his diuine power And of the superstition of the false and faigned goddes chap 9. fol. 20. How there is but one true God and how happy those Realmes are which haue a good Christian to be their King How the Gentiles affirmed that good Princes after their death were changed into gods and the wicked into Deuils which the Authour proueth by sundry examples chap. 10. fol. 23. Of sundry gods which the Ancients worshipped Of the offices of those gods How they were reuenged of such as displeased them And of the twentie elected gods chap. 11. fol. 26. How Tiberius was chosen Gouernour of the Empire and afterward created Emperour onely for being a good Christian And how God depriued Iustinian the younger both of his Empire and senses because he was a perfidious heretique chap. 12. fol. 29 Of other more naturall and peculier gods which the ancient people had and adored chap. 13. fol. 32 What words the Empresse Sophia spake to Tiberius Constantinus then being Gouernour of the Empire reprouing him for lauishly consuming the Treasure of the Empire gotten by her chap. 14. fol. 36 The answere of Tiberius to the Empresse Sophia Augusta declaring that Noble Princes neede not hoord vp treasures And of the hidden treasure which this good Emperour foundeby reuelation in the Palace where he remayned chap. 15. fol. 38 How the Captayne Narsetes ouercame many Battailes onely by reposing his whole confidence in God And what hapned to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta relating the vnthankfulnesse of Princes towards their seruants chap. 16. fol 41 Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the King of Scicille remembring the trauels they had endured together in their youth and reprooning him for his small reuerence to the Temples ch 17 fo 46 The Emperours prosecution in his Letter admonishing Princes to bee fearefull of their Gods And of the sentence which the Senate gaue vpon the King for pulling down the church ch 18 f. 49 How the Gentiles honoured those that were deuout in the seruice of their gods chap. 19 fol 52 Of fiue causes why Princes ought to be better christians then their subiects ch 20 fol. 55 What the Philosopher Bias was Of his constancy when hee had lost all his goods And of the ten lawes he gaue deseruing to be had in perpetuall memory chap 21 59 Questions demanded of the Philosopher Bias. fol. 61 The lawes which Bias gaue to the Prienenses 62 How God from the beginning punished men by his iustice and especially those Princes that despised his church how all wicked Christians are Parishioners of hel ch 22 63 Of twelue examples why Princes are sharply punished when they vsurpe boldly vpon churches and violate their temples ch 23 65 Why the children of Aaron were punished eodem The cause why the Azotes were punished eodem The cause why Prince Oza was punished 66. Why King Balthazar was punished 67 Why King Ahab was punished 69 Why King Manasses was punished cod Why Iulius Pompey Xerxes Cateline Germanicus Brennus were punished 70 How Valentine the Emp. because he was an euil Christian in one day lost both the Empire and his life ch 24 72 Of the Emp. Valentinian Gratian his son which raigned in the time of S. Ambrose and because they were good Christians were alwayes fortunate and how God giueth victory to Princes more by the teares of them that pray then thorow the weapons of thē that fight ch 25 76 Of the goodly Oration which the Em Gratian made to his Souldiers before hee gaue the battell ch 26 78 Of the Captaine Theodosius who was father to the great Emp. Theodosius died a good Christian Of the K. Hismarus and the Bishop Siluanus and the lawes which they made and established ch 27 60 What a happy thing it is to haue but one Prince to rule the publike weale for there is no greater enemy to the Common-weale then he which procureth many to commaund therein ch 28 84 That in a publike weale there is no greater destruction then where Princes dayly consent to new orders and make an alteration of ancient customs ch 29 f. 88 When Tirants began to raigne and vpon what occasion commaunding and obeying first began and how the authority which a Prince hath is by the ordināce of God chap. 30 91 Of the golden age in times past and worldly misery at this present ch 31 94 How K. Alexander the Great after hee had ouercome K. Darius in Asia went to conquer the great India and of that which hapned to him with the Garamantes and that purity of life hath more power then force of warre ch 32 96 Of an Oration which one of the Sages of Garamantia made vnto K. Alexander a good lesson for ambitious mē ch 33. 98 A continuation of the sage Garamants Oration and among other notable matters he maketh mention of seuen lawes which they obserued chap. 34 101 That Princes ought to consider for what cause they were made Princes What Thales the Philosopher was of 12 questions demāded of him his answer c. 35. 104 What Plutarch the Philosopher was Of the wise words he spake to the Emperour Traiane how a good Prince is the head of the publique-weale chap. 36. fo 108 As there are two Sences in the Head Smelling and Hearing So likewise a Prince who is the head of the Common-weale ought to heare the complaints of all his subiects and should know them all to recompence their seruices ch 37. fol. 111 Of the great Feast which the Romaines celebrated to the God Ianus the first day of Ianuary And of the bounty and liberality of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius the same day chap. 38 114 Of the answer which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius made to the Senatour Fuluius before all the Senate beeing reproued by him for the familiarity hee vsed to all men contrary to the maiesty and authority of the Romane Emperour wherein hee painteth enuious men ch 39 fol. 118 Of a Letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio declaring the opinion of certaine Philosophers concerning the felicity of man chap. 40. 124 Of the Philosopher Epicurus fol. 129 Of the Philosopher Eschilus 131 Of the Philosopher Pindarus 132 Of the Philosopher Zeno 133 Of the Philosopher Anacharsis 134 Of the Sarmates 135 Of the Philosopher Chilo 137 Of the Philosophers Crates Stylphas Simonides Gorgias Architas Chrysippus Antistenes Sophocles Euripides Palemon Themistocles Aristides and Heraclius 138. 139 That Princes and great Lords ought not to esteeme themselues for being fayre and well proportioned chap. 41 140 Of a letter written by the Emperour Marcus Aurelius to his Nephew worthy to be noted of all young Gentlemen chap. 42 146 How Princes and great Lords in olde time were louers of men that were wise and learned chap. 43 153 How the Emperor Theodosius prouided wise men at the houre of his death for the education of his two noble sonnes Archadius and Honorius chap. 44 158
day of October in the high Capitoll of Rome at the sute of the whole Romane people with the assent of the sacred Senate Marcus Aurelius Antonius was proclaimed Emperour vniuersall of the whole Romane Monarchie This noble Prince was naturally of Rome borne in the mount Celio on the sixt day before the Calends of May which after the Latines account is the 26. day of Aprill His Grandfather was called Annius Verus and was chosen Senatour in the time of the Emperours Titos and Vespasian His great Grandfather was named Annius Verus which was borne in Spaine in the free town of Gububa when the wars were most cruell betweene Caesar and Pompeius at what time many Spaniards fledde to Rome and many Romaines ranne into Spaine By this meanes this Emperour had a great Grandfather a Romane and a great Grandmother a Spaniard His Father was named Annius Verus after his Grandfather and Great Grandfather by reason whereof the ancient Historiographers call him Marcus Antonius Verus And true it is that the Emperour Adrian called him Marcus Verissimus for that hee neuer forged lye nor swarued at any time from the truth These Annti Veri were a kindred in Rome as Iulius Capitolinus reporteth which vaunted themselues to come of Numa Pompelius and Quintus Curtius the famous Romane which to worke the Romane people safety and his owne person euerlasting memory willingly threw himselfe into the Gulfe which afterwards was called Curtius which as then was seene in Rome This Emperours mother was called Domitta Camilla as recounteth Cinna in the bookes that hee wrote of the Romaine pedigrees That stocke of Camilli was in those daies highly honoured in Rome for that they conuayed their discent from that Camillus which was the renowmed and valiant Romane Captaine who deliuered Rome when the Gaules had taken it and besieged the Capitoll The men that sprang of this linage bare the name of Camilli for remembrance of this Camillus And the woman that came of the same stocke kept the name of Camilla in memory of a daughter of the said Camillus This Camilla refused mariage and chose to liue among the vastall virgins and there long space remained enduring a sharpe and hard life And shee was so vertuous a Romane and precise in her life that in the time of Seuerus Emperour of Rome her Tombe was honoured as a Relique whereon was engraued this Epitaph Camillus loe doth here engraued rest That onely was Camillus daughter deere Twice twenty yeares and sixe she hath possest A couert life vntoucht of any feere The King of Trinacry could not her moue To taste the sweet delight of Wedlocks band Nor traine by sute her sacred mind to loue Inclosdâ— in brest so deepe did chastnesse stand But oh great wrong the crawling worms below To gnaw on that vnspotted senselesse corse That rage of youth spent vndefiled so With sober life in spite of Cupids force And this was written in Heroycall verse in the Greeke tongue with a maruellous haughty stile But to our matter yee shall vnderstand that the Romanes kept a certaine Law in the 12. Tables the words whereof were these Wee ordaine and commaund that all the Romanes shall for euer haue speciall priuiledge in euery such place where their ancestors haue done to the Romane people any notable seruice For it is reason that where the Citizen aduentureth his life there the City should doe him some honour after his death By vertue of this law all the family of Camilli euer enioyed the keeping of the high Capitoll for that by his force and policie he chased the French men from the siege Truly it is not vnknowne that this noble Knight and valiant Captaine Camillus did other things as great and greater then this but because it was done within the circuit of Rome it was esteemed aboue all his other acts and prowesse And herein the Romanes swarued not far from reason for that amongst all princely vertues is esteemed to bee the chiefest and worthiest which is employed to the profit of the common-wealth The Romane Chronaclers with tears cease not to lament the ruine of their Country seing that variety of time the multitude of Tyrants the cruelty of ciuill wars were occasion that the ancient state of the Romane gouernement came to vtter destruction and in steade thereof a new and euill trade of life to bee placed And hereof no man ought to maruell for it chanceth throughout all Realmes and Nations by oft changing gouernours that among the people dayly springeth new vices Pulto sayth That for no alteration which befell to the common weale for no calamity that euer Rome suffered that priuiledge was taken away from the linage of Camilli I meane the gouernment of the high Capitoll except it were in the time of Silla the Consull when this family was sore persecuted for none other cause but for that they fauored the Consull Marius This cruell Silla being dead and the pittifull Iulius Caesar preuayling all the banished men from Rome returned home againe to the common-wealth As touching the Auncestors of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius what hath beene their trade of life estate pouerty or riches standing in fauor or displeasure what prosperity or aduersity they haue had or suffered wee finde not in writings though with great diligence they haue beene searched for And the cause hereof was for that the ancient writers of the Romane Histories touched the liues of the Emperors fathers specially when they were made Princes more for the good merites that were in the children then for the great estimation that came from the Fathers Iulius Capitolinus sayth That Annius Verus father of Marcus Aurelius was pretor of the Rhodian Armies and also warden in other Frontiers in the time of Trayan the good Adrian the wise and Anthony the mercifull Which Emperours trusted none with their Armies but discreet valiant men For good Princes chose alwayes such Captaines as can with wisdom guide the Armie and with valiantnes giue the battell Though the Romanes had sundry wars in diuers places yet chiefly they kept great Garrisons alwayes in foure parts of the world That is to say in Bizantium which now is Constantinople to resist the Parthiens in Gades which now is called Galizia to withstand the Portugales in the riuer of Rein to defend themselues from the Germaines and at Colossus which now is called the I le of Rhodes for to subdue the Barbarians In the moneth of Ianuarie when the Senate distributed their offices the Dictator being appointed for sixe monethes and the two Consuls chosen for one yeare incontinently in the third place they chose foure of the most renowmed persons to desend the said foure daungerous Frontiers For the Romanes neyther feared the paines of hell nor trusted for reward in heauen but sought by all occasions possible in their life time to leaue some notable memory of them after their death And the Romaine was counted most valiant
to come with me from Capua to Rome the selfesame thou hadst to goe with another from Rome to Capua It is an euill thing for vicious â—eâ— to reprooue the vices of others wherein themselues are faulty The cause why I condemn thee to dye is onely for the remembrance of the old Law the which commandeth that no nurse or woman giuing sucke should on paine of death be begotten with childe truly the Law is very iust For honest women do not suffer that in giuing her child sucke at her breast she shold hide another in her entrails These words passed between Gneus Fuluius the Consul and the Ladie Sabina of Capua Howbeit as Plutarche saith in that place the Consull had pitie vpon her and shewed her fauour banishing her vpon condition neuer to returne to Rome againe Cinna Catullus in the fourth booke of the xxij Consulls saith that Caius Fabricius was one of the most notable Consulles that euer was in Rome and was sore afflicted with diseases in his life onely because hee was nourished foure moneths with the milke of a Nurse being great with Childe and for feare of this they locked the nurse with the Childe in the Temple of the Vestall virgines where for the space of iij. yeares they were kept They demaunded the Consul why he did not nourish his children in his house He answered that children being nourished in the house it might bee an occasion that the Nurse should begotteÌ„ with child and so she should destroy the children with her corrupt milke and further giue me occasion to do iustice vpon her person wherefore keeping them so shut vp wee are occasion to preserue their life and also our children from perill Dyodorus Siculus in his librairy and Sextus Cheronensis saith in the life of Marc. Aurelius that in the Isles of Baleares there was a custom that the nurses of young children whether they were their owne or others should be seuered from their Husbands for the space of two yeares And the woman which at that time though it were by her husband were with child though they did not chasten her as an adulteresse yet euery man spake euill of her as of an offender During the time of these two yeares to the ende that the Husband should take no other wife they commanded that hee should take a concubine or that hee should buye a Slaue whose companie hee might vse as his wife for amongst these barbarous hee was honoured most that had two Wiues the one with child and the other not By these Examples aboue recited Princesses and great Ladyes may see what watch care they ought to take in choosing their Nurses that they be honest since of them dependeth not onely the health of their children but also the good fame of their houses The seueÌ„th condition is that Princesses and great ladies ought to see their nurses haue good conditions so that they be not troublesome proud harlots liars malicious nor flatterers for the viper hath not so much poyson as the woman which is euil coÌ„ditioned It little auaileth a man to take wine from a woman to entreate her to eate little and to withdrawe her from her husband if of her owne nature she be hatefull and euill mannered for it is not so great daÌ„ger vnto the child that the nurse be a drunkard or a glutton as it is if she be harmfull malitious If perchaunce the Nurse that nourisheth the child be euil conditioned truly she is euill troubled the house wherin she dwelleth euil coÌ„bred For such one doth importune the Lorde troubleth the Lady putteth in hazard the childe aboue all is not contented with her selfe Finally Fathers for giuing too much libertie to their nurses oft times are the causes of manie practises which they doe wherewith in the ende they are grieued with the death of their childreÌ„ which foloweth Amongst all these which I haue read I say that of the ancient Roman Princes of so good a Father as Drusius Germanicus was neuer came so wicked a son as Caligula was being the iiij Emp of Rome for the Hystoriographers were not satisfied to enrich the praise the excellencies of his Father neyther ceased they to blame and reprehend the infamies of his Sonne And they say that his naughtines proceedeth not of the mother which bare him but of the nurse which gaue him sucke For often times it chaunceth that the tree is green and good when it is planted and afterwardes it becometh drie and withered onely for being carryed into another place Dyon the Greeke in the second book of Caesars saieth that a cursed woman of Campania called Pressilla nourished and gaue suck vnto this wicked child Shee had against all nature of women her breasts as hayrie as the beardes of men and besides that in running a Horse handling her staffe shooting in the Crosse-bowe fewe young men in Rome were to bee compared vnto her It chaunced on a time that as shee was giuing sucke to Caligula for that shee was angrie shee tore in pieces a young child and with the bloud therof annoynted her breasts and so she made Caligula the young Childe to sucke together both bloud and milke The saide Dyon in his booke of the life of the Emperour Caligula saieth that the women of Campania whereof the saide Pressilla was had this custom that wheÌ„ they would giue their Teat to the childe first they did annointe the nipple with the bloud of a hedge-hog to the ende their children might be more fierce and cruell And so was this Caligula for hee was not contented to kill a man onely but also hee sucked the bloud that remained on his Sworde and licked it off with his tongue The excellent Poet Homer meaning to speake plainely of the crueltyes of Pyrrus saide in his Odisse of him such wordes Pyrrus was borne in Greece nourished in Archadie and brought vp with Tygers milke which is a cruell beast as if more plainely he had saide Pyrrus for being borne in Greece was Sage for that hee was brought vp in Archadie he was strong and couragious for to haue sucked Tygars milke he was very proud and cruell Hereof may be gathered that the great Grecian Pyrrus for wanting of good milke was ouercome with euill conditions The selfe same Hystorian Dyon saith in the life of Tiberius that hee was a great Drunkard And the cause hereof was that the Nurse did not onely drinke wine but also she weyned the childe with soppes dipped in Wine And without doubt the cursed Woman had done lesse euill if in the stead of milke she had giuen the child poyson without teaching it to drinke wine wherefore afterwardes he lost his renowne For truely the Romane Empire had lost little if Tiberius had dyed being a childe and it had wonne much if he had neuer knowne what drinking of Wine had meant I haue declared all that which before is mentioned to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes might
your Bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherefore I sweare vnto you that there are more Thebaines which follow the delitiousnesse of Denis the tyrant then there are vertuous men that follow the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebaines doe desire greatly to know with what lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their Common-wealth I will tell you them all by word and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writing but it shall bee vpon condition that you shall sweare al openly that once a day you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your persons to obserue them for the Prince hath greater honour to see one onely law to be obserued in deed then to ordaine a thousand by writing You ought not to esteeme much to be vertuous in heart nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauell of the feet but that which you ought greatly to esteeme is to know what a vertuous law meaneth and that knowne immediately to execute it and afterwards to keepe it For the chiefe vertue is not to doe one vertuous worke but in a swet and trauell to continue in it These therfore were the words that this Philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebaines the which as Plato sayeth esteemed more his words that hee spake then they did the Lawes which he brought Truly in mine opinion those of Thebes are to bee praysed and commended and the Philosopher for his word is worthy to be honoured For the ende of those was to search lawes to liue well and the end of the Philosopher was to seeke good meanes for to keepe them in vertue And therefore he thoght it good to shew them and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other Instruments and torments for the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punishment then for any desire they haue of amendment I was willing to bring in this history to the end that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how little the Ancients did esteeme the beginning the meane and the end of vertuous works in respect of the perseuerance and preseruation of them Comming therefore to my matter which my penne doth tosse and seeke I aske now presently what it profiteth Princesses and great Ladies that God doe giue them great estates that they be fortunate in marriages that they bee all reuerenced and honoured that they haue great treasures for their inheritances and aboue all that they see their wines great with Childe and that afterward in ioy they see them deliuered that they see their mothers giuing their children sucke and finally they see themselues happy in that they haue found them good nurses health full and honest Truly all this auayleth little if to their children when they are young they doe do not giue masters to instruct them in vertues and they also if they doe not recommend them to good guides to exercise them in feates of Chiualry The Fathers which by sighes penetrate the heauen by praiers importune the liuing God onelie for to haue children ought first to thinke why they will haue children for that iustly to a man may be denied which to an euill end is procured In mine opinion the Father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may sustaine his life in honour and that after his death hee may cause his fame to liue And if a Father desireth not a sonne for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age hee may honour his hoary head and that after his death hee may enherite his goods but we see few children do these thinges to their fathers in their age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree did beare blosoms in the spring I see oftentimes many Fathers complaine of their children saying that they are disobedient and proude vnto them and they do not consider that they themselues are the cause of all those euils For too much abundance and liberty of youth is no other but a prophesie and manifest token of disobedience in age I know not why Princes and great Lords do toyle oppresse so much scratch to leaue their children great estates and on the other side wee see that in teaching them they are and shewe themselues too negligent for Princes and great Lordes ought to make account that all that which they leaue of their substance to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their consciences are vpright and of their honours carefull ought to bee very diligent to bring vppe their children and chiefly that they consider whether they bee meete to inherite their estates And if perchance the fathers see that their children bee more giuen to folly then to noblenes and wisdome then should I bee ashamed to see a father that is wise trauell all the dayes of his life to leaue much substance to an euill brought vp childe after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thing to see the cates which the Fathers take to gather riches and the diligence that children haue to spend them And in this case I say the sonne is fortunate for that hee doth enherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeath In my opinion Fathers are bound to instruct their children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also because they ought to be their heyres For truly with great griefe and sorrow I suppose hee doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrift the toyle of all his life Hyzearchus the Greeke Hystorian in the booke of his Antiquities Sabellicus in his generall hystory sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complain to the famous Philosopher and ancient Solon Solinon the Sonne complained of the father and the father of the sonne First the sonne informed the quarrell to the Philosopher saying these words I complaine of my Father because hee being rich hath disinherited mee and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the which thing my father ought not nor cannot doe for since he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason hee giue me his goods to maintaine my seeblenes To these wordes answered the father I complaine of my sonne because hee hath not beene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemie for in all things since hee was borne hee hath beene disobedient to my will wherefore I thought it good to disinherite him before my death I would I were quit of all my substance so that the gods had quit him of his life for the earth is very cruell that swalloweth not the child aliue which to his father is disobedient In that he sayeth I haue adopted another child for mine heyre I confesse it is true and for so much
of your faith neyther to thinke any daunger in your authoritie And if the thing be well considered it goeth well for you and not euill for me and the reason hereof is that eyther you are good or else you are euill If you be good you ought to be glad that daily your good seruices be reported vnto mee For the continual beating into the Princes eares of the good seruices of his Seruants must needes cause at the last theyr good seruices to be well rewarded If you bee euill and in teaching my Sonne negligent it is but reason that I bee thereof aduertised For if the Father be deceyued in his opinion the Sonne shal receiue poyson in his doctrine and also because you shall not vndoe my Realme nor slaunder mee by your euill councell If the fatall Destinies permitte that my Sonne be euill I am hee that loseth most therby for my Realme shall be destroyed and my renowne vtterly abolished and in the ende my Sonne shall not enioy the Heritage And if all passe so you will care little For you will say you are not in fault since the childe would not receiue your doctrine Wherefore mee thinkes it not euill done to ouer-see you as you ouersee him For my duety is to see that you be good and your duety is to trauell that your Disciples be not euill This King Seuleucus was an honourable man and died aged as Plutarche saieth and Patroclus more plainely declareth in the third book of the warre of the Assyrians and for the contrarie his sonne Antigonus came to be a wicked prince in all his doings And this a man may well perceiue that if he had not been of his Father so much corrected and of the Schoolmaisters so well instructed without doubt hee would haue proued much more wicked then he was For young men on the one parte beeing euill inclined and on the other parte euill taught it is vnpossible but in the end they should grow to be most vicious and defamed In my opinion though children be not euil inclined yet the fathers thereof ought not to cease to corect them for in time to come those that write will commend the diligence of the fathers in correcting the vices of their children I haue declared this example to counsel that the Father be not so negligent that he should vtterly forget to looke vnto his Sonne thinking that now the Maister hath charge of him And of my counsell that Father ought in this thing to bee so aduertised that if at the first hee behelde the Childe with two Eyes that then he should looke vnto him with sower eyes For oft times it is more requisite that the Masters be punished then the Schollers Though Princes are not dayly enformed of the life of the Masters as King Seleucus was yet at the least ofttimes they ought to enquire of the state of the life and of the behauior both of the Masters and also of the children And this thing they ought not to doe onely once but also they ought to call the Masters and counsel them likewise that they haue great respect to the doctrine of their children thinking alwayes to giue them good counsell to shew vnto their Schollers afterwards for otherwise the master immediately is discouraged when hee seeth the Father to be negligent and nothing carefull for the bringing vp of his children Princes in one thing ought to haue great respect that is to say least the Masters beare with the secret vices of children And he ought not to doe thus but also to call them vnto him to aduise them to warne them to pray them to counsell and commaund them that they haue great respect to the bringing vp of his children and further that he giue them some notable counsell to the entent that the Masters afterward may make relation thereof to their schollers for there is no man so weake nor child so tender but the force which hee hath to bee vicious is enough if hee will to be vertuous I would now demaund the Masters and Tutors which doe gouerne the children of noble and vertuous men what more strength is required to be a glutton then to be a sobermā to be a babler or to be silent to be diligent or to be negligent to be honest then to be dissolute and as of these few I speake so I could recite many others In this case I will not speake as a man of science but as one of experience and that is that by the faith of a Christian I sweare that with lesse trauell of the Master and more profite of the scholler hee may bee sooner vertuous then vicious For there is no more courage required in one to be euill then strength in an other for to be good Also the Masters commonly haue an other euill property worse then this which is they beare with theyr Schollers in some secret vices when they are young from the which they cannot bee withdrawne afterwards when they are olde For it chanceth oft times that the good inclination is ouercome by euill custome and certainely the Masters which in such a case should be apprehended ought to bee punished as Traytors periured For to the Master it is greater treason to leaue his Disciple among vices then to deliuer a Fort into the hands of the enemies And let no man maruell if I call such a Master a Traytor for the one yeeldeth the Fort which is but of stones builded but the other aduentureth his sonne who is of his proper body begotten The cause of all this euill is that as the children of Princes ought to enherite Realmes and the children of great Lords hope to enherite the great estates so the Masters are more couetous then vertuous For they suffer their puples to runne at their owne wils when they be young to the end to winne their harts when they shall be old so that the extreme couetousnesse of the Masters now a dayes is such that it causeth good mens sonnes commonly to bee euill and vicious O Tutors of princes and Masters of great Lords I doe admonish you and besides that I counsell you that your couetousnes deceiue you not thinking you shal be better esteemed for being clokers of vices then louers of vertues For there is none olde or young so wicked but knoweth that good is better then euill And further I may say to you in this case that oft times God permitteth when those that were children become olde their eyes to be opened whereby they knowe the harme that you haue don them in suffering them to be vicious in their youth at what time your duty had been to haue corrected theyr vices You thought as it should seeme by your goods to be honoured for your flatterie but you finde the contrary that you are despised worthily For it is the iust iudgement of GOD that hee that committeth euill shall not escape without punishment and hee that concealeth the euill committed shall not liue
he hath fetched in the night Truely I thinke and in my thought I am nothing deceiued that if a prince would declare vnto vs his whole life and that hee would particularly shewe vs euery thing wee would both wonder at that bodie which had so much suffered and also we would be offended with that heart which had so greatly dissembled It is a troublesome thing a dangerous thing and an insolent and proud enterprise for a man to take vpon him with a penne to gouerne the Common-wealth and with a Prince to reason of his life For in deed men are not perswaded to liue well by faire words but by vertuous deedes And therefore not without cause I say that hee is not wise but very arrogant that dare presume vnasked to giue a Prince counsell For princes in many things haue their mindes occupyed and haughtely bent and som of them also are affectionate and whereas wee peraduenture thinke to haue them mercifull wee finde them more angrie and heauie against vs. For counsell doeth more harme then profite if the giuer thereof be not very wise and hee also which receyueth it very pacient I haue not bin a Prince for to know the trauels of Princes nor am as president to counsell Princes and yet I was so bolde to compile this Booke it was not vpon presumption to counsell a Prince so much as by an humble sort to giue mine aduise For to giue counsell I confesse I haue no credite but to giue them aduise it sufficeth mee to bee a subiect What the order is in that I haue taken in this Booke how profitable it is to all men and how vnpleasaunt to no man how wholsom and profound doctrine in it is contayned and how the Historyes bee heerein applyed I will not that my pen doe write but they themselues shall judge which shall read this worke We see it oft come to passe that diuers Bookes doe loose their estimation not for that they are not very good and excellent but because the Authour hath been too presumptuous and vaine-glorious For in mine opinion for a man to praise his owne wrytings much is nothing else but to giue men occasion to speake euill both of him and of his workes Now let no man thinke that I haue written this which is written without great aduisement and examination I doe confesse before the Redeemer of the whole world that I haue consumed so many yeares to seeke what I should write that these two yeares one day hath scarcely escaped me wherein my Pen hath not done his dutie to write or correct in this worke I confesse that I tooke great paines in writing it for of truth it hath been written twice with mine owne hand and thrice with another mans hand I confesse I haue read and searched in diuers and sundrie partes manie good and straunge books to the end I might finde good and pleasaunt doctrine and besides that I trauelled much to set and apply the Hystories to the purpose For it is an vnseemely thing to applie an hystorie without a purpose I had great respect in that I was not so briefe in my wrytings that a man might note mee to bee obscure nor yet in anie thing so long that any man should slaunder mee with too much talke For all the excellencie of Wryting consisteth where many and goodly Sentences are declared in fewest and aptest words For oft times the long stile is loathsome and tedious both to the Hearers and Readers Nero the Emperour was in loue with a Ladie in Rome named Pompeia the which in beautie to his fantasie exceeded all others In the ende partly with intreatie partly with Money and presents he obtained of her that hee desired For in this case of loue where prayers and importunities bee paciently heard resistance doth lacke The inordinate loue that Nero bare to Pompeia proceeded of the yealow haires she had which were of the colour of Amber and in praise of her he compiled diuers and sundry songs in Heroicall-Meeter and with an instrument sang them himselfe in her presence Nero was a sage Prince wise and excellently well learned in the Latine tongue and also a good Musitian yet Plutarch in his book of the jests of noble women to declare the vanitie and lightnes of Nero reciteth this history and describing Pompeia that her bodie was small her fingers long her mouth proper her eyelids thin her nose somwhat sharpe her teeth small her lips red her necke white her fore-head broad and finally her eyes great and rowling her brest large well proportioned What think you would Nero haue done if hee had so affectionately set his fantasie vpon al other her beautiful properties since that for the loue only of her yellow locks he was depriued both of his wisdom also senses For vaine light men loue commonly not that which reason commandeth but that which their appetite desireth The loue of the Emperour increased with folly so much that not onely he counted seuerally al the haires that his louer Pompeia had on her head but also gaue to euery hayre a proper name and in prayse of euery one of them made a song insomuch that this effeminate Prince spent more time in banqueting and playing with his louer Pompeia then he did to reform and amend the faults of the common wealth yea his folly so much surmoūted all reason that he commaunded a combe of golde to bee made and therewith hee himselfe combed her yellow locks And if it chaunced that any one hayre in combing fell off hee by and by caused it to be set in golde offered it vp in the Temple to the Goddesse Iuno For it was an ancient custome among the Romanes that the thinges which they entirely loued whether it were good or euill should bee offered vp to their gods And when it was once knowne that Nero was so in loue with those haires of Pompeia which were of the color of amber all the Ladies endeauoured themselues not onely to make artificially theyr hayre of that colour but also to weare their garments and other attires of the same colour in somuch that both men and women did vse collers of amber brooches and ringes set with amber and all their other iewels were of amber For alwayes it hath beene seene and euer shall be that those things whereunto the Prince is most addicted the people follow and aboue all other couet the same Before this Emperour Nero plaied this light part in Rome the amber stones was had in little estimation after that hee set so much by it there was no precious stone in Rome so much esteemed Yea and furthermore the Marchant gained nothing so much whether it were in golde or silke as he did in the amber stones nor brought any kind of marchandize to Rome more precious or more vendible then that was I do maruell at this vanitie foras-much as the children of the world do loue desire and labour more to
works as moueth vs rather to pitty their follie then to enuie their vertue I aske of those that reade or heare this thing if they will be in loue with Nembroth the first Tyrant with Semiramis which sinned with her owne sonne with Antenor that betrayed Troy his countrey with Medea that slew her children with Tarquine that enforced Lucretia with Brutus that slew Caesar with Sylla that shed so much bloud with Catilina that played the Tyrant in his countrey with Iugurtha that strangled his brethren with Caligula that committed incest with his sisters with Nero that killed his mother with Heliogabalus that robbed the Temples with Domitian that in nothing delighted so much as by straunge handes to put men to death and to driue away flyes with his owne hands Small is the number of those that I haue spoken in respect of those which I could recite of whom I dare say and affirme that if I had beene as they I cannot tell what I would haue done or what I should haue desired but this I know it would haue beene more paines to mee to haue wonne that infamie which they haue wonne then to haue loste the life which they haue lost It profiteth him little to haue his Ponds full of fish and his parkes full of Deere which knoweth neyther how to hunt nor how to fish I meane to shewe by this that it profiteth a man little to be in great auctoritie if hee be not esteemed nor honoured in the same For to attaine to honour wisedome is requisite and to keepe it patience is necessarie With great considerations wise men ought to enterprise daungerous things For I assure them they shall neuer winne honour but where they vse to recouer slander Returning therefore to our matter puissant Prince I sweare and durst vndertake that you rather desire perpetuall renowme through death then any idle rest in this life And hereof I doe not maruell for there are some that shall alwayes declare the prowesses of good Princes and others which will not spare to open the vices of euill tyrants For althogh your Imperial estate is much and your Catholike person deserueth more yet I beleeue with my heart and see with these eyes that your thoughts are so highly bent vnto aduenturous deedes and your heart so couragious to set vpon them that your Maiesty little esteemeth the inheritance of your predecessors in respect of that you hope to gaine to leaue to your successors A Captaine asked Iulius Caesar as he declareth in his Commentaries why he trauelled in the Winter in so hard frost and in the summer in such extreame heate Hee aunswered I will doe what lyeth in mee to doe and afterward let the fatall destinies doe what they can For the valiant knight that giueth in battel the onset ought more to bee esteemed then fickle fortune whereby the victory is obtained since fortune giueth the one and aduentur guideth the other These words are spoken like a stout and valiant Captaine of Rome Of how many Princes doe we reade whom truely I much lament to see what flatteries they haue heard with their eares being aliue and to reade what slaunders they haue sustained after their death Princes and greate Lordes should haue more regard to that which is spoken in their absence then to that which is done in their presence not to that which they heare but to that which they would not heare not to that which they tell them but to that which they would not bee told of not to that which is written vnto them beeing aliue but to that which is written of them after their death not to those that tell them lyes but to those which if they durst would tell them truth For men many times refrayne not their tongues for that Subiects bee not credited but because the Prince in his authority is suspected The Noble and vertuous Prince should not flitte from the truth wherof hee is certified neyther with flatteries and lyes should he suffer himselfe to bee deceyued but to examine himselfe and see whether they serue him with truth or deceyue him with lyes For there is no better witnes and iudge of truth and lyes then is a mans owne conscience I haue spoken all this to the entent your Maiesty might know that I will not serue you with that you should not bee serued That is for to shew my selfe in my Writing a flatterer For it were neyther meete nor honest that flatteries into the eares of such a noble Prince should enter neyther that out of my mouth which teach the truth such vaine tales should issue I say I had rather bee dispraysed for true speaking then to bee honoured for flattery and lying For of truth in your Highnesse it should bee much lightnesse for to heare them and in my basenesse great wickednesse to inuent them Now againe following our purpose I say the Histories greatly doe commend Lycurgus that gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians Numa Pompilius that honoured and addorned the Churches Marcus Marcellus that had pitty and compassion on those which were ouercome Iulius Caesar that forgaue his enemies Octautus that was so welbeloued of the people Alexander that gaue rewardes and gifts to all men Hector the Troian became hee was so valiant in wars Hercules the Thebane because hee employed his strength so well Vlisses the Grecian because hee aduentured himselfe in so many dangers Pyrrhus king of Epirotes because hee inuented so many engines Catullns Regulus because he suffred so many torments Titus the Emperour because he was father to the Orphanes Traianus because he edified sumptuous goodly buildings The good Marcus Aurelius because he knew more then al they I doe not say that it is requisit for one Prince in these dayes to haue in him all those qualities but I dare be bolde for to affirme this that euen as it is vnpossible for one Prince to follow all so likewise it is a great slaunder for him to follow none Wee doe not require Princes to doe all that they can but for to apply themselues to do som thing that they ought And I speake not without a cause that which I haue sayde before For if Princes did occupie themselues as they ought to doe they should haue no time to be vicious Plinie sayeth in an Epistle that the great Cato called Censor did weare a Ring vpon his finger wherein was written these words Esto amicus vnius inimicus nullius which is be friend to one and enemy to none He that would deepely consider these few words shall finde therein many graue sentences And to apply this to my purpose I say the Prince that would well gouerne his common weale shew to all equall iustice desire to possesse a quiet life to get among all a good fame and that coueteth to leaue of himselfe a perpetuall memorie ought to embrace the vertues of one and to reiect the vices of all I allow it very wel that Princes should bee equall
against the Romaines who without cause or reason had conquered his Countrey Approouing mainifestly that through offending the Gods they had thus preuayled And the Oration is diuided into chapt 3. fol. 362. ch 4. fol 366. And ch 5. f 366 That Princes and Noble-men ought to be very circumspect in choyce of their Iudges and Officers because therein consisteth the benefite of the weale publique chapt 6. fol 373 Of a Letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to his friend Antigonus answering an other which hee sent him out of Scicile concerning the crueltie exercised by the Romaine Iudges The letter is diuided in chap 7. fol 379. cha 8. fol. 381. chap 9. fol. 385 chapt 10. fo 387 cha 11. fol. 391 An exhortation of the Authour vnto great Princes and Noble-men to embrace peace and to auoyde all occasions of warre chap 12 fol. 394 Of the commodities which ensue by peace declaring that diuers Princes vppon light occasions haue made cruell warres chap 13 fol. 397 The Emperour Marcus Aurelius wryteth to his friende Cornelius wherein hee describeth the discomodities which come by warres and the vanitie of Triumphes Chap 14 fol. 406 Marcus Aurelius proceedeth on further in his letter declaring the order which the Romains vsed in setting forth their men of warre And of the outragious villainyes which Captaines and Souldiours vse in warre chap 15 fo 408 The Emperours further pursuite in the same letter shewing what great dammages haue ensued by warre begun with strange and forraigne Realmes ch 16 fo 409 Ad admonition of the Author to Princes and great Lordes to the intent that the more they growe in yeares the more they stād bound to refrain frō vices ch 17. 415 That Princes whē they are aged should be temperate in eating sober in drinking modest in apparel aboue al things else true in their cōmunication ch 18. fo 418 Of a letter written by the Emperour M. Aurelius to Claudius Claudinus reprouing them being olde men because they liued ouer youthfully chap 19 fo 423 A prosecution of the Emperours letter perswading Claudius and Claudinus beeing now aged to giue no more credite to the world nor to any of his deceiptfull flatteries chap 20. fol 430 A further continuation of the Emperour in the same Letter approouing by good reasons that in regard aged persons will bee serued and honoured of younger people they ought therefore to be more vertuous and honest then they of younger degree chap 21. fol 433 The Emperours conclusion of his Letter shewing what perills those olde men liue in that dissolutely like young Children spend their dayes And he giueth wholesome councell vnto them for better means and remedy therof ch 22. 438 How Princes ought to take heede that they bee not noted guiltie of Auarice because the Couetous man is hated both of God and man ch 24 441 Great reasons to discommend the vices of couetous men ch 24 444 Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to his friend Cincinnatus who being a Romaine Knight became a Marchaunt of Capua reproouing such Gentlemen as take vppon them the trade of Marchaundise contrarie to their owne vocation declaring what vertuous men ought to vse and the vices which they ought to shunne instructing also how to despise the vanities of the world And although a man bee neuer so wise yet hee shall haue neede of another mans councell ch 25. fol 447. c. 26. fo 449. c. 27. 451. A perswasion to Princes great Lords to shunne couetousnes and to become liberall bountifull which vertue should alwayes appertaine to a Royall personage chap 28 fol. 454 A perswasion to Gentlemen and such as follow Armes not to abase themselues for gaynes-sake in taking vpon them any vile office or function ch 29 458 Of a Letter which the Emperour wrote to his Neighbour Mercurius a Marchant of Samia instructing men in those daungers which ensue by traffique on the Seas and the couetousnes of them that Trauell by Land chap 30 461 The conclusion of the Emperours Letter reprouing Mercurius because he tooke thought for the losse of his goods Shewing him the nature of Fortune and conditions of couetous men ch 31 fol 464 That Princes and Noble-men ought to consider the miserie of mans nature And that brute Beasts are in some pointes reason excepted to bee preferred with men chapt 32. fol. 466 A further comparison of the miseryes of men with the liberty of beasts ch 33. 469 A letter of the Emperour M. Aurelius to Domitius a cittizen of Capua comforting him in his Exile being banished for a quarrell betweene him and an other about the running of a Horse Comfortable for such as haue bin in great fauour afterward falne into disgrace ch 34 fo 474 That princes and Noble men ought to be aduocates for widdowes fathers of Orphans and helpes to the comfortlesse chap. 35 479 That the troubles sorrowes and griefes of widdows are much greater then those of Widdowers wherefore Princes and Noble men ought to haue more compassion vpon such women then men ch 36 fol. 462 Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romane Lady named Lauinia comforting her in her husbands death ch 37 486 A perswasion to widdowes to depend onely vpon Gods will and exhorting them to liue honestly chap. 38 489 That Princes and Noble men ought to despise the world because there is nothing in it but plaine deceit ch 39 493 A vehement inuectiue against the deceites of the world with a further proofe by strong and weightie reasons perswading all men that liue in the world not to trust it or any thing therein verefied by a letter of the Emperour to his friend Torquatus chap. 40. 41. 42. fol. 498. 501. 504 Princes and Nobles ought not to beare with Iuglers Iesters parasites and cōmon players nor with any such kind of rascals and loyterers And of the Lawes which the Romanes made especially on that behalfe chap. 43 507 How some Iesters were punished by our graue Ancients and of the Iesters loyterers in our time chap 44. 510 Of a letter which the Emperour wrote to Lambartus his friend then Gouernour of Hellespont certifying him that hee had banished from Rome all fooles and loy terieg players a notable lesson for them that keepe counterfeit fooles in their houses chap. 45 514 Marcus Aurelius proceedeth on in his letter declaring how he found the Sepulchres in Hellespont of many learned philosophers whereunto he sent all those loiterers chap. 46 517 The Letters conclusion relating the cause and time why and when Iuglers Iesters were admitted into Rome ch 47. 520 How Princes and Noble men ought to remember that they are mortall and must die with notable consolations against the feare of death chap. 48. 522 Of the death of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius and how there are few friendes that dare speake the truth to sicke men chap. 40 527 Of the comfortable wordes which the Secretarie Panutius spake to the
and of the Senate best fauoured to whom they committed the charge of the most cruell and dangerous warres For their strife was not to beare rule and to be in office or to get money but to be in the Frontiers to ouercome their enemies In what estimation these foure Frontiers were wee may easily perceyue by that wee see the most noble Romanes haue passed some part of their youth in those places as Captaines vntill such time that for more weighty affaires they were appointed from thence to som other places For at that time there was no word so grieuous and iniurious to a Citizen as to say Goe thou hast neuer beene brought vp in the wars and to proue the same by examples The great Pompey passed the Winter season in Constantinople The aduenturous Scipio in Colonges the couragious Caesar in Gades and the renowmed Marius in Rhodes And these foure were not only in the Frontiers aforesaid in their youth but there they did such valiant acts that the memory of them remaineth euermore after their death These thinges I haue spoken to proue sith wee finde that Marcus Aurelius father was Captain of one of these 4. Frontiers it followeth that he was a man of singular wisdome and prowesse For as Scipio sayd to his friend Masinissa in Affrike It is not possible for a Romane Captaine to want eyther wisdome or courage for thereunto they were predestined at their birth Wee haue no authenticke authorities that sheweth vs frō whence when or how in what countries and with what persons this captaine passed his youth And the cause is for that the Romane Chroniclers were not accustomed to write the things done by their Princes before they were created but onely the acts of yong men which from their youth had their hearts stoutly bent to great aduentures and in my opinion it was well done For it is greater honour to obtaine an Empire by policy and wisdome then to haue it by discent so that there be no tyranny Suetonius Tranquillus in his first booke of Emperours counteth at large the aduenturous enterprises taken in hand by Iulius Caesar in his yong age and how far vnlikely they were from thought that he should euer obtaine the Romane Empire writing this to shew vnto Princes how earnestly Iulius Caesars heart was bent to win the Romane Monarchy and likewise how wisdom fayled him in behauing himselfe therin A Philosopher of Rome wrote to Phalaris the Tirant which was in Cicilia asking him Why hee possessed the realme so long by tyranny Phalaris answered him againe in another Epistle in these few wordes Thou callest mee tyrant because I haue taken this realme and kept it 32. yeares I graunt then quoth hee that I was a tyrant in vsurping it For no man occupyeth another mans right but by reason he is a tyrant But yet I will not agree to be called a Tyrant sith it is now xxxii yeares since I haue possessed it And though I haue atchieued it by tyranny yet I haue gouerned it by wisdome And I let thee to vnderstand that to take another mans goods it is an easie thing to conquere but a hard thing to keepe an easie thing for to keepe them I ensure thee it is very hard The Emperour Marcus Aurelius married the daughter of Antoninus Pius the 16. Emperour of Rome and she was named Faustina who as sole Heyre had the Empire and so through marriage Marcus Aurelius came to be Emperour This Faustine was not so honest and chast as shee was faire and beautifull Shee had by him two sonnes Commodus and Verissimus Marcus Aurelius triumphed twice once when he ouercame the Parthians and another time when hee conquered the Argonants He was a man very well learned and of a deepe vnderstanding Hee was as excellent both in the Greeke and Latine as hee was in his mothers tongue Hee was very temperate in eating and drinking hee wrote many things full of good learning and sweete sentences He dyed in conquering the realme of Pannonia which is now called Hungarie His death was as much bewayled as his life was desired And hee was loued so deare and entirely in the City of Rome that euery Romane had a statue of him in his house to the end the memory of him among them should neuer decay The which was neuer read that they euer did for any other King or Emperour of Rome no not for Augustus Caesar who was best beloued of all other Emperours of Rome Hee gouerned the Empire for the space of eighteene yeere with vpright iustice and died at the age of 63 yeeres with much honor in the yeere Climatericke which is in the 63. years wherein the life of man runneth in great perill For then are accomplished the nine seuens or the seuen nines Aulus Gelius writeth a Chapter of this matter in the booke De noctibus Atticis Marcus Aurelius was a Prince of life most pure of doctrine most profound and of fortune most happy of all other Princes in the world saue only for Faustine his wife and Commodus his sonne And to the end we may see what Marcus Aurelius was from his infancy I haue put here an Epistle of his which is this CHAP. II. Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio wherein he declareth the order of his whole life and amongst other things he maketh mention of a thing that happened to a Romane Censor with his Host of Campagnia MAreus Aurelius only Emperour of Rome greeteth thee his old friend Pulio wisheth health to thy person peace to the common-wealth As I was in the Temple of the Vestall Virgins a letter of thine was presented vnto me which was written long before and greatly desired of me but the best therof is that thou writing vnto me briefly desirest that I should write vnto thee at large which is vndecent for the authority of him that is chiefe of the Empire in especiall if such one be couetous for to a Prince there is no greater infamy then to be lauish of words and scant of rewards Thou writest to me of the griefe in thy leg and that thy wound is great and truly the paine thereof troubleth me at my heart and I am right sorry that thou wantest that which is necessary for thy health and that good that I do wish thee For in the end all the trauels of this life may be endured so that the body with diseases be not troubled Thou lettest me vnderstand by thy letters that thou art arriued at Rhodes and requirest me to write vnto thee how I liued in that place when I was yong what time I gaue my minde to study and likewise what the discourse of my life was vntill the time of my being Emperor of Rome In this case truly I maruell at thee not a little that thou shouldest aske me such a question and so much the more that thou didst not consider that I cannot with out great trouble and
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
thing very dishonest most noble Prince the which to write vnto thee I am ashamed which is for to enlarge thy new Palace thou hast plucked down an old Temple the which thing thou shouldest neyther haue done nor yet haue thought for in the end though the stones of the Temple be of small importance yet the Gods to whom they were dedicated were of much value Pardon me excellent Prince though I et thee vnderstand that this fact hath beene done in such sort that thereby I was amased and all Rome also offended the sacred Senate thou hast greatly vexed and further all iudge thee a dissolute man and all men procure that thou mayst be extreamly punished and hereof maruell not For in Rome they beleeue that the Prince which dareth plucke downe Temples doth little feare the Gods For that thou art a noble Prince and an olde friend of mine I haue trauelled to bring thee in fauour with the Senate and because thou hast no means to excuse thy errour committed they doe not determine to forgiue thee this fault before they see in thee a token of amendment And of truth me thinketh they haue reason For there is nothing that troubleth poore men more then to see that they and not the rich for theyr offences are chastised and punished That which the sacred Senate hath ordayned is that forthwith thou begin to build the Temple a new and that it should be more large hie beutifull and richer then euer it was So that thou take as much of thy Pallace to enlarge the Temple as thou tookest of the Temple to beautifie thy Pallace After thou hast performed this though now thou thinke thy selfe halfe dishonoured thou wilt then thinke thy selfe very happy For not thou of the Gods but the Gods of thee shall haue taken thy house to make their Temple I beleeue well it will be great cost and charges vnto thee before thou hast finished the Temple Wherefore I send thee 40. thousand sexterces to helpe thy building to the end it should be more secret I send thee them by my Secretary Panuntius to whom in all and for all thou shalt giue credite I send thee likewise a coller of gold which one brought me from the riuer of Nyle and because it was too narrow for mee I suppose it will be fit for thee one hath brought me moyles out of Spaine whereof I send thee two Panuntius my Secretary bringeth with him a very good Moyle the which hee esteemeth much so that there is no man that can eyther buy her or borrow her I delight in her so much that I desire thou cause her eyther to be bought or stollen and sent vnto mee here in Rome My wife Faustine saluteth thee to the excellent Queene thy Wife of her part and mine as much as is possible do our commendations these Popingeyes Faustine presenteth vnto her Marcus the Romane Emperour writeth to thee with his owne hand CHAP. XIX How the Gentiles honoured these which were deuout in the seruice of the Gods THe ancient Romane Historiographers agree that at the beginning there were seuen Kinges which gouerned Rome for the space of 24. yeares The second whereof was named Pompilius who amongst all the other was most highly esteemed for none other cause but for that hee was a great worshipper of the Gods and a sumptuous builder of the Temples For the Romane Princes were as much beloued for seruing the Gods as they were honoured for vanquishing their enemies This maÌ„ was of such sort that he allowed Rome wholy for the Gods made a house for himselfe without the City For it was an ancient Law in Rome that no man should bee so bolde to dwell in any house consecrated for the gods The fift King of the Romanes was Tarquinius Priscus And as Tarquinius Superbus was vicious and abhorred of the people so was this vertuous and welbeloued of the Gods was greatly praysed in all his doings because hee feared God and continually visited the Temples and not contented with those which were finished but built also in the High Capitoll the sacred Temple of Iupiter For no Prince could build any house in Rome for himselfe vnlesse first hee made a Temple for the Gods of the Common-wealth This Temple was had in so great reuerence that as the Romanes honored Iupiter for the God aboue all other Gods so was that Temple esteemed aboue all other Temples In the warres betweene the â—alisques the Carpenates two Romane Captaines were vanquished or the which the one named 〈◊〉 dyed whereupon rose such a great 〈◊〉 among theÌ„ that many flying 〈…〉 the warres came backe againe to Rome For the victorious hath alwayes this Priuiledge That though they bee fewe yet they are alwayes feared of them that be ouercome This occasion mâ—ued the Romanes to chuse new Captaines and truely they did like wise men For oftentimes it haâ—neth by 〈◊〉 the Captaines of the warres fortune likewise chaungeth her doings And the Captaine that was elected for the wars was Marcus Purius Camillus who though he were stout and hardy yet before he went to the wars he offered great sacrifices to the Gods and made a vow that if hee returned to Rome victorious hee would build a solemne Temple For it was the custome in Rome that immediately when the Romane Captaine would enterprise to doe any notable thing he should make a vow to build Temples Now when Camillus returned afterwards victorious hee did not onely build a Temple but also furnished it with all manner of implements thereunto belonging which he got by spoyle and vanquishing his enemies And sith he was for this reprehended of some saying that the Romane Captaines should offer theyr hearts to the Gods and diuide the Treasures among the Souldiers hee answered these words I like a man did aske the Gods but one triumph and they like Gods did giue mee many Therefore considering this it is but iust sâ—th I was 〈◊〉 in promising that I should be large in persoâ—â—ing For euen as I did thanke them for that they gaue me double in respect of that I demaunded so likewise shall they esteeme that which I doe giue in respect of that which I promised At that time when the cruell war was betwixt Rome and the City of Neye the Romanes kept it besieged 5. yeares together and in the end by policie tooke it For it chaunceth sundrie times in warre that that City in short time by policie is won which by great strength a long time hath been defended Marcus Furius Dictator of Rome and at that time Captaine commanded a Proclamation to be had throgh his Host that incontinently after the City was taken none should be so hardy as to kill any of the Citizens but those which were found armed Which thing the enemies vnderstanding vnarmed themselues and so escaped And truly this example was worthy of nothing For as the Captaines ought to shew themselues fierce and cruell at
are but what wee desire to hee Christian Princes maruell much what the occasiō should be that they are not so fortunate as the Gentiles were To this may bee aunswered that eyther they bee good or euill If they bee good truly God should do them wrong if for the payment of their faithfull seruices hee should recompence them with these worldly vanities For without doubt one onely louing countenance of God in the world to come is more worth then all the temporall goods of this world present But if these such great Lords bee euill in their persons ambitions in gouerning their Dominions not pittifull to widdowes and father lesse not fearefull of God nor of his threatnings and moreouer neuer to haue mind to serue him but onely when they see themselues in some great ieopardy in such case God will not heare them and much lesse fauour them For without doubt The seruice is more acceptable which of free will proceedeth then that which of necessity is offered CHAP. XX. For fiue causes Princes ought to be better Christians then their Subiects IN mine opinion Princes ought and are bound to bee vertuous for fiue causes I say vertuous in that they should loue fear God for hee onely may bee called vertuous which in the Catholike Faith of the Church and in the feare of God hath alwayes remayned constant First Princes should feare loue serue and loue one only God whom they worship for that they acknowledge him onely and none other to bee the head both of heauen earth For in the end there is nothing so puissant but it is subiect to the diuine power And truely that Prince is in great perill of damnation of his soule if in his gouernement he hath not alwayes before his eyes the feare and loue of the supreame Prince to whom wee must render of all our doings an account For the Prince hath great occasion to bee vicious thinking that for the vice hee shall not be chastised I haue read in diuers and sundry writings and I neuer found one ancient Prince to bee contented with one onely God but that they had and serued many Gods Iulius Caesar carriedfiue Gods painted in a Table and Scipio the great carried seuen purtraied in mettall And furthermore they were not contented to haue many but yet in sacrifices and seruices they offered vnto them all The Christian Princes which keepe and haue but one very true and omnipotent God are so vnthankefull that they thinke it much to serue and giue acceptable seruice vnto him And though peraduenture some say that it is more painefull to serue one true God then all these false Gods To this I aunswere That to serue them it is both trauell and paine but to serue our God it is both ioy and felicity For in seruing those it is costly and without profite and in seruing God great profite ensueth For those Gods require great and rich sacrifices and our God demaundeth nothing but pure and cleane hearts Secondarily Princes should be better christians then others because they haue more to loose then al And hee that hath more to lose then any other ought aboue all other to serue God For euen as hee alone can giue him so likewise hee alone and none other can take from him And if a Subiect take any thing from his neighbour the Prince whome hee serueth maketh him render it again but if the Prince bee iniuried with any other Tyrant hee hath none to complaine vnto nor to demaunde helpe of but onely of his mercifull God For in the end one that is of power cannot bee hurt but by an other which is likewise mighty Let Princes behold how the man that will make any great assault first hee commeth running a farre of as fast as he can I meane that the Prince which will haue God mercifull vnto him ought to bee content with his onely God For he in vaine demandeth helpe of him to whom before he neuer did seruice Thirdly Princes ought to be better Christians then others and this shall bee seene by that they succour the poore prouide for those that are vnprouided and visite the Temples Hospitals and Churches and endeanour themselues to heare the Diuine Seruice and for all these things they shall not onely receiue rewards but also they shall receyue honour For through their good example others will doe the same Princes not fearing God nor his commandements cause their Realmes and Subiects to fall into great misery for if fountains bee infected it is vnpossible for the streames that issue thereof to bee pure We see by experience that a Bridle mastereth a horse and a sterne ruleth a shippe I weane that a Prince good or bad will leade after him all the whole Realme And if he honor God all the people do likewise if hee serue God the people also serue him if he prayse God the Subiects also prayse him if he blaspheme God they likewise will doe the same For it is vnpossible that a Tree shoulde bring forth other leaus or fruits then those which are agreeable to the humour that are in the roots Princes aboue all other Creatures haue this preheminence that if they bee good christians they shall not only receiue merite for their own works but also for all those which others shall doe because they are occasion that the people worke well And for the contrary they shall not only be punished for the euill which they shall do but also for the euill which by occasion of their euill examples others shal commit O Princes that now liue how do I wish that ye should speake with some one of those Princes which now are dead especially with those that are condemned to eternal flames thē yee should see that the greatest torments which they suffer are not for the euils that they did commit but for the euils which through their occasion were done for oftentimes Princes and Prelates sinne more because they dissembled with others then for that they do commit themselues O how circumspect ought Princes and great Lords to be in that they speake and how diligently ought they to examine that they doe for they serue not God onely for themselues but they serue him also generally for their subiects And contrariwise Princes are not onely punished for their owne offences but also for the sinnes of theyr people for the shepheard ought grieuously to bee punished when by negligence the rauening Wolfe deuoureth the innocent Lambe Fourthly Princes ought to bee better Christians then others because that to God onely they must render account of their estates for as much as we are sure that God to whom we must render account is iust so much the more we should trauell to bee in his fauour because whether hee find or not find in our life any fault yet for loue and pitty sake hee may correct vs. Men one with another make theyr accounts in this life because they are men and in the
Azotes carryed away the Arke full of Relickes vnto their temple in the Cittie of Nazote and set it by Dagon theyr cursed Idoll The most High true God which will not suffer any to be coequall with him in comparison or in anie thing that hee representeth caused this Idol to be shaken thrown downe and broken in pieces no man touching it For our God is of such power that to execute his Iustice he needeth not worldly helpe God not contented thus though the Idoll was broken in pieces but caused those to bee punished likewise which worshipped it in such sort that al the people of Azotes Ascalon Geth Acharon and of Gaza which were fiue auncient and renowmed Citties were plagued both man and woman inwardly with the disease of the Emerodes So that they could not eate sitting nor ride by the wayes on horse-backe And to the end that all men might see that their offences were grieuous for the punishment they receyued by the diuine Iustice he replenished their Houses Places Gardens Seedes and Fields full of Rats And as they had erred in honouring the false Idol and forsaken the true God So hee would chastice them with two Plagues sending them the Emerodes to torment their bodyes and the Rats to destroy their goods For to him that willingly giueth his soule to the diuel it is but a small matter that God against his will depriue him of his goods This then being thus I would now gladly knowe whether of them committed most offence Eyther the Azotes which set the Arke in the Temple which as they thought was the most holiest or the false Christians which with a Sacrilegious boldnesse dare attempt without anie feare of GOD to robbe and pill the Church goods to theyr owne priuate commoditie in this world Truely the Law of the Azotes differed as much frō the Christians as the offence of the one differeth from the other For the Azotes erred not beleeuing that this Arke was the Figure of the True God but we beleeue it and confesse it and without shame cōmit against it infinite vices By this so rare and seuere a sudden punishment mee thinks the Princes great Lords should not only therefore acknowledge the True God but also Reuerence and honour those things which vnto him are dedicated For mans lawes speaking of the reuerence of a Prince doe no lesse condemne him to die that robbeth his house then him which violently layeth hands on his person ¶ The cause why Prince Oza was punished IN the booke which the sonne of Helcana wrote that is the second booke of the Kings and the vi Chapter hee saith That the Arke of Israel with his Relikes which was Manna the rodde and two stones stood in the house of Aminadab which was the next neighbour to the citie of Gibeah the sonne of Esay who at that time was King of the Israelites determined to transpose the Relikes into his Cittie and house For that it seemed to him a great infamy that to a mortal Prince a house should abound for his pleasures to the immortall God there should want a Temple for his reliques The day therefore appointed when they should carrie the Relique of Gibeah to Bethlehem there met thirty thousand Israelites with a great number of Noble men which came with the King besides a greater number of strangers For in such a case those are more which come of their owne pleasure then those which are commaunded Besides all the people they say that all the Nobility of the Realme was there to the end the relique should bee more honoured and his person better accompanied It chanced that as the Lords and people went singing and the King in person dancing the wheele of the Chariot began to fall and go out of the way the which prince Oza seeing by chance set to his hand and his shoulder against it because the Arke where the Relique was should not fall nor breake yet notwithstanding that suddenly and before them all hee fell downe dead Therefore let this punishment be noted for truly it was fearefull and ye ought to thinke that since God for putting his hand to the Chariot to holde it vp stroke him with death that a Prince should not hope seeking the destruction and decay of the Church that God will prolong his life O Princes great Lords and Prelates sith Oza with such diligence lost his life what doe yee hope or looke for sith with such negligence yee destroy and suffer the Church to fall Yet once againe I doe returne to exclaime vpon you O Princes and great Lords sith Prince Oza deserued such punishment because without reuerence hee aduanced himselfe to stay the Arke which fell what punishment ought yee to haue which through malice helpe the Church to fall Why King Balthasar was punished DArius King of the Perses and Medes besieged the auncient City of Babylon in Chaldea whereof Balthasar sonne of Nabuchodonozar the great was King and Lord who was so wicked a child that his father being dead hee caused him to be cut in 300. peeces gaue him to 300. hawkes to be eaten because hee should not reuiue againe to take the goods riches from him which he had left him I know not what father is so foolish that letteth his Son liue in pleasures and afterwards the entralles of the Hauke wherewith the sonne hawked should be the wofull graue of the Father which so many men lamented This Balthasar then beeing so besieged determined one night to make a great feast and banquet to the Lords of his Realme that came to ayde him and in this he did like a valiant and stout Prince to the end the Perses and Medes might see that hee little esteemed their power The noble and high hearts do vse when they are enuironed with many trauels to seeke occasions to inuent pleasures because to their men they may giue greater courage and to their enemies greater feare He declareth of Pirrus King of the Epirotes when hee was besieged very straightly in the City of Tharenta of the Romane Captaine Quintus Dentatus that then hee spake vnto his Captaines in this sort Lordes and friendes bee yee nothing at all abashed since I neuer here before saw ye afraid though the Romans haue compassed our bodies yet we haue besiged their harts For I let you to know that I am of such a complection that the straighter they keepe my body the more my heart is at large And further I say though the Romanes beate downe the walles yet our hearts shall remaine inuincible And though there bee no wall betweene vs yet wee will make them know that the hearts of Greekes are harder to ouercome then the stones of Tarentine are to be beaten downe But returning to King Balthasar The banquet then being ended and the greatest part of the night beeing spent Belthasar the King being very well pleased that the banquet was made to his contentation though he
Knights Companions in warre most thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goods and do offer your liues here to accompany mee in the warres and herein you shew your duties for of right you ought to loose your goods and to venture your liues for the defence and surety of your Country But if I giue you some thanks for your company know you that I giue much more for your good counsell which presently you giue me for in great conflicts seldome is found together both good counsell and stout hearts If I haue enterprised this battell in hope of mans power then you had had reason that wee should not giue the battell seeing the great multitude that they haue and the small number that wee are for as you say the weighty affayres of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly bee committed to the incertainety of Fortune I haue taken vpon mee this daungerous and perillous warres first trusting that on my part iusticeremaineth and sith God is the same onely iustice I trust assuredly hee will giue mee the victory in this perillous conflict For iustice auayleth Princes more that they haue then the men of warre doe which they lead Wherfore sith my cause is iust and that I haue God the onely Iudge therof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I should cease to giue the battell I should both shew my selfe to be a Prince of small faith and also blaspheme God saying hee were of small iustice For God sheweth most his power there where the frailenesse of man hath least hope Then sith I beginne the warre and that by mee the warre is procured and for mee you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battell and if I perish therein I shall bee sure it shall bee for the memory of my person and the saluation of my Soule For to dye through iustice is not to dye but to change death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that which for the Common-wealth I am bound For to a Prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarrell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I will proue this day in battell whether I was chosen Emperour by the diuine will or not For if God this day causeth my life to bee taken frō me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he granteth me life For in the end the sword of the enemy is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therefore in this matter to bee done is that till three dayes be passed the battell bee not giuen and that wee confesse our selus this night in the morning prepare our selus to receiue our Redeemer and besides this that euery man pardon his Christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him for oft times though the demaund of the war bee iust yet many mishaps befall therein through the offences of those which pursue follow the same After that three dayes are past each thing according to my sayings before accomplished in euery point as behoueth then let God dispose all things as hee shall see good for now I am fully determined to aduenture my life in battell Wherefore my valiant and stout warriours doubt not at all for this day I must eyther vanquish mine enemies or else suffer death and if I dye I doe that which needes I must Wherefore I will now cease to exhort you any more desiring you to consider that whereunto your duties leadeth you remembring that you are come as knights and in the defence of your Country you wage battell for now we are come to that pinch that deedes must more auaile vs then words for peace ought to be maintained by the tongue but wars ought to be atchieued by sword Al these words then ended and three dayes past the Emperour in person gaue the battell where the conflict slaughter on both sides was very terrible yet in the end the Emperour Gracian had the victory ouer his enemies and there dyed in that conflict 30. thousand Gothes and Almaines and of the Romanes there were not slaine but fiue thousand For that Army only is preserued which to the diuine will is conformable Let all other Princes take example by this noble Prince let thē cōsider how it behoueth thē to be good Christians and that in great warres and conflicts they neede not feare the great number of their enemies but they ought greatly to see that the wrath of God bee pacified For the heart is more dismaied with the secret sinnes then it is feared with the open enemies CHAP. XXVII That the Captaine Theodosius which was Father of the Great Emperour Theodosius dyed a good Christian And of the King Hismarus and the Bishop Siluanus And of a Councell that was celebrated with the Lawes which they made and established in the same THe two brethren being Emperours that is to say Valentinian and Valente in the coastes of Africke the realme of Mauritania a Tyrant vsurped the place of a King against the Romanes who was named Thyrmus a man hardy in trauels and in daungers stout For the aduenturous hearts oftentimes doe commit many tyrannies This tyrant Thyrmus by much crueltie came possessed of the realme of Mauritania and not contented therewith but also by tyranny possessed a great part of Affricke and prepared as Hannibal did an huge armie to passe into Italy to dye in challenging the Empire of Rome This was a renowmed Tyrant that neuer tooke pleasure in any other thing so much as to spoyle and robbe others of their goods The Romaines that in all their doings were very sage and of the tyranny of tyrants sufficiently monished immediately prepared a great Army to passe into Affricke and to spoyle the realme and to destroy the Tyrant by the commandement and decree of the Senate and that for no pact or couenant the Tyrant should liue And without doubt this commaundement was iust For to him that is a destroier of the Common-wealth it is not punishment inough to take away his life At that time there was a Knight in Rome whose name was Theodosius a man well strucken in yeares and yet better approued in warres but he was not the richest howbeit hee vaunted himselfe as truth was to bee of the bloud of Traian the great Emperour vpon which occasion he was greatly honoured and feared in Rome for the Commons were so noble gracious towards their Princes that all those which from the good and vertuous Emperour descended were of the whole Common-wealth greatly esteemed This noble Theodosius was of yeers so auncient and so honoured in his olde age for his gray hayres so noble of lynage and so approued in warres that he was
by the authority of the Emperour Valentinian by the consent of al the Senate and by the good wils of the whole people chosen to to goe to the conquest of Affricke truely their reason was good For Theodosius desired much to fight against that Tyrant Thyrmus and all the people were glad that such a captaine led the Armie So this Theodosius imbarked with the Army departed from Rome and in fewe dayes arriued at Bona which was a City greatly replenished with people situated in a hauen of the Sea in Affricke And as he and his Army was landed the tyrant Thyrmus forthwith encamped his Army in the field in the face of the Romaines and so all being planted in the plame the one to assault and the other to defend immediatly the two Armies ioyned and the one assaulting the other fiercely on both sides was great slaughter So that those which to day were conquered to morrow did conquere and those which yesterday were Conquerours afterward remained conquered For in long warres Fortune chaungeth In the Prouince of Mauritania there was a strong Cittie called Obelista and as the captaine Theodosius by his force occupyed all the Fielde the Tyrant Thyrmus fortified himselfe in the Citie the which valiantly being assaulted of the Captain Theodosius and almost with his men entring into the same The Tyrant Thyrmus because hee would not commit himselfe vnto the faith of other men slewe himselfe with his proper handes For the propertie of prowde and disdainefull hearts is rather to dye in libertie then to liue in captiuitie At that time the Emperour Valent by the arte of Nigromancie wrought secretly to knowe what lucke should succeede in the Romane Empire And by chaunce a certaine woman being an Enchaunteresse had answer of the diuel that that name which with these Letters should bee written should be successor to the Empire and the Letters were these T. E. O D The Emperour Valent diligently enquired of all the names which with these iiij letters could be named and they found that those signified the Theodotes the Theodores and the Theodoses wherefore Valent forthwith put all those to the sword that were of that name Such was the wickednes of the Emperour Valent supposing they would haue taken the Empire from him beeing aliue For the tyrannous Prince liueth euer in iealousie and suspition The excellent Captaine Theodosius the Tyrant Thyrmus being dead and hauing subdued all Affricke to the Romane Empire was burdened that hee was a secret Traytour to the Empire and that hee compassed to winne the same by tiranny For this cause therefore the Emperour Valent gaue sentence he should be beheaded And this was done he neuer hearing of it and much lesse culpable thereof For all Princes that are wilfull in their doings are very absolute of theyr sentence This came to the eares of Theodosius and seeing that he was condemned to be beheaded hee sent incontinent for the Byshop of Carthage of whom hee demaunded the water of holy Baptisme and so being baptised and in the Faith of Christ instructed was by the Hangman put to execurion Of this so grieuous outragious and detestable Fact euery man iudged this Theodosius to suffer as an innocent and that the Emperour Valent had iudged euill and like a Tyrant For the innocencie of the good is the great enemy of the euill At the same time when Theodosius demaunded Baptisme according to the saying of Prosper in his chronicle he said vnto the Bishop which should Baptise him these words O Bishop Saint Roger I doe Coniure thee by the Creatour which made vs and doe desire thee for the Passion of IESV CHRIST who redeemed vs to giue me the water of Baptisme For I haue made a vowe to become a Christian if GOD graunted mee victorie Wherefore I will accomplish my vowes for those things which necessitie causeth vs to promise our owne free will ought to accomplish I am sorrie with all my heart that being a Christian I can liue no longer and sith it is so I offer my life for his sake and into his mercifull hands I commend my soule I leaue a Sonne of mine who is called Theodosius and if the Fatherly loue beguyle me not I thinke he will proue a vertuous and stout young man and besides that he will bee wise and sith by thy handes hee hath beene baptized I require thee holy Father that thou through thy wisdom wilt bring him vp in the true faith for if hee be a good Christian I trust in God hee wil be a great man in the Empire This Theodosius was the Father of the great Emperor Theodosius so that the father was a Christian and the sonne a Christian Not long after the Emperour Valent had caused Theodosius which was father to the great Emperour Theodosius to bee executed Valent by the commandement of God was by the Gothes persecuted and in the end put to death and truely this was the iust iudgement of God For he of right should suffer death himselfe which vniustly procureth the death of others Rufinus in the second booke of his histories saith that after the Tyrant Thirmus was put to death by the captaine Theodosius and that the Emperour Valent had caused this Theodosius to be put to death and that the same Valent was slaine of the Gothes the Romaines created a king in Africke whose name was Hismarus called for a right Christian in that time which was from the building of Rome 377. There was in the City of Carthage a holy Bishop called Silunaus a man in humane and diuine letters excellently well learned and sith the King was so iust and the Bishop so holy both the faith encreased and also the affayres of the Common weale prospered For commonly the warres beginne rather through the pride of the highest then through disobedience in the lowest Therefore this holy Bishoppe and good Christian King being desirous in their time to giue good examples to the subiects for the time to come to leaue good precepts they celebrated in the City of Bona a Councell with all the Bishops of Affrikce in the which King Hismarus was in person For in ancient Councels the Kings were not onely there in persons but also all the Lords and high Estates of theyr Realmes Amongst many excellent things which Rufinus mentioneth that were ordayned in this place it seemed good vnto me to remēber heere these few to the end Christian Princes now present may see what deuoute Christians those Kings were in times past A collection or purport of the Counsell of Hyponense THese were the thinges which in the sacred Councell of Hyponense were ordayned where there was in person the Catholike King Hismarus and the religious Bishoppe Siluanus and in that which was ordained the King spake in some of them and doth counsell in other some because in such semblable affayres it is both meete and requisite that the royall preheminence be reuerenced and the authority of the Church not
places are Arbours and Gardeins to wofull and heauie hearts A slaue hath nothing to care for but himselfe alone but you that be princes haue to satisfie and please all men For the Prince should haue a time for himselfe and also for those which are about him The diuine Plato said well that hee that should haue the least parte of a Prince and belonging to a Prince ought to be the Prince himselfe For to that ende the Prince should bee all his owne he ought to haue no part in himselfe Though a slaue work trauel in the day yet he sleepes without care in the night but you Princes passe the time in hearing importunate suites and the nights in fetching innumerable sighs Finally I say that in a slaue be it well or be it euill all his paine is finished in one yeare or is ended at his death but what shall a wofull Prince doe when he dyeth If he were good there is but a short memory of his goodnesse and if hee hath beene euill his infamy shall neuer haue end I haue spoken these things to the end that great and small Lords and seruants should confesse and acknowledge the true Seigniory to be onely vnto him who for to make vs Lords aboue became a seruant heere beneath CHAP. XXX When the Tyrants beganne to ratgne and vpon what occasion commaunding and obeying first begann And how the authority which the Prince hath is by the ordinance of God CEasing to speake any further of the Poeticall Histories and auncient faynings and speaking the truth according to the diuine Histories the first that did liue in this World was our Father Adam who did eate of the fruite forbidden and that not so much for to trespasse the commaundement of one as for not to displease his wife Eue For many now a dayes had rather suffer theyr conscience a long time to bee infected then one onely day to see theyr wiues displeased The first homicide of the worlde was Caine The first that dyed in the World was Abel The first that had two wiues in the World was Lamech The first City of the World was by Enoch built in the fields of Edon The first Musition was Tubalcaim The first which sayled in the World was Noe The first Tyrant of the World was Nembroth The first Priest was Melcrisedech The first King of the World was Anraphel The first Duke was Moyses The first which was called Emperour in the World was Iulius Caesar For vntill this time they which gouerned were called Consuls Censors and Dictators And from Iulius Caesars hitherto haue beene called Emperours The first battell that was giuen in the world as wee reade was in the wilde valleyes which now they call the dead and salt sea For a great part of that that then was the maine land is novv the dead sea The holy Scriptures cannot deceyue vs for it is full of all truth and by them it is declared that eighteene hundred yeares after the World beganne there was no battell assembled nor company that met to fight in the field for at that time when they had no ambition nor couetousnesse they knew not what battell meant It is reason therefore that in this writing we declare the cause why the first battell was fought in the world to the end Princes may thereof bee aduertised and the curious Reader remaine therein satisfied The manner was this that Bassa being King of Sodome Bersa King of Gomorrhe Senaab King of Adamee Semebar King of Seboime and Vale King of Segor were all fiue Tributaries to Chodor Lanmor King of the Elamites which fiue Kings conspired against him because they would pay him no tribute and because that they would acknowledge no homage vnto him For the realmes paying tribute haue alwayes rebelled and sowed sedition This rebellion was in the 13 yeare of the raigne of Chodor Laomor King of the Elamites and immediately the yeare following Anraphel king of Sernaar Arioch king of Ponte and Aradal King of the Allotali ioyned with Chodor Laomor All which together beganne to make warres to destroy Cities and Countries vpon their enemies For the olde malice of the warre is That where they cannot haue their enemies which are in the fault they put to sacke and destroy those which are innocent and guiltlesse So the one assaulting and the other desending in the end all come to the field they gaue battell as two enemies and the greatest part was ouercome of the fewest and the fewest remayned victorious ouer the greatest which thing God would suffer in the first battell of the world to the end Princes might take example that all the mishappes of the Warres come not but because they are begun of an vniust occasion If Chodor Laomor had helde himselfe contented as his Predecessors did and that hee had not conquered Realmes in making them subiect and had not caused them to pay tribute neyther they vnto him would haue denyed reason nor hee with them would haue waged battell For thorow the couetousnesse of the one and the ambition of the other enmities grew betweene the people This considered which wee haue spoken of Sygnorie and of those which came into contentions for signories Let vs now see from whence the first originall of seruitude came and the names of seruantes and Lordes which were in the old time and whether seruitude was by the discorde of vertuous men first brought into the World or else inuented by the ambition of tyrants for when the one commaundeth and the other obeyeth it is one of the nouelties of the world as the holy Scripture declareth vnto vs in this manner The holy Patriarch Noah had three sons which were Sam Ham and Iaphet and the second sonne which was Ham begot Cusn and this Cusn begotte Nimrod Nimrod made himselfe a Hunter of wilde beasts in the woodes and mountaines Hee was the first that beganne to play the Tyrant amongst men enforcing their persons and taking their goods and the Scripture called him Oppressor hominum which is to say an Oppressor of men For men of euill life alwaies commit much euill in a Common-wealth He taught the Chaldeans to honor the fire hee was the first that presumed to be an absolute Lord and the first that euer required of men homage and seruice This cursed tyrant ended his life in the golden World wherein all things were in common with the Common-wealth For the Auncients vsed their goods in common but their wils onely they reserued to themselues They ought not so thinke in a light matter for his persō to haue been a tyrant but they ought to think it a greater matter to haue beene a rebel in a Common-wealth much more they ought to esteeme it as an euill matter in him which hath beene as hee was a disturber of the good customes of his country but the most vniust of all is to leaue behind him any euil custom brought into the common wealth for if hee deserue great
ought to be friend to one and enemie to none Besides all this wee haue amongst vs great friendshippes good peace great loue much rest and aboue all wee holde our selues contented for it is better to enioy the quietnesse of the graue then to liue a discontented life Our Lawes are few but in our opinions they are good and are in seuen words onely included as here followeth Wee ordaine that our children make no more Lawes then wee their Fathers doe leaue vnto them for new Lawes maketh them to forget good and ancient customes We ordaine that our Successors shall haue no moe Gods then two of the which the one God shall bee for the life and the other for the death for one God well serued is more worth then many not regarded Wee ordaine that all bee apparrelled with one cloath and hosed of one sort and that the one haue no more apparrell then the other for the diuersity of garments engendreth folly among the people Wee ordaine that when any woman which is maried hath had three children that then shee bee separated from her husband for the aboundance of children causeth men to haue couetous hearts And if any woman hath brought forth any mo children then they should bee sacrificed vnto the Gods before her eyes We ordaine that all men and women speake the truth in all things and if any bee taken in a lye committing no other fault that immediately hee bee put to death for the same For one lyer is able to vndoe a whole multitude We ordaine that no woman liue aboue forty yeares and that the man liue vntil fifty and if they dye not before that time that then they be sacrificed to the Gods for it is a great occasion for men to bee vicious to thinke that they shall liue many yeares CHAP XXXV That Princes ought to consider for what cause they were made Princes and what Thales the Philosopher was of the 12. questions asked him and of his answere he made vnto them IT is a common and olde saying which many times by Aristotle the noble and vertuous Prince hath beene repeated That in the end all thinges are done to some purpose for there is no worke neyther good nor euil◠but he that doth it meaneth to some end If thou demaundest the Gardener to what end he watereth so oft his plants hee will answere thee it is to get some money for his hearbes If thou demaundest why the riuer runneth so swift a man will answere thee that it his to the end it should returne from whence it came If thou demaundest why the trees budde in the spring time they will answere to the end they may beare fruite in haruest If wee see a traueller passe the mountaines in the snow the riuers with perill the woods in feare to walke in extreame heate in Sommer to wander in the night time in the colde winter and if by chance a man doth aske one of them saying Friend whether goest thou wherefore takest thou such paines And hee aunswereth Truly sir I know no more then you to what end neyther can I tell why I take such paines I aske thee now what a wise man would answere to this innocent Traueller Truly hearing no more hee would iudge him to bee a foole for he is much infortunate that for all his trauell looketh for no reward Therefore to our matter a Prince which is begotten as an other man borne as an other man liueth as an other man dyeth as an other man And besides all this commaundeth all men if of such a one wee should demaund why God gaue him signiory and that he should answere hee knoweth not but that he was borne vnto it In such case let euery man iudge how vnworthy such a King is to haue such authority For it is vnpossible for a man to minister iustice vnlesse hee knew before what iustice meaneth Let Princes and noble men heare this word imprint it in their memory which is that when the liuing God determined to make Kings and Lords in this world hee did not ordaine them to eate more then others to drinke more then others to sleepe more then others to speake more thē others nor to reioyce more then others but hee created them vpon condition that sith he had made thē to commaund more then others they should be more iust in their liues thē others It is a thing most vniust and in the Common wealth very slaunderous to see with what authority a puissant man commandeth those that bee vertuous and with how much shame himselfe is bound to all vices I know not what Lord he is that dare punish his subiect for one onely offence committed seeing himselfe to deserue for euery deede to bee chastised For it is a monstrous thing that a blinde man should take vpon him to leade him that seeth They demaunded great Cato the Censor what a King ought to doe that he should be beloued feared and not despised he answered The good Prince should be compared to him that selleth Tryacle who if the poyson hurteth him not hee selleth bis Triacle well I mean therby that the punishment is takē in good part of the people which is not ministred by the vitious man For hee that maketh the Tryacle shall neuer bee credited vnlesse the proofe of his Triacle bee openly knowne and tryed I meane that the good life is none other then a fine Triacle to cure the Common-wealth And to whome is he more like which with his tongue blazeth vertues and imployeth his deedes to all vices then vnto the man who in the one hand holdeth poyson to take away life and in the other Triacle to resist death To the end that a Lord bee wholy obeyed it is necessary that all that he commaundeth bee obserued first in his owne person for no Lord can nor may withdraw himselfe from vertuous works This was the answere that Cato the Censor gaue which in mine opinion was spoken more like a Christian then any Romane When the true God came into the World he employed 30. yeares onely in workes and spent but two yeares and a halfe in teaching For mans heart is perswaded more with the worke hee seeketh then with the word which hee heareth Those therfore which are Lords let them learne and know of him which is the true Lord and also let Princes learne why they are Princes for he is not a Pylot which neuer sayled on the seas In mine opinion if a Prince will know why he is a Prince I would say to gouern well his people to command well and to maintaine all in iustice and this should not bee with words to make them afrayde neyther by works which should offend them but by sweet words which should encourage them and by the good workes that should edifie them for the noble and gentle heart cannot resist him that with a louing countenance commaundeth Those which will rule and make tame fierce and wilde beasts do
him as they doe now a dayes For the most part of princes are deceiued for none other cause but for that they will not be counselled and informed by wise and discreet men For many croutâ—h vnto princes with faire wordes as though they meant him good seruice but theyr intent is contrarie by deceyt to get an Office and secke their owne profite Helius Spartianus saith that Alexander Seuerus the xxv Emperour of Rome was a man very stoute and vertuous and amongst all other things they greatly commeÌ„ded him because in his chamber he had a familiar booke wherein he had written all the Nobles of his Realme and Empire and when any Office was voyde they saide nothing else to him but that it is voyde for the Emperour did not graunt it to him that sought it but by the secrate information of his Booke to him that best deserued it I will and may sweare and all other princes shal wel affirme the same that though they erre in distributing theyr Offices they do not erre for that they would erre Yet they cannot denie but that they erre grieuously for that they will not be enformed and thogh they bee informed yet it were better they were not informed at all For he shall neuer giue the prince good nor perfect counsell which by that counsel intendeth to haue some proper interest The chiefest thing for princes is to knowe how to choose the best in prosperitie and how to auoyde the worst in aduersitie and to know how to reward the good men liberally And truly in this case Noble princes should haue more consideration towards them which haue done them the worthiest and loyalst seruice then to the importunate sutes of his Familiar friendes For hee shall thanke the seruant that procureth it but not the Prince that geueth it All that wee speake is to no other purpose but to perswade that sith the Prince is Lord of all it is reason that hee bee enformed of the state condition of all for otherwise hee shall bee deceyued by a thousand malicious hearts which are in the Common wealth Therefore to conclude I say if the Prince bee not enformed of the life of all the skinne will seeme flesh the brain meate the straw corn the brasse golde the gall honey and the dregs good wine I meane in diuiding his offices thinking to hit the white he shall oft times milâ—e the butte CHAP. XXXVIII Of the great Feast the Romanes celebrated to the God Ianus the first day of Ianuary and of the bounty and liberality of the Emperour Mareus Aurelius the same day AMong the solemne feasts which the ancient Romanes vsed this was one to the god Ianus the which they celebrated the first day of the year which now is the first of Ianuary for the Hebrewes beganne their yeare in March and the Romanes beganne at Ianuarie The Romanes painted this god with two faces signifying thereby the end of the yeare past and the beginning of the yeare present To this god Ianus was dedicated in the city of Rome a sumptuous Temple which they called the Temple of peace and was in great reuerence throughout all the City for the Citizens on this day offered great gifts and sacrifices because hee should defend them from their enemies For there is no Nation nor people to whom warre euer succeeded so prosperously but that they had rather liue in peace then in warre When the Romane Emperours went to the warres or came from the warres first they visited the Temple of Iupiter secondarily the Temple of the Vestall virgins and thirdly they visited the Temple of the god Ianus because there was a Law in Rome that the Emperour should at his going forth to the warres visite the Temple of Iupiter last of all and at his return againe the Temple of Ianus first And let them that be desirous of Antiquities here know that when the Emperour should goe to the warres in the Temple of the Goddesse Vesta they put vppon his shoulders the royall mantell and in the Temple of Iupiter all the Senators kissed his foote and in the Temple of Ianus the Consuls kissed his arme For since the time that the cruell Sylla caused three thousand neighbours to dye which kissed his right hand they neuer after kissed the hands of any Emperour in Rome Therefore sith the Gentiles would not issue out of Rome before that first they had taken the benediction of those vaine Gods how much more ought Christian Princes to doe it which know well that their Temples are consecrated to the true God and ordained for his seruice onely For the man that forgetteth God and committeth his affayres to men shall see how his businesse will thriue at the hands of men Therefore proceeding forth the day wherein the Feast of the god Ianus was celebrated euery man left his worke and reioyced through all the streetes of Rome no more then lesse then in the feasts of Iupiter Mars Venus Berecinthia For the feasts of the other gods sith they were many in number were not celebrated but in certaine places in Rome The Romanes on that day put on their best apparrell for they had a custome in Rome that hee which had not that day change of apparrell to honor the Feast should eyther goe out of Rome or else keepe himselfe locked in his his house That day they set on their houses many lights made great bonefires before their dores and had sundry and many playes and pastimes for the feasts of vain men are more to delight their bodies then to reforme their minds They watched all the night in the Temples and also they deliuered al the prisoners which were imprisoned for debt and with the common treasures payd their debts Furthermore they had a custome in Rome that they should sustaine all the Senators which were fallen into pouerty with the goods of the commoÌ„wealth They had that day Tables set before their dores furnished with all sorts of meates so that that which remayned and was left was more worth then that which was eaten For vaine glorious men auant themselues more of that which in bankets and feastes is left then they doe of that which is eaten They sought all that day for poore men because they should be prouided of all things For it was an auncient law that none should bee so hardy to make any open feast except first hee had prouided for all them of his streete The Romanes thought that if they spent liberally that day the god Ianus would deliuer them from pouerty because he was the god of temporall goods And they sayd further that the god Ianus was a God very thankefull and acknowledged the seruices that were done vnto him and beleeued earnestly that if they spent freely for his sake hee would requite it double In the feast of this god Ianus many processions were made not altogether but the Senate went by themselues the Censors by themselues the people by themselues the Matrones
to gather with trauell the grape know thou that heere in my palace thou shalt not want of the wine The Gods will not suffer that now in this moment thou shuldst find my heart shut from thee whose gates I found alwaies for the space of twentie yeares open vnto mee Sith that my Fortunes wrought me to the Empire I haue alwayes had two things things before mine eyes that is to say not to reuenge my selfe of mine enemies neither to bee vnthankfull to my friends For I pray to the Gods daylie rather then hereafter through vnthankfulnes my renowm should be defamed that euen now with forgetfulnes my bodie should be buryed Let a man offer to the Gods what sacrifices he will let him doe as much seruice to men as he can yet if he be vnthankfull to his friend hee ought in all and for all to bee vtterly condemned Because thou shouldest see my friend Pulio how greatly the auncient friend ought to bee esteemed I will declare thee an example of a Philosopher the which to heare thou wilt somewhat reioyce The auncient Histories of the Grecians declare that among the seuen Sages of Greece there was one named Periander who was Prince Gouernour a great while and he had in him such liuelinesse of Spirit on the one side and such couetousnesse of worldly goods on the other side that the Historiographers are in doubte whether was the greater the Philosophy that hee taught reading in the Schooles or the tyranny that hee vsed in robbing the Common-wealth for truly the science which is not grounded of truth bringeth great damages to the person In the second yeare of my Empire I was in the City of Corinth where I saw the Graue which contained the bones of Periander where about was engrauen in Greeke verses and old letter this Epitaph Within the compasse of this narrow graue Wretched Periander enclosed lyes Whose cruel facts could Greece alone not haue So small a soyle his hunger could suffice Here lodgeth oke loe Periander dead His filthy flesh the hungry wormes doe eate And liuing he with Orphelines good was fed His greedy guts did craue such dainty meate The Tyrant Periander stayeth here Whose life was built to hinder all the rest And eke whose death such profit large did bear As brought reliefe to him that had the least Here wicked Periander resteth now His life did cause great peopled realmes decay His death that forst his liuing sprite to how Assurde them life that stoode in brittle stay The cursed Periander heere doth lye Whose life did shed the poore and simple blood And eke that clambe to riches rule so hye By others swette they sought for wasting good Of Corinth loe here Periander rest To seeme for iust that equall Lawes did frame Yet flitting from the square that they possest By vertues doome deserude a Tyrants name The Catiue Periander sleepeth here That finisht hath his 80. years with shame And though his life that thousands bought so deer Be faded thus yet bloometh stil his blame There was more letters on the graue but because it was alone in the fielde the great waters had worne it so that scarsely the letters could bee roade and truely it was very olde in his time it seemed to bee a sumptuous thing but the negligence of reparation lost it quite and it is not to bee maruelleed at for in the end time is of such power that it causeth renowmed men to be forgotten and all the sumptuousbuildings to decay and fall to the earth If thou wilt know my friend Pulio in what time the tyrant this Philosopher was I will thou know that when Catania the renowned City was builded in Cicilia neere the Mount Ethna and when Perdica was the 4. King of Macedonia and that Cardiced was the third King of the Medes and when Candare was fift king of the Libeans and that Assaradoche was ninth King of the Assyrians and when Merodache was twelfth King of the Caldeaus and that Numa Pompilius raigned second King of the Romanes and in the time of those so good Kinges Periander raigned amongst the Assirians And it is meete thou know an other thing also which is this That this Periander was a Tyrant not only in deede but also in renowme so that they spake of no other thing thorow Greece but it tended hereunto Though hee had euill works hee had good words and procured that the affayres of the Common-wealth should bee well redressed For generally There is no man so good but a man may finde somewhat in him to bee reproued neyther any man so euill but hee hath some thing in him to bee commended I doe yet remember of my age being neyther too yong nor too old that I saw the Emperour Traian my Lord suppe once in Agrippine and it so chanced that wordes were moued to speake of good and euill Princes in times past as wel of the Greekes as of the Romans that all those which were present there cōmended greatly the Emperour Octauian and they all blamed the cruell Nero for it is an ancient custom to flatter the princes that are present and to murmur at Princes that are past When the good Emperour Traian was at dinner and when he praied in the Temple it was maruell if any man saw him speake any word and that day since hee saw that they excessinely praysed the Emperour Octauian and that the others charged the Emperour Nero with more then needed the good Traian spake vnto them these words I am glad you commend the Emperour Octauian but I am angry you should in my presence speake euill of the Emperour NERO and of none other for it is great infamy to a Prince being aliue to heare in his presence any Prince euill reported after his death Truely the Emperour Octauian was very good but yee will not deny me but hee might haue beene better and the Emperour Nero was very euill but you will graunt mee hee might haue beene worse I speake this because Nero in his first fiue yeares was the best of all and the other nine following he was the worst of all so that there is both cause to disprayse him and also cause to commend him When a vertuous man will speake of Princes that are dead before Princes which are aliue hee is bound to prayse onely one of their vertues that they had and hath no licence to reueale the vices whereof they were noted for the good deserueth reward because he endeauoureth himselfe to follow vertue and the euill likewise deserueth pardon because through frailety he hath consented to vice All these wordes the Emperour Traian spake I being present they were spoken with such fiercenes that all those which were there present both chaunged their colour and also refrayned their tongues For truly the shamelesse man feeleth not so much a great stripe of correction as the gentle heart doth a sharpe worde of admonition I was willing to shew thee these things my
Bull and that the cruelty of the torment shuld be experimented in none saue onely on the inuentor Truely in this case Phalaris shewed himselfe not a cruell tyrant but rather a mercifull Prince and a Sage Phylosopher for nothing can bee more iust then that the inuention of the maâ—ce bee executed on the fraile flesh the inuentor Now because Phalaris was a greate friend of Sages the Philosophers of Greece came oftentimes to see him which were very gently receyued of him Though to say the trueth they profited more with his goods then he did with their Philosophy This tyrant Phalaris was not onely a friend of Sages but also hee was very well learned and deepely seen in morall Philosophy the which thing appeareth well in the Epistles which he wrote with his owne hand I can not tell wherein hee shewed himselfe greater eyther in the sentences and doctrines which hee wrote with his penne or in the slaughter and cruelties which he did with his sword O how many companions had Phalaris the tyrant in this case in times past and that as I would there were none also at this time present which in their pleasant wordes did resemble the Emperour Nero. I neuer read other thing of those that are gone neither haue I seene otherwise of those that are present but many they are that blase vertues and infinite which runne after vices For of truth wee are very light of tongue and too feeble of flesh The Epistles which this Phalaris wrote are knowne to al men I meane of those which know Greek or Laten and for those that know them not I was willing to draw these that are present and to put them in our vulgar tongue for two causes The one to the end Princes might see how good a thing it is to be Sage and how tyrants â—were praysed for being Sages and giuing good counsell The other to the end the people might see how easie it is to speake wel and how hard it is to worke well For there is nothing better cheape in the world then counsell The sententences therefore of the Epistles of Phalaris are these which follow in such sort as I could most briefly gather them to reduce them in good and profitable stile to write them The particular loue which princes shew to one more then to another breedeth oftentimes much enuy in their realmes For the one being loued and the other hated of this commeth hatred and of hatred commes euill thoughts of euill thoughts proceedeth malice and of malice commeth euill words the which breake out into worse deeds Finally when a Prince sheweth not to equals his fauour indifferently he setteth fire in his commonwealth Princes ought to forbid and sages ought to consent that rebels and quarellers shuld trouble those which are quiet and peace makers for when the people rise immediatly couetousnesse is awaked When couetousnesse groweth iustice falleth force and violence ruleth snatching reigneth lecherie is at libertie the euill haue power and the good are oppressed finally all do reioyce one to liue to the preiudice of another and euery man to seeke his owne priuate commoditie Manie vaine men do raise discentions and quarrels amongst the people thinking that in troubled water they should augment their estates who in short space doe not onely lose the hope of that they sought but also are put out of that they possessed For it is not onely reasonable but also most iust that those by experience feele that which their blinde malice will not suffer them to know It is much good for the people that the gouernours bee not vnfortunate but that of their nature they were happy For to luckie princes fortune giueth many things euen as they demand yea and giueth them better then they locke for The noble and valiant Princes when they see themselues with other princes or that they are present in great acts ought to shew the freenes of their hearts the greatnesse of their realme the preheminence of their person the loue of their commonwealth and aboue all the discipline of their court and the grauitie of their counsell and pallace For the Sage and curious men should not behold the prince in the apparrell which hee weareth but the men which he hath to counsell him The Sage men and those that be not couetous if they doe employ their forces to heape vp treasures ought to remember in their hearts how to employ themselues to spende their money well Sith fortune is Mistresse in all things and that to her they doe impute both good and euill workes hee alone may be called a princely man who for no contrariety of fortune is ouercome For truly that man is of a stout courage whose heart is not vanquished by the force of Fortune Though we prayse one for valiant with the sword wee will not therefore prayse him for excellent with the penne Although hee bee excellent with his penne hee is not therefore excellent with his tongue Though he haue a good tongue hee is not therefore well learned And though hee be learned hee hath not therfore a good renowm And thogh hee hath a good renowme he is not therefore of a good life For wee are bound to receiue the doctrine of many which write but we are not bound to follow the liues which they doe leade There is no worse office amongst men then for to take the charge to punish the vices of another and therefore a man ought to fly from it as for the pestilence for in correcting vices hatred is more sure to the corrector then amendment of life is to the offender He hath possesseth much that hath good friends for many aide their friends when they would haue holpeÌ„ them more if they could For the true loue is not wearyed to loue nor ceaseth not to profite Though Sage men haue lost much they ought not therfore to dispaire but that they shall come to it againe in time For in the ende time doth not cease to doe his accustomed alterations nor perfect friends cease not to doe that which they ought The proud disdainfull man for the most part alwayes falleth into some euill chaunce therefore it is a commendable medecine some times to be perseecuted for aduersitie maketh a wise man liue more safely to walke in lesse daunger For so much as wee doe excuse him which coÌ„mitteth the fault there is neither the offender nor the offence but deserueth paine For such a one that committeth the faulte through sudden anger did euill and if hee did commit it by deliberation he did much worse To desire to doe all things by reason is good and likewise to lay them all in order is good but it is very harde For temperate men haue such respect in compassing their doings and by weight to cast all the inconueniences that scarcely they euer determine to goe about it To the man which hath gouernement two things are dangerous that is to say too soone or too late
in my life and for the gifts he sends mee now at my death For one friend can doe more to another then to offer him his person to depart with his proper goods Tell the king thy father that I maruell what hee should meane that I now beeing foure score yeares of age and haue walked all my life time naked in this world should now be laden with vestures and money since I must passe so great a gulfe in the Sea to go out of this world The Egyptians haue a custome to lighten the burden of their Camels when they passe the Desartes of Arabia which is much better then to ouercharge them I meane that he onely passeth without trauell the dangers of the life which banisheth frō him that thought of temporall goods of this world Thirdly thou shalt say to the King thy Father that from hence forth when any man will dye he doe not succour nor helpe him with Money Golde nor Riches but with good and ripe counsell For Golde will make him leaue his life with sorrow and good Counsell will moue him to take his death with patience The fifth king of the Macedonians was called Archelaus who they say to be the grandfather of king Philip father of the great Alexander This king boasteth himselfe to descend from Menelaus King of the Grecians and principall Captaine which was at the destruction of Troy This king Archelaus was a great friend to the Sages and amongst others there was a Poet with him called Euripides who at that time had no lesse glory in his kinde of Poetrie then Archelaus in his king dome being king of Macedonia For now a dayes we esteeme more the Sages for the bookes which they wrote then we do exalt kings for the Realms which they ruled or the battels which they ouercame The familiaritie which Euripides had with the king Archelaus was so great that in the Realme of Macedonie nothing was done but first it was examined by the hands of this Philosopher And as the simple and ignorant would not naturally be subiect to the Sage it chanced that one night Euripides was talking a long time with the King declaring vnto him the ancient Histories and when the poore Poet would depart to goe home to his house his enemies espyed him and let the hungrie dogges flie vpon him the which did not onely teare him in peeces but also eate him euery morsell So that the intrayles of the dogges were the wofull graue of the most miserable Poet. The King Archelaus being certified of this wofull case immediately as soone as they told him was so chafed that almost he was bereft of his senses And hereat maruell not at all For gentle hearts doe alter greatly when they are aduertised of any suddaine mishappe As the loue which the King had to Euripides in his life was much so likewise the sorow which he felt at his death was very great for he shed many teares from his eyes he cut the hairs off his head he rounded his beard hee changed his apparrell which he ware and aboue all he made as solemne a funerall to Euripides as if they had buried Vlisses And not contented with al these things he was neuer merry vntill such time he had done cruell execution of the malefactors for truely the iniury or death which is done vnto him whom wee loue is no other but as a bath and token of our owne good wills After iustice was executed of those homicides and that some of the bones all gnawne of the dogs were buried a Grecian Knight said vnto King Archelaus I let the know excellent king that all Macedonta is offended with thee because that for so small a losse thou hast shewed so great sorrow To whom king Archelaus aunswered Among Sages it is a thing sufficiently often tryed that noble hearts ought not to shew themselues sad for mishaps and sodaine chances for the king being sadde his Realme cannot and though it might it ought not shew it selfe merry I haue heard my father say once that Princes should neuer shed teares vnlesse it were for one of these causes 1 The first the Prince should bewaile the losse danger of his common wealth for the good Prince ought to pardon the iniuries done to his person but to reuenge the least act done to the Common-wealth he ought to hazard himselfe 2 The second the good Prince ought to lament if any man haue touched his honour in any wise for the prince which weepeth not drops of bloud for the things touching his honour deserueth to be buried quicke in his graue 3 The third the good Prince ought to bewayle those which can little and suffer much For the Prince which bewayleth not the calamities of the poore in vaine and without profit liueth on the earth 4 The fourth the good Prince ought to bewayle the glory and prosperity wherein the tyrants are For that Prince which with tyranny of the euill is not displeased with the hearts of the good is vnworthy to bee beloued 5 The fift the good Prince ought to bewayle the death of Wise men For to a Prince there can come no greater losse then when a wise man dyeth in his Common wealth These were the words which the King Archelaus answered the Grecian Knight who reproued him because he had wept for the death of Euirpides the Philosopher The ancient Historiographers can say no more of the estimation which the Philosophers and wise men had as well the Greekes as the Latines but I will tell you one thing worthy of noting It is well knowne through all the world that Scipio the Ethnicke was one of the worthiest that euer was in Rome for by his name and by his occasion Rome got such a memory as shall endure And this was not only for that he conquered Affricke but for the great worthinesse of his person Men ought not to esteeme a little these two giftes in one man that is to say to be happy and aduenturous For many of the Auncients in times past wanne glory by their swords and after lost it by their euill liues The Romane Historiographers say that the first that wrote in Heroicall meeter in the Latine tongue was Ennius the Poet the workes of whom was so esteemed of Scipio the Ethnick that when this aduenturous and so luckie Romane dyed he commaunded in his will and testament that they should hang the image of this Ennius the Poet ouer his graue By that the great Scipio did at his death wee may well coniecture how great a friend he was of Sages in his life since he had rather for his honour see the Statue of Ennius on his graue then the banner wherwith he wonne and conquered Affricke In the time of Pirrus which was King of the Epirotes and great enemy of the Romanes flourished a Philosopher named Cinas borne in Thessaly who as they say was the Disciple of Demosthenes The Historiographers at that time did so much
for to reward that which thou hast done to me I doe some seruice vnto thee which shall be to giue vnto thee some good counsell for strangers vse to pay for the feast with money and vaine men with telling lyes babblers by counting vaine tales children by flatteries but vertuous men ought to pay by giuing good Counsels This house hath cost thee much paine great griefes and much money and if it cost thee so much it is but reason that thou enioy the same take therefore these my three counsels and it may be thou wilt find thy selfe better contented with those then with money of strangers for many haue wherewithall to build a house but they haue not vnderstanding to gouerne the same The first counsell is Though that thou loue thy friend very well or thy wife as well yet that thou neuer discouer all the secrets of thy heart neither to thy friend nor to thy wife but that thou alwaies reserue some particular vnto thy selfe for Plato saith to whome a man committeth his secrets to him also hee giueth his libertie The second counsel is That neither in priuate businesse nor in publike affaires thou occupy thy selfe so much but at the least thou dost reserue three houres in the day for thine owne rest The third counsell is That thou haue in thy house some secret place wherof thou alone shalt haue the key and therein thou shalt haue Bookes where thou maist study of thy affaires and also talke with thy friends Finally this place shall be a secretary of thy counsels and a rest for thy trauels These were the words that Lucius Seneca spake to his friend Emilius Varro which words were such as he himselfe was that is to say of a sage and excellent personage and though the Banquet was rich yet the payment of Lucius Seneca was much more worth for the minde feeleth more taste in the good and ripe counsell then the body doeth in sauory and delicate meates I haue told you this example of Lucius Seneca for to tell another that happened to the Emperour Marcus Aurclius with his wife Faustine And to the end that the order of the matter bee not turned without breaking our Historie first we will declare here the order which this Emperour obserued in his life for the Common-wealth shall neuer be well gouerned but where the Prince gouerneth well his life Princes of necessitie ought to bee well ordered in this life because they may profite the affayres of the Empire with the particulars of their house and because they should vse the particulars of their house to the recreation of their Person and all these things ought to bee deuided according to time for a good Prince ought to lacke no time to doe that thing well which he hath to doe nor ought hee to haue any time vacant to employ himselfe to vice The worldly call that time good the which is or was prosperous vnto them they call that time euill which is or hath beene contrary and vnfortunate vnto them The Creator will neuer that this sentence bee approued by my penne but I call that time good which is imployed in vertues and that time euill that is lost in vices for the times are alwayes as one but men do turne from vice to vertue from vertue to vice The good Emperour Marcus Aurelius did deuide the time by time so that though hee had time for himselfe he had time likewise to dispatch his owne and others affayres for the man that is willing in a small time dispatcheth much businesse and the man which is negligent in along time doth little This was the order that the Emperour Marcus Aurelius tooke in spending his time He slept seuen houres in the night and one houre rested himselfe in the day In dining and supping hee consumed onely two houres and it was not for that hee tooke great pleasure to belong in eating but because the Philosophers which disputed before his Presence were occasion to prolong the time for in seuenteene yeeres they neuer sawe him at meate but one or other read vnto him some Booke or else the Philosophers reasoned before him Philosophy As he had many Realmes and Prouinces so he appointed one houre for the affayres of Asia for Affricke one houre and Europe another houre and for the conuersation of his wife children and familie he appointed other two houres of time hee had another houre for extraordinary affayres as to heare the complaints of the grieued the quarrels of the poore the complaints of the widdowes and the robberies done to the orphanes for the mercifull Prince giueth no lesse care vnto the poore which for want can doe little then to the rich which for abundance can do much Hee occupied all the residue of the day and night to read Bookes write works to make meeter and in studying of other Antiquities to practise with the Sage to dispute with the Philosophers and finally he tooke no taste of any thing so much as hee did to talke of Science Vnlesse the cruell warres did let him or such like affayres troubled him ordinarily in Winter he went to bed at nine of the clocke and awaked at foure and because he would not be idle he had alway a Booke vnder his beds head and the residue of the day hee bestowed in reading The Romanes had an ancient custome to beare fire before them that is to say a Torch light in the day and a Lampe burning in the night in their Chambers so that waking they burned Waxe and sleeping they burned Oyle And the cause why the Romanes ordeyned that the Oyle should be made of Oliue and the Waxe made of Bees which was vsed to bee borne before the Princes was to the end they should remember that they ought to bee as gentle and louing as the Oyle of Oliue is sweete and as profitable to the Common-wealth as the Bees are Hee did rise at sixe of the clocke and made himselfe ready openly and with a gentle countenance hee asked them that were about him wherein they had spent all the night and declared vnto them then what hee had dreamed what he had thought and what hee had read When hee was readie he washed his face with odoriferous waters and loued very well sweete sauours for hee had so quicke a sent that hee was much offended when hee passed through any stinking place In the morning he vsed to eate two morsels of a Lectuary made of Sticades and dranke three spoonefulls of Maluesey or else two droppes of Aqua vita because he had a cold stomacke for that hee gaue himselfe so much to studie in times past We see it by experience that the great Students are persecuted more with sicknesse then any others for in the sweetnesse of the Science they know not how their life consumeth If it were in the Summer season hee went in the morning to recreate himselfe to the Riuer of Tiberi and walked there a foote for two houres
and in this place they talked with him that had businesse and truely it was a great policie for where as the Prince doth not sit the suitor alwaies abridgeth his talke And when the day began to waxe hot he went to the high Capitoll where all the Senate tarryed for him and from thence hee went to the Coliseo where the Ambassadours of the Prouinces were and there remained a great part of the day Afterwards he went to the Chappell of the Vestall Virgins and there he heard euery Nation by it selfe according to the order which was prescribed Hee did eate but one meale in the day and it was very late but he did eate well not of many and diuers sorts of meate but of few and good for the abundance of diuers strange meates breedeth sundry diseases They sawe him once a weeke goe through Rome and if hee went any more it was a wonder at the which time he was alwayes without company both of his owne and also of strangers to the entent all poore men might talke with him of their businesse or complaine of his Officers for it is vnpossible to reforme the Common-wealth if he which ought to remedie it be not informed of the iniuries done in the same He was so gentle in conuersation so pleasant in words so Noble amongst the Great so equall with the least so reasonable in that hee did aske so perfect in that he did worke so patient in iniuries so thankefull of benefites so good to the good and so seuere to the euill that all loued him for being good and all the euill feared him for being iust A man ought not little to esteeme the loue that the people bare to this so good a Prince and Noble Emperour for so much as the Romanes haue been thus that for the felicitie of their estate they offered to their Gods greater Sacrifice then they did in any other Prouinces And Sextus Cheronensis saith that the Romanes offered more Sacrifices to the Gods because they should lengthen the life of the Emperour then they did offer for the profite of the Common-wealth Truely their reason was good for the Prince that leadeth a good life is the heart of the Common-wealth But I doe not maruell that the Emperour was so well willed and beloued of the Romane Empire for he had neuer Porter to his Chamber but the two houres which hee remayned with his wife Faustine All this being past the good Emperour weat into his house into the secretst place hee had according to the counsell of Lucius Seneca the key whereof he alone had in his custodie and neuer trusted any man therewith vntill the houre of his death and then he gaue it to an olde ancient man called Pompeianus saying vnto him these words Thou knowest right well Pompeianus that thou being base I exalted thee to honour thou being poore I gaue thee riches thou being persecuted I drew thee to my Palace I being absent committed my whole honour to thy trust thou being olde I marryed thee with my daughter and doe presently giue thee this Key Behold that in giuing thee it I giue thee my heart and life for I will thou know that death grieueth mee not so much nor the losse of my wife and children as that I cannot carry my Bookes into the graue If the Gods had giuen mee the choyse I had rather choose to be in the graue inuironed with Bookes then to liue accompanied with fooles for if the dead doe read I take them to be aline but if the liuing doe not read I take them to be dead Vnder this key which I giue thee remayneth many Greeke Hebrew Latine and Romame Bookes and aboue all vnder this key remaineth all my paynes swet and trauells all my watchings and laboures where also thou shalt finde Bookes by mee compiled so that though the wormes of the earth doe eate my body yet men shall finde my heart whole amongst these Bookes Once againe I doe require thee and say that thou oughtest not a little to esteeme the key which I giue thee for wise men at the houre of their death alwayes recommend that which they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my Studie thou shalt finde many things with mine owne hand written and well ordered and also I confesse that thou shalt finde many things by me left vnperfect In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not write them yet thou shalt worke them well notwithstanding and by these meanes thou shalt get reward of the Gods for working them Consider Pompeian that I haue beene thy Lord I haue beene thy Father-in-law I haue beene thy Father I haue beene thy Aduocate and aboue all that I haue beene thy speciall friend which is most of all for a man ought to esteeme more a faithfull friend then all the Parents of the world Therefore in the faith of that friendshippe I require that thou keepe this in memorie that euen as I haue recommended to others my Wife my Children my Goods and Riches So I doe leaue vnto thee in singuler recommendation my Honour for Princes leaue of themselues no greater memorie then by the good learning that they haue written I haue beene eighteene yeeres Emperour of Rome and it is threescore and three yeeres that I haue remayned in this wofull life during which time I haue ouercome many Battailes I haue slayne many Pyrates I haue exalted many good I haue punished many euill I haue wonne many Realmes and I haue destroyed many Tyrants but what shall I doe wofull man that I am sith all my companions which were witnesses with me of all these worthy feates shall be companions in the graue with the greedy wormes A thousand yeeres hence when those that are now aliue shall then be dead what is hee that shall say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumph ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I sawe him well beloued of the people I saw him father of the Orphanes I saw him the scourge of Tyrants Truely if all these things had not beene declared by my Bookes or of my friends the dead would neuer haue risen againe to haue declared them What is it for to see a Prince from the time he is borne vntill the time hee come to dye to see the pouertie he passeth the perills he endureth the euill that hee suffereth the shame that he dissembleth the friendshippe that hee fayneth the teares which hee sheddeth the sighes that hee fetcheth the promises that hee maketh and doth not endure for any other cause the miseries of this life but onely to leaue a memorie of him after his death There is no Prince in the world that desireth not to keepe a good house to keepe a good table to apparell himselfe richly and to pay those that serue him in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe through their lippes not drinking thereof As
complaint Therefore I desire thee now to haue as much patience to heare my aunswere as I haue had paine to heare thy demaund And prepare thy eares to heare my words as I haue listned mine to heare thy Follie. For in like matter when the tong doth apply it selfe to speake any word the eares ought immediately to prepare them to heare it for to make aunswere For this is most sure that he that speaketh what hee would shall heare what hee would not Before I tell thee what thou art and what thou oughtest to bee I will first tell thee what I am and what I ought to be For I will thou vnderstand Faustine that I am so euill that that the which mine enemyes doe report of me is but a trifle in respect of that which my Familiars and Friends would say if they knew me To the end the Prince be good hee ought not to be couetous of Tributes neyther proude in commaundements nor vnthankfull of seruices nor to be forgetfull of the Temples hee ought not to be deafe to heare griefes complaintes and quarrells nor cruell to Orphanes nor yet negligent in affaires And the man that shall want these vices shal be both beloued of men and fauoured of the Gods I confesse first of all that I haue bin couetous For indeed those which with many troubles annoy Princes least and with Money serue them most are of all other men best beloued Secondarily I confesse that I am proud For there is no Prince at this day in the world so brought vnder but when Fortune is most lowest he hath his heart very hanghtie Thirdly I confesse that I am vnthankfull for amongst vs that are Princes the seruices that they doe vnto vs are great and the rewardes that we giue vnto them are small Fourthly I doe confesse that I am an euill founder of Temples for amongst vs that are Princes wee doe not Sacrifice vnto the Gods very often vnlesse it be when we see our selues to be enuironned with enemyes Fiftly I confesse that I am negligent to heare the plaintes of the oppressed for the Flatterers haue towards theys Princes more easie audience by their Flattery then the poore pleading to declare theyr complaintes by truth Sixtly I confesse that I am carelesse for the Orphanes For in the Courtes and Pallaces of Princes the Rich and mightie are most familiar but the miserable and poore Orphanes are scarcely heard Seuenthly I confesse that I am negligent in dispatching Poore mens causes For the Princes oft times not prouiding in time for their affaires many great perills ensue to theyr Realmes Now marke here Faustine how I haue tolde thee what according to reason I ought to bee and what according to the sensualitie I am and maruell not although I confesse mine error For the man that acknowledgeth his fault giueth hope of amendment And let vs come to talke of thee and by that I haue spoken of me thou mayest iudge of thy selfe For we men are so euill conditioned that we behold the vttermost the offences of an another but wee will not heare the faultes of our selues It is a true thing my wife Faustine that when a woman is merry she alwaies speaketh more with her tong then shee knoweth in her heart For women light of tongue speak many things in companie the which they doe lament after when they are alone All the contrarie commeth to wofull men for they do not speak the halfe of their griefes because their heauy and wofull hearts commaundeth their eyes to weepe and tongs to be silent Vaine and foolish men by vaine and foolish words doe publish their vaine and light pleasures and the wise men by wise wordes doe dissemble their grieuous sorrowes For though they feale the troubles of this life they dissemble them as men Amongst the Sages hee is most wisest that presumeth to know least and amongst the simple he is most ignorant that thinketh to knowe most For if there be found one that knoweth much yet alwayes there is found another that knoweth more This is one difference whereby the wise men are knowne from those that be simple that is to say That the wise man to one that asketh him a Question answereth slowly and grauely and the simple man though he be not asked aunswereth quicke and lightly For in the house where Noblenes and wisedome are they giue riches without measure but they giue wordes by ounces I haue told thee all this Faustine because thy wordes haue wounded me in such sort thy teares in such wise haue compelled mee and thy vaine iudgements haue wearyed mee so much that I cannot say what I would nor I thinke thou canst perceiue what I say Those which wrote of Marriage wrote many things but they wrote not so many troubles in al their bookes as one woman causeth her Husband to feele in one day The auncients spake well when they reasoned of Marriages for at all times when they talked of Marriage at the beginning they put these words Onus Matrimonij That is to say the yoake of Marriage For truely if the man be not well maryed all the troubles that may happen vnto him in all the time of his life are but small in respect to be matched one day with an euill wife Doest thou thinke Faustine that it is a small trouble for the Husband to suffer ths brawlings of his wife to indure her vaine words to beare with her fond words to giue her what she requireth to seeke that she desireth and to dissemble with all her vanities Truely it is so vnpatient a trouble that I would not desire any greater reuengement of my enemy then to see him marryed with a brawling wife If the Husband be proud you doe humble him For there is no proude man whatsoeuer hee be but a fierce woman will make him stoupe If the Husband be foolish you restore him to his senses againe For there is no greater wisedome in the World then to knowe how to endure a brawling woman If the Husband be wilde you make him tame For the time is so much that you occupy in brawling that hee can haue no time to speake If the husband be slow you make him runne for he desireth so much your contentation in heart that the wofull man cannot eate in quiet nor sleepe in rest If the Husband be a talker you make him dumbe for the flouts and mockes that you giue him at euery word are so many in number that he hath none other remedie but to refraine his tongue If the Husband bee suspitious you make him change his minde For the Trifles that you aske at euery houre are such and so many and you therewith so selfe-willed that hee dare not tell what hee seeth in his owne house If the husband be a wanderer abroad you make him forthwith a bider at home for you looke so ill vnto the house and goods that hee findeth no other remedie but to bee alwayes at home If the
be aduertised that since in not nourishing their children they shew themselues cruel yet at the least in prouiding for thē good Nurses they shold shew themselues pittifull for the children oft times follow more the condition of the milke which they sucke then the condition of their mothers which brought them forth or of their fathers which begot them Therefore they ought to vse much circumspection herein for in them consisteth the fame of the wiues the honour of the husband and the wealth of their children CHAP. XXII Of the Disputations before Alexander the great concerning the time of the sucking of Babes OVintus Curtins saith that after the great Alexander which which was the last King of the Macedonians and first Emperour of the Greekes had ouercome King Darius and that he saw himselfe onely Lord of all Asia he went to rest in Babylon for among men of warre there was a custome that after they had beene long in the warres euery one should retire to his owne house King Philip which was father of King Alexander alwayes counselled his sonne that he should leade with him to the warres valiant Captaines to conquere the World and that out of his Realmes and Dominions hee should take and chuse the wisest men and best experimented to gouerne the Empire Hee had reason in such wise to counsell his sonne for by the counsell of Sages that is kept and maintained which by the strength of valiant men is gotten and wonne Alexander the great therefore being in Babylon after hee had conquered all the Countrey since all the Citie was vicious and his Armie so long without warres some of his owne men began to robbe one another others to play their own some to force women and others to make banquets and feasts when some wee drunk others raysed quarrels strifes and discentions so that a man could not tell whether was greater the rust in their Armours or the corruptions in their customes For the propertie of mans malice is that when the gate is open to idlenesse infinite vices enter into the house Alexander the great seeing the dissolution which was in his Armie and the losse which might ensue heereof vnto his great Empire commanded straightly that they should make a shew and iust thorow Babylon to the end that the men of warre should exercise their forces thereby And as Aristotle saith in the book of the Questions of Babylon the Turney was so much vsed amongst them that sometimes they carryed away more dead and wounded men then of a bloudie battaile of the enemie Speaking according to the lawe of the Gentiles which looked not glory for their vertues nor feared hell to dye at the Turney the commandement of Alexander was very iust for that doing as he did to the Armie he defaced the vice which did waste it and for himselfe he got perpetuall memory and also it was cause of much suertie in the Common-weale This good Prince not contented to exercise his army so but ordayned that daily in his presence the Philosophers should dispute and the question wherein they should dispute Alexander himselfe would propound whereof followed that the great Alexander was made certaine of that wherein hee doubted and so by his wisedome all men exercised their crafts and wits For in this time of idlenesse the bookes were no lesse marred with dust because they were not opened then the weapons were with rust which were not occupyed There is a booke of Aristotle intituled The Questions of Babilon where he sayd that Alexander propounded the Philosophers disputed the Principalles of Persia replyed and Aristotle determined and so continued in disputations as long as Alexander did eate for at the Table of Alexan der one day the Captaines reasoned of matters of warre and another day the Philosophers disputed of their Philosophie Blundus saieth in the booke intituled Italia Illustrata that among the Princes of Persia there was a custome that none could sit downe at the Table vnlesse hee were a King that had ouercome another King in battaile and none could speake at their table but a Philosopher And truely the custome was very notable and worthy to be noted for there is no greater folly then for any man to desire that a Prince should reward him vnlesse hee know that by his works hee had deserued the same King Alexander did eate but one meale in the day and therefore the first question that he propounded vnto them was That the man which did not eate but once in the day at what houre it was best to eate for the health of his person and whether it should be in the morning noone dayes or night This question was debated among the Philosophers whereof euery one to defend his opinion alleadged many foundations For no lesse care haue the Sages in their mindes to issue out of them disputations victorious then the valiant Captaines haue in aduenturing their persons to vanquish their enemies It was determined as Aristotle maketh mention in his Probleames that the man which eateth but once in the day should eate a little before night for it auayleth greatly to the health of the body that when the digestion beginneth in the stomacke a man taketh his first sleepe The second question that Alexander propounded was What age the childe should haue when hee should be weyned from the dugge And the occasion of this question was for that he had begotten a young daughter of a Queene of the Amazous the which at that time did sucke and for to know whether it were time or not to weyne her there was great dispurations for the childe was now great to sucke and weake to weyne I haue declared this History for no other purpose but to shew how in Babylon this question was disputed before King Alexander that is to say how many yeeres the childe ought to haue before it were weyned from the teate for at that time they are so ignorant that they cannot demand that that is good nor complaine of that that is naught In that case a man ought to know as the times are variable and the regions and prouince diuers so likewise haue they sundry wayes of bringing vp and nourishing their children for there is as much difference betweene the Countreys of one from the Countries of others in dying and burying the dead bodies as there hath beene varieties in the world by way of nourishing bringing vp of children CHAP. XXIII Of sundry kindes of Sorceries Charmes and Witchcrafts which they in olde time vsed in giuing their children sucke the which Christians ought to eschew IT is not much from our purpose if I declare here some old examples of those which are past Strabo in his booke De situ Orbis saith that after the Assirians which were the first that raigned in the world the Siconians had signorie which long time after were called Arcades which were great and famous wrastlers and Schoolemasters at the Fence from whom came the
weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the young and little couetousnesse in the old Affro the Historiographer declareth this in the tenth booke De rebus Atheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I did bring in this history but to profite mee of the last word wherein for aunswere hee sayeth that all the profite of the Common wealth consisteth in that there be princes that restraine the auarice of the aged and that there bee Masters to teach the youthfull We see by experience that if the brute beasts were not tyed and the corne and seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man shold neuer gather the fruit when they are ripe I meane the strife and debate will rise continually among the people if the yong men haue not good fathers to correct them and wise masters to teach them Wee cannot deny but though the knife be made of fine steele yet sometimes it hath neede to bee whet and so in like manner the young man during the time of his youth though he doe not deserue it yet from time to time hee ought to bee corrected O Princes and great Lords I know not of whom you take counsell when your sonne is borne to prouide him of a Master and gouernour whom you chuse not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile and euill taught Finally you doe not trust him with your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes and great Lords why doe you not withdraw your children from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite then their hearts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselus doe bring vp princes viciously Let not Princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to finde and chuse a good Master and the Lord which herein doth not employ his diligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shall not pretend ignorance let them beware of that man whose life is suspitious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the pallace of princes the office of Tutorshippe ought not to be giuen as other common offices that is to say by requests or money by priuities or importunities eyther else for recompence of seruices for it followeth not though a man hath beene Ambassadour in strange Realms or captaine of great Armies in warre or that hee hath possessed in the royall pallace Offices of honour or of estimation that therefore he should bee able to teach or bring vp their children For to bee a good Captaine sufficeth onely to be hardy and fortunate but for to bee a Tutour and gouernour of Princes hee ought to be both sage and vertuous CHAP. XXXV Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the Masters he prouided for the other named Comodus MArcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome in the time that hee was married with Faustine onely daughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had onely two sonnes whereof the eldest was named Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these two children the heyre was Comodus who was so wicked in the 13. yeares he gouerned the Empire that hee seemed rather the Disciple of Nero the cruell then to discend by the mothers side from Antonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked child Comodus was so light in speech so dishonest in person and so cruell with his people that oft-times hee being aliue they layed wagers that there was no vertue in him to bee found nor any one vice in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of person and in witte very temperate and the most of all was that by his good conuersation of all hee was beloued For the fayre and vertuous Princes by their beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes and by their good conuersation they winne their hearts The child Verissimus was the hope of the common people and the glory of his aged Father so that the Emperor determined that this child Verissimus should bee heyre of the Empire and that the Prince Commodus should bee dishenherited Wherat no man ought to maruell for it is but iust since the childe dooth not amend his life that the father doe dishenherite him When good will doth want and vicious pleasures abound the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being 52. yeares old by chance this childe Verissimus which was the glory of Rome and the hope of the Father at the gate of Hostia of a sodaine sicknesse dyed The death of whom was as vniuersally lamented as his life of all men was desired It was a pittifull thing to see how wofully the Father tooke the death of his entirely beloued son and no lesse lamentable to beholde how the Senate tooke the death of their Prince being the heyre for the aged Father for sorrow did not go to the Senate and the Senate for a few dayes enclosed themselues in the hie Capitoll And let no man maruell though the death of this young Prince was so taken through Rome for if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewayle and lament his death When a Knight a Gentleman a Squire an Officer or when any of the people dyeth there dyeth but one but when a Prince dyeth which was good for all and that he liued to the profite of all then they ought to make account that all do dye they ought all greatly to lament it for oft times it chanceth that after 2. or 3. good Princes a foule flocke of Tyrants succeede Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperor as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely person though the inward sorrow from the rootes of the heart could not bee plucked yet hee determined to dissemble outwardly to bury his grieues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shewe extreame sorrow vnlesse it be that hee hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good Prince as one that hath his vineyarde frozen wherein was all his hope contented with himselfe with that which remaineth his so deerly beloued sonne being dead and commaunded the Prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his onely heire Iulius Capitolinus which was one of those that wrote of the time of Marcus Aurelius saide vpon this matter that when the Father saw the disordinate frailenesse and lightnes and also the little shame which the prince Comodus his Sonne brought with him the aged man beganne to weepe and shed teares from his eyes And it was because the simplenesse and vertues of his deere beloued Sonne Verissimus came into his minde Although this Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius for the death of
the wicked which remaine still are so manie in number that if all those should be hanged that deserue it by Iustice a man could hardly finde hang-men sufficient nor gallowes to hang them vpon Admit according to the varietie of realmes and prouinces that diuers lawes and customes haue beene instituted therein yet for a truth there was neuer nor shall bee found any nation or Common wealth in the world so barbarous but hath beene founded of iustice For to affirme that men can bee preserued without iustice is as much as to say the fish can liue without water How is it possible that a Common Wealth may liue without iustice sith without her cannot bee ruled one onely person Plinie in an Epistle sayeth that he himselffe hauing the charge of a prouince in Affricke demaunded an old man and in gouernement expert what he might doe to administer iustice the aged man answered Doe iustice of thy selfe if thou wilt be a minister thereof For the good iudge with the right yeard of his owne life ought to measure the whole state of the common-wealth And hee sayde further If thou wilt be right with men and cleane before God beware of presumption in thine office For the proud and presumptuous Iudges oftentimes doe contrarie to their wordes and also exceede in their deedes Plinie also sayeth that hee profited more with the counsell this olde man gaue him then with all that euer he had read in his bookes O to how much is hee bound that hath taken vpon him to administer Iustice For if such a one be an vpright man hee accomplisheth that where vnto hee is bound but if such a one of himself be vniust iustly of God hee ought to be punished and likewise of men to bee accused When great Princes commaund their seruants or Subiects any thing that they cannot accomplish them in such sort as they had charge to do then he ought to haue them excused those excepted which gouern realms and prouinces for no man leaueth to administer iustice but for want of knowledge or experience or else through aboundance of affection or malice If a Captaine lose a battel he may excuse himselfe saying his men were fled when they should haue assaulted their enemies A poast may excuse himselfe for that the waters were so high A hunter may say that beast is escaped another way and others such like but a gouernour of a Common wealth what excuse can he haue that he doth not iustice Cōscience ought to burden him and also he ought to bee ashamed to take vpon him the charge of any thing if hee doubt to bring it to effect for shamefast faces and haughty courages either ought to put that in execution which they take vpon them or else they ought to shew a lawful cause why it tooke no effect Let vs knowe what iustice is then we shall know what is meete for the administration thereof The office of a good Iudge is to defend the cōmon wealth to helpe the innocent to aide the simple to correct the offender to helpe the orphanes to doe for the poore to bridle the ambitious finally by iustice he ought to giue each one his owne and to dispossesse those which holde any thing wrongfully of others When a prince commandeth any man to take the charge of iustice and such one doth not seek it of himselfe if perchance he did not in all pointes vprightly in the administration therof he might haue some excuse saying that though hee hath accepted it it was not with intent to erre but because he would obey what shal we say of many which without shame without knowledge experiēce without conscience do procure the office of iustice O if Princes knew what they giue when they giue the charge to any to gouern the Common-welth I sweare vnto you that they were better to giue them goods to find them for twenty yeares then for to trust them with the charge of iustice twenty daies What a thing is it to see some men shamelesse dishonest great talkers gluttons ambitious and couetous the which without any reasonable cause authority or knowledge demaund of Princes an office of iustice as if by iustice they did demaund their owne Would to God the giuer would haue an eye to those which in this case do demaund But what shall wee say of those that doe solicite them procure them importune them beseech them and more then that euen as without shame they doe demaund it so without conscience likewise they buy it There remaineth in this case more as yet that is that if those cursed men doe not attaine to that which they demaund and if those hauing no conscience do not giue it them then they blaspheme and complain of those which are in fauour with princes as if they had done them great iniurie O what trouble is it to good men to accomplish the desires of the euill For the couetous ambitious persons doe but desire that the good mē had the like paine in giuing that they haue in demaunding Many times I haue thought with my selfe wherein so many damages of the Common-wealth should consist such disobedience such contrarieties and so many thefts and in the end I finde that all or the most part proceed in that that they prouide for ministers of iustice not for conscience sake but for couetousnesse onely Admit that it appertaine to all to desire and procure iustice yet to none it appertaineth so much to procure and defend it as to the royall person which the subiects ought sometime to feare but princes are bound to minister it equally to all It is a great matter that princes be pure in life and that their houses bee well ordered to the end that their iustice be of credite and authoritie For he which of himselfe is vniust giueth no hope that another at his hands shold haue iustice He which cannot gouerne his owne house can euill gouerne the common-wealth Those princes which are true in their words cleane in their liues and iust in their works though sometime they erre in the administration of the Common wealth all excuse them saying that they erre not thorough the malice of themselues but rather thorow the euill counsell of others So that all which the good prince doth they commend and all the euill that chanceth they excuse Plutarch in the second Booke of his Common wealth sayeth That herein some Princes differ from others For the euill Prince is onely obeyed but the good Prince is obeyed feared and loued And moreouer hee that is good maketh heauy things light with his goodnesse and the Tyrant that is euill maketh things which are light to be very heauy through his naugh tinesse Happie is the prince which is obeyed but much more happy is he which is obeyed feared and loued for the body is weary oftentimes to obey but the heart is neuer constrained to loue Titus the Emperour was once demanded of these two things
true pittifull honest and vertuous nor yet to be iust but that it is as well necessarie they bee obseruers of iustice For let them know that there is great difference between him that is iust and another that doth minister iustice for to the Prince that is good commeth honor to his person but from him that ministreth iustice commeth profite to the Common-wealth Peraduenture it is no wonder to see the Prince that will tell no lye and to see his Ministers not to speake one truth Peraduenture I do not thinke my selfe slaundered to see the Prince temperate in eating and to see all his seruants distempred both with eating and drinking peraduenture and it is no cause to muse vpon to see the Princes chast and honest and to see their seruants in flesh filthy and dissolute peraduenture it is no cause to maruell to see the Prince iust and to loue iustice and that very few of his ministers do minister it The end why all these thinges are spoken is to aduertise Princes that they be not so carefull to be chast sober true and iust but that they know whether their Gouernours and Iudges are corrupted couetous greedy vnshamefast lyers or bribers for if it toucheth vs much that our Princes be good so much more it toucheth vs that the Ministers be not euill One of the things wherein Princes ought to prouide with their Iudges and gouernours is that by no meanes they suffer their lawes and and ancient customes to be broken in their commō welth and that in their steads strange customs be not introduced for the Comminalty is so variable in that they say and so light in that they aske that they would dayly see a new king and hourely change a new law Plinie in an Epistle that he writeth to Escario sayeth Optime apud Persius capitalem per legem fuit prohibitum nouos aut perigrinos mores inducere As if hee spake more plainely Amongst the Persians it was a Law inuiolable that no man should bring into the Common-wealth any strange custome for such an offence they should pay none other ransome but the losse of their heads As men dayly doe diminish in vertue vnlesse by force they be withholden and augment in vanity so they would inuent new deuises and strange customes wherewith men should bee decayed and the Common wealth destroied for straunge meates doe alter mens stomackes When those of Creta were vngently vsed of the Rhodians they did not pray to their gods to send them pestilence warre famine or sedition among their enemies but that they would suffer som euil maners to be brought in amongst the people Let not those thinke that shall reade this that it was a small curse that those of Creta desired and that it was a small reuenge which God gaue them of their enemies if he gaue them that which they did require for from war famin and pestilence som may escape but with deuises we see all perish Of many things the historiās do reproue the Emperor Sergius Galba for one alone they praise him That he neuer cōsented that in Rome any new law shold be made nor any old custom broken And he commanded that those should be grieuously punished which brought in any new law he rewarded those which put him in mind of any olde custome the which bee commaunded to bee obserued It is a mockery yea better to say a slaunder to see that some young Iudges will doe that of the Common-wealth which a Taylour doeth of a gowne that is to say to turne him within and without before behind which they ought not to doe nor the people to consent therevnto For the Prince doeth not sende them to make lawes nor to bring in new orders but to the ende that they do only preserue the commonwealth in their good customes Princes ought also to take great care that vnto litle and great rich poor they minister equall iustice sith there is no diuine nor humaine law that giueth them power and aucthoritie to corrupt it For if a Prince cannot without reason d pose of his owne goods much lesse he can make lawes and sell Iustice Wee doe not denye a Prince but that hee is lorde of Beastes of Fysh of Byrds of Mynes of Mountains of seruants and of fields Finally that hee is lord of the sea and land but therefore we will not graunt him that he is lord of iustice For there is none other true Lorde of Iustice but GOD which is the selfe same Iustice When a Prince dyeth and maketh his will he sayeth I bequeath all my Realms and Seigniories to the Prince my sonne and legitimate heyre and doe leaue vnto my second sonne such an Estate and dowrey and to my daughter such Lands and to all I recommend Iustice to the end they do obserue it and cause it to be obserued euery one in his owne Countrey It is much to note that the Father doth not say that hee leaueth vnto his Sonne Iustice but that hee doeth recommend it vnto him so that the good Princes ought not to think that they haue inherited Iustice of theyr predecessors in form of a patrimony but that God gaue it vnto thē of trust Princes of all things may be called Lords saue onely of Iustice whereof they are but onely ministers Wee dare boldely say that the Prince or great Lord which iudgeth causes not according to the Diuine will but according to their owne affection wee will not call him a iust iudge but a rouing Theefe For the Prince is much worse which robbeth God of Iustice then the Theefe which stealeth the goods from men Suetonius Tranquillus reciteth much wickednes of Domitian and the greatest of al was the poore the Orphans and those which could doe little hee alwayes punished and the other that were rich and of authoritie he pardoned He compounded with some for money and with others hee dissembled for fauour Lampridius sayde of Alexander Seuerus the 25. Emperour of Rome that hee neuer kept in his Court any euill man or suffered any of his parents to be vicious And when he was demanded on a time why hee banished one of his cousines since he was young and a Childe Hee aunswered them which intreated for him and alleadged That though he was young and his Cousin yet Charior est mihi Respub as if more plainely he had saide I haue none other neerer of kinne to mee in my Pallace then the Commonwealth O high much more higher words worthy for a truth to be writtē in princes hearts whereby they ought to be aduertised that hee said not I take for my kinne one part of the Commonwealth For the Prince which feareth GOD and desireth to be found iust as he wil indifferently be obeyed of al so ought he equally to administer iustice to all If they wil not credit me nor my pen let them credit Plato in the books of his commonwealth who giueth libertie and
licence to all the Plebeyans to the end that euery one doe loue his wife his children and his Parents And this sorte of loue hee will not that Princes haue to whome hee perswadeth that first aboue all things they loue theyr cōmon-wealth For if the prince doe loue anie thing aboue his Common-wealth it is vnpossible but that one day for the loue of that he will wring Iustice When Plato gaue not licence vnto Princes not to enlarge theyr loue on diuers things peraduenture he would counsell them least they should doe some wrongs It chaunceth oft times that Princes doe omit iustice not for that they will not administer it but because they will not bee informed of things which they ought to remedie and looke vnto And this is vnexcusable where hee hurteth his honour burdeneth his conscience For at the day of iudgement though hee be not accused for malice yet hee shall be condemned for negligence The Prince which is carefull to see and to enquire the dammages of his Realmes we may say that if he doeth not prouide for them it is because he can do no more but he which is negligent to see them and know them we cannot say but if he leaue to prouide it is for that hee will not The Prince or great Lorde which dare take vpon him such things what name or renowme may we giue him I would not we should call such a one father of the commonwealth but destroyer of his countrey For there can be no tyrannie greater nor more vnequall then for the physitian to aske his duety for his cure before hee hath begunne to minister the medicine That Princes and great Lords desire to know their reuenues I allow them but in that they care not to knowe the dāmages of their commonwealths I do discommend them For the people pay tribute to their Princes to the ende they should deliuer them from their enemies and defend them from tyraunts For the Iudges which wil be euill though I say much it will profite little but vnto those which desire to bee good that which is spoken as I thinke sufficeth Notwithstanding that which is spoken I say that Iudges and gouernors ought to consider wel with themselues and see if they wil be counted for iust ministers or cruell tirants For the office of a Tyrant is to robbe the Common-wealth and the Office of the good Prince is to reforme the people Noble Princes and great Lordes haue more businesse then they thinke they haue to see all those which will see them and to heare all those which will complaine vnto them And the cause hereof is admitte that which the Subiect demaundeth hee presently cannot giue nor that whereof hee complaineth he cannot remedie yet notwithstanding they remaine after a sort contented saying that they haue now shewed all their complaynts and iniuries vnto their princes For the wounded harts oftentimes vtter their inward paines which they feele without anie hope to receyue comforte of that which they desire Plutarche in his Apothegmes sayeth that a poore and aged woman desired king Philippe of Macedonie which was father of king Alexander the great that hee would heare her with iustice and sith shee was very importunate vpon him K Philip saide on a day vnto her I pray thee woman bee contented I sweare by the gods I haue no leysure to heare thy complaint The old woman answered the king Beholde K Philippe if thou hast not time to heare mee with iustice resigne thy Kingdome and another shall gouerne thy Commonwealth CHAP. III. Of an oration which a villaine dwelling neere to the riuer of Danuby maae before the Senatours of Rome concerning the tyrannies and oppressions which their officers vsed in his countrey And the Oration is diuided into three Chapters IN the tenth yeare of the raigne of the good Emperour Marcus Aurelius there happened in Rome a generall pestilence the which being so outragious the good Emperour went into Campaigne which at time was very healthfull without diseases though it was very drie and wanted much of that which was necessarie yet notwithstanding the good Emperor was there with all the principall Senatours of Rome for in the time of pestilence men doe not seeke where they should reioice their persōs but where they may saue their liues Marcus Aurelius being there in Campagnia was sore vexed with a Fener and as his condition was alwaies to bee amongst sages so at that time his sicknesse required to be visited by Physitians The resort that he had in his Pallace was very great as well of Philosophers for to teach as of Physitians for to dispute For this prince ordered his life in such sorte that in his absence things touching the warre were well prouided and in his presence was nothing but matters of knowledge argued It chaunced one day as Marcus Aurelius was enuironed with Senators philosophers physitians and other Sage men a question was moued among them how greatly Rome was changed not onely in buildings which almost were vtterly decayed but also in maners which were wholly corrupted the cause of this euill grew for that Rome was full of flatterers and destitute of those which durst say the truth These and such other like wordes heard the Emperour tooke vp his hand and blessed him and declared vnto them a notable example saying In the first yeare that I was Consull there came a poore villaine from the riuer of Danuby to aske iustice of the Senate against a Censor which did sore oppresse the people and in deed hee did so well propound his complaint and declare the folly and iniuries which the Iudges did in his Country that I doubt whether Marcus Cicero could vtter it better with his tongue or the renowmed Homer haue writen it more eloquently with his pen. This villaine had a small face great lips hollow eyes his colour burnt curled hayre bare-headed his shoes of Porpyge skinne his coat of goates skinne his girdle of bul-rushes a long beard and thicke his eye brows couered his eyes the stomacke and the necke couered with skinnes heared as a Beare and a clubbe in his hand Without doubt when I saw him enter into the Senate I imagined it had beene a beast in forme of a man and after I heard that which he sayd I iudged him to bee a God if there be Gods among men For it was a fearefull thing to behold his person it was no lesse monstrous to heare his words At that time there was great prease at the dore of the Senate of many diuers persons for to solicite the affayres of their Prouinces yet notwithstanding this villaine spake before the others for two causes The one for the men were desirous to heare what so monstrous a man would say The other because the Senators had this custome that the complaints of the poore should bee heard before the requests of the rich Wherefore this villaine afterwards in the middest of the Senate beganne to tell
the diligence which the Iudges vsed towards the Senat to the end they might giue them offices the selfe same ought the Senate to haue to seeke vertuous men to commit such charge into their hands For the office of iustice ought to be giuen not to him which procureth it but to him that best deserueth it In the yeare of the foundation of Rome 642. yeares the Romane people had many warres throughout all the world That is to say Caius Celius against those of Thrace Gneus Gardon his brother against the Sardes Iunius Scilla against the Cimbres Minutius Rufus against the Daces Seruilius Scipio against the Macedonians and Marius Consull against Iugurtha King of the Numedians and amongst all these the warre of the Numidians was the most renowmed and also perillous For if Rome had many Armies against Iugurtha to conquer him Iugurtha had in Rome good friends which did fauour him King Boco at that time was king of the Mauritans who was Iugurthas friend in the end hee was afterwards the occasion that Iugurtha was ouerthrowne and that Marius tooke him These two Kings Marius the Consull brought to Rome and triumphed of them leading them before his triumphant chariot their neckes loaden with yrons their eyes full of teares The which vnlucky fortune al the Romaines which behelde lamented and tooke great pitie of the strangers whō they heard The night after the triumph was ended it was decreede in the Senate that Iugurtha should bee beheaded leauing king Boco aliue depriued of his Country And the occasion thereof was this The Romaines had a custom of long time to put no man to execution before that first with great diligēce they had looked the ancient bookes to see if any of their predecessors had done any notable seruice to Rome whereby the poore prisoner might deserue his pardon It was found written in a booke which was in the high Capitoll that the Grandfather of King Boco was very sage and a speciall friend to the Romane people and that once hee came to Rome and made diuers orations to the Senate and amongst other notable sentences there was found in that book that he had spoken these words Woe be to that realme where all are such that neyther the good amongst the euill nor the euil amongst the good are known Woe vpon that realme which is the entertainer of all fooles and a destroyer of all Sages Woe is that Realme where the good are fearefull and the euill too bold Wo on that realme where the patient are despised and the seditious commended Wo on that Realm which destroyeth those which watch for the good and crowneth those that watch to doe euill Woe to that realme where the poore are suffered to bee proud and the rich tirants Wo to that realme where all know the euil and no man doth follow the good woe to that realme where so many euill vices are openly committed which in another countrie dare not secrrtly bee mentioned Wo to that realm where all procure that they desire where all attaine to that they procure where all thinke that this is euill where al speake that they thinke and finally where all may doe that which they will In such and so vnfortunate a realm where the people are too wicked let euery man beware hee bee not inhabitant For in short time they shall see vpon him eyther the yre of the Gods the fury of the men the depoputation of the good or the desolation of the Tirants Diuers other notable thinges were contained in those Orations the which are not at this present touching my letter But forasmuch as we thought it was a very iust thing that they should pardon the folly of the Nephew for the deserts of the wise grandfather Thou shalt reade this my letter openly to the Pretours and Iudges which are resident there and the case shall bee that when thou shalt reade it thou shalt admonish them that if they will not amend secretly wee will punish them openly I wrote vnto thee the last day that as touching thy banishment I would be thy friend and be thou assured that for to enioy thy old friendshipp and to performe my word I will not let to danger my person I write vnto Panutius my Secretary to succour thee with two thousand Sesterses wherewith thou mayest releeue thy pouerty and from hence I send thee my letter wherewith thou mayest comfort thy sorrowfull hear I say no more to thee in this case but that thorough the Gods thou mayest haue contentation of all that thou enioyest health of thy person and comfort of thy friends the bodily euils the cruell enemies the perillous destenies bee farre from me Marke In the behalfe of thy Wife Rufa I haue saluted my wise Faustine shee and I both haue receyued with ioy thy salutations and with thankes wee sent them you againe I desire to see thy person here in Italy and wish my feuer quartens there with thee in Scicilie CHAP. XII An exhortation of the Author to Princes and Noble men to embrace peace and to eschew the occasions of warre OCtauian Augustus second Emperour of Rome is commended of all for that hee was so good of his person and so wel beloued of all the Romane Empire Suetonius Tranquillus sayth that when any man dyed in Rome in his time they gaue great thanks to the Gods for that they tooke their life from them before their Prince knew what death meant And not contented onelie with this but in their Testaments they commaunded their heires and children that yearely they should offer great sacrifices of their proper goods in all the Temples of Rome to the end the Gods shold prolong the dayes of their Prince That time indeed might bee called the golden age and the blessed land where the Prince loued so well his subiects and the subiects so much obeyed their prince for seldome times it hapneth that one will be content with the seruices of all neyther that all will bee satisfied with the gouernement of one The Romans for none other cause wished for the good Prince more then for themselues life out because he kept the commonwealth in peace The vertue of this Prince deserued much prayse and the good will of the people merited no lesse commendation he for deseruing it to them they for giuing it to him for to say the truth there are few in number that so heartily loue others that for theyr sakes will hate themselues There is no man so humble but in things of honour wil be content to goe before saue only in death where he can be content to come behinde And this seemeth to bee very cleare in that that now dyeth the father now the mother now the husband now the wife now the sonne now his neighbour in the end euery man is content with the death of an other so that he with his owne life may escape himselfe A Prince which is gentle patient stout sober honest and
true truly hee of right ought to be commended but aboue all more then all the Prince which keepeth his Common wealth in peace hath great wrong if hee not of all beloued What good can the Common wealth haue wherin there is warre and dissention Let euerie man say what he will without peace no man can enioy his owne no man can eate without feare no man sleepeth in good rest no man goeth safe by the way no mā trusteth his neighbour Finally I say that where there is no peace there wee are threatened dayly with death and euery houre in feare of our life It is good the Prince do scoure the realme of theeues for there is nothing more vniust thē that which the poor with toile and labour get should with vagabonds in idlenes be wasted It is good the Prince doe weed the realme of blasphemers for it is an euident token that those that dare blaspheme the king of heauen will not let to speake euill of the princes of the earth It is good the prince do cleare the common wealth of vagabonds players for play is so euill a mothe that it eateth the new gown and consumeth the drie wood It is good that the Prince doe forbidde his subiects of prodigall banquets superfluous apparrell for where men spend much in things superfluous it chanceth afterwards that they want of their necessaries But I aske now What auayleth it a Prince to banish all vices from his Common-wealth if otherwise he keepeth it in warre The only ende why Princes are Princes is to follow the good and to eschew the euill What shall you say therefore since that in the time of warres Princes cannot reforme vices nor correct the vicious Oh if Princes and Noble men knew what damage they doe to their countreyes the day that they take vppon them warre I thinke and also affirme that they would not onely not begin it nor yet anie priuate person durste scarely remember it And hee that doth counsell the Prince the contrary ought by reason to bee iudged to the Common-wealth an enemie Those which counsel Princes to seeke peace and to keepe peace without all doubt they haue wrong if they be not heard if they be loued and if they be not credited For the counsellour which for a light ocasion counselleth his Prince to beginne warre I say vnto him eyther choler surmounteth or else good Conscience wanteth It chaunceth often times that the prince is vexed and troubled because one certifieth him that a prouince is rebelled or some other prince hath inuaded his countrey and as the matter requireth the Councell is assembled There are some too rashe counsellours which immediately iudge peace to bee broken as lightly as others doe desire that Warres should neuer beginne When a Prince in such a case asketh counsell they ought forthwith not to aunswere him suddenly For things concerning the Warres ought with great wisedome first to be considered and then with as much aduisement to be determined King Dauid neuer tooke any warre in hand though he were very wise but first hee counselled with GOD The good Iudas Machabeus neuer entred into Battell but first hee made his prayer vnto Almightie GOD. The Greekes and Romanes durst neuer make warre against their enemies but first they would do sacrifice to the Gods and consulte also with their Oracles The matters of Iustice the recreations of his person the reward of the good the punishment of the euill and the diuiding of rewards a Prince may communicate with any priuate man but all matters of Warre hee ought first to counsell with GOD For the Prince shall neuer haue perfect victorie ouer his Enemyes vnlesse hee first committe the quarrell thereof vnto GOD. Those which counsell Princes whether it be in matters of warre or in the affaires of peace ought alwaies to remember this Sentence That they giue him such counsells alwayes when hee is alone in his Chamber as they would doe if they saw him at the poynt of death very sicke For at that instant no man dare speake with Flattery nor burden his conscience with bryberie When they entreate of warre they which moue it ought first to consider that if it came not well to passe all the blame will be imputed to their counsell And if that his substaunce bee not presently able to recompence the losse let him assure himselfe that here after his soule shall suffer the paine Men ought so much to loue peace and so much to abhorre warre that I belieue that the same preparation that a Priest hath in his Conscience with GOD before hee presume to receiue the holy Communion euen the same ought a counsellour to haue before that vnto his Prince hee giueth counsell concerning warre Since princes are men it is no maruell though they feele iniuties as men and that they desire to reuenge as men Therefore for this cause they ought to haue wise men of their counsell whereby they should mittigate and asswage theyr griefes and troubles For the Counsellours of Princes ought neuer to counsell thing they beeing angrie wherwith after they may iustly be displeased when they be pacified Following our matter in counting the goods which are lost in loosing peace and the euils which increase in winning warres I say that amongst other things the greatest euill is that in time of Warre they locke vp closely all vertues and set at libertie all vices During the time that Princes and great Lords maintaine warre though they bee Lordes of their Realmes and dominions by right yet for a trueth they are not to indeede For at that time the Lordes desire more to content their Souldiours and subiects then the Souldyers and subiects seeke to content the Lords And this they doe because they through power might vanquish their enemies and further through the loue of their money relieue their necessities Eyther Princes are gouerned by that wherevnto by sensualitie they are moued or else by that wherewith reason is contented If they will follow reason they haue too much of that they possesse but if they desire to follow the sensuall appetite there is nothing that will content them For as it is vnpossible to drie vp all the water in the Sea so it is harde to satisfie the heart of man that is giuen to couetousnes If Princes take vpon them warres saying that their right is taken from them and that therefore they haue a conscience Let them beware that such conscience bee not corrupted For in the worlde there is no Warre iustified but for the beginning thereof the Princes at one time or an other haue their Consciences burdened If Princes take vpon them Warre for none other cause but to augment their state and dignitie I say that this is a vaine hope For they consume and lose for the moste part more in one or two yeares warres then euer they get againe during their life If Princes take vpon them Warre to reuenge an iniurie as well
for this also it is a thing superfluous For manie goe to the warres being wronged onely with one thing and afterwards they returne iniuried with manie If Princes take vpon them Warres for none other cause but to winne honour me thinketh also that that is an vnprofitable conquest For me thinketh that Fortune is not a person so famous that into her hands a man may commit his honour his goods and his life If Princes take vpon them warre to leaue of them in the worlde to come some memorie this no lesse them the other seemeth to me vaine For without doubt if we examine the hystories that be past we shall finde those to be more in number which haue bin defamed then those which for vanquishing of their enemyes haue bin renowmed It Princes take vpon them warres supposing that there are in an other countrey more pleasures and delights then in their owne I say that to thinke this proceedeth of little experience and of lesse conscience For to a Prince there can bee no greater shame nor conscience then to beginne warres in straunge Realmes to maintaine his owne pleasures and vices at home Let no Princes deceyue themselues in thinking that there are in straunge Countries more things then in their owne For in the end there is no Land nor nation in the world where there is not Winter and Summer night and day sicknesse and health riches and pouerty mirth and sadnesse friends and enemies vitious and vertuous aliue and dead Finally I say that in all parts all things agree in one saue onely the dispositions of men which are diuers I would aske Princes and great Lords the which doe and will liue at theyr pleasure what they want in theyr Realmes yea though they bee little If they will hunt they haue mountaines and Parkes if they will fish they haue pondes if they will walke they haue riuers if they will refresh themselues they haue baynes if they will bee merry they haue Musitians if they delight in apparrelling them selues they haue rich clothes if they will giue they haue money if they desire women they haue wiues if they will take their rest they haue their Gardens if Winter annoye them they haue hote Countries if they will eate they want no meats Hee that with peace hath all these things in his owne Dominion why then with warre doe hee seeke them in a strange Country Men oftentimes flye from one Countrey to another not to be more deuoute nor more vertuous but to haue greater liberty and oportunitie to haunt vices And afterwards when they see the endes of their deeds they cannot refrayne their hearts from sighes since they might haue enioyed that at home with peace which in straunge Countries they sought with troubles There are so few thinges wherewith we are contented in the world that if perchaunce a man finde in any one place any one thing wherewith to content him Let him beware that the Diuell doe not deceiue him saying That in such another place he may receate himselfe better For whether soeuer wee goe wee shall finde such penurie and want of true pleasures and comforts and such plenty and copious aboundance of troubles and torments that for to comfort vs in an hundred yeares wee scarcely finde one and to torment vs wee finde at euery foot a thousand CHAP. XIII The Author reciteth the commodities which come of peace declaring how diuers Princes vpon light occasions haue made cruell warres Dimo an ancient king of Ponto sayd vnto a Philosopher that was withhim Tel me Philosopher I haue health I haue honour and I haue riches Is there any thing more to bee desired amongst men or to bee giuen of the Gods in this life The Philosopher aunswered him I see that I neuer saw and I heare that I neuer heard For health riches and honour the Gods seldome times doe thrust in one person his time is so short that dooth possesse them that they haue more reason for to pray that they might bee quieted of them then for to bee proude for that they possesse them And I tell thee further King Dimo It little profiteth that the Gods haue giuen thee all these thinges if thou dooest not content thy selfe therewith the which I thinke they haue not giuen thee nor neuer will giuen thee For the Gods are so iust in diuiding their gifts that to them to whom they giue contentation they take from them their riches and those whom they giue riches they take their contentation Plutarch in the first of his pollitikes putteth this example and hee declareth not the name of this Philosopher O how great a benefit is that which the Gods giue to Princes and great Lords in giuing them their health in giuing them riches and in giuing them honour but if besides those hee giueth them not contentation I say that in giuing them the goods he giueth them trauell and danger for if the trauell of the poore be greater then the trauell of the rich without comparison the discontentation of the rich is greater then the discontentation of the poore Men little regarding their health become sicke little esteeming theyr riches become poore and because they know not what honour is they become dishonoured I meane that the rash Princes vntill such time as they haue bin well beaten in the wars will alwayes little regard peace The day that you Princes proclaime wars against your enemies you set at liberty all vices to your subiects Yet you say your meaning is not they should bee euill I say it is true Yet all this ioyned together ye giue them occasiō that they be not good Let vs know what thing warre is and then wee shall see whether it bee good or euill to follow it In warres they doe nought else but kill men robbe the Temples spoyle the people destroy the Innocents giue liberty to theeues separate friends and rayse strife all the which things cannot bee done without great hurt of iustice and scrupulosity of conscience The seditious man himselfe cannot denie vs that if two Princes take vpon them warres betweene them that both of them seeme for to haue right yet the one of them onely hath reason So that the Prince which shall fight against Iustice or defende the vniust cause shall not escape out of that warre iustified Not issuing out-iustified hee shall remaine condemned and the condemnation shall bee that all the losses murthers burnings hangings and robberies which were done in the one or other common-wealth shal remaine vpon the account of him which took vpon him the vniust warre Although he doth not find another Prince that will demand an account of him heere in this life yet hee shall haue a iust Iudge that will in another place lay it to his charge The Prince which is vertuous presumeth to bee a Christian before he beginne the warre ought for to consider what losse or profite will ensue thereof Wherein if the end be not
prosperous he loseth his goodes and honour and if he perchauce attaine to that he desired peraduenture his desire was to the damage of the Common-Wealth and then hee ought not to desire it For the desire of one should not hurt the profite of all When God our Lord did create Princes for Princes and people accepted them for their Lordes It is to beleeue that the Gods did neuer commaund such things nor the men would euer haue excepted such if they had thought that Princes wold not haue done that they were bound but rather that whereunto they were inclined For if men follow that wherunto their sensuality enclineth them they alwayes erre therfore if they suffer themselus to be gouerned by reasō they are alwayes sure And besides that Princes shold not take vpon thē warres for the burdening of their consciences the mis-spending of theyr goods and the losse of their honour they ought also to remember the duties that they owe to the Common-wealth the which they are bound to keepe in peace and iustice For wee others need not gouernours to search vs enemyes but good Princes which may defend vs from the wicked The diuine Plato in his 4. booke De Legibus sayth that one demaunded him why hee did exalt the Lydians so much and so much dispraise the Lacedemonians c Plato aunswered If I commend the Lydians it is for that they neuer were occupyed but in tylling the Fielde and if I doe reproue here the Lacedemonians it is because they neuer knew nothing else but to conquere realmes And therfore I say that more happy is that realme where men haue their hands with labouring full of blysters then where their arms in fighting are wounded with Swordes These words which Plato spake are very true and would to GOD that in the gates harts of Princes they were written Plinius in an Epistle sayeth that it was a Prouerbe much vsed amongst the Greekes That hee was king which neuer saw king The like may we say that he onely may enioy peace which neuer knewe what warres meant For simple and innocent though a man bee there is none but will iudge him more happy which occupieth his hand kerchiefe to drye the sweate off his browes then he that breaketh it to wipe the bloud off his head The Princes and great Lords which are louers of warres ought to consider that they doe not only hurt in generall all men but also especially the good and the reason is that although they of their owne wills doe abstaine from Battell doe not spoyle doe not rebell nor slay yet it is necessary for them to endure the iniuryes and to suffer their owne losse and damages For none are meete for the warre but those which little esteeme theyr life and much lesse their consciences If the warre were only with the euill against the euill and to the hurte and hinderance of the euill little should they feele which presume to be good But I am sorrie the good are persecuted the good are robbed and the good are slaine For if it were otherwise as I haue saide the euill against the euill we would take little thought both for the vanquishing of the one and much lesse for the destruction of the other I aske nowe what fame what honour what glorie what victorie or what Riches in that warre can be wonne wherin so many good vertuous and wise men are lost There is such penurie of the good in the world and such neede of them in the common-wealth that if it were in our power we with our tears ought to plucke them out of their graues and giue them life and not to leade them into the Warres as to a shambles to be put to death Plinie in one Epistle and Seneca in another say that when they desired a Romaine Captaine that with his armey he should enter into a great danger whereof great honour should ensue vnto him and little profite to the Commonwealth He made answere For nothing would I enter into that daunger if it were not to giue life to a Romane Citizen For I desire rather to goe enuironned with the good in Rome then to goe loaden with treasures into my Countrey Comparing Prince to Prince and law to law and the Christan with the Pagan without comparison the soule of a Christian ought more to be esteemed thē the life of a Romane For the good Romane obserueth it as a law to dye in the warre but the good christian hath the precept to liue in peace Snetonius Tranquillus in the second Booke of Caesars sayeth That among all the Romane Princes there was no Prince so well beloued nor yet in the warres so fortunate as Augustus was And the reason hereof is because that Prince neuer beganne any war vnles by great occasion he was thereunto prouoked O of how manie princes not Ethnicks but Christians we haue heard and read all contrary to this which is that were of such large conscience that they neuer took vpon them any warre that was iust to whom I swear and promise that since the warre which they in this worlde beganne was vniust the punishment which in another they shall haue is most righteous Xerxes King of the Persians being one day at dinner one brought vnto him verie faire and sauourie figges of the prouince of Athens the which beeing set at the table hee sware by the immortall Gods and by the bones of his predecessors that hee would neuer eate figges of his Countrey but of Athens which were the best of all Greece And that which by words of mouth king Xerxes sweare by valiant deedes with force and shield hee accomplished and went forthwith to conquer Grecia for no other cause but for to fill himselfe with the figges of that Countrey so that hee beganne that warre not only as a light prince but also as a vitious man Titus Liuius sayeth that when the French men did taste of the wine of Italy immediately they put them selues in Armes and went to conquer the Country without hauing any other occasion to make warre against them So that the Frenchmen for the licoriousnesse of the pleasant wines lost the deare bloud of their owne hearts King Antigonus dreamed one night that hee saw King Methridates with a Sithe in his hand who like a Mower did cut all Italy And there fell such feare to Antigonus that hee determined to kill King Methridates so that this wicked prince for crediting a light dreame set all the world in an vprore The Lumbardes being in Pannonia heard say that there was in Italy sweet fruits sauourie flesh odorifetous Wines faire Women good Fish little colde and temperate heate the which newes moued them not onely to desire them but also they tooke weapons to goe conquer Italie So that the Lumbardes came not into Italy to reuenge them of their enemies but to bee there more vicious and riotous The Romanes and the Carthagenians were friendes of long time but after they
from Enemyes it is but meete and reasonable they finde me and my Seruāts For that they say I suffer me not to be entreated it is true For daily and hourely they aske mee so many vniust and vnreasonable things that for them and for mee it is better to denye them then for to graunt them For that they say that I am not conuersant with any I confesse it is true for euer when they come into my Pallace it is not so much to doe mee seruice as to aske some particular thing for their profite For that they say I am not pittifull among the miserable and will not heare the Widdowes and Orphanes in no wise to that I will agree For I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that my gates were neuer shut to Widdowes and Orphanes Pulto in the life of the Emperour Claudius sayth that once a poore widdow came before Claudius the Emperour with weeping eyes to desire him of iustice The good Prince being moued with compassion did not onely weepe as shee but with his owne hands dried her teares And as there was about the Emperour many Noble Romaines one amongst them saide thus vnto him The authority grauitie of Romaine Princes to heare their Subiects in iustice sufficeth onely though they drye not the teares of theyr faces This Emperour Claudius aunswered Good Princes ought not to bee contented to doe no more then iust ludges but in doing iustice a man must know that they are pittiful For oftentimes those which come before Princes doe returne more contented with the loue they shewe them then with the Iustice they minister vnto them And further he saide For as much as you say That it is of small authority also of lesse grauitie that a Prince doe weepe with a widdowe and with his hands wipe her eyes I aunswere thee that I desire rather to bee partaker of the griefes with my Subiectes then to giue them occasion to haue their eyes full of teares Certainely these wordes are worthie to bee noted and no lesse followed Admit that clemencie in all things deserueth to bee praised yet much more ought it to be cōmended when it is executed on women And if generally in all much more in those which are voyde of health and comfort For Women are quickly troubled and with greater difficultie comforted Plutarche and Quintus Curtius say that good entertainment which Alexander the great shewed vnto the wise and children of king Darius after hee was vtterly vanquished exalted his clemencie in such sort that they gaue rather more glorie to Alexander for the pittie and honesty which hee vsed with the children then for the victorie he had of the Father And when the vnhappie King Darius knewe the clemencie and pittie which the good King Alexander vsed towards his wife and his children hee sent vnto him his Embassadors to the ende that on his behalfe they should thanke him for that that is past and should desire him that hee would so continue in time to come Saying that it might chaunce that the Gods and Fortune would mittigate theyr wrath against him Alexander aunswered vnto the Embassadours these wordes Yee shall say in my behalfe to your king Darius that hee giue mee no thankes for the good and pittifull worke which I haue shewed or done to his captiue Women since hee is certaine I did it not for that hee was my friend and that I would not cease to doe it for that he is mine enemie But I haue done it for that a gentle Prince is bound to doe in this case For I ought to employe my clemencie vnto Women which can doe nought but weepe and my puissant power Princes shall feele which can doe nought else but wage battell c. Truely those wordes were worthie of such a Prince Manie haue enuie at the surname of Alexander which is great And he is called Alexander the great because if his heart was great in the enterprises hee tooke vppon him his courage was much more greater in Citties and Realmes which he gaue Manie haue enuie at the renowme which they giue Pompeyus because they call him great for this excellent Romaine made himselfe conquerour of xxii Realmes and in times past hath bin accompanyed with xxv Kings Manie haue enuie at the renowme of Scipto the Africane because hee ouercame and conquered the great and renowmed cittie of Carthage the which citty in riches was greater then Rome in Armes and power it surmounted all Europe Many haue enuie at Scipio the Asian who was called Asian because he subdued the prowd Asia the which vntill his time was not but as a church-yarde of Romaines Many haue great enuie at the immortall name of Charles the great because being as he was a little king he did not only vanquish and triumph ouer many Kings and Realms but also forsooke the royall Sea of his owne Realme I doe not maruell that the prowde Princes haue enuie against the vertuous and valiant Princes but if I were as they I would haue more Enuie at the renowm of Anthoninus the Emperour then of the name and renowme of all the Princes in the worlde If other Princes haue attained such prowd names it hath bin for that they robbed many Countreys spoyled many Temples cōmitted much tiranny dissembled with many Tyrants pesecuted diuers Innocents and because they haue takē from diuers good men not onely their goods but also theyr liues For the world hath such an euill propertie that to exalte the name of one onely he putteth downe 500. Neyther in such enterprises nor yet with such Titles wanne the Emperour Anthoninus Pius his good name and renowme But if they call him Authoninus the pittifull it is because hee knewe not but to bee the Father of Orphanes and was not praysed but because hee was the onely Aduocate of Widdowes Of this most excellent Prince is read that he himselfe did heare and iudge the complaints and proces in Rome of the Orphanes And for the poore and Widdowes the gates of his Pallace were alwayes open So that the porters which hee kept within his Pallace were not for to let the Entrie of the poore but for to let and keepe backe the rich The Hystoriographers oftentimes say that this good Prince sayde That the good and vertuous Princes ought alwayes to haue theyr Hearts open for the poore and to remedie the Widdowes and Father-lesse and neuer to shutte their Gates against them The God Apollo sayeth that the Prince which will not speedily iudge the causes of the poore the Gods will neuer permit that hee be well obeyed of the rich O high and worthie wordes that it pleased not the God Apollo but our Liuing GOD that they were written in the hearts of Noble Princes For nothing can be more vniust or dishonest then that in the pallaces of Princes and great Lordes the rich and the fooles should be dispatched and the Widdowes and Orphanes friendes should haue no audience Oh happie
liues thenceforth When I Imprinted the Diall of Princes together with Marcus Aurelius and brought them to light I wanted not backbiters and detractors that beganne forthwith to teare me in pieces neyther shall I want at this present as I beleeue such as will not spare with venemous tongues to poyson my worke But like as then I little wayed their slaunderous speeches of me euen so much lesse do I now force what they can say against mee being assured they shall finde in the end they haue ill spoken of mee and my poore workes proceeding from them rather of a certaine enuie that gnaweth their heart then of any default they finde in my doctrine comforting my selfe yet in the assurance I haue that all their spight shall one day haue an end and my workes shall euer be found good and perdurable The end of the Argument THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE DYALL OF PRINCES COMPILED BY THE LORD ANTHONY Gueuara Bishop of Mondogueto CHAP. I. That it is more necessary for the Courtier abiding in Court to be of liuely spirite and audacity then it is for the Souldier that goeth to serue in the warres PLutarch Plinie and Titus Liutus declare that King Agiges one day requested the Oracle of Apollo to tell him who was the happiest man in the world to whom answere was made that it was a man they called Aglaon beknowne of the Gods and vnknowne of men This King Agiges making then search for this man through all Greece who was called Aglaon found at length that it was a poor Gardner dwelling in Archadia who being of the age of threescore and two yeares neuer went aboue a mile from his house keeping himselfe and his family continually with his onely labour and tillage of his Garden Now albeit there were in the world of better parentage and linage then he better accompanied of seruants and tenants better prouided of goods and riches higher in dignity and of greater authority then he yet for all this was this Aglaon the happiest of the world And this was for that he neuer haunted princes Courts neyther by enuy to bee ouerthrowne nor yet by auarice to be ouercome For many times it chanceth to men that when they would least giue themselues to acquaintance then come they most to bee knowne and when they make least account of themselues then cometh there an occasion to make thē to be most reputed of For they winne more honor that despise these goods honours and riches of this world then those do that continually gape and seeke after the same And therefore we should more enuy Aglaon with his little garden then Alexander the Great with his mighty Asia For true contentation consisteth not in hauing aboundance but in being contented with that little hee hath It is a mockery and worthily hee deserueth to be laughed at that thinketh contentation lyeth in hauing much or in being of great authoritie for such wayes are readier to make vs stumble yea and many times to fall down right then safely to assure vs to go on our way The punishment that God gaue to Cain for murdering of his brother Abel was that his body continually trembled and he euer after wandred thorough the world so that he neuer found where he might enhabite nor house where he might harbour And albeit this malediction of Cain was the first that euer God ordained I durst affirme notwithstanding that it remayneth as yet vntill this present day amongst Courtiers sith wee see them dayly trauell and runne into strange Countries dayly changing and seeking new lodgings Which maketh me once again to say that Aglaon was counted happy and for that onely hee neuer romed farre from his house For to say truly there is no misery comparable to that of the Courtier that is bound dayly to lye in others houses hauing none of his owne to goe to And he onely may bee called happy that putteth not himselfe in danger to serue others Iulius Caesar beeing counselled to wayre vpon the Consull Sylla to the end that by seruing or being about him hee might doe himselfe greate good and it might bee very profitable to him answered thus I sweare by the immortall Gods I will neuer serue any in hope to be more worth greater then I am For this I am sure of that where Liberty is exiled there might nor power can preuaile He that forsaketh his owne Countrey where he liued at ease in health and the place where hee was knowne and beloued the neighbours of whom hee was visited the friends of whome hee was serued the parents of whome hee was honoured the goods wherewith he maintained himselfe his wife and children of whom he had a thousand pleasures and consolations and that commeth to serue and dye in the Court I cannot say otherwise of him but that he is a very foole or that hee commeth to doe penance for some notable crime hee hath committed And therefore not without great cause was this name of Courte which in our tong signifieth short adhibited to the pallace of Princes where indeed all things are short only enuy and malice excepted which continue long He onely desireth to be a Courtier that as yet hath not tasted the sweetnesse and pleasure of his owne house nor hath yet proued and seene the troubles and pains of the Court For hee that knoweth them figheth when he is called to the Court and weepeth when he is kept long there I haue studyed in times past in the Vniuersities preached in the Courts praying in Religion and now I dwel vpon my Bishopricke teaching and instructing my Diocesians but I dare say of all these foure states recited there is none so streight and painfull as is to follow the Court. If I studyed at the Vniuersity I did it of free will to bee wiser but onely in the Court I spent my time to be more worth then I was But the greatest time I consumed in Religion was to say my prayers and to bewayle my grieuous sinnes In the Court I onely gaue my selfe to suspect my neighbour and inuented to build great Castels of wind with thought in the ayre And therefore I returne once again to say that it is a greater trouble and vexation for to become a Courtier then to bee a religious person For in religion it sufficeth to obey one but in the Court hee must serue all And in religion also they are apparrelled with lesse cost and charges and to the greater contentation of the person then they are in the Court. For a poore Gentleman Courtier is bound to haue more change and sutes of apparrell then the falcon feathers The religious persons goe alwayes to dinner and finde their meate on the Table ready prepared for them without any thought taken of their part what they shall haue but fine Courtiers many times rise out of their bed without euer a penny in their purse And albeit religious persons all their life take great paines in
passioned in casting his seruice in the Princes teeth saying All others haue been recompenced saue onely him whom the Prince hath cleane forgotten For Princes will not that wee onely serue them but that we also at their willes and pleasures tarry for recompence and not to haue it when wee gape or are importune for it Howbeit it is lawfull notwithstanding humbly and lowly without choler or passion to put the Prince in remembrance of all that wee haue done for him and of the long time we haue spent in seruing him Also the curious Courtier shall not shew himselfe to dislike at all of the Prince neyther by heaping of many words to induce him to hear him with the better good will For mens hearts are so prone to ill that for one onely vnpleasant or ouerthwart word spoken to them they lightly forget a thousand seruices done them Socrates being one day demanded what hee thought of the Princes of Greece answered There is no other difference betweene the names and propeties of the gods that of princes but that the gods were immortall and these mortall For these mortall princes vse in a manner the like authoritie heere in earth that the Gods immortall do in Heauen aboue Saying further also that I alwaies was am and will bee of that minde that my mother Greece remain a common weale But since it is determined to bee gouerned by princely Monarchy I wish them in al and for al to acknowledge their obedience and allegiance to their King and Soueraigne For when they would otherwise vse it they may bee assured they shall not onely goe against mortal Princes but also against the eternall God Suetonius Tranqutllus sayth that Titus the Emperour being aduertised that the Consuls would kill him and vsurpe his Empire aunswered thus wisely Euen as without the diuine will and prouidence I could neuer haue possessed the Emperiall Crowne so without their permission sufferāce it lyeth in no mans power to depraue mee of it For to vs men it pertayneth onely to keepe the Emperiall iurisdiction and to the gods alone to giue and defend it Which wee haue spoken to the end no man presume to be reuenged of his Prince neyther in word nor deede for to speake ill of him wee should rather purchase vs their high indignation and displeasure then procure vs any cause or suggestion to be reuenged of him Let the good Courtier bee also aduised that in talking with the Prince he bee not too obstinate to contende with the Prince or any other in the Princes presence For this name of arrogant and selfe willed becommeth not the person of a wise Courtier For we know that in sport and argument euery man desireth to ouercome how trifling soeuer the matter bee And therefore wee reade in the Life of the Emperour Seuerus that Publius the Consull iested one day with Fabritius his Companion and tolde him he was in loue Whom Fabritius answered I do doe confesse it is a fault to bee in loue but yet it is a greater faulte for thee to bee so obstinate as thou art for loue proceedeth of wit and discretion but obstinacy commeth of folly and great ignorance If perchance the King aske the Courtiers opinion in those matters they discoursed if he know his opinion to agree with the Princes Let him therfore tell it him hardly but if it be contrary let him holde his peace not contend against him framing som honest excuse to conceale his opinion But if perhaps the King were obstinate and bent to his opinion in any thing and that through his selfe will and obstinacie he would do any thing vnreasonable or preiudiciall to his Common-wealth and that great detriment might come thereby yet for all this in such case the Beloued Courtier should not at that instant be too plain with him to let him vnderstand his error neyther yet should hee suffer him altogether to passe his way vntouched but in some fine manner and proper words as may become the place best to giue him to vnderstand the truth But to vse it with more discretion hee shall not need before them all to open his whole mind but to keepe his opinion secret expecting a more apter time when the King shall be apart in his Priuie Chamber and then franckely to tell him his whole minde with all humility and reuerence and to shew him the plaine truth without keeping any one thing from his knowledge For otherwise in telling the King openly he should make him ashamed and in dissembling his faulte also priuily he should not be admonished of his error committed Now therefore let our conclusion bee that the Courtier that proceeds in his matters rather with opinion obstinacy then discretion and iudgement shall neuer be in fauour with the Prince nor yet beloued in the Court For it is as necessary for the Courtier that will seeke the fauour of the Prince and loue of the Court to impose his tongue to silence as it is to dispose his body to all manner of seruice I know there are some such rash vndiscreet and arrogant fooles that as much do boast and reioyce to haue spoken vndiscreetly to the King and without respect of his princely Maiesty as if they had done some maruellous thankefull seruice with whome truely no man ought to be greatly offended for such fond bosts and vants as they make and much lesse also with that that happens to them afterward The Courtier also must bee well aduised that albeit the king for his pleasure doe priuilie play with his handes or iest with his tongue with the Courtier and that he take great pleasure in it yet that he in no case presume to doe the like yea thoogh hee were assured the Kings Maiesty would take it well but let him modestly behaue himselfe and shew by his words and countenance that hee thinketh the Prince doth honour him in pleasing his Maiesty to vse those pastimes and pleasant deuises with so vnworthy a person as he is For the Prince may lawfully play and sport himselfe with his Lordes and Gentlemen but so may not they againe with him For so doing they might be counted very fond and light With a mans companions and coequals it is lawfull fot euery man to bee merry and playe with all But with the Prince let no man so hardy once presume further more then to serue honour and obey him So that the wise Courtier must endeauour himselfe alwayes to come in fauour by his wisedome and courtly behauiour in mattsrs of weight and importance and by great modesty and grauity in thinges of sport and pastime Therefore Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayth That Alcibiades amongst the Greekes a worthy Captaine and a man of his owne Nature disposed to much mirth pleasure being asked once by some of his familiar friends why he neuer laughed in Theaters Banquets and other cōmon playes where hee was aunswered them thus Where others eate I faste where others
take paine and play I rest mee and am quiet where others speake I am silent where they laugh I am courteous and iest not For wise men are neuer knowne but among fooles and light persons When the Courtier shall vnderstand or heare tell of pleasant thinges to be laughed at Let him in any case if he can flye from those great laughters and fooleries that hee bee not perhaps moued too much with such toâ—es to laugh too lowde to clappe his hands or to doe other gestures of the bodie or admirations too vehement accompanied either with a rude and barbarous manner of behauiour then with a ciuill and modest noblenesse For ouer great and excessiue laughter was neuer engendred of wisdome neyther shal he euer be counted wise of other that vseth it There are also an other sort of Courtiers that speake so coldly laugh so drily and with so ill a grace that it were more pleasure to see them weep then to laugh Also to nouell or to tell tales to delight others and to make them laugh you must be as briefe as you can that you weary not and comber not the Auditory pleasant and not biting nor odious Else it chanceth oftentimes that wanting any of these conditions from iesting they come many times to good earnest Elius Spartianus in the life of the Emperour Seuerus sayth that the sayd Em-Emperour had in his Court a pleasant foole and hee seeing the foole one day in his dumpes and cogitations asked him what he ayled to be so sadde The foole made answere I am deuising with my selfe what I should doe to make thee merry And I sw are to thee my Lord Seuerus that for as much as I weigh thy life so deare possibly I study more the nights for the tales I shall tell thee in the morrow after then doe the Senators touching that they must decree on the next day And I tell thee further my Lord Seuerus that to bee pleasant and delighting to the Prince hee must neyther be a very foole nor altogether wise But though hee bee a foole yet hee must smatter somewhat of a wiseman and if hee bee wise hee must take a little of the foole for his pleasure And by these examples wee may gather that the Courtier must needs haue a certaine modesty and comely grace as well in speaking as hee must haue a soft sweet voyce in singing There are also some in Court that do not spare to go to Noble mens bords to repast which being in deede the vnseemely grace it selfe yet in theyr wordes and talke at the boorde they would seeme to haue a maruellous good grace wherein they are oft deceyued For if at times the Lordes and gentlemen laugh at them it is not for any pleasure they take in their talke but for the ill grace and vncomely gestures they vse in their talke In the banquets and feasts Courtiers make sometimes in the Summer there are very oft such men in theyr company that if the wine they dranke tooke their condition it should bee drunke eyther colder or hoter then it is CHAP. VI. How the Courtier should behaue himselfe to know and to visite the Noble men and Gentlemen that be great with the Prince and continuing still in Court THe Courtier that commeth newly to the Court to serue there must immediately learne to know those that are in authority and fauour in the Court and that are the Princes Officers For if hee doe otherwise neyther should he be acquainted with any Noble man or Gentleman or any other of the Princes seruants neither would they also giue him place or let him in when he would For wee bee not conuersant with him wee know not and not being conuersant with him we trust him not and distrusting him wee commit no secrets to him So that hee that will come in fauour in the Court must make himselfe knowne and be friend to all in generall And hee must take heede that hee beginne not so suddenly to bee a busie suiter in his owne priuate affayres or for his friend for so hee shall be soone reputed for a busie soliciter rather then a wise Courtier Therefore hee that will purchase fauour and credite in the Court must not bee carefull to preferre mens causes and to entermeddle in many matters For the nature of Princes is rather to commit their affayres into the hands and trust of graue and reposed men then to busie and importunate soliciters The Courtier also may not bee negligent to visite the Prelates Gentlemen and the fauoured of the Court nor to make any difference betweene the one and the other and not onely to visite their parents and friends but his enemies also For the good Courtier ought to endeauour himselfe the best he can to accept al those for his frends at least that he cannot haue for parents and kinsfolkes For amongest good and vertuous Courtiers there should neuer bee such bloudy hate that they should therefore leaue one to company with another and to bee courteous one to another Those that be of base mind doe shew their cankred hearts by forbearing to speake but those that bee of Noble bloud and valiant courage beginne first to fight ere they leaue to speake together For there is also an other sort of Courtiers which beeing sometimes at the Table of Noble men or else where when they heare of some quarrell or priuate displeasure they shew themselues in offer like Lyons but if afterwards their helpe be craued in any thing and that they must needs stand by their friend and draw on his his side then they shew themselues as still as Lambes and gentle inough to bee entreated Amongst other the new come-Courtier hath to be acquainted withall he must learne to know those the Prince fauoureth and loueth best on whome hee must wayte and attende vpon and doe all the seruice he can without grudge and disdaine For there is no King but farre off on him hath an other King that still contrarieth his minde and preuenteth him of his intent and pleasure And euer neere vnto him some whom hee loueth and fauoureth that may dispose of the Prince as hee listeth Plutarch writing to Traian sayde these words I haue O Traian great pitty on thee for the first day thou tookest vpon thee the Imperiall Crowne of the Romane Empire of a free man thou thraldest thy selfe to bondage For onely you other Princes haue authority to giue liberty to al others but neuer to graunt it to your selues saying moreouer that vnder the colour of royall liberty you shall remaine more subiect then your owne subiects that euer obey you For if you command many in their houses also one alone after commaundeth you in your owne Courte Now although many commanded the Prince or that he would follow the counsell but of a few or that hee loued one aboue an other or that hee consented one alone should gouerne him the good Courtier neede not once to open
of him hee is bound to giue it her straight if hee can and though shee frowne vppon him yet hee may not bee angrie with her so that the Courtyer must needes imploy his whole person and goods in seruing of her that hee loues For the Courtyer that is marryed surely it is not fit for him to loue any other woman then his wife neyther is it honest for the woman to be serued with any married courtyer For these manner of loues are to no other ende but for him to be merry with her and for her to get somewhat of him Let the Courtyer be very wise and beware that he doe not loue and serue such a gentlewoman whom he cannot obtaine to his wife For otherwise it should be a great corsiue to his heart and a more shame to see another before his eyes to enioy her and eate of that fruite which hee had now to his great coste and charges made now a fruitfull Orch-yard And if it happen that his Mistresse whom he serueth be nobly borne very fayre of complexion pleasant of condition of good grace and behauiour in her conuersation very wise fine in her doings hee may bee well assured hee shall neuer forget this griefe and sorrow and so much the more if hee did loue her with all his heart and vnfainedly There is great difference between that we lose and that wee haue For if the heart lament for the losse of that wee haue it bewayleth bitterly to lose that wee loue Also the Courtier must be aduised that hee tell not to any that his wife hath told him or any thing that hath passed secretly between thē For women are of such a quality that for any thing they doe they would neuer heare of it againe willingly and those secrets that another commits to them of trust they can neuer keepe them secret There is a Law common between women and their Louers for if they goe abroad their louers must attende vpon their persons and if they buy any thing in the streete as they goe they are bound to pay for it And if they be too late abroad they must prouide them of torches to bring them home with and when the Court remoueth frō place to place theirs is the charge to defray their expences by the way and if any doe them iniury they are bound to reuenge their quarrell If they fall sicke they must doe them a thousand pleasures and seruices if any challenge bee made in Court of tilt turney or barriers they must bee the first and best mounted and armed aboue others if they may possible with all not forgetting their Ladyes colours and deuise offering themselus nobly to performe the challenge giuing them to vnderstand that for their sakes they neyther feare to aduenture their liues nor spare for any charge to doe them all honour and seruice with out doubt wee may speake it truely that hee putteth himselfe to great perill and danger whatsoeuer hee bee that serueth women But when the wise Courtier is now become a seruaunt to any Lade hee must beware in any case hee entertaine or serue any other then his mistresse for if hee did it otherwise hee should raise a mortall hate and discorde betweene these women by reason whereof many slaunders broiles might ensue It is a naturall thing to all women that to hate any man a hundred will come to agree in one opinion but to loue him you shall not finde two of one minde The good Courtier must couet the best he can to be alwayes at the making ready of the King and at meat and that for two causes The one for that hee may be ready to doe him seruice and the other for that at such a time they shall haue an apt time to treate with the Prince in any thing hee will if he haue any occasion of busines with him And when the King is eyther at his meate or that hee bee putting on his apparrell let the good Courtier be circumspect he come not too neere the Table where he sitteth nor that hee touch the Kings apparell he weareth on for no man ought once to presume to bee so hardy to meddle with his meate or his apparrell vnlesse he be Shewer or Chamberlaine And if in this time of repast or making him ready there were present any Iesters or fooles that sayd or did any thing to make them laugh The good Courtier must take heede that hee laugh not too loud as in such cases many are wont to doe For in such a case the Prince would be better pleased at the modesty of the Courtier then at the knauery of the foole The honest Courtier must not haue a foole his friend nor his enemy for to make him his friend hee is too dishonest and to be his enemy hee is too vile and cowardly I wish the Courtier not to bee angry with him what soeuer he doth for many times it happeneth that the friendshippe of a wise man doth not so much benefite or pleasure as the enmity and displeasure of one of these fooles doth hurt And if hee will giue them any thing as he must needes let him beware he giue him not occasion to condemne his conscience and that hee stoppe their mouthes For the Courtier that is Christian shall giue as much more to the poore to pray to God for him as hee shall giue to others to speake well of him to the king When the King sneeses and that the Courtier bee present hee must straight put off his cappe and bowe himselfe in a manner to the ground but for all that hee must take heed he say not Christ helpe you or God blesse you or such other like For to doe any maner of courtesie or honor is pertinent onely to Courtiers But to say Christ helpe or God blesse you is the Country manner And if the King by chance should haue any hayre or feather to flye vppon his clothes or any other filthy thing about him none but the chamberlaine onely should take it away and none other Courtier should once presume to take any thing from his backe or to touch his garment neyther any other person vnlesse it were in case to defend him When the king is set at the table the Courtier may not come into the Kitchen nor much lesse leane vpon the surueying boorde For though hee did it perhaps but to see the order of the suruey and seruice of the Prince yet it may bee suspected of some hee meant worser matter and and thereby they should iudge ill of him If the Prince haue a felicity in hawking the Courtier must endeauour himselfe to keepe a cast or two of good Falcons and if in hunting then he must haue good Greyhounds And when hee is eyther a hawking or hunting with the King hee must seeke to serue him so diligently that day that he may both find him game to sport with and procure for himselfe also fauour at the Princes hand Many
to punish an iniurious word then to seeme to laugh at it For it is a thing more naturall and proper to women then men to desire to take reuenge of wordes with the like words againe sith the noble heart that esteemeth his honour must not haue his handes in his tongue but his tongue in his hands O how many haue we seene both out of Court and in Court the which for no other respect but to reuenge one onely silly word that touched them not much would put themselus their goods and fame in perill and yet in the end had not that reuenge which they desired but rather redoubled it against themselues in loosing their fond and vaine attempt Therefore to conclude those that will bee great in fauour and estimation in the Princes Court and those also that are now in fauour and credite with the Prince and that desire to continue and perseuer in his fauour still must not make account of any wordes spoken to him or offences done him for all that are in fauour haue neede to suffer and no occasion to report Till this present day I neuer saw any that receiued any hurt or detriment by being patient but being impatient I haue seen numbers cast thēselus away you must also know that in all places where troupes and companies of people be there is alwayes euer discords and diuersities in opinions and iudgements of men So that it happeneth many times in a common-weale yea and it meeteth sometimes in one house that all shal be of one bloud and kinred yet in priuate willes and affections mortall enemyes And therefore sure it is a thing worthy to be noted and no lesse to be wondred at to see the fathers with the sonnes the Vnckles with the nephews the graund-fathers with the children the sonnes in Law with their fathers in Lawe and Brothers with their brothers and sisters the one to be as farre different from the other as white and blacke and as much friends as the dogge and the cat And all this is caused only for that they are rather wedded to a selfe-will and opinion they haues then they are adicted to loue and affect that that nature bindeth them to We see also many young Courtiers that though they be vertuous and Noble hauing inherited and succeeded in Nobilitie of bloud their Ancestors by meanes whereof they are honoured and reuerenced and possessing also the greatnesse and abundance of their goods and riches which makes them wealthy and maintaines them honourably enioying the Noble parentage for which they are regarded hauing many friends and seruants that doe them great seruice and pleasure And all in respect of their Noble Ancestors and yet notwithstanding al these great things wee haue spoken they follow their owne inuentions and imaginations which their Ancestors knowing would haue fled and hate and mislike that they doubtlesse being aliue would haue followed And therefore it is rather a token of lightnesse then of good will for one to leaue to helpe and relieue his owne friends and kinsfolks to succour and doe good to strangers or others whom hee neuer knew nor can tell what they are For I assure you that one of the greatest losses and mishaps that can come to a Noble house is to haue new friendshippe and parciality with strangers and men vnknowne That Gentleman that giueth himselfe to follow such a one as pleaseth his fantasie best and that leaueth to leaue to those whom his Ancestors heretofore both loued and liked shall see those old friends not onely leaue and forsake him but cleane giue him ouer to his will and shortly after shall finde his substance and faculty consume and waste away besides the honour of his house to bee brought to vtter decay and obliuion And this we haue spoken onely to aduise the Princes Officers and such as haue credite and authoritie that they doe not with fauour support and ayde any partiall sect namely that that concerneth the state and body of Common-wealth for the esteemed of the Prince more easily and with lesse occasion doe vndoo themselues and lose the credite they haue wonne by reason of their partialiteis and factions they maintaine then they doe for their daily benefites and suits they importune the Prince in Wherefore the seruants and Officers of the Kings house although they bee in good fauour with the Prince and that it please him to like well of them yet they may not so hardly support any to doe hurt to others and so absolutely as if they were the Lords and Princes themselues For albeit it pleaseth the King to call them to honour and to enrich them with goods and possessions yet the King cannot nor will not like that they shall bee suborners of factions and quarels amongst their subiects in the Common-wealth And yet neuerthelesse it happeneth many times that those that see themselues onely in fauour aboue others will presume to doe violence and wrong to others trusting to their great fauour they are in that that shall suffice to cloke and hide any fault they shall commit which they neuer ought to think nor yet for any respect in the world to doe For such vnhaply might be the crime they doe commit that although it be in the Princes power to doe great things for them yet he could not at that time with his honor excuse their offence nor seeme to protect them in their lewdnesse without great murmour and discontentation of his subiects I know very well that in Court the mindes affections and opinions of Courtiers are so diuers and variable and notwithstanding the beloued of the Prince endeauour himselfe all hee can possible to please and content euery man in Court yet of all impossibilities it is a thing most impossible euer to attaine to it to winne all mens good willes Neuerthelesse hee must so trimly and wisely behaue himselfe in all his doings that those at least whom he cannot with all his pollicy and deuice make his friends haue not yet any iust occasion giuen them to bee his enemies I see there is no meane no reason no deuice nor pollicy of man fauour nor negligence that can defend the honoured and esteemed of Court from detraction and enuy Therefore I will boldly giue him this aduice with him that in matters of Iustice and other publike affayres he beare himselfe so vpright that notwithstadding they repine at his authoritie and credite yet that they haue no cause offered to complayne of him The Courtyer is forced to complaine when his owne familiar companyons and fellow-seruants of the Prince in his matters of contenion or quarrell step between them not to part them but rather to the contrary to contend with them and ioyne in demaund of that they striue for which the luckles Courtyer is very apt to know although hee dares not discouer it For many times he supposeth it lesse euill to suffer the persecution of the enemie then to fall into the disgrace of the beloued and
esteemed about the Prince For the reputed of the Prince commonly thinke they doe much for the Common-weale in bearing and fauouring some and in punishing and persecuting others For those that are of great authoritie professing honour and reputation and that feare shame would rather themselues to be defamed reiected then to see their enemies aduanced or prefered to the fauor of the Prince or of thē that be in fauor with the prince And the beloued or officers of the Prince may not thinke that the fauor they giue to one against an other can bee kept secret and that it cannot come to light for in so doing they are deceiued For in deed there is nothing more manifest or known in the Common-wealth then the doings practises of those that are in fauour and authority yea euen to the very words they speake Those that are agrieued and haue to complaine of some iniury done them or also those that are euen the familiars of the fauoured and that doe but aspire dayly to grow in greater credite with their Prince then others doe not see any thing saide or done to others that are in better credit then themselus be it in eating drinking watching sleeping in play beeing quiet or busie but they suddenly go report it and tell it to som other that is in fauour to enter and to encrease alwayes into greater fauour and trust with them If there happen any discention or enmity amongst the people in the cōmon weale or realme the esteemed of the Court must beware in any case they put not in their hand if they do at all that it be but to pacifie them and to make them good friendes againe and not to discouer thē worse then they were before For if he do otherwise all these quarrels in the end shall cease they being reconciled together and now made perfect friends and to him they wil all shew themselus open enemies And therfore it behoueth the fauored of Princes to behaue themselues so wisely towards them that are at discord and variance together that both the one side and the other should bee glad and well pleased to make him arbitrater between them to decide both their causes without any suspition that they haue of him be it neuer so little of partiality of eyther part The same day that the fauoured of the Court shall take vpon him to beare any priuate affection to any of the Common weale and that hee rather leane to one party or to an other the selfe same day and houre he shall put in great hazard his person and not without great danger to loose his goods together with the fauour and credit of his Prince And the secrete enemies he hath through the enuie they beare him should suffice him yea rather too much by reason of his fauour and credit without seeking anie new enemies for that he saith or doth Such as are great with the Prince and that flye the passions affections and partialities of the Common-weale may be assured they shall bee beloued serued and honoured of all but if they shall doe the contrary they may trust to it likewise that their enemies wil be reuenged of them because they did pursue them And their friends also will complaine of them because they did not fauour their cause as they ought Therfore let not the beloued thinke if he dare beleeue me that by hauing onely the fauour of the person of the Prince it is inough for him to gouerne and rule the whole Realme at his pleasure For although it cannot be denyed that to haue so great a friend as the person of a King it is a great aduantage and commodity and that he may do much yet wee must graunt also that many enemies are able to hurt vs and do vs great iniurie And therefore my aduise should be that euery wise man hauing one friend should beware to haue an other enemy CHAP. XII That the officers and beloued of the court should be very diligent and carefull in dispatch of the affayres of the Prince and Common-wealth and in correcting and reforming the seruants they should also bee very circumspect and aduised SVurely it is a great seruitude trouble to liue in court continually but it is far greater when it is enforced of necessity by reason of sutes and troubles and yet greatest and most intolerable whē they cannot obtain a short and briefe dispatch according to their desire for waying well the manner and conditions of the Court that Suiter may reckon himselfe happily dispatched euery time that he is quickly dispatchd although his dispatch bee not according to his mind And I speake it not without a cause that he may reckon himselfe well dispatched when he hath his answere For without comparison it is lesse ill of both for the poore Suiter that attends on the Court to be presently denyed his Suit then to continue him long with delayes as they they do now a daies the more is the pitty If the poore Suters that goe to the Court did know certainely that the delay made in their Suites were for no other occasion but for to dispatch them well according to their desire although it were not so reasonable yet were it tollerable the paines and trouble that they abide But if the poore miserable and wretched creatures haue great trouble in trauersing the Lawe and abiding their orders obtaining it neuerthelesse in the end with great labour and toyle yea and contrary to their expectation haue they not yet matter ynough trow yee to complaine of yes sure enough to make them despaire Whatsoeuer he be therefore that goeth to the Court to be a Suiter for any matter of import let him determine and thinke with himselfe he shal not obtaine his suite euen as he wold haue it For if he shall feed himselfe with certain promises made in priuat a thing common to Courtiers to promise much and performe nothing with other vaine and foolish thoghts the great hope he shall conceiue of their smokes of Court must needes giue him afterwards occasion to despayre when hee seeth the promise vnperformed The court is a Sea so deep a pilgrimage so incertaine that there wee dayly see nought els but Lambes swim with safety in the deepest chanel and elephants down in the shallowest foord To go sue to serue to trauell to solicite in the Court of Princes may aptly be likened and compared to those that put too many rich iewels to the Lottery in open market in which it happeneth very oft that hee that hath put in a 100. lots shall not happen perhaps of one and an other that only hath but in one fortune shal so fauour him that he shall euer after be made a rich man The like we may say to him that hath liued so long in Court that he hath not onely gotte him a beard but it is also now becom a gray beard and yet in all this long time of his seruice he hath not gotten
wee now at this present doe also aduise them to take heede that they doe not accept and take all that is offered and presented although they may lawfully doe it For if hee be not wise in commaunding and moderate in taking a day might come that hee should see himselfe in such extremity that he should be inforced to call his Friends not to counsell him but rather to helpe and succour him It is true that it is a naturall thing for a Courtyer that hath twenty crowns in his purse to desire suddenly to multiplie it to an 100. from a 100. to 200. from 200. to a 1000. from a thousand to 2000. and from 2000 to an hundred thousand So that this poore wretched creature is so blinded in couetousnes that hee knoweth not nor feeleth not that as this Auarice continually increaseth and augmenteth in him so his life daily diminisheth and decreaseth besides that that euery man mocks and scorns him that thinketh The true contentation consisteth in commanding of Money and in the facultie of possessing much riches For to say truly it is not so but rather disordinate riches troubleth and grieueth the true contentation of men and awaketh in them daily a more appetite of Couetousnes We haue seen many Courtiers rich and beloued but none indeede that euer was contented or wearyed with commaunding but rather his life should faile him then Couetousnes Oh how many haue I seene in the Court whose legges nor feete haue bin able to carry them nor their bodie strong enough to stand alone nor their hands able to write nor their sight hath serued them to see to reade nor their teeth for to speake nor their iawes to eate nor their eares to heare nor their memory to trauell in any suite or matter yet haue not their tongue fayled them to require presents and giftes of the Prince neyther deepe and fine wit to practise in Court for his most auaile and vantage So incurable is the disease and plague of auarice that hee that is sicke of that infirmity can not bee healed neyther with pouerty nor yet bee remedied with riches Since this contagious maladie and apparant daunger is now so commonly knowne and that it is crepte into Courtiers and such as are in high fauour and great authoritie by reason of this vile sinne of auarice I would counsell him rather to apply himselfe to bee well thought of and esteemed then to endeauour to haue enough Also Queene Semiramis was wife to king Belius and mother of king Ninus and although by nature shee was made a woman yet had shee a heart neuer otherwise but valiant and Noble For after shee was widdow shee made her selfe Lord by force of armes of the great India and conquered all Asia and in her life time caused a goodly tombe to bee made where she would lye after her death and about the which she caused to bee grauen in golden Letters these words Who longs to swell with masse of shining golde And craue to catch such wealth as fewe possesse This stately Tombe let him in hast vnfolde Where endlesse heapes of hatefull coyne do rest Many dayes and kinges raignes past before any durst open this Sepulchre vntill the comming of the great Cyrus who commaunded it to be opened And being reported to him by those that had the charge to seeke the treasure that they had sought to the bottomlesse pit and Worldes end but treasure they could find none nor any other thing saue a stone wher in were grauen these words Ah haplesse Knight whose high distracted mind By follies play abused was so much That secret tombes the carcasse could none binde But thou wouldst reaue them vp for to be rich Plutarch and also Herodotus which haue both written this history of Semiramis doe shew and affirme that Queen Semiramis got great honour by this iest and King Cyrus great shame and dishonour If Courtiers that are rich thinke and beleeue that for that they haue money inough and at their will that therefore they should be farre from all troubles and miseries they are deceyned For if the poore soule toyle and hale his body to get him onely that he needeth much more dooth the rich man torment and burne his heart till hee be resolued which way to spende that superfluitie he hath Iesu what a thing is it to see a rich man how bee tormenteth himselfe night and day imagining and deuising with himselfe whether hee shall with the mony that is left buy leases milles or houser anuities vines or cloth lands tenemēts or pastures or some thing in see or whether he shal enrich his sonne with the thirds or fifts and after all these vaine thoughts Gods will is for to strike him with death suddenly not onely before he hath determined how hee should lay out or spend this money but also before he hath made his will I haue many times tolde it to my friends yea and preached it to them in the Pulpit and written it also in my bookes that it is farre greater trouble to spend the goods of this world well and as they ought to be spent then it is to get them For they are gotten with swette and spent with cares Hee that hath no more then hee needeth it is hee that knoweth well how to parte from them and to spend them but he that hath aboundance and more then needfull doth neuer resolue what hee should doe Whereof followeth many times that those which in his life time were enemies to him shall happen to bee heyres after his death of all the goods and money he hath It is a most sure and certaine custome among mortall men that commonly those that are rich while they are aliue spend more money vainely in thinges they would not and that they haue no pleasure in and wherein they would lest lay it out and after their death they leaue the most part of their inheritance to those whom they loued least for it hapneth many times that the sonne which hee loueth worst enheriteth his goods that sonne which hee loued best and made most of remaineth poore Therfore continuing still our matter I say that I know not the cause why the fauoured of the Court desire to bee so rich couetous and insatiable sith they alone haue to gette the goods where afterwardes to spende them they haue need of the counsell and aduise of many Let not those also that are in fauour with the Prince make too great a shew openly of their riches but if they haue aboundance let them keepe it secret For if their lurking enemies know not what they haue the worst they can doe they can but murmur but if they see it once they will neuer leaue till they haue accused him To see a Courtier builde sumptuous houses to furnish them with wonderfull and rich hangings to vse excesse and prodigality in their meates to haue their cupbordes maruellously decked with cups and pots of golde and siluer to
And all this commeth onely because one sort of people followeth an other but one reason seldome followeth another If wee fall if we stumble if wee be sicke if we breake our face are we sure that seruing as we do the world that the world will recure and remedie vs No sure it is not so For the remedy the world is wont to giue to our troubles is euer notwithstanding greater trouble then the first so that they are like vnto Searing-yrons that burne the flesh and heale not the wound For the world is full of guile and deceyte and subtill to deceiue but very slowe to giue vs remedy And this we see plainly For if it perswade vs to reuenge any iniury receyued it doeth it onely in reuenging of that to make vs receiue a thousand other iniuries And if sometimes wee thinke wee receiue some comfort of the world of our paines and troubles of the body if afterwardes ouer-lodeth our mindes with a Sea of thoughts and cogitations So that this accursed and flattering world maketh vs belieue perswadeth vs the right and perfite way and in the end we are cast vnwares into the Nets of all wickednes priuily layde to ensnare vs. How great soeuer a man bee in fauor with the king how noble of bloud how fine of wit and how warie soeuer hee be let euery man bee assured that practiseth in the world he shall in the ende be deceyued by him For hee costeth vs very deere and wee sell our selues to him good cheape I tolde you but little to tell you we solde our selues good cheape for I should haue saide better in saying we haue giuen out selues in preye wholly to him without receiuing any other recompence And in deede they are very fewe and rare that haue any reward of him and infinit are they that serue him without any other recompence more then an ydle foolish and vaine-hope Oh Trayterous Worlde in how short a time doest thou receyue vs and afterwardes with a glimce of an Eye suddenly doest put vs from thee thou gladdest and makest vs sorrowfull thou callest vs to honour and abasest vs thou punishest vs and doest vs a thousand pleasures And finally I say thou doest make vs so vile and poysonest vs with thy vile labourers that without thee wee are yet euer with thee and that that grieues vs worst of all is that hauing the Thiefe in the house we goe out of the house to giue him place and make him owner When the world knoweth one once that is prowd and presumptuous he procureth him honour to another that is couetous riches to another that is a glutton good meats to an other that is carnall the commoditie of womeÌ„ to another that is idle quyet and ease and all this doth the Trayterous Worlde to the ende that after as Fish whom hee hath fed hee may laye the net of sinne vpon vs to catch vs in If we would resist the first temptations the World offreth vs it is impossible hee durst so many times assaulte vs. For to say truely by our small and weake resistance increaseth his ouer-great audacitie I would these Louers of this worlde would but tell me a little what 〈◊〉 or what Hope they can hope of him Why they should suffer so manie eâ—cumbers broyles and troubles as they doe To thinke the Worlde can giue vs perpetuall life it is a mockery and extreame madnes to hope of it For we see when life is most deare to vs and that we are lothest to leaue the world then arriueth Death in an vnhappie houre to swallow vs vp to depriue vs of all this our worldly felicitie To hope that the World will giue vs assured Myrth euen this is also a madnes For the dayes excepted we must lament and the houres allottod out to complaine alas we shal see but a small surplus of Time left to laughe and be mertie I can say no more but exhort euery man to looke well about him what he doth and that he be aduised what hee thinketh For when we thinke and belieue wee haue made peace with Fortune euen then is she in battel against vs. And I doe assuredly belieue that that I now prepare my selfe to speake euen presently shall be read of manie but obserued of few and that is that I haue seene those come out of their owne proper houses mourning and lamenting that had spent and consumed all their time in laughing and making good cheere seruing this miserable world which is but only a giuer of all euils a ruine of the good a heap of sinne a tyraunt of vertues a traitor of peace and warre a sweet water of errors a riuer of vices a persecutor of the vertuous a combe of lyes a deuiser of nouelties a graue of the ignorant a cloake of the wicked an ouen of lechery and finally a Charibdis where all good and noble hearts doe perish and a Sylla where all Noble desires and thoughts are cast away together For it is most certaine that this Worlding that is not content with this World and that leaueth his first estate and that taketh vpon him a new manner of life and chaungeth from house to house and from Countrey to Countrey hee shall neuer notwithstanding content himselfe nor quiet his mind And the cause hereof is that if a Worlding depart out of his house neuer to come againe into it there are yet at hand immediatly other ten licentious persons that do but watch to enter into his house Speaking more particularly I say that in the Court of Princes they account them happy and fortunate that be in fauour with the Prince that haue great affairs in Court that bee rich and of power that be serued and honoured of euerie man and that take place goe before euery man So that it may be said that the common people doe not cal those fortunate that deserue to be fortunat but onely those that haue enough But the auncient Philosophers were not of this mind and much lesse are the wise vertuous men at this day For we see that in the Court of Princes many lacke fauor rather then life others lacke both fauour and life together and others not onely their life and fauour but also their goods and faculties So that all that their fauour and credite haue giuen them in many yeares and by sundry griefes and troubles they come afterwardes to lose them euen vpon a suddain and in short time I graunt notwithstanding that it is a great honour profite and furtherance for the Courtier to bee in his Princes fauour but neuerthelesse hee cannot deny me but that it is a dangerous thing also For naturally a great familiarity bringeth also a great enuy with it sith the beloued of the Princes is commonly euill willed of the Common weale And that which is most daungerous is that to obtain the fauor of his Prince hee must so behaue himselfe that his seruice must bee more rare better and exquisite
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
his euill hap hath made her his enemie which heretofore hee so entirely loued For any man that esteemeth his honour and reputation doth rather feare the euill tongue of such a woman then the sword of his enemy For an honest man to striue and contend with a woman of such quality is eueÌ„ as much as if hee would take vpon him to wash an asses head Therefore hee may not seeme to make account of those iniuries done him or euill words shee hath spoken of him For women naturally desire to enioy the person they loue without let or interruption of any and to pursue to the death those they hate I would wish therefore the fauoured of Princes and such as haue office and dignity in the court that they beware they incurre not into such like errors For it is not fitting that men of honour and such as are great about the Prince should seeme to haue more liberty in vice then any other neyther for any respect ought the beloued of the Prince to dare to keepe company much lesse to haue friendshippe with any such common and defamed women sith the least euill that can come to them they cannot be auoided But at the least hee must charge his conscience trouble his friends waste his goods consume his person and lose his good fame ioining withall these also his concubine to bee his mortall enemy For there is no woman liuing that hath any measure in louing nor end in hating Oh how warily ought all men to liue and specially we that are in the Court of Princes for many women vnder the colour of their authority and office go ofttimes to seeke them in their Chambers not onely as humble suiters to solicite their causes but also liberally to offer them their persons and so by colour to conclude their practises and deuises So that the decision and coÌ„clusion of proces which they faine to solicite shall not goe with him that demaunds there goods of them but rather with him that desires but their persons to spoyle them of theyr honour Now the Princes officers must seeke to be pure and cleane from al these practises of these commoÌ„ strumpets much more from those that are suters to them and haue matters before them For they should highly offend God and commit great treason to the king if they should sende those Women from them that sued vnto them rather dishonored and defamed then honestly dispatched of their businesse And therefore he bindeth himselfe to a maruellous inconuenience that falleth in loue with a woman suter for euen from that instant hee hath receiued of her the sweet delights of loue euen at the present hee bindeth himself to dispatch her quickly and to end all her suites and not without great griefe I speake these words There are many women that come to the Court of Princes to make vnreasonable and dishonest sutes which in the end notwithstanding obtaine their desire And not for any right or reason they haue to it saue onely they haue obtained it through the fauour and credite they haue wonne of the fauoured Courtier or of one of his beloued So as wee see it happen many times that the vniust furnication made her suit iust and reasonable I should lye and doe my selfe wrong me thinkes if I should passe ouer with silence a thing that hapned in the Emperours Court touching this matter in the which I went one day to one of the princes chiefe officers and best beloued of him to solicit a matter of importaÌ„ce which an hostes of mine should haue before him And so this fauoured Courtier and great Officer after hee had hearde of men the whole discourse of the matter for full resolution of the same hee asked mee if shee were yong and fayre and I aunswered him that shee was reasonable fayre and of good fauour Well then sayth he bid her come to mee and I will doe the best I can to dispatch her matter with speede for I will assure you of this that there neuer came fayre woman to my handes but shee had her businesse quickly dispatcht at my hands I haue knowne also many women in the Court so dishonest that not contented to follow their owne matters would also deale with others affayres and gaine in feliciting theyr causes so that they with theyr fine wordes and franke offer of their persons obtayned that which many times to men of honour and great authority was denyed Therefore these great Officers fauoured of Princes ought to haue great respect not onely in the conuersation they haue with these Women but also in the honest order they ought to obserue in hearing their causes And that to bee done in such sort that whatsoeuer they say vnto them may bee secret prouided also the place where they speake with them bee open for other Suiters in like case CHAP. XVIII That the Nobles and Beloued of Princes exceede not in superfluous fare and that they bee not too sumptuous in their meates A notable Chapter for those that vse too much delicacy and superfluitie THe greatest care regard that Nature laide vpon her selfe was that men could not liue without sustinance so that so long as wee see a man eate yea if it were a thousande yeares wee might bee bolde to say that hee is certainely aliue And hee hath not alone layde this burden vpon men but on bruite beasts also For wee see by experience that some feedeth on the grasse in the fieldes some liues in the ayre eating flyes others vpon the wormes in carring others with that they finde vnder the water And finally each beast liueth of other and afterwardes the wormes feede of vs all And not onely reasonable men and brute beasts liue by eating but the trees are nourished thereby and wee see it thus that they in stead of meate receiue into them for nutriture the heate of the Sunne the temperature of the ayre the moisture of the earth any dewe of heauen so that the sustenance for men is called meate and that of plants and trees increase This beeing true therefore that wee haue spoken we must needes confesse that to liue wee must eate and yet withall wee must vnderstand that the sin of gluttony consisteth not in that that wee eate for necessity but only in that that is eaten with a disordinate appetite and desire And sure now a dayes men vse not to eate to content nature but to please their licorous and dainty mouthes Hee that giueth him selfe ouer to the desire of the throate doth not onely offend his stomacke and distemper his body but hurteth also his conscience for all gluttons and drunkards are the children or the brothers of sinne And I speake but little to say that the mouth and sinne are câ—sin Germanes together for by their effects and operations me thinketh them so knit and combined together as the Father and the Sonne Sith burning Leacherie acknowledgeth none other for her mother but onely the infatiable and gurmand throate And
greatest troubles or to tearme it better one of the greatest daungers I see the fauoured Courtier in is this that all the Courtiers and in a manner all the Citizens desire to see them out of fauour or dead by some meanes For euery man is of this minde that with the chaunge of things by his fall or death hee hopeth hee shall rise to some better state or happily to catch some part of his offices or liuing An other mischiefe and inconuenience yet happeneth to this fauoured Courtier by haunting other Tables and that is that many times it chanceth vnseemely and vnhonest wordes are let fall at the Table and perhapps quarrell arise vpon it which though hee bee present yet he can neyther remedy nor appease it And because these thinges were done spoken in the presence of the esteemed of the Prince he that spake them hath credit and those that heard it descryed it Yet there is an other disorder that commeth by these feasts that is that he which maketh the feast and biddeth guestes dooth it not for that they are of his acquaintance his kinsfolkes or his faithfull friends nor for that hee is bound and beholding to them but onely to obtaine his desire in his suites that he hath in hand for they are few that seeke to pleasure men but in hope to be greatly recompenced Therefore those that are in fauor and authority about the prince and that accept others bidding sure one of these two things must happen to them Eyther that hee must dispatch his businesse that inuiteth him yea although it be vnreasonable so vniust and damnable that obtayning it both he and the fauoured Courtier goe to the Deuill together for company for the wrong and iniury they haue done to another or on the other side refusing to doe it the Bidder is strucken dead and repenteth his cost bestowed on him Aboue all things I chiefly admonish the Courtiers and Officers of Princes not to sell chaunge nor engage their liberties as they doe the same day they beginne to follow such feasts or to receiue gifts or presents or to linke themselues in straight friendshippe with any or to deale parcially in any cause For by these foresayde occasions they shall oft binde themselues to doe that that shall not bee fit for them besides the losse of their liberty they had before to doe that was most honest and commendable CHAP. XIX That the fauoured of Princes ought not to be dishonest of their tongues nor enuious of their words ANaxagoras the Philosopher disputing one day of the cause why Nature had placed the members of mans body in such order as they are and of the propertie and complexion of euery one of them and to what ende they had beene so orderly placed by Nature each member in his place falling in the end to treat of the tong sayde thus of it You must vnderstand my good Disciples that not without art and great mystery Nature gaue vs two feete two hands two eares and two eyes and yet for all this but one tongue whereby shee shewed vs that in our going feeling smelling hearing and seeing we may bee as long as we will but in speaking wee should be as sparing and scant as could bee Alleadging further That Nature suffered vs to goe open and bare-faced the Eyes the eares the hands the feete and other partes of the bodie bare also excepting the Tongue which shee hath enuironned with jawes and empaled with Teeth and also shut vp with lips which shee did to giue vs to vnderstand that ther is nothing in this present life that hath more neede of Guarde and defence then hath this our vnbrydeled Tongue And therefore sayde Pythachus the phylosopher that a mans Tongue is made like the yron poynt of a Lance but yet that it was more daungerous then that For the poynt of the lance can but hurte the flesh but the Tongue pierceth the heart And surely it was a true saying of this philosopher For I know not that man how vertuous or pacient so euer he be but thinks it lesse hurt the bloudie sword should pierce his flesh then that he should be touched in honour with the venemous poynt of the Serpentine-Tongue For how cruell soeuer the wound be Time doth heale it and maketh it wel againe but defame or infamie neyther late nor neuer can be amended We see men refuse to goe by water for feare of drowning not to come too neer the fire for feare of burning nor to goe to the warres for feare of killing to eate no ill meates for beeing sicke to climbe vp on high for feare of falling to goe in the darke for feare of stumbling to auoyde the yll ayre and raine for feare of rewmes yet I see very few or none that can beware of detractors and ill tongues And that this is true I tell you I doe not thinke that in any thing a man is in such perill and daunger as when he liueth accompanyed with men dishonest in theyr dooings and vile and naught in their tongues I haue also read touching this matter that Aformius the phylosopher being asked what he meant to spend the most part of his time amongst the desart mountaines and in hazard euery houre to be deuoured of wilde beasts Answered thus Wild beasts haue no other weapons to hurt mee but theyr hornes and nayles and theyr Teeth to deuoure mee but men neuer cease to hurte and offend mee with all their whole members And that this is true behold I pray you how they looke at mee with their Eyes spurne mee with their feete torment mee with their hands hate mee with their hearts and defame me with their tongues So that we haue great reason to say That a man liueth with more securitie amongst wilde beasts then amongst malignant and enuious people Plutarch in his booke De exilio sayth That the Lidians had a Law that as they sent the condemned murtherers to rowe in the Galleyes so they confined those that were Detractors and euill tongued men into a secret place farre off from all company the space of halfe a yeare In so much that many times these lewde mates chose rather to rewe in the Galley three yeers then to bee exempt from company and speaking with any but sixe monethes Much like vnto this Law did Tiberius the Emperour make another and condemned a great talker and railer of his tongue and commaunded straightly that he should neuer speake word the space of a whole yeare And as the historic sayth hee remayned dumbe and neuer spake during the whole terme but yet that hee did with his dumbnesse more hurt with nods and signes with his fingers then many other would haue done with their ill tongues By these two examples wee may see that sith these naughty tongues are not to be repressed by silence in secret nor to entreate them as friends nor by doing them good nor by sending them to Galleyes nor to make them holde
the sinner our Sauiour Iesus Christ is our onely meane and Mediatour being called vpon by the Priest euen so betwixt the king and his Subiects that are suiters to his Maiesty those that are in fauour with the prince are mediators for them Now therefore if these Priestes bee double in their wordes and dissemblers in that they speake how shall the sinnes of the one be pardoned the businesse of the other dispatched Oh wofull and vnhappy sinner that putteth his sinnes into the hands of a naughty and wicked Priest and likewise vnfortunate and miserable is the poore suiter that comitteth his affaires to the trust dispatch of a lying and dissembling Officer There are many officers in princes Courts that tell the poore suiters still they will dispatch them but when it commeth to the push to followe the matter all his faire words are then but winde and indeede they make an arte of it to speake all men faire to promise much and to performe nothing weening with their sweete flattering wordes to winne the hearts and good wills of all little regarding the great expence and losse of time of the poor suter much lesse also respecting their owne honour honesties and credite Sure it were lesse dishonour for them to bee counted rough and churlish then to be bruted for Lyers and breakers of their promise The officer of the Princes pallace that is a dissembler and a Lyer in his words and doings hee may for a time maintaine his suites and goe through with his matters but in the ende his trecheries perceiued himselfe his fautor and all his dealings lye in the dust and are vtterly ouerthrowne Oh how many haue I seene rise in Courte of nothing to great matters and offices and this not through their painefull seruice but altogether by meanes of their deceipt and flatteries they vsed not exalted also for theyr merites but onely by a subtill meanes and pollicie they had to drawe water to their Mill nor for any good conscience they had but onely for theyr great diligence vsed in their practises And all this not without the preiudice of others but rather to the great hurt and vtter vndoing and ruine of theyr Neighbour and not for any bountie they had to giue liberally but a greedy and couetous a desire to get not for any needefull businesse but to haue those that are superfluous and not for to relieue the poore and needie but onely to satisfie their insatiable apetites and in fine their account cast wee haue seene after theyr death their goods confiscated their seruants dispersed and gon away and their Children vtterly vndone So that in briefe there was no more memorie of them in this world and GOD graunt also that in the other life their soules were not for euerdamned Courtyers may easilie with their fauour and credite attaine vnto great possessions as the Iudges may also in robbing the counsellers in pleading and maintaining naughtie causes the captaines in powling the Prince of the Souldyers wages the Merchaunts in their false weights and measures and their Brokers in telling lyes out of all measure But in the end of their journy pilgrimage they may be assured that the soules of the Fathers shall not only be damned in hell but the goods shall bee taken from their Children And also that that is truely and iustly gotten by the honest industry and trauell of the man with a good zeale and holie intent and to a good and iust ende it is written that it shall bee of long continuance by the good permission of GOD prayers of the people it shall also prosper and increase For the true gotten goods atchieued by the sweat and labour of man GOD doth alwayes prosper and augment And therefore continuing our matter I say that the princes officers ought to determine with themselues to bee vpright in all their actions and doings and aboue all true iust of their words which so performing they shall be sure to be beloued of all not alone of them that passe vnder their Lee but euen also of those whom they haue denyed fauour And also they need not to beafraid to speak boldly in all places where they come besides that they shal be reuerenced of all men Where to the contrarie if he be a lyer a babbler dissembler there are few that wil feare them much lesse loue them and least of all do them reuerence or honour And although wee cannot denie but that these officers of the Courte and other men of authoritie be wayted vpon visited accompanyed reuerenced and honoured of diuerse sortes of men yet it were a follie for vs to belieue that their traine and attendaunts doe them all that honour and reuerence for any desire they haue to doe them any seruice but only they vse all that curtesy and capping to get themselus their suites quickly dispatched And this to be true we see it daily by experience For when these suters haue at chiued their suite and desyre they doe not onely leaue off and giue ouer to accompanie him and to attend vpon him but moreouer they get them home without eyther thanking of him or once taking their leaue of him If all those that haue Function or Office of estate or dignitie hauing charge of the dispatch of great and weightie matters beeing also Lyers and dissemblers in their doings knew the yll reports that goe of them and how they condemn their corrupt and naughtic consciences me thinketh it impossible if they bee not altogether gracelesse but they must needs eyther change condition and estate or else quite giue vp their rooms and offices For they are in euery mans mouth called Bablers liers dissemblers traitors perjurers miserable auaricious and vicious And yet a worser thing then all this and that is whilest they liue a thousand complain of them and after they are dead and buried they take vp their bones out of the graue to hang them vp vpon a gibbet For thus saith the olde prouerbe Such life such ende So as we may say that to these officers aboue recited resteth nothing but only these goodly titles And herevnto we may adde also that Officers of like conditions to them need not to haue any to accuse them neyther yet to punish them For a time will come one day that they will plunge themselues so deepe into a Sea of troubles that it cannot be chosen but they must needs at last drown and vtterly perish or at the least bee driuen into the hauen of their greatest Enemyes so that they shall carrie the burden of their owne wickednes and bee condignely chastised with their owne follie Therefore I pray all those that shall read these writings of mine for to obserue them in their heart and imprint them well in minde beeing a matter of such Moralitie and wisdome that it can hardly be vnderstood of anie but of such as first haue had some proofe thereof Helius Sparthianus writeth that there was somtimes a
of Cresus The liberal mind of Cresus The answer of the Philosopher Anacharsis Wherein consisteth true phylosophy How little the phylosophers desire riches Certaine points required to be performed by the physopher The description of Phalaris The speech 〈…〉 The frailtie of the flesh Couetousnes the ouer throw of Iustice What princes ought to doe Two things requisite in euery man The letter of Phalaris Cruelty wel rewarded The praise of Alexander the great The prayse of Alexander the Great The saying of Diogines The saying of Alexander Two notable things of K. Philip of Macedonie The prayse of Ptolome Alexander vnhappy in his death Pholosophers onely reioyce in pouertie A custome among the Egyptians The miserable death of Euripdes The worthy saying of Archelaus A saying worthy obseruation Sentences of Cinna No loue comparable to that of man and wife Fiue things follow marriage The loue of the Father to the child The saying of Solon A third coÌ„modity of Marriage What inconenience so loueth them that are not maryed in the feare of the Lord. The fourth commodity belonging to mariage The worthie sayings of Lycurgus The prayse of marriage The cares incident to maâ—â—age No man content with his owne estate Marriage the cause of loue and amitie Mariage a meanes of Peace betweene God and man What is required of euery vertuous Prince A law among the Tharentines A law among the Athenians A worthie saying of Socrates The spech of Cimonius A beastly custome in old time in England An ancient custome among the Romains A law among the Cymbrians The law of the Armenians A custome among the Hungarians The custom of the Scythians Good counsell for all sorts of women Women bound to loue their Husbands The tongue cause of debate The loue of women towards theyr Husbands The praise of Women The Law amongst the Lidians The loue of Sinoris Comma How good women ought to behaue themselues The death of Sinoris and Camma Good couÌ„sell for women The great dangers women sustaine The custome of the Achaians The Law of the Parthians The Law of the Lideans Women weake of nature The foolish opinion of some women A propertie of a wise discreete Husband Good counsell for Women The saying of 〈…〉 The office of the Husband and dutie of the wife The law of Lycurgus The propertie of good Houswifes What inconuenience coÌ„meth by gadding abroad The commendations of Lucretia The praises of the wiues of Numidia Where loue wanteth discord resteth A propertie of a good woman The quality of naughty House-wiues The Follie of man How the man childe ought to be brought vp How womeÌ„ ought to carry themselues in the time they goe with childe The desire of Women Tibullus de casibus triumphi The first Dictator in Rome The first rebell in Rome An auncient custome vsed by the Ladyes in Rome The first victorie the Romaines obtained by Sea The death of Sophia Titus Liuius The mutabilitie of Fortune The death of Ypolita The dangsâ— of women with childe A good warning for women with childe Aristotle de Animalibus The propertie of a good Husband Reasonable Creatures may take example by the vnreasonable A custome among the Mauritanians A custome in Hungary The false opinion of the Heathen The Commendation of the Emperour Octauian The saying of Pisto How good counsell ought to be regarded What is required of women with child Pulio de moribus antiq Lucius Seneca his counsell How vertuous Princes ought to be How the Emperour Marcus Aurclius spent his time A custome among the Romanes The speech of Marcus Aurelius at his death Rome destroyed by the Gothes The importunity of the Empresse A law a-among the Romane What euill commeth by the tong What is required in a Woman The Emperours answere What is required of euery Man What hurt commeth by not gouerning the tongue Crosses incident to Marriage What women naturally are inclined vnto Women can not endure to haue superiours Annales of Pompeyus A Law among the Barbarians The frailty of man The cause why men ought to endeauor to be vertuous How wee ought to to spend our time Reason leadeth to vertue Sensualitie to vice What dangers are incident to men by following women Women neuer contented Women coÌ„pared to golden pilles The speech of Drusio What inconuenience follow those that are discontented in marriage How euery man woman ought to behaue themselues What hurte cometh by misgouerning the tongue How marryed folkes ought to carry themselues Rules for euery man to followe that meanes to liue in peace Women extreame in their demands A froward Woman described Rome in ancient times rich in vertues Fiue things granted to the Matrones of Rome The commendation of a vertuous woman The Epitaph of Macrine Foure things which women naturally desire Women bound by Gods Law to giue her children sucke The example of dumb creatures may teach women to bring vp their owne children Arist de Animal The description of children in their infancie What loue women ought to beare their children The reward of the Roman Captain The speech of Scipio the AffricaÌ„ What dutie is required betweene the Parents and the childe The eruelty of Nero towards his Mother The reason that may moue women to giue their children sucke A custome of Asia The saying of Iunius Rustious How men and women ought to be stow theyr time What profit cometh to Women by giuing their childreÌ„ suck How women ought to spend the time about theyr children Pleasures that women may take in their children The lawes of the Auncients What care Women ought to haue of their children A good example for women A good example for all sorts of women What inconuenieÌ„ce cometh by changing Nurses Arist de secret secretorum How children ought to be nourished and brought vp Good counsell for one that would liue long Aristot De Animalib What Dyet Nurses ought to vse An example of the women of Thrace Women giuing sucke ought to abstaine from wine WomeÌ„ prohibited to drink wine in former times 〈…〉 The speech of Sabina The answer of the Consull Fuluius Wherefore the Consull would not haue his children nourished in his house What is required in euery good Nurse The description of Pressilla What is required of a Nurse for bringing vp of children What is required of a good Captaine How Alexander gouerned his armie A custome among the Persians What time it requisite for a man to eate Strabo de situ Orbis What order the Auncients vsed concerning marriage The custome of the Chaldeans How long women ought to giue their children sucke Questions demanded by the Philosopher Arethus When Rome flourished How circumspect a man ought to bee to speake the truth What property belongeth to the goute What inconuenieÌ„ce commeth by eating too much fruit What hurt commeth by Iugglers and players Titus Liuius The pollicy of the auncient Romaines God the onely Physitian The mutabilitie of mans life What difference there is betweene man and beast Ioseph de bello
and to morrow conueyghed into the priuie from the Eaters by their page or seruant Surely mans Stomacke is nothing else but a gutte or Tripe forced with meate bread and wine a Pauement fild with wine Lees and a vessell of stincking-oyle a receypt of corrrupt ayre a sincke of a Kitchin and a secret place whereinto we cast all our goods and facultie as into the riuer And therefore Esay sayde that all these noble citties of Sodome and Gomorrha by this onely curse did incurre into such execrable sinnes for which afterwards they were destroyed And this was euen through excesse of feeding eating and drinking and too much ydlenesse and it is no maruell For it is an infallible thing that where ydlenesse and gluttony raigneth there must needes come some yll ende vnto that man The Greekes the Romaines the Egiptians and the Scythes although they were derected of many other sins and vices yet were they alwayes sober and temperat in eating and drinking Iustine that wrote of Trogus Pompeyus reciteth that among the Scythes which were the rudest and most barbarous that came into Asia vsed to reproue those that let goe winde and to chastise and punish those that vomited saying that breaking winde vomiting came only of too much eating and drinking Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayde that there was a philosopher in Athens called Hyppomachus that was so great an enemy to gluttonie that he vsed in his Colledge such and so great an abstinence that his Disciples by that were knowne amongst all the other Phylosophers And not for no other thing but to see them buye their cates and prouision to liue withall for they neuer bought meates to fat them and keepe them lusty but onely to susteine nature and that but little The Romanes made diuers lawes in the olde time to expell out of theyr Cities drunkards and Gluttons wherof we will recite some vnto you to the end that those that shall reade our present writings shall both knowe and see what great care our Forefathers tooke to abolish this horrible vice of Gluttony First there was a Law in Rome called Fabian Law so called because Fabian the Consull made it in which it was prohibited that no man should bee so hardy in the greatest Feast hee made to spend aboue a hundred Sexterces which might bee in value a hundred peeces of 6. pence Salets and all other kinds of fruite not comprised within the same And immediately after that came out another law called Messinia which the Consul Messinius made By which they were also inhibited in all feastes to drinke no strange wines which only were permitted to be giuen to those that were diseased After which followed also another law Licinia made by the Consul Licinius forbidding in all feasts all kinds of Sawces because they incite appetite and are cause of great expence An other law Emilia of Emilius the Consul also commanding the Romans should be serued in their banquets but onely with fiue sortes of diuersities of meates because in them there should be sufficient for honest reâ—ection and no superfluitie to fil the belly And then was there the Lawe Ancia made by Ancius the Consull charging all the Romanes for to endeuor to learne all kinde of sciences except cookery For according to their saying In that House where was a Cooke those of that house became poore quickely their bodyes diseased their mindes vitious and al-together giuen to gluttonie After this law there came forth another called Iulia of Iulius Caesar comcommaunding al Romains that none should be so hardy to shut their gates when they were at dinner and it was to this ende that the Censours of the Cittie might haue easie accesse into their houses at mealtime to see if their Ordinary were correspondent to their habilitie And there was also another Lawe made afterwards called Aristimia of Aristmius the Consull by which it was enacted that it should bee lawfull for euery man to inuire his friends to dinner to him at noon as they liked prouided that they supped not together that night And this was established thus to cut off the great charges they were at with their suppers For the Romanes exceeded in superfluity of dainty and fine meats and moreouer they sat too long guzling eating at their suppers Of all these Lawes heretofore recited were authours Aulus Gelius and Macrobius And for this was Caius Gracchus well reputed of by the Romanes who notwithstanding hee had bin Consull in diuers Prouinces and that many times and he was a man of great grauitie and authoritie in Rome his wife was his onely cooke and trauelling his hostesse of his house where he lay dressed his meate Marcus Mantius in times past made a booke of diuers wayes how to dresse meat an other of the tasts sawces and diuers maners of seruing of them in at the bankets a third book how to couer the table set the stools in order order the cupbord and also how seruants should wayte and giue theyr attendance at the Table which three books were no sooner imprinted and published but presently and publikely they were burned by the Senate of Rome and if his author had not quickly voyded Rome fled into Asia he had accompanyed his bookes in the fire The auncient writers neuer ceased to reproue enough Lentulus Caesar Scylla Scaeuola and Aemilius For a banket they made in a garden of Rome where they eate no other meates but Blacke-byrdes Torteyses Mallardes Nettles pigs-brains hares in sauce But if the Romane Writers wrote in these dayes I doe not beleeue they would reproue so simple a banquet made by so noble and famous persons as they were For now a dayes they doe so farre exceede in variety of dishes at noble mens boords that neyther they haue appetite to eate nor yet they can tell the name of the dishes But now returning to our purpose I say the intent why wee haue layde before you these forepassed examples was onely to this end to admonish the fauoured of Princes to looke into themselues that they auoid this filthy sinne of Gluttony Beeing a foule blot in a Courtier to be counted a greedy gut and carmarant at his meate and being one whose manners and behauior euery man marketh for sure it is more fitting for them to bee moderate and sober in eating and drinking then others and good reason why For as they are more Noble then others so haue they many that sue vnto them and they haue also the waightiest matters of gouernement passing vnder their charge by reason wherof if they surcharge themselus with excesse they are then very vnapt to dispatch any matters for much eating causeth sleepe and much drinking depriueth theÌ„ of their iudgement and sences both Is it not to be wondered at yea and to bee reproued also to see a Magistrate or Counsellour sit in his chaire to heare poor mens causes and suites and the suiter opening his cause vnto him he sitteth nodding with
his head in his bosome ready to sleepe Euen so doe I say likewise that it is a great reproach to the beloued of the Prince and great damage to the common-wealth that it should be spoken amongst Courtiers and suiters that to day hee was of this opinion and to morrow he is of another So that the Courtyer or suiter should haue hope to dispatch that to morrow hee could not doe to day King Philip Father of Alexander the great although he was a Prince noble and fortunate yet was hee noted and rebuked for drinking of wine whereof followed that after hee had giuen iudgement vppon a time against a poore widow-woman she answered streight she appealed The Noble-men that were present hearing what was saide by the King asked her to whome shee would appeale since the King in person gaue sentence of her and no other And this was her aunswere she made them I appeale to King Philip which is now drunke that when he is sober he returne to giue sentence And as the Hystoriographers say that writeth this historie This poore woman was not deceyued in her appellation at all For after K. Philip had reposed and slept a little he reuoked and repealed the Sentence that he had before giuen against her And therefore concerning this matter I say that that how wilde or tame soeuer a Beast bee yet he still continueth a beast in his kinde onely a man except who very often through too much excesse of meat and drink strayeth so farre from reason forgetting himselfe that neither he himselfe nor any other knoweth well whether hee be then a man or a Beast Those that are the fauoured of princes must bee very circumspect that they be not too sumptuous and prodigall in their Feasts and Banquets for they haue many eyes attendant on them And some will say That they make not those great feasts of themselues but by the gifts and presents of others I wish them in this case that they should not hope to excuse themselues by saying That they onely feast theyr kinsfolks familiar frieÌ„ds For the enuie that comonly one beareth against the power authority of a man is so great and extreame that it spareth not friends remembreth not kinsfolke neyther maketh account of the benefites receyued but rather as soone as the bidden guests are departed from his house that bad them they go talking among themselues and murmuring amongest others saying many times that it is more worth that is lost by the vaine and lauish expences of the fauoured Courtier then that that is commonly serued to the Princes owne boorde Also I counsell the beloued of Princes that they take heede whome they trust and whom they inuite vnto their Tables For many times if they bee but foure that are bidden one of them goeth sure to eate and banket the other three to fleere and mocke and to marke all that is brought in the manner of the seruice And the worst is yet that he shall many times bring such to eate with him that would more willingly eate his flesh then his meate These reputed Courtiers must be well aduised that though they be too delicate and superfluous in their meat yet at least that they bridle their tongs For they may be assured that as their guests they bad go full paunched from them so cary they away with them all the superfluous and vaine wordes they heard at the table Besides that that what so euer the Courtyer said at the boord reporting it otherwhere they will not say that hee spake it of himselfe but that the King himselfe tolde it him And yet is there a farre greater danger and perill then this wee haue spoken of and that is That they will not simply tell that they hearde of the beloued Courtyer but will adde vnto it of their owne heads what they thinke best and what was his meaning in speaking it So that wee may say that there are not so many Comments vppon the Byble as they make Glosses vppon the same reports by their rash iudgemeÌ„ts and fond interpretations which they did descant vpon one only word spoken vnawares perhaps by some at the Table of this fauoured Courtyer It is a generall custome amongst all estates and conditions of people that where theâ—e are sumptuous Tables and aboundance of dyshes there the inuited sit long at their meate and are liberall to speake euill Which sure such as are in fauour with the Prince neyther ought to doe nor suffer it to be done at his boord For the good and honorable Feast ought onely to bee serued with good and daintie meates but in no wise marred with the defaming of his neighbour Oh how manie Feasts and Bankets are made in Princes Courtes where without al comparison there are more detractions vsed of their neighbours then there are diuersityes of dyshes to eate A pernitious thing doubtlesse and and not to bee suffered nor abidden For no man hurteth the reputation of another with his tongue but with the selfe-same hee condemneth his owne conscience and therefore let men be aduised of their speach and what they speake of others For it is alwayes an easie matter to detract and hinder the good fame and reputation of a man but very harde afterwards to satisfie the partie Therefore I counsell and admonish those Courtyers that they doe not oft feast others but also that they do not accept to goe to others Tables where they are bidden For they may bee assured that they are beloued of fewe and hated of all and besides that it might so happen that others should be at the charge of the feast and that they should lose their liues Also let not the fauoured Courtier trust those too much that come ordinarily to his Table and that doe rebid him againe to theirs yea though they seeme euen to bee wholly his to dispose and possible as it were his right hand and that they be those whoÌ„ hee happily to haue done much for in dispatching their affayres for lightly in such like feasts treasons and poisonings are not practised with the master of the Feast but only with him that waiteth at the Table to giue drink or else by the Cookes that dresseth the meate Also let not the Courtier trust too much those whom hee hath beene in Company with all at diuers feastes where he neuer had hurt much lesse knew any little occasion to suspect ill of them touching any treason meant towards him For so at a time when he suspecteth least he may bee in most daunger and finde himselfe deceyued And therfore by my councell he shall not easily be entreated to euery mans boorde vnlesse hee bee first well assured of the companie that are bidden as also of the Seruants that wayte For the holes and spaces of the French riddles with which they dust their corne sometimes is euen stopped with the very grains of the same corn and letteth the cleare passage of all the rest One of the