The Anatomy of Melancholy Part 39

Use honest and chaste sports, scenical shows, plays, games; [3534]

_Accedant juvenumque Chori, mistaeque puellae_. And as Marsilius Ficinus concludes an epistle to Bernard Canisia.n.u.s, and some other of his friends, will I this tract to all good students, [3535]"Live merrily, O my friends, free from cares, perplexity, anguish, grief of mind, live merrily,"

_laet.i.tia caelum vos creavit_: [3536]"Again and again I request you to be merry, if anything trouble your hearts, or vex your souls, neglect and contemn it," [3537]"let it pa.s.s." [3538]"And this I enjoin you, not as a divine alone, but as a physician; for without this mirth, which is the life and quintessence of physic, medicines, and whatsoever is used and applied to prolong the life of man, is dull, dead, and of no force." _Dum fata sinunt, vivite laeti_ (Seneca), I say be merry.

[3539] "Nec lusibus virentem Viduemus hanc juventam."

It was Tiresias the prophet's council to [3540]Menippus, that travelled all the world over, even down to h.e.l.l itself to seek content, and his last farewell to Menippus, to be merry. [3541]"Contemn the world" (saith he) "and count that is in it vanity and toys; this only covet all thy life long; be not curious, or over solicitous in anything, but with a well composed and contented estate to enjoy thyself, and above all things to be merry."

[3542] "Si Numerus uti censet sine amore jocisque, Nil est jucundum, vivas in amore jocisque."

Nothing better (to conclude with Solomon, Eccles. iii. 22), "than that a man should rejoice in his affairs." 'Tis the same advice which every physician in this case rings to his patient, as Capivaccius to his, [3543]

"avoid overmuch study and perturbations of the mind, and as much as in thee lies live at heart's-ease:" Prosper Calenus to that melancholy Cardinal Caesius, [3544]"amidst thy serious studies and business, use jests and conceits, plays and toys, and whatsoever else may recreate thy mind."

Nothing better than mirth and merry company in this malady. [3545]"It begins with sorrow" (saith Monta.n.u.s), "it must be expelled with hilarity."

But see the mischief; many men, knowing that merry company is the only medicine against melancholy, will therefore neglect their business; and in another extreme, spend all their days among good fellows in a tavern or an alehouse, and know not otherwise how to bestow their time but in drinking; malt-worms, men-fishes, or water-snakes, [3546]_Qui bibunt solum ranarum more, nihil comedentes_, like so many frogs in a puddle. 'Tis their sole exercise to eat, and drink; to sacrifice to Volupia, Rumina, Edulica, Potina, Mellona, is all their religion. They wish for Philoxenus' neck, Jupiter's trinoctium, and that the sun would stand still as in Joshua's time, to satisfy their l.u.s.t, that they might _dies noctesque pergraecari et bibere_. Flouris.h.i.+ng wits, and men of good parts, good fas.h.i.+on, and good worth, basely prost.i.tute themselves to every rogue's company, to take tobacco and drink, to roar and sing scurrilous songs in base places.

[3547] "Invenies aliquem c.u.m percussore jacentem, Permistum nautis, aut furibus, aut fugitivis."

Which Thomas Erastus objects to Paracelsus, that he would be drinking all day long with carmen and tapsters in a brothel-house, is too frequent among us, with men of better note: like Timocreon of Rhodes, _multa bibens, et multa vorans_, &c. They drown their wits, seethe their brains in ale, consume their fortunes, lose their time, weaken their temperatures, contract filthy diseases, rheums, dropsies, calentures, tremor, get swollen jugulars, pimpled red faces, sore eyes, &c.; heat their livers, alter their complexions, spoil their stomachs, overthrow their bodies; for drink drowns more than the sea and all the rivers that fall into it (mere funges and casks), confound their souls, suppress reason, go from Scylla to Charybdis, and use that which is a help to their undoing. [3548]_Quid refert morbo an ferro pereamve ruina_? [3549]When the Black Prince went to set the exiled king of Castile into his kingdom, there was a terrible battle fought between the English and the Spanish: at last the Spanish fled, the English followed them to the river side, where some drowned themselves to avoid their enemies, the rest were killed. Now tell me what difference is between drowning and killing? As good be melancholy still, as drunken beasts and beggars. Company a sole comfort, and an only remedy to all kind of discontent, is their sole misery and cause of perdition. As Hermione lamented in Euripides, _malae mulieres me fecerunt malam_. Evil company marred her, may they justly complain, bad companions have been their bane.

For, [3550]_malus malum vult ut sit sui similis_; one drunkard in a company, one thief, one wh.o.r.emaster, will by his goodwill make all the rest as bad as himself,

[3551] ------"Et si Nocturnos jures te formidare vapores,"

be of what complexion you will, inclination, love or hate, be it good or bad, if you come amongst them, you must do as they do; yea, [3552]though it be to the prejudice of your health, you must drink _venenum pro vino_. And so like gra.s.shoppers, whilst they sing over their cups all summer, they starve in winter; and for a little vain merriment shall find a sorrowful reckoning in the end.

SECT. III. MEMB. I.

_A Consolatory Digression, containing the Remedies of all manner of Discontents_.

Because in the preceding section I have made mention of good counsel, comfortable speeches, persuasion, how necessarily they are required to the cure of a discontented or troubled mind, how present a remedy they yield, and many times a sole sufficient cure of themselves; I have thought fit in this following section, a little to digress (if at least it be to digress in this subject), to collect and glean a few remedies, and comfortable speeches out of our best orators, philosophers, divines, and fathers of the church, tending to this purpose. I confess, many have copiously written of this subject, Plato, Seneca, Plutarch, Xenophon, Epictetus, Theophrastus, Xenocrates, Grantor, Lucian, Boethius: and some of late, Sadoletus, Cardan, Budaeus, Stella, Petrarch, Erasmus, besides Austin, Cyprian, Bernard, &c.

And they so well, that as Hierome in like case said, _si nostrum areret ingenium, de illorum posset fontibus irrigari_, if our barren wits were dried up, they might be copiously irrigated from those well-springs: and I shall but _actum agere_; yet because these tracts are not so obvious and common, I will epitomise, and briefly insert some of their divine precepts, reducing their voluminous and vast treatises to my small scale; for it were otherwise impossible to bring so great vessels into so little a creek. And although (as Cardan said of his book _de consol._) [3553]"I know beforehand, this tract of mine many will contemn and reject; they that are fortunate, happy, and in flouris.h.i.+ng estate, have no need of such consolatory speeches; they that are miserable and unhappy, think them insufficient to ease their grieved minds, and comfort their misery:" yet I will go on; for this must needs do some good to such as are happy, to bring them to a moderation, and make them reflect and know themselves, by seeing the inconstancy of human felicity, others' misery; and to such as are distressed, if they will but attend and consider of this, it cannot choose but give some content and comfort. [3554]"'Tis true, no medicine can cure all diseases, some affections of the mind are altogether incurable; yet these helps of art, physic, and philosophy must not be contemned." Arria.n.u.s and Plotinus are stiff in the contrary opinion, that such precepts can do little good. Boethius himself cannot comfort in some cases, they will reject such speeches like bread of stones, _Insana stultae mentis haec solatia._ [3555]

"Words add no courage," which [3556]Catiline once said to his soldiers, "a captain's oration doth not make a coward a valiant man:" and as Job [3557]

feelingly said to his friends, "you are but miserable comforters all." 'Tis to no purpose in that vulgar phrase to use a company of obsolete sentences, and familiar sayings: as [3558]Plinius Secundus, being now sorrowful and heavy for the departure of his dear friend Cornelius Rufus, a Roman senator, wrote to his fellow Tiro in like case, _adhibe solatia, sed nova aliqua, sed fortia, quae audierim nunquam, legerim nunquam: nam quae audivi, quae legi omnia, tanto dolore superantur_, either say something that I never read nor heard of before, or else hold thy peace. Most men will here except trivial consolations, ordinary speeches, and known persuasions in this behalf will be of small force; what can any man say that hath not been said? To what end are such paraenetical discourses? you may as soon remove Mount Caucasus, as alter some men's affections. Yet sure I think they cannot choose but do some good, and comfort and ease a little, though it be the same again, I will say it, and upon that hope I will adventure. [3559]_Non meus hic sermo_, 'tis not my speech this, but of Seneca, Plutarch, Epictetus, Austin, Bernard, Christ and his Apostles. If I make nothing, as [3560]Montaigne said in like case, I will mar nothing; 'tis not my doctrine but my study, I hope I shall do n.o.body wrong to speak what I think, and deserve not blame in imparting my mind. If it be not for thy ease, it may for mine own; so Tully, Cardan, and Boethius wrote _de consol_. as well to help themselves as others; be it as it may I will essay.

Discontents and grievances are either general or particular; general are wars, plagues, dearths, famine, fires, inundations, unseasonable weather, epidemical diseases which afflict whole kingdoms, territories, cities; or peculiar to private men, [3561]as cares, crosses, losses, death of friends, poverty, want, sickness, orbities, injuries, abuses, &c. Generally all discontent, [3562]_homines quatimur fortunae, salo_. No condition free, _quisque suos patimur manes_. Even in the midst of our mirth and jollity, there is some grudging, some complaint; as [3563]he saith, our whole life is a glycypicron, a bitter sweet pa.s.sion, honey and gall mixed 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 infers, [3564]"who art thou that hopest to go free? Why dost thou not grieve thou art a mortal man, and not governor of the world?" _Ferre quam sortem patiuntur omnes, Nemo recuset_, [3565]"If it be common to all, why should one man be more disquieted than another?" If thou alone wert distressed, it were indeed more irksome, and less to be endured; but when the calamity is common, comfort thyself with this, thou hast more fellows, _Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris_; 'tis not thy sole case, and why shouldst thou be so impatient? [3566]"Aye, but alas we are more miserable than others, what shall we do? Besides private miseries, we live in perpetual fear and danger of common enemies: we have Bellona's whips, and pitiful outcries, for epithalamiums; for pleasant music, that fearful noise of ordnance, drums, and warlike trumpets still sounding in our ears; instead of nuptial torches, we have firing of towns and cities; for triumphs, lamentations; for joy, tears." [3567]"So it is, and so it was, and so it ever will be. He that refuseth to see and hear, to suffer this, is not fit to live in this world, and knows not the common condition of all men, to whom so long as they live, with a reciprocal course, joys and sorrows are annexed, and succeed one another." It is inevitable, it may not be avoided, and why then shouldst thou be so much troubled? _Grave nihil est homini quod fert necessitas_, as [3568]Tully deems out of an old poet, "that which is necessary cannot be grievous." If it be so, then comfort thyself in this, [3569]"that whether thou wilt or no, it must be endured:"

make a virtue of necessity, and conform thyself to undergo it. [3570]_Si longa est, levis est; si gravis est, brevis est._ If it be long, 'tis light; if grievous, it cannot last. It will away, _dies dolorem minuit_, and if nought else, time will wear it out; custom will ease it; [3571]

oblivion is a common medicine for all losses, injuries, griefs, and detriments whatsoever, [3572]"and when they are once past, this commodity comes of infelicity, it makes the rest of our life sweeter unto us:" [3573]

_Atque haec olim meminisse juvabit_, "recollection of the past is pleasant:" "the privation and want of a thing many times makes it more pleasant and delightsome than before it was." We must not think the happiest of us all to escape here without some misfortunes,

[3574] ------"Usque adeo nulla est sincera voluptas, Solicitumque aliquid laetis intervenit."------

Heaven and earth are much unlike: [3575]"Those heavenly bodies indeed are freely carried in their orbs without any impediment or interruption, to continue their course for innumerable ages, and make their conversions: but men are urged with many difficulties, and have diverse hindrances, oppositions still crossing, interrupting their endeavours and desires, and no mortal man is free from this law of nature." We must not therefore hope to have all things answer our own expectation, to have a continuance of good success and fortunes, _Fortuna nunquam perpetuo est bona_. And as Minutius Felix, the Roman consul, told that insulting Coriola.n.u.s, drunk with his good fortunes, look not for that success thou hast hitherto had; [3576]"It never yet happened to any man since the beginning of the world, nor ever will, to have all things according to his desire, or to whom fortune was never opposite and adverse." Even so it fell out to him as he foretold. And so to others, even to that happiness of Augustus; though he were Jupiter's almoner, Pluto's treasurer, Neptune's admiral, it could not secure him. Such was Alcibiades's fortune, Na.r.s.etes, that great Gonsalvus, and most famous men's, that as [3577]Jovius concludes, "it is almost fatal to great princes, through their own default or otherwise circ.u.mvented with envy and malice, to lose their honours, and die contumeliously." 'Tis so, still hath been, and ever will be, _Nihil est ab omni parte beatum_,

"There's no perfection is so absolute, That some impurity doth not pollute."

Whatsoever is under the moon is subject to corruption, alteration; and so long as thou livest upon earth look not for other. [3578]"Thou shalt not here find peaceable and cheerful days, quiet times, but rather clouds, storms, calumnies, such is our fate." And as those errant planets in their distinct orbs have their several motions, sometimes direct, stationary, retrograde, in apogee, perigee, oriental, occidental, combust, feral, free, and as our astrologers will, have their fort.i.tudes and debilities, by reason of those good and bad irradiations, conferred to each other's site in the heavens, in their terms, houses, case, detriments, &c. So we rise and fall in this world, ebb and flow, in and out, reared and dejected, lead a troublesome life, subject to many accidents and casualties of fortunes, variety of pa.s.sions, infirmities as well from ourselves as others.

Yea, but thou thinkest thou art more miserable than the rest, other men are happy but in respect of thee, their miseries are but flea-bitings to thine, thou alone art unhappy, none so bad as thyself. Yet if, as Socrates said, [3579]"All men in the world should come and bring their grievances together, of body, mind, fortune, sores, ulcers, madness, epilepsies, agues, and all those common calamities of beggary, want, servitude, imprisonment, and lay them on a heap to be equally divided, wouldst thou share alike, and take thy portion? or be as thou art? Without question thou wouldst be as thou art." If some Jupiter should say, to give us all content,

[3580] "Jam faciam quod vultis; eris tu, qui modo miles, Mercator; tu consultus modo, rusticus; hinc vos, Vos hinc mutatis discedite partibus; eia Quid slatis? nolint."

"Well be't so then; you master soldier Shall be a merchant; you sir lawyer A country gentlemen; go you to this, That side you; why stand ye? it's well as 'tis."

[3581]"Every man knows his own, but not others' defects and miseries; and 'tis the nature of all men still to reflect upon themselves, their own misfortunes," not to examine or consider other men's, not to compare themselves with others: To recount their miseries, but not their good gifts, fortunes, benefits, which they have, or ruminate on their adversity, but not once to think on their prosperity, not what they have, but what they want: to look still on them that go before, but not on those infinite numbers that come after. [3582]"Whereas many a man would think himself in heaven, a pretty prince, if he had but the least part of that fortune which thou so much repinest at, abhorrest and accountest a most vile and wretched estate." How many thousands want that which thou hast? how many myriads of poor slaves, captives, of such as work day and night in coal-pits, tin-mines, with sore toil to maintain a poor living, of such as labour in body and mind, live in extreme anguish, and pain, all which thou art free from? _O fortunatos nimium bona si sua norint_: Thou art most happy if thou couldst be content, and acknowledge thy happiness; [3583]_Rem carendo, non fruendo cognoscimus_, when thou shalt hereafter come to want that which thou now loathest, abhorrest, and art weary of, and tired with, when 'tis past thou wilt say thou wert most happy: and after a little miss, wish with all thine heart thou hadst the same content again, mightst lead but such a life, a world for such a life: the remembrance of it is pleasant. Be silent then, [3584]rest satisfied, _desine, intuensque in aliorum infortunia solare mentem_, comfort thyself with other men's misfortunes, and as the mouldwarp in Aesop told the fox, complaining for want of a tail, and the rest of his companions, _tacete, quando me occulis captum videtis_, you complain of toys, but I am blind, be quiet. I say to thee be thou satisfied. It is [3585]recorded of the hares, that with a general consent they went to drown themselves, out of a feeling of their misery; but when they saw a company of frogs more fearful than they were, they began to take courage, and comfort again. Compare thine estate with others. _Similes aliorum respice casus, mitius ista feres_. Be content and rest satisfied, for thou art well in respect to others: be thankful for that thou hast, that G.o.d hath done for thee, he hath not made thee a monster, a beast, a base creature, as he might, but a man, a Christian, such a man; consider aright of it, thou art full well as thou art. [3586]_Quicquid vult habere nemo potest_, no man can have what he will, _Illud potest nolle quod non habet_, he may choose whether he will desire that which he hath not. Thy lot is fallen, make the best of it. [3587]"If we should all sleep at all times," (as Endymion is said to have done) "who then were happier than his fellow?" Our life is but short, a very dream, and while we look about [3588]_immortalitas adest_, eternity is at hand: [3589]"Our life is a pilgrimage on earth, which wise men pa.s.s with great alacrity." If thou be in woe, sorrow, want, distress, in pain, or sickness, think of that of our apostle, "G.o.d chastiseth them whom he loveth: they that sow in tears, shall reap in joy," Psal. cxxvi. 6. "As the furnace proveth the potter's vessel, so doth temptation try men's thoughts," Eccl. xxv. 5, 'tis for [3590]thy good, _Periisses nisi periisses_: hadst thou not been so visited, thou hadst been utterly undone: "as gold in the fire," so men are tried in adversity. _Tribulatio ditut_: and which Camerarius hath well shadowed in an emblem of a thresher and corn,

"Si tritura absit paleis sunt abdita grana, Nos crux mundanis separat a paleis:"

"As thres.h.i.+ng separates from straw the corn, By crosses from the world's chaff are we born."

'Tis the very same which [3591]Chrysostom comments, _hom. 2. in 3 Mat._ "Corn is not separated but by thres.h.i.+ng, nor men from worldly impediments but by tribulation." 'Tis that which [3592]Cyprian ingeminates, _Ser. 4. de immort._ 'Tis that which [3593]Hierom, which all the fathers inculcate, "so we are catechised for eternity." 'Tis that which the proverb insinuates.

_Noc.u.mentum doc.u.mentum_; 'tis that which all the world rings in our ears.

_Deus unic.u.m habet filium sine peccato, nullum sine flagello_: G.o.d, saith [3594]Austin, hath one son without sin, none without correction. [3595]"An expert seaman is tried in a tempest, a runner in a race, a captain in a battle, a valiant man in adversity, a Christian in tentation and misery."

_Basil, hom. 8._ We are sent as so many soldiers into this world, to strive with it, the flesh, the devil; our life is a warfare, and who knows it not?

[3596]_Non est ad astra mollis e terris via_: [3597]"and therefore peradventure this world here is made troublesome unto us," that, as Gregory notes, "we should not be delighted by the way, and forget whither we are going."

[3598] "Ite nunc fortes, ubi celsa magni Ducit exempli via, cur inertis Terga nudatis? superata tellus Sidera donat."

Go on then merrily to heaven. If the way be troublesome, and you in misery, in many grievances: on the other side you have many pleasant sports, objects, sweet smells, delightsome tastes, music, meats, herbs, flowers, &c. to recreate your senses. Or put case thou art now forsaken of the world, dejected, contemned, yet comfort thyself, as it was said to Agar in the wilderness, [3599]"G.o.d sees thee, he takes notice of thee:" there is a G.o.d above that can vindicate thy cause, that can relieve thee. And surely [3600]Seneca thinks he takes delight in seeing thee. "The G.o.ds are well pleased when they see great men contending with adversity," as we are to see men fight, or a man with a beast. But these are toys in respect, [3601]

"Behold," saith he, "a spectacle worthy of G.o.d; a good man contented with his estate." A tyrant is the best sacrifice to Jupiter, as the ancients held, and his best object "a contented mind." For thy part then rest satisfied, "cast all thy care on him, thy burthen on him," [3602]"rely on him, trust on him, and he shall nourish thee, care for thee, give thee thine heart's desire;" say with David, "G.o.d is our hope and strength, in troubles ready to be found," Psal. xlvi. 1. "for they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed," Psal. cxxiv. 1. 2.

"as the mountains are about Jerusalem, so is the Lord about his people, from henceforth and for ever."

MEMB. II.

_Deformity of body, sickness, baseness of birth, peculiar discontents_.

Particular discontents and grievances, are either of body, mind, or fortune, which as they wound the soul of man, produce this melancholy, and many great inconveniences, by that antidote of good counsel and persuasion may be eased or expelled. Deformities and imperfections of our bodies, as lameness, crookedness, deafness, blindness, be they innate or accidental, torture many men: yet this may comfort them, that those imperfections of the body do not a whit blemish the soul, 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 mayst be a good, a wise, upright, honest man. [3603]"Seldom," saith Plutarch, "honesty and beauty dwell together," and oftentimes under a threadbare coat lies an excellent understanding, _saepe sub attrita lat.i.tat sapientia veste_. [3604]Cornelius Mussus, that famous preacher in Italy, when he came first into the pulpit in Venice, was so much contemned by reason of his outside, a little lean, poor, dejected person, [3605]they were all ready to leave the church; but when they heard his voice they did admire him, and happy was that senator could enjoy his company, or invite him first to his house. A silly fellow to look to, may have more wit, learning, honesty, than he that struts it out _Ampullis jactans, &c. grandia gradiens_, and is admired in the world's opinion: _Vilis saepe cadus n.o.bile nectar habet_, the best wine comes out of an old vessel. How many deformed princes, kings, emperors, could I reckon up, philosophers, orators? Hannibal had but one eye, Appius Claudius, Timoleon, blind, Mulea.s.se, king of Tunis, John, king of Bohemia, and Tiresias the prophet. [3606]"The night hath his pleasure;" and for the loss of that one sense such men are commonly recompensed in the rest; they have excellent memories, other good parts, music, and many recreations; much happiness, great wisdom, as Tully well discourseth in his [3607]

Tusculan questions: Homer was blind, yet who (saith he) made more accurate, lively, or better descriptions, with both his eyes? Democritus was blind, yet as Laertius writes of him, he saw more than all Greece besides, as [3608]Plato concludes, _Tum sane mentis oculus acute incipit cernere, quum primum corporis oculus deflorescit_, when our bodily eyes are at worst, generally the eyes of our soul see best. Some philosophers and divines have evirated themselves, and put out their eyes voluntarily, the better to contemplate. Angelus Politia.n.u.s had a tetter in his nose continually running, fulsome in company, yet no man so eloquent and pleasing in his works. Aesop was crooked, Socrates purblind, long-legged, hairy; Democritus withered, Seneca lean and harsh, ugly to behold, yet show me so many flouris.h.i.+ng wits, such divine spirits: Horace a little blear-eyed contemptible fellow, yet who so sententious and wise? Marcilius Picinus, Faber Stapulensis, a couple of dwarfs, [3609]Melancthon a short hard-favoured man, _parvus erat, sed magnus erat_, &c., yet of incomparable parts all three. [3610]Ignatius Loyola the founder of the Jesuits, by reason of a hurt he received in his leg, at the siege of Pampeluna, the chief town of Navarre in Spain, unfit for wars and less serviceable at court, upon that accident betook himself to his beads, and by those means got more honour than ever he should have done with the use of his limbs, and properness of person: [3611]_Vulnus non penetrat animum_, a wound hurts not the soul. Galba the emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame: that great Alexander a little man of stature, [3612]Augustus Caesar of the same pitch: Agesilaus _despicabili forma_; Boccharis a most deformed prince as ever Egypt had, yet as [3613]Diodorus Siculus records of him, in wisdom and knowledge far beyond his predecessors. _A. Dom._ 1306. [3614] Uladeslaus Cubitalis that pigmy king of Poland reigned and fought more victorious battles than 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, dull, and leaden spirits. What's in them?

[3615]_Quid nisi pondus iners stolidaeque ferocia memtis_, What in Osus and Ephialtes (Neptune's sons in Homer), nine acres long?

[3616] "Qui ut magnus Orion, c.u.m pedes incedit, medii per maxima Nerei Stagna, viam findens humero supereminet undas."

"Like tall Orion stalking o'er the flood: When with his brawny breast he cuts the waves, His shoulder scarce the topmost billow laves."

What in Maximinus, Ajax, Caligula, and the rest of those great Zanzummins, or gigantical Anakims, heavy, vast, barbarous lubbers?

[3617] ------"si membra tibi dant grandia Parcae, Mentis eges?"

Their body, saith [3618]Lemnius, "is a burden to them, and their spirits not so lively, nor they so erect and merry:" _Non est in magno corpore mica salis_: a little diamond is more worth than a rocky mountain: which made Alexander Aphrodiseus positively conclude, "The lesser, the [3619]wiser, because the soul was more contracted in such a body." Let Bodine in his _5.

c. method, hist._ plead the rest; the lesser they are, as in Asia, Greece, they have generally the finest wits. And for bodily stature which some so much admire, and goodly presence, 'tis true, to say the best of them, great men are proper, and tall, I grant,--_caput inter nubila condunt_, (hide their heads in the clouds); but _belli pusilli_ little men are pretty: _Sed si bellus h.o.m.o est Cotta, pusillus h.o.m.o est_. Sickness, diseases, trouble many, but without a cause; [3620]"It may be 'tis for the good of their souls:" _Pars fati fuit_, the flesh rebels against the spirit; that which hurts the one, must needs help the other. Sickness is the mother of modesty, putteth us in mind of our mortality; and when we are in the full career of worldly pomp and jollity, she pulleth us by the ear, and maketh us know ourselves. [3621]Pliny calls it, the sum of philosophy, "If we could but perform that in our health, which we promise in our sickness."

_Quum infirmi sumus, optimi sumus_; [3622]for what sick man (as [3623]

Secundus expostulates with Rufus) was ever "lascivious, covetous, or ambitious? he envies no man, admires no man, flatters no man, despiseth no man, listens not after lies and tales," &c. And were it not for such gentle remembrances, men would have no moderation of themselves, they would be worse than tigers, wolves, and lions: who should keep them in awe?

"princes, masters, parents, magistrates, judges, friends, enemies, fair or foul means cannot contain us, but a little sickness," (as [3624]Chrysostom observes) "will correct and amend us." And therefore with good discretion, [3625]Jovia.n.u.s Ponta.n.u.s caused this short sentence to be engraven on his tomb in Naples: "Labour, sorrow, grief, sickness, want and woe, to serve proud masters, bear that superst.i.tious yoke, and bury your clearest friends, &c., are the sauces of our life." If thy disease be continuate and painful to thee, it will not surely last: "and a light affliction, which is but for a moment, causeth unto us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv. 17. bear it with patience; women endure much sorrow in childbed, and yet they will not contain; and those that are barren, wish for this pain; "be courageous, [3626]there is as much valour to be shown 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 its course, thy mind is not any way disabled. Bilibaldus Pirkimerus, senator to Charles the Fifth, ruled all Germany, lying most part of his days sick of the gout upon his bed. The more violent thy torture is, the less it will continue: and though it be severe and hideous for the time, comfort thyself as martyrs do, with honour and immortality. [3627]That famous philosopher Epicurus, being in as miserable pain of stone and colic, as a man might endure, solaced himself with a conceit of immortality; "the joy of his soul for his rare inventions, repelled the pain of his bodily torments."

Baseness of birth is a great disparagement to some men, especially if they be wealthy, bear office, and come to promotion in a commonwealth; then (as [3628]he observes) if their birth be not answerable to their calling, and to their fellows, they are much abashed and ashamed of themselves. Some scorn their own father and mother, deny brothers and sisters, with the rest of their kindred and friends, and will not suffer them to come near them, when they are in their pomp, accounting it a scandal to their greatness to have such beggarly beginnings. Simon in Lucian, having now got a little wealth, changed his name from Simon to Simonides, for that there were so many beggars of his kin, and set the house on fire where he was born, because no body should point at it. Others buy t.i.tles, coats of arms, and by all means screw themselves into ancient families, falsifying pedigrees, usurping scutcheons, and all because they would not seem to be base. The reason is, for that this gentility is so much admired by a company of outsides, and such honour attributed unto it, as amongst [3629]Germans, Frenchmen, and Venetians, the gentry scorn the commonalty, and will not suffer them to match with them; they depress, and make them as so many a.s.ses, to carry burdens. In our ordinary talk and fallings out, the most opprobrious and scurrile name we can fasten upon a man, or first give, is to call him base rogue, beggarly rascal, and the like: Whereas in my judgment, this ought of all other grievances to trouble men least. Of all vanities and fopperies, to brag of gentility is the greatest; for what is it they crack so much of, and challenge such superiority, as if they were demiG.o.ds? Birth? _Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri_? [3630]It is _non ens_, a mere flash, a ceremony, a toy, a thing of nought. Consider the beginning, present estate, progress, ending of gentry, and then tell me what it is. [3631]"Oppression, fraud, cozening, usury, knavery, bawdry, murder, and tyranny, are the beginning of many ancient families:"

[3632]"one hath been a bloodsucker, a parricide, the death of many a silly soul in some unjust quarrels, seditions, made many an orphan and poor widow, and for that he is made a lord or an earl, and his posterity gentlemen for ever after. Another hath been a bawd, a pander to some great men, a parasite, a slave," [3633]"prost.i.tuted himself, his wife, daughter,"

to some lascivious prince, and for that he is exalted. Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous wh.o.r.emasters and st.u.r.dy drinkers; many come into this parchment-row (so [3634]one calls it) by flattery or cozening; search your old families, and you shall scarce find of a mult.i.tude (as Aeneas Sylvius observes) _qui sceleratum non habent ortum_, that have not a wicked beginning; _aut qui vi et dolo eo fastigii non ascendunt_, as that plebeian in [3635]Machiavel in a set oration proved to his fellows, that do not rise by knavery, force, foolery, villainy, or such indirect means. "They are commonly able that are wealthy; virtue and riches seldom settle on one man: who then sees not the beginning of n.o.bility? spoils enrich one, usury another, treason a third, witchcraft a fourth, flattery a fifth, lying, stealing, bearing false witness a sixth, adultery the seventh," &c. One makes a fool of himself to make his lord merry, another dandles my young master, bestows a little nag on him, a third marries a cracked piece, &c. Now may it please your good wors.h.i.+p, your lords.h.i.+p, who was the first founder of your family? The poet answers, [3636]_Aut Pastor fuit, aut illud quod dicere nolo._ Are he or you the better gentleman? If he, then we have traced him to his form. If you, what is it of which thou boastest so much? That thou art his son. It may be his heir, his reputed son, and yet indeed a priest or a serving man may be the true father of him; but we will not controvert that now; married women are all honest; thou art his son's son's son, begotten and born _infra quatuor maria_, &c. Thy great great great grandfather was a rich citizen, and then in all likelihood a usurer, a lawyer, and then a--a courtier, and then a--a country gentleman, and then he sc.r.a.ped it out of sheep, &c. And you are the heir of all his virtues, fortunes, t.i.tles; so then, what is your gentry, but as Hierom saith, _Opes antiquae, inveteratae divitiae_, ancient wealth?

that is the definition of gentility. The father goes often to the devil, to make his son a gentleman. For the present, what is it? "It began" (saith [3637]Agrippa) "with strong impiety, with tyranny, oppression," &c. and so it is maintained: wealth began it (no matter how got), wealth continueth and increaseth it. Those Roman knights were so called, if they could dispend _per annum_ so much. [3638]In the kingdom of Naples and France, he that buys such lands, buys the honour, t.i.tle, barony, together with it; and they that can dispend so much amongst us, must be called to bear office, to be knights, or fine for it, as one observes, [3639]_n.o.biliorum ex censu judicant_, our n.o.bles are measured by their means. And what now is the object of honour? What maintains our gentry but wealth? [3640]_n.o.bilitas sine re projecta vilior alga._ Without means gentry is naught worth, nothing so contemptible and base. [3641]_Disputare de n.o.bilitate generis, sine divitiis, est disputare de n.o.bilitate stercoris_, saith Nevisa.n.u.s the lawyer, to dispute of gentry without wealth, is (saving your reverence) to discuss the original of a merd. So that it is wealth alone that denominates, money which maintains it, gives _esse_ to it, for which every man may have it. And what is their ordinary exercise? [3642]"sit to eat, drink, lie down to sleep, and rise to play:" wherein lies their worth and sufficiency? in a few coats of arms, eagles, lions, serpents, bears, tigers, dogs, crosses, bends, fesses, &c., and such like baubles, which they commonly set up in their galleries, porches, windows, on bowls, platters, coaches, in tombs, churches, men's sleeves, &c. [3643]"If he can hawk and hunt, ride a horse, play at cards and dice, swagger, drink, swear," take tobacco with a grace, sing, dance, wear his clothes in fas.h.i.+on, court and please his mistress, talk big fustian, [3644]insult, scorn, strut, contemn others, and use a little mimical and apish compliment above the rest, he is a complete, (_Egregiam vero laudem_) a well-qualified gentleman; these are most of their employments, this their greatest commendation. What is gentry, this parchment n.o.bility then, but as [3645]

Agrippa defines it, "a sanctuary of knavery and naughtiness, a cloak for wickedness and execrable vices, of pride, fraud, contempt, boasting, oppression, dissimulation, l.u.s.t, gluttony, malice, fornication, adultery, ignorance, impiety?" A n.o.bleman therefore in some likelihood, as he concludes, is an "atheist, an oppressor, an epicure, a [3646]gull, a dizzard, an illiterate idiot, an outside, a glowworm, a proud fool, an arrant a.s.s," _Ventris et inguinis mancipium_, a slave to his l.u.s.t and belly, _solaque libidine fortis_. And as Salvia.n.u.s observed of his countrymen the Aquitanes in France, _sicut t.i.tulis primi fuere, sic et vitiis_ (as they were the first in rank so also in rottenness); and Cabinet du Roy, their own writer, distinctly of the rest. "The n.o.bles of Berry are most part lechers, they of Touraine thieves, they of Narbonne covetous, they of Guienne coiners, they of Provence atheists, they of Rheims superst.i.tious, they of Lyons treacherous, of Normandy proud, of Picardy insolent," &c. We may generally conclude, the greater men, the more vicious. In fine, as [3647]Aeneas Sylvius adds, "they are most part miserable, sottish, and filthy fellows, like the walls of their houses, fair without, foul within." What dost thou vaunt of now? [3648]"What dost thou gape and wonder at? admire him for his brave apparel, horses, dogs, fine houses, manors, orchards, gardens, walks? Why? a fool may be possessor of this as well as he; and he that accounts him a better man, a n.o.bleman for having of it, he is a fool himself." Now go and brag of thy gentility.