with him all that he thinkes in his hart saying that a man is no more himselfe than that he holdeth secret in himselfe It is long since I commended vnto my memorye that sentence of the diuine Plato wher it is said that vnto whom we discouer our secret wée giue our libertie I say this vnto your Lordship for that if I had not consented that your Secretarie shoulde enter my studie neither had hée bin a babler or your Lordship importunate Your honor saith that he said he had séene in my library a banke of olde bookes whereof some were Gothike Latin Greeke Calde and Arabic and that he forgat not to steale one which made much for your purpose In that he said vnto you he said very troth and in that he did he did me much displeasure for that amongst the learned iestes do extend euen to the speaking of wordes but not to the stealing of bookes As I my Lord haue no other goodes to lay vp nor other pastimes wherewith to recreat me but bookes that I haue procured and also sought in diuers kingdomes beeleue me one thing whiche is that to take my bookes is as much as to pull out my eyes Of my naturall condiciou I was euer an enemie to new opinions and a great frend of olde bookes for if Salomon say Quòd in antiquis est sapientia for my part I do not beleue that the wisedonie lyeth in horeheades but in olde bookes The good king sir Alonso that toke Naples did vse to say that all was but trash except drie wood to burn an olde horse to ride olde wine to drinke olde frendes to bée conuersant and olde bookes to reade in Olde bookes haue great aduantage of the newe whiche is to wit that they speake the trueth they haue grauitie and do shew authoritie of whiche it followeth that we maye reade them without scruple and alledge them without shame The case is this that in the yeare 1523. I passing thorough the Towne of Safra came to a Booke binders shop whiche was tearing out leaues of an olde parchement booke to couer another new booke and knowing that the booke was better to reade in than to make couerings I gaue him for the same viij Rialles of plate also would haue giuen him viij Ducates Now Sir you shal vnderstand that the booke was of the lawes of Badaios that king Allonso the xj made a Prince that was very valiant and not a little wise This is the booke that your Secretarie did steale from me whiche he carried vnto you and it hath pleased me muche that you haue séene it and haue not vnderstood it in suche wise that if you render it it is not because ye haue desire to make restitution but for that you will I make exposition thereof The rest of this letter is the exposition of certaine olde lawes wherein there ariseth this maruell that the Castilian speeche but in a few hundreth yeares is so altered and the prices of their things so chaunged that not only the common people but also a Bishop of the same countrie craued an interpretor of the sayd lawes A letter vnto Syr Iohn Palamos wherein is declared whiche was Saians horse and the Gold of Tholose RIght noble Knight I haue receyued your letter and your complaint therein wherevnto answering I say that I haue bin much busied in certaine affaires whiche Caesar hath commaunded during the expedition whereof I haue had no time to pray my houres muche lesse to aunswere your letters missiue It came vnto Caesars vnderstanding that the Duke of Sogorbe and the Monkes of the vale of Paradise did beare each other ill will and did vse euill neighbourhod for whiche cause hée commaunded that I shoulde visite them and trauaile to bring them agréed whiche I did of very good will although not without great difficultie In fourtie dayes that I was there I neither wente to walke either did occupie my selfe in preaching eyther giue my selfe to studie but all my exercise was to sée priuiledges to visit boundes to heare quarelles and to appease iniuries And for that these affaires were of importance and betwixt personages of so great authoritie I passed immeasurable trauel before I could make them frendes and remoue their griefes I haue said all this to the ende you shoulde holde me the rather excused for not aunswering so soone vnto your letter and for not accomplishing that whiche I promised you in the grades of Valentia but the case was this The Prince of Borbon passing by Valentia wée saw in a certaine cloth of his tapistrie a horse whiche had at his féete Knightes throwen downe and dead And in the brest of the horse was a writing in whiche was sayde Equus Seianus as one would saye this is Saians horse Marueylouslye did they of the Citie beholde this cloth and no man vnderstode what the blason of that horse might signifie some saide it was the historie of Iosue some of Iudas Machabeus some of Hector some of Alexander othersome of Cirrudias After that maner euery man did speake as hée did gesse but no man as hée did know for troth There was in that troupe a gentlemā which said that that was king Don Martin his horse which won Valentia of the Mores that they were fyue Kings of the Mores that hée killed in one daye and his horse was named Seian for that he was of Sogorbe And bycause there was no man that did knowe the secret of that history but I that held my peace he did so sweare and forsweare and also affirme it so true as if he had recompted a storie of the Bible Cōsidering he was a Knight in bloud Generouse of goods rich of yeares auncient although in his wordes very lying I would not there declare presently the misterye of that horse bycause others should not haue wherewith to deride him or the poore gentleman wherfore to bée displeased Mimus Publianus the Philosopher said that with old mē that be vaine bablers and ianglers we ought to haue more respect to their hore heares that they possesse than to the wordes they speake The history of Saians horse is written by very graue authors whiche is to wit Cayus Bassianus Iulius Modestus and Aulus Gelius in the third Booke that hée made de noctibus Atticis And I doe aledge these authors for that no man shall thinke it is a compound fable but that of a troth it did passe as here wée shall recount the historie resiting it from the foundation The great Hercules the Thebane after that hée had slaine Diomedes in Thracia brought with him to Greece a certaine race of horses that Diomedes had bred which of their own proper nature were in colour fayre of stature large in condicions gentle and in battell couragious Of the race of these there was bred an horse in the prouince of Argose whose proportiō was a high crest hear to the groūd slit nostrelles sure houed well membred broade buttocks a long tayle
life and iust in youre tribunall or iudgements I wold not gladly heare that those that do praise that which you do should complaine of that whiche you say with a Lorde of so high estate and with a iudge of so preheminent an office my pen should not haue presumed to write what it hath written if your Lordship had not commaunded My Lord I saide it bycause if this that I haue here written vnto you shall not like you that it may please you to sende too reuoke the licence that you haue giuen Also you will that I shall write vnto youre Lordship if I haue founde in anye auncient Chronicle what is the cause wherefore the Princes of Castile do call themselues not onely Kings but also Catholique Kings And that also I write vnto you who was the first that called himself Catholique King and what was the reason and the occasion to take this so generous and Catholique title There were ynowe in thys Court of whome you might haue demaunded and of whome you might haue vnderstood in yeares more auncieÌ„t in knowledge more learned in bookes more rich and in writing more curious than I am But in the end my Lord be sure of this one thing that that which I shall write if it be not written in a polished stile at the least it shall be all very true Comming to the purpose it is to be vnderstood that the Princes in olde time did always take proud ouer-names as Nabugodonozer that did intitle him selfe King of Kings Alexander the greate the king of the world the king Demetrius the conqueror of Cities the great Haniball the tamer of kingdomes Iulius Caesar the Duke of the Citie the king Mithridates the restorer of the world the king Athila the whip of nations the king Dionisius the host of all men the king Cirus the last of the Gods the king of England defender of the Church the king of Fraunce the most Christian king and the king of Spaine the Catholique king To giue your Lordship a reckoning who were these kings and the cause why they did take these so proude titles to me it should be painfull to write and to your Lordship tedious to reade it is sufficient that I declare what you commaunde me without sending what you craue not It is to wit that in the yere seuen hundreth fiftie two the fift day of the month of Iuly vpon a sunday ioyning to the riuer Bedalake about Xeres on the frontiers euen at the breake of day was giuen the last and most vnfortunate battell betwixt the Gothes that were in Spaine and the Alarues that had come from Africa in whiche the sorowfull king Sir Rodrigo was slaine and all the kingdome of Spaine lost The Moore that was Captaine and that ouercame this famous battell was named Musa which did know so well to folow his victorie that in the space of eight moneths he did win and had dominion from Xeres in the frontieres vnto the rocke Horadada which is neare to the towne of Onnia And that whiche séemeth to vs most terrible is that the Moores did win in eighte moneths which in recouering was almost eight hundred yeres for so many yeares did passe from the time that Spaine was lost vntill Granado was wonne The fewe Christians that escaped out of Spaine came retiring vnto the mountaines of Onnia neare vnto the rocke Horadada vnto which the Moores did come but from thence forward they passed not either did conquer it for there they found great resistance and the land very sharp And when they of Spaine did see that the king Sir Rodrigo was dead and all the Gothes with hym and that without Lord or head they could not resist the Moores they raysed for king a Spanish Captaine that was named Sir Pelaius a man venturous in armes and of all the people very well beloued The fame being spread thoroughout all Spaine that the mountaine men of Onia had raised for king the good Sir Pelaius all men generouse and warlike did repaire vnto him with whome he did vnto the Moores greate hurt and had of them glorious triumphes Thrée yeares after they had raysed the good sir Pelaius for King hée married one of his daughters with one of the sonnes of the Earle of Nauarn who was named Sir Peter and his sonne was called Sir Alonso This Earle Sir Peter descended by right line of the linage of the blessed King Richardos in whose tyme the Gothes did leaue the sect of the curled Arrius by the meanes of the glorious and learned Archbyshop Leonard The good king Pelaius being dead in the eighteene yeare of his raigne the Castilians exalted for king a sonne of his that was named Fauila the which two yeares after he began to raigne going on a certaine day to the mountaine meaning to flea the Beare the Beare killed him And for that the king Fauila died without children the Castilians elected for king the husband of his sister whiche is to wit the sonne of the Earle of Nauarne who was named Alonso the whiche began his raigne in the yeare .vii. C.lxxij hys raigne endured eightene yeares which was as much tyme as his father in law the good King Sir Pelaius had raigned This good King was the firste that was named Alonso which tooke his name in so good an houre that since that daye amongst all the kings of Castile that haue bin named Alonso we reade not of one that hath bin euill but very good Of thys good king Alonso the historiographers do recite many landable things to recompt worthy to be knowen and exemplars to be followed The King sir Alonso was the first that out of Nauarne entered Galizia to make warre vppon the Moores with whome be had many encounters and battells in the ende he ouercame and droue them out of Astorga Ponferada Villa franca Tuy and Lugo with all their Countries and Castelles This good king Alonso was he that did win of the Moores the Citie of Leon and builded there a royall place to the ende all the Kings of Castile his successors should there be resideÌ„t and so it came to passe that in long time after many Kings of Castile did liue and die in Leon. This good King Alonso was the firste that after the destruction of Spaine began to builde Churches and to make Monasteries and Hospitalles in especially from the beginning the Cathedrall churches of Lugo Tâ—y Astorga and Ribeâ—ew the which afterwards did passe to Mondonedo This good king Alonso did buiâ—d many and very solempne Monasteries of the order of saint Benet and many hospitalles in the way of saint Iames and many particular Churches in Nauarne and in the Countrey of Ebro whiche he endewed all with great riches and gaue them opulent possessions This good King Alonso was the first that did séeke and commaunded to be sought with very great diligence the holy bookes that had escaped the hands of the Moores and as a zelous Prince commaunded that
they shoulde bée caried to the Church of Oiendo to be kept and gaue great rewards vnto such as had hid them This good King Alonso was the firsts that commaunded that all the greate writers and singers should resort to Leon to the end they should write great singing bookes and litle breuiaries to pray on the which he gaue and deuided amongst all the Monasteries and Churches that he had founded for the cursed Moores had not left a Church in Spaine that they did not ouerthrow either booke that they did not burne This good king Alonso was the first that did begin to make all the Bishops houses ioyning to the Cathedrall Churches bycause the heate in the Sōmer either the colde in Winter should not let them to be resident in the Quier and to sée how they worshipped God. This good king Alonso the first died in the age of .lxiiij. yeres in the Citie of Leon in the yeare of our Lord. 793. And hys death of the Castilians and Nauarrois was as much bewayled as of all men his life was desired How acceptable his life was vnto God it appeared most cleare in that the Lord shewed by him at his death whiche is to wit that at the point of his last breath they heard ouer his chamber Angelike voices sing and say Beholde how the iust dieth and no man maketh account thereof his dayes be ended and his soule shall bée in rest The lamentation was so great that was made through out Spaine for the deathe of this good King Alonso that from thence forward euery time that any named his name if hée were a man he put off his cap and if a woman she made a reuerence Not thrée months after the death of the good King Alonso all the mightie of the Kingdome ioyned in parliament wherein they did ordeyne and commaund by a publique Edict that from thence forward and for euermore none should presume to say coldly or driely the king Alonso but for his excellencie they should cal him the king Alonso the Catholique for that he had bin a prince so glorious and of the diuine seruice so zelouse This good king was sonne in law of sir Pelaius he was the third King of Castile after the destruction thereof he was the first king of this name Alonso he was the firste that founded Churches in Spaine he was the first King at whose death such Angelike voyces were heard he was the first king that was intituled Catholike by whose deseruings and vertues all the kings of Spaine his successors be called to thys day Catholike Kings My Lorde it séemeth to me that since the kings of Spaine presume to inherit the name they should also presume to follow his life which is to wit to make warre vpon the Moores and to be fathers and defendours of the Church And for that in the beginning of this letter I did vse the spéech of a friend and in this I haue accomplished what you craued as a seruāt I say no more but that our Lord be your protector and gyue vs all his grace From Segouia the xij of May. 1523. A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia beeing enamoured wherein is touched the displeasures that the amorous dames giue vnto their louers MAgnificent and old enamored being in Madrid the fourth of August where I receyued a letter of youres and for that it was torne and the firme somewhat blotted I sweare vnto you by the law of an honest mā I could not find meanes to read it or imagine or cal to remembrance who should write it For notwithstanding we were acquainted when I was Inquisitor in Valencia it is almost a thousand yeares since we saw eche other after I awakened and called my selfe to remembrance and did read and read againe your letter I fell in the reckoning that it was of Mosen Rubin my neighbour I say Mosen Rubin the enamored I remēber that sometimes we were wont to play at the chesse in my lodging and cannot aduise me that you gaue me the dame but I do certainly remember that you did not suffer me to sée your enamored I remember that at the rock of Espadon at the encounter we had with the Moores I escaped wounded and you with a broken head where wée could neyther finde Chirurgion to cure vs or as muche as a clout to bind vs I remember that in reward for that I caused your bill to be firmed by the Quéene you sent me a Mule which I did gratifie and not receyue I remember that when we went to accompany the French King to Requena whē we came to the seuen waters I complayned for want of meate and you for lacke of lodging and in the ende I receyued you into my lodging and you went foorth to prouide victualles I remember when Caesar commaunded me to repaire vnto Toledo you gaue me a letter to be deliuered vnto the Secretarie Vrias vppon a certaine businesse of yours to whome I dyd not only speake but also obtained your sute I remember that chiding with a Chaplayne of youre wiues in my presence when he said vnto you that it were not conuenient you shuld deale fowly with him for that he had charge of soules was a Curat you made answer that he was not a Curat of soules but of fooles I remember that I counselled you and also perswaded you being in Xatina that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the loue that you wot of and I also doe knowe bycause they were tedious perillous and costly I remember that after in Algezira you reported wéeping and sighing that you had no power to chase them from your minde either roote them from your hart and ther I returned to say and sweare that it was no loue eyther pleasant to your persone or too your estate conuenient I remember that after we mette at Torres where I demaunded to what conclusion you had framed your loue you answered in a thousand sorrowes and trauelles for that you had escaped from thence wounded abhorred beflouted infamed and also be pilled Of many other things I remember I haue both séene and hard you speake and do in that time that we were neighbours and couersant in Valentia whereof although we may talke they are not too be written In this present letter you aduertise me that now you are enamored and taken with other new loues and that since I sayd the troth in the first you pray me to write my opinion in the second holding it for certaine that my skil serueth to let bloud in the right vayne and also to bind vp the wound Sir Mosen Rubin I woulde you had written or demaunded some other matter for speaking the very troth in this matter of loue you are not in the age to follow it eyther may it be contained with my ingrauitie to write it of my habit of my profession and of my authoritie and grauitie you shoulde haue demaunded cases of counsell and not remedies of loue
stilled water Although Doctor Soto tolde me this tale in iest I did firmly beléeue it bicause you Master Doctor did once saye vnto mée in Madrid that in all the days of your life you neuer receiued compound purgation either proued the fast of stilled water Ther is no arte in this world that makes me lose the stirops or to say better my wits but the maner that Physitions do vse to cure For wée sée them desirous to cure and enimies to be cured And bicause Master Doctor you write vnto me also you sweare and coniure me by the desire I wishe to the welfare of my father that I write vnto you what is my iudgement of Physike and what I haue read of the inuenters birth and first rising thereof I will performe your request although it be more than others would wish for it is a matter that the wise Physitions will delight in but wherefore the foolish will giue both you and me to the diuell Of the moste auncient inuenters of Physike and medicine IF Plinie doe not deceyue vs there is no arte of the seuen liberall Artes wherein there is practised lesse trouth and whiche hath passed more mutabilitie than the Arte of Medicine Bicause there hath not bin kingdom people either notable natiō in this world wher she hath not bin receiued and after entertaynment againe throwne out of the same For if as she is a medicine she were a man immesurable wer the trauels that she wold report that she had suffred and many and very many are the kingdoms that she hath traueled and prouinces that she hath wandred not bycause they neglected to be cured but for that they helde Phisitions suspitious to be doubted The first that amongst the Greekes found the art of curing was the Philosopher Apollo and hys Sonne Aesculapius which for being so famous in Phisicke they concurred vnto him as vnto an Oracle throughout all Grecia but the chaunce was thus This Aesculapius was but a yong man and by greate mischaunce was slayne with lightning And as he left no disciple that knew his secretes neither that could make his medcines the master and the Art of medcine ioyntly did perish Four hundred and forty yeres was the Art of Phisicke lost in suche wise that in all the worlde there was not a man founde that did cure publikely or was called Phisition for so many yeares passed from the time that Esculupius died vntill the birth of Arthaxerxes the second in whose time Ipochras was borne Strabo Diodoro also Plini maketh mention of a woman of Grecia that in those most aunciente times did florish in the art of Phisicke of whome they recite so many mōstrous things and so incredible that to my iudgemēt they be al or the more part of thē fayned for if they shuld be true it séemed rather that she raysed the dead than cured the sicke In these days there did rise in the prouince of Achaia an other womā that began to cure with psalmes and words without applying any medcine simple or compound whyche being knowne in Athens was condemned by decrée of the Senate to be stoned to death saying that the Gods neyther nature had giuen remedies for sicknesse in words but in herbes and stones In the dayes that they had no phisitions in Asia the Gréekes held for custome when any man had made experiēce of a medcine and did heale with the same he was bound to write it in a table and to hang it vp in the temple of Diana that was at Ephesus for that in the like case any other might vse the same remedy Trogos Laertios and also Lactantius saith that the cause whereby the Gréekes did sustayne themselues so long time without Phisitions was that in May they dyd gather swéete herbes whiche they kept in their houses they were let bloud once in the yeare did bath once euery monthe and also they did eate but once a day Conformable to this Plutarch doth say that Plato being demaunded by the philosophers of Athens if he had seene any notable thing in Tinacria which is now called Sicilia made aunswer vidi monstrum in natura bominem bis saturum in die whiche is to say I did see a monster in mās nature which did fill or féede himselfe twice in one day he sayde thus by Dionysius the tyrant which was the first that inuented to eate at noone and afterwards to suppe at night for in the olde worlds they did vse to suppe but not to dine I haue curiously considered and in great varietie of bookes I haue sought and that whiche I found in this case is that all the nations of this world did eate at night and onely the Hebrewes did féede at none but following our intent it is to vnderstand that the temple most estéemed in all Asia was the Temple of Diana the one cause was for that it was stately of buildings another for that it was serued with many Priests but the most principall cause was for that the tables of Medicines were hanged there to cure the diseased Strabo sayeth that eleuen yeares after the battells of the Peloponenses the great Philosopher Ipochras was borne in a little Iland named Coe in whiche also were borne those glorious personages Licurgus and Brias the one Captayne of the Athenians and the other Prince of the Lacedemonians Of this Ipochras it is written that he was of small stature somewhat poare blind with a great head of much silēce paynefull in study and aboue all of a high and delicate iudgement From xviij yeares vnto thirtie fiue Ipochras continued in the scholes of Athenes studying Philosophie and reading and notwithstanding that in his time many Philosophers did flourish he was more famouse renoumed and estéemed than all the rest After that Ipochras departed from the studies of Athenes he wandred throughout diuers kingdomes and prouinces inquiring and searching of all men and women what they did knowe of the properties and vertues of herbes and planets and what experience they had seene of them At which things he did write and incommend vnto his memorie Also Ipochras did search with most great diligence for other bookes of Phisick written by any other auncient Philosophers and it is sayd that he found some written bookes in whyche theyr authours had written no medcine that they had made but such as they had séene made Of the Kingdomes and Prouinces where Phisitions were banished TWelue yeares Ipochras did trauell in this peregrination after which time he retired vnto the temple of Diana that was in Ephesus and translated al the tables of medcines and experiments that were there preserued many yeares he put in order all that was before confused and added many things that he had founde out and other things that he had experimented This Philosopher Ipochras is Prince of all Phisitions in the world for he was the first that tooke penne to write and to put Phisicke in order Also it is
of Asia the Heresie of Ebionites whereof Sainct Iohn in the Apocalips maketh reporte notwithstanding that Theodosius and Simachus had bene faithfull in their translations and of troth and veritable in their words our Church would at no tyme receyue their scriptures hauing no confidence in the credence of their persons Fourtéene yeares after the death of Simachus whiche was the fifth yeare of the Empire of Heliogabalus it came too passe that a certayne Patriarcke of Ierusalem béeyng named Ioannes Budeus founde in a caue at Iericho faythfully written and catholikely translated out of Greke into Latine all the olde and new Testament This is the translation the whiche at this present the Latine Church doth vse this is that which we call Quinta editio and of others is named the Translation Hiericontini which is to saye that which was founde in Hiericho the auctor whereof was neuer knowen In the eyght yeare of Alexāder Seuerus the sonne of Mamea which was about ten yeares after the translation Hiericontine was found a Doctor of ours named Origene did correct the trāslation of the .70 Interpreters which is to vnderstand in adding where they had bin briefe declaring the darke mysteries placing a little starre as a marke wher he had made declaration of any matter and where he did remoue or take away he added the marke of a little arrowe All these sixe translations aboue mentioned whiche is to say of the .70 Interpreters of Aquile of Simachus of Theodosius of Iericho that of Origene our auncients did vse for custome of them all to make one booke writing in euery leafe by six diuisions and this booke was named Hexapla ab ex quod est ex Latinè quasi sex traductiones in se continens Foure hundreth yeares after this a certaine Doctor of ours named S. Ierome most certainly a man very holy and in his tyme and of his temple most learned and greatest vnderstanding in the sacred Scriptures and humaine letters and no lesse expert in the Gréeke Hebrewe and Caldée tongue This man did in like maner correct the translation of the .70 Interpreters made also another by it selfe out of Greke into Latine as well of the olde as of the new Testament The greatest part wherof is now in vse in our Catholike Church and is the same that we most estéeme In like maner I will that you vnderstande that in the 314. yere after the natiuitie of our sauiour Iesus Christ there was raysed among you a certayne Iewe of Idumaea named Maier a man very subtyle and in the arte of Nygromancie no lesse skilfull which obtayned suche credite and reputation among you that he made you fully beléeue that God had gyuen twoo lawes vnto Moyses in the mount of Sinay the one in writing and the other in worde and sayde that God had done the same knowing that in time the wrytten lawe shoulde bée loste and that lawe shoulde raygne whiche was gyuen by woorde This cursed Iew Maier further sayde that God had reuealed this lawe vnto Moyses only and alone and Moyses did reueale the same to Iosue and Iosue to his successors and so from hand to hande it was reuealed vnto him and that vnto him onely God had commaunded to put the same in writing and to manifest the same to his Iewish people Insomuch that the lawe of Moyses beganne to bée abolished and the people and their lawe to be loste This lawe whiche your Iewe Maier had inuented in the Hebrwe speache was named Misna which is to saye the Secrete lawe This sayde lawe was glosed afterwards by many of your doctors namely by Rabby Manoa Rabby Andasy Rabby Butaora and Rabby Samuel the whiche in like manner with him did write many wretched and cursed things and no small lyes in preiudice of the lawe that Iesus Christe had preached vnto you and the lawe which Moyses had giuen you This lawe is the same whiche your Rabbyes haue otherwise named the booke of the Talmud wherein your doctors do say that when God vpon the Mount of Sinay did gyue the law vnto Moyses that then were present the soules of Dauid of Esay of Ieremie of Ezechiel and of Daniel and of all the other Prophetes And likewise they saye that there was present all the soules of theyr Rabbyes of the Synagogue whiche shoulde declare bothe the lawes of Moyses and also sayde that shortly after God would anew create their bodies to infuse these soules But it is right well knowen vnto you that according to the Prophesies and the lawes of Moyses the true Messias whiche was Iesus Christe was then come and that all your Iewish Common wealth is nowe finished for whiche cause ye haue preferred this lawe named Misna and his glose named Talmud by the meane of which law and glosse ye bold abused all the common people and yeelde destruction to your Iewishe estate Concluding I say that very well to good right and direct purpose I haue alleadged agaynste you that texte of Dauid whiche sayeth Scrutati sunt iniquitates And the other of Esay whiche sayeth Parum est mihi vt suscites feces In so muche as you haue falsified the Scriptures inuēted other new lawes Wherefore in respect thereof I haue done you neyther wrong nor iniurie considering also that at this present yee do more defende the lawe of Maier than the lawe of Moyses And for that I haue dilated this discourse more than I thought to haue done the reste shall remayne to bée verified in some other disputation An excellent disputation which the Auctor held against the Iewes of Naples wherein is declared the hyghe mysteries of of the Trinitie HOnorable Rabbyes and stiffenecked Iewes in the laste disputation holden betwixte vs on saterday last ye would haue pluckt out myne eyes and also haue beaten mée bycause I alledged thē these words of Iesus Christ which say Ego principium qui loquor vobis Answering ye sayde that neyther Iesus Christ vnderstoode what he sayde eyther I muche lesse what I defended scornfully mocking ye affrmed that I was but simple the whiche in déede may be very true But to note my Lord Iesus Christ of falsehoode most certaynly of your parte it procéedeth of your to too greate wretchednesse and moste excéeding and extreme wickednesse béeyng vtterly repugnant vnto his bountie to deceyue and to his diuinitie to lye Were it in you or had ye the grace to beléeue as I and all others do and ought to beléeue that his humanitie word is vnited ye would in like maner beléeue confesse that it were impossible that the blissed Iesus might erre in that which he commaunded eyther exercise his life as sinner eyther his speache as lyer But forasmuche as ye remayne obstinate in your lawes of Moyses ye deserue not to vnderstande so high mysteries The law of Moyses I do not deny but your Cabal I can in no wise credit but vtterly defie firmly beleue the
King a Prophet a Sainct and with God so priuate vnderstoode not what to present vnto God for the good things hée had receiued what shall we doe that are miserable that vnderstand not what to say nor haue not what to giue of our selues wée are so weake and our abilitie so small our valure so little and haue so few things that if God do not giue wherwith to giue of our selues we haue not what to giue And what we haue to craue or els that he should giue is his grace to serue him and not licence to offend him In remuneration of so great victory I would not counsell your Maiesty too offer iewels as the women of Rome eyther Siluer or Gold as the Greekes eyther your owne blud as Silla neyther your childrē as Iephtha but that ye offer the inobedience and rebellion against your Maiesty by the commons of Castile For before GOD there is no Sacrifice more accepted than the pardoning of enemies The iewels that we might offer vnto God procéede from our Cofers the Gold from our Chests the bloud from our Veynes but the pardoning of iniuries from our hartes and entrayles where enuie lyeth grinding and perswading reason to dissemble and the hart to be reuenged Much more sure is it for Princes to be beloued for their clemency than to be feared for their chastisements For as Plato sayeth the man that is feared of many hath cause also too feare many Those that offended your Maiestie in those alterations paste some of them bée deade some bée banished some hidden and some be fledde Most excellent Prince it is great reason that in reward of so great victory they maye boast themselues of your pietie and not complaine of your rigor The wiues of these vnfortunate men bée poore their daughters vpon the poynt to be lost their Sonnes are Orphans their kinsfolkes blushe and are ashamed In so muche as the pitie that yée shall vse towardes a fewe redoundeth to the remedie of manie There is no estate in this worlde whiche in case of iniury is not more sure in pardoning than in reuenging for that many times it dothe happen that a man séeking occasion too bée reuenged doth vtterly destroy him selfe The enemies of Iulius Caesar did more enuie the pardoning of the Pompeyans than the killing of Pompeyus himselfe For excellencie it was written of him that he neuer forgot seruice or euer did remember iniurie Two Emperours haue bene in Rome vnlike in name and much more in maners the one was named Nero the Cruell the other Antony the Méeke The which ouernames the Romaines gaue them the one of Méeke bycause he could not but pardon the other of Cruell bicause he neuer ceased to kill A Prince although he be prodigall in play scarce in giuing vncertaine of his woorde negligent in gouernement absolute in cōmaunding dissolute in liuing disordinate in eating and not sober in drinking is termed but vicious but if he be cruel and giuen to reuenge he is named a tyrant As it is sayde by Plutarch He is not a tyrant for the goods he taketh but for the cruelties he vseth Foure Emperours haue bene of this name The first was called Charles the great the second Charles the Bohemian the third Charles the Balde the fourth Charles the grosse the fifth which is your maiestie we wishe to be called Charles the Méke in following the Emperoure Antony the Méeke which was the Prince of all the Romaine Empire best beloued And bicause Calistines would that Princes should be persuaded by few things those very good and woordes well spoken I cōclude and say that Princes with their pietie and clemencie be of God pardoned and of their subiects beloued An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a sermon on the day of Kings wherein is declared howe the name of Kings was inuented and howe the title of Emperours was first found out A matter very pleasaunt S. C. C. R. M. THis present day being the day of Kings in the house of Kings and in the presence of Kings it is not vnfitte that wée speake of Kings though Princes had rather be obeyed than counselled And seing we preache this day before him that is the Emperour of the Romains King of the Spaniards it shal be a thing very séemly also very necessary to relate here what this woorde King doth mean and from whence this name Emperor doth come to the end we may al vnderstand how they ought to gouerne vs and we to obey them As concerning this name of King it is to be vnderstood that according to the varietie of nations so did they diuersly name their Princes that is to saye Amongest the Aegyptians they were called Pharaones the Bythinians Ptolomaei the Persians Arsicides the Latines Murrani the Albans Syluij Sicilians Tyrants the Argiues Kings The fyrste king of this world the Argiues doe saye was Foroneus and the Greekes do report to bée Codor Laomor Whiche of these opinions is most true hée only knoweth that is moste high and only true Although we know not who was the first King neither who shal be the laste king of the worlde at the least we know one thing that is that al the Kings past are dead and al those that now liue shal die bicause death doth as wel cal the King in his throne as the laborer at his plow. Also it is to bée vnderstood that in olde time to be a King was no dignitie but onely an office as Maior or Ruler of a common wealth After this maner that euery yeare they did prouide for the office of King to rule as nowe they do prouide a Viceroy to gouerne Plutarke in his booke of Common wealth dothe reporte that in the beginning of the worlde all Gouernours were called tyrantes and after the people did perceiue what difference was betwéene the one and the other they did ordeyn amongst thēselues to name the euill gouernors tyrāts and the good they intituled Kings By this it may be gathered most excellent Prince that this name King is consecrated vnto persons of good deserning and that be profitable vnto the common wealth for otherwise he doth not deserue to bée called King that doth not knowe to gouern When God did establish an houshold for himself did constitute a Common Wealth in the land of the Aegyptians he would not giue thē kings to gouerne but Dukes to defend them that is to say Moses Gedeon Iephtha and Sampson This God did to deliuer them from paying of tributes and that they might be vsed as brethren not as vassals This maner of gouernment amōg the Hebrues did cōtinue vnto the time of Helie the high priest vnder whose gouernance the Israelites required a King to gouerne their cōmon welth and to lead them in their warres Then God gaue them Saul to be their King much against his will so that the last Duke of Israell was Helie and the firste king was
but that in the houses of Kynges and of high Princes many must enter many must serue many must liue and many must eate but that whych is to be reprehēded is this that many times more is spoiled than is spent If in the Courtes of Princes there were not so many horses in the stable so many haukes in the mewe so many gibers in chambers so many vagabondes in pallace and so greate disorder in expences I am sure that neyther shoulde they so go ouercharged eyther their Subiectes so much gréeued God in commaunding the Prince not to haue many horses is to forbid him that he vse not excessiue expences bycause in déede and in conclusion they shal giue an accoumpt vnto God of the goodes of the common wealth not as Lords but as tutors Also God dothe commaunde that hée which shall be King do not consent to turne the people intoo Egipt that is to say that he do not permit them to commit Idolatrie ne yet to serue King Pharao for oure good God will that we adore him alone for Lorde and that we hold hym for our creator To come out of Egipt is to come out of sinne to turne into Egipt is to turne into sin for this cause the office of a good Prince is not only to remunerate the vertuous and such as liue wel but also to chastise the wicked and suche as liue euil It is no other thing to return into Egypt but boldly openly and manifestly to sinne the which the good Prince ought not to consent vnto eyther with any in lyke cace to dispence bicause the secrete sinnes to God are to be remitted but those whiche are manifest the good king ought to chastise Then doth the Prince suffer any to return into Egipt when openly he suffreth him to liue in sinne that is to say to passe his life in enuious reuenging to holde by force that which is due to an other to be giuen to folow the lusts of the fleshe and to dare to renue his olde age into wanton affections in which the Prince doth so much offend God that although he be no companion in the fault yet in the worlde to come hée shall not escape to be partaker of the payne For a kyng to gouerne well in his kingdome oughte to be asmuche feared of the euyll as beloued of the good And if by chaunce any bée in his house that is in fauour that is a quareller or any seruaunt that is vicious I denie not but vnto suche a one he may impart of his goods but not with his conscience Also God commaundeth him which shall be king that he hold not in his companie many women that is to vnderstand he shal content himself with his Queene with whom he is maried without vngodly acquayntance with any other for the great Princes and mighty potentates doe more offend God with yll example they giue than with the faultes they committe Of Dauid of Achab of Assa and of Ieroboam the scriptures do not so much complaine of their sinnes as of the occasion they gaue vnto others to sinne bicause very seldome wee sée the people in awe of correction when their lorde is vicious As Princes be more high and also mightyer than the rest euen so are they more behelde also more viewed thā others And for this cause according to my iudgement if they be not chast yet at the least they should be more secrete Among the heap of sinnes this maye be one wherewith God is not a little offended And on the other part it is wherwith the cōmon welth receiueth most sclander for in cases of honor none wil that they haunt his house request his wyfe or defloure his daughter The writers of histories do much prayse Alexander the great Scipio the Affrican Marcus Aurelius the greate Augustus the good Traian which onely vsed not to force women in libertie but did not so much as touch suche as were their captiues taken in battaile and truly they were iustly praised for vertuous mē For it procedeth of a more noble corage to resist a prepared vice thā to giue an onset vpō a cāp of great power Also God doth commaund him which shal be king that he hoord not vp much treasure that he be not scarce or a nigard for the office of the marchant is to kéep but of a King to giue and to be liberal In Alexander the great is muche more praised the largenesse be vsed in giuing than his potencie in fighting the which doth clearly appeare when we wil praise any man we do not say he is mightie as Alexander but franke as Alexander To the contrary of this Suetonius writeth of the Emperor Vespasian the which of pure miserie nigardship and couetousnesse commanded in Rome to be made publike places to receyue vrine not to kéepe the Citie more swéete but to the end that they should giue him more rente The diuine Plato did counsell the Atheniens in his bookes of a good comon wealth that the gouernour whiche they had to choose should be iust in his iudgements true of his word constant in that he takes in hand secrete in that he vnderstandeth large and bountiful in giuing Princes and great potentates for their power they be feared and for their magnificēt liberalitie they are beloued But in déed and in the end fewe folow the king not only for that his conditions be good but bicause they think his giuing is much and verie noble Gods commaunding in his lawe that the Prince shal not hourde vp treasures is no other thyng to saye but that all shall serue hym of good wyll and that bée vse towarde all men of his liberalite for that many tymes it dothe happen that the Prince in béeyng vnchearefull in giuyng it commeth to passe in proces that very few haue any mind to gratifie or serue hym Also God commaunded the kyng that should gouerne his people that he should not be proude tha◠he should always read in Deuteronomie which is the Booke of the Lawe And bycause wée haue alreadie made a large discourse we will leaue the exposition of these two woordes for an other day There resteth that we pray vnto the Lord to giue your Maiestie his grace and vnto you and vs his glorie to the which Iesus Christ bring vs Amen A discourse or conference with the Emperour vpon certayne moste aunciente stampes in Mettalles the whyche he commaunded the Author to reade and to expounde wherin are touched many antiquities S. C. C. R. M. SO greate be the affaires of Princes and so muche laden wyth studious cares that hardlye remayneth tyme to sléepe or eate muche lesse to recreate or ioye themselues with gladsome pastyme Oure forces are so small our iudgemente so weake oure appetite so variable and oure desyres so disordinate that sometyme it is necessarie and also profitable to giue place to the humanitie to bée recreated vppon condition that the truth bée
they shal remember they were subiectes to our Caesar for so much as I finde in old Histories that this linage of Marshalls of Nauarre is auncient generous and valyant And for my parte I doe firmely beléeue that the Marshall had rather serue Caesar his lord than folow the French king his master The good Scipio the Affricane did vse to say that al things in the warrs ought to be assayed before the sworde be drawne And surely he did speake most truely Bicause there is not in all this world so greate a victorie as that which is obtayned withoute bloud Cicero to writing to Atticus dothe saye and affirme that the deuise that vanquisheth the enimyes with counsell is of no lesse worthynesse than he that ouercommeth by the sworde Sylla Tyberius Caligula Nero neuer could but cōmaund kill and on the other side the good Augustus Titus and Traianus coulde not but pray and pardon in suche maner that they ouercame praying as the other fighting The good Surgion oughte to cure with swéete oyntments and the good Captaine with discrete persuasions For as for yron God rather made it to eare fieldes than to kill men Plutarch dothe saye that Scipio being at the siege of Numantia when they were importunate that he should besiege the Citie and destroy the Numantins answered I had rather conserue the life of one Roman than kill all those in Numantia If these words of Scipio were wel considered of the Captains of warre peraduenture they woulde leaue to bée soo rashe in hazardyng theyr armyes in so greate and many perils Wherof doth folow oftentimes that thinking to be reuenged of their enimies they execute vengeance of their owne proper bloud All this haue I sayde noble Constable to the ende that sith Caesar hath iustified the warre of Founterabie your noblenesse of your parte should also iustifie the same And the iustification whiche you haue to make is First persuade thē before you come to besiege them bicause it doth many times happen that the prayers of a friend may doe more than the sworde of the enimie Of the good Emperoure Theodosius the historie writers recount that vntill ten dayes were past after he had besieged any Citie he did not permit his souldiours to make warre neyther to misuse the neighbors therof Saying and proclayming euery daye that those tenne dayes space hée gaue them to the ende they shoulde profite themselues by his clemency before they should make proof of his power When the greate Alexander did sée the deade bodie of Darius and Iulius Caesar the heade of Pompeius and Marcus Marcellus Syracusa burne and the good Scipio Numantia destroyed They coulde not detaine their eyes from wéeping althoughe they were mortall enimies For if the tender hearted and noble mynded reioyce of the victorie they are grieued with others spoyle Beleeue me noble Constable that pitie and clemencie doe neuer blunt the launce in tyme of warre And on the other side the Captaine that is blouddie and reuenging eyther the enimies doe kill him or else his owne doe sell hym Iulius Caesar not vndeserued shall hold the supremacie amongst the Princes of the world and not bycause hée was more fayre stronger valyanter or more fortunate than the rest but for that without comparison muche more were the enimies hée pardoned than those he ouercame or killed We doe reade of that famous Captaine Narsetes that he did subdue the Frenche ouercame the Bactrians and did conquere and gouerne the Germains and with all thys dyd neuer gyue battayle to the enimies but hée wepte in the Temples the night before The kingdome wherein the Emperour Augustus moste delighted and ioyed was that of the Mauritanes whyche is nowe called the kyngdome of Marrewcos And the reason that he gaue for this was bycause all other kingdomes he got by the sword and this kingdome he obtained by entreatance If vnto my wordes it please you to giue credite trauayle that Founterabye maye bée yéelded rather by composition than by force For that in graue and doubtefull cases firste men oughte to profite themselues with their pollicie before they make proofe of Fortune All the rest that your Lordship dothe commaunde mee I will perfourme with greate good will Whiche is to witte that I praye vnto our God for your Lordships victorie And that hée giue vnto mée of hys glorie From the towne of Victoria the .xiij. of Ianuary .1522 A letter for Sir Antonie of Cuniga Priour of Saint Iohn in the which is said that although there be in a Gentleman to bee reprehended there ought not to be cause of reproch FAmous and moste valiaunt Captayne yesterday béeyng Sainct Luces day Lopes Osorius gaue mée a letter from your woorship made at the siege of Toledo And of a truthe I didde muche reioyce therein and no lesse estéeme the same to bée written of suche a hande and sente from suche a place For in the tyme of rebellion as nowe the Knyght ought not to write from his house resting but from the Campe fightyng The Priest oughte to boaste hymselfe of his studie the husbandman of his plough and the Knyght of his launce In suche wyse that in a good common wealth the priest prayeth the husbandman ploweth the Knight fighteth He is not to be accounted a knight that is extract of noble blud in power great in iewels rich in seruāts mighty for al these things in marchauntes is many times found and also of a Iewe many tymes obtained But that whiche maketh the Knight to be a perfect gentleman is to be measured in his words liberal in giuing sober in diet honest in lyuing tender in pardoning and valiant in fightyng Notwithstanding any one be noble in bloud and mightie in possessions yet if hee bée in his talke a babbler in eating a glutton in condition ambicious in conuersation malicious in getting couetous in trauells impatient and in fightyng a coward of such we shal rather say to haue more abilitie for a carle than for a Knight vilenesse sluggishnesse nigardship maliciousnesse lying and cowardnesse did neuer take repast with knighthoode For in the good knight although there may be founde wherewith to be reprehended there ought not to be conteyned wherfore to be reproued In our age there hath bin no tyme wherin the good knight mighte better shewe his ablenesse or to what ende hee is than at this instant bicause the King is out of his kingdom the Quéene is sicke the royall Counsell is fledde the people rebell the gouerners are in Camp and all the kingdome out of quiet nowe or neuer they ought to trauaile and die to appease the kingdome and euery man to serue his king The good Knight doth now turne his gloues into gantlets Mules into horsses his buskins into greues his hattes into Helmets his doublets into Harnesse his sylke into mayle his golde into yron his hunting into fighting In such wise that the valiant knight ought not to boaste himselfe
were not holy and approued but rather bycause ye could not vnderstand them Muche lesse may you denie me that your Rabby Salmon Rabby Salomon Rabby Fatuell Rabby Aldugac and Rabby Baruch do not saye and affirme by their writings that after your second deliuerance from the Captiuitie of Babylon ye neuer more vnderstoode to performe the Ceremonies of your temple speake the Hebrew tong either vnderstande the holy Scripture much lesse to sing the Canticles of Dauid And no lesse may you denie that of all sorts of your Iewish people in the dayes of the great Priest Mathathias did repaire vnto the Court of king Antiochus to sell the Realme and to learne his law and that which is more vile ye consented that all the bookes of Moyses shoulde publikely be burnt and likewise permitted scholes in the Citie of Ierusalem to reade the lawes of the Gentiles placing also an Idol in the holy temple vnto whome was offered incense and other odours as if it had bin the true God the which most certaynly I woulde not haue spoken if I had not found it written in the booke of Machabees And then our Lorde God seing the wine of the lawe in a manner consumed and that there remayned nothing but lies and dregs and the time approching that the Gentiles shoulde be called and conuerted and that in them the Church shoulde begin he did permit and ordayne that all the holy scriptures should be translated into the gréeke tong foreséeing that the Hebrew tong should be lost And how so famous a translation and interpretation came as touching their law hauing also in the same charge to iudge all differences betwixt the people They had likewise the charge to commaunde and to make ordinances as touching the gouernement of the Common wealth euen to the assignement direction what euery one should haue in his house These were the mē hat did ordeyne and commande that before the Hebrewes should sute at table they shoulde wash their handes the transgression of whiche Ceremonie the Iewes did accuse the Apostles but as well defended by Iesus Christ For surely if these auncientes had not dealte farther than with the gouernement of their common wealth and iudging their causes it had bene notwithstanding a thing tolerable But by their authoritie they thrust in themselues to glose the Bible and garboyle the scripture Wherof the principal that therto did first giue attēpt was Rabby Salmon Rabby Enoch Limuda Rabby Adam Rabby Elechana and Rabby Ioiade whose gloses ye haue as much praysed and estéemed as if God him selfe had ordeyned and Moyses written them Whereof hath risen many errors in your Aliames and many wrong and most vntruthes in the Scriptures which you haue Neither are ye able to denie vnto mée that by the meane of your false interpretations and the erroneous vnderstandings that your predicessors haue committed and done vppon the Bible there hath not risen in your Synagoge those thrée cursed sectes of the Assees Saduces and Pharises the which heretiques caused in your common wealth great scandalles and in your lawe greate doubtes And to the ende you shall vnderstand that I know all your secrets It is not vnknowne vnto you that .40 yeares before the incarnation of Iesus Christ there was in Babylon a Iewe named Ionathan Abemiziell so muche estéemed amongst you and his doctrine so muche reuerenced that your auctors haue sayde that in him was renewed the fayth of Abraham the pacience of Iob the zeale of Helie and the spirite of Esay This Rabby Abemiziell was the firste that translated the Bible out of the Hebrew into the Caldian tongue with suche diligence and fidelitie that hée was thought to bée inspired of the holy Ghost in the doing thereof This good Iewe Abemiziel is the same the which whereas the Psalmist sayeth Dixit Dominus Domino meo he sayde Dixit Dominus verbo meo And in that Psalme whiche sayeth Ego mortifico hée sayde Ego mortificor And where it is sayde Percutiam ego sanabo he sayde Percutiar ego sanabo And where it is sayde Aduersus Dominum aduersus Christū eius he sayde Aduersus Dominum aduersus Messiam eius And where Salomon sayeth Viam viri in adolescentia he sayd Viam viri in adolescentula In suche manner that in his woordes he séemed rather to prophesie than to translate The translation of this Iewe Abemiziel is the same which at this present we call the Caldian translation and the which is moste in vse in the Orientall Churches likewise is vsed of the Armenians the Caldees the Aegiptians and of many Greekes But the doctors of your law perceyuing that many Iewes did conuert Christians and that also conformable vnto his translation they gathered that Christe was the true Messias The whiche when they perceyued they did assemble in the Citie of Babylon in the fourthe yeare of the reygne of the Emperour Traian wherein it was ordeyned and commaundement giuen vnder great penalties that any of that translation should neuer more be vsed but in all places whersoeuer it should be founde without remission to be burned The translation of Abemiziel béeyng condemned by the cōmon consent of the Iewes it came to passe in the sixt yeare of the sayde Emperor Traian a certayne greate and famous heathen Priest borne in the Isle of Pont named Aquile did conuert himselfe to the lawe of Moyses the which conuersion hée did not performe of conscience to saue his soule but to obtaine in mariage an excellent fayre Iewishe woman with whome he was farre inflamed And for that this Aquile was a man very skilfull in the Gréeke and Hebrewe tongues hée founde no better opportunitie more aptly to shewe his spirite than to take in hande the translation of all the holy Scripture out of Hebrewe into Gréeke This same was the first translation that was performed after the incarnation of Iesus Christe in the yeare .104 after his natiuitie The whiche translation among you Iewes was in small estimation bycause it was doone by suche a one as in tymes paste had bene a Heathen or Gentile and of the Christians much lesse estéemed for that it was brought to passe by him that was conuerted a Iewe. Fiftie twoo yeares after the death of the sayde Aquile it is to bée vnderstoode in the eyght yeare of the euyll Emperour Commodus There was another Gréeke translation performed by a Iewe named Theodosius the whiche after became a Christian which remooued and made perfect all the errors of Aquile Thirtie seuen yeares after the death of Theodosius which is to vnderstande in the nynth yeare of the Empire of Seuerus there was another translation performed out of the Hebrewe into Gréeke by a man learned and vertuous named Simachus the whiche was approued well allowed and reseued throughout all the Easte notwithstanding that not long after it was reproued and reiected In those tymes there raygned in the greatest partes
Cicero sayth writing vnto Articus this name Knight or Gentleman the Romaynes did neuer admit either consent to entitle those that could gather muche riches but suche as had bene at the victory of many battailes That Knight or Gentleman that doth not imitate the valiant actes of his predecessours ought not boast himselfe to descend of them For how much the more renoumed the life of the fathers is so much the more are the children to be accused for their negligence To presume much of no more but to descend of Noble parents I say is a thing most vaine To blason a mans owne proper déedes is foolishnesse but in the end of these two extremities he is more tollerable that prayseth his owne vertues than he that boasteth himselfe of other déedes When amongst Knights or Gentlemen talke is of armes a Gentleman ought to haue great shame to say that he read it but rather that he saw it For it is very conuenient for the Philosopher to recount what hee hath read but the Knight or Gentleman it becommes to speake of things that hée hath done The Consull Marius when he was resident in Rome and also in the warres many times would say I confesse that I am extract of linage obscure and also I acknowledge that I haue no armes of my predecessors for that they were not florishing Captaines But iointly with this they that are now aliue can not denie that in the temples I haue erected pictures or counterfets I haue receiued in my body many woundes and in my house many enseignes none of which I do enherite of my predecessours but haue wonne thē of mine enimies And Marius saide more Your predecessors left you riches to enioy houses wherein to dwell slaues to serue you gardens to delight in fame whereof to boaste and armour wherwith to venter but they haue not left you vertue wherof you might presume Of which déede Oh you Romaynes ye may inferre that it is very little that he doth enherite which doth not enherite the vertues of his predecessors I thought good to aduertise you of these things to the end that in remembring the fame and noblenesse of such men as were your predecessours you should muche more estéeme to imitate their vertuous actes than too haue their armes sette forth and drawen at large I am deceiued if I did not sée in Caesars court a certaine gentleman of more than a Quent of rent whiche I did neuer sée haue a horse in his stable either launce in his house neither yet commonly did weare his sword but onely a Dagger that was very little But on the other part when he began to recount the doubty déedes of his forefathers it séemed that he daunted Lions Men do now estéeme to paint their armes in their houses to graue them in their seales to place them in their portals to weaue them in their sumpter clothes but none aduētureth to win them in the field in such wise that they hold armes for others to behold and not for themselues to fight One thing I will counsell your lordship which for suche as are of your estate in the warres is very necessary And that is aboue al things to be vigilant to haue great regard that amongst the captaines of your army there be vsed great secrecie for in greate affayres there is neuer good successe when they be discouered before they take effect If Suetonius Tranquillus doe not deceyue vs Iulius Caesar neuer sayde to morow this shal be done and to day let this be done but onely to day this shal be done and to morrowe wée shall sée what wée haue too doe Plutarche saithe in his politiques that Lucius Metellus being demaunded of one of his Captains when the battayle shoulde bée giuen made aunswere if I thought my shirt did knowe the leaste thought that is in my hart I woulde presently burne it and neuer weare another It were very well the affaires of warres shoulde bée commoned of many but the resolution of them to be vsed with few For otherwise they are like to be discouered before they bée concluded Also I thinke very well that you take counsayle with men that be graue and of experience but not without consideratiō that they be wise without rashnesse For sometimes more sound counsaile doth procéede from men of fewe yéeres and of much habilitie than from men that be opinatiue and of old yéeres Your Lordship hath great cause to consider howe to take aduise of men that in their counsayles be headstrong and in their déedes very rashe for in daungerous cases that happen in the warres it is lesse euill to retire than to be loste Alcibiades a Captaine amongst the Greekes did vse to say that men of bolde and valiant harts haue more néede of fortitude to moue them to retire than to abide their enemies For not to flie their honour doth moue them but to retire their wisdome doth constraine them In greate hazardes it is muche better that men submitte themselues to reason than to hurle themselues into fortune In all things your Lordshippe hath to imbrace counsaile except it be when you shall see your selfe in some sodaine daunger for in the warre wée haue séene many Captaines lost for no other cause but for that when they should haue done a thing at the sodaine they haue sit downe with great leysure to take counsell Also your lordship ought to admonish your armies that in their forcible and necessary perilles they shew not thēselues to be menns dismayed for the warres be of suche qualities that the feare of some dismayeth the rest Your Lordship may hold it for certaine that the heart which is full of feare must of necessitie be voide of hope Those that go alwayes to the warres neither ought to holde victorie for certaine eyther dispayre to obtaine it For there is nothing wherein fortune is lesse correspondent than in the affaires of warre Brasidas the Greek in the warres that hée held with the Thracians when they did take by force of armes a certaine fort which he defended meruailous valiantly being demaunded by one of his enemies why he had put him selfe within the same for his defēce answered I do sweare by the immortall Gods that she did rather commend hir self vnto me to be kept than I vnto hir to be defended Bycause in the end I haue more certentie of hir to serue me for a sepulcher than for a sauegard I will saye no more in this case but craue of especiall fauour that in such wise ye behaue your selfe in these warres of Prouance that it may séeme and also be to all men notorious that you do more for the obedience of your Lord the Emperour than to be reuenged of the French king For otherwise God would take vengeance of your reuengement The penne of gold that you sent me I haue receiued and so I beleue your Lordship shall receiue Marcus Aurelius whiche I do send you the
difference betwixt the one and the other is that in the Booke your Lordship may vnderstand my simplicity and in the pen there doth appeare your great bountie No more but that our Lorde be your protectour and giue me grace to serue him From Valiodolid the xix of August 1524. A letter vnto sir Allonso of Albornaz wherin is touched that it is a point of euill maner not too aunswer too the letter that is written vnto him IF the Lady Marina your wife bée as well affected to your person as my penne is offended at your slouthfulnesse you may safely marrie without after repentāce And I think not that I bind my selfe vnto a small matter in saying that in your mariage you shall find no repentance for surely I wish too haue no more contrition of my sinnes than many men haue too think themselues maried To contract matrimonie with a woman is a thing very easie but to sustaine it vnto the end I hold it for very difficult Whereby it comes to passe that those which mary without respect but only for loue liue afterward with sorowe Considering al the displeasures that proceede of the familie then tediousnesse of the wife the care for the children the necessitie of the house the prouision for the seruants the importunitie of the cousins and the sutes of the sonnes in law Although of all these thinges the maried doth not repent him at the least it doth tyre him The Philosoper Mirtho being demaunded why hée did not marry aunswered bycause if the woman whome I take in mariage bée good I shall spill hir if she bée euill I must supporte hir if she bée poore I must maintaine hir if shée bée riche I must suffer hir if she bée foule I shall abhorre hir it she be faire I must watch hir and that which is worst of al for euermore I giue my libertye to hir that shall neuer gratifie mée Riches bréedeth care pouerty sorrow sailing feare eating heauines going wearinesse all which trauelles we se deuided amongst many except amongst the maried where they ioyne altogither For we seldome sée the maried man go without care sorow wearied heauie yea and also sometime astonied I say astonied of that whiche maye happen vntoo him and of that his wife may dare to do The man that doth encounter with a woman that is a dizard foolish a babler light a glutton a chider slouthfull a goer at large vntractable iealouse absolute or dissolute it were better for that man too bée a slaue to some honest man than a husbande too suche a wife It is a terrible thing too suffer a man but there is very much too bée knowen in a woman And for no other cause more than for that they knowe not too vse a measure in louing or giue no ende in abhorring I will not or perchance I dare not saye more in this case For if in the same I should occupie my selfe and giue libertie to my pen I should want time to write but not matter to speake Not without cause I saide my pen was angry with your slothfulnesse since halfe a yeare past I did write vnto you and you haue not as yet answered me And afterwards came Iohn de Occanio and also with him you did not write in suche wise that on the one part I call you sluggish and of the other part note you of negligence Sir you may take it for a rule neuer to leaue him vnanswered that hath taken paine to write vnto you For that the maister of the henchmen which is Harnan Sanz de Minchasa said vnto me that none lost his worshippe for answering vnto a letter To write to our better is of necessitie to answere our equall is of will but to write vnto our inferiour is of pure vertue Alexander the great did write vnto Pulion his bit maker Iulîus Caesar to Rufus his gardiner Augustus to Pāphilo his smith Tiberius to Escaurus his miller Tullius too Mirto his tailer and Seneca to Gipho his rent gatherer wherof it may very wel be inferred that basenesse doth not consist in writing or answering base persones but to will or to do vile things Paulus Aemilius writing vnto his plough man said I haue vnderstood what word thou didst send me by Argeus and the aunswer of the same is that I send thée another oxe to yoke with that firce oxe also I sēd thée a cart redy drest therfore eare that ground well dresse the vines purge the trées and alway haue memorie of the Goddesse Ceres Curius Dentatus béeing in warre with Pyrrhus King of the Epirotes did write a letter vnto a carpenter which said thus Cneius Patroclus certified me that thou dost worke in my house take héed that the timber be dry and that thou make the lightes towardes the south that it be not high that it be cléere the chimney without smoke with two windowes and no more but one dore Alexander the great writing vnto his smith said I send thée a horse which the Athenians sent me he and I did scape wounded from the battaile breath him well euery day cure wel his wounds pare his foreféete let him be vnshod slit his nose wash his necke let hym not growe fat for that no fat horse may well endure with me in the field Of the famous Phalaris the tirant it is read that neuer man did him seruice that he did not gratifye either write him a letter that he dyd not aunswer So high and so great Princes as bere we haue named too haue written to men so base and so vile occupations is not written by historiographers too blemish them but by the same to magnifie them Of which we may gather that basenes doth not consist in wryting or aunswering base persons but in doing thinges scandolous or vnhonest In this matter as in all other thinges you may vse that boldnesse with me as with your selfe but if vniuersally you vse to do the same with all men it may be if your frendes do note you of negligence there shall not want that will accuse you of presumption To be noted angry enuious couetous slothfull wanton gluttonous auaricious certainly is a griefe but to be noted of foolishnes is an infamie which giueth me occasion to saye vnto you that to cal a man presumptuouse by a cunning maner of speach is to call him foole In Caius Caesar there wanted no fortitude for that he ouercame many people either clemencie for he pardoned his enemies either liberaliitie for that he gaue kyngdomes either science for that he wrote many Bookes either fortune for he was Lorde of all men But he wanted good manner which is the foundation of a quiet life Amongst the Romanes it was a custome that when the Senate entred the Emperours house they did vnto him a certaine great obeysance and he did vse vnto them a certaine curtesie in doing whereof as he grew negligent either for that he woulde not