SOme of the antient Philosophers Greeks , Latines , and others ; after that they had diligently searched out , and seriously contemplated the nature and kinds of all Creatures , and discussed , the being , the vertues and properties of them all , and comparing theirs with ours ; said , that Man is more miserable , then all things that breaths or walks upon the face of the whole Earth , and that his condition is worse , being subject to so many and great misfortunes ; others that are more rigorous Judges and Censurors of the works of nature , do call her a cruel Step-mother , that is not in any respect favourable to mankind , and uttered a thousand other blasphemies , ( as I may say ) against her , some others of them all their lives long bewayled the Calamities and Miseseries of humanity , not ceasing a moment to refrain from tears as Heraclitus , continually perswading a 〈…〉 en , that this life was nothing else but a The 〈…〉 e of miseries and sorrows , that all things that Men can behold under the Heavens , are meerly a Sea of passion , which requires nothing less then our continual Tears , Sights , and Groans . Others again , like Democritus laughing , jesting , and mocking , made a bloudy war against the vices that then raigned in the World ; if he , I say , should arise from the Grave , and see the disorderly and confused vices , that are so risen amongst us Christians now a dayes , he would find far more cause of laughter and derision , then he had in his days . There was another kind of Philosophers that were far more disdainful and strange , that did not content their fantastical humours , only to murmur against nature , or complain of her works and effects ; but with so great , mortall , and unnatural hatred did persecute man , as if they thought he was born for the onely mark of white , at which they were to discharge , or let flye all their Arrows , Darts , and shots of curses , miseries , and calamities , that they or all other Creatures could let loose upon him ; Of whom I shall give one for an example : Timon an Athenian Philosopher , who was the Inventor , Fomenter , and most rigorous setter forth of this opinion , for he did not only declare himself a capital enemy of mankind , and tell it to all mens faces ; but his actions confirmed his words ; for he would not converse , or have any dealing with , or dwell amongst men , but rather live in the desert amongst bruit beasts , far from any neighbourhood , or Town , that he might be troubled with no visits , and living as he did , he did shun ever to be seen or spoken with , much less to be visited by any , except one an Athenian Captain , named Alcibiades , and his familiarity with him , was not for any love or friendship towards him ; but he understood the said Captain was like to be a scourge to men , and that he was born to be a torment & trouble to them ; for ( by some divination ) he certainly knew that his Athenian Neighbours were to suffer many afflictions and vexations for his sake ; nay , he did not content himself to let loose the reigns of his malice : Thus far against man his own kind , only to flye from , as from some cruel and fearce beast , but he did endeavour to do him all the mischief that lay in his power to procure even to destroy and ruin all mankind , inventing new wayes how to bring to the ground , and end their dayes , to accomplish which he caused to be set up in his Orchard many Gallowses , to the end all desperate Persons , that might be wearied with the troubles of this life , should go thither and destroy themselves ; Now some few years afterwards for his own accomodation , or to enlarge the place of his habitation , it was necessary for him to take down those Gallowses , so without any premeditation , of what might succeed him , and withal to shew his farther malice , he went to Athens , whether being come , without any shame ; he called the people together by lifting up his voyce in the streets , as a common Cryer doth when he proclaims any novelty , the Citizens hearing the Hoarse , and strange voyce of that foul and horrid Monster , and knowing long before the sordid humour and opinion that possest his minde ; they instantly gathered themselves to him , hoping to hear some novelty or wonder , he seeing the greatest part of the Citizens , as well principal as common , congregated to hear him , began to speak with an audible voyce ; saying , know Citizens of Athens , that for a certain necessa●y occasion which hath hapned to me , I am re●olved to pull down the Gallowses that are in my Garden ; therefore if any man be so weary ●f ●his world , or be so desperate as to hang himself , let it be presently , before I pluck them down , after he had ended this his so affectionate offer , without making any farther discourse ; he returned to his House , where he dyed in this his vain opinion , but continually musing and contemplating Mans Misery , and when the pangs of death seased on him , to shew the Odium he bare to Man ; even to his last gasp , he commanded expresly , under heavy curses , that his Corps should not be burried in the Earth ; because ( said he ) it is the element upon which men do commonly take their quiet repose , and in the bowels of which humane bodies were buried , and all this for fear his bones should be seen of men , or the dust of his Carcas should touch or be mixed with theirs ; but that they should cast him into the Sea , where the fury of the swelling waves might not only hinder , but defend the passage of any Creature in their approach to this his elected Tomb , and he commanded the following Epitaph to be written of him , which Plutarch makes mention of , and was learnedly translated by Claudio Gruget .

Here you see this spiritually poor , though naturally wise Philosopher , having throughly examined humane frailty in this world , hartily wished he had not been born a man ; but much rather that he had been brought forth , by , or transformed into some bruit beast , and meerly upon the deep sence and understanding he had of the invetterate malice that dwells in the hearts of men .

But now let us leave this our ancient Philosopher Timon to his malicious complainings , and briny Sepulcher , that we may give way to a serious view of some of the expressions of of Marco Aurelio , a Roman Emperour , to this effect ; who as great a Philosopher as an Emperour considering , the weak miserable and fragil condition , which continually attends the poor and short life of Man ; said , the Battel of this World is dangerous , the end of which is so wonderfully terrible , that I am very certain , that if any one of our fore-fathers should arise from the dead ; truly relate , and give us a perfect view of his whole life past from the time he came from his Mothers womb , even to his last breath , giving at large another of the great pains and griefs his body hath suffered , and seriously discovering the strange alarms & various successes , with which fortune hath persecuted him , it would cause admiration in all men , to consider the body that hath suffered so many torments , and the heart that hath so valiently conquered so great difficult war-fares ; and I my self do freely confess to have found the same to be true , which though it be to my disgrace ; yet for the profit that may redoun'd to after ages ( I will relate ) in fifty years that I have lived , I resolved to make tryal of all the vices and evills of this life , that I might understand whether the malicious wickedness of men had any limits or bounds , but finds experimentally , after a serious speculation and consideration , that the more I drink , the more I thirst ; the more I sleep , the more I desire ; the more rest I enjoy , the more weary I am , the more I have , the more I desire , the more content I have in seeking , the less in enjoying : finally , there is no sublunary thing that I obtain , with the which I am not quickly cloyed , as suddenly abhor it , and desire another thing ; O how excellently did that famous Greek Doctor St. John Chrisostome , contemplate after he had meerly out of compassion bewayled the Calamities of man , and that dark obscurity with which they are encompassed , when he cryed out ; Oh , who could obtain the benefit of a Watch-Tower which were so convenient and skillfully built , that from thence he might easily see all men , and that he could enjoy so great , and audible a voyce , that from thence being heard and understood of all he might proclaim , the high sentence expressed by that Royal King and Prophet David , how long will your hearts be hardned : Oh , ye Sons of men , and not without great cause and good reason , did this holy man St. Chrisostome use these zealous expressions , for let any man after a sound and mature Judgment ; but seriously consider the miserable estate and condition that the whole World lyeth under at this day , the many traps , cozenages , cheats , blasphemies , adulteries , roberies , incests , wars , dissentions and effusions of bloud ; violencies , rapines , ambitions , covetousnesses , hatreds , rumources , malices , desires of revenge , &c. With which the uverse lyeth drunk , nay , even drowned in ; May say , that we are come very neer the time , which was so much abhor'd and abominated by the Holy Prophet , Isai. 59. cha. 2. v. Who hath said , your iniquities have seperated betwixt you and your God , and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear , for your hands are defiled with bloud , and your fingers with iniquity ; your lips have spoken lyes , and your tongue hath muttered perversness , none called for Justice , nor any pleadeth for truth , they trust in vanity and speak lyes ; they conceive mischief , and bring forth iniquity , they hatch Cockatrice Eggs , and weave the Spiders Web , he that eateth of their Eggs dyeth , and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper , their Webs shall not become garments , never shall they cover themselves with their works , for their works are works of iniquity , and the act of violence is in their hands , their feet run to evil , and they make hast to shed innocent bloud ; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity , wasting and destruction are in their paths , the way of peace they know not , and so on : And indeed , our wickedness doth multiply , and our sins are our capital enemies , and give the greatest testimony what we are .

St. Bernard in one lamentation that he makes upon the miseries of our life , sets forth to us , how much the sad and debil condition of man is , to the end that without any farther discourse , he might bring him to understand his own weak and fragil condition , which he begins to tell as followeth : Oh man , both blind and naked , consisting of humane flesh and a reasonable soul ; awake thou that art so forgetfull , call to remembrance ; consider what thou art , wherefore dost thou wander so vainly from thy self , even drunk and besotted with things that are subject to so suddain & perishable a mutability , sleeping so securely amidst the vanities of this World ; nay , rather drowned in the weak and fregil delight which the Earth sets before thee ; dost thou not plainly perceive that the nearer thou makest thy approache● to the World , the farther thou art parted from thy God ; by how much the more thou seemest to gain of these outward vanities , so much thou lovest of those things , which thou oughtest to set a higher price upon ; the more carefull thou art to enrich thy self in things corporal , so much the poorer & beggerly wilt thou find thy self in things spiritual , thou judgest and correctest other mens actions , whilest thou art forgetfull to reform thine own ; there is no Creature thou takest in hand but thou tamest , only thy self remains unbridled , thou art very watchfull and solicitous to espie out the faults of others , but art very floathfull and backward to look how and amend thine own ; thou hast a boyling desire of these sublunary things in thy heart ; but what a luke-warm , nay cold entertainment finds coelestials in thy mind , consider the nearer thou drawest to death , the farther reperation thou makest betwixt thee and thy salvation ; all thy content is to provide for , dight , cocker and delight thy body , which is nothing else but a lump of earth , a sepulcher full of vermine ; and leavest thy poor soul , which is the lively image of God alone , comfortless , unfed , nay dead with famine , these and many other the like sorrows , did this holy man , ( being in the desert ) express against the ingratitude of men , which we place here amongst the rest , that it might be a deep perswasion to man , to consider and contemplate his vile condition , that by retiring into himself , he should by a serious meditation be induced to understand the sad and miserable being , and that thereby he might see , the great need he stands in of his God , in whose hand it is either to make him happy , or miserable , or full of evils and perpetual torments , without doing him the least injustice or injury , more then doth the Potter to the piece of Earth , or Clay , in his hands breaking and molding of it ; either to make any vessel thereof , or to let it remain in a confused lump not having any forms ; for indeed man is no other thing , but a statute of Clay placed in this World , ( which is the mouth and ware-house , wherein is declared the wonderfull works of God ) and that if one should encounter it sharply , there is no doubt but it would fall to the ground in pieces ; and although he is compassed with so many evills and infirmities , and sees himself subject continually to the hazard of death ; yet he is forgetful , & never takes care truly and humbly to submit to his God , nor ever would willingly be his true Subject .

Now that we have in general considered the estate of man , it will be convenient that we treat thereof more particularly and amply , that all men might be perswaded to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God , and that by a more narrow search into themselves , and a nearer speculation , every man into his own debill , and fragill condition ; and because of all the heathen Philosophers Pliny hath written ( as I conceive ) the best , therefore I will in this place declare his opinion , to the shame and confusion of Christians , that they should be tought in these things of a Pagan , one that knew not God , without law , or the least light of those Holy and Evangelical misteries declared to us , which addeth to our greater reproach ; consider a while ( saith he ) how man is necessitated to hide , cover , and cherish his frail body , at the cost of other Creatures , for the which nature hath with a large hand plentifully provided , some with feathers , others skins , furres , scales , and fleeces ; Nay , even the Trees are is no sooner sprung up but they have a coat bestowed on them , of bark to defend them from the violence of the suns heat , and winters storms , but to set forth the better ; what a small vallue or esteem she had for man , he alone is cast into the World naked , like an abortive or rejected thing , and is no sooner born , but she furnishes him with sobs and tears , for a lawfull inheritance ; as a sign , of those miserable calamities he is to undergo , for those tears which man sheds at his birth , are the heralds and discoverers of that field of dangerous evills , into which he enters ; Here thou seest ( gentle Reader ) the begining of the fairest and most principal of the works which God created , in the first six days of the World for whose respect all Creatures have their being , yet of himself is of so little validity , that if they do not cherish , succor , defend , & protect his nakedness ; he would be subject to the violence of every Creature ; do but behold him after he is taken from his mothers womb , and they will see him bound , wrapped up , lying down ; and like the trunk of a Tree not able to raise himself up without assistance ; Here you may look upon , and contemplate this so proud a Creature ; ( who by his appearance , would cause us to believe that he came into the World meerly to swell and be puffed up with pride and vanity , see his beginning is in sorrow .

But now let us consider : When will he begin to use his feet ? When will he begin to use his tongue ? To how many infirmities is he subject ? All other Creatures , when they are first brought forth understand somthing of the actions of their nature , some do succour themselves with their swiftness ; others with their strength : Only man knows nothing unless he be taught , the most certain natural knowledge that possesseth him at his birth is to weep ; he onely amongst all Creatures is subject to labours , troubles , passions , pleasures , delights , ambitions , courtuousness ; and indeed , to all disorderly appetite of this life , he only is born to serve his own concupisence , and thereby to suffer extream anguish and sorrow , and to be short , he is the most subject to entertain emnities and odioms , against those of his own kind ; all other Creatures live at peace with those of their kind , the Wolves do no hurt , nor do prey upon each other ; but live in love and amity one with another , only man is a capital enemy to man , and worse if it could be expressed ; & for s●me sign of favor to other Creatures more then to Man ; but ( as ! conceive , ) to do him a more favourable courtesy by his contemplation thereof , Dame nature hath provided for them of Houses fit to shelter , and protect them from the inclemency of the Heavens , and from the vehemencies of frosts , snow , and storms ; bestowing upon the greatest of them , dennes , and caves , and to the lesser Houses proper for them , which they carry upon their backs , as Tortoise , the Cockle , the Snail , &c. and to all other small Creatures ; such accomodation as is most befitting their kind and being ; Also I cannot be unmindfull of the Fruit & Seed of the ground how she hath provided for them , cases , rindes , prickles , thorns , and huskes ; in the which to retire defend and preserve their kind ; but man hath nothing , unless he doth procure it by the hard labour of his body , and the sweat of his brows ; nay , many times even drops of bloud , before he can obtain either to satisfy his hungry appetite ; or cloath his naked body .

Now , if we do but consider the health , and good constitution of body , that other Creatures enjoy ; compared with ours : We shall clearly see what advantage they have of us , for it doth appear . Man is naturally formed , and as it were guilded over with a beautifull complexion , but it is so weak and subject to such diversity of infirmities , that it would be accounted a wonder in the World to find a Man whose beauty is not fading , and changing . And farther then this , Nature hath purcharged Men with such an unsatiable and hungry appetite , that we never cease , seeking after and desiring the choysest viands : to supply our emptiness , and if in case we find any thing that seems pleasing to our palate , we cannot refrain only to suffice , but overcharge nature , by devouring so much thereof ; from which superfluities are ingendred Catarres , Flegms , Apoplexes , and a thousand other diseases . Other Creatures do not so , for they content themselves with what nature hath provided for them , eating it as it is , without boyling , roasting , or otherways dressing it , to content their appetite or pleasing their fancies ; and with this she hath bestowed upon them such a regulated contentment , that they eat or drink not more then what is needfull for the maintaining life ; but Man had he all the fruits of the earth , the flesh of all cattle in the World , of all the fishes in the Waters , of all the fouls of Heaven , all would not be sufficient to satisfie his greedy desire , in the spoyling , consuming , and destroying them onely ; but he must have them masked , dressed , seasoned , and sophisticated brought into , several dissimulated gustos , meerly to invite and draw his stomack and gluttonous appetite to devour more then nature requires , even to the overcharging the ship , and causing her to sink under her lading ; nay , they fill their stomacks so brim-full with these pleasing viands ; that they intoxicate their beste part , insomuch that there is not one of their senses , but is disabled to do any true service to the bodies use ; and truely , with grief and shame enough I speak it ; that the superfluous vices of glottony and drunkenness which at this day is so predominant amongst Christians , causeth many utterly to loose their shame , and to prostrate their bodies to all sorts of vices , be they never so execrably wicked , even to the committing of Whoredomes , Thieveries , Murders , Poysonings , and in toxicating Witch-crafts , and I do much wonder , how that the entrails of very many are not rotted , and their Livers burnt up and putrified , with the excess of meats and drinks ; when behold poor Lazarus lying at the door ; even perishing with hunger , and cannot obtain a morsells of what remains in fragments , or procure the least crum that falls from their Tables ; for which cause the Prophets cal these men Fat Calves , Belly-gods , &c. Certainly , they are justly compared to bruit beasts , for the soul ( which is the principal part of man ) that doth inhabite such bodyes , lyeth embalmed as it were with wines , sauces and pleasant viands , she lyeth as in a dark and obscure Prison , drowned and overwhelmed as in a full Sea ; also the five Senses , which should be at her command , and serve her as wayting-Gentlemen , they cannot attend her ; being burried as in the entrails of bruit beasts ; against such gluttons as these , who make a God of their bellyes . The Prophet expresses a curse ; saying , wo be to thee that rise up early to drink , and remain unto the evening , till Wine hath inflamed thee ; This sort of vice , for our sins , is so rooted , so common , and made so familiar amongst all Nations , that there is none but have a touch thereof , and none but are in some measure infected therewith ; and which is worse , and preceeds farther , is , that it 's counted a glorious Exploit for a Man to exceed in drinking , and most Men do account it a fame to be taken for g●●d T●pers . The Tarters , the Persians , and 〈…〉 Greeks , held it to be the highest glory to 〈…〉 high , they erected triumphant Trophies 〈…〉 those that did excel : The Macedonians learned this vice of Alexander their Emperor , but the Italians bore away the bell , and carryed away the prize from all the rest , for emptying the Bowls , ( I could wish England did not excel , or strive to excel herein our time . ) Pliny writes , that drunkenness in his time did arive to such a height , that Men did not content themselves to take turns in their healths each with other , but they caused their flocks and heards to drink Wine without measure . Paulo Diacano in his History , relates a strange story of this monstruous and horrid vice of drunkenness ; saying , there were four old Men agreed to meet together at a Colation , in the which they resolved to drink each Man the years of his age , and made a challenge two and two ; in the which every Man was to drink so many times as he had lived years ; the youngest of them was 58. years of age , the second 64. the third 87. and the fourth 92. years old ; we do not certainly know whether they eat little or much at that banket ; but this is known , that he that turned up least , drank 58. cups , and the most 92. Considering this , and knowing the wrong that superfluity of Wine doth to Men , not without cause did Plato say , that in some measure it appeared that the Gods did send the Wine to mankind , or rather create the Juyce of the Grape in the World , for a chastisement and vengance upon Man for his sins ; for when they are once drowned in this sweet liquor , they attempt all vice , they fight , and many times kill and destroy each other ; the which was contemplated by Cyneas the Embassador of the Great King Pyrrus ; the first day of his arrival in Aegypt , when he saw the excessive Grandure of the Plants , and great height of the Wines of that Country , said very justly may such a mother deserve a severe punishment , that produceth such a vitious Son as Wine is ; and the same consideration caused Anedrocides to prophecy to that Great Monarch Alexander , that Wine was the bloud of the Earth , and that he should be carefull to refrain from it ; the which he contradicting , and being at several times distemperd with it , he killed Clito his friend ; burnt the City of Percepolis , and caused his best Physitian to be set upon a Stake , these and otheir enormions , uncomely & excessive crimes did he commit in that condition , which me thinks cannot but cause a loathing in the soul of every good Christian of the vice of drunkenness ; considering how it layeth him open to all wickednesses , and to the commission of such horrid evills , and afterwards causeth a sad heart to remember them , and many tears to repent them .

These two vices of glottony and drunkenness did not begin to take root in our dayes , but they made their entrance into the World at the beginning : The desire to eat and tast of choice fruit , was the cause of our Fore-father Adam and Eve their fall , and the shutting us out of Paradise : By the glotony of Herod ( that is after he had eaten and drunk liberally ) he made that promise by which St. John Baptist lost his head ; the rich Gutton for minding his Belly more then any thing else , was condemned for it ; The Text saith , he fared deliciously every day : as he buried himself in delights , not conside●ing the poor , so was he afterwards drowned in torments , and buried unpittied . Noah being overcome with Wine discovered his nakedness , to the derision of one of his Sons ; Lot in his Wine lyeth with both his Daughters , and unknown ; what a stupidity doth it bring upon us , even to the forgetting of our selves , our condition , and our nature ; Here you see plainly how Dame Nature hath bestowed her favours more to other Creatures then to us ; for they know to with-hold , rule , and put such bounds to their appetites , that they seldom pass them , alwayes satisfying themselves with what is necessary to maintain nature , and preserve health ; for which cause they seldome are afflicted with thus many and great infirmities , which do continually war against us ; and if in case any dolours or calamities do trouble or molest them , nature hath endowed them with such a knowledge as to seek out peculiars and proper remedies for their diseases , without any necessity of running to Doctors , who many times instead of putting recipe , put decipe , changing r. for d. and for there rrecipe often we pay very dear , and give our money freely to such as destroy us ; because their Medicines for the most part are mixtures composed rather to the decaying , then the upholding of nature , and are very dangerous ; the which other Creatures are free of , because they have some understanding what is fittest for their cure : as the Wild Pigions , Jayes , Black-Birds , Partriges , &c. do purge their superfluities with Laurel-leaves ; the tame Pigions , Turtles , and Chickens , with the hearb Pelitory ; Doggs and Cats when they find themselves much overcharged , do cleanse by eating the Grass that 's watred with the morning dew ; the Red-Deer when he is wounded , understands so much as to procure Dittany for his cure ; the Weesel when he intends to encounter with the Rat , eats Rue , by which he finds himself more strengthened and couragious ; The Wild Boares cure themselves with Ivy ; The Bears with Mandrake ; and the Eagles knowing with what difficulty and pain they lay their Eggs , by reason of the straightness of their passage , they seek out a stone called Tiles ; which the French and Spanish call the Eagles Stone , by vertue of which they enlarge the passage , and lay their Eggs with more ease ; which sort of Stone is made use of by many Ladyes in Italy to this day , for their easie delivering .