father and of the rest of the family be it neuer so vertuous there must also concurre the goodnesse of his conuersation abroade to make his domesticall familiaritie worke due effect since many times I haue seene it fall out that the haunting of ill company from home hath done a young man much more hurt then all the good instructions or vertuous examples domesticall could do him good So soft and tender are the minds of yong men and apt as was formerly said to be wrought like waxe to vice And this cometh to passe by reasō that the sensitiue part calling youth to delight and diuerting it from the trauell and paine which learning and vertue require is hardly subdued and brought vnder the rule of reason by which it esteemeth it selfe forced when it is barred from that it desireth And if by any exteriour occasion it be pricked forward it fareth as we see it oftentimes do with young hard-headed colts who take the bit in the mouth and run away with the rider carrying him will he nill he whether they list It ought therefore to be none of the least cares of the father to prouide that the forraine conuersation of his son may be such as shall rather help then hinder his care and home-example To which effect it would be very good if it might be possible that the young man were neuer from his fathers side But forasmuch as many occasions draw men to attend other waightier affaires as well publike as priuat wherby they are driuen to haue their minds busied about exterior things and to neglect their childrē who are their owne bowels Therefore is it their parts in such cases to appoint for their children when they are past their childish yeares some learned and honest man of vertuous behauiour to gouerne them and take care of them whose precepts they may so obey as they shall feare to do any thing that may breede reproch or blame vnto them For such things are mortall poison to yong mens minds and not only put them astray from the path that should leade them to vertue but imprint in them also a vitious habit that maketh them vnruly and disobedient to all wholesome admonitions and vertuous actions This man so chosen to haue the charge of youth must be carefull among other things to foresee that his disciples may haue such companions as the Persian Princes had prouided for them to wit equall of age and like of conditions with whom they may be conuersant familiar For such similitude of age and conditions doth cause them to loue and like one another if some barre or impediment fall not betweene them The auncient wise men assigned to youth the Plannet of Mercury for no other cause as I suppose but for that Mercury being as Astronomers say either good or bad according as he is accompanied with another plannet good or euil euen so youth becommeth good or bad as the companies to which it draweth or giueth it selfe And therefore ought not yong men to haue libertie to haunt what companie they list but to be kept vnder the discipline of wise men and trained vp in the companie of others of their age well bred vntill it may be thought or rather found by experience that they be past danger and become fit to guide themselues hauing brought their mind obedient to reason so farre as it cannot any more draw him to any delights but such as are honest and vertuous This delight in vertue and honestie is best induced into a yong mans mind by that true companiō of vertue that breedeth feare to do or say any thing vnseemely or dishonest which companion Socrates sought to make familiar to his scholers when he would tell them how they should endeuour themselues to purchase in their minds prudence into their tongues truth with silence and in their faces bashfulnesse called by the Latins verecundia deriuing it from the reuerence which yong men vse to beare to their elders This we call shamefastnesse and is that honest red colour or blushing which dieth a yong mans cheekes when he supposeth he hath done or said any thing vnseemely or vnfit for a vertuous mind or that may offend his parents or betters a certaine token of a generous mind and well disciplined of which great hope may be conceiued that it will proue godly and vertuous For as a sure and firme friend to honestie and vertue like a watch or guard set for their securitie it is euer wakefull and carefull to keepe all disordinate concupiscences from the mind whereby though of it selfe it be rather an affect then a habit neuerthelesse she induceth such a habite into a yong mans mind that not onely in presence of others he blusheth if he chance to do any thing not commendable but euen of himselfe he is ashamed if being alone he fall into any errour For though some say that two things chiefly keepe youth from euill correction and shame and that chastisement rather then instruction draweth youth to do well yet I for my part neuer think that yong man well bred or trained vp who for feare of punishment abstaineth from doing things shamefull or dishonest punishment being appointed but for them that are euill which made the Poet say For vertues sake good men ill deeds refraine Ill men refraine them but for feare of paine For the wickednesse of men hath caused lawes to be deuised and established for the conseruation of honest and vertuous societie and ciuil life whereunto man is borne which lawes haue appointed penalties for the offenders to the end that for feare thereof as Xenocrates was wont to say men might flie from ill doing as dogs flie harme doing for feare of the whip And because Plato formed his Common-weale of perfect and vertuous men therfore set he downe no lawes in his bookes de Repub. because he supposed the goodnesse of the men to be sufficient for the gouernement thereof without a law either to commaund good order or to punish offenders Neuertheles the same diuine Philosopher considering how the imperfection of mans nature will not suffer any such Common-wealth to be found he wrote also his bookes of lawes to serue for the imperfection of other Common-weales which were composed of men of all sorts good and bad meane or indifferent in which both instruction and punishment were needfull as well to make the euill abstaine from vice as to confirme the good and to reduce those that were indifferent to greater perfection Lawes therefore haue appointed punishments that vertue might be defended and maintained ciuill societie and humane right preserued But young men bred as our author would haue them are by all meanes to be framed such as for vertues sake for feare of reproch for loue and reuerence to honestie and not for feare of punishment to be inflicted on them by the magistrates or their superiours for doing of euill they may accustome themselues neuer to do any thing for which they should neede to blush
of the disciples of Socrates did so degenerate from the doctrine and behauior of his master that he became a parasite to Dionysius tyrant of Sicile esteeming more the profit he got that way thē the reputation he might haue won by the profession of Philosophie and grew in the end to be of so base a mind that although the Tyrant did spit in his face yet would he not be angry but being rebuked for enduring so vile a disgrace he laughing at them that rebuked him sayd If fisher-men to take a small fish can be content to go to sea and to be washed all ouer with the waues shall not I endure that the King with a little spittle wet me to the end I may catch a Whale This same Aristippus seeing Diogenes on a day to wash a few herbes which he had gathered for his supper he said to him Go to sirra if you would frame your selfe to follow the humor of Princes you should not need to feed vpon herbes Neither thou said Diogenes if thou knewest thy selfe to be I will not say a Philosopher but a man thou wouldst not be as thou art the dog of Dionysius For dogs for their meate fawne vpon their masters and so did this Philosopher shew how base and vile a thing it is to be a flatterer Which by this digression my author hath in like sort laboured to make apparant by reasons and examples But now returning to his former matter because he hath rather shewed the harme that comes by flattery and how it increaseth vice in yong mens minds then instructed them which way to roote it out you shall heare how he goeth about to pull vp the ill weeds that choke the naturall good seeds in their minds that by the increase of the good they may haue sufficient store to furnish them in the way of their felicitie It is already declared what bad qualities and conditions the two worser powers of the soule stirre vp in yong mens minds for that they be mightie and vehement and apt to oppose themselues against reason and to resist her And how reason in yong folkes is scarce felt or perceiued such is the force of the two foresaid faculties which draw them to lustfull appetites and disordinate passions The cause whereof Heraclitus ascribeth to the humiditie wherwith these two ages abound for it seemed to him that drinesse was the cause of wisedome and therefore sayd that the wisest mind was nothing else but a drie light To which opinion Galen leaning thought the starres to be most wise because they be most drie But leauing them with their opinions and imputing the cause onely to the worser powers or faculties of the soule let vs follow our two first chosē guides Aristotle Plato They say then that the soule which giueth sense or feeling and containeth in it the other that giueth life is not yet so rebellious against reason but that she maybe subdued and brought to be obedient So as you must not think but that youth though it be incombred with those passions and desires before mentioned may neuerthelesse be directed to that good course which leadeth man to his most perfect end in this life and for which all vertues are put in action For aboue or ouer these two powers or faculties is placed a third like a Ladie or Queene to commaund if she be not hindred in the execution of her charge And if these two vnruly and wild powers which are the spring and fountaine head of all disordinate affections be once wel tamed and broken they do no lesse obey her cōmaundements then the wel taught horses obey the coach-man For we are all drawne as it were by two vnbridled colts in this life by these two baser powers of the soule Wherof the one sheweth it self in most vigour and strength in childhood and the other in youth Concerning the first of which Aristotle and his master do disagree But when they both are ioyned together and strong they become the more vnruly vnlesse the former as was said yesterday be well tamed and made meeke by good instruction and diligent care of education For if childhood be fashioned according to the good precepts of the learned that first power commeth humble obedient to be coupled with the other and thereby is there the lesse labor requisite for him that shall haue the guiding of them both in youth But in youth described euen now as you haue heard in whom both these faculties are rude and vndisciplined the passions are altogether incited and ruled by the naturall powers For though nature if she be not hindred bring forth her effects perfectly in respect of their substances yet are they often vnperfect in regard of the accidents And for this cause is Art and industry needful to induce vertuous habits to supply that wherin nature accidentally may be defectiue Whereby it cometh to passe that although the vertues and faculties of the soule haue all that which nature can giue vnto them yet haue they need of mans wit and discipline to bring forth laudable and perfect operations And this is done by that part of Philosophie which is called Morall because from it we do draw the forme of good manners which being actually brought into the mind of a yong man as well as by the doctrine and wise instruction of others and so by long custome conuerted into an habite do breake and make supple those parts which by nature are rebellious to reason And of so great importance is the well training vp of childhood euen from the first that it may be assuredly beleeued that the youth succeeding such a childhood as was yesterday prescribed must needs be ciuill and well disposed and on the contrary side that the life of such youths will be wicked and disordered as hauing bin ill brought vp in their childhood do enter into so hopelesse a course as may be likely to be the foundation of all vice and wickednesse during the whole life to come And hopelesse may they be thought indeed who by ill doing beginne euen from their tender yeares to induce an ill habit into their minds for from age to age after it increaseth and taketh roote in such sort as it is almost impossible to be rooted out or taken away Neither can there be any greater euil wished to any man then that he be ill-habituated which thing by Aelianus report the Cretans were wont to wish to their enemies whom they hated most extremely and not without cause For he that is fallen into an ill habite is no lesse blind to vertuous actions then he that wanteth his sight to things visible And as the one is euer plunged in perpetual darknes so doth the other liue in euerlasting night of vice after he hath once hardned himselfe to euil And this is the worst kind of youth that may be which Aristotle aduised should be driuen out of the citie when neither for honesties respect nor for admonitions nor shame nor for
Robert Dillon with a smiling countenance asked of him to what intent I being to all their iudgements in health and well he with his drugs should make me sick and force me to keepe the house whereby neither I could come to the citie nor they being come to me might haue my company to walke about the grounds to take the pleasure of seeing how the workes of my hands did prosper now that the season of the yeare filling the plants and all other liuing things with the naturall humor which the sharpe cold of the winter had restrained and kept within the inwardest parts did bud and breake forth to giue proofe and tokens of their prospering To which M. Smith answered that he had ministred nothing to me but what my self had prescribed and that if I was sicke therewith it was mine owne doing and not his who by his trade and profession could not refuse to compound and minister such physick as should be required at his hands But to tell you the truth sir quoth he I could find in my heart to giue him a potion that should purge him of his melancholy humor because he hath no small need thereof in my opinion And whereby perceiue you any such humor to raigne in him replied sir Robert Dillon for in my iudgment neither his complexion accuseth him of any disposition thereunto nor his behauiour and manner of life giueth any token of sadnesse or desire of solitarinesse which commonly all melancholy men are much giuen vnto whereas he is not onely desirous of good companie but alwayes chearefull and pleasant among his friends Yea marry said M. Smith thereof he may thanke you and these other gentlemen his friends that by comming often to visit him do keepe from him those fits which otherwise it is likely enough he would fall into whether that his complexiō draw him to it or no which oft times deceiueth the most cunning Physitions or whether it proceed of any accidentall cause But I pray you for proofe of my words who but one more then halfe mad or in a frensie would of his owne accord not being compelled thereunto haue giuen ouer such an office as he hath resigned which besides that it was of good reputation and profit gaue him the meanes to pleasure many of his friends and kept him still in the bosome of the State whereby he might in time haue risen to better place and more abilitie to do himselfe and his friends both pleasure good All which in a melancholy mood he hath let slip or rather put from him for which I among other that loue him could find in my heart to disple him very well In troth quoth sir Robert Dillon turning to me master Smith seemeth to haue spoken more like a Physition or rather like a Counseller then like an Apothecary and it will behoue you to satisfie him wel lest we all begin to thinke of you as he doth and agree with him that it were expedient to giue you a dose of Ellebore which the Physitions say hath a peculiar property to purge the melancholy humour And therefore you shall do very well I think to declare vnto him what reasons induced you to resigne that office wherein I my selfe can testifie with how good contentment of all the table you did serue so many yeares For withall some of vs that haue not yet vnderstood vpon what foundation this resolution of yours is set and grounded shall in like sort rest the better satisfied if from your selfe they shall be made capable of some reasonable cause that might induce you thereunto And henceforth beleeue it hath bin well done not because you did it but because you haue done it with reason and iudgment which although we be all sufficiently perswaded you take to be your guides in al your actions yet these words of master Smiths and the like discourses which we heare very often among some that loue you and wish you wel doth make vs sometimes halfe doubtfull to allow of this retiring your selfe from the State Because we suppose that a man of your condition and qualities should rather seeke to be employed and to aduance himselfe in credit and reputation then to hide his talent and withdraw himselfe from action in which the chiefe commendation of vertue doth consist And to say truly what I thinke a man of your sort bred and trained as it seemeth you haue bin in learning and that hath thereto added the experience and knowledge which trauell and obseruation of many things in forraine countries must breed in him that hath seene many places and the maners orders and policies of sundry nations ought rather to seeke to employ his ability and sufficiency in the seruice of his Prince and country then apply them to his peculiar benefit or contentment For you that were in so good a way to raise your selfe to credite and better employment whereunto that office was but the first step and triall of what is in you to forsake suddenly so direct a path leading you to preferment and to betake your selfe to a solitary course of life or a priuate at the least seemeth a thing not agreeable to that opiniō which euery man that knoweth you had conceiued of your proofe and that of you it may be said Grauior est culpa clara principia deserentis quà m non incipientis Non enim magna aggredi sed perseuerare difficile What is the end of parents in the education of their children wherin they bestow so much care and spend their wealth to purchase them learning and knowledge but a desire to make them able to be employed and a hope to see them raised to credit and dignitie in the common-wealth Or who is he that doth not striue by all the meanes he can to aduance himselfe and to presse forward still euen to the highest places of authoritie and fauour vnder his Prince though oftentimes with no small hazard and danger if he may once lay hold vpon that locke which men say Occasion hath growing on her forehead being bald behind shewing thereby how foolish a thing it is to let her slip after she hath once presented her selfe to be apprehended No doubt but this folly will be layd to your charge by many and not without good apparance of reason since you hauing had the occasion offered vnto you as well to enrich your selfe as to rise in credite and reputation haue neuerthelesse let her go after you had fast hand in her foretop and abandoned so great a hope nay so assured a reward proposed to you for your labour and paines to be sustained some while in that place Sir quoth I to haue answered M. Smiths imputation I suppose would haue bin very easie since the greatest matter therein was the neglecting of my profit and the abandoning a meane to pleasure my friends For the first is rather a commendation though not so conceiued by him then any iust blame and the other is no more but a partiall
and accounted cruell what praise or commendation can be iustly giuen to two gentlemen of one citie or country that fight together with purpose to kill one another whereas then the circumstances aboue mentioned make the vniuersall warre iust and lawfull this wicked kind of priuate fight or combat is voyde of them all and cannot therefore be but most vniust and vnlawfull With like wrong do they also labour to make it seeme commendable affirming that men thereby shew their valour and fortitude For valour or fortitude being a principall vertue how can it haue place in so vniust and so vnnaturall an action proceeding onely from anger rage fury and rashnes Finally these men that will needs haue Aristotle to be their warrant might if they list see that he in his Ethikes where he directeth man vnto vertue and to ciuill felicitie putteth not among those whom he calleth fortes or men of valour such men as are delighted in reuenge but giueth them the title of warlike or bellicosi And in the same bookes he sayth that whosoeuer doth any thing contrary to the lawes is to be accounted vniust And I pray you what can be more directly contrary to the lawes then this kind of combat or priuate fight And if by taking iustice from the world all vertue must needs decay because she is the preseruer and defender of vertue how can this so excellent a vertue of fortitude be in them that despising the lawes and the magistrates and neglecting all religion and good of their cuntrey and weale publike do practise this wicked combat Moreouer they perceiue not that Aristotle in his Ethikes from whence the rules of ciuill life are to be drawne and not from his Rhetorikes out of which these men fetch their doutie arguments because elsewhere they can find none for their purpose saith that to fight for cause of honour is no act of fortitude Whereupon ensueth that such as come to the combat vpon points of honour as men do now a dayes for the most part make not any shew of their fortitude but onely of their strength and abilitie of body and of their courage whereas true fortitude is to vse these gifts well and honestly according to reason And what honestie or reason can there be in this so mischieuous and wicked a fight which neuertheles these men so farre allow and commend as they are not ashamed to say moued surely by some diuellish spirit that a man for cause of honour may arme himselfe against his country the respect whereof is and euer was so holy yea euē against his father and with cursed hands violate his person vnto whom next after God he must acknowledge his life and being and what else soeuer he hath in this world This cannot be but a most pestiferous opinion and a speech hardly to be beleeued could come out of the diuels owne mouth of hell who though he be the author of all euill yet scarce thinke I that he durst father so abhominable a conceit or sentence But it is a world to see how solemnly men wil become starke mad when they once vndertake to defend a mad cause For to make their frantike fancie to seeme reasonable they vtter such absurdities as are not only detestable to mē but euē bruite beasts also abhorre For among beasts many there are that by naturall instinct not onely feare and respect their begetters but do also nourish them diligently when they are waxen old and not able to purchase foode for themselues repaying thankfully the nouriture which themselues receiued whiles they were yong as it is certainly knowne the Storke doth But here to colour their assertions they say that so ought children to do to their parents and citizens to their country so long as the one ceaseth not to be a father and the country forgetteth not her citizens a saying no lesse foolish then the other For when can that come to passe what law of nature or what ciuill constitution hath taught vs this lesson or out of what schoole of Philosophie haue they learned it what iniuries can a father or a mans country do vnto him that may make him not to acknowledge his countrey which ought to be deerer vnto him then his life or to cast off the reuerence due to his father Good God what els is this but to inuite men and as it were to stir them vp to parricide a thing odious euen to be mentioned It is no maruel therfore if such as attribute so much to points of honor wil needs defend the combat in that respect fall by Gods sufferance as men blinded of the light of naturall reason into such absurd opinions fit for senslesse men which opinions in very truth are no lesse to be condemned then wicked heresies and the authors of them worthy sharpe punishment to be inflicted vpon them by such as haue authoritie in that behalfe And this do they the rather deserue because they seeke to maske and disguise the good and commendable opinions of the best Philosophers and to wrest them in fauour of their damnable and wicked doctrine But I should digresse too far if I should say all I could to confute this impietie and these wicked writings and cruell opinions and therefore returning to our purpose of honour whereof we were speaking you may vnderstand by that which I haue already sayd that honour there is none to be gotten by the combat yet because among other things they say the combat hath bin deuised for cause of honour I must let you know that in true and sound Philosophie they that respect honour as the end of their actions are not onely vnworthy to be accounted vertuous men but deserue blame and reproch But hereof I shall haue occasion to speake more amply in a fitter place Onely this I wil now adde that no actions are commendable but those that are honest and where honestie is not there can be no honour And honestie in truth there is none as before hath bin said in such a fight contrary to all vertue odious to all lawes to all good magistrates and to God himselfe though the folly of the fauourers of this diuellish deuice seeke most wrongfully to draw the summe of all vertues to this iniustice Furthermore either the offences done to men may be auouched before Princes and magistrates in iudgement as no wrongs but lawfull acts or not If they may be so auouched and proued then a thousand combats cannot take them away neither is there any cause of combat if so wicked a custome were allowable If not then he that hath done the iniury is already dishonest and dishonored and the victorie ouer such a man in faith what honour can it purchase Plato the diuine Philosopher and Aristotle his disciple after him considering the nature of iniury and finding that it caried with it alwayes vice and reproch affirmed that it was better to receiue an iniury then to do it And Plato concludeth that he that doth iniury cannot
Hydra had the same that gaue Hercules so much to do to ouercome her and it is to be maruelled that all yong men are not soone weary of that age which bringeth with it such varietie of imperfections and all contrary to reason and vertue You make vs almost to conceiue an opinion that there can be no Art nor prudence sufficient to deliuer vs from such a multitude of errors that enuiron vs on euery side If there were cause of complaint that youth should be thus described said I yet am not I the man you should complaine of but rather of mine author or of Aristotle who long before described the same euē as he hath done and of Horace in like sort who taking the matter out of Aristotle concluded it in substance much like though in fewer words saying The yong man on whose face no beard yet shewes When first he creepeth out of others charge Delights to haue both horse and hound at will With them to hunt and beate the woods and fields Like waxe to vice is easie to be wrought And sowre to them that tell him of his fault Too late he learnes his profit for to know And in expence aye too too lauish still His heart is high and full of hote desires And soone he loathes that earst he loued deare And truly the nature of a young man is very perillous and vnapt of it selfe to be ruled and directed to any good course partly because of the ignorance accompanying that age and partly for that following the vanities and delights which the worser part of the soule or mind doth set before him he respecteth not that which is honest and vertuous as a thing he neuer knew or tasted And therefore being intent onely to pleasures and delights he considereth not any thing but what is present before him For wanting as is said experience meete to foresee accidents to come he beleeueth much more them that intice him flatter him by praising all he doth then those men that reproue or check him for doing ill or shew him the way to vertue by telling him the truth Neither is there any thing that more setteth a yong man astray from the course of vertue then flattery and specially are yong Princes to take heede thereof about whom are continually flatterers to winne their fauor and by harming them with that subtil engin to purchase to themselues as much gaine profit as they can These who as Aristotle saith bend all their wits to euill with continuall lying and soothing make yong men beleeue that they are excellent in all things aboue course of nature whereunto they simple giuing a readier eare then they should become so blind and foolish that they discerne not their owne good but pricked forward with those false praises apply themselues to that onely which is pleasant and delightfull and become a prey vnto their flatterers who like Parasites affirme all that they heare their master say and denie whatsoeuer he denieth In which respect Diogenes did right well say that flatterers were worse then crowes who feed but on the carcasses of the dead but these iolly companions deuoure the mindes of men aliue making them become as Seneca saith foolish or mad Frō whose conceit Epicarmus varied not much who said that crows pick out the eyes but of dead carcasses but flatterers pick out the eyes of the mind whiles men are yet aliue And to say truly this cursed generation with their leasings and soothing induce such as harken to them and beleeue them to be their own foes and to barre themselues from the attaining of true glory whiles they make them glory in the false praises of wicked flatterers Who to the end they may be the better beleeued when they flatter vse all art possible to shew themselues affectioned though counterfetly to them in whose harts they seeke to poure their poison For they kill in them all seeds of vertue and they take from them the knowledge of themselues and of all truth to which flattery is a most pestilent and mortall enemie And happy might indeed Princes thinke themselues if they had about them men that would frankly and resolutely resist the attempts of flatterers such as was Anaxarcus Eudemonicus about Alexander the Great This Anaxarcus misliking that Alexāder throgh the flattery false praises of such as magnified his acts grew so prowd as he wold needs be esteemed a God seeing on a time his Physition to bring him a potion to ease the griefe of his disease when he was sicke said Is it not a wofull case that the health of our God should consist in a draught of licour and drugs composed by a man Words full wel beseeming the sincere mind of a free harted man As on the other side it was vile adulation which Demades the Athenian vsed who being at an assembly of Councell proposed a decree by which he would haue had Alexander to be reputed for the thirteenth of the great Gods But the people perceiuing his flattering purpose and small reuerence to diuine things condemned him in a fine of an hundred talents If Princes and such as manage States would follow this example and haue an eye to such fellowes there would not be such store of Sycophants as now a dayes there are and the vertues and merites of honest men worthy honour and fauour would be better knowne and regarded then they are and rewards and recompences would be giuen to such men and not to flatterers who seeke to put them besides themselues This I say of such as suffer themselues to be seduced by these charmers but not of wise Princes who giue no more eare to their inchantments then doth the serpent to the charmer because they know that their praises and soothings are but strāgling morsels smeared ouer with hony Philip of Macedon the father of Alexander had a flatterer in his Court called Cisofus or as some say Cleophus who did not onely affirme and deny all that Philip sayd or denied but also on a time when Philip had a sore eye and ware some band or scarfe before it he in like manner came before the King with the like and another time when Philip hauing hurt one of his legs limped vpon it and had clothes wrapped about it the flatterer came likewise with his leg so wrapped and halting into the Court seeking thus not only by his words as other Parasites do but also with his gestures and whole body to transforme the King and put him beside himselfe But although Philip tooke delight in this skim of men yet could they neuer draw him by their charming to incurre those vices which his sonne ranne into who albeit he was of a most noble nature and mind yet did he so much attribute to these bad companions and was so caried away with their flattering praises that he could not endure the truth that Calisthenes told him but miserably slue him spotting with so cruell and barbarous a fact all that
loue of vertue or feare of lawes they could possibly be reclaimed to vertuous life I pray you said Captain Norreis let me interrupt you a little so shall you the better take breath in the meane while I noted not long sithens a saying of your author which me seemed somewhat strange and that is that the substance of the soule should be made perfect by the accidents You say right quoth I but let not that seeme strange vnto you for it ought rather to seeme strange vnto you if it were otherwise because the substance of euery thing is so called by reason that it is subiect vnto accidents neither can there be any accident to which it is proper to be in some subiect but it must fall into some substance and hardly would the substance perhaps be discerned by sense but that the accidents do make it to be knowne Yet hath nature giuen to the substance all that she could giue to enable the same to wit that it might by nature be of it selfe alone hauing no need of any other thing in respect of being and that it should be so necessary to all things else that is not a substance as without it they should be nothing Therefore the nature of the soule is such as the parts thereof haue their vertues and faculties perfect but in that concerneth the directing of them to ciuill life man cannot by nature onely compasse it nor attaine to that end of which we treate Then said Captaine Norreis If it be so as by nature we cannot haue that wherewith we should compasse our felicitie it must belike be in vs contrary to nature And all things contrary to nature being violent and of no continuance I cannot perceiue how this felicitie of ours may stand Sir said I it followeth not that whatsoeuer is not by nature must needs be contrary to nature But most true it is that the meanes to guide vs to this felicitie or our felicity it selfe is in vs not by nature for if it were so all men should naturally be happy and by nature haue the means to purchase the same because all men should of necessitie worke after one sort For things naturall vnlesse they be forced or hindered do alwayes bring foorth the same effects wheresoeuer they be and the powers which nature bestoweth are indifferently dispensed to all alike Which thing is to be vnderstood by the vegetatiue part of the soule which in plants and in creatures sensible attendeth onely by nature without counsell or election to nourish to increase to procreate and to preserue ne ceaseth at any time frō those offices but alwaies produceth like effects in al things that haue life And the sēsible soule euermore giueth the power and vertue of feeling to creatures sensible and neuer altereth her operation nor ceaseth to yeeld the same whiles life endureth except by some strange accident she be forced Seeing therefore the diuersitie of mans will the varietie of his operations and how differently they vse the faculties of the soule we must needes conclude that in respect of ciuill life they work not according to nature But we must not therfore say that their working to purchase their felicitie and the end we speake of is contrary to nature For such things are properly said to be contrary to nature as are violently forced to that which is not naturall and whereunto they haue no aptnesse or disposition at all As for example if a stone which is naturally heauy and therfore coueteth to moue to the center of the earth be cast vpward into the aire by force it is to be said that the motion of that stone so forced vpward is contrary to nature because it hath no instinct or mouing from nature to go vpward and though it were throwne vp ten thousand times so often wold it fal downe again if it were not retained otherwise frō falling And if fire which is light couets to ascend should be forced downeward that force would be contrary to nature and the force ceasing it would by nature ascend again because it hath not any vertue or principle or motion to descend but onely to ascend by which it striueth to come to the place which is proper to it by nature as it is fire and by which it is fire naturally For the elements haue alwayes their essence most perfect when they are nearest to the place assigned them by nature But man being a creature capable of reason and thereby apt to receiue those vertues the seeds whereof nature hath sowne in his mind it cannot be said that the meanes by which he is to be led to so noble an end as his felicitie should be in him contrary to nature For neuer any thing worketh contrary to nature in which is the beginning of that operation that it is to do Why said Captaine Norreis againe since you say that the seeds of vertues are in our minds naturally it seemeth strange to me that they should not bring forth generally in all men their fruite as the seed which is cast into the earth springeth buddeth flowreth and lastly in due seasō yeeldeth fruite according to kind Marry said I and so they do For if mans care and industry be not applied to manure the earth diligently and to weed out the il weeds that spring among the good seed which is sowne they would so choke the same as it would be quite lost And euen so if the seeds of vertue be not holpen with continuall culture and care taken to pul vp the vices which spring therewith and whereof the seeds are naturally as well in our mind as those of vertue they wil ouer-grow and choke them as the weeds of the garden ouer-grow and choke the good herbes planted or sowne therein For so grow vp the disordinate appetites vnreasonable anger ambitions greedie desires of wealth of honour wanton lusts of the flesh and such other affections spoken of before which haue their naturall rootes in those two baser parts of the soule deuoyde of reason And as we see the earth without manuring to bring forth wyld herbs and weeds more plentifully then other good seed which by industry and labor is cast into the same so do those passions affects and appetites of those baser parts of the soule spring and grow vp thicker and faster then the vertues whereby for the more part the fruit of those good seeds of vertue is lost if the mind be not diligently cleaned frō them by the care of others And these ill qualities are in yong men the worse when they suffer themselues to be transported without regard of reason or honestie and their right iudgement to be corrupted and their crooked to preuaile Which crooked iudgement is in effect the cause of all vices and ill affections turnes the braine making them like drunken men much like as coccle doth to them that feed thereupon But this hapneth not vnto that youth which succeedeth a well fashioned childhood such as yesterday was
souldiers besides that their peaceable maner of coming freed me from doubt of cesse thanked be God the state of the realme was such as there was no occasion of burthening the subiect with them such had bin the wisedome valour and foresight of our late Lord Deputie not onely in subduing the rebellious subiects but also in ouercoming the forreine enemie whereby the garrison being reduced to a small number and they prouided for by her Maiestie of victual at reasonable rates the poore husbandman might now eate the labors of his owne hands in peace and quietnes without being disquieted or harried by the vnruly souldier We haue said sir Robert Dillon great cause indeed to thanke God of the present state of our country and that the course holden now by our present Lord Deputie doth promise vs a continuance if not a bettering of this our peace and quietnesse My Lord Grey hath plowed and harrowed the rough ground to his hand but you know that he that soweth the seede whereby we hope for haruest according to the goodnesse of that which is cast into the earth and the seasonablenesse of times deserueth no lesse praise then he that manureth the land God of his goodnesse graunt that when he also hath finished his worke he may be pleased to send vs such another Bayly to ouersee and preserue their labours that this poore countrey may by a wel-ordered and setled forme of gouernement and by due and equall administration of iustice beginne to flourish as other Common-weales do To which all saying Amen we directed our course to walke vp the hill where we had bene the day before and sitting downe vpon the little mount awhile to rest the companie that had come from Dublin we arose againe and walked in the greene way talking still of the great hope was conceiued of the quiet of the countrey since the forreine enemie had so bin vanquished and the domesticall conspiracies discouered met withall and the rebels cleane rooted out till one of the seruants came to call vs home to dinner Where finding the table furnished we sate downe and hauing seasoned our fare with pleasant and familiar discourses as soone as the boord was taken vp they sollicited me to fetch my papers that I might proceede to the finishing of my last discourse of the three by me proposed But they being ready at hand in the dining chamber I reached them and layd them before me and began as followeth Hitherto hath bin discoursed of those two ages which may for the causes before specified be wel said to be void of election and without iudgement because of their want of experience For which cause haue they had others assigned to them for guides to leade them to that end which of themselues they were not able to attaine that is their felicitie in this life And now being to speake of that age which succeeds the heate of youth we must a litle touch the varietie of opinions concerning the same Tully saith that a citizen of Rome might be created Consul which was the highest ordinary dignitie in that citie when he was come to the age of 23. yeares Plinie in his Panegyrike saith that it was decreed lege Pompeia that no man might haue any magistracie before he were thirtie yeeres old And Vlpian lege S. Digest treating of honours writeth that vnder the age of 25. yeares no man was capable of any magistracie Among these three opinions the last of the ciuill lawyer holdeth the medium and is therefore the fittest to be followed for then is a young mans mind setled and he is become fit being bred and instructed as hath bin before declared to be at his owne guiding and direction and then doth the ciuill law allow him libertie to make contracts and bargaines for himselfe which before he could not do being in pupillage and vnder a tutor Howbeit our common law cutteth off foure yeeres of those and enableth a yong man at 21. yeeres of age to enter into his land and to be as we terme it out of his wardship Which time being I know not for what respect assigned by our lawes may well be held not so well considered of as that which the ciuill law appointeth if we marke how many of our yong men ouerthrow their estates by reason of their want of experience and of the disordinate appetites which master them all which in those other foure yeares from 21. to 25. do alter to better iudgement and discretion Whereby they are the better able to order their affaires Why said Captain Dawtry I haue knowne and know at this day some young men who at 18. yeeres of age are of sounder iudgement and more setled behauiour then many not of 25. yeeres old onely but of many moe yea then some that are grey-headed with age Of such said I there are to be seene oftentimes as you say some that beyond all expectation and as it were forcing the rules of nature shew themselues stayed in behauiour and discreete in their actions when they are very yong to the shame of many elder men Of which companie I may well of mine owne knowledge and by the consent I thinke of all men name one as a rare example and a wonder of nature and that is sir Philip Sidney who being but seuenteene yeeres of age when he began to trauell and coming to Paris where he was ere long sworne Gentleman of the chamber to the French King was so admired among the grauer sort of Courtiers that when they could at any time haue him in their companie and conuersation they would be very ioyfull and no lesse delighted with his ready witty answers thē astonished to heare him speake the French language so wel and aptly hauing bin so short a while in the countrey So was he likewise esteemed in all places else where he came in his trauell as well in Germanie as in Italie And the iudgement of her Maiestie employing him when he was not yet full 22. yeeres old in Embassage to congratulate with the Emperour that now is his comming to the Empire may serue for a sufficient proofe what excellencie of vnderstanding and what stayednesse was in him at those yeeres Whereby may well be said of him the same that Cicero said of Scipio Africanus to wit that vertue was come faster vpon him then yeeres Which Africanus was chosen Consull being absent in the warres by an vniuersal consent of all the tribes of Rome before he was of age capable to receiue that dignitie by the law But these are rare examples vpon which rules are not to be grounded for Aristotle so long ago said as we do now in our common prouerbe that one swallow makes not summer Among young men there are some discreete sober quicke of wit and ready of discourse who shew themselues ripe of iudgment before their yeeres might seeme to yeeld it them so are there among aged men on the other side some of shallow wit and little
not to amend themselues and are like to a man full of dropsie for their viciousnesse is as hopelesse of recouery as is the dropsie when it is ful growne within the body And therfore they may well be accounted of a lost life who haue contracted so ill an habit that they still keepe reason subiect to their passions appetites which is called by Plotinus the infirmity of the mind But where Temperance ruleth bridleth the inordinate delights it is not so for this vertue which is the meane in all actions and a seemlinesse in all things appertaining to ciuill life doth increase mans praise and cōmendations multiplieth honor vpon him lengtheneth his life and lightneth the burthen of all his troubles finally it so fashioneth a man as whether he be alone or in company whether he be in publike or in priuat he neuer vndertaketh any thing but that which carieth withall reputation dignitie honor For it withholdeth him from all that is vnseemly and leadeth him to all that is honest and commendable Neither is this vertue exercised only in things appertaining to the appetite but as Aristotle saith she is the conseruer of prudence and by Plato his opinion she stretcheth her power to those actions that appertaine to Fortitude also For she teacheth man to know the meane of fearfulnes in cases of danger apparant in what measure paine or trouble is to be endured Pythagoras said she was the mean of al things and therfore as the beauty of the body is a meet seemly disposition of the members breeding grateful sweetnes and being tempered with fresh colours draweth the eyes of men to behold it with wonder delight euen so this vertue causeth al the actions of a temperate man with her bright shining light to be admired and extolled for she is called by Pythagoras the rule of al decency comelines Of her hath youth more need according to Aristotle then old age because young men are much more stirred with concupiscence and vnruly affections then old men And the Philosophers haue assigned her for companiōs shamefastnes which holdeth men from doing any filthy act honestie abstinence continency which bridleth the concupiscible passions that they ouer-rule not the will mansuetude or mildnes which tempereth the fury of anger modestie which is the rule of decent motions of the body and to be short al those gifts of the mind which accompany seemlines and decency of which we shal particularly say somewhat as briefly as we may And because this vertue stretcheth her branches so far Plato said it was hard to define her and more hard to vse her the one because she is hardly discerned frō other vertues the other because we bring with vs frō our mothers wōb the desire of delight wherby we are norished grow draw out the line of our life for which cause Arist said that it was harder for a mā to resist the pleasures of the body then pain Next followes the excellent vertue of Liberality which is busied about giuing and receiuing conueniently and is placed between two extremes the one Auarice which taketh more or giueth lesse then is meet the other Prodigalitie which giues more then is conuenient and he that can cary himself euen between these two extremes may iustly be called a liberall man giuing where whē to such persons and in such sort as is fit for respect of honestie Vnto liberality is ioyned magnificence which is a vertue concerning riches also which the magnificall man vseth in great things and such as are to haue long continuance are done in respect of vertue as sumptuous buildings rich furnitures and the like therfore a poore man cannot actually attaine to be either magnificent or liberal The liliberall man is not magnificent because magnificence is more then liberalitie but the magnificent man is liberal Arme in arme with Magnificence goeth Magnanimity waited vpō by Mansuetude desire of honor veritie affablity vrbanity Al which vertues appertain to ciuil conuersatiō are very profitable breeding decēcy honesty dignitie and honour And though honor be reckoned in the number of those things that are called exterior goods yet is it highly to be prised among all other because it is the certaine token of vertuous life and is the due reward of vertue For vertue hath two sorts of rewards the one that is outward and that is honour which cometh from others that honor vertue and is not in the vertuous man himselfe the other inward which is felicitie the true and perfectest end of all our vertuous actions whiles we are aliue And man hauing all these vertuous habits in him gotten by continuall wel doing which consisteth in particulars he hath also need of the conuersation of other men lest the occasiō of doing vertuously shold faile him For though a mā haue neuer so perfect a knowledge of al the vertues vnles he put them in action he can neuer be happie And specially therfore is friendship necessary for him which either is a vertue or fast linked to vertue and groweth out of the loue which men beare first to their parents and kinsmen next to their citizens or countreymen and lastly to strangers For as concerning ciuill felicitie man cannot nor ought not to be alone in which respect conuersation and friendship are necessary for the accomplishment of the same Some therefore haue sayd that it were as hurtfull to take the bright shining beames of the Sunne from the world as to depriue men of the benefite of friendship since without friends a man is so farre from being happie as it may be said he cannot liue or be at all This friendship is a communion and knitting together of minds which neither length of time distance of place great prosperitie nor great aduersitie ne yet any other grieuous accident may seuer or separate And Plotinus though all his drift were to raise man from all base affects of the mind and to settle him in contemplation yet he thought friendship necessary no lesse for the mind then for the body Aristotle sayd that he that liued alone could be none other then either a God or a brute beast Solitarinesse then is euill for all sorts of men but most of all for yong men who wanting experience in themselues haue great neede of the good instructions and admonitions of others Therefore Crates the Philosopher seeing a yong man alone went vnto him asked of him what he was doing so all alone and the young man answering that he was discoursing with himselfe take heed said Crates then that thou talk not with an il man Considering wisely that a man void of prudence as yong mē commonly are is like to busie his head with ill thoughts which will prouoke him to ill deeds also Conuersation therfore and friendship are necessary for the accomplishment of ciuill felicitie which without loue cannot be And that friendship is firme and durable which groweth out of vertue and from similitude of behauiour