"the best way was to have divine and celestiall meditations, and to use honestactions in the day time. 1 Lod. Vives wonders how Schoolemen could sleep quietly, and were not terrified in the night, or walk in the darke, they had such monstrous questions, and thought of such terrible matters all day long." They had need amongst the rest to sacrifice to God Morpheus, whom n Philostratus paints in a white and black coat, with a horn and Ivory box full of dreams, of the same colours, to signify good and bad. If you will know how to interpret them, read Artemidorus, Sambucus and Cardan; but how to help them, " I must refer you to a more convenient place. MEMB. VI. SUBSECT. I. Perturbations of the minde rectified. From himself, by refifting to the utmost, confessing his grief to a friend, &c. WHOSOEVER tha, WHOSOEVER he is that shall hope to cure this malady in himself or any other, must first rectify these passions and perturbations of the minde: the chiefest cure consists in them. A quiet mind is that voluptas, or Summum bonum of Epicurus, non dolere, curis vacare, animo tranquillo esse, not to grieve, but to want cares, and have a quiet soul, is the only pleasure of the world, as Seneca truly recites his opinion, not that of eating and drinking, which injurious Aristotle maliciously puts upon him, and for which he is still mistaken, malè audit Scapulat, slandered without a cause, and lashed by all posterity. Fear and Sorrow therefore are especially to be avoided, and the minde to be mitigated with mirth, constancy, good hope; vain terror, bad objects are to bee removed, and all such persons in whose companies they be not well pleased.' Gualter Bruel. Fernelius consil. 43. Mercurialis consil. 6. Piso, Jacchinus, cap. 15. in 9. Rhasis, Capivaccius, Hildesheim, &c. all inculcate this as an especiall meanes of their cure, that their "P minds be quietly pacified, vain conceits diverted, if it be possible, with terrors, cares, fixed studies, cogitations, and whatsoever it is that shall any way molest or trou Lib. 3. * Optimum de cœlestibus & honestis meditari, & ea facere. de causis corr. art. tam mira monstra quæstionum sæpe nascuntur inter eos, ut mirer cos interdum in somniis non terren, aut de illis in tenebris audere verba facere, adeo res sunt monstrosæ. m Icon. lib. 1. Sect. 5. Memb. 1. Subs 6. • An mi perturbationes summè fugiendæ, metus potissimum & tristitia corumque loco animus demulcendus hilaritate, animi constantia, bona spe; removendi errores, & corum consortium quos non prob. nt. tasiæ eorum plicidè subvertendæ, terrores ab animo removendi. omni fixa cogitatione quovis modo avertantur. * Phan • Ab ble done. r He the Soul," because that otherwise there is no good to be The bodies mischiefes," as Plato proves, "proceed from the soul: and if the mind be not first satisfied, the body can never bee cured." Alcibiades raves (saith * Maximus Tyrius) and is sick, his furious desires carry him from Lyceus to the pleading place, thence to the Sea, so into Sicily, thence to Lacedæmon, thence to Persia, thence to Samos, then again to Athens; Critias tyrannizeth over all the city; Sardanapalus is love-sick; these men are ill-affected all, and can never be cured, till their minds be otherwise qualified. Crato therefore in that often cited Counsell of his for a Noble man his Patient, when he had sufficiently informed him in diet, air, exercise, Venus, sleep, concludes with these as matters of greatest moment, Quod reliquum est, animæ accidentia corrigantur, from which alone proceeds melancholy; they are the fountain, the subject, the hinges whereon it turns, and must necessarily be reformed. "For anger stirs choler, heats the blood and vital spirits; Sorrow on the other side refrigerates the body, and extinguisheth natural heat, overthrows appetite, hinders concoction, dries up the temperature, and perverts the understanding" Fear dissolves the spirits, infects the heart, attenuates the soul and for these causes all passions and perturbations must to the uttermost of our power, and most seriously be removed. Ælianus Montaltus attributes so much to them, "that he holds the rectification of them alone to be sufficient to the cure of melancholy in most patients." Many are fully cured when they have seen or heard, &c. enjoy their desires, or be secured and satisfied in their minds; Galen the common master of them all, from whose fountain they fetch water, brags lib. 1. de san. tuend. that he for his part hath cured divers of this infirmity, solum animis ad rectum institutis, by right settling alone of their minds. Yea but you will here infer, that this is excellent good indeed if it could be done; but how shall it be effected, by whom, what art, what means? hic labor, hoc opus est. 'Tis a natural infirmity, a most powerful adversary, all men are subject to passions, and Melancholy above all others, as being distempered by their innate humors, abundance of choler adust, Cuncta mala corporis ab animo procedunt, quæ nisi curentur, corpus curari minime potest, Charmid. * Disputat. An morbi graviores corporis an animi. Renoldo interpret. ut parum absit à furore, rapitur á Lyceo in concionem, à concione ad mare, à mari in Siciliam, &c. Ira bilem movet, sangui nem adurit, vitales spiritus accendit, moestitia universum corpus infrigidat, calorum innata extinguit, appetitum destruit, concoctionem impedit, corpus exsiccat, intellectum pervertit. Quamobrẽ hæc omnia prorsus vitanda sunt, & pro virili fugienda. De mel. c. 26. ex illis solum remedium; multi ex visis, auditis, &c. sanati sunt. weakness weakness of parts, outward occurrences; and how shall they be avoided? the wisest men, greatest Philosophers of most excellent wit, reason, judgment, divine spirits, cannot moderate themselves in this behalf; such as are sound in body and mind, Stoicks, Heroes, Homer's Gods, all are passionate, and furiously carryed sometimes; and how shall we that are already crased, fracti animis, sick in body, sick in mind, resist? we cannot perform it. You may advise and give good precepts, as who cannot? But how shall they be put in practice? I may not deny but our passions are violent, and tyrannize of us, yet there be means to curb them; though they be headstrong, they may be tamed, they may be qualified, if he himself or his friends, will but use their honest endevors, or make use of such ordinary helps as are commonly prescribed. u He himself (I say); from the Patient himself the first and chiefest remedy must be had; for if he be averse, peevish, waspish, give way wholly to his passions, will not seek to be helped, or be ruled by his friends, how is it possible he should be cured? But if he be willing at least, gentle, tractable, and desire his own good, no doubt but he may magnam morbi deponere partem, be eased at least, if not cured. He himself must do his utmost endeavour to resist and withstand the beginnings. Principiis obstá, "Give not water passage, no not a little," Eccles. 25. 27. If they open a little, they will make a greater breach at length. Whatsoever it is that runneth in his mind, vain conceit, be it pleasing or displeasing, which so much affects or troubleth him, by all possible means he must withstand it, expel those vain, false, frivolous imaginations, absurd conceits, fained fears and sorrowes; from which," saith Piso, "this disease primarily proceeds, and takes his first occasion or beginning, by doing something or other that shall be opposite unto them, thinking of something else, perswading by reason, or howsoever to make a sudden alteration of them." Though he have hitherto run in a full career, and precipitated himself, following his passions, given reins to his appetite, let him now stop upon a sudden, curb himself in; and as Lemnius adviseth, "strive against with all his power, to the utmost of his endeavour, and not cherish those fond inaginations, which so covertly creep into his mind, most * Pro viribus annitendum in prædictis, tum in aliis, a quibus malum velut a primariâ causâ occasionem nactum est, imaginationes absurdæ falsæq; et mœs. titia quæcunq. subierit propulsetur, aut aliud agendo, aut ratione persuadendo carum mutationem subitò facere. * Lib. 2. c. 16. de occult. nat. Quisquis huic malo obnoxius est, acriter obsistat, ct summâ curâ obluctetur, nec ullo modo foveat imaginationes tacite obrepentes animo, blandas ab initio & ama biles, sed quæ adeo convalescunt, ut nuile ratione excuti queant. pleasing pleasing and amiable at first, but bitter as gall at last, and so head-strong, that by no reason, art, counsel, or perswasion they may be shaken off." Though he be far gone, and habituated unto such phantastical imaginations, yet as y Tully and Plutarch advise, let him oppose, fortify, or prepare himself against them, by premeditation, reason, or as we do by a crooked staffe, bend himself another way. "Tu tamen interea effugitò quæ tristia mentem In the mean time expel them from thy mind, "Curas tolle graves, irasci crede profanum." If it be idleness hath caused this infirmity, or that he perceive himself given to solitariness, to walk alone, and please his mind with fond imaginations, let him by all means avoid it; 'tis a bosome enemy, 'tis delightsome melancholy, a friend in shew, but a secret devil, a sweet poyson, it will in the end be his undoing; let him go presently, task or set himself a work, get some good company. If he proceed, as a Gnat flies about a candle, so long till at length he burn his body, so in the end he will undo himself: if it be any harsh object, ill company, let him presently go from it. If by his own default through ill diet, bad aire, want of exercise, &c. let him now begin to reform himfelf. It would be a perfect remedy against all corruption, if" as a Roger Bacon hath it," we could but moderate our selves in those six non-natural things. If it be any disgrace, abuse, temporal loss, calumny, death of friends, imprisonment, banishment, be not troubled with it, do not fear, be not angry, grieve not at it, but with all courage sustain it.” (Gordonius, lib. 1. c. 15. de conser. vit.) Tu contra audentior ito. If it be sickness, ill success, or any adversity that hath caused it, oppose an invincible courage," fortifie thyself by God's word, or otherwise," mala bonis persuadenda, set * Fracastorius. 3. Tusc. ad Apollonium. Epist. de secretis artis & naturæ cap. 7. de retard. sen. Remedium esset contrâ corruptionem propriam, si quilibet exerceret regimen sanitatis, quod consistit in rebus sex non naturalibus. • Prof aliquo vituperio non indigneris, nec pro amissione alicujus rei, pro morte alicujus, nec pro carcere, nec pro exilio, nec pro alià re, nec irasearis, nec timeas, nec dolceas, sed cum summâ præsentiâ hæc sustineas. Quodsi incommoda adversitaris infortunia hoc malum invexerint, his infrac. tum auimurn opponas, Dei verbo ejusq; fiducia te suffulcias, &c. Lemnius lib. 1. c. 16. prosperity prosperity against adversity, as we refresh our eyes by seeing some pleasant meadow, fountain, picture, or the like: recreate thy mind by some contrary object, with some more pleasing meditation divert thy thoughts. Yea, but you infer again, facilè consilium damus aliis, we can easily give counsel to others; every man, as the saying is, can tame a shrew but he that hath her; fi hic esses, aliter sentires; if you were in our misery, you would find it otherwise, 'tis not so easily performed. We know this to be true; we should moderate our selves, but we are furiously carryed, we cannot make use of such precepts, we are overcome, sick, malè sani, distempered and habituated to these courses, we can make no resistance; you may as well bid him that is diseased, not to feel pain, as a melancholy man not to fear, not to be sad: 'tis within his blood, his brains, his whole temperature, it cannot be removed. But he may chuse whether he will give way too far unto it, he may in some sort correct himself. A philosopher was bitten with a mad dog, and as the nature of that disease is to abhor all waters, and liquid things, and to think still they see the picture of a dog before them: He went for all this, reluctante se, to the Bath, and seeing there (as he thought) in the water the picture of a dog, with reason overcame this conceit, quid cani cum balneo? what should a dog do in a Bath? a meer conceit. Thou thinkest thou hearest and seest devils, black men, &c. 'tis not so, 'tis thy corrupt phantasie; settle thine imagination, thou art well Thou thinkest thou hast a great nose, thou art sick, every man observes thee, laughs thee to scorn; perswade thy self 'tis no such matter: this is fear only, and vain suspicion. Thou art discontent, thou art sad and heavy; but why? upon what ground? consider of it: thou art jealous, timorous, suspicious; for what cause; examine it thoroughly, thou shalt find none at all, or such as is to be contemned, such as thou wilt surely deride, and contemn in thy self, when it is past. Rule thy self then with reason, satisfie thy self, accustom thy self, wean thy self from such fond conceits, vain fears, strong imaginations, restless thoughts. Thou mayest do it; Est in nobis assuescere (as Plutarch saith) we may frame our selves as we will. As he that useth an upright shooe, may correct the obliquity, or crookedness by wearing it on the other side; we may overcome passions if we will. Quicquid sibi imperavit animus obtinuit (as Seneca saith) nulli tam feri affectus, ut non discipliná perdomentur, whatsoever the Will desires, she may command: no such cruel affections, but by discipline they may VOL. I. Lib. 2. de ira. be |