The Anatomy of Melancholy Part 5

Sentence prolonged, changed, _ad arbitrium judicis_, still the same case, [341]"one thrust out of his inheritance, another falsely put in by favour, false forged deeds or wills." _Incisae leges negliguntur_, laws are made and not kept; or if put in execution, [342]they be some silly ones that are punished. As, put case it be fornication, the father will disinherit or abdicate his child, quite cashier him (out, villain, be gone, come no more in my sight); a poor man is miserably tormented with loss of his estate perhaps, goods, fortunes, good name, for ever disgraced, forsaken, and must do penance to the utmost; a mortal sin, and yet make the worst of it, _nunquid aliud fecit_, saith Tranio in the [343]poet, _nisi quod faciunt summis nati generibus_? he hath done no more than what gentlemen usually do. [344]_Neque novum, neque mirum, neque secus quam alii solent_. For in a great person, right worshipful Sir, a right honourable grandee, 'tis not a venial sin, no, not a peccadillo, 'tis no offence at all, a common and ordinary thing, no man takes notice of it; he justifies it in public, and peradventure brags of it,

[345] "Nam quod turpe bonis, t.i.tio, Seioque, decebat Crispinum"------

"For what would be base in good men, t.i.tius, and Seius, became Crispinus."

[346]Many poor men, younger brothers, &c. by reason of bad policy and idle education (for they are likely brought up in no calling), are compelled to beg or steal, and then hanged for theft; than which, what can be more ignominious, _non minus enim turpe principi multa supplicia, quam medico multa funera_, 'tis the governor's fault. _Libentius verberant quam docent_, as schoolmasters do rather correct their pupils, than teach them when they do amiss. [347]"They had more need provide there should be no more thieves and beggars, as they ought with good policy, and take away the occasions, than let them run on, as they do to their own destruction: root out likewise those causes of wrangling, a mult.i.tude of lawyers, and compose controversies, _lites l.u.s.trales et seculares_, by some more compendious means." Whereas now for every toy and trifle they go to law, [348]_Mugit litibus insanum forum, et saevit invicem discordantium rabies_, they are ready to pull out one another's throats; and for commodity [349]"to squeeze blood," saith Hierom, "out of their brother's heart," defame, lie, disgrace, backbite, rail, bear false witness, swear, forswear, fight and wrangle, spend their goods, lives, fortunes, friends, undo one another, to enrich an harpy advocate, that preys upon them both, and cries _Eia Socrates, Eia Xantippe_; or some corrupt judge, that like the [350]kite in Aesop, while the mouse and frog fought, carried both away. Generally they prey one upon another as so many ravenous birds, brute beasts, devouring fishes, no medium, [351]_omnes hic aut captantur aut captant; aut cadavera quae lacerantur, aut corvi qui lacerant_, either deceive or be deceived; tear others or be torn in pieces themselves; like so many buckets in a well, as one riseth another falleth, one's empty, another's full; his ruin is a ladder to the third; such are our ordinary proceedings. What's the market? A place, according to [352]Anacharsis, wherein they cozen one another, a trap; nay, what's the world itself? [353]A vast chaos, a confusion of manners, as fickle as the air, _domicilium insanorum_, a turbulent troop full of impurities, a mart of walking spirits, goblins, the theatre of hypocrisy, a shop of knavery, flattery, a nursery of villainy, the scene of babbling, the school of giddiness, the academy of vice; a warfare, _ubi velis nolis pugnandum, aut vincas aut succ.u.mbas_, in which kill or be killed; wherein every man is for himself, his private ends, and stands upon his own guard. No charity, [354]love, friendship, fear of G.o.d, alliance, affinity, consanguinity, Christianity, can contain them, but if they be any ways offended, or that string of commodity be touched, they fall foul. Old friends become bitter enemies on a sudden for toys and small offences, and they that erst were willing to do all mutual offices of love and kindness, now revile and persecute one another to death, with more than Vatinian hatred, and will not be reconciled. So long as they are behoveful, they love, or may bestead each other, but when there is no more good to be expected, as they do by an old dog, hang him up or cashier him: which [355]

Cato counts a great indecorum, to use men like old shoes or broken gla.s.ses, which are flung to the dunghill; he could not find in his heart to sell an old ox, much less to turn away an old servant: but they instead of recompense, revile him, and when they have made him an instrument of their villainy, as [356]Bajazet the second Emperor of the Turks did by Acomethes Ba.s.sa, make him away, or instead of [357]reward, hate him to death, as Silius was served by Tiberius. In a word, every man for his own ends. Our _summum bonum_ is commodity, and the G.o.ddess we adore _Dea moneta_, Queen money, to whom we daily offer sacrifice, which steers our hearts, hands, [358]affections, all: that most powerful G.o.ddess, by whom we are reared, depressed, elevated, [359]esteemed the sole commandress of our actions, for which we pray, run, ride, go, come, labour, and contend as fishes do for a crumb that falleth into the water. It's not worth, virtue, (that's _bonum theatrale_,) wisdom, valour, learning, honesty, religion, or any sufficiency for which we are respected, but [360]money, greatness, office, honour, authority; honesty is accounted folly; knavery, policy; [361]men admired out of opinion, not as they are, but as they seem to be: such shifting, lying, cogging, plotting, counterplotting, temporizing, nattering, cozening, dissembling, [362]"that of necessity one must highly offend G.o.d if he be conformable to the world, _Cretizare c.u.m Crete_, or else live in contempt, disgrace and misery." One takes upon him temperance, holiness, another austerity, a third an affected kind of simplicity, when as indeed, he, and he, and he, and the rest are [363]"hypocrites, ambidexters," outsides, so many turning pictures, a lion on the one side, a lamb on the other. [364]How would Democritus have been affected to see these things!

To see a man turn himself into all shapes like a chameleon, or as Proteus, _omnia transformans sese in miracula rerum_, to act twenty parts and persons at once, for his advantage, to temporise and vary like Mercury the planet, good with good; bad with bad; having a several face, garb, and character for every one he meets; of all religions, humours, inclinations; to fawn like a spaniel, _ment.i.tis et mimicis obsequis_; rage like a lion, bark like a cur, fight like a dragon, sting like a serpent, as meek as a lamb, and yet again grin like a tiger, weep like a crocodile, insult over some, and yet others domineer over him, here command, there crouch, tyrannise in one place, be baffled in another, a wise man at home, a fool abroad to make others merry.

To see so much difference betwixt words and deeds, so many parasangs betwixt tongue and heart, men like stage-players act variety of parts, [365]give good precepts to others, soar aloft, whilst they themselves grovel on the ground.

To see a man protest friendship, kiss his hand, [366]_quem mallet truncatum videre_, [367]smile with an intent to do mischief, or cozen him whom he salutes, [368]magnify his friend unworthy with hyperbolical eulogiums; his enemy albeit a good man, to vilify and disgrace him, yea all his actions, with the utmost that livor and malice can invent.

To see a [369]servant able to buy out his master, him that carries the mace more worth than the magistrate, which Plato, _lib. 11, de leg._, absolutely forbids, Epictetus abhors. A horse that tills the [370]land fed with chaff, an idle jade have provender in abundance; him that makes shoes go barefoot himself, him that sells meat almost pined; a toiling drudge starve, a drone flourish.

To see men buy smoke for wares, castles built with fools' heads, men like apes follow the fashions in tires, gestures, actions: if the king laugh, all laugh;

[371] "Rides? majore chachiano Concut.i.tur, flet si lachrymas conspexit amici."

[372]Alexander stooped, so did his courtiers; Alphonsus turned his head, and so did his parasites. [373]Sabina Poppea, Nero's wife, wore amber-coloured hair, so did all the Roman ladies in an instant, her fashion was theirs.

To see men wholly led by affection, admired and censured out of opinion without judgment: an inconsiderate mult.i.tude, like so many dogs in a village, if one bark all bark without a cause: as fortune's fan turns, if a man be in favour, or commanded by some great one, all the world applauds him; [374]if in disgrace, in an instant all hate him, and as at the sun when he is eclipsed, that erst took no notice, now gaze and stare upon him.

To see a man [375]wear his brains in his belly, his guts in his head, an hundred oaks on his back, to devour a hundred oxen at a meal, nay more, to devour houses and towns, or as those Anthropophagi, [376]to eat one another.

To see a man roll himself up like a s...o...b..ll, from base beggary to right worshipful and right honourable t.i.tles, unjustly to screw himself into honours and offices; another to starve his genius, d.a.m.n his soul to gather wealth, which he shall not enjoy, which his prodigal son melts and consumes in an instant. [377]

To see the [Greek: kakozaelian] of our times, a man bend all his forces, means, time, fortunes, to be a favorite's favorite's favorite, &c., a parasite's parasite's parasite, that may scorn the servile world as having enough already.

To see an hirsute beggar's brat, that lately fed on sc.r.a.ps, crept and whined, crying to all, and for an old jerkin ran of errands, now ruffle in silk and satin, bravely mounted, jovial and polite, now scorn his old friends and familiars, neglect his kindred, insult over his betters, domineer over all.

To see a scholar crouch and creep to an illiterate peasant for a meal's meat; a scrivener better paid for an obligation; a falconer receive greater wages than a student; a lawyer get more in a day than a philosopher in a year, better reward for an hour, than a scholar for a twelvemonth's study; him that can [378]paint Thais, play on a fiddle, curl hair, &c., sooner get preferment than a philologer or a poet.

To see a fond mother, like Aesop's ape, hug her child to death, a [379]

wittol wink at his wife's honesty, and too perspicuous in all other affairs; one stumble at a straw, and leap over a block; rob Peter, and pay Paul; sc.r.a.pe unjust sums with one hand, purchase great manors by corruption, fraud and cozenage, and liberally to distribute to the poor with the other, give a remnant to pious uses, &c. Penny wise, pound foolish; blind men judge of colours; wise men silent, fools talk; [380]

find fault with others, and do worse themselves; [381]denounce that in public which he doth in secret; and which Aurelius Victor gives out of Augustus, severely censure that in a third, of which he is most guilty himself.

To see a poor fellow, or an hired servant venture his life for his new master that will scarce give him his wages at year's end; A country colon toil and moil, till and drudge for a prodigal idle drone, that devours all the gain, or lasciviously consumes with fantastical expenses; A n.o.ble man in a bravado to encounter death, and for a small flash of honour to cast away himself; A worldling tremble at an executor, and yet not fear h.e.l.l-fire; To wish and hope for immortality, desire to be happy, and yet by all means avoid death, a necessary pa.s.sage to bring him to it.

To see a foolhardy fellow like those old Danes, _qui decollari malunt quam verberari_, die rather than be punished, in a sottish humour embrace death with alacrity, yet [382]scorn to lament his own sins and miseries, or his clearest friends' departures.

To see wise men degraded, fools preferred, one govern towns and cities, and yet a silly woman overrules him at home; [383]Command a province, and yet his own servants or children prescribe laws to him, as Themistocles' son did in Greece; [384]"What I will" (said he) "my mother will, and what my mother will, my father doth." To see horses ride in a coach, men draw it; dogs devour their masters; towers build masons; children rule; old men go to school; women wear the breeches; [385]sheep demolish towns, devour men, &c. And in a word, the world turned upside downward. _O viveret Democritus_.

[386]To insist in every particular were one of Hercules' labours, there's so many ridiculous instances, as motes in the sun. _Quantum est in rebus inane_? (How much vanity there is in things!) And who can speak of all?

_Crimine ab uno disce omnes_, take this for a taste.

But these are obvious to sense, trivial and well known, easy to be discerned. How would Democritus have been moved, had he seen [387]the secrets of their hearts? If every man had a window in his breast, which Momus would have had in Vulcan's man, or that which Tully so much wished it were written in every man's forehead, _Quid quisque de republica sentiret_, what he thought; or that it could be effected in an instant, which Mercury did by Charon in Lucian, by touching of his eyes, to make him discern _semel et simul rumores et susurros_.

"Spes hominum caecas, morbos, votumque labores, Et pa.s.sim toto volitantes aethere curas."

"Blind hopes and wishes, their thoughts and affairs, Whispers and rumours, and those flying cares."

That he could _cubiculorum obductas foras recludere et secreta cordium penetrare_, which [388]Cyprian desired, open doors and locks, shoot bolts, as Lucian's Gallus did with a feather of his tail: or Gyges' invisible ring, or some rare perspective gla.s.s, or _Otacousticon_, which would so multiply species, that a man might hear and see all at once (as [389]

Martia.n.u.s Capella's Jupiter did in a spear which he held in his hand, which did present unto him all that was daily done upon the face of the earth), observe cuckolds' horns, forgeries of alchemists, the philosopher's stone, new projectors, &c., and all those works of darkness, foolish vows, hopes, fears and wishes, what a deal of laughter would it have afforded? He should have seen windmills in one man's head, an hornet's nest in another. Or had he been present with Icaromenippus in Lucian at Jupiter's whispering place, [390]and heard one pray for rain, another for fair weather; one for his wife's, another for his father's death, &c.; "to ask that at G.o.d's hand which they are abashed any man should hear:" How would he have been confounded? Would he, think you, or any man else, say that these men were well in their wits? _Haec sani esse hominis quis sa.n.u.s juret Orestes_? Can all the h.e.l.lebore in the Anticyrae cure these men? No, sure, [391]"an acre of h.e.l.lebore will not do it."

That which is more to be lamented, they are mad like Seneca's blind woman, and will not acknowledge, or [392]seek for any cure of it, for _pauci vident morb.u.m suum, omnes amant_. If our leg or arm offend us, we covet by all means possible to redress it; [393]and if we labour of a bodily disease, we send for a physician; but for the diseases of the mind we take no notice of them: [394]l.u.s.t harrows us on the one side; envy, anger, ambition on the other. We are torn in pieces by our pa.s.sions, as so many wild horses, one in disposition, another in habit; one is melancholy, another mad; [395]and which of us all seeks for help, doth acknowledge his error, or knows he is sick? As that stupid fellow put out the candle because the biting fleas should not find him; he shrouds himself in an unknown habit, borrowed t.i.tles, because n.o.body should discern him. Every man thinks with himself, _Egomet videor mihi sa.n.u.s_, I am well, I am wise, and laughs at others. And 'tis a general fault amongst them all, that [396]

which our forefathers have approved, diet, apparel, opinions, humours, customs, manners, we deride and reject in our time as absurd. Old men account juniors all fools, when they are mere dizzards; and as to sailors, ------_terraeque urbesque recedunt_------ they move, the land stands still, the world hath much more wit, they dote themselves. Turks deride us, we them; Italians Frenchmen, accounting them light headed fellows, the French scoff again at Italians, and at their several customs; Greeks have condemned all the world but themselves of barbarism, the world as much vilifies them now; we account Germans heavy, dull fellows, explode many of their fashions; they as contemptibly think of us; Spaniards laugh at all, and all again at them. So are we fools and ridiculous, absurd in our actions, carriages, diet, apparel, customs, and consultations; we [397]

scoff and point one at another, when as in conclusion all are fools, [398]

"and they the veriest a.s.ses that hide their ears most." A private man if he be resolved with himself, or set on an opinion, accounts all idiots and a.s.ses that are not affected as he is, [399]------_nil r.e.c.t.u.m, nisi quod placuit sibi, ducit_, that are not so minded, [400](_quodque volunt homines se bene velle putant_,) all fools that think not as he doth: he will not say with Atticus, _Suam quisque sponsam, mihi meam_, let every man enjoy his own spouse; but his alone is fair, _suus amor_, &c. and scorns all in respect of himself [401]will imitate none, hear none [402]but himself, as Pliny said, a law and example to himself. And that which Hippocrates, in his epistle to Dionysius, reprehended of old, is verified in our times, _Quisque in alio superfluum esse censet, ipse quod non habet nec curat_, that which he hath not himself or doth not esteem, he accounts superfluity, an idle quality, a mere foppery in another: like Aesop's fox, when he had lost his tail, would have all his fellow foxes cut off theirs. The Chinese say, that we Europeans have one eye, they themselves two, all the world else is blind: (though [403]Scaliger accounts them brutes too, _merum pecus_,) so thou and thy sectaries are only wise, others indifferent, the rest beside themselves, mere idiots and a.s.ses. Thus not acknowledging our own errors and imperfections, we securely deride others, as if we alone were free, and spectators of the rest, accounting it an excellent thing, as indeed it is, _Aliena optimum frui insania_, to make ourselves merry with other men's obliquities, when as he himself is more faulty than the rest, _mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur_, he may take himself by the nose for a fool; and which one calls _maximum stult.i.tiae specimen_, to be ridiculous to others, and not to perceive or take notice of it, as Marsyas was when he contended with Apollo, _non intelligens se deridiculo haberi_, saith [404]

Apuleius; 'tis his own cause, he is a convicted madman, as [405]Austin well infers "in the eyes of wise men and angels he seems like one, that to our thinking walks with his heels upwards." So thou laughest at me, and I at thee, both at a third; and he returns that of the poet upon us again, [406]_Hei mihi, insanire me aiunt, quum ipsi ultro insaniant_. We accuse others of madness, of folly, and are the veriest dizzards ourselves. For it is a great sign and property of a fool (which Eccl. x. 3, points at) out of pride and self-conceit to insult, vilify, condemn, censure, and call other men fools (_Non videmus manticae quod a tergo est_) to tax that in others of which we are most faulty; teach that which we follow not ourselves: For an inconstant man to write of constancy, a profane liver prescribe rules of sanct.i.ty and piety, a dizzard himself make a treatise of wisdom, or with Sall.u.s.t to rail downright at spoilers of countries, and yet in [407]office to be a most grievous poller himself. This argues weakness, and is an evident sign of such parties' indiscretion. [408]_Peccat uter nostrum cruce dignius_? "Who is the fool now?" Or else peradventure in some places we are all mad for company, and so 'tis not seen, _Satietas erroris et dementiae, pariter absurditatem et admirationem tollit_. 'Tis with us, as it was of old (in [409]Tully's censure at least) with C. Pimbria in Rome, a bold, hair-brain, mad fellow, and so esteemed of all, such only excepted, that were as mad as himself: now in such a case there is [410]no notice taken of it.

"Nimirum insa.n.u.s paucis videatur; eo quod Maxima pars hominum morbo jactatur eodem."

"When all are mad, where all are like opprest Who can discern one mad man from the rest?"

But put case they do perceive it, and some one be manifestly convicted of madness, [411]he now takes notice of his folly, be it in action, gesture, speech, a vain humour he hath in building, bragging, jangling, spending, gaming, courting, scribbling, prating, for which he is ridiculous to others, [412]on which he dotes, he doth acknowledge as much: yet with all the rhetoric thou hast, thou canst not so recall him, but to the contrary notwithstanding, he will persevere in his dotage. 'Tis _amabilis insania, et mentis gratissimus error_, so pleasing, so delicious, that he [413]

cannot leave it. He knows his error, but will not seek to decline it, tell him what the event will be, beggary, sorrow, sickness, disgrace, shame, loss, madness, yet [414]"an angry man will prefer vengeance, a lascivious his wh.o.r.e, a thief his booty, a glutton his belly, before his welfare."

Tell an epicure, a covetous man, an ambitious man of his irregular course, wean him from it a little, _pol me occidistis amici_, he cries anon, you have undone him, and as [415]a "dog to his vomit," he returns to it again; no persuasion will take place, no counsel, say what thou canst,

"Clames licet et mare coelo ------Confundas, surdo narras,"[416]

demonstrate as Ulysses did to [417]Elpenor and Gryllus, and the rest of his companions "those swinish men," he is irrefragable in his humour, he will be a hog still; bray him in a mortar, he will be the same. If he be in an heresy, or some perverse opinion, settled as some of our ignorant Papists are, convince his understanding, show him the several follies and absurd fopperies of that sect, force him to say, _veris vincor_, make it as clear as the sun, [418]he will err still, peevish and obstinate as he is; and as he said [419]_si in hoc erro, libenter erro, nec hunc errorem auferri mihi volo_; I will do as I have done, as my predecessors have done, [420]and as my friends now do: I will dote for company. Say now, are these men [421]mad or no, [422]_Heus age responde_? are they ridiculous? _cedo quemvis arbitrum_, are they _sanae mentis_, sober, wise, and discreet? have they common sense? ------[423]_uter est insanior horum_? I am of Democritus'

opinion for my part, I hold them worthy to be laughed at; a company of brain-sick dizzards, as mad as [424]Orestes and Athamas, that they may go "ride the a.s.s," and all sail along to the Anticyrae, in the "ship of fools"

for company together. I need not much labour to prove this which I say otherwise than thus, make any solemn protestation, or swear, I think you will believe me without an oath; say at a word, are they fools? I refer it to you, though you be likewise fools and madmen yourselves, and I as mad to ask the question; for what said our comical Mercury?

[425] "Justum ab injustis petere insipientia est."

"I'll stand to your censure yet, what think you?"

But forasmuch as I undertook at first, that kingdoms, provinces, families, were melancholy as well as private men, I will examine them in particular, and that which I have hitherto dilated at random, in more general terms, I will particularly insist in, prove with more special and evident arguments, testimonies, ill.u.s.trations, and that in brief. [426]_Nunc accipe quare desipiant omnes aeque ac tu._ My first argument is borrowed from Solomon, an arrow drawn out of his sententious quiver, Pro. iii. 7, "Be not wise in thine own eyes." And xxvi. 12, "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?

more hope is of a fool than of him." Isaiah p.r.o.nounceth a woe against such men, cap. v. 21, "that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." For hence we may gather, that it is a great offence, and men are much deceived that think too well of themselves, an especial argument to convince them of folly. Many men (saith [427]Seneca) "had been without question wise, had they not had an opinion that they had attained to perfection of knowledge already, even before they had gone half way," too forward, too ripe, _praeproperi_, too quick and ready, [428]_cito prudentes, cito pii, cito mariti, cito patres, cito sacerdotes, cito omnis officii capaces et curiosi_, they had too good a conceit of themselves, and that marred all; of their worth, valour, skill, art, learning, judgment, eloquence, their good parts; all their geese are swans, and that manifestly proves them to be no better than fools. In former times they had but seven wise men, now you can scarce find so many fools. Thales sent the golden tripos, which the fishermen found, and the oracle commanded to be [429]

"given to the wisest, to Bias, Bias to Solon," &c. If such a thing were now found, we should all fight for it, as the three G.o.ddesses did for the golden apple, we are so wise: we have women politicians, children metaphysicians; every silly fellow can square a circle, make perpetual motions, find the philosopher's stone, interpret Apocalypses, make new Theories, a new system of the world, new Logic, new Philosophy, &c. _Nostra utique regio_, saith [430]Petronius, "our country is so full of deified spirits, divine souls, that you may sooner find a G.o.d than a man amongst us," we think so well of ourselves, and that is an ample testimony of much folly.

My second argument is grounded upon the like place of Scripture, which though before mentioned in effect, yet for some reasons is to be repeated (and by Plato's good leave, I may do it, [431][Greek: dis to kalon raethen ouden blaptei]) "Fools" (saith David) "by reason of their transgressions."

&c. Psal. cvii. 17. Hence Musculus infers all transgressors must needs be fools. So we read Rom. ii., "Tribulation and anguish on the soul of every man that doeth evil;" but all do evil. And Isaiah, lxv. 14, "My servant shall sing for joy, and [432]ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and vexation of mind." 'Tis ratified by the common consent of all philosophers.

"Dishonesty" (saith Cardan) "is nothing else but folly and madness." [433]

_Probus quis n.o.bisc.u.m vivit_? Show me an honest man, _Nemo malus qui non stultus_, 'tis Fabius' aphorism to the same end. If none honest, none wise, then all fools. And well may they be so accounted: for who will account him otherwise, _Qui iter adornat in occidentem, quum properaret in orientem_?

that goes backward all his life, westward, when he is bound to the east? or hold him a wise man (saith [434]Musculus) "that prefers momentary pleasures to eternity, that spends his master's goods in his absence, forthwith to be condemned for it?" _Nequicquam sapit qui sibi non sapit_, who will say that a sick man is wise, that eats and drinks to overthrow the temperature of his body? Can you account him wise or discreet that would willingly have his health, and yet will do nothing that should procure or continue it?

[435]Theodoret, out of Plotinus the Platonist, "holds it a ridiculous thing for a man to live after his own laws, to do that which is offensive to G.o.d, and yet to hope that he should save him: and when he voluntarily neglects his own safety, and contemns the means, to think to be delivered by another:" who will say these men are wise?

A third argument may be derived from the precedent, [436]all men are carried away with pa.s.sion, discontent, l.u.s.t, pleasures, &c., they generally hate those virtues they should love, and love such vices they should hate.

Therefore more than melancholy, quite mad, brute beasts, and void of reason, so Chrysostom contends; "or rather dead and buried alive," as [437]

Philo Judeus concludes it for a certainty, "of all such that are carried away with pa.s.sions, or labour of any disease of the mind. Where is fear and sorrow," there [438]Lactantius stiffly maintains, "wisdom cannot dwell,"

------"qui cupiet, metuet quoque porro, Qui metuens vivit, liber mihi non erit unquam."[439]

Seneca and the rest of the stoics are of opinion, that where is any the least perturbation, wisdom may not be found. "What more ridiculous," as [440]Lactantius urges, than to hear how Xerxes whipped the h.e.l.lespont, threatened the Mountain Athos, and the like. To speak _ad rem_, who is free from pa.s.sion? [441]_Mortalis nemo est quem non attingat dolor, morbusve_, as [442]Tully determines out of an old poem, no mortal men can avoid sorrow and sickness, and sorrow is an inseparable companion from melancholy.

[443]Chrysostom pleads farther yet, that they are more than mad, very beasts, stupefied and void of common sense: "For how" (saith he) "shall I know thee to be a man, when thou kickest like an a.s.s, neighest like a horse after women, ravest in l.u.s.t like a bull, ravenest like a bear, stingest like a scorpion, rakest like a wolf, as subtle as a fox, as impudent as a dog? Shall I say thou art a man, that hast all the symptoms of a beast? How shall I know thee to be a man? by thy shape? That affrights me more, when I see a beast in likeness of a man."