THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 33 



female Furies torn in pieces, and scattered all over 

 the desert : for whose cruel death the river Helicon 

 sacred to the Muses, in horrible indignation, hid his 

 head underground, and raised it again in another 

 place. 



The meaning of this fable seems to be thus : 

 Orpheus music is of two sorts, the one appeasing the 

 infernal powers, the other attracting beasts and trees. 

 The first may be fitly applied to natural philosophy, 

 the second to moral or civil discipline. 



The most noble work of natural philosophy is 

 the restitution and renovation of things corruptible ; 

 the other, as a lesser degree of it, the preservation of 

 bodies in their estates, detaining them from dissolu 

 tion and putrefaction ; and if this gift may be in 

 mortals, certainly it can be done by no other means 

 than by the due and exquisite temper of nature, as 

 by the melody and delicate touch of an instrument ; 

 but seeing it is of all things most difficult, it is sel 

 dom or never attained unto ; and in all likelihood for 

 no other reason, more than through curious dili 

 gence and untimely impatience ; and therefore phi 

 losophy hardly able to produce so excellent an effect 

 in a pensive humour, and that without cause, busies 

 herself about human objects, and by persuasion and 

 eloquence insinuating the love of virtue, equity, and 

 concord, in the minds of men, draws multitudes of 

 people to a society, makes them subject to laws, obe 

 dient to government, and forgetful of their unbridled 

 affections, whilst they give ear to precepts, and sub 

 mit themselves to discipline ; whence follows the 



