translating Titus Livius though he was a King I do not hold with age in divers men who for want of discretion and wit was childish again but of perfect men in whom age seemed rather a warrant of their doings For even as he that playeth much upon instruments is not to be commended so well as he that playeth cunningly and artificially so all men that live long are not to be praised so much as he that liveth well For as apples being green are yet sower untill by time they wax sweet so young men without warrant of time and experience of things are oftentimes to be misliked If faults be in old men saith Cicero as many there be it is not in age but in the life and manners of men Some think age miserable because either the body is deprived from pleasure or that it bringeth imbecility or weaknesse or that it is not far from death or calleth from due administration of Common-wealths these four causes saith Cicero make age seem miserable and loathsome What shall we say then of those that in their old age have defended their countries saved their Cities guided the people and valiantly triumphed over their enemies as L. Paulus Scipio and Fabius Maximus men of wonderfull credit in their old years What may be spoken of Fabritius Curius and Cornucanus aged men of great agility of famous memory in their latter days How can Appius Claudius be forgotten who being both old and blind resisted the Senatours to compound with King Pyrrhus for peace though they all and the Consuls of Rome hereunto were much inclined If I should passe from Rome a place where age was much estéemed unto Athens amongst the sage Philosophers if from Athens to Lacedemonia where age altogether bare sway and rule if from thence unto the Ethiopians and Indians where all their lives are ruled and governed by old men If from thence to any part of the world I might be long occupied in reciting the honour and estéemation of age Herodotus doth write that the Aethiopians and Indians do live most commonly a hundred and thirty years The people called Epeii in the Countrey of Aetolia do live two hundred years naturally and as it is by Damiates reported Lictorius a man of that Countrey lived thrée hundred years The Kings of Arcadia were wont to live thrée hundred years the people of Hyperborii lived a thousand years We read in the old Testament that Adam our first father lived nine hundred and thirty years and Eve his wife as many Seth nine hundred and twelve years Seth his son called Enos nine hundred and five Cainan the son of Enos nine hundred and ten Mahalalehel the son of Cainan eight hundred fourscore and fifteen so Enoch the son of Iared lived nine hundred thréescore and five years Enoch his son named Mechuselah lived nine hundred threescore and nine years with divers of the first Age I mean till Noah's time who began the second world after the floud who lived as we read nine hundred and five his son Sem six hundred years and so lineally from father to son as from Sem to Arphaxad from Arphaxad to Sala from Sala to Heber the least lived above thrée hundred years This I thought for better credit and greater proof of old ago to draw out of the Old Testament that other prophane authorities might be beleeved as Tithoniâ—s whom the Poets fain that he was so old that he desired to become a Grashâ—pper But because age hath no pleasure in the world frequenteth no banquets abhorreth lust loveth no wantonness which saith Plato is the only bait that deceives young men so much the happier age is that age doth loath that in time which young men neither with knowledg with wisdome nor yet with counsel can avoid What harm hath happened from time to time by young men over whom lust so ruled that there followed eversion of CoÌ„monwealths treason to Princes Friends betrayed countreys overthrown and Kingdoms vanquished throughout the world Therefore Cicero saith in his book entituled De Senectate at what time he was in the City of Tarentum being a young man with Fabius Maximus that he carried one lesson from Tarentum unto the youth of Rome where Architas the Tarentine said that Nature bestowed nothing upon man so hurtfull to himself nor so dangerous to his Countrey as lust or pleasure For when C. Fabricius was sent as an Embassadour from Rome to Pyrrhus King of Epyre being then the Governour of the City of Tarentum a certain man named Cineas a Thessalian by birth being in disputation with Fabritius about pleasure affirmed that hee heard a Philosopher of Athens affirm that all which we do is to be referred to pleasure which when M. Curius and Titus Coruncanus heard they desired Cineas to perswade King Pyrrhus to yéeld to pleasure and make the Samnites believe that pleasure ought to be esteemed Whereby they knew that if King Pyrrhus or the Samnites being then great enemies to the Romans were addicted to lust or pleasure that then soon they might be subdued and destroyed There is nothing that more hindreth magnanimity or resisteth vertuous enterprises then pleasure as in the Treatise of pleasure it shall more at large appear Why then how happy is old age to despise and contemn that which youth by no means can avoid yea to loath and abhor that which is most hurtfull to it self For Cecellius contemned Caesar with all his force saying to the Emperor that two things made him nothing to estéem the power of the Emperor Age and Wisdome By reason of Age and Wisdome Castritius feared not at al the threatnings of C. Carbo being then Consul at Rome who though he said he had many friends at commandement yet Castriâ—iâ—â— answered and said That he had likewise many years that could not fear his friends Therefore a wise man sometime wept for that man dieth within few years and having but little experience in his old age he is then deprived thereof For the Crow liveth thrise so long as the man doth the Hart liveth four times so long as the Crow the Raven thrice so long as the Hart and the Phoenix nine times longer then the Raven And thus Birds do live longer time then man doth in whom there is no understanding of their years But man unto whom reason is joyned before he commeth to any ground of experience when he beginneth to have knowledge in things he dieth and thus endeth he his toyling Pilgrimage and travel in fewer years then divers beasts or birds do CHAP. XIX Of the manners of sundry People under sundry Princes and of their strange life THe sundry fashions and variety of manners the strange life of people every where thorow the world dispersed are so charactered and set forth amongst the writers that in shewing the same by naming the Countrey and the people thereof orderly their customes their manners their kind of living being worthy of observation I thought briefly to touch and to note
but one year a ruler in the Empire was poysoned by his mother in Law named Martina The very cause of the Emperor Conradus death who was Fredericks son was onely the Empire and rule of Rome for Manfredus his successour hired the Physitians to poyson him that he might have the onely sway O unhappy state of Princes whose lives are desired both of friends and foes No lesse danger it is to be in favour with Princes sometime then perillous to be Princes We read of a Quéen named Rosimunda the daughter of King Cunimund of Gepida who after she had poysoned Albonius King of the Longobards her first husband did marry a Prince of Ravenna named Helinges whom likwise she thought to poison but being warned in the middest of his draught he caused his wife to drink the rest which drink was the cause of both their deaths How many noble Princes in the middest of their pilgrimages have died that death as Dioclesian the Emperour of Rome Lotarius King of France Charls the eight of that name with divers others as Hannibal prince of Carthage Aristobulus King of Iudea and Lucullus Generall of Rome Princes and noble men do sometime poison themselves lest they should be inforced to serve their foes as Themistocles being banished from his country of Athens being in service under Artaxerxes King of Persia poisoned himself with the bloud of a Bull in presence of all the Persians lest he should be compelled to fight in wars against Gréece his country Even so Aratus prince of Sicionia perceiving Philip the younger would banish and exile him out of his country was inforced with poison to drink his own death out of his own hand Even after this sort after long administration of the Commonwealth did noble Socrates learned Anaxagoras worthy Seneca and famous Demosthenes poison themselves Thus their pilgrimages were ended and their lives finished their honour and dignity their fame and renown did purchase them death Happy then are those whom the world knows not who desire not to be acquainted with the world but quiet and contented do finish the course of their pilgrimages Had not Jugurthus thirsted for the Kingdom of Numidia he had not slain his two brethren Adherbal and Hempsal which were partakers of the Crown for the which vengeance fell upon him being subdued by Marius and dying afterwards in prison Had not King Siphax thirsted after the Empire of Rome he had never béen taken captive and prisoner by Tiberius where he at length out of his Kingdome died in prison Henry the third was of his own son named Henry put again in prison where he died Aristonicus for all his businesse and great doings was vanquished by the Consull Aquilius and put in prison where likewise he died In prison divers princes have ended their lives in forrein countries Strange kinds of deaths happen upon Princes more then on any other men as orderly I shall prove by their pilgrimages and lives Some by fire as the Tyrant Phalaris of Agrigentum who was burned with all his children and his wife in the Brasen Bull which Perillus made for others was first of all put into it himself By fire was the Emperour Valentine burned by the Goths by fire was that famous Greek Alcibiades destroied in Phrygia and burned in bed with his mistresse Timandra after he had ruled Athens and all Greece a long while Sardanapalus that great King and last prince of Assyria fearing to fall into the hands of Arbactus and detesting to die by his enemies made a solemn fire when after his lewd life wantoning in lust and following his desires he burned himself it was the end of the renowned Hercules who conquered Monsters subdued Serpents Lions Dragons and wild beasts at the last he put on the shirt of Nestus the Centaur which burned him alive What shall I speak of Boges the dear friend sometime of King Xerxes who when he knew that he could not escape the hand of Cimon and the power of Atâ—ens he made a great fire where he caused his wife and concubines his children and family to be burned and then his gold silver and treasure and last of all he burned himself Empedocles Catullus Luctatius Asdrubal and Poâ—tia died this death So desirous were men alwaies to become princes so ambitious of honour so greedy of wealth that having the name of a King they thought to avoid and escape that which alwaies waits on the heels of Princes I mean death Were not princes hanged by their own subjects which is the vilest and most ignominious death that can be Achaeas King of Lidia for that he troubled his subjects with new taxes and subsedies was hanged by his own subjects at the river of Pactolus Bomilchar a Prince of Libia being suspected by the Carthaginians that he had conspired with Agathocles unto the annoiance of the subjects was hanged in the City of Carthage in the middest of the Market Policrates who was supposed to be the happiest Prince that ever reigned in Samos and never sustained any losse by fortune was at last by Orontes the Persian King Darius General hanged in sight of Samos Herodotus doth affirm that Leonides that famous King of Sparta who long ruled the Lacedemonians with great fame and renown was by Xerxes King of Persia after his head was smitten off commanded notwithstanding to be hanged Trogus doth write of Hanno a prince of Carthage which flourished in the time of King Philip father to Alexander the great who for his prosperous successe that he had in all his attempts waxed to be such a tyrant that his own people first bound him with cords whipt him with rods pluckt out his eys brake his legs cut off his hands and at last to recompence his tyranny they hanged him up in Carthage These were no mean men that thus were hanged in their own country and by their own people Thus Princes in the middest of their lives have béen arrested by death and by divers kinds of death Some as you have heard by poison some by fire some by hanging have ended their pilgrimages some again have been devoured by their own horses as Diomedes King of Thracia became food himself to those beasts which before he fed with mens bodies The King of Eubea for his tyranny in Boetia was given by Hercules to be eaten by his own horses Licinius the Emperour at what time he had appointed that his daughter Hâ—rina should be given to his horses to be eaten he himself giving her as food unto them was torn in pieces It hâ—ppened that Neocles the son of that noble Greek Themistocks was by a horse likewise devoured And this was not strange unto princes for they were alwaies subject unto all kind of deaths After that the famous prince Mâ—â—us Captain of the Lybians had broken truce with the Romans he was afterward as Livi doth witnesse taken and drawn by four great horses alive at the cemmandement of Tullus Hostilius being then King of Rome Hâ—ppâ—litus son
and pain after long felicity and pleasure even so Dionisius King of Siracusa after many Princely pleasures renowned fame great glory yet in the end was banished his country and driven to keep school in Italy In the like sort that noble and valiant Scipio Affricanus was deceived whose prowesse and magnanimity augmented much the fame of the Romans by conquering of Affrick and Carthage and notwithstanding he was driven to exilement and misery where he died after many triumphs and victories like a poor beggar O uncertain state and slippery wheel of Fortune And because fame followeth fortune and proceedeth from Fortune as the smoke cometh from the fire for as Fortune is variable so is Fame divers if we seek Histories we find the fame of poor men for their poverty is great as well as the fame of the rich for all their riches poor Codrus and ragged Irus are as famous in respect of being Beggars as Midas and Craesus two wealthy Kings of Lydia Doth not Aristophanes make as much mention of Cleonimus the Coward as Homer doth of stout Achilles Poliphemus and Enceladus two huge monstrous Giants not so famous in Virgil for their bignesse as Conopas or Molon two little dwarfs of two foot length are renowned in Plini for their smalnesse Juvenal and Claudian report no lesse of the little Pigmies then Ovid or Maro of the huge Ciclopes If Fame proceed of poor men for poverty of dwarfs for their smalnesse of cowards for their cowardize as much as it doth flow of rich men for their wealth of Giants for their bigness and of stout men for their courage What is it but a pilgrimage in which we live travel here For fortune fame run together as cōstantly as they are thēselves uncertain Plini that famous Historiographer writeth of one named Messala who was so forgetfull and weak of memory that he forgat his own name and yet he was as famous for his obliviousness as Hortensius was renowned for that he could pronounce out of hand with his tongue what he wrote with his pen. Seneca the Philosopher commendeth one called Calvisius that he was likewise so oblivious that he could not often name those dayly friends that he used company withal What greater Fame could Cyneas have for all his memory when he was sent from King Pyrrhus as Embassador to Rome where the second day in the Senate house before all the people of Rome he named all the Senators by name What greater renown could King Cyrus have for his noble memory for naming every souldier of his by name being in the Camp What Fame hath King Mithridates for his divers and sundry languages which he without an Interpretor could speak unto two and twenty Nations being his souldiers but onely that they are recorded in books where likewise Calvisius Messala and such oblivious men that forgot their own names are committed into History Doth not Homer the Trumpetter of Fame write of Militides an Idiot who after the destruction of Troy and the death of King Priamus and all his sons would come to succour the Troyans Homer I say doth not forget Militides no more then he doth Agamemnon What should I speak of silly and wicked Herostratus who for burning the Temple of Diana is everlastingly remembred And millions more of the like nature who are mentioned by ancient writers Thus you sée we travel all one way in the vale of misery and the condition is alike of the greatest Princes and the poorest Beggars and if there be any difference it is in that oftentimes the King is the more unfortunate of the two CHAP. IIII. Of magnanimity of Princes and their fortitude of mind where and when it was esteemed AS Iustice without temperance is often counted injury so magnanimity without respect unto prudence is but tyranny This vertue proceedeth from a valiant and a sober mind joyning both the body and the mind together so that the wisedome and policy of the one the strength and courage of the other are united and alwaies ready to defend the cause of their country and the quarrel of their Prince and society of friendship unto this therefore every good man is born preferring common commodities before private wealth Hercules pondering much what he might best do and to what he should apply his noble mind there appeared unto him two goodly women the one as Xenophon doth describe very gorgeous and brave rings of gold on her finger a chain of gold about her neck her hairs composed and frisled with pearls and Diamonds hanging at her ears the other in sober and comely apparel of modest behaviour of shame faced countenance they stood both before him The first said Hercules if thou wilt serve me thou shalt have gold and silver enough thou shalt féed daintily thou shalt live princely thou shalt injoy pleasures In fine thou shalt have all things at thy will to live with ease and rest The other said with comely countenance If thou wilt serve me Hercules thou shalt be a Conquerour of conquerours thou shalt subdue Kingdomes and overthrow Kings thou shalt be advanced into fame renowned in all the world and shall deserve praise both of men and women Which when Hercules understood taking into consideration the idle service of the first and the exercise of the second he took her as his mistresse and willingly became a servant to her Wherefore according unto promise made he injoyed fully the fame and praise by due deserts he overcame Lions Dragons Bears and such monstrous huge wild beasts he did destroy Kingdomes and countries he had that fortitude of mind that he conquered Giants and subdued Tyrants inlarged liberties set frée Captives and prisoners and briefly that magnanimity was in him that he never effended just men nor hurt innocent men he preserved divers Kings and countries he never spoiled good countrey nor subdued a just King but wholly addicted himself to merit fame He destroyed the Serpent Hydra the Dragon the Lion the wild Bore and terrible Bull conquering Geron Cerberus and Diomedes cruel Tyrants He took the gilded Hart he vanquished the Centaures and the ravening birds named Stimphalides was there any tyranny in these his enterprizes but Hercules they say was more aided of the Gods then helped of man With these his princely acts and renowned feats noble Theseus was much enamored insomuch that he emulated the vertuous life of Hercules he tamed wild beasts slue monsters overcame cruel Creon the Tyrant of Thebes he descended also as the Poet saith unto hell to imitate the feats of Hercules to resemble his magnanimity to augment Hercules fame erecting alters appointing sacrifice in memory of Hercules hoping that others would do unto Theseus as Theseus did unto Hercules Next unto Theseus for antiquity of time that valiant and renowned Gréek Achilles succeeded who was the onely stay and comfort of his country the very hope of Greece his magnanimity valiant courage worthy acts and famous life is at large set forth in Homers
place and amended it The second day the Shoomaker came again and found fault in the hose then Apelles answered and said that a Shoemaker ought not to judge of any thing but of the shoe Every man that thinketh himself eloquent for that he hath his tongue at will and can shift matters skilfully in his own judgement is not that eloquent man which Cicero speaketh of nor hath those parts of Rhetorick wherewith hee can perswade to good and disswade from evil The eloquent man doth comfort the afflicted he expelleth fear and terrour from men he stoppeth again the stout and insolent This man is able faith Cicero to win towns countreys castles and kingdomes this eloquence in adversity is solace in prosperity an ornament in youth laudable in age delectable in all men profitable Wherefore not without cause did M. Antonius use to say that oftentimes he saw and heard fine tongued men but he never saw nor heard any eloquent man For though saith Cicero we follow Nature as a Captain unless Art be coupled and united to it we follow a rude and barbarous Captain What Captain was Paulus Aemilius being in wars with King Perseus In a certain clear night when the Moon upon the sudden shifted her self from sight and the night became very dark all the souldiers of Paulus yea Paulus himself being their General and Captain were dismaid and quite discouraged thinking it had béen some prodigious show to pregnosticate mishap to come and being ready to yéeld in heart and courage until Sulpitius began to perswade the rude Souldiers with reason opening the causes unto the Souldiers and declaring the effects of the superiour bodies so eloquently that being before dismaid they were by the eloquence of Sulpitius perswaded to fight valiantly and where through fear of that sudden sight and change of the Moon they were ready to yeeld as captives to King Perseus they were moved and stirred by the eloquence of Sulpitius to become Conquerors and Victors over King Perseus in the self same night The like did Pericles sometimes amongst his souldiers of Athens at what time the sun so darkned that great terrour and fear came upon the souldiers he eloquently perswaded his souldiers and told them as he heard of his master Anaxagoras the cause thereof and quite expelled fear from the souldiers by reason and made them bold again through eloquence In Affrick there was in the time of Anascarimis a Philosopher named Afranio who being demanded what he did hear all the days of his life answered to speak well the second time being asked what he taught unto others answered likewise to speak well at the last he was demanded what he knew in any science he said I know nothing but to speak well so that this old Philosopher Afranio learned nothing taught nothing nor knew any thing but to speak well and most certain it is that he that consumeth all the days of his life to learn to speak well and knoweth nothing else but to speak well spendeth his time very well CHAP. X. Of those Kings and Princes and others who had their Pictures and Images for a shew of their deserved Fame erected THe greatest honour that both Gréeks and Gentiles used toward those that deserved well in the Commonwealth was to advance them by pictures painted and images gloriously graven thinking thereby either to inflame thē further to do good or else to discourage thē again from doing evil by banishing and neglecting their pictures which when Favoritus the Philosopher heard that the City of Athens had rejected his picture because Adrian the Emperour was angry with him said I am right glad thereof for better said he had it béen for Socrates to have had his brazen picture broken and thrown away for some shew of displeasure by the Athenians then to be deprived of his life for nothing by the Athenians for the surest estate of all is not to be known Agesilaus therefore King of the Lacedemonians understanding that the inhabitants of every country in all Gréece had decréed to put up the picture of Agesilaus for a memorial of his vertuous and noble acts to be as monuments of his life after death returning then from Egypt unto Gréece being very sick a little before he died he wrote letters unto Gréece that they should make no pictures no images no painted shews no graven work of his person nor yet of his life saying If I have done well in life the vertue thereof is a sufficient monument when I am dead Cato Senior was of that opinion that he had rather that men should ask why hath not Cato his Picture set up then to asks why hath Cato his picture set up A number of sage Philosophers and wise Princes have lothed and utterly neglected this kind of flattery which then was thought to be the greatest fame and commendation of all things to have their pictures in places set up to make mention of honour and dignity which thereby is meant either for restoring of liberty lost or in defending from tyranny or in saving of Cities or for such things done pictures were erected to advance their fame thereby Thus Aristogiton and Armodius because they delivered Athens from the tyranny of Pysistratus had their pictures with great estimation set up of the people of Athens Likewise Marcellus because he subdued Syracusa vanquished the French men at Padua and gave the repulse unto Hannibal at Nola had his picture set up in the Temple of Pallas with an Epigram written in letters of gold unto his great praise and commendation Eutropius saith that Claudius Emperour of Rome had his picture made with a golden Target in his hand because he vanquished the Goths which were about to spoil the county of Macedonia Numa Pomp. the second King of Rome and Servius Tullius the sixth King had their pictures a long time amongst the Romans in great honour and fame Selostris King of Egypt for his martial feats and vertuous acts was honoured in his country with divers pictures Polydamas that strong Champion in the games of Olympia for that he being without weapons and naked slew a terrible Lyon and held fast by the foot a huge great Bull and with the other hand stayed a running Chariot had his picture therefore erected and set up in Olympia In Athens how many pictures were set up of noble men and learned Philosophers as Conon Euogoras Phocion Isocrates and others which were now up and now down as mutable fortune favoured or frowned the state and life of men being uncertain and changeable As Demosthenes having his picture in Athens had this Epigram written round about the picture If Demosthenes had had courage and strength as he had wit and eloquence neither Philip nor his son Alexander nor all Macedonia had ever vanquished Gréece yet this Demosthenes was exiled and banished Athens divers times So hard was it to please the people then which had the chief government in Athens and Rome that for a small
the ravishment of Virginia CHAP. XX. Of the strange Natures of Waters Earth and Fire IN divers learned Histories we read especially in Pliny of the wonders of waters and of the secret and unknown nature of fire wherin for the rare sight thereof are noted things to be marvelled at There is a water in the countrey of Campania where if any mankind will enter therein it is written that he shall incontinent be bereft of his senses And if any woman kind happen to go into that water she shall always afterward be barren In the same countrey of Campania there is a lake called Avernus where all flying fowls of the air that fly over that lake fall presently therein and die A well there is in Caria called Salmacis whose water if any man drink thereof he becommeth chaft and never desireth the company of a woman The River Maeander doth bréed such a kind of stone that being put close to a mans heart it doth straight make him mad There are two rivers in Boetia the one named Melas whose water causeth straight any beast that drinketh thereof if it be white to alter colour to black the other Cephisus which doth change the black beast to a white beast by drinking of the water Again there is in India a standing water where nothing may swim beast bird man or any living creature but they all sink this water is called Silia In Affrica on the contrary part there is the water named Apustidamus where nothing be it never so heavy or unapt to swim but will swim upon the water Lead or any heavy mettal doth swim in that lake as it is in the well of Phinitia in Sicilia Infinite waters should I recite if I in this would be tedious in repeating their names whose strange natures whose secret and hidden operation whose force and vertue were such as healed divers diseases As in the Isle of Avaria there was a water that healed the collick and the stone By Rome there was also a water called Albula that healed gréen wounds In Cilicia the river called Cydnus was a present remedy to any swelling of the legs Not far from Neapolis there was a well whose water healed any sicknesse of the eys The lake Amphion taketh all scurfs and sores from the body of any man What should I declare the natures of the four famous Rivers that issue out of Paradise the one is named Euphrates which the Babylonians and Mesopotamians have just occasion to commend the second is called Ganges which the Indians have great cause to praise the third called Nilus which the countrey of Egypt can best speak of and the fourth is called Tigris which the Assyrians have most commodity by Here might I be long occupied if I should orderly but touch the natures of all waters So the alteration of the seas and the wonders thereof appear as ebbing and flowing as saltnesse and swéetnesse and all things incident by nature to the seas which were it not that men see it dayly and observe the same hourly and mark things therein continually more wonders would appear by the seas then almost reason might be alledged for God as the Prophet saith is wonderfull in all his works So the five golden Rivers which learned and ancient writers affirm that the sands thereof are all glistering gems of gold as Tagus in Spain Permus in Lydia Pactolus in Asia Idaspes in India and Arimaspus in Scythia These are no lesse famous through their golden sands which their rowling waves bring to land in these aforesaid countreys then Parnessus in Boetia where the Muses long were honoured or Simois in Phrygia where Venus was conceived by Anchises To coequat the number of these five last and pleasant Rivers there are five as horrible to Nature as Styx in Arcadia whose property is to kill any that will touch it and therefore feigned of the Poets to be consecrated to Pluto for thfre is nothing so hard but this water wil consume so cold is the water thereof Again the River Phlegeton is contrary to this for the one is not so cold but the other is as hot and therefore called Phlegeton which is in English Fiery or smoakie for the Poets feign likewise that it burneth out in flames of fire Lethes and Acheron two Rivers the one in Affrica the other in Epire the one called the river of forgetfulnesse the other the river of sadnesse The fifth called Cocytus a place where mourning never ceaseth These five rivers for their horror and terror that procéeded from them for the strange and wonderfull effects thereof are called infernal lakes consecrated and attributed to King Pluto which Virgil at large describeth Divers wells for the strangenesse of the waters and for the pleasantnesse thereof were sacrificed to the Gods as Cissusa a well where the Nurses of Bacchus used to wash him was therefore consecrated to Bacchus so Melas to Pallas Aganippe to the Muses and so forth not molesting the Reader further with natures of Water I mean now briefly to touch the strange nature of the Earth Pliny affirmeth that there was never man sick in Locris nor in Croton neither any Earthquake ever heard in Licia By Rome in the field called Gabiensis a certain plat of ground almost two hundred Acres would tremble and quake as men rode upon it There are two hils of strange natures by the River called Indus the nature of the one is to draw any Iron to it insomuch as Pliny saith that if nails be in any shoes the ground of that place draweth the sole off There is a piece of ground in the City Characena in the countrey of Taurica where if any come wounded he shall be straight healed And if any enter under divers places as in a place called Hirpinis where the temple of Mephis is builded or in Asia by Iheropolis they shall incontinently die Again there are places by the vertue of ground in that place that men may prophesie Divers times we read that one piece of ground devoured another as the hill Ciborus and the city hard by called Curites were choaked up of the earth Phegium a great mountain in Aethiopia and Sipilis a high hill in Magnesia with the cities named Tantalis and Galarus There is a great Rock by the City Harpasa in Asia which may be moved easily with one finger and yet if a man put all his strength thereunto it will not stir I néed not speak of mount Aetna in Sicilia of Lypara in Acolia of Chymera in Lycia of Vesuvius and Aenocauma five fiery mountains which day and night burn so terribly that the flame thereof never resteth If any man will see more of these marvellous and wonderfull effects of Elements let him read the second book of Plini where he shall have abundance of the like examples There he shall see that in some places it never rained as in Paphos upon the temple of Venus in Nea a town in Phrygia upon the temple of Minerva and in
divers places else which is the nature of the ground About Babylon a field burneth day and night In Aethiopia certain fields about mount Hesperius shine all night like stars As for Earthquakes and wonders that thereby happened I will not speak but those strange grounds that never alter from such effects before mentioned beside the mettals the stones the herbs the trées and all other things are miraculous and strange as Pliny in divers places doth witnesse And as for fire it is too great a wonder that the whole world is not burned thereby sith the Sun the Stars the Elementary fire excell all miracles if God had not prevented in kéeping the same from damage and hurt to man yea appointed that the heat of the Sun should not kindle straws stubbles trées and such like where the heat thereof as we daily sée burneth stones lead and harder substances sith especially that fire is in all places and is able to kindle all things insomuch that the water Thrasimenos burneth out in flames which is unnatural and strange that fire kindles in water and likewise in Egnatia a City of Salentine there is a stone which if any wood touch it wilâ— kindle fire In the Well called Nympheus there is a stone likewise whence come flames of fire the stone it self burneth in the water A greater wonder it is that the fire should be kindled by water and extinguished by wind Fire flashed about the head of Servius Tullius being then a boy in sleep which did prognosticate that he should be King of the Romans Fire shined about the head of L. Marcius in Spain when he encouraged his souldiers to revenge manfully the deaths of those noble and famous Romans named Sipians The marvellous effects of fire are most wonderful and most strange CHAP. XXI Of the World and of the soul of Man with divers and sundry opinions of the Philosophers about the fame AMongst divers Philosophers and learned men grew a great controversie of the beginning of the world some of the best affirming that it had no beginning nor can have end as Aristotle and Plato applying incorruption and perpetual revolution to the same Some with Epicurus thought the world should be consumed Of this opinion was Empedocles and Herachius Some on the other side did judge with Pythagoras that so much of the world should be destroyed as was of his own nature Thales said there was but one world agréeing with Empedocles Democritus affirmeth infinite worlds and Metrodorus the Philosopher conceived worlds to be innumerable Thus hold they several opinions concerning the making the beginning the ending and the numbers of the world What child is there of this age but smileth at their folly reasoning largely one against another in applying the cause and the effect of things to their own inventions And as they have judged diversly of the world concerning the frame and nature thereof so were they as far off from the true understanding of the Creation of man Some grosly thought that mankind had no beginning Some judged that it had a beginning by the superiour bodies And for the antiquity of mankind some judge Egypt to be the first people some Scythia some Thrace some this countrey and some that countrey with such phantastical inventions as may well appear to the most ignorant an error And alas how simple are they in finding out the substance of the soul what it should be where it should be and by what it should be Some say that there is no soul but a natural moving as Crates the Theban Some judge the soul to be nothing else but fire or heat betwéen the undivisible parts others thought it an air received into the mouth tempered in the heart boiled in the lights and dispersed through the body Of this opinion was Anaxagoras and also Anaximenes Hippias judged the soul of man to be water Thales and Heliodorus affirmed it to be earth Empedocles is of opinion that it is hot bloud about the heart so that they vary in sundry opinions attributing the cause thereof either to the fire or else to water either to the earth or to the air and some unto the complexion of the four elements others of the earth and fire others of water and fire some again reason that the substance of the soul is of fire and of the air And thus of approved Philosophers they show themselves simple innocents How ignorant were they in defining the soul of man So far disagréeing one with another that Zenocrates thinketh again the soul to be but a number that moves it self which all the Egyptians consented to Aristotle himself the Prince of all Philosophers and his master Plato shewed in this their shifting reason which both agree that the soul is a substance which moveth it self Some so rude and so far from perfection in this point that they thought the heart to be the soul some the brain How ridiculous and foolish séemeth their assertion to this age concerning the soul and as childishly they dispute and reason again about the placing of the same where and in what place of the body the soul resteth For Democritus judgeth his seat to be in the head Parmenides in the breast Herophilus in the ventricles of the brain Strato doth think that the soul was in the space between the eye brow yea some were so foolish to judge it to be in the ear as Xerxes King of Persia did Epicurus in all the breast Diogenes supposed it to be in a hollow vein of the heart Empedocles in the bloud Plato Aristotle and others that were the best and truest Philosophers judged the soul to be indifferent in all parts of the body some of the wisest supposed that every peece and pâ—rceâ— of the body had his proper soul In this therefore they were much deceived in séeking a proper seat for the soul Even as before they erred shamefully and liâ—d manifestly about the essence and substance of the soul so now were they most simply beguiled in placing the soul as you have heard And now after I have opened their several opinions concerning what the soul is and where the soul is you shall here likewise hear whither the soul shall go after death according to the Philosophers which as diversly vary and disagrée in this as you before heard the diversity of opinions concerning the substance and the place And first to begin with Democritus who judgeth the soul to be mortal and that it shall perish with the body to this agrée Epicurus and Pliny Pythagoras judged that the soul is immortal and when the body dieth it sâ—éeth to his kind Aristotle is of opinion that some parts of the soul which have corporal seats must dye with the body but that the understanding of the soul which is no instrument of the body is perpetual Tho people called Drinda were of this judgement that souls should not descend to hell but should pass to another world as the Philosophers called Essei which suppose
of Greeks and Romans If their lives honours and dignities be weighed If on the contrary mishap evil fortune banishment and such like be considered we must think and judge truly of Plutarch in comparing these great Champions and puissant Princes as Alexander the great and Julius Caesar Demetâ—ius and Antonius Nicias and Crastus men in all their doings in all their enterprises most like one to another Some again for wisedome and eloquence were to be compared as Cicero to Demosthenes Some for justice and equity were likened one to the other as Cato the Senior likened to Aâ—istides the Athenian For gentlenesse and clemency was Pelopidas King of Sparta compared to Epaminondas Prince of Thebes Some again were compared one to another for their liberality and bounty as that famous and liberal Phocion was judged to be like to that free and noble Athenian Cimon Some were paralelled by misfortune as Dion who governed Sicilia a long time in favour and great honour with Dionisius then King to Brutus who might command Caesar to do what he would at Rome and both at length banished We read moreover that some were so like in countenance and face in proportion of outward lineaments that one could not â—e known from the other as Antiochus King of Syria had a servant named Artcon so like unto him in face and person in all parts that when King Antiochus died the Quéen Laodices dissembled the matter having the presence of Artcon in stead of her husband the King to blind and deceive the people till she of her own decrée had made another King in Syria Cornelius Scipio though he was of a noble family of passing prowesse of excellent qualities yet for that he was in person like deformed Serapion he was called of the people Scipio Serapion Pompey his father was so like to his Cook Menogenis that for all his honour and dignity he was by the vulgar sort named another Menogenis Cruel Nero caused Sporus for that he was most like unto a Sabine maid whom Nero loved most detestably to be made like a woman to use his filthy lust on him They say that Ephestion was so like to Alexander the great in proportion of person that Sisigambis King Darius mother who knew Alexander as wel for the long wars that was betwéen her son Darius and him as for that she was in one house with Alexander as a captive having continual sight and talk with him yet was she deceived oftentimes to distinguish Alexander from Ephestion and knéeled to Ephestion in stead of Alexander divers times when she thought to speak to Alexander As for Pompey the great one Vibius a man of base birth and slender progeny was so like to that noble Pompey that when he came at any time where Pompey was not he was honoured and saluted of every man as Pompey by name and supposed of all men to be Pompey himself and he so much estéemed him that he advanced him unto honour and dignity and men called Pompey oftentimes by the name of Vibius and Vibius by the name of Pompey so like were these two one to the other In the same manner Plancus the Orator was like Rubrius the Stage-player who might not be known the one from the other unlesse their apparel would betray them so like they were that Pâ—ancus was called Rubrius and Rubrius called Plancus as is before mentioned of Pompey and Vibius So Mirmillo was like to Cassius Severus Messala like to Menogenes that as before it is spoken of Antiochus Alexander and Pompey and their companions so likewise of these the like may be spoken Some are likened again for their huge quantity and large proportion of body excéeding the common measure of men as Orestes and Achilles are likened the one unto the other for their great heighth Some for their monstrous shape are likened to one another as Gabbara and Titormus two huge Giants Piragmon and Poliphemus two huge and monstrous Ciclops Some for the qualities of the body are likened one to another as Ladas who was so swift that he would run upon the soft dust without any shew or sight of his steps he was compared to Polimnestor who being a Shepheard did overrun and take a Hart and for that cause was he brought by his master unto the games of Olimpia the forty and six Olimpiade where he won the victory of running Philippides was so swift on foot that he ran in two days from Athens to Sparta and therefore compared to Philonides who ran in one day one thousand and two hundred furlongs Some again for strength as that strong Roman Cicinius was likened unto M. Sergius for the strensth of body Some again for memory as Cineas Oratour to King Pyrrhus was compared to Metrodorus the Philosopher to write of these and to compare the stoutnesse and the qualities of Princes persons I might grow tedious therefore I think it better to observe measure in things then with prolixity of writing or tedious examples molest the Reader When it was told Caesar Augustus that there was a young man of Sicilia that was very like to the Emperour in countenance and person he commanded the young man to be brought before him where when he came the Emperour demanded merrily whether his mother had ever béen at Rome the young man answered my mother was never at Rome but my father hath oftentimes béen there and so the Emperour was met with the like equivocation to him as he meant to the young man giving to understand that the young mans father might be as bold with the Emperours mother as he thought he might have béen with the young mans mother himself CHAP. XXIX Of Musick and Mirth GReat controversie there is for the antiquity of musick some do attribute it to Orpheus as the Thracians which with Horace affirmt hat the musick of Orpheus could move stones rocks and trées some to Amphion as the Thebans do who honour Amphion for the first Musitian for that with the Harp he caused stones and trees to follow him wherewith he builded the City of Thebes some unto Dionisius as the Gréeks who say that he first invented harmony Solinus affirmeth that musick was first fâ—â—ad in Creet Polibius saith that musick was first found in Arcadia Diodorus thinketh that Apollo found harmony first Josephus judgeth that Tobal amongst the Hebrues was the first finder of musick and thus antient writers diversly do vary herein But as musick is but a sound in number and measure as Cicero saith and by divers means found of men so hath it béen from time to time augmented by man For first when Mercury the son of Maâ—a had found after that the inundation of Nilus had watered all Egypt amongst divers other drowned creatures a sea Snail the flesh being withered and yet the sinews still remaining striking the same it made a sound Thus did Mercury make first a Harp with seven strings to coequat the number of Atlantides and then he added two more and made them
Demetrius and Alexanders wife who then was a widdow and a Quéen in Corinth for in the midst of triumphs and preparations to the marriage Antigonus by deceit took the Castle commanded his souldiers in arms and proclaimed himself King in Corinth In the same book of Polinaeus the like History is written of Lysander of Sparta and Nearchus of Creet the one promising to the inhabitants of Miletum his aid and help in defending their liberties and the people giving credit to a Kings promise and trusting to have Lysander their special friend they found him their mortal foe for he deceived them thereby and took the City of Miletum unto himself The other sailing to the haven of Telmessus to renue friendship with Antripatridas who then governed the City of Telmessus under the color of friendship he had his men at arms ready on the Sea to destroy his friend and to take the City to himself This deceit was not onely séen in wars where much falshood and perjury is practised but in all things men use craft according to the proverb There is craft in daubing To speak of Theodectes craft toward his Master Aristotle to defraud him privily of his glory to speak of Sertorius deceit in winning authority among the common people to describe the means that Dionisius used to get mony amongst the Syracusans or how Pythius deceived Cannius in his bargain of fish or how Darius became King of Persia by the neighing of a Mare and a million more of such deceits and crafts were infinite I therefore refer the Reader to Poliaenus where he shall have enough of falshood But because craft is used diversly I will somewhat touch those that used craft in altering themselves into the form of women some for filthy lust some for vertues sake and some for vice What kind of dissimulation was in Sardanapalus King of Assyria to forsake the Empire to forgo his Kingdome to become like a woman to spin and card with his Concubines and so from the shape of a man to dissemble himself to be a woman What kind of dissimulation did that renowned and mighty Hercules even the off-spring of the Gods and son to Jupiter use after that he tamed monsters slew Giants overcame Dragons Lions wild beasts and yet he did translate himself from a champion and a conquerour into womans apparel and fashioned himself like a woman with such dissimulation he served Omphale Quéen of Lydia like a woman in the apparel of a woman at the whéel and at the cards at Omphales commandement What kind of craft used Clodius to bring his purpose to pass with Pompeia Caesars wife dissembling himself to be a woman as Cicero taunteth him in an Epistle that he writeth to Lentulus where he saith that Clodius dissembled with the Npmph Bona Dea as he was wont to use the thrée sisters Thus Clodius would at all times go unto Pompeia in the apparel of a woman to use such feats that he made Caesar to divorce his wife Pompeia Dissimulations and subtilties as they are most evil to practise so somtimes they are necessary to do good for example Euclides used the like craft as before but to a better purpose for he practised it not to féed lust or to pleasure affectioÌ„ but he used it to hear Socâ—ates to read Philosophy to learn wisedome from him For there was a law betwéen Athens and them of Megaris for the great hatred the one bare unto the other that whosoever came from Athens to Megaris should die and whosoever would go from Megaris to Athens should likewise die Thus death frighted not Euclides but the love thâ—t he bare to Socrates and to Philosophy and wisedome so emboldned him that he would in the night travel from Megaris to Athens in the apparel of a woman least he should be known and he returned before day from Athens to Megaris again This dissimulation and craft of Euclides was far better and more to be commended then the doings of the former Better is Semiramis Quéen of Babylon thought of in that she perceiving her young son Ninus to be too tender to govern the stout Babylonians and Assyrians and knowing the nature of the people to be impatient of a womans government became in her apparel like a man and ruled the Kingdome till her son came to ripe age More praâ—ie ought â—â—lâ—gia a woman of Antioch to have who though she fained her self to be a man and dissembled with the world in that case yet this was to avoid incontinence and to live chast and solitary without the company of men For this cause is the Greek Virgin Mâ—rina and Euphrosina a maid of Alexandria worthily preferred before Cleocritus and Clisthenes for that they went in the apparel of men to live in the wildernesse to avoid lust and sensuality the others went in the apparell of women to beguile women Caelius doth report that certain women as Mantinia Lasthenia Axâ—othea and Phliasia would come in their apparel like men to hear Plato read philosophy in the schools The cause of their dissimulations was vertue and honest life the cause of the others dissimulation was vice and a wicked life so that dissimulation is both good and bad For we read at what time the armed youth of Gréece had determined co fetch home again fair Helene Menelaus wife from Troy where she was deteined by Paris King Priamus son that then Achilles the stoutest and worthiest of all the Gréeks while yet he slept in the Tent of Chiron his mother Thetis suddenly took him from Chiâ—ons house and changed his apparel into the apparel of a woman and appointed where he should hide himself with the daughters of King Lycomedes where he got one of them with child and commanded her to betray him to no man for she knew that her son Achilles should die in Troy if he should go thither There Achilles was a long while at the commandement of his mother Thetis untill the Oracle was given that the City of Troy should never be destroyed without the help of Achilles Ulisses being most subtill and crafty taking upon him to séek out Achilles took a little pack full of fine wares such as women buy and a strong bow and arrows thus when Ulisses came to King Lycomedes daughters though he knew Achilles to be there yet because he was in the apparel of a woman he knew him not and therefore shewed his fine ware unto the Kings daughters having a strong bow bent by him while Deidamia the mother of Pyrrhus and the rest of her sisters viewed the glistering ware of Ulisses Achilles stept in and took Ulisses bow in hand and drew it whereby Ulisses séeing him draw so strong a bow he straight perceived that he was Achilles And thus one craft beguileth another one deceit deceiveth another and one dissembling man findeth out another For by the means of Ulisses was the dissimulation of Achilles known I might have just occasion here to speak of those that were
youthfull Romans were as crafty in finding them out so that at that one instant of sixty young virgins fifty and five deserved the name of mothers Thus we perceive that by sight we are moved to lust and by consent we wilfully sin the one in the eye the other in the heart therefore better it is with Sophocles for a man to turn his back from a fair woman then with Nero to behold beauty who looking to earnestly upon the haire of Poppaeas was thereby moved to lust CHAP. XXXVIII Of Jealousie A Question was propounded to all the Gods to be answered whether man or woman be more jealous For as the Poets feign there sprung a contention between Iupiter and Iuno concerning lust and jealousie and having no equal judge to determine this matter it was referred after great controversie unto one Tiresias an ancient and learned poet sometime in Thebes which Tiresias on a certain time meeting two Snakes according to kind ingendring together having a white rod in his hand parted at once both their bodies and their lives Wherewith Iuno being moved to anger transformed this poet Tiresias from a man to a woman and being in the shape of a woman seven years he again found two Snakes ingendring together and in like manner striking them he was again reduced to his first form This Tiresias was thought most meet of Iupiter and Iuno by the consent of all the Gods for that he had been a woman seven years and now a man again to judge of this question And being called to the Bar to give his verdit he preferred Iuno for jealousie whereby Iuno waxed angry and made him blind and Iupiter to recompence his truth did make him a Prophet When Jupiter fell in love with Io Juno being suspicious and full of jealousie caused one named Argos with an hundred eys to watch Jupiter who for all his eys was deceived Juno thereby was so furious and so hungry with Argos that she translated his eys unto a Peacocks tail and transformed Io to a white Cow There is no such rage in jealousie as there is craft in love so that the streight kéeping of Danae King Acrisius daughter in Towers and Castles could never kéep her from Perseus neither the hundred eies of Argos might spie the craft of Jupiter to Io. We read of a woman named Procris who was in such jealousie of her husband called Cephalus that having him in suspicion for his often going a hunting on a certain time she followed him privily into the Woods thinking there to find her husband at his wantonnesse and hiding her self in a thick bush to sée the end of the event her husband passing by the bush perceiving something there to stir thinking it had béen some wild beast thrust his wife into the heart with his dart and thus Procris was slain of her own husband for her importunate jealousie The like happened to Aemilius wife who for her suspicious and raging jealousie was never quiet but was busie alwaies to find some fault in her husband following him every where and watching still in privy places thinking to find him in the manner and untill she sped of the like chance as Procris did she could never be quiet Cyampus wife named Leuconona was devoured by dogs instead of a wild beast hiding her self in the Woods to follow and mark her husbands voyage Iealousie so moved her that she could do no otherwise A strange kind of sicknesse it is that so infecteth the mind vexeth the spirits and molesteth the heart that the head is full of invention and the mind full of thought and the heart full of revenge So jealous was Phanius that the dores being shut the windows close all privy and secret places prevented every where as he thought so stopped that his wife could not deceive him yet never thought that love could pierce tile-stones to come unto his wife but he was deceived for the lurking dens of love and fancies and the secret search of affection hath more privy paths whereby Cupid may come to his mother Venus then the Labyrinth had chambers for the Minotaur King Acrisius thought he was sure of his daughter Danae when she was close bulwarked within a great Castle Iuno thought to prevent Iupiter by the hundred eys of Argos Phanius thought that his wife was sure enough when the dores were shut and the windows close but neither could the jealousie of Iuno prevent it neither the eys of Argos spie it neither the streight kéeping of Danae avoid it neither the close defence of Phanius defend it I must needs commend one called Cippius that would oftentimes take upon him to sleep when he did wake and would pretend to be ignorant though he knew it I wish wise men to sleep with Cippius and to say with Cicero Non omnibus dormio I sleep not to all men and to be ignorant though they know things And likewise I wish wise women to imitate Aemilia the wife of noble Scipio who although she knew things evident by Scipio yet she made as much of his Paramour as she made of her husband and all for his own sake They say jealousie proceedeth from love and love from God but I say it commeth from hatred and hatred from the Divel And yet we read in the sacred Scripture that Abraham was jealous of his wife Sarah saying thus to his wife I know that thou art fair and they will kill me to have thy love The manners of the Parthians were to keep their wives in privy places of their houses over whom they were so jealous that their wives might not go abroad but with covered faces The Persians were so suspicious of their wives that they had no liberty to go in sight and they durst not go on foot but in Wagons covered over lest they should see or be seen The Thracians with such care and study keep their wives that as Herodotus affirms they trust no man with them in company but their own parents The old and ancient Romans in times past kept their wives so close that their wives as Valerius Maximus saith did divers times either kill poison or with some cruelty or other destroy their husbands and it was by a young man of the city of Rome disclosed that there was a hundred threescore and ten that so killed and destroyed their husbands for that their husbands were so jealous over them But because it is a comon disease in all places I need not further to write thereof wishing my friend never to be incumbred therewith but rather with silence to passe it with Cippius and so he shall find ease thereby CHAP. XXXIX Of Idlenesse AS nothing can be greatly difficult to a willing mind so every thing is a burthē to the idle one for as labor exercise of body industry diligence of mind are sure and strong bulwarks of countries so are idlenesse and negligence the cause of all evill We read that Alexander the great least he
Athens Lentulus the defendour of Italy exiled from Rome Dion of Siracusa hunted out of his country by Dionisius even that renowned Hannibal that long protector of Carthage was compelled after long service for his country to range about like a pilgrim every where to séek some safe-guard for his life Too many examples might be brought from Gréek and Latine histories for the proof hereof The chiefest bulwark of a Common-wealth saith Demosthenes is assured faith without flattery and good will tried in the Commons and plainnesse without deceit boldnesse and trust in the Nobility Flattery is the onely snare that wise men are deceived withall and this the pharisées knew well who when they would take our Saviour Christ tardy in his talk they began to flatter him with fair words saying Master we know that thou art just and true and that thou camest from God Even so Herod willing to please the Iews in killing James the brother of John and in imprisoning Peter he so pleased the people with flattery that they cried out this is the voice of God and not the voice of men so sweet was flattery amongst the Iews The flattering friends of Ammon knowing the wickednesse of his mind and his perverse dealing toward Mardocheus did not perswade Ammon from his tyranny but flattered him with fair words and made him prepare a high gallows for Mardocheus where Ammon and his children were hanged But the young man that came to flatter king David saying Saul and his children are dead was by David for his flattery commanded to die CHAP. XLIIII Of the Pilgrimages of Princes and Misery of Mortality THere is neither beast on the earth nor fowl in the ayr nor fish in the sea that séeks his own decay but man onely as by experience we sée all things to have a care of their own lives The Lion when he féeleth himself sick he never ceaseth till he féedeth upon an Ape whereby he may recover his former health The Goats of Créet féeding on high upon the mountains when any of them is shot through with an arrow as the people of that Countrey are most excellent archers they seek out an herb called Dictamum and assoon as they eat any part of it the arrow falleth down and the wound waxeth whole incontinently There are certain kinds of Frogs in Egypt about the floud of Nilus that have this perceiverance that when by chance they happen to come where a fish called Varus is which is great a murtherer and spoiler of Frogs they use to bear in their mouths overthwart a long reed which groweth about the banks of Nile and as this fish doth gape thinking to feed upon the Frog the reed is so long that by no means he can swallow the Frog and so they save their lives If the Goats of Creet if the Frogs of Egypt have this understanding to avoid their enemies how much more ought man to be circumspect of his life who hath millions of enemies neither seen nor known We read in the first book of Aelian that the rude swine if at any time by chance they eat of that herb called Hiosciamus which so contracteth draweth their veins together that they can hardly stir they will strive for remedy to go under the water where they feed upon young Crabs to recover health In the same book you may read of a sea Snail which from the water doth come to land to breed and after she hath egged she diggeth the earth and hideth her egs and returneth to the sea again and there continueth fourty days and after fourty days she commeth to the self same place where she hid her egs and perceiving that they are ready to come out of the shell she openeth the shell and taketh her young ones with her into the sea And thus have they a care not onely of their own states and lives but also of others and by some shew of sence they help that which is most dangerous and hurtfull The little Mice have this kind of fore-knowledge that when any house waxeth old and ruinous they forsake their old dwelling and creeping holes and flee and seek refuge in some other place The little Ants have such fore-sight that when penury and want of relief draweth near they wax painfull and laborious to gather victuals as may serve them during the time of famine If these small creeping worms and simple beasts provide for themselves what shall we say of man the King and ruler over all beasts who hath not onely a body to provide for but also a soul to save More happy are these worms and beasts in their kind then a number of Princes are for that they by nature onely are taught to avoid their foes we neither by nature neither by God the cause of all goodnesse can love our friends Therefore very well it is said of the wise man that either not to be born or else being born straight to die is the happiest state that can chance to man For living in this vale of misery we see the Pilgrimage and travel of life to be such that better far it were to be a poor quiet man then a proud ambitious Prince And since death is the last line of life as well appointed for Princes as for poor men who in reading of the lives of Emperors Kings and Princes and the Nobles of the world seeth not their unhappy states which come into the world naked and depart from the same naked yet like proud Pilgrims are busie one to destroy another not content with countreys and Kingdomes they go from place to place like Pilgrims to be more acquainted with misery and to seek death Alexander the great conquerourâ— taking his voyage from his Kingdome of Macedonia unto India in a desire to destroy all the world he was in the City of Babylon prevented by Antipater and Iola with poyson and there he died Philopomenes a great Emperor sometime in Gréece being taken prisoner in the wars of Messena was so cruelly handled that he besought Dinocrates who then was Prince of that countrey and conquerour over him one drâ—ught of poyson to end his life Thus he that could not be content to be Emperor and ruler of Gréece was moved to seek death in a strange Countrey amongst his foes Ladislaus King of Apulia endeavouring to subdue the Florentines and séeking to be King over the Florentines lost the Kingdome of Apulia and by them was at length poysoned and so bereft both of Kingdome and life With this unhappy kind of death many Princes have been prevented and no lesse threatned are these Princes by their own houshold friends then by forraign foes No lesse do their children their wives brethren and kinsmen study to destroy them Thus Claudius Caesar an Emperor of Rome was poysoned by his own wife Agrippina Antiochus King of Syria was poysoned by his Quéen Laodice so that he was in love with Berenices King Ptolomy's sisterr Constantine the Emperor the son of Heraclius being