he woulde neuer sitte in that seate where he mighte doe no more for his fréendes than for his foes Ex Plutarcho in Lacon Chrysippus being demaunded whye he woulde beare no office in the common wealth Answeared bicause that if I rule not well I shall displease God but if I rule as I shoulde doe the people will be offended Brusonius Lib. 3. cap. 5. Socrates was wonte to saye that it was a shame to sée that wher as in handy craftes no manne taketh anye thing in hande wherein he hathe not benetraded yet in administration of the common wealth oftentimes many are made officers whiche wotte but very little what belongeth thereto Ex Eras lib. 3. Apoth Antisthenes willed his Citizens to set Asses to ploughe and when they aunsweared that Asses were not apt to that laboure what matter is that quoth he For you make many Officers in the common wealth which neuer learned the manner thereof and yet when you haue made them they serue the turne wel inough Meaning that it was a thing muche more absurde to make an vnskilfull man a magistrate than to sette an Asse to ploughe Brusonius Lib. 6. cap. 5. Ex Laertio Lib 4. Cap. 1. When the regall Diademe shoulde be sette on Antigonus his head before it was put on he sayde these woordes O noble though vnhappie crowne if a mā knewe howe full of trouble and misery thou arte he would not take thée vp albeit he founde thee lying in the streate Max. Valerius lib. 7. cap. 2. Ex Stobaeo serm 46. Alphonsus the mightie king of Arragon vsed to say that Magistrates oughte as muche to excell priuate personnes in life and conuersation as they d ee in dignitie and vocation Meaning that the life of the subiects shal best be reformed when Princes and others giue others example of theyr godly and vertuous liuing As by this story folowing may appeare Ex Panorm lib. 6. Cato being Censor in Rome was so seuere a punisher of transgressoures and so feared for his good and vertuous liuing that like as children in the schole hearing their master comming runne vnto their bookes so when he wente through the citie euery one ranne vnto his businesse Who when he tooke any euill doer he strayghtewayes imprisoned him and in steade of examination the first thing he tooke hold of was their hands which if they had bene laborious and full of harde knots though his crime were very gréeuous yet his chastisemēt was mitigated and made more easie but if the vnhappie prisoner chanced to haue idle hands that is softe and smoothe he shoulde for a small faulte haue greeuous punishment For the Romanes had this prouerbe he that hath good hands muste néedes haue good conditions Ex Marco Aurelio The sayde Alphonsus also called effites and dignities touchstones to try the natures and dispositions of men which can in nothing be so well perceiued as in promotion and dignitie Ex Panormita de rebus gestis Alphonsi li. 6. Of Misfortune and miserie of man. CRates sayde that what state soeuer man follow he shall be sure to finde bitternesse therin In the field labour at home cares in a strange countrey feare if he haue ought in youth folly in age weaknesse in mariage vnquietnesse in lacking a wife sollitarinesse If a man haue children he shall haue cares if he haue none he is halfe maymed so that one of these two sayth he is to be wished either not to be borne or quickly to dye Xerxes séeing Helespontus swimming with his ships and all the playnes therabout mustring with his mē said that he was a right happie man therwith began bitterly to wepe Which soden alteratiō Artabanus his vncle espying wondred and demanded the cause therof Oh quod Xerxes now I remember howe short transitorie mans life is For sée of so great a multitude as here is within this hundred yeres there shal not be one man aliue Ex Plut. in Rom. Apoth When Philip king of Macedonie had subdued Cheronea a citie of Athens and thereby hadde purchased innumerable wealth he began to be hautie and high minded saying that fortune hadde no power to doo him harme But afterwardes béeing aduertised that his pride woulde haue a fall and howe vayne a thing man was he kepte a boy euery day to come to hys chamber doore and with a loude voyce to cry Remember Philip thou art a man. Also his sonne Alexander as he was at the siege of a certayne citie viewing in what place the walles thereof were moste weakest was wounded in the legge with an arrowe But at the first not séeling the smarte thereof procéeded in the siege vntill in fine his legge waxed so sore that he was compelled to take his horse and leaue the fielde And then he sayde Euery one telleth me that I am immortall and sonne to Iupiter but thys wounde playnely sheweth that I am a myserable mortall manne Ex Plutarch in vita Alexand. When flatterers came about Canutes sometimes king of Englande and began to exalte him with highe wordes calling him a king of all kinges moste mightie who had vnder his subiection bothe the people the lande and the sea Canutus reuoluing this matter in hys minde whether for pride of his heart exalted or whether to trie and refell their flattering wordes commaunded his chaire to be broughte to the sea side at what time it should begin to flowe and therein sitting downe charged and commaunded the floudes rising to goe backe and not to touche him But the water kéeping his ordinarie course growing higher and higher began to wash him welfauouredly Wherfore the king starte backe and sayde Lo ye call me a mightie king and yet I can not commaunde this little water to stay but it is like to droune me Dominus Fox Ex Polli li. 7. Hunting li. 6. A scholer of Zenons comming honie to his father was of him demaunded what profite he had attained by his long studie in Philosophie who answered that he would tell him and saying no more his father was offended and thinking his coste caste away he began to beate him Which thing his sonne paciently suffred Then his father demaūded him agayne to she we some experience of his learning to whom his sonne answered Lo this fruite haue I gotten by my Philosophie thus paciently to endure my fathers displeasure Ex Era. l. 8. A poth When one stroke Socrates with hys héeles and his friends sayde that they wondred howe he could put vp so great an iniurie he aunswered them what and if an asse should kicke you woulde you go to laws with him for it Another tyme when one gaue him a blowe he was nothing offended but sayde it was great pitie that menne coulde not tell when to doo on their helmets Ex Eras Pericles béeing rayled on and brawled with of a brabling marchaunt saide nothing but went his wayes home and when the other folowed him incessantly
scolding with him béeing late in the nighte he caused his man to light a candle and brought him home Augustus lying at a certayne village in the countrey coulde not take his rest for an Owle which euery nighte awaked him Wherefore he willed some body to take the Owle Whiche thing a souldier béeing skilfull in byrde-taking accordingly accomplyshed and hoping to haue some greate rewarde for his labour brought him to Augustus Who commended hym for his diligence and bidde one gyue hym a thousande pounde for his paynes But the mallaperte souldioure sayde that he had rather let hir go than take so little for hir and so let hir goe in déeds Wherwith Augustus was nothing moued or offended Crates after he had by shipwracke loste all that he had was nothing gréeued but with a meric chere sayde this Go too fortune I knowe what thou meanest I am sure thou intendest nothing else but to cal me to Philosophie and I am well content to come thither as thou callest me Ex Laer. Of Fathers and their loue tovvards their children SEleucus had a sonne named Antiochus of comely gesture and valiant in armes who comming to youthly yeres fel in loue with Stratonice his mother in lawe his fathers wife But fearing and shaming to disclose it it so payned him that he was sicke and like to dye thereof Wherfore his father caused many Phisitians to be sent for to knowe to cure if it were possible his sonnes sickenesse Amongest the reste one named Eristratus perceiued the effecte and cause thereof For when Stratonice hys mother in lawe came in to visite him strayghtwayes his colour began to rise and his pulses to beat and when she departed his colour vaded his sickenesse increased Wherefore calling Seleucus vnto him who was wonderous pensius for his son he tolde him that Antiochus his sonne was sicke with loue Then the carefull father earnestly desired him to disclose the partie that caused hys sonne so to fare to whome Eristratus answered O king it is my wife that thy sonne so loueth Immediately Seleucus with many teares desired him to accord vnto his sonnes wil and to saue his life O king quoth the Phisition this is soone spoken but if it were your wife that he were so in loue with as wel as you loue him I beléeue you would tell me an other tale Oh no quoth the king there is nothing so harde but to saue his lyfe I coulde well finde in my harte to doo it Why then quoth Eristratus you muste be your owne Phisition for it is your wife Stratonice that causeth him to féele this payne And so the louing father was content to forsake his owne pleasure to redresse the payne of his sonne and maried him vnto Stratonice his wife Agesilaus so intirely loued his children that he would play and ryde on a sticke with them And when one of hys friends came in and sawe him so playing with them Agesilaus desired him that he woulde tell no body thereof vntill that he had children of his owne Meaning that then he shoulde him selfe proue and féele the great loue affection which nature causeth parentes to beare vnto their children Ex Acliano li. 12. The like saying is of Socrates whom whē Alcibiades saw playing with Lamprocus his sonne he beganne greatly to laugh and mocke Socrates therfore But Socrates answered why mā is it so gret a matter of laughter to sée the father play with his children Holde thy peace when thou hast children of thine owne thou shalt do the like and perhaps more foolishly than this Ex Acliano Albeit Pericles hadde loste all hys kinredde and his owne sister yet he was nothing gréeued therewith but when he had loste Paralus his sonne he could not choose but fell a wéeping and crying and saide Good Lorde kéepe Camillus that I lose not him too When Absolon was hanged by the haire albeit he had defiled his father Dauids bed and had sought by all meanes possible to put him besides his cushion yet when his father heard thereof he coulde not contayne his fatherly affection but bitterly wept and saide O my sonne Absolon my sonne my sonne Absolon would God I had dyed for thée O Absolon my sonne my sonne Of Pride WHen Aristotle sawe a yong man proud which was indued neither with learning nor vertue nor any other good gift he sayd vnto him I would my selfe no better than thou thinkest thou art nor my foes to be no worse than thou art in déede Another time séeing a yong man proude of a gay cloke he saide wilt thou not leaue to be so brag of a shéepes skinne Anthon. in Melissa parte 2. serm 74. Socrates séeing Alcibiades proude of his riches and of a ferme or two that he hadde brought him vnto a Mappe wherein the whole worlde was descrybed Thē he had Alcibiades looke where he could finde Athens therin which whē he had with muche a do accomplished nowe quoth Socrates shewe me your ferme héere why quoth Alcibiades it is not here And why then arte thou so proude quoth Socrates of that which is counted no part of the world Chilon enquiring of Esope what Iupiter did was answered that he was occupied in putting downe the mightie and exalting the humble Wherefore when Artabanus woulde dissuade Xerxes from leading his armie into Grece he sayde thou séest that the great beasts are killed with lightning but the little ones escape high houses trées are blowen downe wheras the little cotages stand stil For God deliteth to put down the mightie from their supernall seates When a certayne Phisitian named Menacres had good successe in his profession had cured many desperat diseases the people flatring him said that he was a God called him Iupiter The proude vainglorious foole thinking highly of him self wel liking this surname when he shoulde write to Agesilaus he prefixed this salutatiō Menacres Iupiter to Agesilatis sendeth gréeting But the king offēded with his presumption replied with this salutation Agesilaus the king sendeth to thée Menacres helth Wherby he meante that the Phisition him selfe was sicke and neded some pils to purge his proude stomacke who beeing a man subiecte to mortalitie would think so highly of him selfe as to terme him selfe by the name of an immortall God. Ex Achano li. 12. When one Pambo sawe a woman proude and very gorgiously attired he wept sobde And béeing demaunded the cause thereof he aunswered that there were two thinges that caused him so to do The one is quod he to sée the womā thus cast away the other is for that I who beare the name of a Christian do not so indeuer with innocencie of life to please my God as this womā doth with hir gay attire to plese wicked naughtie persons Ex Pet. de nata Eccle. hist l. 8. c. 1. Iulia Augustus Caesars daughter beeing nicely apparelled came so vnto hir
companie of moiners wer come togither in vaine he fained himself to be freÌ„sie and said that his dreame had neuer deceiued him vntil nowe Wherfore to auoide the present feare shame which he was like to sustain he willingly slue him selfe and lefte Nero gaping in vaine for his pray M. Cato the yonger at the request of Q Hortentius his frende gaue him Marcia his wife but after Hortensius was deade he tooke hir home to him selfe againe Wherefore afterwardes Caesar and he falling at debate Caesar by those wordes accused him to be a couetous person If quoth he he had no néede of hir why did he take hir if he had why did he let hir go but that he was disposed to make marchaundise of hir letting hir go in hir youth that he mighte receiue hir agayne when she was riche At the siege of Prenest a citie in Jtalie it hapned that in a great famine a souldier caught a mouse which he chose rather to sell for two hundreth pence than therewith to assuage his hunger But he was worthily punyshed for his couetousnesse For he whiche boughte the mouse liued whereas the couetous seller dyed of famine Vaspatian the Emperour was so vnreasonable couetous that he caused vessels to be set in the way to receyue the vrine of such as passed by and so selling it to the Dyers gotte thereby great tribute Hereof when Titus his sonne reproued him he sayde nothing vntyll that the rente hereof was brought vnto him then putting the money vnto hys nose asked him howe he lyked the smel therof wherto when he answered that he liked it well why quoth Vaspatian it commeth of pisse Also when this Vaspatian had gotten his empire a cowherd of his who had serued him al his youth now desired him to make him frée but could not obteyne his suite wherfore he exclamed this prouerbiall sentence The Foxe may change his cote but neuer will leaue his crafte Herevpon Seneca in his Prouerbs sayth that the couetous man doth nothing well but when he dyeth Wherefore Marcial in his Epigram of Sceuola who after his wealth became more couetous wryteth thus Si dederint superi decies mihi millia centum c. In Englishe thus If millions many Gods vvould giue of goodly glittering golde Should not then Sceuola be estemde and highly be extolde Oh then hovv vvould I liue quoth he vvhereat the Gods dyd smile And gaue him his request but then his ioyes he gan exile Then ragged govvne as pelting patche our Sceuola could vse VVith patche on patche as loutish lobbe he cobled ofte his shoes His table then he did neglecte and course fare pleasde him beste VVith vvorldly cares he vvas so toste that scarse he toke his reste Then must I lyue he often sayde or else the Gods me take And so vvith vvelth gan cares increase and him more carefull make The sayd Vaspatian demanding what the funerall pompe of a certayne noble man stoode in and being told 300. pouÌ„ds he cryed out giue me so muche and cast me into Tiber. Midas king of Phrigia was so desirous of golde that he made his petition vnto the gods the whatsoeuer he touched might be turned into gold wherin obteyning his request all things which were ordeined for him to eate béeing turned into gold he miserably dyed for hunger Iosephus in hys sixte Booke of the warre of the Iewes sheweth that there were some of the Iewes founde who had deuoured golde Wherefore as many of them as came into the handes of the Assirians had their bellies ripped So that in one night there were 20000. opened in hope to finde golde in their bellies and had all so bene destroyed had not Titus set foorth a sharpe edicte to the contrarie At the destruction of Salomons temple at Ierusalem when the Romanes were ascended on the temple the Iewes setting it on fire destroyed many of theÌ„ amongest whom there was one Agorius who with a loude voyce cryed vnto Lucius his fellow souldier and chamber fellow that if be woulde helpe him out he woulde make him inheritour of hys patrimonie Wherefore Lucius in hope of the promysed rewarde ranne vnto him and taking him on his backe with the weight of him was throwen down and with the falling downe of stones was presently destroyed Oclius the sonne of Artaxerses king of Persia was so vnsaciable couetous that whereas the Persian Princes were accustomed as often as they went to giue to euery womaÌ„ a pece of gold bicause he woulde giue none he neuer came there Yea for couetousnesse of a small thing he banished him selfe his countrey Alexander the great hearing Anaxarchus disputing of infinite worlds began bitterly to wéepe and béeing demaunded the cause thereof he answered haue I not good cause to wéep when as there be many worldes and I haue yet scarse conquered one Of Audacitie and boldnesse A Gesilaus béeing warned of his souldiers not to fight agaynst the Thebanes bicause that their power was greater than his answered them that he which will rule and reigne ouer many muste not be afrayde to fighte with many Fabius Max. telling Scipio who made all expedition to wage warre into Africa that nature teacheth all men first to defende his owne realme before he goe to conquere others and that he shoulde first be sure of peace in Italie before he made warre into Afrike Scipio answered that it was a greater token of courage to make warre than to defende it At Hannibals comming to Capua Perolla Calanius his sonne coulde neither by the coÌ„maundement of his father nor at the instance of Hanniball be induced to come to the banquet where Hanniball was but watching his father as he came froÌ„ supper was going into a garden he folowed him said I can tell you father a deuise which shal not only get me pardon of my offence towards you but also bring me vnto great dignitie fauour amongst the Romans for euer WheÌ„ his father demanded what deuise the was he cast of his goune and shewed his sword which was girt to his side saying now I wil coÌ„firme the Roman leage with Hanibals bloud so his father could hardly kéepe him from running Haniball through Cneâ—us Piso accused Manlius Crispus who although he were giltie in the thing wherof he was accused yet for PoÌ„pei his sake who fauored hiÌ„ he was deliuered Wherfore Piso laid al the fault on PoÌ„pei Wherefore PoÌ„pei asked why he did not accuse him theÌ„ Assure me quod Piso that thou wilt not make ciuil war if thou be provoked therto then I will aske counsell whether thou or Piso shuld lose his head When Alexander Phereus who tooke part with the AtheniaÌ„s against the Thebans promised the Athenians that he woulde bring to passe that they should haue asmuche flesh for a farthing as they were wont to pay a pound for Epaminundas hearing it said but we Thebans wil be more liberal than so for we will giue you