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First,* 1.1 To take Man from his beginning, the Noblest of all Men (be he the Sonne of an Emperour) is formed betwixt the Vrine and Or∣dure, nourished with the most impure bloud of all, might easily be crushed by the least fall of the Mother,
or smoothered with the stink of a candle snuff.
His Birth is shamefull, for no woman would be openly delivered; on the other side it is a glory to kill a man, and Duels bring men into reputa∣tion. Thus it is a shame to bring a Man into the world, and a glory to send him out; a plain proof that the life of a Man is an evill, since it is a shame to give it, and an ho∣nour to take it away.
We see also he begins his life with tears, and when he is born he cannot help him∣self, but crawles for some years in his own filth, where∣as other creatures as soon as they come forth fall upon their feet, and run after their food as soon as they are out of the shell, Man is born under
the necessity of maintaining his life with the sweat of his brows, when all other Crea∣tures find their cloath laid; onely man hath need of clo∣thing, He that is Lord of all the World is ashamed to be seen, and therefore clads himself in the spoyl of ano∣ther.
Man alone is subject to more diseases than all the Beasts together; they are not hurt with Dewes, nor bleed at the Nose, though they hang it alwayes down∣ward to the ground, they know not what Rheumes mean, the Stone, Tertian, or Quotidian Agues; Man onely knowes these diffe∣rences, and feels them: those Beasts that are more domesti∣call, are more diseasefull
than others, as infected by Contagion.
Man indeed hath Reason above Beasts, but he devi∣seth therewith how to tor∣ment himself, and strains the uttermost of his wit about painfull and pernicious Pro∣jects; to be subtill in sutes of Law, to entangle him∣self in other mens business, when he is glutted and full, to raise up an artificiall sto∣mach, and a desire to drink, without thirst; and I know not how it comes to pass, but we are more sensible of Evill than Good, and troubles fret us more than all plea∣sures can content us: scarce any one finds a generall health, but ach in the teeth, or pain in the fingers end torments us; a drop of gall
bitters a sea of sweet, and how much hapiness doth one affliction countervail?
Birth.