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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	sin_n	7,176	5	5.3331	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20028	The defence of contraries Paradoxes against common opinion, debated in forme of declamations in place of publike censure: only to exercise yong wittes in difficult matters. Wherein is no offence to Gods honour, the estate of princes, or priuate mens honest actions: but pleasant recreation to beguile the iniquity of time. Translated out of French by A.M. one of the messengers of her Maiesties Chamber.; Paradoxes, ce sont propos contre la commune opinion. English. Selections	Estienne, Charles, 1504-ca. 1564.; Munday, Anthony, 1553-1633.; Landi, Ortensio, ca. 1512-ca. 1553. Paradossi.; Duval, Jean-Baptiste, d. 1632, attributed name.	1593 (1593)	STC 6467; ESTC S105222	52,873	110

The Defence of Contraries Paradoxes against common opinion debated in forme of declamations in place of publike censure only to exercise yong wittes in difficult matters Wherein is no offence to Gods honour the estate of Princes or priuate mens honest actions but pleasant recreation to beguile the iniquity of time Translated out of French by A. M. one of the Messengers of her Maiesties Chamber Patere aut abstine Imprinted at London by Iohn Winde● for Simon Waterson 1593. To the King SIr after you had heard the censures of diuers learned Gentlemen on the seuerall Paradoxes which you pleased to propound and were therein as I imagined fully satisfied yet you would needes make triall of my meane iudgement in such matters and thervpon commanded me to set down mine opinion How simple soeuer they be doone they are and now in all humblenes presented to your Maiestie who doubtlesse will allow them gratious countenance because it was a taske imposed by your selfe and beside requireth labour and good wit to defend such contraries Let no manne thinke then that I or any other would be so sencelesse as to holde directly any of these vaine reasons but what for argumentes sake may be said that set I downe and no otherwise Your Highnesse knowes that the simplest conceit can maintaine It is better to be rich then poore better for a Woman to be faire then foule better for a man to be wise then a foole c. But to defend the contraries to these so farre as modestie and reason wil allow deserueth no hard coniecture among the learned because they are onely but exercise of wit to make proofe of a mans habilitie in such difficult occasions Cornelius Agrippa deserued good report for his Vanitas Scientiarum and I hope to passe the pikes with my Paradox'apologia how euer it fall out so your Maiesty buckler me with wonted fauour I am of Caesars mind Iactaest alea. Your Maiesties most humble subiect and seruaunt R. G. S. D. M. To the friendly Reader GEntle Reader euen as contrarie thinges compared one with another do giue the better euidence of their value and vertue so the truth of any matter whatsoeuer appeareth most cleerely when the different reasons against the same is equalled or neighboured therewith Beside whosoeuer woulde prepare a Knight to the field must first exercise himselfe in the most common and vulgare actes of Armes that cunning stratagems may seeme the lesse laboursome to him In like manner for him that woulde be a good Lawyer after he hath long listened at the barre he must aduenture to defend such a cause as they that are most imployed refuse to maintaine therby to make himselfe more apt and ready against common pleaders in ordinarie causes of processe For this intent I haue vndertaken in this book to debate on certaine matters which our Elders were wont to cal Paradoxes that is to say things contrary to most mens present opinions to the end that by such discourse as is helde in them opposed truth might appeare more cleere and apparant Likewise to exercise thy witte in proofe of such occasions as shall enforce thee to seeke diligentlie and laboriously for sound reasons proofes authorities histories and very darke or hidden memories Notwithstanding in this conceits I would not haue thee so much deceiued as that eyther my sayings or conclusions should make thee credit otherwise then common and sensible iudgement requireth and yet withall remember that diuersitie of things doth more comfort mens spirites then daily and continually to behold whatsoeuer is common and frequent to our iudgements Farewell For Pouertie Declamation 1. That it is better to be poore than Rich. COnsidering for what and against whome I am to speake in your presence I haue great occasion to feare and withal to request that credit and fauour shoulde haue no more meanes to blemish and obscure truth on your partes then may innocencie and simplicitie on my behalfe by bringing and conducting ye into the apparant light For minding to commend such things as are blamed and hated by most part of men it will be almost impossible for me to escape displeasure in the matters themselues which of each one and at all times haue beene loued esteemed and cherished aboued all other things But one thing that heerin giueth me some comfort is that among the wise and vertuous the number whereof are dailye without comparison farre lesse albeit much more esteemed then the bad and ignorant I shall escape vnblamed Wherefore I need not be dismaied if I find few protectors and friends for praising matters so good and honest when my aduersarie findeth greater aduantage for extolling such things as are euill and pernitious Nowe because the principall point of my cause consisteth in letting ye vnderstand the estate and valew of such matters as I stand for I desire ye to wish him who would turne ye from the knowledge heerof as pretending not to know that the well skilde in letters haue for the most part been poore and needie persons To cal to memorie the life of Valerius Publicola Menenius Agrippa as also the good Aristi●es who died all so poore as they were faine by almes to be buried Hee may remember likewise Epaminondas king of Thebes in whose rich houses Pallaces after so many faire victories and noble deedes of armes by him perfourmed was found but one poore straw-bed or base mattresse for to put in his Inuentory He may bee mindfull also of Paulus Aemillius Attillius Regulus Quintus Cincinnatus Cato Elius and Marcus Manlius whose noble hartes were more cōmanded by want then the height of worldly fortunes And who knowes not that loue of pouertie had such power ouer the good Abdolominus that to be ruled thereby hee refused the most riche and abounding kingdome of Sydonia he being elected by the people of the Countrey to be gouernor thereof Heerein appeareth sufficiently the great number of molestations and trauailes hidden vnder the vaine splendor of riches and the aboundance of honours hidden in the beautiful bosome of pouertie honors well knowne and vnderstood by the Poet Anacreon to whom it happened that hauing been two whole nights togither without any rest troubled with continuall deuisings how he might keepe from theeues and imploy the fiue talents of golde which Polycrates had giuen him at length to deliuer himselfe from this perpetuall molestation and returne to his former happinesse he brought backe the faire Talentes to the Tyrant with such wordes as one of his sorte might very well vse and notwithstanding hee was poore and indigent yet he refused those thinges so highly accounted on It is certaine that hee whoe hath alwaies liued poor in this world hath no greefe or sorrowe when he departeth from it for it is to bee considered that hee leaueth this earthlie life more contented and ioyfullie then he that by the meanes of riches hath therin endured long time of pleasure As for my selfe I neuer saw one that was poore indeed who

cheekes which seemed before like roses or shining Carbuncles conteyned nothing at all of their former and naturall beawty Like act did many wise well learned Damosels and holy virgines of the Primitiue church of whom especiall memory is made among Christians at this day What say ye of our Courtezans whom God by his especiall grace hauing not giuen the gift to bee the fairest of all other howe daily they cease not to inuent newe and strange manners of paintinges to counterfeit and disguise their age and first naturall shape with false haires Spanish white Pom●des Targon distilled waters braied drugs Oyles Powders and others follies too long to be recounted Oftentimes they shaue or burne their artificiall haire and then againe rub slick chafe and washe themselues only to seeme faire yet notwithstanding looke on them at night or in the morning and ye shall finde them more deformed than before but what ensueth soone after vppon this goodly industry Sinne Death and the anger of God Now then desire this feigned faire beawty whoe will and such as best thinke themselues worthy of it for I hold most firmely that it is better to hate flie it then to wish or affect it seeing nothing procedeth thereof but pride ouer-weening and vaine-glorie as also the moste mishapen horned creatures of the world Neuer was I of any other minde since the time I had power of reason to discerne and knowe truth from falshood but that deformed people deserued more praise then the beawtifull nor is it without cause or disagreeing with best sense considering such as are hard fauoured are commonly chast humble ingenious holy and haue euer some sweete appearance of most commendable grace But for them that boast of beautie I leaue to you the consideration of their behauiour which is often times so counterfeit as nothing can be saide to agree lesse with nature You shall see them of lofty countenance inconstant demeanour wandring lookes bold pace and like language nowe iudge at your pleasure what ye conceiue of them Conclude then will I that it is much better to be fowle than faire let no aduersary party intrude himselfe to replie against my speeches for I am both stoutlie determined and sufficientlie furnished to make him answer Had I no more but the testimony of Theophrastus who hath left vs in writing that bodily beawtye is nothing else but secret deceit And he that will not heere with content himselfe to him let me produce the aduise of Theocritus that beawty is an vnknown detriment Shall we then be so vnwise and sottish that euen at the first sight wee will pursue our owne euils and misfortunes more easilie embracing most perillous and damageable beawtie then deformitie ten times more auailing and profitable Would God that foolish minde might not abide in any one but rather that we all would hate what is so vnfit for vs from which commeth no goodnes or felicitie For the ignorant Declamation 3. That ignorance is better than knowledge THe more I thinke heereon the more I resolue and rest in this opinion that it is better to haue no knowledge in letters then to be expert or skilfull therein considering that such as haue consumed the more part of their age in the study of sciences haue in the ende repented themselues thereof and haue oftentimes found very euill successe thereby Valerius the great writing of Cicero who by good right deserued to be called not only the father of eloquence but euen the fountaine of all excellent lerning saith that in his latter years he conceiued such an hatred against letters as if they had beene the cause of his so many greefes and trauailes The Emperour Licinius Valentinianus Heraclides Licianus and Philonides of Malta haue openlie tearmed the skill in letters sometime to be a publique plague sometime a common poison to men And I haue found written in many good Authors that hee which couets knowledge couets vexation that from great experience ensueth oftentimes the greatest daunger Likewise it is certaine that all heresies as well ancient as moderne came from men of knowledge cōtrariwise that in people esteemed idiots or men of little knowledge haue beene vsuallye noted expresse signes of vertuous workes and good examples I highly commend the order among the Lucanes that no one professing capacity of letters or esteemed learned may obtaine any office or sit as a Magistrate in their parlement for they stande in feare least these lettered men by their great knowledge which makes them presume so much on their persons should trouble the good order and tranquillity of their common wealth Nor may this be reckoned but to very good purpose if we would well consider their insolencie who vnder shaddow of probation in a colledge would haue euery one stand bounden or be holding to them and thinke vnder colour of their faire allegations with interpretations God wots crooked enough sometime to ouerthrow the best naturall sence in the worlde and they of dutie ought to be aboue all onely heard and listened to Some of them there be that like to Mydas confound in their obstinate opinions and stiffe-necked conceits all things whatsoeuer they take in hand I cannot imagine to what ende are auaileable these men so highly learned who in honor of their followers are called fine polished curious and ingenious wits For if they might serue to gouerne any publique cause how many nations are seene without the knowledge of lawes imperiall or of Stoical or Peripatetical philosophy so to gouerne entertaine themselues that they out-goe al auncient Cōmon weales To thinke that they may serue for the art military I dare boldly witnesse thus much vnto ye that I haue knowne more then one or two Gentlemen and captains wel lettered who by the helpe of their books haue laboured and busied themselues to point out a field leuy an armie put men in arraie and furnishe their squadrons which practise neuer returned them any honor For in truth in matter of warre we daily behold to happen incident nouelties and vnaccustomed stratagems which neuer before were registred or put in vse by the very skilfullest writers in times past Howe can wee then with reason affirme the bookes of Frontinus or Vegetius to be profitable for the art of warre In my conceit the good iudgment of a Captaine ioyned with his long vse and experience in these matters is sufficient enough for him without troubling him to turne ouer bookes of the Art militarie That these lettered people are meet to guide a house or gouerne a houshold which the Philosophers called Oeconomia howe can I agree thereto when at this day is to be noted both heere and elsewhere how many good and honest mothers of families who neuer in their liues studied in any Vniuersitie yet both haue and doe well order their houses guide their houshold yea aboue one or two hundred women for example whoe no displeasure to Aristotle or Xenophon may learnedly reade them

gaine-said Beleeue mee that will but I holde as a matter doubtlesse that barrennesse is a most singular remedie against the piersing thornes of housholde life which by better meanes then this onely cannot be escaped or preuented And I beleeue for certainety that this would be a souereigne medicine against the priuate mallice of children except by good hap the diuine plant called Hermetiae could be gotten which whosoeuer vseth if Democritus be not a lyar not only shall engender honest children and well disposed but likewise very faire and gratious But I stand in doubt that this hearbe is lost for which of the skilfullest and moste dilligent herballists of our time that euer knewe it Or where is the hande that euer planted or gathered it If nothing can be found in Dioscorides in Crescentius or in Plateairus all good Apothecaries I thinke assuredly that this plant is altogither loste for our time seeing by good proofe we now beholde children so disobedient being lyars Tauerne hunters Gamesters swearers and for conclusion capitall enimies to all vertue Then doubt not but that good Democritus imagined this hearbe or dreamed on some other thing or else that he sawe and knew it after he had put out his owne eies to become therby the better Phylosopher I thus conclude then that a barren woman is much better then a fruitfull and let vs not bee carefull to haue such store of children seeing they haue doone harme to so manye persons As for my selfe I was sometime of contrary opinion but soone after I began to repent my selfe seeing that howe many children soeuer a man hath if they bee strong they are but so many seruants to princes if they be of spirite and knowe ought then make they slender account of their parents Some giue themselues to lawe and estate of Iustice others to lay holde on benefices others to followe new opinions which makes them oftentimes fall from aloft to a hotter place then willingly they would but if voluptuous pleasures once catch hold on them God knowes what honor they doe then to their linage It was my chance sometime to be in a Countrey thicke beset with barren mountaines where ordinarily was to be seene an infinite throng of Potters or drudging penny-getters whereof daily resorted to Venice a very great number so that when any child happened to be borne in that countrey the inhabitants woulde say as a common Prouerbe this is a young Asse for the Venetian If I should recite the latest comforts that children bring vs I must borrowe the words vsed in Fraunce that in their youth they befo● their fathers and mothers and when they are great they serue for nothing but to vexethem Consider what pleasure they bring to their parents when newes is heard of them that they haue beene abroad all night keeping il rule and then come home with their heades broken their armes shiuered in peeces their eares cut off Or if worde bee brought their fathers that they are in prison for some batterie or carried to the Gallies for some theft or that they haue gotten the soule discase or to make amends for their misbehauiour they haue beaten the seruants of the house broken perforce their fathers counting houses and then fledde away with all the money Then when they are returned againe if the good man but shewe himselfe agreeued answere is made he may be ashamed in so dooing I haue at the tongues ende an infinite number more of troubles to recount which issue from this goodly increase but for the present time I am content to omit them and now to vse silence to shunne offence as well of you as my selfe who with very ill will doe speake of such matters For the Exiled Declamation 9. That it is better to be banished than continue in Libertie IF such as are mightie and vertuous take no displeasure by being banished or sent into exile what need they feare that haue not so much to loose their harts not reaching so high nor their mindes addicted to so great enterprises A Philisopher a man of councell and prudence execised in affaires for the weale publique a Captaine or ruler of a Cittye may with some reason finde himselfe agreeued and sorry to bee sent away thorow report mallice or otherwise in that he exercised his authoritie to the benefite of euerie one and notwithstanding whatsoeuer paines he tooke yet he had therein delight and pleasure Neuerthelesse we finde left by the most expert and auncientest that they reputed exile to be an honour and contentment of their mindes Witnesse heereof is the honest answere of good Diogenes to him that reprooued him as with a matter ignominious because the Sinopians had banished him their countrey Quoth he this rather ought to returne far greater shame to thee that thou hast neuer byn forth of thy countrey resembling Oysters heerein that neuer dare come forth of their shelles but are continually beaten against stones and rocks As hurtfull in my opinion is the want of courage heerein and such as are ignorant of the great number of priuiledges which the banished haue in their exile whereof I will make some bre●fe recitall to deliuer yee from occasion of maruel why many of our elders with good will made choise of exile and did so patiently endure the same First of all I may say that the banished giue no cause to others of falling into the sinne of enuie and during the time of their flight or absence very fewe are so bolde as to aske them mony for interest for each one knowes wel enough that poore exiles haue rather more neede of their helpe then hinderance Wherefore they may without blushing or vsing any other conscience borrowe the more easilie importuning disquieting them they haue to deale withall for vnder this aduantage of beeing out of theyr countrey and giuen to vnderstand that their goods are confiscated they may without any other oration require the aide and succour of euery one The banished finds himselfe not troubled with lodging strangers nor is indebted or bound to making of banquets to attire himselfe sumptuouslie beare Armes day and night to goe honourably accompanied companied for the credit of his house to shew himselfe braue and magnificent But he may well vaunt if so he thinke it good that when he was in his countrey he kept a table for all commers did wonders was rich and honourablie attired and had the traine of a braue Caualier after him Beside it will bee no dishonour to the man exiled if hee keepe not alwaies his promise or make deliuerie of that hee standes bounde for at the time by him prefixed And so it happens that many seeme satisfied by acknowledging their good turnes or promise of paiyng all if euer they may returne into their long desired Countrey And doubt not but many desire to pertake with this goodly priuiledge for sparing of expences and to deliuer themselues from very great troubles For the banished are not bound to keepe a