Chrysostom calls one of the devil's three great nets; [1904]Bernard, an
arrow which pierceth the soul through, and slays it; a sly, insensible
enemy, not perceived, are main causes. Where neither anger, lust,
covetousness, fear, sorrow, &c., nor any other perturbation can lay
hold; this will slyly and insensibly pervert us, Quem non gula vicit,
Philautia, superavit, (saith Cyprian) whom surfeiting could not
overtake, self-love hath overcome. [1905]He hath scorned all money,
bribes, gifts, upright otherwise and sincere, hath inserted himself to
no fond imagination, and sustained all those tyrannical concupiscences
of the body, hath lost all his honour, captivated by vainglory.
Chrysostom, sup. Io. Tu sola animum mentemque peruris, gloria. A great
assault and cause of our present malady, although we do most part
neglect, take no notice of it, yet this is a violent batterer of our
souls, causeth melancholy and dotage. This pleasing humour; this soft
and whispering popular air, Amabilis insania; this delectable frenzy,
most irrefragable passion, Mentis gratissimus error, this acceptable
disease, which so sweetly sets upon us, ravisheth our senses, lulls our
souls asleep, puffs up our hearts as so many bladders, and that without
all feeling, [1906]insomuch as those that are misaffected with it,
never so much as once perceive it, or think of any cure. We commonly
love him best in this [1907]malady, that doth us most harm, and are
very willing to be hurt; adulationibus nostris libentur facemus (saith
[1908] Jerome) we love him, we love him for it: [1909]O Bonciari suave,
suave fuit a te tali haec tribui; 'Twas sweet to hear it. And as
[1910]Pliny doth ingenuously confess to his dear friend Augurinus, all
thy writings are most acceptable, but those especially that speak of
us. Again, a little after to Maximus, [1911]I cannot express how
pleasing it is to me to hear myself commended. Though we smile to
ourselves, at least ironically, when parasites bedaub us with false
encomiums, as many princes cannot choose but do, Quum tale quid nihil
intra se repererint, when they know they come as far short, as a mouse
to an elephant, of any such virtues; yet it doth us good. Though we
seem many times to be angry, [1912] and blush at our own praises, yet
our souls inwardly rejoice, it puffs us up; 'tis fallax suavitas,
blandus daemon, makes us swell beyond our bounds, and forget ourselves.
Her two daughters are lightness of mind, immoderate joy and pride, not
excluding those other concomitant vices, which [1913]Iodocus Lorichius
reckons up; bragging, hypocrisy, peevishness, and curiosity.
Now the common cause of this mischief, ariseth from ourselves or
others, [1914]we are active and passive. It proceeds inwardly from
ourselves, as we are active causes, from an overweening conceit we have
of our good parts, own worth, (which indeed is no worth) our bounty,
favour, grace, valour, strength, wealth, patience, meekness,
hospitality, beauty, temperance, gentry, knowledge, wit, science, art,
learning, our [1915] excellent gifts and fortunes, for which,
Narcissus-like, we admire, flatter, and applaud ourselves, and think
all the world esteems so of us; and as deformed women easily believe
those that tell them they be fair, we are too credulous of our own good
parts and praises, too well persuaded of ourselves. We brag and
venditate our [1916]own works, and scorn all others in respect of us;
Inflati scientia, (saith Paul) our wisdom, [1917]our learning, all our
geese are swans, and we as basely esteem and vilify other men's, as we
do over-highly prize and value our own. We will not suffer them to be
in secundis, no, not in tertiis; what, Mecum confertur Ulysses? they
are Mures, Muscae, culices prae se, nits and flies compared to his
inexorable and supercilious, eminent and arrogant worship: though
indeed they be far before him. Only wise, only rich, only fortunate,
valorous, and fair, puffed up with this tympany of self-conceit;
[1918]as that proud Pharisee, they are not (as they suppose) like other
men, of a purer and more precious metal: [1919]Soli rei gerendi sunt
efficaces, which that wise Periander held of such: [1920]meditantur
omne qui prius negotium, &c. Novi quendam (saith [1921]Erasmus) I knew
one so arrogant that he thought himself inferior to no man living, like
[1922]Callisthenes the philosopher, that neither held Alexander's acts,
or any other subject worthy of his pen, such was his insolency; or
Seleucus king of Syria, who thought none fit to contend with him but
the Romans. [1923]Eos solos dignos ratus quibuscum de imperio certaret.
That which Tully writ to Atticus long since, is still in force.
[1924]There was never yet true poet nor orator, that thought any other
better than himself. And such for the most part are your princes,
potentates, great philosophers, historiographers, authors of sects or
heresies, and all our great scholars, as [1925]Hierom defines; a
natural philosopher is a glorious creature, and a very slave of rumour,
fame, and popular opinion, and though they write de contemptu gloriae,
yet as he observes, they will put their names to their books. Vobis et
famae, me semper dedi, saith Trebellius Pollio, I have wholly
consecrated myself to you and fame. 'Tis all my desire, night and day,
'tis all my study to raise my name. Proud [1926]Pliny seconds him;
Quamquam O! &c. and that vainglorious [1927]orator is not ashamed to
confess in an Epistle of his to Marcus Lecceius, Ardeo incredibili
cupididate, &c. I burn with an incredible desire to have my [1928]name
registered in thy book. Out of this fountain proceed all those cracks
and brags,—[1929]speramus carmina fingi Posse linenda cedro, et leni
servanda cupresso—[1930]Non usitata nec tenui ferar penna.—nec in terra
morabor longius. Nil parvum aut humili modo, nil mortale loquor. Dicar
qua violens obstrepit Ausidus.—Exegi monumentum aere perennius. Iamque
opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis, &c. cum venit ille dies, &c.
parte tamen meliore mei super alta perennis astra ferar, nomenque erit
indelebile nostrum. (This of Ovid I have paraphrased in English.)
And when I am dead and gone,
My corpse laid under a stone
My fame shall yet survive,
And I shall be alive,
In these my works for ever,
My glory shall persever, &c.
And that of Ennius,
Nemo me lachrymis decoret, neque funera fletu
Faxit, cur? volito docta per ora virum.
Let none shed tears over me, or adorn my bier with sorrow—because I am
eternally in the mouths of men. With many such proud strains, and
foolish flashes too common with writers. Not so much as Democharis on
the [1931] Topics, but he will be immortal. Typotius de fama, shall be
famous, and well he deserves, because he writ of fame; and every
trivial poet must be renowned,—Plausuque petit clarescere vulgi. He
seeks the applause of the public. This puffing humour it is, that hath
produced so many great tomes, built such famous monuments, strong
castles, and Mausolean tombs, to have their acts eternised,—Digito
monstrari, et dicier hic est; to be pointed at with the finger, and to
have it said 'there he goes,' to see their names inscribed, as Phryne
on the walls of Thebes, Phryne fecit; this causeth so many bloody
battles,—Et noctes cogit vigilare serenas; and induces us to watch
during calm nights. Long journeys, Magnum iter intendo, sed dat mihi
gloria vires, I contemplate a monstrous journey, but the love of glory
strengthens me for it, gaining honour, a little applause, pride,
self-love, vainglory. This is it which makes them take such pains, and
break out into those ridiculous strains, this high conceit of
themselves, to [1932]scorn all others; ridiculo fastu et intolerando
contemptu; as [1933]Palaemon the grammarian contemned Varro, secum et
natas et morituras literas jactans, and brings them to that height of
insolency, that they cannot endure to be contradicted, [1934]or hear of
anything but their own commendation, which Hierom notes of such kind of
men. And as [1935]Austin well seconds him, 'tis their sole study day
and night to be commended and applauded. When as indeed, in all wise
men's judgments, quibus cor sapit, they are [1936]mad, empty vessels,
funges, beside themselves, derided, et ut Camelus in proverbio quaerens
cornua, etiam quas habebat aures amisit, [1937]their works are toys, as
an almanac out of date, [1938]authoris pereunt garrulitate sui, they
seek fame and immortality, but reap dishonour and infamy, they are a
common obloquy, insensati, and come far short of that which they
suppose or expect. [1939]O puer ut sis vitalis metuo,
———How much I dread
Thy days are short, some lord shall strike thee dead.
Of so many myriads of poets, rhetoricians, philosophers, sophisters, as
[1940]Eusebius well observes, which have written in former ages, scarce
one of a thousand's works remains, nomina et libri simul cum corporibus
interierunt, their books and bodies are perished together. It is not as
they vainly think, they shall surely be admired and immortal, as one
told Philip of Macedon insultingly, after a victory, that his shadow
was no longer than before, we may say to them,
Nos demiramur, sed non cum deside vulgo,
Sed velut Harpyas, Gorgonas, et Furias.
We marvel too, not as the vulgar we,
But as we Gorgons, Harpies, or Furies see.
Or if we do applaud, honour and admire, quota pars, how small a part,
in respect of the whole world, never so much as hears our names, how
few take notice of us, how slender a tract, as scant as Alcibiades'
land in a map! And yet every man must and will be immortal, as he
hopes, and extend his fame to our antipodes, when as half, no not a
quarter of his own province or city, neither knows nor hears of him—but
say they did, what's a city to a kingdom, a kingdom to Europe, Europe
to the world, the world itself that must have an end, if compared to
the least visible star in the firmament, eighteen times bigger than it?
and then if those stars be infinite, and every star there be a sun, as
some will, and as this sun of ours hath his planets about him, all
inhabited, what proportion bear we to them, and where's our glory?
Orbem terrarum victor Romanus habebat, as he cracked in Petronius, all
the world was under Augustus: and so in Constantine's time, Eusebius
brags he governed all the world, universum mundum praeclare admodum
administravit,—et omnes orbis gentes Imperatori subjecti: so of
Alexander it is given out, the four monarchies, &c. when as neither
Greeks nor Romans ever had the fifteenth part of the now known world,
nor half of that which was then described. What braggadocios are they
and we then? quam brevis hic de nobis sermo, as [1941]he said,
[1942]pudebit aucti nominis, how short a time, how little a while doth
this fame of ours continue? Every private province, every small
territory and city, when we have all done, will yield as generous
spirits, as brave examples in all respects, as famous as ourselves,
Cadwallader in Wales, Rollo in Normandy, Robin Hood and Little John,
are as much renowned in Sherwood, as Caesar in Rome, Alexander in
Greece, or his Hephestion, [1943] Omnis aetas omnisque populus in
exemplum et admirationem veniet, every town, city, book, is full of
brave soldiers, senators, scholars; and though [1944]Bracyclas was a
worthy captain, a good man, and as they thought, not to be matched in
Lacedaemon, yet as his mother truly said, plures habet Sparta Bracyda
meliores, Sparta had many better men than ever he was; and howsoever
thou admirest thyself, thy friend, many an obscure fellow the world
never took notice of, had he been in place or action, would have done
much better than he or he, or thou thyself.
Another kind of mad men there is opposite to these, that are insensibly
mad, and know not of it, such as contemn all praise and glory, think
themselves most free, when as indeed they are most mad: calcant sed
alio fastu: a company of cynics, such as are monks, hermits,
anchorites, that contemn the world, contemn themselves, contemn all
titles, honours, offices: and yet in that contempt are more proud than
any man living whatsoever. They are proud in humility, proud in that
they are not proud, saepe homo de vanae gloriae contemptu, vanius
gloriatur, as Austin hath it, confess. lib. 10, cap. 38, like Diogenes,
intus gloriantur, they brag inwardly, and feed themselves fat with a
self-conceit of sanctity, which is no better than hypocrisy. They go in
sheep's russet, many great men that might maintain themselves in cloth
of gold, and seem to be dejected, humble by their outward carriage,
when as inwardly they are swollen full of pride, arrogancy, and
self-conceit. And therefore Seneca adviseth his friend Lucilius,
[1945]in his attire and gesture, outward actions, especially to avoid
all such things as are more notable in themselves: as a rugged attire,
hirsute head, horrid beard, contempt of money, coarse lodging, and
whatsoever leads to fame that opposite way.
All this madness yet proceeds from ourselves, the main engine which
batters us is from others, we are merely passive in this business: from
a company of parasites and flatterers, that with immoderate praise, and
bombast epithets, glossing titles, false eulogiums, so bedaub and
applaud, gild over many a silly and undeserving man, that they clap him
quite out of his wits. Res imprimis violenta est, as Hierom notes, this
common applause is a most violent thing, laudum placenta, a drum, fife,
and trumpet cannot so animate; that fattens men, erects and dejects
them in an instant. [1946] Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.
It makes them fat and lean, as frost doth conies. [1947]And who is that
mortal man that can so contain himself, that if he be immoderately
commended and applauded, will not be moved? Let him be what he will,
those parasites will overturn him: if he be a king, he is one of the
nine worthies, more than a man, a god forthwith,—[1948]edictum Domini
Deique nostri: and they will sacrifice unto him,
[1949]———divinos si tu patiaris honores,
Ultro ipsi dabimus meritasque sacrabimus aras.
If he be a soldier, then Themistocles, Epaminondas, Hector, Achilles,
duo fulmina belli, triumviri terrarum, &c., and the valour of both
Scipios is too little for him, he is invictissimus, serenissimus,
multis trophaeus ornatissimus, naturae, dominus, although he be lepus
galeatus, indeed a very coward, a milk-sop, [1950]and as he said of
Xerxes, postremus in pugna, primus in fuga, and such a one as never
durst look his enemy in the face. If he be a big man, then is he a
Samson, another Hercules; if he pronounce a speech, another Tully or
Demosthenes; as of Herod in the Acts, the voice of God and not of man:
if he can make a verse, Homer, Virgil, &c., And then my silly weak
patient takes all these eulogiums to himself; if he be a scholar so
commended for his much reading, excellent style, method, &c., he will
eviscerate himself like a spider, study to death, Laudatas ostendit
avis Junonia pennas, peacock-like he will display all his feathers. If
he be a soldier, and so applauded, his valour extolled, though it be
impar congressus, as that of Troilus and Achilles, Infelix puer, he
will combat with a giant, run first upon a breach, as another
[1951]Philippus, he will ride into the thickest of his enemies. Commend
his housekeeping, and he will beggar himself; commend his temperance,
he will starve himself.
———laudataque virtus
Crescit, et immensum gloria calcar habet.[1952]
he is mad, mad, mad, no woe with him:—impatiens consortis erit, he will
over the [1953]Alps to be talked of, or to maintain his credit. Commend
an ambitious man, some proud prince or potentate, si plus aequo
laudetur (saith [1954]Erasmus) cristas erigit, exuit hominem, Deum se
putat, he sets up his crest, and will be no longer a man but a God.
[1955]———nihil est quod credere de se
Non audet quum laudatur diis aequa potestas.[1956]
How did this work with Alexander, that would needs be Jupiter's son,
and go like Hercules in a lion's skin? Domitian a god, [1957](Dominus
Deus noster sic fieri jubet,) like the [1958]Persian kings, whose image
was adored by all that came into the city of Babylon. Commodus the
emperor was so gulled by his flattering parasites, that he must be
called Hercules. [1959]Antonius the Roman would be crowned with ivy,
carried in a chariot, and adored for Bacchus. Cotys, king of Thrace,
was married to [1960] Minerva, and sent three several messengers one
after another, to see if she were come to his bedchamber. Such a one
was [1961]Jupiter Menecrates, Maximinus, Jovianus, Dioclesianus
Herculeus, Sapor the Persian king, brother of the sun and moon, and our
modern Turks, that will be gods on earth, kings of kings, God's shadow,
commanders of all that may be commanded, our kings of China and Tartary
in this present age. Such a one was Xerxes, that would whip the sea,
fetter Neptune, stulta jactantia, and send a challenge to Mount Athos;
and such are many sottish princes, brought into a fool's paradise by
their parasites, 'tis a common humour, incident to all men, when they
are in great places, or come to the solstice of honour, have done, or
deserved well, to applaud and flatter themselves. Stultitiam suam
produnt, &c., (saith [1962]Platerus) your very tradesmen if they be
excellent, will crack and brag, and show their folly in excess. They
have good parts, and they know it, you need not tell them of it; out of
a conceit of their worth, they go smiling to themselves, a perpetual
meditation of their trophies and plaudits, they run at last quite mad,
and lose their wits.[1963]Petrarch, lib. 1 de contemptu mundi,
confessed as much of himself, and Cardan, in his fifth book of wisdom,
gives an instance in a smith of Milan, a fellow-citizen of his,
[1964]one Galeus de Rubeis, that being commended for refining of an
instrument of Archimedes, for joy ran mad. Plutarch in the life of
Artaxerxes, hath such a like story of one Chamus, a soldier, that
wounded king Cyrus in battle, and grew thereupon so [1965]arrogant,
that in a short space after he lost his wits. So many men, if any new
honour, office, preferment, booty, treasure, possession, or patrimony,
ex insperato fall unto them for immoderate joy, and continual
meditation of it, cannot sleep [1966]or tell what they say or do, they
are so ravished on a sudden; and with vain conceits transported, there
is no rule with them. Epaminondas, therefore, the next day after his
Leuctrian victory, [1967]came abroad all squalid and submiss, and gave
no other reason to his friends of so doing, than that he perceived
himself the day before, by reason of his good fortune, to be too
insolent, overmuch joyed. That wise and virtuous lady, [1968]Queen
Katherine, Dowager of England, in private talk, upon like occasion,
said, that [1969]she would not willingly endure the extremity of either
fortune; but if it were so, that of necessity she must undergo the one,
she would be in adversity, because comfort was never wanting in it, but
still counsel and government were defective in the other: they could
not moderate themselves.
SUBSECT. XV.—_Love of Learning, or overmuch study. With a Digression of
the misery of Scholars, and why the Muses are Melancholy_.
Leonartus Fuchsius Instit. lib. iii. sect. 1. cap. 1. Felix Plater,
lib. iii. de mentis alienat. Herc. de Saxonia, Tract. post. de melanch.
cap. 3, speak of a [1970]peculiar fury, which comes by overmuch study.
Fernelius, lib. 1, cap. 18, [1971]puts study, contemplation, and
continual meditation, as an especial cause of madness: and in his 86
consul. cites the same words. Jo. Arculanus, in lib. 9, Rhasis ad
Alnansorem, cap. 16, amongst other causes reckons up studium vehemens:
so doth Levinus Lemnius, lib. de occul. nat. mirac. lib. 1, cap. 16.
[1972]Many men (saith he) come to this malady by continual [1973]study,
and night-waking, and of all other men, scholars are most subject to
it: and such Rhasis adds, [1974]that have commonly the finest wits.
Cont. lib. 1, tract. 9, Marsilius Ficinus, de sanit. tuenda, lib. 1.
cap. 7, puts melancholy amongst one of those five principal plagues of
students, 'tis a common Maul unto them all, and almost in some measure
an inseparable companion. Varro belike for that cause calls Tristes
Philosophos et severos, severe, sad, dry, tetric, are common epithets
to scholars: and [1975]Patritius therefore, in the institution of
princes, would not have them to be great students. For (as Machiavel
holds) study weakens their bodies, dulls the spirits, abates their
strength and courage; and good scholars are never good soldiers, which
a certain Goth well perceived, for when his countrymen came into
Greece, and would have burned all their books, he cried out against it,
by no means they should do it, [1976] leave them that plague, which in
time will consume all their vigour, and martial spirits. The
[1977]Turks abdicated Cornutus the next heir from the empire, because
he was so much given to his book: and 'tis the common tenet of the
world, that learning dulls and diminisheth the spirits, and so per
consequens produceth melancholy.
Two main reasons may be given of it, why students should be more
subject to this malady than others. The one is, they live a sedentary,
solitary life, sibi et musis, free from bodily exercise, and those
ordinary disports which other men use: and many times if discontent and
idleness concur with it, which is too frequent, they are precipitated
into this gulf on a sudden: but the common cause is overmuch study; too
much learning (as [1978]Festus told Paul) hath made thee mad; 'tis that
other extreme which effects it. So did Trincavelius, lib. 1, consil. 12
and 13, find by his experience, in two of his patients, a young baron,
and another that contracted this malady by too vehement study. So
Forestus, observat. l. 10, observ. 13, in a young divine in Louvain,
that was mad, and said [1979]he had a Bible in his head: Marsilius
Ficinus de sanit. tuend. lib. 1, cap. 1, 3, 4, and lib. 2, cap. 16,
gives many reasons, [1980] why students dote more often than others.
The first is their negligence; [1981]other men look to their tools, a
painter will wash his pencils, a smith will look to his hammer, anvil,
forge; a husbandman will mend his plough-irons, and grind his hatchet
if it be dull; a falconer or huntsman will have an especial care of his
hawks, hounds, horses, dogs, &c.; a musician will string and unstring
his lute, &c.; only scholars neglect that instrument, their brain and
spirits (I mean) which they daily use, and by which they range overall
the world, which by much study is consumed. Vide (saith Lucian) ne
funiculum nimis intendendo aliquando abrumpas: See thou twist not the
rope so hard, till at length it [1982]break. Facinus in his fourth
chap. gives some other reasons; Saturn and Mercury, the patrons of
learning, they are both dry planets: and Origanus assigns the same
cause, why Mercurialists are so poor, and most part beggars; for that
their president Mercury had no better fortune himself. The destinies of
old put poverty upon him as a punishment; since when, poetry and
beggary are Gemelli, twin-born brats, inseparable companions;
[1983]And to this day is every scholar poor;
Gross gold from them runs headlong to the boor:
Mercury can help them to knowledge, but not to money. The second is
contemplation, [1984]which dries the brain and extinguisheth natural
heat; for whilst the spirits are intent to meditation above in the
head, the stomach and liver are left destitute, and thence come black
blood and crudities by defect of concoction, and for want of exercise
the superfluous vapours cannot exhale, &c. The same reasons are
repeated by Gomesius, lib. 4, cap. 1, de sale [1985]Nymannus orat. de
Imag. Jo. Voschius, lib. 2, cap. 5, de peste: and something more they
add, that hard students are commonly troubled with gouts, catarrhs,
rheums, cachexia, bradiopepsia, bad eyes, stone and colic,
[1986]crudities, oppilations, vertigo, winds, consumptions, and all
such diseases as come by overmuch sitting; they are most part lean,
dry, ill-coloured, spend their fortunes, lose their wits, and many
times their lives, and all through immoderate pains, and extraordinary
studies. If you will not believe the truth of this, look upon great
Tostatus and Thomas Aquinas's works, and tell me whether those men took
pains? peruse Austin, Hierom, &c., and many thousands besides.
Qui cupit optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit, fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit.
He that desires this wished goal to gain,
Must sweat and freeze before he can attain,
and labour hard for it. So did Seneca, by his own confession, ep. 8.
[1987]Not a day that I spend idle, part of the night I keep mine eyes
open, tired with waking, and now slumbering to their continual task.
Hear Tully pro Archia Poeta: whilst others loitered, and took their
pleasures, he was continually at his book, so they do that will be
scholars, and that to the hazard (I say) of their healths, fortunes,
wits, and lives. How much did Aristotle and Ptolemy spend? unius regni
precium they say, more than a king's ransom; how many crowns per annum,
to perfect arts, the one about his History of Creatures, the other on
his Almagest? How much time did Thebet Benchorat employ, to find out
the motion of the eighth sphere? forty years and more, some write: how
many poor scholars have lost their wits, or become dizzards, neglecting
all worldly affairs and their own health, wealth, esse and bene esse,
to gain knowledge for which, after all their pains, in this world's
esteem they are accounted ridiculous and silly fools, idiots, asses,
and (as oft they are) rejected, contemned, derided, doting, and mad.
Look for examples in Hildesheim spicel. 2, de mania et delirio: read
Trincavellius, l. 3. consil. 36, et c. 17. Montanus, consil. 233.
[1988]Garceus de Judic. genit. cap. 33. Mercurialis, consil. 86, cap.
25. Prosper [1989]Calenius in his Book de atra bile; Go to Bedlam and
ask. Or if they keep their wits, yet they are esteemed scrubs and fools
by reason of their carriage: after seven years' study
———statua, taciturnius exit,
Plerumque et risum populi quatit.———
He becomes more silent than a statue, and generally excites people's
laughter. Because they cannot ride a horse, which every clown can do;
salute and court a gentlewoman, carve at table, cringe and make conges,
which every common swasher can do, [1990]hos populus ridet, &c., they
are laughed to scorn, and accounted silly fools by our gallants. Yea,
many times, such is their misery, they deserve it: [1991]a mere
scholar, a mere ass.
[1992]Obstipo capite, et figentes lumine terram,
Murmura cum secum, et rabiosa silentia rodunt,
Atque experrecto trutinantur verba labello,
Aegroti veteris meditantes somnia, gigni
De nihilo nihilum; in nihilum nil posse reverti.
[1993]———who do lean awry
Their heads, piercing the earth with a fixt eye;
When, by themselves, they gnaw their murmuring,
And furious silence, as 'twere balancing
Each word upon their out-stretched lip, and when
They meditate the dreams of old sick men,
As, 'Out of nothing, nothing can be brought;
And that which is, can ne'er be turn'd to nought.'