that those that will commaund many things in the court of princes shoold alwais doo their things so but they shoold sometime tread awry And admit their faults bee but light and of small moment yet they may bee assured there wil bee enow that will both open them to the comon weal and tell them also secretly to the prince alone For those that seeke to deuorce the fauored of the court from the prince doo not complayn or fynd fault for that they are more in fauor with the prince thā others but they will shew they take it in yll part they haue more aucthority and commaund more then others in the comonweal Saying that by mean of their place autority vnder colour of good zeal to minister Iustice they geeue comonly foul iniurious woords farre vnfitt for the aucthority of the person woorthynes of the place So that it cannot bee otherwise chosen but that continuing this disorder they must needes make the king suspect them besides that bring a great discord betwixt the king those that hee fauoreth make him meruelously offended with them For in th end princes woold alwais bee serued obeyed but not ruled commaunded And yt is a most true saying Ouer much familiarity bredeth contempt which although yt may bee borne betweene men of lyke degree equality yet is it not tollerable betweene the prince the beliked of the prince But rather euery day hower moment that the fauored courtier entreth into the princes palace or into his priuy chamber hee ought euer to doo it with as great curtesy reuerence humility honor in speaking to the king as if hee had neuer spokē with him nor seene him So that hee shoold let all men see that though it please the kings maiesty to make of him and to accept him into his fauor yet that hee leaue not to serue him doo him that duity that all other seruants doo are bound to doo The suerest and most certain way to maintain those that are sublimed exalted in the court of princes to raise bring those to auctority that are low of base condition is that the esteemed repute him self euer a seruaunt that the seruant neuer vaunt nor bost him self to bee fauored or esteemed The familiers of princes ought euer to be ware that there come no complaints of them to the princes ears For as a drop of water by tyme continuall fall cometh to perce the hardest stone so it myght happen that the nombers of complaints might bee occasion for the prince to wtdraw his fauor loue from the courtier again If his only seruyces were sufficient to induce the prince to fauor loue him so the nomber of his subiects cōplaints against him were occasion enough to make him mislike him put him out of fauor clean changing his loue fauor to hate discredit it For it a certeyn thing that when the prince dooth looke well into his own dooings hee had rather bee beloued of all then serued of one alone The honored of the court may not regard so much the honor credit hee is called to by his prince as the basenes pouerty hee was in when it pleased the king to lyke of him that hee came first acquainted with the king For if hee did otherwise it myght happen that like as fortune had brought him to that high estate hee had So pryde might ouerthrow him agayn bryng him as low as hee was before For I shoold haue said more truely a great deal saying that it woold haue made him fall down right beeing the right property of fortune to suffer the baser sort whom shee had called to honor only to returne them to their mean estate call they were of at the first neuer to leaue the fauored of the prince men of auctority nor neuer satisfied till shee haue throwen them down hedlong into extreme misery neuer to ryse againe Agathocles first the sonne of a Potter afterwards made king of Scicillia whilest hee liued hee euer vsed this maner that in his tresory or iewel house yea and also at his table amongst all his cupps and dishes of gold siluer hee had some also of earth amongst them and beeing asked the occasion why in so great a treasure and masse of gold siluer hee had so vyle a thing as earth aunswered thus I drink in golden cupps and eat in earthen dishes to geeue thanks to the gods which of a potters sonne that I was brought mee to this royall state of a mighty king And I doo it also to haue euermore cause to bee hūble to fly pryde For it is an easier thing and more lyker for a king to become a potter then for a potter to attayn to the greatnes and state of a king These woords of Agathocles were euer woorthy to bee noted had in memory since wee see plainly that to geeue a man a fall a little stone sufficeth to make vs stumble and fall to the ground but to raise vs vp again wee must needes help vs with power of hands and feete It may well bee that this braue courtier fauored of the court before hee came to this degree of honor was but of a mean house and basely borne and besydes that esteemed of few for his nobility of blood of an vnknowen contrey of poore parentage of small substance and no better nor otherwise fauored of fortune in his birth or lynage of all which things hee hath no cause to bee ashamed but rather to glory and praise god For hee shall euer bee more esteemed in the court well thought of to remember from whence hee came and to regard his first estate then hee shall if hee wax glorious and hygh mynded by reason of the fauor hee is in at this present vtterly forgetting his first rysing Titus Liuius reciteth that the renowmed Romayn Quintus Cincinatus before hee came to bee made captain of Rome hee was taken out of the feelds a laboring man plowing tilling the ground And this so noble person being occupied in great affairs of the common weal either in prouisions or munitiō or in expeditions of warre was woont to sygh before all the captains and say Alas who coold tell mee now any newes how my beefes doo in my graunge my sheepe in the mountains and whether my seruaunts haue prouided them of hay and pasture to keepe them the next yere Surely it is to bee thought that who so euer speaks these woords with his mouth must needes haue lytle pryde in his hart And vndoubtedly hee proued his woords true and shewed that hee spake as hee thought and in good earnest wtout intent of iest since afterwards hee returned home again to folow the plough to plant his vynes to see his own things gouerned leuīg behind him a perpetual testimony of his noble worthy dooings And his comon weal also gretly
shoulde they see therein thinkest thou Trulye as thou knowest they should see the common wealthe destroyed iustice not ministed and moreouer Rome not obeyed and not without iuste cause For of righte oughte that common wealthe to be distroyed which ons of al other hath bene the flower and most beautified with vertues and after becommeth moste abhominable and defiled with vices The case was suche that two yeares after the warres of Sylla and Marius the Censor went yearely to Nola whiche is a place in the prouince of Campania to visite the same countrey as the custome was And in those dayes the tyme and season being verye hote and the prouince quiet not dysturbed with warres and perceiuyng that none of the people cam to him The censour sayde to the hoste which lodged hym Frend I am a iudge sent from the Senatours of Rome to visite this land Therefore goe thy wayes quicklye and call the good men hither whiche be amonge the people For I haue to saye vnto theym from the sacred senate This hoste who peraduenture was wyser then the Romayne iudge althoughe not so ryche goeth to the graues of the dead whiche in that place were buryed and spake vnto them with a loude voyce sayinge O ye good men come awaye with me quickelie for the Romayne Censour calleth you The iudge perceiuyng they came not sent hym agayne to cal them and the host as he dyd at the first tyme so dyd he nowe at the seconde For when he was at the graues with a loud voyce he said O ye good men come hither for the censour of Rome woulde talke with you And lykewyse they were called the third tyme with the selfsame wordes And the Censour seyng no body come was maruelous angrie and said to the hoste Sithe these good men dysdayne to come at my commandement and shewe their allegiaunce to the sacred senate of Rome to thintente I maye punyshe this their dysobedience I wil goe vnto them my selfe Come and go with me The poore hoste without any wordes takyng the censour by the hand led him to the graues where he had ben before and agayne with a loude voice cried vnto the dead men and sayed O ye good men here is the Roman censor come to speake with you The censor beyng angry sayde to hym what meanest thou by this host I sent the to cal them that are aliue not those that are dead the host made answer o thou Roman Iudge if thou wert wyse thou woldest not marueil at that that I haue done For I let the vnderstand in this our citie of Nola al the good men all I say are now deade and lye here buried in these graues Therfore thou hast no cause to marueile nor yet to be dyspleased with my answere but I rather ought to be offended with thy demaunde willyng me to enquire for good menne and thou thy selfe doste offende with the euill dailie Wherfore I let the know if thou be ignoraunt therof if thou wilt speake with any good man thou shalte not finde him in all the hole worlde vnles the dead be reuiued or excepte the gods wil make a newe creation The Consul Sylla was fyue monethes our captain in this oure citye of Nola in Campania sowinge the fruite whiche ye other Romaines gathered that is to say he lefte children without fathers fathers without children daughters without mothers and husbandes without wyues wiues without husbandes vncles without nephewes subiectes withoute Lordes Lordes withoute tenauntes gods without Temples Temples without priestes mountaines without heardes and fieldes without frutes And the worste of all is that this cursed Sylla dispeopled this oure citye of good and vertuous men and replenyshed it with wycked and vitious personnes Ruine and decay neuer destroyed the walles so muche neyther the mothes euer marred so many garmētes ne the wormes rotted so much fruites nor yet the hayle beate downe so muche corne as the disorder and vices of Sylla the Romaine Consul dyd harme whiche he broughte vnto this land of campania And although the euils that he did here to the men were many folde greate yet muche greater herein was that which he did to their customes and maners For in the ende the good men whiche he beheaded are now at rest with the dead but the vices whiche he left vs. In this land ther are none but proude arrogant men that desire to commaunde In this land there are none other but enuious men that know nought els but malice In this land there are idle men which doe nothing but lose their tyme. In thys land there are none but gluttons whych doe nothyng but eateth In this land ther are non but theues which entende nought els but robberies In thys lande there are none but rebelles that doe nothyng but stirre sedicion And if thou and al the Romaynes esteme these men for good tary a while I wyl goe to cal them al to the. For if we should kil and put in the shambles al the yll men and wey theym as we doe the flesh of shepe or other lyke beastes all the neighbours and inhabitantes of Italye shoulde haue meate sufficiente to eate Beholde Censor in this lande of Campania they case none good but those which are quyet sober wise and discret men Thei cal none good but the pacient honest and verteous men Finallie I say that we cal none good but those which wyll doe no harme and will occupy them selues in good workes without teares I speke not that whych I wil say that is if we seke for any of them we shal finde none but in these graues For the iuste iudgment of god it was they should repose them selues in the intrailles of the earthe whom the publike weale deserued not to haue alyue Thou comest to visite thys land where thou shalt imediatly be serued with the wycked and to hyde theyr faultes theyr dissolute lyfe and theyr vices thou shalt not be a little solicited Beliue me if thou wilt not vndoe thy self be deceiued Trust thou rather these rottē bones then their deceiptful harts For in the end the examples of the dead that were good doe profyte men more to lyue well than the counsaile of the liuing that be wicked doe interre and burye al those that be nowe lyuyng ¶ Marcus Aurelius concludeth the letter and declareth at large the sciences he learned and al the maisters which he had And in the ende he reciteth fiue notable thynges in the obseruaunce of whych the Romaynes were verye curious Cap. iii. I Haue recyted these thynges vnto the my frende Pulio to the ende thou shouldest know what an infinite number there is of the wycked sort in that world and how smal and scant a number there is in Italye of the good and this procedeth of none other thynge but because the Fatheres doe not bryng vp their chyldren as our auncestours dyd It is vnpossyble a young chylde shoulde be vicious yf wyth due correction he had bene instructed in vertues
as he sayd that the tongue is moued by the mocions of the soule that he whiche had no tongue had no soule And he which hath no soule is but a brute beast and he that is a beast deserueth to serue in the fields among brute beasts It is a good thing not to be domme as bruyte beastes are and it is a greater thing to speake as the reasonable men do but it is muche more worthye to speake wel as the eloquent philosophers do For otherwise if he which speaketh doth not wey the sentences more then the wordes ofte tymes the popingayes shal content them more which are in the cage then the men which do read in scooles Iosephus in the booke De bello Iudaico saith that king Herode not onely with his personne and goodes but also with all his frendes and parentes folowed and gaue ayde to Marcus Anthonius and to his louer Cleopatra howbeit in the end Octauian had the vyctorie For the man which for the loue of a woman doth enterprise conquestes it is impossible that eyther he loose not his lyfe or els that he lyue not in infamy Herode seing that Marcus Anthonius was dead determyned to go towardes the Emperour Octauian at whose feete he layd his crowne and made a notable oration wherein he spake so pleasaunt wordes and so hyghe sentences that the Emperour Octauian did not only pardon him for that he was so cruell an enemye but also he confirmed him againe into his Realme and toke him for his deare and special frend For among the good men and noble hartes many euil workes are amended by a few good words If Blundus in the booke intituled Roma triumphante do not deceiue me Pirrus the great king of the Epirotes was stout and hardy valiaunt in armes liberal in benefites pacient in aduersityes and aboue al renowmed to be very swete in wordes and sage in his aunswers They sayd that this Pirrus was so eloquent that the man with whom once he had spoken remayned so much his that from that time foreward in his absence he toke his part and declared his life and state in presence The aboue named Blundus saied and Titus Liuius declareth the same that as the Romaynes were of al things prouided seing that king Pirrus was so eloquent they prouided in the senate that no Romaine Embassadour shold speake vnto him but by a third person for otherwise he would haue perswaded them through his sweate woordes that they shoulde haue retourned againe to Rome as his procurers Soliciters Albeit Marcus Tullius Cicero was Senatour in the Senate consul in the Empire rich amongest the rich and hardy amongest men of warre yet truly none of these qualyties caused him eternal memorie but only his excellent eloquēce This Tullius was so estemed in Rome for the eloquence of his tongue only that oft times they hard hym talke in the Senate iii. houres togethers without any man speakinge one word And let not this be lytle estemed nor lightly passed ouer for worldlye malyce is of such condicion that some man may more easely speake 4. howers then another man shal haue pacience to heare him one minute Anthonius Sabellicus declareth that in the time of Amilcares the Affricans a Philosopher named Afronio florished in great Carthage who being of the yeres of 81. dyed in the first yeare of the warres of Punica They demaunded this Phylosopher what it was that he knew he aunswered He knew nothing but to speake wel They demaunded him againe what he learned he aunswered He did learne nothinge but to speake wel Another time they demaunded him what he taught he aunswered He taught nothing but to speake wel Me thinketh that this good phylosopher in 80. yeres and one said that he learned nothing but to speake wel he knew nothing but to speake wel that he taught nothing but to speake wel And truly he had reasō for the thing which most adorneth mans life is the sweate pleasaunte tongue to speake wel What is it to see ii men in one councel the one talking to the other the one of them hath an euyll grace in propounding and thother excellent in speaking Of such there are some that in hearing theym talke .iii. houres we would neither be trobled nor weryed and of the contrarie part there are others so tedyous and rude in their speache that as sone as men perceiue they beginne to speake they auoyde the place And therfore in mine opinyon ther is no greater trouble thenne to herken one quarter of an houre a rude man to speake and to be contrarye ther is no greater pleasure thenne to heare a dyscreate man though it were a whole weke The deuyne Plato in the Booke of Lawes sayd that there is nothynge whereby a manne is knowen more thenne by the woordes he speaketh for of the woordes whyche we heare hym speake we iudge his intention eyther to be good or euil Laertius in the lyfe of the Phylosophers sayeth that a yong child borne at Athens was brought vnto Socrates the great phylosopher being in Athens to the end he shold receiue him into his company teach him in his scoole The yong chyld was straunge and shamefaste and durst not speake before his maister wherfore the philosopher Socrates said vnto him speake frend if thou wilt that I know the. This sentence of Socrates was very profound and I pray him that shal reade this wryting to pause a while therat For Socrates wil not that a man be knowen by the gesture he hath but by the good or euyl wordes which he speaketh Though eloquence and speaking wel to euery man is a cause of augmenting their honour and no dimynissher of their goodes yet withoute comparison it shineth muche more and is most necessarie in the pallaces of Prynces and great Lordes For men which haue common offices ought of necessity harken to his naturall contrymen also to speake with straungers Speking therfore more plainly I say that the Prince ought not to trauaile only to haue eloquence for the honour of his person but also it behoueth him for the comon wealth For as the prince is but one and is serued of all so it is vnpossible that he haue so much as wil satisfye and content them al. And therfore it is necessarie that he requyte some mith money that he content others with good wordes For the noble hart loueth better a gentle worde then a reward or gift with the tongue of a rude man Plato Liuius Herodotus Vulpicius Eutropius Diorus Plynie and many other innumerable auncient historyographers do not cease to prayse the eloquence of greeke princes and latynes in their workes O how blessed were those tymes when ther were sage princes and discrete lords truly they haue reason to exalt them For many haue obteyned and wonne the royal crounes and septures of the Empire not so much for the great battailes they haue conquered nor for the highe bloud and generacion from whence
and more profyte of the scoller he maye be soner vertuous then vitious For there is more courage required in one to be euil then strenght in another for to be good Also the maisters commenly haue another euill property worse then this whyche is they beare with their scollers in some secreat vices when they are yong from the whiche they cannot be withdrawen afterwarde when they are olde For it chaunceth oftetimes that the good inclination is ouercome by the euill custome and certainly the maisters whych in such a case should be apprehended ought to be punished as traitors pariured For to the mayster it is greater treason to leaue his disciple amongest vices then to delyuer a forte into the handes of the enemyes And let no man maruaill if I call such a mayster a treator for the one yeldeth the forte whych is but of stones builded but the other aduentureth hys sonne who is of his proper body begotten The cause of al this euill is that as the children of Princes ought to enherite realmes and the children of greate lordes hope to inherite the great estates so the maisters are more couetous then vertuous For they suffer their puples to runne at their own willes whē they be yong to thend to winne their hartes when they shal be olde so that the extreame couetousnes of the maisters now a dayes is suche that it causeth goodmens sonnes commonly to be euil and vitious O tutors of princes and maisters of great lordes I do admonyshe you and besides that I counsell you that your couetousnes deceiue you not thynkynge that you shal be better estemed for being clokers of vices then louers of vertues For there is none old nor yong so wicked but knoweth that good is better then euill And further I say to you in this case that oftetimes God permitteth when those that wer children become old their eyes to be opened wherby they know the harme that you haue done them in suffering them to be vitious in thier youth at what tyme your dutye had bene to haue corrected their vices You thought by your goods to be honored for your flattery but you find the contrary that you are despised worthely For it is the iust iudgement of god that he that committeth euill shall not escape without punyshment and he that consealeth the euill committed shal not liue vndefamed Diadumeus the Historiographer in the lyfe of Seuerus the .xxi. Emperour de clareth that Apuleius Rufynus who hadde ben consull twise and at that tyme was also tribune of the people a man who was very aged and likewise of greate aucthoritie thoroughe oute Rome came one daye to the Emperour Seuerus and sayed vnto him in this sorte Moste inuicte Prince alwayes Augustus know that I had .ii. children the whiche I committed to a mayster to bring vp and by chaunce the eldest increasinge in yeares and diminishing in vertues fell in loue with a Romaine ladye the which loue came to late to my knowledge for to such vnfortunat men as I am the disease is alwayes past remedy before the daunger thereof commeth to our knowledge The greatest grefe that herein I fele is that his mayster knew and consealed the euill and was not onely not a meanes to remedye it but also was the chefe worker of the adultery betwene them to be committed And my sonne made hym an oblygation wherin he bounde hym selfe if he woulde bryng hym that romaine lady he would geue hym after my death the house and herytages whych I haue in the gate Salaria and yet herwith not contented but he and my sonne together robbed me of much money For loue is costlye to hym that maynteineth it and alwayes the loues of the children are chargefull to the fathers Iudge you now therefore noble Prince thys so heinous and slaunderous cause for it is to muche presumption of the subiecte to reuenge any iniury knowyng that the lorde hym selfe will reuenge all wronges When the Emperour Seuerus hadde vnderstode this so heynous a case as one that was both in name and dede seuere commaunded good inquisition of the matter to be hadde and that before his presence the shoulde cause to appeare the father the sonne and the mayster to the ende eche one should alledge for his owne right for in Rome none could be condemned for anye offence vnlesse the plainetife had first declared the faulte before hys presence and that the accused shold haue no tyme to make hys excuse The trueth then knowen and the offenders confessyng the offences the Emperour Seuerus gaue iudgement thus I commaunde that this mayster be caste alyue amonge the beastes of the parke Palatine For it is but mete that beastes deuoure hym whyche teacheth others to lyue lyke beastes Also I doe commaunde that the sonne be vtterly dysinheryted of all the goodes of hys father and banyshed into the Iles Balleares and Maiorques For the chylde whiche from hys youth is vitious oughte iustlye to be banyshed the countrey and dysherited of hys fathers goods This therfore of the maister and of the sonne was done by the complaint of Apuleius Rufinus O howe vnconstant fortune is and howe oft not thynkyng of it the threde of lyfe doth breake I saye it bicause if this maister had not bene couetous the father hadde not bene depriued of his sonne the childe hadde not bene banished the mother had not bene defamed the common weale had not bene slaundered the master of wylde beastes hadde not bene deuoured neyther the Emperour hadde bene so cruell agaynst them nor yet their names in Hystories to their infamies hadde alwayes continued I doe not speake thys without a cause to declare by writyng that whyche the euyll do in the world For wyse menne ought more to feare the infamye of the litle penne then the slaunder of the bablyng tongue For in the ende the wicked tongue can not defame but the lyuynge but the litle penne doth defame them that are that were and the shal be To conclude thys my mynde is that the mayster shoulde endeuour hym selfe that hys scooller shoulde be vertuous and that he doe not dispayre though immediately for hys paines he be not rewarded For thoughe he be not of the creature let hym be assured that he shal be of the creatour For God is so mercyefull that he ofte tymes takynge pitie of the swette of those that be good chastneth the vnthankfull and taketh vpon him to require their seruices Of the determination of the Emperour when he committed his childe to the tutours whyche he had prouided for his education Chapter xxxviii CInna the Hystorien in the first booke of the times of Comodus declareth that Marcus Aurelius the Emperour chose .xiiii. masters learned and wise men to teache hys sonne Comodus of the whyche he refused fyue not for that they were not wyse but for that they were not honeste And so he kepte these nyne onely whyche were both learned in the sciences and also experte in bringyng vp the chyldren of
vertues men ought to vse and the vyces which they ought to eschew Cap. xxvi IN tymes past I beeing yong and thou old I did succor thee with money and thou mee with good counsell but now the world is otherwise chaunged in that thy white hears doo iudge thee to bee old and thy woorks doo cause thee to bee yong Therefore necessity compelleth mee that wee chāge our stile which is that I succor thee with good counsell though thou geeue mee no money therfore for I count thy couetousnes to bee such that for all the good counsel coūselers of Rome the wilt not vouchsafe to geeue one quatrine of Capua Now for the good that I wish thee for that which I owe to the law of frendship I will presently geeue thee a counsel wherby thou mayst know what a good mā ought to doo to bee loued of god feared loued of mē If the wilt quietly lead thy life in this miserable world retain this well in memory which I write vnto thee First the good deedes thou hast receiued of any those shalt thou remember the wrongs thou hast sustained them shalt thou forget Secondarely esteeme much thy own little way not the much of an other Thirdly the company of the good always couet the conuersation of the euill dayly fly Fourthly to the great shew thy self graue to the small more conuersant Fiftly to those which are present doo always good woorks and of those that bee absent always speak good woords Sixtly way little the losse of fortune esteeme much things of honor The seuenth to win one thing neuer aduenture thou many nor for many things doubtfull doo not thou aduēture any one thing certain Finally lastly I pray thee aduertise thee that thou haue no enemy that thou keepe but one frend Hee which among the good wil bee counted for good none of these things hee ought to want I know well that thou wilt haue great pleasure to see these my counsels well writen But I ensure thee I shal haue greater pleasure to see them in thy deedes well obserued For by writing to geeue good counsel it is easy but by woorks to folow the same is maruelous hard My faithful frendship to thee plighted thy great ability considered caused mee always for thee in Rome to procure honorable offices by my suyt thou hast been Edite tribune maister of the horses wherin thou behauedst thy self with such wisdom that all the senate therfore yelded mee most harty thanks I procuring them for thee thou for thy self winning such perpetual renowm One thing of thee I vnderstand which with good wil I woold not haue knowen much lesse that any such thing by thee shoold haue been cōmitted that is to weet that thou leauing thy office of the pretorship in the warre by land hast taken vpon thee traffike of a marchāt by sea so that those which in Rome knew thee a knight doo see thee now in Capua a marchant My pen indyting this my letter for a tyme stood in suspence for no other cause but only to see what thing in thee first I might best blame either the noble office which thou didst forsake or the vyle base estate which thou hast chosen And though thou bee so much bereued of thy sences yet call to mynd thy auncient predecessors which dyed in the warres only to leaue their children and nephews armed knights and that thou presently seekest to lose that liberty through thy couetousnes which thei wanne by their valyauntnes I think I am not deceiued that if thy predecessors were reuiued as they were ambicious of honor so woold they bee greedy to eat thee in morsels sinnues bones and all For the children which vniustly take honor from their fathers of reason ought to lose their lyues The castels towns housen mountains woods beasts Iewels and siluer which our predecessors haue left vs in the end by long cōtinuance doo perish and that which causeth vs to haue perpetuall memory of them is the good renowm of their lyfe And therfore if this bee true it is great shame for the parents to haue such children in whom the renowm of their predecessors dooth end In the florishing time of Cicero the oratour when by his counsell the whole common wealth was gouerned hee beeing then of power both in knowledge and of money Salust said vnto him in his inuectiue that hee was of base stock wherunto hee aunswered Great cause haue I too render thāks vnto the gods that I am not as thou art by whom thy high linage is ended but my poore stock by me doth now begin too rise It is great pity to see how many good noble valiant men are dead but it is more greef to see presently their children vitious and vnthrifts So that there remaineth asmuch memory of their infamy as there doth of the others honesty Thou makst mee ashamed that thou hast forsaken to conquer the enemies as a romain knight and that thou art become a marchant as a poore plebeian Thou makest mee to muse a littel my freend Cincinnatus that thou wilt harme thy familiars and suffer straungers to liue in peace Thou seekest to procure death to those which geeue vs life and to deliuer from death those which take our life To rebels thou geeuest rest to the peace makers thou geeuest anoyaunce To those which take from vs our own thou wilt geeue and to those which geeueth vs of theirs thou wilt take Thou condemnest the innocent and the condemned thou wilt deliuer A defender of thy countrey thou wilt not bee but a tirant of thy common welth To al these things aduentureth hee which leaueth weapons and fauleth to marchandise With my self oft times I haue mused what occasion should moue thee to forsake chiualry wherein thou hadst such honor and to take in hand marchandise whereof foloweth such infamy I say that it is asmuch shame for thee to haue gon from the warres as it is honor for those which are born vnto office in the common welth My freend Cincinnatus my end tendeth not to condemne marchandise nor marchaunds nor to speak euill of those which traffick by the trade of bying and selling For as without the valiant knights warre cannot bee atchyued so likewise without the diligent marchants the comon wealth cannot bee maintained I cannot imagin for what other cause thou shooldst forsake the warre traffique marchandise vnlesse it were because thou now being old wantest force to assault men openly in the straits shooldst with more ease sitting in thy chayer robbe secretly in the market place O poore Cincinnatus sithens thou byest cheap sellest deare promisest much performest litle thou byest by one measure sellest by an other thou watchest that none deceiue thee playest therin as other marchants accustom And to conclude I swear that the measure wherwith the gods shall measure thy lyfe shal bee much iuster
with lyes With our frends wee are shamelesse in their life and also bashfull at their death The which ought not to bee so For if our fathers were not dead and that wee did not dayly see these that are present dye mee thinketh it were a shame and also a fear to say to the sick that hee alone shoold dye But since thou knowst as well as hee and hee knoweth as well as thou that all doo trauell in this perillous iurney what shame hast thou to say vnto thy frend that hee is now at the last point If the dead shoold now reuyue how woold they complayn of their frends And thys for no other cause but for that they woold not geeue them good counsell at their death For if the sick man bee my frend and that I see peraduenture hee will dye why shall not I counsell him to prepare him self to dye Certeinly oftentimes wee see by experyence that those which are prepared and are ready for to dye doo escape and those which think to liue doo perish What shoold they doo which goe to vysit the sick perswade them that they make their testaments that they confesse their sinnes that they discharge their conscience that they receiue the Communion and that they doo reconcile them selues to their enemies Certeinly all these things charge not the launce of death nor cut not the threed of lyfe I neuer saw blyndnes so blynd nor ignoraunce so ignorant as to bee ashamed to counsell the sick that they are bound to doo when they are whole As wee haue sayd heere aboue Princes and great Lords are those aboue all other that liue and dye most abusedly And the cause is that as their seruaunts haue no harts to perswade them when they are mery so haue they no audacity to tell them trueth when they are in peril For such seruaunts care lytle so that their maisters beequeath them any thing in theyr willes whether they dye well or lyue euyll O what misery and pity is it to see a Prince a Lord a gentleman and a rych person dye if they haue no faythfull frend about them to help them to passe that payn And not wythout a cause I say that hee ought to bee a faythfull frend For many in our lyfe doo gape after our goods and few at our deaths are sory for our offences The wyse and sage men before nature compelleth them to dye of their own will ought to dye That is to weete that beefore they see them selues in the pangues of death they haue their consciences ready prepared For if wee count him a foole whych will passe the sea without a shippe truely wee will not count him wise which taketh his death without any preparacion beefore What loseth a wise man to haue his will well ordained in what aduenture of honor is any man beefore death to reconsile him self to his enemies and to those whom hee hath born hate and malyce What loseth hee of his credit who in his lyfe tyme restoreth that which at his death they will commaund him to render wherein may a man shew him self to bee more wise then when willingly hee hath discharged that which afterwards by proces they will take from him O how many princes great lords are there which only not for spending one day about their testament haue caused their children and heirs all the days of their life to bee in trauerse in the law So that they supposing to haue left their children welthy haue not left them but for atturneis and counselers of the law The true and vnfained Christian ought euery morning so to dyspose his goods and correct his lyfe as if hee shoold dye the same night And at night in like maner hee ought so to commit him self to god as if hee hoped for no lyfe vntill morning For to say the truth to sustein life there are infinit trauels but to meete death there is but one way If they will credit my woords I woold counsell no man in such estate to liue that for any thing in the world hee shoold vndoo him self The rich and the poore the great and the small the gentlemen and the Plebeians all say and swear that of death they are exceeding fearfull To whom I say and affirm that hee alone feareth death in whom wee see amendment of lyfe Princes and great lords ought also to bee perfect beefore they bee perfect to end beefore they end to dye beefore they dye and to bee mortified beefore they bee mortified If they doo this with them selues they shall as easely leaue their lyfe as if they chāged from one house to an other For the most part of men delight to talk with leisure to drink with leisure to eat with leisure to sleep with leisure but they dye in haste Not without cause I say they dye in haste since wee see thē receiue the sacrament of the supper of the lord in haste make their willes by force with speed to confesse and receiue So that they take it and demaund it so late and so without reason that often times they haue lost their senses and are ready to geeue vp the spirit when they bring it vnto them What auaileth the ship maister after the ship is sonk what doo weapons auayl after the battell is lost What auaileth pleasures after men are dead By that I haue spoken I will demaund what it auaileth the sick beeing heuy with sleep and beereft of their senses to call confessors to whom they confesse their sinnes Euill shal hee bee confessed whych hath no vnderstandyng to repent him self What auayleth it to call the confessor to vnderstand the secret of his conscience when the sick man hath lost his speach Let vs not deceiue our selues saying in our age wee will amend heereafter make restitution at our death For in myne oppinion it is not the poynt of wyse men nor of good christians to desire so much tyme to offend and they wil neuer espy any to amend Woold to god that the third part of tyme which men occupy in sinne were employed about the meditations of death and the cares which they haue to accomplish their fleshly lusts were spent in beewayling their filthy sinnes I am very sory at my hart that thei so wickedly passe their life in vyces and pleasures as if there were no God to whom they shoold render account for their offences All worldlings willingly doo sinne vppon hope only in age to amend and at death to repent but I woold demaund him that in this hope sinned what certeinty hee hath in age of amendment and what assuraunce hee hath to haue long warning beefore hee dye Since wee see by experience there are mo in nomber which dye yong then old it is no reason wee shoold commit so many sinnes in one day that wee shoold haue cause to lament afterwards all the rest of our lyfe And afterwards to beewail the sinnes of our long life wee desire no more but one
for that they were vertuous By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee that when they came from the warre of Parthia triumphed in Rome confirmed the Empire to my sonne if then these nat nat had not withstoode mee I had left Commodus my sonne poore wyth hys vices and woold haue made heire of all my realmes some vertuous man I let thee to weete Panutius that fyue thyngs oppresse my hart sore to the which I woold rather see remedy my self then to commaund other to remedy it The first for that in my lyfe time I can not determyn the proces that the vertuous wydow Drusia hath with the senat Beecause since shee is poore and deformed there is no man that will geeue her iustice The second beecause I dye not in Rome And this for none other cause then that with the sound of the trumpet shoold bee proclaymed that all those which haue any quarell or debt against mee and my famyly should come thither to bee payd or satisfyed of their debts and demaunds The thyrd that as I made fower tyraunts to bee put to execucion which commytted tyranny in Asia and Italy so it greeued mee that I haue not also punished certayn Pyrats which roued on the seas The fowerth for that I haue not caused the Temple to bee fynished which I dyd beegynne for all the gods For I might haue sayd vnto them after my death that since for all them I haue made one house it were not much that any of them shoold receiue one into his which passe thys lyfe in the fauor of gods and wythout the hatred of men For dying after this sort men shal susteyn our honours and the gods shall prouide for our soules The fyfth for that I leaue in life for my onely heire Commodus the prynce yet not so much for the destruction which shall come to my house as for the great domage which shall succeede in the common wealth For the true princes ought to take the domages of their persons lyght and the domages of the common wealth for the most greeuous O Panutius let therefore thys bee the last woord which I will say vnto thee that is to weete that the greatest good that the Gods may geeue to the man that is not couetous but vertuous is to geeue hym good renowne in lyfe and afterwards a good heire at our death Fynally I say that if I haue anything to doo with the gods I require and beeseech them that if they should bee offended Rome slaundered my renowme defamed and my house demynished for that my sonne bee of an euill lyfe that they wyll take from hym lyfe beefore they geeue mee death ¶ Of the woords which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius spake vnto his sonne Commodus at the hower of death necessary for all yong gentlemen to vnderstand Cap. liiij SInce the dysease of Marcus Aurelius was so extream that in euery hower of his lyfe hee was assaulted with death after hee had talked a long tyme with Panutius his secretary hee commaunded his sonne Commodus to be wakened who as a yong man slept soundly in his bed And beeing come beefore his presence al those which were there were moued immediatly with cōpassion to see the eies of the father all swollen with weeping and the eies of the chylde closed with ouermuch sleepe They could not waken the chylde hee was so careles and they could not cause the goodfather sleape hee tooke so great thought All those which were there seeing how the father desired the good lyfe of the sonne and how lytel the sonne wayed the death of his father had compassion of the old man and bare hate to the wicked chylde Then the good Emperour casting his eies on high and directing his woords to his sōne sayd When thou were a chylde I told thy maisters how they ought to bring thee vp after that thou dydst waxe greater I told thy gouernors how they shoold counsaile thee And now will I tel thee how thou with them which are few and they with thee beeing one ought to gouern and maintayn the common wealth If thou esteeme much that which I wil say vnto thee my sonne know thow that I will esteeme it much more that thow wilt beeleue mee For more easely doo wee old men suffer your iniuryes then yee other yong doo receyue our counsailes Wysedome wanteth to you for to beeleeue vs yet yee want not boldnesse to dishonor vs. And that which is woorst the aged in Rome were wont to haue a chayr of wysedome and sagenes but now a days the yong men count it a shame and folly The world at this day ys so chaunged from that it was wont to bee in tymes past that all haue the audacity to geeue counsaile and few haue the wisedome to receyue it so that they are a thowsaund which sell counsailes there is not one that buyeth wisedom I beleeue wel my sōne that according to my fatal destinies thy euill manners litle shal that auaile which I shal tel thee For since thou wooldst not credyt these woords which I spake vnto thee in my life I am sure that thou wilt litle regard them after my death But I doo this more to satisfy my desyre and to accomplish that which I owe vnto the common wealth than for that I hope for any amendment of thy lyfe For there is no grief that so much hurteth a person as when hee him self is cause of his own payn If any man dooth me an iniury if I lay my hands vppon him or speak iniurious woords vnto him my hart is foorthwith satisfyed but if I doo iniury to my self I am hee which wrongeth am wrōged for that I haue none on whom I may reuenge my wrōg and I vexe chafe with my self If thou my sonne bee euill after that thou hast enheryted the empire my mother Rome wil complain of the gods which haue geeuen thee so many euil inclinacions Shee wil cōplayn of Faustine thy mother which hath brought thee vp so wantonly shee will complayn of thee which hast no will to resist vice but shee shall haue no cause to complayn of the old man thy father who hath not geeuen thee good counsailes For if thou hadst beeleeued that which I told thee men woold reioyce to haue thee for their lord and the gods to vse thee as their minister I cannot tel my sonne if I bee deceiued but I see thee so depriued of vnderstanding so vncertayn in thy woords so dissolute in thy maners so vniust in iustice in that thou desirest so hardy in thy duty so negligent that if thou chaunge alter not thy maners men wil hate thee and the gods will forsake thee O if thou knewst my sonne what thyng it is to haue men for enemies and to bee forsaken of the gods by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that thou wooldst not onely hate the seignory of Rome but with thy hands also thou wooldst
aduertise thee my sonne that when thou takst counsayle thou beehold with thy eyes the inconuenience as wel as the remedyes which they shal offer vnto thee For the true coūsaile consisteth not to tel what they ought to doo but to declare what therof is like to succeede When that shalt enter prise my sonne great weighty affayres asmuch oughtst thou to regard the litle damages for to cut thē of in time as the great mishaps to remedy them For oftentymes it chaunceth that for the negligēce of taking vp a gutter the whole house falleth to the ground Notwithstanding I tell thee thou take counsayl I meane not that thou oughtst to bee so curious as for euery trifle to cal thy coūsayle For there are many things of such quality that they would bee immediatly put in execution they doo endomage thēselues attending for coūsayle That which by thine owne aucthority thou maist dispatch with out the domage of the common wealth referre it to no other person here in thou shalt bee iust shalt doo iustice confourmable For considering that thy seruice dependeth onely of them the reward which they ought to haue ought to depēd onely on thee I remember that when Marius the Cōsul came from the warres of Numidia hee deuided all the treasour hee brought amongst his souldyers not putting one iewell into the common treasour And when heere of hee was accused for that hee had not demaūded licence of the senat hee aunswered them It is not iust I take counsayle with others for to geeue recompēce to those which haue not taken the opinions of others to serue mee Thou shalt fynde my sonne a kinde of mē which are very hard of money and exceeding prodigall of counsaile There are also dyuers lenders which without demaūding them doo offer to giue it With such lyke men thou shalt haue this counsaile neuer looke thou for good coūsaile at that man whose counsaile tendeth to the preiudice of another For hee offreth woords to thy seruice trauaileth thy busines to his owne profyt As the gods gaue mee long life of these things haue I had great experience wherin I let thee know that for the space of .xv yeares I was consull Senator Censor Pretor Questor Edil Tribune after al this I haue been .18 yeares emperor of Rome wherin al those which haue spoken most against mee touched the profit or damage of another The chief intencion of those which folow the courts of Princes are to procure to augment their houses And if they cannot com to that they seeke to dimynish the of another not for that any profit should folow vnto them therof bee it neuer so litle but beecause mans malyce is of such condicion that it esteemeth the profit of another his own domage They ought to haue great compassion of the Prince for the most that follow him serue him not for that they loue him but for the gyfts rewards which they hope to haue of hym And this seemeth to bee true for the day that Princes shal cease to geeue thē the self same day beegyn they to hate hym So that such seruaunts wee cannot call frends of our persons but couetous of our goods That thou loue my sonne the one aboue the other thou mayst ryght well but I aduertyse thee that thou nor they doo make any semblaunce in such sort that al doo know it For if thou doost otherwyse they wil murmure at thee wyll all persecute thee Hee incurreth into no smal peryll nor hath no lytle trouble which is aboue al of the Prince beeloued of the people hated For then hee is hated persecuted of all And yet more domage ensueth vnto him of the enmyty of al then dooth of the loue of the prince alone For sometimes the gods permitting it and his beehauiour deseruing it the Prince dooth cease to loue him therewith his enemyes beegyn to persecute hym From the tyme I knew what meaned to gouerne a cōmon weale I haue always determined neuer to keepe man in my house one day after I know him to bee an enemy to the common wealth In the yeare of the foundacion of Rome 649. Lucius Lucullus the Senator going to the warres agaynst Mithridate by chaūce found a tablet of copper in the city called Triganie the which was at the gate of the kyng of that prouynce And on that same was engrauen certayne Caldean letters the which in effect sayed these wordes The prince is not sage who wyll put in hazard the state of his common wealth for the onely commoditye of one alone For the seruyce of one cannot auayle against the loue of al. The prince is not sage the for to enrich one alone seeketh to empouerish all For it is a thing vntollerable that the one doo labour the fyelds and the other doo gather the fruit The Prince is not iust which wil satisfy the couetousnes of one more then the seruice of all for there is meane to pay the seruices of the good and there is no ryches to satisfy the couetousnes of the euyl The Prince is a foole that despyseth the counsaile of all and trusteth in the opinyon of one For though there bee in a great shippe but one Pilot yet it needeth manye Marryners Bold is the Prince which to loue one onely wylbee hated of al for noble Princes ought to think it much profyt to bee beeloued and much more displeasure to bee hated These were the woords which were wrytten in that tablet worthy of eternal memory And I wil tel thee further in this case that Lucullus the Senator sent on the one part the tablet of copper where these woords were and on the other part the coffers where in hee had brought the ryches to the end the senat should choose one and leaue the other The senate despysing the riches and treasours choose the tablet of counsayles ¶ The Emperor foloweth his matter and exhorteth his sonne vnto certain particuler things woorthy to bee engraued in the harts of men Cap. lvi VNtil now I haue spoken as a father to his sonne that which toucheth thy profit Now I will tel thee what thou shalt doo after my death for my seruice And if thou wilt bee the true sonne of thy father the things which I haue loued in my life shal bee of thee esteemed after my death doo not resēble many children which after their fathers haue closed their eyes doo remember them no more For in such case though in deed the fathers bee dead buried yet they are alwayes liuing to cōplaine to the Gods of their children Though it seemeth not to bee sclaunderous yet it is more perilus to contend with the dead then to iniure the lyuing And the reason is for that the lyuing may reuenge are for to aunswere but the dead cannot make aunswer much lesse they can bee reuenged And in such case the Gods doo take their cause in protection some times they execute such
to god and confesseth to the world that hee more rashely then wysely plonged him self into so graue and deepe a matter and whose yong yeres and vnskilfull head might both then and now haue excused his fond enterprise heerein For the second and last I must needes appeal to all the woorshipfull and my beeloued compaignyons and fellow students of our house of Lyncolnes Inne at that tyme from whence my poore english Dyall tooke his light To whose iust and true reports for thy vndoubted satisfaction and discharge of my poore honesty I referre thee and wholly yeld mee These recyted causes for purgacion of my suspected fame as also for established assurance of the lyke and thy further doubt of mee heereafter I thought good gentle reader to denounce vnto thee I myght well haue spared thys second and last labor of myne taken in the reformacion and correction of thys Dyall enlarging my self further once agayn wyth the translation of the late and new come fauored courtier and whych I found annexed to the Dyall for the fourth and last booke If my preceeding trauell taken in the settyng foorth of the first three books and the respect of myne honesty in accomplyshing of the same had not incyted mee vnwillyng to continue my first begonne attempt to bring the same to his perfyt and desyred end whych whole woork is now complete by thys last booke entituled the fauoured courtyer Whych fyrst and last volume wholly as yt lyeth I prostrate to the iudgement of the graue and wyse Reader subiecting my self and yt to the reformation and correction of hys lerned head whom I beeseech to iudge of mee wyth fauor and equity and not wyth malyce to persecute my same and honest intent hauyng for thy benefit to my lyttle skill and knowledge imployed my symple talent crauyng no other guerdon of thee but thy good report and curteous acceptaunce heereof Whych dooyng thou shalt make mee double bound to thee First to bee thankfull for thy good will Secondly to bee considerate how hereafter I take vppon mee so great a charge Thirdly thou shalt encourage mee to study to increase my talent Fourthly and lastly most freely to beestow thincrease thereof on thee and for the benefit of my countrey and common weale whereto duety byndeth mee Obseruing the sage prudent saying of the renowmed orator and famous Cicero with which I end and thereto leaue thee Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vendicat partem parentes partem amici In defence and preseruation whereof good reader wee ought not alone to employ our whole wittes and able sences but necessity enforcing vs to sacrifice our selues also for benefit thereof From my lord Norths house nere London the .10 day of May. 1568. Thine that accepteth mee Th. North. ¶ The prolog of this present woork sheweth what one true frend ought to doo for an other Addressed to the right honorable the lord Fraunces Conos great commaunder of Lyon THe famous Philosopher Plato beesought of al his disciples to tel theÌ„ why hee iornyed so oft from Athens to Scicille beeing the way hee trauelled in deede very long and the sea hee passed very daungerous aunswered them thus The cause that moues mee to goe from Athens to Scicille is only to see Phocion a man iustinal that hee dooth and wise in all that hee speaketh and beecause hee is my very frend and enemy of Denys I goe also willingly to him to ayd him in that I may and to councell him in all the I know and told them further I doo you to weete my disciples that a good philosopher to visit and help his frend and to accompany with a good man shoold think the iorney short and no whit paynfull though hee shoold sulk the whole seas and pace the compase of the earth Appolonius Thianeus departed from Rome went through all Asia sayled ouer the great flud Nile endured the bitter cold of mount Caucasus suffered the parching heat of the mountayns Riphei passed the land of Nassagera entred into the great India And this long pilgrimage tooke hee vppon him in no other respect but to see Hyarcus the philosopher his great and old frend Agesilaus also among the Greekes accompted a woorthy Captayn vnderstanding that the kyng Hycarius had an other captayn his very frend captyue leauing all his own affayres apart traueling through dyuers countreis went to the place where hee was and arryued there presented him self vnto the kyng and said thus to him I humbly beeseech thee O puissant king thou deigne to pardon Minotus my sole and only frend and thy subiect now for what thou shalt doo to him make thy account thou hast doon it to mee For in deed thou canst neuer alone punish his body but thou shalt therewith also crucify my hart Kyng Herod after Augustus had ouercome Mark Antony came to Rome and laying his crown at the Imperiall feete with stout corage spake these woords vnto him Know thou mighty Augustus if thou knowst it not that if Mark Antony had beeleeued mee and not his accursed loue Cleopatra thou shooldst then haue proued how bitter an enemy I woold haue been to thee and hee haue found how true a frend I was and yet am to him But hee as a man rather geeuen ouer to the rule of a womans will then guyded by reasons skill tooke of mee but money only and of Cleopatra counsell And proceeding further sayd Lo here my kingdom my person and royall crown layd at thy princely feete all which I freely offer to thee to dispose of at thy will pleasure pleasing thee so to accept it but yet with this condicion inuict Augustê° that thou commaund mee not to here nor speak yll of Mark Antony my lord and frend yea although hee were now dead For know thou sacred prince that true frends neither for death ought to bee had in obliuioÌ„ nor for absens to bee forsaken Iulius Cesar last dictator and first emperor of Rome dyd so entierly loue Cornelius Fabatus the consull that traueling togethers through the alps of Fraunce and beeing beenighted farre from any town or harber saue that only of a hollow caue which happely they lighted on And Cornelius the consull euen then not well at ease Iulius Cesar left him the whole caue to th end hee might bee more at rest and hee him self lay abroad in the cold snow By these goodly examples wee haue resited and by dyuers others wee coold resite may bee considered what faithfull frendship ought to bee beetwixt true and perfect frends and into how many daungers one frend ought to put him self for an other For it is not enough that one frend bee sory for the troubles of an other but hee is bound if neede were to goe and dye ioyfully wyth him Hee only deseruedly may bee counted a true frend that vnasked and beefore hee bee called goeth with his goods and person to help and releeue his frend But in this our
yron age alas there is no such kynd of amity as that wee haue spoken of More then this that there is no frend will part with any thing of his to releeue his frend much lesse that taketh care to fauor him in his trobles but if there bee any such that will help hys frend yt is euen then when tyme serueth rather to pity and lament him then to ayd or succor him It is a thing woorth the knowledge that to make a true and perpetuall frendship wee may not offer to many persons but according to Seneca his saying who saith My frend Lucillus I councell thee that thou bee a true frend to one alone and enemy to none for nombers of frends brings great incumbrance which seemeth somewhat to diminish frendship For who that considereth the liberty of the hart it is impossible that one shoold frame and agree wyth the condicions of many and much lesse that many shoold content them with the desiers and affections of one Tully and Salust were two famous orators amongst the Romayns and great enemies beetwene them selues and duryng thys emulation beetweene them Tully had purchased all the Senators frendship and Salust only had no other frend in all Rome but Mark Anthony alone And so these two great Orators beeing one day at woords togeethers Tully in great anger sayd to Salust what force or power art thou of or what canst thou doo or attempt against mee sith thou knowst that in all Rome thou hast but one only frend Mark Antony and I no enemy but one and that is hee To whom Salust answered Thou gloriest O Tully that thou hast no mo but one only enemy and afterwards iests at mee that I haue no more frends but only one but I hope in the immortall Gods that this only enemy thou hast shal bee able enough vtterly to vndoo thee and this my sole frend that I haue shal bee sufficient to protect and defend mee in al my causes And shortly after these woords passed beetween them Mark Antony shewed the frendship hee bare to the one and the enimity hee had to the other for hee caused Tully to bee put to death and raysed Salust to great honor A frend may well impart to the other all his own as bread wyne money tyme conuersation and such lyke but hee cannot notwithstandyng geeue him part of his hart for that suffereth it not to bee parted nor deuyded beecause it can bee geeuen but to one alone This graunted to bee true as needs it must doubtles that the hart can not bee deuyded but only geeuen to one then is it of necessity that hee that will seeke to haue many frends must needs repair to the shambels to prouyde him of many harts Many vaunt them selues and think it a glory to haue nombers of frends but let such well consider to what vse that legendary of frends do serue them they shall then easely fynd they stand them in no other steed but to eat to drink to walk to babble and to murmure togeethers and not one to help the other with their goods fauor and credit at their neede nor frendly to reprooue them of their faults and vyces whych doubtles ought not to bee so For where true and perfect frendship raygneth neither I wish my frend nor hee with mee shoold dissemble any fault or vyce Ouide sayth in his booke de arte amandi that the law of true vnfayned loue is so streight that no frendship but myne in thy hart shoold herber and in myne shoold lodge none others loue but thine for loue is none other thing but one hart lyuing in two bodies two bodies obeying one hart In this world there is no treasure cōparable to a true sure frend syth to a faith full frend a man may safely discouer the secrets of hys hart beewray vnto him hys gryping greeues trusting him with his honor comitting to his guyd custody all his goods hee shall succor him in his misery counsell him in peril reioyce at his prosperity and mourn at his aduersity and in fyne I conclude such a frend neuer werieth to serue him in his lyfe nor to lament him after his death I graunt that gold and siluer is good kynsfolks are good and money is good but true frends exceede them all without comparison For all these things cannot warrant vs from necessitie if synister fortune plunge vs into it but rather encrease our torment and extremitie Also they doo not reioyce vs but rather heap further greefes vppon vs neither doo they succor vs but rather ech hour geeue vs cause to complayn much lesse doo they remember and aduise vs of that that is good but still doo deceiue vs not dyrectyng vs the right way but still bringing vs out of our way and when they haue lead vs awry out of the high way they bring vs into desert woods and hygh and daungerous mountayns whereof necessity wee must fal down hedlong A true frend is no partaker of these conditions but rather hee ys sory for the lest trouble that happeneth to hys frend hee feareth not neither spareth hys goods nor the daunger of his person hee careth not to take vppon hym any painfull iorney quarels or sutes nor yet to put his lyfe in euery hasard of death And yet that that is most of all to bee esteemed is that lyke as the hart and bowels euer burn with pure and sincere loue so dooth hee wish and desire wyth gladsome mynd to bere the burthen of all hys frends mishaps yea more then yet spoken of Alexander the great offered great presents to the Philosopher Zenocrates who woold not vouchsafe to receiue them much lesse to beehold them And beeing demaunded of Alexander why hee woold not receyue them hauyng poore kinsfolks and parents to beestow them on hee aunswered him thus Truely I haue both brothers and sisters O Alexander yet I haue no kinsman but him that is my frend and one only frend I haue who hath no neede of any gyfts to bee geeuen him For the only cause why I choose him to bee my sole and only frend was for that I euer saw him despise these worldly things Truely the sentence of this good philosopher Zenocrates is of no small efficacy for him that will aduysedly consider of it sith that not seeldom but many times it happeneth that the great troubles the sundry daungers and the continuall necessities and miseries wee suffer in this vale of misery haue for the most part proceeded from our parents and afterwards by our frends haue been mediated and redressed Therefore since wee haue thought it good and necessary to choose a frend and that hee bee but one only ech man must bee wise lest in such choise hee bee deceiued For oft tymes it happeneth that those that take litle regard herein graunt their frendship to such one as is to couetous impacient a great babbler seditious and presumptuous and of such condicions that sometyme it
more money fondly thē woold serue any other man to spend in all his necessaries That officer or clerk that hath not aboue a hundreth crownes in his purse and that in a night playeth away two hundreth crownes what iudgement shall a man geeue of him but that eyther hee deceyueth others in his office or hee stealeth pilfreth from his maister or lord or els hee exacteth vppon the poore suters and racks them withall extreamyty without conscience and honesty and that hee will haue yt on them euen with playn brawlyng Yea and though these good felows bee liberall in play as you haue hard yet I warraunt you they are not spare of dyet neyther but if they cal their frends at a time to their table in the hall or els byd their curtesans to some gardein you may bee assured they want no deynty meats nor delycat wines to please their lyking lust yea peraduenture with more coppy better meat and drink then their maisters or lords haue any Heare could I mate them with like companions to them selues the marchaunts prentices which for their lauish expence their excessiue play their lusty banketing and feasting otherwhile their secret frends in gardeins blynd tauerns come not behynd them at al in delicacy of fare and in suptuous expence but rather goe before leaue them farre behynd And how think you can these foule ryots disorders bee born by any likelyhood of the prentices own abylity nay suer of the maisters cost as best able whose purse paieth for that good cheere though hee good man fare at home but thynly But wel sence it toucheth not our matter I wil retorn agayn where I left All these things notwithstanding they are dishonest are sometimes tollerable to bee born so that with these faults they would bee diligent to dispatch men easly to talk withal But alas for pyty wee see that for al these complaints they heare for all the requests intreaty that may bee made to them they wil neuer take penne in hand before the poore suter take his hand out of his purse that they may feele him a litle Wee haue spoken al these things to admonish remember to beseech the fauored of the prince and other their officers that neither them selues nor their seruants vnder them bee long and slow in dispatchyng such thyngs as they haue in charge and cheefely of poore and myserable suters For if wee consider the qualities and condicions of men wee see that to many suters yt were lesse detriment and more profyt to bee aunswered quyckly though they were denied then dyspatched slowly and to haue it graunted to their great charge and long trouble Truely mee thinks it is a great secret of god to know why all those that are suyters in the court of prynces those also whom wee sue to are all mortall And all the suyts that wee labor for seeme yea to say more truely are immortall And hereof wee see a dayly experyence that the suyters dye and their suyts lyue for euer beeing neuer determined O excellent art and fyne deuise of suyt that courtiers are woont to vse that are gratefull to princes as for familyar example They fynd a way to put in a thousand manner of lets to hynder and delay the suyts because that when by tract of tyme they haue more then halfe dyspayred the hopeles suyters they then to reuiue them agayn and to make their honor seeme the greater dispatch them euen in a moment without let or delay and to the suters whole contentation It is good reason the prince haue a regard of the thyngs hee geeues and to whom hee graunts them and like wise of the tyme and place For in receyuing fauor or a good turne at the prynces hand they sometimes make more account and estimate of the lyberalyty and bountyfull mynd of the prince then they doo of the gyfts them selues Suer it ys a good thing and laudable for those that are contynually about the person of the prynce that they bee easy to bee spoken wythall pacyent to heare wyse in aunswering of good fame in their life and ready to dispatch and doo good For beeing otherwise they may bee assured they shall shew the mark and white for their enemies to shoote their persyng shaft at and shall geeue the suyters also cause to complayn and speak ill of them And therefore to cuite them short I counsell them that in those things they are besought that they bee not too hard to bee entreated and in that they are requested that they bee neuer too straunge nor drawyng back much lesse couetous and in those thinges that are geeuen them they bee neuer vnthankfull and with those that they are conuersaunt that they bee very well aduised and consydered those thyngs whereof they are aduertised that they endeuor them selues to keepe yt in mynd and memory and neuer to forget yt And if they shall doo otherwyse let them assure them selues and trust vnto yt that if they in tyme of sute shall shut the doores against the poore suyters that the common people also will neuer open their harts once to serue or loue them Princes seruaunts should so gouern them selues that though there were found some yll persons that dispised them for that they might doo much and were of great autoritie yet that there might bee many others also honest that shoold prayse and commend them for the great good they doo That man that is enuyed dispraysed defamed disloued and ill thought of of al should think it lesser ill to dye honestly then to lyue with shame and in disgrace of euery man For to say truely mee thynks no man could lyue a more bitter and hard lyfe although hee abode many sorows thē to see him disliked generally of the whole cōmon weale It is an honest and natural thing for men to indeuor them selues by all dyllygence and industry to get much but it should bee farre better and much more worth to procure them selues good wil. For in effect nothing dooth more satisfy and glad the hart and maketh it more quiet then to think that hee is beloued and wel accepted of all It is a most certein rule that the foes and enemies of the fauored courtiers neuer ioyn in frendship with others but with those whom they know to bee full of passions and quarels like thē selues Of which detractors if any one happen at times to goe to the house of the honored of the court vppon any occasion of sute and that they cannot presently speak with him they will not say I warrant you that hee was busy and coold not speak with him but that hee was so proud and so haughty that hee woold not once hear nor see them Wee are so wylling and forward in wishing well and so self willed and obstinate in hating that vppon a very light occasion many tymes wee loue those wee loue and with a much lesse occasion wee defame and speak yll of
vppon not aboue two yoke of oxen to till his land Titus Liuius Macrobius Cicero Plutarch Salust Lucan Seneca Aulus Gelius Herodian Eutropius Trebellius Vulpitius and all the other romayn writers doo neuer cease to praise the auncient romain pouerty saying the common wealth of Rome neuer lost one iott of her greatnes honor during the tyme that they went abroad to conquer other realmes and dominions but only since they began to geather treasor together Licurgus the Philosopher who afterwards was king of the Lacedemonians ordeined in his lawes hee made that no neighbor shoold haue any more goods then an other but that all houses lands vynes possessions gold siluer apparell mouables and generally all other things what soeuer shoold bee indifferently holden among them to the common vtilitie of all And beeing asked why hee woold not consent the common weal shoold haue her own priuate commodities and particulers answered thus The payns and trauels men indure in this mortall life and the great troubles disorders that come dayly to the comon weal chaunce not so much for that men haue neede of lyuing to maintain them selues with all but for that they doo desire to leaue to their heirs and successors And therefore I haue appointed euery thing in cōmon amōg subiects because that during their liues they might haue honestly to maintain them selues with all that they shoold leaue any thing to dispose by will after their deaths Herodotus sayth also that it was decreed by thinhabitans of the Iles Baleares that they shoold suffer none to come into theyr countrey to bring them any gold siluer silk iewels or precious stones And this serued them to great profit For by means of this law for the space of .iiii. C. yeres that they had warres with the Romains the Carthagians the Frēch the Spaniares neuer any of these nations once stirred to goe about to conquer their land beeing assured that they had neither gold nor siluer to robbe or conuey from them Promotheus that was the first that gaue lawes to the Egiptians did not prohibit gold nor siluer in Egipt as those of the Iles Baleares did in their territories neither did hee also comand that all thing shoold bee common as Licurgus but only commanded that none in all his kingdom shoold bee so hardy once to gather any masse or quantity of gold or siluer together to hoard it vp And this hee did vpon great penalties for as he said auarice is not showed in buylding of fair houses neither in hauīg rich moueables but in assembling gathering together great treasure laying it vp in their coffers And Plutarche in his booke De consolatione saith also that if a rich man dyed among the Rhodians leauing behind him one only sonne no more suruyuing him they woold not suffer that hee shoold bee sole heyre of all that his father left but they left him an honest heritage lyuing so hys state call to mary him well withall and the rest of all his sethers goods they dissipated among the poore orphans The Lydians that neither were Greekes nor Romains but right barbarous people had a law in their common weal that euery man shoold bee bound to bring vp his children but not to bee at tharges in bestowing them in mariage So that the sonne or daughter that were now of age to mary they gaue them nothing to their mariage more then they had gottē with their labor And those that will exactly consider this lawdable custom shal fynd that it is rather a law of true philosophers then a custom of barbarous people Since thereby the childrē were inforced to labor for their lyuing the parents also were exempted from al maner of couetousnes or auarice to heap vp gold siluer to enrich them selues Numa Pompilius second king of the romains establisher of their laws decrees in the law of the seuen tables which hee made hee left them order only which way the Romayns might rule their comon weal in tranquility put in no clause nor chapter that they shoold make their willes wherby their children might inherit their fathers goods And therfore being asked why hee permitted in his laws euery man to get asmuch goods as hee coold not to dispose them by wil nor leaue them to their heirs Hee answered because wee see that albeeit there are some children that are vnhappy vicious abhominable yet are there few fathers notwtstanding this that will depriue disherit them of their goods at theyr death only to leaue them to any other heir therefore for this cause I haue comaunded that al the goods that remain after the death of the owner of thē shoold bee geuen to the comon weal as sole heir successor of them to th end that if their children shoold become honest vertuous they shoold then bee distributed to them if they were wicked vnhappy that they shoold neuer be owners of them to hurt offend the good Macrobius in his booke De somno Scipionis saith that there was in the old tyme an old and ancient law amōgst the Tuscans duly obserued kept afterwards taken vp of the Romayns that in euery place where so euer it were in town or village within their territories on new yeres day euery man shoold present him self beefore the iudge or magistrate of the place hee was in to geeue him account of his maner of lyfe now hee mainteined himself in this examinatiōs they did accustome to punish him that lyued ydlely with knauery deceipt maintayned them selues as minstrels ruffyans dycers carders iuglers coggers foysters cosiners of men sylching knaues with other loytering vacabōds rogues that lyue of others swett toyl without any pain or labor they take vpon them to deserue that they eat I woold to god if it were his will that this Tuscan law were obserued of christians then wee shoold see how few they be in nomber that geeue them selues to any faculty or science or other trade to lyue by their own trauell industry and how many infinit a nomber they bee that liue in ydle sort The diuine Plato in his Timee sayth that although an ydle man bee more occasion of many troubles inconueniences in a common weal then a couetous man yet is it not alwais greater for the ydle mā that gladly taketh his ease dooth but desire to haue to eat but the couetous man dooth not only desire to eat but to bee rich and haue money enough All the eloquence and pleasant speche that the Orators studyed in their orations the lawyers in their law and the famous philosophers in their doctryne and teaching was for no other cause but to admonish and perswade those of the common weal to take very good heede in choosing of their gouernors that they were not couetous and ambitious in thadministration of their publyke affairs Laertius recyteth also that a
inough But the auncient phylosophers were not of this mynd and much lesse are the wise men vertuous men at this day For wee see that in the court of prynces many rather lack fauor then lyfe and others lack both fauor and lyfe togethers and others not onely their lyfe and fauor but also all their goods and faculties So that all that that their fauor and credit haue geeuen them in many yeares and by sundry greefes and troubles they come afterwards to lose them euen vppon a sodeyn and in short time I graunt notwithstanding that it ys a great honor profyt and furtheraunce for the courtier to bee in his princes fauor but neuertheles hee cannot deny mee but that it is a daungerous thing also For naturally a great famyliarity bringeth also a great enuy wyth yt syth the beloued of the prince is commonly ill willed of the common weale And that that is yet most daungerous is that to obtayn the sauor of hys prince hee must so behaue him self that his seruice must bee more rare better and exquysite then all others and otherwise to fall in disgrace and to make the prynce forget all the good seruice hee hath doone hym hys whole life tyme hee neede but the least displeasure and fault hee can commit Eusenides was maruelously beloued with Tolomey who after fortune had exalted and brought him to honor and that hee was growen to great wealth sayd one day to Cuspides the phylosopher these woords O my frend Cuspides tell mee I pray thee of thy fayth is there any cause in mee to bee sad syth fortune hath placed mee in so great autoryty and honor as shee can deuise to doo and that the kynk Tolomey my lord hath now no more to geeue mee he hath alredy beene so bountyfull to mee To whom the philosopher aunswered saying O Eusenides yf thou wert a phylosopher as thou art a beeloued seruaunt thou wouldst tell mee an other tale then that thou tellest mee now For although kyng Tolomey hath no more to geeue thee knowst not thou that spyghtfull fortune hath power to take away from thee many thynges For the noble hart feeleth more greefe and displeasure to come down one staire or step then to clymme vp a hundred Not many days after these woords passed betweene Cuspides and Eusenides yt happened that one day Kyng Tolomey found Eusenides talkyng with aleman or curtesan of hys which hee loued deerely whereat hee was so much offended that hee made her straight drink a cuppe of poyson and caused him to bee hanged before his own gates The emperor Seuerus had one in so great fauor and credit which was called Plautius hee loued hym so extreamely trusted him so much that hee neuer read letter but Plautius must read it and hee neuer graunted commissyon or lycence to any man but it must passe vnder Plautius seale neither dyd hee euer graunt any thyng but at the request of Plautius nor dyd make warres or peace without the counsell and aduice of Plautius The matter fel out so that Plautius entring one night into the emperors chamber armed with a priuy cote his yll hap was such that a litle of his brest before was open whereby was spyed the mayle which Bahhian seeyng beyng the emperors eldest sonne sayd vnto hym these woords Tell mee Plautius doo those that are the beloued of prynces vse to come into they re bed chamber at these howers armed with Iron coate I sweare to thee by the Immortall gods and let them so preserue mee in the succession of the Empire that syth thou comest armed with Iron thou shalt also dye with Iron Which presently tooke place For before hee went out of the chamber they strake of his head The Emperor Comodus that was sonne of the good Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a seruaunt called Cleander a wise and graue man old and very pollytyck but with all a litle couetous This Cleander was oft times requested of the pretoryne compaigny that is to say of the whole band of souldiours that hee woold commaund they might bee payd their pay dew to them and to perswade him the better to pay it they shewed him a bill signed from the Emperor to which bill hee aunswered That the emperor had nothing to doo in the matter For although hee were lord of Rome yet had hee not to deale in the affaires of the common weale These discourteous and vnseemely woords related to the emperor Comodus and perceiuing the small obedyence and respect of duty that Cleander shewed to him hee cōmaunded foorth with hee should bee slayn to his great shame that all his goods should bee confiscat Alcimenides was a great renoumed kyng among thee Greekes as Plutark writeth of him and hee fauored one Pannonius entierly wel to whom only hee did not commit his person his trust but also the whole affaires and dooings of the the comon weale hee might dispose of the goods of the kyng at his wil and pleasure without leaue or licence So that al the subiects found they had more benefit in seruing of Pannonius then in pleasyng of the Kyng Therefore the king the beloued Pannonius playing at the balle togethers they came to contend vppon a chase and the one sayd it was thus the other sayd it was contrary and as they were in this contention the kyng commaūded presently those of his gard that in the very place of the chase where Pannonius denied they should strike of his head Constantius the Emperor also had one whom hee lyked very well and made much of called Hortentius which in deede might well bee counted a princes derling for hee dyd not onely rule the affaires of the common weale of the pallace of warres his goods and person of the emperor but also hee was euer placed aboue all the Imbassatours at his table And when the emperor went in progresse or any other iorny hee euer had him to his bedfellow Thus things beeing in this state I tel you it happened that one day a page geeuing the emperor drink in a glasse the glasse by myshap fell out of the pages hand and brake in peeces whereat the emperor was not a litle displeased and offended And euen in this euil vnhappy hower came Hortentius to the Kyng to present hym certayn bylles to signe of hasty dyspatch which was a very vnapt tyme chosen and the emperor contented yet to signe yt could neither the first nor the second tyme because the penne was ill fauordly made and the ink so thyck that yt would not wryte whych made the kyng so angry that euen presently for anger hee commaunded Hortensius head to bee striken of But to the end wee may come to the knowledge of many things in few woords I wyll shew you how Alexander the great slew in hys choller hys deere accounted Cratherus and Pirrhus Kyng of the Epirotes Fabatus hys secretory The Emperor Bitillion hys greatest frend Cincinatus Domitian the emperor Rufus of his
being requested of the Rhodians to tel thē what that vertue was they called verity hee aūswered thē thus Verity my frends is a thing which the gods aboue al other professe her vertue is such that it warmeth the heauēs lighteth the earth maintayns iustice gouerneth the cōmon weal suffreth no ill thing in her making playn cleare al doutfull hidden things The Corinthians asked the like question also of Chilo the philosopher what veryty was who aūswered that it was a perdurable piller neuer diminishīg nor decresīg a buckler or shield impassable a faire time that is neuer troubled an army that neuer perisheth a flower that neuer withereth a sea that neuer feareth fortune a suer hauē where neuer was shipwrak Anaxarchus the philosopher was also demāded of the Lacedemonians what verity was who aūswered that it was a health wtout sicknes a life wtout end a iuleppe syrop that healeth al a sunne that neuer darkneth a moone wtout eclipse an herb that neuer drieth a gate that is neuer shut a way that neuer werieth mā The like was asked of Eschines the philosopher touching verity by the Rhodians And hee sayd that it was a vertue wtout which al force was weakned Iustice corrupted humility fained dissēbled patiens insupportable chastity vayn liberty lost pyty superfluous The like was also demaunded of Pharmacus the philosopher by the Romains And his aunswer was that veryty was a true center wherein al things reposed a card to sayle by to direct the pylot mariners a wisedom to hele recure euery man a present remedy for al euils a height in the top wherof euery mā resteth a bright light to lightē the whole world And surely this maketh mee thinke that these philosophers were great frends louers of veritie sins they did so much enrich and sublime the same with so many rare and excellent titles But omitting now these philosophers who haue truely spoken that they knew let vs come speak of him that aboue all the world hath exalted veryty which was the diuine woord and that was Ihesus Christ the onely begotten sonne of god and true glasse of eternitie who being asked the self same thing of Pylate sayd not to him I am wisedome neither Iustice nor chastitie nor paciens humilitie nor charity But onely sayd to him I am verity to let him vnderstād that euery creature might bee partaker of that verity But our lord Ihesus Christ was not partaker of that verity but the sole only possesser of the same hee being the very truth it self O of how many is this vertue desired of how few yea most few obserued For in effect it is nothing els but a mark wherat all good mē shoot with their eyes al il wicked persons lose their sight The emperor Augustus in the triumph he made of Mark Antony his loue Cleopatra amōgst others brought to Rome an Egiptiā preest of 60. years of age the senat beeing informed of a surety that days of his life hee neuer told lye they agreed not onely to restore him to liberty but to make him hygh preest of their temple and to erect a stature of him among the noble and princely parsons of Rome Sparthianus writeth that in the tyme of Claudian Emperor of Rome there deceased a citizen of Rome called Pamphilus whose dooings after his death examined it was manifestly proued that he neuer spake one true woord all his life time but always lyed in that hee sayd Which related vnto the Emperor hee commaunded hys body should not bee buryed his goods should bee confiscate and hys house rased to the foundacion and hys wife and children for euer banished Rome and all her territories to the end there should remayn no memory to the common wealth of so pestiferous and venemous a beast At that time whan these two thyngs thus happened the Romayns and Egyptians were mortall enemies and therefore by these examples wee may see of what force and power this vertue of veryty is syth the romayns made a stature to their enemy onely for that hee was a trew and iust man and depryued of sepulture their natiue chyld and a Romayn born for that hee was a lyar A trew man may goe in any place where hee lysteth freely without interruptiō accompanied with al men not fearing to bee accused of any and may wyth saftie reprooue the vicious and ill persons and fynally to conclude hee may wythout the feare of any speak in the face of the world and shew hys face amongst the best If a man will choose a frend hee neede not bee inquisityue if hee bee wyse iust chaste carefull couragious or noble but onely if hee bee trew of hys woord And if that bee so it followeth that all vertues and honesty must abound in hym Helius Sparthianus recyteth of the life of Traian the Emperor that beyng one nyght at supper and accompanied with noble men at his boord they argued of the fydelyty of frends and infydelity of enemyes whom Traian aunswered That hee neuer had frend in his life but hee was good trew honest and faythfull whereupon his lords besought hym that yt woold please hym to tell them the occasion of hys good happe in thys And hee aunswered thus The cause why I haue euer been so fortunat herein was this I neuer woold choose to my frend a lyar and couetous man For in him that raigneth auarice and lying there can neuer dwell perfyt frendship Those that are honest like so to bee reputed must endeuor them selues to speak well allways and euer to say that that is true and if they will not doo thys for consciens sake let thē doo it yet to auoid the shame that followeth them For there can bee no greater mockry or dispight doon to a man then openly to make him know hee hath lyed Wee see the chyld whē hee perceiueth hee hath told a lye hee blusheth straight is ashamed much more ought men growen of years whose face is couered with heares not onely blush but shame to tell a lye Many tymes I think what a great greef the marchant suffereth euery hower not to bee coūted a lyar whē hee vttereth his ware suer hee dooth it but because hee woold not lose his credit And lo here why they sweare cōmonly by the faith of a marchant to bee more assured where to the contrary wee see many other that in apparaunce seeme to bee honest and graue men that vse not that manner but rather they wil stick no more to tel you a lye then to lose a wheat grayn But here I speak not neither doo mean to touch those that are in deede vertuous and good men but I speak of those that thinks them selues honest and yet bee not god knoweth And therefore wee may bee assertayned that a marchaunt esteemeth more his goods and marchādise then a lier dooth his honor otherwise honesty There is nothing that preiudiceth
of such a qualitie that it foloweth new inuentions and despiseth auncient customes All the people therfore gathered togethers the good philosopher Phetonius set vp in the middest of the market place a gybet hoote yrons a swerd a whip and fetters for the feete the whiche thyng done the Thebains were no lesse as they thought slaundered thē abashed To the which he spake these wordes You Thebains sente me to the Lacedemonians to the entent I should learne their lawes and customes and in dede I haue bene ther more then a yere beholdyng al thinges very diligentely for we Philosophers are bound not onely to note that whyche is done but also to know why it is done knowe ye Thebains that this in the aunswere of my Imbassage That the Lacedemonians hang vpon this Gybet theues with this same sworde they behede traytors with these hoote Irons they torment blasphemers and lyers with these roddes they whippe vacabondes and with these Irons do keape the rebels and the others are for players and vnthriftes Finally I say that I do not bryng you the lawes written but I bring you the Instrumentes wherwith they are obserued The Thebains were abashed to se these thinges and spake vnto hym such wordes Consider Phetonius wee haue not sent the to the Lacedemonians to bring instrumentes to take away life but for the good lawes to gouerne the common wealth The philosopher Phetonius replyed again aunswered Thebains I let you wete that if ye know what we philosophers knew you shold see how far your mindes wer from the truth For the Lacedemonians are not so vertuous thoroughe the lawes whych wer made of them that be dead as for the meanes they haue sought to preserue them that be alyue For maters of Iustice consiste more in execution then in commaundyng or ordeinynge Lawes are easely ordeyned but with difficultie executed for there are a thousande to make them but to put them in execution there is not one Ful lytle is that whych men knowe that are present in respect of that those knewe which are past But yet accordyng to my litle knowledge I proffer to gyue as good lawes to you Thebains as euer wer obserued among the Lacedemoniās For there is nothing more easy then to know the good and nothynge more commen then to folow the euill But what profiteth it if one will ordeyne and none vnderstand it Yf ther be that doth vnderstand thē there is none that excuteth them Yf there be that executeth them there is none that obserueth thē Yf there be one that obserueth them ther is a thousand that reproueth them For without comparison mo are they that murmure grudge at the good then those whych blame and despise the euyll You Thebains are offended bycause I haue brought suche Instrumentes but I let you wete if you wyll neyther Gybet nor sworde to kepe that which shal be ordeyned you shall haue your bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherfore I sweare vnto you that there are mo Thebains whiche folowe the deliciousnes of Denis the tyraunt then there are vertuous men that folowe the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebains do desire greatly to know with what Lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their common wealthe I will tel you them all by worde and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writyng But it shal be vpon condition that you shall sweare all openly that once a daye you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your parsonnes to obserue them For the prince hath greater honour to se one onely law to be obserued in dede then to ordeyne a thousand by wryting You ought not to esteame muche to be vertuous in harte nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauaille of the feete but that whyche you ought greatly to esteame is to know what a vertuous lawe meaneth and that knowen immediatly to execute it and afterwardes to kepe it For the chefe vertue is not to do one verteous work but in swet and trauayl to continue in it These therfore wer the wordes that this philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebains The whyche as Plato sayeth estemed more his wordes that he spake then they dyd the lawes whyche he brought Truly in my opinion those of Thebes are to be praysed and commended and the philosopher for his wordes is worthy to be honoured For the end of those was to searche lawes to liue well and the ende of the Philosophet was to seke good meanes for to kepe them in vertue And therfore he thought it good to shew thē and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other instrumentes and tormentes For the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punyshement then for any desire they haue of amendement I was willyng to bring in this Historie to th ende that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how litell the auncientes did esteme the beginnynge the meane and the ende of vertuous workes in respect of the perseueraunce and preseruacion of them Commyng therfore to my matter whych my pen doth tosse and seke I aske now presentely what it profiteth princes and great ladyes that God do gyue them great estates that they be fortunate in mariages that they be all reuerenced and honored that they haue great treasures for their inheritaunces and aboue al that they se their wiues great with child that afterwardes in ioy they se them deliuered that they se theyr mothers geuing their childrē sucke finally they se them selues happy in that they haue found them good nources helthful honest Truely al this auaileth litle if to their children when they are yong they do not giue masters to enstruct thē in vertues and also if they do not recomend them to good guides to exercise thē in feates of Chiualry The fathers which by syghes penetrat the heauē by prayers importune the Liuing god only for to haue children ought first to thinke why they wil haue childrē for that iustly to any man may be denayed which to an euil end is procured In my opinion the father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may susteine his life in honour that after his doth he may cause his fame to liue And if a father desireth not a son for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age he may honour his horye hed and that after his death he may enheryte his goodes but wee see few children do these thynges to their fathers in theyr age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruite doeth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree dyd bere blosommes in the spryng I see oftentimes many fathers complaine of their Children sayenge that they are disobedient and proude vnto theim and they doe not consydre that they them selues are the cause of all those euilles For
to moch aboundaunce and libertie of youth is no other but a prophesie manifest token of disobedience in age I knowe not why princes and great lordes do toile and oppresse so much and scratche to leaue their children great estates and on the other syde we see that in teachyng them they are and shew theim selues to negligent for princes great lordes ought to make account that all that whych they leaue of their substaunce to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their coÌ„sciences are vpright and of their honours carefull oughte to be very diligent to bring vp their children chiefly that they consyder whether they be mete to inherite their estates And if perchaunce the fathers se that their children be more giueÌ„ to follie then to noblenes and wysdome then should I be ashamed to se a father that is wise trauaile al the dayes of his life to leaue much substaunce to an euill brought vp child after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thyng to se the cares whych the fathers take to gather ryches and the diligence that children haue to spende them And in this case I saye the sonne is fortunate for that he doeth inherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeth In my opinion Fathers ar bound to enstructe theyr Children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also bycause they ought to be theyr heyres For truely with great greyfe and sorow I suppose he doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrifte the toile of all his life Hyzearcus the Greeke hystorien in the booke of his antiquities and Sabellyquus in his generall history sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complaine to the famous phylosopher and auncient Solon Solinon the sonne complayned of the father and the father of the sonne First the son informed the quarel to the Phylosopher sayeng these wordes I complayne of my father bycause he beyng ryche hath dysheryted me and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the whyche thyng my father oughte not nor cannot doe For sence he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason he geue me hys goods to maintayne my feblenes To these wordes aunswered the father I complayne of my sonne bycause he hathe not bene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemye for in all thynges since he was borne he hath bene disobedient to my will wherfore I thought it good to dysheryte hym before my death I woulde I weâ—e quite of all my substaunce so that the goddes hadde quyte hym of hys lyfe for the earthe is very cruell that swalloweth not the chyld alyue whyche to hys father is dysobedyent In that he sayeth I haue adopted another chyld for myne heyre I confesse it is true and for somuche as he sayeth that I haue dysinheryted hym and abiected hym from my herytage he beynge begotten of my owne bodye hereunto I aunswere That I haue not disinheryted my sonne but I haue disinheryted his pleasure tothentent he shal not enioy my trauaile for there can be nothing more vniust then that the yonge and vitious sonne should take his pleasure of the swette and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his father and sayd I confesse I haue offended my father and also I confesse that I haue lyued in pleasures yet if I maye speake the trueth thoughe I were disobedient and euill my father oughte to beare the blame and if for this cause he doeth dysherite me I thynke he doth me great iniurye For the father that enstructed not hys sonne in vertue in hys youthe wrongfullye dysheryteth hym though he be disobedient in hys age The father agayne replyeth and saieth It is true my sonne that I brought the vp to wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taughte the sondrye tymes and besydes that I dyd correcte the when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I dyd not instructe the in learnyng it was for that thou in thy tender age dydest wante vnderstandyng but after that thou haddest age to vnderstand discrecion to receiue and strength to exercyse it I began to punyshe the to teache the and to instructe the. For where no vnderstandyng is in the chyld there in vaine they teache doctrine Sence thou arte old quoth the sonne and I yong sence thou arte my father and I thy sonne for that thou hast whyte heres of thy bearde and I none at all it is but reason that thou be beleued I condemned For in this world we se oftetimes that the smal aucthoryty of the parson maketh hym to lose hys great iustyce I grauÌ„t the my father that when I was a childe thou dydst cause me to learne to reade but thou wylte not denye that if I dyd coÌ„mit any faulte thou wouldest neauer agree I should be punyshed And hereof it came that thou sufferyng me to doe what I woulde in my youth haue bene dysobedient to the euer since in my age And I saye to the further that if in this case I haue offended trulye me thinketh thou canst not be excused for the fathers in the youthe of their children oughte not onely to teache them to dispute of vertues and what vertue is but they ought to inforce them to be vertuous in dede For it is a good token when youth before they know vyces hath bene accustomed to practice vertues Both parties thou diligentlie hard the good Philosopher Solon Solinon spake these wordes I geue iudgement that the father of thys child be not buried after hys death and I commaunde that the sonne bycause in hys youth he hath not obeyed his father who is olde should be dysinheryted whiles the father lyueth from all hys substaunce on suche condition that after hys death hys sonnes should inheryte the heritage and so returne to the heires of the sonne and line of the father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the sonne should be condempned for the offence of the father I doe commaunde also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithful parson to th end they may geue the father meate and drinke durynge hys lyfe and to make a graue for the sonne after hys death I haue not with out a cause geuen suche iudgement the which comprehendeth lyfe and death for the Gods wyll not that for one pleasure the punyshement be double but that we chastyse and punyshe the one in the lyfe takynge from hym hys honour and goods and that we punyshe others after there death takyng from them memorye and buriall Truly the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was graue and would to God we had him for a iudge of this world presentlye for I sweare that he should finde many children now a dayes for to disheryte and mo fathers to punishe For I cannot tell which is greater the shame of the children to disobey their fathers or