been involved in imminent danger, if not destruction. | snatched up by the earth, because it can no way be It is with the utmost elegance added in the fable, detained, when it has time and opportunity to fly off, that when Sphinx was conquered, her carcass was but is only wrought together and fixed by sudden laid upon an ass; for there is nothing so subtile and intermixture and comminution, in the same manner abstruse, but after being once made plain, intelligible, as if one should endeavor to mix air with water, and common, it may be received' by the slowest which cannot otherwise be done than by a quick and rapid agitation, that joins them together in froth capacity. We must not omit that Sphinx was conquered by whilst the air is thus caught up by the water. And a lame man, and impotent in his feet; for men usually it is elegantly added, that Proserpine was ravished make too much haste to the solution of Sphinx's rid- whilst she gathered narcissus flowers, which have dles; whence it happens, that she prevailing, their their name from numbedness or stupefaction; for the minds are rather racked and torn by disputes, than spirit we speak of is in the fittest disposition to be invested with command by works and effects. embraced by terrestrial matter when it begins to coagulate, or grow torpid as it were. XXIX. PROSERPINE, OR SPIRIT. EXPLAINED OF THE SPIRIT INCLUDED IN NATURAL BODIES. It is an honor justly attributed to Proserpine, and not to any other wife of the gods, that of being the lady or mistress of her husband, because this spirit performs all its operations in the subterraneal regions, whilst Pluto, or the earth, remains stupid, or as it were ignorant of them. THEY tell us, Pluto having, upon that memorable division of empire among the gods, received the infernal regions for his share, despaired of winning any The æther, or the efficacy of the heavenly bodies, one of the goddesses in marriage by an obsequious denoted by Ceres, endeavors with infinite diligence to courtship, and therefore through necessity resolved force out this spirit, and restore it to its pristine state. upon a rape. Having watched his opportunity, he And by the torch in the hand of Ceres, or the æther, suddenly seized upon Proserpine, a most beautiful is doubtless meant the sun, which disperses light over virgin, the daughter of Ceres, as she was gathering the whole globe of the earth, and if the thing were narcissus flowers in the meads of Sicily, and hurrying possible, must have the greatest share in recovering her to his chariot, carried her with him to the sub- Proserpine, of reinstating the subterraneal spirit. terraneal regions, where she was treated with the Yet Proserpine still continues and dwells below, highest reverence, and styled the Lady of Dis. But after the manner excellently described in the condiCeres missing her only daughter, whom she extreme- tion betwixt Jupiter and Ceres. For first, it is cerly loved, grew pensive and anxious beyond measure, tain that there are two ways of detaining the spirit, and taking a lighted torch in her hand, wandered the in solid and terrestrial matter,-the one by condenworld over in quest of her daughter,-but all to no sation or obstruction, which is mere violence and impurpose, till, suspecting she might be carried to the prisonment; the other by administering a proper infernal regions, she, with great lamentation and abun-aliment, which is spontaneous and free. For after dance of tears, importuned Jupiter to restore her; and the included spirit begins to feed and nourish itself, with much ado prevailed so far as to recover and it is not in a hurry to fiy off, but remains as it were bring her away, if she had tasted nothing there. This fixed in its own earth. And this is the moral of proved a hard condition upon the mother, for Proser- Proserpine's tasting the pomegranate; and were it pine was found to have eaten three kernels of a pome- not for this she must long ago have been carried up granate. Ceres, however, desisted not, but fell to her by Ceres, who with her torch wandered the world oventreaties and lamentations afresh, insomuch that at er, and so the earth have been left without its spirit. last it was indulged her that Proserpine should di- For though the spirit in metals and minerals may vide the year betwixt her husband and her mother, perhaps be, after a particular manner, wrought in by and live six months with the one and as many with the solidity of the mass, yet the spirit of vegetables the other. After this, Theseus and Perithus, with and animals has open passages to escape at, unless uncommon audacity, attempted to force Proserpine it be willingly detained, in the way of sipping and away from Pluto's bed, but happening to grow tired tasting them. in their journey, and resting themselves upon a stone in the realms below, they could never rise from it again, but remain sitting there for ever. Proserpine, therefore, still continued queen of the lower regions, in honor of whom there was also added this grand privilege, that though it had never been permitted any one to return after having once descended thither, a particular exception was made, that he who brought a golden bough as a present to Proserpine, might on that condition descend and return. This was an ouly bough that grew in a large dark grove, not from a tree of its own, but like the mistletoe, from another, and when plucked away a fresh one always shot up in its stead. EXPLANATION.-This fable seems to regard natural philosophy, and searches deep into that rich and fruitful virtue and supply in subterraneous bodies, from whence all the things upon the earth's surface spring, and into which they again relapse and return. By Proserpine the ancients denoted that ethereal spirit shut up and detained within the earth, here represented by Pluto,-the spirit being separated from the superior globe, according to the expression of the poet. This spirit is conceived as ravished, or "Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alta Ethere, cognati retinebat semina coli."-Mentam i. 30. The second article of agreement, that of Proserpine's remaining six months with her mother and six with her husband, is an elegant description of the division of the year; for the spirit diffused through the earth lives above-ground in the vegetable world during the summer months, but in the winter returns under-ground again. The attempt of Theseus and Perithous to bring Proserpine away, denotes that the more subtile spirits, which descend in many bodies to the earth, may frequently be unable to drink in, unite with themselves, and carry off the subterraneous spirit, but on the contrary be coagulated by it, and rise no more, so as to increase the inhabitants and add to the dominion of Proserpine.b The alchemists will be apt to fall in with our interpretation of the golden bough, whether we will or no, because they promise golden mountains, and the restoration of natural bodies from their stone, as from the gates of Pluto: but we are well assured that their theory has no just foundation, and suspect they have Many philosophers have certain speculations to this purpose. Sir Isaac Newton, in particular, suspects that the earth receives its vivifying spirit from the comets. And the philosophical chemists and astrologers have spun the thought into many fantastical distinctions and varieties. See Newton, Princip. lib. iii. p. 473, etc. no very encouraging or practical proofs of its soundness. Leaving, therefore, their conceits to themselves, we shall freely declare our own sentiments upon this last part of the fable. We are certain, from numerous figures and expressions of the ancients, that they judged the conversation, and in some degree the renovation, of natural bodies to be no desperate or impossible thing, but rather abstruse and out of the common road than wholly impracticable. And this seems to be their opinion in the present case, as they have placed this bough among an infinite number of shrubs, in a spacious and thick wood. They supposed it of gold, because gold is the emblem of duration. They feigned it adventitious, not native, because such an effect is to be expected from art, and not from any medicine or any simple or mere natural way of working. XXX.-METIS, OR COUNSEL. EXPLAINED OF PRINCES AND THEIR COUNCIL. FABLE.-The Sirens are said to be the daughters of Achelous and Terpsichore, one of the Muses. In their early days they had wings, but lost them upon being conquered by the Muses, with whom they rashly contended; and with the feathers of these wings the Muses made themselves crowns, so that from this time the Muses wore wings on their heads, excepting only the mother to the Sirens. These Sirens resided in certain pleasant islands, and when, from their watch-tower, they saw any ship ap proaching, they first detained the sailors by their music, then, enticing them to shore, destroyed them. Their singing was not of one and the same kind but they adapted their tunes exactly to the nature of each person, in order to captivate and secure him. And so destructive had they been, that these islands of the Sirens appeared, to a very great distance, white with the bones of their unburied captives. Two different remedies were invented to protect persons against them, the one by Ulysses, the other THE ancient poets relate that Jupiter took Metis by Orpheus. Ulysses commanded his associates to to wife, whose name plainly denotes counsel, and that stop their ears close with wax; and he, determining he, perceiving that she was pregnant by him, would to make the trial, and yet avoid the danger, ordered by no means wait the time of her delivery, but di- himself to be tied fast to a mast of the ship, giving rectly devoured her; whence himself also became strict charge not to be unbound, even though himself pregnant, and was delivered in a wonderful manner;ing at all, escaped the danger, by loudly chanting to should entreat it; but Orpheus, without any bindfor he from his head or brain brought forth Pallas his harp the praises of the gods, whereby he drowned armed. the voices of the Sirens. EXPLANATION.-This fable is of the moral kind learning and philosophy afterwards prevailing, had at least the power to lay the mind under some restraint, and make it consider the issue of things, and thus deprived pleasures of their wings. This conquest redounded greatly to the honor and ornament of the Muses; for after it appeared, by the example of a few, that philosophy could introduce a contempt of pleasures, it immediately seemed to be a fixed in a manner down to the earth, and thus render sublime thing that could raise and elevate the soul, it were, or sublime. men's thoughts, which reside in the head, winged as EXPLANATION.-This fable, which in its literal sense appears monstrously absurd, seems to contain a and appears no less elegant than easy to interpret. state secret, and shows with what art kings usually For pleasures proceed from plenty and affluence, atcarry themselves towards their council, in order to tended with activity or exultation of the mind. preserve their own authority and majesty not only Anciently their first incentives were quick, and inviolate, but so as to have it magnified and height-seized upon men as if they had been winged, but ened among the people. For kings commonly link themselves as it were in a nuptial bond to their council, and deliberate and communicate with them after a prudent and laudable custom upon matters of the greatest importance, at the same time justly conceiving this no diminution of their majesty; but when the matter once ripens to a decree or order, which is a kind of birth, the king then suffers the council to go on no further, lest the act should seem to depend upon their pleasure. Now, therefore, the king usually assumes to himself whatever was wrought, elaborated, or formed, as it were, in the womb of the council (unless it be a matter of an inviduous nature which he is sure to put from him), so that the decree and the execution shall seem to flow from himself." And as this decree or execution proceeds with pru-nent example whereof we have in Petronius, who, dence and power, so as to imply necessity, it is elegantly wrapt up under the figure of Pallas armed. Nor are kings content to have this seem the effect of their own authority, free will, and uncontrollable choice, unless they also take the whole honor to themselves, and make the people imagine that all good and wholesome decrees proceed entirely from their own head, that is, their on sole prudence and judgment. Only the mother of the Sirens was not thus plumed on the head, which doubtless denotes superficial learning, invented and used for delight and levity; an emi after receiving sentence of death, still continued his gay frothy humor, and, as Tacitus observes, used his learning to solace or divert himself, and instead of mind, read nothing but loose poems and verses such discourses as give firmness and constancy of Such learning as this seems to pluck the crowns again from the Muses' heads, and restore them to the Sirens. The Sirens are said to inhabit certain islands. because pleasures generally seek retirement, and often shun society. And for their songs, with the manifold XXXI. THE SIRENS, OR PLEASURES. artifice and destructiveness thereof, this is too obvious EXPLAINED OF MEN'S PASSION FOR PLEASURES. and common to need explanation. But that particnINTRODUCTION.-The fable of the Sirens is, in a lar of the bones stretching like white cliffs along the vulgar sense, justly enough explained of the per- shores, and appearing afar off, contains a more subtile nicious incentives to pleasure; but the ancient my-allegory, and denotes that the examples of others' thology seems to us like a vintage ill-pressed and trod; for though something has been drawn from it, yet all the more excellent parts remain behind in the grapes that are untouched. a This policy strikingly characterized the conduct of Louis XIV., who placed his generals under a particular injunction, to advertise him of the success of any siege likely to be crowned with an immediate triumph, that he might attend in person and appear to take the town by a coup de main. a The one denoted by the river Achelous, and the other by Terpsichore, the muse that invented the cithara and delighted in dancing. b"Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus; Omnes unius estimemus assis."-Catull. Eleg.v. calamity and misfortunes, though ever so manifest and apparent, have yet but little force to deter the corrupt nature of man from pleasures. The allegory of the remedies against the Sirens is not difficult, but very wise and noble: it proposes, in effect, three remedies, as well against subtile as violent mischiefs, two drawn from philosophy and one from religion. ness of pleasures, without complying or being wholly given up to them; which is what Solomon professes of himself when he closes the account of all the numerous pleasures he gave a loose to, with this expression, "But wisdom still continued with me." Such heroes in virtue may, therefore, remain unmoved by the greatest incentives to pleasure, and stop themselves on the very precipice of danger; if, according to the example of Ulysses, they turn a deaf ear to pernicious counsel, and the flatteries of their friends and companions, which have the greatest power to shake and unsettle the mind. The first means of escaping is to resist the earliest temptation in the beginning, and diligently avoid and cut off all occasions that may solicit or sway the mind; and this is well represented by shutting up the ears, a kind of remedy to be necessarily used with mean and vulgar minds, such as the retinue of Ulysses. But nobler spirits may converse, even in the midst of pleasures, if the mind be well guarded with constancy and resolution. And thus some delight to make a severe trial of their own virtue, and thoroughly acquaint themselves with the folly and mad-ness. But the most excellent remedy, in every temptation, is that of Orpheus, who, by loudly chanting and resounding the praises of the gods, confounded the voices, and kept himself from hearing the music of the Sirens for divine contemplations exceed the pleasures of sense, not only in power but also in sweet ORNAMENTA RATIONALIA: OR ELEGANT SENTENCES. ALEATOR, quanto in arte est melior, tanto est nequior-A gamester, the greater master he is in his art, the worse man he is. Arcum, intensio frangit; animum, remissio-Much bending breaks the bow; much unbending, the mind. Bis vincit, qui se vincit in victorio-He conquers twice, who restrains himself in victory. Cum vitia prosint, peccat qui recte facit If vices were profitable, the virtuous man would be the sinner. Bene dormit, qui non sentit quod male dormiat— He sleeps well, who is not conscious that he sleeps ill. Deliberare utilia, mora est tutissima-To deliberate about useful things is the safest delay. Dolor decrescit, ubi quo crescat non habet-The flood of grief decreaseth, when it can swell no higher. Etiam innocentes cogit mentiri dolor-Pain makes even the innocent man a liar. Etiam celeritas in desiderio, mora est-In desire, swiftness itself is delay. Etiam capillus unus habet umbram suam-Even a single hair casts a shadow. Fidem qui perdit, quo se servat in reliquum?-He that has lost his faith, what staff has he left? Formosa facies muta commendatio est-A beautiful face is a silent commendation. Fortuna nimium quem fovet, stultum facit-Fortune makes him fool, whom she makes her darling. Fortuna obesse nulli contenta est semel-Fortune is not content to do a man one ill turn. Hæredis fletus sub persona risus est-The tears of an heir are laughter under a mask. Jucundum nihil'est, nisi quod reficit varietasNothing is pleasant which is not spiced with variety. Invidiam ferre, aut fortis, aux felix potest-He may be envied, who is either courageous or happy. In malis sperare bonum, nisi innocens, nemo potest-In adversity, only the virtuous can entertain hope. In vindicando, criminosa est celeritas-In revenge, haste is criminal. In calamitoso risus etiam injuria est-In misfortune, even to smile is to offend. Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit-He accuseth Neptune unjustly, who incurs shipwreck a second time. Multis nimatur, qui uni facit injuriam-He that injures one, threatens many. Mora omnis ingrata est, sed facit sapientiam-All delay is unpleasant, but we are the wiser for it. Mori est felicis antequam mortem invocet-Happy he who dies ere he calls on death. Malus ubi bonum se simulat, tunc est pessimus-A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint. Magno cum periculo custoditur, quod multis placet -Lock and key will scarce keep that secure which pleases everybody. Male vivunt qui se semper victuros putant-They live ill, who think to live for ever. Male secum agit æger, medicum qui hæredem facit Facit gratum fortuna, quem nemo videt-The for--That sick man does ill for himself, who makes his tune which nobody sees makes a man happy and unenvied. Heu! quam miserum est ab illo lædi, de quo non possis queri-O! what a miserable thing it is to be injured by those of whom we cannot complain. Homo toties moritur quoties amittit suos-A man dies as often as he loses his friends. physician his heir. Multos timere debet, quem multi timent-He of whom many are afraid, ought himself to fear many. Nulla tam bona est fortuna, de qua nil possis quere -There's no fortune so good, but it has its alloy. Pars beneficii est quod petitur, si bene neges-That is half granted which is denied graciously. Timidus vocat se cautum, parcum sordidus-The art a man; remember thou art God's vicegerent. coward calls himself a cautious man; and the miser The one bridleth their power, and the other their says, he is frugal. will. O vita! misero longa, felici brevis-O life! an age to the miserable, a moment to the happy. The following are sentences extracted from the writings of Lord Bacon: Things will have their first or second agitation. If they be not tossed upon the arguments of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune. The true composition of a counsellor, is rather to for then he is like to advise him, and not to feed his humor. It is a strange desire which men have, to seek be skilled in his master's business than his nature; power and lose liberty. He that studieth revenge, keepeth his own wounds green. It was a high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that the good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished; but the good things which belong to adversity are to be admired. He that cannot see well, let him go softly. If a man be thought secret, it inviteth discovery; as the more close air sucketh in the more open. Keep your authority wholly from your children, not so your purse. Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards new men when they rise. For the distance is altered; and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on, they think themselves go back. As in nature things move more violently to their place, and calmly in their place: so virtue in ambition is violent; in authority, settled and calm. Boldness in civil business, is like pronunciation in the orator of Demosthenes; the first, second, and third thing. Boldness is blind: whereof 'tis ill in counsel, but good in execution. For in counsel it is good to see dangers, in execution not to see them, except they be very great. Fortune sometimes turneth the handle of the bottle, which is easy to be taken hold of; and after the belly, which is hard to grasp. Generally it is good to commit the beginning of all great actions to Argus with an hundred eyes; and the ends of them to Briareus with an hundred hands; first to watch and then to speed. There is a great difference betwixt a cunning man and a wise man. There be that can pack the cards, who yet can't play well; they are good in canvasses and factions, and yet otherwise mean men. Extreme self-lovers will set a man's house on fire, though it were but to roast their eggs. New things, like strangers, are more admired and less favored. It were good that men, in their innovations, would follow the example of time itself, which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived. They that reverence too much old time, are but a scorn to the new. The Spaniards and Spartans have been noted to be of small despatch. Mi venga la muerte de SpagnaLet my death come from Spain; for then it will be sure to be long a-coming. You had better take for business a man somewhat absurd, than over-formal. Those who want friends to whom to open their griefs, are cannibals of their own hearts. where the people are of weak courage; for (as Virgil Number itself importeth not much in armies, says) it never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be. Let states, that aim at greatness, take heed how their nobility and gentry multiply too fast. In coppice woods, if you leave your staddles too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, but shrubs and bushes. A civil war is like the heat of a fever; but a forGod never wrought miracles to convince atheism, eign war is like the heat of exercise and serveth to because his ordinary works convince it. Without good nature, man is but a better kind of vermin. The great atheists indeed are hypocrites, who are always handling holy things, but without feeling, so as they must need be cauterized in the end. The master of superstition is the people. And in all superstition, wise men follow fools. In removing superstitions, care should be had, that (as it fareth in ill purgings) the good be not taken away with the bad; which commonly is done, when the people is the physician. He that goeth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. It is a miserable state of mind (and yet it is commonly the case of kings) to have few things to desire, and many to fear. Depression of the nobility may make a king more absolute, but less safe. All precepts concerning kings are, in effect, com-' prehended in these remembrances: Remember thou keep the body iu health. Suspicions among thoughts are like bats among birds, they ever fly by twilight. Base natures, if they find themselves once suspected, will never be true. Men ought to find the difference between saltness and bitterness. Certainly he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others' memory. Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. Men seem neither well to understand their riches, nor their strength; of the former they believe greater things than they should and of the latter much less. And from hence fatal pillars have bounded the progress of learning. Riches are the baggage of virtue; they cannot be spared nor left behind, but they hinder the march. Great riches have sold more men than ever they have bought out. He that defers his charity till he is dead, is (if a man weighs it rightly) rather liberal of another man's, than of his own. Ambition is like choler; if he can move, it makes men active; if it be stopped, it becomes adust, and makes men melancholy. To take a soldier without ambition, is to pull off his spurs. Some ambitious men seem as screens to princes in matters of danger and envy. For no man will take such parts, except he be like the seel'd dove, that mounts and mounts, because he cannot see about him. Princes and states should choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty than rising; and should discern a busy nature from a willing mind. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other. If a man look sharp and attentively, he shall see fortune; for though she be blind, she is not invisible. Usury bringeth the treasure. of the realm or state into a few hands: for the usurer being at certainties, and the others at uncertainties; at the end of the game most of the money will be in the box. Beauty is best in a body that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. The beautiful prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study, for the most part, rather behavior than vir tue. The best part of beauty, is that which a picture cannot express. He who builds a fair house upon an ill seat, commits himself to prison. If you would work on any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him, or his weaknesses and disadvantages, and so awe him or those that have interested in him, and so govern him. Costly followers (among whom we may reckon those who are importunate in suits) are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he maketh his wings shorter. Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid. Seneca saith well, that anger is like rain, that breaks itself upon that it falls. Excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but arts of ostentation. High treason is not written in ice; that when the body relenteth, the impression should go away. The best governments are always subject to be like the fairest crystals, when every icicle or grain is seen, which in a fouler stone is never perceived. SHORT NOTES FOR CIVIL CONVERSATION. To deceive men's expectations generally (with cautel,) argueth a staid mind, and unexpected constancy; viz., in matters of fear, anger, sudden joy or grief, and all things which may affect or alter the mind in public or sudden accidents, or such like. It is necessary to use a steadfast countenance, not waving with action, as in moving the head or hand too much, which showeth a fantastical light and fickle operation of the spirit, and consequently like mind as gesture: only it is sufficient, with leisure, to use a modest action in either. In all kinds of speech, either pleasant, grave, severe, or ordinary, it is convenient to speak leisurely, and rather drawingly, than hastily; because hasty speech confounds the memory, and oftentimes (besides unseemliness) drives a man either to a nonplus or unseemly stammering, harping upon that which should follow; whereas a slow speech confirmeth the memory, addeth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers, besides a seemliness of speech and countenance. To desire in discourse to hold all arguments, is ridiculous, wanting true judgment; for in all things no man can be exquisite. To have common-places to discourse, and to want variety, is both tedious to the hearers, and shows a shallowness of conceit; therefore it is good to vary, and suit speeches with the present occasions; and to have a moderation in all our speeches, especially in jesting of religion, state, great persons, weighty and important business, poverty, or anything deserving pity. To use many circumstances, ere you come to matter, is wearisome: and to use none at all, is but blunt. Bashfulness is a great hinderance to a man, both of uttering his conceit, and understanding what is propounded unto him; wherefore, it is good to press himself forwards with discretion, both in speech, and company of the better sort. Usus promptos facit. THE END. |