attempt But of such force the desire of glory is as the 〈◊〉 â—…th Magnum â—…ter ascendâ—… sed das 〈◊〉 glâ—…ria vires I undertake a journey of great length But glory to or come it gives me strength A Gentleman of Burgundy called Balthasar Seracke after he understood that the king of Spaine had proclaimed the Prince of Orenge a traytor sought for opportunity to kill the Prince Who seeing his reputation to decay by reason of the Prince of Parma his prosperous successe and fearing the people that were 〈◊〉 of the warres he left Antwerpe and withdrew himselfe to Delfe About this time the Duke of Alenson died which the Queene Mother signified to the Prince by her letters and made choyce of this Balthasar to be the messenger because hee was well knowne to the Prince in whose Court he was seven yeares brought up This man having delivered his letters and message was conversant with the gentlemen of the Princes Court seeking continually for opportunity to put in execution that he had long before determined When he had received his dispatch and prepared speedily to 〈◊〉 into France as it was thought hee had provided a very good horse to stay for his comming without the 〈◊〉 of the towne ready for him whatsoever should 〈◊〉 About two of the 〈◊〉 in the afternone what time he thought the Prince would rise from 〈◊〉 he returned to the Court and faining that hee had 〈◊〉 something he was without suspition let in He 〈◊〉 the Princes comming forth of the place where he 〈◊〉 and offring to speake to him having a pistoll under his cloake charged with three bullets poysoned chained together he dischargeth it at the Prince and strake him so deadly that the Prince fell presently to the 〈◊〉 and without any further time but only to 〈◊〉 the Lords prayer moving a little his lips ended his life His guard hearing the clap of the pistoll perceiving by the cry and noise of his servants that the prince was slaine they sought for the man that did the act but he in the meane time escaped through a stable neare to the garden and was almost come to the gate of the towne to his horse when one of the Princes retinue that was present when he was slaine had overtaken him and wrestled with him untill others came and apprehended him and ledde him to prison And when hee saw that all meanes was taken from him to escape and no hope nor place left for pardon laying all feare aside he asked them whether the Prince was dead which when they affirmed hee told them that hee was assured to dye but hee rejoyced very greatly that he had done the thing which hee had many yeares wished might take effect And therefore that hee would take his death joyfully and willingly that hee had done the thing with so good successe whereof others before him had failed with the losse of their lives No torments could make him 〈◊〉 confesse who set him on to commit that murder But he constantly answered that he was moved thereto by the perswasion of no Prince or any other man but of his owne accord and free-will But sayd that divers causes excited him to doe that act The first cause hee sayd was that he beleeved it was done to the glory of God because the Prince was a professed enemie to the Romish Catholike faith The second was that to take away the life from a most cruell enemy of the low-countries he knew would be beneficiall profitable to his countrey to which he owed his life which all good men and lovers of peace would commend and allow And last of all that he should doe notable service to the King of Spaine his master of whom neverthelesse he denied to be hired or allured with any promises or rewards to commit the murder He protested that hee nothing repented him of the fact but greatly rejoyced that his enterprise had taken so good effect had successe according to his desire He suffered all manner of torments with a wonderfull patience so as he brake not out into howlings or cryings weeping or making moan and 〈◊〉 as the manner is nor gave any signe of a troubled or dismaied minde but constantly affirmed that it was much better and more profitable to the common-wealth that two men meaning the Prince and himselfe should suffer violent death than so many thousands that by his meanes were brought to their end The first night he was hanged up in a kind of torture and â—…ourged most grievously five times with rods besides other grievous paines and at last hee was put in a vanne his hands and feet being bound and â—…sed up down that he might not sleepe The dayes and nights following he was hanged up againe in the instrument made for torture an hundred and fifty pound weight hanging at his toes diversly tormâ—…ced which he tooke with such a stout and resolute mind that they which tormented him being drawne into admitation and asking him how it came to passe that he seemed not to be troubled with so great torments he answered that it was to be attributed to the praiers 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 After he had bin many times examined suffered many tortures and news brought him that hee was condemned and must dye he with a joyfull countenance and voice gave God thanks And when a Minister of the reformed religion was sent to comfort him hee would not heare him but answered that he knew wel enough in what favour he was with God When he was brought to the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 puâ—…th vpon his feets 〈◊〉 of shoes tudely made of drâ—…e leather and presseth his feet betweene two iron plates burning hote so were his fâ—…t parched Then he plucked away the â—…ews of his hips and arms and aâ—…ms with a paire of â—…ngs fire-hote and beateth him upon the head with the pistoll that killed the Prince And last of all he opened his breast and being yet alive plucked out his heart and 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 his face and bowelled and quartered him as the manner is This was the end of this glorious enterprise the murder of a notable Prince to the great griefe and sorrow of all the people of whom hee was dearely loved and to the prejudice of the Low-Countries Common-wealth besides the losse of his life by cruell tormentâ—… that committed the fact with the hazard of his soule if God were not mercifull unto him And what was it as wee may conjecture but a desire of vaineglory that emboldened the poore Friar to 〈◊〉 great an enterprise to kill the late French king Henry the third a most notorious and execrable murder of his annoyâ—…ted Prince that was of his owne and theâ—… religion that set him on worke After the death of the Duke of Guise the Monkes and Friers and the rest of that rabble of Cloister-men were greatly incensed against the king and by all manner of meanes sought 〈◊〉 destruction And when they could find no man among
perceiving the discontentment of the people set her at liberty untill the next day and sent secretly to the campe to some of his friends to stay her father there But Virginins friends having prevented him he came to Rome the same night The next day when Appius had sitten a while in the place of judgment before he that challenged the yong woman for his slave spake any word to demand her and before her father could come to answer for her hee adjudged her to the yong man that challenged her All men stood silent and astonished at his unjust sentence and the father exclaiming and railing upon Appius he that made the challenge offered to take her away as his slave but interrupted by the lamentable cryes of the women that were present Appius commandeth silence and a way to bee made for him to carry away his slave Then every one departed with great sorrow and anger and left the yong virgin alone with her master The father seeing his daughter left alone voyd of all foccour holdeth up his hands to Appius and desired pardon for his unreverent speech and that hee might have leave a little to speake with his wife and daughter apart to the end that if his wife would say that shee was not his owne daughter but that hee had hitherto falsly usurped the name of her father hee would be content to leave her Appius supposing he meant as he spake licensed them to goe aside Then the father taking a knife secretly in his hand There is no other meanrs my daughter sayd he to set thee at liberty but this and therewith hee thrust the knife to her heart And looking up to the judgement seate where Appius 〈◊〉 To thee Appius quoth hee and to thy heâ—… 〈◊〉 crate with this bloud Then was there great lamentatlon and outcryes among the people and the women crying Is this the comfort of bringing up our children Is this the reward of chasticie And though Appius commanded Virginius to be apprehended yet he escaped and went to the campe where the unjust sentence of Appius was so much detested and the necessitie of the fathers fact so much lamenred that they came armed to Rome deprived the ten Magistrates and altered the forme of government to two Consuls againe and cast Appius in prison where for sorrow and shame he ended his dayes Antonius a famous Captaine and one of the 〈◊〉 governours of the Roman Empire through the pleasure he tooke in the fond love of Cleopatra Queene of Egypt lost not onely his fame and rule which he had over divers kingdomes and countries but his life also and hers upon whom he was so much besotted This Antonius married with the sister of Octavian another principall governour of the Romane Empire that after was called Augustus Caesar. But the lascivious eatisements of Cleopatra made such an impression in the flexible disposition of Antonius that hee little regarding his owne wife gave himselfe wholly to the love of Cleopatra which was the chiefe cause of the ruine of them both and the advancement of Octavian to the Monarchy of the world For Octavian conceiving great displeasure against Antonius for his sisters cause gathered together a great navie to make warre upon him who had made the like provision to encounter with Octavian These two mightie potentates with two huge navies wherein were assembled the forces of all the Princes adjoyning to their aide met together with like will and power but not with like fortune For in the beginning of the fight Cleopatra who accompanied Antonius with the Egyptian 〈◊〉 fled backe againe to Alexandria from whence they came which when Antonius saw being overcome rather with the blind love of the Queene than with his enemies forces followed after her and left the victorie to Octavian who pursued them both to Alexandria where Antonius being arrived and perceiving his navie to joyne with his enemie at the same time also forsaken of his horsemen hee cryed out as hee went in the Citie that hee was betrayed to them by Cleopatra to whom for her sake hee became an enemy Which when Cleopatra heard fearing the furie of Antonius shee shut her selfe in her sepulchre which shee had before so artificially prepared that being once made fast no man could easily enter into it without the helpe of them that were within and sent word to Antonius that shee had slaine her selfe After Antonius was come to himselfe hearing and beleeving this evill newes Why stayest thou Antonie quoth he the onely cause that was left to thee to desire life fortune hath now taken from thee and so entring into his chamber and unarming himselfe O Cleopatra quoth hee I am not sorie for the lacke of thee for I will be by and by with thee but that so great an Emperour as I am should bee furmounted in fortitude by a woman Then Antonius turning to his man Eros whom hee had provided before to kill him if neede were required him to performe his promise Eros taking his sword in his hand and making as though he would strike his master suddenly turned the point to his own body and thrust himselfe through and fell downe dead at his masters feet Which when Antonius saw well done Eros quoth he thou hast aptly taught me by thine owne example that thou couldest not find in thy heart to do it thy selfe and there with he thrust the sword into his own belly cast himself upon his bed Antonius perceiving that his wound was not present death desired his servants to kill him but they refusing running forth of the chamber hee raged and cryed out like one that had beene mad untill one came that Cleopatra had sent to bring him to her When he heard that she was alive hee greatly rejoyced and was carried presently to her 〈◊〉 where the Queene with two other women which shee had â—…here enclosed with her let downe cords out of a window for the doore shee would not open and with great labour drew him up halfe dead into the sepulcher A more miserable and lamentable sight sayd they that were present was never seene When the women had drawn him into the sepulchre and layd him upon a bedde Cleopatra began to rend her garments to reare her hayâ—…e to scratch her face crying out upon her lover her Lord her Emperour and so imployed herselfe in bemoniug him that she seemed to forget her owne misery Antonius used all the meanes hee could to comfort her advising her to provide for her selfe and her own matters if she could doe it without dishonour not to mourne for these last calamities of his but rather to thinke him happy for his former felicitie that was of all other the most famous and mightiest man and that now it was no disgrace for a Romane to bee overcome of Romanes After which words Antonius began to yeeld up the ghost When Casar heard of Antonius death hee sent Proculeius presently to Cleopatra
The illustration to the Frontispice OF these two sorts all common-weales subâ—…st The Naturall man and the Tbeologist The pious good man vanitie forsakes The Fâ—…esh the World and Dâ—…vill his footstoole makes The Naturalist things heavenly doth disgust His Summum bonum Pleasure is and Lust. Observe The zealous mans supporters bee Firme Faith fixt Hope and liberall Cbaritie The Morall mans dejecters likewise three wone Woman and the love of Vanisie All worldly gaine the one doth count his losse Save Death the Decade Holy bookâ—… and Crosse. The other what 's Celestialldoth deryde His God's the Throate the Belly Gold and Pryde One both his hands to heaven uplifts the same Makes this his Motto Heaven not Earth's my aâ—…me Th' other with one poynts upward but his minde The pompe and frailties of this world doth bliâ—…de His Inscript is who terrene things doth love I see but understand not things above A burning â—…eave the one's zeale doth expresse The others by a bubile you may ghesse The Bleâ—…ed Sâ—…nt above denotcstruâ—… blâ—…ry The Stars and Pâ—…mets things meeâ—… transitory Those then that would 〈◊〉 sover 〈◊〉 attaine Must know allthings beneath the Moone are vaine THE FELICITIE OF MAN or His Summum Bonum Written by Sr R Barckley Kt In Caeli summum permanet arce bonum Boeth De Consol Philos Lib. 3 London Printed by R.Y. and are Sold by Rich Roystone at his shop in Ivie Lane Aº 1631. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE ROBERT Earle of Somerset Viscount Rochester Kt. of the most honourable Order of the Garter c. RIGHT HONOURABLE MOst requisite it is that all bookes should bee protected by such noble Patrones whose Dispositions and Indowments have a Sympathy Correspondence with the Arguments on which they intreate The Title of this is Summum bonum to the attaining of which those which best know you can give assured testimony that your Matutini and Lucubrationes i. your mornings meditations and night studies are devoutly intended What the true Felicitie of man is or at least ought to bee and the directest way to arrive unto it is in this worke learnedly and religiously discoursed and therefore desirous to bee shadowed under your wing who are as able to appcehâ—…nd as judicially to censure This Booke Right honourable at the request of divers noble and well disposed Gentlemen is brought to expresse it selfe after a long silence At whose importunity I have added unto the originall such needefull ornaments in the former edition omitted as best suit with the humour and fashion of the time selecting you the sole Mecanas of so weighty and worthy a worke whose serious contemplations are â—…ymed aâ—… Reality not Forme as studying to be actually that which others strive to seeme in appearance Accept I intreat your Honour the perusall and patronage as an humble Tender of his observance and service who as hee wisheth you the fruition of all the Felicities enjoyed by Man here on earth so hee implores for you all the eternall happinesse ordained for him in Heaven Your Honours humbly devâ—…ted H. T. TO THE READER A Philosopher having invited his friends to dinner and seeing them sit at the table looking about as though they lacked something forbearing to eate the meat that was set before them and perceiving at last they looked for bread which hee had forgotten to provide Yee may see quoth he how little the study of Philosophie serveth to the making of a feast Even so when I had taken occasion to write of the Felicitie of man and layd before me the goodly reasons and perswasions of the Philosophers I seemed to bee invited to their opinion as to a plentifull feast that wanted nothing to satisfie mine appetite But when I had more considerately perused their reasons and arguments whereby they would prove it to bee in the power of a wise man to attaine to Felicitie I perceived there wanted as it were bread to a Feast the chiefe thing that should make their dainty meat or plausible reasons savorie to their guests which is she grace of God from whom all good things commeth without which all that can bee produced and said in this matter hath no taste So that it is easily to be seenc how little the stndy of Philosophie serveth to the finding out or attaining of the Felicitie of man For though a man bee fortified with much wâ—…sdome and vertue yet he is in the whole oâ—…r of his lâ—…fe subject to so many infirmities of bodie and passions of minde and variable accidents of fortune as the Philosophers use to speak which draw men into calamity and 〈◊〉 that no mortall man hath in himselfe power sufficient to aâ—…aine to felicitie which must come by the enjoying of Gods graces and benefits whereunto the Philosophers for the most part as Heathens had no great regard which made them faâ—…le of the marke they shâ—…t at And to let thee know that I may not be mistaken the cause which moved mce to take this matter in hand after the experience of many years in which I have lived and runne a great part of my race at random with the multitude feeking for I know not what nor where to finde that I sought estimating things rather by a common custome than an upright judgement I beganne at length with more vigilancie to observes he states of life and condition of men And musing within my selfe to what end and purpose and whereof it should come to passe that men were so earnestly occupied in such varictic of labours and exdleâ—… travels to seeke after that they could never finde and the more they had gotten of that they saught the lesse they found of that they desired to have I compared learned mens opinions and precepts with worldly mens lives and manners whereby I perceived that an erroneous opinion and wrong estimation of things was the chiefe cause that bindered their attnining to the end of their desires For every man desireth an happy estate but because they doe not adâ—…sedly consider wherein felicitie or happinesse consisteth nor direct the course of their life the next way to it bâ—…t mistake some other thing for that they seeks after they never finde that they would have The consideration whereof joyned with the calamities and troubles with which men are arrested so soone as they enter into this world and the perils and alterations to which they are subject and with griefe suffer in this life both in bodie and minde in goods and possessions some by their owne fault others by Gods crosse whereof I have not onely beene in others oculatus testis but also in my selfe in some part a sensible witnesse brought forth such as it is this Discourse of mans Felicitie For being desirous to remove out of my head the cogitations that distempered my minde I could finde no better meanes than after Seneca his counsell to his friend Lucilius to write of something for my exercise simplicistilo that my head might be possessed with better matter And
the time present Nothing is more avaâ—…eable to suppresse the inordinate desire and estimation of worldly vanities and to discover the false 〈◊〉 of repâ—…ted happâ—…sse than to observe the course of mens lives and counsels of other ages and compare them with the manners present By which we shall see a cortaine kinde of confer 〈◊〉 and continued order from age to age of the variable and tragicall events with the fat all end of them that have aspired to high dignities and set their felicitie in vaine pleasures reputation and pompe of the world Cicero reprehendâ—…ng mens negligente in seeking after such kinde of knowledge saith To bee ignorant of the things that have happened before thou werâ—… borne is alwayes to bee a childe And Seneca for the like cause saith There are none ore unhappy than those old men that have â—…ber argument to prove their long life but their yeares If any man take occasion of offence because they finde the abuses and imperfections of themselves their estate or profession discovered by which they are subject to reprehension let them consider that my intent and scope is to search for the felicity of man and to see whether it hath any part in this life In doing whereof I was driven to examine the principall estates of life not in any particular Countrey or Common wealth but generally through the world and to discover the evill I found in them and yet not all that I have found written in other Authors nor that may truly be spoken but so much as I thought sufficient to make for my purpose For whon I note the abuses of some estates of life and manners of men as not sufficiently furnished with the things that should lead men to felicity my meaning is the abuses of other Countries reported by credible Authors and not of mine owne saving when I name our Nation where neverthelesse I wish that all things were so well as there were no cause to finde any fault And yet nothing is so generally spoken but it doth admit some exception But he that shall walke in so large and spacious a field as to treate of this subject wherein he must be enforced to looke into the condition and manners of men and to unfold for the truths sake the abuses and 〈◊〉 accidents that befall the estates of life which are disguised and lye covered under faire shewes as the Serpent 〈◊〉 under sweet flowers shall find the weedes to overcome the corne and the evill so farre to exceed the good that it is not possible for him to passe through so great a throng and multitude of people to seeke for a happy man but he must shoulder some and give occasion of offence or leave the thing unfound he goeth about to seeke The consideration whereof 〈◊〉 these verses often into my mind At melius fuerat non scribere namque tacere Tutum 〈◊〉 crit The truth as it is commonly sayd purchaseth displeasure and soothing or flattery winneth good will Caius Lucilius a learned man is reported to say that he wished the things which hee had written might neither be read of them that bee altogether unlearned nor of them that were very well learned because the one sort understand nothing the other know per adventer more than hee But I 〈◊〉 not so much the qualitie of their learning that shall reade that which I have written if it chance to be seen of more than I meant as I wish them to bee of a disposition inclined to vertue and honesty for such will eyther finde matter there to benefit themselves or at least not blame the Author for his good meaning Some like nothing but new matter that commeth from the Authors owne invention others delight to have it intermingled with examples of antiquity and the opinions and sayings of learned men which agreeth so aptly with my disposition that it occasioned mee to collect many histories and examples with grave sayings and sentences out of learned Authors as it were of old stuffe to help erect a new building not naming alwaies the Authors because they were 〈◊〉 forgotten or sufficiently knowne to mee that had none other meaning but to bee the end of mine owne labours To repreâ—…d vies to exciâ—…e to vertue to know our 〈◊〉 by nesse and â—…ferable â—…state can bee hurtfull to none it may bee profitable to 〈◊〉 in these 〈◊〉 sifteâ—… the 〈◊〉 of all our Discourse I wish it may turn to the benifit of them that sbalread it I have dividded this Treatise into fix bookes In the third not in honour and glory In the fourth not 〈◊〉 morall vertue or in the action of vertue after the Academickes and Peripateticks nor in Philosophicall contemplation In the fift I have declared mine owne opinion of the felicity and happinesse of this life In the 〈◊〉 I have shewed wherein consisteth the true felicity and Summum bonum of man and the way to attaine to it In which Discourse if I have missed the marke I shot at as it may well be the same per adventure being out of my reach let him that followeth take a better levell beware he shoot not as much too wide on the other side That I goe before and stand besides the prick will helpe his aime that shall follow and 〈◊〉 at the same marke I may seeme presumptuous if my 〈◊〉 bee taken as they lye in some places though meant for 〈◊〉 only and order of writing in taking upon 〈◊〉 to shew the 〈◊〉 to felicity so 〈◊〉 a matter as hath moved much controversie betweene the ancient Wisemen and Philosophers and the best learned of all ages and as it were to make my way through them by violence allowing and rejecting of theirs at my pleasure as though I were Nullius astrictus 〈◊〉 in verba magistri For to offer only the pen to the book among so many grave and learned men in a matter also of such importance may bee attributed to rashnesse and to touch the monuments of so many and profound Authors whose opinions have beene so many ages allowed may be taken for a kind of sacriledge But the reverence and love of antiquity ought to be no barre to posterity to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opinion and conceit in searching for the truth And because I tooke the matter in hand for mine owne 〈◊〉 onely without any meaning to publish it I was the more bold to give my selfe a warrant freely to utter my conceit 〈◊〉 any prejudice to the authority of antiquity But for that I have not followed the path which they and others have trodden before me but rather in a sort have broken the yee in a new place to make my way through after 〈◊〉 owne fancy and refused to 〈◊〉 by another mans compasse me thinkes I heare the sound of Virgil his verse in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes That I have written though I may seeme to have given my selfe a liberty to think as I list and not to hang
cares determined to alter the course of his former life and give himselfe to contemplation Hee used often to goe alone up to the top of a hill that joyned to the Citie of Abderita where hee would kill dogs and calves rip them up make Anatomie of them ever as hee saw how aptly nature had compact the intrailes members together to serve the necessary uses of the creature he would fall into a great laughing Hee used this so often that the Senatours marvelling what he meant to goe so much up this hill sent one secretly after him to watch what he did This fellow beholding covertly his manner how he cut up dogs and calves and laughed at he knew not what brought word to the Senatours what hee had seene They supposing him to be mad or become foolish were very sorry and lamented his case to one of the Sages or Philosophers of Greece that was newly come to Towne They told him what a great losse they had of so grave and wise a Senatour that was now become a foole and desired him to examine the cause of his sudden alteration and to perswade him if he could to leave off those foolish manners to reduce him againe to his former gravitie and course of life This man watched when hee went up the hil and followed secretly after And when hee had beheld him a while quartering his dogs and laughing after his usuall manner he came to him reprehending him for his laughing admonished him to recall himselfe to his former gravitie Democritus after he had ended his perswasions leadeth him to the side of the hill where they might looke into the Citie and Countrey round about Now quoth he imagine that you see all things that are done within the Citie Look saith he what familiaritie is between that young man and the young woman you see which is yonder old mans wife there is a bargaine making to set a paire of hornes on the old mans head And doe you see yonder two fellowes how they watch for the plaine man 〈◊〉 travelleth about his businesse to kill him and to take his purse And look on the other side how that young man that married yonder old woman for her goods provideth a drink to dispatch her that he may marry a young woman At the end of everie of these questions Democritus after his usuall manner would fall into a great laughing When he had ministred divers of these kinde of questions whereby he noted the ordinarie vices and lewd behaviour of many which were too common in Cities and other places where is much concourse of people as though they had beheld them in action Is there any man quoth hee that seeth these things that can forbeare to laugh After this man that was sent by the Senatours had some farther discourse with Democritus hee returned to them who hoping that hee had perswaded him to bee of another minde made haste to meet him and were desirous to know what had passed between them You are deceived quoth he in Democritus that think him to be mad or foolish for he is only wise and all you be fooles He withdraweth not himselfe from the companie of you and others because hee is out of his right mind but hee looketh into the vanities of the world with a sound and upright judgment and hath in contempt this worldly wealth honours pompe esteeming those things as the frumps of fortune which ye exalt above the skies and take for felicitie and giveth himselfe to the studie of Philosophie and contemplation of the works of God wherein consisteth the true felicitie Diogenes after his accustomed scoffing manner which hee used to reprehend vice and to draw men from over-much care and estimation of worldly matters for there is no cause to let men from speaking the truth though in jest on a time as hee sate in his tub upon the side of the hill that looketh into the Citie of Syracusa which was situate at the foot of the hill beholding every man occupied in ramming up their gates and preparing things necessarie for defence of their Citie against their enemies that were comming to besiege it hee rolled his tub from the top of the hill to the bottome and from thence up to the top againe and then overthwart the hill from one side to another and being asked what he meant to labour so hard Look quoth he what a stir yonder is pointing downe to the towne it is no reason that I be idle when my Citizens are so occupied By which scoffe hee would give men to understand what advantage they had that conâ—…ed themselves with a meane estate that is voyd of all feare and danger and free from the uncertaine accidents of wavering fortune over them that live in abundance of worldly wealth honours alwaies subject to a world of misadventures not only of the losse of that they possesse esteem for their felicity but of their lives also of them that be most deare to them Of whom riches is greatly esteemed he is neither beloved of vertue nor of God neither can that man attaine to divine things that hath not rejected the delights of money and of the body Byas one of the Sages of Greece when the towne was wonne by their enemies and leave given to every man to carry his goods away with him Byas being met carrying nothing whereas all others were throughly laden and asked why he carried not his goods as all other men did theirs I carry quoth he all my goods with me accounting nothing appertaining to him but the goods and gifts of his minde as the Poet saith Divitias animi solas egojudico verâ—… Qui rebus pluris se facit ipse suis Those the true Riches of the minde I count When men thinke They their Riches far surmount The mention of this Byas bringeth to my remembrance a notable example of modestie and contempt of riches shewed by the seven Sages or wise men of Greece whereof Byas was one As certain Fishers were drawing their nets to land one bought their draught at adventure not yet knowne what was within them It chanced them to draw up enclosed within their nets a table of gold of great weight and value The Fishers desirous to reserve to themselves the golden table said that they sold only the fish the other affirmed he bought the fortune The contention grew so vehement that the matter was brought before the people of the Citie to give their censure They considering the strangenesse of the matter and the great value of the thing referred the judgement to their god Apollo at Delphos And when answer was made by the Oracle that he that excelled all others in wisdome should have the table they gave it with a general consent to Thales one of the Sages he sent it to Byas Byas sent it to Pittacus he to another and so passing through the hands of all the seven Sages it came
sentence was given against him First that his two dogs whose help he had used in his Magicke matters should be shot through with Muskets and himselfe should have his head stricken off For this milde sentence hee gave thanks to the Prince alledging he had deserved a much more severe judgement and at least was worthy to be burned The next day a new gallowes was set up covered with copper an halter tyed in the middest covered likewise with copper signifying his deceit in making gold Hard by the gallowes was set up a scaffold aloft covered with blacke cloth upon the scaffold was placed a seat wherein this Alcumist sate arrayed in mourning apparell And as hee sate the Executioner strake off his head The Poet cryeth out not without cause upon this love of riches Aurum destructor vita princepsque malorum O quà m difficiles nectis ubique dolos O utinam natum nunquam mortalibus esses Dulcia suppedit as quae nocumenta viris Gold lifes destroyer and of mischiefes Prince That every where by snares dost us convince Would thou hadst nere been seene by mortals eyes Who with delightfull harmes still man supplyes CHAP. IIII. Of sundry men most remarkeable for Avarice Of an English Cardinall Of Hermocrates Cardinall Sylberperger Hermon Phidon Antonio Batistei c. Of such as voluntarily parted with their Riches Of Antippus the Philosopher Ancrates the Theban and Sabbas Cast a Knight of Malta Pope Alexander the sift Tiberius Constantine Emperour Anacreon the Philosopher Epictetus Seneca the Philosopher reproved by Snillius for avarice before Nero A notable example of the Romane Fabricius Of Pertinax Of Hassan Bassa The covetousnesse of the Fortugals the French and the Spaniards reproved Concluding that no soveraâ—…gne felicitie can subsistin Riches c. YEt there want not Examples of some wise men who having abundance of riches and means to increase it willingly made choice to part with their riches as an enemie to vertue and hinderance to many good things and reserve to themselves a small portion Democritus a very rich man gave all his patrimonie to his Countrey reserving to himselfe but a little summe of money to live withall that hee might have the more leasure to study Philosophie for which cause he went to Athens The Prophet David perceiving our vaine estimation and wondering at riches forewarneth us thus Be not affraâ—…d when thou secst a man made rich and the glorie of his bousc multiplâ—…ed for when he dyeth he shall take nothing with him nor shall his glorie descend to the place whither be goâ—…th Hee shall passe into the progenies of his Ancestors and world without end hee shall see no more light The Prophet Baruch with more bitternesse asketh this question Where are they now that heaped together gold and silver and which made no end of their scraping Where be the Princes and they that rule over the beasts of the earth Hee answered himselfe presently Exterminatâ—… sunt adinferos descenderunt They are rooted out and gone into hell Saint Paul writeth to Timothâ—…e Give commandement to the rich men of this world not to bee high-minded nor to put hope in the uncertaintie of their riches And yet for all that nothing even in these daies puffeth men up more in pride than great store of riches neither can men forbeare to put great trust in them Wee had a Cardinall here in England in the time of Henrie the sixth so exceeding rich that hee thought nothing was able to prevaile against him And when he lay on his death bed and perceiving that hee must dye hee murmured and grudged If quoth he the Realme of England would save my life I am able to get it with policie or buy it with my riches Fie said he will not death be hyred will money doe nothing Saint Iames saith Now goe to ye rich men weepe and howle in your miseries that come upon you Your riches are rotten and your gold and silver are rustie and the rust thereof shall be a testimonie against you it shall feede on your flesh like fire You have hoorded wrath for your selves in the last day This the holy Ghost pronounceth to signifie unto us how vaine and dangerous a thing woldly wealth is and how foolish they are that labour so earnestly for it to the perpetual perill of their soules Iob saith Wee came naked into this world and naked wee must goeforth againe Yet some have beene so wedded to their riches that they have used all the meanes they could to take them with him Atheneus reporteth of one that at the houre of his death devoured many peeces of gold and sewed the rest in his coate commanding that they should be all buried with him Hermocrates being loth that any man should enjoy his goods after him made himselfe by his will heire of his owne goods The Cardinall Sylberperger tooke so great a pleasure in money that when hee was grievously tormented with the gowt his onely remedy to ease the paine was to have a bason full of gold set before him into which hee would put his lame hands turning the gold up-side-downe Hermon was so covetous that dreaming on a time hee had spent a certaine summe of money for very sorrow he strangled himselfe And one Phidon was so extremely overcome with that passion of covetousnes that being fallen into desperation through a losse received he would not hang himselfe for spending of three-halfe-pence to buy him an halter but sought a way to death better cheape One Antonio Batistei an Italian having lost in a ship that was drowned five hundred crowns determined like a desperate man to hang himselfe and as he was about to fasten the rope to a beame for that purpose he found by chance there hidden a thousand crownes And being very glad of this good fortune hee exchanged the halter for the crownes and went away Not long after hee was gone the owner came thither to see his gold but when hee perceived the crownes to bee gone hee fell into such extreme griefe that hee presently hanged himselfe with the halter that he found in their place Antippus the Philosopher following a contrary course having turned all his patrimonie into ready money went to the sea side and there cast it into the water saying Hence with a mischiefe ye ungracious desires for I drowne you because you should not drowne me Ancrates a Theban being weary of worldly cares and houshold affaires forsooke his patrimonie that was of the value of foure thousand and eight hundred crownes and betooke himselfe to a staffe and a Philosophers bagge and departed Hee that desireth over-great riches or possessions seemeth to be wiser in the choyce of his garment which hee will rather have to bee meete for his body than too long or too large Hee that is wise will content himselfe with that which is sufficient and feeleth no want but the foolish man troubleth himselfe with cares and thoughts and though hee wallow in
doest thou thinke I pitie thee it rather grieveth me to see such a slave as thou art who deservest to grow old and to dye like a Tyrant as thy father did than to live here among us so pleasantly and to passe thy time in securitie without feare Whereby the Philosophers meaning was that hee lived then more happily being a private man voyde of feare and perill than he did before in his kingdome which was full of feare and trouble The infelicitie which many times accompanieth great estates and frequenteth places of honour was well fore-scene of Tâ—…us the goâ—…d Emperour of Rome For as he made a feast one day to the contentment of everie man using a cheerefull countenance in the end of the banquet he strake himselfe upon the breast at the table and withall â—…tched a great sigh And when his favorites desired to know the cause I cannot quoth he refraine sighing when I call to minde that this great honour which I have dependeth upon the will of fortune that my estates and dignities are as it were in sequestration and my life as it were laide in pawne and pledge to me Words of like effect were uttered by 〈◊〉 to Nerva when hee was chosen Emperour For when all men came to doe reverence to him as their Lord and Emperour and to congratulate and rejoyce with him wishing him good successe and fortune as the manner is onely Arrius a very wise and grave man a faithfull friend to Nerva used another forme of speech considering with a more deepe meditation than the rest what a great charge and full of perill it was to reigne My friend Nerva sayd he that thou hast taken upon thee the governement of the Empire either it is some curse from thy predecessours or some vengeance that the gods will take of thee seeing they suffer thee to take the Empire and at the time thou hast most need of counsell they bereave thee of thy sound and good judgement And surely Nerva sayd Arrius that thou art exalted into this throne I attribute it to the good fortune of the Senate and the people of Rome and to all the Empire and not to thine For as thou hast through thy vertue and wisdome escaped with so great honour credit from the hands of so many evill Princes that went before thee so now the same hath made thee subject to an infinite number of cares and perills and above all the rest to the infamy and hatred of thine enemies and much more of thy friends For these thinking in their own judgement that they have deserved all things as due to them in respect of old friendship if any thing be denied them though unjust that they shall aske they will become more cruell enemies than those that have so disordered themselves And when Pertinax was to be elected Emperour and went up to the Capitoll he would in no wise sit in the chaire of estate but tooke the Consull Glabrion by the arme by strong hand would have placed him in the same as the worthier man But he refusing and perswading 〈◊〉 with all the Senate to accept the Empire which was so much against his wil and liking as appeared by the pitifull lamentation he made and abundance of teares hee shed that they placed him in a manner by force in the chaire And when hee saw no remedy nor resistance against their 〈◊〉 hee made an Oration to the Senate and amongst many other things spake thus When I began to hold offices in the Common-wealth I thought it most certaine that it was no humane matter but a divine dignitie to bee a Romane Emperour but after I had tasted of the travels of commandement and of authoritie and understood the peril to reigne I did cleerely see that amongst all the travels of men to bee an Emperour is the greatest Untill this day I have had some 〈◊〉 but from henceforth I shall bee constrained to live discontented because from the travell and 〈◊〉 of the â—…nce peace quietnesse proceedeth to the CoÌ„mon-wealth The office of a Prince is not to sleepe but to watch not to be idle but to travell for that every excessive recreation which his person taketh forthwith redoundeth to the prejudice of the Common-wealth Untill this day have I been well liked served and reverenced but from henceforth all men for the most part shall beare mee envie because the estate of Princes is so envied that thâ—…sea shall want sand to reckon his enemies but the number of his fingers of one hand shall exceed to point out his friends Hee used often to say that in all his life he never committed the like fault as when he accepted the Empire and many times hee moâ—…oned to leave the same and to returne unto his housâ—… and would thus recomfort 〈◊〉 That forasinuch as hee was of so great age he should not long live but bee delivered of this redious life Perâ—…nax had a son whom after he was Emperor he would not suffer to come to the Court nor yet to Rome but held him in his countrey following his owne affaires which moved the Consull to say to Pertinax that he seemed rather the sonne of a labourer than of an Emperour Whereupon he listup his eyes to heaven and with a great sigh sayd My mother Rome hath cause to be contented that I offer and put â—…y life in danger for her sake without venturing my sonne and house in like danger Whereby it appeareth he esteemed himselfe for most unhappy to be established in the Empire and his sonne to bee in great felicitie being free from the same CHAP. II. The Emperour Trajans opinion concerning Principalitie and Empire The like of Marcus Aurelius Emperour of the Empire Saturninus and his death The modesty of Sylla the Dictator and Carolus Martellus The History of Dioclesian The instabilitie of Fortune prâ—…ved by Iustinian the second The contention of Sergius and Formosus about the Pope-dome Of Pope Iohn the thirteenth and others Of Bajazet Emperour of the Turkes The historie of Darius and Alexander of Baltazar Cossa Pope and his miserable death Flattery rewarded by Antonius and Commodus Emperors The stories of divers Popes Of the Cardinal of Loreyne and of Martin Luther THe Emperour Trajane seemed to be of opinion that the greatest felicitie is not found in the greatest estate by a letter which hee wrote to the Senate of Rome being new chosen Emperour where among other things hee writeth thus Ye know that albeit I was nephew to our predecessor yet I never solicited him for the kingdome and much lesse occupied my thoughts to hope for it having learned of my master Plutarch that honour ought rather to bee deserved than purchased And as I will not denie but that a kingdome is a sweet prey that the present of so high and excellent dignity was welcome to mee with inward gladnesse so also I cannot but confesse that I find great difference between the travels of a kingdome and the
that should bee my guard and defence I begin to feare and to stand in doubt of them that keepe mee company I eate my meat now with no good taste nor without suspition I goe no where in safetie nor without feare But if I were assured from all these things yet it is unpossible for an Emp to please his subjects For if hee bee old they will say hee is unable and insufficient if hee bee yong that he is furious and wanteth wisedome to command So as there will never faile defects to bee found in him Beleeve me my friends you that make mee Emperour doe tye mee to death yet one thing comforteth me that I shall not dye alone deale with mee as you list I beseech the gods that ye repent not one day that you have done as I repent it now And as hee seemed to prophesie of himselfe so it happened to him For Probus being Emperour also encountering with him wonne the field and Saturninus being fled into a Castle was there slaine against the will of Probus who seemed willing to have pardoned him And although the troubles and perils of these high dignities and honourable places were foreseene and duly considered of some wise grave men yet few there have beene who refused them being offered and more few that have yeelded them over without some urgent cause and necessitie when they have possessed them Sylla after he had vanquished all his enemies being dictator the highest dignitie then in the Romane common-wealth and in mens judgement might have possessed it quietly gave it over voluntarily without any compulsion and led a private life Carolus Martellus shewed great magnanimitie in refusing principalitie when after many noble victories he was offered by the Princes and Nobilitie the kingdom of France he refused it and contented himselfe with the estate his father left him For which hee had this Epitaph Dux dominusq Ducum regum quoqueâ—…ex fore speâ—…it Non vult regnare sed regibus imperat ipse To be a Duke or Lord o're Dukes Or King mongst Kings he did despise But thought it greater than himselfe To reigne 'ore Kings to emperize Some others did the like But none hath shewed a more rare example in this kinde of matter than Dioclesian This Dioclesian was a man of base parentage in Dalmacia and served as a poore souldier in France under divers Romane Emperours for the Romanes had then a custome not to suffer their Emperours long to live as on a time hee reckoned with a woman in the house where he was lodged that was a Soothsayer of them which were called Druides for the charges of some time past this woman finding fault with hisstraight reckoning unfit as shee thought for a souldier Content thy selfe good woman quoth Dioclesian I am yet a poore souldier as thou seest but when I am an Emperour I will be more liberall Forasmuch as thou hast spoken quoth she more truely than thou art aware of when thou hast killed an Aper which signifieth a Bore thou shalt be Emperor DioclesiaÌ„ although he took her words in jest as a thing unlikely to come to passe yet carrying a lotâ—…e minde he thought sometimes upon her words and as occasion served hee used to kill Bores And through his vertue and valour being advanced by degrees from one office to another hee became in time one of the principall mâ—… in the army And as he saw three or foure Emperors in his time one succeeding another he calling to remembrance the womans words I kill the Bores quoth he but others eat the flesh It chanced at last that one whose name was Aper trayterously killed 〈◊〉 the Emperour notwithstanding hee married his daughter hoping to succeede him in the Empire But the same being known to the souldiers they apprehended this Aper brought him before the tribunall seat of the Emperour And devising upon a man that might see this treason punished none seemed so meete as Dâ—…oclesian Whereupon the whole army chose him Emperour And heto fulfill the prophecie though the thing was unseemely thrust his sword through Aper and slue him And after hee had reigned twenty yeares and atchieved great matters and now come to live in great prosperitie his Empire being so strongly fortified all things in such peaceable estate that in the judgement of men he neede feare nothing by a rare president never seene before he gave over the Empire went to the citie of Solona in Dalmatia his native countrey to lead a private life where he occupied himselfe in planting trees and making orchards and gardens and would never after be brought to entermeddle with any kinde of governement of what qualitie soever Which private liâ—…e liked him so wel that by his owne confession he then began to live and to see the cleere light of the Sunne And when afterward in processe of time the States of Rome sent Ambassadours to desire him that hee would returne againe to be their Emperour and take upon him the governement which they sayd would bee profitable 〈◊〉 the common-wealth hee would in no wife be 〈◊〉 to accept it but answered them that 〈◊〉 they â—…aw and could enjoy awhile his quiet life the pleasure of the herbes and trees which he had sowed planted in his countrey they would never send him any such embassage that he had heretofore bestowed great travell for the common-wealth that now God had given him time to travel live to himselfe And that he could not account any part of his time for life but this which he 〈◊〉 quietly spent sithence his returne to his countrey And when the Embassadours replyed that hee should have respect to the great matters which hee had done and not to suffer his victories to receive disgrace in his time hee answered them that having set his felicite in the goods and riches of the minde it could not bee accounted for an unhonest thing in him to contemne worldly wealth and dominion and to professe honest poverty and that for confirmation of his opinioÌ„ there neither wanted precepts nor examples of the wise ancient Philosophers Among all the heathen histories that are written there is not in mine opinion a more notable example nor of more efficacy to perswade men that feliâ—…iry consisteth not in temporall and worldly goods and dominions than this of Diâ—…lefian For beginning the course of his life in the estate of a poore souldier and ascending through the favour of Fortune and his owne vertue and wisedome from one degree to another untill hee was mounted to the highest dignities among men to bee Emperour of Rome and commander of the world and considering with himselfe like a wise man the uncertainty and mutability of the things of this life iâ—… which nothing hath long continuance but as it hâ—…th 〈◊〉 time to increase so being at the highest naturally doth diminish againe proponing also to himselfe the examples of divers great estates whom Fortune had set upon the top of
strange to all men and that they might procced orderly with her she was committed to prison and examined where shee confessed all that had happened But this EthiopiaÌ„ Divell would not so leave her societie for as she was kept close in prison whilest her cause was examining when the Nuns after midnight used their ordinarie service in the quire the Divel would transforme himselfe into her likenesse and sit in her place and kneele upon his knees as though he prayed they all thinking it had beene Magdalen and that shee had that liberty given for her repentance But the next day when they understood that shee was kept in prison and the night following seeing her againe in the quire they told the visitors who examining the matter found that shee went not forth of the prison And when the cause was known to the Pope through her repentance he pardoned her and gave her absolution But Sathan never found so fit an instrument to serve his purpose with such effect as was that false Prophet Mahomet who through ambition and an unsatiable desire of glory wherein his life shewed him to put his felicity not content to become of a base fellow a Monarch of divers goodly kingdomes but must also take upon him to be a holy Prophet sent from God to give laws to his people whereby he hath not onely damned his owne soule but also sendeth dayly infinite numbers of soules to the bottomlesse pit of hell to whom the Poets saying may be aptly applyed Alsquid tamdudum invadere magnum Mens agitat miht nec placida contenta quiete est My mind hath in long labour bin nor yet In quiet is some great thing to beget And that it may the better appeare what pernicious effects the desire of vaineglory hath wrought and therefore contrary to that Summâ—… bonum or felicitie wee seeke after it will not be impertinent to the matter to make a briefe narration of the course of Mahomets life whereby we shall see how by the helpe of the Divell his owne subtil wit by Gods sufferance for our sins hee was advaÌ„ced froÌ„ a poore wretch to a mighty Monarch and reputed Prophet and law-maker This Mahomets father was an Arabian called Abdalla his mother an Ismaelite called Enyma he was borne in a little village not far from Mecha called Itrarip about sixe hundred yeares after Christs incarnation The Turks say that the same day he was borne there fell downe to the ground of their own accord a thousand Churches one which was a signe that in his time there should bee a great decay of Christianity Being in his youth brought up by his parents in two religions every of them desirous to draw him to his opinion when he came to be a man he was of no religion He was sent no doubt by the Divel to the shame of mankind who cannot endure the sincerity of Christs Gospell but finding so apt an instrumeÌ„t to worke the dishonor of God and the destruction of men and knowing the disposition of the world to embrace new things he practised by his meanes to plant a new religion having fit opportunity therto by the wavering minds of the Arabians and Affricans who were at that time he was borne in doubt whether they might follow the religion of the Christians or of the Iewes or Arrians There was great fâ—…iendship about this time betweene Mahomets father and a Iew that was an Astronomer well learned in the old law in the Christian religion It chanced that Mahomet was borne when his father was gone to Ierusalem and at his returne this Iew having calculated his sonnes nativitie told him that he should be mighty in dominion law Not long after the birth of this apostle of Sathan Abdalla the father died When Mahomet was 4 yeres old this Iew devised a notorious and most shamefull lye He said that he saw two Angels take Mahomets hart out of his bodie divided it in the middest and tooke out of it a drop of bloud and afterward washed it cleane with faire water put it in a paire of ballance weighed it with ten other hearts because his heart weighed them downe all Then one of the Angels said to the other if his heart were set against all the hearts in Arabia it would over weigh them all This said the Iew the Angell Gabriell shewed him When Mahomet was viijyeares old his mother died and committed him to his uncle by the fathers side who delivered him to the Iew to be brought up in learning The Iew instructed him in naturall Philosophy but especially in the Iewish and ChristiaÌ„ religion wherin he proved so good a scholler that it holpe to work the destruction of his own soule many others Some write that when Mahomet was thirteen yeare old as he wandred abroad he met with merchants that were going into Egypt desirous to be of their company they tooke him with them to helpe to keepe their camels horses and wheresoever he went there was many times seene a blacke fellow standing by him And when they came to a village in Egypt where at that time were divers Christians the Parson of the towne invited theÌ„ to his house they followed the Parson left Mahomet to keep their camels The Parson enquiring whether all their coÌ„pany were come into his house they are all here said they saving a boy that stayeth without with our camels As the Parson went forth he saw a black fellow 〈◊〉 by the boy which put him in mind of a prophecie that he had read of one that should descend of pareÌ„ts of two sundry natioÌ„s who shold establish a religion against the christian faith by whom for a signe should many times stand a black fellow The parsoÌ„ desired the merchaÌ„ts to cal in the boy understanding his name to be Mahomet he remeÌ„bred him so to be called in the prophecie that he should be a mighty man a great trouble to Christendome that his religion should not continue above 1000. yeers then it should vanish away When the Parson had considered of his name of the black fellow staÌ„ding by him he perceived that it was he the prophecie spake of and set him at his table above the merchants and did him great reverence After they had eaten the Priest asked the merchants whether they knew the boy who told him the manner how they came by him The parson enformed theÌ„ of the prophecy he ha 〈◊〉 read who affirmed that they had seene such a blacke fellow stand by him Then sayd the Parson to the boy Thou shalt be a great learned maÌ„ and shalt establish a new religion among the Heathens and with they power thou shalt bee great annoyance to the Christians and thy successors shall be mighty men Now I desire thee that thou wilt suffer my country men the Armenians to live in peace Mahomet promised that he would so doe and went forwards with
of vice or images of vertue The old Romanes desirous to excite their yong men to vertuous acts and considering how men are inclined to the love of honour they built two temples the one of which they dedicated to vertue the other to honour joyned them so artificially together that no man could come into that of honor but he must first come through vertue By which apt device they would have it knowne to all nations that the right way to honour is by vertue But in these latter ages the temple of vertue is so little frequented that the path which was wont to leade to it and be well troden is growne greene and another way found to that of honour by some backe doore not so well knowne in the elder time And if any chance to seeke to come the right and old accustomed way to honour through vertue the doore is kept so fast shut by a porter called envy and his servant detraction that hardly one among thousands can come to honour that way which is a great discouragement to those that would come to honour through vertue and maketh their devotion cold and slow to freqâ—…ent that temple One saith Virtute ambire opoâ—… non â—…bus but if hee have no other helpe in these dayes to prefer him but his vertue he is like to have but a cold sute Wee may wish it were in use that Plaâ—…us sayth Sat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the case is much altered For in stead of favourers he shall have deracters secret enemies alwayes to vertue Which made Plato commend the law of the Lydians that punished detracters with the like punishment as they did murderers For as one taketh away the life of a man so the other taketh away his reputation and good fame which after Saloman is more worth than worldly goods The Poets saying could to no age be more aptly applied than to these latter dayes Virtus 〈◊〉 alget Vertue is praised but not cherisht Which confirmeth Seneca his saying That men allow better of honesty than follow it Medea sayth video 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I see allow of the things that be better but I follow the worse Vertue is a medicine to the minde and healeth the diseases thereof as drugs are medicinable to the body restore it to health For the minde hath his diseases as the body hath For when the body is distempâ—…d and not in his perfect estate he is sayd to be sicke of this or that disease as of an ague of a pleuâ—…sie or such like and needeth Physicke So the mind that is distempered with this or that passion or perturbation as with pride covetousnesse vaineglory voluptuousnesse or such like is not in his perfect estate but needeth vertue as a medicine to restore him to health or his perfect estate againe Which was well signified by Agesilâ—… king of Sparta to Menelaâ—… a vaineglorious Physitian who being puffed up with pride through a reputation he had gotten by his skill in physicke called himselfe Iupiter and having occasion to write to the king his superscription was in Latin and English signification thus Menelâ—… Iupiter Agesilao Regi salute 〈◊〉 Iupiter wisheth to king Agesilaus health He answereth him with this superscription Agesilaus rex Menelao 〈◊〉 king Agesilaus wisheth to Menelaus health of minde reprehending his vanitie with one word by which he signified that want of health and perfection in his mind which hee wished to his body Moral vertue therfore is to be embraced of all men as a necessary and excellent thing and a speciall gift in our carnall nature by which mens mindes are purged and purified of all vehement passions and perturbations with which whosoever is oppressed can not enjoy the happinesse of this life and by which they are continued or restored to their perfect estate and health The good are by this vertue excited and maintained in honest conversation and civillity the bad are reformed and reduced to good life Yet for all that it is not eternall Iustice by which wee are justified before God for that Iustice free-will or reason cannot bring forth But morall vertue maketh men live civilly and honestly which God looketh for even of the heathens or infidels themselves It is better sayth one to live so as thine enemies may bee amazed at thy vertues than that thy friends should have cause to excuse thy vices The Poets faine that as Hercules in his youth sate musing alone what course of life were best for him to take there appeared to him two virgins the one representing vertue the other vice She that represented vertue told him that if hee would follow her hee must climbe over mountaines and craggie rockes and take great paines and labours But the other to allure him to follow her promised him a plaine and pleasant way downe the hill all at his case without any paine or labour Hercules after hee had considered of the matter refused the faire ossers and promises of the virgin that represented vice made choice with labour and paines to follow vertue by which he became the most famous man of the world The heathens were diligent observers of morall vertues through which many of them in all ages became excellent men By them they learned to know their duties to their countrey in generall and to private men in particular to moderate their affections to estimate things as they are and not as they are commonly reputed to contemne the vanities of this world to preferre an honest death before a shamefull life Regâ—…s a man endued with great vertue was sent by the Romanes into Affrica with an army to make warre upon the people of Carthage who after divers victories and overthrowes given to them of Carthage was himselfe at last taken prisoner and sent by them to Rome to treat of peace upon his oath that if that could not be obtained not the exchange of prisoners for himselfe hee should returne to them againe When he came to Rome and had delivered his embassage hee disswaded the Senate from peace and told them that either Carthage must be subject to Rome or Rome to Carthage and advised theÌ„ to make no change of lusty yong Gentlemen that were able to doe their country great service against the Romans for him that was but one man and old and unable to doe his countrey any great good and though the Romans were loth that the old man who had done them such service should returne againe to them that would put him to some unworthy death yet he was so affected to the love of his countrey and to the keeping his promise with his enemies that hee refusing to be stayd by the Romanes told them he would rather chuse to dye any cruell death than that it should be said he had broken his faith And so returning to Carthage with the other Ambassadours for the hatred they conceived against him for disswading the Romanes from their petition they cut off his
THe respect the Heathens had to the observation not of one or two but of all morall vertues may make Christians blush to thinke what observers they would have beene of Christian vertues if they had knowne God as we doe Zeleucus made a law among the Locrians that whosoever committed adultery should lose both his eyes it chanced that his sonne was condemned for that crime and determining that the penalty of the law should with severity be inst upon him yet being intreated by the earnest petitioÌ„ of the whole city who in as much as in them was for the honor and reverence of the father forgave the necessity of the punishment of the yong man first caused one of his own eyes and after one of his sonues eyes to be plucked out leaving sight to them both Thus though the rigour of the law was in a sort qualified yet the penalty thereof was by a wonderfull moderation of equitie sufficiently fulfilled dividing himselfe indifferently betweene a mercifull father and a just law-maker Charondas having pacified the seditious assemblies of the people and meaning to provide for the like in time to come made a law that whosoever did enter into the Senate with any weapon should presently bee slaine in processe of time it chauned him to returne to his house from a farre journey out of the countrey having his sword by his side and in the same sort as hee then was forgetting the law upon some present occasion hee went into the Senate and being admonished by one that stood next him that he had broken his owne law not so quoth hee but I will confirme it and immediately drawing his sword and turning the point to his brest hee fell downe upon it and slew himselfe I note not this example because I allow of the fact but that men may see how carefully the heathens observed justice and morall vertues which they preferred before their owne life for when he might easily have excused himselfe by haste and forgetfulnesse yet lest that might bee an occasion to some other with an evill intent to offend the law hee chose rather to warne others by his owne example Iulius Casar caused one of his Captaines to be beheaded because he had dishocoured the mistreste of the house where he lodged without staying for one to accuse him or for her husbands complaint Solyman Emperour of the Turks sent his Bassa into Valona to passe into Italy this man landed at the haven of Castro which so dismayed the inhabitants that they yeelded themselves to him upon his oath and promise that they should depart with bagge and baggage but contrary to his faith he caused them all to be slaine except such as were thought fit to serve for slaves After his returne to Constantinople the great being advertised of his breach of faith caused him to be strangled and sent back all his prisoners with their goods into Italy Among the rare examples of the Heathens we will recite a strange kind of severitie used by Christians out of the Histories of the Switzers The Switzers have a free common-wealth wherof they are very jealous There was a yong man among them that went about to usurpe the government and alter the state whom when they had condemned to death judgment was given that the execution should be done by his father as the cause of his evill education that hee might receive his death by the author of his life and that the father in some sort might be punished for his negligence used in the education of his child And these were notable examples of Iustice and policie used by the Emperours Trajan Antoninus Pius Alexander Severus and others worthie of consideration because the felicitie of Princes is said to bee in well governing their people For that common-wealth saith one cannot decay where the poore have justice and the wicked rich men punishment and especially if there bee good doctrine for the young and little covetousnesse in the olde In the daies of Trajan none that had charge of justice might augment his goods but in that estate of riches or poverty wherein hee beganne to governe in the same hee was to containe himselfe and to looke for reward at the Princes hand according to his merit Hoc deterius habet respublica quo magis res privatae slorent Hee also confidering the great impoverishing and tediousnesse that long suites brought to his people ordained that all suites of Italy should continue but one yeare and the suites of other countryes but halfe a yeare The Emperour Antoninus never sent any pretor to governe any Province that was wise and valiant onely but hee also must be without any infection of pride and covetousnesse For he thought that no man could well governe a common wealth that is subject to pride or covetousnesse Vnto Pretors Censors and Questors before he gave them any country to governe hee caused them first to give up an Inventory of their owne proper goods to the end that when their charge was finished the increase of their wealth should be considered And joyntly therewith he did both say and warne them that he sent them to minister justice and not by fraud to robbe his people The Emperours Valentiman and Theodosius tooke this order with Iudges governours of Provinces that they should sweare at the entring into their charge that they had not given nor promised any thing and that they would not give nor cause to be given any thing and also that they would take nothing but their fee. And if it were proved that they had taken any thing being lawfull for every man to accuse them they should pay foure times so much besides the infamie and perjurie and the like penaltie was against him that gave the present The Emperour Iustiman would say that all Iudges ought to contemne riches and to shew their hands cleane to God to the Emperour or King and to the law which is also to be understood of all Magistrates and governours It is unpossible saith one but the same day that riches treasures begin to increase in the houses of Magistrates and Iudges that the selfe same day the administration of Iustice should not decay And though he were ready to pardon all other offences yet in the executioÌ„ of justice he that did offend though the matter were not great he would with great severity punish him grievoasly Institia 〈◊〉 maxime reddunt dâ—…turnum 〈◊〉 When Augudus Casar sent a Governour into Affrica with the change of Iustice My friend quoth he I pat you not in trust with mine honour nor commit to you my justice to the end you should bee envious of innocents and an executioner of transgressours but that with one hand you should helpe to maintain the good and with the other hand helpe to amend the evill and if you will know what mine intent is I send you to bee a grandfather for orphants an advocate
From whence derive you your kinde From heaven What parents did beget you Measure did beget me sincere faith brought me forth Why is one of your eares open the other shut One is open to just persons the other is deafe to the wicked Why doth your right hand beare a sword and the left a ballance This doth weigh causes the other strikes the guilty Why goe ye alone Because there is small store of good men these ages bring forth few Fabritios Why go ye so poorely apparelled No man will desire exceeding great riches that coveteth alwaies to be a very just man Apollonius noting the corruption of Magistrates government having travelled over all Asia Affrica Europe said that of 2. things whereat he marvelled most in all the world the first was that he alwaies saw the proud man coÌ„mand the huÌ„ble the quarrellous the quiet the tyrant the just the cruell the pittifull the coward the hardy the ignorant the skilfull the greatest theeves hang the innoceÌ„t In these daies saith Mar. Aurelius in Italy they that rob openly be call'd Masters or Lords and they that steale secretly be call'd theeves One wisheth there were no greater theeves in the world then those that rob the goods of rich men Cato said Theeves of private theft lived in fetters irons but publike theeves lived in gold and purple The old Egiptians used to paint their magistrats blindfolded without hands meaning that a Iudge or Magistrate must know no kin nor friend froÌ„ a stranger without hands because he must receive no bribes or rewards And this was no unapt device to paint in a table 30. Iudges without hands and the President onely looking vpon the image of truth that hanged at his neck The Ariopagites vsed to heare no causes but in the darke nights that the Iudges might haue respect to the words that were spoken not to the persons that spake iosaphats speech to Iudges should be noted Looke what ye doe for ye exercise not the iudgement of men but of God and whatsoeuer ye shall iudge wil redound to your selues Chuse out of all the people men vertuous that feare God thâ—…t loue the truth and hate covetousnes and make them Iudges Ecclesiasticus giueth this counsell Blame no man before thou haue inquired the matter vnderstand first and then reforme righteously giue no sentence before thou haue heard the cause neither interrupt men in the midst of their tales There be foure things necessary in a Iudge to heare patiently to answer wisely to iudge vprightly and execute mercifully Iudges and Magistrates saith one should not imploy their study to get friends to maintaine their estate proudly but rather to read books to iudge mens causes vprightly The good Magistrate should take the authority of his office which the Prince giueth him for accessary and his good life for principall that the vprightnesse of his iustice and the sharpenesse which the wicked feele in the execution thereof should be so tempered by his discretion that all may hold authority by the syncerity of his life Aristotle requireth three things to be in all good Iudges and Magistrates Vertue and Iustice a loue to the present estate and a sufficiency to exercise those duties that are required in their office Now let vs looke a little into the estate of Couniers who seeme to challenge a peculiar interest in happinesse in respect of their easie and delicate life and reputation aboue others being neere the well head from whence their â—…elicity springeth for the estate of Princes they thinke to be perfect felicity These men for the most part have a speciall regard to please their sences and be more carefull to decke their bodies then to garnish their minds Nescis quale tegat splendida vita malum Thou knowest not what mischiefe a smooth life covers They set more by formalitie of manners then by substance of matter so they shew to be such as they would be they care not though they be not such as they should be Many of these men make it their felicity to passe their time lasciuiously in courting young Damosels as though they were borne as Boccas saith of himselfe por l'amore delle donne but in the kingdome of pleasure vertue cannot consist others that cannot have that favour of the Prince they look for insinuate themselues into the favour of some of them that be most in favour and receiue holy water at the second hand him they follow his beckes and countenance they obserue when he is merry they laugh when he is angrie they are sad what he alloweth they affirme what he liketh not they dispraise Et hoâ—…a summa putant aliena viuere quadra And thus they continue with him so long as the wind bloweth in the poope but if fortune begin to frowne vpon him they depend they find some reasonable cause for saving their credit if they thinke not the common custome a sufficient warrant to leaue him and follow some other Thus for riches and reputation they 〈◊〉 sell their liberty so precious a thing of instemiable price and transforme their nature into his whom they desire to please otherwise they must fall short of that they looke for The happinesse of these men differeth as much from felicitie as a darke dungeon differeth from the cleere light of the Sun and this is incident to those great estates that are so followed that many of them who to salute them take their hattes from their heads wish that his head were taken from his shoulders and that bow their knee to do him reuerence wish his legge broken that they might carrie him to his graue Alfonsus king of Arragon sayling vpon the sea froÌ„ Sicilia beheld certaine fowle soaring about his Galley and looking for meat of the marriners and when he had cast them meat he obserued how greedily they contended for it euer as they had gotten their prey away they would flie and returne no more Some of my Courtiers quoth the King turning to his company are like these chattering birds for as soone as they haue gotten any office or reward at my hands that they gape after and contend for one with another they flie away and returne not againe vntill necessitie compell them to sue for more Gueuarra to his friend that asked him how he imployed his time answered thus According to the fashion of our Courtiers beare euil-will blaspheme loyter lie prattle and curse and oft time we may more truly say wee lose it then imploy it and to another demaund with whom hee was most conuersant in that Court hee answered that the Court and people there of were grapes of so euill a soyle that we who goe in the same and from our childhood be brought vp therein study not with whom to bee conuersant but in discouering of whom to beware with much paine we haue time to defend vs from our enemies and will you that we occupie our selues in seeking new
the like fruite with me One seeing his wife fall into a swift riuer sought her vp the streame and being reprehended of others of his neighbours and asked what he meant to seeke his wife vp the riuer seeing she fell in beneath I see the place quoth he well enough where she fell in but because in all her life time she did all things against reason and contrary to all others I know that shee is gone against the streame and must find her vp the riuer or else not at all Sir Thomas Moore saith Men commit faults often women only twice that they neither speake wel nor doe well Cato said All men rule their wiues we rule all men but our wiues rule vs. One saith In vxorem 〈◊〉 omnis amor turpis est in suam 〈◊〉 nimius For a wise man should loue his wife by iudgement not by affection Marcus Aurelius hauing diuers earnest suiters to marry his daughter Be not so importunate with me said he for if all the discretion of wise men were laid together in one heap it were not sufficient to giue good counsell to make one good marriage and will ye that Ialone giue mine aduice and that so quickly It is quoth he sixe yeeres sithence Anthonius Pius made choise of me to be his son in law and gaue me the Empire with his daughter and yet we both were deceiued he for choosing me to be his sonne in law and I for taking his daughter to my wife He was called Pius because he was very pittifull to all but to me with whom he was cruell for with a little flesh he gaue me great store of bones which in few words is the gall and aloes that is mingled with the pleasures and delightes of marriage which if we will speake the truth we cannot so artificially couer and disguise with eloquent speech but we must needs confesse that if we will weigh the sorrowes and miseries in a paire of ballance with the pleasures and delights that those will weigh downe these I was saith he eight and thirty yeeres without a wife which seemed not vnto me eight and thirty daies and sixe yeeres that I haue beene married seemeth to me sixe hundred yeeres The Philosophers said that nature had 〈◊〉 worse with men then with brute beasts for to them she hath giuen knowledge to auoide their contrary and enemy but to man she hath giuen a desire to ioyne with a woman which is his contrary whose malice is a swome enemy to the reason of man The old Romanes had a custome when the wife was married and brought home to her husbands house they would as she entred into the gate lift her vp so high that she knocked her head against the vppermost part of the doore that she might remember alwaies as she were going forth of the doore her harme whereby to be warned to keepe home and not to gad too much abroad And this discouereth the malicious and frowardly disposition of some women that Socrates wife hauing such a husband as all men admired for his vertue and wisedome yet she made so little account of him that after she had a long time brawled with him she watched his going forth and standing in a place right ouer the doore she powred a pisse-pot vpon his head I thought quoth he after so great thunder we should haue raine When Pompey the great passed with his Armie into the East he found a people called Messagetes who had a law that euery inhabitant should haue two caues because in those mountaines they had no houses in the one of them dwelt the husband sonnes and men-seruants in the other the wife daughters and maid-seruants Their manner was to eate together and to sleepe once a weeke together And when they were asked of Pompey what was the cause they liued in this strange sort contrary to all the world besides They answered him Behold vs Pompey how the 〈◊〉 haue giuen vs but a short life that no man passeth threescore yeeres at the most and those we endeuour to liue in peace if our wiues should dwell with vs in liuing wee should die for that wee should passe the nights in hearing their complaints and the dayes in suffering their brawlings whereas keeping them thus apart from vs the sonnes be brought vp in more peace and wee auoyd the vnquietnesse that killeth the fathers But though many euils be reported of marriage by the defects that be in some women yet in this they seeme to be of a charitable and kinde disposition towards their husbands if their nature bee not altered from that it hath beene in times past in that they will double the euill of marriage to themselues to deliuer their husbands from the one halfe for rather then their husbands shall be troubled with two wiues they will consent to be troubled with two husbands as appeareth by this example of the Matrons of Rome Aâ—…lus Gellius reporteth that the old Romanes had a custome that euery Senatour might bring one of his sonnes when they were little Boyes with them into the Senate-house vntill they were seuenteene yeeres old that they in their youth might be instructed in matter of estate and see the good order that was there obserued by their parents thereby to be the better able to gouerne when they came to be men with charge neuerthelesse not to speake of any thing which they heard deliberated among the Senators It chanced on a time the Senate to sit in counsell longer then their accustomed houre consulting vpon matters of great importance whereupon because they could not then agree they deferred their resolution vntill the next day with charge that euery one in the meane time should vse silence when a young little Boy being there that day the sonne of Papyrius one of the principall families among the Romanes was returned to his fathers house his mother desirous to know the cause of the Senators long sitting desired the little childe to tell her what matter was debated in the Senate the Boy refusing to tell her and excusing himself vpon the commandement giuen to keepe silence she was more desirous as they say the manner of women is to know the matter then before and when shee perceiued that by no faire words nor promises shee could allure the Boy to discouer it she threatned to beat him then the boy for feare of the rod to satisfie his mothers importunacy made this device The matter said he that was in question and must be determined to morrow was this It seemed good to many of the Senators as well for the Common-wealth as for the encrease of people that euery man should haue two wiues but others were of a contrary opinion and thought it more expedient that euery woman should haue two husbands which matter should be determined the next day The mother beleeuing her sonne was greatly perplexed and aduertised presently other Matrons of Rome what shee had heard that they might deuise
those things that doe cause discontentment And hee that looketh alwayes to liue happily seemeth to bee ignorant of the one part of nature for the crying and lamenting of a childe when hee first entereth into this world doth seeme to presage his painefull life as a vauntcurrer of his miseries to come for where is hee that can vaun◅ that either in his body hee hath not felt some paine in his minde some griefe or hath not suffered losse of his goods or reproch to his person These be diseases incurable accidents remedilesse and alwayes incident vnto vs euen as there is no Sea without waues no Warre without perill nor iourney without trauell so is there no worldly life free from troubles nor any estate voyd of incumbrances So as no man liueth so happily that hath not something whereof to complaine and be grieued Boetius saith Nihilest ex omni parte beatum Nothing is in all parts happy There is nothing in this world vniuersally blessed or perfect and therefore that which cannot be auoyded by prudence nor resisted by fortitude must bee ouercome by patience after Saint Augustines counsell Vt exercitatione tolerantiae sustineantur temporalia sperentur aterna that by exercise of bearing we may endure temporall things and hope for eternall things For as much then as there is such a mixture in this life of good and euill as the Poet saith Miscentur tristia latis Let sad things be mixt with glad That no man can alwayes liue contentedly or happily but the felicitie we seeke must be found in him that liueth least discontented or vnhappily let vs see how a man must behaue himselfe so much as in him lyeth to enioy this felicitie or happinesse Though wee cannot flie from cares and troubles so long as we walke in this world yet we may endeuour our selues to auoyd as many of them as we may for much more in nūber be the displeasures griefes we seeke to our selues then those that are brought to vs by any other meanes We said before that he vpon whom God bestoweth his graces by which he liueth contentedly is happy and in felicitie and no man is vnhappie but he that thinketh himselfe so neither is any man happie but hee that so esteemeth himselfe And yet not euery contentment bringeth forth happinesse but such as is cōtained within a certaine manner and measure For as contentation consisteth not in the much or little that wee haue no more doth happinesse consist in that to which generally we are inclined Many by nature or ◅uill education or custome are so inclined to vice and strongly addicted to lewd life that neither reason nor perswasions nor terrour of lawes can reforme them wherewith though they be contented yet are they farre from happinesse and may rather be accounted most vnhappie For in all our actions and in euery course and trade of life wee must haue alwaies respect to our common and true end that is to praise and glorifie God that we may haue the fruition of the ioyes of the other life which is our true felicitie and beatitude And seeing the happinesse wee seeke for in this life seemeth to require contentation I see not how that happinesse can well be had except in some measure we enioy the things whereunto we are enclined that thereof contentment may follow for reason may rather perswade patience then bring foorth contentment And therefore wee may affirme that as they which seeke for contentation by following their vicious appetites and inclinations in stead of felicitie finde infelicitie so they that enioy the things whereunto they are inclined not being repugnant to vertue and honesty nor to our common end before recited haue a great aduantage to the happinesse of this life which commeth by cōtentation For he saith one liueth happily that liueth as he will and will nothing that is euill Mens minds are diuersly affected according to the variety of their inclinations which draweth their labours industry to satisfie their appetite and to bring them to contentation and happinesse And if the end be good for which they employ their study labor whether their life be actiue or contemplatiue for happines consisteth not in nihil agendo ◅ter the Cyclopes they may attaine to that they looke for Among things that be indifferent that which pleaseth one displeaseth another euery vocation and estate of life contenteth not euery man some desire rest others loue to trauell some like to exercise their minds others their bodies some wish for pleasures others for riches and honour and if the end be good for which they desire these things the way and meanes right which they follow to come by them and the vse as it ought to be being gotten they may attaine to a contentation and happinesse notwithstanding the great difference of the estates and kinds of life because they enioy the things whereunto they are inclined And this diuersitie or contrarietie of mens inclinations maketh a good harmony that is compounded of contraries and seemeth necessary to the maintenance of societie But seeing we haue no good inclinations nor motions of our selues since the corruption of our nature wee must pray vnto God for his grace to stirre them vp in vs and then so to employ our endeuour as wee receiue not his grace in vaine They that plough vnrighteousnesse and sowe incumbrance gather the same Diuine seed is sowne in mens bodies which if a good husband receiue it riseth vp like his beginning but if hee be an euill husband it killeth like a barren and morish ground and bringeth forth cockle in stead of corne The Sunne shining vpon waxe maketh it soft and dirt hard Hee that rightly receiueth Gods holy Spirit turneth all his inclinations and all that happeneth to his good For such a minde is stronger then all accidents that chance but an euill minde turneth all into euill But it may bee obiected that seldome or neuer all those good things concurre together in any one man God by his secret iudgement hauing so disposed them And Ennius saith Nimius boni est cue nihil est mali It is too good that hath in it no euill for he doth all things for our good and respecteth our true felicitie or beatitude in the world to come to the attaining of which hee bestoweth his graces according to his owne pleasure and our disposition Wee see some children of so gentle a nature that they will be sooner reformed with a faire word then others will be with stripes others againe there be of so stubborne a disposition that neither threatnings nor seuere correction is sufficient to bring them to obedience So God distributeth not all his gifts equally to all men but to some he giueth riches and possessions others he suffereth to line in lacke and pouertie some hee afflicteth and punisheth diuers wayes to others he giueth a quiet and peaceable life according to his pleasure and the difference of mens dispositions
because he seeth that those benefits and graces which doe leade men to the happinesse of this life will be to some an hinderance to the true felicitie of the heauenly life and therefore he taketh from them the occasions wherewith they may offend him and leadeth them in the exercise of such things as stand them most in stead to serue him For the Lord saith Justin Martyr wil not honour his children with worldly happinesse for a reward of godlinesse for those things which bee subiect vnto corruption cannot bee a recompence to good men for their vertue When God sendeth aduersitie it is to exercise vs if hee afflict vs with pouertie it is to make vs to deserue better when hee blesseth vs with plentie so much the more ought wee to giue him thankes doe him seruice yeeld him praise and glory and obedience if hee chastise vs with sickenesse or any other way wee ought to thinke his meaning is to amend and make vs better for God for the most part suffereth aduersities to vse their force against such as are most strong not to tempt them aboue their power but through exercise the better to confirme them If we obeyed God as becommeth vs it is certaine that things should bee ruled here after such fashion as we should be contented Well then let vs admit that all those good things before spoken of which engender felicitie meet together in very few or none at all yet neuerthelesse let vs pray to God to bestow vpō vs so many of them as it shal please him to thinke meet for vs and vse our endeuour to passe our time in such felicity as is agreeable with our humane condition which as we said before is improperly called felicity or at least with as little infelicitie as may be But if his pleasure be otherwise then to beare his crosses patiently alwayes looking vp to the true felicity For he that falleth into a ditch and cryeth God helpe without employing those meanes which he hath giuen him for his help may lie there long before he come forth therfore we must vse those means which God hath giuē vs. He hath endued vs with reason to iudge of those things that be subiect to our sences and as a necessary meanes by which we should sustaine and gouerne this corporall life By this reason wee are taught to discerne betweene good and euill betweene vertue and vice Reason sheweth vs felicitie and what it is to be happie but our stubborne and vnruly affections will not be obedient to the iudgement of reason sithence our nature did degenerate being corrupted by originall sinne Therefore Gods grace must assist vs otherwise our endeuour is nothing for in this so great imbecillitie of nature and by the subtill practices of the diuell who lieth in waite to hinder and peruert our good intents and purposes our power and forces are very little so as wee be no otherwise able of our selues to doe those things which are requisite to the attaining of felicitie then as a body that is made weake with long sicknesse is able to go who is by and by weary and if any chance to thrust him euer so little he falleth to the ground so our strength and force is often ouercome with the vehemencie of our affections and often ouerthrowne by the subtiltie of the diuell Yet neuerthelesse we must not desist nor be discouraged but vse our indeuour and force such as it is and call to God to supply our defects with his grace Our principall consideration and care must be daily to praise and glorifie God to meditate often vpon him and to be thankfull for all his benefits which is our proper action and end in this mortall life as hath beene said and the means to bring vs to the ioyes of heauen which is our greatest good and beatitude or true felicitie Then how to passe thorow this vale of miserie and troublous life as plaine and smooth a way and with light burthen as our endeuour can finde and God will permit I liken a quiet life and meane estate voyd of worldly cares to a plaine way and that which is interrupted with greedy desire and hunting after riches and honours and reputation with such like perturbations to a rough and vneuen way full of hils and stones and they that possesse them to be laden with a great burthen and therefore trauell painfully in respect of the other to the end of their iourney To bring this to passe we must purifie and cleanse our minds from our corrupt and vncleane affections that we may be the better able to see and desire those things which be good indeed and auoid those things that be good in shew onely wherein morall vertues are very necessary for by them our vnruly affections and vnprofitable desires are bridled or suppressed or at least moderated which are the chiefe cause of an vnhappy life They mooue mens desires to pleasures to riches to honour and glory which hath beene shewed before by many examples and sayings of wise men to be the cause of infelicity they stirre vp pride enuy hatred malice desire of reuenge feare and such like perturbations and vnquietnesse of the mind and will neuer suffer the soule or mind to be in quiet and rest which is contrary to felicity and a happy life which consisteth not in fleshly pleasures nor in the abundance of riches or possessions nor in principality or power but in a contented and quiet mind void of sorrow and feare which cannot be obtained without Gods speciall grace and gift and his assistance to our endeauours The counsell which King Dauid gaue to his sonne in his death-bed is meete to be followed of all men Thou Salomon my sonne know the God of thy father and serue him with a perfect heart and willing mind for the Lord searcheth euery mans heart and vnderstandeth all the thoughts of mens minds If thou seeke him thou shalt find him but if thou forsake him hee will cast thee off for euer And Tobit gaue this counsell among other things to his sonne My sonne set our Lord God alwaies before thine eyes and let not thy will be set to sinne or to transgresse the commandements of God doe vprightly all thy life long and follow not the wayes of vnrighteousnesse for if thou deale truly thy doings shall prosperously succeed to thee and to all them which liue iustly Blesse thy Lord God alway and desire of him that thy wayes may be made straight and that all thy counsels and purposes may prosper And if thou desire to know whether thou be happy or not examine thy selfe whether thou be glad merrily disposed of a quiet conscience without feare of worldly things and content with thine estate whether thou be neuer pensiue or melancholike for the lacke or losse of any worldly thing whether no hope in gaping for any thing to come troubleth thy mind whether day and night thy mind be pleased and in
honours and such like bringeth not felicity but the service of God Iugera non faciunt felicem plurima frater Non Tergestini dulcia musta soli Non Tyriae vestes Aurâ—… non pondera flavi Non ebur aut gemma non juvenile decus Non dulcis nati soboles non bellula conjux Non tenuisse suâ—… sceptra superbamanu Noveris rerum causas licet astra polique Et nostro quicquid sub Iove mundus habet At mea si quaeris quae sit sententia Frater Dicam vis felix vivere vive Deo Brother not many acres make thee blest Nor the sweet grapes in Tergestine prest Not Tyrian garments not thy golden treasure Not Ivory gemmes nor all thy youthfull pleasure Not thy faire issue not thy beauteous bride Not a proud scepter with thine hand to guide To natures secrets though thy skill extend And thou the starres and poles dost apprehend With all the world doth beneath Iove containe Yet if thou ask'st of me what thou shalt gaine By these I le speake if thou wouldst make thy ' boad In heaven so live that thou mayst live to God The end of the fifth booke THE FELICITIE OF MAN OR HIS SUMMUM BONUM THE SIXTH BOOKE CHAP. I. The Creation of Man and the estate he was in at the beginning before his fall Mans alteration after his fall how he participates with the nature of brute beasts All things made to serve man rebell against him Man only of all other Creatures declineth from his originall nature The reason why God suffereth evill to be committed The means that God hath given to man by which to escape the dangers into which he is fallen Of the three faculties of the soule vegetative sensitive and understanding c. IT appeareth by that which hath bin said what manner of felicitie men may enjoy in this life which is rather an usurped name and improperly so called than so indeed Now resteth to discourse upon the true end and felicity of man or beatitude and Summum bonum When God had created this goodly frame of the world being so called of his excellent and beautifull forme replenished with such varietie of creatures and placed the earth in the middest last of all he made man after his owne image which St. Paul interpreteth to bee justiâ—… and holinesse of truth who was after called Aâ—…am of the veine of red earth whereof hee was made And when God had finished this worke and made man hâ—… ceased from creating any more things and rested in him in whom hee delighted and would for ever after communicate himselfe his wisdome his justice and his joy and gave unto him a companion for his greater comfort and pleasure This man he adorned with many goodly gifts and placed him in Paradise which signifieth the best part of the earth and that estate of men in which they should have lived without sin and death In which place appointed for their habitation are the four fountaines of the goodly rivers of Euphrates Tigris Ganges and Nilus which they water passe through and containeth almost a third part of the earth But when this man by the temptation subtill practices of the Serpent tasted of the forbidden fruit withdrew himselfe from the due obedience of his Creator he lost many of those goodly ornaments wherewith God had endowed him and fell into the punishment appointed for his transgression eternall death and damnation But the son of God bearing a singular favour to man pacified his father to satisfie his justice which was immutable he took upon him to fulfill all that obedience 〈◊〉 God required of man and restored him into Gods favour againe though not with recovery of all his lost ornaments revealed the promise of God which he had also procured to send him to be a protector of mankind against the tyranny of the Divell therefore he is called the word because he revealed this secret decree out of the breast of the eternal Father And this was the first miracle that God wrought after his creation of the world and the creatures therin contained staying them that were to dye without the second causes and without that ordinarie course of life which before hee had established Iosephus writeth that Adam set up two tables of stone in which he wrote the beginning of the creation the fall of man and the promise Now if wee consider what a worthy and beautifull creature man was before his fall the very habitation temple of God without sinne and without death wee may easily judge what an ungrateful and unhappy creature he was to revolt from God to the Divell whereby he and his posterity became subject to sinne and death For first God made him after his own image likenes that is he made him most good uncorrupt holy righteous immortall furnished him with most excellent gifts that nothing might bee wanting unto him to all blessednesse in God His understanding was wholly divine his will most free most holy he had power of doing good evil a law was given him of God which shewed him what he should doe or what he should not doe For the Lord said Thou shalt not eate of the tree of knowledg both of good evil God simply required of him obedience faith that whole Adam should depend upon him that not constrained by necessity but should do it freely he told him also the perill willed him not to touch the tree lest he dye So that he left him in his own counsell whose will was then free might have chosen whether he would have broken Gods commandment or not Neither did â—…atan in the serpent compel him to eat but perswaded the womaÌ„ with hope of a more excellent wisedome who drew on her husband willingly to bee partaker of the same by the false and lying perswasion and promise of the divel by the delectable shew sightliness of the tree the fruit whereof after the woman had first tasted she gave to her husband also to eate By meanes whereof hee lost those goodly gifts ornaments which God had bestow'd upon him which gifts hee gave to Adam upon condition that hee would also give them to his posterity if himselfe did keep them but would not give them if hee by his unthankfulnes would cast them away so that by his transgression disobedience hee was cast out of Paradise that is out of that happy estate found al the elements lesse favorable His nature condition was alter'd from goodnes holines to sin and wickednes from sincerity to corruption the influences that descend from the stars and planets which are of themselves simply good through our sinnes and corruption turne to evill so as all things made for our use rebell and conspire together against us and our sinnes are the cause of all our evill Which fall and alteration of mans nature and his ingratitude towards