is also a great trouble and daungerous for a man to practise with new Iudges and to put their matters into their hands who onely were called to the place of a Iudge being thought learned and fitte for it and so brought to rule as a Magistrate For many times these young Iudges and new Physitians although they want not possible knowledge yet they may lacke a great deale of practise experience which is cause that one sort maketh many lose their liues before they doe come to rise in fame the other vndoe many a man in making him spēd all that euer he hath There is yet besides an other apparant daunger to haue to doe with these new and yong experienced iudges for when they come to sit newly in iudgement with their other brethren the Iudges hauing the lawe in their mouth to serue all turnes they doe but onely desire and study to winne fame and reputation amongst men and thereby to bee the better reputed of his brethren And for this cause only when they are assembled together in place of Iustice to giue iudgement of the pleas layde before them they doe not only inlarge themselues in alleadging many and diuers opinions of great learned men and booke cases So that the Hearers of them may rather thinke they haue studyed to shew their eloquence and learning then for to open the decision and iudgement of the cases they haue before them And for finall resolution I say that touching Pleas and Sutes I am of opinion that they should neyther truste the experience of the olde Iudge nor the learning and knowledge of the young But rather I reckon that man wise that seeketh by little and little to grow to an agreement with his aduersarie and that tarieth not many yeares to haue a lingring yea and possibly an vncertaine ende Also I would in some sort exhort the poore Plaintise not to bee ouer-curious to vnderstand the qualities of the iudge as a man would say If he be olde or young if he be learned or priuiledged if he be well studyed or but little if hee be a man of few or manie words if hee be afflicted or passionate tractable or selfe willed For possiblie beeing too inquisitiue to demaund of any of these things it might happen though hee did it vnawares yet hee should finde them afterwards all heaped togethers in the person of the Iudge to his hinderance and dammage in decyding his cause The wise Suter should not onely not seek to be inquisitiue of the iudge or his conditions but also if any man would seeme to tell him of him hee should giue no eare to him at all For if it come to the Iudges eares hee enquireth after his manner of liuing and condition hee will not onely be angry with him in his minde but will be also vnwilling to giue iudgement in his fauour The poore Siuter shall also meete with Terrible Iudges seuere intractable chollericke incommunicable and inexorable and yet for all this he may not looke vpon his nature nor condition but onely to regarde his good conscience For what neede hee care if the Iudge be of seuere and sharpe condition as long as he may be assured that hee is of good conscience It is as needefull for the vpright and good Iudge to haue a good and pure Conscience as it is to haue a skilfull head and iudgement in the Lawes For if he haue the one without the other hee may offend in malice and if hee haue that without the other hee may offend also in ignorance And if the suter come to speake with the Iudge and hee by chaunce finde him a sleepe hee must tarry till hee awake and if then hee will not or he cannot giue eare vnto him hee must bee contented And if he caused his man to say he were not within notwithstanding the suter saw him hee must dissemble it yea if the seruants giue him an ill answere he must take it in good worth For the wary and politike suter must not bee offended at any thing that is done or sayde to him till he see the definitiue sentence giuen with him or against him It is a maruellous trouble also to the suter to chuse his Counsellour for many times hee shall chuse one that shall want both law and conscience And some others shall chuse one that though on the one side hee lacke not Law yet on the other hee shall bee without both soule and conscience And this is apparantly seen that somtime for the gaine of twenty Nobles hee shall as willingly deny the truth and goe against his owne consciedce as at another time he will seeke for to maintaine Iustice It is true there are many other Counsellours also that are both wise and learned and yet notwithstanding they know the Law they can by no meanes frame it to his Clients case wanting deuice and conuayance to ioyne them together And so it happeneth many times that to compare it to his Clyants case hee conuaieth him so vnfitlie as of a plaine case it was before It is now made altogether a folde of infinite doubts I graunt that it is a great furtherance vnto the Clyants to haue a good and wise Counsellor but it is a great deale more for their profite if they can giue a sound and profound iudgement of his case For it is not ynough for the Counseller to bee able to expound the Law but it is behouefull for him to applie it to his purpose and to fit it to Time and Place according to the necessitie of his cause I haue knowne Counsellours my selfe that in their Chayres and Readings in their Halls haue seemed Eagles they haue flowne so high in their doctrine and interpretations but afterwards at the barre where they plead and in the face of their Court where they should best shewe themselues there they haue prooued themselues very capons And the onely cause of this is because they haue gotten by force of long trauell and continuall studie a knowledge to moote and read ordinarily their Book-cases in their chaires by common-practise and putting of them each to other But when they are taken out of common-trade and high beaten way and brought to a little path-way straighted to a Counsellers-room at the barre to pleade his Clyents strange and vnknowne case much contrarie to theyr Booke-cases before recited then stript of their common-knowledge and easie seate in chayre they stand now naked on their feete before the iudgement-seate like sense-lesse creatures voyde of reason and experience But now to supplye these imperfections of our rawe Counsellers and to further also our Clyents cause the better wee will that the Clyent be liberall and bountifull to his Counseller thereby the better to whette his wit and to make him also take paines to studie his ease throughly beeing true That the Counseller giueth Lawe as hee hath rewarde And that the Counseller also be carefull of his clyents cause and to goe through with that hee
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
aunswered him that it was Calistratus the Philosopher a man which in eloquēce was very sweete and pleasant hee determined to stay and heare him to the end hee would know whether it were true or vaine that the people tolde him For oftentimes it hapneth that among the people some get thēselues great fame more by fauor then by good learning The difference betwixt the diuine Philosopher Plato and Calistratus was in that Plato was exceedingly wel learned and the other very eloquent and thus it came to passe that in liuing they followed Plato and in eloquence of speech they did imitate Calistratus For there are diuers men sufficiently well learned which haue profound doctrine but they haue no way nor meanes to teach it vnto others Demosthenes hearing Calistratus but once was so farre in loue with his doctrine that he neuer after heard Plato nor entered into his Schoole for to harken to any of his lectures At which newes diuers of the Sages and Wise men of Grecia maruelled much seeing that the tongue of a man was of such power that it had put all their doctrine vnto silence Although I apply not this example I doubt not but that your Maiesty vnderstandeth to what ende I haue declared it And moreouer I say that although Princes and great Lordes haue in their Chambers Bookes so well corrected and men in their Courts so well learned that they may worthily keepe the estimation which Plato had in his Schoole yet in this case it should not displease me that the difference that was between Plato and Calistratus should bee betweene Princes and this Booke God forbid that by this saying men should thinke I meane to disswade Princes from the company of the sage men or from reading of any other booke but this for in so doing Plato should bee reiected which was diuine and Calistratus embraced which was more worldly But my desire is that sometimes they would vse to reade this booke a little for it may chaunce they shall finde some wholesome counsell therein which at one time or other may profite them in their affayres For the good and vertuous Prince ought to graffe in their memory the wise sayings which they reade and forget the cankred iniuries and wrongs which are done them I do not speake it without a cause that hee that readeth this my writing shall finde in it some profitable counsell For all that which hath bin written in it hath beene euery word and sentence with great diligence so well wayed and corrected as if therein onely consisted the effect of the whole worke The greatest griefe that learned men seele in their writing is to thinke that if there bee many that view their doings to take profite thereby they shall perceyue that there are as many more which occupie their tongues in the slaunder and disprayse thereof In publishing this my worke I haue obserued the manner of them that plant a new garden wherein they set Roses which giue a pleasant sauour to the nose they make faire greene plattes to delight the eyes they graft fruitfull trees to bee gathered with the hands but in the end as I am a man so haue I written it for men and consequently as a man I may haue erred for there is not at this day so perfect a painter but another will presume to amend his worke Those which diligently will endeauour themselues to reade this booke shall finde in it very profitable counsels very liuely lawes good reasons notable sayings sentences very profound worthy examples and histories very ancient For to say the truth I had a respect in that the doctrine was auncient and the Stile new And albeit your Maiesty bee the greatest Prince of all Princes and I the least of all your Subiects you ought not for my base condition to disdaine to cast your eyes vpon this booke nor to thinke scorne to put that thing in proofe which seemeth good For a good letter ought to be nothing the lesse esteemed although it be written with an euill pen. I haue sayde and will say that Princes and great Lords the stouter the richer and the greater of renowme they bee the greater need they haue of all men of good knowledge about them to counsell them in their affayres and of good bookes which they may reade and this they ought to doe as well in prosperity as in aduersity to the end that their affayres in time conuenient may be debated and redressed For otherwise they should haue time to repent but no leasure to amend Plinie Marcus Varro Strabo and Macrobius which were Historiographers no lesse graue then true were at great controuersie improouing what things were most authenticke in a common weale and at what time they were of all men accepted Seneca in an Epistle hee wrote to Lucullus praysed without ceasing the Common wealth of the Rhodians in the which with much ado they bent themselues altogether to keepe one selfe thing and after they had therupon agreede they kept and maintained it inuiolably The diuine Plato in the sixt booke entituled De Legibus ordained and commanded that if any Cittizen did inuent any new thing which neuer before was read nor heard of the inuentour thereof should first practise the same for the space of ten yeares in his own house before it was brought into the Common-wealth and before it should bee published vnto the people to the end if the inuention were good it should be profitable vnto him and if it were nought that then the daunger and hurt thereof should light onely on him Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayeth that Lycurgus vpon grieuous penalties did prohibite that none should bee so hardy in his Common wealth to goe wandring into strange Countries nor that hee should be so hardy to admit any strangers to come into his house and the cause why this law was made was to the end strangers should not bring into their houses things strange and not accustomed in their Common wealth and that they trauelling through strange countries should not learne new Customes The presumption of men now adayes is so great and the consideration of the people so small that what soeuer a man can speake he speaketh what so euer he can inuent he doth inuent what hee would hee doth write and it is no maruell for there is no man that wil speak against them Nor the common people in this case are so light that amongst them you may dayly see new deuises and whether it hurt or profit the Common wealth they force not If there came at this day a vaine man amongst the people which was neuer seene nor heard of before if hee bee any thing subtill I aske you but this question Shall it not bee easie for him to speake and inuent what hee listeth to set forth what he pleaseth to perswade that which to him seemeth good and all his sayings to be beleeued truly it is a wonderfull thing and no lesse slaunderous that one should be sufficient
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
liue honest and temperate the which cannot well bee done vnlesse they bee marryed or that they see themselues to bee conquerors of the flesh and being so they are satisfyed but if they be not marryed and the flesh doth assault them then they liue immediately conuered Wherefore of necessitie they must goe by their Neighbours houses or else by some other dishonest places scattered abroad to the reproach and dishonor of them and their kindred and oftentimes to the great perill and danger of their Persons CHAP. III. Of sundry and diuers Lawes which the Ancients had in Contracting Matrimony not onely in the choyse of Women but also in the manner of celebrating Marriage IN all Nations and in all the Realmes of the World Marriage hath alwayes beene accepted and marueilously commended for otherwise the world had not beene peopled nor yet the number of men multiplyed The ancients neuer disagreed one from another in the approbation and acception of Marriage but there was amongst them great difference and strife vpon the contracts ceremonies and vsages of the same For they vsed as much difference in contracting Matrimony and choosing their wiues as these Epicures do desire the varietie of sundry delicate meates The diuine Plato in his Booke hee made of the Common-wealth did counsell that all thinges should be common and that not onely in bruit beasts in moueables and heritages but also that womē should be common for he sayd that if these two words thine and mine were abolished and out of vse there should not bee debates nor quarels in this world They cal Plato Diuine for many good things which he spake but now they may call him Worldly for the counsel profane which he gaue I cannot tell what beastlinesse it may be called nor what greater rudenes may be thought that the apparrell should be proper and the wiues common The bruite beast doth not know that which came out of her belly longer then it sucketh of her brests And in this sort it would chance to men yea and worse too if women were common in the Common-wealth for though one should know the Mother which hath borne him hee should not know the Father which hath begotten him The Tharentines which were wel renowmed amongst the ancients and not a little feared of the Romanes had in their Citie of Tharente a law and custome to marry themselues with a legitimate wife to beget children but besides her a man might yet chuse two others for his secret pleasures Spartianus sayd that the Emperour Hellus Verus as touching women was very dissolute and since his wife was young and faire and that she did complaine of him because he led no honest life with her hee spake these words vnto her My wife thou hast no cause to complayne of me since I remaine with thee vntill such time as thou art quicke with childe for the residue of the time we husbands haue licence and priuiledge to seek our pastimes with other women For this name of a wife containeth in it honour but for the residue it is a grieuous burden and painefull office The like matter came to Ptolomeus King of Egipt of whom the Queene his wife did greatly complaine Admit that all the Greekes haue beene esteemed to bee very wise amongst all those the Athenians were esteemed of most excellent vertue for the Sages that gouerned the Common-wealth remained in Athens with the Philosophers which taught the Sciences The Sages of Athens ordeyned that all the neighbours and inhabitants might keepe two lawfull wiues and furthermore vpon paine of grieuous punishments did commaund that none should presume nor be so hardy to maintain any concubine for they sayd when men haunt the companie of light women comonly they misuse their lawfull Wiues As Plutarch saith in his Politiques the cause why the Greekes made this lawe was considering that man could not nor ought not to liue without the companie of a woman and therefore they would that a man should marrie with two wines For if the one were diseased and lay in yet the other might serue in bed waite at the Table and doe other businesses in the house Those of Athens had another great respect and cōsideration to make this law which was this that if it chanced the one to be barren the other should bring forth children in the Common-wealth and in such case shee that brought forth Children should be esteemed for Mistresse and the other that was barren should be taken for a seruant When this law was made Socrates was marryed to Xantippa and to accomplish the law hee tooke another called Mirra which was the daughter of the Phylosopher Aristides and sith those two women had great quarrells and debates together and that thereby they slaundered their Neighbours Socrates saide vnto them My wiues yee see right well that my eyes are hollow my legges are withered my hāds are wrinckled my head is balde my bodie is little and the haires are white Why doe yee then that are so faire stand in contention and strife for mee that am so deformed Though Socrates saide these wordes as it were in ieast yet such words were occasion that the quarrells and strifes betweene them ceased The Lacedemonians than in the time of peace and warre were always contrary to the Athenians obserued it for an inuiolable lawe not that one man should marry with two wiues but that one woman should marrie with two husbands and the reason was that when one Husband should goe to the warre the other shold tarry at home For they saide that a man in no wise should agree to leaue his Wife alone in the common-wealth Plinie writing an Epistle vnto his friend Locratius and Saint Hierome writing to a Frier called Rusticus saith That the Atbenians did vse to marry Bretheren with the Sisters but they did not permitte the Auntes to marrie with their Nephewes neither the Vnckles with their Nieces For they sayd that brothers and sisters to marrie together was to marry with their semblables but for vnckles to marry Nieces Aunts with Nephews was as of fathers to daughters and of mothers to sonnes Melciades which was a man of great renowme amongst the Grecians had a sonne called Cimonius who was marryed to his owne sister called Pinicea and being demaunded of one why hee tooke his sister in marriage hee answered My sister is faire sage rich and made to my appetite and her Father and mine did recommend her vnto mee and since by the commaundement of the Gods a man ought to accomplish the behests and requests of Fathers I haue determined since Nature hath giuen mee her for my sister willingly to take her for my lawfull Wife Dyodorus Siculus saith that before the Egiptians receyued any Lawes euery man had as manie Wiues as hee would and this was at the libertie of both partyes for as much as if she would goe shee went liberally and forsooke the man and likewise hee left her when
mountaines of Rypheos he found in those places a Barbarous nation that liued in the sharpe mountains as wild beasts and doe not maruell that I do call them beastly that liue in those mountaines For as the sheepe and Cowes that feede on the fine grasse haue their wooll softe and fine so the men who are brought vp in the sharp and wilde mountains vse themselues after a rude behauiour These Barbarous had therefore a law among them that euery neighbor had in those mountaines two Caues for the sharpnes of the hills permitted not that they shold haue any Houses Therfore in one caue the Husbands the Sonnes and the Seruants were and in the other his Wife his daughters and his handmaids abode they did eate together twice in the weeke they slept together other twice in the weeke and all the residue of the time they were separate the one from the other The great Pompeyus asked them what was the cause why they liued so sith it was so that in all the world there was neuer seene nor read of such extreame law nor so straunge a custome The historie saith in that place that an auncient man aunswered him saying Beholde Pompeius that the gods haue giuen short life vnto vs that bee present in respect of that which hee gaue to our Fathers that are past and since we liue but fortie or fiftie yeares at the vttermost wee desire to enioy those dayes in peace For the life is so short and our trouble so long that we haue smal time to reioyce in peace after we returne from the warres It is true that amongst you Romaines which enioy pleasures and riches life seemeth too shorte but vnto vs that haue toyle with pouertie life seemeth too long For throughout all the yeare wee neuer keepe such solemne Feasts as when one passeth out of his life Consider Pompeius that if men liued many yeares there shold be time to laugh and weepe to bee good and to be euill to be poore and to be rich to be merrie and sad to liue in peace and warre but why wil men seek contention in their life since it is so short In keeping with vs as you doe our owne wiues in liuing wee should die for the nights should passe in hearing their complaints and the dayes in suffering their brawlings but keeping them as we doe we see not their heauie countenance wee heare not the crying of our children wee heare not their grieuous complaintes nor listen vnto their sorrowfull words neyther wee are troubled with their importunate suites and yet the Children are nourished in peace the father followeth the warres so that they are well and we are better This was the aunswer that this old man gaue at the request of the great Pompeius Truely Faustine I say that though wee call the Messagetes Barbarous in this case they know more then the Latines For he that is free from a brawling woman hath escaped no small pestilence I aske thee now Faustine since those barbarous could not agree nor would not haue their wiues with thē in those sharpe mountains how shall we other agree and please you that liue in these pleasures in Rome One thing I will tell thee Faustine and I beseech the Gods that thou maiest vnderstand it which is If the beastly motions of the Flesh did not-force men to will and also to desire women I doubt whether there should be any woman in the world beloued or suffered For though nature giueth them gifts worthie to be beloued yet they through their smal discretion cause themselues to bee hated If the gods had made this loue voluntarie as they made it naturall so that we might haue loued as wee would and left againe at our pleasure that man ought worthily to haue beene punished which for the loue of any woman would put his life in daunger The Gods haue kept this great secret vnto themselues and the misery that they gaue vnto men is very great since that vnto so weake Flesh hee gaue so strong a heart the which doth procure that which doth vs harme and followeth that which we ought to abhorre This is an other secret that all men know when they offend but I see no man that seeketh amendment for I heare all complaine of the flesh and yet I see all like Butchers followe the flesh and when it can do least good then it is most greedie I enuie not the Gods liuing nor the men that be dead saue only for two things which be these First I enuie the Gods because they liue without feare of the malicious Secondarily I enuie the dead for that they liue without neede of Women For Women are so corrupt that the corrupt all and they be such mortall plagues that both flesh and heart by them are brought to ende O Faustine the loue of the flesh is so natural to the flesh that when from you the body flyeth in sport wee then leaue our hearts engaged to you in earnest And thogh reason as reason putteth desire to fleight yet the flesh flesh yeeldeth it selfe as prisoner CHAP. XXVI ¶ The Emperour following his matter admonisheth men of the great daungers which ensue vnto them by excessiue haunting the company of women And reciteth certaine rules for Marryed men which if they obserue may cause them to liue in peace with their Wiues I Remember that in my youth as I was of Flesh I trembled for seare of the flesh with minde neuer to returne againe and I do confesse that ofte times I reuolued in my heart many holie and chaste meditations but yet notwithstanding I gaue my bodie immediately to sundry filthie vices It is a naturall thing that when man hath committed any vice forthwith he repenteth him of his deede and so againe after his new repentance he turneth to his olde vices For during the time that wee liue in this fraile flesh Sensualitie beareth so great a rule that shee will not suffer Reason to enter in at the gate There is no man in Rome if a man doth aske him but wil maruelto declare with his tongue the thoughts that he hath had in his heart in especially to be chaste to be true to be pacient and to bee vertuous and peraduenture ye talke with those that somewhat communicate with them and let a man enquire of his neighbours ' they shall finde that he is a deeyuer ' a lyar and a blasphemer Finally they deceyue men by their faire wordes and offended the Gods by their euill works It profiteth little to Blaze vertues with wordes if the hand be negligent to worke them in deede For a man is not called iust onely desiring to be good in name but for to labour to be vertuous in workes The trayterous Worlde in no one thing beguileth wordlings so much as by feeding them with vaine hope saying That they shall haue time enough to be vertuous So that these blinde men when they are once deeply rooted in vices and whilest they
they did more esteeme the good will wherewith they gaue it then they did the gifts themselues for there was so much indeed that sufficed both to make the Image of the Goddesse Berecinthia and also for a long time to maintaine the Warres Therefore from that day that those Matrons presented their Iewels in the high Capitoll the Senate forthwith in remembrance of the gentlenesse graunted them these fiue things as a priuiledge for at that time Rome neuer receiued seruice or benefite of any person but Shee rewarded it with double payment The first thing that the Senate granted the Romane Women was That in the day of their buriall the Oraters might openly make Orations in the prayse of their liues for in olde time men vsed neyther to exalt them when they were dead nor yet to accompany them to their graues The second thing that was graunted vnto them was That they might sit in the Temples for in the olde time when the Romanes did offer Sacrifices to their Gods the aged did alwayes sit the Priests kneele the marryed men did leane but the women though they were of Noble and high linage could neyther be suffered to talke sit nor leane The third thing that the Senate granted the women of Rome was That euery one of them might haue two rich Gownes and that they should not aske the Senate leaue to weare them for in the old time if any woman were apparelled or did buy any new Gowne without asking licence of the Senate she should immediately lose her Gowne and because her husband did condiscend vnto the same he was banished the Common-wealth The fourth thing which they granted them was That they should drinke Wine when they were sicke for there was in Rome a custome inuiolable that though their life was in hazard they durst not drinke wine but water for when Rome was well corrected a woman that drunke wine was as much slandered among the people as if she had committed Adultery towards her husband The fith thing granted by the Senate vnto the women was That a man might not deny a Romane being with childe any honest and lawfull thing that she demanded I cannot tell why the Ancients of Rome esteemed more of women with childe then others that had no children All these fiue thinges were iustly granted to the Matrons and Noble Romane Ladyes And I can tell thee Faustine that they were of the Senate most willingly granted for it is reason that women which in vertues doe excell should with all meanes be honoured I will tell thee Faustine the especiall cause that mooued the Romanes to grant vnto you Matrones this last priuiledge that is to say That a man cannot deny them any thing being with child Thou oughtest to know that the others as well Greekes as Latines did neuer giue Lawes nor Institutions vnto their people without great occasions for the great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept and on the other part are cause of sundry troubles We cannot deny but that the Ancients did well auoyde the great number of Institutions for it is better for a man to liue as reason commandeth him then as the lawe constraineth him The case therefore was that in the yeere of the foundation of Rome 364. Fuluius Torquatus then being Consull in the warre against the Volces the Knights of Mauritania brought to Rome an huge Monster with one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the Desarts of Aegipt at the time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina should haue beene deliuered of child for the Consull did leaue her great This Macrina amongst all was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to praise her for her vertues as they did set foorth her husband for his Victories They read in the Annalles of that time That the first time that this Consull Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeeres out of his Country and his found for a truth that in all the time that Torquatus was absent his wife was neuer seene to looke out at the window which was not a thing smally esteemed for though it was a custome in Rome to keepe the doore shut it was lawfull notwistanding to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold and the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus liued so close solitary to her selfe that in all these eleuen yeeres there was neuer man that saw her goe through Rome or that euer saw her doore open neither that shee consented at any time from the time that shee was eight yeeres of age that any man should enter into her house and moreouer there was neuer man saw her face wholly vncouered This Romane Ladie did this to leaue of her a memorie and to giue example of her vertue She had also three children whereof the eldest was but fiue yeeres olde and so when they were eight yeeres of age immediately shee sent them out of her house towards their Parents lest vnder the colour to visite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine how many haue I heard that haue lamented this excellent Romane and what will they thinke that shall follow her life Who could presently restrain a Romane woman from going to the window eleuen yeeres since things now adayes are so dissolute that they doe not onely desire to see them but also run in the Streetes to babble of them Who should cause now adayes a Romane woman that in the eleuen yeeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one doore she will make the whole house to ring of her voyce Hee that now would commaund his wife to tarry at home and let her of her vagaries into the Towne shall perceiue that there is no Basiliske nor Viper that carryeth such poison in her taile as she will spit with her tongue Who could make a Romane woman to bee eleuen yeeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in looking in a Glasse setting their Ruffes brushing their Cloathes and painting their faces Who would cause a Romane woman to keepe her selfe eleuen yeeres from being visited of her Neighbors and Friends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemies which visite them most seldome Returning therefore to the Monster As they led this Monster before the doore of Torquatus his house she being great with childe and her husband in the warre by chance a Mayde of his told her how that this Monster passed by wherefore so great a desire tooke her to see the Monster that for to keepe that she had begun suddenly for this desire she dyed Truely I tell thee Faustine that this Monster had passed many times by the Streete where she dwelt and she would neuer notwithstanding go to the window and much lesse out of her doore to see it The death of this Romane of
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
eye to thy childe whom of thy own bloud thou hast begotten And if thou doest it not because he is thy childe thou oughtest to doe it because hee is thy neerest For it is vnpossible that the child which with many vices is assaulted and not succoured but in the ende hee should be infamed and to the dishonour of the father most wickedly ouercome It is vnpossible to keepe Flesh well sauoured vnlesse it bee first salted It is vnpossible that the Fish should liue without water It is vnpossible but that the Rose should wither which is of the thorne ouergrowne So like it is vnpossible that the Fathers should haue any comfort of their children in their age vnlesse they haue instructed them in vertue in their youth And to speake further in this matter I say that in the Christian catholike Religion where in deede there is good doctrine there alwaies is supposed to bee a good conscience Amongst the Writers it is a thing well knowne how Eschines the Phylosopher was banished from Athens and with all his familie came to dwell at Rhodes The occasion was because that hee and the Phylosopher Demosthenes were in great contention in the common-wealth Wherefore the Atheniās determined to banish the one and to keepe the other with them And truely they did well for of the contentions and debates of Sages Warres moste commonly arise amongst the people This Phylosopher Eschines being at Rhodes banished amōgst others made a solemne Oration wherin he greatly reproued the Rhodians that they were so negligent in bringing vp their children saying vnto them these words I let you vnderstand lords of Rhodes that your Predecessours aduaunced themselues to descend and take theyr beginning of the Lides the which aboue all other Nations were curious and diligent to bring vp theyr Children and hereof came came a Law that was among them which saide Wee ordeine and commaund that if a Father haue many Children that the most vertuous should inherite the goods and riches and if there were but one vertuous that he alone shold inherit the whole And if perchance the Children were vicious that then all should be depriued from the heritage For the goods gottē with trauell of vertuous Fathers ought not by reason to be inherited by vicious childrē These were the wordes that the Philosopher spake to the Senate of the Rhodes and because he sayde in that oratiō many other things which touch not our matter I will in this place omit them For among excellēt Writers that writing loseth much authority when the Author from his purpose digresseth into an other matter To say the truth I doe not maruell that the children of Princes and great Lords be adulterers and belly-gods for that on the one part youth is the mother of idlenesse and on the other little experience is the cause of great offences And furthermore the fathers being once dead the children enherite their goods as quietly being loden with vices as if in deed they were with all vertues endued If the young children did know for a certaine that the lawes of the Lydes should be obserued that is to say that they should not inherite vnlesse they be vertuous it is vnpossible but that they would leade a vertuous life and not in this wise to run at large in the worlde For they doe abstaine more from doing euill fearing to lose that which they doe possesse then for anie loue to doe that which they ought I do not denie but according as the natures of the Fathers is diuers so the inclination of the children is variable For so much as some following theyr good inclinations are good and others not resisting euill sensualities are euill But yet in this matter I say that it lyeth much in the Father that doeth bring them vp when as yet they are young so that the euill which nature gaue by good bringing vp is refrayned For oft times the good custome doth ouercome all euill inclination Princes and great Lordes that will be diligent in the instruction of theyr children ought to enforme their maisters and tutors that shall teach them to what vices and vertues their Children are moste inclined And this ought to bee to encourage them in that that is good and contrarie to reproue them in all that is euill For men are vndone for none other cause when they be olde but for that they had so much pleasure when they were young Sextus Cheronensis in the second booke of the auncients saith that on a day a cittizen of Athenes was buying things in the market and for the qualitie of his person the greatest parte of them were superfluous and nothing necessarie And in this case the poore are no lesse culpable then the rich and the riche then the poore For that is so little that to sustaine manslife is necessarie that he which hath least hath therevnto superfluous Therefore at this time when Athens and her common-wealth was the Lanterne of all Greece there was in Athens a Law long vsed and of a great time accustomed that nothing should be bought before a Philosopher had set the price And truly the law was good and would to God the same law were at this present obserued For there is nothing that destroieth a commonwealth more then to permit some to sell as tyrantes and others to buye as fooles When the Theban was buying these things a philosopher was present who saide vnto him these words Tell me I pray thee thou man of Thebes Wherefore doest thou consume and wast thy money in that which is not necessarie for thy house nor profitable for thy person The Thebane answered him I let thee knowe that I doe buye all these things for a sonne I haue of the age of xx yeares the which neuer did any thing that seemed vnto mee euil nor I neuer denyed him any thing that hee demaunded This Philososopher answered Oh how happy wert thou if as thou art a Father thou wert a sonne and that which the Father saieth vnto the sonne the sonne would say vnto the father but I am offended greatly with that thou hast told me For vntill the childe be xxv yeares old he ought not to gainesay his father and the good father ought not to condiscend vnto the appetites of the sonne Now I may call thee cursed father since thou arte become subject to the will of thy sonne and that thy sonne is not obedient to the will of his Father so that thou alterest the order of nature For so much as the father is become sonne of his sonne and the sonne is become father of his father But in the ende I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that when thou shalt become old and aged thou shalt lament and weepe by thy selfe at that which with thy Sonne thou diddest laugh when he was young Though the words of this Phylosopher were fewe yet a wise man will iudge the sentences to be manie I conclude therfore that Princes and
your bodies weake and corrupted what hope shall wee haue of young men which are but 25. yeeres of age if my memorie deceiue mee not when I was there you had Nephewes married and of their children made sure and two of the children borne and since that is true mee thinketh when the fruite is gathered the fruit is of no value and after the meale is taken from the mill euil shal the mill grinde I meane that the olde man ought to desire that his daies might be shortened in this world Do not thinke my friends that a man can haue his house full of Nephewes and yet say that he is very yong for in loding the tree with fruites the blossoms immediately fall or else they become withered I haue imagined with my selfe what it is that you might doe to see me yong and cut of some of your yeares and in the end I know no other reason but when you married Alamberta your daughter with Drusius and your Neece Sophia the faire with Tuscidan which were so yong that the daughters were scarce 15. veares old nor the young men 20. I suppose because you were rich of yeares and poore of money that he gaue to euery one of them in stead of money for dowry ten yeares of yours hereof a man may gather that the money of your Nephewes haue remayned vnto you and you haue giuen vnto them of your owne yeares I vnderstand my friends that your desire is to bee yong and very yong but I greatly desire to see you old and very old I doe not meane in yeares which in you doth surmount but in discretion which in you doth want O Claude and Claudine note that which I wil say vnto you and beare it alwayes in your memory I let you know that to maintaine youth to deface age to liue contented to be free from trauels to lengthen life and to auoyde death These things are not in the hands of men which doe desire them but rather in the hands of those which giueth thē the which according to their iustice and not according to our couetousnesse doe giue vs life by weight and death without measure One thing the old men do which is cause of slaundering many that is that they will speake first in counsels they will bee serued of the young in feasts they will bee first placed in all that they say they will be beleeued in Churches they will bee higher then the residue in distributing of offices they will haue the most honour in their opinions they will not be gainesayde Finally they will haue the credite of old sage men and yet they will leade the life of young doting fooles All these preheminences and priuiledges it is very iust that olde men should haue spent their yeares in the seruice of the common-wealth but with this I do aduise require them that the authoritie giuen them with their white haires bee not diminished by their euill works Is it a iust thing that the humble honest yong mā do reuerence to the aged man proud and disdainefull Is it a iust thing that the gentle and gracious yong man do reuerence to the enuious and malitious old man is it a iust thing that the vertuous and patient young man do reuerence to the foolish and vnpatient old man is it a iust thing that the stout and liberal yong man doe reuerence to the miserable couetous old man is it iust that the diligent and carefull young man do reuerence to the negligent old man is it iust that the abstinent and sober yong man do reuerence to the greedy and gluttonous old man is it iust that the chast and continent yong man do reuerence to the lecherous and dissolute olde man Mee thinketh these things should not bee such that thereby the old man shold be honored but rather reproued and punished For old men offend more by the euill example they giue then by the fault which they cōmit Thou canst not deny me my friend Claude that it is 33. years since we both were at the Theaters to behold a play whē thou camest late and found no place for thee to sit in thou saydest vnto mee who was set Rise my sonne Mark and sithens now thou art yong it is but iust that thou giue mee place which am aged If it bee true that it is three and thirty yeares sithence thou askedst place in the Theaters as an olde man Tell me I pray thee and also I coniure thee with what oyntment hast thou annoynted thy selfe or with what water hast thou washed thy selfe to become young O Claude if thou hadst found any medicine or discouered any herbe wherwith thou couldest take white haires from mens heades and from women the wrinccles of their face I sweare vnto thee and also I doe assure thee that thou shouldest be more visited and serued in Rome then the God Apollo is in his Temple at Ephesus Thou shouldest well remember Annius Priscus the old man which was our Neighbour and somewhat a kinne to thee the which when I tolde him that I could not be filled with his good words and to behold his auncient white haires he said vnto me Oh my Sonne Marke it appeareth well that thou hast not bin aged because thou talkest as a young man For if white haires do honour the person they greatly hurt the hart For at that houre when they see vs aged the strangers doe hate vs and ours do not loue vs. And he told me more I let thee know my sonne Marke that many times my wife and I talking of the yeares of another particularly when shee beholdeth mee and that I seeme vnto her so aged I say vnto her and sweare that I am yet young and that these white hayres came vnto mee by great trauells and the age by sicknes I doe remember also that this Annius Priscus was Senatour one yeare and because he would not seem aged but desired that men shold iudge him to be young he shaued his beard and his head which was not accustomed among the Senatours nor Censors of Rome And on a day among the other Senators he entred into the high Capitoll one saide vnto him thus Tell me man from whence comest thou What wilt thou and why commest thou hither How durst thou being no Senatour enter into the Senate Hee answered I am Annius Priscus the aged How chaunceth it now you haue not knowne me They replyed vnto him if thou wert Annius Priscus thou wouldest not come hither thus shauen For in the sacred Senate can none enter to gouerne the commonwealth vnlesse his person be endued with vertues and his head with white hayres and therefore thou art banished and depriued of thy Office For the olde which liue as the young ought to bee punished Thou knowest well Claude and Claudine that that which I haue spoken is not the faynings of Homer neyther a Fable of Ouide but that you your selues saw it with your eyes and in his
A poore man esteemeth as much a cloake as the rich man doeth his delicious life Therefore it is a good consequent that if the Rich man take the gowne from the poore the poore man ought to take the life frō the rich Phocion amongst the Greekes was greatly renowmed and this not so much for that hee was sage as for that hee did despise all worldly riches vnto whome when Alexander the great king of Macedonte had sent him an hundred markes of siluer he said vnto those that brought it Why doth Alexander sende this Money vnto me rather then to other Phylosophers of Greece They aunswered him Hee doth send it vnto thee for that thou art the least couetous and most vertuous Then aunswered this Phylosopher Tell Alexander that though he knoweth not what belongeth vnto a Prince yet I knowe well what pertayneth to a Phylosopher For the estate and office of Phylosophers is to despise the treasurs of Princes and the office of Princes is to aske counsell of Phylosophers And further Phocion said You shall say also to Alexander That in that hee hath sent mee hee hath not shewed himselfe a pittyfull Friend but a cruell Enemie for esteeming mee an honest man such as hee thought I was he should haue holpen me to haue been such These wordes were worthie of a wise man It is great pittie to see valiaunt and Noble men to be defamed of couetousnes and onely for to get a fewe goods hee abaseth himselfe to vile offices which appertaine rather to meane persons then to noble men and valiaunt knights Whereof insueth that they liue infamed and all their friēds slandered Declaring further I say that it seemeth great lightnes that a knight should leaue the honorable estate of chiualrie to exercise the handycrafte of Husbandrie and that the Horses should bee chaunged into Oxen the speares to mattockes and the weapons into ploughes Finally they doe desire to toyle in the fields and refuse to fight in the Frontiers Oh how much some Knightes of our time haue degenerated from that their fathers haue bin in times past for their predecessors did aduance themselues of the Infidells which in the the fields they slew and their children brag of their Corne and Sheepe they haue in their grounds Our auncient knights were not wont to sigh but when they saw themselues in great distresse and their successors weepe nowe for that it rayned not in the moneth of May. Their Fathers did striue which of them could furnish most men haue moste weapons and keepe most horses but their children now a dayes contend who hath the finest witte who can heape vp greatest treasours and who can keepe most sheepe The Auncients striued who should keepe most men but these worldlings at this day striue who can haue greatest reuenues Wherefore I say since the one doeth desire as much to haue great Rents as the others did delight to haue many weapons It is as thogh Fathers should take the Sword by the pomell and the children by the scabberd All the good arts are peruerted and the arte of Chiualrie aboue all others is despised And not without cause I called it an art for the ancient philosophers cōsumed a great time to write the lawes that the knights ought to keepe And as now the order of the the Carthaginiās seemeth to bee most streight so in times past the order of Knighthood was the streightest To whom I sweare that if they obserued the order of chiualry as good gentle Knights there remained no time vacant for them in life to bee vitious nor wee should accuse them at theyr death as euil christians The true and not fayned Knight ought not to bee prowde malicious furious a glutton coward prodigall niggard a lyer a blasphemer nor negligent Finally I say that all those ought not to bee iudged as Knights which haue golden spurs vnlesse he hath therewith an honest life O if it pleased the King of Heauen that Princes would now a daies examine as straightly those which haue cure of soules as the Romanes did those which had but charge of armies In old time they neuer dubbed any man Knight vnlesse hee were of noble bloud proper of person moderate in speech exercised in the war couragious of heart happy in armes and honest in life Finally he ought of all to bee beloued for his vertue and of none hated for his vice The Knights in whom these vertues shined bright in Rome had diuers liberties that is to say that they onely might weare rings ride on horsebacke through the streetes they might haue a shield shut the gates at dinner they might drinke in cupps of siluer speake to the Senate and make defyances they might demand the ensigne weare weapons take the charge of Embassage and ward at the gates of Rome The Author hereof is Blondus in the booke De Italia illustrata If Plinie deceyue vs not in an Epistle Plutarch in his Politikes Seneca in a Tragedy and Cicero in his Paradoxes There was nothing wherein the Ancients were more circumspect then in electing of their knights now it is not so but that one hauing money to buy a Lordship immediately he is made Knight it is not to fight against the enemies in the field but more freely to commit vices and oppresse the poore in the towns To the end he may be a good Christian hee ought to thinke vpon Iesus crucified to be a good knight he ought alwayes to behold the armes of his shield the which his Grandfather or great Grandfather wanne For they they shall see that they wanne them not beeing in their houses but in shedding of the bloud of their enemies in the Frontiers CHAP. XXX Of a Letter which the Emperour wrote to Mercurius his neighbour a Marchant of Samia wherein men may learne the daungers of those which traffique by sea and also see the couetousnesse of them that trauell by land MArcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome born in mount Celio wisheth to thee Mercurius his speciall friend health and consolation in the Gods the onely Comforters It seemeth well that we are friends sithens wee doe the works of charity For I vnderstanding here thy mishap immediatly sent a messenger to comfort thee and in hearing my disease thou sendest a friend of thine to visite me Wherefore men may perceiue if thou haddest me in mind I did not forget thee I vnderstand that the messenger that went and the other that came met in Capua the one carried my desire for thee and the other brought thy letter for me And if as diligently thou haddest read mine as I attentiuly haue heard thine thou shouldest thereby plainely know that my heart was as full of sorrow as thy spirite was full of paine I was very glad great thanks I yeeld thee that thou sendest to comfort me in my feuer tertian thy visitation came at the same houre that it left mee But if the Goddes did leaue this fact in my hands
times Princes are so earnest of their game and so desirous to kill that they hunt that they are wonte boldly to chase the beastes they hunt and pursue them so that oftentimes they lose the sight of the rest In such a case the good Courtier must euer haue his eyes vpon him and rather seeke to follow the King then to take pleasure in hunting of other beasts for in that case it shal be a better hunting for him to finde out the King and to be with him then he should take pleasure in being alone with the Hart. It may happen lightly that the king galloping his horse vpon the rockie stones he might stūble at such a stone as both the King and his horse should come to the ground and at that time it could not be but very profitable to the Courtier to bee present For it might so happen that by means of the Princes fall he being ready to helpe him he might thenceforth beginne to grow in fauour and credite with the Prince The most part of those that delight to goe a hunting are wont commonly to eate their meate greedily drinke out of measure and besides to shout and make a wonderful noise as they were out of their wits which thinges the graue and wise Courtier should not do for they are rather fit for vagabonds idle persons that set not by their honesty then they are for the honest Courtier that only desireth and endeauoreth by modesty wise behauiour to become great and in fauour CHAP. X. Of the great pains and troubles the Courtier hath that is toilde in sutes of Law and how hee must suffer and behaue himselfe with the Iudges THere are in the Court also diuers kindes of men that bee not Courtiers Princes seruants but only are Courtiers of necessity by reason of suites they haue with the counsell And these manner of Courtiers haue as much need of counsell as of helpe for hee that hath his goods in hazard hath also his life in ieopardy To speake of the diuers and subtill wayes of suffering it is no matter worthy to bee written with ynke but onely with liuely bloud For indeed if euery one of these suters were forced to abide for his faith and beleeue those paines troubles and sorrowes that he doth to recouer his goods as much cruelty as tortures should Vaglioditi and Grauata haue as euer had Rome in times past In my opinion I thinke it a hell to continue a long suter And surely we may beleeue yea and sweare to that the Martyrs executed in olde time in the Primitiue Church which were many in number did not suffer so much neyther felt such griefe to loose their life as doth now a daies an honest man to see himselfe depriued of all his faculties It is a great trouble and charge to recouer any thing but in the end of these two effects a wise man suffereth and feeleth more the displeasure he receyueth then he doth the goods hee spendeth And in my iudgement to striue and contend is nothing else but to bring matter to the hart to sigh and lament to the Eyes to weepe to the Feet to go to the Tongue to complaine to the handes to spend to intreat his Friendes to fauour his cause and to commaund his seruaunts to be carefull and diligent and his bodie to labour continually He that vnderstandeth not the conditions of contention I will let him know they are these which follow Of a rich man to become poore of a mery man to be made sad and Melancholie of a free man a bond-man of a liberall man a couetous man of a quiet man an vnquyet person and of a htaefull a desperate person How is it otherwise possible but that the haplesse Poore Suter must become desperate seeing the Iudge looketh vppon him with a frowning counteuaunce his goods to bee demaunded of him wrongfully and that now it is so long a time hee hath not bin at home and knoweth not as yet whether Sentence shall be giuen with him or against him And besides all this that the Pooreman in his lingring Sute hath spent so much that hee hath not left him sixe pence in his purse If any of these troubles be ynough to bring a man to his end much more shal they be to make the poore-man desperate and weary of his life So diuers are the effects and successes seene in matters of Sutes that many times there is no wit able to dyrect them nor goods to bring them to end Nay wee may boldly and truely say that the Lawes are so many diffuse of themselues and mens iudgements so simple to vnderstand them that at this day there is no Suite in the world so cleer but there is found another law to put that in doubt make it voyd And therfore the good and ill of the Suter consisteth not so much in the reason he hath as in the Law which the Iudge chuseth to giue iudgmēt of It is well that the Suter belieue and thinke that he hath right but the chiefest thing of importaunce is that the Iudge also desire that hee haue his right For that Iudge that fauoureth my cause and desireth to doe mee Iustice he will labour and study to seeke out some Law that shal serue my turn to restore mee againe to my right To contend is so profound a science that neither Socrates to the Athenians nor Solon to the Greeks nor Numa Pom pylius to the Romaines nor Prometheus to the Egiptians nor Lycurgus to the Lacedemonians nor Plato to his Disciples nor Apolonius to the Poets of Nemesis nor Hiarcus to the Indians could euer teach it them and much lesse could they tell how to finde anie way to write it in the bookes of their Common-wealth The cause why these famous men did not finde it was because this Science could not be learned by studying of diuers bookes nor by trauelling through diuers countreyes but onely by framing great Sutes and Processes and by infinite charge and expences of money Happie yea truly and most treble happie were those ages in which they neither knew nor yet could tell what strife or contention meant For indeede from that time hetherto the world hath fallen to decay and chiefly since men haue grown to quarrel and each one contēded with his neighbor Plato was wont to say that in that Commonweale where there were found many Physitians it was also an euident token that there were many vicious people and likewise we may say that in that Citie where there are manie Suters it is to bee thought it followes also that there are many yll disposed-people That onely may be called a blessed and fortunate Common Weale where men liue quietly and haue not to doe with Iustices nor Iudges for it is a true rule when Physitians are much frequented and Iudges much occupied that amongst that people there is little health and lesse quiet But to returne to the troubles of our
Suiters I say that the Disciples of the famous Philosopher Socrates were not bound to be silent in Athens aboue two yeares but the vnfortunate Suiters were bound to holde their peace ten yeares if their suites did continue so long For albeit the Iudge doe them open iniury yet they may not seeme to complaine but rather say hee thinketh hee hath done him the best iustice in the world And if for his mishap or plague of his offences hee would not so approue and speake them let him bee assured the Iudge will perceiue it by his countenance and afterwardes let him know it by his iudgement Some Suters say they are great Sinners and I say they are Saintes For of the seuen deadly sinnes that are committed onely of three they are but to bee accused for in the other foure although they would they doe not giue him time nor leaue to offend How can the Suiter euer offend in pride since hee must poore man goe from house to house with his cappe in his hand and all humilitie to solicit his cause How can hee euer offend in Auarice sith hee hath not many times a penny in his purse to buy him his dinner nor to pay for the infinite draughts and Copies proceeding out of the Chancerie How can hee offend in sloth and idlenes sith hee consumeth the long nights onely in sighes an complaints and the whole day in trotting and trudging vp and downe How can he offend in Gluttony since he would be content to haue onely to suffice nature and not to desire pies nor breakefasts nor to lay the Table euery day That sinne they most easily and commonly offend in is ire and indeed I neuer saw suter patient and although hee be angry wee may not maruell at it a whit For if euer once in the end of halfe a year he happen to haue any thing that pleaseth him I dare bee bound euery weeke after hee shall not want infinite troubles to torment and vexe him These men also offend much in enuy for indeed there is no man that pleades but is enuious and this proceedeth many times to see an other man by fauour dispatched of his sute that hath not continued onely two moneths in Court a suter and of his that hath continued aboue two yeares since it beganne not a word spoken They offend also in the sinne of backebiting and murmuring against theyr neighbours For they neuer cease complayning of the partiality of the Iudges of the slothfulnesse and timorousnes of his Counsellor that pleads his cause at the barre of the little consideration of the Attorney of the payments of the Notary and of the small curtesies or rather rudenes of the officers of the Iudge So that it may be well sayde that to striue in Law and to murmur are neere kinsfolks together The Egyptians were in times past plagued onely with ten plagues but these miserable and wofull suters are dayly plagued with a thousand torments And the difference betwixt their plague these is that the Egiptians came from the diuine prouidēce and these of our poore suters from the inueution of mans malice And it is not without cause we say that it is mans inuention and not diuine For to frame inditements to giue delayes to the party to alledge actions to deny the demaund to accept the proofe to examine witnesses to take out proces to note the declaration to prolong the cause alledging well or prouing il to refuse the iudge for suspect to make intercession to take out the copy of the plea and to call vpon it againe with a 1500. doubles Surely al these are things that neither God commaundeth in the olde Testament neyther Iesus Christ our Sauiour doth alow in his holy gospel The writings of Egypt although they were to the great losse and detriment of the Seigniory of the Egyptians yet were they neuerthelesse very profitable for the liberty of the Egyptians But the miserable Plaintifes are yet in an other great extremity for notwithstanding the plagues and miseries the poore wretches suffer dayly yet doe they leaue their soules buried in the Courts of Chauncery and cannot notwithstanding haue their goods at Liberty And if the plague of the Egyptians was by riuers of bloud frogs horse flyes death of cattel tempests leprosie Locusts mysts flyes and by the death of the first borne children The plague of the Plaintifes is to serue the Presidents to beare with the Auditors to intreat the Notaries to make much of their Clerks to please the Counsellers to follow their heeles that must open their causes to pray the vsshers to borrow money to goe from house to house to solicite their Atturneyes all these things are easily to tell but very hard to suffer for after they are once proued and tryed by experience they are enough to make a wise man contented rather to lose a peece of his right then to seeke to recouer it by any such extremity For hee may bee well assured that hee shall neuer want faire countenance sugred words and large promises but for good doings it is a maruellous wonder if euer they meet together And therefore before all other things it is necessary hee pray to God for his owne health and preseruation and next to him for the preseruation and long continuance of the Iudge if hee will obtaine his sute Therefore I aduise him that hath not the Iudge for his friend to beware as from the Diuel hee doth not commence any sute before him for to dispatch him the better eyther hee will finde the meanes to make his case very darke or at the least hee will prolong his sute as long as he please It skilleth not much whether the Iudges bee olde or yong men for both with the one and the other the poore plaintife hath enough to doe If they be olde men a man shall trauel long ere he wil heare his cause If they bee young men he shal wait long also ere hee can informe them of the very points of his cause An other great discommodity yet follow these olde Iudges that being euer sickly and of weak nature they neuer haue strength nor time in manner to examine their cases And as those that haue lost now a great peece of their memory onely trusting in forepassed expences they presume to dispatch their suites as lightly without further looking into them or throughly examining them as if they had already aduisedly studyed them And peraduenture their case is of such importance that if they had looked vpon it very well they could scantly haue told what to haue sayd in it And I would not that when any case should be determined and iudgement given vpon my matter that the Iudge should benefite himselfe onely with that hee had seene or read before For although experience bee a great helpe to the Iudge to giue the better iudgment vpon the matter yet notwithstanding he is to study a new to vnderstand the merits of the cause It
giue any words to any that shall offend him For the officers of Princes can by no other meanes so well assure their offices and authority they haue as by doing good continually to some and to suffer others no way making any countenance of displeasure for the iniuries done them by others And if it happen as many times i doth that a follower and hanger on of the Court hauing spent all that he hath and driuen now to seeke a new banke chaunce to speake dishonest words and frame great quarrels against the Kings Officers In this case the Courtier and wise Officer should neuer answer him with anger and displeasure and much lesse speake vnto him in choller For a man of honour and respect will be more grieued with a dishonest word that is spokē against him then hee will bee for the deniall of that he asketh Those that are beloued and beliked of Princes aboue all other things ought to bee very patient courteous and gentle in all things For all that the followers of the Court and suiters cannot obtaine in the Court let them not lay the fault to the Prince that denyed it them but onely to the fauoured of the Prince and those about him for that they neuer moued it to the Kings Maiestie nor once thought of the matter as the poore Suters supposed they had The paines and troubles of Court are infinite and insupportable For how quyet soeuer the Courtyer bee they will trouble and molest him if hee be pacient they will be impacient and in stormes saying That such a man spake yll of him and seekes continually to defame him Which things wee will the Courtyer heare with patience and dissemble with wisdome For the wise Courtyer should not bee angrie for the yll wordes they speake of him but onely for the vile and wicked actes they doe vnto him Let not the Courtyer and Fauourite of the Prince be deceiued in thinking that doing for this man and for that man in shewing them fauour that for all that hee can binde or stay their tongues that they speak not ill of him and their hearts that they hate them not extreamly For the Enemie receyueth not so much pleasure of that the Courtyer giueth him as hee doeth griefe and displeasure for that that is behinde yet in the Courtyers hands to giue him Now in the pallaces of Princes it is a naturall thing for eache man to desire to aspire and to creepe into the Princes fauour to bee able to doe much and to bee more worth then others and to commaund also And as there are manie that desire it so are they very few in number that by their vertues and demerits come to obtaine that high fauour It is a thing most sure and vndoubted that one alone enioying his Princes grace and fauour shall be hated in manner of the most part of the people The more they are Rich Noble and of great power that are beloued and accepted of Princes so much the more ought they to bee circumspect and to liue in feare and doubt of such disgraces and misfortunes that may happen to them sith all euery mans eye is vppon them and that they are the more enuyed for that they can do much and desire also to take from them that authoritie and credite they haue and to spoyle them of such treasures as they possesse or haue gotten by the Princes fauour And in this case the Fauourite of the Courte must not truste in the pleasures hee hath done them neyther in the fauor he hath shewed thē much lesse the fayned friendships they seeme to beare him and that hee thinks he hath gotten of them neither must he trust too much his Friends Neighbors and Kinsfolkes no nor his owne Brethren But let him bee assured that all those that are not in the like ranke of Fauour and estimation that hee is be hee of what degree or parentage hee will be yea and as neere a kinne as may bee they will all bee in that his very mortall foes Authority to commaund being the chiefe and highest point of honor and whereto euery man seekes to aspire and which was cause that Pompey became the deadly enemy of Iulius Caesar his father in Law Absolon of Dauid his naturall father Romulus of his brother Remus Alexander of Darius who shewed himselfe before a father in loue in bringing on him vp and Marke Anthony of Augustus Caesar his great friend So that I say it may well bee saide that after disdain and cankered ire haue once possest the delicate brest of man onely concerning honour and commaundement that it is neuer thenceforth recured of that infested sore neyther by gifts promises and much lesse by prayers and requests It is true the accepted of the prince may well bee free from all thyrste and hunger colde and heate warres plague and pouertie and from all other calamityes and troubles of this our wretched life but hee shall neuer be free from detractions of venomous and wicked tongues and from spightfull and enuious persons For no lesse is Enuie ioyned to fauour then is thyrst to a burning ague In this case it is impossible but that the Courtyer should receyue manie times displeasure and disgraces in the Court but not to giue eare to these detracters and ill-speakers of men To remedy these things the Courtyer must needes seeme to let them know by his lookes and aunswers that hee is more offended with them that come and tell him these lewde tales then with those that in deed did truely report them of him This counsell would I giue the courtyer that what ill so euer hee heareth spoken of him I would wish him not seeme to know it and much lesse to be angrie withall nor once giue a distastfull word to the reporters thereof For his choller ouer-paste the euill words hee hath spoken to them in his anger may turne him to more displeasure then he hath done him hurt that caused him speake these words And therefore surely to bridle the Tongue is rather a diuine then a humane vertue and chiefly in that instant when the heart is maistered and subdued with Chollericke passions For afterwards it happeneth many times that being quiet againe in our mindes we are sorry for that wee haue spoken in our anger yea against them that haue angred vs. If the Courtyer should weigh euery worde that is spoken against him and esteeme euery thing that is done to him he should purchase himselfe a continuall and sorrowfull life yea and out of measure a troublesome and vnpleasant sith Princes courts are euer full of Serpents-tongues and venomous harts and that it lyeth not in mans power to let that the hearts of men hate vs not and that their tongues speake not ill of vs. I would aduise the Courtyer to take all the ill that is spoken of him in sporte and mirth and not in anger Seneca sayde and that wisely spoken that there is no greater reuenge
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
art esteemed beautifull bee likewise honoured for taking of good councell In this sort though my losse be much and thy patience little yet shall they account me wise in giuing counsell and the most happie to follow it One thing I will say vnto thee and pardon mee therein Women bee much defamed in that they will take no counsell and such as doe assure their renowme so much on the iudgement of others as they condemne well doing before I thinke good if it so like thee and would if thou wilt that thou shouldest doe in all 〈…〉 I haue counselled thee I will say no more Lady Lyuia but that I do present vnto thee all my vnfortunate troubles my sighes as a desperate man my seruice as thy seruant my troubled griefes my wordes of Phylosophie and my teares as a Louer I send thee heere a gyrstle of Gold on condition that thou alwayes sixe thine Eyes on that and thy heart on mee I pray the Gods giue mee to thee and thee to mee Marke the open Phylosopher wrote this in great 〈◊〉 FINIS The heatheÌ„ may teach Christians how to liue 〈…〉 A worthy sentence of Plato A prettie sentence The trees of the earth sheweth the malice of man A good lesson for all persons to follow A comparison necessiry to be respected A Sentence of Paulus Dyaconus The end of warre both fickle vnconstant A speech of Xenophon How daÌ„gerous a thing it is to meddle with Princes affaires The paines that the Authour tooke in this booke The inordinate loue betweene Nero and Pompeia The folly of the Emperour Nero described A commendation of Demosthenes the Philosopher How happy a thing it is to liue vnder a vertuous prince 〈…〉 Diuers Historiographers at controuersie what things were most authentike New things and vnaccustomed ought not to be vsed The prouidence of the Ants. A description of the Alphabet A worthy sentence of Plato 〈…〉 Spayne coÌ„mended for learned meÌ„ expert in the warres The property of this â—ooke of the Dyall of Princes A notable sentence Iulius Caesar A worthy sentence of What was the occasioÌ„ the ancients aduentured their liues How difficult hard a matter it is to attaine to true honour The cruelty of Tyrants heee described layd open A mans owne conscience a iudge betweene truth and lyes A poesie which Cato the Censor had engrauen in his Ring How much Homer was helde in account The commendation of the 〈…〉 of Marcus Aurelius The definition of time according to Archimenedes The saying â—o Plato The opinioÌ„ of Aulus Gellius coÌ„cerning time The reason why this is called the Iron-age For what cause Marcus Aurelius was chosen Emperour The diuersity of mens opinions One ought not rashly to coÌ„demne another mans wryting The time when the Author began to translate the booke of Marcus Aurelius The booke of Marcus Aurelius at the first imprinted without the knowledge of the Authour Marcus Aurelius a Romane born A 〈…〉 to â—l Rome The Epitaph on the graue of Camilla A worthy law among the RomaÌ„s Chaunges of rulers breed florâ— of vices Concerning the Father of Marcus Aurelius The Romanes foure Garrisons Distribution of offices Honourable Armies of the Romans Gbâ—â—uation among the Roman Antiquaries The answere of Phalaris to a Romane Philosopher The triumphes of Marcus Aurelius The Climateriall yeares of mans life The imperfections of young men deserue no publication A most wise and worthy obseruation The heart of a man is seldome satisfied A notable custome in Rome The happines of any Kingdome Cicero in lib de Legibus Idlenes is the badge of all lewdnes The golden and copper dayes of Rome A famous Visitation vsed by the ancient Romanes A towne in the middest of Campania The folly of a Romane Censour The wisedome of a poore Host of Nolo The harme ensuing by euill education of children A Countrey of the lesser Asia neere Phrygia Conference betwixt Marcus and his Master Fiue especial respects among the Romanes Where the Gods are displeased all goodnes decayeth A most diuine and Christian Confession Diuersity of Nations The occasion of the warres betweene the Alleines â—â— Armenians Cicero de natura Deorum â— Notable sentences of Bruxellus The speech of Bruxellus at his death Paul Oros De Mach. Mund. lib. 6 An ancient custome among the Romanes A rule deseruing obseruation Considerations resolued on bâ— the Romans for their owne good The wilfull ignorance and peruersity of the Gentiles Of the great concorde agreement of Noahs Arke The saying of Aristotle Weake is the arine of man to resist against God The mighty Army of Senacherib ouerthrowne The succes of Ioshua ouer Kings and Kingdomes The God of Troy could not resist the Grecian The dignity of the church militant The enmity of nations one against another Variety of opinions concerning the true God Arist in Metaph lib. 12. Mar. Var. in lib mist Theol. Cic. in lib. de nat Deorum Emperours made Gods or Deuils by decree of the Senate Fiue things fitting an Emperour Romaine 〈…〉 goddesse A worthie saying No goodnesse but proceedeth from God All power is in the hand of of God Wherefore Princes should obey God How much men are bound to the Almightie God Hercules de repub Cicero de natura Deorum Pub. Vict. De nuptiis Antiq. Naturall peculiar Gods Plin. ad Rutil Cic de na tu Deorum Couetousnes the root of all euill The iust iudgement of God Good counsell for women Difference betweene a good Prince a Tyrant The speech of Sophia vnto Tiberius Tiberius answere The frailtie of man The saying of Epimenides 〈…〉 The memorable deedes of Tiberius Treasure found by Tiberius A good Lesson Paul Diacon Lib 18. de gestis Roman The false opinion of the Gentils 〈…〉 The outrages of the Gothes A worthy saying approned by Narsetes Buccelinus did many outrages in Italy The inconstancy of Fortune King Synduals Epitaph Ennie a foe to all vertue Narsetes reply The seuere sentence of the Empresse Strange sights seene in the ayre The ingratitude of the Emperour against Narsetes A good obseruation 〈…〉 Marcus Aurelius speech to Gorbon Afflictions incident to all men The miseries of Marcus Aurelius All is worth nothing without the helpe of God The fickle estate or the worlde Difference betweene the good the euill The dâ—â—ty of a good Prince The difference betweene a good prince and a Tyrant Hee that violateth the Temple feareth not God An ancient 〈…〉 The vow of Marcus Camillus The duetie of euery good Captaine The reward of well doing The 〈…〉 into the hands of Pylates The great zeale of the Romains The difference of women in Rome Titus Liuius lib 2. 5. and 9. Difference betweene the true God and the false Princes ought to excell their Subiects What pleasure it is to serue the liuing God What is required in a good Prince Like Prince like people How circumspect Princes ought to be God onely is iust What vertue 〈…〉 to bee in a good prince God the
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