Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Of the Exercise of Passion: of Stoicall Apathie: of Permanencie, Defect, Excesse, with the Cure thereof.
THe next consideration of Passions, was according to the Exercise of their Act: which we may consider, either according to the generall Substance, or according to some particular Accidents, in the manner of its being. For the first, it is altogether Good, as being nothing else but naturall motion, ordained for the perfection or conservation of the Creature. For, notwithstanding naturall Motion may haply argue some kind of imperfection in the state of the thing moving; as supposing it some way deprived of that, wherein it should rest it selfe (which makes Aristotle conclude, that the noblest Act of the Vnderstanding, Knowledge and cleare Vision, is rather the *Intellectio qui…s intellectu…. Arist. Phy…it. l. 7. c. 4. …bic. l. 10. c. 7. foreign ▪ &c.Rest, than the Motion of that Facultie) yet I say, it alwayes implyeth more naturall Perfection in those things whereunto it belongeth: for as Fire, the perfectest of Elements; and Heaven, the perfectest of Bodies;Clem. Alex. Stro…. lib. 4. foreign Arist. Problem. §. 30. qu. 14. so the Soule of Man, the perfectest of formes, hath the most vehement motion.
And in this consideration (so it be alwayes Motion Naturall, governed and dependant on right Reason) I find not any Corruption, though I find an Error and abuse; that I meane, which maketh Passion in generall to be Aegritudo Animi, a SicknesseAni… commo…lo aversa … recta Ratione, & contra Naturam, Cit. foreign. …. ap…d Lacr…ium. and Perturbation, and would therefore reduce the Mind to a senselesse Apathie, condemning all Life of Passion, as Waves, which serve onelyonly to tosse and trouble Reason. An Opinion, which, while it goeth about to give unto Man an absolute government over himselfe, leaveth scarce any thing in him, which he may command and governe.
For, although there be in the Will over the Body an Imperium; yet in rigour, this is not so much to be tearmed Command, as Imployment; the Body being rather the Instrument, than the Servant of the Soule, and the power which the Will hath over it, is not so much the command of a Master over his Workmen, as of the Workman over his Tooles: The chiefe subjects to the Will, are the Affections, in the right governing whereof, is manifested its greatest power.
The strength of every thing, is exercised by Opposition: We see not the violence of a River, till it meet with a Bridge; and the force of the Wind sheweth it selfe most, when it is most resisted: So the power of the Will is most seene, in repairing the breaches, and setling the mutinies, wherewith untamed Affections disquiet the peace of mans nature; since excesse and disorder in things otherwise of so great use, requireth amendment, not extirpation; and we make straight a crooked thing, we doe not breake it. And therefore, as he in Tacitus spake well to Otho, when he was aboutHist. lib. 2. to kill himselfe, Majore animo t…lerari adversaquam relinqui; That it was more valour to beare, than put off afflictions with courage: so there is more honour, in the having Affections subdued, than in having none at all; the businesse of a wise man, is not to be without them, but to be above them. And therefore our *Heb. 2. 17. Heb. 4. 15. 5. 2. Mark. 10. 21. Luk. 10. 21. Io…. 11. 35. Luk. 22. 15. Mark. 3. 5. Mat. 26, 37, 38.Saviour himselfe sometimes loved, sometimes rejoyced, sometimes wept, sometimes desired, sometimes mourned and grieved; but these were not Passions that violently and immoderately troubled him; but he, as he saw fit, did with them trouble himselfe. His Reason excited, directed, moderated, repressed them, according to the rule of perfect, cleare, and undisturbed judgement. In which respect, the Passions of Christ are by DivinesHieron. in Math. 26. Magist. Sent. lib. 3. dist. 15. Aquin. part. 3. q. 15. art. 4. called rather Propassions, that is to say, Beginnings of Passions, than Passions themselves; in as much as they never proceeded beyond their due measure, nor transported the Mind to undecencie or excesse; but had both their rising and originall from Reason, and also their measure, bounds, continuance limited by Reason. The Passions of sinfull men are many times like the tossings of the Sea, which bringeth up mire and durt; but theIsa. 57. 20. Passions of Christ were like the shaking of pure Water in a cleane Vessell, which though it be thereby troubled, yet is it not fouled at all.
The Stoicks themselves confessed, that wise men might be affected with aLactant. l. 6. c. 14. Aug. de Clv. Dei, l. 9. c. 4. l. 14. c. 9: Aul. Gell. l. 19. c. 1. Cic. Tusc. qu. lib. 4. Sen. …p. 85. & de Ira. l. 2. c: 3.sudden perturbations of Feare or Sorrow, but did not like weak men yeeld unto them, nor sinke under them; but were still unshaken in their resolutions and judgements, like Aeneas in Virgil:
Mens immotaman…t, lacryma volvuntur inanes.
He wept indeed, but in his stable mind
You could no shakings or distempers find.
bAquin. 12. q. 24. art. 2, 3. Cic. de sin. l. 4.And therefore indeed, this Controversie betweene the Peripateticks and Stoicks, was rather a strife of Words, than a difference of Iudgements, because they did not agree in the Subject of the Question; the one, making Passions to be Naturall; the other, cforeign Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 2. & vid. in P…g. lib. 2. cap. 13. Vid. Sen. …p. 57, 85. & 116. Diog. Laert. in Zenon. l. 7.Praeternaturall, and disorderly motions. For the Peripateticks confessed, That wise men ought to be fix'd & immovable in their vertuous resolutions, and not to be at all by hopes or feares aCarist. Ethic. lib. …. cap. 1.deterred or diverted from them: but as a Dye, to be bforeign. Ethic. l. 1. c. 10. & Cl…. Alex. Strom. lib. 6.foure-square; and which way ever they be cast, to fall upon a sure & firme bottome. Which is the same with that severe and unmovable constancie of Mind in Vertue, in defence whereof the Stoicks banished Affections from wise men: not intending thereby to make men like cPlutarch. contr. Stolc…t.Caeneus in the Poet, such as could not be violated with any sorce, (for they acknowledge subjection to the first motions of Passion) but onelyonly to shew, that they wisdome of Vertue should so compose & consolidate the Mind, and settle it in such stabilitie, that it should not all be bended from the Right, by any sensitive perturbations or impulsions. As they then who pull down houses adjoyning unto Temples, Plutarch. lib. d… vi…loso p…dort.doe yet suffer that part of them to stand still, which are continued to the Temple: so in the demolishing of inordinate Passions, we must take heed, that we offer not violence to so much of them, as is contiguous unto Right Reason; whereunto so long as they are conformable, they are the most vigorous instruments, both for the expression, and improvement, and derivation of Vertue on others, of any in Mans Nature.
Now concerning the Accidents or manner of these Acts which are from Passion, it may be considered either in regard of the Quantitie & Extension, or of the Qualitie & Intention of the Act. And both these may be considered two manner of wayes: for the Quantitie of Passions, we may consider that, as the Quantitie of Bodies, which is either Continued or Severed; by Quantitie Continued, I understand the manner of a Passions permanencie and durance▪ by Severed, I meane the manner of its multiplicitie and reiteration; from both which, it hath the denomination of good or bad, as the object whereunto it is carryed, hath a greater or lesse relation to the Facultie. For some objects are simply, and without any limitation, convenient or noxious; and towards these, may be allowed both a more durable and a more multiplyed Passion: others are good or evill only, with some circumstances of Time, Place, Person, Occasion, or the like; which therfore require both fewer and lesse habituall motions. The same maybe said of the Qualitie of them; wherein they are sometimes too remisse, sometimes againe too excessive and exorbitant, according to varietie of conditions.
Concerning all these, I shall observe this one generall Rule; the permanencie or vanishing, the multiplicitie or rarenesse, the excesse or defect of any Passion, is to be grounded on and regulated by the nature only of its object, as it beares reference to such or such a person; but never by the private humour, prejudice, complexion, habit, custome, or other like qualifications of the Mind it selfe. To see a man of a soft and gentle nature over-passe some small indignitie, without notice or feeling; or to see a man of an hot and eager temper transported with an extreamer and more during Passion, upon the sense of some greater injurie, more notably touching him in his honestie or good Name; is not in either of these, any great matter of commendation: because, though the nature of the object did in both warrant the qualitie of the Passion; yet in those persons they both proceeded out of humour and complexion, and not out of serious consideration of the injuries themselves, by which onelyonly the Passion is to be regulated.
Of these two extreames, the defect is not so commonly seene, as that which is in the excesse: And therefore we wil here a little observe, what course may be taken for the allaying of this vehemencie of our Affections, whereby they disturbe the quiet, and darken the serenitie of mans Mind. And this is done, either by opposing contrary Passions to contrary; …ble. l. 2. c. 9. lib. 10. c. 1.which is Aristotles rule, who adviseth, in the bringing of Passions from an extreame to a mediocritie, to incline & bend them towards the other extreame, as Husbandmen use to doe those Trees which are crooked; or as dim and weak eyes doe see the light best, when it is broken in a shadow: or else it is done, by scattering and distracting of them; and that not onelyonly by the power of Reason, but sometimes also by a cautelous admixture of Passions amongst themselves, thereby interrupting their free current: For, as usually the Affections of the Mind are bred one of another, (as the Powder in the Pan of a Gun will quickly set on fire that in the Barrell) as Greefe by Anger, (Circumspexit … cum … â condolescens, Mar…. 3 3.He looked on them with Anger, being grieved) and Feare by Love;
Res est, solliciti, plena Timori…, Amor:
The things to which our heart Love beares,
Are objects of our carefull Feares.
and Desire by Feare; as in him of whom Tacitus Hist. lib. 1.speakes, …ingebat & m…m, quò mag is concupisceret▪ That to justifie his Desires, he pretended his Feares: So likewise are some Passions stopt, or at least bridled & moderated by others; Amor soràs mittit timorem, …. 4. 18.Perfect Love casteth out Feare. It …aring in this, as Plutarch hath noted in the hunting of Beasts, thatPlut. …rat. 1. de …. Alexandri. they are then easiest taken, when they who hunt them, put on the skins of Beasts. As we see, the light and heat of the Sun shining upon fire, is apt to discourage it, & to put it out. And this was that which made Saul, when he was possessed with those strong sits of Melancholy, working in him Furie, Griefe, and Horror, to have recourse unto such a Remedie, as is most forcible for the producing of other Passions of a lighter nature; and so by consequence, for expelling those. Thus, as we see in the Body Militarie, (as Tacitus hath observed) Vnus tumultus est alterius remedium, …st. lib. ….That one tumult is the cure of another; and in the Body Naturall, some Diseases are expelled by others: so likewise in the Mind, Passions, as they mutually generate, so they mutually weaken each other. It often falleth out, that the voluntarie admission of one losse, is the prevention of a greater: as when a Merchant casteth out his ware, to prevent a shipwrack; and in a publike Fire, men pull down some houses untoucht, to prevent the spreading of the flame: Thus is it in the Passions of the Mind; when any of them are excessive, the way to remit them, is by admitting of some further perturbation from others, and so distracting the forces of the former: Whether the Passions we admit, be contrarie; as when a dead Palsie is cured with a burning Feaver, and Souldiers suppresse the feare of Death, by the shame of Basenesse;
—foreign.Iliad. …. 121.
O fearefull Grecians, in your minds recount,
To what great shame this basenesse will amount:
and the hatred of their Generall, by the love of their Countrey; as Vlysses perswaded Achilles:
foreign,Iliad. …. 300.
foreign
foreign
Though Agamemnon and his gifts you hate,
Yet looke with pittie on the dolefull state
Of all the other Grecians in the Campe,
Who on your Name will divine honour stampe,
When you this glory shall to them afford,
To save them from the rage of Hectors Sword.
Or whether they be Passions of a different, but not of a repugnant nature; and then the effect is wrought, by revoking some of the spirits, which were otherwise all imployed in the service of one Passion, to attend on them; and by that meanes also, by diverting the intention of the Mind from one deep Channell into many crosse and broken Streames; as men are wont to aC… cal… ribus o…erando deprimimus, & sanguinis … … v… …, Tertull.stop one flux of bloud, by making of another; and bCl…. Alex. Padag. l. 2. c. 8.to use frictions to the feet, to call away and divert the humours which paine the head.
Which dissipation and scattering of Passion, as it is wrought principally by this mutuall confounding of them amongst themselves, so in some particular cases likewise, two other wayes; namely, by communion in diverse subjects, and extension on diverse objects. For the first, we see in matter of Griefe, the Mind doth receive (as it were) some lightnesse and comfort, when it finds it selfe generative unto others, and produces sympathie in them: For hereby it is (as it were) disburthened, and cannot but find that easier, to the sustaining whereof, it hath the assistance of anothers shoulders. And therefore they were good (though common) observations:
Cur… leves loqu…ntur, ingentes stupent: And,
Ille dolet vere, qui sine teste dolet.
Our tongues can lighter Cares repeat,
When silence swallowes up the great:
He grieves indeed, who on his friend
Vntestified teares doth spend.
That Griefe commonly is the most heavie, which hath fewest vents, by which to diffuse it selfe: which, I take it, will be one occasion of the heavinesse of infernall torment; because there, Griefe shall not be any whit transient, to work commiseration in any spectator, but altogether immanent and reflexive upon it selfe.
Thus likewise we see (to instance in that other particular branch, of diffusing the Passions upon diverse objects) how the multitude of these, if they be Hererogeneall and unsubordinate, doth oftentimes remit a Passion: for example, in Love; I take it, that that man who hath a more generall Love, hath a lesse vehement Love; and the spreading of Affection, is the weakening of it, (I mean still in things not absolute subordinate; for, a man may love a Wife more with Children, than without them, because they are the Seales and Pledges of that Love) as a River, when it is cut into many lesser streames, runs weaker & shallower. And this, I conceive, is the reason, why Salomon, when he commendeth a strong Love, giveth it but a single object▪ There is a friend neerer than a Brother; one, in whom the rayes of this affection, like the Sun-beames in a glasse, being more united, might withall be the more servent. I remember not, that I ever read of wonderfull foreign. P…. d… A…ic. multitud. An…charsis apud Latr…. l 1.Love amongst men, which went beyond Couples; which also Aristotle and Plutarch have observed. And therefore we see, in that state there is or should be greater affection, wherein is the least communitie: Conjugall Love, as it is most single, so it is usually the strongest; and in the Issues and Blessings thereof, there is scarce any more powerfull Epithite to win Love, than Vnigenitus, an onelyonly Sonne.
foreignIllad. 1. 479. Plutarch. de multie. A…ic.
foreign
He lov'd me as one loves the onelyonly Sonne
Of's old age, borne to great Possession.
Insomuch, that even in God himselfe (to whom these Passions are but by an Anthropopathy attributed) that more generall Love of his Providence and Preservation, (which is common to all his Creatures) is (if I may so speake) of a lower degree, (though not in respect of any intention or remission in his Will, but onelyonly the effects thereof towards the things themselves) than that more speciall Love of Adoption, which he extendeth only to those, whom he vouchsafeth to make One in him, who was Vnigenitus and Dilectus from everlasting.
I doe not then (by the way) condemne all strong and united Passions; but only I observe how those, which hereby grow exorbitant, & work prejudice to the Soule, may by a seasonable distracting of them, be reduced unto a wholsome temper: for as it is noted, that amongst men, those who have bodies most obnoxious to dayly maladies, are commonly more secure from any mortall danger, than those who though free from any generall distempers, doe yet find the surprize of one more violent; so is it with mens Passions: Those who have a nature readie, upon sundry occasions to break forth into them, doe commonly finde them lesse virulent and morose, than those who have not their Passions so voluble, and readie to spread themselves on divers objects, but exercising their intentions more earnestly upon one.