such as can commaunde ouer them selues enter heauen The auncient custome obserued among the Princes and gentlemen of Fraunce written by Agathius deserueth here to bee recited that when anye one had a quarrell or was at variaunce with an other a great number of gentlemen woulde presently present them selues in armes and constraine those that had a minde to fight to ende their controuersie by lawfull and amiable meanes which occasioned the subiectes a great deale more willinglye to applye them selues to iustice which they sawe so much esteemed amonge their Lordes and Princes And it was one of the chiefe articles in the leage of the Grecians and all allies to vndertake nothing by armes but by iustice The Philosophers set downe foure powers to rule in the mind reason will anger and concupiscence in which they lodged foure vertues to euery one one Prudence iustice fortitude temperance So as they made choler to serue to fortitude so it be not infirme or out of square CHAP. 25. Of the errour of some Authours which haue praised promise breakers and the cruel of punishmentes of such what our gettinges and dealing with the great ought to be aduertisements to the readers and of pardoninges I Euer found it a very strange matter in diuers authors who lacked no iudgement at all in that they produced those for example who during the whole course of their conquestes violated their faith with sundrye Princes and esteemed it verye necessarye for a great Prince that he shold learne to deceaue I do not in like sort approue the opinion of Lysander that where a Lions skin will not suffice it must be patched vp with a foxes confessing in deed that the truth is better then falsehoode but that the dignitye and price of each of them ought to be measured and turned to commodity and profit saying further that children must be deceaued with trifles men with othes The which likewise the tyrants Dionisius and Policrates were wont to say authorising impietye lying and deceat Which maxime hath been followed of sundry Princes as king Pirrhus confessed him selfe to the Athenians in recompence for their good cheere counselling them euer to distrust all tyrauntes because they did euer obserue or breake their faith accordinge as they serued their turnes in their commodities profites or ambition As in Thucidides an Athenian embassador sayd that a tyraunt is a friende and enemy according to the time and season There is likewise an Aleman prouerbe that it is for noble men to promise and clownes to obserue And in Sophocles Vlisses taught Neoptolemus the sonne of Achilles to deceiue by lying and whereas the saide childe demaunded how it was possible to lye without blushing he aunsweared that such was the vse in the trafficque of men and that one neuer is to bee ashamed where anye profitte maye bee reaped The which that wicked Emperour Caligula in lyke sort sayde praysinge impudencie Moreouer I approoue no whit at all the sayinge of Thrasimachus the Calcedonian that the pleasure and profit of Princes is the rule and definition of all lawes nor that which Anaxarchus sayde vnto Alexander when hee sawe him so much vexed for the death of his friend Clytus whome hee had slayne that Themis and Iustice were set of each side a kinge to confirme his faultes nor that which that vilanous step-mother sayde vnto Caracalla that whatsoeuer hee listed was lawfull for him But we will mayntayne that God and the lawes are set ouer kingdomes to punishe such as violate the Maiestie of the lawes and that right blyndeth the profite and pleasure of Princes and that nothinge is lawfull saue what the lawes permit And it is certayne that the higher any personne is exalted the more ought he to shew him selfe vertuous and true as aboue we haue noted And in all actions a man must consider the motife roote and counsell with sundry other circumstaunces and therein discouer if there haue beene anye cloaking infidelity trompery perill or deceat that the bare matter maye be perceaued and confront what ill soeuer is founde vnder an apparaunce of good knowing that an euill beginning can not but leade an euill ende And if we shoulde take awaye this firste excellencye of suddaine conquestes we shall finde a tragicall issue and a chaunge in extreame calamities As Quintus Cursius wrote that power gotten by mischiefe endureth but a while The which likewise the Prophetes besides experience doe in sundye places witnesse And the Duke of Valentinois Sonne of Pope Alexander and others which Michiauel set before vs to imitate haue had moste miserable endes after hauing beene made a laughing stocke vnto their enemyes And the sayde Authour hath not without iuste cause had his qualityes paynted out by Paulus Iouius as one ignoraunt both of Gâ—D and learning and so censured by the counsell of Trente And as accompanyed with truth and vertue euerye kinde of lyfe is sweete and easie so doth there euer ensue lyinge sorrowe payne losse repentaunce and care and it is vnpossible to haue anye ioye or contentment if quietnesse of the minde constancy pietie iustice and full assuraunce haue not layde the foundation And a good conscience carryeth a calme with it selfe which can not be found in falsehood against promise trust the which as euery other kind of wickednes is the occasion and bruer of her own tormeÌ„t being a maruailous worker of a miserable life with great shame suffering many frightes furies and perturbations of the minde full of vnquietnesse and sorrowes as Ieremie the Prophet witnesseth And not without cause did Isocrates entreating of peace compare such men to Wolues and beastes who while they thinke to rauen vpon some pray cast them selues headlong into the snare or toyle And we may saie with Dauid that iniquitye is seated in a slippery and daungerous place I haue seene the wicked strong and spreading it selfe like a greene Bay tree yet I passed away and loe he was gonne For since that God is true iust constant and like vnto him selfe his iudgementes are euer founde a like against all the enemies of the truth as it is sayde in Ieremie and in Ezechiel speaking of Sedechias Thinke you it is possible for him that breaketh his promise longe to endure and raigne And since that Isaiah tearmeth righteousnes the mother of peace we must no whit maruaile if lying and treason be punished by warre plague famine sedition and disorders in a realme or if that which is attained by leasing and lewde meanes be called by the Prophets a fire brane wherewith one burneth his owne house a heape of earth which one causeth to fall vpon him selfe and a pit to stifle and bury ones selfe in and as siluer put into a rented sacke Euripides in like sort esteemeth whatsoeuer is vniustlye added to a house as a plague and infected ayre and euerye man maye perceiue suche gotten
pleasures of sinnes And it is a harde matter as Salomon saith for a man to take fire in his bosome his clothes not to be burned And in the 16. chap. he declareth that such plesures are conuerted into teares torments Men of auncient time haue named danses allurings poysonings bauderies of Sathan who by the meanes therof corrupteth vs as Lizander softened the walles of Athens burned their ships by sound of flutes The Lord reprehended them in Isaiah for vsing banquets harps tabors other dissolutenes And without any more repeating the places of holy scripture wherin we are commanded to resist the desires of the flesh to shun al apparance occasion of euil to shew a good example as I touched before S. Basil in a sermon he made against drunkennesse flatly forbiddeth prophan songs dansing as things repugnant to al the holy dueties of a christian man in steed of bending his knees before god which he ought to do Which likewise S Chrisostom doth in manie homilies vpon Mathew the Epistle to the Coloss and vpon Genesis speaking of the mariages of Isaac Iacob in another homely he praised the peple for hauing left it S Ambrose in his third book of virgins S. Augustine against Petilian declare that in the wel ordered churches dansings were banished reproued as vnworthie dissolutenes vpon the 32. Psalm he is of opinion that it is not so yl to trauail plough the ground vpon the sunday as to danse The which Nicholas of Clemenge an ancient doctor of the Sorbonists doth cōmend in a tretise he made of not augmenting of holy days And the said S. Augustin in another place rather liketh the wife or maid that soweth vpō the holy day then her that danseth In the sea of histories is mention made of an Archbishop of Magdebourg that broke his neck dansing with a damsel Other haue been stroak down with thunder or knocked brused in pieces with the fal of the house where they dansed Our writers make mention of the great danger which K Charls 6. escaped hauing like to haue bin burned in a danse as some other great lords were And by dansing Herodias caused Iohn Baptist to be behedded And by bills of inditements drawn against sorcerers it hath bin found true that in their diuelish sinagogues they goe all dansing And not without cause one of auncient time named dansings snares for maides misfortune for men and a bayte for baudes And the Voltes courantes and vyolent daunses proceede from furie and hath caused many weomen to be deliuered before their time And god in Isaiah gretly threateneth the daughters of Sion for that they went winding prauncing making their steps to be heard againe Origen writeth that al persons haue been forbidden them but especially weomen for feare of defyling their sexe Plutarque likewise writeth that they ought to bee ashamed to bee founde dansing And the daughters of Israel were by that meanes rauished I could alledge sundrie counsels which haue forbidden it yea and of our owne ordinances which we ought to keepe and among other at the last assemblie of the estates holden at Orleans For the sanctification required by the law of God vpon the sabboth feastdaies is thereby maintained the which figureth in vs a spirituall rest which God worketh in his faithfull sanctifying them regenerating and making them aspire to things heauenly diuine keeping their feast in sinceritie truth as S. Paul hath written And this ought to be a continual Sabboth to the said faithfull to the ende that euerie day they may liue holily renouncing the works of the flesh honor God both in bodie minde And the holy day is principally ordained to heare the worde of God to serue him to call vpon his name to remember his benefits free gifts to giue him thanks to dedicate our selues vnto him to performe al works of pietie to participate with the publique prayers made in the churches to set our selues far of from al apparance of yll As S. Paul saith that God hath purifyed to himselfe a people making profession of good workes this sanctification is declared in Isaiah to consist in doing of no yll in following the will of God not our own suffering our selues to be gouerned by him For how can we name our selues Christians keepe holy dayes if we prophane them with dansing banqueting masking spending excessiuely playing dissolutely prouoking the wrath of God vpon vs which wil bring forth her accustomed effects chastisements if we do not amend And if according to the saying of our Sauiour We must render account for euerie idle worde howe much more for our songs which men vomit out in daunses from a heart impure the more to giue fire to our couetous desires sufficiently occasioned by other meane to boyle in steade of imploying our tongue to the praise of our creator and giuing him thankes for his benefites And as the mysteries of religion are spirituall so doe they require the minde of man to the ende to nourish it instruct refourme humble it if it be too much exalted and lift it vp if it bee too much throwne downe to comforte and regenerate it without applying it to vaine thinges dishonest and hurtfull which was the cause that Saint Augustine and other doctors founde it strange that men are offended if they see one plough vpon a holy daie but not if one be drunke go a whoring or worke any other iniquitie It is to be feared that God will obiect vnto vs that in the first of Isaiah My soule hateth your appointed feastes I am wearie of them and I will not heare your prayers And in Amos I hate and abhorre your feastes dayes and I will not smell in your solemne assemblies though you offer me burnt offringes and meate offringes I will not accept them And I will turne your feastes into mourninges and all your songes into lamentations and I will bring sackcloth vppon all loynes The puritie of the Gospell calleth vs to a profession that we should reforme and cut off all euill customes and eloigne our selues from all daungers vanities and lightnesse And not without cause Antisthenes being demanded what a feast was answered that it was an occasion of surfeting and disorders And oftentimes no dayes are lesse festifall and lesse obserued then the festifall dayes which many dedicate to Bacchus and Venus Which surely would require to be well reformed And whereas they blame frenchmen for great pleaders those that are of the best aduised exempt themselues make a pointment and quit one part to conserue the rest in peace and winde themselues out of the handes of these suckpurses and palterers thinking it a true saying of Chilo that quarels sutes and debtes are euer accompanied with miseries as more at large hereafter it is declared Nowe to
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
to an other is to fall from one mischeife to an other drawing towardes death With good discretion did Solon call townes boroughtes and villages the retreates of mans miseries full of noysomnesse trauaile and fortune And Aristotle termeth man to be the disciple of imbecillitie of inconstancie of ruines and diseases All which ought to make vs humble our selues The old prouerbe is common who knoweth himselfe best esteemeth himselfe least For if any man seeme to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceiueth himselfe in his imagination sayth S. Paul This is also the reason why the prophet Abacuc writeth that the iust man liueth by faith and that they which exalt themselues shall haue a fall Sundry writers make mention of K. Sesostris that he made himselfe be drawen by foure Kings which he held captiues and one of them euer vsed to turne his face backwarde and being demaunded why he did so aunswered that in beholding the wheeles howe the highest part became lowest he remembred the condition of men with which aunswere the same Sesostris became a great deale the more ciuill Saladin after his death made his shirt to be carried at the ende of a launce and to be cryed that of all the Realmes and riches he had nowe nothing was left him but that In sundry places doth the holy scripture impute this qualitie of pride left to them which distrust in God and presume of them selues And would to God ech one would practise the exhortation of S. Paule to the Philippians To be like minded hauing the same loue being of one accorde and one iudgement That nothing be done thorough contention or vayne glorie but that in meekenesse of minde euerie one esteeme other better then himselfe Looking not euery man on his owne thinges but euery man also on the thinges of an other man And to the Romaynes he desireth them to be affectioned to loue one an other with brotherly loue in giuing honour going one before an other Herodotus telleth of one Apricus Kinge of Aegypt who was so insolent that hee would saye that there was neyther God nor man could abate him or dispossesse him of his kingdome but shortly after Amasis put him by it and hee was strangled by his owne subiectes The like doeth Ouid make mention to befall to one Niob. Goliah was slaine by Dauid Iulius Caesar was so arrogant as he would say that it should stande for a lawe whateuer pleased him Other Princes haue had this woorde in their mouth I will it be so neuer considering that their willes ought to bee measured by the will of God iustice and lawes for the preseruation of their estate as king Theopompus and the Emperour Alexander Seuerus were woont to say and as wee recited before of Kinge Antigonus good Princes ought to esteeme nothing honest and lawefull that is not so of his owne nature and agreeable to the lawes And as touching such as are ambitious they neuer doe ought that is entirely pure and neete but euer in their actions you shall discerne a kinde of bastardie full of faultes dispersed according to the diuersitie of the windes which driue them forwarde and neuer measuring themselues doe dayly commit notorious errours and ruine themselues in vndertaking more then they are able or then is honest Whereupon it is very necessarie that the counsell of Ecclesiasticus be put in practise Seeke not out the things that are too harde for thee neyther search the thinges rashly that are too mightie for thee and burthen not thy selfe aboue thy power while thou liuest Plutarke in the life of Agis applyeth the fable of Ixîon which was tormented in hell and of him which found a clowde insteede of Iuno to such as are ambitious vngratefull And so do some other refer that which Homer in his Odes reciteth of Sysiphus who continually rouled the stone which he was neuer able to cary to the toppe of the mountaine and of Phaëton who would needs guide the horses of the sunne It hath bin an old prouerbe that he which aduaunceth himselfe further then he ought receiueth more thē he would They resēble the fisherman in Theocrites who satisfied his hunger with dreames of gold And with very great reason may a man impute all sects heresies diuisions foolish enterprises combats and vnnecessarie warres to the ambition of vnquiet mouing spirits which neuer content thēselues in their vocation for this cause S. Gregory Nazianzene wrote to Procopius that he neuer saw any good issue come of any coūcel or Synode by reason of ambitiō which did more impare controuersie thē amend thē And Aristotle in the 2. of his Politiques sheweth that the greatest part of faults which men cōmit proceedeth frō ambition or couetousnes as there are infinite examples of factions which haue long time endured in France Englād Italy Hesiodus writeth that the vnwise do not vnderstand that the halfe is more thē the hole For this cause it often chaunceth that they lose what euer they haue gotten which peaceably before they enioyed through a gredines of vndewly getting frō other as we see it fell out so doth it euery day to a number which haue not retyred themselues in dewe time not being able to staye the course of their fortune The which in the ende Antiochus full well vnderstoode for after that he was vanquished and that the Romanes had taken from him the prouince of Asia hee was wont to say that he esteemed himselfe much bounde vnto them for the learning which they had taught him and for their gratiousnes and courtesie which they had vsed towards him for when I enioyed sayth he so large a circuit of countrey I could not content my selfe nor set an ende to my ambition or desires but since such time as the Romaines haue abrydged my limittes they haue so gnawen my wings of ambition that I am more content then I was and nowe my care needeth not to be so great to gouerne well my little kingdome which is left before not beeing able to be satisfied Augustus the Emperour said that he wondered how so great a king as Alexander who had conquered all Greece Aegypt and Asia and yet could not be quiet except he mought stil be in hande with new busines continuing war not considering that it was both as great a vertue redounded as much to his glory by wholsome lawes and ordinances to establish the gouernment of a well pacified monarchy as it was to conquer it I greatly cōmend the councel of one Democrites that a man should euer propose vnto himselfe and couet thinges possible and be contented with the present and with that portion and measure which it hath pleased God to yeelde vnto him and to fashion himselfe according to that facultie and meane which is giuen vnto him neuer coueting the manuage of any greater affayre then appertayneth to his owne estate
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
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
Saint Paul ioyneth shamefastnesse and grauitie of which hee desireth Titus to bee the patrone And Ecclesiasti cus willeth them to giue no eare vnto the enchauntrise for feare-of beeing surprised And as wee haue before mentioned offices and riches which are lefte vnto children are sometime the verie cause of their destruction except the knowledge and feare of God bee imprinted within them For this cause Ecclesiastes writeth Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth whiles the euill dayes come not And Ieremiah in his Lamentations sayeth It is good for a man that he beare the yoke in his youth because young men become vnruely except they be helde short God also sayd of Abraham I know that hee wil command his sonnes and his housholde after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to do rightuousnes and iudgement And in Deuteromie I will cause them heare my wordes that they may learne to feare mee all the dayes that they shal liue vpon the earth and that they may teache their children And euery Christian is commaunded to followe al things that are honest towards al men and to auoide all apparances of euil referring all to the glorie of God and betimes to accustome himselfe thereunto to the end that more easily he may broke the stormes of this life and without any trouble wade out of all businesse And to this ende is euery man to beseeche at Gods handes that hee will lighten him through his word and bend his hart therein to obey him From this good education proceedeth great happines obedience to God their King and superiors choyse of vertuous men without money rewardes or offices and euery man perfourmeth his duetie the better in that vocation to which he is called and followeth other lessons and reformations noted at large before CHAP. XLIX Of certaine points which might be added to this discourse THis matter which we haue vndertaken to discourse of is so frutefull and ample that I were able to heap sundrie Chapters one vppon another containing summarily what the office of Kings Prelates Clergie Captaines soldiars merchants and artificers maisters seruants fathers children Iudges counsellers practisers at the law is therein to discouer the abuse and periurie which is vsed in this time There were also verie great meanes to dilate at large of the inconuenience which sophistrie bringeth the which the lawiers terme cauilling when from trueth through some alteration the disputation is brought to that which is most euidently false In old time it was terribly detested for it corrupted all artes and disciplines and bread sundrie heresies and false opinions I were able likewise to set downe howe many cosin themselues which in mariage respect more the wealth and beautie then modestie good education of a mayde and are not so much husbandes vnto their wiues as slaues vnto their wealth for which they abandon that commaundement and authoritie which God and all lawes haue aforded vnto them ouer their wiues ouer whome they ought to rule not as the lorde ouer his seruant but as our Lorde and sauiour Iesus Christ doeth ouer his Church and the soule ouer the bodie through a mutuall loue and reciprocrate affection wherewith he is tyed vnto it And Salomon calleth the contract of marriage the contract of God as more excellent than any other Lycurgus Solon and the twelue lawes ordained that maydens should be marryed without dower for the causes before specified And some haue written of the Aegiptians that if any receiued money with his wife he remained as a slaue vnto her And in Plautus he which was cast in the teeth that he had nothing with his wife aunswered that if euerie one would do like him there would be better agreement and amitie among the citizens and their wiues woulde honour them much more and be lesse chargeable vnto them Strabo commended the lawes of the Massiliens which forbad him which was richest to giue with his daughter aboue one hundred crownes and ten for her apparel and iewels And it were verie requisite that the good lawes in France made to this ende mought be better obserued And likewise as a matter depending hereunto there were ministred verie great occasion of reprehending and detesting such as they terme tyers of pointes which oppose themselues against that holie contract and ordinance of God and his commaundement and are the cause of diuorces enmities whoredomes and other euils combating with the Maiestie of God and damning themselues through a secret alliance which they make with Sathan It were not also much out of the way to shewe what a pernitious lye they incurre which from the byrth of their daughter bring her vp so delicate that shee is lesse fit to performe the part of a good houswife and is alwayes more sickely seruing rather as a picture or dead image then fit to holde that place which shee ought And to declare withall the great iniurie which weomen offer vnto their children in denying that milke vnto them with which they were nourished within their wombe with great paine and greefe drying vp that holy fountaine of their breastes giuen of God to that ende bannishing their children into the handes of a strange nource often times a whore drunke pockie and euill conditioned of which the saide children sauour all their life long as wee see by experience too much Lampidius writeth that Titus was subiect to sundrie diseases by reason of his Nurce And Dion that Caligula was the more cruell by the nature of his Nurce and that shee rubbed the end of her teat with bloud And that Tiberius sundrie other were giuen to wine hauing bin weaned with sops steped in wine The which we see in lambs nourished by goats in seeds fruits which hold of the earth I leaue al other reasons recited by Aulus Gellius And for as much as an Embassadour sent from a Prince is as his eye his eare his tongue bindeth him by what he promiseth it had not bin impertinent to haue discoursed how in choise to be made of him his honestie age experience integritie learning dexteritie grauitie ought to be considered because by his carryage of himself traine strangers do oftē time iudge of the whole nation as if he had bin chosen out of the moste excellent And it were verie conuenient to send with him some nūber of yong gētlemē wel brought vp to make them capable of the like charges to learn the passages fashions alliances maners of the countrie to fyle pollish their own brayne with strangers I coulde also describe the inconueniences which arise by Masques which disguise both the bodie minde causeth great impudencie the verie cause of so manylyes vncomly speaches of the execution of so great wickednes S. Ciprian entreating of the apparell of virgins alleageth to this purpose the exāple of Iudges who whē he saw Thamar iudged her a
is as a great frame made of diuers pieces so ioyned and linked in togither that it is vnpossible to take away the least parte but the whole shall feele it It is greatly doubted whether wee ought to receiue a better lawe for a more auncient For the principall matter which maketh a lawe to bee obeyed is custome which cannot bee confirmed but by continuance of time so that alteration greatly weakeneth the force and vertue of a lawe And Plato in his politiques and fourth of his Common wealth reprehendeth such as by newe lawes imagine they may remedie mischiefes and deeme them rather an occasion thereof as if one cut off the head of Hydra by and by seauen newe spring vp and by change is taken away that respect and reuerence which wee ought to beare them which once being lost there is no more obedience Wee reade in auncient histories that Orpheus was cut in peeces by the weomen of Thrace because hee had changed their lawes For this cause as the Lawyers write if wee bee not constrayned thereto by an apparant and euident profit we ought not to alter what hath bin before ordained And as S. Bernard wrote to one at Lyons Noueltie is the mother of rashnes sister of superstition daughter of lightnesse The Emperor Galba was greatly praysed because hee woulde neither change ancient lawe nor creat new And Plutarque exhorteth Traian to take greater care in seing his ancient laws to be obserued then in making of newe and aboue al things that his life should serue for a law One asked Pausanias why it was not lawful in Lacedemon to alter any ancient law he answered that Lawes ought to haue aucthoritie ouer men not men ouer Lawes Otherwise as Plato Aristotle maintained it was a subuersion of an estate The aunswere which Solon made to Anatharsis saying that his lawes were like to Spyders cobwebbes which holde but the little flyes deserueth to bee well considered of that as men keepe their contractes that it is not expedient that anye bargainer shoulde breake so the Athenians woulde willinglye cleaue to his lawes out of which no man shoulde receiue any domage but euery one verie great profite It were verie necessarie wee had such officers as were wont to bee in Greece called Nomothetes who tooke great regarde that no man should derogate from any good lawe nor publish any that were pernitious or superfluous which the Parlements ought to doe Notwithstanding a man may alledge the saying of our lawyers that it is vnpossible to set downe an order certaine simple and of one sorte to thinges which dayly varie And that which an auncient man saide that a Mutton had but one voyce but a man dyuers because wee must doe as time and affaires require all humaine affaires beeing in perpetuall motion and France beeing composed of so manie kindes of people and differing in fashions and language In the first booke of Thucidides the Corinthians set downe that as in a citie which is in quyet and peace it is not meete their auncient lawes and customes shoulde bee changed so where a common wealth is ouerpressed with diuerse and vnlike affaires it is necessarie they looke out manie newe helpes as to diseases strange and vnknown strange remedies must of necessitie bee applyed And in Titus Liuius it is declared howe mens lawes alter according to the time And Aristotle in the thirde of his Ethickes compareth them to measures and Solon to coynes which are not alike in all And in the sixth he sayeth that lawes doe not proceede from art or anie other science but from wisedome which regardeth things in particular as they change and attaineth to experience by exercise time as Terence saide This age requireth an other life and other manners For this cause Solon prayed his lawes might bee obserued for a hundred yeares space to the ende that they mought not be afterwardes changed Moreouer wee haue often seene what credit they haue had about Princes which haue counselled them to alter the lawes for their owne lucre or particuler passions And such as are studied in the constitutions of the Cannon and Cyuil lawe may see howe Popes and Emperours haue established abolished and then put in vse againe certaine lawes what hath pleased one hath displeased his successor And what hath had his course in one time is cleane reiected in another So much is mans minde enclyned to contradiction and change S. Augustine writeth that the decrees of particular Bishops haue bene corrected by Prouincial counsels and prouincial by vniuersal and the former general counsels disanulled by the latter when through experience of things that which lay close is opened what was hid is brought to light which may be seene more at large in histories Here I could alledge the opinion of an Athenian embassador recited by Thucidides that a Prince ought somtime to be a friend somtime an enimie to ply himself according to occurrents somtime it behoueth him to release the lawes as K Agesilaus ordained that for an accident then happened they must be winked at afterwards be obserued Another said to Pericles that since it was not lawful to take clean away the table wherin the law was writen yet they ought to turne the other side And Plutarque praised Flaminius for that he knew how to cōmand ouer lawes the necessitie of the time requiring it And in Tacitus the Almains were praised for chāging their customs found to be but bad As also Valerus a Senator of Rome sheweth in Titus Liuius that it becōmeth men so to do And some haue condemned the law of the Persians Medes which was aboue recited whē the vsage state of a cōmen welth hath found it vnprofitable pernitious Euery man also will confesse that in mens deeds speeches the meane called constancie is to be required which is a meane between lightnes stubbernes And to perseuer in one mind is not alwaies to be praised as Cicero in manye places declareth yelding those for an example which vpon the sea are constrained to yeld to tempests windes and oft times to alter their course neuer standing stiffe in one deliberation And there is no nation nor people which hath not some time beene accused of inconstancie mans life being so full of contrarieties as Hipocrates in a certain Epistle declareth it to be Euerie one ought also to consider that the cause why wee are so blamed and found fault with by other nations proceadeth by reason of the notable victories which French men haue obtained against them and that they haue so often beene subdued by the valor of the French and not being able to reuenge with the sworde they will doe it with the fether And whereas Paulus Iouius Bembus Sabellicus and Pandolphus accuse the French men for not keeping their promise with the Venetians as well hee as
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
the vitall spirites so the passions couetings and misknowledge of the goods which God hath bestowed vpon vs are the bad vapours which obfuscate and torment our senses And euen as to rid a man pained with a greeuous dreame the next way is to awake him euen so the trueth doeth declare that that which many feare is but an opinion and foolish imagination and as it were a picture of a tyrant or cruell beaste which astonieth no man And as the fire which Moses saw in the bush did nether burne nor endamage him because God was in the midst therof so interminglyng God his promises with our humane affaires and accidents al shal be easie for vs to beare And God being for vs none can anoye vs as the Apostle sayth It is also called a wall of brasse a rampire and a defence for vs to defende vs from all dangers And as it is written in Iob God maketh the wounde and bindeth it vp he smiteth his hand maketh whole he shal deliuer thee in sixe troubles and in the 7. the euil shal not touch thee In famine he shal deliuer thee frō death and in battaile frō the power of the sword Thou shalt be hid frō the scourge of the tonge and thou shalt not be afraide of destruction when it cōmeth And in Ieremie it is written of the faithful that he shal rest be at his ease none shal make him afraid because God is with him to succor him after he hath gently corrected him and wil heale his stripes And as the higher we clime the lesse those thinges vnder vs seeme to bee so the neerer that wee approche to the knowledge of God and his trueth the lesse account doe we make of these earthly base and corruptible thinges To be therefore contented and rich we must not ad goods vpō goods but diminish take away as Socrates said from our couetous desires And we ought to consider how many persons in the world are worse at ease then our selues and to draw aside as one may say the courtaine vale of apparance opiniō which couereth them whom we esteeme happie great the better to perceaue the trauales troubles and griefes which thy haue and howe often they hoyse vp the sayle of their shippe so highe that they are forced to make shipwracke For this cause Scipio being Censor made the prayer to be changed which was wont to be sayde vpon certaine high dayes for the encrease of wealth to the people of Rome saying that it was sufficient and that they ought only to pray vnto God to preserue it such as it was It is written of Antiochus that when the Romaynes had gotten from him the greatest part of his kingdome hee should say he was much beholding vnto them for so much more care as they had eased him of And Philip father to Alexander the great being fallen vppon the sandes and seeing there the marke and print of his bodie O Lorde sayth he howe little a plat of grounde is nature contented with and yet we couet the whole worlde When God seeth that high callinges riches health or any thing else doeth turne vs from him as in Zacharie prosperitie is called a canker and Pyndarus sayth that nothing is harder to disgest and that it doth make vs drunke he doeth depriue vs thereof and sundrie wayes correcteth vs remouing the hinderances of his approching nigh vs to the end that shutting our eies at the miserable estate of this world we should open our eares to the hearing of his promises and according vnto the counsell which he giueth vs laye vp our treasures in heauen where there is neither feare of theeues nor canker and range our selues vnder the yooke and obedience of his diuine iust vpright and equitable will holding impatience for a rebell thereunto In histories we finde examples enough of Popes Emperours Princes and other that haue euen dyed for griefe and anger for resoluing too much vpon the vnstablenes of this life and by weighing the incōmoditie by other graces which God bestowed on them In great prosperitie we glutten vp the benefits of God without sa uoring of thē and thereby become insolent and blind and in aduersitie many loose heart not thinking of any other gifts they haue receiued at Gods handes by this meanes a man is miserable if he holde not the meane if this truth doth not open our eyes that we may see God through al things and therby discouer his bountie For the accidents of this world nor al that which they cal fortune is no way able to make vs vnfortunate except malice vice aide them finding a faint heart delicate effeminate not acquainted with the affayres changes of the world and retayne the corrupt opinion of the vulgar sort which hath been imprinted within it but mingling such thinges as are fierce rude and sower with the sweete and gratious and obscuring the yll aduentures with the conference of the good and mixing suffrance togither with hope whatsoeuer is most disagreeable yea the verie sting of death dieth it selfe feare apprehension and opinion being cast out the which serueth for a receate to all mischiefes And as Samson found honie in the bodie of the Lyon so the faithful findeth ioy in the bottome miseries and peace amidst stormes through the vertue of faith resisteth al feares and as a wise and wel experienced pylote who euer doubteth a great calme in the maine sea neuer abuseth his good fortune and helpeth himselfe with all windes to ariue at his desired port But a man may say that the most parte of men passe ouer that which they call their fortune through a strainer wherein all the bad sticke and remaineth but the good drop out And as a cordmaker that was pictured in an olde temple had behinde him an asse which eate his corde as fast as he made it so the chagraine and melancholie and the vnderstanding foolishly setled vpon that which displeaseth doth cleane deface deuoure passe ouer carelesly all other goods and commodities without any sauour at all or better consideration for their owne comfort Or as a flye entered into a bottle or a fish into the net tormenting thēselues not able to take the right way to escape Many do not temper their small discommodities with other infinite goods that they receiue from God and neuer settle the discourse of their vnderstanding to consider what false apparances and vanitie consisteth euen in that which they make so much account of neuer thinke of the vnconstancie of the things of this worlde whereby they might find nothing strange nor new and fasten their ancre treasor and hope in heauen where it is most safely laid vp against all assaults and enterprises And wee ought to put the saying of Ecclesiasticus in practise that he which feareth the Lord shal not be afraid for he is his hope
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
will be a witnesse thereof he sinneth the lesse so is there no doubt but manye tyrauntes haue refrayned the executing of a number of mischiefes they haue determined for feare of the spotte which a historie woulde staine them with As Democritus likewyse rehearseth how manye kinges of Aegipt haue heene brideled from committing of euill fearing a custome which the people had to oppose them selues to the pompes and magnificences that were wont to be celebrated at the obsequies of their good kinges Without histories we are neuer able to know the benefites which GOD hath bestowed vppon men nor the chastisementes with which he correcteth the wicked nor the beginning progresse and successe of all thinges nor the mischeefe which both the publique and particular weale suffer nor what doctrine is more auncient and to bee followed For this cause Cicero calleth it the light of trueth the witnesse of tymes the Mistresse of lyfe the Messenger of antiquitie and the life of memorye preseruinge from obliuion deedes worthye of memorye atchieued thorough longe processe of tymes And this same seede of vertues whiche Plato sayeth is in oure spirites lyfteth it selfe vppe thorough the emulation of them whiche haue beene suche as wee nowe are And wee doe gayne more by reading thereof in our youth then by whatsoeuer is either attributed to sence or experience of old men or to suche as haue beene in farre voyages It is written tht Charlemagne woulde euer haue a history read vnto him during his meales and that perceauing the small regarde the auncient Gaulois had of setting downe the monumentes of their auncestors in writing he caused certaine songes to bee made commaunding they shoulde teach their children to singe them by hart to the ende the remembraunce therof might endure from race to race and that by this meanes other might be stirred vp to doe well and to write the gestes of valiaunt men Which they say was likewise obserued by the Indians and Homer writeth the same of Achilles And the like is mencioned in the 78. psalme And Caesar in his Commentaries Lucane and Tacitus maketh mention of certaine philosophers that were french men called Bardes which song the praises of valiaunt men and the blame and reproch of lewde persons tyrauntes and base minded and Polibus sheweth that a historie doth teache and prepare the way to the affaires of Policie and to carrie well the chaunges of Fortune and to know what we are And if that which Plinie writeth be true that all that time which is not imployed to the study or exercise of good things is lost and that which Seneca hath written that they are all fooles that in this greate scarcetie of time which is bestowed of them learne but matters superfluous Wee ought much to lament that the desire which the common sort haue to histories is an occasiō that they giue themselues to fables and old wiues tales where is nought els but a vaine delight without anie profite where as in histories besides pleasure there is great learning to teach vs not to vndertake vppon the fiske and flying either any warre that is not necessary or any quarrels suites in law or other affaires of importaunce And we see how manie mischiefes losses and faultes ignoraunce hath beene the cause of But Prudence is greatly required especially in holy histories For there must we confrant the examples to the commaundementes of God because the very saints them selues haue had their faultes which we ought not to follow and the holye scripture is a good looking glasse which representeth as Saint Augustine saide thinges as they in deede are setting before vs vertues to follow them and vices and imperfections to shunne them and to praise the mercie and bountie of God in that he couereth them And as touching the prophane we must carry the like iudgement and therein consider the particularities the causes the conduct and Prudence which men haue vsed and the fortune and successe that hath proceeded from aboue It shall not here be amisse for the readers if I admonish them not to take for good monye not to account all that which prophane aucthours haue writen as articles of their faith nor indifferently to trust therevnto without examining them further I comprehend herein all such where they which can see clearely may discouer lies and vntruthes amidst good things and some beastes come from a pensell and not by nature Therefore we must apply thereto a good sife to sifte and seperate the one from the other And me thinketh what knowledge soeuer those bookes teach vs is verye small if one bee not acquainted with the vse and practise of the world and be likewise accompanied with a iudgement and quicknes of spirit And it was verye wisely written by Aristotle that in reading of histories a man muste not be of too quicke a beliefe nor too incredulous for feare he take not false for true or els profite no whit at all And what color or disguising so euer men set on to flatter great ones they which prie narrowly into their behauiours take their counsels and actions in time of peace and war are not deceaued and discerne toyes and cauillinges amidst deepe counsels and do discouer pretexts cloaking and occasions with the true causes neuer hauing their iudgement there by deceaued referring and examining all things to the rule of the holy scripture Besids we ought to esteme most of such histiographers which haue had least passions and partialitie and the best meanes to discouer the truth either beeing there them selues in personne or hauinge certaine intelligence from them that were present men of faith and sincere iudgement speaking without affection to the ende they set not out fables and lies as many of our time haue done and that which they steale from other is as a precious stone ill set in worke It were also requisite they should be conuersaunt and nourished in affaire of state and acquainted with the proceedinges of the worlde and not giue them selues so much to pleasure as to speake the truth not beeing inough not to write false but to declare the very truth without anye partialitie at all For if in anye one place a writer be founde a lier the rest of his historie is cleane reiected as Alexander the great was wont to saye It is also needefull to obserue what sundrye Italians Spaniardes Fleminges as Almames of an enuious malice and want of right iudgement haue euen enforced them selues to praise their countrie and couer their faultes and diminish the greatnesse and excellencie of matters done by the french men to the aduancement of whole christendome and profite of sundry nations And it is no straunge thing to see how much the passions and affections of men doe staine the truth which is the very eye of histories Polibus him selfe reherseth the exāples of sundrie historiographers before his time and discouer contrarieties betweene them selues and by
Titus the Emperour was wont to say that because he did nothing that deserued blame or reprehēsiō he cared not for any lies wer made of him As also Fabius surnamed the most high answered some that rayled on him that a Captaine ruler in the field who for feare of speaking or of the opinion of the commons ceased from doing what he knewe to be profitable or to desist from a purpose fully deliberated of wherof he wel vnderstood the causes reasons ought to be esteemed more faint then he which feareth to proue his strength when hee seeth occasion giuen for his aduantage And chose rather that his wise enimy might feare him then the folish citizens should praise him that being wel aduised he cared not for being accounted too fearefull or too slack It is the lesson of Ecclesiasticus Set not thy heart vppon euery worde that is reported And Plato in Criton admonisheth vs not to regarde what euery man sayth but what he saith that seeth al things the truth And not without cause an auncient father said I wil lose the verie reputation of an honest man rather then not to be an honest man Cato was accustomed as Plutarque writeth in his life time to bee ashamed only for dishonest things but euer to despise what was reproued by opinion S. Augustine attributed the death of Lucretia to her imbecillitie as fearing the euil opinion suspition of the common sort And there is no enterprise or execution so right worthie of praise that is not subiect to the reproche detraction of the ignorant to the passions of the malignant enuious to rash iudgements For this cause in al our actions we ought to cōtent our selues with a conscience well informed And but that I feare I shoulde be too tedious I coulde alledge a number of most notable examples of the inconueniences that haue happened as wel to them of old time as of ours for esteeming more the iudgement of the ignorant then the truth Which detractions K. Demetrius was wont to say he cared not for not esteemed them better then a fart not much passing whether it made a noyse before or behind aboue or below Marius likewise spake wisely in Salust how no report was able to offend him because if it were true it woulde sound to his praise if false his life manners should proue it contrarie By this discourse I desire to impresse into the nobilitie a sound iudgemēt of true honor which is engendred but by vertue good deedes and to make them laye aside that foolish opinion which they haue of falshod vnder colour whereof vpon light occasion and offence they vndertake combates neuer regarding the lawes of God nature ciuil canonical priuate nor their owne saluation or duetie of charitie hazarding their liues soules goods friends for that stale infected passionate fantastical tyrant termed honor neuer embrasing such meanes of concord as the lawes commaund And remaine so stubborne blind that whereas the true honour consisteth in obeying God and his laws in mastering ones passions in louing forgiuing succouring ones neighbour they make it to be in disobeying of God his holie lawes going about to diffame destroy murther their neighbours render themselues slaues to their owne choler And how can that be honorable which God forbiddeth detesteth condemneth to eternal death And also to be meeke peaceable reconciled to ouercome wrath and passions to aproch neere vnto God through his clemencie and mercie which are the actes of vertue and of true Christians how can these I say breede vnto the nobilitie either dishonor or infamie Considering that by the auncient discipline of warre it was adiudged dishonest worthie of punishment if one combatted with his enimie without his Captaines leaue or if he left the place giuen to him in gard And the auncient Emperors and Kings esteemed it a point of greater magnanimitie and nobilitie to pardon and commaund ones selfe then to be reuenged as a murtherer of himselfe to laye open his owne life to euident peril Wee proceede all of vs from God our creator not of our selues into his handes wee ought to put all our reuenges as hee himselfe willeth vs and not to make our selues the accusers Iudges and hangmen of him whome wee pretende to haue cast an eye vppon the shadowe of this delicate honor as I haue els where touched for the importance of this pernitious error CHAP. XIX That without the trueth there is nought else but darknes and confusion and how much the Philosophers haue laboured to find it out how farre wide they haue beene of it HE made no bad comparison in my opinion that said that pollicies gouernements and kingdomes were like an emptie lampe or lanterne and that the trueth was the match with the oyle and the waxe or the tallowe that gaue the light for without this Sunne shine of trueth there is nothing but darkenesse and disorders in this life and we may say with the Prophets that without it the people remaine lying in darkenesse and in the region of the shadowe of death And with Ieremie that the wise boast not in his knowledge nor the strong in his force nor the riche in his wealth but that all our glorie bee to knowe him which is the verie trueth for whatsoeuer men maye alledge vnto vs of victories tryumphes honours eloquence force and other gyftes and graces they are nought else if this trueth bee taken awaye but as if one shoulde sayle in a darke nyght among the floodes rockes and tempestes of the sea and in the ende prooue a sorrowfull tragedie Sainct Paul iudged all thinges to be doung in respect of this knowledge and the excellencie thereof which hath lyen hidden manie ages and made most clearely manifest thorough our Lorde and Sauiour Christ Iesus who hath imparted vnto vs the heauenly treasures and hath beene made for vs iustice righteousnesse life sanctification and redemption And albeit the Philosophers of olde time attayned not vnto this light yet did they not cease to pursue the shadowes thereof of which in parte wee entreate leauinge vnto the Diuines the deepe insight into this light and maiestie of the essentiall trueth The sayde Phylosophers as Socrates Plato Democritus Aristotle Plinie Architas Tales Tianeus an infinite number of other haue made verie farre long voiages the better to be instructed in this trueth in the knowledge hereof to the end they might not ouerlightly beleeue or speake out of purpose The said Tales being demanded what distance there was betweene the trueth and a lye aunswered as much as betweene the eyes and the eares as if he would haue said that we may boldly declare what we haue seene but that often times one is deceiued trusting vnto anothers report And albeit the said Plato Aristotle and other Philosophers haue written many notable
diuine race because God giueth particular graces to such as he setteth ouer others Horace likewise named Kings Diogenes that is to say the generatiō of Iupiter Diotrephes nourished by Iupiter Aristes of Iupiter which signifieth as Plato interpreteth the familiars disciple in politike sciences And Frederick is as much to say as the k. of peace And for as much as Artaxerxes Mnemon delighted in peace was affable and vertuous the rest of the Kings of Persia since his time haue beene called by his name And it is incredible howe so many should fall headlong into so great dishonors and misfortunes as we haue both seene and red of had the trueth beene laide open before them It is written that K. Lewys the eleuenth was wont to say that he found euery thing within his kingdome but only one which was trueth K. Lewys the twelueth permitted al commedians and stage players to speake freely and to reprehend such vices as were manifest to the ende they mought bee amended And saide that for his own part he knewe many things by them which he was not before witting of Dyonisius the tyrant of Sicille being retyred to Athens after he was depriued of his kingdome bewayled the estate of Princes but especially in that men neuer spoke freely vnto them and that the trueth was euer hidden and concealed from them The Emperours Gordian the younger and Dioclesian made the verie like complaint that euery thing was disguysed and coloured vnto them and that flatterers cast dust before their eyes making them beleeue the euill to be good That they were often times cosened and solde vnder hande that they put the sworde into the handes of furious magistrates and bestowed states honors vpon vnworthie couetous lewd persons That they were caused to turne the day into night and the night into day That they were altogither conuersant and brought vp in delicacies huntings and other pastimes whereby their mindes might be turned from remembring that charge which God had layde vppon them and all this were they brought to doe to the end that such flatterers as were about them might the better attaine to the depth of their deuises And that oftentimes they were but Emperours and Kings in name as if they had plaid their parte but vpon a stage or had beene commedians And that their counselors were the true actors and reped all the profit honor It is likewise written in the rest of Hester that they which deceitfully abuse the simplicitie and gentlenesse of Princes with lying tales make them selues partakers of innocent bloud and wrap them selues in calamities which can not be remedyed And flatterers haue beene compared to the Syrenes who thorough their singing entised all passengers vppon the sea that heard them to drawe neere vnto them Wee may verie well impute to such disguysinges the great expenses which the Emperoures Tiberius Nero Caligula Commodus Domitian Heliogabalus and sundrye others haue foolishlye spent vnder a colour of liberalitie and the better to maintaine their prodigalities put to death and impouerished many which prodigalitie we very well may terme a kinde of lying King Antiochus in hunting lost his way and was constrayned to retire to a poore Yeomans house of the countrey who not knowing tolde him all the faultes that he and his fauorites had committed to whom at his returne he declared that he neuer vnderstoode the trueth vntill that night and euer after he carryed himselfe most vertuously We reade of sundrie our kinges of France who haue done the like and of some Emperours who haue disguised themselues thereby the better to vnderstande what the people spake of them Platina writeth of Pope Eugenes howe he sent certaine rounde about the citie to espie what men most blamed eyther in him or his that it might be amended King Lewys the Grosse which builded S. Victors disguised himselfe often times the better to be informed of the truth And king Lewys the 12. as Charlemagne and Saint Lewys had doone before him tooke great pleasure to vnderstande the complaintes of his subiects applying thereto such remedie as their case required And for this cause hee obtayned the name of father of the people and his memorie is more famous to serue for an example to the posteritie then all the conquestes and victories of other kinges Sundrie of our kinges in the beginning were greatly blamed for that they suffered themselues to bee so muche gouerned by the principall of their court and some haue beene resembled to golden images that are guilded and shining without but within are full of rust cobwebbes and filthinesse For the crowne doth not take away the passions nor griefe of the spirites but rather doth it diminish the true pleasure As Ptolome seeing certaine fishers sporting themselues vpon the sea shore wished he were like one of them adding that monarchies are full of cares feares mistrustes and disguysed miseries Which also Charles the 4. and 5. Emperours were woont to say desyring to leade a priuate life Seleucus before that did the like adding that if hee shoulde cast his crowne into the high waye there would bee none founde that would take it vp knowing the charge and griefes that euer did accompany it And Pope Adrian sayde that he thought no estate so myserable nor so daungerous as his owne and that hee neuer enioyed a better or more pleasant time then when he was but a simple monke and Traian the Emperour wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that hauing nowe tasted the cares and paynes which the imperiall state led with it selfe he did a thousande times repent that euer he tooke it vpon him Homer fayneth all the gods to sleepe except Iupiter who was altogither exempt from sleepe Saint Chrisostome vpon the second to the Corinthians 15. homely sayd that to gouerne and cōmand wel was the greatest and most hard art of all as his fault is more daungerous which guideth the sterne then his which holdeth the owers It is written of Dioclesian that he was wont to say before his Empire that there was nothing so hard as to commaund well Yet many place therein their felicitie and acquit themselues with pleasure of the charge which God hath laide vpon them In my speech before I do not comprehend the wicked and tyrannicall Princes who as Tacitus writeth in the life of Tiberius are perpetually tormented and torne a sunder in their consciences yea and sundrie of them haue lamented the infamie they should endure which they saw very well men would doe vnto them after their death And alleadge the saying of Plato that if their soules could be discouered they should be seene full of stinching scarres and torne in peeces with a hidden yron that euer burneth them And as it is written in the booke of wisedome It is a feareful thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie and a conscience that is
when they followed any euill counsell albeit it succeeded wel the which was long time obserued in the kingdome of Persia For as Brutus wrote vnto Cicero a man once placed in great dignitie hath more to do to mainetaine the grace and reputation which he hath alreadie gotten then he which doth but beginne to get Euen as King Philip aunswered Arpalus who greatly did importunate him to reuerse a suite that a kinsman of his had in the law it were better that thy Cosen in the estate which he is in be defamed through his owne outragiousnesse then that I who am a King commaunding ouer so great a countrey should giue cause to my subiects to speake euill of me for hauing done so great iniustice eyther in fauour of him or thee As also the great Kinge Artaxerxes gaue a great summe of money to a gentleman of his chamber in steede of a suyte he besought at his handes which well hee mought not graunt saying that for giuing that he should not be the lesse rich but if he had yeelded to what he vniustly craued hee should haue beene lesse esteemed and not haue performed the dutie of a good King which aboue all thinges ought to haue in price iustice and equitie For as Pliny declared vnto Traian his Master The life of a Prince is a censure that is to saye the rule the square the frame and forme of an honeste life according to which their subiectes frame the manner of their life and order their families and rather from the life of Princes doe subiectes take their paterne and examples then from their lawes This was it which moued Isocrates to write vnto Nicocles it serueth to proue that thou hast wel gouerned if thou see thy subiectes become more modest and riche vnder thy Empire For the subiectes followe the example of their Princes as certaine flowers turne according to the Sunne And Theodoric the K. of the Goths wrote vnto the Senate of Rome that the course of nature would fayle before the people would bee other then their Prince And Claudian was of opinion that the edictes and lawes were not so well able to amende and temper the maners and hearts of the people as did the good life of their gouerners And in Hosea it is written that there shalbe like people like Priest Xenophon in the eight of his Pedion writeth that subiectes are as it were enforced to doe well when they see their Princes temperate not giuen to vniustice and for the most parte fashion themselues according to their moulde For this cause great personages haue the more neede to haue good counsellours about them whose vnderstanding mouthes eyes and eares maye serue them to make them better able to acquite themselues of their charge as Aristotle saith And it were to be wished that they were not corrupt but wel remember what Plinie the yonger wrote vnto Traian that a Prince ought onely to wil that which he may Quintus Cursius writeth that a Prince rather ought to imploy his time and to spende in getting and maintaining a wise counseler about him then in conquests Anthonie the Emperour onely amended his manners by the report of those as he had sent about the citie to vnderstande what was saide of him And the Emperour Theodosius the second copyed out with his owne hande al the new testament and red euery day one Chapter and made his prayers and soung Psalmes togither with his wife and sisters And many haue commended the custome of diuers of our Kinges and especially saint Lewes who when they rose out of their bed kneeled downe thanking God that he had preserued them that night beseeching him to pardon them their sinnes for his mercies sake and to continue them in his holie custodie and fauour to the ende that without offending of him they might employ all the daye to his honour and acquite themselues of the charge which he had bestowed on them And they caused a Chapter of the Bible or some other good booke to be red while they apparelled them selues the better to teache them to gouerne For to rule is as much to saye as to amende what is amisse or awrie And in Deutronomie it is commaunded the King to haue the booke of the lawe and to read therin al the dayes of his life as aboue wee haue noted was enioyned to Iosua And it is written in Iob that wee shoulde enquire of the former age and search of our fathers because of our ignorance And in the Prouerbes Where no Councell is the people fall but where manye Councellors are there is health And that health commeth from manie Councellors but good councel proceedeth from God And wee see by sundrie histories that such Emperours as haue contemned the Senate haue had a verie euil ende And that some of our Kinges though they were but of meane capacitie yet so guyded themselues thorough Counsell that they atchieued great matters And Thucidides called them bondmen slaues and of verie base mindes that were led by lewde Councell Edward King of Englande saide of King Charles the fifth surnamed the wise that hee feared more the learning and remembrances of that wise King then he did the puissant armies of his predecessour And K. Lewys the eleuenth sayde it was as much as to fish with a hook of golde to sende an armie beyonde the mountaines where the losse is assuredly greater then can be the profit Agamemnon said in Homer that hee had rather choose two like vnto his old counsellor Nestor then so manye Achilles or Aiax Darius King of the Persians and Medes made great account of Daniel Pericles had about him Anaxagoras Cato Anthenodorus Scipio hauing in charge and beeing appointed to goe looke and sounde out what iustice raigned through the worlde presently sent to fetch Panetius and oftentimes serued his turne through the councel of Lelius Iulius Caesar tooke aduise of Aristo Augustus of Mecenas Pompeye of Cratippus Nero al the fiue first yeres of his Empire wisely conducted him selfe through the counsell of Seneca Marcus Antonius had Apollodorus Demetrius Crates of whome he was wont to say that hee conned small thankes to his businesse and affaires which so much hindered him from sooner hauinge attained to knowledge Pyrrhus sayde likewise of Cineas his councellor that hee more esteemed his eloquence then the valour of all his Captaines Alexander the great had in high estimation Anaxarques and Aristotle to whome he confessed that hee owed no lesse vnto them then to his owne father hauing of the one receiued life but of the other to be able to liue well and that the best munition weapons and maintainance of warre that he had were the discourses hee had learned of Philosophie and the preceptes touching the assurance of fearing nought and the diligence in differring nothing that was to be done Cyrus vsed the counsell of Xenophon Craesus King of Lydia
sought by great presents to recouer Anacharsis and that little which hee learned of Solon saued his life And Dionisius the tyrant of Syracusa had Aristippus and Plato Ptolomeus Stilpo and Aristophanes Antigonus Bias Attalus Lycon Marcus Aurelius Apollonius Mithridates so farre adored the saide Plato that hee caused his image to be erected to do him the greater honour And Antiochus marueilously mourned for the death of Zeno because hee saide hee spake his minde vnto him more frankely then did either Byas or Demetrius Epaminundas was instructed by Lysias Agesilaus by Xenophon Theodosius the Emperour was greatly assisted by the councel of Saint Ambrose and learned of him to bee readie to heare what any one had to declare vnto him and to repeate ouer all the letters of the Alphabet before he shoulde commaunde any thing when hee found himselfe mooued with choler which before that time Augustus was warned of who one day being in his throne readie to condemne certaine persones the sayd Mecenas not beeing able to come neare him for the presse cast vnto him a little scroll wherein was contayned these wordes Arise Hangman which caused him to aryse and goe awaye without further execution of his passion The saide Theodosius likewise and Valentinian wrote in a certaine lawe that it was a speache woorthie of a prince and a royall maiestie to saye he was a subiect and submit himselfe to the lawes because the aucthoritie of a Prince dependeth on the preseruatiō of iustice The which Valerius recyteth of Zaleueus the gouernour of Locres who caused one of his owne eyes and another of his sonnes who was founde in adulterie to bee put out for that the people so much besought him that hee woulde not put out both his sonnes eyes according to the lawe The like Diodorus witnesseth to haue beene done by Charondas and Titus Liuius by Manlius who caused his owne sonne to bee beheaded the better to maintaine the discipline of warre Wee reade likewise that Antigonus made aunswere to one of his councellours who sayde it was lawfull for Kinges to doe what best listed themselues Nay that which you saye I thinke bee verie true among Kinges of barbarous nations nourished in ignoraunce and voyde of learning and which knowe not the difference betweene honour and dishonour betweene equitie and inequitie but to vs who haue an vnderstandinge both political and morall thorough the instinct of learning capable of wisedome and iustice hauing euer beene thereto brought vp and instructed there is nothinge honest and lawfull that is not so in his owne nature The which in like sort Traian learned of Plinie and to guide himselfe in such manner as though hee shoulde bee euer readie to render an account of all his actions The which Plato setteth downe in the fourth of his lawes Tacitus discoursing of the originall of the ciuil lawe sayeth that Seruius the thirde King of Romanes established manie lawes to which the Kinges were subiect and Diodorus recyteth of the kinges of Aegypt that without any dispensation they executed and followed the ordinances of the lawes For as Cicero saide in his oration for Cluens the heart vnderstanding and counsel in a publike weale are within the good lawes and ordinances and a political estate is not able to vse his owne partes without lawes no more then the bodie of man can exercise his due operations without reason and vnderstanding nor the hogshed keepe his liquor if you take away the hoopes The sayde Emperour Traian highly esteemed those frinds councellors whō he found true faithful and loyal And when he was desired to tel how he made so good choyce Marrie quoth he because it was euer my good fortune to choose those that were neither couetous nor lyers because that they in whome couetousnes and lying haue once taken deepe roote can neuer perfectly loue Princes ought in like sort to consider the malignitie lack of wisedome in such as they put in trust vnder them who either through negligence not attending their busines or for lacke of capacitie do not discerne of themselues the good counsell from the wicked And it were necessarie that they shoulde not bee permitted to receiue any pension or benefite from any other Prince or Lord. One of the Hebrewes which translated the Byble answered Ptolome that he might assuredly trust him who was not withdrawen from his amitie neither by feare gifts or any other gaine Celius writeth that the Emperour Charles the fifte when hee was at Naples sent for one Nyphus a verie great Philosopher and demaunded of him the way to gouerne well an Empire To which he aunswered if you will keepe neere your person such councellors and men of vertue as you O Emperour make shewe to thinke I am For this cause Isocrates and Tacitus haue written that there is no instrument so good for an Empire nor so profitable as the vertuous and well aduised friends of a Prince Xenophon in his Pedion bringeth in Cyrus saying to Cambises that friendes are the verie scepter and bulwarke of kingdomes It were to be desired that euerie one were as wel aduised as was that vertuous King Charles the eight who oftentimes of would tel his fauorites that he had chosen them for the opinion he had that they were of the most vertuous and of whome hee mought assuredly trust fearing but one fault in them that they would suffer themselues to be spotted with couetousnes hauing easie meanes to be drawen and tempted thereto in respect of the great credit they had about him But if he mought once perceiue that for their profite they would cause ought to be commaunded that were vniust and vnhonest they should lose his fauour for euer That they mought haue iust occasion to content themselues with the goods of this worlde since God had made him rich ynough for them all He prayed them to make profession of honor the onely meanes that brought them and coulde preserue them in his good fauour whereof he did admonish them to the ende to take heede that neither he nor they might fall into any mischief which he willingly would eschewe And as Marcellinus wrote speaking of the vnsatiable couetousnes of the officers of the Emperours Constance and Iulian that they were the nurcerie of al the vices that infected the common wealth in their time And from this desire of riches proceedeth the riotousnes superfluitie of expenses in all estates the which Cicero in like sort lamēted in his time certainly we may wel bewaile the same at this present And to meete herewith it were very good to put that in practise which hath bin vsed after the decease of some of our Kings to resume frō such as haue receiued too excessiuely The which likewise Basile Emperor of Constantinople ordained by edict that they which had receiued money without reason huge gifts of the Emperor Michael his predecessor should
render them back againe And so by the ordinances of the kings Charles 6 9. Philip 6. Iohn 2. Charles 5.6 8. such alienations were reuoked And at an assembly of the three estates holdē at Tours the said Charles the 8 being himself present sundry alienations made by Lewys the 11. were repealed And sundry places that he had bestowed vpon Tanored du Chastel his chiefe mignion were taken away frō him The like was renewed at the last parliament holden at Orleans Hence came the order decree concluded in the treasurie chamber Too large excessiue gifts must be caled back I wil not here omit how sundry authors haue written of the kings of Persia that euery one had one of his chamber ordained of purpose to come euery day verie early into his chamber say vnto him Arise Mileach prouide for the affaires which the great god hath committed to thy charge The which we read was in like sort vsed by Philip k. of Macedon And sundry kings haue bin called some Philadelphes that is to say louers of their brethren others Euergetes that is to say Benefactors Soter swyor Eupater good father Theophiles louers of God others fauorable shephards fathers of the people by sundry other names mētioned in the former Chapter proper to good Princes And yet we see in sundry ancient stāps of Augustus Nerua Traian Lewys the 12. others how great account they made of the names of protectors fathers of the people Quintus Cursius recyteth how Alexander bosted vanted of himself that in all his actions he estemed himself in the theater of the whole world The which Cicero in like sort saith ought to take place in al Magistrates to the end they may guide themselues the more wisely Spartianus Suetonus Lampridius write how Tiberius Claudus Alexander seuerus Adrian the Emperors oftē went to the Senate called to their councell not their fauorits but men learned graue wel experienced and of a good conscience and that there ensued lesse danger if the counsellors were vertuous and the Prince wicked than if the Prince were good and they of his councell nought Wee may neuerthelesse iustly complaine at this present as Carneades sayed of his time howe the children of Kinges and great Lordes learne nothing aright but to ryde well and manage their horses which knowe not howe to flatter or spare the great more then the simple In Aegypt they pictured their God osyris with an eye vppon a Scepter vnderstanding by the eye the prouidence and knowledge of the trueth and by the Scepter authoritie and power And manie haue thought the custome that is obserued in France to make our Kings kisse the booke of the holie Euangelistes is to admonish them to honour and followe the trueth Men of olde time painted Pallas armed hauing a cocke vppon her helmet as gouerning as well ouer learning as warre For manie haue the nobilitie not so accomplished as their calling required except they intermingled learning with armes knowledge wisedome and skill in hystories and the Mathematiques mixt with valour and actiuitie The Emperour Charles the fifth oftentimes was much greeued that hee neuer learned Latine and confessed hee had great hinderances thereby as also did Hannibal And they which haue not beene learned haue runne into the common errour and haue suffered themselues to bee blindfolded to the ende they mought not further search into that which shoulde giue vnto them great iudgement and ornament And if I were not afrayde I shoulde be too tedious I coulde reckon most notable verie preiudiciall faultes which sundrie great Captaines gouernours and Kinges haue committed thorough a fonde opinion they conceiued of their owne sufficiencie and for lacke of demaunding counsell of them that were about them more aduised and experienced I will content my selfe with one example recited by some hystoriographers of the late lorde of Lautrec viceroy for the King in the kingdome of Naples who was so selfe willed in his opinions that hee had rather misse his enterprise then bee helped by the counsell of other Captaines To whome the losse of the sayde kingdome and of all Italie was attributed Pope Alexander the sixth was greatlye blamed by Guichardin for the same fault who writeth that hee neuer consulted but commaunded Xerxes King of Persia hauing determined to inuade Greece sayde vnto his counsell I haue assembled you togither to the ende it may not be thought that I haue vndertaken this enterprise on my owne braine but I will that without either further deliberating or diswading you obey Hee went awaye likewise faster then he entred in and receiued there a verie great dishonor and irrecouerable losse There be but too manie examples of our time whosoeuer would cote them that are able to teache great personages to distrust of their owne senses wittes aduise sufficiencie and to vndertake nothing without good deliberation least they repent themselues long after as it often happeneth And in Titus Liuius he which only foloweth his owne opinion is rather iudged presumptuous then wise for a man is not able continually of himselfe to consider and knowe al things or among many contrarie reasons to discerne the best In which wisedome is required that a man be not deceaued through an vnfaithful counsellor who tendeth nought els then his owne particular interest And the counsel of the wise carrieth greater commoditie then of the imprudent For this cause Princes ought to take in good part when they shalbee aduised by their Chancelers and soueraigne Courts according to their dueties for the preseruation of their honor and benefite of their affaires and not to thinke that they pretende to make doubt of their power but to esteem their good will when they see they iudge but according to iustice equitie and benefite of the common wealth opposing themselues to the importunities false suggestions and disguisings of the courtiars In which the saide Princes do repose themselues and relye vppon the conscience fidelitie allegeance and othe of their officers according as the lawyers and Emperours haue left behinde them written in the ciuil lawe and our Kings in their ordinances especially Philip le Bel Charles 7. and Lewys the twelfth and by the lawe inuiolably kept in Aegypt as Plutarque sayeth and I els where haue recyted And if Princes take in better part the counsel of their Phisition to shunne and hate intemperance and meates offensiue to the stomache then of a flatterer who shorteneth their dayes so ought they to esteeme of their officers which haue the lawes in estimation and iust gouernement which leadeth to a happie end without listening vnto such as desire an vnbrydeled power which turneth vpside downe all lawes pollicie iustice order and states For this cause our Kings haue likewise ordained that no regarde shoulde bee had to their letters if they were not sealed with the great seale
The Aegyptians ordained death it selfe for a punishment to periured persons and to such as declared not the verie trueth in their declaration which of necessitie eche one was to make yearely both touching his name and the meanes he had to nourish his familie The Scithians and Garamanthes followed the same lawe and there was he condemned that had prognosticated any false thinges to come The Persians and Indians depriued him of all honour and farther speache which lyed The Gimnosophistes Chaldeans barred them al companies dignities condemned to remaine in perpetual darknes without speaking And Nicephorus reciteth how the verie wormes did eat the toung of the cosener Nestorius in his life time Monstrelet writeth of Popiel k. of Pologne who had euer this word in his mouth If it be not true I would the Rattes might eat mee that he was so assailed by rattes in a banquet that neither his gards nor fire nor water could preserue him from them Other do assure vs that an Archbishop of Magence died of the like death K. Artexerxes made one of his souldiers toungs to be nailed with iij nailes that had made a lie The lawes of Solon imposed great pains vpon such for that cause did the Gabaonites lose their libertie The emperour Traian surnamed the good Prince took away frō the sonne of Cebalus the kingdom of Dace which we terme at this day Trāsiluania Valachia only because he caught him in a lye told him that Rome the mother of truth could not permit a lyar to possesse a kingdom Cirus in like sort told the k. of Armenia that is was most manifest a lye was not capable of pardō as Xenophon writeth in his 3. booke of his Pedia After that one had red vnto Alexander the great a historie out of Aristobulus wherin he had intermingled certaine counterfait praises he flong the booke into the riuer saying the said writer deserued to haue bin flung in himself because men ought to studie to serch out the truth without which nothing can be wel don that it was a shame great damage when a lye shold put good wordes out of credit And he found fault with another when he compared him to Hercules If he had in this sort remained al the rest of his life that prosperitie flatterie had not rendred himself more insolent he had bin worthy of much greater honor I could here verie wel alledge how in Almanie the lye hath bin alwayes extremely hated shunned as it were a plague bastardes could neuer obtain the prise of any ocupatiō whatsoeuer nor take degree in any art or science as also in the olde testament they were excluded both out of the church sanctuarie For they are euer in doubt which of the sundrie mignions that their mother entertained was their father For this cause Philo Alexandrin compareth those with Idolaters who through ignorance of their creator and his bountie cal vpon many declareth that a multitude as much to say as a pluralitie of gods is very athisme the grounde of lying banishing for euer from thence life euerlasting CHAP. XXIX That the periured and blasphemers are detestable lyers and the paines for them CIcero was of opinion that there was no difference betweene the lyar and the periured person and that God had ordained to eche like punishment and that he which was accustomed to lye did easily periure himselfe The which opinion sundry doctors of the church haue in like sort helde Others notwithstanding haue thought that they haue offended more deepely which abuse the name of God to confirme their lying the which sort of people deserued death by the lawes of Plato Aegypt as committers of sacriledge And the Prophet Ezechiel calleth it the prophaning of the name of God the spoyling him of his trueth He saieth also that he which despiseth his othe shall neuer escape And it is written in Ecclesiasticus that A man that vseth much swearing shalbe filled with wickednes and the plague shall neuer goe from his house Saint Chrisostom made sundrie homilies sermons to the end we should hate leaue all othes that there mought neuer be among men folowing the cōmandement of our sauiour but yea yea nay nay without blaspheming the name of God by swearing And he greatly marueiled to see vs so ready to obey the lawes ordinances of Princes albeit they be very hard vnreasonable that of Gods commandemēt so expressely giuen vnto vs not to sweare at al we make so litle account wherof also Plato greatly complaineth and that men couer themselues with a lewd custom which euery man ought to enforce himselfe vtterly to abolish The saide doctor in like sort writeth that it is vnpossible that he which much sweareth should not forsweare himselfe As wee reade of the othe rashly made by King Saul whereby he was constrained either to put to death his innocent sonne or to remaine periured And God reuenged vpon his race and people the great slaughter that he made of the Gabaonites contrarie to the othe sworne vnto them by his predecessours And the other tribes of Israel hauing sworne that they would not giue their daughters in marriage to that of Beniamin because they woulde not breake their othe chose rather to councell them to rauish their saide daughters And Titus Liuius sheweth that the Petelins in Calabria the Sagontines in Spaine chose rather to dye a most miserable death then to breake the faith they had plighted It is written in Zechariah I sawe a flying booke the length thereof is 20 Cubites and the bredth 10. the curse whereof shall enter into the house of him that falsely sweareth and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and stones thereof Now that all is full of blasphemies othes and periuries wee greatly ought to feare a most sharpe chastisement of the wrath of God for so ordinarie a contempt of his holy name and followe the counsell of Ecclesiasticus Keepe thy mouth from being accustomed to sweare for that carryeth great at ruyne withall K. Agesilaus hauing vnderstoode that Tisaphernes K. of Persia had broken the promise which he had sworne vnto him aunswered that therein he had done him a verie great pleasure because that by his periurie he had rendred himselfe odious and enimie both to the Gods and men And truely all policies and matches are cleane turned topsie turuie if the promise be not obserued Titus Liuius in the beginning of his historie greatly commendeth the common wealth of Rome because it was gouerned by faith and simple oth not by feare of lawes or chastisements It was also the principall charge of the Censors of Rome as Cicero writeth to punish the periured against whome there is great threates in the holie scripture and in Leuiticus not onely the periured man is
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
learning he hath And Alexander saide that those discourses which hee had learned in Philosophie made him much more valiant aduised and assured as wel in warres as all other enterprises And not without cause Menander called ignorance a voluntarie misfortune and Seneca esteemed the vnwise man to be vnthankful of small assurance and angrie with his owne selfe One tolde Alphonsus that a King of Spaine saide that a Prince ought not to bee endued with learning then hee cryed out that it was the voyce of a beafe and not of a man And termed ignorant Kinges crowned Asses saying that by bookes men learned armes and shoulde thereby knowe more then their experience woulde teache them in a thousande yeares And the Emperour Sigismonde perswaded a Countie Palatine that was alreadie well stricken in yeares to learne Latin Petrarque rehearseth of one Robert King of Sicile that he was wont to saye hee had rather bee depriued of his Realme then of his learning And wee read in sundrie hystories that it hath beene inflicted to manie as a punishment that they shoulde not bee admitted to learning And it was not without cause saide of them in olde time that nothing was more pernitious then an ignorant man in aucthoritie as I coulde shewe by many examples and the deliberations of the ignorant can not bee but verie ambiguous slowe and without effecte Sundrie haue blamed Leonce the Emperour for that hee coulde neither write nor reade and Pope Paul the seconde for that hee hated such as were learned Pope Celestine the fifte deposed himselfe by reason of his ignorance And the Emperour Iulian to the ende hee mought molest the Christians forbad them the reading of all good bookes But the good Emperours and Kinges haue founded Colleges and Traian founde fiue thousande children at schoole thereby to driue awaye and banish the vice of ignorance And for the moste parte al Princes haue ayded themselues by learning or at the least made shewe of esteeming it Aristotle sayde that it were better to begge and be needie then vnlearned because the one hath neede of humanitie the other of money which may more easily bee recouered Hee sayde likewise as Plato and Demanes that there was as much difference betweene a learned man and an ignorant as betweene a liue and a dead a whole and a sicke a blinde and one of cleere sight or as betweene the Gods and men This made Menander to write that learning encreased and doubled the sight Yet men ought not to esteeme one that hath red much except he waxe the better thereby no more then as a bath which serueth to nothing except it bee cleansed And if wee bee accustomed in a Barbers chaire to beholde our selues in a glasse much more ought wee by a lesson sermon or lecture to examine our selues and see how our spirite is purged of sinne and howe much we thereby grow better And we must togither with a good nature ioyn the contemplation of learning the better to informe vs of our dutie afterwards to put in vse practise that good which we haue learned for as Plato wrote The end of Philosophie and of our studies is that by the searche which we haue made of naturall things wee may bee lead to the knowledge of God and vse that light which is bestowed vpon vs to conduct our life to pietie all good workes and vertue Euen Demosthenes wrote to a friend of his that he was glad hee followed Philosophie which detested all vnhonest gaine and deceite and whose finall scope was vertue and iustice The which with much more certaintie wee may auerre of the holy scripture wherein we ought to exercise our selues for feare of falling into that threatening which God pronounced by his Prophet because thou hast reiected knowledge therefore I wil cast thee off S. Augustin handling that place of S. Paul to the Romanes where he speaketh of the ignorance of the Iewes writeth that in them which would not vnderstand or knowe ignorance was a sinne but in them which were not able nor had the meanes how to knowe or vnderstand it was the paine of sinne So the not knowing of God or of our selues before wee were instructed by the worde of God was the payne of sinne vnto condemnation but after we haue hearde the word ignorance is of it selfe a most grieuous sinne For as S. Bernard writeth they which are ignorant and either for negligence or slothfulnes doe not learne or for shame enquire not out the trueth are voide of all excuse And if the Aegyptians counted it a moste intollerable calamitie to endure but for three dayes the darknesse which God sent vnto them by Moses how much more ought wee to be afraide when we remaine all our life long in the night of ignorance I could to this ende alledge sundrie examples of inconueniences that haue ensued through ignorance of the natural causes of the Eclipse of the Moone and Sunne of the impressions which are fashioned in the aire and of a superstitious feare of the Celestial signes and how by the ignorance of the Mathematikes of Cosmographie Chorographie and Geographie they haue not beene able to knowe their way nor to iudge of the heighth of a wall to be scalled nor of the passages riuers marishes and proper places to pitch a campe or retire themselues into and howe much sundrie historiographers haue failed herein but that I may not bee too tedious I wil referre the reader to the Greeke Latine and Frenche histories For this cause wee ought to enforce our selues to learne and to profit in the knowledge of the trueth that that in Ieremiah may not be reproched vnto vs You haue eyes see not and haue eares and heare not CHAP. XXXIII That one ought not rashly to borrowe money nor aunswere for another man for feare of lying IT is greatly to be presumed that the principal cause which moued them of olde time to councel a man not to be suretie for an other nor to borrowe money without verie vrgent necessitie or good pawne for the repaiment was for feare one should be founde a lyar which is a vice accompanied with impudencie and vniustice The Persians in like sort as Herodotus witnesseth blamed greatly two sinnes the one of owing the other of lying The which also moued Alexander the great after the victorie which he obtained against Darius to pay and aquite his souldiers debtes and Sophie the wife of Iustin to answere sundrie debts of the subiects of the Empire out of her owne coffers and Solon at Athens to establish an abolishing of al debtes which he termed by a word which signified a diminutiō of charge and sundrie other to doe the like in Lacedemon and Nehemiah to restore againe the burthens exactions And in Deuteronomie euerie seuenth yeare called the yeare of freedome debts could no more be demaunded to the ende this vice of
lying might bee met with which accompanieth the disabilitie of restoring The which likewise was the cause of the aunswere which Phocion made vnto them which demaunded of him to contribute where euerie man had verie franckly giuen Nay I should be much ashamed to giue vnto you and not to restore vnto him pointing vnto a creditor of his owne And Seneca writeth that often times he which lendeth money vnto his friend loseth both money and friend Aulus Gellius l. 7. c. 18. l. 16. c. 7. telleth of one which tearmed an othe a playster of them which borrowed And to the ende the Boetiens and sundry other mought be kept from borowing they tyed a coller of yron about such as payde not at their day and they stoode long time open to the reproche of such as passed by The father of Euripides was in like sort handled And Sueton writeth that Claudus was so serued before he was chosen Emperour And Hesiodus parents to auoid that shame were constrained to quitte their countrey That is worthie of marking which Pausanias writeth that the Athenians before they gaue charge to any Captaine either by sea or by lande acquited their debts otherwise no account was made of him And according to the disposition of the law one that is endebted ought not to take vppon him the office of an Embassador I haue seene this same lawe of the collar obserued in certain Cantons of Zuizerland to make men thereby the better to keepe their promise In Saxe they made them prisoners which did not acquite themselues The lawe of the twelue tables was farre more seuere for if one did not pay what he borowed they would giue vnto him a short peremptorie day in which time if he did not acquite himselfe they solde him or he was giuen to his creditour to serue him as his slaue if hee had many creditors they mought dismember him take euery one a peece Such a lawe notwithstanding was not long since in vse as Titus Liuius and Aulus Gellius haue written and was repealed at the request of the tribunes of the people afterwarde by Dioclesian Among the Indians likewise if the debtor did not discharge himselfe in his prefixed time they mought take from him either a hand or an eye and if he dyed indebted they would not suffer him to be buried vntil his children or friendes had answered it Wee read in the seconde booke of the Kinges the miracle which Eliseus did to pay the debte of a widowe from whom her creditor woulde haue taken away her two children to haue serued him for want of payment And it is written in the Prouerbs that the borower is seruant to the man that lendeth and so is it in the lawe 3. C. de Nouatio Titus Liuius and Plutarque in the liues of Coriolanus and Sertorius describeth the sedition which fell out at Rome which was abandoned of manie because the creditoures lead as slaues their debtors and detained them in most cruell bondage Aluare which wrote the historie of the Abissius setteth downe that debtors were deliuered as bondmen to their creditours and some others haue written that in the realme of Calicut vpon complaint made to the Bramains against the debtor they gaue the creditour an instrument wherewith hee mought make a circle in the earth and therein enclose his debtor commaunding him in the Kings name not to depart from thence vntil he were satisfied and so was he constrained either to pay or dye there for hunger At Athens there was a Iudge which had no other charge then to see debtes payde the Tribunes likewise at Rome had the like charge against the greater sort And by the ciuil lawe if a man called one his debtor which in deede was not he mought lawfully haue an action of the case against him so odious was that name As touching the inconueniences of suretiship Salomon setteth them down in the Prouerbes He shalbe sure vexed that is suretie for a stranger and he that hateth suertiship is sure Be not among them that are suretie for debtes if thou hast nothing to paye why causest thou that hee shoulde take thy bed from vnder thee And in Ecclesiasticus Suretiship hath destroied manie a riche man and remoued them as the waues of the sea For the condition of the suertie is sometime worse then his that borroweth because not making account to pay it he is prosecuted and put in execution and often times constrained to helpe himselfe by verie sinister means to his great disaduantage The which agreeth with the olde Prouerbe Be suertie and thy paine is at hande And according to the opinion of Bias he which loseth the credit of his worde loseth more then he which loseth his debte I doe not for all that meane by this that charitie shoulde therefore waxe colde nor that there shoulde be any let why both in worde and deede wee should assist and helpe the necessitie of our neighbour according vnto such meanes as God hath bestowed vpon vs. CHAP. XXXIIII Of lying ingratitude THE vnthankfull man hath euer beene accounted a more daungerous lyer then the debtor for as much as he is onely bounde by a naturall obligation to acknowledge the benefite which hee hath receiued and notwithstanding impudently dissembleth the same thinking it a sufficient excuse for that he can not be by lawe constrained therunto as the debtor shunneth him whom he ought to seeke breaking that conuersation humanitie which preserueth the societie of men He despiseth God his kinne and friends And through this impudencie he is euen driuen to al vilanie and mischiefe and maketh him selfe a slaue and ought to be grieuously chastised as Xenophon writeth And Plutarque interpreteth Pithagoras symbole of not receiuing of swalowes that a man ought to shunne vngratefull persons The which hath been an occasion that many haue refused great presents fearing that they shoulde not haue meanes to requite the same and thereby to auoid the suspition of ingratitude which hath alwayes beene condemned for a most manifest iniurie and vniustice and vnder the worde vngratefull haue all vices with a curse beene comprehended The Romanes likewise in the middle of their citie caused a temple to be builded and dedicated it to the Graces thereby to admonish euery man to loue peace detest ingratitude and to render to euery one according to Hesiodus rule a man famous among the Philosophers with encrease and greater measure whateuer we haue receiued imitating therein as Cicero sayeth the fertile landes well laboured and sowne which bringeth forth more then foure folde increase For this cause Xenophon among the praises which he gaue vnto Agesilaus reputeth it a parte of iniustice not onely not to acknowledge a good turne but also if more be not rendred then hath ben receiued And if we bee naturally inclined to do good to them of whome we conceiue good hope howe much
that same desire vpon their owne faults to amend them shutting their windowes lopeholes that looke vpō their neighbour to the end they may haue better sunne and more holesome winde from some other part and thereby better informe thēselues of the priuate gouernment of their owne familie and of matters fitter for them to knowe They shall finde enough at home to passe awaye their time withal without resēbling the Lady faries that some say do neuer vse the aide of their eies but abroad out of their owne houses It was neuer lawfull for stage players among the Turiens to talke of any citizen except he were either an adulterer or curious And by the law of Locres if any man cōming out of the countrey should aske what newes were sturring he was by and by greatly fined to the end curiositie mought not haue too much place Sundrie write that Antonie the Emperour going one daye to the house of one Ouilius a Senator demaunded of him howe it was possible for him to recouer so great store of Pillers of Porphire to whome hee made aunswere that when you enter into an other mans house you must learn to bee deafe and dumme The which the Emperour tooke in very good parte And as wee feare those windes which blowe about our eares our clothes and customers farmers when they prie too neere into smal trash and priuate busines so ought euery one to looke to such curious persons and when they once accost thē to answere them that the retreate is sounded the hens haue espied the Kite and so shift frō them as soone as they may be able For nothing can enter into their eares but what euill so euer they can heare like vnto cupping glasses which draweth nothing from the skinne but the naughtie bloud that is within it and manie times they interprete all to the worst Ecclesiasticus admonished vs not without great cause to take heede of beeing ouer-curious in matters superfluous and sayth that A foole will peepe in at a doore into the house but he that it well nurtered will stande without And S. Paule in the ende of his seconde Epistle to the Thessalonians and in his first to Timothie blameth such as are curious S. Augustine teacheth vs to change this curiositie into a care to amend our life and to knowe that which appertayneth vnto our saluation and Tertullian wrote that it ought to take no place at all with vs since that Iesus Christ was manifested vnto vs in the gospell And according to the Greeke prouerbe alleadged by Cicero each man ought to busie himselfe in the art which he knoweth and in his owne vocation Of this vice Bartole writeth vpon the lawe Doli mali de Nouatio nu 5. chap. 17. I could here impute to curiositie a great part of the art of nauigation and voyages into farre countryes whence nothing is brought home but strange customes and corruption of manners in like sort the death of Aristotle not being able to comprehende the secrete of Euripus nor why the sea in the straight of Negrepont euery 24. houres flowed and ebbed apace 7. times and of Plinie smothered in the flames and vapors of Montgibel and the heresies of sundry other persons And that we may the better keepe our selues from sinning herein wee must accustome our selues not to be too muche inquisitiue after matters that are lawefull nor make account of inuenters and coyners of newes As Phocion aunswered vppon the brute of Alexanders death deliberate of your affayres for if the newes bee true to daye then will they be true to morrowe The aunswere which Socrates made to him which asked him what the worlde was seemeth worthy to be here remembred that euer since he came to any iudgement hee applyed his time to search his owne selfe thereby to knowe himselfe the better which as yet he could not attayne vnto and when he should then would hee imploye himselfe to other thinges which might serue him for nought or not import him so much He was wont likewise to say that it was enough to learne so much geometrie as mought make him knowe and maintayne his owne lande from his neighbours and so much arithmeticke as to keepe the account of his owne money moueables and marchandise And in the auncient time they were greatly seased which vnprofitably consumed their braine in the superfluous search of matters buried in obscure darkenesse vncertaine and friuolous CHAP. XXXVIII Of Flatterers WE haue before declared how necessary a matter it is for one to haue neere unto him such entire friendes as will always tell him the truth without flattery For flatterers as S. Augustine sayth do poyson mens vnderstanding and still driue them into further errour making of a Thersites an Achilles and of a little flie an Elephant hauing no other scope in the world but deceite And that which yeeldeth vnto them so large a fielde is selfe loue and ouer winning of ones selfe which cleane taketh away right iudgement and is blind in regarde of what it loueth except it fall out among such as haue of long time beene accustomed and taugh more to esteeme honestie then that which naturally springeth vp with it Plato his followers would euer counterfeit his high sholders Aristotles his stammering Alexanders his double chinne and shrilnes of speech the Poet Ennius his drunkennes And in the time of Tiberius the Emperour a flatterer sayde vnto him that since his pleasure was that euery free citie should be free of speech a man ought not to be silent in that which he knewe would prooue profitable and after he had prepared sundry mens eares readie to giue him hearing he began in this sort Hearker O Caesar wherein we finde our selues agreeued with thee and there is no man which dareth openly to tell thee thereof It is for that thou makest no accont of thy selfe but abandonest thy owne person and afffictest thy body with the continuall care and trauaile which thou takest for vs neuer yeelding vnto thy selfe thy dewe rest eyther by daye or night And as he went on further with the same discourse one cryed out The libertie which this man vseth will cause him to die other sayde he will marre the Emperour Princes haue alwayes beene subiect to flatterers for as the bigger the tree is the mor fat there is for wormes to remayne in so the more wealth a man is of the more is he sought of flatterers which addresse themselues to that part of the soule which is most vnreasonable The Emperours Augustus Titus Niger Alexander Seuerus Frederic the seconde and sundry other helde them in great hatred yea Augustus being come into the Theater when one that was present cryed out O good and iust Lord shewed himselfe highly displeased therewith and forbad that any should call him any more Lord as Sueton writeth And Philip surnamed Gods gift Constantine and sundry other
banished them their courtes as the very ruyne and plague of Princes and at Athenes they were put to death A wise Abbot wrote of Charles the 3. that aboue all things he tooke heede that flattering courtiers should not rauish from himself the fauour of his benefits as they are whō they terme sellers of smoke For besides the mischiefe which they worke they swarue with all change of fortune leaue men as lyce do a dead carkas or flyes an empty chychen And Iouinian the Emperour compared thē to the ebbe and flowing of the sea and said that they only adored the rich robes of Princes Agesilaus K. of the Lacedemonians was wont to say that they were far more dangerous then either theeues or murtherers And Isocrates since his time K. Alphonsus were wont to saye that of all mischeifes that were possible to happen to a Prince the greatest was when he gaue eare to flatterers counselled thē to shun thē like fire plague wolues The which the Prophet Hosea cōfirmeth and Salomon in his Prouerbes The Emperour Iulian being one day highly cōmended by his courtiers for that he was so good a Iusticer had reason to say that if those prayses had proceeded frō any mens mouthes who had durst cōdemne or mislike his actions whē they shuld be contrary therunto then had he had occasion to haue esteemed thereof Dion attributed the hatred which was conceiued against Iulius Caesar his very deth to flatterers And Q. Cursius sheweth that great segneuries kingdomes lie by that means more desolate then by wars Vopiscus setteth down flatterie as the principall cause that corrupteth Princes And Philip de Comines rendreth the reason thereof to be for that Princes do lightly ouerwin too much of thēselues of those whō they find agreeable vnto their humor One of Alexander his lieuetenantes on a time wrote vnto him that he had in his gouernmēt a boy of incōparable beautie that if it so liked him he wold send him vnto him He wrote back vnto him O accursed mischeuous caytife what hast thou euer knowen in me that thou shuldst thus dare to flatter me by such pleasures Likewise hauing on a time vnderstood that one with whō he ran a race had suffred him to win the wager by his swiftnes he grew maruelous angry contrary to Dionisius of Siracusa the elder who sent Philoxenes the Poet to the gallowes with such as were condēned to die because he wuld not flatter him nor yeeld vnto him in Poesie For as Aristotle declareth in the 1. booke of his Politiques Tyrants greatly take pleasure in being flattered fauour the wicked Some are of opinions that flatterers are far worse thē false witnesses or false coyners because they infect the vnderstāding And Antisthenes iudged thē more dangerous then rauens for that they do but deuoure the bodies of such as are dead And Plato in Menedemus calleth them inchanters sorcerers poysoners Theopompus Atheneus witnes that the Thessaliens cleane rased a citie of the Melians because it was named Flattery One demāded of Sigismonde how he could endure flatterers about him he answered that he knew not how he gaue eare vnto thē of his owne nature hating thē For albeit that they cleane ouerturne ruine kingdoms yet haue they cōmonly better entertainment then plaine dealing or vertue As Alexander saide that he loued better the idolatry of Ephestion thē the sincerity of Clitus And Seneca his book natural quaest writeth that flattery is of that nature that it euer pleaseth though it be reiected and in the end maketh it selfe to be receiued Thales other say Pittacus being demanded of all beasts which was the most cruell answered that among Princes the flatterer Phocion said to K. Antipater Thou canst not haue me both for thy friend and flatterer Atheneus sundry other aucthors do impute Alexander his faults changes his delicatenes drunkennes dissolutnes the murthers which he cōmitted to his flatterers he remained a time without buriall his conquests occupied by strangers after the massacre of such as were neerest vnto him The which ought to mooue vs to cast off that opinion which we holde of our selues so to consider of our imperfections faults intermingled amōg our actions that we suffer not our selues to be abused by flatterers as a man would say make litter of our selues for their pleasure For they transforme thēselues into all shapes as the Polepus Cameleon that they may please And it was not amisse sayd of him that the flatterers of Princes doe resemble those which infect and taint a cōmon spring which put out the eyes of the guide are the occasion of the subiects harme as the wiseman neere a Prine is the cause of the vniuersall wealefare Other haue sayd that there is no kinde of man more pestilent nor which sooner marred youth then the flatterer presenting an ineuitable baite of pleasure wherewith they are deceiued And if the sayde youth looke not well about them and hold a hard hand ouer their appetites it is quickly entrapped and they are among Princes like fowlers which take birdes in their snares by counterfeyting of their call CHAP. XXXIX That enuie is a miserable lye and of the meanes to remedy it FOr as much as all Christians are members of one selfe same body whereof Iesus Christe our sauiour is the head those giftes and graces which each one hath perticularly receyued at Gods handes are for the ornament pleasure and profitte of all as beautie and the agilitie of one of the members of the bodie is common to all the reste which are distinguished and separate each one hauing a particular office for their mutuall weale And in that the members doe so knit and ioyne themselues togither it is not accounted of their free accorde but as a satisfaction dewe by the lawe of nature So doeth neyther the foote nor the hande enuie one the other though the one be adorned with ringes the other be at rest but as Hipocrates Galien wrote there is a kinde of diuine consent and accorde betwixt all the members of the body And the very trewe badge to discerne a Christian by is mutuall loue the which Tertullian named the Sacrament of fayth and the treasure of a Christian name And as the holy scripture teacheth vs we are not to our selues but to God who most freely bestoweth all thinges vpon vs to the ende we should impart the same vnto our neighbour And we ought to esteeme whatsoeuer any man possesseth not to happen vnto him as by chaunce or fortune but thorough the distribution of him who is the soueraine mayster disposer and Lorde of all And as it is written in Malachie Haue we not all one father Hath not one God made vs VVhy doe wee transgresse euerie one agaynst his brother and
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
considering the excellencie of our soule in his owne nature haue great cause to boast in God which hath giuen it vnto vs and through his bountie hath vouchsafed to honour vs farre aboue all other creatures but looking backe howe this nature hath beene corrupted and esloyned from her first originall there remaineth nought to vs but shame And if there bee any good in vs it proceedeth from the liberalitie of God by whome if wee bee not continually supported wee shall fall into all miserie and mischiefe Let vs likewise considered howe manye great personages fearing to bee too much exalted haue refused Empires Kingdomes Bishoprickes Abbayes and other dignities And haue accounted themselues happie when God hath done them the honour to humble them and bring them vnto him through sundrie afflictions Philo the Iewe writeth that the occasion whie Leuen was forbid vnto the Iewes at the feast of Easter was to teache them to haue a greate care to keepe themselues from pryde and presumption into which they fell which helde any good opinion of their owne selues and puffeth themselues vp therewith as the dowe is with the leuen CHAP. XLI That Painting is Lying FOr as much as sinceritie simplicitie roundnesse and trueth are proper to such as are vertuous and all disguysing hath beene accounted odious It is not without cause that sundrye haue blamed and found fault with paynting which serueth not but to delight such as are licentious and proceedeth as Sainct Ciprian and Chrisostome wrote from the Diuel a lyar and deceiuer And if Saint Peter and Saint Paul exhort weomen not to haue their appareling outwarde as with broydered hayre and golde put about or in putting on of apparell but what is comely to weomen making profession of the trueth through good woorkes much lesse will they allowe of paynting God in Isaiah reprehendeth the daughters of Sion because they minsed as they went and decked themselues too curiously Among other things he sayeth that because they were haughtie and walked with outstretched neckes and with wandring eyes walking minsing as they went making a tinckling with their feete therefore shall the Lord make the heds of the daughters of Zion bald discouer their secrete partes and in that day shall take away the ornament of the slippers and the calles and the round tires the sweete balles the brasselets and the bonnets the tyres of the head and the sloppes the headbands and the tablets and the eare rings the rings the mufflers the costly apparel the vailes the wimples and the crisping pinnes and the glasses and the fine linnen and the hoods and the launes and the men shal fall by the sworde for suffring such pride of women In Deuteronomie it is written The woman shall not weare that which pertaineth voto the man neither shall a man put on a womans raiment And we must glorifie God in our bodies and in our spirites which are his and the temples of the holie Ghost as S. Paul sayth and take heede of giuing offence to any It is without all doubt that there chaunceth sundrie great imperfections to children when weomen with childe goe too straite laced Tertullian in his booke of the rayments of weomen would haue them simple and differing from common maydens and such as were nice and drunken S. Ciprian and S. Ambrose vppon the like argument and S. Chrisostome vpon the 12. to the Hebrewes forbid painting to women and say that they giue occasion of offence and cause men to sinne and wallow in the stye of the brickle vanities of this world And Sueton telleth how Augustus called gorgious garments markes of pryde and nestes of riotousnes And many olde doctors of the Church haue greatly complained against such as curle their haire and aboue all things reproued the vse of wearing of perwigs And Clement Alexandrin writeth that as a man would iudge one to be yll at ease which weareth a plaster on his face or one that hath beene scourged to haue beene punished by lawe so doeth painting betoken a diseased soule marked with adulterie as Iezabel was founde fault with and punished And Platina reprehendeth Pope Paul the second The auncient fathers called it a corruption and staine if many colours were mingled togither And Homer speakinge of a peece of yuorie that was coloured red writeth that it was poluted with a staine A man may rather say so by ones face As also Horace called Lentiscus a lyar because he blacked his haire And K. Archidamus tolde an Orator which had done the like that he carryed a lye in his head therefore could say nothing well K. Philip said as much to one of Antipaters friends from whome he tooke away his office after that he vnderstood that he curled his haire beard telling him that he which in his haire was fals a liar could hardly be loyal in any good affaire This is the reason why Lycurgus forbad al kind of painting artificial garnishing to be vsed in the citie of Sparta ordaining in like sort that maidens should be giuen im marriage without dower to the ende that for want of money none should remaine vnmarried nor any sought for their goods but respecting the maners of the maiden eche one should make election of vertue in her whom he would marrie A Lacedemonian being demanded by a stranger why there was no lawe made against adulterers Why said he should there be any since all riches delicatenes al painting outward garnishing is forbidden in Sparta shame to do yll honestie obedience there hath al the authoritie preheminence And if a painter would take it greeuously for a great iniury offred vnto him if any other should adde any colours to the picture whiche had finished especially vpon the counterfaict of Princes which themselues would hold for a great contempt by the ciuil law the child may haue an action of the case against him which shal deface the portract of his father Wee may wel imagin how much it displeaseth God if by painting we seek to correct his work pollute his temple as S. Ierom writeth in an Epistle to Laeta against Heluidie And S. Chrisostom vpon the ninth of S. Matth. addeth that it maketh vs resemble strumpets hasteneth wrinkles before old age Titus Liuius telleth of one Vestale Postumea that she was accused vnder colour of appareling her self too netely S. Peter would haue a Christian woman which maketh professiō of godlines to liue holily as if she were of a religion wel reformed And it was excellently wel written by Tertullian that the force of faith is such that it is perceiued by mans vnderstāding by his countenance garments euery action And Plato said that they which were curious in bedecking of their body despised the care of their soule It were not amisse if euery one that were curious were serued as a
of fortunes Lycurgus did the like And if we mark it wel we shal find that they cast sow in the aire as it were in a sea without any iudgement and at the aduenture of ambiguous words tending to al sorts of accidents passions chance of a hundred perhaps one falleth out right which was neuer foreseene or thought by them for the most part wee see the contrarie happen of that which is prognosticated Cicero for this cause writeth that Plato was wont to saye that hee marueiled when such people met togither how they could abstain frō laughter seing the cosening tricks which they playd And God by Ieremie commanded vs not to be afraid for the signes of heauen from whence these abusers say they take their foundation And Homer bringing in the gods deliberating of things to come declared thereby how it passeth mans capacitie as Isocrates writeth yea Daniel in the end of his prophesie saieth that he vnderstoode not the wordes of the Angel speaking of the end of the world The which maketh mee greatly to condemne such as haue writen therof especially Leouitius who setteth it down to be in the yere 1583 yet he forgeth an Ephemerides of nigh hand 30. yeares after that yeare Astrologers likewise foretolde of the yeare 1524 that such an other coniunction should meet as was at the time of the floud and that al the face of the earth shoulde be couered with water and there was neuer seene a more fayre and dry yeare then that was as Viues writeth In short that kind of people haue skill of any thing but to tell true For sorcerers the lawes of the 12. Tables and sundrye other haue condemned them to death as worse then murtherers most wicked and abhominable enemies both vnto nature and mankinde The title of the Code de maleficiis and the lawe neminem containeth this cursse that the cruell pestilence eate them out and consume them And God condemneth them in Exod. c. 2. Leuit 20. 21. Deu. 18. Isaiah 3. Iere. 19.17 50. For such sorceries Iehu made queene Iezabel to bee eaten with dogs It is verye requisite that Iudges take great paines and be very seuere herein because they growe so common and God threatneth that hee will roote out the people which shall leaue them vnpunished S. Augustine also greatlye detesteth them And the reason why the Cananites were rooted out is expressed in Deut. to wit for the abhominable sorceries which they vsed And Plato in his lawes condemned them to die for they renounce God all his religiō they blaspheme him they do homage to the Diuell they vow their children vnto him they promise to drawe vnto him whatsoeuer they are able they poyson men beastes and fruites they are incestuous and worke much mischiefe And as touching vsurers Plutarque in his booke which he made to which I referre the Reader is of opinion that no kinde of people of the worlde are so notorious lyars nor which vse more to falsefie their faith in all their practises they haue beene condemned both by the law of God and man and excommunicated by a counsell holden in Spaine And the Persians alwayes reputed loane to vsury to be deceat lying and wickednesse Appian in his first booke of the ciuill warres wrote that by an auncient law at Rome vsurye was forbidden vpon great paines and we see in Titus Liuius and in Tacitus the great searches and punishmentes that ensewed therefore And in the time of kinge Philip Augustus of S Lewys of kinge Iohn and Charles the sixt the Iewes and Italiens which held banques and exercised vsurye thorough out Fraunce were driuen out and rifled because they marred the houses and families that adioyned neare vnto them The ancient Cato held them as lyars murtherers theifes and a continuall fire which euer encreased thorough the losse and ruine of such as fell there in And so they which haue to do with vsurers are by little and little consumed and gnawne a sunder And as he which is stong with the aspe dieth sleeping so sweetly doth he consume him selfe which hath borrowed vpon vsury And Michah writeth that they deuour the fleshe of the people flea their skin and gnaw their bones Moreouer the worde vsury in the hebrew tongue is as much to say as biting And mony is brought forth before it be begot The which caused some to terme loan to vsury the great chastiser of fooles for their incontinencie And vsury was euer accounted the daughter of couetousnes and ambition which leadeth to all euill Wherefore according to the lesson of the wise man eache one ought to beware that he fall not into so great a mischiefe but it is requisite rather to be content with a little to shun thinges superfluous to vse parsimony and sparing thinking that if one bee not able to liue with a little he will lesseliue with nothing And as in sundry places debtors were priuiliged among other in Dianas temple at Ephesus so was the temple of sparing and well ordered expense into which vsurers mought not enter open vnto the wise and yeeldeth to them a ioyful rest And for because such as intermeddle with selling againe do it without anye art or trauile and with lying they haue beene in like sort blamed as well by Aristotle as by Cicero CHAP. 43. Of the punishments that hath be fallen vnto such as haue giuen eare vnto malitious surmises reiecting the truth IF what we haue before set downe touching forged accusations doe not so sone discouer it selfe if choler false reports opinions do so far insinuate them selues as truth can take no place nor iustifications be heard yet will God the protector of innocency set to his helping hande and discouer the truth as the holy scriptures affirme And Theophrastus said that surmises woulde die by litle and litle but truth was the daughter of time Among an infinit number of exāples I will content my selfe with a few the most notable Leo the emperor condēned Michael to die the execution was differred but vntil Christmas was ended in which time he died soddainly the same Michael was not onle deliuered from prison but chosen Emperor of Constantinople Mathias the son of that great captaine Hunniades was charged of ill behauing him self towards Ladislaus K. of Boheme Hungary as he was ready to be condēned his eldest brother hauing bene before executed throgh enuy false information the said Ladislaus mindinge to marrye Margrite daughter to Charles the 7. died soddenly and the said Mathias attending but the hangman of Prag was chosen K. of Hungary As also one Castrutio retired frō an obscure prison was chosen gouernor of Lucques by the death of the tirant Vgutio And one Iacques de lusignan prisoner at Genes was chosen K. of Cipres Theodoric K. of the Ghots in his rage through a forged accusation executed Boetius
Simmachus two very honorable personages shortly after he was serued at the table with a head of a fish which seemed vnto him to be the head of the same Simmachus loking a squint vpon him grinning with his teeth so with this fright conceit fel he sick and died Thrasibulus K. of the Iewes cōceiued such a greif in that he had slaine his brother without hearing his excuse that he died The like also befell to Aristobulus for murthering his brother Antigonus for sorow vomited vp his own bloud which was caste in the place where his brothers was spilt with a remorse of conscience died as Iosephus writeth And in thend of his history he telleth of a gouernor of Libia vnder the Romanes who with false surmises hauing made many be put to death to get their wealth was surprised with a sudden fright astonishment often cried out that the shadowes of such as he had caused to bee murthered apeared vnto him cast him self vpon his bed as if he had bin in tormēts fire in thend died his intrals gushing out of his body They which by wrong accusatiō caused Socrates to die not being able any longer to abide the publike hate which was carried vnto thē hong strangled thēselues The great Lord Soliman made his own son be strangled K Herod did the like vnto his and after that the truth was discouered they both too late sorrowed There is as much written of a K. of Spaine and of Cambises the K. of Persia who put his brother to death wherof ensued great alteration of state Mary of Aragon accused an Earle before the Emperor Otho her husband faining that he wold haue defiled her he was beheaded but the truth being afterwards discouered she was publikly burned Nicephorus writeth as much of the wife of Constantine the gret Sedechias caused Ieremy to be imprisoned who had told him the truth to keep him frō breaking his faith was led away captiue after his eyes were thrust out his childrē beheaded Conrad that writeth the chronicles of Magence saith of one Henry Archb. of the same Sea who to purge him selfe of a certaine charitie which was lent vnto him sent to Rome one Arnold whom he had highly aduanced but instead of excusing him hee aggreuated the matter to the ende that thorough presentes he might attaine vnto his maisters seat which he did compasse with his maisters owne monye and there vpon carried home with him as farre as Vnormes two Cardinals from Rome where he caused the sayde Archbishop to be deposed from his sea who appealed vnto God the most iust iudge Anon after one of those Cardinals miserably burst a two the other as franticke tore his handes in peeces with his teeth and so dyed And the sayde Arnold who had compassed the Archbishopricke by so lewd meanes was murthered by them of the Citie Ferdinand the fourth kinge of Castile caused twoo of his greatest Lordes of Spaine which had beene falsely accused to haue conspired againste him to leape downe from the top of a high towre they appealed before God before whom within thirty dayes they adiourned him to appeare and at the ende of thirty dayes the same king when men thought he was a sleepe was found dead It is also written of the great M. of the Templers that when he was vpon the point to be burned at Bourdeaux he adiourned Pope Clement the fift and king Philip the fayre to appeare before the throne of God to receaue iustice shortly after they both dyed So hath God alwaies beene accustomed to reuenge periuries and such as will shut their eares to the truth which ought to be consecrated onelye to heare what is iust good true and appertaining to his glory CHAP. 44. That we must auoide suites in law because of the lyinge and cautell of the practisers THe knowledge of the truth holdeth manye backe and keepeth them from embarking them selues amid the floudes of suites and seates of Petefoggers which are but the shoppes of falsehood deceat and counterfait lying thorough disguising and formality peruerting the vprightnes of a cause For as Demosthenes Anacharses sayd wisedom and eloquence without truth and iustice are a Panurgie that is to say a guyle or sleight such as we reade the slaues to vse in Comedies which still turneth to their owne domage and confusion And in truth the fashion which they hold in manye soueraigne and baser Courtes is but a kind of Sophistrie which casteth smooke and duste into the eyes of the iudges to the ende to couer lying and pilferie And we may say with Ecclesiasticus I haue seene the place of iudgement where was wickednes and the place of iustice where was iniquity It were also very requisite that Lawyers besides that God doth especiallye commaund them woulde obserue the preceptes of Plato repeated in Thucidides that in pleading they should not so much regarde to please men as to speake the truth to the end they shoulde neither charge their own consciences nor their clients knowing that wealth gotten with lying will neuer profite Salomon saide that the beginning of a controuersie is as when waters soking thorough a banke by little and little make a great breach or like Hidra who for euery head which was stroke off brought out seuen other Seneca found fault with the Lawyers of his time as also Tacitus did because they sold their lyes The Emperour Licinius termed them the plagues of a common wealth Apuleus named them Cormorantes because of their gredines Other termed them Harpies And Florus wryteth that when Varus was vanquished in Germany they put out the eyes of all the Lawyers which they could find and from some pulled out their tongue Frederic the third sayde thy defiled the place of iustice and equity making it a banke of deceat and cosinage S. Augustin in one of his sermons writeth that there is nothing so impudent as arrogancie and the babling of a Lawyer And Saint Ambrose saith that they deceaue the Iudges and gaine them by falshood and that they ought to repaye whatsoeuer they take againste the truth And S. Bernard sayde that they were the enemies of iustice ouerthrew the truth and gnawed like ratts And Origen called them swolne froggs which sell euen their very scilence rather encrease the charge more then the profit will auaile when they haue gained their cause And Ammian thought that it was as vnpossible to find out in all Asia a true Lawyer as a white Crow Tacitus writeth that there is nothing so saleable Cicero likewise complained that thorough them good lawes were corrupted And it is too notorious to see how many of them giue rashe and vncertaine counsell verye lewdly acquite them selues of their charge pleading onely vpon the superscription of their bagges or not loking halfe waye into them whence much iniustice hath proceeded Pausanias writeth that in
the pleading place of Atheues were two benches the one of contumely the other of impudency It was also vncouered as that at Rome was which Cato made be paued with sharp flintes and wished that it might be flowred with yron caltrops to the end the Romans shoulde haue no delight to plead He forbad any to be called to the bar whō he knew eloquent in a bad cause And said as Plutarque reciteth that it was meet for a prince or iudge to giue no eare to the persuasiō of an Orator or lawyer making a motion for any matter vniust For as Cicero writeth which was also attributed to the Emperor Valentinian if he ought to be punished which corrupteth a iudge with mony or presents how much more ought he which coseneth thē with his faier speech babling because a vertuous man will not suffer himself to be corrupted with presents but he may be deceiued thorough their cunning tales lies And Cicero in his Oratiō which he made for Murena discourseth at large of the vanity deceit of practisioners We proue by the ciuil law that in sundry places the nūber of lawyers hath bin limited how K Ptolome conferring with an embassadour which the Siciones had sent vnto him inquired of him of the state forme of their cōmon wealth he answered that his Lords maintained no inuentors of new things nor receiued any phisitians which alter health much lesse lawiers because they disguise the truth prolong suites Pope Nicolas the 3 thrust al practisers in the lawes out of Rome saying that they liued by the bloud of the poore people And it was a vse in most holy France that no proctor should be appointed but by licence frō the K. all procurations ended togeather with the yeare which was a great cause of dispatch of suits Domitian in like sort banished some Galeace duke of Milan caused one to bee hanged for his delatory pleas delaying of a suit against a manifest and cleare debt And Pope Pius 2. compared pleaders to birdes the place of pleading to the fielde the iudge to the net the proctors aduocates to fowlers birders A man may say that the cause why Caligula would haue burned al law bookes although himself were very ill giuē was to haue suits soner dispatched to meete with the cautels and delaies which men toward the law study by their boke practise And herevpon I will not let passe a tale of Mathias Coruinus K. of Pannonia who hauing maried the daughter of Ferdinand K. of Naples brought a lōg in his traine out of Italy certaine lawiers and aduocates of great practise who as sone as they were ariued in his realme by litle litle changed the course which they had found in maner that an infinite nūber of suits were bred therby And the K. perceiuing how euery day the number encreased he was constrained to send thē back againe that he might establish the ancient custome simplicity quiet In like sort they write that Ferdinand themperor sending a viceroy into the Indies which had bene newly discouered forbad him by no meanes to carry ouer any lawier with him to the end he should not sow there the seeds of suits There are some which attribute this infection contagiō of petifoggers brought into France in the time of Philip the faier to Pope Clement 5 whē as he transported his seat frō Rome to Auignon together with al his bullistes practisers petifoggers by frequenting of whō french men first learned this braue piratical art as it were neuer once dreamed of before And sundry authours as well french as Italians and Germanes haue written that since that french men haue suffred them selues to be gouerned by the Popes which were retired to Auignon and haue intermingled their affaire and practises together they haue euer waxed worse and worse and their delicatenes hath euen abastarded the good warlike discipline wherof there was forewarninges when as the saide Pope Clement made his entry into Lyons We read in the time of Charlemagne and before him how the Druides in France tooke notice of all differentes and processe in law and Caesar in his commentaries reciteth the like And if there were any which wold not stād to their award they straightly forbad him their sacrifices which of all other was the most grieuous punishment because thē they were held in the ranke of men abhominable and accursed euery one abhorred their company or to talke with them for feare least some misfortune might ensew after such comunication which were to bee wished might now take place for the dispatching and abolishing of suites And Paulus Emilius writeth that the french men in matter of triall and law did so simply behaue them selues that they stucke to their firste iudgement and neuer appealed further But since deceit was the cause of a soueraigne iurisdiction which held once a yeare for a few daies and afterward the said Philip the fayre caused the palace to be builded which suffiseth not for all that to satisfie the heat of pleading Eschines in that famous Oration which he made against Cthesiphon reprehending the maners corruptiō of his time calling to remēbrance the ancient customes good laws saith that if they were wel obserued al things would go wel and there should be few suites or pleas at al as if the cōmennes of thē were one of the greatest mischiefes could happē to a cōmōwealth as Plato was of opiniō in his discourses And Socrates shewing how good lawes neuer engēdred suits said the multitude of thē to be a sign of corruption Strabo commended the Indians because they were no pleaders and euer in their lawes and barganes vsed great simplicity kept their word without vsing of any witnes or seales The Poets in their verses wishe for seates and triales without pleaders and esteeme that mā happy which hath no processe in law And the Germane prouerb sheweth it that if a mā haue two kine he were better giue awayone then not to enioye the other quietly or go to iudgement in which place it seemeth that many turmoiles troubles meet a multitude of people throng them selues together For this cause the said Isocrates in an Oration which he made being of the age of 80. yeres and two said that he had al his life shunned processe benches of pleading that men accounted him an vnworthy aduocate to haue any disciple and he was ill accounted of at Athenes which haunted the said benches and was often seene there And the principal doctors which haue written vpon our ciuil law haue alwaies bin of opiniō that euery good man ought to abhor suites that such as loued them ought to be accounted cauillers and exception to be taken to their witnes Vpon the contention question which grew before Sforce Duke of Milan who ought to take place the lawyer or
and deceaueth him selfe but this couetousnesse shall neuer assault or surprise any which shall not be euen giuen ouer to receiue giftes and rewardes hauing his hart well setled and yeelding to no motion that shall not be honourable and good And truly where bribes take place there is law and iustice banished and it can not be that he should not inclyne to him which giueth because as we haue before mencioned bribes make men blinde And in Ecclesiasticus they are termed a brydle for his mouth which receaueth them and he that loueth gold shall not be iustified but he that hateth giftes shal liue For after that entraunce be once thereto admitted all honesty and integrity slideth awaye and as it is sayde in a common prouerbe gold maketh all thinges preignable And bribes resemble hookes hid vnder a bayte which beastes can better auoyde then men I thinke that giftes betweene man and wife besides causes contayned in the ciuill law were forbidden to the ende weomen shoulde take lesse of straungers and their loue be mutuall without hier or mercenary rewarde It is also to be presumed that that which moued the Emperour Adrian and Alexander Seuerus to proportion the expenses of Iudges and there to giue them wages was to the end they should take nothing of parties as also of some it was expresly forbidden And that which through out all France they take vnder colour to buy spice was at the first a pound of comfites of lesse valew then 12. pence and that was euer whē their suit was ended And in Titus Liuius we see how the ancient Romanes abhorred presents Cicero wrot of the Fabritii Curiens Scipioes Pisces Catoes that they were not only honored for their prowes but in that for al their pouerty they could neuer be gotten to receiue present And Titus Liuius highly cōmended Valerius who hauing bene 4. times Consul yet so poore he died that they were faine to bury him at the charge of the cōmon stock He telleth the like of one Agrippa who apeased the seditions which were betwene the people nobility Those two great captaines Epaminōdas Pericles of which the one gouerned the Thebanes the other the Athenians many yeares obtained great victories neuer augmēted their patremony the valew of one bare denier nor euer would accept present as a thing vnworthy of a mā of courage a valiant head Scipio refused to ioine with a certain Senator after he knew that he toke And bribes were so highly detested of all people that it was not so much as lawfull for embassadors sent to princes to receiue any thing wheron grew the complaint which Dionisius K. of Sicile made because them bassadors of Corinth refused to take what he offered them as if that law there were such as a tirant had a better The like was written of other embassadors sent vnto Ptolome Phocion refused the presents of Alexander the great of Antipater other adding that if they estemed him an honest man they should leaue him so It is written of him that would not assist his son in law which was accused for taking saying that he had made him his allie only for lawful reasonable causes Xenocrates wold not take anything either for him self or his friends of the 3000. crownes which Alexander sent vnto him Alcibiades and other could neuer fasten vpon Socrates to make him receiue ought for he said that his good spirit abhorred al presents and sent worde vnto Archidamus which offered it vnto him that a peck of wheat was sold at Athens for a duble watercost nothing that he cōtēted him self with what he had Menander also foūd but two things necessary for the vse of our life bread and water for the pleasure of life according to the opiniō of Cicero is rather in desire thē satiety Agesilaus refused the K. of Persias present Demetrius Iulius Caesars the said Epaminondas sent backe to the K. of Persias his 3000. Daricques or crowns extremely chafing with Diomedes which presented thē asking him if he had vndertaken so long a nauigatiō to think to corrupt Epaminondas cōmāding him to make report vnto his K. that as lōg as he wished procured the good of Thebans he should haue him his friend it shold cost him nothing but if he shold seek their endemnity he wold be vnto him a mortal enemy And Iason prince of Thesalia cōming on a time to the city of Thebes with which he was allied sent vnto the same Epaminondas 2000. crownes for a gift knowing him to be very poore but by no means wold he receiue thē the first time that he saw him after he tolde him thou beginnest to outrage me In the mean time he borowed of a Burges of the town a litle some with which he entred into armes within Peloponese now called la Mores put away his esquier hauing vnderstood that he had receiued a present Eliseus refused the presents which Nahaman the cōstable of the K. of Siria whō he had healed of the leprosie wold haue bestowed on him Giezi became a leaper for receiuing them Abraham refused the presents of the K. of Sodom albe it he had wel deserued thē The aduise of Philopemen general of the Achaians writtē of by Plutarque ought not to be omitted who after he had refused 612000 crownes of the Lacedemonians told thē that it was not for thē to go about to corrupt gaine with their mony honest mē their friends in that they might at al assaies assure thē selues to be serued by thē but that it was for thē to be lewd fellows mutinās to the end that hauing their mouthsstopped by bribes they shold lesse annoy thē It is written of Cimon that he demanded whether they wold haue him a friend or hireling since he was a friend that they wold cary away their gold siluer They write of many saints which neuer wold receiue any presents The Romans refused 400000. crowes sent frō the K. of Aegipt They did the likeby the crown of gold offred by the K. of Sicile Titus Liuius in the 2. boke of the 3. decade 6. of the 4. sheweth how the Romans refused the presents which the ambassadors of Naples and they of Peston had offred vnto thē and so did they K. Philips and Ptolomes Yea they wold not receiue the very payment which was due vnto them before their time for feare least that had bound them as a preuenting and present made at that time Menander the tirant of Samos by reason of the coming down of the Persians retired him self into the city of Sparta with much gold and siluer which he shewed to Cleomenes praying him to take what liked him therof He refused to take any thing but fearing least he wold haue giuen to other of the city he went to the Ephores said that it was better for the weal
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
the good to do well and to profit in the exercise of vertue Pouertie to moderate their desires basenes to humble themselues sickenesse to liue patiently and more soberly and al kinds of griefes to make vs runne vnto God and reconcile our selues vnto him and to succour our neighbour in like distresse when God shall haue drawne vs out For I esteeme none good but such as followe trewe riches which are godlinesse and vertue and contrariwise the wicked are fastned to trewe euils that is vice and impietie That was the reason why in the councell of Latran it was enioyned that the sicke man should cal for his spirituall Phisitian Diognes was angrye with such as sacrificed to health and in the meane time liued in all pleasures and idlenesse and sayd that as in a house where much prouision and victuall is are many rats and cats so the body that is replenished with meates drawe sundry diseases vnto it And he called frugalitie the mother of health for which without great neede a man neede not vse laxatiue medicines because they are offensiue to the stomacke and often times breede more superfluities and excrements then they drawe out of the body Plato also in the 8. of his commonwealth councelleth vs not to prouoke sickenesse with phisicke except the disease be most dangerous and vehement It is written of the Emperour Aurelian and sundry other that they neuer called for phisitians or vsed phisicke as at this day most part of the Almanes Zuzers vse but they healed themselues throught good and spare dyet and some of them with a quart of strong wine and spyce And as Herodotus wrote the Babilonians neuer vsed phisicke but all sicke persons were brought into the market place to whom al such as had beene cured of the like disease taught their remedies And there was founde in the temple of Esculapius enregistred all such receites as had beene experimented for to serue in like case For otherwise phisicke consisted in the knowledge of sundry herbes and they were almost all instructed in anatomies and simples as Galen writeth And we see euen very many beastes and birdes to finde out herbes and remedies fit for themselues which they haue taught vnto men with the vse of letting of bloud and glisters Yet they haue alway thought that they are often deceiued when there is nothing but experience without iudgement and contemplation to apply remedies in time and place with other consideration of the age strength or debilitie of person condition maner of liuing the season of the yeare the cause beginning encrease growing and declyning of the disease Asclepiades set all phisicke at nought and counselled only sobrietie to rubbe ouer the whole bodie euery morning and to exercise And some haue compared such as take phisicke to those which driue out the burgesse out of the citie to place strangers there M. Cato feared least the Grecians would sende phisitions to Rome and therefore made some to be banished and driuen thence and expresly forbad his sonne in any wise to vse or deale with thē as appeareth in a letter he wrote vnto him They in like sort of the same professiō which since haue crept into Rome were meere strangers the Romaines themselues hauing beene aboue 600. yeares togither without Phisitians since they haue euen abhorred thē saying their irresolutiō hazardous aduise which was the very cause that they termed thē hangmen theeues and so the most part of the citizens endeuored only to be skilful in simples vsing no other drogues then what proceeded frō nature of their own growing Indeede they had certaine deputies which sent them panniers ful of simples out of the isles which appertained vnto thē as sundry haue written And were it not that I feare being too tedious I could alledge a great nūber of Kings Princes which haue bin very curious in knowing seeking out the property of herbes plants some haue writtē therof to the great profit of their posterity an immortall glory is remained vnto thē Galē himself writeth that sundry emperours haue gratly studied to attaine vnto the knowledg of simples to adorne that art amidst their busines in sundry places entertained arborysts and in their triumphes caused rare plants to be caried The tēple of Esculapius was in old time builded without the citie teaching vs therby how we ought to esloyne our selues frō Phisitians phisick which kind of people Plato could neuer like of except they were surgions meruelous wel experienced thinking it to be a great signe of intēperancy wher he foūd any of the other sort And in his dialogue Philosophus he esteemeth phisick to consist only in opinions vncertaine coniectures Nicocles called Phisitians happy men because the Sunne made manifest what good successe soeuer happened in their cures and the earth buried what fault soeuer they cōmitted And some say they are very angry men when they see their neighbours in health not to need them The said Plato and Cato were likewise wont to say that men in doing nothing learned to do ill And Eccl. coūselleth vs to exercise because Idlenes breedeth much euill slothfulnes pouerty which tēteth vs to do ill as Isocrates wrote And Xenophon exhorted Hierom to spend his time in honest exercises to make both his body and mind better disposed And the Athenians ordined a great punishment for idlenes For this cause Scipio was wont to say that he was neuer lesse in rest then whē he rested himself vnderstāding therby that when he was not busied in publick affaires his owne perticular his study sufficiently held him occupied that in solitarines he cōsulted with himself The wise mē of the Indies called Gymnosophistes so greatly detested idlenes that they caused euery mā to render a perticular account of what he had learned or did euery day We read in S. Ambrose in the 82. Epistle of his 10. booke in S. Ierom in sundry treaties and other ecclesiasticall aucthors that monasteries were first ordained for academies scholes of trauaile and exercise as well of the body as of the mind of learning vertue abstinence fasting patience all good exāple And the word of the Emperour Seuerus was Trauaillons And the Emperours Adrian Antonius Cyrus Sertorius and sundry other captains haue still kept their men of armes and souldiers yea their very horses in continuall exercise trauaile sobrietie And we reade in the Commentaries of Caesar that his souldiers had no other prouision then corne and a little vineger to mingle with their water and that some would neuer suffer any to bring thē wine imagining that that made men more nyce effeminate and lesse able to endure paine and trauaile and sheweth as also did Titus Liuius how they sought to cut off all occasions and meanes of delicatenesse and howe the souldiers were all the day long kept to trauaile in workes
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
whore for she had couered her face And God in Zephaniah threateneth that he will visit the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparel And it was forbidden to men to weare weomens garments to weomen to wear mens And an account must be rendred of euery idle word And as S. Paul alleaged of Menander euil wordes corrupt good manners The which moued sundry wel gouerned common wealths to forbid masques vpon great paines in England of death It had bin no ways impertinent to haue shewed how much Princes haue abused themselues rather in taking care giuing themselues to conquer cities countries make great buildings then to preserue wel gouerne what they haue alreadie gotten and to maintaine those houses which haue beene left vnto them verie commodious As Augustus the Emperour greatly wondered to see that Alexander did not esteeme it so great a matter and honour to gouerne wel an Empire alreadie conquered left as to conquer a greate countrye and preferre necessarie and profitable expenses before voluptuous According to the disposition of the law likewise the legacie or gifte that is appointed for to be employed about a newe buylding ought to be conuerted to the repairing and amending of the olde in the latter lawe D. de operibus publ l. decuriones de administr re ad ciu pert I mought also speake howe Idolatrie the gods of the Pagan first began and how they were left according vnto the prophesie of Ieremie that The gods which haue not made the heauens and the earth shall perish I coulde also blame the condition of hucksters sellers by retayl in that as Cicero writeth they gain nothing except they lye which was before confirmed by Ecclesiasticus I mought also amplifie howe deepely they lye which liue wickedly dishonor and periure themselues that they may leaue their heires riche which often times are such as loue them not The dissolutenesse which is too much spread throughout France woulde haue required a discourse vpon the law which was made to forbid Tauernes and playing at dyce and cardes considering the inconueniences which daily happen thereby and that in Turkie all playe is punished by infamie great penalties as Cuspinien writeth One might also shew how much they deceiue themselues which couet to come to extreme old age because that the long life is not the better but the more vertuous And as it is written in the book of wisdom the honorable age is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And many haue esteemed them most happy which haue changed this miserable life with an immortal before such time as the discōmodities wearisomnes of old age hath crept vpon them And besides the assured testimonie which we haue out of the holye scriptures Aristotle wrote that when Silenus was taken he saide the condition of dead men was better then of the liuing And Pliny after that he had in the beginning of his seuenth booke shewed at large the miseries of mē concluded that nature gaue nothing better then a short life Notwithstanding to the faithful no estate of liuing cōmeth amisse since they wholy refer themselues to the wil of God taketh euery thing in good part as a blessing proceedinge from his hand We mought also shew how pernitiously they lye which clippe washe and delaye coyne as the Poet Dante called Philip the fayre a falsefier of coyne because by reason of his affayres hee was constrayned to delaye his siluer And very wisely did the Emperour Tacitus forbid the mingling of mettalles in his coyne where there ought to be a correspondance and proportion betweene the gold and siluer or other metall in which now a dayes sundry pernitious faults are committed Consequently I could describe the vanitie of alquemie which hath empouerished those which haue vsed it and turned the golde which they haue put therto into smoke whereof we dayly see but too many examples the which gaue occasion to Domitian to cause all the bookes to be burned which he was able to finde out I could also set forth the fault which they commit who put too much trust in dreames according as Ecclesiasticus hath written that Dreames haue deceiued many and they haue fayled which haue put their trust therein And Lucian in the citie of sleepe which he describeth in which dreams do dwell saith that they are all cosenners and lyers It were also a very large matter to write of to shewe howe albeit that blinde men choose some one to leade them yet an infinite number of persons which haue their iudgement and wit blinded and goe groping at all their businesse wandering without knowing the way which they ought to holde doe not for all that seeke ether councell or guide and are meruelously polluted with the same fault which they finde in an other and in their owne ignoraunce become Censors ouer other mens manners It were not likewise vnprofitable to declare howe daungerous a matter superstition is the which is so fruitefull that of one error or lye it engendreth a great number and thorough a kinde of sleight simplicitie or false apparence it cleane chooketh the truth and is for this cause termed in the holy scripture whoredome and adulterie violating the promise which we haue before made vnto God We mought likewise extoll the saintes in all ages which haue taken paines to maintayne the truth agaynst lying and to make a register of all vertues and abuses which are committed I could likewise enlarge sundrye Chapters in shewing howe daungerously they doe lye who after so many examples and experiences ruynes defacinges desolations and mischiefes happened in Fraunce desire for all that that men woulde yet the fifth time cast themselues hedlong into a ciuill warre couering their passion with a cloake of religion which is setled in the vnderstanding the which can not be gayned but thorough a perswasion founded vpon the holy and canonicall scriptures and not by violence or constraynt as Saint Augustine in sundrie places and other auncient fathers haue maintayned And the warre which is not necessarily vndertaken is an enimie to religion iustice order reformation and good manners and as the Emperour Iustinian writeth it carrieth great greefe to euerie good man it is brutish dissolute and without all ho especiall the ciuil which is miserable and moste pernitious as well in regarde of the victorers as of the vanquished as Cicero affirmeth in sundry places and in his Philippiques he adiudgeth him which desireth it to be a most detestable citizen It were not also a matter much different from that which we now discourse of if I should set downe the opinion of Plinie which affirmeth that there are no lyes more dearely solde nor more daungerous then those of the
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