48] fleering
and grinning there is in this age, they would certainly have concluded, we
had been all out of our wits.

Aristotle in his Ethics holds _felix idemque sapiens_, to be wise and
happy, are reciprocal terms, _bonus idemque sapiens honestus_. 'Tis [449]
Tully's paradox, "wise men are free, but fools are slaves," liberty is a
power to live according to his own laws, as we will ourselves: who hath
this liberty? who is free?

[450] ------"sapiens sibique imperiosus,
Quem neque pauperis, neque mors, neque vincula terrent,
Responsare cupidinibus, contemnere honores
Fortis, et in seipso totus teres atque rotundus."

"He is wise that can command his own will,
Valiant and constant to himself still,
Whom poverty nor death, nor bands can fright,
Checks his desires, scorns honours, just and right."

But where shall such a man be found? If no where, then _e diametro_, we are
all slaves, senseless, or worse. _Nemo malus felix_. But no man is happy
in this life, none good, therefore no man wise. [451]_Rari quippe
boni_------ For one virtue you shall find ten vices in the same party;
_pauci Promethei, multi Epimethei_. We may peradventure usurp the name, or
attribute it to others for favour, as Carolus Sapiens, Philippus Bonus,
Lodovicus Pius, &c., and describe the properties of a wise man, as Tully
doth an orator, Xenophon Cyrus, Castilio a courtier, Galen temperament, an
aristocracy is described by politicians. But where shall such a man be
found?

"Vir bonus et sapiens, qualem vix repperit unum
Millibus e multis hominum consultus Apollo."

"A wise, a good man in a million,
Apollo consulted could scarce find one."

A man is a miracle of himself, but Trismegistus adds, _Maximum miraculum
homo sapiens_, a wise man is a wonder: _multi Thirsigeri, pauci Bacchi_.

Alexander when he was presented with that rich and costly casket of king
Darius, and every man advised him what to put in it, he reserved it to keep
Homer's works, as the most precious jewel of human wit, and yet [452]
Scaliger upbraids Homer's muse, _Nutricem insanae sapientiae_, a nursery of
madness, [453]impudent as a court lady, that blushes at nothing. Jacobus
Mycillus, Gilbertus Cognatus, Erasmus, and almost all posterity admire
Lucian's luxuriant wit, yet Scaliger rejects him in his censure, and calls
him the Cerberus of the muses. Socrates, whom all the world so muc