as the Comicall Poet hath it,
These white Diuells haue their Panders, Bawds and Factors in euery place to seek about, & bring in customers, to tempt and way-lay silly trauellers. And when they haue them once within their clutches, as Aegidius Maserius in his Comment vpon Valerius Flaeccus describes them, Promissis euerberant, molliūi dulciloquiis & opportunum tempus aucupantes laqueos ingerunt quos vix Lucretia vitaret, escam parant quam velsatur Hippolitus sumeret, &c. Hae sane sunt virgae [...]po [...]iserae quibus contactae animae ad orcum descendunt, hoc gluten quo compactae mentium alae euolare [...]equesunt daemonis ancillae, quae sollicitant, &c. with promises & pleasant [Page 593] discourse, with gifts, tokens, and taking their opportunities, they lay nets which Lucretia cannot avoid, and baits that Hippolitus himselfe would swallow, and make such strong assaults and batteries, that the Goddesse of Virginity cannot withstand them: giue gifts, and bribes to moue Penelope, and with threats able to terrifie Susanna. How many Proserpinas with those catchpoles doth Pluto take? These are the sleepy rods with which their soules touched descend to hell; this the glew or lime with which the wings of the minde once touched cannot fly away, the Diuels ministers to allure, entice, &c. Many young men and maids without all question are inueagled by these Eumenides, and their associats. But these are triviall & well known: your most sly, dangerous & cunning Bawds are your knauish Phisitians, Empyrickes, Masse-priests, Monkes, Iesuits, and Friers: Though it be against Hippocrates oath, some of them will giue a dramme, and promise to restore maidenheads, and doe it without danger, make an abort if need be, keepe downe their pappes, hinder conception, procure lust, make them able with Satyrions, and now and then step in themselues. No Monastery so close, or house so priuate, or prison so kept, but these honest men are admitted to censure & aske questions, to feele their pulse beat at their bed side, and all vnder pretence of giuing Physicke. Now as for Monks, Confessors, and Friers, as he said.
Either for himselfe to satisfie his owne lust, or for another, if he be hired thereto, or both at once, hauing such excellent meanes. For vnder colour of visitation, auricular confession, comfort and pennance, they haue free egresse and regresse, & corrupt God knowes how many. They haue so many trades some of them, to practice Phisicke, to vse exorcismes, &c.
H. Stephanus Apol. Herod. lib. 1. cap. 21. In the mountaines betwixt Dauphine and Sauoye, the Friers persuaded the good wiues to counterfeit themselues possessed, that their husbands might giue them free accesse and were so familiar in those daies with some of them, that as one Bale. Puellae in lectis dormire non poterant. obserues, wenches could not sleepe in their beds for Necromanticke Friers: & the good Abbesse in Bocace may in some sort witnesse, that mistooke and put on the Friers breeches insteed of a vaile or hat. You haue heard the story I presume of Paulina, a chast matron in Aegesippus, whom one of Isis Priests did prostitute to a young Knight, and made her beleeue it was their God Anubis. Many such pranks are plaied by our Iesuites, sometimes in their owne habites, sometimes in others, like souldiers, courtiers, cittizens, Schollers, Gallants, and women themselues. Proteus-like in all formes and disguises, they goe abroad in the night, to inescate and beguile young women, or to haue their pleasure of other mens wiues: And if we may beleeue Liberedit Augustae vendelicorum [...] o. 1608. some relations, they haue wardropes of seuerall sutes in their Colledges for that purpose. Howsoeuer in publike they pretend much zeale, & seeme to be very holy men, and bitterly preach against adultery, fornication; there are no verier Bawds or whoremasters in a country, Quorum animas lucrari debent deo sacrifi [...]nt diabolo. Whose soules they should gaine to God, they sacrifice to the Diuell. But I spare these men for the present.
The last Battering Engines are Philters, Amulets. Spells, Charmes, Images, and such vnlawfull meanes, if they cannot preuaile of themselues by the helpe of Bawds, Panders, and their adherents, they will fly for succour to the Diuell himselfe. I knowe there be those that deny the Diuell can doe any such thing, as Crato lib. 2. epist. med. and many Divines that there is no other fascination then that which comes by the eyes, of which I haue formerly spoken, and if you desire to to be better informed, read Camerarius oper. subcis. cent. 2. c. 5 It was giuen out of old that a Thessalian wench, had bewitched King Philip to dote vpon her, and by Philters enforced [Page 595] his loue, but when Olympia the Queene saw the wench, of an excellent beauty, well brought vp and qualified these, quoth she, were the Philters which inueagled King Philip. In our times 'tis a common thing, saith Erastus in his booke de Lamijs, for Witches to take vpon them the making of these Philters, Sagae omnes si [...]i arrogant notitiam & facultatem in amor [...] aliciendi quos v [...]lint, edia inter coniuges serendi tempestates excitandi, morbos infligendi, &c. to make men and women loue and hate whom they will, to cause tempests, diseases, &c. by Charmes, Spells, Characters, knots. S. Hierom proues that they can doe it, (and in Hilarius life, epist. li. 3.) he hath a story of a young man, that with a Philter made a maid mad for the loue of him, which maide was after cured by Hilarian. Plutarch reports of Lucullus that he died of a Philter, and that Cleopatra vsed Philters to inueagle Anthony, amongst other allurements. Eusebius reports as much of Lucretius the Poet. Panormitan lib. 4. de gest. Alphonsi, hath a story of one Stephan a Neapolitan knight that by a Philter was forced to runne mad for loue. Marcus the Heretick is accused by Irinaeus to haue inueagled a young maid by this meanes; and some writers speake hardly of the Lady Catharine Cobham, that by the same art she circumuented Humfrey Duke of Gloucester to be her husband. Sycinius Aemilianus summoned Apolog. Quod Pudenti [...] lam viduam ditem & prouectioris aetatis faeminam, cantaminibus in amorem sui pellexisset. Apuleius to come before Cneus Maximus Proconsul of Africke, that he being a poore fellow, had bewitched by Philters Pudentilla, an ancient rich matron to loue him, & being worth so many thousand sesterces, to be his wife. Agrippa lib. 1. cap. 4.8. occult. philos. attributes much in this kind to Philters, Amulets, Images; and Salmutz com. in Pan [...]irol. Tit. 10. de Horol Leo Afer lib. 3. 'tis ordinarily practised at Fez in Africke, praestigiatores ibi plures, qui cogunt amores & concubitus. But Erastus, Wierus, and others are against it; they grant such things indeed may be done, but as Wierus discourseth, lib. 3. de Lamijs ca. 37. not by charmes, incantations, Philters, but the Diuell himselfe, so lib. 5. cap. 2. he contends as much. So doth Freitagius noc. med. cap. 74. Andreas Cisalpinus cap. 5. Many are of opinion that these feats, which most suppose to be done by Charmes & Philters are meerely done by natural causes, as by Mela insana, Mandrake [Page 596] roots, Mandrake apples Lemnius lib. herb. bib [...] c. 2 Mandrake apples, pretious stones, dead mens cloaths, candles, mala Bacchica, panis p [...]rcinus, Hippomanes, &c. of which Rhasis, Dioscorides, Porta, Wecker, Rubeus, Mizaldus, Albertus treate: of a Swallowes heart, dust of a Doues heart, &c. which are as forcible, & of as much vertue, as that fountaine Salmacis in Lib. 11. cap. 8. Venere implicat eos qui ex eo bibunt. Vitrunius, that made all such mad for loue that dranke of it, or Venus inchanted girdle, in which saith Baltheus veneris, in quo suauitas & dulcia solloquia beneuolentiae & blā ditiae, suasiones fraudes & venesicia include [...]ntu [...]. Natales Comes, Loue toyes and dalliance, pleasantnesse, sweetnesse, perswasions, subtelties, gentle speeches, and all withcraft to enforce loue was contained. Read more of these in Agrippa de occult. Philos. lib. 1. cap. 50. & 45. Malleus malefic. part. 1. quaest. 7. Delrio. tom. 2 quaest. 3. lib. 3. Wierus, Pompenatius, cap. 8, de Incan. Ficinus. lib. 13. Theol. Plat. Calcagninus, &c.
MEMB. 3.
SVBSEC. 1. Symptomes of Loue-melancholy.
SYmptomes, are either of Body or minde: of Body, palenesse, leanenesse, drinesse, &c. Ouid. Facit hun [...] amor ipse colorem met. 4. Pallidus omnis amans, color hic est aptus amanti, as the Poet describes Louers; fecit amor maciem, Loue causeth leanenesse. Signa eius sunt profunditas oculorum, priuatio lachrymarum suspiria, saepè rident sibi, ac si quod delectabile viderent aut audirent. Auicenna de Ilishi cap. 23. makes hollow eyes, drinesse, Symptomes of this disease, to goe smiling to themselus, or acting, as if they saw or heard some delectable obiect. Valleriola lib. 2. obseruat. cap. 7. Laurentius cap. 10. Aelianus Montaltus de Her: amore, Languis epist. 24. lib. 1. epist. med. deliuer as much, corpus exangue pallet, corpus gracile, oculi caui, leane, pale, holloweyed, their eyes are hidden in their heads, they pine away, & looke ill with waking, cares, sighes, want of appetite, &c. A reason of all this De morbis cerebride erot amore. ob spirituum dis [...] ctionē [...]par o [...]iciosuo non f [...]gitur, nec ve [...] [...]ntum in sanguinem vt debet, Ergomembra debilia & penuria alibilis succi marcescu [...] [...] vt herbae in horto meo hoc mense Maio Zeriscae, ob imbrium defectum. Iason Pratensis giues, because of the distraction of the spirits, the Liuer doth not performe his part, nor turnes the aliment into blood as it ought, and for that cause the members are weake for want of [Page 597] sustenance, they are leane and pine away, as the hearbs in my garden doe this month of May for want of raine. The greene sicknesse for this cause often happeneth to young women, a Cachexia, or an euil habit to men. When Cariclia was inamored on Theagines, as Lib. 4. Anima errat & quid vis obuium loquitur, vigilias abs (que) causa sustinet, & succum corporis subito amisit. Heliodorus sets her out, she was halfe distract and spake she knewe not what, sighed to her selfe, lay much awake, and was leane vpon a sudden. Aeneas Silv. Eurialus in an Epistle sent to Lucretia his Mist [...]is, complaines amongst other grieuances, tu mihi & somni & cibi vsum abstulisti, thou hast taken my stomacke and my sleepe from me. As he describes it aright.
Chaucer in the Knights tale. Theocritus Edyl. 2. makes a faire maid of Delphos in loue with a young man of Minda confesse as much,
All these passions are well described by Virg. 2. Aen. that Heroicall Poet in the person of Dido.
Accius Sanezarius Egloga, 2. de Galatea in the same man [...]er makes his Lycoris tormenting of her selfe for want of [...], sighing, sobbing, and lamenting. And Eumathius his [...] much troubled, and Sa [...]i [...]b [...]t crebro tepidum cor ad as [...]ectum Ismene [...]. Panting at heart at the sight [...] [...] tris, and could not sleepe, his bedde was [...]. Gordonius cap 20. a [...]tunt sepe cibum potum & maceratur inde to [...] corpus All make leanenesse, want of appetite, and this want of s [...]pe ordinary Symptomes, and by that meanes they are brought often so lowe, and so much altered and changed, that as T [...]r. Eunuch. Dii boni quid ho [...] est [...] ade [...]e homines mutari ex [...] vt non cognoscas eundem esse? hee i [...]ted in the Comedy, one can scarce knowe him to be the [...].
Many such Symptomes there are of the body to discerne Louers by, plus quam mille notis nymphae sensisse seruntur, but two of the most notable are obserued by the Pulse and co [...]enance. When Antiochus the sonne of Seleucus was si [...]e f [...]r Stratonice his mother in law, and would not confesse his griefe or the cause of his disease, Erasistratus the Phisitian, found him by his Pulse and countenance to bee in loue with her, Ad eius nomē rub [...]hat & ad aspectum [...]ulsus variabatur. because that when she came in presence, or was [...], his pulse varied, and he blushed besides. By the same signes [...] bragges, that he found out Iusta Boethius the Cons [...] [...]e, to dote on Pylades the player, because at his name still f [...]e both altered pulse and countenance. Franciscus Valesius. l. 3. controu. 13. med. contr. denies that there is any such pul [...]amatorius, or that Loue may be so discerned, but A [...] confirmes that of Galen out of his experience lib. 3. [...] Gordonius cap. 20. Pu [...]us [...]rum vel [...]x & inord [...]natus si mulier qu [...]m amat fortè transeat. Their pulse hee saith is inord [...], and swift, if shee goe by whom hee loues, Langius epist. [...] lib. 1. med. epist. Neuisanus. lib. 4. numer. 66. syl. nup [...]s, V [...]scus de Taranta, Guianerius, Tract. 15. sets downe this [...] Symptome, Si [...] sunt c [...]ssatio ab omni op [...]i [...], p [...]tio somni, s [...]ia [...]bra, r [...]r cum sit ser [...] d [...]e amatâ, & commotis pulsus. Valescus. difference of pulse, neglect of busines, want [...], often sighes, blushings, when there is any speech of their mistris [Page 599] are manifest signes. But amongst the rest, Iosephus Struthlus that Polonian in the fifth booke cap. 17. of his doctrine of pulses, holdes that this and all other passions of the mind may be discouered by the pulse. Si noscere vis an homines suspecti tales sint, tangito corum ar [...]as. And if you will know saith he whether the men suspected be such or such, touch their arteries, &c. And in his 4. booke 14, chapter, he speakes of this particular loue pulse; Amor facitiaae quales, inordinatos. loue makes an vnequall pulse, &c. In nobilis cuiusdam vxore quum sabolfacerem adulteri amore fuisse correptam, & quam maritus, &c. hee giues an instance in a Gentlewoman a patient of his, whom by this meanes he found to be much inamored, and with whom: hee named many persons, but at the last when he named him whom he suspected, Caepit illico pulsus variari & ferri celerius & sic inveni. her pulse began to varie and to beat swifter, and so by often feeling her pulse, he perceiued what the matter was. Apollonius Argonaut lib. 4. Poetically setting downe the meeting of Iason and Medaea, makes them both to blush at one anothers sight, and at the first they were not able to speake: which very signe Lib. 1. Eumathius makes an argument of Ismenes affection, that when she met her sweet-heart by chance, she changed her countenance. And 'tis a common thing amongst louers, as Lexoniensis Episcapus. Arnulphus that merry conceited Bishop, hath well expressed in a Epigram of his.
But the best coniectures are taken from such symptomes as appeare when they are both present; all their speeches, actions, lasciuious gestures will bewray them, they cannot containe themselues; but that they will be still kissing.
Hensius Culling, dallying, feeling their pappes, biting lippes, embracing, treading on their toes, and scarce honestly sometimes: diuing into their bosomes, as the old man in the Terent. Comedie well obserued of his sonne, Non ego te videbam manum huic puellae in sinum inserere? Did not I see thee put thy hand into her bosome? goe to. Iuno in Lucian deorum dial. 3. Tom. 3. complaines to Iupiter of Ixion Attentè adeo in me aspexit, et interdum ingemiscebat & lachrymabatur. Et si quando bibens, &c. he looked so attentiuely on her, and sometimes would sighe and weepe in her companie, and when I dranke by chance and gaue Ganymede the cuppe, he would desire to drinke still in that very cuppe that I dranke off, & in the same place where I dranke, & would kisse the cup, and then looke steddily on me. If it be so they cannot come so neere to dally, or haue not that opportunity, familiaritie, or acquaintance to conferre and talke together; yet if they come in presence, their eye will bewray them: vbi amor ibi oculus, as the common saying is.
They cannot looke of whom they loue, they will be still gazing and staring, glancing at her, as Apollo on Leucothoe, or if she go by, looke after her as long as they can see her. Lucian in his Imagin., & Tatius, of Clitiphon say as much, Ille oculos de Leucippe, Lib. 4. nunquam deijciebat & many louers confesse when they came in their mistresse presence, they could not hold off their eies. There is a pleasant story to this purpose in Nauigat. Vertom. l. 3. c. 5. The Sultan of Sanas wife in Arabia, because Vertomannus was faire & white could not looke off him from sunne-rising to sunne-setting, she could not desist, she made him one day come into her chamber, & geminae horae spatio intuebatur, non a me vnquam aciem oculorum auertebat, me obseruans veluti Cupidinem quendam, for two houres space she still gazed on him. If so be they cannot see them, they will still be walking and waiting about their mistris [Page 601] doores, taking all opportunity to see them, as in Longus Sophista, Daphnis and Cloe two louers, Lib 3. were still houering at one anothers gates, he sought all occasions to be in her company, to hunt and catch birds in the frost about her house in winter, that she might see him and he her. 'Tis all his felicity to be with her, to talke with her, he is neuer well but in her company, and will walke Vno & eodem die sex vel septies ambulant per eandem plataeam, vt vel vnico amicae suae fruantur aspectu. lib. 3. Theat. Medi. seuen or eight times a day through the street where she dwels, and make sleeuelesse errands to see her: none so merry if hee may happily enioy her company, he is in heauen for the time, and if he may not, deiected in an instant, solitary, silent, weeping, lamenting, sighing, complaining still, &c.
But the symptomes of the mind in louers are almost infifinite, and so diuerse, that no arte can comprehend them, though they be merry sometimes, and rapt beyond themselues for ioy, yet most part loue is a plague, a torture, a hell. The Spanish Inquisition is not comparable to it, a torment and Plautus, credo ego ad hominis carnificinam amorē inuentum esse. execution, as he calls in the Poet, an vnquenchable fire, and what not; De ciuitat. lib. 22. cap. 22. ex eo oriuntur mordaces curae, perturbationes, maerores, formidines, insana gaudia, discordiae, lites, bella, insidiae, iracundiae, inimicitiae, fallacie, adulatio, fraus, furtum, nequitia, impudentia. From it saith Austin arise biting cares, perturbations, passions, sorrowes, feares, suspitions, discontents, contentions, discordes, warrs, trecheries, emnities, flatterie, cosening, riotte, lust, impudence, cruelty, knauery &c. these be the companions of louers, and their ordinarie symptomes, as the poets repeate them.
Euery Poet is full of such ca [...]lo [...]ues of loue symptomes, but feare and sorrow may iustly challenge the chiefe place. ‘ Ouid. Res est solliciti plena timoris amor.’ 'Tis full of feare, anxietie, paine and Aristotle 2. Rhet puts loue therefore in the Irascible part. Ouid. griefe, doubt, [...]re, suspition, peeuishnesse, and bitternesse it selfe, [...] Plato calles it, a bitter potion, a plague.
Most part a louers life is full of anxietie, feare and griefe, complaints & sighes, suspitious cares & discontents, except at such times that he hath lucida interualla, pleasant gales, or sudden alterations, as if his mistris smile vpon him, giue him a good looke, or kisse, or that some comfortable message be brought him, his seruice is accepted &c. then there is no happinesse in the world comparable to this.
He will not change fortune, in that case with a king.
The Persian kings are not so Iouial as he is; but if he heare ill newes, haue ill successe, she frowne vpon him, none so Loue is a fiend, a fire, a heauen, a hell, where pleasure, paine, griefe, and repentance dwell. R.T. deiected as himselfe, Ingenium vuliu staet (que) eadit (que) suo, his fortune ebbes and flowes with her fauour, a gratious or bad aspect turnes him vp or downe. Howsoeuer his present state be pleasing or displeasing 'tis continuate, so long as he loues, he can doe nothing, thinke of nothing else but her; desire hath no rest, she is his Cynosure, his goddesse, his mistris, Anima non est vbi animat sed vbi amat. his life, [Page 603] his soule, his euery thing, dreaming, walking, she is alwayes in his mouth, his heart, his eyes; his eares, and all his thoughts are full of her, as Orpheus on his Euridice.
Or as Dido vpon Aeneas.
Clytiphon in the first booke of Achilles Tatius, complaineth how that his mistris Leucippe tormented him much more in the night, then in the day. Interdiu oculi & aures occupa [...]ae dist [...]ahunt animum, at noctu solus iactor, ad aurorā, somnus paulum misertus, nec tamen ex animo puella abijt, sed omnia mihi de Leucippe somnia erant. For all day long he had some obiect or other to distract his sences, but in the night all ranne vpon her. All night long he lay awake, and could thinke of nothing else but her, he could not get her out of his mind, towards morning sleepe tooke a little pittie on him, he slumbred awhile, but all his dreames were of her. The same complaint Eurialus makes to his Lucretia, day and night I thinke of thee, I wish for thee, I talke of thee, call on thee, looke for thee, hope for thee, delight my selfe in thee, day and night I loue thee.
Morning, Euening, all is alike with me, —restselfe thoughts, ‘ Petronius. To vigilans oculis animo, te nocte requiro.’ Still I thinke on thee. And that so violently sometimes, with such earnestnesse and egernesse, such continuance, so strong an imagination, that at length he thinkes he sees her indeede, he talkes with her, he embraceth her, as he said Nihil praeter Leucippen cerno, Leucippe mihi perpetuo in oculis & animo versatur, as he that is bitten with a mad dogge, thinkes all he sees dogges, dogges in his meate, dogges in his dish, dogges in his drinke, his mistris is in his eyes, in his eares, in his heart, [Page 604] in all his senses. Valleriola had a merchant his patient in the same predicament, and De Pythonissis. Vlricus Molitor out of Austin, hath a story of one that through vehemency of this loue passion, still thought he saw his mistris present with him, she talked with him, Et commisceri cum eâ vigilans videbatur, still embracing him. Now if this passion of loue can produce such effects, if it be pleasantly intended, what bitter torments shall it breede, when it is with feare and continuall sorrow, suspition, care, as commonly it is, still accompanied, what an intollerable Iuno nec ira deûm tantum nec tela, nec hostis, quantum tute nones animis illapsus. Silius Jtal. 15. [...]el, Punic. de amore. paine must it be?
When the king of Babylon would haue punished a courtier of his, for louing of a young Lady of the royall blood, and farre aboue his fortunes, Philostratus vitá eius. maximum tormentum quod excogitare vel docere te possum, est, ipse amor. Apollonius in presence, by all meanes perswaded him to let him alone, For to loue and not enioy, was a most vnspeakeable torment, no tyrant could inuent the like punishment; as a knat at a candle, in a short space he would consume himselfe. For loue is a perpetuall Ausonius c. 35. flux, angor animi, a warfare, militat omnis amans, a grieuous wound is loue still, and a louers heart is Cupids quiuer, a consuming Et caeco carpitur igne, & mihi sese vltro offert meus ignis Amyntas. fire, an inextinguible fire.
As Aetna rageth so doth loue, and more then Aetna, or any materiall fire.
No water can quench this fire. —
It strikes like lightning, which made those old Graecians, Imagines deorum. paint Cupid in many of their Temples, with Iupiters thunderboults in his hands, for it wounds and cannot be perceiued how, whence it came, where it pierced. ‘ Ouid. Vrimur & caecum pectora vulnus habent,’ And can hardly be discerned first. —
But by and by it began to rage and burne amaine.
And to say truth, as Lib. 4. nam istius amoris ne (que) principia ne (que) media aliud habent quid, quam molestias, dolores, cruciatus defatigationes, adeo vt miserum esse maerore, gemitu, sol [...]tudine torqueri, mortem optare, semper (que) debacchari, sunt certa amantiū signa & certae actiones. Castilio describes it. The beginning, middle, end of loue is nought else but sorrow, vexation, torment, irkesomenesse, wearisomenesse, so that to be squalid, vgly, miserable, solitarie, discontent, deiected, to wish for death, and to complaine, and raue, and to be peeuish are the certaine signes, and ordinary actions of a loue-sicke person. And this continuall paine and torture, makes them forget themselues, if they be farre gone with it, or in doubt or despaire of obtaining, egerly bent to neglect all ordinary businesse. To be carelesse of themselues and their estates, as the shepheard in Edill. 14. Theocritus, [Page 606] Et haec barba inculta est squalidi (que) capilli, their beards flagge, and they haue no more care of prancking themselues, or of any businesse, they care not as they say, which end g [...]e [...] forward.
Qui olim cogitabat quae vellet & pulcherrimis Philosophiae praeceptis operam insūpsit qui vniuersi circuitiones caeli (que) naturam, &c. Hanc vnam intendit operam, de sola cogitat noctes & dies se componit ad hanc, & ad acerbam seruitutem redactus animus. He that earst had his thoughts free (as Philostratus Lemrius in an Epistle of his, describes this fiery passion) and spent his time like an harde student, in those delightsome Philosophicall precepts, he that with the Sunne and Moone wandred all ouer the world, and with Starres themselues ranged about, and left no secret or small mystery in nature vnsearched since he was inamored, can doe nothing now but thinke and meditate of loue matters, and day and night composeth himselfe how to please his mistris, al his study, endeuor, is to approue himselfe to his mistris to win his mistris fauor, to compasse his desire, to be counted her seruant. And to this end and purpose, if there be any hope of obtaining his sute, to prosequute his cause, he will spend himselfe, goods, fortunes for her, and though he loose and alienate all his freinds, be cast of, and disinherited, vtterly vndone by it, yet for her sweet sake, to inioy her he will hazard all he hath, goods, lands, and life it selfe.
Tis a common humor this a generall passion of all louers to be so affected. and which Aemilia told Aretine a courtier in Castilios discourse, Lib. 2. certè vix credam, & bona fide fateare Aretine, te non amasse, adeo vehementer, si enim verè amasses nihil prius aut potius optasses, quam amatae mulieri placere. Ea enim amoris lex est idem velle & nolle. surely Arctine, if thou wearst not so indeed, thou didst not loue, ingeniously confesse it, for if thou haddest been throughly inamored, thou wouldst haue desired nothing more then to please thy Mistris. For that is the law of loue, to wil and nil the same.
Generally and vndoubtedly this may bee pronounced of [Page 607] them all they are very slaues, drudges for the time, madmen fooles and disards, beside themselues & as blinde as beetles. Their Immensus amor ipsa stulcitia est Cardas i lib. 2. de sapic [...] tiâ. dotage is most eminent, Amare simùl & sapere ipsi Iovi non datur, as Seneca holds Iupiter himselfe cannot loue & be wise both together, the very best of them all, if once they be ouertaken with this passion, the most staid and discreete, graue generous and wise, otherwise able to gouerne themselues, in this commit many absurdities, many indecorums, vnbefitting their grauitie and persons. Sampson, David, Salomon, Hercules, Socrates &c. are iustly taxed of indiscretion in this point, the middle sort are betwixt hawke and buzard, and although they doe perceiue and acknowledge their own dotage, weakenesse, furie, yet they cannot withstand it; as well may witnesse those expostulations, and confessions of Dido in Virgil, Phaedra in Seneca, Myrrha in Ouid, Meta. 10.
She will & will not, abhorres and yet as Medaea did, doth it.
The maior part of louers are carried headlong like so many brute beasts, reason counsels one way, their friends, fortunes, shame, disgrace, danger, and an Ocean of cares that will certainely follow; yet this furious lust, praecipitates counterpoiseth, waighes downe on the other: though it be their vtter vndoing, perpetuall infamy, losse, yet they will doe it, and become at last, insensati void of sence; degenerate into dogs, hogges, asses, brutes, as Iupiter into a Bull, Apuleius an Asse, Lycaon a Wolfe, Tereus a Lap-wing, An immodest woman is like a Beare. Calisto a Beare, Elpenor and Grillus into Swine by Circe. For what els may we thinke those ingenious Poets to haue shadowed in their witty fictions and poemes, but that a man once giuen ouer to his lust, as Feram induit dum rossa comedat. [...] dum ad se redeat. Fulgen [...]ius interprets that of Apuleius Alciat of Tereus, is no better then a beast.
Their blindnesse is all-out as great, and as manifest as their dotage, or rather an inseparable companion, an ordinarie signe of it. Loue is like a false glasse which represents euery thing fairer [...] it is. Loue is blind as the saying is, Cupids blind, and so are all his followers. Quisquis amat ranam, ranam putat esse Dianam. Euery louer admires his mistris, though she be very deformed of her selfe, ill fauoured, crooked, bald, goggle-eyed, or squint-eyed, sparrow mouthed, hookenosed or haue a sharpe foxe nose, gubber-tussed, rotten teeth, beetle-browed, her breath stinke all ouer the roome, her nose drop winter & summer with a Bauarian poke vnder her chin, laue eared, her dugges like two double ingges, bloo di-fal [...]e-fingers, scabbed wrists, a tanned skinne, a rotten carkasse, crooked backe, lame, splea-footed, as slender in the middle as a cowe in the waste, goutie legges, her feete stinke, she breeds lice, a very monster, an aufe imperfect, her whole complection sauours, and to thy iudgement lookes like a marde in a [Page 609] lanthorne, whom thou couldest not fancy for a world, but hatest, lothest, & wouldest haue spit in her face, or blow thy nose in her bosome, remedium amoris, to another man a doudy, a slut, a nasty, filthy be astly queane, dishonest peraduenture, obscene, base, beggerly, foolish, vntaught, if he loue her once, he admires her for all this, he takes no notice of any such errors or imperfections, of body or mind, he had rather haue her then any woman in the world; If hee were a king, she alone should be his queene, his empresse, ò that he had but for her sake: Venus her selfe, Helena, Panthea, & all your counterfeit Ladies were neuer so faire as she is. All the gratious elogies, metaphors, and all hyperbolicall comparisons of the best things in the world, the most glorious names, whatsoeuer is pleasant, amiable, sweet, gratefull, and delitious, are too little for her.
Starres, Sunnes, Moones, Mettalls, sweet smelling flowers, Odours, Colours, Gold, Siluer, Iuory, Snow, painted Birds, Dounes, Honie, Suger, Spice, cannot expresse her, Catullus. so soft so sweet, so faire is she.
[Page 610] In this very phrase Ouid. met. 13. Polyphemus courts his Galatea.
Cuius àvertice & nigricantibus oculis tale quiddam spirat ac ab aurea venere.
Hesiodus, scut, H [...]r [...].
To thy thinking she is a most lothsome creature, thou hadst as liue haue a snake in thy bosome, a toade in thy dish, and callest her witch, diuell, hagge, & all the filthy names thou canst inuent, he admires her on the other side, she is his Idole, Lady, Mistris, Queene, the Quintescence of beautie, an Angell, a Starre, a Goddesse, the fragrancie of a thousand Curtesans is in her face: all the graces, veneres, elegances, pleasures, attend her. He preferres her before a Myriade of court Ladies.
All the bumbast Epithites, pleasant names may be inuented, he puts on her, and as Ariosto. li. 29. [...] fr [...]. Rhodomant courted Isabella.
Euery cloth she weares pleaseth him aboue measure, her hand, ò quales digitos quaes habet illa manus, pretty foot, pretty coronets, her sweet carriage, sweet voice, her diuine and louely lookes, her euery thing, louely, sweet, amiable and pretty: euery action, fire, habit, gesture, he admires, whether she play, sing, or dance, in what tires, soeuer she goeth, how excellent it was, how well it became her, neuer the like seene or heard.
[Page 611] ‘ Tibullus. Mille habet oruatus mille decenter habet.’
Let her doe what she will, say what she will, he applauds and admires euery thing she saith or doth.
Women do as much by men. What greater dotage or blindnesse can there be then this: and yet their slauery is more eminent, a greater signe of their dotage then the rest. They are commonly slaues, captiues, voluntary seruants, amator amica mancipium, as Lib. 3. de aulico alterius affectui se totum componit, totus placere s [...]ud [...]t, & ipsius animam amatae pedisse quam facit. Castilio termes him, his mistris seruant, her drudge, prisoner, bondman; what not? Hee composeth him selfe wholy to her affections to please her, and as Aemilia said, makes himselfe her lackie. All his cares, actions, all his thoughts, are subordinate to her will and command, her most deuote, obsequious, affectionate seruant and vassall. For loue (as Cyroped lib. 5. amor seruitus, & qui amant, optant eo liberari, non secus a [...] alio quouis morbo ne (que) liberari tamen possunt, sed validiore necessitate ligati sunt quam si inferrea vincula coniecti forent. Cyrus in Xenophon well obserued) is a meere tyranny and worse then any disease, and they that are troubled with it desire to be free and cannot, but they be harder bound then if they were in yron chaines. Heare some of their confessions, protestations, complaints, proferres, expostulations, wishes, brutish attempts, labours in this kind. Philostratus in an Epistle to his mistris, Paratus sum ad obeundam mortem, si tu iubeas hoc, sitim aestuantis seda, quem tuum sydus perdidit, aquae & fontes no [...] negant, &c. I am ready to die sweet heart if it bee thy will, alay his thirst whom thy starre hath scorched and vndone, The fountaines and riuers denie no man drink that comes, the fountaine doth not say thou shalt not drinke, nor the apple thou shalt not eate, nor the faire meddow walke not in mee, but thou alone wilt not let me come neere thee, or see thee, contemned and despised I die for griefe. Polienus when his mistris Circe did [Page 612] but frowne vpon him in Petronius, drew his sword, and bad her Si occidere placet ferrum meum vides, si verberibus con [...]enta es, curro nudus ad poenam. kill him or stabbe him, or whippe him to death, and he would strippe himselfe naked and not resist. Intelligo pecuniamrem esse iucundissimam meam tamen libentius darem Cliniae quam ab alijs acciperem, libentius huie seruirem, quam alijs imperarem, &c. Noctem & som [...]ū aecuso, quod illū non videam, luci autem & soli gratiam habeo quod mihi Cliniam o [...]tendant. Ego etiam cum Clinia in ignem currerem & scio vos quo (que) mecum ingressuros si videretis. Money (saith Zenophon) is a very acceptable and welcome guest, yet I had rather giue it my deare Clinia, then take it of others, I had rather serue him, then commaud others, I had rather be his drudge, then take my ease vndergoe any danger for his sake, then liue in securitie. For I had rather see Clinia then all the world besides, & had rather want the sight of all other things, then him alone, I am angry with the night and sleepe that I may not then see him, and thanke the light and Sunne because they shew mee my Clinia. I will runne into the fire for his sake, and if you did but see him, I know that you likewise would runne with me. So Philostratus to his mistris. Command me what you will I will doe it, bid me goe to Sea, I am gone in an instant, take so many stripes, I am ready, run through the fire, and lay downe my life and soule at thy feet, 'tis done, as Aeolus to Iuno.
And Phaedra to Hippolites.
And againe,
Callicratides in Dial Amorem mihi ô dij caelestes vltra sit vita haec perpetua ex aduerso amicae federe & suaue loquentem audire &c. si moriatur viuere non sustinebo, & idë erit sepulchrum vtris (que). Lucian breakes out into this passionate speech. ô God of heauen, grant me this life for euer to sit ouer against my mistris, and to heare her sweet voice, to goe in & out with her; to haue euery other businesse common with her. I would labour when she labors, saile when she sailes, he that hates her should hate me, and if a tyrant killed her, he should kill me, if she should die, I would not liue, and one graue should hold vs both. And Theagenes to his Chariclea, so that I may but inioy thy loue let me die presently.
It is an ordinarie thing for these inamoratos of our times, to say and doe as much, to stabbe their armes, to fight for their mistrisses sakes, to drinke healths vpon their bare knees, If she bid them they will go barefoot to Ierusalem, to the great Chams court, As Xanthus for the loue of Eurippe, omnem Europam peragrauit. Parthenius Erot. cap. 8. to the East Indies to fetch her a bird to weare in her hat: and with Drake and Candish, goe round about the world for her sweet sake, serue twice seuen yeeres as Iacob did for Rahel; & endure more torments then Theseus or Paris. Adore and admire, a seruant not to her alone, but to all her friends and followers, they loue them for her sake, her dogge, picture, and euery thing she weares, they adore it as a relique. If any man come from her, they feast him, loue him, and will not be out of his company, doe him all offices for her sake, still talking of her. So the very carrier that comes from him to her is a most welcome guest, & if he bring a letter from him, she will read it twenty times ouer, and as Aeneas Siluius. Lucretia quum accepit Euriali litteras hilaris st [...]tim [...] millies (que) pap [...] basiauit. Lucretia did by Eurialus, kisse the letter a thousand times together and then read it.
If he get any remnant of hers, a buske-point, a feather of her fanne, a shoo-tie, a lace, he weares it for a fauour in his hat, or next his heart. Her picture he adores twice a day, & for two howres together will not looke off it; a gar [...]er or a bracelet of hers is more precious then any Saints relique; and he layes it vp in his casket, O blessed relique, and euery day will kisse it, if in her presence his eye is neuer off her, & drink where she dranke, if it be possible in that very place, &c. If absent, he wil sit vnder that tree where she did vse to sit, in that bower, in that very seat, many yeeres after sometimes, and if she bee farre off, and dwel many miles off, he loues yet to walke that way still, to haue his chamber window looke that way, Happy seruants that serue her, happy men that are in her company. to confer with some of her acquaintance, Non ipsos solum sed ipsorum memoriā amant. Lucian. to talke of her, admiring and commending her still and lamenting, honing, wishing himselfe any thing for her sake, to haue opportunity to see her, that he might but inioy her presence: as Philostratus to his mistris, Epist. ô ter faelix solum beatus ego si me calcaueris vultus tuus amnes sistere potest, &c. ô happy groūd on which she treads, & happy were I if she would tread vpon mee, I thinke her countenance would make the riuers stand and when she comes abroad, birds wil sing, and come about her. Another, he sighs and sobbes, & wisheth him a saddle for her to sit on, a poesie for her to smell to, & it would not grieue him to be hanged, if he might be strangled in her garters: he would willingly die to morrow, so that she might kill him with her owne hands; Ouid would be a flea, a kat, a ring, Catullus a sparrow, ô si tecum ludere, sicut ipsa possem, 2. eleg. 15. & tristes animi leuare curas. Anacreon,
O thrice happy man that shall enioy her: as they that saw Hero in Museus,
And as she said of Cyrus, beat a quae illi vxor futura esset, blessed is that woman that shall bee his wife. The Sultan of Savas wife in Arabia; when she had seene Vertomannus the traueller, lamented in this manner. Lod. Vertomannus nauigat. lib. 2. cap. 5. O Deus hunc creaasti sole candidiorem, è diverso me & coniugem meum & natos meos omnes nigricantes. Vt inā hic, &c. Iuit Gazella Tegeia Galzerana & promissis onerauit & donis, &c. O God thou hast made this man whiter then the Sunne, but mee, and mine husband, and all man whiter then the Sunne, but mee, and mine husband, and all my children blacke, I would to God he were my husband, or that I had such a sonne, and fell a weeping, and was so impatient for Loue at last, that as Potifers wife did by Ioseph, shee would haue had him gone in with her, and sent away Gazella, Tegeia, and Galzarena her waiting maides, and loaded him with promises and gifts, and wooed him with all the Rhetoricke shee could, but when he would not consent, she would haue gone with him, and left all to be his Page, his seruant, or his Lackey, so that she might enioy him. Men will doe as much and more for women, spend goods, liues, lands, fortunes, and hazard their soules for their mistris sake.
Old Iäniuere in Chaucer thought when he had his faire May, he should neuer goe to heauen, he should liue so merrily here [Page 616] on earth; but who can reckon vp the Dotage, madnesse, servitude, and blindnesse, the phantasmes and vanities of Lovers, their to [...]ments, wishes, idle attempts?
And yet for all this, amongst so many irksome and troublesome Symptomes, inconueniences, and passions, which are vsually incident to such persons, there be some good qualities in Louers which this affection causeth. As it makes wisemen fooles, so many times it makes fooles become wise, Cardan. lib. 2. de sap ex vilibus generosos efficere solet. ex timidis audaces ex auaris splendidos, ex agreslibus civiles, ex crudelibus mansuetos, ex impiis religiosos, ex sordidis nitidos at (que) cultos ex duris misericordes ex mutis eloquentes. It makes base fellowes generous, cowards, corragious, as Cardan notes out of Plutarch, couetous, liberall and munificent; clownes, civill; cruell, gentle; and wicked prophane persons, to become religious; slouens, neat; churles, mercifull; and dumbe dogges, eloquent. No passion causeth greater alterations, or more vehement of ioy or discontent. Plutarch Sympos. lib. 1. quaest. 5. Anima hominis amore capti tota referta suffitibus & odoribus, paeanes resonat &c. saith that the soule of a man in loue, is full of perfumes and sweet odors, and all manner of pleasing tones and tunes, It addes spirits, and makes them otherwise soft and silly generous and coragious, Ovid. Audacem faciebat amor. In convivio Amor veneris Martem detinet & fortem facit adolescentē maximè erubescere cernimus, quum amator eum surpe quid committentem offendit. Plato is of opinion that the loue of Venus made Mars so valorous, a yong man will be much abashed to commit any foule offence, that shall come to the hearing or sight of his mistris. And if it were Si quo pacto fieri civitas aut exercitus posset partim ex his qui amant partim exbis, &c. possible to haue a citty or an army consist of Louers, such as loue, or are beloued, they would be extraordinary valiant and wise in their gouernement, modesty would detaine them from doing amisse, and aemulation incite them to doe that which is good and honest, and a few of them would overcome a great company of others. There is no man so pusillanimous so very a dastard, whom Loue would not incense and make a diuine temper and an heroicall spirit. Lib. 3. de Aulico. Non dubito quin is qui talem exercitum haberet totius orbis statim victor esset nisi forte cum aliquo exercitu confligendum esset in quo omn [...]s amatores essent. I doubt not but if a man had such an army of Louers, (as Castilio thinks) he might soone conquer all the world, except by chance he met with such another army of Louers, to oppose it. Higinius de cane & lepore, calesti. For so perchance they might fight as that fatall dogge and fatal hare in the heauens, course one another round, and neuer [Page 617] make an end. Castilio thinks Ferdinand king of Spaine had neuer conquered Granado, had not Queene Isabell and her Ladies beene present at the seige. Vix [...]ici potest quantam inde audaciam assumerent Hispani, inde pauci infinitas Maurorū copias superarunt. It cannot bee expressed what courage the Spanish Knights tooke, when the Ladies were present, a few Spaniards ouercame a multitude of Moores. They will vndergoe any danger whatsoeuer, as S r Walter Manny in Edward the thirds time, stuck ful of Ladies fauours fought like a Dragon. For soli amantes, as Plato holds, pro amicis mori appetunt, only Louers will dye for their friends, and in their Mistris quarrell, S r Lancelot and S r Tristram, Caesar or Alexander shall not be more resolute, or goe beyoud them. And not courage only doth loue adde, but as I said, wisdome and all manner of ciuility and good behauiour. Bocace hath a pleasant tale to this purpose, which hee borrowed from the Greekes, and which Beroaldus hath turned into Latine, Bebelius into verse, of Cymon and Iphiginia. This Cymon was a foole, a proper man of person, and the Gouernour of Cyprus sonne, but a very asse, insomuch that his father being ashamed of him, sent him to a farme house he had in the country to be brought vp. Where by chance, as his manner was, walking alone, he espied a gallant young Gentlewoman, named Iphiginia, a Burgomasters daughter of Cyprus with her maid by a brooke side in a little thicket, fast a sleep in her smocke, where she had newly bathed her selfe: When Hanc vbi conspicatus est Cymon baculo innixus immobilis stelit & mirabundus, &c. Cymon saw her he stood leaning on his staffe gaping on her, immoueable and in a maze; at last fell to farre in loue with the glorious obiect, that he beganne to rouze himselfe vp, and to bethinke him what he was, and would needs follow her to the citty, and for her sake beganne to be ciuill, to learne to sing and dance, to play of Instruments, & got all those Gentlemen like qualities and complements in a short space, which his friendes were most glad of. In breefe, he became from an Idiot and a Clowne, to be one of the most compleat Gentlman in Cyprus and did many valorous exploits, and all for the loue of Mistris Iphiginia. In a word, I may say thus much of them all, let them be neuer so clownish, rude and horrid, Gobrians and [Page 618] sluts, if once they be in loue, they will be most neat & spruce and beginne to trick vp, and to haue a good opinion of themselues. A shippe is not so long a rigging, as a young Gentlewoman a trimming vp her selfe, against her sweet-heart comes. A painters shop, a flowry meddowe, no so gratious an aspect as a young maid, a Nouitsa, or Venetian Bride, that lookes for an husband, or a yong man that is her suiter (composed lookes, composed gate, cloaths, gestures, actions, all composed) all the graces, elegances in the world are in her face: their best robes, Iewels, Laces, Spangles, must come on, Plautus. praeter quam res patitur student elegantiae, they are beyonde all measure coy, nice, and too curious on a sudden: 'Tis all their study, all their businesse, how to weare their cloaths, & to set out themselues. When Mercury was to come before his Mistris,
When that hirsute Cyclopicall Polyphemus courted Galatea.
He now began to haue a good opinion of his owne feature, and good parts.
'Tis the common humour of all Sutors to tricke vp themselues: and as Hensius writ to Primierus, Epist. an vxor literato sit d [...] cenda. Noctes insomnes traducendae literis r [...] nunciandum. Saepe gemendum, nonnunquam et illachrymandū sorti & conditioni tuae. Videndum quae vestes quis cultus te deceat, quis in vsu sit vtrum latus barbae, &c. Cum cura loquē dum, incedendū, bibendum, & cū cura insanien dū If once he be besotted on a wench, he must lye awake a nights, renounce his booke, sigh and lament, and now and then weepe for his hard hap, and marke aboue all things what Hats, Bands, Dublets, Breeches are in fashion, how to cut his Beard, and weare his loue-locke, to turne vp his Munshato's, and curle his head, prune his Pickitivant, or if he weare it broad that the East side be corespondent to the West: he must be in league with an excellent Tayler, Barber, haue neat shooe-ties, points, garters, speake in print, walke in print, eat and drinke all in print, and that which is all in all, hee must be mad in print.
Amongst all other good qualities an amorous fellowe must haue, he must learne to sing and dance, play vpon some Instrument or other, as without all doubt hee will, if hee be truely touched with this loadstone of loue. For as Chil 4. cent. 5. pro 15. Erasmus hath it, Musicam docet amor & Poesin, Loue will make them Musitians, and to make Ditties, Madrigalls, Elegies, & loue Sonnets, and sing them to seuerall tunes. 'Tis their chiefest study to sing, and dance, and without question, so many gentlemen and gentlewomen would not be so well qualified in this kinde, if loue did not incite them. Lib. 3. de aulico. Quis Choreis insudaret nisi saeminarum causa, quis musicae tantam nauaret operam, nisi quod illius dulcedine permulcere speret, quis tot carmina cōpon [...]ret, nisi vt inde affectus suos in mulieres explicaret. Who, saith Castilio, would learne to play, or giue his minde to musicke, or learne to dance, or make so many rimes, Loue-songs, as most doe, but for womens sake, but that they hope by that meanes to purchase their good wills, and winne their fauours. Constantine agricult. lib. 11 cap. 18. Makes Cupid himselfe to bee a great dancer, by the same token as he was capering amongst the Gods, Craterem nectaris evertit saltans apud deos qui in terram cadens rosam prius albam rubore infecit. he flunge downe a boule of Nectar, which distilling vpon the white Rose, euer since made it red and Calistratus by the helpe of Daedalus about Cupids statua, Puellas choreantes circa iuvenilem Cupidinis statuam fecit. Philostrat. Imag lib. 3. de statuis. Exercitium amori aptissimum. made a many of young wenches [Page 620] still a dancing, to signifie belike that Cupid was much affected with it. Praxitiles in all his Pictures of Loue, made Cupid still smiling, and looking vpon dancers. And many times this Loue will make old men dance, and maske and mumme, for Comus and Hymen loue Maskes, and all such merriments aboue measure, and will allow men to put on womens apparell in some cases, and to dance men of all sorts. Paulus Iouius taxeth Augustine Niphus the Philosopher, Vita eius. Puellae amore septua genarius senex vs (que) ad insaniam correptus, multis liberis susceptis: multi non sine pudore conspexerunt, senem & Philosophum podagricum non sine risu saltantem ad tibie modos. For that being and old man and a publike Professor, a father of many children, he was so mad for the loue of a young maid (that which many of his friends were ashamed to see) an olde gouty fellowe dance after Fidlers. Many laughed him to scorne for it, but this omnipotent loue would haue it so, and who can withstand it. If once we be in loue, yong or old, though our teeth shake in our heads, there is no remedy we must dance. Plutarch Sympos. 1. quaest. 5. doth in some sort excuse it, & telleth vs moreouer in what sence, Musicam docet amor, licet priùs fuerit rudis, how Loue makes them that had no skill before, learne to sing and dance, he concludes 'tis only that power and prerogatiue Loue hath ouer vs. De taciturno loquacem facit & de verecundo officiosum reddit de negligente industrium de socorde impigrū. Loue, as hee holds will make a silent man speake, a modest man most officious, dull, quick▪ slowe, nimble; and that which is most to be admired, an hardbase vntractable Churle, as fire doth Iron in a smithes Forge, facile, gentle, and easie to be intreated; for which cause many compare Loue to wine, which makes men Iouial and merry, sing and dance,
But aboue all the other Symptomes of Louers, this is not lightly to be ouerpassed, that likely of what condition soeuer if once they be in loue, they turne to their ability, Rimers, Ballet-makers, and Poets. For as Plutarch saith, Ipsi enim volunt suarum amasiarum pulchritudinis praecones ac testes esse, eas laudibus & cantilenis & versibus exornare, vt auro statuas vt memorentur & ab omnibus admirentur. They will be witnesses and trumpettors of their Paramours good parts, bedecking them with verses and commendatory songs, as wee doe statues with gold, that they may bee remembred and admired of all. Old men will dote in this kinde sometimes as well as the best. Tom. 2. Ant. Dialogo. Iovianus Pontanus makes an olde man time, and turne Poetaster to please his Mistris. [Page 621]
This Loue is the cause of all good conceipts, Huic mūditias ornatum leporem delitias ludos el [...]gantiam omnem deni (que) vitae suauitatem debemus. neatnesse, exomatious, plaies, elegancies, delights, and all the sweetnesse of our life, all our feasts almost, banquets, merry meetings, weddings, pleasing songs, fine tunes, Poems, Loue-stories, Fescenines, Elegies, Odes, &c. Emblems, Impreses, deuiles, if we may beleeue Iouius, Contiles, and Paradine, may bee ascribed to it: Fransus lib. 3. De symbolis qui primus symbolum excogitauit voluit nimirum hac ratione implicatum animū evoluere, eum (que) vel dominae vel aliis intuentibus ostendere. all our Tilts and Turnaments, Orders of the Garter, Golden Fleece, &c. And many of our histories: by this meanes, saith Iouius, they would expresse their minds to their Mistris, and to the beholders. 'Tis the sole subiect almost of all Poetry, all our inuention tends to it, all our songs, what euer those old Anacrions, Greeke Epigrammatists, Loue writers, Anthóny Diogenes the most ancient, whose Epitome we finde in Phocions Bibliotheca, Longus Sophista, Eumathius, Achilles Tatius, Heliodorus, Plato, Plutarch, Lucian [...], Partherius, Ovid, Catullus, Tibullus, &c. Our new Ariosto's, Boyardes, autors of Arcadia, Fairy Q. &c. haue written in this kinde, are but as so many Symptomes of Loue. Their whole bookes are a Synopsis of breuiary of Loue, the Portuous of Loue, Legends of Louers liues and deaths, and of their memorable aduentures. Nay more, as Lib 4. num. 102. siluae nuptialis. poetae non inueniunt fabulas aut versus laudatos faciunt, fuerint excitati. Martial Epi [...] 73. lib. [...]. Neuisanus the Lawier holds, thene neuer was any good Poet, that invented good fables or made laudable Verses, that was not in loue himselfe.
Petrarchs Laura made him so famous, Astropbell: Stella, & Iouianus Pontanus Mistris was the cause of his Roses, Violets, Lillies, Nequitiae, blanditiae, ioci, decor, Nardus, Ver, Coralla, Thus, Mars, Pallas, Venus, Charis, Crocum, Laurus, Vnguentum, Costum, Laohrymae, Myrrha, Musae, &c. And the rest of his Poems. The very Rusticks and Hog-rubbers, if once they tast of this Loue-liquor, are inspired in an instant. They must write and indite all in Rime.
Your most grimme Stoicks, and seuere Philosophers wil melt away with this passion, and if Lib. 13. cap. Dypnosophist. Athanaeus belye them not, Aristippus, Apollidorus, Antiphanes, &c. haue written loue Songs and Commentaries of their Mistris praises. Kings and Emperours insteed of Poems, build citties, &c. Adrian built Antinoa in Aegypt, besides Constellations, Temples, Altars, &c. in the honour of his Antinons. Alexander bestowed infinite summes, to set out his Hephestian to all eternity. But I conclude, Quis horum scribere molestias potest, nisi qui & is aliquantū insanit. Aeneas Siluius. there is no end of Loues Symptomes, 'tis a bottomlesse pit, Loue is subiect to no dimensions; and not to be suruayed by any art or engine.
MEMB. 4. Prognosticks of Loue-melancholy
VVHat Fires, Torments, Cares, Iealosies, Suspitions, Feares and Griefes, Anxieties accompany such as are in loue, I haue sufficiently said: the next question is, what will be the euent of such miseries, what they foretell. Some are of opinion that this Loue cannot be cured, Nullis amor est medicabilis herbis, it accompanies them to their Semper moritur, nunquam mortuus est qui amat Aen. Silu. last, Idē amor exitio est pecoripecoris (que) magistro, and is so continuate, that by no perswasion almost it may be relieued. Bid mee not to loue, said Eurial Ep. ad Lucretiam apud Aeneam Silviū. Rogas vt amare deficiam ro [...]a montes vt in planum deveniant, vt sontes fluvia repetant, tam possum te non amare, ac suum Phaebus relinquere cursum. Eurialus, bid the Mountaines come downe into the plames, bid the Riuers runne backe to their Fountaines; I can as soone leaue to Loue, as the Sunne to leaue his course. No Physicke can ease it: ‘Quae prosunt domino non prosunt omnibus artes.’
As Apollo confessed, & Iupiter himselfe could not be cured.
But whether Loue may be cured or no, and by what meanes shall be explained in his place, in the meane time, if it take his course and be not otherwise eased or amended, it breakes out into outragious often, and prodigious euents. Amor & Liber violenti dij sunt, as Lib. 2. Tatius obserues, & cons (que) animum incendunt vt pudoris obliuisci cogant. Loue and Bacchus are so violent Gods, and so furiously rage in our minds, that they make vs forget all honesty, shame and common ciuility. For such men commonly as are throughly possessed with this humour, are insensati; beside themselues, and as I haue prooued, no better then beasts, Irrationall, stupid, head-strong, void of feare of God or men, they frequently forsware themselues, steale, commit incests, rapes, adulteries, murders, depolutate [Page 624] Townes, Citties, Countries, to satisfie their lust.
The war [...]es of Troy may be a sufficient witnesse, and as Appian. lib. 5. hist. saith of Antony and Cleopatra, Qui quidem amor vtros (que) & totum Aegyptū extremis calamitatibus inuolvit. Their loue brought themselues, and all Aegypt into extream [...] and miserable calamities. The end of her is as bitter as wormewood, & as sharpe as a two-edged sword. Prou. 5.4.5. Her feete goe downe to death, her steppes lead on to hell. Shee is more bitter then death, Eccles. 7. 28. and the sinner shall be taken by her.
Plautus. Qui in amore praecipitauit, peius perit quam qui saxo salu. Vt corpus pondere sic animus amore precipitatur Austin. 2. de ciuit cap. 28. He that falls headlong from the top of a rocke, is not in so bad a case, as he that falls into this gul [...]e of Loue. For hence, saith Dial. Hinc oritur & paenitentia desperatio non vident ingenium secum re simul amisisse Platina, comes Repentance, Desperation, Dotage, they loose themselues, their wits, and make shipwracke of their fortunes altogether, Madnesse, to make away themselues and others, violent death, Prognosticatio est talis, saith Gordomus, Idem Savana rola & plures alii , &c. Rabidum facturus Orexin. Iuven. si non succurratur ijs aut in mani m cadunt, aut moriu [...]tur, The prognostication is, they will either runne mad, or dye. For if this passion continue, saith Cap. De Heroico Amore. Haec passio durans sanguinem torridum & atribilarium reddit hic vero ad cerebrum delatus insaniam parat vigiliis et erebr [...] desiderio exiccans. Aelian Montal [...]us, it makes the blood hot, thicke and blacke, and if the inflammation get into the braine, with continuall meditation and waking, it so dries it vp, that madnesse followes, or else they make away themselues. And as Arnoldus addes, it will speedily worke these effects, if it be not presently helped, In [...]ani s [...]unt. aut sibi ipsis desperantes mortem aslerunt. Languentes cito mortem aut ma [...]m patiuntur. They will pi [...]e away and runne mad, and dye vpon a suddaine. Facile incidunt in Maniam. saith Valescus, quickly madde, nisi succurratur, if good order be not taken. So shee confessed of her selfe in the Poet.
As madde as Orlando for his Angelica, or Hercules for his Hylas. [Page 625]
At the sight of Hero I cannot tell how many ran Lucians Imag. So For Lucians mistris all that saw her and could not enioy her ranne madd or hanged themselus mad,
Goe to Bedlam for examples. It is so well knowne in every village, how many haue either died for loue or voluntary made away themselues, that I not need such labor to proue it. Ovid met. 10. Aeneas Siluius ad eius decessum nunquam [...]isa Lucretia ridere nullis facetiis iocis nullo gaud [...]o potuit in laetitiam renovari, mox in aegritudinem incidit et sic breui conta [...]uit. Nec modus aut requies nisi mors reperitur amoris. Death is the common Catastrophe to such persons. After that Eurialus departed from Senes, Lucretia his paramour neuer looked vp, no iests could exhilerate her sad minde, no ioyes comfort her wounded and distressed soule: but a little after shee fell sicke and died. But this is a gentle end a naturall death, such persons commonly make away themselues: so did Dido Phaedra, Pyramus and Thisbe, Medeaa, and many Myriades besides. Valleriola lib. 2. obser. 7. Furibundus puta [...]t se videre Imaginem puellae & coram loqui bla [...]diens illi. &c. hath a lamentable story of a Marchant his patient, that rauing through impatience of loue, had he not beene watched, would euery while haue offered violence to himselfe. Amatus Lusitanus cent. 3. cur. 56. hath such Iuven. Hebreus. another story, and Faelix Platter med. obser. lib. 1. of a young Iuvenis Medicinae operam dans doctoris siliam d [...]er [...]bat &c. Gentleman that studied Physicke, and for the loue of a Doctors daughter hauing no hope to compasse his desire, poysoned himselfe. Gotardus Arthus Gallobelgicus, m [...]nd. vernul. 16 [...]5. coll [...] nouacul [...] aperuit: & inde expirauit. An 1615. A Barber in Francfort because his wench was betroathed to another, cut his owne throat. Cum renuente parente vtro (que) & ipsa virgine fr [...] non posset. ipsum & ipsam interfecit hoc à magistratu petens vt in eodem sepulchro sepeliri possent. At Neoburge the same yeare, a young man because he could not get her parents consent killed his sweet heart, & afterward himselfe desiring this of the Magistrate, as he gaue vp the Ghost, that they might both bee buried in a graue. You haue not yet heard the worst, they do not offer violence to themselues in this rage of lust, but vnto others, their nearest [Page 626] and dearest friends. Chalcocondilas de reb. Turcicis lib. 9. Nerei vxor Athenarum domina, &c. Nereus wife a widowe and Lady of Athens, For the loue of a Venetian Gentleman betrayed the City, and he for her sake, murthered his wife the daughter of a Nobleman in Venice. Nicephorus Greg. hist. lib. 8. vxorem occidit liberos & Michaelem filium videre abhorruit Thessalonicae amore captus prono [...]arii siliâ, &c Constantius Despota, made away Katherine his wife, and turned his sonne Michael and his other children out of doores, for the loue of a base Scriueners daughter in Thessalonica, with whose beauty [...]e was enamored. Parthenius Erot. lib. cap. 5. Leucophria betrayed the citty where shee dwelt, for her sweet-hearts sake that was in the enemies campe. Idem cap. 21. Gubernatoris silia Achillis amore capta ciuitatem prodid [...]t. Pisidice the Gouernours daughter of Methinia for the loue of Achilles betrayed the whole Iland to him, her fathers enemy. Idem cap. 9. Diognetus did as much in the citty where he dwelt, for the loue of Policrita &c. Such Acts and Sceanes hath this Tragedy of Loue.
MEMB. 5.
SVBSECT. 1. Cure of Loue-Melancholy, by Labour, Diet, Physicke, Fasting, &c.
ALthough it be controuerted by some, whether Loue-Melancholy may bee cured, because it is so irresistable and violent a passion, yet without question [...], if it bee taken in time it may be helped, & by many good remedies amended. Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. 1. cap. 23, & 24. setts downe 7 good wayes, how this malady may be eased, altered and expelled, Sauanarola. 9. principall obseruations, Iasou Pratensis prescribes 8 rules besides Physicke, how this passion may be tamed, Laurentius [...]. maine precepts, Arnoldus, Valleriola, Montaltus, Hildesheim, Langius and others otherwise, all tending to the same purpose. The summe of which I will briefly Epitomise, and enlarge againe vpon occasion, as shall seeme best to me and to mine owne method. The first rule to be obserued in subduing this stubborne and vnbridled passion is Exercise and Diet. It is an ol [...] and we [...]l knowne sentence, Sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus; As an Otium naufragium castitatis Austin. idle sendentary [Page 627] life liberall feeding, are great causes of it, so the opposite labour, slender and sparing diet, with continuall businesse, are the best and most ordinary meanes to preuent it.
Minerua, Diana, Vesta, and the 9. Muses were neuer inamored, because they neuer were idle. 'Tis Sauanorolas 3. rule Occupari in multis & magnis negotijs. And Avicenna's precept, cap. 24. Ovid. lib. 1. remed. Cedit amor rebus res age tutus eris. To be busie still, and as Cap. 16. circa res arduas exerceri. Guianerius inioynes about matters of great moment, if it may be. Part. 2 cap. 23 reg. San. His praeter horam semni nulla per otium transeat. Magninus addes, neuer to bee Idle but at the howres of sleepe.
No better physicke then to be still busie, seriously intent.
Because poore people fare coursly, worke hard, goe wollward and bare. Tract. 16. cap. 18 super nudâ carne cilicium portent, tempore frigido sine caligis & nudis ped [...]bus in [...]edant in pane & aquâ ieiunent saepius se verberibus caedant, &c. Guianerius therefore prescribes his patient to goe with haire-cloath next his skinne, to goe barefooted and bare-legged in cold weather, to whippe himselfe now and then as Monkes doe, but aboue all to fast. Not with Mutton and pottadge, as many of them fast whatsoeuer they pretend, but frō all manner of meat. Fasting is an all-sufficient remedy of it selfe, for as Iason Pratensis holdes, the bodies of such persons [Page 628] that feed liberally and feed at ease, Daemonibus referta sunt corpora nostra illorum praecipue qui delicatis vescuntur eduliis, aduolitant & corporibus inhaerent hanc obrem ieiunium impend [...]o probatur ad pudicitiam. are full of bad spirits and Divells, diuelish thoughts, no better Physicke for such persons then to fast. Heldesheim spicel. 2. to this of hunger addes, Victus sit attenuatus bal nei frequens vsus & sudationes cold baths not hot, saith Magninus par. 3 cap. 23. to diue ouer head and eares in a cold riuer, &c. often bathes, much exercise and sweat, but hunger and fasting he preferres before the rest. And 'tis indeed our Sauiours Oracle This kinde of diuell is not cast out but by fasting and prayer, which makes the Fathers so immoderate in commendation of fasting. As Hunger, saith Ser de gulâ fames amica virginitati est inimica lasciuiae s [...]turitas vero castitatem perdit & nutrit illecebras. Ambrose, is a friend of virginity, so is it an enemy to lasciuiousnesse, but fulnesse ouerthrowes chastity, and fastereth all manner of prouocations. If thine horse be too lusty, Hierome aduiseth thee to take away some of his Prouender, by this meanes those Paules, Hilaries, Antonies, and famous Anachorits subdued the lusts of the flesh, by this meanes, Hilarion made his asse, as he called his owne body, leaue kicking (as Vita [...] Hilarionis lib. 3. epist. cum tentasset eum daemon titillatione inter caetera. Ego inquit aselle ad corpus suum, faciā, &c Hierome relates of him in his life) when the diuell tempted him to any such foule offence. By this meanes those Strabo lib. 15. Geog. sub pellibus cubant, &c. Indian Brachmanni kept themselues continent, they lay vpon the ground couered with skinnes, as the Redshanks doe on Hadder: and dieted themselues sparingly of one dish: whi [...]h Guianerius would haue all young men put in practise; and if that will not serue, Cap, 2. part. 2 Si sit iuuenis & non vult obedire flage [...]etur frequenter & fortiter dum incipiat foetere Gordonius would haue them soundly whipped, or to coole their courage kept in prison, and there fedd with bread and water, till they acknowledge their error and become of another minde. If imprisonment and hunger wil not take them downe according to the direction of that Laertius lib. 6. cap. 5. amori medetur sames, [...]in aeliter tempus, si non hoc laqueus. Theban Crates, Time must weare ît out, if time will not, the last refuge is an halter. But this you will say is comically spoken. Howsoeuer fasting by all meanes must be still vsed, & as they must refraine from such meats formerly mentioned, which cause venery or prouoke lust, so you must vse an opposite diet. Viua parant animos veneri, &c. Wine by all meanes must be auoided to the younger sort. Women of old for that cause in hot countries were forbid the vse of it, and young folkes as Leonicus hath recorded, [Page 629] Var. hist. lib. 3. cap. 87.88. [...] out of Athenaeus and others, and is still practised in Italy and some other countries of Europe, & and Asia, as Claudius Minos hath well illustrated in his comment on the 23 Embleme of Alciat. So of other meats.
Those opposite meats which are to bee vsed, are Cowcumbers, Mellons, Purslan, water lillies, Rue, Woodbine, Amni, Lettice, which Lemnius so much commends, lib. 2. cap. 42. & Mizaldus hort. med to this purpose. Vitex or Agnus castus before the rest, which saith Reg. San. pa [...] 3 cap. 23. [...]rabilem vim habe [...] Magninus, hath a wonderful vertue in it. see more in Porta, Mathiolus, Crescentius, lib. 5. &c. and what euery herbalist almost and Physitian hath written, cap. de Satyriasi & Priapismo. In some cases againe, if they be much deiected and brought lowe in body, and now ready to dispaire through anguish, griefe, and too sensible a feeling of their misery, a cup of wine and full diet is not amisse, and as Valescus adviseth, cum aliâ honestâ venerem saepè exercendo, which Langius epist. med. lib. 1. epist. 24. approues out of Rhasis, assiduationem coitus, and Guianerius cap. 16. tract. 16. as Cum muliere aliqua gratiosa saepe coire eru vtilissimum. Idem Laurentius c. 11 very profitable Physicke, and to be druncke too by fits, but this is mad physicke, if it bee at all to be permitted. If not, yet some pleasure is to be allowed, as that which Vives speakes of lib. 3. de Anima, Amatori cuius est pro impoten [...] mens amota opus est vt paulatim animus velut à peregrinatione domum revocetur per musicam couiuia &c. Per aucupium fabulas & sestiuas narrationes laborem vs (que) ad sudorem &c. A louer that hath as it were lost himselfe through impotency, impatience, must bee called home as a traueller by musicke, feasting, good wine, if need be to drunkennes it selfe, which many so much commend for the easing of the mind all kinde of sports and merriments, to see some pictures, hangings buildings, pleasant fields, Orchards, Gardens, Groues, Ponds, Pooles, Riuers, fishing, fowling, hauking, hunting, merry tales, and pleasant discourse, reading, and exercise till hee sweat, that new spirits may succeed, or some other vehement affection or contrary passion, till he be wayned from anger, suspition, cares, feares &c. and habituated into another course. And as this method of [Page 630] Musick, merriment, singing, dancing, doth augment the passion in some Louers, as Cap. de Ilishi Multos hoc affectu sanat cantilena laetitia musica & quidem sunt quos haec augmentant Avicenna notes, so it expelleth it in others, and doth very much good. These things must bee warily applied, as the parties symptomes vary, and as they shall stand diversly affected.
If there be any need of physicke, that the humors bee altered, or any new matter aggregated, they must bee cured as melancholy men. Carolus à Lorme amongst other questions, discussed for his degree at Montpelier in France, hath this, an Amantes & amentes ijsdem remedijs curentur? Whether Louers and madmen be cured by the same remedies, he affirmes it, for loue extended is meere madnesse. Such physicke then as is prescribed, is either inward or outward, as hath been formerly handled, in the precedent Partition in the Cure of Melancholy. Cent 3. cura 56. Syrrupo helleborato & a lijs quae ad atrā bilem pertinent. Amatus Lusitanus cured a young Iew that was almost mad for loue, with the Syrupe of Hellebor, and such other euacuations and purges, which are vsually prescribed to blacke choler: Purgetur si eius dispositio venerit ad adust. humoris & phlebotomisetur. Avicenna confirmes as much if need require, and Amantium morbus vt pruritus solvitur venae sectione et cucurbitulis. blood letting aboue the rest, which makes amantes ne sint amentes, Louers to come to themselues, and keepe in their right minds. 'Tis the same which Schola Sal [...]rnitana, Iason Pratensis, Hildesheim &c. prescribe blood-letting still as a principall remedy. Those old Scythians had a tricke to cure al appetite of burning lust, Cura à Venae sectione per auresvnde semper steriles. by letting themselues blood vnder the eares, and to make both men and women barren, as Sabellicus in his Enneades relates of them. Which Salmuth Tit. 10. de Horol. comment. in Pancirol. de nou. repert. Mercurialis var. lec. lib. 3. cap. 7. out of Hippocrates, and Benso saith, is still in vse amongst the Indians, a reason of which Langius giues lib. 1. epist. 10.
Huc faciunt medicamenta venerem sopientia, vt Camphora pudendis alligata, & in bracha gestata (quidam ait) membrum flaccidū. reddit laborauit hoc morbo virgo nobilis, cui inter caetera praescripsit medicus, vt laminā plumbeā multis foramimbus pertusam ad dies viginti portaret in dorso, ad exiccandum vero sperma iussit eam quam parcissimè cibari, & manducare [Page 631] frequenter coriandrum praeparatum, & semen lactucae & acetosae, & sic eam à morbo liberavit. Porro impediunt & remittunt coitum folia salicis, trita & epota, & si frequentius, vsurpentur ipsa in totum auferunt. Idem praestat Topatius annulo gestatus, dexterum lupi testiculum attritum, & oleo vel aqua rosatâ exhibitum, Veneris, taedium inducere scribit Alexander Benedictus: lac buturi commestum & semen Canabis, & Camphora exhibita idem praestant. Verbena herba gestata libidinem extinguit, puluis ranae decollatae & exiccatae. Ad extinguendum coitum, vngantur membra genitalia, & renes, & pecten aquâ, in qua opium Thebaicum sit dissolutum, libidini maxime contratia camphora est, & coriandrum siccum frangit coitū, & erectionem virgae impedit, idem efficit synapium ebibitum. Da verbenam in potu & non erigetur verga sex diebus, vtere menthâ sicca cum aceto, genitalia illinita succo Hyoscyami aut cicutae, coitus appetitum sedant, &c. R. semis lactuc. portulac, coriandri an. ʒj. mentae siccae ʒ ss. sacchari albiss. ℥ iiij. puluerisentur omnia subtiliter, & postea simul misce aqua Neunpharis, f. conefc. solida in morsulis, Ex his sumat mane vnum quum surgat. Innumera ferè his similia petas, ab Hildishemo loco praedicto, Mizaldo, Porta, caeteris (que).
SVBSEC. 2. Withstand the beginnings, auoid occasions, change his place: faire and foule means, contrary passions, witty inuentions: to bring in another, and discommend the former.
OTher good rules and precepts are inioyned by our Physiti [...]ns, which if not alone, yet certainely conioyned may doe much. The first of which is obstare principijs, to withstand the beginning, Seneca. cum in mulierem inciderit, quae cum formâ morum suauitatem coniunctam habet & iam oculos persenserit formae ad se Imaginem cum auiditate quadam rapere cum eadem, &c. quisquis in primo obstitit, pepulit (que) amorem tutor ac victor fuit, he that will but resist at first may easily be a conqueror at the last. Baltasar Castilio li. 4. vrgeth this prescript aboue the rest, when he shall chance [Page 632] (saith he) to light vpon a woman, that hath good behauiour ioyned with her excellent person, & shall perceiue his eyes with a kind of greedinesse, to pull vnto them this Image of beautie, and carry it to the heart: and shall obserue himselfe to be somewhat incended with this influence, which moueth within, when he shall discerne those subtill spirits sparkling in her eyes, to administer more fewell to the fire, he must wisely withstand the beginnings, & rouze vp reason stupified almost, and fortifie his heart by all meanes, and shut vp all those passages, by which it may haue entrance. 'Tis a precept which all concurre vpon.
Which cannot speedier be done, then if he confesse his griefe and passion to some iudicious friend ( qui tacitus ardet magis vritur, Aeneas Siluius. the more he conceales the greater is his paine) that by his good aduise may happily ease him of a sudden; and withall to auoide occasions, or any circumstance that may aggrauate his disease. To keepe out of her company which Hierome so much labours to Paula, to his Nepotian; Chrysostome so much inculcates in ser. i [...]contubern. Cyprian, and many other fathers of the Church. Siracides in his 9. chapter, Iason Pratensis, Sauanorola, Arnoldus, Valleriola &c. and euery Physitian that treats of this subiect. Not onely to auoid as Tom. 2. lib. 4. cap. 10. syntag. med. art. mirab. vitentur oscula, tactus, sermo & scripta impudica literae &c. Gregory Tholosanus exhorts, kissing, dalliance, all speeches, tokens, loue-letters and the like, or as Castilio lib. 4. to conuerse with them, heare them speake, Tam admirabilem splendorem declinet, gratiā, scintillas, amabiles risus, gestus suauissimos, &c. those amiable smiles, admirable graces, and sweet gestures, which their presence affords: but all sight, they must not so much as see thē, or looke vpon them. Gaze not on a maid saith Siracides, turne away thine eyes from a beautifull woman, cap. 9. ver. 7. 8. auerte oculos, saith Dauid, or if thou doe see them as Ficinus aduiseth, let not thine eye be intentus ad libidinem, do not intend her more then the rest: but as Hierome to Nepotian, aut aequaliter ama, aut aequaliter ignora, either see all alike, or let al [Page 633] alone; & that is the safest course, let all alone, see none of thē. Nothing sooner reuiues, Dial 3. de contemptu mundi nihil facilius rec [...]udescit quam amor, vt pompa visa renouat ambitionem, auri species auaritiam, spectata corporis forma incendit luxuriam. or waxeth sore againe as Petrarch holdes, then loue doth by sight. As Pompe renues ambition, the sight of gold, couetousnesse, a beautious obiect sets on fire this burning lust. ‘Et multum saliens incitat vnda sitim.’
The sight of drinke makes one drie, and the sight of meate increaseth appetite. Especially if he haue beene formerly inamored, the sight of his mistresse strikes him into a new fit, and makes him raue many dayes after.
Or as the Poet compares it to embers in ashes, which the wind blowes, Met. 7. vt solet à ventis alimenta resumere quaeque parua subinductalatuit scintilla fauillâ crescere & in veteres agitata resurgere flammas vt solet a ventis, &c. a scauld head as the saying is, is soone broaken, and drie wood soone kindles, and when they haue beene formerly wounded by sight, how can they by seeing but be inflamed? Ismenius acknowledgeth as much of himselfe, when he had beene long absent, and almost forgotten his mistresse, Eumathij li. 3. aspectus amorem incendit vt marcescentem in palea ignē ventus, ardebam interea maiore concepto incendio. at the first sight of her, as straw in a fire, I burned afresh, and more then euer I did before. Heliodorus lib. 4. Inflammat mentem nou [...]s aspectus, perinde ac ignis materiae admotus Chariclia, &c. Chariclia was as much moued at the sight of her deare Theagenes, after hee had beene long absent, and it is the common passion of all louers. And for that cause Alexander foreknowing this inconuenience and danger that comes by sight, Curtius lib. 3. cum vxorem Darij laudatam audiuisset tantum cupiditati suae fraenum in iecit, vt illam vix vellet intueri. when he had heard Darius wife so much commended for her beautie, would scarce admit her to come in his sight. And when as Araspus in Xenophon, had so much magnified that diuine [Page 634] face of Panthea to Cyrus, Cyripaedia. cum Pantheae formā Euexisset Araspas tanto magis inquit, Cyrus abstinere oportet, quanto pulchrior est. by how much she was fairer then ordinary, by so much he was the more vnwilling to see her. Scipio a young man 23. yeares of age, at the siege of a citty in Spaine, when as a noble and a most faire young gentlewoman was brought vnto him, Liuius. cum e [...]m regulo cuidam desponsatā audiuisset muneribus cumulatam remisit. and he had heard shee was betrothed to a lord, rewarded her, and sent her backe to her sweetheart. Xenocrates lay with Lais of Corinth all night, and would not touch her. Heliodorus lib. 4. expertem esse amoris bearitudo est, at quum captus sis ad moderationem reuocare animum prudentiae singularis. It is a good happinesse to be free from this passion of loue, and great discretion it argues in such a man that can so containe himselfe, but when thou art once in loue to moderate thy selfe (as he saith) is a singular point of wisedome.
But for as much as few men are free, or that can containe themselues and moderate their passions, curbe their sences, as not to see them, not to looke lasciuiouslly, not to conferre with them, such is the furie of this head strong passion, and their weakenesse; we must vse some speedy meanes to correct, and preuent that and al other inconueniences, that come by conference and the like. The best, readiest, and surest way, and which all approue, is Loci mutatio, to send them seuerall wayes, that they may neither heare off, nor see, nor haue opportunitie to send to one another againe. Elongatio à patria tis Sauanorolas fourth rule, and Gordonius precept, distrahatur ad longinquas regiones, send him to trauell. 'Tis that which all runne vpon, as so many hounds with full cry, Poets, Diuines, Philosophers, Physitians, all, mutet patriam, Valesius. Loci mutatione tanquam non conualescens curandus est, cap. 11. as a sicke man he must be cured with change of aire, Tully 4. Tusc. The best remedy is to get thee gone, Iason Pratensis, change aire and soyle, Laurentius, Fuge littus amatum, Virg. Vtile finitimis abstinuisse locis, Amorum lib. 2 Quisquis amas loca nota nocen [...]. di [...]s aegritudinem adimit absentia delet. Fre licet procul hinc paetriae (que) relinquere fines Ouid. Ouid. I procul & long as carpere perge vias— sed fuge tutus [...]ris. Trauelling is an Antidote of loue, time and absence weare away paine and griefe. All which Proximum est vt efurias, 2. vt moram temporis opponas 3. & locum m [...]tes 4. vt de laqueo cogites Hensius merrily inculcates in an Epistle to his friend Primierus. First fast, then tarry. 3. change thy place 4. thinke of an haltar. If change of place, continuance of time, absence will not weare it out with [Page 635] those precedent remedies, it will hardly be remoued: but these commonly are of force. Foelix Plater obser. lib. 1. had a baker to his patient almost mad for the loue of his maide, and desperate; by remouing her from him, he was in a short space cured. Peter Godefridus, in the last chapter of his third booke, hath a story of Saint Ambrose, of a young man that meeting his old loue after long abscence, on whom he had extreamely doted, would scarce take notice of her, she wondred at it that he should so lightly esteem her, called him againe and told him who she was, Ego sum inquit. At ego non sum ego. But he replied he was not the same man, loathing his folly, and ashamed of that which he formerly had done. Petrarch hath such another tale of a young gallant that loued a wench with one eye, and for that cause by his parents was sent to trauell into farre countries, cum post aliquot annos iam reuersus ille obuiam sactus esset quam vehementer amarat, rogat quo casu illa oculum amisissit, non inquit amisi oculum sed tu oculos inuenisti. after some yeeres he returned, and meeting the maid for whose sake he was sent abroad, asked her how and by what chance she lost her eye, no said she I haue lost none, but you haue found yours: Signifying therby that all louers were blind, as Fabius saith, Amantes de formâ iudicare non possunt, louers cannot iudge of beautie, nor scarce of any thing else, as they will easily confesse after they returne vnto themselues, by some discontinuance or better aduice, and wonder at their owne folly, madnesse, stupidity, blindnes, condemne themselues that euer they should be so besotted and misled, and be heartily glad that they haue so happily escaped.
If so be that, (which is seldome) that change of place will not effect his alteration, then other remedies are to bee annexed, faire and foule meanes as to perswade, promise, threaten, terrifie, or to diuert by some contrary passion, rumour, tales, newes, or some wittie inuention, to alter his affection, Annuncientur valde tristia vt maior t [...]titia possit minorem ob [...]usc [...]re. by some greater sorrow to driue out the lesse saith Gordonius, as that his house is a fire, his best friends dead, his money stolne, &c. Aut quod sit [...]ctus senescal [...], aut habeat honorem magnum. That he is made some great Gouernour or hath some honour, office, inheritance is b [...]f [...]l [...] him, he shall be a Knight, a Baron: or by some false accusation, as they [Page 636] doe to such as haue the hickehope, to make them forget it. Saint Hierome lib. 2. epist. 16. to Rusticus the moncke, hath an instance of a Adolescens Gr [...]cus erat in Aegypti caenobio qui nullá operis magnitudine nulla persuasione fl [...]mmam poterat sedare, monasterij pater hac arte seruauit. Imperat cuidam è [...]ocijs. &c. F [...]ebat ille, omne [...] aduersabant solus pater callide opponere ne abundantia trist [...]tiae absorberetur quid multa? hoc inuento curatus est & a cogitationibus pristinis auocatus. young man of Greece, that li [...]d in a Monastery in Aegypt, that by no labour, no [...], no perswation could be diuerted; but at last by this [...] was deliuered. The Abbot sets one of his convent to quarrell with him. and with some scandalous reproach or other to defame him before company, and then to come and complaine first, the witnesses were likewise suborned for the plantiffe. The young man wept, and when all were against him, the Abbot [...] tooke his part, least he should be ouercome with immodera [...]e griefe: but what needs many words? by this inuention he was cured, and alienated from his pristine loue-thoughts. Iniuries, slaunders, contempts, disgraces, are very forcible meanes to withdrawe mens affections, contumeliâ affects amatores amare desinunt as Lucian saith, louers reuiled or neglected, contemned or misused, turne loue to hate, Ter 4 redeam, non sime obsecret. Ile neuer loue thee more. So Zephirus hated Hyacinthus because he scorned him, and preferred his coriuall Apollo (Palephapus fab. nar.) he will not come againe though he be intreated. Tell him but how he was scoffed at behind his backe, that his loue is false, and entertaines another, cares not for him, Tom. 4. or that she is a foole, a nasty queane, a slut, a fixen, a scolde [...] a diuell, or which Italians commonly doe, that he or she hath some lothsome filthy disease, gout, strangurie, falling sicknesse, the Poxe, that he hath three or foure incurable tetters, issues: that she is balde, her breath stinkes, she is mad by inheritance, and so are all the kinred, an [...]arebraine, with many other secret infirmities, which I will not so much as name, belonging to women. That he is an Hermophrodite, an Eunuch, imperfect, a spendthrift, a g [...]mester, a gull, a whoremaster, farre in debt, and not able to maintaine her, a common drunkard, his mother was a witch, his father hanged, that he hath a wolfe in his bosome, a fore legge, some incurable disease, that he will surely beat her, that he walkes in the night, will stabbe his bedfellowe, tell all [Page 637] his secrets in his sleepe, and that no body dare lie with him, his house is haunted with spirites. with such fearefull and tragicall things able to auert and terrifie any man or woman liuing. Gordonius c. 20. part. 2. hinc in modum consulit paretur aliqua vetula turpissima aspectu, cum turpi et vili habitu, et portet subtus gremium pannum menstrualem, et dicat quod, amica sus sit ebriosa, et quodmingai in lecto, et quod est epileptica et impudica, et quod in corpore suo sint excrescentiae enormes cum foetore anhelitus, et aliae enormitates, quibus vetulae sunt edoctae, si nolit his persuaderi subito extrahat Hypatia Alexandrina quendam se adamantem prolatis muliebribus pannis, & in cum coniectis ab amoris insaniâ, liberauit. Suidas & Eunapius. pānum menstrualem, corā facie portando, exclamando, talis est amica tua, et si ex his non demiserit, non est homo sed diabolus incarnatus. Idem ferè Avicenna cap. 24. de curà Ilishi lib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. narrent res immundas vetulae, ex quibus abominationem incurrat, & res Sauanarola reg. 5. fordidas, & hoc assiduent. Idem Arculanus cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis, &c. Withall as they doe discommend the old, for the better effecting a more speedy alteration, they must commend another Paramour, alteram inducere, set him or her to be woed, or woe some other, that shall be fairer, of better note, better fortune, birth, parentage, much to be preferred, by this, which Iason Pratensis wisheth, to turne the streame of affection another way, or as Valesius by Distributio amoris fiat in plures, ad plures ami [...]as animum applicet. subdiuiding to diminish it. Ouid. Hortor & vt pariter binas habeatis amicas, &c. If you suspect to be taken, be sure saith the Poet, to haue two mistresses at once, or goe from one to another: or bring him to some publike showes, playes, meetings, where he may see varietie, and he shall likely lothe his first choice. For as he obserues, Tatius lib. 6. Priorem flammam nouus ignis extrudit, & ea multorum natura, vt praesentes maxime ament. One fire driues out another, and such is womens weakenesse, that they loue commonly him hat is present. And so do many men (as he confessed) he loued. Amye till he saw Floriat, [...] when he saw Cynthia, forgat thē both: but faire Phillis was incomparably beyond them all, and yet when he espied Amarallis, she was his sole mistresse, &c. 'Tis a thing which by Hieromes report hath beene vsually practised, Epist. lib. 2.16. Philosophi saeculi veterem amorem nouo quasi clauum clauo repellere, quod & Assu [...] ro regi septem Principes Per [...] esere, vt V [...]stae reginae desid [...]ium amore compensarent. Heathen Philosophers [Page 638] driue out one loue with another, as they doe a pegge, or pinne with a pinne. Which those seuen Persian Princes did to Assuerus, that they might requite the desire of Queene Vasth with the loue of others. Pausanias in Eliacis saith, that therefore one Cupid was painted to contend with another, and to take the garland from him, because one loue driues out another. Ouid. Alterius vires subtrahit alter amor Foelix Platter in the first booke of his obseruations, boasts how he cured a widdower in Basil, a patient of his, by this stratageme alone, that doted vpon a poore seruant his maide, when friends, children nor perswasion could serue to alienate his mind, they motioned him to another honest mans daughter in the towne, whom he loued, and liued with long after, abhorring the very name and sight of the first. After the death of Lucretia, Lugubri veste indutus, consolationes non admisit, donec Caesar ex ducali sanguine formosam virginem matrimonio coniunxit. Aeneas Siluius hist. de Eurialo & Lucretia. Eurialus would admit of no comfort, till the Emperour Sigismunde married him to a noble Lady of his court, and so in short space he was freed.
SVBSEC. 3. By counsell and perswasion, foulenesse of the fact, mens, womens faults, miseries of marriage. euents of lust, &c.
AS there be many causes of this burning lust or heroicall loue. So there be many good remedies to ease and helpe, amongst which good counsell and perswasion, which I should haue handled in the first place, are of great moment and not to be omitted; Many are of opinion, that in this blind head-strong passion, counsell can doe no good.
But without question good counsell and aduice must needs be of force, especially if they shall proceed from a wise, fatherly, [Page 639] reuerent, discreet person, a man of authoritie whom the parties doe respect, or stand-in awe of, or from a iudicious friend; of it selfe alone, it is able to diuert and suffice. q Gordonius the Physitian attributes so much to it, that he would haue it by all meanes vsed in the first place. Amoueatur ab illâ consilio vi [...] quem timet, ostendendo pericula saeculi, iudicium inferni, gaudia Paradisi. He would haue some discreet man to diswade them, by foreshewing the miserable euents and dangers which will surely happen, the paines of hell, ioyes of Paradise, and the like, which by their preposterous courses they shall forfeit or incurre. To expostulate and shew them such absurdities, inconueniences, imperfections, discontents, as vsually follow; which their blindnesse, furie, madnesse, cannot apply vnto themselues, or apprehend. If he loue at all, she is either an honest woman or a whore? If dishonest let him read or inculcate to him that 5. of Salomons Pro. 26. Ecclus. Ambrose lib. 1. cap. 4. in his booke of Abel and Cain, Philo Iudaeus de mercede meret. Platinas dial in Amores, Aeneas Siluius tart. Epistle, which he writ to his friend Nicholas of Wartburge, which he calles medelam illiciti amoris, &c. Quid enim meretrix nisi iuuentutis expi [...] trix, virorum rapina seu mors patrimonij deuoratrix honoris pernities pabulū di [...]bo [...]i ianua mortis inferni supplimentum. For what's an whore as he saith, but a pillar of youth, ruine of men, and a death, a deuourer of patrimonies, a downefall of honour, fodder for the diuell, the gate of death, and supplement of hell. Let him see the euent and successe of others, Sampson, Hercules, Holofernes, &c. those infinite mischiefes attend it. If she be honest, she is either maide, widdow, or another mans wife: if another mans wife, 'tis abominable in the sight of God, and men, adultery, and expresly forbidden in Gods commaundement, a mortall sin, able to endanger his soule, & if he be such a one as feares God, or haue any religion, he will eschew it, and abhorre the lothsomenesse of his owne fact. If a maide, to abuse or marry her: if to abuse, 'tis fornication, a foule fact, and almost equall to adultery it selfe. If to marry, let him seriously consider what he takes in hand, looke befoe he leape, and examine first the partie and condition of his estate and hers, [Page 640] whether it be a fit match for fortunes, yeares, parentage, and such other circumstances. And whether it be likely to proceede: if not, let him wisely staue himselfe off at the first, curb in his inordinate passion, & moderate his desire. If she be vnequall in yeares, she young and he old, what an vnfit match must it needs be, an vnequall yoake, how absurd and vndecent a thing it is as Lycinus in Tom. 2. in votis caluus cum sis, nasum habeas s [...]um. &c. Lucian told Timolaus, for an old balde crooke-nosed knaue to marry a yong wench, how odious a thing is it to see an old lecher: for a young man to marry an old wife for a piece of good. But put case she bee equall in yeeres, birth, fortunes, and other qualities correspondent, and he doth desire to be coupled in marriage, which is an honourable estate, but for what respects? her beautie belike, and comlinesse of person, that is commonly the maine obiect, she is a most absolute forme in his eye at least, but doe other men affirme as much? or is it an errour in thy iudgement? It may be to thee thy selfe vpon a more serious examination, or after a little abscence, she is not so faire as she seemes. Quadam videntur & non sunt. It may be not she that is so faire but her clothes, or put another in her clothes, and she will seeme all out as faire; as the Ovid. Poet then prescribes, separate her from her clothes: suppose thou sawest her in a base beggers weed, or else dressed in some old hirsute attires out of fashion, foule linnen, course clothes, besmeared with soot, colly, perfumed with Opoponax, Sagapenum, Assa foetida, or some such filthy gummes, durty, about some vndecent action or other. wouldest thou affect her as thou dost? Suppose thou sawest her in a Si ferueat deformis eccè formosa est si frigeat formosa iam sit informis. Th. Morus Epigram. frosty morning, in cold whether, or in some passion or perturbation of mind, reuil'd & ill fauoured to behold: She many times that in a composed lookes seemes so amiable and delitious, if she do but laugh or smile, makes an vgly sparrowmouthed face, and shewes an homely paire of vneuen, lothsome, rotten blacke teeth. She hath a blacke skinne, gouty legges, a deformed crooked carkasse vnder a fine coate. It may be for all her costly tires she is balde, and though she seeme so faire [Page 641] by darke or by candlelight, or a farre of at such a distance, as Ca [...]i [...]ratides obserued in Amorum dial. Tom. 4, si quis ad auroram contempletur multas mulieres à nocte lecto surgentes turpiores putabit esse bestijs. Lucian, If thou should see her neare or in a morning, she would appeare more vgly then a beast. Follow my counsell, see her vndrest, see her if it be possible out of her attires, furtiuis nudatā coloribus, it may be she is like Aesopes Iaye, or an Aegyptian temple, she will be lothsome, ridiculous, thou wilt not endure her sight: or suppose thou sawest her sick, pale, in a consumption, on her death bed, skin and bones, or now dead. Cuius erat gratissimus amplexus as Bernard saith, erit horribilis aspectus. Her imbracings were not so acceptable, as now her lookes be terrible, thou haddest better behold a Gorgons head, then Helenas carcasse. Some are of opinion, that to see a woman naked is able of it selfe to alter his affection, and it is worthy of consideration, saith Apol. pro Rem. Seb. Montagne the Frenchman in his Essayes, that the skilfullest masters of amorous dalliances, appoint for a remedy of venereous passions a full suruay of the bodie, As the Poet insinuates.
It is reported of Seleucus king of Syria [...], that seeing his wife Sratonices balde pate, as she was vndressing her by chance, he could neuer affect her after. Philip the French K. as Nubrigensis lib. 4. cap. 24. relates it, married the king of Denmarkes daughter, Post vnam noctem incertum vnde offensam cepit, propter faetentem eius spiritum, alij dicunt vellatentem faeditatem repudiauit, rem faciens plane illicitam, & regiae personae multum inde coram. and after he had vsed her as a wife one night because her breath stunke some say, or for some other secret fault, sent her backe againe. Many such matches are made for by-respects, or some seemely comelines, which after honie moones past, turne to bitternesse, for burning lust is but a flash, and hatred oft followes in the highest degree, dislike and contempt.
Yea but you will say, your mistris is complete, of a most absolute forme in all mens opinions, no exceptions can be taken at her person, she is the myrror of women for her beautie, [Page 642] comelinesse and pleasant grace. Put case she be, how long will she continue? Fauour is deceitfull, and beautie is vanitie, Pro. 31.30. If she bee faire as the saying is, shee is commonly a foole, if proud, scornefull, sequitur (que) superbia foram, or dishonest, rara est concordia formae at (que) pudicitiae, can she be faire & honest too? This beauty is but of the body alone, and what is that but as Pulchritudo corporis temporis & morb. ludibrium. orat. 3. Gregorie Nazianzen telleth vs, a mocke of time and sickenesse, or as Boëthius as mutable as a flower, and 'tis not nature so makes vs but most part the infirmitie of the beholder. Or be she faire indeed, golden haired, as Anacreon his Bathillus, Florū mutabilitate fugacior nec sua natura formosas facit, sed spectantium infi [...]mitas. blacke eyed, of a pure sanguine complection, little mouth, white teeth, soft and plumpe body, hands, feet, all faire and louely to behold, composed of all graces, elegances, an absolute piece: Bebelius [...] [...]gijs ger. her head from Prage, pappes out of Austria, belly from France, backe from Brabant, hands out of England, feete from Rhine, buttockes from Swisserland, let her haue the Spanish gate the Venetian tire, Italian complements and endowments, let her be such a one throughout, as Lucian deciphers in his Imagines, as Euphanor of old painted Venus, another Helena, Chariclia, Leucippe, Lucretia, Panthea, whom thou wilt, or all these in one, a little sickenesse, a feuer, small poxe, a blow, a wound, a scarre, losse of an eye, or limme, a violent passion, a distemperature of heat or cold, marres all in an instant, disfigures all childbearing, old age, riuels her vpon a sudden; after shee hath bene caried a small while, and the black oxe hath troden on her toe, she will be so much altered and grow out of fashion, thou wilt not know her. So Deianirae describeth it in the Poet, as a tree in winter.
To conclude with Chrysostome, Vides venustam mulierem fulgidum habentem oculum, vultu hilari coruscantem eximium quend [...] aspectum [...] decorem [...] fe [...]en [...] [...] esse id quod [...] mas, & quod admiraris stercus & quod te vri [...], &c. cogita illam iam s [...]nescere, iam rugosam cauis genis aegrotare: tantis sordibus intus plena est. pituitâ stercore: reputa quid intra nares, oculos, cerebrum gestat, quas sordes, &c. when thou seest a faire and beautifull person a comely woman, hauing bright eyes, a merrie count [...]nance, a shining lustre in her looke, a pleasant grace, wringing thy soule, and [...]ncreasing thy concupiscence; bethinke with thy selfe that it is but earth thou louest, a meere excrement which so vexeth thee, which thou so admirest, and thy raging soule will be at rest. Take her skinne from her face, and thou shalt see all loth somenesse vnder it, that beautie is but a superficiall skinne and bones, nerues, sinewes: suppose her sicke, now riuil'd, hoarie-headed, hollow-cheeked, old; within she is full of filthy fleame, stincking putide, excrementall stuffe: snot and sneuill in her nostrils, spittle in her mouth, water in her eyes, what filth in her braines, &c. Or take her at best, and looke narrowly vpon her in the light, stand neare her, and thou shalt perceiue almost as much, and loue lesse. as Subtil. 13. Cardan well writes, minus amant qui acute vident, though Scaliger deride him for it. If he see her neere, or looke exactly, whosoeuer he is, and according to the true rules of symmetrie and proportion, examine him or her, he shall find many faults in phisiognomie, many indecorums in their other parts. And 'tis true that he saith, Cardan subtil. lib. 13. diligentèr consideranti rarò facies absoluta, & quae vicio caret, seldome shall you find an absolute face without fault, as I haue often obserued; see her angry, merry, laugh, weepe, hote, colde, dressed, vndressed, in all attires, gestures, passions, and in some of these she will surely dislike: Besides these outward naeues or open faults, errors, there be many inward infirmities, secret and &c. some priuate which I will omit, and some more common to the sex. Consideratio [Page 646] faeditatis mulierum quam immundae sunt, quod Sauanarola proponit regula septimâ, penitius obseruandum, & Platina dial Amoris, f [...]se perstingit. Lodouicus Boncialus mulieb. lib. 2. cap. 2. Albertus & infiniti ferè medici.
I will say nothing of the vices of their minds, their pride, enuy, inconstancy, weakenesse, malice, selfewill, lightnesse, insatiable appetite, ielousie. Ecclus 25.14. No malice to a womans, no bitternesse like to hers, Eccles. 7.21. and as the same Author, Prou. 31.10. Who shall finde a vertuous woman? He makes a question of it. Ter. Heaut. act. 4. sc. 1. ne (que) ius ne (que) bonum nec aequum sciunt melius peius prosit absit nihil vident nisi quod libido suggerit. They know neither equitie, good nor bad, be it better or worse (as the comicall, Poet hath it) beneficiall or hurtfull they will doe what they list.
I honour the Sexe as all good men doe I am not willing to prosecute the cause against them; let Mantuan, Platina in d [...]al. and such women haters beare the blame, if I haue said amisse, I haue not said an halfe of that which might be vrged out of them and others. And now to proceed, if women in generall be so bad, (and men worse then they) what an hazard is it to marrie, where shall a man find a good wife, or a woman a good husband? A woman a man may eschew, but not a wife wedding is vndoing, (some say) marrying, marring; wooing, woing; Febris hectica vxor, & non nisi morte a [...] ellen [...]a. a wife is a feuer hecticke, as Scaliger cals her, and not to be cured but by d [...]ath, as out of Menander, Dynosophist lib. 13. cap. 3. Athenaeus.
The worldly cares, miseries, discontents, that accompany marriage, I pray you learne of them that haue experience, for I haue none, many married men exclaime at the miseries of it, and raile at wiues downe right; but I neuer tried. ‘ Plautus Asini act. 1. Mare haud mare, vos mare accrimum.’ An Irish Sea is not so turbulent & raging as a litigious wife, better dwell with a Dragon or a Lion, then keepe house with a [...] wife. Ecclus. 25.18. better dwell in a wildernesse. Pro. 21.1 [...]. no wickednesse like to her, Ecclus. 25.21. She makes a sorry heart, an heauy countenance, and a wounded mind, weake hands, and feeble knees, vers. [...]5. as then the Comicall Poet merrily saith,
What shall I say to him that marries againe and againe, I pitty him not, for the first time he must do as he may, beare it out sometimes by the head and shoulders, and let his next neighbour ride, or else run away, or as that Gomesius de sale lib. 3 cap. 7. Syracusian in a tempest, when all ponderous things were to be exonerated out of the ship, quia maximum pondus erat, Bachelors alwayes are the brauest men. Bacon, seeke eternity in memory not in posteritie. fling his wife into the Sea. But this I confesse is Comically spoken, and so I pray you take it: in sober sadnesse marriage is a bondage, a thraldome, an yoke, an hinderance to all good enterprises, a rocke on which many are saued [...]; many impinge and are cast away: not that the thing is euill in it selfe or troublesome, but [Page 648] full of all contentment and happinesse: but to vndiscreet sensuall persons, that as brutes are wholy lead by lust, it is a serall plague, many times an hell it selfe, and can giue little or no content, being that they are often so irregular and prodigious in their lusts, so diuerse in their affections. Vxor nomen dignitatis non voluptatis, as Gallieuus imperator. he said. A wife is a name of honour, not of pleasure, fit to beare the name, gouerne a family, to bring vp children, sit at boards end & carue, as some carnall men say and thinke, they had rather go to the stewes, or haue now and then a snatch as they can come by it, borrow of their neighbours, then haue wiues of their owne: Except they may doe as some Princes and great men doe, keepe as many Curtisans as they wil themselues, flie out Impunè, or that poligamy of Turkes, or Irish deuorcement were in vse: but as it is 'tis hard & giues not that satisfaction to these carnall men, beastly men as too many are, Quod licet ingr [...]tum est. what still the same? to be tied For b [...]tter for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickenesse and in health, &c. 'tis du [...]s ser [...]o to a sensuall man. to one be she neuer so faire, neuer so vertuous, is a thing they may not endure, variet [...]s delectat, 'tis lothsome and tedious as he said of Iberina.
As true a Troian as mine hostesse daughter that Spanish wench in Lib. 28. Ariosto, as good wiues as Messalina. And many men are as constant in their choice, and as good husbands as Nero himself, they must haue their pleasure of all they see. Being that men & women are so irreligious depraued by nature, so wandring in their affections, so brutish, so subiect to disagreement, so vnobseruant of marriage rites, what shall I say? If thou beest such a one, or thou light on such a wife, what concord can their be, what hope of agreement? 'tis twenty to one thou wilt not marry to thy contentment. If shee bee barren, shee is not &c. If shee haue Chil [...]ren make misfortunes more bitter. Bacon. children, and thy state be not good, though thou be warie and circumspect, thy charge will vndoe thee, thou wilt not be able [Page 649] to bring them vp, Hensius epist [...] Primiero. nihil miserius quam procreare liberos ad quos nihil ex haereditate tu [...] peruenire videas praeter famem & sitim. and what greater misery can there be then to beget children, to whom thou canst leaue n [...] other inheritance but hunger and thirst: To leaue them to the wide world, to shift for themselues. No plague like to want: and when thou hast good meanes, & art very carefull of their education, they will not be ruled, thy sonn's a drunkard, a gamester, a spend-thrift, thy daughter a foole, a whore, thy Seruants theeues, thy neighbours diuels, they will make thee weary of thy life. Lemnius. cap. 6. lib. 1. Si morosa si non in omnibus obsequaris omnia impacata in aed. bus omnia sursum misceri videas multae tempestates, &c. If thy wife be froward, if she may not haue her will, thou hadst better to bee buried aliue, shee will bee so impatient, nothing but tempests, all is in an vproare. If she be soft or foolish, thou hadst better haue a block, she wil shame thee, and reueale thy secrets. If wise, and learned, well qualified, there is as much danger on the other side, Lib. 2. numer. 101. sil. nup. mulierem doctam du cere periculosissimum, saith Neuisanus, she will be too insolent and peeuish, Iuvenalis. mala Venusinam quam te Cornelia mater. Take heed. If shee be a slut, thou wilt loath her; if prowd, shee'l beggar thee: If faire and wanton, shee'l make thee a Cuckold; If deformed thou canst not loue her; that wil make thee peraduenture vn honest, Cromerus lib. 12. hist. relates of Casimirus, Subegit ancillas quod vxor eius deformior esset. that hee was vnchast, because his wife Adleida, the daughter of Henry Landsgraue of Hessia, was so deformed. If she bee poore she brings beggery with her, saith Neuisanus, & discontent. If you marry a maid it is vncertaine how she proues; if a rich Sil. nup. lib. 2. num. 55. Diues inducit tempestatem pauper caram Ducens viduam se induc [...]t in laqueum. widdow, induces te in laqueum; thou dost halter thy selfe, she wil make all away before hand, to her other children, &c she will hit thee still in teeth with her first husband. If she be rich, well descended, and bring a great dowre, or bee nobly allied, thy wiues friends will eat thee out of house and home, she will be so prowd, so high minded and so imperious, Si dotata erit imperiosa continuo (que) viro inequitare conabitur. Petrarch. shee will ride vpon thee, domineer as her list, weare the breeches, and begger thee besides, vxores divites seruitutem exigunt, as Seneca hits them, declam. lib. 2. declam. 6. dotem accept, imperium perdidi. They will haue soueraignty, they will haue attendance, they will doe what they list. If a woman nourish her husband shee is angry and impudent and full of reproch Ecclus. 25.24 scilicet vxori nubere nolo meae. In taking a dowre thou [Page 650] loosest thy liberty, hazardest thine estate; thou hadst better haue taken a good huswifely maid in her smocke. Since then there is such hazard, if thou be wise keep thy selfe as thou art and withall Let a young man then mary not yet, an old man not at all. Bacon Ess ayes. consider how free, how happy, how secure, how heauenly, in respect a single man is, how merrily he liues, hee hath no man to care for but himselfe, none to please, no charge, Daphne in laurum semper virentem immortalem docet gloriam paratā virginibus pudicitiam seruantibus. none to controle him, is tied to no residence, no cure to serue, may goe and come, when, whether, liue where hee will, his owne master, and doe what he will himselfe; consider of the excellency of Virginity, virgo coelum meruit, 'tis a pretious Iewell, a faire garland, a fine picture, as Diet. salut. cap. 22. pulcherrimū sertum infiniti precij gemma et [...]ictura speciosa. Bonauenture calls it, a blessed thing in it selfe, and if you will beleeue a Papist, meritorious. If this which I haue said will not suffice, see more in Lemnius lib. 4. cap. 13. de occult. naet. mir. Espenseus de continentia lib. 6. cap. 8. Kornman de virginitate, Platina in Amor. dial. Practica artis amandi, Barbarus de re vxoria. Arniseus in polit. cap. 3. and he thatis instar omnium, Neuisanus the Lawier in his Slva nuptialis, almost in euery page.
SVBSEC. 4. Philters magicall and Poeticall cures.
VVHere perswasions and other remedies will not take place, many fly to vnlawfull meanes, Philters Amulets, Magicke spells, Ligatures, Characters, Charmes, which as a wound with the speare of Achilles, if so made and caused, must so be cured. If made by Spells and Philters, saith Paracelsus, it must be so eased by Characters, Mag.lib. 2. cap. 28. and by Incantations. Fernelius Path. lib. 6. cap 13. Extinguitur virilitas ex incantamentor um maleficiis ne (que) enim fabula est nonnulli reperti sunt qui ex veneficiis amore priuati sunt vt ex multis historiis patet. Skenkius lib. 4. obseruat. med. hath some examples of such as haue beene so magically caused, and magically cured, & by witchcraft, so saith Baptist. Codro [...]chus lib. 3. cap. 6. de morb. ven. Malleus mallef. cap. 6. 'Tis not permitted to bee done, I confesse, yet often attempted: see more in Wierus lib. 3. cap. 18. de praestig. de remedijs per Philtra. Delrio To. 2. lib. 3. qu [...]st. 3. see. [Page 651] 3. desquisit magic. Cardan lib. 16. c. 90. reckons vp many magneticall remedies, as to pisse through a Ring, &c. Mizaldus, cent. 3.30. Baptista Porta, Iason Pratensis, Lobelius, pag. 87. Mathiolus, &c. prescribe many absurde remedies. Radix mandragorae ebibitae. Annuli ex vngulis asini Stercus amatae sub ceruical positum, illâ nesciente quum odorem foeditatis sentit, amor soluitur. Noctuae ouum abstemios facit comestum, ex consilio Iarthae Indorum gymnosophistae apud Philostratum lib. 3. Sanguis amasiae ebibitus omnem amoris sensum tollit, Faustinam, Marci Aurelij vxorem gladitoris amore captum, ita penitus consilio Chaldeorum liberatam, refert Iulius Capitolinus. Our old Poets & Phantasticall writers haue many fabulous remedies for such as are loue-sicke, as that of Protisilaus tombe in Philostratus, in that Dialogue betwixt Phaenix and Vinitor: Vinitor vpon occasion discoursing of the rare vertues of that shrine, telleth him that Protisilaus alter and tombe, Curat omnes morbos Ptyses hydropes & oculorum morbos, & febre quartana laborantes, & amore captos miris artibus eos demulcet. cures almost all manner of diseases, cō sumptions, dropsies, quartan agues, sore eyes, and amongst the rest such as are loue-sicke shall there be helped. But the most famous is The morall is vehement Feare expells Loue. Leucata Petra, that renowned rocke in Greece, of which Strabo Geog. lib. 10. not farre from S t Maures, saith Sandes lib. 1. From which Rock if any Louer flung himselfe down headlong, he was instantly cured. Venus after the death of Adonis when she could take no rest for loue, came to the Temple of Apollo to know what she should do to be eased of her paine: Apollo sent her to Leucata Petra, where she precipitated her selfe, and was forthwith freed, and when she would needs knowe of him a reason of it, he told her againe, that hee h [...]d often obserued Quum Iunonem deperiret Iupiter impotenter ibi solitus lauari, &c. Iupiter when he was enamored on Iuno, thither goe to ease and wash himselfe, and after him diuers others. Ovid. ep. 21.
This medicine Ios. Scaliger speakes of Ausoniarum lectionum lib, 18. Salmutz in Pancirol. de 7. mundi mirac. & other late writers. Pliny reports that amongst the Cyzeni, there is a wel consecrated to Cupid, of which if any louer tast, his passion is mitigated. And Anthony Verdurius Imag. deorum de Cupid, saith that amongst the ancients there was Apud antiquos amor Lethes olim fuit, is ardentes faces in profluentem in clinabat, buius statua veneris Elusinae templo visebatur, quo amantes confluebant qui amicae memoriam deponere volebant. Amor Lethes, hee tooke burning torches, and extinguished them in the riuer, his statua was to be seene in the Temple of Venus Elusina, of which Ovid makes mention, and saith that all louers of olde went thither a pilgrimage, that would be rid of their loue pangs. Pausanias in Achaicis tells as much of the riuer Senelus in Greece, if any Louer washed himselfe in it, by a secret vertue of that water he was healed of Loues torments. Where none of all these remedies will take place, I knowe no other, but that all Louers must make an head and rebell, as they did in Cupido crucifixus lepidum poema. Ausonius, and crucifie Cupid, till he grant their request, or satisfie their desires.
SVBSECT. 5. To let them haue their Desire.
THe last refuge and surest remedie, and to bee put in practise in the vtmost place, when no other meanes wil take effect, is to let them goe together and enioy one another; potissima cura est vt heros amasiâ suâ potiatur, saith Guianerius cap. 15. tract. 15. The speciall cure, and if it be possible so let it be. Patiens potiatur re amata si fieri possit optima cura. cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis. Arculanus holds it the speediest and the best cure, 'tis Si nihil aliud nuptiae & copulatio cum ea. Savanarola's last precept, and a principall vnfallible remedy, the last and sole refuge. When you haue all done, saith Cap. de Ilishi non inuenitur curanisi regimē connectionis inter eos secundum modum promissionis & legis & sic vidimus ad carnem restitutum qui iam venerat ad arefactionem euanuit cura postquam sensit. Avicenna, There is no speedier or safer course, then to ioyne the parties together according to their desires and wishes, the custome [Page 653] and forme of loue, and so we haue seene him quickly restored to his former health, that was languished away to skinne and bones, after his desire was satisfied, his discontent ceased, & wee thought it strange, our opinion is therefore, that in such cases nature is to be obeyed. Arateus, an old Author, lib. 3. cap. 3. hath an instance of a young man, Fama est melancholicum quēdam ex amore insanabiliter se habentem vbi puellae se coniunxisset restitutum &c. when no other meanes could preuaile, was so speedily relieued. What remaines then but to ioyne thē in marriage. Yea but hic labor, hoc opus, this cannot conveniently be done, by reason of many and seueral impediments. Sometimes both parties thēselues are not agreed Parents, Tutors, Masters, Gardians, will not giue consent, Laws, Customes, Statutes hinder, pouerty, superstition, feare and suspition, and I knowe not what my selfe; what shall we doe in such a case? He loues her most impotently, shee loues not him, and so è contra. Many Gentlewomen are so nice, they scorne all Suters, crucifie their poore Paramours, and thinke no body good enough for them. They take a pride to pranke vp themselues, to make young men enamored and dote on them, and to runne mad for their sakes. As Atalanta they must be ouerrunne, or wone. Many young men are as obstinate, and as curious in their choice, as irrefragable and peeuish on the other side, Narcissus like,
Eccho wept and wooed him by all meanes aboue the rest, but he was obstinate, ‘Ante ait emoriar quam sit tibi copiae nostri’ and would rather dye then giue consent, as many Louers doe hold out so long doting on themselues, stand in their owne light, till in the end they come to be scorned and reiected as Narcissus was, and to be contemned themselues of others, as he was of his shaddowe. Yet this is a common humour, and cannot be left.
Their loue danceth in a ring, and Cupid hunts them round about, he dotes, is doted on againe, dum (que) petit petitur paritur (que) accendit & ardet, and their loue cannot be reconciled.
Or suppose it be, both parties pleased, mutuus amor, mutuall loue and great affection, their parents cannot agree, & all is dashed, the match is vnequall, one rich, another poore, durus pater, an hard hearted, vnnaturall, a couetous father wil not marry his sonne, except he may haue so much mony, nor ioyn his daughter in marriage to saue her dowry, or for that he wants means to set her out, he hath no mony, she must tarry. Many slacke & carelesse parents measure their childrens affections by thier own; they are now cold & decrepit themselues, and past all such youthfull conceits, & they will therefore starue their childrens Genius, Ter. Illico nasci senes, they must not marry, nec earum participes esse rerum quas secum fert adolescentiae: as hee said in the Comedy, they will stifle nature, their young bloods must not participate of youthfull pleasures, but be as they are themselues old vpon a suddaine. And 'tis a generall fault amongst most parents in bestowing of their children, the father wholy respects wealth, the mother good kindred, the sonne a proper woman. As Plebeius & nobilis ambiebant puellam puellae certamē in partes venit. &c. Livy relates dec. 1. lib. 4. a Gentleman and a yoeman woo'd a wench in Rome (contrary to that statute that the gentry and commonalty must not match together) the matter was controuerted. The Gentleman was preferred by the mothers voice, quae quàm splendidissimis nuptijs iungi puellam volebat, shee would haue her daughter a Lady by all meanes: the ouerseers stood on him that was most worth, &c. But parents ought not to be so strict in this behalfe, Beauty is a dowry of it selfe, Gen. 26. Rahel was so married by Iacob, and Non peccat venialiter qui mulierem ducit ob pulchritudinem. Bonauenture [Page 655] in 4. sent [...] denies that he so much as venially sinnes, that marries a wench for comelinesse of person. The Iewes, Deut. 21.11. if they saw amongst the captiues a beautifull woman, some smal circumstances obserued, might take her to wife. They should not be too seuere in that kinde, especially if there bee no such vrgent occasion, or grieuous impediment. Pouerty and base parentage may be sufficiently recompensed by many other good qualities, modesty, vertue, religion, and good bringing vp. They must consider that Amor cogi non potest, Loue cannot be compelled, they must affect as they may: Fatum est in partibus illis quas sinus abscondit, Iuvenalis. as the saying is marriage and hanging goe by destiny, matches are made in heauen. And it may be to restraine their ambition, pride and couetousnesse, to correct those hereditary diseases of a family, God in his iust iudgement assignes and permits such matches to be made. For I am of De repub. cap. de period. rerum. pub. Bodines minde that Families haue their bounds and periods as well as kingdomes, beyond which for extent or continuance they shall not exceed, but in a perpetuall tenor (as we see by many pedegrees of Knights, Gentlemen, Yeomen) continue as they began, for many discents with little alteration. Howsoeuer let them giue something to youth, to loue, they must not thinke that they can fancy whom they appoint. Plin. in Pana [...] Amor enim non imperatur, affectus liber si quis alius & vices exigens, this is a free passion, as Pliny said in a Panegericke of his, and may not be forced, it requires mutuall loue, a corespondency. And consider withall the miseries of enforced marriages, take pitty vpon youth; and such aboue the rest as haue Puellis inprimus nulla danda occasio lapsus. Lemnius lib. c. 54. de vit. instit. daughters to bestowe, must be very carefull and prouident to marry them in due time, Virgines enim tempestiuè locandae, as Lemnius admonisheth, lib. 1. cap. 6. Virgins must bee prouided for in season, to preuent many diseases, and other inconueniences, and for a thing that I knowe besides, they perchance will marry themselues else, or doe worse. If Neuisanus the Lawyer doe not impose, they may doe it by right; for as he prooues out of Curtius, and some other Ciuilians, siluae nup. lib. 2. numer. 30 [Page 656] Filia excedens annum 25. potest inscio patre nubere licet indignus sit maritus & eum cogere ad congruè dotandum. A maid past 25 yeares of age, against her parents consent may marry such a one is vnworthy of her, and inferieur to her, and her father by law must bee compelled to giue her a competent dowry. For if they tarry longer they are past date, and no body will respect them. A Virgin, as the Poet saith, is like a flowre, a Rose withered on a suddaine.
Let them take time then while they may, make aduantage of youth, and as he prescribes,
But they need no such exhortation, they are commonly too forward. If there be an escape, and all be not as it should, as Diogenes strooke the father when his sonne swore, because he taught him no better; if a maid or young man miscarry, I think their parents often times, Gardians, Ouerseers, Gouernours, are in as much fault, and ought as seuerely to bee punished as the child, in prouiding for them no sooner.
Another let or hinderance is strict and seuere discipline, lawes and rigorous customes that forbidde men to marry at some set times, and in some places. As Prentises, Seruants, Collegiats, states of liues in coppy holds, or in some base inferiour offices, Apuleius in Catel nobis Cupido velle dat posse abnegat. Velle licet in such cases, potiri non licet, as he said. They see but as prisoners through a grate, they m [...]y couet and catch, but as Tantalus à labris, &c. Their loue is lost and in vaine in such an estate to attempt. They may indeed, I deny not, marry if they will, and haue free choice; but in the meane time their case is desperate, Lupum auribus tenent, they hold a woolfe by the eares, they must either burne or starue. 'Tis Cornutum sophisma, hard to resolue, if they marry they forfeit their estates, they are vndone and starue themselues [Page 657] through beggery and want: If they doe not marry, in this heroicall passion they furiously rage, and are tormented, torne in peeces by their predominate affections. Euery man hath not the gift of continence, better it is to marry then burne, for their soules health, but for their present fortunes, by some other meanes to pacifie themselues, and diuert the for their soules health, but for their present fortunes, by some other meanes to pacifie themselues, and diuert the streame of this fiery torrent, to continue as they are, The Foxe would eat no Grapes. If she may not bee had, let h [...]r goe. as Tur [...] said: tua sit La [...] [...]. rest satisfied: and with Iepthes daughter to bewaile their virginities.
Of like nature is Superstition, those rash vowes of Monk [...] and Friers, and such as liue in religious orders, but farre more tyrannicall and much worse. Nature, youth, and this furious passion forcibly inclines, and rageth on the one side: but their order and vow checks them on the other. What merits and Indulgences they heape vnto themselues by it, what commodities I knowe not; but I am sure from such rash vowes, and inhumane manner of life proceed many inconueniences, Mercu [...]ali. de P [...]apis [...]o. many diseases, many vices, mastupration, Satyriasis, Priapismus, melancholy, madnesse, fornication, adultery, Sodomy, theft, murder and all manner of mischiefes, read but Bales Catalogue of Sodomites, at the visitation of Abbies here in England, Henry Stephen his Apol. for Herodotus, that which Vlricus writes in one of his Epistles, Memorabile quod Vlricus epist la re [...]ert Gre [...]orium quū ex pis [...]na quadam al [...]ata plus quam sex m [...]lle [...]antum cap [...]ta vidisset ingemu [...]se, & decretū de caelib [...]tu tantam caedis causā co [...]essus cond [...]gno illud paenitentiae f [...]u [...]tu purgasse Kemnisius ex consil. Trident. part. 3. de co [...]ibatu sacerdotum that Pope Gregory when he saw 600. sculls and bones of Infants taken out of a Fishpond neere a Nunnery, therevpon to haue retracted that decree of Priests marriages, which was the cause of such a slaughter, and was much grieued at it, and purged himselfe by repentance. Read many such and then aske what is to bee done; Is this vow to be broke or not? No, saith Bellarmine cap. 38. lib. de Monach melius est scortari & vri, quam de voto coelibatus adnuptias transire, better burne or fly out then to breake thy vow, And Coster in his Eucherid. de caelibat: sacerdotum. saith it is absolutely grauius peccatum, Si nubat quam si domi concubinam alat. a greater sin for a Priest to marry, then to keepe a Concubine at home. Gregory de Valence, cap. 6. de caelelat: maintaines as much, as those Essei and Montanīsts of old, But S t Paul teacheth otherwise, better [Page 658] marry then burne, and Cyprian Epist. 8. Adulterum est, impium est, sacrilegum est, quodcun (que) humano furore statuitur, vt dispositio diuina violetur. It is abominable, impious, adulterous and sacrilegious, what men make and ordinate after their own furies to crosse Gods laws. It is an vnnatural & impious thing to barre men of this Christian liberty, and too seuere and inhumane an edict.
Many Lay-men repine still at Priests marriages aboue the rest, and not at Cleargy men only, but all the meaner sort and condition, they would haue none marry but such as are rich and able to maintaine wiues, because their parish belike shall be pestered with Orphans, and the world full of beggers, but 'Tis not multitude but Idlenesse which causeth beggery. these are shallow polititians, they doe not Or to set them a worke and bring thē vp in some honest trades. consider that a great part of the world is not yet inhabited as it ought, how many Colonies into America, Terra Australis incognita, Africa may be sent? Those politick Romanes were of another mind, they thought their Citty and Country would neuer be too populous. Dion Cassius lib. 56. Augustus Caesar made an Oration in Rome ad caelibes to perswade them to marry, some countries [Page 659] compel'd them to marry of olde, as Sardus. Buxdorfius. Riccius. Iewes, and Turkes, Indians; Chinese, amongst the rest in these dayes, much wonder at our discipline to suffer so many idle persons to liue in Monasteries, and much maruell how they can liue honest. Claude Albauille in his hist. of the Frenchmen to the Isle of Maragnan, An. 1614. In the Isle of Maragnan, the Gouernour and petty King there did wonder at the Frenchmen, and admire how so many Friers, and the rest of their company could liue without wiues, they thought it a thing vnpossible, and would not beleeue it. Alexander ab Alexandro lib. 4. cap 8. In most countries they doe much encourage them to marriage, and giue great rewards to such as haue many children, and mulct such as will not marry, Ius trium liberorum, and in Agellius lib. 2. cap. 15. Tres filii [...] sratrem ab excubiis quin (que) ab omnibus officiis liberabant [...]. We read that three children freed the father from painefull offices, and fiue from all contributions. A woman shall be saued by bearing children. Epictetus would haue all marry, and Precepto primo Cogatur nubere aut mulctator et pecunia templo Iunonis dedicetur, & publica fiat. Plato 6. de legibus, hee that marrieth not before 35 yeares of his age, must be compelled and punished, and the mony consecrated to Iuno's Temple, or applied to publike vies. They account him in some countries vnfortunate that dies without a wife, and lament him for it: o my sweet sonne, &c. See Lucian de luctu. Sands fol. 83.
And yet not withstanding many with vs are of the opposite part, they are married themselues and for others let them burne, or fire and flame they care not, so they be not troubled with them, and be well themselues. Many poore people, and of the meaner sort are too distrustfull of Gods prouidence, they will not marry for such worldly respects, feare of want, woes, miseries, or that they shall light, as Qui se capistro matrimonii alligari non pat [...]ūtur. Lemnius lib 4 [...] 13. de occult. nat. Abhorrent multi à matrimonio, ne morosam, querulam acerbam, amaram vxorem preferre cogātur. Lemnius saith, vpon a Scold, a Slut, or a bad wife. But these men are too distrustfull and much to blame, Ovid. parcite paucorum diffundere crimen in omnes; they must not blame all for some. As there be some bad, there be many good wiues: read what Solomon hath said in their praises, Prov. 31. and Siracides cap. 26. & 36. mimuntur atrae coniuge curae. A wife is a young mans mistris, a middle ages companion, an old mans nurse, Bacons Essays. a woman is the sole and only ioy, and comfort of a mans life, because marriage is troublesome, to auoid it, is no argument; Qui vult vitare molestias vitet mundum. he that will auoid trouble must avoid [Page 660] the world, saith Eusebius praepar. Evangel. 5. cap 50. Some trouble there is in marriage I deny not, Etsi graue sit matrimonium, saith Erasmus, edulcatur tamen multis, &c. yet there be many things to [...] Quid vita est q [...]so? quidue est sine [...]ypride dulce. Mimner. sweeten it, a pleasant wife, pretty children dulces nati, &c. And howsoeuer though it were all troubles, Erasmus. vtilitatis publicae causa devorandum, graue quid libenter subeundum, it must willingly bee vndergone for publike goods sake, and to propagate the Church. Matrimonium humano generi immortalitatem tribuit, Lib. 3. nu [...]n. 1. saith Nenisanus, Matrimony makes vs immortall. ‘ Palingenius. Indigne viuit per quem non viuit & alter.’
And as Noli societatem habere, &c. Trismegistus to his sonne Tatius, haue no commerce with a single man. They hold him in some places vnfortunate that so dies. Sandes fol. 83. If wee could liue without wiues, as Metellus Numidicus said in Lib. 1. cap. 6. Si inquit, Quirites sine vxore esse possemus omnes careremus. Sed quoniam sic est saluti potius publicae quam voluptati consulendum. Agellius, we would all want them, but because wee cannot, let all marry, and consult rather to the publike good then their owne priuate pleasure o [...] estate. Let him that is auerse from marriage read more in Barbarus de re [...] or, lib. 1. cap. 1. Lemnius de institut. cap. 4. P. Godefridus de Amor lib. 3. cap. 1. Domus non potest consistere sine vxore. Neuisanus lib. 3. num. 18. Neuisanus lib. 3. Alex. ab Al [...]vandro, l. 4. cap. 8. Tunstall, Erasmus tracts inlaudem Matrimonij, &c. And I doubt but in the end he will rest satisfied, and bee as willing to imbrace marriage as the rest: Nemo in seuerissima Stoicorū familia qui non barbam quo (que) et supercilium amplexibus vxoriis submiserit, aut in ista parte à rel quis dissenserit, Hensius Primiero. No not in that seuere family of Stoicks, that will not submit his graue beard, and supercilious lookes to the clipping of a wife, or disagree from his fellowes in this point. Since then this of marriage, is the last and best refuge, and cure of Heroicall loue, all doubts are cleered, and all impediments remoued; I say againe what remaines then, but according to both their desires, they bee happily ioyned, since it cannot otherwise bee helped. If all parties be pleased, 'tis a match. Ovid. Potitur (que) sua pu [...]r Iphi [...] Ianthi. As we commonly conclude a Comedy with a Quid expectatis intus fiunt nuptiae. wedding, and shaking of hands, let's shut vp our discourse, and conclude all with an Epithalamium. God giue them ioy together. Bonum factum. 'Tis well done.
And in the morne betime as those Theocritus edyl. 18. Lacedemo [...]ian lasses saluted Helena and Menelaus, singing at their windowes, and wishing good successe, doe we at yours.
And all your liues long.
Let the Muses sing (as he said) the Graces dance, not at their wedding only, but all their liues long; so couple their hearts that no irke somenesse or anger euer befall them; Let him neuer call her other name then my ioy, my light, or her call him otherwise then sweet-heart. And to this happinesse of theirs let not olde age any whit detract, but as their yeares, so let their mutual loue and comfort increase. Faeliciter nuptis.
At (que) haec de amore dixisse sufficiat, sub correctione, Knormannus de linea Amoris. quod ait ille, cuius (que) melius sentientis. Plura qui volet de remedijs [Page 662] Amoris legat Iasonem Pratensem, Arnaldum, Montaltum, Sauanorolam, Langium, Valescum, Crimisonum, Alexandrum Benedictum, Laurentium, Valleriolam. è Poetis Nasonem, è nostratibus Chaucerum, &c.
SECT. 3.
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. Iealosie, his Equiuocations, Name, Definition, Extent, seuerall kindes, of Princes, Parents, friends, In Beasts, men, before marriage, as Corriualls, or after as in this place.
VAicscus de Taranta cap. de Melanchol. Aelian Montaltus, Faelix Platerus, Guianerius, put Iealousie for a cause of Melancholy, others for a Symptome; because melancholy persons amongst other passions and perturbations of the mind, are most obnoxious to it. But me thinkes for the latitude it hath, and that prerogatiue aboue other ordinary Symptomes, it ought to be treated of as a Species a part, being of so great and eminent note, so furious a passion, and almost of as great extent as Loue it selfe, as In his Oration of Ielosie put out by Fran. Sanseuino Benedetto Varchi holds, No loue without a mixture of Iealousie. For these causes I will dilate it, & treate of it by it selfe, as a bastard branch or kinde of Loue-melancholy, and of like note; which as Heroicall loue goeth commonly before marriage, this vsually followes, and tortures and crucifies in like sort, and deserues thereforé to be rectified alike, and requires as much care and industry in setting out the seuerall causes of it, prognosticks, and cures. Which I haue more willingly done; that he that is or hath beene Iealous, may see his error as in a glasse, he that is not may learne hence to detest it, auoid it himselfe, and dispossesse others that are any way affected with it.
Iealosie is described and defined to be, Benedetto Varchi. a certaine suspition which the Louer hath of the party he chiefly loueth, least hee [Page 663] or she should be enamor'd of another. or an eager desire to enioy sōme beauty alone, to haue it proper to himselfe only: a feare or doubt, least any forrainer should participate or share with him in his loue. Or as Scaliger addes, Exercitat. 317 cum m [...]tuimus ne ama [...]ae rei ex [...]urbemur possessione. a feare of loosing her fauour whom he so earnestly affects. Cardan calls it, a Zelus de forma & invidentiae species, ne quis formá, quā amamus fruatur zeale for loue and a kinde of enuy least any man should beguiel vs. 3. De anima. Lodovicus Viues defines it in the very same words, or little differing in sence.
There bee many other Iealosies, but improperly so called all; as that of Parents, Tutors, Gardians ouer their children, friends whom they loue, or such as are left to their wardship or protection. Storax, non redijt hac nocte à caenâ Aeschinus, ne (que) seruulorum quispiam qui aduorsum ierant? As the olde man in the Comedy cryed out in passion, and out of a sollicitous feare & care he had of his adopted sonne, R. De anima. Tangimur Zelotypia de pupillis liberis cha [...]is (que) cur [...] nostrae cō creditis non de formâ sed ne ma lè sit iis aut ne nobis sibi (que) parent ignominiam not of beauty, but least they should miscarry or doe amisse, or any way discredit, disgrace (as Viues notes) or indanger themselues and vs. Plutarch. Aegeus was so sollicitous for his sonne Theseus, when he went to fight with the Minotaure, of his successe, least hee should be foyled. Senec.i [...] Herc. fur. Prona est timori semper in peius sides. Wee are still apt to suspect the worst in such doubtfull cases, as many wiues in their husbands absence, fond mothers of their children, least if absent they should be mis-led or sicke, & are continually expecting newes of them, how they doe fare and what is become of them, they cannot endure to haue them long out of their sight: O my sweet sonne, O my deare child, &c. Paul was iealous ouer the Church of Corinth, as he confesseth 2. Cor. 11.2. With a godly Iealousie to present them a pure Virgin to Christ, and he was afraid still least as the Serpent beguiled Eua through his subtelty, so their mindes should be corrupt from the simplicity that is in Christ. God himselfe in some sense is said to be iealous, Exod. 20. I am a iealous God, and will visit, &c. and Psal. 79.5. shall thy iealousie burne like fire for ever. But these are improperly called Iealosies, & by a Metaphor, to expresse the care and sollicitude they haue of them. Although some Iealosies expresse all the Symptoms [Page 664] of this which we treat of feare, sorrow, anguish, anxiety, suspition, &c. the obiect only varied. As that of Princes which is most notorious, Daneus aphoris. polit. semper metuunt ne e [...] rum authoritas minu [...]tur. as when they feare corrivalls (if I may so call them) successors, aemulators, subiects, or such as they haue offended. Lucian. Omnis (que) potestas impatiens consortis erit. They are still suspitious, least their authority should be deminished, as one obserues. And as Camineus truely hath it, Belli Neapol. lib. 5. It cannot bee expressed, what slender causes they haue of their griefe and suspition, a secret disease, that commonly lurkes and breeds in princes families. Sometimes it is for their honour only, as that of Adrian the Emperour, Dici non potest quam tenues & infirmas causas habent maeroris & suspitionis, & hic est morbus occultus qui in familiis principum regnat [...] Omnes aemulos interfecit Lampridius. that killed all his Emulators, Saul envied Dauid; Domitian, Agricola; because he did excell him, obscure his honour as he thought, eclipse his fame. Iuno turned Proetus daughters into Kine, becaue they contended with her for beauty, Cyparissae king Eteocles daughters were enuied of the Goddesses for their excellent good parts, and dancing amongst the rest, saith Constant. agricult. lib. 10. cap. 5. Cyparissae Eteoclis filiae saltantes ad [...]mulationem dearū in puteum demolitae sunt sed terra miserata, Cupressos inde produxit. Constantine, and for that cause flung downe headlong from heauen, and buried in a pit, but the earth toke pitty of them, and brought out Cypresse trees to preserue their memories. Ouid. Met. Niobe, Arachne, and Marsias can testifie as much. But it is most grieuous when it is for a kingdome it selfe, or matters of commodity, it produceth lamentable effects, especially amongst Tyrants, and such as are more feared then beloued of their subiects, that get & keepe their soueraignty by force. Seneca. Quod ciuibus tenere te invitis scias, &c. as Phalaris, Dionysius, Periander, held theirs. Quis autem carnifex addictum supplicio crudelius afficiat quam metus? Metus inquam mortis, infamiae, cruciatus sunt ille vltrices furiae quae tyrannos exagitant, &c. Multó acerbius sauciant & pungunt quam crudeles domini seruos vinctos fustibus ac tormentis exulcerare possunt. What slaue, what hangman (as Bodin well expresseth this passion, l. 2 c. 5. de rep.) can so cruelly torture a condēned person, as this feare & suspiti [...]n. Feare of death, infamy, torments are those furies & vultures that vex & disquiet tyrants, and tortures them day & night, with perpetuall terrors and affrights, enuy, suspition, feare, desire of reuenge, and a thousand such disagreeing perturbations, turne and feare the soule out of the hinges of health, and more grievously wound and pierce, then those cruell masters [Page 665] can exasperate and v [...]xe their [...]prentises and seruants with clubbes, whippes, chaines and tortures. Many terrible examples we haue in this kind amongst the Turkes, especially many iealous outrages, Lonicerus To [...]. 1. T [...]rc. hist. cap. 24. Selimus killed Carnutus his youngest brother, fiue of his nephewes, Mustapha Bassa, and many others. Iouius vita eius. Ba [...]azet the second Turke iealous of the valour and greatnesse of Acmet Bassa caused him to be slaine, Kno [...]les. Bus [...]equius. Sands. fol 52. Alexander Gaguinus Muscouit hist. descript. cap. 5. Solomon the magnificent murdered his owne sonne Mustapha, and 'tis an ordinarie thing amongst them to make away their owne brothers, or any competitors: at the first comming to the crowne, 'tis all the solemnity they vse at their fathers funeralls. What mad pranckes in his iealous furie did Herod of old commit in Iury, when he massacred all the children of a yeere old? And what made pranckes hath f Io. Basilius that Muscouian tyrant practised of late? It is a wonder to read that strange suspition, which Suetonius relates of Claudius Caesar, and of Domitian, they were afraid of euery man they saw. And which Herodian of Antoninus & Geta those two iealous brothers, the one could not endure so much as the other seruants, but made away him and all his followers, and al that belonged to him or were his well wishers. D r. Fletcher. [...]imet omnes ne insidiae essent. Maximinus perceiuing himselfe to be odious to most men because hee was come to that height of honour out of base beginnings, and suspecting his meane parentage would be obiected to him, caused all the Senators that were nobly descended, to be slaine in a iealous humour, and turned all the seruants of Alexander his predecessor out of d [...]ores, and slew many of them: because they lamented their masters death, suspecting them to bee traytors. for the loue they bare to him. When Alexander in his fury, had made Clitus his deare friend to be put to death, and saw now (saith Herodia [...]li P. Maximinus inuis [...]m se sentiens quod ex infim [...] loco in tantam fortunam venisset moribus ac genere barbarus, metuens ne natalium obscuri tas obijceretur, omnes Alexandri praedecessores ministros ex aula eiecit, pluribus interfectis, quod maesti essent ad morlem Alexandri insidias inde metuens. Curtius) an alienation in his subiects hearts, none durst talke with him, Lib 8. tanquā ferae sol [...]udine viuehant, terrentes alios, timentes he began to be iealous of himselfe least they should attempt as much on him, and said they liued like so many wilde beasts in a wildernesse, one afraide of another. Our moderne stories afford vs many notable examples. Serres sol. 567. Henrie the third of France, iealous of Henrie of Loraine Duke of Guise, Anno. 1588. caused him to be murdered [Page 666] in his owne chamber. Lewes the eleuenth was so suspitious, he durst not trust his owne children, euery man about him he suspected for a traytor. Neapol. belli lib. 5. nulli prorsus homini fidebat, omnes insi diari sibi pu tabat. Many strange trickes Comineus telleth of him. How iealous was our Henrie the fourth, of king Richard the second so long as he liued, after he was deposed, and of his owne sonne Henrie, in his latter dayes? which the Prince well perceiuing, came to visite his father in his sickenesse in a watchet veluet gowne, Camdeus Remaines. full ofilet holes, and with needles sticking in them (as an embleme of iealousie) and so pacified his suspitious father, after some speeches and protestations which he had vsed to that purpose. Perpetuall imprisonment, as that of Robert Duke of Normandy in the dayes of Henrie the first, Mat. paris forbidding of marriage to some persons and such lik edicts, prohibitions, are ordinarie in all estates. In a word as R.T. notis in blason iealousie. he said, three things cause iealousie, a mightie state, a rich treasure, a faire wife, or where there is a crackte title, much tyranny and many exactions. In our state as being freed from all these feares and miseries, we may be most secure and happy, vnder the raigne of our fortunate Prince..
But I roue I confesse. These Aequiuocations, Iealousies and many such, which crucifie the soules of men, are not heere properly ment, or in this distinction of ours included, but that alone which is for beauty, and tending to loue, and wherein they can brooke no corriuall, or endure any participation: and this iealousie belongs aswel to bruit beasts as to men. Some creatures saith 3. de animá cap. de zel. animalia quaedam zelotypia tanguntur, vt olores, columbae, galli, tauri. &c. ob metum communionis. Viues, as Swannes, Doues, [Page 667] Cockes, Bulles, &c. are iealous as well as men, and as much moued for feare of communion.
In Bulles, Horses, Goats, this is most apparantly discerned. R. T. in his blason of iealousie, telleth a story of a Swanne about Windsore, that finding a strange cocke with his mate, did swimme I know not how many miles after to kill him, and when he had so done, came backe and killed his henne, a certaine truth he saith done vpon Thames, as many watermen and neighbour gentlemen can tell. Fidem suam liberet, for my part I doe beleeue it may be true, for Swannes haue euer beene branded with that Epithite of iealousie.
Aldouerandus Some say as much of Elephants, that they are more iealous then any other creatures whatsoeuer, and those old Aegyptians, as Lib. 12. P [...]erius informeth vs, expressed in their Hieroglyphickes, the passion of iealousie by a Camell, Sibi timens circares venereas solitudines amat. quo solus sol [...] s [...]emina fruatur. because that fearing the worst still about matters of venery, he loues solitudes, that he may enioy his pleasure alone.
But this furious passion is most eminent in men, and is aswell amongst Bachalours, as married men: if it appeare amongst Bachalours, we commonly call them riuals or corriualls, and it breakes out many times into tempestuous stormes, and produceth lamentable effects; murder it self [...] with much cruelty, many single combats. They cannot endure the least iniury done to them before their mistresse, and in her defence will bite off anothers noses, they are most [Page 668] impatient of any flou [...], disgrace, or least emulation or participation in that kind. Constantine in the eleuenth booke of his husbandry, cap. 11. hath a pleasant tale of the Pine-tree, Pinus puella quondam fuit, &c. she was once a faire maid, whom Pineus and Boreas two corriualls dearely sought, but iealous Boreas broke her necke, &c. And in his eighteenth chapter, hee telleth another tale of Mars zel [...]typus Adonidem interfecit. Mars, that in his iealousie slue Adonis. Petronius calleth this passion, amantium furiosam aemulationem, a furious emulation, and their symptomes are well expressed by S r. Iefferie Chaucer in his first Canterbury tale. It will make the nearest and dearest friends fall out, they will endure all other things to be common, goods, lands, moneys, participate of all other pleasures, and take in good part any disgraces, iniuries in another kind, but as Propertius we [...]l describes it, in an Elegie of his, in this they will suffer nothing, haue no corriualls.
This iealousie which I am to treat off, is that which belongs to married men, in respect of their owne wiues, to whose estate, [Page 669] as no sweetnesse, pleasure, happinesse can be compared in the world, if they liue quietly and louingly together, so if they disagree or be iealous, those bitter pilles of sorrow and griefe, disasterous mischiefes and mischan [...]es, tortures, gripings, discontents are not to be separated from them. A most violent passion it is where it taketh place, an vnspeakeable torment, an h [...]llish torture, an infernall plague a A [...]slo [...] calles it, A furie, a continuall feuer, full of susp [...]tion [...]re and sorrow, a martyrdome. The sorrow and griefe of heart is one woman iealous of another, heauier then death. Ecclus. 28.6. as 1. Sam. [...]. [...]. Peninnah did Hannah, Vexe her and vpbraid her s [...]re, 'Tis asore vexation, a most intollerable burden, a frenzie, a madnesse it selfe, as Blas [...]n [...]ealousie. Beneditto Varchi proues out of that select Sonnet of Giouanni de la Casa, that reuerend Lord as hee stiles him.
SVBSEC. 2. Causes of Iealousie, who are most apt. Idlenesse, Melancholy, Impotency, long Absence, Beautie, Wantonnesse, bad themselues, Allurements, from time, place, persons, bad vsage.
AStrologers make the starres a cause or signe of this bitter passion, and out of euery mans Horoscope, will giue a probable coniecture whether he will be iealous or no, and at what time: their Aphorismes are to be read in Albumazer, Pontanus, Scouer, Iunctine &c. Bodine cap. 5. method. hist. ascribes a great cause to the country or clime, and discourseth largely there of this subiect, saying that southerne men are more hot lascivious & iealous, then such as liue in the north, they can hardly containe themselues in those hotter climes, but are most subiect to prodigious lusts. Leo Afer telleth incredible things almost of the lust and iealousie of his countrimen of Africke, & especially such as liue about Carthage, and so doth euery Geographer of them in Asia, Turkie, Spaniards, [Page 670] Italians. In Germanie, Brittaine, Scandia, Poland, Muscouie, Mulierum conditio misera nullam honest [...] eredunt nisi domo conclusa viuat. they are not so troubled with this ferall malady, altough Damianus a Goes, which I doe much wonder at in his discription of Laplaude and Herbastein of Russians, against the streame of all other Geographers would fasten it vpon those Northerne inhabitants. Altomarus, Podgius, and Munster in his description of Baden, Nomen zelotypiae apud istos locum non habet. reports that men and women of all forts goe commonly into the Baths together, without all suspition, the name of iealousie saith Munster is not so much as once heard of amongst them. Busbequius Sands. The Greekes on the other side haue their priuate Bathes for men and women, where they must not come neere, not so much as see one another: and as Praeamore & zolotypia saepius insaniunt. Bodine obserues lib. 5. de repub. the Italians would neuer endure this or a Spaniard, the very conceit of it would make him mad: and for that cause they locke vp their women', and will not suffer them to be together, so much as in the Australes ne sacra quidem publica fi [...]ri patiuntur nisi vter (que) sexus pariete medio diuidatur: & quum in Angliam inquit legationis causa profectus essem, audiui Mendoz [...]m legatum Hispaniarum dicentem turpe esse viros & faem [...]nas in &c. Church, but with a partition betweene. He telleth moreouer, how that when he was Embassader in England he heard Mendoza the spanish Legat finding falt with it, as a filthy custome for men and women to sit promiscuously in Churches together, but D r. Dale the master of the Requests told him againe, that it was indeede a filthy custome in Spaine, where they could not containe themselues from lasciuious thoughts in their holy places, but not with vs. We are farre from any such strange conceits, and will permit our wiues and daughters to goe to the Tauerne with a friend, as Aubanus saith, modo absit lasciuia, and suspect nothing to kisse comming & going, which as Erasmus writes in one of his Epistles, they cannot endure. Some make a question whether this head-strong passion, rage more in women then men, as Montaigne lib. 3. But sure it is more outragious in women, as all other Melancholy is, by reason of the weakenesse of their sexe. Scaliger Poet li. ca. 13. concludes against women, Idea, mulieres preterquam quod sint infidae suspicaces, inconstantes, insidiosae simulatrices, superstitiosae, & si potentesintolerabiles amore zelotypae supra modū. Ouid 2. de art. Besides their inconstancie, treachery, suspicion, dissimulation, superstition, and desire of soueraignety, if they be great women, as he giues instance in Iuno, [Page 671] bitternesse and iealousie are the most remarkeable affections.
Bartello. Some say red-headed women, pale coloured, blacke eyed, and of a shrill voice, are most subiect to iealousie.
Comparisons are odious, I neither paralel them with others, nor debate them any more: men and women are both badde and too subiect to this pernitious infirmitie. It is most part a symptome and cause of melancholy, as Plater and Valescus teach vs: melancholy men are apt to be iealous, and iealous, apt to be melancholy.
If idlenesse concurre with melancholy, such persons are most apt to be iealous, and 'tis Lib. 2. num. 8. mulier otiosa facile praesumitur luxuriosa, et saepe zelotypa. Neuisanus note. An idle woman is presumed to be lasciuious and often iealous. And 'tis not vnlikely for they haue no other businesse to trouble their heads with.
More particular causes be these which follow. Impotentencie first, when a man is not able of himselfe, to performe those dewes which he ought vnto his wife, and he perceiues her to be more crauing, clamorous, vnsatiable and prone to lust then is fit, he begins presently to suspect that wherein he is defectiue, she will satisfie her selfe, she will be pleased by some other meanes. This cause is most euident in old men, [Page 672] that are cold and drie by nature, and married succi plenis, to young wanton wiues, with old doting Ianiuere in Chaucer they beginne to mistrust all is not well. And how should it otherwise be? Old age is a disease of it selfe, lothsome, fulsome, full of suspition & feare, when it is at best, vnable, vnfit for such matters. Lib. 2. num. 4. Tam apta nuptijs quam bruma messibus, as welcome to a young woman as snow in haruest, saith Neuisanus. Et si capis inuenculam faciet tib [...] cor [...]. Marry a maid and she will surely grast hornes on thy head. Quum omnibus infideles faeminae sevibus infidelissimae. All women are slippery, vnfaithfull to their husbands most part, as Aeneas Siluius epist, 83. seconds him, but to old men most treacherous of all: they had rather mortem amplexarier le with a corse then with such a man. On the other side most men saith Hieronymus are suspitious of their wiues, Vix aliqua non impudica, & quam non suspectum meritò quis habeat. if they be lightly giuen, but old folkes aboue the rest. In so much that she did not complaine without a cause in Lib. 5. de aur. asino. At ego misera patre meo seniorem, maritum nacta sum dien cucurbitâ caluiorem, & quovis puero pumiliorem, cunctam domum seris & cathenis obditam custodientem. Apuleius of an old, bald, bedridden knaue she had to her husband. Poore woman as I am, what shall doe? I haue an old grimme sire to my husband as bald as a gourde, as little and as vnable as a child, he keepes all the doores barred and locked vpon me, woe is me, what shall I doe? He was iealous, and she made him cuckold for keeping her vp: suspition without a cause, hard vsage is able of it selfe to make a woman flie out, that was otherwise honest. Nam quando mulieres cognoscunt maritum hoc aduertere licentius peccant, as Lib. 4. nu. 80. Neuisanus holds, when a woman thinkes her husband watcheth her, she will sooner offend, Ouid 2. de art amandi. Liberiùs peccant & pudor omnis abest, rough handling makes them worse, as the good wife of Bathe in Chaucer bragges.
Another iust cause may be long absence of either party, when they must of necessitie be much from home, as Lawyers, Physitians, Mariners, by their profe [...]sions or otherwise make friuolous impertinent iourneyes, and tarry long abroad to no purpose, vpon small occasions, it must needes yeeld matter of suspition; when they vse their wiues otherwise [Page 673] vnkindly and neuer tarry at home, it cannot choose but ingender some such conceit.
Hippocrates the Physitian had a smacke of this disease, for when he was to goe from home, as farre as Abdera, and some other remote citties of Greece, he writ to his friend Dionysius, (if at least those Fab. Calu [...]. Rauenate interprete. Epistles be his) Dum rediero domam meam habitabis, & licet cum parentibus habitet, hac meâ peregrinatione, eam tamen & eius mores obseruabis vti absentia viri su [...] probè degat, nec alios viros cogitet aut quaerat. to ouersee his wife in his absence, although she liued in the house with her father and mother, whom he knew would haue a care of her, yet that would not satisfie his iealousie, he would haue his especiall friend Dionysius to dwell in his house with her, all the time of his peregrination, and to obserue her behauiour, how she carried her selfe in her husbands absence, and that she did not lust after other men, Faemina semper custode eget qui se pudicam contineat, suapte enim naturâ n [...] quitias insitas habet, quas nisi in dies comprimat, vt arbores stolones emittunt &c. For a woman had need to haue an ouerseer to keepe her honest, they are bad by nature and lightly giuen all, and if they be not curbed in time, as an vnproyned tree, they will be full of wild branches, and degenerate of a sudden. Especially in their husbands absence, though one Lucretia were trusty, and one Penelope, yet Clitomnestra made Agamemnon cuckcolde in his absence, and no question their be too many of her conditions. If their husbands tarry too long abroad vpon any necessary businesse, well they may suspect: or if they flie one way, their wiues at home will flie out another, Quid pro quo. Of if present, and giue them not that content which they ought, Hensius. Primum ingratae, mox inuisae noctes quae per somnum transiguntur, They cannot endure to lie alone, or to fast long. Vxor cuiusdam nobilis quū debitum maritale sacrâ passionis hebdomadâ non obtineret, alterum adijt. Peter Godefridus in his second booke of loue and sixt chapter, hath a story out of S t. Anthonies life, of a gentleman, that by that good mans aduise, would not meddle with his wife in the passion weeke, but for his paines she set a paire of [Page 674] hornes on his head. Such another he had out of Abstemius, one perswaded a new married man, Ne [...]ribus prio [...] noctibus remhaberet cum eâ vt ess [...]t in p [...]ibus fortunatus, ab vx [...]e m [...]rae impatiente, &c. to abstaine the three first nights and hee should all his life time after be fortunate in cattell, but his impatient wife would not tarry so long: well he might speede in cattell, but not in children. Such a tale hath Hensius of an impotent and slacke scholler, a meere student and a friend of his, that seeing by chance a fine damsell sing and dance, would needs haue her, the match was soone made for hee was rich. Totam noctem benè & pudicè nemini molestus dormiendo transegit, mane autē quum nullius cōscius facinoris sibi esset, & inertiae puderet. audisse se aiebat cum dolore calculi solere eam conflictari. Duo praecepta iuris vna nocte expressit, neminem laeserat & honeste vixerat. sed an suum cui (que) [...]e [...]didisset quaeri poterat, M [...]tius opinor & Trebatius hoc negassent. The first night, hauing liberally taken his liquor (as in that countrey they doe) my fine scholler was so fusled, that he no sooner was laid in bed, but he fell fast asleepe, and neuer waked till morning, and then much abashed, he made an excuse, I know not what, out of Hippocrates Cous, &c. and for that time it went currant, but when as afterward he did not play the man as he should doe, she fell in league with a good fellow, and whilest he sate vp late at his study about his Critisismes, mending some hard places in Festus or Pollux, and came cold to bed, and would tell her stil what he had done, she did not much regard what he said, &c. Alterius loci emendationē seriò optabat quē corrvptum esse ille nou iuvenit. Shee would haue another matter mended much rather which he did not perceiue was corrupt: thus he continued at his study late, she at her sport, hating all schollers for his sake, till at length he began to suspect, and turne a little yellow, as wel he might; for it was his owne fault, and if men be iealous in such cases Such anotale is Melander de Iocosarijs his first tale. as oft it falls out, their mends is their owne hands, they must thanke themselues.
A third eminent cause of iealousie may be this, when hee that is deformed hirsute and ragged, and very vertuously giuen, will marry some very faire niec piece, or some light huswife, he begins to misdoubt (as well he may) she doth not affect him. Ouid. rara est concordia formae at (que) pudicitiae. Lis est cum formâ magna pudicitiae. Beauty and honesty haue euer beene at oddes. Abraham was iealous of his wife because she was faire; and it is hard to find saith Francis Philelphus in an Epistle of his to Saxola his friend, a [Page 675] rich man honest, a proper woman not proud or vnchast. Can she be faire and honest too? He that marries a wife that is snout faire, alone, let him looke, saith Barbarus, De re vxori [...] lib. 1.5. cap. for no better successe, then Vulcan had with Venus, or Claudius with Messalina. And 'tis impossible almost in such cases thy wife should containe, or the goodman not be iealous, for when he is so farre defectiue himselfe, ill proportioned, vnpleasing in those parts which women most effect, and shee most absolutly faire on the other side. If she be not very vertuously giuen, how can she loue him, and although she be not faire, yet if he admire her and thinke her so, in his conceit she is absolute, he holds it vnpossible for any man living not to dote as he doth, to looke on her and not lust, not to couet, and if he be in company with her, not to lay siege to her stonestly: or else out of a deepe apprehension of his infirmities, deformities, and other mens good parts, he suspects she cannot affect him, or be not so kind and louing as shee should, shee certainely loues some other man better then himselfe.
Cum steriles sunt, ex mutatione viri se po [...]se putant concipere [...] Neuisanus lib. 4. num. 72. Will haue barrennesse to be a meane cause of iealousie. If her husband cannot play the man some other shall, they will leaue no remedies vnassaied, and thereupon the good man growes iealous, I could giue an instance, but be it as it is.
I find this reason giuen by some men, because they haue bin formerly naught themselues, they thinke they shall be so serued by others: they shall haue legem talionis, like for like.
Malamens, malus animus, as the saying is, ill dispositions cause ill suspitions.
To these aboue named causes, I may very well annexe those circumstances of time, place, persons, by which it ebbes and flowes, as 3. De animâ crescit ac decrescit zelotypiâ ex personis, locis, temporibus neg [...]tijs. Viues very well obserues, and such like accidents or occasions, proceeding from the parties themselues or others, which much aggrauate and intend this suspitious humour. For many men are so lasciuiously giuen, either out of a depraued nature, or too much libertie, which they doe assume vnto themselues, by reason of their greatnesse, in that they are noble men, Q [...]i cum legitimi iunguntur faedere lecti, virtute egregijs facie (que) domo (que) puellis, scorta tamen faed [...]s (que) lupa [...] in forna [...]e querunt, & per adulterium noua c [...]rpere gaudia tentant. Marullus. though their owne wiues be neuer so faire, noble, vertuous, honest, wise and well giuen, they must haue change, tanta est alienâ in messe voluptas, or that stolne waters be more pleasant or as Vitellius the Emperour was wont to say, Iucundiores amores, quae cum periculo habentur, like stolne Venison that is still the sweetest, is loue which is most difficultly attained; they like better to hunt by stealth in anothers mans walke, then to haue the fairest course that may be at game of their owne.
Or that some faire obiect so forcibly moues them, Propert. Eleg. 2 they cannot containe themselues, Cap. 5.8. but as an horse they neigh saith Iemiah after their neighbours wiues, and if they be in company of other women, though in their wiues presence, they must be dallying with them. Iuno in Lucian complaines of Iupiter, that he was still kissing Ganymede before her face.
Or that they care little for their owne wiues, or feare no laws they dare freely keep whores at their wifes noses. Tis to familiar with great men to be dishonest, Pietas probitas, fides priuata bona sunt as Seneca. he said long since, piety, chastity and such like vertues are for priuate men. Great personages will familiarly flie out in this kind, and giue occcsion of offence, Lib. 2. cap. 23. Montagne in his Essayes giues instance in Caesar, Mahomet [Page 677] the Turke that sacked Constantinople, and Ladislaus king of Naples that besieged Florence, great men and great souldiers are commonly lasciuious, Mars & Venus are equally ballanced in their actions. Caesar saith Curio in Sueton, was omnium mulierum vir, he made loue to Eunoe Queene of Mauritania, to Cleopatra, to Postumia wife to Sergius Sulpitius, to Lollia wife to Gabinius, to Tertulla of Crassus, and to Mutia Pompies wife, and I know not how many besides: Euery priuate History will yeeld such variety of instances. Otherwise good wise, discreet men, vertuous & valiant but too faulty in this. Pontus Heuter vita eius. Philippus bonus left 14. bastards, Laurence Medices a good Prince and a wise, but saith, Lib. 8. Flor. hist. dux omni. um optimus & sapientissimus, sed in re venere [...] prodigiosus. Machiauel prodigiously lasciuious. None so valiant as Castruccius Castrucanus, but as the same Author hath it, Vita Castruccij Idem vxores maritis abalienauit. none so incontinent as he was. And 'tis no maruaile if poore women in such cases be iealous, when they shal see themselues manifesty neglected, and their disloyall husbands to entertaine others in their roomes, and many times to court Ladies to their faces, other mens wiues to weare their iewells, how shall a poore woman in such a case moderate her passions?
And how on the other side shall a poore man containe himselfe from this ferall maladie, when he shall see so manifest signes of his wiues inconstancy? when as like Milo's wife in Apuleius she dotes vpon euery yuong man shee sees. Though her husband be proper and tall, and faire and louely to behold, and able to giue contentment to any one woman; yet she will taste of the forbidden fruit, Iuuenalls Iberina to an haire, she is as well pleased with one eye as one man. If a young gallant come by chance into her presence, a Fastidius Briske that can weare his clothes well, in fashion with a locke, a gingling spurre, a feather, that can cringe and with all complement, court a gentlewoman, she raues vpon him; ô what a louely proper man he was, how sweetly he carried himselfe, with how comely a grace, sic vultus sic or a ferebat, how neatly he did weare his clothes, sing and dance, &c, and then she beginnes to loath her husband, to hate him: [Page 678] and his filthy beard, his gotish complection, how like a dizard, a foole, an asse he lookes, how like a clowne he behaues himselfe. Aeneas Siluius So did Lucretia a Lady of Senes, after she had but seene Eurialus, In Eurialum tota ferebatur, domum reuersa, &c. she would not hold her eyes off him in his presence, and in his absence could thinke of none but him, odit virum, she lothed her husband forthwith, and sought all opportunities to see her sweet heart again. Now whē the good man shall obserue his wife so lightly giuen, to be so free and familiar with euery gallant, her immodesty and wantonnesse (as Camerarius notes) it must needs yeeld matter of suspition to him, Cont. 2. cap. 38 oper. subcis. muli [...]ris liberius & familiarius cō municantis cum omnibus licentia & immodestia, sinistri sormonis & suspitionis materiam viro praebet. when she still pranckes vp her selfe beyond her meanes and fortunes, and so frequently goes to playes, masks, feasts, and all publike meetings, and shall vse such immodest Voces liberae oculorum colloquia, contrectationes parum veresundae, motus immodici, &c. Hensius. gestures, free speeches, and withall shew some distaste of her owne husband, how can he chuse, though he were another Socrates, but be suspitious and iealous? More especially when he shall take notice of their more secret and slie trickes, which to comute their husbands they commonly vse, they pretend loue, honour, chastity, and seeme to respect their husbands before all men liuing, Saints in shew, so cunningly can they dissemble, they will not so much as looke vpon another man in his presence, What is here said is not preiudicial to honest women so chaste, so religious, and so deuoute, they cannot endure the name or sight of a queane, an harlote, out vpon her, and in their outward carriage are most louing and officious, and will kisse their husbands, and hang about his necke (deare husband, sweet husband) and with a composed countenance salute him, especially when hee comes home, or if hee goe from home, weepe, sigh, lament, and take vpon them to be sicke and swound, (like Iocundos wife in Lib. 28. st. 13. Ariosto when her husband was to depart) and yet arrant &c. care not for him.
And yet for all these counterfeit teares and protestations, comming backe in all hast for a Iewell he had forgot,
Thus can they cunningly counterfeit, as Dial. Amor. Pendet fallax et blanda circa osculamariti, qué in c [...]uce si fieri posset, deosculaeri velit. Illius vi [...]m chariorem esse suâ iureiurando affirmat. qu [...]m certè non redimeret anim [...] catelli si posset. Platina describes their customes, and kisse their husbands, whom they had rather see hanging on the Gallows, and sweare they loue them dearer then their owne liues, whose soule they would not ransome for their little dogges. Many of them seeme to be precise & holy forsooth, & will goe to such a Ade [...]at templum vt rem divinam audiant, vt ipse simulant, sed vel vt Monachum fratrem vel adulterum linguá, oculis ad libidinem prouocent. Church to heare such a good man by all, meanes, and excellent man, when 'tis for no other intent (as he followes it then) to see and to be seene, to obserue what fashions, to meet some Pander, Bawd, Monke, Frier, or to entise some goodfellow. For they perswade themselues as Lib. 4. num. 81 Ipsae sibi persuadent quod adulterium quu [...] principe vel quū praesule non est pudor nec peccatum. Neuisanus shewes. That 'tis neither sinne nor shame to lye with a Lord or a parish priest, if he be a proper man: Deum rogat non pro salute mariti fi [...]ij cognati vota suscipit, sed pro reditu mechi si a [...]est pro valetudine lenonis si [...]egrotet. and though shee kneele often, and seeme to pray devoutly, tis (saith Platina) not for her husbands welfare or childrens good, or any freind, but for her sweethearts returne, her Pander's health. If her husband would haue her goe she faines her selfe sicke, Tibullus. & simulat subitò condoluisse caput: her head akes and she cannot goe, but if her Paramour aske as much, she is for him at all seasons, at [Page 680] all houres of the night. Gotardus Artus descript. indie Orient. Linchcosten In the kingdome of Malabar, and about Goa in the East Indies, the women are so subtile, that with a certaine drinke they giue them to driue away cares, as they say, Garcias ab Horto hist. lib. 2 cap. 24. Daturā herbam vocat & describit. Tam procliues sunt ad venerem mulieres vt viros inebrient per 24 horas, liquore quodam vt nihil videant, recordentur, at dormiant, & post lotionem pedum ad serestituunt. &c. Ariosto. They will make them sleepe for 24 houres, or so intoxicate them, that they can remember naught of that they saw done or heard, and by washing of their feet restore them to themselues againe, and so make them Cuckolds to their faces. But as he said,
Both, to say truth, are often faulty, Men and Women, and giue iust occasions in this humour of discontent, and aggrauate & yeeld matter of suspition, but most part the chiefe causes proceeds from other aduentitious accidents, and circumstances, though the parties be free and both well giuen themselues. The vndiscreet carriage of some lasciuious gallant, ( & è contrae of some light woman,) by his often frequenting of an house, and bold vnseemly gestures, may make a breach, and by his ouer familiarity, if he be inclined to yellownesse, colour him quite out. If he be poore, basely borne, saith Benedetto Varchi, and otherwise vnhandsome, hee suspects him the lesse, but if a proper man, well descended, commendable for his good parts, he taketh on the more, & watcheth his doings. Now when those other circumstances of time and place, opportunity and importunity shall concurre, what will they not effect?
As at Playes, Maskes, great feasts and banquets, one singles out his wife to dance, another courts her in his presence, a third tempts her, &c. and then, as † he saith,
[Page 681] And after a great feast, Tibullus. Vino saepè suum nescit amica virum. The most continent may be ouercome, or if otherwise they keepe bad company, they that are modest of themselues, and dare not offend, confirmèd Nihil audent primo post ab aliis confirmatae audaces & confidentes sunt Vbi semel verecundiae limites transierint. by others, grow impudent and confident, and get an ill habit. Or if they dwell in suspected places, as in an infamous Inne, neere some Stewes, neere Monks, Friers, Neuisanus addes, where be many temptors and solicitors, idle persons that frequent their companies, it may giue iust cause of suspition. Cap. 18. de Virg. Kornmannus makes a doubting iest in his lasciuious country, Virginis illibata censeaturne castitas ad quam frequenter acc [...]dant scholares. And Baldus the Lawyer scoffes on, quum scholaris inquit loquitur cum puella, non presumitur ei dicere, Pater noster. When a Scholler talkes with a maid, or another mans wife in priuate, it is presumed he saith not a Pater noster. These are the ordinary causes of Iealosie, which are intended or remitted as the circumstances vary.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSECT. 1. Symptomes of Icalosie, feare, sorrow, suspition, strange actions, gesturès, outrages, locking vp, oathes, trialls, Lawes, &c.
OF all passions, as I haue already proued, Loue is most violent, & of all those bitter potions which this Loue-melancholy affords, Iealosie is the greatest, as appeares by those prodigious Symptomes which it hath, and effects that it produceth. For besides that Feare and Sorrowe, which is common to all melancholy, anxiety of mind, restles thoughts palenesse, leanenesse, meagernesse, neglect of businesse and the like, these men are farther yet misaffected, and in an higher straine. 'Tis a more vehement passion, a more furious perturbation, a bitter paine, a fire, madnesse, plague, hell. They are more then ordinarily disquieted, more then ordinary suspitious, Iealosie, saith 3 De anima. Omnes voces, a [...]ras, omnes susuros captat z [...]lotipus, & amplificat apud se cū iniquissimâ de singulis calumnia. Maximè suspitiosi & ad peiora credendum proclives. Viues, begets vnquietnes in the mind night [Page 682] and day: he hunts after euery word he heares, euery whisper, and amplifies it to himselfe, with a most iniust calumny of others, he misinterprets every thing is said or done, most apt to mistake and misconster, he pries in euery corner, followes close, obserues to an haire: Besides all those strange gestures of staring, frowning, grinning, rolling of eyes, menacing, gastly looks, broken pace, interrupt, precipitate, halfe turnes. Hee will sometimes sigh, weepe, sob for anger, sweare and bely, slander any man, curse, threaten, brawle, raue; and sometimes againe flatter and speake faire, aske forgiuenesse, and then againe impatient as hee is, raue, and lay about him like a madde man, accusing and suspecting not strangers only, but Brothers and Sisters, Father and Mother, nearest and dearest friends. Hee thinks with those Italians,
And through feare conceaues vnto himselfe things almost incredible and impossible to be effected. As an Hearne when he fishes, still prying of all sides, gazing, listning, afrighted with euery obiect, as he confessed in the Poet.
Ist' not a man in womans apparell, is not some body in that great chest, or behind the dore, or hangings, or in some of those barrells? May not a man come in at the window with a ladder of ropes, or come downe the chimny, or haue a false key, or come in when he is asleepe? If a Mouse doe but stirre, or the wind blowe, a casement clatter, that's the villan there he is; by his good will no man shall see her, salute her, speake with her, shee shall not goe forth of his sight so much as to [Page 683] doe hir needs. Aeneas Silu. Non it a bouem Argus, &c. Argus did not so keepe his Cow, that watchfull dragon the golden fleece, or Cerberus the comming in of Hell, as he keepes his wife. If the necessity of his businesse bee such that hee must goe from home, he doth either locke her vp, or commit her with a deale of iniunctions and protestations, to some trusty friends him and her he sets and bribes to ouersee; and yet all this will not serue, though his businesse be very vrgent, hee will when he is halfe way come backe againe in post hast, rise frō supper, or at midnight and be gone, and sometimes leaue his businesse vndone. Though there be no danger at all, no cause of suspition, she liue in such a place, in such a company where Messalina her selfe could not bee dishonest if she would, yet he suspects her as much as if she were in a bawdy howse, or some Princes Court, or in a common Inne where all commers might haue free accesse. no perswasion, no protestation can diuert this passion, nothing can ease him, or giue him satisfaction. It is most strange to report what outragious acts by men and women haue beene committed in this kinde; by women especially, that will runne after their husbands into all places, all companies, as Ant. dial. Iouianus Pontanus wife did by him, follow him whether soeuer hee goes, it matters not, or vpon what businesse, rauing like Iuno in the Tragedy, cursing, swearing, and mistrusting euery one she sees. Gomesius in his third booke of the life and deeds of Francis Ximenius sometimes Archbishoppe of Toledo, hath a strange story of that incredible Iealosie of Ioane Queene of Spaine, wife to King Philip, and mother of Ferdinande and Charles the 5. Emperours; when her husband Philip either for that he was tyred with his wiues iealosie, or had some great businesse went into the Lowe countries; shee was so impatient and melancholy vpon his departure, that she would scarse eat her meat or conuerse with any man, and though shee were with child and the season of the yeare very bad, the winde against her, In all hast shee would to sea after him. Neither Isabella her Queene mother, or the Archbishop, or any other friend could [Page 684] perswade her to the contrary, but shee would after him. When she was now come into the Low-countries, & kindly entertained by her husband, she could not containe her selfe, Rabie concepta caesariem abrasit pu [...]llae (que) miserabiliter insultans faciem vibicibus faedauit. but in her rage ranne vpon a yellow hai'rd wench, with whom she suspected her husband to be naught, cut of her haire, and did beat her blacke and blewe, and so dragged her about. It is an ordinary thing for women in such cases, to scrat the faces, slit the noses of such as they suspect. Or if it be so they dare not or cannot execute any such tyrannicall iniustice, they wil raile and reuile them, beare them deadly hate and malice, as Annal. lib. 12. Principis mulieris zelotypae est in alias mulieres quas su spectas habet, odium inseparabile. Tacitus obserues, The hatred of a iealous woman is inseparable against such as she suspects. So did Agrippina by Lollia, and Calphurnia in the dayes of Claudius. But women are sufficiently curbed in such cases, the rage of men is more eminent, and more frequently put in practise. See but with what rigor those iealous husbands tyrannise ouer their poore wiues, In Greece, Spaine, Italy, Turkey, Africke, Asia, and generally ouer all those hot countries, they locke them vp still and will suffer no body to come at them, or their wiues to come abroad, and if they be great persons they haue Eunuchs to keepe them, as the Grand Senior amongst the Turkes, the Sophies of Persia, those Tartarian Mogors, and Kings of China. Infantes masculos castrant innumeros vt regi seruiant, saith Expedit in sinas lib. 3. cap 9. Riccius, they geld innumerable infants to this purpose, the King of China Decem Eunuchorum millia numerantur regia familia qui seruant vxores eius. maintaines 10000. Eunuchs in his family, to keepe his wiues. The Xeriffes of Barbary keepe their wiues in such strict manner, that if any man come but in sight of them he dies for it, and if they chance to see a man and doe not instantly cry out, though out at their windowes, they must be put to death. The vulgar sort of women, if at any time they come abroad, which is very seldome to visit one another, or to go to their Baths, go so couered that no man can see them, Semotos à viris seruant in interioribus ab eorum conspectu immunes. Velatae totae incedunt, which Alexander ab Alexandro relates of the Parthians, lib. 5. cap. 24. which with Andreas Tiraquellus his commentator, I rather thinke should bee vnderstood of Persians. I haue not yet said all, they doe not onely [Page 685] locke them vp, sed & pudendis seras adhibent: Heare what Bembus relates, lib. 6. of his Venetian history, of those inhabitants that dwell about Quiloa in Africke. Lusitani inquit quorundam civitates adierunt, qui natis statim foeminis naturam consuunt, quoad vrinae exitus ne impediatur, eas (que) quum adoleuerint sic consutas in matrimonium collocant, vt sponsi prima cura sit conglutinatas puella oras ferro interscindere. In some parts of Greece at this day, like those olde Iewes, they will not beleeue their wiues are honest, nisi pannum menstruatum primâ nocte videant, our countriman Lib. 1. fol. 7. Sandes in his perigrination, saith it is seuerely obserued, in Zazinthus, or Zante, and Leo Afer in his time at Fez in Africke, non, creduat virginem esse nisi videant sanguineam mappam, si non, ad parentes pudore reijcitur. Those sheets are publikely shewed by their parents, and kept as a signe of incorrupt virginity. Those old Iewes examined their maides ex tenui membranâ, called Hymen, which Laurentius in his Anatomy, and Iulius Caesar Claudinus, Respons. 40. as that also de Diruptiones hymenis saepe fiunt à propriis di gitis vel ab alijs instrumentis. ruptura venaerum vt sanguis fluat: copiously confute, 'tis no sufficient triall, he contends, and yet others againe defend it, and thinke they speake too much in fauour of women. Idem Rhasis Arabs cont. Lodouicus Boncialus lib. 2. cap. 2. muliebr. naturalem illam vteri labiorum constrictionem in quà virginitatem consistere volunt, astringentibus medicinis fieri posse vendicat, etsi defloratae sint, astutae mulieres (inquit) nos fallunt in his. Sed haec extra callem. To what end are all those Astrologicall questions, an sit virgo, an sit casta, an sit mulier? And those strange absurd trialls in Baptista Porta, Mag. lib. 2. cap. 21. & Wecker lib. 5. de secret. by Stones, Perfumes, to make them pisse, & confesse I know not what in their sleepe, some iealous braine was the first founder of them. And to what passion may we ascribe those seuere lawes against Adulterers, Numb. 5. 14. as amongst the Hebrewes, amongst the Aegyptians, Qui mulierem violasset virilia execabant, & mille virgas dabant. Bohemus l. 1. c. 5. de mor. gen. of the Carthaginians, cap. 6. of Turkes, lib. 2. cap. 11. amongst Italians at this day, wherein they are to bee seuerely punished, or stoned to death. Are not those strange [Page 686] and seuerall expurgations as so many Symptomes of Incredible iealosie? As for those Vestall Virgins to fetch water in a [...]iffe, to runne ouer hot irons, and the like. We read in Nicephorus that Chunegunda the wife of Henricus Bavarus Emperour suspected of adultery, insimulata adulterij per ignitos vomeres illae sa transijt, trod vpon red hot coulters & had no harme, the like we finde in Regino lib. 2. In Aventinus and Sigonius of Charles the third and his wife Richarda A • 887. that was so purged with hot irons. Pansanias saith that hee was once an eye witnesse of such a miracle at Diana's Temple, a maid without any harme at all walked vpon burning coales. Pius 2. in his description of Europe cap. 46. makes mention of the same, that it was commonly vsed at Diana's Temple, for women to goe barefoot ouer hot coales, to trie their honesties; Plinius, Solinus, & many writers make mention of Viridi gaudes Feronia luco. Virg. Feronias Temple, & Dionysius Halicarniseus. lib. 3. of Memnons statue, which were vsed to this purpose. Tatius l. 6 of Pan his Caue, wherein they did vse to trie maides, whether they were honest, Ismene was so tried by Diana's well, in which maides did swimme, vnchast were drowned Eumathius lib 8. when Leucippe went in, su [...]uissimus exaudiri sonus caepit. Austin. de civitat. Dei lib. 1 [...]. c [...]p. 16. relates many such examples, all which Lauater de sp [...] part. 1. cap. 19. contends to bee done by the illusion of Diuelis. Some, saith Contra mend [...]c. ad confess. 21. cap. Austin, compell their wiues to sweare they be honest, as if periury were a lesser sinne then adultery, Phaerus Aegypti rex captus oculis per decennium oraculum consuluit de vxoris pudicitia [...]rod. Euterp. some consult oracles. If all this will not serue, saith Alexander Gaguinus, cap. 5. descript. Muscouiae, the Muscouites, if they suspect their wiues, will beat them till they confesse, & if this will not auaile, like those wild Irish, be diuorced at their plesures, or else knock them on the heads: Of this tyranny of Ielosie read more in Parthenius Erot. cap. 10. Camerarius cap. 53. hor. subcis. & cent. 2. cap. 34. Caelias Epistles, & Th. Claloner de repub. Ang. lib. 9. Ariosto lib. 31. staffe. 1. Faelix Platerus obseruat. lib. 1. &c.
MEMB. 3. Prognosticks of Iealosie, Despaire, Madnesse, to make away themselues and others.
THose which are Iealous most part, Animi dolores & z [...]typia si [...]. if they be not otherwise relieued, proceed from suspition to hatred, from hatred to frensie, madnesse, iniury, murder, and despaire.
In their madnesse many times, saith 3 De anima. cap 3 de [...] [...]nsit in [...]abiem & od [...]um & sibi & alijs [...]olen [...]as s [...]pe manus inijciunt. Vives, they make away themselues and others. Which makes Cyprian to call it Foecundam & multiplicem perniciem, fontem cladium & seminarium delictorum, a fruitfull mischiefe, the seminary of offences, and fountaine of murders. Tragicall examples are too common in this kinde, Both new and old in all ages. Cephalus and Procris, Phaerus Aegypt [...] rex de caecitate oraculum co [...]sulens, v [...]sum [...]i redd turum a [...]en [...]. si oculos abluisset [...] mul e [...]is, quae aliorum vnorum esset expers, vxoris vrinam expertus nihil profecit & atiarum frustra eas omnes [...]ea ex [...]ta per quam curatus fuit) vnum in locum coactas concremauit. Herod. Euterp. Phaerus of Aegypt, Tereus, A [...]reus, and Thiestes. Offic. lib. 2. Alexander Phaereus murdere [...] of his wife, ob peliicatus suspitionem, Tully saith. Antoninus Verus so made away by Lucilla, Demetrius the sonne of Antigonus, Nicanor by their wiues. Hercules poysoned by Deianera. Aurelius victor. Cecinna murdered by Vespatian. Iustina a Roman Lady by her husband. Herodot. lib. 9. in Calliope. Masistae vxorem excarnificat, m [...]millas praescindit, eas (que) canibus adijcit. filiae nares praecidit lib a, [...]i [...]gu [...]m &c. Amestris, Xerxes wife, because shee found her husbands cloake in Masista his house, cut of Masista his wiues paps, and gaue them to the dogges, & flead her besides, and cut of her eares, lippes, tongue, and slit the nose of Artaynta her daughter. Our late stories are full of such outrages. Lib 1. Dum [...]o [...]mae curande intenta, capillum in sole pect [...]t, à marito per lusum leuiter percussa furtim superue [...]ente virg [...].-R [...] su suborto mi Landrice dixit fron em vir fortis pete, &c. Marito conspecto attonita, cum Landri [...]o mox in eius mortem conspirat & statim inter venandum effi [...]it. Paulus Aemilius in his hist. of France, hath a tragicall story of Chilpericus the [Page 688] first his death, made away by Ferdegunde his wife. In a iealous humour he came from hunting and stole behind his wife as she was a dressing, & combing her head in the sunne, and gaue her a familiar touch with his wand, which she mistaking for her louer said. Ah Landre a good knight should strike before and not behind; but when she saw her selfe bewrayed by his presence, she instantly tooke order to make him away. Hierome Osorius in the eleauenth booke of the Deeds of Emanuel King of Portugall, to this effect hath a tragicall narration, of one Ferdinandus Chalderia that wounded Gotherinus a noble country man of his, at Goa in the East Indies, Qui Goae vxorem habens, Goterinū principem quendam virum quod vxori suae oculos adiecisset, ingenti vulnere deformauit in facie, & tibiam abscidit, vnde mutuae caedes. and cut off one of his legges, for that he looked as hee thought too familiarly vpon his wife, which was afterward a cause of many quarrells, and much blood shed, Guianerius cap. 36. de agritud. matr. speakes of a silly iealous fellowe, that seeing his child new borne included in a kell, thought sure a Eo quod infans natus inuolutus esset panniculo credebat eum filium fratris Francisci, &c. Franciscan that vsed to come to his house, was the father of it, it was so like a Friers Cowle, and therevpon threatned the Frier to kill him. Fulgosus of a woman in Narbone that cut off her husbands priuities in the night, because she thought he plai'd false with her. The story of Knowles. Ionuses Bassa & faire Manto his wife, is wel known to such as haue read the Turkish history, and that of Ioane of Spaine of which I treated of in my former section. Her iealosie, saith Gomesius, was cause of both their deaths; King Philip died for griefe a little after, as Zelotypia reginae regis mortem accele [...]uit paulo post vt Martianus medicus mihi, retulit. Illa autem atrâ bile inde exagitata in letebras se subducens prae agritudine animi reliquum tempus consumpsit. Martian his Physitian gaue it out, and she for her part, after a melancholy discontented life, mispent in lurking in holes and corners made an ende of her miseries, Foelix Plater in the first booke of his obseruations, hath many such instances, of a Physitian of his acquaintance, à Zelotypia redactus ad insaniam & desperationem. that was first mad through Ieal [...]sie, and afterwards desperate: Vxorem inter [...]mit inde desperabundus ex alto se pracipitauit. of a Marchant that killed his wife in the same humor, and after precipitated himselfe: of a D r. of law that cut off his mans nose; of a Painters wife in Basil A o 1600. that had nine children, and had beene 27 yeares married, and afterwardes iealous, and so impatient that shee became desperate, and would neither eat nor drinke in her owne house, for feare her [Page 689] husband should poyson her. Skenkius obseruat. lib. 4. cap. de Vter. hath an example of a iealous woman that by this meanes had many fits of the Mother: and in his first booke of some that through Iealosie ranne madde: of a Baker that gelded himselfe to trye his wiues honesty, &c. Such examples are too common.
MEMB. 4.
SVBSECT. 1. Cure of Iealosie: by auoiding occasions, not to be idle: by good counsell: to contemne it, not to watch or locke them vp: to dissemble it, &c.
AS of all other melancholy, some doubt whether this malady may be cured or no; they thinke 'tis like the T [...]llere n [...]d si nes [...]t [...] podag [...]am. Gout, or Suitzers, whom wee commonly call Wallownes, those hired souldiers, if once they take possession of a Castle, they can neuer be got out.
Yet what I haue formerly said of other Melancholy, I may say againe, it may bee cured or mittigated at least by some contrary passion, good counsell and perswasion, if it be with stood in the beginning, maturely resisted, and as those ancient holds, Veteres maturè suadent vngues amoris esse radendos priusquam producant se nimis. the nayles of it be pared before they growe too long. No better meanes to resist or expell it then by auoiding idlenesse, to be still seriously busied about some matters of importance, [Page 690] to driue out those vaine, faire, foolish phantasies, & irksome suspitions out of his head, and then to be perswaded by his iudicious friends, to giue eare to their good counsell and aduice, and wisely to consider with himselfe, how much he discredits himselfe, his friends, grieues himselfe and others, what an argument of weaknesse it is, how absurd a thing in it selfe, how ridiculous, how brutish a passion, how sottish, how odious, how harebraine, mad and furious: If he will but heare them speake no doubt he may be cured. Gomesius lib. 3. de rebus gestis Ximeuii. Ioane Queen of Spaine, of whom I haue formerly spoken, vnder pretense of change of ayre, was sent to Complutum, or Alcada de las Heneras, where Ximenius the Archbishop of Toledo then liued that by his good counsell (as for the present shee was) shee might be eased. Vrit enim praecordia aegritudo animi compressa, & in angustias adducta mentem subvertit, nec alio medicamine facilius erigitur, quā cordati hominis sermone. For a disease of the soule if concealed tortures and ouerturnes it, and by no physicke can sooner bee remooued then by a discreet mans comfortable speeches. I will not here insert any consolotary sentences to this purpose, or forestall any mans inuention, but leaue it euery man to dilate and amplifie as he shall thinke fit himselfe: let him aduise with Siracides cap. 9.1. and read that comfortable and pithy speech to this purpose of Ximenius in the author himselfe, as it is recorded by Gomesius, or with Chaloner lib. 9. de repub. Anglòr: or Caelia in her Epistles &c. Only this I will adde, that if it be considered aright, this which causeth this iealous passion, be it iust or vniust, whether without cause true or false, it ought not so haynously to be taken; 'tis no such reall or capitall matter, that it should make so deepe a wound. 'Tis a blowe that hurts not, an insensible smart, grownded many times vpon false suspition alone, and so fostered by a sinister conceipt. If she be not dishonest he troubles and macerates himselfe without a cause, or put case which is the worst, he be a Cuckold, it cannot be helped, the more he stirres in it, the more hee aggrauates his owne miseries. How much better in such a case to dissemble or contemne it, why should that be feared which cannot be redressed, multae tandem deposuerunt (saith 3. De anima. Viues) quum flecti maritos non posse vident. Many women [Page 691] when they see there is no remedy, haue beene pacified, and shall men be more iealous then women? 'Tis some comfort in such a case to haue companions, Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris. Who can say he is free? Who can assure himselfe he is not one de praeterito, or secure himself de futuro? If it were his case alone it were hard, but being as it is a common calamity, 'tis not so grieuously to be taken. In some countries they make nothing of it, ne nobilis quidem, saith Lib. 3. Leo Afer, in some parts of Africke, if she be past 14, ther's not a Noble man that marries a maid, or that hath a chast wife, 'tis so common. And as that Caledonian Lady Argetocoxi Caledonii reguli vxor Iuliae Augustae cum i [...]sam morderet quod inhoneste versaretur respondet nos cum optimis viris consuetudinem habemus vos Romanas autem occulie passim homines constup [...]ant. Argetocoxus, a British Prince his wife, told Iulia Augusta, when shee tooke her vp for dishonesty, Wee Brittans are naught at least with some few choice men of the better sort, but you Romans ly with every base knaue, you are a company of common whores. Severus the Emperour in his time made lawes for the restraint of this vice, and as Leges de maech [...] f [...]it ex ciuibus plures i [...] ius vocati. Dion Niceus relates in his life, tria millia maechorum, three thousand Cuckold makers were summoned into the Court at once. And yet, Non omnem molitor quae fluit vnda videt, the Miller sees not all the water that goes by his mill, no doubt but as in our times, these were of the commonalty all, the great ones were not so much as called in question. And Lib. 3. Epig 26 Martials Epigram might haue beene generally applied in those licentious times, Omnia solus habes, &c. thy goods, lands, mony, wits are thine owne. vxorem sed habes Candide cum populo, but neighbour Candidus your wife is common. Husband and Cuckold in that age it seemes were reciprocal tearmes, the Emperours themselues did not escape how many Caesars might I reckon vp together, and what a Catalogue of cornuted kings and Princes in euery story. Agamemnon, Menelaus, Philippus of Greece, Ptolomeus of Aegypt, &c. the brauest Souldiers and most heroicall spirits could not auoid it. They haue beene actiue and passiue inthis businesse. Asser. Arthuri. parcerem libenter heroinarum laesae maiestati, si non historiae veritas aurem vellicaret. Leland. King Arthur whom we call one of the nine Worthies, for all his great valour was vnworthely serued by Mordred one of his Round-table Knights, and Guithera, [Page 692] or Helena Alba his faire wife, as Lelande interprets it, was an arrant honest woman. I speake not of our times all this while, wee haue good honest, vertuous, men and women. whom fame, zeale, feare of God, religion & superstition containes, and yet for all that wee haue too many Knights of this order, so dubbed by their wiues, many good women abused by dissolute husbands. In some places and some persons you may as soone enioyne them to carry water in a Ciffe, as to keepe themselues honest. What shall a man doe now in such a case? What remedy is to be had, how shall he be eased? By suing a diuorce, that is hard to be effected, si non caste tamen cautè, they carry the matter so cunningly, that though it be as common as Simony, and as cleere, as manifest as the nose on a mans face, yet it cannot be euidently proued. Much better put it vp, the more he stirres in it, the more hee shall diuulge and publish his owne shame; make a vertue of necessity, and conceale it, there is no remedy but patience. It may be 'tis his owne default, and he hath no reason to complaine, 'tis qu [...]d pro quo, she is bad, he is worse, Cogita an sic aliis tu vnquam feceris an hoc tibi nunc sieri dignum sit; seuerus aliis indulgens tibi cur ab vxore exigis quod non ips [...] praestas. Pl [...]tarch. Bethinke thy selfe, hast thou not done as much for some of thy neighbours, why dost thou requite that of thy wife, which thou wilt not performe thy selfe. Thou rangest like a towne Bull thy selfe, why art thou so incensed if she tread awry.
Ea semper studebit, saith Syluae nupt. l.4 num. 72. Neuisanus, pares reddere vices, shee will quit it if she can. I doe not excuse her in accusing thee, but if both be naught, mend thy selfe first.
Yea but thou repliest, 'tis not the like reason betwixt man & woman, through her fault my children are bastards, I may [Page 693] not endure it. Lemnius lib. 4 cap. 13. de ocult. nat. mir. Sit amarulenta, sit imperiosa, prodiga &c. Let her scold and brawle and spend, I care not, modo sit casta, so she be honest, I could easily beare it, but this I cannot. And why not this? Euen this which thou so much abhorrest, it may be for thy progenies good, Optimum bene nasci. better be any mans sonnes then thine, thou thy selfe hast peraduenture more diseases thē an horse, make the worst of it, as it is vulnus insanabile, sic vulnus insensibile, as it is incurable, so is it insensible. But art thou sure it is so? It may bee thou art ouer suspitious, and without a cause, as some are, if it be octimestris partus, borne at eight months, or like such and such a man, they fondly suspect he got it; if she speake or laugh familiarly with such or such men, thē presently she is naught with them, such is their weaknesse. Whereas charity, or a well disposed mind would interpret all vnto the best. S. Francis by chance seeing a Frier familiarly kissing another mans wife, was so far from misconceauing it, that hee presently kneeled downe and thanked God there was so much charity left: but they on the other side will ascribe nothing to naturall causes, indulge nothing to familiarity, mutuall society, friendship, but out of a sinister suspition, presently lock them close, watch them thinking by that meanes to preuent all such inconuenience, that's the way to helpe it, whereas by that meanes they doe aggravate the mischiefe. 'Tis but in vaine to watch that which will away.
Argus with an hundreth eyes cannot keepe her, & hun [...] vnus sape fefellit amor, as they in Lib. 4. st. 72. Ariosto.
Hierome saith, vxor impudica seruari non potest, pudica non debet, [Page 694] infida custos castitatis est necessitas, to what end is all your custody. A dishonest woman cannot bee kept, an honest ought not to be kept, necessity is a keeper not to bee trusted. Difficilè custoditur, quod plures amant. That which many couet can hardly be preserued, As Policrat. lib. 8. cap. 11. De amor Eurial. & Lucret. qui vxores [...]ccludunt meo Iudisio minus vtiliter faciunt, sunt enim eo in genio mulieres vt id potissimum cupiant, quod maxime denegatur siliberas habent habenas, minus delinquūt frustra seram adhibes, si non sit spont e c [...]sla. Salisburiensis thinkes. I am of Aeneas Syluius minde, that those Iealous Italians do very ill to locke vp their wiues, for women are of that disposition, they will most couet that which is denied most, and offend least when they haue free liberty to trespasse. It is in vaine to locke her vp if she be dishonest; For when she perceaues her husband obserues her and suspects, liberius peccat, saith Quando cognoscunt maritos hoc aduertere. Neuisanus, Ausonius. Toxica zelotypo dedit vxor maecha marito, shee is exasperated, and seekes by all meanes to vendicate her selfe, and will therefore offend, because shee is iniustly suspected. The best course then is to let them haue their owne wills, giue them free liberty, without any keeping. If she be honest as Penelope, Lucretia, she will so continue her honour, good name, credit, the vowe shee made vnto her husband: loue, vertue, religion, zeale, are better keepers then all those locks, Eunuchs, prisons, she will not be moued.
She is resolu'd with Dido to bee chast: Turne her loose to all those Tarquins, and Saty [...]es she will not be tempted. O quam formosus lacertus hic quidam inquit ad aequales conuersus, at illa publicus inquit non est. When one commended [...] [...] arme to his fellowes, she took him vp short, Sir, said she, 'tis not common, shee is wholy reserued for her husband. Bilia Dinutum virum senem habuit & spiritum faetidum habentem, quem quum quidam exprobr [...]sset &c Bilia had an old man to her good mā and his breath stu [...]ke, so that nobody could abide it abroad, comming home one day he reprehended his wife, because shee did not tell him of it, she vowed vnto him shee had told him, but that [Page 695] she thought euery mans breath had beene as strong as his. Num quid tibi Armena Tigranes videbatur esse pulcher? & illum inquit aedipol, &c. Xenoph. Cy [...]oped. l.b. 3. Tigranes and Armena his wife, were invited to supper by king Cyrus, when they came home, Tigranes asked his wife how she liked Cyrus, and what she did especially commend in him; she swore she did not obserue him; when hee replied againe, what then she did obserue, whom she looked on? shee made answere, her husband, that said he would die for her sake. Such are the properties and conditions of good women, and if she be well giuen, she will so carry her selfe; if otherwise she be naught, vse all the meanes thou canst, she will be naught. She hath so many lies, excuses, trickes, Panders, Bawds, shifts to deceaue, 'tis to no purpose to keepe her vp, or to reclaime her by hard vsage. Faire meanes peraduenture may doe somewhat, Ovid. Obsequio vinces aptius ipse tuo. Men and women are both in a predicament, and in this behalfe sooner wonne, better pacified. Many patient Read Petrarchs tale of patient Grizel in Chaucer. Grysils by their obsequiousnesse in this kinde, haue reclaimed their husbands from their wandring lusts. In Noua Francia, and Turkey (as Leah, Rahel, Sarah did) they bring their fairest maids to their husbands beddes; Liuia seconded the lust full appetites of Augustus, Strateuica wife to king Deiotarus did not onely bring a faire maid to her husbands bed, but brought vp the children begot on her, as carefully as they had beene her owne. The best remedy is by faire meanes; if that will not take place to dissemble it as I say, or turne it off with a iest: Minus malum, Sil. nupt. lib. 4. num. 80. Neuisanus holds, dissimulare, to be Erasmus. Cunarum emptor, a buyer of Cradles as the prouerbe is. Quum accepisset vxorem peperisse secundo à nuptiis mē se, cunas quinas velsenas coemit ne si forte vxor singulis bimestribus pareret. A good fellow when his wife was brought to bed before her time, bought halfe a dozen Cradles before hand for so many children, as if his wife should continue to beare children at every two months. Iulius Capitol. vita eius quum palam Citharaedus vxorem deligeret minimè curiosus fuit. Pertinax the Emperour when one brought him word a Fidler was too familiar with his wife, made no reckoning of it, sapientes portant cornua in pectore, stulti in fronte, saith Neuisanus, wise men beare their hornes in their hearts, fooles on their foreheads. Iocundo in Ariosto found his wife in bed with a knaue, both asleepe, went his waies and would not so much as wake them, much lesse reproue [Page 696] them for it. S r Iohn Harrington notes in 28 booke of Arioste. An honest fellow finding in like sort his wife had plaid false at tables, and born a man too many, drew his dagger, and swore if he had not beene his very friend hee would haue kill'd him. Another hearing one had done that for him, which no man desires to be done by a deputy, followed in a rage with his sword drawne, and hauing ouertaken him, laid adultery to his chardge, the offender hotly persued, confessed it was true, with whose honest confession hee was satisfied, and so left him, swearing that if he had denied, he would not haue put it vp. How much better is it to doe thus, then to macerate himselfe, impatiently to raue and rage: how much better to contemne in such cases, or to take no notice of it, Melius sic errare quam zelotypia curis, saith Erasmus, se conficere, better be a witall & put it vp, then to trouble himselfe to no purpose. And though he doe not omnibus dormire, yet to winke at it as many doe, if it bee for his commodity, or some great man his Land-lord, Patrone, benefactor, or so to let it passe. Howsoeuer the best way is to contemne it, which T. Dannel [...]i [...]at. French Henry the second King of France, aduised a Courtier of his, iealous of his wife, and complaining of her vnchastnesse, to reiect it and comfort himselfe, for he that suspects his wiues incontinency, and feares the Popes curse, shall neuer liue merry houre, or sleep quiet night: no remedy but patience, when all is done according to that counsell of Lib. 4. num. 80. Neuisanus, si vitium vxoris corrigi non potest, ferendum est. If it may not be helped, it must be endured. There is no other cure, but time to weare it out; age will bereaue her of it, and dies dolorem minuit, time and patience must end it,
SVBSEC. 2. By preuention before or after marriage, Platoes communitie, marry a Curtesan, Philters, Stewes, to marry one equall in yeeres, fortunes, of a good family, education, good place, to vse them well, &c.
OF such remedies as conduce to the cure of this maladie, I haue sufficiētly treated, there be some good remedies remaining, by way of preuention, precautions or admonitions, which if right practised may doe much good. Plato in his common-wealth, to preuent this mischiefe belike would haue all things common, wiues and children, all common, and which Caesar in his Commentaries obserued of old Brittaines that first inhabited this land, they had ten or twelue wiues alotted to such a family, or promiscuously to be vsed by so many men; not one to one as with vs, or foure fiue or sixe to one, as in Turkie. The Nicholites sect that sprung saith Austin from Nicholas the Deacon, would haue women indifferent, and the cause of this filthy sect, was Lib. de heres. quum de zelo culparetur purgandi se causâ permisisse fertur, vt ea qui vellet vteretur quod eius fac [...]m insectam turpissemam versum est, qua placet vsus indifferens faeminarum. Sleidan. Nicholas the Deacons iealousie, for which when he was condemned of this fault to purge himselfe, he broched this heresie, that it was lawfull to lie with one anothers wiues, and for any man to lie with his; like to those Anabaptists in Munster, that would consort with other mens wiues, as the spirit moued them, or as Alcoran. Mohomet that seducing prophet, would needs vse women as he lift himselfe, to beget Prophets. Amongst the old Carthaginians, as De mor. gent. lib. 1. cap. 6. nupturae regi deuirginandae exhibentur. Bohemus relates out of Sabellicus, the king of the country lay with the bride the first night, some fasten this on those ancient Bohemians & Russians: Leander Albertus, flagitioso ritu cuncti in aedem conuenientes post imparem concionem extinctis luminibus in vener [...] ruvnt. others of those inhabitants of Mambriū in the Lucerne valley in Pedemont, & as I read it was practised in Scotland amongst Christians themselues, vntill king Malcomes time, the king or the lord of the towne had their [Page 698] maidenheads. In some parts of Lod. vertomannus Nauig. li. 6. cap. 8. India in our times and those Dithmarꝰ Bleskenius. vt Agetas Aristoni. pulcherimam vxorem habens amico prostituit. Islanders Herodot. in Erato, mulieres Babylonicae cum hospite permiscentur obargentum quod post veneri sacrum Bohemus lib. 2. cap. 2. as the Babylonians of old will prostitute their wiues and daughters, to such trauellers or seafaring men as come amongst them by chaunce, to shew how farre they were from this ferall vice of iealousie, and how little they esteemed it: but those Essai and Montanists two strange sects of old in another extreame, they would not marry at all, or haue any society with women, because of their intemperance they held them to be all naught. Neuisanus the Lawyer, lib. 4. num. 33. sil. nupt: would haue him that is inclined to this malady, to preuent the worst marry a Qu [...]ne. Capiens meretricem hoc habet saltem boni, quod non decipitur, quia scit eam sic esse, quod non contingit alijs: Stephanus praesat Herod. alius è lupanari meretricem Pitho dictam in vxorem duxit. Ptolomeus Thaidem nobile scortum duxit & ex ea duos filios suscepit &c. Hierome king of Syracuse in Sicily married himselfe to Pitho keeper of a stewes, and Ptolomie tooke Thais a common whore to be his wife, and had two sonnes, Leontiscus and Lagus by her, and one daughter Iraene: Bohemus lib. 2 cap. 3. ideo nubere nollent ob mulierum in temperantiam nullam seruare viro fidem putabant. 'tis therefore no such vnlikely thing. Podgius Florent. A cittizen of Eugubine gelded himselfe, to trie his wiues honesty, and to free himselfe from iealousie, and so did a baker in Faelix Plater. Basil, but of all other presidents in this kind that of Lucian Salmutz Tit. 2. de porcellanis com. in Paneirol de noua repert. & Stephanus è lib. consor. Combalus is most memorable: who to preuent his masters suspition, for he was a beautifull young man, and sent by Seleucus his lord and king, which Stratonice his Queene to conduct her into Syria; Fearing the worst, gelded himselfe before he went, and left his genitalls behind him in a boxe sealed vp. His mistresse by the way fell in loue with him, but he not yeeding to her was accused to Seleucus of incontinency, and that by her; and at his comming home cast into prison the day of hearing appointed, he was sufficiently cleared and acquitted by shewing his priuities, which to the admiration of the beholders, he had formerly cut off. The Lydians vsed to geld women whom they suspected, saith Leonicus var. hist. lib. 3. cap. 59. as well as men. To this purpose, Lucian Salmutz Tit. 2. de porcellanis com. in Paneirol de noua repert. [...] Stephanus è lib. consor. Saint Francis, because he vsed to confesse women in priuate, to preuent suspition, and prooue himselfe a maid, [Page 699] stripped himselfe naked before the Bishop of Assise and others: and Friar Leonarde for the same cause, went through Viterbium in Italie starke belly naked. Our Pseudocatholickes, to helpe these inconueniences which proceed from iealousie, and keepe themselues & their wiues honest, make seuere lawes against adultery, present death, and withall fornication a veniall sinne, as a sincke to conuey that furious and swift streame of concupiscence, they appoint and permit stewes, the more to secure their wiues in all populous citties, for they hold them as necessary as Churches, and howsoeuer vnlawfull, yet to auoid a greater mischiefe to be tollerated in pollicy, as vsury for the hardnesse of mens hearts, and for this ende they haue whole Colledges of Curtesans in all their townes and citties. For they hold it vnpossible for idle persons, young, rich and lusty, so many seruants, Monkes, Friers, to liue honest, too tyrannicall a burden to compell them to be chaste, and most vnsit to suffer poore men younger brothers, souldiers, all to marry; as those diseased persons, votaries, priests, seruants. Therefore as well to helpe and ease the one as the other, they tollerate and winke at these kind of brothel-houses and stewes. Many probable arguments they haue to prooue the lawfulnesse, the necessitie, and a tolleration of them, as of vsury, and without question in pollicie they are not to be contradicted; but altogether in religion. Others prescribe philters, spells, charmes, to keepe men and women honest. Wecker lib. 5. secret. Mulier vt alienum virum non admittat praeter suum: Accipe fel hirci & adipem & exicca, calescat in oleo, &c & non alium praeter to amabit. In Alexi, Porta, &c. plura his invenies, & multo his absurdiora, vt in Rhasi ne mulier virum admittat, & maritum solum diligat, &c. But these are most part Pagan, impious, irreligious, absurd, and ridiculous deuices. The best meanes to auoide these and like inconueniences, are to take a away the causes and occasions, as first to make a good choice in marriage; an olde man not to marry a young woman, or an young woman an old man, such matches must needs minister [Page 700] a perpetuall cause of suspition, and be distastefull to each other.
For Sophocles as Dipnosophh. l. 13. cap. 12. Athenaeus describes him, was a very olde man, and doted vpon Archippe a young Curtesan, then which nothing can be more odious. Plutarch in his booke contra Coleten railes downe right at such kind of marriages, which are attempted by such old men, and makes a question whether in some cases it be tolerable at least for an old man to marry, that is now past those venerious exercises. Whether he may delight himselfe as those Priapeian Popes, which in their decrepit age lie commonly betweene two young wenches euery night, contactu formosarum & contrectatione num adhuc gaudeat, & as many doting Syres still do to their owne shame, their childrens vndoing, and their families confusion: he abhorres it tanquam ab agresti & furioso domino fugiendum it must be auoided as a mad bedlame master, and not to be obeyed. Cap. 54 institut ad optimam vitam, maxima mortalium pars praecipitanter & inconsiderate nubit id (que) eâ aetate quae minus apta est quum senex adolescentulae, sanus morbidae, diues pauperi, &c. Leuinus Lemnius reckons vp three things which generally disturbe the peace of marriage, the first is when they marry intempestiue or vnseasonably, as many mortall men marry precipitately and inconsiderately when they are effeate and old; The second when they marry vnequally for fortunes and birth, the third when a sicke impotent person marries one that is sound, noua nuptae spes frustratur. Many dislikes instantly follow: many doting dizards it may not be denied, as Plutarch confesseth, Absoleto intempestiue turpi remedio fatentur se vti cum recordatione pristinarum voluptatum se receant, & aduer [...]āte naturâ pollinctam carnem & enectam excitant. recreate themselues with such absolete, vnreasonable and filthy remedies (so he cals thē) with a remembrance of their former pleasures, against nature they stirre vp their dead flesh: but an old leacher is abominable; mulier tertio nubens, Lib. 2 nu 35. Neuisanus holds, praesumitur lubrica & inconstans, a woman that marries a third time, may be presumed to be no honester then she should. Of them both thus Ambrose concludes in his Comment vpon Luke. [Page 701] Qui vero non procreanda proli- sed exp. endae libidinis causa sibi inuicem copulantur, non tam coninges quam fornicarii habentur they that are coupled together not to get children, but to satisfie them lust, are not husbands but fornicators, with whom S t. Austin consents: matrimony without hope of children, non matrimonium sed concubium dici debet, is not a wedding but a iumbling or coupling together. In a word it is most odious, when an old Acheronticke dizard, that hath one foote in his graue, shall flicker after a young wench, what can be more detestable.
And thou old Vetustina bedridden queane that art now skin and bones.
Must thou marry an youth againe? And yet ducentas ire nuptum post mortes amant: Lib. 1. miles. howsoeuer it is as Apuleius giues out of his Meroe, congressus annosus, pestilens, abhorrendus, a pestilent match, abominable and not to be indured. In such c [...]se how can they otherwise choose but be iealous, how should they agree one with another?
Another maine caution fit to be obserued is this, that though they be equall in yeares, birth, fortunes, yet they doe not omit vertue and good education, not preferre beautie before bringing vp, and good conditions, Rablais hist. Pontaraguel. lib. 3. cap. 33. Coquage God of [Page 702] Cuckolds, as one merrily said, accompanies the goddesse iealousie, and both follow the fairest by Iupiters appointment, and they sacrifie to both together: beautie and honestie seldome agree. Suspitionis plena res est & insidiarum, beautie saith Hom. 80. qui pulchram habet uxorem nihil peius habere potest. Chrysostome, is full of treacherie and suspition, he that hath a faire wife, cannot haue a worse mischiefe, and yet most couet it, as if nothing else in marriage, but that and wealth were to bee respected. Arneseus. Francis Sforsia Duke of Millan was so curious in this behalfe that he would not marry the Duke of Mantuas daughter, except he might see her naked first; Which Licurgus appointed in his lawes, and Morus in his Vtopian Common-wealth approues. Itinerar. Ital. Coloniae edit. 1602. Nomine trium Ger. fol. 304 displicuit quod dominae filiabus immulent nomen inditum in Baptismo & pro Catherina, margareta &c. ne quid desit ad luxuriam appellent ipsas nominibus Cynthiae, Camenae: &c. In Italy as a trauellour obserues, if a man haue three or foure daughters or more, and they prooue faire, they are married eftsoones, if deformed, they change their louely names of Cynthia, Camana, and call thm Dorothy, Vrsely, Bridgit, and so put them into Monasteries, as if none were fit for marriage but such as are eminently faire: but these are erronious Tenents, a modest virgine well conditioned, to such a faire snout piece is much to be preferred. If thou wilt auoid them and take away all causes of suspition and iealousie, marry a course peice, fetch her from Cassandras Temple, which was wont [...]in Italy to be a Sanctuary for all deformed maids, and so thou shalt be sure that no man will make thee cuckold, but for spite. A cittizen of Bizance in Thrace, Leonicus de var. lib. 3. ca 43. Asylus virginum deformium Cassandrae templum. Plutarch. had a filthy dowdy, deformed slut to his wife, & finding her in bed with another man, cried out as one amazed, ô miser quae te necessitas huc adegit, O thou wretch what necessity brought thee hither: as well he might, for who can affect such a one? but this is warily to be vnstood, most offend in another extreame, they preferre wealth before beauty, and so she be rich they care not how shee lookes, but these are all out as faultie as the rest. Attendenda semper vxoris forma, as Pelicrat. lib. 8. cap. 11. Salisburiensis aduiseth, nesi alteram aspexeris mox eam sordere putes, as the Knight in Chaucer that was married to an old woman.
Haue a care of thy wiues complexion, least while thou seest another, thou lothest her, & she proue iealous. Molestum est possidere quod nemo habere dignetur, a misery to possesse that which no man likes, Difficile custoditur quod plures amant. Both extreames are naught Pulchra citò adamatur, faeda facilè concupiscit, the one is soone beloued, the other loues, one is hardly kept, the other not worth keeping, what is to bee done in this case? I resolue with Salisburiensis cateris parikus both rich alike, endowed alike, maiore miseriâ deformis habetur quam formosa seruatur, I had rather marry a faire one & put it to the hazard, then be troubled with a blouze, but doe thou as thou wilt, I speake onely for my selfe.
Howsoeuer, I would aduise thee thus much, be she faire or foule, to choose a wife out of a good kindred, parentage, well brought vp, in a good place. He that marries a wife out of a suspected Inne or Alehouse, buies a horse in Smithfield, and hires a seruant in Paules, shall likely haue a Iade to his horse, a knaue for his man, an arrant honest woman to his wife. Filia praesumitur esse matri similis, saith Lib. 2. num. 159. Neuisanus: Such Si genetrix caste, castè quo (que) filia viuet, si meretrix mater, filia talis erit. a mother such a daugher, mali corui malum ouvm, Kat to the kind, If the mother be dishonest, in all likelihood the daughter will matrizare, take after her in all good qualities. My last caution is that a woman do not bestow her selfe vpon a foole, or an apparant melancholy person, iealousie is a symptome of that disease, and fooles haue no moderation. Iustina a Romane Lady was much persecuted, and after made away by her iealous husband, she caused and inioyned this Epitaph as a caueat to others, to be engrauen on her tombe.
After marriage I can giue no better admonitions then to vse their wiues well, to maintaine them to their meanes, and let [Page 704] them haue liberty with discretion, as time and place requires: many women turne queanes by compulsion, as Lib. 4. syl. nupt num. 81. non curant de vxoribus nec volunt iis subvenire de victu, vestitu. Neuisanus obserues, because their husbands are so hard, and keepe them so short in diet and apparell, paupertas cogit eas meretricari: pouerty and hunger, want of meanes, makes them dishonest, or bad vsage; their churlish behauiour makes them flie out, or bad example, they doe it to crie quittance. In the other extreame some are too liberall, as the Prouerbe is, Turdus malum sibi cacat, they make a rod for their owne tayles, whilst they giue their wiues too much liberty to gad abroad and bountifull allowance, they are accessary to their owne miseries, their wiues as Orat. contra ebr. Basil notes, Impudentèr se exponunt masculorum aspectibus, iactantes tunicas, & coram tripudiantes, impudently thrust themselues into other mens companies, and by their vndecent wanton carriage, prouoke and tempt their spectators. Vertuous women should keepe house, Horol. principum lib. 2. ca. 8. diligenter cauendum faeminis illustribus ne frequenter exeant. & as M r. Aurelius prescribes it as a necessary caution to be obserued of all good women, that loue their credits, to come little abroad. 'Tis good to keepe them priuate, not in prison. Read more of this subiect, Horol. princ. lib. 2. per totum. Arnifeus polit, Cyprian, Tertullian, Bossus de mulier apparat. Godefriaus de Amor. lib. 2. cap. 4. Leuinus Lemnius, cap. 54. de institut Christ. Barbarus de re vxor. lib. 2. cap. 2. &c.
These cautious concerne him; and if by these, or his owne discretion, otherwise he cannot moderate himself, his friends must not be wanting by their wisedome, if it be possible to giue the partie grieued satisfaction, to preuent and rem [...]oue the occasions, obiects, if it may be to secure him. If it be one alone, or many to consider whom he suspects, or at what times, what places he is most incenced, in what companies. Lib 5. num. 11 Neuisanus makes a question whither a young Physitian ought to be admitted in case of sickenesse into a new married mans house. The Persians of old would not admit a young Physitian to come amongst women. Ctesias in Percisis, finxit vuluae morbum esse nec curari posse, nisi cum viro concumberet hac arte voti compos, &c. Apollonides Chous made Artaxerxes cuckold, and was after buried aliue for it. If such obiects were remoued, no doubt but the parties [Page 705] might easily be satisfied, or that they could vse them gently and intreat them well, not to reuile them, scoffe at them, hate them, as in such cases commonly they doe, 'tis an humane infirmitie, a miserable vexation, and they should not adde griefe to griefe, nor aggrauate their miserie, but seeke to please them, and by all meanes giue them content, by good counsell, remouing such offensiue obiects, or by mediation of some discreet friends. In old Rome there was a temple erected by the matrons to that Rosinus lib. 2. 19. Valerius lib. 2. cap. 1. Viriplaca Dea, whither if any difference hapned betwixt man and wife, they did instantly resort, there they did offer sacrifice, and make their prayers for coniugall peace, and before some Alexand [...]r ab Alex [...]ad [...] ca. 8 [...] common arbitrators and friends, the matter was heard betwixt man and wife, and commonly composed. In our times we want no sacred Churches, or good men to end such controuersies, if vse were made of them. If none of all these meanes and cautions will take place, I know not what remedie to prescribe, or whither such persons may goe for ease, except they can get into that same Str [...]zius Cicogna lib 2. cap. 15 spi [...]it, & lacan, habent ibidem vxores quot volunt cum oculis clarissimis q [...]os nunquamin aliquem preter maritum sixuri sunt, &c. Bredenbachius. Idem Bohemus &c. Turkie paradice, Where they shall haue as many faire wiues as they will themselues, with cleare eyes, and such as shall looke on none but their owne husbands, no feare, no danger of being cuckoldes. Or else sue for a diuorce. This is the best counsell I can giue, which hee that hath neede as occasion serues may apply vnto himselfe. In the meane time as the prouerbe is, from Haeresie, Iealousie, and Frenzie, good lord deliuer vs.
SECT. 4
MEMB. 1.
SVBSECT. 1. RELIGIOVS MELANCHOLY His obiect God, What his beautie is! How it allureth. The part and parties affected.
THat there is such a distinct Species of Loue melancholy no man hath euer yet doubted, but whither this subdiuision of Called Religious because it is still conuersant about Religion and such diuine obiects. Religious Melancholy bee warrantable it may be controuerted. No Physitian hath as yet distinctly written of it as of the rest, all acknowledge it a most famous symptome, some a cause, but few as a Species or kind. Lib. 1 cap. 16. nonnulli opinionibus addicti sunt & futura se praedicere arbitrantur. Areteus, Alexander, Rhasis, Auicenna, and most of our late writers, as Gordonius, Fuchsius, Platter, Bruel, Montaltus, &c. repeate it as a symptome. Aliis vide [...]ur quod sunt Prophetae & inspirati à spiritu sancto & incipiunt prophetare & multa futura praedicunt. Some seeme to be inspired of the Holy Ghost, some take vpon them to be Prophets, some are addicted to new opinions, some foretell strange thinges, de statu mundi & Antichristi, saith Gordonius. Some will prophesie of the end of the world to a day almost, and the fall of Antichrist, as they haue beene addicted or brought vp, so melancholy workes with them as Cap 6. de Melan. Laurentius holds. If they haue beene precisely giuen, all their meditations tend that way, and in conclusion produce strange effects, the humour imprintes symptomes according to their seuerall inclinations and conditions, which makes Cap. 5. Tractat. multi ob timorem dei sunt melancholici, & timorē gebenne. They are still troubled for their sinnes. Guianerius and Foelix Platter put too much deuotion, blind zeale, and feare of eternall punishment and that last iudgement, for a cause of those Enthusiastickes and desperate persons: but some doe not obscurely make a destinct Species of it, diuiding loue Melancholy into that, whose obiect is women; and into the other, whose obiect is good. As Plato doth in his Conuiuio, make mention of two distinct furies, Plater ca. 13. and amongst our Neotericks, [Page 707] Hercules de Saxonia lib. 1. pract. med. cap. 16. cap. de Melan. doth expresly treat of it, as a distinct Species. M [...]choli [...] [...] nomen me [...] choliae [...] Loue Melancholy (saith he) is twofold, the first of which is that (to which some per aduenture will not vouch safe this name or Species of Melancholy) affection of those which put God for their obiect, and are altogether about prayer, fasting, &c. the other about women. Peter Forestus in his obseruations deliuereth as much, and in the same words: and they haue a ground of th [...] they say forth of Areteus and Plato. A [...]ia reperitur furoris species à prima vel à secunda deorum rogantium, vel a [...]flatu numinū suror hic venit. Arateus an old Author in his third booke cap. 6. doth so diuide Loue Melancholy, and deriues this second from the first, which comes by i [...]pir [...]tion or otherwise. Qui in Delphis futura praedicunt vates & in Dodoná sacerdotes furent [...]s quidē multa iocunda Gra [...]is deferunt, sani vero exigua [...] nulla. Plato in his Phaedrus hath [...], Apollos priests in Delphos, and at Dodona in their furie doe many pretty feates, and benefite the Greekes, but neuer in th [...] right wits. He makes them all mad, as well he might, [...] that shal but consider that superstition of old, and those prodigious effects of it, as in his place I will shew the seuerall furies of our Sibylls, Enthusiasts, Pseud prophets, Heretikes, and Scismatickes in these our latter ages, shall instantly confesse, that all the world againe cannot afford so much matter of madnesse, so many stupend symptomes: as superstition, heresie, scisine hath brought out, that this species alone may be paralled to all the former, hath a greater latitude, and moré miraculous effects, that it more besotts and infatuates men then any other aboue named whatsoeuer, doth more harme, wrought more disquietnesse to mankind, and hath more crucified the soule of mortall men (such hath beene the diuells craft) then warres, plagues, sicknesses, dearth, famine, and all the rest.
Giue me but a little leaue, and I will set before your eyes, in briefe a stupend, vast, infinite ocean of incredible madnesse and folly: a Sea full of shelues and rockes, Sands, gulfes, Euripes and contrary tides, full of fearefull monsters, vncouth shapes, roring waues, tempests, and Siren calmes, Hal [...]yonian Seas; vnspeakeable miserie, such Comedies and Tragidies, such absurd and ridiculous, ferall and lamentable fitts, [Page 708] that I know not whether they are more to be pittied or derided, or may be belieued, but that we daily see the same still practised in our dayes, fresh examples, fresh spectacles, noua nouitia, fresh obiects, of misery and madnesse in this kind that are still represented vnto vs, abroad, at home, in the midst of vs, in our bosomes.
But before I can come to treat of these seuerall errors and obliquities, their causes, symptomes, affections &c. I must say somthing necessarily of the obiect of this loue, God himselfe, what it is, how it allureth, whence it proceeds, and (which is the cause of all our miseries) how wee mistake it, and wander and swarne from it.
Amongst all those diuine attributes that God doth vendicate to himselfe, Eternitie, omnipotency, immutability, wisedome, maiestie, iustice, mercy, & his Deus, [...]onus, iustus, pulcher iuxta Platonem beauty is not the least, One thing saith Dauid haue I desired of the Lord, and that will I still desire, to behold the beautie of the Lord. Psal. 27.4. And out of Sion which is the perfection of beautie hath God shined, Psal. 50.2. All other creatures are [...]ire I confesse, and many other obiects doe much inamour vs, a faire house, a faire ho [...]se, a comely person. Miror & stupeo cum caelum aspicio & pulchritudinem syderum angelarum &c &, vis digne laudet quod in nob [...]s viget corpus tam pulchrum, frontem pulchrum nares genas, oculos, intellectum omnia pulchra, si sic in creaturis laboramus, quid in ipso deo? I am amazed saith Austin, when I looke vp to heauen and behold the beautie of the starres, the beautie of Angells, principallities, powers, who can expresse it? who can sufficiently commend or set out this beauty which appeares in vs? so faire a bodie, so faire a face, eyes, nose, cheekes, chinne, browes, all faire and louely to behold, besides the beautie of the soule which cannot be decerned. If we so labour & be so much affected with the comelinesse of creatures, how should wee bee rau [...]shed with that admirable lustre of God himselfe? If ordinary beautie haue such a prerogatiue and power, and what is amiable and faire, to draw the eyes and eares, hearts and affections of all spectators vnto it, to moue, winne, entice, allure, how shall this diuine beautie rauish our soules, which is the fountain and quintescence of all beauty? Caelum pulchrum, sed pulchior caeli fabricator, If heauen be so faire, the Sun so faire, how much fairer shall he be, that made [Page 709] them faire. This beauty and Fulgor diuinae maiestati [...] Austin. splendor of this diuine God, is it that drawes all creatures to it, to seeke it, loue and admire it, adore it; and those Heathens, Pagans, Philosophers, out of these reliques they haue yet left of Gods Image, are so far forth incensed, as not onely to acknowledge a God, but though after their owne inuentions, to stand in admiration of his bounty, goodnesse, to adore and seeke him, the magnificence and structure of the world it selfe, and beauty of all his creatures, his goodnesse, prouidence, protection, enforceth them to loue him, seeke him, feare him, though a wrong way: but for vs that are Christians, regenerate, that his adopted sonnes, illuminated by his word, and hauing the eyes of our hearts and vnderstandings opened, how fairely doth he offer and expose himselfe? Ambit nos deus (Austin saith) donis & formâ suâ, He wooes by his beauty, guifts, promises to come vnto him, In Psal. 64. misit ad nos Epistolas & totam scripturam, quibus nobis faceret amandi desiderium. the whole Scripture is a message, an exhortation a loue letter to this purpose, to incite vs & inuite vs. Epist. 48. li. 4. quid est tota scriptura nisi Epistola omnipotentis dei ad [...] creaturam suam Gods Epistle as Gregory calls it, to his creatures. He setts out his sonne and his Church, in that Epithalamium or misticall song of Solomon, to enamour vs the more, comparing his head, to fine gold, his lockes curled and blacke as a rauen, Cant. 4.5. cap. his eyes like doues, on riuers of waters washed with milke, his lippes as lillies, dropping downe pure iuyce, his hands as ringes of gold set with crysolite: and his Church to a vineyard a garden enclosed, a fountaine of liuing waters, an orchard of Pomegranets, with sweet sents of saffron, spike, calamus and cynamon, and all the trees of incense, as the chiefe spices, the fairest amongst women, no spot in her, Cap. 6.8. his sister, his spouse, vndefiled, the onely daughter of her mother, deare vnto her, faire as the Moone, pure as the Sunne, looking out as the morning. That by these figures, that glasse, these spirituall eyes of contemplation, we might perceiue some resemblance of his beautie, the loue betwixt his Church and him. And so in the 45. Psal. this beautie of his Church, is compared to a Queene in a vesture of gold, of Ophir, embroydered raiment of needleworke, that the king might take pleasure in her beauty. To incense vs [Page 710] farther, yet Cap. 27.11. Iohn in his Apocalypse, makes a description of that heauenly Ierusalem, and the beautie of it, and in it the maker of it. Likning it to a citty of pure gold, like vnto cleare glasse, shining and garnished with all manner of precious stones, hauing no neede of Sunne or Moone, for the lambe is the light of it, the glory of God doth illuminate it: to giue vs to vnderstand the infinite glory, beautie and happinesse of it. Nor that it is not fairer, then these creatures to which it is compared, but that this vision of his, this lustre of his diuine Maiestie cannot otherwise be expressed to our apprehensions, no tongue can tell it, no heart conceius it, as Paul saith. Moses himselfe, Exod. 33.18. When he desired to see God in his glory, was answered that he might not endure it, no man could see his face and liue. Sensibile forte destruit sensum. A strong obiect ouercommeth the sight, according to that axiome in Philosophie, fulgorem Solis ferre non potes, multo magis creatoris, if thou canst not endure the Sunne beames, ho [...] canst thou endure that fulgour and brightnesse of him that made the Sunne? the Sunne it selfe and all that we can imagine are but shadowes of it, 'tis visio precellens, as In Psal. 85. omnes pulchritudines terrenas, auri argenti nemorum & camp [...]rum pulchritudinem Solis & Lunae stellarum, & angelorum omnia pulchra superans. Austin calles it, the quintescence of beautie this, which farre excells the beautie of heauens, Sunne and Moone, Starres, Angells, gold and siluer, woods and faire fields, and whatsoeuer is pleasant to behold. All those other beauties faile, varrie, are subiect to corruption, to lothing, Immortalis haec visio immortalis amor, indefessus amor & visio. But this is an immortall vision, a diuine beautie, an immortall loue, an indefatigable loue and beautie, with sight of which we shall neuer be tired, nor wearied, but still the more we see him the more wee shall couet him. Osorius, vbicun (que), visio & pulchritudo diuini aspectus ibi voluptas ex eodem fonte omnis (que) beatitudo nec ab cius aspectu voluptas nec ab illa voluptate aspectus separari potest. For as one saith, where this visiō is, there is absolute beautie, and where is that beautie, from the same fountaine comes all pleasure and happinesse, neither can beauty, pleasure, happinesse, be separated from his vision or sight, or his vision from beautie, pleasure, happinesse. In this life wee haue but a glimse of this beautie and happinesse, we shall hereafter as Iohn saith see him as he is, thine eyes as Isai. promiseth, 33.17. Shall behold the King in his glory, then shall we be perfectly [Page 711] inamoured, and haue a full fruition of it, and desire and behold and loue him alone, as the most amiable and fairest obiect, our summum bonum or chiefest good.
And this likewise should we now haue Leon Hebreus Dubitatur an humana felicitas deo cognoscendo an amando terminetur. done, had not our will beene corrupted, and as wee are enioyned to loue God with all our heart, and all our soule: for to that end were we borne, to loue this obiect as Lib. de anima. Ad hoc obiectum amandum & fruendum nati sumus, & hunc expetisset vnicū hunc amasset humana voluntas, vt summū bonū & caeteras res omnes eo ordine. Melancthon discourseth, and to enioy it. And him our will would haue loued and sought alone, as our summum bonum or principall good, and all other good things for Gods sake: and nature as shee proceeded from it would haue sought this fountaine, but in this infirmity of humane nature this order is disturbed, our loue is corrupt: and a man is like to that monster in 9. De repub. Plato, composed of a Sylla a lyon and a man, we are carried away head-long with the torrent of our affections, the world, and that infinite varietie of pleasing obiects in it, doe so allure and inamour vs, that we cannot so much as looke toward God, seeke him or thinke on him as we should: wee cannot containe ourselues from thē, their sweetnes is so pleasing to vs. Marriage saith Hom. 10. i [...] epist Iohannis cap 2. Multos coniugium decepit res alioqui salutaris & necessaria eo quod c [...]eco eius amore decepti diuini amoris & gloriae studium in vniuersum abiecer [...]nt, pl [...]rimos cibus & potus perdit. Gualter, detaines many, a thing in it selfe laudable and good, and necessarie, but deceiued and carried away with the blind loue of it, they haue quite laid aside the loue of God, and desire of his glory. Meat and drinke hath ouercome as many, whilst they rather striue to please, satisfie their gutts and belly, then to serue God and nature. Some are so busied about merchandise to get money, they loose their owne soules, whilst couetously carried, and with an vnsatiable desire of gaine they forget God, as much wee may say of honours, leagues, friendships, health, wealth, and all other profits or pleasures in this life whatsoeuer. [...]n mundo splendor opum, gloriae, maiest [...]s, amicitiarii praesi [...]ia, verborum [...]landities, voluptatum omnis generis illecebrae, victorie, triumphi & infinita alia ab amore dei nos abstrahunt, &c. In this world there bee so many beautifull obiects splendors and brightnesse of gold, maiestie of glory, assistance of friends, faire promises, smoth words, victories, triumphs, and such an infinite company of pleasing beauties to allure vs, and draw vs from God, that wee cannot looke after him. And this is it which Christ himselfe, those [Page 712] Prophets and Apostles so much thunder against. Ioh. [...].15. dehortes vs from, loue not the world nor the things that are in in the world, If any man loue the world, the loue of the father is not in him, 16. For all that is in the world, is lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride of life, is not of the father but of the world, and the world passeth away and lusts thereof, but he that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for euer. No man saith our Sauiour, can serue two masters, but he must loue the one and hate the other, &c. and this is that which all the Fathers inculcate. He cannot ( In Psal. 32. Dei amicus esse non potest qui mundi studijs delectatur vt hanc formam videas munda cor serena cor &c. Austin admonisheth) be Gods friend, that is delighted with the pleasures of the world, make cleane thine heart, purifie thine heart, if thou wil [...] see this beauty, prepare thy selfe for it. It is the eye of contemplation by which wee must behold it, the winge of meditation which lifts vs vp and reares our soules, with the motion of our hearts, and sweetnesse of contemplation, so saith Gregory cited by Contemplationis ple [...]ma nos subleuat, at (que) inde erigimur intentione cordis dulcedine contemplationis. destract. 6. de 7. Itineribus. Bonauenture. And as Lib de victimis, amans deum sublimia petit sumptis alis & in caelum recta volat, relictâ terrâ, cupid [...]s aberrandi cum sole, luna, stellarum (que) sacra militia, ipso deo duce. Philo Iudeus seconds him, he that loues God will soare aloft and take him wings, and leauing the earth flie vp to heauen, and wander with Sunne and Moone, Starres and that heauenly troupe, God himselfe being his guide. If wee desire to see him, we must lay aside all vaine obiects, which detaine vs and dazell our eyes, and as Ficinus aduiseth vs, get vs solar eyes, spectacles as they that looke on the sunne, to see this diuine beauty, lay aside all materiall obiects, all sence, and then thou shalt see him as he is. Thou couetous wretch, as Auare [...] quid inhias his &c. pulchrior est qui te ambit ipsum visurus ipsum habi [...]urus. Austin expostulates, why dost thou stand gaping on this drosse, muckhills, filthy excrements, In com. Plat. cap 7. vt Solem videas oculis fieri debes so [...]aris. vt diumam aspicias pulchritudinem, demitte materiam demitt [...] sen [...]um, & de [...]m qualis sit videbis. behold a far fairer obiect God himselfe wooes thee, behold him, enioy him, he is sicke for loue of thee. Cant. 5. Hee inuites thee to his sight, to come into his faire garden, to eate and drinke with him, to be merry with him, to inioy his presence for euer. Prou. 8. Wisedome cries out in the streets, besides the gates, in the top of high places, before the cittie, at the entrie of the dore; and bids them giue eare to her instruction, which is better then gold or precious stones, no pleasures [Page 713] can be compared to it: leaue all them and follow her; vos exhorter ô amici & obsecro, Cap 18. Rom. Amorem hunc divinum totis vnibus amplexamini, deum vobis omni ossi [...]iorum genere propitium facite. In Ficinus words I exhort and beseech you, that you would embrace and follow this diuine loue with all your hearts and abilities, and by all offices and endeauors make this so louing God propitious vnto you. For whom alone, saith Cap. 7. de pulchritudine. regna imperia totius terrae & maris & caeli oportet abiicere si ad ipsum conuersus velis inseri. Plotinus, we must forsake all the kingdomes and Empires of the whole earth, Sea and Land, and Ayre, if we desire to be engrafted into him, leaue all and follow him.
And forasmuch as this loue of God, is an habit infused of God, as Habitus à deo infusus per qu [...] inclinatur homo ad diligendum deum super omnia Thomas holds, 2.1. quaest. 23. by which a man is inclined to loue God aboue all, and his neighbour as himselfe. Wee must pray to God that hee will open our eyes, make cleere our hearts, that we be capeable of his glorious rayes, and to performe those duties that he requires of vs. Deut. 6. and Ios. 23. To loue God aboue all and our neighbour as our selfe, to keep his commandements. In this we knowe, saith Iohn c. 5.2. Wee loue the children of God, when wee loue God and keepe his commandements. This is the loue of God that we keepe his commandements, hee that loueth not knoweth not God, for God is loue. cap. 4.8. and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God, and God in him, and loue presupposeth knowledge, faith, hope, & vnites vs to God himselfe, as Dial. 1. omnia conuertit amor in ipsius pulchri naturam. Leon Hebreus deliuereth vnto vs, and is accompanied with the feare of God, humility, meeknesse, patience, and all those vertues, and charity it selfe. For if we loue God, we shall loue our neighbour, and performe all those duties which are required at our hands, to which wee are exhorted. 1. Cor. 15.4.5. Ephes. 4. Col [...]ss. 3. Rom. 12. Wee shall not be enuious, or puffed vp, or boast, disdaine, thinke euill, or be prouoked to anger, but suffer all things, endure all things, Endeauor to keepe the vnity of the spirit, the bond of peace. Forbeare one another, forgiue one another, cloath the naked, visit the sicke, and performe all those workes of mercy which Stromatum lib. 2. Clemens Alexandrinas calls amoris & amicitiae impletionem & extensionem, the extent and complement of loue. And that not for feare or worldly respects, but ordine ad deum, for the loue of God himselfe. This we shall doe if wee be [Page 714] truely enamored, but we come short in both, wee neither loue God, nor our neighbour as we should. Our loue in spirituall things is two Greenham. defectiue, in worldly things too excessiue, there is a iarre in both. We loue the world too much, God too little, and our neighbour not at all, or for our own ends. ‘Vulgus amicitias vtilitate probat.’ The chiefe thing we respect is our commodity, and what we doe is for feare of worldly punishment, for vaine-glory, praise of men, or for fashions sake, and such by-respects, not for Gods sake. We neither knowe God aright, nor seeke or loue or worship him as we should. And for these defects, we inuolue our selues into a multitude of errors, we swarue from this true loue and worship of God, which is a cause vnto vs of vnspeakable miseries, running into both extreames, wee become fooles, madmen, without sence, as now in the next place I will shew you.
The parties affected are innumerable almost, and scattered ouer all the face of the earth farre and neere, and so haue beene in all precedent ages, from the beginning of the world to these times, of all sorts and conditions. For methods sake I will reduce them to a twofold diuision, according to those two extreames of Excesse and Defect. Not that there is any excesse of diuine worship or loue of God, that cannot be, we cannot loue God too much, or doe our duties as wee ought, as Papists hold, or haue any perfection in this life, much lesse supererogate, when we haue all done, we are vnprofitable servants. But because we d [...]e aliud agere, zealous without knowledge, and too sollicitous about that which is not necessary, busying our selues about impertinent, needlesse, I [...]le and vaine ceremonies, as the Iewes did about sacrifices, oblations, offerings, incense, new moones, feasts, &c. but as [...]say taxeth them, 1.12. Who required this at your hands: We haue too great an opinion of our owne worth, that wee can satisfie the law, and doe more then is required at our hands, by performing those Euangelicall counsells, and such workes of supererogation, merit for others, which Bellarmine, Gregory [Page 715] de Valentia, and all their Iesuits, and other champions defend that if God should deale in rigor with them, some of their Franciscans, and Dominicans are so pure, that nothing could be obiected to them. Some of vs againe are too deare as wee thinke, more diuine and sanctified then others, of a better mettle, greater gifts, and with that prowd Pharisie contemne others in respect of our selues, we are better Christians, better learned, choise spirits, inspired, know more, & haue special reuelations, and knowe Gods secrets, and the [...]upon presume and say and doe that many times, which is not befitting to be said or done. Of this sort are all superstitious Idolaters, Ethnicks, Mahometans, Iews, Hereticks, De primo praecepto. Euthusiasts, Diuinators, Prophets, Sectaries, and Scismaticks. Zanchius reduceth all Infidells to foure chiefe sects, but I will insist and follow mine owne intended method: all which with many other curious persons, Monks, Hermites, &c. may be ranged in this extreame, and fight vnder this superstitious banner, and all those rude Idiots and infinite swarmes of people that are seduced by them. In the other extreame or in defect, march all those Epicures, Libertines, Atheists, Hypocrits, Infidells, worldly, secure, impenitent, vnthankfull, and carnall minded men, that attribute all to naturall causes, that will acknowledge no supreame power, that haue cauterised consciences, or liue in a reprobate sense: Or such desperate persons as are too distrustfull of his mercies. Of these there be many subdivisions, and diuers degrees of madnesse and folly, some more then others, as shall be showed in the Symptomes. And yet all miserably out, perplexed, doting, and besides themselues for religions sake. For as De relig. lib. 1 Thes. 1. Zanchy well distinguisheth, and all the world knowes Religion is twofold, True or False; False is that vaine superstition of Idolaters, such as were of old, Greeks, Romans, present Mahometans &c. Timorē deorum inanem, 2 De nat. deorum. Tully could tearme it, or as Zanchy defines it, Vbi falsi dij, aut falso cultu colitur deus; When false Gods, or that God is falsely worshipped. And 'tis a miserable plague, a torture of the soule, a meere madnesse, Religiosa insania, as [Page 716] Hist. Belgic. lib. 8. Meteran calls it, or insanus error, as Superstitio error insonus est. epist. 123. Seneca, a mad error, proper to man alone, vm superbia auaritia, superstitio, saith Pliny, li. 7. ca. 1. at (que) etiam post saeuit de futuro, which rings his soule for the present, and to come. The greatest misery belongs to mankind, a perpetuall seruitude, a slauery. Greg. Ex timore timor, an heauy voke, an intolerable burden. They that are suspitious, are still fearing, suspecting, vexing themselues with auguries, prodigies, false tales, dreams, idle, vaine works vnprofitable labours, as Polit, lib. 2. cap. 13. Boterus obserues, curâ mentis ancipiti versantur, Enemies to God & to themselues: in a word as Seneca concludes, Religio Deum colit, superstitio destruit, superstition destroyes, but true religion honors. True religion, vbi verus Deus verè colitur, where the true God is rightly worshipped, is the way to heauen, the mother of all vertues, Loue, Feare, Deuotion, Obedience, knowledge, &c. It earers the deiected Soule of man, and amidst so many cares, miseries, persequtions, which this world affords, it is a sole ease, an vnspeakable comfort, a sweet reposall, an anchor, an hauen. It adds courage, boldnesse, & begets generous spirits, although tyrants rage, and persecute, and that bloody Lictor or Seriant be ready to martyr them, aut lita aut morere (as in those persecutions of the Primitiue Church, it was put in practise, as you may read in Eusebius and others) though enimies be now ready to inuade, and all in an vproare. Hor. Si fractus illabatur orbis, impauidos ferient ruinae, though heauen should fall on his head, he would not be dismaid. But as a good Christiā Prince once made answere to a menacing Turke, facilè scelerata hominum arma contemnit qui deum praesidio tutus est. Or as Epist. Phalar. Phalaris writ to Alcander in a wrong cause, Hee nor no other enimy could terrifie him, for that he trusted in God. Si Deus nobiscum quis contra nos: In all calamities, persequutions whatsoeuer, as Dauid did Sam. 2.22. he will sing with him: The Lord is my rocke, my fortresse, my strength, my refuge, the towre and horne of my salvation, &c. In all troubles and adversities, Psal. 46.1. God is my hope and helpe, still ready to be found I will not therefore feare, &c. 'tis a feare expelling feare, hee [Page 717] hath peace of conscience, and is full of hope, which is, saith In Psal. 3. Austin, vita vitae mortalis, the life of this our mortall life, hope of immortality the sole comfort of our misery; otherwise, as Paul saith, we of all others were most wretched, but this makes vs happy, counterpoysing our hearts in all misery. Superstition, torments, and is from the Diuell [...]he author of lyes, but this is from God himselfe: as Lucian that Antiochian Priest made his diuine confession in Lib 9. cap. 6. Eusebius, Author nobis de Deo Deus est, God is the author of our religion himselfe, his word is our ru [...]e, a lanthorne to vs, dictated by the holy Ghost, hee plaies vpon our hearts as so many harpestrings, and we are his, his temples, he dwelleth in vs and we in him.
The party affected of superstition is the Braine, heart, wil, vnderstanding Soule it selfe, and all the faculties of it, totum compositum, All is mad, dotes. And for the Extent as I say, all the world it selfe is the Subiect of it, all times haue been misaffected, past, present, there is not one that doth good no not one, from the Prophet to the Priest, &c. A lamentable thing it is to consider how many myriades of men this Idolatry and superstition (for that comprehends all) hath infatuated in all ages, besotted by this Idolatry, which is religions ape, what torturès, miseries it hath procured, what slaughter of Soules it hath made, how it hath raged amongst those old Persians, Syrians, Aegyptians, Greekes, Romanes, Tuskans, Gauls, Germans, Brittains, &c. Britannia eam hodie celebrat tam atto [...]itè saith Lib 3. cap. Pliny, tantis ceremonijs (speaking of superstition) vt dedisse Persis videri possit. The Brittaines are so stupendly superstitious in their ceremonies, that they goe beyond those Persians. In all countries, in all places superstition hath blinded the hearts of men, in all ages, what a small portion hath the true Church euer beene? The Patriarchs and their families, the Israelites a h [...]ndfull in respect, Christ and his Apostles, and not all of them neither. Into what straights hath it beene compinged, a little flocke: how hath superstition on the other side dilated her selfe, errour, ignorance, and barbarisme, [Page 717] folly, madnesse, deceaued, triumphed and insulted ouer the most wise, discreet, & vnderstanding men, Philosophers, Monarchs, all were inuolued and ouershadowed in this mist, in more then Cymmerian darknes. At this present, quota pars? How small a part is truly religious, how little in respect. Diuide the world into 6 parts, and 5 are not so much as Christians. Idolaters, and Mahometans possesse almost Asia, Africke, America, Magellanica. The kings of China, great Cham, Siam and Bornaye, Pegu, Decan, Narsinga, Iapan, &c. are Gentiles, Idolaters and many other petty Princes in Asia, Monomotapa [...], Congo, and I knowe not how many Negro Princes in Africke, all Terra incognita, most of America, Pagans, differing all in their seuerall superstitions, and yet all Idolaters. The Mahometans extend themselues all ouer the great Turkes dominians in Europe, Africke, Asia; to the Xeriffes of Barbary and his Territories in Fez, Sus, Morocco, &c. The Tartar, the great Moger, the Sophy of Persia, with most of their dominions and subiects, are at this day Mahometans. See how the Diuell rageth? Those at oddes or differing amongst themselues, some for Purchas Pilgrim lib. 1. cap. 3 Alli, some for Enbocar, for Aomar, and Ozimen, those foure Doctors, Mahomets successors, and are subdiuided into 72. inferior Sects, as Lib. 3. Leo Afer reports. The Iews as a company of vagabonds are Scattered ouer all parts. A fift part of the world, and scarce that now professeth Christ, but so inlarded and interlaced with seuerall superstitions, that there is scarce a sound part to bee found, or any agreement amongst them. Presbiter Iohn in Africke, Lord of those Abyssines, or Aethiopians, is by his profession a Christian, but so different from vs, with such new absurdities and ceremonies such liberty, and such a mixture of Idolatry and Paganisme, Titlemannus Maginus. Bredenbachius. Fr. Aluaresius Itin. de Abissinis berbis solum vescuntur votarii aquis mento tenus dormiunt, &c. that they keepe little more then a bare title of Christianity. They suffer Poligamy, Circumcision, stupend fastings, diuorce as they will themselues &c. & as the Papists call on the Virgin Mary, so doe they on Thomas Didymus, before Christ. Bredenbachius Iod.a Meggen. The Greeke or Easterne Church is rent from this of the West, and as they haue foure [Page 719] chiefe Patriarchs, so haue they foure subdiuisions besides those Nestorians, Iacobines, Syrians, Armenians, Georgians, &c. scattered ouer Asia minor, Syria, Aegypt, &c. Greece, Val [...]chia, Cyrcassia, Bulgary, Bosnia, Albania, Illyricum, Slauonia, Croatia, Thrace, Seruia, Rascia, and a sprinkling amongst the Tartars. The Russians, Muscouites, and most of that great Dukes subiects, are part of the Greeke Church, and still Christians, but as See Posseuinus Herbastein, Magin D. Fletcher. Iouius, Hacluit, Purchas, &c. of their errors. one saith, temporis successu multas illi addiderunt superstitiones. In processe of time they haue added so many superstitions, that they bee rather semi-christians then otherwise. That which remaines is the Westerne Church with vs in Europe, but so eclipsed with seuerall scismes, heresies & superstitions, that one knowes not where to finde it. The Papists haue Italy, Spaine, part of Germany, France, Poland, and a sprinkling in the rest of Europe. In America they haue all that which Spaniards inhabit, Hispania noua, Castella Aurea, Peru &c. In the East Indies, the Philippinae, some smal holds about Goa, Malacha, Ormus, &c. which the Portingall got not long since, and those land-leaping Iesuits haue assaid in China, Iapan as appeares by their yearely letters. In Africke they haue Melinda, Quiloa, Mombaza, &c. and some few townes, they driue out one superstition with another. Poland is a receptacle of al religions, where Samosetans, Arrians, Anabaptists are to be found, as well as in some German citties. Scandia is Christian, but as Deplorat gentis Lapp. Damianus A-goes that Portingall Knight complaines, so mixt with Magick, Pagan rites and ceremonies, they may be as well counted Idolaters. Yet very superstitious, like our wild Irish: the remnant are Caluinists, Lutherans, In Germany equally mixt, Sueden, Denmarke, France, Brittaine, more defecate then the rest, yet at oddes amongst themselues, and not free from superstition. As a damme of water stopt in one place, breakes out in another; so doth superstition. I say nothing of Anabaptists, Brownists, Barrowists, Familists, &c. There is superstition in our prayers, in our hearing of Sermons, besides bitter contentions, inuectiues, persecutions, quid quaeso in Dorpi, as Erasmus concludes [Page 720] to Dorpius, hisce Theologis faciamus, aut quid preceris nisi forte fidelem medicum, qui cerebro medeatur. What shall we wish them, but a good Physitian? but more of their differences, paradoxes, opinions, mad prankes, in the Symptomes. I now hasten to the causes.
SVBSEC. 2. Causes of religious Melancholy. From the Diuell by miracles, apparitions, oracles. His instruments or factors, politi [...]ians Priests, Impostors, Hereticks, blinde guides. In them simplicity, feare, blinde zeale, ignorance, solitarines, curiositie, pride, vaineglory, presumption, &c. his engines, fasting, solitarinesse, &c.
VVE are taught in holy Scripture, that the Diuell rangeth abroad like a roaring Lion, still seeking whō he may devoure, and as in seuerall shapes, so by seuerall engines and deuices he goeth about to seduce vs; sometimes he transformes himselfe into an Angell of light, and is so cunning, that he is able, if it were possible, to deceaue the very elect. He will be worshipped as Plato in Crit. daemones custodes sunt homi num & eorum domini, vt nos animalium , nec hominibus sed et regionibus imperant, vaticiniis, arguriis, somniis oraculis, nos reg [...]t. God himselfe, and is so adored by the Heathen and esteemed. And in imitation of that diuine power, as De preperat Evangel. Eusebius obserues, Vel in abúsum dei vel in aemulationē. Dandinus com in lib. 2. Arist. de An. Text. 29. to abuse or emulate Gods glory, as Dandinus addes, he will haue all homage, sacrifices, oblations, and whatsoeuer else belongs to the worship of God, to be done likewise vnto him, and by this means infatuats the world, deludes, intrappes, and destroyes many a thousand soules. Sometimes by dreames, visions (as God to Moses by familiar conference) the Diuell in seuerall shapes talkes with them, in the Indies 'tis common, and in China, apparitions, inspirations, oracles, apparitions by terrifying them with false prodigies; Daemones consulant & familiares habent demones pleri (que) sacerdotes. Riccius, lib, 1. cap. 10. expedit. Sinar. sending stormes, tempests, diseases, [Page 721] plagues, raising warres, seditions, by spectrums, by promises, benefits, and faire meanes, hee raiseth such an opinion of his Diety and greatnesse, that they dare not doe otherwise then adore him, doe as hee will haue them; they dare not offend him, and to compell them the more to stand in awe of him, Vi [...]am turbant so [...]an [...]si [...]quiet [...]nt, irrep [...]te▪ etiam in cor [...]or [...] ineates te [...]nt, valerud [...]e [...] frang [...], morbos l [...]scunt, vt ad c [...]l [...]m [...] nec al [...]ad his [...]st [...] dium q [...]m vt [...] vera religione ad superstitionē vertant, [...]um sint ipsi p [...]enales, quaerunt sibi ad paenas co [...]i [...]es vt habeant, erroris participes. he sends and cures diseases, disquiets their spirits, as Cyprian saith torments and terrifies their soules to make them adore him and all his study, all his endeauour is to diuert them from true religion to superstition, and because he is damned himselfe and in an error, he would haue all the world participate of his errors & be damned with him. The primum mobile therefore, and first moouer of all superstition is the Diuell, that great enimy of mankinde, the principall agent; who in a thousand seuerall shapes, after seuerall fashions, with seuerall engines, illusions, and by seuerall names hath deceaued the inhabitants of the earth, in seuerall places, and countries, still reioycing at their falls. All the world ouer almost before Christs time hee freely domineered, and held the soules of men in most slauish subiection, saith Lib. 4. praeparat. Euangel cap tantam (que) victoriam amentiá hominum consequnti sunt, vt si collig [...]re in vnū vel [...] vniuersum orbem, islis scele [...]i [...]us spiritibus subiectum, fuisse inaeaies. Vs (que) ad salvatoris adventum hominum caede pernitiosissimos daemones placabant &c. Eusebius, in diverse formes, ceremonies, and sacrifices till Christs comming. As if those Diuells of the ayre had shared the earth amongst them, which the Platonists held, and were our Gouernours and keepers. In seuerall places they had seuerall rites, orders, names. Strozius, Cicogna omnis. mag. ib. 3. cap. 7 Ezek 8.4. Reg. 11.4. Reg. 3. & 17.24. Ier. 49. Numb. 21.3. Reg. 13. Adonided amongst the Syrians; Adramilech amongst the Capernaites; Asiniae amongst the Emathites; Astartes with the Sydonians; Asteroth with the Palestines; Dagon with the Philistines; Tartari with the Honaei; Melchonis amongst the Ammonites; Beli the Babylonians, Belzebub and Baal with the Samaritans and Moabites. Isis and Osyris amongst the Aegyptians; Apollo at Delphos; Iupiter at Rome; Venus at Cyprus; Diana at Ephesus; Pall [...]s at Troy, &c. And euen in these our daies both in the East and West Indies, in Tartary, China, Iapan, &c. What strange Idols, in what prodigious formes, with what absurd ceremonies are they adored? See but what Vertomannus li. 5. ca. 2. Marcus Polus, Lerius, Benzo, P. Martyr, in his Ocean Decades, [Page 722] and Mat. Riccius expedit. Christi: in Sinas lib. 1. relate. Lib. 4. cap. 8. praepar. Eusebius wonders how that wise citty of Athens, and florishi ng kingdomes of Greece should be so besotted, and wee in our times, how those witty Chinese so perspicacious, in all other things, should be so gulled, so tortured with superstition, so blinde as to worshippe stockes and stones. But it is no maruell, when as we see al out as great effects, amongst Christians themselues: how are those Anabaptists, Arrians, and Papists aboue the rest miserably besotted. Mars, Iupiter, Apollo, and Aesculapius haue resigned their interest names and offices to S t George, S t Christopher, and a company of fictitious Saints, Venus to the Virgin Mary. And as those old Romanes had seuerall and distinct Gods, for all distinct offices, persons, places, so haue they Saints, as Part. 1. cap. 1. & lib. 2. cap. 9. Lauater wel obserues out of Lactantius, mutato nomine tantum, 'tis the same Diuell that deludes them still. The manner how, as I say, is by rewards, promises, terrors, affrights, punishments. How often hath Iupiter and Apollo sent plagues in Polid. Virg. lib. 1. de p [...]odigijs Greece and Italy, because their sacrifices were neglected, to terrifie them, to rouze them vp and the like: see but Liuy, Dionysius Halicarnaseus, Thucidides, Philostratus, &c. What prodigies and miracles, dreames, visions, apparitions, oracles, haue been of old at Delphos, what strange cures performed by Apollo & Aesculapius? Iuno's Image and that of Grata lege me dicastis mulieres. Dionysius Halicarnaseus. Fortune spake, Tully de nat. deorum lib. 2. [...] Aequa Venus Te [...]cris, Pallas iniqua fuit. Castor & Pollux fought in person for the Romans against Hanniballs army, as Pallas, Mars, Iuno, Venus, for Greekes and Troians, &c. Amongst our Pseudocatholikes, nothing so familiar as such miracles, how many cures done by our Lady of Lauretta; at Sichem, of old at our S. Thomas Shrine, &c. Io. Molanus. lib. 3. cap. 59. S. Sabine was seene fight for Arnulphus Duke of Spoleto, Pet. Oliue [...] de Iohanne primo Portugallie R [...]ge. strenuè pugnans & ad uersae partis ictus clypeo excipiens. S. George fought in person for Iohn the bastard of Portingal, against the Castilians. In the battle of Bannoxburne, where Edward the 2, our English king was foyled by the Scots, S. Philanus arme was seene to fight (if L. 14. Loculos sponte aperuisse & pro ijs pugnasse. Hector Boethius doth not tell an arrant lye) that was before shut vp in a siluer capcase: Another time in the same Author, S. Magnus fought for them. Now [Page 723] for visions, reuelations, miracles, not only out of the Legend, and out of Purgatory, but euery day newes from the Indies, and at home read the Iesuits letters, Ribadeneira, Thurselmus, Acosta, Lippomanus, Xauerius, Ignatius liues, &c. and tell me what difference.
His ordinary instruments or factors which he vseth, as God himselfe did good Kings, lawfull Magistrats, Patriarks, Prophets to the establishing of his Church, Religion as they hold is pollicy, inuented alone to keepe men in awe. are Polititians, Statesmen, Priests, Hereticks, blinde guids, Impostors, Pseudoprophets, to propagate his superstition. And first to begin with Polititians; it hath euer beene a principall axiome with them, to maintaine religion, or superstition, they make religion pollicy, nihil aequè valet ad regendos vulgi animos ac superstitio, as 1. Annal. Tacitus and Omnes religione mo [...]entur. 5. inverrem. Tully hold. 'Tis Zeleuchus. praesat. legis. qui vrbem aut regionem inhabitant persuaso [...] esse oportet esse Deos. that Aristotle and Plato inculcate in their Politicks, and all our late Polititians ingeminate. Cromerus lib. 2. pol. hist. Boterus lib. 3. de incrementis vrbium, Clapmarius, lib. 2. cap. 9. de Arcanis rerump. Arneseus. cap. 4. lib. 2. polit. Captaine Machiauel will haue a Prince by all meanes to counterfeit religion, to be superstitious in shew at least, as Numa, Licurgus, and such lawmakers were, non vt his fidem habeant, sed vt subditos religionis metu facilius in officio contineant, to keepe the people in obedience. But this error of his, Innocentius Ientilettus a french Lawyer, Theorem. 9. comment. 1. de Releg. hath copiously confuted. Many Polititians I doe not deny maintaine Religion as a true meanes, and syncerely speake of it without hypocrisie, & are truely zealous and religious themselues. Iustice, Religion, Peace, are the three chiefe proppes of a well gouern'd Commonwealth: but most of them are but Machiauellians, counterfeits only for politicall ends; as knowing, Lipsius. lib. 1. cap. 3. magnum eius in animos imperium, and that as Homo sine religione sicut equus sine fraeno Sabellicus deliuers , a man without religion, is like an horse without a bridle. No way better to curb then superstition, to terrifie mens consciences, and to keepe them in awe: they make new lawes, statuts, inuent new Religions, ceremonies to their owne endes. Therefore, saith Lib. 10. Ideo Lycurgus, &c. non quod ipse superstitiosus, sed quod videret mortales paradoxa f [...]lius am plecti, nec res gra [...]es audere sine periculo deorum. Polybius of Lycurgus, did he maintaine ceremonies , not that he [Page 724] was superstitious himselfe, but that hee perceaued mortall men more apt to embrace paradoxes, then ought else, & durst attempt no euill thing for feare of the Gods. This was Numa's plotte, when he said he had conference with the Nymphe Aegeria, Sertorius an Hart. Caligula in Dion fained himselfe to be familiar with Castor and Pollux, and many such, which kept those Romans vnder, who as Machiauel proues, lib. 1. disput. cap. 11. & 12. were Religione maximè moti, and most superstitious; and did curb the people more by this meanes, then by force of armes, or seuerit [...] of humane lawes. To this end the old Poets fained those De his lege Lucianum de luctu To. 1. Homer Odiss. 11. Virg. Ae [...] 6. Caelium lib 6. Elysian fields, their Ae [...]us, Minos, & Rhadamantus, those infernall Iudges, and those Stygian lakes, fiery Phlegetons, Pluto's kingdome, and variety of torments after death. 'Tis this which Plato labors for in his Phaedon; the Turkes in their Alcoran, when they set down rewards, and seuerall punishments for euery particular vertue and vice, Boterus. and perswade men that they that dye in battle shal goe directly to heauen, &c. A Tartar Prince, saith Marcus Polus, lib. 1. cap. 28. called Senex de montibus, the better to establish his gouernment amongst his subiects, and to keepe them in awe, found a conuenient place in a pleasant valley, inuiron'd with hills, in Citra quam virilarium plátauit maximum & pulcherrimū floribus odoriferis & suauibus fructibus plenum, &c. which he made a pleasant parke, full of all odoriferous flowres, and fruits, and a Pallace full of all worldly contents, that could possibly be deuised, Musick, Pictures, variety of meats, &c. and chose out a certaine young man, whō with a Potum quendam dedit quo inescatus & graui sopore oppressus, in viridarum interim ducebatur, &c. soporiferous potion, he so benummed, that hee perceaued nothing: and so fast asleepe as he was, caused him to be convayed into this faire garden. Where after he had liued a while, in all such pleasures a sensuall man could desire, At (que) iterum mem [...]ratu [...] potum hibendum exhibuit & sic [...]tro Parad sum reduxit vt cum [...]vigilare [...] sopore soluto, &c. He cast him into a sleepe againe, and brought him forth, that when he waked he might tell others be had beene in Paradice: The like hee did for Hell, and by this meanes brought his people to subiection. Many such tricks and impostures are acted by Polititians in China especially, but with what effect I will discourse in the Symptomes.
Next to Polititians, if I may distinguish them, are our [Page 725] Priests, (for they make Religion Policy) if not farre beyond them, for they domineere ouer Princes and Statesmen themselues. Carnificinam exercent, one saith, they tyrannise ouer mens consciences, more then any other tormentors whatsoeuer. Partly for their commodity and gaine, for soueraignty, credit to maintaine their state and reputation. What haue they not made the common people to beleeue? Impossibilities in nature, incredible things, what deuises, traditions, ceremonies, haue they not inuented in all ages to keepe men in obedience to enrich themselues? Quibus quaestui sunt capti superstitione animi, as Liuy saith. Those Aegyptian Priests of olde got all the soueraignty into their hands, and knowing, Lib. 4. as Curtius saith, nulla res efficacius multitudinem regit quam, Lib. 4. superstitio, meliùs vatibus quam ducibus parent, vana religione capti, etiam impotentes faeminae, the common people will sooner obey Priests then Captains, & nothing so forcible as superstitiō, or better then blind zeale to rule a multitude; haue so terrified and gulled them, that it is incredible to relate. All nations almost haue beene besotted in this kinde, amongst our Brittaines and old Gaules the Druides, Mag [...] in Persia; Philosophers in Greece, Chaldeans amonnst the Babylonians, Barchmani in India, Gymnosophistes in Aethiopia, the Turditanes in Spaine, Augures in Rome, haue insulted, Apolloes Priests in Greece, by their oracles and phantasmes, Amphiaraus & his companions; now Mahometans. & Pagan priests, what doe they not effect? How doe they not infatuate the world? But aboue all others that high priest of Rome, that three-headed Cerberus hath plai'd his part. S r. Ed. Saud [...] Whose religion at this day is meere pollicy, a state wholly composed of superstition and wit, and needs nothing but superstition and wit to maintaine it, that vseth Colleges and religious houses, to as good purpose as forts and castells, and doth more at this day by a company of scribilng Parasites, fiery spirited Friers, zealous anchorites, hypocriticall confessors, and those pretorian souldiers, his Ianisary Iesuits stand now in the forefront of the battle. Excipiunt soli totius vulnera belli. Iesuits, then euer hee could haue done by garrisons and armies. What power of Prince, or poenall law be [Page 726] it neuer so strict, could inforce men to doe that which for c [...] science sake they will voluntarily vndergoe? As to fast from all flesh, abstaine from marriage, abandon the world, wilfull pouerty, performe canonicall and blinde obedience, to prostrate their goods, fortunes, bodies, liues, and offer vp themselues at their superiors feet, at his command. What so powerfull an engin as superstition? which they right well perceauing, are of no religion at all themselues! Primum enim (as Calvin rightly suspects, and the tenor and practise of their life proues) arcanae illius Theologiae, quod apud eos regnat, caput est, nullum esse deum. They hold there is no God, as Leo 10. did, Hildebrand the Magitian, Alexander the 6. Iulius 2. meere Atheists, and what is said of Christ, to bee fables and impostures, of heauen and hell, day of iudgement, Paradise,
Dreames, Vice cotis acutum reddere quae ferrum valet exorsipsa secandi. toyes, and old wiues tales. Yet as so many whetstones that makes other tooles cut, but cuts not themselues, though they be of no religion at all, they will make others most deuout and superstitious, and by promises and threats, compell, enforce from, and lead them by the nose like so many beares in a line. When as their end is not to propagate the Church, aduance Gods kingdome, or seeke his glory or common good, but to enrich themselues, to enlarge their territories, to domineer and compell them to stand in awe, to liue in subiection to the Sea of Rome. As well may witnesse their intolerable couetousnes, strāge forgeries, fopperies, impostures and illusions, new doctrines, paradoxes, traditions, false miracles, which they haue still maintained, to enthrall and subiugate them, to maintaine their owne estates. Seeking their owne saith Paul, not Christs. One while by Buls, Pardons, Indulgences, & their doctrine of good works, that they be meritorious, hope of heauen by that means, they haue so flieced the commonalty, and spurred on this free superstitious horse, that he runnes himselfe blinde, and is as an Asse to carry burdens. They hane so amplified Peters Patrimony, that from a poore Bishoppe, hee is become Rex [Page 727] Regum, Dominus dominautium, a Demi-god, as his Canonists make him, Felinus and the rest, aboue God himselfe. And for his wealth and He hath the Dutchy of Spoledo in Italy, the Marquesdome of Ancora, beside Rome and the territories adiacēt, Bologne, Ferrara, &c. Avinion in France, &c. temporalties, is not inferior to many kings; Estote fratres mei & principes huius mundi. words of their creation. his Cardinals Princes companions, and in euery kingdome almost, Abbots, Priors, Monks, Friers, &c. and his Cleargy haue ingrossed a The Laity suspect their greatnesse, witnes those statutes of mortmaine. third part, halfe, in some places al into their hands. Three prince Electors in Germany Bishops, besides, Magdeburge, Spire, Saltsburge, Bamberge, &c. How many townes in euery kingdome hath superstition enriched? What a deale of mony by musty reliques, Images, haue their masse Priests ingrossed, and what summes haue they scraped by their other tricks. Lauretum in Italy, Walsingham in England, In those dayes, Vbi omnia auro nitent, saith Erasmus, S. Thomas Shrine, many witnesse, &c. If they can get but a relique of some Saint, or the Virgin Maries picture, or the like, that citty is for euer made, it needs no other maintenance. And for their autority, what by auricular confession, satisfaction pennance, Peters keyes, thundrings, excommunications, &c. roaring bulls, this high Priest of Rome, shaking his Gorgons head hath so terrified the soule of many a silly man, and insulted ouer Maiesty it selfe, and swaggered generally ouer all Europe for many ages, & still doth to some, holding thē as yet in slavish subiection, as neuer tyrannising Spaniards did by their poore Negroes, or Turkes by their Gally-slaues. Pontisex Romanus prorsus iaermis regibus terrae iura dat, ad regna eve [...]it ad pacem cogit & peccantes castigat, &c. quod Imperatores Romani 40 legionibus armati non essecerunt. The Bishop of Rome (saith Stapleton, a parasite of his, de mag. Rom. Eccle. lib. 2. cap. 1.) hath done that without armes which those Roman Emperours could neuer atchieue with 40 legions of souldiers, deposed Kings and crowned them againe with his foot, made friends, and corrected at his pleasure, &c. Mirum quanta passus fit H. 2. quomodo se submisit ea se facturum pollicitus, quoram bodie ne priuatus quidem partem faceret. Tis a wonder (saith Machiauell Florentinae hist. li. 1.) what slauery King Henry the second endured for the death of Th.a Becket, what things he was enioyned by the Pope, and how he submitted himselfe to doe that which in our times a priuate man would not endure, and all through superstition. Sigonius 9 hist. Ital. Henry the fourth deposed of his Empyre, stood barefooted with his wife at the gates of Canossus. [Page 728] Curio lib. 4. Fex Martyrol. Fredericke the Emperour was troden on by Alexander the third. Another held Adrians stirruppe: king Iohn kissed the knees of Pandulphus the Popes Legat, &c. What made so many thousand Christians goe from France, Brittaine, &c. into the holy land, spend such huge summes of mony, goe a pilgrimage so familiarly to Ierusalem, to creep and couch, but superstition? What makes them so freely venture their lines, to leaue their natiue countries, to goe seeke martyrdome in the Indies, but superstition to bee asa [...]nats to meet death, murder Kings, but a false perswasion, of merit, of canonicall, or blind obedience which they instill vnto them, & animate them by strange illusions, hope of being Martyrs and Saints? Such pretty feats can the Diuell worke by Priests, and so well for their owne aduantage can they play their parts. And as if it were not yet enough, by Priests and Polititians to delude mankind, and crucifie the soules of men, hee hath more actors in his Tragedy, more yrons in the fire, another Sceane of Heretikes, Schismatikes, Impostors, false Prophets, blind guids, that out of pride, singularity, vainglory, blind zeale, cause much more madnesse yet, set all in an vproare, by their new doctrins, paradoxes, figments, crotchets, make new diuisions, subdiuisions, new sects, oppose one superstion to another; one kingdome to another, brother against brother, father against sonne, to the ruine and destruction of a Common-wealth, to the disturbance of peace, and to make a generall confusion. How did those Arrians rage of old, how many did they circumvent? those Pelagians, Mamchies, &c. their names alone would make a iust Volume. How many silly soules haue Impostors still deluded, Lucians Alexander, Hierocles cō tends Apollonius to haue been as great a Prophet as Christ whom Eusebius confutes Simon Magus, Apollonius Tianaeus, Cynops, Eumo, of whom Florus lib. 3. cap. 19. makes mention, by counterfeiting some new ceremonies and iugling trickes, of that Dea Syria, by spitting fire and the like, got an armie together of fourtie thousand men, and did much harme: and that Eudo de Stellis of whom Nubrigensis speakes lib. 1. cap. 19. that in king Stephens dayes, imitated many of Christs [Page 729] myracles, fed I know not how many people in the wildernesse, and built castles in the aire, &c. to the seducing of many silly soules. How many such imposters, false prophets, haue liued in euery kings raigne? what Chronicle will not afford such examples? that as so many Ignes fatui haue led men out of the way, terrified some, deluded others; that are apt to be carried about with the blast of euery wind, a rude inconstant multitude, that follow all, and are cluttered together like so many pibbles in a tide. What prodigious follies, madnesse, vexations, persecutions, absurdities, impossibilities, these impostors, heretickes, &c. haue thrust vpon the world, what strange effects, shall be shewed in the symptomes.
Now the means by which, or aduantages the diuel and his infernall ministers, take so to delude and disquiet the world, with such idle ceremonies, false doctrines, superstitions, fopperies, are from themselues, innate feare, ignorance, simplicity, &c. and that same decayed image of God which is yet remaining in vs. Os homini sublime dedit, caelum (que) videre iussit, our owne conscience doth dictate so much vnto vs, we know there is a God, and nature doth informe vs, Nulla gens tam Barbara, saith Tully, Cuinon insideat haec persuasio deum esse, There is no nation so barbarous, that is not perswaded there is a God, The Heauens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament sheweth his handiworke, Psal. 19. Euery creature will euince it. The Philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Lib. 1. de u [...] Daeorum. Plotmus, Trismegistus, Seneca, Epictetus, those Magi, Druides, &c. went as farre as they could by the light of nature, Zanchius multa praeclara de natura dei scripta reliquerunt, writte many things well of the nature of God, but they had but a confused light, a glimpse, Quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna est iter in siluis, as he that walkes by mooneshine in a wood, they groped in the darke; they had a grosse knowledge, as he in Euripides, ôdeus quicquid es, siue caelum, siue terra, siue aliquid, and that of Aristotle, Ens entium miserere mei. So some said this, some that, as they conceiued themselues, which the diuell [Page 730] perceiuing, led them farther out, Superstitio ex ignorātia diuinitatis emersit, ex vitiosa aemulatione & daemonis illecebris, inconstans, timens, fluctuans, & cui se addicat, nesciens, quem imploret, cui se committat à daemone facile decepta, Lemnius lib. 3. cap. 8. as Lemnius obserues, and made them worship stockes and stones, and torture themselues to their owne destruction, as he thought fit himselfe; inspired his Priests and Ministers with hes and fictions to prosecute the same, which they for their owne ends were as willing to vndergoe, taking aduantage of their simplicitie, feare and ignorance. For the common people are as a flock of sheepe, a rude illiterate rout, void many times of common sence, a meere beast, bellua multorum capitum, will goe whethersoeuer they are led: as you lead a ramme ouer a gappe by the hornes, and all the rest will follow. Seneca. Non qua eundum, sed quâ itur, they will doe as they see others doe, and as their prince will haue them, let him be of what religion hee will, they are for him. De rerum varietate li. 7. c. 38. parum vero distat sapientia v [...]rorum à puerili multo minus senum & mulicrum, cum metu & superstitione & alienâ stultitia & im probitate simplices agitantur. And little difference there is betwixt the discretion of men and children in this case, especially of old folkes and women, as Cardan discourseth, when as th [...]y are tossed with feare and superstition, and with other mens folly and dishonestie. So that I may say their owne ignorance is a cause of their superstition, a symptome and madnesse it selfe, supplicij causa est supplicium (que) sui, their owne feare, folly, stupidity is that which giues occasion to the other, and pulles these miseries on their owne heads. For in all these false religions and superstitions, amongst all Idolaters, you shall still find that the parties first affected are silly, rude, ignorant people, old folkes, that are naturally prone to superstition, weake women, or some poore rude illiterate persons, that are apt to be wrought vpon, and gulled in this kind, prone to beleeue any thing. And the best meanes they haue to broch it first, and to maintaine it when they haue done, is to keepe them still in ignorance. This hath beene the diuells practise, and all his infernall ministers in all ages, not as our Sauiour, by a fewe silly fishermen to confound the wisedome of the world, to saue Publicanes and Sinners, but to make aduantage of their ignorance, to confound them and all their associates: and that they may better effect what they intend, they begin as I say with poore In all superstition wise men follow fooles. Bacon Essayes. stupid, illiterate person s. So Mahomet did [Page 731] when he published his Alcoron, which is a piece of worke saith Bredenbachius, full of non-sense, barbarisme, confusion, Peregrin. Hieros. cap. 5. totum scriptum consusum sine ordine vel colore abs (que) sensu & ratio [...]e ad rusticissimos idem dedit rudissimos & prorsus agrestes, qui nullius erant discretionis, vt diiudicare possent. without rime, reason or any good composition, and first published to a company of rude rustickes, hogge-rubbers, that had no discretion, iudgement, arte, or vnderstanding, and so still maintained. For it is a part of their pollicie to let no man comment, or dare to dispute or call in question to this day any part of it, be it neuer so absurd, incredible, ridiculous, fabulous as it is, it must be beleeued implicitè, vpon paine of death no man must dare to contradict it: What else doe our Papists but by keeping the people in ignorance, vent and broch all their new ceremonies and traditions, when they conceale the Scriptures and read it in Latin, and to some few alone, feeding the people in the meane time with tales out of legends, and such like fabulous narrations? Whom doe they begin with, but collapsed ladies, some few tradesmen, or sooner circumuent? So doe all our schismatickes and heretickes. Lib. 1. cap. 9. valent haeres. 9. Marcus and Valentinian heretickes in Irinaeus seduced first I know not how many women, and made them beleeue they were Prophets. Meteranus l. 8. hist. Belg. Frier Cornelius of Dort seduced a company of silly women. What are all our Anabaptists, Brownists, Barrowists, Familists, but a company of rude illiterate base fellowes? What are most of our Papists, but rude and ignorant blind baiards, how should they otherwise be? when as they are brought vp and kept still in darkenesse. Si Doctores suum fecissent officium & plebem fidei commissum recte instituissent de doctrinae Christianae capitib. nec sacris scripturis interdixissent, de multis proculdubio rectè sensissent. If their Pastors saith Lauater had done their dueties, and instructed their flocke as they ought in the Principles of Christian Religion, or had not forbidden them the reading of Scriptures, they had not beene as they are. But being so misled all their liues in superstition, & carried hood-winked like so many hawks, how can they proue otherwise then blind Idiots, and superstitious Asses: what shall we expect else at their hands. Neither is it sufficient to keepe them blind, and in Cimmerian darkenesse, but withal as a schoolemaster doth by his boyes, sometimes by promises and encouragements, but most of all by strict discipline, seuerity, threats & punishment, to make [Page 732] them follow their bookes, doe they collogue and south vp their silly Auditors, and so bring them into a fooles Paradise. Rex eri [...] aiunt si rectè facios, doe well thou shalt bee crowned, but for the most part by threats, terrors and affrights, they tyrannise and terrifie their distressed soules: knowing that feare alone is the sole and onely meanes to keepe men in obedience, according to that he [...]slichium of Petronius. Primus in orbe deos fecit timor, they play vpon their consciences; Curtius lib. 4. which was practised of old in Aegypt, by their Priests, when there was an Eclipse, they made the people beleeue God was angry, great miseries to come, they take all opportunities of naturall causes, to delude the peoples sences, and with fearefull tales out of purgatory, samed apparitions, earthquakes in Iapona and China, tragicall examples of diuells, possessions, obsessions, &c. They doe so insult ouer, and restraine them, neuer Hoby so dared a la [...]ke, that they dare not See more in Kemnisius Examen. concil. Trident. de Purgatorio. offend the least tradition, tread or scarce looke awry: Deus bone Part. 1. cap. 16 pars. 3. cap. 18. & 14. Lanater exclaimes, quot hoc commentum de purgatorio misere affixit [...], good God: how many men haue beene miserably afflicted by this fiction of purgatory.
To these aduantages of feare, ignorance, and simplicitie, he hath seuerall engines, traps, deuises to batter and enthrall, omitting no opportunities, according to mens seuerall inclinations, habilities to circumuent and humour them, to maintaine his superstition: sometimes to stupifie, besotte them, sometime againe by oppositions, factions to set all at oddes, and in an vprore, sometimes he infects one man, and makes him a principall agent, sometimes whole citties, countries. If of meaner sort, by stupidity, blind Canonicall obedience, blind zeale &c. If of better note, by pride, ambition, vaineglory. If of the Clergie, and more eminent of better parts, then the rest, more learned, eloquent, he puffs them vp with a vaine conceit of their owne worth, scientia inflati, they beginne to swell and scorne all the world in respect of themselues, to admire themselues, & thereupon turne heretickes, [Page 733] schismatickes, broch new doctrines, frame new crotchtes and the like, or else out of too much learning become mad, or out of curiositie, they will search into Gods secrets, and eate of the forbidden fruit, or out of presumption of their holinesse and good guifts, inspirations, become Prophets, Enthusiasts, and what not. Or else if they be displeased, discontent, and haue not as they suppose preferment to their worth, haue some disgrace, repulse, neglected, or not esteemed as they fondly value thēselues, or out of emulation they begin presently to rage and raue, caelum terrae miscent, they become so impatient in an instant, that a whole kingdome cannot containe them. They will set all in a combustion, all at variance to be reuenged of their aduersaries. Austi [...]. Donaetus when he saw Cecilianus preferred before him in the Bishoppricke of Carthage, turned hereticke, and so did Arian, because Alexander was preferred: we haue examples at home and too many experiments of such persons. If they be laye men of better note, the same engines of pride, ambition, emulation & iealousie take place, they will be Gods themselues. Curtius lib. 8. Alexander in India after his victories, became so insolent, he would be adored for a God, and those Romane Emperours came to that height of madnesse they must haue temples built to them, sacrifices, oblations to their Deities, Diuus Augustus. D. Claudius, D. Adrianus, Lampridi [...]s vita eius virgines vestales & sacrum ignē Romae extinxit & omnes vbi (que) per orbem terrae religiones, vnum hoc studens vt solus deus coleretur. Heliogabalus put out the vestall fire at Rome, expelled the virgines, and banished all other Religions all ouer the world, and would be the sole God himselfe. Our Turkes, China kings, great Chams, and Mogors, doe little lesse, assuming diuine and bumbast titles to themselues, the meaner sort are too credulous, and led with blind zeale, blind obedience to prosecute and maintaine whatsoeuer their sottish leaders shall propose, what they in pride or singularitie, reuenge, spleene or for gaine, shall rashly maintaine and broch, their disciples make a matter of conscience, of hell and damnation if they doe it not, and will rather forsake wiues, children, house, and home, lands, goods, fortunes, life it selfe, then omit or abiure the [Page 734] least title of it, and to aduance the common cause, vndergoe any miseries, turne traytors, assassinates, with full assurance and hope of reward in that other world, that they shall surely merite by it, winne heauen, be canonised for Saints. Now when they are throughly possessed with blind zeale, and nusled with superstition, he hath many other baites to inueagle & infatuate them farther yet, to make them quite mortified and mad, and that vnder colour of perfection, to merite by pennance, going wolward, whipping, almes, fastings &c. ex opere operato, ex condigno, for themselues and others, to macerate and consume themselues, specie virtutis & vmbrâ, those Euangelicall councels, as our pseudocatholickes call them, of Canonicall obedience, wilfull pouerty, Votum c [...]libatus monachatus. vowes of chastitie and monkery, and a solitary life, which extend allmost to all religions and superstitions, to Turkes, Chinese, Gentiles, Abyssines, Greekes, Latines, and all countries. Amongst the rest fasting, contemplation, solitarinesse, are as it were certaine Rammes, by which he doth batter and worke vpon the strongest constitutions: Nonnulli saith Peter Forestus, ob longas inedias, stadia & meditationes caelestes, derebus sacris & religione semper agitant, by fasting ouermuch, and diuine meditations, are ouercome. Not that fasting is a thing of it selfe to bee discommended, for it is an excellent meanes to keepe the body in subiection, Mater sanitatis, clauis caelorum: ala animae quae leues penuas producat vt in sublime ferat, currus spiritus sancti, vexillum fidei, porta paradisi, vita angelorum, &c. a preparatiue to deuotion, the Physicke of the Soule, by which chast thoughts are ingendred, true zeale, a diuine spirit, whence wholesome counsels do proceed, concupiscence is restrained, vitious and predominate lusts and humors are expelled. The Fathers are very much in commendation of it, and as Caluin notes sometimes immoderate, The mother of health, key of heauen, spirituall winge to ereare vs, the chariot of the holy Ghost, banner of Faith, &c. And 'tis true they say of it, if it be moderately and seasonably vsed, as Moses, Elias, Daniel, Christ, and his Castigo corpus meum. Paul. Apostles made vse of it, but when by this meanes they will supererogate, and as Mor. encem. Erasmus well taxeth. Caelum non sufficere putant suis meritis, heauen is to small a reward [Page 735] for it. They make choice of times and meats, and buy and sell their merits, and attribute more vnto it then to the ten Commandements, and count it a greater sinne to eate meate in lent, then to kill a man. And as one saith, Plus respiciunt assum piscem, quam Christum crucifixum, plus salmonem quam Solomonem quibus in ore Christus, Epicurus in corde, when some counterfeit, and some attribute more to such workes of theirs then to Christs death and passion, the diuell sets in a foote, and strangely deludes them, and by that meanes makes them to ouerthrow the temperature of their bodies, and hazard their soules. Neuer any strange illusion of deuils amongst Hermits, Anachorites, neuer any visions, phantasmes, apparitions, Enthusiasmes, Prophets, any reuelations, but immoderate fasting, bad diet, sickenesse, melancholy, solitarinesse, or some such things were the precedent causes, the forerunners or concomitantes of them: The best opportunitie and sole occasion the diuell takes to delude them. Marsilius Caguatus lib. 1. cont. cap. 7. hath many stories to this purpose, of such as after long fasting haue bin seduced by diuels, and Lib. 8 cap. 10 de rerum varietate. admiratione digna sunt quae per ieiunium hoc modo cōtingunt, somnia, superstitio, contemptus tormentorum, mortis desideriū solitado futurorum diuinatio, obstinata opinio, insania, leiuniū, naturaliter praeparat ad hac omnia. tis a miraculous thing to relate (as Cardan writes) what strange accidents proceede from fasting, dreames, superstition, contempt of torments, desire of death, prophesies, paradoxes, madnesse; fasting naturally prepares men to these things. Monkes, Anachorites and the like, after much emptinesse become melancholy, vertiginous, they thinke they heare strange noyses, conferre with Hobgoblines, diuells, riuell vp their bodies, & dum hostem insequimur, saith Gregory, ciuem quem diligimus trucidamus, they become bare Skeletons, skinne and bones. Carnibus abstinentes proprias carnes deuorant, vt nil praeter cutem & ossa fit reliquum. Hilarion, as Epist. lib. 3. Ita attenuatus fuit ieiuniis & vigiliis, intant [...] exeso corpore, vt ossibus vix haerebat , vnde nocte infantum vagitus, balatus pecorum, mugitas boum, voces & ludibria daemonum. &c. Hierom reports in his life, was so bare with fasting, that the skinne did scarce sticke to the bones, for want of vapors he could not sleep, & for want of sleep became idle headed, and heard euery night infants crie, oxen lowe, wolues howle, lions roare (as he thought) clattering of harneis, strange voices, and illusions of diuells. Such symptomes are common [Page 736] to those that fast long, are solitarie, giuen to contemplation, ouermuch solitarinesse & meditation. Not that these things (as I said of fasting) are to be discommended of themselues, but very behouefull in some cases and good: sobriety and contemplation ioyne our soules to God, as that heathen Lib de abstinentiâ, sobrietas & continentia m [...]ntemem deoconiungunt. Porphyrie can tell vs. Extasis nihil est aliud quam gustus futurae beatitudinis (Erasmus. epist. ad Dorpium) in quâ toti absorbemur in deum. Extasis is a taste of future happinesse, by which we are vnited into God, a diuine melancholy, a spirituall winge, Bonauenture termes it, to lift vs vp to heauen. But as it is abused, a meere dotage, madnesse, a cause and symptome of Religious melancholy. If you shall at any time see (saith Guatinerius) a religious person ouer superstitious, too solitary, or much giuen to fasting, that man will certainely be melancholy, thou maist boldly say it, he will be so. P. Forestus hath almost the same words, Si religiosum nimis [...]eiunia videris obseruantem, audacter melancholicum pronunciabis Trat. 15. c. 5. and Solitudo ipsa, mens aegra laeboribus anxijs & ieiuniis, tum temperaturâ cibis mutata agrestibus, & humor melancholicus heremitis illusionum caus [...]e sunt. Cardan. subtil. lib. 18. & cap. 40. lib. 8. de rerum varietate▪ solitarinesse, fasting [...], and that melancholy humour, are the causes of all Hermits illusions. Lauater de spect. cap. 19. part. 1. and part. 1, cap. 10. puts solitarinesse a maine cause of such spectrums & apparitions, none, saith he, so melancholy as Monks and Hermites, the Diuells bath melancholy, Solitudo est [...]usa apparitionum, nulli visionibus & huic delirio magis abobnoxii sunt, quā qui collegiis & eremo soli viuunt monachi, tales plerum (que) melancholici ob victum & solitudinem. none so subiect to visions and dotage in this kinde, at such as liue solitary liues, they heare and see strange things in their dotage. Monachise putant prophetare ex de [...], & qui solitariam agunt vitam, quum sit instinctu [...]monu [...], & sic falluntur fatidi [...], à malo genio habent, quae putant à deo, & sic Euthusiastae Polidor Virgil. lib. 2. de prodigijs, holds that those prophesies and Monks reuelations, Nunnes dreames, which they suppose come from God, to proceed wholy ab instinctu doemonum, by the Diuells meanes, and so those Enthusiasts, Anabaptists, Prophets haue the same cause. Sibyllae. Pythei & prophetae qui diuinare solēt omnes phanatici sunt melancholici. Fracastorius lib. 2. d [...] intellect. will haue all your Pythonisses, Sibylles and Prophets to bee meere melancholy, so doth Wierus proue lib. 1. cap. 8. and lib. 3. cap. 7. and Arculanus in 9. Rhasis, that melancholy is a sole cause, & the Diuell together, with fasting & solitarines of all such Sibylline prophesies, if there were euer any such, which with Exercit & 1. Causabon and others I iustly except at. But whosoeuer [Page 737] there be no Sibylles, I am most assured there be other Enthusiasts, Prophets, &c. and euer haue beene in all ages, and still proceeding from those causes. Post 15. dierum proces & [...], mirabiles videbat visi [...]es. That which Matthew Paris relates of the Monke of Euesham, that saw heanen and hell in a vision, of Fol. 84. vitâ [...] fol. 177 [...] per 9. dies nihil comede [...]ant b [...]hens. Sir Owen that went downe into Saint Patriarkes Purgatorie in king Stephens dayes, and saw as much: Walsingham of him that was shewed the like by S t. Iulian, Beda lib. 5. ca. 13.14.15. & 20. reports of king Sebba lib. 4. cap. 11. eccles hist. that saw strange After contemplation in an Extasis, so Hiero [...]e was whipped for reading Tully, see millions of examples in our Annalls, Bedes, Gregory, Iacobus de Voragi [...], Lippoma [...], Hieronimus Iohn Maior de vitis patrum, &c. visions, and Stumphius Heluet. Cronic. of a cobler of Basil. 1520. that sawe rare apparitions at Ausborough in Germany, was still after much solitarinesse, fasting, or long sickenesse, when their braines were addle, and their bellies as emptie of meate, as their heads of wit. Florilegus hath many such examples, fol. 191. one of Saint Gultlake of Crowlade that fought with diuells, but still after long fasting, ouermuch solitariness [...], Fol. 199. pos [...] abstinenti [...] curas, miras illusiones daemonum audiuit. the diuels perswade him there to fast, as Moses and Elias did, the better to delude him. Fol. 255. post seriam [...] diei dominicae visionem habuit de purgatorio. In the same Author is recorded Carolus Magnus vision An. 885. or Extasis, wherein he saw heauen and hell after much fasting and meditation. So did the diuell of old with Apollos Priests, Amphiaraus and his fellowes, those Aegyptians, still enioyne long fasting before he would giue any oracles, and Strabo Georg. lib. 14. describes Charons denne, in the way betwixt Tralles and Nissum, whether the Priests led sicke and fanatike men. but nothing performed without Vbi multos dies manent ieiuni consilio facerdotum auxilia invocantes. long fasting, no good to be done. That scoffing In Necromant: & cibus quidem nobis glandes erant, potus aqua lectus sub di [...] , &c. Lucian conducts his Menippus to hell by the directions of that Chaldean Mithrobarzanes, but after long fasting, and such like idle preparation. Which the Iesuits right well perceiuing, of what force this fasting and solitarie meditation is, to alter mens minds when they would make a man mad, and rauish him, and make him goe beyond himselfe, to vndertake some great businesse of [Page 738] moment, to kill a king or the like, John Everardus Britano Romanus lib. edit. 1611. describes all the manner of it. they bring him into a melancholy dark chamber, where he shall see no light for many dayes together, no companie, little meate, gastly pictures of diuels all about him, and leaue him to lie as he will himselfe, on the bare flower in this chamber of meditation as they call it, on his backe, side, belly, till by this strange vsage they make him quite mad & beside himselfe. And then after some 10 dayes, as they find him animated & resolued, they make vse of him. The diuell hath many such factors, many such engines, which what effect they produce, you shal heare in these following Symptomes.
SVBSEC. 3. Symptomes generall, loue to their owne sect, hate of all other religions, obstinacy, peeuishnesse, ready to vndergoe any danger or crosse for it, martyrs, blind zeale, blinde obedience, fastings, vowes, beleife of incredibilities, impossibilities: Particular of Gentiles, Mahometans, Iewes, Christians, and in them Heretikes old and new, Schismatickes, Schoolemen, Prophets, Enthusiastes, &c.
FLeat Heraclitus an rideat Democritus, in attempting to speake of these Symptomes, shall I laugh with Democritus, or weepe with Heraclitus, they are so ridiculous and so absurd on the one side, so lamentable and tragicall on the other, a mixt Sceane offers it selfe, so full of errors, & a promiscuous variety of obiects, that I know not in what straine to represent it. When I thinke of that Turkish paradise, those Iewish fables, and pontificiall rites, those Pagan superstitions, as to make Images of all matter, and adore them when they haue done, to see them kisse the paxe, creepe to the crosse &c. I cannot choose but laugh with Democritus, but when I see them whippe and torture themselues, grind their soules with toyes and trifles, I cannot choose but weepe [Page 739] with Heraclitus. When I see a Priest say Masse, with all those apish gestures, murmurings, &c. or read the customes of the Iewes Synagogue, or Mahometan Meschites. I must needs Varius mapp [...] componere risum, vix poterit. laugh at their folly, risum teneatis amici? but when I see them make matters of conscience of such toyes and trifles to adore the diuell, and to endanger their soules, to offer their children to their Idolls, &c. I must needs condole their miserie: when I see two superstitious orders contend, pro aris & focis, with such haue & hold, de luna caprinâ, some write such great Volumes to no purpose, take so much paines to so small effect, their Satyrs, invectiues, Apologies, dull and grosse fictions, me thinkes 'tis pretty sport and fit Pleno ridet Calpburnius or [...] Hor. for Calphurnius and Democritus to laugh at. But when I see so much blood spilt, so many murders and massakers, so many cruell battells fought, &c. 'tis a fitter subiect for Heraclitus to lament. Alanus de Insulis. As Merlin when he sate by the lakes side with Vortiger, and had seene the white and red dragon fight, before he began to interprete or to speake, in sletum prorupit, fell a weeping, and then proceeded to declare to the King, what it ment: I should first pitty and bewaile this misery of humane kind, with some passionate preface, and then to my taske. For it is that great torture, that infernall plague of mortall men, and able of it selfe alone to stand in opposition to all other plagues, miseries & calamities whatsoeuer, and farre more cruell, more pestiferous, more grieuous in it selfe, more generall, more violent, of a greater Extent. Other feares and sorrowes, grieuances of body and mind, are troublesome for the time, but this is for euer, eternall damnation, hell it selfe: A plague, a fire, an inundation hurt one Prouince alone, and the losse may be recouered, but this superstition inuolues all the world almost, and can neuer be remedied. Sickenesse and sorrowes come and goe, but a supestitious soule hath no rest, Cicero [...]. de finibus. superstitione imbutus animus nunquam quietus esse potest, no peace, no quietnesse. True Religion and Superstition are quite opposite, longè diuersa carnificina & pietas, as Lactantius describes, the one is an [Page 740] ereares, the other deiects, the one is an easie yoke, the other an vntolerable burden, an absolute tyrannie, the one a sure anchor, an hauen, the other a tempestuous Ocean, the one makes, the other marres, the one is wisedome, the other folly, madnesse, indiscretion, the one vnfained, the other a counterfeit, the one a diligent obseruer, the other an ape; one leades to heauen, the other to hell. But these differences will more euidently appeare by their particular Symptomes. What Religion is, and of what parts it doth consist, &c. euery Catechisme will tell you, what Symptomes it hath, and and what effects it produceth, but for this superstition no tongue can tell, no penne can expresse, they are so many, so diuers, so vncertaine, inconstant, and so different from themselues. Tot mundo superstitiones, quot coelo stellae, one saith, there be as many superstitions in the world, as ther be starres in heauen, or diuells themselues that are the first founders of them: With such ridiculous absurd Symptomes and signes, so many seuerall rites, ceremonies, torments and vexations accompanying, as may well expresse & beseem the diuell to be the author and maintainer of them. I will onely point at some few of them, ex vngue leonem, guesse at the rest, and those of the chiefe kindes of superstition, which beside vs Christians, now domineir and crucifie the world, Gentiles, Mahometanes, Iewes. &c.
Of these Symptomes some be generall, some particular to each priuate sect: generall to all, are an extraordinary loue and affection they beare and shew to such as are of their owne sect, and more then Vatinian hate ro such as are opposite in religion as they call it, or disagree from them in their superstitious rites, blind zeale, which is as much a symptome as a cause, vaine feares, blinde obedience, needlesse workes, incredibilities, impossibilities, monstrous rites and ceremonies, wilfulnesse, blindnesse, obstinacy &c. For the first which is loue and hate, as In Michah. comment. Montanus saith, nulla firmior amicitia quam quae contrahitur hinc, nulla discordia maior, quam quae à religione fit, no greater concord no greater discord, then [Page 741] that which proceeds from Religion, we are all brethren in Christ. seruants of one lord, members of one body, and therfore are or should be at the least dearely beloued, inseparately allied in the greatest band of loue and familiarity, vnited partakers not onely of same crosse, but coadiutors, comforters, helpers, at all times vpon all occasion; As they did in the Primatiue Church, Acts the 5. sold their patrimonies, and laid them at the Apostles feet, and many such memorable examples of mutuall loue, we haue had vnder the ten generall persecutions, many since. Examples on the other side of discord none like, as our Sauiour saith, he came therefore into the world to set father against sonne, Lactanius. &c. In imitation of whom the diuell belike ( nam superstitio irrepsit verae religionis imitatrix, superstition is still religions ape, as in all other things, so in this) doth so combine and glew together his superstitious followers in loue and affection, that they will liue and die together: and what an innate hatred hath he still inspired to any other superstition opposite? How those old Romans were affected, those ten persecutions may be a witnesse, and that cruell executioner in Eusebius, aut lita aut morere, sacrifice or die. No greater hate, more continuate, bitter faction, warres, persecution in all ages, then for matters of religion, no such ferall opposition, father against sonne, mother against daughter, husband and wife, Citty against Citty, Kingdome against Kingdome: as of old at Tentira and Combos.
The Turkes at this day count no better of vs, then of dogs, so they commonly call vs, Gaures, Infidells, miscreants, and [Page 742] make that their maine quarrell and cause of Christian persecution. If he will turne Turke he shall be entertained as a brother, and had in all good esteeme, a Muselman or a beleeuer which is a greater tye to them, then any affinity or consanguinitie. The Iewes sticke together like so many burres, but as for the rest whom they call Gentiles, they doe hate and abhorre, they cannot endure their Messias should be a common Sauiour to vs all, and rather as Comment. in Micha ferre non possunt vt illorum Messias communis seruator sit, nostrū g [...]ud [...]m, &c. Messias vel decem decies crucifixuri ess [...]nt, [...] sum (que) deum si [...]il f [...]er posset, vna cum Angelis [...] creaturis omnibus, nec absterrentur ab [...]ac facto, etsi mille inferna [...]beunda forent. Luther writes, then they that now scoffe at them, curse them, persecute and reuile them, shall be cohe [...]res and brethren with them, or haue any part or fellowship with their Messias, they would crucifie their Messias ten times ouer, and God him [...]elfe his Angels, and all his creatures, if it were possible, though they did indure a thousand hells for it: Such is their malice towards vs. Now for Papists, what in a common cause, for the aduancement of their Religion they will indure, our traitours and pseudocatholikes will declare vnto vs, and how bitter on the other side to their aduersaries, how violently bent, let those Marian times record, the Spanish Inquisition, the Duke of Aluas Tyranny in the Low-countries, the French Massakers and Ciuill warres. Not there onely, but all ouer Europe, we read of Tantum Religio petuit sundere malorum Lucret. bloody battells, rackes and wheeles, seditions, factions, oppositions, signa pares aquilas & pila minantia pilis, inuectiues and contentions. They had rather shake hands with a Iewe, Turke, or as the Spaniards doe, suffer Moores to liue amongst them, & Iewes, then Protestants. My name saith Ad Galat. comment. meum nomen odiosius quam vllus homicula aut [...]ur. Luther is more odious to them, then any thiefe or murderer. So it is with all heretikes and schismatikes whatsoeuer: And none so passionate, violent in their Tenents, opinions, Obstinate, Wilfull, Refractory, Peeuish, factions, singular & stiff in defence of them, they doe not only persecute and hate, but pitty all other Religions, accompt them damned, blind, as if they alone were the true Church, they alone to be saued. The Iewes at this day are so incomprehensibly proud and churlish, saith In comment. Michah. adeo incomprehensibilis & aspera eorum superbia, &c. Luther, that soli saluari [Page 743] soli domini terrarum salutari volunt. And as Synagog. Iude [...]um ca. 1 inter eorum intelligentissimos Rabbinos nil prater ignorantiam & in spicaliam grandem iuve [...]s [...]orrendam indurationem & obstinationem, &c. Buxdorfius addes, so ignorant and selfe-willed withall, that amongst their most vnderstanding Rabbines, you shall find naught but grosse dotage, horrible hardnesse of heart, and stupend obstinacy, in all their actions, opinions, conuersations: and yet so zealous withall, that no man liuing can be more; and venditate themselues for the elect people of God. 'Tis so with all other superstitious sects, Mahometans, Gentiles in China and Tartarie, and our Ignorant Papists, Anabaptists, and peculiar Churches of Amsterdam, they alone and none but they can be saued. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Act. 15 Zealous as Paul, saith without knowledge. Rom. 10. 2. the will endure any misery, any troubles, take any paines, vow chastitie, wilfull pouertie, forsake and follow their Idols, and die a thousand deaths rather then abiure, or forsake, denie the least particle of that religion which their fathers professe, and they themselues haue beene brought vp in, be it neuer so absurd, ridiculous, they will take much more paines to goe to hell, then we shall doe to heauen; single out the most ignorant of them, conuince his vnderstanding, shew him his errors, grossenesse, and absurdities of his sect, Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris, he will not be perswaded. As those still told the Iesuites in Iapona, Malunt cum illis in [...]anire, quam cum aliis bene sentire. they would doe as their forefathers haue done, and with Ratholde that Frisian Prince goe to hell for company, if most of their friends goe thether: They will not bee moued, no perswasion, no torture can stirre them. So that Papists cannot bragge of their vowes, pouertie, obedience, orders, merits, martyrdomes, fastings, almes, good workes, pilgrimages, much and more then all this, I shall shew you, is & hath bin done by these superstitious Gentiles, Pagans, Idolaters: their blind zeale and superstition in all kinds is much at one, and is it hard to say which is the greatest, which is the grossest. In a word, this is common to all superstition, there is nothing so absurd, so ridiculous, impossible, incredilble which they will not belieue, and willingly performe as much as in them lies. I know that in true Religion it selfe many misteries are so apprehended [Page 744] alone by faith, as that Trinity, Resurrection of the body at the last day, &c. many miracles not to be controuerted, or disputed of. But he that shall but read the As true as Homers Iliads, Ouids Metamorphosis, Aesops Fables. Turkes Alcoran, the Iewes Talmud, & Papists Golden Legend will sweare that such grosse fictions, fables, vaine traditions, prodigious paradoxes and ceremonies, could neuer proceed from any other spirit then that of the diuell himselfe, which is the author of all confusion and lies, and wonder withall how such wise men as haue bin of the Iewes, such learned vnderstanding mē as Auerroes, Auicenna, or those Heathen Philosophers could euer be perswaded to beleeue, or to subscribe to the least part of them: but I will descend to particulars, read their seuerall symptomes and then guesse.
Of such Symptomes that properly belong to superstitious, Superstitions, Symptomes in particuler. I may say as of the rest, some are ridiculous, some againe fearefull to relate. Of those rediculous, there can be no better testimony then the multitude of their gods, their ridiculous names, actions, offices they put vpon them, [...]heir Feasts, Holli-dayes, Sacrifices, and the like. The Aegyptians worshipped as Diodorus Siculus records, Sunne and Moone vnder the name of Isis and Osyris, and after such men as were beneficiall to them, or any creatures that did them good. In the Citty of Bubasti they worshipped a Cat, saith Herodotus, Ibis and Storkes, an oxe saith Pliny, Leekes and Onyons, Macrobius. The Syrians, Chaldeans, had as many of their owne Inuentions, see Selden de dijs Syris, Purchas Pilgrimage, and Lilius Giraldus of the Greekes. The Raesinus Antiquit. Rom lib. 2. cap. 1. & de [...]aceps. Romanes borrowed from all, beside their owne which were maiorum and minorum gentium as Varro holds, certaine and vncertain; some celestiall select and great ones, others Indigites and Semidei, some for Land some for Sea, some for Heauen, some for Hell; some for passions, diseases, some for birth, some for weddings, husbandry, woods, waters, gardens, orchards, &c. and all actions and offices, Pax, Quies, Salus, Libertas, Faelicitas, Strenua, Stimula, Horta, Pan, Syluanus, Priapus, Flora, Cloacina, Febris, Pallor, Invidia, Risus, Angeronia, [Page 745] Volupia, Vacuna, Viriplaca, Kings, Emperours, valiant men that had done any good offices for them, and arrant whores amongst the rest. For all actions places, creatures,
saith Prudentius. Cuna for Cradles, Diuerra for sweeping houses, Nodina knots. Prema, Premunda, Hymen Hymeneus, Comus the God of good fellowes. Hesiodus reckons vp at least 30000 Gods, Varro 300 Iupiters. as Ieremy told them their Gods were to the multitude of citties,
That which was most absurd they made Gods vpon such ridiculous occasions: the Matrones of Rome, as Dionysius Halicarniseus relates, because at their entreaty Coriolanus desisted from his warres, consecrated a Church Fortunae muliebri, and A [...]th. Verdure Imag. deorum. Venus Barbata had a temple erected, because somewhat was amisse about haire, and so the rest. Their holydaies and adorations were all out as ridiculous, those Lupercalls, of Pan, Anna, Perenna, Saturnalls, &c. Idols, Images of wood, brasse, stone, olim truncus eram, &c. and that which was impious and absurd they made their Gods whoremasters, and some whine, lament, to bee wounded, vexed, and the like, that it is no maruaill if Iupiter Tragoedus. Lucian, & Pliny could so scoffe at them as they did: If Diagoras tooke Hercules Image and put it vnder his pot to seeth his pottage, which was as he said his 13. labor. But see more of their fopperies in Cypr. 4. tract, de idol varietate, Chrysostome aduers. Gentil. Arnob. adu. Gentes, Austin de ciu. dei. Theodoret de curat. Graec. affes. Clemens Alexandrinus, &c. Lamentable, tragicall, and fearefull those symptomes are, that they should be so farre forth afrighted with those fictitious Gods, as to spēd their goods, liues, fortunes, pretious time, best daies in honour of them, to sacrifice vnto them to their inestimable losse so many Sheepe, Oxen, [Page 746] Goats, as Superstitiosus Iulianus innumeras sine parcimo [...]iá pecudes mactavit, Ammianus. 25. Boues albi M. Caesari salutem fi tu viceris perimus. lib. 3. Romani obseruatissimi sunt ceremoniarum bello praesertim. Marcus, Iulianus, and the rest, vsually did with such labour and cost, and men themselues. As Curtius did to leape into the gulfe, to goe so farre to their Oracles, to be so gulled by them as they were, both in warre and peace, as Polybius relates, and which, Augures, Priests, v [...]stall Virgins can witnesse: and to be so superstitious, that they will rather loose goods, and liues, then omit any ceremonies, or offende their heathen Gods. Niceas that generous and valiant Captaine of the Greekes, ouerthrew that Athenian Nauy, by reason of his too much superstition; Boterus polit. lib. 2. cap. 16. because the Augures told him it was ominous to set seale from the hauen of Syracuse, whilst the Moone was eclipsed, he tarried so long till his enimies besieged him, & he and all his army was ouerthrown. It is stupend to relate what strange effects this Idolatry and superstition hath brought forth; of later yeares in the Indies, and those bordering parts; In templis immania Idolorum monstra conspiciuntur, ma [...]morea lignea lutea, &c. Riccius. in what fearefull shapes the Diuell is adored, how he terrifies them, how they offer men and women sacrifices vnto him, an 100 at once, as at Fer. Cortesius. Mexico, when the Spaniard first ouercame thē, M. Polus. Lod. Vertomannus, nauig lib. 6 cap 9. P. Martyr ocean. dec. how they bury their wiues, best goods, horses, seruants, when a great man dies, Mathias a Michou. 12000 at once amongst the Tartars when a great Cham departs: how they plague themselues, which abstaine frō all that hath life, as those old Pythagorians, with immoderate fastings, Epist. Iesuit, A 1549 à Xauerio & [...]o [...]ijs. Idem (que) Riccius expedit. as Sinas lib. 1. per totum. Ieiunatores apud eos toto die carnibus abstinent & piscibus ob religionem nocte & die Idola colentes nusquam igredientes. as they of China, that for superstitions sake neuer eat flesh nor fish al their liues, neuer marry, but liue in desarts and by places, and some pray to their Idols 24 houres together, without any intermission. Some againe are brought to that madnesse by their superstitious priests; (that tell them such vaine stories of immortality, and the ioyes of heauen in that other life) Ad immortalitatem morte aspirant summi magistratus &c. Et multi mortales hac insania & praepostero immortalitatis studio laborant & misere pereunt, rex ipse clam v [...]n [...]num hausisset nisi à seruo fuisset detentus. that many thousands voluntarily break their owne necks, as Theombrotus Ambrociatus auditors of olde, precipitate themselues, that they may participate of that vnspeakable [Page 747] happinesse in the other world. One poysons, another strangles himselfe, and the King had done as much, deluded with this vaine hope, had hee not beene detained by his seruant. But who can tell of their seuerall superstitions, vexations, follies, torments? I may conclude with Cautione in lib Ich. Bodi [...]i de repub fol. 111 Posseuinus, Religio facit asperos mites, homines è feris superstitio ex hominibus feras. Religion makes wild beasts ciuill, superstition makes wise men beasts and fooles; and the discreetest that are, if they giue way to it, are no better then dizards. 'Tis exitrosus error & maximè periculosus, 'tis a most periculous and dangerous error of all others, as Lib. de superst. Plutarch holds, turbulenta passio hominem co [...]sternās, a troublesome passion that vtterly vndoeth men. Vnhappy superstition; Hominibus vitae finis mor [...] non autem superstitionis. profert haec suos terminos v [...]tra vitae sinem. Pliny calls it, morte non finitur, death takes away life, but not superstition. Impious and ignorant are farre more happy then they that are superstitious, no torture like to it, none so continuate, so generall, so destructiue, so violent.
In this superstitious roe, Iewes for antiquity may goe next to Gentiles, what of old they haue done, and what Idolatries they haue committed in their groues and high places, what their Pharesies, Sadduces, Esset, and such sectaries haue maintained, I will not so much as mention: for the present, I presume no nation vnder heauen can bee more sottish, ignorant and blinde, superstitious, wilfull, obstinate and peeuish, tiring the [...]selues, with vaine ceremories to no purpose, he that shal but read their Rabines, ridiculous comments, their strange interpretations of Scriptures, their absurd ceremonies, fables, ch [...]ldish tales, which they stedfastly beleeue, will thinke they be scarse rationall creatures, their foolish Buxdorfius Synagog Iud. c. 4 In [...]er precandū nemo pediculos attingat vel pulicem, aut per guttur inferius ve [...]tum emittat, &c. Id. cap. 5. & sequent cap. 36. ceremonies, when they rise in the morning, and how they prepare themselues to prayer, to meat, with what superstitious washings, how to their Saboth, how to their other feasts, their weddings, burials &c. Last of all the expectation of their Messias, & those figments, miracles, and vaine pompe that shall attend him, as how he shall terrifie the Gentiles, and ouercome them by new diseases, how Michael the Archangell shall sound his [Page 744] [...] [Page 745] [...] [Page 746] [...] [Page 747] [...] [Page 748] Trumpet, how he shall gather all the scattered Iewes into the holy land, and there make them a great banquet, Illic omnia animalia, pisces, aues quos Deus vnquam creauit mactabuntur & vinum generosum, &c. Wherein shall be all the birds, beasts, fishes, that euer God made, and a cup of wine that grewe in Paradise, and that hath beene ke [...]t in Adams Cellar euer since. As the first course shalbe serued in that great Oxe in Iob. 4.10. that euery day feeds on a thousand hills, Psal. 50.10. that great Leuiathaen, and a great Bird, that laid an Egge so bigge, Cuius lapsu cedri altissimi 300 deiecti sunt quum (que) è lapsu ouum fuerat confractum pa. 160 inde submersi, & alluuione inundati. that by chance tumbling out of the neast it brake downe 300 tall Ceders, and breaking as it fell, drowned 300 villages: This bird stood vp to the knees in the sea, and the sea was so deep, that a hatchet would not fall to the bottome in seuen yeres. Of their Messias Euery King in the world shall send him one of his daughters to be his wife because it is written Ps. 45.10. kings daughters shall attend on her, &c. wiues and children; Adam & Eue, &c. & that one stupend fiction amongst the rest. When a Roman Prince asked of Rabbi Iehosua ben Hanania, why the Iewes God was compared to a Lion; hee made answere he compared himselfe to no ordinary Lion, but to one in the wood Ela, which when he desired to see, the Rabbine prai'd to God he might, and forthwith the Lion set forward, Quum quaedringentis adhuc miliaribus ab Imperatore Leo bis abesset tam fortiter rugiebat vt mulieres Romanae abortierint, omnes muri (que) &c. But when he was 400 miles from Rome, hee so roared that all the great bellied women in Rome made aborts, the citty walls fell downe, and when he came an hundred miles nearer, and roared the second time, their teeth fell out of their heads, the Emperour himselfe fell downe dead, and so the Lion went backe. With an infinite number of such lies and forgeries, which they verily beleeue, and feed themselues with vaine hope, and in the meane time, will by no perswasions be diuerted, but still crucify themselues with a company of idle ceremonies, and liue like slaues and vagabonds, and will not be relieued.
Mahometans are a compound of Gentiles, Iewes, and Christians, & so absurd in their ceremonies, as if they had taken, that which is most sottish out of euery one of thē, full of idle fables in their superstitious law, their Alcoran it selfe a gallimafery of lies, tales, ceremonies, traditions, precepts, stolne from other sects, and confusedly heaped vp to delude a company of rude and barbarous clownes. As how birdes, beasts, stones, saluted Mahomet when he came from Mecha, [Page 749] the Moone came down from heauen to visit him, Strozius Cicogna, omif. mag. lib. 1 cap. 1 putida multa recenset ex Alcorano de coelo stellis Angelis. Lonicerus. cap. 21.22. lib. 1. how God sent for him, spake to him, &c. with a company of stupende figments of the Sunne, Moone, and Starres, &c. Of the day of Iudgement, and three founds to prepare to it, which must last 50000 yeares, of Paradise, which is so ridiculous that Virgil, Dantes, Lucian, nor no Poet can bee more fabulous. Their rites and ceremonies are most vaine and superstitious, wine and swines flesh are vtterly forbidden by their law, Quinquies in die orare Turco tenentur ad meridiem. Bredenbachius cap. 5. they must pray fiue times a day, and still towards the south, wash before and after all their bodies ouer, with many such. For fasting, vowes, religious orders, peregrinations, they goe farre beyond all Papists, In quolibet anno mensem integrum ieiunant interdiu nec comedentes nec bibentes, &c they fast a month together many times, and must not eat a bit till sunne be set. Their Kalan [...]rs, Deruises, and Torlachers, &c. are more Nullis vnquā multi per totam aetatem carnibus vescuntur. Leo Aser. abstemious some of them, then Carthusians, Franciscans, Anachorits, forsake all, liue solitary, fare hard, goe naked, &c. Lonicerus to. 1 cap. 17.18. Their pilgrimages are as farre as Mecha to Mahomets tombe, miraculous and meritorious, the ceremonies of slinging stones to stone the Diuell, of eating a Camel at Cairo by the way; their fastings, their running till they sweat, their long prayers, Mahomets Temple, Tombe, and building of it, would aske a whole volume to dilate: and for their paines taken in this holy pilgrimage, all their sinnes are forgiuen, and they reputed for so many Saints. And many of them with hot bricks when they returne, will put out their eies, Quia nil volant deinceps v [...] dere that they may neuer after see any prophane thing: They looke for their Prophet Mahomet as Iewes doe for their Messias: read more of their customes, rites, ceremonies in Lonicerus Turcic. hist. tom. 1. frō the tenth to the 24 chap. Bredenbachius cap. 4.5.6. Leo Afer lib. 1. Busb [...]quius, Sabellicus, Purchas lib. 3. cap. 3. & 4.5. &c. Many foolish ceremonies you shall finde in them, and which is most to be lamented, the people generally so curious in obseruing of them, that if the least circumstance bee omitted, they thinke they shall be damned, 'tis an irremissible offence & can hardly be forgiuen. I keept in mine house amongst my followers (saith Busb [...]quius sometimes the Turkes Orator in [Page 750] Constantinople) a Turkey boy that by chance did eat shel-fish, a meat forbidden by their law, but the next day when hee knewe what he had done, he was not only sicke to cast and vomit, but very much troubled in minde, would weepe, and Nullum se conflictandi finem fecit. grieue many dayes after, torment himselfe for this fowle offence. Another Turke being to drinke a cup of wine in his Cellar, first made a huge noyse and filthy faces, Vt in aliquē angulum se reciperet ne rea fieret eius delicti, quod ipse erat admissurus. to warne his soule, as he said, that it should not bee guilty of that fowle fact which he was to commit. With such toyes as these are men kept in awe and so cowed, that they dare not resist, or offend the least circumstance of their law, for conscience sake misled by superstition, which no humane edict otherwise, no force of armes could haue enforced.
In the last place are Christians, in describing of whose superstitious symptomes, I may say that which S. Benedict once saw in a vision, one Diuell in the market place, but 10 in a Monastery, because there was more work; in populous citties, they would sweare & forsweare, lye, falsify deceaue fast enough of themselues, one Diuell could circumuent a 1000, but in their religious houses 1000 Diuels could scarce tempt one silly Monke. All the principall Diuells I thinke busie themselues in subuerting Christians. Iewes, Gentiles, & Mahometans are extra caulem, out of the fold, and need no such attendance, they make no resistance, but Christians haue that shield of faith, sword of the spirit to resist, and must haue a great deale of battery before they can be ouercome. That the Diuell is most busie amongst vs, that are of the true Church, appeares by those seuerall oppositions, heresies, schismes, which in all ages hee hath raised to subuert it, and in that of Rome especially, wherein Antichrist himselfe now fits, and playes his [...] prize. This mystery of iniquity beganne to worke euen in the Apostles time, many Antichrists and Hereticks were abroad, many sprung vp since, many now present, and will be to the worlds end, to dementate mens mindes, to seduce and captiuate their soules. Their symptomes I knowe not how better to expresse then in that twofold diuision of [Page 751] such as lead, and such as are lead. Such as lead are Hereticks, schismaticks, false prophets, impostors, and their ministers: they haue some common symptomes, some peculiar. Common, as madnesse, folly, pride, insolency, arrogancy, singularity, peeuishnesse, obstinacy, impudence, scorne and contempt; of all other sects; nullius addicti iurare in verba magistri, they will approue of naught, but what they first inuent themselues, no interpretation good but what their spirit dictates, none shall be in secundis, no not in tertijs, they are only wise, only learned, in the truth, all damn'd but they, caedem scripturarum faciunt ad materiam suam, saith Tertullian, they make a slaughter of Scriptures, and turne it as a nose of wax to their owne ends. So irrefragable in the meane time, that what they haue once said, they must and will maintain, in whole Tomes duplications, triplications, neuer yeeld to death, so selfe conceited, say what you can, As Epist. 190. Bernard speaks of P. Aliardus, omnes patres sic, at (que) ego sic. Though all the Fathers councells, and all the world contradict it they care not, they are all out: and as Gregory well notes, Orat. 8. vt vertigine correptis videntur omnia moueri omnia ijs falsa sunt, quum error in ipsorum cerebro sit. of such as are vertiginous, they thinke all turnes round and moues, all erre, when as the error is wholy in their owne braines. Magallianus the Iesuite, in his comment on the 1. of Timothy cap. 16. ver. 20. and Alphonsus de Castro lib. 1. adversus haereses. giues two more eminent notes, or probable coniectures to know such men by (they might haue taken themselues by the noses when they said it) Res nouas affectant & inutiles, falsa [...]eris praeserunt. 2. quod temeritas effutierit id superbia, post modum tuebitur & contumacia, &c. First they affect nouelties, and toyes, and preferre falshood before truth, See more in Vincent. Lyrin. secondly they care not what they say, that which rashnesse and folly hath brought out, pride afterward peeuishnesse, and contumacy shall maintaine to the last gaspe. Peculiar symptomes are prodigious paradoxes, new doctrines, vaine phantasmes, which are as many and as diuerse as they themselues. Aust. de h [...]res. Vsus mulierum indifferens. Nicholites of old would haue wiues in common, Montanists will not marry at all, nor Tatians, forbidding all flesh, Seuerians wine. Adamians goe naked, Quòd ante peccauit Adam nudus erat. because Adam did so in Paradise, and some Alij nudis pedibus lēper ambulant. barefoot all their liues. because God Exod. 3. and Iosua 5. bid Moses so to doe, and Isay 20. was bid [Page 752] put off his shooes. Manichies hold that Pythagorian transmigration of soules from men to beasts. Insana feritate sibi non parcunt, nam mortes varias praecipitiorum aquarum & ignium, scipsos necant, & in ist [...]m furorem alios c [...] gunt mortem minantes ni faciant. The Circumcellions in Africke, with a mad crueltie made away themselues, some by fire, water, breaking their neckes, and seduced others to doe the like, threatning some if they did not, with a thousand such, as you may read in Austin, Epiphanius, Alphonsus de Castro, Danaeus, Elench. haeret. ab orbe condito. Gab. Prateolus. &c. Of Prophets and Enthusiasts Impostors, our Ecclesiasticall stories afford many examples, of Elias and Christs, as our Nubrigensis lib. 1. cap. 19. Eudo de stellis, a Brittaine, in King Stephens time, and many such, nothing so common as visions, reuelations, prophesies. Now what these braine sicke hereticks once broach, and impostors set on foot, be it neuer so absurd, false, and prodigious, the common people will followe and beleeue. It will runne along like Murrian in cattle, scabb in sheepe. Nulla scabies, as Iouian. Pont. Ant. dial. he said, superstitione scabiosior , as he that is bitten with a mad dogge bites others, and all in the end become mad, either out of affectation of nouelty, simplicity, or blind zeale, the giddy headed multitude will imbrace it. Sed vetera querimur, these are old, haec priùs fuere. In our dayes we haue a new sceane of superstitious impostors and heretickes, a new company of Actors, of Anti-christs, that great Anti-christ himselfe. A rope of Popes, who from that time they proclaimed themselues vniuersall Bishops, to establish their owne kingdome, soueraignty, greatnesse, and to enrich themselues, brought in such a company of humane traditions, Purgatory, Masse, adoration of Saints, almes, fastings, bulls, Indulgences, orders, Friers, Images, Shrines, musty reliques, excommunications, confessions, satisfactions, blind obedience, vowes, that the light of the Gospell was quite eclipsed, darknesse ouer all, the Scriptures concealed, legends brought in, religion banished, superstition exalted, and the Church it selfe Cum per Paganos nomen eius persequi non poterat, sub specie religionis fraudulenter subuertere dispo [...]ebat. more obscur'd, persecuted. Christ and his members crucified, more, saith Benzo, by a few Necromanticall [...], Atheisticall Popes, then euer it was by those heathen Emperours, Hunnes, Gothes, and Vandals. What each of them did by what meanes, at what times, quibus, auxilijs, [Page 753] superstition came to this height, traditions encreased, and Anti-christ himselfe came to this estate, let Magdeburgenses, Kemnisius, Osiander, Bale, Mornay, & many others relate. In the meane time, he that shall but see their prophane rites and foolish customes, and how superstitiously kept, how strictly obserued, their multitude of Saints, Images, for trades, professions, diseases, persons, offices, countries, places, S t George for England, S Denis for France, Patricke Ireland, Andrew Scotland; Iago Spaine; &c. Gregory for Students, Luke for Painters, Cosmus & Damian for Philosophers, Crispine Shoomakers, Katherine Spinners, &c. Anthony for Pigs Gallus Geese, Wendeslaus Sheep, Pelagius Oxen, Sebastian the plague, Valentine falling sicknesse, Apollonia teethach, Petronella for Agues, and the Virgin Mary for Sea and land for all parties, offices; hee that shall obserue these things, their Shrines, Images, Oblations, Pendants, Adorations, Pilgrimages, they make to them, what creeping to Crosses, our Lady of Laurettas rich One Image, one Gowne worth 400. thousand crownes and more. gowns, her donaries , the cost bestowed on Images, and number of suters; S [...] Nicholas Burge in France, our S. Thomas Shrine of old at Canterbury, those reliques at Rome, Ierusalem, Genua, Lions, Pratum, S. Denis; and how many thousands come yearely to offer to them, with what cost, trouble, anxiety, superstitiō, how they spend themselues, times, goods, liues, fortunes, in such ridiculous obseruations, their tales and figments, false miracles, buying and selling of pardons, Indulgences for 40000 yeares to come, their Processions on set dayes, their strict fastings, Monks, Anachorits, Frier Mendicants, Franciscans, Carthusians, &c. Their vigils and feasts, their ceremonies at Christmas, Shrouetide, Candlemas, Palme-Sunday, Blase, S. Martin, S. Nicholas day, their adorations, exorcismes, &c. would thinke all those Grecian, Pagan, Mahometan superstitions, Gods, Idols and Ceremonies, the name, time, and place, habit only altered, to haue degenerated into Christians. Whilst they preferre traditions before Scriptures, and keeping those Euangelicall coū sells, pouerty, obedience, vowes, almes, fasting, supererogations, [Page 754] before Gods commandements, and their owne ordinances before his precepts, and keepe them in ignorance, blindnesse, they haue brought the common people into such a case that vpon paine of damnation, they dare not breake the least ceremonie, tradition, edict: hold it a greater sinne to eat a bit of meat in Lent, then kill a man, their consciences are so terrified, that they are ready to despaire if a small ceremony bee omitted, what mulct, what penance soeuer is enioyned, they dare not but doe it, tumble with S. Francis in the mire amongst Hoggs, if they be appointed, goe woolward, whippe themselues, build Hospitals, Abbies, &c. goe to East or West Indies, kill a King, or runne vpon sword point; They perform all, doe all, beleeue all.
And whilst the ruder sort are so carried headlong with blind zeale, and are so gulled and tortured by their superstitions, their owne too credulous simplicity and ignorance, their Epicurean Popes, and Hypocriticall Cardinals laugh in their sleeues, and are merry in their chambers with their Punckes, they doe Indulgere genio, and make much of themselues. The middle sort some for gaine, hope of preferment, and for feare are content to subscribe, and doe al that in them lies, to maintaine and defend their present gouernment, as Schoolmen, Canonists, and Iesuits, Friers, Orators, Sophisters, who either for that they had nothing else to doe, luxuriant wits knewe not how to busie themselues, or better to defend their lies, miracles, transubstantions, and Popes pardons, purgatories, masses, impossibilities haue coyned a thousand idle questions nice distinctions, Obs and Sols, such tropologicall, allegoricall expositions, to salue all apparances, obiects, such quirkes and quiddities, Quodlibetaries, as Bale saith of Ferribrigge & Strode, instances, ampliations, decrees, glosses, canons, insteed [Page 755] of so [...] [...]ommentaries, good preachers, came a company of ma [...] [...]rs, primo secundo secundarij, sectaries, Canonists, Sor [...]onists, Minorites, with a rabble of idle contro [...]ersies and questions, Hospinian Osiander. An haec propositio Deus sit cucurbita vel scarabeus sit. aeque possibilis ac deus est homo. An possit respectum producere fine fundamento & termino. An leuius sit hominem iugulare quam die dominico calceum cō suere. an Papa sit Deus au quasi Deus? An participet vtram (que) Christi naturam? Whether it bee as possible for God to be a Humblebee, or a gourd as a man? Whether he can produce a respect without a foundation or terme, make a whore a Virgin? Fetch Traians soule from Hell and how? with a rabble of questions about hell fire, whether it be a greater sinne to kill a man, or to clout shooes vpon a Sunday? Whether God can make another God like vnto himselfe? Such, saith Kemnisius, are most of your Schoolmen, 200 commentators on Peter Lombaerd, Scotists, Thomists, Reals, Nominals, &c.
T [...] [...] [...]tinued in such error, blindnes, decrees, sophismes, and supe [...]stitions, idle ceremonies and traditions were the summe of their religion, and the true Church, as wine and water mixt, lay hid and obscure to speake of, till Luthers time, who began vpon a sudden to defecate, and as another Sunne to driue away those foggy mists of superstition, to restore it to that purity of the Primitiue Church. And after him many good and godly men, diuine spirits haue done their endeauours, and still doe. But see the Diuell! that will neuer suffer the Church to be quiet or at rest. No Garden so well tilled, but some noxious weedes growe vp in it, no wheat but it hath some tares, we haue a madde giddy company of Priests, Schismaticks, and some Heretickes euen in our owne bosomes in another extreame, ‘Dum vitant stulti vitia in contraria currunt.’ That out of too much [...]eale, in opposition to Antichrist and humane traditions, and those Romish ceremonies and superstitions, will quite demolish all, they will admit of no ceremonies at all, no fasting dayes, no crosse in Baptisme, kneeling at Communion, no Church musicke, &c. no Bishops Courts, and Church gouernment, rayle at all our Church discipline, and will not hold their tongues, and all for the peace of thee [Page 756] O Sy [...], no not so much as degrees some of them or Vniuersities, all humane learning, hoods, habits, cap and surplesse, & such as are things indifferent in themselues, and wholy for ornament and decency, or for distinction sake, they abhorre & hate, and snuffe at, as a stone horse when hee meets a Beare: They make matters of conscience of them, & will rather forsake their liuings then subscribe to them. They will admit of no holydaies, or honest recreations, no Churches, no Bells some of them, because Papists vse them. No discipline, no ceremonies, but what they inuent themselues. No interpretations of Scriptures, no comments of Fathers, no Councells, but such as their owne phantasticall spirits dictate, by which spirit misled many times they broach as prodigious paradoxes as Papists themselues. Some of them turne Prophets, and haue secret reuelations, and will bee of priuy councell with God himselfe, and know all his secrets. Agrippa ep. 26 Per capillos spiritum sanctum tenent, & omnia sciunt cum sint asini omnium obstinatissimi. A company of blockheads will take vpon them to define how many shall be saued, and who damned in a parish, where they shall sit in heauen, interpret Apocalypses, & those hidden misteries to priuat persons, times, places, as their own spirit informes them, and precisely set downe when the world shall come to an end, what yeare, what moneth, what day. Some of them againe haue such strong faith, so presumptious, they will goe into infected houses, expell Diuels, & fast 40 daies, as Christ himselfe did; some call God and his attributs into question, as Vorstius, some Princes, ciuill magistrates, and their authorities, as Anabaptists, and will doe all their own priuat spirit dictats, and nothing else. Brownists, Barrowists, Familists, and all those Amsterdamian sects and sectaries, are led all by so many priuate spirits. It is a wonder to relate what passages Sleiden relates in his commentaries, of Cretinke and Knipperdoling and their associats, those mad men of Munster in Germany, what strange Enthusiasmes sottish reuelations, how absurdly they carried themselues, deluded others; that as prophane Machiauel in his politicall disputations, [Page 757] holds of Christian religion, in generall it doth euer [...]ate, debilitate and take away mens spirits, and courage from them, and breeds nothing so couragious souldiers as that Roman, we may say of these peculiar sects, their religion takes away not spirits only, but wit and iudgement, and depriues them of all vnderstanding: for some of them are so farre gone with their priuate Enthusiasmes, and reuelations, that they are quite madde, out of their wits. What greater madnesse can there be, then for a man to take vpon him to be God, as some doe? To bee the holy Ghost, Elias and what not? Alex. Gaguin. 12. Discipulis ascitis mirum in modum populum decepit. In Poland 1548. in the raigne of king Sigismund, one said he was Christ and got him 12 Apostles, come to iudge the world and strangely deluded the commons. Guicciard. discip. Belg. complures habuit asseclas ab iisdem honoratus. One Dauid George, an illiterate painter, not many yeares since, did as much in Holland, tooke vpon him to be the Messias & had many followers. Benedictus victorius Fauentinus, consil. 15. writes of one Honorius that thought he was not only inspired as a Prophet, but that he was a God himselfe, and had Henry Nicholas at Leiden, 1580. such a one. familiar conference with God and his Angells. Lauater de spect. cap. 2. part. 1. hath a story of one Iohn Sartorius, that thought he was the Prophet Elias, & cap. 7. of diuers others, that had conference with Angels, were Saints, Prophets, Wierus lib. 3. de Lamijs cap. 7. makes mention of a Prophet of Groning, that said he was God the Father, of an Italian and Spanish Prophet that held as much. We need not roue so far abroad, we haue familiar examples at home, Coppinger that said he was Christ, Hacket and Arthington his Disciples; See Camdens Annals, fol. 242, & 285. Burchet, Houatus burned at Norwich. We are neuer likely seauen yeares together without some such new Prophets, that haue seuerall inspirations, some to conuert the Iewes, some fast forty dayes, some foretell strange things, some for one thing, some another. Great precisians most part by a preposterous zeale, fasting, meditations, melancholy, are brought into those grosse errors & inconueniences. Of these men I may conclude generally, that howsoeuer they may seeme to be discreet and men of vnderstanding in other matters, [Page 758] discourse well, laesam habent Imaginationem, they are like Comets, round in all places but only where they blaze, caetera sani, they haue impregnable wits, and discreet otherwise, but in this their madnesse and folly breakes out, in infinitum erumpit stultitia. They are certainely far gone with melancholy, if not quite mad, and haue more need of physick then many a man that keeps his bed, more need of Hellebor, then those that are in Bedlam.
SVBSECT. 4. Prognosticks of Religious Melancholy.
YOu may guesse at the Prognosticks by these Symptoms what can these signes foretell otherwise then folly, dotage, madnesse, grosse ignorance, despaire, obstinacy, a reprobate sense, Arrius his bowels burst, Montanus hanged himselfe, &c. Eudo de stellis his disciples ardere potius quā ad vitam cor [...]igi maluerunt, tanta vis infixi semel erroris, they died blaspheaming. Nubrigensis cap. 19. lib. 1. Ier. 7. ver. 23. Amos. 5.5. a bad end? What else can superstition, heresie produce, but warres, tumults, vproares, torture of soules, & despaire, a desolate land, as Ieremy treateth, cap. 7.34. when they commit Idolatry and walke after their own waies: how should it be otherwise with them? What can they expect but blasting, famine, dearth, and all the plagues of Aegypt, as Amos denounceth, cap. 4. ver. 9.10. to be led into captiuity? If our hopes be frustrate, we sowe much and bring in little, eate and haue not enough, drinke and are not filled, cloath and be not warme, &c. Haggei, 1.6 we looke for much and it comes to litle. And why? his house was wast, they came to their owne houses, ver. 9. therefore the heauen staid his dewe, the earth his fruit. because we are superstitious, irreligious, wee doe not serue God as we ought, all these plagues and miseries come vpon vs, what can we looke for else, but mutuall warres, slaughters, fearefull ends in this life, and in the life to come eternall damnation. What is it that hath caused so many ferall battles to be fought, so much Christian blood shed, but superstition? That Spanish Inquisition, Rackes, Wheeles, tortures, torments whence doe they proceed? from superstition. Bodine [Page 459] the French man in his 5. Cap. method hist. accounts English men Barbarians, for their ciuill warres: but let him but read those Pharsalian fields Poplinerius. Lerius praes [...] hist. sought in France of late, for religion their Massacres, wherein by their own relations, in 24 yeares, I knowe not how many millions haue bin consumed, whole families and citties, and he shall finde ours to haue beene but velitatious to theirs. But it hath euer beene the custome of al heretickes, Idolaters, when they are plagued for their sinnes, and Gods iust iudgement come vpon them, not to acknowledge any fault in themselues, but still impute it vnto others. In Cyprians time it was much controuerted betwixt him and Demetrius an Idolater. Who should bee the cause of those present calamities. Demetrius laid all the fault on Christians, Quod nec [...]yeme nec aestare [...]anta im [...]um copia, nec frugibus tor [...]end [...] so lit [...] fragranti [...], nec vernali teperie sata tam [...] tasint, nec [...]rboriis faetibus autumni saegundi, minus de [...] tibus [...]n armor eruatur min [...] aurū &c. that there were not such ordinary showers in winter, the ripening heat in summer, so seasonable springs, fruitfull autumnes, no marble mines in the mountaines, lesse gold and siluer then of old, that husbandmen, seamen, souldiers, all were scanted, iustice, friendship, skill in arts, all was decayed, and that through Christians default, and all their other miseries from them, quod dij nostri à vobis non colantur, Because they did not worshippe their Gods. But Cyprian retorts all vpon him againe, as appeares by his tract against him. 'Tis true the world is miserably tormented and shaken, with warres, dearth, famine, fire, inundations, plagues, and many ferall diseases rage amongst vs, sednon vt tu quereris ista accidunt quod dij vestri à nobis non colantur, sed quod à vobis non colatur Deus, à quibus nec quaeritur, nec timetur, not as thou complainest that wee doe not worship your Gods, but because you are Idolaters and doe not serue the true God, nether seeke him nor feare him as you ought. Our Papists obiect as much to vs, and account vs hereticks, we them; the Turkes esteeme of both as Infidels, & wee them as a company of Pagans, Iews, against all. When as indeed there is a generall fault in vs all, and something in the very best, which may iustly deserue Gods wrath, and put these miseries vpon our heads. I wil say nothing here of those vaine cares, torments, needlesse workes, pseudomartyrdome, [Page 760] &c. We heape vpon our selues vnnecessary troubles, observations, we punish our bodies as in Turkey, saith Solitus erat oblectarese fidibus & voce musicá canentium sed hoc omne sublatum Sibyllae euiusdam interuentu, &c. Inde quicquid erat instrumentorum Sympho [...]iacorum auro gemmis (que) egregio opere distinctorum comminuit & in i [...] nem iniecit, &c. Busbequius leg. Turcic. epist. 3. one did that was much affected with Musicke, and to heare boyes sing, but very superstitious; an olde Sibyl comming to his house, or an holy woman (as that place yeelds many) tooke him downe for it, and told him that in that other world he should suffer for it, therevpon he flung all his rich and costly instruments which hee had, bedect with Iewels and pretious stones, all at once into the fire. Hee was serued in siluer Plate and had goodly houshold stuffe: a little after another religious man reprehended him in like sort, and from thence hee was serued in earthen vessels. Last of all a decree came forth because Turkes might not drinke wine themselues, that nether Iewe nor Christian then liuing in Constantinople might drinke any wine at all. In like sort amongst Papists, fasting at first was generally proposed as a good thing, after from such meats at such times, and then last of all so rigorously proposed to binde the conscience vpon paine of damnation, First friday, saith Erasmus, and then saturday, & nunc periclitatur dies Mercurij, & wendesday now is in danger of a fast. Obid genus obseruatiunculas videmus homines miserè affligi, & deni (que) mori & sibi ipsi Christianos videri, quum revera sint Iudaei. and for some such toies some so miserably afflict themselues, to despaire, and death it selfe rather then offend, and thinke themselues good Christians in it, when as indeed they are superstitious Iewes. So saith Leonardus Fuchsius, a great Physition in his time, Ita in corpora nostra fortunas (que) decretis suis saeuit vt parum abfuerit nisi deus Lutherum virum perpetuâ memoriâ dignissimum excitasset quin nobis faeno mox communi cum iumentis cibo vtendum fuisset. wee are so tortured in Germany with these popish edicts, our bodies so taken downe, our goods so diminished, that if God had not sent Luther a worthy man in time, to redresse these mischiefs, we should haue eaten hay with our horses before this. The Gentiles in India will eat no sensible creatures, or ought that hath blood init. As in fasting, so in all other superstitious edicts, we crucify one another without a cause, barring our selues of many good and lawfull things, honest disports, pleasures and recreations, and whilst wee make a cōscience of euery toy, we tyrannise ouer our brothers souls, loose the right vse of many good things, Nuda ac tremebunda cruentis erepet genibus sicandida iusserit Ino Iuvenalis. Sat. 6. punish our selues without a cause, loose our liberties, and sometimes our liues. [Page 761] De benefit. 7.2. Intolerabilem perturbationem, Seneca calls it, as well hee might, an intolerable perturbation that causeth such dire euents, folly, madnesse, sicknesse, despaire, death of body and soule, and Hell it selfe.
SVBSEC. 5. Cure of Religious Melancholy.
TO purge the world of Idolatry and superstition, will require some monster taming Hercules, or a diuine Aesculapius, or Christ himselfe to come in his owne person. They are all generally so refractory, selfe-conceited, obstinate, so firmely addicted to that Religion, in which they haue beene bred and brought vp, that no perswasion, no terror, no persecution can diuert them. The consideration of which hath induced many Common-wealths, to fuffer them to inioy their consciences as they will themselues, A toleration of Iewes is in most Prouinces of Europe, In Asia they haue their Synagogues, Spaniards permit Moores to liue amongst them, the Mogullians Gentiles, the Turkes all Religions. In Europe, Poland, and Amsterdam, are the common Sanctuaries. Some are of opinion, that no man ought to be compelled for conscience sake, but let him be of what Religion he wil, he may be saued, Iew, Turke, Anabaptist, &c. If he be an honest man, liue soberly and ciuilly in his profession, and serue his owne god, with that feare and reuerence as he ought. Plinius Secund. as appeares by his Epistle to Traian, would not haue the Christians so persecuted, and in some time of the raigne of Maximinus, as we find it regestred in Eusebius lib. 9. cap. 9. there was a decree made to this purpose, Sed habeant pro arbitrio suo quo ritu velit, deum coli. Nullus cogatur inuitus ad hunc vel i llum deorū cultum &c. The like edict came forth in the raignes of Arcadius and Honorius. In Epist. Sym. Symmachus the Orator in his time, to procure a generall toleration vsed this argument. Quia deus immensum quidd [...] est & infinitū, cuius natura perfectè cognosci non potest, aequū ergo esse vt diuersâ ratione colatur, provt quis (que) aliquid de deo percipit aut intelligit. Because God is immense & infinite, & his nature cannot perfectly be knowne, [Page 752] it is conuenient he should be as diuersly worshipped, as euery man shall conceiue or vnderstand. This Tenent was stiffely mainetained in Turkie not long since, as you may read in the third Epistle of Busbequius, Aeternae beatitudinis consortes fore, qui sanctè innocenter (que) hancvitam traduxerint, quamcun (que) illi religionem sequti sunt. that all those should participate of eternall happinesse that liued an holy and innocent life what Religion soeuer they professed; Rustan Bassa was a great Pation of it. Some againe will approue of this for Iewes, Gentiles, Infidels, that are ought of the fold, they can be content to giue them all respect and fauour, but by no meanes to such as are within the precincts of our owne Church, and called Christians, to no Heretickes, Shismatickes, or the like. Let the Spanish Inquisition that fourth furie speake for some of them, the ciuill warres and Massakers in France, our Marian times. Comment. in C. Tim. 6. ver. 20. & 21. seueritate cum haereticis agendum & non alitèr. Magallianus the Iesuite will not admit of conference with an hereticke, but seueritie and rigor to be vsed, and Theodosius is commended in Nicephorus lib. 12. ca. 15. Quod silentium hereticis indixerit. That he put all Heretickes to silence. Bernard epist. 190. will haue club law, fire and sword for Heretickes compell them, stoppe their mouthes not with disputations, or refute them with reasons, but with fists, & this is their ordinary practise. Another company are as milde on the other side, Igne & fusie potius agendum cum hereticis quam cum disputationibus os alia logiscus &c to auoide all heartburning; and contentious warres and vprores, they would haue a generall toleration in euery kingdome, no mulct at all, no man for Religion or Conscience to be put to death. Martin Bellius and his companions maintained this opinion not long since in France, whose error is confuted by Beza in a iust Volume. The medium is best, and that which Paul prescribes Gal. 6.1. If any man fall by occasion, to restore such a one with the spirit of meekenesse, by all faire meanes, gentle admonitions, but if that will not take place, Post vnam & alteram admonitionē haereticū de vita, he must be excommunicate as Paul did by Hyminaeus, deliuer him ouer to Satan. Immedicabile vulniu ense recidendum est. As Hippocrates said in Physicke, I may well say in Diuinity, Qua ferro non curantur ignis curat. For the vulgar, restraine them by lawes, mulcts, burne their bookes, forbid their conuenticles, for when the [Page 773] cause is taken away, 'the effect will soone cease. Now for Prophets, dreamers & such rude silly fellowes that through fasting too much, meditation, precisenesse, or by Melancholy it selfe are distempered, the best meanes to induce them Ad sanam mentem, is to alter their course of life, and with conference, threats, promises, perswasions to intermixe Physicke. Hercules de Saxoniâ had such a Prophet committed to his charge in Venice, that thought he was Elias, and would fast as he did, he dressed a fellow in Angels attire, that said hee came from heauen that brought him diuine food, and by that meanes he staied his fast, and administred his Physicke, and by the mediation of this forged Angel he was cured. Quidam conquestus est mihi de hoc morbo, & deprecatus est vt illum curarem, ego quaesini ab eo quid sentiret, respondit, semper imaginor & cogito de deo & angelis &c. & ita demersus sum hác imaginationes, vt nec edam nec dormiam nec negotijs &c Egocuraui medicina & persuasione, & sic plures [...] l [...]os. Rhasis an Arabian Cont. lib. 1. cap. 9. speakes of a fellow that in like case complained to him, and desired his helpe, I asked him (saith he) what the matter was, he replied, I am continually meditating of heauen and hell, & me thinks I see and talke with fierie spirits, smell brimstone, &c. and am so carried away with these conceits, that I can neither eate, nor sleepe, nor goe about my busines, I cured him saith Rhasis, partly by perswasion, partly by Physicke, and so haue I done by many others. We haue many such Prophets and dreamers still amongst vs, whom wee persecute with fire and faggot, I thinke the most compendious cure had beene in Bedlam. Sed de his satis.
MEMB. 2.
SVBSECT. 1. Religious Melancholy in defect, parties affected, Epicures, Atheists, Hypocrites, worldly secure, Carnalists, Impenitent sinners, &c.
IN that other extreame, or defect of this loue of God knowledge, faith, feare, hope &c. are all manner of Atheists, Epicures, Infidells, that are secure in a reprobate sence and feare not God at all, and such as are too distrustfull and timorous, as desperate persons are. De animâ cap de humoribus. That grand sinne of Atheisme as Melancthon calles it, monstrosam melancholiam, [Page 764] monstrous melancholie, or venenatam melancholiam, poysoned melancholy. A company of Cyclopes or Giants, that warre with the gods, as the Poet fained, that scoffe at all Religion, at God himselfe, denie him and all his attributes, his wisedome, power, prouidence, his mercy and iudgement.
That there is either heauen or hell, or any such peace or happinesse, things to come, credat Iudaeus Apella, for their parts they esteeme them as so many Poets tales. They feare neither God nor Diuell. But with that Cyclops in Euripides..
Their God is their belly, as Paul saith, Sancta mater saturitas, and all their endeauours are to satisfie their lust and appetite, how to please their Genius, and to be merry for the present, Ede, bibe, lude, post mortem nulla voluptas; Wisd. 2.2. Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no recouery, neither was any man known that hath returned from the graue, for we are borne at all aduenture, and we shall be hereafter as though we had neuer beene, for the breath is as smoake in our nostrils, &c. and the spirit vanisheth as the soft aire. Ver. 6.7.8. Come let vs enioy the pleasures that are present, let vs cheerefully vse the creatures as in youth, let vs fill our selues with costly wine and oyntments, let not the flower of our life passe by vs, let vs crowne our selues with rose buddes before they are withered, &c for this is our portion, this is our lotte. For the rest of heauen and hell, let children and superstitious fooles beleeue it, for their parts, they are so farre from trembling at the dreadfull [Page 765] day of Iudgement, that they wish with Nero, Me viuo, fiat, let it come in their times, so secure, so desperate, so immoderate in lust and pleasure, so prone to reuenge, that as Paterculus said of some Catiffes in his time in Rome, Quod nequiter ausi, fortitèr executi, it shall not be so wickedly attempted, as desperately performed, what ere they take in hand: were it not for Gods restraining grace, feare and shame, disgrace and temporall punishment, and their owne infamy, they would Lycaon like exenterate, or as so many Caniballs eate vp, or Cadmus souldiers consume one another. These are commonly professed Atheists, that neuer vse the name of God but to sweare by it, that expresse nought else but Epicurisme in their carriage, that loue, feare, obey, Or Bressela [...] Vs (que) adeo insanus vt nec inferos nec supcros esse dicat, animas (que) cum corporibus interire credat, &c. and performe all ciuill duties, as they shall find them expedient or behoouefull to their owne ends. Bulco Opiliensis sometimes Duke of Silesia was such an one to a haire, he liued saith Europe descript. cap. 24. Aeneas Siluius at Vratislauia, and was so mad to satsfie his lust, that he beleeued neither heauen nor hell, or that the soule was immortall, but married wiues, and turned them vp as he thought fit, did murder and mischiefe, and what he list himselfe: This Duke hath too many followers in our dayes: say what you can, dehort, exhort perswade to the contrary, heauen and hell; 'tis to no purpose, laterem lanas, they answere as Ataliba that Indian Prince did to Frier Vincent, Fratres à Bry. Amer. part, 6. librum à Vincentio monacho datum abiecit nihil se videre ibi huiusmodi dicens, rogans (que) vnde haec sciret quum de caelo & Tartaro couteneri ibi diceret. when he brought him a booke, and told him all the mysteries of saluation, heauen and hell were contained in it, he looked vpon it, and said, he saw no such matter, and asked withall how he knew it: they will but scoffe at it. Let them take heauen, paradise and that future happinesse that will, bonum est esse hic, It is good being heere: there is no talking to such men, no hope of their conuersion, they are in a reprobate sence, meere carnalists, worldly minded men, that howsoeuer they may be applauded in this world by some few parasites, and held for worldly wise men, Non minus hi furent quam Hercules qui coniugem, liberos interfecit, habet hec aetas plura huiusmodi portintosa monstra. They seeme to me saith Melancthon, to be as madde as Hercules was when he raued and killed his wife and children. Cosin Germanes to these men, are many of our great Philosophers, [Page 766] howsoeuer they may be more temperate in this life, giue many good morall precepts, and sober in their conuersation, yet in effect they are the same, nimis altum sapiunt, too much learning makes them mad. Whilst they attribute all to naturall causes, or make Omnia contingentèr fieri voluit. Melancthon in praeceptum primum. contingency of all things as Melancthon calls them, Pertinax hominum gens, a peeuish generation of men, that misled by Philosophy & the diuels suggestion, their owne innate blindnesse, denie God as much as the rest. In spirituall things God must demonstrate all to sence, or leaue a pawne with them, or else seeke some other creditor. They will acknowledge Nature, but not God, but as Non intelligis te quum haec dicis, mutare te ipsum nomen dei? quid enim est aliud natura quam deus &c. tot habet appellationes quot munera. Seneca well discourseth with them lib. 4. de Benificijs, ca. 5.6.7. they doe not vnderstand what they say, what is nature but God? call him what thou wilt, Nature, Iupiter, he hath as many names as Offices: it comes all to one passe, God is the fountaine of all, the first giuer and preseruer from whom all things depend, Austin. à quo & per quem omnia ‘Nam quodcun (que) vides deus est quocun (que) moueris.’
God is all in all, God is euery where, in euery place. And yet this Seneca that could confute and blame them, is all out as much to be blamed & confuted himselfe, as mad himselfe, for he holds fatum Stoicum, that ineuitable necessitie in the other extreame, as those Chaldean Astrologers of old did, against whom the Prophet Ieremie so often thunders, and those heathen Mathematicions, Nigidius Figulus, Magicians, and Priscilianists, whom Saint Austin so eagerly confutes, those Arabian questionaries, nouem Iudices, Albumasar, Dorotheus, &c. and our Countrimen Estuidus, that take vpon them to define out of those great coniunctions of starres, the periods of kingdomes, of religions, of all future accidents, wars, plagues, schismes, heresies, and what not, all from starres, and such things saith Maginus, Quae sibi & intelligentijs suis reseruauit deus, Principio Ephemer. which God hath reserued to himselfe and his Angels, they will take vpon them to foretell, as if stars were immediate, ineuitable causes of all future accidents. In Rome saith Dionysius Halicarnassaus, lib. 7. when those meteors [Page 767] and prodigies appeared in the aire, after the banishment of Cori [...]nus, Variè homines affecti alii dei iudicium ad tam pii exilium alii ad naturam referebant non ab indignatione dei sed humanis causis &c. Men were diuersly affected, some said they were Gods iust iudgements for the execution of that good man, some referred all to naturall causes, some to starres, some thought they came by chaunce, some by necessity decreed ab initio, and could not be altered; This last was Senecas Tenēt, that god was alligatus causis secundis, so tied to second causes, to that inexorable necessity, that hee could alter nothing of that which was once decreed, sic erat in fatis, it cannot be altered, 2. Natural. quaest 33.36. quaest. semel iussit, semper paret deus. nulla vis rumpit, nullae preces, nec ipsum fulmen. God hath once said it & it must for ever stand good, no prayers, nor threats, nor power, nor thunder it selfe can alter it. Zeno, Chrysippus & those other Stoicks, as you may read in Tully 2. de diuinatione, Gellius lib. 6. cap. 2. &c. maintained as much. In all ages there haue been such, that either deny God in all, or in part, some that deride him, blasphem [...] him, derogate at their pleasure from him. De I [...]a 16.34 Iratus caelo quod obstr [...]peret ad pugnam vocauit, Iouem quanta dem [...]ntia, putauit, sibi noceri ne posse, & se nocetamen Ioui posse. Claudius the emperour was angry with heauen because it thundered, & challenged Iupiter into the field? with what madnesse saith Seneca: he thought Iupiter could not hurt him, but he could hurt Iupiter. Diagoras, Demonax, Epicurus, Pliny, Lucian, Lucretius, professed Atheists, all in their times. Gilbertus Cognatus labours much, and so doth Erasmus, to vindicate Lucian from scandall, and there be those that Apologise for Epicurus, but all in vaine: Lucian scoffes at all, Epicurus he denies all, and Lucretius his Scholler defends him in it.
He alone as another Hercules, did vindicate the world from that monster. Vncle Pliny lib. 2. cap. 7. nat. hist. & lib. cap. 5. in expresse words denies the immortality of the Soule. Aristotle is hardly censured of some, Pomponatius and Scaliger [Page 768] acknowledge as much. Auerroes oppugnes all spirits, and supreame powers, of late Brunus, infoelix Brunus, Dissert, cum [...] syder. Kepler calls him, hath publikely maintained such Atheisticall paradoxes.
To these we may wel adde that carnall' crew of worldly minded men, impenitent sinners, who though they be professed Christians, yet they doe, Nullâ pallescere culpâ, make a conscience of nothing they doe, they haue cauterised consciences, and are indeed in a reprobate sence, they doe know there is a God, a day of Iudgement to come, and yet for all as Hugo saith, Ita comedunt ac dormiunt, ac si diem Iudicij [...]uasissent, ita ludunt ac rident ac si in calis cum deo regnarent, they are as merry for all the sorrow, as if they had escaped all dangers, and were in heauen already. All those rude idiots and ignorant persons, that neglect and contemne the meanes of their saluation may march on with these, but aboue all others, those temporising statesmen, politicke Machauellians and Hypocrites, that make a shew of Religion, but in their hearts laugh at it, simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas; They are in a double Fault, that fashion themselues to this world, which Rom. 12.2. Paul forbiddes, and like Mercurie the Planet are good with good, bad with bad. When they are at Rome, they doe there as they see done, Puritans with Puritans, Papists with Papists; omnium horarum homines, ambodexters, Omnis Aristippum decuit color & status & res. All their study is to please, and their God is their commodity, all their labour for to satisfie their owne lusts, and their endeauours to their owne ends. Whatsoeuer they pretend in publike, they seeme to doe, Psal 13.1. with the foole in their hearts they say there is no God. Their words are as soft as oyle, but bitternesse is in their hearts, like Pope Guiccardine. Alexander the 6 so cunning dissemblers, that what they thinke they neuer speak, Many of them are so close, you can hardly discerne it, or take any iust exceptions at them, they are not factious, oppressors as others are, no bribers, no simoniacall contractors, no such ambitious, lasciuious persons as some others are, no drunkards, Sobrij solem vident orientem, sobrij vident occidentem. [Page 769] They rise sober, and goe sober to bed, plaine dealing, vpright honest men, they doe wrong to no man, and are so reputed in the worlds esteeme at least, very zealous in Religion, very charitable, meeke, humble, peacemakers, keepe all duties, very deuout, honest, well spoken of, beloued of all men, but he that knowes better how to iudge, he that examines the heart, he saith they are Hypocrites, Cor [...]olo plenum; sonant vitium percussa malignè, they are not found within. As it is with writers Erasmus. often times, Plus sanctimoniae in libello, quam libelli authore, more holinesse is in the booke then in the Author of it. Many come to Church with great Bibles, whom Cardan said he could not choose but laugh at, and will now and then dare operam Augustino, reade Austen, frequent Sermons, and yet professed Vsurers, meere gripes, tota vitae ratjo Epicurea est; all their life is Epicurisme & Atheisme, come to Church all day, and lie with a Curtesan at night. ‘Qui Curios simulant & Bacchanalia vivant.’
Yea and many of those holy Friers, sanctified men, Cappans saith Hierom, & cilicium induvnt, sed intus latronem tegunt. They are wolues in sheepes clothing, Introrsum turpes speciosi pelle decorâ faire without, and most foule within. Hierome. Latet plerum (que) sub tristi amictu lasciuia, & deformis horror vili veste tegitur. Oftentimes vnder a mourning weede, lies lust it selfe, and horrible vices vnder a poore coat. But who can examine all those kinds of Hypocrites, or diue into their hearts? If wee may guesse at the tree by the fruit, neuer so many as in these dayes, shew me a plaine dealing true honest man? & pudor & probitas & timor omnis abest. He that shall but looke into their liues, and see such enormous vices, men so immoderate in lust, vnspeakeable in malice, furious in their rage, flattering and dissembling, (all for their owne ends) will surely thinke they are not truely religious, but of an obdurate heart, most part in a reprobate sence, as in this age. But let them carry it as they will for the present, dissemble as they can, a time will come when they shall be called to [Page 770] account, their melancholy is at hand, and Hell it selfe is ready to receiue them.
SVBSEC. 2. Despaires, Aequinocations, Definitions, parties and partes affected.
THere be many kinds of desperation, whereof some bee holy, some vnholy, as Abernethy cap. 24 of his Physicke of the soule. one distinguisheth, that vnholy he defines out of Tully, to be Aegritudinem animi siue vlla rerum expectatione meliore, a sickenesse of the soule without any hope or expectation of amendment: Thomas sec. sec. distinct. 40. art. 4. Recessus à re desiderata propter impossibilitatem existimatam, a restraint from the thing desired, for some impossibility supposed. Because they cannot obtaine what they would, they become desperate, and many times either yeeld to the passion by death it selfe, or else attempt impossibilities, not to be performed by men. In some cases this desperate humour is not much to be discommended, as in warres it is a cause many times of extraordinary valour; it makes them improue their worth beyond it selfe, and of a forlorne impotent company become conquerers in a moment. Vna salus victis nullam sperare salutem. In such cases when they see no remedy, but that they must either kill or be killed, they take courage and oftentimes, praeter spem, beyond all hope vindicate themselues William the Conqueror when he first landed in England, sent backe his shippes, that his souldiers might haue no hope of retyring backe. Method hist. cap. 5. Bodine excuseth his countrimens ouerthrow, at that famous battell of Agencourt, in Henry the 5. time ( cui simile saith Frossard tota historia producere non possit, which no history can parrallel almost, wherin one handful of Englishmen, ouerthrew a Royal army of Frenchimē) With this refuge of despaire pauci desperati, a few desperate fellowes being compassed in by their enemies, past all hope of life, fought like so many Deuills, [Page 771] and giues a caution, that no souldiers hereafter set vpō desperate persons. Many such kinds there are of desperation, when men are past hope of obtaining any suite. Desperatio fácit Monachum as the saying is, but these are equiuocall, vnproper, When I speake of Despaire, saith Super praecep um primum de Rellig & partibus cius. N [...]n loquor de omni desperatione sed tantum de eâ qua desperare solent homines de deo [...] ponitur [...] est peccatur grauissim [...] &c. Zanch [...], I speake not of euery kind, but of that alone which concernes God. It is opposite to hope, and it is a most pernitious sin, wherewith the Diuell seekes to intrappe men. Musculus makes foure kinds of Desperation of God, our selues, our neighbour, or any thing to be done, but this diuision of his may be reduced easily to the former: all kinds are opposite to hope. Hope [...]reares, and in the middest of miseries it giues content: spes alit agricolas, and were it not for hope, we of all others were most miserable, as Paul saith, in his life, were it not for hope the heart would breake: yet doth it not so reare, as despaire doth deiect, this violent and sower passion of Despaire, and of all perturbations most grieuous as [...]. 5. [...]. 21. de regis instuut. Patritius holdes. Some diuide it into finall and temporall, Reprobi [...]s (que) ad finem pertinacitér persistunt Zanchius. finall is incureable which befalleth reprobates, temporall is a reiection of hope and comfort for a time, which may befall the best of Gods children, and it commonly proceeds Vitium ab infidelitate prof [...] ciscens. from weakenesse of faith, as in Dauid when he was oppressed, he cried out, O Lord thou hast forsaken mee, but this was for a time. This ebbes and flowes with hope, it is a grieuous sinne howsoeuer: although some kind of Despaire be not amisse, when saith Zanchius we Despaire of our owne meanes, and relye wholly vpon God: but that kind is not heere ment. This pernitious kind of Desperation is the subiect of our discourse, homicida animae, the murderer of the soule as Austin termes it, a fearefull passion, wherein the party oppressed thinkes he can get no ease but by death, and is fully resolued to offer violence vnto himselfe; so sensible of his burden, and impatient of his crosse, that he hopes by death alone to bee freed of his calamitie, (though it proue otherwise) & choseth with Iob 6.8.9.17.5. Rather to be strangled and die, then to be in his bones. Abernethie. The part affected is the whole soule, and all [Page 772] the faculties of it, there is a priuation of ioy, hope, trust, confidence, of present and future good, and in their place succeed feare, sorrow, &c, as in the Symptomes shalbe shewed: The heart is grieued, the conscience wounded, the mind Eclipsed with blacke fumes, arising from those perpetuall terrors.
MEMB. 3. Causes of Despaire, The Diuell, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakenesse of Faith, Rigid Ministers, Misunderstanding Scriptures, Guilty Conscience, &c.
THe principall agent and procurer of this mischiefe is the Deuill, those whom God forsakes the Diuell by his permission layes hold on. Sometimes he persecutes them with that worme of conscience as he did Iudas 1. Sam. 2.16. Saul and others. The Poets call it Nemesis, but it is indeed Gods iust iudgement, serò sed seriò, he strikes home at last, and setteth vpon them as a thiefe in the night. 1. Thes. 2. Psal. 38. This temporary passion made Dauid crie out. Lord rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chaesten me in thine heauy displeasure, for thine arrowes haue light vpon me, &c. there is nothing sound in my flesh, Ver. 9. because of thine anger. And againe I rore for the very griefe of mine heart, and Psal. 22. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me, and art so farre from my health, and the words of my crying, I am like to water powred out, my bones are out of ioynt, mine heart is like waxe, that is molten in the middest of my bowels. Ver. 14. And so Psal [...]8.15. and 16. ver. and Psal. 102. I am in misery at the point of death, from my youth I suffer thy terrors doubting for my life, thine indignations haue gone ouer me, and thy feare hath cut me off. Iob doth often complaine in this kind, and those God not still assists, the Diuell is ready to try and to torment, still seeking whom he may deuoure. If he find them merry saith Gregory, he tempts them forthwith to some dissolute Act, if pensiue and sad to a desperate end, [Page 773] aut suadendo blanditur aut minando terret. Sometimes by faire meanes, sometime againe by foule, as he perceiues men seuerally inclined. His ordinary engine by which he produceth this effects, is the melancholy humour it selfe, which is Balneum Diaboli, the Diuels bath; and as in Saul these euill spirits get in I [...]niscent se mali gen [...]j. L [...]n li [...] 1. c. 16 as it were and take possess on of vs. Blacke colour is a shooing horne, a baite to allure them, insomuch that many writers make melancholy an ordinary cause, & a Symptome of Despaire. The body works vpō the mind, by obfuscating the spirits, and corrupted instruments, which Cas [...]s of conscience, lib. 1, 16. Perkins illustrates by that simile of an Artificer, that hath a bad toole, his skill is good, abillitie correspondent, by reason of bad tooles, his worke must needs be lame, and vnperfect. But Melancholy and Despaire though often, doe not concurre: much Melancholy is without affliction of conscience, as Bright & Perkins illustrate by foure reasons; and yet Melancholy alone againe may be sometimés a sufficient cause of this terror of conscience. Cap. 3. de [...] a [...]ion: deo minus se cu [...]e esse [...]nce ad sa utem praedesti [...]atos esse. Foelix Plater so found it in his obseruations, è melancholicis alij damnatos seputant, &c. They thinke they are not predestinate, God hath forsaken them; and yet otherwise very zealous and Religious, and 'tis common to be seene, Ad Desperaonem saepe ducit haec mela [...]cholia & est frequen [...]issima ob supplicii [...] mae [...]or & metus in desparationem [...] desinunt. Melancholy for [...]eare of Gods iudgements and hell fire, driues men to desperation, feare and sorrow if they be immoderate and often with it. Losse of goods, losse of friends, and those lesser grieses doe sometimes effect it, or such dismall accidents: Foelix Platter hath a memorable example in this kind, of a painters wife in Basil that was melancholy for her sonnes death, and from melancholy became desperate, she thought God would not pardon her sins, Damnatam se putauit & per quatuor menses gehenn [...] paenam sentire. and for foure moneths still raued, that she was in hell fire, already damned. When the humour is stirred vp, euery small obiect aggrauates & incenseth it, as the parties are addicted. 1566. ob triticum diutius seruatum conscientiae simulis agitatur, &c. The same Author hath an example of a merchant man, that for the losse of a little wheat, which he had ouerlong kept, was troubled in conscience, for that he had not sold it sooner, or giuen it to the poore, and yet a good Scholler, and a [Page 774] great Diuine, no perswasion would serue to the contrary; but that for this fact he was damned, he ranne about the streets crying he was damned, in other matters very iuditious and discreet. Solitarinesse, much fasting, diuine meditations and contemplations of Gods iudgements, most part accompany this Melancholy. Nonnulli ob long as inedias studia & meditationes coelestes de rebus sacris & religione sempèr agitant, &c. Many saith Pet. Forestus through long fasting, serious meditations of heauenly things, fall into such fittes, and as Lemmuis addes, Solitarios & superstitio [...] plerum (que) exagitat conscientia, non mercatores, le [...]ones, caupones saeneratores &c. largiorem hi nacti sunt conscientiam Invenes plerum (que) conscientiamnegligunt s [...]n [...]s autem &c. lib. 4. c. 21. If they be solitary giuen, superstitious, precise or very deuout: seldome shall you find a Merchant, a Souldier, an Inne keeper, a Baud, an Host, an Vserer so troubled in mind, they haue Chiuerill consciences that will stretch, they are seldome moued in this kind or molested: young men and middle age are more wild, and lesse apprehensiue, but old folkes most part & such as are timorous & are religiously giuen. Peter Forestus obseruat, lib. 10. cap. 12. de morbis cerebri, Hath a fearefull example of a Minister, that through precise fasting in Lent, and ouermuch meditation contracted this mischiefe, and in the end became Desperate, thought he saw Diuels in his chamber, and that he could not be saued, he smelled nothing as he said but fire and brimstone, and was already in hell, and would aske them still, if they did not Annon sentis sulphur inquit &c. smell asmuch. I told him he was Melancholy, but he laughed me to scorne, and replied, that he saw Diuels, talked with them in good earnest, and would spitte in my face, and aske me if I did not smell brimstone, and at last he was by him cured. Such another story I find in Plater, obserat. lib. 1. a poore fellow had done some soule offence, and for fourteene dayes would eate no meat, in the end became Desperat, the Diuines about him could not ease him, Desperabundus miserè periit. but so he died. Continuall meditation of Gods iudgements trouble many, Multi ob timorem futuri Iudicij, saith Guatinerius cap. 5. tract. 15. & suspicionem desperabundi sunt; Dauid himselfe complaines that Gods iudgements terrified his soule. Psal. 119. par [...]. 16. ver. 8. My flesh trembleth for feare of thee, and I am afraid of thy Iudgements. [Page 775] Quoties diem illum cogito, saith Hierome, t [...]to corpora contremisco, I tremble as often as I thinke of it. Especially if their bodies be predisposed by Melancholy, and they religiously giuen, & haue tender consciences, euery small obiect affrights them, the very reading of Scriptures it selfe, and misinterpretation of some places of it, as many are called few are chosen. Not euery one that saith Lord. Feare not l [...] tel flocke. He that stands, let him take heed lest he fall, worke out your saluation with feare and trembling &c. These and the like places terrifie the soules of many, predestination reprobation, offends many; They doubt of their Election, how they shall know it, by what signes? and so farre forth saith In 17. [...]o [...]u [...] nis. [...] sed serucint & [...]arniplicant in t [...]tian vt non pary [...]malysint ab insa [...]l ne (que) tamen aliad hac mentis anxietate efficiunt quam vt duria [...]lo potestanten facinunt ipsos per [...]esperationem ad infe [...]nos producendi. Luther, with such nice points, torture and crucifie themselues, that they are almost mad, and all they get by it is this, they lay open a gappe to the diuell by Desperation to carry them to hell. But the greatest harme of all proceeds from those thundering Ministers, a most frequent cause they are of this malady: and doe more harme in the Church saith Ecclesiast li. 1 Haud sci [...] an ma [...]us disertimē ab his qui bla [...] diuntur an [...] bis qui territant ingens utium (que) periculum, ali [...] ad seeu [...]itatem d [...]cunt, alii afflictionum magnitudine memē obsorbent & in desperationem trahunt. Erasmus then they that flatter; great danger on both sides, the one lulles them asleepe in carnall securitie, the other driues them to Desperation. Whereas Saint Bern super 6. Cant. alterum sine altero proserre non expedit recordatio solius indicii in desperationem praecipitat & misericordiae fallax ostentatio pessimam general securitatem. Bernard well aduiseth, We should not meddle with the one without the other, nor speake of iudgement without mercy, the one alone brings Desperation, the other securitie. But these men are wholy for iudgement, of a rigid disposition themselues, that can speake of nothing but hell, fire and damnation, as they did, Luke 11.46. lade men with burdens grieuous to be borne, which they themselues touch not with a finger. 'Tis familiar with our Papists to terrifie mens soules with Purgatorie tales, visions, apparitions, to daunt euen the most generous spirits, to require Charitie, as Brentius odserues, of others, bounty meekenesse, loue, patience, when they themselues breath nought but lust, enuie couetousnes. They teach others to fast, giue almes, doe pennance, & crucifie their mind with superstitious [Page 776] obseruations, bread and water, haire clothes, whippes and the like, when they themselues haue all the dainties the world can afford, lie on Downe beds, with a curtisan in their armes. hen quantum patimur pro Christo as Leo Decimus. he said, what a cruel tyranny is this, so to insult ouer & terrifie mens soules. Our indiscreet pastors many of them come not farre behinde, whilest in their ordinary sermons they still aggrauate sinne, thunder out Gods Iudgments without respect, raile at & pronounce them damn'd, for giuing so much to sports and recreations, making every small fault and a thing indifferent an irremissible offence they so wound mens consciences, that they are allmost at their wits ends.
Those bitter potions saith De suturo indicio de damnatione horendum crepunt & amaras ill [...] potiones in ore semper habent vt multos inde in desperationem cogant. Erasmus are stil in their mouths nothing but gall and horror, & a mad noyse, they make all their auditors desperate many are wounded by this meanes, & they commonly that are most deuout and precise, that follow sermons, that haue least cause, they are most apt to mistake, and fall into theise miseries; I haue heard some complaine of Persons resolution and other bookes of like nature, (good otherwise) they are too tragicall, too much deiecting men, aggrauating offences, great care and choice, much discretion is required in this kind.
The last and the greatest cause of this malady, is our own conscience, a guilty conscience for some fowle offence formerly committed. A good conscience is a continuall feast, but a gauled cōscience is a great torment as can possibly happē, another hell. Our conscience, which is a great Ledgier booke wherein are written all our offences, a register to lay them vp (which those Ple [...]ius. Aegyptians in their Hierogliphicks, expressed by a mill, as well for the continuance, as for the torture of it) grindes our soules with the remembrance of some precedent sinnes, and makes vs reflect vpon our selues, accuse and condemne our owne selues. Gen. 4. Sinne lies at doore, &c. I knowe there be many other causes assigned by Zanchius 9. causes Musculus makes. Musculus and others, as Incredulity, infidelity, presumption, ignorance, blindnesse, ingratitude, discontent, &c. But this of conscience [Page 777] is the greatest, Plutarch. Instar vlceris corpora iugitèr percellens: This scrupulous conscience, as Al [...]os miseré affligit plena scrupul [...] conscientia nodum in scirpo quaerunt, & vbi n [...]lla causa subest, miserecordiae divinae diffidentes se orco destinant Peter Forestus calls it, which tortures so many, that either out of a deepe apprehension of their own vnworthinesse, and consideration of their own dissolute life, accuse themselues, and aggrau at euery small offence, when there is no such cause, misdoubt in the meane time Gods mercies they fall into th [...]se inconueniences. The Poets call them Coelius. lib. 6, Furies, Dire, but it is this conscience alone which is a thousand witnesses to accuse vs. After many-pleasant dayes, and fortunate aduentures, merry tides, this conscience at last doth arrest vs. Well he may escape temporall punishment, Prima haec est vltio quod se Iudice nemo nocens absoluitur, improba quāuis gratia fallacis praetoris vicerit vrnam. Iuuenal. bribe a corrupt Iudge, auoid the censure of the law, and florish for a time. Quis vnquam vidit auarum ringi dum lucrū adest, adulterum dum potitur voto, lugere in perpetrando scelere, voluptate sumus e [...]rij, proinde nō sentimus, &c. Who euer saw, saith Chrysostome, a couetous man troubled in minde when he is telling of his money, an adulterer morne with his mistris in his armes, we are then druncke with pleasure, and [...]erceaue nothing, but as the prodigall sonne had dainty fare, sweet musicke at first, merry company, Iouial entertainment, but a cruel reckoning in the ende, as bitter as wormewood, a feareful visitation cōmonly follows. And that Diuel that then told thee that it was a light sinne or no sinne at all, now aggrauates on the other side, and telleth thee that it is a most irremissible offence, as hee did Cain and Iudas, to bring them to despaire. Tragicall examples in this kind are too familiar & common, Adrian, Galba, Nero, Otho, Vitellius, Caracalla, were in such horror of conscience for their offences committed, murders, rapes, extorsions, iniuries, that they were weary of their liues, and could get no body to kill them. It is strange to read what De bello Neapol. Comineus hath written of Lews the II that French King, of Charles the 8. and of Alphonsus King of Naeples, In the fury of this passion how he came into Sicily, and what prankes he plaid. Guicciardine, a man most vnapt to beleeue lies, relates how that Ferdinande his fathers ghost, who before had died for griefe, came and told him that hee could not resist the French King, he thought euery man cried France, France, the reason of it, saith Comineus, was because he was a vile tyrant, a murderer, an oppressor of his subiects, [Page 778] he bought vp all commodities, and solde them at his owne price, sold Abbies to Iewes, and Falconers, both Ferdinande his father, and he himselfe neuer made conscience of any committed sinne, and to conclude, saith he, it was vnpossible to do worse then they did. Why was Pausaenias that Spartan Tyrant, Nero, Otho, Galba, so persecuted with spirits in euery house they came, but for their murders which they had committed? Thyreus de locis infestis, par. 1 cap. 2. Why doth the Diuell haunt many mens houses after their deaths, and take possession, as it were, of their pallaces, but because of their seuerall villanies? Why had Richard the 3 such feareful dreames, saith Polidor, but for his frequent murders? Why was Theodoricus that king of the Gothes, so suspitious, and so afrighted with a fish head alone, but because he had murdered Symmachus and Boethius his sonne in law, those worthy Romanes? Caelius lib. 27. cap. 2 [...]. See more in Plutarch in his tract de his qui serò à numine puniuntur, & in his booke de tranquillitate animi, &c. Yea & sometimes God himselfe hath a hand in it, to punish them for their sinnes, God the auenger, as Ps. 44.1. Dauid calls him, vltor à tergo deus ▪ which the Poets expressed by Adrastia, or Nemesis, Assequitur Nemesis (que) virûm vestigia seruat, ne malè quid facias. And she is as Regina causa rum & arbitra rerum nunc erectas ceruices opprimit, &c. Ammianus l. 14. describes her, the Queene of causes, and moderator of things, now she puls downe the prowd, now she reares and encourageth those that are good, he giues instance in his Eusebius, Nicephorus, lib. 10. cap. 35. Eccles. hist. in Maximinus and Iulian. Fearefull examples of Gods iust iudgement and vengeance are to bee found in all histories, of some that haue beene eaten to death with Rats and Mice, as Alex. Gaguinus. catal. reg. Pol. Popelius the second king of Poland An o 830, his wife and children; the like story of a Bishop is in Cosmog. Munster, and in Giraldus Cambrensis, Itin. Cam. lib. 2. cap. 2. and where not?
SVBSEC. 4. Symptomes of Despaire. Feare, Sorrow, Suspition, anxiety, horror of conscience, fearefull dreames, and visions.
AS Shoomakers doe when they bring home shooes, still cry leather is dearer and dearer, may I iustly say of these melancholy Symptomes; these of despaire, are most violent, tragicall and grieuous, farre beyond the rest: all that is singular in other Melancholy, Horribile, dirum, pestilens, atrox, ferum, is extended in this, concurre all in this: Melancholy in the highest degree, a burning feauer of the soule, so made, saith Cap. 15. in 9. Rhasis. Iacchinus by this misery; feare, sorrow, & despaire, he puts for common Symptomes of Melancholy. They are in great paine and horror of minde, distraction of soule, restlesse, full of continuall feares, cares, torments, anxieties, they can neither eat, drinke, nor sleep, for them, take no rest
Feare takes away their content, and alters their countenance, euen in their greatest delights, singing, dancing, dalliance, they are still, saith Mentem eripit timor hic vul tum totum (que) corporis hab [...]tum immutat, etiam in delitijs in tripudijs, in symposiis in amplexu coniugis carnisicinam exercet. lib. 4 cap. 21. Lemnius, tortured in their soules. It consumes them to naught. I am like a Pellican in the wildernesse, saith Dauid of himselfe, temporally afflicted, an Owle because of thine indignation. Ps. 102. ver. 8, 10. and Psal. 55.4. My heart trembleth within me, and the terrours of death haue come vpon me, feare and trembling are come vpon me &c. at deaths dore, Psal. 107.18. Their soule abhorres all manner of meat. Their Non sinit conscientia tales homines recta verba proferre aut rectis quenquam oculis aspicere, ab omni hominū caetu eosdem exterminat & dormientes perterrefacit, Philost. lib. 7. de vit. Apollonij. sleepe is, if it be any, vnquiet, subiect to fearefull dreames, and terrors. Peter in his bands slept secure, for he knew God protected him, and Tully makes it an argument of Roscius Amerinus innocency, that he killed not his father, because he so [Page 780] securely slept. Those Martyres in the Primatiue Church were most Eusebius Nicephorus eccles. hist. lib. [...]. c. 17. cheerefull and merry in the midst of their persecutions, but it is farre otherwise with these men, tossed as a Sea, and that continually without rest or intermission, they can thinke of naught, Seneca lib. 18. Epist. 106. conscientia aliud agere non patitur, perturbatam vitam agunt nunquam vacant, &c. their conscience will not let them be quiet, in perpetuall feare, anxiety, that they bee not yet apprehended, they are in doubt still they shall bee ready to betray themselues, as Cain did, he thinks euery man will kill him: And roares for the very griefe of heart, Ps. 38.8. as Dauid did, as Iob did, 3.20.21.22. &c. Wherefore is light giuen to him that is in misery, and life to them that haue heauy hearts? Which long for death, and if it come not, search it more then treasures, and reioyce when they can find the graue. They are generally weary of their liues, a trembling heart they haue, a sorrowfull mind, and haue no rest. Deut. 28.65.66. In the morning they wish for euening, and for morning in the euening, for the sight of their eyes which they see and feare of hearts. And so for the most part it is with them all, they thinke they heare and see visions conferre with Diuels, that they are tormented, and in hel fire already damned quite, and not be reuoked. Some thing talks within thē, they spit fire & brimstone, they cannot but blaspheame, they cannot repent, or thinke a good thought, so far carried, vt cogantur ad impia cogitandum etiam contra voluntatem, saith Lib. 1. obser. Faelix Plater. They think euill against t [...]eir wills, that which they abhorre themselues, they must needs thinke and speake. He giues instance in a patient of his, that when he would pray, had such euill thoughts still suggested to him, & wicked Ad maledicē dum Deo. meditations. Another instance he hath of a woman that was often tempted to curse God, to blaspheame, & kill her selfe. Sometimes the Diuell, as they say, stands without and talkes with them, sometimes he is within them, as they thinke, & there speaks and talkes as to such that are possessed; As Apollidorus in Plutarch, thought his heart spake within him. There is a most memorable example of Goulart. Francis Spira an Aduocate of Padua. A o 1545. that being desperate, by no counsell of learned men could bee comforted, hee felt [Page 781] as he said, the paines of hell in his soule, in all other things hee discoursed a right, but in this most mad. Frisemelica, Bellouat and some other excellent Physitians, coud neither make him eat, drinke, or sleepe, no perswasion could ease him. Neuer pleaded any man so well for himselfe, as this man did against himselfe, and so he desperatly died: Springer a Lawyer hath written his life. Cardinall Crescence died so likewise desperat at Verona, still he thought a black dog followed him to his death bed, no man could driue the dogge away, Sleidan com. 23. cap. lib. 3. Whilst I was a writing this Treatise, saith Montaltus, cap. 2. de melancholia Dum haec scribo implorat opë meam monacha in reliquis sana & iudicio recta per 5. annos melancholica damnatam se dicit conscientiae stimuls oppressa, &c. A Nunne came to me for helpe, well for all other matters, but troubled in conscience for 5 yeares last past she is almost mad, and not able to resist, thinkes she hath offended God and is certainely damned. Foelix Plater hath store of instances of such as thought themselues damned, Alios conquerentes audiuise esse ex damnatorum numero Deo non esse curae al a (que) infinita, quae proferre non audebant vel abhorrebant. forsaken of God, &c. One amongst the rest, that durst not goe to Church, or come neere the Rhine, for feare to make away himselfe, because then he was most especially tempted. These and such like Symptomes, are intended and remitted, as the m [...]lady it selfe is more or lesse, some will heare good counsell, some will not, some desire helpe, some reiect all, and will not be eased.
SVBSECT. 5. Prognosticks of Despaire, Blasphemy, violent death, &c.
MOst Musculus. Patritius. ad vim sibi infere [...] dam cogi [...] homines. part these kind of persons make away themselues some are mad, but most offer violence to their owne persons. A wounded spirit who can beare, Prou. 18.14. As Cain, Saul, Achitophel, Iudas, blaspheamed and dyed. Bede saith Pilot died desperate eight yeares after Christ, 3. De mentis alienat. obseruat lib 1. Faelix Plater hath collected many examples, Vxor Mercatoris diu vexationibus te [...]tata & [...]. A Marchants wife that was long troubled with such temptations, in the night rose [Page 782] out of her bed, and out of the windowe broke her necke into the street, another drowned himselfe desperate as hee was in the Rhene, some cut their throats, many hang themselues. But this needs no illustration. It is controuerted by some whether a man so offering violence to himselfe dying desperate may be saued I or no? If they die so obstinately and suddainely, that they cannot so much as wish for mercy, the worst is to be suspected, because they die impenitent. Abernethy. If their death haue beene a little more ling [...]ing, wherein they might haue some leasure in their hearts to cry for mercy, charity may iudge the best, diuers haue beene recouered out of the very act of hanging and drowning themselues, and so brought ad sanam mentem, they haue beene very penitent, & much abhorred their former fact, & haue confessed that they repented in an instant, and cried for mercy in their hearts. If a man put desperate hands vpon himselfe by occasion of madnesse or melancholy, if hee haue giuen testimony before of his regeneration, in regard hee doe this not so much out of his will, as ex vi morbi, we must make the best construction of it, as Busbequius. Turkes doe, that thinke all fools and madmen goe directly to Heauen.
SVBSECT. 6. Cure of Despaire by Physicke, good counsell, comforts, &c.
EXperience teacheth vs, Iohn Maior vitis patrum quidam negauit Christum per Chirographum [...] p [...]st restitutus. that though many dy obstinate, and wilfull in this malady, yet many againe are able to resist and ouercome, seeke for helpe and finde comfort, are taken è faucibus Erebi, from the chops of hell and out of the Diuells pawes, though they haue by obligation giuen themselues to him. Some out of their owne strength & Gods assistance. Though he kill me, saith Iob, yet will I trust in him, out of good counsell, aduice; and physicke. Trincaueli [...]s lib. 3. consil. 46. Bellonacus cured a Monke by altering of his habit and course of life: Plater [Page 783] many by Physicke alone. But for the most part they must concurre, and they take a wrong course that thinke to ouercome this feral passion by physicke alone, & they are as much out, that thinke to worke this effect by good aduice alone, though both be forcible in themselues, yet vis vnita fortior, they must goe hand in hand in this disease: — alterius sic altera poscit opem. For Physicke the same course is to be taken with this as in other melancholy, diet, ayre, exercise, all those passions and perturbations of the minde, &c. are to be rectified by the same meanes. They must by no meanes be left solitary, or to themselues, never idle, neuer out of company. Counsell, good comfort is to be applied as they shall see the parties inclined, or to the causes; whether it be losse, feare, griefe, discontent, or some such ferall accident, a guilty conscience, or otherwise by frequent meditation, or too grieuous an apprehension, and consideration of his former life, by hearing, reading of Scriptures, good Diuines, good aduice and conference it must be corrected and counterpoysed. Many excellent exhortations, pa [...]neticall discourses are extant to this purpose, for such as are any way troubled in mind Perkins, Grenham, Hayward, Bright, Hemingius, &c. are copious in this subiect. Consult with them and such others.
SPERATE MISERI, CAVETE FOELICES.
Quicquid feceris, quantumcun (que) peccaueris, adhuc in vitâ es: vnde te omninò, si sanare nollet, Deus auferret: qui enim clamando tibi persuasit, ne recederes, parcendo clamat, vt redeas.
Omnipotenti medico nullus languor insanabilis occurrit: tantum tu curari te sinas, manus eius ne repellas: nouit quid agat: non tantum delecteris, cùm fouet, sedtoleres, cùm secat.
Vis à dubio liberari: Vis, quod incertum est, euadere: age paenitentiam, dum sanus es: si sic agis, dico tibi, quod securus es, quia paenitentiam egisti eo tempore, quo peccare potuisti.
[Page]The Conclusion of the Author to the Reader.
THe last Section shall be mine, to cut the strings of Democritus visor, to vnmaske and shew him as he is.
Democritus began as a Prologue in this Trage-comedie, but why doth the Author end, and act the Epilogue in his owne name? I intended at first to haue concealed my selfe, but secundae cogitationes &c. for some reasons I haue altered mine intent, and am willing to subscribe.
If ought be otherwise then it should be, since I haue now put my selfe vpon the stage, I must vndergoe and abide the censure of it, iacta est alèa, and I may not escape it. It is most true, stylus virum arguit, our style bewrayes vs, Vt venatores feram è vestigio impresso ex script [...]ūculâ virum Lipsius. and as hunters find their game by the trace, so is a man descried by his writings. I haue laid my selfe open (I know it) in this Treatise, and shall be censured I doubt not, yet this is some comfort, vt palata sic iudicia, out censures are as various as our palates: If I be taxed, exploded by some, I shall happily be as much approued and commended by others. It was Democritus fortune, Idem irrisioni & admirationi habitus, and 'tis the common doome of all writers: I seeke not to be commended; non sum adeo informis, I would not be vilified. I feare good mens censures, Iuuenal Sat. 9 & linguas mancipiorum contemne, as the barking of a dogge, I securely contemne the malitious and scurrile obloquies, flouts, calumnies of those railers and detracters, I scorne the rest. Primus vest [...]um non sum nec imus. I am none of the best of you, I am none of the meanest; Howsoeuer, I am now come to retract some part of that which I haue writ
I could wish it otherwise, expunged, and to this end I haue annexed this Apologetical Appendix, to craue pardō for that which is amisse. I doe suspect some precedent passages haue bin distastfull, as too Satyricall & bitter; some againe as too Comicall, homely, broad, or lightly spoken. For the first, I grant that of Annal. 15. Tacitus to be true, Asperae facetiae vbi nimis ex vero traxere, a [...]rem sui memoriam relinquunt, a bitter iest leaues a sting behind it; And as S r Fr. Bacon in his Essayes, now L. high Chauncellor of England. an honorable & worthy man obserues, They feare a Satyrists wit, he their memories. I might therefore suspect, but I hope I haue wronged no man. And though for this Prefat. Democ. I haue Apologized already. Seneca Med. Act. 3. Yet in Medeas wordes.
To the other of lightnesse, I make answere, Omnia munda mundis, and as Augusta Liuia sometimes said, viros nudos castae foeminae nihil à statuis distare, A naked man to a modest woman, is no otherwise then a picture. Mala mens, malus animus, Hony Soit qui mal y' pense. If in thy censure it bee to light, I aduise thee, as Lipsius did his reader for some places of Plautus, Istos quasi Sirenum scopulos praeteruchare, if they like thee not, let them passe; or oppose that which is good to that which is bad, reiect not therefore all: but to inuert that verse of Martiall and apply it to my present vse, which Praefat. Suid. Hierome Wolfius did to his Translation of Suidas;
Sunt mala, sunt quadam mediocria, sunt bona plura, leuicula quaedam & ridicula adscribere non sun [...] grauatus, quae pro suo candore quis (que) interpretetur; some is bad, some indifferent, some good; I haue inserted some things more homely or [Page] light, which I would request euery man to interpret to the best, † and conclude in Scaligers words to Cardan, Sime cognitum haberes, non solum donares nobis has facetias nostras, sed [...]tiam indignum duceres tam humanum animum, lene ingenium vel minimā suspitionem deprecari oportere. But this likewise I haue formerly excused withall those harsh compositions, Tautologicall repetitions, perturbation of tences and numbers &c. I should indeed (had I wisely done) obserued that precept of the Poet. — Hor. Nonum (que) prematur in annum. And haue taken more care: or as Alexander, the Physitian would haue done by Lapis Lazuli 50. times washed before it bee vsed; I should haue perused, corrected and amended this Tract, but I had not that happy leasure, no amanuenses, assistants; and was enforced as a Beare doth her whelpes, to Canis festi [...]ans caecos parit caetulos. bring forth this confused lumpe, and had not space to licke it into forme, as she doth her young ones; but euen so to publish it, as it was written at first, once for all, in an extemporanean stile, quicquid in buccam venit, as I doe commonly all other exercises, stans pede in vno, as hee made verses, out of a confused company of notes; effudi quicquid dictanit Genius meus, and writ with as small deliberation, as I doe ordinarily speake. So that as a riuer runs precipitate & swift, & sometimes dull and slow; now direct, now per ambages about; now deepe then shallow; now muddy, then cleere; now broad, then narrow doth my style flowe, now more serious, then light, now more elaborate or remisse. Comicall, Satyricall, as the present subiect required, or as at that time I was affected. And if thou vouchsafe to read this Treatise, it shall seeme no otherwise to thee, then the way to an ordinary traueller; sometimes faire, sometimes foule, here Champion, there inclosed; barren in one place, better soile in another; by woods, groues, hills, dales, plaines, &c. I shal lead thee per ardua montium & lubrica val lium & roscidae cespitum, & glebosae camporum, through variety of obiects, that which thou shalt like and dislike.
For the matter it selfe or method, if it be faulty, consider I pray you that of Columella, nihil perfectum aut à singulari [Page] consummatum industriâ, no man can obserue all, much is defectiue, and may be iustly taxed, altered in Galen Aristotle, and the very best. Boni venatoris, ( Pet. Nannius notis in Hor. one obserues) plures fer as capere non omnes, he is a good huntsman cā catch some, not all, Non hic colonus domicilium habeo sed topiarij in morem hinc inde florem vellic [...]. I haue done mine indeuor. Besides, I dwel not in these humane studies, or Physicke, they are no part of my profession, non hic sulcos ducimus, non hoc puluere de sudamus, I am but a stranger, a smatterer in them, here and there I pull a flower. And I doe easily grant, if a rigid censurer should criticize on this which I haue writ, he should not find three faults as Scaliger in Terence, but 300. euen as many as hee hath done in Cardans subtilties, or Borocius on Sacro-Boscus. If ought be amisse, I require a friendly admonition, no bitter inuectiue, otherwise as in ordinary controuersies, funem contentionis nectamus. sed cui bono? we may contend, and likely misuse one another, but to what purpose? we are both schollers, say,
If we doe wrangle, what shall we get by it? trouble and wronge our selues, make sport for others.
When all is done, it may be, that which thou so much reprehendest, and in thy iudgement dost so much condemne, is not faulty, not to be condemned: Quot homines tot sententiae, I like it, so doth he, thou dost not, is it therefore vnfit [...], absurd and ridiculous? Vnusquis (que) abundat sensu suo, Fieri non potest vt quod quis (que) cogitat dicat vnus. and one man cannot expresse what euery man thinkes, or please all. It is the common humour, Muretus. Si quid forsan omissum, quod is animo conceperit, si quae dictio &c. to discommend that which they dislike themselues, if ought be omitted, added, if he say not point blanke, as they would haue it, he is an idiot, an afse, nullus est. An easie matter it is to find fault, to censure, vilifie, detract from others, Lipsius. facilia putant omnes quae iam facta, nec de salebris cogitant vbi via strata, a thing of nothing when it is done, and who could not haue done as much?
As for the end and vse of this precedent Discourse, Prefat. Democ. I referre you to that which hath beene formerly said. In the [Page] meane time, if any man shall say, Medice cura teipsum, or as Wisdom. 17.8. it was obiected to those wisards, They that promised to driue away feare and trouble from the sicke person, were sicke for feare, and worthy to be laughed at. I replie with Tullij epist. fam. lib. 3. Sulpitius; Medici qui in alienis morbis profitentur se tenere medicinae scientiam ipsi se curare non possunt, they that cure others, cannot well prescribe Physicke to themselues.
It now remaines, that I make a thankefull remembrance of such friends, to whom I haue beene beholden for their approbation, or troubled in perusing seuerall parts, or all of this Treatise. For I did impart it to some of our worthiest Physitians, whose approbations I had for matters of Physicke, and to some Diuines, and others of better note in our Vniuersity, as wel as to my more priuate Collegiate friends: whose censures when I had passed, and that with good encouragement to proceed, I was the bolder to hasten it. permissu superiorum, to the Presse. I will name no man, or prefixe as the custome is any Encomiasticke verses, which I thanke my friends haue beene offered, least if either whole or part should be misliked, I should preiudice their iudgment, I ackowledge my selfe much beholding and bound to them: If ought be amisse, I take it wholy to my selfe, and say againe.
But I am ouertroublesome, I will conclude, if first I may request a fauourable censure of such faults as are omitted in the Presse. The Copie (as I haue said) was once written and in hast, I could not alwaye be there my selfe; or had I beene still present, Non omnem molitor quae fluit vnda videt. The Miller sees not all the water goes by his Mill. Besides many letters mistaken, misplaced, added, omitted as i for y, or a for e, or o, false points, &c. which are in some copies onely, not throughout: (To point at each particular of which were to picke out the seedes of a foule bushell of corne) some of the chiefest, as thou shalt find them corrected, I desire thee [Page] to take notice of. My translations are sometimes rather Paraphrases, and that onely taken which was to my purpose; quotations are often inserted in the Text, which make the Style more ha [...]sh, or in the Margine as it hapned. Greeke Authors, Plato, Plutarch, Athenaeus, &c. I haue cited out of their interpretors, because the Originall was not so ready &c. I haue indeede mingled Sacra prophanis, but I hope not prophaned; and in repetition of Authors names, not according to Chronologie, rancked them per accidens; sometimes Neoterickes, before Ancients, as my memory suggested.
These are the things which I thought good to mention in this Epilogue, the consideration of which I leaue to thy favorable censure, and withall submissiunesse, as I ought, my selfe and these my labours to a friendly Reader.
Errata.
PA [...]gin 6 linea 1. read 300000. die of &c. p. 98. l. 22. r. so did Alcibiades, p. 100. l. 3. r. Camels milke p. 108. l. 34 r. Braga. p. 116. l. 16. r. subrusticus p. 109. l. 10. r. 13. p. 148. l. 16. r. reserue. p. 154. l. 26. r. Naboths p. 169. mar. [...] tuae non sunt imitanda Dianae. p. 186. l. 20. r. venditarînt. p. 187. l. 36. parasiti p. 206. l. 10. r. stercus p. 207. l. 7. puluenari p. 231. l. 20. r. palpitantes p. 134. l. 12. r. Lues the 11. p. 241. l. 14. r. Pierius p. 252. l. 1. r. by that &c. p. 269. l. 10. r. things signified to come. p. 165. l. 16. r. patient. p. 224. l. 11. it ought.
Pag. 283. l. vlt. dele ☊. p. [...]83. for ☊. read ☽. p. 295. l. 2 [...]. r. iustifie p. 302. l. 12. r. be. 324. marg. r. birds that liue, p. 219. l. 10. towards and from. p. 335. l. 18. & 19. ( [...] &c. to dayes) adde parenthesis. p. 367. l. 19. dele to p 390 mar. r. illa [...] p. 409. l. 12. r. infelicitie. p. 411. l. 16. r. Columbus p. 414. l. 29. r. Crito p. 463. l. 13. r. or be [...]no [...]. &c.
Pag. 503. l. 35. r. titles p. 599. mar. r. subolfeceram p. 612. l. 22. r. Hippolytus p. 623. l. 36. r. depopulate p. 635. l. 6. r. out of p. 651. l. 6. cervicali l. 11. r. captam p. 6 [...]3. l. [...]5. r. C [...]ytem [...]tra p. 731. l. 16. r. valentine p. 735. mar. r. haereret. p. 744. l. 24. d. [...] p [...] 748 m [...]r. pagi. p. 764. l. 8. transire p. 767. mar. r. nocere p. 773. mar. r. immiscent.