[5561] “Et prius aequoribus pisces, et montibus umbrae,
        Et volucres deerunt sylvis, et murmura ventis,
        Quam mihi discedent formosae Amaryllidis ignes.”

       “First seas shall want their fish, the mountains shade
        Woods singing birds, the wind’s murmur shall fade,
        Than my fair Amaryllis’ love allay’d.”

Bid me not love, bid a deaf man hear, a blind man see, a dumb speak, lame run, counsel can do no good, a sick man cannot relish, no physic can ease me. Non prosunt domino quae prosunt omnibus artes.  As Apollo confessed, and Jupiter himself could not be cured.

[5562] “Omnes humanos curat medicina dolores,
        Solus amor morbi non habet artificem.”

“Physic can soon cure every disease, [5563] Excepting love that can it not appease.”

But whether love may be cured or no, and by what means, shall be explained in his place; in the meantime, if it take his course, and be not otherwise eased or amended, it breaks out into outrageous often and prodigious events. Amor et Liber violenti dii sunt) as [5564]Tatius observes, et eousque animum incendunt, ut pudoris oblivisci cogant, love and Bacchus are so violent gods, so furiously rage in our minds, that they make us forget all honesty, shame, and common civility.  For such men ordinarily, as are thoroughly possessed with this humour, become insensati et insani, for it is [5565]_amor insanus_, as the poet calls it, beside themselves, and as I have proved, no better than beasts, irrational, stupid, headstrong, void of fear of God or men, they frequently forswear themselves, spend, steal, commit incests, rapes, adulteries, murders, depopulate towns, cities, countries, to satisfy their lust.

[5566] “A devil ’tis, and mischief such doth work,
        As never yet did Pagan, Jew, or Turk.”

The wars of Troy may be a sufficient witness; and as Appian, lib. 5. hist, saith of Antony and Cleopatra, [5567]"Their love brought themselves and all Egypt into extreme and miserable calamities,” “the end of her is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword,” Prov. v. 4, 5.  “Her feet go down to death, her steps lead on to hell.  She is more bitter than death,” (Eccles. vii. 28.) “and the sinner shall be taken by her.” [5568]_Qui in amore praecipitavit, pejus perit, quam qui saxo salit_. [5569]"He that runs headlong from the top of a rock is not in so bad a case as he that falls into this gulf of love.”  “For hence,” saith [5570] Platina, “comes repentance, dotage, they lose themselves, their wits, and make shipwreck of their fortunes altogether:”  madness, to make away themselves and others, violent death. Prognosticatio est talis, saith Gordonius, [5571]_si non succurratur iis, aut in maniam cadunt, aut moriuntur_; the prognostication is, they will either run mad, or die.  “For if this passion continue,” saith [5572]Aelian Montaltus, “it