"Essays" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bacon Francis)

enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him, that can win
the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor
aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it; nay, we
read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the
tenderest of affections) provoked many to die, out of mere
compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers.
Nay, Seneca adds niceness and satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris;
mori velle, non tantum fortis aut miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest.
A man would die, though he were neither valiant, nor miserable, only
upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft, over and over. It is
no less worthy, to observe, how little alteration in good spirits, the
approaches of death make; for they appear to be the same men, till the
last instant. Augustus Caesar died in a compliment; Livia, conjugii
nostri memor, vive et vale. Tiberius in dissimulation; as Tacitus
saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio,
deserebant. Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool; Ut puto
deus fio. Galba with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani;
holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus in despatch; Adeste si
quid mihi restat agendum. And the like. Certainly the Stoics
bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great preparations,
made it appear more fearful. Better saith he qui finem vitae
extremum inter munera ponat naturae. It is as natural to die, as to be
born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful, as the
other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded
in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and
therefore a mind fixed, and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth
avert the dolors of death. But, above all, believe it, the sweetest
canticle is, Nunc dimittis; when a man hath obtained worthy ends,
and expectations. Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to
good fame, and extinguisheth envy. -Extinctus amabitur idem.

OF UNITY IN RELIGION

Religion being the chief band of human society, is a happy thing,
when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The
quarrels, and divisions about religion, were evils unknown to the
heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen,
consisted rather in rites and ceremonies, than in any constant belief.
For you may imagine, what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief
doctors, and fathers of their church, were the poets. But the true God
hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore, his
worship and religion, will endure no mixture, nor partner. We shall
therefore speak a few words, concerning the unity of the church;
what are the fruits thereof; what the bounds; and what the means.

The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing of God, which is
all in all) are two: the one, towards those that are without the
church, the other, towards those that are within. For the former; it
is certain, that heresies, and schisms, are of all others the greatest
scandals; yea, more than corruption of manners. For as in the