asked I beyng by at Augusta how he could excuse his masters vnkindnes towards Iohn Fredericke who had bene such a father vnto him He graunted that Duke Fredericke had bene great frend vnto him and might haue a greater if he had would and thē lesse strife had followed then did And troth it is sayd he as Duke Fredericke kept my master in his right so afterward he put him from part of his right when in his yong yeares hee chopped and chaunged landes with him when he listed which thing my master comming to mans state much misliked and oft complaynyng could neuer obtayne remedy therein Kyndnes should rather haue kyndly encreased so vnkyndly haue decayed specially when the one was trusted withall and the other of such yeares as he had neither wit to perceiue nor power to amend if any iniurie were offred vnto hym Troth also it is that my master was brought vp in Duke Frederickes house but he hath more cause to cōplaine on them that brought him thether then to thanke such as brought him vp there where he had alwayes plentie of drinke and as much scant of good teachyng to come to such vertue and learnyng as dyd belong to a Prince of his state Now whether this talke was altogether true or an ill excuse was made to couer a foule fact I can not tell but sure I am Francisco sayd thus I haue heard wise men say that it is not lyke that for such a priuate strife Duke Maurice would haue so forsaken not onely his frend and kinsman but also his father in law or would for the losse a litle or rather for the chaūge of a peece haue so hassarded his whole estate which was once in the first warre all gone saue Lypsia and one other towne beside the losse of loue in whole Germany and his good name amongest all Protestantes in the middest of whom all hys liuinges do lye Well surely there was some great cause that could sturre vp so great a strife and that was as wise men and wel willyng on Duke Maurice side in myne opinion haue truly iudged the foule vice of ambition O Lord how many worthy men hath this one vice beareft from good common weales which for all other respectes were most vnworthy of that end they came vnto My hart weepes for those noble men of England whose valiantnes in warre whose wisedome in peace this Realme shal want and wayle and wish and wish for in tyme to come which of late by this onely vice haue bene taken from vs Examples lesse for our grief and as fit for this purpose be plenty enough in other states Ouer many experiences do teach vs though a Prince be wise stout liberall gentle mercyfull and excellently learned though he deserue all the prayse that vertue nature and fortune cā affourd him yea that wit it selfe can wish for as we read that noble Iulius Caesar had and that by the testimony of those that loued him not neuertheles if these two foule verses of Euripides Do right alway and wrong refraine Except onely for rule and raigne If these verses I say do not onely sound well in his eare but sincke deepe also in his hart surely there is neither kindred frendship law othe obedience countrey God nor his owne life but he will hassard to leese all rather then to pursue this foule vice For Polynices for whom this verse was first made in Greeke did fill not onely his owne countrey full of dead carcasses but also whole Greece full of weepyng widdowes And Caesar for whom the same verse was turned into Latin did not onely turne vpside down the goodliest common wealth that euer GOD suffred to stand vpon the earth but also lossed the whole world with battayle and slaughter euen almost from the sunne setting vnto the sunne rising And did not stop to bryng souldiours to do mischief further then any man now dare iourney by land either for pleasure or profite But see the fruite and end which this vngodly great growing bringeth men vnto Both these Princes were slaine the one by his brother the other by his owne sonne of whom in life nature benefites would they should haue taken most cōfort of But men that loue to clime to hye haue alwayes least feare and therefore by reason fall most soddenly and also fardest downe yea the very bowghes that helped hym vp will now whip him in fallyng downe For who so in climyng trusteth when he is goyng vp any bough at all ouer much though hee seeme to tread neuer so surely vppon it yet if he once begyn to slyp the same selfe bough is reddiest to beat him that seemed before surest to beare him Examples hereof be seen dayly and forgotten hereby An other mischief chaunceth commonly to these high climers that they will heare no man so gladly as such which are euer hartenyng them to clime still If wise and good men durst speake more freely then they do great men should do both others and them selues lesse harme thē they are wont to do He hateth him selfe and hasteth his owne hurt that is content to heare none so gladly as either a foole or a flatterer A wonderfull follie in a great man him selfe and some peace of miserie in a whole common wealth where fooles chiefly and flatterers may speake freely what they will and wise men and good men shal commonly be shent if they speake what they should And how commeth this to passe it is the very plague of God for great mens sinnes and the plaine high way to their iust punishment And when God suffreth them so willingly to graunt freedome to follie and so gladly to geue hearyng to flattery But see when the great man is gone and hath playd his part fooles and flatterers be stil vpon the stage Such liue in all worldes such laugh in all miseries such Daui and Getae haue alwayes the longest partes and go out who shal they tary in place still I know also many a good mitio which haue played long partes whom I pray God kepe long still vpon the stage And I trust no man will be miscontent with my generall saying except conscience do pricke him of his owne priuate ill doyng There be common wealthes where freedome in speakyng truth hath kept great mē from boldnes in doyng ill for free and frendly aduise is the trimmest glasse that any great man can vse to spye his owne fault in which taken away they runne commonly so farre in foule doyng as some neuer stay till they passe all remedy saue onely to late repentaunce And as I would haue no flattery but wish for freedome So in no wise do I commend ouermuch boldnes or any kind of rayling But that libertie in speakyng should be so mingled with good will and discretion as no great person should be vnhonorably spoken vpō or any meane man touched out of order either for sport or spite as some vnquiet heades neuer contented with any state are euer procuryng ▪
⧠A REPORT and Discourse written by Roger Ascham of the affaires and state of Germany and the Emperour Charles his court duryng certaine yeares while the sayd Roger was there AT LONDON ¶ Printed by Iohn Daye dwelling ouer Aldersgate ¶ Cum Gratia Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis per Decennium ⧠John Astely to R. Ascham I Now finde true by experience which I haue oft heard of others sometymes read my selfe that mē make no such accompt of commodities when they haue thē as when they want thē I meane this by our frendly fellowshyp together at Cheston Chelsey and here at Hatfield her graces house our pleasant studies in readyng together Aristotles Rethorike Cicero and Liuie our free talke mingled alwayes with honest mirth our trimme cōferences of that present world and to true iudgementes of the troublesome tyme that followed These commodities I now remēber with some grief which we then vsed with much pleasure besides many other fruites of frendshyp that faythfull good will could affourd And these thinckynges cause me oft to wish either you to be here with vs or me to be there with you but what wishyng is nothyng els but a vayne waylyng for that which will wanteth ▪ I wil cease from wishyng and seeke the true remedy for this sore And that is whilest we mete agayne in deede in the meane while to ease our desires with oft writyng the one to the other I would in deede I had bene partaker in your company of that your pleasant absence out of your countrey And because I was not I pray you let me be partaker by your letters of some fruite of that your iourney We heare of great sturres in those parties and how the Emperour a Prince of great wisedome and great power hath bene driuen to extreme shiftes and that by the pollicie of mean men who were thought to be hys frendes and not by the puisantnes of others who were knowne to be his open enemyes I know you were wont in markyng diligently and notyng truely all such great affaires And you know lykewise how desirous I am alwayes to read any thing that you write Write therfore I pray you that we your frendes beyng at home may enioye by your letters a pleasant memory of you in this tyme whilest you be absent abroad Farewell in Christ from Hatfield .xix. Octobris 1552. ⧠R. Ascham to Iohn Asteley SAlutem Plurimam in Christ◠Iesu. That part of your letters from Hatfield decimo nono Octob. renewing a most pleasaunt memory of our frēdly fellowship together full of your wonted good will towardes me I aunswered immediatly from Spires by Fraunces the post whiche letter if it be not yet come to your hand ye might haue heard tell of it in M. Secretary Cicels chamber in the Court. As concernyng the other part of your letter for your wish to haue bene with me in this mine absence from my countrey and for your request to be made partaker by my letters of the sturre of these times here in Germany Surely I would you had your wish for then should not I now nede to bungle vp yours so great a request when presently you should haue sene with much pleasure which now peraduēture you shall read with some doubt lesse thynges may encrease by writyng which were so great in doyng as I am more afrayd to leaue behind me much of the matter then to gather vp more then hath sprong of the trouth Your request conteineth few wordes but cōprehendeth both great and diuers matters As first the causes of the open inuasion by the Turke of the secret workyng for such soddeyne brechesse in Italy and Germany of the fine fetches in the French practises of the double dealyng of Rome with all partes thē more particularly why Duke Octauio the Prince of Salerne Marches Albert and Duke Maurice brake so out with the Emperour which were all so fast knit vnto hym as the bondes of affinitie loyaltie bloud and benefites could assure him of them Octauio being his sonne in law the Prince one of hys priuy chamber Marches Albert hys kynsman and Duke Maurice so inhaunsed with honor and enriched with benefites by hym as the Duke could not haue wished greater in hope then the Emperour performed in deede Here is stuffe plenty to furnish well vp a trimme history if a workeman had it in handlyng When you and I read Liuie together if you do remember after some reasonyng we cōcluded both what was in our opinion to be looked for at his hand that would well and aduisedly write an history First point was to write nothyng false next to be bold to say any truth wher by is auoyded two great faultes flattery and hatred For which two pointes Caesar is read to his great prayse and Iouius the Italian to hys iust reproch Then to marke diligently the causes coūsels actes and issues in all great attemptes And in causes what is iust or unjust ▪ in coūsels what is purposed wisely or rashly in actes what is done couragiously or fayntly And of euery issue to note some generall lesson of wisedome warines for lyke matters intime to come wherin Polibius in Greeke and Phillip Comines in French haue done the duties of wyse and worthy writers Diligence also must be vsed in kepyng truly the order of tyme and describyng lyuely both the site of places and nature of persons not onely for the outward shape of the body but also for the in ward dispositiō of the mynde as Thucidides doth in many places very trimly and Homer euery where and that alwayes most excellently which obseruation is chiefly to be marked in hym And our Chaucer doth the same very praise worthely marke hym well and conferre hym with any other that writeth of in our tyme in their proudest toung whosoeuer lyst The stile must be alwayes playne and open yet sometime higher and lower as matters do ryse and fall for if proper and naturall wordes in well ioyned sentences do lyuely expresse the matter be it troublesome quyet angry or pleasant A man shal thincke not to be readyng but present in doyng of the same And herein Liuie of all other in any toung by myne opiniō carieth away the prayse Syr Thomas More in that pamphlet of Richard the thyrd doth in most part I beleue of all these pointes so content all men as if the rest of our story of England were so done we might well compare with Fraunce Italy or Germany or in that behalfe But see how the pleasant remembraunce of our old talke together hath caried me farther then I thought to go And as for your request ▪ to know the cause and maner of these late sturres here ye shall not looke for such precise order now in writyng as we talked on then No it is not all one thing to know perfectly by reading and to performe perfectly in doyng I am not so vnaduised to take so much vpō me nor
either secretly with raylyng billes or openly with tauntyng songes or els some scoffing common play An other kynd of to bold talkers surpasse all these selly rumors who are called and so will be commō discoursers of all Princes affaires These make a great accompt of them selues and will be commonly formost in any prease and lustly with out blushing shoulder backe others These will seeme to see further needes in any secret affayre then the best and wisest coūsellor a Prince hath These be the open flatterers and priuy mislikers of all good counsellors doynges And one common note the most part of this brotherhode of discoursers commōly cary with them where they be bold to speake to like better Tullies Offices then S. Paules Epistles and a tale in Bocace then a story of the Bible And therfore for any Religion earnest setters forth of present tyme with consciences confirmed with Machiauelles doctrine to thincke say and do whatsoeuer may serue best for profite or pleasure But as concernyng flatterers and raylers to say mine opinion whether I like worse surely as I haue read few men to haue bene hurt with bitter poysons so haue I heard of as few great men to haue bene greatly harmed with sharpe talke but are so ware therin that commonly they wil complaine of theyr hurt before they feele harme And flattery agayne is so sweete that it pleaseth best when it hurteth most and therfore is alwayes to be feared because it alwayes delighteth but in lookyng aside to these hye climers I haue gone out of the way of mine owne matter To returne to Duke Maurice he saw that Duke Frederickes fallyng might be his rising and perchaunce was moued with some old iniuries but beyng of young yeares and of nature full of desire and courage he was a trimme pray for old practises to be easely caryed away with fayre new promises sounding altogether to honor and profite and so he forsoke his father and his frend and became wholy the Emperours till hee had brought both them into prison Duke Fredericke was taken in the field and so became the Emperours iust prisoner Yet as long as the Lansgraue was abroad the Emperour thought his purpose neuer atchieued and therefore practised a new with duke Maurice to get him also into his hāds Duke Maurice with Ioachim Elector of Bradenburge became meanes betwixt the Lansgraue and the Emperour Conditions both of mercy from the one and of amendes from the other were drawen out Maurice and the Marches bound them selues sureties to the Lāsgraues children for their fathers safe returne for amongest the rest of cōditions this was one of the chiefest that he should come in no prison And so at Hala in Saxony he came boldly to the Emperours presence who receiued him not very cherefully nor gaue him not his hand which in Germany is the very token of an assured reconsiliation The Duke of Alua made the Lansgraue a supper and called also thether Duke Maurice and the Marches of Bradēburg where they had great chere but after supper it was told Duke Maurice and the Marches that they might depart for the Lansgraue must lodge there that night On the morrow they reasoned of the matter wholly to this purpose that the Emperours promises not the Lansgraues person ought to be kept Aunswere was made that the Emperour went no further then conditions led him which were that he should not be kept in euerlastyng prison and they agayne replyed he ought to be kept in no prison When I was at Villacho in Carinthia I asked Duke Frederickes Preacher what were the very wordes in Dutch wherby the Lansgraue agaynst his lookyng was kept in prison He sayd the fallacion was very pretty and notable and tooke his penne and wrote in my booke the very wordes wherin the very controuersie stode duke Maurice sayd it was Nicht in emig gefengknes .i. Not in any prison The Imperials sayd no but thus Nicht in ewig gefengknes .i. Not in euerlastyng prison And how soone emig may be turned into ewig not with scrape of knife but with the least dash of a pen so that it shall neuer be perceiued a man that will proue may easely see Moreouer Luice d'Auila in his booke doth reioyce that the Lansgraue did so deceaue hym selfe with his owne conditions in makyng of which as d'Auila saith he was wont to esteeme his own wit aboue all other mens Well how so euer it came to passe the Lansgraue was kept in prison And from that houre Duke Maurice fell from the Emperour thinckyng hym selfe most vnkyndly hādled that he by whose meanes chiefly the Emperour had won such honor in Saxony must now be rewarded with shame in all Germany and be called a traytor to GOD and hys countrey his father and his frend And though he was greeued inwardly at the hart yet he bare all thynges quietly in coūtenance purposing though he had lost will yet would he not leese his profite and so hiding his hurt presently whilest some fitter time should discouer some better remedy he went with the Emperour to Augusta where accordyng to hys promise he was made Elector Yet the same night after hys solemne creation two verses set vppon his gate might more greue him then all that honour could delight hym which were these Seu Dux seu Princeps seu nunc dicaris Elector Mauricij Patriae proditor ipse tui After that he had gotten that he looked for he gat him home into his countrey from whence afterward the Emperour with no pollicie could euer bryng hym he alwayes alledgyng the feare that he had of some sturre by Duke Frederickes children Hetherto the Germaines much mislyked the doynges of Duke Maurice But after that he had felt him selfe so vnkyndly abused as for his good seruice to be made the betrayer of his father he tooke such matters in hand brought them so to passe as he recouered the loue of his countrey and purchased such hate of his enemyes as the Spanyardes tooke their displeasure from all other and bestowed wholly vppon the Duke Maurice ▪ and yet he bare him selfe with such wit and courage agaynst them as they had alwayes cause to feare hym and neuer occasion to contemne hym Yea if he had liued he would sooner men thinke haue driuen all Spanyardes out of Germany then they should haue hurt hym in Saxony for he had ioyned vnto him such strength and there was in him such pollicie as they durst neuer haue come vppon him with power nor neuer should haue gone beyond hym with wit. He had so displeased the Emperour as he knew wel neither his lādes nor his life could make amendes whē x. poundes of Benefites which he was able to do could not way with one ounce of displeasure that he had already done and therefore neuer after sought to seeke his loue which he knew could neuer be gotten but gaue him selfe wholy to set vp Maximiliā who beyng him selfe of great power and of all other most beloued