speake from high roomes hath brought low and of mighty men in a moment made miserable In such a variety and vicissitude of matters if ye doe not fore-bethink your selfe how that all humane accidents may touch you as wel as others ye giue aduersities great power ouer you the which by the prudēce of him that foreseeth them are not a little abated made more milde Our minds out of questiō shold be in greater rest if our actions were occupied about such things as be of a more certain cōstant condition For at least hauing once attained them wee should content our selues therwith and enioy the sweetnes and commodity therof in tranquility ease But seeing that in this world all things are subiect to tottering and turning and that there is nothing vnder the cope of heauen stable and firme the remedy most fit vnto our infirmity is to foresee this instabilitie and not to passionate and turmoyle our selues about those things the possession whereof is no lesse toylesome and troublesome then was the acquisition purchase therof And therfore wee must loue them as things which may leaue vs and withall we must haue so much foresight that they neuer leaue vs the first When on a time it was told Anaxagoras that his sonne was deceased I knew very well quoth he that he was a man and that he was borne to dye once In the like manner must we bee prepared for all aduentures My friend hath not assisted mee well I knew that he was a man and one that might change My wife was very vertuous and yet was she but a woman The man that thus before hand bethinketh himselfe of humaine accidents shall neuer be taken at vnawares neither shall he need to say as customably the vnaduised are wont I did not thinke of such a thing vnto whom the chances of fortune do occasion much affliction and anguish because they finde themselues disarmed of this wise foresight The well-aduised Prince in time of peace maketh ready his preparatiues for the time of warre Vlisses ouerpassed many dangers and difficulties and yet none of them all did afflict him so soare as one thing which did take him at vnawares euen the death of a dogge which hee loued deerely So that the common prouerbe wee see proueth true That a person surprised is halfe beaten DISC. 4. Of each mans Vocation and Calling IT cometh oftentimes to passe that such as do not thinke diligently of that which they doe are seene to fall into such a kind of life as is paineful to beare and yet more vneasy to be abandoned The which is certainely a great difficulty and a case that doth require much prudence and no lesse patience with piety to implore the aid and assistance of God considering that patience with humility in Gods behalfe is the remedy which most doth lighten and ease the euill Consider the poore prisoners what paines they endure in the beginning to beare the burthen that is laid vpon their legges but after that they are once accustomed thereunto necessity teacheth them and vse maketh all such hard vsage easie vnto them There is no manner of life howsoeuer hard strict it be which hath not some kinde of solace and refreshment one or other to sweeten the same And truly there is not any one thing wherein Nature hath so much fauoured vs as in this that she maketh vs to finde the remedy and mittigation of our misfortunes in the sufferance of the same The case then so standing as it doth that man is borne obnoxious and subiect vnto all manner of miseries we must cōsequently suppose that wee are all of vs the prisoners of Fortune who holdeth vs tyed and fettered fast hand and foote and that there is no difference sauing that the fetters and chaines of some are of gold and of other some of yron We are all of vs in one the same prison and those that hold others captiue are in the like condition and case themselues in regard of others If the desire of honour turmoileth thee the desire of riches doth trouble another If the basenesse and obscurity of birth doth afflict the to others Nobility and greatnesse doth bring a thousand discontented thoughts Art thou subiect to the commandement and will of another that other is subiect at least to his owne hauing his braines and his breast beaten with ten thousand heart-burnings and diseasments which thou doest not espy in summe if yee marke all things well our whole life is nothing but a seruitude wherein euery one ought to take good heed how to demeane himselfe in his calling how hee may content himselfe therein winking at that which is euill in it and applying himselfe vnto that which is good For there is no calling howsoeuer painefull and toylefull it bee wherein the patient soule doth not finde some contentment and gaine though that cunning and skill bee more exquisite in time of aduersity then of prosperite For when as difficulties and crosses doe present themselues then must we gather all the forces of our wits together and set our whole vigour and vertue against such imminent or present euils reposing our whole confidence in God Ionas had euer leisure within the Whales belly to make his supplication prayer vnto God and was presently heard In this manner all accidents howsoeuer grieuous and vneasy they be may be sweetned and lightned not a little To this purpose also it is good that each one set certaine bounds and limits to the hopes of his life and that hee thinke with himselfe that howsoeuer humane things bee different and diuers for the outward semblance and shew that neuerthelesse inwardly they resemble one another in their inconstancy and vanity Beare not enuy against such as are in higher place then your selfe for oftentimes that which we account height is as a steepe hill from whence a man with very little adoe is hurled downe headlong And truely such as haue liued content haue not beene alwaies those that haue made the better choise but rather those who prudently and discreetly could cary themselues in that estate and calling which they once made choyce of taking patiently the euill that fell out therein and endeauouring to redresse such accidents as did crosse their desires and for this cause Plato did compare the life of man to the play at dice wherat whoseuer doth play ought alwaies to striue to haue a faire throwe and yet should content himselfe with any cast that commeth For seeing that good or euill luck is not in our power at least wise wee must labour to take cheeerefully our chance withall to thanke God for that the worst that could is not fallen forth Men of weake wit hauing fortune at will are so transported with ioy that scarcely they know what they doe they are so insolent that no man can keepe them company they can abide nobody and nobody can abide them Whereas in the time of aduersity they are so amased
that go a foote which leading a poore life esteeme that of yours to be happy for it is not reasonable that the good fortune of one or of a few should haue greater force to make you discontent then should the bad fortune of many haue to moue you to be content How many poore folkes see ye dayly that liue of their labours are laden with children and pinched with pouerty and which is worst of all haue no hope at all to escape out of their misery How many is there to whom your life which ye so much deplore would bring much consolation and ease Wee are come vnto a time so miserable that one mans life dependeth more of anothers then of it selfe and the good of our neighbour doth occasion vs greater greife then is the gladnesse we reape of our owne But if it were possible for men to see vnfolded the fortune of such as they esteeme happy they should feele and find in it oftentimes more anxiety and paine then they do in their owne Who is hee that doth not account the condition of Kings of all other to be most happy And yet harkē what a great King saith of himselfe in Homer Great Iupiter hath imprisoned mee with great perplexities and cares O how happy then are those that liue in their little corners out of these dangers and feares And if it bee so that ten thousand folkes would be content with the estate wherein God hath established you what reason haue you to complaine for that yee haue not the estate and fortune of one whom yee enuy Yee haue no cause at all to slay your selfe with sorrow and care for to attaine vnto another mans ranke seeing there is nothing that so much troubleth and tormenteth a man as this affection immoderate desire of mounting from one degree of dignity to another For such folkes ordinarily doe follow without consideration any hope whatsoeuer that offereth it selfe the which if it faile to succeede according to their wish they presently begin to accuse fortune and to accurse their hap whereas they ought rather to blame themselues for their rashnesse and lightnesse and their want of foresight Neither do they consider what a folly it is for them to impute vnto another the blame of their owne weake vnderstanding and the fault they haue fallen into by following that which was either vncertaine or impossible for thē to attaine vnto They are like vnto those in my conceit which fret and fume for that they cannot flye or shoote an arrow with a bow as big as a plow beame The cause of this euill is the excessiue affection men beare vnto themselues whence it commeth to passe that in all things they will needs striue to be the first It is nothing in their eye to haue wealth except they haue much more then other rich men haue Behold how this vice reigneth or rather rangeth in all estates Dionysius the first was not content to be King of Sicile neither esteemed he his dignity accomplished inough because Philoxenus did surpasse him in poësie and Plato in philosophy Whereupon he fell into such a fury that hee condemned Philoxenus to the quarries there to wring verses out of the hard rockes and banished Plato out of his countrie And out of this immoderate loue it doth also proceede that men will speake of all things thereby to shew that they know all things whereby they make themselues oftentimes to bee mocked at as it once happened to Megabyses the Persian a man otherwise of great reputation and valour who hauing vpon a time entred into the lodging where the famous painter Apelles did plye and practise his art began to discourse touching the same and would needes giue him to vnderstand that hee vnderstood the nature and secrets thereof To whom Apelles as being a man wise and well conditioned thus answered Truly sir Megabyses before I heard you speake I held you for a discreete man for your silence did grace your braue apparell but since yee haue medled to talke of my trade trust me there is not euen vnill the smallest boy here that doth bray the okre but will mocke you for your labour Hanniball that great Captaine of Carthage after that the Romaines had chased him out of Italy Affricke fled towards the king of Bithynia where on a day hee was inuited to goe into the Schooles to heare a great Philosopher discoursing of the stratagemes trickes and subtilties of warre his auditors wondring at his eloquence and science of the military Art asked of Hanniball what he thought of him who laughingly answered them That hee had knowne many old fooles but that hee had neuer seen nor heard any man vttering so many fond and foolish words as that man did whom they all so much admired And not without cause did he answer them in this wise considering how that this man did take vpon him to discourse largely and lauishly of a matter which very hardly can be taught or learned in the shade of a Schoole and that in the presence and audience of the greatest Captaine and most experimented wariour that was then in the whole world Which may teach euerie man to containe himselfe within the compasse of his calling without medling or troubling himselfe with that of another mans The which thing the Poets also haue giuen vs to vnderstand when as they faine that their gods do content themselues each one with his owne calling and charge Mars medleth with warre Minerua with arts Mercurius with eloquence Cupido with loue Neptunus with the Sea Pluto with hell Iupiter with the heauens and so of the rest each one keeping himselfe within the bounds and lists of his vocation And if it had chanced that any of them should haue encroched vpon the office and function of another hee should not haue missed to bee scoffed and chastised for his presumption Hence wee may gather that all things doe not befit nor become all men and that each one ought to consider what calling he findeth himselfe most apt and sufficient for and that hee content him therewith and containe himselfe therein They that follow the profession of letters and learning haue neede of leasure and ease Hee that will follow the Court and laboureth to haue the countenance and acquaintance of great men and to finde accesse vnto Princes must needs vndergo much pains So that these conditions and the like are not fitting for all and it stādeth each one vpon to know whereunto he is most apt The Horse is fit for riding rūning the Oxe for opening laboring the ground The man that would be sory for that he cannot beare a lyon in his bosome as he could a little dogge were he not more then madde There are some who without leauing any part of their ease and of their vice would bee as wise as the Phylosophers that haue both day and night studied and trauelled so much The good wrestlers of old contenting thēselues with their prize suffered
is to be prised and praised when as they did portrait and paint their Gods naked attributing vnto them all things according as they conceited to bee most befitting their natures and as for my selfe I shall neuer repute that man poore who is placed without the reach power of fortune There is one thing sufficient to expresse vnto vs the nature of pouerty to wit that no vertuous man speaketh thereof but he praiseth it and auoucheth that the wisest haue beene those who haue suffered the same with most contentment and truly it is a great weaknesse and tendernesse in vs not to bee able to endure that which so many others haue well endured and it can be no other thing but a vaine apprehension and a friuoulous feare of enduring and suffering which maketh vs so feeble hearted for if we were indeed of a generous magnanimous disposition we would loue and like that for our selues which we approue in others and therefore howsoeuer that this peeuishnesse and softnesse of ours is not altogether to be comported with wee ought at least to limite our affections and dresse our selues in such sort that fortune may finde the lesse aduantage to offend vs for a little body that can couer gather it selfe together vnder a buckler marcheth on towards the enemy much more surely then a bigger body doth that lyeth at large and open vnto blowes If it were not mine intention to husband the time to spare paper I could enlarge my discourse by reciting of almost innumerable examples aswell of heathens as of Christians which haue placed a great part of their perfection in pouerty But yee ought to consider one thing for all that Iesus Christ was poore who was Lord of the whole world his Disciples were poore which did possesse all things and the Saints were poore which might haue beene rich If yee should neuer dye I would aduise you to set your affection vpon riches but I see that those to whom they most befall doe finde sooner the end of their liuing then of their longing But why should a man torment himselfe for a thing that hee must necessarily leaue and why is he not rather content quietly with that which is needfull chiefly considering that the fairest kinde of wealth is for a man to bee neither too poore nor yet too farre off from pouerty DISC. 18. Of Death IT seemeth that all incommodities and mis-fortunes may bee borne with either by the meanes of a long custome or by the helpe of a strong discourse onely death and the apprehension thereof is the thing that putteth vs in greatest feare Now the onely remedy and true easing of this euill is that ye make this reckoning of the world and all that is therein that yee haue nothing which is your owne neither life nor liuing no not so much as your owne selfe but that yee liue alwaies at borrowing as holding your very life not in property but on condition to restore it vnto him againe who hath lent it you whensoeuer hee shall require it at your hands yet for all this yee must not not neglect it as thing not yours but must keepe it faithfully and carefully in regard that God hath trusted you with the custody thereof and when it is time to render it to him that gaue it not grudgingly but gladly and with a cheerefull countenance in the meane time thanking God the giuer of all good things for the time ye haue had the vse and aid thereof and saying vnto him in this or the like manner Lord I render vnto thee againe this soule and life with as good an hart as it pleased thee to giue me the same yea euen euen with a better and readier will then I did receiue it for when thou gauest me this soule thou gauest it to a little weake creature which knew not the good thou then didst bestow but now thou dost receiue it againe at the hands of a creature more accomplished who knoweth what it is hee commendeth into thine hands and therefore rendereth it vnto thee withall franknesse and readinesse of will and truly we may easily imagine that it is not a thing otherwise difficult for a substance to returne to the the p ace whence it first came the body therefore must returne to the earth and the soule if it go the right way must goe to him that gaue it To bee short that man doubtlesly neuer learned well to iue who knoweth not how to die we must therefore in this case bee so affected towards our selues as wee are wont to be in the behalfe of fencers which must fight in a barred field for wee commonly hate him that beareth himselfe faint-heartedly and fauour the other who out of a braue courage had rather choose to dye then to bee ouercome Besides that the feare of death is sometimes the cause or occasion of death to him that flyeth fastest from it And seeing yee know well that life was giuen you vpon condition to render it 〈…〉 ought not to be so vniust as to desire to enioy that thing for aye which was giuen vnto you to a day by making your selfe Lord and owner of the thing whereof yee are onely a depositarie or keeper Moreouer men will say that it is a matter much importing to wit the feare and apprehension of death and that it is the extreame of all terrible things But ye ought to vnderstand that Death is not to bee found fault with for this seeing that it proceedeth not from the nature of death but from our owne imbecility who are commonly ouertaken and intangled with delights with a desire of this transitory life and with an immoderate loue of this miserable flesh And if yee take good heede it is 〈…〉 selfe that is dreadfull as the opinion which wee hold concerning the same For euery man feareth it according to his iudgment apprehension and conscience And if it be so that yee haue no feare thereof but onely for this occasion then lay the blame vpon your selfe and not vpon it For in this case it fareth with men of euill conscience when they must dye as it doth riotous spend-thrifts when they must pay their debts They will not come to an account for the distrust which they haue of their ability to satisfie for what they haue done And to say that ye feare death by reason that it is the last point and periode of man hath but little reason in it For the soule is alwaies the fore it liueth alwaies and cannot dye The Greekes call mans decease the end giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that it is the period and end of wearisome life The holy Scripture calleth it a sleep to assure vs of an assured resurrection and to the end wee weepe not as the Infidels doe which are without hope Let vs consider with our selues how many holy men and women haue prised it and desired it as the onely easement of all their anguish The writes of Salomon Iob and the Histories of Gods Saints are ful of the praises of this Christian desire of death What a vanity is it to loue so much this miserable life this Iaile this prison this vale of teares seeing that the longer we liue the longer wee liue in sinne the more daies we spend the more waies wee offend and so goe on each houre purchasing vnto our selues a new paine and punishment Finally to shut the doore vnto all fearefull apprehensions of death we must learne to do two things which the world can neuer teach vs the one is to liue well for a vertuous and Christian life maketh euen agreeabe the very memory of death the other is that we beleeue that the thing which it hath pleased God to affoord vs for a remedy and easement of our manifold labours and toyles is not so harsh nor so horrible as we do imagine it is And for a finall conclusion let vs remember how that the Saints haue had life in affliction and death in affection The Authors Conclusion BEHOLD here the floures that I haue gathered here there out of the garden of the flourishing wits and writs of the wise which I haue passed mine eies ouer Them I lay out in common betweene you and me euen as the busie bees do in their hiues with all they haue reaped in the faire and well furnished gardens or flourie fields to the end we together may draw out thereof the sugred hony of this sweet and pleasant Tranquility of mind I am of the opiniō for my part that if the ancient poets had throughly knowne thereof they would not haue put themselues in paine to compose any other Nectar or brue any other Ambrosia besides this for the diet of their gods but should haue thoght them well feasted in seruing them with this dish alone for all messes and at meales Seeing therefore we haue the oportunity offered vs of finding out and vsing so diuine a thing let vs make vse of it in the most thrifty manner wee possible may acknowledgeing in the meane time that this Tranquility we talke of is a gift from heauen which the bountifull influence of the worlds-maker must distill into our minds hee being the true and liuing well-spring whence floweth all our felicity and blisse Whose name therefore according as wee are bound wee blesse and magnifie for euer Amen FINIS