as hee sayeth that I haue disinherited him and abiected him from my heritage hee beeing begotten of my body hereunto I answere That I haue not disinherited my sonne but I haue disinherited his pleasure to the entent hee shall not enioy my trauell for there can bee nothing more vniust then that the young and vicious sonne should take his pleasure of the swet and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his Father and sayde I confesse I haue offended my Father and also I confesse that I haue liued in pleasures yet if I may speake the truth though I were disobedient and euill my Father ought to beare the blame and if for this cause hee doeth dishenherite mee I thinke hee doth me great iniurie for the father that instructeth not his son in vertue in his youth wrongfully disinheriteth him though he be disobedient in his age The Father againe replyeth and sayeth It is true my sonne that I brought thee vp too wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taught thee sundry times and besides that I did correct thee when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I did not instruct thee in learning it was for that thou in thy tender age diddest want vnderstanding but after that thou hadst age to vnderstand discretion to receyue and strength to exercise it I beganne to punish thee to teache thee and to instruct thee For where no vnderstanding is in the child there in vaine they teach doctrine Since thou art old quoth the sonne and I young since thou art my Father and I thy sonne for that thou hast white hayres on thy beard and I none at all it is but reason that thou be belieued and I condemned For in this world wee see oft times that the small authoritie of the person maketh him to loose his great iustice I graunt thee my Father that when I was a childe thou diddest cause mee to learne to reade but thou wilt not denie that if I did commit any faulte thou wouldst neuer agree I should be punished And hereof it came that thou suffering me to do what I would in my Youth haue bin disobedient to thee euer since in my age And I say vnto thee further that if in this case I haue offended truely mee thinketh thou canst not bee excused for the fathers in the youth of their children ought not onely to teach them to dispute of vertues what vertue is but they ought to inforce thē to be vertuous in deed For it is a good token when Youth before they knowe vices haue been accustomed to practise vertues Both partyes then diligently heard the good Phylosopher Solon Solinon speake these words I giue iudgement that the Father of this childe be not buryed after his death and I commaund that the Sonne because in his youth hee hath not obeyed his Father who is olde should be disinherited whilest the Father liueth from all his substance on such condition that after his death his sonnes should inherite the Heritage and so returne to the heyres of the Sonne and liue of the Father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the Sonne should be condemned for the offence of the Father I do commaund also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithfull person to the end they may giue the Father meat and drinke during his life and to make a graue for the Sonne after his death I haue not without a cause giuen such iudgement the which comprehendeth life and death For the Gods will not that for one pleasure the punishment bee double but that wee chastise and punish the one in the life taking from him his honour and goods and that wee punish others after their death taking from them memorie and buryall Truely the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was very graue and would to GOD wee had him for a iudge of this world presently For I sweare that hee should finde manie Children now a dayes for to disinherite and moe Fathers to punish For I cannot tell which is greater The shame of the children to disobey their Fathers or the negligence of the Fathers in bringing vp their children Sextus Cheronens in the second book of the sayings of the Philosophers declareth that a Citizen of Athens saide vnto Dyogenes the Phylosopher these wordes Tell mee Dyogenes What shall I doe to be in the fauour of the Gods and not in the hatred of men For oft times amongst you Phylosophers I haue hearde say that there is a great difference between that that the gods will and that which men loue Dyogenes answered Thou speakest more then thou oughtest to speake that the Gods will one thing and men another for the Gods are but as a center of mercy and men are but as a denne of malice if thou wilt enioy rest in thy dayes and keepe thy life pure and cleane thou must obserue these three things The first honour thy Gods deuoutely for the man which doeth not serue and honour the Gods in all his enterprises hee shall be vnfortunate The second bee very diligent to bring vp thy children well for the man hath no enemie so troublesome as his owne sonne if hee bee not well brought vp The third thing bee thankefull to thy good benefactors and friends for the Oracle of Apollo sayth that the man who is vnthankefull of all the world shall be abhorred And I tell thee further my friend that of these three things the most profitable though it be more troublesome is for a man to teach and bring vp his children well This therefore was the answere that the Philosopher Diogenes made to the demaund of the Citizen It is great pitty and griefe to see a young childe how the bloud doth stirre him to see how the flesh doth prouoke him to accomplish his desire to see sensuality goe before and he himselfe to come behind to see the malitious World to watch him to see how the Diuell doth tempte him to see how vices binde him and in all that which is spoken to see how the Father is negligent as if hee had no children whereas in deede the olde man by the fewe vertues he hath had in his Youth may easily knowe the infirmityes and vices wherewith his Sonne is incompassed If the expert had neuer beene ignorant if the Fathers had neuer beene children if the vertuous had neuer been vicious if the fine wittes had neuer been deceiued it were no maruell if the Fathers were negligent in teaching their children For the little experience excuseth men of great offences but since thou art my Father and that first thou wert a Sonne since thou art old and hast bin young and besides all this since that pride hath inflamed thee lechery hath burned thee wrath hath wounded thee Negligence hath hindred thee Couetousnes hath blinded thee Glotonie surfetted thee Tell mee cruell Father since so many vices haue reigned in thee why hast thou not an
to come with me from Capua to Rome the selfesame thou hadst to goe with another from Rome to Capua It is an euill thing for vicious â—eâ— to reprooue the vices of others wherein themselues are faulty The cause why I condemn thee to dye is onely for the remembrance of the old Law the which commandeth that no nurse or woman giuing sucke should on paine of death be begotten with childe truly the Law is very iust For honest women do not suffer that in giuing her child sucke at her breast she shold hide another in her entrails These words passed between Gneus Fuluius the Consul and the Ladie Sabina of Capua Howbeit as Plutarche saith in that place the Consull had pitie vpon her and shewed her fauour banishing her vpon condition neuer to returne to Rome againe Cinna Catullus in the fourth booke of the xxij Consulls saith that Caius Fabricius was one of the most notable Consulles that euer was in Rome and was sore afflicted with diseases in his life onely because hee was nourished foure moneths with the milke of a Nurse being great with Childe and for feare of this they locked the nurse with the Childe in the Temple of the Vestall virgines where for the space of iij. yeares they were kept They demaunded the Consul why he did not nourish his children in his house He answered that children being nourished in the house it might bee an occasion that the Nurse should begotteÌ„ with child and so she should destroy the children with her corrupt milke and further giue me occasion to do iustice vpon her person wherefore keeping them so shut vp wee are occasion to preserue their life and also our children from perill Dyodorus Siculus in his librairy and Sextus Cheronensis saith in the life of Marc. Aurelius that in the Isles of Baleares there was a custom that the nurses of young children whether they were their owne or others should be seuered from their Husbands for the space of two yeares And the woman which at that time though it were by her husband were with child though they did not chasten her as an adulteresse yet euery man spake euill of her as of an offender During the time of these two yeares to the ende that the Husband should take no other wife they commanded that hee should take a concubine or that hee should buye a Slaue whose companie hee might vse as his wife for amongst these barbarous hee was honoured most that had two Wiues the one with child and the other not By these Examples aboue recited Princesses and great Ladyes may see what watch care they ought to take in choosing their Nurses that they be honest since of them dependeth not onely the health of their children but also the good fame of their houses The seueÌ„th condition is that Princesses and great ladies ought to see their nurses haue good conditions so that they be not troublesome proud harlots liars malicious nor flatterers for the viper hath not so much poyson as the woman which is euil coÌ„ditioned It little auaileth a man to take wine from a woman to entreate her to eate little and to withdrawe her from her husband if of her owne nature she be hatefull and euill mannered for it is not so great daÌ„ger vnto the child that the nurse be a drunkard or a glutton as it is if she be harmfull malitious If perchaunce the Nurse that nourisheth the child be euil conditioned truly she is euill troubled the house wherin she dwelleth euil coÌ„bred For such one doth importune the Lorde troubleth the Lady putteth in hazard the childe aboue all is not contented with her selfe Finally Fathers for giuing too much libertie to their nurses oft times are the causes of manie practises which they doe wherewith in the ende they are grieued with the death of their childreÌ„ which foloweth Amongst all these which I haue read I say that of the ancient Roman Princes of so good a Father as Drusius Germanicus was neuer came so wicked a son as Caligula was being the iiij Emp of Rome for the Hystoriographers were not satisfied to enrich the praise the excellencies of his Father neyther ceased they to blame and reprehend the infamies of his Sonne And they say that his naughtines proceedeth not of the mother which bare him but of the nurse which gaue him sucke For often times it chaunceth that the tree is green and good when it is planted and afterwardes it becometh drie and withered onely for being carryed into another place Dyon the Greeke in the second book of Caesars saieth that a cursed woman of Campania called Pressilla nourished and gaue suck vnto this wicked child Shee had against all nature of women her breasts as hayrie as the beardes of men and besides that in running a Horse handling her staffe shooting in the Crosse-bowe fewe young men in Rome were to bee compared vnto her It chaunced on a time that as shee was giuing sucke to Caligula for that shee was angrie shee tore in pieces a young child and with the bloud therof annoynted her breasts and so she made Caligula the young Childe to sucke together both bloud and milke The saide Dyon in his booke of the life of the Emperour Caligula saieth that the women of Campania whereof the saide Pressilla was had this custom that wheÌ„ they would giue their Teat to the childe first they did annointe the nipple with the bloud of a hedge-hog to the ende their children might be more fierce and cruell And so was this Caligula for hee was not contented to kill a man onely but also hee sucked the bloud that remained on his Sworde and licked it off with his tongue The excellent Poet Homer meaning to speake plainely of the crueltyes of Pyrrus saide in his Odisse of him such wordes Pyrrus was borne in Greece nourished in Archadie and brought vp with Tygers milke which is a cruell beast as if more plainely he had saide Pyrrus for being borne in Greece was Sage for that hee was brought vp in Archadie he was strong and couragious for to haue sucked Tygars milke he was very proud and cruell Hereof may be gathered that the great Grecian Pyrrus for wanting of good milke was ouercome with euill conditions The selfe same Hystorian Dyon saith in the life of Tiberius that hee was a great Drunkard And the cause hereof was that the Nurse did not onely drinke wine but also she weyned the childe with soppes dipped in Wine And without doubt the cursed Woman had done lesse euill if in the stead of milke she had giuen the child poyson without teaching it to drinke wine wherefore afterwardes he lost his renowne For truely the Romane Empire had lost little if Tiberius had dyed being a childe and it had wonne much if he had neuer knowne what drinking of Wine had meant I haue declared all that which before is mentioned to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes might
works as moueth vs rather to pitty their follie then to enuie their vertue I aske of those that reade or heare this thing if they will be in loue with Nembroth the first Tyrant with Semiramis which sinned with her owne sonne with Antenor that betrayed Troy his countrey with Medea that slew her children with Tarquine that enforced Lucretia with Brutus that slew Caesar with Sylla that shed so much bloud with Catilina that played the Tyrant in his countrey with Iugurtha that strangled his brethren with Caligula that committed incest with his sisters with Nero that killed his mother with Heliogabalus that robbed the Temples with Domitian that in nothing delighted so much as by straunge handes to put men to death and to driue away flyes with his owne hands Small is the number of those that I haue spoken in respect of those which I could recite of whom I dare say and affirme that if I had beene as they I cannot tell what I would haue done or what I should haue desired but this I know it would haue beene more paines to mee to haue wonne that infamie which they haue wonne then to haue loste the life which they haue lost It profiteth him little to haue his Ponds full of fish and his parkes full of Deere which knoweth neyther how to hunt nor how to fish I meane to shewe by this that it profiteth a man little to be in great auctoritie if hee be not esteemed nor honoured in the same For to attaine to honour wisedome is requisite and to keepe it patience is necessarie With great considerations wise men ought to enterprise daungerous things For I assure them they shall neuer winne honour but where they vse to recouer slander Returning therefore to our matter puissant Prince I sweare and durst vndertake that you rather desire perpetuall renowme through death then any idle rest in this life And hereof I doe not maruell for there are some that shall alwayes declare the prowesses of good Princes and others which will not spare to open the vices of euill tyrants For althogh your Imperial estate is much and your Catholike person deserueth more yet I beleeue with my heart and see with these eyes that your thoughts are so highly bent vnto aduenturous deedes and your heart so couragious to set vpon them that your Maiesty little esteemeth the inheritance of your predecessors in respect of that you hope to gaine to leaue to your successors A Captaine asked Iulius Caesar as he declareth in his Commentaries why he trauelled in the Winter in so hard frost and in the summer in such extreame heate Hee aunswered I will doe what lyeth in mee to doe and afterward let the fatall destinies doe what they can For the valiant knight that giueth in battel the onset ought more to bee esteemed then fickle fortune whereby the victory is obtained since fortune giueth the one and aduentur guideth the other These words are spoken like a stout and valiant Captaine of Rome Of how many Princes doe we reade whom truely I much lament to see what flatteries they haue heard with their eares being aliue and to reade what slaunders they haue sustained after their death Princes and greate Lordes should haue more regard to that which is spoken in their absence then to that which is done in their presence not to that which they heare but to that which they would not heare not to that which they tell them but to that which they would not bee told of not to that which is written vnto them beeing aliue but to that which is written of them after their death not to those that tell them lyes but to those which if they durst would tell them truth For men many times refrayne not their tongues for that Subiects bee not credited but because the Prince in his authority is suspected The Noble and vertuous Prince should not flitte from the truth wherof hee is certified neyther with flatteries and lyes should he suffer himselfe to bee deceyued but to examine himselfe and see whether they serue him with truth or deceyue him with lyes For there is no better witnes and iudge of truth and lyes then is a mans owne conscience I haue spoken all this to the entent your Maiesty might know that I will not serue you with that you should not bee serued That is for to shew my selfe in my Writing a flatterer For it were neyther meete nor honest that flatteries into the eares of such a noble Prince should enter neyther that out of my mouth which teach the truth such vaine tales should issue I say I had rather bee dispraysed for true speaking then to bee honoured for flattery and lying For of truth in your Highnesse it should bee much lightnesse for to heare them and in my basenesse great wickednesse to inuent them Now againe following our purpose I say the Histories greatly doe commend Lycurgus that gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompilius that honoured and addorned the Churches Marcus Marcellus that had pitty and compassion on those which were ouercome Iulius Caesar that forgaue his enemies Octautus that was so welbeloued of the people Alexander that gaue rewardes and gifts to all men Hector the Troian became hee was so valiant in wars Hercules the Thebane because hee employed his strength so well Vlisses the Grecian because hee aduentured himselfe in so many dangers Pyrrhus king of Epirotes because hee inuented so many engines Catullns Regulus because he suffred so many torments Titus the Emperour because he was father to the Orphanes Traianus because he edified sumptuous goodly buildings The good Marcus Aurelius because he knew more then al they I doe not say that it is requisit for one Prince in these dayes to haue in him all those qualities but I dare be bolde for to affirme this that euen as it is vnpossible for one Prince to follow all so likewise it is a great slaunder for him to follow none Wee doe not require Princes to doe all that they can but for to apply themselues to do som thing that they ought And I speake not without a cause that which I haue sayde before For if Princes did occupie themselues as they ought to doe they should haue no time to be vicious Plinie sayeth in an Epistle that the great Cato called Censor did weare a Ring vpon his finger wherein was written these words Esto amicus vnius inimicus nullius which is be friend to one and enemy to none He that would deepely consider these few words shall finde therein many graue sentences And to apply this to my purpose I say the Prince that would well gouerne his common weale shew to all equall iustice desire to possesse a quiet life to get among all a good fame and that coueteth to leaue of himselfe a perpetuall memorie ought to embrace the vertues of one and to reiect the vices of all I allow it very wel that Princes should bee equall
procure to be hated of God Truely to loue to serue and content God it is not hurtful to the woman for that she should bee the better beloued of her husband but yet God hath suffered and doth permit oftimes that the women being feeble deformed poore and negligent should bee better beloued of their husbands then the diligent fayre and rich And this is not for the seruices they doe to their husbands but for the good intention they haue to serue and loue GOD which sheweth them this speciall fauour for otherwise God doth not suffer that he being with her displeased she should liue with her husband contented If womē would take this counsel that I giue them in this case I will teach them furthermore a notable enchauntment to obtayne the loue of their husbands which is that they bee quiet meeke patient solitary and honest with which fine herbes they may make a confection the which neither seene nor tasted of their husbands shall not onely cause them to be beloued but also honoured For women ought to know that for their beautie they are desired but for their vertue only they are beloued CHAP. VI. That Princesses and great Ladyes ought to be obedient to their Husbands and that it is a great shame to the Husband that his wife should command him MAny ancient Historiographers trauailed greatly consumed long time in writng to declare what authoritie the man ought to haue ouer the woman and what seruitude the woman oweth to the man and some for to aduance the dignitie of the man and others to excuse the frailtie of the woman alleadged such vaine things that it had beene more honour for them not to haue written at all then in such sort as they did for it is not possible but the Writers should erre which write not as reason teacheth but rather as their fantasie leadeth Those that defend the frailtie of the woman sayd that the woman hath a body as a man she hath a soule as a man shee hath reason as a man dyeth as a man and was as necessary for generation as man she liueth as a man and therefore they thought it not meete that shee should bee more subiect to man then man to her for it is not reason that that which nature hath made free should by any lawes of man be made bond They said furthermore that God created not the creatures but to augment the generation of mankinde and that in this case the woman was more necessarie then the man for the man engendereth without paine or trauaile but the woman is deliuered with perill and danger and with paine and trauaile nourisheth vp the childe Wherefore it seemeth great vnkindnesse and crueltie that the women which are deliuered with perill and danger of their liues and bring vp their children with labour and toyle of their bodies should bee vsed of their husbands as slaues They sayd further that men are those that curse that moue seditions that make warres that maintaine enmitie that weare weapons that shed mans bloud and commit sundry other mischiefes which the women do not but in stead of killing men shedding bloud and other notorious euils that men do they imploy themselues to encrease men And since it is so then women rather then men ought to haue dominion and command in the Common-wealth for women increase the Cōmon-wealth and men diminish it for neyther diuine nor humane law commaundeth that the foolish man should bee free and gouerne and that the wise woman should bee bond and serue Those of Achaia affirmed this opinion and groundeth themselues vpon this reason and obserued it as a custome That the husbands should obey and the wiues commaund And so they did as Plutarch sayth in the Booke of Consolation for the husband swept made cleane the house made the bed washed the buck couered the table dressed the dinner and went for water And of the contrary part his wife gouerned the goods answered the affayres kept the money and if shee were angry shee gaue him not onely foule words but also oftimes laid her hands on him to reuenge her anger And heereof came this ancient Prouerb the which of many is read and of few vnderstood that is to say Vita Achaiae The life of an Achaian When in Rome the husband suffered to be ruled and commanded of his wife the neighbours would say vnto him in manner of a reproach Vita Achaia which is as much as if a man would say Goe goe as thou art since thou liuest after the law of Achaia where men haue so little discretion that they suffer themselues to bee gouerned bee it well or euill of their Wiues and that euery woman commandeth her Husband Plinie in an Epistle that hee wrote reprooued greatly his friend Fabatus for that hee kept in his house a wife the which in all his doings ruled and commanded him wherein hee told him that hee durst doe nothing without her commaundement And to make the matter to seeme more heynous in the latter ende of his Epistle he sayd these words Me valde poenitet quod tu solus Rome polles vita Achaia which is It grieueth mee much that thou alone in Rome shouldest leade the life of one of Achaia Iulius Capitolinus saith that Anthonius Caracalla being in loue with a faire Lady of Persia and seeing that he could not enioy her nor obtayne his desire promised to marrie her according to the law of Achaia and truly shee shewed her selfe more wise in her answere then hee did in his demand telling him that shee would not nor might not marry for because shee had promised her selfe to the goddesse Vesta and that she had rather be a seruant of the gods then a Mistresse of men The Parthes had a law contrary to them and likewise those of Thrace the which so little esteemed women that their husbands vsed them none otherwise then like seruants And in this case men had so great liberty or to say better lightnesse that after a woman had borne and brought foorth twelue children the children remained in the house and the husbands sold their wiues to them that would giue most or else they changed them for others that were more young And the children agreed to the selling of their owne mother to the intent that their father might refresh himselfe with another that was more young and the olde and barren woman should eyther be buried quicke or else serue as a slaue Dionisius Halicarnaseus saith that the Lides had a law and the Numiaians in like manner that the woman should command things without the house and the man should prouide for those that were within but according to my poore iudgement I cannot tell how this law was kept nor how they could fulfill it for by reason the wife should not goe out of the house but very little and therefore me thinks that they ought not to command any thing abroad nor the husband should enter
one that hath proued it it is reason that I bee beloued in this case and that is That the entent of Princes to conquere strange Realmes and to permit their owne to suffer wrongs is for no other thing but because that the commendations which they speake of the Princes past they should likewise talke the same of them that bee to come Concluding therefore my minde and declaring my intention I say that the Prince that is Noble and desireth to leaue off himselfe from fame let him consider and see what it is that those can write of him which write his history for it profiteth little that hee atchieue great affayres by the sword if there bee no Writer to set them forth with the pen and afterwards to exalt them with the tongue These words thus spoken by the Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius he gaue the key of his Studie to the Honourable olde man Pompeianus that tooke all the Writings and put them in the high Capitoll where the Romanes honoured them as the Christians the holy Scriptures All these Writings besides many others perished in Rome when by the barbarous it was destroyed for the Gothes vtterly to extinguish the name of Rome destroyed not onely the walles thereof but also the Bookes that were therein And truely in this case the Gothes shewed more crueltie to the Romanes then if they had slayne the children of their bodyes or beate downe the walles of their Cities For without doubt the liuely Letter is a more sweeter witnesse of renowme that alwayes speaketh then eyther the Lime Sand or Stone wherewith Fortresses are builded CHAP. XIIII Of the importunate suite of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour Marcus Aurelius concerning the Key of his Closet WE haue declared how the Emperour Marcus Aurelius had his Study in the secretst place of all the Palace and how that he himselfe did keepe the key It is to be vnderstood that hee would neuer let his wife his children nor any other of his familiar friends come into it for he sayd I had rather suffer that they should take from mee my treasures then that any man should turne the leaues of my Bookes It chanced that on a day the Empresse Faustine being great with childe importuned the Emperour much by all the meanes shee could that he would be so fauourable vnto her as to giue her the key of his Studie and it is no maruell for naturally women despise that which is giuen thē lust for that that is denied them Faustine instantly besought him not once but many times not onely with faire words but with abundant teares alleadging vnto him these reasons I haue required thee sundry times that thou wouldest giue mee the key of thy chamber and thou hast by iesting made frustrate my request the which thou my Lord oughtest not to haue done considering that I am with childe for oftentimes it chanceth that that wherefore the husband reioyceth this day to morrow he doth lament Thou oughtest to remember that I am that Faustine the renowmed the which in thy eyes am the fayrest and of thy tongue haue beene most commended of thy person I was best beloued and of thy heart I am most desired then since it is true that thou hast me so deepely in heart why then doubtest thou to shew mee the Writings of thy Studie Thou dost communicate with mee the secrets of the Empire and thou hidest from me the books of thy study Thou hast giuen me thy tender heart of flesh and now thou denyest mee the hard key of iron now I must needs thinke that thy loue was fayned that thy words were double and that thy thoughts were others then they seemed for if they had been otherwise it had been vnpossible thou shouldest haue denyed mee the key that I doe aske thee for where loue is vnfayned though the request bee merrily asked yet it is willingly graunted It is a common custome that you men vse to deceiue vs simple women you present vs with great gifts you giue many fayre words you make vs faire promises you say you will doe maruels but in the ende you doe nothing but deceiue vs for we are persecuted more of you thē of any others When men in such wise importune the women if the women had power to deny and withstand wee should in short space bring yee vnder the yoke and leade you by the noses but when we suffer our selues to be ouercome then you beginne to forsake vs and despise vs. Let mee therefore my Lord see thy Chamber consider I am with childe and that I dye vnlesse I see it If thou dost not to doe me pleasure yet doe it at least because I may no more importune thee for if I come in danger through this my longing I shall but lose my life but thou shalt lose the childe that should be borne and the mother also that ought to beare it I know not why thou shouldest put thy noble heart into such a dangerous fortune wherby both thou I at one time shuldperish I dying so yōg and thou in losing so louing a wife By the immortall Gods I doe beseech thee and by the mother Berecinthia I coniure thee that thou giue me the key or that thou let me enter into the Study and stick not with me thy wife in this my small request but change thy opinion for al that which without consideration is ordayned by importunate suite may bee reuoked We see daily that mē by reading in Bookes loue their children but I neuer sawe heart of man fall in such sort that by reading and looking in Bookes hee should despise his children for in the ende Bookes are by the words of others made but children are with their own proper bloud begotten Before that any thing of wisedome is begunne they alwaies regard the inconueniences that may follow therefore if thou wilt not giue mee this key and that thou art determined to be stubborne still in thy will thou shalt lose thy Faustine thou shalt lose so louing a wife thou shalt lose the creature wherewith she is bigge thou shalt lose the authoritie of thy Palace thou shalt giue occasion to all Rome to speake of thy wickednesse and this griefe shall neuer depart from thy heart for the heart shall neuer bee comforted that knoweth that he only is the occasion of his owne griefe If the Gods doe suffer it by their secret indgements and if my wofull mishappes deserue it and if thou my Lord desirest it for no other cause but euen to doe after thy will for denying me this key I should dye I would willingly dye But of that I thinke thou wilt repent for it chanceth often times to wise men That when remedy is gone the repentance commeth suddenly and then it is to late as they say to shutte the Stable doore when the Steede is stolne I maruell much at thee my Lord why thou shouldest shew thy selfe so froward in this case since thou knowest that
Empire were but slenderly done and looked vnto For the Prince cannot haue so small a Feuer but the people in the common-wealth must haue it double This Emperour Palleolus had a wife whose name was Huldonina the which after she had brought all the Physitions of Asia vnto her Husband and that shee had ministred vnto him all the medicines shee could learne to helpe him and in the end seeing nothing auaile there came by chaunce an old woman a Grecian borne who presumed to haue great knowledge in hearbes and sayd vnto the Empresse Noble Empresse Huldouina If thou wilt that the Emperour thy husband liue long see that thou chafe anger and vexe him euery weeke at the least twise for hee is of a pure melancholy humour and therefore hee that doth him pleasure augmenteth his disease and hee that vexeth him shall prolong his life The Empresse Huldouina followed the counsell of this Greeke woman which was occasion that the Emperour liued afterwardes sound and whole many yeeres so that of the nine monethes which hee was accustomed to be sicke euery yeere in twenty yeeres afterwards he was not sicke three monethes For where as this Greeke woman commaunded the Empresse to anger her husband but twice in the week she accustomably angred him iiii times in the day Fourthly the good mother ought to take heede that the nurse be very temperat in eating so that she should eate little of diuers meates and of those few dishes she should not eate too much To vnderstand the thing yee must know that the white milke is no other then bloud which is sodden that which causeth the good or euill bloud commeth oft times of an other thing but that eyther the person in temperate or else a glutton inâ—ating and therefore it is a thing both healthful and necessary that the nurse that nourisheth the child doe eate good meates for among men and women it is a generall rule that in litle eating there is no danger and of too much eating there is no profite As all the Phylosophers say the wolfe is one of the beasts that denoureth most and is most greedyest and therefore hee is most feared of all the Shepheards But Aristotle in his third booke De Animalibus saith That wheÌ„ the wolfe doeth once feele her selfe great with young in all her life after shee neuer suffereth herselfe to bee coupled with the wolfe againe For otherwise if the wolfe shold yearely bring forth vij or viij whelps as commonly she doth and the Sheepe but one lambe there would be in short space more wolues theÌ„ sheepe Beside all this the wolfe hath an other propertie which is that although she be a Beast most deuouring and greedie yet when she hath whelped she feedeth very temperately and it is to the ende to nourish her whelps and to haue good milke And besides that she doth eate but once in the day the which the dogwolfe doth prouide both for the Bitch whelps Truly it is a monstrous thing to see and noysome to heare and no lesse slaunderous to speake that a Wolfe which giueth sucke to viij whelps eateth but one only kinde of meate and the woman which giueth sucke but to one Childe alone will eate of vii or viii sortes of meates And the cause hereof is that the Beast doth not eate but to sustain nature a womaÌ„ doth not eate but to satisfie her pleasure Princesses and great Ladyes ought to watche narrowly to know when how much the Nurses do eate which doe nourish their children For the child is so tender and the milk so delicate that with eating of sundry meats they become corrupt and with eating much they waxefat If the childreÌ„ suck those which are fat grosse they are coÌ„monly sicke and if they sucke milke corrupted they oft times goe to bed whole in the morne be found dead Isidor in his etimologies saith that the men of the prouince of Thrace were so cruell that the one did eate the other and they did not onely this but also further to shew more their immanity in the sculs of those that were dead they dranke the bloud of him that was lately aliue Though men were so cruell to eate mens flesh and to drinke the bloud of the veines yet the Women which nourished their children were so temperate in eating that they did eate nothing but netles sodden and boiled in Goates milk And because the women of Thrace were so moderate in eating the Phliosopher Solon Solynon brought some to Athens for the Auncients sought no lesse to haue good women in the common-wealth then to haue hardy and valiant Captaines in the warre CHAP. XXI The Author addeth three other conditions to a good nurse that giueth sucke that they drinke no wine that shee be honest and chiefly that shee bee well conditioned THe Princesses and great Ladies may know by this example what difference there is between the women of Thrace which are fedde with nettles only and haue brought forth such fierce men and the womeÌ„ of our time which throgh their delicate and excessiue eating bring forth such weake and feeble children Fiftly the Ladies ought to bee very circumspect not onely that Nurses eate not much and that they bee not greedy but also that they be in wine temperate the which in olde time was not called wine but venom The reason hereof is apparant and manifest enough For if wee doe forbid the fatte meates which lyeth in the stomacke wee should then much more forbid the moyst Wine which washeth all the veynes of the bodie And further I say that as the Childe hath no other nourishment but the milke only and that the milke proceedeth of bloud and that bloud is nourished of the wine and that wine is naturally hote from the first to the last I say that Woman which drinketh wine and giueth the child sucke doth as shee that maketh a great Fire vnder the panne where there is but a little milke so that the pan burneth and the milke runneth ouer I will not denie but that somtimes it may chaunce that the childe shal be of a strong complexion and the Nurse of a feeble and weake nature and then the childe would more substantial milke when the woman is not able to giue it him In such a case though with other things Milke may be conferred I allow that the nurse drinke a little wine but it should bee so little and so well watered that it should rather bee to take away the vnsauorinesse of the water then for to taste of any sauour of the wine I do not speake this without a cause for the nurse being sicke and feeble of herselfe and her milke not substantial it oftentimes moueth her to eat more then necessity requireth and to drinke wine which is somewhat nutritiue So that they supposing to giue the Nurse Triacle doe giue her poyson to destroy her childe Those excellent and Auncient Romaines if they had been in
our time and that wee hadde deserued to haue beene in their time although our time for being Christians is better they had saued vs from this trauell For they were so temperate in eating meates and so abstinent in drinking wines that they did not only refraine the drinking thereof but also they would not abide to smell it For it was counted a greater shame vnto a Romane Woman to drinke wine then to be diuorced from her Husband Dyonisius Alicarnaseus in his booke of the lawes of the Romaines said that Romulus was the first founder of Rome and that hee occupyed himselfe more in buylding faire Houses to amplifye Rome then in constituting Lawes for the gouernement of the Common-wealth But amongst fifteene Lawes which hee made the seuenth thereof was that no Romaine woman on paine of death should be so hardie to drinke wine within the walls of Rome The same Hystorian sayth that by the occasion of this Law the custome was in Rome that when any Romane Ladie would drinke wine or make any solemne feast she must needs goe out of Rome where euery one had theyr Gardens and dwelling place because the smel also of Wine was prohibited and forbidden women within the circuit of Rome If Plinie do not deceiue vs in his 24. booke of his natural historie it was an ancient custom in Rome that at each time that Parents met both men and women they did kisse the one the other in the face in token of peace and this ceremonie beganne first for that they would smell whether the woman had drunke any wine And if perchance she sauored of wine the Censor might haue bannished her from Rome And if her kinsman found her without Rome hee might freely without any daunger of law put her to death because within the Circuit and walles of Rome no priuate man by Iustice could put any Romaine to death as aboue is rehearsed Romulus was he which ordained the paine for Drunkardes and Ruptilius was hee which ordained the penaltie for Adulterers And betweene Romulus and Ruptilius there was xxxii yeares So that they ordyaned this streight Law for Drunkardes a long time before they did the law for adulterers For if a woman be a drunkard or Harlot truely they are both great faultes and I cannot tell whether of them is worst For being a harlot the woman loseth her name and for being a drunkarde shee loseth her fame and the Husband his goods Then if women for the honestie of their pesons onely are bound to bee temperate in eating and drinking the woman which nourisheth and giueth the Childe sucke ought to bee much more corrected and sober in this case For in her is concurrant not only the grauity of their own persons but the health and life also of the Creature which she nourisheth Therefore it is meete that the Nurse bee kept from wine since the honor of the one and the life of the other is in perill Sixtly the Princesses and great Ladyes ought to take heede that theyr Nurses be not gotten with child And the reason hereof is that in that time when the woman is with Childe her naturall course is stopped and that corruption is mingled with the pure bloud So that shee thinking to giue the childe milke to nourish it giueth it poyson to destroy it And nothing can bee more vniust then to put the childe which is alreadie borne and aliue in danger for that which is as yet vnborne and dead It is a wonderfull thing for a man that will curiously note and mark things to see the brute beasts that all the time they bring vp theyr little ones they will not consent to accompanie with the Males nor the males will follow the females And that which is most to hee noted it is to see what passeth betweene the Byrds for the she Sparrow will not suffer the Male in any wise to touch nor to come neere her vntill her little ones be great able to flie and much lesse to sit vpon any Egges to hatche them till the other be fled and gone Plutarch in the seuenth of his Regiment of Princes saith that Gneus Fuluius Couzin germaine of Pompeyus beeing Consull in Rome fell in loue with a young maidē of Capua being an orphā whether he fled for the plague This Mayden was called Sabina and when she was great with child by this Consull shee brought forth a daughter whom they called faire Drusia truely she was more commended for her beautie then shee was for her honestie For oft times it happeneth that the fayre and dishonest women leaue their Children so euill taught that of their Mothers they inherite little goods and much dishonour This Sabina therefore beeing deliuered as it was the custome of Rome she did with her own breasts nourish her daughter Drusia During the which time shee was gotten with childe by one of the Knights of this Consul to whome as to his Seruant hee had giuen her to keepe Wherefore when the Consull was heereof aduertised and that notwithstanding she gaue her daughter suck he commanded that the knight shold be immediatly beheaded his louer Sabina forthwith to be cast into a wel The day of Execution came that both these parties should suffer wherfore the wofull Sabina sent to beseech the Consull that it would please him before her death to giue her audience of one sole worde that shee would speake vnto him the which beeing come in the presence of them all shee said vnto him O Gneus Fuluius know thou that I did not call thee to the ende thou shouldest graunt me life but because I would not die before I had seene thy face though thou of thy selfe shouldest remember that as I am a frayle Woman and fell into sinne with thee in Capua so I might fall now as I haue done with another here in Rome For wee Women are so fraile in this case during the time of this our miserable life that none can keepe herselfe sure from the assaultes of the weake Flesh The Consull Gneus Fuluius to these words answered The Gods immortall know Sabina what griefe it is to my wofull hart that I of my secret offence should be an open scourge For greater honestie it is for men to hyde your frailnesse then openly to punish your offences But what wilt thou I should doe in this case considering the offence thou hast committed By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee and again I sweare that I had rather thou shouldest secretly haue procured the death of some man thē that openly in this wise thou shouldst haue slaunderd my house For thou knowest the true meaning of the common prouerbe in Rome It is better to die in honour then to liue in infamie And think not Sabina that I do condemne thee to die because thou forgotest thy Faith vnto my person and that thou gauest thy selfe vnto him which kept thee For since thou wert not my wife the liberty thou haddest
so woful that each wise man without comparison would haue greater pleasure to bee in the wars of Affricke then in the peace at Rome For in the good war a man seeth of whom he should take heed but in the euill peace no man knoweth whom to trust Therefore my children since you are naturall of Rome I will tell you what Rome is at this present I let you know that the Vestall virgins are now dissolute the honour of the gods is forgotten the profite of the Common weale no man secketh of the exercise of chiualrie there is no memory for the orphanes and widdowes there is no man doth answer to minister iustice they haue no regard and the dissolute vices of the youth are without measure Finally Rome that in times past was a receite of all the good and vertuous is now made a denne of all theeues and vitious I feare me I feare me lest our mother Rome in short time will haue some sudden and great fall for both men and Cities that fal from the top of their felicitie purchase greater infamie with those that shal come after then the glory that they haue had of them that be past Peraduenture my children you desire to see the walles and buildings of Rome for those things which children see first in their youth the same they loue and keepe alwayes in memory vntill their age As the auncient buildings of Rome are destroied and the few that are now built So would I you should lose your earnest affection to come to see them For indeede the noble hearts are ashamed to see that thing amisse which they cannot remedie Do not thinke my children though Rome be made worse in manners that therefore it is diminished in buildings For I let you vnderstand if you know it not that if a wall doth decay there is no man that doth repayre it If a house fall there is no man that will rayse it vppe againe If a streete bee foule there is no man that will make it cleane If the Riuer carry away any bridge there is no man that will set it vp againe If any Antiquity decay there is no man that will amend it If any wood be cut there is no man that wil keepe it If the Trees waxe olde there is no man that will plant them a new If the pauement of the streetes bee broken there is no man that will laye it againe Finally there is nothing in Rome at this day so euill handled as those things which by the common voyces are ordered These things my children though I doe greatly lament as it is reason yet you ought little to esteeme them all but this all onely ought to bee esteemed and with droppes of bloud to be lamented That now in Rome when the buildings in many places fall downe the vices all wholy together are raysed vp O wofull mother Rome since that in thee the more the wals decay the more the vices encrease Peraduenture my children since you are in those frontiers of Africke you desire to see your parents here in Rome And there at I maruell not for the loue which our naturall Country doth giue the strange country cannot take away All those which come from those parties doe bring vs no other certaine newes but of the multitude of those which die and are slaine in Affricke therefore since you send vs such news from thence looke not that we should send you any other then the like from hence for death hath such authority that it killeth the armed in the warres and slayeth the quiet in peace I let you know that Licia your sister is dead Drusio your vnckle is dead Torquatus your neighbour is dead His wise our cosen and her 3. daughters are dead Fabius your great friend is dead Euander and his children are dead Bibulus which read for me in the chaire the last yeare is also dead Finally there are so many and so good with all that be dead that it is a great shame and pitty to see at this present so many euil as do liue know ye my children that all these and many others which ye left aliue full high in Rome are now become wormes meat full low vnder the earth and death also doth summon me vnto the graue If you my children did consider what shall become of you hereafter truely you will thinke it better to weepe a thousand yeares with the dead then to laugh one houre with those that be aliue Remembring that I bare yee in great paine and haue nourished you in great trauel that yee came of my proper entrailes I would haue you as children about me for the comfort and consolation of my paines but in the end beholding the prowesses of these that are past that bindeth their heires I am content to suffer so long absēce your persons onely to the end you may gette honour in chiualrie for I had rather heare tell you should liue like knights in Affricke then to see you vtterly lost here in Rome My children as you are in the wars of Affricke so I doubt not but that you desire to see the pleasurs of Rome for there is no man in this world so happy but at his neighbours prosperity had som enuy enuy not the vicious neyther desire to bee among vices for truly vices are of such condition that they bring not with thē so much pleasure as they leaue sorrow behind them for the true delight is not in pleasure which suddenly vanisheth but in the truth which euer remaineth I thanke the gods for all these things first for that they made me wise and not foolish for to a woman it is a smal matter to be called so fraile that indeed she bee not foolish The second I thank the gods because in all times of my troubles they haue giuen me patience to endure them for the man onely in this life may be called vnhappie to whom the gods in his troubles giueth not patiēce The 3. I thanke the gods for that those 65. years which I haue liued I neuer hitherto was defamed For the Woman by no reason can complaine of her fortune if in none of her troubles shee hath lost her honour The fourth I thanke the Gods that in this fortie yeares I haue liued in Rome and remained widow there was neuer man nor woman that contended with mee For since we women little profite the commonwealth it is but reason that shee which with euill demeanors hath passed her life should by iustice receiue her death The fifth I giue the Gods thankes that they gaue me children the which are better contented to suffer the trauells of Affrike then to enioy the pleasures of Rome Doe not count me my Children for so vnlouing a Mother that I would not haue you alwaies before mine eyes but considering that many good mens children haue been lost onely for being brought vp in the excessiue pleasures of Rome I doe content my selfe with your absence For
eye to thy childe whom of thy own bloud thou hast begotten And if thou doest it not because he is thy childe thou oughtest to doe it because hee is thy neerest For it is vnpossible that the child which with many vices is assaulted and not succoured but in the ende hee should be infamed and to the dishonour of the father most wickedly ouercome It is vnpossible to keepe Flesh well sauoured vnlesse it bee first salted It is vnpossible that the Fish should liue without water It is vnpossible but that the Rose should wither which is of the thorne ouergrowne So like it is vnpossible that the Fathers should haue any comfort of their children in their age vnlesse they haue instructed them in vertue in their youth And to speake further in this matter I say that in the Christian catholike Religion where in deede there is good doctrine there alwaies is supposed to bee a good conscience Amongst the Writers it is a thing well knowne how Eschines the Phylosopher was banished from Athens and with all his familie came to dwell at Rhodes The occasion was because that hee and the Phylosopher Demosthenes were in great contention in the common-wealth Wherefore the Atheniās determined to banish the one and to keepe the other with them And truely they did well for of the contentions and debates of Sages Warres moste commonly arise amongst the people This Phylosopher Eschines being at Rhodes banished amōgst others made a solemne Oration wherin he greatly reproued the Rhodians that they were so negligent in bringing vp their children saying vnto them these words I let you vnderstand lords of Rhodes that your Predecessours aduaunced themselues to descend and take theyr beginning of the Lides the which aboue all other Nations were curious and diligent to bring vp theyr Children and hereof came came a Law that was among them which saide Wee ordeine and commaund that if a Father haue many Children that the most vertuous should inherite the goods and riches and if there were but one vertuous that he alone shold inherit the whole And if perchance the Children were vicious that then all should be depriued from the heritage For the goods gottē with trauell of vertuous Fathers ought not by reason to be inherited by vicious childrē These were the wordes that the Philosopher spake to the Senate of the Rhodes and because he sayde in that oratiō many other things which touch not our matter I will in this place omit them For among excellēt Writers that writing loseth much authority when the Author from his purpose digresseth into an other matter To say the truth I doe not maruell that the children of Princes and great Lords be adulterers and belly-gods for that on the one part youth is the mother of idlenesse and on the other little experience is the cause of great offences And furthermore the fathers being once dead the children enherite their goods as quietly being loden with vices as if in deed they were with all vertues endued If the young children did know for a certaine that the lawes of the Lydes should be obserued that is to say that they should not inherite vnlesse they be vertuous it is vnpossible but that they would leade a vertuous life and not in this wise to run at large in the worlde For they doe abstaine more from doing euill fearing to lose that which they doe possesse then for anie loue to doe that which they ought I do not denie but according as the natures of the Fathers is diuers so the inclination of the children is variable For so much as some following theyr good inclinations are good and others not resisting euill sensualities are euill But yet in this matter I say that it lyeth much in the Father that doeth bring them vp when as yet they are young so that the euill which nature gaue by good bringing vp is refrayned For oft times the good custome doth ouercome all euill inclination Princes and great Lordes that will be diligent in the instruction of theyr children ought to enforme their maisters and tutors that shall teach them to what vices and vertues their Children are moste inclined And this ought to bee to encourage them in that that is good and contrarie to reproue them in all that is euill For men are vndone for none other cause when they be olde but for that they had so much pleasure when they were young Sextus Cheronensis in the second booke of the auncients saith that on a day a cittizen of Athenes was buying things in the market and for the qualitie of his person the greatest parte of them were superfluous and nothing necessarie And in this case the poore are no lesse culpable then the rich and the riche then the poore For that is so little that to sustaine manslife is necessarie that he which hath least hath therevnto superfluous Therefore at this time when Athens and her common-wealth was the Lanterne of all Greece there was in Athens a Law long vsed and of a great time accustomed that nothing should be bought before a Philosopher had set the price And truly the law was good and would to God the same law were at this present obserued For there is nothing that destroieth a commonwealth more then to permit some to sell as tyrantes and others to buye as fooles When the Theban was buying these things a philosopher was present who saide vnto him these words Tell me I pray thee thou man of Thebes Wherefore doest thou consume and wast thy money in that which is not necessarie for thy house nor profitable for thy person The Thebane answered him I let thee knowe that I doe buye all these things for a sonne I haue of the age of xx yeares the which neuer did any thing that seemed vnto mee euil nor I neuer denyed him any thing that hee demaunded This Philososopher answered Oh how happy wert thou if as thou art a Father thou wert a sonne and that which the Father saieth vnto the sonne the sonne would say vnto the father but I am offended greatly with that thou hast told me For vntill the childe be xxv yeares old he ought not to gainesay his father and the good father ought not to condiscend vnto the appetites of the sonne Now I may call thee cursed father since thou arte become subject to the will of thy sonne and that thy sonne is not obedient to the will of his Father so that thou alterest the order of nature For so much as the father is become sonne of his sonne and the sonne is become father of his father But in the ende I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that when thou shalt become old and aged thou shalt lament and weepe by thy selfe at that which with thy Sonne thou diddest laugh when he was young Though the words of this Phylosopher were fewe yet a wise man will iudge the sentences to be manie I conclude therfore that Princes and
no sporte nor lightnes inuented in Rome but first it is registred in your house And finally they say that you giue your selues so vnto pleasures as though you neuer thought to receyue displeasures O Claude and Claudine by the God Iupiter I sweare vnto you that I am ashamed of your vnshamefastnes and am greatly abashed of your manners and aboue all I am exceedingly grieued for your offence For at that time that you ought to lift your hands you are returned againe into the filth of the world Manie things men commit which though they seeme graue yet by moderation of the person that cōmitteth them they are made light but speaking according to the truth I finde one reason whereby I might excuse your lightes but to the contrarie I see tenne whereby I may condemne your follies Solon the Phylosopher in his Lawes said to the Athenians that if the young offended hee should be gently admonished and grieuously punished because he was strong and if the olde erre hee should bee lightly punished and sharply admonished sith hee was weake and feeble To this Lycurgus in his lawes to the Lacedemonians sayd contrarie That if the young did offend hee should be lightly punished and grieuously admonished since through ignorance he did erre and the olde man which did euill should bee lightly admonished and sharply punished since thorough malice hee did offend These two phylosophers beeing as they haue bin of such authority in the worlde that is past and considering that their lawes and sentences were of such weight it should bee much rashnes in not admitting the one of them Now not receiuing the one nor rereprouing the other Mee thinketh that there is no great excuse to the young for their ignorance and great condemnation to the aged for their experience Once againe I returne to say that you pardon me my friends and you ought not greatly to weigh it thogh I am somewhat sharpe in condemnation since you others are so dissolute in your liues for of your blacke life my penne doth take inke I remember wel that I haue heard of thee Claude that thou hast beene lusty and couragious in thy youth so that thy strength of all was enuyed and the beauty of Claudine of all men was desired I will not write vnto you in this letter my friends and neighbours nether reduce to memory how thou Claude hast employed thy forces in the seruice of the comonwealth and thou Claudine hast won much honor of thy beauty for sundry times it chāced that men of many goodly giftes are noted of grieuous offences Those which striued with thee are all dead those whom thou desirest are deade those which serued thee Claudine are dead those which before thee Claudine sighed are dead those which for thee dyed are now dead and since all those are deade with theyr lightnesse doe not you others thinke to die and your follies also I doe demand now of thy youth one thing and of thy beauty another thing what do you receiue of these pastims of these good entertainements of these aboundances of these great contentations of the pleasures of the world of the vanitie that is past and what hope you of all these to carry into the narrow graue O simple simple and ignoraunt persons how our life consumeth and wee perceiue not how wee liue therein For it is no felicitie to enioy a short or long life but to know to employ the same eyther well or euill O children of the earth and Disciples of vanitie now you know that Time flyeth without mouing his wings the life goeth without lifting vp his feete the World dispatcheth vs not telling vs the cause men doe beguile vs not mouing their lippes our flesh consumeth to vs vnawares the heart dyeth hauing no remedie and finally our glorie decaieth as it it had neuer beene and death oppresseth vs without knocking at the dore Though a man be neuer so simple or so very a foole yet hee cannot deny but it is impossible for to make a fire in the bottome of the sea to make a way in the ayre of the thinne bloud to make rough sinewes and of the soft veines to make hard bones I meane that it is vnpossible that the greene flower of youth be not one day withered by age CHAP. XX. The Emperour followeth his Letter and perswadeth Claudius and Claudinus being now olde to giue no more credite to the World nor to any of his deceitfull flatteryes THat which I haue spoken now tendeth more to aduertise the young then to teach the olde For you others haue now passed the prime time of childhood the summer of youth and the haruest of adolescency and are in the winter of age where it seemeth an vncomely thing that those your hoary haires should bee accompanied with such vaine follies Sithens young men know not that they haue to end their youth it is no maruell that they follow the world but the olde men which see themselues fall into this guile why will they runne after vices againe O world for that thou art the world so smal is our force so great our debilitie that thou willing it and we not resisting it thou dost swallow vs vp in the most perillous gulfe and in the thornes most sharpe thou dost pricke vs by the priuiest wayes thou leadest vs by the most stony waies thou carriest vs. I meane that thou bringest vs to the highest fauours to the end that afterwards with a push of thy pike thou mightest ouerthrow vs. O world wherein all is worldly two and fifty yeeares haue passed since in thee I was first borne during which time thou neuer toldest mee one truth but I haue taken thee with ten thousand lyes I neuer demanded the thing but thou diddest promise it me and yet it is nothing at all that euer thou diddest perform I neuer put my trust in thee but euer thou beguiledst me I neuer came to thee but thou diddest vndoo me finally neuer saw I ought in thee wherby thou deseruest loue but alwayes hatred This presupposed I know not what is in thee O world or what we worldlings want for if thou hatest vs we cannot hate thee if thou doest vs iniury we can dissemble it if thou spurne vs with thy feet wee wil suffer it if thou beatest vs with a staffe wee wil hold our peace also though thou persecutest vs we will not complain though thou take ours wee will not demand it of thee though thou dost beguile vs we will not call ourselues beguiled and the worst of all is that thou doest chase vs from thy house yet we will not depart from thence I know not what this meaneth I know not from whence this commeth I know not who ought to prayse this same that wee couet to follow the world which wil none of vs and hate the gods which loue vs oft times I make account of my yeares past somtimes also I turne and tosse my booke to see what
it The miserable man is not born with so many present commodities he cannot eate drinke nor goe make himself ready aske nor yet complain and that which is more hee knoweth not scarsely how to sucke for the mothers oft times would giue to their children if they could the bloud of their heart and yet they cannot cause them to take the milke of their brests O great misery of mans nature forsomuch as the brute beasts as soone as they are come forth of their mothers wombe can know and seeke but when it is offred vnto man he cannot know it We must note also that to brute beasts nature hath giuen cloathing wherewith they may keepe themselus from the heate of Sommer and defend themselues from the colde of Winter which is manifest for that to Lambes and sheepe she hath giuen wooll to birdes feathers to hogges bristles to horses hayre to fishes scales and to snailes shels Finally I say there is no beast which hath neede with his hands to make any garment nor yet to borrow it of another Of all this the miserable man is depriued who is borne all naked and dyeth all naked not carrying with him one onely garment and if in the time of his life he will vse any garment hee must demaund of the beasts both leather and wooll thereunto he must also put his whole labour and industry I would aske Princes and great Lords if when they are borne they bring with them any apparrell and when they dye if they carry with them any treasure To this I answere no but they dye as they are borne as well the rich as the poore and the poore as the rich And admit that in this life fortune doth make difference betweene vs in estates yet nature in time of our birth and death doth make vs all equall We must also thinke and consider that for so much as nature hath prouided the beasts of garments shee hath hath also taken from them the care of what they ought to eate for there is no beast that doth eyther plow sow or labour but doth content her selfe and passeth her life eyther with the flyes of the ayre with the Corne that shee findeth in the high-wayes with the hearbes in the fieldes with the Ants of the Earth with the grapes of the vine or with the fruites which are fallen Finally I say that without care all beasts take their rest as if the day following they should haue no neede to eate Oh what a great benefite should GOD doe to the miserable man if he had taken from him the trauell to apparrell himselfe and the care to search for things to eate But what shall the poore miserable man doe that before he eateth hee must tyll sow hee must reape and thresh the Corne hee must cleanse it grinde it paste it and bake it and it cannot bee prouided without care of minde nor be done without the proper sweate of the browes And if perchaunce any man did prouide for himselfe with the sweate of others yet shall hee liue with his owne offences Also in other things the silly beasts doe excell vs For in the Flowers in the leaues in the hearbes in the straw in the Oates in the bread in the flesh or in the fruits which they eate or in the waters which they drinke they feele no paine although it be not sweet nor take no displeasure thogh theyr meates be not sauorie Finally such as Nature hath prouided them without disguysing or making themselus better they are contēted to eate Man could loose nothing if in this point he agreed with beasts but I am very sorrie that there are many vicious and prowd men vnto whom nothing wanteth eyther to apparell or eate but they haue too much to maintaine themselues and herewith not contented they are such Drunkards to taste of diuers wines and such Epicures to eate of sundry sorts of meates that oft times they spend more to dresse them then they did cost the buying Now when the Beasts are brought foorth they haue knowledge both of that that is profitable and also of that which is hurtfull for them For we see this that the sheep doth fly the wolfe the catte flieth the dogge the ratte flieth the catte and the chicken the kyte so that the beasts in opening the eyes doe immediately knowe the friendes whom they ought to followe and the Enemies whome they ought to flye To the miserable man was vtterly denyed this so great priuiledge For in the worlde there hath bin many beastly men who haue not onely attayned that which they ought to know whiles they liued but also euen as like beasts they passed their dayes in this life so they were infamed at the time of their death Oh miserable creatures that we are which liue in this wicked world For wee know not what is hurtfull for vs what we ought to eate from what we ought to abstaine nor yet whom wee should hate wee doe not agree with those whome wee ought to loue wee know not in whome to put our trust from whom we ought to flie nor what it is we ought to choose nor yet what wee ought to forsake Finally I say that when wee thinke oft times to enter into a sure Hauen within three steps afterwards wee fall headlong into the deepe Sea Wee ought also to consider that both to wilde and tame beasts nature hath ginen arms or weaponsto defend themselues and to assault their enemyes as it appeareth For that to byrds shee hath giuen wings to the Harts swifte feete to the Elephants tuskes to the Serpents scales to the Eagles tallons to the Fawkon a beake to the Lyons teeth to the Bulles hornes and to the Beares pawes Finally I say that she hath giuen to the Foxes subtiltie to know how to hyde themselues in the Earth and to the Fishes little finnes how to swimme in the water Admit that the wretched men haue few enemyes yet in this they are none otherwise priuiledged then the beasts for we see without teares it cannot be told that the beasts which for the seruice of Man were created with the selfe same beasts men are now a dayes troubled and offended And to the ende it seeme not wee should talke of pleasure let euery man bethinke with himselfe what it is that we suffer with the Beasts of this life For the Lyons doe feare vs the Wolues deuoure our sheep the dogges do byte vs the Cats scratche vs the Beare doeth teare vs the Serpents poyson vs the Bulls hurt vs with their hornes the Byrds doe ouerflye vs the Rats doe trouble vs the spyders doe annoy vs and the worste of all is that a little Flye sucketh our bloud in the day and the poore Flea doth hynder and let vs from sleeping in the night Oh poore and miserable man who for to sustaine this wretched life is enforced to begge all things that he needeth of the Beasts For the beasts do giue him wooll the
Realme to haue so worthie a King Amongst other Lawes for women hee enacted one worthy of high commendations the wich commaunded that the Father which dyed should giue nothing to his daughter and an other that neyther liuing nor dying hee should giue any Money to marrie her withall to the intent that none should take her for her goods but only for her vertues and not for her beautie but for her good qualities whereas now some are forsaken because they be poore so then they abode vnmarryed because they were vicious Oh Time worthie to bee desired when maydens hoped not to be marryed with their Fathers goods but by the vertuous works of their owne persons this was the time called The golden Worlde when neither the daughter feared to be disinerited by the father in his life nor the Father to dye sorrowfull for leauing her without dowrie at his death Oh Rome treble accursed bee hee that first brought Gold into thy house and cursed be he that first beganne to hoord vp treasures Who hath made Rome to be so rich of Treasures and so poor of vertues who hath caused noble-men to marry the Plebeyans and to leaue the daughters of Senatours vnmaried what hath made that the rich mans Daughter is demaunded vnwilling and the daughter of a poor man none will desire What hath caused that One marryeth a Foole with 500. marks rather then a wise woman with ten thousand vertues then I will not say that in this case the flesh vanquished the flesh but I say that vanitie is ouercome of malice For a couetous person will now-adayes rather take a wife that is rich and foule then one that is poore and faire Oh vnhappy woman that bringeth forth children and more vnhappie be the daughters that are born the which to take in marriage no man desireth neyther for the bloud of their predecessors nor the fauor of their friends nor the worthinesse of their persons nor the puritie of their liues Oh wicked world where the daughter of a Good-man without money shal haue no mariage but it was not wont to bee so For in the olde time when they treated of Marriages first they spake of the persons and afterward of the goods not as they do at this present in this vnhappie time For now they speak first of the goods and last of all of the persons In the said Golden-world first they spake of the vertues that the person was endued with and when they were marryed as it were in sporte they would speake of the Goods When Camillus triumphed ouer the Gaules he had then but one sonne and he was such a one that his deserts merited great praise and for the renowm of his Father diuers Kings desired to haue him to their sonnes and diuers Senators desired to haue him to their sonnes in law This yong man being of the age of thirty years and the Father at 60. was importunately styrred by his naturall friendes and desires of strange kings for to marie him but alwayes the olde Camille withstood the counsell of his friends and the importunitie of the straungers When it was demaunded why he determined not vpon some Marriage for his sonne sith thereby should ensue the quyet life of the man and the ioy and comforte of himselfe in his age He aunswered them thus I will not marry my Sonne because some offer mee rich daughters some noble of lynage some young and some fayre But there is none hath sayde to mee I giue you my vertuous daughter Certainely Gamille merited triumph for that hee did and deserued eternall memory for that he said I spake to you Faustine all these wordes because I see you leade your daughter to Theaters and playes and bring her into the capitol you put her to the keeping of the Sword players you suffer her to see the Tumblers and yet doe not remember that shee is young and you not too aged you goe into the streetes without licence and sport you by the riuers I find no villany therein nor thinke that your daughter is euill but I say it because you giue occasion that she should not bee good Beware beware Faustine neuer trust to the race of flesh of young people nor haue no confidence in old folkes for there is no better way then to flye the occasion of all things For this intent the virgins vestals are closed vp betweene the walles to eschew the occasions of open places not to bee more light and foolish but to bee more sad and vertuous flying occasions The young shall not say I am young and vertuous nor the olde shall not say I am olde and broken for of necessity the drie flaxe will burne in the fire and the greene flagge smoke in the flame I say though a man be a Diamond set among men yet of necessity hee ought to bee quicke and to melte as waxe in the heate among Women Wee cannot deny that though the Wood bee taken from the fire and the imbers quenched yet neverthelesse the stones oftentimes remaine hote In likewise the flesh though it bee chastised with hote and drie diseases consumed by many yeares with trauell yet concupiscence abideth still in the bones What neede is it to blaze the vertues and deny our Naturalities certainely there is not so olde a horse but if hee see a Mare will neigh once or twice there is no man so young nor old but let him see fayre young Damsels eyther hee will giue a sigh or a wish In all voluntary things I deny not but that one may bee vertuous but in naturall thinges I confesse euery man to be weake when you take the wood from the fire it leaueth burning when Sommer commeth the colde winter ceaseth when the sea is calme the waues leaue their vehement motions when the Sunne is set it lightneth not the World I will say then and not before the flesh wil cease to trouble vs when it is layde in the graue of the flesh wee are borne in the flesh wee liue and in the flesh wee shall dye and therby it followeth that our good life shall sooner end then our fleshlie desires forsake vs oftentime some wholesome flesh corrupteth in an euil Vessell and good wine sometimes sauoureth of the foist I say though that the Workes of our life bee vertuous yet shall wee feele the stench of the weake flesh I spake this Faustine sith that age cannot resist those hote apetites how can the tender members of youth resist them vnlesse you that are the Mother goe the right way how should the Daughter that followeth you find it The Romane Matrones if that they will bring vppe their Daughters well ought for to keepe and obserue these Rules when they doe see that they would wander abroade that they breake their legges and if that they should bee gazing then put out their eyes and if they will listen stop their eares if they will giue or take cut off their hands if they dare speake sowe vp their mouthes
if they will pretend any lightnes burie them quicke death ought to be giuen to an euill Daughter in steade of a dowrie for gyftes giue her wormes and for her house a graue Take heed Faustine if you will haue much ioy of your daughter take from her all the occasions wherby she shall be euil To vnderset a house behoueth diuers proppes and if the principalls be taken away it will fall downe I say you women are so fraile that with keepers with great paine they can keepe themselues and for a small occasion they will lose altogether Oh how many euill hath there bin not for that they would be so but because they followed such occasions the which they ought to haue eschewed It is at my pleasure to enter into this battel but yet it is not in my power to attaine the victorie it is for mee to enter into the Sea yet it lyeth not in my hands to escape the perill it is in the hands of a woman to enter into the occasion and after that shee is therin it is not in her power to escape from euill nor to deliuer her from tongues Peraduenture Faustine thou wilt say vnto mee none can speake to your daughter Lucilla vnlesse thou hearest it nor see her but thou seest him nor conuey her but thou knowest where nor make any appoyntment without thy consent and yet thou knowest that those which will her euill seeke with their tongues to dishonour her and those that with their heartes loue her speake only in their harts Wee loue in young bloud in the spring time and flourishing youth is a poyson that forthwith spreadeth into euery vaine it is an herbe that entreth into the entrailes a swouning that incontinently mortifieth all the members and a pestilence that slaieth the hearts and finally it maketh an end of all vertues I know not what I say but I feele that which I would say for I would neuer blaze loue with my tongue except I were sore wounded therewith in my heart Ouid sayeth in his booke of the art of loue Loue is I wot not what it it commeth I know not from whence who sent it I wot not it engendreth I know not how it is satisfied I know not wherewith it is self and I know not how oft it slayeth I know not wherefore and finally without breaking the flesh outwardly loue taketh roote and molesteth the heart inwardly I know not what Ouid meaneth hereby but I know when he sayde these words he was as farre banished from himselfe as I am at this time from my selfe O Faustine they that loue together vtter the secrets of their hearts by diuers wayes and in sleeping they reason and speake by signes they vnderstand each other The many wordes outwardly declare small loue inwardly and the seruent inward loue keepeth silence outward The entrailes within embraced with loue cause the tongue outward to be mute hee that passeth his life in loue ought to keepe his mouth close And to the entent that you shall not thinke that I speake Fables I will prooue this by auncient histeries we find anciently that in the yeare cclxx after the foundation of Rome Etrasco a young Romane that was dumbe and Verona a fayre Lady of the Latines which was dumb also These two saw each other on the mount Celio at the Feastes and there fell in loue together and their hearts were as sore fixed and entangled in Loue as their tongnes were tyed from speech It was a maruellous thing to see then and fearefull to note now that this young Lady came from Salon to Rome and he went from Rome to Salon sundry times by the space of 30. yeares without the knowledge of any person and neuer spake together It chanced at the last that the husbande of the Lady Verona dyed and the wife of Etrasco also and then they discouered their loue and treated a marriage betweene them And these two dumbe persons had issue a sonne of whom descended the noble lynage of our Scipions which were more famous in the seates of Armes then their Father and mother were troubled for want of words Then Faustine marke this thing it had little auayled to haue cut out the tongues of the two dumbe persons to haue remedied their loue and not to haue cut our their hearts And I shall tell you of Masinissa a worthy knight of Numidie and Sophonissa a famous Lady of Carthage all onely by one sight as they saw each other on a Ladder hee declareth his desire vnto her and she knowing his lust breaking the ores of feare and lifting vp the anchors of shame raysed incontinent the sayles of their hearts and with the shippes of their persons they ioyned each to other heere wee may see how the first sight of their eyes the knowledge of their persons the consent of their hearts the copulation of their bodies the decay of their estates and the losse of their names in one day in one houre in one moment and in one steppe of a Ladder were lost What will you that I say more to this purpose Doe you not know what Helen the Greeke and Paris the Troian of two straunge Nations and of farre Countries with the one onely sight in a Temple their willes were so knitte together that hee tooke her as his Captiue and shee abode his prisoner In Paris appeared but small sorce and in Helene but small resistance so that in a manner those two yong persons the one procuring to vainquish and the other in suffering to bee vanquished Paris was the causer of his Fathers destruction and both of their own deaths losse and damage to both their Realmes and slaunder to all the world All this loue grew of one onely sight When great King Alexander would haue giuen Battell to the Amazones the queene captaine of them no lesse faire then strong and vertuous came to a Riuers-side and the space of an houre each of them beheld the other with their eyes without vttering of any worde And when they returned to theyr Tents their fiercenes was turned into sweete amorous words When Pyrrus the faithfull defender of the Tharrentines and renowmed king of the Epyrotes was in Italie he came into Naples and had not beene there but one day but hee was enamoured of a faire lady named Gemelicia of a high linage and greatly esteemed for her beautie and the very same day she was gotten with childe and shamed throughout all Italie and cast out of the cittie and after that she was deliuered of childe she was slaine by one of her owne bretheren Also queene Cleopatra in the Prouince of Bythinia in the wood Sechin made a goodly banket to Marcus Anthonius her Louer and though shee was not very honest of her selfe yet had shee with her chast women And thus the Banket endured a great parte of the night Now the wood being thicke young damzels were not so wily to hide thē but the yōg men Romains found them so that of