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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

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Democritus Junior to the Reader

I will have certain ships sent out for new discoveries every year, & some discreet men appointed to travel into all neighbor kingdoms by land, which shall observe what artificial inventions, and good laws are in other Countries, customes, alterations, or ought else, concerning war or peace, which may tend to the common good. Ecclesiastical discipline, penes Episcopos, subordinate as the other.

No impropriations, no lay patrons of church livings, or one private man, but common societies, corporations, &c. and those Rectors of benefices to be chosen out of the Universities, examined and approved as the literati in China. No Parish to contain above a thousand Auditors.

If it were possible, I would have such priests as should imitate Christ, charitable lawyers should love their neighbors as themselvs, temperate and modest Physicians, Politicians should contemn the world, Philosophers should know themselves, Noblemen live honestly, Tradesmen leave lying and cosening, Magistrates corruption, &c. but this is unpossible, I must get such as I may.

I will therefore have of lawyers, judges, advocates, physicians, chirurgions, &c. a set number, and every man, if it be possible, to plead his own cause, to tell that tale to the judge, which he doth to his advocate, as at Fez in Africk, Bantam, Aleppo, Raguse, suam quisque causam dicere tenetur.

Those Advocate, Chirurgions and Physicians, which are allowed to be maintained out of the common treasure, no fees to be given or taken upon pain of losing their places; or if they do, very small fees, and when the cause is fully ended.

He that sues any man shall put in a pledge, which if it be proved he hath wrongfully sued his adversary, rashly or maliciously, he shall forfeit, and lose. Or else before any suit begin, the plaintiff shall have his complaint approved by a set delegacy to that purpose; if it be of moment he shall be suffered as before, to proceed, if otherwise they shall determine it. All causes shall be pleaded suppresso nomine, the parties names concealed, if some circumstances do not otherwise require.

Judges and other officers shall be aptly disposed in each Province, Villages, Cities, as common arbitrators to hear causes, and end all controversies, and those not single, but three at least on the bench at once, to determine or give sentence and those again to sit by turns or lots, and not to continue still in the same office.

No controversie to depend above a year, but without all delays and further appeals to be speedily dispatched, and finally concluded in that time allotted. These and all other inferior Magistrates, to be chosen as the Literati in China, or by those exact suffrages of the Venetians, and such again shall not be eligible, or capable of magistracies, honours, offices, except they be sufficiently qualified for learning, maners, and that by the strict approbation of deputed examinators:

first Scholars to take place, then Souldiers; for I am of Vigetius his opinion, a Scholar deserves better then a Souldier, because Vnius ætatis sunt quæ fortiter fiunt, quæ vero pro utilitate Reipub. scribuntur, æterna: a Souldiers work lasts for an age, a Scholars for ever.

If they misbehave themselves, they shal be deposed, and accordingly punished, & whether their offices be annuall or otherwise, once a year they shall be called in question, and give an account; for men are partial and passionate, mercilesse, covetous, corrupt, subject to love, hate, fear, favor, &c. omne sub regno graviore regnum: like Solons Areopagites, or those Roman Censors, some shall visit others, and be visited invicem themselves,

they shall oversee that no proling officer, under colour of authority shall insult over his inferiors, as so many wild beasts, oppresse, domineer, flea, grinde, or trample on, be partial or corrupt, but that there be æquabile jus, justice equally done, live as friends & brethren together;

and which Sesellius would have and so much desires in his kingdom of France, a diapason and sweet harmony of Kings, Princes, Nobles, and Plebeians so mutually tied and involved in love, as well as laws and authority, as that they never disagree, insult or incroach one upon another. If any man deserve well in his office he shall be rewarded. — quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam, præmia si tollas? —

1046.Burtonp. 63, l: “Plato 12. de legibus, 40. annos natos vult, ut si quid memorabile viderent apud exteros, hoc ipsum in rempub. recipiatur.” Editor: “Plato, Laws, book 12, requires them to be forty years old, so that if they see anything noteworthy abroad, it may be adopted in the commonwealth.” Compare Laws 951a–d on observers sent abroad: that passage specifies men over fifty. The forty-year threshold occurs in the preceding general restriction on travel; Burton appears to combine the provisions.

1048.Burtonp. 64, m: “Simlerus in Helvetia.” Editor: Simler on Switzerland. Exact passage uncollated.

1049.Burtonp. 64, n: “Utopienses causidicos excludunt, qui causas callide & vafre tractent & disputent. Iniquissimum censent hominem ullis obligari legibus, quæ aut numerosiores sunt, quàm ut perlegi queant, aut obscuriores quàm ut à quovis possint intelligi. Volunt ut suam quisq; causam agat, eamq; referat Judici quam narraturus fuerat patrono, sic minus erit ambagum, & veritas facilius elicitur. Mor. Utop. l. 2.” Editor: “The Utopians exclude lawyers who handle and argue cases craftily and cunningly. They consider it most unjust to bind anyone by laws too numerous to be read through, or too obscure for anyone to understand. They wish each person to plead his own case, telling the judge what he would have told his advocate; thus there will be fewer complications, and the truth is more easily brought out.” More, Utopia, book 2, in the discussion of laws. Burton condenses and rearranges More’s argument.

1050.Burtonp. 64, o: “Medici ex publico victum sumunt. Boter. l. 1. c. 5. de Ægyptiis.” Editor: “Physicians receive their maintenance from public funds.” Botero, book 1, chapter 5, on the Egyptians; exact passage uncollated.

1051.Burtonp. 64, p: “De his lege Patrit. l. 3 tit. 8 de reip. Instit.” Editor: “On these matters read Patrizi, On the Institution of a Republic, book 3, title 8.” Exact passage uncollated.

1052.Burtonp. 64, q: “Nihil à clientibus patroni accipiant, priusquam lis finita est. Barcl. Argen. lib. 3.” Editor: “Advocates should accept nothing from their clients before the suit is finished.” Barclay, Argenis, book 3; exact passage uncollated.

1053.Burtonp. 64, r: “It is so in most free cities in Germany.” Editor: The anchor precedes the required deposit by a plaintiff; it is retained there.

1054.Burtonp. 64, s: “Mat. Riccius expedit. in Sinas l. 1. c. 5. de examinatione electionum copiosè agit, &c.” Editor: “Matteo Ricci, Expedition into China, book 1, chapter 5, treats examinations and selections at length, etc.”

1055.Burtonp. 64, t: “Contar. de repub. Venet. l. 1.” Editor: Contarini, On the Republic of Venice, book 1; exact passage uncollated.

1056.Burtonp. 64, u: “Osor l. 11. de reb. gest. Eman. Qui in literis maximos progressus fecerint maximis honoribus afficiuntur: secundus honoris gradus militibus assignatur, postremi ordinis mechanicis, doctorum hominum judiciis in altiorem locum quisq; præfectus, & qui a plurimis approbatur, ampliores in rep. dignitates consequitur. Qui in hoc examine primas habet, insigni per totam vitam dignitate insignitur, marchioni similis, aut duci apud nos.” Editor: “Osório, Deeds of Manuel, book 11. Those who have made the greatest progress in learning receive the highest honours; the second rank is assigned to soldiers, the lowest to artisans. Each is promoted to a higher position by the judgement of learned men, and whoever wins most approval receives higher public dignities. Whoever comes first in this examination is distinguished for life by an eminent rank, like a marquis or duke among us.” The report and comparison are Burton’s cited account, not an independently established description of Chinese institutions.

1057.Burtonp. 64, x: “Cedant arma togæ.” Editor: “Let arms yield to the toga”: military force to civil authority. Compare Cicero, On Duties 1.77, quoting his own verse.

1059.Burtonp. 64, y: “As in Berna, Lucerne, Friburge in Switzerland, a vitious liver is uncapable of any office; if a Senator, instantly deposed. Simlerus.” Editor: A vitious liver is a person who lives viciously. The reference to Simler remains uncollated.

1060.Burtonp. 64, z: “Not above three years, Arist. polit. 5. c. 8.” Editor: The printed z follows “annuall,” before “or otherwise”; the note is attached there. It concerns the length of office, which Burton distinguishes from the annual review that follows. The Aristotle reference is retained; its exact passage remains uncollated.

1061.Burtonp. 64, a: “Nam quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” Editor: “For who will guard the guardians themselves?” Compare Juvenal, Satire 6.347–348. Burton answers with reciprocal inspection.

1063.Burtonp. 65, b: “Cytreus in Greisgeia. Qui non ex sublimi despiciant inferiores, nec ut bestias conculcent sibi subditos authoritatis nomini confisi, &c.” Editor: “Who should not look down on inferiors from on high, or trample on their subjects as if they were beasts, relying on the name of authority, etc.” The printed citation and the irregular nomini are retained; the work remains unidentified.

1064.Burtonp. 65, c: “Sesellius de rep. Gallorum lib. 1. & 2.” Editor: Claude de Seyssel, on the French commonwealth, books 1 and 2; exact passage uncollated.