Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	army_n	great_a	king_n	2,073	5	3.6840	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08566	The fiue bookes of the famous, learned, and eloquent man, Hieronimus Osorius, contayninge a discourse of ciuill, and Christian nobilitie A worke no lesse pleasaunt then profitable for all, but especiallye the noble gentlemen of England, to vievv their liues, their estates, and conditions in. Translated out of Latine into Englishe by VVilliam Blandie late of the Vniuersitie of Oxeford, and novv fellovv of the middle Temple in London.; De nobilitate civili et christiana. English	Osório, Jerónimo, 1506-1580.; Blandie, William.	1576 (1576)	STC 18886; ESTC S113632	145,792	234

where fury and madnes ietted vp and doune vnpunished no mischtefe coulde be imagined no misery deuised wherewith that countrye was not ouerwhelmed and cleane ouerflowen For when the citty of Athens was assaulted with most terrible and cruell warres and that all Greece had conspired agaynst them it came to passe by the furye and outrage of the people that at the same tyme they proclaimed battayle with no lesse daunger against Sicilia Nycias notwithstandinge with many peeres and noble counsellers persuadinge the contrary Wherefore they worthely susteined in that lamentable siege of Syracusa not onely the losse of their honoure but the ruin of their houses landes and possessions and fell pitefully into greate wo● and misery and beinge at the length through sedition and ciuill battaile vtterly wasted cōsumed with many bitter scourges terrible afflictions loste with great languor and heauines miserably their former liberty But after the thirty Tyrantes were for their sharpe and tirannous gouernmente displaced what was it that did scatter those goods carefully gathered but the loose life and immoderate desire of the frentike people Whose fury and madnes was suche that by no force or restreint of lawe they coulde be indued to haue any care or regarde of the common estate For when it was lawfull for euery odd felowe to robb the cōmonweale thereby to augmente his priuate gayne then fell they from labour and worldely busines to a slouthful and loyteringe life they repaired to stageplayes and commodies and vsed other vayne pleasures which decaied the loue of vert●e and did vtterly extinguish and put out the memory of the Athenian renoume and their aunciente dignity Wherefore not manye yeares after that nation which had foyled so many armies of the Persians whiche wrought som any noble actes which obteined the Empire ouer all Greece was by the Macedonians an obscure and vnknowen people at that tyme subdued vtterly and confounded The first and principall cause of this so greate a calamity was the leude and licentious life of the people Amongest the men of Sparta also to speake some thinge of them many worthy and noble actes haue bene wrought by their Kinges and Princes as well against their enemyes as also with their subiectes profitable to their cōmonwealth and meritinge euerlastinge fame and memory On the other side the Ephori whoe by the election of the people came to their office of dignity did greatly annoy impouerishe the inhabytauntes of their countrey while they seekinge greedely their owne priuate gaine and commodity did procure the vtter ruin and vndoinge to their natiue coūtry For what other thinge doe they which violate infring the positiue ●awes whereupon the safegard of all men dependeth then vtterlye ouerturne the commō wealthes estat● ▪ And wheras Lycurgus had ordained many good lawes and profitable statutes only to bring them to labour honestie and vertu the Ephori many yeares after his time corrupted with voluptuousnes and filthye lucre which two are pestiferous and moste hurtfull to anye common wealth abolished his most excellent decrees and caused his lawes to be of none effect Which fact caused their honour and dignitie sodenly to fall to the grounde And when certayne kinges woulde establishe a newe the lawes of Lycurgus which were abrogated and tooke counsell howe to reforme their dissolute lyfe immediatly they were of the Ephori dispatched and cruelly murdered So it came to passe that the common wealthe of Athens whiche for a long tyme florished in honoure pompe and nobility and was furnished wyth many fathers excelling all other in the worlde in witte learninge and iudgement and had defended it wyth greate glory was now through the furye of the subiects made subiecte to all villany and slauery VVHat shoulde I neede in this place speake of the Romaynes wheras it is confessed of all men that nothing did so muche ouerthrowe the florishinge estate of that noble Citye as when the subictes rebelled agaynste their rulers and princes That Empyre therfore which was first by the puisance of princes purchased then maintayned and amplefied by the Senate Elders was shortelye brought to confusion through the seditious and troblesom people For when the vnsatiable desire of the frentike people waxed so extreme outragious that it coulde be kept vnder by no lawful gouernmēt and pollitike coūsel w●s geuen in hope of pray to vprores through the seditious orations of people pleasers they feared not so they might content satisfy their vnlawful lust and appetyte to violate and breake the Lawe of God and man This caused the Tribunes to bee seditious this encouraged thē to the great detriment and ●ur● of the cōmōwele to make lawes touching distribution of grounds euen to the time of Gracchi which were the chiefe authors of those calamityes wherewith after that time the cōmon wealth was ouerflowen All whith sturre and hurliburly as it were by fatall desteny grewe daylye more and more vntill the time of Marius whose raigne although it was verye lamentable yet did it open a way to muche more mischife besyde vntill the gouernmente came to Iulius Cesar You see the cōmō wealth of Athens some time most florishing the kingdome of Sparta earste noble the Citye of Rome a long time much renoumed to haue bene happely begon kepte maintened by princes noble personages whiche agayne were through the rashe and vnruly multitude miserably spoiled vtterly wasted confounded Which great misery and intollerable mischiefe is not onely sene in those Cities but also in other places for where the people hath least to doe in a common wealth there the estate of that countrye is found most stable and parmanente Whervpō it foloweth that the gouernment of the vulgar and common people is very easely ouerthrowen and scarcely endurth the tyme of one generation But the rule of a king is not subiect to often alteration and doth as it were continue for euer Some men wil here obiect agaynst me Alcibiades and Critias who were the vtter subuersion ouerthrowe of theyr natiue country or els Pausainas who trayterously conspyred agaynst all Gre ce or Silla and Cesar wyth many such like who were renomned for theyr honour and nobylity but yet beyng entangled with ambitiō and oute of measure Enflamed wythe the desyre of rule and aucthoritye spared not to spoyle crueltye their friendes and countreymen I must truely of force confesse that many heinous acts haue ben enterprysed much mischiefe committed and wrought by suche as were of highe degree and aucthoritye Neyther the highe and loftye stomache which is ingendre● through nobilitye of b●●●d haue bene alwayes encl●ned to equity and iustice Yet do I defend● this opinyon that no common wealth ●ath bene at any time well gouerned by the people For euery noble wighte hath alwayes weapons in readines either t● defend either to spoyle his country as wysedome wealth knowledge and fortitude Contrariwyse the multitude for the mo●● part is headlong vnskilful feareful and ●●orous They may

cleare lighte and purchased true fame to his posteritie Now therfore it remayneth that we know by what meanes this so noble aduaūsing of his stocke and kindred maye happen to him who is the first rayser of his family to the highe princely place of honour Nobilitie No doubt that I may aunswere briefly by the same meanes whereby it is mainteyned and preserued But it is sayd before that Nobilitie is a kinred excelling in moste rare and principall vertues And those according to the opinion of Aristotle the moste learned Philosopher I accompt principall vertues which are occupied about the preseruatiō of cōmon societie through which also the safetie and securitie of men is best kept and maintayned But he which through priuate education is verye well trayned and well instructed with preceptes of moralitie may of good right be termed a good and vertuous man but yet by other qualities he shall neuer procure great prayse and worthynes except he applie them to the profite cōmoditie of the weale publique For if we were borne onely for our owne sakes and our owne cōmodities it were sufficient that we sought the aduauncement of our owne selues and the preferment of those which are conteined within our owne family But wheras we are moued by the instinct of Nature to helpe and profite other he seemeth beste to haue discharged the dutie to him assigned whose labour studye and diligence hath bin imployed in matters of great waight and importaunce to the benefite and wealthe of his natiue country Not for that truly that the vertue of any priuate man should bee despysed and set at noughte for by his good aduise and counsell if not all yet some parte of the common wealth as his owne house family is well ruled and ordered But wheras the vertue and wisedome of this priuate and peculiar man is conteyned wythin the bound and walles of his owne house and extendeth it selfe no further it seemeth good reason that the like honour and dignitie should not be due to him that is to some other whose vertues are founde more vniuersall and generall and whose minde is more occupied with the carefull cause of his common wealth For all men would not generally accord to honour reuerence a few except they did all manifestly perceiue thēselues in cases of great extremity by theyr greate paynes and trauaile to be assisted Therefore by knowledge of ciuill affayres and experience there was made a certaine entrie to this kinde of gentilitie THe chiefest and most principall part therefore of ciuil gouernement is iustice which hath in it selfe the greatest and most apparaunt shew of vertue The admiration whereof did in the beginning so greatly excite stirre vp the minds of men that they surrendered theyr goods and possessions into the hands of some especiall peeres whom aboue all other they did honour and reuerence For thus when we treate of vertue we vse to dispute The tyme hath bin when men like barbarians haue lyued in woods open fields and desolate places without politique rule ciuill gouernment neyther embracinge religion nor by mutual loue and dutie shewing theyr humanity Nothing was done in those dayes by due order of reason and discipline but most matters were executed violently whereas frantique and furious headines had the vpper hand Whē then robberies were rife murthers infinite those who in force and sturdines passed other would afflict and trouble iniuriously the weaker sorte and theyr whole lyfe compassed wyth innumerable mischiefes all they which had receyued the greater more greeuous iniuryes besought the assistaunce of some one man in witte and pollicy exceeding other whom they perceyued to be vnto the rest as it were a lanterne of Iustice a myrroure of myldnes curtesie This Patrone and supporter of right when he had taken on him the charge of those seely soules miserably suppliantly yelding themselues declared vnto them the earnest desire he had to take away pillages robberies to represse violent murders valiantly to reueng wrongfull oppressions and to sincke vnder like lawes both the mighty men simplet sort it came to passe that as many as tenderd their peculiar liberty and soughte their owne security and quietnes supposed him to be the defence and bulwarke of their safety prosperous estate whose fame moste flourished for iustice and equity From this fountayne therfore and head spring of iustice issued out the power and auctority of Kinges and the prerogatiue of princely gouernment herehence proceeded the high degree of Nobility herehence soueraingtie and the cause of all renowne glory was deriued so that there is no one stocke more aunciente or more excellente then the petegree of Kinges which through their owne vertue and valiauntnes abandoned al barbarous crueltie reducing the people to good order and ciuilitie Whose moste deuine nature Hesiodus hauing in great admiration in his Booke intituled the Genealogie of the Gods fetcheth the liue and descent of Princes from Iupiter himselfe Which opinion iudgemente of his hath ben also receyued of many in so much that they did most certainly surmise that hee coulde not but descende from the Gods which moste of all other excelled in vertue For it is reported that AEacus Minos and Rhadamanthus were iudged to be the sonnes of Iupiter they were so much of all men for their iustice magnifyed who as the Poets do fayne are sayde to appointe lawes to the infernal spirites So much did antiquity yea euen amonge the deuils and hellishe hounds beleue that seueritie of Lawes and force of iustice was expedient and necessary to restraine the vnbridled desires of a disordered multitude Pittacus of Mytilene was through his perfect skill and experience in iustice aduaunced to the highe estate of a ruler Which thinge also befell to Numa Pōpilius being at Rome for by vpright dealing and supportinge of iustice hee was thoughte and proclaymed by the whole consent of the Romaines worthely to succeede Romulus in the state of royal maiesty What needeth mee here to speake of Lycurgus Draco and Solon that I omit in meane while to make any mention of Mercurie Phoroneus and diuers other who haue beene longe time before which haue wrought the safegarde and preseruation of their Citizens by prescribinge lawes and ordinaunces and haue thereby bene aduaunced to great honour haue purchased to their posterity perpetual fame and memory Therefore to perswade our selues that no one vertue deserueth the like preheminence eyther is a like to be honoured it is hereby to be séene that each kinde of vertue beinge voyde of Iustice hath lost his honour and estimation whereas Iustyce alone secluded from other vertues reteineth still his especiall grace and dignity For profe whereof I mighte alledge a number of examples but because I meane to vse breuity I wil stande onely vppō two Aratus of Sicyon although him selfe held no Empyre yet through commendation of Iustice gotte such renoume that by the iudgement of al men

geuing largely and byndinge vnto theym their neyghboures and Cityzens by bestowinge on them bountifullye most ample rewards great benefytes By this onely way Tarquyne of auncient memory beynge a banished and obscure man wonne greate fame and honour in Rome and at length obteyned there the auctority of a Kinge By this kynde of curteous dealynge Pelops longe before his tyme beinge a mere strāger barbarian came to bear rule in that part of Greece w he alluding to his own name called Peloponesus And that I may shew you an historie of later time Cosmus Medices and Laurence his nephewe weere so muche for their liberall and francke natures commended that they therby were made chiefe gouernoures of Florence and were in all nations besydes excedingelye magnifyed Neyther truly is their any vertue which doth more become a noble mynde or setteth for the more a worthy wight either that winneth more praise commendation and getteth more goodwill loue and reuerence withoute whiche no man may mayntayne his owne estate or attayne to liue in any worshipful callinge And this seemeth to be their drift who by distinction say nobilitye is a noblenes of byrth and parentage ioyned wyth aboundance and store of riches For wheras the vertue of magnificence and liberalitye is chieflye seene in noble menne for moste parte of theim are aboue other found most curtious and liberall and no man may be therefore commended except he be furnished with worldly substance moste learned wyse men haue though treasuer it selfe and the aboundance of riches to be the very grounde and foundatyon of lyberalytye and therefore as termes necessarye to bee included wyth●e in the defynition of true nobilitye Whether the force and true nature thereof be fully therein declared it is a thinge whereon I meane not to stande so that by that definition this may be graunted that the vertue of liberalitye to the enhauncinge of men to honoure and dignitye and the setting forth of their posteritye is most expediente and necessarye MAnye not of oure tyme onelye but allso of aunciente memorye hathe bothe throughe the excellencye of eloquence and theyr perfect knowledge of the ciuile Lawe atayned wonderfull fame and glorye For these sciences are right worthely reckoned among those that haue beene not withoute greate cause accompted the principallest staye in the cōmon wealth without which the estate of Pollicy and the safegarde of common societye maye in no wyse longe continewe For to no purpose and in vaine do we abroade bidde battaile to the enemyes excepte oure affayres at home bee gouerned by the sounde aduise of prudent counsellers Besydes those whō we haue allready spoken of many are made gentlemē eyther through the grace fauour of the Prince or through the common consent of a free Cittye But this kynd of promotion seemeth at the first shewe not to be agreeable eyther to truethe or to the righte and perfecte nature of true nobility For nobilitye eyther resteth vppon opynyon of men or is obteined by vertue and the qualityes of the mynde eyther consisteth in nature and is deriued frō puisance and valiantnes Wyse and graue mē haue alwayes made litle accoumpt of wauering opynion and the inconstancie of peoples Phantasie But the commēdation of vertue resteth especyally in our selues neyther can by any meanes bee borowed abroade Agayne the force of gentle bloude deryued from our auncestors and apperteyninge to vs by naturall descēt cannot be wrested hither and thither by the iurisdiction and auctoritye of Princes For no easyer matter is it for any man by the assignement and benefit of Princes to become of baseborn a gentleman by byrth then to be sodenlye chaunged from a foole to a wyseman from on that wanteth vtterance to an eloquente orator from a whyteliuered and fayntharted cowarde to a venturous and valiant champion Which also in bestowing the freedom of a Citty may be euidently knowen and considered For yf he as many suppose bee taken and tearmed a Citizen which is bred and borne in a citye no reason is why into a Citye should be receyued an alian and straunger Thence it proceeded that Gorgias Leontinus skoffing at the rulers of Larissa because they had receiued into their City many straungers was wont to saye that euen as plastereres of anye kynde of stuffe would make morter or any thinge of lyke sorte so there were some so cunning craftesmen in Larissa whiche of any kynde of people were able to make Cityzens to inhabite Larissa But I for my parte do neyther lyke of Gorgias his oppyniō nor of any other mens iudgemente which in lyke maner would staye the cause of aduauncing subectes through the kinges and Princes most gratious fauour and clemencie For wheras all men which are of a more haughty mynde and so●●y stomache are merueylously inflamed with the desire of vertue honour and renoune yf then you would frustrate the hope and expectation imprinted in mens mindes of promotion no doubte you shall make men slacklye and sclenderlye endeuoure to become puissant and venturous whose mynds should rather be inflamed and set on fire Then the which nothing canne be deuised more hurtfull to ciuill gouernment and disciplyne For this hath bene the purposed meaninge of Lawes and ordinaunces and all well gouerned common wealths ought to haue in theim this practysed and published that men desyrous to shew their valiant harts by daungerous attemptes albeeit they are of their owne nature apt to defend the rights and lybertyes of the common wealth yet notwithstanding they should stirre them therevnto through an earnest and ardente desire of fame and glorye For by this meanes the wealth of their coūtrey is most strongely defended and the indifferencie of Lawes ordinaunces best maynteyned For what fowler shame what greater dishonour can there be imagined then to haue in the common wealthe appoynted vnto famous men for their exceeding great and worthy exploytes no reward at all Eyther what reward may in any one poynte fully aunsweere and satisfy a noble mynde then to be receyued triumphantly of the people Furthermore what is in it selfe more princely and more glorious then to geue vnto vertue his due desert and to yeeld to worthines honourable titles to true nobilite the principallity that iustice might not onely by this meanes be happely kepte and preserued but also many thereby moughte be allured to bend themselues to the study of vereue For it is not in the power of the Prince that now I may answere that whiche mighte be obiected afore to bringe to passe that a bile and abiecte mynde shoulde bee noble and honorable whiche commeth not by grace and fauoure but proceadinge from nature is fully made and perfected by the exercises of moste worthy and lawdable sciences And yet a Prince maye adourne and sette foorth excedingly a noble inuincible mynde withe worthye and honourable titles Which thinge is not onely right good and expedient but also so requisite and necessary that in the performing therof ther semeth to

that when immoderate delicacy and riotte when vnsatiable desire of riches had ones by inuasion entered into the manners of the Romaynes whē no accoumpte at al was made of the aucthority of the Lawes and Senate when the myndes of the raskall multitude by the sediciouse and bransicke orations of certayne desperate persons were tickled with hoope of rauine spoyle with violence and force to bereue the wealthyer sort of theire goodes and substance when crueltye armed with impunitye with slaughter effusion of the bloude of the Cityzens with goare bloud staunched the Citty when they that in feattes of Armes moste preuayled didde bende their thoughtes not to seke the liberty of their coūtry but their owne priuate aduauncemente when with all theese weapons the body of the commō wealth was wounnded do you think that it could by any means be brought to pas that the cōmōweale could lōge cōtinue Adde thereunto if it like you Saleable Elections Iudgementes raunsomed mattes of Prouinces extraordinarye and infinite aucthorityes the chardge of the commonwealth committed to certayn men caried forth headlonge with a hastye desire of rule and principality you may vnderstand that it could no otherwyse be but that the wealthe of the City vtterly decayed it must nedes come to ruin What should I in this place declare the bloudy broyls in the times of Scilla and Marius whiche infinitelye plagued and vexed the Citye and with al manner of cruelty dismembred the same and at lenghth by the infection of the dissentiō euen to posterytie continued layd open a gap to the gouerment of Tyrautes Doest thou then doubte but that the Citye beyng gashed and mangled with so many woundes should at the last be couered with moulde the Cityzens with salte and bitter teares waylinge and lamentinge at the funeralles thereof And therefore if it be demaunded of wyse men what time Roome fell to vtter decay they wil aunsweere I suppose that euen frō that time wherin the old order of discipine and gouernment was abolished that common wealth began to be of no reputation For they linger no longer aboute the consideration of the euent of any thinge which most certaynly gather the thinges that folow after by the causes that goe before If you aske them that lacke wisedome and experience they wil straight way elleadge that tyrannicall gouernment of Cesar. For there is no man so besydes himself that will thinke after the vtter abolishment of lawes the losse of liberty and the ouertourninge of the whole state of pollicy that any one sparke of the olde common wealth remaineth But I pray thee what toye tooke thee in the head that thou diddest impute the ouerthrowe of that Empire to the manners of Christians whereas not only the cause of that calamity but the euent it selfe was many yeares before the birth of Christe oure Kynge And if any man aske the question after tirannye had the vpper hande what wasted the wealth of Roome taken from the whole Citty and bestowed vpon one man first I will repeate those thinges that I before rehearsed that all those worthye qualities whereby the people of Roome obtained their auncient renoume and large Empire a great while began to decline at last fell hedlonge downe to the grounde For then immediatly in steede of frugality outragious riotte in steede of enduringe hardines in warre an excedinge tendernes and nicenes both of the whole body and minde in steede of dreade and awe of the lawes impudent boldnes vnsatiable luste immoderate desire vehemently assaulted the myndes of the Romaines and stirred vppe men that bare goodwill to their country to vprores and ciuill broyles Further this I affirme that the barbarous demeanour of their Emperours and their ouerthwarte nature ioygned with immoderate ryot and vnbridled lust did as it were cut them of from al their prosperity Neyther is there cause why I shoulde here recite so greuous plagues as wherewith the cōmonwealth was afflicted seinge that it is euidently knowen that many for their cruelty and horrible factes haue bene sl●ine bothe of their Cittizens and of souldiars and oftētymes of them that enuied them their place and high aucthority But when the custome of killinge of Rulers grewe to be familiar and there was not onely counterwaites and treachery deuised against wicked tyrantes but against discreet and moderate gouernours and that the name of rule and Empire wanted due reuerence at length the matter grewe to that passe that nothinge was so vily reputed of as the Emperour of Rome In the ende when the aucthority of the Senate and people of Rome was extinguished and the knowleadge of Souldiarfare together with auarice excessiuely increased it fell oute the souldiars for a booty in ready money to be paide did assign afore hand to whome they listed the Imperiall Crowne Therefore whereas they had respect neither to vertue neither to nobility but as it were makinge a bargaine of bying sale vnto him that promised most sold the Empire euery vile caitife leude varlet had free accesse to the swaye and gouernmente of the whole common wealth Therefore whereas the people of Rome were gouerned by sutch heades it coulde not be but all those thinges shoulde fal to vtter confusion whereby that common wealth was wont to be renoumed Especially seinge that oftentimes least there shoulde want at any time an occasion of ciuill dissention there was appoyncted in diuerse places many Emperours if they were to be called Emperours and not rather straunge and prodigious monsters Therefore the wealth of the Romaines partly by ciuill discord and horrible dissentions wasted partely dronke vppe and consumed by the meanes of great and terrible warres which throughout the whole worlde was waged againste the Romaine Empire was subiecte to common thraldome misery of all thinges incident and appertaininge to man And here I pray thee what cause hast thou to accuse the name of any thinge that is called Christian For if the doctrine of Christe had wrought in the manners of the Romaines contempte of lawes ryot wantōnes immoderate desire of rule most egre and vehement dissension of Cittizens amonge themselues if to conclude it had induced them to violente dealinge fury rage then moughtest thou haue iustly and truely sayd that that had bredde in the state of Rome all these mischieues For they be those horrible vices that haue plagued and destroyed not onely Rome but all other Imperiall Citties But if nothinge be more repugnant to Christian maners and conuersation then the vyces afore rehersed wyth whome nothinge agreeth but that whych is iuste and vpryghte tendinge to quietnes and temperaunce which most reuerently accoumpte of modesty and innocency and aboue all mischiues hate ciuill discord which abhorre all troublesome and desperat enterprices yet wilt thou be so sottish impudent that thou wilt seeke with this sclaunder to deface the dignity and worthines of Christianity Can there any maner of discipline more confirme and establishe cyuill pollicie thē that which teacheth Iustice equity