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Nor from my knowledge did the Ancients hide
What Socrates declar'd the hour he dy'd;
He th' immorality of fouls proclaim'd,
(Whom th oracle of men the wifest nam’d)
Why should we doubt of that whereof our fenfe
Finds demonftration from experience?

Our minds are here, and there below, above;
Nothing that's mortal can so swiftly move.
Our thoughts to future things their flight direct,
And in an instant all that's past collect.
Reafon, remembrance, wit, inventive art,
No nature but immertal can impart.
Man's foul in a perpetual motion flows,
And to no outward caufe that motion wes;
And therefore that no end can overtake,
Becaute our mind- cannot themfelves for fake:
And fince the matter of our foul is pure
And fimple, which no mixture can endure
Of parts which not among themfelves agree,
Therefore it never can divided be;
And Nature fhews (without philofophy)
What cannot be divided cannot die.
We ev'n in early infancy difcern

Knowledge is born with babes before they learn;
E'er they can speak they find fo many ways
To ferve their turn, and ice more arts than days:
Before their thoughts they plainly can exprefs;
The words and things they know are numberlefs,
Which Nature only and no art could find,
But what he taught before the call'd to mind.
Thefe to his fons (as Xenophon records)
Of the great Cyrus were the dying words:
"Fear not when I depart; nor therefore mourn)
"I fhall be no where, or to nothing turn;
"That foul which gave me life was seen by none,
"Yet by the actions it defign'd was known;
"And though its flight no mortal eye fhall fee,
"Yet know, for ever it the fame fhall be.
"That foul which can immortal glory give,
"To her own virtues muft for ever live.
"Can you believe that man's all-knowing mind
"Can to a mortal body be confin'd?
"Though a foul foclifh prifon her immure
"On earth, the (when efcap'd) is wife and pure.
"Man's body, when diffolv'd, is but the fame
"With beafts, and mufi return from whence it
came;

"But whence into our bodies reason flows,

"None fees it when it comes, or where it goes. "Nothing refembles death fo much as fleep, "Yet then our minds themfeives from flumber keep. "When from their fiefhly bondage they are free, "Then what divine and future things they fee! "Which makes it most apparent whence they are, "And what they shall hereafter be declare." This noble fpeech the dying Cyrus made. Me, Scipio, fhall no argument perfuade Thy grandfire, and his brother, to whom Fame Cave, from two conquer'd parts o' th' world, their

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In battles, and in pleadings, had we thought
That only Fame our virtuous actions bought:
"Twere better in foft pleasure and repofe
Inglorioufly our peaceful eyes to close :
Some high affurance hath poffefs'd my mind,
After my death an happier life to find.
Unless our fouls from the immortals came,
What end have we to feek immortal fame ?
All virtuous fpirits fome fuch hope attends,
Therefore the wife his days with pleafure ends.
The foolish and fhort-fighted die with fear
That they go no where, or they know not where.
The wife and virtuous foul, with clearer eyes,
Before the parts fome happy port defcries.
My friends, your fathers I fhall furely fce;
Nor only these I lov'd, or who lov'd me;
But fuch as before ours did end their days,
Of whom we hear, and read, and write their praife.
This I believe; for were on my way,
None fhould perfuade me to return or stay.
Should fome god tell me that I should be born
And cry again, his offer I would scorn;
Afham'd when I have ended well my race,
To be led back to my first starting place.
And fince with life we are more griev'd than joy'd,
We should be either fatisly'd or cloy'd,
Yet will I not my length of days deplore,
As many wife and learn'd have done before;
Nor can I think fuch life in vain is lent,
Which for our country and our friends is fpent.
Hence from an ina, not from my home, I pafs,
Since Nature meant us here no dwelling-place.
Happy when I, from this turmoil fet free,
That peaceful and divine affembly fee:
Not only thofe 1 nam'd I there shall greet,
But my own gallant virtuous Cato meet.
Nor did I weep when I to afhes turn'd
His belov'd body, who fhould mine have burn'd,
I in my thoughts beheld his foul afcend,
Where his fix'd hopes our interview attend.
Then ceafe to wonder that I feel no grief
From Age, which is of my delights the chief.
My hopes, if this affurance hath deceiv'd,
(That I man's foul immortal have believ'd)
And if I err, no pow'r fhall difpoffefs
My thoughts of that expeded happiness.
Though fome minute philofophers pretend
That with our days our pains and pleasures end.
If it be fo I hold the fafer fide,

For none of them my error fhall deride;
And if hereafter no rewards appear,
Yet virtue bath itself rewarded here.
If thofe who this opinion have despis'd,
And their whole life to pleafure facrific'd,
Should feel their error, they, when undeceiv'd,
Too late will with that me they had believ'd.
If fouls no in mortality obtain,

'Tis fit our bodies fhould be out of pain.
The fame uneafiness which ev'ry thing
Gives to our nature life must also bring.
Good acts, if long, feem tedious; so is Age,
Acting too long upon this earth, her stage.
Thus much for Age, to which when you arrive,
That joy to you which it gives me 'twill give

OF PRUDENCE.

PREFACE

TO THE FOLLOWING TRANSLATION.

GOING this laft fummer to vifit the Wells, I took an occafion (by the way) to wait upon an ancient and honourable friend of mine, whom I found diverting his (then folitary) retirement with the Latin original of this tranflation, which (being out of print) I had never feen before. When I looked upon it, I faw that it had formerly paffed through two learned hands, not without approba tion, which were Ben. Johnfon and Sir Kenelm Digby; but found it (where I fhall never find myfelf) in the service of a better mafter, the Earl of Bristol, of whom I fhall fay no more; for I love not to improve the honour of the living by impairing that of the dead; and my own profeffion hath taught me not to erect new fuperftructures upon an old ruin. He was pleafed to recommend it to me for my companion at the Wells, where I liked the entertainment it gave me fo well, that I undertook to redeem it from an obfolete English

difguife, wherein an Old Monk had clothed it, and to make as becoming a new veft for it as I could.

The author was a perfon of quality in Italy, his name Mancini, which family matched fince with the fifter of Cardinal Mazarine; he was cotemporary to Petrarch and Mantuan, and not long before Torquato Taffo, which fhews that the age they lived in was not fo unlearned as that which preceded or that which followed.

The author wrote upon the four cardinal virtues; but I have tranflated only the two first, not to turn the kindness I intended to him into an injury; for the two laft are little more than repetitions and recitals of the firft: and (to make a just excuse for him) they could not well be otherwife, fince the two laft virtues are but descendants from the first, Prudence being the true mother of Temperance, and true Fortitude the child of Justice.

WISDOM's first progrefs is to take a view
What's decent or indecent, falfe or true.
He's truly prudent who can feparate
Honeft from vile, and ftill adhere to that:
Their difference to measure and to reach
Reafon well rectify'd muft Nature teach;
And these high fcrutinies are fubjects fit
For man's all-fearching and inquiring wit;
That fearch of knowledge did from Adam flow;
Who wants it yet abhors his wants to fhew.
Wisdom of what herself approves makes choice,
Nor is led captive by the common voice.
Clear-fighted Reaton, Wifdom's judgment leads,
And Senfe, her vassal, in her footsteps treads.
That thou to Truth the perfect way may't know,
To thee all her fpccific forms I'll fhew.

He that the way to honefty will learn,
Firft what's to be avoided must difcern.
Thyfelf from flatt'ting felf-conceit defend,
Nor what thou doft not know to know pretend.
Some fecrets deep in abftrufe darkness lie;
To fearch them thou wilt need a piercing eye;
Nor rafhly therefore to fuch things affent,
Which undeceiv'd thou after may'st repent:
Study and time in thefe must thee inftruct,
And others' old experience may conduct.
Wisdom herself her ear doth often lend
To counfel offer'd by a faithful friend.
In equal fcales to doubtful matters lay, [weigh.
Thou may'ft choose fafely that which most doth
'Tis not fecure this place or that to guard,
If any other entrance ftand unbarr'd.

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He that efcapes the ferpent's teeth may fail,
If he himself fecures not from his tail.
Who faith who could fuch ill events expect?
With fhame on his own counfels doth reflect.
Most in the world doth self-conceit deceive,
Who just and good whate'er they act believe.
To their wills wedded, to their errors flaves,
No man (like them) they think himself behaves.
This ftiff-neck'd pride nor art nor force can bend,
Nor high-flown hopes to Reafon s lure defcend.
Fathers fometimes their children's faults regard
With pleasure, and their crimes with gifts reward.
Ill painters, when they draw, and poets write,
Virgil and Titian (felf-admiring) flight;
Then all they do like gold and pearl appears,
And others' actions are but dirt to theirs.
They that fo highly think themselves above
All other men, themselves can only love.
Reason and virtue, all that man can boast
O'er other creatures, in those brutes are loft.
Obferve (if thee this fatal error touch,
Thou to thyfelf contributing too much)
Those who are gen'rous, humble, just, and wife,
Who nor their gold nor themselves idolize;
To form thyself by their example learn,
(For many eyes can more than one diicern.)
But yet beware of councils when too full,
Number makes long difputes, aud graveness dull;
Though their advice be good, their counfel wife,
Yet length ftill lofes opportunities.
Debate deftroys difpatch, as fruits we fee
Rot when they hang too long upon the tree.
In vain that husbandman his feed doth fow,
If he his crop not in due season mow.
A gen'ral fets his army in array
In vain, unless he fight and win the day.
"Tis virtuous action that must praise bring forth,
Without which flow advice is little worth.
Yet they who give good counsel praise deferve,
Though in the active part they cannot serve.
In action learned counsellors their age,
Profeffion, or disease, forbids t' engage.
Nor to philofophers is praife deny'd,
Whole wife inftructions after-ages guide;
Yet vainly moft their age in ftudy spend;
No end of writing books, and to no end:
Beating their brains for ftrange and hidden things,
Whofe knowledge nor delight nor profit brings;
Themfelves with doubts both day and night perplex,
Nor gentle reader please, or teach, but vex.
Books fhould to one of these four ends conduce,.
For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.
What need we gaze upon the fpangled sky,
Or into matter's hidden caufes pry,
To defcribe ev'ry city, ftream, or hill,
I' th' world, our fancy with vain arts to fill?
What is't to hear a fophifter that pleads,
Who by the ears the deceiv'd audience leads?
If we were wife thefe things we fhould not mind,
But more delight in easy matters find.
Learn to live well, that thou may'ft die so too;
'To live and die is all we have to do:
The way (if no digreffion's made) is even,
And free accefs, if we but afk, is given.

Then feek to know those things which make us bleft,
And having found them, lock them in thy breaft:
Inquiring then the way, go on, nor flack,
But mend thy pace, nor think of going back.
Some their whole age in thefe inquiries wafte,
And die like fools before one step they 'ave paft.
'Tis ftrange to know the way and not t'advance;
That knowledge is far worse than ignorance.
The learned teach, but what they teach not do,
And standing still themselves, make others go.
In vain on study time away we throw,
When we forbear to act the things we know.
The foldier that philofopher well blam'd
Who long and loudly in the schools declaim'd;
"Tell," faid the foldier, "venerable Sir!
"Why all these words, this clamour, and this stir?
"Why do disputes in wrangling spend the day,
"Whilft one fays only yea, and t'other nay?"
"Oh," said the Doctor, "we for wisdom toil'd,
"For which none toils too much." The foldier
fmil'd;

"You're gray and old, and to some pious use
"This mass of treasure you should now reduce :
"But you your store have hoarded in some bank,
"Fer which th' infernal spirits shall you thank."
Let what thou learneft be by practice shown;
"Tis faid that Wifdom's children make her known.
What's good doth open to the inquirer stand,
And itfelf offers to th' accepting hand:

ll things by order and true measures done;
Wisdom will end as well as fhe begun.
Let early care thy main concerns fecure,
Things of lefs moment may delays endure.
Men do not for their fervants first prepare,
And of their wives and children quit the care;
Yet when we're fick the doctor's fetch'd in haste,
Leaving our great concernment to the laft.
When we are well, our hearts are only fet
(Which way we care not) to be rich or great.
What fhall become of all that we have got?
We only know that us it follows not;
And what a trifle is a moment's breath
Laid in the scale with everlasting death!
What's time, when on eternity we think?
A thousand ages in that fea must fink.
Time's nothing but a word; a million
Is full as far from infinite as one.
To whom thou much doft owe thou much mußt
Think on the debt against th' accounting-day.
God, who to thee reafon and knowledge lent,
Will ask how these two talents have been spent.
Let not low pleasures thy high reafon blind;
He's mad that feeks what no man e'er could find.
Why should we fondly please our fenfe, wherein
Beafts us exceed, nor feel the ftings of fin?
What thoughts man's reafon better can become
Than th' expectation of his welcome home?
Lords of the world have but for life their leafe,
And that too (if the leffor please) must cease.
Death cancels Nature's bonds, but for our deeds
(That debt first paid) a ftrict account fucceeds,
If here not clear'd, no furetyfhip can bail
Condemned debtors from th' eternal jail.

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Chrift's blood's our balfam; if that cure us here,
Him, when our Judge, we fhall not find severe;
His yoke is cafy when by us embrac'd,
But loads and galls, if on our necks 'tis caft.
Be juft in all thy actions, and if join'd
With those that are not, never change thy mind.
If aught obftruct thy course, yet stand not still,
But wind about, till you have topp'd the hill.
To the fame end men fev'ral paths may tread,
As many doors into one temple lead;
And the fame hand into a fift may close,
Which instantly a palm expanded'fhews.
Juftice and faith never forfake the wife,
Yet may occafion put him in disguise;
Not turning like the wind; but if the state
Of things muft change, he is not obftinate;
Things paft and future with the prefent weighs,
Nor credulous of what vain rumour fays.
Few things by wisdom are at first believ'd;
An cafy ear deceives, and is deceiv'd:
For many truths have often pafs'd for lies,
And lies as often put on truth's disguise:
As flattery too oft' like friendship shews,

So them who speak plain truth we think our foes.
No quick reply to dubious questions make;
Sufpenic and caution ftill prevent mistake.
When any great defign thou dost intend,
Think on the means, the manner, and the end:
All great concernments must delays endure;
Rafhnefs and hafte make all things unfecure;
And if uncertain thy pretenfions be,
Stay till fit time wear out uncertainty;
But if to unjust things thou doft pretend,
E'er they begin let thy pretenfions end.
Let thy difcourse be such that thou may'st give
Profit to others, or from them receive.
Infruct the ignorant; to thofe that live
Under thy care good rules and patterns give :
Nor is't the leaft of virtues to relieve
Those whom afflictions or oppreffions grieve.
Commend but sparingly whom thou doft love;
But lefs condemn whom thou doft not approve :
Thy friend, like flatt'ry, too much praise doth
wrong,

And too sharp cenfure fhews an evil tongue :
But let inviolate truth be always dear
To thee; ev'n before friendship truth prefer.
Than what thou mean' to give still promise less:
Hold faft the pow'r thy promise to increase.
Look forward what's to come, and back what's paft,
Thy life will be with praise and prudence grac'd:
What lofs or gain may follow thou may'ft guess,
Thou then wilt be fecure of the fuccefs:

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Yet be not always on affairs intent,

But let thy thoughts be eafy and unbent:
When our minds' eyes are difengag'd and free,
They clearer, farther, and distinctly fee;
They quicken floth, perplexities untie,
Make roughness smooth, and hardness mollify;
And though our hands from labour are releas'd,
Yet our minds find (ev'n when we fleep) no reft.
Search not to find how other men offend,
But by that glass thy own offences mend;
Still feek to learn, yet care not much from whom,
(So it be learning) or from whence it come.
Of thy own actions others judgments learn;
Often by small great matters we discern.
Youth what man's age is like to be doth fhew;
We may our ends by our beginnings know.
Let none direct thee what to do or fay,
Till thee thy judgment of the matter sway.
Let not the pleafing many thee delight; [right.
Firft judge if those whom thou dost please judge
Search not to find what lies too deeply hid,
Nor to know things whofe knowledge is forbid;
Nor climb on pyramids, which thy head turn round
Standing, and whence no fafe defcent is found.
In vain his nerves and faculties he strains
To rife, whose raising unfecure remains.
They whom desert and favour forwards thrust,
Are wife when they their measures can adjust.
When well at eafe, and happy, live content,
And then confider why that life was lent.
When wealthy, fhew thy wisdom not to be
To wealth a fervant, but make wealth ferve thee,
Though all alone, yet nothing think or do
Which nor a witnefs nor a judge might know.
The highest hill is the most flipp'ry place,
And Fortune mocks us with a smiling face;
And her unfteady hand hath often plac'd
Men in high pow'r, but feldom holds them faft;
Against her then her forces Prudence joins,
And to the golden mean herself confines.
More in profperity is reason toft

Than fhips in ftorms, their helms and anchors loft:
Before fair gales not all our fails we bear,
But with fide-winds into fafe harbours steer:
More ships in calms on a deceitful coast,
Or unfeen rocks, than in high storms are loft.
Who cafts out threats and frowns no man deceives;
Time for refistance and defence he gives;
But flatt'ry ftill in fugar'd words betrays,
And poifon in high-tasted meats conveys:
So Fortune's fmiles unguarded man surprise,
But when the frowns, he arms, and her defies,

OF JUSTICE.

'Tis the first fanction Nature gave to man,
Each other to affift in what they can;
Juft or unjuft this law for ever ftands;
All things are good by law which the commands.
The first step, man towards Chrift must justly live,
Who to' us himself, and all we have, did give.
In vain doth man the name of Juft expect,
If his devotions he to God neglect.
So must we rev'rence God, as first to know
Justice from him, not from ourselves, doth flow.
God thofe accepts who to mankind are friends,
Whofe Juftice far as their own pow'r extends;
In that they imitate the Pow'r divine;
The fun alike on good and bad doth shine;
And he that doth no good, although no ill,
Does not the office of the juft fulfil.
Virtue doth man to virtuous actions steer;
'Tis not enough that he should vice forbear :
We live not only for ourselves to care,
Whilft they that want it are deny'd their share.
Wife Plato faid the world with men was ftor'd,
That fuccour each to other might afford;
Nor are thofe fuccours to one fort confin'd,
But fev'ral parts to fev'ral men confign'd.
He that of his own ftores no part can give,
May with his counfel or his hands relieve.
If Fortune make thee pow'rful, give defence,
'Gainft fraud and force, to naked innocence:
And when our Justice doth her tributes pay,
Method and order muft direct the way.
First to our God we must with rev'rence bow;
The fecond honour to our prince we owe;
Next to wives, parents, children, fit refpect,
And to our friends and kindred we direct:
Then we must those who groan beneath the weight
Of age, difcafe, or want, commiferate.
'Mongft thofe whom honest lives can recommend,
Our Justice more compaffion fhould extend:
To fuch who thee in fome diftrefs did aid,
'Thy debt of thanks with int'reft should be paid.
As Hefiod fings, Spread waters o'er thy field,
And a moft juft and glad increase 'twill yield.
But yet take heed, left doing good to one,
Mischief and wrong be to another done:
Such moderation with thy bounty join,
That thou may'ft nothing give that is not thine :
That liberality's but caft away

Which makes us borrow what we cannot pay.
And no access to wealth let rapine bring;
Do nothing that's unjust to be a king.

Juftice must be from violence exempt,
But fraud's her only object of contempt.
Fraud in the fox, force in the lion dwells,
But Juftice both from human hearts expels :
But he's the greatest monster (without doubt)
Who is a wolf within, a fheep without.
Nor only ill injurious actions are,

But evil words and flanders bear their fhare.
Truth Juftice loves, and truth injuftice fears;
Truth above all things a juft man reveres.
Though not by oaths we God to witness call,
He fees and hears, and ftill remembers all;
And yet our atteftations we may wrest
Sometimes, to make the truth more manifeft.
If by a lie a man preferve his faith,
He pardon, leave, and abfolution hath;
Or if I break my promife, which to thee
Would bring no good, but prejudice to me.
All things committed to thy truft conceal,
Nor what's forbid by any means reveal.
Exprefs thyfelf in plain not doubtful words,
That ground for quarrels or difputes affords.
Unless thou find occafion hold thy tongue;
Thyfelf or others careless talk may wrong.
When thou art called into public pow'r,
And when a crowd of fuitors throng thy door,
Be fure no great offenders 'fcape their dooms;
Small praise from len'ty and remiffness comes:
Crimes pardon'd, others to thofe crimes invite,
Whilft lookers-on fevere examples fright.
When by a pardon'd murd'rer blood is fpilt,
The judge that pardon'd hath the greatest guilt.
Who accufe rigour make a grofs mistake;
One criminal pardon'd may an hundred make.
When juftice on offenders is not done,
Law, government, and commerce, are o'erthrown ;
As befieg'd traitors with the foe confpire
Tunlock the gates and fet the town on fire.
Yet left the punishment th' offence exceed,
Juftice with weight and measure must proceed:
Yet when pronouncing fentence feem not glad,
Such fpectacles, though they are juft, are sad;
Though what thou dost thou ought'st not to repent,
Yet human bowels cannot but relent
Rather than all muft fuffer fome muft die;
Yet nature muft condole their misery ;
And yet, if many equal guilt involve,

Thou may'ft not these condemn and those abfolve.
Juftice, when equal scales fhe holds, is blind;
Nor cruelty nor mercy change her mind.

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