214044_The_Essa ... rd_Of_Montaigne_Vol_II.pdf - OUDL Home

20 MONTAIGNE'S ESSAYES
also suffocate the vital forces, crazed through old age,
of the Philosopher Arcesilaus. But it is an old and
pleasant question whether a wise mans mind were like
to yeeld unto the force of wine.
Si munitoe adhibet vim sapientice. 1
If unresisted force it bends,
Gainst wisdome which it selfe defends.
Unto what vanity doth the good opinion we have of
ourselves provoke us? The most temperate and
perfectest minde of the world findes it too great a taske
to keepe herselfe upright, lest she fall by her owne
weaknesse. Of a thousand there is not one perfectly
righteous and settled but one instant of her life, and
question might he made whether according to her
natural condition she might at any time be so. But to
joyne constancie unto it is her last perfection: I meane
if nothing should shocke her; which a thousand
accidents may doe. Lucretius, that famous Poet, may
hilosophie and bandie at his pleasure: Loe where he
p
lieth senslesse of an amorous potion. Thinkes any
man that an apoplexie cannot as soone astonish Socrates
as a poore labouring man ? Some of them have by the
force of a sicknesse forgot their own names, and a slight
hurt hath overthrown the judgement of others. Let
him be as wise as he can, in the end he is but a man ;
what is more fraile, more miserable, or more vaine?
Wisdome forceth not our naturall conditions.
Sudores itague, et pallorem existere toto
Corpora et infringi linguam, vocemque aboriri,
Catigare, oculos, sonare aures, eucciaere art us,
Denique concidere ex animi terrore videmus.¹
We see therefore, palenesse and sweats oregrow ,
Our bodies, tongues doe falter, voyce doth breake,
Eyes dazle, eares buzze, joints doe shrinke below,
Lastly we swoune by hart-fright, terrours weake.
He must seele his eyes against the blow that threatened
him; being neere the brimme of a precipise, he
1 HOR. Od. xxviii. 4. ² LUCRET. 1. iii. 155.