condition of his life whether it be poore or rich prosperous or aduerse honourable or contemptible happinesse ioy pleasure and contentation which flowe in his soule aboundantly from that fountaine and liuelie spring which Philosophie hath discouered vnto him in the fertile field of Graces and Sciences whereby he enioyeth true tranquillitie and rest of spirit as much as a man may haue in this mortall life moderating the perturbations of his soule and commaunding ouer the vnpure affections of the flesh And than as the shoe turneth with the fashion of the foote and not contrarywise so the inward disposition of a wise and moderate man causeth him to lead a life like vnto the same that is mild peaceable and quiet being neuer caried away with vnreasonable passions bicause she neuer enioyeth or reioyceth immoderately in that which she hath but vseth well that which is put into her hand without feare or repining if it be taken away following therein the saying of Democritus that whosoeuer mindeth to liue alwayes happilie must propound to himselfe and desire things possible and be content with things present Therefore seeing the fountaine of all felicitie and contentation in this life is within vs let vs cure and cleanse diligently all perturbations which seeke to hinder the tranquillitie of our spirites to the ende that externall things which come from without vs agaynst our will and expectation may seeme vnto vs friendly and familiar after we know how to vse them wel Plato compared our life to table-play wherein both the dice must chance wel the plaier must vse that wel which the dice shal cast Now of these two points the euent lot of the Dice is not in our power but to receiue mildly and moderatly that which falleth vnto vs to dispose euerie thing in that place where it may either profite most if it be good or do least hurt if it be bad that is in our power belongeth to our dutie if we be wise men Fortune saith Plutarke may well cast me into sickenesse take away my goods bring me in disgrace with the people but she can not make him wicked a coward slouthfull base-minded or enuious that is honest â—aliaunt and noble-minded nor take from him his setled and temperate disposition of Prudence which maketh him to iudge that no tedious grieuous or troublesome thing can befall him For being grounded not vpon vanishing goods but vpon Philosophicall sentences firme discourses of reason he may say I haue preuented thee fortune I haue closed vp all thy chances and stopped the wayes of entrance in vpon me and so led a ioyfull life as long as vertue and that part which is proper to man are strongest And if peraduenture some great inconuenience happen vnto him against all hope which humaine power is not able to ouercome than with ioy of spirite he considereth that the hauen of safetie is at hand wherein he may saue himselfe by swimming out of the body as out of a Skiffe that leaketh departing boldly and without feare from the miseries of the world that he may enioy absolute and perfect happines Alexander the great hauing vnder his dominion more than halfe the world when he heard the Philosopher Anaxarchus dispute and maintaine that there were innumerable worlds he began to weepe saying Haue I not good cause to be sorowful and to mourne if there be an infinite number of worlds seeing as yet I haue not been able to make my selfe Lord of one But Crates the Philosopher being brought vp in the schoole of wisdome and hauing in stead of all wealth but an old cloke and a scrip neuer wept in all his life but was always seen mery and passing ouer his dayes cheerfully By which two kinds of life contrary one to an other it appeereth sufficiently that it is within our selues and not in outward things wherein we must seeke for the foundation of a certaine ioy which is watered and flourisheth in strength by the remembrance of good and vertuous actions proceeding from the soule guided by right knowledge and reason Homer bringeth in Agamemnon complaining greatly bicause he was to command so great a part of the world as if he had an intollerable burthen vpon his shoulders Whereas Diogenes when he was to be sold for a slaue lying all along mocked the Sergeant that cried him to sale and would not rise vp when he commanded him but scoffingly said vnto him If thou wart to sell a fish wouldest thou make it arise Cry this rather that if any man want a maister he should buy me for I can serue his turne well Wherby we may fitly note this that all the happines rest and contentation of man dependeth of vertue onely and not of worldlie greatnes and glorie For this reason the selfe same Diogenes beholding a stranger come from Lacedemonia more curiously decked on a festiuall day than he was woont said vnto him What Doth not an honest man thinke that euery day is festiuall vnto him And truly there is nothing that ought to mooue vs so much to shew all outward signes of ioy or that breedeth such serenitie and calmenes against the tempestuous waues of humane miseries and calamities than to haue the soule pure and cleane from all wicked deedes wils and counsels the manners vndefiled not troubled or infected with any vice For then acknowledging the estate of mortall and corruptible things we iudge them vnwoorthie the care of our soules that we may wholy lift them vp to the contemplation of heauenlie and eternall things wherein our happines and perfect felicitie consisteth Heereby we learne that in the second life onely we are to seeke for and to expect the fruition of true happines which can neuer increase or be diminished For as no man can make a line straighter than that which is straight and as nothing is more iust than that which is iust so he that is happie can not be more happie Otherwise vntill a man had gotten all that might be had his desires would neuer be setled so no man should be called happie But felicitie is perfect of it selfe Cicero knew it well enough when he said that no man standing in feare of great things could be happie and in that respect no man liuing can be so but to speake in deed of a happie life that is it which is perfect and absolute To the end therefore that we may reape some profit by our present discourse let vs neuer thinke that any man may be called happie or vnhappie bicause he is aduanced or disgraced with honors goods and worldlie commodities or bicause he is partaker either of prosperitie or aduersitie throughout his whole life But he onely ought to be esteemed happie in this world that knoweth in rest quietnes of soule how to vse both estates and neuer suffereth himselfe to be caried away or troubled with vncleane desires but with all his hart seeketh for the possession of a
which did all intreat of vertue out of which men may reape infinite profite especially out of those that intreat of a common-wealth or of lawes In these books that he might not seeme vngratefull towarde his master Socrates who would neuer write any thing he bringeth him in rehearsing that which at other times he had heard him speake Stilpo the philosopher being in his citie of Megara when it was taken spoiled by Demetrius king of Macedonia who fauouring him asked if he had lost any thing that was his made this answer No sir quoth he for war cannot spoile vertue And indeede this is that riches wherwith we ought to furnish our selues which can swim with vs in a shipwrack and which caused Socrates to answere thus to one who asked him what his opinion was of the great king whether he did not thinke him very happy I cannot tell quoth he how he is prouided of knowledge vertue Who may iustly doubt whether vertue alone is able to make a man happie seeing it doth not onely make him wise prudent iust good both in his doings sayings but also commonly procureth vnto him honor glorie and authoritie It was through hir meanes that Alexander deserued the surname of Great by that experience which she gaue him in warre by his liberalitie in riches by his temperance in all his sumptuous magnificence by his hardines and constancy in fight by his continency in affections by his bountie and clemencie in victorie and by all other vertues wherein he surpassed all that liued in his time Yea the fame and renowme of his vertues procured a greater number of cities countries and men to submit themselues willingly vnto him without blowestriking than did the power of his armie Wherein this sentence of Socrates is found true that whole troupes of souldiers and heapes of riches are constrained oftentimes to obey vertue What said Darius monarche of the Persians when he vnderstoode both what continencie Alexander his enimie had vsed towards his wife who being exceeding beautifull was taken prisoner by him and what humanitie he shewed afterward in hir funerals when she was dead The Persians quoth he neede not be discouraged neither thinke themselues cowards and effeminate because they were vanquished of such an aduersarie Neither do I demand any victorie of the gods but to surmount Alexander in bountifulnes And if it be so that I must fall I beseech them to suffer none but him to sit in the royall throne and seat of Cyrus Will we haue testimonies of the inuicible force of vertue and of hir powerfull and praisewoorthy effects in most sinister and vntoward matters Histories declare vnto vs that amongst all the vertuous acts which procured praise and renowme to the men of old time those were the notablest most commended which they shewed foorth at such time as fortune seemed to haue wholy beaten them downe Pelopidas generall captaine of the Thebans who deliuered them from the bondage of the Lacedemonians is more praised and esteemed for the great and notable vertue which he shewed being prisoner in the hands of Alexander the tyrannous king of the Phereans then for all his victories gotten before For at that time his vertue was so farre from yeelding any iot to his calamitie that contrariwise with an vnspeakeable constancie he recomforted the inhabitants of the towne that came to visite him exhorting them to be of good courage seeing the houre was come wherin the tyrant should be at once punished for his wickednes And one day he sent him word that he was destitute of all iudgement and reason in that he vexed his poore citizens caused them to die in torments who neuer offended him and in the meane time suffered him to liue in rest of whom he could not be ignorant that escaping his hands he would be reuenged of him The tyrant maruelling at his great courage asked why he made such great haste to die To this end quoth he that thou being yet more hated of God and men than thou art mightest the sooner be destroied Philocles one of the most famous Athenian captaines of his time who caused this law to be made that the right thombe of all prisoners taken in war from that time forward should be cut off that they might not handle a pike any more but yet might serue to rowe with an oare being taken prisoner with three thousand Atheniens in one battell which Lysander admirall of the Lacedemonians obtained against him and al of them being condemned to die was demanded of Lysander what paine he iudged himselfe worthie of for counselling his country-men to so wicked and cruell a thing To whom he made this onely answere with an vnmoueable vertue Accuse not those who haue no iudge to hear know their cause But seeing the gods haue shewed thee this fauour to be conqueror deale with vs as we would haue done with thee if we had ouercome thee Which being said he went to wash and bath himselfe and then putting on a rich cloke as if he should haue gone to some feast he offered himselfe first to the slaughter shewing the way of true constancie to his fellow citizens Anaxarchus the philosopher being taken prisoner by the commandement of Nero that he might know of him who were the authors of a conspiracie that was made against his estate and being led towards him for the same cause he bit his toong in sunder with his teeth and did spit it in his face knowing well that otherwise the tyrant would haue compelled him by all sorts of tortures and torments to reueale disclose them Zeno missing his purpose which was to haue killed the tyrant Demylus did asmuch to him But what is more terrible than death Notwithstanding when did vertue better shew hir greatnes and power then when death laboured most to ouerthrow hir as being resolued of that saying of Cicero that all wise men die willingly and without care but that the vnwise ignorant are at their wits ende for feare of death If many who haue not knowne the true and perfect immortalitie of the soule and some onely led with a desire of praise worldly glorie others touched with duty and kindled with a loue towards their countrey haue shewed the increase of their vertue in the horrors and pangs of death what ought they to do who expect certainely an euerlasting life Phocion after he had beene chosen generall captaine of the Athenians foure and fortie times and done infinite seruices to the common-wealth being at length through certaine partakinges and diuisions ouercome with the weakest side which he had mainetained and being condemned to drinke poison was demaunded before he dranke whether he had no more to saye Whereupon speaking to his sonne he saide I commaunde thee to beare the Athenians no rancor and malice for my death And a little before this speech beholding one of those that were condemned to
a sodaine auoiding all superfluous speech their answers were verie witty and wel contriued their words very significant and short hauing in them both grace and grauitie ioined together As when Philip king of Macedonia wrote vnto them that if he entred within Laconia he would ouerthrowe them topsy turuy they wrote backe vnto him onely this word If. And another time as Demetrius one of his successors being angry with the ambassadour which they sent vnto him asked if he came alone from the Lacedemonians to him the ambassadour made this onely answere One to one Pittacus vsed to say that a dry and thirstie eare must be washed with a sentence that is good to drinke that speech grounded vpon reason onely is able to content and satisfie the hearing Notwithstanding that we may the rather and the more profite others we are not to neglect if it may be the ioining of graue doctrine with sweet gratious and eloquent speech mingled with some pleasure grace and delight but voide of all dissolutenes For as Euripides saith that is the goodliest assembly in the world where the graces and muses meete togither Right and reason are inuincible being well vttred bicause the soule is therby induced easily to beleeue the good reasons she heareth through the delight that is ioined with them Examples also being vttred fitly and with a good grace profit no lesse than the other bicause with the force of perswading which is in the nature of the example there is ioined the vertue of delighting But we must carefully auoide all subtiltie of speech all proude superfluous and vnprofitable talke least that be iustly obiected vnto vs which Phocion replied to Leosthenes who laboured to perswade the Athenians to warre by an eloquent and verie loftie oration Thy words quoth he to him yoong man and my friend may fitly be compared to Cypres trees For they are great and tall but beare no fruite woorth any thing Or else that may be obiected vnto vs which Aristotle answered to a great pleader of causes who at euerie sentence he rehearsed asked him if that were not a strange thing Not that replied he but this is a greater maruaile that any man hauing two legs can abide thy babling And to another who after a long discourse said vnto him I haue troubled thy head philosopher not a whit answered he for I thought not vpon it Such bablers whom Plato verie aptly calleth theeues of time are cōpared by Plutark to emptie vessels which giue a greater sound than they that are ful So he that is poore in respect of the goods of the soule hath alwaies some fond speech in his mouth But we must aboue all things shunne this vice of intemperancie of the toong which Bias called the best and woorst thing that was It serueth vs to profit and instruct others and by the same also we hurt and corrupt others And as a little fire consumeth a great wood so this little member which is a fire yea a world of iniquitie defileth all the bodie and setteth on a flaming fire the whole world if it be not extinguished and repressed It seemeth that nature would teach vs this by fortifiing the toong better than any other part of the body and by setting before it the bulworke of the teeth that if it wil not obey reason which being within ought to serue in steade of a bridle to stay it from preuenting the thought we might restraine and chastice the impudencie thereof with blouddy biting And because we haue two eares and two eies it ought to serue vs for instruction that we must heare and see much more than we speake Do we not also see that sight and hearing go before speaking and that of necessitie an infant must first vnderstand before he can be able to speake Isocrates appointed onely two times to speake in the one when the matter is necessarie and the other when a man speaketh that which he knoweth And this we may put in practice without blame in this maner As touching the first point it is lawfull and seemly for vs to speake when we stand in need of any thing secondly when our speech shall profit any also to delight and recreate one another with pleasant deuices void of dissolutenes to mollifie and to ease the trauell of our affaires or else to relish our rest the better and to induce vs thereby to giue glorie to God All speech not grounded vpon one of these three causes were better restrained than vttred Moreouer we ought to obserue inuiolably the second point of not speaking that which we know not except it be in seeking and asking after instruction remembring that which Apelles once spake to Megabyses a great Persian Lord who comming into his shop to see him intermingled some talke of the art of painting So long quoth Apelles to him as thou wert silent thou seemedst to be some man of great account by reason of thy chains carquenets of gold and purple gowne but now there is not the least of these boyes that grinde oker who doth not mocke thee hearing thee speak that which thou knowest not By which saying we may note that great men ought to weigh well and to consider of that which they speake in publike places and to vse graue and sententious words of another phrase than that of the vulgar sort or else to hold their peace if they haue not this gift of speaking Or at the least they are to speake but little seeing the verie words gesture and countenance of a prince are oftentimes taken for lawes oracles and decrees Tiberius also brought vp this custome of speaking to the prince by writing and of his answere by the same to the ende that nothing should escape his mouth that was not well considered of before But to continue our matter as the aboue named painter had set foorth a table of his owne for all men to behold and had hid himselfe behinde it that he might heare what could be reprehended a shooemaker espied a fault in the fashion of the latchet which Apelles afterward corrected And hauing the next morning hung it out again to be viewed this shooemaker passing by and seeing that his opinion was followed entred further to speake against other lineaments But the painter not able to beare his boldnes came from behinde his table and stopped his mouth with this saying That a shoomaker ought not to iudge of greater matters than of the shoo This is the meaning of that common prouerbe to go about to teach Minerua which is so intollerable a thing in men of honor and so pernitious in the simpler sort that are light of beliefe that for this cause Alexander the great gaue money to Cherillus an ignorant poet to holde his peace and to leaue writing And seeing we are entred into this matter we must know that we ought to be much more staied and aduised in writing any thing than in bare
THE FRENCH ACADEMIE wherin is discoursed the institution of maners and whatsoeuer els concerneth the good and happie life of all estates and callings by preceptes of doctrine and examples of the liues of ancient Sages and famous men By PETER de la PRIMAVDAYE Esquire Lord of the said place and of Barree one of the ordinarie Gentlemen of the Kings Chamber dedicated To the Most Christian King Henrie the third and newly translated into English by T. B. Imprinted at London by Edmund Bollifant for G. Bishop and Ralph Newbery 1586 TO THE RIGHT VERTVOVS AND WORSHIPFVLL GENTLEMAN AND HIS SINgular good friend Maister IOHN BARNE Esquire T. B. C. wisheth grace and peace in this life and euerlasting happines in the life to come SIR hauing at length finished the Translation of this French Treatise of Morall Philosophy I presume the rather to recommend it to your Worships fauour bicause your selfe did first commend it vnto me for the varietie of excellent sayings and examples wherewith it is replenished And surely I perswade my selfe that howsoeuer for want of a skillfull Translator it hath lost much of that grace which otherwise it might haue had yet by reason of the matter it selfe good disposition obserued throughout the whole booke it will be of some account with so many as preferre the soundnes of substance before the swelling froth of curious phrases True it is that many words vsed by the Author and retained by me are almost the same with the originall toongs from whence they were deriued and peraduenture will sound harsh at the first in their eares that neuer heard them before but if they will haue patience a while and let them passe to and fro vpon the file of their teeth no doubt but in short time they will be as smooth as other Greeke and Latine words which now are taken for meere English I might heere alleadge reasons to prooue the necessitie of retaining such words in translating namely that many of them are proper names and words of Arte that as all occupations and handicrafts haue their seuerall names of instruments belonging to their science so is it with Philosophy and with euery part thereof but I make no doubt of finding the Reader fauourable in this point considering that it tendeth to the enriching of our owne language and hath beene practised by the learned of all nations that haue gone before vs as is euident to such as are skilfull in the toongs Concerning the profite of this booke I referre the Reader either to the title thereof which promiseth no more in my opinion than is performed with aduantage in the bodie of the same or else to the Authors Epistle to the Reader wherein he setteth downe a summarie of that doctrine which is afterward handeled more at large Wherein howsoeuer he hath very excellently behaued himselfe and as I am perswaded gone farre beyond those that haue handled the same matter before him yet considering each mans infirmitie to be such that he attaineth not to perfection in any worke neither speaketh all things that are to be spoken of the same thing nor yet is free from error in those things which he speaketh or writeth I exhort all that shall peruse this Treatise following so farre onely to approoue euery sentence and example of life as it may be prooued out of the records of holie Scripture Moreouer as many as are desirous to be bettered by the reading of this booke they must thinke seriously vpon that ende vnto which this Author had regard when he penned it which was the same that Aristotle had in writing his Ethicks or booke of Manners namely the practise of vertue in life and not the bare knowledge and contemplation thereof in braine And least any man should haue that opinion of these Morall precepts which all men haue of Platoes Common-wealth or of Aristotles Felicitie of Tullies Orator or of Moores Vtopia that they containe in them rather an Idaea of good life than such a platforme as may be drawne from contemplation into action he hath ioined works with words practise with precept and the fruits of rare examples with the faire flowers of Philosophicall instructions But many are so farre from conceiuing any such excellencie in them that so soone as they heare the name of Philosophy they thinke they haue sufficient cause to condemne as hurtfull all the writings of Philosophers alleadging that sentence of S. Paule Beware least there be any man that spoile you through Philosophy not considering that the Apostle doth in the very next wordes expound himselfe and sheweth that he meaneth nothing els but the deceitfull conclusions of mans reason disagreeing from the doctrine of Christ reuealed vnto vs in his word I grant that the word of God is onely perfect and containeth in it an absolute rule both of pietie towards God and humanitie towards men but it followeth not therefore that we may not vse the benefit of humane precepts or tread in the steps of heathen men so farre foorth as their learning and liues dissent not from the truth of holy Scriptures Will any man refuse pearles bicause they are offered him in base vessels Or not vse a light bicause it is not put into a siluer candlesticke And shall we passe ouer without profite so many good precepts and woorthy examples of learned men bicause they proceede from the twilight of naturall knowledge and not from the cleere sunne-shine of the word of God Let vs rather harken to S. Augustine in his second booke of Christian doctrine where he hath these words agreeing very fitly to this matter As for those saith he that are called Philosophers if they haue vttred any truth agreeable to our faith doctrine especially the Platonists we are not onely not to feare it but rather to challenge it from them as from vniust possessors thereof For as the Egyptians had not onely idols and heauy burdens which the people of Israell were to detest and flye from but also vessels and ornaments of gold siluer and raiment which that people at their departure out of Egypt challēged couertly to themselues for better vses although not of their owne authoritie but by the commandement of God c. So the doctrine of the Gentiles hath not onely counterfet and superstitious forgeries and heauy packs of needeles labour which euery one of vs departing from their societie vnder our Captaine Christ ought to detest and shun but also liberall Arts meete to set foorth the truth by and certaine profitable precepts of manners yea some true points concerning the worship of one onely God What their knowledge was concerning themselues and their dutie one towards another the whole Treatise following expresseth at large vnto which I had rather referre you than vse any needeles repetition in this place And as for that other point concerning the knowledge of one only God it is most certaine that from the light of Nature holpen with industrie studie and education according to
generally so manie wonderfull works vnder the cope of heauen I cannot maruell enough at the excellencie of Man for whom all these things were created are maintained and preserued in their being and moouing by one and the same diuine prouidence alwaies like vnto it selfe AMANA There is nothing more certaine than this that all things whatsoeuer either the eie can behold or the eare heare were created for the benefit profit and vse of man and that he was made excellent aboue all things to rule ouer them yea the very Angels are sent to minister for their sakes which shall receiue the inheritance of saluation ARAM. Oh vnspeakable and heauenlie goodnesse which hast created man little lower than thy selfe and crowned him with glorie and worship But tell vs I pray thee ACHITOB more particularly what this great and principall worke of nature Man is to what end his being was giuen him and how he hath shewed foorth the fruits thereof For it â—â—st needes be that there is something in him greatly to be woondered at seeing all things were created to serue and obey him ACHITOB. Truely yee haue reason companions to begin our happie assembly with that knowledge which we ought to haue of our selues as being the storehouse of all wisdome and beginning of saluation wherof we may haue an assured testimonie from that father of Philosophie Socrates who beholding the first precept written at Delphos in that temple of Apollo which was so renowmed throughout Graecia namely Know thy selfe was foorthwith driuen into a very deepe cogitation and being rapt with contemplation of spirit he began from that time forward to doubt and to inquire of himselfe Wherupon contemning that way which all the Philosophers of his time who busied themselues about nothing but onely in finding out the causes of naturall things and in disputing curiously of them he gaue himselfe wholie to the knowledge of himselfe I meane of his soule which he maintained to be in deed man and by disputuation to intreat of the soueraigne good thereof and of vertue By which meanes the gate of wisedome was opened vnto him wherein he profited in such sort that according to the oracle at Delphos he was called of all men the wise the iust the prince of Philosophers and father of Philosophie And surely out of his sayings which being more diuine than humane were written by his disciples all other Philosophers haue drawne their knowledge Heraclitus another excellent man minding to giue out in speech that he had done some notable act woorthy of himselfe said I haue sought my selfe Which beginning truely is verie necassarie for man as being a guide to leade him to the true knowledge of God which is a heauenly gifte of God and peculiar to his And this is learnedly taught vs by the same Socrates where he saith that the dutie of a wise man is to seeke out the reasons of things that in the ende he may finde that diuine reason wherby they were made and hauing found it may worship and serue it that afterward he may enioy it and reape profite thereby Moreouer he addeth that the perfect knowledge of ones selfe which consisteth in the soule is in such sort ioined with the knowledge of God that the one without the other cannot be sincere and perfect And for the same reason Plato his disciple who for the excellencie of his writings was surnamed the Diuins saith that the perfect dutie of man is first to know his owne nature then to contemplate the diuine nature and last of all to bestow his labour in those things which may be most beneficiall to all men Ignorance of a mans selfe saith Lactantius and the want of knowledge wherefore and to what end he is borne is the cause of error of euill of leauing the right way to follow the crooked of wandring out of the plaine way to walke in the ragged and vneeuen way or vpon a dangerous and slipperie mountaine and lastly of forsaking the light to walke in darknes Now if we account it a shamefull thing to be ignorant of those things which belong to the life of man surely the not knowing of our selues is much more dishonest Let vs then consider what man is according to that meane knowledge which by the grace of God we are endued withal not staying in those curious definitions which the Philosophers haue made Man is a creature made of God after his owne image iust holy good and right by nature and compounded of soule and body I say of soule which was inspired of God with spirite and life and of a perfect naturall bodie framed of the earth by the same power of God In this sort man had his beeing of the eternal workmaster of the whole world of whom he was created by his incomprehensible goodnes to be made partaker of his immortalitie and permanent felicitie for this onely ende to set foorth the glorie of his Creator and to speake and do those things that are agreeable vnto him through the acknowledgement of his benefits From which ende man being fallen of his own free wil through ingratitude and disobedience was bereaued of all those ornaments which he had receiued before of God and in steede of righteousnes and holines all iniquitie filthines and vncleannes entred into him wherby he was made the slaue of sinne and of death from whence all those miseries had their beginning wherewith the life of man is ouerwhelmed His soule also was wrapped with infinite hurtfull passions and perturbations which worke in it a continuall disquietnes and his body became subiect to innumerable trauailes and violent vntowardnes Of which corruption the ancient Philosophers had great and assured knowledge but the first and true cause therof which was sinne and the voluntarie fall of man with his restoring vnto grace by the vnspeakeable goodnes and mercie of his Creator from whence he was fallen were alwaies hidden from them as we shall see anon as also from an infinite number of men who liuing holily according to the world neuer had the perfect knowledge of God in his eternall sonne As for any good thing whatsoeuer they vttered or found out it came through earnestnes of studie by discoursing and considering in the reasonable part of their soule of those things which offred themselues to their minde But forasmuch as they were not wholy ouerwhelmed in euery part of reason and yet had no knowledge of the heauenly word Iesus Christ they vttered many things contrarie one to another and in the midst of their great and woonderfull skill according to that saying of the Scripture who hideth his secrets from the prudent and reueleth them to babes they had a continuall troubled spirit wandring here and there aswell in the seeking out of themselues and of the causes of naturall things as of those things which are aboue nature And truely the reason of man naturally ingraffed in his hart which so farre foorth
mortall matter of as small continuance as a vessell of earth sinning without ceasing and endeuoring that that which is shut vp within it should please it Notwithstanding we ought not to neglect and contemne the woonderfull frame of this heauenly plant as Plato calleth it saying that the roote thereof is in the head drawing towards heauen seeing as in a little world we may behold therein the excellencie of the woonderful works of God and that in so great measure that the wisest and most eloquent men could neuer set them foorth sufficiently And if we cal to minde how by his almightie power he framed him at the first of a peece of earth we shall not neede to stand long heere to inquire and search out how he could be ingendred and fashioned in his mothers wombe how he receaued nourishment and life and lastly how he came into the light As for example how the sixe first daies after his conception he is nothing but milke the nine following blood twelue daies after flesh and howe in the eighteene next ensuing he is fashioned at what time the fruite beginneth to liue and to haue sence which is the fiue and fortieth day after he was conceaued These are secrets of nature which may seeme as incomprehensible and beyond the capacitie of man as his first creation For what greater maruell can there be than that of a little drop of mans seed there should be engendred bones sinewes vaines arteries similar and instrumentall partes skinne and flesh and that all these should be framed in that kinde figure and similitude which we daily see in men who are all created after that maner What neede we then to make an anatomy of all the chiefest partes of the body of man when as the consideration of the least of them which peraduenture may be found to be most necessarie will suffice to rauish vs with admiration What superfluous thing can be noted in the bodie What small parcell is there which the noblest part may want conueniently and which is not partaker of euerie euill disposition thereof What thing is there in the whole nature thereof which doth not satisfie that dutie verie profitably whereunto it is borne and appointed which mooueth not of it selfe which either doth suffereth or disposeth of it selfe otherwise than is most expedient and meet for it owne benefite and for the rest of the frame of man The progresse and growth thereof from day to day from houre to houre and that of all the parts together of this principall worke at one instant euen from the first houre of his being vntil his whole perfection are they not more heauenly than humane things What is more woonderfull vnder the cope of heauen than the coniunction and subiection of the naturall sences vnto the bodie I meane of the sight smelling hearing taste and touching whereby saith Plato the common sence which is as it were a generall receptacle conceaueth al outward things What an excellent propertie in man is it to voide from him a profitable superfluitie of his nourishment from whence the cause of the preseruation of mankinde proceedeth The articulate and distinct voice proper to him onely is it not woorthy of great maruell What greater secret of nature could rauish the minde of man more with admiration than amongst the infinite multitude of men in the world to consider the variety of their gestures and diuersity of their countenances that hauing al but one and the same forme yet not one almost resembleth another And when in so great varietie two are found resembling in all points one another as we read of some euen of sundry nations who haue been taken indifferently one for the other is it not a stranger matter How maruellous is it that all men hauing a toong wherewith they speake and sing yet we seldome see that the speaking and singing of one resembleth the speech and tune of another wherupon it commeth to passe that friends and familiars oftentimes acknowledge and vnderstand one another by their speech and voice before they see ech other Who will not admire this great secret in the hand of man that a hundred thousand writers may write the same thing with the same inke and like pen and that with three and twentie letters which haue each his owne figure and shape and yet the writings shall not resemble one another so but that euery writing may be knowne by his hand that wrote it Briefely what is there in the whole body of man that is not full of rare beautie This is sufficient for the matter in hand now let vs come to the soule which is much more noble and infused into the body by God the Creator without any vertue of the generatiue seed when as the parts of the body are alreadie framed and fashioned This alone can lead vs to the knowledge of God and of our selues or rather as Socrates said we shall neuer vnderstand perfectly what the soule is except we first know God and behold it in him as in a true glasse who onely can represent it vnto vs. Let vs then see what the soule is according to the sayings of the ancient Philosophers Thales Milesius one of the sages of Graecia who florished in Athens in the time of Achab king of Iuda was the first that defined the soule affirming it to be a nature alwaies moouing it selfe Pythagoras the light of his time and the first that tooke vnto himselfe the name of a Philosopher bicause all those who before him were addicted to the contemplation of the diuinity of the secrets of nature caused themselues to be called by the name of Mages and wisemen which he would not haue spoken of himselfe saying that this diuine and lofty title of Wise was proper to God onely and that it farre passed all humane ability I say this excellent man Pythagoras affirmed that the soule was a number moouing it selfe Plato saith that it is a spiritual substance moouing it selfe by harmonicall number Aristotle saith that the soule is the continuall act or moouing of a naturall and instrumentall bodie that may haue life Or else according to others it is the light of the substance and in perpetuall motion They diuiâ—e it likewise diuersely and make many parts therof The soule as Pythagoras said is compounded of vnderstanding knowledge opinion and sence from which things all knowledge and Arts proceed and of which man is called reasonable that is apt to discourse by reason Plato saith that there are three vertues in the soule belonging to knowledge and vnderstanding which for this cause are called cognitiue or knowing vertues namely reason vnderstanding and phantasie Vnto which three others are answerable appertaining to appetite namely Will whose office is to desire that which vnderstanding and reason propound vnto it Choler or Anger which followeth that that reason and phantasie offer vnto it and Concupiscence which apprehendeth whatsoeuer phantasie and
euer came neere vnto his diuine knowledge of eternall things We see then how we must be the disciples of philosophie all our life time Now as there is nothing wherin a master builder reioiceth so much after he hath laid a good foundation of some great worke as to see the progresse and proceeding thereof so after we haue laid our first happie resolution as is said of attaining to the knowledge of philosophie and haue tasted of the first principles of hir holesome fruits it will turne to our great contentation and occasion of proceeding when we see and perceiue that we profite and amende by this studie This will appeare vnto vs by the consideration of our present works and actions being compared with the former and by the diminishing and qualifiying of our wicked passions and naturall inclinations which the profession of this science will vndoubtedly worke in vs. For as we take it for a good signe when a disease remooueth into some parts of least account so when our vices are changed into more meeke and soft passions it putteth vs in hope that we shall wholy deface them afterwarde The right and perfect way hereunto is to enter deepely into our selues and to take a perfect and sound knowledge of our naturall hurtfull and most vehement inclinations by comparing one with another Next as a good and expert Phisition before he dealeth with dangerous diseases beginneth with gentle preparatiues we are first to correct lesser faults that after we may the easier ouercome the greatest For it is certaine that by such an exercise and custome of keeping our selues from things that are after a sort excusable yea that are permitted and lawfull it will be farre more easie for vs afterward to amend abstaine from vnlawfull things After we haue thus reformed our selues we shall wholy forsake small imperfections which will be easie for vs to do and make no more reckoning of little offences as those which we shall auoid altogither From thence we shall come to consider and to discouer better the nature and cause of our greater and more hurtfull passions together with their vglines and deformitie Then labouring to diminish their force by eschewing prudently the causes of them and by cutting oft one branch now and then another we shall in the end woonder to see how reason perfecteth in vs hir office of commanding absolutely ouer all the perturbations of our soule I meane so farre foorth as humane frailtie aided by God can as I said before attaine to perfection Then may we truely call our selues Philosophers when by our owne example we make it knowne that the life of man at all times in al places in all passions and generally in all affaires receiueth the vse of Philosophie Now after we haue well profited through so great diligence watchfulnes through such industry of minde and continuall studie I meane after we are become better than we were before by reason of the tranquillitie of our soules purged from perturbations we must be carefull that this our commoditie redound also to others as the commandement of God and natural dutie binde vs thereunto Then I say we shall haue attained to the perfection of this goodly knowledge when we are seruiceable to our neighbors brethren and countrimen not of vaine glory or for terrestriall riches but for the loue of vertue onely which of it selfe is a goodly recompence for it selfe being ioined with a happy expectation of heauen But let vs note farther for the last point of our discourse whereof I haue already briefely spoken that one of the surest meanes which we can take to come to a true knowledge of Philosophie is not to esteeme at all but rather to contemne whatsoeuer is subiect to corruption and is in the power of variable fortune as the Philosophers vse to speake namely vainglory worldly wealth and other earthly goods forasmuch as the desire of getting keeping and increasing them is that which carrieth vs away most and which hindreth euery other good and vertuous inclination Therefore let vs freely forsake all such things let vs withdraw our mindes from all by-thoughts and dispise all earthly discommodities yea let vs patiently sustaine all greefe that we may yeelde our selues wholy to the studie of Philosophie which is the cause of so many good things Crates the Theban forsooke his patrimonie of eight talents which according to the common computation amounteth to foure thousand eight hundred crownes that being deliuered from the care of hous-keeping and of guiding his goods he might follow the studie of philosophie with greater libertie Anaxagoras for the same cause suffered his lands to lie waste and after long studie returning to his house and finding it altogether fallen into ruine and desolation he said if these things had not perished I had perished as if he had said that he should neuer haue gotten the treasure of knowledge which was the ornament of his minde if he had giuen himselfe to gaine and to gather goods Democritus Abderita being verie rich as may be gathered by the feast which his father made to that innumerable armie of Xerxes who came into Graecia which consisted as Herodotus writeth of more than two millions of fighting men gaue all his patrimonie to his countrey reseruing to himselfe but a little some of money to liue withall that he might haue the more leasure to studie philosophie for which cause he went to dwell at Athens Euclide of the towne of Megara being verie desirous to heare Socrates dwelling at Athens betweene which two cities the warre was so cruel that no Citizen of the one citie durst be seen in the other without ineuitable danger of death if he were knowne had notwithstanding so great loue to wisedome that although he were an Ethnick and doubted of a second life yet he preferred the desire of knowledge before the care of his life and being apparailed like a woman went once in two daies to Athens and abode there all night to heare Socrates who commonly spent the most part thereof in discoursing of wisedome and then returned againe about the break of the day Now to conclude our present treatise we will hold this that onely philosophie can giue vs certaine knowledge teach vs how we may inioy in this life our onely soueraign good which is the rest and tranquillitie of our soules Yea she is vnto vs in stead of a guide to lead vs to the eternall fruition of our supreame and euerabiding good which is promised and purchased by the blood of the immaculate Lamb in that second and most happie life And as Plato said speaking by the mouth of Socrates that they onely shal attaine to the kingdom of heauen with God who end their daies in this life purged by philosophie so shall it be by the vnspeakable loue of this eternall wisedome that we shall be purged clensed and saued Yea through the expectation of this
and impietie as well of the monarks themselues as of their people Now if fortune turne hir selfe about and set hir selfe neuer so little against an ignorant person he is straightway ouercome with a thousand perturbations and vrged with despaire as being only grounded before vpon the vaine and weake hope and confidence in externall and vncertaine goods Perses king of Macedonia and one of the successors of Alexander the great in his great conquests but not in his vnspeakable vertues was ouercome in battel by Paulus Emilius chiefe captain of the Romans was led towards him Emilius as soon as he saw him arose from his seate and went forward to receiue and honor him as being a great personage and fallen into that mishap by the hazard of fortune But Perses being wholie beaten downe through faintnes and basenes of mind cast himselfe at his feete vpon the ground with his face downeward vsing such abiect requests and supplications and so vnbeseeming the vertue of a king that the Conqueror could not abide them but said thus vnto him Alas poore ignorant man as thou art how dost thou by discharging fortune accuse thy selfe in this sort to be the onely cause of this ill successe that is befallen thee seeing thou neuer deseruedst that honor which thou hast had heeretofore bicause of thy base mind within thee which hath made thee an vnwoorthy aduersary of the Romans And truly a man cannot iustly be called through the benefit of fortune but by knowing how to vse hir well and wisely both in prosperitie aduersitie As for an ignorant baseminded man the higher that fortune lifteth him vp in great estate where he shal be viewed of many so much the more shee discouereth descrieth dishonoreth him For great calling riches are no more able to lift vp the hart of a base minded fellow than pouerty can abate and lessen the great courage of a noble hart I could here alleadge many mo examples of the pernicious effects that are as we haue said wrought in the soule by ignorāce but hereafter they will come in more fitly when we shall discourse particulerly of vices Onely I say here with Plato that arrogant ignorance hath now more than euer seazed vpon the minds of men filled them with euils as being the roote and spring of them that it peruerteth al things causeth him that possesseth hir to taste in the ende of a most bitter fruite Nowe to come to malice and crafte which is the excesse of prudence it is that which leadeth a man through wilfull ignorance to oppose himselfe against that which he knoweth to be dutifull and honest causing him vnder the counterfaite name of prudence to seeke to deceiue those that will beleeue him This vice is the chiefe cause of ambition and couetousnes which most men serue in these daies but aboue all things it is an enimie to iustice causing all their actions to tende to the ouerthrow thereof To this purpose Cicero saith that the craftier and subtiler a man is the more he is to be suspected and hated as one that hath lost al credite of goodnes All knowledge seuered from iustice ought rather to be called craft and malice than science and prudence Neither is the onely act of malice as the same author saith euill wicked but also the deliberation therof although it take no effect yea the onely thought thereof is vile and detestable so far is it that any couering or cloake can excuse a fault committed of malice Also he saith that in deliberating all hope of concealing and hiding the fact must be taken away forasmuch as vertuous men ought to seeke after honest not secret things Moreouer it is the propertie of a malicious man to choose hypocrisie and dissimulation for his companions Besides he hath for his first author and father sathan who by his subtiltie and craft abused the simplicitie of our first mother to the ouerthrow of all mankind Amongst many we may note here the example of Nero a most cruell emperor who being instructed from his youth by that wise man Seneca his schoolemaster in the beginning of his empire counterfaited so great bountifulnes and clemencie that when he was to set his hand to the condemnation of one adiudged to die he cried out and said Would to God I had no learning then should I be excused from subscribing to any mans death Notwithstanding within a while after he disclosed his detestable impiety and cruelty by putting to death his mother his tutor and a great number of honest men against all right and iustice Moreouer he purposely caused fire to be put into all quarters of Rome forbidding vnder paine of death that any should quench it insomuch that more then halfe the citie was cleane consumed Afterward to the ende he might haue some coulor to persecute the christians he laid to their charge the kindling of the fire so put a great number of them to death Tiberius also in the beginning of his raigne behaued himselfe so wisely vertuously and gently that he seemed to be saith Suetonius a simple and plaine citizen And yet soone after he became as detestable a tyrant as euer was for crueltie and filthy pleasures True it is that one may attribute the cause of such sodaine alteration of humors to the soueraigne authoritie and power of commanding which commonly hath his propertie to make him that seemed good to become wicked the humble to be arrogant the pittifull cruell the valiant a coward But it is alwaies more likely that a prince changing his nature so quickly vseth to counterfeit and to dissemble and to put a goodly vizard vpon his face as historiographers write that Tiberius could behaue himselfe cunningly in that sort Now that we may profite by this discourse let vs learne to be prudent and simple as the scripture speaketh eschuing all shameles and damnable malice and deceit al want of prudence and ignorance which procure the losse of soule and bodie whereof a man may accuse none but himselfe For ignorance saith Menander is a voluntarie mischeefe And although the knowledge of good euill is most necessarie of all others yet is it most easie For the obtaining whereof and auoiding through the grace of God of that condemnation which is to fall vpon the blinde and vpon the guides of the blinde let vs neuer be ashamed to confesse our ignorance in those things whereof we want instruction following therein that precept of Plato That we must not be ashamed to learne least happily we be hit in the teeth to our confusion with that saying of Diogenes to a yoong man whom he espied in a tauerne who being ashamed to be seene there speedilie fledde further into the same The more thou runnest in quoth this wise man to him the further thou art in the tauerne Euen so we shall neuer cure our ignorance by denying or hiding it but the wiser we seeke to be
speaking bicause a rash and inconsiderate worde may be corrected presently but that which is once set down in writing can no more be denied or amended but with infamy As therfore a man had need of a readie and quicke wit to be able to speake wel so great wisedom is very necessarie to write well yea the same rules and precepts that belong to speaking agree also to writing Besides writing is called of many a dumb speech which ought to be short and full of instruction Caesar in a letter which he sent to Rome frō the Persian battaile wrote but these three words Veni vidi vici that is to saie I came sawe and ouercame Octanian writing to his nephew Cains Drusus said thus For asmuch as thou art nowe in Illyria remember that thou deseendest of Casars that the Senate hath sent thee that thou art yoong my nephewe and a citizen of Rome Plato writing to Dionysius the yoonger vsed these words onely To kill thy brother to double thy tributes to force the people to forget thy friends to take good men for thine enimies are the works of a tyrant Pompey writing to the Senate from the east parts saide thus Fathers of the Senate Damascus is taken Pentapolis subdued Syria Ascalonia and Arabia are confederates and Palestina is vanquished We see then the maner of writing vsed by the ancients for which breuitie they were as much esteemed as the great discoursers of these tiems after inst occasion of correction But to returne againe into the path-way of speaking we haue in Cicero a notable instruction for this matter Let our speech saith he be sweet and pleasant not headstrong and when we discourse let vs not be so long that we hinder others from speaking For speech of all other things ought to be mutuall and equall Moreouer we must haue respect to that thing whereof we speake If a man discourse of graue matters he must adde a certaine seueritie but if he speake of delectable things a pleasant and gratious behauior Aboue all things we must take heede that our speech discouer not some vice to be in our manners which commonly falleth out when we speake euill of a man in his absence either to mooue laughter or to his shame and reproch We must also remember if our speech vpon some occasion comming betweene intermit the first discourse that it returne againe in conuenient time But that is as thinges fall out For all take not pleasure in the same things nor at all times And as we haue begun vpon some occasion so we must end by some meanes Now bicause in euery action of our life the perturbations of the soule are to be eschewed we must be carefull that our speech be voide thereof namely that it be without choler without extreame affections also without carelesnes and other such like imperfection Especially we must striue to make it knowne that we loue reuerence those with whom we speake Further we must know that silence in due time and place is profound wisedome a sober and modest thing and full of deepe secrets This caused Archidamus when he saw that Hecatus the orator was blamed for not speaking one worde at a banquet to answere for him that they which knowe how to speake well know also the time of silence Hyperides likewise being at a feast amongst a great assemblie verie full of noise pleasure and being asked why he spake nothing answered thus It is no time now to discourse of those things for which I am fit and as for those things which the time nowe requireth I am vnfit Bias being mocked of a babler bicause he spake nothing all a supper while answered him thus How is it possible that a foole should holde his peace at the table The ambassadours of the king of Persia being at a feast with a citizen of Athens and seeing Zeno the great philosopher say nothing they began to flatter him and to drinke to him saying what shall we tell the king our master concerning you master Zeno Nothing else quoth he but that you saw an olde man who knew wel how to holde his peace at the table And truly no speech vttred did euer so much good as many kept in haue profited and that which is restrained may be spoken at any time but a worde giuen out can no more be called backe againe For words as the poet saith haue wings and are presently dispersed euery where and manie repent that they haue spoken but neuer that they held their peace How many examples do histories set before our eies of men who through the intemperancie of their toongs haue throwne themselues headlong into infinite calamities of mightie cities and great estates destroied and ouerthrowne through the disclosing of some secret The citie of Athens was taken and destroied by Sylla the Romane dictatour who by his spies was admonished of the pratling of certaine old men in a barbars shop where they talked of a certaine place of the town that was weakest and woorst defended The ouermuch talke of one only man was the cause that Rome was not deliuered from the tiranny of Nero. For seeing one of the prisoners that was taken by the tirant to be dismaid bicause he shuld be put to death he willed him to pray to God that he might escape but vntil the morrow onely then he should haue cause of reioicing Wherupon the prisoner thinking with himselfe that it were better for him to chuse a certaintie than to expect an vncortainty and to prefer a safe way to saue his life before a iust disclosed this speech to Nero who knew wel how to remedy the conspiracy The gentleman of Normandy who in his confession told a Franciscan frier that he was once minded to haue killed king Fraunces the first may wel be placed amongst these ouermuch speakers For the king being aduertised hereof by the Franciscan frier sent the poore penitentiarie to the court of parliament where he receiued sentence of death Those that are nobly roially brought vp saith Plutark learne first to hold their peace then to speake Therfore Antigonus the great being demanded by his son at what houre the campe should dislodge art thou afraid quoth he to him that thou alone shalt not heare the trumpet He trusted not him with a secret matter to whom the succession of the empire was to come teaching him thereby to be more close and secret in such matters Euerie particuler man likewise ought to be no lesse aduised in vsing great discretion when the questiō is of vttring any thing which a man would haue concealed For he saith Plato to whom one discloseth a secret getteth the others libertie Now in this laudable silence which we commend here we haue this to marke wel that when the question is of speaking a truth or of profiting another we ought not to doubt in any case what pretence soeuer there be to speak vtter maintaine
countries as the histories of most nations in the world declare vnto vs and namely of the Germaines who in the time of Tacitus had neither law nor religion nor knowledge nor forme of commonwealth whereas now they giue place to no nation for good institution in all things Let vs not then be discouraged or faint by knowing our naturall imperfections seeing that through labor and diligence we may recouer that which is wanting but happie is that man and singularly beloued of God to whom both good birth and like bringing vp are granted together It followeth now to discourse particulerly of the maner of good education and instruction of youth but this will come in more fitely when we shall intreat of Oeconomy And yet seeing we are in the discourse of mans nature I thinke it wil not be from the purpose nor without profite if to make vs more seuere censurers of our owne faults we note that although our behauior be cheefely known by the effects as a tree by the fruit yet many times a mans naturall inclinatiō is better perceiued in a light matter as in a word in a pastime or in some other free and priuate busines wherein vertue or vice ingrauen in the soule may be sooner espied than in greater actions and works done publikely bicause in these matters shame or constraint commonly cause men to vse dissimulation Howbeit this also is true that the more power and authoritie a man hath when he may alleadge his owne will for all reason the inward affection of his hart is then best discouered For such an vnbrideled licence mooueth all euen to the verie depth and bottome of his passions and causeth all those secret vices that are hidden in his soule to be fullie and euidently seene Whereupon it followeth that great and noble men ought aboue all others to learne vertue and to studie to liue well especially seeing they haue all those requisite helps and commodities through want of which most men are hindred from attaining thereunto Let vs therefore learne by our present discourse to knowe that the nature of all men by reason of the corruption of sin is so depraued corrupted and vnperfect that euen the best men amongst many imperfections carry about them some enuie ielousy emulation and contention against some or other and rather against their verie friends This did Demas a noble man and greatly conuersant in matters of estate declare vnto the councel in the citie of Chio after a ciuill dissention wherin he had followed that part which ouercame For he perswaded those of his side not to banish all their aduersaries out of the city but to leaue some of them after they had taken from them all meanes of doing more harme least quoth he vnto them we begin to quarrel with our friends hauing no more enemies to contende withall For this cause we must fortifie our selues with vnderstanding and knowledge through labor and studie of good letters that we may restraine and represse so many pernitious motions mingled togither in our soules Let vs know moreouer that seeing our nature is assaulted and prouoked by a vehement inclination to do any thing whatsoeuer it is a very hard matter to withdrawe and keepe it backe by any force no not by the strength or feare of any lawes if in due conuenient time we frame not within it a habite of vertue hauing first wished to be well borne But howsoeuer it be let vs endeuor to be well borne through custome and exercise in vertue which will be vnto vs as it were another nature vsing the meanes of good education and instruction in wisedome whereby our soules shal be made conquerors ouer all hurtfull passions and our minds moderate and staied that in all our doings sayings and thoughts we passe not the bounds of the dutie of a vertuous man The ende of the fourth daies worke THE FIFT DAIES WORKE Of Temperance Chap. 17. ASER. THe diuine excellencie of the order of the equall wonderful constācie of the parts of the world aswell in the goodly and temperate moderation of the seasons of the yeere as in the mutuall coniunctiō of the elements obeying altogither with a perfect harmonie the gratious and soueraigne gouernment of their creator was the cause that Pythagoras first called all the compasse of this vniuersal frame by this name of World which without such an excellent disposition would be but disorder a world of confusion For this word world signifieth asmuch as Ornament or a well disposed order of things Nowe as a constant and temperate order is the foundation thereof so the ground-worke and preseruation of mans happie life for whom all things were made is the vertue of temperance which conteineth the desires and inclinations of the soule within the compasse of mediocritie and moderateth all actions whatsoeuer For this cause hauing hitherto according to our iudgment sufficiently discoursed of the first riuer of the fountaine of honestie I thinke we ought to set downe here in the second place although it be contrarie to the opinion of manie philosophers this vertue of Temperance saying with Socrates that she is the ground-worke and foundation of all vertues AMANA As a man cannot be temperate if first he be not prudent bicause euerie vertuous action proceedeth of knowledge so no man can be strong and valiant if he be not first temperate bicause he that hath a noble and great courage without moderation will attempt a thousand euils and mischeefes and will soone grow to be rash and headie Likewise iustice cannot be had without temperance seeing it is the cheefe point of a iust man to haue his soule free from perturbations Which cannot be done except he be temperate whose proper subiect the soule is ARAM. Heroicall vertue saith Plato is made perfect by the mixture and ioyning together of Temperance and fortitude which being separated will at length become vices For a temperate man that is not couragious easily waxeth to be a coward and faintharted and a noble hart not temperate becommeth rash and presumptuous Let vs then heare ACHITOB discourse of this Temperance so excellent and necessarie a vertue ACHITOB. Agapetus a man of great skill writing to the emperor Iustinian amongst other things had this saying We say that thou art truly and rightly both emperor and king so long as thou canst command and master thy desires and pleasures and art beset and decked with the crowne of Temperance and clothed with the purple robe of Iustice For other principalities end by death whereas this kingdome abideth for euer yea others are manie times the cause of perdition to the soule but this procureth a certaine and an assured safetie When we haue considered well of the woorthie effects and fruits of this vertue of temperance no doubt but we will subscribe to this wise mans opinion and to as many as haue written of the praises and roialties of that vertue Temperance saith thagoras is that light which
too carefull to keep themselues But to come to the conclusiō of our discourse we say with Aristotle that concupiscences and desires change the bodie and make the soule outragious that so many as are infected with such a pernicious and damnable vice as intemperance is are no mē but monsters in nature leading a life altogether like to that of brute beasts which being destitute of all reason know nothing better or more honest than pleasure hauing no knowledge of the iustice of God neither reuerencing the beautie of vertue bestow al the courage craft force that nature hath giuen them to satisfie and to accomplish their desires So that if death brought with it an end of all sence and feeling and an vtter abolishing of the soule as well to men as to beasts intemperate folks should seeme to gaine much by enioying their desires and lusts during their life time and to haue good cause to waxe old and euen to melt in their foule filthie pleasures But seeing we know for truely he that doubteth hereof is very ignorant most miserable that sence and feeling remaine after death and that the soule dieth not with the body but that punishment yea euerlasting payne is prepared for the wicked let vs be careful to do the will of our father which is in heauen whilest we haue time that in the triumphing day of his eternal sonne we may not heare to our confusion that sentence of his mouth Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie At which time the iust shall shine as the sunne in the kingdome of God and the wicked shall be cast headlong into euerlasting fire where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Of Sobrietie and Frugalitie Chap. 19. ARAM. SOcrates vsed to dispute earnestly and grauely of the manner of liuing as of a thing of great importance For he said that continencie in meate and drinke was as it were the foundation and beginning of skill And truely the minde is much more prompt to comprehend all good reason when the operations of the braine are not hindered by vapours which the superfluitie of meates send vp thither I am of opinion therefore that we handle this vertue of sobriety which dependeth of temperance and is contained vnder the first part thereof namely vnder continencie ACHITOB. To liue well and frugally saith Plato is to liue temperately and as Epictetus saith there is great difference betweene liuing well and liuing sumptuously For the one commeth of temperance frugalitie discipline honestie and moderation of the soule contented with her owne riches and the other of intemperance lust and contempt of all order and mediocritie In the end the one is followed with shame and the other with true and lasting praise ASER. We can not well vse our spirite saith Cicero when we are stuffed with meate Neither must we gratifie the belly and intrailes only but also the honest ioy of the mind For that which is contained in the other parts perisheth but the soule separated from the body abideth for euer Let vs then harken to AMANA of whome we may vnderstand howe necessary sobrietie is for a happie life AMANA If we set before our eies the long and happy life of the Ancients so long as they obserued sobrietie and frugalitie out of doubt we will attribute one principall cause of our so short life and so full of infirmities to the riot superfluitie and curiositie of diet which at this day are seene amongst vs. The life of our first Fathers was it not maintained a long time with fruits milke honie and water Who euer came neere their long and happie daies since those times What preparation of exquisite victuals did those six hundred thousand Israelites thinke to find that came out of Egypt to go into a new land walking fortie yeeres through the wildernes drinking nothing but water and many times wanting that After those first ages the Grecians and Romanes loued sobrietie more than all other nations And as the Hebrewes vsed to eate but once a daye which was at dinner so the Grecians onely supped For this cause we read that Plato being demanded whether he had seene any new or strang thing in Sicilia answered that he had found a monster of nature which did eate twice a day This he spake of Dionysius the tyrant who first brought vp that custome in his countrey In the time of Iulius Caesar the Germaines a strong and warlike people liued onely of milke cheese and flesh not knowing what wheate and wine were nor yet what it was to labour the ground or to sowe Yea how many millions of men are there at this day in the West regions and Ilands who know not what all this superfluitie and daintines of fare meaneth and yet liue long and healthie in all frugalitie the greatest part of them vpon herbs and rootes whereof they make cakes in steede of wheate and others of raw flesh Whereby it is easie to iudge that sobrietie is the preseruation and maintenance of health and of naturall strength and vigor and so consequently of the life of man But when we looke higher and with the eies of our mind marke the excellent glorie and immortall praise deserued by so many Camilli Scipiones Fabriti◠Metelli Catones and by a thousand other famous families which executed so many woorthy acts by their owne vertue and yet in the meane while kept such a simple and sober diet that the most of them were contented with bread herbs and water endured and tolerated cheerefully all iniuries of weather went but homely araied and altogither contemned gold and siluer out of question we will iudge those men very blind and farre from the white of such glorie and honour who imbrace nothing but dissolutenes superfluitie lust dronkennes pride and all such like imperfections that beare sway amongst vs who behold Vice mounted so high that men must in a manner blush as much to speake of Vertue or to be vertuous in a thousand companies as in that happy time of the Ancients they were ashamed of vice or to be vitious And truly I thinke that these men being past shame care but little for the glorie that hath beene in many ages seeing they liue for the body onely after a brutish impietie without all regard of the foule or of the second life What say I for the body Nay rather they are the destroiers thereof seeing it cannot be denied but that sobrietie is a great benefit and helpe to preserue health and bodily strength and to expell diseases and is to be vsed as a good foundation to attaine to a happy old age The experience heereof is well knowne to euery one although there were no other proofe but this that we see the simple sort of people that labor and trauell to liue with bread and water grow old in health whereas our Princes and great Lords being delicately brought vp in idlenes die yoong men tormented with infinite diseases especially when they
and much more doth wine vexe a man For it discloseth the secrets of the soule troubleth the whole mind A drunken gouernor and ruler of any thing whatsoeuer bringeth all to ruine ouerthrow whether it be a ship or a wagon or an armie or any other thing committed to his keping We see by the goodly sentences of these Authors how many discommodities mischiefs come as wel to the body as to the soule by this excessiue superfluitie and curiositie of nourishment whether it be in drinking or eating We see also that from this self same spring-head proceed those vnmeasurable and loose behauiours in all kind of delights in carding and dicing in dauncing masking and mumming in loue of maidens and adultery with wiues the filthines whereof is so shameful and discouereth it self so much that I shall not greatly need to loose time in reproouing thereof For it is most certaine that all such inuentions are meerely heathenish or rather diuelish when men commit such reprobate actions with publike libertie and licence Especially we haue to note this well that concerneth masks and mummeries so common amongst vs and the cause of infinite offences that forasmuch as the face was appointed and ordeined of God to be seen openly and the mouth to speake we destroy the ordinance of God as much as lieth in vs and become contrary vnto him when we take vnto vs a false face and depriue our selues of speech It may be sayd that manie thinke no harme when they doe these things But that which of it self is euil cannot be excused and no fashion of liuing taken vp and practised through the onely motion of our sensualitie such are these delights pleasures can be maintained neither hath it any good and lawfull defence Now let vs consider some examples of those pernitious effects which proceed from this Epicurian vice of intemperance Esau fold his birth right through a gluttonous desire The self same cause mooued the Israelites to murmure many times against God The drunkennesse of Lot caused him to commit incestwith his daughters Alexander the great darkned the glory of his valiant acts with this vice For being ouertaken with wine he slew Clitus one of the valiantest captains he had to whom he was beholding for his own life Afterward when he was come to himself he would oftentimes haue murdered himself and wept three days togither without meat and drink Dionysius the yonger was somtime more than nine dayes togither drunken and in the ende he lost his estate Cyrillus sonne in his drunkennes wickedly slew that holy man his father and his mother also great with child He hurt his two sisters and defloured one of them Ought not this to cause the haire of our head to stand vpright as often as any occasion is offred vnto vs whereby we might fall into such inconueniences Amongst the Romanes Lucullus a man of great dignitie and commended of Historiographers for many braue exploits of warre which he did in Armenia and for his bountie iustice and clemencie is yet greatly blamed because towards the end of his dais omitting all intermedling with the gouernment of publike affaires he gaue himself to all kind of excessiue sumptuousnes superfluous wasting of that great substance which he had Whereof this only testimonie recited by Plutarke shall serue for sufficient proofe Cicero and Pompey meeting him one day in the citie told him that they would sup with him on this conditiō that he should prepare nothing for them but his owne ordinarie diet At the least wise quoth he vnto them giue me leaue to bid my Steward make ready supper in my hall of Apollo and by that he beguiled them For his seruants vnderstood therby what cost he would haue bestowed thereupon in so much that a supper of fiftie thousand drachmes of siluer which amount to fiue thousand crownes was prepared for them This was so much the more wonderfull bicause so great and sumptuous a feast was made ready in so short a time But this was his ordinarie diet which he caused manie times to be prepared for himselfe alone And as his men asked him on a day who should dine with him seeing he commanded them to make readie such a great feast Lucullus quoth he shall dine with Lucullus This superfluous pompe magnificence wil not be thought verie strange if we compare it with that which not long since a simple Franciscan frier called Peter de Ruere made after he had attained to the dignitie of a Cardinal through fauour of the Pope his kinsman For within the space of two yeeres which he liued in Rome he consumed in feasts and banquets the summe of two hundred thousand crownes besides his debts which came to no lesse summe Philoxenus the Poet wished that he had a necke like a Crane to the end he might enioy greater pleasure in swalowing downe wine and meat saying that then he should longer feele the tast thereof We read of the emperor Vitellius Spinter that he was so much giuen to superfluitie and excesse that at one supper he was serued with two thousand seuerall kinds of fishes and with seuen thousand flying foules But within a very litle while after he changed his estate being executed publikely at Rome at the pursuite of Vespasianus who was chosen emperor in his place In our time Muleasses king of Thunes was so drowned in pleasure and delight that after he was banished from his kingdom bicause of his whoredom in his returne out of Almaign being without hope that the emperor Charles the fift would helpe him at all he spent one hundred crownes vpon a pecock dressed for him as Paulus Iouius rehearseth and that he might take the greater delight in musike he couered his eyes But the iudgement of God was such vpon him that his owne children made him blind with a bar of hote iron Concerning exāples of the miserie that followeth accompanieth riot delight in playing dancing mumming we see daily that a thousand quarrels blasphemies losse of goods whoredoms proceed frō thence And oftentimes God suffreth the punishment therof to be notorious euen by vnlooked for strange means as not long since it hapned to Lewes Archb. of Magdeburg who dancing with gentlewomē vntil midnight fell down so fiercely vpon the ground that he brake his neck with one of the women which he led Charles the 6. being clothed like a wild mā with certain of his familiar friends dancing by torchlight was also in great peril of burning if a gētlewoman had not cast her cloke vpō his shoulders And I think it wil not be from the matter if we say that it is a shameful thing to suffer amongst vs or to loose time that ought to be so precious vnto vs in beholding in hearing plaiers actors of Interludes and Comedies who are as pernitious a plague in a common wealth as can be
friendship of his wife breaketh the peace of a house causeth the wife to loose hir soule who otherwise peraduenture would not haue yeelded if he had not corrupted hir In a word it is the cause of infinite miseries offences which we daily see come to passe Amongthe Auncients this vice was so odious that it was narowly sought out and chasticed with very grieuous punishments In so much that Iulius Caesar caused one of his captains to be beheaded bicause he had dishonoured the mistresse of the house where he lodged not staying vntill one accused him and without any complaint made vnto him by hir husband There was a law among the Locrians established by Zaleucus which condemned all those that were conuicted of this vice of adulterie to haue their eyes puld out This lawe was afterward so well kept that his sonne being taken with the fact and all the people intreating for him Zaleucus would neuer suffer the punishment to be any thing lessened And yet to satisfie their importunitie in some sort he caused one of his own and another of his sonnes eyes to be plucked out chusing rather to beare halfe the punishment allotted for the offence than that it should remaine vnpunished the law violated Augustus Caesar made the law Iulia intituled of Adulteries wherein is declared how processe ought to proceed against those that are attainted of it and how such as are conuicted thereof are to be punished euen to permit the father to kill his daughter being taken in the fact with the adulterer After that Fabius Fabritius was slain by his wife through trecherie to the ende that she might haue greater libertie to commit adulterie one of his yonger sons whē he came to age slew his mother with the adulterer was absolued therof by the Senate We read also that the lest punishment vsed by the Egyptians against adulterers was to cut off the womās nose the priuy parts of the man Briefly we shall find that in all nations where honor and ciuilitie is neuer so little regarded this vice of adulterie hath been grieuously punished and greatly hated of all noble minds Herein the example of Alexander is woorthy to be remembred who when a woman was brought vnto him one euening demanded of hir why she came so late to whom she answered that she stayed vntill hir husband was gone to bed Which he no sooner heard but he sent hir away being very angry with his men bicause they had almost caused him to commit adultery He would not so much as touch his friends Concubine although he loued hir and he tooke on wonderfully with Cassander bicause he would by force kisse a minstrels maid So farre off was he from beyng willing to suffer his courtiers to force any wiues or daughters of his subiects or to induce them to suborne any for him But contrary wise we see now adayes that they are most esteemed of great men whose skill is greatest in corrupting of women Antonius Venereus duke of Venice may be vnto them an example worthy to be folowed who caused his owne sonne to die in prison bicause he had rauished a maid But let vs note a litle the eye witnesses of Gods wrath who neuer or very seldome suffreth whoredome to go without present payment meete for such peruerse wickednes The reading of holy Scriptures doth furnish vs with notable examples in the death of foure and twentie thousands Israelites for whoredome in the punishment of the same sinne committed by Dauid with the death of more than threescore thousand men in Israel in the punishment of the same sinne in Salomon vpon his sonne who was depriued of ten parts of his kingdome in the ouerthrow of the Cities of Sodomah and Gomorrah and in many other places Whē Sathan seeketh for a readie way to cause men to fall he commonly vseth whoredom When Balaam taught Balaac that subtill practise to cause the Israelites to commit idolatrie it was by meanes of the faire women of his countrey thereby to cause them to fall into the wrath and indignation of God Concerning histories written by men the number of examples of Gods wrath vpon whoremongers is infinite of which we will heere alleadge some making mention of violent punishments and of the depriuation and subuersion of flourishing estates which haue proceeded from the same cause of whoredome And truly it is more dangerous for a Prince in regard of his estate than any other vice yea than crueltie it selfe For crueltie maketh men fearefull and striketh a terror in the subiects but whoredome draweth with it hatred and contempt of the Prince bicause euery one iudgeth an effeminate man vnwoorthie to command a whole people Tarquinius king of Rome for his loftines surnamed the proud was depriued of his kingdome bicause of the violence which one of his sonnes offered to Lucretia a Romane Ladie And although he gathered togither great forces thinking thereby to reenter into his estate yet he could neuer attaine therunto Since which time the name of a king hath beene so odious among the Romanes that they would neuer suffer any to beare that title amongst them but from that time forward changed the gouernment of a Monarchie into a Democraty or popular estate abolishing all lawes appertaining to a king In place of which they sent to the Athenians for Solons lawes which afterward were obserued by the Romanes and called the lawes of the twelue Tables Appius Claudius one of those ten that had all authoritie in the gouernment of the Romane estate bicause he would haue rauished Virginia daughter to Virginius a Citizen of Rome who slew hir to saue hir honor was banished with all his companions in that office and their manner of gouernment changed into the authoritie of Consuls What was like to haue befallen that mightie Caesar after he had conquered France Almaigne England Spaine Italy and Pompey himselfe but a shamefull death by reason of a foolish loue which caused him to go into Alexandria in disguised apparell to enioy Cleopatra where an Eunuch and a child had almost slaine him if he had not cast himselfe from a high tower into the sea and so saued himselfe by swimming to his campe vnder the gallies of his enimies Teundezillus king of Spaine was for committing violent adulterie with a ladie of a noble house depriued both of life and kingdom Marcus Antonius Caracalla Emperour being caried away with intemperate lust maried his mother in law and within a while after he lost both his empire and life Childericus the first of that name king of France after he had raigned a long time was driuen out of his kingdome for his whoredome Iohn Countie of Arminack maried one of his owne sisters and being therefore excommunicated of the Church was depriued of his estate and life by the Emperor Charlemaigne Rodoaldus king of Lumbardy being taken in adultery was
that were vertue it selfe leauing behind them the path of that vertue from whence honor ought to proceed and which is able of it selfe to adorne decke men fall into the same reckoning that Ixion did who as the Poets say had to do with a cloud supposing it to haue been the goddesse luno whereupon the Centaures were engendred Euen so worldly men embracing vaine-glory onely which is but a false shadow of true vertue all their doings deserue so small commendation that if they were well waied they should rather be found worthy of blame and dishonor than of that honour which they so greatly seeke and aske after For this cause the ancient Romanes built two Temples ioined together the one being dedicated to Vertue and the other to Honor but yet in such sort that no man could enter into that of Honor except first he passed through the other of Vertue But seeing the way of vertue is so litle frequented at this day no maruell as Hesiodus saith if so great a heape of wickednes be dispersed through the world that all shame and honor haue forsaken and abandoned the life of man Now if an honest man preferre the losse of his honor before his owne life to the ende he be none of those that content themselues with a deceitful Idea and platforme in stead of the thing it self let him learn aboue all things to know wherin true glory and honor consist and from whence he may deserue praise which first is in Goodnes and Iustice Secondly in guiding all humane actions prudently according to duetie comelines and honestie These are the only meanes to get durable and eternall honour glory and praise which always folow vertue as the shadow doth the body hauing this propertie to make men wise iust good and prudent and to bring them to the best excellentest and most diuine habite that can be in men which is the vprightnes of reason and iudgement and to the perfection next after God of the reasonable nature which is such a disposition of the soule as consenteth and agreeth with it selfe Therfore that goodnes and excellencie which proceedeth of wisedome and good instruction is the first step to come to honor bicause from that as from a liuely fountain floweth euery vertuous and praise-woorthie action practised by a prudent man For as Cicero saith no man can be prudent but he must needs be good Now this is cleane contrary to the common opinion of those that run so swiftly now adays after honor and reputation who being ignorant of euery good cause and reason and hauing corrupt and wicked conditions imagine in their mindes that so long as they do some act well liked of great men and for which they may be noted out by them to be men of valure making good penywoorths of their skin and of their conscience also whether it be in fight or in the execution of some other commandement of theirs they shal haue cause to thinke themselues worthy of great honour and to be preferred before other men For they suppose that honor ought to be measured by that good wil and liking which men conceiue of thē although they thēselues be most wicked and not by the triall of the worke whether it be good or euil in it selfe But I wonder at their follie For seeing they haue no goodnesse in them how can they iudge what ought to be done or left vndone according to equitie and iustice And what honor wil they deserue in all their actions being guided onely with a desire of worldly glory which as Quintilian saith is the chiefe principal euil Do not they also propound to themselues as a recompence of their paine and trauell aduancement to high estates and dignities that they may the better enioy worldly pleasures Whereby they become slaues to mortall goods and riches all their life time and depriue themselues of that precious libertie of the soul for which a noble hart ought to fight to suffer death But a good man adorned with goodnes and iustice propoundeth vnto himselfe a farre other end For admiring nothing but vertue he seeketh not to be honored but in obeying hir in following hir steps and in referring all his doings to the infallible rule thereof He knoweth as Seneca sayth that glory is to be followed not to be desired that it is gotten by such a noble courage as measureth al things by conscience not doing any thing for ostentation and vanitie The price and reward which he expecteth in this life for euery laudable action is to haue done it and yet he depriueth not himselfe of glory which remayneth immortal vnto him among good men for his iust vertuous deedes neither careth he at all what the wicked or ignorant sort think or speake of him Hauing layd this ground and foundation of all his intents and purposes he looketh not to the most beaten way nor to the present state of things that he might apply himselfe to the tyme as though he feared that he should be left behind but desireth rather to abide vnknown in his simplicitie than with the hurt and detriment of his soule to intrude himselfe among the greatest And if he vndertake or execute any thing he hath iustice and prudence alwaies for his guids and then neither feare nor danger is able to driue him from his determinate purpose which how soeuer it falleth out is alwaies no lesse woorthie of honor and praise than their actions who do nothing but for worldlie glorie deserue blame and dispraise which they feare most of all and labor to auoid True it is that these men who ambitiously seeke after vaine glorie and greatnes may say vnto me that things go farre otherwise than I speake of and that their doings who apply themselues to the pleasure and liking of the greater sort without sparing their liues are as much extolled as the others that respect the vprightnes of causes are set light by and contemned But I answer them againe that it is the dutie of a prudent man rather to feare the iudgement and opinion of a few wise men than of an ignorant multitude Neither ought he to leaue his conceiued purposes grounded vpon reason for the praise of men For they that do otherwise declare euidently that they liue not but for the world hauing no care of the principall and chiefe end of their being Bion compared such men very fitly to vessels with two handles which are easily caried by the eares whethersoeuer a man will So these men being praised and much made of vndertake all things boldly yea the burning heate of glory oftentimes carieth them so farre that they praise commend their owne doings to no purpose Which is so vnseemelie a thing as Aristotle saith that it is more blamewoorthie than lying which commonly goeth with it and is also a great argument of an inconstant mind But as Plutark saith the more reason a man hath gotten by Philosophie the more
them as it were in possession dare not gainesay or deny them in any matter For heer of it commeth that flatterers brokers and such as are most wicked carie away offices charges benefices gifts and wastfully consume the publike treasure so that a man may behold an impunitie and libertie of vices and of execrable offences bicause a simple and bashfull king dare not deny a request And thus vnder such a Prince publik welfare is turned into priuat wealth and all the charges fall vpon the poore people But not to stray farre from our purpose hauing so neerely touched a matter worthie of a large discourse I thinke we shall reape no small profit if we call to mind heere certaine notable instructions which Plutark giueth vs to teach vs to repell farre from vs all foolish and dangerous shame namely that so soone as yeers of discretion worke in vs any knowledge of goodnes we should exercise our selues in those things which of themselues are easie enough to practise being without feare that any thing can as the prouerbe saith hang or take hold of our gowne If at a feast saith that great Philosopher thou art inuited to drinke more than reason or thy thirst requireth be not ashamed to refuse to do it If any babler or ignorant fellow seeke to stay and keepe thee by discoursing of vaine and redious matters be not afraid to rid thy selfe of him and to tell him freely that another time thou maist come and visite him not hauing at that time any leasure to keepe him companie any longer If thy friend or any other man communicate with thee any act or purpose of his wherein thou knowest somewhat though neuer so little that is to be reprehended tell him thereof hardly If any man be importunate with thee by requests intreaties neuer promise more than thou art able to performe and blush not bicause thou canst not do all things but rather blush to take vpon thee things that are aboue thy abilitie If any man aske thee a question of any matter whatsoeuer confesse freely that which thou knowest not to the end thou maist receiue instruction Now if we exercise our selues in this sort honestly to refuse to depart to breake off to speake freely and to submit our selues after a comelie manner so that no man can lightly complaine of vs or blame vs but vpon very slender occasion we shall be in a readie way to accustome our selues not to be ashamed in matters of greater waight and such as are necessarie for the preseruation of dutie For otherwise if we are afraid to put backe a glasse of wine which some one of our acquaintance in drinking doth offer vnto vs howe will we resist the request of a Prince which is as much as a commandement or the importunate suite of a whole people in an vniust and vnreasonable matter If we are ashamed to be rid of a babler if as flatterers vse to do we commende one contrarye to our opinion whom we heare praised of many or if wee feare to tell our friende of some small fault of his howe will we set our selues courageously against those slaunderers of the truth and maintainers of lies that are placed in authoritie Or how shall we dare to reprooue notorious faults boldly beyng committed in the administration of a magistrate and in ciuill and politicall gouernment This is that which Zeno very well taught vs when meeting with a familiar friend of his that walked heauily by himselfe he asked him the cause thereof I shun said the other a friend of mine who requesteth me to beare fals witnesse for him What quoth Zeno act thou so foolish that seeing him voyd of shame and feare to request vniust and wicked things of thee thou hast not the hart to deny him to put him back vpon iust reasonable considerations Agesilaus may be vnto vs a good Scholemaster in this matter For being requested by his father to giue sentēce against right he was not ashamed to deny him graciously with this answer You haue taught me O Father frō my youth to obey the lawes and therefore I will now also obey you therein by iudging nothing against the lawes Pericles being likewise requested by a friend of his to sweare falsly for him sayd I am a friend to my friends vnto the aultars as if he would haue sayd so farre as I offend not God The same reason was the cause that Xenophanes being called a Coward at a feast bicause he would not play at dice answered without feare of being accounted voyd of ciuilitie and good fellowship I am in deed a coward and feareful in dishonest things Now besides all those pernitious effects of foolish and naughtie shame that are already touched by vs oftentimes it maketh the sences of a man so brutish through a long custome that he neglecteth the care of that which concerneth his safetie and priuate benefit yea sometimes of his owne life I will not here stand to speake of those that say they are ashamed to aske their due or by way of iustice to pursue such as deuour the substance of their poore families whereby they make it knowen that they haue neither vertue hart nor courage To this agreeth fitly that which we read of one named Perseus who being to lend monie to a very friend of his went with him to the common place of bargaining calling to mind that precept of Hesiodus who saith Euen when thou dost disport with thine owne brother Let present be some witnes one or other His friend thinking this somewhat strang said what so orderly by law Yea quoth Perseus that I may haue it againe of thee friendly and not be compelled to demand it againe by order of law But what shall we say of so many great personages as are mentioned in histories who vnder pretence of a foolish shame badly grounded vpon this conceit that they would not distrust them whome they tooke for their friends offered themselues euen to the slaughter Dion endued with great perfections and one that deliuered from tyrannie and freed from thraldome the citie of Syracusa although he was aduertised that Calippus whom he tooke for his Host and friend watched opportunitie to slaie him yet he went to that place whether he had inuited him saying that he had rather loose his life than be compelled to distrust his friends and to keepe himselfe asmuch from them as from his enimies And in deed it fell out so that he was slaine there The like befell Antipater being bidden to supper by Demetrius It seemeth also that Iulius Caesar aswell as they was in some sort the cause of his ownemishap bicause hauing had many aduertisements suspicions and forewarnings of the miserable death that was intended against him yet he neglected them all as appeereth by that speech which he vsed the euening before he was murdered being at supper with Marcus Lepidus For a controuersie arising
amongst the guests about this proposition What kind of death was best euen that said this Monarch which is least looked for True it is which may be said that destinie may possibly be better foreseene than auoided But this were an euill conclusion thereupon that we must let goe all care of keeping those Goods which God giueth vs as a blessing proceeding from his grace For it is the dutie of a good and sound iudgement to conferre that which is past with the present time to the end to foresee in some sort and to determine of that which is to come which is alwaies doubtfull and vncertaine vnto vs. Moreouer to resume our former matter of honest shame and shamefastnes which is the guide of our life to decencie and vertue we may see amongst the an ients infinite examples how it hath been recommended and precisely obserued and what strength it hath had in right noble mindes The Persians brought vp their youth in such sort that they neither did nor spake any thing that was dishonest putting him to death that stripped himself starke naked in the presence of another Yea they iudged euery vnciuill action how litle soeuer committed before others to be great wickednes The Parthians would neuer suffer their wiues to come among their feastes least wine should cause them to doe or to speake any dishonest thing in their presence Hippocratides as he was walking met with a yong man in a wicked mans company perceiuing that he began to blush said thus vnto him My sonne thou must goe with such as will not cause thee to blush but be of good cheere for thou maiest yet repent thee Blind Eutichus was set without the aray of the battel by Leonidas but being ashamed to leaue his fellowes in danger he caused a slaue to lead him to the place where they fought and there wonderfully doing his endeuor he was slain The Romans were so shamefast amongst themselues that the father would not bathe himselfe with his sonne nor the sonne in law with the father in law They so greatly esteemed honest shame and bashfulnes that when Philip king of Macedonia was accused before the Senate of many crimes the shamefastnes of yong Demetrius his sonne who blushed and held his peace stood him in greater stead than the shamelesse boldnes of the eloquentest Orator in the world could haue done The sonne of Marcus Cato the Censor beyng at that battell wherein Perses was discomfited and fighting with a iaueline his sword fell out of his scabberd wherof he was so ashamed that alighting on foote in the midst of his enemies doubling his courage and strength he tooke it vp and mounted againe fighting on horsebacke as before The sonne of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus hauing abandoned and giuen ouer the keeping and defence of the countrey of Trenta committed to his charge was so ashamed thereof that not daring to returne againe to his father he slew himself Parmenides taught his Disciples that nothing was terrible to a noble mind but dishonor and that none but children and women or at least men hauing womens harts are afraid of griefe When speech was ministred at the banket of the seuen Sages concerning that popular gouernment which was happiest wherein all haue equall authoritie Cleobulus affirmed that that citie seemed vnto him best guided by policie wherein the Citizens stood in greater awe of dishonor than of the law Plutark rehearseth a very noteable historie of the force of honest shamefastnes in the Milesian maidens who were fallen into such frenzie and perturbation of spirite that without any apparant cause to be seene they were suddenly ouertaken with a longing to die and with a furious desire to hang themselues Which thing many of them had alreadie put in practise so that neither reasons nor teares of fathers and mothers no comfort of friends no threatnings pollicies or deuices whatsoeuer could preuaile with them vntill such time that a wise Citizen by his aduice procured an edict to be made by the Councell that if any heerafter hung hir selfe she should be caried starke naked in the sight of all men through the market place This edict being made and ratified by the Councell did not onely represse a little but wholy staied the fury of these maidens that longed to die Insomuch that a simple imagination and conceit of shame and dishonor which yet could not light vpon them before they were dead did preuaile more with them than all other deuised meanes could do yea than death it selfe or griefe which are two of the horriblest accidents which men commonly stand in feare of To conclude therefore our present discourse that honest shame and shamefastnes are alwaies commendable and beseeming all persons that purpose to obserue modestie in their words gestures countenances and actions We learne also that spirits well brought vp are more easily wonne by shame than by feare according to that saying of Quintilian that shamefastnes is the propertie of a free man and feare of a bondman Further we learne that euery temperate man ought to be more ashamed of himselfe when occasion of doing ill is offered than of any other that he must shun all euil excessiue and pernitious shame proceeding from the want of discretion bicause it hindereth men from effecting all good wholesome and honest things insomuch that of it selfe it is able to procure vnto vs losse dishonor and infamie The ende of the sixt daies worke THE SEVENTH DAIES WORKE Of Fortitude Chap. 25. ASER. MAN endued with reason seeking to imitate asmuch as lieth in him the author of his being who albeit simply absolutely he standeth not in neede of any thing whatsoeuer yet doth woonderfull workes without ceasing for the benefit of his creatures feeleth himselfe touched to the quicke in his soule with a desire to profit all those among whome he liueth by all high great laudable and laborious meanes not fearing any perill nor forcing any paine Moreouer meditating weighing the dignitie of the immortalitie of his soule he careth not for earthly and mortal goods nor standeth in feare of the contrarie and whether it be for the hauing or not hauing of them his minde is nothing at all the lesse quiet neither doth he thinke that any good vpon earth can be taken from him All which great and rare excellencies flowe into him from the third riuer of the fountaine of Honesty whereof we are now to speake namely of the vertue of Fortitude which as Cicero saith cannot be forced by any force AMANA This vertue saith Seneca is very great being able to resist and to fight against extreame miseries Which is the propertie of Fortitude that guideth a noble nature through hard and difficult things that he may attaine to the end of his iust deuices ARAM. Fortitude is the cause that neither for feare nor danger we turne aside from the way of vertue and iustice And as Plato
he knoweth the one to be honest and the other vile and wicked Hauing now seene that vice which is cleane contrary to Fortitude and knowing that euery vertue hath a counterfeit follower thereof no doubt but rashnesse is that vice which falsly shrowdeth it selfe vnder the title of Fortitude and valure For this vertue easily ouerthroweth it selfe if it be not vnderpropped with good counsaile and the greater abilitie it supposeth to haue in it selfe the sooner it turneth aside to wickednesse if prudence gouerne it not This is that which Isocrates saith that Fortitude ioined with Prudence is auaileable but otherwise it procureth more euill than good to the possessors thereof If Fortitude saith Lactantius without necessarie constraint or for a dishonest matter hazardeth hir selfe into daungers she chaungeth into rashnesse He that doth anie thing at all aduentures saith Aristotle not considering how well he doth it ought not to be called vertuous but onely if he put it in execution after knowledge consultation and election Therefore as it is a noble acte to make such account of vertue as for the loue thereof not to feare the losse of life otherwise very deare so is it a point of rashnesse and follie to contemne life vpon a small and light occasion Rashnesse than is that which causeth a man with ioy of hart and for a vaine and friuolous matter to cast himselfe into certaine vndoubted daungers and to desire earnestly to fall into them to vndertake all things vnaduisedly and vnconstrained to expect those perils which he knoweth will fall vpon him The Elder Cato hearing certaine men to commend one openly who desperately hazarded himselfe and was bold without discretion in perils of warre said vnto them That there was great difference betweene much esteeming of vertue and little waighing of life as if he would haue said that it is a commendable thing to desire life to be vertuous And truely to liue and die are not of themselues good but to do both of them rightly and in a good matter So that to shunne death if it proceed not from a faint hart is not to be reprehended But rashnesse is especiallie to be condemned in Captaines and Heads of Armies as that which procureth great dammage to kingdomes and monarchies and to so manie as march vnder their conduct This is that which Iphicrates an Athenian captaine would haue vs learne who compared in an armie the Scoutes lightly armed to the handes the Horsemen to the Feete the battaile of Footemen to the Stomacke and breast and the Captaine to the Head of a Mans bodie For sayde he the Captaine that hazardeth himselfe too much and throweth himselfe into daunger without cause is not retchlesse of his own life onely but also of all those whose safetie dependeth vpon him and contrarywise in taking care for the safegard of his owne person he careth therewithall for all those that are vnder him Isadas the Lacedemonian seeyng Epaminondas with the Thebane armie at hand agaynst the Spartanes readie to force and take their Citie vnclothed himselfe starke naked puttyng off his Shirte and all and taking a Partisane in one hand and a sworde in the other he went with might and mayne agaynst his enemies where he shewed great prowesse and valure For which behauiour although he had a Crowne giuen him by the Seignorie according to the custome that was amongst them yet he was fined bicause he hazarded his lyfe so rashly We see daylie among vs but too manie examples of great mischiefes which befall men through their rashnesse led with ambition and desire of vayne-glorie Therefore to conclude and to drawe some profite out of our present discourse we say that we ought to feare the incurring of blame and dishonour for filthie and vnhonest matters and for euill deeds and are to shun all feare proceeding of want of courage of pusillanimitie and of a depraued and corrupted nature this last as proper and peculiar to the wicked and the other as that which maketh a man vnapt to all good and commendable thinges And as it is an acte of Prudence and Fortitude to prouide for a tempest and for stormes to come when the shippe is still in the Hauen and yet not to be afrayd in the middest of stormes so is it a point of rashnesse for a man to throw himselfe wittingly into an euident danger which might be auoyded without any breach of Vertue and Iustice Therefore Plato saith that timorous and rash men feare enterprise vnaduisedly whatsoeuer they take in hand but that noble minds do all things with prudence This also is that which Seneca saith thou maist be valiant if thou cast not thy selfe into perils nor desirest to fall into them as timorous men do neither abhorrest or standest in feare of them as being timorous But following the sage aduice of Cicero before we enterprise any thing we must not onely consider whether it be honest and commendable but also whether there be any like meane to execute it that neither throgh cowardlines we giue it ouer nor through greedie desire and presumption we purchase to our selues the reputation of rash men obseruing moreouer in euery matter of importance this Maxime of estate that before we begin any thing we must diligently prepare and foresee whatsoeuer is necessarie thereunto Of Magnanimitie and Generositie Chap. 27. ARAM. WHen that saying of Aristotle cōmeth to my remembrance that Fortitude isa mediocritie in fearing enterprising but that Magnanimitie consisteth in great things I am somewhat troubled in the vnderstāding of this sentēce bicause it semeth he would put a difference betweene Fortitude and Magnanimitie as if this latter had more excellencie and perfection in it than the other For this cause my Companions hauing intreated this morning of the vertue of Fortitude I propound now vnto you to discourse vnto vs what Magnanimitie is ACHITOB. Among mortall and perishing things there is nothing as the Philosophers say that ought to trouble the Magnanimitie of a noble hart But I find that they propound vnto vs in this word such a wisedome as cannot be in him that remaineth all his life time subiect to affections and perturbations For this they would not haue in true Magnanimitie which notwithstanding is wel able to bring foorth infinite wonderfull effects out of a noble mind causing it to be neuer vnprouided of a good resolution to be put in execution according to the ouerthwarts that happen vnto him ASER. The propertie of a noble spirit saith Cicero is not to be turned aside through ingratitude from the desire of doing good to all men euen to his enemies as also to leaue carking for that which is mortall that he may imbrace celestiall things But we shall vnderstand more at large of thee AMANA how these marueilous effects are works of true magnanimitie AMANA Although the vertue of Fortitude be neuer perfected without Magnanimitie which is as much to say as generositie or noblenes of
call Anger is named of the Grecians desire of reuenge And Solon being demanded to whome a man fraught with Anger might be compared answered to him that maketh no account of losing his friends and careth not although he procure enemies to himselfe But besides the sayings of all these Sages experience sufficiently sheweth vs that Choler and Anger are enemies to all reason and as Plutark saith are no lesse proud presumptuous and vneasie to be guided by another than a great and mightie tyrannie Insomuch that a ship giuen ouer to the mercie of the windes and stormes would sooner of it selfe receiue a Pilot from without than a man caried headlong with wrath and choler would yeeld to the reason and admonition of another For an angry man like to those that burne themselues within their owne houses filleth his soule in such sort with trouble chafing noise that he neither seeth nor heareth any thing that would profit him vnles he make prouision long time before to succour himselfe with reason through the studie of wisedome whereby he may be able to ouerthrow his impatiency and choler which argue and accompanie for the most part a weake and effeminate hart And that this is true we see that women are commonly sooner driuen into choler than men the sicke than the sound the olde than the yoong all vitious gluttonous iealous vaine-glorious and ambitious men than those that vnfainedly hate vice Whereby it is euident enough that choler proceedeth from the infirme and weake part of the soule and not from the Generositie thereof Neither doth it make against our saying to alleadge the opinion of Aristotle of al the Peripateticks who maintained that we ought to moderate the affections and passions of the soule but otherwise that they were necessarie to pricke men forward to vertue Yea Aristotle said that choler was as a whetstone to sharpen and set an edge vpon Fortitude and Generositie The Academicks and Stoicks contend greatly against this opinion and namely Cicero and Seneca who say that forasmuch as choler is a vice it cannot be the cause of vertue seeing they are two contrary thinges that haue nothing common together And considering that Fortitude proceedeth from an aduised consultation and election of reason which perfecteth the worke whereas choler hindreth and troubleth it in such sort that an angrie man cannot deliberate it is not possible that it should stand him in any steed in the performance of excellent actions And this is an inuincible reason bicause vertue commeth not of vice Now this being the end of all Philosophie for a man to know his vices and the meanes how to deliuer himselfe from them and seeing that the infamie and discommoditie which accompanie impatiencie and choler cannot but be knowne vnto vs yea are notwithstanding so common amongst vs that the perfectest are infected therewith let vs looke for some helpe and meane to cure our selues thereof First let vs know that although men may be mooued to wrath and choler for diuers causes yet vnto all of them the opinion of being contemned and despised is commonly ioined And therefore the true and soueraigne remedie for this that so we may auoid such a cold and slender occasion of entring into choler against our neighbours altogither vnbeseeming the loue we owe them will be to put from vs as much as may be all suspition of being despised and contemned or of brauerie and boldnes and to lay all the fault either vpon necessitie or negligence vpon chance vntowardnes lacke of discretion ignorance or want of experience which are oftentimes in them that offend vs. This will seeme very strict counsell and hard to practise yea hatefull to many of our Frenchmen chiefly to those of the Nobilitie who are so curious in the preseruation of their honour with which title they would disguise the desire of worldly glory whervnto they shew themselues so much affectionated But they testifie sufficiently that they neuer knewe wherein true honor consisteth which is no more separated from vertue than the shadowe from the bodie also that they know not what patience is accounting it rather to be fainthartednes and cowardlines than a part and daughter of the vertue of Fortitude and Generositie yea iudging it a dishonor to a man that is contumeliously handled not to render the like againe But contrariwise we are to know that to support and indure wrong iniurie patiently and euen then when we haue most meanes to reuenge our selues is a note of a most absolute noble and excellent vertue Yea it beseemeth a Christian most of all and such a one as hath those words of the Scripture well engrauen in his hart Thou shalt not auenge nor be mindfull of wrong against the children of thy people but shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe I am the Lord vengeance and recompence are mine But I hope that heerafter we shall discourse of this subiect by itselfe which deserueth to be handled more largely Following therefore our matter we must vnderstand that choler is bred of a custome to be angrie for small things and afterward becommeth easilie a fire of sudden wrath a reuenging bitternes and an vntractable sharpenes making a man froward and furious disliking euery thing Wherefore a wise man ought presently to oppose the iudgement of reason to euery little anger and to suppresse it This will helpe to make the soule firme and of power to resist and beate backe all fiercenes of choler in matters of greater weight and consequence For he that nourisheth not his anger in the beginning nor inflameth it himselfe may easily auoid or at least scatter it Moreouer this will be a great meane to ouercome our choler if we obeye it not nor giue credite vnto it from the very first instant wherin it beginneth to appeere imitating Socrates therein who whensoeuer he felt himselfe somwhat more egerly mooued against any man than he ought like to a wise Pilote that getteth himselfe vnder the Lee of some rocke let fall his voyce gently shewyng a smiling countenance and more curteous looke thereby setting himselfe directly against his passion Besides it wil greatly helpe vs if when we are mooued with anger we stay our toong a certaine space and delay a litle while our owne reuenge For it is very certaine that a man promiseth speaketh and doth many things in his anger which afterward he wisheth had neuer been in his thought Vnto this fitly agreeth that counsaile which Athenodorus taking his leaue gaue to Augustus the emperor to stay the pernitious effects of quicke and ready choler This Philosopher minding to teach some remedy to be opposed at the very instant when this monarch should feele himselfe ouertaken with anger whereunto he easily suffred himselfe to be caried willed him to rehearse the foure and twentie letters of the Greeke Alphabet before he did any thing in his anger But knowing this that it is a speciall propertie of mans
miserable passions which depriue vs of true rest tranquillitie necessarie for a happie life let vs be carefull to learne how to discerne true happines from mishap that we may reioyce in that which is good and as readily giue thanks to the author thereof as naturally through a false opinion which we haue of euill we sustaine humaine miseries and crosses vnpatiently First then let vs heare the sundry and notable opinions of many ancient men touching good and ill hap If thou knowest all that ought to be knowen in all things said Pythagoras thou art happy Let them be accounted very happy said Homer to whom fortune hath equally wayed the good with the euill The greatest miserie of all said Bias is not to be able to beare miserie That man is happie said Dionysius the elder that hath learned from his youth to be vnhappy For he will beare the yoke better whereunto he hath been subiect and accustomed of long tyme. Demetrius surnamed the Besieger said That he iudged none more vnhappy than he that neuer tasted of aduersitie as if he would haue sayd that it was a sure argument that fortune iudged him to be so base abiect that he deserued not that she should busie hir selfe about him That man saith Cicero is very happy who thinketh that no humane matters how grieuous soeuer they may be are intollerable or ought to discourage him iudging also nothing so excellent wherby he should be mooued to reioyce in such sort that his hart be puffed and lift vp thereby Yea he is very happy who fitly and conueniently behaueth himself in all things necessary for him Nothing is euil saith Plutarke that is necessarie By which word Necessarie both he and Cicero vnderstand whatsoeuer commeth to a wise man by fatall destinie bicause he beareth it patiently as that which cannot be auoyded thereby increasing his vertue so much the more and so no euill can come to a good man Solon drawing neerer to the truth of sincere happinesse sayd that it consisted in a good life and death and that to iudge them happy that are aliue considering the danger of so many alterations wherein they are were all one as if a man should before hand appoint the reward of the victorie for one that is yet fighting not beyng sure that he should ouercome Socrates speaking rather with a diuine than a humane spirite sayd that when we shall be deliuered from this body wherein our soule is inclosed as an Oyster in his shell we may than be happy but not sooner and that felicitie cannot be obtained in this life but that we must hope to enioy it perfectly in the other life as well for our vertues as by the grace and mercy of God Not the rich said Plato but the wise and prudent auoyd miserie They that thinke sayth Aristotle that externall goods are the cause of happines deceiue themselues no lesse than if they supposed that cunning playing on the harpe came from the instrument and not from Arte but we must seeke for it in the good and quiet estate of the soule For as we say not that a body is perfect bicause it is richly arayed but rather bicause it is well framed and healthfull so a soule well instructed is the cause that both hir selfe and the bodie wherein she is inclosed are happy which cannot be verified of a man bicause he is rich in gold and siluer When I consider all the aboue named wise opinions of these Ethnikes and Pagans I cannot sufficiently maruell at the ignorance and blockishnes of many in our age touching Good and Ill hap bicause they labor to make these words priuate and to tie them to the successe of their affections in worldly matters which if they fall out according to their desire and liking behold presently they are rauished with extreme ioy boasting of thēselues that they are most happy But contrarywise if they misse of their intents by and by they dispaire and thinke themselues the vnhappiest men in the world Do we not also see that most men iudge them happy that possesse riches pleasure delight glory and honour and those men miserable that want especially if after they had aboundance they loose it by some mishap the cause wherof they commonly attribute either to good or ill lucke which they say ruleth all humaine affaires We read that Apollonius Thianaeus hauing trauelled ouer al Asia Afrike and Europe sayd that of two things whereat he maruelled most in all the world the first was that he alwayes sawe the proud man commaund the humble the quarellous the quiet the tyrant the iust the cruel the pitifull the coward the hardie the ignorant the skilfull and the greatest thieues hang the innocent But in the meane while who may doubt whether of these were the happiest that the good were not rather than the wicked if happines according to the ancients to the truth be perfected in good things then it is certain that whosoeuer enioieth al good things shall be perfectly happy Now nothing can be called good but that which is profitable and contrary to euill so that whatsoeuer may as so one be euill as good ought not to be called good Moreouer it must be the possession of some firme stedfast and permanent Good that maketh a man happy For nothing ought to wax old to perish or decay of those things wherin a happy life consisteth seeing he that feareth to loose them cannot be sayd to liue quietly Therefore neither beautie nor strength and disposition of body neither riches glory honour or pleasure can be truely called Goods seeing oftentymes they are the cause of so many euils waxe old and vanish away many times as soone as a man hath receiued them and lastly worke in vs an vnsatiable desire of them How many men are there to whom all these things haue been the occasion of euill And how can we call that good which being possessed and that in abundance cannot yet keep the owner thereof from being vnhappy and miserable Wherfore we may say that happines cannot be perfected by the possession of humane and mortall things neither vnhappines through the want of them but that the true felicitie which we ought to desire in this world consisteth in the goods of the soule nourished in the hope of that vnspeakable euerlasting happines which is promised and assured vnto it in the second life And so we say that none are vnhappy but they who by reason of their peruersnesse feele in their conscience a doubting of the expectation of eternall promises as also they that giue ouer themselues to vice whose nature is to corrupt destroy and infect with the venom that is alwayes about it all things whereof it taketh hold As for the common miseries of mans life they cannot in any sort make him vnhappy whose naturall disposition maners beyng framed and decked with vertue are able to giue to impart to euery
monie For they that are touched with this maladie follow after riches with such zeale as if they supposed that when they had gotten them no more euill should come neere them And then also they set so light by those which they haue that they burne with the desire of hauing more How then shall we call that good which hath no end or measure Or that which being gotten is the beginning of a further desire to haue more A horse saith Epictetus is not said to be better bicause he hath eaten more than another or bicause he hath a gilt harnesse but bicause he is stronger swifter and better made for euery beast is accounted of according to his vertue And shall a man be esteemed according to his riches ancestors and beautie If any man thinke that his old age shall be borne more easilie by the meanes of riches he deceiueth himselfe For they may well cause him to enioy the hurtfull pleasures of the bodie but cannot take from him sadnes horror and feare of death nay rather they double his griefe when he thinketh that he must leaue and forsake them In this short discourse taken from ancient men the vanitie of riches appeereth sufficiently vnto vs as also the hurtfull effects that flow from them if they be not ruled by the reason of true prudence Heereafter we are to see how we may vse those riches wel which God putteth into our hands being iustly gotten by vs which is a part of iustice whereof we are to intreat In the meane time that we fasten not our harts to so friuolous and vaine a thing let vs call to mind some examples of wise and famous men woorthie of immortall renowne who haue altogither contemned eschewed and despised the couetous desire and hoording vp of riches as the plague and vnauoidable ruine of the soule We read of Marcus Curius a Romane Consul the first of his time that receiued thrice the dignitie of triumphing for the notable victories which he obtained in the honor of his countrey that he made so small account of worldlie riches that all his possession was but a little farme in the countrey soryly built wherein he continued for the most part when publike affaires suffered him labouring and tilling himselfe that little ground which he had there And when certaine Embassadors vpon a day came to visite him they found him in his chimney dressing of reddish for his supper And when they presented him with a great summe of monie from their Comminaltie he refused it saying that they which contented themselues with such an ordinarie as his was had no need of it and that he thought it farre more honorable to command them that had gold than to haue it Phocion the Athenian being visited with Embassadors from Alexander they presented him with a hundred Talents being in value three score thousand crownes which this Monarch sent vnto him for a gift Phocion demanding the cause why seeing there were so many Athenians besides him they answered bicause their maister iudged him onely among all the rest to be a vertuous and good man Then quoth he let him suffer me both to seeme and to be so in deede and carie his present backe againe to him Notwithstanding he was needie as may be prooued by the answer which he made to the Athenian Councell who demanded a voluntarie contribution of euery one towards a sacrifice And when there were no moe left to contribute but he they were verie importunate with him to giue somewhat It were a shame for me said he vnto them to giue you monie before I haue paied this man and therewithall he shewed one vnto them that had lent him a certaine summe of monie Philopaemen Generall of the Achaians hauing procured a league of amitie betweene the citie of Sparta his owne the Lacedemonians sent him a present of sixe score Talents which were woorth three score and twelue thousand crownes But refusing it he went purposely to Sparta where he declared to the Councell that they ought not to corrupt and win honest men or their friends with monie seeing in their need they might be assured of thē and vse their vertue freely without cost but that they were to buy and gaine with hired rewards the wicked such as by their seditious orations in the Senate house vsed to raise mutinies and to set the citie on fire to the end that their mouthes being stopped by gifts they might procure lesse trouble to the gouernment of the Common-wealth A great Lord of Persia comming from his countrey to Athens and perceiuing that he stood in great neede of the aid and fauour of Cimon who was one of the chiefe in the citie he presented vnto him two cups that were both full the one of Dariques of gold the other of siluer Dariques This wise Grecian beginning to smile demanded of him whether of the twaine he had rather haue him to be his friend or his hireling The Persian answered that he had a great deale rather haue him his friend Then said Cimon carie backe againe thy gold and siluer For if I be thy friend it will be alwaies at my commandement to vse as often as I shall neede Anacreon hauing receiued of Polycrates fiue Talents for a gift was so much troubled for the space of two nights with care how he might keepe them and about what to imploy them best that he caried them backe againe saying that they were not woorth the paines which he had alrcadie taken for them Xenocrates refused thirtie thousand crownes of Alexander sent vnto him for a present saying that he had no neede of them What quoth Alexander hath he neuer a friend For mine owne part I am sure that all king Darius treasure will scarce suffice me to distribute among my friends Socrates being sent for by king Archelaüs to come vnto him who promised him great riches sent him word that a measure of floure was sold in Athens for a Double and that water cost nothing And although it seemeth quoth this Philosopher that I haue not goods enough yet I haue enough seeyng I am contented therewith What is necessarie sayd Menander for the vse of our life besides these two things Bread and Water Bias flying out of his citie which he foresawe would be besieged without hope of rescue would not lode himselfe with his wealth as others did And being demaunded the cause why I cary quoth he all my goods with me meaning the inuisible gifts graces of his mind Truly gold and siluer are nothing but dust and precious stones but the grauell of the sea And as Pythagoras said we ought to perswade our selues that those riches are not ours which are not inclosed in our soule According to which saying Socrates when he saw that Alcibiades waxed arrogant bicause of the great quantitie of ground which he possessed shewed him an vniuersall Map of the world and asked him whether he knew
Zeno founder of the Stoicall Academic after he had possessed much wealth and suffred many losses had no more left but one ship of merchandise which being cast away he vttred this speech thou doest well Fortune to bring me to the studie of Philosophie wherein he continued euer after The exile banishment of Diogenes driuen from his countrey was the cause and beginning of his studie of Philosophie And if any man thinke it a difficult and strange matter that a poore man should be skilfull seeing that whilest he studieth he must haue wherewith to nourish his body let vs see what Cleanthes answered to Antigonus king of Macedonia who asked him if he turned the milstone always Yea sir sayd he I turne it yet about to get my liuing but forsake not Philosophie for all that How great and noble was the mind of that man who after his labour wrote of the nature of god and of the heauens with the same hand wherwith he turned about the milstone Others say that he got his liuing by drawing water for a gardiner about which he bestowed the night onely that he might spend the day in hearing the Philosophers dispute This man calleth to my remembrance two other Philosophers named Menedemus and Asclepiades who being accused before the Areopagites the chief iudges in Athens as idle persons hauing no goods in possession and being willed to declare how they liued their answer was that inquirie should be made of their Hoste who was a Baker This man being called said that they bestowed the whole day in the study of letters and the night in sifting and boulting his meale for which he gaue each of them a peece of money whereof they liued But what These ancient Sages wanted but few things to liue withall seeing the most of them contented themselues with bread and water and many times with herbes and fruites in stead of bread and so Pythagoras always liued And yet they found so great contentation and felicitie in such a life that one Philoxenus hauing as yet but tasted of the first fruits of this profession of study and being of that number which was sent by the Athenians to inhabite a new citie in Sicilia wherein a good house with great commodities to liue at ease fell to him for his part and seeing that delicacie pleasure and idlenes without any exercise of letters raigned in those quarters he forsook all returned to Athens saying by the gods these goods shall not destroy me but I will rather destroy them All these fruits which are noted to be in pouertie gaue occasion to an ancient man to say that it was a vertue of Fortitude to sustaine pouertie patiently but to desire it was the praise of wisedom Now forasmuch as it will be very hard if not altogither impossible notwithstanding all reason that can be alleaged to men to dispossesse them of the hatred and feare of pouertie which naturally they shun let vs learne of the ancients who ought to account himselfe poore that we abuse no more this word Pouertie Diogenes was vpon a time visited by Alexander who sayd vnto him I see well Diogenes that thou art poore and hast need of many things therfore aske of me what thou wilt and I will giue it thee Whereunto this excellent Philosopher despising such offers of goods whereof he stood not in need answered Whether of vs twaine Alexander seemeth to thee to haue most need and therfore poorest either I that desire nothing but my pile of wood and a litle bread or thou who being king of Macedonta doest hazard thy selfe to so many dangers to inlarge thy kingdom in so much that the whole world will hardly suffice to bound thy ambition and to content thy couetousnes The Monarch so greatly admired the magnanimitie of this man that he vttered these wordes with a loud voyce If I were not Alexander I would be Diogenes Marius a Consul of Rome distributing land among his countreymen gaue to euery one fourteen Acres onely And vnderstanding that some were not contented therewith but demanded more I would to God quoth he then that no Roman would care for any more land than would suffice to nourish him So goodly and commendable a matter was it esteemed of these wise men to be content with a litle with that which is sufficient rather than to thinke those men onely rich that were furnished with store of wealth And to say truth seeing God alone simply and absolutely standeth not in need of any thing whatsoeuer it may easily be presupposed that the most excellent vertue of man and that which commeth neerest to the diuine nature consisteth in causing a man to stand in need of fewest things This is that which Socrates sayd That to desire nothing meaning worldly things is in some sort to resemble God And how can we call him poore whose soule is inriched with so many great and rare perfections Cicero writing to Atticus sayd That a friend was bound to wish but three things vnto his friend namely That he be healthie that he be well accounted of and that he be not needie Now that all these things are found in a temperate and noble minded man we may learne by the effects of Sobrietie whereof we haue heretofore discoursed and by those of honor which is neuer separated from vertue no more than the shadow is from the body And as for the necessarie vse of foode and raiment it is not wanting to them that stand most in need thereof as we haue alreadie touched it in our present speech so a vertuous mā cannot be called poore But let vs yeeld a litle to the commō opinion of worldlings that pouertie and want of earthly riches is odious and contemptible yet that pouertie onely which proceedeth of slouth idlenes and ignorance or otherwise of foolish expences of riot and superfluitie may be said to be full of reproch and shame and is to be shunned For when pouertie is found in an honest painfull diligent iust valiant and wise man it serueth for a great proofe of his magnanimitie and greatnes of courage bicause he hath set his mind vpon great and high matters and not vpon such small and vile things as the riches of the world are Amongst many others of this number we may say that Aristides was being captaine and gouernor of the Athenian estate as we haue alredy mentioned who after many excellent great offices which he bare to the good of his countrey was so smally enriched therby that being dead all his goods would not suffice to bury him He vsed to say that none ought to be ashamed of pouerty but they that were poore against their wil that it was a rarer matter worthy of greater praise to sustain pouerty vertuously and with a noble mind than to know how to vse riches well And so pouertie is neuer accompanied with shame except it be to them
or execute the same but with a thousand perturbations which cause vs to want the rest and tranquillitie of our soules wherein all our happinesse and felicitie consisteth And therfore Seneca saith If he that wronged thee be weaker than thou forgiue him if he be mightier spare thy selfe For whosoeuer nourisheth his neighbors anger whosoeuer prouoketh incenseth him more when he seeth him vehement and importunate against him he committeth two faults First he hateth himselfe by procuring his owne trouble and griefe Secondly his brother bicause he maketh him sad and vexeth him Moreouer prudent men as Theophrastus saith ought to doe nothing in choler For that vnreasonable part of the soule being mooued foreseeth nothing wisely but being driuen forward with a contentious desire suffereth it selfe to be caried hither and thither as if it were drunken Also we must take great heed that we do not alwaies put in execution whatsoeuer we haue a mind vnto but onely that which moderate reason commandeth vs. Wherein we shal deserue the praise of true Magnanimity if I say we can command our selues and all vehemencie of choler which driueth men forward to be auenged on their enimies is an act that sauoureth more of a vile and abiect hart drawing neere to brutish fiercenes than of a noble mind which despiseth whatsoeuer is earthlie mortall and vading that it may thinke of nothing but of heauen and immortalitie This is that which the studie of our Philosophie teacheth vs euen as expert Phisitions knowe how to draw medicines apt for the preseruation of life out of serpents poisons other deadly and venemous things so we ought to draw from our enimies not their life which ought to be onely in the power of God and of his iustice but profit commoditie by their backbitings reproches and iniuries Which will easily be done if we make small account of their intent and consider narrowly the fact which they speake ill of to the end that if we be guiltie of that which they condemn in vs we may purge and correct our selues And if so be they harme vs wrongfully their impudencie will cause their reproches and iniuries to be turned back and sent against themselues togither with that shame and dammage which they thought to procure vnto vs wheras we shall be no lesse honest and vertuous men than before So that the best reuenge and most honorable victorie which we can carie away from our enimies will be to surpasse them in diligence bountie magnanimitie good-turnes and in all vertuous actions whereby they wil sooner perceiue and confesse them selues vanquished constrained to stop their mouth and to represse their toong than by any other force which we can oppose against them Then may we say that as he who enterprised to kill Prometheus the Thessalien gaue him so great a blowe with a sword vpon an apostume which put him in danger of death that by lancing it he saued his life contrary to his meaning so the iniurious speeches of our enimies vttred in wrath of ill will to hurt vs haue been the cause of curing many euils in vs whereof we made no account and of making vs much better than we were before But bicause iniurie seemeth so hard and vneasie to be tolerated by the imbecillitie of mans nature which is so soone offended and by the hart of man being full of reuenge let vs yet see whether we can find any remedie if not to cure that which is incurable at least wise to purge and to clense the Accidents of this euil Iniurie is offered either to the goods to the honour or to the person of a man As touching the first and last namely the spoiling of our goods and violence offred to our person what other reuenge either by the lawe of God or of man can we haue than to repulse force with force I meane when we are constrained thereunto or else by way of the prince his Iustice which is open to euery one If any haue robbed thee must thou become a thiefe or satisfie thy selfe by thine owne strength Much lesse oughtest thou to set thy selfe against him that is not faultie as many do If thou being the weaker art ouertaken hurt and wronged oughtest thou to vse new force violence and murder to reuenge thy selfe and to repaire thy iniurie receiued The sword is in the hands of the king and of the magistrate that representeth his person and it belongeth to him onely to vse it against them that trouble publike tranquillitie and ciuil societie to the end there should be no shew that any other either would or durst meddle with the soueraigntie whose greatnesse and preseruation consisteth in the administration of iustice Yea the lawes haue alwaies so abhorred violence and priuate force that they haue restored thieues and robbers into those places which they vniustly possessed if they had been driuen from them by violence But some man will say that these things ought in deed to be dulie considered of if Iustice were executed and had not forsaken the earth to dwell in heauen And how then canst thou execute it seeing thou art not called to do but to demand iustice Tarie and the iust Iudge wil returne double that which hath been vniustly taken from thee which thou hast suffered or which hath been denied thee euen then when thou shalt haue greater neede than now that thy daies are so short and then thou shalt liue for euer of that which thou hast reaped in this poore and miserable life Concerning honor the iniurie whereof we feare more than of the other let vs know that it cannot be hurt in a good man bicause vertue which is inuincible protecteth and defendeth it But now a daies we fetch it not so farre off For we will haue our honor tied to the vaine opinion of the world which reiecteth and contemneth those men as cowards and base-minded that haue but once put vp the least iniurie offered by another but honoreth as noble and courageous those that can lustilie kill their enimies This is the cause why many who would willingly forget an iniurie receiued dare not do it for loue of their friends as also bicause they see that it would rather be imputed vnto them as a tokē of a faint hart than of a desire to followe reason But let all these blood-suckers enclined to reuenge to murder couer their beastlie crueltie aswell as they can yet haue they no other reason to disguise it but this that it is a vsuall kind of behauiour now a daies amongest men to the ende they may be welcomed praised and fauoured of Kinges Princes and great Lords otherwise they must take a Coole and shut vp themselues in some cloister But they must needes affirme this withall that they had rather vndoe and condemne themselues with the multitude so they may haue worldlie honour than be saued with the small number of honest men except
minding to deale in publike affaires gathered all his friends togither and told them that he renounced discharged himself of all their friendship bicause friendship many times caused men to yeeld and to step aside from their good and right purposes in matters of iudgement True it is that when we haue none but good men to our friends who are mooued and possessed with the same zeale to vertue that we are as before was mentioned we shall neuer fall into these inconueniences The example of Aristides the Athenian his loue vnto Iustice is woorthie of speciall remembrance For calling into the law an enimie of his after he had set downe his accusation the Iudges were so mooued against the accused party for the impietie of the fact in controuersie that they would haue condemned him vnheard so greatly did they trust to the honestie of the accuser that he had set downe nothing but the very truth But Aristides who for his great and rare vertue had before deserued the surname of Iust went with the accused partie and cast himselfe at the Iudges feete beseeching them that he might be heard to iustifie and to defend himselfe according as the lawes commanded Further one writeth of him that when he was vpon a time Iudge betweene two parties that pleaded before him one of them said my aduersarie hath done thee great wrong Aristides But he foorthwith interrupting his talke made this answer My friend declare only whether he hath wronged thee For I am heere to do thee right and not my selfe shewing thereby that Iustice ought to be executed without any priuate passion reuenge or choler wherewithall many at this day are ouercome Iunius Brutus Consul of Rome condemned his two sonnes Titus Tiberius to be beheaded being conuicted for conspiring the reentrie of Tarquinius race vnto the kingdome of Rome from whence they had been vanquished for wickednes and whoredome Truely a notable example and cleane contrarie to those that are fauourers and accepters of persons Phocion refused to helpe his sonne in law Charillus in iudgement being accused for taking certaine monie vniustly saying vnto him that he had made him his Allie in all iust and reasonable matters onely Alexander the Great vsed this commendable custome as he sate in place of Iustice to heare criminall causes pleaded that whilest the accuser declared his accusation he stopped one of his eares with his hand to the end he might keepe it pure vpright not admitting thereinto as he gaue them to vnderstand any preiudicate or false impression that so he might heare the accused partie speake in his own defence and iustification Truely an example meete for kings and princes that they should not lightly beleeue slaunderers nor giue sentence of execution presently vpō their report and perswasion bicause they ought not to take pleasure or to glut themselues as it were with some pleasant pastime in the corrections and punishments of men which is the propertie of a tyrant Neither ought they after the punishment is inflicted to repent them thereof which is a token of ignorance and basenesse of mind but Iustice must see execution done when reason and iudgement require and that without either griefe or pleasure Augustus Caesar knowing that Asprenas a very familiar friend of his was accused in iudgement and fearing that if he went to the place where the matter was to be heard he should offer wrong to Iustice as also that if he went not he should seeme to abandon his friend as iudging him culpable he asked counsail of the Senate with whom he resolued to be present at the iudgement of his friend but to speake nothing bicause in so doing he should neither do him wrong nor violate iustice Agesilaus king of Lacedemonia deserued likewise great praise for this vertue albeit he were a very assured friend to his friend and of a gentle nature readie to imploy himselfe in the behalfe of all them that stood in need of him Neuerthelesse when a friend of his contended with him about a matter which he desired to obtaine of this prince saying that he had made him a promise thereof If the thing quoth he be iust I haue promised it but if it be vniust I haue not promised but onely spoken it He vsed also to say that he esteemed Iustice as chiefe of all the vertues and that valure was of no valew if it were not ioined therwith yea would be needlesse if all men were iust And when certaine men who were sent vnto him to conferre about some agreement said one day vnto him that the great King would haue it so wherein quoth he vnto them is he greater than I if he be not more iust Whereby he iudged verie well that the difference between a great and a little king ought to be taken from iustice as from a kingly measure and rule according vnto which they ought to gouerne their subiects seeing they were at the first established to do iustice as Herodotus speaking of the Medes and Cicero of the Romanes make mentiō This is that which a poore old woman signified to Phillip king of Macedonia when she came to him to haue hir complaint heard To whom when the king made answer that he had no leasure at that time to heare hir she cried with a loud and cleere voyce Be not then king Whereupon this meeke prince by which name he said he had rather be called for a long time than by the name of Lord for a little while was so touched at the hart with the consideration of his dutie that he returned presently into his pallace where setting aside al other affaires he gaue himselfe many daies to heare all their cōplaints and requests that would come before him beginning first with the said poore woman Another time being ouertaken with sleepe and not well hearing the iustification and defence of one Machetas he condemned him in a certaine summe Whereupon the said partie cried out aloud that he appealed to Phillip after he should be throughly awake Which being noted by the said Prince he would needes heare him againe and afterward declared him not guiltie paying notwithstanding with his own money that summe wherein he had before condemned him that so he might keepe inuiolable the authoritie of his sentence The emperor Traian is iustly commended of Historiographers bicause he alighted from his horse as he was going to warre only to heare the complaint which a poore woman was about to make vnto him And truely nothing doth so properly belong vnto or is so well beseeming a prince of a good and gentle nature as the practise and exercise of Iustice Therefore when the Hebrews asked a king of Samuel they added this To iudge vs like all nations Yea these heads which had the soueraigntie ouer thē before were only in the nature of Iudges It is Iustice only which through the grace of God causeth kingdoms monarchies to flourish
as Archidamus did very well signifie to one who asked of him what were those gouernours of the Lacedemonian common-wealth by whose means it was maintained in such and so great glory as was then to be seen They are said he the lawes first and next the magistrates obseruing the lawes Moreouer the law must be the rule of Iustice as Iustice is the end of the law In some other place we shall vnderstand more at large by the grace of God what the law is and how we are to obey it where also we will consider particularly of the duetie of magistrates and of their dignitie In the mean time let vs mark well for our instruction the notable sayings and examples of ancient men here mentioned of vs which do sufficiently testifie vnto vs how greatly they recommended the preseruation of this vertue of Iustice Whereof if we beleeue as the truth is that God is the author that he doth continually exercise the same amongst vs by visible testimonies and that he will bring it to a full periode and perfection at the appointed time which is only known to him let vs take good heed that we neither contemne nor violate it Let such as are decked with diademes for the administration of Iustice who neuertheles commit this dutie to others vnder them make choice of sufficient and able men to beare so heauie a charge I meane able both for their learning and also for their good example of life Otherwise let them be sure that this great Iudge will require at their hands the wrong that is offred to innocēcy To meete with which inconuenience to take away the cause of so many abuses naughtie dealings which now a daies are knowen to such as are most ignorant to the vtter ouerthrow of a million of poore families I thinke that this is one of the best and surest means not to leaue Iustice which is so precious a thing to the licence of any whosoeuer will take it vpon him whereby it is set to open sale as it were some merchandise of small account Which dealing that I may speake my mind freely giueth occasion yea constraineth those men to take bribes and to be couetous who according to the counsaile of Iethro giuen to Moses ought to be farthest from it For so long as the places of iudgement shall be vendible and bestowed vpon him that offreth most we shall alwayes see that for mony such as are most ignorant worst liuers vnworthiest will be the first chiefest Now what iustice can be hoped for of such men For after they are once placed therin the chiefest respect is to reape gaine profit and aduantage according to that valew rate of money which they laid out vpon it Did my office cost me so much than it must be thus much worth vnto me For if I had imployed my money else-where I might haue had thus much of reuenues and inheritance Truly this saying full of impietie neuer caused them to blush that haue vttered it sundrie times although it hath wrought the same effect in many that haue heard it The Emperor Alexander and after him Lewes the 12. vsed this speech long since by way of prophecie That buyers of Offices would sell by retaile as deare as they could that which they bought in grosse And for this cause a wise Politician of our time hath written very learnedly that they which set to sale estates offices and benefices sell withall the most sacred thing in the world which is Iustice They sell the common-wealth they sell the bloud of the subiects they sell the lawes and taking away the reward of honor of vertue of knowledge of godlinesse of religion they open a gate to thefts to bribes to couetousnes to iniustice to ignorance to impietie in a word to all kind of vice and filthines Neither do I doubt but that they which buy them are as greatly to be reprooued and blamed as those that sell them bicause they minister life and nourishment as much as in them lieth to this monstrous Hydra of couetousnesse and lucre which sucketh vp and deuoureth the substance of the poore But they will say if we lay not out our money hereupon others wil do it that are as well prouided with coine and yet peraduenture are not so zealous of Iustice as we are What wilt thou doe euill for feare least another should do it before thee Besides if thou considerest thy selfe well what leadeth thee hereunto but ambition or couetousnes And if peraduenture some one among an hundred is touched with a good desire to profite and to serue his countrey what can he do alone amongst ten that are corrupted But let this be spoken without offence to good men who for the most part bewaile their estate and condition being in such company And let not such buiers of offices thinke that bicause of their bought estates they deserue any honor if for other respects they are not worthie which is the reward of vertue only but rather let them know that they deceiue themselues no lesse than those men did who thought to flie with the golden wings of Euripides making that thing of the heauiest matter that could be which ought to be most light The Emperor Aurelianus was so fearfull of placing an vnworthie man in the seat of iudgement that he neuer preferred any to the dignitie of a Senator but with the consent of the whole Senate But to end our speech we will hold this that nothing is more necessarie to guide and to order the life of man to hir proper happy end than the vertue of Iustice which being taken from amongst vs all other vertues sequester themselues far from vs giuing place to the perturbations of our soules which draw vs into ruine and confusion And when as the greater sort being well instructed in their dutie bestow the administration of Iustice vpon those men only that deserue it opening that gate vnto them only for their vertue then do they put in vre the first point requisite for the preseruation of their estates namely the recompensing of good men This will cause euery one to seeke out the way that leadeth to vertue whose propertie it is to bring men to honor And frō this good beginning will proceed the other point no lesse necessary being the intire ornament and preseruation of Iustice namely the punishment of the wicked so that all things shal be maintained in good order to the benefit rest profit and greatnes of this French monarchie Of Iniustice and of Seueritie Chap. 38. ACHITOB AS there is but one onely waye to hitte the white and many to misse it by shooting either higher or lower than is requisite so fareth it with our actions which cannot be good but after one sort but are euill many waies This is that which we noted before in discoursing of three principal vertues called Morall which consist in the midst of two
families poore widowes only and orphanes quite vndone do remaine crying for vengeance and expecting it from aboue for the wrong that is offered to their innocencie How many such are set before our eies by histories which are the light of truth But alas the vnhappines of our age is growne to greater measure How many of the greater sort I meane of the Gouernors Magistrats of this desolate kingdome may iustly challenge that praise whereby Pericles Captaine and Gouernor of the Athenians thought himselfe more honored than by all his braue exploits done in his life time either in warre or in politike gouernment wherein he was the chiefest of his time and which his friends laid before his eies being readie to die thereby to assure him and to cause him to reioice in a true immortalitie of glorie O my friends said he vnto them Fortune hath had hir part in those exploits but I make greater account of this that I neuer caused any of my Countreymen to lament or to weare a mourning gowne which onely thing ought to be attributed to my vertue O excellent and honorable praise which euery good man ought to seeke after and to desire namely to be no cause of bringing sorrow and griefe to the common-wealth through any acte of Iniustice Moreouer this vertuous Athenian died willingly and without repining taking delight in an acceptable remembrance of those good turnes which he had done to his countreymen But contrarywise it will be a very hard matter for others who haue been the cause of many euils to their countrey and for all those that delight in committing iniustice not to die in great feare horror and trembling tormented with remorse of conscience for their life past The whole course whereof cannot be much more happy seeing euery wicked act ingendring it owne torment from the very instant wherein it is committed through the continuall remembrance thereof filleth the soule of the malefactor with shame and confusion with freights and perturbations with repinings and terrible disquietnes of spirit This is that which Plutarke saith That euery wicked man committing a trespasse is the prisoner of Iustice as soone as he hath done it This life is his prison out of which he hath no meane to depart or to flie but is to receiue the execution of that sentence which is giuen against him by the soueraigne Iudge And if in the meane time he feast it out send presents and gifts yea if he solace himselfe with sundry sports delights and pleasures it is all one as if condemned men that were prisoners should play at dice and cardes and vse other pastime with the halter ouer their heads wherwith they must be strangled But there are many men that cannot be better compared than to litle children who seeing men worth nothing to dance and play vpon a Theater apparelled with cloth of gold and siluer or with other rich garments and crowned with precious ornaments haue them in great estimation and admiration and thinking them happy vntill in the end they see them pearced through with great thrusts of a speare or hewen in pieces with swords or behold fire comming out of those goodly precious robes of gold which consumeth them The selfe same thing is done by them who when they see many wicked men either placed in great authoritie and dignitie or descending of good famous houses they honor admire and esteem them the happiest men most at ease in the world neuer considering that they are chasticed punished for their offēces before they see thē either put to death or else quite fallē from the height of their fortune Now seeing it is a thing flatly confessed of those that haue any knowledge of our Philosophie and prooued sufficiently by our former discourse that nothing can be called honorable or profitable which proceedeth of iniustice or of malice that excuse which men giuen ouer to vice do commonly alledge to cloke their impietie withall namely that Iniustice bringeth with it very ripe and readie fruit and that the punishment if there be any commeth very late and long time after the delight taken by the offence hath no more any shew of reason in it For as we haue alreadie learned the punishment of any sin is equall with it both for age and time Furthermore God permitteth oftentimes his diuine iudgement to be publikely knowen and shewed vpon the vniust yea he declareth himselfe so much the more openly by how much the lesse men exercise Iustice and vpright dealind And yet in respect of his maiestie we must not look vnto time which is alwaies one and the same to him and not future or past yea the whole continuance of mans life is as nothing vnto him and lesse than the present instant But if according to our carnall sences we desire examples of the greatnes and swiftnes of his wrath iustly kindled ouer our heads for our execrable impieties contrary to the nature of his gentlenesse and benignitie which mooued him to waite for vs a long time who can be ignorant of them in the vnspeakable affliction of this poore France wherein it were very hard in mans iudgement to discerne whether is most lamentable either iniustice or the miserie and calamitie which by the vengeance of God followeth it the horrible punishment whereof the fautors of iniquitie both haue daily do feele vpon their heads Those common-wealths saith Cicero which are readie to be ouerthrowen haue all things forlorne and desperate in them fall into this miserable issue that they whom the lawes condemne are restored and iudgements giuen are reuoked and broken And when such things come to passe let none be ignorant of this that destruction is at hand neither can any man iustly conceiue hope of safety What other thing can I say of France I would to God I were deceiued seeing that all Iustice is turned topsie turuie therein the wicked are placed in authoritie good men driuen away suites in law are commenced against euery one more vpon knauerie than equitie corruption than integritie fauor than vprightnes But to the end that the greater sort and euery particular man may open his eies and behold this shipwracke that threatneth vs let vs consider in our Ancestors through the reading of histories the like causes of the ruine alteration and subuersion of many very flourishing Estates proceeding from the raigne of Iniustice which being the daughter of tyrannie as Dionysius the elder said must needes be of the same nature namely that by vsurping an vniust and intollerable dominion it must of necessitie fall speedily into a miserable and wretched end We haue in all our former discourses alleadged sundrie examples of vices which as we said euen now take their beginning or at least wise are inseparably ioined with Iniustice and heerafter we will make mention of others when we handle certaine points which properly depend of this selfe same originall In
this is to be farre separated from the commendable end and good vse of riches wherof all that we haue ouer and aboue our necessitie ought to be imploied in the seruice of the common-wealth in relieuing the poore diseased afflicted and prisoners in procuring the good bringing vp of youth and generally in exercising all other deeds of pietie accounting it great gaine to helpe the poore seeing God is the rewarder therof Amongst the ancient Romanes there was a law kept inuiolably That no man should presume to make a publike feast except before he had prouided for all the poore of his quarter And they accounted it a great shame and offence to the common-wealth to see any man beg in the streets Therefore Plato said that where there are beggers in a towne there are also thieues church-robbers Now if we that beare the name of Christians and acknowledge the poore to be members of Iesus Christ are not ashamed to banquet and feast when as in the meane time the needy crie at our gates and almost die of hunger doe we not thinke that these Heathen men shall rise in iudgement before that great and iust Iudge to accuse and condemne vs as thieues and church-robbers and chieflie them that maintaine their delights and pleasure with the goods of the poore towards whom the liberall distribution of our owne wealth especially ought to be extended both by the lawe of God and man We must feede the poore and not kill them but to denie them nourishment or to driue them from vs is to kill them For this cause Epaminondas captaine generall of the Thebanes hauing knowledge of a very rich man that had no care of the poore in the towne sent a poore needie fellow vnto him and commanded him vnder great penaltie to giue presently without faile 600. crownes to that poore man The citizen hearing this commandement came vnto him to know the occasion and cause thereof It is quoth Epaminondas bicause this man being honest is poore and thou which hast robbed greatly the common-wealth art rich compelling him thereupon to be liberall in despite of his teeth So carefull were the ancients to helpe them that had need and to shew thēselues enimies vnto them that made no account of the poore But if we should diligently search all histories and deeds of famous men yet could we not find a more notable example or worthy to be folowed than that of Cimon the Athenian who hauing gottē great wealth honorably both for himself and his country by the taking and ouerthrow of many Barbarians and townes belonging vnto them knew neuerthelesse how to bestow it liberally with greater glory and honor by relieuing all his poore countreymen to whom his house was as an hospitall wherein they were all nourished and fed at an ordinarie that was common to so many as would come thither which was furnished not with daintie and delicate fare thereby to occasion rich folks to seeke it out but with many common sorts of victuals in all plentie and abundance and that for a great number of persons This he did chiefly as he sayd to the end that poore honest men might haue the more leasure to imploy themselues about the affaires seruice of the common-wealth and not be diuerted from that through trauell and care to get their liuing by the exercise of handicrafts Besides he caused all the inclosures hedges and ditches of his lands and inheritance to be taken away that strangers which passed by and his owne countreymen that wanted might take of the fruits that were there according to their necessitie Now if this vertue of liberalitie be praise-woorthie in all persons that vse it well according to their abilitie it is most of all necessarie honorable and profitable for kings and princes heads and captains of armies gouernours of estates and common-wealths as that which procureth vnto them more than any other thing the good will of euery one wherein the chiefe strength and stay of their greatnesse consisteth But withall they haue great need of prudence and iustice especially soueraigne princes to distribute liberally and according to harmonicall proportion their giftes graces and good turnes whether they be estates offices benefices knighthoods exemptions freedoms and other recompences due as rewards to their subiects according as euery one deserueth It belongeth principally to them to keep religiously and from point to point the lawes of liberalitie marking well to whom they giue how much is giuen at what time in what place to what end and their owne abilitie that giue Moreouer a soueraigne must looke that recompence go before gift by rewarding first those that haue deserued before he giue to thē that haue deserued nothing and aboue all things he must measure his largesse at the foote of his power But when the iust rewards of subiects and honest men are distributed amongst the vicious strangers and vnwoorthy persons this is that which oftentimes setteth florishing estates on fire There is neuer any want of flatterers and of impudent crauers about kings whose onely drift is to sup vp the bloud gnaw the bones and sucke the marow of princes and their subiects to satisfie their foolish vnprofitable expences which are such and so great that a man is well at ease to giue them any thing they are alwais so needie and monylesse and sticke not to say that they neuer receiue good of their masters In the meane while they that haue best deserued of the common-wealth are commonly remooued furthest from their maiesties which commeth to passe both by the ignorance of the greater sort who make but a bad choice of seruants worthy their fauour as also bicause the honor credite of good men forbiddeth them by flattery and begging to seek after the rewards of vertue which should be offred vnto them But not to wander farre from our matter subiect let vs now consider of some notable examples of the Ancients concerning this wherof we haue here discoursed It was by his magnificall and incomparable liberalitie that Alexander the great made a way for his noble plat-formes whereby he became monarch of three parts of the world distributing liberally all his demains amongst the Macedonians as before we mentioned But what a notable testimonie of this his liberalitie did he giue a fresh when during the warre he caused this to be published in his armie that all they that were indebted vpon any occasion whatsoeuer should bring their creditors vnto him and he would discharge all their debts Which thing he likewise performed Moreouer who will not admire the liberality which all his life time he exercised towards the learned men of his time We read that he gaue at one time to his maister Aristotle 800. Talents which amount to 480000. crownes as a reward for his paines trauels and expences which he had beene at in describing the nature and propertie of liuing creatures He sent
consequently the bond and preseruatiue of humane societie But if we being well instructed by the spirite of wisedome feede the hungrie giue drinke to the thirsty lodge them that want harbour and clothe the naked sowing in this manner by the works of pietie that talent which is committed to our keeping we shall reape abundantly in heauen the permanent riches treasures of eternall life Of Couetousnes and of Prodigalitie Chap. 42. ACHITOB IF that diuiue rule of Cicero were aswell written in our hart as he desired to haue it setled in his sonne that onely that thing is to be iudged profitable which is not wicked and that nothing of that nature should seeme profitable we should not behold amongst vs so many cursed acts as are daily committed through the vnbrideled desire of the goods of this world For that which most of all troubleth men is when they thinke that the sin which they purpose to practise is but small in respect of the gaine thereby craftily separating profite from honestie and so suffering themselues to be ouercome of couetousnes which is the defect of liberalitie whereof we discoursed euen now whose excesse also is Prodigalitie of which two vices we are now to intreat ASER. Every one that coueteth treasures said Anacharsis one of the wise men of Graecia is hardly capable of good coūsell and instruction For the couetous man commonly murmureth at that which God permitteth and nature doth so that he will sooner take vpon him to correct God than to amend his life AMANA It is a hard matter said Socrates for a man to bridle his desire but he that addeth riches therunto is mad For couetousnes neither for shame of the world nor feare of death will not represse or moderate it self But it belongeth to thee ARAM to instruct vs in that which is here propounded ARAM. Since the greedie desire of heaping vp gold and siluer entred in amongst men with the possession of riches couetousnesse folowed and with the vse of them pleasures and delights whereupon they began to saile in a dangerous sea of all vices which hath so ouerflowen in this age of ours that there are very few towers how high so euer seated but it hath gone vp a great deale aboue them For this cause I see no reason why men should esteeme so much or iudge it such a happy thing to haue much goodly land many great houses and huge summes of readie money seeing all this doth not teach them not to be caried away with passions for riches and seeing the possession of them in that maner procureth not a contentation void of the desire of them but rather inflameth vs to desire them more through an insatiable couetousnes which is such a pouerty of the soul that no worldly goods can remedie the same For it is the nature of this vice to make a man poore all his life time that he may find him self rich only at his death Moreouer it is a desire that hath this thing proper and peculiar to it selfe to resist and to refuse to be satisfied whereas all other desires helpe forward the same and seeke to content those that serue thē Couetousnesse saith Aristotle is a vice of the soule whereby a man desireth to haue from all partes without reason and vniustly with-holdeth that which belongeth to another It is sparing and skantie in giuing but excessiue in receiuing The Poet Lucretius calleth it a blind desire of goods And it mightily hindereth the light of the soule causing the couetous man to be neuer contented but the more he hath the more to desire and wish for The medicine which he seeketh namely gold and siluer encreaseth his disease as water doth the dropsie and the obtaining thereof is alwaies vnto him the beginning of the desire of hauing He is a Tantalus in hell who between water and meat dieth of hunger Now it is very sure that to such as are wise and of sound iudgement nature hath limited certaine bounds of wealth which are traced out vpon a certaine Center and vpon the circumference of their necessitie But couetousnesse working cleane contrary effects in the spirit of fooles carieth away the naturall desire of necessarie things to a disordinate appetite of such things as are full of danger rare and hard to be gotten And which is worse compelling the auaritious to procure them with great payne and trauell it forbiddeth him to enioy them and stirring vp his desire depriueth him of the pleasure Stratonicus mocked in olde ryme the superfluitie of the Rhodians saying that they builded as if they were immortall and rushed into the kitchin as if they had but a little while to liue But couetous men scrape togither like great and mightie men and spend like mechanicall and handy-craftesmen They indure labour in procuryng but want the pleasure of enioying They are like Mules that carie great burthens of golde and siluer on their backes and yet eate but hay They enioy neyther rest nor libertie which are most precious and most desired of a wise man but liue alwayes in disquietnesse being seruauntes and slaues to their richesse Their greatest miserie is that to encrease and keepe their wealth they care neither for equitie or iustice they contemne all lawes both diuine and humane and all threatnings and punishmentes annexed vnto them they liue without friendship and charitie and lay holde of nothyng but gayne When they are placed in authoritie and power aboue others they condemne the innocent iustifie the guiltie and finde alwayes some cleanly cloke and colour of taking and of excusing as they thinke their corruption and briberie making no difference betweene duetie and profite Wherfore we may well say in a word That couetousnes is the roote of all euill For what mischiefs are not procured through this vice From whence proceed quarels strifes suites hatred and enuie theftes pollings sackings warres murders and poisonings but from hence God is forgotten our neighbour hated and many times the sonne forgiueth not his father neither the brother his brother nor the subiect his Lord for the desire of gaine In a worde there is no kind of crueltie that couetousnesse putteth not in practise It causeth hired and wilfull murders O execrable impietie to be well thought of amongst vs. It causeth men to breake their faith giuen to violate all friendship to betray their countrey It causeth subiectes to rebell against their princes gouernours and magistrates when not able to beare their insatiable desires nor their exactions and intollerable subsidies they breake foorth into publike and open sedition which troubleth common tranquillitie whereupon the bodie politike is changed or for the most part vtterly ouerthrowen Moreouer the excesse of the vertue of liberalitie which is prodigalitie may be ioyned to couetousnesse and than there is no kind of vice but raigneth with all licence in that soule that hath these two guestes lodged togither And bicause it is a thing that
of Hercules by Deïanira and many other miserable euents procured chiefly by womē plentifully declared in histories Neither do they forget the saying of Hipponactus That of one mariage only two good dayes are to be hoped for namely the mariage day and the day of the wiues deth They say that the wedding day according to Alexandreïdes speech is the beginning of many euils that in no estate fortune sheweth hir self more in constant lesse faithful in performing hir promise thā in mariage as Polyhistor saith bicause there is not one to be found wherin there is not some deceit or some occasion of complaint giuen to the man They say as Philemon said That a wife is a necessary and perpetual euil to hir husband that as Diphilus sayd nothing is hardlier found in all the world than a good wife Wherunto that old prouerbe agreeth that a good wife a good mule and a good goate are three naughtie beasts The answer also made by a noble Romane is not forgotten of these scuere Censorers of women to whom when some of his acquaintance and friends said that he had great cause to hold himself happie and contented bicause he had a wife that was faire rich and come of noble parentage he shewed them his foote saying My friends you see that my shoe is very new faire and well made but none of you can tell whereabout it pincheth me Likewise the saying of Alphonsus king of Arragon is alleaged by them that blame mariage namely that if a mā would see a perfect and wel agreeing mariage the husband must be deafe and the wife blind that he may not heare his wiues brawling nor she see hir husbands faults He that trusteth to a woman said Hesiodus is as safe as he that hangeth by the leaues of a tree in the ende of Autumne when the leaues begin to fall I remember yet three things which I haue heard vttered in contempt of mariage the saying of a mery conceited man the deed of another and the answer of a good fellow that was in talk of a certaine mariage They haue reason quoth the first who say that when a yong man is to be maried he must be arrested For truly I thinke we should flie vp to heauen if this arrest kept vs not backe The second hearing this preached that whosoeuer will be saued must beare his crosse ran to his wife laid hir vpon his necke Thirdly when one said to a good fellow that he should tary vntill his sonne were wise before he maried him Be not deceiued my friend quoth he to him for if he once grow to be wise he wil neuer marry These such like reasons are cōmonly alleaged by them that mislike mariage But now marke what we say to the contrary First we haue to consider the beginning and antiquitie of mariage the place where it was instituted and who was the Author thereof and that in the time of innocencie of which things we haue alreadie spoken Moreouer we must remember that the heauenly worde honoured with his presence and set foorth a wedding feast with a miracle euen with the first which he wrought in this world Can any thing then be found more holie than that which the holy of holies the father and creator of all things hath established honored and consecrated with his presence But what greater equitie can we vse thā to leaue to our successors that which we hold of our predecessors By wedlocke copulation we came into the world and by the same we must leaue others behind vs to continue that propagatiō which hath endured frō our ancestors vnto vs. Can there be any greater want of consideration than to seeke to flie from that as prophane which God hath taken for holy as euill which he hath reputed good As detestable which he esteemeth holy Is there any greater inhumanitie than to reiect the fountain of humanitie Is there any greater ingratitude thā to deny to those that are to come that which we hold of thē that are past When God created woman not of the slime of the earth as he did mā but of his bone did he not shew thereby that he should haue nothing faster cleauing neerer ioyning or surer glued to him than his wife especially when he added these words that it was not good for man to be alone as though he had sayd that his life would be miserable irksom vnpleasant if he had not giuen him a wife for a faithful companion How dare we say that we know better what is meet for vs than he that made vs knew all our life before we came out of the bowels of our mother then he that honoured the bond of matrimonie so far as to say that a man shal leaue his father mother and cleaue to his wife Is there any thing more holy than that honor which we owe to them that haue begotten vs And yet the fidelitie of wedlock is preferred before fatherly and motherly honour that it should be kept preserued euen to the last gaspe of life Further we see how the spirit of God speaking by his prophet honoreth mariage so far as to vse it for a similitude and representation of that holy sacred vnitie which he hath with his church What could any mā say more to extoll the dignitie therof That which God hath begun only death endeth what God hath conioined death only separateth what God hath made sure man cannot shake what he hath established man cannot abolish Oh what how great is the dignitie preheminence prerogatiue of mariage Again do we not see how it hath been continued throughout all ages past vntill this present receiued approued of all nations both Hebrews Greeks Latins Barbarians so that there is no nation vnder the cope of heauen how barbarous soeuer it be far from ciuilitie which sheweth not great ioy delight at wedding feasts Besides who shal defend common-welths without armor and weapons and who shal weare armour if men be wanting If that be not supplied by generation which through death necessarily endeth how can the linage and race of mankind endure The lawes of the Romans who were the patern of vertue to all nations with rigor punished such as would not marry forbidding thē all publike dignities depriuing them of those which they had obtained And to inuite them the rather to marry they appointed priuiledges for thē that had children so that he was most benefited and preferred to publike honors that had most children Whē Augustus Caesar was Censor inquirie was made by his authoritie of a Roman knight that had broken the law and would not marry wherupon he should haue been punished but that he prooued that he had been father of 3. children The same Augustus being come to the empire desirous to correct the detestable vnclennes of his subiects to compel them to
coniunctions which respect onely the estate of mankind the mariage of loue is that which is betweene an honest man and a vertuous woman linked togither by God for the preseruation of the linage of man It may be called a charitable coniunction vnitie and societie of them that are good being made by grace peace concord Of this mariage spake that wise lewe saying that three things among others were approoued of God and men the concord of brethren the loue of our neighbour and the husband and wife that agree well togither And to say truth it is one of the greatest benefits yea one of the rarest felicities in the world when a mariage is well and duly kept when both the husband wife feare God and keepe their promise one to another according to that saying of the wise man Blessed is the man that hath a vertuous wife the wife also being no lesse happy that hath a good husband The other kind of mariage namely of labour is that which is commonly practised in our daies wherein many yea almost all marie for couetousnes not for the vertue chastity or good report which they heare of women and maidens Plautus the comicall Poet said that in mariage a man must take his wife by the eares and not by the fingers that is to say for hir good report not for hir dowrie which is told with hands Lycurgus being desirous that his Citizens should put the same in practise established a law which forbad all giuing of dowries with maidens in mariage to the end that euery maide should labour to endow hir selfe with vertue for loue wherof and not of riches they should be demanded in mariage The same reason mooued Themistocles when two men required his daughter in mariage to preferre the honest man before the wealthie saying that he had rather haue a man to his sonne in lawe without goods than goods without a man We read that Olympias the mother of Alexander hearing of one that had maried a very faire woman but scarce chast being rauished with bi r loue said that he was a braineles man otherwise he would not haue maried by heare-say nor by the lust of his eies We may say asmuch of them that marie by the report of their fingers counting vpon them howe much their wiues bring to them by mariage not considering before whether they bee so qualified that they may liue with them But let vs know that euery mariage made through couetousnes especially where there is inequalitie of riches as namely when the husband is poore and the wife rich will be alwaies riotous and very hardly will there be any peace betweene them Which thing Menander desirous to teach vs said that when a poore man marieth a rich wife he giueth himselfe in mariage to the woman which he weddeth and not the woman to him And the Satyricall Poet saith that nothing is more intollerable than a rich wife This caused a yoong man to go to Pittacus one of the Sages of Grecia and to aske his counsell saying I haue two wiues offered me the one is equall to me in goods and parentage the other goeth farre beyond me which of them shal I take Marke said this wise man where children are readie to play at fence go to them and they will counsell thee He did so and as he drew neere they began to set themselues one against another to skirmish And when they saw this yoong man comming who exceeded them in strength and bignes and supposed that he would make one amongst them they said aloud let euery one go to his match Whereby he learned what he was to doe concerning his mariage Martia a noble widow being demanded why she maried not againe seeing she was rich and as yet in the floure of hir youth made this answer I can find none said she that loueth not my goods more than my person The same reason moued Venda Queene of Ruscia to throw hir selfe into the water thereby to reuenge hir selfe of them that made warre with hir to haue hir in mariage seeing they could not win hir by gentlenes For she knew well that they desired hir for hit kingdome and not of any good wil they bare vnto hir as it is the custome of Princes to respect onely their alliance and profite marying often-times by substitutes and proxies those whome they neuer saw but by picture But I finde that Elizabeth that wise Queene of England was of a better iudgement when she wrote to Henrie Prince and since king of Sweathland who demanded hir in mariage that he was the onelie Prince in the world whome she ought to loue most bicause he required hir when she was a prisoner but she was resolued neuer to marie any man before she had seene him The like answere she sent to the Archduke of Austria which was in part the cause why neither of them would come vnto hir fearing belike that if they were not well liked they should be sent backe againe into their countrie Of this that hath beene hitherto discoursed togither with the experience which is daily seene we may infer that mariages made through couetousnes are in deed mariages of labor And of this number may those be reckoned wherein bodilie beautie and other outward graces are only regarded For it seldome falleth out but that the spirite of dissention troubleth all in those houses and that all loue and liking vanisheth togither with age which causeth the liuely hue of colour to wither away Likewise amongst these mariages of labour we place those wherein there is disparitie of age especially of maners Therfore Dionysius the elder said to his mother who being very old would needes marie a yoong man that it was in her power to violate the lawes of Syracusa but not the lawe of nature Aristotle sayth that men and women ought to marie togither in such an age that both of them should leaue of to beget and to conceiue children at the same tyme. According to this rule the husband must be twentie yeeres or there abouts elder than his wife bicause naturally women conceiue and beate children vntil fiftie yeeres and men may beget children vntil 70. Lycurgus also forbad that any man should marie before he were â—7 yeeres old a woman before 17. Whereof this reason may rather be rendred that the wife may more easily acquaint hir self with hir husbands manners he being then of ripe iudgement and she comming into his power from hir tender yeeres For as the same Aristotle saith diuersitie of manners and callings hindereth friendship and true loue But bicause of the shortnes of mans daies I thinke it were good for him to marie at thirtie yeeres of age taking a wife of twentie yeeres old to the ende that hir age may not be too much vnlike his that so liuing according to the common course of nature they may
at any other time or place But to cōtinue our matter of the duty of a wife she must neuer suffer any to enter into hir husbands house without his expres commandement or licēce For euery honest wife ought to fear that which is cōmonly spoken of the losenes of women labor as much as may be to cōuince those slanderers of lying who know no other song than to speak of their incōtinencie Caesar said That a womā must not only be free frō that fault but also frō al suspicion therof which was the cause why he put away his own wife And seing it is the duty of an honest womā to take vpon hir the care ouerfight of houshold affaires she must keep at home and not loue to gad abroad or be desirous of meetings but so farre foorth as hir husband would haue hir do so The greatest vertue of a woman said Euboïdes is not to be known but of hir husband and hir praise said Argeus in a strange mouth is nothing else but a secret blame A wife ought to be modest in hir garmēts and ornaments of hir body and not vse such sumptuous apparel as the law or custom of the countrey permitteth bicause neither rich works of gold nor precious attire nor bodily beautie make not a woman so praise-woorthy as hir modestie doth which consisteth in deeds words coūtenance apparel That is an ornament said the Philosopher Crates that adorneth that thing adorneth a woman which marketh hir more honourable And this is not done by iewels of gold emeralds precious stones or purple garments but by euery thing that causeth hir to be accounted honest wise humble chaste Those womē that curiously prick vp themselues inrich their bodies with ornaments ful of pompe make men more dissolute inclined to loosenes especially when they make great window-works before their dugs giue licence to their eyes to wander gaze about Wheras contrarywise a wise womā through hir honest behauior togither with hir lowly setled look leadeth so many as cast their eies vpō hir to continencie and chastitie But a discouered dug a naked brest frisled locks paintings perfumes especially a rouling eie a lasciuious vnchast look are the fore-rūners of adultery He that wil not credit me let him read Tibullus Propertius Ouid who are of the same opinion It may well be sayd of such women whose number is too great amongst vs that they haue lost all shame albeit the best dowrie the best inheritaunce and most precious iewell which a woman can haue is to be shamefast Yea the fortresse and defence that nature hath giuen to a woman for the preseruation of hir reputation chastitie and honour is shame whereof whensoeuer she maketh no account she is vndone for euer Socrates vsed to counsell those young men that behelde them-selues in lookyng glasses if they were harde fauoured to correct their deformitie with vertue by making themselues vertuous and if they were faire not to blot their beautie with vice In like maner it were very good that when the maried wife holdeth hir looking glasse in hir hand she would speake thus to hir selfe if she be foule what then should become of me if I were also wicked And if she be faire how shall this be accounted of if I continue honest and wise For if a hard fauoured woman be loued for hir good behauiour and honest conditions it is greater honour vnto hir than if it were for beautie Moreouer a woman must haue a speciall care to be silent and to speake as seldome as she may vnlesse it be to hir husband or at his bidding reseruing household wantes and affaires secret to hir selfe and not publish them abroad Thus doing if any euill any reproch or dishonour come to the house through any of them that are within it the fault will be hir husbands and not hirs Likewise a woman that respecteth hir honour ought to be ashamed to vtter any dishonest speeches floutes iests and no lesse ashamed to giue eare vnto them For if she once giue hir self to gibing they that laughed at some litle word of hirs wil afterward mock the author therof seeing the honor of womē is such a nice charie thing that it is not lawful for thē so much as to thinke much lesse to speake of many things which men may freely both talke of put in practise Therfore those dames that mind to preserue their grauitie must be silent not only in vnlawful but euen in necessary matters vnles it be very requisite that they should speake of them To be short that woman that is borne to vertue and purposeth to performe hir dutie towards hir husband must please him in all honest things and in such as draw neerest to his inclination she must loue him intirely and esteeme of him aboue all others she must be patient and know how to winke at and to beare with many things done by him she must be prudent to gouerne hir house skilful in huswifrie to preserue hir goods careful to bring vp hir children faire-spoken and curteous to hir neighbors plētiful in honorable works a friend to honest company and a very great enimie to the lightnesse of youth Moreouer she must bestow as much time as she can steale from domesticall affaires in the studie of notable sayings and of the morall sentences of auncient Sages and good men And it were a seemely and honorable thing to heare a woman speake to hir husband in this sort Husband you are my teacher my gouernour and master in Philosophie and in the knowledge of most excellent and heauenly sciences For by such honest occupations women are withdrawen and turned aside from other vnworthy exercises whereunto we see them so apt and inclined now a daies which maketh them very offensiue as plaies dancing masking hunting and discharging of harquebuzes with such other dealings very vnmeete for their sexe Whereas if in lieu of all these things a wife would embrace the loue of knowledge so far foorth as hir wit and leasure require as hir husband shall like of she should be partaker not only of the floures and songs but also of the fruits which the Muses bring foorth and bestow vpon them that loue letters and Philosophie which will greatly helpe hir towards the leading of a happy life with hir husband Now considering that loue is alwayes the wel-spring of euery good dutie especially between those that are linked togither by mariage which ought to be so great in regard of the wife that the ciuill law and law of nations will haue a woman folow hir husband although he haue neither fire nor place to resort vnto or be banished and driuen from place to place let vs here call to remembrance some notable examples of the great loue that hath been in vertuous women towards their husbandes as well when they were
be heard He that honoureth his father shall haue a long life and he that is obedient to the Lord shall comfort his mother He that feareth the Lord honoreth his parents and doth seruice vnto his parents as vnto Lordes Honor thy father and mother in deeds and in word and in all patience that thou mayest haue the blessing of God and that his blessing may abide with thee in the ende For the blessing of the father establisheth the houses of the children the mothers curse rooteth out the foundations Helpe thy father in his age and grieue him not as long as he liueth And if his vnderstanding faile haue patience with him and despise him not when thou art in thy full strength For the good intreatie of thy father shall not be forgotten but it shall be a fortresse for thee against sinnes In the day of trouble thou shalt he remembred thy sinnes also shall melt away as the ice in faire weather He that for saketh his father shall come to shame and he that angreth his mother is cursed of God By these holy speeches we see how we ought to loue honor reuerence and feare our parents This is comprehended vnder the first commandement of the second table and this only of all the ten articles of the Decalogue beareth his reward with him albeit no recompence is due to him that is bound to do any thing namely by so strȧight a bond as this wherof all lawes both diuine and humane are full and the law of nature also doth plentifully instruct vs therein as it hath been diligently obserued of very Infidels Ethnikes and Pagans Amongst the Lacedemonians this custome tooke place that the younger sort rose vp from their seates before the aged Whereof when one asked the cause of Teleucrus It is quoth hee to the ende that in dooing this honour to whom it belongeth not they should learne to yeeld greater honour to their parents The arrogancie of a childe was the cause that one of the Ephories published the law of Testaments whereby it was permitted to euery one from that time forward to appoint whom he would his heire This lawe serued well to make children obedient and seruiceable to their parents and to cause them to be afraid of displeasing them Among the Romanes the child was not admitted to plead his fathers will after his death by way of action but onely by way of request vsing very humble honourable and reuerent speech of his dead father and leauing the whole matter to the discretion and religion of the Iudges Contend not with thy father said Pittacus the wise although thou hast iust cause of complaint And therefore Teleucrus aunswered aptly to one who complained vnto him that his father alwayes spake ill of him If quoth he there were no cause to speake ill of thee he would not do it So that it belongeth to the duetie of a childe to beleeue that his father hath alwayes right and that age and experience hath indued him with greater knowledge of that which is good than they haue that are of yoonger yeeres Philelphus said that although we could not possibly render the like good turnes to our parents nor satisfie those obligations by which we stand bound vnto them yet we must doe the best we can vnto them we must intreate them curteously and louingly and not go farre from them we must harken vnto their instructions and be obedient to their commaundementes wee must not gaine-say their deliberations and wils no more than the will of God whether it be that we are to depart from them or to tary still or to enter into some calling agreeable to the will of God we must not stand in contention with them wheÌ„ they are angry but suffer and beare patiently if they threaten or correct vs. And if they be offended with vs when we thinke there is no cause why yet we must not lay vs down to rest before we haue by all kind of honest submissions appeased them Humilitie is always commendable but especially towards our parents The more we abase our selues before them the more we encrease in glory and honor before God and men This is very badly put in vre at this day when the sonne doth not onely not honor his father but euen dishonoreth him and is ashamed of him He is so farre from louing him that he rather hateth him so farre from fearing him that contrarywise he mocketh and contemneth him and in stead of seruing and obeying him he riseth vp and conspireth against him If he be angry he laboureth to anger him more brieflie scarce any dutie of a child towards his father is seene now a daies And if some point therof be found in any towards his father yet is it cleane put out in regard of the mother as if he that commanded vs to honour our father did not presently say and thy mother vnto whoÌ„ in truth we owe no lesse honor respect and obedience than to our father as well in regard of the commaundement of God as of the vnspeakable paines and trauell which she suffered in bearing and bringing vs into the world in giuing vs sucke in nourishing vs. But alas what shall we say of those that spoile their parents of their goods houses and commodities and desire nothing more than their death that they may freely enioy euen that which oftentimes their parents haue purchased for them O execrable impietie It is vnwoorthy to be once thought vpon amongst vs the iudgement of God doth of it selfe sufficiently appeere vpon such cursed children Whose behauiour that it may be more odious vnto vs let vs learn of Pittacus that our children will be such towards vs as we haue been towards our parents But let vs be more afraid to prouoke our fathers in such sort through our default vnto wrath that in stead of blessing vs they fall to curse vs. For as Plato saith there is no prayer which God heareth more willingly than that of the father for the children And therfore special regard is to be had vnto the cursings and blessings which fathers lay vpon their childreÌ„ Which was the cause as the scripture teacheth vs that children in old time were so iealous one of another who should â—ary away the fathers blessing and that they stoode in greater feare of their curse than of death it selfe Torquatus the yonger being banished from his fathers house slue himselfe for grief thereof And to alleage another example out of the writings of auncient men of the loue which they bare to their fathers that of Antigonus the second sonne of Demetrius is most woorthy to be noted For when his father beyng prisoner sent him worde by one of his acquaintaunce to giue no credite nor to make account of any letters from him if it so fell out that Seleucus whose prisoner he was should compell him thereunto and therefore that he should not deliuer vp any of those
we practice diligently these precepts in the education instruction of our children there is no doubt but as seales and signets doe easily make a print in soft waxe so we may quickly cast in the mindes of little children as it were in a mould whatsoeuer we would haue them learne for the leading of a good and happie life to the glorie of God the profit of their neighbours and discharge of our consciences which are bound thereunto Of the diuision of the ages of man and of the offices and duties that are to be obserued in them Chap. 52. AMANA AMongst the most common and notorious faults which fathers now a daies commit in the education and bringing vp of their children this deserueth great blame and reprehension that in their first age they vsually prouide teachers for them sending them to Colledges where they are kept in awe when they cannot commit any greater euill than that which commeth from the yoong yeeres of their infancie not very hurtfull to any being light faults and soone amended but when the vehemencie of adolescencie beginneth to tickle them with foule and infamous desires and when they haue greatest neede of a bridle then they let loose the raines and withdraw them from the subiection of their guides giuing them libertie to make choice of their estate of life when their perturbations are most violent in danger to bring foorth most peruitious effects Whereas on the contrary side then ought they most diligently to looke vnto them and to set a most careful watch ouer them that their first discipline and instruction may be framed in vertue and in the perfection of a most happie life For this cause my Companions I thinke that by continuing our former discourse seeing all men enioye not commonly this benefite of the forenamed education instruction from their infancie vnto the end we ought to search out some way whereby to amend the first faults by handling the diuision of the ages of man according to the ancient writers and by setting downe a briefe instruction of that which is most necessarily required and to be obserued in euery of them especially in adolescencie for the obtaining of true felicitie through good behauiour and instructions which are the meanes thereof ARAM. It is true as Plato saith that vertue must be learned from the first infancie Yea there is no part of our age which ought to be imploied in any other studie But adolescencie especially must not onely inquire and seeke after the decrees of honesty vertue but also haue them already imprinted and ingrauen in his hart ACHITOB. As no man euer saw a Bee become a Beetle through age so no part of our life ought to leaue the first election grounded vpon vertue if the ende thereof be to liue well But let vs heare ASER discourse of this present matter ASER. It cannot be denied that place and time are a great helpe to honestie and vertue insomuch that if we consider not of them the knowledge and practise of that which belongeth to our dutie cannot greatly profit vs. For all things are to be applied in time place and some thinges are decent and lawfull vpon one occasion which would be very vnseemely in another The prouerbe saith that the way to handle a sound man is diuers from the guiding of him to whome the diet is inioined Euen so although vertue honesty are alwaies requisite in a man bicause it is the only ornament of his life yet in diuers ages diuersity of honest behauior is required the selfe same things are not decent in them but some kind of behauiour is proper to the age of childhood some to youth and another to old age bicause as nature altereth with age so it behooueth that maners should chang Now among them that haue most diligently obserued the secrets of mans nature there hath beene two sundry opinions concerning the diuision of the ages of man Some haue made 7. parts adding decrepite or bed red-age after old age they would groūd their principal reason of this diuision vpon this that the number of 7. is an vniuersall absolute number So we reckon 7. planets whose motion worketh all generations corruptions in the earth By a stronger reason therfore this number of seuen wil be applied to the continuance of time Moreouer the growth of men according to age increaseth at the seuenth number For teeth are bred in the seuenth moneth in the seuenth yeere they change alter Besides in the same yeere doubled that is in the fourteenth yeere man receiueth abilitie of seede that is to say of engendring True it is that the number of six worketh alteration in females Yet the number of 7. in other things worketh augmentation or else the rest and quietnes of men and sheweth the difference or iudgement of diseases The whole time of the creation of the world is comprehended therein likewise the rest and ceasing of the worke-maister thereof All the ancient writers haue also noted that the number of 63. which is the multiplication of seuen by nine carieth with it commonly the end of old men bicause that in the whole course of our life we liue vnder one onely climate which is either from seuen or from nine yeeres except in the yeere of 63. wherein two terminations or climates ende that is to say nine seuen times seuen or seuen nine times nine and therefore this yeere is called climactericall wherein we may note out of histories the death of many great men and the change of estates and kingdomes As touching the other diuision of the age of man into sixe parts onely of which opinion Isidorus is we will now enter into the particular handling thereof The parts are these Infancie Childhood Youth Adolescencie Virilitie old age Infancie is the first age of man beginning after his natiuitie it is so called bicause at that time he hath no vse of speech and therefore cannot then learne manners and vertue hauing no sence or vnderstanding to comprehend them Childhood is when children beginne to speake albeit as yet they haue not the full vse of reason in which estate a man may say they are vntill the age of seuen yeeres during which time fathers and mothers ought to nourish and bring them vp in the feare of God reuerence of their parents frame them gently vnto all good maners as we haue already declared This age is called of the Latines Pueritia as it were pure and neate from sinne forasmuch as children haue then no vse of discretion so that iudgement cannot be attributed to their works wherby they may be called good or euill Youth is reckoned from seuen yeeres of age vntill foureteene at which time children ought to be deliuered vnto skilfull and honest maisters teachers to be instructed Then must parents looke well whether those two things are in them to whose direction they
commit the keeping of such a pretious pledge least that befall them which Hyperides an Orator of Grecia said to one who told him that he had sent a slaue with his son to gouerne him you haue quoth he done very wel for in steede of one slaue you shall receiue twaine Therefore it is very necessarie that such maisters should be chosen for them as are learned and of good life conuersation that as good Gardiners sticke downe certain props hard by yong plants to keepe them vpright so wise teachers may plant good instructions precepts about yoong men that their maners may be according to vertue Let fathers beware least being mooued with couetousnes they make choice of maisters vnworthy their charge that they may pay the lesse stipēd seking for good cheape ignorance seeing that as Plato saith as childrē beare away as it were the minds of their progenitors so the vices of the Schole-maisters flow vpon their schollers At this age of youth the children of Rome did hange in the Temple a little coller or iewell which they ware about their necks during the time of their infancie declaring therby that they renounced all childishnes and that they were to chang their maners for the time to come In token wherof one gaue them a white robe and a purple coate to teach them by the white colour to shunne vices which made the soule blacke and by the purple to striue to make their life glister and shine with good manners and vertue And it seemeth that the Latines called this age Iuuentus bicause of the aide and helpe which men promised to themselues through the vertuous inclination that appeered in yoong children We saw before sufficiently what is further required of this age in regard of their instruction Adolescencie is the fourth age of man beginning at the foureteenth yeere and continuing vntil the 28. and it is deriued of this verbe Adolesco which signifieth to growe For then doe men growe in bodie in strength and reason in vice and vertue And at that age the nature of a man is knowne and whereunto he bendeth his minde which before could not be discerned by reason of the ignorance of his age This is that which Cicero saith that the studies vnto which we addict our selues in the time of our adolescencie like to herbes and fruites that are come to their fashion declare what vertue there will be in time of ripenes and what manner of haruest wil follow Therefore yoong men saith this Father of eloquence must make choice of one certaine kind of life whereunto they are to giue themselues all their life time without any manner of contradiction and being constant therein they must draw all their actions to that onely end as an arrow is drawne towards a white But forasmuch as in the corruption of our time we see poore fruits of this age when it is left to it selfe we may well say that in this season of adolescencie children haue greatest neede to be gouerned ruled and kept in great awe For the inclination to pleasures and the eschewing of labour which are naturall in man commonly begin then to assault him with such violence that if yoong men be not well followed they quickly turne to vice hate those that giue them good instruction become presumptuous and ready to leaue that which before they loued and taking no care for the time to come like beasts seeke for nothing but to satisfie their lustfull desires For this cause that good Emperour Marcus Aurelius said to those vnto whome he recommended his son after his death Beware that he bathe not himselfe in slipperie pleasures and desires seeing it is a hard matter to moderate and to stay the burning affections of a yoong man especially when he seeth in his own hand a licence not limited which offereth vnto him all kind of contentation And truly this vnbrideled licence of not being in subiection to any which yoong men desire and seeke after so earnestly and for want of right vnderstanding falsly call and imagine it to be libertie bringeth them in bondage to seuerer and sharper maisters than were those teachers Schoole-maisters which they had in their infancie namely to their lusts and disordred desires which are then as it were vnchained and let loose But he which knoweth that to follow God and to obey right reason are reciprocall and necessarily following ech other must thinke that to leaue his infancie first youth and to enter into the ranke of men is no freedome from subiection but only a chang of commandement bicause our life in lieu of a hired maister who gouerned vs before hath then a heauenly guide that is reason to whome they onely that obey are to be reputed taken for free men For after they haue learned to will that which they ought they liue as they will whereas the freedome of the will in disordred actions and affections is small feeble weake and mingled with much repentance These are those good reasons which ought to sound often in the eares of yoong men and be supplied by little litle through the study of good letters Morall Philosophie of ancient men vntill they haue wholy in possession that place of maners which is soonest mooued and most easily led are lodged therin by knowledge and iudgement which will be as a gard to preserue and defend that age from corruption Vnto which things the Ancients looked very diligently both to represse boldnes which commonly is the companion of adolescencie and also to chastice their faults seuerely We read that one of Cato his sons of the age of 15. yeeres was banished for breaking a pot of earth in a maids hand that went for water so was Cinna his sonne bicause he entred into a garden and gathered fruite without leaue Therefore if a yoong man be well guided with reason he will chuse propound to himselfe that kind of life which he purposeth to keepe vntill death and begin some commendable life that is had in recommendation among vertuous men The ancient Romanes minding to make declaration heereof when their children were come to that age they brought them to the common market place clothed with a mans gowne and caused them to scatter nuts heere and there after that to forsake all play signifieng therby that they must leaue the follies of their first age to imbrace more graue and serious matters It belongeth to their duty saith Cicero to honor their Elders to marke who are the honestest men of best report that by their coūsel they may learn to liue according to vertue good maners haue honor alwaies before their eies And as in calme weather whē a man is vpon the sea he must prouide such things as are necessary against a storme so in time of adolescencie men must furnish themselues with temperance sobriety continency laying vp store of
prouision in due time wherby to sustaine old age the better This is that which Plato saith that a moderate youth maketh an easie olde age but that which is immoderate maketh it greeuous irkesom The defect of our strength saith Cicero commeth rather of the vices of our youth than of olde age Now bicause youth is at this day more than euer giuen ouer to all kind of dissolutenes so that their greatest glorie consisteth in going one beyond an other in vice let vs here propound to those that wil make their profit therof some exāples drawen from the ancients of rare vertue that shined in yong men Ioseph Daniel Salomon deserue the first place who being very yoong men executed deeds of woonderfull prudence The holie Scriptures affoord vs a sufficient number of testimonies but we haue some also amongst the Heathens and Pagans that ought to stirre vp youth vnto vertue That great Monarch Alexander in his youth despised all kind of pleasure and delight eschewed women contemned monie and all plaies and pastimes that were vnprofitable and to no good vse louing nothing but vertue and glorie gotten thereby This was the cause why being demanded whether he would not be present at the feast of the Olympian games to try if he could win the price of running seeing he was well made and woonderfull light of foote he answered yes if they were kings that ran Whensoeuer he heard newes that his father had taken any famous Towne or wonne some great battell he shewed no token of ioye but saide to his equals in yeeres My Father Sirs will take all and leaue no goodlie and great matter for me to doe and to conquere with you Among other his commendable giftes of nature which men admired in him at that age he was greatly praised for a good horse-man which he shewed full well when Bucephalus the horse was brought to his father and was to be sold for thirteene Talents that is in value 7800. crownes which the yeomen of the kings horse perceiued to be so skittish and wild that they durst not vndertake to breake him But Alexander mounted on him and handled him so cunningly that all those that were present cried out by way of admiration and Phillip kissing him said Oh my sonne thou must seeke out a kingdome that is meete for thee for Macedonia is not able to containe thee This horse alwaies serued Alexander after that and died in a battell against the Barbarians when he was thirtie yeeres olde Pompey from his very youth shewed in his countenance as Historiographers write a pleasant mildnes ioined with a manlie grauitie and in his conditions and behauiour a reuerent excellencie of kinglie maiestie When he was yet verie yoong he committed an act of a wise and aduised captaine being in the Romane armie whereof Strabo his father was captaine against Cinna For when the souldiers began to rebel and to conspire the death of their captaine Pompey discouered the same and tooke order for his fathers safetie After perceiuing that the souldiers trussed vp bag and baggage to go yeeld themselues to Cinna he thrust himselfe into the middest of them beseeching them most humbly with teares in his eies not to deale so grosely with their captain In the end when he saw that they persisted in their opinion he threw himselfe prostrate all along ouerthwart the gate of the campe saying vnto thē that if they were so desirous to depart both they and their horses should go ouer his body Whereupon they were so ashamed that chaunging their mindes euery one betooke him againe to his quarter and reconciled themselues vnto their generall The prudence of Papyrius deserueth to be alleaged here who according to the custome of the young gentlemen of Rome was brought into the Senate after he had put on the gowne wouen about with purple which they vsed to giue to yong men to the end to frame them by litle and litle to the managing of affaires In his returne from the Senate which was longer in breaking vp than vsually they were woont to do his mother asked him the cause thereof And after many threatnings and compulsions Papyrius not willing to reueale the secret of the councell as it had been expresly forbidden him bethought himselfe of a subtill lie saying that the Senators were in great contention whether it were more expedient to agree that one man should haue two wiues or one woman two husbands which quoth he shal be determined to morow His mother beleeuing it told the same to the Romane ladies hir companions who met all the next day at the entrie of the Senate beseeching the iudges to giue a fauourable sentence for them The matter being knowen procured great laughter and made the prudence of this yong man to be greatly esteemed But let vs speak of the other two ages of man Mans estate beginneth when a man is euen now ripe and setled and groweth no more in body This onely age is most apt and fit to attaine to vertue and honestie For then is reason strong and power-full in him then is his iudgement sound his bodily vigor of force and strength to labour and trauel Of the name of this age I mean of this Latine word Vir did vertue first take hir name which in Latine is Virtus bicause this worde Vir signifieth him that is in the age of virilitie or mans estate as if you would say apt to be a minister and practitioner of vertue It is true that Isidorus confoundeth Youth which he placeth after Adolescencie and virilitie togither saying that this word vir is a word of sexe and not of age But herein he agreeth with vs that the perfection of mans strength beginneth at 29. yeeres where we said that adolescencie ended In this strength a man continueth vntil 50. yeeres and then beginneth to grow weake and to decline continually vntill death The whole age of virilitie ought to be full of honestie and vertue to bring foorth the effects of prudence temperance fortitude and iustice whereof we haue discoursed at large And if any man before he came to this age had not that education and instructiō which was necessary for him whereof we haue alreadie discoursed by reason of his fathers negligēce or through the licentiousnes of adolescencie then especially is he to take the bridle between his teeth in good earnest bicause yet there is good time season yea oportunitie of great fruit to profit in learning and vertue so that he cannot alleage this excuse that he was not instructed in youth Clitomachus of Carthage when he was aboue 40. yeeres of age came to Athens to learne vnder Carneades with whom he profited so well that after his death he succeeded in his place and taught others Lucius being at Rome and meeting with the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the streete with one man after him demanded of him whether he went It becommeth euen an
ciuil estate gouernment which is the chief Magistrate let vs consider now of the second no lesse necessary therein which is the law whereby he is ioined and vnited to the rest of the publike body for the maintenance and preseruation thereof ACHITOB. The lawe is in the citie as the spirite is in the body For as the body without the spirite vndoubtedly perisheth in like maner euery citie Commonwealth that hath no law falleth into ruine and perdition Therefore Cicero calleth lawes the soules of Common-wealths ASER. As the soule guideth the body and indueth it with abilitie to work so the law is the direction maintenance of euery Estate By the lawe is the Magistrate obeied and the subiects kept in peace and quietnes But let vs heare AMANA handle this matter AMANA We see that naturally all liuing creatures whether earthie watry aërie or flying tame or wild seeke after the companies and assemblies of their kinds to liue with them as Sheepe by flocks Kine Oxen Harts and Hindes feeding by herds Horses Asses Mules by companies Choughs Stares Cranes other birds by flights Fishes both in fresh and salt waters following one another in sholes Bees dwelling in hiues Pigeons in doouehouses Ants in little hollow places No maruell therefore if men singularly adorned with an immortal soule with reason speech and by these prerogatiues more communicable than other creatures as borne to honour God to loue one another to liue togither in a ciuill policie with lawes Magistrats iudgements hauing proper to themselues onely the knowledge of good euill of honestie dishonestie of iustice iniustice knowing the beginnings causes of things their proceedings antecedents consequents their similitudes cōtrarieties no maruel I say if they liue more commodiously happily togither do that by right equity which other liuing creatures do only by a natural instinct seeing also they may be assured as Cicero saith that nothing here below is more acceptable to god the gouernor of all the world than the cōgregations assemblies of mē linked togither by right equity which we cal cities Now we are to note that all those which obey the same lawes Magistrats make iointly togither but one city which as Aristotle saith is euery cōpany assembled togither for some benefit If a city be assēbled in monarch-wise it is to be defēded against strāgers to liue peaceably among thēselues according to law if Aristocratically vnder certaine chiefe lords it is to be respected according to their riches nobility vertue if in a popular cōmunity it is to enioy liberty equality the better that the city is guided by policy the greater benefit they hope for therby Therefore as the Venetians make but one city liuing vnder an Aristocraticall gouernment the Bernians an other liuing vnder a Democraty whether they liue within or without the wals or far frō the chief towne so all the natural subiects of this Monarchy acknowledging one king for their soueraigne lord obeying his commandemēts the decrees of his coūcel represent one city political cōmunion cōpounded of many villages townes prouinces Prouostships Bailiweeks Senshalships gouernments Parliaments Barronies Counties Marquesies Dukedoms Cures Bishopriks Archbishopriks being in of it self sufficiently furnished with all necessary honest things for the leading of a good vertuous life obeying the statuts lawes ordinances established therin according to which the Magistrat ought to rule to gouern his subiects shewing therby that albeit he be not subiect to the law yet he wil as it becommeth him liue gouerne himselfe vnder the law Therfore the Magistrate is very wel called by some a liuing lawe the law a mute Magistrate Moreouer the marke of a soueraign Prince of which depēdeth whatsoeuer he doth by his imperial authority is the power to prescribe lawes vnto all in general to euery one in particular not to receiue any but of God who is the Iudge of Princes saith Marcus Aurelius as Princes are the iudges of their subiects yea it is God saith the wise mā that wil proceed with rigor against thē for the contēpt of his law So that they which say generally that princes are no more subiect to laws thā to their own couenāts if they except not the laws of god of nature those iust couenants and bargaines that are made with them they are iniurious to God And as for their power to abrogate such lawes by their absolute authoritie it is no more permitted vnto them than the other seeing the power of a soueraign is only ouer the ciuill or positiue lawes But that we may haue some certaine vnderstanding of the matter heere propounded vnto vs to intreate of we must first see what the lawe is into howe many kindes it is diuided whereunto it ought to tend the profite of it and howe we must obey it The lawe is a singular reason imprinted in nature commanding those things that are to be done and forbidding the contrary We haue both the lawe of nature and the lawe written The lawe of nature is a sence and feeling which euerie one hath in himselfe and in his conscience whereby he discerneth betweene good and euill asmuch as sufficeth to take from him the cloake of ignorance in that he is reprooued euen by his owne witnesse The written lawe is double diuine and ciuill The diuine lawe is diuided into three partes that is into Manners Ceremonies and Iudgements That of Manners was called of the ancient writers the Morall lawe beeing the true and eternall rule of Iustice appointed for all men in what countrie or tyme soeuer they liue if they will direct their life according to the will of God And as for the Ceremonies and Iudgements although they haue some relation to Maners yet bicause both of them might be altered and abolished without the corruption or diminution of good manners the Ancients did not comprehend those two parts vnder the word Morall but attributed this name particularly to the first part of the lawe of which the sincere integritie of Maners dependeth which neither may nor ought in any sort to be altered or changed and whereunto the end of all other lawes is to be referred in honouring God by a pure faith and by godlines and in being ioined vnto our neighbour by true loue The Ceremonial lawe was a Pedagogie of the Iewes that is to say a doctrine of infancie giuen to that people to exercise them vnder the obedience to God vntill the manifestation of those things which were then figured in shadowes The Iudiciall law giuen vnto them for policie taught them certaine rules of iustice and equitie wherby they might liue peaceably togither without hurting one another Now as the exercise of ceremonies appertained to the doctrine of pietie which is the first part of the Morall law
general end be to set an order and policie amongst vs and not dispute of their reason and cause as long as their iurisdiction extendeth not to our soules to lay vpon them a new rule of iustice Of the People and of their obedience due to the Magistrate and to the Law Chap. 56. AMANA WE haue hitherto seene that the preseruation of policies dependeth of the obseruation of the law that the soueraigne magistrate ruleth thereby and vseth it as a bond to reduce to vnitie and agreement all the citizens of one Common-wealth being vnlike in calling and liuing vnder his dominion at which marke euery good politike gouernor ought chiefly to aime Now my companions we are to intreat of this third part of a citie which maketh the politike body perfect and absolute namely of the people and of that obedience which they ought to yeeld to the magistrate and to the law ARAM. The whole Common-wealth fareth well or ill as all hir parts euen to the least are ruled and containe themselues within the compasse of their duetie For all of them togither make but one body whereof the magistrate is the head and the lawe the soule that giueth life vnto it Wherefore it is needefull that these should commaund and the other obey ACHITOB. Whatsoeuer profiteth the whole profiteth the part and that which is commodious to the part is also commodious to the whole and so contrarywise Wherefore to obey well which is necessarily required of the people is greatly auaileable to the whole political bodie Now let vs heare ASER handle this matter vnto vs more at large ASER. In euery discipline the beginning is commonly taken from the least partes thereof Grammer taketh his beginning from letters which are the least things in it Logike from the two least partes thereof namely the Nowne and the Verbe Geometrie from the point Arithmetick from Vnitie Musick from the Minnem and Sembrief which are likewise the least parts therof Therefore hauing seene that Policie is the order and life of the citie and that the citie is a multitude of citizens before we speak of the whole bodie of them we must as I think intreat first of a citizen who although he differ according to the diuersitie of common-wealths yet to take him properly may be said to be euery one that hath right to iudge in his citie hath a deliberatiue voyce in the generall or common councell thereof This definition of a citizen cannot fitly be applied to all citizens of all Common-wealths but only to those that are ruled popularly wherin they are all equall and gouerne themselues by assemblies in which euery one hath libertie to speake his aduise Some define a citizen to be he whose parents are citizens or els to be a free subiect holding of the soueraigntie of an other wherin they adde this word Free to distinguish him from slaues and strangers But generally we may say that whosoeuer may beare offices or magistracie in what forme of gouernment so euer is reputed taken for a citizen and such are all the naturall Frenchmen in this monarchie amongst whom there is not one how base soeuer he be that may not be made noble by vertue or that may not by skill and integritie of life attaine to the greatest estates of iustice of treasurie and of other publike charges This is not seen in all common-wealths For in the Seignorie of Venice it seemeth that none are truely citizens but the lordes and nobles who onely enioy the office of magistracie and may enter into the great councell after they haue attained the age of fiue and twentie yeeres As for the people they intermeddle not with any matter of gouernment this only excepted that they may be Secretaries and Chancellors as Contarenus reporteth The citie of Rome hauing many times sundry gouernments the appellation of a citizen was likewise diuers therein For as long as the first kings rules the common people were altogither excluded from publike honors offices But after when the regall power was changed into the gouernment of a certaine number of men chosen by suffrages and common voyces the people were admitted to magistracies and to the managing of affairs being present at the publike assemblie had in Mars his field which was distributed by tribes wardes companies and centuries to deliberate of the common estate to create magistrates and to decree new lawes where he was reputed for a citizen in deed that was a free man that had both house and tribe and possibilitie to attaine to honor enioying besides many other priuiledges and prerogatiues But when the soueraigntie came into the emperors hands those assemblies continued onely vnder Iulius and Octautus and after were abrogated by Tyberius and translated to the Senate and to the absolute power of the prince taking away al authoritie frō the people in publike matters Now to returne to our former assertion we say that all they are citizens to whom the gate that leadeth to the gouernment of the citie lieth open I mean the whole company of them that liue vnder the same lawes and soueraigne magistrates Such are all the subiects and naturall vassals of our king of whom the people and the nobilitie are the two orders or estates and of them is the estate of the church compounded which maketh one part of the common-wealth of France This self-same distinction of citizens is obserued almost throughout all Europe But besides this general diuisiō there are some more special in many common-welths as at Venice into the Gentlemen Burgesses Common people at Florence before it was brought in subiectiō to a Prince there were the greater sort the middle sort the vulgar or common sort of people And our ancient Gaules had the Druides the Horsemen the inferior people In Egypt were the Priests the Souldiors the Artificers And although Plato labored to make all the citizens of his common-welth equal in rights prerogatiues yet he diuided them into three estates into Gardes Souldiers and Labourers Whereupon we must necessarilie inferre this conclusion that there neuer was nor can be Common-wealth wherein the citizens were equall in all rights and prerogatiues but that some had more or lesse than others and yet so that wise Politikes haue carefully prouided that the meanest should haue no cause to complaine of their estate Moreouer the conueniencie and proportionable agreement of our French estates hath been the cause why this kingdome vntill this our infortunate age hath continued prospered so long amongst other kingdoms both of auncient and late times namely when Goodes Honours and publike charges were ordinarily distributed according to the condition of euery estate and their rightes and priuiledges preserued especially when it was carefully prouided that one estate should not grow too great aboue the other I meane that the nobilitie should not keep the people too much vnder and bring them to a
Counsailors of estate Chap. 61. ASER. DIoclesian the Emperor said That the condition of Princes was miserable and dangerous bicause they were commonly deceiued by them whome they trusted most being themselues almost alwayes shut vp in their pallaces and vnderstanding no more of their affaires thaÌ„ their ministers would declare vnto them who consult many times togâ—ther how they may disguise the truth of their estate For this cause although it be necessarie for a prince to haue many eyes and eares for which intent we say that his counsellors serue yet he must looke himselfe as much as he can euen to the depth of his affaires And truly it belongeth to the dombe blind and deafe to speake see and heare nothing but by the mouth eies and eares of other men But in those things wherein the prince is constrained to relie vpon an other mans report he must vse great prudence to discerne flatterers and disguisers of matters who are not touched but only with their priuate profite from those that are mooued with the zeale of publike benefite and of his seruice and vse these men in matters of counsell which is most necessarie for the sound preseruation of al estates And in deede there was neuer any estate but vsed counsell and counsellors in the establishing and gouernment thereof as we may vnderstand more of you my companions if you thinke good to discourse of this matter AMANA Counsell sayd Socrates is a sacred thing and as Plato calleth it the anchor of the whole city wherby it is fastned and stayed as a shippe in the water Yea all the great and goodly exploites of armes and lawes are nothing else but the execution of a wise councell ARAM. Counsell saith the same Plato hath the self-same place in a common-wealth that the soule and head hath in liuing creatures For the vnderstanding is infused into the soule and sight and hearing are placed in the head so that the vnderstanding being ioined to these two goodly senses and reduced into one preserueth euery thing But of thee ACHITOB. we expect a whole discourse vpon this matter ACHITOB. All Common-wealths consist chieflie of two things of counsell of iudgement according to the disposition of which the affaires of the estate are well or ill handled Therefore to enter into this matter here propounded and to leaue iudgements to be considered of hereafter we must first know that the ordinarie Councell of an estate which the Ancients commonlie called a Senate is the lawfull assemblie of counsellors of estate to giue aduise to them that haue soueraigne power in euery Common-wealth When we say a lawfull assemblie it is to be vnderstood of that power which is giuen vnto them by the soueraigne to meete togither in time and place appoynted And where as we call them counsellors of estate it is to distinguish them from other counsellors and officers who are often called to giue aduise to Princes euery one according to his vocation and qualitie and yet are neyther counsellors of estate nor ordinarie counsellours Of this councell all the rest of the publike gouernment dependeth and by this all the partes of the Common-wealth are tied vnited and knitte togither through that direction of religion iustice warre treasures lawes magistrates and maners which proceedeth from it Therefore the Senate is very well called by Cicero the soule reason and vnderstanding of a Common-wealth whereby he meaneth that it can no more bee maintained without a councell than a bodie with-out a soule or a man without reason The Hebrewes likewise called the councell a foundation where-upon all goodly and commendable actions are built and without which all enterprises are ouerthrowen Now forasmuch as there hath been and are at this day among sundry nations sundry sortes of gouernments and policies so there is no lesse difference in the establishment of a councell in them as also many alterations in the institution and power thereof And namely among the auncient Graecians beside the seuerall councell of euery Common-wealth there was the sacred councell of the Amphictions so called bicause it was instituted by Amphiction the sonne of Deucalion This councell was as it were the generall assemblie of the estates of all Graecia and was helde twise a yeere in Spring time and in Autumne at Delphos in the Temple of Apollo for the commoditie of the seate thereof beyng as it were in the middest of all Graecia The authoritie thereof was so great that whatsoeuer was concluded vpon there the Graecians obserued and kept it inuiolable whether it were in matters concerning religion and pietie towards their gods or peace and vnitie among themselues The Lacedemonians and Messenians met togither certaine dayes in the yeere at the temple of Diana vpon the borders of Laconia and there after sacrifice consulted of their waightiest affaires And yet both they and the rest of Graecia had certaine general councels concerning the gouernment of their estate besides those that were particular which they vsed daily The Senate of thirtie counsailors established by Lycurgus when he reformed the Lacedemonian estate obtained the soueraigntie not long after and of Senators became absolute lordes Solon ordained amongst the Athenians besides the Senate of 400. which was changeable euery yeere a priuie perpetual councell of the Areopagites compounded of three score of the wisest and of such as were blameles who had the managing of those affaires that were most secret Romulus the first founder of Rome compounded the Senate of 100. of the notablest citizens and hauing receiued the Sabines into his protection he doubled the number of Senators which afterward Brutus encreased with an other hundred As long as the happy popular gouernement of the Romanes lasted the Consuls albeit in dignitie they represented a royall person yet they had no other power but to lead the armies to assemble the Senate to receiue the letters of captains and of their allies and to present them to the Senate to heare embassadors before the people or before the Senate to assemble the great estates and to aske the people aduise concerning the creation of officers or publishing of lawes But the Senate disposed the reuenues of the Empire and the common expences appointed lieutenants to all gouernors of prouinces determined of the triumphs ordered religion receiued and licenced embassadors of kings and nations and tooke order for such as were sent to them The punishment of all offences committed throughout Italy which deserued publike execution as treason conspiracie poysoning wilfull murder belonged to the Senate If any priuate person or any citie stood in need of some speciall fauour or of reprehension or of succour and protection the Senate had all the charge thereof It was forbidden vnder paine of high treason to present any request to the people without aduise taken of the Senate Neuerthelesse the soueraigntie always belonged to the people who might confirme or
to vsurpe kingdomes empires This reason brought in the Ostracisme amongst the Atheniās which was a banishmēt for a time wherby they brought downe them that seemed to exceed in greatnes This they vsed as Plutarke reherseth against Themistocles Aristides and other excellent men fearing least their authoritie credite and good will of all men should procure them a kingly power with the chaunge of their popular gouernment Many kings and princes that had some of their friends and seruaunts too great were themselues or their children ouerthrowen by them afterward Tyberius making Seian too mightie Commodus Perennius Theodosius the second Eutropus Iustinian Bellisarius Xerxes Artaban were in danger of their estate The vnmeasurable authoritie of the Maiors of the palace and of the Constables chaunged the crowne of France from the race of Clouts to that of Charles Martel and vpon the same occasion it was afterward taken from that line and transferred to another Contempt also is another cause greatly to be feared in euery estate and Monarchie as that which oftentimes breedeth their change and ouerthrow It is very daungerous in two considerations especially first when some are contemned and excluded from publique offices and dignities which they deserue and yet see them wholy in the power and disposition of some particular men Whereupon both the one and the other are mooued to sedition the contemned persones through enuie and desire of reuenge they that haue the great charges in their handes through contempt of the others whome they seeke vtterly to exclude and to driue them further off from all publique honours and authorities Secondly contempt is verie pernitious when inferiours contemne their superiours They are commonly despised that haue neither vertue courage nor fortitude that are not able to profite themselues or others that are not laborious painfull nor any manner of way carefull Where contempt is there no obedience is to be had This maketh the sonne disobedient to the father the wife to the husband the learner to the teacher the seruant to the maister The opinion of prudence iustice constancie knowledge goodnes modestie and of other vertues nourisheth and preserueth the obedience of subiects towards their Princes and the contrarie vices prouoke them to rebellion Therefore as policies prosper when they are gouerned by prudent iust constant valiant and moderate men so they are troubled with seditions through the ignorance cowardlines and intemperancie of Princes or else when they are too familiar with their inferiors or when they are suddenly lift vp from base estate or seem too aged or too yong or poore or miserable all which things breede contempt Wherefore this is set downe as a good rule to preserue the estate of a Monarchy That the Prince must procure to himselfe loue without the contempt or hatred of any if it may be For the obtaining whereof there is no better way than the iust distribution of rewardes The Princes and Lords of France bicause they were contemned by king Lewes the 11. who had none about him nor fauoured any but men of lowe and base estate gaue him battell at Montlhery whereof the battel hath euer since retained the name to the great perill of the Estate and danger of the kings life if he had not appeased the indignation and furie of the said Princes and Lords by his great prudence and policie Moreouer too much encrease and vnproportionable growth is one cause that procureth the change and ruine of Common-wealths For as the bodie is made and compounded of parts and ought to grow by proportion that it may keep a iust measure so euery Common-wealth beeing compounded of orders or estates as it were of parts they must be maintained in concord one with another by equall and due proportion obserued betweene each of them For if one Estate be aduanced too much aboue another dissention ariseth As long as the three Orders and Estats at Rome namely the Senators the Knights the people were caried proportionably their policie flourished but after they dealt one against another through enuie ambition couetousnes diuisions and part-takings began This caused many to commend equalitie so much calling it the nursing mother of peace amitie betweene subiects and contrariwise inequalitie the beginning of all enmities factions hatred part-taking But seeing it is meete that in euery well established policie there should be a difference of rights and priuiledges betwixt euery estate equalitie may continue if carefull prouision be made that one Estate go not too much before the other The impunitie of offences is one cause also from whence seditions and ciuill warres proceede yea it is a matter of very great waight and yet men make least account therof We spake of it before but we must of necessitie often rub vp the remembrance thereof as the wise Hebrew doth by repeating so many times that admonition that we should not be suretie for another not that he forbiddeth charitie towardes the poore but that none should be a meanes to let the wicked escape vnles he will beare the punishment himselfe This is that word which God sent to king Achab after he had saued the life of Benhadad king of Syria that he made himselfe a pledge for another man by suffering the wicked to liue and therefore that it should cost him his life Hitherto we haue seene how the couetousnes of Princes the ambition or desire of honour in priuate men iniurie and reproch feare in the guiltie excesse of authoritie and wealth contempt ouer-great encrease or aduancement without proportion and lastly impunitie of offences procure commonly seditions in Estates and Monarchies Besides all these extreame pouertie and excesse of wealth idlenes and want of feare of the forraine enimie as we haue else-where declared change of Princes and lawes too great licence of seditious Orators and Preachers the naturall disposition of places where men are borne which maketh them more inclined to commotions and seditions as Historiographers haue noted of Genes Florence and Flanders with many other things may be said to be causes of ciuill warres of alterations changes and ruine of Estats and Policies Among which we note that shame is sometime a cause of change in the gouernment of Common-wealths but it is without tumult or sedition Thus it fell out in Herea a towne of Arcadia which was gouerned popularly where men of no account were elected Magistrates by others like themselues whereupon beeing mocked they changed their manner of election into chusing by lot that so they might haue a more lawefull excuse There was seene not long since in the Councell of France such a number of Maisters of Requests and of Secretaries of the Treasure that very shame caused them to be sent away bicause it was not meete to entreat of great and waightie matters before such a multitude Negligence likewise breedeth the change and ouerthrow of a politike Estate There
went about to pull downe Images But I am of this opinion yet readye to yeeld to a better iudgement that if men were honest and vpright and walked in their calling holily they would neuer fight among themselues for religion And if there had beene no other cause mingled therwith in our ciuill wars we should not haue had experiēce of those miseries which daily ouer-whelme vs. The authoritie of a holie and free Councell may by the grace of God end all these dissentious in the meane time let euery one seeke by good life and amendment of manners to serue for a light to those that are out of the way laying aside all part-takings forgetting all iniuries and taking vp againe our first vnitie concord friendship Yea I doubt not but that a Prince embracing with a true zeale the opinion of his religion and neglecting the contrarye would abolish it without force or constraint if God maintain it not For the minds of men resolued in a religion are more confirmed therin if they be resisted but shrinke of themselues if compulsion be not vsed Now for the end and conclusion of our discourse laying a part the causes of seditions and ciuil wars which bring alteration and ouerthrow many times to Estates and Monarchies whereof we haue particularly intreated we will heere comprehend and reduce to a certaine number the causes of the changes of all Common-wealths namely when the posteritie of Princes faileth and the greatest amongst them enter into ciuill warre for the Estate when most of the subiects are extreme poore and a few exceeding rich when the diuision of offices and honors are vnequall or else through extreame ambition and desire of commanding through the reuenge of iniuries through the crueltie and oppression of tyrants through the feare of chasticement which some haue that deserue it through the change of lawes and religion through the greedie desire that some haue to enioy at wil those pleasures which they seeke after lastly through the expulsion of such as defile the places of honor with excessiue and beastly pleasures All these things breede the change corruption and finall ouetthrow of flourishing Estates and great Monarchies and therefore all Princes Gouernors and politike Rulers ought carefully to looke vnto them The ende of the sixteenth daies worke THE SEVENTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of the preseruation of Estats and Monarchies and of remedies to keepe them from sedition Chap. 65. ASER. WIsedome saith Lactantius is giuen of God to all men that euery one according to his abilitie and capacitie might seeke after things vnknowne and examine that which he knoweth And we must not thinke that such as haue gone before vs many yeeres and ages did so possesse and vse hir that she is now lesse forceable in vs. She cannot be wholy possessed no more than the light of the Sunne and as the Sunne is the light of our eies so is wisedome the light of mans hart If your delight thē saith the wise man be in thrones and scepters O kings of the people honor wisedome that ye may raigne for euer Truly she is necessarie prouision for them that would raigne that they may do it woorthily and safely maintaine their estate yea she is no lesse requisite in euery calling For she illuminateth and sharpneth the discourse of reason by the knowledge of things she ruleth and conducteth the will to that which is the true and onely Good Therefore seeing that wisedome which is asmuch to say in regard of vs as the searching out of the truth is both offered and needefull for all men euery one ought to be stirred vp to imbrace it with a burning zeale and affection that he may bring foorth the fruits of perfect charitie by applying it next after the seruice of God to the common profite of men Which thing seeing it hath prouoked our yong and vnexperienced yeeres to vtter our former Morall and Politicall discourses and to handle yesterday the causes that breede change and ruine to Estates and Monarchies although such high matters surpasseth the capacitie of our vnderstanding yet let vs my Companions follow with the same zeale our venturous enterprise and as we haue profited in the schoole of this selfe same wisedome let vs enter into the consideration of those meanes and remedies that are contrary to the causes of corruption in policies and that may serue to their preseruation Albeit they may be knowne by the same causes that corrupt them seeing contrary effects proceede from contrary causes and corruption is contrary to preseruation But the vnderstanding of this matter will be more cleare and profitable heereby to them that will take the benefite thereof AMANA If all callings were content with their owne fortune and goods if they would abstaine from other mens goods and from offering them wrong if they would be more intentiue to amend their owne life than to reprehend others and submit them-selues willingly to the obedience of their Magistrats lawes and ordinances I thinke it would be a meane to cause euery Monarchie to flourishe and to continue happie a longe time ARAM. Equalitie said Solon neuer breedeth sedition in the gouernment of a Common-wealth but is the nursing mother of peace and concord and the maintainer of loue whereby the vnitie of subiects is preserued But as the graue and destruction are neuer glutted according to the saying of the wise man so mens eies are neuer satisfied But the discourse of this matter heere propounded belongeth to thee ACHITOB. ACHITOB. That great louer of knowledge and vertue Ptolomy king of Egypt as he feasted one day seuen Embassadors of the best and most flourishing Common-wealthes in his time reasoned with them about their gouernments that hee might knowe which of them had the best policie and was furnished with the best lawes and moste commendable customes The disputation was long and the matter throughly debated amonge them with manye reasons But Ptolomy being desirous to bee instructed by them in the best and rarest pointes necessarye for the preseruation of an Estate prayed them to propounde euerye one three of those customes and lawes that were moste perfect in his Common-wealth The Embassadour of the Romanes beganne and sayde Wee haue the Temples in great respect and reuerence wee are very obedient to our Gouernours and we punish wicked men and euill liuers seuerely The Carthaginian Embassadour said In the Common-wealth of Carthage the Nobles neuer cease fighting nor the Common-people and Artificers labouring nor the Philosophers teaching The Sicilian sayd In our Common-wealth iustice is exactly kept merchandise exercised with truth and all men account themselues equall The Rhodian sayd At Rhodes old men are honest yoong men shamefast and women solitarie and of fewe wordes The Athenian sayd In our Common-wealth rich men are not suffered to be diuided into factions nor poore men to be idle nor the Gouernours to be ignorant The Lacedemonian sayd In Sparta enuie raigneth not for all are equall
euery liuing creature to loue that place where it tooke beginning The sauage beastes saith Cassiodorus loue woods and forests birds loue the ayre fishes the sea and riuers men loue the originall place of their birth and being in a worde both men and beastes loue those places where they purpose to liue and to continue long He that is more in loue saith Aristotle with his priuate profite than with publike wealth looseth the name of a good citizen and taketh vnto him the name of a wicked subiect Therfore euery one both great and small ought to dedicate all good gifts in them to the benefit of their country louing their fellow-subiects exercising their charges callings faithfully It is their dutie also manfully to defend the common-wealth against all forraine incursions and he that defendeth his countrey defendeth himselfe and his He that refuseth to die as Cicero saith in the defence of his countrey dieth togither with it which being ouerthrowen the inhabitants are therewithall destroyed No man therefore ought to feare daunger in defence of his countrey and it is better to die for many than with many They that die said Iustinian the emperour in the defence of their Common-wealth liue alwaies by glorie Therefore euery one ought to arme himselfe with manhood which is one kind of Heroicall fortitude as the morall Philosophers say that he may be seruiceable for the safegard of his countrey in time of need and of a iust war The nobilitie is the ornament of euery Common-wealth For commonly the nobles are of greater abilitie of better behauior more ciuill than the common people than artificers and men of base estate bicause they haue beene brought vp from their infancie in al ciuilitie and amongst men of honor Moreouer to haue a noble hart inuincible to resist the enimie great to exercise liberalitie curteous and honest in talk bold to execute gentle to forgiue are graces vertues proceeding from honestie which are not so commonly found among men of base condition as among those that come of good ancient stocks For this cause there was in Rome a law called prosapia that is to say the law of linage wherby it was ordained that they which descended from the race of the Fuluians Torquates Fabritians should haue the Consulship when it so fell out that the Senate disagreed about the election of Consuls In like maner they that came of Lycurgus in Lacedaemon of Cato in Vtica of Thucidides in Galatia were not onely priuiledged in their own Prouinces but also greatly honoured of all nations The defence and preseruation of the countrey belongeth chiefly to the nobles as they that haue greater vse and practise of weapons than the common people haue whom God nature haue subiected to them that they should be their defendors protectors In this sort then is the Common-wealth decked and adorned of the nobilitie by their means honored of neighbor-friends and feared of hir enimies Next it must be ordred profitably Where no order is there is all confusiō And therfore as a good father of a familie taketh order in his house and a Pilote in his ship so the magistrate must appoint an order in his citie common-wealth For all communitie is confusion if by order it be not brought to vnitie Order is the due disposition of all things The order of the heauens times seasons teacheth vs among other things the wisdom of the Creator who hath appointed all diuine celestiall and earthly things by a wonderful dispositiē Neither doth any thing make magistrates of common-welths more admired commended than the good order which they establish in them The end of all good order tendeth to profit as the end of confusion to losse and destruction And if profit be to be considered in any thing it is chiefly to be thought vpon in a politike body The more common generall a good thing is saith Aristotle so much the more is it to be esteemed aboue another Therefore if it be a good thing and cōmendable to appoint a profitable order in a house or ship it is a great deale better yea most excellent to order a Common-wealth profitably Last of all a Common-wealth must be gouerned prudently Gouernment presupposeth order bicause no man can rightly and duly gouerne without order Gouernement is a right disposition of those thinges of which a man taketh charge vpon him to bring them to a conuenient ende Euery Monarch Emperour King Prince Lord Magistrate Prelate Iudge and such like may bee called a Gouernour in whom wisedome patience and diligence are necessarilie required for the discharge of their dueties Neither may ignoraunce or any errour be receyued for sufficient excuse of him that hath taken vpon him a publike charge and much lesse if he required and sought for it himselfe Yea he may bee charged with the least fault especiallie when it concerneth the estate or some great matter wherein the Common-wealth hath interest For this cause wee sayd that the Common-wealth must bee gouerned with Prudence But Prudence sayth Aristotle presupposeth wisedome and is the right reason of thinges that are to bee done Without Prudence saith Xenophon wee can haue no vse at all of vertue For in the administration eyther of priuate or publique matters wee can come to no good ende without the direction of Prudence which teacheth vs to prouide for thinges to come to order thinges present and to call to minde thinges past Wee haue heretofore discoursed more at large both of that vertue and also of others requisite in euery magistrate for the faithfull execution of his charge Whereunto we wil adde this thing only that euery gouernor must remember that lordship empire kingdom maiestie dominion and power are rather heathen than christian wordes and that the empire of a christian prince is nothing else but a iust administration protection and meane to do good Therfore when he beholdeth an innumerable multitude of his subiectes he is to thinke that so many millions of men depend of his carefulnes not to do with them what pleaseth him but to labour and trauell to make them better than when he receiued them And in all things wherein the safetie of the common-wealth consisteth whether it be in preuenting the causes of change therein or in redressing seditions which trouble it he must always resolue with himselfe to bring his purpose to passe how difficult soeuer the way be releasing rather somewhat of the extremitie of right as Lucius Papinius said seeing the quietnes and safetie of the people is the chiefest and most vpright lawe among men that can be So that when the Common-wealth is in danger or in necessitie we must freely bestow vpon that bloud and name which is commō to vs with all the members of the politike body whatsoeuer cannot bee kept backe without violating that common kindred and the estate of the common-wealth So that if
the Romanes cleane contrary to Lycurgus was so farre in loue with peace and referred all his lawes in such sort thereunto that during his raigne there was neither warre nor ciuil dissention nor any motion of noueltie in the gouernment of the Common-wealth Much lesse was there any enmitie or enuie conceiued against him particularly or conspiracie against his person through desire of ruling but all occasions of war being extinguished and remooued the Temple of Ianus was continually kept shut for the space of fortie yeeres which was a signe of peace amongest the Romanes For not onely at Rome the people were tractable through the example of the iustice clemencie goodnes of king Numa but also in the townes round about there was a maruellous alteration of manners insomuch that as the beames of a cleare Sunne are dispersed abroad so there was shedde in the hartes of men a secrete desire to liue in peace to labour the grounde to bring vppe their children quietly and to serue and honour their gods And Plutarke writeth in his life that in his time there was nothing but feastes plaies sacrifices and bankets throughout all Italy so that a man might say that the wisedome of Numa was a liuely fountaine of all goodnes and honestie out of which many riuers issued to water all Italy and that his peaceable prudence was communicated as it were from hande to hande vnto the whole worlde Nowe although these two men haue beene greatly praised and commended for sundrie rare vertues yet all men approoue not the extremities which they followed in this forme of gouernment For as he is pernitions that mooueth and continueth warre onely to subdue his neighbours to inlarge the borders of his countrie and to vsurpe other mens right which sauoureth more of brutishnes than of humanitie so a long peace bringeth with it many discommodities making men insolent commonly through too great prosperitie as also nice lauish and effeminate through abundance of wealth and idlenes Therefore Plato Aristotle and Polybius reprooue Lycurgus bicause he propounded onely the exercise of the vertue of warre to his Citizens which is the least of those foure that are necessarie for the establishment and preseruation of euery Empire saying that all his lawes were wel ordained to make men valiant but not iust temperat and prudent On the other side they that are too much affected to peace and quietnes weaken themselues by little and little before they be aware and by their example mollifie the courage of youth whereby they lie open to the iniuries of those that will inuade them and so loose their libertie not being able to defend their persons and goods But as the world is compounded of 4. elements by whose mixture it is so made that it is both seene and touched withall is preserued in such loue concord that it cannot be dissolued by any other thā by him that made it so euery publike Estate must be established by 4. vertues by whose harmony agreement it is preserued And as the fire the earth were first created to make the whol frame subiect to sight feeling and then the water the aire mingled with them that the dissimilitude of those extreames might be tempered according to proportion so fortitude and iustice are first required in the ordaining of Common-wealths bicause they cannot continue without law and strength and next prudence and temperance being ioined with them moderate the rigour and remisnes of both Againe as by these natures of which all things are made being dispersed aboue and beneath and on all sides the world is preserued and continued so that light things are kept from ascending through the waight of heauy things contrariwise heauy things held aloft that they fal not so by these 4. vertues dispersed amongst men a Common-wealth wel instituted guided by discipline is maintained And although by reason of the varietie and change of humane affaires it cannot continue so long so adorned as the worlde yet it will abide many yeeres Moreouer as the elements are bred one of another alter to fro going into returning continually from the first matter which receiueth them into it selfe for which cause they cannot be seene simple but mixed wherupon ariseth such a tēperature of al things that they wither not by drougth nor burne with heate neither are ouer-whelmed with too great moisture nor grow stiff with excessiue cold so these vertues whereby cities are instituted must be mingled one with another agree togither for their mutuall preseruation wisedome beeing President ouer them in which they are all contained For they cannot maintaine them-selues one without another nor keepe their vigor and dignitie Iustice without temperance is rigour fortitude separated from iustice is rashnes and crueltie and without prudence iustice is but craft and suttletie To conclude temperance without fortitude ought rather to be called cowardlines and nicenes whereby we see that they are so interlaced and depend in such sort one of another that they cannot be separated If it fal out otherwise that estate wherein such disorder taketh place must of necessitie be vtterly ouerthrowne or changed Out of these learned Philosophicall discourses we will draw a very good lesson namely that in euery Estate wel instituted for continuance this temperature of the foure vertues must necessarily be kept that men may be instructed howe to gouerne themselues well both in time of peace and of warre and obserue such a moderation therein that knowing how to deale in both times they may be ready and fit for warre when necessity vrgeth hauing this end before them to attaine to peace which must alwaies be preferred as rest is before trauell and good before euill as we shal easily vnderstand by considering their contrary effects It is certaine that Philosophie is best exercised in time of peace For when there is no trouble of war the spirite is quiet and fit for euery honest kind of rest so that arts and sciences go well forward lawes are in force iustice flourisheth vertue sheweth hir effects better vice languisheth the zeale of pietie encreaseth the discipline of the Church is authorised both the noble and meane man preserueth and augmenteth his wealth trade and trafficke is free briefly euery one receiueth good commoditie and so consequently the whole bodie of the Common-wealth But if we looke to those effects which the time of warre commonly bringeth foorth the desire of hauing is awakened couetousnes encreaseth iustice falleth to the ground force and violence beareth sway spoiling raigneth riot is set at libertie wicked men are in authoritie good men oppressed innocencie troden vnder foote maidens and wiues defloured countries wasted houses burnt Churches destroied tombs broken downe goods spoiled murders committed all vertue banished from among men vice honoured the lawes contemned and broken the seruice of God forsaken the estate of the Church derided the nobilitie and people burdened
vpon no other vse than vpō the paiment of his men of war as also to keepe that money apart from his ordinary receipts But bicause this is not duely obserued the people are doubly vexed for they pay their money and yet are polled on all sides Notwithstanding all these ordinarie charges the poore pesants would thinke themselues happie if they were discharged by erecting victualing tents for the men of warre as they haue been forced to doe of late yeeres Now what good issue can be hoped for when the souldiors through an vnbrideled licence sack spoile and burne the poore subiects This hath alwayes been seene that houses families kingdoms and Empires haue come to ruine and pouertie bicause the poore were contemned and the subiects giuen ouer to the robberies of souldiors The immoderate licence of the Pretorian souldiours who were to the emperors as the Ianitzaries are to the Turke and of other men of warre was no small helpe to ouerthrowe the Romane Empire For taking vpon them to elect Emperours at their pleasure one was chosen in one armie and an other else-where and presently murdered by those that had elected them Their insolencie also caused seditions and ciuill warres whereupon those kingdoms and countreys that were vnder the Romane obedience reuolted And it commeth to passe oftentimes that their vnruly behauiour incenseth the people in such sort against them that their destruction followeth As it hapned to all the Frenchmen that were in the I le of Sicilia in the yeere 1281. vpon Easter day at the first peale to Euensong at what time they were all put to death by a secret conspiracie for their insolencies and whoredoms whereupon this prouerbe doth yet remaine amongst vs The Sicilian Euensong There is no corner of this kingdom where the people being halfe mad through the iniuries receiued from the men of warre haue not committed infinite and cruell massacres We may not here forget to propound the wise and warlike discipline of Bellizarius lieutenaunt generall to the Emperor Iustinian who for valure and temperance was equall to the ancient Romanes as histories testifie of him which was the cause that he reconquered all Italy possessed by the Barbariās Not long since during the warre of Piemont which was a very schoole of vertue and of warrelike knowledge the pesaunt husbandman and artificer were suffered quietly at their worke the warre continuing betweene warriours onely for the possession and not the ruine of the countrey And as the people were then glad to receiue amongst them such armies so they dispaire no lesse at this day bicause all warlike discipline all policie both diuine and humane is in such sort extinguished yea all kind of humanitie and societie which is to be seen amongst barbarous people that it is lawfull for Frenchmen to sacke spoile and put to ransome Frenchmen that are many times of the same side faith and condition and that without punishment But let vs not looke for prosperitie and good successe in our enterprises before there be some other order and discipline obserued The ende of the seuenteenth dayes worke THE EIGHTEENTH DAIES WORKE Of the office and dutie of a Generall Chap. 69. ASER. THose men commonly prosper in their affairs that vnderstand them throughly and manage them well diligently considering aduisedly what hath beene heretofore that they may in some sort iudge of that which is to come bicause all worldly things haue euermore some agreement with the ages past Which commeth of this that beyng the works of men they haue had and will alwayes haue like formes and therfore must of necessitie haue like effectes But the cause of the good or euill successe of men in respect of mans nature consisteth in this that the meanes and maner of proceeding iumpe with the time wherein the very condition therof and the occasion offred is diligently to be obserued And if this consideration taketh place in all priuate affaires it is much more necessarie in warre wherein a light fault oftentimes procureth losse ouerthrow to a whole armie whose good or ill happe dependeth of the head and leader therof according as he is either woorthy or vnwoorthy of his charge My opinion therfore is my companions that we alleage in this place whatsoeuer we know belongeth to his duetie and office I propound now the discourse of this matter to you AMANA Men disdaine commonly to obey such as know not how to commaund well Therfore euery Generall of an armie ought to labour carefully that men may behold and see a certaine greatnes magnanimitie constancie in all his doings ARAM. A Generall must be had in estimation of his souldiors and of that reputation that they may giue credite to his prudence otherwise an army doth quickly become rebellious and troublesome to be guided But let vs learne more amply of ACHITOB whatsoeuer concerneth this matter ACHITOB. Lamachus a great Athenian captain sayd that no man must offend twise in warre bicause the faults are of so great waight that for the most part they bring with thē the ouerthrow of the state or losse of life to those that commit them and therefore that it was a hard and daungerous matter to haue experience thereof So that Prudence gotten by vse ought to bee hastened forward bicause it is deerly bought so long a cōming that oftentimes death preuenteth it It must be hastned forward by the diligent enquirie of those things that haue fallen out both before since our time that we may become wise by other mens perils For this cause it is very necessarie that whosoeuer taketh vpon him the honor of guiding an armie should exercise his minde as much in science and in the knowledge of histories as he doth his body in all martiall actes that so he may diligently obserue the deedes of famous personages see how they gouerned themselues in warres and examine the causes of their victory thereby to flie the one and to follow the other And bicause it is against reason that a well armed man should obey him that is vnarmed or that they should take the rudder out of the Pilots hand to saue the ship in a storme that haue no skill in sea-faring matters it is very requisite that whosoeuer vndertaketh to commaund an army should first haue gotten a good report of all men for his valure and greatnesse of courage whereby his authoritie will be reuerenced as being bestowed vpō one that is woorthy of it forasmuch as titles of dignitie do not honor men but men are an ornament to titles Now if souldiors haue conceiued a good opinion of the desert and valure of their captaine it will be as a sharpe spur to pricke them forward in well doing and cause them to honor to loue his commandements For true zeale of vertue that is to say the desire to imitate it is not imprinted in mens harts but through a singular good will reuerence towards that
partie that worketh the impression It was not then without good cause that the anciēts greatly esteemed the dignity of a General being ioined with prowes knowledge experience seeing the happy or vnhappy euents of warre ordinarily depend therof next to the chief cause proceeding frō God as we shewed yesterday what Titus Liuius wrote of the battel between the Romans the Latins For this reason Cimon a great mā of Athens said that he had rather haue an armie of Harts guided by a Lion than an armie of Lions hauing a Hart for their captaine Now if we desire to vnderstand in few words what maner of mē are most woorthy of such charges we may learne it by the answere that one of the wise Interpreters made to Ptolomie concerning this matter They said he that excell in prowesse and iustice and preferre the safetie of mens liues before victorie But to discourse more particularly of the dutie and office of the head of an armie Valerius Coruinus Generall of the Romans against the Samnites to whom he was redy to giue battell incouraged his souldiors to do well in few words and taught euery one how he should proceed to obtaine the place and degree of a captaine A man must consider well quoth he vnto them vnder whose conduction he entreth into battell whether vnder one that can cause himselfe to be heard as if hee were some goodly Oratour that hath a braue tongue but otherwise is a Nouice and vnskilfull in all points of warre or vnder such a one as hath skill himselfe to handle his weapon to marche first before the ensignes and to doe his duetie in the hottest of the fight I would not Souldiours that yee should follow my wordes but my deeds I set before you an example ioyned with instruction and discipline as he that hath gotten three Consulships with this arme not without exceeding prayse Hereby we learne that the ancient captaines and Heads of armies had this laudable custome to make Orations to their men of warre thereby to make them more courageous as appeereth in all histories both Greeke and Latin This fashion is now lost togither with the rest of warlike discipline at least wise there is no account made of it in France whereupon it commeth to passe that many great men are but badly followed and serued in warre For as he that standeth in neede of the faithfull seruice of men ought to winne them rather by gentlenesse and good turnes than by authoritie and rigour so he that would haue prompt and resolute souldiours for warre that hee may vse their seruice in tyme of neede must make much of them and allure them to his obedience by liberalitie and by good and gracious speeches For in truth they must be good friends and affectionate seruitours vnto a man that setting all excuses aside of which there is neuer any want are to fight for him they must neither be enuious at his prosperitie nor traiterous in his aduersitie And there is no doubt but that in a matter of great importaunce the graue exhortations of a Generall grounded vpon good reasons and examples greatly encourage and harten a whole armie in so much that it will make them as hardie as Lions that before were as fearefull as sheepe Moreouer if he that is esteemed and iudged to be valiaunt and noble-minded sheweth foorth effectes aunswerable thereunto he doubteth the courage and strength of his armie as contrarywise the least shew of cowardlinesse discouragement or astonishment shewed by him draweth after it the vtter ruine of his souldiours But to returne to the duetie and office of a good Captaine of an armie as the best worke that a man can doe is first to bee honest and vertuous and than to take order that himselfe and his familie may haue aboundantly all things necessarie for this life so euery wise and well aduised leader of men of warre must dispose and prepare himselfe to the same ende and foresee that nothing be wanting vnto them neither munitiōs of warre nor victuals He must not thinke to make new prouision when necessitie vrgeth him but euen than when he is best furnished he must bee carefull for the time to come Wherby taking away all occasiō of cōplaining from the souldior he shall be better beloued and obeyed and more feared and redoubted of his enimies To this purpose Cyrus said to his chiefe men of warre My friends I reioyce greatly that you and your men are contented that ye haue abundance of all things and that we haue wherewith to do good to euery one according to his vertue Notwithstanding we must consider what were the principall causes of these good things and if yee looke narowly ye shall find that watching trauell continuance in labor and diligence haue giuē vs these riches Therfore ye must shew your selues vertuous also hereafter holding this for certaine that ye shall obtaine great store of riches and contentation of mind by obedience constancie vertue sustaining of trauell and by courage in vertuous and perillous enterprises Moreouer a good captaine of an armie must be very carefull that he neuer suffer his host to be idle but cause his souldiors either to annoy the enimie or to doe themselues good It is a burthensome thing to nourish an idle body much more a whole family but especially an armie and not to keepe them occupied His meaning that warreth of necessitie or through ambition is to get or to keep that which is gotten and to proceed in such sort that he may in-rich and not impouerish his countrey Therfore both for conquering and for the maintenance and preseruation of that which is his owne already he must necessarily beware of vnprofitable expences and do all things for common commoditie So that who so euer would throughly put in practise these two points he had need to follow that custome which the ancient Romanes vsed namely at the beginning to make them short and terrible as we vse to say For entring into the field with great power and strength they dispatched their warre speedily within few dayes insomuch that all their iourneis made against the Latines Samnites Tuscans were ended some in six others in ten and the longest in twentie dayes And although afterward they were constrained to keep the fields a longer time by reason of the distance of places and countreys yet they did not therefore giue ouer the following of their first purpose but ended as soone as they could their enterprises of warre by quick battels according as place and time suffred True it is that a prudent captaine must be skilfull to take the enimie at aduantage but if it be so that he cannot the better and more vertuous man he thinks himselfe and those that follow him to be so much the more paines is required of him for his owne and their preseruation as men vse to keep safely those things which they account deerest and
we consider that this tabernacle of our body which is weake vicious corruptible casuall and inclining to putrefaction is dissolued and as it were pulled downe by death that it may afterward be restored to a perfect firme incorruptible and heauenly glory shal not this certain assurance compel vs to desire earnestly that which nature flieth and abhorreth If we consider that by death we are called home from a miserable exile to dwel in our countrey yea in our celestial coūtrey shall we not conceiue singular consolation thereby But some man may say that al things desire to continue in their being For the same cause I say we ought to aspire to the immortalitie to come where we haue a setled estate which is not seene at all vpon earth How commeth it to passe that the bruite beasts and sencelesse creatures euen wood and stones hauing as it were some feeling of their vanitie corruption are in expectation of the iudgement day that they may be deliuered from their corruption and yet we that haue some light of nature boast that we are illuminated by the spirit of God lift not vp our eies aboue this earthly putrefaction when we talk of our beeing But what shal we say of those men whose number alas is very great who quenching all natural light opposing themselues directly against the testimonies of truth which presse their consciences sound daily in their eares dare yet doubt of yea impudently deny this day of iudgement and the change of this mortall life into a second which is immortal If the word of god so expresly set down for our assurance be of so litle credit that it wil not satissie them yet how is it that they are not conuinced by the writings of so many Ethnike and heathen Philosophers who make the immortalitie of the soule out of doubt by the consideration of the being of this life conclude a iudgemēt to come which bringeth perpetuall happines and felicitie to the soules of the blessed euerlasting miserie paine to them that are vnhappy Plato vnder the name of Socrates may serue for a fit teacher for such Epicures and Atheists that wil not heare the heauenly word of the almighty Frō whence commeth it saith he that we see so many wicked mē passe the course of their days in worldly happines and fclicitie and die in great rest quietnes whereas on the other side so many good men liue die in great afflictions most hard calamities The reason is bicause God doth not punish and chastise all the wicked vpon the earth to the end men may know that there is a iudgement to come wherin the vngodlines of such men shal be corrected Neither doth he recompence all good men with blessings in this world to the ende they may hope that there is a place in the other life where the vertuous shal be rewarded Likewise he doth not punish all the wicked nor reward al good men here beneath least men should thinke that the vertuous folowed vertue in hope of a carnal earthly reward or eschewed vice for feare of punishmēts torments in this world For so vertue should be no more vertue seing there is no action that may cary the surname of vertuous if the intent of him that doth it be in hope of some earthly carnal recompence not for the loue of vertue it self that he may be accepted of God and so conceiue hope of eternal rewards in the other life Also he punisheth and correcteth some wicked men vpon earth rewardeth some good men least if good men only were afflicted the wicked suffred in quiet men might be brought to beleeue that there were no prouidence that the diuine nature had no care of vs so all men would giue ouer themselues to folow iniustice By the sequele of this speech Plato inferreth proueth that there is one God that hath care ouer his cretures that naturally euery spirit loueth him better that striueth to resemble him in manners fashiōs of liuing that reuerēceth honoreth him thā those that feare him not but despise him whose conditions are altogither vnlike his Moreouer he prooueth euidētly that good men in feare reuerence of the Deitie striue to imitate it by good works done to the benefit and safetie of others and contrarywise that the wicked despise God and all lawes both diuine and humane whereupon it followeth that God loueth good men and hateth the wicked And bicause we see that good mē are subiect to calamity ignominy in this world we must therfore vndoubtedly confesse that there is another life after this wherein good men are eternally rewarded the wicked punished Otherwise it would folow that God cared more for the wicked than for the good which were too absurd to graunt From hence that diuine Philosopher draweth this conclusion that the life of a wise man ought to be a perpetual meditation of death and that the very feare to die not any desire to liue is that which maketh death fearefull to them that know not the immortalitie of the soule Now then ought not these men to blush for shame that dare doubt of the second life and future iudgement when they heare this discourse of an Ethnike and Pagan destitute of that true light of God and sincere religion which is manifested to vs in Iesus Christ Truly nothing is more cleere in all the holy scripture than that as before the first day mētioned in Genesis all things were possessed of Eternitie so that there was neither time nor yeere nor moneth nor season but all things were in that Eternitie so when the last day shal come all shall be eternall for the felicitie of the good torment of the wicked But to returne to our speech of death the worde of God giueth vs to vnderstand of three kinds of death the one is the separation of the soule from the body with the dissolution of the body vntill the resurrection and of this is our present discourse The second is the death of sinne as it is said oftentimes that they are dead that nourish themselues in sinne The third is called in the Apocalyps the second death and sometimes eternal death vnto which the wicked shal be condemned in the last iudgemēt Therfore to cōtinue our speech of corporal temporal death if the doctrine of the sonne of God be neuer so little apprehended of vs by faith we shall see cleerely enough that the faithful ought to haue that in great request which to humane sense seemeth neither happie nor to be desired seeing it turneth to their saluation It belongeth to him that will not goe vnto Iesus Christ to feare death and to be vnwilling to goe to Christ is a badge of such a one as wil not raign with him What traueller hauing passed many dangerous wayes reioyceth not when he draweth neer to his countrey