passions of sundrie men which report nothinge of certayne Notwithstandinge they are to bee excused if they keepe a libertye and write not to the ende to deceaue But in the holye historie they oughte to feare no such thinge since that it proceedeth of the holye Ghoste and thence a man maye take out certayne witnesses and soueraigne arrestes Now that wee may the better reape our profite out of Historyes we must consider the beginning and motyfe cause of all enterprises the meanes which therin they haue held and afterwardes the issue thereof which cannot possibly be good proceeding from an euil beginning And after hauing known the root and causes therof we must iudge what may happen in like cases and consider other circumstances which bewtifie the actions and referre all to the glory of God through whose bountie the euents haue succeeded well and gloriously to the ende wee may render prayses and thankesgeuing vnto him which are due vnto him for asmuche as by weake and vyle persons hee oftentimes compasseth high and mightie things And because that whatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning We ought to apply vnto our selues whatsoeuer we read and to behold as in a looking glasse our own affections to the end we might follow good and eschew euill and cleane remoue from vs all disguising and corruption and aboue all things we ought to acknowledge the iudgementes of God against the wicked and contemners of his law And for because that great dangers ensue those which indifferently gouerne them selues by examples I thought good to aduertise that it is diligently to be considered whether there be a concurrence of lyke reasons not onely in generall but also in particular It is also necessary to rule ones selfe as prudently as they did whom we would imitate and to demaund of God like successe And in our enterprises we must not onely consider the superficies and beginnyng of thinges but to looke more inwardly what may happen in time We must not likewise take too exactly what is written by ancient Historiographers but conferre them with the newe hauing regard to the great chaunges which happen in all countreyes and that there are fewe Cities or Nations which hold theyr former name nor their auncient seates and fashions otherwise we should wander awry and iudge amisse And this consideration of the vnstablenesse subuersions dissipations and lamentable chaunges of sundry peoples and families ought to prepare vs to beare all accidentes sent from God knowing that this life is but a sorrowfull exile subiect to stormes and continuall tempestes and that there is no seate nor hauen sure but in the heauenly and eternall lyfe to the which the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prepared the way for vs and let vs humbly beseeche him to guide vs therein CHAP. 18. That one ought not to suffer him selfe to be deceiued by praises nor be carried away from modesty and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and how much it is requisite to commaund ones selfe WHo so woulde not swarue from the truth ought not to be mooued with praises which for the most part are disguised for as Sainct Augustin hath written He which often praiseth one abuseth him self confirmeth an errour and proueth in the end a lyer and he which is praised becommeth thereby a great deale more vaine And Dion sayd the ouer great praises and honours out of measure carrie with them a misknowledge lightnes and insolensie yea among such persons as of them selues are modest ynough because they are perswaded that they deserue them and euery man pleaseth them and puffeth them vp as Xenophon wryteth though in deed they might well be termed mockeries And such excessiue honours are neither more nor lesse then as portractures ill proportioned which fall to the grounde of them selues as the three hundred statuas of Demetrius which neuer engendred either rust or filth beeing in his owne life tyme broken in peeces And those likewise of Demades were bruysed made to serue for chamberpots and basins in close stooles and so haue sundry other princes their monuments beene serued The inhabitants of the city of Pilles in their counsels ordained moste mightie honours for Theopompus he wrote backe vnto them that time was accustomed to increase honours moderately bestowed and to deface the immoderate When Niger was chosen Emperour they recited certayne verses in his praise but hee sayde that they ought rather to prayse Hanniball or the prowesse of some other great captaynes to the ende they might be imitated and that it was a mockery to prayse men while they liued which peraduenture might alter And that there was great presumption that either they did it for feare or for hope to obtayne somwhat of them and that for his part he rather desired to be fauoured and loued during his life and praysed after his death Other were wont to saye that they neuer acknowledged such prayses but wished to God that they were worthye of them Bracidas his mother was highly commended for aunswearing the embassadours of Thrace comforting her for the death of her sonne affirminge that he had not left his like behinde him that shee knew well ynough that the citye of Sparta had manye Citizens a great deale more worthie and valiaunt then him As Antigonus sayde vnto a Poet who called him the sonne of the sunne that hee whiche emptied his close stoole knew well ynough there was no such matter The shadow shunneth those which follow it and followeth those which shunne it and so fareth it with prayse Sigismond the Emperour stroke one that praysed him too much saying that he bitte him So was it likewise reported by Iustinian When they offered to Titus a crowne of golde togeather with great praises for his taking of Ierusalem he aunsweared that he himselfe was not the authour thereof but that GOD serued him selfe thorough his handes in that he made manifest his anger agaynste the Iewes As much is sayde of Fabritius for the deliuerie of Greece and of Timoleon for restoring Sicilie to libertye And Antistenes commaunded his children neuer to conne any thankes for praysing of them for often tymes it is with men as with an number of beastes which suffer a man to doe with them what he will yea to tumble and drale them on the grounde as long as hee tickleth them Galien entreating howe the sickenesse of the minde might be discerned wryteth that he learned of his father to despise glorye as an intisement to euill and ennemye to truth And Iosephus wryteth that honours bestowed on young men are as matches of follie and rashnes And in our french tongue we call offices and dignities charges And Varro in his fourth booke of the Latin tongue writeth that this name of honour proceedeth from a name which
with ones disaduantage and not to giue place to the importunate 24 Examples of euils hapned to breakers of promise and of that which dependeth thereupon 26 Effects of the truth with exhortation not to change the statutes or lawes and not to daunce vpon holy dayes prayse of Frenchmen and a solution of that for which they are blamed 29 Of the meanes to withstande inconstancie and lightnesse and not to take in hande warre or fight without necessitie of the point of honour that one ought not to deferre a good purpose that the reading of good bookes giueth hardinesse and prudence that one ought not too hastely proceed in criminal iudgement that one ought to flie euill and seducing companies with other instructions to nobilitie worthie to be noted 42 That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flye and giueth contentment 51 Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the truth 60 Howe requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken 61 That aswell of friendes as enemies one should learne the truth 68 That it is needefull to reade hystories there to see the trueth which one is a frayde to speake with aduise vppon the reading of all bookes and of the conquestes of Frenchmen of the meanes to keepe them and to assure a victorie of the dutie of a captayne and of that which is to be considered in examples and alterations 69 That one ought not to suffer himselfe to be deceiued by prayses nor be carryed away from modestie and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and howe much it is requisite to commaunde ones selfe 74 That without the truth there is nought else but darknesse and confusion and howe much the philosophers haue laboured to finde it out and howe farre wide they haue beene of it 80 Of disguisinges done to Princes and what is their dutie for their honour and quiet of their subiectes and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which mainteineth or altereth an estate 83 That Princes ought to haue about them good councellours which may not spare to tell them the trueth and that their lyfe ought to serue as a rule and instruction to their subiectes not to graunt to any vniust thinge of excessiue giftes an aduertisement to such as are in fauour of warnings and that in all actions of importance one ought to take councell without trusting to his owne sufficiencie 95 That one ought not to iudge too readely of another 108 Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a description of detraction 109 That anger hindereth the truth of the euils which it bringes with it and of the meanes to resist it 113 Of the error of some authors which haue praysed promise breakers and the cruell of punishments of such what our gettinges and dealing with the great ought to be aduertisements to the readers and of pardonings 119 The definition of lying 127 The effectes of lying 128 The punishments of lying 129 That the periured and plasphemers are detestable lyers and the paynes for them 130 That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth 134 That those which defer their amendment doe wrappe themselues in a daungerous lye 142 That ignorance is a lye and the gappe of great inconuenience 148 That one ought not rashly to borrowe money nor answere for another man for feare of lying 153 Of lying ingratitude 155 That lying hath made Poets and painters to be blamed and of the garnishing of houses 159 Of backebiters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and iuglers haue beene reiected 161 That accusers talebearers false pleaders and curious persons are of the same brotherhoode of lying 165 Of flatterers 168 That enuie is a miserable lye and of the meanes to remedy it 171 Howe pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and howe all passions leade cleane contrarie to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meane which conteyneth vs therein 174 That painting is lying 183 That witches southsayers sorcerers and vserers are replenished with lying and how a man may exempt himselfe from them 185 Of the punishmentes which haue befallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth 190 That we must auoyde sutes in lawe because of the lying and cawtell of the practisioners 192 That it is a lying in Iudges to receiue presents and what exercise is to be required to be meete with auarice buying of offices and couetousnesse 198 That it is a lye to be intemperate drunke excessife whoremonger player and ydle and to say that one would be in health of musicke Phisicke as wel for the bodie as the soule 209 What we ought to iudge of certaine examples of lying 225 Of the meanes howe to render a nation true and happie and of the bringing vp of youth 227 Of certaine pointes which might be added to this discourse 236 The conclusion 245 Politique discourses vpon Trueth and Lying CHAP. I. That the trueth is a vertue most praiseworthie by what it may be discerned and of that which hindereth the knowledge therof AMong the vertues contained in moral Philosophie the Trueth hath euer been esteemed as one of the moste praise worthie The which Plato called the fountaine of all goodnes and S. Augustine in his booke of the Citie of God ordaineth it as the King and faith as the foundation and piller of Iustice and all commen wealthes for so much as there is nothing more proper to man being formed according to the image of God than in his words and manners to approche him the nearest that he is able to make his words serue for no other ende than to declare his good intent meaning whereby he may be better able to informe his neighbour Agathius hauing written of the manners religion of the Persians saith that they had two gods as Marcion Manichaeus the heretikes haue heretofore helde the one good creator and aucthor of all good and of the light whome they called by the name of truth the other wicked aucthor of al euil resembling him to darkenes and ignorance And Martir intreating of the West Indies declareth that a certaine old man of the same countrie praying the first discouerer of them to behaue himself courteously shewed him that the soules of men departing their bodies passed by two wayes as also Philemon and Plato in his Phedon and tenth booke of his Common wealth hath written The one darke and obscure thorough which the soules of all cruell men wade grieuously tormented The other shining cleare full of all happinesse ordained for those that loue peace trueth and quietnes This the holie scripture ought more deepely to impresse into
and of good credit which attribute vnto them a gentle heart fauourable courteous religious vpright vertuous louing one eche other and keeping their faith more constantly then any other people and they haue beene called the inuincible and most noble And if they haue any imperfections at al as no man is without yet are they couered with an infinite number of vertues for as much as reason causeth them to tame and subdue this liuelinesse promptnes and heate which they haue naturally And histories are full of the prowesse of our auncestours who with their victorious hande haue runne ouer wel-neare the whole worlde setting downe orders and lawes to all prouinces there plantinge the memorie of their name and markes of their Empire Italie which speaketh of enuie hath beene well coursed and tamed and sundrie other countries as well in Europe as Asia haue hence beene peopled and receiued their gouernours And an infinite number of Emperours Princes and prouinces haue had recourse vnto them for their owne assurance and haue lefte behinde them moste notable monumentes of their gouernement and iustice to the profite of manie prouinces This woulde gladsomly encourage mee particularly to declare and make recytall of the most famous in all disciplines and knowledge of tongues sciences of a great number of Martyrs which haue suffered for the testimonie of the faith of excellent Emperours Captains and souldiars that wee might well compare to the moste valiant that euer was during the verie flower of the Romanes and Greekes I will not forget what Iulius Caesar in the sixth of his Comentaries and Tacitus hath written that the French men haue farre surpassed the Almaines in prowesse valor and courtesie and haue euer had the first starte of them Salust in the ende of the warre of Iugurth writeth that the auncient Romanes and such as haue beene since haue euer had this opinion that by their owne valour they easily attained to the ende of all other nations but that with the Frenche men they stroue for their owne safetie and not for honour And it is not to be red in al histories of any people that hath attained to their valour and dexteritie nor whose conquestes were more wonderfull expeditions more remarqueable and successe of their battailes more happie and pollicie or lawes better ordayned or pietie bountie and religion better nor their vnitie greater And there is no nation whose brightnesse is not darkened and obscured thorough the high shyning of the glorie of the French men But to satisfie what the sayde Caesar hath written that Frenchemen are soudeine headie desirous of nouelties and deliberatinge vppon vncertaine purposes and coyners of affaires of importance whereupon they must needes quickely repent themselues Other historiographers strangers condemne them of lightnesse And the Emperour Charles the fifth saide to the Kinges Ambassador the which before that hee had proposed to the Consistorie of Rome that he was nowise able to assure himselfe of the French because they began manie things but brought nothing to ende and did no otherwise by their wordes then by their garmentes which they disguised into so manie fashions as one day they were of one minde and tomorrow of another And that a bodie could not beleeue ought except he sawe it done and that if they did anie good at all it was by bountie for the great desire they had to drawe others to their owne aduantage And that they had euer their foote and their wit in the aire their purposes more changeable then the winde And further discharging his choler at that time as the Embassadour him selfe tolde me he greatly blamed the diuersitie and changing of Edicts and ordinances which wee handle so yll and publish so lightly that anon after wee are constrained to change them being a cause that they were so little made account of And then in his passion hee repeated certaine places wherein he thought some words wanted which speach of his notwithstanding he afterwardes excused And in trueth Plato did not amisse compare how manie more tauernes so manie more drinkers The number of Phisitions the encrease of diseases The more accompt the iustice is made of the more sutes So the more lawes the more corruption as daily experience doth teach vs profiting vs no more then great varietie of Medicines doth to a verie weake stomach And in the time of the Emperours Caligula Claudus were manie lawes made and yet tyrannie and corruption tooke neuer more place If youth were well taught in Princes courtes vniuersities scholes but constancie grauitie the trueth they should be a great deale better receiued and strangers woulde more assure themselues of our promises and then mought we wel say of France as S. Ierom attributed vnto it that it were a countrie refyned and purged of monsters I will not here sylently passe ouer to this purpose that counsel which the Princes of Persia Media gaue to King Darius as the Prophet Daniel witnesseth that he should be founde true and neuer change a lawe which was once made according to the custome of the Medes and Persians which altereth not It is also written in the booke of Hester that the writings written in the K. name and sealed with the Kings ring may no man reuoke Diodorus and Demosthenes tel of certaine people that no man mought so much as speak of the change of a lawe except he wore a halter with which he was hanged if his opinion tooke not place So greatly in auncient time did they detest all changes and nouelties The citizens of Marseilles were much renowned by Cicero and Titus Liuius for that they remained constant in their lawes customes and fashions without changing ought yea and as a great treasor they kept their olde sworde of iustice in the smallest matters to shewe howe much they honoured antiquitie And for the like constancie haue the Romanes receiued great glorie And Paulus Aemilius writeth that the Frenche men euer tooke great heede that nought in their lawes and customes shoulde be changed And greatly was Lycurgus praised for that after he had brought the Lacedemonians to receiue his lawes he made them all sweare that they shoulde alter no one iotte of them during his absence and after that neuer retourned into his countrie againe which caused it to fare much the better with them For as Plato hath written in the seuenth of his lawes and Xenophon likewise Change in all matters except they be mischieuous is most daungerous beit in the dyet of the bodie or in manners And according to the olde prouerbe A man shoulde not awake a sleeping Dogge And euerie knowen euill to which a man is vsed is tollerable as Titus Liuius writeth And Aristotle in his Politickes sheweth it is much better to beare with some imperfections faultes in lawes Magistrates if they be not too notorious then in thinking to change them to ruyne a whole estate which
of speech that will not holde his peace for feare of any when it should be time to speake and you shall finde in him such a courage and vertue as Diogenes the Cinike had that is to say a Dogge louer of mankind and this dogge shal be capable of reason that for your sake will barke against any other and against you to if you doe ought woorthy of blame euer for all that vsing prudence and discretion and hauing regarde to the time and season when he ought to performe his duetie Then Titus prayde him he would with speede bestowe that dogge vppon him that was so compagnable and loyall to whom he would giue leaue not only to barke when he should doe ought worthie of reprehension but also to bite him if he sawe him doe any thing vnworthy his aucthoritie He likewise neuer vsed such violence crueltie or tyrannie as did his brother Domitian For in trueth when the people of Rome and other nations yeelded the soueraigne power and right which they had vnto Monarches they neuer ment to put their liberty into their hands that would rather vse violence and passion then reason and equitie but to yeelde themselues to the tuition of such a one as would gouerne according to lawes reason and iustice And it is not possible that this first ordinance could be made without the consent of the subiectes for otherwise it could not be grounded vpon a lawfull Empire or kingdome but vpon an vnlawfull and tyrannicall vsurpation and it is necessarie that such a consent should retaine the nature of a contract in good fayth and a bonde counterchangable As wee see it in like sorte practised at this day in the greatest part of kingdomes and Empires that are in Christendom that it is the only foundation which mainteyneth them as Plutarke writeth the posts pillars which vpholde an estate Neither are Princes able without necessitie to dispence with the othe they take at their coronation and with the obligation which they owe to God and their subiects And according as Aristotle Herodotus Tacitus Demosthenes and Cicero haue written the first souerainitie proceeded from the good will and well liking of such as for their commoditie quiet and suertie submitted themselues to such as excelled in heroical prowes the better to be able to maintayne their ciuill societie thorough lawes And that he in whom was not founde the cause of this originall and image of safetie iustice clemencie and diuine bountie was a person vnworthie of such honour causing an infection to the body of the whole publicke weale And most notable is the saying of king Cyrus that it appertayned to none to cōmand but such as excelled their subiects in bountie goods of the minde The great King of Sparta Agesilaus aunswered those that so highly commended the magnificence greatnesse of the K. of Persia VVherefore is he greater then I except he be more iust then I For a king ought to cause him selfe to be loued and admired of his subiectes thorough the vertuous examples of his good life And Plutarke in the life of Pirrhus writeth that the Kinges tooke an oth that they should gouerne according to their lawes and that in so doing the people would obey thē Now we must needes confesse that they are giuen of God who as Daniel witnesseth establisheth and putteth downe Kings And Ieremiah writeth that he will bestowe kingdomes on whom it him best liketh And God sayth in the Prouerbes Through me kings raygne and Princes iudge the earth and if they do not he threatneth them in Iob that he will loose their celer and guirde their loynes with a girdle And the Queene of Saba sayde to Salomon that God had set him in his throne as Kinge insteede of the Lorde God to execute iudgement and iustice The which more plainely Salomon speaketh in his booke of wisedome Lorde thou hast choosen me to rule ouer thy people and to iudge thy sonnes daughters And the people is called the heritage of the Lorde and the King the gouernour of this heritage the guide light of Gods people And Aristotle in the fift booke of his Politiques sheweth that kinges often times tooke certaine offycers to conteine them in their duetie as did the Ephores about the kinges of Sparta The which Caesar declareth was greatly obserued among the Gaulois yeelding an example of Ambiorix and Vercingentorix The oth the greatest part that the Christian kings toke was I will minister lawe iustice protection aright to euery one And Zonarus wrote after Xenephon that the kings of Persia shewed them selues more subiect to lawes thē Lords had more feare shame to breake the lawes then the people had to be punished what they had offended And God instructing Ioshua what he shuld do aboue all things cōmanded him that the booke of the lawe should not depart out of his mouth but that he shuld meditate therin day night that he might obserue and doe according to all that is written therein For then should hee make his way prosperous and haue good successe Then it followeth in the text that the people promised to obey him in all As Xenophon writing of the commonwealth of the Lacedemonians sayth that monthly the kings did sweare to guide thēselues according to the lawes and the Ephores toke oth in the peoples behalfe that vpon that cōdition they would maintaine thē And S. Paul saith that euery power is of God whose seruants they are for the benefit of their subiects consequently they are bound to follow his wil rule giuē by Moses And the meanes which are of succession or election depend of the diuine prouidence which causeth thē to prosper Dauid hūbled himselfe to what was his dutie office making alliance with the deputies of the people and describeth the dutie of a good king in the 72.82 101. Psalmes And whilest he Salomon Ioas Ezechias other liued wel they continually prospered but falling from that fell into many miseries Pericles was cōmended for that as often as he put on his gowne he saide vnto himselfe remember that thou dost cōmand ouer a free nation ouer Athenians and ouer Greekes The which christian Princes haue more occasion to speak and obserue Agapet sayd of Iustinian that he maystred his pleasures being adorned with the crowne of temperaunce and clad with the purple of iustice And Ammian writeth that a Kingdome or Dukedome is nought else then the care of an others safetie and that where the lawe doth not gouerne there ruyne is at hande As Antiochus sayde to his sonne Demetrius that their kingdome was a noble slauerie And Plutarke in the life of Nicias reciteth the sayinge of Agamemnon in Euripides VVe liue to outwarde shew in greatnesse state and might Yet in effect we are you knowe but peoples seruants right Titus Liuius writeth that the Carthaginians punished their rulers
receaued an iniurye ought to keepe and obserue as aboue I haue touched and it is onelye longe sufferinge that in the ende byteth And to pardon is a signe of a heroicall and noble heart and as Homer wryteth the more excellent a man is the lesse is his anger burninge and euerye gentle hart is easelye contented Sainct Paule wryteth to the Collossians As the elect of God holye and beloued put on tender mercy kindenesse humblenesse of minde meekenesse long suffering forbearing one an other and forgiuing one an other if anye man haue a quarrell to an other euen as Christ forgaue you euen so doe yee And aboue al these thinges put on loue which is the bonde of perfection And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which yee are called in one body and be yee amiable They ought to be accounted wise who knowing how apt of their owne inclination they be to choler vse notwithstandinge such remedies as they thinke fit to retyre themselues either in bearing patiently forgetting pardoninge moderating of them selues without beeinge too much mooued or breaking that which is easie to be dashed in peeces of a seruaunt as did Calias and Cotis or in burning their enemies letters before they see them as Pompei did those of Sertorius and Caesar those of Pompei The holye scripture doth often times exhort vs to forbeare one an other And whereas Saint Paule writeth that we shoulde portion a like to one an others charges hee vnderstandeth infirmities Dion after hee had restored his countrie againe to libertye was counselled to put to death one of the greatest enemies that he had now fallen into his handes but he sayd that he had long agoe learned to surmount wrath enuy and all euill will whereof the proofe consisted in behauing ones selfe temperatelye and courteouslye towardes his enemies and that he rather chose to surmount in bountye and courtesie then in power reuenge proceeding from a base minde We ought then to shun all suspicion of contempt and audacity rather casting the fault vppon the ignoraunce mistaking or lacke of those which haue offended vs to the ende we may escape that vengeaunce which is so often forbidden of the Lorde and which proceedeth from the same spring as doth the iniury and offence Notwithstanding that anger is not to be blamed which is vsed sometimes to make men amende when they haue done a fault For as Aristotle writeth in the fourth of his Morales euen as disordinate anger is a fault so is sometime the want of moderate choler or rather hatred of vice And it seemeth that they which are not angrye when it is required at their handes to feare offendours are very euill aduised and expose them selues to manye iniuries For this cause Plato called anger the sinew of the soule for that it serued to encrease valour being moderate and temperate And Aristotle writeth that it is an armour to vertue but such a one as rather mooueth vs then is ought mooued it selfe Lactantius in his booke intituled of the wrath of God c. 17. writeth that it is necessary that those thinges which are nought should displease such as are vertuous persons and that hee which is displeased at euill should be mooued when he seeth it wrought so wee doe decline to vengeaunce not because men haue offended vs but to the end discipline may be kept maners corrected and licentiousnes repressed This kinde of choler is lawfull which as it is necessarye to man for the amendment of lewdnesse so is it found in God of whome man taketh example for as much as we ought to chastise our subiectes so ought God to represse the vices of each one And to bring this to passe it is necessarye that he be angry and that it is naturall and good to be mooued and stirred to wrath Therefore anger ought to be defined a motion of the spirite lifted vp for the repression of sinne For the definition which Cicero maketh of the desire of reuenge is not much different from this but that anger which we call choler or fury ought not to fall within man being a thing vicious vnprofitable Notwithstanding I am of opinion that the diuines will not be of Lactantius his mind in that he attributeth any passion to God for he worketh nothing either with greef or paine The old prouerb holdeth that an Ant will be angry and yet we are not able to discerne when she is moued much lesse in God whose workes are vnsearcheable and passe the capacitye of our vnderstanding Albeit the holy scripture doth often apply it selfe to our fashion of speach who trouble our selues with passions in taking pitie or in punishing or in seeing some disorder And S Paule writeth that of our own nature we are the children of wrath from whence we are deliuered by Christ Iesus our mediatour Dauid sayde Psa 103. that God hath not dealt with vs after our sinnes nor rewarded vs after our iniquities And Psal 86. he calleth him a pitifull God and mercifull slow to anger and great in kindnes and truth And Psal 145. That the Lord is good to all and his mercies are ouer all his workes The which is likewise repeated in Exodus 34 Numbers 14. Nehemiah 9. Ieremiah 15 Ioel 2. Ionas 4 Nahum 1. A man ought diligently to take heede how he committeth those sinnes which prouoke the wrath of God especially to be no idolatour Deu. 9. 32. nor to tempt God Exod. 17. Psal 78. nor to murmure against his prouidence Nom. 12. 14. nor to be rebellious Deu. 9. nor to shead the bloud of the innocent Math. 25. nor to molest the widowes and fatherlesse Exod. 22. The holy scripture speaketh of the old and new man and of the circumcision of the heart So meant the Philosophers when they sayde we were made of two partes and that he which made the worse subiect vnto the better was counted continent and contrariwise he which made the brutish and vnreasonable part of his mind to preceed and commaunde the more noble was accounted incontinent and worse then it For this cause is it required that thorough the bit of reason we put backe and tame that felonious courage of ours to submit it vnto the moste milde yoke of the holye lawes of God which so much recommendeth vnto vs peace patience and mercy Valerius and others haue written that iniuries are surmounted thorough courtesie and bountye not by the reuenge of a new hatred And Cicero in his Oration for Murena and Demosthenes particularly in that he made before Alexander the great to hinder the siege of Athenes do amply shew that it is an act nearest approching vnto diuinitye to vanquishe ones owne courage represse his wrath moderate victory amplifie the dignity of ones enemy commande ouer ones selfe and not too much to trust in anger a mortall enemy to counsell For as our sauiour Christ sayde the violent that is to say
detested because thorough such a mischiefe they leade men to destruction turning them from the eternall felicitie and infecte the most pure doctrine which is our spirituall foode and so separate men from the catholicke church without which is no saluation S. Augustin in his 4. booke of the Citie of God reproueth Varro Pontifex Sceuola who were of opinion that it was very expedient men should be deceiued in religiō because that there is no felicitie or rest but in the certaintie thereof and in an infallible truth And Chrisippus said that without diuinitie the doctrine of god none could take any principle at al in the discipline of maners And Polibius sheweth that there was nothing which so much aduāced the Romanes as their religion albeit it was not pure S. Paul writeth to the Corinthians that he had prepared them for one husbande to present them as a pure virgine to Christ And the Prophets cal lying adultery And S. Chrisostome vpō the argument of the Epistle to the Romanes sheweth that al mischeif proceedeth frō the ignorance of the scriptures as our Sauiour Christ imputed vnto the Iewes that they were deceiued not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God Matth. 22. Mark 12. And if it haue been saide of the auntient fathers that the word is a medicine to the greeued spirite a man may well say it is also poison being falsly taught The which moued the prophets Apostles so carefully to warne men to beware of false prophets seducers wolues which speake not by the mouth of God neither are sent by him because there is no cōparison to be made between the straw and the corne nor betweene an infected riuer and a good spring Againe we are exhorted to stand in the wayes behold and to aske for the olde way which is the good way and walke therein to the end we should not wander from that life thorough desearts but find rest for our souls And we read in the Acts of the Apostles that at the end of the sermons euerie man searched the scriptures to see whether those thinges they had harde were so For God by Isaiah sendeth vs backe to the lawe and to the testimonie because if they speake not according to this woorde it is for that there is no light in them as who would saye that they were abused and remayned in darkenesse And S. Peter caught nothing when hee fished by night vntill he cast out his net into the sea at the cōmandement of our Sauiour as some anciēt fathers haue gathered hereon What euer we do without the worde of God profiteth vs nothing and it shall be sayde vnto vs as in the first of Isaiah who hath required these thinges at your handes And if they say that the holy scripture is harde and not easely to be vnderstood God protesteth in Isaiah that he hath not spoken in secrete neither in a place of darkenesse and his doctrine is not obscure nor doubtfull but readie to instruct vs to perfection to lighten vs and guide vs to saluation And in an other place he sayth that the word of God is as the wordes of a booke that is sealed vp to the vnbeleeuers And Saint Paule wrote to the Corinthians that if his Gospel were hid it was hid to the infideles that were lost For this great Prince making his alliance with his subiectes and creatures to saue them deliuered all in cleare and simple termes And Saint Augustine writeth that whatsoeuer appertayneth to saluation is manifestly set downe in the scripture and whatsoeuer is obscure in one place is manifested in another and in the 15. Chapter of the same booke he giueth vs a notable rule howe to discerne figuratiue speeches as if we be commaunded to doe well straight wee are forbid the euill and so is it no figure for in that one shall finde the very scope of the scripture to wit the glory of God and charitie but contrariwise if taken according vnto the letter if it seeme to commaund ill and forbid the good then may we easely iudge it to be a figure whereof he giueth vs sundrie examples And Saint Paul in his seconde to Timothe sheweth that the whole Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improoue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes The holy ghost is likewise called the spirite of prudence and discretion enterteyned by meditating of the scriptures contrary vnto the Philosophers bookes where leaues are onely gathered and not the trewe fruite And after that the Prophet Baruch had set downe what a number of mischeifes grewe by the carelesnesse of hearing of the worde of God and that we should drawe from the fountaine of wisedome he exhorteth vs to Learne where is wisedome where is strength where is vnderstanding that we might knowe also from whence commeth long continuance and life and where the light of the eyes and peace is The holy Scripture is also called the worde of reconciliation of life of peace and of saluation and there is not almost one line thorough out the hole Bible which doth not pull vs by the eare and sleeue to awake vs out of the sleepe of this world and to pull vs out of the clammie vanities wherein wee hange that it may bring vs to the glory and presence of God which is our saluation The which mooued S. Augustine Chrisostome Ierome Theophilact and other doctors to exhort the laytie the simple people artificers and all kinde of persons dayly to exercise themselues in the reading and meditating of the holye scriptures adding that they which haue founde a golde or siluer mine trauayle to digge the earth and endure most pestiferous ouerheating of themselues so as they may gather some fewe drammes of golde and siluer and ought we that haue so riche precious a treasor in the holy scriptures to neglect and not search it out being called therto by God Yea wee see what toyle men take in haruest season and yet howe slacke and sluggish we are to reape our celestiall wheate And the sayde holy scriptures are better vnderstoode of a modest idiote then of an arrogant Philosopher And as Saint Basile wrote the lambe wadeth thorough the streames of the scriptures when the Elephant swimmeth And in 119. Psalme it is saide that this word of God serueth for a rule and correction to youth and lightneth and giueth grace to the humble And the most auncient trueth sayth Tertullian is the most certaine It is also called a testament and alliance because we finde therein the legacye of eternall life and an immortall succession in communicating of all the riches merites and perfections of our Lorde and sauiour Christ Iesus thorough the fayth which we haue in his promises It is giuen vnto vs for a buckler defence and safegarde against all assaultes for a present medicine
Psalmes 25.36.45.117 and 138. S. Augustine in his booke of confessions writeth that accursed is all our righteousnes if it should be examined and iudged without Gods mercie And saint Ambrose faith that a man should not glorifie himselfe as iust but in that he hath beene redeemed not in that he was without sinne but in that he hath pardon for it not that I shoulde aduaunce my selfe ouer other but in that Iesus Christ is my aduocate towardes his father hauing shed his precious bloud for me for he came into the worlde to destroye the workes of the Diuell to regenerate and iustifie vs not to the end we should be vnprofitable and without fruite but to exercise our selues in all good workes First to the ende that thorough them and the shyning of our light as our sauiour sayde Matth. 5. God might be glorified we stande more assured of our vocation and election and our fayth the more strengthned exercised and embrased as Paul wrote to Timothe 1. Cap. 1. that likewise our neighbours by our good example may bee mooued and prouoked to liue well 2. Cor. 9. and that we minister to the necessities of poore Orphanes Widowes and such as haue neede of our succour as members of one bodie Mat. 10. 25. and since that faith purifieth the heartes as S. Peter sayth Acts. 10. what faith I praye you can they pretende that are full of filthinesse enmitie and corruption and which are puffed vp with passions and disordinate affections This faith ought to regenerate vs and make vs newe creatures exempting vs from condemnation and clothing vs with the righteousnesse and spirit of Iesus Christ The which spirite can not abide in our heartes but it must worke that is to saye that it lighteth vs quickneth and guideth all our counselles thoughtes wordes and actions What is faith except we shewe it by our holy conuersation mortifying our concupiscences eschewing all vice and applying our selues to all vertue not onely abstayning from that which is euill but from whatsoeuer carieth any shew thereof Perseuering in this exercise euen vntill the ende of our life Nowe if we haue the feare of God and a good conscience how commeth it to passe that wee doe not abhorre any more to defile our selues hauing beene once clensed I haue washed my feete sayth the faithfull soule how shall I againe defile them For God hauing made an alliance with vs mutually requireth of all his children seruants and creatures an integritie of life And we must discouer a melodie and accord betweene the righteousnesse of God and our obedience And by this meanes we ratifie the adoption through which God hath receiued vs for his children And holinesse is the chaine of our coniunction which tyeth vs to God to whome wee ought to dedicate all our life as to the aucthor thereof And to say the trueth wee abandon our creator wantonly and disloyally and renownce him for our sauiour when wee deforme our selues in sinne where wee ought alwayes to aspire to a heauenly life and laye aside all earthly affections being raysed vppe with Christ Iesus as Saint Paule writeth and euen wee denye with Ieremie that hee hath receaued the trewe knowledge of God except we put of the olde man which is corrupt in his disordinate desires to put vppon vs the newe And to the Philippians hee requireth that our patient minde be knowen vnto all men The Lorde is at hande let not vs take care for ought but that in all thinges our requestes may be made knowen to God by prayers and supplications with giuing of thankes And the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding shall keepe our heartes and senses in Christ Iesus Moreouer whatsoeuer thinges are true whatsoeuer thinges are honest whatsoeuer thinges are pure whatsoeuer thinges pertaine to loue whatsoeuer thinges are of good reporte if there be anye vertue or if there bee any prayse let vs thinke of these thinges And hee wrote to the Corinthians in his seconde Epistle Since wee haue receaued the promisses let vs clense our selues from all fylthinesse of the fleshe and spirite and growe vppe vnto full holinesse in the feare of God And to the Ephesians yee haue not so learned if you haue beene taught by him as the trueth is in Iesus And hee complayned greatly to Titus howe they professed to knowe God but by their abhominable workes denie him And our Sauiour sayeth in S. Matthewe that by their worke ye shall knowe them For such as followe not the good which they speake resemble monsters which haue but one mouth and one tongue but no feete nor handes at all He doth therefore falsly boast to knowe the truth if his life be not good and correspondent For the doctrine of trueth is not a doctrine of the tongue but of life And if for good cause the Philosophers were woont to be angrye with such as made profession of their art which they called the mystresse of life and in the meane time turned it but to a sophisticall babling and did euer esteeme wicked liuers and such as were couetous not worthye to speake as the Emperours Dioclesian and Maximian wrote that their profession and inwarde desire belide themselues howe muche greater reason haue wee to detest these bablers which onely content them selues to haue the Gospell at their fingers endes and in their life rebellious and seditious cleane despise the same Considering that the power and efficacie thereof ought to pearce the verie bottome of our heart and from thence to bee shewed in all our behauiours grace garmentes and all other our actions and comportmentes as Tertullian did wright We haue heretofore declared howe we ought to haue this ende before our eyes to tende to that perfection which God hath commaunded vs to wit an integritie which signifieth a pure simplicitie of the heart voyde of all faynednesse and contrarie to a double heart Euerie one ought thus farre to walke according to his might And it shall auayle much if to daye surmount yesterdaye And beeing entered into the listes we should enforce our selues to goe out to the verie ende assured to obtaine a verie greate prise To declare perticularlie euerie vertue would be too tedious in this Chapter but I will adde that which doeth most entertaine and delight some men in lying that is that they be too much louers of themselues and are verie forwarde for their particular profitte which doeth altogether blemishe their sight and hindereth them so as they can not consider the will of GOD nor his promisses For whatsoeuer wee deliberate couet and poursue ought to be ioyned with the good and profitte of our neighbour And wee must not be stirred vppe nor mooued with anie picke against the lawe of Charitie Saint Augustine in his first booke of Christian doctrine writeth that hee liueth excellently well which the least hee is able liueth to himselfe because the obseruaunce of
the lawe consisteth in the loue towardes God and our neighbour And wee reade in manie places of Cicero and others that the better a man is the lesse he tendeth al his actions to his owne profit and the more he doth studie to serue God and his commonwealth Plato himselfe wrote to Architas that man was borne for his parents friends and countrey in sort that the least part of him remaineth to himselfe and for this cause man is named a ciuill and communicatiue creature And as S. Paule wrote Iesus Christ was borne for vs to the ende that they which liue should not liue anie more vnto themselues but to him which dyed for them And exhorteth vs no more to purchase after our owne profitte but that which may concerne our neighbour and that we be made rich in good workes which he calleth a treasure and foundation to come In which doing we shall followe the pathes of truth and shalbe counted most happie especially if wee retire our affections from vncleannesse from whence Nilus an auncient byshop sayde a smooke proceeded which blacked the soule with sowte There be then two sorts of Christians the one in name and profession only the other in effect The first care not but for their bodie honours riches and pleasure without ought regarding the feare of God The other with all their affection dedicate themselues to God at whose hand they take all in good parte and despise the worlde louing God and his woorde and commaundementes and of these Isayah writeth that they which shall see them shall knowe they are the blessed seede of the Lord and in another place he calleth a naughtie conscience a narrowe bed in which a man cannot well stretch out his bodie nor lie at ease for he which hath a wounded conscience can neuer finde out anye condition place or state that is not too little for him and which may anye wayes content him This is the cause why Dauid requireth at Gods hande to set at large his imprisoned heart that is to say that he will do him the grace to cause him to haue a sound and neate conscience I will not here forget that as God is honoured by the good life of the faithfull according as the holy scripture witnesseth so is he blasphemed and dishonoured thorough wickednesse And there is no doubt but the behauiour of Christians haue caused the Turkes and Infidels euen to detest the true religion Lopes a Spaniard and Beuzo a Millannese and other that haue written of the historie of America and the West Indies haue beene constrayned to confesse that the crueltie couetousnesse blasphemies and wickednesse of the Spaniardes hath altogether alienated the poore Indians from the religion which the said Spaniards gaue out they held for true who did not long enioye those goods which by detestable meanes they had there gathered And all men write that they were lesse worthe then the Idolatrous Indians The cruell handling of those Indians and that which the Turke did to them of Asia Africa and part of Europe who liued as we doe the Turke notwithstanding being the farther are set before our eyes as an example to the end that we should change our selues and seeing the behauiour of Christians and their obstinacie to vice wee shoulde looke but euen for such cursednesse and miseries as we reade they haue beene enwrapped and fallen into And wee may well say that we touch euen neare the end of the worlde alreadie quaking and doting thorough old age and full of the wrincles of lying which notwithstanding can not obscure the sonne of trueth nor take away the light of them which feare God which see and loue the way which we ought to follow to attaine to life eternal And that we neede not further wander wee must exercise our selues in reading of good bookes in prayer fasting and workes of godlinesse And as Xenophon writing of the dewtie and office of an esquire warneth him aboue all thinges to beseeche at Gods hande to make his thought speech and deedes such as shall be agreeable vnto him and contentment to all his friendes and honourable and profitable to his commonwealth without molesting of anie man by farre greater reason the Christians ought to praye vnto God without intermission that he will teach them his will and dresse their pathes to loue and feare his name When a man speaketh of good woorkes it is thereby meant such as are furthest from all superstition and hypocrisie and proceede from a fayth woorking thorough charitie and a pure heart witnessing the great bountie and excellencie thereof and profiting our neighbours referring all to the glorie goodnesse and grace of God which bringeth foorth in vs good fruites and giueth vnto vs both to will and to performe as saint Paul sayth and crowneth in vs his owne workes CHAP. 8. How much true men haue beene esteemed and that all magistrates ought to be so and of the riches of princes IN Exodus Iethro counselled Moses to appoint rulers ouer the people men of courage fearing God men dealing truely hating couetousnesse and in Egypt the chiefe magistrate euer carried a picture of truth hanging at his necke The which Amian writeth also of the Druydes shewing that a Iudge ought to carie it in his heart his Iudgements and all other his actions And the tablet hanging with two chaines vpon the heart of the high priest whereof mention is made in Exod. 28. and Numbers 3. was called VRIM which signifieth light For the kings in all their actions of importance demaunded counsell of God by his high priest or prophets Pythagoras and Demosthenes esteemed to be trewe and to doe good to another the two most excellent thinges that were giuen from heauen to mankinde And the same Pythagoras being demaunded wherein men were likest vnto God aunswered in trueth And it was a sufficient reason for any thing he said to say He saide it And the great Thebane captaine Epaminondas was most especially praysed because he loued the truth and neuer made lie And Pyndarus praysed him as he did before one Pyttacus a Tarentine for that knowing much he spake little And albeit Pyrrhus was an enimie to the Romaines yet neuerthelesse did he giue this prayse vnto Fabritius that a man might assoone turne him from the truth and honestie as the sunne out of his course And the chiefest prayse which hystoriographers giue to Byshops in time past is that they neuer lyed and in the Psalmes and Apocalyps the saintes were euer honored with this title that a lye was neuer founde in their mouth And Zacharie praysing Ierusalem calleth it the citie of trueth And in the holy scripture this woorde of thinke say or promise is interpreted in God to doe because all which he thinketh sayth or promiseth is surely executed and put in effect Pomponius a friende of Ciceroes was extolled for
that hee had gotten such an opinion to be counted true that euery one trusted him and referred himselfe vnto him Which was likewise said of Demonar in the time of the Emperour Adrian And our chronicles doe greatly prayse king Iohn for that he was open neuer making shewe of louing him whom in deede he did not Titus Liuius in the 5. booke of his fourth Decade and fourth of his 5. made a great matter that the Romaines kept their faith exactly And in the first booke of his first Decade he writeth that fayth and a single othe all feare of lawes and chastisementes not thought on gouerned the whole Citie to which he attributed the course of all their great prosperities Attilius chose rather to returne backe to tormentes and death prepared for him than to breake his fayth And when Antiochus woulde haue vsurped Aegypt vppon Ptolomie Epiphanes whose protection the Romaynes had alreadie taken vppon them they sent vnto him Popilius who made a circle about the sayde Antiochus and constrayned him before hee departed to promise him that he should enterprise nothing ouer their sayde pupill Wee reade of manie other kinges and common-wealthes that in their differences referred themselues to the people of Rome Cato as Plutarke hath written hauing layde to Murena his charge that he bought the voyces of the people the better to attaine to the Consulship went here and there gathering his profes and according to the custome of the Romaines had on the defendants behalfe certaine gardes which followed him euerie where marking what he did for the better instructiō of his bill These watchmē would often aske him if that day he ment to search out ought that appertayned to his accusation if he saide no then they departed whereuppon is growne this prouerbe when one telleth a thing that seemeth strange this is not to bee beleeued though Cato himselfe should tell it And Plinie in his preface describeth the opinion was then had of his manhood and innocencie which sayth he caused Cicero to crie out O gentle Cato howe happy art thou to haue beene such a one that neuer man yet durst presume to sollicite thee in any dishonest cause or contrarie to dutie He writeth also of Scipio surnamed Asiaticus for to haue subdued Natolie being called before the Tribunes Gracchus being one whom he held for his enimie that he had such an assurance in his speech that his very enimies were sufficiēt witnes of his manhood And in Lacedemon whē there was one that was knowen to be a dissolute person and a lyar that he had proposed a very profitable aduise necessary for that time yet was it cleane reiected of the people And the Ephores hauing chosē a Senator that was very true commanded him continually to propose vnto them like councell whereby they might restore their cōmonwealth as it were from an vncleane and foule vessell into a pure neate Cicero in his oration he made for Balbus maketh mention of an honorable person who being called into the Senate at Athenes to depose touching some matter the senators would by no meanes haue him take the accustomed othe knowing him to be a vertuous honest man Such an efficacy hath the opiniō of māhood in a personage accoūted true Xerxes Ariamenes in the great controuersie which was betweene thē for the kingdome of Persia referred thēselues to their vncle Artebanus to whose iudgement they stood I could here recken many forraine Princes who in time past haue had such an opinion of the court of Parlement of Paris composed of graue learned and reuerent counsellers chosen according to the right and ordinances that they haue had recourse thyther as to a temple of iustice We read of the Emperour Frederic the second and certaine kings of Fraunce that they haue beene so greatly esteemed of their subiects that in steede of fine gold they haue receiued lethermonie others haue borowed great sums with good liking which they haue restored againe as soone as conueniently they were able This is the meanes which Cirus sheweth in Xenophon and Zonare to Cresus wherby they may obtaine what they wil of their subiects when they haue once gayned an opinion to be accounted trew he sayth likewise that their treasors cōsist most in enriching of their friends without caring for any other gardes We haue seene what credit by this meanes the great kinges Francis and Henrie obtained thoroughout all Europe and what losse and dishonour such haue receiued as both before and since haue fayled of their promise I will not here omit howe Pharamonde our first king was named VVarmond which signifieth truth And a man is not able to declare what profit and solace he which is true bringeth to euerie man as ending of suits in lawe enmities discordes and other seedes of mischiefes dispersed through a countrey by the reuealing of the truth which he discouereth his wordes being receiued as an oracle And Xenophon in his seuenth booke of young Cirus sheweth that the bare worde of such a man preuaileth more then other mens constraint threates or punishment and gaineth more by his bare promise then other doe by their rewardes He sayth moreouer that there is no greater nor more excellent riches especially to a Prince then vertue iustice and greatnesse of courage because such can nether want friendes nor ought else CHAP. 9. That it behooueth to keepe promise with instruction not to make it with ones disaduantage and not to giue place to the importunate TItus Liuius in his third booke of his first decade declareth what great dammage ensueth him who breaketh his faith and looseth his credit for the societie of men is only maintained by dewe keeping of promises And al good Princes haue esteemed that their authoritie puissaunce and safetie dependeth thereon Hereupon Isocrates wrote to King Nicocles that he should be founde true of his worde in all his promises in sort that one shoulde giue greater credite to his bare worde then to others othes And the wise man writeth in the Prouerbes that VVeldoing and fayth conserueth a Princes estate but a lying talke becommeth him not Himselfe is the onely preseruour of fayth among his subiectes and their debtour for iustice Dion reciteth that the Emperour Marcus Antonius was wont to say that it was a verie lamentable thing that a mans faith should be violat or suspected without which nought can be assured King Attalus in his death bed warned Eumenes his sonne to esteeme fidelitie the good opinion of his subiectes the chiefest parte of the inheritance he could leaue him And Sueton praised Caesar for that hee kept his faith with his enimies though they broke theirs with him For as Cicinnatus said in Titus Liuius a man must not offende led by an other mans example And Dion reporteth of Augustus that hauing made proclamation that he woulde giue fiue and twentie thousand
before that to the Earle of S. Pol was vanquished and all yl hap accompanied him euer after Hildebran otherwise named Gregorie the seuenth sware an accorde with the Emperour Henrie the fourth from whome as soone as he was departed he created Rodolph Emperour who afterwards was ouercome by the said Henrie and seeing his hand cut off said vnto the Bishops Beholde the hande which I did lift vp when I made the othe of fidelitie to the Emperour And anon after he dyed the said Pope was deposed put to flight Which ought to serue for an example to great personages to hold their promises I will not here forget what we haue seene of our time happen to Christierne king of Danemarke who for hauing broken his faith giuen to his subiectes was depriued his realme and afterwardes liued miserably for al the succours which he receiued from Charles the fift Emperour As also the histories recite of one Richard who caused his nephewes to be murthered and his neaces to be declared bastardes to make him selfe king of England but he was afterwarde vanquished and put to flight by one as then scarce knowen I omit sundrie examples set foorth by Boccace in nine bookes which hee wrote touching the misaduentures of notable personages which euerie one may reade And could here touch that which Plutarch writeth of Catoes opposing him selfe to the sacrifices which they would make for the victorie obtained by Caesar against the Almaines meaning that they ought to had deliuered it for them whome he had outragiouslie wronged and contrarie to the peace they had made with the people of Rome to the ende to cast vppon him alone the fault they had committed in violating their faith And without searching of any further examples thorough the folliciting of Cardinall Caraffe sent from Pope Paul the thirde thorough other mens ambition was there broken a most honorable truce and thereby a great warre vndertaken which had verie yll successe I passe ouer in scilence the great calamities ruynes dissipations disorders excesse losses dissolutions subuersions of states rauishments mischiefes happened in Christendome since thirtie yeres past thorough a dispensation which men take to vyolate their faith promise and Edictes And wee haue verie great occasion to beseeche God that hee will giue remedie thereto and hinder these defiances euill fortunes diuisions and stormes which as yet are like to happen And albeit that according to Bias opinion no excuse is to be receiued to make one able to breake his promise neuerthelesse he ought not to bee accused for a lyar who maye not lawfully keepe it for some iust occasion afterwardes happened vnto him As if a mad man shoulde demaunde the sworde which hee had giuen another to keepe or if a more mightie man shoulde oppose him selfe or if by that means another would attempt against his person or estate which did promise or if thee keeping of his promise should turne him to any great dishonor mischiefe errour fraude or any other preiudice not to be recouered For matters not alreadie in practise strange and newe require a newe counsell according to the saying of the lawers who euen dispense with a promise after an oth taken And often times men promise with an intent to accōplish that which lyeth not in their power through an indispositiō or matter fallen out of more great importance As the vowe and promise which Iephthe made ought to be otherwise interpreted And as Alexander did hauing promised he woulde slaye the first that should come out of the town killed an asse in lieu of him that led her as by equitie the rigour of a lawe is often times moderated And auncient men haue saide that Necessitie is the mother of dispensation It is likewise excusable if any preiudice or interest happen not thorough the not accomplishing of a promise CHAP. XI Effects of the truth with exhortation not to change the statutes or lawes and not to daunce vpon holydayes praise of French men a solution of that for which they are blamed IF the light of the truth take frō vs the vaile which blemisheth our iudgement wee shall modestly behaue our selues without any colour or disguising in our wordes habites or anie other our actions We shal knowe how we ought to render vnto God al reuerence obedience trust prayers actions of thankesgiuing and praise with peace in our spirits and how we ought to honour loue serue and succour all kind of persons We shal be readie to obey our King his lawes and Magistrates and wisely to commaund ouer subiectes wee shall haue sufficient of little magnanimitie easie accesse humanitie a nature not dissembling nor fained constancie in our counsels and enterprises with a resolution alwayes to do that which our duetie commaundeth we shall not be dissolute in pleasures nor insolent in prosperitie nor too much carried away with our passions wee shal contemne death and the dangers thereof in respect of a better life we shal lose no hart in aduersitie we shall rightfully followe what either is to be chosen or left treading vpon the thornes of this life without pricking vs and vpon Scorpions without feeling their venome as it is written in Ezekiel And would to God that al French men might so know the beautie of this trueth that they might become amorous thereof altogither cast off their lying vnconstancie to the end they might no more be cast in the teeth with not performing their promises that the citie of Paris might of euerie one be called the citie of truth as the Prophet Zecariah called the citie of Ierusalem and according to his vision God placed a woman in the middest of the Ephah named Iniquitie vpon the mouth whereof he cast a weight of lead because she should not escape Or as Philip king of Macedon assembled togither the most wicked persons and furthest from correction of al his subiects and put them into a town which he builded of purpose and named it Poneropolis that is the citie of wicked persons So that there mought be sent inclosed in some one place in France al such as do delight in inconstancie lightnes falshod against promise and trueth seditions lyings pilling extortion knauerie cousinage pernitious inuentions murthers reproches and periuries to the ende that the rest might liue in greater honor peace reputation credit Nowe standing not at all vpon the praise which proceedeth from the beginning auncestors of Frenchmen not being pertinent hereunto may easily be seen in the hystoriographers I wil thus much say for Frenchmē that if we consider their antiquitie pietie valour manhod courage humanitie mercie gentlenes dexteritie quicknesse of spirit and al other their vertues and perfections they giue place to no nation vnder the Sunne whatsoeuer but rather excelleth it as a Frenche man said to the Embassadours of Rome in Titus Liuius And there be diuers graue writers
in his actions then couragious It were very expedient that were practised which happened in our time in the yeare of our Lord one thousand fiue hundred fiftie and one betweene Gonstaue King of Sweden and the Moscouite where all those that were occasioners of the warre they had so lightly vndertaken were executed and put to death And not without cause did Pausanias call all the Captaines in the warre both Peloponesians and Greekes murtherers and destroyers of their countrey It is to be desired that the nobilitie of France would accustome themselues to modestie rule order constancie and to mortifie this their great heate to armes and warre vnnecessarie And as the Phisition preuenteth sickenesse thorough small preparatiues and apostumes so beginning with their lesser inclinations choler and passions they may the easilyer attaine to the ende of the more strong and consider that which is written in the life of Saint Augustine that hee would neuer pray for such as of their owne voluntarie motion had beene at a strange warre and greatly reproued as saint Cyprian did Donatus and others that killing of a priuate man was in perticuler punished but he who had slaine manie in warre was greatly praysed In Titus Liuius Scipio sheweth to King Masinissa that a man ought not so muche to doubt his enemies armed as those pleasures which render a man effeminate and vnconstant It was wisely sayde of an auntient man that the foundations of all counsels and actions ought to leane to pietie iustice and honestie without vsing of anie headinesse I woulde willingly giue that counsell to French men which Archidamus gaue vnto the Aeoliens meaning to ayde the Argians in their warre within a letter contayning onely these woordes Quietnesse is good And sayde vnto suche as praysed him for the victorye hee had obtayned agaynst the Argiens it had beene more worthe to haue ouercome them by wisedome then by force Xenophon writing of the actes of the Greekes sheweth that all wise men abstayne the moste they are able from warre albeit they haue thereunto iust occasion And that sayinge of sundrye Emperours was verye famous that warre ought not to bee taken in hande without great neede And the Emperour Augustus was woont to say that a warre which were good must be commaunded by the Goddes and iustified by Philosophers and wise olde men For the time seruing for lawes for armes is diuerse as Caesar sayd to Metelius And we haue had too good experience howe much God the weale publicke order and iustice hath beene offended herewith And warre hath beene called a gulfe of expence and a cruell tyrant ransacking the people and peace ordred with good pollicie as a good king moderating charge and excesse And as Horace feygneth that the place into which Eolus shut his windes being open the sea is troubled in euerie part so by the opening of warre partialitie insolencie and all vices manifest themselues And warres are nought else then a horrible punishment of a whole people a ruine of a whole countrey state and discipline And wisely did Spartian write howe Traian was neuer vanquished because he neuer vndertooke warre without iust cause The very which Titus Liuius declareth of the Romaines in the ende of the first Decade Otho the Emperour chose rather to die than to rayse a ciuill warre For which men likewise prayse Zeno the Emperour and Cicero in his Philippiques calleth him which is desirous thereof a detestable citizen I am also of opinion that the conuersation with the Muses and studie of good letters would render the nobilitie more aduised and constant as we haue well marked else where And am not of the Swissers minde which thinketh too much studie marreth the braine nor of the Almaynes who in the time of Galienus the Emperour after that the citie of Athenes was taken kept them from setting a fire a great heape of bookes they had there made saying let vs leaue them to the Greekes to the ende that applying themselues to them they may be lesse proper for the warre For the reading of good bookes as Alexander the great and diuerse other of the most valiant captaines sayde maketh the nobilitie more hardie and wise and contayneth them within the boundes of their dutie And what good nature soeuer a captaine be of he falleth into an infinite number of faults for want of reading of good books And that being true which diuerse haue written of Xenocrates that he did so pearce the heart of his auditors that of dissolute persons they became temperate and modest what ought wee to iudge of the instructions taken out of the holy letters And as some haue counselled before they sleepe they are to demaund of themselues a reason and account of that which they shall haue gayned of modestie grauitie constancie and facilitie of complexions It is written of Socrates that when he was drye he would neuer drinke but first he wold cast out the first bucket ful of water that he drew out of the well to the ende sayde he that he might accustome his sensuall appetite to attende the fit time and oportunitie of reason Theophrastus sayd that the soule payd well for her hyer to the bodie considering what shee there suffred But Plutarke writeth that the body hath good cause to cōplaine of the noyses which so greuous and troublesome a guest maketh him which notwithstanding is within the body as in a sepulcher or den which she ought to guide being before lightned by the truth and ruling her selfe according to it both in respect of her owne safetie and of her hostes I would also counsell them to shunne all dissolutenes be it in bitter or vilanous wordes vncomely garmentes and vnshamefast countenance For it is all one in what part soeuer of the bodie a man shew his vnshamefastnes vanitie pride and lightnesse And the Lacedemonians were highly commended because they banished a Milesian out of their citie for going too sumptuously appareled We ought also rather to desire to be vertuous then to seeme to vse wisedome and descretion in all assayes auoyding debates and selfewill without witnessing whether it be true or false not hurtfull following the precept of Epictetus in yeelding vnto the greater sort perswading the inferiours with sweetenesse and modestie consenting to the equall to the end to auoyde quarelles Aboue all thinges wee ought to enforce our selues to tame our couetous desires and concupiscences especially where libertie to take and enioye them is offred vnto vs and to accustome our selues to patience meekenesse in keeping vnder the desire of reuenge knowing as the great Monarch Alexander was woont to saye that it is a signe of a more heroycall heart and prayse worthye for a man that hath receaued an iniurie to pardon his enemie then to kill him or reuenge himselfe vpon him And that reuenge proceeded of a basenesse of minde and vertue consisted in matters hardly reached vnto And it
piller defence And that which Dauid song that he whose heart is fixed beleeueth in the Lord wil not be afraide of any euill tydings Aristotle Pindarus Tacitus Salustus Cato were wont to say that it was a harder matter to gouerne a mans selfe wel in prosperitie then in aduersitie because often times prosperitie is accompanied with pride ignorance wantonnesse contempt of others licentiousnes intemperance and other vices which prouoke the wrath of God wheras aduersitie doth quicken our slepie spirites incourageth vs to modestie to feare praise cal vpon God to take better counsell reforme our life as a French Poet wrote that aduersitie and contrarie fortune did profit men more and do them more good then the sweet pleasant for by the latter they learn but ignorance through aduersitie are taught knowledge Which also Isocrates most learnedly intreated of in his Areopagitique thinking it a verie hard matter to iudge which of the two either pouertie or riches a man ought to leaue behind him to couet for his children The which made Aristides Curius an infinite number of other to liue in a verie base condition the which Demosthenes Lucain called a singuler gift of God and vnknown of men And Plutarque had reason to write that Lisander did more hurt the Lacedemonians in sending them store of riches and pretious mouables then Sylla did the Romanes in consuming the reuenues of their treasor And Plinie in his seuenth booke declareth what a number of men haue beene euen lost thorough too much wealth And the wise man sayeth in the Prouerbs that fooles are clean ruined through prosperitie and the end of all ioy is sorrow And the said Isocrates entreating of peace is of opinion that it is a most hard matter to gouerne ones selfe well in great estates and dignities the which he compareth to a courtisan and strumpet who entiseth to her loue the vnwise as a bait to the ruine both of their bodie soule and declareth that men are often times more sharpe addicted to euil matters superfluous rather then to the good necessarie And in what is to be desired they haue want of iudgement He likewise describeth how much more pleasant happie their life is which are accustomed to litle then other to great riches And Seneca aloweth the saying of Demetrius that nothing is more vnhappie then him who neuer knewe what euil fortune or aduersitiement and that the more torments be endured the more honor and that the more yll that happeneth vnto vs the more God is mindfull of vs as the Psalmist saieth In this life fewe are exempted from affliction be it in minde body or goods And albeit that God delighteth to doe good as Ieremias sayeth Chapter 32. yet doeth hee sometime what is not proper vnto him as to afflict to finish his worke and what good hee pretendeth to doe sayeth Esay Chap. 21. Saint Paul 1. Cor. 11. Heb. 12. And Osea writeth Chap. 2. that God wil stop the waye with thornes and make a hedge which leadeth to destruction to make vs returne vnto him Afflictions instruct vs to patience hope Rom. 5. They make vs humble incline vs to obey God Psalm 119. they retaine vs back from pleasures worldly things make vs haue recourse to God Which hath moued some to name affliction the saulce of prayer as appetite is of meate Moreouer we perceiue thereby that God hath a care of vs and doeth not account vs vnworthie of his visitations often times doth recompense vs doubly as we read in Ioseph Iob others And S. Paul saieth that they are not to bee compared to the glorie promised vs. It is not to be doubted but a sensible man will carrie him selfe euen in eche fortune promising no certaintie at all vnto himselfe in matters of this worlde beeing by nature so vncertaine And hauinge considered the vnstablenesse of humane things and the fatherly care which it hath pleased God to take of his hee cannot bee surprised at vnawares as in a suddaine incursion of the enimie And knowing hee holdeth all thinges from God as borowed ware hee rendreth them voluntarily and without griefe when hee which lent them doeth redemaunde them giuing him thankes for the time it hath pleased him to suffer him to enioy them that hee might not be founde vngratefull They also which desire but little cannot want much leading their barbarous and coueting passions by reason as the maisters voyce maketh the dogge to couche Sainct Chrisostome intreating of couetous desires sayeth that as the forme of the shooe is the foote and if it bee greater then it shoulde bee bee it of veluet or of cloth of golde yet is it vnfit so the bodie ought to bee the forme of whatsoeuer wee possesse And if wee swarne from this forme and vsage then is there nought els but a confusion disorder superfluitie abuse and excesse And oftentimes lacke of experience and want of good discourse and not knowing wel how to apply our selues to the present state causeth vs to wrap our selues in an infinite number of passions and tormentes Wee ought then earnestly to desire this trueth to the ende wee should not bee dismayde if God doe not suffer vs to wallowe and tumble in too much ease Besides wherefore doeth wealth serue but onely as a testimonie of his fauour and an occasion to acknowledge it from him well to vse it to his honour and releaue of our neighbour And Apollonius had reason to saye that vertue and riches were two contrarie thinges and that the one encreasing the other was euer diminished And as the greater wee see our shadowe the nearer we draw towards night so must we feare least the more that we see our selues charged with honors wealth the further off trueth the light estrange themselues from vs. And Platon in the fourth of his lawes thinketh it a matter vnpossible for a man to bee both honest and riche Diogenes was wont to say that vertue neuer found any place in a rich citie or house and that it was a great happines to haue both wealth and vnderstanding Seneca wrote that he was a mightie man who esteemed himself poore amidst plentie of riches and did not in respect of them carry himselfe more loftely but that he who had none at all went a great deale more surely and in greater safetie following that which our Sauiour taught vs when he called the poore in spirit blessed And as men in olde time euer helde in suspition the ende of their fortune so haue they done in great prosperitie as King Amisias saied to Policrates seeing that one had brought him backe againe his ring which he flong into the maine sea These good happes do not please me because I feare me they wil turne into calamities miseries as afterwards it befel
vnto him Saint Ambrose happening into a rich mans house and vnderstanding that he had euery thing as he would wish it neuer hauing occasion of disquiet or anger presently departed fearing least hee shoulde bee partaker of some misfortune anon after was the house swalowed vp with an earthquake Saint Ierome alledgeth an auncient prouerbe that a riche man is either wicked of himself or heire to a wicked man And he wrote vnto Saluia that euen as pouertie is not meritorious if it be not borne with patience no more are riches hurtful if they be not abused The which S. Chrisostom in his homelie of the poore man and the rich more amply entreateth of CHAP. XIIII Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the trueth PArents haue beene commanded to bring vp and instruct their children but especially to teach them how to knowe and feare God in Exodus Chap. 12. 13. Deut. 4.6 7. in Saint Paul to the Ephes 6. in sundry Psalms In Persia Lacedemonia and sundrie other prouinces the most vertuous graue and learned men had the charge of the education instruction of youth and endeuoured most especially to make them true and hate lying following Platoes counsell in sundrie of his treatises And in Alcibiades he writeth that there was giuen vnto the Princes of Persia their children a tutor which had care aboue all things to make them loue the trueth for of the foure vertues which concerne manners to wit Prudence Iustice Fortitude Temperance the trueth especiall draweth neere vnto Iustice which rendreth vnto euerie one what appertaineth vnto him and kepeth equality being the spring and foundation of all vertue and preseruer of the societie of man Which was the cause that in time past they had so great care to teach their children togither with their mothers milke a habite and custome to be true and hate lying dissembling and hypocrisie and that they imploy that time which is giuen vnto them to all matters of vertue and reforme them making them more aduised and capable to serue God the common wealth and their parents Diuers Emperours haue been greatly praised for erecting of common scholes the better to instruct youth to discerne truth from lying And those Princes which gaue stipends to scholemasters were accounted to haue don more good to the common wealth then they which ordained wages for Physitions because the former bettered the wit the other onely the bodie which is the lesser parte and of lesse account For this cause Alexander the Emperour Commenes and diuers other are recommended to famous memorie for prouiding for all things necessarie to scholemasters readers and poore scholers Great account was made of the speache of Leo the Emperour who wished that scholemasters might receiue the paye of men of armes Guichardin writeth that sundrie Popes gaue consent to the Venetians to gather money of the Clergie the better to encourage and find scholers in learning And there were in the olde time certain persons chosen out of the quarters wardes of good townes which they called Sophronistes who had a continuall charge and care to controll moderate and rule the manners of youth which being well instructed all things prosper more fortunately and euery one doth his duetie without neede of any more lawes For as Diogenes said and since Cicero Learning is the temperance of youth the comfort of old age standing for wealth in pouertie and seruing for an ornament to riches as more at large is discoursed of hereafter CHAP. XV. How requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken ECclesiasticus doeth counsell vs to vse but fewe words because manie multiply vanitie and a man of good vnderstanding speaking litle shalbe much honored Pithagoras willed all those he receiued into his schoole to tarrie fiue yeares before they spoke And it is euer seene that children which are long before they speake in the end do euer speak best as amōg manie it is written of Maximilian the first that they which cannot hold their peace doe neuer willingly giue eare to ought And by a good occasion one made answere to a prater It is great maruel that a man hauing feet can endure thy babling And those that haue beene long time past haue saide that men taught vs to speake but the Gods to hold our peace as also it is written in the Prouerbs that God hath the gouernement of the tongue and that a wise men doth euer hold his peace he that can countermaund his mouth keepeth his own soule Ioyned with all that by a light worde oftentimes great paine is endured whereas scilence doth not onely no-whit alter but is not at al subiect to accounte nor amendes For this cause one being asked why Lycurgus made so fewe lawes aunswered that such as vsed fewe words had no neede of many lawes and woulde accustome their youth to deedes and not to writing And the great K Francis made aunswere to one that asked pardon for one speaking euil of him if hee will learne to speake litle I wil learne to pardon much And Cicero in his booke of the Oratour writeth that Cato and Piso esteemed breefenes a great praise of eloquence so as thereby they make themselues to bee fully conceiued Among such as speake much I comprehende following the opinion of them of olde time such as speake either what is hurtfull or serueth to no ende or as Saint Paul calleth them thinges pleasing for the time which doe no whit edifie Plutarque setteth vs down certaine Geese and Plinie certaine Cranes which when they passe ouer Cicilie vppon the mount Taurus fill their becke full of flintes for feare of making any noyse least they shoulde serue for a praye to the Eagles that are there The like experience wee haue had of Quailes after haruest in France Aristotle sending Calistenes a kinsman and friend of his to Alexander counselled him to speake but little which he not obseruing it fared with him but badlye Simonides was wont to saye that hee repented himselfe oftentimes in speaking but neuer in holdinge his peace The which Valerius attributeth to Xenocrates folowing the rule which is in our lawe that those thinges hurte which are expressed but not such as are not And Apollonius saied that many words breede often times offence but that holding ones peace was the more sure Greatly was the breefenes of the Lacedemonians praysed in their letters as amongest other thinges of a Prince which put in his aunswere but this worde No and that which wee touched aboue of Archidamus to the Aeoliens disswading them from warre saying that quietnesse is good And K. Philip the faire aunswering a letter of Adolphe the Emperor gotten by the Englishmen in al his pacquet had but these two wordes too much
will be a witnesse thereof he sinneth the lesse so is there no doubt but manye tyrauntes haue refrayned the executing of a number of mischiefes they haue determined for feare of the spotte which a historie woulde staine them with As Democritus likewyse rehearseth how manye kinges of Aegipt haue heene brideled from committing of euill fearing a custome which the people had to oppose them selues to the pompes and magnificences that were wont to be celebrated at the obsequies of their good kinges Without histories we are neuer able to know the benefites which GOD hath bestowed vppon men nor the chastisementes with which he correcteth the wicked nor the beginning progresse and successe of all thinges nor the mischeefe which both the publique and particular weale suffer nor what doctrine is more auncient and to bee followed For this cause Cicero calleth it the light of trueth the witnesse of tymes the Mistresse of lyfe the Messenger of antiquitie and the life of memorye preseruinge from obliuion deedes worthye of memorye atchieued thorough longe processe of tymes And this same seede of vertues whiche Plato sayeth is in oure spirites lyfteth it selfe vppe thorough the emulation of them whiche haue beene suche as wee nowe are And wee doe gayne more by reading thereof in our youth then by whatsoeuer is either attributed to sence or experience of old men or to suche as haue beene in farre voyages It is written tht Charlemagne woulde euer haue a history read vnto him during his meales and that perceauing the small regarde the auncient Gaulois had of setting downe the monumentes of their auncestors in writing he caused certaine songes to bee made commaunding they shoulde teach their children to singe them by hart to the ende the remembraunce therof might endure from race to race and that by this meanes other might be stirred vp to doe well and to write the gestes of valiaunt men Which they say was likewise obserued by the Indians and Homer writeth the same of Achilles And the like is mencioned in the 78. psalme And Caesar in his Commentaries Lucane and Tacitus maketh mention of certaine philosophers that were french men called Bardes which song the praises of valiaunt men and the blame and reproch of lewde persons tyrauntes and base minded and Polibus sheweth that a historie doth teache and prepare the way to the affaires of Policie and to carrie well the chaunges of Fortune and to know what we are And if that which Plinie writeth be true that all that time which is not imployed to the study or exercise of good things is lost and that which Seneca hath written that they are all fooles that in this greate scarcetie of time which is bestowed of them learne but matters superfluous Wee ought much to lament that the desire which the common sort haue to histories is an occasiō that they giue themselues to fables and old wiues tales where is nought els but a vaine delight without anie profite where as in histories besides pleasure there is great learning to teach vs not to vndertake vppon the fiske and flying either any warre that is not necessary or any quarrels suites in law or other affaires of importaunce And we see how manie mischiefes losses and faultes ignoraunce hath beene the cause of But Prudence is greatly required especially in holy histories For there must we confrant the examples to the commaundementes of God because the very saints them selues haue had their faultes which we ought not to follow and the holye scripture is a good looking glasse which representeth as Saint Augustine saide thinges as they in deede are setting before vs vertues to follow them and vices and imperfections to shunne them and to praise the mercie and bountie of God in that he couereth them And as touching the prophane we must carry the like iudgement and therein consider the particularities the causes the conduct and Prudence which men haue vsed and the fortune and successe that hath proceeded from aboue It shall not here be amisse for the readers if I admonish them not to take for good monye not to account all that which prophane aucthours haue writen as articles of their faith nor indifferently to trust therevnto without examining them further I comprehend herein all such where they which can see clearely may discouer lies and vntruthes amidst good things and some beastes come from a pensell and not by nature Therefore we must apply thereto a good sife to sifte and seperate the one from the other And me thinketh what knowledge soeuer those bookes teach vs is verye small if one bee not acquainted with the vse and practise of the world and be likewise accompanied with a iudgement and quicknes of spirit And it was verye wisely written by Aristotle that in reading of histories a man muste not be of too quicke a beliefe nor too incredulous for feare he take not false for true or els profite no whit at all And what color or disguising so euer men set on to flatter great ones they which prie narrowly into their behauiours take their counsels and actions in time of peace and war are not deceaued and discerne toyes and cauillinges amidst deepe counsels and do discouer pretexts cloaking and occasions with the true causes neuer hauing their iudgement there by deceaued referring and examining all things to the rule of the holy scripture Besids we ought to esteme most of such histiographers which haue had least passions and partialitie and the best meanes to discouer the truth either beeing there them selues in personne or hauinge certaine intelligence from them that were present men of faith and sincere iudgement speaking without affection to the ende they set not out fables and lies as many of our time haue done and that which they steale from other is as a precious stone ill set in worke It were also requisite they should be conuersaunt and nourished in affaire of state and acquainted with the proceedinges of the worlde and not giue them selues so much to pleasure as to speake the truth not beeing inough not to write false but to declare the very truth without anye partialitie at all For if in anye one place a writer be founde a lier the rest of his historie is cleane reiected as Alexander the great was wont to saye It is also needefull to obserue what sundrye Italians Spaniardes Fleminges as Almames of an enuious malice and want of right iudgement haue euen enforced them selues to praise their countrie and couer their faultes and diminish the greatnesse and excellencie of matters done by the french men to the aduancement of whole christendome and profite of sundry nations And it is no straunge thing to see how much the passions and affections of men doe staine the truth which is the very eye of histories Polibus him selfe reherseth the exāples of sundrie historiographers before his time and discouer contrarieties betweene them selues and by
other greater authours then they are condemned of lying as we haue marked in the Spaniardes before which haue written the history of the new world and of the west Indies who couer and make lesse their owne excesse and incredible vilanies the greatest part of them beeing reuenged and punished thorough the iust iudgement of God The Englishmen haue somewhat runne awry in handling the affaires on this side the sea Paulus Iouius was wont to say that to doe fauour to such great personages as gaue him pensions he set thinges downe in such sort as they that liued in that time were well inough able to discouer them mary the posterity should hold them for true And in truth sundrye historiographers of all times thorough ignoraunce hatred couetousnes or ambition take a colour to warrant their lying and disguising vpon a beleefe they haue that few shall bee able to discerne their coseninges And for because thorough this error of discourse they name sundry wise and prudent which in deed haue beene most wicked and blame french men that haue bene vertuous of a good conscience and haue ended their liues honestlye and laudablye condemning them of fole hardines and vice men ought therin to carry a good sound and right iudgement Considering that such authours doe not alwaies measure the maners and actions of men according to the vnmooueable rule of the worde of God and morall philosophy nor distinguish the vitious by the intention or conscience but onely by the issue dexteritie and industrye or rather subtiltye of such as know how to applie each thing to the end which they pretend neuer regarding whether it be honest laudable and iuste or no. They do not in respect of the french men referre any of their actes at all to vertue if they be not led thereto by that which they account prudence but rather to rashnes as they doe in regarde of their owne nation imputing their owne actes of cowardnesse basenes of minde disceat dissembling treason crueltie disloyaltie infidelity and ambition to wisedome and prudence Neuerthelesse here we may well consider for what cause they haue made the like comparison of french men that Antigonus did of Pirrhus to a gamester whome the dise fauoured well but knew not how to serue him selfe of those chaunces that happened vnto him for that loke what he got by the effect he loste thorough hope coueting in such sort what he had not that he cleane forgot to assure himselfe of what he had gained because they are more ready to get then wise to keepe and that by feates of armes they make braue conquestes but they preserue them but a while not knowing that a countrye conquered by such as obserue not discipline is both vnprofitable and hurtfull Therefore they coniecture that valour and dexteritie in armes is a greate matter but that nobility not brought vp in learning nor in reading of histories hath not this wisedome to moderate it selfe and to prouide by suche meanes as they ought to take to bee able in peace to conserue what they haue conquered and suffer themselues to bee led by the coloured wordes of their enemies who after that the firste fire and french boyling is extinguished they know wel inough how to vse their occasion and serue their owne turnes with the ignoraunce of such as esteeme nought but armes without running ouer the courses held by their auncestors in keeping their conquestes and vsing of their victories as we haue but too manye examples which is the cause that Caesar writeth in his Commentaries that french men are more hardie and couragious then fine in warre which they make great account of ioynct that they giue them selues more to the hope which they take of conquering then they doe to anye feare of losing Euery man confesseth that men differ from beastes in reason if this good nature be not manured with the reading of histories good letters what other thing is it thē a pretious stone hid in a donghil We ought to account the saying of K. Theodoric true that what was begon with good aduise prudence preserued with care is of long lasting strong And if victories be not made sure with temperance prudence they dim through some vnloked for accident the glorye which was before gotten and in short time loseth the whole fruit through insolency carelesnes delicacies arrogancy violentnes of taking vp of lodging yet to be well entreated in capacity of a gouernor couetousnes confusiō to make no distinction betwene persons in giuing taking away or changing and somtime a cōmandement amisse conceaued an ordinance ill executed rashnes vanity of speach carrieth the victorye awaye cleane vnto such as before seemed already vanquished And a marueilous prudence is required to foresee an innumerable number of other accidentes in matters of warre and sometime to apply counsell to necessitye beeing no lesse the dutye of a valiaunt Captaine to shew him selfe wyse in his actions then couragious to the end hee approoue deliberation lesse difficile and daungerous and cleane reiecte all rashe counselles attendinge likewyse the oportunities of times and ripenesse of occasions not for all that presupposing for certayne those perilles that are vncertaine beeing more afrayde then he ought calling hope no lesse to his counsell then feare Cirus likewise in the ende of the seuenth booke of the Pedion of Xenophon thought it a matter more laudable to keepe then to get because often tymes in conquestes is nothinge but hardinesse but a bodie can not conserue what hee hath taken without temperaunce continence care and diligence besides valour And as it is a greater greefe to become poore then neuer to haue beene riche so is it to lose more bitter then neuer to haue gotten I doe not thinke that garrisons serue to so great an ende as if the conquerours shew them selues meeke and louers of good thinges and that no thing can succeede well to suche as abandon vertue and honestie Aristotle dedicatinge his Rhetorique to Alexander writeth vnto him that as the bodye is entertayned thorough a good disposition so is the witte by discipline and erudition which were the causes that not onelye hee had euer an addresse to doe well but also to conserue what he had gotten It is likewise requisite that we put the sayde reading in vse and practise thereby to becomme more vertuous wise and aduised and that we conferre thinges passed with the present and such as might ensue and to apply examples to the rule of veritye iustice and equitye And albeit that Sainct Augustine attributed much to histories yet doth he adde that hee can not see how all that which is written by the witte of man can bee in euerie point true consideringe that all men are lyers and that it commeth to passe often tymes that they which follow the reason of man in anye historie builde vppon the brutes of the vulgar sorte and are abused by the
when they followed any euill counsell albeit it succeeded wel the which was long time obserued in the kingdome of Persia For as Brutus wrote vnto Cicero a man once placed in great dignitie hath more to do to mainetaine the grace and reputation which he hath alreadie gotten then he which doth but beginne to get Euen as King Philip aunswered Arpalus who greatly did importunate him to reuerse a suite that a kinsman of his had in the law it were better that thy Cosen in the estate which he is in be defamed through his owne outragiousnesse then that I who am a King commaunding ouer so great a countrey should giue cause to my subiects to speake euill of me for hauing done so great iniustice eyther in fauour of him or thee As also the great Kinge Artaxerxes gaue a great summe of money to a gentleman of his chamber in steede of a suyte he besought at his handes which well hee mought not graunt saying that for giuing that he should not be the lesse rich but if he had yeelded to what he vniustly craued hee should haue beene lesse esteemed and not haue performed the dutie of a good King which aboue all thinges ought to haue in price iustice and equitie For as Pliny declared vnto Traian his Master The life of a Prince is a censure that is to saye the rule the square the frame and forme of an honeste life according to which their subiectes frame the manner of their life and order their families and rather from the life of Princes doe subiectes take their paterne and examples then from their lawes This was it which moued Isocrates to write vnto Nicocles it serueth to proue that thou hast wel gouerned if thou see thy subiectes become more modest and riche vnder thy Empire For the subiectes followe the example of their Princes as certaine flowers turne according to the Sunne And Theodoric the K. of the Goths wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that the course of nature would fayle before the people would bee other then their Prince And Claudian was of opinion that the edictes and lawes were not so well able to amende and temper the maners and hearts of the people as did the good life of their gouerners And in Hosea it is written that there shalbe like people like Priest Xenophon in the eight of his Pedion writeth that subiectes are as it were enforced to doe well when they see their Princes temperate not giuen to vniustice and for the most parte fashion themselues according to their moulde For this cause great personages haue the more neede to haue good counsellours about them whose vnderstanding mouthes eyes and eares maye serue them to make them better able to acquite themselues of their charge as Aristotle saith And it were to be wished that they were not corrupt but wel remember what Plinie the yonger wrote vnto Traian that a Prince ought onely to wil that which he may Quintus Cursius writeth that a Prince rather ought to imploy his time and to spende in getting and maintaining a wise counseler about him then in conquests Anthonie the Emperour onely amended his manners by the report of those as he had sent about the citie to vnderstande what was saide of him And the Emperour Theodosius the second copyed out with his owne hande al the new testament and red euery day one Chapter and made his prayers and soung Psalmes togither with his wife and sisters And many haue commended the custome of diuers of our Kinges and especially saint Lewes who when they rose out of their bed kneeled downe thanking God that he had preserued them that night beseeching him to pardon them their sinnes for his mercies sake and to continue them in his holie custodie and fauour to the ende that without offending of him they might employ all the daye to his honour and acquite themselues of the charge which he had bestowed on them And they caused a Chapter of the Bible or some other good booke to be red while they apparelled them selues the better to teache them to gouerne For to rule is as much to saye as to amende what is amisse or awrie And in Deutronomie it is commaunded the King to haue the booke of the lawe and to read therin al the dayes of his life as aboue wee haue noted was enioyned to Iosua And it is written in Iob that wee shoulde enquire of the former age and search of our fathers because of our ignorance And in the Prouerbes Where no Councell is the people fall but where manye Councellors are there is health And that health commeth from manie Councellors but good councel proceedeth from God And wee see by sundrie histories that such Emperours as haue contemned the Senate haue had a verie euil ende And that some of our Kinges though they were but of meane capacitie yet so guyded themselues thorough Counsell that they atchieued great matters And Thucidides called them bondmen slaues and of verie base mindes that were led by lewde Councell Edward King of Englande saide of King Charles the fifth surnamed the wise that hee feared more the learning and remembrances of that wise King then he did the puissant armies of his predecessour And K. Lewys the eleuenth sayde it was as much as to fish with a hook of golde to sende an armie beyonde the mountaines where the losse is assuredly greater then can be the profit Agamemnon said in Homer that hee had rather choose two like vnto his old counsellor Nestor then so manye Achilles or Aiax Darius King of the Persians and Medes made great account of Daniel Pericles had about him Anaxagoras Cato Anthenodorus Scipio hauing in charge and beeing appointed to goe looke and sounde out what iustice raigned through the worlde presently sent to fetch Panetius and oftentimes serued his turne through the councel of Lelius Iulius Caesar tooke aduise of Aristo Augustus of Mecenas Pompeye of Cratippus Nero al the fiue first yeres of his Empire wisely conducted him selfe through the counsell of Seneca Marcus Antonius had Apollodorus Demetrius Crates of whome he was wont to say that hee conned small thankes to his businesse and affaires which so much hindered him from sooner hauinge attained to knowledge Pyrrhus sayde likewise of Cineas his councellor that hee more esteemed his eloquence then the valour of all his Captaines Alexander the great had in high estimation Anaxarques and Aristotle to whome he confessed that hee owed no lesse vnto them then to his owne father hauing of the one receiued life but of the other to be able to liue well and that the best munition weapons and maintainance of warre that he had were the discourses hee had learned of Philosophie and the preceptes touching the assurance of fearing nought and the diligence in differring nothing that was to be done Cyrus vsed the counsell of Xenophon Craesus King of Lydia
goods melt away as snowe This is it which Salomon meaneth in the ende of his first chapter of Prouerbs that the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them I will not here forget what S. Chrisostome writeth of vppon the fift of the first to the Corinthians that a little gayne fraudulently gotten is often times the occasion of the losse of great wealth though well come by And in vaine do men locke their chestes with cheynes springes padlockes when they haue enclosed therein deceat a most violent theife which desperseth what euer it findeth within the coffer We read in histories and in Daniel the miserable ende of manye and among other of Nabuchodonosor and of Alexander the great who left nothing to their heyres but their wickednes We read likewise in the Prouerbes that the riches of the wicked auaile not in the day of wrath and that the breade of deceat is sweet to a man but afterwarde his mouth shal be filled with grauell And that the roberie of the wicked shal destroy them For iustice beeinge remoued euery state falleth to ruine and an inheritaunce hastely purchased shall not be blessed And God sayth by Ieremie that as the Partrich gathereth the young which she hath not brought foorth so he that getteth riches and not by right shal leaue them in the middest of his dayes and at his ende shalbe a foole And he pronounceth a cursse on his head that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnesse And in Tobie and some of the Psalmes a little is more worth with right then much heaped vp in iniquitye And it hath not without cause beene saide in auncient time that whatsoeuer vice buildeth it destroyeth Which beeing well considered it ought to stirre vp all maner of persons who wil not degenerate from the auncient nobilitie which hath taken foot and sure foundation vpon vertue to be true and kepe their promises what soeuer should chaunce to happen and not to seeke ought but by honest meanes For if you will exempt iustice and truth out of a gouernment it is then no more then a very robbing as Sainct Augustin affirmeth And for as much as the inconstancy of Princes and almost of al other kind of men is sufficiently apparant and sundry inconueniences haue ensewed where too much trust hath bin yeelded the wiser sort and best aduised haue stoode vppon their garde haue not been too light of beliefe and haue so prouided that men shall not easelie breake their faith with them or surprise them I thinke likewise that they haue heald a verye absurde opinion that commende crueltie in gouernours For he which delighteth in taxing can neuer be beloued or esteemed of I coulde answere them as king Alphonsus did that such men deserued to be gouerned by Lions Beares Dragons and such like beastes For as Salomon writeth the Kinges throne shal be established with mercie the which togeather with subiectes loue and iustice is the very chaine that holdeth togeather and maintaineth an estate and not force feare or great gardes as Dion declareth in Plutarque God beeing willing to make him knowne to Moyses calleth him selfe the Lord the Lord strong mercifull and gratious slow to anger and aboundaunt in goodnes and truth And the Grecians called the king of their Gods Melchins that is to say sweete as hony And the Athenians called him Memactis that is to say succourable And the holy scripture and sundrye Philosophers calleth him a Father a shepheard a refuge and protectour of his people For to murther and torment is the office of a Diuell of furie of a hangman not of a king or honest man And subiects ought otherwise to be accounted of then as slaues as Bartole in his treatise de regimine ciuitatis declareth it vpon the seuenth of Deutronomy where kinges are exhorted not to lift their harts vp aboue their brethren amonge which God had made choyce of them For the puissance of a father as Martian the Lawyer wrote l. s de paracid consisteth in pietie and mercy no whit at all in rigor It is written in the second of the kings how the cruell Senacherib after the angell had put to death 155000. of his men was himselfe slaine by his owne children And in the same booke he writeth of sundry kings and queenes abandoned of God pilled and murthered for their cruelty Like ende had Ptolome surnamed the lightning Ptolome Lamious that is to say the babler Cambises killed him selfe with his owne swoorde Xerxes was slaine by his vncle Seleucus Nicanor killed by Ptolome Kerapnos Antiochus Ierax surnamed the sacre because he liued vppon pillage was in like sort slaine as also was Seleucus surnamed the lightning because of his violence Antiochus the great pilling of the temple was slaine of his people as were Epiphanes and Eupator the histories are full of an infinite number of others which had like ende for their crueltye and couetousnes A man may see in an apology of Saint Ciprian against Demetrian the names of those which persecuted the church and how they haue beene punished holding it for a maxime that there was neuer no crueltye vsed against the Christian church that was not in shorte tyme after reuenged Aristotle exhorted Alexander to doe good to euery one and not to be cruell rather to be praised for his clemency then conquestes It is written of Theodosius that when he deliuered his swoord to his Constable he willed him to vse it only against malefactours and if he commaunded any thing cruell or vniust then hee should draw it againste him selfe As also the kinges of Aegipt would sweare their Iudges that they shoulde not obeye them in ought they demaunded of cruell vniust or against the lawes The like did Antiochus also write to the Cities vnder his obedience that they should obey and keepe such his commaundementes as oppressed none Antonius Pius held opinion of Scipio Africane that he rather chose to preserue one of his subiects then slay one thousand of his enemies Which I greatly wish all kinges would obserue Marecellinus termeth the vice of crueltye the boche of the soule proceedinge from the feeblenes and basenes of the hart And the sayd Antoninus sayd that nothing rendreth an Emperor more famous among al natiōs then clemency vpon this and graciousnes is the assurance of the publike weale founded as Valerius Publicola repeateth in Titus Liuius and Plutarque And Antigonus was wont to say that Clemency worketh more then violence One of the interpreters of the Bible councelled Ptolome to vse patience and longe sufferinge imitatinge the sweetnesse of God to the ende hee mought reigne well And Marrinus the Emperour wrote to the Senate what good is there in Nobilitye if a Princes hart be not replenished with bountye and sweetnesse toward his subiectes Plutarque mentioneth of the great captaine Pericles that when his friendes came to visite him in his sickenesse and had put him in minde
and lawes to runne in contempt And both the one and the other is to be founde fault with if it be not tempered Saul was reprehended of God because hee slewe not Amelec And the Prophet sayd to Achab that he should die because hee had pardoned Benadad the King of Siria who had deserued death as also because he caused Naboth to be murthered The holie scripture doth also teache vs that the wrath of God is appeased by the punishment of the wicked and that his vengeance extendeth ouer all people for their iniquitie and contrariewise his blessing doeth spreade it selfe vppon whome soeuer hee chasteneth The wicked shalbe afraide and kept backe but the righteous shal bee preserued from the contagion of them that worke iniquitie For this cause the booke of the lawe founde againe in the time of Iosias is called the booke of the alliance of the Lorde the which hee commaunded the Priestes to deliuer to the King Samuel followinge this rule put it into the handes of Saul and according vnto the tenure thereof Iosias yeelded himselfe the feodarie and vassal of the Lorde Likewise the lawe which was giuen in the Arke was called the couenant of the Lorde And Salomon saide vnto God Lord thou hast chosen mee to raigne ouer thy people and to iudge ouer thy sonnes and daughters For this cause our Kings were euer willing that none should regarde the pardones they yeelded if they were grounded vppon so yll a foundation As also Micheas the Prophet detesteth and curseth in the name of God all such as obey the wicked ordinances of Kinges who for this cause haue had especiall care and commaundement to administer iustice esteeming themselues rather armed with the sworde to chastise the wicked then to repulse their enimies and are the ministers of God for the peoples benefite as the Apostle sayeth And to this ende they establish good and learned Iudges in all places that are voyde of passions if they followe the lawes otherwise they shoulde bringe into the flocke the Wolfe which they ought to chase away and render themselues culpable of the death of those innocentes that such pardoned men shoulde kill and so grace should neuer be without crueltie CHAP. XXVI The definition of Lying THE Philosophers were neuer wont to content themselues in declaring the propertie of vertues except they opposed vnto them their contrarie vice to the ende that the lothsomnes thereof being wel regarded the other mought be found more agreable So haue we of purpose discoursed of the trueth before we com to shew the vice of lying the which we may define by a contrary significatiō vnto the truth whē one speaketh of things vncertain contrarie to that which one knoweth making thē seeme other then they are S. Augustin writeth to Cōsentius that it is a false significatiō of spech with a wil to deceiue And when one speaketh more or lesse then is in deede it is a member of iniustice turning topsie turuie all humane societie and the amitie due vnto our neighbour for since that speach is giuen vnto vs to make manifest what we thinke and to instruct his vnderstanding of whome wee speake It is a foule fault to abuse it and to behaue our selues in other sort towardes our neighbour then we willingly woulde he shoulde towardes vs for as much as hee which desireth and expecteth from vs the trueth is deceiued and led into an errour and hauing afterwardes in time discouered the lye he will no more beleeue vs and wee shal lose the meanes to be able to instruct for euer For lyars only gaine this that albeit they say and speake the trueth yet shal they neuer be beleeued And in the holy scripture idolatrie hipocrisie superstition false weights false measures and al cosinages are called lying to the end that by so disformed a name we should the rather eschewe them The lyar is detested of God and called double of heart and toung because he speaketh one thing and doeth an other And for verie good respect sundrie of the auncient doctors haue written that the trueth being depraued there are ingendred an infinite number of absurdities heresies scismes and contentions And Socrates was wont to saye that it proceeded from a good will to enforce it selfe to remoue the foolish opinions of men and that it was not possible for him to approue a lye nor to dissemble the trueth And Homer writeth of the great and valiant Captaine Achilles that he did more hate and abhorre lying then hell or death And it is written in the olde and newe testament that God doeth abhorre all lying and that the true are gratious in his sight yea that a theefe is better than a man that is accustomed to lye And lying is contrarie to nature ayded by reason and seruaunt or handmayd to the trueth It is writen in Leuiticus Yee shall not steale neither deale falsly neither lye one to another CHAP. XXVII The effectes of Lying PHilo in his first booke of the contemplatiue life setteth downe all kind of wickednes to proceede from lying as all good doth from the trueth And if wee wel consider the causes of the seditions troubles heresies and quarels which alter whole estates publike quiet and mans conuersation we shall finde all to proceede from the infected fountaine of lying And that Achab and the most part of the Kings of Israel the Emperours Nero Commodus Maximinus Iulius Valencius and sundrie other as well of olde time as of ours haue thereby beene ruyned Gehazi the seruant of Elisha was stroken with a leprosie Ananias Saphira fell downe dead Haman was hanged on the tree he had prepared for Mardocheus The hande of Ieroboam was dryed vp Craesus King of Lidia draue awaye Solon reiecting the trueth he had tolde him which for all that afterwardes saued his life and Dionisius the tyrant of Sicil not being able to make his profite of that which Plato had declared vnto him nor to wash away the stayne of tyrannie was constrained in his banishment to confesse that that which he had hearde of Plato made him the better able to carrie so great a change Thorough a lye Ioseph was cast in prison and S. Chrisostome sent into banishment and an infinite number of other holy and great personages haue beene maruelously afflicted and manie realmes and common wealthes haue euen had the verie beginning of their ruine from thence The saide Chrisostome in the 28. Homelie vppon Iohn sayeth that nothing is so vnfirme or vnconstant as lying for what ayde or piller so euer it can come by it weakeneth so as it causeth it to fall of it selfe CHAP. 28. The punishments of Lying IT is written in the Prouerbs He that speaketh lyes shal not escape and in the booke of wisedome The mouth that speaketh lies slayeth the soule and in Ecclesiasticus The condition of liars are vnhonest and their shame is euer with them
condemned but they which are consenting thereto and knowe him do not reueale him to the end that the holye name of God be not prophaned contrarie to the first table of commandements which forbiddeth vs to take it in vaine The which hath beene the cause that some diuines haue esteemed it a greater and more haynous sinne then murther forbidden by the second table the rather for that if proofes be wanting against the murtherer men haue recourse to his othe Salomon in his prayer that hee made at the dedication of the temple demaunded the punishment of such as should periure themselues The Aegyptians and Scithians put them to death the Indians cut off the toppes of their feete and handes for an example to shewe the offence they had committed against God and their neighbour Saint Lewys the King caused their lips to be feared with a hote yron in Zuiserland they fasten their tong with two nayles and in some Cantons they make them dye like felons or pul out their tongue And against them there are sundrie ordinances made by the Kings of France which we ought to obserue especially against blasphemers the which God in Leuiticus woulde should be stoned vnto death It is written in the Prouerbs The toung of the frowarde shalbe cut off And Iustinian the Emperour ordained by sundrie lawes that such should be executed And not without cause haue the diuines accounted blasphemie much more worthie of punishment then any other fault wickednesse which as Samuel sayth are chiefely committed against men whereas blasphemies are directly against the honour of God and in despite of him And by some decrees of the Court they haue beene condemned to a most greeuous fine and to haue their tongue perced thorough with a hot yron and after to be hanged and strangled It is worthy to be considered what Iohn Viet a Phisition in his historie of the deceites of diuels and sundry other writers haue testified of some that haue beene visibly carryed away by diuels in calling vpon them or giuing themselues vno them Pope Iohn the 12. was deposed and afterwardes put to death for hauing broken his othe made to Otho touching Berangare Iustinian the sonne of Constantine the fourth for hauing violated his faith giuen to the Bulgares and periured himselfe in assailing of the Sarazins was deposed from his imperiall crowne and banished I omit an infinite number of other who haue receiued like punishmentes for their periuries Pericles being required by a certaine friende of his to sooth a certain matter for his sake aunswered I am thy friende as farre as the aultar that is to say so farre as not to offende God To which that which is written of Hercules may be very well referred that he was so religious and vertuous that hee neuer swore in all his life but once and it was one of the first thinges that children were forbid as Fauorinus testified and the better to retayne and keepe them from this vice there is a very auntient ordinance at Rome that expressely forbiddeth them to sweare And the Prophetisse of Delphos made aunswere vnto the Lacedemonians that euery thing should prosper better and better if they forbad all othes Also it was in no case permitted to the Priestes of Iupiter to sweare for that often times an othe endeth in cursing and periurie And Stobeus writeth that for this cause the Phrigians did neuer sweare They which periure themselues as an auncient father sayth very well shewe suffycient testimony howe they despise God and feare men And if one thoroughly examined all estates and whereto euery offycer is bound to God to the king and to iustice by his othe hee should finde a maruelous number of periured Cicero in his oration which hee made for Balbus sayth that what oth soeuer he that is alreadie periured can take yet must one not beleeue him and in the end shall carrie his own paine For what shal remaine to God if he be spoyled of his truth making him a witnesse and approuer of fashood Therefore Iosua when he would haue had Achā to confesse the truth vnto him sayde My sonne I beseech thee giue glorie vnto the Lord God of Israel declaring that God is greatly dishonored if one periure him selfe by the like coniuration that the Pharises were wont to vse in the Gospell it appeareth that they commonly accustomed this kind of speech If we will then liue with quietnes of minde without destroying our selues we must eschewe all lying periurie folow our vocation obserue whatsoeuer we haue promised to God men CHAP. XXX That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth EVery man confesseth yea the very Pagan Philosophers that men were created for the seruice of God and that aboue all thinges they should make accoūt of religion which giueth the only meanes to vnite and reconcile man to God for his saluation Cicero and Lactantius in sundry places declare besides that we find written in the old new testament that onely by seruing of god men differ from brute beasts and the good frō wicked and that the aucthoritie of Philosophie consisteth in the searching out of the principall end soueraine good of man And since that godlinesse is the scope of the rest it is requisite that it be fixed vnmoueable yet ther is nothing wherin mē erre so much as in that which ought to be most knowen The cause of the error proceedeth as in sundry places S. Augustin writeth by the testimonie of the scriptures for that the most part measure the said seruice rather according vnto their own blind braine then by the rule giuē in the word of god according to our corrupt reason through the hereditary fal of our prime parēts who were not able to cōprehend as the Apostle saith the diuine heauēly things Frō thence hath proceeded the multitude of Gods when they haue thought that one was not able to suffice prouide for all so were sundry kind of seruices in shew inuēted which might plese the cōmō people the creature taken in place of the creator nothing in steed of infinit S. Basil in a proeme writing of the iudgements of God greatly lamenteth that the church was so seuered in diuisions And searching into the cause therof he remēbred that passage in the booke of Iudges where it is written that Euery man did that which was good in his owne eies Since then that no error is so dangerous as that which is cōmitted in religion for as much as our saluation quietnes and happines dependeth therō it is very requisite that we apply therto what sense or vnderstāding soeuer is within vs according to the opiniō of S. Augustin if it be a leude part to turne the waifaring mā out of his right waye then are such as teach false doctrine much more to bee
often times the ignorant and vnconstant do turne the scriptures to their owne ruyne as our Sauiour and S. Peter witnesse so is it very requisite that in the reading thereof men carry a sounde iudgement and certaine bookes to be forbidden to be reade of euery one and not to giue stronge meate vnto such as haue neede of milke and in this poynt is it very conuenient to followe the decree of the Councell of Trent in those places where it is receiued and the instruction of their Curate and Pastor Gregorie Nazianzene in his apologie maketh mention of the custome of the Hebrewes who neuer accustomed all ages to euery kinde of doctrine nor reuealed their secretes but to suche as were of a sounde iudgement The which S. Ierome marketh well in the beginning of Ezechiel and S. Ambrose vpon the 35. Psalme and S. Augustine li. de spir lit alleage for example the Cantickes which some for their owne pleasure haue very disorderly applyed I leaue to the iudgement of euery man whether we haue nowe lesse occasion then had the Prophetes to complaine of some pastors which they termed by the name of theeues wolues dumbe dogges seducers idoles couetous voluptuous hypocrits and by sundry other most detestable names The dreame or vision of S. Anthonie where hee imagined he sawe certaine swyne and moyles defiling the aultar is verified in this time Our dutie is to beseeche at Gods handes that it well please him to sende vs such as be good that they may search nought else then his glorie and nourish their flocke with good holsome food For from thence as Plinie doth witnesse commeth the good wooll that is to say good life S. Augustine commended the saying of Socrates that both God and man will be serued as he commaundeth The which he applyeth to the seruice of the trewe God who commaundeth that nothing be eyther added or diminished vnto his worde And sayth that for this cause the Romanes allowed the seruice of all gods hauing for that ende builded a Temple to all gods called Pantheon and yet would neuer receaue the trewe to wit the God of the Hebrewes Because if they had serued him otherwise then he commaunded they had not serued him at all but their owne fictions if they had done as he had ordeined then had they cleane reiected and set aside all other Gods For the principall seruice of God consisteth in obedience as Samuel sayde vnto Saul The Prophets called it a spirituall chastitie not to swarue therefrom nor to thinke that whatsoeuer wee finde good in our owne eyes pleaseth him And as Nahas the Ammonite woulde by no meanes receiue them of Iabes a citie in Iudea which he had beseaged to his mercie vntill he had put out their right eye And when the Philistins had subdued the children of Israell they disarmed them euen to their kniues So did that Apostata Emperour Iulian Dioclesian and other who studied in what they coulde to make the Christians continue in ignoraunce and blindnesse neuer enquiring of the will of GOD or order of the primatiue Churche and vnder a great payne made them to be disarmed of that worde which the scripture calleth the knife of the spirite Iosephus lib. 2. contra Apionem setteth downe the custome which the Iewes obserued euerie weeke in reading of the holie scripture so as eache man vnderstoode it and knewe it by heart The which Socrates lib. 5. cap. 22. sheweth was also obserued in Alexandria and it maye bee seene by that which is written of our Sauiour Luke 4. Actes 5. 1. Tim. 4 When in the time of Iosias 2. Kinges 21 the booke of the lawe after it had long lyne hydde was founde againe he made great estimation thereof and sayde vnto the Priestes Goe yee and enquire of the Lorde for me and for the people and for all Iudah concerning the wordes of this booke that is founde for great is the wrath of the Lorde that is kindled agaynst vs because our fathers haue not obeyed the wordes of this booke to doe according to all that which is written therein for vs. We must likewise imagine that such as haue taken vppon them to teach the way to that happinesse which all men couet to attayne vnto haue beene but counterfayte except they haue layde the foundation out of the holy and Canonicall scriptures and the lyes wherein their fathers liued ledde them into erroure according as Amos wrote We ought therefore often to praye vnto God with Dauid Salomon and Saint Paule that he will giue vs wisedome and vnderstandinge and open our eyes that we may followe that which may be most agreeable vnto him without deceiuing of our selues Saint Ierome in his Epistle to Laeta sayeth excellently well that reading ought to followe prayer and prayer reading A man might verye well impute the cause that so manie prouinces haue beene made subiecte vnto the tyrannie of the Turke so many disorders corruptions warres seditions maladies murthers and other calamities haue happened to the contempt of this worde according to which a man will not reforme his life nor his strange opinions nor supporte one an other knowing that this worde teacheth nought else then peace concord and amitie and that we may be wise as serpentes which to saue their heade laye open their bodie and with their tayle stop their eare against the enchanter So let vs spare nothing for the mayntenance of this doctrine so long a goe left vnto vs without dissolutenesse sectes or discentions for there is nothing so well established which discorde can not ransacke and as Saint Augustine sayth very well the knowledge of the trewe doctrine humilitie and patience entertayneth concorde And Quintius Capitolius in Titus Liuius sayth that partialitie poysoneth and infecteth common-wealthes making such as would gayne saye not to consider what is most expedient as we finde by experience in France and haue too many examples both at home and abroade The Emperour Maximilian the seconde had often in his mouth that it was a greenous sinne and errour to raygne ouer mens consciences as the lawes carryed it I can here affirme that if men did knowe the truth and the happinesse which followeth the knowledge of trewe religion the voluptuous man would there searche his pleasures the couetous his wealth the ambitious his glorye the onely meane which can fill their heart and satisfie their desire and it serueth vs for a guyde to leade vs vnto God whereas the false doeth cleane withholde vs from him CHAP. XXXI That those which deferre their amendment doe wrappe them selues in a daungerous lie WE haue alreadie shewed that if they which name themselues Christians would but follow their profession vice should not raigne so plentifully For who so would beleeue the promises of God and setle therein a full assurance and consider what a great blessing is prepared for such as feare him and what euerlasting punishment
the example of the pismire which prepareth her meate in sommer knowing that in winter she nether shall haue time nor leasure and likewise of the swallowe turtle and storke who obserue the time of their comming that they may not be preuented with colde which is so contrarie vnto their nature Our sauiour Iesus Christ in like sorte reprooueth the Scribes and Pharises for if men returne not vnto him and leaue their euill waye they haue occasion to feare his iustice For in the 13. of the Prophet Hosea he protesteth that the fault laye not in him that we are not saued and that none is the cause of our ruyne and destruction but our owne selues And we must not resemble them of whom it is sayde in the 24. of Saint Math. that they neuer beleeued they should be surprised or ouertaken For as S. Paul sayth in the first to the Thessalonians the daye of the Lorde shall come as a theefe in the night a fit houre to conuey ones selfe secretely into the house he doth meane to robbe and as the lightning which no sooner is perceiued then it vanisheth away We haue before greatly esteemed and commended Fabius Maximus for that by delay and temporising he cleane brake the furie of Hannibal but such wisedome preuaileth not with God in respect of whom nothing is more holsome then a readines to execute what he cōmaundeth which is not without very great reason and for the especiall good of such as obeye him In the first of Zephaniah God saith I will visite the men that are frosen in their dregges as much to say that they chose rather to lie wallowing in their fylth then to hasten the preuenting of the iudgement of God Let vs then cast away euery thing that presseth downe and the sinne which hangeth so fast on and let vs runne with patience the race which is set before vs and let vs so runne as we may carrie the price And let vs craue at Gods hande with the Psalmist that he will breake in sunder the corde which so fast tyeth vs and deliuer vs from all vayne desires slothfulnesse and delayes which are so daungerous Here I will craue of the reader if it please him to holde me excused in hauing beene so tedious in this discourse of so great weight and importance CHAP. XXXII That ignorance is a lye and the gappe of great inconuenience Plato in his second and seuenth booke of his common wealth writeth that ignorance is a spiritual lying which we ought to shunne And in Timeus he termeth it the sicknesse of the mind and the occasion of euil And in the tenth of his lawes He addeth that the soule receiuing and comprehending the diuine vnderstanding conducteth all thinges rightly and happily but if shee be once ioyned with ignorance shee worketh cleane contrarie and the vnderstanding is vnto the soule as the sight is vnto the bodie And in his discourse of the soueraigne good he saith that ignorance is a moste daungerous matter to fall into great personages which ought to serue as a light and example vnto the people And Pythagoras his counsell was that aboue all things wee should haue a care to keepe the bodie from diseases the soule from ignorance and the citie from sedition And Ecclesiasticus biddeth vs to be ashamed of the lies of our owne ignorance And Isaiah setteth it downe for the fountaine of al euils And as S. Ciril wrote there is no mischiefe which ignorance doeth not vndertake S. Augustine in his thirde booke of the citie of God was of the same opinion and placed it amidst the temporal paines of this life And from this lewd mother of ignorance haue two daughters issued to wit falshood and doubt This is the reason why Salomon sayeth in Ecclesiastes that the wise mans eyes are in his head but the foole walketh in darknesse For ignorance maketh one fearefull base minded vnconstant like vnto beastes and such as are dead and as Cleanthes was wont to saye suffereth it selfe to be deceiued and to deceiue besides it knoweth not how to vse that well which it possesseth It is rash taketh the false for the true the vncertaine for the certaine vice for vertue and as Menander saide it beleeueth not what it seeth For this cause k. Philip when he gaue his sonne Alexander to Aristotle to be instructed by him exhorted him in any wise to applye himselfe vnto Philosophie to the ende he should doe nothing whereof he mought repent Sundrie other haue likewise beene of opinion that knowledge was the true substance of felicitie and the efficient cause of wisedome profitable to all mankinde Salomon writeth that men are adorned and preserued by wisdome And from thence receiue infinite benefits and for the most part all great Captaines of auncient time were giuen to learning The Emperour Theodosius the second with his owne hande copied out all the newe testament and the Psalmes As Titus Vespasian did the whole hystorie of Iosephus and other al Homer It is written of Epaminondas who obtained so manie and great victories that he was instructed by the Phylosopher Licides and that through learning hee became much more valiant iust and modest The like hath beene reported of Iulius Caesar of Augustus of the Scipioes Fabius Catoes and that life without learning is but a verie death and as a man buryed while hee is yet liuinge For as a Philosopher sayed the vnderstandinge seeth heareth and liueth all the rest is blinde and deafe wanting reason And high dignities estates and riches doeth greatly blemish such as possesse them vnlesse trueth bee ioyned therewithall which causeth all to bee well vsed The Poets described one Tiphon an enimie to knowledge as a man puffed vp prowde and scattering all thinges by his ignorance for there is great difference betweene the iudgement contentment sight and feelinge of a learned man and of one that is ignorant As vppon a time that great painter ZeuZis not beeing able to satisfie himselfe in beholding the excellent workemanship of a Picture aunswered an ignorant man You woulde not demaunde of mee why I so much admyre it if you had my eyes which was the occasion that Plato saide that for to loue well vertue wisedome and the trueth Philosophicall eyes were required And it is written in Hosea that for lacke of knowledge the people were destroyed And Saint Paul exhorteth vs carefully to auoyde ignorance and diligently to search the knowledge of the will of God And the Prophet Ieremiah complaineth Shall they fall and not arise shall he turne away and not turne againe Wherefore is this people of Ierusalem turned backe by a perpetuall rebellion they gaue themselues to deceite and would not returne Pope Pius the seconde saide that his bookes were his treasor And a Philosopher beeing demaunded if the King of Persia were not most fortunate made aunswere I knowe not what vertue and
lying might bee met with which accompanieth the disabilitie of restoring The which likewise was the cause of the aunswere which Phocion made vnto them which demaunded of him to contribute where euerie man had verie franckly giuen Nay I should be much ashamed to giue vnto you and not to restore vnto him pointing vnto a creditor of his owne And Seneca writeth that often times he which lendeth money vnto his friend loseth both money and friend Aulus Gellius l. 7. c. 18. l. 16. c. 7. telleth of one which tearmed an othe a playster of them which borrowed And to the ende the Boetiens and sundry other mought be kept from borowing they tyed a coller of yron about such as payde not at their day and they stoode long time open to the reproche of such as passed by The father of Euripides was in like sort handled And Sueton writeth that Claudus was so serued before he was chosen Emperour And Hesiodus parents to auoid that shame were constrained to quitte their countrey That is worthie of marking which Pausanias writeth that the Athenians before they gaue charge to any Captaine either by sea or by lande acquited their debts otherwise no account was made of him And according to the disposition of the law one that is endebted ought not to take vppon him the office of an Embassador I haue seene this same lawe of the collar obserued in certain Cantons of Zuizerland to make men thereby the better to keepe their promise In Saxe they made them prisoners which did not acquite themselues The lawe of the twelue tables was farre more seuere for if one did not pay what he borowed they would giue vnto him a short peremptorie day in which time if he did not acquite himselfe they solde him or he was giuen to his creditour to serue him as his slaue if hee had many creditors they mought dismember him take euery one a peece Such a lawe notwithstanding was not long since in vse as Titus Liuius and Aulus Gellius haue written and was repealed at the request of the tribunes of the people afterwarde by Dioclesian Among the Indians likewise if the debtor did not discharge himselfe in his prefixed time they mought take from him either a hand or an eye and if he dyed indebted they would not suffer him to be buried vntil his children or friendes had answered it Wee read in the seconde booke of the Kinges the miracle which Eliseus did to pay the debte of a widowe from whom her creditor woulde haue taken away her two children to haue serued him for want of payment And it is written in the Prouerbs that the borower is seruant to the man that lendeth and so is it in the lawe 3. C. de Nouatio Titus Liuius and Plutarque in the liues of Coriolanus and Sertorius describeth the sedition which fell out at Rome which was abandoned of manie because the creditoures lead as slaues their debtors and detained them in most cruell bondage Aluare which wrote the historie of the Abissius setteth downe that debtors were deliuered as bondmen to their creditours and some others haue written that in the realme of Calicut vpon complaint made to the Bramains against the debtor they gaue the creditour an instrument wherewith hee mought make a circle in the earth and therein enclose his debtor commaunding him in the Kings name not to depart from thence vntil he were satisfied and so was he constrained either to pay or dye there for hunger At Athens there was a Iudge which had no other charge then to see debtes payde the Tribunes likewise at Rome had the like charge against the greater sort And by the ciuil lawe if a man called one his debtor which in deede was not he mought lawfully haue an action of the case against him so odious was that name As touching the inconueniences of suretiship Salomon setteth them down in the Prouerbes He shalbe sure vexed that is suretie for a stranger and he that hateth suertiship is sure Be not among them that are suretie for debtes if thou hast nothing to paye why causest thou that hee shoulde take thy bed from vnder thee And in Ecclesiasticus Suretiship hath destroied manie a riche man and remoued them as the waues of the sea For the condition of the suertie is sometime worse then his that borroweth because not making account to pay it he is prosecuted and put in execution and often times constrained to helpe himselfe by verie sinister means to his great disaduantage The which agreeth with the olde Prouerbe Be suertie and thy paine is at hande And according to the opinion of Bias he which loseth the credit of his worde loseth more then he which loseth his debte I doe not for all that meane by this that charitie shoulde therefore waxe colde nor that there shoulde be any let why both in worde and deede wee should assist and helpe the necessitie of our neighbour according vnto such meanes as God hath bestowed vpon vs. CHAP. XXXIIII Of lying ingratitude THE vnthankfull man hath euer beene accounted a more daungerous lyer then the debtor for as much as he is onely bounde by a naturall obligation to acknowledge the benefite which hee hath receiued and notwithstanding impudently dissembleth the same thinking it a sufficient excuse for that he can not be by lawe constrained therunto as the debtor shunneth him whom he ought to seeke breaking that conuersation humanitie which preserueth the societie of men He despiseth God his kinne and friends And through this impudencie he is euen driuen to al vilanie and mischiefe and maketh him selfe a slaue and ought to be grieuously chastised as Xenophon writeth And Plutarque interpreteth Pithagoras symbole of not receiuing of swalowes that a man ought to shunne vngratefull persons The which hath been an occasion that many haue refused great presents fearing that they shoulde not haue meanes to requite the same and thereby to auoid the suspition of ingratitude which hath alwayes beene condemned for a most manifest iniurie and vniustice and vnder the worde vngratefull haue all vices with a curse beene comprehended The Romanes likewise in the middle of their citie caused a temple to be builded and dedicated it to the Graces thereby to admonish euery man to loue peace detest ingratitude and to render to euery one according to Hesiodus rule a man famous among the Philosophers with encrease and greater measure whateuer we haue receiued imitating therein as Cicero sayeth the fertile landes well laboured and sowne which bringeth forth more then foure folde increase For this cause Xenophon among the praises which he gaue vnto Agesilaus reputeth it a parte of iniustice not onely not to acknowledge a good turne but also if more be not rendred then hath ben receiued And if we bee naturally inclined to do good to them of whome we conceiue good hope howe much
care is to bee taken for the hanging and adorning of the palace of the soule then of the outwarde And the same Philosopher did not muche out of the waye warne vs that wee shoulde take heede that the skirt of our garments shoulde not carrie a stinche of life CHAP. XXXVI Of backebyters mockers and euill speakers and why the Comedians stage players and Iugglers haue beene reiected WE haue heretofore shewed that our mouth ought to serue our neighbour as wel to preserue him in honor as in profit and for that our Lord God commaundeth that wee should neither deale falsly nor lye one to another He forbiddeth vs either to depraue or deceiue any for deprauing backbiting is an enimie vnto the trueth to the weale honour of our neighbor forbidden by God in the commandement of not bearing false witnes hath euer bin accounted as manslaughter stealing away of the renowne which we ought to esteeme according to the saying of the wise man aboue great riches Plato in his common wealth greatly praised the lawes of Lidia which punished backbiters as murtherers neither doe wee want sundrie examples which shew what mischiefe hath ensued through backbyting Wee haue one in Hester c. 3. of the mischiefe which Haman pursued against the Iewes which K. Ahashueroh of Doeg which through his backbiting was the cause of the death of 85. persons that did wear a lynen Ephod sundrie other myseries And Dauid did attribute vnto slanderers al the euil which Saul had wrought against him The backbiter is in degree neare vnto the flatterer hurteth three persons the absent of whom he speaketh the present which giueth eare vnto him himselfe And it is written in Ecclesiast that hatred enmitie reproch attendeth the backbiter And S. Paul writeth that railers shal not inherit the kingdome of God to the Ephesians Let al bitternes anger wrath crying euil speaking be put away from you with al malitiousnes Be ye courteous one to another tender harted forgiuing one another euen as God for Christes sake forgaue you Solon being demanded what was more cutting then a knife answered a slaunderous toung the which Dauid calleth a sharpe razor and hot burning coales The same writeth S. Iames in his Epistle more at large And as it is taken for a signe of health so is it a signe of a sound vnderstanding to be exempt from al words that may do harme And not without cause said Salomon that death life are in the power of the tongue more perish thereby then by the sword And addeth that he which keepeth his tongue keepeth his life S. Augustin sheweth that the truth hath written in our hearts this commandement Do vnto an other as thou wouldst be done vnto thy selfe And S. Ierom vppon Isaiah in like sort saith euen as wee woulde not that men shoulde speake euil of vs no more ought we to depraue our neighbour S. Paul willeth vs not so much as to eat or drink with the railers and so did S. Iames. Al kind of mockerie ought also to be shunned which is a reproch couered with some fault and which accustometh the mocker to raile lie moueth more then an iniurie when it proceedeth from a wil to outrage a malice without necessitie The which moued some to terme it an artificial iniurie Salomon writeth in his prouerbs that God doth abhorre al mockers the which Isaiah comprehendeth C. 38. 57. The lieutenant of K. Darius put to death one of his soldiars which had railed vpon Alexander saiing that the part of a soldiar was to fight not to raile Antigonus caused one to dye for the like cause and they of Alexandria were well chastised by Vespasian and diuers children were torne in peeces for mockinge of Elisha with wylde beares At the least wee ought to resemble the Phisitiōs which Hipocrates made to sweare that they shoulde not bewraye the secrete and hidden faultes and euils And Saint Gregorie in his Morals compareth the backebiter vnto him which bloweth the powder that flasheth into his owne eyes and hindereth his seeing For this cause ought wee to followe the councel giuen vnto vs by Saint Peter that laying aside all malitiousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and enuie and all euil speaking as newe borne babes wee desire the milke of the worde that wee may growe thereby And aboue all thinges followinge the councell of Demosthenes wee must take heede of speaking yll of the absent or giuing eare vnto the backebiters as Alexander Seuerus was wont to saye and doe And for as much as comedies are compounded of fixions fables and lyes they haue of diuers beene reiected As touchinge Playes they are full of filthie wordes which woulde not become verie lacqueys and courtisanes and haue sundrie inuentions which infect the spirite and replenish it with vnchaste whorishe cosening deceitfull wanton and mischeeuous passions Atheneus writinge of the inuention of a Comedie and tragedie sayeth that they haue euer been inuented in a time of vintage drunkennesse And for that besides all these inconueniences Comedians and stage players doe often times enuie and gnawe at the honor of another and to please the vulgar people set before them sundrie lies teach much dissolutenes and deceit by this meanes turning vpside downe all discipline and good manners many cities wel gouerned would neuer at any time intertaine thē And the citie of Marseilles hath beene maruelously praised in auncient time for that she alwaies reiected such kind of people And the Emperours Augustus Anthony Frederick the first and Henry the thirde caused them to be driuen out of their Empire And the Tribunes banished one Neuius out of Rome And S. Chrisostome in his 17 homilie vpon S. Matth. saith that there is no peril vppon the sea so dangerous as are the Theaters and places of Commedies playes and declareth at large what dissolutenes disorder factions mischiefes inconueniences haue ensued thereby The like doth Seneca declare in his first Epistle of the first booke Caelius Rodiginus in his 5. booke 7. Chapter And S. Augustine in his Citie of God commendeth Scipio for that he forbad the vse of any such pastimes as an enimie to al vertue honesty And saieth that the diuels vnder the similitude of false gods erected them The Lacedemonians also would neuer permit such playes acts for feare somewhat might be imprinted into the peoples brest cōtrary to the lawes truth For as the Apostle writeth Euil words corrupt good manners And this caused the good king S. Louis to banish them out of his court And S. Ierom towards the end of his first booke against Iouinian writeth that tragedies are ful of contempt of mariage good lawes And Seneca wisely wrote in his Epistles that it is verie daungerous
banished them their courtes as the very ruyne and plague of Princes and at Athenes they were put to death A wise Abbot wrote of Charles the 3. that aboue all things he tooke heede that flattering courtiers should not rauish from himself the fauour of his benefits as they are whō they terme sellers of smoke For besides the mischiefe which they worke they swarue with all change of fortune leaue men as lyce do a dead carkas or flyes an empty chychen And Iouinian the Emperour compared thē to the ebbe and flowing of the sea and said that they only adored the rich robes of Princes Agesilaus K. of the Lacedemonians was wont to say that they were far more dangerous then either theeues or murtherers And Isocrates since his time K. Alphonsus were wont to saye that of all mischeifes that were possible to happen to a Prince the greatest was when he gaue eare to flatterers counselled thē to shun thē like fire plague wolues The which the Prophet Hosea cōfirmeth and Salomon in his Prouerbes The Emperour Iulian being one day highly cōmended by his courtiers for that he was so good a Iusticer had reason to say that if those prayses had proceeded frō any mens mouthes who had durst cōdemne or mislike his actions whē they shuld be contrary therunto then had he had occasion to haue esteemed thereof Dion attributed the hatred which was conceiued against Iulius Caesar his very deth to flatterers And Q. Cursius sheweth that great segneuries kingdomes lie by that means more desolate then by wars Vopiscus setteth down flatterie as the principall cause that corrupteth Princes And Philip de Comines rendreth the reason thereof to be for that Princes do lightly ouerwin too much of thēselues of those whō they find agreeable vnto their humor One of Alexander his lieuetenantes on a time wrote vnto him that he had in his gouernmēt a boy of incōparable beautie that if it so liked him he wold send him vnto him He wrote back vnto him O accursed mischeuous caytife what hast thou euer knowen in me that thou shuldst thus dare to flatter me by such pleasures Likewise hauing on a time vnderstood that one with whō he ran a race had suffred him to win the wager by his swiftnes he grew maruelous angry contrary to Dionisius of Siracusa the elder who sent Philoxenes the Poet to the gallowes with such as were condēned to die because he wuld not flatter him nor yeeld vnto him in Poesie For as Aristotle declareth in the 1. booke of his Politiques Tyrants greatly take pleasure in being flattered fauour the wicked Some are of opinions that flatterers are far worse thē false witnesses or false coyners because they infect the vnderstāding And Antisthenes iudged thē more dangerous then rauens for that they do but deuoure the bodies of such as are dead And Plato in Menedemus calleth them inchanters sorcerers poysoners Theopompus Atheneus witnes that the Thessaliens cleane rased a citie of the Melians because it was named Flattery One demāded of Sigismonde how he could endure flatterers about him he answered that he knew not how he gaue eare vnto thē of his owne nature hating thē For albeit that they cleane ouerturne ruine kingdoms yet haue they cōmonly better entertainment then plaine dealing or vertue As Alexander saide that he loued better the idolatry of Ephestion thē the sincerity of Clitus And Seneca his book natural quaest writeth that flattery is of that nature that it euer pleaseth though it be reiected and in the end maketh it selfe to be receiued Thales other say Pittacus being demanded of all beasts which was the most cruell answered that among Princes the flatterer Phocion said to K. Antipater Thou canst not haue me both for thy friend and flatterer Atheneus sundry other aucthors do impute Alexander his faults changes his delicatenes drunkennes dissolutnes the murthers which he cōmitted to his flatterers he remained a time without buriall his conquests occupied by strangers after the massacre of such as were neerest vnto him The which ought to mooue vs to cast off that opinion which we holde of our selues so to consider of our imperfections faults intermingled amōg our actions that we suffer not our selues to be abused by flatterers as a man would say make litter of our selues for their pleasure For they transforme thēselues into all shapes as the Polepus Cameleon that they may please And it was not amisse sayd of him that the flatterers of Princes doe resemble those which infect and taint a cōmon spring which put out the eyes of the guide are the occasion of the subiects harme as the wiseman neere a Prine is the cause of the vniuersall wealefare Other haue sayd that there is no kinde of man more pestilent nor which sooner marred youth then the flatterer presenting an ineuitable baite of pleasure wherewith they are deceiued And if the sayde youth looke not well about them and hold a hard hand ouer their appetites it is quickly entrapped and they are among Princes like fowlers which take birdes in their snares by counterfeyting of their call CHAP. XXXIX That enuie is a miserable lye and of the meanes to remedy it FOr as much as all Christians are members of one selfe same body whereof Iesus Christe our sauiour is the head those giftes and graces which each one hath perticularly receyued at Gods handes are for the ornament pleasure and profitte of all as beautie and the agilitie of one of the members of the bodie is common to all the reste which are distinguished and separate each one hauing a particular office for their mutuall weale And in that the members doe so knit and ioyne themselues togither it is not accounted of their free accorde but as a satisfaction dewe by the lawe of nature So doeth neyther the foote nor the hande enuie one the other though the one be adorned with ringes the other be at rest but as Hipocrates Galien wrote there is a kinde of diuine consent and accorde betwixt all the members of the body And the very trewe badge to discerne a Christian by is mutuall loue the which Tertullian named the Sacrament of fayth and the treasure of a Christian name And as the holy scripture teacheth vs we are not to our selues but to God who most freely bestoweth all thinges vpon vs to the ende we should impart the same vnto our neighbour And we ought to esteeme whatsoeuer any man possesseth not to happen vnto him as by chaunce or fortune but thorough the distribution of him who is the soueraine mayster disposer and Lorde of all And as it is written in Malachie Haue we not all one father Hath not one God made vs VVhy doe wee transgresse euerie one agaynst his brother and
breake the couenaunt of our fathers And it was wisely set downe by an auncient father that vppon whatsoeuer wee possesse we ought to engraue this title It is the gift of God And S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that Loue enuieth not and if ye bite and deuour on an other take heede least yee be consumed one of an other Notwithstanding whosoeuer he be that is already possessed and replenished with this mischeuous vice of enuie he violateth the dispensation of God is himselfe mightily afflicted at the prosperity good of his neighbour whereas he ought to haue reioysed thereat as though hee had beene partaker thereof and euen as if hee were greeuouslie payned in the eyes he is alwayes offended not able to abide any clearenesse or light but gnaweth consumeth himselfe as the rust doth yron This moued Socrates to terme this vice the filth slime impostume of the soule and a perpetuall torment to him in whom it abideth a venum poyson or quicke siluer which consumeth the marow of the bones taking away all pleasure of the light of rest of meate And the wise man in his prouerbs writeth that enuie is the rotting of the bones and in Iob that it slaieth the idiote and in Ecclesiasticus that it shortneth the life and there is nothing worse then the enuious man And in the Pro. that he shalbe filled with pouerty through enuie man is made incōpatible And Plutarke writeth that it filleth the body with a wicked pernitious disposition and charmeth it selfe bewitching darkning the body the soule the vnderstanding For this cause Isocrates wrote to Enagoras that enuie was good for nothing but in that it tormēted thē which were possessed therwith which euil the enuious do no whit at al feele but contrariwise make it an argument of their vertue As Themistocles in his youth said that as then he had neuer done any thing worthy of memory in that there was no man whom he mought perceiue did any ways enuie him And Thucidides was of opinion that a wise man was euer content to be enuied This passion doth often engender enmitie mislike which is flatly forbidden of God except it be against sinne This was the very cause why the Philosophers did giue vs councell to praise our enemies when they did wel and not to be angry when any prosperitie befell them to the ende we mought thereby be the further off from enuiyng the good fortune of our friends And can there be any exercise in this worlde able to carie a more profitable habite to our soules then that which cleane taketh away this peruerse emulation of ielousie and this inclination to enuie a sister germaine to curiositie reioysing in the harme of an other And yet this is still tormented with an others good Both which passions proceede from a wicked roote and from a more sauage and cruell kinde of passion to wit malice And not without cause did Seneca stande in doubt whether enuie were a more detestable or deformed vice And Bion on a time seeing an enuious man sadde demanded of him whether any euill had betide him or good to an other Neither was enuie amisse described by a Poet imagined to be in a darke caue pale leane looking a squint abounding with gall her teeth blacke neuer reioysing but at an others harme still vnquiet and carefull and continually tormenting her selfe And the same Poetes haue written that the enuious were still tormented by Megera one of the Eumenides and furies Megarein likewise in Greeke is as much to saye as to enuie We ought then to consider that a great part of these thinges which we commonly enuie is attayned vnto by diligence prudence care vertuous actions to the end we should exercise sharpen our desire to honor seeke by al means to attaine to the like good without enuie Some report howe Agis K. of Lacedemon when it was tolde him that he was greatly enuyed by his competitors made aunswere They are doubly plagued for both their owne lewdnes doth greatly torment them and besides are greeued at that good which they see in me mine For enuie both maketh the body to be very ill disposed chaungeth the colour of the countenance therefore was it termed the wiche feuer hepticke of the spirite And as Aristotle Pliny wrote that in the mountaine of Care and in Mesopotamia there is a kind of scorpions and small serpents which neuer offende or harme strangers but yet do deadly sting the natural inhabitants of the place so enuie neuer doth exercise it selfe but vpon such as it most frequenteth and is most priuate with And most wisely was it saide of the auncient fathers that the enuious man is fedde with the most daintie meat for he doth continually gnawe on his owne heart and shorten his life and often times is the cause of great sedition and ruyne Hannibal often times complained that he was neuer vanquished by the people of Rome but by the enuie of the Senate of Carthage as also did that great Captaine Bellisare beeing thereby brought to extreme beggerye I doe not exempt hence their fault who when they haue attayned to any science or perticular knowledge that might be profitable and seruiceable to the common wealth will neuer impart the same to any but choose rather to die and let such a gift receiued from God bee buried with them defrauding their successours and posteritie thereof who shall in the end receiue dewe chastisement therefore the only cause of the losse of so many and excellent inuentions CHAP. XXXX How pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and how all passions leade cleane contrary to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meanes which contayneth vs therein DIuers haue set down two impediments as chiefe hinderers of the truth to wit despaire presumption And the wise Bion saide that pride kept men frō learning profit And Ecclesiasticus termeth it the beginning of sinne And Philo in his booke of the contemplatiue life sheweth that the spring of pride is lying as the truth is of humblenesse And Aristotle wrote in his morales that the proud boasting man doth faine things to be which indeed are not or maketh thē appeare greater then they are wheras the desebler contrariwise doth deny that which is or doth diminish it but the true mā telleth things as they are indeede holding a middle place between the presūptuous the desēbler as we haue before touched S. Augustine shewed how pride was the beginning of al mischeif vpō S. Mat. entreting of the words of our sauiour he maketh pride the mother of enuie saieth that if one be able to suppresse it the daughter shalbe in like sort And in the 56. Epistle which he worte to Dioscorides he sayth As Demosthenes the Greeke orator being demaunded what was the
Treasorer of Dionisius K. of Sicil was who bragging to Aristippus of the garnishing of his house furniture in al respects the said Philosopher not seeing where he might spit without marring cast his phlegme in the face of this Magnifico telling him that hee sawe nothing lesse filthie CHAP. XLII That Witches southsayers sorcerers vsurers are replenished with lying how a man may exempt himselfe frrm them SOuthsayers Wytches and Astrologers iudging without the compasse of the order of nature haue alwayes beene detested and condemned thorough the whole course of the holie Scripture in that they durst foretell of thinges to come except it were of that which they mought make coniecture of thorough the saide order by long experience and obseruations giuen from hande to hande followinge the ordinarie course of the heauen common rules and as God hath beene accustomed to doe at all times hauing all in his owne hande moderatinge and guyding the course of heauen and the issues of all enterprises as Pindarus wrote that a good husband ought to foresee a tempest many dayes before and sundrie Phylosophers by speculatiue astrologie haue foretolde the dearth and plentie of frutes as shoulde fall out that yeare following the sayde rules and signes which haue beene accustomed to precede and when experience aunswereth to the cause For otherwise they are not able to foretell ought without lying ayding themselues with Arte long experience and reuelation of the diuel the father of lyes to whome they haue whollye abandoned themselues as S. Augustine sheweth in his booke of the citie of God Aulus Gellius writeth that if they foretell any thing that is good and deceiue thee thou shalt attende them but in vaine If they threaten thee mischiefe and lye thou art also miserable fearing in vaine If they aunswere thee according as thou fearest thou art vnfortunate before it happen And if they promise thee happie successe the attending of that hope will so trouble thee holding thee still in suspence that that verie hope will take away the flower and fruite of thy ioye And this proceeding which dependeth of the variable sences of many which obserue it is both harde and false And that iudiciall science is but vaine as Ptolome sheweth it in his Quadripartite adding verie wisely that the opinions of Astrologians are not the decrees of soueraigne Iudges And many yeares passe ouer before one selfe same constellation of heauenly bodyes do againe appeare And the most part of the accidents of this worlde being vnfortunate the knowledge thereof would breede great inconueniences and trauaile Tacitus had reason to write that whatsoeuer dependeth of destenie or the diuine ordināce cannot be auoided albeit it be foretold The which opinion Plutarque is likewise of in the life of Hannibal A man hath enough to doe to digest things present without busying himselfe with future and wee read of great inconueniences that haue ensued too much trust giuen to Prognostications to which some haue attributed the reuolt of Francis Marquisse of Salusses both harmfull to him and all France And to such prognosticators swallowed vp in the gulfe of lying the fable of Icarus is applyed who fell from heauen into the sea because in flying to high his waxen wings were melted Porphiry who greatly esteemed of oracles was yet constrained to confesse that diuels or gods foretold of naturall things by the order of naturall causes which they obserued of things which depended of our will by coniectures taken of our actions but as they are more suddaine then wee and of a more sharpe eyesight so do they preuent goe before vs in such sort that as naturall things are false and humane accidents moueable and vncertaine so are they subiect to lye that is to saye that they cannot foretell any things of vs but what they learne out of our own actions nor of naturall thinges but what they read in the course of nature for neither Angels nor diuels can read in starres that which is not nor in men that which they know not as did the Prophets inspired of God who seeme to haue touched as in a historie whatsoeuer happened more then one hundred yeares after The which causeth vs to admire the mightines and trueth of God creator of the whole worlde Besides what neede wee be so curious to vnderstande what shoulde happen vnto vs when wee can by no meanes auoide it Doeth it not double ones miserie as Demonax sayd Aristotle likewise in the fourth of his Ethicques findeth fault that their cosinages and lyings went vnpunished And the Romanes made sundrie ordinances to banish them Italy as Tacitus writeth yea the lawyer Vlpian sayeth that the cunning man which shall tell any thing of one that stole ought which was lost shall not be quit for an action of the case but shalbe grieuously punished The Greekes also terme a wiche Mantin which approcheth the French word Menteur As touching prophesies which haue bin made through the inspiration of God concerning alterations of kingdōs wee haue alwaies founde them proue true wheras the answers of the Pagans oracles were euer vncertaine obscure as Eusebius declareth Wherefore following the commandement of God the ordinance of France especially the iij estates assembled at Blois the 36. Article sundrie councels which haue excommunicated witches sorcerers we ought to abandon such as lyars and pernitious abusers who are not able to iudge of spirites the houre of death and mariages And it is impietie to be too inquisitiue therein God himself in Leuiticus adiudgeth them to dye and as Eusebius recyteth in his Ecclesiasticall historie the Emperours Augustus Tiberius Galerius and Maximinus caused them all either to be banished or put to death as also they did those priestes which stirred vp to crueltie And Samuel sayde that Rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft And in the second of the Kings Iosiah tooke away them that had familar spirites and the southsayers And in the first of the Chronicles it was imputed vnto Saul for a great transgression which he had committed against the Lord in that he sought asked councel of a familiar spirit And it is written in Ieremy that a sword is vpon the southsayers Other translate it lyars And Isaiah blamed them saith that God wil destroy the tokens of the southsayers turne them into furie commandeth only to take councel of himselfe his word bicause that if we refer not our selues thither the morning wil no more shine vnto vs. Eneas Siluius maketh mention of a vertuous Prince who was verie bountiful to learned men being demanded why he was not so to Astrologers saide that the starres gouerned fooles that wise men commanded them that it apertained only to ignorant Princes to honor Astrologers witches southsayers Scipio as soone as he ariued in his camp did fourthwith banish al sorts of witches tellers
of fortunes Lycurgus did the like And if we mark it wel we shal find that they cast sow in the aire as it were in a sea without any iudgement and at the aduenture of ambiguous words tending to al sorts of accidents passions chance of a hundred perhaps one falleth out right which was neuer foreseene or thought by them for the most part wee see the contrarie happen of that which is prognosticated Cicero for this cause writeth that Plato was wont to saye that hee marueiled when such people met togither how they could abstain frō laughter seing the cosening tricks which they playd And God by Ieremie commanded vs not to be afraid for the signes of heauen from whence these abusers say they take their foundation And Homer bringing in the gods deliberating of things to come declared thereby how it passeth mans capacitie as Isocrates writeth yea Daniel in the end of his prophesie saieth that he vnderstoode not the wordes of the Angel speaking of the end of the world The which maketh mee greatly to condemne such as haue writen therof especially Leouitius who setteth it down to be in the yere 1583 yet he forgeth an Ephemerides of nigh hand 30. yeares after that yeare Astrologers likewise foretolde of the yeare 1524 that such an other coniunction should meet as was at the time of the floud and that al the face of the earth shoulde be couered with water and there was neuer seene a more fayre and dry yeare then that was as Viues writeth In short that kind of people haue skill of any thing but to tell true For sorcerers the lawes of the 12. Tables and sundrye other haue condemned them to death as worse then murtherers most wicked and abhominable enemies both vnto nature and mankinde The title of the Code de maleficiis and the lawe neminem containeth this cursse that the cruell pestilence eate them out and consume them And God condemneth them in Exod. c. 2. Leuit 20. 21. Deu. 18. Isaiah 3. Iere. 19.17 50. For such sorceries Iehu made queene Iezabel to bee eaten with dogs It is verye requisite that Iudges take great paines and be very seuere herein because they growe so common and God threatneth that hee will roote out the people which shall leaue them vnpunished S. Augustine also greatlye detesteth them And the reason why the Cananites were rooted out is expressed in Deut. to wit for the abhominable sorceries which they vsed And Plato in his lawes condemned them to die for they renounce God all his religiō they blaspheme him they do homage to the Diuell they vow their children vnto him they promise to drawe vnto him whatsoeuer they are able they poyson men beastes and fruites they are incestuous and worke much mischiefe And as touching vsurers Plutarque in his booke which he made to which I referre the Reader is of opinion that no kinde of people of the worlde are so notorious lyars nor which vse more to falsefie their faith in all their practises they haue beene condemned both by the law of God and man and excommunicated by a counsell holden in Spaine And the Persians alwayes reputed loane to vsury to be deceat lying and wickednesse Appian in his first booke of the ciuill warres wrote that by an auncient law at Rome vsurye was forbidden vpon great paines and we see in Titus Liuius and in Tacitus the great searches and punishmentes that ensewed therefore And in the time of kinge Philip Augustus of S Lewys of kinge Iohn and Charles the sixt the Iewes and Italiens which held banques and exercised vsurye thorough out Fraunce were driuen out and rifled because they marred the houses and families that adioyned neare vnto them The ancient Cato held them as lyars murtherers theifes and a continuall fire which euer encreased thorough the losse and ruine of such as fell there in And so they which haue to do with vsurers are by little and little consumed and gnawne a sunder And as he which is stong with the aspe dieth sleeping so sweetly doth he consume him selfe which hath borrowed vpon vsury And Michah writeth that they deuour the fleshe of the people flea their skin and gnaw their bones Moreouer the worde vsury in the hebrew tongue is as much to say as biting And mony is brought forth before it be begot The which caused some to terme loan to vsury the great chastiser of fooles for their incontinencie And vsury was euer accounted the daughter of couetousnes and ambition which leadeth to all euill Wherefore according to the lesson of the wise man eache one ought to beware that he fall not into so great a mischiefe but it is requisite rather to be content with a little to shun thinges superfluous to vse parsimony and sparing thinking that if one bee not able to liue with a little he will lesseliue with nothing And as in sundry places debtors were priuiliged among other in Dianas temple at Ephesus so was the temple of sparing and well ordered expense into which vsurers mought not enter open vnto the wise and yeeldeth to them a ioyful rest And for because such as intermeddle with selling againe do it without anye art or trauile and with lying they haue beene in like sort blamed as well by Aristotle as by Cicero CHAP. 43. Of the punishments that hath be fallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth IF what we haue before set downe touching forged accusations doe not so sone discouer it selfe if choler false reports opinions do so far insinuate them selues as truth can take no place nor iustifications be heard yet will God the protector of innocency set to his helping hande and discouer the truth as the holy scriptures affirme And Theophrastus said that surmises woulde die by litle and litle but truth was the daughter of time Among an infinit number of exāples I will content my selfe with a few the most notable Leo the emperor condēned Michael to die the execution was differred but vntil Christmas was ended in which time he died soddainly the same Michael was not onle deliuered from prison but chosen Emperor of Constantinople Mathias the son of that great captaine Hunniades was charged of ill behauing him self towards Ladislaus K. of Boheme Hungary as he was ready to be condēned his eldest brother hauing bene before executed throgh enuy false information the said Ladislaus mindinge to marrye Margrite daughter to Charles the 7. died soddenly and the said Mathias attending but the hangman of Prag was chosen K. of Hungary As also one Castrutio retired frō an obscure prison was chosen gouernor of Lucques by the death of the tirant Vgutio And one Iacques de lusignan prisoner at Genes was chosen K. of Cipres Theodoric K. of the Ghots in his rage through a forged accusation executed Boetius
is murmuring to whome are wounds without cause and to whome is the rednes of eyes Euen to them that tarrie long at wine to them that go seeke mixt wine And S Paul exhorteth vs to walke honestly as in the day not in gluttonie drunkennes neither in chambering wantonnes nor in strife enuying because ther is euer great dissolutenes riotousnes losenes in al such excesse The gluttō the drunkard shal be poore saith Salomon especially forbiddeth it to Princes as both Eccl. Isaiah doe And it was not amisse saide that wine hath drowned more then the sea Plutarque in the life of Cleomenes writeth that Ptolome Philopater so named in mockerie saith Zonarus because hee put to death both his father and mother was destroyed through Wine and Weomen and dyed like a beast Another Ptolome was tearmed the bellie man because of his gluttonie Callicratidas being sent to Cyrus after that he had remained certaine dayes not had any audience by reason the King was retired occupied in continual banquets feastings it was thought meete he should returne without doing any thing saying that as there was great reason they shoulde haue consideration of their weale so ought they to commit nothing vnworthie of Sparta Caesar writeth in his commentaries that the Almanes would not suffer any wine to be brought Men in olde time set downe three most necessarie pointes to continue health to eat without being ful to labour without sparing ones self and to preserue his seede There hath beene also certaine Priestes which woulde neuer vse salt with their meate because it sharpened appetit and prouoked to eate drinke more fearing to be fat and least that diuine part which was in them shoulde be pressed downe and kept vnder by the mortall And thereunto that the extremitie in good point according to the opinion of Physitions is verie dangerous the excellencie of too much welfare enclineth towarde the opposite Iosephus describing the manner of liuing of three sortes of Philosophers or sects in Iudea especially of the Esseniens highly commended them because they loued trueth neuer did eat or drink ought whereby nature mought be offended by reason of their great sobrietie they liued long in health some vnto a hundred yeares And truely it is a great meane to liue happily when a mans bodie is wel disposed and in good temper not drowned with wine nor grieued with meates readie to be imployed in any actiō he desireth The which also moued Plato to call intemperancie a roote proper to euery disease And Gorgias being demanded how he attained to so great yeres of a hundred eight aunswered in neuer hauing eaten or done any thing through pleasure The old prouerb saith much meate much maladie And verie wisely was Socrates wont to say that such as were accustomed to frugalitie continencie enioy great pleasure delight aswel for the quiet of their conscience as good disposition of their body And for as much as in ancient time fish was accounted a more deintie exquisite kind of meat then flesh they which often fed theron were called by an infamous name Opsophagi gluttons wantons This is the reason why in Titus Liuius barrennesse is preferred before frutefulnes because that men in a fat soyle are often times cowards lubberly fellowes in a hungrie they are more industrious sober and painfull as experience teacheth vs. And whensoeuer wee haue a mynde to eate let vs consider that we haue to banquit both the soule and body togeather following the aduise of Epictetus After that Alexander had vanquished Darius he caused a goodly pillar to be hewen downe and burst in peeces wherein was engrauen the order and quantitie of such meates as were euery daye set before the Kinges of Persia saying that it was not fitte for kings to learne to suppe so prodigally and sumptuously And Diodorus the Sicilian writeth that there were lawes set down to the kinges of Aegypt not onely to shewe what they ought vnto their subiectes but also to serue as a rule and dyet of their owne perticular And Zonarus after Xenophon in his Pedia writeth that all the youth of Persia at schooles and places where they learned and exercised were neuer nourished but with bread and water some time for better cheere sayth Cordamus they added a fewe Cresses And they neuer eate vntill they had done their ordinarie taske The which in his second booke he writeth was also enioyned to souldiars and in that countrey it was a very great dishonour for one to shewe himselfe subiect to naturall eiections which they neuer knew to doe but with abstinence moderatenesse and good diet thorough which togeather with their exercise they consumed and diuerted such superfluities and humors as proceeded from too great nourishment Socrates in Xenophon wisheth such as would liue in health to beware of meates which entised them to eate when they had no appetite and of drinkes which prouoked them to drinke when they had no thirst teaching vs onely to vse that which wee haue neede of in ioyning pleasure togeather with necessitie Iulius Caesar Augustus Titus Vespatian Traian Tacitus Alexander Seuerus and Charlemagne grew most famous for that they vsed so great sparing and their table talke was more accounted of then great fare And they made ordinances vpon expenses for the preseruation of health and sparing of the giftes of God It is written of Vespasian that once a moneth he would fast one whole daye And of Cato that for the most part he neuer eate but of breade and beefe and neuer dranke but water with which sometime he mingled a little vineger The like is sayde of Scipio Fabritius was founde by the Samnite Embassadors feeding of Turnups which he rosted between the cenders Massinissa King of the Numides neuer did eate but of rauell bread and very simple meate without sauce and that but once a day according to the auncient order Hannibal neuer vsed other ordinarie then the worst of his souldiers And Cicero alleadgeth the saying of Plato that it was verye strange to see one feede twise on one day And he which sayth that the life of a sober man and one that is content with litle resembleth him which maketh a voyage in the spring time by little iourneys through a pleasant fertill countrey cōpareth it very fitly and ought to withdrawe vs Frenchmen frō so great wantonnes for which the very Turkes haue founde fault with vs as Paulus Iouius writeth At Rome in old time wine was forbid vnto womē the which the inhabitants of Marseilles long time obserued We see likewise that vessels when they are more frayght then they are able to cary do sinke euen so fareth it with such as eate drinke too much As it is written in Eccl. Excesse of meates bringeth sickenes gluttony cōmeth into cholericke diseases By surfet many perisheth but he
that dieteth himselfe prolongeth his life And Socrates was wont to say that there is no differēce between a cholericke man a beast As also Xenophon declareth in his Pedia cōmending k. Cyrus for his sobriety for that he exercised vntill he sweat And in the 2. booke of the deeds sayings of Socrates he aduised a mā neuer to contract amity with any that is too much addicted to their belly to drinking eating sleeping drowsines couetousnes Who will haue pittie on the charmer that is stinged with the serpent As Eccl. writeth lesse pittie then ought ther to be had of him which suffreth himselfe to be throwen down hedlong through pleasure which is said to resēble the theeues of Aegypt called Philistes which euer made much of the people embrased such as they had a mind to strangle And Isocrates called her a traytor deceiuer hangmā cruel beast and tyrant God by his prophet Amos greatly threatned those that loue to liue delicately as also did our sauiour by the example of the wicked rich man And S. August vpon the 41. Psalme alledgeth the old saying that the incontinent mā calleth vpon death As also the prouerbe carieth of a short pleasure cōmeth a long displeasure And there lyeth poyson euer hiddē the hooke is couered with a baite And we must behold thē behind not before as Aristotle coūselleth vs. For plesures seeme very beautiful before as do the Sirenes sundry other monsters but behind they traine a long vgly serpents taile Whordome is also forbidden by god the immoderate vse of the act of venery ought to be shunned as altering drying marring the body weakning all the ioynts mēbers making the face blobbed yellow shortning life diminishing memory vnderstanding and the very heart as Hosea sayth S. Paul in the first to the Thessalonians writeth that the will of God is our sanctification and that we should abstaine from fornication that euerie one should knowe howe to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence In the first to the Corinthians he exhorteth vs to flye it because he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne bodie that is to say he doth iniurie it profaning and defileth the pouertie and holinesse thereof he sayth further that of the members of Christ we make them the members of an harlot and profane the temple of the holy Ghost and that being bought with great price we are not our owne but Gods and therefore should glorifie him in our bodie and spirite Publicke honestie lyeth there violate and as Cupid was made blinde so do they which are bewitched with this foolish loue stayne and abandone their owne honour wealth libertie and health For this cause Salomon compared the whoremonger to an oxe that goeth to the slaughter and to a foole to the stockes for correction and to a byrde that hasteneth to the snare not knowing that he is in daunger We reade what happened to Dina the Beniamites and Dauid And histories are full of examples of mischiefes which haue ensued thereon And he which committeth that sinne wrappeth and setteth an other as far in and sinneth not alone By Gods lawe adulterie was punished by death Gen. 20. Leu. 22. and according to the ciuill lawe Instit de pub iud Sicut lib. Iulia. de adult lib. in ius C. But to cast off so daungerous a vipor we must craue at Gods hand that he wil bestowe of vs a pure and chast hart that we may liue soberly auoide idlenesse all foule and filthy cōmunication be it by mouthe writing or picture Ezechiel attributeth the sinne of Sodom to fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenes Dauid prayed to God to turne his eyes from vanitie Psalm 119. and Iob said I made a couenant with my eyes why then should I thinke on a mayde And in Gen. 6. the children were blamed that kept not their eyes but looked on fayre women as also did Sichem Gen. 34. and Putifer his wife Gen. 39. and Ammon 2. Sam. 13. Notwithstanding as Isocrates sayde that a lesse labour and greefe is made not to be left through a greater so doe those pleasures which proceede from vertuous and honourable actions as from temperance continencie and other vertues cleane mortifie with their ioye and greatnesse such as come only from the body which engender nothing but gowtes sciaticas cholicques palsies greefes of the stomacke tremblinges leprosies panges vomits inflammations and other daungerous accidents And when we feele heauinesse and wearisomnesse in our members head akes or stitches in our side which for the most part proceed frō crudities lacke of digestion we must not perswad our selues to doe as before and as they say to cach heare from a beast but rest quietly and obserue good dyet and long before to foresee the storme that is at hande And when we goe to visite such as are sicke and vnderstand the cause of their diseases we ought to looke into our selues according to Plato his councell and see whether we commit not the like excesse to the ende we may take heede by an other bodies harme and to stande vppon our gardes and consider howe precious a thing health is And let vs thankefully receiue at Gods hande such instructions as by chastising of vs he sendeth by reason of our intemperancie to the end we may learne to preuent such as may happen vnto vs. And as king Antigonus sayd that sicknesse had warned him not to waxe proude so ought wee to learne to humble our selues and to liue better for that God sendeth that as a meanes as well to vs as other to awake vs and keepe vs within the boundes of our dewetie For vices are as the very proper inheritance of man which wee must seeke to correct taking awaye from goods a vehement couetousnesse and vnbridled greedinesse and from euils feare and sorrowe which come but from conceite the very cause of vnquietnesse and perturbation which putteth me in minde often times of the saying of an auncient father that as the body in health easely endureth both colde and heate and maketh his profit of all kinde of meates so doth the Christian which hath his soule well compounded moderate anger ioye and all other affections which offende both body and soule Hippocrates aboue all thinges recommendeth to a Phisitian that he should well aduise himselfe if in plagues and ordinary diseases he founde nothinge which was diuine that is to saye whether the hande of God were not the proper causes of the sickenesse of the partie diseased For truely he often times sendeth sickenesse for remedies and meanes to withdrawe those whome he loueth from eternall ruyne And to punish such excesse he armeth grashoppers noysome flies wormes frostes windes plagues warre dewes and vapors of the earth As before we declared those thinges which they call euils are as great helpes to
the good to do well and to profit in the exercise of vertue Pouertie to moderate their desires basenes to humble themselues sickenesse to liue patiently and more soberly and al kinds of griefes to make vs runne vnto God and reconcile our selues vnto him and to succour our neighbour in like distresse when God shall haue drawne vs out For I esteeme none good but such as followe trewe riches which are godlinesse and vertue and contrariwise the wicked are fastned to trewe euils that is vice and impietie That was the reason why in the councell of Latran it was enioyned that the sicke man should cal for his spirituall Phisitian Diognes was angrye with such as sacrificed to health and in the meane time liued in all pleasures and idlenesse and sayd that as in a house where much prouision and victuall is are many rats and cats so the body that is replenished with meates drawe sundry diseases vnto it And he called frugalitie the mother of health for which without great neede a man neede not vse laxatiue medicines because they are offensiue to the stomacke and often times breede more superfluities and excrements then they drawe out of the body Plato also in the 8. of his commonwealth councelleth vs not to prouoke sickenesse with phisicke except the disease be most dangerous and vehement It is written of the Emperour Aurelian and sundry other that they neuer called for phisitians or vsed phisicke as at this day most part of the Almanes Zuzers vse but they healed themselues throught good and spare dyet and some of them with a quart of strong wine and spyce And as Herodotus wrote the Babilonians neuer vsed phisicke but all sicke persons were brought into the market place to whom al such as had beene cured of the like disease taught their remedies And there was founde in the temple of Esculapius enregistred all such receites as had beene experimented for to serue in like case For otherwise phisicke consisted in the knowledge of sundry herbes and they were almost all instructed in anatomies and simples as Galen writeth And we see euen very many beastes and birdes to finde out herbes and remedies fit for themselues which they haue taught vnto men with the vse of letting of bloud and glisters Yet they haue alway thought that they are often deceiued when there is nothing but experience without iudgement and contemplation to apply remedies in time and place with other consideration of the age strength or debilitie of person condition maner of liuing the season of the yeare the cause beginning encrease growing and declyning of the disease Asclepiades set all phisicke at nought and counselled only sobrietie to rubbe ouer the whole bodie euery morning and to exercise And some haue compared such as take phisicke to those which driue out the burgesse out of the citie to place strangers there M. Cato feared least the Grecians would sende phisitions to Rome and therefore made some to be banished and driuen thence and expresly forbad his sonne in any wise to vse or deale with thē as appeareth in a letter he wrote vnto him They in like sort of the same professiō which since haue crept into Rome were meere strangers the Romaines themselues hauing beene aboue 600. yeares togither without Phisitians since they haue euen abhorred thē saying their irresolutiō hazardous aduise which was the very cause that they termed thē hangmen theeues and so the most part of the citizens endeuored only to be skilful in simples vsing no other drogues then what proceeded frō nature of their own growing Indeede they had certaine deputies which sent them panniers ful of simples out of the isles which appertained vnto thē as sundry haue written And were it not that I feare being too tedious I could alledge a great nūber of Kings Princes which haue bin very curious in knowing seeking out the property of herbes plants some haue writtē therof to the great profit of their posterity an immortall glory is remained vnto thē Galē himself writeth that sundry emperours haue gratly studied to attaine vnto the knowledg of simples to adorne that art amidst their busines in sundry places entertained arborysts and in their triumphes caused rare plants to be caried The tēple of Esculapius was in old time builded without the citie teaching vs therby how we ought to esloyne our selues frō Phisitians phisick which kind of people Plato could neuer like of except they were surgions meruelous wel experienced thinking it to be a great signe of intēperancy wher he foūd any of the other sort And in his dialogue Philosophus he esteemeth phisick to consist only in opinions vncertaine coniectures Nicocles called Phisitians happy men because the Sunne made manifest what good successe soeuer happened in their cures and the earth buried what fault soeuer they cōmitted And some say they are very angry men when they see their neighbours in health not to need them The said Plato and Cato were likewise wont to say that men in doing nothing learned to do ill And Eccl. coūselleth vs to exercise because Idlenes breedeth much euill slothfulnes pouerty which tēteth vs to do ill as Isocrates wrote And Xenophon exhorted Hierom to spend his time in honest exercises to make both his body and mind better disposed And the Athenians ordined a great punishment for idlenes For this cause Scipio was wont to say that he was neuer lesse in rest then whē he rested himself vnderstāding therby that when he was not busied in publick affaires his owne perticular his study sufficiently held him occupied that in solitarines he cōsulted with himself The wise mē of the Indies called Gymnosophistes so greatly detested idlenes that they caused euery mā to render a perticular account of what he had learned or did euery day We read in S. Ambrose in the 82. Epistle of his 10. booke in S. Ierom in sundry treaties and other ecclesiasticall aucthors that monasteries were first ordained for academies scholes of trauaile and exercise as well of the body as of the mind of learning vertue abstinence fasting patience all good exāple And the word of the Emperour Seuerus was Trauaillons And the Emperours Adrian Antonius Cyrus Sertorius and sundry other captains haue still kept their men of armes and souldiers yea their very horses in continuall exercise trauaile sobrietie And we reade in the Commentaries of Caesar that his souldiers had no other prouision then corne and a little vineger to mingle with their water and that some would neuer suffer any to bring thē wine imagining that that made men more nyce effeminate and lesse able to endure paine and trauaile and sheweth as also did Titus Liuius how they sought to cut off all occasions and meanes of delicatenesse and howe the souldiers were all the day long kept to trauaile in workes
whore for she had couered her face And God in Zephaniah threateneth that he will visit the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparel And it was forbidden to men to weare weomens garments to weomen to wear mens And an account must be rendred of euery idle word And as S. Paul alleaged of Menander euil wordes corrupt good manners The which moued sundry wel gouerned common wealths to forbid masques vpon great paines in England of death It had bin no ways impertinent to haue shewed how much Princes haue abused themselues rather in taking care giuing themselues to conquer cities countries make great buildings then to preserue wel gouerne what they haue alreadie gotten and to maintaine those houses which haue beene left vnto them verie commodious As Augustus the Emperour greatly wondered to see that Alexander did not esteeme it so great a matter and honour to gouerne wel an Empire alreadie conquered left as to conquer a greate countrye and preferre necessarie and profitable expenses before voluptuous According to the disposition of the law likewise the legacie or gifte that is appointed for to be employed about a newe buylding ought to be conuerted to the repairing and amending of the olde in the latter lawe D. de operibus publ l. decuriones de administr re ad ciu pert I mought also speake howe Idolatrie the gods of the Pagan first began and how they were left according vnto the prophesie of Ieremie that The gods which haue not made the heauens and the earth shall perish I coulde also blame the condition of hucksters sellers by retayl in that as Cicero writeth they gain nothing except they lye which was before confirmed by Ecclesiasticus I mought also amplifie howe deepely they lye which liue wickedly dishonor and periure themselues that they may leaue their heires riche which often times are such as loue them not The dissolutenesse which is too much spread throughout France woulde haue required a discourse vpon the law which was made to forbid Tauernes and playing at dyce and cardes considering the inconueniences which daily happen thereby and that in Turkie all playe is punished by infamie great penalties as Cuspinien writeth One might also shew how much they deceiue themselues which couet to come to extreme old age because that the long life is not the better but the more vertuous And as it is written in the book of wisdom the honorable age is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And many haue esteemed them most happy which haue changed this miserable life with an immortal before such time as the discōmodities wearisomnes of old age hath crept vpon them And besides the assured testimonie which we haue out of the holye scriptures Aristotle wrote that when Silenus was taken he saide the condition of dead men was better then of the liuing And Pliny after that he had in the beginning of his seuenth booke shewed at large the miseries of mē concluded that nature gaue nothing better then a short life Notwithstanding to the faithful no estate of liuing cōmeth amisse since they wholy refer themselues to the wil of God taketh euery thing in good part as a blessing proceedinge from his hand We mought also shew how pernitiously they lye which clippe washe and delaye coyne as the Poet Dante called Philip the fayre a falsefier of coyne because by reason of his affayres hee was constrayned to delaye his siluer And very wisely did the Emperour Tacitus forbid the mingling of mettalles in his coyne where there ought to be a correspondance and proportion betweene the gold and siluer or other metall in which now a dayes sundry pernitious faults are committed Consequently I could describe the vanitie of alquemie which hath empouerished those which haue vsed it and turned the golde which they haue put therto into smoke whereof we dayly see but too many examples the which gaue occasion to Domitian to cause all the bookes to be burned which he was able to finde out I could also set forth the fault which they commit who put too much trust in dreames according as Ecclesiasticus hath written that Dreames haue deceiued many and they haue fayled which haue put their trust therein And Lucian in the citie of sleepe which he describeth in which dreams do dwell saith that they are all cosenners and lyers It were also a very large matter to write of to shewe howe albeit that blinde men choose some one to leade them yet an infinite number of persons which haue their iudgement and wit blinded and goe groping at all their businesse wandering without knowing the way which they ought to holde doe not for all that seeke ether councell or guide and are meruelously polluted with the same fault which they finde in an other and in their owne ignoraunce become Censors ouer other mens manners It were not likewise vnprofitable to declare howe daungerous a matter superstition is the which is so fruitefull that of one error or lye it engendreth a great number and thorough a kinde of sleight simplicitie or false apparence it cleane chooketh the truth and is for this cause termed in the holy scripture whoredome and adulterie violating the promise which we haue before made vnto God We mought likewise extoll the saintes in all ages which haue taken paines to maintayne the truth agaynst lying and to make a register of all vertues and abuses which are committed I could likewise enlarge sundrye Chapters in shewing howe daungerously they doe lye who after so many examples and experiences ruynes defacinges desolations and mischiefes happened in Fraunce desire for all that that men woulde yet the fifth time cast themselues hedlong into a ciuill warre couering their passion with a cloake of religion which is setled in the vnderstanding the which can not be gayned but thorough a perswasion founded vpon the holy and canonicall scriptures and not by violence or constraynt as Saint Augustine in sundrie places and other auncient fathers haue maintayned And the warre which is not necessarily vndertaken is an enimie to religion iustice order reformation and good manners and as the Emperour Iustinian writeth it carrieth great greefe to euerie good man it is brutish dissolute and without all ho especiall the ciuil which is miserable and moste pernitious as well in regarde of the victorers as of the vanquished as Cicero affirmeth in sundry places and in his Philippiques he adiudgeth him which desireth it to be a most detestable citizen It were not also a matter much different from that which we now discourse of if I should set downe the opinion of Plinie which affirmeth that there are no lyes more dearely solde nor more daungerous then those of the
diuine race because God giueth particular graces to such as he setteth ouer others Horace likewise named Kings Diogenes that is to say the generatiō of Iupiter Diotrephes nourished by Iupiter Aristes of Iupiter which signifieth as Plato interpreteth the familiars disciple in politike sciences And Frederick is as much to say as the k. of peace And for as much as Artaxerxes Mnemon delighted in peace was affable and vertuous the rest of the Kings of Persia since his time haue beene called by his name And it is incredible howe so many should fall headlong into so great dishonors and misfortunes as we haue both seene and red of had the trueth beene laide open before them It is written that K. Lewys the eleuenth was wont to say that he found euery thing within his kingdome but only one which was trueth K. Lewys the twelueth permitted al commedians and stage players to speake freely and to reprehend such vices as were manifest to the ende they mought bee amended And saide that for his own part he knewe many things by them which he was not before witting of Dyonisius the tyrant of Sicille being retyred to Athens after he was depriued of his kingdome bewayled the estate of Princes but especially in that men neuer spoke freely vnto them and that the trueth was euer hidden and concealed from them The Emperours Gordian the younger and Dioclesian made the verie like complaint that euery thing was disguysed and coloured vnto them and that flatterers cast dust before their eyes making them beleeue the euill to be good That they were often times cosened and solde vnder hande that they put the sworde into the handes of furious magistrates and bestowed states honors vpon vnworthie couetous lewd persons That they were caused to turne the day into night and the night into day That they were altogither conuersant and brought vp in delicacies huntings and other pastimes whereby their mindes might be turned from remembring that charge which God had layde vppon them and all this were they brought to doe to the end that such flatterers as were about them might the better attaine to the depth of their deuises And that oftentimes they were but Emperours and Kings in name as if they had plaid their parte but vpon a stage or had beene commedians And that their counselors were the true actors and reped all the profit honor It is likewise written in the rest of Hester that they which deceitfully abuse the simplicitie and gentlenesse of Princes with lying tales make them selues partakers of innocent bloud and wrap them selues in calamities which can not be remedyed And flatterers haue beene compared to the Syrenes who thorough their singing entised all passengers vppon the sea that heard them to drawe neere vnto them Wee may verie well impute to such disguysinges the great expenses which the Emperoures Tiberius Nero Caligula Commodus Domitian Heliogabalus and sundrye others haue foolishlye spent vnder a colour of liberalitie and the better to maintaine their prodigalities put to death and impouerished many which prodigalitie we very well may terme a kinde of lying King Antiochus in hunting lost his way and was constrayned to retire to a poore Yeomans house of the countrey who not knowing tolde him all the faultes that he and his fauorites had committed to whom at his returne he declared that he neuer vnderstoode the trueth vntill that night and euer after he carryed himselfe most vertuously We reade of sundrie our kinges of France who haue done the like and of some Emperours who haue disguised themselues thereby the better to vnderstande what the people spake of them Platina writeth of Pope Eugenes howe he sent certaine rounde about the citie to espie what men most blamed eyther in him or his that it might be amended King Lewys the Grosse which builded S. Victors disguised himselfe often times the better to be informed of the truth And king Lewys the 12. as Charlemagne and Saint Lewys had doone before him tooke great pleasure to vnderstande the complaintes of his subiects applying thereto such remedie as their case required And for this cause hee obtayned the name of father of the people and his memorie is more famous to serue for an example to the posteritie then all the conquestes and victories of other kinges Sundrie of our kinges in the beginning were greatly blamed for that they suffered themselues to bee so muche gouerned by the principall of their court and some haue beene resembled to golden images that are guilded and shining without but within are full of rust cobwebbes and filthinesse For the crowne doth not take away the passions nor griefe of the spirites but rather doth it diminish the true pleasure As Ptolome seeing certaine fishers sporting themselues vpon the sea shore wished he were like one of them adding that monarchies are full of cares feares mistrustes and disguysed miseries Which also Charles the 4. and 5. Emperours were woont to say desyring to leade a priuate life Seleucus before that did the like adding that if hee shoulde cast his crowne into the high waye there would bee none founde that would take it vp knowing the charge and griefes that euer did accompany it And Pope Adrian sayde that he thought no estate so myserable nor so daungerous as his owne and that hee neuer enioyed a better or more pleasant time then when he was but a simple monke and Traian the Emperour wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that hauing nowe tasted the cares and paynes which the imperiall state led with it selfe he did a thousande times repent that euer he tooke it vpon him Homer fayneth all the gods to sleepe except Iupiter who was altogither exempt from sleepe Saint Chrisostome vpon the second to the Corinthians 15. homely sayd that to gouerne and cōmand wel was the greatest and most hard art of all as his fault is more daungerous which guideth the sterne then his which holdeth the owers It is written of Dioclesian that he was wont to say before his Empire that there was nothing so hard as to commaund well Yet many place therein their felicitie and acquit themselues with pleasure of the charge which God hath laide vpon them In my speech before I do not comprehend the wicked and tyrannicall Princes who as Tacitus writeth in the life of Tiberius are perpetually tormented and torne a sunder in their consciences yea and sundrie of them haue lamented the infamie they should endure which they saw very well men would doe vnto them after their death And alleadge the saying of Plato that if their soules could be discouered they should be seene full of stinching scarres and torne in peeces with a hidden yron that euer burneth them And as it is written in the booke of wisedome It is a feareful thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie and a conscience that is
touched doth euer forecast cruell thinges It is written of Nero and certaine other that they were of an opinion that the earth did open before them and sawe the shadowes of such as they had caused to die readie to torment them Guichardin writeth of Alphonsus K. of Naples that neither night nor day he could rest in his spirite thinking the very heauens elements had conspired against him that in sleeping the ghosts of such as he had put to death seemed to appeare vnto him in the day thought his subiects to rise to do vengeance vpon him which was the cause that he did not abide the cōming of the Frenchmen Plutarke sayth that the soules of Tyrantes are composed of arrogancy and crueltie and Demosthenes is of opinion that they be enemies to libertie lawes And Artemidorus describeth the visions and fearefull dreadfull dreames which haue affrighted the wicked The which ought to moue all Princes to feare God to subiect thēselues vnto the laws of nature euen as they desire the obedience of their owne subiects procuring their good vnitie and quiet reuenging their iniuries charging thē with as little as they may bestowing their gouernments vpon vertuous persons giuing good wages without selling of offyces as the Emperours Alexander Seuerus Pertinax sundry of our kings diuers other haue greatly recommended vnto vs. And Claudius the Emperour was wont greatly to thanke such as hee had prouided for offices for that they being men worthie and capable of them would accept them It were also a very great prayse if men would not so easily dispence with the holy ordinaunces and especially those that touch age and forbid two of one parentage to be of one chamber and bed as also it is reported in the Commentaries of Caesar that it was a matter straightly forbidden at Authun Such ordinances likewise as haue beene renewed through pollicie the garmentes banquetes and iustice would breede great quietnesse were they well obserued And if according to the disposition of the lawe for euery matter contayned in the Kinges letters which should not be founde trewe there were a good fine set according to the condition of those which so greatly abuse the fauors of the Prince And were it not that I feared to offend such as reape profit and commoditie by the seale I would desire that those restitutions remedies which the law doth giue might be accorded by the ordinary iudges without letters For as the Emperours and lawyers haue said what neede one trouble a Prine or be too importunate vpon him for that which the law of it selfe permitteth And al policie tendeth to a publicke profite as we haue heretofore noted It were likewise an ordinaunce verie laudable that all offyces were bestowed by an election made of three persons to the most capable of which the kinge should giue the estate that is voyde without anye money For the sale of offyces is an occasion of sundrie mischiefes as Aristotle declareth in his Politicques There are likewise a greate number which following the first ordynaunces are verye desyrous to see those sayde offyces and estates to bee once agayne reduced to their auncient number and what euer were superfluous to bee suppressed as neare as possible mought be for that the ouer greate number of Iudges and gouernours as Plato sayeth is an occasion of great disorder The Kinge in like sorte shoulde ease himselfe of manie importunities and great if he would cause a role to be made of such benefices offyces and charges as are vacant and within one moneth or a little after they be voyde to prouide good seruauntes and woorthie members to occupie the same And hee should deserue great prayse if he would cause his places vpon the frontiers to be well furnished and fortifyed and the high wayes to be amended and repayred as the sayd Emperour Traian did other Lords and commonwelthes And should greatly cōfort his subiectes if he would cause all superfluous ordinances to be reiected and which are no more in vse and leaue a little volume of such as are necessarie And for as muche as the offices of Mareschal chiefe and gouernour require a farre more great wisedome and experience the faults which they should commit being of so great importance they ought not to be bestowed vpon young men that are not experienced of whose vertue there is no further proofe then fauour but vpon well tryed Captaines and men of yeares As also hee ought to take the like order in the principall offyces of iudgement and among the generals of reuenewes of the iustice of Monyes procurers generall and Commissioners of warre And aboue all thinges Princes ought to measure their actions by the standard of their lawes to be gracious maintayners of godlinesse iustice and faith pitifull to the oppressed modest in prosperitie patient and constant in aduersitie courteous vnto the good and terrible vnto the wicked to flatterers tale caryers and coyners of newe inuentions cleane abolishing all occasion that might tende to moue sedition trouble and dissention matters leading men to vproares armes and partialities cleane dismembring the dew obedience we owe vnto our soueraigne Aristotle comprehendeth all the publicke vices vnder this worde inequalitie which seuereth the heartes of the people therefore it is requisite a geometricall equalitie be kept to meate with such miscontentmentes for if the entreatie which is made between diuers persons be temperate and well proportioned then peace ensueth thereon if it be dissolute and out of proportion warres commotions and dissentions arise thereupon And albeit there be no agreement betweene light and darkenesse nor betweene Christ and Belial as S. Paule writeth in 2. to the Corinthians and that euerie good man ought to desire a vnitie in religion yet doe I greatly commende their wisedome who seeing the vrgent necessitie that France hath of a long and quiet peace to the which the King hath nowe guided it as a shippe in mayne sea often times sore brused with stormes and tempestes are not of opinion it should be againe put to the mercie and iniurie of the waues and the rage of bloystering windes of partialities and diuisions which so long time haue tossed too and fro this state nor that the edictes should bee broken hauing so many times beene sworne vnto and published after hauing taken the aduise of the whole bodie of the Kinges priuie counsell and of the principall soueraygne courtes of the whole Realme as a man may saye besides an infinite number of reasons founded vpon that which the Emperours Constantine Licinius Nerua Gratian and sundrie other Emperours haue doone in respect of the necessitie of the time thereby to be the better able to establish peace and quietnesse so better preserue their owne estate I leaue the Turke which doth not at all enforce the consciences of the Christians yea and some religious persons in the holy mount aunciently called Athos