a liue man and one dead Aristippus aunswered likewise sende them into a farre countrey and then you shall knowe and there is nothing but knowledge which causeth a man to bee esteemed And the oracle giuen vnto the Greeks of the doubling of the house was interpreted by the wise men that it was ment thereby that they should leaue armes and conuerse with the Muses and learning which would mollifie their passions and driue away ignorance and procure courage and good councell as Agesilaus maintained that the lawes of Lycurgus bread a contempt of pleasures To accustome youth in like sorte to followe vertue to brydle passions and choler to shunne vice and lying to enter into consideration how good and vertuous personages haue in all times behaued themselues to remember the harmes happened to the wicked and the blessings and honours which haue accompanied the good bredeth a great quiet al the life long because such a custom hath a maruailous efficacie in aduauncing of a man And betimes is the iudgement that proceedeth from an euil custome to be corrected the which in a vile nature doeth ofte by processe of time throwe downe and abase our mindes and render vs contemptible The which may be helped and amended through vertuous exercises For if that resistance which reason maketh to the appetite of eating and drinking forceth verie often hunger thirst much more easie shal it be for one to cut off couetousnes ambition pride enuie choler curiositie lying and other vices by refraining and abstaining from those things which he coueteth so as in the end they shall al remaine cleane discomfited To abstain also from pleasures which are permitted is a good exercise to meete with such as are forbidden I leaue here to declare howe much France was dishonored when as the Polakes made their entrie into Paris accompanied with the French gentlemen who for the most parte were dome not able to speake or vnderstand Latine and were rather brought vp to wear a rapiar be their syde ryde a horse danse and playe at fense then to haue skill in languages and artes with which the verie Barbarians in old time were adorned honoured became more valiant in the warres As Alexander and sundry other great Captaines and Princes haue confessed Yea him selfe grew extreme angry that Aristotle had published his Metaphisicks because he said he had rather a desire to passe all others in learning and knowledge then in armes and force And wee before haue noted that he attributed all his victories to what hee had learned of Philosophie The Emperour Antonin the Philosopher went himselfe to seeke out learned men in their owne houses saying that it verie well became a man yea though he were olde to learne what hee was ignorant of The which Cato and other of our lawyers haue affirmed And Paulus Iouius writeth of Charles the fifth that his schoolemaster Adrian who since was Pope did with verie greate cause often times foretell him that hee woulde greatly repent that in his youth hee had not learned the Latine tongue For it is verie requisite that youth be brought vp in that parte of learning which is called humanitie because that without the discipline thereof the worlde shoulde liue but brutishly And that it bee accustomed to make account of lawes and superiours and to keepe a straight discipline in the manner of life which it chooseth be it in warre and defence of their countrie And a man followeth all his life longe his first addressinge in his youth As if a tree blossome not in the spring it will hardly beare fruit in the Autumne The which ought to stirre parents to chastise their children and to make them to bee diligently taught and not to pamper them As Plinie writeth of Apes which choak their little ones in imbrasing them too harde And wee ought greatly to weigh the saying of Origen that the sinnes which the euill nurtured and vnchastised children commit shalbee layde to the fathers charge as it is sayde in Samuel of Ely And if it be written of Xenocrates that his auditours of dissolute became temperate and modest what fruite are wee to thinke that youth will beare through the sweetenesse and benignitie of the Muses That is through the knowledge of learning which as Plutarque writeth in the life of Sertorius causeth them to tame and sweeten their nature which before was wylde and sauage holdinge the meane by the compasse of reason and reiectinge the extreame And Lycurgus the lawgiuer sayde that hee neuer vsed to set downe his lawes in writinge because such as had beene well nourished woulde approoue and followe whatsoeuer were moste expedient for the time Which was the cause of the lawes so muche commended by Diodorus that children shoulde bee brought vp in learninge at the publicke expense To bee shorte good bringing vp of youth maketh it to bee true constant and ioyfull For hauing a good conscience true comforte and resolution which sweeteneth all the bitternesse of this life and knowinge the causes why God hath alwayes beene accustomed to punish his maketh them carrie all thinges cheerefully not doubtinge but that hee loueth and hath a fatherly care ouer them So doe they repose themselues vppon the assurance of this good will and endeuour to obey him and dye with a good hope acquitinge them selues of their duetie Sundrie haue greatly commended the lawes of the Lydes because they depriued such children as were not vertuous from their enheritaunce which caused them to correcte their naughtie inclinations and to shunne vice as also they had certaine officers in sundrye prouinces which tooke care of youth and punished the parentes which did not well bringe vp their children And for as much as it is a great happinesse vnto a countrey when the Prince hath beene well instructed Plato in his Alcibiades and Xenophon doe write that out of the whole realme of Persia were foure moste sufficient men chosen to bringe vp the Kinges children the one in learninge the seconde to teache them all their life to bee true the thirde to instruct them to commaunde their passions and not to addicte themselues to pleasures the fourth to make them hardie and couragious Wee ought to make our profite of the lamentation which the Prophet Baruche made in that the young sought after wisedome vppon the earth and became expounders of fables and knewe not the waye of wisedome which was the cause of their destruction Dauid also founde no meanes for a young man to redresse his waye but in takinge heede thereto according to Gods worde The Apostle admonished Timothie to flye from the lustes of youth and to humble the fleshe to the spirite to the ende no aduauntage bee giuen vnto the enimie which will bee an euill token for the rest of the course which is to bee runne all our life longe And Saint Peter commaundeth young men to bee wise modest and humble
Saint Paul ioyneth shamefastnesse and grauitie of which hee desireth Titus to bee the patrone And Ecclesiasti cus willeth them to giue no eare vnto the enchauntrise for feare-of beeing surprised And as wee haue before mentioned offices and riches which are lefte vnto children are sometime the verie cause of their destruction except the knowledge and feare of God bee imprinted within them For this cause Ecclesiastes writeth Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth whiles the euill dayes come not And Ieremiah in his Lamentations sayeth It is good for a man that he beare the yoke in his youth because young men become vnruely except they be helde short God also sayd of Abraham I know that hee wil command his sonnes and his housholde after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to do rightuousnes and iudgement And in Deuteromie I will cause them heare my wordes that they may learne to feare mee all the dayes that they shal liue vpon the earth and that they may teache their children And euery Christian is commaunded to followe al things that are honest towards al men and to auoide all apparances of euil referring all to the glorie of God and betimes to accustome himselfe thereunto to the end that more easily he may broke the stormes of this life and without any trouble wade out of all businesse And to this ende is euery man to beseeche at Gods handes that hee will lighten him through his word and bend his hart therein to obey him From this good education proceedeth great happines obedience to God their King and superiors choyse of vertuous men without money rewardes or offices and euery man perfourmeth his duetie the better in that vocation to which he is called and followeth other lessons and reformations noted at large before CHAP. XLIX Of certaine points which might be added to this discourse THis matter which we haue vndertaken to discourse of is so frutefull and ample that I were able to heap sundrie Chapters one vppon another containing summarily what the office of Kings Prelates Clergie Captaines soldiars merchants and artificers maisters seruants fathers children Iudges counsellers practisers at the law is therein to discouer the abuse and periurie which is vsed in this time There were also verie great meanes to dilate at large of the inconuenience which sophistrie bringeth the which the lawiers terme cauilling when from trueth through some alteration the disputation is brought to that which is most euidently false In old time it was terribly detested for it corrupted all artes and disciplines and bread sundrie heresies and false opinions I were able likewise to set downe howe many cosin themselues which in mariage respect more the wealth and beautie then modestie good education of a mayde and are not so much husbandes vnto their wiues as slaues vnto their wealth for which they abandon that commaundement and authoritie which God and all lawes haue aforded vnto them ouer their wiues ouer whome they ought to rule not as the lorde ouer his seruant but as our Lorde and sauiour Iesus Christ doeth ouer his Church and the soule ouer the bodie through a mutuall loue and reciprocrate affection wherewith he is tyed vnto it And Salomon calleth the contract of marriage the contract of God as more excellent than any other Lycurgus Solon and the twelue lawes ordained that maydens should be marryed without dower for the causes before specified And some haue written of the Aegiptians that if any receiued money with his wife he remained as a slaue vnto her And in Plautus he which was cast in the teeth that he had nothing with his wife aunswered that if euerie one would do like him there would be better agreement and amitie among the citizens and their wiues woulde honour them much more and be lesse chargeable vnto them Strabo commended the lawes of the Massiliens which forbad him which was richest to giue with his daughter aboue one hundred crownes and ten for her apparel and iewels And it were verie requisite that the good lawes in France made to this ende mought be better obserued And likewise as a matter depending hereunto there were ministred verie great occasion of reprehending and detesting such as they terme tyers of pointes which oppose themselues against that holie contract and ordinance of God and his commaundement and are the cause of diuorces enmities whoredomes and other euils combating with the Maiestie of God and damning themselues through a secret alliance which they make with Sathan It were not also much out of the way to shewe what a pernitious lye they incurre which from the byrth of their daughter bring her vp so delicate that shee is lesse fit to performe the part of a good houswife and is alwayes more sickely seruing rather as a picture or dead image then fit to holde that place which shee ought And to declare withall the great iniurie which weomen offer vnto their children in denying that milke vnto them with which they were nourished within their wombe with great paine and greefe drying vp that holy fountaine of their breastes giuen of God to that ende bannishing their children into the handes of a strange nource often times a whore drunke pockie and euill conditioned of which the saide children sauour all their life long as wee see by experience too much Lampidius writeth that Titus was subiect to sundrie diseases by reason of his Nurce And Dion that Caligula was the more cruell by the nature of his Nurce and that shee rubbed the end of her teat with bloud And that Tiberius sundrie other were giuen to wine hauing bin weaned with sops steped in wine The which we see in lambs nourished by goats in seeds fruits which hold of the earth I leaue al other reasons recited by Aulus Gellius And for as much as an Embassadour sent from a Prince is as his eye his eare his tongue bindeth him by what he promiseth it had not bin impertinent to haue discoursed how in choise to be made of him his honestie age experience integritie learning dexteritie grauitie ought to be considered because by his carryage of himself traine strangers do oftē time iudge of the whole nation as if he had bin chosen out of the moste excellent And it were verie conuenient to send with him some nūber of yong gētlemē wel brought vp to make them capable of the like charges to learn the passages fashions alliances maners of the countrie to fyle pollish their own brayne with strangers I coulde also describe the inconueniences which arise by Masques which disguise both the bodie minde causeth great impudencie the verie cause of so manylyes vncomly speaches of the execution of so great wickednes S. Ciprian entreating of the apparell of virgins alleageth to this purpose the exāple of Iudges who whē he saw Thamar iudged her a
crownes to whosoeuer would present him with one that was the ringleader of certain theeues the same man presented him selfe obtained both the crownes his pardon Wee reade in sundrie places of Titus Liuius how the Romanes were euer verie curious in maintaining their promise Polibius being a Greeke writeth of them that their verie word was ynough among the Romans and in Greece although they had Notaries and seales oftentimes they broke their faith for which they were grieuously punished And in Iosua it is written that he kept his faith with the deceitfull Barbarians to the end saith he that the wrath of God should not be vpō his people because of the othe which they sware vnto him as it afterwards fel vpon al them of the house of Saul who were hanged for hauing vyolated their owne And the Prophet writing in his Psalmes of such conditions as the faithfull ought to be endued with insysteth greatly vpon this that they keeepe their promise yea though it were to their owne hinderance Cicero in his offices sheweth by many examples that ones faith is broken if one doe ought to the detriment therof what colour soeuer he will set vpon it But that we should not runne further hedlong into these inconueniences Seneca wrote that he which was not able to set light a sottish shame is no disciple of Philosophie Which opinion Brutus was likewise of as Plutarque writeth And it is an ouergreat fault in Princes either not to dare to refuse or too lightly to agree to whatsoeuer is demaunded of them which they ought to endeuour to refourm by custome proceeding from lesser things refusing greater It is also required that we promise not ought which proueth not to our aduantage or ought els that lyeth not in our power but diligently to take heede that we suffer not our selues to be enforced or led with a nyce shamefastnes which manie haue when they dare not contrarie or refuse to graunt what they are required for which oft times they much repent themselues as Zeno wisely did reprehend him who was not ashamed to require a matter both vniust vnreasonable And Rutilius to one that found fault that his friendship was so light set by as not to bee able to obtaine his request made answere But what haue I to do with thine if thou wouldest enforce me to do contrarie to al iustice And king Agesilaus said to certain importunate persons that a man ought not to demaund at a Kings hands ought that were vniust and being intreated by his father to giue iudgement in a cause contrarie to right he aunswered him you haue taught me from my youth to follow the lawes I wil yet now obey you in ought not iudging against them Alexander the great made the like aunswere to his mother adding further that shee asked to great a recompence for hauing borne him nine monethes and because of her yl cariage of her selfe when Antipater to whom Macedonia fel dyed he prayed his subiectes as Diodorus wrote neuer to leaue the managyng of affaires in the hands of a womā The Emperour Frederick said to certaine his minions about him that were verie importunate to get into their hands some of the auncient Domaine of the Empire that he rather chose to be accounted of smal liberalitie then periured They write as much of Sygismond CHAP. X. Examples of euils happened to breakers of promise and of that which dependeth thereupon THE examples of such miseries as they haue runne into which haue not performed their promises ought to make vs thinke their faultes more strange then we win for Titus Liuius recyteth of a Dictator of Albany who was drawne in peeces with foure horses for that he had broken his faith the citie of Albe was rased cleane downe and Carthage dissolued into ashes and the people of Capua murthered and kept in bondage He maketh likewise mention of sundrie ostages giuen in pledge for the better assurance of such treaties as passed thorough the Volsques Tarentines and others who were executed for the breache of promise their people made Zedechiah king of Iuda hauing rebelled contrarie to his promise was led captiue after that his sonnes were flaine before his eyes and had his owne eyes put out Caracalla the Emperour hauing pursued the king of Persia contrary to his promise was himselfe afterward slaine Iustinian hauing falsified his faith to the Bulgares was sent into banishment Cleomenes hauing made a league with the Argiens seeing that vnder the assurance therof they were lulled a sleepe murthered and imprisoned some of them neuertheles not being able to surprise the towne which was defended by the women ran mad killed himselfe The king of Hungarie Ladislaus after certaine victories obtained against Amurates made a most honorable truce during which hee suffered himselfe to be persuaded by the Cardinal Iulian Embassadour from Pope Eugenes to break it which was the cause why the said turke had a most memorable conquest and the said Ladislaus togither with the chiefe of his armie the said Cardinal were either slaine outright or stifeled within the marishes And after such time as he had thus falsified his faith there ensued an infinit number of mischiefes thorough out all Christendome And euen so went it with vs after we had conquered Milan and Naples for that we obserued not duelie the treatise which wee there promised And for the like cause before that happened the Scicilian Vespers and for that we rather gaue credite to Pope Clement the fourth then to the counsel of the Erle of Flanders Pope Adrian tooke a solemne othe to obserue the peace concluded with the Emperour Frederick and afterwardes breaking it as he dranke he was choaked with a flye It came in like sort to passe with Pope Alexander the sixth who tooke himselfe such poyson as he had prepared for the Cardinals he had inuited to supper And to Iulius the second who was wont to say that the treaties he concluded was but to abuse and ruine the one through the other Andronicus Conneus cleane contrarie to his faith giuen to the infants of Emanuel and to them of Nice vsurped the Empire but after sundrie other yll happes hee was soone after hung by the feete and hewen in peeces Loys Sforce vncle to Iohn Galleace inuested himselfe in the Duchie of Milan Hee likewise broke his promise made to King Francis He was afterwards carryed prisoner into France Michael Paleologue beeing chosen Emperour of the Greekes promised swore that he would render vp the Empire into the hands of Iohn Lascaris when he shoulde come of age but notwithstanding he stil helde it He died miserably to his posteritie ensued an infinite number of mischiefs was occasion of the first beginning of the Turkish Monarchie Charles duke of Burgondie hauing violated his faith promised to the Suissers and
vnto him Saint Ambrose happening into a rich mans house and vnderstanding that he had euery thing as he would wish it neuer hauing occasion of disquiet or anger presently departed fearing least hee shoulde bee partaker of some misfortune anon after was the house swalowed vp with an earthquake Saint Ierome alledgeth an auncient prouerbe that a riche man is either wicked of himself or heire to a wicked man And he wrote vnto Saluia that euen as pouertie is not meritorious if it be not borne with patience no more are riches hurtful if they be not abused The which S. Chrisostom in his homelie of the poore man and the rich more amply entreateth of CHAP. XIIII Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the trueth PArents haue beene commanded to bring vp and instruct their children but especially to teach them how to knowe and feare God in Exodus Chap. 12. 13. Deut. 4.6 7. in Saint Paul to the Ephes 6. in sundry Psalms In Persia Lacedemonia and sundrie other prouinces the most vertuous graue and learned men had the charge of the education instruction of youth and endeuoured most especially to make them true and hate lying following Platoes counsell in sundrie of his treatises And in Alcibiades he writeth that there was giuen vnto the Princes of Persia their children a tutor which had care aboue all things to make them loue the trueth for of the foure vertues which concerne manners to wit Prudence Iustice Fortitude Temperance the trueth especiall draweth neere vnto Iustice which rendreth vnto euerie one what appertaineth vnto him and kepeth equality being the spring and foundation of all vertue and preseruer of the societie of man Which was the cause that in time past they had so great care to teach their children togither with their mothers milke a habite and custome to be true and hate lying dissembling and hypocrisie and that they imploy that time which is giuen vnto them to all matters of vertue and reforme them making them more aduised and capable to serue God the common wealth and their parents Diuers Emperours haue been greatly praised for erecting of common scholes the better to instruct youth to discerne truth from lying And those Princes which gaue stipends to scholemasters were accounted to haue don more good to the common wealth then they which ordained wages for Physitions because the former bettered the wit the other onely the bodie which is the lesser parte and of lesse account For this cause Alexander the Emperour Commenes and diuers other are recommended to famous memorie for prouiding for all things necessarie to scholemasters readers and poore scholers Great account was made of the speache of Leo the Emperour who wished that scholemasters might receiue the paye of men of armes Guichardin writeth that sundrie Popes gaue consent to the Venetians to gather money of the Clergie the better to encourage and find scholers in learning And there were in the olde time certain persons chosen out of the quarters wardes of good townes which they called Sophronistes who had a continuall charge and care to controll moderate and rule the manners of youth which being well instructed all things prosper more fortunately and euery one doth his duetie without neede of any more lawes For as Diogenes said and since Cicero Learning is the temperance of youth the comfort of old age standing for wealth in pouertie and seruing for an ornament to riches as more at large is discoursed of hereafter CHAP. XV. How requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken ECclesiasticus doeth counsell vs to vse but fewe words because manie multiply vanitie and a man of good vnderstanding speaking litle shalbe much honored Pithagoras willed all those he receiued into his schoole to tarrie fiue yeares before they spoke And it is euer seene that children which are long before they speake in the end do euer speak best as amōg manie it is written of Maximilian the first that they which cannot hold their peace doe neuer willingly giue eare to ought And by a good occasion one made answere to a prater It is great maruel that a man hauing feet can endure thy babling And those that haue beene long time past haue saide that men taught vs to speake but the Gods to hold our peace as also it is written in the Prouerbs that God hath the gouernement of the tongue and that a wise men doth euer hold his peace he that can countermaund his mouth keepeth his own soule Ioyned with all that by a light worde oftentimes great paine is endured whereas scilence doth not onely no-whit alter but is not at al subiect to accounte nor amendes For this cause one being asked why Lycurgus made so fewe lawes aunswered that such as vsed fewe words had no neede of many lawes and woulde accustome their youth to deedes and not to writing And the great K Francis made aunswere to one that asked pardon for one speaking euil of him if hee will learne to speake litle I wil learne to pardon much And Cicero in his booke of the Oratour writeth that Cato and Piso esteemed breefenes a great praise of eloquence so as thereby they make themselues to bee fully conceiued Among such as speake much I comprehende following the opinion of them of olde time such as speake either what is hurtfull or serueth to no ende or as Saint Paul calleth them thinges pleasing for the time which doe no whit edifie Plutarque setteth vs down certaine Geese and Plinie certaine Cranes which when they passe ouer Cicilie vppon the mount Taurus fill their becke full of flintes for feare of making any noyse least they shoulde serue for a praye to the Eagles that are there The like experience wee haue had of Quailes after haruest in France Aristotle sending Calistenes a kinsman and friend of his to Alexander counselled him to speake but little which he not obseruing it fared with him but badlye Simonides was wont to saye that hee repented himselfe oftentimes in speaking but neuer in holdinge his peace The which Valerius attributeth to Xenocrates folowing the rule which is in our lawe that those thinges hurte which are expressed but not such as are not And Apollonius saied that many words breede often times offence but that holding ones peace was the more sure Greatly was the breefenes of the Lacedemonians praysed in their letters as amongest other thinges of a Prince which put in his aunswere but this worde No and that which wee touched aboue of Archidamus to the Aeoliens disswading them from warre saying that quietnesse is good And K. Philip the faire aunswering a letter of Adolphe the Emperor gotten by the Englishmen in al his pacquet had but these two wordes too much
al things to detest it to vse liberalitie to the ende they may prouoke drawe euerie man to embrase the good happines of their estate holde men still diligent in their seruice in the duetie of good men And as Salust rehearseth Bocchus the king of the Getules had reason to tell Sylla that it was a lesse shame for a king to be ouercome by armes then by courtesie And before hee wrote of the same Sylla that hee neuer willingly woulde receiue a pleasure at the handes of any except he mought verie speedily requite them and neuer asked his owne of any studying aboue all thinges to make multitudes of nations fast bound vnto him CHAP. XXXV That lying hath made Poets and Painters to be blamed and of the garnishing of houses PLato wrote that Poetrie consisted in the cunning inuention of fables which are a false narration resembling a true and that therein they did often manifest sundrie follies of the gods for this cause he banished and excluded them out of his common wealth as men that mingled poyson with honie Besides thorough their lying and wanton discourses they corrupt the manners of youth and diminish that reuerence which men ought to carrie towards their superiors and the lawes of God whom they faine to be replenished with passions vice And the principall ornament of their verses are tales made at pleasure foolish disorderly subiectes cleane disguising the trueth hystorie to the end they might the more delight and for this cause haue they bin thrust out of sundry cities Among other after that Archilocus came into Sparta he was presently thrust out as soon as they had vnderstood how he had writtē in his poemes that it was better to lose a mans weopens then his life forbad euer after al such deceitful poesies Hence grew the common prouerb that al Poets are lyers And it was written of Socrates that hee was yl brought vp to poesie because he loued the truth And a man mought say that this moued Caligula to cōdemne Virgils Homers books because of their prophane fables which S Paul exhorted Timothie to cast away Plutarque telleth of a Lacedemonian who when he was demanded what he thought of the Poet Tirteus answered that he was very good to infect yong mens wits And Hieron of Siracusa condemned Epicarinus the Poet in a great fine because in his wiues presence he had repeated certaine lasciuious verses And Viues writeth that Ouid was most iustly sent into banishment as an instrument of wantonnesse He which first inuented the Iambique versifying to byte and quippe was the first that felt the smart And Archilocus the Poet fell into confusion through his own detractions as Horace and sundry other haue written and Aulus Gellius reporteth that Orpheus Homer and Hesiodus gaue names honours to the gods And Pithagoras saide that their soules hong in hel vpon a tree still pulled of euery side by serpents for their so damnable inuention And Domitian banished Iuuenal and Pope Paul 2. and Adrian 6. held them as enimies to religion Eusebius in his 8. booke first Chapter de Preparatione Euangelica setteth down an example of a Poet who for hauing lewdly applyed a peece of Scripture to a fable suddenly lost his naturall sight and after that he had done penance it was restored to him againe And as touching Painters they haue beene greatly misliked of for representing such fictions Poetical deceits For as Simonides saide Painting is a dumme Poesie and a Poesie is a speaking painting the actions which the Painters set out with visible colours and figures the Poets recken with wordes as though they had in deede beene perfourmed And the ende of eche is but to yeeld pleasure by lying not esteeming the sequele and custome or impression which hereby giue to the violating of the lawes and corruption of good manners For this cause the Prophets called the statuas images and wanton pictures the teachers of vanitie of lyes deceite abhomination And Lactantius writeth that a counterfait tooke the name of counterfaiting and all deceit as wee before declared springeth from falshood and lying This was it which mooued S. Iohn in the ende of his first Epistle to warne men to keepe themselues from images for an image doeth at their fansie counterfait the bodie of a man dead but is not able to yeelde the least gaspe of breath And idolatrie is properly such seruice as is done vnto Idoles Wee reade howe God especially forbad it in the first table and how long the Romanes and Persians liued without any vse thereof and howe the Lacedemonians coulde neuer abyde that an image should stand in their Senate There hath beene in sundrye councels mention made thereof S. Athanasius more at large discoursed thereof in a sermon he made against Idols and S. Augustin in his booke de fide Simbolo and vppon 150. Psalm in his eighth book of the citie of God Damascene in his 4. book 8. C. The occasion of so free passage giuen to Poets is for that their fables slyde awaye easily and cunningly turne them selues to tickel at pleasure whereas the trueth plainly setteth downe the matter as it is in deede albeit the euent thereof bee not verie pleasant Plato in like sort compared the disputes in Poetrie to the banquets of the ignorant who vse Musike in steede of good discourse and in his thirde booke of his commonwealth he forbiddeth Poets or painters to set downe or represent any thinge dishonest or wanton for feare of corrupting of good manners And Aristotle in his Politiques the third booke and 17. Chapter woulde haue all vyle wordes to be banished And Saint Paul to the Ephesians that any vncleannesse foolish iesting or talking shoulde bee once named among them And Tertullian an auncient doctor of the Church called Poets and certaine Philosophers the Patriarches of heretiques This which I haue spoken of must not be vnderstood of Poesies wherein much trueth and instruction is contained nor of pictures which represent the actes of holye and vertuous personages nor of fables taken out of hystories whereof there maye growe some edifying but onely of that which is lasciuious and grounded vpon naughtie argument rendring youth effeminate and men more giuen to wantonnesse pleasures passion vayne opinions then to vertue cleane turning away the honour that is due vnto God or to good edifying for according vnto the commaundement of God Cherubyns were made The admonition which Epictetus gaue to such as were too curious in pictures ought by no meanes to be here forgotten Trim not thy house saith hee with tables and pictures but paint it and guild it with Temperance the one vainely feedeth the eyes the other is an eternall ornament which cannot be defaced The same doeth Plutarque teache in the life of Dion that more
banished them their courtes as the very ruyne and plague of Princes and at Athenes they were put to death A wise Abbot wrote of Charles the 3. that aboue all things he tooke heede that flattering courtiers should not rauish from himself the fauour of his benefits as they are whō they terme sellers of smoke For besides the mischiefe which they worke they swarue with all change of fortune leaue men as lyce do a dead carkas or flyes an empty chychen And Iouinian the Emperour compared thē to the ebbe and flowing of the sea and said that they only adored the rich robes of Princes Agesilaus K. of the Lacedemonians was wont to say that they were far more dangerous then either theeues or murtherers And Isocrates since his time K. Alphonsus were wont to saye that of all mischeifes that were possible to happen to a Prince the greatest was when he gaue eare to flatterers counselled thē to shun thē like fire plague wolues The which the Prophet Hosea cōfirmeth and Salomon in his Prouerbes The Emperour Iulian being one day highly cōmended by his courtiers for that he was so good a Iusticer had reason to say that if those prayses had proceeded frō any mens mouthes who had durst cōdemne or mislike his actions whē they shuld be contrary therunto then had he had occasion to haue esteemed thereof Dion attributed the hatred which was conceiued against Iulius Caesar his very deth to flatterers And Q. Cursius sheweth that great segneuries kingdomes lie by that means more desolate then by wars Vopiscus setteth down flatterie as the principall cause that corrupteth Princes And Philip de Comines rendreth the reason thereof to be for that Princes do lightly ouerwin too much of thēselues of those whō they find agreeable vnto their humor One of Alexander his lieuetenantes on a time wrote vnto him that he had in his gouernmēt a boy of incōparable beautie that if it so liked him he wold send him vnto him He wrote back vnto him O accursed mischeuous caytife what hast thou euer knowen in me that thou shuldst thus dare to flatter me by such pleasures Likewise hauing on a time vnderstood that one with whō he ran a race had suffred him to win the wager by his swiftnes he grew maruelous angry contrary to Dionisius of Siracusa the elder who sent Philoxenes the Poet to the gallowes with such as were condēned to die because he wuld not flatter him nor yeeld vnto him in Poesie For as Aristotle declareth in the 1. booke of his Politiques Tyrants greatly take pleasure in being flattered fauour the wicked Some are of opinions that flatterers are far worse thē false witnesses or false coyners because they infect the vnderstāding And Antisthenes iudged thē more dangerous then rauens for that they do but deuoure the bodies of such as are dead And Plato in Menedemus calleth them inchanters sorcerers poysoners Theopompus Atheneus witnes that the Thessaliens cleane rased a citie of the Melians because it was named Flattery One demāded of Sigismonde how he could endure flatterers about him he answered that he knew not how he gaue eare vnto thē of his owne nature hating thē For albeit that they cleane ouerturne ruine kingdoms yet haue they cōmonly better entertainment then plaine dealing or vertue As Alexander saide that he loued better the idolatry of Ephestion thē the sincerity of Clitus And Seneca his book natural quaest writeth that flattery is of that nature that it euer pleaseth though it be reiected and in the end maketh it selfe to be receiued Thales other say Pittacus being demanded of all beasts which was the most cruell answered that among Princes the flatterer Phocion said to K. Antipater Thou canst not haue me both for thy friend and flatterer Atheneus sundry other aucthors do impute Alexander his faults changes his delicatenes drunkennes dissolutnes the murthers which he cōmitted to his flatterers he remained a time without buriall his conquests occupied by strangers after the massacre of such as were neerest vnto him The which ought to mooue vs to cast off that opinion which we holde of our selues so to consider of our imperfections faults intermingled amōg our actions that we suffer not our selues to be abused by flatterers as a man would say make litter of our selues for their pleasure For they transforme thēselues into all shapes as the Polepus Cameleon that they may please And it was not amisse sayd of him that the flatterers of Princes doe resemble those which infect and taint a cōmon spring which put out the eyes of the guide are the occasion of the subiects harme as the wiseman neere a Prine is the cause of the vniuersall wealefare Other haue sayd that there is no kinde of man more pestilent nor which sooner marred youth then the flatterer presenting an ineuitable baite of pleasure wherewith they are deceiued And if the sayde youth looke not well about them and hold a hard hand ouer their appetites it is quickly entrapped and they are among Princes like fowlers which take birdes in their snares by counterfeyting of their call CHAP. XXXIX That enuie is a miserable lye and of the meanes to remedy it FOr as much as all Christians are members of one selfe same body whereof Iesus Christe our sauiour is the head those giftes and graces which each one hath perticularly receyued at Gods handes are for the ornament pleasure and profitte of all as beautie and the agilitie of one of the members of the bodie is common to all the reste which are distinguished and separate each one hauing a particular office for their mutuall weale And in that the members doe so knit and ioyne themselues togither it is not accounted of their free accorde but as a satisfaction dewe by the lawe of nature So doeth neyther the foote nor the hande enuie one the other though the one be adorned with ringes the other be at rest but as Hipocrates Galien wrote there is a kinde of diuine consent and accorde betwixt all the members of the body And the very trewe badge to discerne a Christian by is mutuall loue the which Tertullian named the Sacrament of fayth and the treasure of a Christian name And as the holy scripture teacheth vs we are not to our selues but to God who most freely bestoweth all thinges vpon vs to the ende we should impart the same vnto our neighbour And we ought to esteeme whatsoeuer any man possesseth not to happen vnto him as by chaunce or fortune but thorough the distribution of him who is the soueraine mayster disposer and Lorde of all And as it is written in Malachie Haue we not all one father Hath not one God made vs VVhy doe wee transgresse euerie one agaynst his brother and
breake the couenaunt of our fathers And it was wisely set downe by an auncient father that vppon whatsoeuer wee possesse we ought to engraue this title It is the gift of God And S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that Loue enuieth not and if ye bite and deuour on an other take heede least yee be consumed one of an other Notwithstanding whosoeuer he be that is already possessed and replenished with this mischeuous vice of enuie he violateth the dispensation of God is himselfe mightily afflicted at the prosperity good of his neighbour whereas he ought to haue reioysed thereat as though hee had beene partaker thereof and euen as if hee were greeuouslie payned in the eyes he is alwayes offended not able to abide any clearenesse or light but gnaweth consumeth himselfe as the rust doth yron This moued Socrates to terme this vice the filth slime impostume of the soule and a perpetuall torment to him in whom it abideth a venum poyson or quicke siluer which consumeth the marow of the bones taking away all pleasure of the light of rest of meate And the wise man in his prouerbs writeth that enuie is the rotting of the bones and in Iob that it slaieth the idiote and in Ecclesiasticus that it shortneth the life and there is nothing worse then the enuious man And in the Pro. that he shalbe filled with pouerty through enuie man is made incōpatible And Plutarke writeth that it filleth the body with a wicked pernitious disposition and charmeth it selfe bewitching darkning the body the soule the vnderstanding For this cause Isocrates wrote to Enagoras that enuie was good for nothing but in that it tormēted thē which were possessed therwith which euil the enuious do no whit at al feele but contrariwise make it an argument of their vertue As Themistocles in his youth said that as then he had neuer done any thing worthy of memory in that there was no man whom he mought perceiue did any ways enuie him And Thucidides was of opinion that a wise man was euer content to be enuied This passion doth often engender enmitie mislike which is flatly forbidden of God except it be against sinne This was the very cause why the Philosophers did giue vs councell to praise our enemies when they did wel and not to be angry when any prosperitie befell them to the ende we mought thereby be the further off from enuiyng the good fortune of our friends And can there be any exercise in this worlde able to carie a more profitable habite to our soules then that which cleane taketh away this peruerse emulation of ielousie and this inclination to enuie a sister germaine to curiositie reioysing in the harme of an other And yet this is still tormented with an others good Both which passions proceede from a wicked roote and from a more sauage and cruell kinde of passion to wit malice And not without cause did Seneca stande in doubt whether enuie were a more detestable or deformed vice And Bion on a time seeing an enuious man sadde demanded of him whether any euill had betide him or good to an other Neither was enuie amisse described by a Poet imagined to be in a darke caue pale leane looking a squint abounding with gall her teeth blacke neuer reioysing but at an others harme still vnquiet and carefull and continually tormenting her selfe And the same Poetes haue written that the enuious were still tormented by Megera one of the Eumenides and furies Megarein likewise in Greeke is as much to saye as to enuie We ought then to consider that a great part of these thinges which we commonly enuie is attayned vnto by diligence prudence care vertuous actions to the end we should exercise sharpen our desire to honor seeke by al means to attaine to the like good without enuie Some report howe Agis K. of Lacedemon when it was tolde him that he was greatly enuyed by his competitors made aunswere They are doubly plagued for both their owne lewdnes doth greatly torment them and besides are greeued at that good which they see in me mine For enuie both maketh the body to be very ill disposed chaungeth the colour of the countenance therefore was it termed the wiche feuer hepticke of the spirite And as Aristotle Pliny wrote that in the mountaine of Care and in Mesopotamia there is a kind of scorpions and small serpents which neuer offende or harme strangers but yet do deadly sting the natural inhabitants of the place so enuie neuer doth exercise it selfe but vpon such as it most frequenteth and is most priuate with And most wisely was it saide of the auncient fathers that the enuious man is fedde with the most daintie meat for he doth continually gnawe on his owne heart and shorten his life and often times is the cause of great sedition and ruyne Hannibal often times complained that he was neuer vanquished by the people of Rome but by the enuie of the Senate of Carthage as also did that great Captaine Bellisare beeing thereby brought to extreme beggerye I doe not exempt hence their fault who when they haue attayned to any science or perticular knowledge that might be profitable and seruiceable to the common wealth will neuer impart the same to any but choose rather to die and let such a gift receiued from God bee buried with them defrauding their successours and posteritie thereof who shall in the end receiue dewe chastisement therefore the only cause of the losse of so many and excellent inuentions CHAP. XXXX How pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and how all passions leade cleane contrary to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meanes which contayneth vs therein DIuers haue set down two impediments as chiefe hinderers of the truth to wit despaire presumption And the wise Bion saide that pride kept men frō learning profit And Ecclesiasticus termeth it the beginning of sinne And Philo in his booke of the contemplatiue life sheweth that the spring of pride is lying as the truth is of humblenesse And Aristotle wrote in his morales that the proud boasting man doth faine things to be which indeed are not or maketh thē appeare greater then they are wheras the desebler contrariwise doth deny that which is or doth diminish it but the true mā telleth things as they are indeede holding a middle place between the presūptuous the desēbler as we haue before touched S. Augustine shewed how pride was the beginning of al mischeif vpō S. Mat. entreting of the words of our sauiour he maketh pride the mother of enuie saieth that if one be able to suppresse it the daughter shalbe in like sort And in the 56. Epistle which he worte to Dioscorides he sayth As Demosthenes the Greeke orator being demaunded what was the
time which is so precious and not able to be againe recouered And in a good beginning we ought to perseuer without loosing courage And forasmuch as meere leasure is the cause of disorders and little honest thoughtes we ought not to spend one bare houre in vaine Many haue counselled youth to exercise themselues in Musicke to employ their time in those harmonies which stirre vp to commendable operations and moral vertues tempering desires greedinesse and sorrowes for so much as rimes melodies consist in certaine proportions and concords of the voyce And so long as this pleasure without wantonnesse allureth them they loose the occasion of deuising any lesse honest sport according to Plato his opinion the seconde of his lawes and eight of his commonwealth and Aristotle in his Politiques lib. 8.3 5. 7. This mooued Architas to inuent a certaine musicall instrument to stay the running wit of children I could here extoll Curius Diocletian Lucullus and sundry other who retyred themselues into a little small farme to the ploughe And Cicinnatus who after he had giuen ouer his Dictatorshippe returned to his plough as did Attilius Calatinus Attilius Regulus and sundrye other who contented themselues with the labour of the field despising all honours The which in my opinion mooued Plynie to write that the grounde tooke pleasure in being ploughed by Emperours Wantonnesse and daintinesse breedeth vexation of minde strange fashions and choler whereas facilitie of manners maketh one content with what he hath in hande and to seeke nothing too exquisite or superfluous I am of opinion that the manner which the Aegyptians helde and long time obserued in carrying vp and downe the hall at feastes a dryed anatomie of a dead mans bodie and shewing it vnto the companie thereby admonishing men to remember that in short time they should be a like was to make men more sober and temperate And sundry before time haue written that the diseases of the body be not to be feared so as the soule be sounde the health whereof consisteth in the good temperature of powers couragious or wrathfull coueting and reasonable she being the reasonable mistresse and bridling the two other as two furious and vnbroken coltes For as wee are curious to preserue the health of our bodie through the receites which are giuen and prescribed vnto vs by Phisitians or experience and so abstayne from meates and excesse which may offende or alter the same it is more required at our handes to remayne in the trueth and to haue a greater desire and care to preserue the health of our soules diligently obseruing all the rules which God the souerayne Phisitian of all prescribeth vnto vs and taking great heede on the other side that we shunne and auoyde whatsoeuer he hath forbidden And if we be carefull to seeke out those remedies which nature art and experience present vnto vs to preserue the health of our bodie much more ought wee to drawe and sucke out of the holy scriptures and histories that which formeth dresseth teacheth aduiseth reformeth and healeth the most noble and excellent part of vs which prepareth and strengtheneth vs at all assayes to receiue and carie with great contentment hope God assisting whatsoeuer may befall vnto vs in this life CHAP. XLVII What we ought to iudge of certaine examples of lying WE haue before recited the maxime which Vlysses in Sophocles would teach the sonne of Achilles as a matter very necessarie neuer to bee ashamed to lye when a man may reape profit thereby as also we put in vre what Plato permitted to Magistrates and Phisitians to lye so some other benefit mought be reaped for the scriptures and Doctors of the Church forbid all kinde of lying as well to great as to small And none ought to saue his corporall life to loose his spirituall And such helpe as we ought to minister vnto our neighbour ought to be without offence to God by iust vpright and honest means A man must not in like sort doe euill in hope of good And as touching that kinde of lying which is called ioyfull or offycious it discouereth it selfe easely doth no great harme Now to satisfie what may be obiected of the ly which the midwiues of the Hebrewes made and of Rahab which hid the spies of the children of Israell of Iacob which saide he was Esau and of other places which seeme to derogate from the truth S. Augustine sayth that as touching the midwiues we ought not so much to respect the lie as the fayth which they had in God and the affection and mercie which they shewed vnto the children of Israell In the rest wee are to consider the will of God and that they haue beene moued thorough the holy Ghost to foretell like Prophets what God had ordayned for his glory And when he willeth a thing then is sinne cleane excluded and what may seeme vnto men most vniust is in respect of our soueraine Lorde most iust Constance the father of Constantine the great made proclamaton that all Christians should giue ouer their offyces and lyuing which the good did and went from the court but such as were but in name gaue ouer their religion The sayde Emperour shortly after caused all those to be called home agayne which were departed and droue away the rest saying that if they were not faythfull to God they would not be to his seruice The like was doone by Iehu who after he had summoned all the Priests of Baal as though he would reestablish their idolatrie put them all to the edge of the sworde and made a iakes of their temple Yet ceased he not to worship the golden calfes We ought then to admire the sayinges and deedes of great personages and not to imitate them in what is not conformable to the rule which God hath prescribed or wherein they shall fayle like men and to followe the counsell giuen vnto vs by S. Paul to trie all things and holde that which is good CHAP. XLVIII Of the meanes how to render a nation true and happie and of the bringing vp of youth ALbeit that sundry of those meanes may bee perceiued by that which we haue before touched yet by reason of their importance to be meete with sundry inconueniences which happen I thought good to set forth more at large howe the very fountayne of all trueth godlines bountie iustice pollicy and vertue proceedeth frō a naturall good and that thorough the carelesnes of heads Magistrates guiding their affayres by hazard without any foresight according to the humor of mē which in all time haue halted in their dutie youth neuer hauing receiued good bringing vp corruption hath in euery place mightely increased For as Isocrates wrote in his Areopagiticke it is not great reuenewes nor riches nor lawes ordinances which make a citie quiet and happie but the good nourture of youth which being ill brought vp maketh no account
of lawes and contrariwise becommeth very obedient vnto Magistrates giueth it selfe to all kind of vertue if betime it receiue a good impression It were also very requisite to cause lawes to be straightly obserued but in vaine do mē make lawes as Aristotle in his Politicks said if youth be not brought vp in good manners and nourished therein And Plato in the 4. of his commonwealth was of opinion that it had no great neede of lawes by reason of the good discipline in which his citizens had beene nourished as such as without lawes were able to gouerne themselues as they ought And in his Politiques and bookes of lawes he attributeth all the disorder of a countrey or citie to the multitude of lawes and so often change of them and all delightes to lewde bringing vp sheweth that the principal scope of a good establisher or reformer of a commonwealth ought to be in causing youth to be well brought vp instructed to the end it mought be more capable of good discipline it is required that the fathers and mothers should be sober moderate and quietly minded that when children are borne they should sucke their owne mothers breastes to be sure that they should not be nourished in delightes nor idlenesse and in playing might fashion themselues to vertue He would also that whatsoeuer might breed happines were engrauen through good nourture in the maners hearts of men to remayne there all their life as a good impression because that while they are young they haue more neede to be well looked vnto diligently taken heed of then any other kind of beasts And it is more meete that care shalbe taken hereof then of getting or preseruing of wealth or enclosing our parks or gardens with walls or hedges And there is no doubt as S. Ierom and other ancient doctors haue written that the cause which moued the most part of such as heretofore founded Churches Prebends Colleges was chiefly for to bring vp youth in learning to render thē more capable to serue God the cōmonwelth and the better to imprint in thē the feare of God which is the beginning of all wisedome which formeth the mind to the true mould of truth vertue and carieth it far off frō vice foolish fashions lewde cōpanies whence there is always caried away some botch stayne of the infection of their wickednes And by the ordinance of the three estates in all Cathedrall and collegiall Churches of this Realme the reuenew of one prebend is still allotted to a scholemaster For that according vnto the saying of Plato when youth in the beginning hath bin wel taught then is the nauigation voyage of this world happie and all the life after is accompanied with contentment felicitie good hope and such as haue bin well nourished brought vp become for the most part very moderate temperate the old prouerbe auerreth that nourture passeth nature The which Licurgus shewed by the nourishing of 2. dogges the one to the field the other to the kitchin if one sowe good corne in haruest he shall reape the like Themistocles was wont to say that colts fierce beasts became tame through discipline And it is manifest that the Almanes and sundry other nations which were meruelous barbarous as we reade in Caesar and Tacitus became more meeke and industrious by better education And some haue written that at Rome in auncient time it was ordayned that children for the first fault should be tolde of it for the seconde punished for the third hanged and the father banished And Plato was alwayes of opinion that enourmious vices proceeded more from a generous nature corrupted then from vilitie or low estate And the first thing which ought to be beaten into youth is to loue honour to feare God and to obey his will to make no account of the brickle goods of fortune but of the eternall and spirituall and of vertue to set before their eyes the examples and praises of vertuous personages and the blames and miseries of the lewde and wicked to the ende they may become wise by others harmes and detest all vice and euill companie receiuing correction at the handes of euery one without presuminge ought of themselues shunning wantonnesse and delightes neither speaking nor beleeuing too lightly not beeing to obstinate harde stubborne cholericke impatient nor vnconuersable Saint Ierome writing to Nepotian thought that all poore scholers and such as had will to serue the common wealth or the church were to bee nourished with the tenthes Wee see in Daniel the care which was had to the bringing vp of youth And Strabo in his Geographie shewed sundry examples of the Indians and Persians for the eschewing of that vice of ignorance whereof wee haue before entreated as Moyses complained and Iosephus And the ordinance of the Emperours is set downe in the eleuenth of the Code It falleth out oftentimes that the wicked abhorre the remembrance of their fathers and mothers when thorough their damnable libertie wanton pleasures lasciuiousnesse fond collinges and euil examples they haue beene lead awaye whereas contrariwise the well nourished giue thanks vnto them which haue beene the occasion of their so great good And Salomon affirmeth that A wise sonne maketh a glad father but a foolish sonne is a heauinesse vnto his mother The wife Crates was wont to saye that if it were possible for him he would climme vp to the toppe of the citie and crye alowde O men whither doe you carrie your selues thus headlonge that take what care you can to heape vp wealth and yet make small account of those to whome you are to leaue it as caring more for the doublet or showe then the bodie or foote The same Salomon in his prouerbes saieth that wisedome cryeth thoroughout To this purpose the contentes of an Epistle written by Xenophon to Crito seemeth worthie of marking Knowe ye that Socrates hath often told vs that such as leaue great riches to their children without seeing them brought vp well and honestly are like vnto such as giue much prouender vnto young horses but neuer breake them at all for so they waxe fat but vnprofitable The praise of an horse consisteth not in the fashion of his bodie but in his seruice and dexteritie They also are in as great an errour which buy heritages for their children which set little by them because they will esteeme of the wealth but despise them wheras there is a great deale more reason that the gardien should be better liked then the possession He then which maketh his sonne worthie to be had in estimation hath don much for him although he leaue him but litle wealth For it is the vnderstanding which maketh euery thing seeme great or small because that whatsoeuer the wel brought vp possesseth is moderate sufficiēt but vnto the euil nurtured it is verie litle Leaue no more then vnto thy