and of the Senate best fauoured to whom they committed the charge of the most cruell and dangerous warres For their strife was not to beare rule and to be in office or to get money but to be in the Frontiers to ouercome their enemies In what estimation these foure Frontiers were wee may easily perceyue by that wee see the most noble Romanes haue passed some part of their youth in those places as Captaines vntill such time that for more weighty affaires they were appointed from thence to som other places For at that time there was no word so grieuous and iniurious to a Citizen as to say Goe thou hast neuer beene brought vp in the wars and to proue the same by examples The great Pompey passed the Winter season in Constantinople The aduenturous Scipio in Colonges the couragious Caesar in Gades and the renowmed Marius in Rhodes And these foure were not only in the Frontiers aforesaid in their youth but there they did such valiant acts that the memory of them remaineth euermore after their death These thinges I haue spoken to proue sith wee finde that Marcus Aurelius father was Captain of one of these 4. Frontiers it followeth that he was a man of singular wisdome and prowesse For as Scipio sayd to his friend Masinissa in Affrike It is not possible for a Romane Captaine to want eyther wisdome or courage for thereunto they were predestined at their birth Wee haue no authenticke authorities that sheweth vs frō whence when or how in what countries and with what persons this captaine passed his youth And the cause is for that the Romane Chroniclers were not accustomed to write the things done by their Princes before they were created but onely the acts of yong men which from their youth had their hearts stoutly bent to great aduentures and in my opinion it was well done For it is greater honour to obtaine an Empire by policy and wisdome then to haue it by discent so that there be no tyranny Suetonius Tranquillus in his first booke of Emperours counteth at large the aduenturous enterprises taken in hand by Iulius Caesar in his yong age and how far vnlikely they were from thought that he should euer obtaine the Romane Empire writing this to shew vnto Princes how earnestly Iulius Caesars heart was bent to win the Romane Monarchy and likewise how wisdom fayled him in behauing himselfe therin A Philosopher of Rome wrote to Phalaris the Tirant which was in Cicilia asking him Why hee possessed the realme so long by tyranny Phalaris answered him againe in another Epistle in these few wordes Thou callest mee tyrant because I haue taken this realme and kept it 32. yeares I graunt then quoth hee that I was a tyrant in vsurping it For no man occupyeth another mans right but by reason he is a tyrant But yet I will not agree to be called a Tyrant sith it is now xxxii yeares since I haue possessed it And though I haue atchieued it by tyranny yet I haue gouerned it by wisdome And I let thee to vnderstand that to take another mans goods it is an easie thing to conquere but a hard thing to keepe an easie thing for to keepe them I ensure thee it is very hard The Emperour Marcus Aurelius married the daughter of Antoninus Pius the 16. Emperour of Rome and she was named Faustina who as sole Heyre had the Empire and so through marriage Marcus Aurelius came to be Emperour This Faustine was not so honest and chast as shee was faire and beautifull Shee had by him two sonnes Commodus and Verissimus Marcus Aurelius triumphed twice once when he ouercame the Parthians and another time when hee conquered the Argonants He was a man very well learned and of a deepe vnderstanding Hee was as excellent both in the Greeke and Latine as hee was in his mothers tongue Hee was very temperate in eating and drinking hee wrote many things full of good learning and sweete sentences He dyed in conquering the realme of Pannonia which is now called Hungarie His death was as much bewayled as his life was desired And hee was loued so deare and entirely in the City of Rome that euery Romane had a statue of him in his house to the end the memory of him among them should neuer decay The which was neuer read that they euer did for any other King or Emperour of Rome no not for Augustus Caesar who was best beloued of all other Emperours of Rome Hee gouerned the Empire for the space of eighteene yeere with vpright iustice and died at the age of 63 yeeres with much honor in the yeere Climatericke which is in the 63. years wherein the life of man runneth in great perill For then are accomplished the nine seuens or the seuen nines Aulus Gelius writeth a Chapter of this matter in the booke De noctibus Atticis Marcus Aurelius was a Prince of life most pure of doctrine most profound and of fortune most happy of all other Princes in the world saue only for Faustine his wife and Commodus his sonne And to the end we may see what Marcus Aurelius was from his infancy I haue put here an Epistle of his which is this CHAP. II. Of a letter which Marcus Aurelius sent to his friend Pulio wherein he declareth the order of his whole life and amongst other things he maketh mention of a thing that happened to a Romane Censor with his Host of Campagnia MAreus Aurelius only Emperour of Rome greeteth thee his old friend Pulio wisheth health to thy person peace to the common-wealth As I was in the Temple of the Vestall Virgins a letter of thine was presented vnto me which was written long before and greatly desired of me but the best therof is that thou writing vnto me briefly desirest that I should write vnto thee at large which is vndecent for the authority of him that is chiefe of the Empire in especiall if such one be couetous for to a Prince there is no greater infamy then to be lauish of words and scant of rewards Thou writest to me of the griefe in thy leg and that thy wound is great and truly the paine thereof troubleth me at my heart and I am right sorry that thou wantest that which is necessary for thy health and that good that I do wish thee For in the end all the trauels of this life may be endured so that the body with diseases be not troubled Thou lettest me vnderstand by thy letters that thou art arriued at Rhodes and requirest me to write vnto thee how I liued in that place when I was yong what time I gaue my minde to study and likewise what the discourse of my life was vntill the time of my being Emperor of Rome In this case truly I maruell at thee not a little that thou shouldest aske me such a question and so much the more that thou didst not consider that I cannot with out great trouble and
is also a great trouble and daungerous for a man to practise with new Iudges and to put their matters into their hands who onely were called to the place of a Iudge being thought learned and fitte for it and so brought to rule as a Magistrate For many times these young Iudges and new Physitians although they want not possible knowledge yet they may lacke a great deale of practise experience which is cause that one sort maketh many lose their liues before they doe come to rise in fame the other vndoe many a man in making him spēd all that euer he hath There is yet besides an other apparant daunger to haue to doe with these new and yong experienced iudges for when they come to sit newly in iudgement with their other brethren the Iudges hauing the lawe in their mouth to serue all turnes they doe but onely desire and study to winne fame and reputation amongst men and thereby to bee the better reputed of his brethren And for this cause only when they are assembled together in place of Iustice to giue iudgement of the pleas layde before them they doe not only inlarge themselues in alleadging many and diuers opinions of great learned men and booke cases So that the Hearers of them may rather thinke they haue studyed to shew their eloquence and learning then for to open the decision and iudgement of the cases they haue before them And for finall resolution I say that touching Pleas and Sutes I am of opinion that they should neyther truste the experience of the olde Iudge nor the learning and knowledge of the young But rather I reckon that man wise that seeketh by little and little to grow to an agreement with his aduersarie and that tarieth not many yeares to haue a lingring yea and possibly an vncertaine ende Also I would in some sort exhort the poore Plaintise not to bee ouer-curious to vnderstand the qualities of the iudge as a man would say If he be olde or young if he be learned or priuiledged if he be well studyed or but little if hee be a man of few or manie words if hee be afflicted or passionate tractable or selfe willed For possiblie beeing too inquisitiue to demaund of any of these things it might happen though hee did it vnawares yet hee should finde them afterwards all heaped togethers in the person of the Iudge to his hinderance and dammage in decyding his cause The wise Suter should not onely not seek to be inquisitiue of the iudge or his conditions but also if any man would seeme to tell him of him hee should giue no eare to him at all For if it come to the Iudges eares hee enquireth after his manner of liuing and condition hee will not onely be angry with him in his minde but will be also vnwilling to giue iudgement in his fauour The poore Siuter shall also meete with Terrible Iudges seuere intractable chollericke incommunicable and inexorable and yet for all this he may not looke vpon his nature nor condition but onely to regarde his good conscience For what neede hee care if the Iudge be of seuere and sharpe condition as long as he may be assured that hee is of good conscience It is as needefull for the vpright and good Iudge to haue a good and pure Conscience as it is to haue a skilfull head and iudgement in the Lawes For if he haue the one without the other hee may offend in malice and if hee haue that without the other hee may offend also in ignorance And if the suter come to speake with the Iudge and hee by chaunce finde him a sleepe hee must tarry till hee awake and if then hee will not or he cannot giue eare vnto him hee must bee contented And if he caused his man to say he were not within notwithstanding the suter saw him hee must dissemble it yea if the seruants giue him an ill answere he must take it in good worth For the wary and politike suter must not bee offended at any thing that is done or sayde to him till he see the definitiue sentence giuen with him or against him It is a maruellous trouble also to the suter to chuse his Counsellour for many times hee shall chuse one that shall want both law and conscience And some others shall chuse one that though on the one side hee lacke not Law yet on the other hee shall bee without both soule and conscience And this is apparantly seen that somtime for the gaine of twenty Nobles hee shall as willingly deny the truth and goe against his owne consciedce as at another time he will seeke for to maintaine Iustice It is true there are many other Counsellours also that are both wise and learned and yet notwithstanding they know the Law they can by no meanes frame it to his Clients case wanting deuice and conuayance to ioyne them together And so it happeneth many times that to compare it to his Clyants case hee conuaieth him so vnfitlie as of a plaine case it was before It is now made altogether a folde of infinite doubts I graunt that it is a great furtherance vnto the Clyants to haue a good and wise Counsellor but it is a great deale more for their profite if they can giue a sound and profound iudgement of his case For it is not ynough for the Counseller to bee able to expound the Law but it is behouefull for him to applie it to his purpose and to fit it to Time and Place according to the necessitie of his cause I haue knowne Counsellours my selfe that in their Chayres and Readings in their Halls haue seemed Eagles they haue flowne so high in their doctrine and interpretations but afterwards at the barre where they plead and in the face of their Court where they should best shewe themselues there they haue prooued themselues very capons And the onely cause of this is because they haue gotten by force of long trauell and continuall studie a knowledge to moote and read ordinarily their Book-cases in their chaires by common-practise and putting of them each to other But when they are taken out of common-trade and high beaten way and brought to a little path-way straighted to a Counsellers-room at the barre to pleade his Clyents strange and vnknowne case much contrarie to theyr Booke-cases before recited then stript of their common-knowledge and easie seate in chayre they stand now naked on their feete before the iudgement-seate like sense-lesse creatures voyde of reason and experience But now to supplye these imperfections of our rawe Counsellers and to further also our Clyents cause the better wee will that the Clyent be liberall and bountifull to his Counseller thereby the better to whette his wit and to make him also take paines to studie his ease throughly beeing true That the Counseller giueth Lawe as hee hath rewarde And that the Counseller also be carefull of his clyents cause and to goe through with that hee
is no other then gold amongst the rust a rose amongst the thorns come amongst the chaffe mary amongst the bones Margarites amongest the peble-stones a holy soule amongst the rotten flesh a Phoenix in the Cage a shippe rocking in the raging Seas which the more shee is beaten the faster shee sayleth And there is no Realme so little nor no man of so little fauour but when other doe persecute him hee is by his friends parents and defendors fauoured and succoured so that many times those which thinke to destroy are destroyed and those which seeme to take their part were their chiefest enemies Doth not that proceede of the great secret of God For though God suffered the wicked to be wicked a while God will not therefore suffer that one euill man procure another to doe euill The Palestines and those of Hierusalem had not for their principall enemies but the Chaldeans and the Chaldeans had for their enemies the Idumeans the Idumeans the Assyrians the Assyrians the Persians the Persians the Ariginians the Ariginians the Athenians the Athenians had for their principall enemies the Lacedemonians and the Lacedemonians the Sydonians the Sidonians the Rhodians and the Rhodians the Scythians the Scythians the Hunnes the Hunnes had the Alaines the Alaines the Sweuians the Sweuians the Vandales the Vandales the Valerians the Valerians the Sardinians the Sardinians the Africanes the Africanes the Romanes the Romans the Dacians the Dacians the Gothes the Gothes the Frenchmen the Frenchmen the Spaniards and the Spaniards the Mores And of all these Realmes the one hath persecuted the other And not all one but our holy mother the Church hath alwayes been oppressed and persecuted with those realms and hath beene succoured of none but of Iesu Christ onely and he hath euer succoured and defended it well For the things that God taketh charge of although all the world were against thē in the end it is impossible for them to perish CHAP. X. How there is but one true God and how happy these Realmes are which haue a good Christian to their King and how the Gentiles affirme that good Princes after their death were changed into Gods and the wicked into Diuels which the Authour proueth by sundry examples ALthough the common opinion of the simple people was that there was many gods yet notwithstanding al the Philosophers affirmed that there was but one God who of some was named Iupiter the which was chiefe aboue all other Gods Others called him the first intelligence for that hee had created all the World Others called him the first cause because hee was the beginner of all things It seemeth that Aristotle vnderstood this thing and was of this opinion forasmuch as he sayth in his 12. booke of his Metaphysickes All superiour and inferiour things would bee well ordered and many things much better by the arbitrement of one then by the aduise of many Marcus Varro in his booke De Theologia mistica and Cicero in his booke De natura Deorum although these were Gentiles and curious enough of the Temples yet they doe mocke the Gentiles which beleeued there were many Gods and that Mars and Mercury and likewise Iupiter and the whole flocke of Gods which the Gentiles set vp were all mortall men as we are But because they knew not that there were good bad Angells nor knew not that there was any Paradise to reward the good nor Hell to torment the euill They held this opinion that good men after their death were Gods and euill men deuils And not contented with these foolish abuses the Deuill brought them into such an errour that they thought it consisted in the Senates power to make some Gods and other Deuils For when there dyed at Rome any Emperour if he had been well affected of the Senate immediately hee was honoured for a God and if hee dyed in displeasure of the Senate hee was condemned for a Deuill And to the end we doe not speake by fauour but by writing Herodian saith that Faustine was the daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius which were Emperours the one after the other And truely there were few eyther of their Predecessors or of their Successors which were so good as they were and in mine opinion none more better And therefore was shee made a Goddesse and her father a God An Emperour that coueteth perpetuall memory must note 5. things which he should haue in his life That is to say pure in life vpright in iustice aduenturous in feates of Armes excellent in knowledge and welbeloued in his Prouinces which vertues were in these two excellent Emperours This Empresse Faustine was passing fayre and Writers prayse her beauty in such sort that they sayd it was impossible for her to bee so beautiful but that the Gods had placed some diuine matter in her Yet notwithstanding this added thereunto it is doubtfull whether the beauty of her face was more praysed or the dishonesty of her life discommended For her beauty maruelously amased those that saw her and her dishonesty offended them much that knew her Yet after the Emperour Marcus Aurelius had triumphed ouer the Parthians as he went visiting the Prouinces of Asia that goodly Faustine in foure dayes dyed at the mount Taurus by occasion of a burning Feuer and so annealed was caryed to Rome And since shee was the daughter of so good a Father and wife of so dearly beloued an Emperour amongst the Goddesses shee was canonized but considering her vnconstant or rather incontinent life it was neuer thought that the Romaines would haue done her so much honour Wherefore the Emperour reioyced so much that he neuer ceased to render thankes vnto the Senate For truely a benefit ought to be acceptable to him that receyueth it especially when it commeth vnlooked for The contrarie came to the death of Tiberius third Emperour of Rome which was not onely killed drawne through the streetes by the Romaines but also the Priests of all the temples assembled together and openly prayed vnto the gods that they would not receyue him to them and prayed to the Infernall Furies that greeuouslie they would torment him saying It is iustly required that the Tyrant which disprayseth the life of the good in this Life should haue no place amongst the good after his death Leauing the common Opinion of the rude people which in the old time had no knowledge of the true GOD and declaring the opinion of Aristotle who called God the first cause the opinion of the Stoyckes which called him the first Intelligence and the opinion of Cicero who vnder the colour of Iupiter putteth none other God but him I say and confesse according to the religion of Christian Faith there is but one onely GOD which is the Creatour of Heauen and Earth whose excellency and puissant Maiestie is little to that our tongue cā speake For our vnderstanding can not vnderstand nor our iudgement can determine
that land so euil tilled so barren cold and little and that they should come and enhabite Italy which was a plaine Country fertile and ample temperate and very rich and that now or neuer they should conquer it And Narsetes therewith not contented but to prouoke his friends the more and make them the more couetous sent them part of euery good thing that was in Italy that is to say light horses rich armour sweet pleasant and daintie fruites fine mettals and may kindes of ointments very odoriserous silkes and Marchandises of many and diuers sorts The Ambassadors arriued in Pannony which now is called Hungarie were honourably receyued and the Lumbardes seeing that there were such and so many goodly things in Italy determined to leaue Pannonia and goe spoyle and conquer Italy although it belonged to Rome and were at that season friends with the Romanes yet notwithstanding they had little respect to this And hereat no man ought to maruell for in that place there is neuer perfect friendship where he that commandeth is constrayned to demaund helpe of others The Lumbards determined for to passe into Italy and at that time there was seene of the Italians visibly in the ayre sundry Armies of fire that one cruellie killed the other Which thing greatly feared the hearts of the people For by this they knew that within a short space much of theyr bloud of their enemies also should be shed for it is an olde ancient custome that when any great matter doth chance to any Realme first the Planets and Elements do declare the same by secret tokens the ingratitude of the Emperour Iustinian against Narsetes his Captaine and the euill words which Sophia spake vnto him were the occasion that the Lumhards inuaded and destroied all Italy which thing valiant Princes ought well to note to keepe themselues from ingratitude towards their seruants who hath done them great seruice For it is a generall rule That the ingratitude of a great benefite maketh the seruants despayre of recempence or of a faithfull jeruant maketh him become a cruell and mortall enemie And let not Princes trust men because they bee natiue of their realms brought vp nourished in their Pallaces and alwayes haue been faithfull in their seruices that therefore they will not of good subiects be turned to euill nor yet of faithfull become disloyall For such imagination is vaine For the Prince that in his doings is vnthankfull cannot keepe nor retaine any honest man long in his seruice One thing the noble Iustintan did with Narsetes whereof all noble and sage Princes ought to beware that is to know hee did not onely giue eare vnto his enemies and beleeued them but also before them he did dishonour him and shame him to his power which thing made him vtterly to despayre For there is nothing that spiteth a man more then to haue before his enemies any iniury or dishonour done vnto him of his superiour The Empresse Sophia therefore deserued great reproach for speaking such dishonest words to Narsetes to send him to thread the needles in that occupation where the damsels wrought For it is the duety of a Noble Princesse to mitigate the yre of Princes when they are angry and not to prouoke thē further to anger Narsetes then alwayes doubting the Empresse Sophia neuer after returned into Naples where shee was but rather came from Naples to Rome a yeare before the Lambards came into Italy where hee receyued all the Sacraments and like a deuout Christian hee dyed His body was carried to Alexandria in a cossin of siluer all set with precious stones and there was buried And a man cannot tell whether the displeasure were greater that all Asia had not to see Narsetes aliue or the pleasure that Sophia had to see him dead For the vnpatient heart especially of a woman hath no rest vntill shee see her enemie dead CHAP. XVII Of a Letter the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the King of Sicilie in which he recordeth the trauels they endured together in their youth and reproueth him of his small reuerence towards the Temples MArcus Aurelius sole Emperour of Rome borne in Mount Celio called the old Tribune wisheth health and long life to thee Gorbin Lord and King of Sicilie As it is the custome of the Romane Emperours the first yeare of my raigne I wrote generally to all the Isle the second yeare I wrote generally vnto thy Court and Pallace and at this present I write more particularlie to thy person And although that Princes haue great Realmes yet they ought not therefore to cease to communicate with their olde friendes Since I tooke my penne to write vnto thee I stayed my hand a great while from writing and it was not for that I was slothfull but because I was ashamed to see all Rome offended with thee I let thee to know most excellent Prince that in this I say I am thy true friend for in my hart I feele thy trouble and so sayd Euripides That which with the heart is loued with the heart is lamented But before I shew thee the cause of my writing I will reduce into thy memory some thinges past of our youth and thereby we shall see what wee were then and what we are now for no man doth so much reioyce of his prosperity present as hee which calleth to mind his miseries past Thou shalt call to mind most excellent Prince that wee two together did learne to reade in Capua and after we studyed a little in Tarentum and from thence wee went to Rhodes where I reade Rhethorike and thou heardest Philosophy And afterwardes in the end of ten yeares wee went to the wars of Pannonia where I gaue my selfe to musicke for the affections of young men are so variable that dayly they would know strange Realmes and change offices And in all those iournies with the force of youth the sweete company with the pleasant communication of Sciences and with a vaine hope wee did dissemble our extreame pouerty which was so great that many times and often we desired not that which many had but that little which to few abounded Doest thou remember that when wee sayled by the gulfe Arpin to goe into Hellespont a long and tempestuous torment came vpon vs wherein we were taken of a Pirate and for our ransome hee made vs row about nine moneths in a Galley whereas I cannot tell which was greater eyther the want of bread or the aboundance of stripes which wee alwayes endured Hast thou forgotten also that in the City of Rhodes when wee were besieged of Bruerdus puissant King of Epirotes for the space of fourteene monethes wee were ten without eating flesh saue onely two cats the one which wee stole and the other which wee bought remember that thou and I beeing in Tarent were desired of our Host to go to the feast of the great Goddesse Dtana into the which Temple none could enter that day but
call that life a warre without a cause which the euill married man leadeth in his house For women doe more hurt with their tongues then the enemyes doe with theyr swords It is a great simplicity for a wise man to make account or esteeme the simplicitie of his wife at euery time For if they would marke and take heed to that which their wife doth or saith I let them know that they shall neuer haue an end O Faustine if the Romaine women would alwayes one thing that they would procure one thing that they would bee resolued in one thing although it were to our great charges wee should haue pleasure to condescend vnto their desires but what shall wee doe since that which now pleaseth you a while after displeaseth you that which you aske in the morning yee will not haue at noone that which you enioy at noone dayes doeth trouble you in the night that which in the night you loue yee care not for in the morning that which yesterday ye greatly esteemed to day asmuch ye despise If yee desired to see a thing the last yeare this yeare ye wil not heare talke of it that which before made you to reioice doth now make you to be sad that which yee were wont and ought tolament at the selfe same thing a man seeth you laugh Finally ye women are as children which are appeased with an apple and casteth the golde to the earth as not weyghing it I haue diuers times thought with my selfe if I could say or write any good Rule in keeping the which I might teache men to bee quiet in their houses And by my account I finde hauing experimented it also with thee Faustine that it is vnpossible to giue a rule to Marryed men and if a man could giue them they should scarcely profite therewith since theyr Wiues liue without rule But yet notwithstanding that I wil declare some Rules how the marryed folks should keepe themselues in their houses and how they shall if they list auoyde strifes and debates betweene them For the Husbands and the Wiues hauing warres together it is impossible there should be peace in the Common-wealth And though this present writing hath not profited me vnluckie and vnfortunate man yet it may profite others which haue good wiues For oft times the Medicin which profiteth not for the tender Eyes sufficeth to heale the harde heeles I know well Faustine that for that I haue saide and for that I will say vnto thee thou and others such like shall greatly enuie me Yee will marke the words that I speake more then the intention that I meane but I protest before the Gods that in this case my ende is for no other intent but to aduertise the good whereof there are a great manie and to punish the euill which are many moe And although perchaunce neyther the one nor the other wil belieue that my intention in speaking these things was good yet therefore I will not cease to know the good from the euil and to choose the euill from the good For in my fantasie the good-wife is as the Feasaunt whose feathers wee little esteeme and regard much the body but the euill woman is as the Marterne whose skin we greatly esteem and vtterly despise the Flesh I will therefore declare the Rules whereby the Husbandes may liue in peace with their owne proper wiues The Rules are these THe first the husband must needs haue patience and suffer his wife when shee is displeased for in Lybia there is no Serpent so spitefulll as an euill woman when shee is vexed The second the Husband ought to prouide for his wife according to his abilitie all that is necessary for her as well for her person as for her house for oft times it chaunceth that women seeking things necessarie finde things superfluous and not very honest The third the Husband ought to prouide that his wife doe keepe good companie for women oft times are more troubled with the wordes that their euill Neighbours speake against them then for any occasion that their Husbands giue them The fourth that the husband ought to vse a meane that his Wife be not too much a subiect nor that she stray too much abroad for the Woman that gaddeth much in the streetes both loseth her good name and spendeth his goods The fifth the Husband ought to take heede that hee striueth not so with his wife that she be brought past shame for the woman that towards her Husband is shamelesse hath no respect what dishonestie shee committeth The sixt the Husband ought to let his wife vnderstand that he doth trust her for the woman is of such condition that that which a wise man wold not shee should doe shee will doe soonest and that wherein she should take paines she will doe nothing The seuenth the Husband ought to bee circumspect that hee doe not wholly trust his Wife with the goods and treasours of the house nor yet vtterly distrust her For if the wife haue the charge of the goods of the house truely shee will augment little and if the Husband doe suspect her she will steale much The eight the Husband ought to looke vpon his wife merrily and at other times againe sadly For women are of such condition that when their Husbands shew them a merrie countenance they loue them and when they shewe themselues demure they feare them The ninth the husband ought if he bee wise in this to take good aduisement that his wife quarrell not with his neighbors For we haue ofttimes seene in Rome that for the quarrell of his Wife against his neighbours the Husband hath lost his life shee hath lost her goods and a slaunder hath risen throughout the Commonwealth The tenth the Husband ought to be so patient that if he saw his wife commit any fault that in no wise he shold correct her openly but in secret For the husband that correcteth his wife before witnes doth as he which spitteth into the element and the spittle falleth againe into his eyes The eleuenth the Husband ought to haue much temperance lest he lay hands on his wife to punish her For truly the wife that with sharpe words doth not amend with all the chastisements of the worlde will neuer bee good The twelfth if the Husband will be quiet with his wife he ought to praise her before his neighbours and straungers For amongst all other things women haue this propertie that of all they would be praised and of none corrected The thirteenth the Husband ought to beware to praise any other then his owne Wife shee beeing present For women are of this condition that the same day that her Husband commendeth anie other Woman the same day his wife will cast him out of her heart thinking that he loueth another and despiseth her The foureteenth The husband ought to make his wife beleeue that she is fayre though indeede shee bee foule for there is betweene them no greater strife
often times it chanceth that the wisedome of the good child doth remedy the folly of the wicked Father The Historians say that this Lelya Sabina had not onely a great grace in reading but also shee had much excellency in writing for she wrote many letters and orations with her own hand which her Father Lucius Sylla afterwards learned by hart and as he was indeed quicke of spirite so he vsed to recite them to the Senate alwayes for his purpose And let no man maruaile hereat for there are some of so grosse vnderstanding that that which they write and studie they can scarcely vtter others againe are of such liuely wits that of that onely which they haue heard it seemeth maruellous to heare with what eloquence they will talke Because Sylla had such and so excellent a daughter in his house hee was esteemed for a sage and wise councellour throughout all the Common wealth He was counted very absolute in executing strong in maintaining for right eloquent in speaking Finally of this came this ancient prouerbe which sayth Lucius Sylla gouerneth his own countrey with the eloquence of his tongue and is Lord of strange nations by the force of his sword What the great Plato hath beene and what great authority he hath had amongst his countrey men and amongst the strangers it is apparant for so much as the Greekes do acknowledge him of all other Phylosophers to be the Prince and likewise the Latines by one consent call him diuine And me thinketh that in doing this they doe no Phylosopher iniurie for as Plato in his life time had great modestie so truely in his writing hee exceeded mans capacitie An Historian called Hyzearchus declareth that Lasterna and Axiothea were two Greekes very well Iearned and amongst the Schollers of Plato chiefly renowmed The one was of so perfect a memory and the other of so high an vnderstanding that Plato oft times beeing in the chayre and these two not readie hee would not beginne to reade And being demaunded wherefore hee reade not his Lecture hee answered I will not reade for that there wanteth here vnderstanding to conceyue and also memory to retaine Meaning that Lasterna was absent that Axiothe was not yet come The wisedome of these two women ought to bee much since Plato without them would not vtter one word vnlesse they were present in his Schoole For Plato esteemed more the vnderstanding and memory of those two women alone then hee did the phylosophy of his other Schollers together Aristippus the phylosopher was Scholler to Socrates and of the most renowmed of Athens Hee had a daughter called Aretha the which was so well learned in Greeke and Latine letters that the common renowme sayd the soule of Socrates was entred into Aretha and the cause that mooued them to say this was because shee read and declared the doctrine of Socrates in such wise that it seemed to most men shee had rather write by hand then learne by studie Bocchas in the second booke of the prayse of women sayeth that this Aretha was so excellent a woman that shee did not only learne for her selfe but also to teach others and did not onely teach in diuers Schooles but also shee wrote many and sundrie bookes one especially in the prayse of Socrates an other of the manner of bringing vp children an other of the Warres of Athens an other of the tyrannicall force an other of the Common Wealth of Socrates an other of the infelicity of Women an other of the tillage of the Auncients an other of the Wonders of the Mount Olimpus an other of the vaine care of the Sepulchre an other of the care of the Antes an other of the Workemanshippe of the Bees in honey and shee wrote two others the one of the vanities of youth and the other of the miseries of age This woman did reade openly naturall and morall Phylosophy in the Schooles of Athens for the space of fiue and twenty yeares she made fortie bookes she had a hundred and ten Phylosophers to her Schollers shee dyed being at the age of seuentie and seuen yeares and the Athenians after her death engraued on her graue these words THe slysed stones within their bowels keepe Wise Aretha the great and onely wight That forceth enuie gentle teares to weepe For Greekes decay on whom the losse doth light The eye of Fame the heart of vertues life The head of Greece lyes here engraued loe More heauenly forme then had that heauenlie wife Which vnderminde the Phrigies toyes with woe Within the chest of her vnspotted mind Lay Thyrmas truth and eke her honest faith Within her hand as by the gods assignde Stoode Aristippus penne that vertue wayeth Within the dungeon of her body eke Imprisoned was wise Socrates his soule That liued so well and did so wisely speake That follies brest he could to wisodome toule Within her head so ouer heapt with wit Lay Homers tongue to staine the Poets arte Erst was the golden age not halfe so fit For Vertues Impes as when her life did part As Marcus Varro sayth the sects of the Philosophers were more then seuenty but in the end they were reduced into seuen and in the end they were brought into three sects chiefly That is to say Stoickes Peripatetickes and Pythagoriques Of these Pythagoriques Pythagoras was the Prince Hizearcus Annius Rusticus and Laertius with Eusebius and Boccas all affirme one thing whereunto I did not greatly giue credite which is that this Phylosopher Pithagoras had a sister not onely learned but if it bee lawfull to speake it excellently learned And they say that not she of Pythagoras but Pythagoras of her learned phylosophy And of a truth it is a matter whereof I was so greatly abashed that I cannot tell who could bee maister of such a woman since shee had Pythagoras the great phylosopher to her Scholler The name of the woman was Thecclea to whom Pythagoras her brother wrot and sent her a letter when hee read phylosophy at Rhodes and she at Samothracia doing the like The Epistle was thus CHAP. XXIX Of a Letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea hee beeing in Rhodes and shee in Sam othracia reading both Philosophie PYthagoras thy brother and Disciple to thee Theoclea his sister health encrease of wisedome wisheth I haue read the book which thou diddest send mee of fortune and misfortune from the beginning to the end and now I know that thou art no lesse graue in making then gracious in teaching The which doth not chance very oft vnto vs which are men and much lesse as wee haue seene to you women For the Philosopher Aristippus was rude in speaking but profound in writing and Amenides was briefe in writing and eloquent in speaking Thou hast studyed and written in such sort that in learning that thou shewest thou seemest to haue read all the Philosophers and in the antiquities that thou doest declare it seemeth that thou hast seene all
the man that desireth perpetuall renon me though hee bee not banished hee ought to absent himselfe from his Natiue countrey My deare childrē I most earnestly desire you that alwayes you accompanie your selues with the good with the most Auncients and with those which are graue and most expert in counsell and with those that haue most seene the world and doe not vnderstand most of the world by those that haue seene most countreys For the ripe councell proceedeth not from the man that hath trauelled in many Countreys but from him that hath selt himselfe in many daungers Since the nature of the Countrey my Children doth knocke with the hāmer at the heart of man I feare that if you come and see your friends and parents you shall alwayes line in care pensiuenes and being pensiue you shall alwayes liue euill contented and you shall not do that which becometh Romane knights to do And you not being valiaunt knights your enemyes shall alwayes reioyce ouer you and your desires shal neuer take effect for of those men which are carefull and heauy proceedeth alwaies seruices vnworthie I desire you heartily and by this present letter I counsell you that you will not in any wise seeke to come to Rome For as I haue saide you shall know few of those that did know you for eyther they are dead or banished poor or sick aged or come to nought sad or euill contented So that sithence you are not able to remedie their griefes it is best you should not come hither to see their troubles For no man cōmeth to Rome but to weepe with the liuing or to sigh for thē that be dead Truly my children I know not what pleasure is in Rome that shold cause any good man to come hither and to forsake Affrike for if there you haue any enemies here you shal want friends If you haue the Sword that pierceth the body we haue the tōgue here that destroyeth the renowme If you be vexed with the Thieues of Affrike wee are wounded with the traytours flatterers and lyars of Italie If you lacke rest we haue here too much trouble Finally seeing that I doe see in Rome and hearing that which I doe heare of Affrike I cōmend your warre and abhorre your peace If you doe greatly esteem that which I haue said esteem much more that which I shall say which is that wee alwayes heare that you are conquerors of the Affricanes and you shall heare alwayes that we are conquered by vices Therefore if am a true mother I had rather see you win a perpetuall memory among strangers then to liue with infamie at home in your countrey Peraduenture with hope that you shallenioy some goods you will offer to take occasion to come to Rome When this thing shall come to your minds remember my Children that your father being aliue had not much and that vnto your Mother beeing a widow many things wanted And remember that your father bequeathed you nothing but weapons and knowe that from mee you shalll enherite nothing but Bookes For I had rather leaue my Children good doctrine whereby they may liue then euill Riches whereby they may perish I am not rich nor I neuer trauelled to bee rich and the cause was that I saw many mens children vndone only through the hope they had to inherit their parents goods and afterward went a hunting after vices For they seldome times do any worthy feates which in theyr Youth inherite great Treasures This thing therefore beeing true as it is indeede I doe not say onely that I would watch and toyle as many do to get riches and treasures but also if I had treasor before I would giue them vnto you I would as the Phylosopher did cast them into the fire For I had rather haue my children poore and vertuous in Affricke then rich and vicious in Rome You knowe very well my Children that there was among the Tharentines a Law well obserued that the Sonnes should not inherit any thing of the fathers but weapons to fight and that the Daughters should inherite the goods for to marry thēselues withall Truely this Law was very iust for the Sonne that hath alwaies respect to the inheritance will not haue to his Father any great confidence For hee ought to bee called a valiant Romain Knight that with his life hath wonne and by his sword hath gotten Riches Since you are in straunge Realmes I pray you heartily that you be eonuersant with the good as good brethren remembring alwayes that you were my children and that I gaue you both sucke of mine owne proper breasts And the day that I shall heare of your disagreement the same day shall be the end of my life For the discord in one city of parents doth more harme then a whole armie of enemies It is good for you my Children to liue in loue and concord together but it is more requisite to keepe you with the Romain knights The which with you and you with them if you doe not loue together in the warres you shall neuer haue the vpper hand of your enemies For in great Armies the discords that arise amongst them do more harme then the enemies do against whom they fight I thinke well my children that you would be very desirous to know of my estate that is to say whether I am in health whether I am sicke whether I am poore whether I am pleased or whether I am discontented In this case I knowe not why you should desire to knowe it since you ought to presuppose that according to the troubles which I haue passed the miseries which with mine eyes I haue seen I am filled with this world For wise men after fifty yeares and vpwardes ought rather to applie theyr mindes how to receyue death then to seeke for pleasures how to prolong life When mans Flesh is weake it alwayes desireth to bee well kept euen vnto the graue And as I am of flesh and Bone so I do feele the troubles of the world as all mortall men doe But for all this doe not thinke that to bee poore or sicke is the greatest miserie neither thinke that to bee whole and rich is the chiefest felicity for there is none other felicitie of the old fathers but for to see their children vertuous In my opinion it is an honor to the coūtry that the fathers haue such children which will take profit with their counsell and contrariwise that the children haue such fathers which can giue it them For the childe is happy that hath a wise father and more happie is the father that hath not a foolish son I doe write oft times vnto you my children but there is a law that none be so hardy to write to men of war in the field except first they inrowle the letters in the Senate Therefore since I write vnto you more letters then they would they do send lesse then I desire Though this law be painefull to
your Bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherefore I sweare vnto you that there are more Thebaines which follow the delitiousnesse of Denis the tyrant then there are vertuous men that follow the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebaines doe desire greatly to know with what lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their Common-wealth I will tell you them all by word and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writing but it shall bee vpon condition that you shall sweare al openly that once a day you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your persons to obserue them for the Prince hath greater honour to see one onely law to be obserued in deed then to ordaine a thousand by writing You ought not to esteeme much to be vertuous in heart nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauell of the feet but that which you ought greatly to esteeme is to know what a vertuous law meaneth and that knowne immediately to execute it and afterwards to keepe it For the chiefe vertue is not to doe one vertuous worke but in a swet and trauell to continue in it These therfore were the words that this Philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebaines the which as Plato sayeth esteemed more his words that hee spake then they did the Lawes which he brought Truly in mine opinion those of Thebes are to bee praysed and commended and the Philosopher for his word is worthy to be honoured For the ende of those was to search lawes to liue well and the end of the Philosopher was to seeke good meanes for to keepe them in vertue And therefore he thoght it good to shew them and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other Instruments and torments for the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punishment then for any desire they haue of amendment I was willing to bring in this history to the end that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how little the Ancients did esteeme the beginning the meane and the end of vertuous works in respect of the perseuerance and preseruation of them Comming therefore to my matter which my penne doth tosse and seeke I aske now presently what it profiteth Princesses and great Ladies that God doe giue them great estates that they be fortunate in marriages that they bee all reuerenced and honoured that they haue great treasures for their inheritances and aboue all that they see their wines great with Childe and that afterward in ioy they see them deliuered that they see their mothers giuing their children sucke and finally they see themselues happy in that they haue found them good nurses health full and honest Truly all this auayleth little if to their children when they are young they doe do not giue masters to instruct them in vertues and they also if they doe not recommend them to good guides to exercise them in feates of Chiualry The Fathers which by sighes penetrate the heauen by praiers importune the liuing God onelie for to haue children ought first to thinke why they will haue children for that iustly to a man may be denied which to an euill end is procured In mine opinion the Father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may sustaine his life in honour and that after his death hee may cause his fame to liue And if a Father desireth not a sonne for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age hee may honour his hoary head and that after his death hee may enherite his goods but we see few children do these thinges to their fathers in their age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree did beare blosoms in the spring I see oftentimes many Fathers complaine of their children saying that they are disobedient and proude vnto them and they do not consider that they themselues are the cause of all those euils For too much abundance and liberty of youth is no other but a prophesie and manifest token of disobedience in age I know not why Princes and great Lords do toyle oppresse so much scratch to leaue their children great estates and on the other side wee see that in teaching them they are and shewe themselues too negligent for Princes and great Lordes ought to make account that all that which they leaue of their substance to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their consciences are vpright and of their honours carefull ought to bee very diligent to bring vppe their children and chiefly that they consider whether they bee meete to inherite their estates And if perchance the fathers see that their children bee more giuen to folly then to noblenes and wisdome then should I bee ashamed to see a father that is wise trauell all the dayes of his life to leaue much substance to an euill brought vp childe after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thing to see the cates which the Fathers take to gather riches and the diligence that children haue to spend them And in this case I say the sonne is fortunate for that hee doth enherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeath In my opinion Fathers are bound to instruct their children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also because they ought to be their heyres For truly with great griefe and sorrow I suppose hee doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrift the toyle of all his life Hyzearchus the Greeke Hystorian in the booke of his Antiquities Sabellicus in his generall hystory sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complain to the famous Philosopher and ancient Solon Solinon the Sonne complained of the father and the father of the sonne First the sonne informed the quarrell to the Philosopher saying these words I complaine of my Father because hee being rich hath disinherited mee and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the which thing my father ought not nor cannot doe for since he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason hee giue me his goods to maintaine my seeblenes To these wordes answered the father I complaine of my sonne because hee hath not beene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemie for in all things since hee was borne hee hath beene disobedient to my will wherefore I thought it good to disinherite him before my death I would I were quit of all my substance so that the gods had quit him of his life for the earth is very cruell that swalloweth not the child aliue which to his father is disobedient In that he sayeth I haue adopted another child for mine heyre I confesse it is true and for so much
as hee sayeth that I haue disinherited him and abiected him from my heritage hee beeing begotten of my body hereunto I answere That I haue not disinherited my sonne but I haue disinherited his pleasure to the entent hee shall not enioy my trauell for there can bee nothing more vniust then that the young and vicious sonne should take his pleasure of the swet and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his Father and sayde I confesse I haue offended my Father and also I confesse that I haue liued in pleasures yet if I may speake the truth though I were disobedient and euill my Father ought to beare the blame and if for this cause hee doeth dishenherite mee I thinke hee doth me great iniurie for the father that instructeth not his son in vertue in his youth wrongfully disinheriteth him though he be disobedient in his age The Father againe replyeth and sayeth It is true my sonne that I brought thee vp too wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taught thee sundry times and besides that I did correct thee when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I did not instruct thee in learning it was for that thou in thy tender age diddest want vnderstanding but after that thou hadst age to vnderstand discretion to receyue and strength to exercise it I beganne to punish thee to teache thee and to instruct thee For where no vnderstanding is in the child there in vaine they teach doctrine Since thou art old quoth the sonne and I young since thou art my Father and I thy sonne for that thou hast white hayres on thy beard and I none at all it is but reason that thou be belieued and I condemned For in this world wee see oft times that the small authoritie of the person maketh him to loose his great iustice I graunt thee my Father that when I was a childe thou diddest cause mee to learne to reade but thou wilt not denie that if I did commit any faulte thou wouldst neuer agree I should be punished And hereof it came that thou suffering me to do what I would in my Youth haue bin disobedient to thee euer since in my age And I say vnto thee further that if in this case I haue offended truely mee thinketh thou canst not bee excused for the fathers in the youth of their children ought not onely to teach them to dispute of vertues what vertue is but they ought to inforce thē to be vertuous in deed For it is a good token when Youth before they knowe vices haue been accustomed to practise vertues Both partyes then diligently heard the good Phylosopher Solon Solinon speake these words I giue iudgement that the Father of this childe be not buryed after his death and I commaund that the Sonne because in his youth hee hath not obeyed his Father who is olde should be disinherited whilest the Father liueth from all his substance on such condition that after his death his sonnes should inherite the Heritage and so returne to the heyres of the Sonne and liue of the Father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the Sonne should be condemned for the offence of the Father I do commaund also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithfull person to the end they may giue the Father meat and drinke during his life and to make a graue for the Sonne after his death I haue not without a cause giuen such iudgement the which comprehendeth life and death For the Gods will not that for one pleasure the punishment bee double but that wee chastise and punish the one in the life taking from him his honour and goods and that wee punish others after their death taking from them memorie and buryall Truely the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was very graue and would to GOD wee had him for a iudge of this world presently For I sweare that hee should finde manie Children now a dayes for to disinherite and moe Fathers to punish For I cannot tell which is greater The shame of the children to disobey their Fathers or the negligence of the Fathers in bringing vp their children Sextus Cheronens in the second book of the sayings of the Philosophers declareth that a Citizen of Athens saide vnto Dyogenes the Phylosopher these wordes Tell mee Dyogenes What shall I doe to be in the fauour of the Gods and not in the hatred of men For oft times amongst you Phylosophers I haue hearde say that there is a great difference between that that the gods will and that which men loue Dyogenes answered Thou speakest more then thou oughtest to speake that the Gods will one thing and men another for the Gods are but as a center of mercy and men are but as a denne of malice if thou wilt enioy rest in thy dayes and keepe thy life pure and cleane thou must obserue these three things The first honour thy Gods deuoutely for the man which doeth not serue and honour the Gods in all his enterprises hee shall be vnfortunate The second bee very diligent to bring vp thy children well for the man hath no enemie so troublesome as his owne sonne if hee bee not well brought vp The third thing bee thankefull to thy good benefactors and friends for the Oracle of Apollo sayth that the man who is vnthankefull of all the world shall be abhorred And I tell thee further my friend that of these three things the most profitable though it be more troublesome is for a man to teach and bring vp his children well This therefore was the answere that the Philosopher Diogenes made to the demaund of the Citizen It is great pitty and griefe to see a young childe how the bloud doth stirre him to see how the flesh doth prouoke him to accomplish his desire to see sensuality goe before and he himselfe to come behind to see the malitious World to watch him to see how the Diuell doth tempte him to see how vices binde him and in all that which is spoken to see how the Father is negligent as if hee had no children whereas in deede the olde man by the fewe vertues he hath had in his Youth may easily knowe the infirmityes and vices wherewith his Sonne is incompassed If the expert had neuer beene ignorant if the Fathers had neuer beene children if the vertuous had neuer been vicious if the fine wittes had neuer been deceiued it were no maruell if the Fathers were negligent in teaching their children For the little experience excuseth men of great offences but since thou art my Father and that first thou wert a Sonne since thou art old and hast bin young and besides all this since that pride hath inflamed thee lechery hath burned thee wrath hath wounded thee Negligence hath hindred thee Couetousnes hath blinded thee Glotonie surfetted thee Tell mee cruell Father since so many vices haue reigned in thee why hast thou not an
great Lordes ought to recommend their children to their Maisters to the ende they may teache them to change their appetites and not to follow their owne will so that they withdrawe them from their owne will and cause them to learne the aduise of another For the more a man giueth a Noble mans sonne the bridle the more harder it is for them to receyue good doctrine CHAP. XXXIII Princes ought to take heede that theyr Children bee not brought vp in pleasures and vayne delightes For ofte times they are so wicked that the Fathers would not onely haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buryed BY experience we see that in Warre for the defence of men Rampiers and Forts are made according to the qualitie of the enemyes and those which saile the daungerous Seas doe chuse great Ships which may breake the waues of the raging Seas So that all wise men according to the quality of the danger doe seeke for the same in time some remedie Ofte times I muse with my selfe and thinke if I could finde anie estate anie age anie Land anie Nation anie Realme or any World wherein there hath beene any man that hath passed this life without tasting what aduersitie was For if such an one were found I thinke it should bee a monstrous thing throughout all the earth and by reason both the deade and liuing should enuie him In the ende after my count made I find that he which but yesterday was rich to day is poore hee that was whole I see him to day sicke he that yesterday laughed to day I see him weepe he that had his hearts ease I see him now sore afflicted hee that was Fortunate now I see him vnluckie Finally him whome lately we knew aliue in the towne now wee see buryed in the graue And to be buryed is nothing else but to be vtterly forgotten For mans friendship is so fraile that when the Corps is couered with earth immediatly the dead is forgotten One thing me thinketh to all men is grieuous and to those of vnderstandng no lesse painfull which is that the miseries of this wicked world are not equally deuided but that oft times all worldly calamityes lyeth in the necke of one man alone For we are so vnfortunate that the worlde giueth vs pleasures in sight and troubles in proofe If a man should aske a Sage man now a daies who hath liued in meane estate and that hee would bee contented to tell him what hee hath past since three yeares that he beganne to speake vntill fiftie yeares that hee began to waxe olde what things thinke you he would telvs that hath chanced vnto him truely all these that follow The griefes of his Children the assaults of his enemyes the importunities of his wife the wantonnes of his daughters sicknes in his person great losse of goods generall famine in the citie cruel plagues in his countrey extreame colde in winter noysom heate in Summer sorrowfull deaths of his friendes and enuious prosperities of his enemyes Finally hee will say that hee passed such and so manie things that oft times he bewailed the woful life and desired the sweet death If the miserable man hath passed such things outwardly what would he say of those which he hath suffered inwardly the which though some discrete men may know yet truly others dare not tell For the trauells which the bodie passeth in 50. yeares may well bee counted in a day but that which the heart suffereth in one day cānot be counted in a hundred yeres A man cannot denie but that wee would count him rash which with a reede would meet another that hath a sword and him for a foole that wold put off his shooes to walke vpon the Thornes But without comparison we ought to esteeme him for the most foole that with his tender flesh thinketh to preuaile against so manie euill fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with much paine Oh how happie may that man bee called which neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth For men which from their infancie haue bin brought vp in pleasures for want of wisedome know not how to chuse the good and for lacke of force cannot resist the euill which is the cause that Noble-mens children oft times commit sundry heinous offences For it is an infallible rule that the more a man giueth himselfe to pleasures the more he is intangled in vices It is a thing worthie to be noted and woefull to see how polliticke we be to augment things of honour how bolde we be to enterprize them how fortunate to compasse them how diligent to keepe them how circumspect to sustaine them and afterward what pittie it is to see how vnfortunate we are to loose all that which so long time we haue searched for kept and possessed And that which is most to bee lamented in this case is that the goods and Honours are not lost for want of diligence and trauell of the father but for the aboundance of pleasures and vices of the sonne Finally let the Riche man knowe that that which hee hath wonne in labour and toyle waking his Sonne beeing euill brought vp shal consume in pleasures sleeping One of the greatest vanities that reigneth at this day amongst the children of vanitie is that the Father cannot shewe vnto his Sonne the loue which he beareth him but in suffering him to be brought vp in the pleasures and vanities of this life Truly he that is such a one ought not to be called a pittifull father but a cruell step-father for no man will denie me this but that where there is Youth liberty pleasure and Money there will all the vices of this world be resident Lycurgus the great King giuer of lawes and sage Philosopher ordained to the Lacedemonians that all the children which were borne in Citties and good Townes should bee sent to be brought vp in villages till they were xxv yeares of age And Liuius saith that the Lygures were which in olde time were confederates with those of Capua and great enemyes to the people of Rome They had a Lawe amongst them that none should take wages in the warres vnlesse he had bin brought vp in the fields or that he had bin a heard man in the Moūtains so that through one of these two waies their flesh was hardned their joyntes accustomed to suffer the heate and the cold and their bodies more meete to endure the trauells of the warres In the yeare of the foundation of Rome 140. the Romalnes made cruell warres with the Lygures against whome was sent Gneus Fabritius of the which in the end he triumphed and the day following this triumph hee spake vnto the Senate in these words Worthie Senatours I haue beene these fiue yeares against the Ligures and by the immortall Gods I sweare vnto you that in all this time there passed not one weeke but wee had eyther battell or some
was brought vp in the palace of Adrian my Lord whose name was Aristonocus of his bodie he was of meane stature leane of face and also he was of an vnknowne countrey but he had such a pleasaunt tongue that though he had made an oration in the Senate of three hours long there was no man but willingly were desirous to heare him For in the olde time if hee that made an Oration in the Senate were eloquent in his speach he was hearde no lesse then if god Apollo had spoken himselfe This Phylosopher Aristonocus was on the one parte so gentle in his speech and on the other part so dissolute in his life that hee neuer spake worde to the Senate but it deserued eternall memorie and out of that place they neuer sawe him doe good workes but it merited grieuous punishment As I haue saide though in that time I was yong yet I remember that to see this phylosopher so lost all the people did pittie and the worst of all was that they neuer hoped for his amendment since daily more and more hee lost his honour For there is no man that by is Eloquence may haue such renowme but in the ende hee may lose it againe by his euill life Now I aske you my Friendes sith you are in the reputation of Sages which was better or to say better which had beene lesse enuyed that this Phylosopher had beene a simple man and of good life then to bee as he was a man of high eloquence and of euill condition It was vnpossible if hee had once hearde of mee that which many times I haue heard say of him that he had not counselled me yea and further to doe it he had constrained me rather to chuse the graue then to liue in Rome with infamie For he is vnworthie to liue amongst men whose words of all are approued and his workes of all condemned The first Dictator in Rome was Largius and the first Lord of the knights was Spurius And from the time of the first Dictatour vntill the time of Sylla Iulius which were the first tyrants were foure hundred and fiftie yeares in the which space we neuer read that any philosopher spake any vain words nor yet committed any sclaunderous deedes And if Rome had done any otherwise it had bin vnworthie of such praise and estimation as it had for it is vnpossible that the people bee well gouerned if the Sages which gouern them are in their liues dissolute I protest to the immortall Gods and sweare by the faith of a Christian that whē I consider that which at this present with mine eyes I see I cānot but sigh for that is past and weep for that which is present That is to say to see then how the Armyes fought to see how the young men trauelled to bee good to see how well Princes gouerned to see the obedience of the people and aboue all it was a maruellous thing to see the liberties and fauours which the sages had the subjection small estimation that the simple people were in And now by our euill fortune we see the cōtrary in these our wofull times so that I cannot tel whether first I should bewaile the vertues and Noblenesse of them that are past or the vices and infamies of these which are present For wee neuer ought to cease from praising the goodnes of the good nor to cease from reprouing the wickednes of the euill Oh that I had been in that glorious world to see so honorable and auncient Sages to gouerne in pleasure and for the contrary what griefe and pittie shame and dishonour is it to see now so many dissolute Sages and so many young and busie heads the which as I haue saide doe destroy all Rome and slaunder all Italie and dishonor themselues For the want of vertue which in them aboundeth and endamageth the Common-wealth and as the other vices wherewith they are replenished corrupteth the people in such sorte that the weale publique is more dishonored through the dissolute life of them then it is anoyed by the weapons of their enemyes I say againe and repeate my friends that the prosperitie of Rome endured 400. and xv yeares in the which time there was a great maiesty of works and a maruellous simplicitie of words and aboue all that the best that it had was that it was rich of the good and vertuous men and poore of euill and vicious loyterers For in the ende that Citie cannot be called prosperous which hath in it manie people but onely that which hath in it fewe vices Speaking therefore more particularly the cause that moued mee to put you from mee is because in the day of the great feast of the god Genius you shewed in the presence of the Senate your little wisedome and your great follie For so much as all men did behold more the lightnes of your person then they did the follyes of the jugglers If perchaunce you shewed your follie to the intent men should thinke that you were familiar in my Royall Pallace I tell you that the errour of your thought was no lesse then the euill example of your worke For no man ought to be so familiar with princes but whether it be in sporte or in earnest he ought to do him reuerēce Since I gaue you leaue to departe I knowe you had rather haue to helpe you in your journey a litle money thē many counsells But I will giue you both that is to say money for to bring you to your journeys end also coūcels to the end ye may liue and maruel not that I giue coūcel to them that haue an office to counsell others for it chanceth oft times that the Physitian doth cure the diseases of others and yet indeed he knoweth not his owne Let therefore the last word and counsell bee when you shall bee in the seruices of Princes and great Lords that first you labour to be coūted honest rather then wise That they doe chuse you rather for quiet men then for busie heades and more for your few wordes then for your much babling for in the pallace of Princes if the wise man be no more then wise it is a great happe if hee bee much esteemed but if he an honest man hee is beloued and well taken of all CHAP. XXXVII That Princes and other noble men ought to ouersee the Tutours of their Children lest they conceale the secrete faults of their Schollers WEe haue before rehearsed what conditions what age and what grauitie Masters ought to haue which should bring vp the children of princes Now reason would we should declare what the counsels should bee that princes should giue to the Masters and Tutors of their children before they ought to giue them any charge And after that it is meete wee declare what the counsell shall be which the Master shall giue to his Disciple hauing the gouernment of him For it is vnpossible there should happen
of your faith neyther to thinke any daunger in your authoritie And if the thing be well considered it goeth well for you and not euill for me and the reason hereof is that eyther you are good or else you are euill If you be good you ought to be glad that daily your good seruices be reported vnto mee For the continual beating into the Princes eares of the good seruices of his Seruants must needes cause at the last theyr good seruices to be well rewarded If you bee euill and in teaching my Sonne negligent it is but reason that I bee thereof aduertised For if the Father be deceyued in his opinion the Sonne shal receiue poyson in his doctrine and also because you shall not vndoe my Realme nor slaunder mee by your euill councell If the fatall Destinies permitte that my Sonne be euill I am hee that loseth most therby for my Realme shall be destroyed and my renowne vtterly abolished and in the ende my Sonne shall not enioy the Heritage And if all passe so you will care little For you will say you are not in fault since the childe would not receiue your doctrine Wherefore mee thinkes it not euill done to ouer-see you as you ouersee him For my duety is to see that you be good and your duety is to trauell that your Disciples be not euill This King Seuleucus was an honourable man and died aged as Plutarche saieth and Patroclus more plainely declareth in the third book of the warre of the Assyrians and for the contrarie his sonne Antigonus came to be a wicked prince in all his doings And this a man may well perceiue that if he had not been of his Father so much corrected and of the Schoolmaisters so well instructed without doubt hee would haue proued much more wicked then he was For young men on the one parte beeing euill inclined and on the other parte euill taught it is vnpossible but in the end they should grow to be most vicious and defamed In my opinion though children be not euil inclined yet the fathers thereof ought not to cease to corect them for in time to come those that write will commend the diligence of the fathers in correcting the vices of their children I haue declared this example to counsel that the Father be not so negligent that he should vtterly forget to looke vnto his Sonne thinking that now the Maister hath charge of him And of my counsell that Father ought in this thing to bee so aduertised that if at the first hee behelde the Childe with two Eyes that then he should looke vnto him with sower eyes For oft times it is more requisite that the Masters be punished then the Schollers Though Princes are not dayly enformed of the life of the Masters as King Seleucus was yet at the least ofttimes they ought to enquire of the state of the life and of the behauior both of the Masters and also of the children And this thing they ought not to doe onely once but also they ought to call the Masters and counsel them likewise that they haue great respect to the doctrine of their children thinking alwayes to giue them good counsell to shew vnto their Schollers afterwards for otherwise the master immediately is discouraged when hee seeth the Father to be negligent and nothing carefull for the bringing vp of his children Princes in one thing ought to haue great respect that is to say least the Masters beare with the secret vices of children And he ought not to doe thus but also to call them vnto him to aduise them to warne them to pray them to counsell and commaund them that they haue great respect to the bringing vp of his children and further that he giue them some notable counsell to the entent that the Masters afterward may make relation thereof to their schollers for there is no man so weake nor child so tender but the force which hee hath to bee vicious is enough if hee will to be vertuous I would now demaund the Masters and Tutors which doe gouerne the children of noble and vertuous men what more strength is required to be a glutton then to be a sobermā to be a babler or to be silent to be diligent or to be negligent to be honest then to be dissolute and as of these few I speake so I could recite many others In this case I will not speake as a man of science but as one of experience and that is that by the faith of a Christian I sweare that with lesse trauell of the Master and more profite of the scholler hee may bee sooner vertuous then vicious For there is no more courage required in one to be euill then strength in an other for to be good Also the Masters commonly haue an other euill property worse then this which is they beare with theyr Schollers in some secret vices when they are young from the which they cannot bee withdrawne afterwards when they are olde For it chanceth oft times that the good inclination is ouercome by euill custome and certainely the Masters which in such a case should be apprehended ought to bee punished as Traytors periured For to the Master it is greater treason to leaue his Disciple among vices then to deliuer a Fort into the hands of the enemies And let no man maruell if I call such a Master a Traytor for the one yeeldeth the Fort which is but of stones builded but the other aduentureth his sonne who is of his proper body begotten The cause of all this euill is that as the children of Princes ought to enherite Realmes and the children of great Lords hope to enherite the great estates so the Masters are more couetous then vertuous For they suffer their puples to runne at their owne wils when they be young to the end to winne their harts when they shall be old so that the extreme couetousnesse of the Masters now a dayes is such that it causeth good mens sonnes commonly to bee euill and vicious O Tutors of princes and Masters of great Lords I doe admonish you and besides that I counsell you that your couetousnes deceiue you not thinking you shal be better esteemed for being clokers of vices then louers of vertues For there is none olde or young so wicked but knoweth that good is better then euill And further I may say to you in this case that oft times God permitteth when those that were children become olde their eyes to be opened whereby they knowe the harme that you haue don them in suffering them to be vicious in their youth at what time your duty had been to haue corrected theyr vices You thought as it should seeme by your goods to be honoured for your flatterie but you finde the contrary that you are despised worthily For it is the iust iudgement of GOD that hee that committeth euill shall not escape without punishment and hee that concealeth the euill committed shall not liue
hands Notwithstanding all this you you must know that in the warre you must first often hazard your life and afterwards to the discretion of such tongues commit your honour Our folly is so foolish and the desires of men so vaine that more for one vaine word then for any profite wee desire rather to get vaine glory with traue then to seeke a good life with rest And therefore willingly wee offer our liues now to great trauell and paine onely that among vaine men hereafter we may haue a name I sweare by the immortall Gods vnto thee my Cornelius that the day of my triumph whereas to the seeming of all those of this world I went triumphing in the chariot openly yet I ensure thee my heart wept secretly Such is the vanitie of men that thogh of reason wee be admonished called and compelled yet if we flie from her and contrarie though wee be rebuked euill handeled and dispised of the world yet we will serue it If I bee not deceyued it is the prosperitie of Foolish men and want of good iudgements that cause the men to enter into others Houses by force rather then to be desirous to be quiet in their owne with a good will I meane that wee should in following vertue sooner bee vertuous then in haunting vices be vicious for speaking the truth men which in all and for all desire to please the world must needes offer themselues to great trauell and care Oh Rome Rome cursed be thy folly and cursed be he that in thee brought vp so much pride and be he cursed of men and hated of Gods which in thee hath inuented such pompe For very fewe are they that worthily vnto it haue attained but infinite are they which through it haue perished What greater vanitie or what equall lightnes can bee then that a Romaine captaine because hee hath conquered Kingdomes troubled quyet men destroyed citties beaten downe castles robbed the poore enriched tyrants caried away treasors shed much bloud made infinite widowes and taken many Noble mens liues should be afterwardes with great triumph of Rome receyued in recompence of all this damage Wilt thou now that I tell thee a greater follie which aboue al other is greatest I let thee know infinite are they that dye in the wars and one only carieth away the glorie thereof So that these wofull and miserable men thogh for their carkas they haue not a graue yet one captaine goeth triumphing alone through Rome By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee and let this passe secretly as between friends that the day of my triumph when I was in my triumphant chariot beholding the miserable captiues loden with yrons and other men carrying infinite treasours which wee had euill gotten and to see the carefull widowes weepe for the death of theyr Husbandes and remembred so many noble Romans that lost their liues in Affrike thogh I seemed to reioice outwardly yet I ensure thee I did weepe drops of bloud inwardly For he is no man borne in the worlde but rather a Furie bred vp in hell among the Furies that can at the sorrowes of another take any pleasure I know not in this case what reputation the Prince or Captaine should make of himselfe that commeth from the Warres and desireth to enter into Rome For if hee thinke as it is reason on the wounds he hath in his bodie or the Treasors which he hath wasted on the places that he hath burnt on the perills that he hath escaped on the iniuryes which hee hath receiued the multitudes of men which vniustly are slaine the Friends which hee hath lost the enemies which he hath goten the litle rest that he hath enjoyed and the great trauels that he hath suffered in such case I say that such a one with sorowful sighs ought to lamēt with bitter teares ought to be receiued In this case of triumphing I neither commend the Assyrians nor enuie the Persians nor am content with the Macedonians nor allowe the Caldeans nor content me with the Greekes I curse the Troians and condemne the Cathagenians because that they proceeded not acording to the zeale of iustice but rather of the rage of pride to set vp triumphes endamaged their countries and left an occasion to vndoe vs. O cursed Rome cursed thou hast beene cursed thou art and cursed thou shalt be For if the fatall destenies doe not lye vnto mee and my iudgement deceiue me not and fortune fasten not the naile they shall see of thee Rome in time to come that which we others presently see of the Realmes past Thou oughtest for to know that as thou by tyranny hast made thy selfe Lady of Lords so by iustice thou shalt returne to bee the seruant of seruants O vnhappy Rome and vnhappy againe I returne to call thee Tell mee I pray thee why art thou at this day so dear of Marchandize so cheape of folly where are the ancient fathers which builded thee and with their vertues honored thee in whose stead presently thou magnifyest so manie tirants which with their vices deface thee Where are all those noble and vertuous Batons which thou hast nourished in whose stead thou hast now so many vicious and vagabonds Where are those which for thy liberty did shed their bloud in whose stead now thou hast those that to bring thee into subiection haue lost their life Where are thy valiant Captaines which with such great trauell did endeauour themselues to defend the walls from enemies in whose stead haue succeeded those that haue plucked them down and peopled them with vices and vicious where are thy great priests they which did alwayes pray in the temples in whose stead haue succeeded those that know not but to defile the churches and with their wickednesse to moue the gods to wrath where are those so many Philosophers and Oratours which with their counsell gouernd thee in whose stead haue now succeeded so many simple and ignorant which with their malice doe vndoe thee O Rome all those Auncients haue forsaken thee and wee succeeded those which now are new if thou knewest truely the vertue of them and diddest consider the lightnesse of vs the day that they ended their life the selfe same day not one stone in thee should haue beene lefte vpon another And so those fields should haue sauoured of the bones of the vertuous which now stinke of the bodies of the vicious Peraduenture thou art more auncient then Babylon more beautifull then Hierusalem more rich then Carthage more strōg then Troy more in circuite then Corinth more pleasāt then Tirus more fertile then Constantinople more high then Camena more inuincible then Aquileta more priuiledged then Gādes more enuironed with Towers then Capua and more flourishing then Cantabria We see that all those notable Cities perished for all their vertuous defenders and thinkest thou for to remaine being replenished with so much vice and peopled with so many vitious O my mother
ouerthrowne a Chaunge which neuer wearieth a Spye which euer returneth a signe which beguyleth no man a way very straight a Friend that succoureth all necessities a Surgion that immediately healeth and a Renowne which neuer perisheth If thou knewest my Sonne what thing it is to be good thou wouldst be the best of the world For the more vicious a man is so much the more hee is intangled in vices and how much more a man is vertuous so much more to vertues he cleaueth If thou wilt bee vertuous thou shalt doe seruice to the Gods thou shalt giue good renowme to thy predecessours and for thy selfe thou shalt prepare a perpetuall memorie Thou shalt doe pleasures to straungers and get thee fauour of thine owne people Finally the good will honour thee with loue and the euill will serue with feare In the hystories of the warres of the Tarentines I found that renowmed Pyrrus king of the Epyrots did weare in a ring these words written It is too little punishment for a vicious man to take his life from him and it is too small reward for a vertuous man to giue him the seigniorie of all the whole earth Truly these wordes were worthy of such a man What thing can bee begunne of a vertuous man whereof wee hope not to see the end and come to good proofe I am deceyued if I haue not seene in my dayes many men which were base borne vnfitte for sciences voide of vices in the Common welth poore of goods and vnknowne of birth which with all these base conditions haue learned so many vertues that it seemed great rashnesse to beginne them and afterwards for being vertuous onely they haue founde the effects such as they thought it By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee and so the God Iupiter take me into his holy house and confirme thee my sonne in mine if I haue not knowne a Gardner and a Porter in Rome which for beeing vertuous were occasion to cast fiue rich Senators out of the Senate And the cause to make the one to gaine and the other to lose was that to the one they would not pay the pots and to the other his apples For at that time more was hee punished which tooke an apple from a poore man then hee which beat downe a rich mans house All this I haue tolde thee my son because vice abaseth the hardy prince and vertue giueth courage to the bashfull From two things I haue alwayes kept my selfe That is to say not to striue against open iustice nor to contend with a vertuous person CHAP. LV. The Emperour Marcus Aurelius followeth his purpose and among other wholesome counsels exhorteth his son to keepe wise and sage men about him for to giue him counsel in al his affayrs HItherto I haue spoken to thee generally but now I wil speake vnto thee particularly and by the immortall gods I coniure thee that thou bee very attentiue to that I will say For talking to thee as an aged Father it is reason thou heare mee as an obedient childe If thou wilt enioy long life obserue well my doctrine For the gods will not condiscend to thy hearts desires vnlesse thou receyue my wholesome counsels The disobedience and vnfaithfulnesse which children haue to their fathers is all their vndoing for oftentimes the gods do pardon the offences that are done vnto them and do not pardon the disobediences which the children bare to their Fathers I doe not require thee my sonne that thou giue mee money since thou art poore I doe not demaund that thou trauell since thou art tender I doe not demaund the reuengement of mine enemies since I haue none I doe not demaund that thou serue me since I dye I doe not demaund the Empire since I leaue it vnto thee Onely I demaund that thou gouerne thy selfe well in the Common wealth that the memory of my house bee not lost through thee If thou esteeme much that I leaue vnto thee so many realms I thinke it better to leaue to thee many good counsels wherewith thou mayest preserue thy selfe sustaine thy person and maintaine thine honour For if thou hast presumption not to profite with my counsell but to trust to thine owne mind before my flesh be eaten with wormes thou shalt be ouercome with thy enemies My sonne I haue beene young light bold vnshamefast proud enuious couetous an adulterer furious a glutton slothfull and ambitious and for that I haue fallen into so great excesses therfore I giue thee such good aduise for that man which in his youth hath beene very worldly from him in age proceedeth ripe counsell That which vntill this time I haue counselled thee that which to my death I will counsell thee I desire that once at the least thou proue it And if it doe thee harme leaue it and if it doe thee good vse it For there is no medicine so bitter that the sicke doth refuse to take if thereby hee thinke hee may bee healed I pray thee I exhort thee and I aduise thee my sonne that thy youth beleeue my age thy ignorance beleeue my knowledge thy sleepe beleeue my watch the dimnesse of thy eyes beleeue the clearenesse of my sight thy imagination beleeue my vertue and thy suspition beleeue my experience For otherwise one day thou shalt see thy selfe in some distresse where small time thou shalt haue to repent and none to finde remedy Thou mayest say vnto me my sonne that since I haue beene young I let thee to bee young and that when thou shalt bee aged thou wilt amend I aunswere thee that if thou wilt liue as young yet at least gouerne thy selfe as olde In a Prince which gouerneth his cōmon wealth well many miseries are dissembled of his person euen as for mighty affayres ripe counsels are necessary so to endure the troubles of the Empire the person needeth some recreation for the bow-string which alwaies is stretched either it lengthneth or it breaketh Whether Princes be young or old there can be nothing more iust then for the recreation of themselues to seeke some honest pastimes And not without a cause I say that they bee honest for sometimes they accompany with so dishonest persons and so vnthrifty that they spend their goods they lose their honour and weary their persons more then if they were occupied in the affaires of the common wealth For thy youth I leaue thee children of great Lords with whom thou maiest passe the time away And not without cause I haue prouided that with thee they haue been brought vp from thy infancy for after thou camest to mans estate inheriting my goods if perchance thou wouldest accompany thy self with yong men thou shouldst find them well learned for thy wars I leaue thee valiant captains though indeed things of war are begunn by wisedome yet in the end the issue falleth out by fortune for stewards of thy treasurs I leaue thee faithful men And not without cause I
weale iustice in theyr owne house the king troth in their mouthes and fidelity in their hearts the good and honest men grace in their fauour and that the ill and wicked boast themselues no more of their authority and office and that the poor shall praise them for their good works and the King also finde them faithfull seruants I will at this present with mine owne hand giue them such faith and assurance that they shall neede neuer to feare that God will forsake them nor that men can hurt them that they shall neuer bee detected of any infamy ouerthrown by any misfortune neither put out of fauour and credit with their prince at any time HERE FOLLOWETH CERTAINE OTHER LETTERS WRITTEN BY Marcus Aurelius Selected out of the Spanish Copie not written in the French Tongue CHAP. I. Of the huge Monster seene in Scicilie in the time of Marcus Aurelius and of the Letters hee wrote with bloud vpon a gate IN the yeare of the foundation of Rome 720. and xlii of the age of Marcus Aurelius and two yeares before hee tooke possession of the empire the twenty day of August about the going downe of the Sunne in the Realme of Scicill in the City of Palermo a port of the sea there chanced a thing perillous to them that saw it then and no lesse dreadfull to those which shall heare it now Whiles they of Palermo were celebrating a great feast with much ioye that they had vanquished the Nauy of the Numedians the Pirates diuiding their bootie were preuented by the Magistrates of the City who cōmaunded the whole spoyle to be laide vp till the warres were finished for such was the Law of the Isle And truly it was a iust law for oftentimes the onely let why the peace is not made betweene Princes is because there wanteth riches to satisfie the damage done in wars When all the people were returned home vnto their houses to Supper for it was in the Summer there appeared an huge Monster in the Citie in this forme Hee seemed to be of the length of three cubites his head was balde so that his skul did appeare Hee had no eares saue onely two holes in the necke whereby men iudged that hee heard he had two writhen hornes like a Goate his right arme was longer then his left his hands were much like the feete of horses without throte his shoulders and his head were both of one height his shoulders shone as doeth the scales of fishes his brest was all rough of haire his Face in all things was much like vnto a man saue that hee had but one Eye which was in the middest of his fore-head In his Nose there was but one nosethrill From the middle downwards there was nothing seen because it was all couered he sate on a charyot with fowre wheeles which was drawn with fowre beasts That is two Lyons before and two Beares behind No man can tell of what wood the Charriot was made In fashion it differed nothing from those which other men do accustomably vse Within this Chariot stood a great Chauldron with eares wherein the Monster was wherefore it could not be seene but from the middle vpward It wandred a great space in the Cittie from one gate to another casting out sparkes of fire The feare and terror hereof was so great throughout all the Cittie that some Women with childe were with great daunger deliuered and others beeing weake and fainte hearted fell downe dead And all the people both men and women great and small ranne to the Temples of Iupiter Mars and Februa with dolefull clamours and cryes making their importunate prayers At the same time all these Rouers were lodged in the Gouernours Pallace of the Cittie whose name was Solyno borne at Capua where also the riches was kept After the Monster had beene in all patts of the Cittie or in the most part thereof it came to the pallace where the Pyrates were and cut one of the Lyons eares off and with the bloud therof wrote these Letters vppon the pallace gate which was shut R. A. S. P. I. P. These Letters were of diuers men diuersly interpreted so that the interpretations were moe then the letters And in the end a woman-prophetesse greatly esteemed for her science vnto whome God had giuen this secrete knowledge opened the true meaning of these Letters saying R. signifieth Reddite A aliena S sivultis P. propria I. in Pace P. possidere Which altogether is to say Render vnto others that which is theirs if you in quyet will possesse your owne Truly the pyrates were wonderfully afrayd of this sudden commaundement and he Woman was highly commended for her exposition This being done the Monster went the same night out of the City vnto a high hill called Iamicia there stood for the space of 3 dayes in the sight of the City the Lions with terrible voyces roaring the Beares with no lesse fearefull cries raging and finally the monster most dreadful flames casting During all this time there was neither bride seene in the aire nor beast in the fields And the people offered such great sacrifices vnto their Gods that they brake the veines of their handes and feet and offered the bloud therof to see if they coulde appease theyr wrathes These three dayes being passed there appeared in the Element a maruellous darke cloud which seemed to darken the whole earth and therewith it beganne to thunder and lighten so terrible that sundry houses fell to the ground and infinite men ended their liues And last of all there came such a flame of fire from the Monster that it burned both the Pallace where the Rouers were and all other thinges that were therein so that all was consumed with fire yea the very stones themselues The tempest was so great that there fell aboue two thousand houses and there dyed more then tenne thousand persons In this place where this Monster was on the toppe of the Hill the Emperour edified a sumptuous temple to the God Iupiter in perpetuall memory of the same Whereof afterwards Alexander Emperour hauing warre with the people of the Isle made a strong Castle CHAP. II. Of that which chaunced vnto Antigonus a Citizen of Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius AT the same time when this woefull chaunce happened in the Isle there dwelled a Romane in the same City called Antigonus a man of a noble bloud and well strucken in age who with his wife and daughter were banished two yeares beefore from Rome The cause of this banishment was this There was an olde laudable custome in Rome instituted by Quintus Cincinnatus the Dictator that two of the most auncient Senators should go with the Censour newly created in the moneth of December to visite al Rome and to examine seuerally euery Romane declaring vnto him the 12. Tables and also the particular Decrees of the Senate demaunding of of them if they knew any man that had not obserued these lawes and if they
art esteemed beautifull bee likewise honoured for taking of good councell In this sort though my losse be much and thy patience little yet shall they account me wise in giuing counsell and the most happie to follow it One thing I will say vnto thee and pardon mee therein Women bee much defamed in that they will take no counsell and such as doe assure their renowme so much on the iudgement of others as they condemne well doing before I thinke good if it so like thee and would if thou wilt that thou shouldest doe in all 〈…〉 I haue counselled thee I will say no more Lady Lyuia but that I do present vnto thee all my vnfortunate troubles my sighes as a desperate man my seruice as thy seruant my troubled griefes my wordes of Phylosophie and my teares as a Louer I send thee heere a gyrstle of Gold on condition that thou alwayes sixe thine Eyes on that and thy heart on mee I pray the Gods giue mee to thee and thee to mee Marke the open Phylosopher wrote this in great 〈◊〉 FINIS The heatheÌ„ may teach Christians how to liue 〈…〉 A worthy sentence of Plato A prettie sentence The trees of the earth sheweth the malice of man A good lesson for all persons to follow A comparison necessiry to be respected A Sentence of Paulus Dyaconus The end of warre both fickle vnconstant A speech of Xenophon How daÌ„gerous a thing it is to meddle with Princes affaires The paines that the Authour tooke in this booke The inordinate loue betweene Nero and Pompeia The folly of the Emperour Nero described A commendation of Demosthenes the Philosopher How happy a thing it is to liue vnder a vertuous prince 〈…〉 Diuers Historiographers at controuersie what things were most authentike New things and vnaccustomed ought not to be vsed The prouidence of the Ants. A description of the Alphabet A worthy sentence of Plato 〈…〉 Spayne coÌ„mended for learned meÌ„ expert in the warres The property of this â—ooke of the Dyall of Princes A notable sentence Iulius Caesar A worthy sentence of What was the occasioÌ„ the ancients aduentured their liues How difficult hard a matter it is to attaine to true honour The cruelty of Tyrants heee described layd open A mans owne conscience a iudge betweene truth and lyes A poesie which Cato the Censor had engrauen in his Ring How much Homer was helde in account The commendation of the 〈…〉 of Marcus Aurelius The definition of time according to Archimenedes The saying â—o Plato The opinioÌ„ of Aulus Gellius coÌ„cerning time The reason why this is called the Iron-age For what cause Marcus Aurelius was chosen Emperour The diuersity of mens opinions One ought not rashly to coÌ„demne another mans wryting The time when the Author began to translate the booke of Marcus Aurelius The booke of Marcus Aurelius at the first imprinted without the knowledge of the Authour Marcus Aurelius a Romane born A 〈…〉 to â—l Rome The Epitaph on the graue of Camilla A worthy law among the RomaÌ„s Chaunges of rulers breed florâ— of vices Concerning the Father of Marcus Aurelius The Romanes foure Garrisons Distribution of offices Honourable Armies of the Romans Gbâ—â—uation among the Roman Antiquaries The answere of Phalaris to a Romane Philosopher The triumphes of Marcus Aurelius The Climateriall yeares of mans life The imperfections of young men deserue no publication A most wise and worthy obseruation The heart of a man is seldome satisfied A notable custome in Rome The happines of any Kingdome Cicero in lib de Legibus Idlenes is the badge of all lewdnes The golden and copper dayes of Rome A famous Visitation vsed by the ancient Romanes A towne in the middest of Campania The folly of a Romane Censour The wisedome of a poore Host of Nolo The harme ensuing by euill education of children A Countrey of the lesser Asia neere Phrygia Conference betwixt Marcus and his Master Fiue especial respects among the Romanes Where the Gods are displeased all goodnes decayeth A most diuine and Christian Confession Diuersity of Nations The occasion of the warres betweene the Alleines â—â— Armenians Cicero de natura Deorum â— Notable sentences of Bruxellus The speech of Bruxellus at his death Paul Oros De Mach. Mund. lib. 6 An ancient custome among the Romanes A rule deseruing obseruation Considerations resolued on bâ— the Romans for their owne good The wilfull ignorance and peruersity of the Gentiles Of the great concorde agreement of Noahs Arke The saying of Aristotle Weake is the arine of man to resist against God The mighty Army of Senacherib ouerthrowne The succes of Ioshua ouer Kings and Kingdomes The God of Troy could not resist the Grecian The dignity of the church militant The enmity of nations one against another Variety of opinions concerning the true God Arist in Metaph lib. 12. Mar. Var. in lib mist Theol. Cic. in lib. de nat Deorum Emperours made Gods or Deuils by decree of the Senate Fiue things fitting an Emperour Romaine 〈…〉 goddesse A worthie saying No goodnesse but proceedeth from God All power is in the hand of of God Wherefore Princes should obey God How much men are bound to the Almightie God Hercules de repub Cicero de natura Deorum Pub. Vict. De nuptiis Antiq. Naturall peculiar Gods Plin. ad Rutil Cic de na tu Deorum Couetousnes the root of all euill The iust iudgement of God Good counsell for women Difference betweene a good Prince a Tyrant The speech of Sophia vnto Tiberius Tiberius answere The frailtie of man The saying of Epimenides 〈…〉 The memorable deedes of Tiberius Treasure found by Tiberius A good Lesson Paul Diacon Lib 18. de gestis Roman The false opinion of the Gentils 〈…〉 The outrages of the Gothes A worthy saying approned by Narsetes Buccelinus did many outrages in Italy The inconstancy of Fortune King Synduals Epitaph Ennie a foe to all vertue Narsetes reply The seuere sentence of the Empresse Strange sights seene in the ayre The ingratitude of the Emperour against Narsetes A good obseruation 〈…〉 Marcus Aurelius speech to Gorbon Afflictions incident to all men The miseries of Marcus Aurelius All is worth nothing without the helpe of God The fickle estate or the worlde Difference betweene the good the euill The dâ—â—ty of a good Prince The difference betweene a good prince and a Tyrant Hee that violateth the Temple feareth not God An ancient 〈…〉 The vow of Marcus Camillus The duetie of euery good Captaine The reward of well doing The 〈…〉 into the hands of Pylates The great zeale of the Romains The difference of women in Rome Titus Liuius lib 2. 5. and 9. Difference betweene the true God and the false Princes ought to excell their Subiects What pleasure it is to serue the liuing God What is required in a good Prince Like Prince like people How circumspect Princes ought to be God onely is iust What vertue 〈…〉 to bee in a good prince God the