father and of the rest of the family be it neuer so vertuous there must also concurre the goodnesse of his conuersation abroade to make his domesticall familiaritie worke due effect since many times I haue seene it fall out that the haunting of ill company from home hath done a young man much more hurt then all the good instructions or vertuous examples domesticall could do him good So soft and tender are the minds of yong men and apt as was formerly said to be wrought like waxe to vice And this cometh to passe by reasō that the sensitiue part calling youth to delight and diuerting it from the trauell and paine which learning and vertue require is hardly subdued and brought vnder the rule of reason by which it esteemeth it selfe forced when it is barred from that it desireth And if by any exteriour occasion it be pricked forward it fareth as we see it oftentimes do with young hard-headed colts who take the bit in the mouth and run away with the rider carrying him will he nill he whether they list It ought therefore to be none of the least cares of the father to prouide that the forraine conuersation of his son may be such as shall rather help then hinder his care and home-example To which effect it would be very good if it might be possible that the young man were neuer from his fathers side But forasmuch as many occasions draw men to attend other waightier affaires as well publike as priuat wherby they are driuen to haue their minds busied about exterior things and to neglect their childrē who are their owne bowels Therefore is it their parts in such cases to appoint for their children when they are past their childish yeares some learned and honest man of vertuous behauiour to gouerne them and take care of them whose precepts they may so obey as they shall feare to do any thing that may breede reproch or blame vnto them For such things are mortall poison to yong mens minds and not only put them astray from the path that should leade them to vertue but imprint in them also a vitious habit that maketh them vnruly and disobedient to all wholesome admonitions and vertuous actions This man so chosen to haue the charge of youth must be carefull among other things to foresee that his disciples may haue such companions as the Persian Princes had prouided for them to wit equall of age and like of conditions with whom they may be conuersant familiar For such similitude of age and conditions doth cause them to loue and like one another if some barre or impediment fall not betweene them The auncient wise men assigned to youth the Plannet of Mercury for no other cause as I suppose but for that Mercury being as Astronomers say either good or bad according as he is accompanied with another plannet good or euil euen so youth becommeth good or bad as the companies to which it draweth or giueth it selfe And therefore ought not yong men to haue libertie to haunt what companie they list but to be kept vnder the discipline of wise men and trained vp in the companie of others of their age well bred vntill it may be thought or rather found by experience that they be past danger and become fit to guide themselues hauing brought their mind obedient to reason so farre as it cannot any more draw him to any delights but such as are honest and vertuous This delight in vertue and honestie is best induced into a yong mans mind by that true companiō of vertue that breedeth feare to do or say any thing vnseemely or dishonest which companion Socrates sought to make familiar to his scholers when he would tell them how they should endeuour themselues to purchase in their minds prudence into their tongues truth with silence and in their faces bashfulnesse called by the Latins verecundia deriuing it from the reuerence which yong men vse to beare to their elders This we call shamefastnesse and is that honest red colour or blushing which dieth a yong mans cheekes when he supposeth he hath done or said any thing vnseemely or vnfit for a vertuous mind or that may offend his parents or betters a certaine token of a generous mind and well disciplined of which great hope may be conceiued that it will proue godly and vertuous For as a sure and firme friend to honestie and vertue like a watch or guard set for their securitie it is euer wakefull and carefull to keepe all disordinate concupiscences from the mind whereby though of it selfe it be rather an affect then a habit neuerthelesse she induceth such a habite into a yong mans mind that not onely in presence of others he blusheth if he chance to do any thing not commendable but euen of himselfe he is ashamed if being alone he fall into any errour For though some say that two things chiefly keepe youth from euill correction and shame and that chastisement rather then instruction draweth youth to do well yet I for my part neuer think that yong man well bred or trained vp who for feare of punishment abstaineth from doing things shamefull or dishonest punishment being appointed but for them that are euill which made the Poet say For vertues sake good men ill deeds refraine Ill men refraine them but for feare of paine For the wickednesse of men hath caused lawes to be deuised and established for the conseruation of honest and vertuous societie and ciuil life whereunto man is borne which lawes haue appointed penalties for the offenders to the end that for feare thereof as Xenocrates was wont to say men might flie from ill doing as dogs flie harme doing for feare of the whip And because Plato formed his Common-weale of perfect and vertuous men therfore set he downe no lawes in his bookes de Repub. because he supposed the goodnesse of the men to be sufficient for the gouernement thereof without a law either to commaund good order or to punish offenders Neuertheles the same diuine Philosopher considering how the imperfection of mans nature will not suffer any such Common-wealth to be found he wrote also his bookes of lawes to serue for the imperfection of other Common-weales which were composed of men of all sorts good and bad meane or indifferent in which both instruction and punishment were needfull as well to make the euill abstaine from vice as to confirme the good and to reduce those that were indifferent to greater perfection Lawes therefore haue appointed punishments that vertue might be defended and maintained ciuill societie and humane right preserued But young men bred as our author would haue them are by all meanes to be framed such as for vertues sake for feare of reproch for loue and reuerence to honestie and not for feare of punishment to be inflicted on them by the magistrates or their superiours for doing of euill they may accustome themselues neuer to do any thing for which they should neede to blush
and accounted cruell what praise or commendation can be iustly giuen to two gentlemen of one citie or country that fight together with purpose to kill one another whereas then the circumstances aboue mentioned make the vniuersall warre iust and lawfull this wicked kind of priuate fight or combat is voyde of them all and cannot therefore be but most vniust and vnlawfull With like wrong do they also labour to make it seeme commendable affirming that men thereby shew their valour and fortitude For valour or fortitude being a principall vertue how can it haue place in so vniust and so vnnaturall an action proceeding onely from anger rage fury and rashnes Finally these men that will needs haue Aristotle to be their warrant might if they list see that he in his Ethikes where he directeth man vnto vertue and to ciuill felicitie putteth not among those whom he calleth fortes or men of valour such men as are delighted in reuenge but giueth them the title of warlike or bellicosi And in the same bookes he sayth that whosoeuer doth any thing contrary to the lawes is to be accounted vniust And I pray you what can be more directly contrary to the lawes then this kind of combat or priuate fight And if by taking iustice from the world all vertue must needs decay because she is the preseruer and defender of vertue how can this so excellent a vertue of fortitude be in them that despising the lawes and the magistrates and neglecting all religion and good of their cuntrey and weale publike do practise this wicked combat Moreouer they perceiue not that Aristotle in his Ethikes from whence the rules of ciuill life are to be drawne and not from his Rhetorikes out of which these men fetch their doutie arguments because elsewhere they can find none for their purpose saith that to fight for cause of honour is no act of fortitude Whereupon ensueth that such as come to the combat vpon points of honour as men do now a dayes for the most part make not any shew of their fortitude but onely of their strength and abilitie of body and of their courage whereas true fortitude is to vse these gifts well and honestly according to reason And what honestie or reason can there be in this so mischieuous and wicked a fight which neuertheles these men so farre allow and commend as they are not ashamed to say moued surely by some diuellish spirit that a man for cause of honour may arme himselfe against his country the respect whereof is and euer was so holy yea euē against his father and with cursed hands violate his person vnto whom next after God he must acknowledge his life and being and what else soeuer he hath in this world This cannot be but a most pestiferous opinion and a speech hardly to be beleeued could come out of the diuels owne mouth of hell who though he be the author of all euill yet scarce thinke I that he durst father so abhominable a conceit or sentence But it is a world to see how solemnly men wil become starke mad when they once vndertake to defend a mad cause For to make their frantike fancie to seeme reasonable they vtter such absurdities as are not only detestable to mē but euē bruite beasts also abhorre For among beasts many there are that by naturall instinct not onely feare and respect their begetters but do also nourish them diligently when they are waxen old and not able to purchase foode for themselues repaying thankfully the nouriture which themselues receiued whiles they were yong as it is certainly knowne the Storke doth But here to colour their assertions they say that so ought children to do to their parents and citizens to their country so long as the one ceaseth not to be a father and the country forgetteth not her citizens a saying no lesse foolish then the other For when can that come to passe what law of nature or what ciuill constitution hath taught vs this lesson or out of what schoole of Philosophie haue they learned it what iniuries can a father or a mans country do vnto him that may make him not to acknowledge his countrey which ought to be deerer vnto him then his life or to cast off the reuerence due to his father Good God what els is this but to inuite men and as it were to stir them vp to parricide a thing odious euen to be mentioned It is no maruel therfore if such as attribute so much to points of honor wil needs defend the combat in that respect fall by Gods sufferance as men blinded of the light of naturall reason into such absurd opinions fit for senslesse men which opinions in very truth are no lesse to be condemned then wicked heresies and the authors of them worthy sharpe punishment to be inflicted vpon them by such as haue authoritie in that behalfe And this do they the rather deserue because they seeke to maske and disguise the good and commendable opinions of the best Philosophers and to wrest them in fauour of their damnable and wicked doctrine But I should digresse too far if I should say all I could to confute this impietie and these wicked writings and cruell opinions and therefore returning to our purpose of honour whereof we were speaking you may vnderstand by that which I haue already sayd that honour there is none to be gotten by the combat yet because among other things they say the combat hath bin deuised for cause of honour I must let you know that in true and sound Philosophie they that respect honour as the end of their actions are not onely vnworthy to be accounted vertuous men but deserue blame and reproch But hereof I shall haue occasion to speake more amply in a fitter place Onely this I wil now adde that no actions are commendable but those that are honest and where honestie is not there can be no honour And honestie in truth there is none as before hath bin said in such a fight contrary to all vertue odious to all lawes to all good magistrates and to God himselfe though the folly of the fauourers of this diuellish deuice seeke most wrongfully to draw the summe of all vertues to this iniustice Furthermore either the offences done to men may be auouched before Princes and magistrates in iudgement as no wrongs but lawfull acts or not If they may be so auouched and proued then a thousand combats cannot take them away neither is there any cause of combat if so wicked a custome were allowable If not then he that hath done the iniury is already dishonest and dishonored and the victorie ouer such a man in faith what honour can it purchase Plato the diuine Philosopher and Aristotle his disciple after him considering the nature of iniury and finding that it caried with it alwayes vice and reproch affirmed that it was better to receiue an iniury then to do it And Plato concludeth that he that doth iniury cannot
attaine to happinesse both which sayings are most agreeable to Christian religion Aristotle affirmeth that the magnanimous or great minded man vtterly despiseth all iniuries for that an ill man cannot by any iniury he can do vnto him blemish those vertues wherewith he must be adorned to be truly magnanimous With these worthy men therefore I conclude that iniuries are to be contemned and light set by specially of magnanimous men For as Seneca saith a magnanimous man will neuer thinke that a vicious man hath done him iniury though his meaning were to do it but referre the punishment of his ill intention to the magistrate and the reuenge to God And whosoeuer doth otherwise entring into this reuengefull humour of the combat he doth not onely not purchase any honor to himselfe thereby but heapeth on his owne head Gods wrath and indignation and shame of the world in the iudgement of wise men who know what is honest and what not what things deserue praise and what blame and how when and wherefore a man of vertue ought to venture his life For he that thinketh by the combat to right himselfe taketh vpon him the office of God and of the magistrate as if himselfe were superiour to them both and were able of himselfe as soueraigne Lord to do iustice which thing how dangerous it is in a wel-ordered Common-weale all lawes and reason it selfe doth plainly teach vs. But yet these goodly defenders of this abuse say that a man both by order of nature and by the opinion of Philosophers may well repulse an iniury by his owne vertue and not by law And I say as before that if the iniury be done vnto a man of magnanimitie the way to shake it off is to despise it because the excellencie of his vertue is greater then any iniury that can be done vnto him and if it be done to him that is not come to that degree of vertue as to be magnanimous he may perchance at the instant repulse the same or reuenge himself in hot bloud without any great reproch But to reserue a malice or hatred any long time and therupon to come to the combat with a reuengefull mind as bruite beasts do will alwayes be esteemed of wise men a vicious action and contrary to all lawes and ciuill order And they that are of such reuengefull minds are termed by Aristotle bitter and sharpe men as if he would say without reason In which respect he iudgeth them to be as hereafter shal be shewed men vnworthy of ciuil conuersatiō And by him it is esteemed the part or office of a vertuous ciuill man and a point of magnanimitie to pardon and forgiue offences and iniuries For Plato and his followers were euer of opinion that magnanimitie was giuen to man not because he should dispose himselfe to hatred fury reuenge and wrath but to honestie and vertue Wherefore Seneca also said that it was a kind of reuenge to forgiue And the temple of the Graces according to Aristotles opinion was placed in the midst of the citie of Athens because all men might thereby vnderstand that they were to render good for good not ill for ill For as by the first cities are the better preserued and maintained so by the other they are destroyed and brought to ruine Yet if the magnanimous man would wish him chastised that hath offended him he will not vouchsafe himselfe to file his hands vpon so base and vicious a person as those be by Plato and Aristotles iudgement who are iniurious to others but suffereth the magistrates according to the order of law to reuenge his cause by the punishment of the offender according to his desert to the end the vertue of the one and the vice of the other may be manifested and the one chastised and the other honored thereby And what more glorious reuenge can a man desire or what more notable testimonie of his vertue then to haue him corrected and rest infamous by the punishment which law shall inflict vpon him who hath done him iniury Or what else do these furious minded men seeke in fine by their combat But yet they alledge further as wiling to maintaine their wrong opinions with some shew of reason that combats are sought only in cases of iniuries not determinable by law Which answer is as inconsiderate as the rest For what kind of iniuries can grow betweene man and man whereunto the authoritie of the Prince and of the Magistrates doth not extend who indeed are not to regard the obstinacie of the parties but to punish them by imprisonment and such other meanes as law doth allow and permit to bridle the insolencie and disobedience of such as will not obey and be ameinable For if in ciuill actions that course be held wherefore should not the same rigor be the rather vsed in this so vnlawfull and beastly a debate Neither is there any reason in that they speake of publike and priuate iniuries since the cases are farre vnlike For publike iniuries come from lawfull enemies such as offend or offer wrong to States or Cities but they that are priuatly iniuried in their person cannot call them their lawfull enemies that so haue done them iniury rather they themselues are to be esteemed lawfull enemies to their countrey whiles in following their rage and furious appetite of reuenge they oppose themselues against the publike and ciuill gouernement and deserue in that respect to be seuerely punished by the magistrate as men that esteeme more their priuate iniustice then publike iustice And thus much for the second part of your question Now touching the last point whether it appertaine to ciuill felicitie or no you may easily gather by that which is already said that there can be nothing more contrary to good discipline in a wel-ordered commonweale then this wicked and vniust kind of fight which destroyeth so farre foorth as it beareth sway all ciuill societie For it breedeth the contempt of God and his commandements of Religion of lawes constitutions and ciuill gouernement of Princes of magistrates and finally of countrey parents friends and kinred to all which men are bound by reason naturall and ciuill and for defence of them to spend their liues in maner aforesaid but not at their owne appetite instigated by rage and furie to be prodigall thereof or for reuenge of priuate quarrels or iniuries Will you see how absurd and senslesse a thing these men maintaine that set vp and magnifie this glorious combat then take but this one instance They say in good sooth that if two gentlemen subiect to the selfe and same lawes stirred by this furious conceit haue chalenged the one the other to the combat and that their soueraigne Lord or Prince forbid them to proceed therein that they are not to obey him but to seeke to accomplish their chalenge elsewhere out of his iurisdiction And can any reasonable man or a good subiect endure to heare such a proposition maintained without stomacke or displeasure
Hydra had the same that gaue Hercules so much to do to ouercome her and it is to be maruelled that all yong men are not soone weary of that age which bringeth with it such varietie of imperfections and all contrary to reason and vertue You make vs almost to conceiue an opinion that there can be no Art nor prudence sufficient to deliuer vs from such a multitude of errors that enuiron vs on euery side If there were cause of complaint that youth should be thus described said I yet am not I the man you should complaine of but rather of mine author or of Aristotle who long before described the same euē as he hath done and of Horace in like sort who taking the matter out of Aristotle concluded it in substance much like though in fewer words saying The yong man on whose face no beard yet shewes When first he creepeth out of others charge Delights to haue both horse and hound at will With them to hunt and beate the woods and fields Like waxe to vice is easie to be wrought And sowre to them that tell him of his fault Too late he learnes his profit for to know And in expence aye too too lauish still His heart is high and full of hote desires And soone he loathes that earst he loued deare And truly the nature of a young man is very perillous and vnapt of it selfe to be ruled and directed to any good course partly because of the ignorance accompanying that age and partly for that following the vanities and delights which the worser part of the soule or mind doth set before him he respecteth not that which is honest and vertuous as a thing he neuer knew or tasted And therefore being intent onely to pleasures and delights he considereth not any thing but what is present before him For wanting as is said experience meete to foresee accidents to come he beleeueth much more them that intice him flatter him by praising all he doth then those men that reproue or check him for doing ill or shew him the way to vertue by telling him the truth Neither is there any thing that more setteth a yong man astray from the course of vertue then flattery and specially are yong Princes to take heede thereof about whom are continually flatterers to winne their fauor and by harming them with that subtil engin to purchase to themselues as much gaine profit as they can These who as Aristotle saith bend all their wits to euill with continuall lying and soothing make yong men beleeue that they are excellent in all things aboue course of nature whereunto they simple giuing a readier eare then they should become so blind and foolish that they discerne not their owne good but pricked forward with those false praises apply themselues to that onely which is pleasant and delightfull and become a prey vnto their flatterers who like Parasites affirme all that they heare their master say and denie whatsoeuer he denieth In which respect Diogenes did right well say that flatterers were worse then crowes who feed but on the carcasses of the dead but these iolly companions deuoure the mindes of men aliue making them become as Seneca saith foolish or mad Frō whose conceit Epicarmus varied not much who said that crows pick out the eyes but of dead carcasses but flatterers pick out the eyes of the mind whiles men are yet aliue And to say truly this cursed generation with their leasings and soothing induce such as harken to them and beleeue them to be their own foes and to barre themselues from the attaining of true glory whiles they make them glory in the false praises of wicked flatterers Who to the end they may be the better beleeued when they flatter vse all art possible to shew themselues affectioned though counterfetly to them in whose harts they seeke to poure their poison For they kill in them all seeds of vertue and they take from them the knowledge of themselues and of all truth to which flattery is a most pestilent and mortall enemie And happy might indeed Princes thinke themselues if they had about them men that would frankly and resolutely resist the attempts of flatterers such as was Anaxarcus Eudemonicus about Alexander the Great This Anaxarcus misliking that Alexāder throgh the flattery false praises of such as magnified his acts grew so prowd as he wold needs be esteemed a God seeing on a time his Physition to bring him a potion to ease the griefe of his disease when he was sicke said Is it not a wofull case that the health of our God should consist in a draught of licour and drugs composed by a man Words full wel beseeming the sincere mind of a free harted man As on the other side it was vile adulation which Demades the Athenian vsed who being at an assembly of Councell proposed a decree by which he would haue had Alexander to be reputed for the thirteenth of the great Gods But the people perceiuing his flattering purpose and small reuerence to diuine things condemned him in a fine of an hundred talents If Princes and such as manage States would follow this example and haue an eye to such fellowes there would not be such store of Sycophants as now a dayes there are and the vertues and merites of honest men worthy honour and fauour would be better knowne and regarded then they are and rewards and recompences would be giuen to such men and not to flatterers who seeke to put them besides themselues This I say of such as suffer themselues to be seduced by these charmers but not of wise Princes who giue no more eare to their inchantments then doth the serpent to the charmer because they know that their praises and soothings are but strāgling morsels smeared ouer with hony Philip of Macedon the father of Alexander had a flatterer in his Court called Cisofus or as some say Cleophus who did not onely affirme and deny all that Philip sayd or denied but also on a time when Philip had a sore eye and ware some band or scarfe before it he in like manner came before the King with the like and another time when Philip hauing hurt one of his legs limped vpon it and had clothes wrapped about it the flatterer came likewise with his leg so wrapped and halting into the Court seeking thus not only by his words as other Parasites do but also with his gestures and whole body to transforme the King and put him beside himselfe But although Philip tooke delight in this skim of men yet could they neuer draw him by their charming to incurre those vices which his sonne ranne into who albeit he was of a most noble nature and mind yet did he so much attribute to these bad companions and was so caried away with their flattering praises that he could not endure the truth that Calisthenes told him but miserably slue him spotting with so cruell and barbarous a fact all that
loue of vertue or feare of lawes they could possibly be reclaimed to vertuous life I pray you said Captain Norreis let me interrupt you a little so shall you the better take breath in the meane while I noted not long sithens a saying of your author which me seemed somewhat strange and that is that the substance of the soule should be made perfect by the accidents You say right quoth I but let not that seeme strange vnto you for it ought rather to seeme strange vnto you if it were otherwise because the substance of euery thing is so called by reason that it is subiect vnto accidents neither can there be any accident to which it is proper to be in some subiect but it must fall into some substance and hardly would the substance perhaps be discerned by sense but that the accidents do make it to be knowne Yet hath nature giuen to the substance all that she could giue to enable the same to wit that it might by nature be of it selfe alone hauing no need of any other thing in respect of being and that it should be so necessary to all things else that is not a substance as without it they should be nothing Therefore the nature of the soule is such as the parts thereof haue their vertues and faculties perfect but in that concerneth the directing of them to ciuill life man cannot by nature onely compasse it nor attaine to that end of which we treate Then said Captaine Norreis If it be so as by nature we cannot haue that wherewith we should compasse our felicitie it must belike be in vs contrary to nature And all things contrary to nature being violent and of no continuance I cannot perceiue how this felicitie of ours may stand Sir said I it followeth not that whatsoeuer is not by nature must needs be contrary to nature But most true it is that the meanes to guide vs to this felicitie or our felicity it selfe is in vs not by nature for if it were so all men should naturally be happy and by nature haue the means to purchase the same because all men should of necessitie worke after one sort For things naturall vnlesse they be forced or hindered do alwayes bring foorth the same effects wheresoeuer they be and the powers which nature bestoweth are indifferently dispensed to all alike Which thing is to be vnderstood by the vegetatiue part of the soule which in plants and in creatures sensible attendeth onely by nature without counsell or election to nourish to increase to procreate and to preserue ne ceaseth at any time frō those offices but alwaies produceth like effects in al things that haue life And the sēsible soule euermore giueth the power and vertue of feeling to creatures sensible and neuer altereth her operation nor ceaseth to yeeld the same whiles life endureth except by some strange accident she be forced Seeing therefore the diuersitie of mans will the varietie of his operations and how differently they vse the faculties of the soule we must needes conclude that in respect of ciuill life they work not according to nature But we must not therfore say that their working to purchase their felicitie and the end we speake of is contrary to nature For such things are properly said to be contrary to nature as are violently forced to that which is not naturall and whereunto they haue no aptnesse or disposition at all As for example if a stone which is naturally heauy and therfore coueteth to moue to the center of the earth be cast vpward into the aire by force it is to be said that the motion of that stone so forced vpward is contrary to nature because it hath no instinct or mouing from nature to go vpward and though it were throwne vp ten thousand times so often wold it fal downe again if it were not retained otherwise frō falling And if fire which is light couets to ascend should be forced downeward that force would be contrary to nature and the force ceasing it would by nature ascend again because it hath not any vertue or principle or motion to descend but onely to ascend by which it striueth to come to the place which is proper to it by nature as it is fire and by which it is fire naturally For the elements haue alwayes their essence most perfect when they are nearest to the place assigned them by nature But man being a creature capable of reason and thereby apt to receiue those vertues the seeds whereof nature hath sowne in his mind it cannot be said that the meanes by which he is to be led to so noble an end as his felicitie should be in him contrary to nature For neuer any thing worketh contrary to nature in which is the beginning of that operation that it is to do Why said Captaine Norreis againe since you say that the seeds of vertues are in our minds naturally it seemeth strange to me that they should not bring forth generally in all men their fruite as the seed which is cast into the earth springeth buddeth flowreth and lastly in due seasō yeeldeth fruite according to kind Marry said I and so they do For if mans care and industry be not applied to manure the earth diligently and to weed out the il weeds that spring among the good seed which is sowne they would so choke the same as it would be quite lost And euen so if the seeds of vertue be not holpen with continuall culture and care taken to pul vp the vices which spring therewith and whereof the seeds are naturally as well in our mind as those of vertue they wil ouer-grow and choke them as the weeds of the garden ouer-grow and choke the good herbes planted or sowne therein For so grow vp the disordinate appetites vnreasonable anger ambitions greedie desires of wealth of honour wanton lusts of the flesh and such other affections spoken of before which haue their naturall rootes in those two baser parts of the soule deuoyde of reason And as we see the earth without manuring to bring forth wyld herbs and weeds more plentifully then other good seed which by industry and labor is cast into the same so do those passions affects and appetites of those baser parts of the soule spring and grow vp thicker and faster then the vertues whereby for the more part the fruit of those good seeds of vertue is lost if the mind be not diligently cleaned frō them by the care of others And these ill qualities are in yong men the worse when they suffer themselues to be transported without regard of reason or honestie and their right iudgement to be corrupted and their crooked to preuaile Which crooked iudgement is in effect the cause of all vices and ill affections turnes the braine making them like drunken men much like as coccle doth to them that feed thereupon But this hapneth not vnto that youth which succeedeth a well fashioned childhood such as yesterday was
souldiers besides that their peaceable maner of coming freed me from doubt of cesse thanked be God the state of the realme was such as there was no occasion of burthening the subiect with them such had bin the wisedome valour and foresight of our late Lord Deputie not onely in subduing the rebellious subiects but also in ouercoming the forreine enemie whereby the garrison being reduced to a small number and they prouided for by her Maiestie of victual at reasonable rates the poore husbandman might now eate the labors of his owne hands in peace and quietnes without being disquieted or harried by the vnruly souldier We haue said sir Robert Dillon great cause indeed to thanke God of the present state of our country and that the course holden now by our present Lord Deputie doth promise vs a continuance if not a bettering of this our peace and quietnesse My Lord Grey hath plowed and harrowed the rough ground to his hand but you know that he that soweth the seede whereby we hope for haruest according to the goodnesse of that which is cast into the earth and the seasonablenesse of times deserueth no lesse praise then he that manureth the land God of his goodnesse graunt that when he also hath finished his worke he may be pleased to send vs such another Bayly to ouersee and preserue their labours that this poore countrey may by a wel-ordered and setled forme of gouernement and by due and equall administration of iustice beginne to flourish as other Common-weales do To which all saying Amen we directed our course to walke vp the hill where we had bene the day before and sitting downe vpon the little mount awhile to rest the companie that had come from Dublin we arose againe and walked in the greene way talking still of the great hope was conceiued of the quiet of the countrey since the forreine enemie had so bin vanquished and the domesticall conspiracies discouered met withall and the rebels cleane rooted out till one of the seruants came to call vs home to dinner Where finding the table furnished we sate downe and hauing seasoned our fare with pleasant and familiar discourses as soone as the boord was taken vp they sollicited me to fetch my papers that I might proceede to the finishing of my last discourse of the three by me proposed But they being ready at hand in the dining chamber I reached them and layd them before me and began as followeth Hitherto hath bin discoursed of those two ages which may for the causes before specified be wel said to be void of election and without iudgement because of their want of experience For which cause haue they had others assigned to them for guides to leade them to that end which of themselues they were not able to attaine that is their felicitie in this life And now being to speake of that age which succeeds the heate of youth we must a litle touch the varietie of opinions concerning the same Tully saith that a citizen of Rome might be created Consul which was the highest ordinary dignitie in that citie when he was come to the age of 23. yeares Plinie in his Panegyrike saith that it was decreed lege Pompeia that no man might haue any magistracie before he were thirtie yeeres old And Vlpian lege S. Digest treating of honours writeth that vnder the age of 25. yeares no man was capable of any magistracie Among these three opinions the last of the ciuill lawyer holdeth the medium and is therefore the fittest to be followed for then is a young mans mind setled and he is become fit being bred and instructed as hath bin before declared to be at his owne guiding and direction and then doth the ciuill law allow him libertie to make contracts and bargaines for himselfe which before he could not do being in pupillage and vnder a tutor Howbeit our common law cutteth off foure yeeres of those and enableth a yong man at 21. yeeres of age to enter into his land and to be as we terme it out of his wardship Which time being I know not for what respect assigned by our lawes may well be held not so well considered of as that which the ciuill law appointeth if we marke how many of our yong men ouerthrow their estates by reason of their want of experience and of the disordinate appetites which master them all which in those other foure yeares from 21. to 25. do alter to better iudgement and discretion Whereby they are the better able to order their affaires Why said Captain Dawtry I haue knowne and know at this day some young men who at 18. yeeres of age are of sounder iudgement and more setled behauiour then many not of 25. yeeres old onely but of many moe yea then some that are grey-headed with age Of such said I there are to be seene oftentimes as you say some that beyond all expectation and as it were forcing the rules of nature shew themselues stayed in behauiour and discreete in their actions when they are very yong to the shame of many elder men Of which companie I may well of mine owne knowledge and by the consent I thinke of all men name one as a rare example and a wonder of nature and that is sir Philip Sidney who being but seuenteene yeeres of age when he began to trauell and coming to Paris where he was ere long sworne Gentleman of the chamber to the French King was so admired among the grauer sort of Courtiers that when they could at any time haue him in their companie and conuersation they would be very ioyfull and no lesse delighted with his ready witty answers thē astonished to heare him speake the French language so wel and aptly hauing bin so short a while in the countrey So was he likewise esteemed in all places else where he came in his trauell as well in Germanie as in Italie And the iudgement of her Maiestie employing him when he was not yet full 22. yeeres old in Embassage to congratulate with the Emperour that now is his comming to the Empire may serue for a sufficient proofe what excellencie of vnderstanding and what stayednesse was in him at those yeeres Whereby may well be said of him the same that Cicero said of Scipio Africanus to wit that vertue was come faster vpon him then yeeres Which Africanus was chosen Consull being absent in the warres by an vniuersal consent of all the tribes of Rome before he was of age capable to receiue that dignitie by the law But these are rare examples vpon which rules are not to be grounded for Aristotle so long ago said as we do now in our common prouerbe that one swallow makes not summer Among young men there are some discreete sober quicke of wit and ready of discourse who shew themselues ripe of iudgment before their yeeres might seeme to yeeld it them so are there among aged men on the other side some of shallow wit and little
their nature inclineth them whereas we notwithstanding the vse of reason should be like bond-slaues tied to what the necessitie of destinie should bind vs vnto This was the cause why Chrysippus was worthily condemned among all the auncient Philosophers for that he held destinie to be a sempiternal and vneuitable necessitie and order of things which in maner of a chaine was linked orderly in it self so as one succeeded another and were fitly conioyned together By which description of destinie appeereth that he meant to tie all things to necessitie For albeit he affirmed withall that our mind had some working in the matter yet did he put necessitie to be so necessary that there could no way be found whereby our mind might come to haue any part For to say that our mind or will concurred by willing or not willing whatsoeuer destinie drew vs vnto was nought else but a taking away of free choice from our vnderstanding or will since our mind like a bond-slaue was constrained to will or not to will as destinie did inuite it or rather force it And like to this were the opinions of Demetrius of Parmenides and of Heraclitus who subiected all things to necessitie and deserued no lesse to be condemned then Chrysippus Prince of the Stoikes Among which some there were who seeing many things to happen by chance or fortune whereby it appeared that it could not be true that things came by necessitie lest they should denie a thing so manifest to sense they supposed the beginnings and the endings of things to be of necessitie but the meanes and circumstances they yeelded to be subiect to the changes and alterations of fortune And of this opinion was Virgil as some thinke in the conducting of Aeneas into Italie For it should seeme that he departed his country to come into Italie by fatall disposition that he might get Lauinia for his wife but before he could arriue there and winne her he was mightily tossed and turmoyled by fortune which neuerthelesse could neuer crosse him so much but that in the end he obtained his purpose which by destiny was appointed for him But howsoeuer Virgil thought in that point which here need not to be disputed sure I am that he in the greatest part of his excellent Poeme is rather a Platonike then a Stoike Howbeit some Platonikes as I thinke were not farre different in opinion from the Stoikes for they say that fortune with all her force was not able to resist fatall destinie Though Plotinus thought otherwise and indeed much better who answering them that would needs haue the influence of starres to induce necessitie prooued their reasons to be vaine onely by an ordinary thing in dayly experience which is that sundry persons borne vnder one self same constellation are seene neuerthelesse to haue diuers ends and diuers successes which they could not haue if those influences did worke their effects of necessitie And as for Epicures opinion which was that the falling of his motes or Atomi should breed necessitie in our actions he rather laughed at then confuted Yea he was further of opinion that not onely humane prudence and our free election was able to resist the influences of the starres but that also our complexiō our conuersation and change of place might do the like meaning that the good admonitions and faithfull aduice and counsell of friends is sufficient to ouercome destinie and to free our mindes from the necessitie of fatall disposition Wherefore though it be granted that there is a destinie or that the starres and heauens or the order of causes haue power ouer vs to incline or dispose vs more to one thing then to another yet is it not to be allowed that they shall force vs to follow the same inclination or disposition For though the heauens be the vniuersall principle or beginning of all things and by that vniuersalitie as I may call it the beginning of vs also according to naturall Philosophie yet is it not the onely cause of our being and of our nature for to the making man a man must concurre and so restraine this vniuersall cause to a more speciall And as the heauen or the order of higher causes cannot ingender man without a man speaking according to nature so can they do nothing to bind the free election of man without his consent who must voluntarily yeeld himselfe to accomplish that whereunto the heauen or the order of causes doth bend and incline him And if we haue power to master our complexion so as being naturally inclined to lust we may by heed and diligence become continent and being couetous become liberall though Aristotle say that couetise is as incurable a disease of the mind as the Dropsie or Ptisike is to the body what a folly is it to beleeue that we cannot resist the inclinations of the stars which are causes without vs and not the onely causes of our being but haue need of vs if they will bring forth their effects in vs The beginning of all our operation is vndoubtedly in our selues and all those things that haue the beginning of their working in themselues do worke freely and voluntarily And consequently we may by our free choise and voluntarily giue our selues to good or to euill and master the inclination of the heauens the starres or destinie which troubleth so much the braines of some that in despite of nature they will needes make themselues bond being free whom Ptolomie doth fitly reprehend by saying that the wise man ouer-ruleth the starres For well may the heauens or the stars being corporall substances haue some power ouer our bodies but ouer our mindes which are diuine simple and spirituall substances can they haue none for betweene the heauens our minds is no such correspondence that they may against our wils do ought at all in our minds which are wholy free from their influences if any they haue And therefore do the best of the Platonikes say very wel that man must oppose himselfe against his destinie fighting to ouercome the same with golden armes and weapons to wit vertues which is as Plato saith the gold of the mind For he that behaueth himselfe well that is to say ruleth wel his mind or soule which is the true man indeed as we haue formerly shewed shall neuer be abandoned to destinie or fortune against which two powers mans counsell and wisedome resisteth in such sort if he set himself resolutely thereunto as it may wel appeere that he is Lord and master ouer his owne actions Neither without cause did Tully say that fatall destinie was but a name deuised by old wiues who not knowing the causes of things as soone as any thing fell out contrary to their expectation straight imputed it to destinie ioyning thereunto such a necessitie as it must needs forsooth force mans counsell and prudence A thing most false as hath bin declared Is it not said in the Scripture that God created man and left him in the power
out of the world litle respecting any profit which the prudent hath still regard vnto For the wise maÌ„ hath his mind alwaies raised to the conteÌ„plation of sublime things whereby these baser of the earth seeme to him worthy no estimation the rather because he knoweth right well that nature hath need of very little to sustaine her And although Plato say that those men are called wise who by the light of reason know what is profitable not onely for themselues and particular persons but generally for the commonweale he there vseth the name of a wise man according to the coÌ„mon maner of speech and not properly But that you may the better vnderstaÌ„d my authors meaning you must giue me leaue to enlarge a litle the ground of this his distinction You are therfore to consider that there be three seueral things in vs to wit sense and feeling vnderstanding and appetite Of which the first is the beginning of no action properly because it is common to vs with brute beasts who are not said to do any action for that they want iudgement and election The appetite so farre forth as it is obedient to reason either followeth or eschueth things presented thereunto and in this part Counsell hath place and election as hath bin formerly said which election is the inducement to action for thereby we worke either good or euil and it is prouoked by the appetite though reason brideling the concupiscible desire be the minister of good electioÌ„ But the vnderstanding stretcheth furder then so For it trauels about things eternal necessary and so true as they neuer change nor can be any other then as by nature they haue bin framed But it is busied about this truth two manner of wayes for either it seeketh the knowledge of principles from whence true conclusions are drawne or else of principles that be the origâ—ne of things If we consider the vnderstanding according to the first manner it breedeth science in vs which commeth from the knowledge of true principles which are the grounds of true conclusions And in this sort do we know all things naturall and corporall yet eternall and immutable as causes naturall nature her selfe time place the elements heauen the first mouer so farre forth as he is applied to a moueable body for so far forth as he is a simple substance vnmoueable indiuisible free from all change and as he is alone by him selfe infinite neither body nor vertue contained in a bodie the first of all things naturally moued yea before the matter it selfe al other the properties attributed to that simple pure and diuine nature it is a thing not appertaining to the naturall Philosopher to treate of him and generally all other things natural But taking the vnderstanding according to the second way it raiseth vs vp to the knowledge of that diuine power from which all things great and small mortall and immortall haue their beginning and this knowledge is called wisedome which together with vertue we attaine by the meanes of Philosophie the only school-mistris of humane and diuine learning and the true guide to commendable life and vertuous actions being indeed the greatest gift that God giueth to man in this transitory life Now as these vertues before specified direct vs to that perfectest end that man in this world can attaine vnto by his vertuous deeds so doth this habit called wisedome conduct him to a farre more excellent end then this ciuill or politike end And if that which vertue guideth vs vnto be worthy to be called perfect in this world this other which wisedome leadeth vs vnto may well be termed most perfect because this diuine habit addresseth vs to the knowledge of the most pure simple and excellentest nature which is God eternall and immortall the fountaine of all goodnesse and infallible truth the onely and absolute rest and quiet of our soules minds For which cause Plato said that humane things if they were compared to diuine were vnworthy the employing any study in them as being of no price or estimation at all for they are rather shadowes of things then things indeed euermore fleeting and slippery as dayly experience teacheth vs. But being as we are among men and set to liue and conuerse with them ciuilly the ciuill man must not giue himself to contemplation to stay vpon it as wisedome would perswade him vntill he haue first employed his wit and prudence to the good and profit as well of others as of himselfe Giuing them to vnderstand how man is the perfection of all creatures vnder heauen and placed as the center betweene things diuine and mortall and shewing to them how great is the perfection of mans mind make them know how vnworthy vnfit it is for a maÌ„ to suffer those parts that he hath common with brute beasts to master and ouer-rule those by which he is made not much inferiour to diuine creatures and causing them to lift vp their minds to this consideration instruct them so to dispose and rule through vertuous habits those parts which of themselues are rebellious to reason as they may be forced to obey her no otherwise then their Queene and mistris and through Fortitude Temperance Iustice and Prudence with the rest of the vertues that spring from them frame their behauiour and direct all their actions to that end which we haue intituled by the name of ciuill felicitie to wit that perfect action or operation according to vertue in a perfect life whereof hath formerly bin largely discoursed Which felicitie once attained is of that nature that no man which is possessed thereof can become miserable or vnhappie For vice only can reduce man to be miserable and that is euermore banished from felicitie whose conuersation is onely with vertue to whom she is so fast linked and tied in the mind of man that he hath no power to dissolue or seuer the same And this felicitie is not only a degree but euen the very foundation of that other which we may attaine by the meane of wisedome For after we haue once setled and gounded our selues in the morall vertues and done well in respect of our selues and also holpen others as much as we could we may then raise our thoughts to a higher consideration and examining more inwardly our owne estate find that this most excellent gift of vnderstanding hath bin giuen vs to a further end and purpose then this humane felicitie and therfore bend all our wits to a better vse of our selues which is to take the way of that other felicitie so to place our selues not onely aboue the ordinary ranke of men but euen to approch as neere as our frailtie will permit to God himselfe the last end of all our thoughts and actions From this perfect knowledge of our selues we ascend by degrees to such a height as leauing all worldly cares we apply al our studies to the searching of diuine things to the end that by attaining the vnderstanding and knowledge