ion, that no soldiers
hereafter set upon desperate persons, which [6687]after Frontinus and
Vigetius, Guicciardini likewise admonisheth, _Hypomnes. part. 2. pag. 25._
not to stop an enemy that is going his way. Many such kinds there are of
desperation, when men are past hope of obtaining any suit, or in despair of
better fortune; _Desperatio facit monachum_, as the saying is, and
desperation causeth death itself; how many thousands in such distress have
made away themselves, and many others? For he that cares not for his own,
is master of another man's life. A Tuscan soothsayer, as [6688]Paterculus
tells the story, perceiving himself and Fulvius Flaccus his dear friend,
now both carried to prison by Opimius, and in despair of pardon, seeing the
young man weep, _quin tu potius hoc inquit facis_, do as I do; and with
that knocked out his brains against the door-cheek, as he was entering into
prison, _protinusque illiso capite in capite in carceris januam effuso
cerebro expiravit_, and so desperate died. But these are equivocal,
improper. "When I speak of despair," saith [6689]Zanchie, "I speak not of
every kind, but of that alone which concerns God. It is opposite to hope,
and a most pernicious sin, wherewith the devil seeks to entrap men."
Musculus makes four kinds of desperation, of God, ourselves, our neighbour,
or anything to be done; but this division of his may be reduced easily to
the former: all kinds are opposite to hope, that sweet moderator of
passions, as Simonides calls it; I do not mean that vain hope which
fantastical fellows feign to themselves, which according to Aristotle is
_insomnium vigilantium_, a waking dream; but this divine hope which
proceeds from confidence, and is an anchor to a floating soul; _spes alit
agricolas_, even in our temporal affairs, hope revives us, but in spiritual
it farther animateth; and were it not for hope, "we of all others were the
most miserable," as Paul saith, in this life; were it not for hope, the
heart would break; "for though they be punished in the sight of men,"
(Wisdom iii. 4.) yet is "their hope full of immortality:" yet doth it not
so rear, as despair doth deject; this violent and sour passion of despair,
is of all perturbations most grievous, as [6690]Patritius holds. Some
divide it into final and temporal; [6691]final is incurable, which
befalleth reprobates; temporal is a rejection of hope and comfort for a
time, which may befall the best of God's children, and