[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
means to save and deliver the Body from the dangers of the Water, as the knowledge of letters
would the mind amidst all the waves of Fortune. Swimming is as necessary in War as Learning is
at home in times of peace. And as we observe that Brutes have their Weapons in readinesse and
provided by Nature, but that Man instead thereof has his wit and hands given him against all
externall Force, that as one contrives his Arms so the others may use them, so the same beasts
have the faculty of swimming naturally implanted in them, which man has not. For the very
Young often will escape from those waters in which the strongest and most skillfull man will be
drowned. It was therefore needfull to enjoin the exercise of swimming to children, it being usefull
towards the preservation of their lives, so that what was wanting by Nature might be supplyed by
the Use of Art.
The same Exercise has been used by Noblemen, Princes and Kings for the safeguard of their
Persons, for they who are descended from Noble blood are not wholly Exempted from the
chances of fortune, but exposed to them as well as other Men. If Dionysius had neither
understood swimming nor letters when he was driven out of his Kingdom of Sicily as a Tyrant, he
would have perished in the waves of the Sea when he was shipwrecked in the Corinthian gulf.
Neither could he have come to Corinthus, there to set up a School to teach boyes and profess
humane learning. From a King being made a Schoolmaster and wielding a rod instead of a
Scepter, the proverb originated: 'Dionysius of Corinth'. In like manner, if the Royall Son of the
Philosophers had not been able to swim, no man would have heard his Voice nor retrieved him,
he being long since drowned in the Waters. Swimming therefore is necessary and usefull to all
degrees of men, for altho' it cannot presently deliver a man from the surges of the Vast Ocean, yet
it gives him time of Life whereby he may be saved by others.
But this King of whom we speak sustains himself the longest time of all and cryes out even to this
day, tho' he be seen or heard by a very Few, by reason of the Vastnesse of the Sea and his
remotenesse. For by chance in swimming he hath touched upon a Rock or a Very great Stone
where he may remain if the Waves prevail. But it may be asked what kind of Sea this is? I answer
it is the Erythræan or the Red Sea, subject to the Tropick of Cancer, in whose Bottom there lies
the most abundant Quantity of Magnets. It is not safe for ships compacted of or laden with Iron to
sail in it, for they may easily be drawn to the bottom by the Force of the Magnets. Which the
King before mentioned being ignorant of, and the rest perishing when their ship sank, he alone
escaped by swimming. A Crown still remained upon him, shining like Glorious Rubies, by which
he might easily be known and restored to his Kingdom.
But what are these good things which this Royall Son is able and willing to bestow on him by
whom he should be restored to his own Kingdom? Certainly not such rewards as Ptolemy the last
King of Egypt bestowed on Pompey, by whom his Father was restored to that Kingdom; to wit,
Perfidiousness and Death. Rather, he bestows Health, the removall of diseases, the preservation
of life free from the burden of things necessary, and the Horn of Plenty with Love and Honour-
which being things not mean and ordinary, but the chief Vitalicks and ornaments of this Life.
Who, except he be stupid would not desire them? Who would not swim to Him? Who would not
stretch forth his hand and draw him into the Boat? But care must be taken least in rescuing this
Prince his Diadem should fall into the Sea. For then He would scarce be acknowledged for the
King or received by his Subjects, because then would perish the Pyropus Venerabili, and the
Bezoar Stone assuring Health to all men would Vanish quite away. Hence the Rosary quotes
Aristotle in these Words: Choose Thyself a Stone, that by which Kings are revered in their
Diadems, and by which Physicians can cure their Patients, because it is near to the Fire. For
without a Medicinall Virtue a Crown would be of no Value.
But what is to be done to the King when he is so delivered? First from those Waters he had
received in He must be relieved by Sudorificks, from Cold by the Heat of Fire, from the
Numbnesse of his Limbs by Baths moderately Hot, from Hunger and want of food by the
Administration of a convenient Diet and from other externall maladies by their contraries and
Health-restoring Remedies. Then must a Royall match be provided, from which in due time there
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]