,,essays ,,of ,,michel ,,de ,,montaigne 
,translated by ,charles ,cotton  ,edited
 by ,william ,carew ,hazilitt  #ahgg    
,,contents ,,of ,,volume #ac4  ,,xxxii4 
,defence of ,seneca and ,plutarch4      
,,xxxiii4   ,the story of ,spurina4     
,,xxxiv4    ,means to carry on a war    
according to ,julius ,caesar4 ,,xxxv4   
,of three good women4 ,,xxxvi4    ,of   
the most excellent men4 ,,xxxvii4   ,of 
the resemblance of children to their    
fathers4    ,,chapter ,,xxxii           
,,defence ,,of ,,seneca ,,and ,,plutarch
  ,the familiarity ,i have with these   
two authors1 and the assistance they    
have lent to my age and to my book1     
wholly compiled of what ,i have borrowed
 from them1 oblige me to stand up for   
their honour4  ,as to ,seneca1 amongst a
 million of little pamphlets that those 
of the so-called reformed religion      
disperse abroad for the defence of their
 cause 7and which sometimes proceed from
 so good a hand1 that 'tis pity his pen 
is not employed in a better subject71 ,i

 have formerly seen one1 that to make up
 the parallel he would fain find out    
betwixt the government of our late poor 
,king ,charles ,,ix4 and that of ,nero1 
compares the late ,cardinal of ,lorraine
 with ,seneca2 their fortunes1 in having
 both of them been the prime ministers  
in the government of their princes1 and 
in their manners1 conditions1 and       
deportments to have been very near      
alike4  ,wherein1 in my opinion1 he does
 the said cardinal a very great honour2 
for though ,i am one of those who have a
 very high esteem for his wit1          
eloquence1 and zeal to religion and the 
service of his king1 and his good       
fortune to have lived in an age wherein 
it was so novel1 so rare1 and also so   
necessary for the public good to have an
 ecclesiastical person of such high     
birth and dignity1 and so sufficient and
 capable of his place2 yet1 to confess  
the truth1 ,i do not think his capacity 
by many degrees near to the other1 nor  
his virtue either so clean1 entire1 or  

steady as that of ,seneca4  ,now the    
book whereof ,i speak1 to bring about   
its design1 gives a very injurious      
description of ,seneca1 having borrowed 
its approaches from ,dion the historian1
 whose testimony ,i do not at all       
believe for besides that he is          
inconsistent1 that after having called  
,seneca one while very wise1 and again a
 mortal enemy to ,nero's vices1 makes   
him elsewhere avaricious1 an usurer1    
ambitious1 effeminate1 voluptuous1 and a
 false pretender to philosophy1 his     
virtue appears so vivid and vigorous in 
his writings1 and his vindication is so 
clear from any of these imputations1 as 
of his riches and extraordinarily       
expensive way of living1 that ,i cannot 
believe any testimony to the contrary4  
,and besides1 it is much more reasonable
 to believe the ,roman historians in    
such things than ,greeks and foreigners4
  ,now ,tacitus and the rest speak very 
honourably both of his life and death2  
and represent him to us a very excellent

 and virtuous person in all things2 and 
,i will allege no other reproach against
 ,dion's report but this1 which ,i      
cannot avoid1 namely1 that he has so    
weak a judgment in the ,roman affairs1  
that he dares to maintain ,julius       
,caesar's cause against ,pompey ,and so 
does this editor4  ,d4,w41 and that of  
,antony against ,cicero4  ,let us now   
come to ,plutarch3 ,jean ,bodin is a    
good author of our times1 and a writer  
of much greater judgment than the rout  
of scribblers of his age1 and who       
deserves to be read and considered4  ,i 
find him1 though1 a little bold in this 
passage of his ,method of history1 where
 he accuses ,plutarch not only of       
ignorance 7wherein ,i would have let him
 alone3 for that is beyond my           
criticism71 but that he often writes    
things incredible1 and absolutely       
fabulous 3 these are his own words4  ,if
 he had simply said1 that he had        
delivered things otherwise than they    
really are1 it had been no great        

reproach2 for what we have not seen1 we 
are forced to receive from other hands1 
and take upon trust1 and ,i see that he 
purposely sometimes variously relates   
the same story2 as the judgment of the  
three best captains that ever were1     
given by ,hannibal2 'tis one way in the 
,life of ,flammius1 and another in that 
of ,pyrrhus4  ,but to charge him with   
having taken incredible and impossible  
things for current pay1 is to accuse the
 most judicious author in the world of  
want of judgment4  ,and this is his     
example2 as1 says he1 when he relates   
that a ,lacedaemonian boy suffered his  
bowels to be torn out by a fox-cub he   
had stolen1 and kept it still concealed 
under his coat till he fell down dead1  
rather than he would discover his theft4
  ,i find1 in the first place1 this     
example ill chosen1 forasmuch as it is  
very hard to limit the power of the     
faculties of--the soul1 whereas we have 
better authority to limit and know the  
force of the bodily limbs2 and          

therefore1 if ,i had been he1 ,i should 
rather have chosen an example of this   
second sort2 and there are some of these
 less credible3 and amongst others1 that
 which he refates of ,pyrrhus1 that all 
wounded as he was1 he struck one of his 
enemies1 who was armed from head to     
foot1 so great a blow with his sword1   
that he clave him down from his crown to
 his seat1 so that the body was divided 
into two parts4  ,in this example ,i    
find no great miracle1 nor do ,i admit  
the excuse with which he defends        
,plutarch1 in having added these words1 
as 'tis said1 to suspend our belief2 for
 unless it be in things received by     
authority1 and the reverence to         
antiquity or religion1 he would never   
have himself admitted1 or enjoined us to
 believe things incredible in           
themselves2 and that these words1 as    
'tis said1 are not put in this place to 
that effect1 is easy to be seen1 because
 he elsewhere relates to us1 upon this  
subject1 of the patience of the         

,lacedaemonian children1 examples       
happening in his time1 more unlikely to 
prevail upon our faith2 as what ,cicero 
has also testified before him1 as       
having1 as he says1 been upon the spot3 
that even to their times there were     
children found who1 in the trial of     
patience they were put to before the    
altar of ,diana1 suffered themselves to 
be there whipped till the blood ran down
 all over their bodies1 not only without
 crying out1 but without so much as a   
groan1 and some till they there         
voluntarily lost their lives3 and that  
which ,plutarch also1 amongst a hundred 
other witnesses1 relates1 that at a     
sacrifice1 a burning coal having fallen 
into the sleeve of a ,lacedaemonian boy1
 as he was censing1 he suffered his     
whole arm to be burned1 till the smell  
of the broiling flesh was perceived by  
those present4  ,there was nothing1     
according to their custom1 wherein their
 reputation was more concerned1 nor for 
which they were to undergo more blame   

and disgrace1 than in being taken in    
theft4 ,i am so fully satisfied of the  
greatness of those people1 that this    
story does not only not appear to me1 as
 to ,bodin1 incredible2 but ,i do not   
find it so much as rare and strange4    
,the ,spartan history is full of a      
thousand more cruel and rare examples2  
and is2 indeed1 all miracle in this     
respect4  ,marcellinus1 concerning      
theft1 reports that in his time there   
was no sort of torments which could     
compel the ,egyptians1 when taken in    
this act1 though a people very much     
addicted to it1 so much as to tell their
 name4  ,a ,spanish peasant1 being put  
to the rack as to the accomplices of the
 murder of the ,praetor ,lucius ,piso1  
cried out in the height of the torment1 
that his friends should not leave him1  
but look on in all assurance1 and that  
no pain had the power to force from him 
one word of confession1 which was all   
they could get the first day4  ,the next
 day1 as they were leading him a second 

time to another trial1 strongly         
disengaging himself from the hands of   
his guards1 he furiously ran his head   
against a wall1 and beat out his brains4
  ,epicharis1 having tired and glutted  
the cruelty of ,nero's satellites1 and  
undergone their fire1 their beating1    
their racks1 a whole day together1      
without one syllable of confession of   
her conspiracy2 being the next day      
brought again to the rack1 with her     
limbs almost torn to pieces1 conveyed   
the lace of her robe with a running     
noose over one of the arms of her chair1
 and suddenly slipping her head into it1
 with the weight of her own body hanged 
herself4  ,having the courage to die in 
that manner1 is it not to be presumed   
that she purposely lent her life to the 
trial of her fortitude the day before1  
to mock the tyrant1 and encourage others
 to the like attempt8  ,and whoever will
 inquire of our troopers the experiences
 they have had in our civil wars1 will  
find effects of patience and obstinate  

resolution in this miserable age of     
ours1 and amongst this rabble even more 
effeminate than the ,egyptians1 worthy  
to be compared with those we have just  
related of the ,spartan virtue4  ,i know
 there have been simple peasants amongst
 us who have endured the soles of their 
feet to be broiled upon a gridiron1     
their finger-ends to be crushed with the
 cock of a pistol1 and their bloody eyes
 squeezed out of their heads by force of
 a cord twisted about their brows1      
before they would so much as consent to 
a ransom4  ,i have seen one left stark  
naked for dead in a ditch1 his neck     
black and swollen1 with a halter yet    
about it with which they had dragged him
 all night at a horse's tail1 his body  
wounded in a hundred places1 with stabs 
of daggers that had been given him1 not 
to kill him1 but to put him to pain and 
to affright him1 who had endured all    
this1 and even to being speechless and  
insensible1 resolved1 as he himself told
 me1 rather to die a thousand deaths 7as

 indeed1 as to matter of suffering1 he  
had borne one7 before he would promise  
anything2 and yet he was one of the     
richest husbandmen of all the country4  
,how many have been seen patiently to   
suffer themselves to be burnt and       
roasted for opinions taken upon trust   
from others1 and by them not at all     
understood8  ,i have known a hundred and
 a hundred women 7for ,gascony has a    
certain prerogative for obstinacy7 whom 
you might sooner have made eat fire than
 forsake an opinion they had conceived  
in anger4  ,they are all the more       
exasperated by blows and constraint4    
,and he that made the story of the woman
 who1 in defiance of all correction1    
threats1 and bastinadoes1 ceased not to 
call her husband lousy knave1 and who   
being plunged over head and ears in     
water1 yet lifted her hands above her   
head and made a sign of cracking lice1  
feigned a tale of which1 in truth1 we   
every day see a manifest image in the   
obstinacy of women4  ,and obstinacy is  

the sister of constancy1 at least in    
vigour and stability4  ,we are not to   
judge what is possible and what is not1 
according to what is credible and       
incredible to our apprehension1 as ,i   
have said elsewhere and it is a great   
fault1 and yet one that most men are    
guilty of1 which1 nevertheless1 ,i do   
not mention with any reflection upon    
,bodin1 to make a difficulty of         
believing that in another which they    
could not or would not do themselves4   
,every one thinks that the sovereign    
stamp of human nature is imprinted in   
him1 and that from it all others must   
take their rule2 and that all           
proceedings which are not like his are  
feigned and false4 ,is anything of      
another's actions or faculties proposed 
to him8 the first thing he calls to the 
consultation of his judgment is his own 
example2 and as matters go with him1 so 
they must of necessity do with all the  
world besides dangerous and intolerable 
folly6  ,for my part1 ,i consider some  

men as infinitely beyond me1 especially 
amongst the ancients1 and yet1 though ,i
 clearly discern my inability to come   
near them by a thousand paces1 ,i do not
 forbear to keep them in sight1 and to  
judge of what so elevates them1 of which
 ,i perceive some seeds in myself1 as ,i
 also do of the extreme meanness of some
 other minds1 which ,i neither am       
astonished at nor yet misbelieve4  ,i   
very well perceive the turns those great
 souls take to raise  themselves to such
 a pitch1 and admire their grandeur2 and
 those flights that ,i think the bravest
 ,i could be glad to imitate2 where1    
though ,i want wing1 yet my judgment    
readily goes along with them4  ,the     
other example he introduces of things   
incredible and wholly fabulous1         
delivered by ,plutarch1 is1 that        
,agesilaus was fined by the ,ephori for 
having wholly engrossed the hearts and  
affections of his citizens to himself   
alone4  ,and herein ,i do not see what  
sign of falsity is to be found3 clearly 

,plutarch speaks of things that must    
needs be better known to him than to us2
 and it was no new thing in ,greece to  
see men punished and exiled for this    
very thing1 for being too acceptable to 
the people2 witness the ,ostracism and  
,petalism4--,ostracism at ,athens was   
banishment for ten years2 petalism at   
,syracuse was banishment for five years4
  ,there is yet in this place another   
accusation laid against ,plutarch which 
,i cannot well digest1 where ,bodin says
 that he has sincerely paralleled       
,romans with ,romans1 and ,greeks       
amongst themselves1 but not ,romans with
 ,greeks2 witness1 says he1 ,demosthenes
 and ,cicero1 ,cato and ,aristides1     
,sylla and ,lysander1 ,marcellus and    
,pelopidas1 ,pompey and ,agesilaus1     
holding that he has favoured the ,greeks
 in giving them so unequal companions4  
,this is really to attack what in       
,plutarch is most excellent and most to 
be commended2 for in his parallels      
7which is the most admirable part of all

 his works1 and with which1 in my       
opinion1 he is himself the most pleased7
 the fidelity and sincerity of his      
judgments equal their depth and weight2 
he is a philosopher who teaches us      
virtue4 ,let us see whether we cannot   
defend him from this reproach of falsity
 and prevarication4  ,all that ,i can   
imagine could give occasion to this     
censure is the great and shining lustre 
of the ,roman names which we have in our
 minds2 it does not seem likely to us   
that ,demosthenes could rival the glory 
of a consul1 proconsul1 and proctor of  
that great ,republic2 but if a man      
consider the truth of the thing1 and the
 men in themselves1 which is ,plutarch's
 chiefest aim1 and will rather balance  
their manners1 their natures1 and parts1
 than their fortunes1 ,i think1 contrary
 to ,bodin1 that ,cicero and the elder  
,cato come far short of the men with    
whom they are compared4  ,i should      
sooner1 for his purpose1 have chosen the
 example of the younger ,cato compared  

with ,phocion1 for in this couple there 
would have been a more likely disparity1
 to the ,roman's advantage4 ,as to      
,marcellus1 ,sylla1 and ,pompey1 ,i very
 well discern that their exploits of war
 are greater and more full of pomp and  
glory than those of the ,greeks1 whom   
,plutarch compares with them2 but the   
bravest and most virtuous actions any   
more in war than elsewhere1 are not     
always the most renowned4  ,i often see 
the names of captains obscured by the   
splendour of other names of less desert2
 witness ,labienus1 ,ventidius1         
,telesinus1 and several others4  ,and to
 take it by that1 were ,i to complain on
 the behalf of the ,greeks1 could ,i not
 say1 that ,camillus was much less      
comparable to ,themistocles1 the        
,gracchi to ,agis and ,cleomenes1 and   
,numa to ,lycurgus8 ,but 'tis folly to  
judge1 at one view1 of things that have 
so many aspects4  ,when ,plutarch       
compares them1 he does not1 for all     
that1 make them equal2 who could more   

learnedly and sincerely have marked     
their distinctions8  ,does he parallel  
the victories1 feats of arms1 the force 
of the armies conducted by ,pompey1 and 
his triumphs1 with those of ,agesilaus8 
,i do not believe1 says he1 that        
,xenophon himself1 if he were now       
living1 though he were allowed to write 
whatever pleased him to the advantage of
 ,agesilaus1 would dare to bring them   
into comparison4 ,does he speak of      
paralleling ,lysander to ,sylla4  ,there
 is1 says he1 no comparison1 either in  
the number of victories or in the hazard
 of battles1 for ,lysander only gained  
two naval battles4  ,this is not to     
derogate from the ,romans2 for having   
only simply named them with the ,greeks1
 he can have done them no injury1 what  
disparity soever there may be betwixt   
them and ,plutarch does not entirely    
oppose them to one another2 there is no 
preference in general2 he only compares 
the pieces and circumstances one after  
another1 and gives of every one a       

particular and separate judgment4       
,wherefore1 if any one could convict him
 of partiality1 he ought to pick out    
some one of those particular judgments1 
or say1 in general1 that he was mistaken
 in comparing such a ,greek to such a   
,roman1 when there were others more fit 
and better resembling to parallel him   
to4     ,,chapter ,,xxxiii  ,,the       
,,story ,,of ,,spurina  ,philosophy     
thinks she has not ill employed her     
talent when she has given the           
sovereignty of the soul and the         
authority of restraining our appetites  
to reason4  ,amongst which1 they who    
judge that there is none more violent   
than those which spring from love1 have 
this opinion also1 that they seize both 
body and soul1 and possess the whole    
man1 so that even health itself depends 
upon them1 and medicine is sometimes    
constrained to pimp for them2 but one   
might1 on the contrary1 also say1 that  
the mixture of the body brings an       
abatement and weakening2 for such       

desires are subject to satiety1 and     
capable of material remedies4  ,many1   
being determined to rid their soul from 
the continual alarms of this appetite1  
have made use of incision and amputation
 of the rebelling members2 others have  
subdued their force and ardour by the   
frequent application of cold things1 as 
snow and vinegar4  ,the sackcloths of   
our ancestors were for this purpose1    
which is cloth woven of horse hair1 of  
which some of them made shirts1 and     
others girdles1 to torture and correct  
their reins4  ,a prince1 not long ago1  
told me that in his youth upon a solemn 
festival in the court of ,king ,francis 
,i41 where everybody was finely dressed1
 he would needs put on his father's hair
 shirt1 which was still kept in the     
house2 but how great soever his devotion
 was1 he had not patience to wear it    
till night1 and was sick a long time    
after2 adding withal1 that he did not   
think there could be any youthful heat  
so fierce that the use of this recipe   

would not mortify1 and yet perhaps he   
never essayed the most violent2 for     
experience shows us1 that such emotions 
are often seen under rude and slovenly  
clothes1 and that a hair shirt does not 
always render those chaste who wear it4 
,xenocrates proceeded with greater      
rigour in this affair2 for his          
disciples1 to make trial of his         
continency1 having slipt ,lais1 that    
beautiful and famous courtesan1 into his
 bed1 quite naked1 excepting the arms of
 her beauty and her wanton allurements1 
her philters1 finding that1 in despite  
of his reason and philosophical rules1  
his unruly flesh began to mutiny1 he    
caused those members of his to be burned
 that he found consenting to this       
rebellion4  ,whereas the passions which 
wholly reside in the soul1 as ambition1 
avarice1 and the rest1 find the reason  
much more to do1 because it cannot there
 be helped but by its own means2 neither
 are those appetites capable of satiety1
 but grow sharper and increase by       

fruition4  ,the sole example of ,julius 
,caesar may suffice to demonstrate to us
 the disparity of these appetites2 for  
never was man more addicted to amorous  
delights than he3 of which one testimony
 is the peculiar care he had of his     
person1 to such a degree1 as to make use
 of the most lascivious means to that   
end then in use1 as to have all the     
hairs of his body twitched off1 and to  
wipe all over with perfumes with the    
extremest nicety4 ,and he was a         
beautiful person in himself1 of a fair  
complexion1 tall1 and sprightly1 full   
faced1 with quick hazel eyes1 if we may 
believe ,suetonius2 for the statues of  
him that we see at ,rome do not in all  
points answer this description4         
,besides his wives1 whom he four times  
changed1 without reckoning the amours of
 his boyhood with ,nicomedes1 king of   
,bithynia1 he had the maidenhead of the 
renowned ,cleopatra1 queen of ,egypt2   
witness the little ,caesario whom he had
 by her4  ,he also made love to4        

,eunoe1 queen of ,mauritania1 and at    
,rome1 to ,posthumia1 the wife of       
,servius ,sulpitius2 to ,lollia1 the    
wife of ,gabinius to ,tertulla1 the wife
 of ,crassus1 and even to ,mutia1 wife  
to the great ,pompey3 which was the     
reason1 the ,roman historians say1 that 
she was repudiated by her husband1 which
 ,plutarch confesses to be more than he 
knew2 and the ,curios1 both father and  
son1 afterwards reproached ,pompey1 when
 he married ,caesar's daughter1 that he 
had made himself son-in-law to a man who
 had made him cuckold1 and one whom he  
himself was wont to call ,a,egisthus4   
,besides all these1 he entertained      
,servilia1 ,cato's sister and mother to 
,marcus ,brutus1 whence1 every one      
believes1 proceeded the great affection 
he had to ,brutus1 by reason that he was
 born at a time when it was likely he   
might be his son4  ,so that ,i have     
reason1 methinks1 to take him for a man 
extremely given to this debauch1 and of 
very amorous constitution4  ,but the    

other passion of ambition1 with which he
 was infinitely smitten1 arising in him 
to contend with the former1 it was boon 
compelled to give way4  ,and here       
calling to mind ,mohammed1 who won      
,constantinople1 and finally            
exterminated the ,grecian name1 ,i do   
not know where these two were so evenly 
balanced2 equally an indefatigable      
lecher and soldier3 but where they both 
meet in his life and jostle one another1
 the quarrelling passion always gets the
 better of the amorous one1 and this    
though it was out of its natural season 
never regained an absolute sovereignty  
over the other till he had arrived at an
 extreme old age and unable to undergo  
the fatigues of war4  ,what is related  
for a contrary example of ,ladislaus1   
king of ,naples1 is very remarkable2    
that being a great captain1 valiant and 
ambitious1 he proposed to himself for   
the principal end of his ambition1 the  
execution of his pleasure and the       
enjoyment of some rare and excellent    

beauty4  ,his death sealed up all the   
rest3 for having by a close and tedious 
siege reduced the city of ,florence to  
so great distress that the inhabitants  
were compelled to capitulate about      
surrender1 he was content to let them   
alone1 provided they would deliver up to
 him a beautiful maid he had heard of in
 their city2 they were forced to yield  
to it1 and by a private injury to avert 
the public ruin4  ,she was the daughter 
of a famous physician of his time1 who1 
finding himself involved in so foul a   
necessity1 resolved upon a high attempt4
  ,as every one was lending a hand to   
trick up his daughter and to adorn her  
with ornaments and jewels to render her 
more agreeable to this new lover1 he    
also gave her a handkerchief most richly
 wrought1 and of an exquisite perfume1  
an implement they never go without in   
those parts1 which she was to make use  
of at their first approaches4  ,this    
handkerchief1 poisoned with his greatest
 art1 coming to be rubbed between the   

chafed flesh and open pores1 both of the
 one and the other1 so suddenly infused 
the poison1 that immediately converting 
their warm into a cold sweat they       
presently died in one another's arms4   
,but ,i return to ,caesar4  ,his        
pleasures never made him steal one      
minute of an hour1 nor go one step aside
 from occasions that might any way      
conduce to his advancement4  ,this      
passion was so sovereign in him over all
 the rest1 and with so absolute         
authority possessed his soul1 that it   
guided him at pleasure4  ,in truth1 this
 troubles me1 when1 as to everything    
else1 ,i consider the greatness of this 
man1 and the wonderful parts wherewith  
he was endued2 learned to that degree in
 all sorts of knowledge that there is   
hardly any one science of which he has  
not written2 so great an orator that    
many have preferred his eloquence to    
that of ,cicero1 and he1 ,i conceive1   
did not think himself inferior to him in
 that particular1 for his two           

anti-,catos were written to             
counterbalance the elocution that       
,cicero had expended in his ,cato4  ,as 
to the rest1 was ever soul so vigilant1 
so active1 and so patient of labour as  
his8 and1 doubtless1 it was embellished 
with many rare seeds of virtue1 lively1 
natural1 and not put on2 he was         
singularly sober2 so far from being     
delicate in his diet1 that ,oppius      
relates1 how that having one day at     
table set before him medicated instead  
of common oil in some sauce1 he ate     
heartily of it1 that he might not put   
his entertainer out of countenance4     
,another time he caused his baker to be 
whipped for serving him with a finer    
than ordinary sort of bread4  ,cato     
himself was wont to say of him1 that he 
was the first sober man who ever made it
 his business to ruin his country4  ,and
 as to the same ,cato's calling1 him one
 day drunkard1 it fell out thus being   
both of them in the ,senate1 at a time  
when ,catiline's conspiracy was in      

question of which was ,caesar was       
suspected1 one came and brought him a   
letter sealed up4  ,cato believing that 
it was something the conspirators gave  
him notice of1 required him to deliver  
into his hand1 which ,caesar  was       
constrained to do to avoid further      
suspicion4  ,it was by chance a         
love-letter that ,servilia1 ,cato's     
sister1 had written to him1 which ,cato 
having read1 he threw it back to him    
saying1 ,there1 drunkard4  ,this1 ,i    
say1 was rather a word of disdain and   
anger than an express reproach of this  
vice1 as we often rate those who anger  
us with the first injurious words that  
come into our mouths1 though nothing due
 to those we are offended at2 to which  
may be added that the vice with which   
,cato upbraided him is wonderfully near 
akin to that wherein he had surprised   
,caesar2 for ,bacchus and ,venus1       
according to the proverb1 very willingly
 agree2 but to me ,venus is much more   
sprightly accompanied by sobriety4  ,the

 examples of his sweetness and clemency 
to those by whom he had been offended   
are infinite2 ,i mean1 besides those he 
gave during the time of the civil wars1 
which1 as plainly enough appears by his 
writings1 he practised to cajole his    
enemies1 and to make them less afraid of
 his future dominion and victory4  ,but 
,i must also say1 that if these examples
 are not sufficient proofs of his       
natural sweetness1 they1 at least1      
manifest a marvellous confidence and    
grandeur of courage in this person4  ,he
 has often been known to dismiss whole  
armies1 after having overcome them1 to  
his enemies1 without ransom1 or deigning
 so much as to bind them by oath1 if not
 to favour him1 at least no more to bear
 arms against him2 he has three or four 
times taken some of ,pompey's captains  
prisoners1 and as often set them at     
liberty4  ,pompey declared all those to 
be enemies who did not follow him to the
 war2 he proclaimed all those to be his 
friends who sat still and did not       

actually take arms against him4  ,to    
such captains of his as ran away from   
him to go over to the other side1 he    
sent1 moreover1 their arms1 horses1 and 
equipage3 the cities he had taken by    
force he left at full liberty to follow 
which side they pleased1 imposing no    
other garrison upon them but the memory 
of his gentleness and clemency4  ,he    
gave strict and express charge1 the day 
of his great battle of ,pharsalia1 that1
 without the utmost necessity1 no one   
should lay a hand upon the citizens of  
,rome4 ,these1 in my opinion1 were very 
hazardous proceedings1 and 'tis no      
wonder if those in our civil war1 who1  
like him1 fight against the ancient     
estate of their country1 do not follow  
his example2 they are extraordinary     
means1 and that only appertain to       
,caesar's fortune1 and to his admirable 
foresight in the conduct of affairs4    
,when ,i consider the incomparable      
grandeur of his soul1 ,i excuse victory 
that it could not disengage itself from 

him1 even in so unjust and so wicked a  
cause4  ,to return to his clemency3 we  
have many striking examples in the time 
of his government1 when1 all things     
being reduced to his power1 he had no   
more written against him which he had as
 sharply answered3 yet he did not soon  
after forbear to use his interest to    
make him consul4  ,caius ,calvus1 who   
had composed several injurious epigrams 
against him1 having employed many of his
 friends to mediate a reconciliation    
with him1 ,caesar voluntarily persuaded 
himself to write first to him4  ,and our
 good ,catullus1 who had so rudely      
ruffled him under the name of ,mamurra1 
coming to offer his excuses to him1 he  
made the same day sit at his table4     
,having intelligence of some who spoke  
ill of him1 he did no more1 but only by 
a public oration declare that he had    
notice of it4  ,he still less feared his
 enemies than he hated them2 some       
conspiracies and cabals that were made  
against his life being discovered to    

him1 he satisfied himself in publishing 
by proclamation that they were known to 
him1 without further prosecuting the    
conspirators4  ,as to the respect he had
 for his friends3 ,caius ,oppius1 being 
with him upon a journey1 and finding    
himself ill1 he left him the only       
lodging he had for himself1 and lay all 
night upon a hard ground in the open    
air4 ,as to what concerns his justice1  
he put a beloved servant of his to death
 for lying with a noble ,roman's wife1  
though there was no complaint made4     
,never had man more moderation in his   
victory1 nor more resolution in his     
adverse fortune4  ,but all these good   
inclinations were stifled and spoiled by
 his furious ambition1 by which he      
suffered himself to be so transported   
and misled that one may easily maintain 
that this passion was the rudder of all 
his actions2 of a liberal man1 it made  
him a public thief to supply this bounty
 and profusion1 and made him utter this 
vile and unjust saying1 ,that if the    

most wicked and profligate persons in   
the world had been faithful in serving  
him towards his advancement1 he would   
cherish and prefer them to the utmost of
 his power1 as much as the best of men4 
,it intoxicated him with so excessive a 
vanity1 as to dare to boast in the      
presence of his fellow-citizens1 that he
 had made the great commonwealth of     
,rome a name without form and without   
body2 and to say that his answers for   
the future should stand for laws2 and   
also to receive the body of the ,senate 
coming to him1 sitting2 to suffer       
himself to be adored1 and to have divine
 honours paid to him in his own         
presence4  ,to conclude1 this sole vice1
 in my opinion1 spoiled in him the most 
rich and beautiful nature that ever was1
 and has rendered his name abominable to
 all good men1 in that he would erect   
his glory upon the ruins of his country 
and the subversion of the greatest and  
most flourishing republic the world     
shall ever see4  ,there might1 on the   

contrary1 many examples be produced of  
great men whom pleasures have made to   
neglect the conduct of their affairs1 as
 ,mark ,antony and others2 but where    
love and ambition should be in equal    
balance1 and come to jostle with equal  
forces1 ,i make no doubt but the last   
would win the prize4  ,to return to my  
subject3 'tis much to bridle our        
appetites by the argument of reason1 or1
 by violence1 to contain our members    
within their duty2 but to lash ourselves
 for our neighbour's interest1 and not  
only to divest ourselves of the charming
 passion that tickles us1 of the        
pleasure we feel in being agreeable to  
others1 and courted and beloved of every
 one1 but also to conceive a hatred     
against the graces that produce that    
effect1 and to condemn our beauty       
because it inflames others2 of this1 ,i 
confess1 ,i have met with few examples4 
,but this is one4  ,spurina1 a young man
 of ,tuscany3           ,qualis gemma   
micat1 fulvum quae dividit aurum1       

,aut collo decus1 aut cupiti3 vel quale 
per artem           ,inclusum buxo aut  
,oricia terebintho           ,lucet     
ebur1       ,as a gem shines enchased in
 yellow gold1 or an ornament on the     
neck or head1 or as ivory has lustre1   
set by art in boxwood or      ,orician  
ebony4--,a,eneid1 x4 #acd4  being       
endowed with a singular beauty1 and so  
excessive1 that the chastest eyes could 
not chastely behold its rays2 not       
contenting himself with leaving so much 
flame and fever as he everywhere kindled
 without relief1 entered into a furious 
spite against himself and those great   
endowments nature had so liberally      
conferred upon him1 as if a man were    
responsible to himself for the faults of
 others1 and purposely slashed and      
disfigured1 with many wounds and scars1 
the perfect symmetry and proportion that
 nature had so curiously imprinted in   
his face4  ,to give my free opinion1 ,i 
more admire than honour such actions3   
such excesses are enemies to my rules4  

,the design was conscientious and good1 
but certainly a little defective in     
prudence4  ,what if his deformity served
 afterwards to make others guilty of the
 sin of hatred or contempt2 or of envy  
at the glory of so rare a               
recommendation2 or of calumny1          
interpreting this humour a mad ambition6
  ,is there any form from which vice    
cannot1 if it will1 extract occasion to 
exercise itself1 one way or another8    
,it had been more just1 and also more   
noble1 to have made of these gifts of   
,god a subject of exemplary regularity  
and virtue4  ,they who retire themselves
 from the common offices1 from that     
infinite number of troublesome rules    
that fetter a man of exact honesty in   
civil life1 are in my opinion very      
discreet1 what peculiar sharpness of    
constraint soever they impose upon      
themselves in so doing4  ',tis in some  
sort a kind of dying to avoid the pain  
of living well4  ,they may have another 
reward2 but the reward of difficulty ,i 

fancy they can never have2 nor1 in      
uneasiness1 that there can be anything  
more or better done than the keeping    
oneself upright amid the waves of the   
world1 truly and exactly performing all 
parts of our duty4  ',tis1 peradventure1
 more easy to keep clear of the sex than
 to maintain one's self aright in all   
points in the society of a wife2 and a  
man may with less trouble adapt himself 
to entire abstinence than to the due    
dispensation of abundance4  ,use1       
carried on according to reason1 has in  
it more of difficulty than abstinence2  
moderation is a virtue that gives more  
work than suffering2 the well living of 
,scipio has a thousand fashions1 that of
 ,diogenes but one2 this as much excels 
the ordinary lives in innocence as the  
most accomplished excel them in utility 
and force4     ,,chapter ,,xxxiv        
,,observation ,,on ,,the ,,means ,,to   
,,carry ,,on ,a ,,war ,,according ,,to  
,,julius ,,caesar  ',tis related of many
 great leaders that they have had       

certain books in particular esteem1 as  
,alexander the ,great1 ,homer2 ,scipio  
,africanus1 ,xenophon2 ,marcus ,brutus1 
,polybius2 ,charles ,v41 ,philip'de     
,comines2 and 'tis said that1 in our    
times1 ,machiavelli is elsewhere still  
in repute2 but the late ,marshal        
,strozzi1 who had taken ,caesar for his 
man1 doubtless made the best choice1    
seeing that it indeed ought to be the   
breviary of every soldier1 as being the 
true and sovereign pattern of the       
military art4  ,and1 moreover1 ,god     
knows with that grace and beauty he has 
embellished that rich matter1 with so   
pure1 delicate1 and perfect expression1 
that1 in my opinion1 there are no       
writings in the world comparable to his1
 as to that business4  ,i will set down 
some rare and particular passages of his
 wars that remain in my memory4  ,his   
army1 being in some consternation upon  
the rumour that was spread of the great 
forces that king ,juba was leading      
against him1 instead of abating the     

apprehension which his soldiers had     
conceived at the news and of lessening  
to them the forces of the enemy1 having 
called them all together to encourage   
and reassure them1 he took a quite      
contrary way to what we are used to do1 
for he told them that they need no more 
trouble themselves with inquiring after 
the enemy's forces1 for that he was     
certainly informed thereof1 and then    
told them of a number much surpassing   
both the truth and the report that was  
current in his army2 following the      
advice of ,cyrus in ,xenophon1 forasmuch
 as the deception is not of so great    
importance to find an enemy weaker than 
we expected1 than to find him really    
very strong1 after having been made to  
believe that he was weak4  ,it was      
always his use to accustom his soldiers 
simply to obey1 without taking upon them
 to control1 or so much as to speak of  
their captain's designs1 which he never 
communicated to them but upon the point 
of execution2 and he took a delight1 if 

they discovered anything of what he     
intended1 immediately to change his     
orders to deceive them2 and to that     
purpose1 would often1 when he had       
assigned his quarters in a place1 pass  
forward and lengthen his day's march1   
especially if it was foul and rainy     
weather4  ,the ,swiss1 in the beginning 
of his wars in ,gaul1 having sent to him
 to demand a free passage over the      
,roman territories1 though resolved to  
hinder them by force1 he nevertheless   
spoke kindly to the messengers1 and took
 some respite to return an answer1 to   
make use of that time for the calling   
his army together4  ,these silly people 
did not know how good a husband he was  
of his time3 for he often repeats that  
it is the best part of a captain to know
 how to make use of occasions1 and his  
diligence in his exploits is1 in truth1 
unheard of and incredible4  ,if he was  
not very conscientious in taking        
advantage of an enemy under colour of a 
treaty of agreement1 he was as little so

 in this1 that he required no other     
virtue in a soldier but valour only1 and
 seldom punished any other faults but   
mutiny and disobedience4  ,he would     
often after his victories turn them     
loose to all sorts of licence1          
dispensing them for some time from the  
rules of military discipline1 saying    
withal that he had soldiers so well     
trained up that1 powdered and perfumed1 
they would run furiously to the fight4  
,in truth1 he loved to have them richly 
armed1 and made them wear engraved1     
gilded1 and damasked armour1 to the end 
that the care of saving it might engage 
them to a more obstinate defence4       
,speaking to them1 he called them by the
 name of fellow-soldiers1 which we yet  
use2 which his successor1 ,augustus1    
reformed1 supposing he had only done it 
upon necessity1 and to cajole those who 
merely followed him as volunteers3      
,rheni mihi ,caesar in undis            
,dux erat2 hic socius2 facinus quos     
inquinat1 aequat3       ,in the waters  

of the ,rhine ,caesar was my general2   
here at ,rome he      is my fellow4     
,crime levels those whom it polluted4   
--,lucan1 v4 #bhi4  but that this       
carriage was too mean and low for the   
dignity of an emperor and general of an 
army1 and therefore brought up the      
custom of calling them soldiers only4   
,with this courtesy ,caesar mixed great 
severity to keep them in awe2 the ninth 
legion having mutinied near ,placentia1 
he ignominiously cashiered them1 though 
,pompey was then yet on foot1 and       
received them not again to grace till   
after many supplications2 he quieted    
them more by authority and boldness than
 by gentle ways4  ,in that place where  
he speaks of his1 passage over the      
,rhine to ,germany1 he says that1       
thinking it unworthy of the honour of   
the ,roman people to waft over his army 
in vessels1 he built a bridge that they 
might pass over dry-foot4  ,there it was
 that he built that wonderful bridge of 
which he gives so particular a          

description2 for he nowhere so willingly
 dwells upon his actions as in          
representing to us the subtlety of his  
inventions in such kind of handiwork4   
,i have also observed this1 that he set 
a great value upon his exhortations to  
the soldiers before the fight2 for where
 he would show that he was either       
surprised or reduced to a necessity of  
fighting1 he always brings in this1 that
 he had not so much as leisure to       
harangue his army4  ,before that great  
battle with those of ,tournay1 ,caesar1 
says he1 having given order for         
everything else1 presently ran where    
fortune carried him to encourage his    
people1 and meeting with the tenth      
legion1 had no more time to say anything
 to them but this1 that they should     
remember their wonted valour2 not to be 
astonished1 but bravely sustain the     
enemy's encounter2 and seeing the enemy 
had already approached within a dart's  
cast1 he gave the signal for battle2 and
 going suddenly thence elsewhere1 to    

encourage others1 he found that they    
were already engaged4 ,here is what he  
tells us in that place4  ,his tongue1   
indeed1 did him notable service upon    
several occasions1 and his military     
eloquence was1 in his own time1 so      
highly reputed1 that many of his army   
wrote down his harangues as he spoke    
them1 by which means there were volumes 
of them collected that existed a long   
time after him4  ,he had so particular a
 grace in speaking1 that his intimates1 
and ,augustus amongst others1 hearing   
those orations read1 could distinguish  
even to the phrases and words that were 
not his4  ,the first time that he went  
out of ,rome with any public command1 he
 arrived in eight days at the river     
,rhone1 having with him in his coach a  
secretary or two before him who were    
continually writing1 and him who carried
 his sword behind him4  ,and certainly1 
though a man did nothing but go on1 he  
could hardly attain that promptitude    
with which1 having been everywhere      

victorious in ,gaul1 he left it1 and1   
following ,pompey to ,brundusium1 in    
eighteen days' time he subdued all      
,italy2 returned from ,brundusium to    
,rome2 from ,rome went into the very    
heart of ,spain1 where he surmounted    
extreme difficulties in the war against 
,afranius and ,petreius1 and in the long
 siege of ,marseilles2 thence he        
returned into ,macedonia1 beat the      
,roman army at ,pharsalia1 passed thence
 in pursuit of ,pompey into ,egypt1     
which he also subdued2 from ,egypt he   
went into ,syria and the territories of 
,pontus1 where he fought ,pharnaces2    
thence into ,africa1 where he defeated  
,scipio and ,juba2 again returned       
through ,italy1 where he defeated       
,pompey's sons3                 ,ocyor  
et coeli fiammis1 et tigride foeta4     
,swifter than lightning1 or the         
cub-bearing tigress4           --,lucan1
 v4 #dje                ,ac veluti      
montis saxum de1 vertice praeceps       
,cum ruit avulsum vento1 seu turbidus   

imber                ,proluit1 aut annis
 solvit sublapsa vetustas1              
,fertur in abruptum magno mons improbus 
actu1                ,exultatque solo1  
silvas1 armenta1 virosque1              
,involvens secum4       ,and as a stone 
torn from the mountain's top by the wind
 or rain      torrents1 or loosened by  
age1 falls massive with mighty force1   
bounds here and there1 in its course    
sweeps from the earth with it           
woods1 herds1 and men4--,a,eneid1 xii4  
#fhd4  ,speaking of the siege of        
,avaricum1 he says1 that it1 was his    
custom to be night and day with the     
pioneers4--,engineers4  ,d4,w4--,in all 
enterprises of consequence he always    
reconnoitred in person1 and never       
brought his army into quarters till he  
had first viewed the place1 and1 if we  
may believe ,suetonius1 when he resolved
 to pass over into ,england1 he was the 
first man that sounded the passage4  ,he
 was wont to say that he more valued a  
victory obtained by counsel than by     

force1 and in the war against ,petreius 
and ,afranius1 fortune presenting him   
with an occasion of manifest advantage1 
he declined it1 saying1 that he hoped1  
with a little more time1 but less       
hazard1 to overthrow his enemies4  ,he  
there also played a notable part in     
commanding his whole army to pass the   
river by swimming1 without any manner of
 necessity3                             
,rapuitque ruens in praelia miles1      
,quod fugiens timuisset1 iter2 mox uda  
receptis           ,membra fovent armis1
 gelidosque a gurgite1 cursu            
,restituunt artus4       ,the soldier   
rushing through a way to fight which he 
would have      been afraid to have     
taken in flight3 then with their armour 
they      cover wet limbs1 and by       
running restore warmth to their numbed  
joints4--,lucan1 iv4  #aea4  ,i find him
 a little more temperate and considerate
 in his enterprises than ,alexander1 for
 this man seems to seek and run headlong
 upon dangers like an impetuous torrent 

which attacks and rushes against        
everything it meets1 without choice or  
discretion2                      ,sic   
tauriformis volvitur ,aufidus2          
,qui regna ,dauni perfluit ,appuli1     
,dum saevit1 horrendamque cultis        
,diluviem meditatur agris2       ,so the
 biforked ,aufidus1 which flows through 
the realm of the      ,apulian ,daunus1 
when raging1 threatens a fearful deluge 
to the      tilled ground4--,horat41    
,od41 iv4 #ad1 #be4  and1 indeed1 he was
 a general in the flower and first heat 
of his youth1 whereas ,caesar took up   
the trade at a ripe and well advanced   
age2 to which may be added that         
,alexander was of a more sanguine1 hot1 
and choleric constitution1 which he also
 inflamed with wine1 from which ,caesar 
was very abstinent4  ,but where         
necessary occasion required1 never did  
any man venture his person more than he3
 so much so1 that for my part1 methinks 
,i read in many of his exploits a       
determinate resolution to throw himself 

away to avoid the shame of being        
overcome4  ,in his great battle with    
those of ,tournay1 he charged up to the 
head of the enemies without his shield1 
just as he was seeing the van of his own
 army beginning to give ground'2 which  
also several other times befell him4    
,hearing that his people were besieged1 
he passed through the enemy's army in   
disguise to go and encourage them with  
his presence4  ,having crossed over to  
,dyrrachium with very slender forces1   
and seeing the remainder of his army    
which he had left to ,antony's conduct  
slow in following him1 he undertook     
alone to repass the sea in a very great 
storms and privately stole away to fetch
 the rest of his forces1 the ports on   
the other side being seized by ,pompey1 
and the whole sea being in his          
possession4  ,and as to what he         
performed by force of hand1 there are   
many exploits that in hazard exceed all 
the rules of war2 for with how small    
means did he undertake to subdue the    

kingdom of ,egypt1 and afterwards to    
attack the forces of ,scipio and ,juba1 
ten times greater than his own8  ,these 
people had1 ,i know not what1 more than 
human confidence in their fortune2 and  
he was wont to say that men must embark1
 and not deliberate1 upon high          
enterprises4  ,after the battle of      
,pharsalia1 when he had sent his army   
away before him into ,asia1 and was     
passing in one single vessel the strait 
of the ,hellespont1 he met ,lucius      
,cassius at sea with ten tall           
men-of-war1 when he had the courage not 
only to stay his coming1 but to sail up 
to him and summon him to yield1 which he
 did4  ,having undertaken that furious  
siege of ,alexia1 where there were      
fourscore thousand men in garrison1 all 
,gaul being in arms to raise the siege  
and having set an army on foot of a     
hundred and nine thousand horse1 and of 
two hundred and forty thousand foot1    
what a boldness and vehement confidence 
was it in him that he would not give    

over his attempt1 but resolved upon two 
so great difficulties--which            
nevertheless he overcame2 and1 after    
having won that great battle against    
those without1 soon reduced those within
 to his mercy4  ,the same happened to   
,lucullus at the siege of ,tigranocerta 
against ,king ,tigranes1 but the        
condition of the enemy was not the same1
 considering the effeminacy of those    
with whom ,lucullus had to deal4  ,i    
will here set down two rare and         
extraordinary events concerning this    
siege of ,alexia2 one1 that the ,gauls  
having drawn their powers together to   
encounter ,caesar1 after they had made a
 general muster of all their forces1    
resolved in their council of war to     
dismiss a good part of this great       
multitude1 that they might not fall into
 confusion4  ,this example of fearing to
 be too many is new2 but1 to take it    
right1 it stands to reason that the body
 of an army should be of a moderate     
greatness1 and regulated to certain     

bounds1 both out of respect to the      
difficulty of providing for them1 and   
the difficulty of governing and keeping 
them in order4  ,at least it is very    
easy to make it appear by example that  
armies monstrous in number have seldom  
done anything to purpose4  ,according to
 the saying of ,cyrus in ,xenophon1     
',tis not the number of men1 but the    
number of good men1 that gives the      
advantage3 the remainder serving rather 
to trouble than assist4  ,and ,bajazet  
principally grounded his resolution of  
giving ,tamerlane battle1 contrary to   
the opinion of all his captains1 upon   
this1 that his enemies numberless number
 of men gave him assured hopes of       
confusion4 ,scanderbeg1 a very good and 
expert judge in such matters1 was wont  
to say that ten or twelve thousand      
reliable fighting men were sufficient to
 a good leader to secure his regulation 
in all sorts of military occasions4 ,the
 other thing ,i will here record1 which 
seems to be contrary both to the custom 

and rules of war1 is1 that              
,vercingetorix1 who was made general of 
all the parts of the revolted ,gaul1    
should go shut up himself in ,alexia3   
for he who has the command of a whole   
country ought never to shut himself up  
but in case of such last extremity that 
the only place he has left is in        
concern1 and that the only hope he has  
left is in the defence of that city2    
otherwise he ought to keep himself      
always at liberty1 that he may have the 
means to provide1 in general1 for all   
parts of his government4  ,to return to 
,caesar4  ,he grew1 in time1 more slow  
and more considerate1 as his friend     
,oppius witnesses3 conceiving that he   
ought not lightly to hazard the glory of
 so many victories1 which one blow of   
fortune might deprive him of4  ',tis    
what the ,italians say1 when they would 
reproach the rashness and foolhardiness 
of young people1 calling them ,bisognosi
 d'onore1 necessitous of honour1 and    
that being in so great a want and dearth

 of reputation1 they have reason to seek
 it at what price soever1 which they    
ought not to do who have acquired enough
 already4  ,there may reasonably be some
 moderation1 some satiety1 in this      
thirst and appetite of glory1 as well as
 in other things3 and there are enough  
people who practise it4  ,he was far    
remote from the religious scruples of   
the ancient ,romans1 who would never    
prevail in their wars but by dint of    
pure and simple valour2 and yet he was  
more conscientious than we should be in 
these days1 and did not approve all     
sorts of means to obtain a victory4  ,in
 the war against ,ariovistus1 whilst he 
was parleying with him1 there happened  
some commotion between the horsemen1    
which was occasioned by the fault of    
,ariovistus' light horse1 wherein1      
though ,caesar saw he had a very great  
advantage of the enemy1 he would make no
 use on't1 lest he should have been     
reproached with a treacherous           
proceeding4  ,he was always wont to wear

 rich garments1 and of a shining colour 
in battle1 that he might be the more    
remarkable and better observed4  ,he    
always carried a stricter and tighter   
hand over his soldiers when near an     
enemy4  ,when the ancient ,greeks would 
accuse any one of extreme insufficiency1
 they would say1 in common proverb1 that
 he could neither read nor swim2 he was 
of the same opinion1 that swimming was  
of great use in war1 and himself found  
it so2 for when he had to use diligence1
 he commonly swam over the rivers in his
 way2 for he loved to march on foot1 as 
also did ,alexander the ,great4  ,being 
in ,egypt forced1 to save himself1 to go
 into a little boat1 and so many people 
leaping in with him that it was in      
danger of sinking1 he chose rather to   
commit himself to the sea1 and swam to  
his fleet1 which lay two hundred paces  
off1 holding in his left hand his       
tablets1 and drawing his coatarmour in  
his teeth1 that it might not fall into  
the enemy's hand1 and at this time he   

was of a pretty advanced age4  ,never   
had any general so much credit with his 
soldiers3 in the beginning of the civil 
wars1 his centurions offered him to find
 every one a man-at-arms at his own     
charge1 and the foot soldiers to serve  
him at their own expense2 those who were
 most at their ease1 moreover1          
undertaking to defray the more          
necessitous4  ,the late ,admiral        
,chastillon       ,gaspard de ,coligny1 
assassinated  in the ,st4 ,bartholomew  
massacre1 #bdth ,august #aegb4  showed  
us the like example in our civil wars2  
for the ,french of his army provided    
money out of their own purses to pay the
 foreigners that were with him4  ,there 
are but rarely found examples of so     
ardent and so ready an affection amongst
 the soldiers of elder times1 who kept  
themselves strictly to their rules of   
war3 passion has a more absolute command
 over us than reason2 and yet it        
happened in the war against ,hannibal1  
that by the example of the people of    

,rome in the city1 the soldiers and     
captains refused their pay in the army1 
and in ,marcellus' camp those were      
branded with the name of ,mercenaries   
who would receive any4  ,having got the 
worst of it near ,dyrrachium1 his       
soldiers came and offered themselves to 
be chastised and punished1 so that there
 was more need to comfort than reprove  
them4  ,one single cohort of his        
withstood four of ,pompey's legions     
above four hours together1 till they    
were almost all killed with arrows1 so  
that there were a hundred and thirty    
thousand shafts found in the trenches4  
,a soldier called ,scaeva1 who commanded
 at one of the avenues1 invincibly      
maintained his ground1 having lost an   
eye1 with one shoulder and one thigh    
shot through1 and his shield hit in two 
hundred and thirty places4 ,it happened 
that many of his soldiers being taken   
prisoners1 rather chose to die than     
promise to join the contrary side4      
,granius ,petronius was taken by ,scipio

 in ,africa3 ,scipio having put the rest
 to death1 sent him word that he gave   
him his life1 for he was a man of       
quality and quaestor1 to whom ,petronius
 sent answer back1 that ,caesar's       
soldiers were wont to give others their 
life1 and not to receive it2 and        
immediately with his own hand killed    
himself4  ,of their fidelity there are  
infinite examples amongst them1 that    
which was done by those who were        
besieged in ,salona1 a city that stood  
for ,caesar against ,pompey1 is not1 for
 the rarity of an accident that there   
happened1 to be forgotten4  ,marcus     
,octavius kept them close besieged2 they
 within being reduced to the extremest  
necessity of all things1 so that to     
supply the want of men1 most of them    
being either slain or wounded1 they had 
manumitted all their slaves1 and had    
been constrained to cut off all the     
women's hair to make ropes for their war
 engines1 besides a wonderful dearth of 
victuals1 and yet continuing resolute   

never to yield4  ,after having drawn the
 siege to a great length1 by which      
,octavius was grown more negligent and  
less attentive to his enterprise1 they  
made choice of one day about noon1 and  
having first placed the women and       
children upon the walls to make a show1 
sallied upon the besiegers with such    
fury1 that having routed the first1     
second1 and third body1 and afterwards  
the fourth1 and the rest1 and beaten    
them all out of their trenches1 they    
pursued them even to their ships1 and   
,octavius himself was fain to fly to    
,dyrrachium1 where ,pompey lay4  ,i do  
not at present remember that ,i have met
 with any other example where the       
besieged ever gave the besieger a total 
defeat and won the field1 nor that a    
sortie ever achieved the result of a    
pure and entire victory4     ,,chapter  
,,xxxv  ,,of ,,three ,,good ,,women     
,they are not by the dozen1 as every one
 knows1 and especially in the duties of 
marriage1 for that is a bargain full of 

so many nice circumstances that 'tis    
hard a woman's will should long endure  
such a restraint2 men1 though their     
condition be something better under that
 tie1 have yet enough to do4  ,the true 
touch and test of a happy marriage have 
respect to the time of the              
companionship1 if it has been constantly
 gentle1 loyal1 and agreeable4  ,in our 
age1 women commonly reserve the         
publication of their good offices1 and  
their vehement affection towards their  
husbands1 until they have lost them1 or 
at least1 till then defer the           
testimonies of their good will2 a too   
slow testimony and unseasonable4 ,by it 
they rather manifest that they never    
loved them till dead3 their life is     
nothing but trouble2 their death full of
 love and courtesy4  ,as fathers conceal
 their affection from their children1   
women1 likewise1 conceal theirs from    
their husbands1 to maintain a modest    
respect4  ,this mystery is not for my   
palate2 'tis to much purpose that they  

scratch themselves and tear their hair4 
,i whisper in a waiting-woman's or      
secretary's ear3 ,how were they1 how did
 they live together8 ,i always have that
 good saying m my head3                 
,jactantius moerent1 quae minus dolent4 
,they make the most ado who are least   
concerned4 7,or37      ,they mourn the  
more ostentatiously1 the less they      
grieve4      --,tacitus1 ,annal41 ii4   
#gg1 writing of ,germanicus4  ,their    
whimpering is offensive to the living   
and vain to the dead4  ,we should       
willingly give them leave to laugh after
 we are dead1 provided they will smile  
upon us whilst we are alive4  ,is it not
 enough to make a man revive in pure    
spite1 that she1 who spat in my face    
whilst ,i was in being1 shall come to   
kiss my feet when ,i am no more8  ,if   
there be any honour in lamenting a      
husband1 it only appertains to those who
 smiled upon them whilst they had them2 
let those who wept during their lives   
laugh at their deaths1 as well outwardly

 as within4  ,therefore1 never regard   
those blubbered eyes and that pitiful   
voice2 consider her deportment1 her     
complexion1 the plumpness of her cheeks 
under all those formal veils2 'tis there
 she talks plain ,french4  ,there are   
few who do not mend upon't1 and health  
is a quality that cannot lie4  ,that    
starched and ceremonious countenance    
looks not so much back as forward1 and  
is rather intended to get a new husband 
than to lament the old4  ,when ,i was a 
boy1 a very beautiful and virtuous lady1
 who is yet living1 the widow of a      
prince1 wore somewhat more ornament in  
her dress than our laws of widowhood    
allow1 and being reproached with it1 she
 made answer that it was because she was
 resolved to have no more love affairs1 
and would never marry again4  ,i have   
here1 not at all dissenting from our    
customs1 made choice of three women1 who
 have also expressed the utmost of their
 goodness and affection about their     
husbands' deaths2 yet are they examples 

of another kind than are now m use1 and 
so austere that they will hardly be     
drawn into imitation4  ,the younger     
,pliny' had near a house of his in      
,italy a neighbour who was exceedingly  
tormented with certain ulcers in his    
private parts4  ,his wife seeing him so 
long to languish1 entreated that he     
would give her leave to see and at      
leisure to consider of the condition of 
his disease1 and that she would freely  
tell him what she thought4  ,this       
permission being obtained1 and she      
having curiously examined the business1 
found it impossible he could ever be    
cured1 and that all he had to hope for  
or expect was a great while to linger   
out a painful and miserable life1 and   
therefore1 as the most sure and         
sovereign remedy1 resolutely advised him
 to kill himself4  ,but finding him a   
little tender and backward in so rude an
 attempt3 ,do not think1 my friend1 said
 she1 that the torments ,i see thee     
endure are not as sensible to me as to  

thyself1 and that to deliver myself from
 them1 ,i will not myself make use of   
the same remedy ,i have prescribed to   
thee4  ,i will accompany thee in the    
cure as ,i have done in the disease2    
fear nothing1 but believe that we shall 
have pleasure in this passage that is to
 free us from so many miseries1 and we  
will go happily together4  ,which having
 said1 and roused up her husband's      
courage1 she resolved that they should  
throw themselves headlong into the sea  
out of a window that overlooked it1 and 
that she might maintain to the last the 
loyal and vehement affection wherewith  
she had embraced him during his life1   
she would also have him die in her arms2
 but lest they should fail1 and should  
quit their hold in the fall through     
fear1 she tied herself fast to him by   
the waist1 and so gave up her own life  
to procure her husband's repose4  ,this 
was a woman of mean condition2 and1     
amongst that class of people1 'tis no   
very new thing to see some examples of  

rare virtue3                            
,extrema per illos                      
,justitia excedens terris vestigia      
fecit4            ,justice1 when she    
left the earth1 took her last           
steps among them4--,virgil1 ,georg41 ii4
  #dgc4  ,the other two were noble and  
rich1 where examples of virtue are      
rarely lodged4  ,arria1 the wife of     
,caecina ,paetus1 a consular person1 was
 the mother of another ,arria1 the wife 
of ,thrasea ,paetus1 he whose virtue was
 so renowned in the time of ,nero1 and  
by this son-in-law1 the grandmother of  
,fannia3 for the resemblance of the     
names of these men and women1 and their 
fortunes1 have led to several mistakes4 
,this first ,arria1 her husband ,caecina
 ,paetus1 having been taken prisoner by 
some of the ,emperor ,claudius' people1 
after ,scribonianus' defeat1 whose party
 he had embraced in the war1 begged of  
those who were to carry him prisoner to 
,rome1 that they would take her into    
their ship1 where she would be of much  

less charge and trouble to them than a  
great many persons they must otherwise  
have to attend her husband1 and that she
 alone would undertake to serve him in  
his chamber1 his kitchen1 and all other 
offices4  ,they refused1 whereupon she  
put herself into a fisher-boat she hired
 on the spot1 and in that manner        
followed him from ,sclavonia4  ,when she
 had come to ,rome1 ,junia1 the widow of
 ,scribonianus1 having one day1 from the
 resemblance of their fortune1 accosted 
her in the ,emperor's presence2 she     
rudely repulsed her with these words1   
,i1 said she1 speak to thee1 or give ear
 to any thing thou sayest6 to thee in   
whose lap ,scribonianus was slain1 and  
thou art yet alive6  ,these words1 with 
several other signs1 gave her friends to
 understand that she would undoubtedly  
despatch herself1 impatient of          
supporting her husband's misfortune4    
,and ,thrasea1 her son-in-law1          
beseeching her not to throw away        
herself1 and saying to her1 ,what6 if ,i

 should run the same fortune that       
,caecina has done1 would you that your  
daughter1 my wife1 should do the        
same8--,would ,i8  replied she1 yes1    
yes1 ,i would3 if she had lived as long1
 and in as good understanding with thee 
as ,i have done1 with my husband4       
,these answers made them more careful of
 her1 and to have a more watchful eye to
 her proceedings4  ,one day1 having said
 to those who looked to her3 ,tis to    
much purpose that you take all this     
pains to prevent me2 you may indeed make
 me die an ill death1 but to keep me    
from dying is not in your power2 she in 
a sudden phrenzy started from a chair   
whereon she sat1 and with all her force 
dashed her head against the wall1 by    
which blow being laid flat in a swoon1  
and very much wounded1 after they had   
again with great ado brought her to     
herself3 ,i told you1 said she1 that if 
you refused me some easy way of dying1  
,i should find out another1 how painful 
soever4  ,the conclusion of so admirable

 a virtue was this3 her husband ,paetus1
 not having resolution enough of his own
 to despatch himself1 as he was by the  
emperor's cruelty enjoined1 one day1    
amongst others1 after having first      
employed all the reasons and            
exhortations which she thought most     
prevalent to persuade him to it1 she    
snatched the poignard he wore from his  
side1 and holding it ready in her hand1 
for the conclusion of her admonitions2  
,do thus1 ,paetus1 said she1 and in the 
same instant giving herself a mortal    
stab in the breast1 and then drawing it 
out of the wound1 presented it to him1  
ending her life with this noble1        
generous1 and immortal saying1 ,paete1  
non dolet--having time to pronounce no  
more but those three                    
never-to-be-forgotten words3 ,paetus1 it
 is not painful4                ,casta  
suo gladium cum traderet ,arria ,paeto1 
,quern de visceribus traxerat ipsa suis 
,si qua fides1 vulnus quod feci non     
dolet1 inquit1                ,sed quod 

to facies1 id mihi1 ,paete1 dolet4      
,when the chaste ,arria gave to ,poetus 
the reeking sword she had      drawn    
from her breast1 ',if you believe me1'  
she said1 ',paetus1 the      wound ,i   
have made hurts not1 but 'tis that which
 thou wilt make that      hurts         
me4'---,martial1 i4 #ad4  ,the action   
was much more noble in itself1 and of a 
braver sense than the poet expressed it3
 for she was so far from being deterred 
by the thought of her husband's wound   
and death and her own1 that she had been
 their promotress and adviser3 but      
having performed this high and          
courageous enterprise for her husband's 
only convenience1 she had even in the   
last gasp of her life no other concern  
but for him1 and of dispossessing him of
 the fear of dying with her4  ,paetus   
presently struck himself to the heart   
with the same weapon1 ashamed1 ,i       
suppose1 to have stood in need of so    
dear and precious an example4  ,pompeia 
,paulina1 a young and very noble ,roman 

lady1 had married ,seneca in his extreme
 old age4  ,nero1 his fine pupil1 sent  
his guards to him to denounce the       
sentence of death1 which was performed  
after this manner3 ,when the ,roman     
emperors of those times had condemned   
any man of quality1 they sent to him by 
their officers to choose what death he  
would1 and to execute it within such or 
such a time1 which was limited1         
according to the degree of their        
indignation1 to a shorter or a longer   
respite1 that they might therein have   
better leisure to dispose their affairs1
 and sometimes depriving them of the    
means of doing it by the shortness of   
the time2 and if the condemned seemed   
unwilling to submit to the order1 they  
had people ready at hand to execute it  
either by cutting the veins of the arms 
and legs1 or by compelling them by force
 to swallow a draught of poison4  ,but  
persons of honour would not abide this  
necessity1 but made use of their own    
physicians and surgeons for this        

purpose4  ,seneca1 with a calm and      
steady countenance1 heard their charge1 
and presently called for paper to write 
his will1 which being by the captain    
refused1 he turned himself towards his  
friends1 saying to them1 ,since ,i      
cannot leave you any other              
acknowledgment of the obligation ,i have
 to you1 ,i leave you at least the best 
thing ,i have1 namely1 the image of my  
life and manners1 which ,i entreat you  
to keep in memory of me1 that by so     
doing you may acquire the glory of      
sincere and real friends4  ,and there   
withal1 one while appeasing the sorrow  
he saw in them with gentle words1 and   
presently raising his voice to reprove  
them3 ,what1 said he1 are become of all 
our brave philosophical precepts8 ,what 
are become of all the provisions we have
 so many years laid up against the      
accidents of fortune8 ,is ,nero's       
cruelty unknown to us8  ,what could we  
expect from him who had murdered his    
mother and his brother1 but that he     

should put his tutor to death who had   
brought him up8  ,after having spoken   
these words in general1 he turned       
himself towards his wife1 and embracing 
her fast in his arms1 as1 her heart and 
strength failing her1 she was ready to  
sink down with grief1 he begged of her1 
for his sake1 to bear this accident with
 a little more patience1 telling her1   
that now the hour was come wherein he   
was to show1 not by argument and        
discourse1 but effect1 the fruit he had 
acquired by his studies1 and that he    
really embraced his death1 not only     
without grief1 but moreover with joy4   
,wherefore1 my dearest1 said he1 do not 
dishonour it with thy tears1 that it may
 not seem as if thou lovest thyself more
 than my reputation4  ,moderate thy     
grief1 and comfort thyself in the       
knowledge thou hast had of me and my    
actions1 leading the remainder of thy   
life in the same virtuous manner thou   
hast hitherto done4  ,to which ,paulina1
 having a little recovered her spirits1 

and warmed the magnanimity of her       
courage with a most generous affection1 
replied1--,no1 ,seneca1 said she1 ,i am 
not a woman to suffer you to go alone in
 such a necessity3 ,i will not have you 
think that the virtuous examples of your
 life have not taught me how to die2 and
 when can ,i ever better or more        
fittingly do it1 or more to my own      
desire1 than with you8 and therefore    
assure yourself ,i will go along with   
you4  ,then ,seneca1 taking this noble  
and generous resolution of his wife m   
good part1 and also willing to free     
himself from the fear of leaving her    
exposed to the cruelty of his enemies   
after his death3 ,i have1 ,paulina1 said
 he1 instructed thee in what would serve
 thee happily to live2 but thou more    
covetest1 ,i see1 the honour of dying3  
in truth1 ,i will not grudge it thee2   
the constancy and resolution in our     
common end are the same1 but the beauty 
and glory of thy part are much greater4 
,which being said1 the surgeons1 at the 

same time1 opened the veins of both     
their arms1 but as those of ,seneca were
 more shrunk up1 as well with age as    
abstinence1 made his blood flow too     
slowly1 he moreover commanded them to   
open the veins of his thighs2 and lest  
the torments he endured might pierce his
 wife's heart1 and also to free himself 
from the affliction of seeing her in so 
sad a condition1 after having taken a   
very affectionate leave of her1 he      
entreated she would suffer them to carry
 her into her chamber1 which they       
accordingly did4  ,but all these        
incisions being not yet enough to make  
him die1 he commanded ,statius ,anneus1 
his physician1 to give him a draught of 
poison1 which had not much better       
effect2 for by reason of the weakness   
and coldness of his limbs1 it could not 
arrive at his heart4  ,wherefore they   
were forced to superadd a very hot bath1
 and then1 feeling his end approach1    
whilst he had breath he continued       
excellent discourses upon the subject of

 his present condition1 which the       
secretaries wrote down so long as they  
could hear his voice1 and his last words
 were long after in high honour and     
esteem amongst men1 and it is a great   
loss to us that they have not come down 
to our times4  ,then1 feeling the last  
pangs of death1 with the bloody water of
 the bath he bathed his head1 saying3   
,this water ,i dedicate to ,jupiter the 
deliverer4  ,nero1 being presently      
informed of all this1 fearing lest the  
death of ,paulina1 who was one of the   
best-born ladies of ,rome1 and against  
whom he had no particular unkindness1   
should turn to his reproach1 sent orders
 in all haste to bind up her wounds1    
which her attendants did without her    
knowledge1 she being already half dead1 
and without all manner of sense4  ,thus1
 though she lived contrary to her own   
design1 it was very honourably1 and     
befitting her own virtue1 her pale      
complexion ever after manifesting how   
much life had run from her veins4       

,these are my three very true stories1  
which ,i find as entertaining and as    
tragic as any of those we make out of   
our own heads wherewith to amuse the    
common people2 and ,i wonder that they  
who are addicted to such relations1 do  
not rather cull out ten thousand very   
fine stories1 which are to be found in  
books1 that would save them the trouble 
of invention1 and be more useful and    
diverting2 and he who would make a whole
 and connected body of them would need  
to add nothing of his own1 but the      
connection only1 as it were the solder  
of another metal2 and might by this     
means embody a great many true events of
 all sorts1 disposing and diversifying  
them according as the beauty of the work
 should require1 after the same manner1 
almost1 as ,ovid has made up his        
,metamorphoses of the infinite number of
 various fables4  ,in the last couple1  
this is1 moreover1 worthy of            
consideration1 that ,paulina voluntarily
 offered to lose her life for the love  

of her husband1 and that her husband had
 formerly also forborne to die for the  
love of her4  ,we may think there is no 
just counterpoise in this exchange2 but1
 according to his stoical humour1 ,i    
fancy he thought he had done as much for
 her1 in prolonging his life upon her   
account1 as if he had died for her4  ,in
 one of his letters to ,lucilius1 after 
he has given him to understand that1    
being seized with an ague in ,rome1 he  
presently took coach to go to a house he
 had in the country1 contrary to his    
wife's opinion1 who would have him stay1
 and that he had told her that the ague 
he was seized with was not a fever of   
the body but of the place1 it follows   
thus3 ,she let me go1 says he1 giving me
 a strict charge of my health4  ,now ,i1
 who know that her life is involved in  
mine1 begin to make much of myself1 that
 ,i may preserve her4  ,and ,i lose the 
privilege my age has given me1 of being 
more constant and resolute in many      
things1 when ,i call to mind that in    

this old fellow there is a young girl   
who is interested in his health4  ,and  
since ,i cannot persuade her to love me 
more courageously1 she makes me more    
solicitously love myself3 for we must   
allow something to honest affections1   
and1 sometimes1 though occasions        
importune us to the contrary1 we must   
call back life1 even though it be with  
torment3 we must hold the soul fast in  
our teeth1 since the rule of living1    
amongst good men1 is not so long as they
 please1 but as long as they ought4  ,he
 that loves not his wife nor his friend 
so well as to prolong his life for them1
 but will obstinately die1 is too       
delicate and too effeminate3 the soul   
must impose this upon itself1 when the  
utility of our friends so requires2 we  
must sometimes lend ourselves to our    
friends1 and when we would die for      
ourselves must break that resolution for
 them4  ',tis a testimony of grandeur of
 courage to return to life for the      
consideration of another1 as many       

excellent persons have done3 and 'tis a 
mark of singular good nature to preserve
 old age 7of which the greatest         
convenience is the indifference as to   
its duration1 and a more stout and      
disdainful use of life71 when a man     
perceives that this office is pleasing1 
agreeable1 and useful to some person by 
whom he is very much beloved4  ,and a   
man reaps by it a very pleasing reward2 
for what can be more delightful than to 
be so dear to his wife1 as upon her     
account he shall become dearer to       
himself8  ,thus has my ,paulina loaded  
me not only with her fears1 but my own2 
it has not been sufficient to consider  
how resolutely ,i could die1 but ,i have
 also considered how irresolutely she   
would bear my death4  ,i am enforced to 
live1 and sometimes to live in          
magnanimity4  ,these are his own words1 
as excellent as they everywhere are4    
,,chapter ,,xxxvi  ,,of ,,the ,,most    
,,excellent ,,men  ,if ,i should be     
asked my choice among all the men who   

have come to my knowledge1 ,i should    
make answer1 that methinks ,i find three
 more excellent than all the rest4  ,one
 of them ,homer3 not that ,aristotle and
 ,varro1 for example1 were not1         
peradventure1 as learned as he2 nor that
 possibly ,virgil was not equal to him  
in his own art1 which ,i leave to be    
determined by such as know them both4   
,i who1 for my part1 understand but one 
of them1 can only say this1 according to
 my poor talent1 that ,i do not believe 
the ,muses themselves could ever go     
beyond the ,roman3                ,tale 
facit carmen docta testudine1 quale     
,cynthius impositis temperat articulis3 
,he plays on his learned lute a verse   
such as ,cynthian ,apollo      modulates
 with his imposed fingers4--,propertius1
 ii4 #cd1 #gi4  and yet in this judgment
 we are not to forget that it is chiefly
 from ,homer that ,virgil derives his   
excellence1 that he is guide and        
teacher2 and that one touch of the      
,iliad has supplied him with body and   

matter out of which to compose his great
 and divine ,a,eneid4  ,i do not reckon 
upon that1 but mix several other        
circumstances that render to me this    
poet admirable1 even as it were above   
human condition4  ,and1 in truth1 ,i    
often wonder that he who has produced1  
and1 by his authority1 given reputation 
in the world to so many deities1 was not
 deified himself4  ,being blind and     
poor1 living before the sciences were   
reduced into rule and certain           
observation1 he was so well acquainted  
with them1 that all those who have since
 taken upon them to establish           
governments1 to carry on wars1 and to   
write either of religion or philosophy1 
of what sect soever1 or of the arts1    
have made use of him as of a most       
perfect instructor in the knowledge of  
all things1 and of his books as of a    
treasury of all sorts of learning3      
,qui1 quid sit pulcrum1 quid turpe1 quid
 utile1 quid non1           ,planius ac 
melius ,chrysippo et ,crantore dicit3   

,who tells us what is good1 what evil1  
what useful1 what not1 more      clearly
 and better than ,chrysippus and        
,crantor8      --,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #b1  
#c4  and as this other says1            
,a quo1 ceu fonte perenni1              
,vatum ,pieriis ora rigantur aquis      
,from which1 as from a perennial spring1
 the lips of the poets      are         
moistened by ,pierian waters4--,ovid1   
,amoy41 iii4 #i1 #be4  and the other1   
,adde ,heliconiadum comites1 quorum unus
 ,homerus                ,sceptra       
potitus2       ,add the companions of   
the ,muses1 whose sceptre ,homer has    
solely      obtained4--,lucretius1 iii4 
#ajej4  and the other3                  
,cujusque ex ore profusos               
,omnis posteritas latices in carmina    
duxit1                ,amnemque in      
tenues ausa est deducere rivos4         
,unius foecunda bonis4       ,from whose
 mouth all posterity has drawn out      
copious streams of      verse1 and has  
made bold to turn the mighty river into 

its little      rivulets1 fertile in the
 property of one man4      --,manilius1 
,astyon41 ii4 #h4  ',tis contrary to the
 order of nature that he has made the   
most excellent production that can      
possibly be2 for the ordinary birth of  
things is imperfect2 they thrive and    
gather strength by growing1 whereas he  
rendered the infancy of poesy and       
several other sciences mature1 perfect1 
and accomplished at first4  ,and for    
this reason he may be called the first  
and the last of the poets1 according to 
the fine testimony antiquity has left us
 of him1 that as there was none before  
him whom he could imitate1 so there has 
been none since that could imitate him4 
,his words1 according to ,aristotle1 are
 the only words that have motion and    
action1 the only substantial words4     
,alexander the ,great1 having found a   
rich cabinet amongst ,darius' spoils1   
gave order it should be reserved for him
 to keep his ,homer in1 saying3 that he 
was the best and most faithful          

counsellor he had in his military       
affairs4  ,for the same reason it was   
that ,cleomenes1 the son of             
,anaxandridas1 said that he was the poet
 of the ,lacedaemonians1 for that he was
 an excellent master for the discipline 
of war4  ,this singular and particular  
commendation is also left of him in the 
judgment of ,plutarch1 that he is the   
only author in the world that never     
glutted nor disgusted his readers1      
presenting himself always another thing1
 and always flourishing in some new     
grace4 ,that wanton ,alcibiades1 having 
asked one1 who pretended to learning1   
for a book of ,homer1 gave him a box of 
the ear because he had none1  which he  
thought as scandalous as we should if we
 found one of our priests without a     
,breviary4  ,xenophanes complained one  
day to ,hiero1 the tyrant of ,syracuse1 
that he was so poor he had not          
wherewithal to maintain two servants4   
,what6 replied he1 ,homer1 who was much 
poorer than thou art1 keeps above ten   

thousand1 though he is dead4  ,what did 
,panaetius leave unsaid when he called  
,plato the ,homer of the philosophers8  
,besides what glory can be compared to  
his8  ,nothing is so frequent in men's  
mouths as his name and works1 nothing so
 known and received as ,troy1 ,helen1   
and the war about her1 when perhaps     
there was never any such thing4  ,our   
children are still called by names that 
he invented above three thousand years  
ago2 who does not know ,hector and      
,achilles8  ,not only some particular   
families1 but most nations also seek    
their origin in his inventions4         
,mohammed1 the second of that name1     
emperor of the ,turks1 writing to our   
,pope ,pius ,,ii41 ,i am astonished1    
says he1 that the ,italians should      
appear against me1 considering that we  
have our common descent from the        
,trojans1 and that it concerns me as    
well as it does them to revenge the     
blood of ,hector upon the ,greeks1 whom 
they countenance against me4  ,is it not

 a noble farce wherein kings1 republics1
 and emperors have so many ages played  
their parts1 and to which the vast      
universe serves for a theatre8  ,seven  
,grecian cities contended for his birth1
 so much honour even his obscurity      
helped him to6       ,smyrna1 ,rhodos1  
,colophon1 ,salamis1 ,chios1 ,argos1    
,athenm4  ,the other is ,alexander the  
,great4  ,for whoever will consider the 
age at which he began his enterprises1  
the small means by which he effected so 
glorious a design1 the authority he     
obtained in such mere youth with the    
greatest and most experienced captains  
of the world1 by whom he was followed1  
the extraordinary favour wherewith      
fortune embraced and favoured so many   
hazardous1 not to say rash1 exploits1   
,impellens quicquid sibi summa petenti  
,obstaret1 gaudensque viam fecisse      
ruins2       ,bearing down all who      
sought to withstand him1 and pleased    
to force his way by ruin4--,lucan1 i4   
#adi4  that greatness1 to have at the   

age of three-and-thirty years1 passed   
victorious through the whole habitable  
earth1 and in half a life to have       
attained to the utmost of what human    
nature can do2 so that you cannot       
imagine its just duration and the       
continuation of his increase in valour  
and fortune1 up to a due maturity of    
age1 but that you must withal imagine   
something more than man3 to have made so
 many royal branches to spring from his 
soldiers1 leaving the world1 at his     
death1 divided amongst four successors1 
simple captains of his army1 whose      
posterity so long continued and         
maintained that vast possession2 so many
 excellent virtues as he was master of1 
justice1 temperance1 liberality1 truth  
in his word1 love towards his own       
people1 and humanity towards those he   
overcame2 for his manners1 in general1  
seem in truth incapable of any manner of
 reproach1 although some particular and 
extraordinary actions of his may fall   
under censure4  ,but it is impossible to

 carry on such great things as he did   
within the strict rules of justice2 such
 as he are to be judged in gross by the 
main end of their actions4 ,the ruin of 
,thebes and ,persepolis1 the murder of  
,menander and of ,ephistion's physician1
 the massacre of so many ,persian       
prisoners at one time1 of a troop of    
,indian soldiers not without prejudice  
to his word1 and of the ,cossians1 so   
much as to the very children1 are indeed
 sallies that are not well to be        
excused4  ,for1 as to ,clytus1 the fault
 was more than redeemed2 and that very  
action1 as much as any other whatever1  
manifests the goodness of his nature1 a 
nature most excellently formed to       
goodness2 and it was ingeniously said of
 him1 that he had his virtues from      
,nature1 his vices from ,fortune4  ,as  
to his being a little given to bragging1
 a little too impatient of hearing      
himself ill-spoken of1 and as to those  
mangers1 arms1 and bits he caused to be 
strewed in the ,indies1 all those little

 vanities1 methinks1 may very well be   
allowed to his youth1 and the prodigious
 prosperity of his fortune4  ,and who   
will consider withal his so many        
military virtues1 his diligence1        
foresight1 patience1 discipline1        
subtlety1 magnanimity1 resolution1 and  
good fortune1 wherein 7though we had not
 had the authority of ,hannibal to      
assure us7 he was the first of men1 the 
admirable beauty and symmetry of his    
person1 even to a miracle1 his majestic 
port and awful mien1 in a face so young1
 ruddy1 and radiant3                    
,qualis1 ubi ,oceani perfusus ,lucifer  
unda1                ,quem ,venus ante  
alios astrorum diligit ignes1           
,extulit os sacrum coelo1 tenebrasque   
resolvit2       ,as when1 bathed in the 
waves of ,ocean1 ,lucifer1 whom ,venus  
loves      beyond the other stars1 has  
displayed his sacred countenance to the 
heaven1 and disperses the               
darkness--,a,eneid1 iii4 #ehi4  the     
excellence of his knowledge and         

capacity2 the duration and grandeur of  
his glory1 pure1 clean1 without spot or 
envy1 and that long after his death it  
was a religious belief that his very    
medals brought good fortune to all who  
carried them about them2 and that more  
kings and princes have written his      
actions than other historians have      
written the actions of any other king or
 prince whatever2 and that to this very 
day the ,mohammedans1 who despise all   
other histories1 admit of and honour his
 alone1 by a special privilege3 whoever1
 ,i say1 will seriously consider these  
particulars1 will confess that1 all     
these things put together1 ,i had reason
 to prefer him before ,caesar himself1  
who alone could make me doubtful in my  
choice3 and it cannot be denied that    
there was more of his own in his        
exploits1 and more of fortune in those  
of ,alexander4  ,they were in many      
things equal1 and peradventure ,caesar  
had some greater qualities they were two
 fires1 or two torrents1 overrunning the

 world by several ways2                 
,ac velut immissi diversis partibus     
ignes                ,arentem in silvam1
 et virgulta sonantia lauro             
,aut ubi decursu rapido de montibus     
altis                ,dant sonitum      
spumosi amnes1 et in aequora currunt1   
,quisque suum populatus iter3       ,and
 as fires applied in several parts to a 
dry wood and crackling      shrubs of   
laurel1 or as with impetuous fall from  
the steep      mountains1 foaming       
torrents pour down to the ocean1 each   
clearing a      destructive             
course4--,a,eneid1 xii4 #eba4  but      
though ,caesar's ambition had been more 
moderate1 it would still be so unhappy1 
having the ruin of his country and      
universal mischief to the world for its 
abominable object1 that1 all things     
raked together and put into the balance1
 ,i must needs incline to ,alexander's  
side4  ,the third and in my opinion the 
most excellent1 is ,epaminondas4  ,of   
glory he has not near so much as the    

other two 7which1 for that matter1 is   
but a part of the substance of the      
thing73 of valour and resolution1 not of
 that sort which is pushed on by        
ambition1 but of that which wisdom and  
reason can plant in a regular soul1 he  
had all that could be imagined4 ,of this
 virtue of his1 he has1 in my idea1     
given as ample proof as ,alexander      
himself or ,caesar3 for although his    
warlike exploits were neither so        
frequent nor so full1 they were yet1 if 
duly considered in all their            
circumstances1 as important1 as bravely 
fought1 and carried with them as        
manifest testimony of valour and        
military conduct1 as those of any       
whatever4  ,the ,greeks have done him   
the honour1 without contradiction1 to   
pronounce him the greatest man of their 
nation2 and to be the first of ,greece1 
is easily to be the first of the world4 
,as to his knowledge1 we have this      
ancient judgment of him1 ,that never any
 man knew so much1 and spake so little  

as he2--,plutarch1 ,on the ,demon of    
,socrates1 c4 #bc4--;for he was of the  
,pythagorean sect2 but when he did      
speak1 never any man spake better2 an   
excellent orator1 and of powerful       
persuasion4  ,but as to his manners and 
conscience1 he infinitely surpassed all 
men who ever undertook the management of
 affairs2 for in this one thing1 which  
ought chiefly to be considered1 which   
alone truly denotes us for what we are1 
and which alone ,i make counterbalance  
all the rest put together1 he comes not 
short of any philosopher whatever1 not  
even of ,socrates himself4  ,innocence1 
in this man1 is a quality peculiar1     
sovereign1 constant1 uniform1           
incorruptible1 compared with which1 it  
appears in ,alexander subject to        
something else subaltern1 uncertain1    
variable1 effeminate1 and fortuitous4   
,antiquity has judged that in thoroughly
 sifting all the other great captains1  
there is found in every one some        
peculiar quality that illustrates his   

name3 in this man only there is a full  
and equal virtue throughout1 that leaves
 nothing to be wished for in him1       
whether in private or public employment1
 whether in peace or war2 whether to    
live gloriously and grandly1 and to die3
 ,i do not know any form or fortune of  
man that ,i so much honour and love4    
',tis true that ,i look upon his        
obstinate poverty1 as it is set out by  
his best friends1 as a little too       
scrupulous and nice2 and this is the    
only feature1 though high in itself and 
well worthy of admiration1 that ,i find 
so rugged as not to desire to imitate1  
to the degree it was in him4  ,scipio   
,a,emilianus alone1 could one attribute 
to him as brave and magnificent an end1 
and as profound and universal a         
knowledge1 might be put into the other  
scale of the balance4  ,oh1 what an     
injury has time done me to deprive me of
 the sight of two of the most noble     
lives which1 by the common consent of   
all the world1 one of the greatest of   

the ,greeks1 and the other of the       
,romans1 were in all ,plutarch4  ,what a
 matter6 what a workman6  ,for a man    
that was no saint1 but1 as we say1 a    
gentleman1 of civilian and ordinary     
manners1 and of a moderate ambition1 the
 richest life that ,i know1 and full of 
the richest and most to be desired      
parts1 all things considered1 is1 in my 
opinion1 that of ,alcibiades4  ,but as  
to what concerns ,epaminondas1 ,i will  
here1 for the example of an excessive   
goodness1 add some of his opinions3 he  
declared1 that the greatest satisfaction
 he ever had in his whole life1 was the 
contentment he gave his father and      
mother by his victory at ,leuctra2      
wherein his deference is great1         
preferring their pleasure before his    
own1 so dust and so full of so glorious 
an action4  ,he did not think it lawful1
 even to restore the liberty of his     
country1 to kill a man without knowing a
 cause3 which made him so cold in the   
enterprise of his companion ,pelopidas  

for the relief of ,thebes4  ,he was also
 of opinion that men in battle ought to 
avoid the encounter of a friend who was 
on the contrary side1 and to spare him4 
,and his humanity1 even towards his     
enemies themselves1 having rendered him 
suspected to the ,boeotians1 for that1  
after he had miraculously forced the    
,lacedaemonians to open to him the pass 
which they had undertaken to defend at  
the entrance into the ,morea1 near      
,corinth1 he contented himself with     
having charged through them1 without    
pursuing them to the utmost1 he had his 
commission of general taken from him1   
very honourably upon such an account1   
and for the shame it was to them upon   
necessity afterwards to restore him to  
his command1 and so to manifest how much
 upon him depended their safety and     
honour2 victory like a shadow attending 
him wherever he went2 and indeed the    
prosperity of his country1 as being from
 him derived1 died with him4            
,,chapter ,,xxxvii  ,,of ,,the          

,,resemblance ,,of ,,children ,,to      
,,their ,,fathers  ,this faggoting up of
 so many divers pieces is so done that  
,i never set pen to paper but when ,i   
have too much idle time1 and never      
anywhere but at home2 so that it is     
compiled after divers interruptions and 
intervals1 occasions keeping me         
sometimes many months elsewhere4  ,as to
 the rest1 ,i never correct my first by 
any second conceptions2 ,i1             
peradventure1 may alter a word or so1   
but 'tis only to vary the phrase1 and   
not to destroy my former meaning4  ,i   
have a mind to represent the progress of
 my humours1 and that every one may see 
each piece as it came from the forge4 ,i
 could wish ,i had begun sooner1 and had
 taken more notice of the course of my  
mutations4  ,a servant of mine whom ,i  
employed to transcribe for me1 thought  
he had got a prize by stealing several  
pieces from me1 wherewith he was best   
pleased2 but it is my comfort that he   
will be no greater a gainer than ,i     

shall be a loser by the theft4  ,i am   
grown older by seven or eight years     
since ,i began2 nor has it been without 
same new acquisition3 ,i have1 in that  
time1 by the liberality of years1 been  
acquainted with the stone3 their        
commerce and long converse do not well  
pass away without some such             
inconvenience4  ,i could have been glad 
that of other infirmities age has to    
present long-lived men withal1 it had   
chosen some one that would have been    
more welcome to me1 for it could not    
possibly have laid upon me a disease for
 which1 even from my infancy1 ,i have   
had so great a horror2 and it is1 in    
truth1 of all the accidents of old age1 
that of which ,i have ever been most    
afraid4  ,i have often thought with     
myself that ,i went on too far1 and that
 in so long a voyage ,i should at last  
run myself into some disadvantage2 ,i   
perceived1 and have often enough        
declared1 that it was time to depart1   
and that life should be cut off in the  

sound and living part1 according to the 
surgeon's rule in amputations2 and that 
nature made him pay very strict usury   
who did not in due time pay the         
principal4  ,and yet ,i was so far from 
being ready1 that in the eighteen       
months' time or thereabout that ,i have 
been in this uneasy condition1 ,i have  
so inured myself to it as to be content 
to live on in it2 and have found wherein
 to comfort myself1 and to hope3 so much
 are men enslaved to their miserable    
being1 that there is no condition so    
wretched they will not accept1 provided 
they may live6  ,hear ,maecenas3        
,debilem facito manu1                   
,debilem pede1 coxa1                    
,lubricos quate dentes2                 
,vita dum superest1 bene est4           
,cripple my hand1 foot1 hip2 shake out  
my loose teeth3 while      there's life1
 'tis well4--,apud ,seneca1 ,ep41 #aja4 
,and ,tamerlane1 with a foolish         
humanity1 palliated the fantastic       
cruelty he exercised upon lepers1 when  

he put all he could hear of to death1 to
 deliver them1 as he pretended1 from the
 painful life they lived4  ,for there   
was not one of them who would not rather
 have been thrice a leper than be not4  
,and ,antisthenes the ,stoic1 being very
 sick1 and crying out1 ,who will deliver
 me from these evils8 ,diogenes1 who had
 come to visit him1 ,this1 said he1     
presenting him a knife1 soon enough1 if 
thou wilt4--,i do not mean from my life1
 he replied1 but from my sufferings4    
,the sufferings that only attack the    
mind1 ,i am not so sensible of as most  
other men2 and this partly out of       
judgment1 for the world looks upon      
several things as dreadful or to be     
avoided at the expense of life1 that are
 almost indifferent to me3 partly1      
through a dull and insensible complexion
 ,i have in accidents which do not      
point-blank hit me2 and that            
insensibility ,i look upon as one of the
 best parts of my natural condition2 but
 essential and corporeal pains ,i am    

very sensible of4  ,and yet1 having long
 since foreseen them1 though with a     
sight weak and delicate and softened    
with the long and happy health and quiet
 that ,god has been pleased to give me  
the greatest part of my time1 ,i had in 
my imagination fancied them so          
insupportable1 that1 in truth1 ,i was   
more afraid than ,i have since found ,i 
had cause3 by which ,i am still more    
fortified in this belief1 that most of  
the faculties of the soul1 as we employ 
them1 more trouble the repose of life   
than they are any way useful to it4  ,i 
am in conflict with the worst1 the most 
sudden1 the most painful1 the most      
mortal1 and the most irremediable of all
 diseases2 ,i have already had the trial
 of five or six very long and very      
painful fits2 and yet ,i either flatter 
myself1 or there is even in this state  
what is very well to be endured by a man
 who has his soul free from the fear of 
death1 and of the menaces1 conclusions1 
and consequences which physic is ever   

thundering in our ears2 but the effect  
even of pain itself is not so sharp and 
intolerable as to put a man of          
understanding into rage and despair4  ,i
 have at least this advantage by my     
stone1 that what ,i could not hitherto  
prevail upon myself to resolve upon1 as 
to reconciling and acquainting myself   
with death1 it will perfect2 for the    
more it presses upon and importunes me1 
,i shall be so much the less afraid to  
die4  ,i had already gone so far as only
 to love life for life's sake1 but my   
pain will dissolve this intelligence2   
and ,god grant that in the end1 should  
the sharpness of it be once greater than
 ,i shall be able to bear1 it does not  
throw me into the other no less vicious 
extreme to desire and wish to die6      
,summum nec metuas diem1 nec optes3     
,neither to wish1 nor fear to die4      
7,or37           ,thou shouldest neither
 fear nor desire the last day4          
--,martial1 x4 #g4  they are two        
passions to be feared2 but the one has  

its remedy much nearer at hand than the 
other4  ,as to the rest1 ,i have always 
found the precept that so rigorously    
enjoins a resolute countenance and      
disdainful and indifferent comportment  
in the toleration of infirmities to be  
ceremonial4  ,why should philosophy1    
which only has respect to life and      
effects1 trouble itself about these     
external appearances8  ,let us leave    
that care to actors and masters of      
rhetoric1 who set so great a value upon 
our gestures4  ,let her allow this vocal
 frailty to disease1 if it be neither   
cordial nor stomachic1 and permit the   
ordinary ways of expressing grief by    
sighs1 sobs1 palpitations1 and turning  
pale1 that nature has put out of our    
power2 provided the courage be          
undaunted1 and the tones not expressive 
of despair1 let her be satisfied4  ,what
 matter the wringing of our hands1 if we
 do not wring our thoughts8  ,she forms 
us for ourselves1 not for others2 to be1
 not to seem2 let her be satisfied with 

governing our understanding1 which she  
has taken upon her the care of          
instructing2 that1 in the fury of the   
colic1 she maintain the soul in a       
condition to know itself1 and to follow 
its accustomed way1 contending with1 and
 enduring1 not meanly truckling under   
pain2 moved and heated1 not subdued and 
conquered1 in the contention2 capable of
 discourse and other things1 to a       
certain degree4  ,in such extreme       
accidents1 'tis cruelty to require so   
exact a composedness4  ',tis no great   
matter that we make a wry face1 if the  
mind plays its part well3 if the body   
find itself relieved by complaining let 
it complain3 if agitation ease it1 let  
it tumble and toss at pleasure2 if it   
seem to find the disease evaporate 7as  
some physicians hold that it helps women
 in delivery7 in making loud outcries1  
or if this do but divert its torments1  
let it roar as it will4  ,let us not    
command this voice to sally1 but stop it
 not4  ,epicurus1 not only forgives his 

sage for crying out in torments1 but    
advises him to it3            ,pugiles  
etiam1 quum feriunt1 in jactandis       
caestibus           ingemiscunt1 quia   
profundenda voce omne corpus intenditur1
           venitque plaga vehementior4  
,boxers also1 when they strike1 groan in
 the act1 because with the      strength
 of voice the whole body is carried1 and
 the blow comes with      the greater   
vehemence4--,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 ii4
 #bc4  ,we have enough to do to deal    
with the disease1 without troubling     
ourselves with these superfluous rules4 
,which ,i say in excuse of those whom we
 ordinarily see impatient in the        
assaults of this malady2 for as to what 
concerns myself1 ,i have passed it over 
hitherto with a little better           
countenance1 and contented myself with  
groaning without roaring out2 not1      
nevertheless1 that ,i put any great     
constraint upon myself to maintain this 
exterior decorum1 for ,i make little    
account of such an advantage3 ,i allow  

herein as much as the pain requires2 but
 either my pains are not so excessive1  
or ,i have more than ordinary patience4 
,i complain1 ,i confess1 and am a little
 impatient in a very sharp fit1 but ,i  
do not arrive to such a degree of       
despair as he who with3                 
,ejulatu1 questu1 gemitu1 fremitibus    
,resonando1 multum flebiles voces       
refert3       ,howling1 roaring1        
groaning with a thousand noises1        
expressing his      torment in a dismal 
voice4 7,or37 ,wailing1 complaining1    
groaning1      murmuring much avail     
lugubrious sounds4--,verses of ,attius1 
in his      ,phaloctetes1 quoted by     
,cicero1 ,de ,finib41 ii4  #bi2 ,tusc4  
,quaes41      ii4 #ad4  ,i try myself in
 the depth of my suffering1 and have    
always found that ,i was in a capacity  
to speak1 think1 and give a rational    
answer as well as at any other time1 but
 not so firmly1 being troubled and      
interrupted by the pain4  ,when ,i am   
looked upon by my visitors to be in the 

greatest torment1 and that they         
therefore forbear to trouble me1 ,i     
often essay my own strength1 and myself 
set some discourse on foot1 the most    
remote ,i can contrive from my present  
condition4  ,i can do anything upon a   
sudden endeavour1 but it must not       
continue long4  ,oh1 what pity 'tis ,i  
have not the faculty of that dreamer in 
,cicero1 who dreaming he was lying with 
a wench1 found he had discharged his    
stone in the sheets4  ,my pains         
strangely deaden my appetite that way4  
,in the intervals from this excessive   
torment1 when my ureters only languish  
without any great dolor1 ,i presently   
feel myself in my wonted state1         
forasmuch as my soul takes no other     
alarm but what is sensible and corporal1
 which ,i certainly owe to the care ,i  
have had of preparing myself by         
meditation against such accidents3      
,laborum1                ,nulla mihi    
nova nunc facies inopinave surgit2      
,omnia praecepi1 atque animo mecum ante 

peregi4       ,no new shape of suffering
 can arise new or unexpected2 ,i have   
anticipated all1 and acted them over    
beforehand in my mind4      --,a,eneid1 
vi4 #ajc4  ,i am1 however1 a little     
roughly handled for an apprentice1 and  
with a sudden and sharp alteration1     
being fallen in an instant from a very  
easy and happy condition of life into   
the most uneasy and painful that can be 
imagined4  ,for besides that it is a    
disease very much to be feared in       
itself1 it begins with me after a more  
sharp and severe manner than it is used 
to do with other men4  ,my fits come so 
thick upon me that ,i am scarcely ever  
at ease2 yet ,i have hitherto kept my   
mind so upright that1 provided ,i can   
still continue it1 ,i find myself in a  
much better condition of life than a    
thousand others1 who have no fewer nor  
other disease but what they create to   
themselves for want of meditation4      
,there is a certain sort of crafty      
humility that springs from presumption1 

as this1 for example1 that we confess   
our ignorance in many things1 and are so
 courteous as to acknowledge that there 
are in the works of nature some         
qualities and conditions that are       
imperceptible to us1 and of which our   
understanding cannot discover the means 
and causes2 by this so honest and       
conscientious declaration we hope to    
obtain that people shall also believe us
 as to those that we say we do          
understand4  ,we need not trouble       
ourselves to seek out foreign miracles  
and difficulties2 methinks1 amongst the 
things that we ordinarily see1 there are
 such incomprehensible wonders as       
surpass all difficulties of miracles4   
,what a wonderful thing it is that the  
drop of seed from which we are produced 
should carry in itself the impression   
not only of the bodily form1 but even of
 the thoughts and inclinations of our   
fathers6  ,where can that drop of fluid 
matter contain that infinite number of  
forms8 and how can they carry on these  

resemblances with so precarious and     
irregular a process that the son shall  
be like his great-grandfather1 the      
nephew like his uncle8  ,in the family  
of ,lepidus at ,rome there were three1  
not successively but by intervals1 who  
were born with the same eye covered with
 a cartilage4  ,at ,thebes there was a  
race that carried from their mother's   
womb the form of the head of a lance1   
and he who was not born so was looked   
upon as illegitimate4  ,and ,aristotle  
says that in a certain nation1 where the
 women were in common1 they assigned the
 children to their fathers by their     
resemblance4  ',tis to be believed that 
,i derive this infirmity from my father1
 for he died wonderfully tormented with 
a great stone in his bladder2 he was    
never sensible of his disease till the  
sixty-seventh year of his age2 and      
before that had never felt any menace or
 symptoms of it1 either in his reins1   
sides1 or any other part1 and had lived1
 till then1 in a happy1 vigorous state  

of health1 little subject to            
infirmities1 and he continued seven     
years after in this disease1 dragging on
 a very painful end of life4  ,i was    
born about five-and-twenty years before 
his disease seized him1 and in the time 
of his most flourishing and healthful   
state of body1 his third child in order 
of birth3 where could his propension to 
this malady lie lurking all that while8 
,and he being then so far from the      
infirmity1 how could that small part of 
his substance wherewith he made me1     
carry away so great an impression for   
its share8  and how so concealed1 that  
till five-and-forty years after1 ,i did 
not begin to be sensible of it8  being  
the only one to this hour1 amongst so   
many brothers and sisters1 and all by   
one mother1 that was ever troubled with 
it4  ,he that can satisfy me in this    
point1 ,i will believe him in as many   
other miracles as he pleases2 always    
provided that1 as their manner is1 he do
 not give me a doctrine much more       

intricate and fantastic than the thing  
itself for current pay4  ,let the       
physicians a little excuse the liberty  
,i take1 for by this same infusion and  
fatal insinuation it is that ,i have    
received a hatred and contempt of their 
doctrine2 the antipathy ,i have against 
their art is hereditary4  ,my father    
lived three-score and fourteen years1 my
 grandfather sixty-nine1 my             
great-grandfather almost fourscore      
years1 without ever tasting any sort of 
physic2 and1 with them1 whatever was not
 ordinary diet1 was instead of a drug4  
,physic is grounded upon experience and 
examples3 so is my opinion4  ,and is not
 this an express and very advantageous  
experience4  ,i do not know that they   
can find me in all their records three  
that were born1 bred1 and died under the
 same roof1 who have lived so long by   
their conduct4  ,they must here of      
necessity confess1 that if reason be    
not1 fortune at least is on my side1 and
 with physicians fortune goes a great   

deal further than reason4  ,let them not
 take me now at a disadvantage2 let them
 not threaten me in the subdued         
condition wherein ,i now am2 that were  
treachery4  ,in truth1 ,i have enough   
the better of them by these domestic    
examples1 that they should rest         
satisfied4  ,human things are not       
usually so constant2 it has been two    
hundred years1 save eighteen1 that this 
trial has lasted1 for the first of them 
was born in the year #adjb3 'tis now1   
indeed1 very good reason that this      
experience should begin to fail us4     
,let them not1 therefore1 reproach me   
with the infirmities under which ,i now 
suffer2 is it not enough that ,i for my 
part have lived seven-and-forty years in
 good health8 though it should be the   
end of my career2 'tis of the longer    
sort4  ,my ancestors had an aversion to 
physic by some occult and natural       
instinct2 for the very sight of drugs   
was loathsome to my father4  ,the       
,seigneur de ,gaviac1 my uncle by the   

father's side1 a churchman1 and a       
valetudinary from his birth1 and yet who
 made that crazy life hold out to       
sixty-seven years1 being once fallen    
into a furious fever1 it was ordered by 
the physicians he should be plainly told
 that if he would not make use of help  
7for so they call that which is very    
often an obstacle71 he would infallibly 
be a dead man4  ,that good man1 though  
terrified with this dreadful sentence1  
yet replied1 ,i am then a dead man4     
,but ,god soon after made the prognostic
 false4  ,the last of the               
brothers--there were four of them--and  
by many years the last1 the ,sieur de   
,bussaguet1 was the only one of the     
family who made use of medicine1 by     
reason1 ,i suppose1 of the concern he   
had with the other arts1 for he was a   
councillor in the court of ,parliament1 
and it succeeded so ill with him1 that  
being in outward appearance of the      
strongest constitution1 he yet died long
 before any of the rest1 save the ,sieur

 de ,saint ,michel4  ',tis possible ,i  
may have derived this natural antipathy 
to physic from them2 but had there been 
no other consideration in the case1 ,i  
would have endeavoured to have overcome 
it2 for all these conditions that spring
 in us without reason1 are vicious2 'tis
 a kind of disease that we should       
wrestle with4  ,it may be ,i had        
naturally this propension2 but ,i have  
supported and fortified it by arguments 
and reasons which have established in me
 the opinion ,i am of4  ,for ,i also    
hate the consideration of refusing      
physic for the nauseous taste4  ,i      
should hardly be of that humour who hold
 health to be worth purchasing by all   
the most painful cauteries and incisions
 that can be applied4 ,and1 with        
,epicurus1 ,i conceive that pleasures   
are to be avoided1 if greater pains be  
the consequence1 and pains to be        
coveted1 that will terminate in greater 
pleasures4  ,health is a precious thing1
 and the only one1 in truth1 meriting   

that a man should lay out1 not only his 
time1 sweat1 labour1 and goods1 but also
 his life itself to obtain it2 forasmuch
 as1 without it1 life is wearisome and  
injurious to us3 pleasure1 wisdom1      
learning1 and virtue1 without it1 wither
 away and vanish2 and to the most       
laboured and solid discourses that      
philosophy would imprint in us to the   
contrary1 we need no more but oppose the
 image of ,plato being struck with an   
epilepsy or apoplexy2 and1 in this      
presupposition1 to defy him to call the 
rich faculties of his soul to his       
assistance4  ,all means that conduce to 
health can neither be too painful nor   
too dear to me4  ,but ,i have some other
 appearances that make me strangely     
suspect all this merchandise4  ,i do not
 deny but that there may be some art in 
it1 that there are not amongst so many  
works of ,nature1 things proper for the 
conservation of health3 that is most    
certain3 ,i very well know there are    
some simples that moisten1 and others   

that dry2 ,i experimentally know that   
radishes are windy1 and senna-leaves    
purging2 and several other such         
experiences ,i have1 as that mutton     
nourishes me1 and wine warms me3 and    
,solon said that eating was physic      
against the malady hunger4  ,i do not   
disapprove the use we make of things the
 earth produces1 nor doubt1 in the      
least1 of the power and fertility of    
,nature1 and of its application to our  
necessities3 ,i very well see that pikes
 and swallows live by her laws2 but ,i  
mistrust the inventions of our mind1 our
 knowledge and art1 to countenance      
which1 we have abandoned ,nature and her
 rules1 and wherein we keep no bounds   
nor moderation4  ,as we call the piling 
up of the first laws that fall into our 
hands justice1 and their practice and   
dispensation very often foolish and very
 unjust2 and as those who scoff at and  
accuse it1 do not1 nevertheless1 blame  
that noble virtue itself1 but only      
condemn the abuse and profanation of    

that sacred title2 so in physic ,i very 
much honour that glorious name1 its     
propositions1 its promises1 so useful   
for the service of mankind2 but the     
ordinances it foists upon us1 betwixt   
ourselves1 ,i neither honour nor esteem4
  ,in the first place1 experience makes 
me dread it2 for amongst all my         
acquaintance1 ,i see no people so soon  
sick1 and so long before they are well1 
as those who take much physic2 their    
very health is altered and corrupted by 
their frequent prescriptions4           
,physicians are not content to deal only
 with the sick1 but they will moreover  
corrupt health itself1 for fear men     
should at any time escape their         
authority4  ,do they not1 from a        
continual and perfect health1 draw the  
argument of some great sickness to      
ensue8  ,i have been sick often enough1 
and have always found my sicknesses easy
 enough to be supported 7though ,i have 
made trial of almost all sorts71 and as 
short as those of any other1 without    

their help1 or without swallowing their 
ill-tasting doses4  ,the health ,i have 
is full and free1 without other rule or 
discipline than my own custom and       
pleasure4  ,every place serves me well  
enough to stay in1 for ,i need no other 
conveniences1 when ,i am sick1 than what
 ,i must have when ,i am well4 ,i never 
disturb myself that ,i have no          
physician1 no apothecary1 nor any other 
assistance1 which ,i see most other sick
 men more afflicted at than they are    
with their disease4  ,what6  ,do the    
doctors themselves show us more felicity
 and duration in their own lives1 that  
may manifest to us some apparent effect 
of their skill8  ,there is not a nation 
in the world that has not been many ages
 without physic2 and these the first    
ages1 that is to say1 the best and most 
happy2 and the tenth part of the world  
knows nothing of it yet2 many nations   
are ignorant of it to this day1 where   
men live more healthful and longer than 
we do here1 and even amongst us the     

common people live well enough without  
it4  ,the ,romans were six hundred years
 before they received it2 and after     
having made trial of it1 banished it    
from the city at the instance of ,cato  
the ,censor1 who made it appear how easy
 it was to live without it1 having      
himself lived fourscore and five years1 
and kept his wife alive to an extreme   
old age1 not without physic1 but without
 a physician3 for everything that we    
find to be healthful to life may be     
called physic4  ,he kept his family in  
health1 as ,plutarch says if ,i mistake 
not1 with hare's milk2 as ,pliny        
reports1  that the ,arcadians cured all 
manner of diseases with that of a cow2  
and ,herodotus says1 the ,lybians       
generally enjoy rare health1 by a custom
 they have1 after their children are    
arrived to four years of age1 to burn   
and cauterise the veins of their head   
and temples1 by which means they cut off
 all defluxions of rheum for their whole
 lives4  ,and the country people of our 

province make use of nothing1 in all    
sorts of distempers1 but the strongest  
wine they can get1 mixed with a great   
deal of saffron and spice1 and always   
with the same success4  ,and to say the 
truth1 of all this diversity and        
confusion of prescriptions1 what other  
end and effect is there after all1 but  
to purge the belly8  which a thousand   
ordinary simples will do as well2 and ,i
 do not know whether such evacuations be
 so much to our advantage as they       
pretend1 and whether nature does not    
require a residence of her excrements to
 a certain proportion1 as wine does of  
its lees to keep it alive3 you often see
 healthful men fall into vomitings and  
fluxes of the belly by some extrinsic   
accident1 and make a great evacuation of
 excrements1 without any preceding need1
 or any following benefit1 but rather   
with hurt to their constitution4  ',tis 
from the great ,plato1 that ,i lately   
learned1 that of three sorts of motions 
which are natural to us1 purging is the 

worst1 and that no man1 unless he be a  
fool1 ought to take anything to that    
purpose but in the extremest necessity4 
,men disturb and irritate the disease by
 contrary oppositions2 it must be the   
way of living that must gently dissolve1
 and bring it to its end4  ,the violent 
gripings and contest betwixt the drug   
and the disease are ever to our loss1   
since the combat is fought within       
ourselves1 and that the drug is an      
assistant not to be trusted1 being in   
its own nature an enemy to our health1  
and by trouble having only access into  
our condition4  ,let it alone a little2 
the general order of things that takes  
care of fleas and moles1 also takes care
 of men1 if they will have the same     
patience that fleas and moles have1 to  
leave it to itself4  ',tis to much      
purpose we cry out ,bihore1--,a term    
used by the ,languedoc waggoners to     
hasten their horses--'tis a way to make 
us hoarse1 but not to hasten the matter4
 ',tis a proud and uncompassionate      

order3 our fears1 our despair displease 
and stop it from1 instead of inviting it
 to1 our relief2 it owes its course to  
the disease1 as well as to health2 and  
will not suffer itself to be corrupted  
in favour of the one to the prejudice of
 the other's right1 for it would then   
fall into disorder4  ,let us1 in ,god's 
name1 follow it2 it leads those that    
follow1 and those who will not follow1  
it drags along1 both their fury and     
physic together4  ,order a purge for    
your brain1 it will there be much better
 employed than upon your stomach4  ,one 
asking a ,lacedaemonian what had made   
him live so long1 he made answer1 the   
ignorance of physic2 and the ,emperor   
,adrian continually exclaimed as he was 
dying1 that the crowd of physicians had 
killed him4 ,a bad wrestler turned      
physician3 ,courage1 says ,diogenes to  
him2 thou hast done well1 for now thou  
will throw those who have formerly      
thrown thee4  ,but they have this       
advantage1 according to ,nicocles1 that 

the sun gives light to their success and
 the earth covers their failures4  ,and1
 besides1 they have a very advantageous 
way of making use of all sorts of       
events3 for what fortune1 nature1 or any
 other cause 7of which the number is    
infinite71 products of good and         
healthful in us1 it is the privilege of 
physic to attribute to itself2 all the  
happy successes that happen to the      
patient1 must be thence derived2 the    
accidents that have cured me1 and a     
thousand others1 who do not employ      
physicians1 physicians usurp to         
themselves3 and as to ill accidents1    
they either absolutely disown them1 in  
laying the fault upon the patient1 by   
such frivolous reasons as they are never
 at a loss for2 as he lay with his arms 
out of bed1 or he was disturbed with the
 rattling of a coach3                   
,rhedarum transitus arcto               
,vicorum inflexu3                 ,the  
passage of the wheels in the narrow     
turning of the street--,juvenal1 iii4   

#bcf4  or somebody had set open the     
casement1 or he had lain upon his left  
side1 or he had some disagreeable       
fancies in his head3 in sum1 a word1 a  
dream1 or a look1 seems to them excuse  
sufficient wherewith to palliate their  
own errors3 or1 if they so please1 they 
even make use of our growing worse1 and 
do their business in this way which can 
never fail them3 which is by buzzing us 
in the ear1 when the disease is more    
inflamed by their medicaments1 that it  
had been much worse but for those       
remedies2 he1 whom from an ordinary cold
 they have thrown into a double         
tertian-ague1 had but for them been in a
 continued fever4  ,they do not much    
care what mischief they do1 since it    
turns to their own profit4 ,in earnest1 
they have reason to require a very      
favourable belief from their patients2  
and1 indeed1 it ought to be a very easy 
one1 to swallow things so hard to be    
believed4  ,plato said very well1 that  
physicians were the only men who might  

lie at pleasure1 since our health       
depends upon the vanity and falsity of  
their promises4  ,a,esop1 a most        
excellent author1 and of whom few men   
discover all the graces1 pleasantly     
represents to us the tyrannical         
authority physicians usurp over poor    
creatures1 weakened and subdued by      
sickness and fear1 when he tells us1    
that a sick person1 being asked by his  
physician what operation he found of the
 potion he had given him3 ,i have       
sweated very much1 says the sick man4   
,that's good1 says the physician4       
,another time1 having asked how he felt 
himself after his physic3 ,i have been  
very cold1 and have had a great         
shivering upon me1 said he4  ,that is   
good1 replied the physician4  ,after the
 third potion1 he asked him again how he
 did3 ,why1 ,i find myself swollen and  
puffed up1 said he1 as if ,i had a      
dropsy4--,that is very well1 said the   
physician4  ,one of his servants coming 
presently after to inquire how he felt  

himself1 ,truly1 friend1 said he1 with  
being too well ,i am about to die4      
,there was a more just law in ,egypt1 by
 which the physician1 for the three     
first days1 was to take charge of his   
patient at the patient's own risk and   
cost2 but1 those three days being past1 
it was to be at his own4  ,for what     
reason is it that their patron1         
,a,esculapius1 should be struck with    
thunder for restoring ,hippolitus from  
death to life3           ,nam ,pater    
omnipotens1 aliquem indignatus ab umbris
           ,mortalem infernis ad lumina 
surgere vitae1           ,ipse          
repertorem medicinae talis1 et artis    
,fulmine ,phoebigenam ,stygias detrusit 
ad undas2       ,then the ,almighty     
,father1 offended that any mortal should
 rise to      the light of life from the
 infernal shades1 struck the son of     
,phoebus with his forked lightning to   
the ,stygian lake4      --,a,eneid1 vii4
 #ggj4  and his followers be pardoned1  
who send so many souls from life to     

death8 ,a physician1 boasting to        
,nicocles that his art was of great     
authority3 ,it is so1 indeed1 said      
,nicocles1 that can with impunity kill  
so many people4  ,as to what remains1   
had ,i been of their counsel1 ,i would  
have rendered my discipline more sacred 
and mysterious2 they begun well1 but    
they have not ended so4  ,it was a good 
beginning to make gods and demons the   
authors of their science1 and to have   
used a peculiar way of speaking and     
writing1 notwithstanding that philosophy
 concludes it folly to persuade a man to
 his own good by an unintelligible way3 
,ut si quis medicus imperet1 ut sumat3  
,terrigenam1 herbigradam1 domiportam1   
sanguine cassam4       ,describing it by
 the epithets of an animal trailing with
 its slime      over the herbage1       
without blood or bones1 and carrying its
 house      upon its back1 meaning      
simply a snail4--,coste  ,it was a good 
rule in their art1 and that accompanies 
all other vain1 fantastic1 and          

supernatural arts1 that the patient's   
belief should prepossess them with good 
hope and assurance of their effects and 
operation3 a rule they hold to that     
degree1 as to maintain that the most    
inexpert and ignorant physician is more 
proper for a patient who has confidence 
in him1 than the most learned and       
experienced whom he is not so acquainted
 with4  ,nay1 even the very choice of   
most of their drugs is in some sort     
mysterious and divine2 the left foot of 
a tortoise1 the urine of a lizard1 the  
dung of an elephant1 the liver of a     
mole1 blood drawn from under the right  
wing of a white pigeon2 and for us who  
have the stone 7so scornfully they use  
us in our miseries7 the excrement of    
rats beaten to powder1 and such like    
trash and fooleries which rather carry a
 face of magical enchantment than of any
 solid science4  ,i omit the odd number 
of their pills1 the destination of      
certain days and feasts of the year1 the
 superstition of gathering their simples

 at certain hours1 and that so austere  
and very wise countenance and carriage  
which ,pliny himself so much derides4   
,but they have1 as ,i said1 failed in   
that they have not added to this fine   
beginning the making their meetings and 
consultations more religious and secret1
 where no profane person should have    
admission1 no more than in the secret   
ceremonies of ,a,esculapius2 for by the 
reason of this it falls out that their  
irresolution1 the weakness of their     
arguments1 divinations and foundations1 
the sharpness of their disputes1 full of
 hatred1 jealousy1 and                  
self-consideration1 coming to be        
discovered by every one1 a man must be  
marvellously blind not to see that he   
runs a very great hazard in their hands4
  ,who ever saw one physician approve of
 another's prescription1 without taking 
something away1 or adding something to  
it8 by which they sufficiently betray   
their tricks1 and make it manifest to us
 that they therein more consider their  

own reputation1 and consequently their  
profit1 than their patient's interest4  
,he was a much wiser man of their tribe1
 who of old gave it as a rule1 that only
 one physician should undertake a sick  
person2 for if he do nothing to purpose1
 one single man's default can bring no  
great scandal upon the art of medicine2 
and1 on the contrary1 the glory will be 
great if he happen to have success2     
whereas1 when there are many1 they at   
every turn bring a disrepute upon their 
calling1 forasmuch as they oftener do   
hurt than good4  ,they ought to be      
satisfied with the perpetual            
disagreement which is found in the      
opinions of the principal masters and   
ancient authors of this science1 which  
is only known to men well read1 without 
discovering to the vulgar the           
controversies and various judgments     
which they still nourish and continue   
amongst themselves4  ,will you have one 
example of the ancient controversy in   
physic8 ,herophilus lodges the original 

cause of all diseases in the humours2   
,erasistratus1 in the blood of the      
arteries2 ,asclepiades1 in the invisible
 atoms of the pores2 ,alcmaeon1 in the  
exuberance or defect of our bodily      
strength2 ,diocles1 in the inequality of
 the elements of which the body is      
composed1 and in the quality of the air 
we breathe2 ,strato1 in the abundance1  
crudity1 and corruption of the          
nourishment we take2 and ,hippocrates   
lodges it in the spirits4  ,there is a  
certain friend of theirs1--,celsus1     
,preface to the ,first ,book4--whom they
 know better than ,i1 who declares upon 
this subject1 that the most important   
science in practice amongst us1 as that 
which is intrusted with our health and  
conservation1 is1 by ill luck1 the most 
uncertain1 the most perplexed1 and      
agitated with the greatest mutations4   
,there is no great danger in our        
mistaking the height of the sun1 or the 
fraction of some astronomical           
supputation2 but here1 where our whole  

being is concerned1 'tis not wisdom to  
abandon ourselves to the mercy of the   
agitation of so many contrary winds4    
,before the ,peloponnesian war there was
 no great talk of this science4         
,hippocrates brought it into repute2    
whatever he established1 ,chrysippus    
overthrew2 after that1 ,erasistratus1   
,aristotle's grandson1 overthrew what   
,chrysippus had written2 after these1   
the ,empirics started up1 who took a    
quite contrary way to the ancients in   
the management of this art2 when the    
credit of these began a little to decay1
 ,herophilus set another sort of        
practice on foot1 which ,asclepiades in 
turn stood up against1 and overthrew2   
then1 in their turn1 the opinions first 
of ,themiso1 and then of ,musa1 and     
after that those of ,vectius ,valens1 a 
physician famous through the            
intelligence he had with ,messalina1    
came in vogue2 the empire of physic in  
,nero's time was established in         
,thessalus1 who abolished and condemned 

all that had been held till his time2   
this man's doctrine was refuted by      
,crinas of ,marseilles1 who first       
brought all medicinal operations under  
the ,ephemerides and motions of the     
stars1 and reduced eating1 sleeping1 and
 drinking to hours that were most       
pleasing to ,mercury and the moon2 his  
authority was soon after supplanted by  
,charinus1 a physician of the same city 
of ,marseilles1 a man who not only      
controverted all the ancient methods of 
physic1 but moreover the usage of hot   
baths1 that had been generally and for  
so many ages in common use2 he made men 
bathe in cold water1 even in winter1 and
 plunged his sick patients in the       
natural waters of streams4  ,no ,roman  
till ,pliny's time had ever vouchsafed  
to practise physic2 that office was only
 performed by ,greeks and foreigners1 as
 'tis now amongst us ,french1 by those  
who sputter ,latin2 for1 as a very great
 physician says1 we do not easily accept
 the medicine we understand1 no more    

than we do the drugs we ourselves       
gather4  ,if the nations whence we fetch
 our guaiacum1 sarsaparilla1 and ,china 
wood1 have physicians1 how great a value
 must we imagine1 by the same           
recommendation of strangeness1 rarity1  
and dear purchase1 do they set upon our 
cabbage and parsley8  for who would dare
 to contemn things so far fetched1 and  
sought out at the hazard of so long and 
dangerous a voyage8  ,since these       
ancient mutations in physic1 there have 
been infinite others down to our own    
times1 and1 for the most part1 mutations
 entire and universal1 as those1 for    
example1 produced by ,paracelsus1       
,fioravanti1 and ,argentier2 for they1  
as ,i am told1 not only alter one       
recipe1 but the whole contexture and    
rules of the body of physic1 accusing   
all others of ignorance and imposition  
who have practised before them4  ,at    
this rate1 in what a condition the poor 
patient must be1 ,i leave you to judge4 
,if we were even assured that1 when they

 make a mistake1 that mistake of theirs 
would do us no harm1 though it did us no
 good1 it were a reasonable bargain to  
venture the making ourselves better     
without any danger of being made worse4 
,a,esop tells a story1 that one who had 
bought a ,morisco slave1 believing that 
his black complexion had arrived by     
accident and the ill usage of his former
 master1 caused him to enter with great 
care into a course of baths and potions3
 it happened that the ,moor was nothing 
amended in his tawny complexion1 but he 
wholly lost his former health4  ,how    
often do we see physicians impute the   
death of their patients to one another8 
,i remember that some years ago there   
was an epidemical disease1 very         
dangerous and for the most part mortal1 
that raged in the towns about us3 the   
storm being over which had swept away an
 infinite number of men1 one of the most
 famous physicians of all the country1  
presently after published a book upon   
that subject1 wherein1 upon better      

thoughts1 he confesses that the letting 
blood in that disease was the principal 
cause of so many mishaps4  ,moreover1   
their authors hold that there is no     
physic that has not something hurtful in
 it4  ,and if even those of the best    
operation in some measure offend us1    
what must those do that are totally     
misapplied8  ,for my own part1 though   
there were nothing else in the case1 ,i 
am of opinion1 that to those who loathe 
the taste of physic1 it must needs be a 
dangerous and prejudicial endeavour to  
force it down at so incommodious a time1
 and with so much aversion1 and believe 
that it marvellously distempers a sick  
person at a time when he has so much    
need of repose4  ,and more over1 if we  
but consider the occasions upon which   
they usually ground the cause of our    
diseases1 they are so light and nice1   
that ,i thence conclude a very little   
error in the dispensation of their drugs
 may do a great deal of mischief4  ,now1
 if the mistake of a physician be so    

dangerous1 we are in but a scurvy       
condition2 for it is almost impossible  
but he must often fall into those       
mistakes3 he had need of too many parts1
 considerations1 and circumstances1     
rightly to level his design3 he must    
know the sick person's complexion1 his  
temperament1 his humours1 inclinations1 
actions1 nay1 his very thoughts and     
imaginations2 he must be assured of the 
external circumstances1 of the nature of
 the place1 the quality of the air and  
season1 the situation of the planets1   
and their influences3 he must know in   
the disease1 the causes1 prognostics1   
affections1 and critical days2 in the   
drugs1 the weight1 the power of working1
 the country1 figure1 age1 and          
dispensation1 and he must know how      
rightly to proportion and mix them      
together1 to beget a just and perfect   
symmetry2 wherein if there be the least 
error1 if amongst so many springs there 
be but any one out of order1 'tis enough
 to destroy us4  ,god knows with how    

great difficulty most of these things   
are to be understood3 for 7for example7 
how shall the physician find out the    
true sign of the disease1 every disease 
being capable of an infinite number of  
indications8  ,how many doubts and      
controversies have they amongst         
themselves upon the interpretation of   
urines8 otherwise1 whence should the    
continual debates we see amongst them   
about the knowledge of the disease      
proceed8 how could we excuse the error  
they so oft fall into1 of taking fox for
 marten8  ,in the diseases ,i have had1 
though there were ever so little        
difficulty in the case1 ,i never found  
three of one opinion3 which ,i instance1
 because ,i love to introduce examples  
wherein ,i am myself concerned4  ,a     
gentleman at ,paris was lately cut for  
the stone by order of the physicians1 in
 whose bladder1 being accordingly so    
cut1 there was found no more stone than 
in the palm of his hand2 and in the same
 place a bishop1 who was my particular  

friend1 having been earnestly pressed by
 the majority of the physicians whom he 
consulted1 to suffer himself to be cut1 
to which also1 upon their word1 ,i used 
my interest to persuade him1 when he was
 dead and opened1 it appeared that he   
had no malady but in the kidneys4  ,they
 are least excusable for any error in   
this disease1 by reason that it is in   
some sort palpable2 and 'tis thence that
 ,i conclude surgery to be much more    
certain1 by reason that it sees and     
feels what it does1 and so goes less    
upon conjecture2 whereas the physicians 
have no 'speculum matricis'1 by which to
 examine our brains1 lungs1 and liver4  
,even the very promises of physic are   
incredible in themselves2 for1 having to
 provide against divers and contrary    
accidents that often afflict us at one  
and the same time1 and that have almost 
a necessary relation1 as the heat of the
 liver and the coldness of the stomach1 
they will needs persuade us1 that of    
their ingredients one will heat the     

stomach and the other will cool the     
liver3 one has its commission to go     
directly to the kidneys1 nay1 even to   
the bladder1 without scattering its     
operations by the way1 and is to retain 
its power and virtue through all those  
turns and meanders1 even to the place to
 the service of which it is designed1 by
 its own occult property this will      
dry-the brain2 that will moisten the    
lungs4  ,of all this bundle of things   
having mixed up a potion1 is it not a   
kind of madness to imagine or to hope   
that these differing virtues should     
separate themselves from one another in 
this mixture and confusion1 to perform  
so many various errands8  ,i should very
 much fear that they would either lose  
or change their tickets1 and disturb one
 another's quarters4  ,and who can      
imagine but that1 in this liquid        
confusion1 these faculties must corrupt1
 confound1 and spoil one another8  ,and 
is not the danger still more when the   
making up of this medicine is entrusted 

to the skill and fidelity of still      
another1 to whose mercy we again abandon
 our lives8  ,as we have doublet and    
breeches-makers1 distinct trades1 to    
clothe us1 and are so much the better   
fitted1 seeing that each of them meddles
 only with his own business1 and has    
less to trouble his head with than the  
tailor who undertakes all2 and as in    
matter of diet1 great persons1 for their
 better convenience1 and to the end they
 may be better served1 have cooks for   
the different offices1 this for soups   
and potages1 that for roasting1 instead 
of which if one cook should undertake   
the whole service1 he could not so well 
perform it2 so also as to the cure of   
our maladies4  ,the ,egyptians had      
reason to reject this general trade of  
physician1 and to divide the profession3
 to each disease1 to each part of the   
body1 its particular workman2 for that  
part was more properly and with less    
confusion cared for1 seeing the person  
looked to nothing else4 ,ours are not   

aware that he who provides for all1     
provides for nothing2 and that the      
entire government of this microcosm is  
more than they are able to undertake4   
,whilst they were afraid of stopping a  
dysentery1 lest they should put the     
patient into a fever1 they killed me a  
friend1 --,estienne de la ,boetie4--who 
was worth more than the whole of them4  
,they counterpoise their own divinations
 with the present evils2 and because    
they will not cure the brain to the     
prejudice of the stomach1 they injure   
both with their dissentient and         
tumultuary drugs4  ,as to the variety   
and weakness of the rationale of this   
art1 they are more manifest in it than  
in any other art2 aperitive medicines   
are proper for a man subject to the     
stone1 by reason that opening and       
dilating the passages they help forward 
the slimy matter whereof gravel and     
stone are engendered1 and convey that   
downward which begins to harden and     
gather in the reins2 aperitive things   

are dangerous for a man subject to the  
stone1 by reason that1 opening and      
dilating the passages1 they help forward
 the matter proper to create the gravel 
toward the reins1 which by their own    
propension being apt to seize it1 'tis  
not to be imagined but that a great deal
 of what has been conveyed thither must 
remain behind2 moreover1 if the medicine
 happen to meet with anything too large 
to be carried through all the narrow    
passages it must pass to be expelled1   
that obstruction1 whatever it is1 being 
stirred by these aperitive things and   
thrown into those narrow passages1      
coming to stop them1 will occasion a    
certain and most painful death4  ,they  
have the like uniformity in the counsels
 they give us for the regimen of life3  
it is good to make water often2 for we  
experimentally see that1 in letting it  
lie long in the bladder1 we give it time
 to settle the sediment1 which will     
concrete into a stone2 it is good not to
 make water often1 for the heavy        

excrements it carries along with it will
 not be voided without violence1 as we  
see by experience that a torrent that   
runs with force washes the ground it    
rolls over much cleaner than the course 
of a slow and tardy stream2 so1 it is   
good to have often to do with women1 for
 that opens the passages and helps to   
evacuate gravel2 it is also very ill to 
have often to do with women1 because it 
heats1 tires1 and weakens the reins4    
,it is good to bathe frequently in hot  
water1 forasmuch as that relaxes and    
mollifies the places where the gravel   
and stone lie2 it is also ill by reason 
that this application of external heat  
helps the reins to bake1 harden1 and    
petrify the matter so disposed4  ,for   
those who are taking baths it is most   
healthful4  ,to eat little at night1 to 
the end that the waters they are to     
drink the next morning may have a better
 operation upon an empty stomach2 on the
 other hand1 it is better to eat little 
at dinner1 that it hinder not the       

operation of the waters1 while it is not
 yet perfect1 and not to oppress the    
stomach so soon after the other labour1 
but leave the office of digestion to the
 night1 which will much better perform  
it than the day1 when the body and soul 
are in perpetual moving and action4     
,thus do they juggle and trifle in all  
their discourses at our expense2 and    
they could not give me one proposition  
against which ,i should not know how to 
raise a contrary of equal force4  ,let  
them1 then1 no longer exclaim against   
those who in this trouble of sickness   
suffer themselves to be gently guided by
 their own appetite and the advice of   
nature1 and commit themselves to the    
common fortune4  ,i have seen in my     
travels almost all the famous baths of  
,christendom1 and for some years past   
have begun to make use of them myself3  
for ,i look upon bathing as generally   
wholesome1 and believe that we suffer no
 little inconveniences in our health by 
having left off the custom that was     

generally observed1 in former times1    
almost by all nations1 and is yet in    
many1 of bathing every day2 and ,i      
cannot imagine but that we are much the 
worse by1 having our limbs crusted and  
our pores stopped with dirt4  ,and as to
 the drinking of them1 fortune has in   
the first place rendered them not at all
 unacceptable to my taste2 and secondly1
 they are natural and simple1 which at  
least carry no danger with them1 though 
they may do us no good1 of which the    
infinite crowd of people of all sorts   
and complexions who repair thither ,i   
take to be a sufficient warranty2 and   
although ,i have not there observed any 
extraordinary and miraculous effects1   
but that on the contrary1 having more   
narrowly than ordinary inquired into it1
 ,i have found all the reports of such  
operations that have been spread abroad 
in those places ill-grounded and false1 
and those that believe them 7as people  
are willing to be gulled in what they   
desire7 deceived in them1 yet ,i have   

seldom known any who have been made     
worse by those waters1 and a man cannot 
honestly deny but that they beget a     
better appetite1 help digestion1 and do 
in some sort revive us1 if we do not go 
too late and in too weak a condition1   
which ,i would dissuade every one from  
doing4  ,they have not the virtue to    
raise men from desperate and inveterate 
diseases1 but they may help some light  
indisposition1 or prevent some          
threatening alteration4  ,he who does   
not bring along with him so much        
cheerfulness as to enjoy the pleasure of
 the company he will there meet1 and of 
the walks and exercises to which the    
amenity of those places invite us1 will 
doubtless lose the best and surest part 
of their effect4  ,for this reason ,i   
have hitherto chosen to go to those of  
the most pleasant situation1 where there
 was the best conveniency of lodging1   
provision1 and company1 as the baths of 
,bagneres in ,france1 those of          
,plombieres on the frontiers of ,germany

 and ,lorraine1 those of ,baden in      
,switzerland1 those of ,lucca in        
,tuscany1 and especially those of ,della
 ,villa1 which ,i have the most and at  
various seasons frequented4  ,every     
nation has particular opinions touching 
their use1 and particular rules and     
methods in using them2 and all of them1 
according to what ,i have seen1 almost  
with like effect4  ,drinking them is not
 at all received in ,germany2 the       
,germans bathe for all diseases1 and    
will lie dabbling in the water almost   
from sun to sun2 in ,italy1 where they  
drink nine days1 they bathe at least    
thirty1 and commonly drink the water    
mixed with some other drugs to make it  
work the better4  ,here we are ordered  
to walk to digest it2 there we are kept 
in bed after taking it till it be       
wrought off1 our stomachs and feet      
having continually hot cloths applied to
 them all the while2 and as the ,germans
 have a particular practice generally to
 use cupping and scarification in the   

bath1 so the ,italians have their       
'doccie'1 which are certain little      
streams of this hot water brought       
through pipes1 and with these bathe an  
hour in the morning1 and as much in the 
afternoon1 for a month together1 either 
the head1 stomach1 or any other part    
where the evil lies4  ,there are        
infinite other varieties of customs in  
every country1 or rather there is no    
manner of resemblance to one another4   
,by this you may see that this little   
part of physic to which ,i have only    
submitted1 though the least depending   
upon art of all others1 has yet a great 
share of the confusion and uncertainty  
everywhere else manifest in the         
profession4  ,the poets put what they   
would say with greater emphasis and     
grace2 witness these two epigrams3      
,alcon hesterno signum ,jovis attigit3  
ille1                ,quamvis marmoreus1
 vim patitur medici4                    
,ecce hodie1 jussus transferri ex aeede 
vetusta1                ,effertur1      

quamvis sit ,deus atque lapis4          
,alcon yesterday touched ,jove's statue2
 he1 although marble1      suffers the  
force of the physician3 to-day ordered  
to be transferred      from the old     
temple1 where it stood1 it is carried   
out1 although it      be a god and a    
stone4--,ausonius1 ,ep41 #gd4   and the 
other3                ,lotus nobiscum   
est1 hilaris coenavit2 et idem          
,inventus mane est mortuus ,andragoras4 
,tam subitae mortis causam1 ,faustine1  
requiris8                ,in somnis     
medicum viderat ,hermocratem3           
,andragoras bathed with us1 supped      
gaily1 and in the morning the      same 
was found dead4  ,dost thou ask1        
,faustinus1 the cause of this so        
sudden death8  ,in his dreams he had    
seen the physician ,hermocrates4        
--,martial1 vi4 #ec4  upon which ,i will
 relate two stories4  ,the ,baron de    
,caupene in ,chalosse and ,i have       
betwixt us the advowson of a benefice of
 great extent1 at the foot of our       

mountains1 called ,lahontan4 ,it is with
 the inhabitants of this angle1 as 'tis 
said of those of the ,val d',angrougne2 
they lived a peculiar sort of life1     
their fashions1 clothes1 and manners    
distinct from other people2 ruled and   
governed by certain particular laws and 
usages1 received from father to son1 to 
which they submitted1 without other     
constraint than the reverence to custom4
 ,this little state had continued from  
all antiquity in so happy a condition1  
that no neighbouring judge was ever put 
to the trouble of inquiring into their  
doings2 no advocate was ever retained to
 give them counsel1 no stranger ever    
called in to compose their differences2 
nor was ever any of them seen to go     
a-begging4  ,they avoided all alliances 
and traffic with the outer world1 that  
they might not corrupt the purity of    
their own government2 till1 as they say1
 one of them1 in the memory of man1     
having a mind spurred on with a noble   
ambition1 took it into his head1 to     

bring his name into credit and          
reputation1 to make one of his sons     
something more than ordinary1 and having
 put him to learn to write in a         
neighbouring town1 made him at last a   
brave village notary4  ,this fellow1    
having acquired such dignity1 began to  
disdain their ancient customs1 and to   
buzz into the people's ears the pomp of 
the other parts of the nation2 the first
 prank he played was to advise a friend 
of his1 whom somebody had offended by   
sawing off the horns of one of his      
goats1 to make his complaint to the     
royal judges thereabout1 and so he went 
on from one to another1 till he had     
spoiled and confounded all4  ,in the    
tail of this corruption1 they say1 there
 happened another1 and of worse         
consequence1 by means of a physician1   
who1 falling in love with one of their  
daughters1 had a mind to marry her and  
to live amongst them4  ,this man first  
of all began to teach them the names of 
fevers1 colds1 and imposthumes2 the seat

 of the heart1 liver1 and intestines1 a 
science till then utterly unknown to    
them2 and instead of garlic1 with which 
they were wont to cure all manner of    
diseases1 how painful or extreme soever1
 he taught them1 though it were but for 
a cough or any little cold1 to take     
strange mixtures1 and began to make a   
trade not only of their health1 but of  
their lives4  ,they swear till then they
 never perceived the evening air to be  
offensive to the head2 that to drink    
when they were hot was hurtful1 and that
 the winds of autumn were more          
unwholesome than those of spring2 that1 
since this use of physic1 they find     
themselves oppressed with a legion of   
unaccustomed diseases1 and that they    
perceive a general decay in their       
ancient vigour1 and their lives are cut 
shorter by the half4  ,this is the first
 of my stories4  ,the other is1 that    
before ,i was afflicted with the stone1 
hearing that the blood of a he-goat was 
with many in very great esteem1 and     

looked upon as a celestial manna rained 
down upon these latter ages for the good
 and preservation of the lives of men1  
and having heard it spoken of by men of 
understanding for an admirable drug1 and
 of infallible operation2 ,i1 who have  
ever thought myself subject to all the  
accidents that can befall other men1 had
 a mind1 in my perfect health1 to       
furnish myself with this miracle1 and   
therefore gave order to have a goat fed 
at home according to the recipe3 for he 
must be taken in the hottest month of   
all summer1 and must only have aperitive
 herbs given him to eat1 and white wine 
to drink4  ,i came home by chance the   
very day he was to be killed2 and some  
one came and told me that the cook had  
found two or three great balls in his   
paunch1 that rattled against one another
 amongst what he had eaten4  ,i was     
curious to have all his entrails brought
 before me1 where1 having caused the    
skin that enclosed them to be cut1 there
 tumbled out three great lumps1 as light

 as sponges1 so that they appeared to be
 hollow1 but as to the rest1 hard and   
firm without1 and spotted and mixed all 
over with various dead colours2 one was 
perfectly round1 and of the bigness of  
an ordinary ball2 the other two         
something less1 of an imperfect         
roundness1 as seeming not to be arrived 
at their1 full growth4 ,i find1 by      
inquiry of people accustomed to open    
these animals1 that it is a rare and    
unusual accident4  ',tis likely these   
are stones of the same nature with ours 
and if so1 it must needs be a very vain 
hope in those who have the stone1 to    
extract their cure from the blood of a  
beast that was himself about to die of  
the same disease4  ,for to say that the 
blood does not participate of this      
contagion1 and does not thence alter its
 wonted virtue1 it is rather to be      
believed that nothing is engendered in a
 body but by the conspiracy and         
communication of all the parts3 the     
whole mass works together1 though one   

part contributes more to the work than  
another1 according to the diversity of  
operations2 wherefore it is very likely 
that there was some petrifying quality  
in all the parts of this goat4  ,it was 
not so much for fear of the future1 and 
for myself1 that ,i was curious in this 
experiment1 but because it falls out in 
mine1 as it does in many other families1
 that the women store up such little    
trumperies for the service of the       
people1 using the same recipe in fifty  
several diseases1 and such a recipe as  
they will not take themselves1 and yet  
triumph when they happen to be          
successful4  ,as to what remains1 ,i    
honour physicians1 not according to the 
precept for their necessity 7for to this
 passage may be opposed another of the  
prophet reproving ,king ,asa for having 
recourse to a physician71 but for       
themselves1 having known many very good 
men of that profession1 and most worthy 
to be beloved4  ,i do not attack them2  
'tis their art ,i inveigh against1 and  

do not much blame them for making their 
advantage of our folly1 for most men do 
the same4  ,many callings1 both of      
greater and of less dignity than theirs1
 have no other foundation or support    
than public abuse4  ,when ,i am sick ,i 
send for them if they be near1 only to  
have their company1 and pay them as     
others do4  ,i give them leave to       
command me to keep myself warm1 because 
,i naturally love to do it1 and to      
appoint leeks or lettuce for my broth2  
to order me white wine or claret2 and so
 as to all other things1 which are      
indifferent to my palate and custom4 ,i 
know very well that ,i do nothing for   
them in so doing1 because sharpness and 
strangeness are incidents of the very   
essence of physic4 ,lycurgus ordered    
wine for the sick ,spartans4  ,why8     
because they abominated the drinking it 
when they were well2 as a gentleman1 a  
neighbour of mine1 takes it as an       
excellent medicine in his fever1 because
 naturally he mortally hates the taste  

of it4  ,how many do we see amongst them
 of my humour1 who despise taking physic
 themselves1 are men of a liberal diet1 
and live a quite contrary sort of life  
to what they prescribe others8  ,what is
 this but flatly to abuse our           
simplicity8  for their own lives and    
health are no less dear to them than    
ours are to us1 and consequently they   
would accommodate their practice to     
their rules1 if they did not themselves 
know how false these are4  ',tis the    
fear of death and of pain1 impatience of
 disease1 and a violent and indiscreet  
desire of a present cure1 that so blind 
us3 'tis pure cowardice that makes our  
belief so pliable and easy to be imposed
 upon3 and yet most men do not so much  
believe as they acquiesce and permit2   
for ,i hear them find fault and complain
 as well as we2 but they resolve at     
last1 ,what should ,i do then8  ,as if  
impatience were of itself a better      
remedy than patience4  ,is there any one
 of those who have suffered themselves  

to be persuaded into this miserable     
subjection1 who does not equally        
surrender himself to all sorts of       
impostures8  who does not give up       
himself to the mercy of whoever has the 
impudence to promise him a cure8  ,the  
,babylonians carried their sick into the
 public square2 the physician was the   
people3 every one who passed by being in
 humanity and civility obliged to       
inquire of their condition1 gave some   
advice according to his own experience4 
,we do little better2 there is not so   
simple a woman1 whose gossips and       
drenches we do not make use of3 and     
according to my humour1 if ,i were to   
take physic1 ,i would sooner choose to  
take theirs than any other1 because at  
least1 if they do no good1 they will do 
no harm4  ,what ,homer and ,plato said  
of the ,egyptians1 that they were all   
physicians1 may be said of all nations2 
there is not a man amongst any of them  
who does not boast of some rare recipe1 
and who will not venture it upon his    

neighbour1 if he will let him4  ,i was  
the other day in a company where one1 ,i
 know not who1 of my fraternity brought 
us intelligence of a new sort of pills  
made up of a hundred and odd            
ingredients3 it made us very merry1 and 
was a singular consolation1 for what    
rock could withstand so great a battery8
  ,and yet ,i hear from those who have  
made trial of it1 that the least atom of
 gravel deigned not to stir fort4  ,i   
cannot take my hand from the paper      
before ,i have added a word concerning  
the assurance they give us of the       
certainty of their drugs1 from the      
experiments they have made4  ,the       
greatest part1 ,i should say above      
two-thirds of the medicinal virtues1    
consist in the quintessence or occult   
property of simples1 of which we can    
have no other instruction than use and  
custom2 for quintessence is no other    
than a quality of which we cannot by our
 reason find out the cause4  ,in such   
proofs1 those they pretend to have      

acquired by the inspiration of some     
daemon1 ,i am content to receive 7for ,i
 meddle not with miracles72 and also the
 proofs which are drawn from things     
that1 upon some other account1 often    
fall into use amongst us2 as if in the  
wool1 wherewith we are wont to clothe   
ourselves1 there has accidentally some  
occult desiccative property been found  
out of curing kibed heels1 or as if in  
the radish we eat for food there has    
been found out some aperitive operation4
  ,galen reports1 that a man happened to
 be cured of a leprosy by drinking wine 
out of a vessel into which a viper had  
crept by chance4  ,in this example we   
find the means and a very likely guide  
and conduct to this experience1 as we   
also do in those that physicians pretend
 to have been directed to by the example
 of some beasts4  ,but in most of their 
other experiments wherein they affirm   
they have been conducted by fortune1 and
 to have had no other guide than chance1
 ,i find the progress of this           

information incredible4  ,suppose man   
looking round about him upon the        
infinite number of things1 plants1      
animals1 metals2 ,i do not know where he
 would begin his trial2 and though his  
first fancy should fix him upon an elk's
 horn1 wherein there must be a very     
pliant and easy belief1 he will yet find
 himself as perplexed in his second     
operation4  ,there are so many maladies 
and so many circumstances presented to  
him1 that before he can attain the      
certainty of the point to which the     
perfection of his experience should     
arrive1 human sense will be at the end  
of its lesson3 and before he can1       
amongst this infinity of things1 find   
out what this horn is2 amongst so many  
diseases1 what is epilepsy2 the many    
complexions in a melancholy person2 the 
many seasons in winter2 the many nations
 in the ,french2 the many ages in age2  
the many celestial mutations in the     
conjunction of ,venus and ,saturn2 the  
many parts in man's body1 nay1 in a     

finger2 and being1 in all this1 directed
 neither by argument1 conjecture1       
example1 nor divine inspirations1 but   
merely by the sole motion of fortune1 it
 must be by a perfectly artificial1     
regular and methodical fortune4  ,and   
after the cure is performed1 how can he 
assure himself that it was not because  
the disease had arrived at its period or
 an effect of chance8  or the operation 
of something else that he had eaten1    
drunk1 or touched that day8 or by virtue
 of his grandmother's prayers8  ,and1   
moreover1 had this experiment been      
perfect1 how many times was it repeated1
 and this long bead-roll of haps1 and   
concurrences strung anew by chance to   
conclude a certain rule8 ,and when the  
rule is concluded1 by whom1 ,i pray you8
  ,of so many millions1 there are but   
three men who take upon them to record  
their experiments3 must fortune needs   
just hit one of these8  ,what if        
another1 and a hundred others1 have made
 contrary experiments8  ,we might1      

peradventure1 have some light in this1  
were all the judgments and arguments of 
men known to us2 but that three         
witnesses1 three doctors1 should lord it
 over all mankind1 is against reason3 it
 were necessary that human nature should
 have deputed and chosen them out1 and  
that they were declared our comptrollers
 by express procuration3   ,,to ,,madame
 ,,de ,,duras4       --,marguerite de   
,grammont1 widow of ,jean de ,durfort1  
,seigneur de      ,duras1 who was killed
 near ,leghorn1 leaving no posterity4   
,montaigne      seems to have been on   
terms of considerable intimacy with her1
 and      to have tendered her some very
 wholesome and frank advice in regard   
to her relations with ,henry ,,iv4--    
,,madame1--,the last time you honoured  
me with a visit1 you found me at work   
upon this chapter1 and as these trifles 
may one day fall into your hands1 ,i    
would also that they testify in how     
great honour the author will take any   
favour you shall please to show them4   

,you will there find the same air and   
mien you have observed in his           
conversation2 and though ,i could have  
borrowed some better or more favourable 
garb than my own1 ,i would not have done
 it3 for ,i require nothing more of     
these writings1 but to present me to    
your memory such as ,i naturally am4    
,the same conditions and faculties you  
have been pleased to frequent and       
receive with much more honour and       
courtesy than they deserve1 ,i would put
 together 7but without alteration or    
change7 in one solid body1 that may     
peradventure continue some years1 or    
some days1 after ,i am gone2 where you  
may find them again when you shall      
please to refresh your memory1 without  
putting you to any greater trouble2     
neither are they worth it4  ,i desire   
you should continue the favour of your  
friendship to me1 by the same qualities 
by which it was acquired4  ,i am not at 
all ambitious that any one should love  
and esteem me more dead than living4    

,the humour of ,tiberius is ridiculous1 
but yet common1 who was more solicitous 
to extend his renown to posterity than  
to render himself acceptable to men of  
his own time4  ,if ,i were one of those 
to whom the world could owe             
commendation1 ,i would give out of it   
one-half to have the other in hand2 let 
their praises come quick and crowding   
about me1 more thick than long1 more    
full than durable2 and let them cease1  
in ,god's name1 with my own knowledge of
 them1 and when the sweet sound can no  
longer pierce my ears4  ,it were an idle
 humour to essay1 now that ,i am about  
to forsake the commerce of men1 to offer
 myself to them by a new recommendation4
  ,i make no account of the goods ,i    
could not employ in the service of my   
life4  ,such as ,i am1 ,i will be       
elsewhere than in paper3 my art and     
industry have been ever directed to     
render myself good for something2 my    
studies1 to teach me to do1 and not to  
write4  ,i have made it my whole        

business to frame my life3 this has been
 my trade and my work2 ,i am less a     
writer of books than anything else4  ,i 
have coveted understanding for the      
service of my present and real          
conveniences1 and not to lay up a stock 
for my posterity4  ,he who has anything 
of value in him1 let him make it appear 
in his conduct1 in his ordinary         
discourses1 in his courtships1 and his  
quarrels3 in play1 in bed1 at table1 in 
the management of his affairs1 in his   
economics4  ,those whom ,i see make good
 books in ill breeches1 should first    
have mended their breeches1 if they     
would have been ruled by me4  ,ask a    
,spartan whether he had rather be a good
 orator or a good soldier3 and if ,i was
 asked the same question1 ,i would      
rather choose to be a good cook1 had ,i 
not one already to serve me4 ,my ,god6  
,madame1 how should ,i hate such a      
recommendation of being a clever fellow 
at writing1 and an ass and an inanity in
 everything else6 ,yet ,i had rather be 

a fool both here and there than to have 
made so ill a choice wherein to employ  
my talent4  ,and ,i am so far from      
expecting to gain any new reputation by 
these follies1 that ,i shall think ,i   
come off pretty well if ,i lose nothing 
by them of that little ,i had before4   
,for besides that this dead and mute    
painting will take from my natural      
being1 it has no resemblance to my      
better condition1 but is much lapsed    
from my former vigour and cheerfulness1 
growing faded and withered3 ,i am       
towards the bottom of the barrel1 which 
begins to taste of the lees4  ,as to the
 rest1 ,madame1 ,i should not have dared
 to make so bold with the mysteries of  
physic1 considering the esteem that you 
and so many others have of it1 had ,i   
not had encouragement from their own    
authors4  ,i think there are of these   
among the old ,latin writers but two1   
,pliny and ,celsus if these ever fall   
into your hands1 you will find that they
 speak much more rudely of their art    

than ,i do2 ,i but pinch it1 they cut   
its throat4 ,pliny1 amongst other       
things1 twits them with this1 that when 
they are at the end of their rope1 they 
have a pretty device to save themselves1
 by recommending their patients1 whom   
they have teased and tormented with     
their drugs and diets to no purpose1    
some to vows and miracles1 others to the
 hot baths4  7,be not angry1 ,madame2 he
 speaks not of those in our parts1 which
 are under the protection of your house1
 and all ,gramontins47 ,they have a     
third way of saving their own credit1 of
 ridding their hands of us and securing 
themselves from the reproaches we might 
cast in their teeth of our little       
amendment1 when they have had us so long
 in their hands that they have not one  
more invention left wherewith to amuse  
us1 which is to send us to the better   
air of some other country4  ,this1      
,madame1 is enough2 ,i hope you will    
give me leave to return to my discourse1
 from which ,i have so far digressed1   

the better to divert you4  ,it was1 ,i  
think1 ,pericles1 who being asked how he
 did3 ,you may judge1 says he1 by these1
 showing some little scrolls of         
parchment he had tied about his neck and
 arms4  ,by which he would infer that he
 must needs be very sick when he was    
reduced to a necessity of having        
recourse to such idle and vain          
fopperies1 and of suffering himself to  
be so equipped4 ,i dare not promise but 
that ,i may one day be so much a fool as
 to commit my life and death to the     
mercy and government of physicians2 ,i  
may fall into such a frenzy2 ,i dare not
 be responsible for my future constancy3
 but then1 if any one ask me how ,i do1 
,i may also answer1 as ,pericles did1   
,you may judge by this1 shewing my hand 
clutching six drachms of opium4 ,it will
 be a very evident sign of a violent    
sickness3 my judgment will be very much 
out of order2 if once fear and          
impatience get such an advantage over   
me1 it may very well be concluded that  

there is a dreadful fever in my mind4   
,i have taken the pains to plead this   
cause1 which ,i understand              
indifferently1 a little to back and     
support the natural aversion to drugs   
and the practice of physic ,i have      
derived from my ancestors1 to the end it
 may not be a mere stupid and           
inconsiderate aversion1 but have a      
little more form2 and also1 that they   
who shall see me so obstinate in my     
resolution against all exhortations and 
menaces that shall be given me1 when my 
infirmity shall press hardest upon me1  
may not think 'tis mere obstinacy in me2
 or any one so ill-natured as to judge  
it to be any motive of glory3 for it    
would be a strange ambition to seek to  
gain honour by an action my gardener or 
my groom can perform as well as ,i4     
,certainly1 ,i have not a heart so      
tumorous and windy1 that ,i should      
exchange so solid a pleasure as health  
for an airy and imaginary pleasure3     
glory1 even that of the ,four ,sons of  

,aymon1 is too dear bought by a man of  
my humour1 if it cost him three swinging
 fits of the stone4 ,give me health1 in 
,god's name6  ,such as love physic1 may 
also have good1 great1 and convincing   
considerations2 ,i do not hate opinions 
contrary to my own3 ,i am so1 far from  
being angry to see a discrepancy betwixt
 mine and other men's judgments1 and    
from rendering myself unfit for the     
society of men1 from being of another   
sense and party than mine1 that on the  
contrary 7the most general way that     
nature has followed being variety1 and  
more in souls than bodies1 forasmuch as 
they are of a more supple substance1 and
 more susceptible of forms7 ,i find it  
much more rare to see our humours and   
designs jump and agree4  ,and there     
never were1 in the world1 two opinions  
alike1 no more than two hairs1 or two   
grains3 their most universal quality is 
diversity4          ,,etext ,,editor',s 
,,bookmarks3       ,i am towards the    
bottom of the barrel      ,accusing all 

others of ignorance and imposition      
,affection towards their husbands1 7not7
 until they have lost them              
,anything of value in him1 let him make 
it appear in his conduct      ,as if    
impatience were of itself a better      
remedy than patience      ,assurance    
they give us of the certainty of their  
drugs      ,at least1 if they do no     
good1 they will do no harm              
,attribute to itself2 all the happy     
successes that happen      ,best part of
 a captain to know how to make use of   
occasions      ,burnt and roasted for   
opinions taken upon trust from others   
,commit themselves to the common fortune
      ,crafty humility that springs from
 presumption      ,did not approve all  
sorts of means to obtain a victory      
,disease had arrived at its period or an
 effect of chance8      ,dissentient and
 tumultuary drugs      ,do not much     
blame them for making their advantage of
 our folly      ,doctors3 more felicity 
and duration in their own lives8        

,doctrine much more intricate and       
fantastic than the thing itself         
,drugs being in its own nature an enemy 
to our health      ,even the very       
promises of physic are incredible in    
themselves      ,fathers conceal their  
affection from their children      ,he  
who provides for all1 provides for      
nothing      ,health depends upon the   
vanity and falsity of their promises    
,health is altered and corrupted by     
their frequent prescriptions            
,health to be worth purchasing by all   
the most painful cauteries      ,homer3 
,the only words that have motion and    
action      ,i dare not promise but that
 ,i may one day be so much a fool       
,i see no people so soon sick as those  
who take physic      ,indiscreet desire 
of a present cure1 that so blind us     
,intended to get a new husband than to  
lament the old      ,let it alone a     
little      ,life should be cut off in  
the sound and living part      ,live a  
quite contrary sort of life to what they

 prescribe others      ,live1 not so    
long as they please1 but as long as they
 ought      ,llaying the fault upon the 
patient1 by such frivolous reasons      
,long a voyage ,i should at last run    
myself into some disadvantage           
,making their advantage of our folly1   
for most men do the same      ,man may  
with less trouble adapt himself to      
entire abstinence      ,man runs a very 
great hazard in their hands 7of         
physicians7      ,mark of singular good 
nature to preserve old age      ,men    
must embark1 and not deliberate1 upon   
high enterprises      ,mercenaries who  
would receive any 7pay7      ,moderation
 is a virtue that gives more work than  
suffering      ,more valued a victory   
obtained by counsel than by force       
,most men do not so much believe as they
 acquiesce and permit      ,never any   
man knew so much1 and spake so little   
,no danger with them1 though they may do
 us no good      ,no other foundation or
 support than public abuse      ,no     

physic that has not something hurtful in
 it      ,noble and rich1 where examples
 of virtue are rarely lodged            
,obstinacy is the sister of constancy   
,order a purge for your brain1 it will  
there be much better      ,ordinances it
 7,medicine7 foists upon us             
,passion has a more absolute command    
over us than reason      ,pay very      
strict usury who did not in due time pay
 the principal      ,people are willing 
to be gulled in what they desire        
,physician's help1 which is very often  
an obstacle      ,physicians are not    
content to deal only with the sick      
,physicians fear men should at any time 
escape their authority      ,physicians 
were the only men who might lie at      
pleasure      ,physicians3 earth covers 
their failures      ,plato said of the  
,egyptians1 that they were all          
physicians      ,pure cowardice that    
makes our belief so pliable             
,recommendation of strangeness1 rarity1 
and dear purchase      ,send us to the  

better air of some other country        
,should first have mended their breeches
      ,smile upon us whilst we are alive
      ,so austere and very wise         
countenance and carriage 7of physicians7
      ,so much are men enslaved to their
 miserable being      ,solon said that  
eating was physic against the malady    
hunger      ,strangely suspect all this 
merchandise3 medical care      ,studies1
 to teach me to do1 and not to write    
,such a recipe as they will not take    
themselves      ,that he could neither  
read nor swim      ,the ,babylonians    
carried their sick into the public      
square      ,they 7good women7 are not  
by the dozen1 as every one knows        
,they have not one more invention left  
wherewith to amuse us      ,they juggle 
and trifle in all their discourses at   
our expense      ,they never loved them 
till dead      ,tis in some sort a kind 
of dying to avoid the pain of living wel
      ,tis not the number of men1 but   
the number of good men      ,tis there  

she talks plain ,french      ,to be1 not
 to seem      ,to keep me from dying is 
not in your power      ,two opinions    
alike1 no more than two hairs           
,tyrannical authority physicians usurp  
over poor creatures      ,venture it    
upon his neighbour1 if he will let him  
,venture the making ourselves better    
without any danger      ,we confess our 
ignorance in many things      ,we do not
 easily accept the medicine we          
understand      ,what are become of all 
our brave philosophical precepts8       
,what we have not seen1 we are forced to
 receive from other hands      ,whatever
 was not ordinary diet1 was instead of a
 drug      ,whimpering is offensive to  
the living and vain to the dead         
,who does not boast of some rare recipe 
,who ever saw one physician approve of  
another's prescription      ,willingly  
give them leave to laugh after we are   
dead      ,with being too well ,i am    
about to die      ,wont to give others  
their life1 and not to receive it       

,you may indeed make me die an ill death