"Quid Pandioniæ restat nisi nomen Athenæ ?" Thus +Pausanias complained in his times. And where is Troy it self now, Persepolis, Carthage, Cizicum, Sparta, Argos, and all those Grecian cities? Syracuse and Agrigentum, the fairest towns in Sicily, which had sometimes 700000 inhabitants, are now decayed: the names of Hieron, Empedocles, &c. of those mighty numbers of people, only left. One Anacharsis is remembred amongst the Scythians; the world it self must have an end; And every part of it. Cæteræ igitur urbes sunt mortales, as Peter Gillius concludes of Constantinople, hæc sane quamdiu erunt homines, futura mihi videtur immortalis ; but tis not so: nor site, nor strength, nor sea nor land can vindicate a city, but it and all must vanish at last. And as to a traveller great mountains seem plains afar off, at last are not discerned at all; cities, men, monuments decay. nec solidis prodest sua machina terris," the names are only left, those at length forgotten, and are involved in perpetual night. "Returning out of Asia, when I sailed from Ægina toward Megara, I began (saith Servius Sulspitius in a consolatory Epistle of his to Tully) to view the country round about. Egina was behind me, Megara before, Pyræus on the right hand, Corinth on the left, what flourishing towns heretofore, now prostrate and overwhelmed before mine eyes? I began to think with my self, Alas, why are we men so much disquieted with the departure of a friend, whose life is much shorter? When so many goodly cities lye buried before us. Remember O Ser vius thou art a man; and with that I was much confirmed, and corrected my self." Correct then likewise, and comfort thy self in this, that we must necessarily dye, and all dye, that we shall rise again: as Tully held; Jucundiorq; multo congressus noster futurus, quam insuavis & acerbus digressus, Our second meeting shall be much more pleasant, then our departure was grievous. I but he was my most dear and loving friend, my sole friend, "Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam chari capitis?" And who can blame my woe? Thou mayst be ashamed, I say with Seneca, to confess it, * Ovid. + Arcad. lib. 8. Præfat. Topogr. Constantinop. Epist. Tull. lib. 3. P Quum tot oppidorum cadavera ante oculos projecta jacent. Hor. lib. 1. Od. 24. De remed. fortuit, "in such a tempest as this to have but one anchor," go seek another and for his part thou dost him great injury to desire his longer life. "Wilt thou have him crazed and sickly still," like a tired traveller that comes weary to his Inne, begin his journey afresh, "or to be freed from his miseries; thou hast more need rejoyce that he is gone. Another complains of a most sweet wife, a young wife, Nondum sustulerat flavum Proserpina crinem, such a wife as no mortal man ever had, so good a wife, but she is now dead and gone, læthæoque jacet condita sarcophago. I reply to him in Seneca's words, if such a woman at least ever was to be had, " He did either so find or make her; if he found her, he may as happily find another;" if he made her, as Critobulus in Xenophon did by his, he may as good cheap inform another, & bona tam sequitur, quam bona prima fuit; he need not dispair, so long as the same master is to be had. But was she good? Had she been so tryed peradventure as that Ephesian widow in Petronius, by some swaggering souldier, she might not have held out. Many a man would have been willingly rid of his: before thou wast bound, now thou art free; ""and 'tis but a folly to love thy fetters though they be of gold." Come into a third place, you shall have an aged father sighing for a sonne, a pretty childe; "Impube pectus quale vel impia ] -He now lyes asleep, Would make an impious Thracian weep. Or some fine daughter that dyed young, Nondum experta novi gaudia prima tori. Or a forlorn son for his deceased father. But why? Prior exiit, prior intravit, he came first, and he must go first. Tu frustra pius, heu, &c. What, wouldst thou have the laws of nature altered, and him to live alwayes? Julius Cæsar, Augustus, Alcibiades, Galen, Aristotle, lost their fathers young. And why on the other side shouldst thou so heavily take the death of thy little son? "Num quia nec fato, meritâ nec morte peribat, he died before his time perhaps, not yet come to the solstice of Erubesce tanta tempestate quod ad unam anchoram stabas. • Vis ægrum, ' Uxo & morbidum, fitibundum- -gaude potius quod his malis liberatus sit. rem bonam aut invenisti, aut sic fecisti; si inveneris, aliam habere te posse ex hoc intelligamus: si feceris, bene speres, salvus est artifex. compedes licet aureas amare, * Hor + Hor. lib. 1. Od. 24. 4. Æn. "Stulti est Virg. his * "as his age, yet was he not mortal? Hear that divine Epictetus, "If thou covet thy wife, friends, children should live alwayes, thou art a fool." He was a fine child indeed, dignus Apollineis lachrymis, a sweet, a loving, a fair, a witty child, of great hope, another Eteoneus, whom Pindarus the Poet and Aristides the Rhetorician so much lament; but who can tell whether he would have been an honest man? He might have proved a thief, a rogue, a spendthrift, a disobedient son, vexed and galled thee more then all the world beside, he might have wrangled with thee and disagreed, or with his brothers, as Eteocles and Polynices, and broke thy heart; he is now gone to eternity as another Ganymede in the flower of his youth," as if he had risen," saith Plutarch, "from the midst of a feast "before he was drunk, "the longer he had lived, the worse he would have been," & quo vita longior (Ambrose thinks) culpa numerosior, more sinful, more to answer he would have had. If he was naught, thou mayst be glad he is gone; if good, be glad thou hadst such a son. Or art thou sure he was good? It may be he was an hypocrite as many are, and howsoever he spake thee fair, peradventure he prayed, amongst the rest that Icaro Menippus heard at Jupiter's whispering place in Lucian, for his father's death, because he now kept him short, he was to inherit much goods, and many fair Manors after his decease. Or put case he was very good, suppose the best, may not thy dead son expostulate with thee, as he did in the same Lucian, "Why dost thou lament my death, or call me miserable that am much more happy then thy self? what misfortune is befaln me? Is it because I am not so bald, crooked, old, rotten, as thou art? What have I lost, some of your good chear, gay cloths, musick, singing, dancing, kissing, merry meetings, -thalami lubentias, &c. is that it? Is it not much better not to hunger at all then to eat: not to thirst then to drink to satisfie thirst: not to be cold then to put on cloths to drive away cold? You had more need rejoyce that I am freed from diseases, agues, cares, anxieties, livor, love, covetousness, hatred, envy, malice, that I fear no more thieves, tyrants, enemies, as you do." Cap. 19. Si id studes ut uxor, amici, liberi perpetuo vivant, stultus es. * Deus quos diligit juvenes rapit, Menan. y Consol. ad Apol. Apollonius filius tuus in flore decessit, ante nos ad æternitatem digressus, tanquam è convivio abiens, prinsquam in errorem aliquem è temulentiâ incideret, quales in longâ senectâ accidere solent. 2 Tom. 1. Tract. de luctu. Quid me mor - tuum miserum vocas, qui te sum multo felicior? aut quid acerbi mihi putas contigisse? an quia non sum malus senex, ut tu facie rugosus, incurvus, &c, O demens, quid tibi videtur in vita_boni? nimirum amicitias, cœnas, &c. Longe melius non esurire quam edere; non sitire, &c. Gaude potius quod morbos & febres effugerim, angorem animi, &c. Ejulatus quid prodest, quid lachrymæ, &c. "* Id cinerem & manes credis curare sepultos ?" Do they concern us at all, think you, when we are once dead? Condole not others then overmuch, wish not or fear thy death. "Summum nec optes diem nec metuas; 'tis to no purpose. "Excessi è vitæ ærumnis facilisq; lubensq; I left this irksome life with all mine heart, a Cardinal Brundusinus caused this Epitaph in Rome to be inscribed on his tomb, to shew his willingness to dye, and taxe those that were so loth to depart. Weep and howl no more then, 'tis to small purpose; and as Tully adviseth us in the like case, Non quos amisimus, sed quantum lugere par sit cogitemus: Think what we do, not whom we have lost. So David did, 2 Sam. 22. "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, but being now dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him again? I shall go to him, but he cannot return to me." He that doth other wise is an intemperate, a weak, a silly, and undiscreet man. Though Aristotle deny any part of intemperance to be conversant about sorrow, I am of Seneca's mind, "he that is wise is temperate, and he that is temperate is constant, free from passion, and he that is such a one, is without sorrow" as all wise men should be. The Thracians wept still when a child was born, feasted and made mirth when any man was buried: and so should we rather be glad for such as die well, that they are so happily freed from the miseries of this life. When Eteoneus that noble young Greek was so generally lamented by his friends, Pindarus the Poet faines some god saying, Silete homines, non enim miser est, &c. be quiet good folkes, this young man is not so miserable as you think; he is neither gone to Styx nor Acheron, sed gloriosus & senii expers heros, he lives for ever in the Elysian fields. He now enjoyes that happinesse, which your great Kings so earnestly scek, and wears that garland for which ye contend. If our present weakness is such, we cannot moderate our passions in this behalf, we must divert them by all means, by doing something else, thinking of another subject. The Italians most part sleep away care and grief, if it unseasonably seise upon them, Danes, Dutchmen, Polanders and Bohemians drink it down, *Virgil. + Hor. Sardus de mor. gen. Chytreus deliciis Europæ. Epist. 85. Our 66 b our country men go to playes: doe something or other, let it not transpose thee, or by premeditation make such accidents familiar, as Ulysses that wept for his dog, but not for his wife, quòd paratus esset animo obfirmato, (Plut. de anim. tranq.) accustome thy self, and harden before hand by seeing other men's calamities, and applying them to thy present estate: "Prævisum est levius quod fuit ante malum." I will conclude with Epictetus, "If thou lovest a pot, remember 'tis but a pot thou lovest, and thou wilt not be trou bled when 'tis broken: If thou lovest a son or wife, remember they were mortall, and thou wilt not be so impatient." And for false fears and all other fortuite inconveniences, mischances, calamities, to resist and prepare our selves, not to faint is best; + Stultum est timere quod vitari non potest, 'tis a folly to fear that which cannot be avoided, or to be discouraged at all. "Nam quisquis trepidus pavet vel optat, Nectit quâ valeat trahi catenam." For he that so faints or fears, and yeelds to his passion, flings away his own weapons, makes a cord to bind himself, and puls a beam upon his own head. MEMB. VI. Against Envie, Livor, Emulation, Hatred, Ambition, Selflove, and all other affections. d GAINST those other passions and affections, there is no A better remedy, then as when go to sea, better remedy, then as Mariners when they go to sea, provide all things necessary to resist a tempest; to furnish ourselves with Philosophical and Divine precepts, other men's examples, Periculum ex aliis facere, sibi quod ex usu siet: To balance our hearts with love, charity, meekness, patience, and counterpoise those irregular motions of envie, livor, spleen, hatred, with their opposite vertues, as we bend a crooked Præmeditatione facilem reddere quemq; casum. Plutarchus consolatione ad Apollonium. Assuefacere non casibus debemus. Tull. lib. 3. Tusculan. quæst. Cap. 8. Si ollam diligas, memento te ollam diligere, non perturbaberis eâ confractâ; si filium aut uxorem, memento hominem à te diligi, &C. + Seneca. Boeth. lib. 1. pros. 4. 4 Qui invidiam ferre non potest, ferre contemptum cogitur. Ter. 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