that were vertue it selfe leauing behind them the path of that vertue from whence honor ought to proceed and which is able of it selfe to adorne decke men fall into the same reckoning that Ixion did who as the Poets say had to do with a cloud supposing it to haue been the goddesse luno whereupon the Centaures were engendred Euen so worldly men embracing vaine-glory onely which is but a false shadow of true vertue all their doings deserue so small commendation that if they were well waied they should rather be found worthy of blame and dishonor than of that honour which they so greatly seeke and aske after For this cause the ancient Romanes built two Temples ioined together the one being dedicated to Vertue and the other to Honor but yet in such sort that no man could enter into that of Honor except first he passed through the other of Vertue But seeing the way of vertue is so litle frequented at this day no maruell as Hesiodus saith if so great a heape of wickednes be dispersed through the world that all shame and honor haue forsaken and abandoned the life of man Now if an honest man preferre the losse of his honor before his owne life to the ende he be none of those that content themselues with a deceitful Idea and platforme in stead of the thing it self let him learn aboue all things to know wherin true glory and honor consist and from whence he may deserue praise which first is in Goodnes and Iustice Secondly in guiding all humane actions prudently according to duetie comelines and honestie These are the only meanes to get durable and eternall honour glory and praise which always folow vertue as the shadow doth the body hauing this propertie to make men wise iust good and prudent and to bring them to the best excellentest and most diuine habite that can be in men which is the vprightnes of reason and iudgement and to the perfection next after God of the reasonable nature which is such a disposition of the soule as consenteth and agreeth with it selfe Therfore that goodnes and excellencie which proceedeth of wisedome and good instruction is the first step to come to honor bicause from that as from a liuely fountain floweth euery vertuous and praise-woorthie action practised by a prudent man For as Cicero saith no man can be prudent but he must needs be good Now this is cleane contrary to the common opinion of those that run so swiftly now adays after honor and reputation who being ignorant of euery good cause and reason and hauing corrupt and wicked conditions imagine in their mindes that so long as they do some act well liked of great men and for which they may be noted out by them to be men of valure making good penywoorths of their skin and of their conscience also whether it be in fight or in the execution of some other commandement of theirs they shal haue cause to thinke themselues worthy of great honour and to be preferred before other men For they suppose that honor ought to be measured by that good wil and liking which men conceiue of thē although they thēselues be most wicked and not by the triall of the worke whether it be good or euil in it selfe But I wonder at their follie For seeing they haue no goodnesse in them how can they iudge what ought to be done or left vndone according to equitie and iustice And what honor wil they deserue in all their actions being guided onely with a desire of worldly glory which as Quintilian saith is the chiefe principal euil Do not they also propound to themselues as a recompence of their paine and trauell aduancement to high estates and dignities that they may the better enioy worldly pleasures Whereby they become slaues to mortall goods and riches all their life time and depriue themselues of that precious libertie of the soul for which a noble hart ought to fight to suffer death But a good man adorned with goodnes and iustice propoundeth vnto himselfe a farre other end For admiring nothing but vertue he seeketh not to be honored but in obeying hir in following hir steps and in referring all his doings to the infallible rule thereof He knoweth as Seneca sayth that glory is to be followed not to be desired that it is gotten by such a noble courage as measureth al things by conscience not doing any thing for ostentation and vanitie The price and reward which he expecteth in this life for euery laudable action is to haue done it and yet he depriueth not himselfe of glory which remayneth immortal vnto him among good men for his iust vertuous deedes neither careth he at all what the wicked or ignorant sort think or speake of him Hauing layd this ground and foundation of all his intents and purposes he looketh not to the most beaten way nor to the present state of things that he might apply himselfe to the tyme as though he feared that he should be left behind but desireth rather to abide vnknown in his simplicitie than with the hurt and detriment of his soule to intrude himselfe among the greatest And if he vndertake or execute any thing he hath iustice and prudence alwaies for his guids and then neither feare nor danger is able to driue him from his determinate purpose which how soeuer it falleth out is alwaies no lesse woorthie of honor and praise than their actions who do nothing but for worldlie glorie deserue blame and dispraise which they feare most of all and labor to auoid True it is that these men who ambitiously seeke after vaine glorie and greatnes may say vnto me that things go farre otherwise than I speake of and that their doings who apply themselues to the pleasure and liking of the greater sort without sparing their liues are as much extolled as the others that respect the vprightnes of causes are set light by and contemned But I answer them againe that it is the dutie of a prudent man rather to feare the iudgement and opinion of a few wise men than of an ignorant multitude Neither ought he to leaue his conceiued purposes grounded vpon reason for the praise of men For they that do otherwise declare euidently that they liue not but for the world hauing no care of the principall and chiefe end of their being Bion compared such men very fitly to vessels with two handles which are easily caried by the eares whethersoeuer a man will So these men being praised and much made of vndertake all things boldly yea the burning heate of glory oftentimes carieth them so farre that they praise commend their owne doings to no purpose Which is so vnseemelie a thing as Aristotle saith that it is more blamewoorthie than lying which commonly goeth with it and is also a great argument of an inconstant mind But as Plutark saith the more reason a man hath gotten by Philosophie the more
commodities to get and treasure vp vertue only And why do we after their example despise all these things and spend that which we account most pretious I meane time that we may be adorned and cloathed with vertue if it cannot make vs hit that marke which euery one so much desireth and seeketh after with such great paine and labour namely that they may enioy some chiefe Good in this world and lead thereby a contented and happy life Be not ouertaken friendly Reader with this smal difficultie which perhaps might cause a grosse and feeble head not well instructed in wisedome to stagger and depart out of the right way Now although the heauenly word onely hath the perfect and sound knowledge of wisedome bicause he is that eternall wisedome it selfe yet man being his workmanship aided with his grace must not leaue of to seeke for to require earnestly of him that gift of the knowledge participation of the secrets of that incomprehensible truth so farre foorth as he may and shall be necessary for him that his soule thereby may obtaine hir permanent and lasting happines Moreouer albeit our soueraigne chiefe Good our perfect contentation and absolute felicitie be onely in heauen in the enioying of that diuine light yet we must not in the meane while albeit we cannot fully possesse that leaue of to seeke without ceasing or giue ouer in any sort to keepe and follow that good and infallible way of vertue which causing vs to passe ouer quietly and to sustaine with ioy of spirite the miseries of mankind and appeasing the perturbations of our soules from whence proceed all the euils that torment vs and making them void of all damnable effects will teach vs to lead a pleasant peaceable quiet life to effect all things woorthy beseeming this certaine hope that we shal one day by the grace of God be framed a new in that eternal most happy contented life Let vs therefore account this world and all the riches thereof as a thing belonging to an other as a straunger and nothing appertaining to those men who beyng regenerated by the spirite of grace haue profited well in the schoole of wisedome Let vs not seeke for friendshippe vpon earth let vs not couete after riches glory honour and pleasure which none but fooles doe extoll desire and wonder at Wee are not of this worlde but straungers onely therein and therefore let vs set all worldly things behinde vs and account them vnwoorthie the care of our immortall soules if we meane not to perish with the worlde by ioyning our selues there-unto Let vs forsake it I say forsake it boldly how precious soeuer it bee that we may aboundantly treasure vp that great sweete and durable wealth I meane vertue which is honoured loued and desired for it selfe onely which is the true and wholesome medicine for diseased soules the rest of the mynde oppressed with care the cause by the will of GOD of that chiefe Good wherein the principall ende of the soule consisteth and the onely assured guide which leadeth to the Hauen so much desired of euery one namelie the contentation of minde Which thing this present Academie doth not onely set before our eyes but also doth saue and keepe vs beyng already entered into this Hauen of safetie agaynst all tempestes if wee will our selues and not spare our labour to reape profite of those learned and wise instructions that are here giuen vnto vs by the preceptes of doctrine and examples of the lyues of auncient vertuous and famous men For first of all wee shall learne hereby to know our selues and the ende of our beyng Secondly wee shall bee instructed in good maners and taught how we may liue well and happily in euery estate and condition of lyfe whatsoeuer Yea we shall finde in the basest and lowest estate which of the ignorant and common sort of people is oftentimes called miserable as much ioy and happinesse as a Monarch can be partaker of in the fruition of his greatnesse yea much more than he if he bee wicked bicause vice in all Estates maketh the possessour thereof wretched and contrarywise Vertue maketh euery condition of life happy Moreouer wee shall see in this Academie that euery one louyng and fearing GOD may obtaine this inestimable Good of vertue and thereby remayne a Conquerour ouer the perturbations of his soule which breede all his miserie remembring this poynt alwayes so farre foorth as the fraile nature of man ayded by the Author of all goodnesse can attayne to this perfection Wee shall learne here how we ought to gouerne our selues wisely and duetifully in all humane actions and affaires and in all charges and places whatsoeuer either publique or priuate whereunto we shall be called We may note here cause of the subuersion and ruine of many Empires Estates and Common-wealths and of the glittering shew and glory of infinite others as also the cause of the wretchednesse and destruction of a great number of men and what hath lift vp others and crowned them with honour and immortall prayse We shall bee taught here the gouernement of a house and familie the maner of the education and instruction of children the mutuall duetie of married couples of brethren of masters and seruauntes how to commaund and how to obey We shall see here the order and establishment of policies and superiorities what is the duetie of the Heads of them of Princes and Gouernours of nations as also what the duetie of their subiectes is Briefly both great and small may drawe out from hence the doctrine and knowledge of those things which are most necessarie for the gouernement of a house and of a Common-wealth with sufficient instruction how to frame their life and maners in the moulde and paterne of true and holy vertue and how by meanes thereof the grace of GOD woorking in them they may runne the race of their dayes in ioy happinesse rest and tranquillitie of spirite and that in the middest of greatest aduersities which the vncertaintie and continuall chaunge of humane things may bring vpon them Nowe bicause the sequele compounded of the sundrie treatises and discourses of this Academy will sufficiently instruct thee in all things aboue mentioned as it promiseth in the fore-front and title thereof I will not dilate this matter any farther but only desire of thee Reader patiently to heare these Academicall students from the first of their discourses vnto the last Their intent was only as thou maiest vnderstand more at large in the entrance of their assembly to teach themselues and next euery one according to their abilitie the institution of good maners and rule of good lining for all ordinarie and common estates and conditions of life in our French Monarchie to the ende that euery member of this politike body brought thus low with euils and beaten with tempestuous stormes might somewhat helpe and profite it by their counsels and instructions And this thou mayest do friendly
wisely obseruing that this friendship be simplie forsaken and no enmitie vndertaken For it is not good or seemly to quarrell with him with whom we haue liued familiarly Moreouer we must note heere that triall is to be made in an honest not in a wicked matter For we must not do as we read that Alcibiades did who being desirous to knowe whether he had so many friends as he thought he had called them vpon a day one after another into a darke place and shewed vnto them an image of a dead bodie saying that it was a man whom he had killed and requesting them to helpe to carie it away But amongst them all he found none except Callias that would harken thereunto This kind of proouing a friend maketh vs vnwoorthie of such a name and occasioneth euery good man to withdraw himselfe from our friendship If we do all things saith Cicero both good and bad for our friends such friendship may more truly be called a conspiracie of euill men than a confederacie of good men But as we haue said we must gaine another mans friendship by vertue and not by vice as also trie a friend in iust and reasonable causes as if we be oppressed vniustly if affliction and aduersitie follow hard at our heeles if need or any other humāne accident betide vs into which the best men commonly fall After we are sure that we haue a friend which truly is very great riches there is nothing that we ought to desire more than to preserue and keepe him And first the mutuall opinion which ought to be in euerie friend of the vertue of his companion serueth very much for this matter For as Cicero saith The opinion of vertue is the fountaine of friendship and it is proper to vertue to win mens harts to draw them vnto it selfe and to preserue their friendship Next the coniunction of maners and wils keepeth backe all riot and contentions when as the will and mind of the one shall no sooner be declared but the other presently putteth to his helping hand to bring it to passe Thirdly we are to obserue this first law of friendship inuiolably not to require our friend to do any thing that is not iust or not in his power to performe but to content our selues with the vse and seruice of that which he hath without further seeking his hinderance after the example of the industrious and painfull bee which draweth honie out of flowers and hurteth not the fruit Aboue all things we must hold this for a generall rule which we haue alreadie touched that true and perfect friendship ought to be free as charitie is from whence she hath hir beginning I meane that it ought to exercise it selfe not for hire or recompence but onely for his loue who is beloued of vs. For the one is proper to a friend the other sauoreth of a hireling True it is that friends in these daies are like to crowes which fly not but towards those places where there is some thing to feed vpon euen so they commonly visit not mens houses except it be for profit neither reuerence a friend longer than they see him in prosperitie or may reape some commoditie by him But we must shun such parasites who are but saluting and table friends Moreouer we must reioice and delight in the companie and conuersation of our friend as in that wherein the sweetest and most pleasant fruit of friendship consisteth And for want of this benefit friends must often communicate togither by letters thereby to shew that they liue in remembrance one of another For by the letter of a true friend the spirit is refreshed the eies delighted friendship confirmed and the mind contented Besides we must haue our vertues spirits prosperitie yea acquaintance and all common togither and nothing secret or hidden Lastly we must yeeld to our friend all duties and seruices of sincere friendship and that in all honest and profitable things according to right iustice which are the bounds and limits of an holie loue desiring the like of him towards vs. Aboue all things his affliction or aduersitie and all iniurie offered him ought to be common to vs with him wherein we are to assist and helpe him with all succor and sweet consolation which is as souereigne and fit a remedie as can be applied vnto him especially when good doctrine is ioined with our speech Heerof Phalereus confessed very well that he had good experience when he was banished from his kingdome saying that his meeting with Crates the wise man had taken from him all care and thought of his miserie And if friendship can greatly diminish the greefe that commeth by aduersitie no doubt but it can adde as much grace and pleasure to prosperitie We may effect all dutie whatsoeuer we owe to our friend by succouring him with fower things namely with our person with our goods with comfort and with counsell Which we may also comprehend vnder these two duties of releeuing the necessitie of our friend and of comforting him in his tribulation Now bicause what perfection soeuer is in our friend as likewise in our selues it cannot be but there will be alwaies some imperfection mingled therewith mens doings being neuer without some euill we must not presume to be able to build such a perfect friendship as shall be void and free of all vice And therefore we must gently support and beare with all wants and discommodities of our friend and oftentimes frame our selues to many passions so they be not directly contrarie to vertue but such as proceed from the imbecillitie and frailtie of nature common with vs. Neuertheles against such imperfections we must in time conuenient and to purpose vse free and gentle admonitions which are so necessarie in friendship and worthie of such consideration that in my opinion we shall do well to make a seuerall discourse thereof Now if it come so to passe that some displeasure or iar happen betweene vs then is the time wherin we ought most of all to studie and labour how we may do some profitable or honorable thing to our friend and not harken to slanderous toongs which watch for some small and light occasion to powre out the poison of discord thereby to rent and breake a sunder our good and sure friendship To such parasites and scrap-gatherers at free-cost feasts who seeke for nothing but their own gain by the disagreement of others we must neuer giue eare but driue them as far from vs as they thinke to come neer vs. And to the end we may be the better affected and disposed heerunto we must often call to remembrance what benefit and happines commeth to such men as are linked togither by true and vnfained friendship as namely in those affaires at which we cannot be present our selues the fidelitie of a friend supplieth our place From whence we will draw this conclusion that he which violateth friendship setteth himselfe against
that an incontinent man chooseth not neither consulteth when he offendeth as one that knoweth full well that the euill he committeth is euill and had resolued with himselfe not to follow it but being ouercome with perturbations yeeldeth thereunto Whereas the intemperate man committeth euill of election and setled purpose to follow it accounting it a good thing to be desired And this commeth through a long custom habit of vice which is the cause that he neuer repenteth him of the fact but taketh pleasure therein whereas on the contrarie side the repentance of an incontinent man followeth hard at the heeles of his sinne and transgression In this maner then proceedeth intemperance vntill men are wholie addicted and giuen ouer to vice This is the cause why the sensuall and vnreasonable part of the soule contendeth no more with reason which then is as it were starke dead and suffereth it selfe to be caried to vgly and vnnaturall vices and to all fleshly desires bicause the diuine part of the soule is weakened in such sort that she hath no more strength nor feeling of hir essence which is an enimie to vice And thus accustoming hir selfe to follow nothing but the will of the bodie she forsaketh God altogither who seeing himselfe forsaken leaueth hir to hir concupiscences from whence is ingendred this exceeding luxuriousnes euen against nature this mortall venemous and bloodie enuie this furious and barbarous crueltie this insatiable couetousnes this bloud-thirstie ambition and other incurable diseases of the soule too wel knowen amongst vs whereof the sequele of our discourses will affoord a more ample knowledge vnto Thus we see that intemperance as Cicero saith is the mother of all the perturbations in the soule and causeth man as Socrates said to differ nothing from a beast bicause he neuer thinketh vpon that which is best but onely seeketh how to satisfie and content the vnbridled desires of pleasure and lust hauing no more vse of reason than beasts haue Intemperance saith Eusebius corrupteth the soule and destroieth the bodie bicause it constraineth a man for loue of pleasure and desire to satisfie it to do that which he knoweth well is dishonest and vile And as the winds torment and tosse that ship which they haue seazed vpon now heere now there and will not suffer it to be guided by hir maister so intemperance moouing and compelling the soule to disobey reason suffereth hir not to enioy tranquillitie and rest which is an assured hauen of harbour from all winds Intemperance saith Aristotle is a vice that proceedeth from the coueting part of man whereby we desire to enioy vnlawfull pleasures It is hir propertie to choose the fruition of hurtfull and vile pleasures supposing none to liue happily but such as passe away their life in them This vice is vnseparably accompanied with the troubling of all Order with impudencie vnseemlines luxuriousnes sloth negligence and dissolutenes In a word intemperance remooueth and troubleth all tranquillitie of the mind and leadeth men to all kind of wickednes the end of one vice being the beginning of another which Socrates called the punishment of sinne that doth not cleanse but kill the malefactor There is no kind of dissolutenes wherein the intemperate man plungeth not himselfe no wickednes or crueltie which he executeth not for the satisfying of his vncleane desires and vnsatiable lusts no feare or imminent danger which can draw him backe And further he laboreth oftentimes to procure that glorie and honor should be giuen to his most cursed and execrable misdemeanors imagining and fansying with himselfe dreames answerable and agreeable to that he most desireth Wherein he resembleth mad men who haue alwaies before their eies those Ideas and shapes which worke the apprehension of their furie and hold them in the vision and inward view of that which most troubleth their diseased braine But to make this vice of intemperance more odious vnto vs and to moue vs more earnestly to flie those causes that nourish it labouring to cut off all those branches and hurfull fruits which it bringeth with it as superfluitie gluttony ambition pride and other excesses in all kind of delight wherof we will intreat more particularly heerafter let vs call to mind examples of such pernitious effects as it hath brought foorth in them that voluntarily submitted themselues vnder hir tyrannous gouernment Although we should search throughout all ancient histories yet hardly could we alledge a more euident testimonie than the life of Heliogabalus bicause there is no kind of cursed mischiefe of detestable lust of iniustice of crueltie wherwith he was not defiled Yea he fel into such a furious frensie of vice that seeking to become a woman and to be maried to one of his minions thinking in that sexe better to satisfie his beastlines he apparelled himself after such a fashion that he was neither man nor woman And knowing it impossible for him by reason of his impietie and corrupt life to escape a miserable end and violent death which ought rather to haue been vnto him an occasiō of amendment he was so bewitched with intemperance that he prepared poisons ready at hand to poyson himself withall if he perceiued himselfe pressed of his enimies And to make his death luxurious according to his desire he kept his poisons in vessels made of precious stones He prouided also silken halters to hang himself withall if he saw that more expedient for him than to be poisoned or if he should thinke it better to murder himselfe he kept for that purpose kniues made of precious mettals Likewise he caused a high tower all gilded to be built all 〈…〉 his death as fittest occasion should be offred In the meane while he gaue not ouer that execrable kind of life which through Gods iust iudgement he ended being depriued of all those means wherwith he desired to serue his owne turne in his death For he was strangled by the souldiers of his gard who trailed him in that maner through all places of the citie of Rome Nero one of his predecessors was little better than he For he slew a Romane Consul called Atticus that he might haue the free vse of his wife and pleased himselfe so much in his crueltie that he was the murderer of his own mother brother sister of two wiues which he had named Octauia and Poppea Likewise he put to death his schoolemaster Seneca and many other good men But his end dissembled not his life For beyng hated of all and sought for to be slayne he killed himselfe Commodus an other emperor not finding wherwith to satisfie his intemperance in three hundred concubines three hundred buggerers which he kept in his palace committed incest with his owne sisters Caligula also did the like but the one of them was slain by his wife the other by his concubine Proculus a Romain emperor was so much giuen to lust that he bragged how in
chiefly to handle at this present The Grecians called it by these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one signifieng troble the other a band as if they would haue said that it held the soule bound and wholie troubled They affirmed also that this feare was as it were a giddinesse and alienation of the mind from the right sense making the soule idle dead void of euerie good exploit or effect whatsoeuer The last kind of feare is that which worketh in the wicked a feare of paine and punishment appointed for offences wherby they are as it were with a bridle kept backe and restrained from presuming to commit their villanies and damnable purposes Now as the first kind of feare said to be good and necessarie is a great token of a commendable and vertuous nature as that which for good cause is grounded vpon the feare of reproch and infamie and vpon a desire to effect whatsoeuer belongeth to dutie so the one of these two last kinds testifieth a vile contemptible and abiect nature and the other a wicked corrupt disposition Plutark speaking of this good feare calleth it one of the Elements grounds of vertue saying that it is chieflie requisite and necessarie for those that haue authoritie ouer others who ought to feare rather to practise euil than to receiue punishment for the same bicause the first is the cause of the latter not onelie to themselues but to so manie as wallow in wickednesse which is neuer without recompense Therefore a prudent and well aduised man ought to haue this feare alwaies before his eies I meane this childlike feare which is vnseparably ioined with the true loue we owe to our common father and is the beginning of all wisedome wherby we are induced to honour him And looke how much the more the ancient Pagans were kept in awe by this good feare so much the more shall our condemnation be doubled if we despise it The dutie also of this profitable feare is to haue an eie vnto the good and safetie of our countrie and to cause vs faithfully to discharge euery charge committed vnto vs to the end we incurre not perpetuall shame and infamie among all good men It causeth vs to feare onelie the dishonor of an vnaduised counsel or action and to account it very seemelie honorable to be blamed and euil spoken of for well dooing which Alexander the great said did well become a king This good feare made Phocion who for his desert and valure was chosen generall of the Atheniens fiue fortie times to saie that he would neuer counsell but hinder to the vttermost of his power that enterprise of war which they would haue concluded against Alexander For said he although the Athenians would cast awaie themselues yet I will not suffer them to doe so bicause I haue for that intent purpose taken vpon me the charge of a Captain And when Demosthenes who persuaded this warre said vnto him the people will kill thee if they enter into a furie Phocion replied Naie they will kill thee if they be well in their wits Antigonus the second king of Macedonia declared what benefit commeth of this good feare necessarie for the foresight of a wise and experienced captaine in warre when retiring once from before his enimies who came to assaile him and being told by certaine that he fled he answered It is cleane contrarie For I looke backe to that profit wich is behind me As touching the opinion of the ancients alreadie mentioned that to stand in feare of nothing is more hurtful to Common-wealthes than foraine enimies it is that which Scipio Nasica a Romane Senator meant to signifie when vpon the hearing of some who said that Rome was in safetie if Carthage were laid wast he replied that it was farre otherwise For said he we are in greater danger now than euer bicause we stand no more in awe of anie whereby he wiselie inferred that too great and vnlooked for prosperitie of cities is commonly the cause of raising ciuill wars in them secret diuisions or else of bringing into them so great idlenes that by it a gate is opened to all vices as in truth it fell out with the Romans For then beeing in the top of their felicitie and greatnesse by reason of the destruction aswell of the Carthaginians by Scipio the yonger as of the Macedonians vnder Perseus and Antiochus the people began to abuse their authoritie preferring vnto estates and places of honour not the best and iustest citizens but such as flattered them most in their vices and dissolutenes and wan their hearts with prodigall and superfluous feasts and distributions to whome they solde their publike voices Whereupon in the end those ciuill wars arose which was the cause of their finall ouerthrow and of the alteration of their popular estate into a tyrannie afterwards called a Monarchie But this discourse being the matter of another Subiect let vs come to the defect of the vertue of Fortitude which is a feare voide of reason and assurance and argueth a faint and cowardlie hart causing a man through want of sense and vnderstanding to account this the surest waie to doubt all things and to distrust euerie one Of this feare one of the ancients said Feare taketh awaie memorie and all good effects from euerie art and industrie Yea sometimes some haue beene found so faint-harted that as soone as this feare seazed vpon them they gaue vp the ghost not beeing oppressed with anie other euill or violence It is in this passion that Feare and Greefe fullie practise their power being grounded vpon a false opinion of euill and sworne enimies to all rest and tranquillitie gnawing and consuming life as rust doth steele or yron Neither is this feare without an vnrulie desire and immoderate ioie in things that are worldlie base and contemptible whereupon the soule is continuallie carried hither and thither with pernicious and immoderate passions which depriue hir of the excellencie of hir immortalitie to attend to the mortall and corruptible affections of the flesh Alexander spake of such as are possessed with this feare when he said that no place is so strong by nature and situation which fearefull men iudge safe enough Therefore the Satyricall Poēt said verie well that Fortune alwayes maketh timorous men little For although they be borne bigge of stature yet the small courage of their hearts maketh them so much the more contemptible bringing foorth worse and more dangerous effects and making them vnwoorthy of all intermedling with matters of estate of policie or of warre In this number among many whom histories mention we may heere reckon Claudius the first of the Caesars who was so faint-harted base-minded blockish that his mother said often of him that Nature had begun but not finished him And truly a hartles-fellow or one of litle-hart is nothing els but a bodie
youth if we obserue and vse these fower things Instruction Admonition Promise Praises and Threatnings We will comprehend all Instruction vnder sixe precepts The first shall be to shewe vnto children that they must worship God and honour him chiefly and aboue all things referring all their thoughts and deedes to the glorie of his name that it is he that hath created and preserueth all things that he suffereth no wickednes to passe vnpunished nor good worke vnrewarded but giueth eternall happines to good men and euerlasting paine and punishment to them that are euill Let them knowe that without his grace and fauour they can doe nothing no not so much as liue one moment and therefore that they must continually and before euery worke call vpon him and beware that they offend him not by neglecting his commandemēts which for this cause they must diligently learne The second instruction which I finde most necessarie for youth is to teach them not to glorie in earthlie and worldlie goods but to learne rather to despise them and to transport the loue of the bodie and of carnall goods which it desireth to the loue of the soule and of eternal goods which properly belong vnto them They must not make great account of the beautie of the bodie which hauing inclosed within it the soule that is defiled with vice and sinne is nothing else but a pretious and proud sepulcher vnder which is contained a stinking and putrified carrion They must not put their hope and confidence in riches but be perswaded that they are rich and happie if they be wise learned and vertuous And whilest their vnderstanding is good and in vigour and themselues haue time they must put all their strength to the obtaining of that which will be profitable vnto them in their olde age namely of knowledge and vertue which will procure vnto them honour safetie praise happines rest and tranquillitie in their life time and will in the ende guide them to eternall life to be made coheires of the kingdome of heauen with Iesus Christ Thirdly they must be taught to eschewe and flie from all such thinges which they see are hurtfull to others and learne to be wise by their dangers and perils Nowe that which marreth and hurteth others is disobedience lying pride infidelitie naughtines hazarding games whoredome drunkennes prodigalitie idlenes and euill companie Against the contagion of which vices no better preseruatiue can be had than to ingraue modestie in their hartes by the rule and measure whereof they may easily be directed to behaue themselues vertuously For this cause Plutarke sayth very elegantly that the foolish opinion and presumption which yoong men commonly conceiue of themselues ought rather to be emptied than the ayre wherewith bottles and Kiddes skinnes are puffed vp when any good thing is to be put into them Otherwise being full of the winde of ouer-weening they receiue none of that good instruction which men thinke to powre into them For the fourth precept of their instruction we will set downe these fower thinges which will stande them in great steede towards the attayning of a happie life Let them not be delicate or superfluous in anye thinge Let them bridle their toong and not be full of wordes nor vtter filthie and dishonest talke at anie tyme but be gratious and curteous in speaking to all men saluting euery one gladly and willingly giuing place in those things wherein the truth is not hurt Let them maister their choler by cutting off impatience as much as may be which is a singular vertue Lastly let them haue pure hands seeing manie great men by taking monie vniustly haue stilled all that honour which they had gathered togither all the former time of their life Fiftly the examples of good and bad men are to be laid before their eies through the reading and vnderstanding of histories that they may knowe that vertuous men haue beene well rewarded and the vitious receiued an euill and miserable ende For this cause we reade that the olde men of Rome vsed at feastes to singe the famous actes of their Ancestours before their youth For the sixt and last precept we say that it is needfull for youth to be vsed to labour and wearisomnes to keep them from idlenes and from falling into any dishonest pleasure We haue seene what exercises and pastimes are meete for them according to the opinion of the Ancients and at this daye we knowe howe to make choice of them as shall be meetest for the nobilitie Now to speake briefly of the other three generall precepts giuen by vs for the institution of youth Admonition is very necessarie for that age For although youth be well borne and brought vp yet hath it such actiue and vehement prouocations that it is easily brought to stumble Wherfore yoong men must be often admonished of their dutie and spoken vnto of honestie and of vertuous men bicause words mooue their minds The steps of their honest predecessors are to be laid before their eies to induce them to follow their paths And aboue all things the promise of that life which is eternally happie for those that perseuere in vprightnes and iustice is to be propounded vnto them O man well affected saith Horace go ioifully whither thy vertue leadeth thee and thou shalt reape great rewards for thy deserts O ye yoong men saith Plautus walke on in that way wherein vertue will direct you and ye shall be very well recompenced For he that hath vertue hath all thinges necessarie for him and wanteth nothing These are the promises which ought to be beaten into the harts of children adding further to them that are very yoong a promise to giue them what they will so that they learne well that which is taught them Last of all praises and threatnings must be added by commending children when we see them profit in vertue and honestie to encourage them to go forward and to do better better Glorie saith Ouid giueth no small strength to the mind and the desire and loue of praise causeth the hart to be resolute and readye to vndertake all things Quintilian would haue yong men praised when they profitte and are willing to learne as likewise they are to be threatned if they be slothfull and negligent in the obtaining of vertue and honestie and wil neither heare nor vnderstand nor yet put in practise those good admonitions that are giuen them And if they amend not with threatnings they must haue good discipline and correction vsed towards them and be chasticed with discretion To this purpose Plutark saith that the hope of reward and feare of punishment are as it were the two elements and foundation of vertue For hope maketh yoong men prompt and readie to vndertake all good and commendable things feare maketh them slowe in presuming to commit such things as are vile and full of reproch So that if
ciuil estate gouernment which is the chief Magistrate let vs consider now of the second no lesse necessary therein which is the law whereby he is ioined and vnited to the rest of the publike body for the maintenance and preseruation thereof ACHITOB. The lawe is in the citie as the spirite is in the body For as the body without the spirite vndoubtedly perisheth in like maner euery citie Commonwealth that hath no law falleth into ruine and perdition Therefore Cicero calleth lawes the soules of Common-wealths ASER. As the soule guideth the body and indueth it with abilitie to work so the law is the direction maintenance of euery Estate By the lawe is the Magistrate obeied and the subiects kept in peace and quietnes But let vs heare AMANA handle this matter AMANA We see that naturally all liuing creatures whether earthie watry aërie or flying tame or wild seeke after the companies and assemblies of their kinds to liue with them as Sheepe by flocks Kine Oxen Harts and Hindes feeding by herds Horses Asses Mules by companies Choughs Stares Cranes other birds by flights Fishes both in fresh and salt waters following one another in sholes Bees dwelling in hiues Pigeons in doouehouses Ants in little hollow places No maruell therefore if men singularly adorned with an immortal soule with reason speech and by these prerogatiues more communicable than other creatures as borne to honour God to loue one another to liue togither in a ciuill policie with lawes Magistrats iudgements hauing proper to themselues onely the knowledge of good euill of honestie dishonestie of iustice iniustice knowing the beginnings causes of things their proceedings antecedents consequents their similitudes cōtrarieties no maruel I say if they liue more commodiously happily togither do that by right equity which other liuing creatures do only by a natural instinct seeing also they may be assured as Cicero saith that nothing here below is more acceptable to god the gouernor of all the world than the cōgregations assemblies of mē linked togither by right equity which we cal cities Now we are to note that all those which obey the same lawes Magistrats make iointly togither but one city which as Aristotle saith is euery cōpany assembled togither for some benefit If a city be assēbled in monarch-wise it is to be defēded against strāgers to liue peaceably among thēselues according to law if Aristocratically vnder certaine chiefe lords it is to be respected according to their riches nobility vertue if in a popular cōmunity it is to enioy liberty equality the better that the city is guided by policy the greater benefit they hope for therby Therefore as the Venetians make but one city liuing vnder an Aristocraticall gouernment the Bernians an other liuing vnder a Democraty whether they liue within or without the wals or far frō the chief towne so all the natural subiects of this Monarchy acknowledging one king for their soueraigne lord obeying his commandemēts the decrees of his coūcel represent one city political cōmunion cōpounded of many villages townes prouinces Prouostships Bailiweeks Senshalships gouernments Parliaments Barronies Counties Marquesies Dukedoms Cures Bishopriks Archbishopriks being in of it self sufficiently furnished with all necessary honest things for the leading of a good vertuous life obeying the statuts lawes ordinances established therin according to which the Magistrat ought to rule to gouern his subiects shewing therby that albeit he be not subiect to the law yet he wil as it becommeth him liue gouerne himselfe vnder the law Therfore the Magistrate is very wel called by some a liuing lawe the law a mute Magistrate Moreouer the marke of a soueraign Prince of which depēdeth whatsoeuer he doth by his imperial authority is the power to prescribe lawes vnto all in general to euery one in particular not to receiue any but of God who is the Iudge of Princes saith Marcus Aurelius as Princes are the iudges of their subiects yea it is God saith the wise mā that wil proceed with rigor against thē for the contēpt of his law So that they which say generally that princes are no more subiect to laws thā to their own couenāts if they except not the laws of god of nature those iust couenants and bargaines that are made with them they are iniurious to God And as for their power to abrogate such lawes by their absolute authoritie it is no more permitted vnto them than the other seeing the power of a soueraign is only ouer the ciuill or positiue lawes But that we may haue some certaine vnderstanding of the matter heere propounded vnto vs to intreate of we must first see what the lawe is into howe many kindes it is diuided whereunto it ought to tend the profite of it and howe we must obey it The lawe is a singular reason imprinted in nature commanding those things that are to be done and forbidding the contrary We haue both the lawe of nature and the lawe written The lawe of nature is a sence and feeling which euerie one hath in himselfe and in his conscience whereby he discerneth betweene good and euill asmuch as sufficeth to take from him the cloake of ignorance in that he is reprooued euen by his owne witnesse The written lawe is double diuine and ciuill The diuine lawe is diuided into three partes that is into Manners Ceremonies and Iudgements That of Manners was called of the ancient writers the Morall lawe beeing the true and eternall rule of Iustice appointed for all men in what countrie or tyme soeuer they liue if they will direct their life according to the will of God And as for the Ceremonies and Iudgements although they haue some relation to Maners yet bicause both of them might be altered and abolished without the corruption or diminution of good manners the Ancients did not comprehend those two parts vnder the word Morall but attributed this name particularly to the first part of the lawe of which the sincere integritie of Maners dependeth which neither may nor ought in any sort to be altered or changed and whereunto the end of all other lawes is to be referred in honouring God by a pure faith and by godlines and in being ioined vnto our neighbour by true loue The Ceremonial lawe was a Pedagogie of the Iewes that is to say a doctrine of infancie giuen to that people to exercise them vnder the obedience to God vntill the manifestation of those things which were then figured in shadowes The Iudiciall law giuen vnto them for policie taught them certaine rules of iustice and equitie wherby they might liue peaceably togither without hurting one another Now as the exercise of ceremonies appertained to the doctrine of pietie which is the first part of the Morall law
they are to the great preiudice of the whole Common-wealth We are therefore to wish that all valuing and sale of offices especially of iudgement and iustice may be abolished and disanulled that all meanes of fauor and ambition may be taken away that the ancient and happie ordinances of our kings may be restored especially that decree of S. Lewes the king whereby he enacted that all publike offices should be bestowed vpon the election of three persons chosen by the Officers and Citizens of those places to one of which so elected the king was to giue freely without monie the office then void This holie ordinance hath since that time beene often renued by king Phillip the Faire Charles the Wise Charles the 7. Lewes the 11. and Charles the ninth that dead is when his Estates were held at Orleans So that if the King and his Councell would aduisedly consider of these things in the establishing of Iudges and Magistrates in his kingdome and would strengthen them in the execution of their iudgements the obedience of his subiects would be greater and the foundation of all good order and policie more sure Of Seditions Chap. 63. ARAM. AS it is necessarie that all things which haue a beginning should end which encrease should diminish and waxe olde some sooner others later according to the disposition of that matter whereof they are compounded and through the influence of the heauenlie bodies from which nature woorking in them by hir author this continuall and mutuall succession of generation and corruption proceedeth so are publike estates first instituted encreased maintained lessened changed destroied turned returned one frō another by the disposition of God Those that are best grounded in religion and iustice haue their power most assured and are of longest continuance but none are perpetuall although their policie and manner of gouernment be neuer so good For we see them al corrupt in processe of time and in the end perish through their own vices that follow and accompanie them being first mooued and stirred vp by nothing so much as by sedition and ciuill warre This bringeth to light all euill that lurketh in those members of the politike body that are most pernitious vntill the infection be wholy spread and hath taken hold of the noblest parts thereof whereby it is brought to extreame miserie without hope of remedie Nowe although euery one of vs haue sufficient feeling heereof in himselfe by his owne harme yet we may know it better by taking occasion vpon this subiect to discourse of the nature of seditions of their common effects that we may haue them in greater detestation and bring euery one of vs his hart and mind to helpe this Estate if there remaine neuer so little shewe or meanes whereby the subuersion thereof may yet be kept backe But I leaue the discourse of this matter to you my Companions ACHITOB. All sedition is euill and pernitious although it seemeth to haue a good and honest cause For it were better for him that is author of sedition to suffer any losse or iniurie than to be the occasion of so great an euill as to raise ciuill warre in his countrie ASER. Nature saith Empedocles vseth no other meanes to destroy and to ouerthrow hir creatures than discord and disiunction and sedition as Thucydides saith comprehendeth in it all kind of euils Let vs then heare AMANA who will prooue this sufficiently vnto vs. AMANA If we consider how God minding to punish Adam for his ingratitude and disobedience made his owne members rebell against the spirite vnto which they obeied before whereby he became captiue vnder the lawe of sinne no doubt but we may say that after the same manner he chastiseth Kings Princes and Heads of Common-wealths that haue no care to obey his commandements and to cause others to keepe them by the rebellion of their owne subiects not without great danger of depriuation from all authoritie by them and of receiuing the law at their hands to whome they should giue it as it hath beene seene practised in many Estates and gouernments Religion and the loue of God bringeth with it all vnion and concord preserueth Kingdomes and Monarchies in their integritie and is the nursing mother of peace and amitie amongst them But the contempt of religion bringeth discord and confusion ouerturneth all order treadeth vertue vnder foote giueth authority to vice and soweth quarrels and dissentions amongst men from whence seditions and priuate murders proceed and in the end ciuill and open wars which are as flaming fires to take hold of and to consume most flourishing Estates For without doubt if men had in them the true loue and feare of God which cannot be without the loue of our neighbour no such effects would euer proceed from their works and actions Politicks haue labored infinite waies to maintaine the people in peace and to cause ciuill iustice to flourish They haue made many Lawes and Edicts many Statutes appointed many punishments to bridle the boldnes of seditious fellowes to represse extorsions wrongs and murders but bicause they built without a foundation that is without the feare of God all their labour taken therein was fruitles It is the feare of God onely that causeth swords to be broken and turned into mattocks and speares into siethes as Isaias and Micah speake that is to say which breedeth humanitie and gentlenes mollifieth mens harts and causeth them to suffer much to auoide strife and debate in a word which is able to vnite in one with vs most strange and barbarous nations Besides it is the profession of godlines to suffer and not to offer violence neither can it bring foorth euill effects contrarie to their cause This deserueth to be handled at large but our present subiect leadeth vs to discourse of the nature of seditions and to set before our eies the euils that proceede thereof both by reasons and examples referring the consideration of their causes vnto some other time heereafter Sedition then being taken generally is nothing else but ciuill warre so hurtfull to all Estates and Monarchies that it is the seede of all kinde of euils in them euen of those that are most execrable It engendreth and nourisheth want of reuerence towards God disobedience to Magistrates corruption of manners change of lawes contempt of iustice and base estimation of learning and sciences It causeth horrible reuenging forgetfulnes of consanguinitie parentage friendship extorsions violence robberies wasting of countries sacking of townes burning of buildings confiscations flights banishments cruell proscriptions sauage murders alterations and ouerthrowes of Policies with other infinite excesses and intollerable miseries pitifull to behold and sorrowfull to rehearse Sedition armeth the father against the son the brother against the brother kinsman against kinsman men of the same nation prouince and citie one against another Heerupon the fields which before were fertile are left vntilled sumptuous and rich houses
all ioyned togither against the house of Fraunce durst not take in hand after the taking of Frauncis the first and the losse of that famous battell Not one of them durst enter into Fraunce to conquere it knowing the lawes and nature of this Monarchie For as a building layd vpon deepe foundations and made of lasting stuffe well knit and ioyned togither in euery part feareth neither windes nor stormes but easily resisteth all assaults and violence so this kingdom will not easily admit any alteration and change as long as all the members continue vnited and ioyned togither vpon the foundation of their lawes Therefore let the king princes their councell great and small euery one in his place take order that God may be truly knowen and sincerely serued according to his iust and righteous will that honest behauiour may be maintained the authoritie of lawes kept iustice administred magistracie duely exercised rewards and punishments distributed equally that vertuous men may be honored and the wicked corrected Otherwise if we cōtinue long diuided into companies with defiances passing repassing if we persist in our wonted inuectiues and riots referre not all our actions to some good ende let vs not looke for lesse than for a generall desolation and pitifull ouerthrow of our countrey appeering already in many places thereof or at least for some horrible mutation and change of the estate Of the causes that breed the change corruption and finall ruine of Monarchies and Policies Chap. 64. AMANA AS long as the Physition knoweth not the cause of his Patients disease it is impossible for him to remedy the same to prescribe a medicine to the sicke partie A disease knowen saith the Prouerbe is in a maner cured So fareth it with Estates and Monarchies that are changed marred and in the end brought to ruine by diuers causes which if they were wel knowen to their princes and gouernors might easily be preuented by prudence and reason and fit remedies then applied to those euils that dispose lead thē to mutation when the natural corruptiō that is in them as euery thing hath his proper inward corruption of which it is eaten and consumed beginneth to spread it selfe to the best parts to marre all Go to then my companions hauing seen the nature of seditions let vs seek out the causes that stirre them vp whereby Estates and Monarchies are changed marred and in the end ouerthrowen ARAM. The diuision that is between subiects of one and the same prince ariseth for the most part of discontentment where-with some are mooued vpon iniurie or contempt or else of feare that men haue of the light or to auoyd some euil or of great idlenesse pouertie and neede ACHITOB. There are as I take it two causes intermingled which breede this franticke Feauer of our Fraunce the one proceeding from the Estate the other from religion But let vs heare ASER to whome the handling of this subiect offered nowe vnto vs belongeth ASER. There is no beginning of any thing whatsoeuer so small which through continuance perseuerance is not soone made great and strong if vpon slight account thereof it be not stayed Euery euill as Cicero saith in the first sproute thereof may be easily stopped but being inueterate is more strong and vneasie to be suppressed So that if it be mette withall before it appeare and breake foorth the danger is lesse although it proceed first from the necessitie of naturall corruption which is in all things that are created and is to be seene euen in things without sense as Mil-dew in wheate rottennesse in wood rust in brasse and iron yea euery thing is corrupted by it own euill howsoeuer it escapeth all outward harmes Therefore as a good Phisition preuenteth diseases and if one part be suddenly touched with raging payne asswageth the present euill and then applieth remedies to the causes of the disease so a wise prince or gouernor of a Common-wealth ought to preuent as much as is possible the ordinarie changes of all estates which ouer-take them either by outward force or by inward diseases When they beginne he must stay them whatsoeuer it cost him and then looke what the causes are of those diseases that are farthest from effect and apply conuenient and apt remedies vnto them Now it is certaine that if a man would throughly meet with all hurtfull things or otherwise cure any such euill when it happeneth hee must know their causes whereof the effect dependeth which is the very entraunce to all good helpes and remedies what so-euer Fore-seene mischiefes as the Poet saith hurt not so much as those that come vnlooked for A wise man premeditateth all that may happen but it falleth out contrary to fooles And if we haue neuer so small an in-sight into the condition and state of worldly thinges wee can not in any wise doubt of this that euery Common-wealth after it is come to the toppe of persection which is the flourishing estate thereof hath but a short tyme of continuance whether hir ouerthrowe proceedeth from the violence of hir enimies when shee thinkes hir selfe safest or whether she waxe olde through long tract of tyme and so ende by hir inward diseases or whether she sodainly decay and fall downe with hir owne waight by reason of some other hidden cause Which chaunges of Common-wealths beyng matter sufficient to make a great booke we are according to the sequele of our discourse to consider chiefly of the causes that for the most part stirre vp sedition and breed the alteration and finall ouerthrowe of Estates and Monarchies The Philosophers propound foure causes of euery thing the efficient the materiall the formall and the finall cause The efficient cause of seditions is double the one neere the other remooued a farre off The neere or next cause are the authors of seditions by whose counsell direction and helpe they are stirred vp and brought to passe By the cause remooued a far off I meane those things for which men are prouoked to raise seditions and of which we are chiefly to intreat in this place They are the matter of seditions against whome they are raised as princes and magistrates who are superiours and sometime their subiectes beyng inferiours The forme of sedition is the stirring vp of the people noyse out-cries batteries murders ciuill warre the taking of townes spoyling of countreys burning and banishment If it bee of subiectes towardes their lordes and superiours it is called rebellion if betweene subiectes or equals it is called a faction The ende of seditions is that for which they are first mooued and stirred vp Aristotle setteth down foure ends of seditions namely profit honor with their contraries losse dishonor For men are commonly mooued to sedition either through hope of profit honor or else through feare of losse and dishonor towards themselues or their friends so that they desire the one
of confidence Our hope must be grounded vpon the grace of God Of vaine hope Who are soonest throwen downe with aduersitie Wencelaüs The diuision of hope Of the true and infallible hope Of earthly hope Speeches vnbeseeming a wise man The fruit of hope Our life would be insupportable without hope Cineas talke with I'yrrhus concerning his great hope Pyrrhus compared to a Dice-plaier Caesar was led continually with new hope Two things hurtfull to men We must not judge of enterprises by the euent Ill hap is more common than good Seneca aduiseth vs to prepare our selues to all cuents What the author vnderstandeth by the word Fortune Rom. 15. 5. Exod. 34. 6. Patience a salue for all sores Of the Stoicall patience Vertue is neither without affection nor subiect to affections Of true patience The definition of patience The fruits of patience Prou. 16. 32. Of impatiencie choler and wrath The definition of anger Who are most giuen to impatiencie and choler Aristotle contrary in opinion to the Stoicks How impatiencie and choler may be cured What the wicked iudge of patience Leuit. 19. 18. Deut. 32. 35. Whereof choler is bred A good way to remedie choler The counsaile that Athenodorus gaue to Augustus Eph. 4. 26. A notable custome of the Pythagorians Cotis brake his glasses to auoyd occasion of wrath Magistrates ought not to punish any in their choler As Theodosius did Plato refused to correct his seruant in his anger Aurelianus anger was the cause of his death Valentinian in his anger brake a veine and died thereof Against the infamous vice of swearing A notable decree of the Romanes S. Lewes his law against swearing Carilaüs 1. Thes 5. 14. Heb. 10. 36. This word Man is in Latin Hâ—mo froÌ„ whence is deriued humâ—nitas which signifieth curte fie or gentlenes No nation voyd of curtesie Reasons to mooue vs to loue our neighbours A Temple dedicated to Mercie What Charitie is The definition and effects of Meekenes A medioeritie must be kept betweene mildnes and crueltie Philip a Prince of a good and mild nature Antigonus Oh that Princes would consider this Alexander A commendable combat Bessus cruelly put to death for killing Darius Iulius Caesar M. Aurelius Dion All priuate reuenge commeth of frailtie Lycurgus Lewes the 12. Henry the 2. The Stoicks The Epicures Wherein good and ill hap consist Who is happie in Socrates iudgement Who is happie The cause why Amasis forfooke his alliance with Policrates An ordin arie imperfection in man A meane to auoid the â—â—â—re of our 〈◊〉 An other imperfection Notable opinions of good and ill hap Solon sayd that happines consisted in a good life and death The doctrine of Socrates and of the papists is all one touching the hope of eternall life The common opinion of men concerning happines and vnhappines Whereat Apollonius maruelled most Notable reasons to shew that no worldly thing can be called good and that happines cannot be perfected by any such thing Wherein true happines consisteth Who are vnhappy The happinesse of man commeth from within him Our life compared to table-play Alexander and Crates opposed one against an other Agamemnon Where we must seeke for true happines Who is happie in this world A pretie comparison A similitude A similitude Common effects of the fraile nature of man Prosperity more hurtfull than aduersitie Plato was requested by the Cyrenians to giue them lawes Good counsell for those that are in prosperitie Alexander Iulius Caesar Pompey A wise foresight of Sylla An excellent oration of P. Aemilius to his souldiers M. Aurelius Philip king of Macedonia Archidamas Cyrus The instabilitie of humane things The common effects of aduersitie The fruits of the study of Philosophie Craesus The Romanes were wise and constant in aduersitie The propertie of Vertue oppressed The wonderful constancie of Socrates P. Rutilus Q. Metellus Diogenes Socrates tooke the whole world for his countrey The fruits of riches Of the nature qualitie and effects of riches Riches of them selue are the good gifts of God but the euils wrought for or by theÌ„ come froÌ„ the corrupt nature of man The Poets fained Pluto to be the God of riches appointing Hell for his kingdome The euill disposition of the mind is the true cause of the hurt that commeth by riches From whence happines and contentation commeth Great madnes in coueting monie Examples of the contempt of riches M. Curius Phocion Philopaemen Cimon Anacreon Xenocrates Socrates Fiue Doubles in France make a peny of our coine Lycurgus abrogated the vse of gold and siluer coine Luke 16. 13. 1. Tim. 6. 9. Luke 12. 16. What riches we ought to treasure vp The chief cause why riches are so earnestly desired Against those that think poore men lesse happy than the rich A pretie comparison Matth. 19. 21. 23. No comparison between worldlie and heauenlie treasures The fruits of pouertie An excellent defence for pouertie Examples to shew that pouertie was more esteemed of than riches Zeno. Diogenes Cleanthes Menedemus Asclepiades Pythagoras kept a spare diet Philoxenus Who ought to be esteemed poore Diogenes supposed Alexander to be poorer than himself A friend is to wish 3 things to his friend What pouertie is odious Aristides Where the fulnesse of riches is to be sought Griefe pleasure the causes of all passions in men Idlenes is the mother nurse of all vice Idlenes is against nature Scipio was neuer idle To what end we must studie Philosophie Pythagoras precept against Idlenes Notable examples of the redresse of Idlenes Claudius Adrianus Scipio Nasica The Ephoryes of Lacedemonia Gelon A similitude Sweat is placed before vertue Prouerb 24. 30. 31. Idlenes decaieth the health of the body No man ought to hide his life Of gaming and of the effects thereof Chilon refused to make a league with dicers The occasion that mooued the Lydians to inuent games Alphonsus decree against play How we may recreate our selues Of perseuerance An excellent precept of Phocylides Examples against idlenes An excellent comparison How politicall knowledge must be preserued The fruits of idlenes The end of our life Matth. 10. 22. Matth. 12. 36. A pretie comparison Good friends or sharp enimies are necessarily required to a happy life Why men are beholding to their enimies How men behaue theÌ„selues now adays towards their enimies Murder forbidden A notable sentence Leuit. 24. 17. Psal 9. 9. 16. Matth. 5. 10. To suffer iniurie patiently is a badge of a most absolute vertue A commendable kind of reuenge Good counsaile of Seneca We must do nothing in choler An apt similltu le How a man may profit by the backbiting of his enimies The best kind of reueng How many wayes a maÌ„ may receiue iniurie Men must not take the law into their owne hands although it be not rightly executed Of the offence done to honor The excuse of quarrellers Socrates void of reuenge We must not be mooued with mocks Ptolemaeus How a man may repulse a mocke Cato
Demosthenes Plato Lysander The limits that are to be vsed in hating the wicked Scaurus How Agesilaus made his enimies his friends Augustus The Venetians Pontinus The prudence of Dionysius in punishing euill speakers Antisthene counsaile Math. 5. 44. Rom. 12. 19. What true Philosophie is The fruits and effects of Iustice What Iustice is Three things necessary in euery common-wealth The ground of all Iustice The distinction of Iustice Whosoeuer hath Iustice perfectly hath all the vertues The praise of Iustice Respect of persons is not to be vsed in the practise of Iustice The diuision of Iustice The difference between Commutatiue and Distributiue Iustice The end of Iustice The necessitie of Iustice Diuers names agree to Iustice in diuers respects Ierem. 21. 12. 22. 3. What Iustice and Iudgement are The Egyptians were zealous of Iustice How they painted Iudges The Grecians and Romans What citie is best gouerned Examples of the loue of Iustice Cleon. Aristides I. Brutus Phocion Alexander Augustus Agesilaus Prowes without Iustice is worth nothing The difference between a great and a little king Phillip Traianus â— â—am 8. 5. What causeth kingdoms to flourish God is the author of Iustice What maner of men magistrates ought to be One meane wherby the abuse of Iustice may be taken away The inconuenience that commeth by setting offices to sale Exod. 18. The saving of Alexander and Lewes the 12. Against buyers of offices Aurelianus A meane to preserue policies A pretie comparison Euerie vertue is in the midst of two vices How the thrones of kings may be established in iustice All men haue some knowledge of good and euill and some inward sence of a diuine nature The fruits of Iniustice in the wicked Vertue is to be preferred before all worldlie things Iniustice is a generall vice How many waies a man may be vniust The effects of Iniustice Pericles A notable example for euery ciuil Magistrate Why the life of the wicked cannot be happy A comparison A comparison The wrong conceit which men haue of the wicked that prosper The punishment of sinne is equall with it both for age and time All things are present with God A sure token of a desperate common-welth The miserable estate of France The deniall of Iustice dangerous Phillip Demetrius Henrie king of Sweathland A notable historic of the death of Ferdinando the 4. Notable Iniustice committed by a Prouost of Paris Hugues of Crecy Artaxerxes Alexander Seuerus The punishment of one who sold his masters fauor Of Seueritie Clemencie preserueth a prince his throne Prou. 20. 28. M. Torquatus Ausidius Most cruell seucritie of Piso Augustus Caesar Ier. 22. 3. 5. 2. Chr. 19. 6. Matth. 7. 2. Of the corruption of our age When vertue seemeth to be out of season What Faith and Fidelitie is Of the violating of faith Leuit. 19. 12. Deut. 5. 11. Matth. 5. 34. Whether a forced promise is to be kept A wise man must neuer promise any thing against dutie Psal 15. 4. Lysander a forsworne and deceitfull man We must keep promise with our enimie Of the neglect of fidelitie commeth a custom of lying It is wickednes to conceale the fault of that which a man selleth Lying in a prince is most odious The promise of a prince is tied with a double bond Of the word faith of a prince Of Treason Notable examples A. Regulus Demaratus Augustus Cato Periurie and faithles persons haue alwaies had ill successe Tissaphernes Cleomenes Caracalla The Corinthians Iustinianus the Emperor Rastrix Duke of Cleaueland The cause of the present miserie of France Examples of the entertainment which the ancients gaue to traitors Lasthenes Rymetalces Agis Pausanias Ariobarzanes Iustinian a Genâ—an cause of the taking of Constantinople A famous and heroicall fact of Sultan Solyman Cato commended for his truth Ephes 4. 25. Luk. 10. 37. The memorie of euill things is fruitfull but of good things barren Ingratitude the cause of the sin and death of man No mans life void of Ingratitude The life of the ignorance is vnthankfull God disposeth all thiâ—gs by Iustice The vapors wherwith the eyes of the mind are dimmed Of the ingratitude of great men Reward and honor nourisheth vertue Artes. Impudencie Ingratitude are companions The description of impudencie Dutie and profit are two distinct things A law against vnthankful persons The Storke a gracefull bird The fruits of ingratitude Examples against ingratitude Pyrrhus Circerius A notable historie of an Arabian Turke Baiazet A mean to keep vs from ingratitude Another meane for the same Artaxerxes thankfully accepted a litle water Vertue is a sufficient recompence to it selfe The sleepe of the spirite is woorse than death What Liberalitie is Riches 〈…〉 the waters How riches may be well vsed Aristotles opinion concerning a happie life destitute of bodilie and outward goods A poore man may be liberall Luke 16. 9. How princes passe the limites of liberalitie When the inferior sort passe the bounds of liberalitie About what we are to bestow the ouerplus of our wealth A notable law amongst the Romanes How Epaminondas compelled a rich man to be liberall CimoÌ„ a notable paterne of the true vse of riches Liberalitie most necessarie for princes and great men The lawes of liberalitie A common mischief which foloweth the greater sort The liberalitie of Alexander To the Macedonians To all debtors in his armie To Aristotle To Anaxarchus To Perillus. To an Egyptian Caesar a liberall Prince Antonius a magnificall Prince but voluptuous Archelaus gaue not to the vnwoorthy How Antigonus denied one that was importunate Titus a good liberall Prince A notable precept of Phocylides Ptolemaeus the Thebane Denys the elder Cyrus Pertinax Matth. 25. No wicked thing ought to be iudged profitable Couetousnes hath ouerflowen all Couetousnes will neuer be satisfied Conetousnes like to a dropsie Stratonicus derided the superfluitie of the Rhodians Couetous men compared to Mules The miserable life of couetous men 1. Tim. 6. 10. The fruits of couetousnes How prodigalitie and couetousnes may in some sort be linked togither in one subiect Couetous men compared to hogs Couetous men compared to rats and cundit pipes It is better to be the sheepe than the sonne of a couetous man Examples of the fruites of couetousnes and of prodigalitie Muleasses Polymester Caligula Nero. Against the superfluitie of sumptuous buildings An Italian Monke A cruell murder of a Gentlewoman and of hir houshold Mauritius depriued of the Empire for his couctousnes The Nobilitie of Switserland destroied for the same cause Lewes 11. Calipha How Dionysius punished a couetous wretch How Darius his couerousnesse was beguiled C. Licinius strangled himselfe to leaue his goods to his children Hermocrates bequeathed his goods to himselfe A ratte sold for 200. pence Couetousnes caused Crassus to play on both sides Wonderfull riches Pompey abhorred couetousnes The great couetousnes of a cardinall The cruel punishment of a couetous curate 1. Tim. 6. 10. What magistrates are best liked of couetous princes 1.
labour by all meanes to end the contentions of their subiects They must not be parties in their subiects quarrels The thirteenth The fourteenth Fiue necessary things for the preseruation of euery common-wealth All liuing creatures loue the place of their birth It is the dutie of euery subiect to defend his countrey The nobilitie is the ornament of a Common-wealth Of the law prosapia To whom the defence of a countrey chiefly belongeth What order is The end of order What gouernment is Ignorance is no sufficient excuse for a magistrate What prudence is What a christian empire is We must spare no cost to help the common-wealth Ephe. 4. 5. 6. All things stand by proportion Six sundry callings of men necessary in euery good common-wealth No nation but adoreth some diuinitie The sacrifices of Christians Three sorts of sacrifices Of priests and pastors Wherein the office of true pastors consisteth Esa 56. 10. 11. Against dumbe dogs and couetous sheep-heards Tit. 1. 7. 8. 9. The qualities of a good pastor 1. Pet. 5. 2. 3. Vices to be auoided in a pastor The dutie of a good magistrate consisteth in foure things Iustice distributed into 7. parts Of armes and of the necessitie of them What nobilitie is Three kinds of nobilitie Which is right nobilitie Macrines letter to the Senate of Rome touching nobilitie Malach. 2. 10. When nobilitie of birth is to be esteemed Of riches and burgeises Riches are the sinewes of war They are necessary in a Common-wealth The exceeding riches that Dauid left to Salomon The number of workmen about Salomons temple Augustus maintained yeerely 44. legions of souldiors The limites of the Romane Empire in the time of Augustus Of Artes and Artificers What an Arte or occupatiō is Arte is an imitation of nature Three things necessary for the life of man The vse of Aliments The vse of houses The vse of garments The dutie of all artificers Artificers of one Science ought not to dwell all togither Of Aliments labourers The prayse of husbandry The antiquitie therof Men haue been always more inclined to husbandry than to any other vocation Princes haue forsaken their diademes to fall to husbandry Cyrus Dioclesian Profit and pleasure are ioyned togither in husbandry The countrey fitter for students than the citie The dutie of husband men Three things necessary for them Euery common-wealth must be always prouided against all euents both of peace warre Rom. 12. 18. Col. 3. 15. Leuit. 26. 3. 6. 14. 15. 25. Lycurgus referred all his lawes to warre appointing the Ilotes onely to deale with occupations Numa referred all his lawes to peace The keeping of Ianus Temple shut was a signe of peace among the Romanes The discommodities of a long peace Excellent comparisons betweene the composition of the world and of euery happy Common-wealth How the vertues are knit togither and depend one of another Peace is to be preferred before warre The effects of peace The effects of warre What kingdom is happie Warre maketh men cruell and peace gentle Archidamus letter to the Elians Cato misliked Caesar for breaking of peace Wherefore and when we must begin warre Phocion disswaded the Athenians from warre The fruits of vniust warre When a warre is lawfull Traian neuer vndertooke vniust warre Antigonus testimonie of the iniustice of warre Caesar Famine and the plague follow warre Malcontents are glad of war Causes why the exercise of arms must alwaies continue Augustus kept 40. legions in continuall exercise of warlike discipline Constantine the Great Good considerations for a Prince It is not the weapon that maketh a warriour From whence valure proceedeth Three things necessarily required in men of warre Good will commeth from good institution Reuerence from the wisedome and experience of Captaines Obedience is wrought in them by the diligence of the Heads The vertue of the Captaines is much in war The ancient order of the Romane armie The Romanes diuided their armie into three parts The benefite of this Romane order The wisedome of the Switzers fighting on the Frenchmens side Frenchmen loosing the first encounter loose also the victorie Some armies are furious and yet keepe good order Good order in armies is neuer without hope of victorie In the French armies is furie without order The ancient warlike discipline of the Romanes What manner of campe the ancient Romanes had Of the ancient obedience of souldiors to their captains Of the execution that was shewed vpon souldiors that offended The tithing of armies was most seuere How Captaines were punished if they offended Aurelius letter to a Tribune touching warlike discipline The corruption of warlike discipline in these dayes Aurelius punished adulterie and theft committed by his souldiors with death True payment of souldiors redresseth many disorders amongst them The vnrulines of the Pretorian souldiors The Sicilian Euensong Bellizarius The mild wane of Piemont The crueltie of these late French warres Time and occasion are diligently to be waighed in all matters The good or ill successe of an army dependeth of the captaine A captaine must not offend twise in warre Prudence gotten by vse must be hastened forward by knowledge No man ought to be generall before he haue obtained the renowne of a valiant man Cimon preferred an army of Harts before an army of Lions What captains are woorthiest of their charge Coruinus Oration to his souldiors Captains vsed in old time to make Orations to their souldiors Captains ought to make much of their souldiors The benefit of making Oratiōs to souldiors A good captain must be alwayes furnished with munitions and victuals Cyrus Oration to his captains A good captain must neuer suffer his army to be idle Warre ought to be speedily ended A good captain must not be ouer venturous A General must not rashly hazard himselfe When he ought to venture himselfe Antoninus preferred the life of one citizen before the death of a thousand enimies Scipio would haue all wayes tried before the sword were vsed in warre When Augustus would haue battell giuen Narses always wept the night before he gaue battell Two faults to be eschewed of euery captain A good General must alwayes seare the worst I had not thought it a dangerous speech in a captaine A good captain must haue skill to discerne the situation of places The benefit of Geometry in a General Philopaemenus in time of peace studied the discipline of war Cyrus resembleth his going to warre to hunting Hunting is an image of warre P. Decius C. Marius neuer gaue his enimies occasion to force him to fight The captains of an armie must be very secret I. Caesar very secret in tyme of warre L. Metellus Affaires of war must be debated by many but concluded by few Vrgent occasions in warre require short deliberation Cato a notable paterne for all captains to folow Pompey How Cato diuided the spoiles One godly man in a campe is in place of many Souldiors ought to begin their war with prayer and end with praise thanks-giuing Why a
diuine nature Of the diseases and passions of the bodie and soule and of the tranquillitie thereof Chap. 3. ARAM. ONe of the ancient philosophers vsed to say that no liuing creature was worse to man than man himselfe bicause albeit he hath dominion ouer all things yet he cannot rule himselfe nor his desires Experience causeth vs but too much to knowe the truth of this saying For who can doubt in any sort heerof seeing blessed S. Paule himselfe confesseth that he did not the good thing which he would but the euill which he would not and that in his flesh there dwelt no goodnes So vndoubtedly we haue both bodie and soule compassed about with so many pernitious passions that it is very hard yea altogither vnpossible that what good thing soeuer is in vs should not faint and sinke vnder their heauie waight without a speciall and diuine grace ACHITOB. Truly this is no vaine speculation nor vnprofitable to man as also for a man to know that he is as it were tied in this world to all vncertaine things which he being mortall by nature cannot any way shun and auoid without the helpe of God He which is in health expecteth sicknes he that is sicke health Doth any one desire in his mind any thing Before he enioyeth it his desire is often changed into another In a word no man abideth still in one and the same estate And therfore Plato calleth man a mutable creature as if he meant to say that he is easily altered and changed ASER. The change which this diuine philosopher meant if I be not deceiued hath relation principally to the conditions of the soule which being filled with infinite perturbations fastened in the midst of it with the naile of pleasure and griefe is carried away with inconstancie and vncertaintie into a streame of troublesome passions which if they be not cut off and maistred by reason draw a man into vtter destruction But giue vs to vnderstand AMANA more at large of these passions of the soule and of the way to remedie them and if you thinke good you may speake somewhat of those of the bodie AMANA Amongst the innumerable euils which the desire of pleasure and feare of griefe ingrauen in the most secret parts of our soule by our first corruption bring to man this is the greatest and most pernitious that they make sensible things more euident and plaine vnto him than things intelligible and constraine the vnderstanding to iudge more by passion than by reason For vsing through the sence oâ— pleasure or trauell to attend to the erronious vncertaine and mutable nature of the bodie as to that which is subsisting and subiect to sight he remaineth blind and looseth all knowledge of that which truly is and subsisteth namely of the light of the soule which is diuine and immortall Moreouer applying himselfe wholie to the sensuall and vnreasonable will which is that part of the soule that proceedeth of the corruption thereof he laboureth with all his might to quench and choke that weake instinct of the soule which aspireth vnto the true Good from whence she perceiueth hir selfe to haue fallen And this he doth with such force and power that if God strengthen not the soule and reason the diuine guide accompanie hir not without doubt she yeeldeth to such mightie enimies and then as we haue said staying himselfe wholy in things subiect to sight he appeereth too carefull and curious in seeking to decke that which belongeth to the bodie but as for the soule wherof all humane felicitie dependeth bicause she is inuisible and not seene of him it is the lest of his cares to furnish hir with that which she seeketh and desireth and which is necessarie for hir Wherupon in the end it commeth to passe that the lest ouerthwarts and discommodities of his flesh seeme very greeuous and burthensome to a man but as for the incurable diseases which ouerwhelme his soule he doth not so much as feele them Now to the end we may vnderstand more particularly that which is heer propounded vnto vs we will handle in order and as briefly as we may this matter being very large the diseases and passions of the bodie and soule with the remedie which we are to desire and seeke after And first we will speake a word of the diseases of the bodie next of the naturall and necessarie passions thereof albeit we will intreat of the passions of the soule as of our chiefe matter subiect Concerning the maladies and euill dispositions of the bodie one Hippocrates one Galen nay infinite others skilfull in physicke are not able to describe them exactly much lesse prescribe certaine and sure remedies But seeing it is not my purpose or profession to stay long heere neither yet necessarily belonging to the cause of our assemblie I will content my selfe to speake these few words by the way that we ought to take euerie bodily infirmitie as a fatherly chastisement of our sins and as a necessarie meane to awaken vs to warne vs of our dutie and to keep vs in awe Besides one principall cause of all bodilie diseases proceedeth ordinarily from vices which are the proper inheritance of man and with which we defile our selues continually Therefore if we heale our soules we may cure our selues of the most of them and as for others which come by defect of nature or by some other hidden cause we haue the counsell and helpe of physicions whom willingly and diligently we seeke after There are besides these certaine naturall and necessarie passions in the body properly belonging vnto it euen from the first creation therof which are not to be condemned neither can be taken away but with the abolishing of mans nature as the desire of drinking eating sleeping such like which onlie by the direction of reason are to be freed from all superfluitie But it standeth otherwise with the diseases and passions of the soule deriued from our first corruption and driuen forward by sinne being plentifull and rich which without comparison are far more dangerous than those of the bodie more hard to be perceiued knowen more headstrong and vneasie to cure and which is worse man is very slothfull in seeking out a remedie for them And for the most part thinking that he hath found some remedie through want of skill and ignorance he falleth into a worse estate than he was in before and as we commonly say from a gentle ague into a pestilent and burning feuer But first we will generally define this word Passion according to the opinion of those philosophers who were endewed with greatest light Passion is euerie naturall and actuall motion in the soule This motion is of two sorts the one weake good and holie aspiring and reioicing in that which is truly good the other verie strong euill and pernitious coueting with a disordered desire and delighting with an immoderate ioy in a good falsly so imagined The
matter of these motions are opinions affections and inclinations which being considered in their owne nature are through sinne wicked and corrupt throughout the soule yea the blossome and roote of them proceed from our owne substance to the end as Plato saith that no man should thinke God to be the cause of euill Now albeit these passions thus defined by the philosophers are many in number yet drawing neerer to the truth we may comprehend and diuide them all into two principall kinds The first kind shall be that which we beleeue by faith the other according to our opinions and affections Vnder the first we comprehend that which euerie one beleeueth thinketh and desireth concerning diuine and heauenlie things as of true righteousnes of the immortalitie of the second life and of the iudgement to come Vnder opinions and affections is comprehended whatsoeuer respecteth and concerneth earthlie things this life maners gouernment of a houshold of a common wealth and generally al humane inclinations and actions As touching that which we beleeue by faith we are led thereunto and stirred by the weake instinct and feeling of the diuine nature imprinted in euery soule which after a sort mooueth man to aspire vnto and to desire the true and souereigne good and which being more power-full and of greater efficacy in some than in others causeth the better sort to delight also in the same good Neuertheles it is proper to euery mans vnderstanding not to hold a stedfast and sure way in seeking out the truth but to wander aside into diuers errors as a blind man that walketh in darknes and to fill it selfe rather with lies and with a continuall desire and curiositie of new vnprofitable and superfluous things than to content it selfe simplie with the truth insomuch that finally it misseth of all But to the end we be not of this number we ought to hold fast the infallible rule of the holie scriptures which gift we are to aske hope wait and seeke for in the onely grace and mercie of that Spirit which indighteth them and to looke for the full opening of these treasures in the second and eternall life As for the second kind of our passions properly called perturbations according to the philosophers from whence all the euils and miseries of mankinde proceed and whereof we minde chiefely to speake they are but affections and inclinations which come from our will corrupted by the prouocations and allurements of the flesh and which wholy resist the diuine nature of the reasonable part of the soule fastening it to the bodie as Plato saith with the naile of pleasure Which passions the mind of man commonly beholdeth cleerly enough when it applieth it selfe thereunto if it be not altogither peruerted and depraued yea by the grace and helpe of God the mind is able to confirme it selfe against any passion through the discourse of reason before it be in force and during the vehemencie thereof to fortifie it selfe against it And although the passion be contrarie to reason and haue for hir onely scope pleasure and the feare of griefe which can preuaile greatly with man yet reason by the meanes of Gods grace can both easily constraine maister and compell all passions in such sort that they shall take no effect and also bring to passe that whatsoeuer is rashly desired shall be ouercome by the discourse of prudent counsell And for this cause we say that the first motions are not in our power but that the euent and issue of them is in some sort Likewise reason doth not wholie quench and extinguish all passions which cannot possibly be performed in the nature of man but repelleth and hath the vpper hand of them as the precepts of doctrine and infinite examples of the liues of ancient heathen and pagan philosophers do learnedly teach vs. Which thing as it ought to cause many at this day to be ashamed who vaunt themselues of the name of Christians so it condemneth them in a fault not to be excused before the iust iudgement of God bicause those men being destitute of the perfect knowledge of God which they say they haue far excelled and surpassed them in the bridling ouercomming and killing of so many pestiferous passions as compasse the soule about as we may handle elsewhere and see examples thereof worthie of eternall remembrance when we shall discourse particularly of vertues and vices In the meane while we may learne of Cicero the father of Latine eloquence whose skill in ioining philosophie with the art of Rhetorike was excellent and who in my iudgement handleth this our present matter more profitably than any other of the ancients that all the aboue named euill passions are perturbations which if they be not maistered by reason depriue man of the soueraigne good of the soule which consisteth in the tranquillitie therof Moreuer he saith that through ignorance basenes of minde they proceed onely of the opinion of good or euill either present or to come which we imagine to be in the vnperfect and transitorie things of the world and which are accompanied vnseparably either with good or euill In respect of good things we are caried away with a vehement desire or coueting of them besides an immoderate ioy in them in regard of euil things we are oppressed with feare and sorrow And these are the foure springs of all vices sins wherein men plunge themselues during this life and vnder which all perturbations are comprehended which fill the soule with endlesse trouble and disquietnes causing man to liue alwaies vncontented and to finde euery present kinde of life burthensome and so to seeke after and to desire another But as fearefull men saith Plutark that excellent philosopher schoolemaster to that good Traian and they that are at sea subiect to casting thinking they shal be better in one place than in another go from the sterne to the stem then to the bottom of the ship afterward to the highest part frō thence go into the skiph and in the end returne into the ship without any amendment of their euil because they carrie alwaies about with them both feare griefe so the alteration of life of worldly conditions and estates into others doth not purge but rather increase the perturbations diseases of the soule if first the cause of them I meane ignorance of things the imperfection of reason be not taken out of it These are the mischiefes which trouble both rich and poore these are the miseries which wait vpon great and final bond and free yoong old Thus is the spirit of sick persons vexed and that continually One while the wife is troublesome the physition vnskilfull the bed vneasie the friend that visiteth importunate he which visiteth not proud but being once healed they finde that whatsoeuer was irksom vnto them before now pleaseth them But that which health doth to the diseased body the same thing
beyond measure in prosperitie she keepeth him vpright and constant both in the one and in the other Thus doth vertue generally teach a man by following the reason of true prudence to rule all his inclinations and actions as well for his owne priuate good as for the profit and vtilitie of humane societie Whereby it appeereth sufficiently vnto vs that the foundation of all vertue is that diuine reason which floweth into our soules from the free goodnes of our God and which taketh liuely roote by care studie and diligence when the selfe-same grace blesseth our labour For without this we can do nothing so that all our meditations and purposes to liue vprightly continently and temperately become vaine and friuolous before his maiestie In this maner of that excellent reason and wisedome wherewith the eternall wisedome enricheth vs that we might know good and euill prudence is ingendred which is most necessarie for the gouernment of earthlie things whereof we will intreat heerafter and whereby man is enriched with morall vertue as with an infallible rule of all his works and actions to the end that fully enioying humane felicitie which consisteth in good maners qualities and conditions of the soule he may bring foorth the fruits and effects thereof to the profit of many We say then that all vertue consisteth in mediocritie as vice doth in excesse or in defect in regard wherof she is in the midst albeit in respect of hir selfe I meane of hir perfect and absolute excellencie she is extreme and standeth not in need of any increase or diminution Now as all the imperfections of the soule are called vices and passions so all their contraries which serue for remedies vnto them are named vertues And although vertue be alwaies one so that he which hartily imbraceth one part of it is desirous of them all yet may she be called by diuers names euen by so many as there is alwaies in euery good action some particular vertue that maketh it eminent and to be seene aboue others Moreouer according to the diuers subiects wherein she is she bringeth foorth diuers effects conforming hir selfe in some sort to the maners conditions and naturall inclinations of those which possesse hir Heereof it commeth that some are more apt and constant in some one vertue than others are for all can not do all things and that one practiseth it after one fashion and an other otherwise Now it followeth that I handle heereafter distinctly and in order the pluralitie of vertues with their seuerall properties But in the meane while to speake generally of this pretious and inestimable riches I meane of vertue and of the great worthie and wonderfull effects which she bringeth forth in men first she is the onely proper and true good of the soule that can not by any accident be violently taken and caried away She alone maketh hir possessor happie causing him to finde euery kinde of life that is sweet pleasant and acceptable contained in hir Vertue alone is the onely matter of rest and tranquillitie in the mind being by reason purged of feare of trouble of worldly desire and ioy Of this liuely fountaine spake Democritus when he said that ioy was ingendered in mens harts of the mediocritie of pleasure and of a moderate and temperate harmonie of life Vertue said Thales is the profitablest thing in the world bicause it maketh all other things profitable by causing men to vse them well Yea we may say further that all other gifts and riches remaine vnprofitable and hurtfull without the ornament of vertue Cicero prooueth by many goodlie reasons that onely vertue is of it selfe sufficient to cause men to liue well and happily And surely euery good and vertuous man of what calling soeuer he be is so happie if he haue grace to know it that he need not to wish for any thing with passion or trauell in this life but rather is content of himselfe in regard of men and contemneth the care of worldly things not iudging any thing euil which necessitie of nature or rather the ordinance of God bringeth vpon him And where miseries are doubled there vertue sheweth hir effects most wonderfully giuing vs therby to vnderstand that she consisteth in such things as are most rare and difficult For which cause hir strength is compared to the date tree which the more it is pulled downe the more it returneth vpward so when vertue is most oppressed of hir enimies she shineth most gloriously Onely vertue appeareth woonderfull to the minde that is cloathed therewith and keepeth it from coueting that which others commonly worship namely great callings riches pleasures and glory She despiseth the praise flatterie of men wherunto so many others make themselues slaues remaineth alwais free in hir selfe free to euery one without any other hope of reward then to be accepted of God to effect things meete tobe rewarded eternally in the next life by the liberalitie of God If we compare worldly goods with vertue calling that good which vsurpeth that name is subiect to corruptiō first as touching those which the philosophers cal the goods of fortune namely nobility wherin at this men stay so much what is it but a good of our ancestors Riches are easily lost yea causeth the possessor of them to be sooner lost as for the glorie of the greatest yea of al principalitie it is no lesse vncertaine Concerning the goods of the bodie beauty comelines is but a flower of small continuance helth which is so precious soon changeth strength is lost by infinit inconueniences Al bodily pleasure is vnperfect followed of perturbations But vertue is that onely diuine immortall qualitie in vs which as Hesiodus saith is a stable sure possession both to the liuing and to the dead ouer which neither fortune slander sicknes old-age nor aduersitie haue any power and as for length of time which diminisheth all things it alwaies addeth somewhat to vertue encreaseth it All the other goods aboue rehearsed are from without a man working oftentimes destructiō to their possessors commonly coming to those that are least woorthy of them Onely vertue is the proper inheritance of the soule worketh the hapines therof and maketh a man alwaies worthy of true glory praise causing him to be honored esteemed euen of his enimies In a word it cannot as Cicero saith be vttered how much vertue surmounteth all other things in glorie excellencie And if all other goods of men saith Socrates were laid by thēselues they would amount in value but to one mote in respect of the price of vertue Plato his disciple saith that the difference of vertue compared with other goods is so great that if they were put into one skale of the balance vertue into the other this would ascend vp to heauen and the other would touch the earth Moreouer he wrote foure fiftie books or dialogues
countries as the histories of most nations in the world declare vnto vs and namely of the Germaines who in the time of Tacitus had neither law nor religion nor knowledge nor forme of commonwealth whereas now they giue place to no nation for good institution in all things Let vs not then be discouraged or faint by knowing our naturall imperfections seeing that through labor and diligence we may recouer that which is wanting but happie is that man and singularly beloued of God to whom both good birth and like bringing vp are granted together It followeth now to discourse particulerly of the maner of good education and instruction of youth but this will come in more fitely when we shall intreat of Oeconomy And yet seeing we are in the discourse of mans nature I thinke it wil not be from the purpose nor without profite if to make vs more seuere censurers of our owne faults we note that although our behauior be cheefely known by the effects as a tree by the fruit yet many times a mans naturall inclinatiō is better perceiued in a light matter as in a word in a pastime or in some other free and priuate busines wherein vertue or vice ingrauen in the soule may be sooner espied than in greater actions and works done publikely bicause in these matters shame or constraint commonly cause men to vse dissimulation Howbeit this also is true that the more power and authoritie a man hath when he may alleadge his owne will for all reason the inward affection of his hart is then best discouered For such an vnbrideled licence mooueth all euen to the verie depth and bottome of his passions and causeth all those secret vices that are hidden in his soule to be fullie and euidently seene Whereupon it followeth that great and noble men ought aboue all others to learne vertue and to studie to liue well especially seeing they haue all those requisite helps and commodities through want of which most men are hindred from attaining thereunto Let vs therefore learne by our present discourse to knowe that the nature of all men by reason of the corruption of sin is so depraued corrupted and vnperfect that euen the best men amongst many imperfections carry about them some enuie ielousy emulation and contention against some or other and rather against their verie friends This did Demas a noble man and greatly conuersant in matters of estate declare vnto the councel in the citie of Chio after a ciuill dissention wherin he had followed that part which ouercame For he perswaded those of his side not to banish all their aduersaries out of the city but to leaue some of them after they had taken from them all meanes of doing more harme least quoth he vnto them we begin to quarrel with our friends hauing no more enemies to contende withall For this cause we must fortifie our selues with vnderstanding and knowledge through labor and studie of good letters that we may restraine and represse so many pernitious motions mingled togither in our soules Let vs know moreouer that seeing our nature is assaulted and prouoked by a vehement inclination to do any thing whatsoeuer it is a very hard matter to withdrawe and keepe it backe by any force no not by the strength or feare of any lawes if in due conuenient time we frame not within it a habite of vertue hauing first wished to be well borne But howsoeuer it be let vs endeuor to be well borne through custome and exercise in vertue which will be vnto vs as it were another nature vsing the meanes of good education and instruction in wisedome whereby our soules shal be made conquerors ouer all hurtfull passions and our minds moderate and staied that in all our doings sayings and thoughts we passe not the bounds of the dutie of a vertuous man The ende of the fourth daies worke THE FIFT DAIES WORKE Of Temperance Chap. 17. ASER. THe diuine excellencie of the order of the equall wonderful constācie of the parts of the world aswell in the goodly and temperate moderation of the seasons of the yeere as in the mutuall coniunctiō of the elements obeying altogither with a perfect harmonie the gratious and soueraigne gouernment of their creator was the cause that Pythagoras first called all the compasse of this vniuersal frame by this name of World which without such an excellent disposition would be but disorder a world of confusion For this word world signifieth asmuch as Ornament or a well disposed order of things Nowe as a constant and temperate order is the foundation thereof so the ground-worke and preseruation of mans happie life for whom all things were made is the vertue of temperance which conteineth the desires and inclinations of the soule within the compasse of mediocritie and moderateth all actions whatsoeuer For this cause hauing hitherto according to our iudgment sufficiently discoursed of the first riuer of the fountaine of honestie I thinke we ought to set downe here in the second place although it be contrarie to the opinion of manie philosophers this vertue of Temperance saying with Socrates that she is the ground-worke and foundation of all vertues AMANA As a man cannot be temperate if first he be not prudent bicause euerie vertuous action proceedeth of knowledge so no man can be strong and valiant if he be not first temperate bicause he that hath a noble and great courage without moderation will attempt a thousand euils and mischeefes and will soone grow to be rash and headie Likewise iustice cannot be had without temperance seeing it is the cheefe point of a iust man to haue his soule free from perturbations Which cannot be done except he be temperate whose proper subiect the soule is ARAM. Heroicall vertue saith Plato is made perfect by the mixture and ioyning together of Temperance and fortitude which being separated will at length become vices For a temperate man that is not couragious easily waxeth to be a coward and faintharted and a noble hart not temperate becommeth rash and presumptuous Let vs then heare ACHITOB discourse of this Temperance so excellent and necessarie a vertue ACHITOB. Agapetus a man of great skill writing to the emperor Iustinian amongst other things had this saying We say that thou art truly and rightly both emperor and king so long as thou canst command and master thy desires and pleasures and art beset and decked with the crowne of Temperance and clothed with the purple robe of Iustice For other principalities end by death whereas this kingdome abideth for euer yea others are manie times the cause of perdition to the soule but this procureth a certaine and an assured safetie When we haue considered well of the woorthie effects and fruits of this vertue of temperance no doubt but we will subscribe to this wise mans opinion and to as many as haue written of the praises and roialties of that vertue Temperance saith thagoras is that light which
contrarywise he made him Consull the next yeere Whereat his familiar friends wondring and disswading him from it My meaning is quoth he to them that he should one day remember this good turne Let vs also propound to kings and princes that sentence of Titus the emperor who making a feast one day with a cheerful countenance to the contentation of euery one in the ende of the banquet strake himselfe on the brest at the table and fetched a great sigh withall Wherupon his fauorites demanding the cause why I cannot quoth he keepe my selfe from sighing and complaining when I call to mind that this great honor which I haue dependeth vpon the will of fortune that my estates and dignities are as it were in sequestration and my life as it were laid in pawne pledged vnto me Let the saying of that good prince Philip king of Macedonia be well noted of great men who on a day falling all along in that place where wrestling was exercised and beholding the fashion of his body printed in the dust Good Lord quoth he how little ground must we haue by nature and yet we desire all the habitable world According to his example let vs all humble our selues in the acknowledgement of our imbecillitie and poore humain estate and let vs moderate our vnruly affections through the contempt of those things which worldly men desire and seeke after iudging them an vnwoorthy reward for vertue Let euery one of vs content himself with his estate and calling so that it tendeth to the right end namely to his glory that gaue it vnto vs and to the benefit and profit of his creatures and let all be done according to that measure of graces which he shall bestow vpon vs. Of Voluptuousnes and Lecherie Chap. 22. ACHITOB AMong those faults which men commit being led with desire and pleasure that is naturally in them we noted a little before luxuriousnes and whoredome But bicause we then reserued it to a more ample handling of Voluptuousnes and of a lustfull life which is the chiefe worke therof whose desire and contentation is in lecherie to the end we may the better discouer that sugred poison which lurketh vnder these detestable vices I am of opinion that we must begin to enter into this large field so fruitfull for thornes and thistles which to sicke eyes many tymes seeme faire blossoms of some goodly fruits propounding to the sight of euery one the nature and effects of the tyrannical power of pleasure a mortall enemie to the raigne of Vertue ASER. Pleasure saith Plato is the hooke of all euils bicause men are taken thereby as fish by a hooke For it quencheth the light of the soule hindreth all good counsell and through inticements turneth men aside from the way of vertue throwing them downe headlong into the gulfe of confusion which is luxuriousnes and whoredom a most wicked abominable vice aboue all others wherby all vertue is hurt and offended AMANA He that is giuen to pleasure saith Cicero iudgeth all things not according to reason but according to sence esteeming that best which most delighteth him so that he easily suffreth himselfe to be kindled with the burning fire of luxuriousnes which is hurtfull to euerie age and extinguisheth old age But let vs heare ARAM vpon this matter ARAM. It is no new opinion that many iudging according to their sensualitie and being altogither ignorant of the true nature and immortality of the soule haue placed their soueraigne Good in pleasure and in the enioying of those things which most of all tickle the sences Aristippus and all the Cyrinaiks Epicurus Metrodorus Chrysippus and many others who falsly tooke vnto themselues the name of Philosophers laboured to prooue it by many arguments cloking their wickednes with graue and loftie words saying that none could perfectly attaine to pleasure except he were vertuous and wise But that which Cicero alleadgeth against them is sufficient to discouer the maske of their impudencie and to conuince them of lying namely that we must not simply looke to mens sayings but consider whether they agree in their opinions For how is it possible that he which placeth his chiefe Good in the pleasure of the bodie and in neuer-feeling griefe should make account of or imbrace vertue which is an enimie to delights and pleasures and commandeth vs rather to suffer a cruell and dolorous death than to start aside against dutie It is certaine that he which placeth his chiefe Good in pleasure hath no regard to do any thing but for his priuate profit Whereby he declareth sufficiently that he careth not at all for vertue especially iustice which commandeth nothing so much as to leaue our owne particular pleasure and profit and to imbrace though with our perill losse the publike welfare Moreouer how could he be couragious if he thought that grief were the extreamest and greatest euill or temperate supposing pleasure to be perfect felicitie Besides what can be more vnbeseeming man appointed for all great and excellent things than to take that for his chiefe Good whereof brute beastes haue better part than we and to leaue the care of that which is diuine and immortal in vs to attend to that which is mortall and subiect to corruption But these erronious and false opinions being contrarie to themselues are so absurd and full of blockish ignorance that we neede not here loose much time in confuting them and conuincing them of lies Notwithstanding it being so common a thing with men to imbrace pleasure as the principall end of their actions bicause naturally they desire pleasure and shun griefe it will be easie for vs to shew that ignorance only guideth them when being depriued of the knowledge of that Good which is to be wished for and is pleasant and acceptable they seeke after through an euill choice the greatest mischiefe of all I meane pleasure vnseparably followed of griefe which men labour most of all to eschew Let vs then see what pleasure is and what fruites she bringeth with hir Voluptuousnes or pleasure saith Cicero is properly called that delight which mooueth and tickleth our sences which slideth and slippeth away and for the most part leaueth behind it occasions rather of repentance than of calling it again to remembrance For many through wicked and vnnecessarie pleasure haue fallen intogreat diseases receiued great losses and suffred many reproches It alwaies saith Plato bringeth damage and losse to man ingendring in his mind sorow sottishnes forgetfulnes of prudence and insolencie Wheresoeuer sweete is saith Antipho there presently followeth sowre For voluptuousnes neuer goeth alone but is alwaies accompanied with sorow and griefe Pleasure saith Plutark resolueth mens bodies mollifieng them daily through delights the continuall vse of which mortifieth their vigor and dissolueth their strength from whence abundance of diseases proceedeth so that a man may see in youth the beginnings of the weakenes of old age Voluptuousnes is a
great Iudge and conuince vs of taking some thing of his and then the Iudge being vpright and iust deliuer vs into his hands to throw vs into darknes where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for euermore Of Enuie Hatred and Backbiting Chap. 43. ARAM. THe mind of man which of it owne nature is created sociable gratious and ready to helpe euery one yea which by the force of charitie working togither with it feeleth it selfe as it were constrained to mourne with those that weepe and to reioice with them that laugh is able to shew nothing more vnwoorthy it selfe than to be ouercome of enuie which is a wild plant in the soule bringing foorth cleane contrary effects to that good wil which we owe to our neighbor comprehending in it all iniustice generally all wickednes of men as we may see if you think good my companiōs to search more narowly into the nature of this vice ACHITOB. Enuie proceedeth of a naughtie disposition and prouoketh light braines as Pindarus saith to reioice in beholding the aduersitie of some and to be vexed at the happie successe of others causing men also to delight in backbiting honest men especially such as are praised But take heede saith Pittacus least seeking to auoid enuie thou becommest miserable ASER. Glorye and vertue saith Virgil are alwaies enuied which vice is commonlye accompanied with Hatred and Ill-will whereby men are driuen forward to detract and slander others But hee that keepeth his mouth sayth the wise man keepeth his soule Let vs then heare AMANA who will instruct vs more at large in this which is heere propounded vnto vs. AMANA That wicked and suttle enimie of mankind not being able to abide the glorie whereunto God had called men of which he depriued himselfe through his pride was driuen with enuie to tempt our first parents whose ingratitude conceiuing sinne in the soule of man the first fruite brought foorth by this cursed plant seemeth likewise to haue beene enuie with which Adams eldest sonne being mooued slew his onely brother Oh cursed and furious enuie oh fruitfull branch of execrable euils seeing by thee man was first beguiled and induced afterward to admit murder into his hart and to water the earth being yet virgine-like with his brothers blood whereby he began his chiefe worke vpon innocencie to the end that wicked men might from father to son haue this prerogatiue to oppresse the good Is there any vice then amongst vs which we ought to hate and flie from more than from enuie which hauing nothing of hir first euill nature diminished leadeth men to most vniust and detestable actions Neuertheles to what passion are we more inclined or do we nourish more willingly than this Let euery one enter into himselfe and vndoubtedly he shall find there a thousand enuies which are neuer without hatred and rancor grafted in the secretest place of his soule True it is that enuy according to the subiects which it meeteth withall bringeth foorth more pernitious effects in some and lesse hurtfull in others But how soeuer it be this passion is alwaies blame-woorthie and ought to be eschewed of euery good and vertuous man whose desire is not to wander out of the path of dutie and honestie We say therefore that Enuie is a griefe arising of another mans prosperitie and that malignitie is commonly ioined with it whether it be the fountaine therof as some say or one part thereof as others will haue it This malignitie is a delight pleasure takē in another mans harme although we receiue no profit thereby and it seemeth to be accidentall that is procured by hatred or ill will arising of some euill affection that one man beareth to another For this cause Plutark distinguisheth hatred from enuie saying that hatred is bred in our harts through an imagination and conceit which we haue that he whome we hate behaueth himselfe wickedly either towards all men generally or particularly towards vs but that men enuie onely those whome they know to be in prosperitie And so it seemeth that enuie is indefinite and not limited much like to sore eies that are offēded at euery cleernes and light but that hatred is limited being alwaies grounded and staied vpon some certaine obiects in regard of it selfe Moreouer no man hath iust cause to enuie another mans prosperitie For he doth no man wrong bicause he is happie whereas on the contrarie side many are iustly hated for their vices and impieties and ought to be shunned of good men which hatred of the wicked is a propertie that belongeth to good men But the hatred that is borne towards good men is a passion not much separated from enuie And thus may these two passions resembling two plants be said to be nourished preserued increased by the selfe same meanes albeit they succeed one another The same Plutark being desirous to teach vs how we ought to abhorre enuie calleth it sorcerie bicause through the poison thereof it doth not onely fill the enuious bodie with a naughtie and hurtfull disposition but the infection disperseth it selfe also through the eies euen vpon them that behold it so that they are touched therewith as it were by some poisonfull influence Likewise he compareth it to the flies called Cantharides For as they alight especially vpon the fairest wheate and most blowne roses so enuie commonly setteth it selfe against the honestest men and such as haue most glorie vertue Power honor strength riches are but brands to kindle the fire thereof Therefore Thucidides saith that a wise man desireth to be enuied to the ende he may doe great things Bias said that enuie and an old house oftentimes light vpon a man and neuer knocke at his gates But if enuie be hurtful to others it is much more noisome to him that possesseth it tormenting him within continually with a thousand turbulent passions which shorten his daies diminisheth powers of his bodie and are a great deale more pernitious to his soule For it will not suffer him to taste or conceiue any good speech or sound instruction from whomsoeuer it commeth but causeth him to reiect and speake against it as if he were iealous and enuious of his owne good The occasion whereof is the ill will which naturally he beareth against all them that deserue more than himselfe whereupon he striueth rather to blame or to wrest in ill part whatsoeuer was well meant than to reape any profite thereby And if he heare a man commend other mens deuices or any of his owne doings contrary to his mind he thinketh that he hath so many blowes giuen him with a cudgell Thus we see that enuie wishing well to none doth no lesse torment and hurt his soule that is infected therewith And to speake in a word it comprehendeth the generall iniustice which is all kind of wickednes and destroieth all duties of humanitie causing men to hurt those whom they ought
consent to the passions of great men This Infidell caused him to be hanged bicause he counselled him to put a Gentleman to death vniustly which he had done that he might enioy his wife more casilie Now for the conclusion of our discourse we will here set downe the aunswer of one of the Hebrew interpreters to king Ptolemie who asked him To whome a Prince should trust or commit himselfe To those sayd this wise man that loue him so entirely that they cannot be drawen from him neither through feare gifts or gayne bicause he that aspireth to riches is naturally a traitour Let vs learne that a counsell wel instituted and compounded of good men is a most necessarie point in the establishment and preseruation of euery estate and as the olde Prouerbe saith Good councell is better than manie hands Let vs learne that all those that are called thereunto ought to aime at nothing but at publike profite of which the happinesse and greatnesse of the Prince dependeth who must not contemne the counsell and seruice of the least when they can profite the Common-wealth but heare them willingly and satisfie their iust requests Of Iudgements and of Iudges Chap. 62. ACHITOB WE are now my companions according as the sequell of our speech requireth to consider of Iudgements which I affirmed in the beginning to be one of those two things whereof euery Common-wealth consisteth and that according as they are ordained the affaires of the estate proceed well or ill Therfore I leaue the discourse of this matter to you ASER. No citie saith Plato can truly be called a city if it want iudgements well instituted and consequently iudges to exercise them AMANA Iudgements are lawfull to such as vse them aright and Iudges are to vs the ministers of God for our good as Saint Paule saith Now let vs heare ARAM vpon this matter ARAM. As it is a very dāgerous matter for an estate to wauer daily in deliberations and not to be well resolued touching the affaires thereof or after resolution to leaue them without speedy executiō so the establishment of many good lawes and ordinances bringeth greater peril thā profit to the same estate if they be not seuerely obserued kept For the authoritie of the soueraign magistrate in whose name they are made is so much the more cōtemptible amongst his subiects as they know that they are lesse obeied as though the fault proceeded from his insufficiencie of skil to command He that leadeth well before is the cause why he is wel folowed the perfectiō of the art of a good Querie of the stable consisteth in making the horse obedient in bringing him to good order so the principall effect of the knowledge of a king is to iustruct wel his subiects in obediēce To this purpose the establishment of good iudges ouer thē wil help well that they may take knowledge of such as gain-say and resist the publike lawes and ordinances of his maiestie who is to authorize their iudgements as the chiefe sinewes of the whole body of his estate For nothing euer caused Common-wealthes to flourish so much as the constant keeping of their countrie lawes and the strict execution of iudgements agreeable vnto them And as Cicero saith those estates that are neer their ouerthrow all things beyng in a desperate case fall into this miserable issue that men condemned by the lawes are restored and iudgements giuen are cancelled which things when they come to passe euery one knoweth that their ruine is at hand without all hope of safetie Moreouer forasmuch as the Prince knoweth that he is as it were bound and indebted for iustice he ought to be so much the more careful that it may be rightly administred by those to whom he cōmitteth that office especially seeing he must answer for it himselfe before god to whom he may not say that he charged the consciences of his iudges therwith so discharged his own Wherfore if he adorne his estate with resolute prudent officers who will exactly preserue the bond of the common-welth by the seueritie of their iudgements vpright holding of the balance no doubt but all kind of publike felicitie will issue from the same But let vs briefly consider what iudgement is the diuision of iudgements their administration what manner of Iudges ought to exercise them Iudgement is properly that which is ordained by the Magistrate obseruing the tenor of the law But forasmuch as through the infinit varietie of causes times places and persons which cannot be comprehended in any lawes or statuts whatsoeuer punishments were referred to the will and power of the Magistrates and the dammages of ciuill matters to the conscience religion of the Iudges that which they determine by resolute sentences according to their opinion is also called Iudgement although more properly it may be called a Decree For this cause we say that as there are two principall pointes in euery Common-wealth which Magistrates must haue before their eies that is the law and equitie so also there is the execution of the law and the duty of the Magistrate which consisteth either in commanding in decreeing or in executing Of Iudgementes some are called priuate some publike some criminall others ciuill Priuate iudgements are of bondages prescriptions Gardianships Wardships contracts testaments successions mariages Publike iudgements concerne hainous offences against God man as sacriledge treason restitution of monie or other bribes taken by Magistrats robbery of the kings treasure forgeries theft wilfull and constrained murders Plato speaketh at large of these in his booke of lawes and it would be an infinite matter and smally to our instruction to seeke out the diuers kinds of iudgements which either haue beene or are among men But this is well woorth the noting that amongest the ancient Grecians and Romanes all iudgements both priuat and publike were from point to point followed and with all rigor obserued and they that stood against them were prosecuted and set vpon with fire and sword Among other examples Diodorus rehearsech a storie of the Phocians a people of Grecia condemned by the iudgement of the Amphyctions in a certaine summe of monie bicause they had tilled a great deale of ground that was consecrated to the gods Which summe when they refused to paye they pronounced their countrie as confiscate and consecrated to the gods wherupon arose a warre called the holie warre made by the rest of the Grecians against them and in the ende their vtter ruine subuersion Whosoeuer was once accused of any crime before the Iudges in Lacedemonia although he were absolued yet he abode a certaine time after in that estate of a criminall person during which time enquirie might be made againe of him and newe iudgement giuen according to his desert If the Ephories condemned their kings in any summe yea if it were to death their iudgements were executed with all rigor The
commoditie thereof A notable law for the common instruction of children Of Gymnastick or bodilie exercise The end of Musicke The vse of painning Fower things to be vsed in the institution of youth Instruction which consisteth in six precepts 1. The first precept The first thing that youth must learne is to worship God We can do nothing without the grace of God 2. The second precept Youth must not glorie in transitoric goods Nor in bodilie beautie The fruits of true knowledge and vertue 3. The third precept The common diseases of youth Modestie is the best remedie for them 4 The fourth precept hath fower branches 5. The fift precept 6 The sixt precept Of admonition Of promises Youth is to be drawne on with the promises of eternall life Of praises and threatnings Hope and feare are the foundation of vertue Adolescencie is the age betweene 14. 28 Place and time are to be considered in all things All kind of behauior not conuenient in all ages Of the diuision of the ages of man The number of seuen accounted a perfect number Of the climactericall yeere of 63. The whole age of man diuided into six parts Of Infaucie Of Childhood * He meaneth not common naturall infirmities but malitious offences Two things requisite in a Schoolemaister skill and bonestie of life The benefit that commeth by good Schoolemaisters A strang custom vsed by the children of Rome The reason oâ— this word Iuuentus Of adolescencie The fruits of adolescencie being left to it self Aurelius exhortation to his sonnes gouernours Concupiscence raigneth most in Adolescencie Who are to be accounted free Knowledge and iudgement are the gard of adolescencie Catoes sonne banished for breaking an earthen pot And Cinnaes sonne for gathering fruite without leaue How the Romanes taught their yoong men to forsake the follies of their first age The dutie of yoong men A moderate youth maketh a happie old age Examples of vertuous young men Alexander a paterne of vertue in his youth Bucephalus Alexanders horse Pompey Papyrius Of 〈◊〉 maâ—s estate The dutie of a man at the perfection of his age Clitomachus M. Aurelius Solon learned to the hower of his death Socrates learned musick being old T. Varro and M. Cato learned Greeke when they were old Iulianus Alphonsus Of old-age Psal 90. 10. Prudence is the ornament of old age What Senate is and froÌ„ whence it came What vse is to be made of a white beard Epaminondas salutation vsed to men according to their ages Cato What breedeth authoritie in a man Sophocles To whom old age is not grieuous The soule is not subiect to mans iurisdiction Gal. 3. 18. Col. 3. 11. Gal. 5. 1. 13. Rom. 13. 1. 2. All power is of God The beginning and preseruation of policies is from God Of commanding and obeying Policie is the bond of all societie There is shew of commanding and obeying in all things As in harmonie The superior part of the world ruleth the inferior The Sunne is king and the Moone Queene among the starres The Moone ruleth ouer all moistures The Fire and Aire chiefe among the elements The Eagle Lion whale and pike ouer their kinds No people without all policie Diuine iustice humane policie always linked togither Religion is the foundation of all estates The auncieâ—â— law makers established then ordinance through the means of religion Religion the greatest means of inlarging the Roman empire What Policie is and from whence the word is deriued The diuers significations of this word Policy Of the end of policie Ciuil ordinance ought to maintaine the worship of God Euery estate coÌ„sisteth of 3. parts of the magistrate the law and the people When common-wealths are right and when corrupt The good or euil estate of coÌ„mon wealths dependeth of the magistrates next vnder God The diuision of common-welths in generall The subdiuision of them Of a monarchie Of a tirannie Of an Aristocratie and what it signifieth The Lacedemonian estate was an excellent paterne of this gouernment Why the Senate of Lacedemonia was first instituted What power the kings of Lademonia had The policie of Polydorus and Theopompus to get the power out of the peoples hands Why the Ephories were appointed in Lacedemoniâ— Of an Oligarchâ— How an Oligarchie is changed into a tirannie with examples thereof Of a Timocraty * His meaning is that it is ruled by some lawes taken from ccb of these Of a Democratie Fiue kinds therof according to Aristotle in his 4. booke of Politi ca. 4. Athens a Democratical estate Of a mixt kinde of common-wealth Examples hereof The perfectest distinction of common-wealths There is difference between the estate and the gouernment of a common-wealth Examples of the popular estate Of the Aristocraticall Of the Monarchicall What right is The foundation of euery estate is the soueraigntie therof Euery estate coÌ„sisteth of 3. parts The magistrate is the image of God The wisest must rule Why God distributeth his gifts diuersly to diuers men A well gouerned familie resembleth the kingly regiment Gen. 10. 10. Of the originall of kingdoms Cicero his opinion therein What soueraigntie is A little king asmuch a Soueraigne as the greatest Monarch Of the name of Magistrate The Dictator of Rome was called Magister populi The calling of Magistrates prooued to be lawfull Psal 82. 6. Iohn 10 35. 2. Chron. 19. 6. Prou. 8. 15. 16. The calling of the Magistrate is most holie He is the minister of Gods iustice Good counsell for Magistrats The Magistrate compared to the hart of a liuing creature And to a Carpenters rule The Magistrate is in the Common wealth that which reason is in the soule The example of the Magistrate is the best way to teach the people Whereunto the Prince is bound aswell as his subiect The dutie of the Magistrate consisteth in three things The art Royall Philosophicall and Politicall is all one Who is most woorthie of soueraigne authoritie Why there are so few vertuous Princes Wherin the dutie of the chiefe Magistrate consisteth Why the sword is put into the Magistrates hand Ier. 22. 3. What is meant by this precept Do Iudgement and Iustice Prou. 16. 12. 20. 8. 26. Prou. 25. 4. 5. He that suffreth euill is culpable aswell as he that committeth it Seueritie and clemencie are to be linked togither in a Magistrate Ciuilitie and grauitie must be ioined both togither in a Magistrate The dutie of the Magistrate Al motions contained vnder one and all causes vnder the first The law is the blood and bond of the Common-wealth The law is the spirite and soule of the common-wealth All creatures are sociable by nature The prerogatiues of men aboue other creatures What a citie is The diuers ends of the three good Common-wealths A king must line vnder a law albeit he be not subiect to the lawe The marke of a soueraigne Wisd 6. 3. How far Princes are subiect to lawes Wherein the absolute power of Princes consisteth The definition of the law The diuision