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264 MONTAIGNE'S ESSAYES
reach, and so distant from his weight. Mirum quo
procedat improbitas cordis humnni, parvulo aliquo invitata
successu: 1 'It is a wonder whither the perverse
wickednesse of mans heart will proceed, if it be but
called-on with any little successe.' How insolently
doe the Stoikes charge Epicurus, because he holds that
to be perfectly good and absolutely happy belongs but
only unto God; and that the wise man hath but a
shadow and similitude thereof? How rashly have they
joyned God unto destiny? (Which at my request, let
none that beareth the surname of a Christian doe at
this day.) And Thales, Plato, and Pythagoras have
subjected him unto necessitie. This over-boldnesse, or
rather bold-fiercenesse, to seeke to discover God by
and with our eyes, hath beene the cause that a notable
man of our times hath attributed a corporall forme
unto divinitie, and is the cause of that which daily
hapneth unto us, which is by a particular assignation
to impute all important events to God : which because
they touch us, it seemeth they also touch him, and
that he regardeth them with more care and attention
than those that are but slight and ordinary unto us.
Magna dii curant, parva negligunt: 2 'The Gods take
some care for great things, but none for little.' Note
his example; he will enlighten you with his reason.
Nec in regnis quidem reges omnia minima curant; 3 ' Nor
doe Kings in their Kingdomes much care for the least
matters.' As if it were all one to that King, either
to remove an Empire or a leafe of a tree: and if his
providence were otherwise exercised, inclining or regarding
no more the successe of a battell than the skip
of a flea. The hand of his government affords itselfe
to all things after a like tenure, fashion and order;
our interest addeth nothing unto it: our motions and
our measures concerne him nothing and move him no
whit. Deus ita artifew magnus in magnis, ut minor non sit
in parvis: 'God is so great a workman in great things,
1 PLIN. Nat. Hist. 1. ii. c. 23.
² CIC. Nat. Deor. 1. ii. ³ lb. 1, iii.