SUBSECT. II. Withstand the beginnings; avoid occasions; change his place: fair and fowl meanes; contrary passions, with witty inventions: to bring in another, and discommend the former. 1 OTHER good rules and precepts are enjoyned by our physicians, which if not alone, yet certainly conjoyned, may do much; The first of which is obstare principiis, to withstand the beginning; ' Quisquis in primo obstitit, pepulitque amorem, tutus ac victor fuit, he that will but resist at first, may easily be a conqueror at last. Balthazar Castilio 1. 4. urgeth this prescript above the rest, when he shall chance (saith he) to light upon a woman, that hath good behaviour joyned with her excellent person, and shall perceive his eys, with a kind of greediness, to pull unto them this image of beauty, and carry it to the heart: shall observe himself to be somewhat incensed with this influence, which moveth within: when he shall discern those subtle spirits sparkling in her eys, to administer more fuel to the fire, he must wisely withstand the beginnings; rowze up reason stupified almost; fortify his heart by all means, and shut up all those passages, by which it may have entrance. "Tis a precept which all concur upon, 3 3 Opprime dum nova sunt subiti mala semina morbi, Thy quick disease whilst it is fresh to-day, By all means crush, thy feet at first step stay. Which cannot speedier be done, then if he confess his grief and passion to some judicious friend '(qui tacitus ardet magis uritur, the more he conceals, the greater is his pain) that by his good advice, may happily ease him on a sudden; and withal to avoid occasions, or any circumstance that may aggravate his disease; to remove the object by all means; for who can stand by a fire and not burn? Sussilite obsecro et mittite istanc foras, 'Tis good therefore, to keep quite out of her company; which 1 Seneca. 2 Cum in mulierem incideriet, quæ cum formâ morum suavitatem conjunctam habet, et jam oculos persenserit, formæ ad se imaginem cum aviditate quâdam rapere, cum eadem, &c. 3 Ovid. de rem. lib. 1. Sylvius. 5 Plautus gurcu. • Æneas Hierome so much labours to Paula, and his Nepotian; Chrysostome so much inculcates in ser. in contubern. Cyprian, and many other fathers of the church; Siracides in his ninth chapter; Jason Pratensis, Savanarola, Arnoldus, Valleriola, &c. and every physician that treats of this subject. Not only to avoid, as Gregory Tholosanus exhorts, kissing, dalliance, all speeches, tokens, love-letters and the like; or, as Castilio, lib. 4. to converse with them, hear them speak, or sing, (tolerabilius est audire basiliscum sibilantem, thou hast better hear, saith Cyprian, a serpent hiss) those amiable smiles, admirable graces, and sweet gestures, which their presence affords. 2 'Neu capita liment solitis morsiunculis, Abstineant: 3 but all talk, name, mention, or cogitation of them, and of any other women, persons, circumstance, amorous book, or tale, that may administer any occasion of remembrance. 'Prosper adviseth yong men not to read the Canticles, and some part of Genesis, at other times; but for such as are enamored, they forbid, as before, the name mentioned, &c. especially all sight; they must not so much as come neer, or look upon them. "Et fugitare decet simulacra et pabula amoris, Gaze not on a maid, saith Siracides, turn away thine eys from a beautiful woman, c. 9. v. 5. 7. 8. averte oculos, saith David, or if thou dost see them, as Ficinus adviseth, let not thine eye be intentus ad libidinem, do not intend her more then the rest for as 'Propertius holds, Ipse alimenta sibi maxima præbet amor, love as a snow-ball inlargeth it self by sight but as Hierome to Nepotian, aut æqualiter ama, aut æqualiter ignora, either see all alike, or let all alone; make a league with thine eys, as Job did; and that is the safest course; let all alone, see none of them. Nothing sooner revives, or waxeth sore again, as Petrarch holds, then love doth by sight. As pompe renews ambition; the sight of gold, covetousness; a beauteous object sets on fire this burning lust. 9 1 Tom. 2. lib. 4. cap. 10. Syntag. med. art. mirab. Vitentur oscula, tactus, sermo, et scripta impudica, literæ, &c. 2 Lib. de singul. cler. 3 Tam admirabilem splendorem declinet, gratiam, scintillas, amabiles risus, gestus suavissimos, &c. Lipsius hort. leg. lib. 3. antiq. lec. 5 Lib. 3. de vit. cœlitus compar. cap. 6. 6 Lucretius. 7 Lib. 3. Eleg. 10. 8 Job. 31. Pepigi fœdus cum oculis meis ne cogitarem de virgine. 9 Dial. 3. de contemptu mundi. Nihil facilius recrudescit quam amor; ut pompa visa renovat ambitionem, auri species avaritiam, spectata corporis forma incendit luxuriam. Et multum saliens incitat unda sitim. The sight of drink makes one dry, and the sight of meat increaseth appetite. 'Tis dangerous therefore to see. A 'yong gentleman in merriment, would needs put on his mistress cloaths, and walk abroad alone, which some of her suiters espying, stole him away for her that he represented. So much can sight enforce. Especially, if he have been formerly enamored, the sight of his mistress strikes him into a new fit, and makes him rave many days after. 5 -2 Infirmis causa pusilla nocet, Ut pæne extinctum cinerem si sulphure tangas, A sickly man a little thing offends; As brimstone doth a fire decay'd renewe, And make it burn afresh, doth loves dead flames, 4 Or, as the poet compares it to embers in ashes, (which the winde blows, ut solet a ventis, &c. a scald head (as the saying is) is soon broken; dry wood quickly kindles; and when they have been formerly wounded by sight, how can they by seeing but be inflamed? Ismenias acknowledgeth as much of himself, when he had been long absent, and almost forgotten his mistress; at the first sight of her, as straw in a fire, I burned afresh; and more then ever I did before. Chariclea was as much moved at the sight of her dear Theagenes, after he had been a great stranger. 'Mertila, in Aristænetus, swore she would never love Pamphilus again, and did moderate her passion so long as he was absent; but, the next time he came in presence, she could not contain, effuse amplexa attrectari se sinit, &c. she broke her vow, and did profusely embrace him. Hermotinus, a yong man (in the said author) is all out as unstaid; he had forgot his mistress quite, and by his friends was well weaned from her love; but seeing her by chance, agnovit veteris vestigia flammæ, he raved amain; Illa tamen emergens veluti lucida stella cœpit elucere, &c. she did appear as a blazing star, or an angel, to his sight. And it is the common passion of all lovers to be overcome in this sort. For that cause, belike, Alexander 1 Seneca cont. lib. 2. cont. 9. 2 Ovid. 3 Met. 7. Ut solet a ventis alimenta resumere, quæque parva sub inductâ latuit scintilla favilla crescere; et in veteres agitata resurgere flammas. * Eustathii 1. 3. Aspectus amorem incendit, ut marcescentem in paleâ ignem ventus; ardebam interea majore concepto incendio. 5 Heliodorus 1. 4. Inflammat mentem novus aspectus, perinde ac ignis materiæ admotus. Chariclea, &c. 6 Epist. 15. 1. 2. 7 Epist. 4. lib. 2. 2 discerning this inconvenience and danger that comes by seeing, 'when he heard Darius wife so much commended for her beauty, would scarce admit her to come in his sight, foreknowing, belike, that of Plutarch, formosam videre periculosissimum, how full of danger it is to see a proper woman; and though he was intemperate in other things, yet in this superbe se gessit, he carryed himself bravely. And so, when as Araspes, in Xenophon, had so much magnified that divine face of Panthea to Cyrus, by how much she was fairer then ordinary, by so much he was the more unwilling to see her. Scipio, a yong man of 23 yeers of age, and the most beautiful of the Romans, equal in person to that Græcian Charinus, or Homers Nireus, at the siege of a city in Spain, when as a noble and a most fair yong gentlewoman was brought unto him, 3 and he had heard she was betrothed to a Lord, rewarded her, and sent her back to her sweet-heart. St. Austin, as Gregory reports of him, ne cum sorore quidem sua putavit habitandum, would not live in the house with his own sister. Xenocrates lay with Lais of Corinth all night, and would not touch her. Socrates, though all the city of Athens supposed him to dote upon fair Alcibiades, yet when he had an opportunity solus cum solo, to lye in the chamber with, and was wooed by him besides, as the said Alcibiades publiquely confessed, formam sprevit et superbe contempsit; he scornfully rejected him. Petrarch, that had so magnified his Laura in several poems, when by the Popes means she was offered unto him, would not accept of her. It is a good happiness to be free from this passion of love; and great discretion it argues, in such a man that can so contain himself; but when thou art once in love, to moderate thy self (as he saith) is a singular point of wisdome. 7 Nam vitare plagas in amoris ne jaciamur Non ita difficile est, quam captum retibus ipsis To avoid such nets is no such mastery, But for as much, as few men are free, so discreet lovers, or that can contain themselves, and moderate their passions, to curb their senses, as not to see them, not to look lasciviously, 'Curtius lib. 3. Cum uxorem Darii laudatam audivisset, tantum cupiditati suæ frænum injecit, ut illam vix vellet intueri. 2 Cyropædia. Cum Panthea formam evexisset Araspes, tanto magis, inquit Cyrus, abstinere oportet, quanto pulchrior est. 3 Livius. Cum eam regulo cuidam desponsatam audivisset, muneribus cumulatam remisit. Ep. 39. lib. 7. 5 Et ea loqui posset quæ soli amatores loqui solent. 6 Platonis Convivio. 7 Heliodorus lib. 4. Expertem esse amoris beatitudo est; at quum captus sis, ad moderationem revo care animum prudentia singularis. 8 Lucretius 1. 4. not to confer with them, such is the fury of this head-strong passion of raging lust, and their weakness, ferox ille ardor a naturá insitus, as he terms it, such a furious desire nature hath inscribed, such unspeakable delight, Sic Divæ Veneris furor Insanis adeo mentibus incubat, which neither reason, counsel, poverty, pain, misery, drudgery, partus dolor, &c. can deter them from; we must use some speedy means to correct and prevent that, and all other inconveniences, which come by conference, and the like. The best, readiest, surest way, and which all approve, is loci mutatio, to send them several wayes; that they may neither hear of, see, nor have opportunity to send to one another again, or live together soli cum sold, as so many Gilbertines. Elongatio a patrid 'tis Savanarolas fourth rule, and Gordonius precept, distrahatur ad longinquas regiones, send him to travel. 'Tis that which most run upon, as so many hounds with full cry; poets, divines, philosophers, physicians, all: mutet patriam, Valesius; as a sick man he must be cured with change of ayr; Tully 4. Tuscul. The best remedy is to get thee gone, Jason Pratensis: change ayr and soyl, Laurentius. Fuge littus amatum. Virg. Utile finitimis abstinuisse locis. 3 Ovid. I procul, et longas carpere perge vias. Travelling is an antidote of love : 4 'Magnum iter ad doctas proficisci cogor Athenas, 2 For this purpose, saith Propertius, my parents sent me to Athens; time and absence wear away pain and grief, as fire goes out for want of fewel. Quantum oculis, animo tam procul ibit amor. 6 But so as they tarry out long enough; a whole yeer Xenophon prescribes Critobulus, vix enim intra hoc tempus ab amore sanari poteris; some will hardly be weaned under. All this Heinsius merrily inculcates, in an Epistle to his friend Primierus: First, fast; then, tarry; thirdly, change thy place; 7 1 Hædus lib. 1. de amor. contem. lescens curandus est. cap. 11. nota nocent; dies ægritudinem adimit, absentia delet. Ire licet procul hinc patriæque relinquere fines. Ovid. 5 Lib. 3. eleg. 20. 2 Loci mutatione tanquam non conva3 Amorum 1. 2. 4 Quisquis amat, loca Lib. 1. Socrat. 7 Proxi memor. Tibi, O Critobule, consulo ut integrum annum absis, &c. mum est ut esurias. 2. Ut moram temporis opponas. 3. Et locum mutes. 4. Et de laqueo cogites. |