passions of sundrie men which report nothinge of certayne Notwithstandinge they are to bee excused if they keepe a libertye and write not to the ende to deceaue But in the holye historie they oughte to feare no such thinge since that it proceedeth of the holye Ghoste and thence a man maye take out certayne witnesses and soueraigne arrestes Now that wee may the better reape our profite out of Historyes we must consider the beginning and motyfe cause of all enterprises the meanes which therin they haue held and afterwardes the issue thereof which cannot possibly be good proceeding from an euil beginning And after hauing known the root and causes therof we must iudge what may happen in like cases and consider other circumstances which bewtifie the actions and referre all to the glory of God through whose bountie the euents haue succeeded well and gloriously to the ende wee may render prayses and thankesgeuing vnto him which are due vnto him for asmuche as by weake and vyle persons hee oftentimes compasseth high and mightie things And because that whatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning We ought to apply vnto our selues whatsoeuer we read and to behold as in a looking glasse our own affections to the end we might follow good and eschew euill and cleane remoue from vs all disguising and corruption and aboue all things we ought to acknowledge the iudgementes of God against the wicked and contemners of his law And for because that great dangers ensue those which indifferently gouerne them selues by examples I thought good to aduertise that it is diligently to be considered whether there be a concurrence of lyke reasons not onely in generall but also in particular It is also necessary to rule ones selfe as prudently as they did whom we would imitate and to demaund of God like successe And in our enterprises we must not onely consider the superficies and beginnyng of thinges but to looke more inwardly what may happen in time We must not likewise take too exactly what is written by ancient Historiographers but conferre them with the newe hauing regard to the great chaunges which happen in all countreyes and that there are fewe Cities or Nations which hold theyr former name nor their auncient seates and fashions otherwise we should wander awry and iudge amisse And this consideration of the vnstablenesse subuersions dissipations and lamentable chaunges of sundry peoples and families ought to prepare vs to beare all accidentes sent from God knowing that this life is but a sorrowfull exile subiect to stormes and continuall tempestes and that there is no seate nor hauen sure but in the heauenly and eternall lyfe to the which the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prepared the way for vs and let vs humbly beseeche him to guide vs therein CHAP. 18. That one ought not to suffer him selfe to be deceiued by praises nor be carried away from modesty and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and how much it is requisite to commaund ones selfe WHo so woulde not swarue from the truth ought not to be mooued with praises which for the most part are disguised for as Sainct Augustin hath written He which often praiseth one abuseth him self confirmeth an errour and proueth in the end a lyer and he which is praised becommeth thereby a great deale more vaine And Dion sayd the ouer great praises and honours out of measure carrie with them a misknowledge lightnes and insolensie yea among such persons as of them selues are modest ynough because they are perswaded that they deserue them and euery man pleaseth them and puffeth them vp as Xenophon wryteth though in deed they might well be termed mockeries And such excessiue honours are neither more nor lesse then as portractures ill proportioned which fall to the grounde of them selues as the three hundred statuas of Demetrius which neuer engendred either rust or filth beeing in his owne life tyme broken in peeces And those likewise of Demades were bruysed made to serue for chamberpots and basins in close stooles and so haue sundry other princes their monuments beene serued The inhabitants of the city of Pilles in their counsels ordained moste mightie honours for Theopompus he wrote backe vnto them that time was accustomed to increase honours moderately bestowed and to deface the immoderate When Niger was chosen Emperour they recited certayne verses in his praise but hee sayde that they ought rather to prayse Hanniball or the prowesse of some other great captaynes to the ende they might be imitated and that it was a mockery to prayse men while they liued which peraduenture might alter And that there was great presumption that either they did it for feare or for hope to obtayne somwhat of them and that for his part he rather desired to be fauoured and loued during his life and praysed after his death Other were wont to saye that they neuer acknowledged such prayses but wished to God that they were worthye of them Bracidas his mother was highly commended for aunswearing the embassadours of Thrace comforting her for the death of her sonne affirminge that he had not left his like behinde him that shee knew well ynough that the citye of Sparta had manye Citizens a great deale more worthie and valiaunt then him As Antigonus sayde vnto a Poet who called him the sonne of the sunne that hee whiche emptied his close stoole knew well ynough there was no such matter The shadow shunneth those which follow it and followeth those which shunne it and so fareth it with prayse Sigismond the Emperour stroke one that praysed him too much saying that he bitte him So was it likewise reported by Iustinian When they offered to Titus a crowne of golde togeather with great praises for his taking of Ierusalem he aunsweared that he himselfe was not the authour thereof but that GOD serued him selfe thorough his handes in that he made manifest his anger agaynste the Iewes As much is sayde of Fabritius for the deliuerie of Greece and of Timoleon for restoring Sicilie to libertye And Antistenes commaunded his children neuer to conne any thankes for praysing of them for often tymes it is with men as with an number of beastes which suffer a man to doe with them what he will yea to tumble and drale them on the grounde as long as hee tickleth them Galien entreating howe the sickenesse of the minde might be discerned wryteth that he learned of his father to despise glorye as an intisement to euill and ennemye to truth And Iosephus wryteth that honours bestowed on young men are as matches of follie and rashnes And in our french tongue we call offices and dignities charges And Varro in his fourth booke of the Latin tongue writeth that this name of honour proceedeth from a name which
of Sparta to put out their Samien guest out of Peloponese for feare he should entise any Spartians to become naught The saide Ephores giuing eare to this aduise bannished him the very selfe same day And Demosthenes was bannished by the Senate of Areopage for hauing receiued a present from Arpalus Curius and Fabritius refused the presentes of the Samnites and Pirrhus As also did Daniell of king Baltazard and the sayd Fabritius sayd that as long as he coulde commaund his owne members he should neuer haue neede of much mony Lysander would not receaue the apparell and iewels which was sent vnto his daughter frō Dionisius the tyrant sayinge that his presents more dishonoured then honoured his daughters Sophocles before sayde the like The which was the very cause that Alexander Seuerus so grieuously punished such of his officers as hee knew had taken bribes And according vnto that most excellent saying of our sauiour Christ Iesus recorded by S. Paule it is a blessed thing to giue rather then to take Which also king Ptolome Philadelphus was wont to repeate and that it was better to enrich an other then him selfe Euen the very Epicuriens helde that it was more excellent and pleasaunt to doe good to an other then to receaue a benefite And Cicero in his Oration which he made for Plancius declareth that it is an inhumane thing and brutish to suffer ones selfe to be ouercome thorough benefites And as king Cyrus was wont to saye that hee heaped vp great treasures when he enriched his friendes and subiectes And Constance the Emperour had often in his mouth that it were better that publike riches and appertayning to a king were possessed by priuate men then kept in a coffer or treasury And for the ease of the Empire he vsed onelye earthen vessell and was content with little for as Seneca writeth he is as great which vseth earthen vessell as siluer and siluer as if they were earth Cato Cicero and Titus Liuius teacheth vs a meanes to meete with auarice in taking away all riotousnesse and superfluous expence as sundry common weales and Empires haue done Pluto was called Dis that is to say the God of riches and hell as if too great wealth made the way more easie for vs. And the Poets faine that the Furies were the daughters of Pluto and Proserpina allotted to great reuenewes as if the aboundaunce thereof tooke away our vnderstanding except God enclined vs to vse it better And with great consideration did Lycurgus king of Sparta abolishe the vse of all gold and siluer as the very occasion and subiect of the wickednesse which man committed And Plinie wished that gold mought be cleane rooted out as if it had beene first found out for the ruine and destruction of mans life esteeming that age happye in which those things changed Artaxerxes was wont to saye that it was farre more royall to adde then to take away And Isocrates wrote to Nicocles that he shoulde bee more esteemed of in giuing then taking for these respectes one ought not easily to receiue a present and to charge himselfe hereby with a further recompense except hee wilbee polluted with that vilanous vice of ingratitude heretofore described If we consider the intents of the most parte of men we shal find they tend to the heaping vp of wealth to ioyn stone and wood one vpon another without once thinking of the life of the soule as though we had none at all The which causeth me to remember an aphorisme of Hipocrates They saith he which in their sicknes feele no paine at al tosse tumble their clothes teare their hayre and pill strawe it is a verie yll signe and no apparance at all that they shall liue For it is lesse decent to settle our wittes vppon heaping vp of riches then to drawe a peece of cloth of golde through a sinke And such as are giuen thereto are cleane out of taste as they are which haue the greene sicknes who loue to eate coales and ashes which is a strange cacochimie and corruption of nature And riches do not consist but in opinion and estrange vs from God Themistocles said that it was verie requisite for the chiefe of an armie to knowe the enemies councel yea aunswered Aristides but it is more decent and praise worthie to haue pure hands As Pericles was also wont to saie And if wee shoulde put in practise the iudgements of K. Cambises who caused a Iudge to bee fleade which was corrupted with brybes and fastened his skinne to the seat which afterwarde he caused his sonne to holde that of Darius who for the like cause caused one to be hanged and of a Bishop of Cologne who caused the eyes of sixe of his counsellors to be put out and left one to the seuenth which had taken least of any to the ende he mought guide the rest through the citie thereby shewing how much himselfe detested to bee corrupted with bribes there would be an infinite number at this time flead hanged made blind I could here discourse howe great miseries auarice breedeth how much it ought to be detested resembling the diuel from whence it is sprong which deliuereth vp his followers to the hangman breaketh their necke after that hee hath a while colled thē but ynough of others haue entreated therof And the holy scripture causeth vs often times to flye it as a plague and roote of al euil a bottomles pit making vs sustaine much euil to attaine vnto euil to turmoile toyle ones selfe to pleasure his heire who is often time vnknowen And the better hap a man hath to attaine therunto the more is he accursed in being more tormēted with the feuers of the mind vnquietnes Not without cause do they compare a couetous man to one in a dropsie or to him which hath bin stong by that dangerous serpēt Dipsas both which are neuer satisfied with drinke vntil they dye therwith And it was wisely saide that the poore man wanteth but a litle and the wise man al things that he neuer doth good vntil he dye the longer he liueth the more he tormenteth himselfe S. Chrisostome often times preached that the more money a man heaped togither the more he coueted that with great welth pouertie encreased And Salomon writeth He that is greedie of gaine troubleth his owne house but he that hateth gifts shal liue the couetous are excluded out of the kingdō of God 1. Cor. 6. Ephes ◠2. Tim. 6. Seneca writeth that if couetousnes do once surprise youth she wil strangle it before she wil leaue it It is a strange matter to see how many are withdrawn from the feare of God through riches wealth which notwithstanding proceed but frō his liberalitie therfore ought rather to make the possessors of thē more deuout affectionate vnto his seruice And
pleasures of sinnes And it is a harde matter as Salomon saith for a man to take fire in his bosome his clothes not to be burned And in the 16. chap. he declareth that such plesures are conuerted into teares torments Men of auncient time haue named danses allurings poysonings bauderies of Sathan who by the meanes therof corrupteth vs as Lizander softened the walles of Athens burned their ships by sound of flutes The Lord reprehended them in Isaiah for vsing banquets harps tabors other dissolutenes And without any more repeating the places of holy scripture wherin we are commanded to resist the desires of the flesh to shun al apparance occasion of euil to shew a good example as I touched before S. Basil in a sermon he made against drunkennesse flatly forbiddeth prophan songs dansing as things repugnant to al the holy dueties of a christian man in steed of bending his knees before god which he ought to do Which likewise S Chrisostom doth in manie homilies vpon Mathew the Epistle to the Coloss and vpon Genesis speaking of the mariages of Isaac Iacob in another homely he praised the peple for hauing left it S Ambrose in his third book of virgins S. Augustine against Petilian declare that in the wel ordered churches dansings were banished reproued as vnworthie dissolutenes vpon the 32. Psalm he is of opinion that it is not so yl to trauail plough the ground vpon the sunday as to danse The which Nicholas of Clemenge an ancient doctor of the Sorbonists doth cōmend in a tretise he made of not augmenting of holy days And the said S. Augustin in another place rather liketh the wife or maid that soweth vpō the holy day then her that danseth In the sea of histories is mention made of an Archbishop of Magdebourg that broke his neck dansing with a damsel Other haue been stroak down with thunder or knocked brused in pieces with the fal of the house where they dansed Our writers make mention of the great danger which K Charls 6. escaped hauing like to haue bin burned in a danse as some other great lords were And by dansing Herodias caused Iohn Baptist to be behedded And by bills of inditements drawn against sorcerers it hath bin found true that in their diuelish sinagogues they goe all dansing And not without cause one of auncient time named dansings snares for maides misfortune for men and a bayte for baudes And the Voltes courantes and vyolent daunses proceede from furie and hath caused many weomen to be deliuered before their time And god in Isaiah gretly threateneth the daughters of Sion for that they went winding prauncing making their steps to be heard againe Origen writeth that al persons haue been forbidden them but especially weomen for feare of defyling their sexe Plutarque likewise writeth that they ought to bee ashamed to bee founde dansing And the daughters of Israel were by that meanes rauished I could alledge sundrie counsels which haue forbidden it yea and of our owne ordinances which we ought to keepe and among other at the last assemblie of the estates holden at Orleans For the sanctification required by the law of God vpon the sabboth feastdaies is thereby maintained the which figureth in vs a spirituall rest which God worketh in his faithfull sanctifying them regenerating and making them aspire to things heauenly diuine keeping their feast in sinceritie truth as S. Paul hath written And this ought to be a continual Sabboth to the said faithfull to the ende that euerie day they may liue holily renouncing the works of the flesh honor God both in bodie minde And the holy day is principally ordained to heare the worde of God to serue him to call vpon his name to remember his benefits free gifts to giue him thanks to dedicate our selues vnto him to performe al works of pietie to participate with the publique prayers made in the churches to set our selues far of from al apparance of yll As S. Paul saith that God hath purifyed to himselfe a people making profession of good workes this sanctification is declared in Isaiah to consist in doing of no yll in following the will of God not our own suffering our selues to be gouerned by him For how can we name our selues Christians keepe holy dayes if we prophane them with dansing banqueting masking spending excessiuely playing dissolutely prouoking the wrath of God vpon vs which wil bring forth her accustomed effects chastisements if we do not amend And if according to the saying of our Sauiour We must render account for euerie idle worde howe much more for our songs which men vomit out in daunses from a heart impure the more to giue fire to our couetous desires sufficiently occasioned by other meane to boyle in steade of imploying our tongue to the praise of our creator and giuing him thankes for his benefites And as the mysteries of religion are spirituall so doe they require the minde of man to the ende to nourish it instruct refourme humble it if it be too much exalted and lift it vp if it bee too much throwne downe to comforte and regenerate it without applying it to vaine thinges dishonest and hurtfull which was the cause that Saint Augustine and other doctors founde it strange that men are offended if they see one plough vpon a holy daie but not if one be drunke go a whoring or worke any other iniquitie It is to be feared that God will obiect vnto vs that in the first of Isaiah My soule hateth your appointed feastes I am wearie of them and I will not heare your prayers And in Amos I hate and abhorre your feastes dayes and I will not smell in your solemne assemblies though you offer me burnt offringes and meate offringes I will not accept them And I will turne your feastes into mourninges and all your songes into lamentations and I will bring sackcloth vppon all loynes The puritie of the Gospell calleth vs to a profession that we should reforme and cut off all euill customes and eloigne our selues from all daungers vanities and lightnesse And not without cause Antisthenes being demanded what a feast was answered that it was an occasion of surfeting and disorders And oftentimes no dayes are lesse festifall and lesse obserued then the festifall dayes which many dedicate to Bacchus and Venus Which surely would require to be well reformed And whereas they blame frenchmen for great pleaders those that are of the best aduised exempt themselues make a pointment and quit one part to conserue the rest in peace and winde themselues out of the handes of these suckpurses and palterers thinking it a true saying of Chilo that quarels sutes and debtes are euer accompanied with miseries as more at large hereafter it is declared Nowe to
other greater authours then they are condemned of lying as we haue marked in the Spaniardes before which haue written the history of the new world and of the west Indies who couer and make lesse their owne excesse and incredible vilanies the greatest part of them beeing reuenged and punished thorough the iust iudgement of God The Englishmen haue somewhat runne awry in handling the affaires on this side the sea Paulus Iouius was wont to say that to doe fauour to such great personages as gaue him pensions he set thinges downe in such sort as they that liued in that time were well inough able to discouer them mary the posterity should hold them for true And in truth sundrye historiographers of all times thorough ignoraunce hatred couetousnes or ambition take a colour to warrant their lying and disguising vpon a beleefe they haue that few shall bee able to discerne their coseninges And for because thorough this error of discourse they name sundry wise and prudent which in deed haue beene most wicked and blame french men that haue bene vertuous of a good conscience and haue ended their liues honestlye and laudablye condemning them of fole hardines and vice men ought therin to carry a good sound and right iudgement Considering that such authours doe not alwaies measure the maners and actions of men according to the vnmooueable rule of the worde of God and morall philosophy nor distinguish the vitious by the intention or conscience but onely by the issue dexteritie and industrye or rather subtiltye of such as know how to applie each thing to the end which they pretend neuer regarding whether it be honest laudable and iuste or no. They do not in respect of the french men referre any of their actes at all to vertue if they be not led thereto by that which they account prudence but rather to rashnes as they doe in regarde of their owne nation imputing their owne actes of cowardnesse basenes of minde disceat dissembling treason crueltie disloyaltie infidelity and ambition to wisedome and prudence Neuerthelesse here we may well consider for what cause they haue made the like comparison of french men that Antigonus did of Pirrhus to a gamester whome the dise fauoured well but knew not how to serue him selfe of those chaunces that happened vnto him for that loke what he got by the effect he loste thorough hope coueting in such sort what he had not that he cleane forgot to assure himselfe of what he had gained because they are more ready to get then wise to keepe and that by feates of armes they make braue conquestes but they preserue them but a while not knowing that a countrye conquered by such as obserue not discipline is both vnprofitable and hurtfull Therefore they coniecture that valour and dexteritie in armes is a greate matter but that nobility not brought vp in learning nor in reading of histories hath not this wisedome to moderate it selfe and to prouide by suche meanes as they ought to take to bee able in peace to conserue what they haue conquered and suffer themselues to bee led by the coloured wordes of their enemies who after that the firste fire and french boyling is extinguished they know wel inough how to vse their occasion and serue their owne turnes with the ignoraunce of such as esteeme nought but armes without running ouer the courses held by their auncestors in keeping their conquestes and vsing of their victories as we haue but too manye examples which is the cause that Caesar writeth in his Commentaries that french men are more hardie and couragious then fine in warre which they make great account of ioynct that they giue them selues more to the hope which they take of conquering then they doe to anye feare of losing Euery man confesseth that men differ from beastes in reason if this good nature be not manured with the reading of histories good letters what other thing is it thē a pretious stone hid in a donghil We ought to account the saying of K. Theodoric true that what was begon with good aduise prudence preserued with care is of long lasting strong And if victories be not made sure with temperance prudence they dim through some vnloked for accident the glorye which was before gotten and in short time loseth the whole fruit through insolency carelesnes delicacies arrogancy violentnes of taking vp of lodging yet to be well entreated in capacity of a gouernor couetousnes confusiō to make no distinction betwene persons in giuing taking away or changing and somtime a cōmandement amisse conceaued an ordinance ill executed rashnes vanity of speach carrieth the victorye awaye cleane vnto such as before seemed already vanquished And a marueilous prudence is required to foresee an innumerable number of other accidentes in matters of warre and sometime to apply counsell to necessitye beeing no lesse the dutye of a valiaunt Captaine to shew him selfe wyse in his actions then couragious to the end hee approoue deliberation lesse difficile and daungerous and cleane reiecte all rashe counselles attendinge likewyse the oportunities of times and ripenesse of occasions not for all that presupposing for certayne those perilles that are vncertaine beeing more afrayde then he ought calling hope no lesse to his counsell then feare Cirus likewise in the ende of the seuenth booke of the Pedion of Xenophon thought it a matter more laudable to keepe then to get because often tymes in conquestes is nothinge but hardinesse but a bodie can not conserue what hee hath taken without temperaunce continence care and diligence besides valour And as it is a greater greefe to become poore then neuer to haue beene riche so is it to lose more bitter then neuer to haue gotten I doe not thinke that garrisons serue to so great an ende as if the conquerours shew them selues meeke and louers of good thinges and that no thing can succeede well to suche as abandon vertue and honestie Aristotle dedicatinge his Rhetorique to Alexander writeth vnto him that as the bodye is entertayned thorough a good disposition so is the witte by discipline and erudition which were the causes that not onelye hee had euer an addresse to doe well but also to conserue what he had gotten It is likewise requisite that we put the sayde reading in vse and practise thereby to becomme more vertuous wise and aduised and that we conferre thinges passed with the present and such as might ensue and to apply examples to the rule of veritye iustice and equitye And albeit that Sainct Augustine attributed much to histories yet doth he adde that hee can not see how all that which is written by the witte of man can bee in euerie point true consideringe that all men are lyers and that it commeth to passe often tymes that they which follow the reason of man in anye historie builde vppon the brutes of the vulgar sorte and are abused by the
Titus the Emperour was wont to say that because he did nothing that deserued blame or reprehēsiō he cared not for any lies wer made of him As also Fabius surnamed the most high answered some that rayled on him that a Captaine ruler in the field who for feare of speaking or of the opinion of the commons ceased from doing what he knewe to be profitable or to desist from a purpose fully deliberated of wherof he wel vnderstood the causes reasons ought to be esteemed more faint then he which feareth to proue his strength when hee seeth occasion giuen for his aduantage And chose rather that his wise enimy might feare him then the folish citizens should praise him that being wel aduised he cared not for being accounted too fearefull or too slack It is the lesson of Ecclesiasticus Set not thy heart vppon euery worde that is reported And Plato in Criton admonisheth vs not to regarde what euery man sayth but what he saith that seeth al things the truth And not without cause an auncient father said I wil lose the verie reputation of an honest man rather then not to be an honest man Cato was accustomed as Plutarque writeth in his life time to bee ashamed only for dishonest things but euer to despise what was reproued by opinion S. Augustine attributed the death of Lucretia to her imbecillitie as fearing the euil opinion suspition of the common sort And there is no enterprise or execution so right worthie of praise that is not subiect to the reproche detraction of the ignorant to the passions of the malignant enuious to rash iudgements For this cause in al our actions we ought to cōtent our selues with a conscience well informed And but that I feare I shoulde be too tedious I coulde alledge a number of most notable examples of the inconueniences that haue happened as wel to them of old time as of ours for esteeming more the iudgement of the ignorant then the truth Which detractions K. Demetrius was wont to say he cared not for not esteemed them better then a fart not much passing whether it made a noyse before or behind aboue or below Marius likewise spake wisely in Salust how no report was able to offend him because if it were true it woulde sound to his praise if false his life manners should proue it contrarie By this discourse I desire to impresse into the nobilitie a sound iudgemēt of true honor which is engendred but by vertue good deedes and to make them laye aside that foolish opinion which they haue of falshod vnder colour whereof vpon light occasion and offence they vndertake combates neuer regarding the lawes of God nature ciuil canonical priuate nor their owne saluation or duetie of charitie hazarding their liues soules goods friends for that stale infected passionate fantastical tyrant termed honor neuer embrasing such meanes of concord as the lawes commaund And remaine so stubborne blind that whereas the true honour consisteth in obeying God and his laws in mastering ones passions in louing forgiuing succouring ones neighbour they make it to be in disobeying of God his holie lawes going about to diffame destroy murther their neighbours render themselues slaues to their owne choler And how can that be honorable which God forbiddeth detesteth condemneth to eternal death And also to be meeke peaceable reconciled to ouercome wrath and passions to aproch neere vnto God through his clemencie and mercie which are the actes of vertue and of true Christians how can these I say breede vnto the nobilitie either dishonor or infamie Considering that by the auncient discipline of warre it was adiudged dishonest worthie of punishment if one combatted with his enimie without his Captaines leaue or if he left the place giuen to him in gard And the auncient Emperors and Kings esteemed it a point of greater magnanimitie and nobilitie to pardon and commaund ones selfe then to be reuenged as a murtherer of himselfe to laye open his owne life to euident peril Wee proceede all of vs from God our creator not of our selues into his handes wee ought to put all our reuenges as hee himselfe willeth vs and not to make our selues the accusers Iudges and hangmen of him whome wee pretende to haue cast an eye vppon the shadowe of this delicate honor as I haue els where touched for the importance of this pernitious error CHAP. XIX That without the trueth there is nought else but darknes and confusion and how much the Philosophers haue laboured to find it out how farre wide they haue beene of it HE made no bad comparison in my opinion that said that pollicies gouernements and kingdomes were like an emptie lampe or lanterne and that the trueth was the match with the oyle and the waxe or the tallowe that gaue the light for without this Sunne shine of trueth there is nothing but darkenesse and disorders in this life and we may say with the Prophets that without it the people remaine lying in darkenesse and in the region of the shadowe of death And with Ieremie that the wise boast not in his knowledge nor the strong in his force nor the riche in his wealth but that all our glorie bee to knowe him which is the verie trueth for whatsoeuer men maye alledge vnto vs of victories tryumphes honours eloquence force and other gyftes and graces they are nought else if this trueth bee taken awaye but as if one shoulde sayle in a darke nyght among the floodes rockes and tempestes of the sea and in the ende prooue a sorrowfull tragedie Sainct Paul iudged all thinges to be doung in respect of this knowledge and the excellencie thereof which hath lyen hidden manie ages and made most clearely manifest thorough our Lorde and Sauiour Christ Iesus who hath imparted vnto vs the heauenly treasures and hath beene made for vs iustice righteousnesse life sanctification and redemption And albeit the Philosophers of olde time attayned not vnto this light yet did they not cease to pursue the shadowes thereof of which in parte wee entreate leauinge vnto the Diuines the deepe insight into this light and maiestie of the essentiall trueth The sayde Phylosophers as Socrates Plato Democritus Aristotle Plinie Architas Tales Tianeus an infinite number of other haue made verie farre long voiages the better to be instructed in this trueth in the knowledge hereof to the end they might not ouerlightly beleeue or speake out of purpose The said Tales being demanded what distance there was betweene the trueth and a lye aunswered as much as betweene the eyes and the eares as if he would haue said that we may boldly declare what we haue seene but that often times one is deceiued trusting vnto anothers report And albeit the said Plato Aristotle and other Philosophers haue written many notable
to the ende that if ought had inconsideratly escaped their mouth or that their letters had beene rashly signed and passed the signet by reason of their great busines and affaires or for not hauing beene fully infourmed how matters stoode it mought the more easily be moderated and remedied They willed likewise all their letters to bee examined by the soueraigne Courts and ordinarie Iudges of their realme Ecclesiasticus also admonisheth vs To praye vnto the most high that he will direct our waye in trueth and that reason goe before euerie enterprise and councell before euerie action Hence proceedeth the ordinarie clauses had by the counsell aduise and ripe deliberation of our councell There are likewise some that haue wel vnderstood the saying of the wisemaÌ„ Where there is no vision the people decay to bee meant of a good gouernement ruled by good councel And the foundations of good counsels and actions ought to be laide vppon pietie iustice and honestie and to be executed with diligence and prudence otherwise they are altogither vnprofitable These two discourses concerne in especiall the greatnes safetie profit of Princes because that of the comfort of their subiects ensueth amitie and of this amitie proceedeth a readie will to expose their persons and goods for the affaires of their soueraigne CHAP. XXII That one ought not to iudge too readily of another IT was not sayde without cause in the olde time that he which beleeued a backebyter committed no lesse offence then hee did And Symonides complained of a friend of his that had spoken yll of him of his eares and lightnes of beleefe which ought not to haue place in any before they be throughly informed of the trueth For by how much by speache a man approcheth nearer to the seate of vnderstanding reason which is in the braine by so much doth it the more hurt marre him which beleeueth if a man take not verie diligent heed and the hearer partaketh halfe with the speaker It is also verie strange to see what care wee haue to keepe the gates of our houses shut and yet howe wee leaue our eares open to raylers and euen as Homer praised them which stopped their eares sayling on the sea neare vnto the Syrenes for feare of being heald entised by their melodie singing and so fal into the daungers that ensued thereon so should not we giue audience to tale carriers and detractors of mens good name and if they chance to prate in our presence we should examine the whole and take thinges in the beste part without giuing too light credence therto Thucidides the historiographer in his preface greatly blamed such as would report of credite sundry thinges of olde time founding their beliefe vppon an vncertaine brute without taking paines to enquire further The which Caesar in like sort writeth of the Gaulois which caused a lie often times to be put in stead of the truth And Aristotle hauing giuen this precept to Alexander to be founde true addeth that he shoulde not beleeue too lightly And it was euer esteemed an act of a wise man to retaine his iudgement without discouering it especially in matters vncertaine and to consider all the circumstances and consequence thereof And we ought to be as it were gardiens of the renowne and good of our neighbour fearing least being men we shoulde fall into that euill which is reported of an other And we ought to put in vre the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Blame no man before thou haue enquired the matter vnderstande first and then reforme Giue no sentence before thou hast heard the cause The which principallye we ought to practise in the wonderfull and vnsearchable workes of God and rather to thinke our selues short in our owne vnderstanding then to suspect that God fayled in his prouidence and in the gouernment of the vniuersall world and by no meanes to controle the worke whereof we haue no skill at all CHAP. 23. Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a discription of detraction MAny haue sayde that it is a great corsey to a man of courage to be barred libertye of free speach And the Emperours Augustus and Tiberius and Pope Pius the seconde haue saide that in a citie that is not bonde tongues ought to be free And S. Ambrose writeth to Theodosius the Emperour that nothing better beseemed a Prince then to loue libertye of speach nor nothing worst for a Priest then not to dare to speake what hee feeleth And as Socrates writeth free speach and discourse is the principall remedye of the afflicted and greeued minde And Pyndarus made aunswere to a king of Sparta that there was nothing more easie for a man to doe then to reprehend an other nor harder then to suffer him selfe to be reprehended The custome of the Lacedemonians was very commendable to punishe him that saw one offende without reprehendinge him for it and him likewise that was angry when he was tolde of his fault For a man is bound to them that tell him of his faultes and admonishe him of the right way that he should hold And a man ought not to suffer his friende to vndoe him selfe though he would as Phocion sayth Salomon describeth in his Prouerbes the profite that it yeeldeth and how necessary a thing it is to the amendement of ones life and one ought not tarrye till the faulte be committed but to preuent it by admonition The which caused certaine of our kinges of France and some other common wealthes haue endured the same that in publike playes men should reprehend such notable faultes as were committed And in Alexandria certain were appointed to go some time in a coch through out the citye blaming such persons as they saw do any fault to the end they might be more afrayde to doe ill and that shame might be of more force then the law And if at anie time anye mislike to haue the truth tolde them as Comicus hath written it proceedeth of the corruption of men of their haughtinesse and ignoraunce As Ptolomeus put Aristomenes his tutor in prison because that in the presence of an Ambassadour he waked him out of his sleepe that he mought be more attentiue to what was sayde vnto him Pope Boniface the seuenth beeing returned home againe to Rome from whence he was driuen away for his dissolutenes caused the eyes of Cardinal Iohn who had told him of his faultes to be put out Fulgosus writeth of Pope Innocent that hauing beene reprehended by some of the citizens of Rome because he prouided not sufficiently against Schismes he sent them backe to his nephew for answere which was that he made them all be caste out of windowes albeit the sayde Innocent before he came to that dignitie often times vsed towardes his predecessours Vrbain and Bennet lâ—ke reprehension In the time of Honorius the seconde they put Arnulphe to death because he so liberally
the example of the pismire which prepareth her meate in sommer knowing that in winter she nether shall haue time nor leasure and likewise of the swallowe turtle and storke who obserue the time of their comming that they may not be preuented with colde which is so contrarie vnto their nature Our sauiour Iesus Christ in like sorte reprooueth the Scribes and Pharises for if men returne not vnto him and leaue their euill waye they haue occasion to feare his iustice For in the 13. of the Prophet Hosea he protesteth that the fault laye not in him that we are not saued and that none is the cause of our ruyne and destruction but our owne selues And we must not resemble them of whom it is sayde in the 24. of Saint Math. that they neuer beleeued they should be surprised or ouertaken For as S. Paul sayth in the first to the Thessalonians the daye of the Lorde shall come as a theefe in the night a fit houre to conuey ones selfe secretely into the house he doth meane to robbe and as the lightning which no sooner is perceiued then it vanisheth away We haue before greatly esteemed and commended Fabius Maximus for that by delay and temporising he cleane brake the furie of Hannibal but such wisedome preuaileth not with God in respect of whom nothing is more holsome then a readines to execute what he cōmaundeth which is not without very great reason and for the especiall good of such as obeye him In the first of Zephaniah God saith I will visite the men that are frosen in their dregges as much to say that they chose rather to lie wallowing in their fylth then to hasten the preuenting of the iudgement of God Let vs then cast away euery thing that presseth downe and the sinne which hangeth so fast on and let vs runne with patience the race which is set before vs and let vs so runne as we may carrie the price And let vs craue at Gods hande with the Psalmist that he will breake in sunder the corde which so fast tyeth vs and deliuer vs from all vayne desires slothfulnesse and delayes which are so daungerous Here I will craue of the reader if it please him to holde me excused in hauing beene so tedious in this discourse of so great weight and importance CHAP. XXXII That ignorance is a lye and the gappe of great inconuenience Plato in his second and seuenth booke of his common wealth writeth that ignorance is a spiritual lying which we ought to shunne And in Timeus he termeth it the sicknesse of the mind and the occasion of euil And in the tenth of his lawes He addeth that the soule receiuing and comprehending the diuine vnderstanding conducteth all thinges rightly and happily but if shee be once ioyned with ignorance shee worketh cleane contrarie and the vnderstanding is vnto the soule as the sight is vnto the bodie And in his discourse of the soueraigne good he saith that ignorance is a moste daungerous matter to fall into great personages which ought to serue as a light and example vnto the people And Pythagoras his counsell was that aboue all things wee should haue a care to keepe the bodie from diseases the soule from ignorance and the citie from sedition And Ecclesiasticus biddeth vs to be ashamed of the lies of our owne ignorance And Isaiah setteth it downe for the fountaine of al euils And as S. Ciril wrote there is no mischiefe which ignorance doeth not vndertake S. Augustine in his thirde booke of the citie of God was of the same opinion and placed it amidst the temporal paines of this life And from this lewd mother of ignorance haue two daughters issued to wit falshood and doubt This is the reason why Salomon sayeth in Ecclesiastes that the wise mans eyes are in his head but the foole walketh in darknesse For ignorance maketh one fearefull base minded vnconstant like vnto beastes and such as are dead and as Cleanthes was wont to saye suffereth it selfe to be deceiued and to deceiue besides it knoweth not how to vse that well which it possesseth It is rash taketh the false for the true the vncertaine for the certaine vice for vertue and as Menander saide it beleeueth not what it seeth For this cause k. Philip when he gaue his sonne Alexander to Aristotle to be instructed by him exhorted him in any wise to applye himselfe vnto Philosophie to the ende he should doe nothing whereof he mought repent Sundrie other haue likewise beene of opinion that knowledge was the true substance of felicitie and the efficient cause of wisedome profitable to all mankinde Salomon writeth that men are adorned and preserued by wisdome And from thence receiue infinite benefits and for the most part all great Captaines of auncient time were giuen to learning The Emperour Theodosius the second with his owne hande copied out all the newe testament and the Psalmes As Titus Vespasian did the whole hystorie of Iosephus and other al Homer It is written of Epaminondas who obtained so manie and great victories that he was instructed by the Phylosopher Licides and that through learning hee became much more valiant iust and modest The like hath beene reported of Iulius Caesar of Augustus of the Scipioes Fabius Catoes and that life without learning is but a verie death and as a man buryed while hee is yet liuinge For as a Philosopher sayed the vnderstandinge seeth heareth and liueth all the rest is blinde and deafe wanting reason And high dignities estates and riches doeth greatly blemish such as possesse them vnlesse trueth bee ioyned therewithall which causeth all to bee well vsed The Poets described one Tiphon an enimie to knowledge as a man puffed vp prowde and scattering all thinges by his ignorance for there is great difference betweene the iudgement contentment sight and feelinge of a learned man and of one that is ignorant As vppon a time that great painter ZeuZis not beeing able to satisfie himselfe in beholding the excellent workemanship of a Picture aunswered an ignorant man You woulde not demaunde of mee why I so much admyre it if you had my eyes which was the occasion that Plato saide that for to loue well vertue wisedome and the trueth Philosophicall eyes were required And it is written in Hosea that for lacke of knowledge the people were destroyed And Saint Paul exhorteth vs carefully to auoyde ignorance and diligently to search the knowledge of the will of God And the Prophet Ieremiah complaineth Shall they fall and not arise shall he turne away and not turne againe Wherefore is this people of Ierusalem turned backe by a perpetuall rebellion they gaue themselues to deceite and would not returne Pope Pius the seconde saide that his bookes were his treasor And a Philosopher beeing demaunded if the King of Persia were not most fortunate made aunswere I knowe not what vertue and
learning he hath And Alexander saide that those discourses which hee had learned in Philosophie made him much more valiant aduised and assured as wel in warres as all other enterprises And not without cause Menander called ignorance a voluntarie misfortune and Seneca esteemed the vnwise man to be vnthankful of small assurance and angrie with his owne selfe One tolde Alphonsus that a King of Spaine saide that a Prince ought not to bee endued with learning then hee cryed out that it was the voyce of a beafe and not of a man And termed ignorant Kinges crowned Asses saying that by bookes men learned armes and shoulde thereby knowe more then their experience woulde teache them in a thousande yeares And the Emperour Sigismonde perswaded a Countie Palatine that was alreadie well stricken in yeares to learne Latin Petrarque rehearseth of one Robert King of Sicile that he was wont to saye hee had rather bee depriued of his Realme then of his learning And wee read in sundrie hystories that it hath beene inflicted to manie as a punishment that they shoulde not bee admitted to learning And it was not without cause saide of them in olde time that nothing was more pernitious then an ignorant man in aucthoritie as I coulde shewe by many examples and the deliberations of the ignorant can not bee but verie ambiguous slowe and without effecte Sundrie haue blamed Leonce the Emperour for that hee coulde neither write nor reade and Pope Paul the seconde for that hee hated such as were learned Pope Celestine the fifte deposed himselfe by reason of his ignorance And the Emperour Iulian to the ende hee mought molest the Christians forbad them the reading of all good bookes But the good Emperours and Kinges haue founded Colleges and Traian founde fiue thousande children at schoole thereby to driue awaye and banish the vice of ignorance And for the moste parte al Princes haue ayded themselues by learning or at the least made shewe of esteeming it Aristotle sayde that it were better to begge and be needie then vnlearned because the one hath neede of humanitie the other of money which may more easily bee recouered Hee sayde likewise as Plato and Demanes that there was as much difference betweene a learned man and an ignorant as betweene a liue and a dead a whole and a sicke a blinde and one of cleere sight or as betweene the Gods and men This made Menander to write that learning encreased and doubled the sight Yet men ought not to esteeme one that hath red much except he waxe the better thereby no more then as a bath which serueth to nothing except it bee cleansed And if wee bee accustomed in a Barbers chaire to beholde our selues in a glasse much more ought wee by a lesson sermon or lecture to examine our selues and see how our spirite is purged of sinne and howe much we thereby grow better And we must togither with a good nature ioyn the contemplation of learning the better to informe vs of our dutie afterwards to put in vse practise that good which we haue learned for as Plato wrote The end of Philosophie and of our studies is that by the searche which we haue made of naturall things wee may bee lead to the knowledge of God and vse that light which is bestowed vpon vs to conduct our life to pietie all good workes and vertue Euen Demosthenes wrote to a friend of his that he was glad hee followed Philosophie which detested all vnhonest gaine and deceite and whose finall scope was vertue and iustice The which with much more certaintie wee may auerre of the holy scripture wherein we ought to exercise our selues for feare of falling into that threatening which God pronounced by his Prophet because thou hast reiected knowledge therefore I wil cast thee off S. Augustin handling that place of S. Paul to the Romanes where he speaketh of the ignorance of the Iewes writeth that in them which would not vnderstand or knowe ignorance was a sinne but in them which were not able nor had the meanes how to knowe or vnderstand it was the paine of sinne So the not knowing of God or of our selues before wee were instructed by the worde of God was the payne of sinne vnto condemnation but after we haue hearde the word ignorance is of it selfe a most grieuous sinne For as S. Bernard writeth they which are ignorant and either for negligence or slothfulnes doe not learne or for shame enquire not out the trueth are voide of all excuse And if the Aegyptians counted it a moste intollerable calamitie to endure but for three dayes the darknesse which God sent vnto them by Moses how much more ought wee to be afraide when we remaine all our life long in the night of ignorance I could to this ende alledge sundrie examples of inconueniences that haue ensued through ignorance of the natural causes of the Eclipse of the Moone and Sunne of the impressions which are fashioned in the aire and of a superstitious feare of the Celestial signes and how by the ignorance of the Mathematikes of Cosmographie Chorographie and Geographie they haue not beene able to knowe their way nor to iudge of the heighth of a wall to be scalled nor of the passages riuers marishes and proper places to pitch a campe or retire themselues into and howe much sundrie historiographers haue failed herein but that I may not bee too tedious I wil referre the reader to the Greeke Latine and Frenche histories For this cause wee ought to enforce our selues to learne and to profit in the knowledge of the trueth that that in Ieremiah may not be reproched vnto vs You haue eyes see not and haue eares and heare not CHAP. XXXIII That one ought not rashly to borrowe money nor aunswere for another man for feare of lying IT is greatly to be presumed that the principal cause which moued them of olde time to councel a man not to be suretie for an other nor to borrowe money without verie vrgent necessitie or good pawne for the repaiment was for feare one should be founde a lyar which is a vice accompanied with impudencie and vniustice The Persians in like sort as Herodotus witnesseth blamed greatly two sinnes the one of owing the other of lying The which also moued Alexander the great after the victorie which he obtained against Darius to pay and aquite his souldiers debtes and Sophie the wife of Iustin to answere sundrie debts of the subiects of the Empire out of her owne coffers and Solon at Athens to establish an abolishing of al debtes which he termed by a word which signified a diminutiō of charge and sundrie other to doe the like in Lacedemon and Nehemiah to restore againe the burthens exactions And in Deuteronomie euerie seuenth yeare called the yeare of freedome debts could no more be demaunded to the ende this vice of
more are wee bounde to those at whose hands we haue alreadie receiued a good turne For it is in our power to giue or not to giue but as Seneca writeth it is by no means lawfull for a good man not to render againe the like pleasure which he hath alreadie receiued and sheweth that he is most miserable which forgetteth it and that the vngratefull man is of worse condition then the serpents which haue venome to annoy an other but not themselues whereas he is in perpetual torment making that which he hath receiued seeme lesse then in deede it is iudging it in himselfe a most dishonest part not to acknowledge it and yet against his owne conscience giueth place to his couetousnes and often times wisheth them dead to whome hee is moste bound The histories are full of plagues and miseries sent by god to the vnthankfull and of praises that haue beene giuen vnto those which haue acknowledged euen towardes verie beasts that good which they haue receiued of the great expense trauaile taken by manie to take away the verie suspition of ingratitude to which for breuitie sake I wil referre you I wil not for all that forget here the example of K. Pirrhus who greatly lamented the deth of a friend of his because thereby hee had lost the meanes to requite those benefites which he had receiued of him and greatly blamed himselfe in hauing before so long time differred it And it was not without cause said by Publius Mimus that who so receiueth a benefite selleth his owne libertie as who would saye that he made himselfe subiect to render the like And that we may bee the rather stirred vp to preserue this humane societie and thankfulnesse we must account what we receiue of greater value then in deede it is and what wee giue to bee of lesse and not suffer our selues to be ouercome by benefites Through the whole course of the holy Scripture we reade how the Saints and Patriarches haue beene diligent and carefull in praising of God rendring thanks vnto him for the benefits and fauours receiued at his handes and greatly lamenting the vnthankfull shewing the miseries that lighted vppon them Euen God complaineth in Isaiah and the rest of the Prophets that he nourished and brought vp children but they rebelled against him and that beastes had more iudgement to acknowledge their benefactors then men And reproched them in Hosea that they did not knowe that he gaue them corne and wine And complained in Deuteronomie that the people being waxed grose and laden with fatnesse forsooke God that made them and regarded not the strong God of their saluation In Micah hee calleth more amply to minde his benefites bestowed on the Iewes asketh what he hath done to see himselfe so yll acquited and yet declareth that the Lorde requireth of them suerlie to do iustly and to loue mercie and to humble themselues to walke with their God and sundrie other like passages are there in the Bible And Salomon writeth that He that rewardeth euil for good euil shall not depart from his house The lawes of Athens Persia and Macedonia were in time past highly commended for giuing iudgement against the vngratefull yea so farre as they condemned him to the death as it was in like sort in the law of Periander As touching Lycurgus hee woulde ordaine nothinge therein esteming it a most monstrous thing that a benefit should not bee acknowledged It is written of K. Philip that he put one of his souldiors out of pay and proclaimed him a villaine and vncapable of al honor because he was found vnthankful and caused to be printed in his forehead this worde Vngratefull And for this cause it was written of Socrates that hee woulde receiue nothinge from any man how great a personage so euer hee were except in short time he had bin able to haue requited him with the like And sundrie Philosophers great Captaines haue sent backe great presents when they were offred vnto them yea forbad their Embassadors in no wise to receiue any as wee wil hereafter declare fearing least they should therby remain more bound vnthankful And by the oracle of Apollo an vngrateful person ought to be reiected blamed throughout the world And it was lawful to reuoke liberties franchises for ingratitude into the which we our selues fall as Cicero in his oration of the consular prouinces declareth except we acknowledge what was in our libertie to receiue or were offered vnto vs and be thankfull as well for the benefites which we receiue at Gods hande as for those which he adorneth our neighbours withal declaring thereby his good will which hee beareth towards men which are as one bodie of many members And if that which Publius Mimius was wont to say be true that what soeuer is giuen to a good man bindeth euery man then haue wee great occasion to be thankful vnto God for that good which hee bestoweth of our neighbours Furthermore wee ought to esteeme aduersities as great blessings and testimonies of the good will of God towards vs thereby to humble vs retaine vs in that discipline due obedience which wee owe vnto him as wee haue marked heretofore And we ought to take as great pleasure in calling to remembrance what benefites wee haue receiued in time past as in those which are in present offered vnto vs thereby to pricke vs forward to acknowledge them by faith hope charitie patience good works giuing of thanks to aspire vnto riches more certaine otherwise wee shall cleane turne from vs the course of those benefits giftes of God which through men as a meane hee bestoweth vpon vs render our selues most vnworthie of all Cicero in his oration for Plancus calleth thankefulnes the mother of all other vertues and saith that there is nothing so inhumane or brutish as to suffer our selues to be found vnworthie verie beastes to surmount vs in acknowleging of benefits bestowed As in sundrie histories a man may see it euident that verie Lions Beares serpents dogges other like beasts haue acknowledged the helpe which hath beene done them sufficiently to confounde such as remaine vngratefull And S. Paul among the vices and wickednes that shall happen in the latter time comprehendeth vnthankfulnes and Salomon in his Prouerbs writeth that euil shall not depart from the house of the vnthankeful Plinie wrote not without cause that an yll and ouer deare bargaine is always vnthankful because it condemneth his master of folie lightnes We ought not then so much to cast our eye vpon those which seeme vnto vs to liue more at their ease then our selues as vpon an infinite number of other that are lesse and which haue not so much health friends cōmodities whereof we haue cause to thanke God shun this so great a vice Princes ought in like sort aboue
that same desire vpon their owne faults to amend them shutting their windowes lopeholes that looke vpō their neighbour to the end they may haue better sunne and more holesome winde from some other part and thereby better informe thēselues of the priuate gouernment of their owne familie and of matters fitter for them to knowe They shall finde enough at home to passe awaye their time withal without resēbling the Lady faries that some say do neuer vse the aide of their eies but abroad out of their owne houses It was neuer lawfull for stage players among the Turiens to talke of any citizen except he were either an adulterer or curious And by the law of Locres if any man cōming out of the countrey should aske what newes were sturring he was by and by greatly fined to the end curiositie mought not haue too much place Sundrie write that Antonie the Emperour going one daye to the house of one Ouilius a Senator demaunded of him howe it was possible for him to recouer so great store of Pillers of Porphire to whome hee made aunswere that when you enter into an other mans house you must learn to bee deafe and dumme The which the Emperour tooke in very good parte And as wee feare those windes which blowe about our eares our clothes and customers farmers when they prie too neere into smal trash and priuate busines so ought euery one to looke to such curious persons and when they once accost thē to answere them that the retreate is sounded the hens haue espied the Kite and so shift frō them as soone as they may be able For nothing can enter into their eares but what euill so euer they can heare like vnto cupping glasses which draweth nothing from the skinne but the naughtie bloud that is within it and manie times they interprete all to the worst Ecclesiasticus admonished vs not without great cause to take heede of beeing ouer-curious in matters superfluous and sayth that A foole will peepe in at a doore into the house but he that it well nurtered will stande without And S. Paule in the ende of his seconde Epistle to the Thessalonians and in his first to Timothie blameth such as are curious S. Augustine teacheth vs to change this curiositie into a care to amend our life and to knowe that which appertayneth vnto our saluation and Tertullian wrote that it ought to take no place at all with vs since that Iesus Christ was manifested vnto vs in the gospell And according to the Greeke prouerbe alleadged by Cicero each man ought to busie himselfe in the art which he knoweth and in his owne vocation Of this vice Bartole writeth vpon the lawe Doli mali de Nouatio nu 5. chap. 17. I could here impute to curiositie a great part of the art of nauigation and voyages into farre countryes whence nothing is brought home but strange customes and corruption of manners in like sort the death of Aristotle not being able to comprehende the secrete of Euripus nor why the sea in the straight of Negrepont euery 24. houres flowed and ebbed apace 7. times and of Plinie smothered in the flames and vapors of Montgibel and the heresies of sundry other persons And that we may the better keepe our selues from sinning herein wee must accustome our selues not to be too muche inquisitiue after matters that are lawefull nor make account of inuenters and coyners of newes As Phocion aunswered vppon the brute of Alexanders death deliberate of your affayres for if the newes bee true to daye then will they be true to morrowe The aunswere which Socrates made to him which asked him what the worlde was seemeth worthy to be here remembred that euer since he came to any iudgement hee applyed his time to search his owne selfe thereby to knowe himselfe the better which as yet he could not attayne vnto and when he should then would hee imploye himselfe to other thinges which might serue him for nought or not import him so much He was wont likewise to say that it was enough to learne so much geometrie as mought make him knowe and maintayne his owne lande from his neighbours and so much arithmeticke as to keepe the account of his owne money moueables and marchandise And in the auncient time they were greatly seased which vnprofitably consumed their braine in the superfluous search of matters buried in obscure darkenesse vncertaine and friuolous CHAP. XXXVIII Of Flatterers WE haue before declared how necessary a matter it is for one to haue neere unto him such entire friendes as will always tell him the truth without flattery For flatterers as S. Augustine sayth do poyson mens vnderstanding and still driue them into further errour making of a Thersites an Achilles and of a little flie an Elephant hauing no other scope in the world but deceite And that which yeeldeth vnto them so large a fielde is selfe loue and ouer winning of ones selfe which cleane taketh away right iudgement and is blind in regarde of what it loueth except it fall out among such as haue of long time beene accustomed and taugh more to esteeme honestie then that which naturally springeth vp with it Plato his followers would euer counterfeit his high sholders Aristotles his stammering Alexanders his double chinne and shrilnes of speech the Poet Ennius his drunkennes And in the time of Tiberius the Emperour a flatterer sayde vnto him that since his pleasure was that euery free citie should be free of speech a man ought not to be silent in that which he knewe would prooue profitable and after he had prepared sundry mens eares readie to giue him hearing he began in this sort Hearker O Caesar wherein we finde our selues agreeued with thee and there is no man which dareth openly to tell thee thereof It is for that thou makest no accont of thy selfe but abandonest thy owne person and afffictest thy body with the continuall care and trauaile which thou takest for vs neuer yeelding vnto thy selfe thy dewe rest eyther by daye or night And as he went on further with the same discourse one cryed out The libertie which this man vseth will cause him to die other sayde he will marre the Emperour Princes haue alwayes beene subiect to flatterers for as the bigger the tree is the mor fat there is for wormes to remayne in so the more wealth a man is of the more is he sought of flatterers which addresse themselues to that part of the soule which is most vnreasonable The Emperours Augustus Titus Niger Alexander Seuerus Frederic the seconde and sundry other helde them in great hatred yea Augustus being come into the Theater when one that was present cryed out O good and iust Lord shewed himselfe highly displeased therewith and forbad that any should call him any more Lord as Sueton writeth And Philip surnamed Gods gift Constantine and sundry other
how we pul vp the bryars weeds which hinder the good seedes from growing in our gardens yet fewe haue regard to this couetousnes which kepeth the word of God the onely incorruptible seede from being able to take roote choketh it when it would growe Crates finding that the wealth of this world did hinder him frō the studie of Philosophy cast his goods into the sea saying that he had rather drown them then be drowned by them Wee haue before made mention of sundrie other which haue left their goods possessions the better to intend their studie the which poore Pagans wil condemne such as are slaues to their own substance And would to God men would learn that lesson of S. Paul Godlines is great gaine if a man be contented with that he hath For wee brought nothing into the world it is certaine that we can carrie nothing out therfore whē we haue foode raiment let vs therwith be content And sheweth of how many mischiefes couetousnes hath bin the cause And he writeth in the 3. to the Philippians that after that he knew Iesus Christ the great riches which he brought to them which receiued possessed them through faith he then began to account al those things which the flesh was accustomed to glorie in but as losse dong And al such as through reading preaching haue known wel tasted of those goods which God the father by the meanes fauor of his sonne would bestow of vs esteem not of this worldly riches muck but enioy thē as though they enioyed thē not do not set their hearts vpon so friuolous vncertain things as we haue infinit examples in the scripture to declare for as we haue aboue noted the knowledge of spiritual goods maketh vile the price of earthly The desire loue wherof beginneth to vanish as soone as we haue but tasted of the other which are sound permanēt breed true contentmēt Our sauiour Christ is called in Isaiah the Prince of peace that faith which wee haue in him is such as thereby wee haue peace towarde God rest in our spirit And contrariwise couetousnes desires trouble the same for they are vnsatiable infinit they which are possessed with them are accursed like the serpent for that like vnto him they liue with earth therin settle their paradise like Moles For where their treasor is there is their heart their God paradise Let vs consider that very litle wil content a mind which is but desirous of what is necessarie for to entertain it here and if we seek his kingdō the righteousnes therof al temporal things as he hath promised shalbe giuen vnto vs without needing for our further enriching to fashion our selues or do ought against our dutie or honor or rendring our selues too much addicted vnto them It is here wher we ought to vse violence not only if our eye cause vs to offend to plucke it out if our hand or foote cause vs to stumble to cut them off cast them frō vs as our sauiour councelleth vs in the 18. of S. Matth. but to cut off these accursed desires which in such sort presseth downe our harts keepeth thē from not being able to lift vp them selues on high to search out heauenly things as al good Christians ought to do The which I haue the rather amplified besides that which is before contained in the 25 discourse to the end we mought endeuor to diminish these accursed desires which are the cause of so great mischiefs annoyes miseries throughout the world And to make vs to haue lesse occasions to take we may not be too curious in our raimēts banquets buildings for as Cicero writeth if one wil exēpt himself frō couetousnes he must take away riotousnes which is the mother it shalbe very requisite that they by no offices which the Emperor Iustinian thought to be the very beginning of naughtines And the Emperors Theodosius Valentinian ordained that al Iudges gouernors of prouinces should at their entrance into their office sweare that they neither gaue nor promised any thing nor had any wil to giue or cause ought to be giuē also that they shoulde take nothing but their wages And if it were foūd that they had receiued any thing in which it was lawful for euery one to be an informer then paid they quadruple besids the infamie they sustained of periury And the like paine was ordained to him which gaue the brybe I would commend it much more for the weale both of the King realme if the youth mought rather giue themselues to learning discipline and Philosophy or to the Mathematiques diuinitie phisick or some honest trade of marchandise to husband wel their reuenues left vnto them by their ancestors then both dearly foolishly to buy offices to gaine by them pil the poore people That would be a cause both of fewer officers fewer sutes more learned men And for the most part the money which cometh of such a saile turneth into smoke through a iust iudgement of God and often time such purchasers leaue behind them no heires Now the Presidents counsellors Iudges beeing chosen according as the ordinances carie would be much more honored France in more quiet Sabellic recyteth that in the graue Senate of Areopage none was receiued except he had made some notable proofs of his vertue knowledge dexteritie And if any one suffred himselfe to be corrupted impayred he was so ashamed among so many vertuous men that voluntarily he quited his estates absented himself And euery one was aboue fortie yeres of age The holy Scripture attributed the change of the Iewisse common wealth to that they demanded a King founded vppon that the sonnes of Samuel turned aside after lucre and tooke rewards And Dauid said that man was happie which tooke not And our Sauiour bad his disciples giue for nothing what they receiued for nothing Yet wil I not herby restrayne the liberalitie of Princes as wee haue sundrie examples in the scripture it is praise worthie to releeue such as haue neede thereof and to entertaine amitie and reconcile themselues and especially the holy scripture commaundeth vs to giue of our substance to the poore as if it were to God euen to attaine to eternall life Tiberius the second made a notable aunswere to his wife that a man shoulde neuer want wealth while he gaue great almes And that good Bishop Nilus exhorted vs to intertaine the poore because they rendred our Iudge more fauourable vnto vs. Guiciardin in his seconde booke greatlye commended the Venetians because they did not onely encrease the paye to such as had valiantly behaued them selues at the daye of Tournauue but also yeelded pensions and sundrie recompenses to manye of their children which dyed in that battaile and assigned dower to their
that dieteth himselfe prolongeth his life And Socrates was wont to say that there is no differēce between a cholericke man a beast As also Xenophon declareth in his Pedia cōmending k. Cyrus for his sobriety for that he exercised vntill he sweat And in the 2. booke of the deeds sayings of Socrates he aduised a mā neuer to contract amity with any that is too much addicted to their belly to drinking eating sleeping drowsines couetousnes Who will haue pittie on the charmer that is stinged with the serpent As Eccl. writeth lesse pittie then ought ther to be had of him which suffreth himselfe to be throwen down hedlong through pleasure which is said to resēble the theeues of Aegypt called Philistes which euer made much of the people embrased such as they had a mind to strangle And Isocrates called her a traytor deceiuer hangmā cruel beast and tyrant God by his prophet Amos greatly threatned those that loue to liue delicately as also did our sauiour by the example of the wicked rich man And S. August vpon the 41. Psalme alledgeth the old saying that the incontinent mā calleth vpon death As also the prouerbe carieth of a short pleasure cōmeth a long displeasure And there lyeth poyson euer hiddē the hooke is couered with a baite And we must behold thē behind not before as Aristotle coūselleth vs. For plesures seeme very beautiful before as do the Sirenes sundry other monsters but behind they traine a long vgly serpents taile Whordome is also forbidden by god the immoderate vse of the act of venery ought to be shunned as altering drying marring the body weakning all the ioynts mēbers making the face blobbed yellow shortning life diminishing memory vnderstanding and the very heart as Hosea sayth S. Paul in the first to the Thessalonians writeth that the will of God is our sanctification and that we should abstaine from fornication that euerie one should knowe howe to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence In the first to the Corinthians he exhorteth vs to flye it because he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne bodie that is to say he doth iniurie it profaning and defileth the pouertie and holinesse thereof he sayth further that of the members of Christ we make them the members of an harlot and profane the temple of the holy Ghost and that being bought with great price we are not our owne but Gods and therefore should glorifie him in our bodie and spirite Publicke honestie lyeth there violate and as Cupid was made blinde so do they which are bewitched with this foolish loue stayne and abandone their owne honour wealth libertie and health For this cause Salomon compared the whoremonger to an oxe that goeth to the slaughter and to a foole to the stockes for correction and to a byrde that hasteneth to the snare not knowing that he is in daunger We reade what happened to Dina the Beniamites and Dauid And histories are full of examples of mischiefes which haue ensued thereon And he which committeth that sinne wrappeth and setteth an other as far in and sinneth not alone By Gods lawe adulterie was punished by death Gen. 20. Leu. 22. and according to the ciuill lawe Instit de pub iud Sicut lib. Iulia. de adult lib. in ius C. But to cast off so daungerous a vipor we must craue at Gods hand that he wil bestowe of vs a pure and chast hart that we may liue soberly auoide idlenesse all foule and filthy cōmunication be it by mouthe writing or picture Ezechiel attributeth the sinne of Sodom to fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenes Dauid prayed to God to turne his eyes from vanitie Psalm 119. and Iob said I made a couenant with my eyes why then should I thinke on a mayde And in Gen. 6. the children were blamed that kept not their eyes but looked on fayre women as also did Sichem Gen. 34. and Putifer his wife Gen. 39. and Ammon 2. Sam. 13. Notwithstanding as Isocrates sayde that a lesse labour and greefe is made not to be left through a greater so doe those pleasures which proceede from vertuous and honourable actions as from temperance continencie and other vertues cleane mortifie with their ioye and greatnesse such as come only from the body which engender nothing but gowtes sciaticas cholicques palsies greefes of the stomacke tremblinges leprosies panges vomits inflammations and other daungerous accidents And when we feele heauinesse and wearisomnesse in our members head akes or stitches in our side which for the most part proceed frō crudities lacke of digestion we must not perswad our selues to doe as before and as they say to cach heare from a beast but rest quietly and obserue good dyet and long before to foresee the storme that is at hande And when we goe to visite such as are sicke and vnderstand the cause of their diseases we ought to looke into our selues according to Plato his councell and see whether we commit not the like excesse to the ende we may take heede by an other bodies harme and to stande vppon our gardes and consider howe precious a thing health is And let vs thankefully receiue at Gods hande such instructions as by chastising of vs he sendeth by reason of our intemperancie to the end we may learne to preuent such as may happen vnto vs. And as king Antigonus sayd that sicknesse had warned him not to waxe proude so ought wee to learne to humble our selues and to liue better for that God sendeth that as a meanes as well to vs as other to awake vs and keepe vs within the boundes of our dewetie For vices are as the very proper inheritance of man which wee must seeke to correct taking awaye from goods a vehement couetousnesse and vnbridled greedinesse and from euils feare and sorrowe which come but from conceite the very cause of vnquietnesse and perturbation which putteth me in minde often times of the saying of an auncient father that as the body in health easely endureth both colde and heate and maketh his profit of all kinde of meates so doth the Christian which hath his soule well compounded moderate anger ioye and all other affections which offende both body and soule Hippocrates aboue all thinges recommendeth to a Phisitian that he should well aduise himselfe if in plagues and ordinary diseases he founde nothinge which was diuine that is to saye whether the hande of God were not the proper causes of the sickenesse of the partie diseased For truely he often times sendeth sickenesse for remedies and meanes to withdrawe those whome he loueth from eternall ruyne And to punish such excesse he armeth grashoppers noysome flies wormes frostes windes plagues warre dewes and vapors of the earth As before we declared those thinges which they call euils are as great helpes to