needeth somtimes to be whet I meane though mans vnderstanding be neuer so cleare yet from time to time it needeth counsell Vertuous men oftentimes do erre not bicause they would faile but bicause the things are so euil of digestion that the vertue they haue suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessarie for their profite For the which cause it is necessarie that his will be kindled his wit fined his opinion changed his memorie sharpned aboue all now and then that he forsake his owne aduise and cleaue to the counsell of another The world at this day is so changed from that it was woont to be in times past that all haue the audacitie to giue counsell and few haue the wisedom to receiue it If my counsell be woorth receiuing prooue it if it doth harme leaue it if it doth good vse it for there is no medicine so bitter that the sicke doth refuse to take if thereby he thinke he may be healed I exhort and aduise thee that thy youth beleeue mine age thine ignorance my knowledge thy sleepe my watch thy dimnes my cleernes of sight thine imagination my vertue thy supicion mine experience otherwise thou maist hap to see one day thy selfe in some distresse where small time thou shalt haue to repent and none to find remedie If thou wilt liue as yoong thou must gouerne thy selfe as olde If any old man fall for age and if thou find a yoong man sage despise not his counsell for bees do drawe more honie out of the tender flowers than of the hard leaues Plato commandeth that in giuing politike counsell it be giuen to them that be in prosperitie to the intent that they decay not and to them that be in heauines and trouble to the intent that they despaire not Happie is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is Lord of yoong men to trauell and ancient persons to counsell Manie things are cured in time which reason afterward cannot helpe No mortall man take he neuer so good heede to his works nor reason so well in his desires but that he deserueth some chastisement for some cause or counsell in his doings The examples of the dead do profit good men more to liue well than the counsell of the wicked prouoketh the liuing to liue euill Men ought not in any thing to take so great care as in seeking of counsell and counsellers for the prosperous times cannot be maintained nor the multitude of enimies resisted if it be not by wise graue counsellers Thales being demanded what a man should do to liue vprightly he answered To take that counsell for himselfe which he giueth to another for the vndoing of all men is that they haue plentie of counsell for others and want for themselues He shall neuer giue to his prince good nor profitable counsell which by that counsell intendeth to haue some proper interest He is not counted sage that hath turned the leaues of manie bookes but he which knoweth and can giue good and wholsome counsell Anacharsis said Thou shalt promise me not to be importune with me to receiue any thing of thee for the day thou shalt corrupt me with gifts it is necessarie that I corrupt thee with euil counsell It is easie to speake well and hard to worke well for there is nothing in the world better cheape than counsell By the counsell of wise men that thing is kept and maintained which by the strength of valiant men is gotten Ripe counsels proceed not from the man that hath trauelled into many countries but from him that hath felt himselfe in manie dangers It is impossible that there should any misfortune happen whereas ripe counsell is To giue counsell to the wise man it is either superfluous or commeth of presumption though it be true yet I say in like maner that the diamond being set in gold looseth not his vertue but rather increaseth in price so the wiser that a man is so much the more he ought to know and desire the opinion of others certainly he that doth so cannot erre for no mans owne counsell aboundeth so much but that he needeth the counsell and opinion of others We ordaine that none be so hardie to giue counsell vnlesse therewith he giue remedie for to the troubled hart words comfort little when in them there is no remedie The woman is hardie that dare giue counsel to a man and he more bold that taketh it of a woman but I say he is a foole that taketh it and he is a more foole that asketh it but he is most foole that fulfilleth it Children and youth IT is better to leaue vnto children good doctrine whereby they may liue than euill riches wherby they may perish And the cause is that manie mens children haue beene through the hope they had to inherit their fathers goods vndone and afterward gone a hunting after vices for they seldome do any woorthie feats which in their youth inherit great treasures It is better to haue children poore and vertuous than rich and vicious To be poore or sick is not the greatest miserie neither to be whole and rich is the chiefest felicitie for there is no such felicitie to fathers to see their children vertuous It is an honor to the countrie that fathers haue such children that will take profit with their counsell and contrariwise that the children haue such fathers as can giue it them The father ought to desire his sonne onely in this cause that in his age he may sustaine his life in honor and that after his death he may cause his same to liue If not for this at the least he ought to desire him that in his age he may honor his head and that after his death he may inherit his goods But we see few do this in these daies except they be taught of their parents the same in youth for the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree doth beare blossoms in the spring Too much libertie in youth is no other but a prophesie and manifest token of disobedience in age It is a griefe to see and a monstrous thing to declare the cares which the fathers take to gather riches the diligence that children haue to spend them There can be nothing more vniust than that the yong and vicious sonne should take his pleasure of the sweate of the aged father The father that instructeth not his sonne in vertue in his youth is lesse blamewoorthie if he be disobedient in age It is a good token when youth before they know vices haue beene accustomed to practise vertue It is pitifull to see and lamentable to behold a yoong child how the blood doth stir him the flesh prouoke him to accomplish his desires to see sensualitie go before and he himselfe to come behind the malicious world to watch him and how the diuel doth tempt
the houses made the bed washed the buck couered thetable dressed the dinner and went for water On the contrary part his wife gouerned the goodes answered the affaires kept the money and if she were angry she gaue him not onely foule words but also oftentimes laid hir hands on him to reuenge hir anger whereof came this prouerbe vita Achaiae Where men haue so little discretion that they suffer themselues to be gouerned be it well or euill of their wiues and that euery womā commandeth hir husband there can be nothing more vaine or light than by mans law to giue that authoritie to a woman which by nature is denied hir The lawes are as yokes vnder the which the euill do labor and they are wings vnder the which the good do flie The great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept and are on the other part cause of sundry troubles The Romanes did auoid the great number of lawes and institutions for that it is better for a man to liue as reason commaundeth him than as the law constraineth him Lawes are easily ordained but with difficultie executed and there be thousands that can make them but not one that will see the execution of them The law of Athens was that nothing should be bought before a Philosopher had set the price I would the same law at these daies were obserued for there is nothing that destroieth a common wealth more than to permit some to sell as tyrants and others to buy as fooles Of Loue. BEleeue not that loue is true loue but rather sorow not ioy but perplexitie not delite but torment not contentment but griefe not honest recreation but confusion seeing that in him that is a louer must be looked for youth libertie and liberalitie Strawe that is rotten is fitter for the land than the house so in a broken body and aged sorow and infirmities are fitter passions than loue for to Cupid and Venus no sort of people is acceptable but yong men to serue them The liberall which spares for no cost the patient to endure discreet to speake secret to conceale faithfull to deserue and constant to continue to the end It is a miserie to be poore and proud to be reuengefull and dare not strike to be sicke and farre from succor to be subiect to our enimies and lastly to suffer perill of life without reuenge but for an old man to be in loue is the greatest wretchednes that can occupy the life of man for the poore sometimes findeth pitie but the old man standeth always reiected The coward findeth friends to beare out his quarell but the amorous old man liueth always persecuted with passions The sicke liues vnder the climate of Gods prouidēce and is relieued by hope but the old amorous man is abandoned all succor He that is subiect to his enimies is not somtimes without his seasons of consolation and quiet where to the old louer is no time of truce or hope of reconcilement There is nothing more requireth gouernment thā the practise of loue seeing that in cases of hūger thirst cold heat and all other natural influences they may be referred to passions sensible only to the body but the follies imperfections and faults in loue the hart is subiect to suffer feele and bewaile them since loue more than all other things natural retaineth always this propertie to exercise tyrannie always against the hart of his subiects There is no doubt but vnperfit loue will resolue into iarres contention and continuall disquietnes for that where is not conformitie of condition there can be no contented loue no more than where is no true faith can be no true operation of good life and maners Say what you will and surmise the best to please fancie but according to experience the best remedie in loue is to auoid occasion and to eschew conuersation for that of the multitude that follow him there are few free from his bondage where such as abandon him liueth alwaies in libertie Behold how deerly I loued thee in thy presence I alwaies behold thee and absent I alwaies thought of thee sleeping I dreamed of thee I haue wept at thy sorowes and laught at thy pleasures finally all my wealth I wished thee and all thy misfortunes I wished to me I feel not so much the persecutiō thou hast done to me as I do the wailing forgetfulnes thou hast shewed to me It is a great griefe to the couetous man to lose his goods but without comparison it is a greater torment for the louer to see his loue euill bestowed for it is a hurt alwaies seene a paine alwaies felt a sorow alwaies gnawing and a death that neuer endeth As the loue of a couetous woman endeth when goods faileth so doth the loue of the man when beautie decaieth That woman which neuer loued for goods but was beloued for beautie did then loue with all hir hart and now abhor with all hir hart The gallowes is not so cruell to the euill doer as thou art to me which neuer thought otherwise than well they which suffer there do endure but one death but thou makest me to suffer a thousand they in one day and one hower do end their liues and I euery minute do feele the pangs of death they die guiltie but I innocently they die openly and I secretly What wilt thou more I say they for that they died and I shed hartie teares of blood for that I liue their torments spreadeth abrode through all the bodie but I keepe mine altogither in my hart O vnhappie hart of mine that being whole thou art diuided being in health thou art hurt being aliue thou art killed being mine owne thou art stolen and the woorst of all thou being the onely helpe of my life dost onely consent vnto my death Loue bewitcheth the wisest and blindfoldeth reason as appeereth in many wise philosophers as for example Gratian was in loue with Tamira Solon Selaminus was in loue with a Grecian Pitacus Mitelenus left his owne wife and was in loue with a bond woman that he brought from the war Periander prince of Achaia and chiefe philosopher of all Greece at the instance of his louers slew his owne wife Anacharsis the philosopher a Scithian by his father and a Greeke by his mother loued so deerly a friend of his called Thebana that he taught hir all that he knew in so much that he being sicke on his bed she read for him in the schooles Tarentinus the maister of Plato and scholler of Pithagoras occupied his mind more to inuent new kinds of loue than to imploy his mind to vertue and learning Borgias Cleontino borne in Cicill had more concubines in his house than bookes in his studie All these were wise and knowen for no lesse Yet in the end were ouercome with the flesh O how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida Menelaus from Dortha Pyrrhus from Helena
wings to flie nor feathers to couer them nor any other thing to defende them and yet the mother in all this weaknes and pouertie forsaketh them not nor committeth them to any other but bringeth them vp hir-selfe how much more ought a christian woman to nourish and bring vp that with hir breasts which she once carried in hir wombe rather than commit it into the handes of another woman who bicause she bare it not can not haue the like tender care ouer it Children are neuer so wel beloued of their mothers as when they be nourished of their owne brests If women for excuse should say that they are weake tender and that they haue found a good nurse I answer that the nurse hath small loue to the childe which she nurseth when she seeth the vngentlenes of the mother that bare it for she alone doth nourish the childe with loue which did beare it with paine Aristotle saith that a childe at the most ought to sucke but two yeeres and at the least one yeere and a halfe for if he sucke lesse he is in danger to be sicke and if he sucke more he shall be alwaies tender All women are bounde to loue their husbandes since that willingly and not by compulsion they were not enforced to take them In like maner if the marriage please not the woman she hath not so much cause to complaine of hir husbande for asking hir as she hath reason to mislike with hirselfe that accepted him The wife to serue hir husband in his life time proceedeth oftentimes of fear but to loue him and honor him in his graue proceedeth of loue A woman cannot say euill of hir husband but she doth witnes dishonor to hirselfe I would counsell women not to presume to command their husbands and admonish husbands not to suffer themselues to be ruled by their wiues for in so doing I account it no otherwise than to eate with the feete and trauell with the hands to go with their fingers and to feed themselues with their toes There is an olde disease that happeneth to beautifull women that there be manie that defie them and mo that slander them It little auaileth man and wife that their goods be common and their wils priuate for if the man and wife in loue doe differ in their liues they shall neuer be quiet The want of magnanimitie in the female sexe is supplied with the excellencie of quicke conceite and inuention The reason why women for the more part exceed men in beautie and good complexion is for that they are an effect of a pure cause namely of man a creature polished and not formed as man immediately out of grosse earth After the creation of the worlde and mankind God preferred the companie of a woman as a comfort vnto man exceeding all others Good workes THey that be old and ancient ought to praise their good workes rather than their white haires for honor ought to be giuen for the good life and not for the white head To praise vertuous workes we greatly desire but to put them in vre we are very slow If I haue committed any euill it is impossible to find any that will do me good but if I haue done well no man shall be able to do me wrong Men are not bound to iudge others by the good nature they haue but by the good and euill workes which they do That man is perfite who in his own opinion deserueth not that he hath and in the opinion of an other deserueth much more than that he possesseth The vertuous ought to conforme their works to that they say and publish their words with their deeds There is nothing more infamous than to presume to be wise and desirous to be counted vertuous chiefly for him that speaketh much and worketh little Our euil worke sufficeth to deface many good works The world and worldly prosperitie THe prosperous estate whereupon the children of vanitie are set are founded of quicke sande in that sort that be they neuer so valiant prosperous and mightie a little blast of wind doth stirre them a litle calme of prosperitie doth open them sodenly death doth confound them Men seeing that they cannot be perpetual do procure to continue themselues in raising vp proud buildings leauing to their children great estates wherin I account them fooles no lesse than in things superfluous Admit the pillars be of gold the beames of siluer that those that ioyne them be kings and those which build them are nobles in which they consume a thousand yeers before they can haue it out of the ground or come to the bottom I sweare they shall find no steadie rocke where they may build their house sure not cause their memory to be perpetuall If men knew the world with his deceit why doe they serue him if they do not why do they follow him The world hath this condition to hide much copper vnder a litle gold vnder the color of one truth he telleth vs a thousand lies and with one short pleasure he mingleth ten thousand and displeasures Would ye not take the thiefe for a foole that would buy the rope wherewith he should be hanged and the murtherer the sword wherwith he should be beheaded and the traitor that should offer himselfe in place for to be quartered the rebell that should disclose himselfe to be stoned than are they I sweare more fooles that know the world and will follow it The ancients in times past did striue which of them could furnish most men haue most weapons and keep most horses but now a days they contend who hath the finest wit who can heape vp greatest treasure and who can keep most sheep They striued who should keep most men but in these days who can haue most reuenues Now it is so that one hauing mony to buy a lordship immediately he is made a knight and when he is made knight it is not to fight against the enimies in the field but more freely to commit vices and oppresse the poore at home What profiteth vs to desire much to procure much to attaine to much sith our days are so briefe and our person so fraile Men are deceiued that thinke that temporall goods shall remaine with them during life I see no greater mishaps to fall to any than vnto them which haue the greatest riches so that we may boldly say that he alone which is shut in the graue is in safegard from the inconstancie of fortune The earth is cold and drie the water cold and moist the aire hote and moist the fire hote and dry The wicked world is the euill life of the worldlings where the earth is the desire fire the couetice water the inconstancie aire the folly the stones are the pride the flowers of trees the thoughts the deep sea the hart The worldlings and their worldly liues are called the world for sinnes they be called the
THE LORD MARQVES IDLENES Conteining manifold matters of acceptable deuise as sage sentences prudent precepts morall examples sweete similitudes proper comparisons and other remembrances of speciall choise No lesse pleasant to peruse than profitable to practise compiled by the right Honorable L. WILLIAM Marques of WINCHESTER that now is Cicero ex Xenoph. Nec vero clarorum virorum post mortem honores Permanerent si nihil eorum ipsorum animi efficerent The honor of noble men could not remaine after death If their minds should be idle and do nothing Scipio Nunquam minùs solus quà m cùm solus Nec minùs otiosus quà m cùm otiosus Imprinted at London by Arnold Hatfield 1586 DIEV ET MON DROIT Floreat alma diû Princeps precor ELISABETHA R Roscida solatur rutilans vt gramina Titan N E Et radio exhilarat cuncta elementa suo O G Grata velut nutrix sic Anglis numina praebens S I Iudith nostra Deo praeside clara viget T N Nobilis haec valeat in scena hac foemina semper R A Ac nectar gratum libet in aetherea A ANGLIAE TO THE HIGH MIGHTIE AND HIS RIGHT GRACIOVS SOVERAIGNE LADIE THE QVEENES MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE THe Traueller Right gracious SOVERAIGN hauing bestowed some time in surueying obseruing the people maners and state of foraine countries vpon returne rendreth a reckoning of his time spent by report of the fruite and effect receiued by his iourney whereby he gaineth vnto himselfe the credite of knowledge and giueth vnto the hearer direction and comfort of trauell My selfe hauing passed the morning tide of my Time wherein I should haue conuersed with the learned for my better instruction onely in the vaine disports and pleasures of the field And now at the Sunne setting looking back to view the benefit receiued thereby do finde the seed of pleasures to render no fruit so by defect of learning insueth the effect of Idlenes being meerly nothing The profite of which experience bestowed as a remembrance for the better sort in their yoonger yeeres to mingle with their pleasures some exercise of knowledge learning may happily produce in them an effect in future time wherby to conforme themselues answerable to their degrees callings both for the better performance of their duties vnto the State as also for the administring of Iustice in the weale publike For a magistrate without learning is like vnto an vnskilful physition who maketh the whole sick and cureth seldome the diseased or rather more fitly compared with an vnlearned schoolemaister who in steed of instruction giueth correction For as he seldome well ruleth who hath not first duly obeied euen so faileth he right to censure who hath not in him to discerne betwixt right and wrong the offended and the offence giuer As Idlenes is the mother of ignorance so is it the nurse of aspiring and disloiall minds Neither do I infer heerupon the vnlearned to be ill affected but onely the idle to be woorst disposed And as the qualities of Idlenes are diuers so are the effects accordingly some end in mischief som others waste Time without profit other some giue good instruction of reformatiō which last of the three is the whole summe of my trauel For finding in my self the want of those ornaments and good partes of learning which are requisite for the honorable could wish others not to feed the flower of their yeeres with the vanities of Idlenes but to recompence the benefit of time with some effect of knowledge to the good of thēselues as example of theirs For in the perfection or type of mans life the most that we know is the least part of the rest wherof we are ignorant My deceased Grandfather most gracious Soueraign your Maiesties late officer and seruant being a President vnto his to shun Idlenes and to performe their duties with all loialtie obedience passed many yeeres in Court as well to manifest the humble desire of his dutifull mind towards his Princesse as also for the instruction of his posteritie to hold nothing next vnto the true knowledge and feare of God of like price as the inestimable comfort of the good opinion and fauour of their Soueraigne wherof hoping and by sundry assured experiments finding no lesse from your Maiestie towardes me as onely proceeding from your Highnes gracious inclination clemencie and not of any desert or my part giuing cause thereof am thereby the rather emboldned most humbly to craue pardon as one by reason of many defects vnable to perform that seruice which in desire I wish and in duetie appertaineth as chiefly acknowledging my selfe greatly bound vnto your Highnes in that your Maiestie most graciously tendring my long sicknes weake estate of body would vouchsafe to licence my late absence frō so speciall a cause of importāce concerning the proceding against those vnnaturall and traiterous parts practises tending to the destruction of your Maiesties sacred and royall person sorowing the aduerse euent of my health at the instant especially such as vpon so firme an argument or token of your Maiesties most gracious fauor and good opinion conceiued not to be in case by seruice to performe any thing answerable in desert to the least part of so honorable a credite fidelitie reposed But right mightie and Soueraigne Lady like as your Maiestie of speciall grace hath hitherto accepted my willing and dutifull mind in lieu of action Euen so on my knee I humbly beseech the continuance of so gracious fauor vntil my state of body wil permit the accomplishment by seruice of my humble good will and willingnes And albeit my time spent hath wrought no condigne merite whereupon I should presume to make this humble petition neither doth there proceed therof any effect of gratuitie worthie the view or acceptance of your Maiestie And though discretion forbiddeth me to present your Maiestie with the fruit of my time passed as a remembrance by many degrees inferior and vnfit to be offered to so learned and prudent a Princesse yet dutifull good will not hauing otherwise to manifest it selfe vpon experience of your Maiesties former graces comforteth me of your highnes fauourable acceptance Neither might I with modestie presume to present your Maiestie with so meere a trifle as the effect of Idlenes for other title or terme I may not woorthily giue it though in truth it be the fruit of my time best spent in respect of the residue more vainly passed were it so that vpon returne of my trauell an iourney taken in the vanities of pleasures I had to report of better choise of commoditie receiued And bicause Time requireth me to render an account as whose Idlenes hath been greater than of sundry others and least my euill example might withdraw the better disposed from the studie and exercise of knowledge I do confesse my errour therein accordingly as the title of this Pamphlet giueth testimonie which approching your Maiesties presence in so simple an
him and vices blind him and in all that is spoken to see the father so negligent as if he had no children where indeede the old man by the few vertues that he had in his youth might easily haue knowen the infirmities as vices wherewith his sonne was compassed If the expert had neuer been ignorant if the fathers had neuer been children if the vertuous had neuer been vicious if the fine wits had neuer been deceiued it had been no maruel though fathers were negligent to bring vp their children Little experience excuseth men of great offences but since thou art a father and first a sonne since thou art old and hast been yoong and besides all this pride hath inflamed thee lecherie hath burned thee wrath hath wounded thee negligence hath hindered thee and gluttonie surfeited thee tel me since so manie vices hath raigned in thee why hast thou not an eie to the child of thine owne blood begotten It is impossible that the child which with many vices is assaulted and not succored but in the end he should be infamed and to the dishonor of the father most wickedly ouercome It is not possible to keepe meate well sauored vnlesse it be first salted it is impossible that fish should liue without water it is not vnlikely but the rose which is ouergrowen with the thorne should wither so is it impossible that fathers should haue any comfort in their children vnlesse they instruct them in vertue of their youth The Lydes ordained a law that if a father had manie children that the most vertuous should inherite the goods and riches and if they be vicious no one to inherit for the goods gotten with trauel of vertuous fathers ought not by reason to be inherited with vicious children I do not maruel that the children of princes and great Lords be adulterers and bellie gods for that on the one part youth is the mother of idlenes and on the other little experience is the cause of great offences and which more is the fathers being dead the children inherit the fathers goods being with vices loden as if they were with vertues endued The instructors and teachers of youth ought to be informed what vices or vertues their children are most inclined vnto and this ought also to be to incourage them in that that is good and contrarie to reprooue them in all that is euill The more a man giueth a noblemans sonne the bridle the more hard it is for them to receiue good doctrine Augustus the Emperor said to the senate If my children wil be good they shal sit heerafter where I do now but if they be euill I will not their vices be reuerenced of the senators for the authoritie and grauitie of the good ought not to be imploied in the seruice of those that be wicked What a thing it is to see the sonne of a laborer their coate without points their shirt torne their feet bare the head without a cap the bodie without a girdle in sommer without a hat in winter without a cloke eating course bread lieng on straw or on the earth and in this state so well giuen and vertuous that diuers do wish to haue such a sonne On the other side to behold noble mens sonnes brought vp and nourished betweene Holland sheetes laid in a costly cradle shaped after the new fashion they giue the nurse what she wil desire if perchance the child be sicke they change the nurse or appoint him a diet the father and mother so carefull and diligent that they sleepe neither night nor day all the house watcheth eateth nothing but the broth of chickens asketh nothing but it is giuen him immediately It is a world to see the waste that a vaine man maketh in bringing vp his child specially if he be a man somwhat aged and that hath at his desire a child borne he ceaseth not to spend so much of his goods in bringing vp of him wantonly while he is yoong that oftentimes he wanteth to marrie him when he commeth to age The poore bringeth vp his children without the preiudice of the rich and to the profit of the commō welth but the rich bringeth vp his children with the sweate of the poore to the dammage of the common wealth it is reason therefore that the Wolfe that deuoureth vs should die and the sheep which clotheth vs should liue Oftentimēs parents for tendernes wil not haue their children brought vp in learning saying there is time ynough and leisure to be taught And further to excuse their error they affirme if the child should be chastened it would make him both sicke and foolish But what is their end they become slanderous to the commō welth infamous and disobedient to their parents so euill in conditions so light and vnaduised in behauior so vnmeet for knowledge so enclined to lies so enuying the truth that their fathers would not onely haue punished them with sharpe correction but also would reioyce to haue them buried out of the way Whilest the Palme tree is but yoong and little a frost doth easily destroy it so whilest the child is yoong if he haue not a good tutor he is easily deceiued with the world It is impossible that in any citie there be a good common wealth except they be carefull for the well bringing vp of children The cause is the couetousnes of the master who suffreth their pupils to run at their owne wils when they be yong to the end to win their harts when they be old so that their extreme couetousnes causeth rich and good mens sonnes to be euill and vicious The father is bound no more towards his childe but to banish him from his pleasures and to giue him vertuous masters All the vertues that yoong men do learne doth not them so much profite as one onely vice doth them hurt if they do thereto consent Children ought not to vse any pastime except there be therein contained some commendable exercise for if in youth he dare play a point it is to be feared when he commeth to yeeres he will play his coate Play is not forbidden yoong children for the money that they lose but for the vices they win thereat corrupt maners which therof they learne Of yong men light and vnconstant commeth oftentimes an olde man fond and vnthriftie of too hardie commeth rebellious and seditious persons and of vnshamefastnes slanderous persons What auaileth children to be faire of countenance well disposed of bodie liuely of spirite white of skin to haue yealow haires to be eloquent in talking profound in science if with all these that nature giueth them they be bold in that they do and shameles in that they say Sensualitie and euill inclination of the wanton child ought to be remedied by the wisedome of the chaste master The trees that bud and cast leaues before the tyme come hope is neuer to eate of their fruit in season so when
children haunt the vice of the flesh whilest they be yong there is small hope of goodnes to be looked for in them when they be old for the older they waxe the riper be their vices Masters would correct the childe but fathers and mothers forbid them Little auaileth one to pricke the horse with the spurre when he that sitteth vpon him holdeth backe with the bridle Of Death O If we would consider the corruption wherof we are made the filth wherof we are engendred the infinite trauell whereunto we are borne the long tediousnes wherwith we are nourished the great necessities and suspicions wherein we liue and aboue all the great peril wherein we die we find a thousand occasions to wish death not one to desire life The excellencie of the soule laid aside and the hope which we haue of eternall life if man do compare the captiuitie of men to the libertie of beasts with reason we may see that the beasts do liue a peaceable life and that which man doth lead is but a long death I had rather chuse an vnfortunate life and an honorable death than an infamous death and an honorable life That man which will be accounted for a good man not noted for a brute beast ought greatly to trauell to liue well and much more to die better for that euill death maketh men doubt that the life hath not been good and the good death is an excuse of an euill life The dead do rest in a sure hauen and we saile as yet in raging seas If the death of men were as beasts that is to wit that there were no furies nor diuels to torment them that God should not reward the good yet we ought to be comforted to see our friends die if it were for none other cause but to see them deliuered from the thraldome of this miserable world The pleasure that the Pilote hath to be in a sure hauen the glory that the captaine hath to see the day of victory the rest that the traueller hath to see his iorney ended the contentation that the workman hath to see his worke come to perfection all the same haue the dead seeing themselues out of this miserable life If men were born alwaies to liue it were reason to lament them when we see them die but since it is truth that they are borne to die we ought not to lament those which die quickly but those which liue long since thou knowest he is in place where there is no sorrow but mirth where there is no paine but ease where he weepeth not but laugheth where he sigheth not but singeth where he hath no sorowes but pleasures where he feareth not cruel death but enioyeth perpetuall life The true widow ought to haue hir conuersation among the liuing and hir desire to be with the dead Death is the true refuge the perfite health the sure hauen the whole victory finally after death we haue nothing to bewaile and much lesse to desire Death is a dissolution of the body a terror to the rich a desire of the poore a thing inheritable a pilgrimage vncertain a theefe of men a kind of sleeping a shadow of life a separatiō of the liuing a company of the dead a resolution of all a rest of trauels and the end of all idle desires If any dammage or feare be in him who dieth it is rather for the vice he hath committed than feare of death There is no prince nor knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke luckie nor vnluckie with their vocations contented saue onely the dead which are in their graues at rest and peace If in youth a man liue well and in age studie to die well and his life hath been honest his hope is that death will be ioyfull and although he hath had sorow to liue he is sure he shall haue no paine to die This equal iustice is distributed to all that in the same place where we haue deserued life in the same we shal be assured of death Cato being praised of the Romanes for his courage at his death laughed they demaunded the cause why he laughed he answered Ye maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that you maruel for the perils and trauels considered wherein we liue and the safetie wherein we die it is no more needfull to haue vertue and strength to liue than courage to die We see shamefast and vertuous persons suffer hunger cold thirst trauel pouertie inconuenience sorow enmities and mishaps of the which things we were better to see the end in one day than to suffer them euery hower for it is lesse euill to suffer an honest death than to endure a miserable life The day when we are born is the beginning of death and the day wherein we die is the beginning of life If death be no other but an ending of life and that whiles we liue we carrie death than reason perswadeth vs to thinke that our infancie dieth our childhood dieth our manhood dieth and our age shall die whereof we may conclude that we are dying euery yeere euery day euery houre and euery moment Diuers vaine men are come into so great follies that for feare of death they procure to hasten death Hauing thereof due consideration me seemeth that we ought not greatly to loue life nor with desperation to seeke death for the strong and valiant man ought not to haue life so long as it lasteth nor to be displeased with death when it commeth In such sort therefore ought men to liue as if within an houre after they should die If we trauell by long wayes and want any thing we borow of our company if they haue forgotten ought they returne to seek it at their lodging or els they write vnto their friends a letter but if we once die they will not let vs returne againe we cannot and they will not agree that we shall write but such as they shall find vs so shall we be iudged and that which is most fearful of all the execution and sentence is giuen in one day Let not men leaue that vndone till after their death which they may do during their life nor trust in that they command but in that they do whilest they liue nor in the good works of an other but in their owne good deeds for in the ende one sigh shall be more woorth than all the friends of the world I exhort therefore all wise and vertuous men and also my selfe with them that in such sort we liue that in the end we liue for euer Those that visite the sicke ought to perswade them that they make their testaments confesse their sinnes discharge their conscience receiue the sacraments and reconcile themselues to their enimies Many in our life time do gape after our goods few at our death are sory for our offences The wise and sage before nature compelleth them to die of their own wils ought to die that is
maisters ought to reforme more by good conuersation than by sharpe correction for it chanceth oftentimes where maisters be cruell the schollers be not mercifull Noble men neuer wan renowme for the pleasures they had in vices but for the trauels they tooke in vertue Follie and foolish men with their vanities IT is a signe of little wisdome and great follie for a man to answere suddenly to euery question As the wise man being demanded maketh a slow and graue answere so the simple and foolish man being asked answereth quickly and lightly The vanitie of the common people is of such a qualitie that it followeth new inuentions and despiseth ancient customs Fortune IF all fals were alike all would be cured with one salue but som fall on their feet some on their sides others stumble and fall not and others fall downe right but some do giue them a hand I mean som to fall from their estate and lose no more but their substance others fall and for verie sorow lose not only their goods but their life withall others there are which neither lose their life nor their goods but their honor onely and so according to the discretion of fortune the more they haue the more still they take from them It is greatly to be mused at that fortune when shee doth begin to ouerthrow a poore man doth not onelie take all that he hath from him but also those which succor him so that the poore man is bound more to lament his friends hurt than his owne lost The afflicted man doth most desire the change of fortune and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre is to thinke that fortune is mutable for the vnfortunate man hopeth for euerie change of fortune to be made better and the wealthie man feareth through euerie change to be depriued of his house and liuings The sage prince and captaine in the wars should not rashly hazard his person nor lightly or vnaduisedly put his life in the hands of fortune Sith fortune is a mistres in all things and that to hir they do impute both good and euill works he alone may be called a princely man who for no contrarietie of fortune is ouercome for truly that man is of a stout courage whose hart is not vanquished by the force of fortune Sith all men naturally desire to be happie he alone amongst others may be called happie of whom they may truly say He gaue good doctrine to liue and least good example to die Gentle harts do alter greatly when they are aduertised of any sudden mishap I thinke him happie who hath his bodie healthfull and his hart at ease The misfortunes that by our follie do chance if wee haue cause to lament them we ought also to haue reason to dissemble them I thinke him happie who hath his bodie healthfull and his hart at ease Vbi multum de intellectu ibi parum de fortuna Whereas is much knowledge commonly there is little wealth It is not good for a man to hazard that in the hands of fortune which a man may compas by friendship The vnluckie man were better be with the dead than remaine heere with the liuing It is commonly seene that when fortune exalteth men of low estate to high degree they presume much and know little and much lesse what they are worth Of Friendship and Friends THat only is true friendship where the bodies are two and the wils one I account that suspicious friendship where the harts are so diuided that the wils are seuered for there are diuers great friends in wordes which dwell but ten houses asunder and yet haue their harts tenne miles distant The man that with words onely comforteth in effect being able to remedie declareth himselfe to haue been a fained friend in times past and sheweth that a man ought not to take him for a faithfull friend in time to come If hitherto thou hast taken me for thy neighbor I beseech thee from hencefoorth take me for an husband in loue for a father in counsell for a brother in seruice for an aduocate in the Senate for a friend in hart In the inconueniences of our friends if we haue no facultie or might to remedie it at the least we are bound to bewaile it Thy anguish and griefe doth so torment me that if God had giuen power to wofull men to depart with their sorowes as he hath giuen power to the rich to depart with their goods by the faith I owe vnto God as I am the greatest of thy friends so would I be he that should take most part of thy griefs I see not why mishaps ought patiently to be suffered but bicause in those we are to trie our faithfull friends In battell the valiant man is known in tempestuous stormes the Pilote by the touchstone gold is tried and in aduersitie a friend is knowen If true friends cannot do that which they ought yet they accomplish it in doing that which they can He that promiseth and is long in fulfilling is but a slack friend he is much better that denieth forthwith bicause he doth not deceiue him that asketh There is nothing more noisome than to iudge a contention betwixt two friends for to iudge between two enimies the one remaineth a friend but to iudge between two friends the one is made an enimie In one thing onely men haue licence to be negligent that is in chusing of friends Slowly ought thy friends to be chosen and neuer after for any thing to be forsaken The griefs that lie buried in the woful hart ought not to be communicated but to a faithful friend I do not giue thee licence that thy thought be suspicious of men sith thou of my hart art made a faithfull friend for if vnconstant fortune do trust me to gather the grape be thou assured thou shalt not want of the wine Two things are to be respected not to reuenge thy selfe of thine enimies neither to be vnthankfull to thy friend He possesseth much which hath good friends for many aid their friends when they would haue holpen them more if they could for the true loue is not wearied to loue nor ceaseth not to profit One friend can do no more for an other than to offer him his person and to depart with his goods It is a generall rule among the phisitions that the medicines do not profit the sicke vnlesse they first take away the opilation of the stomacke euen so no man can speake to his friend as he ought vnlesse before he shew what thing greeueth him The hart neuer receiueth such ioy as when he seeth himself with his desired friend Friends for their true friends ought willingly to shed their blood and in their behalfe without demaunding they ought also to spend their goods The paine is greater to be void of assured friends than assault is dangerous of cruell enimies Our chests and harts ought always to be open to our friends
Friendship that is earnest requireth daily communication or visitation A man ought not in any affaires to be so occupied that it be a lawfull let not to communicate or write vnto his friend Where perfit loue is not there wanteth always faithfull seruice and for the contrary he that perfectly loueth assuredly shall be serued I haue been am and will be thine therfore thou shalt do me great iniurie if thou be not mine I haue not seen any to possesse so much to be woorth so much to know so much nor in all things to be so mightie but that one day he shall need his poore friend The man that loueth with his hart neither in absence forgetteth nor in presence becommeth negligent neither in prosperitie he is proud nor yet in aduersitie abiect he neither serueth for profit nor loueth for gaine and finally he defendeth the cause of his friend as if it were his owne We ought to vse friends for 4. causes 1 We ought to haue the company of friends to be conuersant withall for according to the troubles of this life there is no time so pleasantly consumed as in the conuersation of an assured friend 2 We ought to haue friends to whom we may disclose the secrets of our hart for it is much comfort to the wofull hart to declare to his friend his doubts if he doth perceiue that he doth feele them indeed 3 To help vs in our aduersities for little profiteth my hart in teares to bewaile vnles that afterward in deed he will take paines to ease him 4 We ought to seeke and preserue friends to the end they may be protectors of our goods and likewise iudges of our euils for the good friend is no lesse bound to withdraw vs from vices whereby we are slandered than to deliuer vs from our enimies by whom we may bee slaine The Iustice and punishment of God togither with his mercie goodnes and purpose WHen man is in his chiefest brauerie and trusteth most to mens wisdom then the secret iudgement of God soonest confoundeth and discomforteth him The mercie and iustice of God goeth always togither to the intent the one should encourage the good and the other threaten the euill I would to God we had so much grace to acknowledge our offences as God hath reason to punish our sinnes The great mercy of God doth suffer much yet our manifest offences deserue more With God there is no acception of persons for he maketh the one rich the other poore the one sage the other simple the one whole the other sicke the one fortunate the other vnluckie the one seruant the other master and let no man muse thereat for that such are his ordinances We see daily that it is impossible for mans malice to disorder that which the diuine prouidence hath appointed but that which man in a long time decreeth God otherwise disposeth in one moment It is requisite that God should order his purpose for in the ende sith man is man in few things he cannot be either certaine or assured and sith God is God it is impossible that in any thing he should erre Things that are measured by the diuine iudgement man hath no power with rasor to cut them As it is meet we should trust in the greatnes of Gods mercie so likewise it is reason we should feare the rigor of his iustice It is the iust iudgement of God that he that committeth euil shal not escape without punishment and he that counselleth the euill shall not liue vndefamed What the euill with their tyrannie haue gathered in many dayes God shall take from them in one hower Likewise what the good haue lost in many yeeres God in one moment may restore God doth not put vs vnder good or euill fortune but doth gouerne vs with his mercy and iustice Iustice and Iusticers IT is an infallible rule and of humane malice most vsed that he that is most hardie to commit greatest crimes is most cruel to giue sentence against another for the same offence We behold our owne faults as through small nets which causeth things to seeme the lesser but we behold the faults of others in the water which causeth them to seeme greater There is no God commandeth nor law counselleth nor common wealth suffereth that they which are admitted to chastise liars should hang them which saith truth I am of the opinion that what man or woman withdraweth their eares from hearing truth impossible it is for them to apply their harts to loue any vertues be it Senator that iudgeth or Senate that ordaineth or emperor that commandeth or Consul that executeth or Orator that pleadeth The opinion of all wise men is that no man except he lacke wit or surmount in follie will gladly take on him the burden and charge of other men A greater case it is for a shamefast man to take vpon him an office to please euery man for he must shew a countenaunce outward contrary to that he thinketh inward He that will take charge to gouern other seeketh care and trouble for himselfe enuie for his neighbors spurs for his enimies pouertie for his wealth danger for his body torment to his good renowme and an end of his days The charge of Iustice should not be giuen to him that willingly offreth himself to it but to such as by great deliberation are chosen Men now a dayes be not so louing to the common wealth that they will forget their owne quietnes and rest and annoy themselues to do others good Iudges should be iust and vpright for there is nothing decaieth more a common wealth than a iudge who hath not for all men one ballance indifferent There are many in common wealths that are expert to deuise new orders but there are few that haue stout harts to put the same in execution It is impossible for any man to minister iustice vnles he know before what iustice meaneth It is impossible that there be peace and iustice in the common wealth if he which gouerneth it be a louer of liers and flatterers That common wealth is greatly slandered wherin the euill are not punished nor the good honored The desire of commandement is become so licentious that it seemeth to the subiect that the weight of a feather is lead and on the contrarie it seemeth to the commanders that for the flieng of a flie they should draw their swords There is no woorse office among men than to take the charge to punish the vices of another and therfore men ought to flie from it as from the pestilence for in correcting of vices hatred is more sure to the corrector than amendement of life is to the offendor Reason it is that he or she which with euill demeanor haue passed their life should by iustice receiue their death Matters of iustice consisteth more in execution than in commanding or ordaining That common wealth cannot decay where iustice remaineth
thereby I take no profit what to speake strange languages if I refrain not my toong from other mens matters what to studie many books if I studie not but to beguile my friends what to know the influence of the stars and course of the elements if I cannot keepe my selfe from vices In all things we are so doubtfull and in all our works so disordered that at some times our vnderstanding is dull and loseth the edge and at another time it is more sharpe than it is necessarie Pouertie causeth good mens children to be vertuous so that they attain to that by vertue which others come vnto by riches It is a rule that neuer faileth that vertue maketh a stranger grow naturall and vice maketh a naturall a stranger in his owne countrie It is impossible a yoong child should be vicious if with due correction he had been instructed in vertues Noble men enterprising great things ought not to imploy their force as their noble heart willeth but as wisedome and reason teacheth There is no man so wise and sage but erreth more through ignorance than he doth good by wisedome and there is no man so iust but wanteth much to execute true iustice The vertuous do so much glorie of their vertue as the euill and malicious haue shame and dishonor of their vice for vertue maketh a man to be temperate and quiet but vice maketh him dissolute and wretchles The lacke of a physition may cause danger in mans person but the lacke of a wise man may set discord among the people Marcus Aurelius at his meate at his going to bed at his vprising in his trauell openly nor secretly suffered at any time that fooles should communicate with him but only wise and vertuous men whom he alwaies entirely loued he had reason therein for there is nothing be it in iest or earnest but is better liked of a wise man than of a foole If a prince be sad cannot a wise man by the sayings of the holy scriptures counsell him better than a foole by foolish words If the prince will passe the time away shall not he be more comforted with a wise man that reckoneth vnto him the sauorie histories done in times past than harkening to a foole speaking foolishly and declaring things dishonestly and ripping vp the saiengs of the malicious of the time present That which I most maruell at is not so much for the great authoritie that fooles haue in the pallaces of princes and great nobles as for the little credit and succor that wise men haue among them It is a great iniurie that fooles should enter into the chamber of princes vnto their bed side and that one wise man may not nor dare not enter into the hall so that to the one there is no gate shut and to the other no gate open Now in these daies there is no wise man alone that trauelleth to be wise but it is necessarie for him to trauell how to get his liuing for necessitie inforceth him to violate the rules of true philosophie Whether he be prince prelate or priuate let him haue about him sage and wise men and to loue them aboue all treasure for of good counsell there commeth profit and much treasure is a token of danger Croesus said I account my selfe to be dead though to the simple folks I seeme to be aliue and the cause of my death is bicause I haue not about me some wise person for he is only aliue amongst the liuing who is accompanied with the wise Euill princes do seeke the companie of wise men for no other intent but onely bicause through them they would excuse their faults We learne not to commaund but to obey not to speake but to be silent not to resist but to humble our selues not to get much but to content vs with litle not to reuenge offences but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue our owne to others not to be honored but to trauell to be vertuous finally we learn to despise that which other men loue and to loue that which other men despise which is pouertie To a man that hath gouernment two things are dangerous that is to wit too soone or too late but of these two the worst is too soone for if by determining too late a man looseth that which he might haue gotten by determining too soon that is lost which is now gained and that which a man might haue gained To men which are too hastie chanceth many euils dangers for the man being vnpatient and his vnderstanding high afterwards commeth quarels and brawlings displeasures varieties and also vanities which looseth their goods and putteth their person in danger It chanceth oftentimes to wise men that when remedie is gone repentance commeth sodenly and then it is too late to shut the stable dore when the steed is stolne He is wisest that presumeth to know least and among the simple he is most ignorant that thinketh he knoweth most Science profiteth nothing else but to keep thy life wel ordered and thy toong well measured Vaine and foolish men by vaine and foolish words do publish their vaine and light pleasures and wise men by wise words do dissemble their grieuous sorowes Profound science and high eloquence seldome meet in one person There is no man in the world so wise but may further his doings with the aduise of an other There is nothing more easie than to know the good and nothing more common than to folow the euil As the fine gold defendeth his purenes among the burning coles so the man endued with wisedom sheweth himself wise yea in the midst amongst many fooles for as the gold in the fire is proued so among the lightnes of fooles is the wisdom of the wise discerned The wise is not knowen among the wise nor the foole among fooles but that among fooles the wise man doth shine and that among the wise fooles are darkened for there the wise sheweth his wisedome and the foole his follie He onely ought to be called wise who is discreet in his works and resolute in his words It is a rule that euill works doe cary away the credite from good words There is nothing destroyeth sooner princes thā thinking to haue about them wise men to counsel them find them malicious and such as seek to deceiue them It is not the part of wise and valiant men to enlarge their dominions and diminish their honor Wise men ought circumspectly to see what they do to examine that they speake to prooue that they take in hand to beware whose company they vse and aboue all to know whom they trust The lawe and ordinances THe law which by will is made and not of right ordained deserueth not to be obeied The Achaians obserued this for a law and custome that the husbands should obey and the wiues commaund for the husbands swept and made clean
voluntarily to vertue and sensualitie draweth men against their wils to vices Vices are of such a qualitie that they bring not with them so much pleasure when they come as they leaue sorow behind them when they go for the true pleasure is not in the daily vice which sodenly vanisheth but in the truth which euermore remaineth Wise men after 50. yeeres ought rather seeke how to apply their mindes how to receiue death than to seeke pleasure how to prolong life How happy may that man be called that neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth Men that from their infancie haue bin brought vp in pleasure for want of wisedome know not how to chose the good and for lacke of force cannot resist the euill which is the cause that noble mens sons oftentimes cōmit sundry hainous offences It is an infallible rule that the more a man giue himselfe to pleasure the more he is intangled with vices The rich men win with their labor and watching and their sonnes brought vp in pleasure do consume it sleeping Where there is youth libertie pleasure and mony there will all the vices of the world be resident The greatest vanitie that ragineth among the children of vanitie is that the father cannot shewe vnto the sonne his loue but in suffering him to be brought vp in the pleasures and vanities of this life I wish no greater penance to delicate men than in winter to see them without fire and in the sommer to want fresh shadow Why are there so many vices nourished in the pallace of princes bicause pleasure aboundeth and counsell wanteth Play as Seneca saith is compared to the propertie raging of a mad dog with whom if a man be once bitten vnles he hath present remedie foorthwith he runneth mad and the disease continueth with him vntil the houre of death for those that vse it hurt their consciences lose their time and consume their substance Marcus Aurelius saith if I knew the gods would pardone me and also that men woulde not hate me yet I assure you for the vilenes therof I would not sin in the flesh Aristotle saith all beasts after the deeds of the flesh are sorie sauing onely the cocke In carnall vices he that hath the least of that that sensualitie desireth hath a great deale more than reason alloweth I see no other fruits of carnall pleasure but that the bodie remaineth diseased the vnderstanding blinded memory dulled sence corrupted will hurt reason subuerted their good name lost and woorst of all the flesh remaineth alwaies flesh therefore fire is not quenched with drie wood but with cold water In the war honor by tarrieng is obteined but in the vices of the flesh the victory by fleeing is wonne Pride THe proud and disdainfull man for the most part falleth into some euill chaunce therefore it is a commendable medicine somtimes to be persecuted for aduersitie maketh a wise man to liue more mery and to walke in lesse danger What friendship can there be among the proud since the one wil go before and the other disdaineth to come behind Of Princes with their actes and sayings A Poore woman comming before Claudius the Emperour with weeping eies to craue Iustice the good prince being mooued with compassion did not onely weep as she did but with his own hands dried vp the teares Oftentimes those that come before princes do return more contented with the loue they shew them than with the Iustice they minister vnto them Antonius Pius was such a fauourer of poore widowes and Orphans that the porters which he kept within his pallace were not to let the entrie of the poore but to let and keep back the rich To a prince there can be no greater infamie than to be long in words and short in rewarding his seruants Couetous princes do not onely suspect their subiects but also themselues The diseases which God oftentimes sendeth to princes commeth not through the fault of humours but through the corruption of maners the which no medicine can resist nor any other thing remedy It is the chiefest thing that can belong to a prince or other person to be beloued for their gentle conuersation and for their vpright iustice to be feared It is necessary for Princes to be stout and rich for by their stoutnes they may gouerne their own and by their riches they may represse their enimies The prince which is too liberall in giuing his owne is afterward compelled by necessitie to become a tyrant and take from others If princes be proude greedie and ambitious after strange realmes it is most certaine that they need great treasures to accomplish their inordinate appetites but if they be reposed quiet vertuous patient peaceable not couetous of the good of another man what need haue they of great treasures Princes become not poore for spending of their goods vpon necessaries but wasting it vpon things superfluous High and noble harts that feele themselues wounded do not so much esteeme their owne paine as to see their enimies to reioice at their griefe It is better for a Prince to defend his countrey by Iustice than to conquere an other by tirannie The prince is in great danger of damnation of soule if in his gouernment he haue not always before his eyes the feare and loue of the supreme prince to whome we must render account of all our doings for there is nothing so puissant but tis subiect to the diuine power That prince hath great occasion to be vicious which for his vice thinketh not to be chastised Princes fearing neither God nor his commandemēts do cause their realme and subiects to fall into great miserie for if the fountain be infected it is impossible for the streame therof to be pure We see by experience that as a bridle mastreth an horse a sterne the ship so a prince be he good or bad will after him lead all his people If they serue God the people will also serue him if they blaspheme God the subiects will do the like for it is impossible that a tree should bring foorth other fruits than those that are agreeable to the roote Princes ought to resemble God more by vertuousnes than others Princes WHat shall vnhappy princes do which shall render al their account to God only who will not be deceiued with words corrupted with giftes feared with threatnings nor answered with excuses That prince is more to be magnified which reformeth two vices amongst his people than he which conquereth ten realms of his enimies O princes if ye knew how small a thing it is to be hated of men and loued of God ye would not cease night nor day to commend your selues vnto God for God is more mercifull in succouring vs than we are diligent in calling vpon him God did neuer create high estates to worke wickednes but placed them in that degree to the ende they should thereby haue more
defame the dead How vnhappie are they which are in prosperitie for iustly they that be set vp in high estate cannot flee from the peril of Scilla without falling into the danger of Charybdis O miserable world thou art a sepulchre of the dead a prison of the liuing a shop of vices a hangman of vertues an obliuion of antiquitie an enimie of things present a snare of the rich a burthen to the poore a house of pilgrims and a den of theeues O world thou art a slanderer of the good a rauener of the wicked a deceiuer and an abuser of ail and to speak the truth it is impossible to liue contented much lesse to liue in honor in the which is most to be lamented either the euil man aduanced without desart or the good man ouerthrowen without cause The tokens of a valiant captaine are wounds of weapons and the signe of a studious person is the despising of the world Not those that haue most knowledge but those that haue most riches in the common welth do command I doubt whether the diuine power hath depriued them or that the wordly malice hath lost the taste of them O world world I know not how to escape thy hands not howe the simple men and idiot defendeth himselfe out of thy snares when the sage and wise men withall their wisedome can scarsely set their foote sure on earth for al that the wise men know is little enough to defend them from the wicked He onely passeth without trauell the dangers of life which banisheth from him the thought of the temporal goods of this world The traiterous world in no one thing beguileth the worldly so much as by feeding them with vain hope saieng that they shall haue time enough to be vertuous The more the world encreaseth in yeeres so much the more it is loden with vices The world hath alwaies bin in contention and rest hath alwaies bin banished for if some sigh for peace others be as desirous of wars O world for that thou art the world so small is our force and so great is our debilitie that thou willing it we not resisting it thou dost swallow vs vp in the most perilous gulfe and in the thornes most sharpe thou dost pricke vs by the priuie waies thou dost leade vs and by the most stonie waies thou cariest vs thou bringest vs to the highest fauorers to the ende that afterward with a push of thy pike thou mightest ouerthrow vs. What I thinke I haue somewhat in the world I finde that all that I haue is but a burthen I haue prooued all the vices of the world for no other intent but to prooue if there be any thing wherin mens malice might be satisfied and in proouing I finde that the more I eate the more I hunger the more I drinke the greater I thirst the more I rest the more I am broken the more I sleepe the more drowsie I am the more I haue the more I couet the more I desire the more I am tormented the more I procure the lesse I obtaine finally I neuer had so great paine through want but afterward I had more trouble with excesse Pretie saiengs in common places THou art such a one as neuer deserued that one should begin to loue or ende to hate How much the noble harts do reioice in giuing to other so much they are ashamed to take seruice vnrewarded for in giuing they become lords and in taking they become slaues The rashnes of youth is restrained with the raines of reason Although we be wise we leaue not therefore to be men dost not thou know that all that euer we learne in our life sufficeth not to gouerne the flesh in one houre I am sorie to see thee cast away and it greeueth me to see thee drowned in so small a water A brother in words and a cosen in works I rest betweene the sailes of feare and anker of hope Though we praise one for valiantnes with the sword we will not praise him therfore for excellencie with the pen although he be excellent with the pen he is not therefore excellent with the toong though he haue a good toong he is not therefore well learned though he be learned he hath not therefore good renowme and though he haue good renowme he is not therefore of a good life for we are bound to receiue the doctrines of many which do write but we are not bound to followe the liues which they lead When a father passeth out of this present life and leaueth behinde him a childe being his heire they cannot say to him that he dieth but that he waxeth yoong in his childe bicause the childe doth inherite the flesh the goods and memory of the father The desires of yoong men are so variable that they daily haue new inuentions Men that reade much and worke little are as bels which do sounde to call others and they themselues neuer enter into the church It is an olde saieng that a pretious iuell is little regarded when he that hath it knoweth not the value of it FINIS A definition of God Ouid. A tyrant Perillus. Rome A report of Rome long since and found true now Diogenes declaration Honor God Bring vp thy children wel Gratitude Decaie of Rome Rome A schoolmaister his office Miserie in mans life Outward miseries Inward miseries Rashnes Careles of life Blind that they see not their friend Fauor encorageth forward Valiant For euil acts they are gloriously receiued What the couetous man procureth Riches tormenteth Gouernor in Greece Loue betwixt couetous persons Treason Insatiable Vertue straieth where counsell faileth A remedie An exhortation Gouernment Old age should not despise the counsell of youth Spendals that leaue none for themselues are bankrupts in the end Note Corruption to be shunned Good counsell auoideth mishap One wise to counsell an other Womens counsell It is meant but of the common sort Childrens inheritance A great felicitie to parents to see vertuous children Duty of children Libertie in youth Parents great care quickly wasted Sensualitie in children Experience the best schoole maister Inheritance belonged not to the eldest but to the most vertuous Difference betwixt the poore mans sonne and the rich Negligence in educating children Why many noble mens children are wicked Dutie of parents Play in youth What is laid in youth is hatched in age Sensualitie remedied What death is better than life Whom we should mourne for A definition of death A woorthie saying An excellent reason Good coūsel at the houre of death The inconniences for not making a wise will Repentance Repentance The benefite of death The graue When death is to be desired Discord in armies Dispossessed Stingeth to death Homer The reason why vice is more followed than vertue As Herennius did by his master Tullie Vices Pride Tyrannie Proud harts Ambition prodigalitie and pride A quarrelles Vices None bolder than