To that end haue I brought him to the world that there should not bee wanting one that should doubt and refuse to spend his life and blood in the defence of his countrey Qu. Wherein did Cyreneus and Theodorus courage and magnanimity most chieflie shine and appeare Ans In his resolute answer to king Lysimachus when hee did threaten him with death for then boldly speaking to the Tyrant Bid him to feare his Courtiers with these bugs for Theodorus is indifferent quoth he whether he rots vnder or aboue the ground Qu. Who may be said to suffer water continually to bee drawne out of his spring and yet for it hath nothing the lesse himselfe Ans He that giueth good counsel to them that demand it or hee that bestoweth a benefite vpon another without any hinderance to himselfe Qu. Which may be called a double iniury Ans To be defrauded of deserued praises and pursued with vndeserued reproches Qu. By what meanes shal one become rich quickly Ans In being poore of desire and therefore Seneca said If you haue respect wherwith nature is sufficed you shall neuer be poore but if you looke vnto that which opinion craueth you shall neuer be rich Qu. What men may be said to liue onely and longest Ans Those that liue onely and longest in ease and quiet And therefore Adrian a most puissant Emperour who by great trauell and intercession obtained license in the end of his daies to dwell in a little village of his where he liued seuē yeares in great rest and quiet dying left an aparant token and testimony that the life led in honor and dignity was not the true life for he caused words to be graued on his tombe Here lieth the wight whose age is of many yeares but hee liued but only seuen Qu. What child is the only heire of a wise and worthy Parent Ans Hee that inheriteth and is heire vnto all his fathers vertues Qu. What is marriage Ans A Paradise on earth if her lawes bee obserued but a hell in the house if her statutes be broken Qu. How many chiefe powers are there of the soule Ans Three Intendment Will and Memory Qu. What three deserts of the body stop the passage of these three powers of the soule Ans Ignorance of that which is good Couetousnesse of that which is euill Infirmity and langor of the body Qu. What are the remedies against these three euils and defects Ans Wisdome Vertue Necessity which to chase these three euils are thus ordered Wisdome against ignorance Vertue against couetousnesse vice Necessity against infirmity Qu. What is it that of men is least esteemed and of God most honoured Ans Chastity which is precious before God and a laughing stocke before men Qu. What is ignorance Ans A graue which burieth life Qu. What foure things haue continuall residence in a Noble mind Ans Courage to repell the incroching enemy a heart to consider a loyall friend a hand to reward the gifts of the simple and clemency to accept pardon a well meaning mind Qu. How many kinds of Sages be there Ans Three The sage wise man the sage foole and the sage hearbe Qu. Wherin is a flatterer like vnto a hauke Ans Because as a Hauke will not come to an empty fist so a flatterer to an emptie purse Qu. Which is the first step of loue Ans The losse of libertie Qu. Who after their death liue in the life of their children Ans Such parents as haue brought vp their children as they may chuse the good and forsake the euill Qu. Who is alone a worthy and a valiant man Ans He who neuer dooth bow his shoulders at the burden of misfortunes nor he who neuer panted at his chance Qu. What answered Gorgias being demanded what manner of diet he vsed that he liued so long Ans That hee neuer did eat any thing for pleasure or wantonnesse Qu. Why did Zenocrates assigning all the parts of the day to some busines appoint likewise to silence his due part Ans Because he might then priuately discusse with himself what maner he ought to keepe in speaking Qu. What did neuer speak wel of any man Ans Euill will Qu. Wherein did Artemisia declare her great chastitie towards her husband deceased Ans In her entire loue towards him for when her husband Mansolus King of Caria was dead shee caused his heart to bee dried in a vessell of gold into pouder and by a little and little drank it all vp saying Their two hearts should neuer depart asunder that she thought there might be no worthier sepulchre made for it but her owne body Notwithstanding shee made for his body such a sepulchre that for the excellent workemanship beautie and costlinesse therof it was taken for one of the meruailes of the world for the notable fame of it all sumptuous and great sepulchres were afterwards called Mansalca Qu. Which is the best hauen to him that is penitent Ans Confession of his faults and change of counsell Qu. How might a man become maister ouer himselfe Ans In amending that in himselfe which he rebuketh in another body Qu. Wherefore made nature man naked without weapons to defend himselfe Ans Nature hauing bestowed wisedome vpon man hath giuen him means inough to arme himselfe at his owne pleasure as well against the cold and heat of the air as against the blowes of his enemy Qu. Why are Iudges and Lawyers more honoured of those that goe to law then Phisitions are of their patients Ans Because the gaine of the cause doth depend of the Iudge and aduocates but giuing of health to the patient lieth not in the hands of the Phisition but in God only Qu. Why doth a Swanne being neere his death sing more sweeter then at any other time Ans Nature hath taught this to the bird to teach vs the good which wee receiue by death which serueth vs for a doom or passage to euerlasting life Qu. Why do men seeke to auoid pouerty Ans Because it causeth them oftentimes to decline from the right way of vertue Qu. Why doe men drinke water which notwithstanding doth not nourish Ans Water dooth spend the digestion of the meat through all parts of the body Qu. Why are those that are drunke cold Ans By reason of the Wine taken immoderately which quencheth and ouerwhelmeth the natural heat of the body Quest Why doe Phisitions not minister medicines when the sicknesse or disease is at the cheefest Ans Because they should not oppresse or hinder nature Qu. What is the cause that children who are moist by nature are not bald notwithstanding Ans Because their humidity is intermingled with a temperate heat Qu. Why doth Rue being planted vnder a figge tree grow the better and receiueth more nourishment Ans Because it draws vnto itself the sweetnes of the figge tree or els the figge tree suckes away from the Rue a part of his bitternesse and so being somwhat sweetned
conquered or to those that are ouercome Answ Hope of reuenge Quest What is the life of Courtiers Answ A continuall hope Quest By what honest meanes may poore men encrease their stocke Answ By sparing Quest Why did the Lacedemonians sacrifice a Cock when they had obtained victory against their enemies by maine force and an Oxe when they had ouerthrowne them by subtletie surprise orintelligence Answ Because they preferred Prudence and wit before force or bodily strength and therefore a certaine captain of Grecia was wont to say If a lions skin cannot preuaile adde vnto it the skin of a foxe meaning thereby if force cannot vse policy Quest Which are the fruits of pleasure Answ Griefe and repentance Quest Which is the first step to aduersitie Answ The highest degree of prosperitie Quest Why doth men neese sooner being in the sunne then being neere the fire Answ Because the heat of the sun doth only dissolue the humor and consumes it not but the fire doth both dissolue and consume it Quest Why doe the eies of Cats wolfes shine in the night and not by day Answ Because the greater light doth darken the lesser Quest Why is the white of an Egge of so hard a digestion Answ By reason of the great coldnes of it Quest. Why doth Burrage laid in wine reioice those that doe eat it Answ Because it doth encrease blood and strengthneth the heart Quest Why did Nature make rather the braine cold then whote Answ To temper and moderate the heat of the heart to the end it might serue it in stead of a cooler Quest What passion is that which tormenteth a man most and hath least power to ouercome Answ A womans inconstancy which greeueth a man and cannot be ouercome by women themselues Quest How ought wee to vse prosperitie Answ Not to trust vnto it for we ought to vse the gifts of fortune for our necessitie and not to relie vpon them Quest What is pleasure Answ A bait to take men as hookes and nets doe fishes Quest. What poyson ought Princes to auoid chiefly Answ The poyson of flattery Que. What is the reason that the bottome of a Kettell being full of boiling water hanging ouer the fire is cold notwithstanding Answ By reason of the hote vapors which continually doe mount vpwards wherewith the higher parts being warmed the bottome remains coole for the continuance of the water that is vpon it Quest Why do those that oftentimes weep pisse seldome Answ Because the humiditie taking his passage by the eies dooth ease so much the more the other parts and members of the body Quest Why did Nature ordaine neesing Answ To purge the superfluities of the braine like as the lunges are purged with coffing Quest. What maketh pleasures most sauerous Answ A rare and seldome vse of them Quest What is it that consumes his mother that bare him eates his nurse that feedes him and then dies leauing all them blind that saw him Answ The flambe of a Candle Quest. What men if cause do moue them doe soonest forsweare themselues Answ Those that are woont lightly to sweare without a cause Quest Which is the only phisick in misery Answ Patience Quest Whereby doth a man please a woman best and yet displease himself most Answ In giuing her her will Quest. What is best to bee done for a rich man falling sicke Answ Not to make his Phisition his heire Quest What is Loue Answ An idle bodies pastime or businesse Quest How might one auoid loue Answ By eschewing idlenesse Quest. How ought we to vse loue Answ As a foole to sport or a minstrell to make vs merry Quest. Who are the best creatures vpon earth Answ Women next vnto men and Bees Quest Who is rich Answ He that is contented Quest How might one learn to be content Answ To vnlearne to couet Quest What men doe least feare death Answ Those that feele least comfort in this world Quest What ought we chiefly to learne in prosperitie Answ How wee might best indure aduersitie Quest. Wherein is the life of man like vnto yron Answ Euen as yron if it be vsed doth wear away and if it be not vsed doth consume with rust so our life if it be neuer so well exercised dooth decrease by time if not yet doth it wast away with idlenesse Quest. What is the immoderate vse of too much liberty Answ An occasion oftentimes of bondage and slauery Quest. What men are most vnthankfull Answ Those that can tell how to receiue a benefit and not how to requite it or els those that deny the receit of it but chiefly those that haue forgotten it Qu. What shadow is most deceitfull Ans Hypocrisie Qu. Which is the chiefest reuenue for one that hath no lands Ans Sparing Qu. When is clemency most hurtfull Ans When rebels are most obstinate Qu. What thing is most dangerous least auoided and most desired Ans The pleasures of this world Qu. What soile beares both the best and the worst fruit Ans The wombe of a woman Qu. What ought a seruant chiefly to practise to obtaine his maisters fauor Ans Diligence continuance and secresie Qu. Where is silence most to be practised Ans In matters of secresie and amongst pots and Cannes Qu. How or what are the gifts of fortune Ans Such as are the mindes of those that possesse them a help comfort to them that can vse them and a ruine and ouerthrow to them that know not how to vse them Qu. What men are most vnfortunate in aduersity Ans Those that neuer learned to be crost in prosperity Qu. What feedes a doubtfull life or him that is by law condemned to die Ans Hope of pardon Qu. Why were it better to bee among Rauens then to liue among flatterers Ans Because Rauens pray not vpon men but when they are dead but flatterers deuour them euen when they are aliue Qu. What bitings are most sorest and most greeuous Ans The bitings of necessity Qu. What men ought chiefly to bee without faults Ans Those that are alwaies most ready to espie faults in others Qu. What is it to lend money vpon vsury Ans To kill a man Qu. Why did Solon establish no law against Paricides Ans Because hee thought that such an enormity could not bee committed by a child and therefore because hee should not seeme rather to remember men of such a wickednesse then to forbid it would in no wise appoint any punishment for it Qu. What maintaines a Commonwealth Ans Reward and punishment Qu. How should parents take the death of their children Ans As Anaxagoras and a lady of Lacena did for newes being brought to the one of his sonnes departure out of this life answered the messengers That he knew long since that hee had begotten a mortal man And this lady whose constancie deserueth no lesse praise commendation hauing heard that her son was slaine in the battaile said to those that first brought her the tidings hereof
in times past or els it is the custome of all ages to complaine Qu. What is anger Ans A short madnesse or els the beginning of foolishnesse Qu. What is vertue Ans A sweet harmony of nature to the found and time wherof al good men giue an eare vnto Qu. What difference is there between wisdome and a ready wit Ans The wise man giueth good counsell and the witty man presently conceiues and iudges of it Qu. What priuiledge haue braue and couragious knights aboue other men Ans Not to be subiect nor to be daunted by fortune Qu. What shadoweth nay darkeneth the great vertues in Philip and Alexander the Great his sonne Ans Drunkennesse Qu. What is Wine immoderately taken Ans The blood of the earth turned to poyson Qu. What is Wine moderately taken Ans A whetstone to memory Qu. Why did the Aegyptians ordaine that commoniesters and plaiers should beare no witnesse in any cause Ans Because such kind of people are commonly giuen to wickednesse and for a trifle ready to do a mischiefe Qu. What is nobilitie without vertue Ans A bladder puft vp with pride and violence Qu. Which are the vertues that doe conduct vs to heauen Ans Faith hope charity pietie religion and godlinesse Qu. Which is the poyson of friendship Ans Flattery Qu. What kind of ignorance is most dangerous Ans Not to know God and then not to know himselfe Qu. Wherefore is vertue so amiable Ans Because shee is alwaies conformable to reason Qu. What warre is lawfull Ans That which is conducted to obtaine peace Qu. Wherefore is the first counsel of a woman which she giueth without thinking on it far better then that which she hath studied vpon Ans Euen as all vnreasonable creatures are by instinct of nature driuen to their actions so a woman although she be ill yet the intelligence which nature hath giuen her which will not bee deceiued nor abuse any body compels her by the first motion to good But if she gets leasure to vse her owne nature all that shee shall doe will be naught Qu. Wherefore are women commonly more couetous then men Ans Because they know they should bee no body without riches Qu. Wherefore are those that haue great heads more giuen to sleepe then those that haue little heads Ans The greater the thing is the more vapors it doth containe and humiditie doth cause sleepe Qu. Why are lentiles and cabages so ill for the eie sight Ans By reason of the melancholike blood which they engender Qu. What is the cause that many die with too much ioy Ans Because the vitall spirits abandon the heart Qu. Wherefore ought we not to fast long Ans By reason that by too much fasting a masse of ill humours is ingendred and prouoke vomit Qu. What is the cause that we haue better stomackes to our meate when the wind is at the North then at other times Ans By reason of his coldnes which knits together and holds within vs the natural heat of our bodies Qu. What is the reason that Vineger is very wholesome to those that are cholericke is of contrary operation to those that are melancholicke Ans Because it asswageth choler by his coldnesse and dries vp melancholie Qu. What is the reason that in tract of time Wine becommeth more whote Ans Because the aquosity thereof euaporeth and vanisheth away Qu. What is the cause that some wines sower so lightly Ans Because that in the time of Vintage the grape was full of superfluous humors Qu. Why dooth the wild Bore vse to pisse before he runnes away Ans To vnlade him of the burden of his water for to runne the swifter Qu. When is it nothing discommendable to exceed the meane Ans When it is vsed to exercise and driue drowsinesse out of sluggards Qu. What husbāds do not loue their wiues Ans Those that loue their bodies their goods and not their mindes and good conditions Qu. What is chiefly to bee regarded in a witnesse Ans His honesty as in a Lawier eloquence and good vtterance Qu. Why can yoong men hardly keepe a meane Ans By reason of the natural heat abounding in them Qu. How might a foole seeme and bee accounted wise Ans If he goes braue in attire and speakes little Qu. What is the reason that some haue hard and some haue soft heare Ans The greatnesse and smalnesse of the Pores is cause of it for soft hear cōmeth by reason of the smalnesse of them and hard heare for the contrarie And therefore women haue commonly softer hear thē men because their naturall cold doth restrain and close the Pores Qu. What is the reason that Garlicke and Onyons doe bud although they are not in the earth Ans Because of their great abundance of moistnesse and heat Qu. Why is a dead body heauier then that which hath life within Ans A body aliue is full of ayre and fire which doe hold it vpright for their nature is alwaies to mount vpwards and a dead body is nothing but a lumpe of earth whose nature is heauie and alwaies tending downewards Qu. What dooth preuent an occasion of murmuring Ans Equalitie Qu. Why doe vices shaddow themselues vnder the colour of vertues Ans Because if they should come in their own shape but few would giue them entertainement Qu. Why ought Parents to bee very curious in seeking of good tutors and masters for to instruct their children Ans Because as their Parents are the fathers of their bodies so the maisters are the fathers of their soules and as childrē doe imitate the nature of those that haue begotten them so out of their maisters maners as out of a nurses brest they sucke their vertues and vices their good and ill conditions Qu. What is it that in louing too much turneth to mortall hatred Ans Ielousie Qu. Who murdereth the liuing the same of the dead Ans A Slanderer Qu. Wherin is our enemy commonly better vnto vs then our friend Ans Because our enemy speares not to tel vs our faults which friends seeke for the most part to hide from vs. Qu. What is as seldome found as the Phenix of Arabia Ans A trusty friend Qu. What is it that Kings cannot conquer Ans Mens affections Qu. In what place is flattery a Iewell Ans Where dissembling swaies the scepter Qu. What ought wee in this life most to remember and least to feare Ans The houre of death Qu. What is mans life Ans A thing more brickell then glasse more lighter then the smoke and swifter then the wind Qu. What garment is the best Ans That which couers malice Qu. What are dice Ans Fortunes whelpes which consume a mans wealth and empaire his patience Qu. What are womens vowes Ans Words written in the wind Qu. What are their promisses Ans Carracters figured in the ayre and figures grauen in the snow Qu. What is a beautifull strumpet Ans An Adamant that drawes a Panther