And where shall a man walk, converse with whom, in what province,
city, and not meet with Signior Deliro, or Hercules Furens, Maenads,
and Corybantes? Their speeches say no less. [769]E fungis nati homines,
or else they fetched their pedigree from those that were struck by
Samson with the jaw-bone of an ass. Or from Deucalion and Pyrrha's
stones, for durum genus sumus, [770] marmorei sumus, we are
stony-hearted, and savour too much of the stock, as if they had all
heard that enchanted horn of Astolpho, that English duke in Ariosto,
which never sounded but all his auditors were mad, and for fear ready
to make away with themselves; [771]or landed in the mad haven in the
Euxine sea of Daphnis insana, which had a secret quality to dementate;
they are a company of giddy-heads, afternoon men, it is Midsummer moon
still, and the dog-days last all the year long, they are all mad. Whom
shall I then except? Ulricus Huttenus [772]nemo, nam, nemo omnibus
horis sapit, Nemo nascitur sine vitiis, Crimine Nemo caret, Nemo sorte
sua vivit contentus, Nemo in amore sapit, Nemo bonus, Nemo sapiens,
Nemo, est ex omni parti beatus, &c. [773]and therefore Nicholas Nemo,
or Monsieur Nobody shall go free, Quid valeat nemo, Nemo referre
potest? But whom shall I except in the second place? such as are
silent, vir sapit qui pauca loquitur; [774]no better way to avoid folly
and madness, than by taciturnity. Whom in a third? all senators,
magistrates; for all fortunate men are wise, and conquerors valiant,
and so are all great men, non est bonum ludere cum diis, they are wise
by authority, good by their office and place, his licet impune pessimos
esse, (some say) we must not speak of them, neither is it fit; per me
sint omnia protinus alba, I will not think amiss of them. Whom next?
Stoics? Sapiens Stoicus, and he alone is subject to no perturbations,
as [775]Plutarch scoffs at him, he is not vexed with torments, or burnt
with fire, foiled by his adversary, sold of his enemy: though he be
wrinkled, sand-blind, toothless, and deformed; yet he is most
beautiful, and like a god, a king in conceit, though not worth a groat.
He never dotes, never mad, never sad, drunk, because virtue cannot be
taken away, as [776]Zeno holds, by reason of strong apprehension, but
he was mad to say so. [777]Anticyrae caelo huic est opus aut dolabra,
he had need to be bored, and so had all his fellows, as wise as they
would seem to be. Chrysippus himself liberally grants them to be fools
as well as others, at certain times, upon some occasions, amitti
virtutem ait per ebrietatem, aut atribilarium morbum, it may be lost by
drunkenness or melancholy, he may be sometimes crazed as well as the
rest: [778]ad summum sapiens nisi quum pituita molesta. I should here
except some Cynics, Menippus, Diogenes, that Theban Crates; or to
descend to these times, that omniscious, only wise fraternity [779]of
the Rosicrucians, those great theologues, politicians, philosophers,
physicians, philologers, artists, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account