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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3592.txt b/3592.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e03e3d --- /dev/null +++ b/3592.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2756 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Essays of Montaigne, Volume 12 +by Michel de Montaigne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Essays of Montaigne, Volume 12 + +Author: Michel de Montaigne + +Release Date: September 17, 2006 [EBook #3592] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE, VOLUME 12 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE + +Translated by Charles Cotton + +Edited by William Carew Hazilitt + +1877 + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME 12. + +XVIII. Of giving the lie. +XIX. Of liberty of conscience. +XX. That we taste nothing pure. +XXI. Against idleness. +XXII. Of Posting. +XXIII. Of ill means employed to a good end. +XXIV. Of the Roman grandeur. +XXV. Not to counterfeit being sick. +XXVI. Of thumbs. +XXVII. Cowardice the mother of cruelty. +XXVIII. All things have their season. +XXIX. Of virtue. +XXX. Of a monstrous child. +XXXI. Of anger. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OF GIVING THE LIE + +Well, but some one will say to me, this design of making a man's self the +subject of his writing, were indeed excusable in rare and famous men, who +by their reputation had given others a curiosity to be fully informed of +them. It is most true, I confess and know very well, that a mechanic +will scarce lift his eyes from his work to look at an ordinary man, +whereas a man will forsake his business and his shop to stare at an +eminent person when he comes into a town. It misbecomes any other to +give his own character, but him who has qualities worthy of imitation, +and whose life and opinions may serve for example: Caesar and Xenophon +had a just and solid foundation whereon to found their narrations, the +greatness of their own performances; and were to be wished that we had +the journals of Alexander the Great, the commentaries that Augustus, +Cato, Sylla, Brutus, and others left of their actions; of such persons +men love and contemplate the very statues even in copper and marble. +This remonstrance is very true; but it very little concerns me: + + "Non recito cuiquam, nisi amicis, idque coactus; + Non ubivis, coramve quibuslibet, in medio qui + Scripta foro recitant, sunt multi, quique lavantes." + + ["I repeat my poems only to my friends, and when bound to do so; + not before every one and everywhere; there are plenty of reciters + in the open market-place and at the baths."--Horace, sat. i. 4, 73.] + +I do not here form a statue to erect in the great square of a city, in a +church, or any public place: + + "Non equidem hoc studeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis, + Pagina turgescat...... + Secreti loquimur:" + + ["I study not to make my pages swell with empty trifles; + you and I are talking in private."--Persius, Sat., v. 19.] + +'tis for some corner of a library, or to entertain a neighbour, +a kinsman, a friend, who has a mind to renew his acquaintance and +familiarity with me in this image of myself. Others have been encouraged +to speak of themselves, because they found the subject worthy and rich; +I, on the contrary, am the bolder, by reason the subject is so poor and +sterile that I cannot be suspected of ostentation. I judge freely of the +actions of others; I give little of my own to judge of, because they are +nothing: I do not find so much good in myself, that I cannot tell it +without blushing. + +What contentment would it not be to me to hear any one thus relate to me +the manners, faces, countenances, the ordinary words and fortunes of my +ancestors? how attentively should I listen to it! In earnest, it would +be evil nature to despise so much as the pictures of our friends and +predecessors, the fashion of their clothes and arms. I preserve their +writing, seal, and a particular sword they wore, and have not thrown the +long staves my father used to carry in his hand, out of my closet. + + "Paterna vestis, et annulus, tanto charior est + posteris, quanto erga parentes major affectus." + + ["A father's garment and ring is by so much dearer to his posterity, + as there is the greater affection towards parents." + --St. Aug., De Civat. Dei, i. 13.] + +If my posterity, nevertheless, shall be of another mind, I shall be +avenged on them; for they cannot care less for me than I shall then do +for them. All the traffic that I have in this with the public is, that I +borrow their utensils of writing, which are more easy and most at hand; +and in recompense shall, peradventure, keep a pound of butter in the +market from melting in the sun:--[Montaigne semi-seriously speculates on +the possibility of his MS. being used to wrap up butter.] + + "Ne toga cordyllis, ne penula desit olivis; + Et laxas scombris saepe dabo tunicas;" + + ["Let not wrappers be wanting to tunny-fish, nor olives; + and I shall supply loose coverings to mackerel." + --Martial, xiii. I, I.] + +And though nobody should read me, have I wasted time in entertaining +myself so many idle hours in so pleasing and useful thoughts? In +moulding this figure upon myself, I have been so often constrained to +temper and compose myself in a right posture, that the copy is truly +taken, and has in some sort formed itself; painting myself for others, +I represent myself in a better colouring than my own natural complexion. +I have no more made my book than my book has made me: 'tis a book +consubstantial with the author, of a peculiar design, a parcel of my +life, and whose business is not designed for others, as that of all other +books is. In giving myself so continual and so exact an account of +myself, have I lost my time? For they who sometimes cursorily survey +themselves only, do not so strictly examine themselves, nor penetrate so +deep, as he who makes it his business, his study, and his employment, who +intends a lasting record, with all his fidelity, and with all his force: +The most delicious pleasures digested within, avoid leaving any trace of +themselves, and avoid the sight not only of the people, but of any other +person. How often has this work diverted me from troublesome thoughts? +and all that are frivolous should be reputed so. Nature has presented us +with a large faculty of entertaining ourselves alone; and often calls us +to it, to teach us that we owe ourselves in part to society, but chiefly +and mostly to ourselves. That I may habituate my fancy even to meditate +in some method and to some end, and to keep it from losing itself and +roving at random, 'tis but to give to body and to record all the little +thoughts that present themselves to it. I give ear to my whimsies, +because I am to record them. It often falls out, that being displeased +at some action that civility and reason will not permit me openly to +reprove, I here disgorge myself, not without design of public +instruction: and also these poetical lashes, + + "Zon zur l'oeil, ion sur le groin, + Zon zur le dos du Sagoin," + + ["A slap on his eye, a slap on his snout, a slap on Sagoin's + back."--Marot. Fripelippes, Valet de Marot a Sagoin.] + + +imprint themselves better upon paper than upon the flesh. What if I +listen to books a little more attentively than ordinary, since I watch if +I can purloin anything that may adorn or support my own? I have not at +all studied to make a book; but I have in some sort studied because I had +made it; if it be studying to scratch and pinch now one author, and then +another, either by the head or foot, not with any design to form opinions +from them, but to assist, second, and fortify those I already have +embraced. But whom shall we believe in the report he makes of himself in +so corrupt an age? considering there are so few, if, any at all, whom we +can believe when speaking of others, where there is less interest to lie. +The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth; +for, as Pindar says, to be true is the beginning of a great virtue, and +the first article that Plato requires in the governor of his Republic. +The truth of these days is not that which really is, but what every man +persuades another man to believe; as we generally give the name of money +not only to pieces of the dust alloy, but even to the false also, if they +will pass. Our nation has long been reproached with this vice; for +Salvianus of Marseilles, who lived in the time of the Emperor +Valentinian, says that lying and forswearing themselves is with the +French not a vice, but a way of speaking. He who would enhance this +testimony, might say that it is now a virtue in them; men form and +fashion themselves to it as to an exercise of honour; for dissimulation +is one of the most notable qualities of this age. + +I have often considered whence this custom that we so religiously observe +should spring, of being more highly offended with the reproach of a vice +so familiar to us than with any other, and that it should be the highest +insult that can in words be done us to reproach us with a lie. Upon +examination, I find that it is natural most to defend the defects with +which we are most tainted. It seems as if by resenting and being moved +at the accusation, we in some sort acquit ourselves of the fault; though +we have it in effect, we condemn it in outward appearance. May it not +also be that this reproach seems to imply cowardice and feebleness of +heart? of which can there be a more manifest sign than to eat a man's own +words--nay, to lie against a man's own knowledge? Lying is a base vice; +a vice that one of the ancients portrays in the most odious colours when +he says, "that it is to manifest a contempt of God, and withal a fear of +men." It is not possible more fully to represent the horror, baseness, +and irregularity of it; for what can a man imagine more hateful and +contemptible than to be a coward towards men, and valiant against his +Maker? Our intelligence being by no other way communicable to one +another but by a particular word, he who falsifies that betrays public +society. 'Tis the only way by which we communicate our thoughts and +wills; 'tis the interpreter of the soul, and if it deceive us, we no +longer know nor have further tie upon one another; if that deceive us, it +breaks all our correspondence, and dissolves all the ties of government. +Certain nations of the newly discovered Indies (I need not give them +names, seeing they are no more; for, by wonderful and unheardof example, +the desolation of that conquest has extended to the utter abolition of +names and the ancient knowledge of places) offered to their gods human +blood, but only such as was drawn from the tongue and ears, to expiate +for the sin of lying, as well heard as pronounced. That good fellow of +Greece--[Plutarch, Life of Lysander, c. 4.]--said that children are +amused with toys and men with words. + +As to our diverse usages of giving the lie, and the laws of honour in +that case, and the alteration they have received, I defer saying what I +know of them to another time, and shall learn, if I can, in the +meanwhile, at what time the custom took beginning of so exactly weighing +and measuring words, and of making our honour interested in them; for it +is easy to judge that it was not anciently amongst the Romans and Greeks. +And it has often seemed to me strange to see them rail at and give one +another the lie without any quarrel. Their laws of duty steered some +other course than ours. Caesar is sometimes called thief, and sometimes +drunkard, to his teeth. We see the liberty of invective they practised +upon one another, I mean the greatest chiefs of war of both nations, +where words are only revenged with words, and do not proceed any farther. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +OF LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE + +'Tis usual to see good intentions, if carried on without moderation, push +men on to very vicious effects. In this dispute which has at this time +engaged France in a civil war, the better and the soundest cause no doubt +is that which maintains the ancient religion and government of the +kingdom. Nevertheless, amongst the good men of that party (for I do not +speak of those who only make a pretence of it, either to execute their +own particular revenges or to gratify their avarice, or to conciliate the +favour of princes, but of those who engage in the quarrel out of true +zeal to religion and a holy desire to maintain the peace and government +of their country), of these, I say, we see many whom passion transports +beyond the bounds of reason, and sometimes inspires with counsels that +are unjust and violent, and, moreover, rash. + +It is certain that in those first times, when our religion began to gain +authority with the laws, zeal armed many against all sorts of pagan +books, by which the learned suffered an exceeding great loss, a disorder +that I conceive to have done more prejudice to letters than all the +flames of the barbarians. Of this Cornelius Tacitus is a very good +testimony; for though the Emperor Tacitus, his kinsman, had, by express +order, furnished all the libraries in the world with it, nevertheless one +entire copy could not escape the curious examination of those who desired +to abolish it for only five or six idle clauses that were contrary to our +belief. + +They had also the trick easily to lend undue praises to all the emperors +who made for us, and universally to condemn all the actions of those who +were adversaries, as is evidently manifest in the Emperor Julian, +surnamed the Apostate, + + [The character of the Emperor Julian was censured, when Montaigne + was at Rome in 1581, by the Master of the Sacred Palace, who, + however, as Montaigne tells us in his journal (ii. 35), referred it + to his conscience to alter what he should think in bad taste. This + Montaigne did not do, and this chapter supplied Voltaire with the + greater part of the praises he bestowed upon the Emperor.--Leclerc.] + +who was, in truth, a very great and rare man, a man in whose soul +philosophy was imprinted in the best characters, by which he professed to +govern all his actions; and, in truth, there is no sort of virtue of +which he has not left behind him very notable examples: in chastity (of +which the whole of his life gave manifest proof) we read the same of him +that was said of Alexander and Scipio, that being in the flower of his +age, for he was slain by the Parthians at one-and-thirty, of a great many +very beautiful captives, he would not so much as look upon one. As to +his justice, he took himself the pains to hear the parties, and although +he would out of curiosity inquire what religion they were of, +nevertheless, the antipathy he had to ours never gave any counterpoise to +the balance. He made himself several good laws, and repealed a great +part of the subsidies and taxes levied by his predecessors. + +We have two good historians who were eyewitnesses of his actions: one of +whom, Marcellinus, in several places of his history sharply reproves an +edict of his whereby he interdicted all Christian rhetoricians and +grammarians to keep school or to teach, and says he could wish that act +of his had been buried in silence: it is probable that had he done any +more severe thing against us, he, so affectionate as he was to our party, +would not have passed it over in silence. He was indeed sharp against +us, but yet no cruel enemy; for our own people tell this story of him, +that one day, walking about the city of Chalcedon, Maris, bishop of the +place; was so bold as to tell him that he was impious, and an enemy to +Christ, at which, they say, he was no further moved than to reply, +"Go, poor wretch, and lament the loss of thy eyes," to which the bishop +replied again, "I thank Jesus Christ for taking away my sight, that I may +not see thy impudent visage," affecting in that, they say, a +philosophical patience. But this action of his bears no comparison to +the cruelty that he is said to have exercised against us. "He was," says +Eutropius, my other witness, "an enemy to Christianity, but without +putting his hand to blood." And, to return to his justice, there is +nothing in that whereof he can be accused, the severity excepted he +practised in the beginning of his reign against those who had followed +the party of Constantius, his predecessor. As to his sobriety, he lived +always a soldier-like life; and observed a diet and routine, like one +that prepared and inured himself to the austerities of war. His +vigilance was such, that he divided the night into three or four parts, +of which the least was dedicated to sleep; the rest was spent either in +visiting the state of his army and guards in person, or in study; for +amongst other rare qualities, he was very excellent in all sorts of +learning. 'Tis said of Alexander the Great, that being in bed, for fear +lest sleep should divert him from his thoughts and studies, he had always +a basin set by his bedside, and held one of his hands out with a ball of +copper in it, to the end, that, beginning to fall asleep, and his fingers +leaving their hold, the ball by falling into the basin, might awake him. +But the other had his soul so bent upon what he had a mind to do, and so +little disturbed with fumes by reason of his singular abstinence, that he +had no need of any such invention. As to his military experience, he was +excellent in all the qualities of a great captain, as it was likely he +should, being almost all his life in a continual exercise of war, and +most of that time with us in France, against the Germans and Franks: we +hardly read of any man who ever saw more dangers, or who made more +frequent proofs of his personal valour. + +His death has something in it parallel with that of Epaminondas, for he +was wounded with an arrow, and tried to pull it out, and had done so, but +that, being edged, it cut and disabled his hand. He incessantly called +out that they should carry him again into the heat of the battle, to +encourage his soldiers, who very bravely disputed the fight without him, +till night parted the armies. He stood obliged to his philosophy for the +singular contempt he had for his life and all human things. He had a +firm belief of the immortality of souls. + +In matter of religion he was wrong throughout, and was surnamed the +Apostate for having relinquished ours: nevertheless, the opinion seems to +me more probable, that he had never thoroughly embraced it, but had +dissembled out of obedience to the laws, till he came to the empire. +He was in his own so superstitious, that he was laughed at for it by +those of his own time, of the same opinion, who jeeringly said, that had +he got the victory over the Parthians, he had destroyed the breed of oxen +in the world to supply his sacrifices. He was, moreover, besotted with +the art of divination, and gave authority to all sorts of predictions. +He said, amongst other things at his death, that he was obliged to the +gods, and thanked them, in that they would not cut him off by surprise, +having long before advertised him of the place and hour of his death, nor +by a mean and unmanly death, more becoming lazy and delicate people; nor +by a death that was languishing, long, and painful; and that they had +thought him worthy to die after that noble manner, in the progress of his +victories, in the flower of his glory. He had a vision like that of +Marcus Brutus, that first threatened him in Gaul, and afterward appeared +to him in Persia just before his death. These words that some make him +say when he felt himself wounded: "Thou hast overcome, Nazarene"; or as +others, "Content thyself, Nazarene"; would hardly have been omitted, had +they been believed, by my witnesses, who, being present in the army, have +set down to the least motions and words of his end; no more than certain +other miracles that are reported about it. + +And to return to my subject, he long nourished, says Marcellinus, +paganism in his heart; but all his army being Christians, he durst not +own it. But in the end, seeing himself strong enough to dare to discover +himself, he caused the temples of the gods to be thrown open, and did his +uttermost to set on foot and to encourage idolatry. Which the better to +effect, having at Constantinople found the people disunited, and also the +prelates of the church divided amongst themselves, having convened them +all before him, he earnestly admonished them to calm those civil +dissensions, and that every one might freely, and without fear, follow +his own religion. Which he the more sedulously solicited, in hope that +this licence would augment the schisms and factions of their division, +and hinder the people from reuniting, and consequently fortifying +themselves against him by their unanimous intelligence and concord; +having experienced by the cruelty of some Christians, that there is no +beast in the world so much to be feared by man as man; these are very +nearly his words. + +Wherein this is very worthy of consideration, that the Emperor Julian +made use of the same receipt of liberty of conscience to inflame the +civil dissensions that our kings do to extinguish them. So that a man +may say on one side, that to give the people the reins to entertain every +man his own opinion, is to scatter and sow division, and, as it were, to +lend a hand to augment it, there being no legal impediment or restraint +to stop or hinder their career; but, on the other side, a man may also +say, that to give the people the reins to entertain every man his own +opinion, is to mollify and appease them by facility and toleration, and +to dull the point which is whetted and made sharper by singularity, +novelty, and difficulty: and I think it is better for the honour of the +devotion of our kings, that not having been able to do what they would, +they have made a show of being willing to do what they could. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THAT WE TASTE NOTHING PURE + +The feebleness of our condition is such that things cannot, in their +natural simplicity and purity, fall into our use; the elements that we +enjoy are changed, and so 'tis with metals; and gold must be debased with +some other matter to fit it for our service. Neither has virtue, so +simple as that which Aristo, Pyrrho, and also the Stoics, made the end of +life; nor the Cyrenaic and Aristippic pleasure, been without mixture +useful to it. Of the pleasure and goods that we enjoy, there is not one +exempt from some mixture of ill and inconvenience: + + "Medio de fonte leporum, + Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat." + + ["From the very fountain of our pleasure, something rises that is + bitter, which even in flowers destroys."--Lucretius, iv. 1130.] + +Our extremest pleasure has some sort of groaning and complaining in it; +would you not say that it is dying of pain? Nay, when we frame the image +of it in its full excellence, we stuff it with sickly and painful +epithets and qualities, languor, softness, feebleness, faintness, +'morbidezza': a great testimony of their consanguinity and +consubstantiality. The most profound joy has more of severity than +gaiety, in it. The highest and fullest contentment offers more of the +grave than of the merry: + + "Ipsa felicitas, se nisi temperat, premit." + + ["Even felicity, unless it moderate itself, oppresses?" + --Seneca, Ep. 74.] + +Pleasure chews and grinds us; according to the old Greek verse, which +says that the gods sell us all the goods they give us; that is to say, +that they give us nothing pure and perfect, and that we do not purchase +but at the price of some evil. + +Labour and pleasure, very unlike in nature, associate, nevertheless, +by I know not what natural conjunction. Socrates says, that some god +tried to mix in one mass and to confound pain and pleasure, but not being +able to do it; he bethought him at least to couple them by the tail. +Metrodorus said, that in sorrow there is some mixture of pleasure. I +know not whether or no he intended anything else by that saying; but for +my part, I am of opinion that there is design, consent, and complacency +in giving a man's self up to melancholy. I say, that besides ambition, +which may also have a stroke in the business, there is some shadow of +delight and delicacy which smiles upon and flatters us even in the very +lap of melancholy. Are there not some constitutions that feed upon it? + + "Est quaedam flere voluptas;" + + ["'Tis a certain kind of pleasure to weep." + --Ovid, Trist., iv. 3, 27.] + +and one Attalus in Seneca says, that the memory of our lost friends is as +grateful to us, as bitterness in wine, when too old, is to the palate: + + "Minister vetuli, puer, Falerni + Inger' mi calices amariores"-- + + ["Boy, when you pour out old Falernian wine, the bitterest put + into my bowl."--Catullus, xxvii. I.] + +and as apples that have a sweet tartness. + +Nature discovers this confusion to us; painters hold that the same +motions and grimaces of the face that serve for weeping; serve for +laughter too; and indeed, before the one or the other be finished, do but +observe the painter's manner of handling, and you will be in doubt to +which of the two the design tends; and the extreme of laughter does at +last bring tears: + + "Nullum sine auctoramento malum est." + + ["No evil is without its compensation."--Seneca, Ep., 69.] + +When I imagine man abounding with all the conveniences that are to be +desired (let us put the case that all his members were always seized with +a pleasure like that of generation, in its most excessive height) I feel +him melting under the weight of his delight, and see him utterly unable +to support so pure, so continual, and so universal a pleasure. Indeed, +he is running away whilst he is there, and naturally makes haste to +escape, as from a place where he cannot stand firm, and where he is +afraid of sinking. + +When I religiously confess myself to myself, I find that the best virtue +I have has in it some tincture of vice; and I am afraid that Plato, in +his purest virtue (I, who am as sincere and loyal a lover of virtue of +that stamp as any other whatever), if he had listened and laid his ear +close to himself and he did so no doubt--would have heard some jarring +note of human mixture, but faint and only perceptible to himself. Man is +wholly and throughout but patch and motley. Even the laws of justice +themselves cannot subsist without mixture of injustice; insomuch that +Plato says, they undertake to cut off the hydra's head, who pretend to +clear the law of all inconveniences: + + "Omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo, + quod contra singulos utilitate publics rependitur," + + ["Every great example has in it some mixture of injustice, which + recompenses the wrong done to particular men by the public utility." + --Annals, xiv. 44.] + +says Tacitus. + +It is likewise true, that for the use of life and the service of public +commerce, there may be some excesses in the purity and perspicacity of +our minds; that penetrating light has in it too much of subtlety and +curiosity: we must a little stupefy and blunt them to render them more +obedient to example and practice, and a little veil and obscure them, the +better to proportion them to this dark and earthly life. And therefore +common and less speculative souls are found to be more proper for and +more successful in the management of affairs, and the elevated and +exquisite opinions of philosophy unfit for business. This sharp vivacity +of soul, and the supple and restless volubility attending it, disturb our +negotiations. We are to manage human enterprises more superficially and +roughly, and leave a great part to fortune; it is not necessary to +examine affairs with so much subtlety and so deep: a man loses himself in +the consideration of many contrary lustres, and so many various forms: + + "Volutantibus res inter se pugnantes, obtorpuerunt.... animi." + + ["Whilst they considered of things so indifferent in themselves, + they were astonished, and knew not what to do."--Livy, xxxii. 20.] + +'Tis what the ancients say of Simonides, that by reason his imagination +suggested to him, upon the question King Hiero had put to him--[What God +was.--Cicero, De Nat. Deor., i. 22.]--(to answer which he had had many +days for thought), several sharp and subtle considerations, whilst he +doubted which was the most likely, he totally despaired of the truth. + +He who dives into and in his inquisition comprehends all circumstances +and consequences, hinders his election: a little engine well handled is +sufficient for executions, whether of less or greater weight. The best +managers are those who can worst give account how they are so; while the +greatest talkers, for the most part, do nothing to purpose; I know one of +this sort of men, and a most excellent discourser upon all sorts of good +husbandry, who has miserably let a hundred thousand livres yearly revenue +slip through his hands; I know another who talks, who better advises than +any man of his counsel, and there is not in the world a fairer show of +soul and understanding than he has; nevertheless, when he comes to the +test, his servants find him quite another thing; not to make any mention +of his misfortunes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AGAINST IDLENESS + +The Emperor Vespasian, being sick of the disease whereof he died, did not +for all that neglect to inquire after the state of the empire, and even +in bed continually despatched very many affairs of great consequence; for +which, being reproved by his physician, as a thing prejudicial to his +health, "An emperor," said he, "must die standing." A fine saying, in my +opinion, and worthy a great prince. The Emperor Adrian since made use of +the same words, and kings should be often put in mind of them, to make +them know that the great office conferred upon them of the command of so +many men, is not an employment of ease; and that there is nothing can so +justly disgust a subject, and make him unwilling to expose himself to +labour and danger for the service of his prince, than to see him, in the +meantime, devoted to his ease and frivolous amusement, and to be +solicitous of his preservation who so much neglects that of his people. + +Whoever will take upon him to maintain that 'tis better for a prince to +carry on his wars by others, than in his own person, fortune will furnish +him with examples enough of those whose lieutenants have brought great +enterprises to a happy issue, and of those also whose presence has done +more hurt than good: but no virtuous and valiant prince can with patience +endure so dishonourable councils. Under colour of saving his head, like +the statue of a saint, for the happiness of his kingdom, they degrade him +from and declare him incapable of his office, which is military +throughout: I know one--[Probably Henry IV.]--who had much rather be +beaten, than to sleep whilst another fights for him; and who never +without jealousy heard of any brave thing done even by his own officers +in his absence. And Soliman I. said, with very good reason, in my +opinion, that victories obtained without the master were never complete. +Much more would he have said that that master ought to blush for shame, +to pretend to any share in the honour, having contributed nothing to the +work, but his voice and thought; nor even so much as these, considering +that in such work as that, the direction and command that deserve honour +are only such as are given upon the spot, and in the heat of the +business. No pilot performs his office by standing still. The princes +of the Ottoman family, the chiefest in the world in military fortune, +have warmly embraced this opinion, and Bajazet II., with his son, who +swerved from it, spending their time in science and other retired +employments, gave great blows to their empire; and Amurath III., now +reigning, following their example, begins to find the same. Was it not +Edward III., King of England, who said this of our Charles V.: "There +never was king who so seldom put on his armour, and yet never king who +gave me so much to do." He had reason to think it strange, as an effect +of chance more than of reason. And let those seek out some other to join +with them than me, who will reckon the Kings of Castile and Portugal +amongst the warlike and magnanimous conquerors, because at the distance +of twelve hundred leagues from their lazy abode, by the conduct of their +captains, they made themselves masters of both Indies; of which it has to +be known if they would have had even the courage to go and in person +enjoy them. + +The Emperor Julian said yet further, that a philosopher and a brave man +ought not so much as to breathe; that is to say, not to allow any more to +bodily necessities than what we cannot refuse; keeping the soul and body +still intent and busy about honourable, great, and virtuous things. He +was ashamed if any one in public saw him spit, or sweat (which is said by +some, also, of the Lacedaemonian young men, and which Xenophon says of +the Persian), forasmuch as he conceived that exercise, continual labour, +and sobriety, ought to have dried up all those superfluities. What +Seneca says will not be unfit for this place; which is, that the ancient +Romans kept their youth always standing, and taught them nothing that +they were to learn sitting. + +'Tis a generous desire to wish to die usefully and like a man, but the +effect lies not so much in our resolution as in our good fortune; a +thousand have proposed to themselves in battle, either to overcome or to +die, who have failed both in the one and the other, wounds and +imprisonment crossing their design and compelling them to live against +their will. There are diseases that overthrow even our desires, and our +knowledge. Fortune ought not to second the vanity of the Roman legions, +who bound themselves by oath, either to overcome or die: + + "Victor, Marce Fabi, revertar ex acie: si fallo, Jovem patrem, + Gradivumque Martem aliosque iratos invoco deos." + + ["I will return, Marcus Fabius, a conqueror, from the fight: + and if I fail, I invoke Father Jove, Mars Gradivus, and the + other angry gods."--Livy, ii. 45.] + +The Portuguese say that in a certain place of their conquest of the +Indies, they met with soldiers who had condemned themselves, with +horrible execrations, to enter into no other composition but either to +cause themselves to be slain, or to remain victorious; and had their +heads and beards shaved in token of this vow. 'Tis to much purpose for +us to hazard ourselves and to be obstinate: it seems as if blows avoided +those who present themselves too briskly to them, and do not willingly +fall upon those who too willingly seek them, and so defeat them of their +design. Such there have been, who, after having tried all ways, not +having been able with all their endeavour to obtain the favour of dying +by the hand of the enemy, have been constrained, to make good their +resolution of bringing home the honour of victory or of losing their +lives, to kill themselves even in the heat of battle. Of which there are +other examples, but this is one: Philistus, general of the naval army of +Dionysius the younger against the Syracusans, presented them battle which +was sharply disputed, their forces being equal: in this engagement, he +had the better at the first, through his own valour: but the Syracusans +drawing about his gally to environ him, after having done great things in +his own person to disengage himself and hoping for no relief, with his +own hand he took away the life he had so liberally, and in vain, exposed +to the enemy. + +Mule Moloch, king of Fez, who lately won against Sebastian, king of +Portugal, the battle so famous for the death of three kings, and for the +transmission of that great kingdom to the crown of Castile, was extremely +sick when the Portuguese entered in an hostile manner into his dominions; +and from that day forward grew worse and worse, still drawing nearer to +and foreseeing his end; yet never did man better employ his own +sufficiency more vigorously and bravely than he did upon this occasion. +He found himself too weak to undergo the pomp and ceremony of entering. +into his camp, which after their manner is very magnificent, and +therefore resigned that honour to his brother; but this was all of the +office of a general that he resigned; all the rest of greatest utility +and necessity he most, exactly and gloriously performed in his own +person; his body lying upon a couch, but his judgment and courage upright +and firm to his last gasp, and in some sort beyond it. He might have +wasted his enemy, indiscreetly advanced into his dominions, without +striking a blow; and it was a very unhappy occurrence, that for want of a +little life or somebody to substitute in the conduct of this war and the +affairs of a troubled state, he was compelled to seek a doubtful and +bloody victory, having another by a better and surer way already in his +hands. Notwithstanding, he wonderfully managed the continuance of his +sickness in consuming the enemy, and in drawing them far from the +assistance of the navy and the ports they had on the coast of Africa, +even till the last day of his life, which he designedly reserved for this +great battle. He arranged his battalions in a circular form, environing +the Portuguese army on every side, which round circle coming to close in +and to draw up close together, not only hindered them in the conflict +(which was very sharp through the valour of the young invading king), +considering that they had every way to present a front, but prevented +their flight after the defeat, so that finding all passages possessed and +shut up by the enemy, they were constrained to close up together again: + + "Coacerventurque non solum caede, sed etiam fuga," + + ["Piled up not only in slaughter but in flight."] + +and there they were slain in heaps upon one another, leaving to the +conqueror a very bloody and entire victory. Dying, he caused himself to +be carried and hurried from place to place where most need was, and +passing along the files, encouraged the captains and soldiers one after +another; but a corner of his main battalions being broken, he was not to +be held from mounting on horseback with his sword in his hand; he did his +utmost to break from those about him, and to rush into the thickest of +the battle, they all the while withholding him, some by the bridle, some +by his robe, and others by his stirrups. This last effort totally +overwhelmed the little life he had left; they again laid him upon his +bed; but coming to himself, and starting as it were out of his swoon, all +other faculties failing, to give his people notice that they were to +conceal his death the most necessary command he had then to give, that +his soldiers might not be discouraged (with the news) he expired with his +finger upon his mouth, the ordinary sign of keeping silence. Who ever +lived so long and so far into death? whoever died so erect, or more like +a man? + +The most extreme degree of courageously treating death, and the most +natural, is to look upon it not only without astonishment but without +care, continuing the wonted course of life even into it, as Cato did, +who entertained himself in study, and went to sleep, having a violent and +bloody death in his heart, and the weapon in his hand with which he was +resolved to despatch himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OF POSTING + +I have been none of the least able in this exercise, which is proper for +men of my pitch, well-knit and short; but I give it over; it shakes us +too much to continue it long. I was at this moment reading, that King +Cyrus, the better to have news brought him from all parts of the empire, +which was of a vast extent, caused it to be tried how far a horse could +go in a day without baiting, and at that distance appointed men, whose +business it was to have horses always in readiness, to mount those who +were despatched to him; and some say, that this swift way of posting is +equal to that of the flight of cranes. + +Caesar says, that Lucius Vibullius Rufus, being in great haste to carry +intelligence to Pompey, rode night and day, still taking fresh horses for +the greater diligence and speed; and he himself, as Suetonius reports, +travelled a hundred miles a day in a hired coach; but he was a furious +courier, for where the rivers stopped his way he passed them by swimming, +without turning out of his way to look for either bridge or ford. +Tiberius Nero, going to see his brother Drusus, who was sick in Germany, +travelled two hundred miles in four-and-twenty hours, having three +coaches. In the war of the Romans against King Antiochus, T. Sempronius +Gracchus, says Livy: + + "Per dispositos equos prope incredibili celeritate + ab Amphissa tertio die Pellam pervenit." + + ["By pre-arranged relays of horses, he, with an almost incredible + speed, rode in three days from Amphissa to Pella." + --Livy, xxxvii. 7.] + +And it appears that they were established posts, and not horses purposely +laid in upon this occasion. + +Cecina's invention to send back news to his family was much more quick, +for he took swallows along with him from home, and turned them out +towards their nests when he would send back any news; setting a mark of +some colour upon them to signify his meaning, according to what he and +his people had before agreed upon. + +At the theatre at Rome masters of families carried pigeons in their +bosoms to which they tied letters when they had a mind to send any orders +to their people at home; and the pigeons were trained up to bring back an +answer. D. Brutus made use of the same device when besieged in Modena, +and others elsewhere have done the same. + +In Peru they rode post upon men, who took them upon their shoulders in a +certain kind of litters made for that purpose, and ran with such agility +that, in their full speed, the first couriers transferred their load to +the second without making any stop. + +I understand that the Wallachians, the grand Signior's couriers, perform +wonderful journeys, by reason they have liberty to dismount the first +person they meet upon the road, giving him their own tired horses; and +that to preserve themselves from being weary, they gird themselves +straight about the middle with a broad girdle; but I could never find +any benefit from this. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +OF ILL MEANS EMPLOYED TO A GOOD END + +There is wonderful relation and correspondence in this universal +government of the works of nature, which very well makes it appear that +it is neither accidental nor carried on by divers masters. The diseases +and conditions of our bodies are, in like manner, manifest in states and +governments; kingdoms and republics are founded, flourish, and decay with +age as we do. We are subject to a repletion of humours, useless and +dangerous: whether of those that are good (for even those the physicians +are afraid of; and seeing we have nothing in us that is stable, they say +that a too brisk and vigorous perfection of health must be abated by art, +lest our nature, unable to rest in any certain condition, and not having +whither to rise to mend itself, make too sudden and too disorderly a +retreat; and therefore prescribe wrestlers to purge and bleed, to qualify +that superabundant health), or else a repletion of evil humours, which is +the ordinary cause of sickness. States are very often sick of the like +repletion, and various sorts of purgations have commonly been applied. +Some times a great multitude of families are turned out to clear the +country, who seek out new abodes elsewhere and encroach upon others. +After this manner our ancient Franks came from the remotest part of +Germany to seize upon Gaul, and to drive thence the first inhabitants; +so was that infinite deluge of men made up who came into Italy under the +conduct of Brennus and others; so the Goths and Vandals, and also the +people who now possess Greece, left their native country to go settle +elsewhere, where they might have more room; and there are scarce two or +three little corners in the world that have not felt the effect of such +removals. The Romans by this means erected their colonies; for, +perceiving their city to grow immeasurably populous, they eased it of the +most unnecessary people, and sent them to inhabit and cultivate the lands +conquered by them; sometimes also they purposely maintained wars with +some of their enemies, not only to keep their own men in action, for fear +lest idleness, the mother of corruption, should bring upon them some +worse inconvenience: + + "Et patimur longae pacis mala; saevior armis + Luxuria incumbit." + + ["And we suffer the ills of a long peace; luxury is more pernicious + than war."--Juvenal, vi. 291.] + +but also to serve for a blood-letting to their Republic, and a little to +evaporate the too vehement heat of their youth, to prune and clear the +branches from the stock too luxuriant in wood; and to this end it was +that they maintained so long a war with Carthage. + +In the treaty of Bretigny, Edward III., king of England, would not, in +the general peace he then made with our king, comprehend the controversy +about the Duchy of Brittany, that he might have a place wherein to +discharge himself of his soldiers, and that the vast number of English he +had brought over to serve him in his expedition here might not return +back into England. And this also was one reason why our King Philip +consented to send his son John upon a foreign expedition, that he might +take along with him a great number of hot young men who were then in his +pay. + +There--are many in our times who talk at this rate, wishing that +this hot emotion that is now amongst us might discharge itself in some +neighbouring war, for fear lest all the peccant humours that now reign in +this politic body of ours may diffuse themselves farther, keep the fever +still in the height, and at last cause our total ruin; and, in truth, a +foreign is much more supportable than a civil war, but I do not believe +that God will favour so unjust a design as to offend and quarrel with +others for our own advantage: + + "Nil mihi tam valde placeat, Rhamnusia virgo, + Quod temere invitis suscipiatur heris." + + ["Rhamnusian virgin, let nothing ever so greatly please me which is + taken without justice from the unwilling owners" + --Catullus, lxviii. 77.] + +And yet the weakness of our condition often pushes us upon the necessity +of making use of ill means to a good end. Lycurgus, the most perfect +legislator that ever was, virtuous and invented this very unjust practice +of making the helots, who were their slaves, drunk by force, to the end +that the Spartans, seeing them so lost and buried in wine, might abhor +the excess of this vice. And yet those were still more to blame who of +old gave leave that criminals, to what sort of death soever condemned, +should be cut up alive by the physicians, that they might make a true +discovery of our inward parts, and build their art upon greater +certainty; for, if we must run into excesses, it is more excusable to do +it for the health of the soul than that of the body; as the Romans +trained up the people to valour and the contempt of dangers and death by +those furious spectacles of gladiators and fencers, who, having to fight +it out to the last, cut, mangled, and killed one another in their +presence: + + "Quid vesani aliud sibi vult ars impia ludi, + Quid mortes juvenum, quid sanguine pasta voluptas?" + + ["What other end does the impious art of the gladiators propose to + itself, what the slaughter of young men, what pleasure fed with + blood."--Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 643.] + +and this custom continued till the Emperor Theodosius' time: + + "Arripe dilatam tua, dux, in tempora famam, + Quodque patris superest, successor laudis habeto + Nullus in urbe cadat, cujus sit poena voluptas.... + Jam solis contenta feris, infamis arena + Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis." + + ["Prince, take the honours delayed for thy reign, and be successor + to thy fathers; henceforth let none at Rome be slain for sport. Let + beasts' blood stain the infamous arena, and no more homicides be + there acted."--Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 643.] + +It was, in truth, a wonderful example, and of great advantage for the +training up the people, to see every day before their eyes a hundred; two +hundred, nay, a thousand couples of men armed against one another, cut +one another to pieces with so great a constancy of courage, that they +were never heard to utter so much as one syllable of weakness or +commiseration; never seen to turn their backs, nor so much as to make one +cowardly step to evade a blow, but rather exposed their necks to the +adversary's sword and presented themselves to receive the stroke; and +many of them, when wounded to death, have sent to ask the spectators if +they were satisfied with their behaviour, before they lay down to die +upon the place. It was not enough for them to fight and to die bravely, +but cheerfully too; insomuch that they were hissed and cursed if they +made any hesitation about receiving their death. The very girls +themselves set them on: + + "Consurgit ad ictus, + Et, quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit, illa + Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque jacentis + Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi." + + ["The modest virgin is so delighted with the sport, that she + applauds the blow, and when the victor bathes his sword in his + fellow's throat, she says it is her pleasure, and with turned thumb + orders him to rip up the bosom of the prostrate victim." + --Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 617.] + +The first Romans only condemned criminals to this example: but they +afterwards employed innocent slaves in the work, and even freemen too, +who sold themselves to this purpose, nay, moreover, senators and knights +of Rome, and also women: + + "Nunc caput in mortem vendunt, et funus arena, + Atque hostem sibi quisque parat, cum bella quiescunt." + + ["They sell themselves to death and the circus, and, since the wars + are ceased, each for himself a foe prepares." + --Manilius, Astron., iv. 225.] + + "Hos inter fremitus novosque lusus.... + Stat sexus rudis insciusque ferri, + Et pugnas capit improbus viriles;" + + + ["Amidst these tumults and new sports, the tender sex, unskilled in + arms, immodestly engaged in manly fights." + --Statius, Sylv., i. 6, 51.] + +which I should think strange and incredible, if we were not accustomed +every day to see in our own wars many thousands of men of other nations, +for money to stake their blood and their lives in quarrels wherein they +have no manner of concern. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +OF THE ROMAN GRANDEUR + +I will only say a word or two of this infinite argument, to show the +simplicity of those who compare the pitiful greatness of these times with +that of Rome. In the seventh book of Cicero's Familiar Epistles (and let +the grammarians put out that surname of familiar if they please, for in +truth it is not very suitable; and they who, instead of familiar, have +substituted "ad Familiares," may gather something to justify them for so +doing out of what Suetonius says in the Life of Caesar, that there was a +volume of letters of his "ad Familiares ") there is one directed to +Caesar, then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats these words, which were in +the end of another letter that Caesar had written to him: "As to what +concerns Marcus Furius, whom you have recommended to me, I will make him +king of Gaul, and if you would have me advance any other friend of yours +send him to me." It was no new thing for a simple citizen of Rome, as +Caesar then was, to dispose of kingdoms, for he took away that of King +Deiotarus from him to give it to a gentleman of the city of Pergamus, +called Mithridates; and they who wrote his Life record several cities +sold by him; and Suetonius says, that he had once from King Ptolemy three +millions and six hundred thousand crowns, which was very like selling him +his own kingdom: + + "Tot Galatae, tot Pontus, tot Lydia, nummis." + + ["So much for Galatia, so much for Pontus, + so much for Lydia."--Claudius in Eutrop., i. 203.] + +Marcus Antonius said, that the greatness of the people of Rome was not +so much seen in what they took, as in what they gave; and, indeed, some +ages before Antonius, they had dethroned one amongst the rest with so +wonderful authority, that in all the Roman history I have not observed +anything that more denotes the height of their power. Antiochus +possessed all Egypt, and was, moreover, ready to conquer Cyprus and other +appendages of that empire: when being upon the progress of his victories, +C. Popilius came to him from the Senate, and at their first meeting +refused to take him by the hand, till he had first read his letters, +which after the king had read, and told him he would consider of them, +Popilius made a circle about him with his cane, saying:--"Return me an +answer, that I may carry it back to the Senate, before thou stirrest out +of this circle." Antiochus, astonished at the roughness of so positive +a command, after a little pause, replied, "I will obey the Senate's +command." Then Popilius saluted him as friend of the Roman people. +To have renounced claim to so great a monarchy, and a course of such +successful fortune, from the effects of three lines in writing! Truly +he had reason, as he afterwards did, to send the Senate word by his +ambassadors, that he had received their order with the same respect as if +it had come from the immortal gods. + +All the kingdoms that Augustus gained by the right of war, he either +restored to those who had lost them or presented them to strangers. And +Tacitus, in reference to this, speaking of Cogidunus, king of England, +gives us, by a marvellous touch, an instance of that infinite power: the +Romans, says he, were from all antiquity accustomed to leave the kings +they had subdued in possession of their kingdoms under their authority. + + "Ut haberent instruments servitutis et reges." + + ["That they might have even kings to be their slaves." + --Livy, xlv. 13.] + +'Tis probable that Solyman, whom we have seen make a gift of Hungary and +other principalities, had therein more respect to this consideration than +to that he was wont to allege, viz., that he was glutted and overcharged +with so many monarchies and so much dominion, as his own valour and that +of his ancestors had acquired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NOT TO COUNTERFEIT BEING SICK + +There is an epigram in Martial, and one of the very good ones--for he has +of all sorts--where he pleasantly tells the story of Caelius, who, to +avoid making his court to some great men of Rome, to wait their rising, +and to attend them abroad, pretended to have the gout; and the better to +colour this anointed his legs, and had them lapped up in a great many +swathings, and perfectly counterfeited both the gesture and countenance +of a gouty person; till in the end, Fortune did him the kindness to make +him one indeed: + + "Quantum curs potest et ars doloris + Desiit fingere Caelius podagram." + + ["How great is the power of counterfeiting pain: Caelius has ceased + to feign the gout; he has got it."--Martial, Ep., vii. 39, 8.] + +I think I have read somewhere in Appian a story like this, of one who to +escape the proscriptions of the triumvirs of Rome, and the better to be +concealed from the discovery of those who pursued him, having hidden +himself in a disguise, would yet add this invention, to counterfeit +having but one eye; but when he came to have a little more liberty, and +went to take off the plaster he had a great while worn over his eye, he +found he had totally lost the sight of it indeed, and that it was +absolutely gone. 'Tis possible that the action of sight was dulled from +having been so long without exercise, and that the optic power was wholly +retired into the other eye: for we evidently perceive that the eye we +keep shut sends some part of its virtue to its fellow, so that it will +swell and grow bigger; and so inaction, with the heat of ligatures and, +plasters, might very well have brought some gouty humour upon the +counterfeiter in Martial. + +Reading in Froissart the vow of a troop of young English gentlemen, to +keep their left eyes bound up till they had arrived in France and +performed some notable exploit upon us, I have often been tickled with +this thought, that it might have befallen them as it did those others, +and they might have returned with but an eye a-piece to their mistresses, +for whose sakes they had made this ridiculous vow. + +Mothers have reason to rebuke their children when they counterfeit having +but one eye, squinting, lameness, or any other personal defect; for, +besides that their bodies being then so tender, may be subject to take an +ill bent, fortune, I know not how, sometimes seems to delight in taking +us at our word; and I have heard several examples related of people who +have become really sick, by only feigning to be so. I have always used, +whether on horseback or on foot, to carry a stick in my hand, and even to +affect doing it with an elegant air; many have threatened that this fancy +would one day be turned into necessity: if so, I should be the first of +my family to have the gout. + +But let us a little lengthen this chapter, and add another anecdote +concerning blindness. Pliny reports of one who, dreaming he was blind, +found himself so indeed in the morning without any preceding infirmity in +his eyes. The force of imagination might assist in this case, as I have +said elsewhere, and Pliny seems to be of the same opinion; but it is more +likely that the motions which the body felt within, of which physicians, +if they please, may find out the cause, taking away his sight, were the +occasion of his dream. + +Let us add another story, not very improper for this subject, which +Seneca relates in one of his epistles: "You know," says he, writing to +Lucilius, "that Harpaste, my wife's fool, is thrown upon me as an +hereditary charge, for I have naturally an aversion to those monsters; +and if I have a mind to laugh at a fool, I need not seek him far; I can +laugh at myself. This fool has suddenly lost her sight: I tell you a +strange, but a very true thing she is not sensible that she is blind, but +eternally importunes her keeper to take her abroad, because she says the +house is dark. That what we laugh at in her, I pray you to believe, +happens to every one of us: no one knows himself to be avaricious or +grasping; and, again, the blind call for a guide, while we stray of our +own accord. I am not ambitious, we say; but a man cannot live otherwise +at Rome; I am not wasteful, but the city requires a great outlay; 'tis +not my fault if I am choleric--if I have not yet established any certain +course of life: 'tis the fault of youth. Let us not seek our disease out +of ourselves; 'tis in us, and planted in our bowels; and the mere fact +that we do not perceive ourselves to be sick, renders us more hard to be +cured. If we do not betimes begin to see to ourselves, when shall we +have provided for so many wounds and evils wherewith we abound? And yet +we have a most sweet and charming medicine in philosophy; for of all the +rest we are sensible of no pleasure till after the cure: this pleases and +heals at once." This is what Seneca says, that has carried me from my +subject, but there is advantage in the change. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +OF THUMBS + +Tacitus reports, that amongst certain barbarian kings their manner was, +when they would make a firm obligation, to join their right hands close +to one another, and intertwist their thumbs; and when, by force of +straining the blood, it appeared in the ends, they lightly pricked them +with some sharp instrument, and mutually sucked them. + +Physicians say that the thumbs are the master fingers of the hand, and +that their Latin etymology is derived from "pollere." The Greeks called +them 'Avtixeip', as who should say, another hand. And it seems that the +Latins also sometimes take it in this sense for the whole hand: + + "Sed nec vocibus excitata blandis, + Molli pollici nec rogata, surgit." + + ["Neither to be excited by soft words or by the thumb." + --Mart., xii. 98, 8.] + +It was at Rome a signification of favour to depress and turn in the +thumbs: + + "Fautor utroque tuum laudabit pollice ludum:" + + ["Thy patron will applaud thy sport with both thumbs" + --Horace.] + +and of disfavour to elevate and thrust them outward: + + "Converso pollice vulgi, + Quemlibet occidunt populariter." + + ["The populace, with inverted thumbs, kill all that + come before them."--Juvenal, iii. 36] + +The Romans exempted from war all such as were maimed in the thumbs, as +having no more sufficient strength to hold their weapons. Augustus +confiscated the estate of a Roman knight who had maliciously cut off the +thumbs of two young children he had, to excuse them from going into the +armies; and, before him, the Senate, in the time of the Italic war, had +condemned Caius Vatienus to perpetual imprisonment, and confiscated all +his goods, for having purposely cut off the thumb of his left hand, to +exempt himself from that expedition. Some one, I have forgotten who, +having won a naval battle, cut off the thumbs of all his vanquished +enemies, to render them incapable of fighting and of handling the oar. +The Athenians also caused the thumbs of the AEginatans to be cut off, +to deprive them of the superiority in the art of navigation. + +In Lacedaemon, pedagogues chastised their scholars by biting their +thumbs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +COWARDICE THE MOTHER OF CRUELTY + +I have often heard it said that cowardice is the mother of cruelty; and I +have found by experience that malicious and inhuman animosity and +fierceness are usually accompanied with feminine weakness. I have seen +the most cruel people, and upon frivolous occasions, apt to cry. +Alexander, the tyrant of Pheres, durst not be a spectator of tragedies in +the theatre, for fear lest his citizens should see him weep at the +misfortunes of Hecuba and Andromache, who himself without pity caused so +many people every day to be murdered. Is it not meanness of spirit that +renders them so pliable to all extremities? Valour, whose effect is only +to be exercised against resistance-- + + "Nec nisi bellantis gaudet cervice juvenci"-- + + ["Nor delights in killing a bull unless he resists." + --Claudius, Ep. ad Hadrianum, v. 39.] + +stops when it sees the enemy at its mercy; but pusillanimity, to say that +it was also in the game, not having dared to meddle in the first act of +danger, takes as its part the second, of blood and massacre. The murders +in victories are commonly performed by the rascality and hangers-on of an +army, and that which causes so many unheard of cruelties in domestic wars +is, that this canaille makes war in imbruing itself up to the elbows in +blood, and ripping up a body that lies prostrate at its feet, having no +sense of any other valour: + + "Et lupus, et turpes instant morientibus ursi, + Et quaecunque minor nobilitate fera est:" + + ["Wolves and the filthy bears, and all the baser beasts, + fall upon the dying."--Ovid, Trist., iii. 5, 35.] + +like cowardly dogs, that in the house worry and tear the skins of wild +beasts, they durst not come near in the field. What is it in these times +of ours that makes our quarrels mortal; and that, whereas our fathers had +some degrees of revenge, we now begin with the last in ours, and at the +first meeting nothing is to be said but, kill? What is this but +cowardice? + +Every one is sensible that there is more bravery and disdain in subduing +an enemy, than in cutting, his throat; and in making him yield, than in +putting him to the sword: besides that the appetite of revenge is better +satisfied and pleased because its only aim is to make itself felt: And +this is the reason why we do not fall upon a beast or a stone when they +hurt us, because they are not capable of being sensible of our revenge; +and to kill a man is to save him from the injury and offence we intend +him. And as Bias cried out to a wicked fellow, "I know that sooner or +later thou wilt have thy reward, but I am afraid I shall not see it"; +--[Plutarch, on the Delay in Divine Justice, c. 2.]--and pitied the +Orchomenians that the penitence of Lyciscus for the treason committed +against them, came at a season when there was no one remaining alive of +those who had been interested in the offence, and whom the pleasure of +this penitence should affect: so revenge is to be pitied, when the person +on whom it is executed is deprived of means of suffering under it: for as +the avenger will look on to enjoy the pleasure of his revenge, so the +person on whom he takes revenge should be a spectator too, to be +afflicted and to repent. "He will repent it," we say, and because we +have given him a pistol-shot through the head, do we imagine he will +repent? On the contrary, if we but observe, we shall find, that he makes +mouths at us in falling, and is so far from penitency, that he does not +so much as repine at us; and we do him the kindest office of life, which +is to make him die insensibly, and soon: we are afterwards to hide +ourselves, and to shift and fly from the officers of justice, who pursue +us, whilst he is at rest. Killing is good to frustrate an offence to +come, not to revenge one that is already past; and more an act of fear +than of bravery; of precaution than of courage; of defence than of +enterprise. It is manifest that by it we lose both the true end of +revenge and the care of our reputation; we are afraid, if he lives he +will do us another injury as great as the first; 'tis not out of +animosity to him, but care of thyself, that thou gettest rid of him. + +In the kingdom of Narsingah this expedient would be useless to us, where +not only soldiers, but tradesmen also, end their differences by the +sword. The king never denies the field to any who wish to fight; and +when they are persons of quality; he looks on, rewarding the victor with +a chain of gold,--for which any one who pleases may fight with him again, +so that, by having come off from one combat, he has engaged himself in +many. + +If we thought by virtue to be always masters of our enemies, and to +triumph over them at pleasure, we should be sorry they should escape from +us as they do, by dying: but we have a mind to conquer, more with safety +than honour, and, in our quarrel, more pursue the end than the glory. + +Asnius Pollio, who, as being a worthy man, was the less to be excused, +committed a like, error, when, having written a libel against Plancus, he +forbore to publish it till he was dead; which is to bite one's thumb at a +blind man, to rail at one who is deaf, to wound a man who has no feeling, +rather than to run the hazard of his resentment. And it was also said of +him that it was only for hobgoblins to wrestle with the dead. + +He who stays to see the author die, whose writings he intends to +question, what does he say but that he is weak in his aggressiveness? +It was told to Aristotle that some one had spoken ill of him: "Let him +do more," said he; "let him whip me too, provided I am not there." + +Our fathers contented themselves with revenging an insult with the lie, +the lie with a box of the ear, and so forward; they were valiant enough +not to fear their adversaries, living and provoked we tremble for fear so +soon as we see them on foot. And that this is so, does not our noble +practice of these days, equally to prosecute to death both him that has +offended us and him we have offended, make it out? 'Tis also a kind +of cowardice that has introduced the custom of having seconds, thirds, +and fourths in our duels; they were formerly duels; they are now +skirmishes, rencontres, and battles. Solitude was, doubtless, terrible +to those who were the first inventors of this practice: + + "Quum in se cuique minimum fiduciae esset," + +for naturally any company whatever is consolatory in danger. Third +persons were formerly called in to prevent disorder and foul play only, +and to be witness of the fortune of the combat; but now they have brought +it to this pass that the witnesses themselves engage; whoever is invited +cannot handsomely stand by as an idle spectator, for fear of being +suspected either of want of affection or of courage. Besides the +injustice and unworthiness of such an action, of engaging other strength +and valour in the protection of your honour than your own, I conceive it +a disadvantage to a brave man, and who wholly relies upon himself, to +shuffle his fortune with that of a second; every one runs hazard enough +himself without hazarding for another, and has enough to do to assure +himself in his own valour for the defence of his life, without intrusting +a thing so dear in a third man's hand. For, if it be not expressly +agreed upon before to the contrary, 'tis a combined party of all four, +and if your second be killed, you have two to deal withal, with good +reason; and to say that it is foul play, it is so indeed, as it is, well +armed, to attack a man who has but the hilt of a broken sword in his +hand, or, clear and untouched, a man who is desperately wounded: but if +these be advantages you have got by fighting, you may make use of them +without reproach. The disparity and inequality are only weighed and +considered from the condition of the combatants when they began; as to +the rest, you must take your chance: and though you had, alone, three +enemies upon you at once, your two companions being killed, you have no +more wrong done you, than I should do in a battle, by running a man +through whom I should see engaged with one of our own men, with the like +advantage. The nature of society will have it so that where there is +troop against troop, as where our Duke of Orleans challenged Henry, king +of England, a hundred against a hundred; three hundred against as many, +as the Argians against the Lacedaemonians; three to three, as the Horatii +against the Curiatii, the multitude on either side is considered but as +one single man: the hazard, wherever there is company, being confused and +mixed. + +I have a domestic interest in this discourse; for my brother, the Sieur +de Mattecoulom, was at Rome asked by a gentleman with whom he had no +great acquaintance, and who was a defendant challenged by another, to be +his second; in this duel he found himself matched with a gentleman much +better known to him. (I would fain have an explanation of these rules of +honour, which so often shock and confound those of reason.) After having +despatched his man, seeing the two principals still on foot and sound, he +ran in to disengage his friend. What could he do less? should he have +stood still, and if chance would have ordered it so, have seen him he was +come thither to defend killed before his face? what he had hitherto done +helped not the business; the quarrel was yet undecided. The courtesy +that you can, and certainly ought to shew to your enemy, when you have +reduced him to an ill condition and have a great advantage over him, I do +not see how you can do it, where the interest of another is concerned, +where you are only called in as an assistant, and the quarrel is none of +yours: he could neither be just nor courteous, at the hazard of him he +was there to serve. And he was therefore enlarged from the prisons of +Italy at the speedy and solemn request of our king. Indiscreet nation! +we are not content to make our vices and follies known to the world by +report only, but we must go into foreign countries, there to show them +what fools we are. Put three Frenchmen into the deserts of Libya, they +will not live a month together without fighting; so that you would say +this peregrination were a thing purposely designed to give foreigners the +pleasure of our tragedies, and, for the most part, to such as rejoice and +laugh at our miseries. We go into Italy to learn to fence, and exercise +the art at the expense of our lives before we have learned it; and yet, +by the rule of discipline, we should put the theory before the practice. +We discover ourselves to be but learners: + + "Primitae juvenum miserae, bellique futuri + Dura rudimenta." + + ["Wretched the elementary trials of youth, and hard the + rudiments of approaching war."--Virgil, AEneid, xi. 156.] + +I know that fencing is an art very useful to its end (in a duel betwixt +two princes, cousin-germans, in Spain, the elder, says Livy, by his skill +and dexterity in arms, easily overcoming the greater and more awkward +strength of the younger), and of which the knowledge, as I experimentally +know, has inspired some with courage above their natural measure; but +this is not properly valour, because it supports itself upon address, and +is founded upon something besides itself. The honour of combat consists +in the jealousy of courage, and not of skill; and therefore I have known +a friend of mine, famed as a great master in this exercise, in his +quarrels make choice of such arms as might deprive him of this advantage +and that wholly depended upon fortune and assurance, that they might not +attribute his victory rather to his skill in fencing than his valour. +When I was young, gentlemen avoided the reputation of good fencers as +injurious to them, and learned to fence with all imaginable privacy as a +trade of subtlety, derogating from true and natural valour: + + "Non schivar non parar, non ritirarsi, + Voglion costor, ne qui destrezza ha parte; + Non danno i colpi or finti, or pieni, or scarsi! + Toglie l'ira a il furor l'uso de l'arte. + Odi le spade orribilmente utarsi + A mezzo il ferro; il pie d'orma non parte, + Sempre a il pie fermo, a la man sempre in moto; + Ne scende taglio in van, ne punta a voto." + + ["They neither shrank, nor vantage sought of ground, + They travers'd not, nor skipt from part to part, + Their blows were neither false, nor feigned found: + In fight, their rage would let them use no art. + Their swords together clash with dreadful sound, + Their feet stand fast, and neither stir nor start, + They move their hands, steadfast their feet remain. + Nor blow nor foin they strook, or thrust in vain." + --Tasso, Gierus. Lib., c. 12, st. 55, Fairfax's translation.] + +Butts, tilting, and barriers, the feint of warlike fights, were the +exercises of our forefathers: this other exercise is so much the less +noble, as it only respects a private end; that teaches us to destroy one +another against law and justice, and that every way always produces very +ill effects. It is much more worthy and more becoming to exercise +ourselves in things that strengthen than that weaken our government and +that tend to the public safety and common glory. The consul, Publius +Rutilius, was the first who taught the soldiers to handle their arms +with skill, and joined art with valour, not for the rise of private +quarrel, but for war and the quarrels of the people of Rome; a popular +and civil defence. And besides the example of Caesar, who commanded his +men to shoot chiefly at the face of Pompey's soldiers in the battle of +Pharsalia, a thousand other commanders have also bethought them to invent +new forms of weapons and new ways of striking and defending, according as +occasion should require. + +But as Philopoemen condemned wrestling, wherein he excelled, because the +preparatives that were therein employed were differing from those that +appertain to military discipline, to which alone he conceived men of +honour ought wholly to apply themselves; so it seems to me that this +address to which we form our limbs, those writhings and motions young men +are taught in this new school, are not only of no use, but rather +contrary and hurtful to the practice of fight in battle; and also our +people commonly make use of particular weapons, and peculiarly designed +for duel; and I have seen, when it has been disapproved, that a gentleman +challenged to fight with rapier and poignard appeared in the array of a +man-at-arms, and that another should take his cloak instead of his +poignard. It is worthy of consideration that Laches in Plato, speaking +of learning to fence after our manner, says that he never knew any great +soldier come out of that school, especially the masters of it: and, +indeed, as to them, our experience tells as much. As to the rest, we may +at least conclude that they are qualities of no relation or +correspondence; and in the education of the children of his government, +Plato interdicts the art of boxing, introduced by Amycus and Epeius, and +that of wrestling, by Antaeus and Cercyo, because they have another end +than to render youth fit for the service of war and contribute nothing to +it. But I see that I have somewhat strayed from my theme. + +The Emperor Mauricius, being advertised by dreams and several +prognostics, that one Phocas, an obscure soldier, should kill him, +questioned his son-in-law, Philip, who this Phocas was, and what were his +nature, qualities, and manners; and so soon as Philip, amongst other +things, had told him that he was cowardly and timorous, the emperor +immediately concluded then that he was a murderer and cruel. What is it +that makes tyrants so sanguinary? 'Tis only the solicitude for their own +safety, and that their faint hearts can furnish them with no other means +of securing themselves than in exterminating those who may hurt them, +even so much as women, for fear of a scratch: + + "Cuncta ferit, dum cuncta timer." + + ["He strikes at all who fears all." + --Claudius, in Eutrop., i. 182.] + +The first cruelties are exercised for themselves thence springs the fear +of a just revenge, which afterwards produces a series of new cruelties, +to obliterate one another. Philip, king of Macedon, who had so much to +do with the people of Rome, agitated with the horror of so many murders +committed by his order, and doubting of being able to keep himself secure +from so many families, at divers times mortally injured and offended by +him, resolved to seize all the children of those he had caused to be +slain, to despatch them daily one after another, and so to establish his +own repose. + +Fine matter is never impertinent, however placed; and therefore I, who +more consider the weight and utility of what I deliver than its order and +connection, need not fear in this place to bring in an excellent story, +though it be a little by-the-by; for when they are rich in their own +native beauty, and are able to justify themselves, the least end of a +hair will serve to draw them into my discourse. + +Amongst others condemned by Philip, had been one Herodicus, prince of +Thessaly; he had, moreover, after him caused his two sons-in-law to be +put to death, each leaving a son very young behind him. Theoxena and +Archo were their two widows. Theoxena, though highly courted to it, +could not be persuaded to marry again: Archo married Poris, the greatest +man among the AEnians, and by him had a great many children, whom she, +dying, left at a very tender age. Theoxena, moved with a maternal +charity towards her nephews, that she might have them under her own eyes +and in her own protection, married Poris: when presently comes a +proclamation of the king's edict. This brave-spirited mother, suspecting +the cruelty of Philip, and afraid of the insolence of the soldiers +towards these charming and tender children was so bold as to declare hat +she would rather kill them with her own hands than deliver them. Poris, +startled at this protestation, promised her to steal them away, and to +transport them to Athens, and there commit them to the custody of some +faithful friends of his. They took, therefore, the opportunity of an +annual feast which was celebrated at AEnia in honour of AEneas, and +thither they went. Having appeared by day at the public ceremonies and +banquet, they stole the night following into a vessel laid ready for the +purpose, to escape away by sea. The wind proved contrary, and finding +themselves in the morning within sight of the land whence they had +launched overnight, and being pursued by the guards of the port, Poris +perceiving this, laboured all he could to make the mariners do their +utmost to escape from the pursuers. But Theoxena, frantic with affection +and revenge, in pursuance of her former resolution, prepared both weapons +and poison, and exposing them before them; "Go to, my children," said +she, "death is now the only means of your defence and liberty, and shall +administer occasion to the gods to exercise their sacred justice: these +sharp swords, and these full cups, will open you the way into it; +courage, fear nothing! And thou, my son, who art the eldest, take this +steel into thy hand, that thou mayest the more bravely die." The +children having on one side so powerful a counsellor, and the enemy at +their throats on the other, run all of them eagerly upon what was next to +hand; and, half dead, were thrown into the sea. Theoxena, proud of +having so gloriously provided for the safety of her children, clasping +her arms with great affection about her husband's neck. "Let us, my +friend," said she, "follow these boys, and enjoy the same sepulchre they +do"; and so, having embraced, they threw themselves headlong into the +sea; so that the ship was carried--back without the owners into the +harbour. + +Tyrants, at once both to kill and to make their anger felt, have employed +their capacity to invent the most lingering deaths. They will have their +enemies despatched, but not so fast that they may not have leisure to +taste their vengeance. And therein they are mightily perplexed; for if +the torments they inflict are violent, they are short; if long, they are +not then so painful as they desire; and thus plague themselves in choice +of the greatest cruelty. Of this we have a thousand examples in +antiquity, and I know not whether we, unawares, do not retain some traces +of this barbarity. + +All that exceeds a simple death appears to me absolute cruelty. Our +justice cannot expect that he, whom the fear of dying by being beheaded +or hanged will not restrain, should be any more awed by the imagination +of a languishing fire, pincers, or the wheel. And I know not, in the +meantime, whether we do not throw them into despair; for in what +condition can be the soul of a man, expecting four-and-twenty hours +together to be broken upon a wheel, or after the old way, nailed to a +cross? Josephus relates that in the time of the war the Romans made in +Judaea, happening to pass by where they had three days before crucified +certain Jews, he amongst them knew three of his own friends, and obtained +the favour of having them taken down, of whom two, he says, died; the +third lived a great while after. + +Chalcondylas, a writer of good credit, in the records he has left behind +him of things that happened in his time, and near him, tells us, as of +the most excessive torment, of that the Emperor Mohammed very often +practised, of cutting off men in the middle by the diaphragm with one +blow of a scimitar, whence it followed that they died as it were two +deaths at once; and both the one part, says he, and the other, were seen +to stir and strive a great while after in very great torment. I do not +think there was any great suffering in this motion the torments that are +the most dreadful to look on are not always the greatest to endure; and I +find those that other historians relate to have been practised by him +upon the Epirot lords, are more horrid and cruel, where they were +condemned to be flayed alive piecemeal, after so malicious a manner that +they continued fifteen days in that misery. + +And these other two: Croesus, having caused a gentleman, the favourite of +his brother Pantaleon, to be seized, carried him into a fuller's shop, +where he caused him to be scratched and carded with the cards and combs +belonging to that trade, till he died. George Sechel, chief commander of +the peasants of Poland, who committed so many mischiefs under the title +of the Crusade, being defeated in battle and taken bu the Vayvode of +Transylvania, was three days bound naked upon the rack exposed to all +sorts of torments that any one could contrive against him: during which +time many other prisoners were kept fasting; in the end, he living and +looking on, they made his beloved brother Lucat, for whom alone he +entreated, taking on himself the blame of all their evil actions drink +his blood, and caused twenty of his most favoured captains to feed upon +him, tearing his flesh in pieces with their teeth, and swallowing the +morsels. The remainder of his body and his bowels, so soon as he was +dead, were boiled, and others of his followers compelled to eat them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +ALL THINGS HAVE THEIR SEASON + +Such as compare Cato the Censor with the younger Cato, who killed +himself, compare two beautiful natures, much resembling one another. +The first acquired his reputation several ways, and excels in military +exploits and the utility of his public employments; but the virtue of the +younger, besides that it were blasphemy to compare any to it in vigour, +was much more pure and unblemished. For who could absolve that of the +Censor from envy and ambition, having dared to attack the honour of +Scipio, a man in goodness and all other excellent qualities infinitely +beyond him or any other of his time? + +That which they, report of him, amongst other things, that in his extreme +old age he put himself upon learning the Greek tongue with so greedy an +appetite, as if to quench a long thirst, does not seem to me to make much +for his honour; it being properly what we call falling into second +childhood. All things have their seasons, even good ones, and I may say +my Paternoster out of time; as they accused T. Quintus Flaminius, that +being general of an army, he was seen praying apart in the time of a +battle that he won. + + "Imponit finem sapiens et rebus honestis." + + ["The wise man limits even honest things."--Juvenal, vi. 444] + +Eudemonidas, seeing Xenocrates when very old, still very intent upon his +school lectures: "When will this man be wise," said he, "if he is yet +learning?" And Philopaemen, to those who extolled King Ptolemy for every +day inuring his person to the exercise of arms: "It is not," said he, +"commendable in a king of his age to exercise himself in these things; he +ought now really to employ them." The young are to make their +preparations, the old to enjoy them, say the sages: and the greatest vice +they observe in us is that our desires incessantly grow young again; we +are always re-beginning to live. + +Our studies and desires should sometime be sensible of age; yet we have +one foot in the grave and still our appetites and pursuits spring every +day anew within us: + + "Tu secanda marmora + Locas sub ipsum funus, et, sepulcri + Immemor, struis domos." + + ["You against the time of death have marble cut for use, and, + forgetful of the tomb, build houses."--Horace, Od., ii. 18, 17.] + +The longest of my designs is not of above a year's extent; I think of +nothing now but ending; rid myself of all new hopes and enterprises; take +my last leave of every place I depart from, and every day dispossess +myself of what I have. + + "Olim jam nec perit quicquam mihi, nec acquiritur.... + plus superest viatici quam viae." + + ["Henceforward I will neither lose, nor expect to get: I have more + wherewith to defray my journey, than I have way to go." (Or): + "Hitherto nothing of me has been lost or gained; more remains to pay + the way than there is way."--Seneca, Ep., 77. (The sense seems to + be that so far he had met his expenses, but that for the future he + was likely to have more than he required.)] + + "Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi." + + ["I have lived and finished the career Fortune placed before me." + --AEneid, iv. 653.] + +'Tis indeed the only comfort I find in my old age, that it mortifies in +me several cares and desires wherewith my life has been disturbed; the +care how the world goes, the care of riches, of grandeur, of knowledge, +of health, of myself. There are men who are learning to speak at a time +when they should learn to be silent for ever. A man may always study, +but he must not always go to school what a contemptible thing is an old +Abecedarian!--[Seneca, Ep. 36] + + "Diversos diversa juvant; non omnibus annis + Omnia conveniunt." + + ["Various things delight various men; all things are not + for all ages."--Gall., Eleg., i. 104.] + +If we must study, let us study what is suitable to our present condition, +that we may answer as he did, who being asked to what end he studied in +his decrepit age, "that I may go out better," said he, "and at greater +ease." Such a study was that of the younger Cato, feeling his end +approach, and which he met with in Plato's Discourse of the Eternity of +the Soul: not, as we are to believe, that he was not long before +furnished with all sorts of provision for such a departure; for of +assurance, an established will and instruction, he had more than Plato +had in all his writings; his knowledge and courage were in this respect +above philosophy; he applied himself to this study, not for the service +of his death; but, as a man whose sleeps were never disturbed in the +importance of such a deliberation, he also, without choice or change, +continued his studies with the other accustomary actions of his life. +The night that he was denied the praetorship he spent in play; that +wherein he was to die he spent in reading. The loss either of life +or of office was all one to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +OF VIRTUE + +I find by experience, that there is a good deal to be said betwixt the +flights and emotions of the soul or a resolute and constant habit; and +very well perceive that there is nothing we may not do, nay, even to the +surpassing the Divinity itself, says a certain person, forasmuch as it is +more to render a man's self impassible by his own study and industry, +than to be so by his natural condition; and even to be able to conjoin to +man's imbecility and frailty a God-like resolution and assurance; but it +is by fits and starts; and in the lives of those heroes of times past +there are sometimes miraculous impulses, and that seem infinitely to +exceed our natural force; but they are indeed only impulses: and 'tis +hard to believe, that these so elevated qualities in a man can so +thoroughly tinct and imbue the soul that they should become ordinary, +and, as it were, natural in him. It accidentally happens even to us, +who are but abortive births of men, sometimes to launch our souls, when +roused by the discourses or examples of others, much beyond their +ordinary stretch; but 'tis a kind of passion which pushes and agitates +them, and in some sort ravishes them from themselves: but, this +perturbation once overcome, we see that they insensibly flag and slacken +of themselves, if not to the lowest degree, at least so as to be no more +the same; insomuch as that upon every trivial occasion, the losing of a +bird, or the breaking, of a glass, we suffer ourselves to be moved little +less than one of the common people. I am of opinion, that order, +moderation, and constancy excepted, all things are to be done by a man +that is very imperfect and defective in general. Therefore it is, say +the Sages, that to make a right judgment of a man, you are chiefly to pry +into his common actions, and surprise him in his everyday habit. + +Pyrrho, he who erected so pleasant a knowledge upon ignorance, +endeavoured, as all the rest who were really philosophers did, to make +his life correspond with his doctrine. And because he maintained the +imbecility of human judgment to be so extreme as to be incapable of any +choice or inclination, and would have it perpetually wavering and +suspended, considering and receiving all things as indifferent, 'tis +said, that he always comforted himself after the same manner and +countenance: if he had begun a discourse, he would always end what he had +to say, though the person he was speaking to had gone away: if he walked, +he never stopped for any impediment that stood in his way, being +preserved from precipices, collision with carts, and other like +accidents, by the care of his friends: for, to fear or to avoid anything, +had been to shock his own propositions, which deprived the senses +themselves of all election and certainty. Sometimes he suffered incision +and cauteries with so great constancy as never to be seen so much as to +wince. 'Tis something to bring the soul to these imaginations; 'tis more +to join the effects, and yet not impossible; but to conjoin them with +such perseverance and constancy as to make them habitual, is certainly, +in attempts so remote from the common usage, almost incredible to be +done. Therefore it was, that being sometime taken in his house sharply +scolding with his sister, and being reproached that he therein +transgressed his own rules of indifference: "What!" said he, "must this +bit of a woman also serve for a testimony to my rules?" Another time, +being seen to defend himself against a dog: "It is," said he, "very hard +totally to put off man; and we must endeavour and force ourselves to +resist and encounter things, first by effects, but at least by reason and +argument." + +About seven or eight years since, a husbandman yet living, but two +leagues from my house, having long been tormented with his wife's +jealousy, coming one day home from his work, and she welcoming him with +her accustomed railing, entered into so great fury that with a sickle he +had yet in his hand, he totally cut off all those parts that she was +jealous of and threw them in her face. And, 'tis said that a young +gentleman of our nation, brisk and amorous, having by his perseverance at +last mollified the heart of a fair mistress, enraged, that upon the point +of fruition he found himself unable to perform, and that, + + "Nec viriliter + Iners senile penis extulit caput." + + [(The 19th or 20th century translators leave this phrase + untranslated and with no explanation. D.W.) + --Tibullus, Priap. Carm., 84.] + +as soon as ever he came home he deprived himself of the rebellious +member, and sent it to his mistress, a cruel and bloody victim for the +expiation of his offence. If this had been done upon mature +consideration, and upon the account of religion, as the priests of Cybele +did, what should we say of so high an action? + +A few days since, at Bergerac, five leagues from my house, up the river +Dordogne, a woman having overnight been beaten and abused by her husband, +a choleric ill-conditioned fellow, resolved to escape from his ill-usage +at the price of her life; and going so soon as she was up the next +morning to visit her neighbours, as she was wont to do, and having let +some words fall in recommendation of her affairs, she took a sister of +hers by the hand, and led her to the bridge; whither being come, and +having taken leave of her, in jest as it were, without any manner of +alteration in her countenance, she threw herself headlong from the top +into the river, and was there drowned. That which is the most remarkable +in this is, that this resolution was a whole night forming in her head. + +It is quite another thing with the Indian women for it being the custom +there for the men to have many wives, and the best beloved of them to +kill herself at her husband's decease, every one of them makes it the +business of her whole life to obtain this privilege and gain this +advantage over her companions; and the good offices they do their +husbands aim at no other recompense but to be preferred in accompanying +him in death: + + "Ubi mortifero jacta est fax ultima lecto, + Uxorum fusis stat pia turba comis + Et certamen habent lethi, quae viva sequatur + Conjugium: pudor est non licuisse mori. + Ardent victrices, et flammae pectora praebent, + Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris." + + ["For when they threw the torch on the funeral bed, the pious wives + with hair dishevelled, stand around striving, which, living, shall + accompany her spouse; and are ashamed that they may not die; they + who are preferred expose their breasts to the flame, and they lay + their scorched lips on those of their husbands." + --Propertius, iii. 13, 17.] + +A certain author of our times reports that he has seen in those Oriental +nations this custom in practice, that not only the wives bury themselves +with their husbands, but even the slaves he has enjoyed also; which is +done after this manner: The husband being dead, the widow may if she will +(but few will) demand two or three months' respite wherein to order her +affairs. The day being come, she mounts on horseback, dressed as fine as +at her wedding, and with a cheerful countenance says she is going to +sleep with her spouse, holding a looking-glass in her left hand and an +arrow in the other. Being thus conducted in pomp, accompanied with her +kindred and friends and a great concourse of people in great joy, she is +at last brought to the public place appointed for such spectacles: this +is a great space, in the midst of which is a pit full of wood, and +adjoining to it a mount raised four or five steps, upon which she is +brought and served with a magnificent repast; which being done, she falls +to dancing and singing, and gives order, when she thinks fit, to kindle +the fire. This being done, she descends, and taking the nearest of her +husband's relations by the hand, they walk to the river close by, where +she strips herself stark naked, and having distributed her clothes and +jewels to her friends, plunges herself into the water, as if there to +cleanse herself from her sins; coming out thence, she wraps herself in a +yellow linen of five-and-twenty ells long, and again giving her hand to +this kinsman of her husband's, they return back to the mount, where she +makes a speech to the people, and recommends her children to them, if she +have any. Betwixt the pit and the mount there is commonly a curtain +drawn to screen the burning furnace from their sight, which some of them, +to manifest the greater courage, forbid. Having ended what she has to +say, a woman presents her with a vessel of oil, wherewith to anoint her +head and her whole body, which when done with she throws into the fire, +and in an instant precipitates herself after. Immediately, the people +throw a good many billets and logs upon her that she may not be long in +dying, and convert all their joy into sorrow and mourning. If they are +persons of meaner condition, the body of the defunct is carried to the +place of sepulture, and there placed sitting, the widow kneeling before +him, embracing the dead body; and they continue in this posture whilst +the people build a wall about them, which so soon as it is raised to the +height of the woman's shoulders, one of her relations comes behind her, +and taking hold of her head, twists her neck; so soon as she is dead, the +wall is presently raised up, and closed, and there they remain entombed. + +There was, in this same country, something like this in their +gymnosophists; for not by constraint of others nor by the impetuosity of +a sudden humour, but by the express profession of their order, their +custom was, as soon as they arrived at a certain age, or that they saw +themselves threatened by any disease, to cause a funeral pile to be +erected for them, and on the top a stately bed, where, after having +joyfully feasted their friends and acquaintance, they laid them down with +so great resolution, that fire being applied to it, they were never seen +to stir either hand or foot; and after this manner, one of them, Calanus +by name; expired in the presence of the whole army of Alexander the +Great. And he was neither reputed holy nor happy amongst them who did +not thus destroy himself, dismissing his soul purged and purified by the +fire, after having consumed all that was earthly and mortal. This +constant premeditation of the whole life is that which makes the wonder. + +Amongst our other controversies, that of 'Fatum' has also crept in; and +to tie things to come, and even our own wills, to a certain and +inevitable necessity, we are yet upon this argument of time past: +"Since God foresees that all things shall so fall out, as doubtless He +does, it must then necessarily follow, that they must so fall out": to +which our masters reply: "that the seeing anything come to pass, as we +do, and as God Himself also does (for all things being present with him, +He rather sees, than foresees), is not to compel an event: that is, we +see because things do fall out, but things do not fall out because we +see: events cause knowledge, but knowledge does not cause events. That +which we see happen, does happen; but it might have happened otherwise: +and God, in the catalogue of the causes of events which He has in His +prescience, has also those which we call accidental and voluntary, +depending upon the liberty. He has given our free will, and knows that +we do amiss because we would do so." + +I have seen a great many commanders encourage their soldiers with this +fatal necessity; for if our time be limited to a certain hour, neither +the enemies' shot nor our own boldness, nor our flight and cowardice, +can either shorten or prolong our lives. This is easily said, but see +who will be so easily persuaded; and if it be so that a strong and lively +faith draws along with it actions of the same kind, certainly this faith +we so much brag of, is very light in this age of ours, unless the +contempt it has of works makes it disdain their company. So it is, that +to this very purpose the Sire de Joinville, as credible a witness as any +other whatever, tells us of the Bedouins, a nation amongst the Saracens, +with whom the king St. Louis had to do in the Holy Land, that they, in +their religion, so firmly believed the number of every man's days to be +from all eternity prefixed and set down by an inevitable decree, that +they went naked to the wars, excepting a Turkish sword, and their bodies +only covered with a white linen cloth: and for the greatest curse they +could invent when they were angry, this was always in their mouths: +"Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death." This is a +testimony of faith very much beyond ours. And of this sort is that also +that two friars of Florence gave in our fathers' days. Being engaged in +some controversy of learning, they agreed to go both of them into the +fire in the sight of all the people, each for the verification of his +argument, and all things were already prepared, and the thing just upon +the point of execution, when it was interrupted by an unexpected +accident.--[7th April 1498. Savonarola issued the challenge. After many +delays from demands and counter-demands by each side as to the details of +the fire, both parties found that they had important business to transact +in another county--both just barely escaped assassination at the hands of +the disappointed spectators. D.W.] + +A young Turkish lord, having performed a notable exploit in his own +person in the sight of both armies, that of Amurath and that of Huniades, +ready to join battle, being asked by Amurath, what in such tender and +inexperienced years (for it was his first sally into arms) had inspired +him with so brave a courage, replied, that his chief tutor for valour was +a hare. "For being," said he, "one day a hunting, I found a hare +sitting, and though I had a brace of excellent greyhounds with me, yet +methought it would be best for sureness to make use of my bow; for she +sat very fair. I then fell to letting fly my arrows, and shot forty that +I had in my quiver, not only without hurting, but without starting her +from her form. At last I slipped my dogs after her, but to no more +purpose than I had shot: by which I understood that she had been secured +by her destiny; and, that neither darts nor swords can wound without the +permission of fate, which we can neither hasten nor defer." This story +may serve, by the way, to let us see how flexible our reason is to all +sorts of images. + +A person of great years, name, dignity, and learning boasted to me that +he had been induced to a certain very important change in his faith by a +strange and whimsical incitation, and one otherwise so inadequate, that I +thought it much stronger, taken the contrary way: he called it a miracle, +and so I look upon it, but in a different sense. The Turkish historians +say, that the persuasion those of their nation have imprinted in them of +the fatal and unalterable prescription of their days, manifestly conduces +to the giving them great assurance in dangers. And I know a great prince +who makes very fortunate use of it, whether it be that he really believes +it, or that he makes it his excuse for so wonderfully hazarding himself: +let us hope Fortune may not be too soon weary of her favour to him. + +There has not happened in our memory a more admirable effect of +resolution than in those two who conspired the death of the Prince of +Orange. + + [The first of these was Jehan de Jaureguy, who wounded the Prince + 18th March 1582; the second, by whom the Prince was killed 10th July + 1584., was Balthazar Gerard.] + +'Tis marvellous how the second who executed it, could ever be persuaded +into an attempt, wherein his companion, who had done his utmost, had had +so ill success; and after the same method, and with the same arms, to go +attack a lord, armed with so recent a late lesson of distrust, powerful +in followers and bodily strength, in his own hall, amidst his guards, and +in a city wholly at his devotion. Assuredly, he employed a very resolute +arm and a courage enflamed with furious passion. A poignard is surer for +striking home; but by reason that more motion and force of hand is +required than with a pistol, the blow is more subject to be put by or +hindered. That this man did not run to a certain death, I make no great +doubt; for the hopes any one could flatter him withal, could not find +place in any sober understanding, and the conduct of his exploit +sufficiently manifests that he had no want of that, no more than of +courage. The motives of so powerful a persuasion may be diverse, for our +fancy does what it will, both with itself and us. The execution that was +done near Orleans--[The murder of the Duke of Guise by Poltrot.]--was +nothing like this; there was in this more of chance than vigour; the +wound was not mortal, if fortune had not made it so, and to attempt to +shoot on horseback, and at a great distance, by one whose body was in +motion from the motion of his horse, was the attempt of a man who had +rather miss his blow than fail of saving himself. This was apparent from +what followed; for he was so astonished and stupefied with the thought of +so high an execution, that he totally lost his judgment both to find his +way to flight and to govern his tongue. What needed he to have done more +than to fly back to his friends across the river? 'Tis what I have done +in less dangers, and that I think of very little hazard, how broad soever +the river may be, provided your horse have easy going in, and that you +see on the other side easy landing according to the stream. The other, +--[Balthazar Gerard.]--when they pronounced his dreadful sentence, +"I was prepared for this," said he, "beforehand, and I will make you +wonder at my patience." + +The Assassins, a nation bordering upon Phoenicia, + + [Or in Egypt, Syria, and Persia. Derivation of 'assassin' is from + Hassan-ben-Saba, one of their early leaders, and they had an + existence for some centuries. They are classed among the secret + societies of the Middle Ages. D.W.] + +are reputed amongst the Mohammedans a people of very great devotion and +purity of manners. They hold that the nearest way to gain Paradise is to +kill some one of a contrary religion; which is the reason they have often +been seen, being but one or two, and without armour, to attempt against +powerful enemies, at the price of a certain death and without any +consideration of their own danger. So was our Raymond, Count of Tripoli, +assassinated (which word is derived from their name) in the heart of his +city,--[in 1151]--during our enterprises of the Holy War: and likewise +Conrad, Marquis of Monteferrat, the murderers at their execution bearing +themselves with great pride and glory that they had performed so brave an +exploit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +OF A MONSTROUS CHILD + +This story shall go by itself; for I will leave it to physicians to +discourse of. Two days ago I saw a child that two men and a nurse, who +said they were the father, the uncle, and the aunt of it, carried about +to get money by showing it, by reason it was so strange a creature. It +was, as to all the rest, of a common form, and could stand upon its feet; +could go and gabble much like other children of the same age; it had +never as yet taken any other nourishment but from the nurse's breasts, +and what, in my presence, they tried to put into the mouth of it, it only +chewed a little and spat it out again without swallowing; the cry of it +seemed indeed a little odd and particular, and it was just fourteen +months old. Under the breast it was joined to another child, but without +a head, and which had the spine of the back without motion, the rest +entire; for though it had one arm shorter than the other, it had been +broken by accident at their birth; they were joined breast to breast, and +as if a lesser child sought to throw its arms about the neck of one +something bigger. The juncture and thickness of the place where they +were conjoined was not above four fingers, or thereabouts, so that if you +thrust up the imperfect child you might see the navel of the other below +it, and the joining was betwixt the paps and the navel. The navel of the +imperfect child could not be seen, but all the rest of the belly, so that +all that was not joined of the imperfect one, as arms, buttocks, thighs, +and legs, hung dangling upon the other, and might reach to the mid-leg. +The nurse, moreover, told us that it urined at both bodies, and that the +members of the other were nourished, sensible, and in the same plight +with that she gave suck to, excepting that they were shorter and less. +This double body and several limbs relating to one head might be +interpreted a favourable prognostic to the king,--[Henry III.]--of +maintaining these various parts of our state under the union of his laws; +but lest the event should prove otherwise, 'tis better to let it alone, +for in things already past there needs no divination, + + "Ut quum facts sunt, tum ad conjecturam + aliqui interpretatione revocentur;" + + ["So as when they are come to pass, they may then by some + interpretation be recalled to conjecture" + --Cicero, De Divin., ii. 31.] + +as 'tis said of Epimenides, that he always prophesied backward. + +I have just seen a herdsman in Medoc, of about thirty years of age, who +has no sign of any genital parts; he has three holes by which he +incessantly voids his water; he is bearded, has desire, and seeks contact +with women. + +Those that we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity +of His work the infinite forms that He has comprehended therein; and it +is to be believed that this figure which astonishes us has relation to +some other figure of the same kind unknown to man. From His all wisdom +nothing but good, common; and regular proceeds; but we do not discern the +disposition and relation: + + "Quod crebro videt, non miratur, etiamsi, + cur fiat, nescit. Quod ante non vidit, id, + si evenerit, ostentum esse censet." + + ["What he often sees he does not admire, though he be ignorant how + it comes to pass. When a thing happens he never saw before, he + thinks that it is a portent."--Cicero, De Divin., ii. 22.] + +Whatever falls out contrary to custom we say is contrary to nature, but +nothing, whatever it be, is contrary to her. Let, therefore, this +universal and natural reason expel the error and astonishment that +novelty brings along with it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +OF ANGER + +Plutarch is admirable throughout, but especially where he judges of human +actions. What fine things does he say in the comparison of Lycurgus and +Numa upon the subject of our great folly in abandoning children to the +care and government of their fathers? The most of our civil governments, +as Aristotle says, "leave, after the manner of the Cyclopes, to every one +the ordering of their wives and children, according to their own foolish +and indiscreet fancy; and the Lacedaemonian and Cretan are almost the +only governments that have committed the education of children to the +laws. Who does not see that in a state all depends upon their nurture +and bringing up? and yet they are left to the mercy of parents, let them +be as foolish and ill-conditioned as they may, without any manner of +discretion." + +Amongst other things, how often have I, as I have passed along our +streets, had a good mind to get up a farce, to revenge the poor boys whom +I have seen hided, knocked down, and miserably beaten by some father or +mother, when in their fury and mad with rage? You shall see them come +out with fire and fury sparkling in their eyes: + + "Rabie jecur incendente, feruntur, + Praecipites; ut saxa jugis abrupta, quibus mons + Subtrahitur, clivoque latus pendente recedit," + + ["They are headlong borne with burning fury as great stones torn + from the mountains, by which the steep sides are left naked and + bare."--Juvenal, Sat., vi. 647.] + +(and according to Hippocrates, the most dangerous maladies are they that +disfigure the countenance), with a roaring and terrible voice, very often +against those that are but newly come from nurse, and there they are +lamed and spoiled with blows, whilst our justice takes no cognisance of +it, as if these maims and dislocations were not executed upon members of +our commonwealth: + + "Gratum est, quod patria; civem populoque dedisti, + Si facis, ut patrix sit idoneus, utilis agris, + Utilis et bellorum et pacis rebus agendis." + + ["It is well when to thy country and the people thou hast given a + citizen, provided thou make fit for his country's service; useful to + till the earth, useful in affairs of war and peace" + --Juvenal, Sat., xiv. 70.] + +There is no passion that so much transports men from their right judgment +as anger. No one would demur upon punishing a judge with death who +should condemn a criminal on the account of his own choler; why, then, +should fathers and pedagogues be any more allowed to whip and chastise +children in their anger? 'Tis then no longer correction, but revenge. +Chastisement is instead of physic to children; and would we endure a +physician who should be animated against and enraged at his patient? + +We ourselves, to do well, should never lay a hand upon our servants +whilst our anger lasts. When the pulse beats, and we feel emotion in +ourselves, let us defer the business; things will indeed appear otherwise +to us when we are calm and cool. 'Tis passion that then commands, 'tis +passion that speaks, and not we. Faults seen through passion appear much +greater to us than they really are, as bodies do when seen through a +mist. He who is hungry uses meat; but he who will make use of +chastisement should have neither hunger nor thirst to it. And, moreover, +chastisements that are inflicted with weight and discretion are much +better received and with greater benefit by him who suffers; otherwise, +he will not think himself justly condemned by a man transported with +anger and fury, and will allege his master's excessive passion, his +inflamed countenance, his unwonted oaths, his emotion and precipitous +rashness, for his own justification: + + "Ora tument ira, nigrescunt sanguine venae, + Lumina Gorgoneo saevius igne micant." + + ["Their faces swell, their veins grow black with rage, and their + eyes sparkle with Gorgonian fire."--Ovid, De Art. Amandi, iii. 503.] + +Suetonius reports that Caius Rabirius having been condemned by Caesar, +the thing that most prevailed upon the people (to whom he had appealed) +to determine the cause in his favour, was the animosity and vehemence +that Caesar had manifested in that sentence. + +Saying is a different thing from doing; we are to consider the sermon +apart and the preacher apart. These men lent themselves to a pretty +business who in our times have attempted to shake the truth of our Church +by the vices of her ministers; she extracts her testimony elsewhere; 'tis +a foolish way of arguing and that would throw all things into confusion. +A man whose morals are good may have false opinions, and a wicked man may +preach truth, even though he believe it not himself. 'Tis doubtless a +fine harmony when doing and saying go together; and I will not deny but +that saying, when the actions follow, is not of greater authority and +efficacy, as Eudamidas said, hearing a philosopher talk of military +affairs: "These things are finely said, but he who speaks them is not to +be believed for his ears have never been used to the sound of the +trumpet." And Cleomenes, hearing an orator declaiming upon valour, burst +out into laughter, at which the other being angry; "I should," said he to +him, "do the same if it were a swallow that spoke of this subject; but if +it were an eagle I should willingly hear him." I perceive, methinks, in +the writings of the ancients, that he who speaks what he thinks, strikes +much more home than he who only feigns. Hear Cicero speak of the love of +liberty: hear Brutus speak of it, the mere written words of this man +sound as if he would purchase it at the price of his life. Let Cicero, +the father of eloquence, treat of the contempt of death; let Seneca do +the same: the first languishingly drawls it out so you perceive he would +make you resolve upon a thing on which he is not resolved himself; he +inspires you not with courage, for he himself has none; the other +animates and inflames you. I never read an author, even of those who +treat of virtue and of actions, that I do not curiously inquire what kind +of a man he was himself; for the Ephori at Sparta, seeing a dissolute +fellow propose a wholesome advice to the people, commanded him to hold +his peace, and entreated a virtuous man to attribute to himself the +invention, and to propose it. Plutarch's writings, if well understood, +sufficiently bespeak their author, and so that I think I know him even +into his soul; and yet I could wish that we had some fuller account of +his life. And I am thus far wandered from my subject, upon the account +of the obligation I have to Aulus Gellius, for having left us in writing +this story of his manners, that brings me back to my subject of anger. +A slave of his, a vicious, ill-conditioned fellow, but who had the +precepts of philosophy often ringing in his ears, having for some offence +of his been stript by Plutarch's command, whilst he was being whipped, +muttered at first, that it was without cause and that he had done nothing +to deserve it; but at last falling in good earnest to exclaim against and +rail at his master, he reproached him that he was no philosopher, as he +had boasted himself to be: that he had often heard him say it was +indecent to be angry, nay, had written a book to that purpose; and that +the causing him to be so cruelly beaten, in the height of his rage, +totally gave the lie to all his writings; to which Plutarch calmly and +coldly answered, "How, ruffian," said he, "by what dost thou judge that +I am now angry? Does either my face, my colour, or my voice give any +manifestation of my being moved? I do not think my eyes look fierce, +that my countenance appears troubled, or that my voice is dreadful: am I +red, do I foam, does any word escape my lips I ought to repent? Do I +start? Do I tremble with fury? For those, I tell thee, are the true +signs of anger." And so, turning to the fellow that was whipping him, +"Ply on thy work," said he, "whilst this gentleman and I dispute." This +is his story. + +Archytas Tarentinus, returning from a war wherein he had been +captain-general, found all things in his house in very great disorder, +and his lands quite out of tillage, through the ill husbandry of his +receiver, and having caused him to be called to him; "Go," said he, "if I +were not in anger I would soundly drub your sides." Plato likewise, +being highly offended with one of his slaves, gave Speusippus order to +chastise him, excusing himself from doing it because he was in anger. +And Carillus, a Lacedaemonian, to a Helot, who carried himself insolently +towards him: "By the gods," said he, "if I was not angry, I would +immediately cause thee to be put to death." + +'Tis a passion that is pleased with and flatters itself. How often, +being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good +defence and presents us with a just excuse, are we angry against truth +and innocence itself? In proof of which, I remember a marvellous example +of antiquity. + +Piso, otherwise a man of very eminent virtue, being moved against a +soldier of his, for that returning alone from forage he could give him no +account where he had left a companion of his, took it for granted that he +had killed him, and presently condemned him to death. He was no sooner +mounted upon the gibbet, but, behold, his wandering companion arrives, at +which all the army were exceedingly glad, and after many embraces of the +two comrades, the hangman carried both the one and the other into Piso's +presence, all those present believing it would be a great pleasure even +to himself; but it proved quite contrary; for through shame and spite, +his fury, which was not yet cool, redoubled; and by a subtlety which his +passion suddenly suggested to him, he made three criminals for having +found one innocent, and caused them all to be despatched: the first +soldier, because sentence had passed upon him; the second, who had lost +his way, because he was the cause of his companion's death; and the +hangman, for not having obeyed the order which had been given him. +Such as have had to do with testy and obstinate women, may have +experimented into what a rage it puts them to oppose silence and coldness +to their fury, and that a man disdains to nourish their anger. The +orator Celius was wonderfully choleric by nature; and to one who supped +in his company, a man of a gentle and sweet conversation, and who, that +he might not move him, approved and consented to all he said; he, +impatient that his ill-humour should thus spend itself without aliment: +"For the love of the gods deny me something," said he, "that we may be +two." Women, in like manner, are only angry that others may be angry +again, in imitation of the laws of love. Phocion, to one who interrupted +his speaking by injurious and very opprobrious words, made no other +return than silence, and to give him full liberty and leisure to vent his +spleen; which he having accordingly done, and the storm blown over, +without any mention of this disturbance, he proceeded in his discourse +where he had left off before. No answer can nettle a man like such a +contempt. + +Of the most choleric man in France (anger is always an imperfection, but +more excusable in, a soldier, for in that trade it cannot sometimes be +avoided) I often say, that he is the most patient man that I know, and +the most discreet in bridling his passions; which rise in him with so +great violence and fury, + + "Magno veluti cum flamma sonore + Virgea suggeritur costis undantis ahem, + Exsultantque aatu latices, furit intus aquae vis. + Fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis, + Nec jam se capit unda; volat vapor ater ad auras;" + + ["When with loud crackling noise, a fire of sticks is applied to the + boiling caldron's side, by the heat in frisky bells the liquor + dances; within the water rages, and high the smoky fluid in foam + overflows. Nor can the wave now contain itself; the black steam + flies all abroad."--AEneid, vii. 462.] + + +that he must of necessity cruelly constrain himself to moderate it. And +for my part, I know no passion which I could with so much violence to +myself attempt to cover and conceal; I would not set wisdom at so high a +price; and do not so much consider what a man does, as how much it costs +him to do no worse. + +Another boasted himself to me of the regularity and gentleness of his +manners, which are to truth very singular; to whom I replied, that it was +indeed something, especially m persons of so eminent a quality as +himself, upon whom every one had their eyes, to present himself always +well-tempered to the world; but that the principal thing was to make +provision for within and for himself; and that it was not in my opinion +very well to order his business outwardly well, and to grate himself +within, which I was afraid he did, in putting on and maintaining this +mask and external appearance. + +A man incorporates anger by concealing it, as Diogenes told Demosthenes, +who, for fear of being seen in a tavern, withdrew himself the more +retiredly into it: "The more you retire backward, the farther you enter +in." I would rather advise that a man should give his servant a box of +the ear a little unseasonably, than rack his fancy to present this grave +and composed countenance; and had rather discover my passions than brood +over them at my own expense; they grow less inventing and manifesting +themselves; and 'tis much better their point should wound others without, +than be turned towards ourselves within: + + "Omnia vitia in aperto leviora sunt: et tunc perniciosissima, + quum simulata sanitate subsident." + + ["All vices are less dangerous when open to be seen, and then most + pernicious when they lurk under a dissembled good nature." + --Seneca, Ep. 56] + +I admonish all those who have authority to be angry in my family, in the +first place to manage their anger and not to lavish it upon every +occasion, for that both lessens the value and hinders the effect: rash +and incessant scolding runs into custom, and renders itself despised; and +what you lay out upon a servant for a theft is not felt, because it is +the same he has seen you a hundred times employ against him for having +ill washed a glass, or set a stool out of place. Secondly, that they be +not angry to no purpose, but make sure that their reprehension reach him +with whom they are offended; for, ordinarily, they rail and bawl before +he comes into their presence, and continue scolding an age after he is +gone: + + "Et secum petulans amentia certat:" + + ["And petulant madness contends with itself." + --Claudian in Eutrop., i. 237.] + +they attack his shadow, and drive the storm in a place where no one is +either chastised or concerned, but in the clamour of their voice. +I likewise in quarrels condemn those who huff and vapour without an +enemy: those rhodomontades should be reserved to discharge upon the +offending party: + + "Mugitus veluti cum prima in praelia taurus + Terrificos ciet, atque irasci in cornua tentat, + Arboris obnixus trunco, ventospue lacessit + Ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnum proludit arena." + + ["As when a bull to usher in the fight, makes dreadful bellowings, + and whets his horns against the trunk of a tree; with blows he beats + the air, and rehearses the fight by scattering the sand." + --AEneid, xii. 103.] + +When I am angry, my anger is very sharp but withal very short, and as +private as I can; I lose myself indeed in promptness and violence, but +not in trouble; so that I throw out all sorts of injurious words at +random, and without choice, and never consider pertinently to dart my +language where I think it will deepest wound, for I commonly make use of +no other weapon than my tongue. + +My servants have a better bargain of me in great occasions than in +little; the little ones surprise me; and the misfortune is, that when you +are once upon the precipice, 'tis no matter who gave you the push, you +always go to the bottom; the fall urges, moves, and makes haste of +itself. In great occasions this satisfies me, that they are so just +every one expects a reasonable indignation, and then I glorify myself in +deceiving their expectation; against these, I fortify and prepare myself; +they disturb my head, and threaten to transport me very far, should I +follow them. I can easily contain myself from entering into one of these +passions, and am strong enough, when I expect them, to repel their +violence, be the cause never so great; but if a passion once prepossess +and seize me, it carries me away, be the cause never so small. I bargain +thus with those who may contend with me when you see me moved first, let +me alone, right or wrong; I'll do the same for you. The storm is only +begot by a concurrence of angers, which easily spring from one another, +and are not born together. Let every one have his own way, and we shall +be always at peace. A profitable advice, but hard to execute. Sometimes +also it falls out that I put on a seeming anger, for the better governing +of my house, without any real emotion. As age renders my humours more +sharp, I study to oppose them, and will, if I can, order it so, that for +the future I may be so much the less peevish and hard to please, as I +have more excuse and inclination to be so, although I have heretofore +been reckoned amongst those who have the greatest patience. + +A word more to conclude this argument. Aristotle says, that anger +sometimes serves for arms to virtue and valour. That is probable; +nevertheless, they who contradict him pleasantly answer, that 'tis a +weapon of novel use, for we move all other arms, this moves us; our hand +guides it not, 'tis it that guides our hand; it holds us, we hold not it. + + + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + A man may always study, but he must not always go to school + Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death + All things have their seasons, even good ones + All those who have authority to be angry in my family + "An emperor," said he, "must die standing" + Ancient Romans kept their youth always standing at school + And we suffer the ills of a long peace + Be not angry to no purpose + Best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice + By resenting the lie we acquit ourselves of the fault + "By the gods," said he, "if I was not angry, I would execute you" + Children are amused with toys and men with words + Consent, and complacency in giving a man's self up to melancholy + Defend most the defects with which we are most tainted + Emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate + Fortune sometimes seems to delight in taking us at our word + Greatest talkers, for the most part, do nothing to purpose + Have more wherewith to defray my journey, than I have way to go + Hearing a philosopher talk of military affairs + How much it costs him to do no worse + I need not seek a fool from afar; I can laugh at myself + Idleness, the mother of corruption + If a passion once prepossess and seize me, it carries me away + In sorrow there is some mixture of pleasure + Killing is good to frustrate an offence to come, not to revenge + Laws cannot subsist without mixture of injustice + Least end of a hair will serve to draw them into my discourse + Let us not seek our disease out of ourselves; 'tis in us + Look on death not only without astonishment but without care + Melancholy: Are there not some constitutions that feed upon it? + Most cruel people, and upon frivolous occasions, apt to cry. + No beast in the world so much to be feared by man as man + Our extremest pleasure has some sort of groaning + Our fancy does what it will, both with itself and us + Owe ourselves chiefly and mostly to ourselves + Petulant madness contends with itself + Rage it puts them to oppose silence and coldness to their fury + Rash and incessant scolding runs into custom + Revenge, which afterwards produces a series of new cruelties + See how flexible our reason is + Seeming anger, for the better governing of my house + Shake the truth of our Church by the vices of her ministers + Take my last leave of every place I depart from + The gods sell us all the goods they give us + The storm is only begot by a concurrence of angers + Though nobody should read me, have I wasted time + Tis said of Epimenides, that he always prophesied backward + Tis then no longer correction, but revenge + Upon the precipice, 'tis no matter who gave you the push + "When will this man be wise," said he, "if he is yet learning?" + When you see me moved first, let me alone, right or wrong + Young are to make their preparations, the old to enjoy them + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Essays of Montaigne, Volume 12 +by Michel de Montaigne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNE, VOLUME 12 *** + +***** This file should be named 3592.txt or 3592.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/3592/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE + +Translated by Charles Cotton + +Edited by William Carew Hazilitt + +1877 + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME 12. + +XVIII. Of giving the lie. +XIX. Of liberty of conscience. +XX. That we taste nothing pure. +XXI. Against idleness. +XXII. Of Posting. +XXIII. Of ill means employed to a good end. +XXIV. Of the Roman grandeur. +XXV. Not to counterfeit being sick. +XXVI. Of thumbs. +XXVII. Cowardice the mother of cruelty. +XXVIII. All things have their season. +XXIX. Of virtue. +XXX. Of a monstrous child. +XXXI. Of anger. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OF GIVING THE LIE + +Well, but some one will say to me, this design of making a man's self the +subject of his writing, were indeed excusable in rare and famous men, who +by their reputation had given others a curiosity to be fully informed of +them. It is most true, I confess and know very well, that a mechanic +will scarce lift his eyes from his work to look at an ordinary man, +whereas a man will forsake his business and his shop to stare at an +eminent person when he comes into a town. It misbecomes any other to +give his own character, but him who has qualities worthy of imitation, +and whose life and opinions may serve for example: Caesar and Xenophon +had a just and solid foundation whereon to found their narrations, the +greatness of their own performances; and were to be wished that we had +the journals of Alexander the Great, the commentaries that Augustus, +Cato, Sylla, Brutus, and others left of their actions; of such persons +men love and contemplate the very statues even in copper and marble. +This remonstrance is very true; but it very little concerns me: + + "Non recito cuiquam, nisi amicis, idque coactus; + Non ubivis, coramve quibuslibet, in medio qui + Scripta foro recitant, sunt multi, quique lavantes." + + ["I repeat my poems only to my friends, and when bound to do so; + not before every one and everywhere; there are plenty of reciters + in the open market-place and at the baths."--Horace, sat. i. 4, 73.] + +I do not here form a statue to erect in the great square of a city, in a +church, or any public place: + + "Non equidem hoc studeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis, + Pagina turgescat...... + Secreti loquimur:" + + ["I study not to make my pages swell with empty trifles; + you and I are talking in private."--Persius, Sat., v. 19.] + +'tis for some corner of a library, or to entertain a neighbour, +a kinsman, a friend, who has a mind to renew his acquaintance and +familiarity with me in this image of myself. Others have been encouraged +to speak of themselves, because they found the subject worthy and rich; +I, on the contrary, am the bolder, by reason the subject is so poor and +sterile that I cannot be suspected of ostentation. I judge freely of the +actions of others; I give little of my own to judge of, because they are +nothing: I do not find so much good in myself, that I cannot tell it +without blushing. + +What contentment would it not be to me to hear any one thus relate to me +the manners, faces, countenances, the ordinary words and fortunes of my +ancestors? how attentively should I listen to it! In earnest, it would +be evil nature to despise so much as the pictures of our friends and +predecessors, the fashion of their clothes and arms. I preserve their +writing, seal, and a particular sword they wore, and have not thrown the +long staves my father used to carry in his hand, out of my closet + + "Paterna vestis, et annulus, tanto charior est + posteris, quanto erga parentes major affectus." + + ["A father's garment and ring is by so much dearer to his posterity, + as there is the greater affection towards parents." + --St. Aug., De Civat. Dei, i. 13.] + +If my posterity, nevertheless, shall be of another mind, I shall be +avenged on them; for they cannot care less for me than I shall then do +for them. All the traffic that I have in this with the public is, that I +borrow their utensils of writing, which are more easy and most at hand; +and in recompense shall, peradventure, keep a pound of butter in the +market from melting in the sun:--[Montaigne semi-seriously speculates on +the possibility of his MS. being used to wrap up butter.] + + "Ne toga cordyllis, ne penula desit olivis; + Et laxas scombris saepe dabo tunicas;" + + [ Let not wrappers be wanting to tunny-fish, nor olives; + and I shall supply loose coverings to mackerel." + --Martial, xiii. I, I.] + +And though nobody should read me, have I wasted time in entertaining +myself so many idle hours in so pleasing and useful thoughts? In +moulding this figure upon myself, I have been so often constrained to +temper and compose myself in a right posture, that the copy is truly +taken, and has in some sort formed itself; painting myself for others, +I represent myself in a better colouring than my own natural complexion. +I have no more made my book than my book has made me: 'tis a book +consubstantial with the author, of a peculiar design, a parcel of my +life, and whose business is not designed for others, as that of all other +books is. In giving myself so continual and so exact an account of +myself, have I lost my time? For they who sometimes cursorily survey +themselves only, do not so strictly examine themselves, nor penetrate so +deep, as he who makes it his business, his study, and his employment, who +intends a lasting record, with all his fidelity, and with all his force: +The most delicious pleasures digested within, avoid leaving any trace of +themselves, and avoid the sight not only of the people, but of any other +person. How often has this work diverted me from troublesome thoughts? +and all that are frivolous should be reputed so. Nature has presented us +with a large faculty of entertaining ourselves alone; and often calls us +to it, to teach us that we owe ourselves in part to society, but chiefly +and mostly to ourselves. That I may habituate my fancy even to meditate +in some method and to some end, and to keep it from losing itself and +roving at random, 'tis but to give to body and to record all the little +thoughts that present themselves to it. I give ear to my whimsies, +because I am to record them. It often falls out, that being displeased +at some action that civility and reason will not permit me openly to +reprove, I here disgorge myself, not without design of public +instruction: and also these poetical lashes, + + "Zon zur l'oeil, ion sur le groin, + Zon zur le dos du Sagoin," + + ["A slap on his eye, a slap on his snout, a slap on Sagoin's + back."--Marot. Fripelippes, Valet de Marot a Sagoin.] + + +imprint themselves better upon paper than upon the flesh. What if I +listen to books a little more attentively than ordinary, since I watch if +I can purloin anything that may adorn or support my own? I have not at +all studied to make a book; but I have in some sort studied because I had +made it; if it be studying to scratch and pinch now one author, and then +another, either by the head or foot, not with any design to form opinions +from them, but to assist, second, and fortify those I already have +embraced. But whom shall we believe in the report he makes of himself in +so corrupt an age? considering there are so few, if, any at all, whom we +can believe when speaking of others, where there is less interest to lie. +The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth; +for, as Pindar says, to be true is the beginning of a great virtue, and +the first article that Plato requires in the governor of his Republic. +The truth of these days is not that which really is, but what every man +persuades another man to believe; as we generally give the name of money +not only to pieces of the dust alloy, but even to the false also, if they +will pass. Our nation has long been reproached with this vice; for +Salvianus of Marseilles, who lived in the time of the Emperor +Valentinian, says that lying and forswearing themselves is with the +French not a vice, but a way of speaking. He who would enhance this +testimony, might say that it is now a virtue in them; men form and +fashion themselves to it as to an exercise of honour; for dissimulation +is one of the most notable qualities of this age. + +I have often considered whence this custom that we so religiously observe +should spring, of being more highly offended with the reproach of a vice +so familiar to us than with any other, and that it should be the highest +insult that can in words be done us to reproach us with a lie. Upon +examination, I find that it is natural most to defend the defects with +which we are most tainted. It seems as if by resenting and being moved +at the accusation, we in some sort acquit ourselves of the fault; though +we have it in effect, we condemn it in outward appearance. May it not +also be that this reproach seems to imply cowardice and feebleness of +heart? of which can there be a more manifest sign than to eat a man's own +words--nay, to lie against a man's own knowledge? Lying is a base vice; +a vice that one of the ancients portrays in the most odious colours when +he says, "that it is to manifest a contempt of God, and withal a fear of +men." It is not possible more fully to represent the horror, baseness, +and irregularity of it; for what can a man imagine more hateful and +contemptible than to be a coward towards men, and valiant against his +Maker? Our intelligence being by no other way communicable to one +another but by a particular word, he who falsifies that betrays public +society. 'Tis the only way by which we communicate our thoughts and +wills; 'tis the interpreter of the soul, and if it deceive us, we no +longer know nor have further tie upon one another; if that deceive us, it +breaks all our correspondence, and dissolves all the ties of government. +Certain nations of the newly discovered Indies (I need not give them +names, seeing they are no more; for, by wonderful and unheardof example, +the desolation of that conquest has extended to the utter abolition of +names and the ancient knowledge of places) offered to their gods human +blood, but only such as was drawn from the tongue and ears, to expiate +for the sin of lying, as well heard as pronounced. That good fellow of +Greece --[Plutarch, Life of Lysander, c. 4.]-- said that children are +amused with toys and men with words. + +As to our diverse usages of giving the lie, and the laws of honour in +that case, and the alteration they have received, I defer saying what I +know of them to another time, and shall learn, if I can, in the +meanwhile, at what time the custom took beginning of so exactly weighing +and measuring words, and of making our honour interested in them; for it +is easy to judge that it was not anciently amongst the Romans and Greeks. +And it has often seemed to me strange to see them rail at and give one +another the lie without any quarrel. Their laws of duty steered some +other course than ours. Caesar is sometimes called thief, and sometimes +drunkard, to his teeth. We see the liberty of invective they practised +upon one another, I mean the greatest chiefs of war of both nations, +where words are only revenged with words, and do not proceed any farther. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +OF LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE + +'Tis usual to see good intentions, if carried on without moderation, push +men on to very vicious effects. In this dispute which has at this time +engaged France in a civil war, the better and the soundest cause no doubt +is that which maintains the ancient religion and government of the +kingdom. Nevertheless, amongst the good men of that party (for I do not +speak of those who only make a pretence of it, either to execute their +own particular revenges or to gratify their avarice, or to conciliate the +favour of princes, but of those who engage in the quarrel out of true +zeal to religion and a holy desire to maintain the peace and government +of their country), of these, I say, we see many whom passion transports +beyond the bounds of reason, and sometimes inspires with counsels that +are unjust and violent, and, moreover, rash. + +It is certain that in those first times, when our religion began to gain +authority with the laws, zeal armed many against all sorts of pagan +books, by which the learned suffered an exceeding great loss, a disorder +that I conceive to have done more prejudice to letters than all the +flames of the barbarians. Of this Cornelius Tacitus is a very good +testimony; for though the Emperor Tacitus, his kinsman, had, by express +order, furnished all the libraries in the world with it, nevertheless one +entire copy could not escape the curious examination of those who desired +to abolish it for only five or six idle clauses that were contrary to our +belief. + +They had also the trick easily to lend undue praises to all the emperors +who made for us, and universally to condemn all the actions of those who +were adversaries, as is evidently manifest in the Emperor Julian, +surnamed the Apostate, + + [The character of the Emperor Julian was censured, when Montaigne + was at Rome in 1581, by the Master of the Sacred Palace, who, + however, as Montaigne tells us in his journal (ii. 35), referred it + to his conscience to alter what he should think in bad taste. This + Montaigne did not do, and this chapter supplied Voltaire with the + greater part of the praises he bestowed upon the Emperor.--Leclerc.] + +who was, in truth, a very great and rare man, a man in whose soul +philosophy was imprinted in the best characters, by which he professed to +govern all his actions; and, in truth, there is no sort of virtue of +which he has not left behind him very notable examples: in chastity (of +which the whole of his life gave manifest proof) we read the same of him +that was said of Alexander and Scipio, that being in the flower of his +age, for he was slain by the Parthians at one-and-thirty, of a great many +very beautiful captives, he would not so much as look upon one. As to +his justice, he took himself the pains to hear the parties, and although +he would out of curiosity inquire what religion they were of, +nevertheless, the antipathy he had to ours never gave any counterpoise to +the balance. He made himself several good laws, and repealed a great +part of the subsidies and taxes levied by his predecessors. + +We have two good historians who were eyewitnesses of his actions: one of +whom, Marcellinus, in several places of his history sharply reproves an +edict of his whereby he interdicted all Christian rhetoricians and +grammarians to keep school or to teach, and says he could wish that act +of his had been buried in silence: it is probable that had he done any +more severe thing against us, he, so affectionate as he was to our party, +would not have passed it over in silence. He was indeed sharp against +us, but yet no cruel enemy; for our own people tell this story of him, +that one day, walking about the city of Chalcedon, Maris, bishop of the +place; was so bold as to tell him that he was impious, and an enemy to +Christ, at which, they say, he was no further moved than to reply, +"Go, poor wretch, and lament the loss of thy eyes," to which the bishop +replied again, "I thank Jesus Christ for taking away my sight, that I may +not see thy impudent visage," affecting in that, they say, a +philosophical patience. But this action of his bears no comparison to +the cruelty that he is said to have exercised against us. "He was," says +Eutropius, my other witness, "an enemy to Christianity, but without +putting his hand to blood." And, to return to his justice, there is +nothing in that whereof he can be accused, the severity excepted he +practised in the beginning of his reign against those who had followed +the party of Constantius, his predecessor. As to his sobriety, he lived +always a soldier-like life; and observed a diet and routine, like one +that prepared and inured himself to the austerities of war. His +vigilance was such, that he divided the night into three or four parts, +of which the least was dedicated to sleep; the rest was spent either in +visiting the state of his army and guards in person, or in study; for +amongst other rare qualities, he was very excellent in all sorts of +learning. 'Tis said of Alexander the Great, that being in bed, for fear +lest sleep should divert him from his thoughts and studies, he had always +a basin set by his bedside, and held one of his hands out with a ball of +copper in it, to the end, that, beginning to fall asleep, and his fingers +leaving their hold, the ball by falling into the basin, might awake him. +But the other had his soul so bent upon what he had a mind to do, and so +little disturbed with fumes by reason of his singular abstinence, that he +had no need of any such invention. As to his military experience, he was +excellent in all the qualities of a great captain, as it was likely he +should, being almost all his life in a continual exercise of war, and +most of that time with us in France, against the Germans and Franks: we +hardly read of any man who ever saw more dangers, or who made more +frequent proofs of his personal valour. + +His death has something in it parallel with that of Epaminondas, for he +was wounded with an arrow, and tried to pull it out, and had done so, but +that, being edged, it cut and disabled his hand. He incessantly called +out that they should carry him again into the heat of the battle, to +encourage his soldiers, who very bravely disputed the fight without him, +till night parted the armies. He stood obliged to his philosophy for the +singular contempt he had for his life and all human things. He had a +firm belief of the immortality of souls. + +In matter of religion he was wrong throughout, and was surnamed the +Apostate for having relinquished ours: nevertheless, the opinion seems to +me more probable, that he had never thoroughly embraced it, but had +dissembled out of obedience to the laws, till he came to the empire. +He was in his own so superstitious, that he was laughed at for it by +those of his own time, of the same opinion, who jeeringly said, that had +he got the victory over the Parthians, he had destroyed the breed of oxen +in the world to supply his sacrifices. He was, moreover, besotted with +the art of divination, and gave authority to all sorts of predictions. +He said, amongst other things at his death, that he was obliged to the +gods, and thanked them, in that they would not cut him off by surprise, +having long before advertised him of the place and hour of his death, nor +by a mean and unmanly death, more becoming lazy and delicate people; nor +by a death that was languishing, long, and painful; and that they had +thought him worthy to die after that noble manner, in the progress of his +victories, in the flower of his glory. He had a vision like that of +Marcus Brutus, that first threatened him in Gaul, and afterward appeared +to him in Persia just before his death. These words that some make him +say when he felt himself wounded: "Thou hast overcome, Nazarene"; or as +others, "Content thyself, Nazarene"; would hardly have been omitted, had +they been believed, by my witnesses, who, being present in the army, have +set down to the least motions and words of his end; no more than certain +other miracles that are reported about it. + +And to return to my subject, he long nourished, says Marcellinus, +paganism in his heart; but all his army being Christians, he durst not +own it. But in the end, seeing himself strong enough to dare to discover +himself, he caused the temples of the gods to be thrown open, and did his +uttermost to set on foot and to encourage idolatry. Which the better to +effect, having at Constantinople found the people disunited, and also the +prelates of the church divided amongst themselves, having convened them +all before him, he earnestly admonished them to calm those civil +dissensions, and that every one might freely, and without fear, follow +his own religion. Which he the more sedulously solicited, in hope that +this licence would augment the schisms and factions of their division, +and hinder the people from reuniting, and consequently fortifying +themselves against him by their unanimous intelligence and concord; +having experienced by the cruelty of some Christians, that there is no +beast in the world so much to be feared by man as man; these are very +nearly his words. + +Wherein this is very worthy of consideration, that the Emperor Julian +made use of the same receipt of liberty of conscience to inflame the +civil dissensions that our kings do to extinguish them. So that a man +may say on one side, that to give the people the reins to entertain every +man his own opinion, is to scatter and sow division, and, as it were, to +lend a hand to augment it, there being no legal impediment or restraint +to stop or hinder their career; but, on the other side, a man may also +say, that to give the people the reins to entertain every man his own +opinion, is to mollify and appease them by facility and toleration, and +to dull the point which is whetted and made sharper by singularity, +novelty, and difficulty: and I think it is better for the honour of the +devotion of our kings, that not having been able to do what they would, +they have made a show of being willing to do what they could. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THAT WE TASTE NOTHING PURE + +The feebleness of our condition is such that things cannot, in their +natural simplicity and purity, fall into our use; the elements that we +enjoy are changed, and so 'tis with metals; and gold must be debased with +some other matter to fit it for our service. Neither has virtue, so +simple as that which Aristo, Pyrrho, and also the Stoics, made the end of +life; nor the Cyrenaic and Aristippic pleasure, been without mixture +useful to it. Of the pleasure and goods that we enjoy, there is not one +exempt from some mixture of ill and inconvenience: + + "Medio de fonte leporum, + Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat." + + ["From the very fountain of our pleasure, something rises that is + bitter, which even in flowers destroys."--Lucretius, iv. 1130.] + +Our extremest pleasure has some sort of groaning and complaining in it; +would you not say that it is dying of pain? Nay, when we frame the image +of it in its full excellence, we stuff it with sickly and painful +epithets and qualities, languor, softness, feebleness, faintness, +'morbidezza': a great testimony of their consanguinity and +consubstantiality. The most profound joy has more of severity than +gaiety, in it. The highest and fullest contentment offers more of the +grave than of the merry: + + "Ipsa felicitas, se nisi temperat, premit." + + ["Even felicity, unless it moderate itself, oppresses? + -- Seneca, Ep. 74.] + +Pleasure chews and grinds us; according to the old Greek verse, which +says that the gods sell us all the goods they give us; that is to say, +that they give us nothing pure and perfect, and that we do not purchase +but at the price of some evil. + +Labour and pleasure, very unlike in nature, associate, nevertheless, +by I know not what natural conjunction. Socrates says, that some god +tried to mix in one mass and to confound pain and pleasure, but not being +able to do it; he bethought him at least to couple them by the tail. +Metrodorus said, that in sorrow there is some mixture of pleasure. I +know not whether or no he intended anything else by that saying; but for +my part, I am of opinion that there is design, consent, and complacency +in giving a man's self up to melancholy. I say, that besides ambition, +which may also have a stroke in the business, there is some shadow of +delight and delicacy which smiles upon and flatters us even in the very +lap of melancholy. Are there not some constitutions that feed upon it? + + "Est quaedam flere voluptas;" + + ["'Tis a certain kind of pleasure to weep." + --Ovid, Trist., iv. 3, 27.] + +and one Attalus in Seneca says, that the memory of our lost friends is as +grateful to us, as bitterness in wine, when too old, is to the palate: + + "Minister vetuli, puer, Falerni + Inger' mi calices amariores"-- + + ["Boy, when you pour out old Falernian wine, the bitterest put + into my bowl."--Catullus, xxvii. I.] + +and as apples that have a sweet tartness. + +Nature discovers this confusion to us; painters hold that the same +motions and grimaces of the face that serve for weeping; serve for +laughter too; and indeed, before the one or the other be finished, do but +observe the painter's manner of handling, and you will be in doubt to +which of the two the design tends; and the extreme of laughter does at +last bring tears: + + "Nullum sine auctoramento malum est." + + ["No evil is without its compensation."--Seneca, Ep., 69.] + +When I imagine man abounding with all the conveniences that are to be +desired (let us put the case that all his members were always seized with +a pleasure like that of generation, in its most excessive height) I feel +him melting under the weight of his delight, and see him utterly unable +to support so pure, so continual, and so universal a pleasure. Indeed, +he is running away whilst he is there, and naturally makes haste to +escape, as from a place where he cannot stand firm, and where he is +afraid of sinking. + +When I religiously confess myself to myself, I find that the best virtue +I have has in it some tincture of vice; and I am afraid that Plato, in +his purest virtue (I, who am as sincere and loyal a lover of virtue of +that stamp as any other whatever), if he had listened and laid his ear +close to himself and he did so no doubt--would have heard some jarring +note of human mixture, but faint and only perceptible to himself. Man is +wholly and throughout but patch and motley. Even the laws of justice +themselves cannot subsist without mixture of injustice; insomuch that +Plato says, they undertake to cut off the hydra's head, who pretend to +clear the law of all inconveniences: + + "Omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo, + quod contra singulos utilitate publics rependitur," + + ["Every great example has in it some mixture of injustice, which + recompenses the wrong done to particular men by the public utility." + --Annals, xiv. 44.] + +says Tacitus. + +It is likewise true, that for the use of life and the service of public +commerce, there may be some excesses in the purity and perspicacity of +our minds; that penetrating light has in it too much of subtlety and +curiosity: we must a little stupefy and blunt them to render them more +obedient to example and practice, and a little veil and obscure them, the +better to proportion them to this dark and earthly life. And therefore +common and less speculative souls are found to be more proper for and +more successful in the management of affairs, and the elevated and +exquisite opinions of philosophy unfit for business. This sharp vivacity +of soul, and the supple and restless volubility attending it, disturb our +negotiations. We are to manage human enterprises more superficially and +roughly, and leave a great part to fortune; it is not necessary to +examine affairs with so much subtlety and so deep: a man loses himself in +the consideration of many contrary lustres, and so many various forms: + + "Volutantibus res inter se pugnantes, obtorpuerunt.... animi." + + ["Whilst they considered of things so indifferent in themselves, + they were astonished, and knew not what to do."--Livy, xxxii. 20.] + +'Tis what the ancients say of Simonides, that by reason his imagination +suggested to him, upon the question King Hiero had put to him --[What God +was.--Cicero, De Nat. Deor., i. 22.]--(to answer which he had had many +days for thought), several sharp and subtle considerations, whilst he +doubted which was the most likely, he totally despaired of the truth. + +He who dives into and in his inquisition comprehends all circumstances +and consequences, hinders his election: a little engine well handled is +sufficient for executions, whether of less or greater weight. The best +managers are those who can worst give account how they are so; while the +greatest talkers, for the most part, do nothing to purpose; I know one of +this sort of men, and a most excellent discourser upon all sorts of good +husbandry, who has miserably let a hundred thousand livres yearly revenue +slip through his hands; I know another who talks, who better advises than +any man of his counsel, and there is not in the world a fairer show of +soul and understanding than he has; nevertheless, when he comes to the +test, his servants find him quite another thing; not to make any mention +of his misfortunes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AGAINST IDLENESS + +The Emperor Vespasian, being sick of the disease whereof he died, did not +for all that neglect to inquire after the state of the empire, and even +in bed continually despatched very many affairs of great consequence; for +which, being reproved by his physician, as a thing prejudicial to his +health, "An emperor," said he, "must die standing." A fine saying, in my +opinion, and worthy a great prince. The Emperor Adrian since made use of +the same words, and kings should be often put in mind of them, to make +them know that the great office conferred upon them of the command of so +many men, is not an employment of ease; and that there is nothing can so +justly disgust a subject, and make him unwilling to expose himself to +labour and danger for the service of his prince, than to see him, in the +meantime, devoted to his ease and frivolous amusement, and to be +solicitous of his preservation who so much neglects that of his people. + +Whoever will take upon him to maintain that 'tis better for a prince to +carry on his wars by others, than in his own person, fortune will furnish +him with examples enough of those whose lieutenants have brought great +enterprises to a happy issue, and of those also whose presence has done +more hurt than good: but no virtuous and valiant prince can with patience +endure so dishonourable councils. Under colour of saving his head, like +the statue of a saint, for the happiness of his kingdom, they degrade him +from and declare him incapable of his office, which is military +throughout: I know one --[Probably Henry IV.]-- who had much rather be +beaten, than to sleep whilst another fights for him; and who never +without jealousy heard of any brave thing done even by his own officers +in his absence. And Soliman I. said, with very good reason, in my +opinion, that victories obtained without the master were never complete. +Much more would he have said that that master ought to blush for shame, +to pretend to any share in the honour, having contributed nothing to the +work, but his voice and thought; nor even so much as these, considering +that in such work as that, the direction and command that deserve honour +are only such as are given upon the spot, and in the heat of the +business. No pilot performs his office by standing still. The princes +of the Ottoman family, the chiefest in the world in military fortune, +have warmly embraced this opinion, and Bajazet II., with his son, who +swerved from it, spending their time in science and other retired +employments, gave great blows to their empire; and Amurath III., now +reigning, following their example, begins to find the same. Was it not +Edward III., King of England, who said this of our Charles V.: "There +never was king who so seldom put on his armour, and yet never king who +gave me so much to do." He had reason to think it strange, as an effect +of chance more than of reason. And let those seek out some other to join +with them than me, who will reckon the Kings of Castile and Portugal +amongst the warlike and magnanimous conquerors, because at the distance +of twelve hundred leagues from their lazy abode, by the conduct of their +captains, they made themselves masters of both Indies; of which it has to +be known if they would have had even the courage to go and in person +enjoy them. + +The Emperor Julian said yet further, that a philosopher and a brave man +ought not so much as to breathe; that is to say, not to allow any more to +bodily necessities than what we cannot refuse; keeping the soul and body +still intent and busy about honourable, great, and virtuous things. He +was ashamed if any one in public saw him spit, or sweat (which is said by +some, also, of the Lacedaemonian young men, and which Xenophon says of +the Persian), forasmuch as he conceived that exercise, continual labour, +and sobriety, ought to have dried up all those superfluities. What +Seneca says will not be unfit for this place; which is, that the ancient +Romans kept their youth always standing, and taught them nothing that +they were to learn sitting. + +'Tis a generous desire to wish to die usefully and like a man, but the +effect lies not so much in our resolution as in our good fortune; a +thousand have proposed to themselves in battle, either to overcome or to +die, who have failed both in the one and the other, wounds and +imprisonment crossing their design and compelling them to live against +their will. There are diseases that overthrow even our desires, and our +knowledge. Fortune ought not to second the vanity of the Roman legions, +who bound themselves by oath, either to overcome or die: + + "Victor, Marce Fabi, revertar ex acie: si fallo, Jovem patrem, + Gradivumque Martem aliosque iratos invoco deos." + + ["I will return, Marcus Fabius, a conqueror, from the fight: + and if I fail, I invoke Father Jove, Mars Gradivus, and the + other angry gods."--Livy, ii. 45.] + +The Portuguese say that in a certain place of their conquest of the +Indies, they met with soldiers who had condemned themselves, with +horrible execrations, to enter into no other composition but either to +cause themselves to be slain, or to remain victorious; and had their +heads and beards shaved in token of this vow. 'Tis to much purpose for +us to hazard ourselves and to be obstinate: it seems as if blows avoided +those who present themselves too briskly to them, and do not willingly +fall upon those who too willingly seek them, and so defeat them of their +design. Such there have been, who, after having tried all ways, not +having been able with all their endeavour to obtain the favour of dying +by the hand of the enemy, have been constrained, to make good their +resolution of bringing home the honour of victory or of losing their +lives, to kill themselves even in the heat of battle. Of which there are +other examples, but this is one: Philistus, general of the naval army of +Dionysius the younger against the Syracusans, presented them battle which +was sharply disputed, their forces being equal: in this engagement, he +had the better at the first, through his own valour: but the Syracusans +drawing about his gally to environ him, after having done great things in +his own person to disengage himself and hoping for no relief, with his +own hand he took away the life he had so liberally, and in vain, exposed +to the enemy. + +Mule Moloch, king of Fez, who lately won against Sebastian, king of +Portugal, the battle so famous for the death of three kings, and for the +transmission of that great kingdom to the crown of Castile, was extremely +sick when the Portuguese entered in an hostile manner into his dominions; +and from that day forward grew worse and worse, still drawing nearer to +and foreseeing his end; yet never did man better employ his own +sufficiency more vigorously and bravely than he did upon this occasion. +He found himself too weak to undergo the pomp and ceremony of entering. +into his camp, which after their manner is very magnificent, and +therefore resigned that honour to his brother; but this was all of the +office of a general that he resigned; all the rest of greatest utility +and necessity he most, exactly and gloriously performed in his own +person; his body lying upon a couch, but his judgment and courage upright +and firm to his last gasp, and in some sort beyond it. He might have +wasted his enemy, indiscreetly advanced into his dominions, without +striking a blow; and it was a very unhappy occurrence, that for want of a +little life or somebody to substitute in the conduct of this war and the +affairs of a troubled state, he was compelled to seek a doubtful and +bloody victory, having another by a better and surer way already in his +hands. Notwithstanding, he wonderfully managed the continuance of his +sickness in consuming the enemy, and in drawing them far from the +assistance of the navy and the ports they had on the coast of Africa, +even till the last day of his life, which he designedly reserved for this +great battle. He arranged his battalions in a circular form, environing +the Portuguese army on every side, which round circle coming to close in +and to draw up close together, not only hindered them in the conflict +(which was very sharp through the valour of the young invading king), +considering that they had every way to present a front, but prevented +their flight after the defeat, so that finding all passages possessed and +shut up by the enemy, they were constrained to close up together again: + + "Coacerventurque non solum caede, sed etiam fuga," + + ["Piled up not only in slaughter but in flight."] + +and there they were slain in heaps upon one another, leaving to the +conqueror a very bloody and entire victory. Dying, he caused himself to +be carried and hurried from place to place where most need was, and +passing along the files, encouraged the captains and soldiers one after +another; but a corner of his main battalions being broken, he was not to +be held from mounting on horseback with his sword in his hand; he did his +utmost to break from those about him, and to rush into the thickest of +the battle, they all the while withholding him, some by the bridle, some +by his robe, and others by his stirrups. This last effort totally +overwhelmed the little life he had left; they again laid him upon his +bed; but coming to himself, and starting as it were out of his swoon, all +other faculties failing, to give his people notice that they were to +conceal his death the most necessary command he had then to give, that +his soldiers might not be discouraged with the news) he expired with his +finger upon his mouth, the ordinary sign of keeping silence. Who ever +lived so long and so far into death? whoever died so erect, or more like +a man? + +The most extreme degree of courageously treating death, and the most +natural, is to look upon it not only without astonishment but without +care, continuing the wonted course of life even into it, as Cato did, +who entertained himself in study, and went to sleep, having a violent and +bloody death in his heart, and the weapon in his hand with which he was +resolved to despatch himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OF POSTING + +I have been none of the least able in this exercise, which is proper for +men of my pitch, well-knit and short; but I give it over; it shakes us +too much to continue it long. I was at this moment reading, that King +Cyrus, the better to have news brought him from all parts of the empire, +which was of a vast extent, caused it to be tried how far a horse could +go in a day without baiting, and at that distance appointed men, whose +business it was to have horses always in readiness, to mount those who +were despatched to him; and some say, that this swift way of posting is +equal to that of the flight of cranes. + +Caesar says, that Lucius Vibullius Rufus, being in great haste to carry +intelligence to Pompey, rode night and day, still taking fresh horses for +the greater diligence and speed; and he himself, as Suetonius reports, +travelled a hundred miles a day in a hired coach; but he was a furious +courier, for where the rivers stopped his way he passed them by swimming, +without turning out of his way to look for either bridge or ford. +Tiberius Nero, going to see his brother Drusus, who was sick in Germany, +travelled two hundred miles in four-and-twenty hours, having three +coaches. In the war of the Romans against King Antiochus, T. Sempronius +Gracchus, says Livy: + + "Per dispositos equos prope incredibili celeritate + ab Amphissa tertio die Pellam pervenit." + + ["By pre-arranged relays of horses, he, with an almost incredible + speed, rode in three days from Amphissa to Pella." + --Livy, xxxvii. 7.] + +And it appears that they were established posts, and not horses purposely +laid in upon this occasion. + +Cecina's invention to send back news to his family was much more quick, +for he took swallows along with him from home, and turned them out +towards their nests when he would send back any news; setting a mark of +some colour upon them to signify his meaning, according to what he and +his people had before agreed upon. + +At the theatre at Rome masters of families carried pigeons in their +bosoms to which they tied letters when they had a mind to send any orders +to their people at home; and the pigeons were trained up to bring back an +answer. D. Brutus made use of the same device when besieged in Modena, +and others elsewhere have done the same. + +In Peru they rode post upon men, who took them upon their shoulders in a +certain kind of litters made for that purpose, and ran with such agility +that, in their full speed, the first couriers transferred their load to +the second without making any stop. + +I understand that the Wallachians, the grand Signior's couriers, perform +wonderful journeys, by reason they have liberty to dismount the first +person they meet upon the road, giving him their own tired horses; and +that to preserve themselves from being weary, they gird themselves +straight about the middle with a broad girdle; but I could never find +any benefit from this. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +OF ILL MEANS EMPLOYED TO A GOOD END + +There is wonderful relation and correspondence in this universal +government of the works of nature, which very well makes it appear that +it is neither accidental nor carried on by divers masters. The diseases +and conditions of our bodies are, in like manner, manifest in states and +governments; kingdoms and republics are founded, flourish, and decay with +age as we do. We are subject to a repletion of humours, useless and +dangerous: whether of those that are good (for even those the physicians +are afraid of; and seeing we have nothing in us that is stable, they say +that a too brisk and vigorous perfection of health must be abated by art, +lest our nature, unable to rest in any certain condition, and not having +whither to rise to mend itself, make too sudden and too disorderly a +retreat; and therefore prescribe wrestlers to purge and bleed, to qualify +that superabundant health), or else a repletion of evil humours, which is +the ordinary cause of sickness. States are very often sick of the like +repletion, and various sorts of purgations have commonly been applied. +Some times a great multitude of families are turned out to clear the +country, who seek out new abodes elsewhere and encroach upon others. +After this manner our ancient Franks came from the remotest part of +Germany to seize upon Gaul, and to drive thence the first inhabitants; +so was that infinite deluge of men made up who came into Italy under the +conduct of Brennus and others; so the Goths and Vandals, and also the +people who now possess Greece, left their native country to go settle +elsewhere, where they might have more room; and there are scarce two or +three little corners in the world that have not felt the effect of such +removals. The Romans by this means erected their colonies; for, +perceiving their city to grow immeasurably populous, they eased it of the +most unnecessary people, and sent them to inhabit and cultivate the lands +conquered by them; sometimes also they purposely maintained wars with +some of their enemies, not only to keep their own men in action, for fear +lest idleness, the mother of corruption, should bring upon them some +worse inconvenience: + + "Et patimur longae pacis mala; saevior armis + Luxuria incumbit." + + ["And we suffer the ills of a long peace; luxury is more pernicious + than war."--Juvenal, vi. 291.] + +but also to serve for a blood-letting to their Republic, and a little to +evaporate the too vehement heat of their youth, to prune and clear the +branches from the stock too luxuriant in wood; and to this end it was +that they maintained so long a war with Carthage. + +In the treaty of Bretigny, Edward III., king of England, would not, in +the general peace he then made with our king, comprehend the controversy +about the Duchy of Brittany, that he might have a place wherein to +discharge himself of his soldiers, and that the vast number of English he +had brought over to serve him in his expedition here might not return +back into England. And this also was one reason why our King Philip +consented to send his son John upon a foreign expedition, that he might +take along with him a great number of hot young men who were then in his +pay. + +There--are many in our times who talk at this rate, wishing that this hot +emotion that is now amongst us might discharge itself in some +neighbouring war, for fear lest all the peccant humours that now reign in +this politic body of ours may diffuse themselves farther, keep the fever +still in the height, and at last cause our total ruin; and, in truth, a +foreign is much more supportable than a civil war. but I do not believe +that God will favour so unjust a design as to offend and quarrel with +others for our own advantage: + + "Nil mihi tam valde placeat, Rhamnusia virgo, + Quod temere invitis suscipiatur heris." + + ["Rhamnusian virgin, let nothing ever so greatly please me which is + taken without justice from the unwilling owners" + --Catullus, lxviii. 77.] + +And yet the weakness of our condition often pushes us upon the necessity +of making use of ill means to a good end. Lycurgus, the most perfect +legislator that ever was, virtuous and invented this very unjust practice +of making the helots, who were their slaves, drunk by force, to the end +that the Spartans, seeing them so lost and buried in wine, might abhor +the excess of this vice. And yet those were still more to blame who of +old gave leave that criminals, to what sort of death soever condemned, +should be cut up alive by the physicians, that they might make a true +discovery of our inward parts, and build their art upon greater +certainty; for, if we must run into excesses, it is more excusable to do +it for the health of the soul than that of the body; as the Romans +trained up the people to valour and the contempt of dangers and death by +those furious spectacles of gladiators and fencers, who, having to fight +it out to the last, cut, mangled, and killed one another in their +presence: + + "Quid vesani aliud sibi vult ars impia ludi, + Quid mortes juvenum, quid sanguine pasta voluptas?" + + ["What other end does the impious art of the gladiators propose to + itself, what the slaughter of young men, what pleasure fed with + blood."--Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 643.] + +and this custom continued till the Emperor Theodosius' time: + + "Arripe dilatam tua, dux, in tempora famam, + Quodque patris superest, successor laudis habeto + Nullus in urbe cadat, cujus sit poena voluptas.... + Jam solis contenta feris, infamis arena + Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis." + + ["Prince, take the honours delayed for thy reign, and be successor + to thy fathers; henceforth let none at Rome be slain for sport. Let + beasts' blood stain the infamous arena, and no more homicides be + there acted."--Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 643.] + +It was, in truth, a wonderful example, and of great advantage for the +training up the people, to see every day before their eyes a hundred; two +hundred, nay, a thousand couples of men armed against one another, cut +one another to pieces with so great a constancy of courage, that they +were never heard to utter so much as one syllable of weakness or +commiseration; never seen to turn their backs, nor so much as to make one +cowardly step to evade a blow, but rather exposed their necks to the +adversary's sword and presented themselves to receive the stroke; and +many of them, when wounded to death, have sent to ask the spectators if +they were satisfied with their behaviour, before they lay down to die +upon the place. It was not enough for them to fight and to die bravely, +but cheerfully too; insomuch that they were hissed and cursed if they +made any hesitation about receiving their death. The very girls +themselves set them on: + + "Consurgit ad ictus, + Et, quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit, illa + Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque jacentis + Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi." + + ["The modest virgin is so delighted with the sport, that she + applauds the blow, and when the victor bathes his sword in his + fellow's throat, she says it is her pleasure, and with turned thumb + orders him to rip up the bosom of the prostrate victim." + --Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 617.] + +The first Romans only condemned criminals to this example: but they +afterwards employed innocent slaves in the work, and even freemen too, +who sold themselves to this purpose, nay, moreover, senators and knights +of Rome, and also women: + + "Nunc caput in mortem vendunt, et funus arena, + Atque hostem sibi quisque parat, cum bella quiescunt." + + ["They sell themselves to death and the circus, and, since the wars + are ceased, each for himself a foe prepares." + --Manilius, Astron., iv. 225.] + + "Hos inter fremitus novosque lusus.... + Stat sexus rudis insciusque ferri, + Et pugnas capit improbus viriles;" + + + ["Amidst these tumults and new sports, the tender sex, unskilled in + arms, immodestly engaged in manly fights." + --Statius, Sylv., i. 6, 51.] + +which I should think strange and incredible, if we were not accustomed +every day to see in our own wars many thousands of men of other nations, +for money to stake their blood and their lives in quarrels wherein they +have no manner of concern. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +OF THE ROMAN GRANDEUR + +I will only say a word or two of this infinite argument, to show the +simplicity of those who compare the pitiful greatness of these times with +that of Rome. In the seventh book of Cicero's Familiar Epistles (and let +the grammarians put out that surname of familiar if they please, for in +truth it is not very suitable; and they who, instead of familiar, have +substituted "ad Familiares," may gather something to justify them for so +doing out of what Suetonius says in the Life of Caesar, that there was a +volume of letters of his "ad Familiares ") there is one directed to +Caesar, then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats these words, which were in +the end of another letter that Caesar had written to him: "As to what +concerns Marcus Furius, whom you have recommended to me, I will make him +king of Gaul, and if you would have me advance any other friend of yours +send him to me." It was no new thing for a simple citizen of Rome, as +Caesar then was, to dispose of kingdoms, for he took away that of King +Deiotarus from him to give it to a gentleman of the city of Pergamus, +called Mithridates; and they who wrote his Life record several cities +sold by him; and Suetonius says, that he had once from King Ptolemy three +millions and six hundred thousand crowns, which was very like selling him +his own kingdom: + + "Tot Galatae, tot Pontus, tot Lydia, nummis." + + ["So much for Galatia, so much for Pontus, + so much for Lydia."--Claudius in Eutrop., i. 203.] + +Marcus Antonius said, that the greatness of the people of Rome was not +so much seen in what they took, as in what they gave; and, indeed, some +ages before Antonius, they had dethroned one amongst the rest with so +wonderful authority, that in all the Roman history I have not observed +anything that more denotes the height of their power. Antiochus +possessed all Egypt, and was, moreover, ready to conquer Cyprus and other +appendages of that empire: when being upon the progress of his victories, +C. Popilius came to him from the Senate, and at their first meeting +refused to take him by the hand, till he had first read his letters, +which after the king had read, and told him he would consider of them, +Popilius made a circle about him with his cane, saying:--"Return me an +answer, that I may carry it back to the Senate, before thou stirrest out +of this circle." Antiochus, astonished at the roughness of so positive +a command, after a little pause, replied, "I will obey the Senate's +command." Then Popilius saluted him as friend of the Roman people. +To have renounced claim to so great a monarchy, and a course of such +successful fortune, from the effects of three lines in writing! Truly +he had reason, as he afterwards did, to send the Senate word by his +ambassadors, that he had received their order with the same respect as if +it had come from the immortal gods. + +All the kingdoms that Augustus gained by the right of war, he either +restored to those who had lost them or presented them to strangers. And +Tacitus, in reference to this, speaking of Cogidunus, king of England, +gives us, by a marvellous touch, an instance of that infinite power: the +Romans, says he, were from all antiquity accustomed to leave the kings +they had subdued in possession of their kingdoms under their authority + + "Ut haberent instruments servitutis et reges." + + ["That they might have even kings to be their slaves." + --Livy, xlv. 13.] + +'Tis probable that Solyman, whom we have seen make a gift of Hungary and +other principalities, had therein more respect to this consideration than +to that he was wont to allege, viz., that he was glutted and overcharged +with so many monarchies and so much dominion, as his own valour and that +of his ancestors had acquired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NOT TO COUNTERFEIT BEING SICK + +There is an epigram in Martial, and one of the very good ones--for he has +of all sorts--where he pleasantly tells the story of Caelius, who, to +avoid making his court to some great men of Rome, to wait their rising, +and to attend them abroad, pretended to have the gout; and the better to +colour this anointed his legs, and had them lapped up in a great many +swathings, and perfectly counterfeited both the gesture and countenance +of a gouty person; till in the end, Fortune did him the kindness to make +him one indeed: + + "Quantum curs potest et ars doloris + Desiit fingere Caelius podagram." + + ["How great is the power of counterfeiting pain: Caelius has ceased + to feign the gout; he has got it."--Martial, Ep., vii. 39, 8.] + +I think I have read somewhere in Appian a story like this, of one who to +escape the proscriptions of the triumvirs of Rome, and the better to be +concealed from the discovery of those who pursued him, having hidden +himself in a disguise, would yet add this invention, to counterfeit +having but one eye; but when he came to have a little more liberty, and +went to take off the plaster he had a great while worn over his eye, he +found he had totally lost the sight of it indeed, and that it was +absolutely gone. 'Tis possible that the action of sight was dulled from +having been so long without exercise, and that the optic power was wholly +retired into the other eye: for we evidently perceive that the eye we +keep shut sends some part of its virtue to its fellow, so that it will +swell and grow bigger; and so inaction, with the heat of ligatures and, +plasters, might very well have brought some gouty humour upon the +counterfeiter in Martial. + +Reading in Froissart the vow of a troop of young English gentlemen, to +keep their left eyes bound up till they had arrived in France and +performed some notable exploit upon us, I have often been tickled with +this thought, that it might have befallen them as it did those others, +and they might have returned with but an eye a-piece to their mistresses, +for whose sakes they had made this ridiculous vow. + +Mothers have reason to rebuke their children when they counterfeit having +but one eye, squinting, lameness, or any other personal defect; for, +besides that their bodies being then so tender, may be subject to take an +ill bent, fortune, I know not how, sometimes seems to delight in taking +us at our word; and I have heard several examples related of people who +have become really sick, by only feigning to be so. I have always used, +whether on horseback or on foot, to carry a stick in my hand, and even to +affect doing it with an elegant air; many have threatened that this fancy +would one day be turned into necessity: if so, I should be the first of +my family to have the gout. + +But let us a little lengthen this chapter, and add another anecdote +concerning blindness. Pliny reports of one who, dreaming he was blind, +found himself so indeed in the morning without any preceding infirmity in +his eyes. The force of imagination might assist in this case, as I have +said elsewhere, and Pliny seems to be of the same opinion; but it is more +likely that the motions which the body felt within, of which physicians, +if they please, may find out the cause, taking away his sight, were the +occasion of his dream. + +Let us add another story, not very improper for this subject, which +Seneca relates in one of his epistles: "You know," says he, writing to +Lucilius, "that Harpaste, my wife's fool, is thrown upon me as an +hereditary charge, for I have naturally an aversion to those monsters; +and if I have a mind to laugh at a fool, I need not seek him far; I can +laugh at myself. This fool has suddenly lost her sight: I tell you a +strange, but a very true thing she is not sensible that she is blind, but +eternally importunes her keeper to take her abroad, because she says the +house is dark. That what we laugh at in her, I pray you to believe, +happens to every one of us: no one knows himself to be avaricious or +grasping; and, again, the blind call for a guide, while we stray of our +own accord. I am not ambitious, we say; but a man cannot live otherwise +at Rome; I am not wasteful, but the city requires a great outlay; 'tis +not my fault if I am choleric--if I have not yet established any certain +course of life: 'tis the fault of youth. Let us not seek our disease out +of ourselves; 'tis in us, and planted in our bowels; and the mere fact +that we do not perceive ourselves to be sick, renders us more hard to be +cured. If we do not betimes begin to see to ourselves, when shall we +have provided for so many wounds and evils wherewith we abound? And yet +we have a most sweet and charming medicine in philosophy; for of all the +rest we are sensible of no pleasure till after the cure: this pleases and +heals at once." This is what Seneca says, that has carried me from my +subject, but there is advantage in the change. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +OF THUMBS + +Tacitus reports, that amongst certain barbarian kings their manner was, +when they would make a firm obligation, to join their right hands close +to one another, and intertwist their thumbs; and when, by force of +straining the blood, it appeared in the ends, they lightly pricked them +with some sharp instrument, and mutually sucked them. + +Physicians say that the thumbs are the master fingers of the hand, and +that their Latin etymology is derived from "pollere." The Greeks called +them 'Avtixeip', as who should say, another hand. And it seems that the +Latins also sometimes take it in this sense for the whole hand: + + "Sed nec vocibus excitata blandis, + Molli pollici nec rogata, surgit." + + ["Neither to be excited by soft words or by the thumb." + --Mart., xii. 98, 8.] + +It was at Rome a signification of favour to depress and turn in the +thumbs: + + "Fautor utroque tuum laudabit pollice ludum:" + + ["Thy patron will applaud thy sport with both thumbs" + --Horace.] + +and of disfavour to elevate and thrust them outward: + + "Converso pollice vulgi, + Quemlibet occidunt populariter." + + ["The populace, with inverted thumbs, kill all that + come before them."--Juvenal, iii. 36] + +The Romans exempted from war all such as were maimed in the thumbs, as +having no more sufficient strength to hold their weapons. Augustus +confiscated the estate of a Roman knight who had maliciously cut off the +thumbs of two young children he had, to excuse them from going into the +armies; and, before him, the Senate, in the time of the Italic war, had +condemned Caius Vatienus to perpetual imprisonment, and confiscated all +his goods, for having purposely cut off the thumb of his left hand, to +exempt himself from that expedition. Some one, I have forgotten who, +having won a naval battle, cut off the thumbs of all his vanquished +enemies, to render them incapable of fighting and of handling the oar. +The Athenians also caused the thumbs of the AEginatans to be cut off, +to deprive them of the superiority in the art of navigation. + +In Lacedaemon, pedagogues chastised their scholars by biting their +thumbs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +COWARDICE THE MOTHER OF CRUELTY + +I have often heard it said that cowardice is the mother of cruelty; and I +have found by experience that malicious and inhuman animosity and +fierceness are usually accompanied with feminine weakness. I have seen +the most cruel people, and upon frivolous occasions, apt to cry. +Alexander, the tyrant of Pheres, durst not be a spectator of tragedies in +the theatre, for fear lest his citizens should see him weep at the +misfortunes of Hecuba and Andromache, who himself without pity caused so +many people every day to be murdered. Is it not meanness of spirit that +renders them so pliable to all extremities? Valour, whose effect is only +to be exercised against resistance-- + + "Nec nisi bellantis gaudet cervice juvenci"-- + + ["Nor delights in killing a bull unless he resists." + --Claudius, Ep. ad Hadrianum, v. 39.] + +stops when it sees the enemy at its mercy; but pusillanimity, to say that +it was also in the game, not having dared to meddle in the first act of +danger, takes as its part the second, of blood and massacre. The murders +in victories are commonly performed by the rascality and hangers-on of an +army, and that which causes so many unheard of cruelties in domestic wars +is, that this canaille makes war in imbruing itself up to the elbows in +blood, and ripping up a body that lies prostrate at its feet, having no +sense of any other valour: + + "Et lupus, et turpes instant morientibus ursi, + Et quaecunque minor nobilitate fera est:" + + ["Wolves and the filthy bears, and all the baser beasts, + fall upon the dying."--Ovid, Trist., iii. 5, 35.] + +like cowardly dogs, that in the house worry and tear the skins of wild +beasts, they durst not come near in the field. What is it in these times +of ours that makes our quarrels mortal; and that, whereas our fathers had +some degrees of revenge, we now begin with the last in ours, and at the +first meeting nothing is to be said but, kill? What is this but +cowardice? + +Every one is sensible that there is more bravery and disdain in subduing +an enemy, than in cutting, his throat; and in making him yield, than in +putting him to the sword: besides that the appetite of revenge is better +satisfied and pleased because its only aim is to make itself felt: And +this is the reason why we do not fall upon a beast or a stone when they +hurt us, because they are not capable of being sensible of our revenge; +and to kill a man is to save him from the injury and offence we intend +him. And as Bias cried out to a wicked fellow, "I know that sooner or +later thou wilt have thy reward, but I am afraid I shall not see it"; +--[Plutarch, on the Delay in Divine Justice, c. 2.]-- and pitied the +Orchomenians that the penitence of Lyciscus for the treason committed +against them, came at a season when there was no one remaining alive of +those who had been interested in the offence, and whom the pleasure of +this penitence should affect: so revenge is to be pitied, when the person +on whom it is executed is deprived of means of suffering under it: for as +the avenger will look on to enjoy the pleasure of his revenge, so the +person on whom he takes revenge should be a spectator too, to be +afflicted and to repent. "He will repent it," we say, and because we +have given him a pistol-shot through the head, do we imagine he will +repent? On the contrary, if we but observe, we shall find, that he makes +mouths at us in falling, and is so far from penitency, that he does not +so much as repine at us; and we do him the kindest office of life, which +is to make him die insensibly, and soon: we are afterwards to hide +ourselves, and to shift and fly from the officers of justice, who pursue +us, whilst he is at rest. Killing is good to frustrate an offence to +come, not to revenge one that is already past; and more an act of fear +than of bravery; of precaution than of courage; of defence than of +enterprise. It is manifest that by it we lose both the true end of +revenge and the care of our reputation; we are afraid, if he lives he +will do us another injury as great as the first; 'tis not out of +animosity to him, but care of thyself, that thou gettest rid of him. + +In the kingdom of Narsingah this expedient would be useless to us, where +not only soldiers, but tradesmen also, end their differences by the +sword. The king never denies the field to any who wish to fight; and +when they are persons of quality; he looks on, rewarding the victor with +a chain of gold,--for which any one who pleases may fight with him again, +so that, by having come off from one combat, he has engaged himself in +many. + +If we thought by virtue to be always masters of our enemies, and to +triumph over them at pleasure, we should be sorry they should escape from +us as they do, by dying: but we have a mind to conquer, more with safety +than honour, and, in our quarrel, more pursue the end than the glory. + +Asnius Pollio, who, as being a worthy man, was the less to be excused, +committed a like, error, when, having written a libel against Plancus, he +forbore to publish it till he was dead; which is to bite one's thumb at a +blind man, to rail at one who is deaf, to wound a man who has no feeling, +rather than to run the hazard of his resentment. And it was also said of +him that it was only for hobgoblins to wrestle with the dead. + +He who stays to see the author die, whose writings he intends to +question, what does he say but that he is weak in his aggressiveness? +It was told to Aristotle that some one had spoken ill of him: "Let him +do more," said he; "let him whip me too, provided I am not there." + +Our fathers contented themselves with revenging an insult with the lie, +the lie with a box of the ear, and so forward; they were valiant enough +not to fear their adversaries, living and provoked we tremble for fear so +soon as we see them on foot. And that this is so, does not our noble +practice of these days, equally to prosecute to death both him that has +offended us and him we have offended, make it out? 'Tis also a kind +of cowardice that has introduced the custom of having seconds, thirds, +and fourths in our duels; they were formerly duels; they are now +skirmishes, rencontres, and battles. Solitude was, doubtless, terrible +to those who were the first inventors of this practice: + + "Quum in se cuique minimum fiduciae esset," + +for naturally any company whatever is consolatory in danger. Third +persons were formerly called in to prevent disorder and foul play only, +and to be witness of the fortune of the combat; but now they have brought +it to this pass that the witnesses themselves engage; whoever is invited +cannot handsomely stand by as an idle spectator, for fear of being +suspected either of want of affection or of courage. Besides the +injustice and unworthiness of such an action, of engaging other strength +and valour in the protection of your honour than your own, I conceive it +a disadvantage to a brave man, and who wholly relies upon himself, to +shuffle his fortune with that of a second; every one runs hazard enough +himself without hazarding for another, and has enough to do to assure +himself in his own valour for the defence of his life, without intrusting +a thing so dear in a third man's hand. For, if it be not expressly +agreed upon before to the contrary, 'tis a combined party of all four, +and if your second be killed, you have two to deal withal, with good +reason; and to say that it is foul play, it is so indeed, as it is, well +armed, to attack a man who has but the hilt of a broken sword in his +hand, or, clear and untouched, a man who is desperately wounded: but if +these be advantages you have got by fighting, you may make use of them +without reproach. The disparity and inequality are only weighed and +considered from the condition of the combatants when they began; as to +the rest, you must take your chance: and though you had, alone, three +enemies upon you at once, your two companions being killed, you have no +more wrong done you, than I should do in a battle, by running a man +through whom I should see engaged with one of our own men, with the like +advantage. The nature of society will have it so that where there is +troop against troop, as where our Duke of Orleans challenged Henry, king +of England, a hundred against a hundred; three hundred against as many, +as the Argians against the Lacedaemonians; three to three, as the Horatii +against the Curiatii, the multitude on either side is considered but as +one single man: the hazard, wherever there is company, being confused and +mixed. + +I have a domestic interest in this discourse; for my brother, the Sieur +de Mattecoulom, was at Rome asked by a gentleman with whom he had no +great acquaintance, and who was a defendant challenged by another, to be +his second; in this duel he found himself matched with a gentleman much +better known to him. (I would fain have an explanation of these rules of +honour, which so often shock and confound those of reason.) After having +despatched his man, seeing the two principals still on foot and sound, he +ran in to disengage his friend. What could he do less? should he have +stood still, and if chance would have ordered it so, have seen him he was +come thither to defend killed before his face? what he had hitherto done +helped not the business; the quarrel was yet undecided. The courtesy +that you can, and certainly ought to shew to your enemy, when you have +reduced him to an ill condition and have a great advantage over him, I do +not see how you can do it, where the interest of another is concerned, +where you are only called in as an assistant, and the quarrel is none of +yours: he could neither be just nor courteous, at the hazard of him he +was there to serve. And he was therefore enlarged from the prisons of +Italy at the speedy and solemn request of our king. Indiscreet nation! +we are not content to make our vices and follies known to the world by +report only, but we must go into foreign countries, there to show them +what fools we are. Put three Frenchmen into the deserts of Libya, they +will not live a month together without fighting; so that you would say +this peregrination were a thing purposely designed to give foreigners the +pleasure of our tragedies, and, for the most part, to such as rejoice and +laugh at our miseries. We go into Italy to learn to fence, and exercise +the art at the expense of our lives before we have learned it; and yet, +by the rule of discipline, we should put the theory before the practice. +We discover ourselves to be but learners: + + "Primitae juvenum miserae, bellique futuri + Dura rudimenta." + + ["Wretched the elementary trials of youth, and hard the + rudiments of approaching war."--Virgil, AEneid, xi. 156.] + +I know that fencing is an art very useful to its end (in a duel betwixt +two princes, cousin-germans, in Spain, the elder, says Livy, by his skill +and dexterity in arms, easily overcoming the greater and more awkward +strength of the younger), and of which the knowledge, as I experimentally +know, has inspired some with courage above their natural measure; but +this is not properly valour, because it supports itself upon address, and +is founded upon something besides itself. The honour of combat consists +in the jealousy of courage, and not of skill; and therefore I have known +a friend of mine, famed as a great master in this exercise, in his +quarrels make choice of such arms as might deprive him of this advantage +and that wholly depended upon fortune and assurance, that they might not +attribute his victory rather to his skill in fencing than his valour. +When I was young, gentlemen avoided the reputation of good fencers as +injurious to them, and learned to fence with all imaginable privacy as a +trade of subtlety, derogating from true and natural valour: + + "Non schivar non parar, non ritirarsi, + Voglion costor, ne qui destrezza ha parte; + Non danno i colpi or finti, or pieni, or scarsi! + Toglie l'ira a il furor l'uso de l'arte. + Odi le spade orribilmente utarsi + A mezzo il ferro; il pie d'orma non parte, + Sempre a il pie fermo, a la man sempre in moto; + Ne scende taglio in van, ne punta a voto." + + ["They neither shrank, nor vantage sought of ground, + They travers'd not, nor skipt from part to part, + Their blows were neither false, nor feigned found: + In fight, their rage would let them use no art. + Their swords together clash with dreadful sound, + Their feet stand fast, and neither stir nor start, + They move their hands, steadfast their feet remain. + Nor blow nor foin they strook, or thrust in vain." + --Tasso, Gierus. Lib., c. 12, st. 55, Fairfax's translation.] + +Butts, tilting, and barriers, the feint of warlike fights, were the +exercises of our forefathers: this other exercise is so much the less +noble, as it only respects a private end; that teaches us to destroy one +another against law and justice, and that every way always produces very +ill effects. It is much more worthy and more becoming to exercise +ourselves in things that strengthen than that weaken our government and +that tend to the public safety and common glory. The consul, Publius +Rutilius, was the first who taught the soldiers to handle their arms +with skill, and joined art with valour, not for the rise of private +quarrel, but for war and the quarrels of the people of Rome; a popular +and civil defence. And besides the example of Caesar, who commanded his +men to shoot chiefly at the face of Pompey's soldiers in the battle of +Pharsalia, a thousand other commanders have also bethought them to invent +new forms of weapons and new ways of striking and defending, according as +occasion should require. + +But as Philopoemen condemned wrestling, wherein he excelled, because the +preparatives that were therein employed were differing from those that +appertain to military discipline, to which alone he conceived men of +honour ought wholly to apply themselves; so it seems to me that this +address to which we form our limbs, those writhings and motions young men +are taught in this new school, are not only of no use, but rather +contrary and hurtful to the practice of fight in battle; and also our +people commonly make use of particular weapons, and peculiarly designed +for duel; and I have seen, when it has been disapproved, that a gentleman +challenged to fight with rapier and poignard appeared in the array of a +man-at-arms, and that another should take his cloak instead of his +poignard. It is worthy of consideration that Laches in Plato, speaking +of learning to fence after our manner, says that he never knew any great +soldier come out of that school, especially the masters of it: and, +indeed, as to them, our experience tells as much. As to the rest, we may +at least conclude that they are qualities of no relation or +correspondence; and in the education of the children of his government, +Plato interdicts the art of boxing, introduced by Amycus and Epeius, and +that of wrestling, by Antaeus and Cercyo, because they have another end +than to render youth fit for the service of war and contribute nothing to +it. But I see that I have somewhat strayed from my theme. + +The Emperor Mauricius, being advertised by dreams and several +prognostics, that one Phocas, an obscure soldier, should kill him, +questioned his son-in-law, Philip, who this Phocas was, and what were his +nature, qualities, and manners; and so soon as Philip, amongst other +things, had told him that he was cowardly and timorous, the emperor +immediately concluded then that he was a murderer and cruel. What is it +that makes tyrants so sanguinary? 'Tis only the solicitude for their own +safety, and that their faint hearts can furnish them with no other means +of securing themselves than in exterminating those who may hurt them, +even so much as women, for fear of a scratch: + + "Cuncta ferit, dum cuncta timer." + + ["He strikes at all who fears all." + --Claudius, in Eutrop., i. 182.] + +The first cruelties are exercised for themselves thence springs the fear +of a just revenge, which afterwards produces a series of new cruelties, +to obliterate one another. Philip, king of Macedon, who had so much to +do with the people of Rome, agitated with the horror of so many murders +committed by his order, and doubting of being able to keep himself secure +from so many families, at divers times mortally injured and offended by +him, resolved to seize all the children of those he had caused to be +slain, to despatch them daily one after another, and so to establish his +own repose. + +Fine matter is never impertinent, however placed; and therefore I, who +more consider the weight and utility of what I deliver than its order and +connection, need not fear in this place to bring in an excellent story, +though it be a little by-the-by; for when they are rich in their own +native beauty, and are able to justify themselves, the least end of a +hair will serve to draw them into my discourse. + +Amongst others condemned by Philip, had been one Herodicus, prince of +Thessaly; he had, moreover, after him caused his two sons-in-law to be +put to death, each leaving a son very young behind him. Theoxena and +Archo were their two widows. Theoxena, though highly courted to it, +could not be persuaded to marry again: Archo married Poris, the greatest +man among the AEnians, and by him had a great many children, whom she, +dying, left at a very tender age. Theoxena, moved with a maternal +charity towards her nephews, that she might have them under her own eyes +and in her own protection, married Poris: when presently comes a +proclamation of the king's edict. This brave-spirited mother, suspecting +the cruelty of Philip, and afraid of the insolence of the soldiers +towards these charming and tender children was so bold as to declare hat +she would rather kill them with her own hands than deliver them. Poris, +startled at this protestation, promised her to steal them away, and to +transport them to Athens, and there commit them to the custody of some +faithful friends of his. They took, therefore, the opportunity of an +annual feast which was celebrated at AEnia in honour of AEneas, and +thither they went. Having appeared by day at the public ceremonies and +banquet, they stole the night following into a vessel laid ready for the +purpose, to escape away by sea. The wind proved contrary, and finding +themselves in the morning within sight of the land whence they had +launched overnight, and being pursued by the guards of the port, Poris +perceiving this, laboured all he could to make the mariners do their +utmost to escape from the pursuers. But Theoxena, frantic with affection +and revenge, in pursuance of her former resolution, prepared both weapons +and poison, and exposing them before them; "Go to, my children," said +she, "death is now the only means of your defence and liberty, and shall +administer occasion to the gods to exercise their sacred justice: these +sharp swords, and these full cups, will open you the way into it; +courage, fear nothing! And thou, my son, who art the eldest, take this +steel into thy hand, that thou mayest the more bravely die." The +children having on one side so powerful a counsellor, and the enemy at +their throats on the other, run all of them eagerly upon what was next to +hand; and, half dead, were thrown into the sea. Theoxena, proud of +having so gloriously provided for the safety of her children, clasping +her arms with great affection about her husband's neck. "Let us, my +friend," said she, "follow these boys, and enjoy the same sepulchre they +do"; and so, having embraced, they threw themselves headlong into the +sea; so that the ship was carried--back without the owners into the +harbour. + +Tyrants, at once both to kill and to make their anger felt, have employed +their capacity to invent the most lingering deaths. They will have their +enemies despatched, but not so fast that they may not have leisure to +taste their vengeance. And therein they are mightily perplexed; for if +the torments they inflict are violent, they are short; if long, they are +not then so painful as they desire; and thus plague themselves in choice +of the greatest cruelty. Of this we have a thousand examples in +antiquity, and I know not whether we, unawares, do not retain some traces +of this barbarity. + +All that exceeds a simple death appears to me absolute cruelty. Our +justice cannot expect that he, whom the fear of dying by being beheaded +or hanged will not restrain, should be any more awed by the imagination +of a languishing fire, pincers, or the wheel. And I know not, in the +meantime, whether we do not throw them into despair; for in what +condition can be the soul of a man, expecting four-and-twenty hours +together to be broken upon a wheel, or after the old way, nailed to a +cross? Josephus relates that in the time of the war the Romans made in +Judaea, happening to pass by where they had three days before crucified +certain Jews, he amongst them knew three of his own friends, and obtained +the favour of having them taken down, of whom two, he says, died; the +third lived a great while after. + +Chalcondylas, a writer of good credit, in the records he has left behind +him of things that happened in his time, and near him, tells us, as of +the most excessive torment, of that the Emperor Mohammed very often +practised, of cutting off men in the middle by the diaphragm with one +blow of a scimitar, whence it followed that they died as it were two +deaths at once; and both the one part, says he, and the other, were seen +to stir and strive a great while after in very great torment. I do not +think there was any great suffering in this motion the torments that are +the most dreadful to look on are not always the greatest to endure; and I +find those that other historians relate to have been practised by him +upon the Epirot lords, are more horrid and cruel, where they were +condemned to be flayed alive piecemeal, after so malicious a manner that +they continued fifteen days in that misery. + +And these other two: Croesus, having caused a gentleman, the favourite of +his brother Pantaleon, to be seized, carried him into a fuller's shop, +where he caused him to be scratched and carded with the cards and combs +belonging to that trade, till he died. George Sechel, chief commander of +the peasants of Poland, who committed so many mischiefs under the title +of the Crusade, being defeated in battle and taken bu the Vayvode of +Transylvania, was three days bound naked upon the rack exposed to all +sorts of torments that any one could contrive against him: during which +time many other prisoners were kept fasting; in the end, he living and +looking on, they made his beloved brother Lucat, for whom alone he +entreated, taking on himself the blame of all their evil actions drink +his blood, and caused twenty of his most favoured captains to feed upon +him, tearing his flesh in pieces with their teeth, and swallowing the +morsels. The remainder of his body and his bowels, so soon as he was +dead, were boiled, and others of his followers compelled to eat them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +ALL THINGS HAVE THEIR SEASON + +Such as compare Cato the Censor with the younger Cato, who killed +himself, compare two beautiful natures, much resembling one another. +The first acquired his reputation several ways, and excels in military +exploits and the utility of his public employments; but the virtue of the +younger, besides that it were blasphemy to compare any to it in vigour, +was much more pure and unblemished. For who could absolve that of the +Censor from envy and ambition, having dared to attack the honour of +Scipio, a man in goodness and all other excellent qualities infinitely +beyond him or any other of his time? + +That which they, report of him, amongst other things, that in his extreme +old age he put himself upon learning the Greek tongue with so greedy an +appetite, as if to quench a long thirst, does not seem to me to make much +for his honour; it being properly what we call falling into second +childhood. All things have their seasons, even good ones, and I may say +my Paternoster out of time; as they accused T. Quintus Flaminius, that +being general of an army, he was seen praying apart in the time of a +battle that he won. + + "Imponit finem sapiens et rebus honestis." + + ["The wise man limits even honest things."--Juvenal, vi. 444] + +Eudemonidas, seeing Xenocrates when very old, still very intent upon his +school lectures: "When will this man be wise," said he, "if he is yet +learning?" And Philopaemen, to those who extolled King Ptolemy for every +day inuring his person to the exercise of arms: "It is not," said he, +"commendable in a king of his age to exercise himself in these things; he +ought now really to employ them." The young are to make their +preparations, the old to enjoy them, say the sages: and the greatest vice +they observe in us is that our desires incessantly grow young again; we +are always re-beginning to live. + +Our studies and desires should sometime be sensible of age; yet we have +one foot in the grave and still our appetites and pursuits spring every +day anew within us: + + "Tu secanda marmora + Locas sub ipsum funus, et, sepulcri + Immemor, struis domos." + + ["You against the time of death have marble cut for use, and, + forgetful of the tomb, build houses."--Horace, Od., ii. 18, 17.] + +The longest of my designs is not of above a year's extent; I think of +nothing now but ending; rid myself of all new hopes and enterprises; take +my last leave of every place I depart from, and every day dispossess +myself of what I have. + + "Olim jam nec perit quicquam mihi, nec acquiritur.... + plus superest viatici quam viae." + + ["Henceforward I will neither lose, nor expect to get: I have more + wherewith to defray my journey, than I have way to go." (Or): + "Hitherto nothing of me has been lost or gained; more remains to pay + the way than there is way."--Seneca, Ep., 77. (The sense seems to + be that so far he had met his expenses, but that for the future he + was likely to have more than he required.)] + + "Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi." + + ["I have lived and finished the career Fortune placed before me." + --AEneid, iv. 653.] + +'Tis indeed the only comfort I find in my old age, that it mortifies in +me several cares and desires wherewith my life has been disturbed; the +care how the world goes, the care of riches, of grandeur, of knowledge, +of health, of myself. There are men who are learning to speak at a time +when they should learn to be silent for ever. A man may always study, +but he must not always go to school what a contemptible thing is an old +Abecedarian!--[Seneca, Ep. 36] + + "Diversos diversa juvant; non omnibus annis + Omnia conveniunt." + + ["Various things delight various men; all things are not + for all ages."--Gall., Eleg., i. 104.] + +If we must study, let us study what is suitable to our present condition, +that we may answer as he did, who being asked to what end he studied in +his decrepit age, "that I may go out better," said he, "and at greater +ease." Such a study was that of the younger Cato, feeling his end +approach, and which he met with in Plato's Discourse of the Eternity of +the Soul: not, as we are to believe, that he was not long before +furnished with all sorts of provision for such a departure; for of +assurance, an established will and instruction, he had more than Plato +had in all his writings; his knowledge and courage were in this respect +above philosophy; he applied himself to this study, not for the service +of his death; but, as a man whose sleeps were never disturbed in the +importance of such a deliberation, he also, without choice or change, +continued his studies with the other accustomary actions of his life. +The night that he was denied the praetorship he spent in play; that +wherein he was to die he spent in reading. The loss either of life +or of office was all one to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +OF VIRTUE + +I find by experience, that there is a good deal to be said betwixt the +flights and emotions of the soul or a resolute and constant habit; and +very well perceive that there is nothing we may not do, nay, even to the +surpassing the Divinity itself, says a certain person, forasmuch as it is +more to render a man's self impassible by his own study and industry, +than to be so by his natural condition; and even to be able to conjoin to +man's imbecility and frailty a God-like resolution and assurance; but it +is by fits and starts; and in the lives of those heroes of times past +there are sometimes miraculous impulses, and that seem infinitely to +exceed our natural force; but they are indeed only impulses: and 'tis +hard to believe, that these so elevated qualities in a man can so +thoroughly tinct and imbue the soul that they should become ordinary, +and, as it were, natural in him. It accidentally happens even to us, +who are but abortive births of men, sometimes to launch our souls, when +roused by the discourses or examples of others, much beyond their +ordinary stretch; but 'tis a kind of passion which pushes and agitates +them, and in some sort ravishes them from themselves: but, this +perturbation once overcome, we see that they insensibly flag and slacken +of themselves, if not to the lowest degree, at least so as to be no more +the same; insomuch as that upon every trivial occasion, the losing of a +bird, or the breaking, of a glass, we suffer ourselves to be moved little +less than one of the common people. I am of opinion, that order, +moderation, and constancy excepted, all things are to be done by a man +that is very imperfect and defective in general. Therefore it is, say +the Sages, that to make a right judgment of a man, you are chiefly to pry +into his common actions, and surprise him in his everyday habit. + +Pyrrho, he who erected so pleasant a knowledge upon ignorance, +endeavoured, as all the rest who were really philosophers did, to make +his life correspond with his doctrine. And because he maintained the +imbecility of human judgment to be so extreme as to be incapable of any +choice or inclination, and would have it perpetually wavering and +suspended, considering and receiving all things as indifferent, 'tis +said, that he always comforted himself after the same manner and +countenance: if he had begun a discourse, he would always end what he had +to say, though the person he was speaking to had gone away: if he walked, +he never stopped for any impediment that stood in his way, being +preserved from precipices, collision with carts, and other like +accidents, by the care of his friends: for, to fear or to avoid anything, +had been to shock his own propositions, which deprived the senses +themselves of all election and certainty. Sometimes he suffered incision +and cauteries with so great constancy as never to be seen so much as to +wince. 'Tis something to bring the soul to these imaginations; 'tis more +to join the effects, and yet not impossible; but to conjoin them with +such perseverance and constancy as to make them habitual, is certainly, +in attempts so remote from the common usage, almost incredible to be +done. Therefore it was, that being sometime taken in his house sharply +scolding with his sister, and being reproached that he therein +transgressed his own rules of indifference: "What!" said he, "must this +bit of a woman also serve for a testimony to my rules?" Another time, +being seen to defend himself against a dog: "It is," said he, "very hard +totally to put off man; and we must endeavour and force ourselves to +resist and encounter things, first by effects, but at least by reason and +argument." + +About seven or eight years since, a husbandman yet living, but two +leagues from my house, having long been tormented with his wife's +jealousy, coming one day home from his work, and she welcoming him with +her accustomed railing, entered into so great fury that with a sickle he +had yet in his hand, he totally cut off all those parts that she was +jealous of and threw them in her face. And, 'tis said that a young +gentleman of our nation, brisk and amorous, having by his perseverance at +last mollified the heart of a fair mistress, enraged, that upon the point +of fruition he found himself unable to perform, and that, + + "Nec viriliter + Iners senile penis extulit caput." + + [(The 19th or 20th century translators leave this phrase + untranslated and with no explanation. D.W.) + --Tibullus, Priap. Carm., 84.] + +as soon as ever he came home he deprived himself of the rebellious +member, and sent it to his mistress, a cruel and bloody victim for the +expiation of his offence. If this had been done upon mature +consideration, and upon the account of religion, as the priests of Cybele +did, what should we say of so high an action? + +A few days since, at Bergerac, five leagues from my house, up the river +Dordogne, a woman having overnight been beaten and abused by her husband, +a choleric ill-conditioned fellow, resolved to escape from his ill-usage +at the price of her life; and going so soon as she was up the next +morning to visit her neighbours, as she was wont to do, and having let +some words fall in recommendation of her affairs, she took a sister of +hers by the hand, and led her to the bridge; whither being come, and +having taken leave of her, in jest as it were, without any manner of +alteration in her countenance, she threw herself headlong from the top +into the river, and was there drowned. That which is the most remarkable +in this is, that this resolution was a whole night forming in her head. + +It is quite another thing with the Indian women for it being the custom +there for the men to have many wives, and the best beloved of them to +kill herself at her husband's decease, every one of them makes it the +business of her whole life to obtain this privilege and gain this +advantage over her companions; and the good offices they do their +husbands aim at no other recompense but to be preferred in accompanying +him in death: + + "Ubi mortifero jacta est fax ultima lecto, + Uxorum fusis stat pia turba comis + Et certamen habent lethi, quae viva sequatur + Conjugium: pudor est non licuisse mori. + Ardent victrices, et flammae pectora praebent, + Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris." + + ["For when they threw the torch on the funeral bed, the pious wives + with hair dishevelled, stand around striving, which, living, shall + accompany her spouse; and are ashamed that they may not die; they + who are preferred expose their breasts to the flame, and they lay + their scorched lips on those of their husbands." + --Propertius, iii. 13, 17.] + +A certain author of our times reports that he has seen in those Oriental +nations this custom in practice, that not only the wives bury themselves +with their husbands, but even the slaves he has enjoyed also; which is +done after this manner: The husband being dead, the widow may if she will +(but few will) demand two or three months' respite wherein to order her +affairs. The day being come, she mounts on horseback, dressed as fine as +at her wedding, and with a cheerful countenance says she is going to +sleep with her spouse, holding a looking-glass in her left hand and an +arrow in the other. Being thus conducted in pomp, accompanied with her +kindred and friends and a great concourse of people in great joy, she is +at last brought to the public place appointed for such spectacles: this +is a great space, in the midst of which is a pit full of wood, and +adjoining to it a mount raised four or five steps, upon which she is +brought and served with a magnificent repast; which being done, she falls +to dancing and singing, and gives order, when she thinks fit, to kindle +the fire. This being done, she descends, and taking the nearest of her +husband's relations by the hand, they walk to the river close by, where +she strips herself stark naked, and having distributed her clothes and +jewels to her friends, plunges herself into the water, as if there to +cleanse herself from her sins; coming out thence, she wraps herself in a +yellow linen of five-and-twenty ells long, and again giving her hand to +this kinsman of her husband's, they return back to the mount, where she +makes a speech to the people, and recommends her children to them, if she +have any. Betwixt the pit and the mount there is commonly a curtain +drawn to screen the burning furnace from their sight, which some of them, +to manifest the greater courage, forbid. Having ended what she has to +say, a woman presents her with a vessel of oil, wherewith to anoint her +head and her whole body, which when done with she throws into the fire, +and in an instant precipitates herself after. Immediately, the people +throw a good many billets and logs upon her that she may not be long in +dying, and convert all their joy into sorrow and mourning. If they are +persons of meaner condition, the body of the defunct is carried to the +place of sepulture, and there placed sitting, the widow kneeling before +him, embracing the dead body; and they continue in this posture whilst +the people build a wall about them, which so soon as it is raised to the +height of the woman's shoulders, one of her relations comes behind her, +and taking hold of her head, twists her neck; so soon as she is dead, the +wall is presently raised up, and closed, and there they remain entombed. + +There was, in this same country, something like this in their +gymnosophists; for not by constraint of others nor by the impetuosity of +a sudden humour, but by the express profession of their order, their +custom was, as soon as they arrived at a certain age, or that they saw +themselves threatened by any disease, to cause a funeral pile to be +erected for them, and on the top a stately bed, where, after having +joyfully feasted their friends and acquaintance, they laid them down with +so great resolution, that fire being applied to it, they were never seen +to stir either hand or foot; and after this manner, one of them, Calanus +by name; expired in the presence of the whole army of Alexander the +Great. And he was neither reputed holy nor happy amongst them who did +not thus destroy himself, dismissing his soul purged and purified by the +fire, after having consumed all that was earthly and mortal. This +constant premeditation of the whole life is that which makes the wonder. + +Amongst our other controversies, that of 'Fatum' has also crept in; and +to tie things to come, and even our own wills, to a certain and +inevitable necessity, we are yet upon this argument of time past: +"Since God foresees that all things shall so fall out, as doubtless He +does, it must then necessarily follow, that they must so fall out": to +which our masters reply: "that the seeing anything come to pass, as we +do, and as God Himself also does (for all things being present with him, +He rather sees, than foresees), is not to compel an event: that is, we +see because things do fall out, but things do not fall out because we +see: events cause knowledge, but knowledge does not cause events. That +which we see happen, does happen; but it might have happened otherwise: +and God, in the catalogue of the causes of events which He has in His +prescience, has also those which we call accidental and voluntary, +depending upon the liberty. He has given our free will, and knows that +we do amiss because we would do so." + +I have seen a great many commanders encourage their soldiers with this +fatal necessity; for if our time be limited to a certain hour, neither +the enemies' shot nor our own boldness, nor our flight and cowardice, +can either shorten or prolong our lives. This is easily said, but see +who will be so easily persuaded; and if it be so that a strong and lively +faith draws along with it actions of the same kind, certainly this faith +we so much brag of, is very light in this age of ours, unless the +contempt it has of works makes it disdain their company. So it is, that +to this very purpose the Sire de Joinville, as credible a witness as any +other whatever, tells us of the Bedouins, a nation amongst the Saracens, +with whom the king St. Louis had to do in the Holy Land, that they, in +their religion, so firmly believed the number of every man's days to be +from all eternity prefixed and set down by an inevitable decree, that +they went naked to the wars, excepting a Turkish sword, and their bodies +only covered with a white linen cloth: and for the greatest curse they +could invent when they were angry, this was always in their mouths: +"Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death." This is a +testimony of faith very much beyond ours. And of this sort is that also +that two friars of Florence gave in our fathers' days. Being engaged in +some controversy of learning, they agreed to go both of them into the +fire in the sight of all the people, each for the verification of his +argument, and all things were already prepared, and the thing just upon +the point of execution, when it was interrupted by an unexpected +accident.--[7th April 1498. Savonarola issued the challenge. After many +delays from demands and counter-demands by each side as to the details of +the fire, both parties found that they had important business to transact +in another county--both just barely escaped assassination at the hands of +the disappointed spectators. D.W.] + +A young Turkish lord, having performed a notable exploit in his own +person in the sight of both armies, that of Amurath and that of Huniades, +ready to join battle, being asked by Amurath, what in such tender and +inexperienced years (for it was his first sally into arms) had inspired +him with so brave a courage, replied, that his chief tutor for valour was +a hare. "For being," said he, "one day a hunting, I found a hare +sitting, and though I had a brace of excellent greyhounds with me, yet +methought it would be best for sureness to make use of my bow; for she +sat very fair. I then fell to letting fly my arrows, and shot forty that +I had in my quiver, not only without hurting, but without starting her +from her form. At last I slipped my dogs after her, but to no more +purpose than I had shot: by which I understood that she had been secured +by her destiny; and, that neither darts nor swords can wound without the +permission of fate, which we can neither hasten nor defer." This story +may serve, by the way, to let us see how flexible our reason is to all +sorts of images. + +A person of great years, name, dignity, and learning boasted to me that +he had been induced to a certain very important change in his faith by a +strange and whimsical incitation, and one otherwise so inadequate, that I +thought it much stronger, taken the contrary way: he called it a miracle, +and so I look upon it, but in a different sense. The Turkish historians +say, that the persuasion those of their nation have imprinted in them of +the fatal and unalterable prescription of their days, manifestly conduces +to the giving them great assurance in dangers. And I know a great prince +who makes very fortunate use of it, whether it be that he really believes +it, or that he makes it his excuse for so wonderfully hazarding himself: +let us hope Fortune may not be too soon weary of her favour to him. + +There has not happened in our memory a more admirable effect of +resolution than in those two who conspired the death of the Prince of +Orange. + + [The first of these was Jehan de Jaureguy, who wounded the Prince + 18th March 1582; the second, by whom the Prince was killed 10th July + 1584., was Balthazar Gerard.] + +'Tis marvellous how the second who executed it, could ever be persuaded +into an attempt, wherein his companion, who had done his utmost, had had +so ill success; and after the same method, and with the same arms, to go +attack a lord, armed with so recent a late lesson of distrust, powerful +in followers and bodily strength, in his own hall, amidst his guards, and +in a city wholly at his devotion. Assuredly, he employed a very resolute +arm and a courage enflamed with furious passion. A poignard is surer for +striking home; but by reason that more motion and force of hand is +required than with a pistol, the blow is more subject to be put by or +hindered. That this man did not run to a certain death, I make no great +doubt; for the hopes any one could flatter him withal, could not find +place in any sober understanding, and the conduct of his exploit +sufficiently manifests that he had no want of that, no more than of +courage. The motives of so powerful a persuasion may be diverse, for our +fancy does what it will, both with itself and us. The execution that was +done near Orleans --[The murder of the Duke of Guise by Poltrot.]--was +nothing like this; there was in this more of chance than vigour; the +wound was not mortal, if fortune had not made it so, and to attempt to +shoot on horseback, and at a great distance, by one whose body was in +motion from the motion of his horse, was the attempt of a man who had +rather miss his blow than fail of saving himself. This was apparent from +what followed; for he was so astonished and stupefied with the thought of +so high an execution, that he totally lost his judgment both to find his +way to flight and to govern his tongue. What needed he to have done more +than to fly back to his friends across the river? 'Tis what I have done +in less dangers, and that I think of very little hazard, how broad soever +the river may be, provided your horse have easy going in, and that you +see on the other side easy landing according to the stream. The other, +--[Balthazar Gerard.]-- when they pronounced his dreadful sentence, +"I was prepared for this," said he, "beforehand, and I will make you +wonder at my patience." + +The Assassins, a nation bordering upon Phoenicia, + + [Or in Egypt, Syria, and Persia. Derivation of 'assassin' is from + Hassan-ben-Saba, one of their early leaders, and they had an + existence for some centuries. They are classed among the secret + societies of the Middle Ages. D.W.] + +are reputed amongst the Mohammedans a people of very great devotion and +purity of manners. They hold that the nearest way to gain Paradise is to +kill some one of a contrary religion; which is the reason they have often +been seen, being but one or two, and without armour, to attempt against +powerful enemies, at the price of a certain death and without any +consideration of their own danger. So was our Raymond, Count of Tripoli, +assassinated (which word is derived from their name) in the heart of his +city, --[in 1151]-- during our enterprises of the Holy War: and likewise +Conrad, Marquis of Monteferrat, the murderers at their execution bearing +themselves with great pride and glory that they had performed so brave an +exploit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +OF A MONSTROUS CHILD + +This story shall go by itself; for I will leave it to physicians to +discourse of. Two days ago I saw a child that two men and a nurse, who +said they were the father, the uncle, and the aunt of it, carried about +to get money by showing it, by reason it was so strange a creature. It +was, as to all the rest, of a common form, and could stand upon its feet; +could go and gabble much like other children of the same age; it had +never as yet taken any other nourishment but from the nurse's breasts, +and what, in my presence, they tried to put into the mouth of it, it only +chewed a little and spat it out again without swallowing; the cry of it +seemed indeed a little odd and particular, and it was just fourteen +months old. Under the breast it was joined to another child, but without +a head, and which had the spine of the back without motion, the rest +entire; for though it had one arm shorter than the other, it had been +broken by accident at their birth; they were joined breast to breast, and +as if a lesser child sought to throw its arms about the neck of one +something bigger. The juncture and thickness of the place where they +were conjoined was not above four fingers, or thereabouts, so that if you +thrust up the imperfect child you might see the navel of the other below +it, and the joining was betwixt the paps and the navel. The navel of the +imperfect child could not be seen, but all the rest of the belly, so that +all that was not joined of the imperfect one, as arms, buttocks, thighs, +and legs, hung dangling upon the other, and might reach to the mid-leg. +The nurse, moreover, told us that it urined at both bodies, and that the +members of the other were nourished, sensible, and in the same plight +with that she gave suck to, excepting that they were shorter and less. +This double body and several limbs relating to one head might be +interpreted a favourable prognostic to the king,--[Henry III.]-- of +maintaining these various parts of our state under the union of his laws; +but lest the event should prove otherwise, 'tis better to let it alone, +for in things already past there needs no divination, + + "Ut quum facts sunt, tum ad conjecturam + aliqui interpretatione revocentur;" + + ["So as when they are come to pass, they may then by some + interpretation be recalled to conjecture" + --Cicero, De Divin., ii. 31.] + +as 'tis said of Epimenides, that he always prophesied backward. + +I have just seen a herdsman in Medoc, of about thirty years of age, who +has no sign of any genital parts; he has three holes by which he +incessantly voids his water; he is bearded, has desire, and seeks contact +with women. + +Those that we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity +of His work the infinite forms that He has comprehended therein; and it +is to be believed that this figure which astonishes us has relation to +some other figure of the same kind unknown to man. From His all wisdom +nothing but good, common; and regular proceeds; but we do not discern the +disposition and relation: + + "Quod crebro videt, non miratur, etiamsi, + cur fiat, nescit. Quod ante non vidit, id, + si evenerit, ostentum esse censet." + + ["What he often sees he does not admire, though he be ignorant how + it comes to pass. When a thing happens he never saw before, he + thinks that it is a portent."--Cicero, De Divin., ii. 22.] + +Whatever falls out contrary to custom we say is contrary to nature, but +nothing, whatever it be, is contrary to her. Let, therefore, this +universal and natural reason expel the error and astonishment that +novelty brings along with it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +OF ANGER + +Plutarch is admirable throughout, but especially where he judges of human +actions. What fine things does he say in the comparison of Lycurgus and +Numa upon the subject of our great folly in abandoning children to the +care and government of their fathers? The most of our civil governments, +as Aristotle says," leave, after the manner of the Cyclopes, to every one +the ordering of their wives and children, according to their own foolish +and indiscreet fancy; and the Lacedaemonian and Cretan are almost the +only governments that have committed the education of children to the +laws. Who does not see that in a state all depends upon their nurture +and bringing up? and yet they are left to the mercy of parents, let them +be as foolish and ill-conditioned as they may, without any manner of +discretion. + +Amongst other things, how often have I, as I have passed along our +streets, had a good mind to get up a farce, to revenge the poor boys whom +I have seen hided, knocked down, and miserably beaten by some father or +mother, when in their fury and mad with rage? You shall see them come +out with fire and fury sparkling in their eyes: + + "Rabie jecur incendente, feruntur, + Praecipites; ut saxa jugis abrupta, quibus mons + Subtrahitur, clivoque latus pendente recedit," + + ["They are headlong borne with burning fury as great stones torn + from the mountains, by which the steep sides are left naked and + bare."--Juvenal, Sat., vi. 647.] + +(and according to Hippocrates, the most dangerous maladies are they that +disfigure the countenance), with a roaring and terrible voice, very often +against those that are but newly come from nurse, and there they are +lamed and spoiled with blows, whilst our justice takes no cognisance of +it, as if these maims and dislocations were not executed upon members of +our commonwealth: + + "Gratum est, quod patria; civem populoque dedisti, + Si facis, ut patrix sit idoneus, utilis agris, + Utilis et bellorum et pacis rebus agendis." + + ["It is well when to thy country and the people thou hast given a + citizen, provided thou make fit for his country's service; useful to + till the earth, useful in affairs of war and peace" + --Juvenal, Sat., xiv. 70.] + +There is no passion that so much transports men from their right judgment +as anger. No one would demur upon punishing a judge with death who +should condemn a criminal on the account of his own choler; why, then, +should fathers and pedagogues be any more allowed to whip and chastise +children in their anger? 'Tis then no longer correction, but revenge. +Chastisement is instead of physic to children; and would we endure a +physician who should be animated against and enraged at his patient? + +We ourselves, to do well, should never lay a hand upon our servants +whilst our anger lasts. When the pulse beats, and we feel emotion in +ourselves, let us defer the business; things will indeed appear otherwise +to us when we are calm and cool. 'Tis passion that then commands, 'tis +passion that speaks, and not we. Faults seen through passion appear much +greater to us than they really are, as bodies do when seen through a +mist. He who is hungry uses meat; but he who will make use of +chastisement should have neither hunger nor thirst to it. And, moreover, +chastisements that are inflicted with weight and discretion are much +better received and with greater benefit by him who suffers; otherwise, +he will not think himself justly condemned by a man transported with +anger and fury, and will allege his master's excessive passion, his +inflamed countenance, his unwonted oaths, his emotion and precipitous +rashness, for his own justification: + + "Ora tument ira, nigrescunt sanguine venae, + Lumina Gorgoneo saevius igne micant." + + ["Their faces swell, their veins grow black with rage, and their + eyes sparkle with Gorgonian fire."--Ovid, De Art. Amandi, iii. 503.] + +Suetonius reports that Caius Rabirius having been condemned by Caesar, +the thing that most prevailed upon the people (to whom he had appealed) +to determine the cause in his favour, was the animosity and vehemence +that Caesar had manifested in that sentence. + +Saying is a different thing from doing; we are to consider the sermon +apart and the preacher apart. These men lent themselves to a pretty +business who in our times have attempted to shake the truth of our Church +by the vices of her ministers; she extracts her testimony elsewhere; 'tis +a foolish way of arguing and that would throw all things into confusion. +A man whose morals are good may have false opinions, and a wicked man may +preach truth, even though he believe it not himself. 'Tis doubtless a +fine harmony when doing and saying go together; and I will not deny but +that saying, when the actions follow, is not of greater authority and +efficacy, as Eudamidas said, hearing a philosopher talk of military +affairs: "These things are finely said, but he who speaks them is not to +be believed for his ears have never been used to the sound of the +trumpet." And Cleomenes, hearing an orator declaiming upon valour, burst +out into laughter, at which the other being angry; "I should," said he to +him, "do the same if it were a swallow that spoke of this subject; but if +it were an eagle I should willingly hear him." I perceive, methinks, in +the writings of the ancients, that he who speaks what he thinks, strikes +much more home than he who only feigns. Hear Cicero speak of the love of +liberty: hear Brutus speak of it, the mere written words of this man +sound as if he would purchase it at the price of his life. Let Cicero, +the father of eloquence, treat of the contempt of death; let Seneca do +the same: the first languishingly drawls it out so you perceive he would +make you resolve upon a thing on which he is not resolved himself; he +inspires you not with courage, for he himself has none; the other +animates and inflames you. I never read an author, even of those who +treat of virtue and of actions, that I do not curiously inquire what kind +of a man he was himself; for the Ephori at Sparta, seeing a dissolute +fellow propose a wholesome advice to the people, commanded him to hold +his peace, and entreated a virtuous man to attribute to himself the +invention, and to propose it. Plutarch's writings, if well understood, +sufficiently bespeak their author, and so that I think I know him even +into his soul; and yet I could wish that we had some fuller account of +his life. And I am thus far wandered from my subject, upon the account +of the obligation I have to Aulus Gellius, for having left us in writing +this story of his manners, that brings me back to my subject of anger. +A slave of his, a vicious, ill-conditioned fellow, but who had the +precepts of philosophy often ringing in his ears, having for some offence +of his been stript by Plutarch's command, whilst he was being whipped, +muttered at first, that it was without cause and that he had done nothing +to deserve it; but at last falling in good earnest to exclaim against and +rail at his master, he reproached him that he was no philosopher, as he +had boasted himself to be: that he had often heard him say it was +indecent to be angry, nay, had written a book to that purpose; and that +the causing him to be so cruelly beaten, in the height of his rage, +totally gave the lie to all his writings; to which Plutarch calmly and +coldly answered, "How, ruffian," said he, "by what dost thou judge that +I am now angry? Does either my face, my colour, or my voice give any +manifestation of my being moved? I do not think my eyes look fierce, +that my countenance appears troubled, or that my voice is dreadful: am I +red, do I foam, does any word escape my lips I ought to repent? Do I +start? Do I tremble with fury? For those, I tell thee, are the true +signs of anger." And so, turning to the fellow that was whipping him, +"Ply on thy work," said he, "whilst this gentleman and I dispute." This +is his story. + +Archytas Tarentinus, returning from a war wherein he had been captain- +general, found all things in his house in very great disorder, and his +lands quite out of tillage, through the ill husbandry of his receiver, +and having caused him to be called to him; "Go," said he, "if I were not +in anger I would soundly drub your sides." Plato likewise, being highly +offended with one of his slaves, gave Speusippus order to chastise him, +excusing himself from doing it because he was in anger. And Carillus, a +Lacedaemonian, to a Helot, who carried himself insolently towards him: +"By the gods," said he, "if I was not angry, I would immediately cause +thee to be put to death." + +'Tis a passion that is pleased with and flatters itself. How often, +being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good +defence and presents us with a just excuse, are we angry against truth +and innocence itself? In proof of which, I remember a marvellous example +of antiquity. + +Piso, otherwise a man of very eminent virtue, being moved against a +soldier of his, for that returning alone from forage he could give him no +account where he had left a companion of his, took it for granted that he +had killed him, and presently condemned him to death. He was no sooner +mounted upon the gibbet, but, behold, his wandering companion arrives, at +which all the army were exceedingly glad, and after many embraces of the +two comrades, the hangman carried both the one and the other into Piso's +presence, all those present believing it would be a great pleasure even +to himself; but it proved quite contrary; for through shame and spite, +his fury, which was not yet cool, redoubled; and by a subtlety which his +passion suddenly suggested to him, he made three criminals for having +found one innocent, and caused them all to be despatched: the first +soldier, because sentence had passed upon him; the second, who had lost +his way, because he was the cause of his companion's death; and the +hangman, for not having obeyed the order which had been given him. +Such as have had to do with testy and obstinate women, may have +experimented into what a rage it puts them to oppose silence and coldness +to their fury, and that a man disdains to nourish their anger. The +orator Celius was wonderfully choleric by nature; and to one who supped +in his company, a man of a gentle and sweet conversation, and who, that +he might not move him, approved and consented to all he said; he, +impatient that his ill-humour should thus spend itself without aliment: +"For the love of the gods deny me something," said he, "that we may be +two." Women, in like manner, are only angry that others may be angry +again, in imitation of the laws of love. Phocion, to one who interrupted +his speaking by injurious and very opprobrious words, made no other +return than silence, and to give him full liberty and leisure to vent his +spleen; which he having accordingly done, and the storm blown over, +without any mention of this disturbance, he proceeded in his discourse +where he had left off before. No answer can nettle a man like such a +contempt. + +Of the most choleric man in France (anger is always an imperfection, but +more excusable in, a soldier, for in that trade it cannot sometimes be +avoided) I often say, that he is the most patient man that I know, and +the most discreet in bridling his passions; which rise in him with so +great violence and fury, + + "Magno veluti cum flamma sonore + Virgea suggeritur costis undantis ahem, + Exsultantque aatu latices, furit intus aquae vis. + Fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis, + Nec jam se capit unda; volat vapor ater ad auras;" + + ["When with loud crackling noise, a fire of sticks is applied to the + boiling caldron's side, by the heat in frisky bells the liquor + dances; within the water rages, and high the smoky fluid in foam + overflows. Nor can the wave now contain itself; the black steam + flies all abroad."--AEneid, vii. 462.] + + +that he must of necessity cruelly constrain himself to moderate it. And +for my part, I know no passion which I could with so much violence to +myself attempt to cover and conceal; I would not set wisdom at so high a +price; and do not so much consider what a man does, as how much it costs +him to do no worse. + +Another boasted himself to me of the regularity and gentleness of his +manners, which are to truth very singular; to whom I replied, that it was +indeed something, especially m persons of so eminent a quality as +himself, upon whom every one had their eyes, to present himself always +well-tempered to the world; but that the principal thing was to make +provision for within and for himself; and that it was not in my opinion +very well to order his business outwardly well, and to grate himself +within, which I was afraid he did, in putting on and maintaining this +mask and external appearance. + +A man incorporates anger by concealing it, as Diogenes told Demosthenes, +who, for fear of being seen in a tavern, withdrew himself the more +retiredly into it: "The more you retire backward, the farther you enter +in." I would rather advise that a man should give his servant a box of +the ear a little unseasonably, than rack his fancy to present this grave +and composed countenance; and had rather discover my passions than brood +over them at my own expense; they grow less inventing and manifesting +themselves; and 'tis much better their point should wound others without, +than be turned towards ourselves within: + + "Omnia vitia in aperto leviora sunt: et tunc perniciosissima, + quum simulata sanitate subsident." + + ["All vices are less dangerous when open to be seen, and then most + pernicious when they lurk under a dissembled good nature." + --Seneca, Ep. 56] + +I admonish all those who have authority to be angry in my family, in the +first place to manage their anger and not to lavish it upon every +occasion, for that both lessens the value and hinders the effect: rash +and incessant scolding runs into custom, and renders itself despised; and +what you lay out upon a servant for a theft is not felt, because it is +the same he has seen you a hundred times employ against him for having +ill washed a glass, or set a stool out of place. Secondly, that they be +not angry to no purpose, but make sure that their reprehension reach him +with whom they are offended; for, ordinarily, they rail and bawl before +he comes into their presence, and continue scolding an age after he is +gone: + + "Et secum petulans amentia certat:" + + ["And petulant madness contends with itself." + --Claudian in Eutrop., i. 237.] + +they attack his shadow, and drive the storm in a place where no one is +either chastised or concerned, but in the clamour of their voice. +I likewise in quarrels condemn those who huff and vapour without an +enemy: those rhodomontades should be reserved to discharge upon the +offending party: + + "Mugitus veluti cum prima in praelia taurus + Terrificos ciet, atque irasci in cornua tentat, + Arboris obnixus trunco, ventospue lacessit + Ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnum proludit arena." + + ["As when a bull to usher in the fight, makes dreadful bellowings, + and whets his horns against the trunk of a tree; with blows he beats + the air, and rehearses the fight by scattering the sand." + --AEneid, xii. 103.] + +When I am angry, my anger is very sharp but withal very short, and as +private as I can; I lose myself indeed in promptness and violence, but +not in trouble; so that I throw out all sorts of injurious words at +random, and without choice, and never consider pertinently to dart my +language where I think it will deepest wound, for I commonly make use of +no other weapon than my tongue. + +My servants have a better bargain of me in great occasions than in +little; the little ones surprise me; and the misfortune is, that when you +are once upon the precipice, 'tis no matter who gave you the push, you +always go to the bottom; the fall urges, moves, and makes haste of +itself. In great occasions this satisfies me, that they are so just +every one expects a reasonable indignation, and then I glorify myself in +deceiving their expectation; against these, I fortify and prepare myself; +they disturb my head, and threaten to transport me very far, should I +follow them. I can easily contain myself from entering into one of these +passions, and am strong enough, when I expect them, to repel their +violence, be the cause never so great; but if a passion once prepossess +and seize me, it carries me away, be the cause never so small. I bargain +thus with those who may contend with me when you see me moved first, let +me alone, right or wrong; I'll do the same for you. The storm is only +begot by a concurrence of angers, which easily spring from one another, +and are not born together. Let every one have his own way, and we shall +be always at peace. A profitable advice, but hard to execute. Sometimes +also it falls out that I put on a seeming anger, for the better governing +of my house, without any real emotion. As age renders my humours more +sharp, I study to oppose them, and will, if I can, order it so, that for +the future I may be so much the less peevish and hard to please, as I +have more excuse and inclination to be so, although I have heretofore +been reckoned amongst those who have the greatest patience. + +A word more to conclude this argument. Aristotle says, that anger +sometimes serves for arms to virtue and valour. That is probable; +nevertheless, they who contradict him pleasantly answer, that 'tis a +weapon of novel use, for we move all other arms, this moves us; our hand +guides it not, 'tis it that guides our hand; it holds us, we hold not it. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + +A man may always study, but he must not always go to school +Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death +All things have their seasons, even good ones +All those who have authority to be angry in my family +An emperor," said he, "must die standing +Ancient Romans kept their youth always standing at school +And we suffer the ills of a long peace +Be not angry to no purpose +Best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice +By resenting the lie we acquit ourselves of the fault +"By the gods," said he, "if I was not angry, I would execute you" +Children are amused with toys and men with words +Consent, and complacency in giving a man's self up to melancholy +Defend most the defects with which we are most tainted +Emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate +Fortune sometimes seems to delight in taking us at our word +Greatest talkers, for the most part, do nothing to purpose +Have more wherewith to defray my journey, than I have way to go +Hearing a philosopher talk of military affairs +How much it costs him to do no worse +I need not seek a fool from afar; I can laugh at myself +Idleness, the mother of corruption +If a passion once prepossess and seize me, it carries me away +In sorrow there is some mixture of pleasure +Killing is good to frustrate an offence to come, not to revenge +Laws cannot subsist without mixture of injustice +Least end of a hair will serve to draw them into my discourse +Let us not seek our disease out of ourselves; 'tis in us +Look on death not only without astonishment but without care +Melancholy: Are there not some constitutions that feed upon it? +Most cruel people, and upon frivolous occasions, apt to cry. +No beast in the world so much to be feared by man as man +Our extremest pleasure has some sort of groaning +Our fancy does what it will, both with itself and us +Owe ourselves chiefly and mostly to ourselves +Petulant madness contends with itself +Rage it puts them to oppose silence and coldness to their fury +Rash and incessant scolding runs into custom +Revenge, which afterwards produces a series of new cruelties +See how flexible our reason is +Seeming anger, for the better governing of my house +Shake the truth of our Church by the vices of her ministers +Take my last leave of every place I depart from +The gods sell us all the goods they give us +The storm is only begot by a concurrence of angers +Though nobody should read me, have I wasted time +Tis said of Epimenides, that he always prophesied backward +Tis then no longer correction, but revenge +Upon the precipice, 'tis no matter who gave you the push +"When will this man be wise," said he, "if he is yet learning?" +When you see me moved first, let me alone, right or wrong +Young are to make their preparations, the old to enjoy them + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Essays of Montaigne, V12 +By Michel de Montaigne + diff --git a/old/mn12v10.zip b/old/mn12v10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73e1013 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mn12v10.zip diff --git a/old/mn12v11.txt b/old/mn12v11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e879fb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mn12v11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2753 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Essays of Montaigne, V12 +#12 in our series by Michel de Montaigne, Translator: Cotton +Edited by William Carew Hazlitt, 1877 + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Not to counterfeit being sick. +XXVI. Of thumbs. +XXVII. Cowardice the mother of cruelty. +XXVIII. All things have their season. +XXIX. Of virtue. +XXX. Of a monstrous child. +XXXI. Of anger. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OF GIVING THE LIE + +Well, but some one will say to me, this design of making a man's self the +subject of his writing, were indeed excusable in rare and famous men, who +by their reputation had given others a curiosity to be fully informed of +them. It is most true, I confess and know very well, that a mechanic +will scarce lift his eyes from his work to look at an ordinary man, +whereas a man will forsake his business and his shop to stare at an +eminent person when he comes into a town. It misbecomes any other to +give his own character, but him who has qualities worthy of imitation, +and whose life and opinions may serve for example: Caesar and Xenophon +had a just and solid foundation whereon to found their narrations, the +greatness of their own performances; and were to be wished that we had +the journals of Alexander the Great, the commentaries that Augustus, +Cato, Sylla, Brutus, and others left of their actions; of such persons +men love and contemplate the very statues even in copper and marble. +This remonstrance is very true; but it very little concerns me: + + "Non recito cuiquam, nisi amicis, idque coactus; + Non ubivis, coramve quibuslibet, in medio qui + Scripta foro recitant, sunt multi, quique lavantes." + + ["I repeat my poems only to my friends, and when bound to do so; + not before every one and everywhere; there are plenty of reciters + in the open market-place and at the baths."--Horace, sat. i. 4, 73.] + +I do not here form a statue to erect in the great square of a city, in a +church, or any public place: + + "Non equidem hoc studeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis, + Pagina turgescat...... + Secreti loquimur:" + + ["I study not to make my pages swell with empty trifles; + you and I are talking in private."--Persius, Sat., v. 19.] + +'tis for some corner of a library, or to entertain a neighbour, +a kinsman, a friend, who has a mind to renew his acquaintance and +familiarity with me in this image of myself. Others have been encouraged +to speak of themselves, because they found the subject worthy and rich; +I, on the contrary, am the bolder, by reason the subject is so poor and +sterile that I cannot be suspected of ostentation. I judge freely of the +actions of others; I give little of my own to judge of, because they are +nothing: I do not find so much good in myself, that I cannot tell it +without blushing. + +What contentment would it not be to me to hear any one thus relate to me +the manners, faces, countenances, the ordinary words and fortunes of my +ancestors? how attentively should I listen to it! In earnest, it would +be evil nature to despise so much as the pictures of our friends and +predecessors, the fashion of their clothes and arms. I preserve their +writing, seal, and a particular sword they wore, and have not thrown the +long staves my father used to carry in his hand, out of my closet + + "Paterna vestis, et annulus, tanto charior est + posteris, quanto erga parentes major affectus." + + ["A father's garment and ring is by so much dearer to his posterity, + as there is the greater affection towards parents." + --St. Aug., De Civat. Dei, i. 13.] + +If my posterity, nevertheless, shall be of another mind, I shall be +avenged on them; for they cannot care less for me than I shall then do +for them. All the traffic that I have in this with the public is, that I +borrow their utensils of writing, which are more easy and most at hand; +and in recompense shall, peradventure, keep a pound of butter in the +market from melting in the sun:--[Montaigne semi-seriously speculates on +the possibility of his MS. being used to wrap up butter.] + + "Ne toga cordyllis, ne penula desit olivis; + Et laxas scombris saepe dabo tunicas;" + + ["Let not wrappers be wanting to tunny-fish, nor olives; + and I shall supply loose coverings to mackerel." + --Martial, xiii. I, I.] + +And though nobody should read me, have I wasted time in entertaining +myself so many idle hours in so pleasing and useful thoughts? In +moulding this figure upon myself, I have been so often constrained to +temper and compose myself in a right posture, that the copy is truly +taken, and has in some sort formed itself; painting myself for others, +I represent myself in a better colouring than my own natural complexion. +I have no more made my book than my book has made me: 'tis a book +consubstantial with the author, of a peculiar design, a parcel of my +life, and whose business is not designed for others, as that of all other +books is. In giving myself so continual and so exact an account of +myself, have I lost my time? For they who sometimes cursorily survey +themselves only, do not so strictly examine themselves, nor penetrate so +deep, as he who makes it his business, his study, and his employment, who +intends a lasting record, with all his fidelity, and with all his force: +The most delicious pleasures digested within, avoid leaving any trace of +themselves, and avoid the sight not only of the people, but of any other +person. How often has this work diverted me from troublesome thoughts? +and all that are frivolous should be reputed so. Nature has presented us +with a large faculty of entertaining ourselves alone; and often calls us +to it, to teach us that we owe ourselves in part to society, but chiefly +and mostly to ourselves. That I may habituate my fancy even to meditate +in some method and to some end, and to keep it from losing itself and +roving at random, 'tis but to give to body and to record all the little +thoughts that present themselves to it. I give ear to my whimsies, +because I am to record them. It often falls out, that being displeased +at some action that civility and reason will not permit me openly to +reprove, I here disgorge myself, not without design of public +instruction: and also these poetical lashes, + + "Zon zur l'oeil, ion sur le groin, + Zon zur le dos du Sagoin," + + ["A slap on his eye, a slap on his snout, a slap on Sagoin's + back."--Marot. Fripelippes, Valet de Marot a Sagoin.] + + +imprint themselves better upon paper than upon the flesh. What if I +listen to books a little more attentively than ordinary, since I watch if +I can purloin anything that may adorn or support my own? I have not at +all studied to make a book; but I have in some sort studied because I had +made it; if it be studying to scratch and pinch now one author, and then +another, either by the head or foot, not with any design to form opinions +from them, but to assist, second, and fortify those I already have +embraced. But whom shall we believe in the report he makes of himself in +so corrupt an age? considering there are so few, if, any at all, whom we +can believe when speaking of others, where there is less interest to lie. +The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth; +for, as Pindar says, to be true is the beginning of a great virtue, and +the first article that Plato requires in the governor of his Republic. +The truth of these days is not that which really is, but what every man +persuades another man to believe; as we generally give the name of money +not only to pieces of the dust alloy, but even to the false also, if they +will pass. Our nation has long been reproached with this vice; for +Salvianus of Marseilles, who lived in the time of the Emperor +Valentinian, says that lying and forswearing themselves is with the +French not a vice, but a way of speaking. He who would enhance this +testimony, might say that it is now a virtue in them; men form and +fashion themselves to it as to an exercise of honour; for dissimulation +is one of the most notable qualities of this age. + +I have often considered whence this custom that we so religiously observe +should spring, of being more highly offended with the reproach of a vice +so familiar to us than with any other, and that it should be the highest +insult that can in words be done us to reproach us with a lie. Upon +examination, I find that it is natural most to defend the defects with +which we are most tainted. It seems as if by resenting and being moved +at the accusation, we in some sort acquit ourselves of the fault; though +we have it in effect, we condemn it in outward appearance. May it not +also be that this reproach seems to imply cowardice and feebleness of +heart? of which can there be a more manifest sign than to eat a man's own +words--nay, to lie against a man's own knowledge? Lying is a base vice; +a vice that one of the ancients portrays in the most odious colours when +he says, "that it is to manifest a contempt of God, and withal a fear of +men." It is not possible more fully to represent the horror, baseness, +and irregularity of it; for what can a man imagine more hateful and +contemptible than to be a coward towards men, and valiant against his +Maker? Our intelligence being by no other way communicable to one +another but by a particular word, he who falsifies that betrays public +society. 'Tis the only way by which we communicate our thoughts and +wills; 'tis the interpreter of the soul, and if it deceive us, we no +longer know nor have further tie upon one another; if that deceive us, it +breaks all our correspondence, and dissolves all the ties of government. +Certain nations of the newly discovered Indies (I need not give them +names, seeing they are no more; for, by wonderful and unheardof example, +the desolation of that conquest has extended to the utter abolition of +names and the ancient knowledge of places) offered to their gods human +blood, but only such as was drawn from the tongue and ears, to expiate +for the sin of lying, as well heard as pronounced. That good fellow of +Greece--[Plutarch, Life of Lysander, c. 4.]--said that children are +amused with toys and men with words. + +As to our diverse usages of giving the lie, and the laws of honour in +that case, and the alteration they have received, I defer saying what I +know of them to another time, and shall learn, if I can, in the +meanwhile, at what time the custom took beginning of so exactly weighing +and measuring words, and of making our honour interested in them; for it +is easy to judge that it was not anciently amongst the Romans and Greeks. +And it has often seemed to me strange to see them rail at and give one +another the lie without any quarrel. Their laws of duty steered some +other course than ours. Caesar is sometimes called thief, and sometimes +drunkard, to his teeth. We see the liberty of invective they practised +upon one another, I mean the greatest chiefs of war of both nations, +where words are only revenged with words, and do not proceed any farther. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +OF LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE + +'Tis usual to see good intentions, if carried on without moderation, push +men on to very vicious effects. In this dispute which has at this time +engaged France in a civil war, the better and the soundest cause no doubt +is that which maintains the ancient religion and government of the +kingdom. Nevertheless, amongst the good men of that party (for I do not +speak of those who only make a pretence of it, either to execute their +own particular revenges or to gratify their avarice, or to conciliate the +favour of princes, but of those who engage in the quarrel out of true +zeal to religion and a holy desire to maintain the peace and government +of their country), of these, I say, we see many whom passion transports +beyond the bounds of reason, and sometimes inspires with counsels that +are unjust and violent, and, moreover, rash. + +It is certain that in those first times, when our religion began to gain +authority with the laws, zeal armed many against all sorts of pagan +books, by which the learned suffered an exceeding great loss, a disorder +that I conceive to have done more prejudice to letters than all the +flames of the barbarians. Of this Cornelius Tacitus is a very good +testimony; for though the Emperor Tacitus, his kinsman, had, by express +order, furnished all the libraries in the world with it, nevertheless one +entire copy could not escape the curious examination of those who desired +to abolish it for only five or six idle clauses that were contrary to our +belief. + +They had also the trick easily to lend undue praises to all the emperors +who made for us, and universally to condemn all the actions of those who +were adversaries, as is evidently manifest in the Emperor Julian, +surnamed the Apostate, + + [The character of the Emperor Julian was censured, when Montaigne + was at Rome in 1581, by the Master of the Sacred Palace, who, + however, as Montaigne tells us in his journal (ii. 35), referred it + to his conscience to alter what he should think in bad taste. This + Montaigne did not do, and this chapter supplied Voltaire with the + greater part of the praises he bestowed upon the Emperor.--Leclerc.] + +who was, in truth, a very great and rare man, a man in whose soul +philosophy was imprinted in the best characters, by which he professed to +govern all his actions; and, in truth, there is no sort of virtue of +which he has not left behind him very notable examples: in chastity (of +which the whole of his life gave manifest proof) we read the same of him +that was said of Alexander and Scipio, that being in the flower of his +age, for he was slain by the Parthians at one-and-thirty, of a great many +very beautiful captives, he would not so much as look upon one. As to +his justice, he took himself the pains to hear the parties, and although +he would out of curiosity inquire what religion they were of, +nevertheless, the antipathy he had to ours never gave any counterpoise to +the balance. He made himself several good laws, and repealed a great +part of the subsidies and taxes levied by his predecessors. + +We have two good historians who were eyewitnesses of his actions: one of +whom, Marcellinus, in several places of his history sharply reproves an +edict of his whereby he interdicted all Christian rhetoricians and +grammarians to keep school or to teach, and says he could wish that act +of his had been buried in silence: it is probable that had he done any +more severe thing against us, he, so affectionate as he was to our party, +would not have passed it over in silence. He was indeed sharp against +us, but yet no cruel enemy; for our own people tell this story of him, +that one day, walking about the city of Chalcedon, Maris, bishop of the +place; was so bold as to tell him that he was impious, and an enemy to +Christ, at which, they say, he was no further moved than to reply, +"Go, poor wretch, and lament the loss of thy eyes," to which the bishop +replied again, "I thank Jesus Christ for taking away my sight, that I may +not see thy impudent visage," affecting in that, they say, a +philosophical patience. But this action of his bears no comparison to +the cruelty that he is said to have exercised against us. "He was," says +Eutropius, my other witness, "an enemy to Christianity, but without +putting his hand to blood." And, to return to his justice, there is +nothing in that whereof he can be accused, the severity excepted he +practised in the beginning of his reign against those who had followed +the party of Constantius, his predecessor. As to his sobriety, he lived +always a soldier-like life; and observed a diet and routine, like one +that prepared and inured himself to the austerities of war. His +vigilance was such, that he divided the night into three or four parts, +of which the least was dedicated to sleep; the rest was spent either in +visiting the state of his army and guards in person, or in study; for +amongst other rare qualities, he was very excellent in all sorts of +learning. 'Tis said of Alexander the Great, that being in bed, for fear +lest sleep should divert him from his thoughts and studies, he had always +a basin set by his bedside, and held one of his hands out with a ball of +copper in it, to the end, that, beginning to fall asleep, and his fingers +leaving their hold, the ball by falling into the basin, might awake him. +But the other had his soul so bent upon what he had a mind to do, and so +little disturbed with fumes by reason of his singular abstinence, that he +had no need of any such invention. As to his military experience, he was +excellent in all the qualities of a great captain, as it was likely he +should, being almost all his life in a continual exercise of war, and +most of that time with us in France, against the Germans and Franks: we +hardly read of any man who ever saw more dangers, or who made more +frequent proofs of his personal valour. + +His death has something in it parallel with that of Epaminondas, for he +was wounded with an arrow, and tried to pull it out, and had done so, but +that, being edged, it cut and disabled his hand. He incessantly called +out that they should carry him again into the heat of the battle, to +encourage his soldiers, who very bravely disputed the fight without him, +till night parted the armies. He stood obliged to his philosophy for the +singular contempt he had for his life and all human things. He had a +firm belief of the immortality of souls. + +In matter of religion he was wrong throughout, and was surnamed the +Apostate for having relinquished ours: nevertheless, the opinion seems to +me more probable, that he had never thoroughly embraced it, but had +dissembled out of obedience to the laws, till he came to the empire. +He was in his own so superstitious, that he was laughed at for it by +those of his own time, of the same opinion, who jeeringly said, that had +he got the victory over the Parthians, he had destroyed the breed of oxen +in the world to supply his sacrifices. He was, moreover, besotted with +the art of divination, and gave authority to all sorts of predictions. +He said, amongst other things at his death, that he was obliged to the +gods, and thanked them, in that they would not cut him off by surprise, +having long before advertised him of the place and hour of his death, nor +by a mean and unmanly death, more becoming lazy and delicate people; nor +by a death that was languishing, long, and painful; and that they had +thought him worthy to die after that noble manner, in the progress of his +victories, in the flower of his glory. He had a vision like that of +Marcus Brutus, that first threatened him in Gaul, and afterward appeared +to him in Persia just before his death. These words that some make him +say when he felt himself wounded: "Thou hast overcome, Nazarene"; or as +others, "Content thyself, Nazarene"; would hardly have been omitted, had +they been believed, by my witnesses, who, being present in the army, have +set down to the least motions and words of his end; no more than certain +other miracles that are reported about it. + +And to return to my subject, he long nourished, says Marcellinus, +paganism in his heart; but all his army being Christians, he durst not +own it. But in the end, seeing himself strong enough to dare to discover +himself, he caused the temples of the gods to be thrown open, and did his +uttermost to set on foot and to encourage idolatry. Which the better to +effect, having at Constantinople found the people disunited, and also the +prelates of the church divided amongst themselves, having convened them +all before him, he earnestly admonished them to calm those civil +dissensions, and that every one might freely, and without fear, follow +his own religion. Which he the more sedulously solicited, in hope that +this licence would augment the schisms and factions of their division, +and hinder the people from reuniting, and consequently fortifying +themselves against him by their unanimous intelligence and concord; +having experienced by the cruelty of some Christians, that there is no +beast in the world so much to be feared by man as man; these are very +nearly his words. + +Wherein this is very worthy of consideration, that the Emperor Julian +made use of the same receipt of liberty of conscience to inflame the +civil dissensions that our kings do to extinguish them. So that a man +may say on one side, that to give the people the reins to entertain every +man his own opinion, is to scatter and sow division, and, as it were, to +lend a hand to augment it, there being no legal impediment or restraint +to stop or hinder their career; but, on the other side, a man may also +say, that to give the people the reins to entertain every man his own +opinion, is to mollify and appease them by facility and toleration, and +to dull the point which is whetted and made sharper by singularity, +novelty, and difficulty: and I think it is better for the honour of the +devotion of our kings, that not having been able to do what they would, +they have made a show of being willing to do what they could. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THAT WE TASTE NOTHING PURE + +The feebleness of our condition is such that things cannot, in their +natural simplicity and purity, fall into our use; the elements that we +enjoy are changed, and so 'tis with metals; and gold must be debased with +some other matter to fit it for our service. Neither has virtue, so +simple as that which Aristo, Pyrrho, and also the Stoics, made the end of +life; nor the Cyrenaic and Aristippic pleasure, been without mixture +useful to it. Of the pleasure and goods that we enjoy, there is not one +exempt from some mixture of ill and inconvenience: + + "Medio de fonte leporum, + Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis fioribus angat." + + ["From the very fountain of our pleasure, something rises that is + bitter, which even in flowers destroys."--Lucretius, iv. 1130.] + +Our extremest pleasure has some sort of groaning and complaining in it; +would you not say that it is dying of pain? Nay, when we frame the image +of it in its full excellence, we stuff it with sickly and painful +epithets and qualities, languor, softness, feebleness, faintness, +'morbidezza': a great testimony of their consanguinity and +consubstantiality. The most profound joy has more of severity than +gaiety, in it. The highest and fullest contentment offers more of the +grave than of the merry: + + "Ipsa felicitas, se nisi temperat, premit." + + ["Even felicity, unless it moderate itself, oppresses? + --Seneca, Ep. 74.] + +Pleasure chews and grinds us; according to the old Greek verse, which +says that the gods sell us all the goods they give us; that is to say, +that they give us nothing pure and perfect, and that we do not purchase +but at the price of some evil. + +Labour and pleasure, very unlike in nature, associate, nevertheless, +by I know not what natural conjunction. Socrates says, that some god +tried to mix in one mass and to confound pain and pleasure, but not being +able to do it; he bethought him at least to couple them by the tail. +Metrodorus said, that in sorrow there is some mixture of pleasure. I +know not whether or no he intended anything else by that saying; but for +my part, I am of opinion that there is design, consent, and complacency +in giving a man's self up to melancholy. I say, that besides ambition, +which may also have a stroke in the business, there is some shadow of +delight and delicacy which smiles upon and flatters us even in the very +lap of melancholy. Are there not some constitutions that feed upon it? + + "Est quaedam flere voluptas;" + + ["'Tis a certain kind of pleasure to weep." + --Ovid, Trist., iv. 3, 27.] + +and one Attalus in Seneca says, that the memory of our lost friends is as +grateful to us, as bitterness in wine, when too old, is to the palate: + + "Minister vetuli, puer, Falerni + Inger' mi calices amariores"-- + + ["Boy, when you pour out old Falernian wine, the bitterest put + into my bowl."--Catullus, xxvii. I.] + +and as apples that have a sweet tartness. + +Nature discovers this confusion to us; painters hold that the same +motions and grimaces of the face that serve for weeping; serve for +laughter too; and indeed, before the one or the other be finished, do but +observe the painter's manner of handling, and you will be in doubt to +which of the two the design tends; and the extreme of laughter does at +last bring tears: + + "Nullum sine auctoramento malum est." + + ["No evil is without its compensation."--Seneca, Ep., 69.] + +When I imagine man abounding with all the conveniences that are to be +desired (let us put the case that all his members were always seized with +a pleasure like that of generation, in its most excessive height) I feel +him melting under the weight of his delight, and see him utterly unable +to support so pure, so continual, and so universal a pleasure. Indeed, +he is running away whilst he is there, and naturally makes haste to +escape, as from a place where he cannot stand firm, and where he is +afraid of sinking. + +When I religiously confess myself to myself, I find that the best virtue +I have has in it some tincture of vice; and I am afraid that Plato, in +his purest virtue (I, who am as sincere and loyal a lover of virtue of +that stamp as any other whatever), if he had listened and laid his ear +close to himself and he did so no doubt--would have heard some jarring +note of human mixture, but faint and only perceptible to himself. Man is +wholly and throughout but patch and motley. Even the laws of justice +themselves cannot subsist without mixture of injustice; insomuch that +Plato says, they undertake to cut off the hydra's head, who pretend to +clear the law of all inconveniences: + + "Omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo, + quod contra singulos utilitate publics rependitur," + + ["Every great example has in it some mixture of injustice, which + recompenses the wrong done to particular men by the public utility." + --Annals, xiv. 44.] + +says Tacitus. + +It is likewise true, that for the use of life and the service of public +commerce, there may be some excesses in the purity and perspicacity of +our minds; that penetrating light has in it too much of subtlety and +curiosity: we must a little stupefy and blunt them to render them more +obedient to example and practice, and a little veil and obscure them, the +better to proportion them to this dark and earthly life. And therefore +common and less speculative souls are found to be more proper for and +more successful in the management of affairs, and the elevated and +exquisite opinions of philosophy unfit for business. This sharp vivacity +of soul, and the supple and restless volubility attending it, disturb our +negotiations. We are to manage human enterprises more superficially and +roughly, and leave a great part to fortune; it is not necessary to +examine affairs with so much subtlety and so deep: a man loses himself in +the consideration of many contrary lustres, and so many various forms: + + "Volutantibus res inter se pugnantes, obtorpuerunt.... animi." + + ["Whilst they considered of things so indifferent in themselves, + they were astonished, and knew not what to do."--Livy, xxxii. 20.] + +'Tis what the ancients say of Simonides, that by reason his imagination +suggested to him, upon the question King Hiero had put to him--[What God +was.--Cicero, De Nat. Deor., i. 22.]--(to answer which he had had many +days for thought), several sharp and subtle considerations, whilst he +doubted which was the most likely, he totally despaired of the truth. + +He who dives into and in his inquisition comprehends all circumstances +and consequences, hinders his election: a little engine well handled is +sufficient for executions, whether of less or greater weight. The best +managers are those who can worst give account how they are so; while the +greatest talkers, for the most part, do nothing to purpose; I know one of +this sort of men, and a most excellent discourser upon all sorts of good +husbandry, who has miserably let a hundred thousand livres yearly revenue +slip through his hands; I know another who talks, who better advises than +any man of his counsel, and there is not in the world a fairer show of +soul and understanding than he has; nevertheless, when he comes to the +test, his servants find him quite another thing; not to make any mention +of his misfortunes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AGAINST IDLENESS + +The Emperor Vespasian, being sick of the disease whereof he died, did not +for all that neglect to inquire after the state of the empire, and even +in bed continually despatched very many affairs of great consequence; for +which, being reproved by his physician, as a thing prejudicial to his +health, "An emperor," said he, "must die standing." A fine saying, in my +opinion, and worthy a great prince. The Emperor Adrian since made use of +the same words, and kings should be often put in mind of them, to make +them know that the great office conferred upon them of the command of so +many men, is not an employment of ease; and that there is nothing can so +justly disgust a subject, and make him unwilling to expose himself to +labour and danger for the service of his prince, than to see him, in the +meantime, devoted to his ease and frivolous amusement, and to be +solicitous of his preservation who so much neglects that of his people. + +Whoever will take upon him to maintain that 'tis better for a prince to +carry on his wars by others, than in his own person, fortune will furnish +him with examples enough of those whose lieutenants have brought great +enterprises to a happy issue, and of those also whose presence has done +more hurt than good: but no virtuous and valiant prince can with patience +endure so dishonourable councils. Under colour of saving his head, like +the statue of a saint, for the happiness of his kingdom, they degrade him +from and declare him incapable of his office, which is military +throughout: I know one--[Probably Henry IV.]--who had much rather be +beaten, than to sleep whilst another fights for him; and who never +without jealousy heard of any brave thing done even by his own officers +in his absence. And Soliman I. said, with very good reason, in my +opinion, that victories obtained without the master were never complete. +Much more would he have said that that master ought to blush for shame, +to pretend to any share in the honour, having contributed nothing to the +work, but his voice and thought; nor even so much as these, considering +that in such work as that, the direction and command that deserve honour +are only such as are given upon the spot, and in the heat of the +business. No pilot performs his office by standing still. The princes +of the Ottoman family, the chiefest in the world in military fortune, +have warmly embraced this opinion, and Bajazet II., with his son, who +swerved from it, spending their time in science and other retired +employments, gave great blows to their empire; and Amurath III., now +reigning, following their example, begins to find the same. Was it not +Edward III., King of England, who said this of our Charles V.: "There +never was king who so seldom put on his armour, and yet never king who +gave me so much to do." He had reason to think it strange, as an effect +of chance more than of reason. And let those seek out some other to join +with them than me, who will reckon the Kings of Castile and Portugal +amongst the warlike and magnanimous conquerors, because at the distance +of twelve hundred leagues from their lazy abode, by the conduct of their +captains, they made themselves masters of both Indies; of which it has to +be known if they would have had even the courage to go and in person +enjoy them. + +The Emperor Julian said yet further, that a philosopher and a brave man +ought not so much as to breathe; that is to say, not to allow any more to +bodily necessities than what we cannot refuse; keeping the soul and body +still intent and busy about honourable, great, and virtuous things. He +was ashamed if any one in public saw him spit, or sweat (which is said by +some, also, of the Lacedaemonian young men, and which Xenophon says of +the Persian), forasmuch as he conceived that exercise, continual labour, +and sobriety, ought to have dried up all those superfluities. What +Seneca says will not be unfit for this place; which is, that the ancient +Romans kept their youth always standing, and taught them nothing that +they were to learn sitting. + +'Tis a generous desire to wish to die usefully and like a man, but the +effect lies not so much in our resolution as in our good fortune; a +thousand have proposed to themselves in battle, either to overcome or to +die, who have failed both in the one and the other, wounds and +imprisonment crossing their design and compelling them to live against +their will. There are diseases that overthrow even our desires, and our +knowledge. Fortune ought not to second the vanity of the Roman legions, +who bound themselves by oath, either to overcome or die: + + "Victor, Marce Fabi, revertar ex acie: si fallo, Jovem patrem, + Gradivumque Martem aliosque iratos invoco deos." + + ["I will return, Marcus Fabius, a conqueror, from the fight: + and if I fail, I invoke Father Jove, Mars Gradivus, and the + other angry gods."--Livy, ii. 45.] + +The Portuguese say that in a certain place of their conquest of the +Indies, they met with soldiers who had condemned themselves, with +horrible execrations, to enter into no other composition but either to +cause themselves to be slain, or to remain victorious; and had their +heads and beards shaved in token of this vow. 'Tis to much purpose for +us to hazard ourselves and to be obstinate: it seems as if blows avoided +those who present themselves too briskly to them, and do not willingly +fall upon those who too willingly seek them, and so defeat them of their +design. Such there have been, who, after having tried all ways, not +having been able with all their endeavour to obtain the favour of dying +by the hand of the enemy, have been constrained, to make good their +resolution of bringing home the honour of victory or of losing their +lives, to kill themselves even in the heat of battle. Of which there are +other examples, but this is one: Philistus, general of the naval army of +Dionysius the younger against the Syracusans, presented them battle which +was sharply disputed, their forces being equal: in this engagement, he +had the better at the first, through his own valour: but the Syracusans +drawing about his gally to environ him, after having done great things in +his own person to disengage himself and hoping for no relief, with his +own hand he took away the life he had so liberally, and in vain, exposed +to the enemy. + +Mule Moloch, king of Fez, who lately won against Sebastian, king of +Portugal, the battle so famous for the death of three kings, and for the +transmission of that great kingdom to the crown of Castile, was extremely +sick when the Portuguese entered in an hostile manner into his dominions; +and from that day forward grew worse and worse, still drawing nearer to +and foreseeing his end; yet never did man better employ his own +sufficiency more vigorously and bravely than he did upon this occasion. +He found himself too weak to undergo the pomp and ceremony of entering. +into his camp, which after their manner is very magnificent, and +therefore resigned that honour to his brother; but this was all of the +office of a general that he resigned; all the rest of greatest utility +and necessity he most, exactly and gloriously performed in his own +person; his body lying upon a couch, but his judgment and courage upright +and firm to his last gasp, and in some sort beyond it. He might have +wasted his enemy, indiscreetly advanced into his dominions, without +striking a blow; and it was a very unhappy occurrence, that for want of a +little life or somebody to substitute in the conduct of this war and the +affairs of a troubled state, he was compelled to seek a doubtful and +bloody victory, having another by a better and surer way already in his +hands. Notwithstanding, he wonderfully managed the continuance of his +sickness in consuming the enemy, and in drawing them far from the +assistance of the navy and the ports they had on the coast of Africa, +even till the last day of his life, which he designedly reserved for this +great battle. He arranged his battalions in a circular form, environing +the Portuguese army on every side, which round circle coming to close in +and to draw up close together, not only hindered them in the conflict +(which was very sharp through the valour of the young invading king), +considering that they had every way to present a front, but prevented +their flight after the defeat, so that finding all passages possessed and +shut up by the enemy, they were constrained to close up together again: + + "Coacerventurque non solum caede, sed etiam fuga," + + ["Piled up not only in slaughter but in flight."] + +and there they were slain in heaps upon one another, leaving to the +conqueror a very bloody and entire victory. Dying, he caused himself to +be carried and hurried from place to place where most need was, and +passing along the files, encouraged the captains and soldiers one after +another; but a corner of his main battalions being broken, he was not to +be held from mounting on horseback with his sword in his hand; he did his +utmost to break from those about him, and to rush into the thickest of +the battle, they all the while withholding him, some by the bridle, some +by his robe, and others by his stirrups. This last effort totally +overwhelmed the little life he had left; they again laid him upon his +bed; but coming to himself, and starting as it were out of his swoon, all +other faculties failing, to give his people notice that they were to +conceal his death the most necessary command he had then to give, that +his soldiers might not be discouraged (with the news) he expired with his +finger upon his mouth, the ordinary sign of keeping silence. Who ever +lived so long and so far into death? whoever died so erect, or more like +a man? + +The most extreme degree of courageously treating death, and the most +natural, is to look upon it not only without astonishment but without +care, continuing the wonted course of life even into it, as Cato did, +who entertained himself in study, and went to sleep, having a violent and +bloody death in his heart, and the weapon in his hand with which he was +resolved to despatch himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OF POSTING + +I have been none of the least able in this exercise, which is proper for +men of my pitch, well-knit and short; but I give it over; it shakes us +too much to continue it long. I was at this moment reading, that King +Cyrus, the better to have news brought him from all parts of the empire, +which was of a vast extent, caused it to be tried how far a horse could +go in a day without baiting, and at that distance appointed men, whose +business it was to have horses always in readiness, to mount those who +were despatched to him; and some say, that this swift way of posting is +equal to that of the flight of cranes. + +Caesar says, that Lucius Vibullius Rufus, being in great haste to carry +intelligence to Pompey, rode night and day, still taking fresh horses for +the greater diligence and speed; and he himself, as Suetonius reports, +travelled a hundred miles a day in a hired coach; but he was a furious +courier, for where the rivers stopped his way he passed them by swimming, +without turning out of his way to look for either bridge or ford. +Tiberius Nero, going to see his brother Drusus, who was sick in Germany, +travelled two hundred miles in four-and-twenty hours, having three +coaches. In the war of the Romans against King Antiochus, T. Sempronius +Gracchus, says Livy: + + "Per dispositos equos prope incredibili celeritate + ab Amphissa tertio die Pellam pervenit." + + ["By pre-arranged relays of horses, he, with an almost incredible + speed, rode in three days from Amphissa to Pella." + --Livy, xxxvii. 7.] + +And it appears that they were established posts, and not horses purposely +laid in upon this occasion. + +Cecina's invention to send back news to his family was much more quick, +for he took swallows along with him from home, and turned them out +towards their nests when he would send back any news; setting a mark of +some colour upon them to signify his meaning, according to what he and +his people had before agreed upon. + +At the theatre at Rome masters of families carried pigeons in their +bosoms to which they tied letters when they had a mind to send any orders +to their people at home; and the pigeons were trained up to bring back an +answer. D. Brutus made use of the same device when besieged in Modena, +and others elsewhere have done the same. + +In Peru they rode post upon men, who took them upon their shoulders in a +certain kind of litters made for that purpose, and ran with such agility +that, in their full speed, the first couriers transferred their load to +the second without making any stop. + +I understand that the Wallachians, the grand Signior's couriers, perform +wonderful journeys, by reason they have liberty to dismount the first +person they meet upon the road, giving him their own tired horses; and +that to preserve themselves from being weary, they gird themselves +straight about the middle with a broad girdle; but I could never find +any benefit from this. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +OF ILL MEANS EMPLOYED TO A GOOD END + +There is wonderful relation and correspondence in this universal +government of the works of nature, which very well makes it appear that +it is neither accidental nor carried on by divers masters. The diseases +and conditions of our bodies are, in like manner, manifest in states and +governments; kingdoms and republics are founded, flourish, and decay with +age as we do. We are subject to a repletion of humours, useless and +dangerous: whether of those that are good (for even those the physicians +are afraid of; and seeing we have nothing in us that is stable, they say +that a too brisk and vigorous perfection of health must be abated by art, +lest our nature, unable to rest in any certain condition, and not having +whither to rise to mend itself, make too sudden and too disorderly a +retreat; and therefore prescribe wrestlers to purge and bleed, to qualify +that superabundant health), or else a repletion of evil humours, which is +the ordinary cause of sickness. States are very often sick of the like +repletion, and various sorts of purgations have commonly been applied. +Some times a great multitude of families are turned out to clear the +country, who seek out new abodes elsewhere and encroach upon others. +After this manner our ancient Franks came from the remotest part of +Germany to seize upon Gaul, and to drive thence the first inhabitants; +so was that infinite deluge of men made up who came into Italy under the +conduct of Brennus and others; so the Goths and Vandals, and also the +people who now possess Greece, left their native country to go settle +elsewhere, where they might have more room; and there are scarce two or +three little corners in the world that have not felt the effect of such +removals. The Romans by this means erected their colonies; for, +perceiving their city to grow immeasurably populous, they eased it of the +most unnecessary people, and sent them to inhabit and cultivate the lands +conquered by them; sometimes also they purposely maintained wars with +some of their enemies, not only to keep their own men in action, for fear +lest idleness, the mother of corruption, should bring upon them some +worse inconvenience: + + "Et patimur longae pacis mala; saevior armis + Luxuria incumbit." + + ["And we suffer the ills of a long peace; luxury is more pernicious + than war."--Juvenal, vi. 291.] + +but also to serve for a blood-letting to their Republic, and a little to +evaporate the too vehement heat of their youth, to prune and clear the +branches from the stock too luxuriant in wood; and to this end it was +that they maintained so long a war with Carthage. + +In the treaty of Bretigny, Edward III., king of England, would not, in +the general peace he then made with our king, comprehend the controversy +about the Duchy of Brittany, that he might have a place wherein to +discharge himself of his soldiers, and that the vast number of English he +had brought over to serve him in his expedition here might not return +back into England. And this also was one reason why our King Philip +consented to send his son John upon a foreign expedition, that he might +take along with him a great number of hot young men who were then in his +pay. + +There--are many in our times who talk at this rate, wishing that this hot +emotion that is now amongst us might discharge itself in some +neighbouring war, for fear lest all the peccant humours that now reign in +this politic body of ours may diffuse themselves farther, keep the fever +still in the height, and at last cause our total ruin; and, in truth, a +foreign is much more supportable than a civil war. but I do not believe +that God will favour so unjust a design as to offend and quarrel with +others for our own advantage: + + "Nil mihi tam valde placeat, Rhamnusia virgo, + Quod temere invitis suscipiatur heris." + + ["Rhamnusian virgin, let nothing ever so greatly please me which is + taken without justice from the unwilling owners" + --Catullus, lxviii. 77.] + +And yet the weakness of our condition often pushes us upon the necessity +of making use of ill means to a good end. Lycurgus, the most perfect +legislator that ever was, virtuous and invented this very unjust practice +of making the helots, who were their slaves, drunk by force, to the end +that the Spartans, seeing them so lost and buried in wine, might abhor +the excess of this vice. And yet those were still more to blame who of +old gave leave that criminals, to what sort of death soever condemned, +should be cut up alive by the physicians, that they might make a true +discovery of our inward parts, and build their art upon greater +certainty; for, if we must run into excesses, it is more excusable to do +it for the health of the soul than that of the body; as the Romans +trained up the people to valour and the contempt of dangers and death by +those furious spectacles of gladiators and fencers, who, having to fight +it out to the last, cut, mangled, and killed one another in their +presence: + + "Quid vesani aliud sibi vult ars impia ludi, + Quid mortes juvenum, quid sanguine pasta voluptas?" + + ["What other end does the impious art of the gladiators propose to + itself, what the slaughter of young men, what pleasure fed with + blood."--Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 643.] + +and this custom continued till the Emperor Theodosius' time: + + "Arripe dilatam tua, dux, in tempora famam, + Quodque patris superest, successor laudis habeto + Nullus in urbe cadat, cujus sit poena voluptas.... + Jam solis contenta feris, infamis arena + Nulla cruentatis homicidia ludat in armis." + + ["Prince, take the honours delayed for thy reign, and be successor + to thy fathers; henceforth let none at Rome be slain for sport. Let + beasts' blood stain the infamous arena, and no more homicides be + there acted."--Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 643.] + +It was, in truth, a wonderful example, and of great advantage for the +training up the people, to see every day before their eyes a hundred; two +hundred, nay, a thousand couples of men armed against one another, cut +one another to pieces with so great a constancy of courage, that they +were never heard to utter so much as one syllable of weakness or +commiseration; never seen to turn their backs, nor so much as to make one +cowardly step to evade a blow, but rather exposed their necks to the +adversary's sword and presented themselves to receive the stroke; and +many of them, when wounded to death, have sent to ask the spectators if +they were satisfied with their behaviour, before they lay down to die +upon the place. It was not enough for them to fight and to die bravely, +but cheerfully too; insomuch that they were hissed and cursed if they +made any hesitation about receiving their death. The very girls +themselves set them on: + + "Consurgit ad ictus, + Et, quoties victor ferrum jugulo inserit, illa + Delicias ait esse suas, pectusque jacentis + Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi." + + ["The modest virgin is so delighted with the sport, that she + applauds the blow, and when the victor bathes his sword in his + fellow's throat, she says it is her pleasure, and with turned thumb + orders him to rip up the bosom of the prostrate victim." + --Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, ii. 617.] + +The first Romans only condemned criminals to this example: but they +afterwards employed innocent slaves in the work, and even freemen too, +who sold themselves to this purpose, nay, moreover, senators and knights +of Rome, and also women: + + "Nunc caput in mortem vendunt, et funus arena, + Atque hostem sibi quisque parat, cum bella quiescunt." + + ["They sell themselves to death and the circus, and, since the wars + are ceased, each for himself a foe prepares." + --Manilius, Astron., iv. 225.] + + "Hos inter fremitus novosque lusus.... + Stat sexus rudis insciusque ferri, + Et pugnas capit improbus viriles;" + + + ["Amidst these tumults and new sports, the tender sex, unskilled in + arms, immodestly engaged in manly fights." + --Statius, Sylv., i. 6, 51.] + +which I should think strange and incredible, if we were not accustomed +every day to see in our own wars many thousands of men of other nations, +for money to stake their blood and their lives in quarrels wherein they +have no manner of concern. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +OF THE ROMAN GRANDEUR + +I will only say a word or two of this infinite argument, to show the +simplicity of those who compare the pitiful greatness of these times with +that of Rome. In the seventh book of Cicero's Familiar Epistles (and let +the grammarians put out that surname of familiar if they please, for in +truth it is not very suitable; and they who, instead of familiar, have +substituted "ad Familiares," may gather something to justify them for so +doing out of what Suetonius says in the Life of Caesar, that there was a +volume of letters of his "ad Familiares ") there is one directed to +Caesar, then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats these words, which were in +the end of another letter that Caesar had written to him: "As to what +concerns Marcus Furius, whom you have recommended to me, I will make him +king of Gaul, and if you would have me advance any other friend of yours +send him to me." It was no new thing for a simple citizen of Rome, as +Caesar then was, to dispose of kingdoms, for he took away that of King +Deiotarus from him to give it to a gentleman of the city of Pergamus, +called Mithridates; and they who wrote his Life record several cities +sold by him; and Suetonius says, that he had once from King Ptolemy three +millions and six hundred thousand crowns, which was very like selling him +his own kingdom: + + "Tot Galatae, tot Pontus, tot Lydia, nummis." + + ["So much for Galatia, so much for Pontus, + so much for Lydia."--Claudius in Eutrop., i. 203.] + +Marcus Antonius said, that the greatness of the people of Rome was not +so much seen in what they took, as in what they gave; and, indeed, some +ages before Antonius, they had dethroned one amongst the rest with so +wonderful authority, that in all the Roman history I have not observed +anything that more denotes the height of their power. Antiochus +possessed all Egypt, and was, moreover, ready to conquer Cyprus and other +appendages of that empire: when being upon the progress of his victories, +C. Popilius came to him from the Senate, and at their first meeting +refused to take him by the hand, till he had first read his letters, +which after the king had read, and told him he would consider of them, +Popilius made a circle about him with his cane, saying:--"Return me an +answer, that I may carry it back to the Senate, before thou stirrest out +of this circle." Antiochus, astonished at the roughness of so positive +a command, after a little pause, replied, "I will obey the Senate's +command." Then Popilius saluted him as friend of the Roman people. +To have renounced claim to so great a monarchy, and a course of such +successful fortune, from the effects of three lines in writing! Truly +he had reason, as he afterwards did, to send the Senate word by his +ambassadors, that he had received their order with the same respect as if +it had come from the immortal gods. + +All the kingdoms that Augustus gained by the right of war, he either +restored to those who had lost them or presented them to strangers. And +Tacitus, in reference to this, speaking of Cogidunus, king of England, +gives us, by a marvellous touch, an instance of that infinite power: the +Romans, says he, were from all antiquity accustomed to leave the kings +they had subdued in possession of their kingdoms under their authority + + "Ut haberent instruments servitutis et reges." + + ["That they might have even kings to be their slaves." + --Livy, xlv. 13.] + +'Tis probable that Solyman, whom we have seen make a gift of Hungary and +other principalities, had therein more respect to this consideration than +to that he was wont to allege, viz., that he was glutted and overcharged +with so many monarchies and so much dominion, as his own valour and that +of his ancestors had acquired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NOT TO COUNTERFEIT BEING SICK + +There is an epigram in Martial, and one of the very good ones--for he has +of all sorts--where he pleasantly tells the story of Caelius, who, to +avoid making his court to some great men of Rome, to wait their rising, +and to attend them abroad, pretended to have the gout; and the better to +colour this anointed his legs, and had them lapped up in a great many +swathings, and perfectly counterfeited both the gesture and countenance +of a gouty person; till in the end, Fortune did him the kindness to make +him one indeed: + + "Quantum curs potest et ars doloris + Desiit fingere Caelius podagram." + + ["How great is the power of counterfeiting pain: Caelius has ceased + to feign the gout; he has got it."--Martial, Ep., vii. 39, 8.] + +I think I have read somewhere in Appian a story like this, of one who to +escape the proscriptions of the triumvirs of Rome, and the better to be +concealed from the discovery of those who pursued him, having hidden +himself in a disguise, would yet add this invention, to counterfeit +having but one eye; but when he came to have a little more liberty, and +went to take off the plaster he had a great while worn over his eye, he +found he had totally lost the sight of it indeed, and that it was +absolutely gone. 'Tis possible that the action of sight was dulled from +having been so long without exercise, and that the optic power was wholly +retired into the other eye: for we evidently perceive that the eye we +keep shut sends some part of its virtue to its fellow, so that it will +swell and grow bigger; and so inaction, with the heat of ligatures and, +plasters, might very well have brought some gouty humour upon the +counterfeiter in Martial. + +Reading in Froissart the vow of a troop of young English gentlemen, to +keep their left eyes bound up till they had arrived in France and +performed some notable exploit upon us, I have often been tickled with +this thought, that it might have befallen them as it did those others, +and they might have returned with but an eye a-piece to their mistresses, +for whose sakes they had made this ridiculous vow. + +Mothers have reason to rebuke their children when they counterfeit having +but one eye, squinting, lameness, or any other personal defect; for, +besides that their bodies being then so tender, may be subject to take an +ill bent, fortune, I know not how, sometimes seems to delight in taking +us at our word; and I have heard several examples related of people who +have become really sick, by only feigning to be so. I have always used, +whether on horseback or on foot, to carry a stick in my hand, and even to +affect doing it with an elegant air; many have threatened that this fancy +would one day be turned into necessity: if so, I should be the first of +my family to have the gout. + +But let us a little lengthen this chapter, and add another anecdote +concerning blindness. Pliny reports of one who, dreaming he was blind, +found himself so indeed in the morning without any preceding infirmity in +his eyes. The force of imagination might assist in this case, as I have +said elsewhere, and Pliny seems to be of the same opinion; but it is more +likely that the motions which the body felt within, of which physicians, +if they please, may find out the cause, taking away his sight, were the +occasion of his dream. + +Let us add another story, not very improper for this subject, which +Seneca relates in one of his epistles: "You know," says he, writing to +Lucilius, "that Harpaste, my wife's fool, is thrown upon me as an +hereditary charge, for I have naturally an aversion to those monsters; +and if I have a mind to laugh at a fool, I need not seek him far; I can +laugh at myself. This fool has suddenly lost her sight: I tell you a +strange, but a very true thing she is not sensible that she is blind, but +eternally importunes her keeper to take her abroad, because she says the +house is dark. That what we laugh at in her, I pray you to believe, +happens to every one of us: no one knows himself to be avaricious or +grasping; and, again, the blind call for a guide, while we stray of our +own accord. I am not ambitious, we say; but a man cannot live otherwise +at Rome; I am not wasteful, but the city requires a great outlay; 'tis +not my fault if I am choleric--if I have not yet established any certain +course of life: 'tis the fault of youth. Let us not seek our disease out +of ourselves; 'tis in us, and planted in our bowels; and the mere fact +that we do not perceive ourselves to be sick, renders us more hard to be +cured. If we do not betimes begin to see to ourselves, when shall we +have provided for so many wounds and evils wherewith we abound? And yet +we have a most sweet and charming medicine in philosophy; for of all the +rest we are sensible of no pleasure till after the cure: this pleases and +heals at once." This is what Seneca says, that has carried me from my +subject, but there is advantage in the change. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +OF THUMBS + +Tacitus reports, that amongst certain barbarian kings their manner was, +when they would make a firm obligation, to join their right hands close +to one another, and intertwist their thumbs; and when, by force of +straining the blood, it appeared in the ends, they lightly pricked them +with some sharp instrument, and mutually sucked them. + +Physicians say that the thumbs are the master fingers of the hand, and +that their Latin etymology is derived from "pollere." The Greeks called +them 'Avtixeip', as who should say, another hand. And it seems that the +Latins also sometimes take it in this sense for the whole hand: + + "Sed nec vocibus excitata blandis, + Molli pollici nec rogata, surgit." + + ["Neither to be excited by soft words or by the thumb." + --Mart., xii. 98, 8.] + +It was at Rome a signification of favour to depress and turn in the +thumbs: + + "Fautor utroque tuum laudabit pollice ludum:" + + ["Thy patron will applaud thy sport with both thumbs" + --Horace.] + +and of disfavour to elevate and thrust them outward: + + "Converso pollice vulgi, + Quemlibet occidunt populariter." + + ["The populace, with inverted thumbs, kill all that + come before them."--Juvenal, iii. 36] + +The Romans exempted from war all such as were maimed in the thumbs, as +having no more sufficient strength to hold their weapons. Augustus +confiscated the estate of a Roman knight who had maliciously cut off the +thumbs of two young children he had, to excuse them from going into the +armies; and, before him, the Senate, in the time of the Italic war, had +condemned Caius Vatienus to perpetual imprisonment, and confiscated all +his goods, for having purposely cut off the thumb of his left hand, to +exempt himself from that expedition. Some one, I have forgotten who, +having won a naval battle, cut off the thumbs of all his vanquished +enemies, to render them incapable of fighting and of handling the oar. +The Athenians also caused the thumbs of the AEginatans to be cut off, +to deprive them of the superiority in the art of navigation. + +In Lacedaemon, pedagogues chastised their scholars by biting their +thumbs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +COWARDICE THE MOTHER OF CRUELTY + +I have often heard it said that cowardice is the mother of cruelty; and I +have found by experience that malicious and inhuman animosity and +fierceness are usually accompanied with feminine weakness. I have seen +the most cruel people, and upon frivolous occasions, apt to cry. +Alexander, the tyrant of Pheres, durst not be a spectator of tragedies in +the theatre, for fear lest his citizens should see him weep at the +misfortunes of Hecuba and Andromache, who himself without pity caused so +many people every day to be murdered. Is it not meanness of spirit that +renders them so pliable to all extremities? Valour, whose effect is only +to be exercised against resistance-- + + "Nec nisi bellantis gaudet cervice juvenci"-- + + ["Nor delights in killing a bull unless he resists." + --Claudius, Ep. ad Hadrianum, v. 39.] + +stops when it sees the enemy at its mercy; but pusillanimity, to say that +it was also in the game, not having dared to meddle in the first act of +danger, takes as its part the second, of blood and massacre. The murders +in victories are commonly performed by the rascality and hangers-on of an +army, and that which causes so many unheard of cruelties in domestic wars +is, that this canaille makes war in imbruing itself up to the elbows in +blood, and ripping up a body that lies prostrate at its feet, having no +sense of any other valour: + + "Et lupus, et turpes instant morientibus ursi, + Et quaecunque minor nobilitate fera est:" + + ["Wolves and the filthy bears, and all the baser beasts, + fall upon the dying."--Ovid, Trist., iii. 5, 35.] + +like cowardly dogs, that in the house worry and tear the skins of wild +beasts, they durst not come near in the field. What is it in these times +of ours that makes our quarrels mortal; and that, whereas our fathers had +some degrees of revenge, we now begin with the last in ours, and at the +first meeting nothing is to be said but, kill? What is this but +cowardice? + +Every one is sensible that there is more bravery and disdain in subduing +an enemy, than in cutting, his throat; and in making him yield, than in +putting him to the sword: besides that the appetite of revenge is better +satisfied and pleased because its only aim is to make itself felt: And +this is the reason why we do not fall upon a beast or a stone when they +hurt us, because they are not capable of being sensible of our revenge; +and to kill a man is to save him from the injury and offence we intend +him. And as Bias cried out to a wicked fellow, "I know that sooner or +later thou wilt have thy reward, but I am afraid I shall not see it"; +--[Plutarch, on the Delay in Divine Justice, c. 2.]--and pitied the +Orchomenians that the penitence of Lyciscus for the treason committed +against them, came at a season when there was no one remaining alive of +those who had been interested in the offence, and whom the pleasure of +this penitence should affect: so revenge is to be pitied, when the person +on whom it is executed is deprived of means of suffering under it: for as +the avenger will look on to enjoy the pleasure of his revenge, so the +person on whom he takes revenge should be a spectator too, to be +afflicted and to repent. "He will repent it," we say, and because we +have given him a pistol-shot through the head, do we imagine he will +repent? On the contrary, if we but observe, we shall find, that he makes +mouths at us in falling, and is so far from penitency, that he does not +so much as repine at us; and we do him the kindest office of life, which +is to make him die insensibly, and soon: we are afterwards to hide +ourselves, and to shift and fly from the officers of justice, who pursue +us, whilst he is at rest. Killing is good to frustrate an offence to +come, not to revenge one that is already past; and more an act of fear +than of bravery; of precaution than of courage; of defence than of +enterprise. It is manifest that by it we lose both the true end of +revenge and the care of our reputation; we are afraid, if he lives he +will do us another injury as great as the first; 'tis not out of +animosity to him, but care of thyself, that thou gettest rid of him. + +In the kingdom of Narsingah this expedient would be useless to us, where +not only soldiers, but tradesmen also, end their differences by the +sword. The king never denies the field to any who wish to fight; and +when they are persons of quality; he looks on, rewarding the victor with +a chain of gold,--for which any one who pleases may fight with him again, +so that, by having come off from one combat, he has engaged himself in +many. + +If we thought by virtue to be always masters of our enemies, and to +triumph over them at pleasure, we should be sorry they should escape from +us as they do, by dying: but we have a mind to conquer, more with safety +than honour, and, in our quarrel, more pursue the end than the glory. + +Asnius Pollio, who, as being a worthy man, was the less to be excused, +committed a like, error, when, having written a libel against Plancus, he +forbore to publish it till he was dead; which is to bite one's thumb at a +blind man, to rail at one who is deaf, to wound a man who has no feeling, +rather than to run the hazard of his resentment. And it was also said of +him that it was only for hobgoblins to wrestle with the dead. + +He who stays to see the author die, whose writings he intends to +question, what does he say but that he is weak in his aggressiveness? +It was told to Aristotle that some one had spoken ill of him: "Let him +do more," said he; "let him whip me too, provided I am not there." + +Our fathers contented themselves with revenging an insult with the lie, +the lie with a box of the ear, and so forward; they were valiant enough +not to fear their adversaries, living and provoked we tremble for fear so +soon as we see them on foot. And that this is so, does not our noble +practice of these days, equally to prosecute to death both him that has +offended us and him we have offended, make it out? 'Tis also a kind +of cowardice that has introduced the custom of having seconds, thirds, +and fourths in our duels; they were formerly duels; they are now +skirmishes, rencontres, and battles. Solitude was, doubtless, terrible +to those who were the first inventors of this practice: + + "Quum in se cuique minimum fiduciae esset," + +for naturally any company whatever is consolatory in danger. Third +persons were formerly called in to prevent disorder and foul play only, +and to be witness of the fortune of the combat; but now they have brought +it to this pass that the witnesses themselves engage; whoever is invited +cannot handsomely stand by as an idle spectator, for fear of being +suspected either of want of affection or of courage. Besides the +injustice and unworthiness of such an action, of engaging other strength +and valour in the protection of your honour than your own, I conceive it +a disadvantage to a brave man, and who wholly relies upon himself, to +shuffle his fortune with that of a second; every one runs hazard enough +himself without hazarding for another, and has enough to do to assure +himself in his own valour for the defence of his life, without intrusting +a thing so dear in a third man's hand. For, if it be not expressly +agreed upon before to the contrary, 'tis a combined party of all four, +and if your second be killed, you have two to deal withal, with good +reason; and to say that it is foul play, it is so indeed, as it is, well +armed, to attack a man who has but the hilt of a broken sword in his +hand, or, clear and untouched, a man who is desperately wounded: but if +these be advantages you have got by fighting, you may make use of them +without reproach. The disparity and inequality are only weighed and +considered from the condition of the combatants when they began; as to +the rest, you must take your chance: and though you had, alone, three +enemies upon you at once, your two companions being killed, you have no +more wrong done you, than I should do in a battle, by running a man +through whom I should see engaged with one of our own men, with the like +advantage. The nature of society will have it so that where there is +troop against troop, as where our Duke of Orleans challenged Henry, king +of England, a hundred against a hundred; three hundred against as many, +as the Argians against the Lacedaemonians; three to three, as the Horatii +against the Curiatii, the multitude on either side is considered but as +one single man: the hazard, wherever there is company, being confused and +mixed. + +I have a domestic interest in this discourse; for my brother, the Sieur +de Mattecoulom, was at Rome asked by a gentleman with whom he had no +great acquaintance, and who was a defendant challenged by another, to be +his second; in this duel he found himself matched with a gentleman much +better known to him. (I would fain have an explanation of these rules of +honour, which so often shock and confound those of reason.) After having +despatched his man, seeing the two principals still on foot and sound, he +ran in to disengage his friend. What could he do less? should he have +stood still, and if chance would have ordered it so, have seen him he was +come thither to defend killed before his face? what he had hitherto done +helped not the business; the quarrel was yet undecided. The courtesy +that you can, and certainly ought to shew to your enemy, when you have +reduced him to an ill condition and have a great advantage over him, I do +not see how you can do it, where the interest of another is concerned, +where you are only called in as an assistant, and the quarrel is none of +yours: he could neither be just nor courteous, at the hazard of him he +was there to serve. And he was therefore enlarged from the prisons of +Italy at the speedy and solemn request of our king. Indiscreet nation! +we are not content to make our vices and follies known to the world by +report only, but we must go into foreign countries, there to show them +what fools we are. Put three Frenchmen into the deserts of Libya, they +will not live a month together without fighting; so that you would say +this peregrination were a thing purposely designed to give foreigners the +pleasure of our tragedies, and, for the most part, to such as rejoice and +laugh at our miseries. We go into Italy to learn to fence, and exercise +the art at the expense of our lives before we have learned it; and yet, +by the rule of discipline, we should put the theory before the practice. +We discover ourselves to be but learners: + + "Primitae juvenum miserae, bellique futuri + Dura rudimenta." + + ["Wretched the elementary trials of youth, and hard the + rudiments of approaching war."--Virgil, AEneid, xi. 156.] + +I know that fencing is an art very useful to its end (in a duel betwixt +two princes, cousin-germans, in Spain, the elder, says Livy, by his skill +and dexterity in arms, easily overcoming the greater and more awkward +strength of the younger), and of which the knowledge, as I experimentally +know, has inspired some with courage above their natural measure; but +this is not properly valour, because it supports itself upon address, and +is founded upon something besides itself. The honour of combat consists +in the jealousy of courage, and not of skill; and therefore I have known +a friend of mine, famed as a great master in this exercise, in his +quarrels make choice of such arms as might deprive him of this advantage +and that wholly depended upon fortune and assurance, that they might not +attribute his victory rather to his skill in fencing than his valour. +When I was young, gentlemen avoided the reputation of good fencers as +injurious to them, and learned to fence with all imaginable privacy as a +trade of subtlety, derogating from true and natural valour: + + "Non schivar non parar, non ritirarsi, + Voglion costor, ne qui destrezza ha parte; + Non danno i colpi or finti, or pieni, or scarsi! + Toglie l'ira a il furor l'uso de l'arte. + Odi le spade orribilmente utarsi + A mezzo il ferro; il pie d'orma non parte, + Sempre a il pie fermo, a la man sempre in moto; + Ne scende taglio in van, ne punta a voto." + + ["They neither shrank, nor vantage sought of ground, + They travers'd not, nor skipt from part to part, + Their blows were neither false, nor feigned found: + In fight, their rage would let them use no art. + Their swords together clash with dreadful sound, + Their feet stand fast, and neither stir nor start, + They move their hands, steadfast their feet remain. + Nor blow nor foin they strook, or thrust in vain." + --Tasso, Gierus. Lib., c. 12, st. 55, Fairfax's translation.] + +Butts, tilting, and barriers, the feint of warlike fights, were the +exercises of our forefathers: this other exercise is so much the less +noble, as it only respects a private end; that teaches us to destroy one +another against law and justice, and that every way always produces very +ill effects. It is much more worthy and more becoming to exercise +ourselves in things that strengthen than that weaken our government and +that tend to the public safety and common glory. The consul, Publius +Rutilius, was the first who taught the soldiers to handle their arms +with skill, and joined art with valour, not for the rise of private +quarrel, but for war and the quarrels of the people of Rome; a popular +and civil defence. And besides the example of Caesar, who commanded his +men to shoot chiefly at the face of Pompey's soldiers in the battle of +Pharsalia, a thousand other commanders have also bethought them to invent +new forms of weapons and new ways of striking and defending, according as +occasion should require. + +But as Philopoemen condemned wrestling, wherein he excelled, because the +preparatives that were therein employed were differing from those that +appertain to military discipline, to which alone he conceived men of +honour ought wholly to apply themselves; so it seems to me that this +address to which we form our limbs, those writhings and motions young men +are taught in this new school, are not only of no use, but rather +contrary and hurtful to the practice of fight in battle; and also our +people commonly make use of particular weapons, and peculiarly designed +for duel; and I have seen, when it has been disapproved, that a gentleman +challenged to fight with rapier and poignard appeared in the array of a +man-at-arms, and that another should take his cloak instead of his +poignard. It is worthy of consideration that Laches in Plato, speaking +of learning to fence after our manner, says that he never knew any great +soldier come out of that school, especially the masters of it: and, +indeed, as to them, our experience tells as much. As to the rest, we may +at least conclude that they are qualities of no relation or +correspondence; and in the education of the children of his government, +Plato interdicts the art of boxing, introduced by Amycus and Epeius, and +that of wrestling, by Antaeus and Cercyo, because they have another end +than to render youth fit for the service of war and contribute nothing to +it. But I see that I have somewhat strayed from my theme. + +The Emperor Mauricius, being advertised by dreams and several +prognostics, that one Phocas, an obscure soldier, should kill him, +questioned his son-in-law, Philip, who this Phocas was, and what were his +nature, qualities, and manners; and so soon as Philip, amongst other +things, had told him that he was cowardly and timorous, the emperor +immediately concluded then that he was a murderer and cruel. What is it +that makes tyrants so sanguinary? 'Tis only the solicitude for their own +safety, and that their faint hearts can furnish them with no other means +of securing themselves than in exterminating those who may hurt them, +even so much as women, for fear of a scratch: + + "Cuncta ferit, dum cuncta timer." + + ["He strikes at all who fears all." + --Claudius, in Eutrop., i. 182.] + +The first cruelties are exercised for themselves thence springs the fear +of a just revenge, which afterwards produces a series of new cruelties, +to obliterate one another. Philip, king of Macedon, who had so much to +do with the people of Rome, agitated with the horror of so many murders +committed by his order, and doubting of being able to keep himself secure +from so many families, at divers times mortally injured and offended by +him, resolved to seize all the children of those he had caused to be +slain, to despatch them daily one after another, and so to establish his +own repose. + +Fine matter is never impertinent, however placed; and therefore I, who +more consider the weight and utility of what I deliver than its order and +connection, need not fear in this place to bring in an excellent story, +though it be a little by-the-by; for when they are rich in their own +native beauty, and are able to justify themselves, the least end of a +hair will serve to draw them into my discourse. + +Amongst others condemned by Philip, had been one Herodicus, prince of +Thessaly; he had, moreover, after him caused his two sons-in-law to be +put to death, each leaving a son very young behind him. Theoxena and +Archo were their two widows. Theoxena, though highly courted to it, +could not be persuaded to marry again: Archo married Poris, the greatest +man among the AEnians, and by him had a great many children, whom she, +dying, left at a very tender age. Theoxena, moved with a maternal +charity towards her nephews, that she might have them under her own eyes +and in her own protection, married Poris: when presently comes a +proclamation of the king's edict. This brave-spirited mother, suspecting +the cruelty of Philip, and afraid of the insolence of the soldiers +towards these charming and tender children was so bold as to declare hat +she would rather kill them with her own hands than deliver them. Poris, +startled at this protestation, promised her to steal them away, and to +transport them to Athens, and there commit them to the custody of some +faithful friends of his. They took, therefore, the opportunity of an +annual feast which was celebrated at AEnia in honour of AEneas, and +thither they went. Having appeared by day at the public ceremonies and +banquet, they stole the night following into a vessel laid ready for the +purpose, to escape away by sea. The wind proved contrary, and finding +themselves in the morning within sight of the land whence they had +launched overnight, and being pursued by the guards of the port, Poris +perceiving this, laboured all he could to make the mariners do their +utmost to escape from the pursuers. But Theoxena, frantic with affection +and revenge, in pursuance of her former resolution, prepared both weapons +and poison, and exposing them before them; "Go to, my children," said +she, "death is now the only means of your defence and liberty, and shall +administer occasion to the gods to exercise their sacred justice: these +sharp swords, and these full cups, will open you the way into it; +courage, fear nothing! And thou, my son, who art the eldest, take this +steel into thy hand, that thou mayest the more bravely die." The +children having on one side so powerful a counsellor, and the enemy at +their throats on the other, run all of them eagerly upon what was next to +hand; and, half dead, were thrown into the sea. Theoxena, proud of +having so gloriously provided for the safety of her children, clasping +her arms with great affection about her husband's neck. "Let us, my +friend," said she, "follow these boys, and enjoy the same sepulchre they +do"; and so, having embraced, they threw themselves headlong into the +sea; so that the ship was carried--back without the owners into the +harbour. + +Tyrants, at once both to kill and to make their anger felt, have employed +their capacity to invent the most lingering deaths. They will have their +enemies despatched, but not so fast that they may not have leisure to +taste their vengeance. And therein they are mightily perplexed; for if +the torments they inflict are violent, they are short; if long, they are +not then so painful as they desire; and thus plague themselves in choice +of the greatest cruelty. Of this we have a thousand examples in +antiquity, and I know not whether we, unawares, do not retain some traces +of this barbarity. + +All that exceeds a simple death appears to me absolute cruelty. Our +justice cannot expect that he, whom the fear of dying by being beheaded +or hanged will not restrain, should be any more awed by the imagination +of a languishing fire, pincers, or the wheel. And I know not, in the +meantime, whether we do not throw them into despair; for in what +condition can be the soul of a man, expecting four-and-twenty hours +together to be broken upon a wheel, or after the old way, nailed to a +cross? Josephus relates that in the time of the war the Romans made in +Judaea, happening to pass by where they had three days before crucified +certain Jews, he amongst them knew three of his own friends, and obtained +the favour of having them taken down, of whom two, he says, died; the +third lived a great while after. + +Chalcondylas, a writer of good credit, in the records he has left behind +him of things that happened in his time, and near him, tells us, as of +the most excessive torment, of that the Emperor Mohammed very often +practised, of cutting off men in the middle by the diaphragm with one +blow of a scimitar, whence it followed that they died as it were two +deaths at once; and both the one part, says he, and the other, were seen +to stir and strive a great while after in very great torment. I do not +think there was any great suffering in this motion the torments that are +the most dreadful to look on are not always the greatest to endure; and I +find those that other historians relate to have been practised by him +upon the Epirot lords, are more horrid and cruel, where they were +condemned to be flayed alive piecemeal, after so malicious a manner that +they continued fifteen days in that misery. + +And these other two: Croesus, having caused a gentleman, the favourite of +his brother Pantaleon, to be seized, carried him into a fuller's shop, +where he caused him to be scratched and carded with the cards and combs +belonging to that trade, till he died. George Sechel, chief commander of +the peasants of Poland, who committed so many mischiefs under the title +of the Crusade, being defeated in battle and taken bu the Vayvode of +Transylvania, was three days bound naked upon the rack exposed to all +sorts of torments that any one could contrive against him: during which +time many other prisoners were kept fasting; in the end, he living and +looking on, they made his beloved brother Lucat, for whom alone he +entreated, taking on himself the blame of all their evil actions drink +his blood, and caused twenty of his most favoured captains to feed upon +him, tearing his flesh in pieces with their teeth, and swallowing the +morsels. The remainder of his body and his bowels, so soon as he was +dead, were boiled, and others of his followers compelled to eat them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +ALL THINGS HAVE THEIR SEASON + +Such as compare Cato the Censor with the younger Cato, who killed +himself, compare two beautiful natures, much resembling one another. +The first acquired his reputation several ways, and excels in military +exploits and the utility of his public employments; but the virtue of the +younger, besides that it were blasphemy to compare any to it in vigour, +was much more pure and unblemished. For who could absolve that of the +Censor from envy and ambition, having dared to attack the honour of +Scipio, a man in goodness and all other excellent qualities infinitely +beyond him or any other of his time? + +That which they, report of him, amongst other things, that in his extreme +old age he put himself upon learning the Greek tongue with so greedy an +appetite, as if to quench a long thirst, does not seem to me to make much +for his honour; it being properly what we call falling into second +childhood. All things have their seasons, even good ones, and I may say +my Paternoster out of time; as they accused T. Quintus Flaminius, that +being general of an army, he was seen praying apart in the time of a +battle that he won. + + "Imponit finem sapiens et rebus honestis." + + ["The wise man limits even honest things."--Juvenal, vi. 444] + +Eudemonidas, seeing Xenocrates when very old, still very intent upon his +school lectures: "When will this man be wise," said he, "if he is yet +learning?" And Philopaemen, to those who extolled King Ptolemy for every +day inuring his person to the exercise of arms: "It is not," said he, +"commendable in a king of his age to exercise himself in these things; he +ought now really to employ them." The young are to make their +preparations, the old to enjoy them, say the sages: and the greatest vice +they observe in us is that our desires incessantly grow young again; we +are always re-beginning to live. + +Our studies and desires should sometime be sensible of age; yet we have +one foot in the grave and still our appetites and pursuits spring every +day anew within us: + + "Tu secanda marmora + Locas sub ipsum funus, et, sepulcri + Immemor, struis domos." + + ["You against the time of death have marble cut for use, and, + forgetful of the tomb, build houses."--Horace, Od., ii. 18, 17.] + +The longest of my designs is not of above a year's extent; I think of +nothing now but ending; rid myself of all new hopes and enterprises; take +my last leave of every place I depart from, and every day dispossess +myself of what I have. + + "Olim jam nec perit quicquam mihi, nec acquiritur.... + plus superest viatici quam viae." + + ["Henceforward I will neither lose, nor expect to get: I have more + wherewith to defray my journey, than I have way to go." (Or): + "Hitherto nothing of me has been lost or gained; more remains to pay + the way than there is way."--Seneca, Ep., 77. (The sense seems to + be that so far he had met his expenses, but that for the future he + was likely to have more than he required.)] + + "Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi." + + ["I have lived and finished the career Fortune placed before me." + --AEneid, iv. 653.] + +'Tis indeed the only comfort I find in my old age, that it mortifies in +me several cares and desires wherewith my life has been disturbed; the +care how the world goes, the care of riches, of grandeur, of knowledge, +of health, of myself. There are men who are learning to speak at a time +when they should learn to be silent for ever. A man may always study, +but he must not always go to school what a contemptible thing is an old +Abecedarian!--[Seneca, Ep. 36] + + "Diversos diversa juvant; non omnibus annis + Omnia conveniunt." + + ["Various things delight various men; all things are not + for all ages."--Gall., Eleg., i. 104.] + +If we must study, let us study what is suitable to our present condition, +that we may answer as he did, who being asked to what end he studied in +his decrepit age, "that I may go out better," said he, "and at greater +ease." Such a study was that of the younger Cato, feeling his end +approach, and which he met with in Plato's Discourse of the Eternity of +the Soul: not, as we are to believe, that he was not long before +furnished with all sorts of provision for such a departure; for of +assurance, an established will and instruction, he had more than Plato +had in all his writings; his knowledge and courage were in this respect +above philosophy; he applied himself to this study, not for the service +of his death; but, as a man whose sleeps were never disturbed in the +importance of such a deliberation, he also, without choice or change, +continued his studies with the other accustomary actions of his life. +The night that he was denied the praetorship he spent in play; that +wherein he was to die he spent in reading. The loss either of life +or of office was all one to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +OF VIRTUE + +I find by experience, that there is a good deal to be said betwixt the +flights and emotions of the soul or a resolute and constant habit; and +very well perceive that there is nothing we may not do, nay, even to the +surpassing the Divinity itself, says a certain person, forasmuch as it is +more to render a man's self impassible by his own study and industry, +than to be so by his natural condition; and even to be able to conjoin to +man's imbecility and frailty a God-like resolution and assurance; but it +is by fits and starts; and in the lives of those heroes of times past +there are sometimes miraculous impulses, and that seem infinitely to +exceed our natural force; but they are indeed only impulses: and 'tis +hard to believe, that these so elevated qualities in a man can so +thoroughly tinct and imbue the soul that they should become ordinary, +and, as it were, natural in him. It accidentally happens even to us, +who are but abortive births of men, sometimes to launch our souls, when +roused by the discourses or examples of others, much beyond their +ordinary stretch; but 'tis a kind of passion which pushes and agitates +them, and in some sort ravishes them from themselves: but, this +perturbation once overcome, we see that they insensibly flag and slacken +of themselves, if not to the lowest degree, at least so as to be no more +the same; insomuch as that upon every trivial occasion, the losing of a +bird, or the breaking, of a glass, we suffer ourselves to be moved little +less than one of the common people. I am of opinion, that order, +moderation, and constancy excepted, all things are to be done by a man +that is very imperfect and defective in general. Therefore it is, say +the Sages, that to make a right judgment of a man, you are chiefly to pry +into his common actions, and surprise him in his everyday habit. + +Pyrrho, he who erected so pleasant a knowledge upon ignorance, +endeavoured, as all the rest who were really philosophers did, to make +his life correspond with his doctrine. And because he maintained the +imbecility of human judgment to be so extreme as to be incapable of any +choice or inclination, and would have it perpetually wavering and +suspended, considering and receiving all things as indifferent, 'tis +said, that he always comforted himself after the same manner and +countenance: if he had begun a discourse, he would always end what he had +to say, though the person he was speaking to had gone away: if he walked, +he never stopped for any impediment that stood in his way, being +preserved from precipices, collision with carts, and other like +accidents, by the care of his friends: for, to fear or to avoid anything, +had been to shock his own propositions, which deprived the senses +themselves of all election and certainty. Sometimes he suffered incision +and cauteries with so great constancy as never to be seen so much as to +wince. 'Tis something to bring the soul to these imaginations; 'tis more +to join the effects, and yet not impossible; but to conjoin them with +such perseverance and constancy as to make them habitual, is certainly, +in attempts so remote from the common usage, almost incredible to be +done. Therefore it was, that being sometime taken in his house sharply +scolding with his sister, and being reproached that he therein +transgressed his own rules of indifference: "What!" said he, "must this +bit of a woman also serve for a testimony to my rules?" Another time, +being seen to defend himself against a dog: "It is," said he, "very hard +totally to put off man; and we must endeavour and force ourselves to +resist and encounter things, first by effects, but at least by reason and +argument." + +About seven or eight years since, a husbandman yet living, but two +leagues from my house, having long been tormented with his wife's +jealousy, coming one day home from his work, and she welcoming him with +her accustomed railing, entered into so great fury that with a sickle he +had yet in his hand, he totally cut off all those parts that she was +jealous of and threw them in her face. And, 'tis said that a young +gentleman of our nation, brisk and amorous, having by his perseverance at +last mollified the heart of a fair mistress, enraged, that upon the point +of fruition he found himself unable to perform, and that, + + "Nec viriliter + Iners senile penis extulit caput." + + [(The 19th or 20th century translators leave this phrase + untranslated and with no explanation. D.W.) + --Tibullus, Priap. Carm., 84.] + +as soon as ever he came home he deprived himself of the rebellious +member, and sent it to his mistress, a cruel and bloody victim for the +expiation of his offence. If this had been done upon mature +consideration, and upon the account of religion, as the priests of Cybele +did, what should we say of so high an action? + +A few days since, at Bergerac, five leagues from my house, up the river +Dordogne, a woman having overnight been beaten and abused by her husband, +a choleric ill-conditioned fellow, resolved to escape from his ill-usage +at the price of her life; and going so soon as she was up the next +morning to visit her neighbours, as she was wont to do, and having let +some words fall in recommendation of her affairs, she took a sister of +hers by the hand, and led her to the bridge; whither being come, and +having taken leave of her, in jest as it were, without any manner of +alteration in her countenance, she threw herself headlong from the top +into the river, and was there drowned. That which is the most remarkable +in this is, that this resolution was a whole night forming in her head. + +It is quite another thing with the Indian women for it being the custom +there for the men to have many wives, and the best beloved of them to +kill herself at her husband's decease, every one of them makes it the +business of her whole life to obtain this privilege and gain this +advantage over her companions; and the good offices they do their +husbands aim at no other recompense but to be preferred in accompanying +him in death: + + "Ubi mortifero jacta est fax ultima lecto, + Uxorum fusis stat pia turba comis + Et certamen habent lethi, quae viva sequatur + Conjugium: pudor est non licuisse mori. + Ardent victrices, et flammae pectora praebent, + Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris." + + ["For when they threw the torch on the funeral bed, the pious wives + with hair dishevelled, stand around striving, which, living, shall + accompany her spouse; and are ashamed that they may not die; they + who are preferred expose their breasts to the flame, and they lay + their scorched lips on those of their husbands." + --Propertius, iii. 13, 17.] + +A certain author of our times reports that he has seen in those Oriental +nations this custom in practice, that not only the wives bury themselves +with their husbands, but even the slaves he has enjoyed also; which is +done after this manner: The husband being dead, the widow may if she will +(but few will) demand two or three months' respite wherein to order her +affairs. The day being come, she mounts on horseback, dressed as fine as +at her wedding, and with a cheerful countenance says she is going to +sleep with her spouse, holding a looking-glass in her left hand and an +arrow in the other. Being thus conducted in pomp, accompanied with her +kindred and friends and a great concourse of people in great joy, she is +at last brought to the public place appointed for such spectacles: this +is a great space, in the midst of which is a pit full of wood, and +adjoining to it a mount raised four or five steps, upon which she is +brought and served with a magnificent repast; which being done, she falls +to dancing and singing, and gives order, when she thinks fit, to kindle +the fire. This being done, she descends, and taking the nearest of her +husband's relations by the hand, they walk to the river close by, where +she strips herself stark naked, and having distributed her clothes and +jewels to her friends, plunges herself into the water, as if there to +cleanse herself from her sins; coming out thence, she wraps herself in a +yellow linen of five-and-twenty ells long, and again giving her hand to +this kinsman of her husband's, they return back to the mount, where she +makes a speech to the people, and recommends her children to them, if she +have any. Betwixt the pit and the mount there is commonly a curtain +drawn to screen the burning furnace from their sight, which some of them, +to manifest the greater courage, forbid. Having ended what she has to +say, a woman presents her with a vessel of oil, wherewith to anoint her +head and her whole body, which when done with she throws into the fire, +and in an instant precipitates herself after. Immediately, the people +throw a good many billets and logs upon her that she may not be long in +dying, and convert all their joy into sorrow and mourning. If they are +persons of meaner condition, the body of the defunct is carried to the +place of sepulture, and there placed sitting, the widow kneeling before +him, embracing the dead body; and they continue in this posture whilst +the people build a wall about them, which so soon as it is raised to the +height of the woman's shoulders, one of her relations comes behind her, +and taking hold of her head, twists her neck; so soon as she is dead, the +wall is presently raised up, and closed, and there they remain entombed. + +There was, in this same country, something like this in their +gymnosophists; for not by constraint of others nor by the impetuosity of +a sudden humour, but by the express profession of their order, their +custom was, as soon as they arrived at a certain age, or that they saw +themselves threatened by any disease, to cause a funeral pile to be +erected for them, and on the top a stately bed, where, after having +joyfully feasted their friends and acquaintance, they laid them down with +so great resolution, that fire being applied to it, they were never seen +to stir either hand or foot; and after this manner, one of them, Calanus +by name; expired in the presence of the whole army of Alexander the +Great. And he was neither reputed holy nor happy amongst them who did +not thus destroy himself, dismissing his soul purged and purified by the +fire, after having consumed all that was earthly and mortal. This +constant premeditation of the whole life is that which makes the wonder. + +Amongst our other controversies, that of 'Fatum' has also crept in; and +to tie things to come, and even our own wills, to a certain and +inevitable necessity, we are yet upon this argument of time past: +"Since God foresees that all things shall so fall out, as doubtless He +does, it must then necessarily follow, that they must so fall out": to +which our masters reply: "that the seeing anything come to pass, as we +do, and as God Himself also does (for all things being present with him, +He rather sees, than foresees), is not to compel an event: that is, we +see because things do fall out, but things do not fall out because we +see: events cause knowledge, but knowledge does not cause events. That +which we see happen, does happen; but it might have happened otherwise: +and God, in the catalogue of the causes of events which He has in His +prescience, has also those which we call accidental and voluntary, +depending upon the liberty. He has given our free will, and knows that +we do amiss because we would do so." + +I have seen a great many commanders encourage their soldiers with this +fatal necessity; for if our time be limited to a certain hour, neither +the enemies' shot nor our own boldness, nor our flight and cowardice, +can either shorten or prolong our lives. This is easily said, but see +who will be so easily persuaded; and if it be so that a strong and lively +faith draws along with it actions of the same kind, certainly this faith +we so much brag of, is very light in this age of ours, unless the +contempt it has of works makes it disdain their company. So it is, that +to this very purpose the Sire de Joinville, as credible a witness as any +other whatever, tells us of the Bedouins, a nation amongst the Saracens, +with whom the king St. Louis had to do in the Holy Land, that they, in +their religion, so firmly believed the number of every man's days to be +from all eternity prefixed and set down by an inevitable decree, that +they went naked to the wars, excepting a Turkish sword, and their bodies +only covered with a white linen cloth: and for the greatest curse they +could invent when they were angry, this was always in their mouths: +"Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death." This is a +testimony of faith very much beyond ours. And of this sort is that also +that two friars of Florence gave in our fathers' days. Being engaged in +some controversy of learning, they agreed to go both of them into the +fire in the sight of all the people, each for the verification of his +argument, and all things were already prepared, and the thing just upon +the point of execution, when it was interrupted by an unexpected +accident.--[7th April 1498. Savonarola issued the challenge. After many +delays from demands and counter-demands by each side as to the details of +the fire, both parties found that they had important business to transact +in another county--both just barely escaped assassination at the hands of +the disappointed spectators. D.W.] + +A young Turkish lord, having performed a notable exploit in his own +person in the sight of both armies, that of Amurath and that of Huniades, +ready to join battle, being asked by Amurath, what in such tender and +inexperienced years (for it was his first sally into arms) had inspired +him with so brave a courage, replied, that his chief tutor for valour was +a hare. "For being," said he, "one day a hunting, I found a hare +sitting, and though I had a brace of excellent greyhounds with me, yet +methought it would be best for sureness to make use of my bow; for she +sat very fair. I then fell to letting fly my arrows, and shot forty that +I had in my quiver, not only without hurting, but without starting her +from her form. At last I slipped my dogs after her, but to no more +purpose than I had shot: by which I understood that she had been secured +by her destiny; and, that neither darts nor swords can wound without the +permission of fate, which we can neither hasten nor defer." This story +may serve, by the way, to let us see how flexible our reason is to all +sorts of images. + +A person of great years, name, dignity, and learning boasted to me that +he had been induced to a certain very important change in his faith by a +strange and whimsical incitation, and one otherwise so inadequate, that I +thought it much stronger, taken the contrary way: he called it a miracle, +and so I look upon it, but in a different sense. The Turkish historians +say, that the persuasion those of their nation have imprinted in them of +the fatal and unalterable prescription of their days, manifestly conduces +to the giving them great assurance in dangers. And I know a great prince +who makes very fortunate use of it, whether it be that he really believes +it, or that he makes it his excuse for so wonderfully hazarding himself: +let us hope Fortune may not be too soon weary of her favour to him. + +There has not happened in our memory a more admirable effect of +resolution than in those two who conspired the death of the Prince of +Orange. + + [The first of these was Jehan de Jaureguy, who wounded the Prince + 18th March 1582; the second, by whom the Prince was killed 10th July + 1584., was Balthazar Gerard.] + +'Tis marvellous how the second who executed it, could ever be persuaded +into an attempt, wherein his companion, who had done his utmost, had had +so ill success; and after the same method, and with the same arms, to go +attack a lord, armed with so recent a late lesson of distrust, powerful +in followers and bodily strength, in his own hall, amidst his guards, and +in a city wholly at his devotion. Assuredly, he employed a very resolute +arm and a courage enflamed with furious passion. A poignard is surer for +striking home; but by reason that more motion and force of hand is +required than with a pistol, the blow is more subject to be put by or +hindered. That this man did not run to a certain death, I make no great +doubt; for the hopes any one could flatter him withal, could not find +place in any sober understanding, and the conduct of his exploit +sufficiently manifests that he had no want of that, no more than of +courage. The motives of so powerful a persuasion may be diverse, for our +fancy does what it will, both with itself and us. The execution that was +done near Orleans--[The murder of the Duke of Guise by Poltrot.]--was +nothing like this; there was in this more of chance than vigour; the +wound was not mortal, if fortune had not made it so, and to attempt to +shoot on horseback, and at a great distance, by one whose body was in +motion from the motion of his horse, was the attempt of a man who had +rather miss his blow than fail of saving himself. This was apparent from +what followed; for he was so astonished and stupefied with the thought of +so high an execution, that he totally lost his judgment both to find his +way to flight and to govern his tongue. What needed he to have done more +than to fly back to his friends across the river? 'Tis what I have done +in less dangers, and that I think of very little hazard, how broad soever +the river may be, provided your horse have easy going in, and that you +see on the other side easy landing according to the stream. The other, +--[Balthazar Gerard.]--when they pronounced his dreadful sentence, +"I was prepared for this," said he, "beforehand, and I will make you +wonder at my patience." + +The Assassins, a nation bordering upon Phoenicia, + + [Or in Egypt, Syria, and Persia. Derivation of 'assassin' is from + Hassan-ben-Saba, one of their early leaders, and they had an + existence for some centuries. They are classed among the secret + societies of the Middle Ages. D.W.] + +are reputed amongst the Mohammedans a people of very great devotion and +purity of manners. They hold that the nearest way to gain Paradise is to +kill some one of a contrary religion; which is the reason they have often +been seen, being but one or two, and without armour, to attempt against +powerful enemies, at the price of a certain death and without any +consideration of their own danger. So was our Raymond, Count of Tripoli, +assassinated (which word is derived from their name) in the heart of his +city,--[in 1151]--during our enterprises of the Holy War: and likewise +Conrad, Marquis of Monteferrat, the murderers at their execution bearing +themselves with great pride and glory that they had performed so brave an +exploit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +OF A MONSTROUS CHILD + +This story shall go by itself; for I will leave it to physicians to +discourse of. Two days ago I saw a child that two men and a nurse, who +said they were the father, the uncle, and the aunt of it, carried about +to get money by showing it, by reason it was so strange a creature. It +was, as to all the rest, of a common form, and could stand upon its feet; +could go and gabble much like other children of the same age; it had +never as yet taken any other nourishment but from the nurse's breasts, +and what, in my presence, they tried to put into the mouth of it, it only +chewed a little and spat it out again without swallowing; the cry of it +seemed indeed a little odd and particular, and it was just fourteen +months old. Under the breast it was joined to another child, but without +a head, and which had the spine of the back without motion, the rest +entire; for though it had one arm shorter than the other, it had been +broken by accident at their birth; they were joined breast to breast, and +as if a lesser child sought to throw its arms about the neck of one +something bigger. The juncture and thickness of the place where they +were conjoined was not above four fingers, or thereabouts, so that if you +thrust up the imperfect child you might see the navel of the other below +it, and the joining was betwixt the paps and the navel. The navel of the +imperfect child could not be seen, but all the rest of the belly, so that +all that was not joined of the imperfect one, as arms, buttocks, thighs, +and legs, hung dangling upon the other, and might reach to the mid-leg. +The nurse, moreover, told us that it urined at both bodies, and that the +members of the other were nourished, sensible, and in the same plight +with that she gave suck to, excepting that they were shorter and less. +This double body and several limbs relating to one head might be +interpreted a favourable prognostic to the king,--[Henry III.]--of +maintaining these various parts of our state under the union of his laws; +but lest the event should prove otherwise, 'tis better to let it alone, +for in things already past there needs no divination, + + "Ut quum facts sunt, tum ad conjecturam + aliqui interpretatione revocentur;" + + ["So as when they are come to pass, they may then by some + interpretation be recalled to conjecture" + --Cicero, De Divin., ii. 31.] + +as 'tis said of Epimenides, that he always prophesied backward. + +I have just seen a herdsman in Medoc, of about thirty years of age, who +has no sign of any genital parts; he has three holes by which he +incessantly voids his water; he is bearded, has desire, and seeks contact +with women. + +Those that we call monsters are not so to God, who sees in the immensity +of His work the infinite forms that He has comprehended therein; and it +is to be believed that this figure which astonishes us has relation to +some other figure of the same kind unknown to man. From His all wisdom +nothing but good, common; and regular proceeds; but we do not discern the +disposition and relation: + + "Quod crebro videt, non miratur, etiamsi, + cur fiat, nescit. Quod ante non vidit, id, + si evenerit, ostentum esse censet." + + ["What he often sees he does not admire, though he be ignorant how + it comes to pass. When a thing happens he never saw before, he + thinks that it is a portent."--Cicero, De Divin., ii. 22.] + +Whatever falls out contrary to custom we say is contrary to nature, but +nothing, whatever it be, is contrary to her. Let, therefore, this +universal and natural reason expel the error and astonishment that +novelty brings along with it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +OF ANGER + +Plutarch is admirable throughout, but especially where he judges of human +actions. What fine things does he say in the comparison of Lycurgus and +Numa upon the subject of our great folly in abandoning children to the +care and government of their fathers? The most of our civil governments, +as Aristotle says, "leave, after the manner of the Cyclopes, to every one +the ordering of their wives and children, according to their own foolish +and indiscreet fancy; and the Lacedaemonian and Cretan are almost the +only governments that have committed the education of children to the +laws. Who does not see that in a state all depends upon their nurture +and bringing up? and yet they are left to the mercy of parents, let them +be as foolish and ill-conditioned as they may, without any manner of +discretion." + +Amongst other things, how often have I, as I have passed along our +streets, had a good mind to get up a farce, to revenge the poor boys whom +I have seen hided, knocked down, and miserably beaten by some father or +mother, when in their fury and mad with rage? You shall see them come +out with fire and fury sparkling in their eyes: + + "Rabie jecur incendente, feruntur, + Praecipites; ut saxa jugis abrupta, quibus mons + Subtrahitur, clivoque latus pendente recedit," + + ["They are headlong borne with burning fury as great stones torn + from the mountains, by which the steep sides are left naked and + bare."--Juvenal, Sat., vi. 647.] + +(and according to Hippocrates, the most dangerous maladies are they that +disfigure the countenance), with a roaring and terrible voice, very often +against those that are but newly come from nurse, and there they are +lamed and spoiled with blows, whilst our justice takes no cognisance of +it, as if these maims and dislocations were not executed upon members of +our commonwealth: + + "Gratum est, quod patria; civem populoque dedisti, + Si facis, ut patrix sit idoneus, utilis agris, + Utilis et bellorum et pacis rebus agendis." + + ["It is well when to thy country and the people thou hast given a + citizen, provided thou make fit for his country's service; useful to + till the earth, useful in affairs of war and peace" + --Juvenal, Sat., xiv. 70.] + +There is no passion that so much transports men from their right judgment +as anger. No one would demur upon punishing a judge with death who +should condemn a criminal on the account of his own choler; why, then, +should fathers and pedagogues be any more allowed to whip and chastise +children in their anger? 'Tis then no longer correction, but revenge. +Chastisement is instead of physic to children; and would we endure a +physician who should be animated against and enraged at his patient? + +We ourselves, to do well, should never lay a hand upon our servants +whilst our anger lasts. When the pulse beats, and we feel emotion in +ourselves, let us defer the business; things will indeed appear otherwise +to us when we are calm and cool. 'Tis passion that then commands, 'tis +passion that speaks, and not we. Faults seen through passion appear much +greater to us than they really are, as bodies do when seen through a +mist. He who is hungry uses meat; but he who will make use of +chastisement should have neither hunger nor thirst to it. And, moreover, +chastisements that are inflicted with weight and discretion are much +better received and with greater benefit by him who suffers; otherwise, +he will not think himself justly condemned by a man transported with +anger and fury, and will allege his master's excessive passion, his +inflamed countenance, his unwonted oaths, his emotion and precipitous +rashness, for his own justification: + + "Ora tument ira, nigrescunt sanguine venae, + Lumina Gorgoneo saevius igne micant." + + ["Their faces swell, their veins grow black with rage, and their + eyes sparkle with Gorgonian fire."--Ovid, De Art. Amandi, iii. 503.] + +Suetonius reports that Caius Rabirius having been condemned by Caesar, +the thing that most prevailed upon the people (to whom he had appealed) +to determine the cause in his favour, was the animosity and vehemence +that Caesar had manifested in that sentence. + +Saying is a different thing from doing; we are to consider the sermon +apart and the preacher apart. These men lent themselves to a pretty +business who in our times have attempted to shake the truth of our Church +by the vices of her ministers; she extracts her testimony elsewhere; 'tis +a foolish way of arguing and that would throw all things into confusion. +A man whose morals are good may have false opinions, and a wicked man may +preach truth, even though he believe it not himself. 'Tis doubtless a +fine harmony when doing and saying go together; and I will not deny but +that saying, when the actions follow, is not of greater authority and +efficacy, as Eudamidas said, hearing a philosopher talk of military +affairs: "These things are finely said, but he who speaks them is not to +be believed for his ears have never been used to the sound of the +trumpet." And Cleomenes, hearing an orator declaiming upon valour, burst +out into laughter, at which the other being angry; "I should," said he to +him, "do the same if it were a swallow that spoke of this subject; but if +it were an eagle I should willingly hear him." I perceive, methinks, in +the writings of the ancients, that he who speaks what he thinks, strikes +much more home than he who only feigns. Hear Cicero speak of the love of +liberty: hear Brutus speak of it, the mere written words of this man +sound as if he would purchase it at the price of his life. Let Cicero, +the father of eloquence, treat of the contempt of death; let Seneca do +the same: the first languishingly drawls it out so you perceive he would +make you resolve upon a thing on which he is not resolved himself; he +inspires you not with courage, for he himself has none; the other +animates and inflames you. I never read an author, even of those who +treat of virtue and of actions, that I do not curiously inquire what kind +of a man he was himself; for the Ephori at Sparta, seeing a dissolute +fellow propose a wholesome advice to the people, commanded him to hold +his peace, and entreated a virtuous man to attribute to himself the +invention, and to propose it. Plutarch's writings, if well understood, +sufficiently bespeak their author, and so that I think I know him even +into his soul; and yet I could wish that we had some fuller account of +his life. And I am thus far wandered from my subject, upon the account +of the obligation I have to Aulus Gellius, for having left us in writing +this story of his manners, that brings me back to my subject of anger. +A slave of his, a vicious, ill-conditioned fellow, but who had the +precepts of philosophy often ringing in his ears, having for some offence +of his been stript by Plutarch's command, whilst he was being whipped, +muttered at first, that it was without cause and that he had done nothing +to deserve it; but at last falling in good earnest to exclaim against and +rail at his master, he reproached him that he was no philosopher, as he +had boasted himself to be: that he had often heard him say it was +indecent to be angry, nay, had written a book to that purpose; and that +the causing him to be so cruelly beaten, in the height of his rage, +totally gave the lie to all his writings; to which Plutarch calmly and +coldly answered, "How, ruffian," said he, "by what dost thou judge that +I am now angry? Does either my face, my colour, or my voice give any +manifestation of my being moved? I do not think my eyes look fierce, +that my countenance appears troubled, or that my voice is dreadful: am I +red, do I foam, does any word escape my lips I ought to repent? Do I +start? Do I tremble with fury? For those, I tell thee, are the true +signs of anger." And so, turning to the fellow that was whipping him, +"Ply on thy work," said he, "whilst this gentleman and I dispute." This +is his story. + +Archytas Tarentinus, returning from a war wherein he had been captain- +general, found all things in his house in very great disorder, and his +lands quite out of tillage, through the ill husbandry of his receiver, +and having caused him to be called to him; "Go," said he, "if I were not +in anger I would soundly drub your sides." Plato likewise, being highly +offended with one of his slaves, gave Speusippus order to chastise him, +excusing himself from doing it because he was in anger. And Carillus, a +Lacedaemonian, to a Helot, who carried himself insolently towards him: +"By the gods," said he, "if I was not angry, I would immediately cause +thee to be put to death." + +'Tis a passion that is pleased with and flatters itself. How often, +being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good +defence and presents us with a just excuse, are we angry against truth +and innocence itself? In proof of which, I remember a marvellous example +of antiquity. + +Piso, otherwise a man of very eminent virtue, being moved against a +soldier of his, for that returning alone from forage he could give him no +account where he had left a companion of his, took it for granted that he +had killed him, and presently condemned him to death. He was no sooner +mounted upon the gibbet, but, behold, his wandering companion arrives, at +which all the army were exceedingly glad, and after many embraces of the +two comrades, the hangman carried both the one and the other into Piso's +presence, all those present believing it would be a great pleasure even +to himself; but it proved quite contrary; for through shame and spite, +his fury, which was not yet cool, redoubled; and by a subtlety which his +passion suddenly suggested to him, he made three criminals for having +found one innocent, and caused them all to be despatched: the first +soldier, because sentence had passed upon him; the second, who had lost +his way, because he was the cause of his companion's death; and the +hangman, for not having obeyed the order which had been given him. +Such as have had to do with testy and obstinate women, may have +experimented into what a rage it puts them to oppose silence and coldness +to their fury, and that a man disdains to nourish their anger. The +orator Celius was wonderfully choleric by nature; and to one who supped +in his company, a man of a gentle and sweet conversation, and who, that +he might not move him, approved and consented to all he said; he, +impatient that his ill-humour should thus spend itself without aliment: +"For the love of the gods deny me something," said he, "that we may be +two." Women, in like manner, are only angry that others may be angry +again, in imitation of the laws of love. Phocion, to one who interrupted +his speaking by injurious and very opprobrious words, made no other +return than silence, and to give him full liberty and leisure to vent his +spleen; which he having accordingly done, and the storm blown over, +without any mention of this disturbance, he proceeded in his discourse +where he had left off before. No answer can nettle a man like such a +contempt. + +Of the most choleric man in France (anger is always an imperfection, but +more excusable in, a soldier, for in that trade it cannot sometimes be +avoided) I often say, that he is the most patient man that I know, and +the most discreet in bridling his passions; which rise in him with so +great violence and fury, + + "Magno veluti cum flamma sonore + Virgea suggeritur costis undantis ahem, + Exsultantque aatu latices, furit intus aquae vis. + Fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis, + Nec jam se capit unda; volat vapor ater ad auras;" + + ["When with loud crackling noise, a fire of sticks is applied to the + boiling caldron's side, by the heat in frisky bells the liquor + dances; within the water rages, and high the smoky fluid in foam + overflows. Nor can the wave now contain itself; the black steam + flies all abroad."--AEneid, vii. 462.] + + +that he must of necessity cruelly constrain himself to moderate it. And +for my part, I know no passion which I could with so much violence to +myself attempt to cover and conceal; I would not set wisdom at so high a +price; and do not so much consider what a man does, as how much it costs +him to do no worse. + +Another boasted himself to me of the regularity and gentleness of his +manners, which are to truth very singular; to whom I replied, that it was +indeed something, especially m persons of so eminent a quality as +himself, upon whom every one had their eyes, to present himself always +well-tempered to the world; but that the principal thing was to make +provision for within and for himself; and that it was not in my opinion +very well to order his business outwardly well, and to grate himself +within, which I was afraid he did, in putting on and maintaining this +mask and external appearance. + +A man incorporates anger by concealing it, as Diogenes told Demosthenes, +who, for fear of being seen in a tavern, withdrew himself the more +retiredly into it: "The more you retire backward, the farther you enter +in." I would rather advise that a man should give his servant a box of +the ear a little unseasonably, than rack his fancy to present this grave +and composed countenance; and had rather discover my passions than brood +over them at my own expense; they grow less inventing and manifesting +themselves; and 'tis much better their point should wound others without, +than be turned towards ourselves within: + + "Omnia vitia in aperto leviora sunt: et tunc perniciosissima, + quum simulata sanitate subsident." + + ["All vices are less dangerous when open to be seen, and then most + pernicious when they lurk under a dissembled good nature." + --Seneca, Ep. 56] + +I admonish all those who have authority to be angry in my family, in the +first place to manage their anger and not to lavish it upon every +occasion, for that both lessens the value and hinders the effect: rash +and incessant scolding runs into custom, and renders itself despised; and +what you lay out upon a servant for a theft is not felt, because it is +the same he has seen you a hundred times employ against him for having +ill washed a glass, or set a stool out of place. Secondly, that they be +not angry to no purpose, but make sure that their reprehension reach him +with whom they are offended; for, ordinarily, they rail and bawl before +he comes into their presence, and continue scolding an age after he is +gone: + + "Et secum petulans amentia certat:" + + ["And petulant madness contends with itself." + --Claudian in Eutrop., i. 237.] + +they attack his shadow, and drive the storm in a place where no one is +either chastised or concerned, but in the clamour of their voice. +I likewise in quarrels condemn those who huff and vapour without an +enemy: those rhodomontades should be reserved to discharge upon the +offending party: + + "Mugitus veluti cum prima in praelia taurus + Terrificos ciet, atque irasci in cornua tentat, + Arboris obnixus trunco, ventospue lacessit + Ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnum proludit arena." + + ["As when a bull to usher in the fight, makes dreadful bellowings, + and whets his horns against the trunk of a tree; with blows he beats + the air, and rehearses the fight by scattering the sand." + --AEneid, xii. 103.] + +When I am angry, my anger is very sharp but withal very short, and as +private as I can; I lose myself indeed in promptness and violence, but +not in trouble; so that I throw out all sorts of injurious words at +random, and without choice, and never consider pertinently to dart my +language where I think it will deepest wound, for I commonly make use of +no other weapon than my tongue. + +My servants have a better bargain of me in great occasions than in +little; the little ones surprise me; and the misfortune is, that when you +are once upon the precipice, 'tis no matter who gave you the push, you +always go to the bottom; the fall urges, moves, and makes haste of +itself. In great occasions this satisfies me, that they are so just +every one expects a reasonable indignation, and then I glorify myself in +deceiving their expectation; against these, I fortify and prepare myself; +they disturb my head, and threaten to transport me very far, should I +follow them. I can easily contain myself from entering into one of these +passions, and am strong enough, when I expect them, to repel their +violence, be the cause never so great; but if a passion once prepossess +and seize me, it carries me away, be the cause never so small. I bargain +thus with those who may contend with me when you see me moved first, let +me alone, right or wrong; I'll do the same for you. The storm is only +begot by a concurrence of angers, which easily spring from one another, +and are not born together. Let every one have his own way, and we shall +be always at peace. A profitable advice, but hard to execute. Sometimes +also it falls out that I put on a seeming anger, for the better governing +of my house, without any real emotion. As age renders my humours more +sharp, I study to oppose them, and will, if I can, order it so, that for +the future I may be so much the less peevish and hard to please, as I +have more excuse and inclination to be so, although I have heretofore +been reckoned amongst those who have the greatest patience. + +A word more to conclude this argument. Aristotle says, that anger +sometimes serves for arms to virtue and valour. That is probable; +nevertheless, they who contradict him pleasantly answer, that 'tis a +weapon of novel use, for we move all other arms, this moves us; our hand +guides it not, 'tis it that guides our hand; it holds us, we hold not it. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A man may always study, but he must not always go to school +Accursed be thou, as he that arms himself for fear of death +All things have their seasons, even good ones +All those who have authority to be angry in my family +An emperor," said he, "must die standing +Ancient Romans kept their youth always standing at school +And we suffer the ills of a long peace +Be not angry to no purpose +Best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice +By resenting the lie we acquit ourselves of the fault +"By the gods," said he, "if I was not angry, I would execute you" +Children are amused with toys and men with words +Consent, and complacency in giving a man's self up to melancholy +Defend most the defects with which we are most tainted +Emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate +Fortune sometimes seems to delight in taking us at our word +Greatest talkers, for the most part, do nothing to purpose +Have more wherewith to defray my journey, than I have way to go +Hearing a philosopher talk of military affairs +How much it costs him to do no worse +I need not seek a fool from afar; I can laugh at myself +Idleness, the mother of corruption +If a passion once prepossess and seize me, it carries me away +In sorrow there is some mixture of pleasure +Killing is good to frustrate an offence to come, not to revenge +Laws cannot subsist without mixture of injustice +Least end of a hair will serve to draw them into my discourse +Let us not seek our disease out of ourselves; 'tis in us +Look on death not only without astonishment but without care +Melancholy: Are there not some constitutions that feed upon it? +Most cruel people, and upon frivolous occasions, apt to cry. +No beast in the world so much to be feared by man as man +Our extremest pleasure has some sort of groaning +Our fancy does what it will, both with itself and us +Owe ourselves chiefly and mostly to ourselves +Petulant madness contends with itself +Rage it puts them to oppose silence and coldness to their fury +Rash and incessant scolding runs into custom +Revenge, which afterwards produces a series of new cruelties +See how flexible our reason is +Seeming anger, for the better governing of my house +Shake the truth of our Church by the vices of her ministers +Take my last leave of every place I depart from +The gods sell us all the goods they give us +The storm is only begot by a concurrence of angers +Though nobody should read me, have I wasted time +Tis said of Epimenides, that he always prophesied backward +Tis then no longer correction, but revenge +Upon the precipice, 'tis no matter who gave you the push +"When will this man be wise," said he, "if he is yet learning?" +When you see me moved first, let me alone, right or wrong +Young are to make their preparations, the old to enjoy them + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Essays of Montaigne, V12 +By Michel de Montaigne + diff --git a/old/mn12v11.zip b/old/mn12v11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c75fffa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mn12v11.zip |