Part 53 (1/2)
”Si rerum quaeris fuerit quis finis et ortus, Desine; nam causa est unica solus amor.”
”If first and last of anything you wit, Cease; love's the sole and only cause of it.”
Love, saith [4499]Leo, made the world, and afterwards in redeeming of it, ”G.o.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son for it,” John iii. 16. ”Behold what love the Father hath showed on us, that we should be called the sons of G.o.d,” 1 John iii. 1. Or by His sweet Providence, in protecting of it; either all in general, or His saints elect and church in particular, whom He keeps as the apple of His eye, whom He loves freely, as Hosea xiv. 5. speaks, and dearly respects, [4500]_Charior est ipsis h.o.m.o quam sibi_. Not that we are fair, nor for any merit or grace of ours, for we are most vile and base; but out of His incomparable love and goodness, out of His Divine Nature. And this is that Homer's golden chain, which reacheth down from heaven to earth, by which every creature is annexed, and depends on his Creator. He made all, saith [4501]Moses, ”and it was good;”
He loves it as good.
The love of angels and living souls is mutual amongst themselves, towards us militant in the church, and all such as love G.o.d; as the sunbeams irradiate the earth from those celestial thrones, they by their well wishes reflect on us, [4502]_in salute hominum promovenda alacres, et constantes administri_, there is joy in heaven for every sinner that repenteth; they pray for us, are solicitous for our good, [4503]_Casti genii_.
[4504] ”Ubi regnat charitas, suave desiderium, Laet.i.tiaque et amor Deo conjunctus.”
Love proper to mortal men is the third member of this subdivision, and the subject of my following discourse.
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, appet.i.te 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, friends.h.i.+p, and true love, which respects G.o.d 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 va.s.sal, 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 G.o.d and men, And Jupiter himself is won by them.”
Gold of all other is a most delicious object; a sweet light, a goodly l.u.s.tre 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, prost.i.tute himself, swear and bear false witness; he will venture his body, kill a king, murder his father, and d.a.m.n his soul to come at it. _Formosior auri ma.s.sa_, as [4513]
he well observed, the ma.s.s 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, Divitiae ut crescant.”------
All our labours, studies, endeavours, vows, prayers and wishes, are to get, how to compa.s.s it.
[4515] ”Haec est illa cui famulatur maximus...o...b..s, Diva potens rerum, domitrixque pecunia fati.”
”This is the great G.o.ddess we adore and wors.h.i.+p; 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 friends.h.i.+p: 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 carca.s.s: 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 t.i.tles, and magnificent eulogiums, most excellent and most n.o.ble, worthy, wise, grave, learned, valiant, &c., and magnified beyond measure: if any controversy arise between us, some trespa.s.s, 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 c.u.m 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 l.u.s.tre: we admire, and gaze upon them, _ut pueri Junonis avem_, as children do on a peac.o.c.k: 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 pa.s.sion, 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 superst.i.tious 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 s.e.xtile 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 c.u.m 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_, n.o.ble 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 [Greek: kat' exochaen] 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.