great Ladies which of their patrimonie and heritage possesse manie Townes and Citties for to such I wil not take away the seruices which are due vnto them by their Subiects but I doe perswade them to the obedience which they ought to beare to theyr Husbandes It is not maruell though that women of meane estate haue sometimes quarrelled with their Husbands For they haue small Riches to loose and lesse honour to aduenture then the Princesses and great Dames haue the which since they do aduenture to commaund manie why wil not they humble themselues to obey one speaking with due reuerēce It is for aboundance of follie and want of wisedome that a Woman should haue presumption to gouerne a whole Realm and that she hath not grace to obey one Husband Seneca in a Tragedie saieth thus that in the time of the warre of Mithridates it chanced in Rome that the Consulls sent to the olde Knightes and commanded that they should all be in a readinesse to go with Silla the Consull into the warres And it happened that when they came into ones house in Rome to publish the Edict to warne him to bee ready they found not the husband but the wife who made answere and sayd That her husband ought not nor could not goe to the warres and though hee would hee should not neither would see giue him licence for hee was an old and ancient Knight and therefore hee ought to be exempted from the warres With this answer those that heard it were greatly abashed and the whole Senate no lesse offended wherefore they commaunded that the husband should bee banished Rome and the wife to bee carryed to the Prison Mamortine not for that he excused himselfe for going to the warres but because she commanded her husband and because he suffered himselfe to be commanded of her The Senate did this to that end that from that time forwards no woman should presume or contend with her husband and that no husband should giue his wife any occasion to be bold with him CHAP. VII That Women and especially Princesses and great Ladyes should be very circumspect in going abroad out of their houses and that through the resort of them that commeth to their houses they bee not euill spokenof AMong all the counsels that may or ought to be giuen to Princesses and great Ladies this is the first that they do what they can to haue rest in their houses and that they goe not as strayes to the mansions of other men for if such Ladyes are good they get much reputation and if perchance they bee euill they take from men all occasion Whether the husband be present or absent it is a most necessary and honest thing that the wife be for the most part in the house for by this meanes the household shal be well gouerned and from the heart of the husband shall bee withdrawne all kinde of suspitions Sithens the office of the husband is to gather goods and riches and the office of a wife to keepe and preserue them the houre that she goeth out of the house she ought to thinke that her Maydens will stray abroad the Children will runne out to play the Varlats and Seruants will bee out of order the Neighbours wil take occasions to speake euill and that which is worste of all some will steale the goods out of the house and the others will speake euill of the reeowne of the wife Oh God giueth a goodly gift and grace to that man which hath such so good a wife that of her own nature loueth to keepe her selfe within the house And truely I say that such a one doeth excuse many griefes and saueth much mony for she spendeth not the goods in Apparel nor giueth occasion to men to iudge euill of her person The greatest debate that is betweene man and wife is for that hee desireth to get and keepe his goods to bring vp his children and to maintayne his familie and on the other part that she desireth to spend all vpon apparrell for women in this case are so curious in louing of themselues that they would abstaine from meates that should maintaine their life onely to buy a new Gowne to set out their pride Women naturally do loue to keepe and will not spend any thing except it be in apparrell for euery houre that is in the day and the night they desire to haue a new Gowne to change My intention is not to speake of Apparrell only but to perswade Princesses and great Ladyes that they would keepe themselues in their houses and in so doing they should excuse these superfluous wastes and expences for her neighbour seeing her better apparrelled then shee is looketh vpon her husband as she were a Lyon It chanceth oftentimes I would to God I had no cause to speake it that if by chaunce there commeth any great or solemne Feast or Marriage shee will neuer looke louingly on his face before he hath giuen her a newe gowne to her backe and when the poore Gentleman hath no money to pay of necessitie hee must runne in credite And when the vanity of the woman is past then the time of payment draweth neere and they come to arrest all his goods so that they haue cause to lament one whole yeare for that which they haue spent in one houre VVomen seldome contend for that one is fairer more nobler of linage better married or more vertuous then another but only that another goeth better apparelled then shee For touching apparell there is no woman can endure that another meaner woman should make comparison with her nor that in like manner her equall should excell her Lycurgus in the lawes that he gaue to the Lacedemonians commaunded that their Wiues should not goe out of their houses but at diuers solemne Feasts in the yeare For he saide that the women ought to be making their prayers in the Temples to the Gods or else in their houses bringing vppe their children For it is not honest nor cōmendable that the wife should passe her time abroade trotting from street to streete as common women I say that the Princesses and great Ladyes are much more bound to keepe themselues at home in their Houses then other women of meaner degree and without a cause I speak it not for thereby they shall get them more reputation For there is no vertue whereby the woman winneth more reputation in the Common-wealth then alwaies to be seen resident in her house I say also that a Wife ought the most part of her time to keepe her house because she hath lesse occasion then others haue to goe abrode For if the poore wife the Plebian goe out of her house shee goeth for no other cause but for to seeke meat but if the rich and Noble-woman goeth out of her house it is for nothing but to take her pleasure Let not Princesses maruell nor let not great Ladyes wonder if they dispose their feete to trotte and occupie
they did more esteeme the good will wherewith they gaue it then they did the gifts themselues for there was so much indeed that sufficed both to make the Image of the Goddesse Berecinthia and also for a long time to maintaine the Warres Therefore from that day that those Matrons presented their Iewels in the high Capitoll the Senate forthwith in remembrance of the gentlenesse graunted them these fiue things as a priuiledge for at that time Rome neuer receiued seruice or benefite of any person but Shee rewarded it with double payment The first thing that the Senate granted the Romane Women was That in the day of their buriall the Oraters might openly make Orations in the prayse of their liues for in olde time men vsed neyther to exalt them when they were dead nor yet to accompany them to their graues The second thing that was graunted vnto them was That they might sit in the Temples for in the olde time when the Romanes did offer Sacrifices to their Gods the aged did alwayes sit the Priests kneele the marryed men did leane but the women though they were of Noble and high linage could neyther be suffered to talke sit nor leane The third thing that the Senate granted the women of Rome was That euery one of them might haue two rich Gownes and that they should not aske the Senate leaue to weare them for in the old time if any woman were apparelled or did buy any new Gowne without asking licence of the Senate she should immediately lose her Gowne and because her husband did condiscend vnto the same he was banished the Common-wealth The fourth thing which they granted them was That they should drinke Wine when they were sicke for there was in Rome a custome inuiolable that though their life was in hazard they durst not drinke wine but water for when Rome was well corrected a woman that drunke wine was as much slandered among the people as if she had committed Adultery towards her husband The fith thing granted by the Senate vnto the women was That a man might not deny a Romane being with childe any honest and lawfull thing that she demanded I cannot tell why the Ancients of Rome esteemed more of women with childe then others that had no children All these fiue thinges were iustly granted to the Matrons and Noble Romane Ladyes And I can tell thee Faustine that they were of the Senate most willingly granted for it is reason that women which in vertues doe excell should with all meanes be honoured I will tell thee Faustine the especiall cause that mooued the Romanes to grant vnto you Matrones this last priuiledge that is to say That a man cannot deny them any thing being with child Thou oughtest to know that the others as well Greekes as Latines did neuer giue Lawes nor Institutions vnto their people without great occasions for the great multitude of lawes are commonly euill kept and on the other part are cause of sundry troubles We cannot deny but that the Ancients did well auoyde the great number of Institutions for it is better for a man to liue as reason commandeth him then as the lawe constraineth him The case therefore was that in the yeere of the foundation of Rome 364. Fuluius Torquatus then being Consull in the warre against the Volces the Knights of Mauritania brought to Rome an huge Monster with one eye called Monoculus which he had found in the Desarts of Aegipt at the time the wife of Torquatus called Macrina should haue beene deliuered of child for the Consull did leaue her great This Macrina amongst all was so honest that they spent as much time in Rome to praise her for her vertues as they did set foorth her husband for his Victories They read in the Annalles of that time That the first time that this Consull Torquatus went into Asia he was eleuen yeeres out of his Country and his found for a truth that in all the time that Torquatus was absent his wife was neuer seene to looke out at the window which was not a thing smally esteemed for though it was a custome in Rome to keepe the doore shut it was lawfull notwistanding to speake to women at the windowes Though men at that time were not so bold and the women were so honest yet Macrina wife to Torquatus liued so close solitary to her selfe that in all these eleuen yeeres there was neuer man that saw her goe through Rome or that euer saw her doore open neither that shee consented at any time from the time that shee was eight yeeres of age that any man should enter into her house and moreouer there was neuer man saw her face wholly vncouered This Romane Ladie did this to leaue of her a memorie and to giue example of her vertue She had also three children whereof the eldest was but fiue yeeres olde and so when they were eight yeeres of age immediately shee sent them out of her house towards their Parents lest vnder the colour to visite the children others should come to visite her O Faustine how many haue I heard that haue lamented this excellent Romane and what will they thinke that shall follow her life Who could presently restrain a Romane woman from going to the window eleuen yeeres since things now adayes are so dissolute that they doe not onely desire to see them but also run in the Streetes to babble of them Who should cause now adayes a Romane woman that in the eleuen yeeres she should not open her dores since it is so that when the husband commaunded her to shut one doore she will make the whole house to ring of her voyce Hee that now would commaund his wife to tarry at home and let her of her vagaries into the Towne shall perceiue that there is no Basiliske nor Viper that carryeth such poison in her taile as she will spit with her tongue Who could make a Romane woman to bee eleuen yeeres continually without shewing her face to any man since it is so that they spend the most part of their time in looking in a Glasse setting their Ruffes brushing their Cloathes and painting their faces Who would cause a Romane woman to keepe her selfe eleuen yeeres from being visited of her Neighbors and Friends since it is true that now women thinke them greatest enemies which visite them most seldome Returning therefore to the Monster As they led this Monster before the doore of Torquatus his house she being great with childe and her husband in the warre by chance a Mayde of his told her how that this Monster passed by wherefore so great a desire tooke her to see the Monster that for to keepe that she had begun suddenly for this desire she dyed Truely I tell thee Faustine that this Monster had passed many times by the Streete where she dwelt and she would neuer notwithstanding go to the window and much lesse out of her doore to see it The death of this Romane of
this coate The poore Poet answered him I let thee know my friend that I cannot tell which is greater thy euill lucke or my greate felicitie The Romane Calphurnius replyed Tell me Cornificius How canst thou call thy selfe happy since thou hast not a loafe of bread to eate nor a gowne to put on thy backe and why sayest thou that I am vnhappy since thou and thy family may be fed with that alone which at my table remayneth To this the poet answered I will that thou know my friend and neighbour that my felicitie is not for that I haue little but for that I desire lesse then I haue And thy euill lucke is not for that thou bast much but for that thou desirest more and doest little esteem that that thou hast And if thou be rich it is for that thou neuer spakest truth and if I he poore it is because I neuer tolde lye For the house that is stuffed with riches is commonly voyd of the truth And I tell thee further that I call my selfe happie because I haue a sister which is the best esteemed in all Italie and thou hast a Wife the most dishonest in all Rome And sith it is so betweene thee and mee I referre it to no mans iudgement but to thine which is better eyther to be poore as I am with honour or else to bee rich as thou art and liue with infamte These wordes passed betweene the Romane Calphurnius and the Poet Cornificius I desire to declare the excellencie of those few auncient women as well Greekes as Latines and Romanes to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes may knowe that the auncient women were more esteemed for their sciences then for their beauties Therefore the Princesses and great Ladies ought to thinke that if they be womē the other were also in like māner and if they bee fraile the others were also weake If they be marryed the others also had Husbands if they haue theyr willes the others had also what they wanted If they be tender the others were not strong Finally they ought not to excuse themselues saying that women are vnmeete for to learne For a woman hath more abilitie to learne Sciences in the scholes then the Parate hath to speake words in the cage In my opinion Princesses and great Ladyes ought not to esteeme themselues more then another for that they haue fairer hayres then others or for that they are better Apparrelled then another or that they haue more riches then another But they ought therfore to esteeme themselues not for that they can doe more then others To say the trueth the faire and yeallow hayres the rich and braue Apparel the great treasurs the sumptuous Pallaces and strong Buildings these and other like pleasures are not guydes and leaders vnto vertues but rather Spyes and Scowtewatches to vices Oh what an excellent thing were it that the noble Ladyes would esteeme themselues not for that they can doe but for that they knowe For it is more commendations to know how to teach two Philosophers then to haue authority to commaund a hundred knightes It is a shame to write it but it is more pittie to see it that is to say to reade that wee read of the wisedome and worthinesse of the auncient Matrons past and to see as we do see the frailenes of these yong ladies present For they coueted to haue Disciples both learned and experimented and those of this present desire nothing but to haue seruants not only ignorant but deceitfull and wicked And I doe not maruell seeing that which I see that at this present in Court she is of little value least esteemed amōg Ladies which hath fairest Seruants is least entertained of Gentlemen What shall I say more in this matter but that they in times past striued who shold write better and compile the best books and these at this present doe not striue but who shall haue the richest and most sumptuous Apparrell For the Ladyes thinke it a jolyer matter to weare a Gowne of a new fashion then the ancients did to read a lesson of Phylosophie The ancient Ladyes striued which of them was wisest but these of our dayes contend who shal be fairest For at this day the Ladyes would choose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The Auncient Ladyes contended which should bee best able to teach others but these Ladyes now a dayes contend how they may most finely apparrell themselues For in these dayes they giue more honour to a Woman richly Apparrelled then they giue to another with honesty beautified Finally with this word I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused all men to keepe silence and now their vices bee such that they compell all men to speake I will not by this worde any man should be so bold in general to speake euill of all the Ladyes for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuie at the life they lead in secrete then at all the sciences which the auncient women read in publike Wherefore my pen doth not shew it selfe extreame but to those which onely in sumptuous Apparrell and vaine words doe consume their whole life and to those which in reading a good Booke would not spend one onely houre To proue my intention of that I haue spoken the aboue written sufficeth But to the ende Princesses and great Ladyes may see at the least how much beter it shal be for them to know little then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I wil remēber them of that which a Romain woman wrote to her children wherby they shal perceiue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayings and how true a mother in her coūsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauels of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyde the pleasures of Rome CHAP. XXXI Of the worthinesse of the Lady Cornelia and of a notable Epistle shee wrote to her two sonnes which serued in the warres Tiberius and Caius disswading them from the pleasures of Rome and exhorting them to endure the trauels of warre ANNius Rusticus in the booke of the Antiquities of the Romanes sayeth that in Rome there were fiue principall Iynages that is to say Fabritii Torquatii Brutii Fabit and Cornelii though there were in Rome other new lynages whereof there were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the fiue lynages were kept placed and preferred to the first Offices of the common wealth For Rome honoured those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongst those v. linages the Romaines alwayes counted the Cornelii most fortunate that which were so hardy and couragious in fight
to bee borne afore him a burning brand and the Councel an Axe of Armes the Priests a Hatte in manner of a Coyse The Senatours a Crusible on their Armes the Iudges a little Balance the Tribunes Maces the Gouernours a Scepter the Bishoppes Hattes of flowers the Oratours a Booke the Cutler 's a Sword the Goldsmith a pot to melt gold and so forth of all other offices strangers excepted which went al marked after one sort in Rome For they would not agree that a stranger should be apparrelled and marked according to the children of Rome O my friend Pulio it was such a ioy then to behold the Discipline and prosperity of Rome as it is now at this present such a griefe to see the calamitie thereof that by the immortall Gods I sweare to thee and so the God Mars guide my hand in Wars that the man which now is best ordered is not worth so much as the most dissolute person was then For then amongst a thousand they could not find one man vicious in Rome and now amongst twenty thousand they cannot find one vertuous in all Italy I know not why the Gods are so cruell against me and fortune so contrary that this forty yeares I haue done nothing but weepe and lament to see the good men dye and immediately to be forgotten and on the other side to see wicked men liue and to be alwayes in prosperity Vniuersally the noble heart may endure all the troubles of mans life vnlesse it bee to see a good man decay and the wicked to prosper which my heart cannot abide nor yet my tongue dissemble And touching this matter my friend Pulio I will write vnto thee one thing which I found in the booke of the high Capitoll where hee treateth of the time of Marius and Silla which truely is worthy of memory and that is this There was at Rome a custome and a law inuiolable sith the time of Cinna that a Censour expresly commāded by the Senate should goe and visite the Prouinces which were subiect vnto it throughout all Italy and the cause of those visitations was for three things The first to see if any complained of Iustice The second to see in what case the Common-weale stood The third to the end that yearely they should render obedience to Rome O my friend Pulio how thinkest thou If they visited Italie at this present as at that time they suruaied Rome how ful of errours should they finde it And what decay should they see therin thinkest thou Truely as thou knowest they should see the common wealth destroyed Iustice not ministred and moreouer Rome not obeyed and not without iust cause For of right ought that common-wealth to be destroyed which once of all other hath beene the flower and most beautified with vertues and after becommeth most abhominable and defiled with vices The case was such that two years after the wars of Silla and Marius the Censour went yeerly to Nola which is a place in the Prouince of Campania to visite the same Country as the custome was And in those dayes the time and season being very hote and the Prouince quiet not disturbed with warres and perceyuing that none of the people came to him The Censour said to the Host which lodged him Friend I am a Iudge sent from the Senatours of Rome to visite this land Therefore goe thy wayes quickly and call the good men hither which be among the people for I haue to say vnto them from the sacred Senate This Host who peraduenture was wiser then the Romane Iudge although not so rich goeth to the graues of the dead which in that place were buried and spake vnto them with a loude voyce saying O yee good men come away with mee quickly for the Romane Censour calleth you The Iudge perceyuing they came not sent him againe to call them and the Host as he did at the first time so did he now at the second For when he was at the graues with a loud voice he sayd O yee good men come hither for the censour of Rome would talke with you And likewise they were called the third time with the selfe same words And the Censour seeing no body come was maruellous angry and sayde to the Host Sith these good men disdain to come at my commandement and shew their allegiance to the sacred Senate of Rome that were aliue and not those that are dead the Host made answere O thou Romane Iudge if thou wert wise thou wouldest not maruell at that that I haue done For I let thee vnderstand in this our City of Nola all the good men all I say are now dead and lye here buried in these graues Therefore thou hast no cause to maruell nor yet to bee displeased with my aunswere but I rather ought to bee offended with thy demaund willing me to enquire for good men and thou thy selfe dost offend with the euill dayly Wherefore I let thee know if thou bee ignorant thereof if thou wilt speake with any good man thou shalt not finde him in all the whole world vnlesse the dead bee reuiued or except the Goas will make a new creation The Consull Silla was fiue moneths our Captaine in this our City of Nola in Campania sowing the fruit which ye other Romaines gathered that is to say he left children without Fathers Fathers without children daughters without Mothers and Husbands without Wiues Wiues without Husbands Vncles without Nephewes Subiects without Lords Lords without Tenants Gods without Temples Temples without Priestes Mountaines without Heards and fieldes without fruites And the worst of all is that this wicked and cursed Silla dispeopled this our City of good and vertuous men and replenished it with wicked and vitious persons Ruine and decay neuer destroyed the Walles so much neyther the Mothes euer so many garments nor the Worme rotted so much fruit nor yet the Hayle beate downe so much corne as the disorder and vices of Sylla the Romane Consull did harme which hee brought vnto this land of Campania And although the mischiefe and euils that hee did heere to the men were manifold great yet much greater herein was that which he did to their Customes and Manners For in the end the good men which hee beheaded are now at rest with the dead but the vices which hee left vs in this Land there are none but proude and arrogant men that delight to commaund In this land there are none other but enuious men that know nought else but malice In this land there are idle men which doe nothing but loose their time In this land there are none but gluttons which doe nothing but eate In this land there are none but theeues which entend nought else but robberies In this land there are none but rebels that do nothing but stirre sedition And if thou and all the Romanes esteeme these men for good tarry a while I will goe to call them all to thee For if wee should
the beginning so after the victorie had of their enemies they should shew themselues meeke and pittifull This Dictator Camillus for an other thing hee did was much commended aboue the residue That is to say hee did not onely not consent to robbe the Temples nor dishonour the Gods but hee himselfe with great reuerence tooke the sacred vessels of the Temples and the Gods which were therein especially the Goddesse Iuno and brought them all to Rome For amongst the Auncients there was a Law that the Gods of them which were vanquished should not come by lot to the Captaines being Conquerours therfore hee made in the Mount Auentino a sumptuous Temple wherein hee placed all the Gods together with all the holy Reliques which hee wanne For the greater Triumph the Romans had ouer their enemies so much the better they handled the Gods of the people vanquished Also you ought to know that the Romaines after many victories determined to make a crowne of golde very great rich and to offer it to the God Apollo but sith the common Treasure was poor because there was but little siluer and lesse golde to make that crowne The Romane Matrons defaced theyr Iewels and ouches of golde and siluer to make the Crowne there withall For in Rome there neuer wanted money if it were demanded for the seruice of Gods to repayre Temples or to redeeme Captiues The Senate esteemed the well willing hearts of these women in such sort that they graunted them three things that is say To weare on their heades Garlands of flowers to goe in Chariots to the common places and to goe openly to the feasts of the Gods For the auncient Romanes were so honest that they neuer ware gold on theyr heades neyther went they at any time to the feasts vncouered A man ought not to maruell that the Romanes granted such priuiledges vnto the ancient Matrones of Rome For they vsed neuer to bee obliuious of any benefite receyued but rather gentle with thanks and rewards to recompence the same An other notable thing chanced in Rome which was that the Romanes sent two Tribunes the which were called Caulius and Sergius into the Isle of Delphos with greate presents to offer vnto the God Apollo For as Titus Liuius sayeth Rome yeerely sent a present vnto the God Apollo and Apollo gaue vnto the Romanes counsell And as the Tribunes went out of the way they fell into the hands of pirates and rouers on the sea which tooke them with their treasures and brought them to the Cittie of Liparie But the citizens vnderstanding that those presents were consecrated to the God Apollo did not onely deliuer them all their Treasure againe but also gaue them much more guides therewith to conduct them safely both going and comming from all peril and danger The Romaines beeing aduertised of theyr genltenesse by the messengers which were come safe and aliue did so much reioyce that they ordayned in Rome that the Nobles of Liparie should bee made Senatours of Rome and all the others should be confederates and of aliance vnto them And they caused further that two priests of Liparie should alwayes remaine in the Temple of Iupiter which priuiledge was neuer granted to any other strangers but to them onely For the Romanes had so great zeale and loue to their Gods that in the seruices of the temples they trusted none but those which were natiue ancient of Rome and also were both wise and vertuous When Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were in the warres against the Samnites and Tuscanes and likewise against the Vmbres manie maruellous and terrible signes were seene in Rome which things did not only feare those that sawe them but also those which heard of them Vpon which occasion the Romaines and the Romane Matrones both night and day offered great sacrifices to the gods For they sayd if we can pacifie the wrath of the Gods in Rome we shall neuer need to feare our enemies in the field The thing was this that as the Romane Matrons went visiting the temples to appease the ire of the Gods many senators wiues came to the temple of chastitie to offer sacrifice For in the time of the puissant power of the Romanes the Women did sacrifice in the temples of the Gods At that time Virginea the daughter of Aureus Virgineus the Consul Plebeian the which was forbidden to doe sacrifice for that shee was none of the Senators wiues but a Plebeian as much to say as a Crafts-woman and no Gentlemans-Daughter borne For the Noblewomen were had in so great veneration and so highly esteemed that all the other seemed in respect of them but hand-maydes and slaues The noble Romane Virginea seeing her to be so repulsed and disdained of the other matrones made of her own house a temple to the Goddesse of Chastitie and with much deuotion and reuerence honoured her The which thing being published abroade throughout Rome manie other women came thither to doe Sacrifice likewise For Fortune is so variable that oftentimes those which of pride haue forbidden vs theyr houses come after by humilitie to doe vs seruice at ours For this cause this Virginea the Foundresse was so greatly praysed that the Romaines in her life made her Patrice that is a Noble Romane and after her death caused her Image and statue to be made and set vp in the high Capitoll and about this Image were ingrauen certain Greeke characters the effect whereof was this PATRICE the great this Image doth present That in her life did giue with minde deuout The Gods her house therefore to them went When liuely breath by death was chased out Of all these Hystories aboue-named Titus Liuius maketh mention in his first Decade the second fifth and ninth book and though he declareth them more at large yet this shall suffice for my purpose I haue sought amongst the Gentiles these fewe Examples to reprooue Christian Princes Onely to the ende they might see how studious and seruent our Fathers were in the seruice of their Idols contrariwise how cold and negligent we are to honour and serue our true and liuing God It is a shame to tell how the ancient Romanes with all their hearts did serue the Gods without any vnderstanding and how those which are Christians for the most part serue the true God not in truth but with hypocrisie and dissimulation For the children of this World will take no paines but for to prouoke the pleasures of the body Many wondred for what occasion God did so much for them and they did nothing for God To this may bee answered that if they had known one true God all the sacrifices they had done to their other Gods they would haue done to him onely and as God is iust so hee rewarded them in their temporall prosperities Not for that they did well but for that they desired to doe well For in our diuine Law God doth not regard what wee
at my desire doe it for that thou art bound For many men oft-times condiscend to doe that which they would not more for vertues sake then to satisfie the demand of any other Thou shalt take that which my Embassador shall giue and beleeue that which he shall tell in my behalfe and by this my letter I doe promise thee that when thou shalt ariue here I will make thee treasorer of my coffers only counsailour of mine affaires secretary of my counsell father of my children reformer of my Realme master of my person and Gouernour of my Commonwealth finally Anacharsis shall be Cresus because Cresus may be Anacharsis I say no more but the gods haue thee in their custody to whom I pray that they may hasten thy comming The Embassadour departed to goe to Athens bearing with him this letter and many sewels and bagges of gold and by chance Anacharsis was reading in the Vniuersitie at the arriuall of the Ambassadors of Athens Who onely sayd and did his message to Anacharsis presenting vnto him the gifts and the letter Of which thing all those of the Vniuersitie maruelled for the barbarous Princes were not accustomed to seek Phylosophers to gouern their commonwealth but to put them to death and take from them their liues After the great Phylosopher Anacharsis had heard the Ambassage seene the gifts and receiued the lerter with out altering his countenance or elation of his person impediment in his tong or desire of the riches immediatly before the phisophers sayd these words which hereafter are written The letter of the Phylosopher Anacharsis to the king Cresus ANacharsis the least of the Phylosophers which to thee Cresus most mightie and puissant king of Lides the health which thou wishest him and the increase of vertue which thou sendest him They haue told vs many things here in these parts as well of thy Realme as of thy person and there in those parts they say many things as wel of our Vniuersitie as of my selfe For the heart taketh great pleasure to know the conditions and liues of all those in the world It is well done to desire and procure to know all the liues of the euill to amend our owne It is well done to procure and know the liues of the good for to follow them but what shall we doe since now a daies the euill doe not desire to know the liues of the euill but for to couer them and keepe them secret and doe not desire to know the liues of the good for to follow them I let thee know king Cresus that the Phylosophers of Greece felt not so much paine to be vertuous as they felt in defending them from the vitious For if a man once behold vertue immediatly she suffereth to be taken but the euill for any good that any man can doe vnto them neuer suffers themselues to be vanquished I beleeue well that tyrannie of the Realm is not so great as they talke of here neither oughtest thou likewise to beleeue that I am so vertuous as they report me to be here For in mine opinion those which declare newes of strange countries are as the poore which weare their garments al patched and peeced wherof the peeces that were sowne on a new are in more quantitie of cloth then the old which before they had when they were first made Beware king Cresus and bee not as the barbarous Princes are which vse good words to couer the infamy of their cruel deeds Maruel not though we Phylosophers readers in schooles desire not to liue with princes and gouernors of realms For euil Princes for none other intent seeke the company of wise men but onely because they would through them excuse their faults For doing as thou doest of will and not of right you will that the vulgar people thinke you do it by the counsel of a wise man I let thee vnderstand king Cresus that the prince which desireth to gouerne his people well ought not to be content to haue one onely Sage in his Pallace For it is not meete that the gouernement of many do consist in the aduise of one alone The Ambassadour hath sayde by word and the selfe same thy letter testifieth that thou art certified that I am counted for Sage throughout all Greece that this presupposed I wold come to thee to gouerne thy commonwealth And for the contrary thou doing thus as thou doest condemnest mee to be an Idiot for thou thinking that I would take thy gold is nothing else but for to raile vpon me as a foole The chiefe point wherein true philosophy is knowne is when he despiseth the things of the world for there neuer agreeth together the libertie of the soule and the care of the goods in this life O king Cresus I let thee vnderstand that hee which knoweth most the cause of the Element is not called Sage but it is he which least knoweth the vices of this world For the true phylosopher profiteth more by not knowing the euill then by learning the good I let thee vnderstand I am threescore and seuen yeares old and yet neuer before this time there reigned ire in me but when thy Ambassage was presented to me and that I saw layde at my feete such treasures and riches For vpon this deed I gather that either wisedome lacketh in thee or that great couetousnes aboundeth in me I doe send thee thy gold againe which thou sendest me and rhy Ambassadour shall declare as witnesse of sight how greatly it hath slandered all Greece For it was neuer seene nor heard of that in any wise they should suffer gold to enter into the Vniuersitie of Athens For it should not onely bee a dishonour to the Phylosophers of Greece to haue riches but also it would turne them to great infamie to desire them O King Cresus if thou knowest it not it is but reason thou know it that in the Schooles of Greece wee learne not to command but to obey not to speake but to be silent not to resist but to humble our selues not to get much but to content vs with little not to reuenge offences but to pardon iniuries not to take from others but to giue our owne not to be honored but to trauaile to be vertuous finally we learne to despise that which other men loue and to loue that which other men despise which is pouertie Thou thoughtest that I would accept thy gold or else that I would not If thou thoughtest I would haue taken it then thou haddest had reason not to haue receiued me afterwards into thy Palace for it is a great infamie that the couetous man shuld be acceptable to a Prince If thou thoughtst that I wold none of it thou wert not wise to take the pains to send it for Princes ought neuer to take vpon them things wherein as they thinke that subiects should lose their honestie in receiuing them Seeking Cresus and behold that by diligence it litle auayleth
liue honest and temperate the which cannot well bee done vnlesse they bee marryed or that they see themselues to bee conquerors of the flesh and being so they are satisfyed but if they be not marryed and the flesh doth assault them then they liue immediately conuered Wherefore of necessitie they must goe by their Neighbours houses or else by some other dishonest places scattered abroad to the reproach and dishonor of them and their kindred and oftentimes to the great perill and danger of their Persons CHAP. III. Of sundry and diuers Lawes which the Ancients had in Contracting Matrimony not onely in the choyse of Women but also in the manner of celebrating Marriage IN all Nations and in all the Realmes of the World Marriage hath alwayes beene accepted and marueilously commended for otherwise the world had not beene peopled nor yet the number of men multiplyed The ancients neuer disagreed one from another in the approbation and acception of Marriage but there was amongst them great difference and strife vpon the contracts ceremonies and vsages of the same For they vsed as much difference in contracting Matrimony and choosing their wiues as these Epicures do desire the varietie of sundry delicate meates The diuine Plato in his Booke hee made of the Common-wealth did counsell that all thinges should be common and that not onely in bruit beasts in moueables and heritages but also that womē should be common for he sayd that if these two words thine and mine were abolished and out of vse there should not bee debates nor quarels in this world They cal Plato Diuine for many good things which he spake but now they may call him Worldly for the counsel profane which he gaue I cannot tell what beastlinesse it may be called nor what greater rudenes may be thought that the apparrell should be proper and the wiues common The bruite beast doth not know that which came out of her belly longer then it sucketh of her brests And in this sort it would chance to men yea and worse too if women were common in the Common-wealth for though one should know the Mother which hath borne him hee should not know the Father which hath begotten him The Tharentines which were wel renowmed amongst the ancients and not a little feared of the Romanes had in their Citie of Tharente a law and custome to marry themselues with a legitimate wife to beget children but besides her a man might yet chuse two others for his secret pleasures Spartianus sayd that the Emperour Hellus Verus as touching women was very dissolute and since his wife was young and faire and that she did complaine of him because he led no honest life with her hee spake these words vnto her My wife thou hast no cause to complayne of me since I remaine with thee vntill such time as thou art quicke with childe for the residue of the time we husbands haue licence and priuiledge to seek our pastimes with other women For this name of a wife containeth in it honour but for the residue it is a grieuous burden and painefull office The like matter came to Ptolomeus King of Egipt of whom the Queene his wife did greatly complaine Admit that all the Greekes haue beene esteemed to bee very wise amongst all those the Athenians were esteemed of most excellent vertue for the Sages that gouerned the Common-wealth remained in Athens with the Philosophers which taught the Sciences The Sages of Athens ordeyned that all the neighbours and inhabitants might keepe two lawfull wiues and furthermore vpon paine of grieuous punishments did commaund that none should presume nor be so hardy to maintain any concubine for they sayd when men haunt the companie of light women comonly they misuse their lawfull Wiues As Plutarch saith in his Politiques the cause why the Greekes made this lawe was considering that man could not nor ought not to liue without the companie of a woman and therefore they would that a man should marrie with two wines For if the one were diseased and lay in yet the other might serue in bed waite at the Table and doe other businesses in the house Those of Athens had another great respect and cōsideration to make this law which was this that if it chanced the one to be barren the other should bring forth children in the Common-wealth and in such case shee that brought forth Children should be esteemed for Mistresse and the other that was barren should be taken for a seruant When this law was made Socrates was marryed to Xantippa and to accomplish the law hee tooke another called Mirra which was the daughter of the Phylosopher Aristides and sith those two women had great quarrells and debates together and that thereby they slaundered their Neighbours Socrates saide vnto them My wiues yee see right well that my eyes are hollow my legges are withered my hāds are wrinckled my head is balde my bodie is little and the haires are white Why doe yee then that are so faire stand in contention and strife for mee that am so deformed Though Socrates saide these wordes as it were in ieast yet such words were occasion that the quarrells and strifes betweene them ceased The Lacedemonians than in the time of peace and warre were always contrary to the Athenians obserued it for an inuiolable lawe not that one man should marry with two wiues but that one woman should marrie with two husbands and the reason was that when one Husband should goe to the warre the other shold tarry at home For they saide that a man in no wise should agree to leaue his Wife alone in the common-wealth Plinie writing an Epistle vnto his friend Locratius and Saint Hierome writing to a Frier called Rusticus saith That the Atbenians did vse to marry Bretheren with the Sisters but they did not permitte the Auntes to marrie with their Nephewes neither the Vnckles with their Nieces For they sayd that brothers and sisters to marrie together was to marry with their semblables but for vnckles to marry Nieces Aunts with Nephews was as of fathers to daughters and of mothers to sonnes Melciades which was a man of great renowme amongst the Grecians had a sonne called Cimonius who was marryed to his owne sister called Pinicea and being demaunded of one why hee tooke his sister in marriage hee answered My sister is faire sage rich and made to my appetite and her Father and mine did recommend her vnto mee and since by the commaundement of the Gods a man ought to accomplish the behests and requests of Fathers I haue determined since Nature hath giuen mee her for my sister willingly to take her for my lawfull Wife Dyodorus Siculus saith that before the Egiptians receyued any Lawes euery man had as manie Wiues as hee would and this was at the libertie of both partyes for as much as if she would goe shee went liberally and forsooke the man and likewise hee left her when
shee displeased him For they sayde that it was vnpossible for Men and Women to liue long together without much trouble contentions and brawles Dyodorus Siculus sayde one thing where hee speaketh of this matter which as yet I neuer read in any book nor heard of the ancients past which was that amongst the Egiptians there was no difference in Children For they accounted them as legitimate though they were children of slaues For they said that the principall doer of the generation was the Father and not the mother and that therfore the Children which were borne among them tooke only the flesh of the mother but they did inherite their honour and dignitie of the part of the Father Iulius Caesar in his Commentaries saith that in Great Brittaine now called England the Brittons had an vse that one Woman was marryed vnto fiue men the which beastlinesse is not read to haue beene in any Nation of times past For if it bee slaunder for one man to haue diuers Wiues why should it not also bee a slaunderous and shamefull thing for one woman to haue many Husbands The noble and vertuous Women ought to bee marryed for two causes The first is to the end God should giue them children and benediction to whom they may leaue their goods and their memorie The second to the end they should liue euery one in their owne house accompanyed and honoured with their husbands For otherwise I say for a truth that the woman that is not contented and satisfied with her own proper husband will not bee contented nor satisfied with all men in the world Plutarch in his Apothegmes saith that the Cymbres did vse to marrie with their proper and natural daughters the which custome was taken from them by the Consull Marius after that hee did ouercome them in Germanie and that of them he had triumphed at Rome For the Childe which was borne of such Marriage was Sonne of the Daughter of one sole Father and was Sonne and Brother of one onely Mother and they were also Cousins Nephews Brothers of one only Father and mother Truely such custome proceedeth rather of wilde beasts then of reasonable creatures For manie or the more part of brute Beasts after the females haue brought forth males within one yeare after they doo accompany with their dammes which brought them forth Strabo in the situation of the world and Seneca in an Epistle say That the Lydes and the Armenians hadde a custome to send their Daughters to the Riuers and Hauens of the Sea to get their Marriages selling their bodyes to straungers so that those which would Marrie were first forced to sell heyr virginitie The Romaines which in all their affaires and businesses were more Sage and modest then other Nations vsed much circumspection in all their mariages For they kept it as an ancient lawe and vse accustomed that euery Romaine should marrie with one woman and no moe For euen as to keepe two wiues among the Christians is a great charge of conscience so was it deemed amongst the Romaines much infamie Amongst the auncient and renowmed Orators of Rome one was called Metellus Numidicus the which one day making his Oration to the Senate sayd these words Worthie Senatours I let you vnderstand that I haue greatly fludyed what the counsels shuld be that I ought to giue yee touching marriage For the counsel rashand sudden oftentimes is not profitable I doe not perswade you at all to marrie neyther yet doe say that yee shall not marrie but it is true that if ye can liue without a woman yee shall bee free from manie troubles But what shall wee doe O yea Romains since that Nature hath made vs such that to keepe women it is a great trouble and to liue without them it is more danger I dare say if in this case my opinion might bee accepted that it should not bee euill done to resist the lust since it commeth by fits and not to take Wiues which are continuall troubles These were the wordes which Metellus Numidicus spake the which were not very acceptable nor pleasant to the Fathers beeing in the Senate for they would not that hee should haue spoken such wordes against Mariage For there is no estate in this life wherein Fortune sheweth her force more then in this state of Matrimonie A man may proue them in this sort that if the fashions and vsages of the ancients were diuers as concerning ordinance truely there was no lesse contrarietie in theyr contracts and ceremonies Boccace the Florentine in a Booke that he made of the Marriages of the auncients reciteth manie and sundrie customs that they vsed in making the Marriages whereof hee telleth some not for to follow or maintaine them but to reproue and condemne them For the writers did neuer write the vices of some but onely to make the vertues of others more cleerely to be knowne The Cymbres had a custome that when they would Marrie after the marriage was agreed vpon hee that was made sure should pare his nayles and send them to his wife that should bee and she in like sort sent hers vnto him And then when she of him and hee of her had receyued the nayles the one of the other they betooke themselues Marryed for euer and did afterwardes liue together as man and wife The Theutonians had a ceremony that the man that was sure rounded the hayre of her to whome hee was made sure and shee did the like vnto him and when the one suffered the other to doe so immediately they celebrated Marriage The Armenians had a law that the Bridegroom shuld pinch the right eare of the Bride and the Bride should likewise pinche the left eare of the Bride-groome and then they tooke themselues marryed for euer The Elamites had a custome that both parties which were made sure pricked one the others little finger vntill they bledde the which bloud they did sucke naturally this done they were marryed The Numidians vsed that the Bryde-groome and the Bryde should gather together a piece of Earth and with theyr spittle they tempered it and therewith the one annointed the forehead of the other so that the Marriage betweene them was to annoynt the one and the other with a little clay When those of Dace would be marryed the Bride-groome and the Bryde each one of themselues were brought in Charryots the one meeting the other and when they came together the Bryde-groome gaue a newe name to the Bride and shee likewise to him and from that time forwardes they liued as in lawfull Matrimonie When they of Hungarie would marrie the one sent vnto the other a familiar god made of siluer whom they called Lares and when they had receyued the God of each other the marriage was finished and they liued as man and wife The Siconians had a custome and lawe that when they should marrie the one sent to the other a shooe and that receyued of both they agreed
to the marriage The Tharentines had a custome that when they did marrie they set themselues at the table to eate and the one did feed the other so that if by mishappe the one should chance to feed himselfe that marriage was not esteemed for constant nor good The Scythians had a custome and they kept it as a law that when men and women should Marrie as nowe they touch the hands the one of the other so did they touch with their feete afterwardes they set together their knees then they touched with their hands and then they set theyr buttocks together and so their heads and in the ende they embraced the one the other All these ceremonies done the Marriages were assured and sufficiently confirmed and so we might say of manie others but to auoyde tediousnes wee will follow our matter CHAP. IIII. How Princesses and great Ladyes ought to loue theyr Husbands and that loue ought not by Coniurations and Enchauntments to be procured but by wisedome honestie and vertue desired ALl men that desire to atchieue and obtayne anie worthie thing in this life inuent and search manie meanes to come thervnto for men by good prouision and circumspection compasse sundrie things which otherwise they should lose vnlesse they would by force take them As in the marriages of our Christian Religion wherein wee doe not suffer that the man and the wife be parents and nigh of bloud leauing apart that the one is a man and the other a woman that the one is strong and the other weake oft times it chaunceth that there is betweene the man and the wife more contrariety in conditions then diuersitie in Linage I would say therefore for healthfull counsell and necessarie aduise to the great Dames and Princesses and to all other wiues since they must needs eate and drinke with their husbands that they must sleepe treate bee conuersant and talke and finally liue and dye with theyr Husbands that they vse much diligēce to beare with their conditions For to say the troth the wife ought in all things to follow the conditions of her husband and the husband in some things to beare with the conditions of his wife So that shee by her patience ought to suffer the imperfections of him and he likewise by his wisdome ought to dissemble the importunities of her and in such sort they ought to agree loue together that all those of the Common-wealth should reioyce at theyr behauiors For marryed men which are quarrellers and seditious persons the Neighbours in stead of weeping and wayling for the depriuation of their life demaund gifts the one of the other for bringing newes of their death Admit that the Husband be couetous and vnthrifty that he be deformed in his bodie that hee be rude in condition base of linage rash in his speech in aduersities fearefull in prosperities carelesse in the ende being as he is Husband we cannot denie but in the house he ought to bee chiefe maister For the which it is also necessarie that wee giue now vnto rhe Wiues some healthfull counsell whereby they may beare and suffer quietly such great troubles For at this day there is no Husband so louing nor so vertuous in whome the wife shall not finde some euill conditions First of all wiues ought to endeuor themselues to loue their husbands vnfamedly if they desire their husbands should loue them without dissimulation for as we see by experience Mariage is seldome broken through pouertie nor yet continued with riches For the euill marryed folkes through debate and strife be separated in one week wheras by good tru loue they are preserued al the daies of their life To eate drie and vnsauory meates they vse to take salt for to amend it I meane that the burdens of matrimonie are many and troublesome the which all with loue onely may be endured For as Plato the diuine Phylosopher sayeth One thing ought not to bee called more painefull then another for the labour we therevnto employbut for the great or smal loue that therevnto wee haue Though some sundrie things bee troublesome and tedious yet when with loue it is begunne it is easily followed and ioyfully atchieued For that trauell is nothing noysome where loue is the mediator I know right well and doe confesse that the counsell which I giue to women is sharpe that is for an honest woman to loue a dissolute man for a sage wife to loue a foolish husbād for a vertuous wife to loue a vitious husband For as daily experience sheweth there are some men of so foolish conditions and other women of so noble conuersation that by reason apparent they ought to take them for Mistresses rather then they should accept them for Husbands Although this in some particular cases is true I say and affirme that generally all women are bound to loue their Husbands since that willingly and not by compulsion they were not enforced to take them For in like manner if the Marryage pleased not the Woman shee hath not so much cause to complaine of her Husband for asking her as she hath reason to complaine of her owne selfe that accepted him For the misfortunes that by our owne follie doe chaunce although we haue cause to lament them wee ought also to haue reason to dissemble them Bee the man neuer so wilde and euil brought vp it is impossible if the wife loue him but he must needs loue her againe And though perchaunce hee cannot force his euill conditions to loue her yet at the least he shall haue no occasion to hate her The which ought not to bee little esteemed For there are many wiues not onely of the Plebeians but also of the noble Dames that could be content to forgiue their Husbands all the pleasures they should doe them and also all the loue that they ought to shewe if they would refraine theyr Tongues from speaking iniurious wordes and keepe their hands from dealing lothsome stripes We haue many notable examples in hystories of mane Noble and stoute Ladyes as well Greekes as Romaines which after they were marryed had so great faithfulnes and bare such loyaltie to their husbands that they not onely followed them in their trauells but also deliuered them in their dangers Plutarch in the booke of the noble women declareth that the Lacedemonians keeping many Nobles of the Athenians prisoners which at that time were their cruell mortall enemies and being iudged to die their wiues concluded to goe to the prison where they lay and in the end they obtained of the Gayler therof that they might goe in and talke with their husbands for indeed the teares were manie that were shed and the gifts were not few which vnto them were offered The Wiues therfore entring into the prison did not onely change their apparell with their Husbands but also the liberty of their persons for they went out as women the women in their steads remained there as men And
when they brought out these Innocent wiues from prison to execute iustice supposing they were men the Lacedemonians vnderstaÌ„ding the faith fulnes of the women determiued that they should not onely bee pardoned but also that they should bee greatly rewarded and honored for the good examples of other women to whom they were marryed The ancient and great renowmed Panthea when newes was brought her that her husband was dead in battaile shee her owne selfe determined to goe seeke him out with hope that as yet he was not vtterly dead and finding him dead with the bloud of him she washed all her body and likewise her face strikeing with a knife her selfe to the heart and imbracing her husband she yeelded vp the ghost and so together they were carried to the graue Porcia the daughter of Marcus Porcia the great when shee heard that her husband Brutus was taken and slaine she felt for that newes so great sorrow that all her friends seeing her take the matter so grieuously hid from her all Iron wherewith shee might kill her selfe and did labour to keep and preserue her from danger wherein shee might fall and shorten her life For she was so excellent a Romane and so necessary to the Common-wealth that if they had lamented the death of Brutus her husband with teares of their eyes they ought to bewaile the losse of his wife Porcia with drops of bloud in their hearts Porcia therefore feeling in her selfe a wofull and afflicted heart for the death of her entirely beloued husband to declare that that which shee did was nor fayned nor for to please the people but to satisfie her great and maruellous loue since shee found neyther sword nor knife to kill her selfe nor cord to hang her selfe neither well to drowne her in she went to the fire and with as great pleasure did eate the hot fiery coales as an other would haue eaten any delicate meates We may say that such kinde of death was very strange and new which the Romane found to encrease augment and manifest her loue Yet wee cannot deny but that shee wanne to the posteritie of her name a perpetuall memorie For as a Noble Dame she would quench with coales of fire her burning heart that enflamed was with fiery brands of loue As Diodorus Seculus sayth it was a law and custome amongst the Lidians to marry themselues with many wiues and when by chance their husbands dyed the wiues which they had met together and fought in some plaine place And the women which remained onely aliue and of the conflict had the victory cast themselues into the graue of their husband so that those women then fought for to dye as men now fight for to liue CHAP. V. Of the reuenge a woman of Greece tooke of him that had killed her husband in hope to haue her in marriage PLutarch in the Booke that he made of the Noble and worthy Women declareth a thing worthy of rchearsall and to be had in memory In the Citie of Galacia were two renowmed Citizens whose names were Sinatus and Sinoris which were by bloud Cousins and in familiaritie friends and for the loue of a Greekes daughter being very Noble beautifull and exceeding gracious they both striued to haue her in marriage and for to attaine to their desires they both serued her they both followed her they both loued her and for her both of them desired to dye For the dart of loue is as a stroke with a clod of earth the which being throwne amongst a company doth hurt the one and blinde the others And as the fatal destinies had ordained it Sinatus serued this Lady called Camma in â—uch sort that in the end he obtained her in marriage for his lawfull wife which thing when Sinoris perceiued he was ashamed of his doings and was also wounded in his hart For he lost not onely that which of so long time he had sought loued and serued but also the hope to attaine to that which chiefly in his life he desired Sinatus therefore seeing that his wife Camma was noble meeke gratious faire and louing and that in all things shee was comely and well taught decreed to offer her to the Goddesse Diana to the end that shee would preserue her from perill and keepe her from infamie Truly we caÌ„not reproue the knight Sinatus for that hee did nor wee ought to note him for rash in his councell for hee sawe that his wife was very faire and therefore much desired For with great difficultie that is kept which of many is desired Though Camma was now maryed and that shee was in the protection of the goddesse Diana yet notwithstanding her olde friend Sinoris died for her sake and by all means possible he serued her continually he importuned her dayly he followed her and hourely he required her And all this he did vpon certaine hope he had that such diligent seruice should suffice to make her change her sacred minde and as shee had chosen Sinatus for her husbande openly so hee thought she should take him for her friende secretly For many women are as men without tast through sicknes the which eate more of that that is hurtfull and forbiddeÌ„ then of that which is healthsome and commaunded Not without a cause Camma was greatly renowmed throughout al Galatia for her beauty and much more amonge the vertuous esteemed for her honestie The which euidently in this was seene that after she was married Sinoris could neuer cause her to receiue any Iewell or other gift nor that she would hear him speake any word nor that shee would shew her selfe in the window eyther to him or to any other to the end to bee seene in the face For it is not sufficient for Ladyes to bee pure good but also to giue no occasion for men to iudge that if they durst they would be euill As it is true indeede that the heart which is entangled with loue dare boldly aduenture himselfe in many kinde of dangers to accomplish that which he desired so Sinoris seeing that with fayre words he could not flatter her nor with any gifts winne her determined to kill Sinatus her husband vpon hope that when she should be widdow he might easily obtaine her in matrimony For he thought although Camma was not euill it was not for that she wanted desire to doe it but because she had no commodious place to accomplish it And to be short Sinoris would needes execute and bring to effect his deuilish and damnable entent so that soone after hee vilely slew his said companion Sinatus After whose death the Noble Lady Camma was of Sinoris greatly desired and by his Parents much importuned that she would condiscend to take and marry him and that she would forgiue him the death of her husband Sinatus which then was buried And as she was in all her doings such a Princely woman she imagined with her selfe that vnper the pretence of marriage she might haue
liue very circumspectly when they know they are conceyued with childe I should bee excused to speake of this matter since it is not my profession and that as yet I was neuer marryed but by that I haue read of some and by that I haue heard of others I will and dare be so bolde to say one word For the Sage oft times giueth better account of that he hath read then the simple doth of that hee hath proued This thing seemeth to bee true betweene the Physitian and the Patient For where the patient suffereth the euill hee oft times demaundeth the physitian what his sicknes is and where it holdeth him and what it is called and what remedie there is for his disease So the Physitian knoweth more by his science then the patient doth by his experience A man ought not to denie that the women and in especially great Ladies know not by experiēce how they are altered when they are quicke and the great paines they suffer when they are deliuered wee could not denie but that there is great danger in the one and great perill in the other but they shall neuer know frō whence all commeth and frō whence all proceedeth and what remedie is necessarie For there are manie which complaine of robberyes but yet they knowe not what the thieues are that haue robbed them First according to my iudgement opinion that which the woman quicke with childe ought to doe is that they go softly and quietly and that they eschue running eyther in comming or going for though she little esteem the health of her person yet shee ought greatly to regarde the life of the creature The more precious the liquor is and the more weaker the vessell is which containeth it so much the more they ought to feare the danger lest the liquor shead and the vessell breake I meane that the complexion of Women beeing with Childe is very delicate and that the soule of the creature is more pretious and therefore it ought with great diligence to be preserued For all the treasure of the Indies is not equall in value to that which the woman beareth in her bowells When a man planteth a vineyard forthwith he maketh a ditche or some Fence for it to the ende that Beastes should not crop it whiles it is young nor that Trauellers should gather the Grapes when they are ripe And if the Labourer doeth this thing for to get a little wine onely the which for the soule and bodie is not always profitable How much more circūspection ought the woman to haue to preserue her childe since she shall render an accosit to the Creator of her creature vnto the Church of a christian and vnto her Husband of a childe In mine opinion where the account at the houre of death is so streight it is requisite for her that in the time of her life she be very circumspect For GOD knoweth euery thing so well in our life that there is none that can beguile him in rendring his account at his death There is no wight can suffer nor hart dissemble to see a man haue his desire that is to say to haue his Wife great with chllde and ready to bring forth good fruite and afterwards to see the wofull Mother by or throgh some sudden accident perish the innocent babe not to be borne When the VVoman is healthfull and big with childe she is worthie of great reproach if eyther by running leaping or dauncing any mischaunce hap vnto her And truly the Husband hath great cause to lament this case For without doubt the Gardener feeleth great griefe in his heart when in the Prime-time the tree is loden with blossomes and yet by reason of some sharpe and bitter Frost it neuer beareth fruite It is not onely euill that women should runne and leape when they are bigge and great with childe but it is also dishonest specially for great Ladyes For alwayes women that are common dauncers are esteemed as light houswiues The Wiues in generall Princesses and great Ladyes in particular ought to goe temperately and to be modest in theyr mouings For the modest gate argueth discreetnesse in the person All women naturally desire to be honoured and reuerenced and touching that I let them know that there is nothing which in a commonwealth is more honour for a woman then to be wise and warie in speaking moderate and quiet in going For it is vnpossible but that the woman which is light in her going and malicious in her talking should bee despised and abhorred In the yeare of the Foundation of Rome 466. the Romaines sent Curius Dentatus to make warre against King Pyrrus who kept the citie of Tharent and did much harme to the people in Rome For the Romaines had a great courage to conquer strange Realmes and therefore they could haue no patience to suffer any stranger to inuade theirs This Curius Dentatus was he which in the end ouercame King Pyrrus and was the first that brought the Elephants to Rome in his triumphe wherfore the fiercenesse of those Beasts astonished the Romane people much for they weighed little the sight of the Kings loden with yrons but to see the Elephants as they did they wondred much Curius Dentatus had one onely Sister the which he entierly loued They were seuen children two of the which died in the warres and other three by pestilence So that there were none left him but that sister wherefore hee loued her with all his heart For the death of vnthrifty children is but as a watch for children vnprouided of fauors This sister of Curius Dentatus was marryed to a Roman Consull and was conceyued and gone 7. moneths with childe and the day that her brother Triumphed for ioy of her Brothers honour she leaped and daunced so much that in the same place shee was deliuered and so vnluckely that the Mother tooke her death and the Childe neuer liued wherevpon the feast of the Triumph ceased and the Father of the infant with sorrowe lost his speech For the heart which suddenly feeleth griefe incontinently loseth vnderstanding Tibullus the Grecian in the 3. booke De casibus Triumphi declareth the hystorie in good stile how and in what sorte it chaunced Nine yeares after that the Kings of Rome were banished for the rape that Tarquine did to the chaste Lucretia the Romaines created a dignitie which they called Dictatura and the Dictator that had this office was aboue all other Lord and chiefe For the Romaines perceyued that the Commonwealth could not be gouerned but by one head alone And because the Dictatour had so great authoritie as the Emperour hath at this present and to the end they shold not become Tyrants they prouided that the office of the Dictatorship should last no longer then vi moneths in the yeare the which past and expired they chose another Truely it was a good order that that office dured but 6. moneths For oft times Princes thinking
all the time wee haue beene together thy will and mine hath alway beene one If thou wilt not giue me thy key for that I am thy welbeloued Faustine if thou wilt not let mee haue it since I am thy deare beloued wife if thou wilt not giue it me for that I am great with childe I beseech thee giue it mee in vertue of the ancient law for thou knowest it is an inuiolate lawe among the Romanes that a man cannot deny his wife with child her desires I haue seene sundry times with mine eyes many women sue their husbands at the lawe in this behalfe and thou my Lord commandest that a man should not break the priuiledges of women Then if this thing bee true as it is true indeede why wilt thou that the lawes of strange children should bee kept and that they should be broken to thine owne children Speaking according to the reuerence that I owe vnto thee though thou wouldest I will not though thou doest it I will not agree therunto though thou dost command it in this case I will not obey thee for if the husband doe not accept the iust request of his wife the wife is not bound to obey the vniust commaundement of her husband You husbands desire that your wiues should serue you you desire that your wiues should obey you in all and ye will condiscend to nothing that they desire You men say that wee women haue no certaintie in our loue but indeede you haue no loue at all For by this it appeareth that your loue is fayned in that it no longer continueth then your desires are satisfied You say furthermore that the women are suspitious and that is true in you all men may see and not in vs for none other cause there are are so many euill marryed in Rome but because their husbands haue of them such euill opinions There is a great difference betweene the suspition of the woman and the jealousie of the man for a man will vnderstand the suspition of the woman it is no other thing but to shew to her husband that she loueth him with all her heart for the innocent women know no others desire no others but their husbands onely and they would that their husbands should know none others nor search for any others nor loue any others nor will any others but them onely for the heart that is bent to loue one only would not that into that house should euter any other But you men know so many means and vse so many subtilties that you praise your selues for to offend them you vaunt your selues to deceiue them and that it is true a man can in nothing so much shew his noblenes as to sustaine and fauour a Curtizan The husbands please their wiues speaking vnto thē some merry words and immediately their backes being turned to another they giue both their bodies and their goods I sweare vnto thee my Lord that if women had the libertie and authoritie ouer men as men haue ouer women they should finde more malice deceitfulnesse and craft by them committed in one day then they should find in the women all the dayes of their life You men say that women are euill speakers it is true indeede that your tongues are none other but the stings of Serpents for yee doe condemne the good men and defame the Romane women And thinke not if you speake euill of other women to excuse your owne for the man that by his tongue dishonoureth strange women doth not so much euill as he doth by defaming his owne wife by suspition for the husband that suspecteth his wife giueth all men licence to account her for naught Sith wee women goe little out of the house wee trauaile not farre and sith wee see few things though wee would wee cannot bee euill tongued But you men heare much you see much you know much you wander abroad much and continually you murmure All the euill that wee silly women can doe is to listen to our friendes when they are vexed to chide our seruants when they are negligent to enuy our neighbours if they be fayre and to curse those that doe vs iniurie finally though wee speake euill wee cannot murmure but at those that dwell in the same Streete where wee dwell But you men defame your wiues by suspition you dishonour your neighbours in your words you speake against strangers with crueltie you neyther keepe faith nor promise to your wiues you shew your selues extreme against your enemies you murmure both at those that bee present and also at them that be absent finally on the one part you are so double and on the other part you are so vnthankefull that to those whom you desire you make fayre promises and those whose bodies you haue enioyed you little esteeme I confesse that the woman is not so good as shee ought to bee and that it is necessary that she should be kept in the house and so shee shall leade a good life and being of good life she shall haue good renowme and hauing good renowme shee shall bee well willed but if chaunce any of those doe want in her yet for all that shee ought not to bee reiected of her husband For the frailenesse that men finde in women is but little but the euils that women taste in men is very great I haue talked longer then I thought and haue saide more boldly then I ought but pardon me my Lord for my intention was not to vex thee but to perswade thee for in the end he is a foole that taketh that for iniury which passeth betweene the man and the wife in secret I stick alwaies to my first point if it neede once againe I require thee that thou wilt giue me the Key of thy studie and if thou doe otherwise as thou mayest thou shalt doe such a thing as thou oughtest not to doe I am not angry so much for that thou doest as for the occasion thou giuest me Therefore to auoyde the perill of my deliuerie and to take from me all suspition I pray thee my Lord deliuer me the key of thy studie for otherwise I cannot be perswaded in my hart but that you haue a woman locked in your studie For men that in their youth haue beene vnconstant though the apparell that they haue be not worne yet notwithstanding they desire to haue new Therefore once againe to preserue mee from perill in my deliuery and to lighten my heart of this thought it shall be well done that you let mee enter into your studie CHAP. XV. ¶ The Aunswere of the Emperour to Faustine concerning her demand of the key of the Studie THe Emperor hearing the wordes of Faustine and seeing that shee spake them so earnestly that shee bathed her woefull words with bitter teares determined also to answere her as earnestly and saide vnto her these wordes Wife Faustine thou hast tolde mee all that thou wouldest and I haue hearde all thy
then to thinke that her husband forsaketh her for being foule The fifteenth The husband ought to put his wife in remembrance of the infamy that they speake of them that bee euill in the Citie for women are glorious and because they would be loth that men should talke such things by them as they talke of others peraduenture they will refrayne from those vices that others commit The sixteenth the husband ought to take heede that his wife accept no new friends for through accepting of new friends there grow commonly betweene them great discention The seuenteenth The husband ought to take heede that his wife beleeue that he loueth not them whome shee hateth for women are of such a condition that if the husbands loueth all them that they hate immediately they will hate all those which they loue The eighteenth The husband ought sometime in matters which are not preiudiciall vnto him confesse himselfe to be ouercome for women desire rather to be counted the best in reasoning though it be of no value then to haue otherwise a greater Iewell giuen them In this sort Faustine I will say no more to thee but wish that thou shouldest see what I see and feele what I feele and aboue all that my dissimulation should suffice to amend thy life CHAP. XVII The Emperour answereth more particularly concerning the Key of his Studie NOw Faustine since I haue the olde venome from my heart expelled I will answere to thy present demand for vnto demaunds and answeres that passeth betweene the Sages the tong ought neuer to speake word but that first he aske the heart licence And it is a generall rule amongst the Phisitians that the medicines doe not profite the sicke vnlesse they first take away the opilations of the stomacke I meane by this that no man can speake to his friend as he ought vnlesse before hee sheweth what thing grieueth him for it is better to repayre the roufes of the houses that be old then to goe about to build them new Thou requirest Faustine that I giue thee the key of my Studie and thou dost threaten mee that if I giue it not vnto thee that thou shalt forthwith bee deliuered I maruell not at that thou sayest neyther am I abasht of that thou demaundest nor yet of that that thou wouldest doe for you women are very extreame in your desires very suspicious in your demands very obstinate in your willes and as vnpatient in your sufferings I say not without a cause that women are extreame in their desires for there are thinges whereof women are so desirous that it is wonder though neuer liuing creature saw them nor heard speake of them I haue not sayd without a cause that women are suspicious in their demands for the Romane women are of such a condition that as soone as a woman desireth any thing she forthwith commandeth the tong to aske it the feete to seeke it the eies to see it the hands to feele it and likewise the heart to loue it I say not without a cause that women are obstinate in their willes for if a Romane woman beareth any malice to any man shee will not forbeare to accuse him for any slaunder nor faile to pursue him for any pouertie nor feare to kill him for any Iustice I say not without a cause that women are vnpatient to suffer for many are of such condition I say not all that if a man giue not speedily that which they desire they change their colour their eyes looke redde their tongues runne quicke their voyces are sharpe they frette with themselues they trouble their neighbours abroad and are so out of order that no man dare speake vnto them within You haue this good trade among yee women that vnder colour of being with childe you will that your husbands grant yee all your desires When the sacred Senate in the time of the valliant Camillus made a law in the fauour of the Romane Matrons with childe the women at that time longed not so much as they doe at this present but I cannot tell what this presently meaneth that all ye are anoynted with that that is good and that yee are all desirous of that that is euill I will tell thee Faustine the occasion why this lawe was made in Rome and thereby thou shalt see if thou deseruest to enioy the priuiledge thereof or no for the lawes are but as yokes vnder the which the euill doth labour and the wings wherewith the good doe flye The case thereof was such that Camillus the valiant Captaine went forth to the warres hee made a solemne vow to the mother Berecinthia that if the Gods gaue him the victory hee would offer vnto her an Image of siluer and after Camillus wanne the victory and that he would haue accomplished his vow to the mother Berecinthia neyther had he any riches nor Rome had any siluer for at that time Rome was rich of vertues and poore of money And know thou Faustine that our ancient Fathers were deuout towards the Gods and curious in repayring the Temples the which they esteemed to be great deuotions and they were in such sort obserued of their vowes that neither for sloth nor pouertie they would omit their promises towards their Gods And in these things they were so precise that they graunted to no man any triumph vnlesse he did sweare that he had vnto the Gods made a vow and afterwards also proued how he performed it At that time flourished in Rome many vertuous Romanes and many Greeke Philosophers many hardie Captaines and many sumptuous Buildings and aboue all things Rome was vnpeopled of malicies and adorned with vertuous Ladies The Historiographers made and not without a cause great account of these vertuous Matrons for the Common-wealth hath as much need of vertuous Women as the Warres haue of valiant Captaines They being therefore as they were so vertuous and so Noble Matrons without the motion of any woman determined all to goe into the high Capitoll and there to offer all their Iewels and Treasures that they had their Chains their Rings their Garments their Bracelets their Girdles their Buttons and Hangers of Gold Siluer and precious Stones of all sorts with all their Tablets The Annales of this time say that after the Romane women had layd so great a multitude of riches at the feet of the sacred Senate in the name of of them all one of them spake whose name was called Lucina and sayd in this sort Fathers conscript esteeme not much these our Iewels which we giue you to make the Image of the mother Berecinthia but esteeme much this that wee willingly put in ieopardie our husbands and children to winne you the victorie And in this case you accept our poore seruice haue no respect to the little which wee doe offer but to the great which if we were able we would giue Truely the Romanes though the treasure which their wiues offered was great yet notwithstanding
Empire were but slenderly done and looked vnto For the Prince cannot haue so small a Feuer but the people in the common-wealth must haue it double This Emperour Palleolus had a wife whose name was Huldonina the which after she had brought all the Physitions of Asia vnto her Husband and that shee had ministred vnto him all the medicines shee could learne to helpe him and in the end seeing nothing auaile there came by chaunce an old woman a Grecian borne who presumed to haue great knowledge in hearbes and sayd vnto the Empresse Noble Empresse Huldouina If thou wilt that the Emperour thy husband liue long see that thou chafe anger and vexe him euery weeke at the least twise for hee is of a pure melancholy humour and therefore hee that doth him pleasure augmenteth his disease and hee that vexeth him shall prolong his life The Empresse Huldouina followed the counsell of this Greeke woman which was occasion that the Emperour liued afterwardes sound and whole many yeeres so that of the nine monethes which hee was accustomed to be sicke euery yeere in twenty yeeres afterwards he was not sicke three monethes For where as this Greeke woman commaunded the Empresse to anger her husband but twice in the week she accustomably angred him iiii times in the day Fourthly the good mother ought to take heede that the nurse be very temperat in eating so that she should eate little of diuers meates and of those few dishes she should not eate too much To vnderstand the thing yee must know that the white milke is no other then bloud which is sodden that which causeth the good or euill bloud commeth oft times of an other thing but that eyther the person in temperate or else a glutton inâ—ating and therefore it is a thing both healthful and necessary that the nurse that nourisheth the child doe eate good meates for among men and women it is a generall rule that in litle eating there is no danger and of too much eating there is no profite As all the Phylosophers say the wolfe is one of the beasts that denoureth most and is most greedyest and therefore hee is most feared of all the Shepheards But Aristotle in his third booke De Animalibus saith That wheÌ„ the wolfe doeth once feele her selfe great with young in all her life after shee neuer suffereth herselfe to bee coupled with the wolfe againe For otherwise if the wolfe shold yearely bring forth vij or viij whelps as commonly she doth and the Sheepe but one lambe there would be in short space more wolues theÌ„ sheepe Beside all this the wolfe hath an other propertie which is that although she be a Beast most deuouring and greedie yet when she hath whelped she feedeth very temperately and it is to the ende to nourish her whelps and to haue good milke And besides that she doth eate but once in the day the which the dogwolfe doth prouide both for the Bitch whelps Truly it is a monstrous thing to see and noysome to heare and no lesse slaunderous to speake that a Wolfe which giueth sucke to viij whelps eateth but one only kinde of meate and the woman which giueth sucke but to one Childe alone will eate of vii or viii sortes of meates And the cause hereof is that the Beast doth not eate but to sustain nature a womaÌ„ doth not eate but to satisfie her pleasure Princesses and great Ladyes ought to watche narrowly to know when how much the Nurses do eate which doe nourish their children For the child is so tender and the milk so delicate that with eating of sundry meats they become corrupt and with eating much they waxefat If the childreÌ„ suck those which are fat grosse they are coÌ„monly sicke and if they sucke milke corrupted they oft times goe to bed whole in the morne be found dead Isidor in his etimologies saith that the men of the prouince of Thrace were so cruell that the one did eate the other and they did not onely this but also further to shew more their immanity in the sculs of those that were dead they dranke the bloud of him that was lately aliue Though men were so cruell to eate mens flesh and to drinke the bloud of the veines yet the Women which nourished their children were so temperate in eating that they did eate nothing but netles sodden and boiled in Goates milk And because the women of Thrace were so moderate in eating the Phliosopher Solon Solynon brought some to Athens for the Auncients sought no lesse to haue good women in the common-wealth then to haue hardy and valiant Captaines in the warre CHAP. XXI The Author addeth three other conditions to a good nurse that giueth sucke that they drinke no wine that shee be honest and chiefly that shee bee well conditioned THe Princesses and great Ladies may know by this example what difference there is between the women of Thrace which are fedde with nettles only and haue brought forth such fierce men and the womeÌ„ of our time which throgh their delicate and excessiue eating bring forth such weake and feeble children Fiftly the Ladies ought to bee very circumspect not onely that Nurses eate not much and that they bee not greedy but also that they be in wine temperate the which in olde time was not called wine but venom The reason hereof is apparant and manifest enough For if wee doe forbid the fatte meates which lyeth in the stomacke wee should then much more forbid the moyst Wine which washeth all the veynes of the bodie And further I say that as the Childe hath no other nourishment but the milke only and that the milke proceedeth of bloud and that bloud is nourished of the wine and that wine is naturally hote from the first to the last I say that Woman which drinketh wine and giueth the child sucke doth as shee that maketh a great Fire vnder the panne where there is but a little milke so that the pan burneth and the milke runneth ouer I will not denie but that somtimes it may chaunce that the childe shal be of a strong complexion and the Nurse of a feeble and weake nature and then the childe would more substantial milke when the woman is not able to giue it him In such a case though with other things Milke may be conferred I allow that the nurse drinke a little wine but it should bee so little and so well watered that it should rather bee to take away the vnsauorinesse of the water then for to taste of any sauour of the wine I do not speake this without a cause for the nurse being sicke and feeble of herselfe and her milke not substantial it oftentimes moueth her to eat more then necessity requireth and to drinke wine which is somewhat nutritiue So that they supposing to giue the Nurse Triacle doe giue her poyson to destroy her childe Those excellent and Auncient Romaines if they had been in
thee so much to keepe thy children from witches For otherwise the cursed Women will doe them more harme then the good milke shal profite them I haue beene moued and prouoked to write thus much vnto thee for the great loue which I do beare thee and also calling to minde that which thou when we were in the sacred Senate oft times toldest me which was that thou diddest desire a sonne And since now thou hast thy petition I would not thou shouldst prouoke the Gods wrath by sorceries For in the faith of a good man I doe sweare vnto thee that when the Fathers are in fauour with the Gods there needeth no sorceries vnto the Children I had manie other things to write vnto thee Some of the which I will cōmunicate with thy seruant Fronton rather then to send them by letters And maruel not at this for letters are so perillous that if a man be wise hee wil write no more in a close letter thē he would declare openly in Rome Pardon me my friend Dedalus though indeede I write not vnto thee as thy appetite would nor yet as my will desireth For thou hast need to know many things and I haue not leaue by letter to put thee in trust therewith I cannot tell what I should write vnto thee of me but that alwayes the Goute doth take me and the worst of all is that the more I growe in yeares the more my health diminisheth For it is an old course of mans frailtie that where wee thinke to goe most surest there haue we most lets The Popinjay which thou didst send me as soone as I receyued it my wife did seaze it and truely it is a maruellous pleasure to heare what thinges it doth speak but in the end the women are of such power that when they wil they impose silence to the liuing and cause that in the graues the dead men speake According to that I doe loue thee and according to that I owe thee and as I haue vsed that which I doe sende thee is very little I say it because that presently I do send thee but two horses of Barbarie twelue swords of Alexandrie and to Fronton thy seruant for a new yeares gift for his good newes I haue giuen him an Office which is worth to him 20. thousand Sexterces of Rent in Cecyl Faustine did bid mee I should send thy wife Perusa a cofer full of odoriferous odours of Palestine and another cofer full of her owne Apparrel the which as I thinke thou wilt not a little esteeme For naturally Women are of theyr owne Goods niggardes but in wasting spending of others very prodigall The Almighty gods bee with thee and preserue thee from euill fortune The which I humbly beseech to graunt that vnto thee and mee and vnto my wife Faustine and to thy wife Pertusa that we all meete merily together in Rome for the heart neuer receyueth such ioy as when hee seeth himselfe with his desired friend Marcus of Mount Celio writeth to thee with his own hand CHAP. XXV How excellent a thing it is for a Gentleman to haue an eloquent tongue ONe of the chiefest things that the Creatour gaue to man was to know and be able to speake for otherwise the soule reserued the brute beasts are of more value then dumbe men Aristotle in his Aesconomices without comparison prayseth more the Pythagoricall sort then the Stoicall saying that the one is more conforme to reason then the other is Pythagoras commaunded that al men which were dumbe and without speech should immediately and without contradiction be banished and expulsed from the people The cause why this Phylosopher had commanded such things was for so much as he saide that the tongue is moued by the motions of the soule and that he which had no tong had no soule And hee which hath no soule is but a brute beast and he that is a beast deserueth to serue in the fieldes among brute beasts It is a good thing not to bee dumbe as bruite beasts are and it is a greater thing to speake as the reasonable men doe but it is much more worthy to speake wel as the eloquent Philosophers doe For otherwise if hee which speaketh doth not weigh the sentences more then the wordes oft times the Popingayes shall content thē more which are in the cage then the men which doe reade in Schooles Iosephus in the booke De Bello Iudaico sayeth That King Herod not onely with his person and goods but also with all his friends and parents followed and gaue ayde to Marcus Anthonius and to his louer Cleopatra howbeit in the end Octauian had the victory For the man which for the loue of a woman doth enterprise conquests it is impossible that eyther he lose not his life or else that hee liue not in infamy Herod seeing that Marcus Antonius was dead determined to go towards the Emperour Octauian at whose feet he layd his crowne and made a notable Oration wherein hee spake so pleasant words and so high sentences that the Emperour Octauian did not onely pardon him for that hee was so cruell an enemie but also hee confirmed him again vnto his realm and tooke him for his deare and speciall friend For among the good men and noble hearts many euill workes are amended by a few good works If Blundus in the booke intituled Roma triumphante do not deceiue me Pirrus that great King of the Epirotes was stoute and hardy valiant in armes liberall in benefices patient in aduersities and aboue al renowned to be very sweet in words and sage in his answeres They sayde that this Pirrus was so eloquent that the man with whome once hee had spoken remained so much his that from that time forward in his absence hee tooke his part and declared his life and state in presence The aboue named Blundus sayed and Titus Liuius declareth the same That as the Romaines were of all things prouided seeing that King Pyrrus was so eloquent they prouided in the Senate that no Romane Ambassadour should speake vnto him but by a third person for otherwise he would haue perswaded them through his sweet words that they should haue returned againe to Rome as his procurers and soliciters Albeit Marcus Tullius Cicero was Senatour in the Senate Consull in the Empire rich amongst the rich and hardy amongst men of warre yet truely none of these qualities caused him eternall memorie but onely his excellent eloquence This Tullius was so esteemed in Rome for the eloquence of his tongue onely that oft times they heard him talke in the Senate three houres together without any man speaking one word And let not this bee little esteemed nor lightly passed ouer for worldly malice is of such condition that some man may easily speake foure houres then another man shal haue patience to heare him one minute Antonius Sobellicus declareth that in the time of Amilcares the Affrican a Philosopher named Afronio flourished in
were of immortall memorie of letters I will not deny that in the common wealth of Rome there hath not beene nourished and taught many women of great science but that the difference of the one and the other was that the Grecian women were learned in Philosophy and the Romane women in Rethoricke and Poetrie And hereof came that in Athens they esteemed to know how to teach well and in Rome they vaunted how to speake well Euphronius in the third booke of the Romane gestes sayeth that in the third yeare of the Consulship of Lelius Sylla by chance a Greeke Ambassador and an Ambassadour of Rome were at wordes in the Senate of the Rhodians the Greeke Ambassadour sayd to the Romane Ambassador It is true that amongst you other Romanes you are aduenturous in armes but for all that you are vnable in sciences For truely the women of Greece know more in letters then the men of Rome in weapons As soone as the Senate of Rome vnderstoode those words immediatly hereupon grew the cruell wars betweene Rome and Carthage about the possession of Sicill And no man ought hereat to maruell for in the end we see more wars arise by iniurious words then for to recouer the good that is lost The Romanes and the Grecians therefore being ready the one to defie the other the Rhodians came in the middest and kept them from such debate and in the end appointed them in this sort That is to say that as this iniurie should by weapons haue been determined they ordayned that by the disputations of women it should bee argued And truely the Romanes were counselled well for it was greater shame to the Greekes to bee ouercome with the tongues of women then with the swords of men The cause thereof was such that by appointment assembled at Rhodes ten Roman women and ten Greeke women All women very well learned the which in their chairs read certain lessons euery one after other and afterwardes the one disputed against the other of sundry and diuers matters And finally there was betweene them great difference for the Greeks spake very high things not so profound but with an excellent stile We ought not to maruell that such giftes were in those women for wee dayly see it by experience that profound science and high eloquence seldome meeteth in one personage The Greekes were very well pleased to heare the Romane women and the Romaines remained astonied to heare the Greekes And vpon this occasion the Rhodians iudged in this sort that euery one of them should be crowned with a crowne of Lawrel as vanquishers And they iudged that in graue sentences the Grecians had the best and in eloquent speech the Romanes had the victory As the aboue named Euphronius sayeth the disputations beeing ended the Romane women returned to Rome the Greeke women to Greece where they were receiued with such triumph and glory as if they had won a battel The Senate of the Rhodians for the memory of those women in the place of the disputations caused to bee set vp 20. pillers in euery one of the which were the names of the women Which was so sumptuous a building that in Rhodes there were none like to it saue only the Collyseo Those pillers stood vntill the time of Heliogabalus the Emperour who was so euill that he inuented new vices and destroied the ancient memories The writers which write in that time declare yet another thing wherin the women of Greece were differēt from the women of Rome That is to say that the Greeke women were foūd more fairer then the Romane women but the Romanes had a better grace more rich in apparel then the Greeks They sayd also that the Greekes were more hardy and stout then the Romanes but the Romanes were more honest pleasant and gracious then the Greekes And if this be true I do counsell Princesses and great Ladies that they haue no more enuy at the honesty of the Matrones of Rome then at the boldnes of the Ladies of Gretia For women were not born to slay men in the warre but to spin sowe and liue well like good housewiues in the house CHAP. XXVIII That women may bee no lesse wise then men and though they bee not it is not through default of nature but for want of good bringing vp CEasing to speake in generally it is but reason wee speake particularly and that wee reduce to memory some ancient histories of wise and discreete women as well Greekes as Romans for that these Ladies seeing what others were in times past may know what their duty is at this present In mine opinion the duty that the men of this present haue to follow the courage that the Ancients had in fighting the selfe same desire ought women of this present to haue to follow the ancient women in deuout liuing for there is no good thing in the world at this present day but the like hath been seene of our ancients heretofore When any sudden new and vnaccustomed thing doth happen men that neuer saw the like vse to say that there was neuer the like in the world yet indeed they say not true for though the thing bee vnto them new it is through their ignorance and simplenesse which neither haue read it by themselues nor heard it of others or this excellency hath the man that is learned that for what soeuer hee heareth or sayth hee is nothing abashed at Since women now a dayes are so ignorant that scarcely any of them can reade well hee that shall reade this will maruell why I doe perswade them to learne but the truth known what the Ancients were and what they did know from this time forward I beleeue they would greatlie reproue the women of this present for the time which the ancient women spent in vertues and studies These of this present consume in pleasures and vices Bocchas in the prayse of Women sayth that Lucius Sylla was a great companion of Marius the Consull in the time of the warre of Iugurtha and was no lesse a friend of Caius Caesar in the time of the first ciuill warres My penne needeth not to be occupied to write any thing of the life of Sylla For all the Historiographers doe not onely reproue the cruelties which he vsed to his enemies but also condemne him for the little faith he obserued his friends This Consull Sylla had three daughters the one of them was named Lelia Sabina the which of all the sisters was least fayre but amongst all the Romanes shee was the most sagest for shee read openly in Rome in a chayre both Greeke and Latine After the warres of Mithridates Lucius Sylla came to Rome where he beheaded three thousand Romanes which came to salute him although before by his word he had assured them all And in deed and also iustly Lucius Sylla had been vtterly vndone for his fact if his daughter had not made to the Senate a wise Oration for
discend of the Linage of the Troyans and therefore when king Eneas and prince Turnus had great Warres betweene them which of them should haue the Princesse Lauinia in Marriage the which at that time was onely heyre of Italie king Euander ayded Eneas not only with goods but also sending him his owne Sonne in person For the friendes ought for their true friendes willingly to shead their bloud and in their behalfe without demaunding they ought also to spend their goods This King Euander had a Wife so well learned that that which the Greekes sayde of her seemeth to bee fables That is to say of her eloquence and wisedome for they say that if that which this woman wrote of the warres of Troy had not been through enuie cast into the fire the name of Homer had at this day remayned obscure The reason hereof is because that woman was in the time of the destruction of Troy and wrote as a witnesse of sight But Homer wrote after the destruction of Troy as one affectioned vnto the Prince Achilles as a friend of the Greekes and enemie of the Troians And truely when a Writer is affectioned to any person his writing of force must be suspected The wife of this King Euander was called by her name Nicostrata albeit others called her Carmenta for the eloquence shee had in her verses For they say that she made as easily in meeter as others doe in prose The Historiographers of the Gentiles say that shee prophefied the destruction of Troy fifteen years before She tolde the comming of Aeneas into Italy and spake of the warres that should be before the marriage of Lauinia and said how Ascanius the sonne of Enea should builde Alba longa She sayde further that of the Latine Kings should descende the Romaines and that the reuenge which Rome should take of Greece should bee greater then that which Greece did take of Troy And shee sayde also that the greatest Warre which Rome should haue should be against the Princes of Affricke and that in the end Rome should triumph ouer all the Realmes of the earth and finally a nation vnknowne should triumph for euer in Rome As Eusesebius Caesarten saith The Routaines kept these writings in as great estimation in the high capitoll as the Christians kept their faith vnto GOD. King Darius after he was vanquished in the first Battell by King Alexander the great before he was in the second battel vtterly destroyed trauelled and sought many wayes and means to the ende he might be friend vnto Alexander And in very deede King Darius was sage to seeke it but not so happie to obtain it For to Princes the peace is more worth that is honest then is the victorie which is bloudie Betwixt these two so stoute Princes Truce was made for three moneths and in the meane time the Priests of the Chaldeans treated peace with these conditions that the great Alexander should marry the daughter of king Darius and that Darius should giue her a great quantity of gold and besides this that he should endow her with the third part of his realme And truely these meanes were good For among Princes there is nothing that sooner pacifieth olde iniuries then to make betweene them newe Mariages King Alexander excused himselfe of this marriage saying that hee was but xxiiij yeares of age and that hee was too young to bee marryed because amongst the Macedonians there was a custom that the woman could not be marryed vntill xxv yeares of age nor the man vntill xxx The Daughter of King Darius was faire rich and noble but the best she wanted for she was not wise And this was the cause why K Alexander refused her for his wife for in those dayes women were not marryed because they were rich but beloued because they were wise And finally the woman that had studyed best came commonly to the highest Marriage Antonius Rusticus and Quintus Seuerus say that the great Alexander after he had forsaken the daughter of king Darius marryed a wife which was a poore woman and deformed called Barsina which indeede was neyther with riches nor beautie endued but without doubt in the Greeke and Latine tongue most excellently learned And when the Princes of Macedonie would haue withdrawn him from that marriage asking him why hee esteemed the rich lesse then the poore he aunswered thus I see my Friends in Marriage it suffiseth the husband to bee rich and the woman wise For the Office of the husband is to winne that which is lost and the Office of the wife is to keepe safe that which is wonne Strabo de situ Orbis saith that the fifte Queene of Lides was Mirthas the which of her bodie was so little that shee seemed to bee a Dwarffe and in quicknes of wit so high that they called her a giant For the man that hath a stout stomack and a little body may well be called a giaunt and hee that hath a great body and a cowards hart may iustly be named a Dwarffe For that this excellent Queen Mirtha was such a wise wife when she was marryed and afterwards also a widowe very honest and aboue all things in Phylosophie excellently learned The Lides counted this Queen Mirtha amongst the seuen Kings of the which they vaunted themselues to be gouerned as of glorious Princes For the Auncients gaue as much glorie to Women learned in Letters as vnto the valiant and stoute men expert in Armes Cornificius the Poete as Laertius saieth had a sister called Cornificia the which in Greeke Latin letters was not onely learned but also in making Metre and Epigrames very expert They write that of this Woman which of few men the like hath been heard That is to say that she made verses and Epigrams better at the first sight then her brother did with much study And it is not too much incredible to put any doubt in that that is spoken for the penne hath more swiftnesse of the liuely spirit then the tongue hath of the small vnderstanding This Poet Cornificius was resident a long time in Rome and was alwayes poore and voide of all fauour thogh indeede hee was better learned then others which were in greater estimation the which thing dayly chaunceth in the Court of Princes For there is no difference whether they bee fooles or wise but whether they be acceptable to the Princes Aristotle sayeth Vbi multum de intellectu ibi parum de fortuna Meaning thereby that men which of memory and vnderstanding are most rich of the goods of this world are commonly most poore This Poet Cornificius therefore going through Rome little set by of any by chaunce a Romane named Calphurnius to scoffe at him sayd Tell me Cornificius hast thou had any fortunate day since thou wert borne for in these twenty yeers that I haue known thee I neuer saw thee in fauour and if I bee not deceyued it is fifteene yeeres since I knew thee haue
mothers which haue children yet we must confesse it is profitable for the weale publike For if a man wold write to one in the warre that his family is not well he would forsake the warres to remedy it If a man write vnto him that it is prosperous hee hath then a desire to enioy it Be not displeased my children though all the Letters I doe send vnto you come not to your hands for all that I doe not cease to visite the temples for your owne health nor yet to offer sacrifices for your honor If we doe please the Gods we haue not cause to feare our enemies I say no more in this case my children but but that I beseech the immortall gods that if your liues may profit the Common wealth then they shorten my dayes and lengthen your yeares but if your liues should be to the damage of the Common wealth then those immortall gods I desire that first I may vnderstand the end of your dayes before that the Wormes should eate my flesh For rather then by your euill life the glory of our predecessors should bee blemished it were much better both your liues were ended The grace of the Gods the good renowne amongst men the good fortune of the Romanes the wisedome of the Greekes the blessing of Scipio and of all other your predecessors be alwayes with you my children CHAP. XXXII Of the education and doctrine of children whiles they are young wherein the Author declareth many notable histories AL mortall mē which will trauel and see good fruits of their trauell ought to doe as the chiefe Artificer did the painted world For the man that maketh God the head of his workes it is vnpossible that he should erre in the same That which we beleeue and reade by writing is that the eternal created the world in short space by his might but preserued it a long time by his wisedome Whereof a man may gather that the time to doe a thing is short but the care and thought to preserue it is long Wee see dayly that a valiant captaine assaulteth his enemies but in the end it is God that giueth the victory but let vs aske the Conquerour what trauell it hath beene vnto him or wherein hee hath perceiued most danger that is to say either to obtain the victory of his enemies or else to preserue themselues amongst the enuious and malitious I sweare and affirme that such a knight will sweare that there is no comparison between the one and the other for by the bloudy sword in an houre the victory is obtained but to keep it with reputation the swet of al the life is required Laertius in the book of the life of Phylosophers declareth and Plato also hereof maketh mention in the bookes of his common wealth that those of Thebes vnderstanding that the Lacedemonians had good lawes for the which they were of the Gods fauoured and of men greatly honoured determined to send by common assent and agreement a wise Philosopher the best esteemed amongst them whose name was Phetonius to whom they commaunded that hee should aske the lawes of the Lacedemonians and that he should be very circumspect and warie to see what their rules and customes were Those of Thebes were thē very noble valiant and honest so that their principall end was to come to honour renowne to erect buildings and to make themselues of immortall memory for being vertuous For in building they were very curious and for vertues they had good Phylosophers The Philosopher Phetonius was more then a yeare in the realme of the Lacedemonians beholding at sundry times all thinges therein for simple men doe not note things but onely to satisfie the eyes but the wise mē beholdeth them for to know and vnderstand their secrets After the Philosopher had well and plainely seene and beheld all the things of the Lacedemouians he determined to returne home to Thebes and beeing arriued all the people came to see him and heare him For the vanity of the common people is of such a qualitie that it followeth new inuentions and despiseth auncient Customes All the people therefore gathered together the good Philosopher Phetonius set vp in the middest of the market place a gibbet hote yrons a sword a whippe and fetters for the feet the which thing done the Thebians were no lesse as they thought slaundered then abashed To the which hee spake these wordes You Thebaines sent mee to the Lacedemonians to the entent that I should learne their Lawes and Customs and indeed I haue been there more then a year behelding all things very diligently For wee Philosophers are bounde not onely to note that which is done but also to know why it is done Know yee Thebians that this is the aunswere of my Ambassage That the Lacedemoniant hang vpon this Gibet theeues with this same sword they beheade Traytors with these hote Irons they torment blasphemers and lyers with these roddes they whp vacabonds and with these Irons doe keepe the rebels and the others are for Players and vnthrifts Finally I say that I do not bring you the Lawes written but I bring you the instruments wherewith they are obserued The Thebanes were abashed to see these things and spake vnto him such words Consider Phetonius we haue not sent thee to the Lacedemonians to bring Instruments to take away life but for the good Lawes to gouerne the Common wealth The Philosopher Phetonius reply ed againe and answered Thebains I let you to vnderstand that if you know what wee Philosophers knew yon should see how farre your mindes were from the truth For the Lacedemonians are not so vertuous thorough the lawes which were made of them that bee dead as for the means they haue sought to preserue them that bee aliue For the matters of iustice consists more in execution then in commanding or ordayning Laws are easily ordayned but with difficulty executed for there are a thousand to make them but to put them in execution there is not one Full little is that which men know that are present in respect of that those know which are past But yet according to my little knowledge I proffer to giue as good lawes to you Thebaines as euer were obserued among the Lacedemonians For there is nothing more easie then to know the good and nothing more common then to follow the euill But what profiteth it if one will ordaine and none vnderstand it If there bee that dooth vnderstand them there is none that executeth them If there bee that executeth them there is none that obserueth them If there bee one that obserueth them there is a thousand that reprooueth them For without comparison more are they that murmur and grudge at the good then those which despise and blame the euill You Thebaines are offended because I haue brought such Instruments but I let you know if you will haue neyther gybet nor Sworde to keepe that which shall bee ordained you shall haue
licence to all the Plebeyans to the end that euery one doe loue his wife his children and his Parents And this sorte of loue hee will not that Princes haue to whome hee perswadeth that first aboue all things they loue theyr cōmon-wealth For if the prince doe loue anie thing aboue his Common-wealth it is vnpossible but that one day for the loue of that he will wring Iustice When Plato gaue not licence vnto Princes not to enlarge theyr loue on diuers things peraduenture he would counsell them least they should doe some wrongs It chaunceth oft times that Princes doe omit iustice not for that they will not administer it but because they will not bee informed of things which they ought to remedie and looke vnto And this is vnexcusable where hee hurteth his honour burdeneth his conscience For at the day of iudgement though hee be not accused for malice yet hee shall be condemned for negligence The Prince which is carefull to see and to enquire the dammages of his Realmes we may say that if he doeth not prouide for them it is because he can do no more but he which is negligent to see them and know them we cannot say but if he leaue to prouide it is for that hee will not The Prince or great Lorde which dare take vpon him such things what name or renowme may we giue him I would not we should call such a one father of the commonwealth but destroyer of his countrey For there can be no tyrannie greater nor more vnequall then for the physitian to aske his duety for his cure before hee hath begunne to minister the medicine That Princes and great Lords desire to know their reuenues I allow them but in that they care not to knowe the dāmages of their commonwealths I do discommend them For the people pay tribute to their Princes to the ende they should deliuer them from their enemies and defend them from tyraunts For the Iudges which wil be euill though I say much it will profite little but vnto those which desire to bee good that which is spoken as I thinke sufficeth Notwithstanding that which is spoken I say that Iudges and gouernors ought to consider wel with themselues and see if they wil be counted for iust ministers or cruell tirants For the office of a Tyrant is to robbe the Common-wealth and the Office of the good Prince is to reforme the people Noble Princes and great Lordes haue more businesse then they thinke they haue to see all those which will see them and to heare all those which will complaine vnto them And the cause hereof is admitte that which the Subiect demaundeth hee presently cannot giue nor that whereof hee complaineth he cannot remedie yet notwithstanding they remaine after a sort contented saying that they haue now shewed all their complaynts and iniuries vnto their princes For the wounded harts oftentimes vtter their inward paines which they feele without anie hope to receyue comforte of that which they desire Plutarche in his Apothegmes sayeth that a poore and aged woman desired king Philippe of Macedonie which was father of king Alexander the great that hee would heare her with iustice and sith shee was very importunate vpon him K Philip saide on a day vnto her I pray thee woman bee contented I sweare by the gods I haue no leysure to heare thy complaint The old woman answered the king Beholde K Philippe if thou hast not time to heare mee with iustice resigne thy Kingdome and another shall gouerne thy Commonwealth CHAP. III. Of an oration which a villaine dwelling neere to the riuer of Danuby maae before the Senatours of Rome concerning the tyrannies and oppressions which their officers vsed in his countrey And the Oration is diuided into three Chapters IN the tenth yeare of the raigne of the good Emperour Marcus Aurelius there happened in Rome a generall pestilence the which being so outragious the good Emperour went into Campaigne which at time was very healthfull without diseases though it was very drie and wanted much of that which was necessarie yet notwithstanding the good Emperor was there with all the principall Senatours of Rome for in the time of pestilence men doe not seeke where they should reioice their persōs but where they may saue their liues Marcus Aurelius being there in Campagnia was sore vexed with a Fener and as his condition was alwaies to bee amongst sages so at that time his sicknesse required to be visited by Physitians The resort that he had in his Pallace was very great as well of Philosophers for to teach as of Physitians for to dispute For this prince ordered his life in such sorte that in his absence things touching the warre were well prouided and in his presence was nothing but matters of knowledge argued It chaunced one day as Marcus Aurelius was enuironed with Senators philosophers physitians and other Sage men a question was moued among them how greatly Rome was changed not onely in buildings which almost were vtterly decayed but also in maners which were wholly corrupted the cause of this euill grew for that Rome was full of flatterers and destitute of those which durst say the truth These and such other like wordes heard the Emperour tooke vp his hand and blessed him and declared vnto them a notable example saying In the first yeare that I was Consull there came a poore villaine from the riuer of Danuby to aske iustice of the Senate against a Censor which did sore oppresse the people and in deed hee did so well propound his complaint and declare the folly and iniuries which the Iudges did in his Country that I doubt whether Marcus Cicero could vtter it better with his tongue or the renowmed Homer haue writen it more eloquently with his pen. This villaine had a small face great lips hollow eyes his colour burnt curled hayre bare-headed his shoes of Porpyge skinne his coat of goates skinne his girdle of bul-rushes a long beard and thicke his eye brows couered his eyes the stomacke and the necke couered with skinnes heared as a Beare and a clubbe in his hand Without doubt when I saw him enter into the Senate I imagined it had beene a beast in forme of a man and after I heard that which he sayd I iudged him to bee a God if there be Gods among men For it was a fearefull thing to behold his person it was no lesse monstrous to heare his words At that time there was great prease at the dore of the Senate of many diuers persons for to solicite the affayres of their Prouinces yet notwithstanding this villaine spake before the others for two causes The one for the men were desirous to heare what so monstrous a man would say The other because the Senators had this custome that the complaints of the poore should bee heard before the requests of the rich Wherefore this villaine afterwards in the middest of the Senate beganne to tell
true truly hee of right ought to be commended but aboue all more then all the Prince which keepeth his Common wealth in peace hath great wrong if hee not of all beloued What good can the Common wealth haue wherin there is warre and dissention Let euerie man say what he will without peace no man can enioy his owne no man can eate without feare no man sleepeth in good rest no man goeth safe by the way no mā trusteth his neighbour Finally I say that where there is no peace there wee are threatened dayly with death and euery houre in feare of our life It is good the Prince do scoure the realme of theeues for there is nothing more vniust thē that which the poor with toile and labour get should with vagabonds in idlenes be wasted It is good the Prince doe weed the realme of blasphemers for it is an euident token that those that dare blaspheme the king of heauen will not let to speake euill of the princes of the earth It is good the prince do cleare the common wealth of vagabonds players for play is so euill a mothe that it eateth the new gown and consumeth the drie wood It is good that the Prince doe forbidde his subiects of prodigall banquets superfluous apparrell for where men spend much in things superfluous it chanceth afterwards that they want of their necessaries But I aske now What auayleth it a Prince to banish all vices from his Common-wealth if otherwise he keepeth it in warre The only ende why Princes are Princes is to follow the good and to eschew the euill What shall you say therefore since that in the time of warres Princes cannot reforme vices nor correct the vicious Oh if Princes and Noble men knew what damage they doe to their countreyes the day that they take vppon them warre I thinke and also affirme that they would not onely not begin it nor yet anie priuate person durste scarely remember it And hee that doth counsell the Prince the contrary ought by reason to bee iudged to the Common-wealth an enemie Those which counsel Princes to seeke peace and to keepe peace without all doubt they haue wrong if they be not heard if they be loued and if they be not credited For the counsellour which for a light ocasion counselleth his Prince to beginne warre I say vnto him eyther choler surmounteth or else good Conscience wanteth It chaunceth often times that the prince is vexed and troubled because one certifieth him that a prouince is rebelled or some other prince hath inuaded his countrey and as the matter requireth the Councell is assembled There are some too rashe counsellours which immediately iudge peace to bee broken as lightly as others doe desire that Warres should neuer beginne When a Prince in such a case asketh counsell they ought forthwith not to aunswere him suddenly For things concerning the Warres ought with great wisedome first to be considered and then with as much aduisement to be determined King Dauid neuer tooke any warre in hand though he were very wise but first hee counselled with GOD The good Iudas Machabeus neuer entred into Battell but first hee made his prayer vnto Almightie GOD. The Greekes and Romanes durst neuer make warre against their enemies but first they would do sacrifice to the Gods and consulte also with their Oracles The matters of Iustice the recreations of his person the reward of the good the punishment of the euill and the diuiding of rewards a Prince may communicate with any priuate man but all matters of Warre hee ought first to counsell with GOD For the Prince shall neuer haue perfect victorie ouer his Enemyes vnlesse hee first committe the quarrell thereof vnto GOD. Those which counsell Princes whether it be in matters of warre or in the affaires of peace ought alwaies to remember this Sentence That they giue him such counsells alwayes when hee is alone in his Chamber as they would doe if they saw him at the poynt of death very sicke For at that instant no man dare speake with Flattery nor burden his conscience with bryberie When they entreate of warre they which moue it ought first to consider that if it came not well to passe all the blame will be imputed to their counsell And if that his substaunce bee not presently able to recompence the losse let him assure himselfe that here after his soule shall suffer the paine Men ought so much to loue peace and so much to abhorre warre that I belieue that the same preparation that a Priest hath in his Conscience with GOD before hee presume to receiue the holy Communion euen the same ought a counsellour to haue before that vnto his Prince hee giueth counsell concerning warre Since princes are men it is no maruell though they feele iniuties as men and that they desire to reuenge as men Therefore for this cause they ought to haue wise men of their counsell whereby they should mittigate and asswage theyr griefes and troubles For the Counsellours of Princes ought neuer to counsell thing they beeing angrie wherwith after they may iustly be displeased when they be pacified Following our matter in counting the goods which are lost in loosing peace and the euils which increase in winning warres I say that amongst other things the greatest euill is that in time of Warre they locke vp closely all vertues and set at libertie all vices During the time that Princes and great Lords maintaine warre though they bee Lordes of their Realmes and dominions by right yet for a trueth they are not to indeede For at that time the Lordes desire more to content their Souldiours and subiects then the Souldyers and subiects seeke to content the Lords And this they doe because they through power might vanquish their enemies and further through the loue of their money relieue their necessities Eyther Princes are gouerned by that wherevnto by sensualitie they are moued or else by that wherewith reason is contented If they will follow reason they haue too much of that they possesse but if they desire to follow the sensuall appetite there is nothing that will content them For as it is vnpossible to drie vp all the water in the Sea so it is harde to satisfie the heart of man that is giuen to couetousnes If Princes take vpon them warres saying that their right is taken from them and that therefore they haue a conscience Let them beware that such conscience bee not corrupted For in the worlde there is no Warre iustified but for the beginning thereof the Princes at one time or an other haue their Consciences burdened If Princes take vpon them Warre for none other cause but to augment their state and dignitie I say that this is a vaine hope For they consume and lose for the moste part more in one or two yeares warres then euer they get againe during their life If Princes take vpon them Warre to reuenge an iniurie as well
his euill hap hath made her his enemie which heretofore hee so entirely loued For any man that esteemeth his honour and reputation doth rather feare the euill tongue of such a woman then the sword of his enemy For an honest man to striue and contend with a woman of such quality is eueÌ„ as much as if hee would take vpon him to wash an asses head Therefore hee may not seeme to make account of those iniuries done him or euill words shee hath spoken of him For women naturally desire to enioy the person they loue without let or interruption of any and to pursue to the death those they hate I would wish therefore the fauoured of Princes and such as haue office and dignity in the court that they beware they incurre not into such like errors For it is not fitting that men of honour and such as are great about the Prince should seeme to haue more liberty in vice then any other neyther for any respect ought the beloued of the Prince to dare to keepe company much lesse to haue friendshippe with any such common and defamed women sith the least euill that can come to them they cannot be auoided But at the least hee must charge his conscience trouble his friends waste his goods consume his person and lose his good fame ioining withall these also his concubine to bee his mortall enemy For there is no woman liuing that hath any measure in louing nor end in hating Oh how warily ought all men to liue and specially we that are in the Court of Princes for many women vnder the colour of their authority and office go ofttimes to seeke them in their Chambers not onely as humble suiters to solicite their causes but also liberally to offer them their persons and so by colour to conclude their practises and deuises So that the decision and coÌ„clusion of proces which they faine to solicite shall not goe with him that demaunds there goods of them but rather with him that desires but their persons to spoyle them of theyr honour Now the Princes officers must seeke to be pure and cleane from al these practises of these commoÌ„ strumpets much more from those that are suters to them and haue matters before them For they should highly offend God and commit great treason to the king if they should sende those Women from them that sued vnto them rather dishonored and defamed then honestly dispatched of their businesse And therefore he bindeth himselfe to a maruellous inconuenience that falleth in loue with a woman suter for euen from that instant hee hath receiued of her the sweet delights of loue euen at the present hee bindeth himself to dispatch her quickly and to end all her suites and not without great griefe I speake these words There are many women that come to the Court of Princes to make vnreasonable and dishonest sutes which in the end notwithstanding obtaine their desire And not for any right or reason they haue to it saue onely they haue obtained it through the fauour and credite they haue wonne of the fauoured Courtier or of one of his beloued So as wee see it happen many times that the vniust furnication made her suit iust and reasonable I should lye and doe my selfe wrong me thinkes if I should passe ouer with silence a thing that hapned in the Emperours Court touching this matter in the which I went one day to one of the princes chiefe officers and best beloued of him to solicit a matter of importaÌ„ce which an hostes of mine should haue before him And so this fauoured Courtier and great Officer after hee had hearde of men the whole discourse of the matter for full resolution of the same hee asked mee if shee were yong and fayre and I aunswered him that shee was reasonable fayre and of good fauour Well then sayth he bid her come to mee and I will doe the best I can to dispatch her matter with speede for I will assure you of this that there neuer came fayre woman to my handes but shee had her businesse quickly dispatcht at my hands I haue knowne also many women in the Court so dishonest that not contented to follow their owne matters would also deale with others affayres and gaine in feliciting theyr causes so that they with theyr fine wordes and franke offer of their persons obtayned that which many times to men of honour and great authority was denyed Therefore these great Officers fauoured of Princes ought to haue great respect not onely in the conuersation they haue with these Women but also in the honest order they ought to obserue in hearing their causes And that to bee done in such sort that whatsoeuer they say vnto them may bee secret prouided also the place where they speake with them bee open for other Suiters in like case CHAP. XVIII That the Nobles and Beloued of Princes exceede not in superfluous fare and that they bee not too sumptuous in their meates A notable Chapter for those that vse too much delicacy and superfluitie THe greatest care regard that Nature laide vpon her selfe was that men could not liue without sustinance so that so long as wee see a man eate yea if it were a thousande yeares wee might bee bolde to say that hee is certainely aliue And hee hath not alone layde this burden vpon men but on bruite beasts also For wee see by experience that some feedeth on the grasse in the fieldes some liues in the ayre eating flyes others vpon the wormes in carring others with that they finde vnder the water And finally each beast liueth of other and afterwardes the wormes feede of vs all And not onely reasonable men and brute beasts liue by eating but the trees are nourished thereby and wee see it thus that they in stead of meate receiue into them for nutriture the heate of the Sunne the temperature of the ayre the moisture of the earth any dewe of heauen so that the sustenance for men is called meate and that of plants and trees increase This beeing true therefore that wee haue spoken we must needes confesse that to liue wee must eate and yet withall wee must vnderstand that the sin of gluttony consisteth not in that that wee eate for necessity but only in that that is eaten with a disordinate appetite and desire And sure now a dayes men vse not to eate to content nature but to please their licorous and dainty mouthes Hee that giueth him selfe ouer to the desire of the throate doth not onely offend his stomacke and distemper his body but hurteth also his conscience for all gluttons and drunkards are the children or the brothers of sinne And I speake but little to say that the mouth and sinne are câ—sin Germanes together for by their effects and operations me thinketh them so knit and combined together as the Father and the Sonne Sith burning Leacherie acknowledgeth none other for her mother but onely the infatiable and gurmand throate And
his Captaine and Captiues for his Entring and the people of Rome made as great preparation for to receyue him It was a maruellous thing for to see what people came forth of Rome to meete him and what infinit number were at Salon to behold him They that were at Salon had their eyes there and their hearts at Rome and they that were at Rome had their hearts at Salon in such sort that their hearts dazeled with that they saw and their heartes also reioyced for that they hoped to see For there is no greater torment to the heart then when it is deferred from that which it greatly desired CHAP. IIII. How at the intercession of many which the Empresse had sent The Emperour graunted his daughter Lucilla license to sport her selfe at the feasts YOu shal vnderstand that the Romanes vsed alwayes in the moneth of Ianuary to permit that their Emperours should triumph And it chāced that at that time when they prepared for the triumph Faustine the Empresse caused diuers noble Barrons to demaund licence of the Emperour that her daughter might come from her mistresse where shee was taught to the feasts Her name was Lucilla who was elder then the prince Comodus her brother Shee had a goodly iesture she was well made in the body and deerely beloued of her mother whom shee resembled not onely in beauty but also in liuing Though the request seemed to be reasonable and those that made it his Counsellours and great about him and thogh him whom they asked was the father and she that demaunded it was the mother and shee for whom this request was made was the daughter yet the Emperour would not graunt it but halfe against his will Faustine when shee had obtained licence was exceeding glad so soon as shee might possible shee brought her daughter home vnto the Pallace And when the day of the great Feast and solemne triumph came the young Damosell perceyuing her selfe at large without any Gouernour trusting in the Innocency of her selfe esteemed not the malice of any other man but reioyced with those that reioyced talked with them that talked beheld thē that beheld her and shee thought because shee meant euill to no man that no man willed euill to her In those dayes it was as great an offence for a maide of Rome to laugh in the company of men as it was for a woman of Grecia to be taken in adultery with a Priest So greatly was the honesty at that time of the Romane Matrones regarded and the lightnes of the maydens was so detested that they gaue more sharper punishment for one offence done openly then for two which were committed in secret Amongst all other things from these seuen the Romane Matrones did maruellously refraine that is to say from talking much at feasts from greedie eating among strangers From drinking wine whiles they were whole from talking in secret with any man from lifting vp their eyes in the Temples from gazing much out at the windows and from wandring abroad without their husbands for the woman that was apprehended in any of these things was alwayes after counted as one defamed There are many things suffered in persons of mean estate which cannot be endured in those of higher degree For Ladies of high renowne cannot keepe the reputation of their estates vnlesse they are maruellous circumspect in all their doings All thinges that degenerate from their kind deserue blame but the dishonest woman meriteth infamy If Ladies will be counted Ladies indeed let them know how much they excell others in riches so much lesse license haue they then other to goe gadding in the streetes For of a surety the aboundance of their riches and the liberty of the persons should not bee a spur to prouoke them to gad abroad but rather a bridle to keepe them within All this is spoken for this cause that Lucilla as a mayde tender and young and Faustine her mother as one not very old sometimes on foot and sometimes riding sometimes openly and now and then secrerly sometimes with company and at other times alone sometimes by day and oft times by night vsed to foote the streetes of Rome to view the fields of Vulcane to sport them by the riuer of Tyber to gather the fruites in the Orchardes of Saturne to suppe at the conduites of Nero and such other vagaries they vsed The which thinges though their age did desire and their idlenes allure them vnto yet the grauity which Ladies ought to haue should withdraw them from it I will speake one thing to the ende that other Ladies and Gentlewomen may take warning thereby which is that I cannot tell which was greater eyther the small discretion which moued Faustine and Lucilla to wander in such sort about the streetes or the audacity that euill men tooke thereby to talke of their persons and doubt of their honesties The keeping of women in their houses is like vnto a bridle to holde still euill mens tongues The woman that is a strayer abroad putteth her good name in much danger Of truth it were better for a woman neuer to be borne then to liue with an euill name Among all the families of the Ancient Romanes that of the Cornelians was counted most fortunate for among the men there was neuer any found a coward nor among the women any that was defamed The Historiographers say that there was one woman of that linage onely for beeing light in her behauiour was by the handes of her owne parents executed and put to death Surely it was well done of the Romanes to the intent that the lightnesse of one woman alone should not defame the whole family Where as is noblenesse and honesty there the matters that touch the honour ought not to tarry whiles they bee remedied by iustice but from that man or woman which among all hath lost his good name from the number of the liuing he ought also to be taken It is not sufficient for one to himselfe to be good but it is requisite that hee giue no occasion to others to iudge him to be euill All the losses of temporall goods that chance vnto men in this life ought not to be compared with a little blemish of a mans good name The man that hazardeth for a trifle his good name in this world shal at a būdred shootes scarsly shoote one right And contrariwise that man that hath lost his honesty and that esteemeth not the reputation of his person truly from him we shall neuer see any good thing proceed Now the Emperour like vnto a wise shippe-master fearing after the great calmes some tempestuous storme seeing the lightnesse of his Daughter and vanitie of the Mother I meane in the time of this great mirth and gladnesse feared least any infamy should ensue vnto these two Ladies And for a surety hee doubted not without a cause for it is an infallible rule of enuious Fortune for to giue vs in many yeares a little prosperity to the
a white it is no marell though I shotte at thee with the arrowes of mine eyes at the butte of thy beautie with thy rowling Eyes with thy browes bent well coloured Face incarnate Teeth ruddie lips courled hayre handes set with Rings cloathed with a thousand manner of colours hauing purses full of sweete sauours the Bracelettes and Eare-rings full of pearles and precious-stones Tell me what this meaneth The most that I can thinke of this is sith you shewe vs your bodyes openly yee would wee should know your desires in secret And if it be so as I belieue it is it seemeth to me Lady Macrine thou oughtest to loue him that liketh thee to enform him that seeketh thee to aunswere him that calleth thee to feele him that feeleth thee and to vnderstand him that vnderstandeth thee And sith thou vnderstandest me I do vnderstand thee and vnderstand that thou knowest not I doe well remember as I went by the street solitarily to see two theeues put to death mine eyes glauncing saw thee at a window on whom dependeth all my desires More iustice thou doest to mee then I to the Theeues For I beeing at iustice thou hast iusticed the iustice and none dare payne thee The gallowes is not so cruell to them which neuer knew but doing euill as thou art to mee which neuer thought other but onely to serue thee They suffer but one death and thou makest mee suffer a thousand They in one day and one houre ende their liues and I eache minute doe feele the pangs of death They dyed guyltie but I innocently They died openly and I in secrete What wilt thou that I say more vnto thee They wept for that they dyed and I weepe daily teares of bloud from my heart for that I liue This is the difference their torments spreadeth abroade through all their bodie and I keep mine together in my hart O cruell Macrine I know not what iustice this is that they kill men for robbing and stealing from manie and suffer women to liue which steale mens hearts If they take the liues from them that picke purses why then doe they suffer Ladyes which robbe our entrails By thy Noblenes I pray thee and by the Goddesse Venus I Conjure thee eyther satisfie my desire or restore me to my heart which thou hast robbed from me I would thou shouldst know Lady Macrine the cleare intention of my heart rather then this Letter written with my hand If my happe were so good as thy Loue would permit me to speak with thee I would hope by sight and speech to winne that which I am in suspect by my Letter to loose The reason whereof is because thou shalt reade my rude reasons in this letter and if thou sawest me thou shouldest see the bitter teares which I wold offer to thee in this my vnhappy life Oh that my mouth could publish my cruell paines as my heart feeleth them I sweare vnto thee Lady Macrine that my woefull plaintes would styrre vppe thy small care and as thy beautie hath made thee thyne owne so the true knowledge of thy griefes should make thee mine I desire thou wouldest regarde the beginning and therewith note the ende For of truth the same day that thou imprisonedst my hart at the window in the dungeon of my desires I had no lesse weaknesse to ouercome then thou haddest strength to enforce me and greater was thy power to take me from my selfe then my reason was to put mee from thee Now ladie Macrine I doe not aske other mercie of thee but that we may declare our mindes together But in this case what wilt thou I say vnto thee but that thou hast so much power ouer mee and I so little of my liberty that though I would not my heart must needes bee thine and that beeing thine thou wilt shew thy selfe to be mine And sith it may not be but that my life must bee condemned in thy seruice bee thou as sure of my Faith as I am doubtfull of thy good-will For I shall haue a greater honour to be lost for thy sake then to win any other Treasure I haue no more to say vnto thee now but that thou haue respect to my perdition and to drawe life out of my death and turne my teares to ioye And because I holde my Faith and will neuer despaire in thy hope I send thee x. little rings of gold with x. rings of Alexandria and by the immortall Gods I conjure thee that when thou puttest them on thy fingers thou receyuest my Loue into thy heart Marcus thy Louer wrote this with his owne hand CHAP. XI ¶ Of an other Letter which the Emperour sent to the Ladie Macrine wherein hee expresseth the Fiery-flames which soonest consume the gentle-hearts MArke thy neighbour at Rome to thee Macrine his sweete enemie I call thee Sweete for it is iust I dye for thee and enemy because thou ceassest not to kill me I cannot tell how it is but sith the feast of Ianus hitherto I haue written three letters vnto thee in the answer wherof I would haue been contented to haue receiued but two from thee If I would serue thee thou wilt not bee serued If I speak to thee thou wilt not answer me If I behold thee thou wilt not looke at mee if I call thee thou will not answer me if I visite thee thou wilt not see me if I write vnto thee thou wilt make no answer And the worst of all is if others do shew thee of my griefs thou takest it as a mockerie Oh that I had so much knowledge where to complaine to thee as thou hast power to ease my plaint then my wisdome should be no lesse praised amongst the wise then thy beautie among the fooles I beseech thee hartily not to haue respect to the rudenes of my reasons but regard the faith of my teares which I offer to thee as a witnes of my will I know not what profite may come by my harme nor what gayne of my losse thou mayest hope to haue nor what surety of my perill thou maist attaine nor what pleasure of my paine thou mayest haue I had aunswere by my messenger that without reading my Letters with thine own hands thou didst rent them in peeces it ought to suffice to thinke how manie persons are tormented If it had pleased you Ladie Macrine to haue read these few lines you should haue perceyued how I am inwardly tormented Yee women be very extreame and for the misaduenture of one man a woman will complaine of all men in generall So yee all shew crueltie for one particular cause openly yee pardon all mens liues and secretly ye procure death to all I account it nothing Ladie Macrine that thou hast done but I lament that which thou causest thy Neighbour Valerius to say to me One thing I would thou shouldest remember and not forget That is Sith my libertie is so small and thy power so great that beeing wholly mine am turned
of Cresus The liberal mind of Cresus The answer of the Philosopher Anacharsis Wherein consisteth true phylosophy How little the phylosophers desire riches Certaine points required to be performed by the physopher The description of Phalaris The speech 〈…〉 The frailtie of the flesh Couetousnes the ouer throw of Iustice What princes ought to doe Two things requisite in euery man The letter of Phalaris Cruelty wel rewarded The praise of Alexander the great The prayse of Alexander the Great The saying of Diogines The saying of Alexander Two notable things of K. Philip of Macedonie The prayse of Ptolome Alexander vnhappy in his death Pholosophers onely reioyce in pouertie A custome among the Egyptians The miserable death of Euripdes The worthy saying of Archelaus A saying worthy obseruation Sentences of Cinna No loue comparable to that of man and wife Fiue things follow marriage The loue of the Father to the child The saying of Solon A third coÌ„modity of Marriage What inconenience so loueth them that are not maryed in the feare of the Lord. The fourth commodity belonging to mariage The worthie sayings of Lycurgus The prayse of marriage The cares incident to maâ—â—age No man content with his owne estate Marriage the cause of loue and amitie Mariage a meanes of Peace betweene God and man What is required of euery vertuous Prince A law among the Tharentines A law among the Athenians A worthie saying of Socrates The spech of Cimonius A beastly custome in old time in England An ancient custome among the Romains A law among the Cymbrians The law of the Armenians A custome among the Hungarians The custom of the Scythians Good counsell for all sorts of women Women bound to loue their Husbands The tongue cause of debate The loue of women towards theyr Husbands The praise of Women The Law amongst the Lidians The loue of Sinoris Comma How good women ought to behaue themselues The death of Sinoris and Camma Good couÌ„sell for women The great dangers women sustaine The custome of the Achaians The Law of the Parthians The Law of the Lideans Women weake of nature The foolish opinion of some women A propertie of a wise discreete Husband Good counsell for Women The saying of 〈…〉 The office of the Husband and dutie of the wife The law of Lycurgus The propertie of good Houswifes What inconuenience coÌ„meth by gadding abroad The commendations of Lucretia The praises of the wiues of Numidia Where loue wanteth discord resteth A propertie of a good woman The quality of naughty House-wiues The Follie of man How the man childe ought to be brought vp How womeÌ„ ought to carry themselues in the time they goe with childe The desire of Women Tibullus de casibus triumphi The first Dictator in Rome The first rebell in Rome An auncient custome vsed by the Ladyes in Rome The first victorie the Romaines obtained by Sea The death of Sophia Titus Liuius The mutabilitie of Fortune The death of Ypolita The dangsâ— of women with childe A good warning for women with childe Aristotle de Animalibus The propertie of a good Husband Reasonable Creatures may take example by the vnreasonable A custome among the Mauritanians A custome in Hungary The false opinion of the Heathen The Commendation of the Emperour Octauian The saying of Pisto How good counsell ought to be regarded What is required of women with child Pulio de moribus antiq Lucius Seneca his counsell How vertuous Princes ought to be How the Emperour Marcus Aurclius spent his time A custome among the Romanes The speech of Marcus Aurelius at his death Rome destroyed by the Gothes The importunity of the Empresse A law a-among the Romane What euill commeth by the tong What is required in a Woman The Emperours answere What is required of euery Man What hurt commeth by not gouerning the tongue Crosses incident to Marriage What women naturally are inclined vnto Women can not endure to haue superiours Annales of Pompeyus A Law among the Barbarians The frailty of man The cause why men ought to endeauor to be vertuous How wee ought to to spend our time Reason leadeth to vertue Sensualitie to vice What dangers are incident to men by following women Women neuer contented Women coÌ„pared to golden pilles The speech of Drusio What inconuenience follow those that are discontented in marriage How euery man woman ought to behaue themselues What hurte cometh by misgouerning the tongue How marryed folkes ought to carry themselues Rules for euery man to followe that meanes to liue in peace Women extreame in their demands A froward Woman described Rome in ancient times rich in vertues Fiue things granted to the Matrones of Rome The commendation of a vertuous woman The Epitaph of Macrine Foure things which women naturally desire Women bound by Gods Law to giue her children sucke The example of dumb creatures may teach women to bring vp their owne children Arist de Animal The description of children in their infancie What loue women ought to beare their children The reward of the Roman Captain The speech of Scipio the AffricaÌ„ What dutie is required betweene the Parents and the childe The eruelty of Nero towards his Mother The reason that may moue women to giue their children sucke A custome of Asia The saying of Iunius Rustious How men and women ought to be stow theyr time What profit cometh to Women by giuing their childreÌ„ suck How women ought to spend the time about theyr children Pleasures that women may take in their children The lawes of the Auncients What care Women ought to haue of their children A good example for women A good example for all sorts of women What inconuenieÌ„ce cometh by changing Nurses Arist de secret secretorum How children ought to be nourished and brought vp Good counsell for one that would liue long Aristot De Animalib What Dyet Nurses ought to vse An example of the women of Thrace Women giuing sucke ought to abstaine from wine WomeÌ„ prohibited to drink wine in former times 〈…〉 The speech of Sabina The answer of the Consull Fuluius Wherefore the Consull would not haue his children nourished in his house What is required in euery good Nurse The description of Pressilla What is required of a Nurse for bringing vp of children What is required of a good Captaine How Alexander gouerned his armie A custome among the Persians What time it requisite for a man to eate Strabo de situ Orbis What order the Auncients vsed concerning marriage The custome of the Chaldeans How long women ought to giue their children sucke Questions demanded by the Philosopher Arethus When Rome flourished How circumspect a man ought to bee to speake the truth What property belongeth to the goute What inconuenieÌ„ce commeth by eating too much fruit What hurt commeth by Iugglers and players Titus Liuius The pollicy of the auncient Romaines God the onely Physitian The mutabilitie of mans life What difference there is betweene man and beast Ioseph de bello
viilaine Conclusion of the villains speech wherein he reproueth the Roman Magistrates The tyrannie of the Romanes to the Germanes Here the villaine layeth open the miserable estate of his Country The commendation that the Emperour gaue of the Oration of the villaint The speech of King Alexander the great The greate courage of Alexner The phylosophers speech concerning the honour of Princes The saying of Plutarch to Traian the Emperour Good admonitions of Seneca to his friend Lucilla Graue sentences of Seneca The speech of King Philip. What maâ—ter of men Iudges and Officers ought to be What is requyred in an vpright iudge The wise answere of Cato Cato his aduise in choosing Officers A Letter of Marcus Aurelius to his friend Antigonus Ancient lawes obserued among the Rhodians God the onely true â—udge What may moue one man to bee mercifull to another The Emperour continueth still his letter concerning cruell Magistrates The commendations of Lycaronicus for equal iustice The cruelty of Lycaronicus The pitty mercifulnes of Romulus the first Romane King The vertue of an herbe called Ilabia An Epitaph of a vertuous King The Emperour continueth his letter against euil Iudges The cruelty of Nero. with one of his pittiful sayings The carefulnes of Augustus in choosing Iudges What is required in an vpright iudge The reason why Iudges are ordained The Emperour continueth still his letter concerning cruell Magistrates What the ancient Hebrewes were and their conditions How vn happie that Realme is that is forsakeÌ„ of God A token of peace if the disturbers thereof bee taken away Where Iudges are vniust there the commoÌ„wealth goeth to ruine The counsell of the poore ought not to bee despised The 〈◊〉 that Princes ought to haue in 〈◊〉 Magistrates The conclusion of the Emperours letter concerning cruell Iudges The property of euil Iudges and Officers A Caue at for Iudges and all other Magistrates Offices giuen more for friendshippe then for desert The triumph of Marius the Romane Consull The speech of the Grandfather of K. Boco The Nephew pardoned for the good desert of the Grandfather The vertous life of Augustus second Emperour of Rome described The vertues of a godly prince described Warre ought to be eschewed peace entertained K Dauid a patterne for Princes how to stain warre Howmuch euery ought to preferre peace before warre How vnsatâ—able a couetous man is What incoÌ„ueniences are incident to Warres What may moue Princes to loâ—â— peace and â—ate warre Questions demaunded by King Dimo and answered Commodities that follow peace Warres vniustly taken in hand neuer come to good end For what reason wars ought not to be taken in hand The warre destruction of the good and godly men The reason why the Emperozr Augustus was o fortunate A dreame of King Antigonus A true saying of Plato Our Sauiour Christ the true patterne of peace Good couÌ„sell and worthy to be followed Dangers incident to warres Enuie and malice a deadly foe to true honour MaÌ„ putteth his life in danger only to winne honour How little the Emperour Marc Aurelius esteemed vaine honours Wherefore the Emperour cursed Rome Rome in ancient time the most flourishing City of the world The Emperour goeth on with his letter touching the order of warre Customes which the Romanes vsed before they went to the war The great outrages that the Romane souldiers did Lewde women oftentimes the cause of warre What mischiefe followed by the â—â—â—â—â—dnes of a strumpet Priestes exempt from warre The answer of the Oracle of Apollo How the Rumanes were wonte to make trial of their Captaines A reward giuen by the Emperour to a cowardly Captaine Marcus Aurelius continueth his letter shewing the detriment that followeth wars What felicity the ancient Romans tooke in warlike discipline What mischiefe came to Rome by conquering Asia The great miseries that were specified of Asia What vices were brought to Rome from Asia What incoÌ„uenience coÌ„meth by coÌ„quering strange Realmes Warre the mean occasion to make a coÌ„monwealth poore How vncertaine the euent of Warre is No greater hinderance to a Common wealth then to keepe men of warre A custome among the auncient Romanes Lycurgus his Lawes to the Lacedemonians Death maketh an end fal worldly miserie A wise Sentence of Cato A saying of Phalaris the Tyrant A wise aunswere of a philosopher The six Ages of mans life said opeÌ„ explaned A graue sentence of Sences Good counsel of Seneca worthy to be followed both of olde and young How circuÌ„spect wary men ought to be in eating 〈◊〉 Discommodityes that come by excesse of eating and drinking The answer of a young man to the Senate or Rome The iudgement of the Senate against drunkennes An euill qustome vsed among the Goths Euery man ought for to weare apparrell according to his calling Pride in the aged ought to be neglected A lye in a young man hatefull but in an olde man abhominable A worthy lesson c. Olde men ought to be a lanterne to youth A Letter of the Emperour reprouing light behauiour in old men A discommodity that war bringeth For foure causes Friends are to be esteemed The speech of the Emperour Adrian to his ieaster The difference of Solon and Lycurgus in opinion The continuation of the Emperours letter to his friends The vanity of the world and the vncertainety thereof How warie euery man ought to be No man euer contented with his estate in this world Euery man ought to flye the vain intisements of the world The prosecution of the Emperours letter teaching old men to be vertuous What is required in euery olde man What duty is required of the yong man to the olde A Question demaunded of aâ— Senatour of Rome Olde meÌ„ by experience know and feele many daungers A speech of the Emperor Adrian A custome among the Barbarians The conclusion of the Emperours letter reprouing old men which liue dissolutely like young children All the meÌ„bers of man waxe feeble in time but onely the heart and tongue The pride of the auncient Senatours of Rome A seuere sentence giuen by the Senators of Rome vpon an old man A question demaunded of an olde man and his answere A good example and worthie to be noted What caused Alexander to be loued and honoured King Darius noted of couetousnes The vice of auarice so odious that it cannot be sufficiently expressed A worthie saying of Aristotle A true saying oâ— Boetius The description of a miserable and couetous man Poverty far better then riches with couetousnes The desire of couetous men neuer satisfied The description of a couetous man A comparison between the glutton the vsurer The almes of the couetous man if he giue any The Emperour sheweth the abuse of those that leaue their calling Wherein true friendship consisteth The Emperour sheweth what vertues men ought to vse and the vices they ought to eschew A worthy saying of Cicero The Emperour concludeth his letter describing the vanities of the world The frailety and state of man
though man doth what hee can as a maid and that he do all that he ought to do as a husband though he taketh painesfor her sake aboue his force and though with the sweat of his browes he relieueth her neede though euery houre he putteth himselfe in daunger yet in the ende shee will giue him no thanks but wil say that he loueth another and how hee doeth that but to please and satisfie her It is a long time since I desired to tell thee this Faustine but I haue deferred it vntill this present houre hoping thou wouldest not giue occasion to tell it thee For amongst wise men those wordes ought chiefly to bee esteemed which fitly to the purpose are declared I remember that it is six yeares past since Antonius Pius thy Father chose me to bee his Sonne in law and that thou chosest mee for thy Husband and I thee for my wife all the which things were done my wofull aduentures permitting it and Adrian my Lord commaunding it The good Anthonius Pius gaue his onely daughter in marriage vnto me and gaue mee likewise his Noble Empire with great treasures Hee gaue mee also the gardens of Vulcanali to passe the time therein But I thinke on both sides we were deceiued He in chosing mee for his Sonne in law and I in taking thee for my wife Oh Fanstine thy Father and my Father in law was called Anthontus Pius because to all hee was mercifull saue only to mee vnto whom he was most cruell For with a little flesh he gaue me many bones And I confesse the truth vnto thee that now I haue no more teeth to bite nor heate in my stomacke to digest and the worst of all is that many times I haue thought to rage on my selfe I will tell thee one word though it doeth displease thee which is that for thy beautie thou art desired of manie and for thy euill conditions thou art despised of all For the faire women are like vnto the golden pilles the which in sight are very pleasant and in eating very noysome Thou knowest well Faustine and I also that wee saw on a day Drusio and Braxille his Wife which were our neighbours and as they were brawling together I spake vnto Drusio such wordes What meaneth this my Lorde Drusio that being now the Feast of Berecinthia and being as we are adioyuing to her house and present before so honorable an assemblie furthermore thy wife being so faire as she is How is it possible there should bee any strife betweene you Men which are marryed to deformed persons to the ende that they might kil them quickly should always fall out with their Wiues but those that are married to faire women they ought alwayes to liue together in ioy and pleasure to the end they may liue long For when a faire woman dyeth although shee haue liued an hundred yeares yet shee dyeth too soone and on the contrarie though a deformed woman liueth but a small time yet notwithstanding shee dyeth too late Drusio as a man being vexed lifting vp his eyes vnto the heauens fetching a grieuous sigh from the bottome of his hart said these words as followeth The Mother Berecinthia pardon me and her holy house also and all the companie besides forgiue mee for by the immortall gods I sweare vnto thee that I had rather haue beene Marryed with a Moore of Chalde that is so fowle then being marryed as I am with a Romaine beeing very faire For shee is not so faire and white as my life is wofull and blacke Thou knowest well Faustine that when Drusio spake these wordes I did wipe the teares from his eyes and I gaue him a word in his eare that hee should proceede no further in this matter For such women ought to be chastened in secret and afterwards to be honoured openly Oh thou art most vnfortunate Faustine and the Gods haue euill deuided with thee giuing thee beautie and riches to vndoe thy selfe and denying thee the best which is wisedome and good conditions to keepe thy honor O what euil lucke cōmeth vnto a man when God sendeth him a faire daughter vnlesse furthermore the Gods doe permit that shee be sage and honest for the womā which is yong foolish and faire destroyeth the Common-wealth defameth all her parentage I say vnto thee againe Faustine that the gods were very cruel against thee since they swallowe thee vppe by the goulfes where all the euill perisheth and tooke from thee all the sayles and owers whereby the good doe escape I remained xxxviij yeares vnmarried and these vj. yeares only which I haue bin married mee thinketh I haue passed vj. hundreth yeares of my life for nothing can bee called a torment but the euil that man doth suffer that is euill married I will assure thee of one thing Faustine that if I had knowne before that which now I knowe and that I had felt that which now I feele though the Gods had cōmanded me and the Emperour Adrian my Lorde desired mee I had not chaunged my pouerty for thy riches neither my rest for thy Empire But since it is fallen to thine and mine euill fortunes I am contented to speake little and to suffer much I haue so much dissembled with thee Faustine that I can no more but I confesse vnto thee that no Husband doth suffer his wife so much but that hee is bound to suffer her more considering that hee is a man and that she is a woman For the man which willingly goeth into the bryers he must thinke before to endure the prickes The Woman is too bolde that doeth contend with her Husband but that Husband is more foole which openly quarrelleth with his wife For if shee be good hee ought to fauour her to the end that she may be better if she be vnhappie he ought to suffer her to the end she be not worse Truly when the woman thinketh that her husband taketh her for eulll it is a great occasion to make her to be worse For women are so ambitious that those who cōmonly are euil wil make vs belieue that they are better then the others Belieue me Faustine that if the feare of the gods the infamy of the person the speech of men do not restraine the woman all the chastisements of the worlde will not make her refraine from vice for all things suffereth chastisement and correction the woman only except the which must be wonne by intreatie The heart of the man is very noble and that of the woman very delicate because for a little good hee will giue a great rewarde and for a great offence hee will giue no punishment Before the wise man marieth it behoueth him to beware what he doth and when hee shall determine to take the companie of a Woman he ought to be like vnto him that entreth into the warre that determineth with himselfe to suffer all that may happen bee it good or euill I doe not
call that life a warre without a cause which the euill married man leadeth in his house For women doe more hurt with their tongues then the enemyes doe with theyr swords It is a great simplicity for a wise man to make account or esteeme the simplicitie of his wife at euery time For if they would marke and take heed to that which their wife doth or saith I let them know that they shall neuer haue an end O Faustine if the Romaine women would alwayes one thing that they would procure one thing that they would bee resolued in one thing although it were to our great charges wee should haue pleasure to condescend vnto their desires but what shall wee doe since that which now pleaseth you a while after displeaseth you that which you aske in the morning yee will not haue at noone that which you enioy at noone dayes doeth trouble you in the night that which in the night you loue yee care not for in the morning that which yesterday ye greatly esteemed to day asmuch ye despise If yee desired to see a thing the last yeare this yeare ye wil not heare talke of it that which before made you to reioice doth now make you to be sad that which yee were wont and ought tolament at the selfe same thing a man seeth you laugh Finally ye women are as children which are appeased with an apple and casteth the golde to the earth as not weyghing it I haue diuers times thought with my selfe if I could say or write any good Rule in keeping the which I might teache men to bee quiet in their houses And by my account I finde hauing experimented it also with thee Faustine that it is vnpossible to giue a rule to Marryed men and if a man could giue them they should scarcely profite therewith since theyr Wiues liue without rule But yet notwithstanding that I wil declare some Rules how the marryed folks should keepe themselues in their houses and how they shall if they list auoyde strifes and debates betweene them For the Husbands and the Wiues hauing warres together it is impossible there should be peace in the Common-wealth And though this present writing hath not profited me vnluckie and vnfortunate man yet it may profite others which haue good wiues For oft times the Medicin which profiteth not for the tender Eyes sufficeth to heale the harde heeles I know well Faustine that for that I haue saide and for that I will say vnto thee thou and others such like shall greatly enuie me Yee will marke the words that I speake more then the intention that I meane but I protest before the Gods that in this case my ende is for no other intent but to aduertise the good whereof there are a great manie and to punish the euill which are many moe And although perchaunce neyther the one nor the other wil belieue that my intention in speaking these things was good yet therefore I will not cease to know the good from the euil and to choose the euill from the good For in my fantasie the good-wife is as the Feasaunt whose feathers wee little esteeme and regard much the body but the euill woman is as the Marterne whose skin we greatly esteem and vtterly despise the Flesh I will therefore declare the Rules whereby the Husbandes may liue in peace with their owne proper wiues The Rules are these THe first the husband must needs haue patience and suffer his wife when shee is displeased for in Lybia there is no Serpent so spitefulll as an euill woman when shee is vexed The second the Husband ought to prouide for his wife according to his abilitie all that is necessary for her as well for her person as for her house for oft times it chaunceth that women seeking things necessarie finde things superfluous and not very honest The third the Husband ought to prouide that his wife doe keepe good companie for women oft times are more troubled with the wordes that their euill Neighbours speake against them then for any occasion that their Husbands giue them The fourth that the husband ought to vse a meane that his Wife be not too much a subiect nor that she stray too much abroad for the Woman that gaddeth much in the streetes both loseth her good name and spendeth his goods The fifth the Husband ought to take heede that hee striueth not so with his wife that she be brought past shame for the woman that towards her Husband is shamelesse hath no respect what dishonestie shee committeth The sixt the Husband ought to let his wife vnderstand that he doth trust her for the woman is of such condition that that which a wise man wold not shee should doe shee will doe soonest and that wherein she should take paines she will doe nothing The seuenth the Husband ought to bee circumspect that hee doe not wholly trust his Wife with the goods and treasours of the house nor yet vtterly distrust her For if the wife haue the charge of the goods of the house truely shee will augment little and if the Husband doe suspect her she will steale much The eight the Husband ought to looke vpon his wife merrily and at other times againe sadly For women are of such condition that when their Husbands shew them a merrie countenance they loue them and when they shewe themselues demure they feare them The ninth the husband ought if he bee wise in this to take good aduisement that his wife quarrell not with his neighbors For we haue ofttimes seene in Rome that for the quarrell of his Wife against his neighbours the Husband hath lost his life shee hath lost her goods and a slaunder hath risen throughout the Commonwealth The tenth the Husband ought to be so patient that if he saw his wife commit any fault that in no wise he shold correct her openly but in secret For the husband that correcteth his wife before witnes doth as he which spitteth into the element and the spittle falleth againe into his eyes The eleuenth the Husband ought to haue much temperance lest he lay hands on his wife to punish her For truly the wife that with sharpe words doth not amend with all the chastisements of the worlde will neuer bee good The twelfth if the Husband will be quiet with his wife he ought to praise her before his neighbours and straungers For amongst all other things women haue this propertie that of all they would be praised and of none corrected The thirteenth the Husband ought to beware to praise any other then his owne Wife shee beeing present For women are of this condition that the same day that her Husband commendeth anie other Woman the same day his wife will cast him out of her heart thinking that he loueth another and despiseth her The foureteenth The husband ought to make his wife beleeue that she is fayre though indeede shee bee foule for there is betweene them no greater strife