MEMB. II.
SUBSECT. I.—Love of Men, which varies as his Objects, Profitable, Pleasant, Honest.
Valesius, lib. 3. contr. 13, defines this love which is in men, to be
[4505]an affection of both powers, appetite and reason. The rational
resides in the brain, the other in the liver (as before hath been said out
of Plato and others); the heart is diversely affected of both, and carried
a thousand ways by consent. The sensitive faculty most part overrules
reason, the soul is carried hoodwinked, and the understanding captive like
a beast. [4506]The heart is variously inclined, sometimes they are merry,
sometimes sad, and from love arise hope and fear, jealousy, fury,
desperation. Now this love of men is diverse, and varies, as the object
varies, by which they are enticed, as virtue, wisdom, eloquence, profit,
wealth, money, fame, honour, or comeliness of person, &c. Leon Hubreus, in
his first dialogue, reduceth them all to these three, utile, jucundum,
honestum, profitable, pleasant, honest; (out of Aristotle belike
8. moral.) of which he discourseth at large, and whatsoever is beautiful and
fair, is referred to them, or any way to be desired. [4507]To profitable
is ascribed health, wealth, honour, &c., which is rather ambition, desire,
covetousness, than love: friends, children, love of women, [4508]all
delightful and pleasant objects, are referred to the second. The love of
honest things consists in virtue and wisdom, and is preferred before that
which is profitable and pleasant: intellectual, about that which is honest.
[4509]St. Austin calls profitable, worldly; pleasant, carnal; honest,
spiritual. [4510]Of and from all three, result charity, friendship, and
true love, which respects God and our neighbour. Of each of these I will
briefly dilate, and show in what sort they cause melancholy.
Amongst all these fair enticing objects, which procure love, and bewitch
the soul of man, there is none so moving, so forcible as profit; and that
which carrieth with it a show of commodity. Health indeed is a precious
thing, to recover and preserve which we will undergo any misery, drink
bitter potions, freely give our goods: restore a man to his health, his
purse lies open to thee, bountiful he is, thankful and beholding to thee;
but give him wealth and honour, give him gold, or what shall be for his
advantage and preferment, and thou shalt command his affections, oblige him
eternally to thee, heart, hand, life, and all is at thy service, thou art
his dear and loving friend, good and gracious lord and master, his Mecaenas;
he is thy slave, thy vassal, most devote, affectioned, and bound in all
duty: tell him good tidings in this kind, there spoke an angel, a blessed
hour that brings in gain, he is thy creature, and thou his creator, he hugs
and admires thee; he is thine for ever. No loadstone so attractive as that
of profit, none so fair an object as this of gold; [4511]nothing wins a
man sooner than a good turn, bounty and liberality command body and soul:
Munera (crede mihi) placant hominesque deosque;
Placatur donis Jupiter ipse datis.
Good turns doth pacify both God and men,
And Jupiter himself is won by them.
Gold of all other is a most delicious object; a sweet light, a goodly
lustre it hath; gratius aurum quam solem intuemur, saith Austin, and we
had rather see it than the sun. Sweet and pleasant in getting, in keeping;
it seasons all our labours, intolerable pains we take for it, base
employments, endure bitter flouts and taunts, long journeys, heavy burdens,
all are made light and easy by this hope of gain: At mihi plaudo ipse
domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in arca. The sight of gold refresheth our
spirits, and ravisheth our hearts, as that Babylonian garment and [4512]
golden wedge did Achan in the camp, the very sight and hearing sets on fire
his soul with desire of it. It will make a man run to the antipodes, or
tarry at home and turn parasite, lie, flatter, prostitute himself, swear
and bear false witness; he will venture his body, kill a king, murder his
father, and damn his soul to come at it. Formosior auri massa, as [4513]
he well observed, the mass of gold is fairer than all your Grecian
pictures, that Apelles, Phidias, or any doting painter could ever make: we
are enamoured with it,
[4514]Prima fere vota, et cunctis notissima templis,
All our labours, studies, endeavours, vows, prayers and wishes, are to get,
how to compass it.
[4515]Haec est illa cui famulatur maximus orbis,
Diva potens rerum, domitrixque pecunia fati.
This is the great goddess we adore and worship; this is the sole object of
our desire. If we have it, as we think, we are made for ever, thrice
happy, princes, lords, &c. If we lose it, we are dull, heavy, dejected,
discontent, miserable, desperate, and mad. Our estate and bene esse ebbs
and flows with our commodity; and as we are endowed or enriched, so are we
beloved and esteemed: it lasts no longer than our wealth; when that is
gone, and the object removed, farewell friendship: as long as bounty, good
cheer, and rewards were to be hoped, friends enough; they were tied to thee
by the teeth, and would follow thee as crows do a carcass: but when thy
goods are gone and spent, the lamp of their love is out, and thou shalt be
contemned, scorned, hated, injured. [4516]Lucian's Timon, when he lived in
prosperity, was the sole spectacle of Greece, only admired; who but Timon?
Everybody loved, honoured, applauded him, each man offered him his service,
and sought to be kin to him; but when his gold was spent, his fair
possessions gone, farewell Timon: none so ugly, none so deformed, so odious
an object as Timon, no man so ridiculous on a sudden, they gave him a penny
to buy a rope, no man would know him.
'Tis the general humour of the world, commodity steers our affections
throughout, we love those that are fortunate and rich, that thrive, or by
whom we may receive mutual kindness, hope for like courtesies, get any
good, gain, or profit; hate those, and abhor on the other side, which are
poor and miserable, or by whom we may sustain loss or inconvenience. And
even those that were now familiar and dear unto us, our loving and long
friends, neighbours, kinsmen, allies, with whom we have conversed, and
lived as so many Geryons for some years past, striving still to give one
another all good content and entertainment, with mutual invitations,
feastings, disports, offices, for whom we would ride, run, spend ourselves,
and of whom we have so freely and honourably spoken, to whom we have given
all those turgent titles, and magnificent eulogiums, most excellent and
most noble, worthy, wise, grave, learned, valiant, &c., and magnified
beyond measure: if any controversy arise between us, some trespass, injury,
abuse, some part of our goods be detained, a piece of land come to be
litigious, if they cross us in our suit, or touch the string of our
commodity, we detest and depress them upon a sudden: neither affinity,
consanguinity, or old acquaintance can contain us, but [4517]rupto jecore
exierit Caprificus. A golden apple sets altogether by the ears, as if a
marrowbone or honeycomb were flung amongst bears: father and son, brother
and sister, kinsmen are at odds: and look what malice, deadly hatred can
invent, that shall be done, Terrible, dirum, pestilens, atrox, ferum,
mutual injuries, desire of revenge, and how to hurt them, him and his, are
all our studies. If our pleasures be interrupt, we can tolerate it: our
bodies hurt, we can put it up and be reconciled: but touch our commodities,
we are most impatient: fair becomes foul, the graces are turned to harpies,
friendly salutations to bitter imprecations, mutual feastings to plotting
villainies, minings and counterminings; good words to satires and
invectives, we revile e contra, nought but his imperfections are in our
eyes, he is a base knave, a devil, a monster, a caterpillar, a viper, a
hog-rubber, &c. Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne;[4518] the scene
is altered on a sudden, love is turned to hate, mirth to melancholy: so
furiously are we most part bent, our affections fixed upon this object of
commodity, and upon money, the desire of which in excess is covetousness:
ambition tyranniseth over our souls, as [4519]I have shown, and in defect
crucifies as much, as if a man by negligence, ill husbandry, improvidence,
prodigality, waste and consume his goods and fortunes, beggary follows, and
melancholy, he becomes an abject, [4520]odious and worse than an infidel,
in not providing for his family.
SUBSECT. II.—Pleasant Objects of Love.
Pleasant objects are infinite, whether they be such as have life, or be
without life; inanimate are countries, provinces, towers, towns, cities, as
he said, [4521]Pulcherrimam insulam videmus, etiam cum non videmus we
see a fair island by description, when we see it not. The [4522]sun never
saw a fairer city, Thessala Tempe, orchards, gardens, pleasant walks,
groves, fountains, &c. The heaven itself is said to be [4523]fair or foul:
fair buildings, [4524]fair pictures, all artificial, elaborate and curious
works, clothes, give an admirable lustre: we admire, and gaze upon them,
ut pueri Junonis avem, as children do on a peacock: a fair dog, a fair
horse and hawk, &c. [4525]Thessalus amat equum pullinum, buculum
Aegyptius, Lacedaemonius Catulum, &c., such things we love, are most
gracious in our sight, acceptable unto us, and whatsoever else may cause
this passion, if it be superfluous or immoderately loved, as Guianerius
observes. These things in themselves are pleasing and good, singular
ornaments, necessary, comely, and fit to be had; but when we fix an
immoderate eye, and dote on them over much, this pleasure may turn to pain,
bring much sorrow and discontent unto us, work our final overthrow, and
cause melancholy in the end. Many are carried away with those bewitching
sports of gaming, hawking, hunting, and such vain pleasures, as [4526]I
have said: some with immoderate desire of fame, to be crowned in the
Olympics, knighted in the field, &c., and by these means ruinate
themselves. The lascivious dotes on his fair mistress, the glutton on his
dishes, which are infinitely varied to please the palate, the epicure on
his several pleasures, the superstitious on his idol, and fats himself with
future joys, as Turks feed themselves with an imaginary persuasion of a
sensual paradise: so several pleasant objects diversely affect diverse men.
But the fairest objects and enticings proceed from men themselves, which
most frequently captivate, allure, and make them dote beyond all measure
upon one another, and that for many respects: first, as some suppose, by
that secret force of stars, (quod me tibi temperat astrum?) They do
singularly dote on such a man, hate such again, and can give no reason for
it. [4527]Non amo te Sabidi, &c. Alexander admired Ephestion, Adrian
Antinous, Nero Sporus, &c. The physicians refer this to their temperament,
astrologers to trine and sextile aspects, or opposite of their several
ascendants, lords of their genitures, love and hatred of planets; [4528]
Cicogna, to concord and discord of spirits; but most to outward graces. A
merry companion is welcome and acceptable to all men, and therefore, saith
[4529]Gomesius, princes and great men entertain jesters and players
commonly in their courts. But [4530]Pares cum paribus facillime
congregantur, 'tis that [4531]similitude of manners, which ties most men
in an inseparable link, as if they be addicted to the same studies or
disports, they delight in one another's companies, birds of a feather will
gather together: if they be of divers inclinations, or opposite in
manners, they can seldom agree. Secondly, [4532]affability, custom, and
familiarity, may convert nature many times, though they be different in
manners, as if they be countrymen, fellow-students, colleagues, or have
been fellow-soldiers, [4533]brethren in affliction, ([4534]acerba
calamitatum societas, diversi etiam ingenii homines conjungit) affinity,
or some such accidental occasion, though they cannot agree amongst
themselves, they will stick together like burrs, and bold against a third;
so after some discontinuance, or death, enmity ceaseth; or in a foreign
place:
Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata quiescit:
Et cecidere odia, et tristes mors obruit iras.
A third cause of love and hate, may be mutual offices, acceptum
beneficium, [4535]commend him, use him kindly, take his part in a
quarrel, relieve him in his misery, thou winnest him for ever; do the
opposite, and be sure of a perpetual enemy. Praise and dispraise of each
other, do as much, though unknown, as [4536]Schoppius by Scaliger and
Casaubonus: mulus mulum scabit; who but Scaliger with him? what
encomiums, epithets, eulogiums? Antistes sapientiae, perpetuus dictator,
literarum ornamentum, Europae miraculum, noble Scaliger, [4537]
incredibilis ingenii praestantia, &c., diis potius quam hominibus per
omnia comparandus, scripta ejus aurea ancylia de coelo delapsa poplitibus
veneramur flexis, &c.,[4538] but when they began to vary, none so absurd
as Scaliger, so vile and base, as his books de Burdonum familia, and other
satirical invectives may witness, Ovid, in Ibin, Archilocus himself was
not so bitter. Another great tie or cause of love, is consanguinity:
parents are clear to their children, children to their parents, brothers
and sisters, cousins of all sorts, as a hen and chickens, all of a knot:
every crow thinks her own bird fairest. Many memorable examples are in this
kind, and 'tis portenti simile, if they do not: [4539]a mother cannot
forget her child: Solomon so found out the true owner; love of parents may
not be concealed, 'tis natural, descends, and they that are inhuman in this
kind, are unworthy of that air they breathe, and of the four elements; yet
many unnatural examples we have in this rank, of hard-hearted parents,
disobedient children, of [4540]disagreeing brothers, nothing so common.
The love of kinsmen is grown cold, [4541]many kinsmen (as the saying is)
few friends; if thine estate be good, and thou able, par pari referre,
to requite their kindness, there will be mutual correspondence, otherwise
thou art a burden, most odious to them above all others. The last object
that ties man and man, is comeliness of person, and beauty alone, as men
love women with a wanton eye: which κατ' ξοχν is termed
heroical, or love-melancholy. Other loves (saith Picolomineus) are so
called with some contraction, as the love of wine, gold, &c., but this of
women is predominant in a higher strain, whose part affected is the liver,
and this love deserves a longer explication, and shall be dilated apart in
the next section.
SUBSECT. III.—Honest Objects of Love.
Beauty is the common object of all love, [4542]as jet draws a straw, so
doth beauty love: virtue and honesty are great motives, and give as fair a
lustre as the rest, especially if they be sincere and right, not fucate,
but proceeding from true form, and an incorrupt judgment; those two Venus'
twins, Eros and Anteros, are then most firm and fast. For many times
otherwise men are deceived by their flattering gnathos, dissembling
camelions, outsides, hypocrites that make a show of great love, learning,
pretend honesty, virtue, zeal, modesty, with affected looks and counterfeit
gestures: feigned protestations often steal away the hearts and favours of
men, and deceive them, specie virtutis et umbra, when as revera and
indeed, there is no worth or honesty at all in them, no truth, but mere
hypocrisy, subtlety, knavery, and the like. As true friends they are, as he
that Caelius Secundus met by the highway side; and hard it is in this
temporising age to distinguish such companions, or to find them out. Such
gnathos as these for the most part belong to great men, and by this glozing
flattery, affability, and such like philters, so dive and insinuate into
their favours, that they are taken for men of excellent worth, wisdom,
learning, demigods, and so screw themselves into dignities, honours,
offices; but these men cause harsh confusion often, and as many times stirs
as Rehoboam's counsellors in a commonwealth, overthrew themselves and
others. Tandlerus and some authors make a doubt, whether love and hatred
may be compelled by philters or characters; Cardan and Marbodius, by
precious stones and amulets; astrologers by election of times, &c. as
[4543]I shall elsewhere discuss. The true object of this honest love is
virtue, wisdom, honesty, [4544]real worth, Interna forma, and this love
cannot deceive or be compelled, ut ameris amabilis esto, love itself is
the most potent philtrum, virtue and wisdom, gratia gratum faciens, the
sole and only grace, not counterfeit, but open, honest, simple, naked,
[4545]descending from heaven, as our apostle hath it, an infused habit
from God, which hath given several gifts, as wit, learning, tongues, for
which they shall be amiable and gracious, Eph. iv. 11. as to Saul stature and
a goodly presence, 1 Sam. ix. 1. Joseph found favour in Pharaoh's court,
Gen. xxxix, for [4546]his person; and Daniel with the princes of the
eunuchs, Dan. xix. 19. Christ was gracious with God and men, Luke ii. 52.
There is still some peculiar grace, as of good discourse, eloquence, wit,
honesty, which is the primum mobile, first mover, and a most forcible
loadstone to draw the favours and good wills of men's eyes, ears, and
affections unto them. When Jesus spake, they were all astonished at his
answers, (Luke ii. 47.) and wondered at his gracious words which proceeded
from his mouth. An orator steals away the hearts of men, and as another
Orpheus, quo vult, unde vult, he pulls them to him by speech alone: a
sweet voice causeth admiration; and he that can utter himself in good
words, in our ordinary phrase, is called a proper man, a divine spirit. For
which cause belike, our old poets, Senatus populusque poetarum, made
Mercury the gentleman-usher to the Graces, captain of eloquence, and those
charities to be Jupiter's and Eurymone's daughters, descended from above.
Though they be otherwise deformed, crooked, ugly to behold, those good
parts of the mind denominate them fair. Plato commends the beauty of
Socrates; yet who was more grim of countenance, stern and ghastly to look
upon? So are and have been many great philosophers, as [4547]Gregory
Nazianzen observes, deformed most part in that which is to be seen with
the eyes, but most elegant in that which is not to be seen. Saepe sub
attrita latitat sapientia veste. Aesop, Democritus, Aristotle, Politianus,
Melancthon, Gesner, &c. withered old men, Sileni Alcibiadis, very harsh
and impolite to the eye; but who were so terse, polite, eloquent, generally
learned, temperate and modest? No man then living was so fair as
Alcibiades, so lovely quo ad superficiem, to the eye, as [4548]Boethius
observes, but he had Corpus turpissimum interne, a most deformed soul;
honesty, virtue, fair conditions, are great enticers to such as are well
given, and much avail to get the favour and goodwill of men. Abdolominus
in Curtius, a poor man, (but which mine author notes, [4549]the cause of
this poverty was his honesty ) for his modesty and continency from a
private person (for they found him digging in his garden) was saluted king,
and preferred before all the magnificoes of his time, injecta ei vestis
purpura auroque distincta, a purple embroidered garment was put upon him,
[4550]and they bade him wash himself, and, as he was worthy, take upon him
the style and spirit of a king, continue his continency and the rest of
his good parts. Titus Pomponius Atticus, that noble citizen of Rome, was so
fair conditioned, of so sweet a carriage, that he was generally beloved of
all good men, of Caesar, Pompey, Antony, Tully, of divers sects, &c.
multas haereditates ([4551]Cornelius Nepos writes) sola bonitate
consequutus. Operae, pretium audire, &c. It is worthy of your attention,
Livy cries, [4552]you that scorn all but riches, and give no esteem to
virtue, except they be wealthy withal, Q. Cincinnatus had but four acres,
and by the consent of the senate was chosen dictator of Rome. Of such
account were Cato, Fabricius, Aristides, Antonius, Probus, for their
eminent worth: so Caesar, Trajan, Alexander, admired for valour, [4553]
Haephestion loved Alexander, but Parmenio the king: Titus deliciae humani
generis, and which Aurelius Victor hath of Vespasian, the darling of his
time, as [4554]Edgar Etheling was in England, for his [4555]excellent
virtues: their memory is yet fresh, sweet, and we love them many ages
after, though they be dead: Suavem memoriam sui reliquit, saith Lipsius
of his friend, living and dead they are all one. [4556]I have ever loved
as thou knowest (so Tully wrote to Dolabella) Marcus Brutus for his great
wit, singular honesty, constancy, sweet conditions; and believe it [4557]
there is nothing so amiable and fair as virtue. I [4558]do mightily love
Calvisinus, (so Pliny writes to Sossius) a most industrious, eloquent,
upright man, which is all in all with me: the affection came from his good
parts. And as St. Austin comments on the 84th Psalm, [4559]there is a
peculiar beauty of justice, and inward beauty, which we see with the eyes
of our hearts, love, and are enamoured with, as in martyrs, though their
bodies be torn in pieces with wild beasts, yet this beauty shines, and we
love their virtues. The [4560]stoics are of opinion that a wise man is
only fair; and Cato in Tully 3 de Finibus contends the same, that the
lineaments of the mind are far fairer than those of the body, incomparably
beyond them: wisdom and valour according to [4561]Xenophon, especially
deserve the name of beauty, and denominate one fair, et incomparabiliter
pulchrior est (as Austin holds) veritas Christianorum quam Helena
Graecorum. Wine is strong, the king is strong, women are strong, but
truth overcometh all things, Esd. i. 3, 10, 11, 12. Blessed is the man
that findeth wisdom, and getteth understanding, for the merchandise thereof
is better than silver, and the gain thereof better than gold: it is more
precious than pearls, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be
compared to her, Prov. ii. 13, 14, 15, a wise, true, just, upright, and
good man, I say it again, is only fair: [4562]it is reported of Magdalene
Queen of France, and wife to Lewis 11th, a Scottish woman by birth, that
walking forth in an evening with her ladies, she spied M. Alanus, one of
the king's chaplains, a silly, old, [4563]hard-favoured man fast asleep in
a bower, and kissed him sweetly; when the young ladies laughed at her for
it, she replied, that it was not his person that she did embrace and
reverence, but, with a platonic love, the divine beauty of [4564]his soul.
Thus in all ages virtue hath been adored, admired, a singular lustre hath
proceeded from it: and the more virtuous he is, the more gracious, the more
admired. No man so much followed upon earth as Christ himself: and as the
Psalmist saith, xlv. 2, He was fairer than the sons of men. Chrysostom
Hom. 8 in Mat. Bernard Ser. 1. de omnibus sanctis; Austin,
Cassiodore, Hier. in 9 Mat. interpret it of the [4565]beauty of his
person; there was a divine majesty in his looks, it shined like lightning
and drew all men to it: but Basil, Cyril, lib. 6. super. 55. Esay.
Theodoret, Arnobius, &c. of the beauty of his divinity, justice, grace,
eloquence, &c. Thomas in Psal. xliv. of both; and so doth Baradius and
Peter Morales, lib de pulchritud. Jesu et Mariae, adding as much of Joseph
and the Virgin Mary,—haec alias forma praecesserit omnes, [4566]according
to that prediction of Sibylla Cumea. Be they present or absent, near us, or
afar off, this beauty shines, and will attract men many miles to come and
visit it. Plato and Pythagoras left their country, to see those wise
Egyptian priests: Apollonius travelled into Ethiopia, Persia, to consult
with the Magi, Brachmanni, gymnosophists. The Queen of Sheba came to visit
Solomon; and many, saith [4567]Hierom, went out of Spain and remote
places a thousand miles, to behold that eloquent Livy: [4568]Multi Romam
non ut urbem pulcherrimam, aut urbis et orbis dominum Octavianum, sed ut
hunc unum inviserent audirentque, a Gadibus profecti sunt. No beauty
leaves such an impression, strikes so deep [4569], or links the souls of
men closer than virtue.
[4570]Non per deos aut pictor posset,
Aut statuarius ullus fingere
Talem pulchritudinem qualem virtus habet;
no painter, no graver, no carver can express virtue's lustre, or those
admirable rays that come from it, those enchanting rays that enamour
posterity, those everlasting rays that continue to the world's end. Many,
saith Phavorinus, that loved and admired Alcibiades in his youth, knew not,
cared not for Alcibiades a man, nunc intuentes quaerebant Alcibiadem; but
the beauty of Socrates is still the same; [4571]virtue's lustre never
fades, is ever fresh and green, semper viva to all succeeding ages, and a
most attractive loadstone, to draw and combine such as are present. For
that reason belike, Homer feigns the three Graces to be linked and tied
hand in hand, because the hearts of men are so firmly united with such
graces. [4572]O sweet bands (Seneca exclaims), which so happily combine,
that those which are bound by them love their binders, desiring withal much
more harder to be bound, and as so many Geryons to be united into one. For
the nature of true friendship is to combine, to be like affected, of one
mind,
[4573]Velle et nolle ambobus idem, satiataque toto
as the poet saith, still to continue one and the same. And where this love
takes place there is peace and quietness, a true correspondence, perfect
amity, a diapason of vows and wishes, the same opinions, as between [4574]
David and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias, Pylades and Orestes, [4575]Nysus
and Euryalus, Theseus and Pirithous, [4576]they will live and die
together, and prosecute one another with good turns. [4577]Nam vinci in
amore turpissimum putant, not only living, but when their friends are
dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs elegies, inscriptions,
pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures, histories, poems, annals,
feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as Plato's scholars did) they will
parentare still, omit no good office that may tend to the preservation of
their names, honours, and eternal memory. [4578]Illum coloribus, illum
cera, illum aere, &c. He did express his friends in colours, in wax, in
brass, in ivory, marble, gold, and silver (as Pliny reports of a citizen in
Rome), and in a great auditory not long since recited a just volume of his
life. In another place, [4579]speaking of an epigram which Martial had
composed in praise of him, [4580]He gave me as much as he might, and
would have done more if he could: though what can a man give more than
honour, glory, and eternity? But that which he wrote peradventure will not
continue, yet he wrote it to continue. 'Tis all the recompense a poor
scholar can make his well-deserving patron, Mecaenas, friend, to mention
him in his works, to dedicate a book to his name, to write his life, &c.,
as all our poets, orators, historiographers have ever done, and the
greatest revenge such men take of their adversaries, to persecute them with
satires, invectives, &c., and 'tis both ways of great moment, as [4581]
Plato gives us to understand. Paulus Jovius, in the fourth book of the life
and deeds of Pope Leo Decimus, his noble patron, concludes in these words,
[4582]Because I cannot honour him as other rich men do, with like
endeavour, affection, and piety, I have undertaken to write his life; since
my fortunes will not give me leave to make a more sumptuous monument, I
will perform those rites to his sacred ashes, which a small, perhaps, but a
liberal wit can afford. But I rove. Where this true love is wanting, there
can be no firm peace, friendship from teeth outward, counterfeit, or for
some by-respects, so long dissembled, till they have satisfied their own
ends, which, upon every small occasion, breaks out into enmity, open war,
defiance, heart-burnings, whispering, calumnies, contentions, and all
manner of bitter melancholy discontents. And those men which have no other
object of their love, than greatness, wealth, authority, &c., are rather
feared than beloved; nec amant quemquam, nec amantur ab ullo: and
howsoever borne with for a time, yet for their tyranny and oppression,
griping, covetousness, currish hardness, folly, intemperance, imprudence,
and such like vices, they are generally odious, abhorred of all, both God
and men.
Non uxor salvum te vult, non filius, omnes
wife and children, friends, neighbours, all the world forsakes them, would
feign be rid of them, and are compelled many times to lay violent hands on
them, or else God's judgments overtake them: instead of graces, come
furies. So when fair [4583]Abigail, a woman of singular wisdom, was
acceptable to David, Nabal was churlish and evil-conditioned; and therefore
[4584]Mordecai was received, when Haman was executed, Haman the favourite,
that had his seat above the other princes, to whom all the king's servants
that stood in the gates, bowed their knees and reverenced. Though they
flourished many times, such hypocrites, such temporising foxes, and blear
the world's eyes by flattery, bribery, dissembling their natures, or other
men's weakness, that cannot so apprehend their tricks, yet in the end they
will be discerned, and precipitated in a moment: surely, saith David,
thou hast set them in slippery places, Psal. xxxvii. 5. as so many Sejani,
they will come down to the Gemonian scales; and as Eusebius in [4585]
Ammianus, that was in such authority, ad jubendum Imperatorem, be cast
down headlong on a sudden. Or put case they escape, and rest unmasked to
their lives' end, yet after their death their memory stinks as a snuff of a
candle put out, and those that durst not so much as mutter against them in
their lives, will prosecute their name with satires, libels, and bitter
imprecations, they shall male audire in all succeeding ages, and be
odious to the world's end.
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