Libels, and others of that kind, to the detraction of them that are in Authority: So as Rebellious Actions, and Seditious Reports, differ nothing in Kind and Blood, but as it were in Sex only; the one fort being Masculine, and the other Feminine.

x. Acteon and Pentheus, or a Curious Man.

HE Curiofity of Men, in prying into Secrets, and coveting with an undifcreet Defire to attain the knowledge

of Things forbidden, is fet forth by the Ancients in two other Examples: The one of Acteon, the other of Pentheus.

Acteon having unawares, and as it were by chance beheld Diana naked, was turned into a Stag, and devoured by his own Dogs.

And Pentheus climbing up into a Tree, with a defire to be a fpectator of the hidden Sacrifices of Bacchus, was ftricken with fuch a kind of Frenzy, as that whatsoever he looked upon, he thought it always double, fuppofing (among other Things) he faw two Suns, and two Thebes; infomuch that running towards Thebes, fpying another Thebes, inftantly turned back again, and fo kept ftill running forward and backward with perpetual Unrest, Eumenidum veluti demens vidit agmina Pentheus, Et Solem geminum, duplices fe oftendere Thebas.

Pentheus amazed, doth troops of Furies spy; And Sun, and Thebes, seem double to his Eye.

The first of the Fables pertains to the fecrets of Princes, the second to Divine Myfteries. For those that are near about Princes, and come to the knowledge of more Secrets than they would have them, do certainly incur great Hatred. And therefore, (fufpecting that they are Shot at, and Opportunities watched for their Overthrow,) do lead their Lives like Stags, fearful and full of suspicion. And it happens oftentimes that their Servants, and those of their Household, (to infinuate into the Prince's Favour) do accuse them to their Destruction; for against whomfoever the Prince's Displeasure is known, look how many Servants that Man hath, and you shall find them for the most part so many Traitors unto him, that his End may prove to be like Acteon's.

The other is the Mifery of Pentheus: For that by the height of Knowledge and Nature in Philosophy, having climbed, as it were into a Tree, do with rash Attempts (unmindful of their Frailty) pry into the Secrets of Divine Mysteries, and are justly plagued with perpetual Inconstancy, and with wavering and perplexed Conceits: For feeing the light of Nature is one thing, and of Grace another; it happens so to them as if they saw two Suns. And feeing the Actions of Life, and degrees of the Will to depend on the Understanding, it follows that they doubt, are inconstant no less in Will than in Opinion; and fo in like manner they

may be said to fee two Thebes: For by Thebes (feeing there was the Habitation and refuge of Pentheus) is meant the end of Actions. Hence it comes to pass that they know not whither they go, but as distracted and unrefolved in the Scope of their Intentions, are in all Things carried about with fudden Paffions of the Mind.

XI. Orpheus, or Philosophy.

HE Tale of Orpheus, though common, had never the fortune to be fitly applied in every Point. It may seem to represent the Image of Philofophy :

For the Perfon of Orpheus (a Man Admirable and Divine, and fo excellently skilled in all kinds of Harmony, that with his sweet ravishing Mufick he did as it were charm and allure all Things to follow him) may carry a fingular Description of Philofophy: For the Labours of Orpheus do fo far exceed the Labours of Hercules in Dignity and Efficacy, as the Works of Wisdom, excel the Works of Fortitude.

Orpheus for the Love he bare to his Wife, fnatched, as it were, from him by untimely Death, refolved to go down to Hell with his Harp, to try if he might obtain her of the Infernal Powers. Neither were his hopes fruftrated: For having appeafed them with the melodious found of his Voice and Touch, prevailed at length fo far, as

with

that they granted him leave to take her away him; but on this Condition, that she should follow him, and he not to look back upon her, till he came to the Light of the upper World; which he (impatient of, out of Love and Care, and thinking that he was in a manner past all Danger) nevertheless violated, infomuch that the Covenant is broken, and she forthwith tumbles back again headlong into Hell. Orpheus falling into a deep Melancholy, became a Contemner of Womankind, and bequeathed himself, to a folitary Life in the Deferts; where, by the fame Melody of his Voice and Harp, he first drew all manner of wild Beafts unto him, (who forgetful of their Savage fierceness, and cafting off the precipitate Provocations of Luft and Fury, not caring to fatiate their Voracity by hunting after Prey) as at a Theatre in fawning and reconciled Amity one towards another, standing all at the Gaze about him, and attentively lend their Ears to his Mufick. Neither is this all; for fo great was the Power and alluring Force of this Harmony, that he drew the Woods, and moved the very Stones to come and place themselves in an orderly and decent Fashion about him. These Things fucceeding happily, and with great Admiration for a time; at length certain Thracian Women (poffeffed with the Spirit of Bacchus,) made fuch a horrid and strange Noise with their Cornets, that the found of Orpheus's Harp could no more be heard, infomuch as that Harmony which was the Bond of that Order and Society being diffolved, all Disorder began again;

and the Beasts (returning to their wonted Nature) pursued one another unto Death as before: Neither did the Trees or Stones remain any longer in their Places And Orpheus himself was by these Female Furies torn in Pieces, and scattered all over the Defert. For whose cruel Death the River Helicon facred to the Mufes) in horrible Indignation, hid his Head under Ground, and raised it again in another Place.

The meaning of this Fable feems to be thus: Orpheus's Mufick is of two forts, the one appeasing the Infernal Powers, the other attracting Beafts and Trees; the first may be fitly applied to Natural Philofophy, the fecond to Moral or Civil Discipline.

The most noble Work of Natural Philosophy, is the Reftitution and Renovation of Things corruptible; the other (as a leffer degree of it) the Prefervation of Bodies in their Eftates, detaining them from Diffolution and Putrefaction; and if this Gift may be in Mortals, certainly it can be done by no other means than by the due and exquifite Temper of Nature, as by the melody and delicate Touch of an Inftrument. But seeing it is of all Things most difficult, it is feldom or never attained unto; and in all likelihood for no other Reason, more than through curious Diligence and untimely Impatience. And therefore Philosophy hardly able to produce fo excellent an Effect in a penfive Humour, (and that without caufe) bufies herself about Humane Objects, and by Perfuafion and Eloquence, infinuating the love of Virtue,