a perpetuall memorie What contempt of world what forgetfulnesse of himselfe what stroke of fortune what whippe for the flesh what little regard of life O what bridle for the vertuous O what confusion for those that loue life O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those here haue willingly despised their owne liues it is not to be thought that they dyed to take the goods of others neither yet to thinke that our life should neuer haue end nor our couetousnesse in like manner O glorious people and ten thousand fold happy that the proper sensuality being forsaken haue ouercom the naturall appetite to desire to liue not beleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall Destenies By the way they assaulted fortune they changed life for death they offered the body to death and aboue all haue wonne honour with the Gods not for that they shoulde hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluous of life Archagent a Surgeon of Rome and Anthonius Musus a Physition of the Emperour Augustus and Esculapius father of the Phisicke should get little money in that Countrie Hee that then should haue sent to the barbarous to haue done as the Romanes at that time did that is to say to take sirrops in the mornings pils at night to drinke milke in the morning to annoint themselues with gromeâ—seed to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eate of one thing and to abstaine from many a man ought to thinke that hee which willingly seeketh death will not giue money to lengthen life CHAP. XXII The Emperour concludeth his letter and shewed what perils those olde men liue in which dissolutely like young children passe their dayes and giueth vnto them wholesome counsell for the remedy thereof BVt returning to thee Claude and to thee Claudine me thinketh that these barbarous men beeing fifty yeares of age and you others hauing aboue threescore and tenne it should be iust that sithence you were elder in yeares you were equall in vertue and though as they you wil not accept death patiently yet at the least you ought to amend your euill liues willingly I doe remember that it is many yeares sithens that Fabritius the young sonne of Fabritius the olde had ordayned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told me great inconueniences had happned and sithens that you did me so great a benefite I would now requite you the same with another the like For amongst friends there is no equal benefite then to deceiue the deceyuer I let you know if you do not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are sunke into your heads the nostrels are shut the haires are white the hearing is lost the tongue faultereth the teeth fall the face is wrinkled the feete swolne and the stomacke cold Finally I say that if the graue could speake as vnto his Subiects by iustice he might commaund you to inhabite his house It is great pitty of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorance for then vnto such their eies are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth them to the graue Plato in his booke of the Common wealth sayde that in vaine wee giue good counsels to fond and light young men for youth is without experience of that it knoweth suspitious of that it heareth incredible of that is tolde him despising the counsell of an other and very poore of his own For so much as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the young haue of the good is not so much but the obstination which the olde hath in the euill is more For the mortall Gods many times doe dissemble with a thousand offences commited by ignorance but they neuer forgiue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doe not maruell that you doe forget the gods as you doe which created you and your Fathers which begot you and your parents which haue loued you and your friends which haue honoured you but that which I most maruell at is that you forget your selues For you neuer consider what you ought to bee vntill such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to returne backe againe Awake awake since you are drowned in your dreames open your eyes since you sleepe so much accustome your selues to trauels sithence you are vagabonds learne that which behoueth you since now you are olde I meane that in time conuenient you agree with death before he make execution of life Fifty two yeeres haue I knowne the things of the world and yet I neuer saw a Woman so aged thorough yeares nor old man with members so feeble that for want of strength could not if they list doe good nor yet for the same occasion should leaue to bee euill if they list to be euill It is a maruellous thing to see and worthy to note that all the corporall members of Man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tongue For the heart is alwayes giuen to inuent euills and the tongue is alwayes able to tell Lyes Mine opinion is that the pleasaunt Summer beeing past you should prepare your selues for the vntemperate winter which is at hand And if you haue but fewe dayes to continue you should make hast to take vp your lodging I meane that sith you haue passed the dayes of your life with trauell you should prepare your selues against the night of death to be in the hauen of rest Let mockeryes passe as mockeries and accept trueth as truth that is to say that it were a very iust thing and also for your honour necessarie that all shose which in times past haue seen you young and foolish should now in your age see you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnesse and follyes of youth as doth grauity and constancie in Age. When the Knight runneth his carriere they blame him not for that the Horses mane is not finely combed but at the end of his race he shold see his horse amended and looked vnto What greater confusion can be to any person or greater slaunder to our mother Rome then to see that which now a dayes therein we see That is to say that the old which can scarcely creepe through the streetes to beholde the playes and games as young men which search for nought else but onely pompe and vanitie It grieueth mee to speake it but I am much more ashamed to see that the olde Romaines do daylie cause the white haires to be plucked out of their heads because they would not seeme old to make their beard small to seem yong wearing their hosen very close their shyrts open before the gowne of the Senatour embrodered the Romane signe richly enamelled the
the state of the rich is good if they will Godly vse it I say the estate of the Religious is good if they be able to profite others I say the estate of the communaltie is good if they will content themselues I say the estate of the poore is good if they haue pacience For it is no merite to suffer troubles if wee haue not pacience therein During the time of this our miserable life we cannot denie but in euery estate there is both trouble danger For then onely our estate shall be perfite when we shall come gloriously in soule and bodie without the feare of death and also when we shall reioyce without daungers in life Returning againe to our purpose Mightie Prince although wee all be of value little wee all haue little we all can attaine little wee all know little we all are able to doe little we all loue but little yet in all this little the state of Princes seemeth some great and high thing For that worldly men say There is no such felicitie in this life as to haue authoritie to cōmaund many and to be bound to obey none But if eyther subiects knew how deere Princes by their power to command or if princes knew how sweet a thing it is to liue in quiet doubtles the subjects would pittie their rulers and the rulers would not enuie their subiects For full fewe are the pleasures which Princes enjoy in respect of the troubles that they endure Since then the estates of Princes is greater then all that hee may do more then all is of more value then all vpholdeth more then all And finally that from thence proceedeth the gouernement of all it is more needefull that the House the Person and the life of a Prince be better gouerned and ordered then all the rest For euen as by the meate-yard the Marchaunt measureth all his wares So by the life whole of the Prince is measured the whole common-weale Many sorrowes endureth the woman in nourishing a way-ward child great trauell taketh a Schoolmaster in teaching an vntoward scholler much paines taketh an Officer in gouerning a multitude ouer-great How great then is the paine and perill wherevnto I offer my selfe in taking vpon mee to order the life of such an one vpon whose life dependeth all the good estate of a Common-weale For Noble Princes and great Lords ought of vs to bee serued and not offended wee ought to exhort them not to vexe them wee ought to encreate them not to rebuke them wee ought to aduise them and not to defame them Finally I say the right simple reckon I that Surgion which with the same plaisters hee layed to a harde heele seeketh to cure the tender Eyes I meane by this comparison that my purpose is not to tell Princes and Noble-men in this booke what they be but to warne them what they ought to bee not to tell them what they do but to aduise them what they ought to doe For that Noble-man which will not amende his life for remorse of his owne conscience Iidoe thinke hee will doe it for the writing of my pen. Paulus Dyaconus the first Hystoriographer in the second booke of his Commentaryes sheweth an antiquitie right worthie to remember and also pleasaunt to read Although indeed to the hinderaunce of my selfe I shall rehearse it It is as of the Henne who by long scraping on the Dung-hill discouereth the knife that shall cut her owne throate Thus was the case Hanniball the most renowmed Prince and captain of Carthage after hee was vanquished by the aduenturous Scipio fled into Asia to king Antiochus a prince then liuing of great vertue who receyued him into his realme tooke him into his protection and right honourably intertayned him in his house And truly king Antiochus did heerein as a pittyfull prince For what can more beautifie the honour of a Prince then to succour Nobilitie in their needefull estate These two Noble Princes vsed diuers exercises to spende the time honourablie and thus they diuided their time Sometime to hunt in the mountains otherwhiles to disporre them in the fields oft to view their Armeys But chiefly they resorted to the Schooles to heare the Phylosophers And truely they did like wise and skilfull men For there is no houre in a day otherwise so well employed as in hearing a wise pleasant tongued man There was at a time in Ephesus a famous Philosopher called Phormio which openly and publikely read and taught the people of the realme And one day as these two Princes came into the Schoole the Philosopher Phormio chaunged the matter whereupon he read and of a sudden began to talke of the meanes and wayes that Princes ought to vse in warre and of the order to bee kept in giuing battell Such so strange and high phrased was the matter which hee talked of that not onely they maruelled which neuer before saw him but euen those also that of long time had daily heard him For herein curious and flourishing wits shew their excellency in that they neuer want fresh matter to entreate vpon Greatly gloried the King Antiochus that this Philosopher in presēce of this strange Prince had so excellently spoken so that strangers might vnderstand he had his realme stored with wise men For couragious and noble Princes esteem nothing so precious as to haue men valiāt to defend their Frontiers and also wise to gouerne their common-weales The Lecture read King Antiochus demaunded of the Prince Hannibal how he liked the talke of the Philosopher Formio to whom Hanibal stoutly answered and in his answer shewed himselfe to bee of that stoutnesse he was the same day when he wan the great battell at Cannas for although noble hearted and couragious Princes lose all their estates and realmes yet they will neuer confesse their harts to be ouerthrowne nor vanquished And these were the words that at that time Hannibal sayde Thou shalt vnderstand K. Antiochus that I haue seene diuers doting old men yet I neuer saw a more dotard foole thē Phormio whom thou callest such a great Philosopher For the greatest kinde of folly is when a man that hath but a little vaine science presumeth to teach not those which haue onely science also such as haue most certaine experience Tell me King Antiochus what hart can brooke with patience or what tongue can suffer with silence to see a silly man as this Philosopher is nourished all his life time in a corner of Greece studying Philosophie to presume as hee hath done to talke before the prince Hannibal of the affayres of warre as though hee had beene eyther Lord of Affrique or Captaine of Rome Certes hee eyther full little knoweth himselfe or else but little esteemeth vs For it appeareth by his vaine wordes hee would seeme to know more in matters of warre by that hee hath read in bookes then doth Hanniball by the sundry great battels which he hath fought in the fields Oh King Antiothus how
farre and how great is the difference betweene the estate of Phylosophers and the state of Captaines betweene the skyll to reade in Schooles and the knowledge to rule an Armey betweene the science that wise men haue in bookes and the experience that the others haue in warre betweene their skill to write with the penne and ours to fight with the Sword betweene one that for his pastime is set round with deskes of bookes and an other in perill of life encompassed with troups of Enemyes For many there are which with great eloquence in blazing deeds don in warres can vse their tongues but fewe are those that at the brunte haue hearts to aduenture their liues This Phylosopher neuer saw man of war in the field neeer saw one Armey of men discomfited by an other neuer heard the terrible Trumpet sound to the horrible cruel slaughter of men neuer saw the Treasons of some nor vnderstood the cowardnes of others neuer saw how few they be that fight nor how many ther are that run away Finally I say as it is seemly for a Phylosopher and a learned man to praise the profite of peace Euen so it is in his mouth a thing vncomely to prate of the perills ' of warre If this Phylosopher hath seene no one thing with his Eyes that hee hath spoken but onely read them in sundry bookes let him recount them to such as haue neyther seene nor read them For warlike feates are better learned in the bloudy fields of Affricke then in the beautifull schooles of Greece Thou knowest right well king Antiochus that for the space of thirty and sixe yeares I had continuall and daungerous warres as well in Italie as in Spayne In which Fortune did not fauour mee as is alwayes her manner to vse those which by great stoutnesse and manhood enterprise things high and of much difficultie a witnesse whereof thou seest mee here who before my beard beganne to growe was serued and now it is hoare I my selfe beginne to serue I sweare vnto thee by the God Mars king Antiochus that if any man did aske mee how hee should vse and behaue himselfe in warre I would not aunswer him one word For they are things which are learned by Experience of deedes and not by prating in words Although Princes beginne warres by justice and followe them with wisedome yet the ende standeth vppon fickle Fortune and not of force nor pollicie Diuerse and sundrie other things Hannibal sayde vnto king Antiochus who so bee desirous to see let him reade in the Apothegmes of Plutarche This example Noble Prince tendeth rather to this end to condemne my boldnesse and not to commend my enterprise saying that the affayres of the common wealth bee as vnknowne to mee as the dangers of the warres were to Phormio Your Maiestie may iustly say vnto me that I being a poor simple man brought vp a great while in a rude Countrey doe greatly presume to describe how so puissant a Prince as your Highnes ought to gouerne himselfe and his Realme For of truth the more ignorant a man is of the troubles and alterations of the world the better he shall be counted in the sight of God The estate of Princes is to haue great traines about them and the estate of religious men is to bee solitary for the seruant of God ought to be alwaies void from vaine thoughts to be euer accompanied with holy meditations The estate of Princes is alwayes vnquiet but the state of the religious is to bee enclosed For otherwise he aboue all others may be called an Apostata That hath his body in the Cell and his heart in the market place To Princes it is necessary to commune and speake with all men but for the religious it is not decent to be cōuersant with the world For solitary men if they do as they ought should occupy their hands in trauel their bodies in fasting their tongue in prayer and their heart in contemplation The estate of Princes for the most part is employed to war but the estate of religious is to desire procure peace For if the Prince would study to passe his bounds and by battell to shed the bloud of his enemies the religious ought to shed teares and pray to God for his sinnes O that it pleased Almighty God as I know what my bounden duty is in my heart so that hee would giue me grace to accomplish the same in my deedes Alas when I ponder with my selfe the weightines of my matter my Pen through slouth and negligence is readie to fall out of my hand and I halfe minded to leaue off mine enterprize My intent is to speake against my selfe in this case For albeit men may know the affaires of Princes by experience yet they shall not know how to speake nor write them but by science Those which ought to counsell princes those which ought to reforme the life of princes and that ought to instruct them ought to haue a cleare iudgement an vpright minde their words aduisedly considered their doctrine wholesome and their life without suspition For who so wil speake of high things hauing no experience of them is like vnto a blinde man that would leade and teach him the way which seeth better then hee himselfe This is the sentence of Xenophon the great which saieth There is nothing harder in this life then to know a wise man And the reason which hee gaue was this That a wise man cannot bee knowne but by another wise man wee may gather by this which Xenophon sayeth That as one wise man cannot be knowne but by another wise man so likewise it is requisite that he should be or haue bin a Prince which should write of the life of a Prince For hee that hath bin a marriner and hath sailed but one yeare on the Sea shall bee able to giue better counsell and aduise then he that hath dwelled ten yeares in the hauen Xenophon wrote a booke touching the institution of princes bringeth in Cambyses the king how hee taught and spake vnto king Cyrus his sonne And he wrote an other book likewise of the Arte of Chiualry and brought in king Philip how he ought to teach his sonne Alexander to fight For the philosophers thought that writing of no authoritie that was not entituled and set foorth vnder the Names of those Princes who had experience of that they wrote Oh if an aged Prince would with his penne if not with word of mouth declare what misfortunes haue happened since the first time hee beganne to raigne how disobedient his subjects haue bin vnto him what griefes his seruants haue wroght against him what vnkindnesse his Friendes haue shewed him what wiles his enemies haue vsed towards him what daunger his person hath escaped what jarres hath bin in his Pallace what faultes they haue layde against him how manie times they haue deceyued straungers Finally what griefes hee hath had by day and what sorrowfull sighs
aunswered him that it was Calistratus the Philosopher a man which in eloquēce was very sweete and pleasant hee determined to stay and heare him to the end hee would know whether it were true or vaine that the people tolde him For oftentimes it hapneth that among the people some get thēselues great fame more by fauor then by good learning The difference betwixt the diuine Philosopher Plato and Calistratus was in that Plato was exceedingly wel learned and the other very eloquent and thus it came to passe that in liuing they followed Plato and in eloquence of speech they did imitate Calistratus For there are diuers men sufficiently well learned which haue profound doctrine but they haue no way nor meanes to teach it vnto others Demosthenes hearing Calistratus but once was so farre in loue with his doctrine that he neuer after heard Plato nor entered into his Schoole for to harken to any of his lectures At which newes diuers of the Sages and Wise men of Grecia maruelled much seeing that the tongue of a man was of such power that it had put all their doctrine vnto silence Although I apply not this example I doubt not but that your Maiesty vnderstandeth to what ende I haue declared it And moreouer I say that although Princes and great Lordes haue in their Chambers Bookes so well corrected and men in their Courts so well learned that they may worthily keepe the estimation which Plato had in his Schoole yet in this case it should not displease me that the difference that was between Plato and Calistratus should bee betweene Princes and this Booke God forbid that by this saying men should thinke I meane to disswade Princes from the company of the sage men or from reading of any other booke but this for in so doing Plato should bee reiected which was diuine and Calistratus embraced which was more worldly But my desire is that sometimes they would vse to reade this booke a little for it may chaunce they shall finde some wholesome counsell therein which at one time or other may profite them in their affayres For the good and vertuous Prince ought to graffe in their memory the wise sayings which they reade and forget the cankred iniuries and wrongs which are done them I do not speake it without a cause that hee that readeth this my writing shall finde in it some profitable counsell For all that which hath bin written in it hath beene euery word and sentence with great diligence so well wayed and corrected as if therein onely consisted the effect of the whole worke The greatest griefe that learned men seele in their writing is to thinke that if there bee many that view their doings to take profite thereby they shall perceyue that there are as many more which occupie their tongues in the slaunder and disprayse thereof In publishing this my worke I haue obserued the manner of them that plant a new garden wherein they set Roses which giue a pleasant sauour to the nose they make faire greene plattes to delight the eyes they graft fruitfull trees to bee gathered with the hands but in the end as I am a man so haue I written it for men and consequently as a man I may haue erred for there is not at this day so perfect a painter but another will presume to amend his worke Those which diligently will endeauour themselues to reade this booke shall finde in it very profitable counsels very liuely lawes good reasons notable sayings sentences very profound worthy examples and histories very ancient For to say the truth I had a respect in that the doctrine was auncient and the Stile new And albeit your Maiesty bee the greatest Prince of all Princes and I the least of all your Subiects you ought not for my base condition to disdaine to cast your eyes vpon this booke nor to thinke scorne to put that thing in proofe which seemeth good For a good letter ought to be nothing the lesse esteemed although it be written with an euill pen. I haue sayde and will say that Princes and great Lords the stouter the richer and the greater of renowme they bee the greater need they haue of all men of good knowledge about them to counsell them in their affayres and of good bookes which they may reade and this they ought to doe as well in prosperity as in aduersity to the end that their affayres in time conuenient may be debated and redressed For otherwise they should haue time to repent but no leasure to amend Plinie Marcus Varro Strabo and Macrobius which were Historiographers no lesse graue then true were at great controuersie improouing what things were most authenticke in a common weale and at what time they were of all men accepted Seneca in an Epistle hee wrote to Lucullus praysed without ceasing the Common wealth of the Rhodians in the which with much ado they bent themselues altogether to keepe one selfe thing and after they had therupon agreede they kept and maintained it inuiolably The diuine Plato in the sixt booke entituled De Legibus ordained and commanded that if any Cittizen did inuent any new thing which neuer before was read nor heard of the inuentour thereof should first practise the same for the space of ten yeares in his own house before it was brought into the Common-wealth and before it should bee published vnto the people to the end if the inuention were good it should be profitable vnto him and if it were nought that then the daunger and hurt thereof should light onely on him Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayeth that Lycurgus vpon grieuous penalties did prohibite that none should bee so hardy in his Common wealth to goe wandring into strange Countries nor that hee should be so hardy to admit any strangers to come into his house and the cause why this law was made was to the end strangers should not bring into their houses things strange and not accustomed in their Common wealth and that they trauelling through strange countries should not learne new Customes The presumption of men now adayes is so great and the consideration of the people so small that what soeuer a man can speake he speaketh what so euer he can inuent he doth inuent what hee would hee doth write and it is no maruell for there is no man that wil speak against them Nor the common people in this case are so light that amongst them you may dayly see new deuises and whether it hurt or profit the Common wealth they force not If there came at this day a vaine man amongst the people which was neuer seene nor heard of before if hee bee any thing subtill I aske you but this question Shall it not bee easie for him to speake and inuent what hee listeth to set forth what he pleaseth to perswade that which to him seemeth good and all his sayings to be beleeued truly it is a wonderfull thing and no lesse slaunderous that one should be sufficient
yea and surmount and surpasse many but yet I doe aduise thē not to employ their force but to follow one For often times it chanceth that many which suppose themselues in their life to excell all when they are dead are scarcelie found equall vnto any Though man hath done much and blazed what he can yet in the end he is but one one mind one power one birth one life and one death Then sithence hee is but one let no man presume to know more then one Of all these good Princes which I haue named in the rowle of iustice the last was Marcus Aurelius to the intent that he should weaue his webbe For suppose we reade of many Princes that haue compiled notable things the which are to bee reade and knowne but all that Marcus Aurelius sayde or did is worthy for to be knowne and necessary to bee followed I doe not meane this Prince in his Heathen law but in his vertuous deedes Let vs not stay at his beleefe but let vs embrace the good that hee did For compare many Christians with some of the Heathen and looke how farre we leaue them behind in faith so farre they excell vs in good and vertuous works All the olde Princes in times past had some Philosophers to their familiars as Alexander Aristotle King Darius Herodorus Augustus Pisto Pompeius Plauto Titus Plinie Adrian Secundus Traion Plutarchus Anthonius Apolonius Theodotius Claudinus Seuerus Fabatus Finally I say that Phylosophers then had such aucthoritie in Princes pallaces that children acknowledged them for Fathers and Fathers reuerenced them as masters These Wise and Sage men were aliue in the company of Princes but the good and vertuous Marcus Aurelius whose doctrine is before your Maiesty is not aliue but dead Yet therefore that is no cause why his Doctrine should not bee admitted For it may bee peraduenture that this shall profite vs more which hee wrote with his handes then that which others spake with their tōgus Plutarch sayeth in the time of Alexander the great Aristotle was aliue and Homer was dead But let vs see how hee loued the one and reuerenced the other for of truth he slept alwayes with Homers booke in his hands and waking he read the same with his eyes and alwayes kept the doctrine thereof in his memory and layde when he rested the booke vnder his head The which priuiledge Aristotle had not who at all times could not be heard and much lesse at all seasons be beleeued so that Alexander had Homer for his friend and Aristotle for a master Other of these Philosophers were but simple men but our Marcus Aurelius was both a wise Philosopher and a very valiant Prince and therfore reason would hee should be credited before others For as a prince hee will declare the troubles and as a Philosopher hee will redresse them Take you therefore Puisaunt Prince this wise Philosopher and Noble Emperour for a Teacher in your youth for a Father in your gouernment for a Captaine generall in your Warres for a guide in your iourneyes for a friend in your affayres for an example in your vertues for a Master in your sciences for a pure white in your desires and for equall match in your deedes I will declare vnto you the Life of an other beeing a Heathen and not the life of an other beeing a Christian For looke how much glory this Heathen Prince had in this world beeing good and vertuous so much paines your Maiesty shall haue in the other if you shall bee wicked and vicious Beholde behold most Noble and illustrious Prince the Life of this Emperour and you shal plainly see and perceyue how cleare hee was in his iudgement how vpright hee was in his iustice how circumspect in the course of his life how louing to his friends how patient in his troubles and aduersities how hee dissembled with his enemies how seuere against Tirants how quiet among the quiet how great a friēd vnto the Sage and louer of the simple how aduenturous in his warres and amiable in peace and chiefly and aboue all things how high in wordes and prosound in sentences Many and sundry times I haue beene in doubt with my selfe whether the heauenly and eternall Maiesty which giueth vnto you Princes the Temporall Maiesty for to rule aboue all other in power and authoritie did exempt you that are earthly Princes more from humane fraylety then hee did vs that be but Subiects and at the last I know hee did not For I see euen as you are children of the World so you doe liue according to the World I see euen as you trauell in the Worlde so you can know nothing but things of the world I see because you liue in the Flesh that you are subiect to the miseries of the flesh I see though for a time you doe prolong your life yet at the last you are brought vnto your graue I see your trauel is great and that within your Gates there dwelleth no rest I see you are colde in the winter and hote in the Summer I see that hunger feeleth you and thirst troubleth you I see your friendes forsake you and your enemies assault you I say that you are sadde and do lacke ioy I see that you are sicke and bee not well serued I see you haue much and yet that which you lacke is more What will you see more seeing that Princes dye O noble Princes and great Lords since you must dye and become wormes meate why doe you not in your life time search for good counsell If the Princes and noble men commit an errour no man dare chastice them wherefore they stand in greater need of aduise and counsell For the traueller who is out of his way the more he goeth forward the more hee erreth If the people doe amisse they ought to be punished but if the Prince erre he should be admonished And as the Prince will the people should at his hands haue punishment so it is reason that he at their hands should receyue counsell For as the wealth of the one dependeth on the wealth of the other so truly if the Prince bee vitious the people cannot be vertuous If your Maiesty will punish your people with words commaund them to print this present worke in their hearts And if your people would serue your Highnesse with their aduise let them likewise beseech you to reade ouer this booke For therin the Subiects shall finde how they may amend and you Lords shall see all that you ought to doe whether this present Worke be profitable or no I will not that my pen shall declare but they which do reade it shall iudge For wee Authours take pains to make and translate and others for vs to giue iudgement and sentence From my tender yeares vntill this present time I haue liued in the World occupying my selfe in reading and studying humane and diuine Bookes and although I confesse my debility to bee such that I haue not read so
resisted if it be not by wise men and graue counsells The sixt was What thing that is wherein men are praised to be negligent and that is in choosing of Friendes Hee answered In one thing onely men haue licence to be negligent Slowly ought thy Friends to bee chosen and they neuer after for any thing ought to be forsaken The seuenth was What is that which the afflicted man doth most desire Byas answered It is the chaunce of Fortune and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre is to thinke that Fortune is somutable For the vnfortunate man hopeth for euery chaunge of Fortune to be made better and the wealthy man feareth through euery change to be depriued of his bouse These were the Questions which the Philosophers demaunded of Byas in the Playes of the Mount Olympus in the 60. Olympiade The Phylosopher Byas liued about 95. yeares and as he drewe neere his death the Prienenses shewing themselues to be maruellous sorrowfull for the losse of such a famous man desired him earnestly to ordayne some lawes whereby they might know how to choose Captaines or some Prince which after him might guide and gouerne the Realme The Phylosopher Byas vnderstanding their honest and iust requests he with his best counsell and aduisement gaue them certaine wholsome Lawes in fewe wordes which followe And of these Lawes the diuine Plato maketh mention in his Booke De Legibus and likewise Aristotle in the booke of Oecenomices The Lawes which BIAS gvue to the Prienenses WEe ordayne and command that no man bee chosen to bee Prince among the people vnlesse hee bee at least forty yeares of age For gouernours ought to be of such age that neyther youth nor small experience should cause them to erre in their affayres nor weakenesse thorow ouermuch age should hinder them from taking paines Wee ordayne and commaund that none bee chosen amongst the Prienenses Gouernour if hee bee not well learned in the Greeke Letters For there is no greater plague in the publike weale then for him to lacke wisedome which gouerneth the same Wee ordayne and commaund that there bee none amongst the Prienenses chosen Gouernour vnlesse hee hath beene brought vp in the warres ten yeares at the least for hee alone doth know how precious a thing peace is which by experience hath felt the extreame miseries of warre Wee ordayne and commaund that if any haue beene noted to bee cruell that hee bee not chosen for Gouernour of the people for that man which is cruell is likely to be a Tyrant Wee ordaine and commaund that if the Gouernor of the Prienenses bee so hardy or dare presume to breake the auncient lawes of the people that in such case hee be depriued from the office of the Gouernour and likewise exiled from the people For there is nothing that destroyeth sooner a publike-Weale then to ordaine new and fond lawes to breake the good auncient Customes Wee ordaine and commaund that the Gouernour of the Prienenses doe worship and honour the Gods and that hee bee a louer of the sacred Temples For otherwise hee that honoureth not God will neuer minister equall iustice vnto men Wee ordaine and command that the Prince of Prienenses bee contented with the warres which his Auncesters left him and that he doe not forget newe matters to inuade any other strange Countries and if perchance he would that no man in this case bee bound neyther with money nor in person to follow or serue him For the God Apollo told mee that that man which wil take another mans goods from him by force shall loose his owne Iustice Wee ordaine and command that the Gouernour of the Prienenses go to pray and worship the Gods twice in the weeke and likewise to visite them in the Temples and if hee doe the contrary he shall not onely bee depriued of the gouernement but also after his death he shall not bee buried For the Prince that honoreth not God in time of his life deserueth not his bones should bee honoured with sepnlture after his death CHAP XXII How God from the beginning punished men by his iustice and especially those Princes that despise his Church and how all wicked Christians are Parishioners of Hell WHen the Eternall Creatour who measureth all the things by his Omnipotency and weigheth them by his effectuall wisedome created all things aswell celestiall as terrestriall visible as inuisible corporate as incorporate not onely promised to the good which serued him but also threatned the euil with plagues which offended him For the iustice and mercy of GOD goe alwayes together to the intent the one should encourage the good and the other threaten the euill This thing seemeth to bee true for that wee haue but one GOD which hath created but one World wherein hee made but one Garden in the which Garden there was but one Fountaine and neere to that Fountaine he appointed onely one man one woman and one Serpent neere vnto which was also one tree only forbidden which is a thing maruellous to speake and no lesse fearefull to see how God did put into the terrestriall Paradise the same day that the creation of the World was finished both a sword and a gybet The gybet was the tree forbidden whereof they did eate Wherefore our Fathers were condemned And the sword was the penishment wherwith wee all as miserable children at this day are beheaded for truely they did eate the bitternesse of theyr fault and we doe feele the griefe of their paine I meane to shew how our God by his power doth rayse vp that which is beaten downe how with his wisedome he guideth those which are blind how by his will hee dissembleth with the euill doers neyther wil I tell how hee through his clemency pardoneth the offences and through his light lightneth the darkenesse nor how through his righteousnesse hee amendeth that which is broken and through his liberality payeth more then wee deserue But I will here declare at large how our omnipotent God through his iustice chastiseth those which walke not in his pathes O Lord God how sure may thy faithfull seruants be for their small seruices to receyue great rewards and contrary the euill ought alwayes to liue in as great feare lest for their hainous offences thou shouldest giue them cruell punishments for though God of his bounty will not leaue any seruice vnrewarded nor of his iustice will omit any euill vnpunished yet for all that wee ought to know that aboue all and more then all hee will rigorously chastice those which maliciously despise the Catholike faith For Christ thinketh himselfe as much iniured of those which persecute his Church as of those that layd handes on his person to put him to death We reade that in times past God shewed sundry grieuous and cruell punishments to diuers high Lords and Princes besides other famous renowned men But rigour had neuer such power in his hand as it had against those which honored
by vices and deliciousnesse but by weapons and prayers The Romanes were very sore grieued with the and a city of this Consull Lucius Pius and not contented to haue beheaded him and to haue set on his graue so defamous a title but made proclamation forthwith thorow out all Rome by the sound of a Trumpet how al that Lucius Pius had done the sacred Senate condemned for nothing and should stand to no effect For there was an auncient Law in Rome when they beheaded any by iustice they should also take away the authority hee had in Rome After the warres were ended and all the land of Sarmatia subiect the Consull Lucius Pius came to Rome for reward of his trauell required the accustomed triumph the which was not onely denyed him but also in recompence of his fact hee was openly beheaded and by the decree of all the Senate about his graue was written this Epitaph And not contented with these things the sacred Senate wrote to the Sarmates that they did release them of their homage making themselues subiects of the Romanes wherefore they restored them againe to their liberty They did this thing because the custome among the stoute and valiant Romanes was not to gette nor winne Realmes in making their enemies drunke with delicate Wines but in shedding their proper bloud in plaine field I haue tolde thee this my friend Pulio because the Consull Lucius Pius did perceyue that the Sarmates put all their felicity to ingorge themselues with wine Of the Philosopher Chylo IN the 15. Dinastia of the Lacedemonians and Deodeus beeing King of Medes Gigion being king of Lides Argeus being king among the Macedonians and Tullius Hostilius king of the Romaines in the Olympiade 27. there was in Athens a Phylosopher borne in Greece whose name was Chylo one of the seuen Sages which the Greekes had in theyr treasurie In that time there was great warres betweene the Athenians and the Corinthians as wee may perceyue by the Greeks histories which we see written Since Troy was ruinated and destroyed there was neuer peace in Greece for the warres betwixte the Greeks and Troyans was neuer so great as that which afterwards they made among themselues Sith the Greekes were now wise mē they did deuide the offices of the Commonwealth according to the ability of euery person that is to know that to the stoute and hardy men they gaue the gouernment to the sage they recommended the Embasies of of strange countreys And vpon this occasion the Athenians sent the Phylosopher Chilo to the Corinthians to treate of peace who came vnto the cittie of Corinth By chaunce on that day there was celebrated a great Feast wherefore hee found all men playing at dice the women solacing themselues in theyr gardens the Priestes shorte with theyr crosse-bowes in the Temples the Senatours played in the consistory at tables the maisters of Fence played in the streetes And to conclude hee found them all playing The Philosopher seeing these things without speaking to any man or lighting off from his horse returned to his countrey without declaring his message and when the Corinthians went after him and asked him why hee did not declare the cause of his comming he aunswered Friends I am come from Athens to Corinth not without great trauell and now I returne from Corinth to Athens not lattle offended and yee might haue seene it because I spake neuer a word to any of you of Corinth For I haue no commission to treate of peace with vnthrifty players but with sage gouernours Those of Athens commaunded mee not to keepe company with those that haue theyr hāds occupyed with Dyce but with those that haue theyr bodyes loden with harnes and with those which haue theyr Eyes dazeled with Bookes For those men which haue warres with the Dyce it is vnpossible they should haue peace with theyr Neighbours After he had spoken these words he returned to Athens I let thee vnderstand my friende Pulio that the Corinthians thinke it to be the greatest felicity in the world to occupy dayes and nights in playes and maruel not hereat neither laugh thou them to scorne For it was told mee by a Greeke being in Antioche that a Corinthian esteemed it more felicitie to winne a game then the Romaine Captaine did to winne a Triumph As they say the Corinthians were wise and temperate men vnlesse it were in Playes in the which thing they were too vicious Me thinke my friend Pulio that I answer thee more amply then thou requirest or that my health suffereth that which is little so that both thou shalt be troubled to read it and I here shall haue paine to write it I will make thee a briefe summe of all the others which now come to my remembrance the which in diuersethings haue put theyr ioy and chiefest felicities Of Crates the Philosopher CRates the Philosopher put his felicity to haue good fortune in prosperous nauigation saying that hee which sayleth by sea can neuer haue perfect ioy at his his heart so long as hee confidereth that between death and life there is but one bourd Wherefore the heart neuer feeleth so great ioy as when in the Hauen he remembreth the perils which hee hath escaped on the sea Of Estilpho the Philosopher EStilpho the Philosopher put all his felicity to bee of great power saying that the man which can doe little is worth little and he that hath little the gods doe him wrong to let him liue so long For hee onely is happy which hath power to oppresse his enemies and hath wherewithall to succour himselfe and reward his friendes Of Simonides the Philosopher SImonides the Philosopher put all his felicity to bee well beloued of the people saying That churlish men and euill conditioned should bee sent to the mountaines amongst brute beasts For there is no greater happinesse or felicity in this life then to bee beloued of all in the Common-wealth Of Archita the Philosopher ARchita the Phylosopher had all his felicitie in conquering a Bartell saying that naturally man is so much friend to himselfe and desireth so much to come to the chiefe of his enterprise that though for little trifles he played yet he would not bee ouercome For the heart willingly suffereth all the trauels of the life in hope afterwardes to win the victory Of Gorgias the Philosopher GOrgias the Philosopher put al his felicity to heare a thing which pleased him saying That the body feeleth not so much a great wound as the heart doth an euill word For truely there is no musicke that soundeth so sweete to the eares as the pleasant wordes are sauourie to the heart Of Chrysippus the Philosopher CHrysippus the Philosopher had all his felicity in this Worlde in making great buildings saying that those which of themselues left no memory both in their life and after their death deserued infacny For great and sumptuous buildings are perpetuall monuments of
dyed Truely this case was no lesse to be lamented then the other for so much as Gaius lost his Sister the Husband lost his Wife and his Childe and the wife and the childe lost their liues and for that that Rome lost so Noble and excellent a Romane and aboue all for that it chaunced in such a time of so great ioy and pleasure For there can come no vnluckier newes then in the time of much myrth to heare tell of any great mischance Of this matter mention is made in Blandus in the book of the declinatioÌ„ of the Empire The second warre of Affrike which was betweene Rome and Carthage was in the 540. yeares after the Foundation of Rome wherein were Captaines Paulus Emilius and Publius Varro the which two Consulls fought the great and famous bloudy Battell of Cannas in the Prouince of Apulia I say famous because Rome neuer lost such Nobilitie and Romaine youth as shee lost in that day Of these two Consulles Paulus Emilius in the Battell was slayne and Publius Varro was ouercome and the most couragious Hanniball remained conquerour of the Field wherein dyed xxx Senatours and 300. officers of the Senate and aboue xl thousand footmen and three thousand horsemen Finally the end of all the Roman people had been that day if Hannibal had had the witte to haue followed so noble a victory as he had the courage to giue so cruell a Battell A litle before that Publius Varro departed to goe to the warres hee was married to a faire and young Romaine called Sophia and within seuen moneths shee was quicke and as newes was brought her that Paulus Aemilius was dead and her husband ouercome she died suddenly the creature remaining aliue in her bodie This case aboue all was very pittifull in that that after he himselfe was vanquished and and that he had seene his companion the Consull Emilius slaine with so great a number of the Romane people Fortune would that with his own eyes he should behold the entrailes of his wife cut to take out the Childe and likeewise to see the Earth opened to burie his wife Titus Liuius saith that Publius Varro remained so sorrowfull in his heart to see himselfe ouercome of his enemyes and to see his wife so suddenly and so vnluckely stricken with death that all the time that his life endured he neyther combed his beard slept in bed nor dined at the Table and hereat we ought not to maruel for a man in his hart may be so wounded in one houre that hee shall neuer reioyce all the dayes of his life If wee put no doubts in Titus Liuius the Romaines had long and tedious warres against the Samnites which endured for the space of lxiii yeares contiually vntill such time as the Consull Ancus Rutilius who was a vertuous man did set a good appointment of peace between the Samnites and the Romanes For the noble stout harts ought alwaies by vertue to bring their enemies to peace These warres therfore being so cruell and obstinate Titus Venurius and Spurius Posthuminus which were Romaine Captains were ouercome by Pontius the valiant Captaine of the Samnites who after the victorie did a thing neuer seene nor heard of before That is to say that all the Romaine prisoners whom hee tooke hee put about theyr necks a yoke wherein was written In spight of Rome the Romaines shall be subtects to the yoke of the Samnites Wherewith indeed the Romains were greatly iniuried wherefore they sought stoutto be reueÌ„ged of the Samnites for the harts that are haughty proud caÌ„not suffer that others haue theyr mindes lofty and high The Romaines therefore created to bee Captaine of the Warre one named Lucius Papirius who had Commission to goe against the Samnites This Lucius was more Fortunate in his doings then comely of his person for he was deformed of his face notwithstanding hee did so good seruice in the warre and Fortune fauoured him so well that he did not onely ouercome and vanquish but also destroyed them and though the iniurie which the Samnites did to the Romaines was great yet truely the iniurie which the Romaines did to the Samnites was much greater For Fortune is so variable that those which yesterday we saw in most prosperitie too day wee see in greatest aduersitie This Lucius Papirius therfore did not only vanquish the Samnites kept them prisoners and made yokes for theyr neckes but also he bound them with cords together in such sort that they made them plough the ground drawing two and two a plough And yet not herewith conteÌ„ted but with gads they pricked and tormented them If the Samnites had had pitie of the Romaines beeing ouercome the Romaines likewise would haue taken compassion of them when they were Conquerours And therefore the prosperous haue as much neede of good counsell as the miserable haue neede of remedie For the man which is not merciful in his prosperitie hee ought not to maruel though he finde no friendes in his necessitie This Lucius Papirius had a Daughter maried to a Senator of Rome who was called Torquatus and she was called Ypolita And about that time that she should haue bene deliuered shee went forth to receiue her Father the which she ought not to haue don for the throng of the people in receiuing him being great and she herselfe being great with child by a most heauie chaunce as she would haue passed in at a narrow gate shee was so prest in the throng that she chaunged her life for death and her Father turned his mâ—th and ioy into sorrow and sadnes For he tooke the death of his daughter very heauilie and so much the more because it was so suddenly I say hee tooke it heauily since he was so stoute a man and so Sage withall that all Rome thought much that any such sudden chaunce should haue dismayed so worthie a man that of his wisedome he could take no benefite but heereat let no man maruell For ther are many that haue harts to shed the bloud of their enemies and yet caÌ„not withholde the teares of their eyes Annius Seuerus in the third booke De infelieitate Fortuna saith that the day that this wofull mishap chaunced to Lucius Papirius hee lift vp his eyes to the Heauens and weeping saide Oh Fortune deceiuer of all mortall men thou madest mee to conquere in warre to the intent to ouercome me in peace My mind was to declare vnto you all these ancients hystories to the end that al may know how tender women with childe are and how diligent their Husbands ought to bee to preserue them since there is nothing so tender to be kept nor any glasse so easie to be broken For there is much glasse that thogh it fall to the ground yet it doeth not breake but a woman with Childe onely for treading her foote awry we see with daunger to be deliuered CHAP. XI That Women great with childe and especially Princesses great
doth not enrich or empouerish his Common-wealth yet wee cannot deny but that it doth much for the reputation of his person For the vanity and curiosity of garments dooth shew great lightnes of mind According to the variety of ages so ought the diuersity of apparrell to bee which seemeth to be very cleare in that the young maides are attired in one sort the married women of an other sort the widdowes of an other And likewise I would say that the apparrell of children ought to be of one sort those of young men of an other and those of olde men of an other which ought to be more honester then all For men of hoary heades ought not to be adorned with precious garments but with vertuous workes To goe cleanely to bee well apparrelled and to bee well accompanied wee doe not forbidde the olde especially those which are noble and valiant men but to goe fine to go with great traines and to go very curious wee doe not allow Let the old men pardon mee for it is not the office but of yong fooles for the one sheweth honesty and the other lightnesse It is a confusion to tell it but it is greater shame to do it that is to say that many olde men of our time take no smal felicity to put caules on their heads euery man to weare iewels on their necks to lay their caps with agglets of gold to seeke out diuers inuētions of mettall to loade their fingers with rich rings to go perfumed with odoriferous sauors to weare new fashioned apparrell and finally I say that thogh their face be ful of wrinckles they cannot suffer one wrinckle to be in their gowne All the ancient histories accuse Quint. Hortensius the Romane for that euery time when he made himselfe ready hee had a glasse before him and as much space and time had hee to streighten the pleytes of his gowne as a Woman hadde to trimme the haires of her head This Quintus Hortensius being Consull going by chance one day through Rome in a narrow streete met with the other Consull where thorough the streightnes of the passage the pleights of his Gowne were vndone vppon which occasion hee complained vnto the Senate of the other Consull that he had deserued to loose his life The Author of all this is Macrobius in the third book of the Saturnales I can not tell if I be deceyued but we may say that all the curiositie that olde men haue to goe fine well apparrelled and cleane is for no other thing but to shake off Age and to pretende right to youth What a griefe is it to see diuers auncient men the which as ripe Figges do fall and on the other side it is a wonder to see how in theyr age they make themselues young In this case I say would to God wee might see them hate vices and not to complaine of their yeares which they haue I pray and exhort all Princes and great Lordes whome our soueraigne Lord hath permitted to come to age that they doe not despise to bee aged For speaking the truth the man which hath enuie to seeme olde doth delight to liue in the lightnes of youth Also men of honor ought to be very circumspect for so much as after they are become aged they bee not suspected of their friends but that both vnto their friends and foes they be counted faithfull For a Lye in a young mans mouth is esteemed but a lye but in the mouth of an auncient or aged old man it is counted as a haynous blasphemie Noble Princes and great Lordes after they are become aged of one sort they ought to vse themselues to giue and of the other to speake For good Princes ought to sell theyr wordes by weight and giue rewardes without measure The Auncient do oftentimes complaine saying That the young will not bee conuersant with them and truely if there be any faulte therein it is of themselues And the reason is that if sometimes they doe assemble together to passe away the time if the old man set a talking he neuer maketh an ende So that a discrete man had rather goe a dozen miles on foot then to heare an olde man talke three houres If with such efficacie we perswade olde men that they be honest in theyr apparrell for a truth we will not giue them licence to bee dissolute in theyr words since there is a great difference to note some man in his Apparrell or to accuse him to bee malitious or a babler For to weare rich and costly Apparell iniurieth fewe but iniurious words hurt manie Macrobius in his first booke of the dreames of Scipio declareth of a Phylosopher named Crito who liued an hundred and fiue yeares and till fiftie yeares hee was farre out of course But after hee came to be aged he was so well measured in his eating and drinking and so warie in his speeche that they neuer saw him do any thing worthy reprehension nor heard him speake word but was worthie of noting On this condition wee would giue licence to manie that till fiftie yeares they should bee young So that from thenceforth they would be clothed as old men speake as old men and they should esteeme themselues to be olde But I am sorrie that all the Spring time doth passe in flower and afterwardes they fall into the graue as rotten before they finde any time to pull them out The olde doe complaine that the young doe not take their aduise and their excuse herein is that in their words they are too long For if a man doe demaund an olde man his opinion in a case immediately hee will beginne to say that in the life of such and such Kings and Lords of good memory this was done this was prouided so that when a young man asketh them counsel how hee shall be haue himselfe with the liuing the olde man beginneth to declare vnto him the life of those which be dead The reason why the olde men desire to speake so long is that since for their age they cannot see nor go nor eate nor sleepe they would that all the time their members were occupied to doe their duties all that time their tongue should bee occupied to declare of their times past All this being spoken what more is to say I know not but that wee should content our selues that the olde men should haue their flesh as much punished as they haue their tong with talke martyred Though it bee very vile for a young man to speake and slaunder to a young man not to say the truth yet this vice is much more to be abhorred in old Princes and other noble and worshipfull men which ought not onely to thinke it their duty to speake truth but also to punish the enemies thereof For otherwise the noble and valiant Knights should not lose a litle of their authority if a man saw on their heads but white haires and in their mouthes found
when they see themselues in such cares and distresse And after my count made I finde that they ought not to thinke of the companie past nor wofull sollitarines wherein they are presently and much lesse they ought to thinke on the pleasures of this world but rather to remember the rest in the world to come For the true widdowe ought to haue her conuersation among the liuing and her desire to be with the dead If till this present thou hadst paine and trouble to looke for thy Husband to come home haue thou now ioy that hee looketh for thee in Heauen wherein I sweare vnto thee that thou shalt be better vsed of the Gods then he was here of men For in this world wee know not what glorie meaneth and there they know not what paines are Licinius and Posthumius thy vnkles tolde mee that thou art so sorrowfull that thou wilt receiue no comfort but in this case I thinke not that thou bewailest so much for Claudinus that alone doest thinke thou hast lost him For since wee did reioyce together in his life wee are bound to weepe together at his death The heauie and sorrowfull hearts in this worlde feele no greater griefe then to see others reioyce at their sorrowes And the contrary heereof is that the wofull and afflicted heart feeleth no greater ioy nor rest in extream mishappes of Fortune then to thinke that others haue sorrow and griefe of their paine When I am heauie and comfortles I greatly ioy to haue my friend by me and my heart doth tell me that what I feele hee feeleth So that all which my Friend with his eyes doeth bewayle and all that which of my griefes he feeleth the more wherewith hee burdeneth himselfe and the more thereof he dischargeth me The Emperour Octauian Augustus the Hystories say on the riuer of Danuby found a kinde of people which had this straunge custome that with eyes was neuer seene nor in bookes at any time neuer read which was that two Friendes assembled and went to the aulters of the Temples and there one friend confederate with another so that theyr hearts were marryed as man and wife are marryed touching their bodies swearing and promising there to the gods neuer to weepe nor to take sorrow for any mishappe that shold come to their persons So that my friend should come to lament and remedy my troubles as if they had bin his owne and I should lament and remedie his as if they had bin mine Oh glorious world O age most happie O people of eternall memorie wherein men are so geentle friends so faithfull that theyr owne trauells they forgot and the sorrows of strangers they bewayled O Rome without Rome O time euill spent O time to vs others euill employed O wretches that alwaies are carelesse now a dayes the stomacke and intrailes are so seuered from the good and the hearts so ioyned with the euill that men forgetting themselus to be men become more cruell then beasts I labour to giue thee life and thou seekest to procure my death Thou weepest to see mee laugh and I laugh to see thee weepe I procure that thou doe not mount and thou seekest that I might fall Finally without the profite of anie wee cast our selues away and without gaine we doe reioyce to ende our liues By the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee Lady Lauinia that if thy remedy were in my handes as thy griefe is in my heart I would not be sorrie for thy sorrowes neyther thou so tormented for the death of thy husband But alas though I miserable man haue the heart to feele thy anguish yet I want the power to remedie thy sorrowes CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ The Emperor proceedeth in his letter and perswadeth widdows to put theyr willes to the will of God and exhorteth them to liue honestly SInce thy remedie my desire cannot be accomplished because it is a thing vnpossible to receiue speake with the dead and not hauing power mee thinkes that thou and I should referre it to the Gods who can giue much better then wee can aske O Ladie Lauinia I desire thee earnestly and as a Friend I counsell and admonish thee and with all my heart I require thee that thou esteeme that for well done which the Gods haue done that thou conforme thy selfe to the will of the Gods and that thou will nought else but as the Gods will For they onely knowe they erre not wherfore they haue assaulted thy husband with so sudden death and vnto thee his wife haue lent so long life The Gods beeing as they are so mighty and so sage what is hee that can be iudge of their profound iudgements The Gods knowe right well those which serue them and those which offend them those which loue them and those which hate them those that praise them and those that blaspheme them those that yeelde them thanks and those which are vnthankefull And I tell thee further that oftentimes the Gods are serued more with them which are buryed in the graues then with those which goe weeping through the Temples Wilt thou now enter into account with the Gods thou oughtst to note and consider that they haue left thee Children to comfort thy selfe they haue left thee goods wherewith thou mayest auoyde pouertie they haue left thee Friends by whome thou shalt be fauoured they haue left thee parents of whom thou art beloued they haue left thee a good name for to be esteemed and health wherewith thou mayest liue Finally I say that small is that which the Gods take from vs in respect of that they leaue vs. After one sort we ought to behaue our selues with men and after another wee ought to serue the Gods For to men sometimes it is requisite to shew a countenance for to humble them but to the Gods it is necessary to lye flat on the grounde with thy stomacke to honour them And if the Oracle of Apollo doe not deceyue vs the Gods are sooner with humilitie wherewith wee worship them appeased then with presumptuous Sacrifices which wee offer vnto them contented Since thou art widdow Lady Lauinia and art a wise and vertuous Woman beseech the Gods to preserue thy children to defend thy renowme and not to seuer thy Friendes from thee and that thou scatter not thy goods to preserue thy person in health and aboue all to bee in theyr fauour Thou canst not winne nor loose so much in all thy life as the Gods can giue or take from thee in one houre Would to GOD the widow knew how little shee winneth among men and how much she loseth among the Gods when shee is not pacient in aduersitie For impatience oftentimes prouoketh the Gods to wrath We see it in mans bodie by experience that there are sundrie diseases which are not cured with wordes spoken but with the hearbs therevnto applyed And in other diseases the contrary is seene which are not cured with costly medicines
iustice but none do reioyce that they execute it in his house And therfore after the Prince endeth his life the people will take reuenge of those which haue beene ministers thereof It were great infamy to the Empire offence to the gods iniurie to mee vnthankefulnes to thee hauing found the armes of my seruants ready eighteene yeers that thy gates should be shut against them one day Keepe keepe these things my sonne in thy memory and since particularly I doe remember them at my death consider how heartily I loued them in my life CHAP. LVII The good Marcus Aurelius Emperour of Rome endeth his purpose and life And of the last words which he spake to his sonne Commodus and of the table of Counsels which he gaue him WHen the Emperor had ended his particular recommendations vnto his sonne Commodus as the dawning of the day beganne to appeare so his eyes beganne to close his tongue to faulter and his handes to tremble as it doth accustome to those which are at the point of death The Prince perceyuing then little life to remaine commaunded his Secretary Panutius to goe to the coffers of his bookes and to bring one of the coffers before his presence out of the which hee tooke a table of 3. foote of bredth and 2. of length the which was of Eban bordered all about with Vnicorne And it was closed with 2. lids very fine of red wood which they call rasing of a tree where the Phenix as they say breedeth which did grow in Arabia And as there is but one onely Phenix so in the world is there but one onely tree of that sort On the vttermost part of the Table was grauen the god Iupiter and on the other the goddesse Venus and in the other was drawne the god Mars and the goddesse Diana In the vppermost part of the table was carued a Bull and in the nethermost part was drawne a King And they sayde the painter of so famous and renowmed a worke was called Apelles The Emperour taking the Table in his handes casting his eyes vnto his Sonne said these words Thou seest my sonne how from the turmoyles of Fortune I haue escaped and how I into miserable destinies of death do enter where by experience I shall know what shall be after this life I meane not now to blaspheme the Gods but to repent my sinnes But I would willinglie declare why the Gods haue created vs since there is such trouble in life and paine in death Not vnderstanding why the Gods haue vsed so great crueltie with creatures I see it now in that after lxij yeares I haue sayled in the daunger and perill of this life now they commaund mee to land and harbour in the graue of death Now approcheth the houre wherein the band of Matrimonie is loosed the threede of Life vntwined the key doth locke the sleepe is wakened my life doth ende and I goe out of this troublesome paine Remembring mee of that I haue done in my life I desire no more to liue but for that I knowe not whether I am carryed by death I feare and refuse his darts Alas what shall I doe since the Gods tell mee not what I shall do What counsell shall I take of any man since no man will accompanie mee in this iourney Oh what great disceipt Oh what manifest blindnes is this to loue one thing all the dayes of our life and to cary nothing with vs after our death Because I desired to be rich they let me dye poore Because I desired to liue with companie they let me die alone For such shortnes of life I know not what hee is that will haue a house since the narrow graue is our certaine mansion place Belieue mee my sonne that manie things past doe grieue mee sore but with nothing so much I am troubled as to come so late to the knowledge of this life For if I could perfectly belieue this neyther should men haue cause to reproue me neyther yet I now such occasion to lament me Oh how certaine a thing is it that men when they come to the point of death doe promise the Gods that if they prerogue their death they will amend their life but notwithstanding I am sorry that we see them deliuered from death without any manner of amendment of life They haue obtained that which of the Gods they haue desired and haue not performed that which they haue prornised They ought assuredly to thinke that in the sweetest time of their life they shall be constrained to accept death For admit that the punishment of ingrate persons be deferred yet therefore the fault is not pardoned Be thou assured my Sonne that I haue seene ynough hearde selte tasted desired possessed eaten slept spoken and also liued ynough For vices giue as great troubles to those which follow them much as they do great desire to those which neuer proued them I confesse to the immortall Gods that I haue no desire to liue yet I ensure thee I would not die For life is so troublesome that it wearyeth vs and Death is so doubtfull that it feareth vs. If the Gods deferred my death I doubt whether I should reforme my life And if I do not amend my life nor serue the gods better nor profit the commonwealth more and if that euery time I am sick it should grieue mee to dye I say it is much better for mee now to accept death then to wish the lengthening of my life I say the life is so troublesom so fickle so suspicious so vucertaine and so importunate Finally I say it is a life without life that hee is an obstinate foole which so much desireth it Come that that may come for finally notwithstanding that I haue spoken I willingly commit selfe into the hands of the gods since of necessitie I am therunto constrained For it proceedeth not of a little wisedome to receiue that willingly which to doe wee are constrained of necessitie I will not recommend my selfe to the Priests nor cause the Oracles to be visited nor promise any thing to the temples nor offer sacrifices to the gods to the end they should warrant me from death and restore mee to life but I will demaund and require them that if they haue created mee for any good thing I may not lose it for my euill life So wise and sage are the gods in that they say so iust true in that they promise that if they giue vs not that which wee others would it is not for that they will not but because wee deserue it not for wee are so euill and worth so little and we may doe so little that for many good works wee deserue no merite and yet with and euill worke wee be made vnworthy of all Since therefore I haue put my selfe into the hands of the gods let them doe with me what they will for their seruice for in the end the worst that they will do is much better then
greatest troubles or to tearme it better one of the greatest daungers I see the fauoured Courtier in is this that all the Courtiers and in a manner all the Citizens desire to see them out of fauour or dead by some meanes For euery man is of this minde that with the chaunge of things by his fall or death hee hopeth hee shall rise to some better state or happily to catch some part of his offices or liuing An other mischiefe and inconuenience yet happeneth to this fauoured Courtier by haunting other Tables and that is that many times it chanceth vnseemely and vnhonest wordes are let fall at the Table and perhapps quarrell arise vpon it which though hee bee present yet he can neyther remedy nor appease it And because these thinges were done spoken in the presence of the esteemed of the Prince he that spake them hath credit and those that heard it descryed it Yet there is an other disorder that commeth by these feasts that is that he which maketh the feast and biddeth guestes dooth it not for that they are of his acquaintance his kinsfolkes or his faithfull friends nor for that hee is bound and beholding to them but onely to obtaine his desire in his suites that he hath in hand for they are few that seeke to pleasure men but in hope to be greatly recompenced Therefore those that are in fauor and authority about the prince and that accept others bidding sure one of these two things must happen to them Eyther that hee must dispatch his businesse that inuiteth him yea although it be vnreasonable so vniust and damnable that obtayning it both he and the fauoured Courtier goe to the Deuill together for company for the wrong and iniury they haue done to another or on the other side refusing to doe it the Bidder is strucken dead and repenteth his cost bestowed on him Aboue all things I chiefly admonish the Courtiers and Officers of Princes not to sell chaunge nor engage their liberties as they doe the same day they beginne to follow such feasts or to receiue gifts or presents or to linke themselues in straight friendshippe with any or to deale parcially in any cause For by these foresayde occasions they shall oft binde themselues to doe that that shall not bee fit for them besides the losse of their liberty they had before to doe that was most honest and commendable CHAP. XIX That the fauoured of Princes ought not to be dishonest of their tongues nor enuious of their words ANaxagoras the Philosopher disputing one day of the cause why Nature had placed the members of mans body in such order as they are and of the propertie and complexion of euery one of them and to what ende they had beene so orderly placed by Nature each member in his place falling in the end to treat of the tong sayde thus of it You must vnderstand my good Disciples that not without art and great mystery Nature gaue vs two feete two hands two eares and two eyes and yet for all this but one tongue whereby shee shewed vs that in our going feeling smelling hearing and seeing we may bee as long as we will but in speaking wee should be as sparing and scant as could bee Alleadging further That Nature suffered vs to goe open and bare-faced the Eyes the eares the hands the feete and other partes of the bodie bare also excepting the Tongue which shee hath enuironned with jawes and empaled with Teeth and also shut vp with lips which shee did to giue vs to vnderstand that ther is nothing in this present life that hath more neede of Guarde and defence then hath this our vnbrydeled Tongue And therefore sayde Pythachus the phylosopher that a mans Tongue is made like the yron poynt of a Lance but yet that it was more daungerous then that For the poynt of the lance can but hurte the flesh but the Tongue pierceth the heart And surely it was a true saying of this philosopher For I know not that man how vertuous or pacient so euer he be but thinks it lesse hurt the bloudie sword should pierce his flesh then that he should be touched in honour with the venemous poynt of the Serpentine-Tongue For how cruell soeuer the wound be Time doth heale it and maketh it wel againe but defame or infamie neyther late nor neuer can be amended We see men refuse to goe by water for feare of drowning not to come too neer the fire for feare of burning nor to goe to the warres for feare of killing to eate no ill meates for beeing sicke to climbe vp on high for feare of falling to goe in the darke for feare of stumbling to auoyde the yll ayre and raine for feare of rewmes yet I see very few or none that can beware of detractors and ill tongues And that this is true I tell you I doe not thinke that in any thing a man is in such perill and daunger as when he liueth accompanyed with men dishonest in theyr dooings and vile and naught in their tongues I haue also read touching this matter that Aformius the phylosopher being asked what he meant to spend the most part of his time amongst the desart mountaines and in hazard euery houre to be deuoured of wilde beasts Answered thus Wild beasts haue no other weapons to hurt mee but theyr hornes and nayles and theyr Teeth to deuoure mee but men neuer cease to hurte and offend mee with all their whole members And that this is true behold I pray you how they looke at mee with their Eyes spurne mee with their feete torment mee with their hands hate mee with their hearts and defame me with their tongues So that we haue great reason to say That a man liueth with more securitie amongst wilde beasts then amongst malignant and enuious people Plutarch in his booke De exilio sayth That the Lidians had a Law that as they sent the condemned murtherers to rowe in the Galleyes so they confined those that were Detractors and euill tongued men into a secret place farre off from all company the space of halfe a yeare In so much that many times these lewde mates chose rather to rewe in the Galley three yeers then to bee exempt from company and speaking with any but sixe monethes Much like vnto this Law did Tiberius the Emperour make another and condemned a great talker and railer of his tongue and commaunded straightly that he should neuer speake word the space of a whole yeare And as the historic sayth hee remayned dumbe and neuer spake during the whole terme but yet that hee did with his dumbnesse more hurt with nods and signes with his fingers then many other would haue done with their ill tongues By these two examples wee may see that sith these naughty tongues are not to be repressed by silence in secret nor to entreate them as friends nor by doing them good nor by sending them to Galleyes nor to make them holde
their eyes to beholde though their enemyes and neighbours with cankered hearts doe iudge them and with euill tongues defame them For the fond deedes that women do maketh men to be rash of iudgement I like it well that the husbāds shold loue their wiues that they shold comfort them and make much of them and that they should put their trust in them but I doe discommend that the women should goe gadding abroade in visitation from house to house and that their husbands dare not gaine say them For admit that they be good in theyr persons yet in this doing they giue occasion for men to esteem them vaine and light Seneca saieth in an Epistle that the great Romane Cato the Censor ordained that no woman should go out of her house being alone and if perhaps it were in the night shee should not goe alone without company and that the companie should not bee such as she would chose but such as her Husband or Parent would assigne So that with the same countenance wee behold now a common woman with the selfe same lookes then we behelde her that went out of her house Noble Ladyes which loue theyr honor ought greatly to consider and weigh the manie inconueniences that ensue by often gadding abroad For they spend much to Apparrell them they lose much precious time in trimming them they keepe gentlewomen to wayte vpon them they will striue with theyr Husbandes to goe and whiles shee is out of the dores the house shall be euill kept and all the enemyes and friendes thereby haue matter wherevpon to talke Finally I say that the woman that goeth out of her house doeth not weigh the losse of her honor so much as she doth the pleasure shee taketh abroad Presuming as I presume to write with grauitie I say that I am ashamed to speake it yet for all that I will not refraine to write of the walkes of these Dames that visite and desire to be visited amongst whom there is moued oftentimes such vaine communication that it causeth their Husbands to become enemyes and on the other part they remember more the Gossipings that they haue to goe vnto then the heauie burden of their sinnes which they ought to lament CHAP. VIII Of the commodities and discommodities which follow Princesses great Ladyes that go abroad to visite or abide in the house LVcretia by the consent of all was counted the chiefest of all other Matrones of Rome and not for that that she was more faire more wise of greater parentage or more noble but because shee did withdrawe her selfe from companie and abode solitarie For shee was such a one that in the heroycall vertues there could bee nothing more desired nor in womens weaknes there was nothing in her to be amended The hystorie of the chaste Lucretia is euident in Titus Liuius that when the husbands of diuers Romanes came home from the warres to theyr houses they found their wiues in such fort that some were gaping out at the windowes others deuising vainly at their doores others in the Fieldes wandering others in their gardens banquetting others in the market being and others in the streetes here and there gadding but the famous Lucretia was found in her house alone weauing of silke So that shee flying companie for that she would not be seene made her selfe in her Honour and renowme better to be knowne I will giue another counsell to Princesses great Ladies the which as I am willing to giue so I wish they would be as desirous to receiue that is to say if they will bee esteemed and counted for honest women that they must keep themselues from euil company for though the stinking carrion doth no harme because wee eate it not yet the vnsauory sent thereof annoyeth vs by smelling The honour of women is so delicate a thing that if we giue them licence to go abroad to visite women wee must also giue them leaue to be visited of men for that one Dame should visite another it seemeth much charitie that men should visite women I cannot but thinke it much dishonestie In the presence of their husbands and neere kinsfolks they may be visited and talked withall and this is to bee vnderstood of approoued and honest persons Notwithstanding I say if the Husband be not at home I would it should bee counted Sacriledge if any man passe the threshold of the doore to visite the wife Plutarch saith in the booke of the prayses of Women that the wiues of the Numidians when their Husbands were gone out of theyr houses kept their Gates shutte and locked themselues in their houses and they had a Lawe that whatsoeuer hee were that knocked at the dore being shut without calling hee should haue his right hand cut off Cicero in the booke of his Lawes saieth That amongst the Romanes there was an ancient Law and much vsed that if perchaunce any woman did owe any Money to any man and that the Husband beeing the debter were out of his house the Creditour should not aske the wife the debt because that vnder the colour of recouering the goods hee should not dishonour her in her fame I would say therefore that if the Creditour was not permitted in Rome to recouer his goods for that the wife was not of her husband accompanied much lesse they would giue licence to visite a Woman alone For it were more reason that the creditor should enter for to recouer his goods then thou shouldest enter onely for thy pastime The diuine Plato in the books of the Common-wealth saith and by profound reasons perswadeth the Wiues of Greece that they haue no secrete Friends but that euery one keepe this saying in memorie for a principle That the Woman ought not to haue any other Friend then her Husband For women ought not to haue licence to make Friends nor conditions to make enemies Princesses and great Dames ought to consider that euery one of them giueth their bodyes their goods and their liberty to their Husbands Then since it is so I say that with the liberty she ought also to giue him her will For it little auaileth the man and the wife that their goods be common if their wills be priuate For to the ende that God be serued and the people edified both ought in one house to abide at one Table together to eate in one Bed to sleepe and besides this they both ought one thing to loue For if the man and the wife in loue doe differ in their liues they shall neuer be quiet I admonish desire and counsell all all women if they wil be wel married that they think it good that their husbands will that they praise all that hee praiseth that they proue all that hee proueth that they content themselues with that wherewith their husbands are contented and aboue all that they loue no more then their husbands shall loue For otherwise it might be that the wife should set her eyes vpon
one and the Husband ingage his heart to another Plutarche in the booke of his pollitikes saith That a woman after shee is marryed hath nothing proper For the day that shee contracteth Marriage shee maketh her Husband the only Lord of her goods her libertie and of her person So that if the wife willeth any other thing then that which her Husband willeth if shee would loue any other thing then that her Husband loueth we will not call her a true-louer but an open theefe for thieues doe not so much harme to robbe the husband of his mony as the wife doth in withdrawing from him her heart If the woman will liue in peace with her Husband shee ought to obserue whervnto he is inclined for so much as if hee be merrie shee ought to reioyce and if he be sad shee must temper herselfe if he be couetous shee should keepe if hee be Prodigall she should spend if he be vnpatient she should dissemble For the Woman which is wise and sage if shee cannot as she would she ought to wil what shee may VVell whether the Husband bes euill inclined or in his conditions well mannered I sweare he cannot suffer that his wife should haue any other louers For though the man be of a meane stocke he had rather alwayes that his VVife should loue him alone then the best of the nobilitie in the towne One thing I cannot dissemble because I see that God is therwith offended Which is that maine Ladyes make their excuses throgh sicknes because they wold not passe once in the weeke come to heare Seruice and yet wee see them busie daylie trotting about to visite their Friendes and the worst of all is that in the morning for colde they will not rise to go the Churches and yet afterwardes in the heate of the day they goe a gadding from house to house whereas they are oftentimes vntill night I would that the Ladies would but consider with themselues before they goe out of their houses on visitation to what end they goe abroad And if perchaunce they goe abroade to be looked on let them know for a suretie that there be fewe that will praise their beautie but there be manie that will discommend their gadding And wherefore doe these Dames assemble together for some graue matter I warrant you Shall I tell ye It is eyther to banquette with some daintie dishes to talke of theyr Petigrees to deuise of their Husbands to see who hath the best Gowne to note who is euill attired to flatter the faire to laugh to scorne the Foule to murmure at their Neighbours and that which is the worste of all that euen they themselues which speake euill of them that are absent doe gnawe the one the other with enuie Seldom times it chaunceth that the Dames chide not with theyr Husbands after that in this sort they haue bene togither for so much as the one noteth the euill Apparell the other babbling they note the one to bee a Foole and the other to be simple so that it seemeth not that they are meete to visite the one the other but to look and accuse the one the other It is a strange thing for the sage woman to thinke that sheee should take pleasure abroade since shee hath her Husband at home to whom she may talke and hath her children to learne her Daughters to teach her Familie to order and her goods to gouerne shee hath her house to keepe and her Parents whome shee ought to please then since shee hath within her house such pastime why do they accept the companie of straunge men That Marryed women should haue priuate friends and loue to be visited it followeth oftentimes that GOD is offended the Husband iniuried and the people slaundered and the woman that is married taketh little profite and it hindereth the marriage of her that is to marrie For in such a case although some desire her for her Riches yet moe will forsake her for her euill fame CHAP. IX That Women great with childe specially the Princesses and great Ladyes ought to be very circumspect for the danger of the creatures wherein is shewed many misfortunes happened to Women with childe in the olde time for suffering them to haue their wills ONe of the most necessary things for him that taketh in hand anie great iourney ouer any dangerous Count eyes is that at the beginning he ought to learne the way which he vndertaketh to goe For it is a thing no lesse troublesome then perillous that when hee should come to rest of necessitie hee should be enforced to trauell None can denie but that mans life is a long and tedious iourney the which beginneth at our birth and endeth at our death For in the end to haue a long or short life is none other but to come sooner or later to the graue The chiefest folly of all in mine opinion is this that some in their owne conceits thinke they haue counsell enough for others and to all others it seemeth that they want for themselues For of right he may be called a foole that condemneth all others for Fooles and aduaunceth himselfe to be wise Euery man ought to let his neighbour liue in peace and though he doe esteeme himselfe to be wise yet hee ought not to thinke his neighbour a Foole for there is none so wise but that he may occupie it all For we neuer yet saw any man so wise of himselfe but that hee needed the counsel of an other And if this want be in those that be very olde truely it is much more in them that be young whose flesh is not drie but greene the bloud not colde but hote no deadly heate but very liuely the beastial motions not mortified but quickened and heereof ensueth that young men loue their owne rash aduise and opinions and despise the graue counsells of others When the Trees are tender they binde them together because they may grow right they bridle the horse when as yet they are but coltes to the end they may be easie hereafter to the bridle They take the Hawkes in the nest to make them more familiar and when the beasts are litle they take thē to teache them I meane that a man ought to instruct his children to the ende they may grow to liue well hereafter I admonish and tell the Mothers that haue Daughters that there is no remedie to reforme the euill inclinatiō of their childrē but to teach them and to bring them vp well in their youth For there is no wound but is dangerous if in time the plaster be not layde therevnto Returning now to our purpose since that in all thinges there is order and measure We will declare presently how the Male Childe ought to bee taught and first of all we will treate how a man ought to prouide whē the infant is begotten and when as yet it is aliue in the Mothers wombe To the intent Princesses and great Ladyes should