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56
HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.
of the Almighty, when people deserve ill from His Divine
Majestic he raiseth up Pharoahs against them, and, on the
contrary, makes princes tender-hearted, when people by
their fidelity and obedience deserve God's assistance."
What Solon said was much commended by all the
hearers, and then Cato began thus :
" Your opinions,
most wise Grecians, are much to be admired, and have
abundantly justified the profound
Litterati have of you ;
esteem which all the
the vices, corruptions, and ulcerated
wounds under which the age languishes could not be better
discovered and pointed out. Nor are your opinions, which
are full of humane knowledge, gain-said here for that
they are not excellent, but for that the malady
is so habitu-
ated in the veins, and is even so grounded in the bones,
that the constitution of mankind is worn out, and their
vital vertue yields to the strength of the distemper ; in
short, the patient spits nothing but blood and putrefaction,
and the hair falls from his head. The physitian, gentlemen,
hath a hard part to play when the sick man's maladies .are
many, and one so far differing from another that cooling
medicines, and such as are good for a hot liver, are nought
for the stomach, and weaken it too much. Truly this is
just our case, for the maladies which molest our age equal
the stars of heaven, and are more various than the flowers
of the field. I, therefore, think this cure desperate, and
that the patient is totally incapable of humane help. We
must have recourse to prayers and to other divine helps,
which in like case are usually implored from God ; this is
the true north-star, which, in the greatest difficulties, leads
men into the harbour of perfection, for Pauci prudent ia,
honesta ab deterioribus, utilia ab noxiis discernunt; plures aliorum
evcntis docentur. 1
If we approve this consideration, we shall
1
Tac., Lib. iv., Ann.