Æneas Sylvius amongst many other, sets down three special wayes to finde a fool by. He is a fool that seeks that he cannot finde: He is a fool that seeks that, which being found will do him more harm then good: He is a fool, that having variety of wayes to bring him to his jorneys end, takes that which is worst. If so, me thinks most men are fools; examine their courses, and you shal soon perceive what dizards and mad men the major part are.

Beroaldus will have drunkards, afternoon men, and such as more then ordinarily delight in drink, to be mad. The first pot quencheth thirst, so Panyasis the Poet determins in Athenæus, secunda gratiis, horis & Dyonisio: the second makes merry, the third for pleasure, quarta ad insaniam, the fourth makes them mad. If this position be true, what a catalogue of mad men shall we have? what shall they be that drink four times four? Nonne supra omnem furorem, supra omnem insaniam reddunt insanissimos? I am of his opinion, they are more then mad, much worse then mad.

The Abderites condemned Democritus for a mad man, because he was sometimes sad, and sometimes again profusely merry. Hâc Patriâ (saith Hyppocrates) ob risum furere & insanire dicunt, his countrey men hold him mad because he laughs; & therefore he desires him to advise all his friends at Rodes, that they do not laugh too much, or be over sad. Had those Abderites been conversant with us, and but seen what fleering and grining there is in this age, they would certainly have concluded, we had been all out of our wits.

Aristotle in his Ethicks holds, fælix idemque sapiens, to be wise and happy are reciprocal terms, bonus idemque sapiens honestus. Tis Tullies paradox, wise men are free, but fools are slaves, liberty is a power to live according to his own Laws, as we wil our selves: who hath this liberty? who is free?

——sapiens sibique imperiosus, Quem neque pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula terrent, Responsare cupidinibus, contemnere honores Fortis, & in seipso totus teres atque rotundus. He is wise that can command his own will, Valiant and constant to himself still, Whom poverty nor death, nor bands can fright, Checks his desires, scorns honours, just and right.

But where shall such a man be found? If no where, then e diametro, we all are slaves, senslesse, or worse. Nemo malus fælix. But no man is happy in this life, none good, therefore no man wise. Rari quippe boni—— For one vertue you shall finde ten vices in the same party; pauci Promethei, multi Epimethei.

We may peradventure usurp the name, or attribute it to others for favor, as Carolus Sapiens, Philippus Bonus, Lodovicus Pius, &c. & describe the properties of a wise man, as Tully doth an Orator, Xenophon Cyrus, Castilio a Courtier, Galen Temperament, An aristocrasie is described by Politicians. But where shall such a man be found?

Vir bonus & sapiens, qualem vix repperit unum Millibus è multis hominum consultus Apollo. A wise, a good man in a million, Apollo consulted could scarce finde one. A man is a miracle of himself, but Trismegistus adds, Maximum miraculum homo sapiens, a wise man is a wonder: multi Thirsigeri, pauci Bacchi.

Alexander when he was presented with that rich and costly casket of King Darius, and every man advised him what to put in it, he reserved it to keep Homers works, as the most precious Jewell of humane wit, and yet Scaliger upbraids Homers Muse, Nutricem insanæ sapientiæ, a nurserie of madnesse, impudent as a Court Lady, that blushes at nothing.

Jacobus Mycillus, Gilbertus Cognatus, Erasmus, and almost all posterity admire Lucians luxuriant wit, yet Scaliger rejects him in his censure, and cals him the Cerberus of the Muses. Socrates whom all the world so much magnified, is by Lactantius and Theodoret condemned for a fool. Plutarch extols Seneca’s wit beyond all the Greeks, nulli secundus, yet Seneca saith of himself, when I would solace my self with a fool, I reflect upon my self, and there I have him.

Cardan in his 16 book of Subtilties, reckons up twelve supereminent, acute Philosophers, for worth, subtletie, & wisdom: Archimedes, Galen, Vitruvius, Architas Tarentinus, Euclide, Geber, that first inventer of Algebra, Alkindus the Mathematician, both Arabians, with others. But his triumviri terrarum far beyond the rest, are Ptolomæus, Plotinus, Hyppocrates.

Scaliger exercitat. 224. scoffs at this censure of his, cals some of them carpenters, and mechanitians, he makes Galen fimbriam Hyppocratis, a skirt of Hyppocrates: and the said Cardan himself elsewhere condemns both Galen and Hyppocrates for tediousnesse, obscurity, confusion. Paracelsus will have them both meer idiots, infants in physick and philosophie.

Scaliger and Cardan admire Suisset the Calculator, qui pene modum excessit humani ingenii, and yet Lod. Vives cals them nugas Suisseticas: and Cardan opposite to himself in another place, contemns those ancients in respect of times present, Majoresque nostros ad præsentes collatos, juste pueros appellari.

In conclusion the said Cardan, and Saint Bernard will admit none into this Catalogue of wise men, but only Prophets and Apostles; how they esteem themselves, you have heard before. We are worldly-wise, admire our selves, and seek for applause: but hear Saint Bernard, quanto magis foras es sapiens, tanto magis intus stultus efficeris, &c. in omnibus es prudens, circa teipsum insipiens: the more wise thou art to others, the more fool to thy self.