Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 21
CHAP. XXI. Of other Causes of Delight. Vnexpectednesse of a God. Strength of Desire. Immagination. Imitation. Fitnesse and Accommodation. Of the effects of this Passion. Reparation of Nature. Dilatation. Thirst in noble Objects, satiety in Baser. Whetting of industry. Atimorous unbeliefe.
VNtoUnto these more principallVix sum apud me ita animu… commotus est m…tu spe, …audio, m…rando hoc tanto tanque repentin… …ono Ter…ent. Andr. Act. 5. 4. … bar… lam, animo m…o … repenti…um …amquè magnum non concipien…e Gaudium Apul. A…n. Aur. lib. 11. Causes of this Affection I shall briefly adde these few which follow.
1 The suddennesse and unexpectednesse of a good thing causeth the greater Delight in it. For Expectation of a thing makes the Minde feed upon it before hand, as young Gallants who spend upon their estates before they come to them, and by that meanes make them the lesse when they come. As sometimes it happeneth with choice and delicate stomackes. That the sight and smell of their meate doth halfe cloy and satiate them before they have at all tasted any of it: so the long gazing upon that which we Desire by Expectation doth as it were deflowre the Delight of it before fruition. Whereas on the other side, as the Poet expresseth it.
foreignSophocl. A…tig.
No joy in greatnesse can compare with that,
Which doth our Hopes and thoughts anticipate.
So strong and violent hath been the immutation which sudden joy hath wrought in the Body, aMultis mortem attulit gaudium ingens, Insperatum interclu…d animd, & vim magni novis que mo… non …. A. G…ll. lib. 3. c. 1. lib. 3. c. 1. & cap. 15.that many (as I have formerly noted) have beene quite overwhelmed by it, and beene made pertakers of Augustus his wish to enjoy an b… in Aug. cap. 99.foreign and to dye pleasantly. And for this Reason it is that cArist. Etbect. 1004.new things, and such as we dDel…ct at quicquid est Admirabile Cic. partic. Orat.admire, and were aProximorum incuriosi longinq… … mur & …. lib …. Epist. 20.not before acquainted withall doe usually Delight us, because they surprize us, representing a kinde of strangenesse unto the minde, whereby it is enlarged and enriched. For strange and New things have ever the greatest price set upon them. As I noted before of the Romane Luxury, That it gloryed in no Delicates but those which were brought out ofbVid. Clem. Alex. …aedag. …. 2. c. 1. Plin. l. 9. c. 34. & lib. 2206. 2. Plutarcb. De … sanita…e. strange Countries, and did first pose Nature, before either feed or adorne it.
2 Strength of Desire, doth on the other side enlarge the pleasure of fruition, because Nature ever delighteth most in those things which cost us dearest, and strong desires are ever painfull. WhencVid. Citeron. Tusc. qu. l. 5. Darius in his flight drank muddy water, & Ptolomie did eate dry bread, they both professed that they never felt greater pleasure: strength of Appetite marveilously encreasing the Delight in that which satisfied it. For want and Difficulty are great Preparations to a more feeling fruition, aPlutarch. de Tranquill.as Bees gather excellent Honey out of the bitterest Herbes. And as we say, Nulla sunt firmiora quàm quae ex dubijs facta sunt c Quintil. lib. 11. cap. 2, Si mibi tranquilla & placa… omnia suisseun, incredibili qua nunc … latitia voluptat… Caruissem Cic. Orat post Reditum. Mix. Tyrius Dissert. 33. Plutarch. de pro…ct. viri… tem.certa. Those evidences are surest which were made cleare out of doubtfull. So those pleasures are sweetest, Qu…suaves fiunt ex tristibus, which have had wants and feares and Difficulties to provide a welcome for them. And therefore bQuintil. lib. 5. cap. 12.Wrestlers and Fencers, and such like Masters of Game, were wont to use their hands unto heavie weights, that when in their Games they were to use them empty and naked, they might doe it with the more expeditenesse and pleasure.
3 Imagination and fancy, either in our selves or other Men, is many times, the foundation of Delight. Diogines his sullen and Melancholly fancy tooke as much pleasure in his Tubbe and Staffe, and water, as other men in their Palaces, and ampliest provisions, And he in the Poet.
Qui se credebat miros a…dire Tragados
In vacuo latus sessor Plausorquè Theatr….—Horat. Epist. lib. 2. Ep.
Cum redit adsese pol. me occidist is Amici
Non servastis ait, cui sic extorta voluptas,
Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error.
Who thought he heard rare Tragedies of wit,
And in an empty Theater did sit
And give Applauses: but being heal'd complains
Friends I'm not sav'd by this your love, but slain,
Robb'd of that sweet Delight I then did finde,
In the so gratefull errour of my Minde.
Hence likewise it is that Men are delightedFicta… sabulas cum volup. a…em …gimus Cl…. de si…. lib. 5. with Mythologies and Po…icall Fables, with Elegancies, Iests, Vrbanity, and Flowers of wit, with Pageants pompes, Triumphes, and publick Celebrities, because all these and other the like, are either the fruit or food of the Imagination.
4 VponUpon the same Reason we are marveilously Delighted with lively Imitation, as with thoseVid. Plutar…. de Aud. P…et▪ & Quintil. lib. 2. ap. 13. Arts which doe curiously expresse the workes and lineaments of Nature. Insomuch that the similitudes of those things doe wonderfully content us whose naturall Deformities we abhorre. We are well pleas'd with Homers DescriptionHinc …coml stu…tia. pedic…li, feb…um, &c. of Thirsites, and with Sophocles his expression of the Vlcer of Philoctetes▪ with Parmeno his Imitation of the grunting of a Hog, and Theodor…u Plaut in Au…. Hora…. l. 1. Sa…. 9.his of the ratling of wheeles, with Plautus his discription of a chargeable Wise, and Horace his of a garrulous companion, though the things themselves we should willingly decline.
5 Those things Delight every man which… ▪ lib. 10. cap. 7. are foreign ▪ as the Philosopher speakes, Sutable Plutarch. de A…d. Poc….fitted▪ and accommodated to his Genius and frame▪ of Nature, as in the same Plant, the Bee seedeth on the flower, the Bird on the Seed, the Sheepe on the Blade, the Swine on the Roote. So in the same Author one man observeth the Rationall▪ another the Historicall, a third the Elegant and more Rhetoricall passages, with speciall Delight, according as they are best accommodated unto the Complexion of each Minde. And IC…l. Rhod…g. lib. 5. cap. 34. foreign finde it observed out of Hipocrates, that even in the Body many times that kinde of meat which Nature receiveth with Complacency, and with aNames. ex Arist. c. 18. more particular Delight, though in it selfe it may be …orse▪ yet proveth better nourishment unto that Body than such, as though better in it selfe, findeth yet a reluctancy and backwardnesse of Nature to close or correspond with it. The same seeds are not proper for the sand and for the clay▪ nor the same imploiments of Minde for Men of various and different Constitutions. Nor is there I beleeve any thing which would more conduce to the generall advancement of Arts and Learning, than if every Mans Abilities were fixed and limited to that proper course, which his naturall sufficiences did more particularly lead him unto. For hereupon would grow a double Delight, and by consequence improvement (for every thing growes most when it is best pleased) The one from Nature, the other from Custome and acquaintance, which conquereth and digesteth the difficultiesEthic. l. 10. …. 9. of every thing we set about, and maketh them yet more naturall unto us. And thereforeforeign …. l. 1. c. 11. the Philosopher reckoning up many things that are pleasant to the minde, putteth these two in the first place. Those things that are Naturall, and those that we are accustomed unto, wherein there is least violence offered unto the inclinations and impressions of Nature.
Touching the Effects of this Passion, I shall name but these few: First, the effects of Corporall Delights are only (as I observed o…t of Aristotle) medicinall; for repayring the breaches and ruines of our decayed Natures; for animating and refreshing our languishing spirits; for preserving our selves in a good ability to execute Offices of a higher Nature; for furnishing the World with a succession of men, which otherwise the greedines of mortality would in short time devoure. These are true and intended ends of those Delights, and when they once transgresse these bounds, they begin to *foreign ▪oppresse Nature, weaken and distempe… the Body, clog the mind, and fill the whole man with satiety and loathing, which is the reason (as was even now noted) why men too violently carriedSophoc. …. away with them, are presently over…loyed with one kind, and must have variety to keep out loathing: which Tacitus observes in that monster of…lut. in Gryllo. Annal. l. 11. women Messalina, facilitate adulterorum in fastidiu… versa ad incognit as libidin…s pr…stuebat, that loathing more easy and common sinnes, shee betooke h… selfe to unnaturall lusts, and I verily think is particularly intended by S. Paul, Rom. 1. 26.
A second effect of Ioy is Opening and Dil… tion of the heart and countenance, expressing the serenity of the mind, whence it hath the name … Latitia, as it were a broad and spreading Passio… ▪ Latitia … latitudin….Now the reason of▪ this motion occasioned … Ioy, is the naturall desire, which man hath to … united to the thing wherein he delights to make way and passage for its entrance into him. And hence wee find in this Passion an exultation and egresse of the spirits, discovering a kind of loosenesse of Nature in her security, doing many things not out of resolution, but instinct and power transporting both mind and body to sudden and unpremeditated expressions of its owne content: For of all Passions, Ioy can be the least dissembled or suppressed, nam ga…dio Cogendi vis inest, Pa…igir. ad Tr…jan.saith Pliny▪ it exerciseth a kind of welcome violence and tyranny upon a man, as we see in Davids dancing before the Arke▪ and the lame Mans walking, and leaping, and praising God, after hee had been cured of his lamenesse. And this diffusion of the spirits sheweth both the haste and forwardnesse of Nature, in striving as it were to meet her Object, and make large roome for its entertainment, as also to dispell and scatter all adverse humours that would hinder the ingresse of it, and lastly to send forth newes as it were through the whole province of nature, that all the parts might beare a share in the common Comfort.
Thirdly, those noble Delights which arise from heavenly causes, doe withall cause a sweet thirst and longing in the Soule after more, as some colours… Plu… in P…ric. do both delight the sight and strengthen it: For while God is the Object, there cannot bee either the satiety to cloy the Soul, nor such a full comprehension as will leave no roome for more.
Thus they who delight in the fruition of God by Grace, doe desire a more plentifull fruition of him in glory; and they that delight in the sight of Gods▪ Glory▪ doe still desire to be forever so delighted. So that their Desire is without Anxiety▪ because they are s…tiated with the thing which they do… desire, … and their … is without lo… ▪ thing; because still they desire the thing wherwith they are s…tiated; they desire without Griefe, because they are replenished; and they are replenished without wearinesse, because they desire still; they see God and still they desire to see him: they enjoy God, and still they desire for ever to enjoy him: they love and prayse God, and make it their immortall businesse still to love and prayse him:
Et quem semper habent, semper haberevolunt.
Whom they for ever have, with love yet higher
To have for ever, they do still desire.
*Aristid. Tom. 1. Orat. in Pute…. Aesc…l.Divine Ioy is like the water of Aesculapius his Well, which they say is notcapable of put…ifaction.
Fourthly, Delight whettoth and intendeth the actions of the Soule towards the thing wherein it delighteth; it putteth forth more force, and more exactnesse in the doing of them, because it … the mind of all those dulling Indisposition… Arist. Ethic. l. 10. c. 5. Poli…. l. 8. c. 5.which unfitted it for Action. And for this reason h…ppily it i…, that the … used *Pl…t. de …om. A. G…ll. l. 1. c. 11.Musicke in their Warres to refresh and delight Nature: For Ioy is in stead of recreation to the Soule, it wonderfully disposeth for busines. And those Actions which Nature hath made ne…, it hath put pleasure in them, that thereby Men might be quickned …nd excited unto them; *…. lib. …. Clem. A…ex. …trom. l. 2. Pla…t. Casi…. Act. 2. 5… 4. …. lib. 5. c…p. 14.and therefore Wisemen have told us that pleasure is, Sal & … vit…. The Sawce which seasoneth the Actions of men.
Lastly, because the Nature of man is usually more acquainted with sorrowes, then with pleasures, therefore whither out of Conscience of guilt, which deserves no joy, or out of experience, which useth to finde but little joy in the world, or out of feare of our owne aptnesse to mistake, or out of a provident care, not to close or feed upon a Delight, till we are fully assured of our Possession of it, and because usually the Minde after shaking is more setled, whether for these or any other reasons, we see it usually come to passe, that vehement joy doth breed a kinde of jealousie and unbeliefe, that sure …he thing we have is too good to be true … and that then when our eyes tell us, that they see it, they doe but … and deceive us, as Quod nimi… volumu… …aud facile credimus:
The things which we desire should be,
We scarse beleeve when we doe see.
So I…cob when he heard that his sonne Ioseph Gen. 45, 26. Psal. 126, 1.was alive, fainted▪ being astonished at so good newes, and could not beleeve it. And when God restored the Iewes out of captivity, they could thinke no otherwise of it then a… a dreame. AndAct. 129. Luke 24. 41. Peter when he was by the Angel delivered out of prison, tooke it for a vision only, and an apparition, and not for a truth.
And lastly, of the Disciples after Christs resurrection, when he manifested himselfe to them, it is said, That for very joy they beleeved not, their feares keeping backe, as it were, and questioning the truth of their joyes, Omnia tuta timens, not suffering them too hastily to beleeve what their eies did see.
As in the Sea when a storme is over, there remaines still an inward working and volutation, which the Poet thus expresseth,
Vt si quando ruit, debell at asque reliquit
Eurus aquas, pax ipsa tumet, pontumque jacentem,
Exanimis jam voluit hyem….—
As when a mighty tempest doth now cease,
To tosse the roaring Billowes, even that peace
Doth swell and murmurre, and the dying Wind
On the calm'd Sea leaves his owne prints behind.
Even so in the Minde of man, when it's feares are blowne over, and there is a calme▪upon it, there is still á motus trepidationis, and a kinde of sollicitous jealousie of what it enjoyes.Aenead. 4. … … … quod … sum homines … ▪ …ix satis credere se quisque andiss… … somni uanam …, Liv. lib. 33. …. …. 213.
And this unbeleefe of joy is admirably s…t forth in the Carriages of Penelope, when her Nurse and her sonne endevoured to assure her of the truth of Vlysses his returne after so many yeares absence by the Poet, in which doubting she stil persisted, till by certaine signes Vlysses himselfe made it appeare unto her, whereupon she ex…used it after this manner.
foreign
My deare Vlysses let it not offend,
That when I saw you first, I did suspend
My love with my beliefe, since my faint brest
When first with those glad tidings it was blest,
Trembled with doubts, lest by such forged lies
Some crafty, false pretender might devise
To have ensna…'d me, and with these false sounds,
Defiel'd my love, and multiplied my wounds.