one the same vice and there is no such punishment for a foole as to let his words passe without making any reckoning of them which thorough your silence remayne condemned as impertinent and he loseth the pleasure thinking to anger you Likewise you ought to be aduised in your iesting For you see that men eschew the cōpanie of those who make profession to scoffe at others there can be no certaine friendship with him who spareth no man Caius Ceaser the Emperour was by nature a great scoffer he had in his army a Tribune named Cheria who spake somewhat smal much like vnto a womā by reason whereof there was no great accompt made of him When hee demaunded the watch-word hee lightly gaue him some foule word to mock him with which disgrace he was so highlie offended that afterwards amōgst those who murdered him he stroke of halfe his head at a blowe so that he whom he deemed lesse thē a man shewed most māhood to take him from amongst men To vse such iesting sheweth greate want of discretion and not to be able to endure them want of courage SOCRATES hearing men scoffe at him before his face smiled thereat not shewing any kinde of anger It is reported of him and of Lelius that they had such quietnes of minde that they were neuer seene to change countenance Moreouer you ought allwaies to auoid iarres and brawlings for it distempereth a man very much and changeth his condicions Be temperate in your speach and let your wordes bee such that they doe carye waight and authoritie with them and accustome your selfe to passe many thinges in scilence Be not deceiued with the commō sort who call them free that canne indure nothinge True libertie in a man is to liue as hee ought which he cannot doe who hath his minde framed to set lighte by these vanities and daintines wherewith some are moued shaken Doe you rather get the vpper hande in contemning them For it is not a signe that a man is in health when as he cryeth out so often as he is touched The 17. Discourse Of Pouertie Whosoeuer doth make that account of life death which he oughte neede not feare that pouertie shoulde afflicte him nor take away his rest For it were farre vnfit for him that contemneth death to let him selfe be ouercome by pouertie which the cōmon sort feeleth aboue other miseries and whereof it moste complaineth and in most bitter manner being not able to attaine to that sufficiencie of wealth to entertaine them gaiely nor to content themselues with necessarie meanes for the maintenance of their life esteeming abundance of riches the soueraigne good of man pouerty the chiefest miserie of man Howbeit notwithstanding is it not better to enioy any thing at all then to loose it whē we haue gotten it Nowe it is impossible in this life but we should loose sith that one cānot abound in wealth but many others must liue in want and no man be an inheritour without the death of another As pouertie is not subiect to receiue great losses so is it not accompanied with such great cares If anye thinke that they that are rich haue a stouter courage to beare their losse then others they deceiue themselues For the griefe of a wounde is as painefull to a great bodye as to a little Nay wee commonly see that men of greatest stature are more tender then others The Philosopher BION was wont to say that you put him to as much paine that hath store of haire yf you pluck one from him as you do another that hath almost none on his head the onely difference is this that hee that is boulde hath lesse cause to complaine This is the reason that for the moste part you see poore men Ioconde and merrie because they haue not such cares and doe lesse feare a storme then ritch men Pouertie is a kingdome and a great Lordshippe which is in suertie against all the worlde standeth in feare of nothing And of it selfe is able to defend it selfe against all her enemies Tell mee I praie thee thou that seekest so much after this worldly substance yf since the possession thereof thou hast enioyed more quiet rest or gotten greater wisedome or lyued more at hartes ease The verye heathens haue taught vs howe much pouertie is to be esteemed when they imagined the Gods were naked atributing all things vnto them they thought they stoode in neede of As for mee I will neuer counte him poore whoe is out of the power of fortune This is onely suffitient to teach vs what pouerite is that no man speaketh of it that doth not cōmend it and do affirme that the wisest men haue borne it with greatest contentment It is a greate weakenes and tendernes in vs not to be able to suffer that which others haue endured and a great feare we haue to leaue this worlde For if wee desire to be accompted menne we woulde loue that in our selues which wee do allowe in others And therefore albeit that our imbecillitie and faintnes cannot wholly beare it or at the leaste wee ought to limit our affections and guard our selues in such sort that fortune may haue lesse aduantage to offend vs. For a little bodye well couered vnder a buckler is more assured then one of great stature who lyeth discouered and subiect to many blowes If it were not that my purpose is to spare time and paper I could inlarge my discourse by the recitall of many examples aswell of Pagans as of Christians whoe haue sought felicitie in a poore kinde of life But the consideration of one for all shall suffice and that is that Iesus Christ being Lord ouer all the world was poore his disciples whoe possessed all were poore the Saincts who might haue enioyed great wealth were poore If you were not borne to dye I would counsell you to loue ritches but I see That they to whome all thinges doe fall out most prosperously doe sooner bring their life to an end then their couetousnesse Wherefore do you labour so much for a thing that you must leaue And why do not you rather quietly content your selfe with that which is necessary sufficient knowing that the best sort of riches is neither to be too poore nor too far from pouertie 18. Discourse Of death IT seemeth that all crosses maye bee borne either by vse or by sound discourse but death and the apprenension therof is that which is most terrible The remedie and true salue thereof is that you this account that nothing in this world is your own neither wealth nor landes no nor your life which you hould as borrowed and are as tennant at will being that of force you must leaue it whensoeuer the Landeslord shall demaunde it of you Notwithstanding you ought not to neglect it as a thinge you haue no charge of but rather with so much the more care haue regard vnto it because you were put in trust therwith restore it
not Some man hath greate credite this other much wealth some one an obedient wife an other faithfull freendes ANTIPATER of Tharsis accounted this amongest other his good Fortunes that hee had made a prosperous nauigation from Sicilia to Athens and wee couet all hauing not the witte to thanke God for that we possesse not making any reckoning of the greatest riches because they seeme to be cōmon to wit to liue to enioy our health to haue our sight to liue in peace to eate to drinke to behold the earth bring forth hir encrease the Sea to be nauigable that wee haue power to speake to be silent to sit to stād to sleepe to wake If men did imagin what a discontentment it is to be depriued of such benefits we should liue farre more contented then we doe What would not a sicke man giue for the recouerie of his health A blind man to enioye his sight those who are basely accompted of for credit and renowne So wretched are wee that wee neuer knowe what accompt to make of the benefitts we enioye vntill we be depriued of them For a conclusion let vs learne this lesson not to set our loue vppon the thinges in this world so much that the feare of the losse of them do disquiet vs or the losse it selfe cast vs into dispaire The 13. Discourse Of Sorrow AS aduersitie is eyther small or great so doth it cause vs to greeue wherein likewise there is some Faulte For we see nowe that menne haue gotten an vse to bewayle many thinges for no other cause but that the custome is such Some man mourneth by reason of some accidents happened to his neighbour and chaungeth his countenance to showe that hee is verie sorrowfull therefore whereas indeede there is no such matter This kindnesse is vnprofitable seeing that in your owne miserie you ought to greeue no more then reason requireth and not asmuch as custome willeth How many are there who shed teares when menne behoulde them and thinke it should be out of fashion yf they did not weepe when others doe Into how many incumbrances doth it cause menne to run into to leane vppon Opinion It should be far better in such matters to inuent some new waye and to apprehende such accidents as menne of wysedome vnderstanding What do their lamentacions auaile eyther those that are dead or such as are alyue sith that no other benefite ariseth or proceadeth thereof then wretchedlie without any profite to bringe a man into a consumption Albeit that for certaine sometimes there happeneth such crosses and mischaunces that it is impossible for any man to forbeare from sorow and yet we oughte herein to lament with reason And seeing that time ought in the end to bring a remedie therefore it were meere simplicytie not with wisdome to preuent it and to doe that which by tracte of time we should be constrayned vnto whether we will or noe How many are there who after the death of their children or of their wiues haue eaten and been mery and taken their recreation deeming the tyme lost which they had vainly imployed in sorow and in mourning For albeit it semeth that such persons are worthy to be called to remēbrance or as I may better say that others folly may be reuiued by them yet notwithstanding you ought to applie that remedie thereunto which will come of it selfe though you should resist it 14. Discourse Of the affliction of good men IT is no small cause to such as are of a liuely spirite and to such as are touched with any humanitie to be greeued when they see honest men receaue wrong And surely it seemeth to be euen a very hart-bursting and more then our nature will beare to see wise men that liue quietly to bee afflicted troaden vnder foote and ouerborne and to consider how ill the world doth handell them This may seeme somewhat to touch vs because in our opinion it restraineth our hope seeing that the porcion of honest men is nought els commonly but affliction Wherefore if any such mater doth trouble you as it doth commonlye imagine this that if they are honest men and patient they are so much the more happie For so much as in steed of the paine whiche they endure in this life which is so short they shal be rewarded eternallie For amongest other infinite contentments that they do enioy which remaine in the house of god one especiall comfort is that they are quit discharged of the temptations and torments of this world Besides this set before you the moste holie persons of the which some haue been beheaded others hanged others burned some fleyed others persecuted with hunger subiect to miserie and affliction which the world surelie was not worthy of and therefore hated them as not belonging vnto it But God loued them and by his diuine prouidence which cannot be deceiued intended that they should passe by such tribulations yea and that the paines which they suffer might further pricke them forwards to forsake this miserable world So that in the end they remoue out of this prison they escape this dungeon and with a short apprehension of death they enter into a way which leadeth into a better life The 15. Discourse Of other mens faults AFter you haue setled your selfe appeased your own passions the offences of other men and such faultes as are cōmitted in publique will torment your minde considering the disorder that is amongst vs which is such that nothing remaineth in the place where it ought neither doth any man do his dutie which he is borne to execute He which ought to be a good Iudge is a simple Citizen and he which ought to be a good Citizen is a simple Iudge and we see that he which ought to obey doth commaund It is a strange thinge to see howe all things are corrupted and sould and how all things are tossed topsy turuey how the poore is chastised for a smal fault how the law spareth rich mighty men and now all the practise of mankind is nothing but to get money and how few examples occasions of liuing well those whiche beare charg and hould the chiefest places doe shew A vertuous man is held as a monster hated and abhorred What shoulde a man saie to behould that whiche the people affecteth that which it desireth that which it reiecteth and that which it contemneth what an alteration is this in this world what wretchednesse that wee make no accompt of that which we ought to heare and disdayne that we should not so much as listen vnto The greate griefe that diuers and sundrye persons haue taken at such matters hath caused them for to sequester themselues from the worlde and to liue in deserts and solitary places not beinge in any sort able to behold that which bringeth such sorow vnto them but desiring rather to lyue amongest the rockes with wilde beastes then amongest men fraught with such vices Notwithstanding both in this and in
without murmuring with a cheerefull countenance yeilding thankes to god for the time that hee hath lent it you saying O Lord I render my soule vnto thee with a free hart yea and with a better will then I receiued it For when you gaue mee life you bestowed it one a silly creature who was altogether ignorant of the good hee receiued and nowe you take it from one who knoweth what hee putteth into your handes which hee yeildeth vp with a free will And surely euerie one ought to thinke that it is no hard matter to returne from the place from whence we come And hee hath not learned to liue well whoe knoweth not how to die Wee ought to beare the like affection to our selues as wee do to those that fight a set combatt For wee hate him that playes the cowarde and do fauour him whoe with a stoute courage hadd rather dye then bee conquered Oftentimes the feare of death is cause of his end that flieth away Moreouer you know that you receiued your life vpō this cōditiō that ye must die Bee not then so vniust to seeke to enioye that for euer which was geuen you but for a certaine time Clayming title to that which only you were put in trust withall Besides wee say that the feare and apprehension of death is a wonderfull thing and the extremitie of all terror Assure you this fault doth not proceede of death but of our imbecillitie who are taken and stayed in the pleasures and desier of this life and do loue this miserable body of ours aboue measure And if you doe thoroughlie consider the matter it is not death that is terrible vnto vs but the conceite wee haue therof For euerie one feareth it according to the opinion hee hath thereof and according to his conscience Now if this onely bee the cause that you feare it charge your selfe with the fault and not death like vnto bad husbandes who are loath to come to a reckoning for the distrust of their owne doings To saie that you feare it imagyning that it is the last end of man you haue no reason For our soule remaineth alwaies which liueth and cannot dye The Grecians called death End geuing vs to vnderstand thereby that it is the last remainder of a miserable life The holy Scripture tearmeth it steepe to assure vs of our certain resurrection that we may not lament as the Gentiles who haue noe hope Consider howe manie holie persons haue desiered it as a remedie against miserie SALOMON IOB the holye scriptures the histories of Saincts are full of the praises and desire of death what vanitie is it for to long after this wretched life this gaile this prison seeing that the longer wee liue the more we sinne and purchase to our selues new paine That we may not feare death as the world doth wee ought to doo two thinges liue well because of a good and christian life maketh euen the remembraunce of death comfortable And to beleeue that that which it pleased God to giue vs as a remedie and ease of our labour is not so badd nor so much to bee feared as we imagyn and we ought to remember that holy men haue abhorred life and loued Death THus haue I effected what you entreated with soe much contentment to my selfe that I knowe not whether of the two weare sharper spurres to set me forwarde in this Course Reason mouing the dutie of friendship and desire the pleasure I tooke therin As I was not long in bringing them foorth soe do I with some haste send them to you so leaue them that I would not hereafter haue them acknowledg me for their father But wish that you might nurse them apparell them bring them vp for from me they haue scarce taken their essence and first being to saye the troth I want milke to nourish them And surely bearing that showe and Councenance they doe those signes of a good minde though they be but little in my opinion they cannot be better then with you who may in shorte tyme with your good indeuours and ercelent spirit bring them vp to more greatenes and perfection adde to their greater Nobillitie Dignitie Fortune Fauour FINIS