AFter the death of Queene ELIZABETH, who died in the 70. yeere of her age, which was the Clymactericall period of her life, diuerse pregnant wits, and curious Philoso­phers were assembled by chance togither, & among sundry other learned Discourses, one demaunded of me, what were these Clymactericall yeeres, their nature, and effects: For (quoth hee) I haue heard many Philosophors and Phisitians talke of them, but as yet I neuer throughly could pierce or peni­trate them. I aunswered him, that the Treatise thereof required longer time, then that place and present occasions afforded, but that afterwards at more leysure hee should vnderstand them, if hee were desirous to learne: The Gentleman impor­tuned [Page 2] me so much, as at last hee drew me to write this Discourse which followeth: & for that it see­meth not altogether impertinent to this explanati­on of Passions, I thinke it not vnfit to be inserted in the last Booke of the Passions of the Minde; be­cause the same temper of body, and propension to death, which is the base of Clymactericall yeres; the very same conferres much, either to mooue Passi­ons, or hinder the opperations of the soule, as in the progresse of this discourse shal plainly appeare.

Clymax in Greeke signifieth a Staire or a Ladder, and metaphorically is applyed to the yeeres of a man or womans life; as if the whole course of our dayes were a certaine Ladder, compounded of so many steppes.

True it is, that as the constitutions of mens bo­dies are, for the most parte, of two sortes, the one is firme and strong, the other more weake and feeble: so the Phisitians by long experience haue obserued, that the fatall ends of them who be of a lustie constitution, finish for most part in some score of yeeres, and so they number such persons periods by twentie, 40. 60. 80. 100. 120. And toOther count them by tens. this purpose sayde Moses, *whose eyes were nei­ther darkned, nor any tooth loosed. *Centum vi­ginti Deut. 31. 2. annorum sum hodie, non possum vltra egredi, & ingridi: I am now an hundred and twenty yeeres old, I can no more goe out and come in, that is, no longer liue: and so it fell out, for that *same yeereDeut. 34. 7. [Page 3] he died. And GOD himselfe said of man *E­runt Genes. 6. 4. dies illius centum & viginti anni. The dayes of man shall be an hundred and 20. yeeres.

The next Clymactericall yeere in them of solide and virile constitution is an 100, and so the Scrip­tures report. Numerus dierum vitae hominum vt Eccles. 18. 8 multum centum anni. The number of the dayes of the life of men at most is an 100 yeeres. Another kinde of men whose complexion is weaker, haue a lesser kinde of measure, as they haue shorter life; and yet these also be of two sorts, some stronger, some weaker: the first Clymactericall yeeres are nine, eighteene, tweentie seauen, thirty six, forty fiue, fifty foure, sixty three, seauenty two, eighty one; the seconds are, seauen, foureteene, twenty one, twenty eight, thirty fiue, forty twoo, forty nine, fifty six, sixty three, seauenty. Of these two ages spake Dauid when hee sayde. Dies annorum Psalme 89. 10. nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni. Siautem in poten­tatibus octoginta anni amplius eorum labor & dolor. The dayes of our yeeres are seauentie yeeres, and if in Potentates they be eightie, the labour and griefe is greater.

The most daungerous of all these passages or steps, are the forty nine, compounded vpon seuen times seauen: and sixty three standing vppon nine times seauen, and next to these is seauenty, which containeth tenne times seauen; they number them also by nine, and so make eighty one, the [Page 4] most perillous as comprehending nine times nine.

These obseruations then of Phisitians presup­posed as true, for men that are wise, vertuous, and experimented in their faculties ought to be be­lieued (for wisdome and experience protect them from errour, and honestie from lying and deceite) it were good to examine and search out the cause of these notable alterations and daungers of death in the Clymactericall yeeres, for those humors which alter the bodie, and dispose it to sicknesse, and death; the same bend the soule to take inor­dinate affections and passions. I haue heard some Phisitians resolue this doubt into the influence of heauens, to wit, that so manie courses of the Sunne, Moone, and Planets from the time of a mans Natiuitie, worke such effects; so that some men, let them liue neuer so orderly, after so ma­nie circular motions of the Sunne and Moone haue warbled ouer their heads, vppon necessitie they must fall into one sicknesse or another, and so die.

Some others ground this varietie and daunge­rous diuersitie, vppon the singular prouidence of God, who hath created all thinges In numero, pondere & mensura: and therefore hath prescri­bed infallibly the periods of mens liues, accord­ing to that Psalm: Notum fac mihi domine finem me­um: & numerum dierum meorum quis est: vt sciam [Page 5] quid desit mihi. Ecce mensurabiles posuisti dies meos. Psalme, 38. Make knowne vnto me O Lord mine end, and the number of my dayes, that I may knowe what I want. Loe thou hast put my dayes mensurable, that is, prescribed certaine bounds and limmits of age not passable: and therefore both Philosophers and Phisitians conclude, that a man with manie disorders, surfeits, exercises, &c. may shorten the natural course of his life, but that he cannot any way prolong it, & passe the prefixed instant of his death: the similitude we haue in a candle lighted, for let a man vse all the diligence possible, the light and fire feeding vpon the candle, perforce will consume it at last; and God or any Angell behoulding the quantitie of the wike, tallow, time of the yeere (for in cold weather a candle consumeth more then in hote, Per antipe­ristasin) and other circumstances may precisely foretell, that such a candle cannot continue bur­ning longer then such a minute of such an houre; in a shorter time it may be consumed with wind, witches, snuffe-fallings, or such like things which waste it away, but longer it cannot be prolonged: after the same sort standeth the courses and the listes of our liues prescribed by God and prefixed by nature: and so God hath appointed these Sep­tuarie, and Nonarie yeeres as best seeming his wisdome and prouidence.

These manners of declaration I will not con­fute, for albeit I doe thinke them both in some [Page 6] things most true, yet they are too generall and remote to answere and satisfie fully our de­maund. The difficultie, no doubt, is exceed­ing hard, and rather I belieue it to be true for the authoritie of Physitians, then for any credite I can giue to theyr reasons; for indeede all that I haue heard discourse thereupon (and I haue heard some verie fine wits) and what I haue read, dooth not content nor satisfie my minde. Therefore I will set downe my Phylosophicall conceite (for in this speculation Physick dependeth vppon Phyloso­phie) and first suppose that customes, habites, changes, and great alterations in mens bodies come seldome vppon a suddaine, but by little and little grow and increase by tract of time; and as we say.

Galen to declare the nature and force of cus­tomeGalen. de Consuet. c. 2. and what effects it worketh in vs, demaun­deth this question: how it commeth to passe, that some mens natures abhor exceedingly some sorts [Page 7] of meate, and are not able to disguest them; as for example, saith he, some cannot abide beefe, others shell fishes; and we haue manie who cannot so much as endure the sight of cheese, others of aples: And yet these same persons by little and little are brought to eate, disguest, yea and greatly to like them? He answereth, that all beasts and men haue naturall propensions, to such meates as are consor­ting with the naturall proprieties of theyr bodies, and abhor such things as are contrarie; and there­fore the Lyon feedeth vppon flesh, not vpon hay; and the Oxe vpon hay not vpon flesh; yet it falleth out that by tract of time, those meates which we detested, after by vse become familiar, for they al­ter the body, and by the sucke of theyr nourish­ment, change the affections and qualities of the stomack, in such sort, as that meate, which before was molestfull, and in very deede hurtfull, becom­meth sauorie and healthfull: and this he proueth, not onely to be true in men and beasts, but also in seedes and trees, whose fruite in some countries are poyson, transferred into other soyles where they receiue another kind of norishment, they be­come, not only by tract of time; not hurtfull, but very healthfull; not poysonfull, but pleasant.

Secondly, it is to be considered, that our bodies generally haue certaine courses, passages, stations or periods, wherein they notably change their ac­tions and operations: till 21. yeeres, or 25. at the most, we grow in height, for some come to theyr [Page 8] full growth sooner, some later: from 25. to fortie two, or forty fiue, we grow in breadth or thicknes, from this, till the end of our dayes we decline: the cause of these three notorious alterations is our na­turall beate or humidum radicale, (which in mine opinion is nothing els but the vitall temper, and qualification of euery solid part of our bodies) the which residing in a moist body, causeth it to grow, like the heate in a loafe of Dowe set in the Ouen: afterwards, what with internall heate, externall drying of the windes, and sunne, and other conti­nuall exercises, which daily exsiccate the body, & draw out the vndeguested moysture, the innated heate is not able to rouze vp the body any more in height, but spreadeth it abroade, and so enlargeth, and ingrosseth it: after which continuall working, heate is weakened, and so by little and little still de­cayeth: and finally resolueth in dissolution.

Thirdly, in this septuarie number of our yeeres, although we cannot discouer such notorious dif­ferences, as in the three former passages, yet in these likewise, we may obserue some markable change. At the first seauenth yeere, men commonly note, that then the child beginneth, to haue some little sparkes of reason: and for this cause, the Cannon Law permitteth such, directed by their parents or Tutors, contrahere sponsalia, to make a promise of future mariage. In the foureteene yeere, the youth is thought to haue the perfit vse of reason, & then the Cannons account him capable of marriage. [Page 9] At twenty one, a man is reputed able iudiciously to dispose of his goods, and faculties, and therfore the Common-law riddeth him then of his vvard­ship, and the Cannons giue him leaue to take the order of subdeacon: the first seauen yeeres are cal­led infantia, the second pueritia, the third adolescen­tia, the fourth, that is, from twenty one to twenty eight, iuuentus, from thence to forty nine, hee is esteemed to stand in statu virili, the next till sixtie three is senectus, after, till seauenty & seauentie sea­uen, for most part ensueth decrepita aetas. In all these periods, or Clymactericall yeeres, it is to be noted, that although the change in that yeere be percei­ued most palpably, and sensibly, yet in all the pre­cedent, they were preparing, working, and some­thing disposing there-vnto: as for example, wee must not thinke that the least drop of rayne, which in effect breaketh the stone, dooth it of it selfe, for that were impossible, but it doth it in vertue, and by force and working of all the former: And per­haps for this cause they were called anni scalares, for that euery yeere precedent, was a steppe to the last, wherein the Ladder or staires were ended.

Fourthly, there is a great dispute among Phisi­tians, what should be the cause of the Paroxisme [...], or fittes in Agues, and once I my selfe being trou­bled with a tertian Ague, in Italie, in the Cittie of Como, there came two Phisitians my deere friends, and a Doctor of Diuinitie all at one time to visite me, and euen then I stood in expectation of my [Page 10] fit. After many complements & discourses about my sicknes, at last I demaunded these two Doctors of Phisicke, that they would resolue mee in one doubt about my disease: they aunswered, with a good will: Well, sayd I, you both conclude, and it stands with good reason, that this sicknes of mine proceedeth from excesse of choller: now I would know of you, when my fit is past, is the choller all disguested, consumed, and voyded away or no? If it be consumed, why dooth my Ague returne? if it be not consumed, why dooth mine Ague de­part? The Phisitians here aunswered one contra­rie to another: for the first sayd it was disguested: Why then returneth mine Ague? For this cause quoth he, the Ague proceedeth not onely of chol­ler, but of choller putrified, corrupted, and poy­soned. Now sir, the choller poysoned is consu­med, but other choller which remaineth, is not corrupted, but by the next paroxisme it will be corrupted: Well, sayd I, what thing is that which corrupteth & poisoneth that good choller, which before was not corrupted? It seemeth strange to me, how so much precisely should be corrupted, and the other beeing so neere lying by it, or rather vnited with it, yea mingled in it, not to be infec­ted: In truth I remember not what he aunswered, but I am sure he satisfied none of vs all. The other Doctor of Phisicke sayd, it was not consumed, but nature feeling the force of that poyson, vnited her selfe to fight against it, and so allayed most of the vehemencie, vigour, and malignitie thereof: and [Page 11] hee gaue an example of a pot of water set on the fire, for quoth hee, if the coales be couered with a­shes, the hote water cooleth, blow the fire and it warmeth and boyleth, let ashes returne, or the fire die, the water returneth to the first coldnesse: So quoth hee, the poyson of the choller, by natures might is ouercome, when the Ague departeth, but after that those spirits and forces, which nature had vnited, are dispersed, the fire is quenched, and choller againe corrupted. But quoth the other Phisitian, so the sicknesse should neuer depart, for if your choller be still in cooling and heating, and nature now fighting, now ceasing, when I pray you shall this combat be finally ended? Marry sir quoth his fellow Doctor, in this sort, nature mitti­gateth the forces of choller this fit, and allayeth them: now nature in the meane time, is strength­ned with good foode, and the humour either pur­ged, or quailed with phisicke, and so by little and little it is quite disguested.

Not so said the other, for then the second fit should alwayes be lesse then the first, and the third lesse then the second, and so forward to the last: but this is false, for his third and fourth fits, were much more vehement, then either the first or se­cond. And besides, by this declaration, no man should euer die vpon an Ague. For if in euery fit, the sicknesse ceassed not, vntill the humour were allayed, then certainly in Agues, (which are mor­tall) [Page 12] the fitte shoulde neuer passe, which is most false.

With this the Doctor of Diuinitie, who was a very good Philosopher, and for that he had beene much troubled with maladies, he was like manie wrangling Gentlemen, a petty-fogging Phisitian at his owne costs, as they be petty-fogging Law­yers thorow theyrowne sutes. Why said the Di­uine, may we not hold that the Ague is in the liuer and hart? No quoth the Phisitians both, that can not be, because no Phisitian euer held, that any A­gue was in partibus solidis, that is, in the hart & li­uer, &c. except the Hecticke. Well said the diuine, I say not that it is in the hart and liuer immediatly, for that I will confesse perforce must be choller, but I say the fountaine and spring, the roote and origen to reside in the liuer, the which immediat­ly causeth corrupted blood and inflamed choller, for they beeing extraordinarily corrupted them­selues with vehement heate, cannot but engender blood, spirits, and humors of like infection and corruption. And by this way I aunswere the first doubt: that when the Ague easeth, choller is di­guested: Why then returneth it againe? Marie sir, because the hart and liuer beeing out of tem­per, in that space of time engender so many more peruerse humors, as oppresse nature, so vehement­ly and dangerously, that shee must imploy all her might to resist them, abate them, extinguish them. In truth Maister Doctor (said I) this opinion I like [Page 13] very well, and I will confirme it, for since mine A­gue first beganne, these Phisitians haue inculcated nothing so much vnto me, by word and deede, as to coole my liuer: to this effect all their syrrops and waters of Endiue, Sicory, and Barley tended. And with this discourse wee ended our dispute, & mine Ague: the which with this pleasant con­ference passed away.

Fiftly, Plato auoucheth, that Agues haue agesPlato in Dia­log. de Natur. like men, as also consummations and ends, vvith whom Galen consenteth: This sentence of Plato, Valesius a worthy Phisitian explicateth in this ma­ner. As there are two sorts of diseases, sharpe andValesius de Sacra Philo. cap. 7. cronicall, both which haue theyr decretory daies, but not alike, for the sharpe haue odde dayes, espe­cially seauen: the cronicall twenty, sixty, eightie, a hundred: so there are two prerogations or cour­ses of life: the one is common to many, the other to fewe, and such as are of a most liuely constituti­on: both of them haue theyr Clymactericall or de­cretory yeeres. The first wee number by seauen and nine, the latter wee count by tenne, and the last period is a hundred and twenty.

To this Discourse of Valesius lette vs adde a cer­tayne poynt of experience and doctrine of Galen, Galen. lib. 1. de diebus de­cretorijs c. 12. who in the decretorie dayes of a feuer, which numbreth by seauen specially, he will tell you the fourth day, whether the Agew will leaue the pa­tient the seauenth, or whether hee shall die vpon [Page 14] the seauenth day, or no: and also withall, hee teacheth to foretell the very houre of death vppon the seauenth day.

Last of all, out of these considerations we may gather as much as will sufficiently (I hope) satis­fie the Question proposed in the beginning of this Section, viz: why in these Clymactericall yeeres men commonly die? To which I doe aunswere, That for euery sixe yeeres or eight, men still ga­ther vppe more or lesse humours, which prepare the way for an Agew in the seauen or nine: As wee sayde before, when the fitte is past, the heart and liuer prepare humours for the next ensuing, and in case they be not sufficient in the seauen, they multiply to the nine; if in this they faile, then they passe to the foureteene, then to eighteene, &c. And for this cause Physitians councell theyr Patients to purge in the Spring and Authumne, to hinder the increase of humours, albeit they feele themselues nothing diseased at all.

This we may declare by the example of them, who are infected with hereditary diseases, as the gowte, or the stone: for albeit they euidently appeere not till olde age, yet in all the progresse of their yeeres, the partes and humours insensibly are prepared. Or wee may say, that in sixe or eight yeeres the liuer and heart which are foun­taines of bloud, and origens of humours are so in­fected and corrupted, that in the last yeere they [Page 15] engender more vnnaturall superfluous humours, than can stand with the right and naturall constitu­tion of the body.

But some will say, by this opinion a man should euer be sicke, for hee shoulde neuer want corrup­ted humours, wherein sickenesse consisteth. To this I answere; first, that health consisteth not in indiuisibili, in an indiuisible poynt, so that it ad­mitteth not some few peccant humours withall, but hath a certaine amplitude, like as if into a But of strong Canary Wine, a man euery moneth shoulde put in halfe a pinte of water, euery day a spoonefull, at the moneths end, yea the yeeres end, the Wine woulde be almost as potent, as at the first, yea and perhaps more, if it bee well hel­ped.

Secondly, wee see that Custome breedeth qualities and alterations so insensibly, as in long time (till they come to a full growth) they can hardly be perceiued.

Thirdly, I doubt not but hee that hath for example the first foureteene yeere of his life for his Clymactericall, in the precedent yeeres, shall gather more corrupted humoures, then hee whose Clymactericall yeere is nine and fortie, and also feele himselfe proportionally more weake, albeit hee can not well perceiue; for I my selfe haue knowne a man, almost with halfe his lungs [Page 16] rotten with a consumption, and yet boldelie auowch that he was strong, for Ab assuetis non fit passio.

Some will obiect, that wee see by experience many menne die within the space of a day or two, who before were as sound and whole, as coulde be: neyther in their vrine, blood, or pulse appea­red any signe of sickenesse, or superfluous hu­mour.

To this I aunswere, that such a man was ey­ther oppressed with some vehement Passion, or some violent exercise, or some other extrinsecall cause, which accelerated, peruerted, and extra­ordinarily augmented the humour, and so caused death: for as I saide aboue, although a man (con­sidering the common course of his dayes) can not passe his prefixed time and Clymactericall periode, yet by many meanes he may shorten it.

Much more I coulde say, prò and contrà, for this Declaration, but because it were something too Physicall, and not so necessarie for this Mo­rall Treatise, therefore I will bury it with silence: for this poynt, in very trueth, is so intricate, that I perceiue, the best wittes are exceedingly trou­bled to extricate themselues out of it.

And therefore, as this I esteeme probable, so I woulde giue any Physitian most hearty thankes, who in few woordes woulde teach mee a better way.

I sayde in briefe, for I haue seene some such long tedious Discourses, as I loathed to peruse them, doubting lest the vncertaine profit, would not repay the cer­taine payne.