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 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
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
The Aegyptians ordained death it selfe for a punishment to periured persons and to such as declared not the verie trueth in their declaration which of necessitie eche one was to make yearely both touching his name and the meanes he had to nourish his familie The Scithians and Garamanthes followed the same lawe and there was he condemned that had prognosticated any false thinges to come The Persians and Indians depriued him of all honour and farther speache which lyed The Gimnosophistes Chaldeans barred them al companies dignities condemned to remaine in perpetual darknes without speaking And Nicephorus reciteth how the verie wormes did eat the toung of the cosener Nestorius in his life time Monstrelet writeth of Popiel k. of Pologne who had euer this word in his mouth If it be not true I would the Rattes might eat mee that he was so assailed by rattes in a banquet that neither his gards nor fire nor water could preserue him from them Other do assure vs that an Archbishop of Magence died of the like death K. Artexerxes made one of his souldiers toungs to be nailed with iij nailes that had made a lie The lawes of Solon imposed great pains vpon such for that cause did the Gabaonites lose their libertie The emperour Traian surnamed the good Prince took away frō the sonne of Cebalus the kingdom of Dace which we terme at this day Trāsiluania Valachia only because he caught him in a lye told him that Rome the mother of truth could not permit a lyar to possesse a kingdom Cirus in like sort told the k. of Armenia that is was most manifest a lye was not capable of pardō as Xenophon writeth in his 3. booke of his Pedia After that one had red vnto Alexander the great a historie out of Aristobulus wherin he had intermingled certaine counterfait praises he flong the booke into the riuer saying the said writer deserued to haue bin flung in himself because men ought to studie to serch out the truth without which nothing can be wel don that it was a shame great damage when a lye shold put good wordes out of credit And he found fault with another when he compared him to Hercules If he had in this sort remained al the rest of his life that prosperitie flatterie had not rendred himself more insolent he had bin worthy of much greater honor I could here verie wel alledge how in Almanie the lye hath bin alwayes extremely hated shunned as it were a plague bastardes could neuer obtain the prise of any ocupatiō whatsoeuer nor take degree in any art or science as also in the olde testament they were excluded both out of the church sanctuarie For they are euer in doubt which of the sundrie mignions that their mother entertained was their father For this cause Philo Alexandrin compareth those with Idolaters who through ignorance of their creator and his bountie cal vpon many declareth that a multitude as much to say as a pluralitie of gods is very athisme the grounde of lying banishing for euer from thence life euerlasting CHAP. XXIX That the periured and blasphemers are detestable lyers and the paines for them CIcero was of opinion that there was no difference betweene the lyar and the periured person and that God had ordained to eche like punishment and that he which was accustomed to lye did easily periure himselfe The which opinion sundry doctors of the church haue in like sort helde Others notwithstanding haue thought that they haue offended more deepely which abuse the name of God to confirme their lying the which sort of people deserued death by the lawes of Plato Aegypt as committers of sacriledge And the Prophet Ezechiel calleth it the prophaning of the name of God the spoyling him of his trueth He saieth also that he which despiseth his othe shall neuer escape And it is written in Ecclesiasticus that A man that vseth much swearing shalbe filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house Saint Chrisostom made sundrie homilies sermons to the end we should hate leaue all othes that there mought neuer be among men folowing the cōmandement of our sauiour but yea yea nay nay without blaspheming the name of God by swearing And he greatly marueiled to see vs so ready to obey the lawes ordinances of Princes albeit they be very hard vnreasonable that of Gods commandemēt so expressely giuen vnto vs not to sweare at al we make so litle account wherof also Plato greatly complaineth and that men couer themselues with a lewd custom which euery man ought to enforce himselfe vtterly to abolish The saide doctor in like sort writeth that it is vnpossible that he which much sweareth should not forsweare himselfe As wee reade of the othe rashly made by King Saul whereby he was constrained either to put to death his innocent sonne or to remaine periured And God reuenged vpon his race and people the great slaughter that he made of the Gabaonites contrarie to the othe sworne vnto them by his predecessours And the other tribes of Israel hauing sworne that they would not giue their daughters in marriage to that of Beniamin because they woulde not breake their othe chose rather to councell them to rauish their saide daughters And Titus Liuius sheweth that the Petelins in Calabria the Sagontines in Spaine chose rather to dye a most miserable death then to breake the faith they had plighted It is written in Zechariah I sawe a flying booke the length thereof is 20 Cubites and the bredth 10. the curse whereof shall enter into the house of him that falsely sweareth and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and stones thereof Now that all is full of blasphemies othes and periuries wee greatly ought to feare a most sharpe chastisement of the wrath of God for so ordinarie a contempt of his holy name and followe the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Keepe thy mouth from being accustomed to sweare for that carryeth great at ruyne withall K. Agesilaus hauing vnderstoode that Tisaphernes K. of Persia had broken the promise which he had sworne vnto him aunswered that therein he had done him a verie great pleasure because that by his periurie he had rendred himselfe odious and enimie both to the Gods and men And truely all policies and matches are cleane turned topsie turuie if the promise be not obserued Titus Liuius in the beginning of his historie greatly commendeth the common wealth of Rome because it was gouerned by faith and simple oth not by feare of lawes or chastisements It was also the principall charge of the Censors of Rome as Cicero writeth to punish the periured against whome there is great threates in the holie scripture and in Leuiticus not onely the periured man is
The defect in dissembling when one speaketh lesse then in deede is so wandreth from the trueth which reckoneth things such as they are in deede without causing any variance betweene the heart and the tongue as if one shoulde fit himselfe with a garment which is neither bigger nor lesse then it ought to be Democritus likewise saide that speach was but a shadowe of the effect as if he would haue saide that it ought simply to follow the plaine meaning And as Euripides wrote speache agreeing with the trueth is single plaine without colour or counterfait And the light which assisteth it is a demonstration which manifesteth whatsoeuer is obscure discouereth the originall the ende the vniting and difference of two extremities And Plato called a Methode a fire sent from heauen which giueth the light that maketh the trueth knowen Phocion was praised because in fewe wordes he comprehended much matter for sith that all discourse consisteth in wordes and the subiect the wordes haue no place at all if you take away the subiect nor the matter or substance hath any shewe without the speach For wee read in Ecclesiasticus that the mouth of the wise is in their thought for wee are to consider wherefore wee speake before what persons and in what time and place And it seemeth that the truth doeth lesse varie from the defect and the ouerlitle extremitie especially when a man speaketh of himselfe as Salomon exhorteth vs to let another praise vs. And we must take heede least led thorough glorie and ambition wee be readie to giue that vnto our selues which we ought to receiue from other if it be not to turne aside a reproch or that occasioned by the time wee might the rather encourage and giue hart to youth and pricke them forwardes to enterprise and atchieue matters of vertue such things as are praiseworthie and then speake of our selues the most modestly that we are able not meant hereby that wee should conceale such benefits as we haue receiued from others As Saint Augustine in like sort reproued not the Christians for attributing some holinesse vnto them selues so long as it proceeded not from pride and vaine boasting but only with intent to acknowledge the benefites and yeelde due honour vnto him which imparted his holinesse vnto vs. And to the end we should not be vnthankfull wee ought to confesse such good turnes as we receiue and especially at their handes that for our aduancement bestoweth them on vs. And they haue beene euer blame-worthie who like Aesops Crowe dresse themselues with other byrdes fethers which being taken back againe of the right owners they remaine all bare as wee see in sundrie writers of our time who in their bookes set foorth manie leaues whereof other men be the true aucthors not perceiuing the difference of the excellencie of others writings howe it causeth that which is their owne due to looke with a pale and wanne countenance neuer acknowledging ought to them by whome they haue been so much helped albeit it be a great parte of honestie as Plinie wrote to Vespasian to confesse those by whome we receiue profit To this purpose I mought alledge that which Vitruus wrote how Ptolomie hauing set vp a most sumptuous Librarie in Alexandria and furnished it with more then seuen hundred thousand volumes and proclaimed great rewardes to those which should make of the best inuention sixe of the Iudges awarded the price to those which were most pleasing to the people but the seuenth which was Aristophanes adiudged it vnto another and shewed that he alone deserued the prise hauing composed al of his own inuention and that the rest did but repeate what they had learned out of other aucthors whereof he brought a booke of the same Lybrarie Which was afterwarde approued by the king and the rest of the Iudges It becommeth one as yll to speake of matters hee vnderstandeth not as one day Appelles aunswered frankely to a great Lorde discoursing in his shop about the arte of paynting The children saith he who grindeth colours as long as thou heldest thy peace beheld thee attentiuelie as wondring at thy braue apparel but since they haue heard thee speak they begin to laugh mocke at the discourses which thou hast made touching the shadowing of a picture and matters which thou hast neuer learned He saide as much to a shoomaker passing the controlment of his pantable And the carpenter Apollodorus to Adrian the Emperour speaking of Architure And a Musitian to Antigonus discoursinge of Musicke And the wise Captaines haue euer obserued for a rule not to attribute all the praise vnto themselues but to God or their companion As it is written of Titus the Emperor one Piton Fuius who being praised for a victorie he had obtained answered that it proceeded from god who made his hands but the instrument to serue him Plutarque writeth as much of Timoleon in the life of Sylla howe the gods were angrie with Timotheus an Athenian Captaine because he attributed his victories to his own wisedom and afterwards caused al his actions to goe cleane topsie turuie Amasias puffed vp with pride for the victorie he obtained against the Idumeans now hit acknowledging it to proceede from God carelesse of the Prophets reprehending him prouoked the King of Israel of whom he was ouercome taken pilled slaine The like happened to Manasses Amon. We read likewise that Minos Zoroastes Trimegitus Carondas Licurgus Solon Draco Numa and other lawgiuers haue euer fathered their lawes vpon some God the better to haue them in aucthoritie nature teaching them that it apertained to God alone to dedicate their seruice that otherwise the lawes would not be obserued and the wit of man is too feeble his reasons too short to attaine vnto it They in like sort who attribute vnto themselues the glorie of any vertue diminish so much from the bountie liberalitie of God doe not beare that loue honor respect vnto him which is due The which the ordinarie words in the Bible haue taught vs that God giueth them into our hands God is our victorie he is a like strong in great or small number The Lord wil deliuer vs. The same doeth the wise man write Prou. 16. The answere of the tongue is of the Lord and the Lord doth direct the steps of man who worketh in vs both the will the deede al our sufficiencie is from him as S. Paul saith Phil. 2. 2. Cor. 3. CHAP. V. Of faining and dissembling TO faine and dissemble was euer condemned by Aquillius lawe like lying and deceite as the ciuil law and Cicero declare it to be and haue euer been esteemed parts vnworthie of a man to make semblance of one thing execute another As Guichardin wrote of Pope Alexander 6. that hee neuer did what hee said and of the duke of Valentinois his sonne
is written in the Prouerbes that it is a greater honour for a man to ouercome him selfe and commaunde his passions then to rase cities and castles It is that which God requireth by his Prophetes to cut off the forskinne of the heart The which Saint Paul to the Romaines recōmended to the end we should cut off the bad thoughts and desires of reuenge And the Platonists sayde that the shortest way to returne vnto God was to mortifie our affections and that vertue was a victorie of reason ouer passions I thinke they longe a goe that wrote so much of monsters perils tyrants and theues vanquished by Hercules Theseus Vlysses and Iason ment thereby to teach vs that men vertuously disposed and well taught haue subdued their pleasures desire of reuenge inconstancie lightnes intēperancie other passions and vices Which also the Poetes figureth by Eolus which moderateth keepeth in his winds The most valiant Lacedemonians highly extolled him that endureth an iniury And a Philosopher gaue counsell if he which harmed vs were weaker then our selues to pardon him if more mightie to pardon our selues And by the lawe of God and man all wayes of reuenge are forbidden and reconciliation atonement commanded by God the King and the lawes and the peacemakers are called the heires and children of God who will neuer pardon vs if we pardon not those offences which other haue committed towards vs. S. Augustine calleth the obedience which we render to God the mother and garden of all vertues And when our sauiour in S. Mathew calleth the meeke blessed some haue reduced to them that are not mooued with iniuries And S. Paul commaundeth vs to liue peaceably one with an other The which we haue handled else where and deserueth to be againe repeated for that point in which the nobilitie iudgeth all honour to consist but amisse and being carryed without the barres of reason they hazard themselues to the peril both of their corporall and spirituall life willing to be the accuser and slayer of themselues the witnesse iudge and hangman of such as they pretende to haue offended them And it is not possible to reuenge themselues but thorough a thousande perturbations which causeth them cleane to depart from tranquillitie which an auncient writer termed to eate out ones heart to offend ones selfe more then his enimie And often times thorough a little miscontentment which we coyne to our selues we enter into choler and melancholy forgetting the pleasures we receiue else where and as if we were bewicthed suffer our selues to be so transported S. Iohn in his first epistle calleth him a lyar that sayth he loueth God and hateth his brother and we ought not to haue respect to a corrupt custome or opinion but to that which God and the King commaundeth For as Demosthenes was wisely wont to say VVe liue and rule by lawes not by examples We reade in good aucthors that in olde time that wordes were neuer reuenged but by wordes and neuer came to handstrokes I counsell the nobilitie likewise not to differ anie resolution in a good matter For slacknesse doth often time make that harde which is most easie to be brought to passe in his time As the losse of the Romane legions was attributed to the negligence of Varus And it is a very easie matter to note an infinite number of losses happened through such slackings The answere which Alexander the great made to him which asked him how he had gayned subdued al Asia in so short a time is to be recommended to all Captaines following Homers precept neuer to differre or omit what was to be done Which was in like sort reported by Iulius Caesar and the olde prouerbe is very notable He that will not when he may deserueth when he would to haue a nay and to abide the smart of it The sayde Caesar sheweth likewise howe much quicknesse and diligence is profitable to the ende wee should not giue time to our enemies astonied to assemble themselues but to vse the victorie not tarying about the pillage I will not here forget to exhort them to shunne all inconstancie in religion fayth and doctrine not to varie nor suffer themselues to be carryed about with euerie winde of doctrine as Saint Paule teacheth vs and Saint Iames Chap. 1. and 3. Constancie is preserued by patience as Tertullian declared in the booke hee made and Impatience is the cause of all mischeiues It is also necessarie to prouide for that which they so much reprooch French men with that is that they commence and pursue manie thinges happely enough but for lacke of constancie staydenesse and discretion they neuer come to the ende of their enterprises and neuer consider that they which doe not so lightly runne about their businesse proceeding with a ripenesse of iudgement and a more stayde brayne carryeth away the honour and profitte of their enterprises wisely vndertaken and couragiously executed CHAP. 13. That the truth findeth good that which many feare and flie and giueth contentment IT were no small happinesse if in life we put in practise that which we haue marked in sundrie Philosophers who albeit they were destitute of the light of the Gospell and the certaintie of the promisses of God yet haue they discouered the maske of this worlde contemning the honours riches and pleasures thereof delighting in their pouertie patience sobrietie and temperaunce carrying meekely all losses mocking at the foolish opinions which driue men into passions condemning false apparaunces and vanities themselues remayning in great tranquillitie and calme in all perturbations and hauing nought but their wallet and certaine vile garmentes did nothing but laugh all their life as if they had beene at a feast and eaten as they saye of a bride cake And wee which haue so greate pleadges of eternall life and an assuraunce of the diuine promises bountie and more then a fatherly affection of our God towardes vs haue much more occasion not to esteeme these corruptible thinges and to liue ioyfully in respect of that which hath beene giuen vnto vs without beeing desirous or coueting anye other thinge then that which proceedeth from the will of the almightie Seneca in the seconde of his Epistles writeth that suche as liue according to nature are neuer poore and according to the opinion of men they are neuer riche because nature contenteth her selfe with little and opinion doth infinitely couet And in his 4. booke he counselleth a friende of his to despise all that which other so hotly pursue For that which men esteeme as great aduancement in honor goods or pleasures when they once approch to the truth to vertue and heauenly goodnesse it looseth cleane his apparance and lustre euen as the starres when they are neere the sunne beames For the dispositions of such as are moderated and instructed in the truth rendreth a life peaseable and like vnto her selfe the occasion of the quietnesse
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
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
things concerning the vertues yet haue they not declared at whose handes they ought to be demaunded nor whither they ought to bee referred neither haue they knowen the beginning of the corruption of mans nature nor the remedie of al euils which is reuealed in the Gospel by the knowledge of the trueth and the adoption of the Christians the remission of sinnes and the promises which giue vs a certaintie of the fauour blessing and good will of our good God whereof ensueth a good conscience hope and peace in the spirite which consumeth all the greefe and sorrowe as the Sunne doth the morning dewe And there is none of the said Philosophers except Plato which was able to set downe that the soueraigne good of man was to be ioyned with God but he had no tast at all what this coniunction meant nor the meane to attaine vnto it And as touching the comfortes of the Philosophers the complaint which Cicero made in his Epistle to Atticus is true that the medicine is not of force enough for the disease that neither the discipline learning nor bookes ought profited him Which a body cannot auerre by the holy scriptures as Dauid saide that hee was quickened comforted instructed that they gaue light to idiots And there is another manner of efficacie then the drougg which Homer called Nepenthes which he said was able to keep one from smelling yll sauours charme greefe vnderstanding therby a discreate speaker one able to apply himself to the present affections times affaires as more at large we haue before declared Which maketh me to disproue the opinion of Seneca which attributeth it to god in that we liue but in that we liue wel to Philosophie which in deede ought rather to be referred to God the aucthor of all good Horace spoke as ignorantly writing that God gaue him life riches but that he furnished himselfe with a good and right vnderstanding For God causeth the eye to see the eare to heare and giueth the right iudgement both to will and to perfourme as S. Paul sayth and he disposeth the pathes intentions of men This word Philosophie hath beene interpreted for the loue of wisedome and Aristotle in his second booke of his Metaphisicks taketh it for the knowledge of the trueth Many haue noted great varietie ambiguitie vncertaintie in the doctrine of Aristotle and that he was ignorant of the most excellent things of nature vsed verie necessarie demonstrations The which men in time past wel marked picturing behind his portracture a woman which had her face couered with a vayle named Physis that is to say Nature And it is no maruaile at al if all of them were not able to attaine to those supernaturall things since that the most excellent treasors of nature were concealed from them The which ought to make vs admyre at Gods speach in the fiue last Chapters of Iob discoursing of the mouings of the heauens force of the starres of the earth founded vpon the waters of the waters hanging in the middle of the worlde and sundry other wonders which a body may perceiue able to declare the knowledge of man to be verie ful of ignorance S. Augustine compared the life of the ancient Pagans which were accounted so wise vertuous to a wandring course their argumēts to a glasse which is shining but verie brickle Concluding it better to halt in the way of truth then to runne lightly without it He wrote likewise that their vertues were impure imperfect because there is nothing good without the soueraigne good And where there is defect of the knowledge of eternal life there vertue is false mens intentions go awrie And there is no man that can haue any quietnes of conscience but through the promises of God from which they were shut out also by the inward obedience required of God by trusting in him by repentance righteousnes iustification of the faithful by the free forgiuenes of our sinnes by hope patience confidence in aduersitie confession giuing of thanks by referring al things to the glorie of God to charitie And S. Chrisostom vpon the first to the Corinthians fourth Homelie cōpareth the subtile disputations of the Philosophers to cobwebbes which breake rent asunder with the wind speaking of a happy life were neuer able to attaine vnto it and as S. Paul writeth professing themselues to be wise they became fooles And not without cause Socrates in Plato lamented that the Philosophers studyed more the contemplation of nature knowledge then to liue well or giue good precepts And towards the end of the treatise of his lawes as through a diuine inspiration he giueth hope of the comming of one more excellent more redoubted and more holy then any man whose office was to open the secrete places of truth and the hidden fountaines who should be folowed honored of al men which surely could not be vnderstood but by our Lord Iesus Christ which is the waie the truth and the life S. Chrisostome setteth downe in the ranke of Philosophers Aristides Cato Solon Lycurgus Epaminundas sundrie other who besides their knowledge were excellent in matters of state gouernement as was our lawyer Vlpian and studied more to do good to euery one then to bee conuersant in contemplation For the Sophisters counterfait to be wise in deed their ende is but glorie and proud boasting And S. Augustine thought that all Philosophers were rather giuen to the seruice and searching out of the intelligences seperate which we call angels diuels and which they called gods and spirites then of the true God albeit they confessed there was one only almightie father of the Gods and men And it is easie to gather out of their writings how they confessed one only God in three persons the Father the Sonne the holy ghost and other Articles contained in the Apostles Creede to conuict Atheists and Epicures withal CHAP. XX. Of disguisings done to Princes and what is their duetie for their honour and quiet of their subiects and of the miseries of the wicked of the obseruation of ordinances and of that which maintaineth or altereth an estate PRinces were ordained of God to be fathers protectors and shephardes ouer the people cōmitted to their charge to serue to maintaine their libertie and to defende them against all iniuries and to shewe them good example to entertaine iustice and peace to cause vertue learning sciences and good lawes to flourish to prouide for the instruction of youth to esteeme of the good and chastice the wicked Plato did write following the fixion of Homer that children born of Kings were composed of a pretious masse to be seperate from the common sort And it is saide of Scipio and certaine other great personages that they were descended from a
of loosing all that he should be courteous gratious and graue that he should banish from his court all lewde counsellours such as charge the people with newe inuentions that his life should serue for an vnwritten lawe that he be such towardes his owne subiectes as hee would require of God to bee towardes him that hee manifest not him selfe eyther to sorrowefull or to ioyefull that by no meanes he sell his offyces for he that selleth them maketh sale of his owne subiectes Me thinketh wee ought in no wise to forget the commendation which Xenophon gaue to Kinge Agesilaus comparing him as contrarye to many tyrauntes that he euer measured his expenses with his reuenewe fearing least for the furnishing thereof he should doe ought that were vniust greatly delighting to see his subiectes rich and that they being valiant he commanded ouer valiant people that he esteemed it a greater prayse not to be ouercome with money pleasures and feare then to take by assault most strong cities that he shewed himself much to the people and courteously entreated euery one that had any supplycation or suite to make vnto him and as soone as he was able gaue order for the dispatch of whatsoeuer was proposed vnto him with reason The ordinance of Anthonye the Emperour was holy for his time that no tribute should bee exacted without the consent of the Senate and the people and also that it should not be employed to any vse but by their especiall aucthoritie For there must bee a Geometricall proportion kept betweene the King and the people And when he would wrest all vnto himselfe it is as the Emperours Traian Adrian were wont to say that when the spleene is swolne all the rest of the members waxe dry Among the othes which the Emperours make at their coronation one is that they shall lay no taxe or tribute without the consent of the estates of the Empire The which the kings of Polognia Hungary Inglande and Danemarc doe in like sort Thence proceeded the ordinance made by Philip de Valois and other of our Kinges And if such as are charged by vertue of their offyce to see the buildinges of Churches to be repayred the poore to be well vsed to hinder the excessiue fellings of Tymber to cause the good lawes to be put in execution to hold the Mercurials to controle each one would performe their dutie euery thing would prosper better The lawe which Titus Liuius and Plutarke writeth was practised at Rome were very profitable to be put in vre within the citie of Paris that all fountaynes which were drawne into particuler houses thorough fauour corruption or otherwise might be cleane stopped and placed in publicke places or out of the same houses that particuler persons might not be able to withdrawe the water in abusing the publicke benefite as they doe The saying of King Agis Agasicles and Titus the Emperour is worthy to be well cōsidered that a Prince may easily raigne without any guarde or weapons when he commaundeth ouer his subiectes as a father ouer his children vsinge them withall meekensse sweetenesse and clemencie For if a Prince tende to nought else then to maintayne him selfe and bring his people into slauerie there is no more anye name lefte of citie or people as Saint Augustine sayeth And it is not ynough that a Prince knoweth what establysheth preserueth or destroyeth seignuries if he doe not withholde or reiecte awaye cleane the cause and preuent troubles or if they doe chaunce to happen presently quench them with small dammage It were besides to be desired that they had a care to the mayntenaunce of godlinesse and religion of hospitales and schooles and that they put in execution what Kinge Philip de Valois sayde to the Archbyshoppes Byshoppes and Prelates of his Realme whome he had caused to assemble togeather that if they woulde correcte what were woorthie of amendment hee would alter nothing in the state of the Church but if they differred to doe it he would remedie it in such sorte as God thereby should be better serued the people contented and the nobilitie which so much complained thereof without cause giuen of offence It woulde also breede a verye great benefite if according to the ordinance of Charlemagne Lewys 12. Otho the first of Councels Decrees Cannons and the aduise of sundrie good Popes Diuines and Doctours they would institute into benefices the most learned men and of best life and which mought bee founde more agreeable to Ecclesiasticall functions and to the people not depending of one alone which careth for nought but to put in his coffers the yearely reuenewe which appertayneth according to the Cannons and meaning of such as were founders to other as well as to the poore and by this reformation would iustice be maintayned and a better order established thorough out For if the dewtie of a Magistrate bee to see that the people liue well and vertuously according to Aristotle his opinion in his Politiques religion is one of the greatest vertues As in like sorte Moses Iosua Samuel Dauid Salomon Aza Iosophat Ioab Ezechias Iosias and other greatly trauayled to refine the seruice of God And Saint Ambrose writeth that Theodosius when he dyed had a greater care of the Church then of his sickenesse And Socrates in the Proeme of the fifte booke of the Ecclesiasticall hystorie sheweth the great care that the Emperours euer since they became Christians tooke touching Ecclesiasticall affayres And the Diuines are of opinion that the name of Melchisedech King of Salem sheweth what kinges ought to be to wit kinges of iustice and peace And the worde Abimilech signifieth my father the kinge Sundrye haue likewise wished for the quiet of the commonwealth that Princes woulde ofte set before their eyes the causes by meanes whereof an estate is turned topsie turuie and chaunged according to the rules in the holye scripture and hystories thorough vice hatred which God carryeth to impietie idolatrie vniustice tyrannie sorcerie and whoredome And often times the enuie of such as gouerne their ambition desire of reuenge choler rashnesse obstinacie despite couetousnesse trust in their owne strength accompanied with hautinesse foolishe imitation and curiositie corrupteth their counselles and prouoketh them to stirre vp out of season what they should let lie in quyet And we in our owne time haue seene what troubles haue ensued hereon For which a good Prynce ought to prouide and if hee chaunce to forgette him selfe he ought to bee brought backe agayne thorough the gnawinges and bytinges of the sharpe teeth and smarting prickes of his conscience And hee ought well to weigh the threatninges conteyned and set foorth in the holy scripture and that which Seneca writeth that there is no tempest vpon the sea so soddaine nor waue that followeth one an other sooner then the condition of Princes is variable for that they are subiecte to dreadfull faules and chaunges And
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
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
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
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
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
the pleading place of Atheues were two benches the one of contumely the other of impudency It was also vncouered as that at Rome was which Cato made be paued with sharp flintes and wished that it might be flowred with yron caltrops to the end the Romans shoulde haue no delight to plead He forbad any to be called to the bar whō he knew eloquent in a bad cause And said as Plutarque reciteth that it was meet for a prince or iudge to giue no eare to the persuasiō of an Orator or lawyer making a motion for any matter vniust For as Cicero writeth which was also attributed to the Emperor Valentinian if he ought to be punished which corrupteth a iudge with mony or presents how much more ought he which coseneth thē with his faier speech babling because a vertuous man will not suffer himself to be corrupted with presents but he may be deceiued thorough their cunning tales lies And Cicero in his Oratiō which he made for Murena discourseth at large of the vanity deceit of practisioners We proue by the ciuil law that in sundry places the nūber of lawyers hath bin limited how K Ptolome conferring with an embassadour which the Siciones had sent vnto him inquired of him of the state forme of their cōmon wealth he answered that his Lords maintained no inuentors of new things nor receiued any phisitians which alter health much lesse lawiers because they disguise the truth prolong suites Pope Nicolas the 3 thrust al practisers in the lawes out of Rome saying that they liued by the bloud of the poore people And it was a vse in most holy France that no proctor should be appointed but by licence frō the K. all procurations ended togeather with the yeare which was a great cause of dispatch of suits Domitian in like sort banished some Galeace duke of Milan caused one to bee hanged for his delatory pleas delaying of a suit against a manifest and cleare debt And Pope Pius 2. compared pleaders to birdes the place of pleading to the fielde the iudge to the net the proctors aduocates to fowlers birders A man may say that the cause why Caligula would haue burned al law bookes although himself were very ill giuē was to haue suits soner dispatched to meete with the cautels and delaies which men toward the law study by their boke practise And herevpon I will not let passe a tale of Mathias Coruinus K. of Pannonia who hauing maried the daughter of Ferdinand K. of Naples brought a lōg in his traine out of Italy certaine lawiers and aduocates of great practise who as sone as they were ariued in his realme by litle litle changed the course which they had found in maner that an infinite nūber of suits were bred therby And the K. perceiuing how euery day the number encreased he was constrained to send thē back againe that he might establish the ancient custome simplicity quiet In like sort they write that Ferdinand themperor sending a viceroy into the Indies which had bene newly discouered forbad him by no meanes to carry ouer any lawier with him to the end he should not sow there the seeds of suits There are some which attribute this infection contagiō of petifoggers brought into France in the time of Philip the faier to Pope Clement 5 whē as he transported his seat frō Rome to Auignon together with al his bullistes practisers petifoggers by frequenting of whō french men first learned this braue piratical art as it were neuer once dreamed of before And sundry authours as well french as Italians and Germanes haue written that since that french men haue suffred them selues to be gouerned by the Popes which were retired to Auignon and haue intermingled their affaire and practises together they haue euer waxed worse and worse and their delicatenes hath euen abastarded the good warlike discipline wherof there was forewarninges when as the saide Pope Clement made his entry into Lyons We read in the time of Charlemagne and before him how the Druides in France tooke notice of all differentes and processe in law and Caesar in his commentaries reciteth the like And if there were any which wold not stād to their award they straightly forbad him their sacrifices which of all other was the most grieuous punishment because thē they were held in the ranke of men abhominable and accursed euery one abhorred their company or to talke with them for feare least some misfortune might ensew after such comunication which were to bee wished might now take place for the dispatching and abolishing of suites And Paulus Emilius writeth that the french men in matter of triall and law did so simply behaue them selues that they stucke to their firste iudgement and neuer appealed further But since deceit was the cause of a soueraigne iurisdiction which held once a yeare for a few daies and afterward the said Philip the fayre caused the palace to be builded which suffiseth not for all that to satisfie the heat of pleading Eschines in that famous Oration which he made against Cthesiphon reprehending the maners corruptiō of his time calling to remēbrance the ancient customes good laws saith that if they were wel obserued al things would go wel and there should be few suites or pleas at al as if the cōmennes of thē were one of the greatest mischiefes could happē to a cōmōwealth as Plato was of opiniō in his discourses And Socrates shewing how good lawes neuer engēdred suits said the multitude of thē to be a sign of corruption Strabo commended the Indians because they were no pleaders and euer in their lawes and barganes vsed great simplicity kept their word without vsing of any witnes or seales The Poets in their verses wishe for seates and triales without pleaders and esteeme that mā happy which hath no processe in law And the Germane prouerb sheweth it that if a mā haue two kine he were better giue awayone then not to enioye the other quietly or go to iudgement in which place it seemeth that many turmoiles troubles meet a multitude of people throng them selues together For this cause the said Isocrates in an Oration which he made being of the age of 80. yeres and two said that he had al his life shunned processe benches of pleading that men accounted him an vnworthy aduocate to haue any disciple and he was ill accounted of at Athenes which haunted the said benches and was often seene there And the principal doctors which haue written vpon our ciuil law haue alwaies bin of opiniō that euery good man ought to abhor suites that such as loued them ought to be accounted cauillers and exception to be taken to their witnes Vpon the contention question which grew before Sforce Duke of Milan who ought to take place the lawyer or
K. S. Louis S. Ierome Seneca K. Theodoric Aristotle Plato Aristotle Slaunders false reports C. de calumni Agesilaus Punishment of talebearers Pro. 18.8 Dan. 6.24 Diuell 1. Sam. 22.18 Aristobulus Herod Constantine Francis D. of Bretaigne Remedy against accusers 1. Pet. 2.12 False pleaders Curious persons Anthony Eccles 21.21 Li. 10 de confessi Tertullian Voyages into farre countries Death of Aristotle Death of Pleny Remedies against curiositie Phocion Socrates Geometry Arithmetike Flatterers Selfe loue blinde Tiberius Princes subiect to flatterers Augustus Flatterers banished the courts of princes Iouinian Agesilaus Isocrates K. Alphonsus Hos 7.3 Iulian. Dion Quintus cursius Vopiscus Philip de Comines Alexander Dionisius Tyrants delighted vvith flattery Plato Sigismonde Seneca Phocion Alexander Remedy against flattery No man so pestilent as the flatterers All christians are one body where of Christ is the heade Christian loue Mal. 2.10 1. Cor. 6.20 Gal. 3.15 Enuie Socrates Pro. 14.30 Iob 5. Eccle. 30.24 31. Remedie against enuie Description of enuie Agis K of Lacedemon Aristotle Pliny The nature of certaine Scorpions serpents Hannibal Bellisare â—ide Aristotle Augustine Humilitie Presumption Dan. 4.20 Eccles 10.13 Licantropie Pro. 16.5 Ier. 50.32 Tob. 4.13 K. Philip. Theodosius Alexander Marquiss of Gast Caligula Charlemagne Alexander K Lewis 11. Comparison Mans imbecillity Gal. 6.3 Sesostris Saladin Phil. 2.2 Rom. 12.10 Apricus Iulius caesar The vvill of princes ambitious Eccles 3.21 23.2 Ixion Sisiphus Phaeton Heresies coÌ„bats and vvarres imputed to ambition The ambitious often loose vvhat they get Alexander The Councel of Democrites To moderate ambition Dioclesian Pro. 28.25 1. Cor. 4.7 Ieremy 9.23 Passions leade to the contrary The last perfection is subiect to alteration Vice Isaiah 50.11 Wisd 11.13 Pro. 10.24 14.12 Pastors in name Hipocrisie Mal. 6.6 Faith vvithout vvorkes is deade VVho are to be named men Eccles 12.13 Remedies against pride The nature of the Pacocke All good proceedeth from god VVhy leuen vvas forbid vnto the Ievves Paynting disguising 1. Pet. 3 Tit. 2. Isaiah 3 Deut. 22.3 1. Cor. 6.20 Gorgious raiments Lib. 3. praed c. p. 2. Archidamus K. Philip. Mariadge vvithout doure Sparta a vvel gouerned citie L. sistatuas Posthumia vestale Tertullian Plato Aristippus Southsayers vvitches and astrologers Li. 24. c. 11. Iudiciall science is but vaine Ptolome Lib. 3. Francis marquisse of Salusses Icarus Porphyre Prophets Lib. 12. Latem apud S Si quis de minor Prophetes li 4. Deut. 28. Exod. 12. Lib. 9. c. 9. 1. Sam. 15.23 2. King 23 24 1. Chro. 19.23 Ier. 50.36 Isaiah 44.25 Eneas Siluius Scipio Lycurgus De nat deo Ier. 10.2 Homer Daniel Ende of the vvorlde Sorcerers Li. 4. de ciuit dei c. 3. Deut. 18. Lib. 11 Of Vsurers Iewes and Italiens chased out of France Cato Micah 3. Vsury the daughter of auarice and ambition Remedy against vsurie False accusations in the end discouered Castrutio aques de Lusignam Theodoric Accusers of Socrates Herode Mary of Aragon Ier. 59. Henry archbishope of Magence accused by Arnold Ferdinand K. of Castile The greate maister of the Templers Pleas and sutes to be auoyded Eccles 3.16 The office of a good Lawyer Tacit. l. 6. * j Rauenous fovvles or heilish furies described by Vergil in his Eneidos Florus lib. 4. Augustine Ambrose Bernard The pleading place at Athens Cato Babling of Lavvyers more dangerous then presents L. petitionem de aduocat tit de ï rescri pr. Practisers in lavve driuen out of Rome Caligula vvould haue had all lavve bookes to be burned VVhen petifoggers first set foote in Fraunce The Druides and their authority comment lib. 6 French men simple in matters of trial Many sutes and pleas the greatest mischeife can happen to a common vvealth The Indians no pleaders Pleaders in smal estimation or accouÌ„t Questions betvveene the Lavvyer and Phisition Statua of Martia Quintil. l. 12. c. 1. Gellâ—us l. 1. c. 18. Ierem. 5.27 6.13 Isaiah 9.6 Astrea Ate. Isaiah 1. 33. Alexander seuerus Buying of offices Niger VVages appointed to officers Lavves of Iustinian Othes of Iudges A poeticall fiction applied They vvhich giue presents to iudges are notably cosened A picture vvithin the pallace Philip. Iustice a virgine vndefloured Lavves forbidding iudges to receaue presents Iudges drawn vvithout handes Marius Isaiah 1.23 33.1 Exod. 23.8 Micach 3.11 Deut. 16.19 1. Sam. 12.3 Iob. 15.34 17.9 VVhence gredines of bribes proceadeth Plato his Councell The remedy to meete vvith couetousnes and greadines of bribes Eccles 19.1 Eccles 28.25 31.5 Spice money for sutes Romanes very continent Valerius Agrippa Epaminondas Not lavvfull for embassadors to receaue presents Phocion Agesilaus Iason Eliseus 2. King 5.16 Philopemen Cimon Romaines Menander Cleomenes Demosthenes Fabritius Sophocles Tulg l 6. ca. 3 Remedy against auarice Pluto the god of riches Lycurgus Pliny Isocrates VVhereon the mindes of men most runneth Hipocrates aphorisme Themistocles Cambises Darius Bishope of Cologne Auarice Pro. 15.27 Riches withdravve from the feare loue of god Luke 7. Crates Tim. â— 6 Celestiall gods 3. Col. 7.31 Isâ—â—h 9.6 Rom. 5. â— VVordly goodes Col. 3.1 Remedy against couetousnes Buying of offices Li. 5. 3. Sam. 7.3 Liberality of princes Liberalitye of the Venetians The intemperate in vaine seeke health Alexander an emperoure of the east Epaminondas allovved not of soldiars Scipio Fat Li. 2. c. 1 A girdell of the Gaulois Iberiens Controllers of youth Exercises against Idlenes Lib. 22. The Lacedemonians very sober Fatenesse Change of meats Eccles 21.23 Lisimachus Seneca Rom. 12.10 Ptolome philopater Necessary points to preserue health Salt Plato Fat and hungry soyles The bringing vp of the persian youth Socrates his councell Princes very sober Vespasian Cato VVyne forbidden to Romain weomen Eccles 37.29 Xenophon Socrates Eccles 12.15 Pleasure Amos 6.4 Of VVhoredome 1. Thes 4.3 1. Cor. 9.18 Pro. 7.22 Remedy against whoredome Ezec. 16 49. Iob. 13.1 Antigonus Correction of vices Hipocrates aduise to phisitians Siknes and aflictions are sent from god for our good and profit Good euil Frugalitie Phisicke Aurelius Babilonians In the temple of Esculapius vvere all receipts registred Plin. lib. 29. Asclepiades Cato Rome loâ—ng time vvithout phisitians The temple of Esculapius vvithout the citie Veget. L. 1 c. 19 Marius his Moyles De bello Iug. Metellus kept the discipline of vvarre The auncient fashion of the Galois at an entrance into vvarre Baleares Alexander The Aegiptians Athenians rendred account how they liued Mony lost lent to an idle person Ezec. 16 49. Mans nature 1. Thes 2.9 Pithagoriens Cirus Alexander Agesilaus A Lacedemonian Archidamus of Sleaping Epaminondas K. of Persia Macedonia Vertue Soldiors employed in trifles to auoyde Idlenes By vvhat meanes health is preserued Of gaming Alphonsus Turkie Cirus Young gentlemen wndone by play Honest pastime allovved Musicke Architas Men giuing ouer publick charge to liue priuately Maner of the Egiptians Temperature of the soule The health of the soule All maner of lying forbidden of god Lying ioyfull or offici ous The Lye vvhich the midvviues of the hebrewes made 2. King 10.25 1. Thes 5.21 Bringing vp of youth of vvhat importance Good lawes straighly to be obserued L. 5. c. 6 Nourture bringing vp of children The foundation of churches prebends and colleges Good bringing vp of children maketh them moderate and temperate Punishments of childrens faults at Rome Poore scollers nourished vvith tenthes Dan. 1.5 Deut. 25. L. 2. c. 6 L. 2. de stud litera The principal care vvhich pareÌ„ts ought to haue ouer their children Knovvledge and vertue a more sure inheritaunce then riches Phocion Stilpon Good example to be shevved to children Lessons to youth Youth going to vvarres Com. 6. The beginning is cheefly and principally to be considered Adolescencie is from 12. to 21. years K. Francis 1 Bayart Aristippus Agesilaus An embassage from Pologne to K. Henry 3 Alexander Charles 5. Youth sheweth by his blossomes what fruite it vvill beare in age Apes 1. Sam. 4.18 Xenocrates Licurgus The effects of good education Lavves of the Lydes The children of the kings of Persia Baruc. 2.23 Psal 119.9 1. Cor. 9.24 Eccles 2â— 23 Ier. 3 2â— Deut. 4.10 Great happines dependeth of â—…od education An argument ample and fertile Sophistrie Mariage AlexaÌ„ l. 2. c. 2 Strabo l. 4 Tiers of points Tiberius Ambassadors Masques Gen. 38.15 A greater matter to preserue vvhat is gotten theÌ„ to get Eccles 3.16 Misseres Tauerns and play â—esire of olde age Silenus pliny Dreames To demaund councell Superstition Saints Ciuill vvarres L. 29. Phisitians Pliny his error Simples Apothecaries The assembly of a councell or estats Despaire Suspition Torture The gouernment of vveomen Bartolus his opinion not to be follovved Atheists Alliance of the Zuizers VVherein mans felicity consisteth Riches Glry oâ— Pleasure God is the true onely felicity Murmuringe Admonishment to follovve the truth and shunne lying Deut. 3. Blessings promised to such as follovve the truth and curses to such as follovvelying