A treatise of the difference bbtwixt [sic] the temporal and eternal composed in Spanish by Eusebius Nieremberg ... ; translated into English by Sir Vivian Mullineaux, Knight ; and since reviewed according to the tenth and last Spanish edition.

CAP. I.

The mutability of things temporal makes them worthy of contempt.

HItherto we have spoken of the shortness of time, and consequently of all things temporal, and of the end wherein they are to conclude. Nothing is exempted from death, and therefore not onely humane life, but all things which fol∣low time, and even time it self at last must die. Where∣fore Hesichius,* 1.1 as he is translated by St. John Damascen, saith, That the splendour of this world is but as wi∣thered leaves, bubles of water, smoke, stubble, a sha∣dow, and dust driven by the wind: all things that are of earth being to end in earth. But this is not all; for besides the certainty of end, they are infected with another mischief, which renders them much more

contemptible than that, which is their instability, and continual changes, whereunto they are subject even whilest they are. For as time it self is in a perpetual succession and mutation, as being the brother and in∣separable companion of Motion, so it fixes this ill condition unto most of those things which pass along in it, the which not onely have an end, and that a short one, but even during that shortness of time, which they last, have a thousand changes, and before their end many ends, and before their death many deaths, each particular change, which our life suffers, being the death of some estate or part of if. For as death is the total change of life, so every change is the death of Come part. Sickness is the death of health, sleeping of waking, sorrow of joy, impatience of qui∣et, youth of infancy, and age of youth. The same condition hath the universal world and all things in it; for which cause they deserve so much contempt, that Marcus Aurelius the Emperour wondered that there could be found a man so senseless,* 1.2 as to value them; and therefore speaks in this manner.

Of that very thing, which is now in doing, some part is already vanisht: changes and alterations continually innovate the world, as that immense space of time by a perpetual flux renews it self. Who therefore shall esteem those things which never subsist, but pass along in this headlong and precipitate river of time, is as he who sets his affection upon some little bird, which passes along in the air, and is no more seen.

Thus much from this Philosopher. This very cause of the little value of things temporal proceeding from their perpetual changes, together with the end where∣unto they are subject, is, as St. Gregory notes, signified unto us by that Woman in the Apocalyps,* 1.3 who had the Moon under her feet, and her head adorned with twelve Stars. Certainly the Moon, as well as the Stars, might have been placed in her Diadem: but it was trod under foot by reason of the continual changes

and alterations which it suffers, whereby it becomes a figure of things temporal, which change not onely every Moneth, but every day; the same day being, as Euripides sayes, now a Mother, then a Stepmother. The same was also signified by the Angel,* 1.4 who crown∣ed with a Rainbow descended from heaven to pro∣claim that all time was to end; with his right foot, which presses and treads more firmly, he stood upon the Sea, which by reason of its great unquietness is al∣so a figure of the instability of this World. And there∣fore with much reason did the Angel, who had taught us by his voice, that all time and temporal things were to have an end, shew us also by this signe, that for their instability and inconstancy they were even before their end to be trodden under foot and despi∣sed. But more lively is the same exprest by the same St. John,* 1.5 when he beheld the Saints standing upon the Sea, to note that whilest they lived they contem∣ned and trampled under foot the transitory and fading things of this World; and to declare it more fully he sayes, the Sea was of glass, then which nothing is more frail, and although hard yet brittle.

Needs must the instability of things temporal be very great, and therefore most despicable, because it proceeeds from so many causes. For as the Sea hath two several kinds of motion, the first natural, by which it riseth and falleth daily with continual ebbs and flows, so as the waves, when they are most quiet, are yet still moving and inconstant: the other violent, when the waters are raised and incensed by some fu∣rious tempest; in the same manner the things of this World are naturally of themselves fading and transi∣tory, and without any exteriour violence suffer a con∣tinual change; and run rowling on toward their end; but besides are also subject to other unthought of ac∣cidents, and extraordinary violences, which force na∣ture out of her course, and raise huge storms in the Sea of this life, by which those things, which we most

esteem, suffer shipwrack. For as the fairest flower wi∣thers of it self, yet is oftentimes before born away by the wind, or perishes by some storm of hail, The most exact beauties lose their lustre by age, but are often be∣fore blasted by some violent Feaver, The most costly Garments wear out in time, if before not taken from us by the Theef, The strongest and most sumptuous Palaces decay with continuance, if before not ruined by Fire or Earthquakes: In like manner both their own nature and extrinsecal violences deprive tempo∣ral things even of time it self, and trail them along in perpetual changes, leaving nothing stable. Let us cast our eyes upon those things which men judge most worthy to endure,* 1.6 and made them to the end they should be eternal. How many changes and deaths have they suffered? St. Gregory Nazienzen places the City of Thebes in Aegypt, as the chiefest of those won∣ders, which the world admired.* 1.7 Most of the houses were of Alabaster Marble spotted with drops of gold, which made them appear most splendid and magni∣ficent: Upon the walls were many pleasant Gardens,* 1.8 which they called Horti pensiles, or hanging Gardens; and the Gates were no less than a hundred, out of which the Prince could draw forth numerous Armies without noise or knowledge of the people. Pomponius Mela writes, that out of every Port there issued 10000 armed men,* 1.9 which in the whole came to be an Army of a million. Yet all this huge multitude could not secure it from a small Army conducted by a Youth, who, as St. Jerome writes, took and destroyed it. Marcus Polus writes that he passed by the City of Quinsay, which contained fourscore millions of souls; and Nicholas de Conti passing not many years after by the same way found the City wholly destroyed,* 1.10 and begun to be newly built after another form. But yet in greater than this was the City of Ninive, which ac∣cording to the holy Scripture was of three dayes jour∣ney; and it is now many ages since that we know not

where it stood.* 1.11 No less stately, but perhaps better for∣tified was the City of Babylon: and that, which was the Imperial City of the World, became a Desert, and a Habitation of Harpies, Onocentaurs, Satyrs, Mon∣sters, and Devils, as was foretold by the Prophets: and the walls which were 200 foot in height, and 50 in breadth could not defend it from time. And yet the holy Scripture describes Ecbatana the chief City of Media to be more strong than that. It was built by Arphaxad, King of the Medes, of square stone: the Walls contained seventy cubits in breadth, thirty cu∣bits in height, and the Towers, which encompassed it, were each in height a hundred cubits; and yet for all this could not the Median Empire, having such a head, escape from rendring it self unto the Assyrians. And the same Monarch, who built it, and made the World to tremble under him, came to lose it and him∣self, and having conquered many Nations, became at last conquered and a Slave unto his enemies.

It is not much that Cities have suffered so many changes, since Monarchies and Empires have done the same: and so often hath the World changed her face, as she hath changed her Monarch and Master. He who had seen the World as it was in the time of the Persi∣ans, would not have known it as it was in the time of the Assyrians; and he who knew it in the time of the Persians, would not have judged it for the same when the Greeks were Masters. After in the time of the Romans it appeared with a face not known before: and he who knew it then would not know it now; and some years hence it will put on another form, being in nothing more like it self than in its perpetual changes and alterations; for which cause it hath been ever worthy of scorn and contempt, and more now than ever,* 1.12 since it becomes every day worse, and grows old, and decayes with age, as St, Cyprian notes in those words:

Thou art to know that the World is already grown old, and doth not remain in that

strength and vigour which it had at first. This the World it self tells us, and the daily declining of it into worse needs no other testimony. The Winter wants the usual rains to fertilize the earth; the Summer the accustomed heat to ripen the corn; the Autumn is not loaden as heretofore with fruits, nor the Spring glads us with the delight and plea∣sure of its sweet temperature; out of the hollowed Mountains are drawn less pieces of marble; and the exhausted Mines yield less quantities of gold and sil∣ver. The Labourer is wanting in the Fields, the Mariners in the Seas, the Souldier in the Tents, In∣nocency in the Market-places, Justice in the Tribu∣nals, Sincerity in Friendship, Skill in Arts, and Dis∣cipline in Manners. Necessary it is, that that should decay, which thus daily sinks into it self, and approa∣ches towards an end. Immediately he adds; This is the doom of the World, This the ordinance of God; all that is born must die; all that increases must grow old, the strong become feeble, the great diminish, and when diminished perish. Anciently our lives extended beyond 800 or 900 years: now few arrive unto an hundred. We see boys grown gray, and our age ends not in decrepit years, but then begins: and in our very birth we draw near our ends, and he who is now born, with the age of the World degenerates. Let no man therefore marvel that the parts of the World decay, since the whole goes to ruine.

Neither is the World onely grown worse in the natural frame of it, but is also much de∣faced in the moral; the manners of men have altered it more, than the violences and encounters of the Ele∣ments. The Empire of the Assyrians much corrupted the primitive simplicity and innocence of it; and what they wanted was effected by the Persians; and wherein they failed, by the Greeks; and wherein they, by the Romans; and wherein they, is abundantly made up by us; For the pride of Monarchs is the ru∣ine

and destruction of good manners. And therefore unto the four Monarchies may be fitly applyed that which was foretold by the Prophet Joel,* 1.13 What was left by the Eruke was eaten by the Locust, what was lest by the Locust was eaten by the Bruke, and what was left by the Bruke was devoured by the Blast.

§. 2.

More are the causes of alterations in the World than in the Ocean. For besides the condition of hu∣mane things, which as well intrinsecally and of their own nature, as by the external violences which they suffer, are subject to perish, the very spirit and hu∣mour of man being fickle and inconstant is the occasi∣on of great changes. Not without grea•• proportion did the Holy Ghost say, That the fool changed like the Moon, which is not ouely mutable in figure but in colour. The natural Philosophers observe three co∣lours in the Moon, pale, red, and white; the first foreshews rain, the second wind, and the third chears up with hopes of fair weather. In the same, manner is the heart of man changed by three most violent af∣fections represented by those three colours. That of pale the colour of gold, coveting riches more frail and slippery than waters; That of red the colour of purple, gaping after the wind of vain honours; The last of white the colour of mirth and jollity, running after the gusts and pleasures of this life. With these three affections Man is in perpetual change and moti∣on; and as there are some Plants which follow the course of the Moon, still turning and moving accord∣ing to her course, so these alterations in humane af∣fections draw after them, and are the cause of these great changes and revolutions, which happen in the World. How many Kingdoms were overthrown by the covetousness of Cyrus? The ambition of Alexander did not onely destroy a great part of the World, but

made it put on a clear other face than it had before. What part of Troy was left standing by the lascivious love of Paris, who was not onely the ruine of Greece, but set on fire his own Countrey? That which time spares is often snatcht away by the covetousness of the Theef: and how many lives are cut off by revenge, before they arrive unto old age? There is no doubt but humane affections are those fierce winds which trouble the Sea of this World: and as the Ocean ebbs and flows according to the course of the Moon, so the things of this life conform their motions unto humane passions. There is no stability in any thing, and least in man, who is not onely changeable in himself, but changes all things besides.

So unstable and variable is man, that David unto some of his Psalms gives these words for a Title;* 1.14 For those who shall change; and St. Basil explicating the same Title, saith, It was meant of man, whose life is a perpetual change; unto which is conformable the translation of Aquila, who instead of those words ren∣ders it, Pro foliis, For the leaves: because man is mo∣ved by every wind as the leaves of a tree. This muta∣bility is very apparent in the Passion of Christ our Re∣deemer, which is the subject of the 78. Psalme, which beareth this Title. They of Jerusalem having received him with greater honour than they ever gave to man, within four dayes after treated, him with the greatest infamy and villany that was possible to be exprest by Devils. There is no trust in the heart of man; now it loves, now it abhors, now it desires, now fears, now esteemes, now despises. Who is not amazed at the change of St. Peter, who after so many promises and resolutions to die for his Master, within a few hours swore as many false oaths, that he knew him not? What shall become of the Reed and Bulrush, when the Oak and Ceder totters. Neither is the change of Am∣non a little to be wonderd at, who loving Thamar with that violence of passion, that he fell sick for her, im∣mediately

mediatly after abhorred her so much, that he barbar∣ously turned her out of his chamber. But I know no∣thing that can more evidently set forth the mutabilitie of humane affections, than that memorable accident which happened in Ephesus.* 1.15 There lived in that City a Matron of an honest repute and conversation, whose Husband dying left her the most disconsolate and sad Widow that ever was heard of; all was lamentations, tearing and disfiguring her face and breasts with her nails: and not content with the usual Ceremonies of Widows of those times, she enclosed her self with his dead Body in the Sepulcher, which anciently was a Vault in the fields, capacious and prepared for that use; there she resolved to famish her self, and follow him into the next world: and had already for four dayes abstained from all manner of sustenance. It hap∣pened that near that place a certain Malefactor was executed, and lest his kindred should by night steal a∣way his Body and give it burial, a Souldier was ap∣pointed to watch it, who being weary, and remem∣bring that not far off the Widow was enclosed in the Sepulcher, resolved for a time to quit his charge, and trye what entertainment he could find with her. Whereupon carrying his supper along with him he entred the Vault, and at first had much adoe to per∣swade the grieved Widow to take part with him, to forsake her desperate resolution of famishing, and be content to live; but a while after having prevailed in this, and passing further with the same oratory he perswaded her, who had not denied to share with him in his supper, to afford him the fruition of her person, which she likewise did. In the mean time whilest the Souldier transported with his pleasure forgot his duty, the friends of the executed Malefactor stole away the Body: which being perceived by the Souldier, who now satiate with his dalliance was re∣turned unto his guard, and knowing his offence to be no less than capital, he repairs with great fear and a∣mazement

unto his Widow, and acquaints her with the mischance, who was not slow in providing a reme∣dy: but taking the dead body of her Husband, which had cost her so many tears, advised him to hang it upon the Gallows to supply the room of the Malefa∣ctor. Such is the inconstancy of humane hearts, more variable than seems possible, which changing in them∣selves draw within their compass the rest of the hings of this World.

Philo considering and admiring so great vanity and change,* 1.16 speaks after this manner.

Perhaps those things which concern the Body are they not dreams? perhaps this momentary beauty does it not wither even before it flourish? our health is uncertain, exposed to so many infirmities: a thou∣sand griefs happening by divers occasions abate our strength and forces: the quickness and vigour of our senses are corrupted by vitious humours. Who then can be ignorant of the baseness of exteriour things? One day often makes an end of great ri∣ches: many Personages of great honour and esteem changing their fortune become infamous: great Empires and Kingdoms have in a short time been ruined. Of this Dionysius is a sufficient witness, who thrust from his Throne from a King of Sicily be∣came a School-master in Gorinth, and taught boyes. The like happened unto Craesus the most rich King of Lydia, who being in hope to overthrow the Per∣sians, not onely lost his own Kingdom, but fell into the power of his enemies, and failed little of being burnt alive. Particular persons are not onely wit∣nesses that all humane things are dreams, but Cities, Nations, Kingdoms, Greeks and Barbarians, the Isles, and those who inhabit the Continent of Europe, Asia, the East, and West, nothing remains like unto it self.

Certainly, as Philo sayes, the instability of humane things makes them appear not onely a dream, but as a dream of a shadow rather than of any thing

solid and consistent.* 1.17 Let us hear also what St. Chry∣sostome sayes, and counsels us concerning the same mat∣ter.

All things present (saith he) are more frail and weak than the webs of spiders, and more deceitful than dreams: for as well the goods as evils have their end. Since therefore we esteem things present but as a dream, and we our selves to be but as in a Inn, from whence we are sodainly to depart, let us take care for our journey, and furnish our selves with provision, and a Viaticum for eternity; let us cloath our selves with such garments, as we may carry along with us. For as no man can lay hold on his Shadow, so no man retains things humane, which partly in death, and partly before death fly from us, and run more swiftly than a rapid river. To the contrary are those things which are to come, which neither suffer age, nor change, nor are sub∣ject to revolutions, but perpetually flourish and per∣severe in a continued felicity. Take heed then of ad∣miring those riches which remain not with their Masters, but change in every instant, and leap from one to another, and from this to that. It behooves thee to despise all those things, and to esteem them as nothing.

Let it suffice to hear what the Apostle sayes; The things that are seen are temporal, but those which are not seen are eternal. Things humane disappear more sodainly than a shadow.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Damas. in Par. l. 1.
• * 1.2

  Aur. An∣ton. l. 6. de vita sua.
• * 1.3

  Greg. l. 34. mo∣ral.
• * 1.4

  Apoc. 10.
• * 1.5

  Apoc. 15. Ribera & Cor∣nel.
• * 1.6

  Nazian. in Monod. Pli. l. 36. c. 8.
• * 1.7

  Pomp••n Mela l. 1. c. 9.
• * 1.8

  Sur. in Comm. an. 1517 Evag. l. 2. c. 1.
• * 1.9

  Euseb. de praepar. Hieron. in Dan. c. 1. Polusl. 2. rerum Indic. c. 68.
• * 1.10

  Nicol. de Com. in itin. apud Ram. tom. 1.
• * 1.11

  Plin. l. 6. c. 26. Sol. c. 3.
• * 1.12

  Cyp. in Epist. ad De∣met.
• * 1.13

  Joel. 1.
• * 1.14

  Psal. 68.
• * 1.15

  Petron. Arbit. tract. de leg. con∣mib. leg. non. num. 97.
• * 1.16

  Philo. l. de Jos.
• * 1.17

  Hom. de poenit.