* Theagines the Philosopher and many Myriades besides, and so will ever do, "+ & mihi fortis Est manus, est & amor, dabit hic in vulnera vires," Who ever heard a story of more woe, Then that of Juliet and her Romeo? Read Parthenium in Eroticis, and Plutarch's amatorias narrationes, or love stories, all tending almost to this purpose. Valeriola lib. 2. observ. 7. hath a lamentable narration of a Merchant his patient," that raving through impatience of love, had he not been watched, would every while have offered violence to himself. Amatus Lucitanus cent. 3. car. 56. hath such another story, and Fælix Plater. med. observ. lib. 1. a third of a yong * Gentleman that studied Physick, and for the love of a Doctor's daughter, having no hope to compass his desire, poisoned himself, Anno 1615. A barber in Franc fort, because his wench was betrothed to another, cut his own throat. At Neoburge the same year a yong man, because he could not get her Parents consent, killed his sweet-heart, and afterward himself, desiring this of the magistrate, as he gave up the Ghost, that they might be buried in one grave, Quodque rogis superest unà requiescat in urnâ," which Gismunda besought of Tancredus her father, that she might be in like sort buried with Guiscardus her lover, that so their bodies might lye together in the grave, as their souls wander about § Campos lugentes in the Elysian fields, " quos in a myrtle grove durus amor crudeli tabe peredit," "& myrtea circum Sylva tegit curæ non ipsâ in morte relinquunt." You have not yet heard the worst, they do not offer violence to themselves in this rage of lust but unto others, their nearest and dearest friends. Cataline killed his only son, misitque ad orci pallida, lethi obnubila, obsita tenebris loca, for the love Furi * Megarensis amore flagrans Lucian. Tom. 4. +Ovid. 3. met. bundus putavit se videre Imaginem puellæ, & coram loqui blandiens illi, &c. "Juven. Hebræus. * Juvenis Medicinæ operam dans Doctoris filiam deperibat, &c. Gotardus Arthus Gallobelgicus, nund. vernal. 1615. collum novacula aperuit: & inde expiravit. 2 Cum renuente parente utroq; & ipsa virgine frui non posset, ipsum & ipsam interfecit, hoc à magistratu petens, ut in eodem sepulchro sepeliri possent. Bocace, § Sedes eorum qui pro amoris impatientia pereunt, Virg. 6. Æneid. Il Sal. Val. of of Aurelia Orestilla, quòd ejus nuptias vivo filio recusaret * Laodice, the sister of Mithridates, poisoned her husband, to give content to a base fellow whom she loved. Alexander, to please Thais a concubine of his, set Persipolis on fire. a Nereus' wife, a widow and Lady of Athens, for the love of a Venetian Gentleman, betrayed the City; and he for her sake murthered his wife, the daughter of a Noble man in Venice. Constantine Despota made away Catharine his wife, turned his son Michael and his other children out of doors, for the love of a base Scrivener's daughter in Thessalonica, with whose beauty he was enamored. Leucophria betrayed the City where she dwelt, for her sweet-heart's sake, that was in the enemies Camp. Pithidice the Governour's daughter of Methinia, for the love of Achilles, betrayed the whole Iland to him, her father's enemy. Diognetus did as much in the City where he dwelt, for the love of Policrita, Medea for the love of Jason, she taught him how to tame the fire-breathing brass-feeted Bulls, and kill the mighty dragon that kept the golden fleece, and tore her little brother Absyrtus in pieces, that her father Athes might have something to detain him, while she ran away with her beloved Jason, &c. Such Acts and Scenes hath this Tragecomody of love. e C MEMB. VI. SUBSECT. I. Cure of Love-Melancholy, by Labour, Dyet, Physick, Fasting, &c. LTHOUGH it be controverted by some, whether Love Melancholy may be cured, because it is so irresistible and violent a passion; for as you know, "facilis descensus Averni; Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras; It is an easie passage down to hell, But to come back, once there, you cannot well. Yet without question, if it be taken in time, it may be helped, and by many good remedies amended. Sabel. lib. 3. En. 6. + Curtius lib. 5. cicis lib. 9. Nerei uxor Athenarum domina, &c. lib. 8. Uxorem occidit liberos & Michaelem filium lonicæ amore captus pronotarii, filiæ, &c. Idem ca. 21. Gubernatoris alia Achillis • Idem. cap. 9. Virg. En. 6. Avicenna lib. 3. Fen. Chalcocondilas de reb. Tur Nicephorus Greg. hist. videre abhorruit. ThessaParthenius Erot. lib. cap. 5. amore capta civitatem prodidit. cap. cap. 23. 24. sets down seven compendious ways how this malady may be eased, altered and expelled. Savanarola 9. principal observations, Jason Pratensis prescribes eight rules besides Physick, how this passion may be tamed, Laurentius 2. main precepts, Arnoldus, Valleriola, Montaltus, Hildesheim, Langius, and others enform us otherwaies, and yet all tending to the same purpose. The sum of which I will briefly Epitomize, (for I light my Candle from their Torches,) and enlarge again upon occasion, as shall seem best to ine, and that after mine own method. The first rule to be observed in this stubborn and unbridled passion, is exercise and diet. It is an old and well known sentence, Sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus; As an idle sedentary life, liberall feeding, are great causes of it, so the opposite, labour, slender and sparing diet, with continual business, are the best and most ordinary means to prevent it. "Otia si tollas, perière Cupidinis artes, Contemptæque jacent, & sine luce faces." Take idleness away, and put to flight Are Cupid's Arts, his Torches give no light. Minerva, Diana, Vesta, and the nine Muses were not enamoured at all, because they never were idle. **Frustra blanditia appulistis ad has, In vain are all your flatteries, To bewitch a Lover's heart." 'Tis in vain to set upon those that are busy. 'Tis Savanarola's third rule, Occupari in multis & magnis negotiis, and Avicenna's precept, cap. 24. "Cedit amor rebus; res, age tutus eris." To be busie still, and, as h Guianerius enjoyns, about matters Otium naufragium castitatis. Austin. Ovid. lib. 1. rerned. * Buchanan. Hendeca syl. Cap. 16. circares arduas exerceri. of of great moment, if it may be. Magninus adds, "Never to be idle, but at the hours of sleep." « * & ni Poscas ante diem librum cum lumine, si non For if thou dost not ply thy book, No better Physick than to be alwaies occupied, seriously intent. " ' Cur in penates rariùs tenues subit, Why dost thou ask, poor folks are often free, Because poor people fare coarsly, work hard, go wollward and bare. "Non habet unde suum paupertas pascat amorem." Guianerius therefore prescribes his patient "to go with haircloth next his skin, to go bare-footed, and bare-legged in cold weather, to whip himself now and then, as Monks do, but above all, to fast. Not with sweet wine, mutton and pottage, as many of those Tenterbellies do, howsoever they put on Lenten faces, and whatsoever they pretend, but from all manner of meat. Fasting is an all-sufficient remedy of it self; for, as Jason Pratensis holds, the bodies of such persons that feed liberally, and live at ease," are full of bad spirits and Divels, divelish thoughts; no better Physick for such parties, then to fast." Hildesheim spicel. 2. to this of hunger, adds, " often baths, much exercise and sweat," but hunger and fasting he prescribes before the rest. And 'tis indeed our Saviour's Oracle, "This kind of divell is not cast out but by fasting and prayer," which makes the Fathers so immoderate in commendation of fasting. As "Hunger," saith " Ambrose, "is a friend of Vir 660 Part. 2. c. 23. reg. San. His, præter horam somni, nulla per otium transeat. Hor. lib. 1. epist. 2. 1 Seneca. Tract. 16. cap. 18. sæpe nuda carne cilicium portent tempore frigido sine caligis, & nudis pedibus incedant, in pane & aqua jejunent, sæpius se verberibus cædant &c. "Dæmonibus referta sunt corpora nostra, illorum præcipue qui delicatis vescuntur eduliis, advolitant, & corporibus inhærent; hane ob rem jejunium impendio probatur ad pudicitiam. Victus sit attenuatus, balnei frequens usus & sudationes, cold baths, not hot, saith Magninus part. 3. ca. 23. to dive over head and ears in a cold river, &c. Ser. de gula; fames amica virginitati est, inimica lasciviæ: saturitas vero castitatem perdit, & nutrit illecebras. ginity, ginity, so is it an enemy to lasciviousness, but fulness overthrows chastity, and fostereth all manner of provocations." If thine horse be too lusty, Hierome adviseth thee to take away some of his provender; by this means those Pauls, Hillaries, Antonies, and famous Anchorites subdued the lusts of the flesh; by this means Hillarion "made his Asse, as he called his own body, leave kicking, (so Hierome relates of him in his life) when the Divel tempted him to any such foule offence. By this means those Indian Brachmanni kept themselves continent, they lay upon the ground covered with skins, as the redshanks do on Hadder, and dieted themselves sparingly on one dish, which Guianerius would have all young men put in practise, and if that will not serve, Gordonius "would have them soundly whipped, or to cool their courage, kept in prison," and there fed with bread and water till they acknowledge their errour, and become of another mind. If imprisonment and hunger will not take them down, according to the directions of that Theban Crates, "time must wear it out; if time will not, the last refuge is an halter." But this you will say, is comically spoken. Howsoever Fasting by all means must be still used; and as they must refrain from such meats formerly mentioned, which cause venery, or provoke lust, so they must use an opposite diet. "Wine must be altogether avoided of the younger sort. So Plato prescribes, and would have the Magistrates themselves abstain from it, for example's sake, highly commending the Carthaginians for their temperance in this kinde. And 'twas a good edict, a commendable thing, so that it were not done for some sinister respect, as those old Egyptians abstained from Wine, because some fabulous Poets had given out, Wine sprang first from the blood of the Gyants, or out of superstition, as our modern Turks, but for temperance, it being anime virus & vitiorum fomes, a plague it self if immoderately taken. Women, of old for that cause, † in hot Countries were forbid the use of it; as severely punished for drinking of wine, as for adultery; and young folks, as Leonicus hath recorded, Var. hist. l. 3. cap. 87, 88. out of Athenæus and others; and is still practised in Italy and some other Countries of Europe and Asia, as Claudius Minoes hath well illustrated in his Comment Laer Vita Hilarionis, lib. 3. epist. cum tentasset eum dæmon titillatione in ter cætera, Ego inquit, aselle, ad corpus suum, faciam, &c. Strabo 1. 15. Geog. sub. pellibus, cubant, &c. Cap. 2. part. 2. Si sit juvenis, & non vult obedire, flagelletur frequenter & fortiter, dum incipiat fœtere. tius, lib. 6. cap. 5. amori medetur fames; sin aliter, queus. Vina parant animos Veneri, &c. minus si vinum bibissent ac si adultcrium admisissent, tempus; sin non hoc, la- VOL. II. A a on |