good Prince hath justly published or else the people neither oppressed with tyrannie neither deceived by fraud and guile hath by their common consent constituted and ratified concerning the petition of the commodity of life that is to say the matter of pleasure These lawes not offended it is wisdome that thou looke to thine owne wealth And doe the same for the common wealth is no lesse then thy duty â—f thou bearest any reverent love or any naturall zeale and affection to thy natiue Country But to goe about to let another man of his pleasure whiles thou procurest thine owne that is open wrong Contrariwise to with-draw something from thy selfe to giue to other that is a point of humanity and gentlenesse which never taketh away so much commodity as it bringeth againe For it is recompenced with the returne of benefits and the conscience of the good deed with the remembrance of the thankfull love and benevolence of them to whom thou hast done it doth bring more pleasure to thy mind then that which thou hast with-holden from thy selfe could have brought to thy body Finally which to a godly disposed and a religious mind is easie to be perswaded God recompenseth the gift of a short and small pleasure with great and everlasting joy Therefore the matter diligently weighed and considered thus they thinke that all our actions and in them the vertues themselves be referred at the last to pleâ—sure as their end and felicity Pleasure they call every motion and state of the body or mind wherein man hath naturally delectation Appetite thâ—y joyne to nature and that â—ot without a good cause For like as not onely the senses but also â—ight reason coveteth whatsoever is naturally pleasant so that it may be gotten without wrong or injury not letting or debarring a greater pleasure nor causing painfull labour even so those things that men by vaine imagination doe faine against nature to be pleasant as though it lay in their power to change the things as they doe the names of things all such pleasures they beleeve to be of so small helpe and furtherance to felicity that they count them a great let and hinderance Because that in whom they have once taken place all his mind they possesse with a false opinion of pleasure So that there is no place left for true and naturall delectations For there be many things which of their owne nature containe no pleasantnesse yea the most part of them much griefe and sorrow And yet through the perverse and malicious flickering inticements of lewd and honest desires be taken not onely for speciall and soveraigne pleasures but also be counted among the chiefe causes of life In this counterfeit kind of pleasure they put them that I spâ—ke of before Which the better gownes they have on the better men they thinke themselves In the which thing they doe twise erâ—e â—â—â— they be no lesse deceived iâ— that they thinke their gowne the better then they be in that they thinke themselves the better For if you consider the profiâ—â—ble use of the garment why should wooll of a fiâ—er spunne â—…eed be thought better then the wooll of a course spunne â—â—â—eed Yet they as though the one did passe the other by nature and not by their mistaking advance themselves and thinke the price of their owne persons therby greatly mereased And therefore the honor which in a course gowne they durst not have loâ—ked for they require as it were of duty for their finer gownes sake And if they be passed without reverence they take it displeasantly and disdainfully And againe is it not alike madnesse to take a pride in vaine and unprofitable honours For what naturall or true pleasure doest thou take of another mans bare head or bowed knees Will this case the paine of thy knees or remedy the phrensie of thy head In this image of counterfeit pleasure they be of marvailous madnesse which for the opinion of Nobility rejoyce much in their owne conceit Because was their fortune to come of such ancestors whose stocke of long time had beene counted rich for now nobility is nothing else specially rich in lands And though their Ancestors left them not one foot of land or else they themselves have pissed it against the walls yet they thinke themselve nor the lesse noble therefore of one haire In this number also they count them that take pleasure and delight as I said in gemmes and precious stones and thinke themselues almost gods if they chance to get an excellent one specially of that kind which in that time of their own Countreymen is had in highest estimation For one kind of stone keepeth not his price still in all countries and at all times Nor they buy them not but taken out of the gold and bare no nor so neither untill they haue made the seller to sweare that hee will warrant and assure it to be a true stone and no counterfeit gemme Such care they take least a counterfeit stone should deceiue their eyes in stead of a right stone But why shouldest thou not take even as much pleasure in beholding a counterfeit stone which thine eye cannot discerne from a right stone They should both be of like value to thee even as to the blind man What shall I say of them that keepe superfluous riches to take delectation onely in the beholding and not in the vse or occupying thereof Dâ—e they take true pleasure or else be they deceived with false pleasure Or of them that be in a contrary vice hiding the gold which they shall neither occuupy nor peradventure never see him more And whiles they take care least they shall leese doe leese it indeede For what is it else when they hide it in the ground taking it both from their owne vse and perchance from all other mens also And yet thou when thou hast hid thy treasure as one out of all care hopest for joy The which treasure if it should chance to bee stollen and thou ignorant of the theft shouldest dye tenne yeares after all that ten yeares thoâ— liuedst after thy money was stollen what matter was it to thee whether it had beene taken away or else safe as thou leftest it Truly both wayes like profit came to thee To these so foolish pleasures they joyne Dicers whose madnesse they know by heare-say and not by use Hunters also Hawkers For what pleasure is there say they in casting the Dice upon a table Which thou hast done so often that if there were any pleasure in it yet the oft use might make thee weary thereof Or what delight can there be and not rather displeasure in hearing the barking howling of dogs Or what greater pleasure is there to be felt when a Dog followeth an Hare then when a Dog followeth a dogge For one thing is done in both that is to say running if thou hast pleasure therein But if the hope of
is lead in continuall hunger thirst itching eating drinking scratching and rubbing The which life how not onely foule and unhonest but also how miserable and wretched it is who perceiveth not These doubtlesse be the basest pleasures of all as unpure and unperfect For they never come but accompanied with their contrary griefes As with the pleasure of eating iâ— joyned hunger and that after no very equall sort For of these two the griefe is both the more vehement and also of longer continuance For it beginneth before the pleasure and endeth not untill the pleasure die with it Wherefore such pleasures they thinke not greatly to be set by but in that they be necessary Howbeit they have delight also in these and thankfully knowledge the tender love of mother Nature which with most pleasant delectation allureth her children to that to the necessary vse whereof they must from time to time continually be forced and driven For how wretched and miserable should our life be if these daily griefes of hunger and thirst could not be driven away but with bitter potions and sowre medicines as the other diseases be wherewith we be seldomer troubled But beauty strength nimblenesse these as peculiar and pleasant gifts of nature they make much off But those pleasures that be receiued by the eares the eyes and the nose which nature willeth to be proper and peculiar to man for no other living creature doth behold the fairenesse the beauty of the world or is moved with any respect of savors but only for diversity of meats neither perceveth the concordant discordant distances of sounds and tunes these pleasures I say they accept and allow as certaine pleasant rejoycings of life But in all things this cautell they vse that a lesse pleasure hinder not a bigger and that the pleasure be no cause of displeasure which they thinke to follow of necessity if the pleasure be unhonest But yet to despise the comelinesse of beauty to wast the bodily strength to turne nimblenesse unto â—loathishnesse to consume and make feeble the body with fasting to doe injury to health and to reject the pleasant motions of nature unlesse a man neglect these commodities whiles he doth with a fervent zeale procure the wealth of others or the common profit for the which pleasure forborne he is in hope of a greater pleasure at Gods hand else for a vaine shadow of vertue for the wealth and profit of no man to punish himselfe or to the intent he may be able couragiously to suffer adversity which perchance shall never come to him this to doe they thinke it a point of extreame madnesse and a token of a man cruelly minded towards himselfe and unkind towards nature as one so disdaining to be in her danger that he renounceth and refuseth all her benefits This is their sentence and opinion of vertue and pleasure And they beleeve that by mans reason none can be found truer then this unlesse any godlier be inspired into man from heaven Wherein whether they beleeve well or no neither the time doth suffer us to discusse neither it is now necessary For we have taken vpon vs to shew and declare their lores and ordinancies and not to defend them But this thing I beleeve verily howsoever these decrees be that there is in no place of the world neither a more excellent people neither a more flourishing Common-wealth They be light and quicke of body full of activity and nimblenesse and of more strength then a man would judge them by their stature which for al that is not too low And though their soyle be not very fruitfull nor their ayre very wholesome yet against the ayre they so defend them with temperate diet and so order and husband their ground with diligent travaile thâ—â—â—â— no Countrey is greater increase and plenty of Corne and Cattle nor mens bodies of longer life and subject or apt to fewer diseases There therefore a man may see well and diligently exploited and furnished not onely those things which husbandmen doe commonly in other Countries as by craft and cunning to remedy the barrennesse of the ground but also a whole Wood by the hands of the people plucked vp by the rootes in one place and set againe in another place Wherein was had regard and consideration not of plenty but of commodious carriage that wood and timber might be nigher to the Sea or the Rivers or the Cities For it is lesse labour and businesse to carry graine farre by land then wood The people be gentle merry quicke and fine witteâ— delighting in quietnesse and when need requireth able to abide and suffer much bodily labour Else they be not greatly desirous and fond of itâ— but in the exercise and study of the mind they be never weary When they had heard me speake of the Greeke literature or learning for in Latine there was nothing that I thought they would greatly allow besides Histories and Poets they made wonderfull earnest and importunate sute unto me that I would reach and instruct them in that tongue and learning I began therefore to read unto them at the first truly more because I would not seeme to refuse the labour then that I hoped that they would any thing profit therein But when I had gone forward a little I perceived incontinent by their diligence that my labour should not be bestowed in vaine For they began so easily to fashion their letters so plainly to pronounce the words so quickly to learne by heart and so surely to rehearse the â—ame that I mervâ—â—le at it saving that the most part of them were fine aâ—d choâ—… wits and of ripe age picked out of the company of the learned men which not onely of their owne free and voluntary will but also by the commandement of the Councell undertooke to learne this language Therefore in lesse then three yeares space there was nothing in the Greeke tongue that they lacked They were able to read good Authors without any stay if the booke were not false This kind of learning as I suppose they tooke so much the sooner because it is somewhat alliant to them For I thinke that this Nation tooke their beginning of the Greekes because their speech which in all other points is not much unlike the Per sian tongue keeping divers sigâ—es and token of the Greeke language in the names of their Cities and of their Magistrates They have of me for when I was determined to enter into my fourth voyage I cast into â—he Ship in the stead of merchandise a prety farâ—le of bookes because I intended to come againe rather never then shortly they have I say of me the most part of Platoes workes more of Aristotles also Theophrastus of plants but in divers places which I am sory for vnperfect For whiles they were a Ship-boord a Marmoset chanced vpon the booke as it was negligently laid by which wantonly playing therewith plucked out certaine leaves and tore
consisteth of â—â—â—â—lie the fâ—â—â—lies most coâ—â—oâ—ly be made of kiâ—â—â—d For the women when they be married â—â— a lâ—â—full â—ge they goe into their husbâ—â—ds house But the male Children with all the whole 〈…〉 off-spring 〈…〉 still in their 〈…〉 fiâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 be governed of the 〈…〉 he dote for age for then the next to him in age is placed in his roome But to the intent the prescript number of the citizens should neither decrease nor aboue measure increase it is ordained that no family which in every City be sixe thousand in the whole besides them of the Countrey shall at once haue â—ewer children of the age of fourteene yeares or thereabout then ten or more then sixteene for of children under this age no number can be prescribed or appointed This measure or number is easily observed and kept by putting them that in fuller families be above the number into families of smaller increase But if chance be that in the whole Citty the store increase above the just number wherewith they fill vp the lacke of other Cities But if so be that the multitude throughout the whole Iland passe and exceed the due number then they choose out of every City certaine Citizens and build up a Towne under their owne lawes in the next Land where the inhabitauts have much waste and unoccupied ground receiving also of the same Countrey people to them if they will joyne and dwell with them They thus joyning and dwelling together doe easily agree in one fashion of living and that to the great wealth of both the peoples For they so bring the matter about by their Lawes that the ground which before was neither good nor profitable for the one nor for the other is now sufficient and fruitfull enough for them both But if the inhabitants of the land will not dwell with them to be ordered by their lawes then they drive them out of those bounds which they have limited and appointed out for themselves And if they resist and rebell then they make warre against them For they count this the most just cause of warre when any people holdeth a piece of ground voyd and vacant to no good nor profitable use keeping other from the use and possession of it which notwithstanding by the law of Nature ought thereof to be nourished and relieved If any chance doe so much diminish the number of any of their Cities that it cannot bee filled up againe without the diminishing of the just number of the other Cities which they say chanced but twice since the beginning of the Land through a great pestilent Plague then they fulfill and make up the number with Citizen fetâ—hed out of their owne forraigne Townes for they had rather suffer their forraigne townes to decay and perish then any City of their owne Iâ—and to be diminished But now againe to the conversation of the Citizens among themselves hands of their Bondmen for they permit not their free Citizens to accustome themselves to the killing of beasts through the use whereof they thinke clemencie the gentlest affection of our nature by little and little to decay and perish Neither they suffer any thing that is filthy loathsome or uncleanly to be brought into the City left the ayre by stench thereof infected and corrupt should cause Pestilent diseaseâ— Moreover every Street hath certaine great large hals set in equall distance one from another every one knowne by a â—â—verall name In these hals dwell the Syphogrants And to every one of the same halles be appointed thirty families on either side fifteene The stewards of every hall at a certaine houre come into the meat markets where they receiue meate according to the number of their hals But first and chiefely of all respect is had to the sicke that be cured in the hospitals For in the circuit of the City a little without the walls they have foure Hospitals so big so wide so ample and so large that they may seeme foure little Townes which were devised of that bignesse partly to the intent the sick be they never so many in number should not lye too throng or strait and therefore uneasily and incommodiously and partly that they which were taken and holden with contagious diseases such as be wont by infection to creepe from one to another might be laid a farre from the company of the residue These Hospitals be so well appointed and with all things necessary to health so furnished and moreover so diligent attendance through the continuall presence of cunning Physitians is given that though no man be sent tâ—â—ther against his will yet notwithstanding there is no sicke person in all the City that had not rather lye there then at home at his owne house When the steward of the sicke hath received such meates as the Physitians haue prescribed then the best is equally divided among the halls according to the company of every one saving there is had a respect to the Prince the Bishop the Tranibores and to Ambassadours and all strangers if there be any which be very few and seldome But they also when they be there have certaine severall houses appointed and prepared for them To these halls at the set houres of dinner and supper commeth all the whole Syphograntie or Ward warned by the noise of a brazen Trumpet except such as be sicke in the Hospitals or else in their owne houses Howbeit no man is prohibited or forbid or after the halls be served to fetch home meate out of the Market to his owne house for they know that no man will doe it without a cause reasonable For though no man be prohibited to dine at home yet no man doth it willingly because it is counted a point of small honesty And also it were a folly to take the paine to dresse a bad dinner at home when they may be welcome to good and fine fare so nigh hand at the hall In this hall all vile service and all slavery with all laboursome toyle and drudgery and base businesse is done by bondmen But the women of every family by course have the office and charge of cookery for seething and dressing the meate and ordering all things thereto belonging They sit at three tables or more according to the number of their company The men sit vpon the Beuch next the wall and the women against them on the other side of the table and if any sudden evill should chance to them as many times happeneth to women with child they may rise without trouble or disturbance of any body and goe thence into the nursery The Nurses sit seyerall alone with their young sucklings in a certaine parlour appointed and deputed to the same purpose never without fire and cleane water nor yet without cradles that when they will they may lay downe the young Infants and at their pleasure take them out of their swathing cloathes and hold them to the fire and refresh them with play
equall to our old and ancient Clarkes so our â—ew 〈…〉 in subtill inventioâ—… have farre passed and gone beyond them For they have not devised one of all those rules of restrictions amplifications very wittily invented in the small Logicals which heere our Children in every place doe learne Furthermore they were never yet able to finde out the second inventions Insomuch thaâ— none of them could ever see man himselfe in common as they call him though he be as you know bigger then ever was any Giant yeâ— and pointed to of us even with our finger But they be in the course of the Starres and the movingâ— of the heavenly â—pâ—â—ares very expert and â—…ng They have also 〈◊〉 exâ—ogitated and devised Instruments of divers 〈…〉 wherein is exactly comprehended and contaâ—â—ed the movingâ— and 〈…〉 or the Sunne the Moone and of all the other Starres which appeare in 〈…〉 Horizon But 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 and dâ—… of 〈…〉 Planets and all that deceitfull divination of the Starres they never as much as dreamed thereof Raines windes and other courses of tempests they know before by certaine tokens which they have learned by long use and observation But of the causes of all these things and of the â—â—bbing and flowing and saltâ—â—â—â—ie of the Sea and finally of the originall beginning and naâ—â—â—e oâ— heaven and of the world they â—â—lâ— parâ—ly the sâ—me opinious that our old Philosophers hold and partly as our Philosophers vary among themselves so they also whâ—les they bring new reasons of things doe disagree from all them and yet among themselves in all points they doe not accord In that Philosophy which which intreateth of manners and vertue theâ—â— reasons and opinions â—gree with our They dispure of the good qualities of the Soule of the body and of fortune And whether the name of goodnesse may be â—pplied to all these or onely to the endowments and guirt of the soule They reason of vertue and pleasure But the chiefe and principall question is iâ— what thing be it one or more the felicity oâ— man consisteth But in this point they seeme almost too much given and inclined to 〈…〉 opinion of them which deâ—end pleasure wherein they determine either all or the chiefest part of mans felicity to reâ—t And which is mâ—â—â— to be â—â—â—vâ—â—â—ed at the defence of this so dâ—…y and 〈…〉 an opinion they fetch even from their graâ—e sharpe bitter and â—â—gorous religion For they never dispute of felicity or blessednesse but they joyne unto the reasons of Philosophy certaine principles taken out of religion without the which to the investigation of true fâ—… thâ—y thinke reason of it selfe weake and unperfect Those principles be these and such like That the soule is immortall and by the bountifull goodnesse of GOD ordained to felicity That to our vertues and good deeds rewards be appointed after this life and to our evill deeds punishments Though these be pertaining to religion yet they thinke it meet that they should be beleeved and granted by proves of reason But â—â— these principles were condemned and disanulled then without any delay they pronounce no man to be so foolish which would not doe â—ll his diligence and endevor to obtaine pleasure be it right or wrong only avoiding this inconvenience that the lesse pleasure should not be a let or hinderance to the bigger or that he laboured not for that pleasure which would bring after it displeasure griefe and sorrow For they judge it extreame madnesse to follow sharpe and painfull vertue and not onely to banish the pleasure of life but also willingly to suffer griefe without any hope of profit thereof ensuing For what profit can there be if a man when he hath paâ—â—ed over all his life unpleasantly that is to say miserably shall have no reward after his death But â—ow sir they thinke not felicity to rest in all pleasure but onely in that pleasure that is good and honest and that hereto as to perfect blessednesse our nature is allured and drawne even of vertue whereto onely they that be of the contrary opinion doe attribute felicity For they deâ—â—ne vertue to be life ordered according to Nature and that we be hereunto ordained of God And that he dâ—th follow the couâ—â—e of nature which in desiâ—ing and refusing thingâ— is ruled by reason Furthermore the reason 〈…〉 and prinâ—… the loâ—â— â—â—d veneration of the divine Mâ—â—â—ty Or whose goodnesse it is â—â—at we be and that wee be â—n possibility to attaine felicity And that secondaâ—â—ly it both stirâ—â—th and provoketh us to lead â—ur life out of câ—re in joy and â—…h and also moveth us to 〈…〉 and further all other in reâ—pâ—â—â— of the society of nature to 〈…〉 and eâ—joy the same For 〈…〉 â—ever man so earnest 〈…〉 â—â—lloâ—er of veâ—…e 〈…〉 pleasuâ—â— that would sâ— enjoyne your labours watchings and fastings but hee would also exhort you to â—aâ—e â—gâ—…n reâ—â—eve to your power the lâ—â—ke and misery of others prâ—isâ—â—g the same aâ—â— deed of humanity and pitty Then iâ— it be a point of humanity for man to â—â—ing health and comfort to man and specially which is a vertue most peculiarly belonging to man to â—â—itigâ—te and assâ—â—ge the griefe of others and by taking from them the sorrow and heavinesse of life to restore them to joy that is to say to pleasure which may it not then be said that nature doth provoke every man to doe the same to himselfe For a joyfull life that is to say a pleasant life is either evill and if it be so then thou shouldest not onely helpe no man thereto but rather as much as in thee lyeth withdraw all men from it as noysome and hurtfull or else if thou not onely must but also of duty art bound to procure it to others why not chiefly to thy selfe To whom thou art bound to shew as much favour and gentlenesse as to other For when nature biddeth thee to be good and gentle to other she commandeth thee not to be cruell and ungentle to thy selfe Therefore even very nature say they prescribeth vs to a joyfull life that is to say pleasure as the end of all our operations And they define vertue to be life ordered according to the prescript of nature But in that that nature doth all are and provoke men one to helpe another to live merrily which surely she doth not without a good cause for no man is farre above the lot of mans state or condition that nature doth carke and care for him onely which equally favoureth all that he comprehended vnder the communion of one shape forme and fashion verily she commandeth them to vse diligent circumspection that thou doe not seeke for thine owne commodities that thou procure others incommodities Wherefore their opinion is that not onely covenants and bargaines made among private men ought to be well and faithfully followed observed and kept but also common lawes which either a
slaughter and the expectation of tearing in peeces the Beast doth please thee thou shouldest rather be moved with pitty to see a silly innocent Hare murdered of a dogge the weake of the stronger the fearefull of the fierce the innocent of the cruell and unmercifull Therefore all this exercise of hunting as a thing unworthy to be vsed of Freemen the Vtopians have rejected to their butchers to the which craft as we said before they appoint their bondmen For they count hunting the lowest the vilest and most abject part of butchery and the other parts of it more profitable and more honest as bringing much more commodity in that they kill Beasts onely for necessity Whereas the hunter secketh nothing but pleasure of the silly and wofull beasts slaughter and murder The which pleasure in beholding death they thinke doth rise in the very Beasts either of a cruell affection or mind or else to be changed in continuance of time into cruelty by long vse of so cruell a pleasure These therefore and all such like which be innumerable though the common sort of people doth take them for pleasures yet they seeing there is no naturall pleasantnesse in them doe plainly determine them to haue no affinity with true and right pleasure For as touching that they doe commonly moue the sence with delectation which seemeth to be a worke of pleasure this doth nothing diminish their opinion For not the nature of the thing but their perverse and lewd custome is the cause hereof Which causeth them to accept bitter or sower things for sweet things Even as women with child in their viciaâ— and corrupt tast thinke pitch and â—allow sweeter then honey Howbeit no mans judgement depraved and corrupt eyther by sicknesse or by custome can change the nature of pleasure more then it can doe the nature of other things They make divers kâ—nds of pleasures For some they attribute to the Soule and some to the body To the soule they give intelligence and that delication that commeth of the contemplation of truth Hereâ—nto is joyned the pleasant remembrance of the good life past The pleasure of the body they divide into two parts The first is when delectation is sensible felt and perceived which many times chanceth by the renuing and refreshing of those parts which our naturall heate dryeth up This commeth by meate and drinke And sometimes whiles those things be expulsed and voyded whereof is in the body over great abundance This pleasure is felt when we doe our naturall â—asement or when we be doing the act of generation or when the itching of any part is eased with rubbing or scratching Sometimes pleasure riseth exhibiting to any member nothing that it desireth nor taking from it any paine that it feeleth which neverthelesse tickleth and moveth our sences with a certaine secret efficacie but with a manifest motion turneth them to it As is that which commeth of Musicke The second part of bodily pleasure they say is that which consisteth and resteth in the quiet and upright state of the body And that truly is every mans owne proper health intermingled and disturbed with no griefe For this if they be not letted nor assaulted with no griefe is delectable of it selfe though it be moved with no externall or outward pleasure For though it be not so plaine and manifest to the sence as the greedy lust of eating drinking yet neverthelesse many take it for the chiefest pleasure All the Vtopians grant it to be a right soveraigne pleasure and as you would say the foundation and ground of all pleasures as which even alone is able to make the state and condition of life delectable and pleasant And it being once taken away there is no place left for any pleasure For to be without griefe not having health that they call unsensibility and not pleasure The Vtopians have long agoâ— rejected and condemned â—he opinion of them which said that stedfast and quiet health for this question also hath beene diligently debated among them ought not therefore to be counted a pleasure because they say it cannot be presently and sensibly perceived and felt by some outward motion But of the contrary part now they agree almost all in this that health is a most soveraigne pleasure For seeing that in sicknesse say they is griefe which is a mortall enemy to pleasure even as sicknesse is to health why should not then pleasure be in the quietnes of health For they say it maketh nothing to this matter whether you say that sicknesse is a griefe or that in sicknesse is griefe for all commeth to one purpose For whether health be a pleasure it selfe or a necessary cause of pleasure as fire is of heat truly both wayes it followeth that they cannot be without pleasure that be in perfect health Furthermore whiles we eate say they then health which began to be appaired fighteth by the helpe of food against hunger In the which fight whiles health by little and little getteth the vpper hand that same proceeding and as we would say that onwardnesse to the wonted strength ministreth that pleasure whereby we be so refreshed Health therefore which in the conflict is joyfull shall it not be merry when it hath gotten the victory But as soone as it hath recovered the pristinate strength which thing only in all the sight it coveted shall it incontinent be astonied Nor shall it not know nor imbrace the owne wealth and goodnesse For where it is said health cannot be felt this they thinke is nothing true For what man walking say they feeleth not himselfe in health but he that is not Is there any man so possessed with stonish â—nsensibility or with lethargie that is to say the sleeping sicknesse that he will not grant health to be acceptable to him and delectable But what other things is delectation then that which by another name is called pleasure a They imbrace chiefly the pleasures of the mind For them they count the chiefest and most principall of all The chiefe part of them they thinke doth come of the exercise of vertue and conscience of good life Of these pleasures that the body ministreth they give the preheminence to health For the delight of eating and drinking and whatsoever hath any like pleasantnesse they determine to be pleasures much to be desired but no otherwayes then for healths sake For such things of their owne proper nature be not so pleasant but in that they resist sicknesse privily stealing on Therefore like as it is a wisemans part rather to avoid sicknesse then to wish for medicines and rather to drive away and put to flight carefull griefes then to call for comfort so it is much better not to need this kind of pleasure then thereby to be eased of the contrary griefe The which kind of pleasure if any man take for his felicity that man must needs grant that then he shall be in most felicity if he live that life which
Priests the Counsell haue allowed the cause of his death him as vnworthy either to be buried or with fire to be consumed they cast vâ—buried into some stinking marrish The woman is not married before she be eighteene yeares old The man is foure yeares elder before he marry If eyther the man or the woman be proued to haue actually offended before their mariage with another the party that so hath trespassed is sharpely punished And both the offenders be forbidden ever after in all their life to marry vnlesse the fault be forgiven by the Princes pardon Both the good man and good wife of the house where that offence was committed as being slacke and negligent in looking to their charge be in danger of great reproach and infamy That offence is so sharpely punished because they perceiue that vnlesse they be diligently kept from the liberty of this vice few will joyne together in the loue of marriage wherein all the life must be led with one and also all the griefes and displeasures coÌ„ming therewith patiently be taken and born Furthermore in choosing wiues and husbands they obserue earnestly and straightly a custome which seemed to us very fond and foolish For a sad and honest patron sheweth the woman be she Maid or widdow naked to the wooer And likewise a sage and discreet man exhibiteth the wooer naked to the woman At this custome we laughed and disallowed it as foolish But they on the other part doe greatly wonder at the folly of all other Nations which in buying a Colt whereas a little money is in hazard be so chary and circumspect that though he be almost all bare yet they will not buy him unlesse the saddle and all the harnesse be taken off least under those coverings be hid some gall or sore And yet in chusing a Wife which shall be either pleasure or displeasure to them all their life after they be so rechlesse that all the residue of the womans body being eovered with cloathes they esteeme her scarcely by one hand breadth for they can see no more but her face and so to joyne her to them not without great jeopardy of evill agreeing together if any thing in her body after ward should chance to offend and mislike them For all men be not so wise as to have respect to the vertuous condition of the party And the endowments of the body cause the vertues of the mind more to be esteemed and regarded yea even the marriages of wise men Verily so foule deformity may be hid under those coverings that it may quite alienate and take away the mans mind from his wife when it shall not be lawfull for their bodies to be separate againe If such deformity happen by any chance after the Marriage is consummate and finished well therein no remedy but patience Every man must take his fortune well in worth But it were well done that a law were made wherby all such deceits might be eschewed and avoided before hand And this were they constrained more earnestly to looke vpon because they onely of the nations in that part of the world be content every man with one wife a piece And matrimony is there never broken but by death except adultery breake the bond or else the intollerable wayward manners of either party For if eyther of them find themselves for any such cause grieved they may by the licence of the Counsell change and take another But the other party liveth ever after in infamy and out of wedlocke Howbeit the husband to put away his wife for no other fault but for that some mishap is fallen to her body this by no meanes they will suffer for they judge it a great point of cruelty that any body in their most need of helpe and comfort should be cast off and forsaken and that old age which both bringeth sicknesse with it and is a sicknesse it selfe should unkindly and unfaithfully be delt withall But now and then it chanceth wheras the man and woman cannot well agree betweene themselves both of them finding other with whom they hope to live more quietly and merrily that they by the full consent of them both be divorsed asunder and married againe to other But that not without the authority of the Councell Which agreeth to no divorses before they and their wives have diligently tryed and examined the matter Yea and then also they be loath to consent to it because they know this to be the next way to breake love betweene man and wife to be in easie hope of a new marriage Breakers of wedlocke be punished with most grievous bondage And if both the offendors were married then the parties which in that behalfe have suffered wrong being divorced from the adulterers be married together if they will or else to whom they lust But if either of them both doe still continue in love toward so unkind a bed-fellow the vse of wedlock is not to them forbidden if the party faultlesse be disposed to follow in toyling and drudgery â—he person which for that offence is condemned to bondage And very oft it chanceth that the repentance of the one and the earnest diligence of the other doth so moue the Prince with pitty and compassion that he restoreth the bond person from seruitude to liberty and freedome againe But if the same party be taken eâ—â—soones in that fault there is no other way but death To other trespasses no prescript punishment is appointed by any law But according to the hainousnesse of the offence or contrary so the punishment is moderated by the discretion of the Councell The husbands chastice their wives and the parents their children unlesse they have done any so horrible an offence that the open punishment thereof maketh much for the advancement of honest manners But most commonly the most hainous faults be punished with the incommodity of bondage For that they suppose to be to the offendors no leâ—se griefe and to the Common-wealth more profit then if they should hastily put them to death and so make them quite out of the way For their commeth more profit of their labour theÌ„ of their death and by their example they feare other the longer from like offences But if they being thus vsed doâ— rebell and kicke againe then forsooth they be â—laine as desperate and wild beasts whom neither prison nor chaine could restraine and keepe vnder But they which take their bondage patiently be not left al hopelesse For after they haue beene broken and tamed with long miseries if then they shew such repentance as thereby it may be perceived that they be â—orier for their offence then for their punishment sometimes by the Princes prerogatiue and sometimes by the voice or else consent of the people their bondage either is mâ—ttigated or cleane released and forgiven He that mooveth to adultery is in no lesse danger and jeopardy then if he had committed adultery in deed For in all offences they