aft, [2349]"they pull those
misfortunes they suspect, upon their own heads, and that which they fear,
shall come upon them," as Solomon fortelleth, Prov. x. 24. and Isaiah
denounceth, lxvi. 4. which if [2350]"they could neglect and contemn, would
not come to pass," _Eorum vires nostra resident opinione, ut morbi gravitas
?grotantium cogitatione_, they are intended and remitted, as our opinion is
fixed, more or less. _N. N. dat poenas_, saith [2351]Crato of such a one,
_utinam non attraheret_: he is punished, and is the cause of it [2352]
himself:

[2353]_Dum fata fugimus fata stulti incurrimus_, the thing that I feared,
saith Job, is fallen upon me.

As much we may say of them that are troubled with their fortunes; or ill
destinies foreseen: _multos angit praecientia malorum_: The foreknowledge
of what shall come to pass, crucifies many men: foretold by astrologers, or
wizards, _iratum ob coelum_, be it ill accident, or death itself: which
often falls out by God's permission; _quia daemonem timent_ (saith
Chrysostom) _Deus ideo permittit accidere_. Severus, Adrian, Domitian, can
testify as much, of whose fear and suspicion, Sueton, Herodian, and the
rest of those writers, tell strange stories in this behalf. [2354]Montanus
_consil. 31._ hath one example of a young man, exceeding melancholy upon
this occasion. Such fears have still tormented mortal men in all ages, by
reason of those lying oracles, and juggling priests. [2355]There was a
fountain in Greece, near Ceres' temple in Achaia, where the event of such
diseases was to be known; "A glass let down by a thread," &c. Amongst those
Cyanean rocks at the springs of Lycia, was the oracle of Thrixeus Apollo,
"where all fortunes were foretold, sickness, health, or what they would
besides:" so common people have been always deluded with future events. At
this day, _Metus futurorum maxime torquet Sinas_, this foolish fear,
mightily crucifies them in China: as [2356]Matthew Riccius the Jesuit
informeth us, in his commentaries of those countries, of all nations they
are most superstitious, and much tormented in this kind, attributing so
much to their divinators, _ut ipse metus fidem faciat_, that fear itself
and conceit, cause it to [2357]fall out: If he foretell sickness such a
day, that very time they will be sick, _vi metus afflicti in aegritudinem
cadunt_; and many times die as it is foretold. A true saying, _Timor
mortis, morte pejor_, the fear of death is worse than deat