let him liue The matter beyng searched and examined it was founde that he came to sue for his twoo fellowes that were taken sleeping in the watche which after whipping shoulde haue bin deliuered vnto the enimies And so it came to passe that the souldier escaped death his fellowes deliuered from punishment and the Emperor of clemencie obteined immortall renoune Of all which premisses me thinketh I gather vnto my selfe a safetie and protection from all iniurie bothe of worde and deede of all manner of men not vnreasonable which in this matter haue vsed but the office of messenger interpreter soliciter but to my owne payne and thy profite beeing vtterly without doubt to be requited with thy ingratitude And whereas but with suche time as was rather stretched vnto the liking of him that myght command them mete for the matter I haue not onely corrected but also performed the translation of the firste booke of the familiar Epistles of Gueuara that were not translated and further finding certaine Epistles and disputations of the sayde auctor by no man as yet translated wādring and as it might seeme taking leaue I thought it more conuenient to entertaine the same with my simple English speach thā to hazard the losse of so rare singular diuine most necessary doctrine therin cōteyned although but with my poore abilitie flatly confessing that I want both glosse hew of rare eloquence vsed in the polishing of the rest of his workes neuerthelesse most certaynely affirming that it goeth agreable vnto the author thereof For due commendations whereof for want of tyme I shall yeelde no other wordes than be conteyned in my former Preface as followeth Being furnished so fully with syncere doctrine so vnvsed eloquence so high a stile so apte similitudes so excellent discourses so conuenient examples so profounde sentences so old antiquities so ancient histories such varietie of matter so pleasant recreations so strange things alledged certaine parcelles of Scripture with such dexteritie hādled that it may hardly be discerned whether shal be greater either thy pleasure by reding or profit by following the same Like as in a most curious shop furnished with incōparable drugs most precious spices both to preserue health as also to expell most pestilent diseases euen so heerein is plentifully to be founde things not only precious to conserue but also to remedy the contagion of any estate both in peace warre As rules for Kings to rule counsellers to counsell magistrates to gouerne prelates to practise captaines to execute souldiers to performe the married to follow the prosperous to prosecute and the poore in aduersitie to be cōforted wherein he delicately toucheth with most curious sayings no lesse philosophie how to write or talke with all men in all matters at large with matter so apte so learned so merry and also so graue with instruction of behauiour with thy better with thy equal with thy friend with thy foe with thy wife seruaunte and children That for prayse and aduancement thereof wordes most certainly and also tyme may want but not matter and iust occasion to commend the same Commending the rest vnto thy good consideration and yeelding my selfe vnto thy mildnesse grace and fauour I commit thee to the liuing God to whome be prayse for euermore ¶ The familiar Epistles of Sir Antony of Gueuara Bishop of Mondonedo Preacher and Chronicler to Charles the fifth ¶ An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon at the triumphs when the French King was taken VVherin the Author doth perswade to vse his clemency in recompence of so great a victory S.C.C.R.M. SOlon Solonio cōmanded in his lawes to the Athenians that on the day they had ouercome any battayle they should offer vnto the Gods great Sacrifices and giue vnto men large rewards to the end that against other warres they might finde the Gods fauourable and men of willing mindes Plutarch sayth that when the Greekes remayned Conquerours in that renowmed battaile of Marathon they sent vnto the temple of Diana in Ephesus to offer so much Siluer that it was to be doubted whether there remayned so much more in all Greece When Camilius ouercame the Etrurians and Volsians mortall enemies to the Romaines all the women of Rome did not forget to sende to the Oracle of Apollo which stoode in Asia as much Golde and Siluer as they had in possession without reseruing any one iewell When the Consull Silla was Conquerour of the valiant King Mithridates he conceyued so great pleasure in his hart that not contented to offer to the God Mars all the spoyle gotten of the enemies he offered also a viall of his owne bloud The famous and glorious Iephthah Duke of the Hebrewes made a solempne vowe that if God gaue him victorious returne frō the warres he then had in hand he would offer in the temple both the bloud and life of his onely daughter the which vow as he promised so he accomplished Of these examples it may be gathered what and how many thanks Princes ought too giue vnto God for the triumphes victories and bounties hée giueth them for though it be in the hands of kings to begin warre it is in the hands of God only to giue victory There is nothing that moueth god to be lesse carefull for vs than the ingratitude of a good turne receiued For the good things wée receiue of men they will wée recompence or deserue them but God will that wée gratifie and not forget them Princes moste chiefly haue cause to beware they forgette not benefites receiued of GOD bycause the ingratitude of a benefite receiued maketh them incapable and vnworthy of diuine fauour in time to come The forgetfull ingrate or vnkind Prince neither God doth delight too helpe or men so serue All this haue I sayde vnto your imperial Maiestie by occasion of this great victory ye haue obtained at Pauia where your armye hath taken Fraunces the Frenche King who in his owne galleys was brought prisoner into Spayne A case so graue a newes so new a victorie so seldom heard of a fortune so accomplished is both terrible to the world and brings your Maiesty in debt which debt is to giue God thankes for the victory and to recompence the conquerours of the battayle By this it may be apparant to your Maiesty that there is nothing wherin fortune is lesse constant than in martiall affayres since the French king being present and also taken in his owne person with all the potentates of Italy did lose the battayle where dyed all the nobles of Fraunce Much shold your Maiesty erre once to thinke the victory to be gotten by your pollicy or obtayned by your power or els to haue happened by chaunce For a déede so famous an act so glorious and a case so heroicall as this is doth not fall out vnder fortune but is only giuen by diuine prouidence Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi If Dauid being a
Romaines neuer possessed or inhabited The Prince Iugurth of the age of .xxij. yeares came from Africa to the warres of Numantia in fauor of Scipio and did there suche and so notable feates in armes that he deserued with Scipio to be verie priuate and in Rome to be esteemed Al the Historiographers that write of the warres of Numantia saye that the Romaines did neuer receyue so muche hurte or lose so many people or were at so greate charges neyther receyued so great shame as they did in that conqueste of Numantia And the reason they giue for this is for that all the other warres hadde their beginning vppon some iniurie except that of Numantia whiche was of méere malice or enuie To say that the Citie of Samorra was in tyme past Numantia is a thing verie fabulous and worthie to be laughed at bicause if stories do not deceiue vs from the time that Numātia was in the world vntil the time that Samorra begā to be there did passe seuen hundreth thirtie thrée yeres If Plinie Pomponius Ptholomaeus Strabo had said that Numantia was néere to Dwero there had bin a doubt whether it had bin Soria or Samorra But these Historiographers doe saye that the foundation thereof was néere to the head of Dwero wherof it may be gathered that séeing Samorra is more than thirtie leagues from the heade of Dwero Soria is but fiue that it is Soria and not Samorra There be thrée opinions where the situation of the citie of Numantia should bée in whiche some doe saye that it was where nowe is Soria others affirme that it was on the other side of the bridge vpon an hill some do auouche that it was a league from thence on a certain place named Garray and in my iudgement as I consider of the thrée situations this opinion is moste true bycause there is founde greate antiquities and there doth appeare auncient greate buyldings Those that wrote of Numantia were Plinius Strabo Ptholomaeus Trogus Pompeius Pullio Trebellius Vulpicius Isodorus Instinus and Marcus Ancus A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynigo Valasco in the whiche the Authour doth perswade that in the taking of Founterabie he first make proofe to profite his wisedome before he do experiment his Fortune MOst renoumed Lorde and Captaine to Caesar about the dead of this night Peter Herro deliuered mée a Letter from your Lordship the whiche althogh it had not come firmed or with superscription by the letter I should haue knowen it to be written with your owne hand bicause it conteined few lines many blots While you are in the warres it is tollerable to write on grosse paper with crooked lynes euill ynke and blotted letters For good warriers doe more esteme to sharpen their launces than to make pennes Sir you write vnto me that I should pray for your health and victorie for that at the commaundemente of Caesar you goe to besiege Founterabie which was taken by the Admirall of Fraunce the same béeyng of the Crowne of Castile Thys youre seruaunt preaceth with such diligence for this letter that I shal be forced to answer more at large than I can and muche lesse than I woulde As touchynge Founterabie I doe certaynly beléeue that within these two yeares the takyng and susteynyng of it hathe coste the French King more than it would haue cost to haue bought or else to haue buylt it Wherof there is no cause to haue maruell for that great Lordes and Princes do spend much more in susteyning the opinion they holde than the reason that they vse In all christendome at this presente I fynde not an enterprise more dangerous than this of Founterabie For either you muste ouercome the French king or else displease the Emperor I wold say that ye take in hand to deale with the might of the one and with the fauour or disgrace of the other To be a Captain generall is an estate verie honorable and profitable although ryght delicate For notwithstanding hée doe all that he can and all that is méete to bee done it by the mishap of his sinnes hée giue any battel and carie not away the victorie it is not sufficiēt that the sorowfull man doe lose his lyfe but also they séeke some faulte by the whiche they say he lost that battell Be it that euery man be what he can and fight what he may yet neuer to this day haue we séene a conquered Captain called wyse neyther him that ouercame termed rashe It is verie good that the Captaines which fight and the Physitions that cure be wise but it is muche better that they be fortunate For these bée two things wherein many tymes wysedome fayleth and fortune preuayleth Sir you do take in hand an enterprise iuste and verie iust bicause from tyme out of mynde to this day wée haue neuer heard or séene the towne of Founterabie possessed by any king of France neyther any king of Castile to haue giuen it them In suche wyse that it is a conscience for them to holde it and a shame for vs not to take it Sir consider well for your owne part that a warre so iust be not lost through some secrete offence bycause the disgraces and ouerthrowes that do happen in such like enterprises doe not chaunce bicause the warre is not iust but for that the conductours thereof bée vniuste The warre the Hebrewes made with the Philistines in the mount of Gilboa was a war verie iust but king Saule that had the conduction therof was a Kyng verie vniuste for whose cause the Lorde did permit that noble battayle to be lost to the ende the kyng should be slayne in the same But as the iudgements of God are in them selues so high and of vs so vnknowen many times it dothe happen that a king or prince doth chose out one of his seruāts to make him general of an armie to the ende he be honored and his state more amended than the rest And on the other side God doth permit that there where he thought to obtayn most honor good happe from thence he dothe escape moste shamed and confounded Let it not bée thought of Princes and of great men that séeing they woulde not abstaine from sinne they shall more than others auoyd the payne For God doth compasse them in suche wise that they come to make paymente in one houre of that whiche they committed in all their life In the house of God there hath not is not neyther shall be merite without reward or fault without punishment And if it hap that presentely wée sée not the good rewarded eyther the euill chastised it is not for that God doth forget it but vntill an other tyme to deferre it The Marshall of Nauarre with his band of Agramontenses wée vnderstande is in the defence of Founteraby it séemeth not to be yll counsell to make youre siege openlye and to practise wyth them secretely For although they be nowe seruauntes to the Frenche Kyng
murdred and buried vpon whose Tomb was placed this Epitaph with his armes whiche englished importeth as followeth Here lyeth the valiant Athaolphus with sixe of his children issued of Gothick bloud this was the first that aduentured to enter Spayne with an Army slayne with his owne men and buried with great teares in the great Citie of Barcelone Sée here the exposition of your Epitaph and the cause of the fame It resteth now to reueale the occasion of the destruction of Spayne and how the Christians lost the same to the Paynims concerning which you muste vnderstande that in the tyme of the raigne of king Roderic whiche was of the line of the Gothes there was in Spayne a Prince called Iulian Earle of Cepta and Lord of Consuegra whiche had a daughter of excellent beautie and incomparable wisedome named Caba Thys Damesell beyng sent to the Courte to attende vppon the Quéene to serue hir according to the manner of the Countrey was cause of the destruction of Spaine For the king being surprised with hir loue when shée woulde not agrée to accomplishe his inordinate desires determined by force if not by loue to inioy hir béeyng thus drowned in extreme passions hée defloured hir within his royall Palace The which when Count Iulian vnderstoode hée was hyghly offended therewith and féeling himselfe muche iniured thereby determined reuenge vpon the kings owne person to the ende he myght make a perpetuall remembrance of the wrong done by the Prince to him and his defloured daughter This Counte Iulian kepte secretely in his stomacke the mortall hatred hée bare vnto King Roderic and when hée sawe conuenient tyme hée made semblance to passe into Africa with an armie whiche the King had committed vnto him where with to repulse the Moores whiche then inuaded the borders of Spaine And hauing conferred of his determinations with Muzza Liuetenaunt generall of that Prouince to the greate Miramamolyn Vlit hée secretely practyzed with him in this sorte that if hée woulde yéelde him sufficient supplye of souldiers hée woulde put all Spaine vnder his obedience The whiche when Muzza vnderstoode hée gaue intelligence thereof to King Miramamolyn who did not onely in curteous wise accepte the offer of the Count but also sent him a sufficient army to bring his deuysed practize to effect The countrie béeyng néere the straites of Giberaltare was well furnished with men of great courage He then folowing fortune béeyng stirred forwarde by his wife and the iniury whiche he had receyued reiecting all loue of his cuntry renouncing obedience to his Prince Sodenly as hée had imbarked his army of Moores in foure ships and strongly fortified himselfe he reuealed to his friends and kinred the iniury which the king had done him by deflouring his daughter and requested their friendly succour in his enterprise so waighty Wherevnto they assenting sent him aide both of men monie Sée here the exposition of your Epitaph and the cause of the fame It resteth now to reueale the occasion of the destruction of Spaine and how the Christians lost the same to the Paynims concerning which you muste vnderstande that in the tyme of the raigne of king Roderic which was of the line of the Gothes there was in Spaine a Prince called Iulian Earle of Cepta and Lorde of Consuegra whiche had a daughter of excellent beautie and incomparable in wisedome named Caba This damsell beyng sent to the Courte to attende vppon the Quéene to serue hir according to the manner of the cuntrie was cause of the destruction of Spaine For the King being surprised with louing hir when shée woulde not agrée to accomplishe his inordinate desires determined by force if not by loue to inioy hir so as béeyng thus drowned in extreme passions hée defloured hir within his royall Palace The whiche when Counte Iulian vnderstoode he was highly offended therewith and féeling himselfe muche iniured thereby determined reuenge vpon the kings owne person to the end he might make a perpetuall remembrance of the wrong done by the Prince to him and his defloured daughter This Counte Iulian kepte secretely in his stomacke the mortall hatred hée bare vnto king Roderic and when hée sawe conuenient tyme hée made semblance to passe into Africa with an armie which the king had committed vnto him where with to repulse the Moores which then inuaded the borders of Spaine And hauing conferred of that which he woulde do with Muzza Auuenokair Liuetenaunt generall of that prouince to the greate Miramamolyn Vlit hée secretely practyzed with him in this sorte that is if hée woulde yéelde him sufficient supply of souldiers hee woulde put all Spaine vnder his obedience The whiche when Muzza vnderstoode hee gaue intelligence thereof to King Miramamolyn who did not onely in curteous wise accepte the offer of the Counte but also sent him a sufficient army to bryng his deuised practize to effect The Ilandes of this country beyng néere the straites of Giberaltare were wel furnished with meÌ„ of great courage He theÌ„ folowing fortune being stirred forwarde by his wife and the iniury which he had receyued reiecting all loue to his cuntry renouncing obedience to his Prince Sodenly as he had imbarked his army of Moores in foure shippes strongly fortified himselfe he reuealed to his friends and kinred the iniurie which the king had done him by deflouring his daughter and requested their friendly succour in his enterprise so waightie Whervnto they assenting sent him aide both of men and monie so as he tooke all the coastes of Spaine and much of the cuntry for the Moores whiche was the firste entrie of the Moores into Spaine and was in the yeare of grace 712. When the miserable king Roderic had vnderstaÌ„ding hereof that if with speede he ordered not his affaires he shoulde be in daunger to loose his realme and state with all the hasâ—â— possible he assembled an armie to encounter the Moores and made a nephew of his Captaine generall But the Moores giuing them the ouerthrow mangled him his men in péeces About which time another armie of Moores which the fornamed Muzza had placed in garison in places before subdued entred and tooke another countrye or prouince Whiche King Roderic vnderstanding and perceyuing the Moores daylye to aduaunce their force committing to fire and swoorde all the countrie that they subdued he gathered togither another army in whiche himselfe in person togither with all the Nobilitie of Spaine woulde go to searche out the Moores which then remayned at Seres and did so in déede where hée made greate slaughter both of the straunge Moores of his owne Christians But in fine the Christian army was vtterly destroyed the king loste in suche wise that afterwards he could neuer be founde quicke or deade From this tyme Spaine fell into the subiection of the Moores This battell was ended on a sunday the fourth of September in the yeare of our Sauiour 714. so as the Moores beeyng then victors might
another booke apart by it selfe this Prince during the tyme that he made warres against the Parthians as Eusebius and Orosius do declare endeuored his power to persecute the Christians which remayned in Europe and Asia where Lucus Varus was gouernour This was the fourth persecution of the Church myllitant so that it followeth that God suffered this general pestilence to raigne amongst them and a thousande other callamities to happen vnto them enduring the gouernment of this Prince as wee haue largely declared in his Cronicle The fift persecution of the Church was during the raigne of Septimus Seuerus the Emperour the which by the instigation of the deuil made a great butcherie of the faithful Christiās This fift persecutiō was the cause as fayth Osorius the God dyd not permit this Prince to lyue in peace for one of his Captaines rebelled against him named Albinius the which made all Brittany to reuolt from him calling him selfe Emperour during the time of his life The sixt persecution of the Church was in the time of the Emperour Maximius the cursed Prince being offended that Alexander Seuerus had supported the Christians by expresse ordinaunce commission made a great and blooddye spoyle of the Christians principallie of the ministers of those which executed any aucthoritie amōgst the Christiā people This was the sixt persecutiō as saith Eusebius Orosius in the which this Prince vsed many vnacustomed tormēts and caused diuers cruell punishmentes to be inuented whereby the poore Christians might be miserablye handled who had such an opinion and presumptuous pride of himselfe his power that he estéemed that no person might once hurt him and that it were impossible to wounde or to kyll him In which opinion he most deuillishlie pursued all his cruelties and tormentes The seuenth persecution was in the rule of the Emperor Decius This Prince although otherwise he were of good naturall disposition was notwithstanding in religion an Infidell and in that respect sought the vexation of the millitant Church so that no such crueltye were before tyme vsed as nowe in his tyme towardes the afflicted Christians The which is affirmed that he onely dyd in despite of his prodecessour Phillip who had before béene Christened And so this seuenth persecution was in the time of this Decius The eyght persecution was enduring the raigne of the Emperour Valerian who as Eusebius doth report was so fauourable to the Christians in the beginning of his raigne that he would not permitte that any personne dyd them any wrong or violence for he bare such affection and honour vnto them that his pallace was a true colledge and sanctuarie for the Christians but towardes the ende of his raigne he suffred him selfe to be seduced by a Magicien of Egipt who was a deadlye enemie to the Christian religion because the same dyd impugne the deceiptes and Sorceries of the Magicians In such sort that he dyd not all onely chaunge his opinion towardes the Christians but also persecuted them with great slaughter This was the eyght persecution of which Orosius doth liberally discourse but such was the iustice of God for his cruell excesse that such euyll fortune followed Valerian after this déede that he was taken prisoner and fell into the handes of Sapor King of Percia which dyd intreate and handle him most cruelly The ninth persecution of the Church was in the time of the Emperour Aurelian who hauing most louinglie vsed the Christians in the first sixe yeares of his raigne as appeareth by the writing of Eusebius and Orosius in the ende by the prouocation of the Deuill and other most wicked persons he persecuted the Christians generally throughout all the confines of his Empire And this was the ninth persecution of the faithfull Now it happened that as this Prince was readie to signe a commission which he was to dispatche to the gouernors of the Princes of the Empire against the Christians an arrow fell from Heauen so neare vnto him that those which were present thought that it had kylled the Emperour But besides this signe and aduertisement God suffered the effect to followe that is to saye the death of the aforesayd Prince for he was miserablye slaine by his owne men and seruauntes and by the same receyued the guerdone and payment of his desartes and offences The tenth persecution was in the time of the Emperour Diodesian This Prince being in quiet rest from all his affaires styrred by Belzebub and his ministers he being a Painim and norished in the supersticions of the Idolatrye of the Gentiles beganne to persecute and pursue the Catholike church which was the tenth generall persecution of the Christians to accoumpt from the same of Nero and this was the most cruell longest of continuaunce of al others the which endured by the space of ten continuall yeares Now the Christiās had long time liued in rest quiet since the persecution which was in the gouernment of the Emperor Aurelian in such sort that the Christian religion was now become of great force in all churches And all the Cities and Towns as well within the dominions of the Emperour as without the limmits of the same and the Christians were excéedinglie multiplied in nomber and had great assemblies in their Churches But as sayth Eusebius this rest and libertie which they enioyed was cause that the pollicie and maner of lyuing of the Christians began to bee corrupted so that many iniquities wickednesse dyd grow presently the old former sanctimony began to deminishe and such disorders discentions began to be moued amongst the Bishops and the Prelats that as the sayd Eusebius witnesseth God permitted this persecution to serue in place of reuenge and chastisement of his Church This persecution was so great so cruell and so blooddy that it is impossible for any pen to write the vnnatural slaughters which the Paynims vsed neither is there any tongue that is able to pronoūce them The which Eusebius doth well declare being a present witnesse beholding the same with his eies as done in his owne sight for he sayth that he cannot discribe nor speake that which he saw executed before his face To whom Orosius doth condiscend wryting in the same sort that there was not any heart so harde that would not be moued to compassion reading the cruelties of this persecution Which amaseth me to consider of the constancie of the Martyrs which endured such tormentes so valiantlye and of the cruelty of those which murdered and tormented them so maliciouslye And to the entent that you and all other shoulde know what punishments this butcherlie Prince ministred vnto the Christians I haue wyllinglie recited some notable partes of the same which be these Fyrst this Prince dyd ruinate and sacke al the Churches of the Christians and forbid them to make any assembles for the seruice of God in any part be commaunded all the bookes of the holy Scriptures to be burned which they might finde Also he ordayned that all Christians
but that in the houses of Kynges and of high Princes many must enter many must serue many must liue and many must eate but that whych is to be reprehēded is this that many times more is spoiled than is spent If in the Courtes of Princes there were not so many horses in the stable so many haukes in the mewe so many gibers in chambers so many vagabondes in pallace and so greate disorder in expences I am sure that neyther shoulde they so go ouercharged eyther their Subiectes so much gréeued God in commaunding the Prince not to haue many horses is to forbid him that he vse not excessiue expences bycause in déede and in conclusion they shal giue an accoumpt vnto God of the goodes of the common wealth not as Lords but as tutors Also God dothe commaunde that hée which shall be King do not consent to turne the people intoo Egipt that is to say that he do not permit them to commit Idolatrie ne yet to serue King Pharao for oure good God will that we adore him alone for Lorde and that we hold hym for our creator To come out of Egipt is to come out of sinne to turne into Egipt is to turne into sin for this cause the office of a good Prince is not only to remunerate the vertuous and such as liue wel but also to chastise the wicked and suche as liue euil It is no other thing to return into Egypt but boldly openly and manifestly to sinne the which the good Prince ought not to consent vnto eyther with any in lyke cace to dispence bicause the secrete sinnes to God are to be remitted but those whiche are manifest the good king ought to chastise Then doth the Prince suffer any to return into Egipt when openly he suffreth him to liue in sinne that is to say to passe his life in enuious reuenging to holde by force that which is due to an other to be giuen to folow the lusts of the fleshe and to dare to renue his olde age into wanton affections in which the Prince doth so much offend God that although he be no companion in the fault yet in the worlde to come hée shall not escape to be partaker of the payne For a kyng to gouerne well in his kingdome oughte to be asmuche feared of the euyll as beloued of the good And if by chaunce any bée in his house that is in fauour that is a quareller or any seruaunt that is vicious I denie not but vnto suche a one he may impart of his goods but not with his conscience Also God commaundeth him which shall be king that he hold not in his companie many women that is to vnderstand he shal content himself with his Queene with whom he is maried without vngodly acquayntance with any other for the great Princes and mighty potentates doe more offend God with yll example they giue than with the faultes they committe Of Dauid of Achab of Assa and of Ieroboam the scriptures do not so much complaine of their sinnes as of the occasion they gaue vnto others to sinne bicause very seldome wee sée the people in awe of correction when their lorde is vicious As Princes be more high and also mightyer than the rest euen so are they more behelde also more viewed thā others And for this cause according to my iudgement if they be not chast yet at the least they should be more secrete Among the heap of sinnes this maye be one wherewith God is not a little offended And on the other part it is wherwith the cōmon welth receiueth most sclander for in cases of honor none wil that they haunt his house request his wyfe or defloure his daughter The writers of histories do much prayse Alexander the great Scipio the Affrican Marcus Aurelius the greate Augustus the good Traian which onely vsed not to force women in libertie but did not so much as touch suche as were their captiues taken in battaile and truly they were iustly praised for vertuous mē For it procedeth of a more noble corage to resist a prepared vice thā to giue an onset vpō a cāp of great power Also God doth commaund him which shal be king that he hoord not vp much treasure that he be not scarce or a nigard for the office of the marchant is to kéep but of a King to giue and to be liberal In Alexander the great is muche more praised the largenesse be vsed in giuing than his potencie in fighting the which doth clearly appeare when we wil praise any man we do not say he is mightie as Alexander but franke as Alexander To the contrary of this Suetonius writeth of the Emperor Vespasian the which of pure miserie nigardship and couetousnesse commanded in Rome to be made publike places to receyue vrine not to kéepe the Citie more swéete but to the end that they should giue him more rente The diuine Plato did counsell the Atheniens in his bookes of a good comon wealth that the gouernour whiche they had to choose should be iust in his iudgements true of his word constant in that he takes in hand secrete in that he vnderstandeth large and bountiful in giuing Princes and great potentates for their power they be feared and for their magnificēt liberalitie they are beloued But in déed and in the end fewe folow the king not only for that his conditions be good but bicause they think his giuing is much and verie noble Gods commaunding in his lawe that the Prince shal not hourde vp treasures is no other thyng to saye but that all shall serue hym of good wyll and that bée vse towarde all men of his liberalite for that many tymes it dothe happen that the Prince in béeyng vnchearefull in giuyng it commeth to passe in proces that very few haue any mind to gratifie or serue hym Also God commaunded the kyng that should gouerne his people that he should not be proude tha◠he should always read in Deuteronomie which is the Booke of the Lawe And bycause wée haue alreadie made a large discourse we will leaue the exposition of these two woordes for an other day There resteth that we pray vnto the Lord to giue your Maiestie his grace and vnto you and vs his glorie to the which Iesus Christ bring vs Amen A discourse or conference with the Emperour vpon certayne moste aunciente stampes in Mettalles the whyche he commaunded the Author to reade and to expounde wherin are touched many antiquities S. C. C. R. M. SO greate be the affaires of Princes and so muche laden wyth studious cares that hardlye remayneth tyme to sléepe or eate muche lesse to recreate or ioye themselues with gladsome pastyme Oure forces are so small our iudgemente so weake oure appetite so variable and oure desyres so disordinate that sometyme it is necessarie and also profitable to giue place to the humanitie to bée recreated vppon condition that the truth bée
not putte to flyghte or weakened The sensualitie makes vs warre with his vices Reason fyghteth with oure wickednesse Our bodie contendeth with his appetites The hart striueth with his desires For whiche cause it is necessarie to giue place to the one that they bring vs not to oure ende and to dissemble with the other that they leade vs not to despaire This I saye to your imperiall Maiestie for the magnificent meanes whiche your excellencie vsed to passe the tyme whē it pleased you to cōmand that I shuld be called to your chāber presēce And for a trouth the recreatiō of princes ought so to be measured limited that thei may recreate without offēce to the world Arsacidas king of the Bactriās his pastime was to knit fishing nets of king Artaxerxes to spin And of Arthabanus king of Hircans to arme for Rats And of Viantus King of Lidians to fishe Frogges And of the Emperour Domitianus to chase Flies Princes hauing their times so limitted also of all men so beholden and considered that imploy themselues in such pastimes and vanities we cannot well saye that therin they passe their times but loose their times The case is this that your Maiestie presently after you felt your selfe deliuered of your quartaine commaunded to be set before you a certaine little table all full of stamped metals aswell of gold as siluer of brasse as also of Iron A thing surely worth the beholding and much to be praysed I did not a little delight in seing your Maiestie take pleasure in beholding the faces of those metalles in reading the letters they held and in examining the deuises they did containe All which thinges might not easely be read and much lesse vnderstood There were amongst those stamped metalles certaine that were Gréeke some Latin some Caldée some Arabick some Gothick and other some high Dutch your Maiestie cōmaunded mée to vew them reade them and the most notable to expound assuredly the commaundement was directed very iustly and in me more than another moste aptly imployed For being as I am your imperiall Chronicler it is my part to render accompt of the thinges you shall doubt and to declare the meaning of that which you reade I haue vewed thē read them and studied them and although some of them be very hard to be read and very difficult to bée vnderstoode I will trauayle with such playnesse to declare them and euery parcell so diligently to examin and distinguish that not only your Maiestie may vnderstand to reade the stampe but also comprehend the blason and originall therof It is to be vnderstoode that the Romanes more than all other nations were couetous of riches and ambitious of honoures whereby it came to passe that to haue to spend and to magnifie their names they hild warres sixe hundreth and fortie yeares with all nations and kingdomes In two things the Romanes did trauell to leaue and perpetuate their memorie that is to wit in buildings they made and in their Coines they did graue or stampe neither did they allowe the grauing or stamping of any money but vnto him that had ouercome some famous battaile or done some notable thing in the cōmon wealth The buildings they most vsed to make were wals for Cities cawsies in high waies Bridges ouer Riuers fountaines artificially made statues or greate pictures ouer gates Bathes for the people arches for their triumphes and Temples for their Goddes Much time passed in the Empire of Rome wherein the Romanes had no money but of brasse or of yrō Whereof it procéedeth that the true and most auncient metalls be not of golde but of Iron For the first coyne that was made to be melted in Rome of gold was in the time of Scipio the Africane The auncient Romanes vsed to stampe or graue on the one side of their money their faces drawne most naturall and on the other the kingdomes they had ouercome the offices they had held and the lawes they had made And for that it shall not séeme that I speake at large or of fauour it is reason I giue account of all I haue said The letters of one of these stamped mettals doth say Pboro dact Leg. Your Maiestie hath to vnderstand that this stampe is the most auncient that euer I saw or redde which appeareth very well by the mettall it is made of by the letter it is written in for declaration whereof it is to be vnderstoode there haue bin seuen whiche inuented to giue lawes to the world that is to wit Moses that gaue lawes to the Hebrewes Solon to the Athenians Licurgus to the Lacedemonians Asclepius to the Rhodians Numa Pompilius to the Romanes and Phoroneus to the Aegiptians This Phoroneus was King of Aegipt before that Ioseph the sonne of Iacob was borne And as Diodorus Siculus doth say he was a King very iuste vertuous honest and wise This was he that first gaue lawes in Aegypt and also as it is thought in all the worlde whereof it dothe procéede that all Coūsellours and Lawyers of Rome did call the lawes that were iuste and moste iust Forum in memory of king Phoroneus And so the letters of this mettall would thus much say This is King Phoroneus whiche gaue lawes to the Aegyptians The letters of the other stampe Genuci D. vi Leg. For the vnderstanding of this stampe it is to be considered that the Romanes conceiued so great shame and disdaine of the filthinesse of king Tarquine cōmitted with chast Lucrece that onely they would not that in Rome there should be any more kings but also that the name of king and the lawes of kings should for euermore bée banished and in the common wealth forgotten So the Romanes not meaning to obey the lawes they had receiued of their good King Numa Pompilius sent a moste solemne imbassage to Grecia to bring them the lawes that the Philosopher Solon had giuen to the Athenians Which being brought to Rome accepted and obserued were afterwards intituled the lawes of the twelue tables The Embassadours that were sent to bring these lawes from Greece were ten moste sapient Romanes whose names are Apius Genutius Sextus Veturius Iulius Mannilius Sulpicius Curius Romulus Postumus and bicause Genutius was one of those ten notable men for that great act so famous he stāped those words on the one side of his money The whiche would say this is the Consull Genutius one of the ten men of Rome that was sent for the lawes of Greece The words of the other stamp following are Con Quir Ius Mos Le Obs. To explane these words which are very darke it is to be vnderstood that al the lawes of this world are reduced frō thrée maner of lawes which is to wit Ius naturale lex condita mos antiquus That whiche in the old time was called the Law of Nature is That thou wish not for another which thou wilt not for thy self also to shunne euil approch to do wel which
enter into the Senate and to procure the causes of the people and in such businesse as did not like him he had authoritie to stand for the poore and to resist the Senators And for that the office of Tribune was alwaies against the Senate and thereby passed his life in perill it was a law made and capitulate by the Lawyers and Senators that what soeuer man or woman did violently prease to his person or vnto his garment to offend him publikely they cut off his head And be it knowne to your Maiestie that many Romane Princes did procure to be chosen Tribune of the people not for the interest they receiued by that dignitie but for the securitie they had with the same bycause not only they might not kill them either in their clothes so much as touch them The first Tribune that was in Rome was a certaine Romane named Rusticius a man of a very sincere life and merueilous zealous of his common wealth This Rusticuis was and this dignity created betwixt the first and the second Punick battails in the time that Silla and Marius did leade great bands in Rome and did spoile the common wealth Thus much the letters of the stampe would say This is the good Consull Rusticius the which was the first Tribune that was in the Empire of Rome Your Maiestie amongst these hath many other stāpes the whiche being easie and facile to reade and cleare to vnderstand I shall not néede to spende the time too expound them A certaine relation vnto Queene Germana declaring the life and lawes of the Philosopher Licurgus MOst high and serene Lady this Sunday past after I had preached before your highnesse the Sermon of the destruction of Ierusalem ye commaūded I should recite and also giue in writing who was that great Philosopher Licurgus whose life I praysed whose lawes I alledged In repayment of my trauell and to binde me the more vnto your seruice you commaunded I shoulde dine at your table and also gaue me a rich clocke for my studie For so small a matter as your highnesse doth commaund neither it needed ye should feast me either giue me so great rewards for that I attaine more honour and bountie in that ye commaund than your highnesse doth receiue seruice in the thing I shall accomplish To say the truth I had thought rather yée had slept in the sermon the curtains drawne but since ye cōmaund I shall recite that whiche I sayd of the Philosopher Licurgus it is a signe ye heard the whole Sermon and also noted the same And since it pleaseth your highnesse that the Ladies and dames that serue you and the gallants Courtiers that attend vpon you be present at this communicatiō that ye commaund them that they be not gibing either making of signes for they haue sworne to trouble me or to put me from my matter But cōming to the purpose it is to wit that in the first reignes of this world whē Sardanapalus reigned in Assiria Osias in Iury Tesplus in Macedonia Phocas amongst the Greekes Alchimus amongst the Latins Arthabanes amōgst the Aegyptians Licurgus was borne amōgst the Lacedemoniās This good Licurgus was iointly Philosopher and King King and Philosopher bicause in those Golden times either Philosophers did gouerne eyther else Gouernours did vse Philosophie Plutarche doth say of this Licurgus that he was low of stature pale of colour a friend of silence an enemie of vaine talke a man of small health of great vertue He was neuer noted of dishonestie he neuer troubled the common welth he did neuer reuēge iniury he did neuer thing against iustice either against any man did vse malicious wordes He was in féeding tēperate in drinking sober in giuing liberall in receiuing of consideration in sleeping short in his speache reposed in businesse affable in hearing patient prompt in expedition gentle in chastisement and benigne in pardoning Being a child was brought vp in Thebes being a yong mā he did studie in Athens and in the time of more yéeres he passed into the great India afterwards being old was king of the Lacedemonians which also were called Spartans which of nation were Greekes and of condicion very barbarous For excellencie it is recounted of him that they neuer saw him idle he neuer dranke wine neuer trauailed on horsebacke neuer chid with any man neuer did hurt to his enemies neither at any time was ingrate to his friends He himself wente to the temples he himself did offer the Sacrifices he himself did reade in scholes he himselfe did heare complaints he himself gaue sentēce in causes of the law he himself did cause to giue chastisement to offenders This Licurgus was of a valiant mind in warres of great deuise in time of perill certaine in things determined seuere with rebels in sodaine assaults of great readinesse affable with offenders a mortal enemie of vagabonds They say that this Philosopher did inuent the Olimpiades whiche were certaine playes vsed euery fourth yéere in the mountaine Olimpus to the ende that all shoulde giue themselues to studie or to learne some Art bicause in that assembly which there they vsed euery man made a proofe of his knowledge and the sprite that was giuen him Licurgus was the first that gaue lawes to the Spartans which afterwards were called Lacedemonians whiche is to vnderstand before Solon and Numa Pompilius And also it is written of him that he was the first that inuented in Greece to haue publique or cōmon houses founded at the charges of the common wealth also endewed where the sicke might be cured the poore refreshed Before the days of Licurgus the Lacedemonians were a people very absolute also dissolute for which cause the good Philosopher did passe immesurable trauels no lesse perils amongst thē before they would be gouerned by a King or liue vnder a law On a certaine day before al the people he tooke two little dogges new whelped the one of the which he fedde in his own house very faire fat the other he cōmanded to be brought vp in a countrey house with hunger to vse the fields These dogs being thus brought vp he cōmaunded thē to be brought to the market place in the presence of the whole multitude throwing before them a liue Hare a great péece of flesh presently the countrey dog ran after the Hare and the pampered dogge to the fleshe Then said Licurgus you are witnesses that these two dogges were whelpt in one day and in one howre in one place of one Syre Dam. And for that the one was brought vp in the field he ran after the Hare and the other that was brought vp in idlenesse ran to his meat Beléeue me ye Lacedemoniās be out of doubt that to proue good vertuous it importeth muche from the infancie to bée well gouerned and brought vp for we retaine much more of the customes wherwith we be bred
difference betwixt the one and the other is that in the Booke your Lordship may vnderstand my simplicity and in the pen there doth appeare your great bountie No more but that our Lorde be your protectour and giue me grace to serue him From Valiodolid the xix of August 1524. A letter vnto sir Allonso of Albornaz wherin is touched that it is a point of euill maner not too aunswer too the letter that is written vnto him IF the Lady Marina your wife bée as well affected to your person as my penne is offended at your slouthfulnesse you may safely marrie without after repentāce And I think not that I bind my selfe vnto a small matter in saying that in your mariage you shall find no repentance for surely I wish too haue no more contrition of my sinnes than many men haue too think themselues maried To contract matrimonie with a woman is a thing very easie but to sustaine it vnto the end I hold it for very difficult Whereby it comes to passe that those which mary without respect but only for loue liue afterward with sorowe Considering al the displeasures that proceede of the familie then tediousnesse of the wife the care for the children the necessitie of the house the prouision for the seruants the importunitie of the cousins and the sutes of the sonnes in law Although of all these thinges the maried doth not repent him at the least it doth tyre him The Philosoper Mirtho being demaunded why hée did not marry aunswered bycause if the woman whome I take in mariage bée good I shall spill hir if she bée euill I must supporte hir if she bée poore I must maintaine hir if shée bée riche I must suffer hir if she bée foule I shall abhorre hir it she be faire I must watch hir and that which is worst of al for euermore I giue my libertye to hir that shall neuer gratifie mée Riches bréedeth care pouerty sorrow sailing feare eating heauines going wearinesse all which trauelles we se deuided amongst many except amongst the maried where they ioyne altogither For we seldome sée the maried man go without care sorow wearied heauie yea and also sometime astonied I say astonied of that whiche maye happen vntoo him and of that his wife may dare to do The man that doth encounter with a woman that is a dizard foolish a babler light a glutton a chider slouthfull a goer at large vntractable iealouse absolute or dissolute it were better for that man too bée a slaue to some honest man than a husbande too suche a wife It is a terrible thing too suffer a man but there is very much too bée knowen in a woman And for no other cause more than for that they knowe not too vse a measure in louing or giue no ende in abhorring I will not or perchance I dare not saye more in this case For if in the same I should occupie my selfe and giue libertie to my pen I should want time to write but not matter to speake Not without cause I saide my pen was angry with your slothfulnesse since halfe a yeare past I did write vnto you and you haue not as yet answered me And afterwards came Iohn de Occanio and also with him you did not write in suche wise that on the one part I call you sluggish and of the other part note you of negligence Sir you may take it for a rule neuer to leaue him vnanswered that hath taken paine to write vnto you For that the maister of the henchmen which is Harnan Sanz de Minchasa said vnto me that none lost his worshippe for answering vnto a letter To write to our better is of necessitie to answere our equall is of will but to write vnto our inferiour is of pure vertue Alexander the great did write vnto Pulion his bit maker Iulîus Caesar to Rufus his gardiner Augustus to Pāphilo his smith Tiberius to Escaurus his miller Tullius too Mirto his tailer and Seneca to Gipho his rent gatherer wherof it may very wel be inferred that basenesse doth not consist in writing or answering base persones but to will or to do vile things Paulus Aemilius writing vnto his plough man said I haue vnderstood what word thou didst send me by Argeus and the aunswer of the same is that I send thée another oxe to yoke with that firce oxe also I sēd thée a cart redy drest therfore eare that ground well dresse the vines purge the trées and alway haue memorie of the Goddesse Ceres Curius Dentatus béeing in warre with Pyrrhus King of the Epirotes did write a letter vnto a carpenter which said thus Cneius Patroclus certified me that thou dost worke in my house take héed that the timber be dry and that thou make the lightes towardes the south that it be not high that it be cléere the chimney without smoke with two windowes and no more but one dore Alexander the great writing vnto his smith said I send thée a horse which the Athenians sent me he and I did scape wounded from the battaile breath him well euery day cure wel his wounds pare his foreféete let him be vnshod slit his nose wash his necke let hym not growe fat for that no fat horse may well endure with me in the field Of the famous Phalaris the tirant it is read that neuer man did him seruice that he did not gratifye either write him a letter that he dyd not aunswer So high and so great Princes as bere we haue named too haue written to men so base and so vile occupations is not written by historiographers too blemish them but by the same to magnifie them Of which we may gather that basenes doth not consist in wryting or aunswering base persons but in doing thinges scandolous or vnhonest In this matter as in all other thinges you may vse that boldnesse with me as with your selfe but if vniuersally you vse to do the same with all men it may be if your frendes do note you of negligence there shall not want that will accuse you of presumption To be noted angry enuious couetous slothfull wanton gluttonous auaricious certainly is a griefe but to be noted of foolishnes is an infamie which giueth me occasion to saye vnto you that to cal a man presumptuouse by a cunning maner of speach is to call him foole In Caius Caesar there wanted no fortitude for that he ouercame many people either clemencie for he pardoned his enemies either liberaliitie for that he gaue kyngdomes either science for that he wrote many Bookes either fortune for he was Lorde of all men But he wanted good manner which is the foundation of a quiet life Amongst the Romanes it was a custome that when the Senate entred the Emperours house they did vnto him a certaine great obeysance and he did vse vnto them a certaine curtesie in doing whereof as he grew negligent either for that he woulde not
how was he of the Lord For the vnderstanding hereof it is to be noted how it is written in the 1. Regum cap. xxvj that Dauid being compassed with the armie of King Saul who sléeping on a night in his tent Dauid did passe thorough the middes of his campe and toke from the Kinges beds head the launce that he fought withall and a cruse of water wherein he vsed to drink and in this passage he was neither séen of the watch nor perceiued of the scout And why Quia sopor Domini irruit super eos to saye as the Scripture saith that the sléepe of the Lord fell vppon them is most true but to say that God doth sléepe and hath néede of sléepe is a great mockery For as the Psalmist doth saye Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet qui custodit Israel Whē the scripture doth say Quòd sopor Domini irruit super eos that God had sent a dead sléepe vpon them it is to be vnderstoode non quòd ipse dominus dormiret Sed quia eius nutu infusus esset ne quisquam presentiam Dauid sentiret The diuine prouidence would cast a sléepe vpon King Saul and vpon his watch and vpon those of his Campe not for their recreation but for the safe kéeping of Dauid in such wise that in God his sléepe and his prouidence is one self thing the Lord is so zelouse of his elect and so vigilant to preserue them that he doth not only giue them grace to performe good purposes but also doth direct them alwaies by good meanes in suche wise that although hée doth permit them to trauaile he doth not consent that they perish But comming to the purpose that after the maner that the Scripture is to be vnderstood Sopor Domini irruit super eos after the same manner is vnderstand Spiritus Domini malus arripiebat Saulem And for farther declaration of this I say Quod si Diabolus tentationem iustis semper inferre cupiat tamen si à Domino potestatem non accepit nullatenus adipisci potest quod appetit The spirite that did tempt and torment King Saul for this cause he is called an euill spirite for that the will of the Deuill in tempting vs is euill And for this purpose he is named the spirite of the Lorde for that the power which the Lord doth giue him to tempt vs is good When God dothe giue licence to any Diuell that he go to vexe and disquiet any iust man it is not Gods intention that he tempt him but to exercise him bicause vertue is of such qualitie that it groweth mortified when it is not exercised with trauailes The wheat whiche is not turned is eaten with wiuels The garment that is not worne is eaten with mothes the timber that is not seasoned is spoiled with chest lockes the frō that is not wrought doth consume with ruste bread long kept groweth finnowed By this that I haue saide I would say that there is not any thing that turneth vs to more weakenesse negligence than to be a certaine time without temptations Much more care hath God of vs than we of our selues for in the end as our worthinesse is litle and but to smal purpose if we do quaile he doth comfort vs if we lie downe to sleepe he waketh vs if we be wearied he helpeth vs if we grow fearful he doth encorage vs if we grow negligent he doth intice vs Finally I say that leauing our selues vnto our owne power wée permit our selues to fall and he alone giues the hand to lift vs vp Also holy Iob was tempted of the euill spirit of the Lord not because there was any notable fault in the man but for that ther raigned in the Diuell enuie and malice For cursed sathan had not enuie of the great goods that Iob had but of the excellent life that he led At the instant that one is euill he doth desire that all be euill if he bée sclaundered that all be defamed in such wise that ther is not so perillous an enuie as that whiche euill men haue of those whiche be good and vertuous If one be good and ritch and liue by one that is euill and malicious First he that is euill dooth trauell to take away the credit the good man hath before he vseth force to spoile him of his goodes Abrabam was tempted when it was commaunded that his onely sonne shoulde be sacrifized Tobie was tempted when he lost his sight The holy Iob was tempted when they killed his children tooke his goods and filled him with the mangie in which temptatiōs those holy men suffered much and also loste much but at the time of repayment he did not giue them reward according to the goods they lost but according to the patience they vsed Since it is certain that all passions or troubles eyther God doth send them or else do come by the hand of God it is reason that we take them as sent by the hand of God who is so iust in that he commaundeth and so limited in that hée permitteth that he doth neuer suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength With men that be of a good life and doe kepe rekening with their conscience the licence whiche God giueth to the Diuill to tempte them is surely limited and the patience that hee giueth them is very bountifull de hoc bactenus sufficit The Controler Hinestrosa came from the Court this way to sée me whiche came in suche distresse for that he had gone thither he him repented and for that hée had staied hée was despited and for that whiche had happened he was abhorred in suche sorte that to heare him report his great trauelles moued me to weigh my owne as light Men in sadnes ought not to séeke comfort of those that be merie but of others that are sorrowfull and more confounded than them selues For if they so doe of a troth they shal find that it is very little they suffer in respecte of that whiche others endure No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Sotia the 4. of March. 1518. A letter vnto the Marques of Velez wherein hee writeth vnto him certaine newes of the Court. RIght magnificent my singular good Lord Garcy Rodrygues seruant and solicitor vnto your Lordshippe gaue me a letter of yours made the seuēth of this present in Velez el Rubio which came with more swiftnes and also more fresh thā the Samons they bring from Bayon Your honour writeth vnto me that I shoulde certifie you what newes and what worlde runneth vnto whiche I dare aunswere your Lordship that in this Court none runneth but they goe all bechafed It is an auncient pestilence in the courtes of Princes that they call suche men as do not aunswere theim they loue where they be hated they follow suche as know them not they seeke those that flie them they serue those that pay them not
they hope for that which is not giuen them and they procure that which they can not obtaine Suche and so great trauelles as these are although we performe with our bodie that suffereth we can not bring to passe with the heart to dissemble them if the body suffer paynes and the heart bée compassed with anguish sooner dothe the body cease to complain than the hart to sighe Plutarche saithe of Aeschines the Philosopher that being as he was alway sick did neuer complaine of the Splene that did gréeue him and on the other parte hée did muche lament of any sorow that hapned vnto him As a wise man it séemethe your Honor to bée aduised in kéeping your house ouerseeing your landes enioying your goods vnderstanding how to liue and howe to discharge your conscience In suche wise that of affaires in court ye delight to heare flie to sée them For of a troth as all things that doe passe here are fayned vayne voide inconstant and daungerous it is a pastime to vnderstand them and a great despite to behold them Your Lordship will that I write vnto you whether I bée present at any time when the Emperesse doth eate and what things she doth most vse to feed on Now in winter as at this present few Prelates being at Court I my Lord am present euery day at dinner and supper not to sée but to blesse the table And I can tell your Lordship that if I blesse hir I cursse my self bicause at the houre that I departe the Court to go to dinner it is then time very neare to goe to bed There is much lesse trauell in seruing of God than the kyng For the king doth not accept seruice but when it liketh him but our God dothe not only accept when hée will but also when we thinke good To that you demaund what and how the Empresse doth eate I can shew your Lordship that shée eateth that whiche she eateth cold and in the cold alone with silence and that all stand beholding If I be not deceiued these bée fiue such condicions that onely one were suffcient to giue me a very euill repast Sir it is now winter the which naturally is a time very heauie cold melancholike and all men delite to eate their meate by the fire warme accompanied and talking and that none stand to behold for that in time of reioycing when a man neither eateth or serueth but standeth with silence musing with him selfe I dare saye of such a one that he doth not behold vs but rather watch vs To eat in the winter any cold meat is no smal wāt of good diet for meats that are cold do hurt the stomacke giue no apetite A man to eat alone is likwise great solitarnesse in the ende the gentleman doth not so much delite in the meate he eateth as in the mirth he maketh with the company he hath at his table For a man to eate without communication and warmthe I would say the one proceded of filthinesse the other of wretchednesse Princes bée not bound to bée subiect to these rules bycause they are forced to vse great seueritie in their life and great authoritie at their meat My Lord be it as be may and let hir Maiestie eate as shall please hir to commaund for in the end I do more repine at hir pacience than enuie the meat she eateth The meates that are serued at hir table are many and those that shee féedeth on bee very few for if hir Phisiognomie do not deceiue me the Empresse is of a very good condition and of a weake complexion The most that shée eateth of is winter Mellons poudred Beefe fed Pigions minst Bacon great Geese and Capons rosted in suche wise that shée eateth that others do loth and shée abhorreth that for whiche men of the countrey do sighe They set before hir Pecocke Partridge Capōs franked Fesant Manger blāck Pasties Tarts and other variable kind of gluttonies of all whiche shée not only pretendeth a contempt to eate but also sheweth a lothsomnesse to behold In such wise that the contētation doth not cōsist in the much or little that we haue but only in that wherunto we be inclined In all her dinner shée drinketh but once and that is not pure wine but water mixed with wine in suche wise that with hir sippets none may satisfie his apetite and much lesse kill his thirst Shée is serued after the maner of Portingall which is to wit there is placed at the table thrée Dames vppon their knées the one to carue the other twaine to serue in such sort that the meate is braught by gentlemen and serued with Ladies All the other Dames be there present standing vpright not in silence but talking not alone but accompanies so that the thrée Ladies giue the Empresse to eate and the others yéeld their seruaunts sufficient matter both to speake and thinke Authorized and pleasant is the maner of Portingall yet truly notwithstanding that sometimes the Dames do laugh so loude and the gallants do speake so high that they lose their grauitie and also are yrksome to hir Maiestie To that whiche your Lordship doth demaunde that whether bée more the Dames that be sued vnto or the gallants that do serue them to this I aunswere that Esayas did saye Apprehendent septem malieres virum vnum Manye sonnes of Knights and Gentlemen do trauel to sée the Dames to talke with them and to serue them but at the tyme of maryage none doth marrie with them In such maner that Iustice iustice but not at home To that whiche you demaund who gaue the Hat to the Lorde Cardinall it was Sir Frauncis of Mendoza Bishop of Samora And if my diuination deceiueth me not the Lord Bishop had rather haue ben vppon his knées to receiue the same than sitting to giue it They presented the Hat in saint Antonies Church and at the instāt it was giuen him there fell so great tempest of wind and raine that if as he was a Christian hée had bene a Romane either he would not haue receiued it or els haue defered it vntill another daye My Lord it is not to be holden for a iest that at the very present the wind and the raine was so cruell and vehement and the water so great that when the Cardinall went thence made Cardinall he did more profite him selfe of the Hat he brought than of the Hat whiche he receiued The banquet made by the Cardinall was magnificent in expences and of long continuance for that we began to eat at one and made an end at foure As concerning drinking there were found so good wines and also so good drinkers that Toro S. Martin Madrigall and Arenas did cause that some did stauke with vnstedy steppes As concerning my lodging your Lordshippe ought not to aske me if I haue good lodging but if I haue any lodging For I saye many times vnto Iohn de Aiala the harbenger that of God wée obtain
health and the grief you séemed to haue of my infirmitie Beleue me Sir and be out of doubt that at that present I had more abilitie to drink than to read for I would haue giuen all my Librarie for one only ewer of water Your Lordship writeth vnto me that you also haue béen ill that you thinke all your sicknesse to be well employed as well for that you féele your selfe recouered as also that you finde your selfe affected with a holy purpose to departe from sin and to abstaine from excesse in eating My Lord I am sory with all my heart that you haue ben sicke and it pleaseth me very much that you stand vppon so good a purpose although it be very true that I wold more reioyce to sée you performe than to heare you promise for hell is full of good desires and heauen is full of good workes But be it as be may to my iudgemeÌ„t there is not any thing wherin we may soner discerne a man to be wise or foolish than to sée in what maner he behaueth him selfe in aduersitie how he reapeth profite by sicknesse There is no such foolishnes as to employe our health to euill purpose either is there any such wisedome as to drawe fruite or commoditie out of sickenesse Cum infirmor iuncfortior sum the Apostle said that wheÌ„ he was sicke then was he most strong this he said bycause the sicke man doth neither swel by pride or fornication doth make him coÌ„bat or auarice doth ouerthrow or enuie doth molest or ire doth alter or gluttony doth bring vnder or slouthfulnesse doth make negligent either ouerwatch him selfe with ambition My Lord Duke pleaseth it the Lord that wée were suche being whole as we promise to be when we be sicke All the care of the euill Christian when he is sicke is to desire to bée whole onely to liue and enioye more of this world but the desire of the good Christian wheÌ„ he is diseased is to be whole not so much to liue as to reform his life In the time of sickenesse there is none that doth remember himselfe of affection or passion of friendes or enemies of riches or pouertie of honour or dishonour of solace or trauell of laying vp treasure or growing poore coÌ„maunding or obeying but to be deliuered of one grief of the dead would giue all that he had gotten all the daies of his life In sicknes ther is no true pleasure in health all trauel is tollerable what wants he that lackes not health What is it worthe that he possesseth that enioyeth not his health What doth it profite to haue a very good bed if he cannot sléepe What benefite hath he that hath old wine of fragrant fauour if the phisitian do commaund that he drinke sod water What auayleth to haue good meat wheÌ„ only the fight thereof moueth belkes and makes the stomacke wamble What commoditie ariseth vnto him that hath much money if the more part hée spend vpon Phisitians and Poticaries Health is so great a thing that to kéepe it and to conserue it wée ought not only to watche but ouerwatche The whiche surely séemes not so since we neuer haue regard thereof vntil we haue lost it Plutarch Plini Nigidius Aristicus Dioscorus Plotinus Necephalus with them many others haue written great Bookes and treatises how infirmities are to be cured and how health is to be conserued And so God saue me if they affirmed a troth in some things in many other things they did but gesse and other things not a few they dreamed Béeleue me my Lord Duke and bée out of doubt for my part I doe fully béeleue and also I haue experimented that to cure diseases and to conserue healths there is no better thing than to auoyd anger and to eate of few meates How great weale should it be for the body and also for the souls if we might passe our life without eating and without anger For meates do corrupt the humors and anger doth contâ—â—ne the bones If men did not eat and would not be angrie there shoulde be no cause to be sicke and muche lesse of whom to complaine For the whips that doe most scourge our miserable life are ordinary excesse and profound sadnesse Experience teacheth vs euery daye that the men that bée doltishe and ignorant for the more part are alwayes strong lustie and in good healthe and this is the reason for that suche as they are neither doe weary them selues to obtaine honour eyther doe féele what is shame reproch or dispite the contrary of all this doth happen to men that be wise discrete quicke witted and of sharpe deuise euerye one of which be not only grieued of that which is spoken vnto them but also they growe sorowfull for that they imagine what others do thinke Ther be men that be so sharpe and so ouersharpe or refined that it séemeth little vnto them to interprete wordes but also they holde it for an office to diuine thoughts and their repaiment is that by them selues always they goe discomforted and with others euill lyked I durst affirme and in a maner sweare that to bréed a sickenesse and to daunger a mannes lyfe there is no poyson of so daungerous infection as is a profounde and déepe sorrow for the miserable hart when he is sad doth reioyce in weping and takes ease in sighing Let euery man speake what he thinketh good for amoÌ„gst such as be discrete and no fooles without comparison they be more that grow sicke by anger they receyue than of the meates they féede on All day long wée sée no other thing but that those men whiche be merrie and glad be always fat whole and well coloured and those that be sadde and melancholike alwayes go heauie sorowful swollen and of an euill colour In these writings I confesse vnto you my Lorde Duke that the Ague that now I haue was not of any meate that I had eaten but of a certayne anger I had taken Your Lordship doth write that by sléeping vpon the grouÌ„d you haue taken a pestilente reume I verily thynke the greafe heate of this moneth of Auguste hath bin the cause therof whiche in myne opinion you ought not to vse or counsell any other therevnto For it is lesse euill to sweate with heate than to cough with colde To the rest which I vnderstand by your letter in desiring I should write some newes it is sufficient for this tyme that of this our Courte there bée few things to be trusted in paper much to be said in a maÌ„s eare The thinges that appertaine vnto Princes and lordes of high estate wée haue permission to conceyue them and no licence to speake them In the Courte and out of Courte I haue séene many aduaunced by secrecie and many shamed by want of silence Your Lordship pardon for this tyme my pen and when wée shall méete together my toung shall supplie this present want No more but that
our Lord be youre protectour From Borgos the .15 of October Anno .1523 A letter vnto sir Peter of Acunia Erle of Buendia wherin is declared a prophesie of a certaine Sibill. RIght magnificent Christian knight doth your honor thinke in your iudgement that the answere I shall sende you shall be as large as the letter you haue written vnto me of a trouth it may not be so for I am nowe come to that age that nothing lyketh me that I take in hand either can I performe any thing that I would do The many yeares the cōtinual studies the great trauels that I haue passed haue made in me such impression that now the eyes be tired with reading the pulses with writing the memorie with retaining and also the iudgemente with noting and compounding God knowes I would not boast my self therof but in the end I can not but cōfesse it which is euery day I féele my self much more in age and much lesse in abilitie the more I wold dissemble the more I would enable my self the more I wold grow yong the more tenderly I would deale with my selfe I can not leaue to acknowledge but that my sighte decreaseth my memorie fayleth my bodie goeth wearied the strength decayeth and also my heares grow hoare Oh my soule what be all these things but certaine cruell summoners that cite my life to inhabite the sorowfull sepulture Epaminondas the Greke sayde that vntill the age of thirtie yeares they ought to say vnto men you are welcome or you come in a good houre bicause at that tyme they séeme to bée cōming into the world from thirtie vntill fiftie they ought to say God keepe you or stande in a good houre bycause at that time they begin to haue some iudgement of the world from fiftie yeares forwarde they ought to say vnto them God speed you or goe in a good hour for from thence they go taking their their leaue of the world In these repartments of Epaminondas it appertaineth not vnto your honour and mée that wée come in a good houre nor that we stande in a good houre for we are now come to be of the number that go in a good houre I beséech the redéemer of the worlde that when we shal passe out of this worlde we may depart in a good houre take our leaue in a good houre and that we goe in a good houre For if it be muche requisite for vs to liue well muche more it standeth vs vpon to finish well I thought good to write vnto your Lordship all this to the end that if I shal answere you somewhat short ye haue me excused and to hold me blamelesse But comming to the purpose I say that I muche delighte to reade your letters on the other parte I am ouercharged with your importunities for alwayes you come to me with vnknowne demaunds and right strange questions you now sende mée a moste auncient Epitaph that a certaine friende of yours hath brought from Rome whiche hath waged with your honour a certain wager that in all Spayn there shoulde not be a man which should haue skil to reade it much lesse to vnderstand it the letters of the Epitaph be these R.R.R.T. S.D.D.R.R.R.F.F.F.F. Neyther did that Romane speake according to knowledge eyther shall he winne his wager For that notwithstanding they be moste obscure and euery letter importe one worde I will sende them so declared and so aptly distinguished that he shall remayn confounded and you win the wager The case is thus Romulus raigning in Rome and Ezechias in Iudea there was a woman borne in Tarento named Delphica which was famous in hir life and singular in the art of diuining Amongest the Hebrues such women were named Prophetesses and amongste the Gentils called Sibilles Thys Sibill Delphica prophesied the destruction of Carthage the prosperitie of Rome the ruine of Capua the glorie of Graecia and the great pestilence of Italie And for that the fame of this Sibill was spread thoroughoute the worlde Kyng Romulus sente hir great presentes made hir greate promises and wrote to hir many letters to remoue hir out of hir countreye to lyue at Rome Neyther for any intreatance they vsed with hir or for any giftes they could sende hir this Sibill at any tyme would leaue hir countrey or come to dwell at Rome The whiche Romulus perceiuing determined in his owne person to goe sée hir and with hir in certayne causes to communicate The secret that Romulus desired was to vnderstand what Fortune was reserued for him and what destenie the Citie of Rome should haue whiche at that time king Romulus began to buylde Answere better nor worse mighte the kyng receyue of that Sibille Delphica but that she gaue him fouretéene letters written in certayne barkes of trées for that in those so auncient tymes they had not as then founde oute the manner to write in parchement and muche lesse in paper the secrete and misterie of which letters neither coulde King Romulus vnderstande eyther woulde the woman declare the same But so muche she did certifie him that there was one to be borne which should vnderstand and interprete those letters King Romulus being returned vnto his Citie of Rome commaunded those letters to be set in one of his Temples vnder greate and safe kéeping vntill the tyme shoulde come that the Goddes shoulde reueale them or some other bée borne that shoulde vnderstande them Foure hundreth thirtie seuen yeares those letters stoode hydden that no man coulde reade them muche lesse vnderstand them vntil there came to Rome an other Sibill named Erithra the whiche so clearely did declare interprete and expound them as if she hir selfe and none other had composed them The letters are but fouretéene the whiche declared in Englishe sayeth Romulus reygning Rome triumphing Sibill Delphica sayde the kingdome of Rome shall perish by Sword Fier Hunger and Colde Let vs put the selfe same caracters of the letters and the exposition in Latin vppon euery one of them in the forme that the Sibill expounded them whyche was as followeth R. Romulo R. Regnante R. Roma T. Triumphante S. Sibilla D. Delphica D. Dixit R. Regnum R. Romae R. Ruet F. Ferro F. Flamma F. Fame F. Frigore Sir behold héere your letters expounded your prophesies deuined your Romane confounded and also youre wager gotten And the reward shal be that I ouer watching my selfe to séeke this history your honour shall beare away the prayse of the aunswer If he will more thorowly know of this history let him come to séeke and reade Liuius Vulpitius Trebellius and Pogius whiche haue written of the antiquities of the Romans the sayings of the Sibilles No more but that our Lord be your protector and that he giue vs both his grace Amen Amen From Madrid the .xiij. of March. 1535. A letter vnto Sir Ynigo Marrique in which is re counted what hapned in Rome betwixt a slaue and a Lion an history very pleasant
MAgnificent and discrete Gentleman your seruaunt Trusillo gaue me a letter of yours at the breaking vp of the counsell of the Inquisition and to speake the troth neither did he aduertise me from whome hée came neither did I demaund him any question To my iudgemeÌ„t the one did well and the other did not erre for he came wearied with trauell and I came from the Counsel angred The philosopher Mimus sayd qui cuÌ„ lasso fameliâ—o loquitur rixam quaerit as if he should haue sayd to talke with a man that is hungrie and to haue busines with him that is wearie be great occasions to moue debate For if at the time the hungrie would eate or when the wearied would repose himselfe and woulde séeke occasion of busines he would giue the busines to Barrabas and the Author to Sathan Experience doth teach vs that at the present when a man is refreshed forthwith he begins to talke at the instant that a man doth eate or drinke forthwith he beginneth to debate And therfore we say that then and not afore it is an apt time to dispatch affaires For other wise it should be rather to importune thaÌ„ to dispatch Sir I say thus much for that you shal sée and also vnderstand that it is verie conueniente for him that goeth in affaires not onely to flée importunitie but also that hée knowe to séeke oportunitie Syr leauing this aparte I giue you to vnderstande that your importunities my muche businesse haue bin together by the eares the one procuring that I should condescende to your desire the other resisting that I could not do what you required in such wise that the cause why I haue not answered is I can not also I will not why I cannot answere dyd proceed at that time for that we toke order in the inquisition for the busines of witches in Nauerne and that I woulde not dyd rise that you sent to demaund of me a thing so straunge with the which if you did take pleasure in reding I receiued much offence and also tired my selfe in séeking The declaratioÌ„ of which historie that you sent to demand I did well remember I had séene it but I coulde not call to mynde in what booke I had red it and therof we do not maruel that do not deale with humain and diuine scriptures For the diuine Plato saith we should leaue to be men and become Gods if the memorie were able to retaine so muche as the eyes were able to reade and see Although on the one parte I had great businesse and on the other part was somwhat offended yet always I left my affaires and began to turne ouer my booke to sée if I could finde out that historie and remember the counterfait And I thought good to take this trauell in hand not only to accomplish your demaunde but also to proue my abilitie Sir you write vnto mée that in the Wardrobe of the great captain you sawe a riche cloth which they say the Venetians had giuen him for a present wherin was figured a man leading a Lyon and a Lyon that went led and laden after a man Also you saye that in the breast of the Lyon were written these wordes Hic Leo est bospes huius hominis In lyke maner was written in the breast of the man other wordes which were Hic homo est Medicus huius Leonis The one and the other letters thus much did signifie This Lion is the hoste of this man and This man is Phisition or Chirurgian to this Lyon. Sir you may well thinke somewhat at the straungenesse of the historie since the maner of the paintyng séemeth so monstrous therefore I maruell not thoughe you desire to vnderstande the same notwithstanding to finde it was not a little painefull to me It shall happen to this my letter whiche I consent verie seldome vnto an other that is that it shal be somewhat long yet not tedious for the historie is so pleasant to hear that the reader shal be gréeued for that it is no loÌ„ger Comming to the purpose The good Titus Emperoure of Rome whiche was sonne to Vespasian and brother to that euill Emperour Domitianus commyng from the warres of Germanie determined to celebrate in Rome the daye of his natiuitie in Campania Amongste the Romaine Princes thrée feastes of all other were moste celebrated to witte the daye wherein they were borne the daye wherein their Fathers dyed and the daye wherein they were created Emperours The day of this Titus byrth béeing come he ordained to make great feasts to the Senate and to distribute gifts among the people For in great disportes and feasts alwayes the Romaine Princes didde feaste the myghtye and gaue rewarde to the poore A thyng worthye to bée noted and also vnto memorye to bée commended that in the great feastes and triumphes of Ianus of Mars of Mercurie of Iupiter of Venus and of Berecinthia they dyd not boaste neyther estéeme suche feastes to be solemne great or duly solemnised by the costes that were spent either by the shewes and triumphs that therein were represented but by the number of rewards and liberall giftes that there were giuen The Emperour Titus commaunded to be brought for that feaste many Lions Beares great Harts Onchas Vnicorns Griffins Bulles Bores Wolues Camelles Elephants and ether many maruelous cruell beasts which for the more part be bred in the deserts of Aegypt and in the edge of the mountayne Caucasus Many dayes before the Emperour had commaunded that they should reserue all théeues and robbers by highwayes murderers periured persons traytors quarellers and rebelles to the end that on that day they shoulde enter into listes to chase and fight with the beasts in such wise that the chastisements of malefactors shoulde be perfourmed by the same beasts The order that he vsed herein was that the wretched men should be put within the greate Colledge and those cruell beasts should come foorth to fight against theÌ„ all the people standing to behold and none to help And if it hapned the beasts to teare the man in péeces there he payde his det but if the man kild the beast by iustice they could not put him to death Amongst other beasts that they brought vnto that feast there was a Lion whiche they had taken in the deserts of Aegypt which was mightie of body of great age of aspect terrible in fighting cruell and in his yelles and cries very horrible This most cruell Lion walking in the chase all imbrued for at that time he had slayne and torne to péeces xv men they determined to cast vnto him a fugitiue slaue to the intent he should kill and eate him and therevpon to quiet his rauenous furie A maruellous thing it was to heare and fearefull to sée that at the very instant they cast the slaue in the chase to the Lion he did not onely refuse to deuoure him but also hasted not to touche him but rather went vnto him and
offended and growe angrie if I answere not presently vnto your letters and send you not your doubtes declared As concerning that whiche you write of Marcus Aurelius the case standeth thus that I translated and presented it vnto Caesar not all finished the whiche Laxao did steale from the Emperoure and the Quéene from Laxao and Tumbas from the Quéene and the Lady Aldonsa from Tumbas and your lordshippe from the Lady Aldonsa in suche wise that my sweates ended in your theftes The newes of this Courte is that the Secretarie Cobos groweth priuate the gouernour of Brefa doth kéepe silence Laxao doth murmure and groane the Admirall dothe write the Duke of Veiar dothe hoorde and kéepe the Marquise of Pliego dothe plays the Marquise of Villa Franca followeth his busynesse the Earle of Osorno dothe serue the Earle of Siruela doth praye the Earle of Buendia doth sigh Gutiere quixada doth iust and the Iudge Ronquillo doth whippe From Madrid the sixthe of Ianuarie 1524. A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynigo of Velasco in which is said that which the Marques of Piskara reported of Italy REnowmed Lorde and cōplayning Constable it hath chaunced me with very good grace that you neuer writte me letter wherin there cōmeth not some murmuring complaintes saying that I haue not answered to all that you haue written or that I am very short in writing or that I write but now and then or that I detayne the messenger or that I write as one offended in suche wise that neyther in me is any end of faults nor in your Lordship any lacke of complaints but if youre Lordship will note and accuse all the wants of considerations negligences slacknesse simplicities and doltishnesse that I haue I can tell you that you shall be wearied and also tyred for there is in me many things to be reprehended and very few wherefore to be praised That which is in me to be praised is that I estéeme my selfe to be a Christian kéepe my selfe from doing hurt to any man and boast my selfe to be your friend And that which is in me to be reprehēded is that I neuer leaue to sinne neither euer begin to amend this it is my Lorde that doth vexe me this it is that settes me aground and this is the cause why that there neuer remayneth in me gladnesse for as youre Lordship knoweth matters of honor and of conscience gyue great cause to be felt or considered but not to be discouered To write short or at large to write late or in time to write polished or without order neither is it in the iudgemente of him that doth indite it either in the pen that writeth the same but in the matter that he hath in hande or in the aptnesse of time he vseth for if a man be disgraced he writeth that hée ought not and if in disposition he writeth what he listeth Homer Plato Aeschines and Cicero in their writings neuer ceasse to complaine that when theyr common wealthes were in quiet and pacifyed they studied read and writte but when they were altered and vnruly they coulde not study much lesse wrought That which passed by those glorious personages in those days euery day passeth now in my selfe for if I bée well disposed and in temper it is offred me by heapes as muche as I woulde write and if by chaunce I bée disgraced or distempred I would not so muche as to take pen in hand There be tymes that I haue my iudgement so kindled and so delicate that as me thinketh I coulde swéepe one graine of wheate and cleaue a haire in sunder At another time I haue it so dull and so farre remoued that I can hardly hit a nayle with a stedge I knowe not what to write of thys Court but that the Marques of Peskara is come hither from Italy which doth recount from thence such so many things that if they be worthy to be put in Chronicle they be not to be written in a letter He that knoweth the condicione of Italy will not maruell of the things therof for in Italy no man may liue vnder the defence of iustice but that to haue and too be able he must be of power or else very priuate Let him not desire to liue in Italy that hathe not fauour of the king to defend or power in the field to fight for in Italy they neuer care to demaunde by Iustice that whiche they may winne by the launce In Italy they haue not to aske of him that hathe an estate or goodes of whome he did inherit them but how be did winne them In Italy to giue or take away estates or goodes they séeke not right in the lawes but in armes In Italy hee that leaueth to take any thing it is for want of power and not for want of will. Italy is very pleasant to liue in and very perillous to be saued Italy is an enterprise whether many do go and from whence few do returne These and many other such like things the Marques of Peskara recounted vnto vs at the table of the Earle of Nassao many Lords being present and some Prelates Giue thanks vnto God our Lorde that hath bred you in Spaine of Spaine in Castile and of Castile in Castile the olde and of Castile the olde in Burgos where you are beloued and serued for that in the other places or townes of Spaine althogh they be noble of power they haue always some controuersies The memoriall the your Lordship sent me this yeare to consider of and vpon the same to giue you counsell nowe I sende it you corrected with my conscience and consulted with my science No more c. A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynigo of Velasco in which is declared the prises of thyngs as in olde tyme they were wonte to be sold in Castile REnoumed and curious Constable I haue receiued a letter from your Lordshippe as it appeareth by the same although you be chief or heade of the Valascos and I of the Ladrons of Gueuara there you haue the déede and here I haue the name For entring into my cell you haue stolne my Pictures and ouerturned my Bookes If there be a priuiledge of the Constables of Castile the religious being at his prayers that they shal enter and sacke his Cel it were very iust to shew wherfore they did it or else to restore vnto the owner the thing stolne Your Lordship writeth vnto me that you wil not restore the pictures that you haue takē away except I send you written the auncient ordinances that were made by the king Don Iuan in Toro in suche wyse that you doe not content your selfe with stealing but that you will also extort and doe violence I know not which was greater that day your fortune or my mischance in that my Cell was open for I swear by the faith of a christian that my lance in the sight of God wer much more worth if I shuld vse as great circūspection in
life and iust in youre tribunall or iudgements I wold not gladly heare that those that do praise that which you do should complaine of that whiche you say with a Lorde of so high estate and with a iudge of so preheminent an office my pen should not haue presumed to write what it hath written if your Lordship had not commaunded My Lord I saide it bycause if this that I haue here written vnto you shall not like you that it may please you to sende too reuoke the licence that you haue giuen Also you will that I shall write vnto youre Lordship if I haue founde in anye auncient Chronicle what is the cause wherefore the Princes of Castile do call themselues not onely Kings but also Catholique Kings And that also I write vnto you who was the first that called himself Catholique King and what was the reason and the occasion to take this so generous and Catholique title There were ynowe in thys Court of whome you might haue demaunded and of whome you might haue vnderstood in yeares more auncieÌ„t in knowledge more learned in bookes more rich and in writing more curious than I am But in the end my Lord be sure of this one thing that that which I shall write if it be not written in a polished stile at the least it shall be all very true Comming to the purpose it is to be vnderstood that the Princes in olde time did always take proud ouer-names as Nabugodonozer that did intitle him selfe King of Kings Alexander the greate the king of the world the king Demetrius the conqueror of Cities the great Haniball the tamer of kingdomes Iulius Caesar the Duke of the Citie the king Mithridates the restorer of the world the king Athila the whip of nations the king Dionisius the host of all men the king Cirus the last of the Gods the king of England defender of the Church the king of Fraunce the most Christian king and the king of Spaine the Catholique king To giue your Lordship a reckoning who were these kings and the cause why they did take these so proude titles to me it should be painfull to write and to your Lordship tedious to reade it is sufficient that I declare what you commaunde me without sending what you craue not It is to wit that in the yere seuen hundreth fiftie two the fift day of the month of Iuly vpon a sunday ioyning to the riuer Bedalake about Xeres on the frontiers euen at the breake of day was giuen the last and most vnfortunate battell betwixt the Gothes that were in Spaine and the Alarues that had come from Africa in whiche the sorowfull king Sir Rodrigo was slaine and all the kingdome of Spaine lost The Moore that was Captaine and that ouercame this famous battell was named Musa which did know so well to folow his victorie that in the space of eight moneths he did win and had dominion from Xeres in the frontieres vnto the rocke Horadada which is neare to the towne of Onnia And that whiche séemeth to vs most terrible is that the Moores did win in eighte moneths which in recouering was almost eight hundred yeres for so many yeares did passe from the time that Spaine was lost vntill Granado was wonne The fewe Christians that escaped out of Spaine came retiring vnto the mountaines of Onnia neare vnto the rocke Horadada vnto which the Moores did come but from thence forward they passed not either did conquer it for there they found great resistance and the land very sharp And when they of Spaine did see that the king Sir Rodrigo was dead and all the Gothes with hym and that without Lord or head they could not resist the Moores they raysed for king a Spanish Captaine that was named Sir Pelaius a man venturous in armes and of all the people very well beloued The fame being spread thoroughout all Spaine that the mountaine men of Onia had raised for king the good Sir Pelaius all men generouse and warlike did repaire vnto him with whome he did vnto the Moores greate hurt and had of them glorious triumphes Thrée yeares after they had raysed the good sir Pelaius for King hée married one of his daughters with one of the sonnes of the Earle of Nauarn who was named Sir Peter and his sonne was called Sir Alonso This Earle Sir Peter descended by right line of the linage of the blessed King Richardos in whose tyme the Gothes did leaue the sect of the curled Arrius by the meanes of the glorious and learned Archbyshop Leonard The good king Pelaius being dead in the eighteene yeare of his raigne the Castilians exalted for king a sonne of his that was named Fauila the which two yeares after he began to raigne going on a certaine day to the mountaine meaning to flea the Beare the Beare killed him And for that the king Fauila died without children the Castilians elected for king the husband of his sister whiche is to wit the sonne of the Earle of Nauarne who was named Alonso the whiche began his raigne in the yeare .vii. C.lxxij hys raigne endured eightene yeares which was as much tyme as his father in law the good King Sir Pelaius had raigned This good King was the firste that was named Alonso which tooke his name in so good an houre that since that daye amongst all the kings of Castile that haue bin named Alonso we reade not of one that hath bin euill but very good Of thys good king Alonso the historiographers do recite many landable things to recompt worthy to be knowen and exemplars to be followed The King sir Alonso was the first that out of Nauarne entered Galizia to make warre vppon the Moores with whome be had many encounters and battells in the ende he ouercame and droue them out of Astorga Ponferada Villa franca Tuy and Lugo with all their Countries and Castelles This good king Alonso was he that did win of the Moores the Citie of Leon and builded there a royall place to the ende all the Kings of Castile his successors should there be resideÌ„t and so it came to passe that in long time after many Kings of Castile did liue and die in Leon. This good King Alonso was the firste that after the destruction of Spaine began to builde Churches and to make Monasteries and Hospitalles in especially from the beginning the Cathedrall churches of Lugo Tâ—y Astorga and Ribeâ—ew the which afterwards did passe to Mondonedo This good king Alonso did buiâ—d many and very solempne Monasteries of the order of saint Benet and many hospitalles in the way of saint Iames and many particular Churches in Nauarne and in the Countrey of Ebro whiche he endewed all with great riches and gaue them opulent possessions This good King Alonso was the first that did séeke and commaunded to be sought with very great diligence the holy bookes that had escaped the hands of the Moores and as a zelous Prince commaunded that
with all the mightie and nobles of Spaine ioyned in Medina del rio Secco to giue order for the succour of Tordisillas and to chase away the Rebelles frō the town of Braxima my desire and iudgemēt is that you shoulde rather estéeme to be a souldier with the Gentlemen thā a Captaine ouer Rebelles Also I said vnto you that the gouernours had commaunded a scaffold to be made wherevppon a King at armes beeing ascended made publique proclamation that all Knightes and Gentlemen that repaired not within fiftéene dayes with Horse and Armour vnder the Kings Standerd to serue and be resident should bée holden as traytors and disloyall and that it séemed vnto me that you shoulde rather haue accomplished that which the gouernours cōmanded than that which in Toledo they had desired Also I sayde vnto you that commonly ciuill and popular warres decay in puissance preuaile sildome and may not indure and after they bée finished and the common wealth pacified the Kings and Princes of the same doe vse for custome to pardon the commō people and behead the Captaines Also I sayd vnto you that you shoulde not blinde your selfe with foolishe lyes eyther with wordes of vncertaine purposes whyche is to witte if anye shall saye vnto you that you are the father of the countrey the refuge of prisoners the repaire of the grieued the defender of the common wealthe and the restorer of Castile for the very same persons that to daye do name you redeemer on the morrow will proclaime you traytor Also I sayd vnto you that you ought to haue before youre eyes that your father Peter Lopes and your Vncle Sir Garcia and your Brother Gutiere Lopes and all your friends and alies be all in seruice of the King in the gouernours Camp and that you alone of all your linage amongst rebelles bend against the King whereof there followeth that you alone being in fault they here in generall receiue the shame Also I said vnto you that since the King had giuen you no cause of offence either taken from you any rewarde or bountie or commaunded you any iniustice It were very vniust that you shoulde be the whip wherewith Hernando of Aualos should reuenge his iniurie For if he hath sworne to be reuenged of Xeues also you are bound to be faithfull vnto the king Also I saide vnto you that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the prophestes witchcrafts and enchantments of the Lady Mary your wife whiche is sayde that she and a certaine woman slaue do practise for that to speake and practise with the Diuell it may not be otherwise but that she-looseth hir soule and you to lose your life and honor Also I said vnto you that you should not care to attempt to enter the Couent of Vcles with intent to be master of Saint Iames either to throw Sir Iohn del rio Secco out of Toledo since it were a vanitie to thinke it and a great lightnesse to take it in hande for to be master of saint Iames you haue not done suche seruice wherefore it should be giuen you neyther sir Iohn hath done any treason why it should be takē from him So many and so good Counsells so many and so profitable aduises so many and so perswasible words so many and so importune desires so many and so great promises so many and so great assurances as I gaue promised did sweare desire and importune and assure you mighte not procéede from a suspitious friende either from a man of a double cōdition but rather as from a father to a sonne from a brother to a brother and from a friend to a friende I would to God you did throughly know my hart and the heart of Hernando of Aualos your vncle then shoulde you sée most cleare how it is I that do loue you and he that doth deceyue you I that giue you the hande and he the man that offreth you deceyts I that shew you the deapth and he that sendes you to the bottome I that set vp the marke and he that takes away the white I that lettes you bloud in the right vaine and he that lameth your armes Finally I am he that would cure and open your impostume and he is the man that giueth end to your lyfe and burieth your renoume If you had taken my counsell I had placed you in my Chronicles amongest the glorious personages of Spayne with the famous Viriato the venturous Cid the good Fernan Gonsalis the Knight Tiran and with the great Captaine and other infinite Knightes and Gentlemen woorthie of prayse and no lesse to be followed But since you woulde néeds imitate and credit Hernando of Aualos and the other rebellious commoners I shall be forced to place you in the Cathaologe of the famous tyrantes that is to saye with the Iustice Castromino and Fernan Centeno with captayn Sapico the duchesse of Villalua the Marshal Peter Pardo Alfonso Trusillo Lope Carasco and Taymayo Isquirdo All these and many other with them were tyrantes and rebelles in the dayes of king Iohn and king Henry And this is the difference betwixt you and them that euery one of them dyd tyrannise but their owne countreyes but you the whole countrey of Castile I can not comprehend your intention either can I conceyue what you may obtaine in folowing this enterprise and to contend vpon so vniust a demaunde since you knowe and all we vnderstande that if your enterprise shoulde happe to preuayle there is none that woulde accepte gratifie or take it in good part and if your purpose be made frustrate there is a Kyng that will reuenge the iniurie for the greatenesse and Maiestie of Castile knoweth not to endure disobedience to their kings either suffer themselues to be commaunded by tyrantes When this yeare ye came to talke with me in Medina del campo and I went with you to sée the bit maker and Viloria the skinner Bobadilla the sheareman Pennelas the carde maker Ontoria the lockier Mender the bookebynder and Lares the enseigne bearer that were the heads and inuentours of the commoners of Valiodolid Borgos Leon Zamora Salamanca Auila and Medina I assure you I was dismayde and ashamed for that presently I did both sée and knowe that passion was your guyde and they conducted by opinion that you all did flée reason but for that I am in lyfe a sinner in habite religious in office a preacher and in knowledge simple you haue not to make small accompt of my counsell for as Plato sayd we are not a little beholding vnto those that do aduise vs wherin wée erre and doe directe vs in what wée ought to doe for it is much better we amend by others correction than lose our selues by foolishe perseuerance Beléeue me and be out of doubt Maister Iohn of Padilla if you had spoken firste with me in Toledo as you did after talke with me in Medina you had neuer taken this enterprise in hande for as the
sée them fled that they neyther dare assemble or execute iustice This other day I sawe in Soria where they hanged a Procurer of the citie béeing poore sicke and olde not bycause he had cōmitted any euill but for that some did wish him euill To report vnto you how they haue throwen the Constable out of Burgos the Marques of Auia frō Tordisillas the Earle and Countesse of Duneas and the knights and gentlemen frō Salamanca and Sir Iames of Mendoza from Palentia and how in place of these gentlemen they haue taken for their leaders and captaines bit makers sheremē skinners lockmakers is no smal shame to recount and infamy to heare The hurts murders robberies and scandals that is nowe committed within this realme I dare say that of this so great fault wée al are in fault bycause our God is so right a iudge that hée would not permit that all should be chastised if all were not offenders The affairs of this miserable kingdome is come to such a state the through the same there is no way sure no tēple priuiledged none that tilleth the fielde none bringeth vitailes none the executeth iustice none safe in their houses yet all confesse a king and appeale to the king but the disgrace is that none doth obserue the law none doth obey the King beleue me if your people did acknowledge the King and obserue the law neyther would they robbe the kingdome or disobey the King but for that they haue no feare of the sword nor doubt of the gallowes they do what they lust and not what they ought I knowe not how you can say that you wil refourme the kingdome since you obey not the King you consent to no gouernours you admit no royall counsell you suffer no Chancelour you haue no Iudges nor Iustices no giuing of sentence in matters of lawe neyther any euill chastised in such wise that your iudgemēt to haue no iustice in the kingedome is to refourme iustice I can not cōprehende how you wil reforme this kingdome since by your consent there is no subiect that shall acknowledge a preacher neither any Nunne that keepes hir cloyster no Frier that remayneth in his monastery neyther womā that obeyeth hir husband nor vassall that obserueth loyalty neyther any man that dealeth iustly in so much that vnder the colour of liberty euery man liueth at his owne wil. I know not how you will reforme the common welth since those of your campe do force women rauish maydens burne villages spoyle houses steale whole slockes cut downe woods and rob churches in such wise that if they leaue any euill vndone it is not bycause they dare not but for that they can not I can not conceiue how you will reforme the common welth since by your occasion Toledo is risen Segouia altered Medina burned Halaheios besieged Burgos fortified Valiodolid immutined Salamanca stragled Soria disobedient and also Valentia an Apostata I can not perceiue how you will reforme the common welth since Naiarza is rebelled against the Duke Dueas against the Earle Tordisillas against the Marques Chincon against his Lorde since Auila Leon Toro Zamora and Salamanca doe neither more or lesse than the assembly doth commaund So may my life prosper as I like of your demaund which is to weete that the King be not absent out of this Realme that he maintaine all men in iustice that he suffer no money to be transported out of the Realme that he giue his rewardes and offices vnto the natural subiectes of Spaine that they deuise not any new tributs and aboue all that the Offices be not solde but gyuen to men of most vertue These and such other like things you haue licence to craue and only the King hath authoritie to graunt but to demaund of princes with the lance that which they haue to prouide by Iustice is not the part of good vassalles but of disloyall seruants wée well vnderstand that many people of this lande doe complaine of the newe gouernement of Flemmings and to speake the truth that fault was not all theirs but in their small experience and our much enuie Further aduertising that the straungers were not more to bée blamed than our owne countrie men they knew not the state of things either what offices to craue neither how they would be solde but that they were aduised and also instructed in the skill thereof by the men of our owne nation in such wise that if in them there did abound desire of gain in vs there did excéed the vice of cruell malice Although Maister Xebes and the rest haue cōmitted some fault I know not that our Spaine hath done any offence that you should in the same and against the same rayse any warre The medicine that you haue inuented for the remedie of this mischiefe is not to purge but to kill But since you will néedes make war let vs examine here against whom is this war not against the king bycause his tender youth dothe excuse him not against the Counsell for they appeare not not against Xebes for hée is in Flaunders not against the Gouernors whiche haue but nowe entred their offices not against the Gentlemen who haue not offended neither yet against tyrantes for the Kingdome was in peace than is this war againe your own countrie and against our own lamentable common wealth The wante of prouidence in the king neither the auarice of Xebes is sufficient cause that we should sée that whiche wée doe sée the people to ryse against people fathers against the sonnes the vncles against their cousins friends against friends neighbors against neybours and brothers against brothers but that our sinne hath so deserued to be chastised and yours hath merited that you shuld be our scourge Speaking more particular you are not able to excuse your faulte for beginning as you did the assemblie of Auila from which counsell all this warre hath had his féeding and of a trouth presently I did diuine and also preache that is to witte that neuer was Monipody of any kingdome whereof did not arise some notable scandall The kingdom is nowe altered the kyng is disobeyed the people are nowe risen the hurt is alreadie begon the fire is alreadye in flame and the common wealth goeth sinking to the bottom But in the ende if it like you a good end may be made from whence may procéede all the remedie for that we haue firmely to beléeue that God will rather heare the hearts that praye for peace than the fifes and drums that proclaime warre If it may lyke you to forget some part of your anger and the gouernours to lose some part of their right I hold it all for finished And to speake you the trouth in popular and ciuil warres men do rather fight for the opinion they haue takē than for the reason that they hold My iudgement should be in this case that you should ioyne with the Gouernours to talke and conferre for the
gréeues and things amisse and to vnderstād for the remedie therof for by this meanes you should growe to more ripenesse for the things you haue to demaund and in our king and maister more facilitie in that whiche he shoulde graunt If it may please you to leaue your armour and giue faith vnto my words I sweare by the faith of a Christian by this letter of credence that I bring with me do promise you that you shall be pardoned of the king and well intreated of his gouernors that you shal neuer for this déed be chastized neither yet in wordes be blamed or defamed And bicause it shall not séeme that your zeale hath bin in vaine and that the Gouernours doth not desire the common wealth I will here shew vnto you what they wil do for the kingdome and what kindnesse on his Maiesties behalfe they will bestowe vppon you which is as followeth First they promise you that at any time whē the kings Maiestie shall be absent from this kingdome he shall place a Castilian to gouerne Castile bicause the authoritie greatnes of Spaine endureth not the gouernment of straungers Also they promise you that all the dignities holdings and offices of the kingdome and Court shall be giuen to Spaniards and not to straungers notwithstāding there be many noble personages that haue well deserued and in whome they were well employed Also they promise you that the royall rents of the people shall be rated at an indifferent rente in such wise that the Cities may haue reasonable gayne and no greate losse to the king Also they promise you that if in the regall counsell shal be found any examiner or any other officer although it be the president vnwise or vnapt for gouernement and not learned to giue sentence or not honest of lyfe that his maiestie shall absolue him of his office notwithstanding they may be affectionate to some and also offended like other men Also they promise that from hencefoorth his Maiestie shall commaund his Iustices of Court and Chauncery that they shall not vse their commaundements so absolute neyther their chastisements so rigorous notwithstanding that sometimes they be in some things fierce bycause they may be more feared and also more esteemed Also they promyse that from henceforth his Maiestie shall commaunde to reforme his house and also remoue the excessiue charges thereof considering that disordinate expences bryng forth newe tributes Also they promise you that for any neede the Kings Maiestie may haue hée shall not carry neither yet commaund to be caried any money out of this kingdome to bée transported into Flaunders Almayne or Italy considering that incontinent trafficke decayeth in kingdomes where money wanteth Also they promise that his Maiestie shall not permitte from henceforth Biscay Iron Alum of Murcia Vitailes of Andolozia nor Sackes of Burgos to be laden in straunge botoms but in shippes of Biscay and Galizia to the ende that straungers shall not robbe and our Countrey men to gayne whereby to eate Also they promise that his Maiestie shall not permit to be gyuen from henceforth fortresse Castell bridge gate or towne but vnto Gentlemen plaine and curteous and not vnto Gentlemen or Knights of power which in reuolting times may rise with the same considering that in the ancient times none might haue Artilery or Fortresse but the King in Castile Also they do promise you that from henceforth his Maiestie shall not permitte licences to cary corne into Portingall neyther from Mancha to Valentia consideryng that many tymes to haue licence to transport thither is here amongst ourselues cause of greate dearth Also with all breuitie his Maiestie wil commaund the contentions and matters in law to be examined and considered that haue bene continued betwixt Toledo and the Earle of Velalcassar and Segonia and sir Fernando Chichon and of Iaen with the towne of Martos and Valiodolid with Simancas and that of sir Peter Giron with the Duke of Medina considring that those in possession do delay and the dispossessed complaine Also they promise that the King will commaund to reforme the excesses giue lawe for banquets reforme Monasteries visit Chanceries repayre sorts and fortifie all the frontiers considering that in all these things there is necessitie of reformation and also of correction If you my Masters bée suche as you publishe your selfe throughout Castile whiche is to witte that you bée the redéemers of the Common wealth and the restorers of the libertie of Castile behold here wée offer you the redemption and also the resurrection thereof bycause so many and so good thinges as these are neyther did you remember to demaunde eyther woulde presume to craue nowe is the houre come wherein of necessitie it muste bée manifested whither you speake and meane one thing For if yée desire the generall wealth now is it offred you and if you pretend your particuler interest it may not be graunted you for speaking the troth it is not iust but most vniust that with the sweate of the poore common wealth you shoulde séeke to amend the state of your owne houses But let it be for cōclusion since we be here in the Churche of the towne of Braxima of my part I do humbly beséeche you vppon my knées and in the behalfe of the gouernours I doe request you and on the Kings name I commaund you to leaue your armour to discamp your camp and to vnfortifie Tordisillas if not I iustifie this offer for the gouernours that all the euils mischieues and slaughters that hereafter shall happen in this kingdome be vpon the charge of your soules and not vpon the burden of their conscience As I knéeled downe at the speaking of these last wordes forthwith came vnto me Alonso of Quintanilla and Sarabia bare headed and with great courtesie did help me to rise and forced me to sitte downe During the time I didde speake all that is aforesaid it was a thing to looke vpon and worthy consideration how some of them did behold me some did stampe some did eye me and also some did mocke me but I neuer the more did leaue to note either stay to speake After I had finished my Oration they all with one voice said and desired the Bishop of Zamora to speake his iudgemente and that afterwards they would all sée what were conuenient to be done Forthwith the Bishop toke me by the hand in the name of thē all he said vnto me Father frier Antony of Gueuara thou hast spoken sufficiently and also for the authoritie of thy habite as a man ouer rash but for that thou art a yong man and of small experience neither knowest thou what thou speakest eyther vnderstandest thou what thou demaundest eyther wast thou made a Frier being a boy or else thou art angrie or knowest little of this worlde or thou wantest iudgement since thou presumest to speak such things wouldest make vs beleue but thou father being stayd within thy monasterie knowest not of tirānies
stilled water Although Doctor Soto tolde me this tale in iest I did firmly beléeue it bicause you Master Doctor did once saye vnto mée in Madrid that in all the days of your life you neuer receiued compound purgation either proued the fast of stilled water Ther is no arte in this world that makes me lose the stirops or to say better my wits but the maner that Physitions do vse to cure For wée sée them desirous to cure and enimies to be cured And bicause Master Doctor you write vnto me also you sweare and coniure me by the desire I wishe to the welfare of my father that I write vnto you what is my iudgement of Physike and what I haue read of the inuenters birth and first rising thereof I will performe your request although it be more than others would wish for it is a matter that the wise Physitions will delight in but wherefore the foolish will giue both you and me to the diuell Of the moste auncient inuenters of Physike and medicine IF Plinie doe not deceyue vs there is no arte of the seuen liberall Artes wherein there is practised lesse trouth and whiche hath passed more mutabilitie than the Arte of Medicine Bicause there hath not bin kingdom people either notable natiō in this world wher she hath not bin receiued and after entertaynment againe throwne out of the same For if as she is a medicine she were a man immesurable wer the trauels that she wold report that she had suffred and many and very many are the kingdoms that she hath traueled and prouinces that she hath wandred not bycause they neglected to be cured but for that they helde Phisitions suspitious to be doubted The first that amongst the Greekes found the art of curing was the Philosopher Apollo and hys Sonne Aesculapius which for being so famous in Phisicke they concurred vnto him as vnto an Oracle throughout all Grecia but the chaunce was thus This Aesculapius was but a yong man and by greate mischaunce was slayne with lightning And as he left no disciple that knew his secretes neither that could make his medcines the master and the Art of medcine ioyntly did perish Four hundred and forty yeres was the Art of Phisicke lost in suche wise that in all the worlde there was not a man founde that did cure publikely or was called Phisition for so many yeares passed from the time that Esculupius died vntill the birth of Arthaxerxes the second in whose time Ipochras was borne Strabo Diodoro also Plini maketh mention of a woman of Grecia that in those most aunciente times did florish in the art of Phisicke of whome they recite so many mōstrous things and so incredible that to my iudgemēt they be al or the more part of thē fayned for if they shuld be true it séemed rather that she raysed the dead than cured the sicke In these days there did rise in the prouince of Achaia an other womā that began to cure with psalmes and words without applying any medcine simple or compound whyche being knowne in Athens was condemned by decrée of the Senate to be stoned to death saying that the Gods neyther nature had giuen remedies for sicknesse in words but in herbes and stones In the dayes that they had no phisitions in Asia the Gréekes held for custome when any man had made experiēce of a medcine and did heale with the same he was bound to write it in a table and to hang it vp in the temple of Diana that was at Ephesus for that in the like case any other might vse the same remedy Trogos Laertios and also Lactantius saith that the cause whereby the Gréekes did sustayne themselues so long time without Phisitions was that in May they dyd gather swéete herbes whiche they kept in their houses they were let bloud once in the yeare did bath once euery monthe and also they did eate but once a day Conformable to this Plutarch doth say that Plato being demaunded by the philosophers of Athens if he had seene any notable thing in Tinacria which is now called Sicilia made aunswer vidi monstrum in natura bominem bis saturum in die whiche is to say I did see a monster in mās nature which did fill or féede himselfe twice in one day he sayde thus by Dionysius the tyrant which was the first that inuented to eate at noone and afterwards to suppe at night for in the olde worlds they did vse to suppe but not to dine I haue curiously considered and in great varietie of bookes I haue sought and that whiche I found in this case is that all the nations of this world did eate at night and onely the Hebrewes did féede at none but following our intent it is to vnderstand that the temple most estéemed in all Asia was the Temple of Diana the one cause was for that it was stately of buildings another for that it was serued with many Priests but the most principall cause was for that the tables of Medicines were hanged there to cure the diseased Strabo sayeth that eleuen yeares after the battells of the Peloponenses the great Philosopher Ipochras was borne in a little Iland named Coe in whiche also were borne those glorious personages Licurgus and Brias the one Captayne of the Athenians and the other Prince of the Lacedemonians Of this Ipochras it is written that he was of small stature somewhat poare blind with a great head of much silēce paynefull in study and aboue all of a high and delicate iudgement From xviij yeares vnto thirtie fiue Ipochras continued in the scholes of Athenes studying Philosophie and reading and notwithstanding that in his time many Philosophers did flourish he was more famouse renoumed and estéemed than all the rest After that Ipochras departed from the studies of Athenes he wandred throughout diuers kingdomes and prouinces inquiring and searching of all men and women what they did knowe of the properties and vertues of herbes and planets and what experience they had seene of them At which things he did write and incommend vnto his memorie Also Ipochras did search with most great diligence for other bookes of Phisick written by any other auncient Philosophers and it is sayd that he found some written bookes in whyche theyr authours had written no medcine that they had made but such as they had séene made Of the Kingdomes and Prouinces where Phisitions were banished TWelue yeares Ipochras did trauell in this peregrination after which time he retired vnto the temple of Diana that was in Ephesus and translated al the tables of medcines and experiments that were there preserued many yeares he put in order all that was before confused and added many things that he had founde out and other things that he had experimented This Philosopher Ipochras is Prince of all Phisitions in the world for he was the first that tooke penne to write and to put Phisicke in order Also it is
custome to burie no dead man without burying a liue man with the same and if by chance ther were not that willingly would be buried with the dead for money a slaue was bought with violence to be buried with the same The Bractians whiche were a people very barbarous with smoke did cure the bodies of the dead as we now vse to smoke oure Bacon after at times in stead of Martelmas béefe by péecemeale to boyle the same in the pot The Thibirins did by industrie breede certayne most cruell Dogges the whiche at the last gasp of the dead were cast vnto the Dogs to be eaten torne to péeces in suche manner that the bowels of the Dogs was the place where the Thibirins did burie their dead And for that it shall not séeme that we speake of fauoure or at large your honor hath to read S. Ierome against Iouinian the Poliantea in the title of sepulture where you shal find al that I haue said and also much more which we haue omitted here to be written Of the sepulture of Belus of Minus of Semiramis of Promotheus of Ogiges and of the other kings of Aegipt Diodorus Siculus resiteth so many and so fabulous things the whych I thinke better to omitte than to wright to auoid his dishonor and mine owne trauell The Cithes did burie their dead in the fields incoffined with a certayn wood of Cithia incorruptible The Hebrues did burie their dead in their inheritances or vineyards vppon the same they erected a faire couer curiously wrought of stone of great choyce Commonly in olde time they did burie within their houses or in the mids of their possessions and so at this presēt appeareth in Italy that wheresoeuer ye shall find any Tombe of earth stone it signifieth that there hath bene erected some honorable sepulture Foure Sepultures haue bin in Rome most rich and stately that is to vnderstand of the great Augustus whiche at this presente is called the néedle of Adrian whiche now is the Castell Saint Angell of the good Marcus Aurelius whiche is erected in the fielde of Mars and of the valiant Seuerus which was placed in the Vatican Many Princes both Gréekes Latins Romayns Persiās Medes Argiues Hebrues and Germaines did make build many very stately temples but we reade of none that commaunded or gaue order for themselues to be buried therein but in the fieldes and their Temples they did dedicate vnto their Gods. More than thrée hūdreth yeares after the foundation of the Christiā fayth none at any time were buried within the Church whereof it procéedeth that it is not found in any of the ancient Legends of the martirs but that such a martyr was buried in Cimiterie of Pretexato either of Calisto or els in the house or inheritance of some faithfull Christian Long time after the great Constantine this custome was brought into the catholike Church to be buried in the same it is to be thought that it rather procéeded of the deuotion of the faithfull than for any interest to the Cleargy Also your honor sayth in your letter that you hold me for a man both carefull and curious for whiche cause you suppose for that I haue passed diuers times with Caesar into Italy and haue many ways traueled through Spayne I shuld haue collected and recouered some Epitaphs of Sepultures worthy to be séene and notable to be red I cannot denie but that after the manner of a Drunkarde that venteth for the best wine so doth mine eyes stare and wander to find out some old Sepulture that may contayne some thing to reade or sentēce or Epitaph worthy the writing and as I haue trauelled many diuers lands prouinces I haue sene many very anciēt sepultures in which I haue found some writings graue some sharpe others deuout some malitious some gracious some foolish in suche wise that some are to be noted some to be skoft and others to be laughed at If I had thought that any would haue bene so curious as to haue craued or demaunded them as I haue bin carefull and curious to search and find them I would haue held them in more estimatiō and also haue commended them to more safe kéeping for of them I haue lent giuen lost and some haue bin stolen and othersome I haue reserued But the case shall be thus I will send vnto your Lordship all manner of Epitaphs whiche is to vnderstand suche as bée graue malicious foolish and some that be gratious for that in the good your honor hath to note in the other wherat to laugh In an Hospitall of the incurable that is in Naples Caesar vppon a certayne festiuall day did heare seruice where I saw in the great Chappell a Tombe of a yong gentleman whereon his old mother had placed this lamentable Epitaph Quae mibi debebas supremae munera vitae Infelix soluo nunc tibinate prior Fortuna inconstans lex varabilis aeui Debueras cineri iam superesse meo In the same kingdome and Citie of Naples vppon another festiuall day Caesar wēt vnto a stately Monasterie of Nunnes of S. Clare wher I found a Tombe of a certaine gentlewomā betrothed which hapned to die the same wéeke she shuld haue bin married vpon whome hir parents bestowed this lamentable Epitaph Nate beu miserum misero mibi nata parenti Vnicus vt fieres vnica nata dolor Nam tibi dum virum taedas thalamumque parabam Funera inferias anxius ecce paro In the Citie of Capua I found a Sepulture very old and in a manner defaced in which these letters were ingrauen although very short yet comprehending much Fui non sum Estis non eritis In the Citie of Gaieta one of the strongest vpon the Sea coast in all Italy being there with Caesar I met with a Sepulture not of the oldest vpon which were written these words Siluius Paladius Vt moriens viueret Vixit vt moriturus In Rome walking the stations of Saint Paule passing at greate leasure beholding the Churche I encountred with an old Sepulchre vppon the ground on the stone whereof these words were ingrauen Hospes quid sim vides Quid fuerim nosti Futurus ipse quid sis cogitae In the Monasterie of Minerua in Rome whiche be of the order of Preachers I sawe in a certaine Tombe written these words O mors O mors O mors Aerumnarum portus Et meta salutis Caesar being in the warres of Africa the Viceroy of Cicilia died which was called the Earle of Monteleon Lord of Calabria And for that by iustice he did cutte the throte of the Earle of Camarato and with him many others the Cicilians did deadly hate him for the same The cause was thus being buried in Saint Frauncis of Mezina by night they added this title vpon his Sepulchre as I was aduertised by the warden of the house Qui propter nos homines Et propter nostram
interpretation of bookes If ye will say that those whiche presently be called Moores or Turkes be the same people whereof the Prophet speaketh Scrutati sunt iniquitates herevnto I answer that as false is the one as the other for as muche as if we will haue regarde vnto the time of the raigne of King Dauid which did prophesie the same vntill the time of Mahomet the first inuentor and conductor of the sect of the Moores we shall find that there dyd passe lesse than 2000. and more than 1800. yeares If we would say and affirme that the Prophet did meane and direct his speech vnto the Christians I saye also it is most false and repugnant vnto all troth for being admitted that the Christian faith had beginning to raigne 600. yeares before the sect of the Moores and more than 3000. yeares after the beginning of the Gentilitie or the Heathen from the tyme that this prophecie was written at Ierusalem vnto the time they began to name themselues Christians at Antioch there passed more than a thousand yeares and also thrée hundred yeares more for aduantage Behold here truly verifyed that since the prophecie may not be aduouched vpon the Gentiles the Moores neyther yet the Christians that it is to be vnderstood spoken vnto you Iewes more expressely for that the Prophet saith not Scruteront but Scruterent giuing vs to vnderstande that many yeares before King Dauid did pronounce the same youre auncesters had then already begon to corrupt the sacred Scriptures and to adde vnto the same erroneous glosses I lie not neyther do I repent to haue sayd that your auncient fathers Scrutati sunt iniquitates since they haue no grace to vnderstand the Prophecie of Ieremie which sayth post dies multos dicit dominus dabo meam legem in visceribus illorum in corde eorū ad scribā legem meam As if he wold haue sayd After many dayes and after many yeares I will create a newe people and will giue them a new lawe whiche I my selfe will wright in theyr bowells and hide within their harts to the ende that no persone shall falsefy the same and muche lesse shall they be able to forget it Then as the Prophecie which sayth Scrutati sant iniquitates c. is spoken onely vnto you and not to all men in lyke manner this Prophecie of Ieremy whiche sayth dabo legem in visceribus illorum c. is spoken vnto vs Christians and not to you Iewes For as muche as our Catholike fayth consisteth more in that which is rooted within our hartes than in that whyche is written in bookes in such manner the weale of the Christian lieth not in that whiche hée readeth but in that which he beléeueth The maruels that Christe hathe done and the doctrines which he hath giuen vnto the world It is necessary and well done to knowe and also to reade them but it is muche more founde and sure to beléeue them for the number is infinite which be saued without reading but not one persone without well beléeuing The Edicts and Proclamations which they ordeyned and the lawes of Moses Promotheus Solon Licurgus and Numa Pompilius were all written with their handes and preserued and kept safe in their originals within their liberties but the law of Iesus Christ ought most certaynly to be writtē within our harts for that in as much that the Lord gaue vs no other law but the law of loue he did like and thought it better that we shoulde search and find the same within our hartes than within our bookes And not without great mistery God sayd by the mouth of your Prophet that the law which his sonne should giue vs that he shuld first write it within the harts before the Euangelist shuld reduce them by writing into bookes for after this manner it might not be forgotten neyther yet burned And so if youre auncient predecessors hadde obtayned the law of Moyses written in their harts as they had them writtē in old parchment they had not in times past worshipped the Idolls of Baal Bell Pegor Asterot Bahalim and Belzebub for whiche offence you were caried captiue into straunge countries and falne into your enimies hands How it came to passe that the Hebrew tong was lost IN like manner ye vsed me with no small despight for that in disputing against you I alleaged youre Esay where God the Father speaking vnto his owne proper sonne sayde these wordes parum est mihi vt suscites tribus Iacob feces Israell dedit te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea vsque ad extremum terrae As if hée would haue sayd it is no great matter that thou serue me to suscitate and raise vp the lies of Iacob and to conuert the dregges of Israell for I haue giuen thee also for a light vnto the Gentiles to the ende that thou shalt be my sauing health vnto the ende of the worlde There is no man hauing read although but little in the holy Scripture that will not saye and affirme that the Prophet Esay was not an Hebrew borne a Prophet of a noble line and right eloquent in the scriptures for which cause you ought rather to blame and complayne of him which doth call and tearme you lies and dregges of Iacob than of me the which in all oure diputations haue not at any time alleaged any Christian doctor but only Hebrewish Prophets I saye agayne that you haue small reason to be offended with him or me for there is another Prophet which doth call you off scowring another venim another lies another dregs another ordure another slime another smoke another filthe in suche wise that as oft as ye did not ceasse to sin so did they not ceasse to blason and to expresse you with most perfect tearmes Are ye able to denie that of your priesthood of your Scepter of your Temple of your Realme of your lawe of youre tong either of your scripture is there any remayning but the lies which smelleth and the dregs which stinketh Surely that which was in youre lawe cleare nete precious and odoriferous long before the incarnation was consumed and that little which remayned in Iesus Christ did take an end And as cōcerning the priesthood of your law the great sacrificer or the high Priest ought he not to be extract out of the Trybe of Leuy whereof you haue nothing left but the lies for yet in the time of yonger and better dayes it was no more giuen vnto the Leuits that did best deserue it but vnto him that offred most siluer in such wise that to him that offred most and had greatest skill to flatter the priesthood was giuē as when a garment is sold by the drumme Likewise of your Scepter royal what haue you but the lyes for Herod Eskalonite a straunger did not onely vsurpe your Realme but by industry caused the Prince Antigonus sonne to Alexander your King
fortune The words of a very friend without dissimulation Men do order warres but God onely giueth victorie To one person and one matter fortune very seldome sheweth fidelitie What he ought to do that hathe continued long in the warres There is no greater trauel than to be ignorant of quietnesse Men oughte to trauell vntill they haue wherwith to defende necessitie He is in some hatred with fortune that is not suffred to repose in his owne house It is more to know how to enioy a victory than to ouercome a battell Our greatest trauels be of our owne seeking Both wisedome and eloqueÌ„ce in writing of a letter bee discouered In the courte men doe not but vndoe In the courte ther are thinges to be wondered as also to be shunned Newes of those dayes from Italy In Italy they win not so muche money as they learne vice Eight conditions of the courte and all verie perillous In the courte more despited than dispatched Death giueth feare but not amendment The ploughman reuewing the straightnes of his forough giueth note to the wise to examin their writings A letter ought to be pleasant to reade discret to be noted God dothe more for vs in giuiÌ„g vs grace than to take away temptations God doth know what he giueth vs but we know not what to craue To haue the occasion of sinne taken awaye is no small benefite of God. To be without temptatioÌ„ is no good signe The deuil procureth great welfare vnto his dearlings Notable examples against such as do persecute Very great bee the priuileges of the vertuous He incurreth great perils that coÌ„tendeth with the vertuous The certaine before the doubtfull is to be preferted A Kintall is a hundreth waight It is better to be than to seeme to bee vertuouse The conditioÌ„s of a friends letter A text of scripture expounded Vertue the vertues by exercise be conserued God hath more regarde vnto vs than we our selues Not the suffring but the pacieÌ„ce wherwith we suffer God regardeth The teÌ„ptation of the Deuill is limited It is lesse trauel to serue God than the world Good company is more pleasant then great fare The old Romanes were superstitious Places where the good wine of Spaine doth grow Terrible notes for the rich nigard The deed do here leaue their moneye and carie awaye theyr sinnes Horrible to liue poorely to die in great wealth Strange customes in a coÌ„mon welth are perillous Notable coÌ„dicioÌ„s of a good President The wordes of the eloqueÌ„t containe great efficacie A straunge example of an Orator A text of the Psalmist expounded It is lesse euill to enuie vs thaÌ„ to pitie vs The causes of hatred of Iulius Cesar and Pompeius Enuie bendeth his artillerie against prosperitie Behold the fraternitie of enuie Courtiers loose time Iniuries don by the almightie are to bee dissembled The trefull of al men and at all times abhorred In him that gouerneth ire is perilious A notable example to reâ—traine ire An example of the heathen to be noted and learned For the doubt of vice libertie refused Libertie craueth wisdome Twelue coÌ„dicioÌ„s of Rome variyng from Christes law A condicion at be in braced A rewarde after death A darke Epitaph expounded He is depriued of libertie that discouereth a secret It staineth a Gentleman to tell a lye Fiue Knightes throwne downe Sometimes some things vnfortunat To profite by sicknes declareth great wisedome Priuileges profites obtained by sicknes Anger 's and excesse be no small enemies to health To manifest the secrets of Princes is perillous An olde Epitaph Who dyd write the historie of the Sibils The historie of the man and the Lion. Great liberalitie vsed in feastes Did acquaintance renued betwene a maÌ„ and a Lyon. The Emperour Titus talketh with a slaue A slaue and also noble was Andronicus Auarice is cause of great infamie Foure sextertios amounte to .iiij. d. Where noblenesse dwelleth no treason haunteth An extreme distresse A passing toye Beastes doe feele benefits The Lyon feedeth his Chirurgian Absence extremely lamented The slaue craueth mercie The people of Rome make humble supplication for the slaue Note the authors of the historie Of what things they murmur in the Court. Who be great murmurers The order of the noble or gentlemans house The sinne of Ingratitude before God is detestable Zorzales blackbirds He is not to be holden for noble that hath much but that geueth much The poore do reuenge with teares To forget an iniurie proceedeth of singular wisedome Things that many desire but few obtain Conditions of a good iustice The conditions of Iudges vsed to be choseÌ„ in Rome The office of Iustice is to be giuen for merit and not for affection Euill iudges do execute the purse and not the person Iudges ought to dispatche with speed and answere with pacience Humanitie to all men of the mighty is to be vsed Of all men to be noted The womans armour is hir tongue True gentilitie pitieth the distressed Brothers children A speciall aduenture The pretence of priuate profite is voyde of all good counsell A notable measure A quent of Meruedis whiche be .6 a penie amouÌ„t 2500. Ducates The harte of man is moste excelleÌ„t in his kynde CommeÌ„dable qualities A notable secret in the yere climatik A perillous time for old men Notable conditions of a noble man. A lesson for Lords The expositioÌ„ of the text To be ashamed of sinne is hope of ameÌ„dment No greter sinner than he that presumeth to be good Oracles of old time Antigonus to be noted Gods grace doth only saue vs. A benefit due to suche as serue princes Badges of Christ Withoute grace a soule is lyke a body without life To drinke of the one or of the other great choyce is to be vsed Rules for old men Conuersation for old men The exercise of good old men The notes of good old men Necessary prouision for olde men A diet for old men Temperance in old men prouoketh sleepe and auoydeth belke A conclusion with rules conuenient for old men A most certaine remedie for loue A sodaine and strange spectacle Note the eloquence of the Author The perfect condition of a friende Buried being alyue A good praise to a Gentleman The wyse man weepeth not but for the losse of a frend The honest care not to liue long but well Who is worthie of prayse The friende vnto the freÌ„d neither hideth secret nor denieth money Not in your labour but in patience Not the paine but the cause maketh the martir A poudred crane sent froÌ„ Asia to Rome Plato offended with Dionisius for eating twice on the day Seuen nations inhabited Spaine The importunat and the foole are brothers children A notable example of a pitifull Prince An answer of Cato to Ascanius The good Iudge wresteth his condition agreeable to good lawes An example for men to be intreated of other men A sugred speach A commendable eloquence Notes of Iulius Cesar of Alexander the great The order of the knights of the
which wanne Belgra HuÌ„garia Buda and Rhodes Semiramis Queene of Babylon set this Epitaph vp in the name of hir husbaÌ„d Ninus The Epitaph of Cata MaÌ„lia that was buried liuing The Epitaph of Athaolphus king of the Gothes The deflouring of a maideÌ„ was cause of the ruine of Spaine or rather the heresie of Arius wherewith they were infected was cause of that punishment The deflouring of a maideÌ„ was cause of the ruine of Spayne or rather the heresie of Arius wherewith they were infected was cause of that punishment The Moores being Lordes of all Spaine except Biscay the Mountaines which is Astiria Cantabria diuided it into kingdomes as Cordubia Carthage suche like A necessarie consideration betwixt will and necessitie A harde comfort An accompte to be made not what wee liue but howe we liue A counsell of Horace the Poet. Errors of mans life A superfluous care A sound couÌ„sell A smal boast of Anchises S 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 thi 〈…〉 Th 〈…〉 me 〈…〉 thei 〈…〉 An 〈…〉 eni 〈…〉 ceas 〈…〉 amoÌ„ 〈…〉 A straunge Sepulture A violence without all reason An art most barbarous An vse of the Chibirins most inhumayne The foure notable Sepultures in Rome A commendable manner of drunkennesse An amplification vpon a small cause An exposition of the .25 chapiter of Exodus A necessary maner to expounde the Scriptures A description of the Tabernacle A question An imperfection of all estates A note for the Pope and papistes An example not to be forgotten No smal part of iustificatioÌ„ to confesse our sinnes And yet vnperfect without correctioÌ„ Contempt of amendement yeldeth vtter confusion A chaunge of fashion The vnderstaÌ„ding of the snuffers of most pure and fine golde The snuffers of leade or yron to bee noted Notable qualities of a magistrate A notable example of king Dauid To be incommended to the memory of Princes A note for Iudges An excellent expoâ—â—tion An example to be imbraced For that God pardoneth sinners it is conuenient that sinners do pardon eche other To rowe agaynste the streame and fishe agaynste the winde The notes of Vertue The garmeÌ„ts wherewith a foole is clad An extreme excesse coÌ„mitted of Christ Thirste ceasseth not to coÌ„mit excesse Loue of effect more than of affection Wante of power but not of will is accepted Loue hath his maintenance by good workes Weake causes to obtayne the loue of God. Agaynst the heare of mundaine loue A diuine loue not vsed among men A most soueraine vnremouable loue Christ extended an ardent loue vnto vs before we had being A great cause of hope A loue neuer hard of An euerlasting loue The manner and frute of life in the Court of Spayne The commodities of the Court of Spayne A good rule for a Byshop A matter without remission The Gaditains be those of Caliz A possession and a secret commission to be noted A description of the situation of Carthage A most vnfortunate report of a neighbor A duble fute of a vertuous Lady An answer of a noble vertuous minde A chiefe point of Ladies of chast renowne A spectacle for yong Captaynes Scipio of singular continencie A rendred raunsome giuen to the mariage of an enemie A recompence for curtesie receyued Newes To be obstinate and opiniatiue expresseth enimitie to the troth The wise is knowen by the manner modestie of his talke The Inis dispute with their fists Psalme 63. King Dauid did Prophesie the errours and false interpretation of the Inis The GeÌ„tiles be excused of false interpretation of the scripture The Turks Moores and Sarasins were not acused by the prophesy of King Dauid to be false interpreters The Christians be defended of false interpretation of the Scriptures A manifest proofe that the Prophet only chargeth the Iewes of false interpretation Ieremy 31. A comfort vnto Christians The weale of the Christian is faith Many be saued without reading but not one person without beleeuing Loue is the law of Christians Chapter .49 A report as true as miserable An heauy destenie Nothing left but lies Nothing left but dregs Nothing but lies Nothing but dregges Nothing but lyes The beginning and ending of the Hebrew tong described The Iewes lost both the forme of their life and the maner of their speeche A maruelous desolation How where when and by whom the scriptures were falsifyed Aliama a troup or company A prohibitioÌ„ amongst the Iewes to reade the scriptures The Iewes doctors aleaged A most wicked exchange The apostles accused by the Iewes and defended by Christ A cause of error in the scripture CoÌ„gregatioÌ„s or Common wealthes The three cursed sectes Asees Saduces and Pharises The auctor knoweth the secretes of the Iewes The Iewes began to conuert Christians The Iewes coÌ„demne and dury the traÌ„slation of Abemiziel doubting the conuersion of the Iewes to Christ The firste traslatioÌ„ after the incarnation of Christ The seconde translation The thirde translation The fourth translation allowed in the Christian Churche A fifth traÌ„slatioÌ„ by Origen after Christ One of the great manifest causes of the false beleefe of the Iewes A Cruell suggestion of the Diuell Vanities affirmed by the Iewishe doctors This prophecie of Dauid verified vpon the Iewes This prophecie of Esay verified vpon the Christians Psal. 2. Psal. 30. Psal. 119. Psal. 20. ¶ The Table of the familiar Epistles of Sir Antony of Gueuara AN Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon at the triumphes vvhen the french king vvas taken fol. 1 An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a Sermon on the daye of kinges vvherein is declared hovv the name of kinges vvas inuented fol. 4. A discourse or conference vvith the Emperour vpon certaine and most auncient stampes in metalles 12 A relation vnto Queene Germana declaring the life and lavves of the philosopher Licurgus 20 A letter vnto Sir Alonso Manrique Archbishop of Ciuile and Sir antony Manrique Duke of Nauara for the iudgemeÌ„t of a matter in coÌ„tentioÌ„ 21 A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynnigo of velasco vvherin the Author doth persvvade in the taking of Founterabie to make profe first of his vvisdome before he experiment his fortune 38 A letter vnto sir Antony of cuninga Prior of saint Iohn in vvhich is saide that although there be in a Gentleman to be reprehended there ought not to be cause of reproch 41 A letter to the Earle of Miranda vvherin is expounded that text of Christ vvhich saith My yoke is svveete 45 A letter vnto sir Peter Giron vvherin the Author doth toutch the manner of auncient vvriting 53 A letter vnto sir Ynnigo of Velasco Constable of Castile vvherein th' author doth teach the breifnes of vvriting in old time 59 A letter vnto the Marques of Pescara vvherein the Author doth note vvhat a captaine ought to be in the vvarres 66 A letter vnto sir Allonso Albornos vvherein in is touched that it is a poynt of euill manner not to aunsvvere to a letter vvritten vnto him 72 A letter vnto sir