How Cresus King of Lidia was a great friend and louer of Wise men Of a letter which the same Cresus wrote to the Philosopher Anacharsis and an other letter of the Philosophers answer to him chap. 45 162 Of the wisdome and sentences of Phalaris the tyrant And how hee put an artezan to death for deuising new torments chap. 46 166 The letter of Phalaris the tirant which was sent to Popharco the Philosopher 169 Of seuerall great and powerfull Kinges who were all of them true friends and louers of the Sages chap. 47. 170 The letter of King Philip to Aristotle the Philosopher 172 The second Booke Of what excellency marriage is and whereas common people marry of free-will Princes and noble men ought to marry vpon necessity and vrgencie chap. 1 177 How the Author prosecuting his purpose of marriage declareth that by means thereof many mortall enemies haue been made good and perfect friends c. 2. f. 180 Of diuers and sundry lawes which the Ancients had in contracting matrimony not onely in the choyce of women but also in the manner of celebrating marriage chap. 3 183 How princesses and great Ladies ought to loue their husbands and that loue ought not to be procured by coniurations and enchantments but by wisedom honesty and vertue desired ch 4. 187 Of the reuenge which a woman of Greece tooke on him that had killed her husband as hoping to enioy her in marriage chap. 5. 189 That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be obedient to their husbands and how great shame it is to the husband that his wife should command him ch 6. 194 That women especially princesses great Ladies should be very circumspect in going abroad out of their houses and that they should not deserue to be ill spoken of by such as resort to their houses chap. 4 198 Of the commodities and discommodities which follow princes and great Ladies that go abroad to visite or abide in their houses chap. 8 200 That women great with child especially princesses and great Ladies ought to be circumspect for the danger of creatures wherin is shown many misfortunes happening to women with child in olde time chap. 9 202 Of other inconueniences and vnluckie mischances which haue happened to women with child chap. 10 207 That women great with child especially princesses and great Ladies ought to be gently vsed of their husbands c. 11. 209 What the philosopher Pisto was and of the rules hee gaue concerning women with child chap. 12 212 Of three counsels which Lucius Seneca gaue vnto a Secretary his friend who serued the Emperour Nero And how the Emp. M. Aurelius spent the houres of the day chap. 13 214 The importunity of the Empresse Faustine to the Emperour concerning the keye of his closet chap. 14 219 The answere of the Emperour to Faustine concerning her demaund for the key of his study chap. 15 223 Of great dangers ensuing to men by excessiue haunting the company of women And of certaine rules for married men which if they obserue may cause them to liue in peace with their wiues chap. 16 228 A more particular answer of the Emperour to Faustine concerning the key of his study chap. 17 235 That Princesses and noble women ought not to be ashamed to giue their children sucke with their owne breasts chap. 18 239 A further continued perswasion of the Author that women should giue their owne children sucke chap. 19 242 That Princesses and great Ladies ought to be very circumspect in choice of theyr Nurses and of seuen especiall properties which a good Nurse should haue cha 20 249 Of three other especiall conditions which a good Nurse ought to haue that giueth sucke chap. 21 254 Of the disputations before Alexander the Great concerning the time of the sucking of babes chap. 22 259 Of sundry kinds of Sorceries charmes and witchcrafts which they in old time vsed in giuing their children suck which in Christians ought to be auoided ch 23. fol. 260 Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Dedalus inueighing against such women as vse to cure children by sorceries charms enchantments ch 24 264 How excellent a thing it is for gentlemē to haue an eloquent tong ch 25 270 Of a letter which the Athenians sent to the Lacedemonians chap. 26 273 That Nurses which giue sucke to the childrē of Princes ought to bee discreete and sage women chap. 27 275 That women may be no lesse wise then men though they be not it is not thorow the defect of nature but rather for want of good bringing vp chap. 28. 279 Of a letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea he being in Rhodes and she in Samcthrace both studying Philosophy chap. 29 281 A further perswasion of the Authour to Princesses and other great Ladies to endeauour themselues to be wise like as the women in elder times were c. 30. 282 Of the worthines of the Lady Cornelia and of a notable Epistle which she wrote to her two sons seruing in the warres Tiberius and Caius disswading them from the pleasurs of Rome exhorting them to endure the trauels of war chap. 31. 288 The Letter of Cornelia to her two sons Tiberius and Caius 289 Of the education and doctrine of children while they are young with a declaratiō of many notable histories c. 32. 294 Princes ought to take heede that their children bee not brought vp in pleasures and vaine delights because oftentimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not onely haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried chap. 33 302 How Princes and great Lords ought to be careful in seeking wise men to bring vp their children Of ten conditions which good Schoolmasters ought to haue chap. 34. 309 Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the best wherof dyed And of the masters he prouided for the other chap. 35. 317 Of the words which Marcus Aurelius spake to 5. of the 14. masters which hee had chosen for the education of his son And how he dismissed them from his pallace because they behaued thēselus lightly at the feast of their god Genius c. 36. 322 That Princes and noble men ought to ouersee the tutors of their children least they should conceale the secrete faultes of their scholler chap. 37. 326 Of the determination of the Emperour when he committed his childe to the tutors chap. 38 331 Tutors of Princes and noble mens children ought to bee very circumspect that their schollers do not accustom themselus in vices while they be yong but especially to be kept frō 4. vices chap. 39 343 Of two other vices perillous in youth which their masters ought to keepe them from chap. 40 348 The third Booke How Princes and great Lords ought to trauell in administring iustice to all men equally chap. 1 353 The way that Princes ought to vse for choyse of Iudges and Officers in theyr Countreyes chap. 2 fol 357 A villaine argueth in an Oration
great estimation For Princes did not vse to be serued at their Tables nor in their chambers with any vnlesse they were of his owne Kinred or auncient Seruants And concerning the other childe which was his companion the Emperour returned againe to his father saying That when hereafter hee should bee more shamefaste hee would receyue him into his seruice And certainely the Emperour had great reason for good graue Princes ought not to be serued with light shamelesse children I would now demaund Fathers which loue their children very well and would they should bee worthy what it auayleth their children to be faire of countenance wel disposed of body liuely of spirit white of skinne to haue yellow hayres to bee eloquent in speech profound in science if with all these graces that nature giueth them they bee too bolde in that they doe and shameles in that they say The Author hereof is Patritius Senensis in the first booke De Rege et regno One of the most fortunate princes was the great Theodosius the which amongst all other vertues had one most singular the which was that hee was neuer serued in his pallace with any young man that was vnshamefast or seditious nor with any olde man which was dishonest for he sayde oft times that Princes shall neuer bee well beloued if they haue about them lyers or slaunderers This good Emperour spake as a man of experience and very sage for if the Councellers and familiars of Princes bee euill taught and vnpatient they offend many and if they bee lyers they deceyue al and if they be dishonest they slaunder the people And these offences bee not so great vnto them that commit them as they bee vnto the Prince which suffereth them The Emperour Theodose had in his palace two Knights the one called Ruffinus and the other Stelliconus by whose prudence and wisedome the Common wealth was ruled and gouerned And as Ignatius Baptista sayeth they two were the Tutours and Gouernours of the children of Theodose whose names were Archadius and Honorius for as Seneca saith When good Princes doe die they ought to bee more carefull to procure Masters and Tutours which shall teach their children then to procure realmes or kingdomes for to enrich them The two Masters Stelliconus and Ruffinus had in the palace of Theodose each of them a sonne the which were maruellous well taught and very shamefast and for the contrary the two Princes Honorius and Arcadius were euill mannered and not very honest And therefore the good Emperour Theodose tooke these children oft times and set them at his Table and contrary hee would not once behold his owne Let no man maruel though a Prince of such a grauity did a thing of so small importance for to say the truth the shamefast children and well taught are but robbers of the hearts of other men Fourthly the Tutors and Masters of Princes ought to take good heed that when the young princes their Schollers waxe great that they giue not themselues ouer to the wicked vice of the flesh so that the sensuality and euill inclination of the wanton child ought to bee remoued by the wisedome of the chaste Master For this cursed flesh is of such condition that if once by wantonnes the wicket be opened death shall sooner approch then the gate shall be shut againe The trees which budde and cast leaues before the time our hope is neuer to eate of their fruit in season I meane that when children haunt the vice of the flesh whiles they be yong there is small hope of goodnesse to bee looked for in them when they be olde And the elder we see them waxe the more wee may be assured of their vices And where wee see that vice encreaseth there wee may affirme that vertue diminisheth Plato in his second booke of laws ordayneth and commaundeth that young men should not marry before they were 25. yeares of age and the young maydens at 20. becaust at that age their fathers abide lesse dangers in begetting them giuing of them life and the children also which are borne haue more strength against the assaults of death Therefore if it bee true as it is true indeed I aske now if to bee married and get children which is the end of marriage the Philosophers doe not suffer vntill such time as they bee men then I say that Masters ought not to suffer their schollers to haunt the vices of the flesh when they bee children In this case the good fathers ought not alone to commit this matter to their Tutors but also thereunto to haue an eye themselus For oft times they will say they haue been at their deuotions in the Temples when in deed they haue offered veneriall sacrifice to the Curtezan The vice of the flesh is of such condition that a man cannot giue himselfe vnto it without grudge of Conscience without hurt of his renowne without losse of his goods without shortning of his life and also without offence to the Common-wealth for oft times men enclined to such vice doe rebell trouble and slaunder the people Seneca satisfied me greatly in the which he writeth in the second booke De Clementia to Nero where hee sayeth these words If I knew the Gods would pardon me and also that men would not hate mee yet I ensure thee for the vilenes therof I would not sinne in the flesh And truly Seneca had reason for Aristotle sayeth That all Beastes after the act of Venerie are sorry but the Cocke alone O Gouernours and Masters of great Princes and Lords by the immortal Gods I sweare which created vs I coniure you and for that you owe to the Nobility I desire you that you will bridle with a sharpe snafle your charge and giue them not the reine to follow vices for if these young children liue they will haue time ynough to search to follow to attaine and also to cast off those yokes for through our frailety this wicked vice of the flesh in euery place in all ages in euery estate and at all times bee it by reason or not is neuer out of season What shall I say to you in this case if the children passe the furiousnes of their youth without the bridle then they bee voyde of the loue of God they follow the trumpet of sensuality after the sound whereof they runne headlong into the yoake and loose that that profiteth to win that which hurteth For in the carnall vices he that hath the least of that which sensuality desireth hath much more therof then reason willeth Considering that the Masters are negligent the children bolde their vnderstandings blinded and seeing that their appetites do accomplish beastly motions I aske now what remayneth to the childe and what contentation hath hee of such filth and naughtinesse Truly since the fleshly and vicious man is ouercome with his appetite of those that escape best I see none other fruit but that their bodies
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
speake the like of it that they did of Marcus Aurclius Because men are so long in speaking and so briefe in studying that without any let or shame they will auowe no Booke to be in the world this day but that they haue eyther reade or seene it I haue as much profited in this writing which is humane as other Doctours haue done in matters which are diuine It is not translated word for word but sentence for sentence For wee other Enterpreters are not bound to giue wordes by measure but it sufficeth vs to giue Sentences by weight I beganne to studie this worke in the yeare a thousand fiue hundred and eyghteene and vntill the yeare a thousand fiue hundred twentie and soure I could neyther vnderstand nor know wherein I was occupyed and albeit I kept it as secrete as I could for the space of sixe yeares yet it was knowne abroad whervpon the Emperour his Majestie being with the Feauer diseased sent to mee for it to passe the time away And I according to his commaundement shewed him Marcus Aurelius that then was vncorrected and humbly beseeching him sayde That for recompence of all my trauâ—lâ— I desired no other rewarde but that no man in his Chamber might copie the Booke And in the meane time proceeded to accomplish the worke because I did not meane in such manner to publish it for otherwise I saide his Majestie should be euill serued and I also of my purpose preuented but my sinnes caused that the Booke was coppyed and conueyed from one to another and by the hands of Pages sunday times written so that there increased daily in it errours and faultes And since there was but one originall copie they brought it vnto me to correct which if it could haue spoken would haue complained it selfe more of them that did write it then of those that did steale it And thus when I had finished the worke thought to haue published it I perceyued that Marcus Aurelius was now imprinted at Seuill And in this case I take the Readers to be judges between mee and the imprinters because they may see whether it may stand with Law and justice that a Booke which was to his Imperiall Maiestie dedicated the author thereof being but an jnfant and the booke so vnperfite and vncorrected without my consent or knowledge should bee published Notwithstanding they ceased not but printed it againe in Portugall and also in the Kingdome of Nauarre And if the first impression was faulty truely the second and the third were no lesse So that which was written for the wealth and good of all men generally each man did applye to the profite of himselfe particularly There chaunced another thing of this booke called The golden booke of Marcus Aurelius which I am ashamed to speake but greater shame they should haue that so dishonestly haue done That is some made themselus to be authors of the whole worke Others say that parte of it was made and compyled of their owne heads the which appeareth in a booke in priut wherein the authour did like a man voyd of all honesty in another booke one vsed likewise the wordes which Marcus Aurelius spake to Faustine when shee asked him the key of his Studie After these Theeues came to my knowledge iudge you whether it were ynough to prooue my patience For I had rather they had robbed me of my goods then taken away my renowme By this all men may see that Marcus Aurelius was not then corrected nor in any place perfect whereby they might perceyue that it was not my minde to Translate Marcus Aurelius but to make a Dyall for Princes whereby all Christian people may be gouerned and ruled And as the doctrine is shewed for the vse of manie so I would profite my selfe with that which the wise men had spoken and written And in this sort proceedeth the worke wherein I put one or two chapters of mine and after I put some Epistles of Marcus Aurelius and other doctrine of some Auncient men Let not the Reader bee deceyued to thinke hat the one and the other is of the Authour For although the phrase of the Language be mine yet I confesse the greatest part that I knew was of another mans althogh the Historiographers and Doctours with whom I was holpen were manie yet the doctrine which I wrote was but one I will not denye but I haue left out some things which were superfluous in whose steade I haue placed things more sweete and profitable So that it needeth good wittes to make which seemeth in one language to be grosse in another to giue it the apparance of gold I haue deuided into three books this present Dyall of Princes The first treateth that the Prince ought to bee a good Christian The second how hee ought for to gouerne his wife and children The third teacheth how he should gouerne his person and his Common wealth I had begunne another booke wherein was contained how a Prince should behaue himselfe in his Court and Pallace but the importunity of my friendes caused me to withdraw my penne to the end I might bring this worke to light The end of the Argument A COMPENDIOVS TABLE OF ALL THE SEVERALL ARGVMENTS contayned in these distinct Bookes of MARCVS AVRELIVS * ⎠* The first Booke OF the Birth and Linage of the vise Philosopher and Emperor Marcus Aurelius Also of three seuerall Chapters in the beginning of this book concerning a discourse of his life for by his Epistles and doctrine the whole course of the present worke is approued Chap. 1. Fol. 1. Of a Letter sent by Marcus Aurelius to his friend Pulio wherein hee declareth the order of his whole life And among other things hee maketh mention of a thing which happened to a Romane Censor with his Host of Compagnia chap. 2. fol. 5. The Letter concluded by Marcus Aurelius declaring at large what Science hee had learned and all the Masters he had Beside he reciteth fiue notable things in obseruance whereof the Romanes were curious chap. 3. fol. 8. Of the excellency of Christian Religion which manyfesteth the true God and disproueth the vanitie of the Ancients in hauing so many gods And that in the old times when enemies were reconciled in their houses they caused also that their gods should imbrace each other in their Temples chap 4. fol. 13. How the Philosopher Bruxelius was greatly esteemed among the Ancients for his life And of the words which hee spake to the Romanes at the houre of his death chap. 5. fol. 15. chap. 6. fol. 16. How the Gentiles thought that one God could not defend them from their enemies And how the Romanes sent throughout all the Empire to borrow gods when they fought against the Gothes chap. 7. fol. 17 Of a Letter sent from the Senate of Rome to all the Subiects of the Empire chap. 8. fol. 18. Of the true and liuing God And of the maruailes wrought in the old Law to manifest
paine answere thy demand For the doings of youth in a yong man were neuer so vpright honest but it were more honest to amend them then to declare them Annius Verus my father shewing vnto me his fatherly loue not accomplishing yet fully 13. years drew me frō the vices of Rome and sent mee to Rhodes to learn science howbeit better accompanied with books then loden with money where I vsed such diligence and fortune so fauored me that at the age of 26. years I read openly natural and moral Philosophy and also Rhetoricke and there was nothing gaue mee such occasion to study and reade books as the want of money For pouerty causeth good mens children to be vertuous so that they attaine to that by vertue which others com vnto by riches Truely friend Pulio I found great want of the pleasures of Rome especially at my first comming into the Isle but after I had read Philosophy x. yeares at Rhodes I tooke my selfe as one born in the countrey And I think my conuersation among them caused it seeme no lesse For it is a rule that neuer faileth That vertue maketh a stranger grow naturall in a strange country and vice maketh the naturall a stranger in his owne countrey Thou knowest well how my Father Annius Verus was 15. years a Captain in the Frontiers against the barbarous by the commandement of Adrian my Lord and Master and Antoninus Pius my Father in Law both of them Princes of famous memory which recommended mee there to their olde friends who with fatherly counsell exhorted me to forgette the vices of Rome and to accustome my selfe to the vertues of Rhodes And truely it was but needfull for mee For the naturall loue of the country oft times bringeth damage to him that is borne therein leading his desire still to returne home Thou shalt vnderstand that the Rhodians are men of much courtesie and requiting benenolences which chanceth in few Isles because that naturally they are persons deceitfull subtill vnthankefull and full of suspition I speake this because my Fathers friends alwaies succored me with counsel mony which 2 things were so necessary that I could not tell which of them I had most need of For the stranger maketh his profite with money to withstand disdainefull pouerty profiteth himself with counsel to forget the sweet loue of his country I desired then to reade Philosophie in Rhodes so long as my Father continued there Captaine But that could not bee for Adrian my Lord sent for me to return to Rome which pleased me not a litle albeit as I haue said they vsed me as if I had beene borne in that Iland for in the end Although the eyes bee fedde with delight to see strange things yet therefore the heart is not satisfied And this is all that touched the Rhodians I will now tell thee also how before my going thither I was borne and brought vp in mount Celio in Rome with my father from mine infancie In the common wealth of Rome there was a law vsed and by custome well obserued that no Citizen which enioyed any liberty of Rome after their sonnes had accomplished tenne yeares should bee so bold or hardy to suffer them to walke the streetes like vacabonds For it was a custome in Rome that the children of the Senators should sucke till two yeares of age till foure they should liue at their own willes till sixe they should reade till eight they should write til ten they should study Grammer and ten years accomplished they should then take some craft or occupation or giue themselues to study or goe to the warres so that throughout Rome no man was idle In one of the lawes of the twelue Tables were written these words Wee ordaine and commaund that euery Citizen that dwelleth within the circuite of Rome or Liberties of the same from ten yeares vpwards to keepe his son well ordered And if perchance the child being idle or that no man teaching him any craft or science should thereby peraduenture fall to vice or commit some wicked offence that then the Father no lesse then the Sonne should bee punished For there is nothing so much breedeth vice amongst the people as when the Fathers are too negligent and the children bee too bold And furthermore another Law sayde Wee ordaine and commaund that after tenne yeares bee past for the first offence that the child shall commit in Rome that the Father shall bee bound to send him forth some where else or to bee bound surety for the good demeanour of his Sonne For it is not reason that the fond loue of the Father to the Sonne should bee an occasion why the multitude should bee slaunred Because all the wealth of the Empire consisteth in keeping and maintaining quiet men and in banishing and expelling seditious persons I will tell thee one thing my Pulio and I am sure thou wilt maruell at it and it is this When Rome triumphed and by good wisdome gouerned all the world the inhabitants in the same surmounted the number of two hundred thousand persons which was a maruellous matter Amongst whom as a man may iudge there was a hundred thousand children But they which had the charge of them kept them in such awe and doctrine that they banished from Rome one of the sonnes of Cato Vticensis for breaking an earthen pot in a Maydens hands which went to fetch water In like manner they banished the sonne of good Cinna only for entring into a garden to gather fruit And none of these two were as yet fifteene yeeres old For at that time they chastised them more for the offences done in iest then they do now for those which are don in good earnest Our Cicero sayth in his booke De Legibus That the Romanes neuer tooke in any thing more pains then to restrain the children as well olde as the young from idlenes And so long endured the feare of their Law and honour of their common wealth as they suffered not their children like vagabonds idlely to wander the streetes For that country may aboue all other bee counted happy where each one enioyeth his owne labour and no man liueth by the sweate of another I let thee know my Pulio that when I was a child although I am not yet very old none durst bee so hardy to goe commonly through Rome without a token about him of the craft and occupation hee exercised and wherby hee liued And if any man had beene taken contrary the children did not onely crie out of him in the streets as of a foole but also the Censour afterwards condemned him to trauell with the captiues in common workes For in Rome they esteemed it not lesse shame to the child which was idle then they did in Greece to the Philosopher which was ignorant And to the end thou mayest see this I write vnto thee to be no new thing thou oughtest to know that the Emperour caused
nor to come to so high an estate For those which by vertues deserue great Dignities are but fewe and sewer are those which attaine vnto them though they deserue them But if this matter be iudged according to sensualitie I tell you truely Dame Augusta that I thought not onely to deserue it but also I thought to come vnto it And hereof maruell not for it is an infallible rule Where least desert is often-times there is most presumption You say you esteemed mee for a wise man and that by wisedome I could ouer-come any difficult or disordinate appetite To this I answere that you knewe my wisedome either in mine owne busines or else in other mens affaires If in other mens affaires where it did cost mee nought I was alwayes a louer of iustice For there is no man in the world so euill that doth not desire if it bee without his owne cost to be counted liberall But if you iudge mee Dame Augusta on mine owne businesse giue not too light credit For I will that you know there is no man so iust nor of so cleare a iudgement that doth not shewe himselfe fraile in matters which touch his owne interest You say that men which haue their thoughts high and their Fortunes base liue alwayes a pensiue life Truely it is as you say But in mine opinion as the members of the bodyes are but instruments of the minde so is it necessary for men to haue quicke and sharpe wittes if they will not be negligent For if Alexander Pyrrhus Iulius Caesar Scipio and Hanniball had not beene high minded they had neuer bene as they were so Famous Noble and stoute Princes I let you vnderstand most Noble Princesse that men are not to be esteemed as lost for hauing theyr thoughtes high nor yet for hauing their hearts couragious neither for being hardie and stout but they are vndone because they beginne things through folly pursue them without wisedome and atchieue them without discretion For Noblemen enterprising great things ought not to employ theyr force as their noble heart willeth but as wisedome and reason teacheth You say you maruell why I waste the Treasures without care which Iustinian and you gathered together with great paine Now to this I answere you ought not to maruell if all the Treasours you heaped together of so long time were spent and consumed in one day For there is an ancient Malediction on riches hidden and Treasours buryed which Epimenides casteth out saying these words All the Treasours hoorded vp by the Couetous shall bee wasted by the Prodigall You say Through that I wast in fewe dayes you shall haue neither to giue to waste nor yet to eate at the yeares ende To this I answere most gracious Princesse that if you had beene as ready to relieue the Poore as you and Iustinian were diligent to robbe the rich then you should iustly haue complained and I worthily might well haue had iust cause to repent Till now wee haue not seene but that of the Rich you haue made Poore and notwithstanding this yet you haue not gotten enough to builde an Hospitall for the Poore You say that Princes to resist theyr enemyes had neede of great Treasures To this I answer if Princes be proud greedy and of strange Realmes ambicious it is most certaine that they had need of great substances and Treasours to accomplish and maintaine theyr disordinate appetties For the enae of a tyran nous Princâ—â—s that he careth not whether by hooke or by crooke hee make himselfe rich in his life But if the Prince be or will be a man reposed quiet vertuou patient peaceable and 〈◊〉 couetous of the goods of an other man what need hath he of great treasurs For to speake truly in Princes houses there is more offence in that which aduaunceth then in that which wanteth I will not waste many wordes in answering sith I am much more liberal of deeds then of wordes But to conclude that there is no Prince which in vertuous deedes wasteth so much but if hee will hee may spend much more For in the ende Princes become not poore for spending their goods and Treasours vpon necessaries but for making waste vpon things superfluous And take this word for all that for this hee shall not be the poorer but rather the richer For most certainely it is a generall rule in Christian Religion that God will giue more to his Seruants in one houre then they will waste in 20. yeares Iustinian beeing Emperour 11 yeares who being a Foole and very obstinate in the heresie of the Pelagians dyed to the great offence of the Romaine people whose death was as much desired as his life abhorred For the Tyrannous Prince that maketh many weeping eyes in his life shall cause many reioycing bearts at his death Iustinian being dead Tiberius was elected Emperour who gouerned the Empire through so great wisedome and Iustice that no man was able to reproue him if the Hystories in his time did not deceyue vs. For it seldome happeneth to a Prince to be as he was vpright in Iustice pure in life and cleane in Conscience For fewe are those Princes which of some vices are not noted Paulus Diaconus in his 18. booke of the Romaine Gests declareth a thing both strange and maruellous which besel vnto this Emperour at that time and very worthie to recite at this present And it was that in the Cittie of Constantinople the Romaine Emperours had a Pallace very sumptuous and beseming the authoritie of the Imperiall maiestie which was begun in the time of Constantine the Great and afterwardes as the succession of good and euil Emperors was so were the Buyldings decayed or repayred For it is the deede of a vertuous Prince to abolish vices of the Common-wealth and to make great and sumptuous buildings in his countrey This Emperour Tiberius had spent much of his substance and Treasour for the redeeming of poore captiues to build Hospitals to erect Monasteries to marry and prouide for the Orphares to sucour poore people and widdowes In this and such like hee was so prodigall that it came almost to passe that hee had nothing to eate in his Pallace And truely this was a blessed necessity For Catholike Princes ought to think that wel imployed which in the Seruice of Christ is bestowed And hereof this Emperour was not ashamed but he thought it a great honour and that which onely grieued him was to see the Empresse reioyce so much at his misery For the High and Noble hearts which feele themselnes wounded do not so much esteeme their owne payne as they do to see their enemyes reioyce at theyr griefe God neuer forsooke them that for his sake became poore as appeareth by this It chanced one day that euen as the Emperor Tiberius walked in the middest of his Pallace he saw at his feete a Marble-stone which was in forme of the Crosse of the Redeemer of the world And because it had
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 themselues the Maidens by them the Vestall Virgins by themselues and all the straunge Embassadors went with the captiues in procession there was a custome in Rome that the same day the Emperor shold weare the Imperiall robe all the captiues which could touch him with their hands were deliuered and al the transgressors pardoned exiles and outlawries were called againe For the Roman Princes were neuer present in any feast but they shewed some noble example of mercie or gentlenes toward the peeple At this time Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome and married with the beautifull Lady Faustina who in the feast of Ianus leauing in procession the company of the Senators came into the procession of the Captiues the which easily touched his robe whereby they obtayned liberty the which they so greatly desired I say desired for truly the Captiue is contented with a small thing And because there is no good thing by any good man done but immediately by the wicked it is repined at this deede was so contrary to the euill as ioyfull to the good for there is nothing bee it neuer so good not so well done but forthwith it shall bee contraried of them that be euill Of this thing I haue seene by experience in this miserable life sundry examples that euen as among the good one onely is noted to be chiefe so likewise among the euill one is noted principall aboue the rest And the worst I finde herein is that the vertuous doe not so much glory of their vertue as the euill and malitious hath shame and dishonour of their vice for vertue naturally maketh a man to bee temperate and quiet but vice maketh him to bee dissolute and retchlesse This is spoken because in the Senate of Rome there was a Senatour called Fuluius whose beard hayres were very white but in malice hee was most cankered blacke so that for his yeares hee was honoured in Rome of many and for his malice he was hated of all The Senator Fuluius made friends in the time of Adrian to succeede in the Empire and for this cause he had alwayes Marcus Aurelius for his competitor and wheresoeuer hee came he alwayes spake euill of him as of his mortall enemy For the enuious heart can neuer giue a man one good word This Senators heart was so puffed with enuy that hee seeing Marcus Aurelius to obtaine the Empire being so young and that hee being so olde could not attaine thereunto there was no good that euer Marcus Aurelius did in the Common-wealth openly but it was grudged at by Fuluius who sought alwayes to deface the same secretly It is the nature of those which haue their hearts infected with malice to spitte out their poison with wordes of spite Oft times I haue mused which of these two are greater the duety the good haue to speake against the euil or else the audacity the euill haue to speake against the good For in the World there is no brute beast so hardy as the euill man is that hath lost his fame Oh would to God the good to his desire had as much power to doe good works as the euill hath strength to his affection to exercise wicked deedes for the vertuous man findeth not one hand to helpe him in vertue to worke yet after hee hath wrought it hee shall haue a thousand euill tongues against his honest doings to speake I would all these which reade this my writing would call to memory this word which is that among euill men the chiefest euill is that after they haue forgotten themselus to be men and exiled both truth and reason thē with all their might they goe against truth and vertue with their words against good deeds with their tongs for though it bee euill to bee an euill man yet it is worse not to suffer an other to bee good which aboue all things is to bee abhorred and not to bee suffered I let you know and assure you Princes and Noble men that you in working vertuous deeds shall not want slaunderous tongues and though you bee stout yet you must bee patient to breake theyr malice For the Noble heart feeleth more the enuie of another then hee doth the labour of his owne body Princes should not be dismayed neither ought they to maruell though they bee tolde of the murmuring at their good works For in the end they are men they liue with men cannot escape the miseries of men For there was neuer Prince in the World yet so high but hee hath beene subiect to malitious tongues Truly a man ought to take great pitty of Princes whether they bee good or euill for if they bee euill the good hate them and if they bee good the euill immediately murmureth against them The Emperour Octauian was very vertuous yet greatly persecuted with enuious tongues who on a time demaunded since he did good vnto al men why he suffered a few to murmur against him hee answered you see my friends hee that hath made Rome free from enemies hath also set at liberty the tongues of malitious men for it is not reason that the hard stones should be at liberty and the tender stones tyed Truly this Emperour Octauian by his words declared himselfe to bee a Wise man and of a noble heart and lightly to waigh both the murmurings of the people and also the vanities of their words which thing truly a wise and vertuous man ought to doe For it is a generall rule that vices continually seeke defendors and vertues alwayes getteth enemies In the Booke of Lawes the diuine Plato sayth well that the euill were alwayes double euill because they were weapons defensiue to defend their malitious purpose and also carry weapons offensiue to blemish the good works of others Vertuous men ought with much study to follow the good and with more diligence to flye from the euill For a good man may commaund all other vertuous men with a backe of his finger but to keepe himselfe onely from one euill man hee had neede both hands feet and friends Themistocles the Thebane sayde that hee felt no greater torment in the World then this that his proper honour should depend vpon the imagination of an other for it is a cruell thing that the life and honor of one that is good should be measured by the tongue of an other that is euill for as in the Forge the coales cannot bee kindled without sparkes nor as corruption can not bee in the sinckes without ordure so hee that hath his heart free from malice his tongue is occupied alwayes in sweete and pleasant communication And contrariwise out of his mouth whose stomack is infected with malice proceedeth alwayes words bitter and ful of poyson for if out of a rotten furnace the fire burneth it is impossible that the smoake should be cleare It is but a small time that in prophane loue he that is enamored is able to refraine his loue and much lesse time is the
the high wayes And after that he was forty yeares of age he became King of the Lusitaines and not by force but by election for when the people saw themselues enuironed and assaulted on euery side with enemies they chose rather stout strong and hardy men for their Captaines then noble men for their guides If the ancient Historiographers deceyue me not when Viriatus was a thiefe hee ledde with him alwayes at the least a hundred theeues the which were shod with leaden shooes so that when they were enforced to runne they put off their shooes And thus although all the day they went with leaden shooes yet in the night they ranne like swift buckes for it is a generall rule that the looser the ioynts are the more swifter shall the legges be to runne In the booke of the iests of the Lumbardes Paulus Diaconus sayeth that in the olde time those of Capua had a Law that vntill the children were married the fathers should giue them no bed to sleepe on nor permit them to sit at the table to eate but that they should eate their meate in their hands and take their rest on the ground And truly it was a commendable law for rest was neuer inuēted for the yong man which hath no beard but for the aged being lame impotent and crooked Quintus Cincinatus was second Dictator of Rome and indeed for his deserts was the first Emperour of the earth This excellent man was brought vp in so great trauell that his handes were found full of knots the plough was in his armes and the swette in his face when hee was sought for to bee Dictator of Rome For the Ancients desired rather to bee ruled of them that knew not but how to plough the ground then of them that delighted in nothing else but to liue in pleasures among the people Caligula which was the fourth Emperour of Rome as they say was brought vp with such cost and delicatenesse in his his youth that they were in doubt in Rome whether Drusius Germanicus his father employed more for the Armies then Caligula his sonne spent in the cradle for his pleasures This rehearsed againe I would now know of Princes and great lords what part they would take that is to say whether with Cincinatus which by his stootenes wan so many strange Countries or with Caligula that in his filthy lusts spared not his proper sister In mine opinion there needeth no great deliberation to aunswere this question that is to say the goodnesse of the one and the wickednesse of the other for there was no battell but Cincinatus did ouercome nor there was any vice but Caligula did inuent Suetonius Tranquillus in the second Booke of Caesars sayeth That when the children of the Emperour Augustus Caesar entred into the high Capitoll where all the Senate were assembled the Senatours rose out of their places and made a reuerence to the children the which when the Emperour Augustus saw hee was much displeased and called them backe againe And on a day beeing demaunded why bee loued his childrē no better he answered in this wise If my children will bee good they shal sit hereafter where I sit now but if they bee euill I will not their vices should bee reuerenced of the Senators For the authoritie and grauitie of the good ought not to bee employed in the seruice of those that be wicked The 26 Emperour of Rome was Alexander the which though he was young was as much esteemed for his vertues amongst the Romanes as euer Alexander the great was for his valiantnes amongst the Greekes Wee cannot say that long experience caused him to come to the Gouernment of the common-wealth for as Herodian saieth in his sixth booke The day that the Senatours proclaymed him Emperour hee was so little that his owne men bare him in theyr armes That fortunate Emperour had a Mother called Manea the which brought him vp fowel and diligently that she kept alwayes a great guard of men to take heed that no vicious man came vnto him And let not the diligence of the Mother to the childe be little esteemed For Princes oft times of their owne nature are good and by euill conuersation only they are made euill This worthie woman keeping alwayes such a faithfull guarde of her childe that no Flatterers should enter in to flatter him nor malicious to tell him lyes By chaunce on a day a Romane saide vnto her these wordes I thinke it not meete most excellent princesse that thou shouldest be so diligent about thy Sonne to forget the affaires of the commonwealth for Princes ought not to be kept so close that it is more easie to obtaine a suite at the Gods then to speake one word with the Prince To this the Empresse Manea answered and saide They which haue charge to gouerne those which do gouern without comparison ought to feare more the vices of the King then the enemyes of the realme For the enemyes are destroyed in a Battell but vices remaine during the life and in the end enemies doe not destroy but the possessions of the Land but the vicious prince destroieth the good māners of the commonwealth These words were spoken of this worthy Romane By the Hystories which I haue declared and by those which I omitte to recite all vertuous men may knowe how much it profiteth them to bring vppe their children in trauels or to bring them vp in pleasures But now I imagine that those which shall reade this will prayse that which is well written and also I trust they will not giue their childrē so much their owne wils for men that reade much and worke little are as belles which doe found to call others and they themselues neuer enter into the church If the fathers did not esteeme the seruice they doe vnto God their owne honour nor the profite of their owne children yet to preserue them from diseases they ought to bring them vp in vertue withdraw them from vices for truly the children which haue beene brought vp daintily shall alwayes be diseased and sickly What a thing is it to see the sonne of a Labourer the coate without points the shirt tattered and torne the feet bare his head without a cap his body without a girdle in summer without a hat in winter without a cloke in the day plowing in the night driuing his heard eating bread of Rye or Otes lying on the earth or else on the straw and in this trauell to see this yong man so holy and vertuous that euery man desireth and wisheth that hee had such a sonne The contrary commeth of Noble mens sonnes the which wee see are nourished and brought vp betweene two fine Holland sheetes layed in a costly cradell made after the new fashion they giue the Nurse what she will desire if perchance the child be sicke they change his Nurse or else they appoint him a dyet The father and the mother sleepe neyther night nor day all
vndefamed Diadumius the Hystoriographer in the life of Seuerus the xxj Emperour declareth that Apuleius Rufinus who had beene Consull twice and at that time was also Tribune of the people a man who was very aged and likewise of great authoritie throughout Rome came one day to the Emperour Seuerus and saide vnto him in this sort Most inuict Prince alwayes Augustus knowe that I had two children the which I committed to a Maister to bring vp and by chaunce the oldest increasing in yeares and diminishing in vertues fell in loue with a Romaine Ladie the which loue came too late to my knowledge For to such vnfortunate men as I am the disease is alwayes past remedie before the daunger thereof commeth to our knowledge The greatest griefe that herein I feele is that his Maister knewe and concealed the euill and was not onely not a meanes to remedie it but also was the chiefe worker of Adultery betweene them to be committed And my Sonne made him an obligation wherein he bound himselfe if he brought him that Romaine Ladie hee would giue him after my death the house and Heritages which I haue in the gate Salaria and yet heerewith not contented but he and my Sonne together robbed me of much money For loue is costly to him that maintaineth it and alwayes the loues of the Children are chargeable to the Fathers Iudge you now therefore Noble Prince this so haynous and slaunderous cause For it is too much presumption of the subiect to reuenge any iniurie knowing that the Lorde himselfe will reuenge all wrongs When the Emperour Seuerus had vnderstood this so heynous a case as one that was both in name and deede seuere commaunded good inquisition of the matter to be had and that before his presence they should cause to appeare the Father the Sonne and the Maister to the ende eache one should alledge for his own right For in Rome none could bee condemned for any offence vnlesse the plaintife had first declared the fault before his presence and that the accused should haue no time to make his excuse The truth and certaintie vpon due examination then knowne and the Offenders confessing the offences the Emperor Seuerus gaue iudgmēt thus I commaund that this Maister be cast aliue among the beastes of the parke Palatine For it is but meete that Beastes deuoure him which teacheth others to liue like beasts Also I do command that the Sonne be vtterly disinherited of all the goods of his Father and banished the Countrey into the Isles of Baleares and Maiorques For the Childe which from his youth is vicious ought iustly to be banished the Countrey and be disinherited of his Fathers goods This therefore of the Maister and the Sonne was done by the complainte of Apuleius Rufynus O how vnconstant fortune is and how oft not thinking of it the thred of life doth breake I say it because if this Master had not beene couetous the Father had not been depriued of his sonne the childe had not beene banished the mother had not beene defamed the common weale had not beene slaundered the master of wilde beasts had not been deuoured neyther the Emperour had been so cruell against them nor yet theyr names in Histories to their infamies had alwayes continued I doe not speake this without a cause to declare by writing that which the euill doe in the World for wisemen ought more to feare the infamy of the little pen then the slander of the babling tongue For in the end the wicked tongue cannot defame but the liuing but the little penne doth defame them that are that were and that shall be To conclude this my minde is that the Master should endeuour himselfe that his Scholler should bee vertuous and that hee doe not despayre though immediately for his paines hee bee not rewarded For though hee bee not of the creature let him bee assured that hee shall be of the Creator For God is so mercifull that hee often times taking pitty of the swette of those that bee good chasteneth the vnthankefull and taketh vpon him to require their seruices CHAP. XXXVIII Of the determination of the Emperour when he committed his childe to the Tutors which hee had prouided for his education CInna the Historian in the first booke of the times of Comodus declareth that Marcus Aurelius the Emperour chose foureteene Masters learned and wise men to teach his son Comodus of the which he refused fiue not for that they were not wise but for that they were not honest And so hee kept these nine onely which were both learned in the Sciences and also expert in bringing vp the children of the Senators though indeed they were very vnluckie in the bringing vp of the Prince Comodus for this cursed Prince had nine Masters which instructed him but hee had aboue nine thousand vices wich vndid him The Emperour Marcus Aurelius made fiue books of declamations and in the third booke the 6. Chapter vnder the title Adsapientes Pedagogos hee brought in these nine Masters and perswaded them greatly that they should bee diligent and attentiue to teach his sonne Comodus And in this matter hee spake vnto them many and graue sentences the words whereof do follow The matter is manifest in Rome and no lesse published thorow out all Italy what paines I tooke to search out so many Sages to instruct my sonne Comodus the which all being examined I kept onely the wisest and the best and though in very deed I haue done much yet I haue not done so much as I am bound For Princes in doubtfull matters ought not onely to demaund counsell of all the good that be aliue but also to take paine to talke with those which are dead That is to reade the deedes of the good in their writings You were foureteene masters chosen whereof I haue put out fiue so that presently you are but nine if indeede you bee Wise men you shall not bee offended with that I haue done for the griefe of euill things proceedeth of wisdome but the admiration of good things commeth of small experience I doe not deny but the wise men doe feele in them passions as men but in the end there is no arte nor science that doth excuse vs from the miseries of men But that whereat I maruell is how it is possible that a wise man should maruell at any thing in this world For if the wise man should be astonied at euery thing of the world it appeareth that there is little constancy or vertue in him at all Returning therefore to our particular talke I haue taken you to bee masters of my sonne and you see of many I chose a few to the end that with few my sonne should be taught For as it is the Fathers duty to search out good masters so it is the masters duty to be diligent about his Scholler The Nurse of my sonne Comodus gaue him sucke two yeares with her teates at the gate
will play his coate Waying the matter more deeply and aggrauating this vice I say further and affirme that when the children of Princes and great Lords play a man ought not to make account of that which they may winne or loose for that of all miseries were most miserie if therefore my penne should forbidde them play For play ought not to be forbidden to young children for the money that they lose but for the vices which they winne thereby and for the corrupt manners which therein they doe learne Octauian who was the second Emperour of Rome and one of the fortunatest Emperours that euer was among all his vertues was noted of one thing onely which is that from his youth he was much giuen to play at tennis Of the which vice hee was not onely admonished secretly but also was forbidden it openly For as Cicero sayeth in his booke of Lawes when the Emperour was noted of any open vice they might boldly reproue him in the open Senate When Octauian was for this vice reproued by the Senate they sayde hee spake these wordes You haue reason O Fathers conscript in taking from me my pastime for it is necessary that the vertues of Princes should be so many that al men might prayse them and their vices so fewe that no man might reproue them These wordes were notable worthy of such a rare and excellent Prince For in the end considering their delicate and wanton bringing vp together with the liberty that they haue Wee ought to thanke and commend them for the good workes which they doe and most of all to reioyce for the vices which they want To our matter therefore amongst the other wicked vices that children gette in their youth when they are players This is one that they learne to bee theeues and lyers For the money that they playe to demaund it their Fathers they are afrayde and ashamed and of theyr owne proper goods as yet they haue none in their hands Wherefore a man may easily conclude tha◠if children play of necessitie they must steale The sixe and thirtieth Emperor of Rome was Claudius Luganus a man very temperate in eating moderate in apparrell vpright in iustice and very fortunate in chiualry for he did not onely repulse the Gothes from Illyria but also vanquished in a batrell the Germaines wherin were slaine aboue a hundred thousand This battell was neere vnto the Lake Verucus in a place called Luganus and for a memory of that great battell and victory they called him Claudius Luganus For it was a custome among the Romaines that according to the good or euill workes that Princes did so they were iudged and know by such surnames whether it were good or euill This Emperour had but one onely sonne which was a prince of comely personage and liuely of vnderstanding but aboue all things giuen to play so that these good gifts which nature gaue him to work in vertue he misused alwayes in play And amongst young men he desired rather to haunt vice then among the Philosophers to learne vertue And hereat a man ought not to maruell for all men of great courage vnlesse they be compelled to do vertuous acts doe exercise of themselues many detestable vices It chaunced when this young prince had no more to play nor gage he robbed out of his Fathers chamber a rich Iewell of golde whereof also his Master was priuie And when the knowledge thereof came to the Emperours eates hee immediately dishenherited his sonne of the Empire and caused the head of the Master to bee cut off his body and all those likewise that played with him to be banished the Countrey This act made euery man afrayde for correction executed after a good sorte hath this property that it encourageth the good to be good and feareth the wicked from their wickednesse Merula in the tenth booke of Caesars whereas at large hee mentioneth this matter sayeth that the Romaines esteemed more the banishment of those players from Rome then to haue drouen out the Gothes from Illyria and to say the trueth they had reason For a prince deserueth a greater growne of glory to banish the vitious from his palace then hee doeth for chasing the enemies out of his dominion CHAP. XL. ¶ Of two other vices perillous in Youth which the Maisters ought to keepe them from and that is to bee shamelesse in countenance and addicted to wickednesse and the lusts of the Flesh THirdlie Tutours ought to trauel that that the Children which they haue in charge be not light worldly nor that they do consent that they be bolde or shamelesse And I say that they doe not suffer them to be light or vnconstant For of young men vnconstant and light commeth oftentimes an olde man fonde and vnthriftie I say that they doe not suffer them to be too rashe For of too hardie young men commeth rebellious and seditious persons I say that they doe not consent they bee shameles For of the vnshamefastnes commeth slaunderous persons Princes and great Lords ought to haue much care and circumspection that their Children bee brought vp in shamefastnes with honestie For the crowne doth not giue so much glorie to a King nor the head doth more set forth the man nor the precious jewell more adorne the breast nor yet the regal Scepter more become the hand then shamefastnes with honesty beautifieth a young man For a man of what estate soeuer hee be the honesty which hee sheweth outwardly doeth most commonly hyde many secret vices wherewith he is indued inwardly In the time of the reigne of the Emperour Helyus Pertinax the nineteenth Emperour of Rome two Consulls gouerned the Common-wealth the one was named Verut and the other Mamillus One day they came vnto the Emperour and were humble suiters to his Highnesse beseeching him that it would please him to accept and receyue their two children into his seruice the eldest of the which passed not as yet twelue yeares of age the which request after the Emperour had graunted the Fathers were not negligent to bring them vnto him and beeing come before his presence eache of them made an oration the one in Latine and the other in Greeke Wherewith the Emperour was greatly pleased and all the residue amazed For at that time none serued the Romaine Princes but hee that was very apte to Chiualrie or very toward in Sciences As these two Children in the presence of the Emperour made their orations the one of them behelde the Emperour in such sorte that his eyes neuer went off him neither once mouing his head to looke downe to the earth and the other contrarie behelde the earth alwayes and neuer lift vp his head during his oration Wherewith the Emperour beeing a graue man was so highly pleased with the demeanours of this Childe that hee did not onely admit him for to serue him at his Table but also hee suffered him to enter into his Chamber and this was a preferment of
remaine diseased and their vnderstanding blinded their memory dulled their sense corrupted their will hurted their reason subuerted and their good fame lost and worst of all the flesh remaineth alwayes flesh O how many young men are deceyued thinking that for to satisfie and by once engaging themselues to vices that from that time forwarde they shall cease to bee vicious the which thing not onely doth not profite them but also is very hurtfull vnto them For fire is not quenched with drye wood but with cold water But O God what shall wee doe since that now a dayes the Fathers doe as much esteeme their children for being fine and bolde minions among women as if they were verie profound in science or hardie in feates of Armes and that which is worst they oft times make more of their bastards gotten in adulterie then of their legitimate childe conceiued in matrimony What shall wee say then of mothers Truely I am ashamed for to speake it but they should bee more ashamed to doe it which is because they would not displease their husbands they hide the wickednesse of their children they put the children of their harlots to the Nurse they redeeme their gages they giue them money to play at dice they reconcile them to their fathers when they haue offended they borrow them money to redeeme them when they are indebted Finally they are makers of their bodies and vndoers of their soules I speake this insidently for that the masters would correct the children but the Fathers and mothers forbid them For it little auayleth for one to pricke the horse with the spurre when hee that sitteth vpon him holdeth him back with the bridle Therfore to our matter what shall we do to remedy this ill in the young man which in his flesh is vicious Truely I see no other remedie but with the moist earth to quench the flaming fire and to keepe him from the occasions of vice For in the warre honour by tarrying is obtained but in the vice of the flesh the victory by flying is obtayned The end of the second Booke THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE DIALL OF PRINCES WITH THE FAMOVS BOOKE OF MARCVS AVRELIVS WHERE HEE entreateth of the vertues which Princes ought to haue as Iustice Peace and Magnificence CHAP. I. How Princes and great Lordes ought to trauell to administer to all equall iustice EGidius Frigulus one of the most famous and renowmed Philosophers of Rome sayde that that betweene two of the Zodaicall signes Leo and Libra is a Virgine named Iustice the which in times past dwelled among men in earth and after that shee was of them neglected shee ascended vp to Heauen This Philosopher would let vs vnderstand that Iustice is so excellent a vertue that she passeth al mens capacitie since shee made heauen her mansion place and could finde no man in the whole earth that wold entertaine her in his house During the time they were chaste gentle pittifull patient embracers of vertue honest and true Iustice remayning in the earth with them but since they are conuerted vnto adulterers tyrants giuen to be proud vnpatient lyers and blasphemers shee determined to forsake them and to ascend vp into heauen So that this Philosopher concluded that for the wickednesse that men commit on earth Iustice hath leapt from them into Heauen Though this seeme to bee a Poeticall fiction yet it comprehendeth in it high and profound doctrine the which seemeth to be very cleare for where wee see iustice there are few theeues few murderers few tirants and few blasphemers Finally I say that in the house or Common wealth where Iustice remaineth a man can not committe vice and much lesse dissemble with the vicious Homer desirous to exalt justice could not tell what to say more but to call Kings the children of the great God Iupiter and that not for that naturalty they haue but for the office of iustice which they minister So that Homer concludeth that a man ought not to call iust Princes other but the children of God The diuiue Plato in the fourth booke of his common-wealth saieth that the chiefest gift God gaue to men is that they being as they be of such vile clay should bee gouerned by justice I would to GOD all those which reade this wryting vnderstoode right well that which Plato said For if men were not indued with reason and gouerned by iustice amongst all beasts none were so vnprofitable Let reason be taken from man wherwith he is indued and iustice whereby he is gouerned then shall men easily perceyue in what sort he will leade his life He cannot fight as the Elephant nor defend himselfe as the Tygre nor he can hunte as the Lyon neither labour as the Oxe and that wherby he should profite as I thinke is that he should eate Beares and Lyons in his life as now he shall be eaten of worms after his death All the Poets that inuented fictions all the Oratours which made Orations all the Philosophers which wrote books all the Sages which left vs their doctrines and all the Princes which instituted Lawes meant nothing else but to perswade vs to think how briefe and vnprofitable this life is and how necessary a thing iustice is therin For the filth and corruption which the bodie hath without the soule the selfe same hath the common-wealth without iustice Wee cannot denye but that the Romaines haue been prowde enuious adulterers shamelesse and ambicious but yet with all these faultes they haue beene great obseruers of iustice So that if God gaue them so manie Triumphs beeing loaden and enuironed with so many vices it was not for the vertues they had but for the great iustice which they did administer Plinie in his second booke saith that Democrites affirmed there were two gods which gouerned the vniuersall world that is to say Reward and Punishment Whereby wee may gather that nothing is more necessarie then true and right iustice For the one rewardeth the good and the other leaueth not vnpunished the euill Saint Austine in the first Booke De Ciuitate Dei saieth these words Iustice taken away what are Realmes but dennes of Theeues Truely hee had great reason For if there were no whips for vagabonds gags for blasphemers fines for periurie fires for heretiques sword for murderers galowes for theeues nor prisons for Rebells we may boldly say there would not bee so many Beasts on the mountains as there would be thieues in the Common-wealth In many things or in the greatest parte of the commonwealth wee see that Bread Wine Corn Fish Wool and other things necessary for the life of the people wanteth but we neuer saw but malicious men in euery place did abound Therefore I sweare vnto you that it were a good bargaine to chaunge all the wicked men in the commonwealth for one onely poore sheepe in the fielde In the Common-wealth wee see nought else but whipping daylie beheading slaying drowning hanging but notwithstanding this
had rather ye should see it by experience which is That we haue so mercifull GOD that though among fiftie thousand euill there was of vs but ten thousand good yet he shewed such effectuall tokens of great mercie that both the Aegyptians and the Romaines might haue seene howe our GOD can accomplish and performe more alone then all your gods together So it is we Hebrewes agreeing in one Faith and vnitie haue one onely God and in one God onely we put our whole trust and beliefe and him we desire to serue though we doe not serue him neyther should serue him on such condicion to offend him He is so mercifull that hee would not let vs proue what his powerfull hand can doe neyther would hee put our woefull people in Captiuity as hee hath nor also our GOD can deceyue vs neither can our wrytings lye But the greater offenders wee bee the greater Lords shall yee be ouer vs. And as long as the wrath of God shal hang ouer vs so long shall the power of yee Romaines endure For our vnhappy chaunce hath not giuen ye our Realme for your deserts nor yet for that yee were the rightfull heyres therevnto but to the ende ye should bee the scourgers of our offences c. After the will of our God shal be fulfilled after that he hath appeased his wrath and indignation against vs and that wee shall be purged of our offences and that hee shall behold vs with the eyes of his clemencie Then we others shall recouer that which wee haue lost and you others shall loose that which ye haue euill wonne And it may so chaunce that as presently of ye Romaines we are commaunded so the time shall come that of yee others we shall be obeyed And for as much as in this case the Hebrewes feele one and yee Romaines feele another neyther yee can cause me to worship many Gods and much lesse should I be sufficient to draw ye to the faith of one onely God I referre all to GOD the creatour of all things by whose might we are created and gouerned Therefore touching the effect and matter of my Embassage knowe yee now that in all former times past vntill this present Rome hath had peace with Iudea and Iudea hath had friendship with Rome so that wee did fauour you in the warres and you others preserued vs in peace Generally nothing is more desired then peace and nothing more hated then warre And further all this presupposed we see see it with our eyes and also do read of our predecessors that the world hath beene alwayes in contention and rest hath alwayes been banished For indeed if wee see many sigh for peace wee see many more employe themselues to warre If yee others would banish those from you which doe moue you to beare vs euill will and wee others knew those which prouoke vs to rebell neyther Rome should be so cruell to Iudea nor yet Iudea should so much hate Rome The greatest token and signe of peace is to dispatch out of the way the disturberbers thereof for friendshippe oft times is lost not so much for the interest of the one or of the other as for the vndiscreetnes of the Mediators When one common-wealth striueth against another it is vnpossible that their controuersies endure long if those come betweene them as indifferent Mediators be wise But if such a one which taketh vpon him those affayres be more earnestly bent then the enemie wherewith the other fighteth wee will say that hee more subtilly casteth wood on the fire then hee draweth water to quench the heate All that which I say Romanes is because that since the banishment of Archelaus from Iudea sonne of the great King Herode in his place you sent vs Pomponius Marcus Rufus Valerius to bee our Iudges who haue beene foure plagues the least whereof sufficeth to poyson all Rome What greater calamity could happen to our poore Realme of Palestine then Iudges to bee sent from Rome to take euill customes from the euill and they themselues to be inuentors of new vices What greater inconuenience can chance to Iustice then when the Iudges which ought to punish the lightnesse of youth doe glorifie themselues to be Captaines of the light in their age What greater infamie can bee vnto Rome then when those which ought to bee iust in all iustice and to giue example of all vertues bee euill in all euils and inuentors of all vices Wherein appeareth your little care and much tyrannie For all sayde openly in Asia that the theeues of Rome doe hang the theeues of Iewrie What will yee I shall say more Romanes but that wee little esteeme the theeues which keepe the woods in comparison of the iudges which rob vs in our owne houses O how wofull were our fatall Destinies the day that we became subiect to the Romanes we feare no thieues which should robbe in the high way wee feare no fire which should burne our goods nor wee feare no Tyrants which should make warre against vs neyther any Assyrians which should spoyle our countrey wee feare not the corrupt ayre that should infect vs neither the plague that shold take our liues from vs but we feare your cruell iudges which oppresse vs in the commonwealth and robbe vs of our good name I say not without a cause they trouble the Common wealth for that layde a part which they say that laid a part which they meane and that layde apart which they robbe immediately they write to the Senate to consent vnto them not of the good which they finde in the Ancients but of the lightnesse which they see in the young And as the Senatours do heare them here and doe not see them there so you giue more credite to one that hath beene but three monethes in the Prouince then to those which haue gouerned them common wealth thirty yeares Consider Senatours that you haue made and appointed Senators in this place for that you were the wisest the honestest the best experimented and the most moderate and vertuous Therefore in this aboue all shall be seen if yee be vertuous in that you doe not beleeue all For if those bee many and of diuers Nations which haue to doe with you much more diuers and variable are their ententions and ends for the which they entreate I lye if your Iudges haue not done so many wrongs in iustice and forsaken their discipline that they haue taught the youth of Iudea inuentions of vices which neyther haue beene heard of our Fathers neither reade in our books nor yet seen in our time You other Romanes since you are noble and mighty you disdaine to take counsell of men that be poore the which yee ought not to doe neyther counsell your friendes to doe it For to know and to haue little seldome times goeth together As many counsels as Iudea hath taken of Rome so many let now Rome take of Iudea You ought to know though our
of counsel they themselues imagine and other flattrers telleth that thogh they haue much in respect of other princes yet they can doe little Also they say vnto them that if their substaunce bee great their Fame ought to bee greater Further they tell them that the good Prince ought little to esteeme that hee hath inherited of his predecessors in respect of the great deale more hee ought to leaue to his successours Also they tell them that neuer prince left of him any great memory but inuenting some cruell Warre against his enemie Also they tell them that the houre that one is chosen Emperour of Rome hee may boldely conquer the whole earth These vaine reasons being heard of the princes afterwardes as their Fortune is base and their mindes high immediately they defie their enemies they open their Treasures they assemble great armies and in the end of all the Gods suffer that they thinking to tkae an other mans goods they waste and lose their owne Oh Princes I knowe not who doth deceyue yee that you which by peace may be rich and by war wil be poore Oh Princes I know not who doth deceiue you that you which may be loued doe seeke occasions to be hated Oh princes I knowe not who doth beguyle yee that yee which may enioy a sure life doe aduenture your selues to the mutabilitie of Fortune Oh princes I knowe not who doeth deceyue you that you so little esteeme and weigh your owne aboundance and so greatly set by the wants of others Oh princes I know not who doth deceiue you that all hauing need of you you should haue neede of others I let thee to knowe my Cornelius though a prince bee more quicke and carefull then all other his predecessors haue bin in Rome yet it is vnpossible that all things touching warre should succeede vnto him prosperously For in the greatest neede of warres eyther he wanteth money or his subiects do not succour him or time is contrarie vnto him or he findeth perilous pasges hee lacketh Artillerie or the captaines rebell or else succour commeth to his aduersaryes so that hee seeth himselfe so miserable that thoughtes doe more oppresse his heart then the enemies do harme his land Though a prince had no warre but for to suffer men of warre yet he ought to take vpon him no warre I aske thee now my Cornelius what trauell so great to his person or what greater damage to his Realme can his Enemies do then that which his own men of warre doe c The Enemies to doe the worst they can will but robbe our Frontiers but our men of War do robbe the whole countrey The Enemies we dare and may resist but to ours we cannot nor dare not speake The Enemyes the worst they can do is once in a moneth to robbe and runne their wayes but ours daily do robbe and remaine still The Enemyes feare their enemies only but ours doe feare their enemyes and haue no pitie on their friends The enemies the further they goe on the more they diminish but ours the further they goe the more they encrease I know no greater warre that Princes can haue then to haue men of warre in their realmes For as experience doth shew vs before the Gods they are culpable to Princes importunate and to the people troublesome so that they liue to the damage of all and to the profit of none By the God Mars I swear vnto thee my friend Cornelius as hee may direct my hands in the war that I haue more complaints in the Senate of the thefts which my Captaines did in Illyria then of all the enemies of the Romane people Both for that I say and for that I kept secret I am more afraid to create an Ensigne of two hundred men of warre then to giue a cruell battell to thirty thousand men For that battell fortune good or euill forthwith dispacheth but with these I can bee sure no time of all my life Thou wilt say vnto me Cornelius that since I am Emperour of Rome I should remedy this since I know it For that Prince which dissembleth with the fault of another by reason hee will condemne him as if it were his owne To this I answere that I am not mighty enough to remedy it except by my remedy there should spring a greater inconuenience And since thou hast not beene a Prince thou couldest not fall into that I haue nor yet vnderstand that which I say For Princes by their wisdom know many things the which to remedy they haue no power So it hath beene so it is so it shall be so I found it so I keepe it so will I leaue it them so I haue reade it in bookes so haue I seen it with my eyes so haue I heard it of my predecessors And finally I say our Fathers haue inuented it and so will wee their children sustaine it and for this euill wee will leaue it to our heyres I will tell thee one thing and imagine that I erre not therein which is considering the great dammage and little profite which men of warre do bring to our Common wealth I thinke to doe it and to sustaine it eyther it is the folly of men or a scourge giuen of the Gods For there can be nothing more iust then for the Gods to permit that wee feele that in our owne houses which wee cause others in strange houses to lament All those thinges I haue written vnto thee not for that it skileth greatly that I know them but that my heart is at ease for to vtter them For as Alcibiades sayde the chests and the hearts ought alwayes to be open to their friends Panutius my Secretary goeth in my behalfe to visite that Land and I gaue him this Letter to giue thee with two Horses wherewith I doe thinke thou wilt be contented for they are Genets The Weapons and riches which I tooke of the Parthians I haue now diuided notwithstanding I do send thee two Chariots laden with them My wife Faustine greeteth thee and shee sendeth a rich glasse for thy Daughter and a iewell with stones for thy sister No more but I doe beseech the gods to giue thee a good life and me a good death CHAP. XVII An Admonition of the Author to Princes and great Lordes to the entent that the more they grow in yeares the more they are bound to refrayne from vices AVlus Gelius in his booke De noctibus Atticis sayeth that there was an auncient custome among the Romanes to honour and haue in great reuerence aged men And this was so inuiolate a Law amongst them that there was none so noble of bloud and linage neyther so puissant in riches neyther so fortunate in battels that should go before the aged men which were loden with white hayres so that they honoured them as they did the Gods Amongst other the aged men had these preheminences that is to say that in feasts they sate highest in the
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
thousand to helpe to marry her and the other thousand to helpe for to releeue your pouerty My wife Faustine is sicke and I send you another 1000. Sesterces to giue to the Vestall virgins to pray to the Gods for her My wife sendeth to thee Claudine a Cofer by the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee I cannot tell what is in it I beseech the Gods sithence you are aged to giue you a good death and to me and Faustine they suffer vs to leade a good life Marcus of mount Celio with his own hand writeth this CHAP. XXIII Princes ought to take heede that they be not noted of auarice for that the couetous man is both of God and man hated THe great Alexander King of Macedony and Darius the vnfortunate King of Persians were not onely contrary in wars and conquests which they made but also in the conditions and inclinations which they had For Alexander naturally loued to giue and spend and Darius to the contrarie to heape locke and keepe When the fame of Alexander was spredde abroade throughout all the word to bee a Prince of honour and not couetous his owne loued him intirely strangers desired to serue him faithfully The miserable King Darius as he was noted of great auarice and of small liberality so his did disobey him and strangers hated him whereof may be gathered that Princes and great Lords by giuing do make them selues rich and in keeping they make themselues poore Plutarch in his Apothegmes declareth that after King Darius was dead and Alexander had triumphed ouer all the Orientall parts a man of Thebes being in the market place of Athens setting forth the fortune of Alexander for the sundry Countryes which hee had conquered and describing the euill fortune of Darius for the great number of men which hee had lost a Philosopher with a loude voyce sayd O man of Thebes thou art greatly deceyued to think that one prince loseth many seigniories and that the other Prince winneth many Realmes For Alexander the Great wann nought but stones and couerings of Cities for with his liberality hee had already gotten the good wils of the Citizens and on the contrary the vnfortunate Darius did not lose but stones and the couertures of Cities for with his couetousnesse and auarice hee had now lost all the hearts of those of Asia And further this Philosopher sayde vnto him that Princes which will enlarge their estates and amplifie their realmes in their conquests ought first to winne the hearts and to bee noble and liberall and afterwards to send their armies to conquer the Forts and wals for otherwise little auayleth it to winne the stones if the hearts do rebell Whereby a man may gather that that which Alexander wanne he wanne by liberality and stoutenesse and that which King Darius lost he lost for being miserable and couetous And let vs not maruell hereat for that Princes and great Lordes which are ouercome with auarice I doubt whether euer they shall see themselus Conquerours of many realmes The vice of auarice is so detestable so euil so odious and so perillous that if a man should employ himselfe for to write all the discommodities thereunto belonging my penne shoulde do nought else then to presume to drye vp all the water in the sea For the stomacke where auarice entreth causeth a man to serue vices worship Idols If a vertuous man would prepare himselfe to thinke on the great trauel and little rest that this cursed vice beareth with him I thinke that none would be vicious therein Though the couetous man had no other trauell but alwayes to goe to bed with daunger and to rise vp with care Mee thinketh that it is a trouble sufficient for such a one when he goeth to bed thinketh that hee should bee killed in his bedde or that sleeping his coffers should be rifled and from that time he riseth hee is alwayes tormented with feare to lose that which he hath wonne and carefull to augment that little too much The diuine Plato in the first booke of his Common-wealth sayde these words The men be made rich because they neuer learned to bee rich for he which continually and truly will become rich first ought to abhorre couetousnesse before he begin to occupie himselfe to locke vppe goods For the man which setteth no bond to his desire shall alwayes haue little though hee see himselfe Lord of the world The sentence of the Stoyckes doth satisfie my mind much whereof Aristotle in his politikes maketh mention where he sayth That vnto great affayres are alwayes required great riches and there is no extreame pouertie but where there hath beene great aboundance c. Thereof ensueth that vnto Princes and great Lordes which haue much they want much because vnto men which haue had little they can want but little If wee admonish worldlings not to be vicious they will alwayes haue excuses to excuse themselues declaring why they haue been vicious the vice of Auarice excepted to whome and with whom they haue no excuse For if one vaine reason be ready to excuse there are two thousand to condemne them Let vs put example in all the principall vices and wee shall see how this onely of Auarice remaineth condemned and not excused If we reason why a noble Prince or great Lord is hautie and proude He will aunswere that hee hath great occasion For the naturall disposition of men is rather to desire to commaund with trauell then to serue with quyetnes and rest If we reproue any man that is furious and giuen to anger hee will aunswere vs that we maruell not since we maruell not of the proude For that the enemy hath no more authority to trouble any man then the other to take reuenge of him If we blame him for that he is fleshly and vicious he will answer vs that hee cannot abstaine from that sinne For if any man can eschew the actes he fighteth continually with vncleane thoughts If wee say that anie man is negligent hee will answere vs that he deserueth not to be blamed For the vilenes of our nature is such that if we do trauell it immediately it is wearie and if we rest it immediately it reioyceth If wee rebuke any man that is a glutton hee will answere vs that without eating and drinking wee cannot liue in the world for the Diuine Word hath not forbidden man to eate with the mouth but the vncleane thoughts which come from the heart As of these few vices we haue declared so may wee excuse all the residue but to the vice of couetousnesse none can giue a reasonable excuse For with money put into the coffer the soule cannot profite nor the bodie reioyce Boetius in his booke of consolation said That Money is good not when wee haue it in possession but when wee want it And in very deede the sentence of Boetius is very profound For when man spendeth money he attaineth to that he
no lesse doe they trauell which goe alwayes in the plaine way then those which mount on the sharpe craggy mountaine According to that I haue gathered of thy letter mee seemeth that when we hope most rest greatest trauel hath succeeded to thee And hereof I doe not maruell nor thou oughtest not be offended for as experience teacheth vs when the trees haue the blossoms then they are most subiect to the frost and when glasses are drawne out of the furnace they breake The Captaines hauing won the victorie doe die When they will put the key in the dore the house doth fall The Pirates perish within the kenning of land By that I haue spoken I meane that when wee thinke to haue made peace with fortune then shee hath a new demaund ready forged All new changes of Fortune causeth all wayes new paine to the person but often times it is cause of more great fortresse for the tree beareth not so much fruit where it first grew as there where againe it is planted and the sauours are more odoriferous when they are most chafed I meane that men of high thoughts the more they are wrapped in the frownings of Fortune the more valiant and stout they shew themselues The man vtterly is foolish or hath great want of vnderstanding who hopeth at any time to haue perfect rest imagining that the World will giue no assault vpon him but that the time shall come wherein hee shall bee without care and feare This miserable life is of such condition that dayly our yeares doe diminish and our troubles encrease O Torquatus by the immortall Gods I doe desire thee and in the faith of a friend I doe require thee thou being borne in the world nourishing thy selfe in the world liuing in the world being conuersant in the world being a child of the world and following the world what didst thou hope of the world but things of the world Peraduenture thou alone wilt eate the flesh without bones giue battell without perill trauell without paine and sayle by the sea without daunger I meane that â—s vnpossible for mortall men to liue in the world vnlesse they will become subiect to the sorrowes of the world The world hath alwayes been the world and now the world shall be after vs and as a world shall handle the worldlings The wise men and those which of their estates are carefull are not contented to see nor superficialy to know the things but rather waigh them profoundly I say this because if thou knewest thy debelity and knewest fortune and her chaunge if thou knewest the men and their malices if thou knewest the world and his flatteries thou shouldest winne no little honour where as otherwise thou mayes chance to get infamie Wee are now come to so great folly that wee will not serue the Gods which haue created vs nor abstaine from the World which persecuteth vs And the best is that hee not willing vs but rather reiecting vs we say that of our owne willes wee will loue and serue him and yet knowing that those which longest haue serued the world do goe out of his house most bitterly lamenting Oftentimes I stay for to thinke that according to the multitude of men which follow the world beeing alwayes euill handled of the World if the World did pray them as hee doth annoye them if hee did comfort them as he doth torment them if he kept them as he banisheth them if he exalted them as he abuseth them of he receyued them as he expelleth them if he did continue them as he consumeth them I thinke that the Gods should not be honoured in heauen nor the temples worshipped in the earth O Torquatus my friend that which I will now say of thee thou mayest say of mee that is to say how much wee put our confidence in fortune how lewdly wee passe our dayes and how much wee are â—inded in the world yet for all that we credite his word as much as though hee had neuer mocked any CHAP. XLII Marcus Aurelius goeth on with his Letter and by strong and high reasons perswadeth all that line in the world not to trust the world nor any thing therein TEl l mee I pray thee Torquatus what wilt thou hear more What wilt thou see more and what wilt thou know more to know the world seeing how vntill this present thou hast beene handled of the world thou demaundest rest and he hath giuen thee trouble thou demaundest honour and he hath giuen thee infamie Thou demaundest riches and he hath giuen thee pouerty thou demaundest ioy and hee hath giuen thee sorrow Thou demaundest to be his and hee hath giuen thee his hand Thou demandest life and hee hath giuen thee death Therefore if it be true that the world hath handled thee in this wise why doest thou weepe to returne againe to his wicked house O filthy worlde how farre art thou from iust and how farre ought they to bee from thee which desire to be iust For naturally thou art a friend of nouelties and enemie of vertues One of the Lessons which the world readeth to his children is this that to be true worldlings they should not bee very true The which experience plainely sheweth vs for the man which medleth much with the world leaueth alwayes suspition of him that hee is not true The World is an Ambassadour of the euill a scourge of the good chiefest of vices a tyrant of the vertuous a breaker of peace a friend of warre a sweete water of vices the gawle of the vertuous a defendor of lyes an inuentor of nouelties a trauellour of the ignorant a hammer for the malitious a table of gluttons and a furnace of concupiscence Finally it is the perill of Charibdes where the harts doe perish and the danger of Scylla where the thoughts doe waste Presuppose that these he the conditions of the world The truth is that if there bee any worldling who complayneth to be euill content with the world shall he therefore chaunge his stile Truly no and the reason is that if perchaunce one worldling should goe out the house of the world there are x. thousand vanityes at his Gate I know not what wise man will liue in the World with such conditions since the vices wherewith wee doe reioyce our selues are very fewe in respect of the torments which we suffer I say not that we doe heare it by heare-say and reade them in bookes but wee see with our owne eyes the one to consume and wast the goods others by misfortune to fall and lose their credite others to fall and loose their honour and others to loose their life and all these miseryes seene yet neuertheles euery man thinketh to be free by priuiledge where there is none priuiledged Oh my deare Friend Torquatus of one thing I assure thee which is that the men which are born of women are so euill a generation and so cruell is the world wherein we liue and Fortune
the world wil do For all that the world hath giuen me hath beene but mockery and deceite but that which the gods haue giuen mee I haue gouerned and possessed without snspition For this last houre my sonne I haue kept the best the most noble and richest iewell that I haue possessed in my life time and I doe protest vnto the immortall gods that if as they doe commaund mee to die they would giue me lieence to reade in the graue I would command it to be buried with me Thou shalt know my sonne that in in the tenth yeare of my Empire a great warre arose against the vnrulie people of Persia where by euill lucke it was appointed for mee in person to giue the battell the which wonne and all their Countrey destroyed I returned by the olde City of Thebes in Egypt to see if I could finde any antiquitie of those in times past In the house of an Egyptian Priest I found a little table which they hanged at the gate of the Kinges pallace the day of his Coronation And this poore Priest tolde mee that that which was in his table was written by a king of Egypt named Ptholomeus Arasides I beseech the immortall god my sonne that such bee thy works as the words of this table require As Emperour I leaue thee heyre of many Realmes and as a father I giue thee this Table of Counsels The words which the Fathers do teach vnto the children at the last houre the children ought to keepe continually in their memory Let this therefore be my last word with the Empire thou shalt be feared through out all the World and with the counsels of this Table thou shalt bee loued of all Nations This talke being ended and the table giuen the Emperour turned his eyes lost his sences and for the space of a quarter of an houre lay languishing in extreame paine and within a while after yeelded vp the Ghost In this table were certaine Greeke Letters which weere in meeter and in our tongue signifie thus A Table left by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to his Soune Commodus ONn Honours stall I doe no Tirant heaue Nor yet the poore suppresse if hee were tust For riches rule I nould to pardon cleaue For want of wealth nor follow rigors lust For naked loue I neuer spent reward Nor would correct for onely enuies heate Of vertues impes I alwayes had regard And mischiefes mates haue plagude with torment great To others doome I neuer would commit Of open right the quarrell to decide Ne yet of doubtfull strifes in trust of wit The finall end alone I would diuide To them that sought for iustice equall sway Her golden rule I neuer would deny Ne yet to such for whom desert would lay Their slender faults might well be slipped by To feele the griefe that waued in my mind With others smart I neuer could sustaine Nor yet rewards my princely words would binde When sweet delight had chiefest ioy to raine In high estate when most blinde for tune smilde A recklesse life I restlesse ranne not on Nor yet when change these happy dayes beguilde To colde despaire my quiet mind was gone By boyling heate of malice endlesse fire To vices traine I cast no eagre eye Ne yet for lust of pining wealths desire Vnlawfull facts I rechlesse would applye The trayterous brest I neuer could embrace Nor lend mine eares to swallow flattering talke Of vices slaues I wayed not the grace Nor left vnsought good will in vertues walke Poore Irus band for that I did relieue Whose needy state doth stoppe in Croesus swaye The greatest gods whose heauenly wracke doth grieue The prowdest crownes was aye my present state The end of the thirde Booke THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE DIALL OF PRINCES COMPILED By the Right Reuerend Father in God ANTONIE of Gueuara Bishop of Mondogueto Preacher Chronicler and Councellor to CHARLES the fift Emperour of ROME Containing many Instructions and Rules for the fauoured of the Court being once in fauour easily to keepe and continue themselues in fauour still Very necessary and profitable for all Princes and Noble men and Gentlemen Courtiers that seeke to continue themselues in honour and estimation LONDON Imprinted by Bernard Alsop 1619. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER WHat detracting tongues report of mee and my first trauell in the translation of this Dyall enlarging them at pleasure to work my defame disabling my doing herein by brute it was no worke of mine but the fruit of others labour I need not much force since by dayly proofe wee see that ill disposed minds can neuer frame an honest tongue of head For my obiect and reproof of this their slaunderous and malignant speech I can alleadge courteous Reader two principall causes which thou reading iudging with indifferency mayest easilie aproue if I should seem to glose with thee First the basenesse of my Stile the plain humble words couched in the same the meane rude and ill contriued sentences layde before thee together with the simple handling of the whole plainely sheweth to thee whence they are and easily acquainteth thee with the curious Translator Who protesteth to God and confesseth to the world that hee more rashly then wisely plunged himself into so graue and deepe a matter and whose young yeeres and vnskilfull head might both then and now haue excused his fond enterprises herein For the second and last I must needs appeale to all the worshipfull and my bebeloued companions and fellow students of our house of Lincolnes Inne at that time from whence my poore English Diall tooke his light To whose iust and true reports for thy vndoubted satisfaction and discharge of my poore honesty I refer thee and wholy yeeld me These recited causes for purgation of my suspected fame as also for established assurance of the like and thy further doubt of mee hereafter I thought good Gentle Reader to denounce vnto thee I might well haue spared this second and last labour of mine taken in the rformation and correction of this Diall enlarging my selfe further once againe with the translation of the late and new come fauoured Courtier and which I found annexed to the Diall for the 4. and last booke If my proceeding trauell taken in the setting forth of the first three bookes and the respect of mine honesty in accomplishing of the same had not incited mee vnwillingly to continue my first begunne attempt to bring the same to his perfect and desired end which whole worke is now compleat by this last booke intituled the fauored Courtier which first last volume wholly as it lyeth I prostrate to the iudgemēt of the graue and wise Reader subiecting my self and it to the reformation and correction of his learned head whom I beseech to iudge of mee with fauour and equity and not with malice to persecute my fame and honest intent hauing for thy benefite to my little skill and knowledge imployed my simple talent crauing no other guerdon of thee
sufficient to protect and defende mee in all my causes And shortly after these words passed betweene tham Marke Anthonie shewed the friendship hee bare to the one and the enmitie hee had to the other For he caused Tullie to be put to death and raysed Salust to great honour A Friend may well imparte to the other all his owne as bread wine money time conuersation and such like but hee cannot notwithstanding giue him part of his heart for that suffereth it not to be parted nor deuided because it cā be giuē but to one alone This graunted to bee true as needs it must doubtles that the heart cannot bee deuided but onely giuen to one then is it of necessitie that hee that will seeke to haue many Friends must needs repaire to the shambles to prouide him of many hearts Many vaunt themselues and thinke it a glory to haue numbers of friends but let such well consider to what vse that legendarie of Friendes doe serue them they shall then easily finde they stand them in no oeher steede but to eate to drinke to walke to babble and to murmure togethers and not one to helpe the other with their goods fauour and credite at their neede nor friendly to reprooue them of theyr faults and vices which doubtles ought not to bee so For where true and perfect friendship raigneth neyther I with my friend nor hee with mee should dissemble any vice of faulte Ouide sayth in his booke De Arte amandi that the law of true and vnfained Loue is so streight that no friendship but mine in thy heart should harbour and in mine should lodge none others loue but thine for loue is none other thing But one heart liuining in two bodyes and two bodyes obeying in one heart In this World there is no treasure comparable to a true and sure Friend sith to a faithfull Friende a man may safely discouer the secrets of his heart bewray vnto him his gryping griefes trusting him with his honour committing to his guyde and custodie all his goods hee shall succour him in his miserie counsell him in perill reioyce at his prosperitie and mourne at his aduersitie And in fine I conclude such a friend neuer wearyeth to serue him in his life nor to lament him after his death I graunt that Golde and Siluer is good Kinsefolkes are good and Money is good but true friends exceede them all without comparison For all these things cannot warrant vs from necessitie if sinister Fortune plunge vs into it but rather encrease our torments and extreamitie Also they doe not reioyce vs but rather heape further griefes vpon vs neither doe they succour vs but rather eache houre giue vs cause to complaine and much lesse do they remember and aduise vs of that that is good but still doe deceyue vs not directing vs the right way but still bringing vs out of our way and when they haue led vs awry out of the High-way they bring vs into Desart woods and high and dangerous mountaines whence from we must fall downe headlong A true friend is no partaker of these conditions but rather hee is sorry for the least trouble that happeneth to his friend hee feareth not neither spareth his goods nor the daunger of his person he careth not to take vpon him any painfull iourney quarrels or sutes nor yet to put his life in euery hazard of death And yet that that is most of all to bee esteemed is that like as the heart and bowels euer burne with pure and sincere loue so doth hee wish and desire with gladsome mind to beare the burthen of all his friends mishaps yea more then yet is spoken of Alexander the Great offered great presents to the Philosopher Zenocrates who would not vouchsafe to receyue them much lesse to beholde them And beeing demaunded of Alexander why he would not receyue them hauing poore kinsfolkes and parents to bestow them on hee answered him thus Truely I haue both brothers and sisters O Alexander yet I haue no kinsman but him that is my friend and one onely friend I haue who hath no need of any gifts to bee giuen him For the onely cause why I chose him to be my sole and only friend was for that I euer saw him spise these worldly things Truly the sentence of this good Philosopher Zenocrates is of no small efficacy for him that will aduisedly consider of it sith that not seldome but many times it happeneth that the great troubles the sundry dangers the continuall necessities and miseries wee suffer in this vale of misery haue for the most part procceded from our parents and afterwards by our friends haue beene mediated and redressed Therefore since wee haue thought it good and necessary to chose a friend and that hee bee but one onely each man must bee wise lest in such choise hee be deceyued For oft times it happeneth that those that take little regarde herein grant their friendship to such a one as is too couetous impatient a great babler seditious and presumptuous and of such conditions that sometimes it should be lesse euill for vs to haue him our enemie then to account of him as of our deer friend Him whom wee will chuse for our faithfull friend amongst other manners and conditions hee must chiefly and before all bee indued with these that he be courteous of nature fayre spoken hard and stout to indure pain patient in troubles sober in diet moderate in his words graue and ripe in his counsels and aboue all stedfast in friendshippe and faithfull in secrets And whom wee shall find with these laudable vertues and conditions adorned him may wee safely take and accept for our friend But if wee see any of these parts wanting in him wee ought to shun him as from the plague knowing for certainety that the friendshippe of a fayned and fantasticall friend is much worse and perillous then the enmity of a knowne and open enemy for to the hands of one wee commit our heart and faith and from the deceites and treasons of the other wee defend our selues with our whole force and power Seneca writing to his deere and faithfull friend Lucillus sayeth vnto him I pray thee O Lucillus that thou order and determine thine affayres by the aduice and counsell of thy friend but also I doe remember thee that first thou see well what manner of friend thou hast chosen thee for there is no marchandise in the world this day that men are so soone beguiled in as they are in the choise of friends Therfore the graue sentence of Seneca wisely wayed wee should assent with him in opinion that sith no man buyeth a Horse but hee first causeth him to bee ridden nor bread but first hee seeth and handleth it nor wine but hee tasteth it nor flesh but first he wayeth it nor corne but hee seeth a sample nor house but hee doth first value it nor Instrument but that first hee playeth on it
Athens hee being not of the age of eightie fiue yeares asked what that old man was and it was answered him that it was one of the Philosophers of Greece who followed vertue and serched to know wherein true Philosophie consisted Whereupon he answered If Xenocrates the Philosopher tell mee that hee being now eightie fiue yeares old goeth to seek vertue in this age I would thou shouldest also tell me what time hee should haue left him to bee vertuous And hee sayde moreouer in those yeares that this Philosopher is of it were more reason we should see him doe vertuous things then at this age to goe and seeke it Truely we may say the very like of our new Courtier that Eudonius sayde of Xenocrates the Philosopher the which if hee did looke for other threescore yeares or threescore and ten to be good what time should remaine for him to proue and shew that goodnesse It is no maruell at all that the olde Courtiers forget their Natiue Countrey and bringing vp their Fathers that begate them their friendes that shewed them fauour and the seruants that serued them but at that I doe not onely wonder at them but also it giueth mee cause to suspect them is that I see they forget themselues So that they neuer know nor consider that they haue to doe till they come afterwardes to be that they would not be If the Courtiers which in Princes Courts haue beene rich noble and in authority would counsell with me or at least beleeue my writing they shold depart from thence in time to haue a long time to consider before of death least death vnawares and suddenly came to take execution of their liues O happy and thrice happy may we call the esteemed Courtier whom God hath giuen so much witte and knowledge to that of himselfe hee do depart from the Court before fortune hath once touched him with dishonour or laid her cruell handes vpon him For I neuer saw Courtier but in the end did complain of the Court and of their ill life that they ledde in Court And yet did I neuer know any person that would leaue it for any scruple of consciēce he had to remain there but peraduenture if any did depart from the court it was for some of these respects or altogether that is to say Eyther that his fauour and credite diminished or that his money fayled him or that some hath done him wrong in the court or that hee was driuen from the court or that he was denyed fauour or that his side faction he helde with had a fall or for that hee was sicke for to gette his health hee went into the Countrey So that they may say hee rather went angrie and displeased with himselfe then hee did to lament his sins If you aske priuately euery Courtier you shall finde none but will say he is discontented with the Court eyther because he is poore or afflicted enuied or ill willed or out of fauour and hee will sweare and resweare againe that he desireth nothing more in the World then to be dismissed of this Courtiers trauell and painefull Life But if afterwards perchance a little winde of fauour be but stirring in the Entrey of his chamber dore it will sodenly blow away all the good and former thoughts from his mind And yet that which makes mee to wonder more at these vnconstant Courtiers and vnstable braines is that I see many build goodly stately houses in their countrey and yet they neyther dwell in them nor keepe hospitality there They graffe and set trees plant fruites and make good Gardens and Orchards and yet neuer goe to enioye them they purchase great Landes and possessions and neuer goe to see them And they haue offices and dignities giuen them in their Countryes but they neuer goe for to exercise them There they haue their friends and parents and yet they neuer goe for to talke with them So they had rather be slaues and drudges in the court then lords rulers in their own countrey we may iustly say that many courtiers are poore in riches strangers in their owne houses and Pilgrimes in their Countrey and banished from all their kindreds So that if wee see the most part of these Courtiers backbite murmure complaine and abhorre these vices they see daily committed in Court I dare assure you that this discontentation and dislyking proceeds not only of those vices and errors then see committed as of the spight and enuie they haue daylie to see their Enemyes growe in fauour and credite with the Prince For they passe little of the vices of Court so they may be in fauour as others are Plutarch in his book De exilio sheweth that there was a Law amongst the Thebanes that after a man was fiftie yeares of age if he fell sicke he should not bee holpen with Physitians For they say that after a man is once arriued vnto that age he should desire to liue no longer but rather to hasten to his iourneys ende By these examples wee may know that infancie is till vii yeares Childhood to xiiii yeares Youth to xxv yeares manhood till xl and Age to three-score-yeares But once passed three-score me thinks it is rather time to make cleane the nettes and to content thēselues with the Fish they haue till now then to go about to put their nets in order againe to fish any more I grant that in the Courts of princes all may be saued yet no man can deny mee but that in princes Courts there are mo occasions to be damned then saued For as Cato the Censor saith The apt occasions bring men a desire to do yll though they be good of themselues And although some do take vpon them and determine to leade a godly and holie life or that they shew themselus ' great hypocrites yet am I assured notwithstanding that they cannot keepe their tongue frō murmuring nor their hart from enuying And the cause hereof proceedeth for that ther are very few that follow the Court long but onely to enter into credit and afterwards to vaxe rich and growe in great authoritie Which cannot bee without bearing a little secret hate and enuy against those that doe passe them in this fauour and authority and without suspect and feare of others which in 〈◊〉 are their equals and companions It were a good counsell for those that haue 〈◊〉 the Court or Princes till they be 〈◊〉 old and gray headed that they should determine and liue the rest of their yeares as good Christians and not to passe them as Courtiers so that though they haue giuen the world a meale yet they should in the end giue the brain to Iesus Christ I know euery man desireth to liue in Princes Courts and yet they promise they will not dye in Court And since it is so mee thinkes it is a great folly and presumption for such men to desire to liue long in such state where they would not dye for all the