Then is the _Soule_ a nature, which containes The powre of _Sense_, within a greater power Which doth imploy and vse the _Senses_ paines, But sits and rules within her priuate bower. [Footnote 97: Meliora proboq ... iora ... sequor ... Sen'a. H. [Rather Ovid vii. 20. ... Video meliora, proboque Deteriora sequor' Pathetically quoted by BYRON in his remarkable Letter to JOHN SHEPPARD. G.]] [Footnote 98: The allusion is to Mutius Scaevola, who was taken in an attempt to assassinate Porsena, and thrust his hand into the fire to prove his fortitude: Livy II. 12. G.] [Footnote 99: The story is told by Plutarch in his Life of Marius c. VI. 415. G.] [Footnote 100: Pliny XXXV. 36 § 3: told of a picture of Zeuxis, as that of the horse neighing is of another by Apelles (_ib_ § 17.) G.] THAT THE SOULE IS MORE THEN THE TEMPERATURE[101] OF THE HUMORS OF THE BODY. _If shee doth then_ the subtill _Sense_ excell, How gross are they that drown her in the blood! Or in the bodie's humors tempred well, As if in them such high perfection stood? As if most skill in that _Musician_ were, Which had the best, and best tun'd instrument; As if the pensill neate[102] and colours cleare, Had power to make the Painter excellent. Why doth not beautie then refine the wit? And good complexion rectifie the will? Why doth not health bring wisdom still with it? Why doth not sicknesse make men bruitish still? Who can in _memory_, or _wit_, or _will_, Or _ayre_, or _fire_, or _earth_, or _water_ finde? What alchymist can draw, with all his skil, The _quintessence_ of these, out of the mind? If th' _elements_ which haue nor _life_, nor _sense_, Can breed in vs so great a powre as this; Why giue they not themselues like excellence, Or other things wherein their mixture is? If she were but the Bodie's qualitie Then would she be with it _sicke_, _maim'd_ and _blind_; But we perceiue where these priuations be A _healthy_, _perfect_, and _sharpe-sighted_ mind. If she the bodie's nature did pertake, Her strength would with the bodie's strength decay; But when the bodie's strongest sinewes slake, Then is the _Soule_ most actiue, quicke and gay. If she were but the bodie's accident, And her sole _being_ did in it subsist; As _white in snow_; she might her selfe absent, And in the bodie's substance not be mist. But _it_ on _her_, not _shee_ on _it_ depends; For _shee_ the body doth sustaine and cherish; Such secret powers of life to it she lends, That when they faile, then doth the body perish. Since then the _Soule works by her selfe alone, Springs not from Sense, nor humors, well agreeing_; Her nature is peculiar, and her owne: She is a _substance_, and a _perfect being_. [Footnote 101: Misprinted 'temparature.' G.]