THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS.
depths of ooscurity, and that false things were wonderfully joined and intermixed with true, as for the new academy, that exceeded all measure, than of the confident and pronunciative school of Aris totle. Let men therefore he admonished, that by ac- knowledging the imperfection of nature and art, they are grateful to the gods, and shall thereby ob tain new benefits and greater favours at their boun tiful hands ; and the accusation of Prometheus, their author and master, though bitter and vehement, will conduce more to their profit, than to be effuse in the congratulation of his invention; for, in a word, the opinion of having enough, is to be accounted one of the greatest causes of having too little. Now, as touching the kind of gift which men are said to have received in reward of their ac cusation, to wit, an ever-fading flower of youth, it is to show, that the ancients seemed not to de spair of attaining the skill, by means and medi cines, to put off old, age, and to prolong life, but this to be numbered rather among such things, having been once happily attained unto, are now, through men s negligence and carelessness, utter ly perished and lost, than among such as have been always denied and never granted ; for they signify and show, that by affording the true use of fire, and by a good and stern accusation and conviction of the errors of art, the divine bounty is not wanting unto men in the obtaining of such gifts ; but men are wanting to themselves in lay ing this gift of the gods upon the back of a silly slow-paced ass, which may seem to be experience, a stupid thing, and full of delay; from whose leisurely and snail-like pace proceeds that com plaint of life s brevity, and art s length ; and to say the truth, I am of this opinion, that those two faculties, dogmatical and empirical, are not as yet well joined and coupled together, but as new gifts of the gods imposed either upon philosophical abstractions, as upon a flying bird, or upon slow and dull experience, as upon an ass. And yet me- thinks I would not entertain an ill conceit of this ass, if it meet not for the accidents of travel and thirst : for I am persuaded, that whoso constantly goes on, by the conduct of experience, as by a certain rule and method, and not covets to meet with such experiments by the way, as conduce either to gain or ostentation, to obtain which, ke must be fain to lay down and sell this burden, may prove no unfit porter to bear this new addition of divine munificence. Now, in that this gift is said to pass from men to serpents, it may seem to be added to the fable for ornament sake, in a manner, unless it were inserted to shame men, that having the use of that celestial fire and of so many arts, are not able to get unto themselves such things as nature itself bestows upon many other creatures. But that sudden reconciliation of men to Prome theus, after they wero frustrated of their hopes, contains a profitable and wise note, showing the I levity and temerity of men in new experiments : for if they have not present success answerable to their expectation, with too sudden haste desist from that they began, and with precipitancy re turning to their former experiments, are reconciled to them again. The state of man, in respect of arts, and such things as concern the intellect, being now de scribed, the parable passeth to religion : for, after the planting of arts, follows the setting of divine principles, which hypocrisy hath overspread and polluted. By that twofold sacrifice therefore is elegantly shadowed out the persons of a true re ligious man and a hypocrite. In the one is con tained fatness, which by reason of the inflammation and fumes thereof, is called the portion of God, by which his affection and zeal, tending to God s glory, and ascending, towards heaven, is signi fied. In him also are contained the bowels of charity, and in him is found that good and whole some flesh ; whereas in the other there is nothing but dry and naked bones, which nevertheless do stuff up the hide, and make it appear like a fair and goodly sacrifice : by this may be well meant those external and vain rites, and empty cere monies, by which men do oppress and fill up the sincere worship of God ; things composed rather for ostentation than any way conducing to true piety. Neither do they hold it sufficient to offer such mock-sacrifices unto God ; except they also lay them before him, as if he had chosen and be spoke them. Certainly the prophet, in the per son of God, doth thus expostulate concerning this choice : Esa. Iviii. 5, " Num tandem hoc est illud jejunium, quod ELEGI, ut homo animam suam in diem unum affiigat, et caput instar jun- ceti demittat 1 ?" Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and to bow down his head like a bulrush ? Having now touched the state of religion, the parable converts itself to the manners and con ditions of human life : and it is a common but apt interpretation by Pandora, to be meant plea sure and voluptuousness, which, when the civil life is pampered with too much art, and culture, and superfluity, is engendered, as it were, by the efficacy of fire, and therefore the work of volup tuousness is attributed unto Vulcan, who also himself doth represent fire. From this do infinite miseries, together with too late repentance, proceed and overflow the minds, and bodies, and fortunes of men; and that not only in respect of particular estates, but even over kingdoms and common wealths : for from this fountain have wars, tu mults, and tyrannies derived their original. But it would be worth the labour to consider how elegantly and proportionably this fable doth delineate two conditions, or, as I may say, two tables or examples of human life, under the person of Prometheus or Epimetheus : for they that are of Epimetheus s sect are improvident, noi ton>-
