and for that cause their master defines philosophy to be a contemplation of death, because it takes off the mind from visible and corporeal objects, than which death does no more.

Proinde Philosophiam definit esse mortis meditationem, quod ea mentem a rebus visibilibus, ac corporeis abducat, quod idem utique mors facit.

And therefore, as long as the soul uses the organs of the body in that right manner it ought, so long it is said to be in good state and condition; but when, having broken its fetters, it endeavors to get loose and assays, as it were, a flight out of that prison that holds it in, they call it madness;

Itaque quam diu animus corporis organis probe utitur, tam diu sanus appellatur, verum ubi ruptis iam vinculis, conatur in libertatem asserere sese, quasique fugam ex eo carcere meditatur, tum insaniam vocant.

and if this happen through any distemper or indisposition of the organs, then, by the common consent of every man, ’tis downright madness.

Id si forte contingit morbo, vitioque organorum, prorsus omnium consensu, insania est.

And yet we see such kind of men foretell things to come, understand tongues and letters they never learned before, and seem, as it were, big with a kind of divinity.

Et tamen hoc quoque genus hominum videmus futura prædicere, scire linguas ac litteras, quas antea numquam didicerant, et omnino divinum quiddam præ se ferre.

Nor is it to be doubted but that it proceeds from hence, that the mind, being somewhat at liberty from the infection of the body, begins to put forth itself in its native vigor.

Neque dubium est id inde accidere quod mens a contagio corporis paulo liberior incipit nativam sui vim exserere.

And I conceive ’tis from the same cause that the like often happens to sick men a little before their death, that they discourse in strain above mortality as if they were inspired.

Idem arbitror esse in causa, cur laborantibus vicina morte, simile quiddam soleat accidere, ut tamquam afflati prodigiosa quædam loquantur.

Again, if this happens upon the score of religion, though perhaps it may not be the same kind of madness, yet ’tis so near it that a great many men would judge it no better, especially when a few inconsiderable people shall differ from the rest of the world in the whole course of their life.

Rursum si id eveniat studio pietatis, fortasse non est idem insaniæ genus, sed tamen adeo confine, ut magna pars hominum meram insaniam esse iudicet, præsertim cum pauculi homunciones ab universo mortalium coetu, tota vita dissentiant.

And therefore it fares with them as, according to the fiction of Plato, happens to those that being cooped up in a cave stand gaping with admiration at the shadows of things;

Itaque solet iis usu venire, quod iuxta Platonicum figmentum, opinor, accidere iis, qui in specu vincti rerum umbras mirantur, et fugitivo illi, qui reversus in antrum, veras res vidisse se prædicat, illos longe falli, qui præter miseras umbras nihil aliud esse credant.

and that fugitive who, having broke from them and returning to them again, told them he had seen things truly as they were, and that they were the most mistaken in believing there was nothing but pitiful shadows.

Etenim sapiens hic commiseratur, ac deplorat illorum insaniam, qui tanto errore teneantur.

For as this wise man pitied and bewailed their palpable madness that were possessed with so gross an error, so they in return laughed at him as a doting fool and cast him out of their company. In like manner the common sort of men chiefly admire those things that are most corporeal and almost believe there is nothing beyond them.

Illi vicissim illum veluti delirantem rident, atque eiiciunt. Itidem vulgus hominum ea quæ maxime corporea sunt, maxime miratur, eaque prope sola putat esse.

Whereas on the contrary, these devout persons, by how much the nearer anything concerns the body, by so much more they neglect it and are wholly hurried away with the contemplation of things invisible.

Contra pii, quo quidquam propius accedit ad corpus, hoc magis negligunt, totique ad invisibilium rerum contemplationem rapiuntur.

For the one give the first place to riches, the next to their corporeal pleasures, leaving the last place to their soul, which yet most of them do scarce believe, because they can’t see it with their eyes.

Nam isti primas partes tribuunt divitiis, proximas corporis commodis, postremas animo relinquunt: quem tamen plerique nec esse credunt, quia non cernatur oculis.

On the contrary, the others first rely wholly on God, the most unchangeable of all things; and next him, yet on this that comes nearest him, they bestow the second on their soul; and lastly, for their body, they neglect that care and condemn and fly money as superfluity that may be well spared;

E diverso illi primum in ipsum Deum, rerum omnium simplicissimum, toti nituntur: secundum hunc, et tamen in hoc, quod ad illum quam proxime accedit, nempe animum: corporis curam negligunt, pecunias ceu putamina prorsus aspernantur, ac fugitant.

or if they are forced to meddle with any of these things, they do it carelessly and much against their wills, having as if they had it not, and possessing as if they possessed it not.

Aut si quid huiusmodi rerum tractare coguntur, gravatim, ac fastidienter id faciunt, habent tamquam non habentes, possident tamquam non possidentes.

There are also in each several things several degrees wherein they disagree among themselves. And first as to the senses, though all of them have more or less affinity with the body, yet of these some are more gross and blockish,

Sunt et in singulis rebus, gradus multum inter istos diversi. Principio sensus tametsi omnes cum corpore cognationem habeant, tamen quidam sunt ex his crassiores, ut tactus, auditus, visus, olfactus, gustus.

as tasting, hearing, seeing, smelling, touching;

Quidam magis a corpore semoti, veluti memoria, intellectus, voluntas.

some more removed from the body, as memory, intellect, and the will.

Igitur ubi se intenderit animus, ibi valet.

And therefore to which of these the mind applies itself, in that lies its force. But holy men, because the whole bent of their minds is taken up with those things that are most repugnant to these grosser senses, they seem brutish and stupid in the common use of them.

Pii quoniam omnis animi vis ad ea contendit, quæ sunt a crassioribus sensibus alienissima, in his velut obbrutescunt, atque obstupescunt.

Whereas on the contrary, the ordinary sort of people are best at these, and can do least at the other; from whence it is, as we have heard, that some of these holy men have by mistake drunk oil for wine.

Contra vulgus in his plurimum valet, in illis quam minimum. Inde est, quod audimus nonnullis divinis viris accidisse, ut oleum vini loco biberint.

Again, in the affections of the mind, some have a greater commerce with the body than others, as lust, desire of meat and sleep, anger, pride, envy; with which holy men are at irreconcilable enmity, and contrary, the common people think there’s no living without them.

Rursum in affectibus animi, quidam plus habent cum pingui corpore commercii, veluti libido, cibi somnique appetentia, iracundia, superbia, invidia: cum his irreconciliabile bellum piis, contra vulgus sine his vitam esse non putat.

And lastly there are certain middle kind of affections, and as it were natural to every man, as the love of one’s country, children, parents, friends,

Deinde sunt quidam affectus medii, quasique naturales, ut amor patris, caritas in liberos, in parentes, in amicos: His vulgus nonnihil tribuit.

and to which the common people attribute no small matter; whereas the other strive to pluck them out of their mind: unless insomuch as they arrive to that highest part of the soul, that they love their parents not as parents—for what did they get but the body? though yet we owe it to God, not them—but as good men or women and in whom shines the image of that highest wisdom which alone they call the chiefest good, and out of which, they say, there is nothing to be beloved or desired.

At illi hos quoque student ex animo revellere, nisi quatenus ad summam illam animi partem adsurgant, ut iam parentem ament, non tamquam parentem, quid enim ille genuit, nisi corpus ? quamquam hoc ipsum Deo parenti debetur, sed tamquam virum bonum, et in quo luceat imago summæ illius mentis, quam unam summum bonum vocant, et extra quam nihil nec amandum nec expetendum esse prædicant.

And by the same rule do they measure all things else, so that they make less account of whatever is visible, unless it be altogether contemptible, than of those things which they cannot see.

Hac eadem regula reliqua item omnia vitæ officia metiuntur, ut ubique id quod visibile est, si non est omnino contemnendum, tamen longe minoris faciant, quam ea quæ videri nequeunt.

But they say that in Sacraments and other religious duties there is both body and spirit.

Aiunt autem et in Sacramentis, atque ipsis pietatis officiis, corpus et spiritum inveniri.

As in fasting they count it not enough for a man to abstain from eating, which the common people take for an absolute fast, unless there be also a lessening of his depraved affections: as that he be less angry, less proud, than he was wont, that the spirit, being less clogged with its bodily weight, may be the more intent upon heavenly things.

Velut in ieiunio non magni ducunt, si quis tantum a carnibus, coenaque abstineat, id quod vulgus absolutum esse ieiunium existimat, nisi simul et affectibus aliquid adimat, ut minus permittat iræ quam soleat, minus superbiæ: utque ceu minus iam onustus mole corporea, spiritus ad coelestium bonorum gustum, fruitionemque enitatur.

In like manner, in the Eucharist, though, say they, it is not to be esteemed the less that ’tis administered with ceremonies, yet of itself ’tis of little effect, if not hurtful, unless that which is spiritual be added to it, to wit, that which is represented under those visible signs.

Similiter et in synaxi, tametsi non est aspernandum, inquiunt, quod cerimoniis geritur, tamen id per se, aut parum est conducibile, aut etiam perniciosum, nisi id quod est spiritale accesserit, nempe hoc quod signis illis visibilibus repræsentatur.

Now the death of Christ is represented by it, which all men, vanquishing, abolishing, and, as it were, burying their carnal affections, ought to express in their lives and conversations that they may grow up to a newness of life and be one with him and the same one among another.

Repræsentatur autem mors Christi, quam domitis, exstinctis, quasique sepultis corporis affectibus, exprimere Mortales oportet, ut in novitatem vitæ resurgant, utque unum cum illo, unum item inter sese fieri queant.

This a holy man does, and in this is his only meditation.

Hæc igitur agit, hæc meditatur ille pius.

Whereas on the contrary, the common people think there’s no more in that sacrifice than to be present at the altar and crowd next it, to have a noise of words and look upon the ceremonies.

Contra, vulgus sacrificium nihil aliud esse credit, quam adesse altaribus, idque proxime, audire vocum strepitum, aliasque id genus cerimoniolas spectare.

Nor in this alone, which we only proposed by way of example, but in all his life, and without hypocrisy, does a holy man fly those things that have any alliance with the body and is wholly ravished with things eternal, invisible, and spiritual.

Nec in his tantum, quæ dumtaxat exempli gratia proposuimus, sed simpliciter in omni vita refugit pius ab his quæ corpori cognata sunt, ad æterna, ad invisibilia, ad spiritalia rapitur.

For which cause there’s so great contrarity of opinion between them, and that too in everything, that each party thinks the other out of their wits;

Proinde cum summa sit inter hos et illos omnibus de rebus dissensio, fit ut utrique alteris insanire videantur.

though that character, in my judgment, better agrees with those holy men than the common people:

Quamquam id vocaibuli rectius in pios competit quam in vulgus, mea quidem sententia.

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which yet will be more clear if, as I promised, I briefly show you that that great reward they so much fancy is nothing else but a kind of madness.

Quod quidem magis perspicuum fiet, si quemadmodum pollicita sum, paucis demonstraro, summum illud præmium nihil aliud esse, quam insaniam quamdam.

And therefore suppose that Plato dreamed of somewhat like it when he called the madness of lovers the most happy condition of all others.

Primum igitur existimate, Platonem tale quiddam iam tum somniasse, cum, amantium furorem omnium felicissimum esse, scriberet.

For he that’s violently in love lives not in his own body but in the thing he loves; and by how much the farther he runs from himself into another, by so much the greater is his pleasure.

Etenim qui vehementer amat iam non in se vivit, sed in eo quod amat, quoque longius a se ipso digreditur, et in illud demigrat, hoc magis ac magis gaudet.

And then, when the mind strives to rove from its body and does not rightly use its own organs, without doubt you may say ’tis downright madness and not be mistaken,

Atque cum animus a corpore peregrinari meditatur, neque probe suis utitur organis, istud haud dubie furorem recte dixeris.

or otherwise what’s the meaning of those common sayings, “He does not dwell at home,” “Come to yourself,” “He’s his own man again”?

Alioqui quid sibi vult, quod vulgo etiam dicunt: ‘Non est apud se, et, ad te redi, et, sibi redditus est?’

Besides, the more perfect and true his love is, the more pleasant is his madness.

Porro quo amor est absolutior, hoc furor est maior, ac felicior.

And therefore, what is that life hereafter, after which these holy minds so pantingly breathe, like to be?

Ergo quænam futura est illa coelitum vita, ad quam piæ mentes tanto studio suspirant?

To wit, the spirit shall swallow up the body, as conqueror and more durable;

Nempe spiritus absorbebit corpus, utpote victor ac fortior.

and this it shall do with the greater ease because heretofore, in its lifetime, it had cleansed and thinned it into such another nothing as itself.

Idque hoc faciet facilius, partim quod iam velut in suo regno est, partim quod iam olim in vita corpus, ad huiusmodi transformationem repurgarit, atque extenuarit.

And then the spirit again shall be wonderfully swallowed up by the highest mind, as being more powerful than infinite parts; so that the whole man is to be out of himself nor to be otherwise happy in any respect, but that being stripped of himself, he shall participate of somewhat ineffable from that chiefest good that draws all things into itself.

Deinde spiritus a mente illa summa mire absorbebitur, quippe infinitis partibus potentiore. Ita ut iam totus homo extra se futurus sit, nec alia ratione felix futurus, nisi quod extra sese positus, patietur quiddam ineffabile a summo illo bono, omnia in se rapiente.

And this happiness though ’tis only then perfected when souls being joined to their former bodies shall be made immortal, yet forasmuch as the life of holy men is nothing but a continued meditation and, as it were, shadow of that life, it so happens that at length they have some taste or relish of it;

Iam hæc felicitas quamquam tum demum perfecta contingit, cum animi receptis pristinis corporibus, immortalitate donabuntur: Tamen quoniam piorum vita nihil aliud est, quam illius vitæ meditatio, ac velut umbra quædam, fit ut præmii quoque illius aliquando gustum aut ardorem aliquem sentiant.

which, though it be but as the smallest drop in comparison of that fountain of eternal happiness, yet it far surpasses all worldly delight, though all the pleasures of all mankind were all joined together.

Id tametsi minutissima quædam stillula est, ad fontem illum æternæ felicitatis, tamen longe superat universas corporis voluptates, etiam si omnes omnium mortalium deliciæ in unum conferantur.

So much better are things spiritual than things corporeal, and things invisible than things visible;

Usque adeo præstant spiritualia corporalibus, invisibilia visibilibus.

which doubtless is that which the prophet promises: “The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to consider what God has provided for them that love Him.”

Hoc nimirum est quod pollicetur Propheta: ‘Oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis adscenderunt, quæ præparavit Deus diligentibus se’.

And this is that Mary’s better part which is not taken away by change of life, but perfected.

Atque, hæc est Moriæ pars, quæ non aufertur commutatione vitæ, sed perficitur.

And therefore they that are sensible of it, and few there are to whom this happens, suffer a kind of somewhat little differing from madness; for they utter many things that do not hang together, and that too not after the manner of men but make a kind of sound which they neither heed themselves, nor is it understood by others, and change the whole figure of their countenance,

Hoc igitur quibus sentire licuit, contingit autem perpaucis, ii patiuntur quoddam dementiæ simillimum, loquuntur quædam non satis cohærentia, nec humano more, sed dant sine mente sonum, deinde subinde totam oris speciem vertunt.

one while jocund, another while dejected, now weeping, then laughing, and again sighing.

Nunc alacres, nunc deiecti, nunc lacrymant, nunc rident, nunc suspirant; in summa, vere toti extra se sunt.

And when they come to themselves, tell you they know not where they have been, whether in the body or out of the body, or sleeping; nor do they remember what they have heard, seen, spoken, or done, and only know this, as it were in a mist or dream, that they were the most happy while they were so out of their wits.

Mox ubi ad sese redierint, negant se scire, ubi fuerint, utrum in corpore, an extra corpus, vigilantes an dormientes, quid audierint, quid viderint, quid dixerint, quid fecerint, non meminerunt, nisi tamquam per nebulam, ac somnium, tantum hoc sciunt se felicissimos fuisse, dum ita desiperent.

And therefore they are sorry they are come to themselves again and desire nothing more than this kind of madness, to be perpetually mad.

Itaque plorant sese resipuisse, nihilque omnium malint, quam hoc insaniæ genus perpetuo insanire.

And this is a small taste of that future happiness.

Atque hæc est futuræ felicitatis tenuis quædam degustatiuncula.

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But I forget myself and run beyond my bounds.

Verum ego iam dudum oblita mei huper ta eskammena pêdô.

Though yet, if I shall seem to have spoken anything more boldly or impertinently than I ought, be pleased to consider that not only Folly but a woman said it;

Quamquam si quid petulantius aut loquacius a me dictum videbitur, cogitate et Stultitiam, et mulierem dixisse.

remembering in the meantime that Greek proverb, “Sometimes a fool may speak a word in season,”

Sed interim tamen memineritis illius Græcanici proverbii pollaki toi kai môros anêp katakairion eipen, nisi forte putatis hoc ad mulieres nihil attinere.

unless perhaps you expect an epilogue, but give me leave to tell you you are mistaken if you think I remember anything of what I have said, having foolishly bolted out such a hodgepodge of words.

Video vos epilogum exspectare, sed nimium desipitis, siquidem arbitramini, me quid dixerim etiam dum meminisse, cum tantam verborum farraginem effuderim.

’Tis an old proverb, “I hate one that remembers what’s done over the cup.” This is a new one of my own making: I hate a man that remembers what he hears.

Vetus illud, misô mnamona sumpotan. Novum hoc, misô mnamona akroatên.

Wherefore farewell, clap your hands, live and drink lustily, my most excellent disciples of Folly.

Quare valete, plaudite, vivite, bibite, Moriæ celeberrimi Mystæ.

Telos.