,,essays ,,of ,,michel ,,de ,,montaigne ,translated by ,charles ,cotton ,edited by ,william ,carew ,hazilitt #ahgg ,,book ,,the ,,first ,,contents ,,of ,,volume #b4 ,i4 ,that ,men by ,various ,ways ,arrive at the ,same ,end4 ,,ii4 ,of ,sorrow4 ,,iii4 ,that our affections carry themselves beyond us4 ,,iv4 ,that the soul discharges her passions upon false objects1 where the true are wanting4 ,v4 ,whether the governor of a place besieged ought himself to go out to parley4 ,,vi4 ,that the hour of parley is dangerous4 ,,vii4 ,that the intention is judge of our actions4 ,,viii4 ,of idleness4 ,,ix4 ,of liars4 ,x4 ,of quick or slow speech4 ,,xi4 ,of prognostications4 ,,xii4 ,of constancy4 ,,chapter ,i ,,that ,,men ,,by ,,various ,,ways ,,arrive ,,at ,,the ,,same ,,end4 ,the most usual way of appeasing the indignation of such as we have any way offended1 when we see them in possession of the power of revenge1 and find that we absolutely lie at their mercy1 is by submission1 to move them to commiseration and pity2 and yet bravery1 constancy1 and resolution1 however quite contrary means1 have sometimes served to produce the same effect4--,florio's version begins thus3 ,the most vsuall waie to appease those minds wee have offended1 when revenge lies in their hands1 and that we stand at their mercie1 is by submission to move them to commiseration and pity3 ,nevertheless1 courage1 constancie1 and resolution 7means altogether opposite7 have sometimes wrought the same effect4-- ,the spelling is ,florio's ,d4,w4 ,edward1 ,prince of ,wales ,edward1 the ,black ,prince4 ,d4,w4 7the same who so long governed our ,guienne1 a personage whose condition and fortune have in them a great deal of the most notable and most considerable parts of grandeur71 having been highly incensed by the ,limousins1 and taking their city by assault1 was not1 either by the cries of the people1 or the prayers and tears of the women and children1 abandoned to slaughter and prostrate at his feet for mercy1 to be stayed from prosecuting his revenge2 till1 penetrating further into the town1 he at last took notice of three ,french gentlemen1--,these were ,jean de ,villemure1 ,hugh de la ,roche1 and ,roger de ,beaufort4--,froissart1 i4 c4 #bhi4 ,the city was ,limoges4 ,d4,w4--who with incredible bravery alone sustained the power of his victorious army4 ,then it was that consideration and respect unto so remarkable a valour first stopped the torrent of his fury1 and that his clemency1 beginning with these three cavaliers1 was afterwards extended to all the remaining inhabitants of the city4 ,scanderbeg1 ,prince of ,epirus1 pursuing one of his soldiers with purpose to kill him1 the soldier1 having in vain tried by all the ways of humility and supplication to appease him1 resolved1 as his last refuge1 to face about and await him sword in hand3 which behaviour of his gave a sudden stop to his captain's fury1 who1 for seeing him assume so notable a resolution1 received him into grace2 an example1 however1 that might suffer another interpretation with such as have not read of the prodigious force and valour of that prince4 ,the ,emperor ,conrad ,,iii4 having besieged ,guelph1 ,duke of ,bavaria1--,in #aadj1 in ,weinsberg1 ,upper ,bavaria4--would not be prevailed upon1 what mean and unmanly satisfactions soever were tendered to him1 to condescend to milder conditions than that the ladies and gentlewomen only who were in the town with the duke might go out without violation of their honour1 on foot1 and with so much only as they could carry about them4 ,whereupon they1 out of magnanimity of heart1 presently contrived to carry out1 upon their shoulders1 their husbands and children1 and the duke himself2 a sight at which the emperor was so pleased1 that1 ravished with the generosity of the action1 he wept for joy1 and immediately extinguishing in his heart the mortal and capital hatred he had conceived against this duke1 he from that time forward treated him and his with all humanity4 ,the one and the other of these two ways would with great facility work upon my nature2 for ,i have a marvellous propensity to mercy and mildness1 and to such a degree that ,i fancy of the two ,i should sooner surrender my anger to compassion than to esteem4 ,and yet pity is reputed a vice amongst the ,stoics1 who will that we succour the afflicted1 but not that we should be so affected with their sufferings as to suffer with them4 ,i conceived these examples not ill suited to the question in hand1 and the rather because therein we observe these great souls assaulted and tried by these two several ways1 to resist the one without relenting1 and to be shook and subjected by the other4 ,it may be true that to suffer a man's heart to be totally subdued by compassion may be imputed to facility1 effeminacy1 and over-tenderness2 whence it comes to pass that the weaker natures1 as of women1 children1 and the common sort of people1 are the most subject to it but after having resisted and disdained the power of groans and tears1 to yield to the sole reverence of the sacred image of ,valour1 this can be no other than the effect of a strong and inflexible soul enamoured of and honouring masculine and obstinate courage4 ,nevertheless1 astonishment and admiration may1 in less generous minds1 beget a like effect3 witness the people of ,thebes1 who1 having put two of their generals upon trial for their lives for having continued in arms beyond the precise term of their commission1 very hardly pardoned ,pelopidas1 who1 bowing under the weight of so dangerous an accusation1 made no manner of defence for himself1 nor produced other arguments than prayers and supplications2 whereas1 on the contrary1 ,epaminondas1 falling to recount magniloquently the exploits he had performed in their service1 and1 after a haughty and arrogant manner reproaching them with ingratitude and injustice1 they had not the heart to proceed any further in his trial1 but broke up the court and departed1 the whole assembly highly commending the high courage of this personage4--,plutarch1 ,how far a ,man may praise ,himself1 c4 #e4 ,dionysius the elder1 after having1 by a tedious siege and through exceeding great difficulties1 taken the city of ,reggio1 and in it the governor ,phyton1 a very gallant man1 who had made so obstinate a defence1 was resolved to make him a tragical example of his revenge3 in order whereunto he first told him1 ,that he had the day before caused his son and all his kindred to be drowned4 ,to which ,phyton returned no other answer but this3 ,that they were then by one day happier than he4 ,after which1 causing him to be stripped1 and delivering him into the hands of the tormentors1 he was by them not only dragged through the streets of the town1 and most ignominiously and cruelly whipped1 but moreover vilified with most bitter and contumelious language3 yet still he maintained his courage entire all the way1 with a strong voice and undaunted countenance proclaiming the honourable and glorious cause of his death2 namely1 for that he would not deliver up his country into the hands of a tyrant2 at the same time denouncing against him a speedy chastisement from the offended gods4 ,at which ,dionysius1 reading in his soldiers' looks1 that instead of being incensed at the haughty language of this conquered enemy1 to the contempt of their captain and his triumph1 they were not only struck with admiration of so rare a virtue1 but moreover inclined to mutiny1 and were even ready to rescue the prisoner out of the hangman's hands1 he caused the torturing to cease1 and afterwards privately caused him to be thrown into the sea4--,diod4 ,sic41 xiv4 #bi4 ,man 7in good earnest7 is a marvellous vain1 fickle1 and unstable subject1 and on whom it is very hard to form any certain and uniform judgment4 ,for ,pompey could pardon the whole city of the ,mamertines1 though furiously incensed against it1 upon the single account of the virtue and magnanimity of one citizen1 ,zeno1--,plutarch calls him ,stheno1 and also ,sthemnus and ,sthenis--who took the fault of the public wholly upon himself2 neither entreated other favour1 but alone to undergo the punishment for all3 and yet ,sylla's host1 having in the city of ,perugia --,plutarch says ,preneste1 a town of ,latium4--manifested the same virtue1 obtained nothing by it1 either for himself or his fellow-citizens4 ,and1 directly contrary to my first examples1 the bravest of all men1 and who was reputed so gracious to all those he overcame1 ,alexander1 having1 after many great difficulties1 forced the city of ,gaza1 and1 entering1 found ,betis1 who commanded there1 and of whose valour in the time of this siege he had most marvellous manifest proof1 alone1 forsaken by all his soldiers1 his armour hacked and hewed to pieces1 covered all over with blood and wounds1 and yet still fighting in the crowd of a number of ,macedonians1 who were laying on him on all sides1 he said to him1 nettled at so dear-bought a victory 7for1 in addition to the other damage1 he had two wounds newly received in his own person71 ,thou shalt not die1 ,betis1 as thou dost intend2 be sure thou shall suffer all the torments that can be inflicted on a captive4 ,to which menace the other returning no other answer1 but only a fierce and disdainful look2 ,what1 says ,alexander1 observing his haughty and obstinate silence1 is he too stiff to bend a knee6 ,is he too proud to utter one suppliant word6 ,truly1 ,i will conquer this silence2 and if ,i cannot force a word from his mouth1 ,i will1 at least1 extract a groan from his heart4 ,and thereupon converting his anger into fury1 presently commanded his heels to be bored through1 causing him1 alive1 to be dragged1 mangled1 and dismembered at a cart's tail4--,quintus ,curtius1 iv4 #f4 ,this act of cruelty has been doubted1 notwithstanding the statement of ,curtius4--,was it that the height of courage was so natural and familiar to this conqueror1 that because he could not admire1 he respected it the less8 ,or was it that he conceived valour to be a virtue so peculiar to himself1 that his pride could not1 without envy1 endure it in another8 ,or was it that the natural impetuosity of his fury was incapable of opposition8 ,certainly1 had it been capable of moderation1 it is to be believed that in the sack and desolation of ,thebes1 to see so many valiant men1 lost and totally destitute of any further defence1 cruelly massacred before his eyes1 would have appeased it3 where there were above six thousand put to the sword1 of whom not one was seen to fly1 or heard to cry out for quarter2 but1 on the contrary1 every one running here and there to seek out and to provoke the victorious enemy to help them to an honourable end4 ,not one was seen who1 however weakened with wounds1 did not in his last gasp yet endeavour to revenge himself1 and with all the arms of a brave despair1 to sweeten his own death in the death of an enemy4 ,yet did their valour create no pity1 and the length of one day was not enough to satiate the thirst of the conqueror's revenge1 but the slaughter continued to the last drop of blood that was capable of being shed1 and stopped not till it met with none but unarmed persons1 old men1 women1 and children1 of them to carry away to the number of thirty thousand slaves4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,of ,,sorrow ,no man living is more free from this passion than ,i1 who yet neither like it in myself nor admire it in others1 and yet generally the world1 as a settled thing1 is pleased to grace it with a particular esteem1 clothing therewith wisdom1 virtue1 and conscience4 ,foolish and sordid guise6 --,no man is more free from this passion than ,i1 for ,i neither love nor regard it3 albeit the world hath undertaken1 as it were upon covenant1 to grace it with a particular favour4 ,therewith they adorne age1 vertue1 and conscience4 ,oh foolish and base ornament6 ,florio1 #afac1 p4 #c --,the ,italians have more fitly baptized by this name--,la tristezza-- malignity2 for 'tis a quality always hurtful1 always idle and vain2 and as being cowardly1 mean1 and base1 it is by the ,stoics expressly and particularly forbidden to their sages4 ,but the story--,herodotus1 iii4 #ad4--says that ,psammenitus1 ,king of ,egypt1 being defeated and taken prisoner by ,cambyses1 ,king of ,persia1 seeing his own daughter pass by him as prisoner1 and in a wretched habit1 with a bucket to draw water1 though his friends about him were so concerned as to break out into tears and lamentations1 yet he himself remained unmoved1 without uttering a word1 his eyes fixed upon the ground2 and seeing1 moreover1 his son immediately after led to execution1 still maintained the same countenance2 till spying at last one of his domestic and familiar friends dragged away amongst the captives1 he fell to tearing his hair and beating his breast1 with all the other extravagances of extreme sorrow4 ,a story that may very fitly be coupled with another of the same kind1 of recent date1 of a prince of our own nation1 who being at ,trent1 and having news there brought him of the death of his elder brother1 a brother on whom depended the whole support and honour of his house1 and soon after of that of a younger brother1 the second hope of his family1 and having withstood these two assaults with an exemplary resolution2 one of his servants happening a few days after to die1 he suffered his constancy to be overcome by this last accident2 and1 parting with his courage1 so abandoned himself to sorrow and mourning1 that some thence were forward to conclude that he was only touched to the quick by this last stroke of fortune2 but1 in truth1 it was1 that being before brimful of grief1 the least addition overflowed the bounds of all patience4 ,which1 ,i think1 might also be said of the former example1 did not the story proceed to tell us that ,cambyses asking ,psammenitus1 ,why1 not being moved at the calamity of his son and daughter1 he should with so great impatience bear the misfortune of his friend8 ,it is1 answered he1 because only this last affliction was to be manifested by tears1 the two first far exceeding all manner of expression4 ,and1 peradventure1 something like this might be working in the fancy of the ancient painter1--,cicero1 ,de ,orator41 c4 #bb 2 ,pliny1 xxxv4 #aj4-- who having1 in the sacrifice of ,iphigenia1 to represent the sorrow of the assistants proportionably to the several degrees of interest every one had in the death of this fair innocent virgin1 and having1 in the other figures1 laid out the utmost power of his art1 when he came to that of her father1 he drew him with a veil over his face1 meaning thereby that no kind of countenance was capable of expressing such a degree of sorrow4 ,which is also the reason why the poets feign the miserable mother1 ,niobe1 having first lost seven sons1 and then afterwards as many daughters 7overwhelmed with her losses71 to have been at last transformed into a rock-- ,diriguisse malis1 ,petrified with her misfortunes4--,ovid1 ,met41 vi4 #cjd4 thereby to express that melancholic1 dumb1 and deaf stupefaction1 which benumbs all our faculties1 when oppressed with accidents greater than we are able to bear4 ,and1 indeed1 the violence and impression of an excessive grief must of necessity astonish the soul1 and wholly deprive her of her ordinary functions3 as it happens to every one of us1 who1 upon any sudden alarm of very ill news1 find ourselves surprised1 stupefied1 and in a manner deprived of all power of motion1 so that the soul1 beginning to vent itself in tears and lamentations1 seems to free and disengage itself from the sudden oppression1 and to have obtained some room to work itself out at greater liberty4 ,et via vix tandem voci laxata dolore est4 ,and at length and with difficulty is a passage opened by grief for utterance4--,a,eneid1 xi4 #aea4 ,in the war that ,ferdinand made upon the widow of ,king ,john of ,hungary1 about ,buda1 a man-at-arms was particularly taken notice of by every one for his singular gallant behaviour in a certain encounter2 and1 unknown1 highly commended1 and lamented1 being left dead upon the place3 but by none so much as by ,raisciac1 a ,german lord1 who was infinitely enamoured of so rare a valour4 ,the body being brought off1 and the count1 with the common curiosity coming to view it1 the armour was no sooner taken off but he immediately knew him to be his own son1 a thing that added a second blow to the compassion of all the beholders2 only he1 without uttering a word1 or turning away his eyes from the woeful object1 stood fixedly contemplating the body of his son1 till the vehemency of sorrow having overcome his vital spirits1 made him sink down stone-dead to the ground4 ,chi puo dir com' egli arde1 a in picciol fuoco1 ,he who can say how he burns with love1 has little fire --,petrarca1 ,sonetto #acg4 say the ,innamoratos1 when they would represent an 'insupportable passion4 ,misero quod omneis ,eripit sensus mihi3 nam simul te1 ,lesbia1 aspexi1 nihil est super mi1 ,quod loquar amens4 ,lingua sed torpet3 tenuis sub artus ,flamma dimanat2 sonitu suopte ,tintinant aures2 gemina teguntur ,lumina nocte4 ,love deprives me of all my faculties3 ,lesbia1 when once in thy presence1 ,i have not left the power to tell my distracting passion3 my tongue becomes torpid2 a subtle flame creeps through my veins2 my ears tingle in deafness2 my eyes are veiled with darkness4 ,catullus1 ,epig4 li4 #e ,neither is it in the height and greatest fury of the fit that we are in a condition to pour out our complaints or our amorous persuasions1 the soul being at that time over-burdened1 and labouring with profound thoughts2 and the body dejected and languishing with desire2 and thence it is that sometimes proceed those accidental impotencies that so unseasonably surprise the lover1 and that frigidity which by the force of an immoderate ardour seizes him even in the very lap of fruition4 --,the edition of #aehh has here1 ,an accident not unknown to myself4-- ,for all passions that suffer themselves to be relished and digested are but moderate3 ,curae leves loquuntur1 ingentes stupent4 ,light griefs can speak3 deep sorrows are dumb4 --,seneca1 ,hippolytus1 act ii4 scene #c4 ,a surprise of unexpected joy does likewise often produce the same effect3 ,ut me conspexit venientem1 et ,troja circum ,arma amens vidit1 magnis exterrita monstris1 ,diriguit visu in medio1 calor ossa reliquit1 ,labitur1 et longo vix tandem tempore fatur4 ,when she beheld me advancing1 and saw1 with stupefaction1 the ,trojan arms around me1 terrified with so great a prodigy1 she fainted away at the very sight3 vital warmth forsook her limbs3 she sinks down1 and1 after a long interval1 with difficulty speaks4-- ,a,eneid1 iii4 #cjf4 ,besides the examples of the ,roman lady1 who died for joy to see her son safe returned from the defeat of ,cannae2 and of ,sophocles and of ,dionysius the ,tyrant1--,pliny1 vii4 #ec4 ,diodorus ,siculus1 however 7xv4 c4 #bj71 tells us that ,dionysius was so overjoyed at the news that he made a great sacrifice upon it to the gods1 prepared sumptuous feasts1 to which he invited all his friends1 and therein drank so excessively that it threw him into a very bad distemper4--who died of joy2 and of ,thalna1 who died in ,corsica1 reading news of the honours the ,roman ,senate had decreed in his favour1 we have1 moreover1 one in our time1 of ,pope ,leo ,x41 who upon news of the taking of ,milan1 a thing he had so ardently desired1 was rapt with so sudden an excess of joy that he immediately fell into a fever and died4--,guicciardini1 ,storia d',italia1 vol4 xiv4--,and for a more notable testimony of the imbecility of human nature1 it is recorded by the ancients--,pliny1 'ut supra'--that ,diodorus the dialectician died upon the spot1 out of an extreme passion of shame1 for not having been able in his own school1 and in the presence of a great auditory1 to disengage himself from a nice argument that was propounded to him4 ,i1 for my part1 am very little subject to these violent passions2 ,i am naturally of a stubborn apprehension1 which also1 by reasoning1 ,i every day harden and fortify4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,that ,,our ,,affections ,,carry ,,themselves ,,beyond ,,us4 ,such as accuse mankind of the folly of gaping after future things1 and advise us to make our benefit of those which are present1 and to set up our rest upon them1 as having no grasp upon that which is to come1 even less than that which we have upon what is past1 have hit upon the most universal of human errors1 if that may be called an error to which nature herself has disposed us1 in order to the continuation of her own work1 prepossessing us1 amongst several others1 with this deceiving imagination1 as being more jealous of our action than afraid of our knowledge4 ,we are never present with1 but always beyond ourselves3 fear1 desire1 hope1 still push us on towards the future1 depriving us1 in the meantime1 of the sense and consideration of that which is to amuse us with the thought of what shall be1 even when we shall be no more4--,rousseau1 ,emile1 livre ii4 ,calamitosus est animus futuri auxius4 ,the mind anxious about the future is unhappy4 --,seneca1 ,epist41 #ih4 ,we find this great precept often repeated in ,plato1 ,do thine own work1 and know thyself4 ,of which two parts1 both the one and the other generally1 comprehend our whole duty1 and do each of them in like manner involve the other2 for who will do his own work aright will find that his first lesson is to know what he is1 and that which is proper to himself2 and who rightly understands himself will never mistake another man's work for his own1 but will love and improve himself above all other things1 will refuse superfluous employments1 and reject all unprofitable thoughts and propositions4 ,as folly1 on the one side1 though it should enjoy all it desire1 would notwithstanding never be content1 so1 on the other1 wisdom1 acquiescing in the present1 is never dissatisfied with itself4 --,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quae41 #eg1 v4 #ah4--;,epicurus dispenses his sages from all foresight and care of the future4 ,amongst those laws that relate to the dead1 ,i look upon that to be very sound by which the actions of princes are to be examined after their decease4--,diodorus ,siculus1 i4 #f4-- ,they are equals with1 if not masters of the laws1 and1 therefore1 what justice could not inflict upon their persons1 'tis but reason should be executed upon their reputations and the estates of their successors--things that we often value above life itself4 ',tis a custom of singular advantage to those countries where it is in use1 and by all good princes to be desired1 who have reason to take it ill1 that the memories of the wicked should be used with the same reverence and respect with their own4 ,we owe subjection and obedience to all our kings1 whether good or bad1 alike1 for that has respect unto their office2 but as to esteem and affection1 these are only due to their virtue4 ,let us grant to political government to endure them with patience1 however unworthy2 to conceal their vices2 and to assist them with our recommendation in their indifferent actions1 whilst their authority stands in need of our support4 ,but1 the relation of prince and subject being once at an end1 there is no reason we should deny the expression of our real opinions to our own liberty and common justice1 and especially to interdict to good subjects the glory of having reverently and faithfully served a prince1 whose imperfections were to them so well known2 this were to deprive posterity of a useful example4 ,and such as1 out of respect to some private obligation1 unjustly espouse and vindicate the memory of a faulty prince1 do private right at the expense of public justice4 ,livy does very truly say1--xxxv4 #dh4-- ,that the language of men bred up in courts is always full of vain ostentation and false testimony1 every one indifferently magnifying his own master1 and stretching his commendation to the utmost extent of virtue and sovereign grandeur4 ,some may condemn the freedom of those two soldiers who so roundly answered ,nero to his beard2 the one being asked by him why he bore him ill-will8 ,i loved thee1 answered he1 whilst thou wert worthy of it1 but since thou art become a parricide1 an incendiary1 a player1 and a coachman1 ,i hate thee as thou dost deserve4 ,and the other1 why he should attempt to kill him8 ,because1 said he1 ,i could think of no other remedy against thy perpetual mischiefs4 --,tacitus1 ,annal41 xv4 #fg4--;,but the public and universal testimonies that were given of him after his death 7and so will be to all posterity1 both of him and all other wicked princes like him71 of his tyrannies and abominable deportment1 who1 of a sound judgment1 can reprove them8 ,i am scandalised1 that in so sacred a government as that of the ,lacedaemonians there should be mixed so hypocritical a ceremony at the interment of their kings2 where all their confederates and neighbours1 and all sorts and degrees of men and women1 as well as their slaves1 cut and slashed their foreheads in token of sorrow1 repeating in their cries and lamentations that that king 7let him have been as wicked as the devil7 was the best that ever they had2--,herodotus1 vi4 #fh4--;by this means attributing to his quality the praise that only belongs to merit1 and that of right is due to supreme desert1 though lodged in the lowest and most inferior subject4 ,aristotle1 who will still have a hand in everything1 makes a 'quaere' upon the saying of ,solon1 that none can be said to be happy until he is dead3 whether1 then1 he who has lived and died according to his heart's desire1 if he have left an ill repute behind him1 and that his posterity be miserable1 can be said to be happy8 ,whilst we have life and motion1 we convey ourselves by fancy and preoccupation1 whither and to what we please2 but once out of being1 we have no more any manner of communication with that which is1 and it had therefore been better said by ,solon that man is never happy1 because never so1 till he is no more4 ,quisquam ,vix radicitus e vita se tollit1 et eicit2 ,sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse1 ,nec removet satis a projecto corpore sese1 et ,vindicat4 ,scarcely one man can1 even in dying1 wholly detach himself from the idea of life2 in his ignorance he must needs imagine that there is in him something that survives him1 and cannot sufficiently separate or emancipate himself from his remains --,lucretius1 iii4 #hij4 ,bertrand de ,guesclin1 dying at the siege of the ,castle of ,rancon1 near unto ,puy1 in ,auvergne1 the besieged were afterwards1 upon surrender1 enjoined to lay down the keys of the place upon the corpse of the dead general4 ,bartolommeo d',alviano1 the ,venetian ,general1 happening to die in the service of the ,republic in ,brescia1 and his corpse being to be carried through the territory of ,verona1 an enemy's country1 most of the army were inclined to demand safe-conduct from the ,veronese2 but ,theodoro ,trivulzio opposed the motion1 rather choosing to make his way by force of arms1 and to run the hazard of a battle1 saying it was by no means fit that he who in his life was never afraid of his enemies should seem to apprehend them when he was dead4 ,in truth1 in affairs of the same nature1 by the ,greek laws1 he who made suit to an enemy for a body to give it burial renounced his victory1 and had no more right to erect a trophy1 and he to whom such suit was made was reputed victor4 ,by this means it was that ,nicias lost the advantage he had visibly obtained over the ,corinthians1 and that ,agesilaus1 on the contrary1 assured that which he had before very doubtfully gained over the ,boeotians4--,plutarch1 ,life of ,nicias1 c4 ii42 ,life of ,agesilaus1 c4 vi4 ,these things might appear strange1 had it not been a general practice in all ages not only to extend the concern of ourselves beyond this life1 but1 moreover1 to fancy that the favour of ,heaven does not only very often accompany us to the grave1 but has also1 even after life1 a concern for our ashes4 ,of which there are so many ancient examples 7to say nothing of those of our own observation71 that it is not necessary ,i should longer insist upon it4 ,edward ,i41 ,king of ,england1 having in the long wars betwixt him and ,robert1 ,king of ,scotland1 had experience of how great importance his own immediate presence was to the success of his affairs1 having ever been victorious in whatever he undertook in his own person1 when he came to die1 bound his son in a solemn oath that1 so soon as he should be dead he should boil his body till the flesh parted from the bones1 and bury the flesh1 reserving the bones to carry continually with him in his army1 so often as he should be obliged to go against the ,scots1 as if destiny had inevitably attached victory1 even to his remains4 ,john ,zisca1 the same who1 to vindication of ,wicliffe's heresies1 troubled the ,bohemian state1 left order that they should flay him after his death1 and of his skin make a drum to carry in the war against his enemies1 fancying it would contribute to the continuation of the successes he had always obtained in the wars against them4 ,in like manner certain of the ,indians1 in their battles with the ,spaniards1 carried with them the bones of one of their captains1 in consideration of the victories they had formerly obtained under his conduct4 ,and other people of the same ,new ,world carry about with them1 in their wars1 the relics of valiant men who have died in battle1 to incite their courage and advance their fortune4 ,of which examples the first reserve nothing for the tomb but the reputation they have acquired by their former achievements1 but these attribute to them a certain present and active power4 ,the proceeding of ,captain ,bayard is of a better composition1 who finding himself wounded to death with an harquebuss shot1 and being importuned to retire out of the fight1 made answer that he would not begin at the last gasp to turn his back to the enemy1 and accordingly still fought on1 till feeling himself too faint and no longer able to sit on his horse1 he commanded his steward to set him down at the foot of a tree1 but so that he might die with his face towards the enemy1 which he did4 ,i must yet add another example1 equally remarkable for the present consideration with any of the former4 ,the ,emperor ,maximilian1 great-grandfather to the now ,king ,philip1--,philip ,,ii4 of ,spain4--was a prince endowed throughout with great and extraordinary qualities1 and amongst the rest with a singular beauty of person1 but had withal a humour very contrary to that of other princes1 who for the despatch of their most important affairs convert their close-stool into a chair of ,state1 which was1 that he would never permit any of his bedchamber1 how familiar soever1 to see him in that posture1 and would steal aside to make water as religiously as a virgin1 shy to discover to his physician or any other whomsoever those parts that we are accustomed to conceal4 ,i myself1 who have so impudent a way of talking1 am1 nevertheless1 naturally so modest this way1 that unless at the importunity of necessity or pleasure1 ,i scarcely ever communicate to the sight of any either those parts or actions that custom orders us to conceal1 wherein ,i suffer more constraint than ,i conceive is very well becoming a man1 especially of my profession4 ,but he nourished this modest humour to such a degree of superstition as to give express orders in his last will that they should put him on drawers so soon as he should be dead2 to which1 methinks1 he would have done well to have added that he should be blindfolded1 too1 that put them on4 ,the charge that ,cyrus left with his children1 that neither they1 nor any other1 should either see or touch his body after the soul was departed from it1--,xenophon1 ,cyropedia1 viii4 #g4--;,i attribute to some superstitious devotion of his2 for both his historian and himself1 amongst their great qualities1 marked the whole course of their lives with a singular respect and reverence to religion4 ,i was by no means pleased with a story1 told me by a man of very great quality of a relation of mine1 and one who had given a very good account of himself both in peace and war1 that1 coming to die in a very old age1 of excessive pain of the stone1 he spent the last hours of his life in an extraordinary solicitude about ordering the honour and ceremony of his funeral1 pressing all the men of condition who came to see him to engage their word to attend him to his grave3 importuning this very prince1 who came to visit him at his last gasp1 with a most earnest supplication that he would order his family to be there1 and presenting before him several reasons and examples to prove that it was a respect due to a man of his condition2 and seemed to die content1 having obtained this promise1 and appointed the method and order of his funeral parade4 ,i have seldom heard of so persistent a vanity4 ,another1 though contrary curiosity 7of which singularity1 also1 ,i do not want domestic example71 seems to be somewhat akin to this1 that a man shall cudgel his brains at the last moments of his life to contrive his obsequies to so particular and unusual a parsimony as of one servant with a lantern1 ,i see this humour commended1 and the appointment of ,marcus4 ,emilius ,lepidus1 who forbade his heirs to bestow upon his hearse even the common ceremonies in use upon such occasions4 ,is it yet temperance and frugality to avoid expense and pleasure of which the use and knowledge are imperceptible to us8 ,see1 here1 an easy and cheap reformation4 ,if instruction were at all necessary in this case1 ,i should be of opinion that in this1 as in all other actions of life1 each person should regulate the matter according to his fortune2 and the philosopher ,lycon prudently ordered his friends to dispose of his body where they should think most fit1 and as to his funeral1 to order it neither too superfluous nor too mean4 ,for my part1 ,i should wholly refer the ordering of this ceremony to custom1 and shall1 when the time comes1 accordingly leave it to their discretion to whose lot it shall fall to do me that last office4 ,totus hic locus est contemnendus in nobis1 non negligendus in nostris2--,the place of our sepulture is to be contemned by us1 but not to be neglected by our friends4--,cicero1 ,tusc4 i4 #de4-- and it was a holy saying of a saint1 ,curatio funeris1 conditio sepultura3 pompa exequiarum1 magis sunt vivorum solatia1 quam subsidia mortuorum4--,the care of death1 the place of sepulture1 the pomps of obsequies1 are rather consolations to the living than succours to the dead4 ,august4 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 i4 #ab4--,which made ,socrates answer ,crito1 who1 at death1 asked him how he would be buried3 ,how you will1 said he4 ,if ,i were to concern myself beyond the present about this affair1 ,i should be most tempted1 as the greatest satisfaction of this kind1 to imitate those who in their lifetime entertain themselves with the ceremony and honours of their own obsequies beforehand1 and are pleased with beholding their own dead countenance in marble4 ,happy are they who can gratify their senses by insensibility1 and live by their death6 ,i am ready to conceive an implacable hatred against all popular domination1 though ,i think it the most natural and equitable of all1 so oft as ,i call to mind the inhuman injustice of the people of ,athens1 who1 without remission1 or once vouchsafing to hear what they had to say for themselves1 put to death their brave captains newly returned triumphant from a naval victory they had obtained over the ,lacedaemonians near the ,arginusian ,isles1 the most bloody and obstinate engagement that ever the ,greeks fought at sea2 because 7after the victory7 they followed up the blow and pursued the advantages presented to them by the rule of war1 rather than stay to gather up and bury their dead4 ,and the execution is yet rendered more odious by the behaviour of ,diomedon1 who1 being one of the condemned1 and a man of most eminent virtue1 political and military1 after having heard the sentence1 advancing to speak1 no audience till then having been allowed1 instead of laying before them his own cause1 or the impiety of so cruel a sentence1 only expressed a solicitude for his judges' preservation1 beseeching the gods to convert this sentence to their good1 and praying that1 for neglecting to fulfil the vows which he and his companions had made 7with which he also acquainted them7 in acknowledgment of so glorious a success1 they might not draw down the indignation of the gods upon them2 and so without more words went courageously to his death4 ,fortune1 a few years after1 punished them in the same kind2 for ,chabrias1 captain-general of their naval forces1 having got the better of ,pollis1 ,admiral of ,sparta1 at the ,isle of ,naxos1 totally lost the fruits of his victory1 one of very great importance to their affairs1 in order not to incur the danger of this example1 and so that he should not lose a few bodies of his dead friends that were floating in the sea1 gave opportunity to a world of living enemies to sail away in safety1 who afterwards made them pay dear for this unseasonable superstition3-- ,quaeris1 quo jaceas1 post obitum1 loco8 ,quo non nata jacent4 ,dost ask where thou shalt lie after death8 ,where things not born lie1 that never being had4 ,seneca1 ,tyoa4 ,choro ii4 #cj4 ,this other restores the sense of repose to a body without a soul3 ,neque sepulcrum1 quo recipiatur1 habeat3 portum corporis1 ubi1 remissa human1 vita1 corpus requiescat a malis4 ,nor let him have a sepulchre wherein he may be received1 a haven for his body1 where1 life being gone1 that body may rest from its woes4--,ennius1 ap4 ,cicero1 ,tusc4 i4 #dd4 ,as nature demonstrates to us that several dead things retain yet an occult relation to life2 wine changes its flavour and complexion in cellars1 according to the changes and seasons of the vine from whence it came2 and the flesh of--venison alters its condition in the powdering-tub1 and its taste according to the laws of the living flesh of its kind1 as it is said4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,that ,,the ,,soul ,,expends ,,its ,,passions ,,upon ,,false ,,objects1 ,,where ,,the ,,true ,,are ,,wanting ,a gentleman of my country1 marvellously tormented with the gout1 being importuned by his physicians totally to abstain from all manner of salt meats1 was wont pleasantly to reply1 that in the extremity of his fits he must needs have something to quarrel with1 and that railing at and cursing1 one while the ,bologna sausages1 and another the dried tongues and the hams1 was some mitigation to his pain4 ,but1 in good earnest1 as the arm when it is advanced to strike1 if it miss the blow1 and goes by the wind1 it pains us2 and as also1 that1 to make a pleasant prospect1 the sight should not be lost and dilated in vague air1 but have some bound and object to limit and circumscribe it at a reasonable distance4 ,ventus ut amittit vires1 nisi robore densa ,occurrant sylvae1 spatio diffusus inani4 ,as the wind loses its force diffused in void space1 unless it in its strength encounters the thick wood4--,lucan1 iii4 #cfb4 ,so it seems that the soul1 being transported and discomposed1 turns its violence upon itself1 if not supplied with something to oppose it1 and therefore always requires an object at which to aim1 and whereon to act4 ,plutarch says of those who are delighted with little dogs and monkeys1 that the amorous part that is in us1 for want of a legitimate object1 rather than lie idle1 does after that manner forge and create one false and frivolous4 ,and we see that the soul1 in its passions1 inclines rather to deceive itself1 by creating a false and fantastical a subject1 even contrary to its own belief1 than not to have something to work upon4 ,after this manner brute beasts direct their fury to fall upon the stone or weapon that has hurt them1 and with their teeth a even execute revenge upon themselves for the injury they have received from another3 ,pannonis haud aliter1 post ictum saevior ursa1 ,cui jaculum parva ,lybis amentavit habena1 ,se rotat in vulnus1 telumque irata receptum ,impetit1 et secum fugientem circuit hastam4 ,so the she-bear1 fiercer after the blow from the ,lybian's thong- hurled dart1 turns round upon the wound1 and attacking the received spear1 twists it1 as she flies4--,lucan1 vi4 #bbj4 ,what causes of the misadventures that befall us do we not invent8 what is it that we do not lay the fault to1 right or wrong1 that we may have something to quarrel with8 ,it is not those beautiful tresses you tear1 nor is it the white bosom that in your anger you so unmercifully beat1 that with an unlucky bullet have slain your beloved brother2 quarrel with something else4 ,livy1 speaking of the ,roman army in ,spain1 says that for the loss of the two brothers1 their great captains3 ,flere omnes repente1 et offensare capita4 ,all at once wept and tore their hair4-,livy1 xxv4 #cg4 ',tis a common practice4 ,and the philosopher ,bion said pleasantly of the king1 who by handsful pulled his hair off his head for sorrow1 ,does this man think that baldness is a remedy for grief8--,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quest41 iii4 #bf4--,who has not seen peevish gamesters chew and swallow the cards1 and swallow the dice1 in revenge for the loss of their money8 ,xerxes whipped the sea1 and wrote a challenge to ,mount ,athos2 ,cyrus employed a whole army several days at work1 to revenge himself of the river ,gyndas1 for the fright it had put him into in passing over it2 and ,caligula demolished a very beautiful palace for the pleasure his mother had once enjoyed there4 --,pleasure--unless 'plaisir' were originally 'deplaisir'--must be understood here ironically1 for the house was one in which she had been imprisoned4--,seneca1 ,de ,ira4 iii4 #bb-- ,i remember there was a story current1 when ,i was a boy1 that one of our neighbouring kings--,probably ,alfonso ,,xi4 of ,castile--having received a blow from the hand of ,god1 swore he would be revenged1 and in order to it1 made proclamation that for ten years to come no one should pray to ,him1 or so much as mention ,him throughout his dominions1 or1 so far as his authority went1 believe in ,him2 by which they meant to paint not so much the folly as the vainglory of the nation of which this tale was told4 ,they are vices that always go together1 but in truth such actions as these have in them still more of presumption than want of wit4 ,augustus ,caesar1 having been tossed with a tempest at sea1 fell to defying ,neptune1 and in the pomp of the ,circensian games1 to be revenged1 deposed his statue from the place it had amongst the other deities4 ,wherein he was still less excusable than the former1 and less than he was afterwards when1 having lost a battle under ,quintilius ,varus in ,germany1 in rage and despair he went running his head against the wall1 crying out1 ,o ,varus6 give me back my legions6 for these exceed all folly1 forasmuch as impiety is joined therewith1 invading ,god ,himself1 or at least ,fortune1 as if she had ears that were subject to our batteries2 like the ,thracians1 who when it thunders or lightens1 fall to shooting against heaven with ,titanian vengeance1 as if by flights of arrows they intended to bring ,god to reason4 ,though the ancient poet in ,plutarch tells us-- ,point ne se faut couroucer aux affaires1 ,il ne leur chault de toutes nos choleres4 ,we must not trouble the gods with our affairs2 they take no heed of our angers and disputes4--,plutarch4 ,but we can never enough decry the disorderly sallies of our minds4 ,,chapter ,v ,,whether ,,the ,,governor ,,of ,a ,,place ,,besieged ,,ought ,,himself ,,to ,,go ,,out ,,to ,,parley ,quintus ,marcius1 the ,roman legate in the war against ,perseus1 ,king of ,macedon1 to gain time wherein to reinforce his army1 set on foot some overtures of accommodation1 with which the king being lulled asleep1 concluded a truce for some days1 by this means giving his enemy opportunity and leisure to recruit his forces1 which was afterwards the occasion of the king's final ruin4 ,yet the elder senators1 mindful of their forefathers' manners1 condemned this proceeding as degenerating from their ancient practice1 which1 they said1 was to fight by valour1 and not by artifice1 surprises1 and night-encounters2 neither by pretended flight nor unexpected rallies to overcome their enemies2 never making war till having first proclaimed it1 and very often assigned both the hour and place of battle4 ,out of this generous principle it was that they delivered up to ,pyrrhus his treacherous physician1 and to the ,etrurians their disloyal schoolmaster4 ,this was1 indeed1 a procedure truly ,roman1 and nothing allied to the ,grecian subtlety1 nor to the ,punic cunning1 where it was reputed a victory of less glory to overcome by force than by fraud4 ,deceit may serve for a need1 but he only confesses himself overcome who knows he is neither subdued by policy nor misadventure1 but by dint of valour1 man to man1 in a fair and just war4 ,it very well appears1 by the discourse of these good old senators1 that this fine sentence was not yet received amongst them4 ,dolus1 an virtus1 quis in hoste requirat8 ,what matters whether by valour or by strategem we overcome the enemy8--,aeneid1 ii4 #cij ,the ,achaians1 says ,polybius1 abhorred all manner of double-dealing in war1 not reputing it a victory unless where the courage of the enemy was fairly subdued3 ,eam vir sanctus et sapiens sciet veram esse victoriam1 quae1 salva fide et integra dignitate1 parabitur4--,an honest and prudent man will acknowledge that only to be a true victory which shall be obtained saving his own good faith and dignity4--,florus1 i4 #ab4--,says another3 ,vosne velit1 an me1 regnare hera1 quidve ferat1 fors virtute experiamur4 ,whether you or ,i shall rule1 or what shall happen1 let us determine by valour4--,cicero1 ,de ,offic41 i4 #ab ,in the kingdom of ,ternate1 amongst those nations which we so broadly call barbarians1 they have a custom never to commence war1 till it be first proclaimed2 adding withal an ample declaration of what means they have to do it with1 with what and how many men1 what ammunitions1 and what1 both offensive and defensive1 arms2 but also1 that being done1 if their enemies do not yield and come to an agreement1 they conceive it lawful to employ without reproach in their wars any means which may help them to conquer4 ,the ancient ,florentines were so far from seeking to obtain any advantage over their enemies by surprise1 that they always gave them a month's warning before they drew their army into the field1 by the continual tolling of a bell they called ,martinella4--,after ,st4 ,martin4 ,for what concerns ourselves1 who are not so scrupulous in this affair1 and who attribute the honour of the war to him who has the profit of it1 and who after ,lysander say1 ,where the lion's skin is too short1 we must eke it out with a bit from that of a fox2 the most usual occasions of surprise are derived from this practice1 and we hold that there are no moments wherein a chief ought to be more circumspect1 and to have his eye so much at watch1 as those of parleys and treaties of accommodation2 and it is1 therefore1 become a general rule amongst the martial men of these latter times1 that a governor of a place never ought1 in a time of siege1 to go out to parley4 ,it was for this that in our fathers' days the ,seigneurs de ,montmord and de l',assigni1 defending ,mousson against the ,count of ,nassau1 were so highly censured4 ,but yet1 as to this1 it would be excusable in that governor who1 going out1 should1 notwithstanding1 do it in such manner that the safety and advantage should be on his side2 as ,count ,guido di ,rangone did at ,reggio 7if we are to believe ,du ,bellay1 for ,guicciardini says it was he himself7 when the ,seigneur de l',escut approached to parley1 who stepped so little away from his fort1 that a disorder happening in the interim of parley1 not only ,monsieur de l',escut and his party who were advanced with him1 found themselves by much the weaker1 insomuch that ,alessandro ,trivulcio was there slain1 but he himself follow the ,count1 and1 relying upon his honour1 to secure himself from the danger of the shot within the walls of the town4 ,eumenes1 being shut up in the city of ,nora by ,antigonus1 and by him importuned to come out to speak with him1 as he sent him word it was fit he should to a greater man than himself1 and one who had now an advantage over him1 returned this noble answer4 ,tell him1 said he1 that ,i shall never think any man greater than myself whilst ,i have my sword in my hand1 and would not consent to come out to him till first1 according to his own demand1 ,antigonus had delivered him his own nephew ,ptolomeus in hostage4 ,and yet some have done very well in going out in person to parley1 on the word of the assailant3 witness ,henry de ,vaux1 a cavalier of ,champagne1 who being besieged by the ,english in the ,castle of ,commercy1 and ,bartholomew de ,brunes1 who commanded at the ,leaguer1 having so sapped the greatest part of the castle without1 that nothing remained but setting fire to the props to bury the besieged under the ruins1 he requested the said ,henry to come out to speak with him for his own good1 which he did with three more in company2 and1 his ruin being made apparent to him1 he conceived himself singularly obliged to his enemy1 to whose discretion he and his garrison surrendered themselves2 and fire being presently applied to the mine1 the props no sooner began to fail1 but the castle was immediately blown up from its foundations1 no one stone being left upon another4 ,i could1 and do1 with great facility1 rely upon the faith of another2 but ,i should very unwillingly do it in such a case1 as it should thereby be judged that it was rather an effect of my despair and want of courage than voluntarily and out of confidence and security in the faith of him with whom ,i had to do4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,that ,,the ,,hour ,,of ,,parley ,,dangerous ,i saw1 notwithstanding1 lately at ,mussidan1 a place not far from my house1 that those who were driven out thence by our army1 and others of their party1 highly complained of treachery1 for that during a treaty of accommodation1 and in the very interim that their deputies were treating1 they were surprised and cut to pieces3 a thing that1 peradventure1 in another age1 might have had some colour of foul play2 but1 as ,i have just said1 the practice of arms in these days is quite another thing1 and there is now no confidence in an enemy excusable till the treaty is finally sealed2 and even then the conqueror has enough to do to keep his word3 so hazardous a thing it is to entrust the observation of the faith a man has engaged to a town that surrenders upon easy and favourable conditions1 to the licence of a victorious army1 and to give the soldier free entrance into it in the heat of blood4 ,lucius ,a,emilius ,regillus1 the ,roman praetor1 having lost his time in attempting to take the city of ,phocaea by force1 by reason of the singular valour wherewith the inhabitants defended themselves1 conditioned1 at last1 to receive them as friends to the people of ,rome1 and to enter the town1 as into a confederate city1 without any manner of hostility1 of which he gave them all assurance2 but having1 for the greater pomp1 brought his whole army in with him1 it was no more in his power1 with all the endeavour he could use1 to restrain his people3 so that1 avarice and revenge trampling under foot both his authority and all military discipline1 he there saw a considerable part of the city sacked and ruined before his face4 ,cleomenes was wont to say1 that what mischief soever a man could do his enemy in time of war was above justice1 and nothing accountable to it in the sight of gods and men4 ,and so1 having concluded a truce with those of ,argos for seven days1 the third night after he fell upon them when they were all buried in sleep1 and put them to the sword1 alleging that there had no nights been mentioned in the truce2 but the gods punished this subtle perfidy4 ,in a time of parley also2 and while the citizens were relying upon their safety warrant1 the city of ,casilinum was taken by surprise1 and that even in the age of the justest captains and the most perfect ,roman military discipline2 for it is not said that it is not lawful for us1 in time and place1 to make advantage of our enemies' want of understanding1 as well as their want of courage4 ,and1 doubtless1 war has naturally many privileges that appear reasonable even to the prejudice of reason4 ,and therefore here the rule fails1 ,neminem id agere ut ex alte rius praedetur inscitia4--,no one should preys upon another's folly4--,cicero1 ,de ,offic41 iii4 #ag4--;,but ,i am astonished at the great liberty allowed by ,xenophon in such cases1 and that both by precept and by the example of several exploits of his complete emperor2 an author of very great authority1 ,i confess1 in those affairs1 as being in his own person both a great captain and a philosopher of the first form of ,socrates' disciples2 and yet ,i cannot consent to such a measure of licence as he dispenses in all things and places4 ,monsieur d',aubigny1 besieging ,capua1 and after having directed a furious battery against it1 ,signor ,fabricio ,colonna1 governor of the town1 having from a bastion begun to parley1 and his soldiers in the meantime being a little more remiss in their guard1 our people entered the place at unawares1 and put them all to the sword4 ,and of later memory1 at ,yvoy1 ,signor ,juliano ,romero having played that part of a novice to go out to parley with the ,constable1 at his return found his place taken4 ,but1 that we might not scape scot-free1 the ,marquess of ,pescara having laid siege to ,genoa1 where ,duke ,ottaviano ,fregosa commanded under our protection1 and the articles betwixt them being so far advanced that it was looked upon as a done thing1 and upon the point to be concluded1 the ,spaniards in the meantime having slipped in1 made use of this treachery as an absolute victory4 ,and since1 at ,ligny1 in ,barrois1 where the ,count de ,brienne commanded1 the emperor having in his own person beleaguered that place1 and ,bertheville1 the said ,count's lieutenant1 going out to parley1 whilst he was capitulating the town was taken4 ,fu il vincer sempremai laudabil cosa1 ,vincasi o per fortuna1 o per ingegno1 ,victory is ever worthy of praise1 whether obtained by valour or wisdom4--,ariosto1 xv4 ,i4 ,but the philosopher ,chrysippus was of another opinion1 wherein ,i also concur2 for he was used to say that those who run a race ought to employ all the force they have in what they are about1 and to run as fast as they can2 but that it is by no means fair in them to lay any hand upon their adversary to stop him1 nor to set a leg before him to throw him down4 ,and yet more generous was the answer of that great ,alexander to ,polypercon who was persuading him to take the advantage of the night's obscurity to fall upon ,darius4 ,by no means1 said be2 it is not for such a man as ,i am to steal a victory1 ',malo me fortunae poeniteat1 quam victoria pudeat4'--,i had rather complain of ill-fortune than be ashamed of victory4 ,quint4 ,curt1 iv4 #ac-- ,atque idem fugientem baud est dignatus ,oroden ,sternere1 nec jacta caecum dare cuspide vulnus ,obvius1 adversoque occurrit1 seque viro vir ,contulit1 haud furto melior1 sed fortibus armis4 ,he deigned not to throw down ,orodes as he fled1 or with the darted spear to give him a wound unseen2 but overtaking him1 he confronted him face to face1 and encountered man to man3 superior1 not in stratagem1 but in valiant arms4--,a,eneid1 x4 #gcb4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,that ,,the ,,intention ,,is ,,judge ,,of ,,our ,,actions ',tis a saying1 ,that death discharges us of all our obligations4 ,i know some who have taken it in another sense4 ,henry ,,vii41 ,king of ,england1 articled with ,don ,philip1 son to ,maximilian the emperor1 or 7to place him more honourably7 father to the ,emperor ,charles ,v41 that the said ,philip should deliver up the ,duke of ,suffolk of the ,white ,rose1 his enemy1 who was fled into the ,low ,countries1 into his hands2 which ,philip accordingly did1 but upon condition1 nevertheless1 that ,henry should attempt nothing against the life of the said ,duke2 but coming to die1 the king in his last will commanded his son to put him to death immediately after his decease4 ,and lately1 in the tragedy that the ,duke of ,alva presented to us in the persons of the ,counts ,horn and ,egmont at ,brussels1 --,decapitated #dth ,june #aefh--there were very remarkable passages1 and one amongst the rest1 that ,count ,egmont 7upon the security of whose word and faith ,count ,horn had come and surrendered himself to the ,duke of ,alva7 earnestly entreated that he might first mount the scaffold1 to the end that death might disengage him from the obligation he had passed to the other4 ,in which case1 methinks1 death did not acquit the former of his promise1 and that the second was discharged from it without dying4 ,we cannot be bound beyond what we are able to perform1 by reason that effect and performance are not at all in our power1 and that1 indeed1 we are masters of nothing but the will1 in which1 by necessity1 all the rules and whole duty of mankind are founded and established3 therefore ,count ,egmont1 conceiving his soul and will indebted to his promise1 although he had not the power to make it good1 had doubtless been absolved of his duty1 even though he had outlived the other2 but the ,king of ,england wilfully and premeditately breaking his faith1 was no more to be excused for deferring the execution of his infidelity till after his death than the mason in ,herodotus1 who having inviolably1 during the time of his life1 kept the secret of the treasure of the ,king of ,egypt1 his master1 at his death discovered it to his children4--,herod41 ii4 #aba4 ,i have taken notice of several in my time1 who1 convicted by their consciences of unjustly detaining the goods of another1 have endeavoured to make amends by their will1 and after their decease2 but they had as good do nothing1 as either in taking so much time in so pressing an affair1 or in going about to remedy a wrong with so little dissatisfaction or injury to themselves4 ,they owe1 over and above1 something of their own2 and by how much their payment is more strict and incommodious to themselves1 by so much is their restitution more just meritorious4 ,penitency requires penalty2 but they yet do worse than these1 who reserve the animosity against their neighbour to the last gasp1 having concealed it during their life2 wherein they manifest little regard of their own honour1 irritating the party offended in their memory2 and less to their the power1 even out of to make their malice die with them1 but extending the life of their hatred even beyond their own4 ,unjust judges1 who defer judgment to a time wherein they can have no knowledge of the cause6 ,for my part1 ,i shall take care1 if ,i can1 that my death discover nothing that my life has not first and openly declared4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,of ,,idleness ,as we see some grounds that have long lain idle and untilled1 when grown rich and fertile by rest1 to abound with and spend their virtue in the product of innumerable sorts of weeds and wild herbs that are unprofitable1 and that to make them perform their true office1 we are to cultivate and prepare them for such seeds as are proper for our service2 and as we see women that1 without knowledge of man1 do sometimes of themselves bring forth inanimate and formless lumps of flesh1 but that to cause a natural and perfect generation they are to be husbanded with another kind of seed3 even so it is with minds1 which if not applied to some certain study that may fix and restrain them1 run into a thousand extravagances1 eternally roving here and there in the vague expanse of the imagination-- ,sicut aqua tremulum labris ubi lumen ahenis1 ,sole repercussum1 aut radiantis imagine lunae1 ,omnia pervolitat late loca2 jamque sub auras ,erigitur1 summique ferit laquearia tecti4 ,as when in brazen vats of water the trembling beams of light1 reflected from the sun1 or from the image of the radiant moon1 swiftly float over every place around1 and now are darted up on high1 and strike the ceilings of the upmost roof4-- ,a,eneid1 viii4 #bb4 --in which wild agitation there is no folly1 nor idle fancy they do not light upon3-- ,velut aegri somnia1 vanae ,finguntur species4 ,as a sick man's dreams1 creating vain phantasms4-- ,hor41 ,de ,arte ,poetica1 #g4 ,the soul that has no established aim loses itself1 for1 as it is said-- ,quisquis ubique habitat1 ,maxime1 nusquam habitat4 ,he who lives everywhere1 lives nowhere4--,martial1 vii4 #gc4 ,when ,i lately retired to my own house1 with a resolution1 as much as possibly ,i could1 to avoid all manner of concern in affairs1 and to spend in privacy and repose the little remainder of time ,i have to live1 ,i fancied ,i could not more oblige my mind than to suffer it at full leisure to entertain and divert itself1 which ,i now hoped it might henceforth do1 as being by time become more settled and mature2 but ,i find-- ,variam semper dant otia mentem1 ,leisure ever creates varied thought4--,lucan1 iv4 #gjd that1 quite contrary1 it is like a horse that has broke from his rider1 who voluntarily runs into a much more violent career than any horseman would put him to1 and creates me so many chimaeras and fantastic monsters1 one upon another1 without order or design1 that1 the better at leisure to contemplate their strangeness and absurdity1 ,i have begun to commit them to writing1 hoping in time to make it ashamed of itself4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,of ,,liars ,there is not a man living whom it would so little become to speak from memory as myself1 for ,i have scarcely any at all1 and do not think that the world has another so marvellously treacherous as mine4 ,my other faculties are all sufficiently ordinary and mean2 but in this ,i think myself very rare and singular1 and deserving to be thought famous4 ,besides the natural inconvenience ,i suffer by it 7for1 certes1 the necessary use of memory considered1 ,plato had reason when he called it a great and powerful goddess71 in my country1 when they would say a man has no sense1 they say1 such an one has no memory2 and when ,i complain of the defect of mine1 they do not believe me1 and reprove me1 as though ,i accused myself for a fool3 not discerning the difference betwixt memory and understanding1 which is to make matters still worse for me4 ,but they do me wrong2 for experience1 rather1 daily shows us1 on the contrary1 that a strong memory is commonly coupled with infirm judgment4 ,they do1 me1 moreover 7who am so perfect in nothing as in friendship71 a great wrong in this1 that they make the same words which accuse my infirmity1 represent me for an ungrateful person2 they bring my affections into question upon the account of my memory1 and from a natural imperfection1 make out a defect of conscience4 ,he has forgot1 says one1 this request1 or that promise2 he no more remembers his friends2 he has forgot to say or do1 or conceal such and such a thing1 for my sake4 ,and1 truly1 ,i am apt enough to forget many things1 but to neglect anything my friend has given me in charge1 ,i never do it4 ,and it should be enough1 methinks1 that ,i feel the misery and inconvenience of it1 without branding me with malice1 a vice so contrary to my humour4 ,however1 ,i derive these comforts from my infirmity3 first1 that it is an evil from which principally ,i have found reason to correct a worse1 that would easily enough have grown upon me1 namely1 ambition2 the defect being intolerable in those who take upon them public affairs4 ,that1 like examples in the progress of nature demonstrate to us1 she has fortified me in my other faculties proportionably as she has left me unfurnished in this2 ,i should otherwise have been apt implicitly to have reposed my mind and judgment upon the bare report of other men1 without ever setting them to work upon their own force1 had the inventions and opinions of others been ever been present with me by the benefit of memory4 ,that by this means ,i am not so talkative1 for the magazine of the memory is ever better furnished with matter than that of the invention4 ,had mine been faithful to me1 ,i had ere this deafened all my friends with my babble1 the subjects themselves arousing and stirring up the little faculty ,i have of handling and employing them1 heating and distending my discourse1 which were a pity3 as ,i have observed in several of my intimate friends1 who1 as their memories supply them with an entire and full view of things1 begin their narrative so far back1 and crowd it with so many impertinent circumstances1 that though the story be good in itself1 they make a shift to spoil it2 and if otherwise1 you are either to curse the strength of their memory or the weakness of their judgment3 and it is a hard thing to close up a discourse1 and to cut it short1 when you have once started2 there is nothing wherein the force of a horse is so much seen as in a round and sudden stop4 ,i see even those who are pertinent enough1 who would1 but cannot stop short in their career2 for whilst they are seeking out a handsome period to conclude with1 they go on at random1 straggling about upon impertinent trivialities1 as men staggering upon weak legs4 ,but1 above all1 old men who retain the memory of things past1 and forget how often they have told them1 are dangerous company2 and ,i have known stories from the mouth of a man of very great quality1 otherwise very pleasant in themselves1 become very wearisome by being repeated a hundred times over and over again to the same people4 ,secondly1 that1 by this means1 ,i the less remember the injuries ,i have received2 insomuch that1 as the ancient said1--,cicero1 ,pro ,ligar4 c4 #ab4--;,i should have a register of injuries1 or a prompter1 as ,darius1 who1 that he might not forget the offence he had received from those of ,athens1 so oft as he sat down to dinner1 ordered one of his pages three times to repeat in his ear1 ,sir1 remember the ,athenians2--,herod41 v4 #aje4--;and then1 again1 the places which ,i revisit1 and the books ,i read over again1 still smile upon me with a fresh novelty4 ,it is not without good reason said that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying4 ,i know very well that the grammarians--,nigidius1 ,aulus ,gellius1 xi4 ii2 ,nonius1 v4 #hj4-- distinguish betwixt an untruth and a lie1 and say that to tell an untruth is to tell a thing that is false1 but that we ourselves believe to be true2 and that the definition of the word to lie in ,latin1 from which our ,french is taken1 is to tell a thing which we know in our conscience to be untrue2 and it is of this last sort of liars only that ,i now speak4 ,now1 these do either wholly contrive and invent the untruths they utter1 or so alter and disguise a true story that it ends in a lie4 ,when they disguise and often alter the same story1 according to their own fancy1 'tis very hard for them1 at one time or another1 to escape being trapped1 by reason that the real truth of the thing1 having first taken possession of the memory1 and being there lodged impressed by the medium of knowledge and science1 it will be difficult that it should not represent itself to the imagination1 and shoulder out falsehood1 which cannot there have so sure and settled footing as the other2 and the circumstances of the first true knowledge evermore running in their minds1 will be apt to make them forget those that are illegitimate1 and only1 forged by their own fancy4 ,in what they1 wholly invent1 forasmuch as there is no contrary impression to jostle their invention there seems to be less danger of tripping2 and yet even this by reason it is a vain body and without any hold1 is very apt to escape the memory1 if it be not well assured4 ,of which ,i had very pleasant experience1 at the expense of such as profess only to form and accommodate their speech to the affair they have in hand1 or to humour of the great folks to whom they are speaking2 for the circumstances to which these men stick not to enslave their faith and conscience being subject to several changes1 their language must vary accordingly3 whence it happens that of the same thing they tell one man that it is this1 and another that it is that1 giving it several colours2 which men1 if they once come to confer notes1 and find out the cheat1 what becomes of this fine art8 ,to which may be added1 that they must of necessity very often ridiculously trap themselves2 for what memory can be sufficient to retain so many different shapes as they have forged upon one and the same subject8 ,i have known many in my time very ambitious of the repute of this fine wit2 but they do not see that if they have the reputation of it1 the effect can no longer be4 ,in plain truth1 lying is an accursed vice4 ,we are not men1 nor have other tie upon one another1 but by our word4 ,if we did but discover the horror and gravity of it1 we should pursue it with fire and sword1 and more justly than other crimes4 ,i see that parents commonly1 and with indiscretion enough1 correct their children for little innocent faults1 and torment them for wanton tricks1 that have neither impression nor consequence2 whereas1 in my opinion1 lying only1 and1 which is of something a lower form1 obstinacy1 are the faults which are to be severely whipped out of them1 both in their infancy and in their progress1 otherwise they grow up and increase with them2 and after a tongue has once got the knack of lying1 'tis not to be imagined how impossible it is to reclaim it whence it comes to pass that we see some1 who are otherwise very honest men1 so subject and enslaved to this vice4 ,i have an honest lad to my tailor1 whom ,i never knew guilty of one truth1 no1 not when it had been to his advantage4 ,if falsehood had1 like truth1 but one face only1 we should be upon better terms2 for we should then take for certain the contrary to what the liar says3 but the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand forms1 and a field indefinite1 without bound or limit4 ,the ,pythagoreans make good to be certain and finite1 and evil1 infinite and uncertain4 ,there are a thousand ways to miss the white1 there is only one to hit it4 ,for my own part1 ,i have this vice in so great horror1 that ,i am not sure ,i could prevail with my conscience to secure myself from the most manifest and extreme danger by an impudent and solemn lie4 ,an ancient father says that a dog we know is better company than a man whose language we do not understand4 ,ut externus alieno pene non sit hominis vice4 ,as a foreigner cannot be said to supply us the place of a man4 --,pliny1 ,nat4 ,hist4 vii4 ,i ,and how much less sociable is false speaking than silence8 ,king ,francis ,i4 vaunted that he had by this means nonplussed ,francesco ,taverna1 ambassador of ,francesco ,sforza1 ,duke of ,milan1 a man very famous for his science in talking in those days4 ,this gentleman had been sent to excuse his master to his ,majesty about a thing of very great consequence1 which was this3 the ,king1 still to maintain some intelligence with ,italy1 out of which he had lately been driven1 and particularly with the duchy of ,milan1 had thought it convenient to have a gentleman on his behalf to be with that ,duke3 an ambassador in effect1 but in outward appearance a private person who pretended to reside there upon his own particular affairs2 for the ,duke1 much more depending upon the ,emperor1 especially at a time when he was in a treaty of marriage with his niece1 daughter to the ,king of ,denmark1 who is now dowager of ,lorraine1 could not manifest any practice and conference with us without his great interest4 ,for this commission one ,merveille1 a ,milanese gentleman1 and an equerry to the ,king1 being thought very fit1 was accordingly despatched thither with private credentials1 and instructions as ambassador1 and with other letters of recommendation to the ,duke about his own private concerns1 the better to mask and colour the business2 and was so long in that court1 that the ,emperor at last had some inkling of his real employment there2 which was the occasion of what followed after1 as we suppose2 which was1 that under pretence of some murder1 his trial was in two days despatched1 and his head in the night struck off in prison4 ,messire ,francesco being come1 and prepared with a long counterfeit history of the affair 7for the ,king had applied himself to all the princes of ,christendom1 as well as to the ,duke himself1 to demand satisfaction71 had his audience at the morning council2 where1 after he had for the support of his cause laid open several plausible justifications of the fact1 that his master had never looked upon this ,merveille for other than a private gentleman and his own subject1 who was there only in order to his own business1 neither had he ever lived under any other aspect2 absolutely disowning that he had ever heard he was one of the ,king's household or that his ,majesty so much as knew him1 so far was he from taking him for an ambassador3 the ,king1 in his turn1 pressing him with several objections and demands1 and challenging him on all sides1 tripped him up at last by asking1 why1 then1 the execution was performed by night1 and as it were by stealth8 ,at which the poor confounded ambassador1 the more handsomely to disengage himself1 made answer1 that the ,duke would have been very loth1 out of respect to his ,majesty1 that such an execution should have been performed by day4 ,any one may guess if he was not well rated when he came home1 for having so grossly tripped in the presence of a prince of so delicate a nostril as ,king ,francis4 ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 having sent an ambassador to the ,king of ,england to animate him against ,king ,francis1 the ambassador having had his audience1 and the ,king1 before he would give an answer1 insisting upon the difficulties he should find in setting on foot so great a preparation as would be necessary to attack so potent a ,king1 and urging some reasons to that effect1 the ambassador very unseasonably replied that he had also himself considered the same difficulties1 and had represented them to the ,pope4 ,from which saying of his1 so directly opposite to the thing propounded and the business he came about1 which was immediately to incite him to war1 the ,king of ,england first derived the argument 7which he afterward found to be true71 that this ambassador1 in his own mind1 was on the side of the ,french2 of which having advertised his master1 his estate at his return home was confiscated1 and he himself very narrowly escaped the losing of his head4--,erasmi ,op4 7#agjc71 iv4 col4 #fhd4 ,,chapter ,x ,,of ,,quick ,,or ,,slow ,,speech ,onc ne furent a touts toutes graces donnees4 ,all graces were never yet given to any one man4--,a verse in one of ,la ,brebis' ,sonnets4 ,so we see in the gift of eloquence1 wherein some have such a facility and promptness1 and that which we call a present wit so easy1 that they are ever ready upon all occasions1 and never to be surprised2 and others more heavy and slow1 never venture to utter anything but what they have long premeditated1 and taken great care and pains to fit and prepare4 ,now1 as we teach young ladies those sports and exercises which are most proper to set out the grace and beauty of those parts wherein their chiefest ornament and perfection lie1 so it should be in these two advantages of eloquence1 to which the lawyers and preachers of our age seem principally to pretend4 ,if ,i were worthy to advise1 the slow speaker1 methinks1 should be more proper for the pulpit1 and the other for the bar3 and that because the employment of the first does naturally allow him all the leisure he can desire to prepare himself1 and besides1 his career is performed in an even and unintermitted line1 without stop or interruption2 whereas the pleader's business and interest compels him to enter the lists upon all occasions1 and the unexpected objections and replies of his adverse party jostle him out of his course1 and put him1 upon the instant1 to pump for new and extempore answers and defences4 ,yet1 at the interview betwixt ,pope ,clement and ,king ,francis at ,marseilles1 it happened1 quite contrary1 that ,monsieur ,poyet1 a man bred up all his life at the bar1 and in the highest repute for eloquence1 having the charge of making the harangue to the ,pope committed to him1 and having so long meditated on it beforehand1 as1 so they said1 to have brought it ready made along with him from ,paris2 the very day it was to have been pronounced1 the ,pope1 fearing something might be said that might give offence to the other princes' ambassadors who were there attending on him1 sent to acquaint the ,king with the argument which he conceived most suiting to the time and place1 but1 by chance1 quite another thing to that ,monsieur de ,poyet had taken so much pains about3 so that the fine speech he had prepared was of no use1 and he was upon the instant to contrive another2 which finding himself unable to do1 ,cardinal du ,bellay was constrained to perform that office4 ,the pleader's part is1 doubtless1 much harder than that of the preacher2 and yet1 in my opinion1 we see more passable lawyers than preachers1 at all events in ,france4 ,it should seem that the nature of wit is to have its operation prompt and sudden1 and that of judgment to have it more deliberate and more slow4 ,but he who remains totally silent1 for want of leisure to prepare himself to speak well1 and he also whom leisure does noways benefit to better speaking1 are equally unhappy4 ',tis said of ,severus ,cassius that he spoke best extempore1 that he stood more obliged to fortune than to his own diligence2 that it was an advantage to him to be interrupted in speaking1 and that his adversaries were afraid to nettle him1 lest his anger should redouble his eloquence4 ,i know1 experimentally1 the disposition of nature so impatient of tedious and elaborate premeditation1 that if it do not go frankly and gaily to work1 it can perform nothing to purpose4 ,we say of some compositions that they stink of oil and of the lamp1 by reason of a certain rough harshness that laborious handling imprints upon those where it has been employed4 ,but besides this1 the solicitude of doing well1 and a certain striving and contending of a mind too far strained and overbent upon its undertaking1 breaks and hinders itself like water1 that by force of its own pressing violence and abundance1 cannot find a ready issue through the neck of a bottle or a narrow sluice4 ,in this condition of nature1 of which ,i am now speaking1 there is this also1 that it would not be disordered and stimulated with such passions as the fury of ,cassius 7for such a motion would be too violent and rude72 it would not be jostled1 but solicited2 it would be roused and heated by unexpected1 sudden1 and accidental occasions4 ,if it be left to itself1 it flags and languishes2 agitation only gives it grace and vigour4 ,i am always worst in my own possession1 and when wholly at my own disposition3 accident has more title to anything that comes from me than ,i2 occasion1 company1 and even the very rising and falling of my own voice1 extract more from my fancy than ,i can find1 when ,i sound and employ it by myself4 ,by which means1 the things ,i say are better than those ,i write1 if either were to be preferred1 where neither is worth anything4 ,this1 also1 befalls me1 that ,i do not find myself where ,i seek myself1 and ,i light upon things more by chance than by any inquisition of my own judgment4 ,i perhaps sometimes hit upon something when ,i write1 that seems quaint and sprightly to me1 though it will appear dull and heavy to another4--,but let us leave these fine compliments2 every one talks thus of himself according to his talent4 ,but when ,i come to speak1 ,i am already so lost that ,i know not what ,i was about to say1 and in such cases a stranger often finds it out before me4 ,if ,i should make erasure so often as this inconvenience befalls me1 ,i should make clean work2 occasion will1 at some other time1 lay it as visible to me as the light1 and make me wonder what ,i should stick at4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,of ,,prognostications ,for what concerns oracles1 it is certain that a good while before the coming of ,jesus ,christ they had begun to lose their credit2 for we see that ,cicero troubled to find out the cause of their decay1 and he has these words3 ,cur isto modo jam oracula ,delphis non eduntur1 non modo nostro aetate1 sed jam diu2 ut nihil possit esse contemptius8 ,what is the reason that the oracles at ,delphi are no longer uttered3 not merely in this age of ours1 but for a long time past1 insomuch that nothing is more in contempt8 --,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 ii4 #eg4 ,but as to the other prognostics1 calculated from the anatomy of beasts at sacrifices 7to which purpose ,plato does1 in part1 attribute the natural constitution of the intestines of the beasts themselves71 the scraping of poultry1 the flight of birds-- ,aves quasdam 4 4 4 rerum augurandarum causa natas esse putamus4 ,we think some sorts of birds are purposely created to serve the purposes of augury4--,cicero1 ,de ,natura ,deor41 ii4 #fd4 claps of thunder1 the overflowing of rivers-- ,multa cernunt ,aruspices1 multa ,augures provident1 multa oraculis declarantur1 multa vaticinationibus1 multa somniis1 multa portentis4 ,the ,aruspices discern many things1 the ,augurs foresee many things1 many things are announced by oracles1 many by vaticinations1 many by dreams1 many by portents4--,cicero1 ,de ,natura ,deor41 ii4 #fe4 --and others of the like nature1 upon which antiquity founded most of their public and private enterprises1 our religion has totally abolished them4 ,and although there yet remain amongst us some practices of divination from the stars1 from spirits1 from the shapes and complexions of men1 from dreams and the like 7a notable example of the wild curiosity of our nature to grasp at and anticipate future things1 as if we had not enough to do to digest the present7-- ,cur hanc tibi1 rector ,olympi1 ,sollicitis visum mortalibus addere curam1 ,noscant venturas ut dira per omina clades8444 ,sit subitum1 quodcumque paras2 sit coeca futuri ,mens hominum fati1 liceat sperare timenti4 ,why1 ruler of ,olympus1 hast thou to anxious mortals thought fit to add this care1 that they should know by1 omens future slaughter8444 ,let whatever thou art preparing be sudden4 ,let the mind of men be blind to fate in store2 let it be permitted to the timid to hope4 --,lucan1 ii4 #ad ,ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit2 miserum est enim1 nihil proficientem angi1 ,it is useless to know what shall come to pass2 it is a miserable thing to be tormented to no purpose4 --,cicero1 ,de ,natura ,deor41 iii4 #f4 yet are they of much less authority now than heretofore4 ,which makes so much more remarkable the example of ,francesco1 ,marquis of ,saluzzo1 who being lieutenant to ,king ,francis ,i4 in his ultramontane army1 infinitely favoured and esteemed in our court1 and obliged to the king's bounty for the marquisate itself1 which had been forfeited by his brother2 and as to the rest1 having no manner of provocation given him to do it1 and even his own affection opposing any such disloyalty1 suffered himself to be so terrified1 as it was confidently reported1 with the fine prognostics that were spread abroad everywhere in favour of the ,emperor ,charles ,v41 and to our disadvantage 7especially in ,italy1 where these foolish prophecies were so far believed1 that at ,rome great sums of money were ventured out upon return of greater1 when the prognostics came to pass1 so certain they made themselves of our ruin71 that1 having often bewailed1 to those of his acquaintance who were most intimate with him1 the mischiefs that he saw would inevitably fall upon the ,crown of ,france and the friends he had in that court1 he revolted and turned to the other side2 to his own misfortune1 nevertheless1 what constellation soever governed at that time4 ,but he carried himself in this affair like a man agitated by divers passions2 for having both towns and forces in his hands1 the enemy's army under ,antonio de ,leyva close by him1 and we not at all suspecting his design1 it had been in his power to have done more than he did2 for we lost no men by this infidelity of his1 nor any town1 but ,fossano only1 and that after a long siege and a brave defence4--#aecf ,prudens futuri temporis exitum ,caliginosa nocte premit ,deus1 ,ridetque1 si mortalis ultra ,fas trepidat4 ,a wise ,god covers with thick night the path of the future1 and laughs at the man who alarms himself without reason4 --,hor41 ,od41 iii4 #bi4 ,ille potens sui ,laetusque deget1 cui licet in diem ,dixisse vixi6 cras vel atra ,nube polum pater occupato1 ,vel sole puro4 ,he lives happy and master of himself who can say as each day passes on1 ',i ,,have ,,lived3' whether to-morrow our ,father shall give us a clouded sky or a clear day4--,hor41 ,od41 iii4 #bi ,laetus in praesens animus2 quod ultra est1 ,oderit curare4 ,a mind happy1 cheerful in the present state1 will take good care not to think of what is beyond it4--,ibid41 ii4 #be ,and those who take this sentence in a contrary sense interpret it amiss3 ,ista sic reciprocantur1 ut et si divinatio sit1 dii sint2 et si dii lint1 sit divinatio4 ,these things are so far reciprocal that if there be divination1 there must be deities2 and if deities1 divination4--,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 i4 #f4 ,much more wisely ,pacuvius-- ,nam istis1 qui linguam avium intelligunt1 ,plusque ex alieno jecore sapiunt1 quam ex suo1 ,magis audiendum1 quam auscultandum1 censeo4 ,as to those who understand the language of birds1 and who rather consult the livers of animals other than their own1 ,i had rather hear them than attend to them4 --,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 i4 #eg1 ex ,pacuvio ,the so celebrated art of divination amongst the ,tuscans took its beginning thus3 ,a labourer striking deep with his cutter into the earth1 saw the demigod ,tages ascend1 with an infantine aspect1 but endued with a mature and senile wisdom4 ,upon the rumour of which1 all the people ran to see the sight1 by whom his words and science1 containing the principles and means to attain to this art1 were recorded1 and kept for many ages4--,cicero1 ,de ,devina1 ii4 #bc--;,a birth suitable to its progress2 ,i1 for my part1 should sooner regulate my affairs by the chance of a die than by such idle and vain dreams4 ,and1 indeed1 in all republics1 a good share of the government has ever been referred to chance4 ,plato1 in the civil regimen that he models according to his own fancy1 leaves to it the decision of several things of very great importance1 and will1 amongst other things1 that marriages should be appointed by lot2 attributing so great importance to this accidental choice as to ordain that the children begotten in such wedlock be brought up in the country1 and those begotten in any other be thrust out as spurious and base2 yet so1 that if any of those exiles1 notwithstanding1 should1 peradventure1 in growing up give any good hope of himself1 he might be recalled1 as1 also1 that such as had been retained1 should be exiled1 in case they gave little expectation of themselves in their early growth4 ,i see some who are mightily given to study and comment upon their almanacs1 and produce them to us as an authority when anything has fallen out pat2 and1 for that matter1 it is hardly possible but that these alleged authorities sometimes stumble upon a truth amongst an infinite number of lies4 ,quis est enim1 qui totum diem jaculans non aliquando collineet8 ,for who shoots all day at butts that does not sometimes hit the white8--,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 ii4 #ei4 ,i think never the better of them for some such accidental hit4 ,there would be more certainty in it if there were a rule and a truth of always lying4 ,besides1 nobody records their flimflams and false prognostics1 forasmuch as they are infinite and common2 but if they chop upon one truth1 that carries a mighty report1 as being rare1 incredible1 and prodigious4 ,so ,diogenes1 surnamed the ,atheist1 answered him in ,samothrace1 who1 showing him in the temple the several offerings and stories in painting of those who had escaped shipwreck1 said to him1 ,look1 you who think the gods have no care of human things1 what do you say to so many persons preserved from death by their especial favour8 ,why1 ,i say1 answered he1 that their pictures are not here who were cast away1 who are by much the greater number4--,cicero1 ,de ,natura ,deor41 i4 #cg4 ,cicero observes that of all the philosophers who have acknowledged a deity1 ,xenophanes the ,colophonian only has endeavoured to eradicate all manner of divination--,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 i4 #c4--2 which makes it the less a wonder if we have now and then seen some of our princes1 sometimes to their own cost1 rely too much upon these vanities4 ,i had given anything with my own eyes to see those two great marvels1 the book of ,joachim the ,calabrian abbot1 which foretold all the future ,popes1 their names and qualities2 and that of the ,emperor ,leo1 which prophesied all the emperors and patriarchs of ,greece4 ,this ,i have been an eyewitness of1 that in public confusions1 men astonished at their fortune1 have abandoned their own reason1 superstitiously to seek out in the stars the ancient causes and menaces of the present mishaps1 and in my time have been so strangely successful in it1 as to make me believe that this being an amusement of sharp and volatile wits1 those who have been versed in this knack of unfolding and untying riddles1 are capable1 in any sort of writing1 to find out what they desire4 ,but above all1 that which gives them the greatest room to play in1 is the obscure1 ambiguous1 and fantastic gibberish of the prophetic canting1 where their authors deliver nothing of clear sense1 but shroud all in riddle1 to the end that posterity may interpret and apply it according to its own fancy4 ,socrates demon might1 perhaps1 be no other but a certain impulsion of the will1 which obtruded itself upon him without the advice or consent of his judgment2 and in a soul so enlightened as his was1 and so prepared by a continual exercise of wisdom-and virtue1 'tis to be supposed those inclinations of his1 though sudden and undigested1 were very important and worthy to be followed4 ,every one finds in himself some image of such agitations1 of a prompt1 vehement1 and fortuitous opinion2 and ,i may well allow them some authority1 who attribute so little to our prudence1 and who also myself have had some1 weak in reason1 but violent in persuasion and dissuasion1 which were most frequent with ,socrates1--,plato1 in his account of ,theages the ,pythagorean--by which ,i have suffered myself to be carried away so fortunately1 and so much to my own advantage1 that they might have been judged to have had something in them of a divine inspiration4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,of ,,constancy ,the law of resolution and constancy does not imply that we ought not1 as much as in us lies1 to decline and secure ourselves from the mischiefs and inconveniences that threaten us2 nor1 consequently1 that we shall not fear lest they should surprise us3 on the contrary1 all decent and honest ways and means of securing ourselves from harms1 are not only permitted1 but1 moreover1 commendable1 and the business of constancy chiefly is1 bravely to stand to1 and stoutly to suffer those inconveniences which are not possibly to be avoided4 ,so that there is no supple motion of body1 nor any movement in the handling of arms1 how irregular or ungraceful soever1 that we need condemn1 if they serve to protect us from the blow that is made against us4 ,several very warlike nations have made use of a retreating and flying way of fight as a thing of singular advantage1 and1 by so doing1 have made their backs more dangerous to their enemies than their faces4 ,of which kind of fighting the ,turks still retain something in their practice of arms2 and ,socrates1 in ,plato1 laughs at ,laches1 who had defined fortitude to be a standing firm in the ranks against the enemy4 ,what6 says he1 would it1 then1 be a reputed cowardice to overcome them by giving ground8 urging1 at the same time1 the authority of ,homer1 who commends in ,a,eneas the science of flight4 ,and whereas ,laches1 considering better of it1 admits the practice as to the ,scythians1 and1 in general1 all cavalry whatever1 he again attacks him with the example of the ,lacedaemonian foot--a nation of all other the most obstinate in maintaining their ground--who1 in the battle of ,plataea1 not being able to break into the ,persian phalanx1 bethought themselves to disperse and retire1 that by the enemy supposing they fled1 they might break and disunite that vast body of men in the pursuit1 and by that stratagem obtained the victory4 ,as for the ,scythians1 'tis said of them1 that when ,darius went his expedition to subdue them1 he sent1 by a herald1 highly to reproach their king1 that he always retired before him and declined a battle2 to which ,idanthyrses1--,herod41 iv4 #abg4--;for that was his name1 returned answer1 that it was not for fear of him1 or of any man living1 that he did so1 but that it was the way of marching in practice with his nation1 who had neither tilled fields1 cities1 nor houses to defend1 or to fear the enemy should make any advantage of but that if he had such a stomach to fight1 let him but come to view their ancient places of sepulture1 and there he should have his fill4 ,nevertheless1 as to cannon-shot1 when a body of men are drawn up in the face of a train of artillery1 as the occasion of war often requires1 it is unhandsome to quit their post to avoid the danger1 forasmuch as by reason of its violence and swiftness we account it inevitable2 and many a one1 by ducking1 stepping aside1 and such other motions of fear1 has been1 at all events1 sufficiently laughed at by his companions4 ,and yet1 in the expedition that the ,emperor ,charles ,v4 made against us into ,provence1 the ,marquis de ,guast going to reconnoitre the city of ,arles1 and advancing out of the cover of a windmill1 under favour of which he had made his approach1 was perceived by the ,seigneurs de ,bonneval and the ,seneschal of ,agenois1 who were walking upon the 'theatre aux ayenes'2 who having shown him to the ,sieur de ,villiers1 commissary of the artillery1 he pointed a culverin so admirably well1 and levelled it so exactly right against him1 that had not the ,marquis1 seeing fire given to it1 slipped aside1 it was certainly concluded the shot had taken him full in the body4 ,and1 in like manner1 some years before1 ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 ,duke of ,urbino1 and father to the queen-mother--,catherine de' ,medici1 mother of ,henry ,,iii4--laying siege to ,mondolfo1 a place in the territories of the ,vicariat in ,italy1 seeing the cannoneer give fire to a piece that pointed directly against him1 it was well for him that he ducked1 for otherwise the shot1 that only razed the top of his head1 had doubtless hit him full in the breast4 ,to say truth1 ,i do not think that these evasions are performed upon the account of judgment2 for how can any man living judge of high or low aim on so sudden an occasion8 ,and it is much more easy to believe that fortune favoured their apprehension1 and that it might be as well at another time to make them face the danger1 as to seek to avoid it4 ,for my own part1 ,i confess ,i cannot forbear starting when the rattle of a harquebuse thunders in my ears on a sudden1 and in a place where ,i am not to expect it1 which ,i have also observed in others1 braver fellows than ,i4 ,neither do the ,stoics pretend that the soul of their philosopher need be proof against the first visions and fantasies that surprise him2 but1 as to a natural subjection1 consent that he should tremble at the terrible noise of thunder1 or the sudden clatter of some falling ruin1 and be affrighted even to paleness and convulsion2 and so in other passions1 provided his judgment remain sound and entire1 and that the seat of his reason suffer no concussion nor alteration1 and that he yield no consent to his fright and discomposure4 ,to him who is not a philosopher1 a fright is the same thing in the first part of it1 but quite another thing in the second2 for the impression of passions does not remain superficially in him1 but penetrates farther1 even to the very seat of reason1 infecting and corrupting it1 so that he judges according to his fear1 and conforms his behaviour to it4 ,in this verse you may see the true state of the wise ,stoic learnedly and plainly expressed3-- ,mens immota manet2 lachrymae volvuntur inanes4 ,though tears flow1 the mind remains unmoved4 --,virgil1 ,a,eneid1 iv4 #ddi ,the ,peripatetic sage does not exempt himself totally from perturbations of mind1 but he moderates them4 ,,etext ,,editor',s ,,bookmarks3 ,almanacs ,being dead they were then by one day happier than he ,books ,i read over again1 still smile upon me with fresh novelty ,death discharges us of all our obligations ,difference betwixt memory and understanding ,do thine own work1 and know thyself ,effect and performance are not at all in our power ,fantastic gibberish of the prophetic canting ,folly of gaping after future things ,good to be certain and finite1 and evil1 infinite and uncertain ,he who lives everywhere1 lives nowhere ,if they chop upon one truth1 that carries a mighty report ,impotencies that so unseasonably surprise the lover ,let it be permitted to the timid to hope ,light griefs can speak3 deep sorrows are dumb ,look1 you who think the gods have no care of human things ,nature of judgment to have it more deliberate and more slow ,nature of wit is to have its operation prompt and sudden ,nor have other tie upon one another1 but by our word ,old men who retain the memory of things past ,pity is reputed a vice amongst the ,stoics ,rather complain of ill-fortune than be ashamed of victory ,reverse of truth has a hundred thousand forms ,say of some compositions that they stink of oil and of the lamp ,solon1 that none can be said to be happy until he is dead ,strong memory is commonly coupled with infirm judgment ,stumble upon a truth amongst an infinite number of lies ,suffer those inconveniences which are not possibly to be avoided ,superstitiously to seek out in the stars the ancient causes ,their pictures are not here who were cast away ,things ,i say are better than those ,i write ,we are masters of nothing but the will ,we cannot be bound beyond what we are able to perform ,where the lion's skin is too short