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I Am afeard least ouermuch payne make me mad.
Withstande it by wholesome and pleasant thoughtes. Some through manifold passions and affections that are not good nor sounde, do open the way vnto madnesse, and at length fal into perfect furie, lyke as the Philosophers holde opinion that contrariwyse an assured habite or custome of vertue is
gayned by often frequentyng the actions thereof.
I am afeard of a frenzie.
If it be lyke to come through some vice of the minde, arme it with vertue which is the proper armour therof: but yf of the body, thou must aske coun∣sell and succour at the handes of the Phisitions, whiche are the gouernours of mens bodyes. But yf so be that thou haue none neere vnto thee, or yf they that professe that science be vn∣skylfull in thy disease, then wyl I prescribe thee this one rule, to vse abstinence, and flee all excesse. It is no lesse well knowen then auncient, howe that the holy fathers buylde their bodyes with vertue, wherein it muche auay∣leth both the body and minde to brydle Leacherie and Glut∣tonie. Many haue been ouerthrowen by leacherie, many oppressed by surfeite, many consumed with sleepe, many drowned in drunkennesse, and many through the feruen∣cie and outrage of their lyfe, and the furious lycentious∣nesse of their mynde, haue fallen into starke madnesse.
I doubt, least naturally I fall into a frenzie.
That whiche nature bryngeth may be hard, but not mise∣rable: for why, it wanteth offence, whiche is the roote of mi∣serie. And seeing thou hast the grace to foresee it, folowe this aduice, that yf madnesse cannot be eschewed, yet at the leastwyse it may finde thee in good and perfect estate of soule. For yf thou begyn to wax madde beyng an inno∣cent and without sinne, then shalt thou dye an innocent, or recouer an innocent. There is no age, no holinesse, no wakefulnesse that so wel preserueth innocencie as mad∣nesse doth, looke in what case it taketh a man, in the same it lea∣ueth hym.
I am afearde to be mad.
Art thou a fearde to haue great personages, Kinges and Queenes to be thy companions? Doest thou disdayne Hercules and Aiax, Hecuba and Cassandra: and in another kynde, Lucretia and Empedocles?
I am afeard to be distraught.
That dis∣traught persons haue vsed to prophecie of many thynges to come, we haue hearde say, in suche sorte
that no wyse man coulde do the lyke, to suche excellencie hath this vagarant and furious frenzie atteined. And this was the cause, why the Grecians termed that Mantice in their tongue, that is to say, furie, which you in yours cal Diuinatio prophecie.
I abhor the force of madnesse.
We haue seene the sober sorowful, and the mad merie, although deceiued in their o∣pinion: yea errour also hath it peculiar delites.
The feare of beyng mad, molesteth my minde.
Some haue sought after rest from labour by counterfeit madnesse, but true furie indeede wyl procure true rest and quietnesse.