I mean such a one as believes that the likeness of God is found in
wisdom and understanding, not in the sceptre, the thunder-bolt, or
the trident, with which symbols of Deity some have vainly caused
themselves to be carved or painted, thereby exposing their egregious
folly to the world, in affecting that which they are not able to
attain to. For God cannot but be incensed against those that presume
to imitate him in producing thunder, lightnings, and sunbeams; but if
any strive to emulate his goodness and mercy, being well pleased with
their endeavors, he will assist them, and will endue them with his
order, justice, truth, and gentleness, than which nothing can be more
sacred and pure,—not fire, not light, nor the course of the sun, not
the rising and setting of the stars, nor even eternity and immortality
itself. For God is not only happy by reason of the duration of his
being, but because of the excellency of his virtue; this is properly
divine and transcendent, and that is also good which is governed by it.
4. Anaxarchus endeavoring to comfort Alexander, who was very much
afflicted for the murder he had committed on the person of Clitus, told
him, that justice and right sat as assistants by the throne of Jupiter,
so that whatsoever was done by a king might be accounted lawful and
just; but by this means he indiscreetly prevented his repentance, and
encouraged him to attempt the committing the like crimes again. But if
we may be permitted to guess at these matters, Jupiter hath not Justice
for an assessor or counsellor, but is himself Justice and Right, and
the original and perfection of all laws. Therefore the ancients devised
and taught these things, that they might thereby show that even Jupiter
himself could not rule well without Justice; for she is (according to
Hesiod) a pure and undefiled virgin, and the companion of Modesty,
Reverence, Chastity, and Simplicity; hence kings are called “reverent,”
for they ought to be most reverent who fear least. But a prince ought
to be more afraid of doing than of suffering ill; for the former is the
cause of the other; and this is a noble and generous sort of fear, well
becoming a prince, to be solicitous lest any harm should befall his
subjects unawares:
As faithful dogs, surprised with sudden fear,
When once they see the savage beasts appear,
Not of themselves, but of their flocks take care.[117]
Epaminondas, when on a certain festival day the Thebans gave themselves
up wholly to drinking and carousing, went about alone and viewed the
arsenal and the walls of the city, saying, that he was sober and
vigilant that others might have liberty to be drunk and to sleep. And
Cato at Utica, when he had called together by proclamation all his
soldiers that had escaped the slaughter to the sea-side, caused them
to embark in ships; and having prayed for their prosperous voyage,
returned home and killed himself, leaving an example to princes, whom
they ought to fear and what they ought to contemn. On the other hand,
Clearchus, king of Pontus, creeping into a chest, slept therein like
a snake. And Aristodemus lay with his concubine in a bed placed in an
upper room over a trap-door, her mother removing the ladder as soon as
they were got up, and bringing it again in the morning. How then, think
you, did he fear to be seen in the theatre, in the judgment-hall, in
the court, or at a feast, who had turned his bed-chamber into a prison?
For indeed good princes are possessed with fear for their subjects, but
tyrants with fear of them; insomuch that their timorousness increaseth
with their power, since the more people they have under their dominion,
so much the more objects they see of dread and terror.
5. Neither is it probable or convenient (as some philosophers affirm)
that God should be mingled together with matter that is altogether
passive, and with things obnoxious to innumerable necessities, chances,
and mutations; but to us he seems to be placed somewhere above with
the eternal nature that always operates after the same manner; and
proceeding (as Plato saith) on sacred foundations, according to nature,
he brings his works to perfection. And as he hath placed the sun in the
firmament, as a clear image of his most sacred and glorious essence, in
which, as in a mirror, he exhibits himself to the contemplation of wise
men; so in like manner, the splendor of justice that appears in some
cities is a kind of representation of the divine wisdom, which happy
and prudent persons describe by the help of philosophy, conforming
themselves to those things which are of a most sublime and excellent
nature. It is certain that this disposition of mind cannot be attained
but by the doctrine of philosophy; otherwise we shall lie under the
same circumstances as Alexander, who seeing Diogenes at Corinth, and
being astonished at his ingenuity and majestic gravity, let fall this
expression If I were not Alexander, I would choose to be Diogenes.
For being almost oppressed with the weight of his own grandeur and
power, which are the impediments of virtue and ease, he seemed to envy
the happiness of a threadbare cloak and pouch, with which the Cynic
rendered himself as invincible as he could be with all his armor,
horses, and pikes. However, he had an opportunity to philosophize and
to become Diogenes in his mind, though he remained Alexander in his
outward state and condition, and he might more easily be Diogenes,
because he was Alexander; forasmuch as to keep the vessel of his
prosperous fortune steady, which was tossed with the winds and waves,
he stood in need of a good quantity of ballast and of a skilful pilot.
6. Amongst, the mean and inferior sort of people, folly mingled with
weakness is destitute of an ability to do mischief; and the mind is
vexed and distracted by it, as a distempered brain is with troublesome
dreams, insomuch that it hath not strength enough to execute what it
desires. But power joined with a corrupt and depraved inclination adds
the fuel of madness to the fire of the passions. So true is that saying
of Dionysius, who declared, that he then chiefly enjoyed his authority,
when he speedily performed what he designed. But herein lies the
greatest danger, lest he that is able to do all things that he desires
should desire those things that he ought not.