Psalmes 25.36.45.117 and 138. S. Augustine in his booke of confessions writeth that accursed is all our righteousnes if it should be examined and iudged without Gods mercie And saint Ambrose faith that a man should not glorifie himselfe as iust but in that he hath beene redeemed not in that he was without sinne but in that he hath pardon for it not that I shoulde aduaunce my selfe ouer other but in that Iesus Christ is my aduocate towardes his father hauing shed his precious bloud for me for he came into the worlde to destroye the workes of the Diuell to regenerate and iustifie vs not to the end we should be vnprofitable and without fruite but to exercise our selues in all good workes First to the ende that thorough them and the shyning of our light as our sauiour sayde Matth. 5. God might be glorified we stande more assured of our vocation and election and our fayth the more strengthned exercised and embrased as Paul wrote to Timothe 1. Cap. 1. that likewise our neighbours by our good example may bee mooued and prouoked to liue well 2. Cor. 9. and that we minister to the necessities of poore Orphanes Widowes and such as haue neede of our succour as members of one bodie Mat. 10. 25. and since that faith purifieth the heartes as S. Peter sayth Acts. 10. what faith I praye you can they pretende that are full of filthinesse enmitie and corruption and which are puffed vp with passions and disordinate affections This faith ought to regenerate vs and make vs newe creatures exempting vs from condemnation and clothing vs with the righteousnesse and spirit of Iesus Christ The which spirite can not abide in our heartes but it must worke that is to saye that it lighteth vs quickneth and guideth all our counselles thoughtes wordes and actions What is faith except we shewe it by our holy conuersation mortifying our concupiscences eschewing all vice and applying our selues to all vertue not onely abstayning from that which is euill but from whatsoeuer carieth any shew thereof Perseuering in this exercise euen vntill the ende of our life Nowe if we haue the feare of God and a good conscience how commeth it to passe that wee doe not abhorre any more to defile our selues hauing beene once clensed I haue washed my feete sayth the faithfull soule how shall I againe defile them For God hauing made an alliance with vs mutually requireth of all his children seruants and creatures an integritie of life And we must discouer a melodie and accord betweene the righteousnesse of God and our obedience And by this meanes we ratifie the adoption through which God hath receiued vs for his children And holinesse is the chaine of our coniunction which tyeth vs to God to whome wee ought to dedicate all our life as to the aucthor thereof And to say the trueth wee abandon our creator wantonly and disloyally and renownce him for our sauiour when wee deforme our selues in sinne where wee ought alwayes to aspire to a heauenly life and laye aside all earthly affections being raysed vppe with Christ Iesus as Saint Paule writeth and euen wee denye with Ieremie that hee hath receaued the trewe knowledge of God except we put of the olde man which is corrupt in his disordinate desires to put vppon vs the newe And to the Philippians hee requireth that our patient minde be knowen vnto all men The Lorde is at hande let not vs take care for ought but that in all thinges our requestes may be made knowen to God by prayers and supplications with giuing of thankes And the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding shall keepe our heartes and senses in Christ Iesus Moreouer whatsoeuer thinges are true whatsoeuer thinges are honest whatsoeuer thinges are pure whatsoeuer thinges pertaine to loue whatsoeuer thinges are of good reporte if there be anye vertue or if there bee any prayse let vs thinke of these thinges And hee wrote to the Corinthians in his seconde Epistle Since wee haue receaued the promisses let vs clense our selues from all fylthinesse of the fleshe and spirite and growe vppe vnto full holinesse in the feare of God And to the Ephesians yee haue not so learned if you haue beene taught by him as the trueth is in Iesus And hee complayned greatly to Titus howe they professed to knowe God but by their abhominable workes denie him And our Sauiour sayeth in S. Matthewe that by their worke ye shall knowe them For such as followe not the good which they speake resemble monsters which haue but one mouth and one tongue but no feete nor handes at all He doth therefore falsly boast to knowe the truth if his life be not good and correspondent For the doctrine of trueth is not a doctrine of the tongue but of life And if for good cause the Philosophers were woont to be angrye with such as made profession of their art which they called the mystresse of life and in the meane time turned it but to a sophisticall babling and did euer esteeme wicked liuers and such as were couetous not worthye to speake as the Emperours Dioclesian and Maximian wrote that their profession and inwarde desire belide themselues howe muche greater reason haue wee to detest these bablers which onely content them selues to haue the Gospell at their fingers endes and in their life rebellious and seditious cleane despise the same Considering that the power and efficacie thereof ought to pearce the verie bottome of our heart and from thence to bee shewed in all our behauiours grace garmentes and all other our actions and comportmentes as Tertullian did wright We haue heretofore declared howe we ought to haue this ende before our eyes to tende to that perfection which God hath commaunded vs to wit an integritie which signifieth a pure simplicitie of the heart voyde of all faynednesse and contrarie to a double heart Euerie one ought thus farre to walke according to his might And it shall auayle much if to daye surmount yesterdaye And beeing entered into the listes we should enforce our selues to goe out to the verie ende assured to obtaine a verie greate prise To declare perticularlie euerie vertue would be too tedious in this Chapter but I will adde that which doeth most entertaine and delight some men in lying that is that they be too much louers of themselues and are verie forwarde for their particular profitte which doeth altogether blemishe their sight and hindereth them so as they can not consider the will of GOD nor his promisses For whatsoeuer wee deliberate couet and poursue ought to be ioyned with the good and profitte of our neighbour And wee must not be stirred vppe nor mooued with anie picke against the lawe of Charitie Saint Augustine in his first booke of Christian doctrine writeth that hee liueth excellently well which the least hee is able liueth to himselfe because the obseruaunce of
and lawes to runne in contempt And both the one and the other is to be founde fault with if it be not tempered Saul was reprehended of God because hee slewe not Amelec And the Prophet sayd to Achab that he should die because hee had pardoned Benadad the King of Siria who had deserued death as also because he caused Naboth to be murthered The holie scripture doth also teache vs that the wrath of God is appeased by the punishment of the wicked and that his vengeance extendeth ouer all people for their iniquitie and contrariewise his blessing doeth spreade it selfe vppon whome soeuer hee chasteneth The wicked shalbe afraide and kept backe but the righteous shal bee preserued from the contagion of them that worke iniquitie For this cause the booke of the lawe founde againe in the time of Iosias is called the booke of the alliance of the Lorde the which hee commaunded the Priestes to deliuer to the King Samuel followinge this rule put it into the handes of Saul and according vnto the tenure thereof Iosias yeelded himselfe the feodarie and vassal of the Lorde Likewise the lawe which was giuen in the Arke was called the couenant of the Lorde And Salomon saide vnto God Lord thou hast chosen mee to raigne ouer thy people and to iudge ouer thy sonnes and daughters For this cause our Kings were euer willing that none should regarde the pardones they yeelded if they were grounded vppon so yll a foundation As also Micheas the Prophet detesteth and curseth in the name of God all such as obey the wicked ordinances of Kinges who for this cause haue had especiall care and commaundement to administer iustice esteeming themselues rather armed with the sworde to chastise the wicked then to repulse their enimies and are the ministers of God for the peoples benefite as the Apostle sayeth And to this ende they establish good and learned Iudges in all places that are voyde of passions if they followe the lawes otherwise they shoulde bringe into the flocke the Wolfe which they ought to chase away and render themselues culpable of the death of those innocentes that such pardoned men shoulde kill and so grace should neuer be without crueltie CHAP. XXVI The definition of Lying THE Philosophers were neuer wont to content themselues in declaring the propertie of vertues except they opposed vnto them their contrarie vice to the ende that the lothsomnes thereof being wel regarded the other mought be found more agreable So haue we of purpose discoursed of the trueth before we com to shew the vice of lying the which we may define by a contrary significatiō vnto the truth whē one speaketh of things vncertain contrarie to that which one knoweth making thē seeme other then they are S. Augustin writeth to Cōsentius that it is a false significatiō of spech with a wil to deceiue And when one speaketh more or lesse then is in deede it is a member of iniustice turning topsie turuie all humane societie and the amitie due vnto our neighbour for since that speach is giuen vnto vs to make manifest what we thinke and to instruct his vnderstanding of whome wee speake It is a foule fault to abuse it and to behaue our selues in other sort towardes our neighbour then we willingly woulde he shoulde towardes vs for as much as hee which desireth and expecteth from vs the trueth is deceiued and led into an errour and hauing afterwardes in time discouered the lye he will no more beleeue vs and wee shal lose the meanes to be able to instruct for euer For lyars only gaine this that albeit they say and speake the trueth yet shal they neuer be beleeued And in the holy scripture idolatrie hipocrisie superstition false weights false measures and al cosinages are called lying to the end that by so disformed a name we should the rather eschewe them The lyar is detested of God and called double of heart and toung because he speaketh one thing and doeth an other And for verie good respect sundrie of the auncient doctors haue written that the trueth being depraued there are ingendred an infinite number of absurdities heresies scismes and contentions And Socrates was wont to saye that it proceeded from a good will to enforce it selfe to remoue the foolish opinions of men and that it was not possible for him to approue a lye nor to dissemble the trueth And Homer writeth of the great and valiant Captaine Achilles that he did more hate and abhorre lying then hell or death And it is written in the olde and newe testament that God doeth abhorre all lying and that the true are gratious in his sight yea that a theefe is better than a man that is accustomed to lye And lying is contrarie to nature ayded by reason and seruaunt or handmayd to the trueth It is writen in Leuiticus Yee shall not steale neither deale falsly neither lye one to another CHAP. XXVII The effectes of Lying PHilo in his first booke of the contemplatiue life setteth downe all kind of wickednes to proceede from lying as all good doth from the trueth And if wee wel consider the causes of the seditions troubles heresies and quarels which alter whole estates publike quiet and mans conuersation we shall finde all to proceede from the infected fountaine of lying And that Achab and the most part of the Kings of Israel the Emperours Nero Commodus Maximinus Iulius Valencius and sundrie other as well of olde time as of ours haue thereby beene ruyned Gehazi the seruant of Elisha was stroken with a leprosie Ananias Saphira fell downe dead Haman was hanged on the tree he had prepared for Mardocheus The hande of Ieroboam was dryed vp Craesus King of Lidia draue awaye Solon reiecting the trueth he had tolde him which for all that afterwardes saued his life and Dionisius the tyrant of Sicil not being able to make his profite of that which Plato had declared vnto him nor to wash away the stayne of tyrannie was constrained in his banishment to confesse that that which he had hearde of Plato made him the better able to carrie so great a change Thorough a lye Ioseph was cast in prison and S. Chrisostome sent into banishment and an infinite number of other holy and great personages haue beene maruelously afflicted and manie realmes and common wealthes haue euen had the verie beginning of their ruine from thence The saide Chrisostome in the 28. Homelie vppon Iohn sayeth that nothing is so vnfirme or vnconstant as lying for what ayde or piller so euer it can come by it weakeneth so as it causeth it to fall of it selfe CHAP. 28. The punishments of Lying IT is written in the Prouerbs He that speaketh lyes shal not escape and in the booke of wisedome The mouth that speaketh lies slayeth the soule and in Ecclesiasticus The condition of liars are vnhonest and their shame is euer with them
often times the ignorant and vnconstant do turne the scriptures to their owne ruyne as our Sauiour and S. Peter witnesse so is it very requisite that in the reading thereof men carry a sounde iudgement and certaine bookes to be forbidden to be reade of euery one and not to giue stronge meate vnto such as haue neede of milke and in this poynt is it very conuenient to followe the decree of the Councell of Trent in those places where it is receiued and the instruction of their Curate and Pastor Gregorie Nazianzene in his apologie maketh mention of the custome of the Hebrewes who neuer accustomed all ages to euery kinde of doctrine nor reuealed their secretes but to suche as were of a sounde iudgement The which S. Ierome marketh well in the beginning of Ezechiel and S. Ambrose vpon the 35. Psalme and S. Augustine li. de spir lit alleage for example the Cantickes which some for their owne pleasure haue very disorderly applyed I leaue to the iudgement of euery man whether we haue nowe lesse occasion then had the Prophetes to complaine of some pastors which they termed by the name of theeues wolues dumbe dogges seducers idoles couetous voluptuous hypocrits and by sundry other most detestable names The dreame or vision of S. Anthonie where hee imagined he sawe certaine swyne and moyles defiling the aultar is verified in this time Our dutie is to beseeche at Gods handes that it well please him to sende vs such as be good that they may search nought else then his glorie and nourish their flocke with good holsome food For from thence as Plinie doth witnesse commeth the good wooll that is to say good life S. Augustine commended the saying of Socrates that both God and man will be serued as he commaundeth The which he applyeth to the seruice of the trewe God who commaundeth that nothing be eyther added or diminished vnto his worde And sayth that for this cause the Romanes allowed the seruice of all gods hauing for that ende builded a Temple to all gods called Pantheon and yet would neuer receaue the trewe to wit the God of the Hebrewes Because if they had serued him otherwise then he commaunded they had not serued him at all but their owne fictions if they had done as he had ordeined then had they cleane reiected and set aside all other Gods For the principall seruice of God consisteth in obedience as Samuel sayde vnto Saul The Prophets called it a spirituall chastitie not to swarue therefrom nor to thinke that whatsoeuer wee finde good in our owne eyes pleaseth him And as Nahas the Ammonite woulde by no meanes receiue them of Iabes a citie in Iudea which he had beseaged to his mercie vntill he had put out their right eye And when the Philistins had subdued the children of Israell they disarmed them euen to their kniues So did that Apostata Emperour Iulian Dioclesian and other who studied in what they coulde to make the Christians continue in ignoraunce and blindnesse neuer enquiring of the will of GOD or order of the primatiue Churche and vnder a great payne made them to be disarmed of that worde which the scripture calleth the knife of the spirite Iosephus lib. 2. contra Apionem setteth downe the custome which the Iewes obserued euerie weeke in reading of the holie scripture so as eache man vnderstoode it and knewe it by heart The which Socrates lib. 5. cap. 22. sheweth was also obserued in Alexandria and it maye bee seene by that which is written of our Sauiour Luke 4. Actes 5. 1. Tim. 4 When in the time of Iosias 2. Kinges 21 the booke of the lawe after it had long lyne hydde was founde againe he made great estimation thereof and sayde vnto the Priestes Goe yee and enquire of the Lorde for me and for the people and for all Iudah concerning the wordes of this booke that is founde for great is the wrath of the Lorde that is kindled agaynst vs because our fathers haue not obeyed the wordes of this booke to doe according to all that which is written therein for vs. We must likewise imagine that such as haue taken vppon them to teach the way to that happinesse which all men couet to attayne vnto haue beene but counterfayte except they haue layde the foundation out of the holy and Canonicall scriptures and the lyes wherein their fathers liued ledde them into erroure according as Amos wrote We ought therefore often to praye vnto God with Dauid Salomon and Saint Paule that he will giue vs wisedome and vnderstandinge and open our eyes that we may followe that which may be most agreeable vnto him without deceiuing of our selues Saint Ierome in his Epistle to Laeta sayeth excellently well that reading ought to followe prayer and prayer reading A man might verye well impute the cause that so manie prouinces haue beene made subiecte vnto the tyrannie of the Turke so many disorders corruptions warres seditions maladies murthers and other calamities haue happened to the contempt of this worde according to which a man will not reforme his life nor his strange opinions nor supporte one an other knowing that this worde teacheth nought else then peace concord and amitie and that we may be wise as serpentes which to saue their heade laye open their bodie and with their tayle stop their eare against the enchanter So let vs spare nothing for the mayntenance of this doctrine so long a goe left vnto vs without dissolutenesse sectes or discentions for there is nothing so well established which discorde can not ransacke and as Saint Augustine sayth very well the knowledge of the trewe doctrine humilitie and patience entertayneth concorde And Quintius Capitolius in Titus Liuius sayth that partialitie poysoneth and infecteth common-wealthes making such as would gayne saye not to consider what is most expedient as we finde by experience in France and haue too many examples both at home and abroade The Emperour Maximilian the seconde had often in his mouth that it was a greenous sinne and errour to raygne ouer mens consciences as the lawes carryed it I can here affirme that if men did knowe the truth and the happinesse which followeth the knowledge of trewe religion the voluptuous man would there searche his pleasures the couetous his wealth the ambitious his glorye the onely meane which can fill their heart and satisfie their desire and it serueth vs for a guyde to leade vs vnto God whereas the false doeth cleane withholde vs from him CHAP. XXXI That those which deferre their amendment doe wrappe them selues in a daungerous lie WE haue alreadie shewed that if they which name themselues Christians would but follow their profession vice should not raigne so plentifully For who so would beleeue the promises of God and setle therein a full assurance and consider what a great blessing is prepared for such as feare him and what euerlasting punishment
is ordeyned for the wicked he would set all his care in seeking howe to please and obeye him which hath honoured him with so manifolde blessinges And this is the verye trewe cause that we so much lament their follye and miserie which doe euer deferre the amendment of their disordered life proceeding onely from their infidelitie and want of beleeuing of the threatninges of the iudgementes of God who will render to euery man according to his workes to whose selfe we must render account of all our ydle woordes thoughtes and affections Moreouer euery one knoweth that the houre of death is vncertaine and we indifferently see the young dye as well as the olde and that nothing is more common than suddaine death the which caused the great Philosopher Demonax to warne the Emperour Adrian and such as liued at their ease in no wise to forget howe in verye short time they should be no more And an other did often times put Kinge Philip in minde that he should remember he was a man And the Emperour Maximilian the firste did alwaies cause to be caried about with him among his robes whatsoeuer was necessarie for his buriall as one that was alwayes booted and readie to depart We must not excuse our selues with the patience bountie and mercie of God except we be determined to amende and thereby be drawen to repentance so much commaunded in the holy scriptures but still be afrayde of his iudgementes and call to minde that which is so often written that neither the vnrighteous neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theeues nor couetous nor dronkardes nor raylers nor extortioners nor murtherers nor gluttons nor such as are full of wrath Enuie contentions seditions or heresies shall inherite the kingdome of God And euery one shal reape what himself hath sowen And Saint Paule addeth that they which are of Christe haue crucified the fleshe togeather with the affections and concupiscence thereof Therefore Ecclesiasticus exhorteth vs to make no tarrying to turne vnto the Lorde and not to put off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lorde breake foorth and in our securitie we shall be destroyed and perish in time of vengeance And the wisedome of God in the beginning of the preuerbes of Salomon doth amplye exhort vs to receaue in dewe time his correction not to reiect his councell and that the foolish are slayne thorough their ease but he which will obey shall dwel surely and rest without feare of euill Let vs consider that the most iust GOD doth recompence the good and punish the wicked and payeth not euerie night nor euerye Saterdaye but as Valerius sayeth counterpeaseth the slackenesse of his deferred punishment by the greeuousnes thereof when it commeth And the afflictions of this present time sent vnto the good to containe them in their dewtie are not worthie of the glorie which shalbe shewed vnto vs as S. Paul sayth And all the delights and pleasures of this life are turned into sowernesse and it is the act of a Christian to looke that at the houre of his death he runne to none but to God and himselfe nor take care of ought else For we shall haue enough to doe without taking such carke and care for the affayres of this world and to premeditate thereof giueth great aduantage Our sauiour in Saint Luke sayde vnto him which still delighteth himselfe in heaping vppe of riches O foole this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee then whose shall those thinges bee which thou hast prouided The prophetes and Apostles very often admonyshed vs to amende while there is time to the ende we should not tarrie vntill the gates of repentance were fast locked vp and barred The which our Sauiour would also teach vs by the parable of the foolishe virgins who were suddenly surprised and shutte out of the hall where the bridegrome made his feaste to the ende that after the confession of our sinnes we might runne to the promises and mercie of God and dispose our selues to a newe and holy life Isaiah warneth vs to seeke the Lorde while he may be founde and to call vpon him while he is neere and it is to be feared if we ouer slippe the oportunitie least hee will leaue vs. And if suche as search the riches and vanities of the worlde forget nothinge which may further them I praye you with what feruentnesse ought we to search God and our saluation Let vs take heede least that reprooche in Isayah be not cast in our teeth I haue spredde out my handes all the day vnto a rebellious people And Ieremiah writeth Thou hast striken them but they haue not sorrowed thou hast consumed them but they haue refused to receiue correction they haue made their faces harder than a stone and haue refused to returne For this cause Saint Paule to the Hebrewes putteth them in minde of that in the 95. Psalme To day if you will heare my voyce harden not your heartes The accustoming of our selues to sinne and the examples of other greatly harme vs. For when men see the elder sort to fayle then doth youth take example thereby and being ill brought vs followeth the same trayne all the rest of their life But by little and little this custome must be changed nothing is so hard as Seneca saith but the vnderstāding of man surmounteth it and is able to attayne what euer it seeketh Let vs call to minde what God sayth in Isayah Your refuge in falshoode shall be made voyde your couenaunt with death shall be disanulled and your agreement with hell shall not stande when a scourge shall runne ouer and passe thorough then shall yee be trodde downe by it Nowe therefore be no mockers Hearken ye and heare my voyce Hearken ye and heare my speeche And he sayeth in Ieremie Giue glorie to the Lorde your God before he bringe darkenesse and or euer your feete stumble in the darke mountaynes and whyles you looke for light hee turne it into the shadowe of death and make it as darkenesse Can the Blacke More change his skinne or the Leoparde his spottes Then may ye also doe good that are accustomed to doe euill We must then vndertake the good way guyded thereunto thorough the assistaunce of God and what diffycultie soeuer we finde yet to striue to come to our pretended ende and wee shall finde the pathes of iustice pleasant and easie We reade in hystories that sundrie Pagans haue ouercome their euill and naturall inclination and what ought a Christian to doe If riches honours and pleasures slacke vs let vs call to minde the sundrie threatninges in the holy scriptures agaynst the riche the proude and ambitious and haue all our owne greatnesse in suspition and enioy all thinges as not possessing them and let it be the least parte of our care the affayres of
as the Psalmist and S. Peter exhorteth vs. They haue alwayes in like sort beene highly esteemed of which haue stayde the violence of their desires and moderated the vnbrideled fiercenesse of their ambition by prudence and will with regarde of honestie As we reade of Lucullus Dioclesian Curius Cincinnatus Scipio and sundrie other The very same moued Traian to write to Plutarke that he did more admire the contempt which the saide Cincinnatus Scipio and M. Porcus made of great estate and wealth then he did at their victories The saide Dioclesian aunswered him which egged him forward agayne to reenter into the Empire that hauing once escaped the plague hee woulde no more drinke poyson and was contented to become a gardener Concerning such as are proude in heart Salomon sayth that they stirre vp strife For as Saint Paule sayth VVe haue nothing which we haue not receiued from God nor wee must not glorie in our wisedome in our strength nor in our riches as Ieremie exhorteth vs. The miserable ende of such as haue vaunted in their strength is fully set downe before our eyes in Exodus of Pharao of Absolon of Roboam of Iesabel and of Beneadad 1. Rings 14.19 and 20. of the K. of Assiria and of Babilon of Nabugadonozor Daniel 3. and 4. and in sundry other places as well scripture as histories Plato or rather better Ecclesiasticus and S. Augustine haue taught vs that experience sufficiently sheweth vnto such as take heede therof that all passions concupiscences and greefes of the soule are for the most part accompanied with inconueniences which in shewe a man endeuoureth to shunne by them yet they lead to the contrarie as the vice of ambition is followed with dishonour dissolutenesse pleasure bringeth griefe and repentance delicatenesse daintinesse breedeth trauaile stubbornesse contentions with losse vnshamefastnes and while they seeke to shunne blame fall into further infamie peril enmitie and for fear of refusing one that is importunate sustaine great losses and suites Hee likewise which vnconsiderately maketh a promise is oft cōstrained to break it to possesse goods which one hath not deserueth giueth occasion as Demosthenes saith to commit many follies to become vnfortunate As also Hippocrates said that it is most perilous whē a good disposition aryueth at his last point because whatsoeuer is in the last perfection and excellencie is subiect to change by reason of the feeblenes imbecillitie of the bodie And our life is a pilgrimage vnstable and vnconstant and we containe within our selues the matter of all diseases And not without cause did Thales the Milesian call vice the most harmefull matter of the world because where that is it loseth all and destroyeth what euer was before buylded God reprocheth in Isaiah that they haue kindled a fire and are compassed about with sparkes and haue walked in the light of their feete and in the sparkes that they haue kindled And it is written in the booke of wisedome that wherewith a man sinneth with the same shall he be punished And S. Augustine teacheth vs that euerie disordinate appetite carrieth his owne paine as wee see sundry examples of such which while thorough murther vsurie falshood thefte or other vilanie they seeke to enrich themselues do contrariwise lose what wealth soeuer they before had besides the paine and punishment which they endure This is that which Salomon sayeth that what the wicked feareth shall befall vnto them And that there is a waye which seemeth righteous to a man but the issues thereof are the wayes of death And it was a common saying of olde that the proude fatt themselues with vaine hope which by litle choketh them as water doeth to him which hath the dropsie or naughtie fat to mans bodie or the grease of an horse when it is melted I will not speake of pastors which haue only the bare name neuer executing ought which apertaineth to their charge employing those blames which the holy scripture giueth them and yet no man would haue a seruant ignorant of the charge which is required of him It were not impertinent to discourse here of the hypocrisie and lyinges which is found in all estates and officers which acquite not themselues faithfully were it not for feare of being too tedious Wee may say as that great Captaine Marcellus did vnto his souldiors also Xerxes to his I see manie bodies countenances garmentes of Romanes but no Romane And howe farre are we estranged from our principall and important profession of Christianitie Rightly may they cast vs in the teeth as God by his Prophet Malachie did vnto the Iewes If then I be a father where is my honor if I bee a Master where is my feare considering that in vaine doth man boast of faith without good woorkes from which it is no lesse seperate then heate is from the Sunne and the shadowe from the bodie as wee haue aboue declared For wee ought not to terme such men as S. Chrisostom most excellently saide which haue hands a head feete and some reason but such as remaine in the trueth and feare of God and haue a liuely faith working by charitie As Salomon sheweth in the ende of Ecclesiastes saying Feare God and keepe his commaundements for this is the whole duetie of man Euen the greatest part of the Philosophers haue maintained that mans felicitie consisted not in this life but in another and that his scope is to referre this life to the knowledge and seruice of God to enioy all blisse eternally in an other But nowe in this olde age of the worlde of all good things there resteth nought but the name and a vaine shadowe Nowe that wee may bee deliuered from a vice so pernitious as pride is wee must fall into due consideration of our owne vanitie our faultes and imperfections and remember that wee are but filth wormes dust and putrifaction as the Psalmist saith as Aug. vppon Iohn sayth verie diuels and Satans except God of his mercie shewe pitie vppon vs. The Birth-day is in Greeke called Genethliae the beginning of trauels and death Thanatas thence vp to God And Menander saide that life and miserie were two twinnes which encrease are nourished and liue togither Aristotle also vppon the question which was propounded vnto him what man was aunswered that he was the example of imbecillitie pray of time sport of fortune and enuie the image of vnconstancie seate of phlegme choler and rumes And Solon called Cities the retreates of miseries teares and sorrows The which is more plainly set foorth vnto vs both in holie and prophane histories Some haue compared man to a bubble made of a droppe of raine and to the dreame of a shadowe It is sayde of the Pecocke when hee spreadeth abroade his goodly plumes if hee looke downe vppon his feete hee shutteth them in again for shame and remaineth abast so wee
a liue man and one dead Aristippus aunswered likewise sende them into a farre countrey and then you shall knowe and there is nothing but knowledge which causeth a man to bee esteemed And the oracle giuen vnto the Greeks of the doubling of the house was interpreted by the wise men that it was ment thereby that they should leaue armes and conuerse with the Muses and learning which would mollifie their passions and driue away ignorance and procure courage and good councell as Agesilaus maintained that the lawes of Lycurgus bread a contempt of pleasures To accustome youth in like sorte to followe vertue to brydle passions and choler to shunne vice and lying to enter into consideration how good and vertuous personages haue in all times behaued themselues to remember the harmes happened to the wicked and the blessings and honours which haue accompanied the good bredeth a great quiet al the life long because such a custom hath a maruailous efficacie in aduauncing of a man And betimes is the iudgement that proceedeth from an euil custome to be corrected the which in a vile nature doeth ofte by processe of time throwe downe and abase our mindes and render vs contemptible The which may be helped and amended through vertuous exercises For if that resistance which reason maketh to the appetite of eating and drinking forceth verie often hunger thirst much more easie shal it be for one to cut off couetousnes ambition pride enuie choler curiositie lying and other vices by refraining and abstaining from those things which he coueteth so as in the end they shall al remaine cleane discomfited To abstain also from pleasures which are permitted is a good exercise to meete with such as are forbidden I leaue here to declare howe much France was dishonored when as the Polakes made their entrie into Paris accompanied with the French gentlemen who for the most parte were dome not able to speake or vnderstand Latine and were rather brought vp to wear a rapiar be their syde ryde a horse danse and playe at fense then to haue skill in languages and artes with which the verie Barbarians in old time were adorned honoured became more valiant in the warres As Alexander and sundry other great Captaines and Princes haue confessed Yea him selfe grew extreme angry that Aristotle had published his Metaphisicks because he said he had rather a desire to passe all others in learning and knowledge then in armes and force And wee before haue noted that he attributed all his victories to what hee had learned of Philosophie The Emperour Antonin the Philosopher went himselfe to seeke out learned men in their owne houses saying that it verie well became a man yea though he were olde to learne what hee was ignorant of The which Cato and other of our lawyers haue affirmed And Paulus Iouius writeth of Charles the fifth that his schoolemaster Adrian who since was Pope did with verie greate cause often times foretell him that hee woulde greatly repent that in his youth hee had not learned the Latine tongue For it is verie requisite that youth be brought vp in that parte of learning which is called humanitie because that without the discipline thereof the worlde shoulde liue but brutishly And that it bee accustomed to make account of lawes and superiours and to keepe a straight discipline in the manner of life which it chooseth be it in warre and defence of their countrie And a man followeth all his life longe his first addressinge in his youth As if a tree blossome not in the spring it will hardly beare fruit in the Autumne The which ought to stirre parents to chastise their children and to make them to bee diligently taught and not to pamper them As Plinie writeth of Apes which choak their little ones in imbrasing them too harde And wee ought greatly to weigh the saying of Origen that the sinnes which the euill nurtured and vnchastised children commit shalbee layde to the fathers charge as it is sayde in Samuel of Ely And if it be written of Xenocrates that his auditours of dissolute became temperate and modest what fruite are wee to thinke that youth will beare through the sweetenesse and benignitie of the Muses That is through the knowledge of learning which as Plutarque writeth in the life of Sertorius causeth them to tame and sweeten their nature which before was wylde and sauage holdinge the meane by the compasse of reason and reiectinge the extreame And Lycurgus the lawgiuer sayde that hee neuer vsed to set downe his lawes in writinge because such as had beene well nourished woulde approoue and followe whatsoeuer were moste expedient for the time Which was the cause of the lawes so muche commended by Diodorus that children shoulde bee brought vp in learninge at the publicke expense To bee shorte good bringing vp of youth maketh it to bee true constant and ioyfull For hauing a good conscience true comforte and resolution which sweeteneth all the bitternesse of this life and knowinge the causes why God hath alwayes beene accustomed to punish his maketh them carrie all thinges cheerefully not doubtinge but that hee loueth and hath a fatherly care ouer them So doe they repose themselues vppon the assurance of this good will and endeuour to obey him and dye with a good hope acquitinge them selues of their duetie Sundrie haue greatly commended the lawes of the Lydes because they depriued such children as were not vertuous from their enheritaunce which caused them to correcte their naughtie inclinations and to shunne vice as also they had certaine officers in sundrye prouinces which tooke care of youth and punished the parentes which did not well bringe vp their children And for as much as it is a great happinesse vnto a countrey when the Prince hath beene well instructed Plato in his Alcibiades and Xenophon doe write that out of the whole realme of Persia were foure moste sufficient men chosen to bringe vp the Kinges children the one in learninge the seconde to teache them all their life to bee true the thirde to instruct them to commaunde their passions and not to addicte themselues to pleasures the fourth to make them hardie and couragious Wee ought to make our profite of the lamentation which the Prophet Baruche made in that the young sought after wisedome vppon the earth and became expounders of fables and knewe not the waye of wisedome which was the cause of their destruction Dauid also founde no meanes for a young man to redresse his waye but in takinge heede thereto according to Gods worde The Apostle admonished Timothie to flye from the lustes of youth and to humble the fleshe to the spirite to the ende no aduauntage bee giuen vnto the enimie which will bee an euill token for the rest of the course which is to bee runne all our life longe And Saint Peter commaundeth young men to bee wise modest and humble
and engendreth within vs an amendment of life readie obedience and loue towardes God and our neighbour giueth vnto vs the hope of eternal life and of obtaining what we ask at Gods hands rendreth our conscience peaceable maketh vs to perseuere in the good giueth vnto vs a boldnes to addresse our selues to the throne of grace bringeth with it selfe a constancie and pacience in all aduersities and comforteth vs cleane remouing away all feare anguish vexation of minde For this cause God is called by S. Paul in the beginning of his second Epistle to the Corinthians The God of mercie and consolation And in the sixth to the Ephesians he doth exhort vs to take vpon vs the shielde of faith wherewith we may quench all the fierie dartes of the wicked CHAP. 3. Properties of the truth and how much it is requisite in a Prince and Clergie SAint Paul recommendeth this trueth vnto vs as an especiall and principall part of the armour required to be worne by a Christian Knight and as a bulwarke against all assaults And most excelent is that saying in the 8. chapter of the prophesie of Zecharie where hee exhorteth Euerie man to speake the trueth vnto his neighbour and as the bodie bereft of the soule is nought else then stinking carrion so man depriued of this trueth is no better then a verie infection and filthie carkasse For this cause Plato in his commonwealth ordained for a lawe that aboue all thinges the truth might be preserued And Xenophon bringing in a good Prince vnder the person of K. Cyrus requireth especialy that he be founde true This was also the first lesson which Aristotle taught Alexander the great And Isayah setteth downe a King to reigne in Iustice and a Prince to rule in Iudgement being as an hiding place from the winde and as a refuge for the tempest And a byshop of Cologne declared to Fredoric the Emperour that the bare worde of a Prince ought to be of as great weight as other mens othes and that the trueth ought to bee his chiefest ornament The aunsweare which Charles the fift Emperour made vnto such as would haue perswaded him by no meanes to sende backe Luther being come vnto him vnder his safe conduit is greatly praised saying that though the performance of promises were cleane banished the face of the earth yet it should be kept by an Emperour Our Sauiour also in manie places of the Euangelistes commaundeth vs in any wise to keepe truth and nameth himselfe the sonne of Iustice and the essentiall truth On the other side the Diuell is called a lyer and the father thereof to the end that euerie one abyding in God who is the soueraigne good and hauing him for a father Lorde Sauiour and Protectour might be founde true and that we should not serue so wicked a murtherer and cruell deceauer as Sathan and that we shoulde abhor lying with which he onely serueth his turne to extinguish the light of the truth the onely life of the soule And Iob sayth that the wicked abhor the light they knowe not the wayes therof nor continue in the pathes thereof The Catholique Church is likewise called of S. Paul The pillar and grounde of trueth And Lactantius calleth it the fountaine of trueth house of faith and temple of God into which who so doth not enter is cleane shut vp from anie hope of eternall life For out of her is there no saluation to be found but euen as it fared with them that were without the Arke of Noah in the time of the flood And our religion hath beene founded vppon faith which dependeth of this truth which alone hath much more vertue than Cicero would attribute to Philosophie as in casting out of spirits remouing vaine solitarinesse deliuering vs from lusts and chasing away all feare For she teacheth vs the true seruice of God how to worshippe his mightinesse admire at his wisedome loue his bountie trust vnto his promises and rule our life according vnto his holie will She cleareth and giueth light vnto the course of reason thorough the knowledge of thinges and guideth our will vnto the true good and taketh away the clowdes of our vnderstanding as it is saide the North winde doth in the ayre And wee daylie see that the afflicted and wretched innocent taketh his greatest comfort in that the trueth is of his side And this truth causeth that parte of our vnderstanding wherein reason lyeth to rule and our will affections and like partes willingly obey thereto and suffer themselues to be gouerned therby And we may the rather be termed men in neare approching to God our patron For all the doctrine of the lawe tendeth to ioyne man through holinesse of life vnto his God as Moyses in Deutronomy sayth to make him leane vnto him For neither the worlde nor anie other creature can make man happie but he alone which made him man And thorough this truth are we deliuered from false opinions and ignorance and in al actions she is the light to guide vs frō stumbling and bringeth foorth all vertues And since that the end of Grammer is to speake aptly and agreeably and the end of speech societie of Rhethoricke to carrie all mens mindes to one opinion And of Logicke to finde out a truth amidst manie falshoodes all other artes doe likewise tende to this trueth And let vs make our senses to serue our vnderstanding and that vnderstanding of ours to serue him by whom it is and doth vnderstand And since this truth is a light her propertie is to chase away the darkenesse blindnesse and ignorance of our vnderstandings and to reioyce and comfort vs as the sunne rising doth to Pilgrims except they be such as our Sauiour spoke of who loue darkenesse more then the light which maketh vs to perceaue what hath beene hidden from vs. And men are more afraide to do amisse by day then by night and we are better able to guide our selues and can yeelde a better testimonie of what we haue seene as our Sauiour sayde in S. Iohn we speake that we knowe and testifie that we haue seene CHAP. 4. Extremities in the truth and how men may speake of themselues and of that which they vnderstande and that men ought not to publish anie writing but of their owne inuention and to some purpose nor to attribute to themselues the honour of a thing well done SInce that this trueth is approued to be a vertue she ought to hold a mediocritie to be set betweene two vitious extremities of either too little or too much as it is saide of the rest of the vertues which make them selues more apparaunt in gayning vnto themselues by those actions which consist in the middest of two contrarie vices as doeth the true tune among discords The excesse and ouerplus shal proceede of arrogancie pride vaunting disdain insolencie
the patient who endure their egernesse and violence without making any shewe or semblance And in the 4. booke Vespasian sayth that it is the fashion of the Romaines to beginne and finish all thinges with order knowledge and industrie the contrary being proper and naturall to the barbarous vsing immoderate hastinesse The examples likewise of such euils as hath fortuned to manie thorough this headinesse and choler ought to make vs more aduised as that written of sundrie in time past who haue kept in and retired them selues feeling choler comming on them and especially of one Architas who sayde to his seruantes keeping ill rule it is a good turne for you that I am in a chafe And Agesilaus counselled the Athenians to set all their force against Epaminundas alone adding that none but the wise and prudent were valiant and the only cause of victorie and that the other would be soone enough vanquished We see likewise that light braynes goe themselues vp and downe gathering of matter to inflame their passions and voluntarily cast themselues hedlong into such vices as of themselues they are inclined vnto and so it commeth of necessitie that he which is once disposed to stumble doth euer so continue And since that vice is made a vertue and that the euill is turned into a custome there is small remedie as Seneca writeth or as experience doth declare And wee must in the beginning be well aduised howe we deliberate because we can not afterwarde without dishonour and danger leaue it or take an other course hauing long time perseuered therein And if the reasons be contradictorie we must followe the more reasonable and the most strong coniectures hoping for remedie as well thorough time as other accidentes Men praysed the prudence of Fabius because he broake the point of fortune and hindred the aduancement of Hanniball in a shonning to fight temporysing attending his aduantage which is a vertue that is named long suffrance And Scipio was wont to say that he might the better keepe his people in that he was accustomed rather to buy suertie then to submit himselfe to any hazarde And did like vnto the Chirurgeons who neuer worke with their instruments when they may finde any other remedie Hee punished the Carthaginians for their vnconstancie for which fault we haue seene as well french as other to be bitterly chastened It is also very requisite to estrange our selues from foolish talking lewde companie and vnconstant people For men of auntient time without any further enquirie iudged a man to be such as they were whom he most frequented Saint Paul teacheth vs discreetely to haue regarde to the humors of such companie as we would frequent for feare least we be pertakers of their euill In an auncient tragedie there was a wicked man brought in forbidding any man to come neare him fearing least by his shadowe the good might be annoyed And Ecclesiasticus doth counsell that we depart from the thing that is wicked and sinne shall turne away from vs. Which moued Dauid in sundrie his Psalmes to protest that he both hated and shunned all wicked companie and was not able to endure within his court any wicked or disloyall person Wherefore I beseech the nobilitie and good wittes of France because it is a matter so easie to bee doone that they will once mayster their wils passions headinesse soddainenesse and choler and that they would for euer accustome themselues to pacience gentlenesse silence and modestie giuing as it were a bridle to their desires and as the Psalmist sayeth a watch before their mouth to the ende they may doe or saye nothing but what they haue well before thought of And that they will beginne by little matters to gaine vpon greater which may be able to hurt vs for as it is written in Ecclesiasticus he which despiseth small thinges shal fall And in Cassiodorus King Theodoric writeth that it is the lightnesse of the wit lightly to promise what a man will not or is not able to perfourme As we will more at large declare hereafter He likewise that could accustome himself not too much to loue himselfe nor his commodities nor that whiche they call ouerwinning the which causeth the vsurpation of an other mans goods but contrarie wise to followe the rule of charitie so muche recommended vnto vs from GOD shall not easily cast himselfe hedlong into this inconstancie Isocrates wisely counselled his king to consider well what hee would saye or doe for feare least hee fayled therein And albeit it be no light combat as Basill sayd to vanquish an euill custome yet by little little must a bodie change itand of rashe inconstant and light to become modest constant and stayde Let vs consider what Caesar in his commentaries layeth to the charge of the Frenchmen because they bare armes too lightly mutinous and not so subtle in warre as hardie and couragious and that hee no lesse desireth in a man of warre modestie and obedience then prowise and greatnesse of courage Thucidides the great Captaine and Historiographer of the Greekes esteemed the fortunate and happie conducte of the warre to hange on three pointes that is to bee willinge to reuerence and to obeye as Paulus Aemilius was in like sorte woont to saye We haue manie examples that may serue to instructe and teach vs in the iourneyes that haue beene made into Flaunders since tenne yeares past of the euill fortunes and mishappes and disorders happened during our troubles and an infinite number of enterprises to inconsideratelye and lightly vndertaken vppon vayne imaginations and deceitfull hopes hauing reaped nought else thereby then losse and dishonour and the profitte of all the warres since one hundred yeares past is not able to be compared to the dammages and euils that haue thence proceeded Whereby we must confesse that God hath weyghed all thinges in an euen ballance minglyng losses and victories togeather that thereby he might set foorth his iudgementes and make vs shunne lightnesse auarice and ambition as well of great as small The discipline of warre consisteth rather in not putting our selues without necessitie to daungers and in making voyde the effortes of the enimie and in turning vpside downe their enterprises with industrie and patience without shedding the bloud of subiectes than to combate couragiouslie and valiantly And there is often times more hope of victorie in standing onely to defende our selues and let the time runne then in putting our selues to the arbitrage of fortune And there are infinite examples what losses haue beene sustayned by giuing of battayles following the counsell which Timotheus gaue to the Thebanes except one bee thereto encouraged through a great aduauntage or constrayned by an vrgent necessitie God being accustomed as he sayde to throwe downe the proude and lift vp the humble And it is no lesse the dutie of a Captayne which is valiant to shewe himselfe wise
in his actions then couragious It were very expedient that were practised which happened in our time in the yeare of our Lord one thousand fiue hundred fiftie and one betweene Gonstaue King of Sweden and the Moscouite where all those that were occasioners of the warre they had so lightly vndertaken were executed and put to death And not without cause did Pausanias call all the Captaines in the warre both Peloponesians and Greekes murtherers and destroyers of their countrey It is to be desired that the nobilitie of France would accustome themselues to modestie rule order constancie and to mortifie this their great heate to armes and warre vnnecessarie And as the Phisition preuenteth sickenesse thorough small preparatiues and apostumes so beginning with their lesser inclinations choler and passions they may the easilyer attaine to the ende of the more strong and consider that which is written in the life of Saint Augustine that hee would neuer pray for such as of their owne voluntarie motion had beene at a strange warre and greatly reproued as saint Cyprian did Donatus and others that killing of a priuate man was in perticuler punished but he who had slaine manie in warre was greatly praysed In Titus Liuius Scipio sheweth to King Masinissa that a man ought not so muche to doubt his enemies armed as those pleasures which render a man effeminate and vnconstant It was wisely sayde of an auntient man that the foundations of all counsels and actions ought to leane to pietie iustice and honestie without vsing of anie headinesse I woulde willingly giue that counsell to French men which Archidamus gaue vnto the Aeoliens meaning to ayde the Argians in their warre within a letter contayning onely these woordes Quietnesse is good And sayde vnto suche as praysed him for the victorye hee had obtayned agaynst the Argiens it had beene more worthe to haue ouercome them by wisedome then by force Xenophon writing of the actes of the Greekes sheweth that all wise men abstayne the moste they are able from warre albeit they haue thereunto iust occasion And that sayinge of sundrye Emperours was verye famous that warre ought not to bee taken in hande without great neede And the Emperour Augustus was woont to say that a warre which were good must be commaunded by the Goddes and iustified by Philosophers and wise olde men For the time seruing for lawes for armes is diuerse as Caesar sayd to Metelius And we haue had too good experience howe much God the weale publicke order and iustice hath beene offended herewith And warre hath beene called a gulfe of expence and a cruell tyrant ransacking the people and peace ordred with good pollicie as a good king moderating charge and excesse And as Horace feygneth that the place into which Eolus shut his windes being open the sea is troubled in euerie part so by the opening of warre partialitie insolencie and all vices manifest themselues And warres are nought else then a horrible punishment of a whole people a ruine of a whole countrey state and discipline And wisely did Spartian write howe Traian was neuer vanquished because he neuer vndertooke warre without iust cause The very which Titus Liuius declareth of the Romaines in the ende of the first Decade Otho the Emperour chose rather to die than to rayse a ciuill warre For which men likewise prayse Zeno the Emperour and Cicero in his Philippiques calleth him which is desirous thereof a detestable citizen I am also of opinion that the conuersation with the Muses and studie of good letters would render the nobilitie more aduised and constant as we haue well marked else where And am not of the Swissers minde which thinketh too much studie marreth the braine nor of the Almaynes who in the time of Galienus the Emperour after that the citie of Athenes was taken kept them from setting a fire a great heape of bookes they had there made saying let vs leaue them to the Greekes to the ende that applying themselues to them they may be lesse proper for the warre For the reading of good bookes as Alexander the great and diuerse other of the most valiant captaines sayde maketh the nobilitie more hardie and wise and contayneth them within the boundes of their dutie And what good nature soeuer a captaine be of he falleth into an infinite number of faults for want of reading of good books And that being true which diuerse haue written of Xenocrates that he did so pearce the heart of his auditors that of dissolute persons they became temperate and modest what ought wee to iudge of the instructions taken out of the holy letters And as some haue counselled before they sleepe they are to demaund of themselues a reason and account of that which they shall haue gayned of modestie grauitie constancie and facilitie of complexions It is written of Socrates that when he was drye he would neuer drinke but first he wold cast out the first bucket ful of water that he drew out of the well to the ende sayde he that he might accustome his sensuall appetite to attende the fit time and oportunitie of reason Theophrastus sayd that the soule payd well for her hyer to the bodie considering what shee there suffred But Plutarke writeth that the body hath good cause to cōplaine of the noyses which so greuous and troublesome a guest maketh him which notwithstanding is within the body as in a sepulcher or den which she ought to guide being before lightned by the truth and ruling her selfe according to it both in respect of her owne safetie and of her hostes I would also counsell them to shunne all dissolutenes be it in bitter or vilanous wordes vncomely garmentes and vnshamefast countenance For it is all one in what part soeuer of the bodie a man shew his vnshamefastnes vanitie pride and lightnesse And the Lacedemonians were highly commended because they banished a Milesian out of their citie for going too sumptuously appareled We ought also rather to desire to be vertuous then to seeme to vse wisedome and descretion in all assayes auoyding debates and selfewill without witnessing whether it be true or false not hurtfull following the precept of Epictetus in yeelding vnto the greater sort perswading the inferiours with sweetenesse and modestie consenting to the equall to the end to auoyde quarelles Aboue all thinges wee ought to enforce our selues to tame our couetous desires and concupiscences especially where libertie to take and enioye them is offred vnto vs and to accustome our selues to patience meekenesse in keeping vnder the desire of reuenge knowing as the great Monarch Alexander was woont to saye that it is a signe of a more heroycall heart and prayse worthye for a man that hath receaued an iniurie to pardon his enemie then to kill him or reuenge himselfe vpon him And that reuenge proceeded of a basenesse of minde and vertue consisted in matters hardly reached vnto And it
of the minde proceeding thence thorough his grace which communicateth so great a good as it is written in the booke of Wisedome I doe reioyce in all thinges because wisedome goeth before And it receaueth no griefe but such as our selues are content to yeelde vnto as Possidonius sayde to Pompey And there is an other sauour giuen and an other kinde of face set vpon that which they call euill And vertue valor force patience magnanimitie can no waies play their part without griefe paine And as Diamans other precious stones haue either a more high or dimme colour according to the foile in which they are set so fareth it with the euil happes griefe which taketh place as a man is eyther strong or weake And as all thinges in this worlde in the ende referreth it selfe wholly to the glorie of God so doth all thinges turne to good to such as are good Plato and Terence compareth our life to a game at draughtes where the player must euer marke well what shal befall vnto him and dispose euery thing eyther to profit him or little to hurt him And they which care least for to morrowe following the commandement of our sauiour ariue there most ioyfully hauing not the will vnproportionate to the might nor their minde afflicted Homer maketh two vessels to be in heauen full of destinies the one of good the other of bad he accounteth him happie which equally partaketh as well of the one as the other as much hony as gaul And Seneca writeth that the destinies leade gently such as consent drawe by force such as refuse Notwithstanding the wise do temper and turne the euill into good drawing out of their good aduentures what naught soeuer is there mingled by this meanes passe away the more easily the course of this life To which the old prouerbe agreeth that euery man is the workman of his owne fortune and fashioneth her according to his maners And if we doe contemne honours riches pleasures banishmentes griefes and sickenesse we shall be cleane exempt from all couetous desires passions and tormentes of the minde As Xenophon in his Pedia reciteth of one Pheraulas to whō Cirus gaue a Lordship of a very great reuenewe but hauing well considered the ease contentment which he toke during his pouertie and the care which he must then needes take for his reuenewe and domesticall affayres hee put all againe into the handes of a friende of his As Anacreon hauing had fiue talents worth three thousande crownes giuen him by Policrates after he saw that he had passed two nights togither studying what he shold do with it he sent them backe againe saying that they were not worth the care he had taken for thē And when newes was brought vnto Zeno and certaine other that their shipps goods and marchandise were loste they reioysed because it was a cause to make them apply themselues to Philosophie which yeelded them farre greater contentment Philoxenes hauing purchased a farme wherby he might liue the better at ease quitted it againe and returned to Athens saying These goods shall not loose me but I them As Seneca wrote to a friend of his if thou hadst not lost thy goods it might be they might haue lost thee And the bricklenesse of the aduised serueth them as it were to be shodde with showes of yce against sinne Anacharsis left the kingdome of Scithia to his younger brother to growe to be a Philosopher in the sayde Citie of Athenes Aristides chose likewise to remaine in his pouertie though it laye in his power to haue made himselfe a Lorde of greate riches Scipio hauing by force taken Cartharge touched no whit of the sacking or spoyle thereof Epaminundas and Camillus amonge all the victories they obtayned neuer carried anie thing else away then honour An infinite number of other as well Captaines as Philosophers haue contemned goods albeit this moderation which was so greatly praysed in them was neuer ioyned together with a hope of eternall life as the Christians is who knowe that the creator of heauen and earth is their father and Lord almightie that he loueth them and knoweth ful well the way they ought to holde the medicines which they ought to vse and whatsoeuer is most expedient to bring them to the promissed blisse after this their pilgrimage and exile Therfore they suffer thēselues to be cōducted by him without murmuring approuing for good whatsoeuer proceedeth from his fatherly hande and by this meane remaine in the peace of the spirit and calmenesse what winde soeuer blowe without being tossed in the troubles stormes of this life They know likewise that if God doe stricke them downe with the left hande he rayseth them vp with the right againe according to the promisse he made by his Prophet Ose And as all meates are agreeing with a good stomach and to a bad the most delicate seeme corrupt as it is written in the Prouerbes that to a hungrye soule all bitter things seeme sweete so all things turne to good to the faithfull as S. Paul hath written And in Ecclesiasticus all thinges are turned into good to such as feare God but to the sinners they are turned into euill who turne light into darkenesse and good into euill And money is to good men a cause of good to the wicked of euill and crueltie And as the showe is fashioned according to the foote so his disposition which is wise moderate leadeth a life like vnto it to wit peaseable and without passion coueting nothing vnpossible and contenting it selfe with the present That is it which Cicero writeth that vertue in trouble doth euer remaine quiet and being cast into banishment neuer departeth from her place For the goods of fortune reioyce those most which least doubt their contraries and the feare of loosing them maketh the pleasure of the enioying of them more feeble and lesse assured Plato gaue counsell not to cōplaine in aduersitie for that we know not whether it happen vnto vs for our hurt or no. And in his Phedon hee writeth that looke what beautie riches honour and kinred we here desire it is so farre off from being good that indeede they doe rather corrupt and impayre vs. But a Christian man ought to esteeme all good and for his health whiche perswasion serueth vnto him as the meale did which Elisha cast into the pot which tooke cleane away all the bitternesse of the pottage and as the tree with which Moses made the waters sweete From thence ensueth that Christian Parradoxe so often times verified that there neuer happeneth euill to the good nor good to the wicked whose nature is changed by blessing As it is sayde of a diseased bodie that the more it is nourished the more it is offended And as strange dreames shewe that there be grosse and clammie humors and perturbation of
vnto him Saint Ambrose happening into a rich mans house and vnderstanding that he had euery thing as he would wish it neuer hauing occasion of disquiet or anger presently departed fearing least hee shoulde bee partaker of some misfortune anon after was the house swalowed vp with an earthquake Saint Ierome alledgeth an auncient prouerbe that a riche man is either wicked of himself or heire to a wicked man And he wrote vnto Saluia that euen as pouertie is not meritorious if it be not borne with patience no more are riches hurtful if they be not abused The which S. Chrisostom in his homelie of the poore man and the rich more amply entreateth of CHAP. XIIII Of the care which men haue had that youth might be instructed in the trueth PArents haue beene commanded to bring vp and instruct their children but especially to teach them how to knowe and feare God in Exodus Chap. 12. 13. Deut. 4.6 7. in Saint Paul to the Ephes 6. in sundry Psalms In Persia Lacedemonia and sundrie other prouinces the most vertuous graue and learned men had the charge of the education instruction of youth and endeuoured most especially to make them true and hate lying following Platoes counsell in sundrie of his treatises And in Alcibiades he writeth that there was giuen vnto the Princes of Persia their children a tutor which had care aboue all things to make them loue the trueth for of the foure vertues which concerne manners to wit Prudence Iustice Fortitude Temperance the trueth especiall draweth neere vnto Iustice which rendreth vnto euerie one what appertaineth vnto him and kepeth equality being the spring and foundation of all vertue and preseruer of the societie of man Which was the cause that in time past they had so great care to teach their children togither with their mothers milke a habite and custome to be true and hate lying dissembling and hypocrisie and that they imploy that time which is giuen vnto them to all matters of vertue and reforme them making them more aduised and capable to serue God the common wealth and their parents Diuers Emperours haue been greatly praised for erecting of common scholes the better to instruct youth to discerne truth from lying And those Princes which gaue stipends to scholemasters were accounted to haue don more good to the common wealth then they which ordained wages for Physitions because the former bettered the wit the other onely the bodie which is the lesser parte and of lesse account For this cause Alexander the Emperour Commenes and diuers other are recommended to famous memorie for prouiding for all things necessarie to scholemasters readers and poore scholers Great account was made of the speache of Leo the Emperour who wished that scholemasters might receiue the paye of men of armes Guichardin writeth that sundrie Popes gaue consent to the Venetians to gather money of the Clergie the better to encourage and find scholers in learning And there were in the olde time certain persons chosen out of the quarters wardes of good townes which they called Sophronistes who had a continuall charge and care to controll moderate and rule the manners of youth which being well instructed all things prosper more fortunately and euery one doth his duetie without neede of any more lawes For as Diogenes said and since Cicero Learning is the temperance of youth the comfort of old age standing for wealth in pouertie and seruing for an ornament to riches as more at large is discoursed of hereafter CHAP. XV. How requisite it is to speake little and not to blase a secrete with aduise vppon newes inuented and of that which is to be spoken ECclesiasticus doeth counsell vs to vse but fewe words because manie multiply vanitie and a man of good vnderstanding speaking litle shalbe much honored Pithagoras willed all those he receiued into his schoole to tarrie fiue yeares before they spoke And it is euer seene that children which are long before they speake in the end do euer speak best as amōg manie it is written of Maximilian the first that they which cannot hold their peace doe neuer willingly giue eare to ought And by a good occasion one made answere to a prater It is great maruel that a man hauing feet can endure thy babling And those that haue beene long time past haue saide that men taught vs to speake but the Gods to hold our peace as also it is written in the Prouerbs that God hath the gouernement of the tongue and that a wise men doth euer hold his peace he that can countermaund his mouth keepeth his own soule Ioyned with all that by a light worde oftentimes great paine is endured whereas scilence doth not onely no-whit alter but is not at al subiect to accounte nor amendes For this cause one being asked why Lycurgus made so fewe lawes aunswered that such as vsed fewe words had no neede of many lawes and woulde accustome their youth to deedes and not to writing And the great K Francis made aunswere to one that asked pardon for one speaking euil of him if hee will learne to speake litle I wil learne to pardon much And Cicero in his booke of the Oratour writeth that Cato and Piso esteemed breefenes a great praise of eloquence so as thereby they make themselues to bee fully conceiued Among such as speake much I comprehende following the opinion of them of olde time such as speake either what is hurtfull or serueth to no ende or as Saint Paul calleth them thinges pleasing for the time which doe no whit edifie Plutarque setteth vs down certaine Geese and Plinie certaine Cranes which when they passe ouer Cicilie vppon the mount Taurus fill their becke full of flintes for feare of making any noyse least they shoulde serue for a praye to the Eagles that are there The like experience wee haue had of Quailes after haruest in France Aristotle sending Calistenes a kinsman and friend of his to Alexander counselled him to speake but little which he not obseruing it fared with him but badlye Simonides was wont to saye that hee repented himselfe oftentimes in speaking but neuer in holdinge his peace The which Valerius attributeth to Xenocrates folowing the rule which is in our lawe that those thinges hurte which are expressed but not such as are not And Apollonius saied that many words breede often times offence but that holding ones peace was the more sure Greatly was the breefenes of the Lacedemonians praysed in their letters as amongest other thinges of a Prince which put in his aunswere but this worde No and that which wee touched aboue of Archidamus to the Aeoliens disswading them from warre saying that quietnesse is good And K. Philip the faire aunswering a letter of Adolphe the Emperor gotten by the Englishmen in al his pacquet had but these two wordes too much
daunger hauing taken away all those whome either we ought to reuerence or mought iustly feare A Lacedemonian captain answered to the complaint of a Athenian If the Athenians tooke good heede to what they did they should neuer be troubled nor neede to care what the Spartiates reported of them Contrariwise friendes I meane without flatterie or disguising declare freely what they thinke amisse and il beseeming Which mooued Euripides to exhort men to get such friendes as would not spare them As Diogenes saide that other dogges vsed to bite their enemies but he his friendes for their owne good And such an amitie which is a beneuolence a conformitie of wils and pleasures and a desire of the good of an other ioyned with vertue is as som haue said a beast of the company but not of the troupe because there be very few true friends And Menander sayde not without cause that he was happye that could meet but with the shadow of his friend who is called by Ecclesiasticus a tresure and the medicine of life A man must not shake euery man by the hand as Pithagoras sayd Plato wisely discoursed how the greatest of all euilles doth spring vp with vs and that we desire not to be deliuered of it to wit that euery man loueth him selfe delighteth in his owne opinions because loue is blinde and one easely deceaueth him selfe in what he loueth being preuented and abused thorough fansies before conceaued Therefore he sayde it was very requisite to shunne this foolish loue which taketh from vs our iudgement And the similitude which Demosthenes made is very true that as the payne in the eyes hindreth one from seeinge what lieth before his feete so the first conceates and fansies obfu scate the vnderstanding Wherefore to the ende we may see the naked truth we must be voyde of all passions louing to heare of our faultes and to bee corrected which the wise man esteemeth as a chayne of gold about ones necke and ought rather to desire it might proceede from our friendes then from our enemies because wee must eschew vice led therevnto thorough vertue and shame and not by the contrarie way or by feare And it is a great deale better to abstaine from doing ill following the counsel of our frends then to repent our selues for hauing done ill when we see our selues accused and blamed by our enemies and such warninges as goe before disorders are a great deale more fit and render better fruite then such as follow after CHAP. 17. That it is needfull to read histories there to see the truth which one is afraid to speake with aduise vpon the reading of all bookes and of the conquestes of French men of the meanes to keepe them and to assure a victorie of the dutie of a captaine and of that which is to be considered in examples and alterations DEmetrius gaue counsell to Kinge Ptolome that hee shoulde diligently reade such bookes as intreated of the gouernmentes of kingdomes and segnuries to the end he might be instructed in those thinges which men dare not so freelie deliuer them selues to princes for the penne is of a more free condition then the tongue We reade likewise how the Catoes Aemiles Scipios Caesars and sundry other Emperours haue beene so studious in readinge of them that they haue copied out with their owne hande whole histories and euen them selues composed suche as were in their owne time And haue bene more curious to haue of them in their handes then their swoordes by their sides to the ende to ioyne the written discipline of war with the practise of the wars For this cause Alphonsus sayd of Qu. Cursius that he was soner healed by his history then his Phisitions and that he tooke counsell of the dead Which Ferdinand king of Spaine likewise said by Titus Liuius And the reading of Xenophon moued Scipio to vndertake those prowesses which he performed And the great Selim hauing caused Iulius Caesars commentaries to be translated into his owne tong and heard them by imitating of him he knew the greatest parte of Asia and Africa And the sayd Iulius endeuoured altogeather to imitate Alexander who likewise set Achilles before him selfe as an example And the Emperour Charles the fift had in hand the historie of Philip of Commines Laurence of Medices surnamed the father of learning recouered his health in reading the historye of Conradus the Emperour who resolued to make Guelphe the Duke of Bauire to dye and to ruine both the place and the inhabitantes of the citie which hee had longe time besieged in the ende ouercome with the intercessions of the weomen of the citie suffered them to depart their liues and baggage saued with all that they could carrye vpon their owne sholders but leauing all their goods they carried their Duke their husbandes fathers children and friendes as many as they were able of which the said Conrade conceaued such contentment that hee gaue pardon both vnto his enemie and all the rest And if the Fabians and Scipioes as Polibus and Salustus haue witnessed haue beene greatly enflamed to vertue when they haue beheld the statuas and monumentes of their auncestours and by the remembraunce of the high feates of armes which they moste prosperously haue atchieued this flame encreased in the heartes of generous personnes and was not quenched vntill such time as their vertue had equalled their glorye and high renowne and if Themistocles sayde that the victories and trophees of the Miltiades kept him that he could not sleepe how much more ought it to pricke vs forwarde when we reade in histories of the prowesses and magnanimous feates that haue beene consecrated to immortalitie and more liuely representing such manners counsels occasions and meanes as haue beene helde in enterprises and executions of braue attemptes togeather with the euentes the better to resolue in all affayres and to iudge what we ought to follow or flye in like occurrence of humaine accidentes And there maye Princes learne without hasarde expense or daunger how deeply they are charged and the better impresse within their memorye the preceptes eyther of politicke lawes or of the art of warre then they shoulde doe in Philosophers bookes seeing what praises are gyuen to the well doers and what blame and punishment to the wicked as in the middle of a Theatre And they are awakened to take the way of vertue as out of a trompet of honour and the seedes thereof are taken out of the valour and gentlenesse of oure auncestours And albeit there be great difference betweene the actions of our auncestours and ours yet we ought to follow and practise according to the reason by which they haue guyded their inuentions carrying the like spirite iudgement and hardinesse that they did And since that as Seneca hath written in the firste booke of his Epistles if one haue a minde to doe ill and espieth one present by him that
other greater authours then they are condemned of lying as we haue marked in the Spaniardes before which haue written the history of the new world and of the west Indies who couer and make lesse their owne excesse and incredible vilanies the greatest part of them beeing reuenged and punished thorough the iust iudgement of God The Englishmen haue somewhat runne awry in handling the affaires on this side the sea Paulus Iouius was wont to say that to doe fauour to such great personages as gaue him pensions he set thinges downe in such sort as they that liued in that time were well inough able to discouer them mary the posterity should hold them for true And in truth sundrye historiographers of all times thorough ignoraunce hatred couetousnes or ambition take a colour to warrant their lying and disguising vpon a beleefe they haue that few shall bee able to discerne their coseninges And for because thorough this error of discourse they name sundry wise and prudent which in deed haue beene most wicked and blame french men that haue bene vertuous of a good conscience and haue ended their liues honestlye and laudablye condemning them of fole hardines and vice men ought therin to carry a good sound and right iudgement Considering that such authours doe not alwaies measure the maners and actions of men according to the vnmooueable rule of the worde of God and morall philosophy nor distinguish the vitious by the intention or conscience but onely by the issue dexteritie and industrye or rather subtiltye of such as know how to applie each thing to the end which they pretend neuer regarding whether it be honest laudable and iuste or no. They do not in respect of the french men referre any of their actes at all to vertue if they be not led thereto by that which they account prudence but rather to rashnes as they doe in regarde of their owne nation imputing their owne actes of cowardnesse basenes of minde disceat dissembling treason crueltie disloyaltie infidelity and ambition to wisedome and prudence Neuerthelesse here we may well consider for what cause they haue made the like comparison of french men that Antigonus did of Pirrhus to a gamester whome the dise fauoured well but knew not how to serue him selfe of those chaunces that happened vnto him for that loke what he got by the effect he loste thorough hope coueting in such sort what he had not that he cleane forgot to assure himselfe of what he had gained because they are more ready to get then wise to keepe and that by feates of armes they make braue conquestes but they preserue them but a while not knowing that a countrye conquered by such as obserue not discipline is both vnprofitable and hurtfull Therefore they coniecture that valour and dexteritie in armes is a greate matter but that nobility not brought vp in learning nor in reading of histories hath not this wisedome to moderate it selfe and to prouide by suche meanes as they ought to take to bee able in peace to conserue what they haue conquered and suffer themselues to bee led by the coloured wordes of their enemies who after that the firste fire and french boyling is extinguished they know wel inough how to vse their occasion and serue their owne turnes with the ignoraunce of such as esteeme nought but armes without running ouer the courses held by their auncestors in keeping their conquestes and vsing of their victories as we haue but too manye examples which is the cause that Caesar writeth in his Commentaries that french men are more hardie and couragious then fine in warre which they make great account of ioynct that they giue them selues more to the hope which they take of conquering then they doe to anye feare of losing Euery man confesseth that men differ from beastes in reason if this good nature be not manured with the reading of histories good letters what other thing is it thē a pretious stone hid in a donghil We ought to account the saying of K. Theodoric true that what was begon with good aduise prudence preserued with care is of long lasting strong And if victories be not made sure with temperance prudence they dim through some vnloked for accident the glorye which was before gotten and in short time loseth the whole fruit through insolency carelesnes delicacies arrogancy violentnes of taking vp of lodging yet to be well entreated in capacity of a gouernor couetousnes confusiō to make no distinction betwene persons in giuing taking away or changing and somtime a cōmandement amisse conceaued an ordinance ill executed rashnes vanity of speach carrieth the victorye awaye cleane vnto such as before seemed already vanquished And a marueilous prudence is required to foresee an innumerable number of other accidentes in matters of warre and sometime to apply counsell to necessitye beeing no lesse the dutye of a valiaunt Captaine to shew him selfe wyse in his actions then couragious to the end hee approoue deliberation lesse difficile and daungerous and cleane reiecte all rashe counselles attendinge likewyse the oportunities of times and ripenesse of occasions not for all that presupposing for certayne those perilles that are vncertaine beeing more afrayde then he ought calling hope no lesse to his counsell then feare Cirus likewise in the ende of the seuenth booke of the Pedion of Xenophon thought it a matter more laudable to keepe then to get because often tymes in conquestes is nothinge but hardinesse but a bodie can not conserue what hee hath taken without temperaunce continence care and diligence besides valour And as it is a greater greefe to become poore then neuer to haue beene riche so is it to lose more bitter then neuer to haue gotten I doe not thinke that garrisons serue to so great an ende as if the conquerours shew them selues meeke and louers of good thinges and that no thing can succeede well to suche as abandon vertue and honestie Aristotle dedicatinge his Rhetorique to Alexander writeth vnto him that as the bodye is entertayned thorough a good disposition so is the witte by discipline and erudition which were the causes that not onelye hee had euer an addresse to doe well but also to conserue what he had gotten It is likewise requisite that we put the sayde reading in vse and practise thereby to becomme more vertuous wise and aduised and that we conferre thinges passed with the present and such as might ensue and to apply examples to the rule of veritye iustice and equitye And albeit that Sainct Augustine attributed much to histories yet doth he adde that hee can not see how all that which is written by the witte of man can bee in euerie point true consideringe that all men are lyers and that it commeth to passe often tymes that they which follow the reason of man in anye historie builde vppon the brutes of the vulgar sorte and are abused by the
passions of sundrie men which report nothinge of certayne Notwithstandinge they are to bee excused if they keepe a libertye and write not to the ende to deceaue But in the holye historie they oughte to feare no such thinge since that it proceedeth of the holye Ghoste and thence a man maye take out certayne witnesses and soueraigne arrestes Now that wee may the better reape our profite out of Historyes we must consider the beginning and motyfe cause of all enterprises the meanes which therin they haue held and afterwardes the issue thereof which cannot possibly be good proceeding from an euil beginning And after hauing known the root and causes therof we must iudge what may happen in like cases and consider other circumstances which bewtifie the actions and referre all to the glory of God through whose bountie the euents haue succeeded well and gloriously to the ende wee may render prayses and thankesgeuing vnto him which are due vnto him for asmuche as by weake and vyle persons hee oftentimes compasseth high and mightie things And because that whatsoeuer thinges are written afore time are written for our learning We ought to apply vnto our selues whatsoeuer we read and to behold as in a looking glasse our own affections to the end we might follow good and eschew euill and cleane remoue from vs all disguising and corruption and aboue all things we ought to acknowledge the iudgementes of God against the wicked and contemners of his law And for because that great dangers ensue those which indifferently gouerne them selues by examples I thought good to aduertise that it is diligently to be considered whether there be a concurrence of lyke reasons not onely in generall but also in particular It is also necessary to rule ones selfe as prudently as they did whom we would imitate and to demaund of God like successe And in our enterprises we must not onely consider the superficies and beginnyng of thinges but to looke more inwardly what may happen in time We must not likewise take too exactly what is written by ancient Historiographers but conferre them with the newe hauing regard to the great chaunges which happen in all countreyes and that there are fewe Cities or Nations which hold theyr former name nor their auncient seates and fashions otherwise we should wander awry and iudge amisse And this consideration of the vnstablenesse subuersions dissipations and lamentable chaunges of sundry peoples and families ought to prepare vs to beare all accidentes sent from God knowing that this life is but a sorrowfull exile subiect to stormes and continuall tempestes and that there is no seate nor hauen sure but in the heauenly and eternall lyfe to the which the sonne of God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prepared the way for vs and let vs humbly beseeche him to guide vs therein CHAP. 18. That one ought not to suffer him selfe to be deceiued by praises nor be carried away from modesty and that honour dependeth vpon vertue with aduise vpon the same or vpon the reproches or lyes of the people and how much it is requisite to commaund ones selfe WHo so woulde not swarue from the truth ought not to be mooued with praises which for the most part are disguised for as Sainct Augustin hath written He which often praiseth one abuseth him self confirmeth an errour and proueth in the end a lyer and he which is praised becommeth thereby a great deale more vaine And Dion sayd the ouer great praises and honours out of measure carrie with them a misknowledge lightnes and insolensie yea among such persons as of them selues are modest ynough because they are perswaded that they deserue them and euery man pleaseth them and puffeth them vp as Xenophon wryteth though in deed they might well be termed mockeries And such excessiue honours are neither more nor lesse then as portractures ill proportioned which fall to the grounde of them selues as the three hundred statuas of Demetrius which neuer engendred either rust or filth beeing in his owne life tyme broken in peeces And those likewise of Demades were bruysed made to serue for chamberpots and basins in close stooles and so haue sundry other princes their monuments beene serued The inhabitants of the city of Pilles in their counsels ordained moste mightie honours for Theopompus he wrote backe vnto them that time was accustomed to increase honours moderately bestowed and to deface the immoderate When Niger was chosen Emperour they recited certayne verses in his praise but hee sayde that they ought rather to prayse Hanniball or the prowesse of some other great captaynes to the ende they might be imitated and that it was a mockery to prayse men while they liued which peraduenture might alter And that there was great presumption that either they did it for feare or for hope to obtayne somwhat of them and that for his part he rather desired to be fauoured and loued during his life and praysed after his death Other were wont to saye that they neuer acknowledged such prayses but wished to God that they were worthye of them Bracidas his mother was highly commended for aunswearing the embassadours of Thrace comforting her for the death of her sonne affirminge that he had not left his like behinde him that shee knew well ynough that the citye of Sparta had manye Citizens a great deale more worthie and valiaunt then him As Antigonus sayde vnto a Poet who called him the sonne of the sunne that hee whiche emptied his close stoole knew well ynough there was no such matter The shadow shunneth those which follow it and followeth those which shunne it and so fareth it with prayse Sigismond the Emperour stroke one that praysed him too much saying that he bitte him So was it likewise reported by Iustinian When they offered to Titus a crowne of golde togeather with great praises for his taking of Ierusalem he aunsweared that he himselfe was not the authour thereof but that GOD serued him selfe thorough his handes in that he made manifest his anger agaynste the Iewes As much is sayde of Fabritius for the deliuerie of Greece and of Timoleon for restoring Sicilie to libertye And Antistenes commaunded his children neuer to conne any thankes for praysing of them for often tymes it is with men as with an number of beastes which suffer a man to doe with them what he will yea to tumble and drale them on the grounde as long as hee tickleth them Galien entreating howe the sickenesse of the minde might be discerned wryteth that he learned of his father to despise glorye as an intisement to euill and ennemye to truth And Iosephus wryteth that honours bestowed on young men are as matches of follie and rashnes And in our french tongue we call offices and dignities charges And Varro in his fourth booke of the Latin tongue writeth that this name of honour proceedeth from a name which
of speech that will not holde his peace for feare of any when it should be time to speake and you shall finde in him such a courage and vertue as Diogenes the Cinike had that is to say a Dogge louer of mankind and this dogge shal be capable of reason that for your sake will barke against any other and against you to if you doe ought woorthy of blame euer for all that vsing prudence and discretion and hauing regarde to the time and season when he ought to performe his duetie Then Titus prayde him he would with speede bestowe that dogge vppon him that was so compagnable and loyall to whom he would giue leaue not only to barke when he should doe ought worthie of reprehension but also to bite him if he sawe him doe any thing vnworthy his aucthoritie He likewise neuer vsed such violence crueltie or tyrannie as did his brother Domitian For in trueth when the people of Rome and other nations yeelded the soueraigne power and right which they had vnto Monarches they neuer ment to put their liberty into their hands that would rather vse violence and passion then reason and equitie but to yeelde themselues to the tuition of such a one as would gouerne according to lawes reason and iustice And it is not possible that this first ordinance could be made without the consent of the subiectes for otherwise it could not be grounded vpon a lawfull Empire or kingdome but vpon an vnlawfull and tyrannicall vsurpation and it is necessarie that such a consent should retaine the nature of a contract in good fayth and a bonde counterchangable As wee see it in like sorte practised at this day in the greatest part of kingdomes and Empires that are in Christendom that it is the only foundation which mainteyneth them as Plutarke writeth the posts pillars which vpholde an estate Neither are Princes able without necessitie to dispence with the othe they take at their coronation and with the obligation which they owe to God and their subiects And according as Aristotle Herodotus Tacitus Demosthenes and Cicero haue written the first souerainitie proceeded from the good will and well liking of such as for their commoditie quiet and suertie submitted themselues to such as excelled in heroical prowes the better to be able to maintayne their ciuill societie thorough lawes And that he in whom was not founde the cause of this originall and image of safetie iustice clemencie and diuine bountie was a person vnworthie of such honour causing an infection to the body of the whole publicke weale And most notable is the saying of king Cyrus that it appertayned to none to cōmand but such as excelled their subiects in bountie goods of the minde The great King of Sparta Agesilaus aunswered those that so highly commended the magnificence greatnesse of the K. of Persia VVherefore is he greater then I except he be more iust then I For a king ought to cause him selfe to be loued and admired of his subiectes thorough the vertuous examples of his good life And Plutarke in the life of Pirrhus writeth that the Kinges tooke an oth that they should gouerne according to their lawes and that in so doing the people would obey thē Now we must needes confesse that they are giuen of God who as Daniel witnesseth establisheth and putteth downe Kings And Ieremiah writeth that he will bestowe kingdomes on whom it him best liketh And God sayth in the Prouerbes Through me kings raygne and Princes iudge the earth and if they do not he threatneth them in Iob that he will loose their celer and guirde their loynes with a girdle And the Queene of Saba sayde to Salomon that God had set him in his throne as Kinge insteede of the Lorde God to execute iudgement and iustice The which more plainely Salomon speaketh in his booke of wisedome Lorde thou hast choosen me to rule ouer thy people and to iudge thy sonnes daughters And the people is called the heritage of the Lorde and the King the gouernour of this heritage the guide light of Gods people And Aristotle in the fift booke of his Politiques sheweth that kinges often times tooke certaine offycers to conteine them in their duetie as did the Ephores about the kinges of Sparta The which Caesar declareth was greatly obserued among the Gaulois yeelding an example of Ambiorix and Vercingentorix The oth the greatest part that the Christian kings toke was I will minister lawe iustice protection aright to euery one And Zonarus wrote after Xenephon that the kings of Persia shewed them selues more subiect to lawes thē Lords had more feare shame to breake the lawes then the people had to be punished what they had offended And God instructing Ioshua what he shuld do aboue all things cōmanded him that the booke of the lawe should not depart out of his mouth but that he shuld meditate therin day night that he might obserue and doe according to all that is written therein For then should hee make his way prosperous and haue good successe Then it followeth in the text that the people promised to obey him in all As Xenophon writing of the commonwealth of the Lacedemonians sayth that monthly the kings did sweare to guide thēselues according to the lawes and the Ephores toke oth in the peoples behalfe that vpon that cōdition they would maintaine thē And S. Paul saith that euery power is of God whose seruants they are for the benefit of their subiects consequently they are bound to follow his wil rule giuē by Moses And the meanes which are of succession or election depend of the diuine prouidence which causeth thē to prosper Dauid hūbled himselfe to what was his dutie office making alliance with the deputies of the people and describeth the dutie of a good king in the 72.82 101. Psalmes And whilest he Salomon Ioas Ezechias other liued wel they continually prospered but falling from that fell into many miseries Pericles was cōmended for that as often as he put on his gowne he saide vnto himselfe remember that thou dost cōmand ouer a free nation ouer Athenians and ouer Greekes The which christian Princes haue more occasion to speak and obserue Agapet sayd of Iustinian that he maystred his pleasures being adorned with the crowne of temperaunce and clad with the purple of iustice And Ammian writeth that a Kingdome or Dukedome is nought else then the care of an others safetie and that where the lawe doth not gouerne there ruyne is at hande As Antiochus sayde to his sonne Demetrius that their kingdome was a noble slauerie And Plutarke in the life of Nicias reciteth the sayinge of Agamemnon in Euripides VVe liue to outwarde shew in greatnesse state and might Yet in effect we are you knowe but peoples seruants right Titus Liuius writeth that the Carthaginians punished their rulers
to the ende that if ought had inconsideratly escaped their mouth or that their letters had beene rashly signed and passed the signet by reason of their great busines and affaires or for not hauing beene fully infourmed how matters stoode it mought the more easily be moderated and remedied They willed likewise all their letters to bee examined by the soueraigne Courts and ordinarie Iudges of their realme Ecclesiasticus also admonisheth vs To praye vnto the most high that he will direct our waye in trueth and that reason goe before euerie enterprise and councell before euerie action Hence proceedeth the ordinarie clauses had by the counsell aduise and ripe deliberation of our councell There are likewise some that haue wel vnderstood the saying of the wisemaÌ„ Where there is no vision the people decay to bee meant of a good gouernement ruled by good councel And the foundations of good counsels and actions ought to be laide vppon pietie iustice and honestie and to be executed with diligence and prudence otherwise they are altogither vnprofitable These two discourses concerne in especiall the greatnes safetie profit of Princes because that of the comfort of their subiects ensueth amitie and of this amitie proceedeth a readie will to expose their persons and goods for the affaires of their soueraigne CHAP. XXII That one ought not to iudge too readily of another IT was not sayde without cause in the olde time that he which beleeued a backebyter committed no lesse offence then hee did And Symonides complained of a friend of his that had spoken yll of him of his eares and lightnes of beleefe which ought not to haue place in any before they be throughly informed of the trueth For by how much by speache a man approcheth nearer to the seate of vnderstanding reason which is in the braine by so much doth it the more hurt marre him which beleeueth if a man take not verie diligent heed and the hearer partaketh halfe with the speaker It is also verie strange to see what care wee haue to keepe the gates of our houses shut and yet howe wee leaue our eares open to raylers and euen as Homer praised them which stopped their eares sayling on the sea neare vnto the Syrenes for feare of being heald entised by their melodie singing and so fal into the daungers that ensued thereon so should not we giue audience to tale carriers and detractors of mens good name and if they chance to prate in our presence we should examine the whole and take thinges in the beste part without giuing too light credence therto Thucidides the historiographer in his preface greatly blamed such as would report of credite sundry thinges of olde time founding their beliefe vppon an vncertaine brute without taking paines to enquire further The which Caesar in like sort writeth of the Gaulois which caused a lie often times to be put in stead of the truth And Aristotle hauing giuen this precept to Alexander to be founde true addeth that he shoulde not beleeue too lightly And it was euer esteemed an act of a wise man to retaine his iudgement without discouering it especially in matters vncertaine and to consider all the circumstances and consequence thereof And we ought to be as it were gardiens of the renowne and good of our neighbour fearing least being men we shoulde fall into that euill which is reported of an other And we ought to put in vre the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Blame no man before thou haue enquired the matter vnderstande first and then reforme Giue no sentence before thou hast heard the cause The which principallye we ought to practise in the wonderfull and vnsearchable workes of God and rather to thinke our selues short in our owne vnderstanding then to suspect that God fayled in his prouidence and in the gouernment of the vniuersall world and by no meanes to controle the worke whereof we haue no skill at all CHAP. 23. Of reprehensions and force of the truth with a discription of detraction MAny haue sayde that it is a great corsey to a man of courage to be barred libertye of free speach And the Emperours Augustus and Tiberius and Pope Pius the seconde haue saide that in a citie that is not bonde tongues ought to be free And S. Ambrose writeth to Theodosius the Emperour that nothing better beseemed a Prince then to loue libertye of speach nor nothing worst for a Priest then not to dare to speake what hee feeleth And as Socrates writeth free speach and discourse is the principall remedye of the afflicted and greeued minde And Pyndarus made aunswere to a king of Sparta that there was nothing more easie for a man to doe then to reprehend an other nor harder then to suffer him selfe to be reprehended The custome of the Lacedemonians was very commendable to punishe him that saw one offende without reprehendinge him for it and him likewise that was angry when he was tolde of his fault For a man is bound to them that tell him of his faultes and admonishe him of the right way that he should hold And a man ought not to suffer his friende to vndoe him selfe though he would as Phocion sayth Salomon describeth in his Prouerbes the profite that it yeeldeth and how necessary a thing it is to the amendement of ones life and one ought not tarrye till the faulte be committed but to preuent it by admonition The which caused certaine of our kinges of France and some other common wealthes haue endured the same that in publike playes men should reprehend such notable faultes as were committed And in Alexandria certain were appointed to go some time in a coch through out the citye blaming such persons as they saw do any fault to the end they might be more afrayde to doe ill and that shame might be of more force then the law And if at anie time anye mislike to haue the truth tolde them as Comicus hath written it proceedeth of the corruption of men of their haughtinesse and ignoraunce As Ptolomeus put Aristomenes his tutor in prison because that in the presence of an Ambassadour he waked him out of his sleepe that he mought be more attentiue to what was sayde vnto him Pope Boniface the seuenth beeing returned home againe to Rome from whence he was driuen away for his dissolutenes caused the eyes of Cardinal Iohn who had told him of his faultes to be put out Fulgosus writeth of Pope Innocent that hauing beene reprehended by some of the citizens of Rome because he prouided not sufficiently against Schismes he sent them backe to his nephew for answere which was that he made them all be caste out of windowes albeit the sayde Innocent before he came to that dignitie often times vsed towardes his predecessours Vrbain and Bennet lâ—ke reprehension In the time of Honorius the seconde they put Arnulphe to death because he so liberally
smoke and mystes of choler truth can not be discerned from falsehood Alexander ouertaken with choler caused Parmenio Chalistenes Philotas and other to be put to death and with his owne hande slew Clytus one of his chiefest fauorites And after that his choler was apeased would haue killed him selfe For this cause Anthenodorus counselled the Emperour Augustus the which Sainct Ambrose did since to Theodosius that when they felt them selues enter into choler they should take heed of speaking or doing anye thinge vntill they had repeated the twenty foure letters of the Alphabet The which gaue the occasion of making that holy law Si vindicari and of the chapter Cum apud to temper and slacke the heady commandementes of Princes And the sayd Augustus for hauing iniured a gentleman whose daughter he had brought to his pleasure and was cast in the teeth with what he had done and sawe that him selfe had broken the law Iulia which condemneth the adulterers he was so mad with him self that for a time he abstayned from eating Sainct Paule counselleth vs That the Sonne go not down vpon our wrath The maner of the Pythagoriens was much commended that when they had once vttered their choler they would take one an other by the hande and embrase one an other before it was euening And Plato beeinge demaunded how he knew a wise man answered when beeing rebuked he would not be angry and being praised he would not be too proude Seneca wryteth that such as taught to play at fence and to exercise the bodye commanded their schollers in no wise to be cholerick because that cleane marred the arte and he which is not able to bear a little iniurie shall in the end haue one mischiefe heaped on an other And against this it is thought an excellent remedy not to be delicate nor too light of beliefe nor to thinke one may contemne iniury one as he listeth nor to haue a will thereto and to vse delayes and protraction of tyme. As Plutarque wryteth that the carryinge of bundels of stickes bound togeather vpon pollaxes was to shew that the wrath of a Magistrate ought not to bee prompt and lose for that while leasurelye those bundels so bounde togeather were losed it brought some delaye space to choler which buyeth her pleasure with perill of lyfe as sundry Poets haue written And there is nothing that men dare not aduenture and cōmit when they are inflamed with anger except they retaine thē selues vnder the obedience of reason For as Socrates sayd it is lesse daunger to drinck intemperately of puddle or troubled water then to glut ones appetite with reuenge when mans discourse and reason is occupied with furye and besides him selfe before that he be setled and purified And Archytas sayde to one that had offended him I woulde punishe you for this geare if I were not in choler And to brydle such choler it is not euerye mans skill except hee haue beene vsed to it of a long time consideringe that nothing can be comelye nor honest if it be spoken sharply and in choler The Pythagoriens in lyke sort by the allegoricall commaundement that they should not leaue the bottome of the pot or caudern imprinted in the ashes would teach according to Plutarques opinion that no marke or apparent shewe of choler shoulde remaine the which as S. Chrisostome saith is a fire a hangman a most difformed drunkennes and a mad dog that knoweth noman Therfore it was that they of old time by the difformed monster of Chymera which spit fire described choler and as they which are possessed with vncleane spirites some at the mouth and swell so the spirit and speach of cholerike persons fometh and often times dangerous discourses scape thē Which was the cause that Alexander Menander Seneca others haue written how choler proceedeth of basenes of minde as also we see it more incident to weomē then to men to the sick more then to the whole And the fault is so measured as he to whom the offence is committed is perswaded But by how much more the fault is greater so much is his humanity the more to be cōmended when he pardoneth without being moued the offender by so much the more bounde in that he seeth his submissiō accepted for reuenge satisfaction The destruction of 15. thousand soules was attributed to the choler of Theodosius which afterward he greatly repented him selfe of It was likewise the death of Aurelian and of the cruelty of the Emperour Valentinian as Macellinus wrot the which so raigned in him that if one had spokē but one word that had misliked him he wold chāge his coulor voyce he committed much vniustice in hinderinge true iudgement in the end it was the cause of his death and his intrals were so terribly burned that there was not found so much as a drop of bloud Others were of opiniō that he broke a vaine in crying Yet Salust thinketh that that which in priuate persons is termed choler in great ones is called fury cruelty Plutarque likewise attributed the ruine of Sertorius to that he was so cholericke which made him so vnaccōpanable vnmeet to liue among the society of mē As also did Valerius the death of Caesar Sueton greatly blamed for the same Tiberius Nero. In like sort to those which had armes so insolently of themselues that they would cōmand the very lawes to cease the administratiō of iustice was euer denied And for the maintenaunce of both iustice was reserued to the Iudges and to such as force was committed it was straightly commanded them to obey iustice and that she aide force with good counsell of which if it bee once destitute greater harme ensueth then good And amonge all estates it is required that they assemble a counsell to aduise what may be profitable But as the goodnesse of shippes is best perceiued in a storme so doth a good vnderstanding moste discouer it selfe when hauing iust cause to be angrye the minde is for all that quiet and the iudgement setled And it is the property of a magnanimous hart to despise iniuries which we read was euer don by great personages And Dauid made no account of the words of Semey nor the kings Antigonus Philip and Pericles of those whom they heard reuile them Salomon sayth in his Prouerbes that A man inclyned to wrath shall quickly be destroyed And compareth a cholericke man to a City ouerthrowne and Solon maketh him like to one that neither cared how he loste friendes nor how he procured enemies And in the first of Ecclesiasticus it is written that rashnesse in anger breedeth destruction the which proceedeth not but of the inflammation of the bloud about the heart of too great a heate and sodainnes the which by no meanes yeeldeth the leasure to vnderstande the circumstaunces which reason teacheth which a man that hath
condemned but they which are consenting thereto and knowe him do not reueale him to the end that the holye name of God be not prophaned contrarie to the first table of commandements which forbiddeth vs to take it in vaine The which hath beene the cause that some diuines haue esteemed it a greater and more haynous sinne then murther forbidden by the second table the rather for that if proofes be wanting against the murtherer men haue recourse to his othe Salomon in his prayer that hee made at the dedication of the temple demaunded the punishment of such as should periure themselues The Aegyptians and Scithians put them to death the Indians cut off the toppes of their feete and handes for an example to shewe the offence they had committed against God and their neighbour Saint Lewys the King caused their lips to be feared with a hote yron in Zuiserland they fasten their tong with two nayles and in some Cantons they make them dye like felons or pul out their tongue And against them there are sundrie ordinances made by the Kings of France which we ought to obserue especially against blasphemers the which God in Leuiticus woulde should be stoned vnto death It is written in the Prouerbs The toung of the frowarde shalbe cut off And Iustinian the Emperour ordained by sundrie lawes that such should be executed And not without cause haue the diuines accounted blasphemie much more worthie of punishment then any other fault wickednesse which as Samuel sayth are chiefely committed against men whereas blasphemies are directly against the honour of God and in despite of him And by some decrees of the Court they haue beene condemned to a most greeuous fine and to haue their tongue perced thorough with a hot yron and after to be hanged and strangled It is worthy to be considered what Iohn Viet a Phisition in his historie of the deceites of diuels and sundry other writers haue testified of some that haue beene visibly carryed away by diuels in calling vpon them or giuing themselues vno them Pope Iohn the 12. was deposed and afterwardes put to death for hauing broken his othe made to Otho touching Berangare Iustinian the sonne of Constantine the fourth for hauing violated his faith giuen to the Bulgares and periured himselfe in assailing of the Sarazins was deposed from his imperiall crowne and banished I omit an infinite number of other who haue receiued like punishmentes for their periuries Pericles being required by a certaine friende of his to sooth a certain matter for his sake aunswered I am thy friende as farre as the aultar that is to say so farre as not to offende God To which that which is written of Hercules may be very well referred that he was so religious and vertuous that hee neuer swore in all his life but once and it was one of the first thinges that children were forbid as Fauorinus testified and the better to retayne and keepe them from this vice there is a very auntient ordinance at Rome that expressely forbiddeth them to sweare And the Prophetisse of Delphos made aunswere vnto the Lacedemonians that euery thing should prosper better and better if they forbad all othes Also it was in no case permitted to the Priestes of Iupiter to sweare for that often times an othe endeth in cursing and periurie And Stobeus writeth that for this cause the Phrigians did neuer sweare They which periure themselues as an auncient father sayth very well shewe suffycient testimony howe they despise God and feare men And if one thoroughly examined all estates and whereto euery offycer is bound to God to the king and to iustice by his othe hee should finde a maruelous number of periured Cicero in his oration which hee made for Balbus sayth that what oth soeuer he that is alreadie periured can take yet must one not beleeue him and in the end shall carrie his own paine For what shal remaine to God if he be spoyled of his truth making him a witnesse and approuer of fashood Therefore Iosua when he would haue had Achā to confesse the truth vnto him sayde My sonne I beseech thee giue glorie vnto the Lord God of Israel declaring that God is greatly dishonored if one periure him selfe by the like coniuration that the Pharises were wont to vse in the Gospell it appeareth that they commonly accustomed this kind of speech If we will then liue with quietnes of minde without destroying our selues we must eschewe all lying periurie folow our vocation obserue whatsoeuer we haue promised to God men CHAP. XXX That lying in doctrine is most pernitious and that one ought carefully to search for the truth EVery man confesseth yea the very Pagan Philosophers that men were created for the seruice of God and that aboue all thinges they should make accoūt of religion which giueth the only meanes to vnite and reconcile man to God for his saluation Cicero and Lactantius in sundry places declare besides that we find written in the old new testament that onely by seruing of god men differ from brute beasts and the good frō wicked and that the aucthoritie of Philosophie consisteth in the searching out of the principall end soueraine good of man And since that godlinesse is the scope of the rest it is requisite that it be fixed vnmoueable yet ther is nothing wherin mē erre so much as in that which ought to be most knowen The cause of the error proceedeth as in sundry places S. Augustin writeth by the testimonie of the scriptures for that the most part measure the said seruice rather according vnto their own blind braine then by the rule giuē in the word of god according to our corrupt reason through the hereditary fal of our prime parēts who were not able to cōprehend as the Apostle saith the diuine heauēly things Frō thence hath proceeded the multitude of Gods when they haue thought that one was not able to suffice prouide for all so were sundry kind of seruices in shew inuēted which might plese the cōmō people the creature taken in place of the creator nothing in steed of infinit S. Basil in a proeme writing of the iudgements of God greatly lamenteth that the church was so seuered in diuisions And searching into the cause therof he remēbred that passage in the booke of Iudges where it is written that Euery man did that which was good in his owne eies Since then that no error is so dangerous as that which is cōmitted in religion for as much as our saluation quietnes and happines dependeth therō it is very requisite that we apply therto what sense or vnderstāding soeuer is within vs according to the opiniō of S. Augustin if it be a leude part to turne the waifaring mā out of his right waye then are such as teach false doctrine much more to bee
al things to detest it to vse liberalitie to the ende they may prouoke drawe euerie man to embrase the good happines of their estate holde men still diligent in their seruice in the duetie of good men And as Salust rehearseth Bocchus the king of the Getules had reason to tell Sylla that it was a lesse shame for a king to be ouercome by armes then by courtesie And before hee wrote of the same Sylla that hee neuer willingly woulde receiue a pleasure at the handes of any except he mought verie speedily requite them and neuer asked his owne of any studying aboue all thinges to make multitudes of nations fast bound vnto him CHAP. XXXV That lying hath made Poets and Painters to be blamed and of the garnishing of houses PLato wrote that Poetrie consisted in the cunning inuention of fables which are a false narration resembling a true and that therein they did often manifest sundrie follies of the gods for this cause he banished and excluded them out of his common wealth as men that mingled poyson with honie Besides thorough their lying and wanton discourses they corrupt the manners of youth and diminish that reuerence which men ought to carrie towards their superiors and the lawes of God whom they faine to be replenished with passions vice And the principall ornament of their verses are tales made at pleasure foolish disorderly subiectes cleane disguising the trueth hystorie to the end they might the more delight and for this cause haue they bin thrust out of sundry cities Among other after that Archilocus came into Sparta he was presently thrust out as soon as they had vnderstood how he had writtē in his poemes that it was better to lose a mans weopens then his life forbad euer after al such deceitful poesies Hence grew the common prouerb that al Poets are lyers And it was written of Socrates that hee was yl brought vp to poesie because he loued the truth And a man mought say that this moued Caligula to cōdemne Virgils Homers books because of their prophane fables which S Paul exhorted Timothie to cast away Plutarque telleth of a Lacedemonian who when he was demanded what he thought of the Poet Tirteus answered that he was very good to infect yong mens wits And Hieron of Siracusa condemned Epicarinus the Poet in a great fine because in his wiues presence he had repeated certaine lasciuious verses And Viues writeth that Ouid was most iustly sent into banishment as an instrument of wantonnesse He which first inuented the Iambique versifying to byte and quippe was the first that felt the smart And Archilocus the Poet fell into confusion through his own detractions as Horace and sundry other haue written and Aulus Gellius reporteth that Orpheus Homer and Hesiodus gaue names honours to the gods And Pithagoras saide that their soules hong in hel vpon a tree still pulled of euery side by serpents for their so damnable inuention And Domitian banished Iuuenal and Pope Paul 2. and Adrian 6. held them as enimies to religion Eusebius in his 8. booke first Chapter de Preparatione Euangelica setteth down an example of a Poet who for hauing lewdly applyed a peece of Scripture to a fable suddenly lost his naturall sight and after that he had done penance it was restored to him againe And as touching Painters they haue beene greatly misliked of for representing such fictions Poetical deceits For as Simonides saide Painting is a dumme Poesie and a Poesie is a speaking painting the actions which the Painters set out with visible colours and figures the Poets recken with wordes as though they had in deede beene perfourmed And the ende of eche is but to yeeld pleasure by lying not esteeming the sequele and custome or impression which hereby giue to the violating of the lawes and corruption of good manners For this cause the Prophets called the statuas images and wanton pictures the teachers of vanitie of lyes deceite abhomination And Lactantius writeth that a counterfait tooke the name of counterfaiting and all deceit as wee before declared springeth from falshood and lying This was it which mooued S. Iohn in the ende of his first Epistle to warne men to keepe themselues from images for an image doeth at their fansie counterfait the bodie of a man dead but is not able to yeelde the least gaspe of breath And idolatrie is properly such seruice as is done vnto Idoles Wee reade howe God especially forbad it in the first table and how long the Romanes and Persians liued without any vse thereof and howe the Lacedemonians coulde neuer abyde that an image should stand in their Senate There hath beene in sundrye councels mention made thereof S. Athanasius more at large discoursed thereof in a sermon he made against Idols and S. Augustin in his booke de fide Simbolo and vppon 150. Psalm in his eighth book of the citie of God Damascene in his 4. book 8. C. The occasion of so free passage giuen to Poets is for that their fables slyde awaye easily and cunningly turne them selues to tickel at pleasure whereas the trueth plainly setteth downe the matter as it is in deede albeit the euent thereof bee not verie pleasant Plato in like sort compared the disputes in Poetrie to the banquets of the ignorant who vse Musike in steede of good discourse and in his thirde booke of his commonwealth he forbiddeth Poets or painters to set downe or represent any thinge dishonest or wanton for feare of corrupting of good manners And Aristotle in his Politiques the third booke and 17. Chapter woulde haue all vyle wordes to be banished And Saint Paul to the Ephesians that any vncleannesse foolish iesting or talking shoulde bee once named among them And Tertullian an auncient doctor of the Church called Poets and certaine Philosophers the Patriarches of heretiques This which I haue spoken of must not be vnderstood of Poesies wherein much trueth and instruction is contained nor of pictures which represent the actes of holye and vertuous personages nor of fables taken out of hystories whereof there maye growe some edifying but onely of that which is lasciuious and grounded vpon naughtie argument rendring youth effeminate and men more giuen to wantonnesse pleasures passion vayne opinions then to vertue cleane turning away the honour that is due vnto God or to good edifying for according vnto the commaundement of God Cherubyns were made The admonition which Epictetus gaue to such as were too curious in pictures ought by no meanes to be here forgotten Trim not thy house saith hee with tables and pictures but paint it and guild it with Temperance the one vainely feedeth the eyes the other is an eternall ornament which cannot be defaced The same doeth Plutarque teache in the life of Dion that more
breake the couenaunt of our fathers And it was wisely set downe by an auncient father that vppon whatsoeuer wee possesse we ought to engraue this title It is the gift of God And S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that Loue enuieth not and if ye bite and deuour on an other take heede least yee be consumed one of an other Notwithstanding whosoeuer he be that is already possessed and replenished with this mischeuous vice of enuie he violateth the dispensation of God is himselfe mightily afflicted at the prosperity good of his neighbour whereas he ought to haue reioysed thereat as though hee had beene partaker thereof and euen as if hee were greeuouslie payned in the eyes he is alwayes offended not able to abide any clearenesse or light but gnaweth consumeth himselfe as the rust doth yron This moued Socrates to terme this vice the filth slime impostume of the soule and a perpetuall torment to him in whom it abideth a venum poyson or quicke siluer which consumeth the marow of the bones taking away all pleasure of the light of rest of meate And the wise man in his prouerbs writeth that enuie is the rotting of the bones and in Iob that it slaieth the idiote and in Ecclesiasticus that it shortneth the life and there is nothing worse then the enuious man And in the Pro. that he shalbe filled with pouerty through enuie man is made incōpatible And Plutarke writeth that it filleth the body with a wicked pernitious disposition and charmeth it selfe bewitching darkning the body the soule the vnderstanding For this cause Isocrates wrote to Enagoras that enuie was good for nothing but in that it tormēted thē which were possessed therwith which euil the enuious do no whit at al feele but contrariwise make it an argument of their vertue As Themistocles in his youth said that as then he had neuer done any thing worthy of memory in that there was no man whom he mought perceiue did any ways enuie him And Thucidides was of opinion that a wise man was euer content to be enuied This passion doth often engender enmitie mislike which is flatly forbidden of God except it be against sinne This was the very cause why the Philosophers did giue vs councell to praise our enemies when they did wel and not to be angry when any prosperitie befell them to the ende we mought thereby be the further off from enuiyng the good fortune of our friends And can there be any exercise in this worlde able to carie a more profitable habite to our soules then that which cleane taketh away this peruerse emulation of ielousie and this inclination to enuie a sister germaine to curiositie reioysing in the harme of an other And yet this is still tormented with an others good Both which passions proceede from a wicked roote and from a more sauage and cruell kinde of passion to wit malice And not without cause did Seneca stande in doubt whether enuie were a more detestable or deformed vice And Bion on a time seeing an enuious man sadde demanded of him whether any euill had betide him or good to an other Neither was enuie amisse described by a Poet imagined to be in a darke caue pale leane looking a squint abounding with gall her teeth blacke neuer reioysing but at an others harme still vnquiet and carefull and continually tormenting her selfe And the same Poetes haue written that the enuious were still tormented by Megera one of the Eumenides and furies Megarein likewise in Greeke is as much to saye as to enuie We ought then to consider that a great part of these thinges which we commonly enuie is attayned vnto by diligence prudence care vertuous actions to the end we should exercise sharpen our desire to honor seeke by al means to attaine to the like good without enuie Some report howe Agis K. of Lacedemon when it was tolde him that he was greatly enuyed by his competitors made aunswere They are doubly plagued for both their owne lewdnes doth greatly torment them and besides are greeued at that good which they see in me mine For enuie both maketh the body to be very ill disposed chaungeth the colour of the countenance therefore was it termed the wiche feuer hepticke of the spirite And as Aristotle Pliny wrote that in the mountaine of Care and in Mesopotamia there is a kind of scorpions and small serpents which neuer offende or harme strangers but yet do deadly sting the natural inhabitants of the place so enuie neuer doth exercise it selfe but vpon such as it most frequenteth and is most priuate with And most wisely was it saide of the auncient fathers that the enuious man is fedde with the most daintie meat for he doth continually gnawe on his owne heart and shorten his life and often times is the cause of great sedition and ruyne Hannibal often times complained that he was neuer vanquished by the people of Rome but by the enuie of the Senate of Carthage as also did that great Captaine Bellisare beeing thereby brought to extreme beggerye I doe not exempt hence their fault who when they haue attayned to any science or perticular knowledge that might be profitable and seruiceable to the common wealth will neuer impart the same to any but choose rather to die and let such a gift receiued from God bee buried with them defrauding their successours and posteritie thereof who shall in the end receiue dewe chastisement therefore the only cause of the losse of so many and excellent inuentions CHAP. XXXX How pride ambition vaine boasting and presumption are lying and how all passions leade cleane contrary to what they pretende and who may be termed men of humilitie and of the meanes which contayneth vs therein DIuers haue set down two impediments as chiefe hinderers of the truth to wit despaire presumption And the wise Bion saide that pride kept men frō learning profit And Ecclesiasticus termeth it the beginning of sinne And Philo in his booke of the contemplatiue life sheweth that the spring of pride is lying as the truth is of humblenesse And Aristotle wrote in his morales that the proud boasting man doth faine things to be which indeed are not or maketh thē appeare greater then they are wheras the desebler contrariwise doth deny that which is or doth diminish it but the true mā telleth things as they are indeede holding a middle place between the presūptuous the desēbler as we haue before touched S. Augustine shewed how pride was the beginning of al mischeif vpō S. Mat. entreting of the words of our sauiour he maketh pride the mother of enuie saieth that if one be able to suppresse it the daughter shalbe in like sort And in the 56. Epistle which he worte to Dioscorides he sayth As Demosthenes the Greeke orator being demaunded what was the
Treasorer of Dionisius K. of Sicil was who bragging to Aristippus of the garnishing of his house furniture in al respects the said Philosopher not seeing where he might spit without marring cast his phlegme in the face of this Magnifico telling him that hee sawe nothing lesse filthie CHAP. XLII That Witches southsayers sorcerers vsurers are replenished with lying how a man may exempt himselfe frrm them SOuthsayers Wytches and Astrologers iudging without the compasse of the order of nature haue alwayes beene detested and condemned thorough the whole course of the holie Scripture in that they durst foretell of thinges to come except it were of that which they mought make coniecture of thorough the saide order by long experience and obseruations giuen from hande to hande followinge the ordinarie course of the heauen common rules and as God hath beene accustomed to doe at all times hauing all in his owne hande moderatinge and guyding the course of heauen and the issues of all enterprises as Pindarus wrote that a good husband ought to foresee a tempest many dayes before and sundrie Phylosophers by speculatiue astrologie haue foretolde the dearth and plentie of frutes as shoulde fall out that yeare following the sayde rules and signes which haue beene accustomed to precede and when experience aunswereth to the cause For otherwise they are not able to foretell ought without lying ayding themselues with Arte long experience and reuelation of the diuel the father of lyes to whome they haue whollye abandoned themselues as S. Augustine sheweth in his booke of the citie of God Aulus Gellius writeth that if they foretell any thing that is good and deceiue thee thou shalt attende them but in vaine If they threaten thee mischiefe and lye thou art also miserable fearing in vaine If they aunswere thee according as thou fearest thou art vnfortunate before it happen And if they promise thee happie successe the attending of that hope will so trouble thee holding thee still in suspence that that verie hope will take away the flower and fruite of thy ioye And this proceeding which dependeth of the variable sences of many which obserue it is both harde and false And that iudiciall science is but vaine as Ptolome sheweth it in his Quadripartite adding verie wisely that the opinions of Astrologians are not the decrees of soueraigne Iudges And many yeares passe ouer before one selfe same constellation of heauenly bodyes do againe appeare And the most part of the accidents of this worlde being vnfortunate the knowledge thereof would breede great inconueniences and trauaile Tacitus had reason to write that whatsoeuer dependeth of destenie or the diuine ordināce cannot be auoided albeit it be foretold The which opinion Plutarque is likewise of in the life of Hannibal A man hath enough to doe to digest things present without busying himselfe with future and wee read of great inconueniences that haue ensued too much trust giuen to Prognostications to which some haue attributed the reuolt of Francis Marquisse of Salusses both harmfull to him and all France And to such prognosticators swallowed vp in the gulfe of lying the fable of Icarus is applyed who fell from heauen into the sea because in flying to high his waxen wings were melted Porphiry who greatly esteemed of oracles was yet constrained to confesse that diuels or gods foretold of naturall things by the order of naturall causes which they obserued of things which depended of our will by coniectures taken of our actions but as they are more suddaine then wee and of a more sharpe eyesight so do they preuent goe before vs in such sort that as naturall things are false and humane accidents moueable and vncertaine so are they subiect to lye that is to saye that they cannot foretell any things of vs but what they learne out of our own actions nor of naturall thinges but what they read in the course of nature for neither Angels nor diuels can read in starres that which is not nor in men that which they know not as did the Prophets inspired of God who seeme to haue touched as in a historie whatsoeuer happened more then one hundred yeares after The which causeth vs to admire the mightines and trueth of God creator of the whole worlde Besides what neede wee be so curious to vnderstande what shoulde happen vnto vs when wee can by no meanes auoide it Doeth it not double ones miserie as Demonax sayd Aristotle likewise in the fourth of his Ethicques findeth fault that their cosinages and lyings went vnpunished And the Romanes made sundrie ordinances to banish them Italy as Tacitus writeth yea the lawyer Vlpian sayeth that the cunning man which shall tell any thing of one that stole ought which was lost shall not be quit for an action of the case but shalbe grieuously punished The Greekes also terme a wiche Mantin which approcheth the French word Menteur As touching prophesies which haue bin made through the inspiration of God concerning alterations of kingdōs wee haue alwaies founde them proue true wheras the answers of the Pagans oracles were euer vncertaine obscure as Eusebius declareth Wherefore following the commandement of God the ordinance of France especially the iij estates assembled at Blois the 36. Article sundrie councels which haue excommunicated witches sorcerers we ought to abandon such as lyars and pernitious abusers who are not able to iudge of spirites the houre of death and mariages And it is impietie to be too inquisitiue therein God himself in Leuiticus adiudgeth them to dye and as Eusebius recyteth in his Ecclesiasticall historie the Emperours Augustus Tiberius Galerius and Maximinus caused them all either to be banished or put to death as also they did those priestes which stirred vp to crueltie And Samuel sayde that Rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft And in the second of the Kings Iosiah tooke away them that had familar spirites and the southsayers And in the first of the Chronicles it was imputed vnto Saul for a great transgression which he had committed against the Lord in that he sought asked councel of a familiar spirit And it is written in Ieremy that a sword is vpon the southsayers Other translate it lyars And Isaiah blamed them saith that God wil destroy the tokens of the southsayers turne them into furie commandeth only to take councel of himselfe his word bicause that if we refer not our selues thither the morning wil no more shine vnto vs. Eneas Siluius maketh mention of a vertuous Prince who was verie bountiful to learned men being demanded why he was not so to Astrologers saide that the starres gouerned fooles that wise men commanded them that it apertained only to ignorant Princes to honor Astrologers witches southsayers Scipio as soone as he ariued in his camp did fourthwith banish al sorts of witches tellers
phisician it was not ill gessed of him which said that when a theife is led to hanging the theif goeth before the hangman commeth after It were very requisite that as the emperor Probus promised he would so order iustice that there should be no more neede of cōpanies at armes so that some good king would in such sort tame the malice of men establishe such a discipline that there might be no more proctors nor aduocates but that where anye doubt grew the parties might appeare at an assigned daye howre by bill carrying a cleare demand readily to receiue sentence as almost it is thorough out the world And in all the countries of Zuizerland in the imperial cities there is neither proctors nor lawyers suits are ordinarily dispatched at the first assignation without cost or trouble And truly the natural sence assisted with an vpright conscience ioyned with experience setteth a rule downe for iudgements For France it hath of long time had this Epitheton giuen vnto it that she is the mother nurce of practisers a stranger which made a commentary vpon Ptolome saith that in France is more petifoggers and wasters of paper to be found thē in al Germany Italy or Spaine And Claude of Sessel Archb. of Marseilles in the 15. cha of the monarchy of France saith that there are more there then in all the rest of Christēdom Horace in his Satires maketh mention of a statua of Martia which none durst behold that vndertoke not a good cause It is not my meaning for all this to speake againste a sufficient number of proctors lawiers which are honest of great knowledge discretion which wil not alter the truth nor charge either their owne conscience or their clientes with any goods gotten vniustlye or by cautel nor make thēselues the ministers of a wicked gaine which in smal time is taken againe out of their hands or their heires which possesse it as the holy scripture experience doth teach vs. For other I thinke the prouerb was ment by them that with a white net they cosin other of their wealth For by their writings pleas formalities petifogging they pill the whole countrye as Iuuenal writeth they sel the very sight of their hoods long robes plumming and deuouring vp to their very snowt fethers their poore clients euen to the bones prolong their causes as much as may lye in thē fasten cleane vnto thē as the hop doth vnto the pole And it seemeth that Ieremiah speaketh hereof when he saith As a cage is full of birdes so is their houses full of deceit yet they prosper though they execute no iudgement for the pore For from the least of them euen to the greatest of thē euery one is giuen vnto couetousnes And in Hosea you haue eaten the frut of lies And Micah curseth them that pluck of the skins of the people and their flesh from their bones and work wickednes in their owne imaginations He saith further that the heades iudge for rewardes and are full of rapine and deceit They shal eat and not be satisfied euery man hunteth his brother with a net the best of thē is a briar And in Isaiah you haue eatē vp the vineyard the spoile of the pore is in their houses And wo vnto you which ioyne house to house lay field to field And in truth the facility of arguing scāning and pleading which is in Fraunce is the cause of so manye proctors lawyers and iudges that they grow like hornets and grashoppers which will liue as Plato writeth without doing ought els then sting bite Lycurgus also which by his lawes bannished al superfluity out of Lacedemon toke away practisers and al kind of pleading And we may say with the ancient Poets that Astrea which maintained good lawes by the equity thereof gaue great quiet contentment to euery one is flowne her waies vp into heauen not being able to endure such iniquities and Ate which is the goddesse of al confusion damage disorder troubles wickednes that may alter a state hath succeeded in her place The sayd de Sessel in his monarchie Philip de Comines Gagnin and late M. Bude vpon the pandects haue greatly bewailed the corruption confusion disorder of such petifoggers as the very scumme of Italy and a most dangerous infection CHAP. 45. That it is a lying in Iudges to receaue presentes and what exercise is to required to meet with auarice bying of offices and couetousnes CAto the Censor was of opinion that a man ought not to pray a Iudge or magistrate for any thing being iust or vniust He saide also that iudges captaines or gouernors ought not to enrich thēselues in their charges but with honor good reputation And Aristotle in the 5. of the politiques writeth that nothing is more to be considered in a common wealth then that the lawes should prouide that magistrats be not couetous not bitter for their own commodity And God by his Prophet Isaiah reprehendeth the princes gouernors of his people terming thē theues because they toke presents and praised the faithfull man because he kept back his hand from any present or vnlawfull gaine Polibus also writeth that that the ancient Romanes punished a Iudge by death which receiued any presents And the Emperor Alexander Seuerus caused such to be deposed greuously punished as bought their of sices saiyng they sold dearer in retaile thē they bought in the grosse Which opinion Lewis th 12 the emperor Antoninus sundry other were of and therfore bestowed they al offices by consent of the Senate and after a very carefull consideration had And the Emperor Niger ordained thē wages to the end they might not be a charge to any saying that a iudge neither ought to take nor giue And Plutarque in his politiques teacheth vs that a magistrat ought not to go to the court or common wealth as to a faier to buy sell as some wicked ones haue said that they went to a golden haruest For this cause the Emperor Iustinian in his 8 institution vipraesides in the 24 25 especially forbiddeth all such marchandise corruptiōs of iudges adding that they ought to carrye a fatherly affection towards the people The which likewise was the cause of those ancient lawes which ordained that all magistrats should be called to a reckning render accoūt of whatsoeuer they had don might be accused of euery one if they had taken ought Among the othes of iudges repeated by Demosthenes one was that they shoulde take no present The sentence of Iustinian the emperor ought not to be forgotten auth de iudicibus that all iudges ought to contemne riches and to shew their handes vndefiled to God their emperor king and law which also is to be vnderstood of all counsellors gouernors auth de manda princ And the Poets faining that
how we pul vp the bryars weeds which hinder the good seedes from growing in our gardens yet fewe haue regard to this couetousnes which kepeth the word of God the onely incorruptible seede from being able to take roote choketh it when it would growe Crates finding that the wealth of this world did hinder him frō the studie of Philosophy cast his goods into the sea saying that he had rather drown them then be drowned by them Wee haue before made mention of sundrie other which haue left their goods possessions the better to intend their studie the which poore Pagans wil condemne such as are slaues to their own substance And would to God men would learn that lesson of S. Paul Godlines is great gaine if a man be contented with that he hath For wee brought nothing into the world it is certaine that we can carrie nothing out therfore whē we haue foode raiment let vs therwith be content And sheweth of how many mischiefes couetousnes hath bin the cause And he writeth in the 3. to the Philippians that after that he knew Iesus Christ the great riches which he brought to them which receiued possessed them through faith he then began to account al those things which the flesh was accustomed to glorie in but as losse dong And al such as through reading preaching haue known wel tasted of those goods which God the father by the meanes fauor of his sonne would bestow of vs esteem not of this worldly riches muck but enioy thē as though they enioyed thē not do not set their hearts vpon so friuolous vncertain things as we haue infinit examples in the scripture to declare for as we haue aboue noted the knowledge of spiritual goods maketh vile the price of earthly The desire loue wherof beginneth to vanish as soone as we haue but tasted of the other which are sound permanēt breed true contentmēt Our sauiour Christ is called in Isaiah the Prince of peace that faith which wee haue in him is such as thereby wee haue peace towarde God rest in our spirit And contrariwise couetousnes desires trouble the same for they are vnsatiable infinit they which are possessed with them are accursed like the serpent for that like vnto him they liue with earth therin settle their paradise like Moles For where their treasor is there is their heart their God paradise Let vs consider that very litle wil content a mind which is but desirous of what is necessarie for to entertain it here and if we seek his kingdō the righteousnes therof al temporal things as he hath promised shalbe giuen vnto vs without needing for our further enriching to fashion our selues or do ought against our dutie or honor or rendring our selues too much addicted vnto them It is here wher we ought to vse violence not only if our eye cause vs to offend to plucke it out if our hand or foote cause vs to stumble to cut them off cast them frō vs as our sauiour councelleth vs in the 18. of S. Matth. but to cut off these accursed desires which in such sort presseth downe our harts keepeth thē from not being able to lift vp them selues on high to search out heauenly things as al good Christians ought to do The which I haue the rather amplified besides that which is before contained in the 25 discourse to the end we mought endeuor to diminish these accursed desires which are the cause of so great mischiefs annoyes miseries throughout the world And to make vs to haue lesse occasions to take we may not be too curious in our raimēts banquets buildings for as Cicero writeth if one wil exēpt himself frō couetousnes he must take away riotousnes which is the mother it shalbe very requisite that they by no offices which the Emperor Iustinian thought to be the very beginning of naughtines And the Emperors Theodosius Valentinian ordained that al Iudges gouernors of prouinces should at their entrance into their office sweare that they neither gaue nor promised any thing nor had any wil to giue or cause ought to be giuē also that they shoulde take nothing but their wages And if it were foūd that they had receiued any thing in which it was lawful for euery one to be an informer then paid they quadruple besids the infamie they sustained of periury And the like paine was ordained to him which gaue the brybe I would commend it much more for the weale both of the King realme if the youth mought rather giue themselues to learning discipline and Philosophy or to the Mathematiques diuinitie phisick or some honest trade of marchandise to husband wel their reuenues left vnto them by their ancestors then both dearly foolishly to buy offices to gaine by them pil the poore people That would be a cause both of fewer officers fewer sutes more learned men And for the most part the money which cometh of such a saile turneth into smoke through a iust iudgement of God and often time such purchasers leaue behind them no heires Now the Presidents counsellors Iudges beeing chosen according as the ordinances carie would be much more honored France in more quiet Sabellic recyteth that in the graue Senate of Areopage none was receiued except he had made some notable proofs of his vertue knowledge dexteritie And if any one suffred himselfe to be corrupted impayred he was so ashamed among so many vertuous men that voluntarily he quited his estates absented himself And euery one was aboue fortie yeres of age The holy Scripture attributed the change of the Iewisse common wealth to that they demanded a King founded vppon that the sonnes of Samuel turned aside after lucre and tooke rewards And Dauid said that man was happie which tooke not And our Sauiour bad his disciples giue for nothing what they receiued for nothing Yet wil I not herby restrayne the liberalitie of Princes as wee haue sundrie examples in the scripture it is praise worthie to releeue such as haue neede thereof and to entertaine amitie and reconcile themselues and especially the holy scripture commaundeth vs to giue of our substance to the poore as if it were to God euen to attaine to eternall life Tiberius the second made a notable aunswere to his wife that a man shoulde neuer want wealth while he gaue great almes And that good Bishop Nilus exhorted vs to intertaine the poore because they rendred our Iudge more fauourable vnto vs. Guiciardin in his seconde booke greatlye commended the Venetians because they did not onely encrease the paye to such as had valiantly behaued them selues at the daye of Tournauue but also yeelded pensions and sundrie recompenses to manye of their children which dyed in that battaile and assigned dower to their
that dieteth himselfe prolongeth his life And Socrates was wont to say that there is no differēce between a cholericke man a beast As also Xenophon declareth in his Pedia cōmending k. Cyrus for his sobriety for that he exercised vntill he sweat And in the 2. booke of the deeds sayings of Socrates he aduised a mā neuer to contract amity with any that is too much addicted to their belly to drinking eating sleeping drowsines couetousnes Who will haue pittie on the charmer that is stinged with the serpent As Eccl. writeth lesse pittie then ought ther to be had of him which suffreth himselfe to be throwen down hedlong through pleasure which is said to resēble the theeues of Aegypt called Philistes which euer made much of the people embrased such as they had a mind to strangle And Isocrates called her a traytor deceiuer hangmā cruel beast and tyrant God by his prophet Amos greatly threatned those that loue to liue delicately as also did our sauiour by the example of the wicked rich man And S. August vpon the 41. Psalme alledgeth the old saying that the incontinent mā calleth vpon death As also the prouerbe carieth of a short pleasure cōmeth a long displeasure And there lyeth poyson euer hiddē the hooke is couered with a baite And we must behold thē behind not before as Aristotle coūselleth vs. For plesures seeme very beautiful before as do the Sirenes sundry other monsters but behind they traine a long vgly serpents taile Whordome is also forbidden by god the immoderate vse of the act of venery ought to be shunned as altering drying marring the body weakning all the ioynts mēbers making the face blobbed yellow shortning life diminishing memory vnderstanding and the very heart as Hosea sayth S. Paul in the first to the Thessalonians writeth that the will of God is our sanctification and that we should abstaine from fornication that euerie one should knowe howe to possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence In the first to the Corinthians he exhorteth vs to flye it because he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne bodie that is to say he doth iniurie it profaning and defileth the pouertie and holinesse thereof he sayth further that of the members of Christ we make them the members of an harlot and profane the temple of the holy Ghost and that being bought with great price we are not our owne but Gods and therefore should glorifie him in our bodie and spirite Publicke honestie lyeth there violate and as Cupid was made blinde so do they which are bewitched with this foolish loue stayne and abandone their owne honour wealth libertie and health For this cause Salomon compared the whoremonger to an oxe that goeth to the slaughter and to a foole to the stockes for correction and to a byrde that hasteneth to the snare not knowing that he is in daunger We reade what happened to Dina the Beniamites and Dauid And histories are full of examples of mischiefes which haue ensued thereon And he which committeth that sinne wrappeth and setteth an other as far in and sinneth not alone By Gods lawe adulterie was punished by death Gen. 20. Leu. 22. and according to the ciuill lawe Instit de pub iud Sicut lib. Iulia. de adult lib. in ius C. But to cast off so daungerous a vipor we must craue at Gods hand that he wil bestowe of vs a pure and chast hart that we may liue soberly auoide idlenesse all foule and filthy cōmunication be it by mouthe writing or picture Ezechiel attributeth the sinne of Sodom to fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenes Dauid prayed to God to turne his eyes from vanitie Psalm 119. and Iob said I made a couenant with my eyes why then should I thinke on a mayde And in Gen. 6. the children were blamed that kept not their eyes but looked on fayre women as also did Sichem Gen. 34. and Putifer his wife Gen. 39. and Ammon 2. Sam. 13. Notwithstanding as Isocrates sayde that a lesse labour and greefe is made not to be left through a greater so doe those pleasures which proceede from vertuous and honourable actions as from temperance continencie and other vertues cleane mortifie with their ioye and greatnesse such as come only from the body which engender nothing but gowtes sciaticas cholicques palsies greefes of the stomacke tremblinges leprosies panges vomits inflammations and other daungerous accidents And when we feele heauinesse and wearisomnesse in our members head akes or stitches in our side which for the most part proceed frō crudities lacke of digestion we must not perswad our selues to doe as before and as they say to cach heare from a beast but rest quietly and obserue good dyet and long before to foresee the storme that is at hande And when we goe to visite such as are sicke and vnderstand the cause of their diseases we ought to looke into our selues according to Plato his councell and see whether we commit not the like excesse to the ende we may take heede by an other bodies harme and to stande vppon our gardes and consider howe precious a thing health is And let vs thankefully receiue at Gods hande such instructions as by chastising of vs he sendeth by reason of our intemperancie to the end we may learne to preuent such as may happen vnto vs. And as king Antigonus sayd that sicknesse had warned him not to waxe proude so ought wee to learne to humble our selues and to liue better for that God sendeth that as a meanes as well to vs as other to awake vs and keepe vs within the boundes of our dewetie For vices are as the very proper inheritance of man which wee must seeke to correct taking awaye from goods a vehement couetousnesse and vnbridled greedinesse and from euils feare and sorrowe which come but from conceite the very cause of vnquietnesse and perturbation which putteth me in minde often times of the saying of an auncient father that as the body in health easely endureth both colde and heate and maketh his profit of all kinde of meates so doth the Christian which hath his soule well compounded moderate anger ioye and all other affections which offende both body and soule Hippocrates aboue all thinges recommendeth to a Phisitian that he should well aduise himselfe if in plagues and ordinary diseases he founde nothinge which was diuine that is to saye whether the hande of God were not the proper causes of the sickenesse of the partie diseased For truely he often times sendeth sickenesse for remedies and meanes to withdrawe those whome he loueth from eternall ruyne And to punish such excesse he armeth grashoppers noysome flies wormes frostes windes plagues warre dewes and vapors of the earth As before we declared those thinges which they call euils are as great helpes to
time which is so precious and not able to be againe recouered And in a good beginning we ought to perseuer without loosing courage And forasmuch as meere leasure is the cause of disorders and little honest thoughtes we ought not to spend one bare houre in vaine Many haue counselled youth to exercise themselues in Musicke to employ their time in those harmonies which stirre vp to commendable operations and moral vertues tempering desires greedinesse and sorrowes for so much as rimes melodies consist in certaine proportions and concords of the voyce And so long as this pleasure without wantonnesse allureth them they loose the occasion of deuising any lesse honest sport according to Plato his opinion the seconde of his lawes and eight of his commonwealth and Aristotle in his Politiques lib. 8.3 5. 7. This mooued Architas to inuent a certaine musicall instrument to stay the running wit of children I could here extoll Curius Diocletian Lucullus and sundry other who retyred themselues into a little small farme to the ploughe And Cicinnatus who after he had giuen ouer his Dictatorshippe returned to his plough as did Attilius Calatinus Attilius Regulus and sundrye other who contented themselues with the labour of the field despising all honours The which in my opinion mooued Plynie to write that the grounde tooke pleasure in being ploughed by Emperours Wantonnesse and daintinesse breedeth vexation of minde strange fashions and choler whereas facilitie of manners maketh one content with what he hath in hande and to seeke nothing too exquisite or superfluous I am of opinion that the manner which the Aegyptians helde and long time obserued in carrying vp and downe the hall at feastes a dryed anatomie of a dead mans bodie and shewing it vnto the companie thereby admonishing men to remember that in short time they should be a like was to make men more sober and temperate And sundry before time haue written that the diseases of the body be not to be feared so as the soule be sounde the health whereof consisteth in the good temperature of powers couragious or wrathfull coueting and reasonable she being the reasonable mistresse and bridling the two other as two furious and vnbroken coltes For as wee are curious to preserue the health of our bodie through the receites which are giuen and prescribed vnto vs by Phisitians or experience and so abstayne from meates and excesse which may offende or alter the same it is more required at our handes to remayne in the trueth and to haue a greater desire and care to preserue the health of our soules diligently obseruing all the rules which God the souerayne Phisitian of all prescribeth vnto vs and taking great heede on the other side that we shunne and auoyde whatsoeuer he hath forbidden And if we be carefull to seeke out those remedies which nature art and experience present vnto vs to preserue the health of our bodie much more ought wee to drawe and sucke out of the holy scriptures and histories that which formeth dresseth teacheth aduiseth reformeth and healeth the most noble and excellent part of vs which prepareth and strengtheneth vs at all assayes to receiue and carie with great contentment hope God assisting whatsoeuer may befall vnto vs in this life CHAP. XLVII What we ought to iudge of certaine examples of lying WE haue before recited the maxime which Vlysses in Sophocles would teach the sonne of Achilles as a matter very necessarie neuer to bee ashamed to lye when a man may reape profit thereby as also we put in vre what Plato permitted to Magistrates and Phisitians to lye so some other benefit mought be reaped for the scriptures and Doctors of the Church forbid all kinde of lying as well to great as to small And none ought to saue his corporall life to loose his spirituall And such helpe as we ought to minister vnto our neighbour ought to be without offence to God by iust vpright and honest means A man must not in like sort doe euill in hope of good And as touching that kinde of lying which is called ioyfull or offycious it discouereth it selfe easely doth no great harme Now to satisfie what may be obiected of the ly which the midwiues of the Hebrewes made and of Rahab which hid the spies of the children of Israell of Iacob which saide he was Esau and of other places which seeme to derogate from the truth S. Augustine sayth that as touching the midwiues we ought not so much to respect the lie as the fayth which they had in God and the affection and mercie which they shewed vnto the children of Israell In the rest wee are to consider the will of God and that they haue beene moued thorough the holy Ghost to foretell like Prophets what God had ordayned for his glory And when he willeth a thing then is sinne cleane excluded and what may seeme vnto men most vniust is in respect of our soueraine Lorde most iust Constance the father of Constantine the great made proclamaton that all Christians should giue ouer their offyces and lyuing which the good did and went from the court but such as were but in name gaue ouer their religion The sayde Emperour shortly after caused all those to be called home agayne which were departed and droue away the rest saying that if they were not faythfull to God they would not be to his seruice The like was doone by Iehu who after he had summoned all the Priests of Baal as though he would reestablish their idolatrie put them all to the edge of the sworde and made a iakes of their temple Yet ceased he not to worship the golden calfes We ought then to admire the sayinges and deedes of great personages and not to imitate them in what is not conformable to the rule which God hath prescribed or wherein they shall fayle like men and to followe the counsell giuen vnto vs by S. Paul to trie all things and holde that which is good CHAP. XLVIII Of the meanes how to render a nation true and happie and of the bringing vp of youth ALbeit that sundry of those meanes may bee perceiued by that which we haue before touched yet by reason of their importance to be meete with sundry inconueniences which happen I thought good to set forth more at large howe the very fountayne of all trueth godlines bountie iustice pollicy and vertue proceedeth frō a naturall good and that thorough the carelesnes of heads Magistrates guiding their affayres by hazard without any foresight according to the humor of mē which in all time haue halted in their dutie youth neuer hauing receiued good bringing vp corruption hath in euery place mightely increased For as Isocrates wrote in his Areopagiticke it is not great reuenewes nor riches nor lawes ordinances which make a citie quiet and happie but the good nourture of youth which being ill brought vp maketh no account
children then verie necessitie requireth for they shal verie much esteem that which is sufficient if thou hast wel brought them vp and if they be ignorant then wil they haue lesse care feare and occasion to do euil The which Phocion practised refusing the presents of Alexander as Plutarque writeth Let vs then consider that knowledge is not laid open to fortune as are richesse the which are verie often possessed by the wicked nor mutable as glorie nor coÌ„meth by discent as nobilitie nor of smal lasting as beautie nor changeable as health nor decayeth diminisheth as strength but encreaseth with time is not vanquished by warre as Stilpon tolde K. Demetrius And the Laconien scholemaster aunswered verie well that he would make the noble gentleman which was his pupil to sport himself in things honest iust true and to be offended at vnhonest vniust lyes For maners being through discipline well composed within are the verie fountaine whence al contentment proceedeth And children are by custome trayned into the waye of vertue And the Pithagoriens lesson seemeth vnto mee to bee very wise Choose the best way custome shal make it agreeable pleasant vnto thee The Komanes had a good custome to place their children with those whom they would haue them to imitate And in France there is great account made of one which hath bin brought vp as a page to some valiant and wise gentleman Cirus in the end of the 7. booke of Xenophon desireth euery man to giue a good example to children because if they see no vncomlines they shalbe enforced to follow goodnes and vertue be fit for al things A King of Sparta answered him wisely which asked what children ought to learne That said he which they ought to doe when they are men he told another that they were to learne to knowe how to obey to commaund We must then more studie to fil the vnderstanding then the memorie not onely to haue a care to besprincle the soule with knowledge but to make it grow perfect and learne by studie not of the tongues but of wisedome courage and resolution to auoide the baytes of pleasure and to throwe downe with an inuincible courage the threates of Fortune and death to be sounde and short in discourse to render themselues and quite their force to trueth as soone as they shall perceiue it without beeing too stubborne that their conscience sinceritie and vertue be manifested in their wordes and deedes that in companie they cast their eyes rounde about and in themselues controll the manners of eche one to followe the good and contemne the wicked And they ought not to let one worde or sentence fall to ground without putting it in their tables to make their profite thereof as Bees drawe honye out of sundry flowers so learning the discourse of Phylosophie they shall cleare the tempestes of Fortune They must also take away strangenes and partialitie enimies to societie and apply the supple bodies to all kinde of fashions customes companies to bee able to doe all thinges but louing to doe but what is good And if they goe to the warre to feare nothing but God and an euil renowne To learne to combate with the enemie and aboue all things to obey their head as Caesar in his commentaries desired the French to doe To accustome themselues to endure paine colde and heate to lye harde to assault well and to keepe a forte The cheefe care which Kinges and gouernours ought to take is of the honour of God and maintainance of his Churche and nexte of pollicie and iustice followinge the lesson of our Sauiour in seekinge the kingdome of God and then whatsoeuer is necessarye for them shall bee giuen vnto them Nowe the kingdome of God is the Church of the faithfull the seede whereof is youth which is consecrated to God thorough baptisme vnder the Churche Then this seede ought to bee well husbanded and kept from weedes which might choake it that the eares may bee gathered full of graine It is an olde saying that hee which hath begunne well hath halfe ended The beginning is in the first youth whence the good Bourgesses Magistrates and gouernours doe spring And there is greate aduauncement and hope to bee looked for in that place where youth is well brought vppe in godlynesse and honestie For this cause Aristotle in the ende of the seuenth of his Politiques would haue them turne their eyes and eares from all iniuries fowle and vndecent actions and communication And the more that we see all thinges to impayre good manners subuerted wickednesse couetousnesse ignoraunce and vniustice not by stealth but publickely and without shame to runne their course of which our predecessours greatly complained and wee complaine of at this daye and it is verie likely that they which come after vs shall rewe it the more regarde ought we to haue that the nurcerie of our posteritie which is the youth may be taught to liue soberly and iustly not so much to speake well as to liue well to the ende that what the vessel beeing newe hath once beene seasoned with it may long keepe the sent thereof as Horace writeth And there is no doubt but that man being desirous to knowe and encline to vertue from his birth if by a good guyde he bee vntill the last yeare of his adolescencie kepte and defended from the snares which the delightes of sences and pleasures drawe with them his vnderstanding beeing once fortified thorough good instructions shall after of himselfe bee so well rooted in the loue of knowledge vertue and the feare of God that it shalbee verie harde euer after to withdrawe him The which was the cause that the Lacedemonians aunswered Antipater that they woulde rather dye then giue him their children whiche hee demaunded for hostages so great account made they of their education This felicitie and happinesse as Aristotle sheweth in the ende of his Ethickes dependeth principallye of the grace of God of a good reformation of the liberalitie magnâ—â—cence bountie and courtesie of Princes which heereby prouoke and pricke forwarde the aduauncement of Artes and of good wittes as contrariwise they languish and cleane decaye thorough the ignorance enuie couetousnesse tyrannie and stubbernesse of such as gouerne and thorough great disorder and corruption I haue before touched the inconueniences and mischiefes which happen in France by reason that the nobilitie is not trayned vp in learning And not without cause the greate King Francis said that it greatly grieued him that the gentlemen of his Realme gaue themselues no more to studie and learning to the ende he mought haue prouided for them the cheefe offices of the long robe thinking that thereby hee shoulde haue been better serued both in his gouernmentes and warres And that great Captaine Bayart aunswered him that asked him the difference betweene a learned man and an ignorant as much as betweene a Phisition and a patient
Sam. 16.7 Isaiah 29.13 Iob. 8.13 The dutie of maÌ„ tovvards God Diogines Confession of sinne a remedie Ad pop ho. 24. Psal 32.2 Iohn 18.37 1. Iohn 2.1 Rom. 6.18 1. Thess 4.4 1. Cor. 6.19 Ieremiah 5.3 Iames. 2.20 Luke 1.75 Titus 2.11 1. Iohn Psalm 130.4 De la. vita be 1. ch 6. The effectes of good vvorkes 2. Pet. 1.10 Mat. 5.16 1. Timoth. 1. 2. Cor. 9.2 Gal. 5.22 Ephes 4.4 1. Thes 5.22 Cantie 5.3 Integritie of life required in a ChristiaÌ„ Col. 3.1 Phil. 4.5 2. Tim. 2.1 Phil. 4.8 Cor. 7.1.2 Ephes 4.20 Tit. 8.16 Mat. 7.20 Col. 1.10 Hinderances to the trueth Charitie De doct ch lib. 1. car 23. Man is not onely borne for him selfe Nilus a bishop Tvvo sortes of Christians Isaiah 52. Psal 4.1 119. God is blasphemed and dishonored by our vvickednes The crueltie of the Spaniards tovvardes the Indians AduertismeÌ„t to amende our life Godly exercise Mat. 25 34. 2. Cor. 9.8 1. Tim. 6.18 Exod. 18 21. VVho ought to be rulers Exod. 27.30 VRIM Pythagoras Demosthenes Pythagoras Epaminondas Pyndarus Pyrrhus Fabritius Bishops in time past Zachar. Psal 38.56.135 Isaiah 54. Demonar King Iohn Titus Liuius Attilius Regulus Antiochus Ptolome Epiphanes Popilius Cato Custome of the Romains Scipio Asiaticus A good aduise of a liar reiected Artabanus iudge of the controuersie betvvene Xerxes and Ariamenes Parlement of Paris Lether money Cyrus Zonare VVherein a princes treasor most consisteth King Francis 1. Henry 2. Princes trevv and keping their promise beloued of their subiectes King Pharamonde named Warmond Xenephon Faithâ— of princes Isocrates Marcus Antonius Faith once broken of vvhat importance King Attalus Caesar Cicinnatus Augustus The Romans performers of their promises Ioshua 9 20. VVhen faith is broken Remedie Nice shamefastnes Zeno. Notable examples not to grant that is vniust Rutilius Agesilaus Alexander Frederick Sigismond The punishment vengeance vpon such as broke their faith 2. Kings 25.7 Caracalla Iustinian Cleomenes Ladislaus Cardinal Iulian. Frenchmen Adrian Pope Alexander 6. Pope Iulius 2. Pope Andronicus Conneus Loys Sforce Michael Paleologue Charles duke of Burgondy Gregorie 7. Pope Rodolph Emperour Christierne king of Danemarke Richard the 3. king of England Boccace Cato Cardinal Caraffe Troubles caused by religion Hovv a man may dispense vvith a promise Nevv matters straÌ„ge nevv and strange counsell l. 6. de iurieur Iudges 11.30 Alexander L. placuit L. de iudi Necessitie the mother of dispensations The effectes of trueth Ezech. 2.6 Zecha 8.3 5.8 Poneropolis a citie builded by k. Philip. Praise of Frenchmen 1. Dec. l. 5. Rhenanus Agathius Odo Regino Chron. l. 1. v. 32. Frenchmen preferred before Almaine Frenchmen blamed Plato Lavves not to be altered The counsel of the Persians Daniel 6.8 Ester 8 8. Diodorus Demosthenes Marseilles Paler l. 2. ch 15. Paulus Aemilius Plato Xenophon Change a matter dangerous Titus Liuius Aristotle Plato Hydra Orpheus I. in rebus de consta princi Bernarde Galba Emperour Plutarque Pausanias Solon Nomothetes in Greece Thucidides Gellius l. 12. cap. 1. Colum l 2. c. 4. Plato 4. de legibus Deâ—ad 4. Terence Solon l. 2. c. 3. de baptis com Don. Policie in a Prince Plutarque Tacitus Titus Liuius Cicero Hipocrates Guychardine a true vvriter iustifieth the Frenchemen condemneâ—h the Venetians The inconstancie of strangers Auentin Crans Italian Prudence Italian vvriters not of credit Ierosme Beuzo Of dansing â— 3. c. 8. Prou. 4.26 â— aut damnat de panis Heb. 11.25 Prou. 6.27 Isaiah Dancing condemned by the doctors of the church Basil Chrysostome S. Ambrose Augustine Inconueniences happened by dancing K. Charles 6. Origen Plutarcke Iudg. 21.23 Council 30. 33. Exod. 16.29 31.13 Deut. 5.14 Leuit. 23.3 Heb. 3.11 4.3 1. Cor. 5.8 Isaiah 66.23 VVhy holy daies be ordained Coloss Isaiah 58.13 Prophaning of holy daies Math. 12.36 Isaiah 1.14 Amos 5.21 8.10 Antisthenes Pleas and Saytes Chilo All nations noted of vice and imperfections Ciuill vvarres Choler and headines enemies to good counsell Throughly to consider of our deliberations and enterprises Iphicrates Exercise of vvhat efficacy and force The ende of the birth of man Pro. 21 5. 29.20 Constancye Iustice Temperance Good counsell causeth good succes Criminall causes l. 3. ch of the vvarreof the Ieuves Li. 2. ch 16. Patience Li. 4. ch 1. Choler A custome to euill most dangerous Fabius surnamed the linguerer Scipio To estrange our selues froÌ„ filthy talke company Eph. 5 4 Tit. 2. Tim. 5. Eccles 7 2. Eccles Cassiodorus lib. 5. Not to much to loue ones selfe Isocrates Basil Commen li. 7 Obedience Thucidides Dammages in vvarres VVarly discipline Aucthors of vvarre punished VVarre vnnecessarie Murther Archidamus Xenophon Augustus Study in learning Xenocrates Socrates Of the soule and bodie Theophrastes Plutarque Dissolutnesse To refraine our concupiscences Prouer. Monsters subdued Reuenge forbidden Mat. 5.5 Ioh. 4.20 Not to differ Alexander Diligence of Caesar Religion Eph. 4 14. Heb. 13.6 Philosophers despisers of the vvorlde Christians Nature contented vvith litle Possidonius Mans life coÌ„pared to a game at draughts Not to care for to morrovve Vessels in heauen ful of desteneis VVhat profit ensueth the contempt of riches and pleasures Pheraulas Anacreon Zeno. Philoxenes Seneca Anacharsis Scipio Epaminundas Camillus Hope of the Christians Hosea 11. Rom. 8.28 Eccles 39.27 Cicero Plato 2. King 4.41 Exod. 15.25 Exod. 3.2 VVordly accidents hovv easie to be borne Rom. 8.33 Iob. 5.18 ContentmeÌ„t and trevve riches A publique solemne prayer changed by Scipio Antiochus Philip K. of Macedon God doth depriue vs of such thinges as vve are to far in loue vvith for our ovvne good Mat. 6.20 The meane is to be kept both in prosperity and adversitie Iudges 14.8 The abuse of gifts and graces of God True riches in heauen Ecclesiast Psal 112.7 The benefit of aduersitie Pouertie a singuler gift of God Riches an occasion of the ruine of many Prou 2. 14 Men more giuen to naughtines then goodnes Ierem. 32.41 Hosea 2.6 Affliction the saulce of prayer A wise man in eache fortune behaueth him selfe alike Content with little Chrisostome To what ende welth serueth Apollonius Goodnes and riches seldome coupled together Diogenes Seneca Matth. 5.3 Prosperitie doubted and suspected K. Amasias S. Ambrose S. Ierom. S. Chrisostom Exod. 12.26 13.8 14. Deut. 4.25 6.7 7.3 Eph. 6.4 The instruction of children commaunded Moral vertues ComoÌ„ schooles erected Alexander Commines Leo Emperour Guichardin li. 10. Sophronistes Learning Praise of scilence and few wordes Pithagoras his scholers Lycurgus the law giuer of the Lacedemonians The answer of K. Francis the great Cato Piso Geese Cranes and quailes Calisthenes Simonides Xenocrates Apollonius K. Philip the faire K. Francis 1. Zeno. Speach hardly tempered Alexandridas Cleomenes Philip king of Macedon Prou. 17.27 Harpocrates Angerona Pembo Psal 39.1 Custome obserued in receiuing a Cardinall Amb. lib. 2. de virgin Metallus Charles 8. Antigonus K. Lycimachus Prouerb 25.3 Eccl. 27.16 Alexander Ephestion Pompey Anacharsis
Diodorus Valerius Soranus K. Seleucus A vvord escapeth the mouth returneth not Fuluius Qu. Curtius lib. 4. Amasis king of Egypt The tong the best and vvorst peece of the body Prou. 13.3 The seat and piece of the tongue Homer Phocion spoke better then Demosthenes Pericles Zeno Drunkennes subiect vnto much babling The Pie consecrated to Bacchus Eccle. 22 Cato of the Greekes and Romanes Caesar Comment lib. 6 Counterfaite nevves To be silent is dangerous Circumstances of time and place to speake By friends enemies truth is discerned from falshood Xenophon Philip King of Macedon The profite vvhich men reap by their enemies Scipio The profite of friendes Euripides Diogenes Amitie Menander Eccles 6.16 Pithagoras Plato Loue of it selfe is blind The similitude of Demosthenes To be warned by our freindes Knowledge of histories necessary for princes To take couÌ„sell of the deade Caesars commentaries translated by the commauÌ„dement of Selim The loue the weomen of Bavire bare to their husbandes The monuments of our auncestors inflame vs to vertue Themistocles awaked through the trophees of the Miltiades Feare of blame and dishonor causeth the wicked to refraine Custome of Aegipt Diod. lib. 2â— cap. 3 Charlemagne Songs containing the high enterprises of vertuous persons Bardes Tyme left Fables and olde vvyfes tales Prudence required in reading histories All prophane authors write not trulie A reader of histories must not be too quicke of beliefe nor too credulous The holy Scripture the rule of all thinges VVhat vvriters soonest to be credited Enemies enuying the frenche Affections passions of men staine the trueth Not to iudge things according to the euent To make conquests assured Comment li. 6 Men differ from beasts by reason Cassiod lib. 1. Causes of losses More laudable to keepe then to gette Vse practise Aug. cap. 131 mor. epise Mens vvritings in all points can not be true The beginninges and motife causes of al things as to be considered To prayse and thanke God for our good successe Rom. 15.4 VVhatsoeuer is vvritten ought to serue for one learning Examples Mutations is common vveales This life but a sorrovvfull exile Prases deceaue men Statuas throvvne dovvne and broken Honours refused by Theopompus Niger Bracidas Antigonus Sigismond Iustinian Titus Fabritius Timoleon Antisthenes Galien Offices and dignities called charges Honours Glory The temple of glory adioyning to that of vertue Epictetus Cicero Salomon Ecclesiasticus 10. Marius Maiestie pictured Cato A knight Maximilian Honour to be accepted Youth stirred vp to vertue through praise Pope Iohn 23 Themistocles Remedy against praise and glorie Psal 62.9 144.4 Plutarque Gracchi Demosthenes The Lye Titus Fabius Ecclesiasticus Plato Cato Lucretia A good conscience K. Demetrius Marius VVarly discipline Vengeaunce reserued to god Trueth in Policies and gouernments Ierem. 3. Luke 1. Phil. 3.8 Philosophers of olde tyme haue not attained to the light of the trueth Tales The ignoraÌ„ce of the Philosophers Mans soueraigne good The Philosophers coÌ„forts Holy scripture Psal 119. Homers Nepenthes Seneca Horace reproued Phylosophie the loue of wisedom Aristotle reprehended Physis Iob. The lyfe of the Paganes The promises of God are certaine Chrysostome Rom. 1.22 The lamentation of Socrates Iob. 14.6 Sophisters Lib. 10. Cap. 2 de ciuit Dei Against Atheists and Epicures VVhy God ordained princes Kings children Scipio K. Lewys 11. K. Lewys 12. Dyonisius the tyrant of Sicil The coÌ„plaint of Gordian Dyoclesian Emperours Hester 16.6 Flatterers coÌ„pared to the Syrenes K. Antiochus Eugenes pope K. Lewys the grosse K. Lewys 12. Ptolome Charles the 4 and 5. Seleucus Adrian Pope Traian emperour Homer 2. iliad An arte of great difficultie to commaunde and rule vvell Dioclesian The miserable lyfe of tyrants vvicked princes Wisd 17.10 Guichard lib. 1 of Naples Plutarque Demosthenes The duety of a good prince Claudius emperour Dispensing vvith holy ordinances Comment lib. 7 L. 5. Si contra ius L. 5. de Thesau L. x. C. Selling offices Suppressing of offices Frontiers highe vvayes Superfluous ordinances Offices requiring great vvisedome Equalitie to be obserued 2. Cor. 15. Edicts of religion made for necessity Christians in Turkie The Edict of the emperour Charles the 5. at Ausbourgh Ferdinando Maximilian Philibert D. of Savoy Demosthenes Acts. 5.38 Tvvo things vvhich subuert empyres Pensions to Straungers Alexander seuerus Traynes of princes Galba Seneca Cassiod lib. 4. Tiberius Pertinax Money The testameÌ„t of K S. Lewys Iulian the emperour pardoneth the Alexandrians The bulle of the supper The instructions Basil gaue to his sonne Leo emperour Agesilaus contrary to many Tyrants The holy ordinance of Antony emperour The oth the emperours tak at their coronation Procurers generall Conduits of cities Guardes not necessarie for good Kings L. 4. c. 4 l. 9 c. 21. 〈◊〉 ciuit Dei K. Philip de Valois Arist lib. 3 c. 6 Theodosius Melchisedec Abimilec The causes of the alteration of states The Condition of princes vncertain Psal 107.40 Iob. 12.18 Deut. 18 11 Leuit. 20.6 Ier. 15.4 Tirannical Licence Flatterers of Court Micheas 2.3 Caligula his vvishe Horat. ode 2. lib. 3. Dyonisius Damocles Seuerus Ouinius Varus 1. Sam. 8.11 Deioces Theodosius Fortune like a glasse Isocrates Theopompus Solon Titus Apollonius Cinike People yealding their right The othe princes take at their coronation The cause of the creation of kings Agesilaus Kinges giuen of God Dan. 2.21 Pro. 8.16 Iob. 13.18 2. Chron. 9.8 1. Sam. 9.2 Sa. 6 21. 1. Chron. 19. 2. Kings 19.11.20.35 Polit. lib. 5. ch 21. 3 ch 7. The oth of Christian princes Zonar lib. 3. cap. 11. Ioshua 1.8 Kings of Lacedemon Rom. 13.1 Deuter. 17. 2. Sam. 6. Pericles Iustinian Antiochus K. Philip. K. Artaxerxes The life of princes a rule Isocrates In Cassiodorus Claudian Hos 4.9 Xenophon â—ib 2. Polit. ch 12. Plynye Q. Cursius Anthony Theodoricus 2 A landable custome of S. Lewys and other kings Deuter. 17.19 Iob. 8.8 Pro. 1.35 11.14 24 6. Councell Thucidides K. Charles the vvyse K. Lewys 11. Princes who euer had especiall care to retaine about their persons such as vver the vvisest to couÌ„sell them the better in the managinges of the affairs of their kingdomes Platoes image exected Theodosius councelled by S. Ambrose L. digna vo â— A vvise prince rendreth him selfe subiect to lavves Zaleueus Charondas Manlius K. Antigonus Nothing lavvfull that is not honest Plato Tacitus lib. 3. Diod. lib. 2. c 2. Good lavves are the soules of common vvealths Traian Faithful and true freinds most profitable Naughtie foolish ministers to princes very pernitious Xenophon Mignions of courte A good admonition of Charles 8. Meanes to meete vvith the auarice of the Courtiers Basil emperour of Constantinople The ordinances of the kings of France Trop donne soit repete The Larum of the K. of Persia Surnames of good Kings Alexander Spartianus Suetonius Lampridius Garneades The image of Osyris Kings kisse the booke of the holy Euangelists The picture of Pallas Nobility ought to be learned Charles 5. Paulus
Agesilaus certaine refreshinges of corne foule comfits baked meates and other exquisite fare and most daintie wine He tooke the corne only and commanded such as brought it to carry away the rest as a thing which hee had no neede of but in the end thorough the great instancie which they made vnto him he tooke them and willed them to make diuision thereof among the slaues telling them that it was not meete for such as made profession of valor and prowesse to receiue such nice daynties and that which is proper and serueth to a seruile nature ought not to agree with such as are of a franke free courage A Lacedemonian answered one that wondered howe he could liue so sparingly considering he was of such wealth that it was an honest matter when one hauing great store of riches could notwithstanding liue according vnto reason and not appetite And Archidamus tolde one that had promised to giue him excellent wine that that would serue but to make one drinke more and become lesse man Too much sleeping also fatteth and diminisheth the spirits of life and of time And not without cause sayd a Philosopher that it annoyed the bodie the minde and all businesse except it were moderated to suffice nature egalling our felicitie with an other miserie and that like vnto a tole gatherer it tooke away the halfe part of our life And if as Plutarke Varro and Plinie wrote to liue is to watch then they which sleepe doe not properly liue as they write of Epaminondas who after that he had killed one of his souldiers that was set to watch because he founde him sleepinge aunswered that he left him in the same estate he founde him in Frō whence I imagine the custome first grewe of which I spake before to awake the Kinges of Persia and Macedonia earely to put them in minde to take care of that which God had committed vnto their charge Hesiodus describeth vertue vnto vs to be enuironed with sweate watching and great trauaile And we see that sluggishnesse maketh both mind and bodie to languish And if the ayre in which we liue and the waters were not tossed with windes there would be nought else but corruption Quintus Cursius writeth of Alexander and of the Lacedemonians and Titus Liuius of Hannibal and the Carthaginians that they which were not able to be ouercome and vanquished by their enemies and infinite harmes which they endured were notwithstanding cleane destroyed through delights and pleasures And the Poets wrote of Perseus that through the ayde of Minerua he cut off Gorgons head which turned men into stones vnderstanding therby that Princes through wisedome haue surmounted pleasures which make men as blockish as images And we see by experience that the poore hath this aduantage ouer the rich that they are exempt frō pleasure The which Curius Corancanus wel knowing when it was told thē that some referred all to plesure said wold to god that the Samnites Pirrhus had bin as wel perswaded herein to the end that giuing thēselues to pleasure they mought more easely haue bin vanquished And many haue sayd that all pleasure was followed by enemies it is to be coniectured that it was not thorough folly that sundry emperors haue made al the spider cobwebs through out the citie of Rome to be gathered heaped togeather created a Senate of weomen led their armies to the sea shore to gather cockles as though there were want of enimies to stand catching of flies but it was to auoide idlenes rather to occupie their souldiers in such trifles toyes then quarels to sel smoke rather thē to do worse which likewise as Plinie wrote moued thē which builded those so wonderfull Pyramides where about one of thē 300. and threescore thousand men wrought the space of 20. yeares yet he writeth that their remēbrance was clean lost which spent so much treasure and time in such vanities And it had bin much more commendable to haue bestowed that time expence in matters profitable to the common wealth Gelon after that he had vanquished the Carthaginians led the Siracusians often times into the field to labour and plant as well as to warre to the end to enrich their lande and that they should not waxe worse in doing nothing The auncient prouerbe carieth that the Gods sell riches vnto men for their trauayle So following Galens counsell who so would be in health ought to liue soberly and to take paynes except he will cosen him selfe as we see that all thinges alter except they be put in vse A great Lorde tolde Kinge Alphonsus that hee toyled too much to whome hee aunswered thinkest thou that God and nature haue giuen handes vnto Kinges in vayne And if they desire to liue in health why should they seeke the contrarie thorough idlenesse and delightes As Salomon teacheth in his Prouerbes Ease slayeth the foolishe and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them Our forefathers counselled vs to exercise our bodie and minde equally togeather as a couple of horses sette in a coach togeather And Zenon was woont to saye that the life of schoolers that is to saye of such as are giuen to idle studie dyffereth not from the voluptuous and Epicurians For knowledge and studie ought as well to profitte other as ones owne selfe And for as muche as idlenesse draweth to vnprofytable and dishonest games heere were a verye good place to shewe the mischiefes noysomnesse blasphemies and cosonage that they carie with them and to prayse Chilon the Lacedemonian who returned from Corinth without deliuering what he had in charge because he found the gouernors playing at dice. And it were very requisite that the good ordinaunces which are made therefore were well obserued The which Alphonsus forbad to those in his court and to all his subiectes not permitting them to playe vnder a great forfaiture And in Turkie he was noted of great infamie which played for money and greeuous paines are appointed if he returne to it againe Sundrye haue written that King Cyrus to punish them of Sardes commanded them to passe away their time in playes and banquets therby to render them lesse men and keepe thē from rebellion It were very requisite that all playing at chance and hazard were banished out of France as well in deed as they are by the edictes by the lawe Martia sundry other Euery man may see how many young gentlemen haue beene cleane vndon by playing at cardes and dice by gluttonie drunkennesse whordome expences and excesse which proceede thereof I will not for all that mislike honest pastime and yet we ought to be sorrie with Apelles if we scape a day without drawing a line or with Cato the Censor if through negligence we haue neyther done nor learned any thing that is good and at night call all our actions to account and see what losse we haue made of the