The Works of Sir Thomas Browne Volume I Part 5

_I do not envy the temper of Crows or Daws._] As _Theophrastus_ did, who dying, accused Nature for giving them, to whom it could not be of any concernment, so large a life; and to man, whom it much concern'd, so short a one. _Cic. Tusc. quaest. l. 3._ How long Daws live, see in _Not.

ad Sect. 41_.

_Sect. 42. Pag. 61._

_Not upon _Cicero's_ ground, because I have liv'd them well._] I suppose he alludes to an expression in an Epistle of _Cicero_, written in his Exile, to his wife and children, where he hath these words to his wife: _Quod reliquum est, te sustenta mea Terentia ut potes, honestissime viximus, floruimus. Non vitium nostrum sed virtus nos afflixit, peccatum est nullum nisi quod non una animum c.u.m ornamentis amisimus_, l. 24, Ep.

4.

_And stand in need of _Eson's_ bath before threescore._] _Eson_ was the Father of _Jason_, and, at his request, was by _Medea_, by the means of this Bath, restored to his youth. Ingredients that went into it, and the description of _Medea's_ performance, _Ovid_ gives you, _l. 7. Metam._

_Interea calido positum medicamen aheno_ _Fervet et exultat, spumisq; tumentibus albet._ _Illic aemonia radices valle resectas, Seminaq; et flores, et succos incoquit atros Adjicet extremo lapides Oriente pet.i.tos, Et quas Oceani refluum mare lavit arenas: Addidit exceptas lunae de nocte pruinas, Et Strigis infames ipsis c.u.m carnibus alas, Inq; virum soliti vultus mutare ferinos Ambigui prosecta lupi, nec defuit illi Squamea Cinyphei tenuis membrana Chelidri, Vivacisq; jecur cervi; quibus insuper addit Ora caputq; novem cornicis secula pa.s.sae.

His et mille aliis, postquam sine nomine rebus Propositum instruxit mortali barbara munus Arenti ramo jampridem mitis olivae Omnia confudit, summisq; immiscuit ima.

Ecce vetus calido versatus stipes aheno Fit viridis primo, nec longo tempore frondes Induit, et subito gravidis oneratur olivis.

At quacunq; cavo spumas ejecit aheno Ignis, et in terram guttae cecidere calentes, Vernat humus, floresq; et mollia pabula surgunt.

Quae simulac vidit, stricto Medea recludit Ense senis jugulum, veteremq; extare cruorem Pa.s.sa replet succis, quos postquam combibit aeson, Aut ore acceptas, aut vulnere, barba comq; Cunitie posita, nigrum rapuere colorem.

Pulsa fugit macies: abeunt pallorq; situsque: Adjectoq; cavae supplentur corpore rugae; Membraq; luxuriant. aeson miratur, et olim Ante quater denos hunc se reminiscitur annos, Dissimilemq; animum subiit, aetate relicta._ [262-293.]

_Sect. 44. Pag. 62._

_Extol the Suicide of_ Cato.] As doth _Seneca_ in several places; but _Lactantius_ saith, he cast away his life, to get the reputation of a _Platonick_ Philosopher, and not for fear of _Caesar_; and 'tis very probable, he was in no great fear of death, when he slept so securely the night before his death, as the story reports of him.

_Pag. 63._

_Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum, nihil curo._ _Were I of_ Caesar's _Religion_.] I doubt not, but here is a fault of the Press, and that instead of _Caesar_ it should be _Cicero_. I meet not with any such saying imputed to _Caesar_, nor any thing like it, but that he preferr'd a sudden death (in which he had his option) to any other; but I meet with such a saying in _Cicero_ quoted out of _Epicharmus_ [_Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihili aestimo._] Where _Cicero_ sustaineth the part of the _Epicure_ that there is no hurt in being dead, since there remaineth nothing after it. _Cic. 1. Thusc. qu. non procul ab initio_.

_Sect. 45. Pag. 64._

Or whence _Lucan_ learn'd to say, _Communis mundo superest rogus_, etc.]

Why, _Lucan_ was a Stoique, and 'twas an opinion among them almost generally, that the world should perish by fire; therefore without doubt from them he learned it. _Caelum quoque c.u.m omnibus quae in caelo continentur, ita ut cp.i.s.set desinere, fontium dulci aqua marisve nutriri, in vim ignis abiturum. Stoicis constans opinio est, quod consumpto humore mundus hic omnis ignescat._ _Minutius in Octav._ But _Minutius_ should have excepted _Boetius_, _Possidonius_, _Diogenes Babylonius_, and _Zeno Sidonius_, who were _Stoiques_, and yet did not think the world should be destroyed by fire, nor yet by any other means.

_Sect. 46. Pag. 65._

_How shall we interpret _Elias 6000_ years_, etc.?] _Lactant._ is very positive that the world should last but 6000 years; but his reason for it is somewhat strange; thus it is, _Quoniam s.e.x diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt, per secula s.e.x_, i.e. _annorum s.e.x millia manere in hoc statu mundum necesse est_. _De Divino praemio_, cap. 14.

_Sect. 47. Pag. 67._

_Ipsa sui pretium virtus sibi, is but a cold principle._] It is a Stoical principle. _Quaeris enim aliquid supra summum, interrogas quid petam extra virtutem ipsam. Nihil enim habet melius. Pretium sui est._ Senec. _de vit. beat._ c. 19.

_That honest artifice of_ Seneca.] What that article was, is to be seen in _Senec. l. 1. ep. 11_. _Aliquis vir bonus n.o.bis eligendus est, et semper ante oculos babendus, ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus, et omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus._ Et paulo post; _Elige itaq; Catonem; si hic videtur tibi nimis rigidus, elige remissioris animi virum Laelium_, etc. which though, as the Author saith, it be an honest Artifice, yet cannot I but commend the party, and prefer the direction of him (whoever he were) who in the Margin of my _Seneca_, over against those words, wrote these: _Quin Deo potius qui semper omnibus omnia agentibus non tanquam sed reipsa adest, et videt; ac etiam ut Testis, vindex et punitor est male agentis_.

_I have tried, if I could reach that great Resolution of his (that is of _Seneca_) to be honest without a thought of Heaven or h.e.l.l._]

_Seneca_[6] brags he could do this, in these words: _Si scirem deos peccata ignoscituros, et homines ignoraturos, adhuc propter vilitatem peccati peccare erubescerem. Credat Judaeus Appela: non ego_.----

[6] _Tho. Aquin. in com. in Boet. de Consolat. prope finem._

_And Atheists have been the onely Philosopher._] That is, if nothing remain after this life. St. _Aug._ was of this opinion. _Disputabam---- Epicurum accepturum fuisse palmam in animo meo, nisi ego credidissem post mortem restare animae vitam_, etc. Aug. _l. 6. conf. cap. 16_.

_Sect. 48. Pag. 68._

_G.o.d by a powerful voice shall command them back into their proper shapes._] So _Minutius_. _Caeterum quis tam stultus est aut brutus, ut audeat repugnare hominem a Deo ut primum potuit fingi, ita posse denuo reformari, nihil esse post obitum, et ante ortum nihil fuisse; sicut de nihilo nasci licuit, ita de nihilo licere reparari. Porro difficilius est id quod sit incipere, quod quam id quod fuerit iterare. Tu perire Deo credis, si quid nostris oculis hebetibus subtrahitur. Corpus omne sive arescit in pulverem sive in humorem solvitur, vel in cinerem comprimitur vel in nidorem tenuatur, subducitur n.o.bis, sed Deo elementorum custodi inseruntur. In Octav._ _Vide_ Grot. _de veritate Relig. Christian. ubi (lib. 2.) solvit objectionem, quod dissoluta corpora resit.i.tui nequeunt._

_Sect. 50. Pag. 71._

_Or conceive a flame that can either prey upon, or purifie the substance of a soul._] Upon this ground _Psellus lib 1. de Energia Daemonum_, c. 7 holds, That Angels have bodies, (though he grants them to be as pure, or more pure than Air is) otherwise he could not apprehend how they should be tormented in h.e.l.l; and it may be upon this ground it was, that the Author fell into the error of the _Arabians_, mentioned by him, _Sect.

7_.

_Sect. 51. Pag. 73._

_There are as many h.e.l.ls as _Anaxagoras_ conceited worlds._] I a.s.sure my self that this is false printed, and that instead of _Anaxagoras_ it should be _Anaxarchus_; for _Anaxagoras_ is reckon'd amongst those Philosophers that maintain'd a Unity of the world, but _Anaxarchus_ (according to the opinion of _Epicurus_) held there were infinite Worlds. That is he that caus'd _Alexander_ to weep by telling him that there were infinite worlds, whereby _Alexander_ it seems was brought out of opinion of his Geography, who before that time thought there remained nothing, or not much beyond his Conquests.

_Sect. 54. Pag. 75._

_It is hard to place those souls in h.e.l.l._] _Lactantius_ is alike charitably disposed towards those. _Non sum equidem tam iniquus ut eos putem divinare debuisse, ut veritatem per seipsos invenirent (quod fieri ego non posse confiteor) sed hoc ab eis exigo, quod ratione ipse praestare potuerunt._ Lactant. _de orig. error._ c. 3. which is the very same with Sir _K. Digbie's_ expression in his Observations on this place. I make no doubt at all (saith he) but if any follow'd in the whole tenour of their lives, the dictamens of right reason, but that their journey was secure to Heaven.

_Sect. 55. Pag. 77._

Aristotle _transgress'd the rule of his own Ethicks._] And so they did all, as _Lactantius_ hath observed at large. _Aristot._ is said to have been guilty of great vanity in his Clothes, of Incontinency, of Unfaithfulness to his Master _Alexander_, etc. But 'tis no wonder in him, if our great _Seneca_ be also guilty, whom truely notwithstanding St. _Jerome_ would have him inserted in the Catalogue of Saints, yet I think he as little deserv'd it, as many of the Heathens who did not say so well as he did, for I do not think any of them liv'd worse: to trace him a little. In the time of the Emperour _Claudius_ we find he was banish'd for suspition of incontinency with _Julia_ the daughter of _Germanicus_. If it be said that this proceeded meerly from the spight of _Messalina_, (and that _Lipsius_ did not complement with him in that kind _Apostrophe, Non expet.i.t in te haec culpa, O Romani nominis et Sapientiae magne. Sol. Not. in Tacit._) why then did she not cause him to be put to death, as well as she did the other, who was her Husbands Niece? This for certain, whatever his life were, he had _paginam lascivam_, as may appear by what he hath written, _de Speculorum usu, l.

1. Nat. Qu. cap. 16_. Which (admitting it may in a Poet, yet) how it should be excus'd in a Philosopher I know not. To look upon him in his exile, we find that then he wrote his Epistle _De Consolat._ to _Polybius_, _Claudius_ his creature (as honest a man as _Pallas_ or _Narcissus_) and therein he extols him and the Emperour to the Skies; in which he did grosly prevaricate, and lost much of his reputation, by seeking a discharge of his exile by so sordid a means. Upon _Claudius_ his marriage with _Agrippina_, he was recall'd from Banishment by her means, and made _Praetor_, then he forgets the Emperour, having no need of him, labours all he can to depress him and the hopeful _Brittanicus_, and procured his Pupil _Nero_ to be adopted and design'd Successor, and the Emperours own Son to be disinherited; and against the Emperour whom he so much praised when he had need of him, after his death he writes a scurrilous Libel. In _Nero's_ Court, how ungratefully doth he behave himself towards _Agrippina_! who although she were a wicked woman, yet she deserv'd well of him, and of her Son too, who yet never was at rest till he had taken away her life, and upon suspition cast in against her by this man. Afterwards not to mention that he made great haste to grow rich, which should not be the business of a Philosopher, towards _Nero_ himself, how well did it become his Philosophy to play the Traitor against him, and to become a complice in the conspiracy of _Piso_? And then as good a Tragedian as he was, me thinks he doth in _extremo actu deficere_, when he must needs perswade _Paulina_, that excellent Lady his wife, to die with him: what should move him to desire it? it could in his opinion be no advantage to her, for he believ'd nothing of the immortality of the soul; I am not satisfied with the reason of _Tacitus_, _Ne sibi unice dilectam ad injurius relinqueret_, because he discredits it himself, in almost the next words, where he saith, _Nero_ bore her no ill will at all, (and would not suffer her to die) it must surely be then, because he thought he had not liv'd long enough (being not above 114 years old, so much he was) and had not the fort.i.tude to die, unless he might receive some confirmation in it by her example. Now let any man judge what a precious Legacy it is that he bequeaths by his nuncupative will to his friends in _Tacitus_. _Conversus ad amicos_ (saith he) _quando meritis eorum referre gratiam prohiberetur, quod unum jam tamen et pulcherrimum habebat, imaginem vitae suae relinquere testatur_. It cannot be denyed of him, that he hath said very well; but yet it must as well be affirmed, that his Practice hath run counter to his Theory, to use the Author's phrase.

_The_ Scepticks _that affirmed they knew nothing_.] The ancient Philosophers are divided into three sorts, _Dogmatici_, _Academici_, _Sceptici_; the first were those that delivered their opinions positively; the second left a liberty of disputing _pro et contra_; the third declared that there was no knowledge of any thing, no not of this very proposition, that there is no knowledge, according to that,

_----Nihil sciri siquis putat, id quoq; nescit An sciri possit, quod se nil scire fatetur._

_The Duke of_ Venice _that weds himself to the Sea by a Ring of Gold_, etc.] The Duke and Senate yearly on _Ascension-day_ use to go in their best attire to the Haven of _Lido_, and there by throwing a Ring into the water, do take the Sea as their spouse. _Vid. Hist. Ital._ by _Will Thomas Cambrobrit_. _Busbequius_ reports that there is a custom amongst the Turks, which they took from the Greek Priests, not much unlike unto this. _c.u.m Graecorum sacerdotibus mos sit certo veris tempore aquas consecrando mare clausum veluti reserare, ante quod tempus non facile se committunt fluctibus; ab ea Ceremonia nec Turcae absunt._ Busb. _Ep. 3.

legat. Tursic._

_But the Philosopher that threw his money into the Sea, to avoid avarice_, etc.] This was _Apollonius Thyaneus_, who threw a great quant.i.ty of Gold into the Sea with these words, _Pessundo divitias, ne pessundarem ab illis_. _Polycrates_ the Tyrant of _Samos_ cast the best Jewel he had into the Sea, that thereby he might learn to compose himself against the vicissitude of Fortune.

_There go so many circ.u.mstances to piece up one good action._] To make an action to be good, all the causes that concur must be good; but one bad amongst many good ones, is enough to make it vitious, according to the rule, _Bonum ex causa integra, malum ex partiali_.

_Sect. 56. Pag. 78._

_The vulgarity of those judgements that wrap the Church of G.o.d in_ Strabo's _Cloak, and restrain it unto_ Europe.] 'Tis _Strabonis tunica_ in the translation, but _Chalmydi_ would do better, which is the proper expression of the word that _Strabo_ useth: it is not _Europe_, but the known part of the world that _Strabo_ resembleth to a Cloak, and that is it the Author here alludeth to; but we have no reason to think that the resemblance of _Strabo_ is very proper, _Vid._ Sir _Hen. Savil. in not.

ad Tac. in vita Agricolae_.

_Sect. 57. Pag. 79._

_Those who upon a rigid Application of the Law, sentence_ Solomon _unto d.a.m.nation_, etc.] St. _Aug._ upon _Psal._ 126. and in many other places, holds that _Solomon_ is d.a.m.ned. Of the same opinion is _Lyra_, in 2 _Reg._ c. 7. and _Bellarm. 1 Tom. lib. 1. Controv._ c. 5.

THE SECOND PART

_Sect. 1. Pag. 83._

_I wonder not at the_ French _for their Frogs, Snails and Toad-stools_.]