Of Peace and Contentment of Mind, Book 3 · Chapter 18
CHAP. XVIII. Of Pitty.
PItty is a Paſſion compoſed of love and ſorrow, moved by the diſtreſs of another, either true or ſeeming. And that ſympathie is ſomtimes grounded upon falſe love, becauſe we acknowledge our ſelves obnoxious to the ſame calamities, and feare the like fortune.
Pitty is oppoſite to Envy, for Envy is a diſpleaſure conceived at another mans good, but Pitty is a diſpleaſure conceived at another mans harme.
The Paſſion of Pitty muſt be diſtinguiſhed from the vertue that beares the ſame name, for they are eaſily confounded. The Pitty of the vulgar, which is imputed to good Nature and Chriſtian charity, comes chiefely out of two cauſes. The one is an errour in judgement, whereby they reckon many things among the great goods, which are good but in a very low degree, and likewiſe many things among evills which are not evill. Hence it is that thoſe are moſt pittied that dye, and the beſt men more then any, as though death were evill to ſuch men; and they that loſe their moneyes, which are called goods as though they were the onelyonly good things; and they that loſe their lands which are called an eſtate, as though a mans being and well being were eſtated in them.
The other cauſe of the Paſsion of Pitty is a ſickly tenderneſſe of mind eaſy to be moved; wherefore women and children are more inclinable to it; but the ſame tenderneſſe and ſoftneſs makes them equally inclinable to choller, yea to cruelty. The people that ſeeth the bleeding carkaſſe of a man newly murthered is ſtricken with great pitty towards him, who is paſt all worldly ſorrowes, and with great hatred againſt the murderer, wiſhing that they might get him into their hands to teare him to peeces. But when the fellon is put into the hands of Juſtice, condemned and brought to execution, then the heat of the peoples Paſsion is altogether for pitty to him, and that pitty begets wrath againſt the executioner when he doth his office. So eaſily doth the paſsion of vulgar ſoules paſs from one contrary to another, from pitty to cruelty, from cruelty to pitty againe, and from compaſsion for one to hatred for another. But all theſe ſuddaine contrary motions proceed from one cauſe which is the tenderneſſe and inſtability of weake ſoules whoſe reaſon is drowned in paſsion, and their paſsion is in perpetuall agitation.
But the Vertue of Pitty, which is a limb of charity, is a firme reſolution to relieve our neighbour that ſtands in need of our help, and it hath more efficiency then tenderneſs. This is the Pitty of generous and religious ſpirits aſpiring to the imitation of God, who without feeling any perturbation for the calamities of men, relieveth them out of his mercy.
And whereas the Paſsion of pitty is for the moſt part cauſed by the ignorance of the goodneſs and badneſs of things, he that is leſſe miſtaken in them is alſo leſſe inclined to that paſsion, for he calls not that miſery which others call ſo. Nec doluit miſerans inopem, aut invidit habenti. Or if a wiſeman pitty one dejected by poverty, it will not be his poverty, but his dejected ſpirit that he will pitty. And ſo of him that is weeping for a ſlander; a wiſeman will pitty him, not becauſe he is ſlandered, but becauſe he weepes for it, for that weeping is a reall evill, though the cauſe which is ſlander be but an imaginary evill. He will labour to get ſuch a firme ſoul that neither the good nor the evill that he ſeeth in or about his neighbours, be able to worke any perturbation within him.
The world being a great hoſpitall of miſery, where we ſee wellnigh as many miſerable perſons as we ſee men: if we were obliged to have a yearning compaſsion for all the miſerable we ſhould ſoone become more miſerable then any of them, and muſt bid for ever Adieu to the peace of the ſoul and contentment of mind. It is enough to give power to our neighbours to command our counſell, our labour, and our purſe in their need; but to give them power over the firmeneſs of our ſoul to ſhake and enervate it at their pleaſure, it is too much. Let us depend of none, if it may be, but God and ourſelves. Let none other have the power, be it for good or evill, to turne the ſterne of our minde at his pleaſure.
It muſt be acknowledged that Pitty, as weake as it is, hath more affinity with Vertue then any other Paſsion, and turnes into vertue ſooner then any. That way weake ſoules handled with dexterity are brought to meekeneſs and charity; and that way many Pagans have bin brought to the Chriſtian verity. We owe the great converſions to the ſufferings of Martyrs which moved the beholders to compaſsion, for that compaſsion made a breach into the heart, and gave entrance into the underſtanding to that good confeſsion which theſe holy men made in the midſt of the fires; for nothing is more perſwaſive then Pitty, neither is there any fitter hold to draw and turne the ſoul.
But ſuch compaſsionate ſoules may be as ſoone drawne to evill as to good by that hold. Factious men brought to the gallowes for ſedition, have from that pulpit ſowne the ſeed of mutiny into the minds of a compaſsionate multitude, and thoſe ſeeds like the teeth of Cadmus his Serpent have brought forth ſince a diſmall harveſt of inteſtine warre. If then any good is formed in our minds by compaſsion, we had need to lay a ſtedfaſter foundation under it; for the meere motions of Pitty are but fits and ſtarts, and are not actions but ſhakings of the ſoul.
A wiſe man will learne how to take hold of the ſpirits of men by Pitty, but together will take heed that others hold him not by the like handle, which therefore he will ſhorten, and leave no hold but reaſon for others to take him by.