idle as in his company; or that Scipio Africanus in [1563]Tully, _Nunquam
minus solus, quam cum solus; nunquam minus otiosus, quam quum esset
otiosus_; never less solitary, than when he was alone, never more busy,
than when he seemed to be most idle. It is reported by Plato in his
dialogue _de Amore_, in that prodigious commendation of Socrates, how a
deep meditation coming into Socrates' mind by chance, he stood still
musing, _eodem vestigio cogitabundus_, from morning to noon, and when as
then he had not yet finished his meditation, _perstabat cogitans_, he so
continued till the evening, the soldiers (for he then followed the camp)
observed him with admiration, and on set purpose watched all night, but he
persevered immovable _ad exhortim solis_, till the sun rose in the morning,
and then saluting the sun, went his ways. In what humour constant Socrates
did thus, I know not, or how he might be affected, but this would be
pernicious to another man; what intricate business might so really possess
him, I cannot easily guess; but this is _otiosum otium_, it is far
otherwise with these men, according to Seneca, _Omnia nobis mala solitudo
persuadet_; this solitude undoeth us, _pugnat cum vita sociali_; 'tis a
destructive solitariness. These men are devils alone, as the saying is,
_Homo solus aut Deus, aut Daemon_: a man alone, is either a saint or a
devil, _mens ejus aut languescit, aut tumescit_; and [1564]_Vae soli_ in
this sense, woe be to him that is so alone. These wretches do frequently
degenerate from men, and of sociable creatures become beasts, monsters,
inhumane, ugly to behold, _Misanthropi_; they do even loathe themselves,
and hate the company of men, as so many Timons, Nebuchadnezzars, by too
much indulging to these pleasing humours, and through their own default. So
that which Mercurialis, _consil. 11_, sometimes expostulated with his
melancholy patient, may be justly applied to every solitary and idle person
in particular. [1565]_Natura de te videtur conqueri posse_, &c. "Nature may
justly complain of thee, that whereas she gave thee a good wholesome
temperature, a sound body, and God hath given thee so divine and excellent