aunswered him that it was Calistratus the Philosopher a man which in eloquēce was very sweete and pleasant hee determined to stay and heare him to the end hee would know whether it were true or vaine that the people tolde him For oftentimes it hapneth that among the people some get thēselues great fame more by fauor then by good learning The difference betwixt the diuine Philosopher Plato and Calistratus was in that Plato was exceedingly wel learned and the other very eloquent and thus it came to passe that in liuing they followed Plato and in eloquence of speech they did imitate Calistratus For there are diuers men sufficiently well learned which haue profound doctrine but they haue no way nor meanes to teach it vnto others Demosthenes hearing Calistratus but once was so farre in loue with his doctrine that he neuer after heard Plato nor entered into his Schoole for to harken to any of his lectures At which newes diuers of the Sages and Wise men of Grecia maruelled much seeing that the tongue of a man was of such power that it had put all their doctrine vnto silence Although I apply not this example I doubt not but that your Maiesty vnderstandeth to what ende I haue declared it And moreouer I say that although Princes and great Lordes haue in their Chambers Bookes so well corrected and men in their Courts so well learned that they may worthily keepe the estimation which Plato had in his Schoole yet in this case it should not displease me that the difference that was between Plato and Calistratus should bee betweene Princes and this Booke God forbid that by this saying men should thinke I meane to disswade Princes from the company of the sage men or from reading of any other booke but this for in so doing Plato should bee reiected which was diuine and Calistratus embraced which was more worldly But my desire is that sometimes they would vse to reade this booke a little for it may chaunce they shall finde some wholesome counsell therein which at one time or other may profite them in their affayres For the good and vertuous Prince ought to graffe in their memory the wise sayings which they reade and forget the cankred iniuries and wrongs which are done them I do not speake it without a cause that hee that readeth this my writing shall finde in it some profitable counsell For all that which hath bin written in it hath beene euery word and sentence with great diligence so well wayed and corrected as if therein onely consisted the effect of the whole worke The greatest griefe that learned men seele in their writing is to thinke that if there bee many that view their doings to take profite thereby they shall perceyue that there are as many more which occupie their tongues in the slaunder and disprayse thereof In publishing this my worke I haue obserued the manner of them that plant a new garden wherein they set Roses which giue a pleasant sauour to the nose they make faire greene plattes to delight the eyes they graft fruitfull trees to bee gathered with the hands but in the end as I am a man so haue I written it for men and consequently as a man I may haue erred for there is not at this day so perfect a painter but another will presume to amend his worke Those which diligently will endeauour themselues to reade this booke shall finde in it very profitable counsels very liuely lawes good reasons notable sayings sentences very profound worthy examples and histories very ancient For to say the truth I had a respect in that the doctrine was auncient and the Stile new And albeit your Maiesty bee the greatest Prince of all Princes and I the least of all your Subiects you ought not for my base condition to disdaine to cast your eyes vpon this booke nor to thinke scorne to put that thing in proofe which seemeth good For a good letter ought to be nothing the lesse esteemed although it be written with an euill pen. I haue sayde and will say that Princes and great Lords the stouter the richer and the greater of renowme they bee the greater need they haue of all men of good knowledge about them to counsell them in their affayres and of good bookes which they may reade and this they ought to doe as well in prosperity as in aduersity to the end that their affayres in time conuenient may be debated and redressed For otherwise they should haue time to repent but no leasure to amend Plinie Marcus Varro Strabo and Macrobius which were Historiographers no lesse graue then true were at great controuersie improouing what things were most authenticke in a common weale and at what time they were of all men accepted Seneca in an Epistle hee wrote to Lucullus praysed without ceasing the Common wealth of the Rhodians in the which with much ado they bent themselues altogether to keepe one selfe thing and after they had therupon agreede they kept and maintained it inuiolably The diuine Plato in the sixt booke entituled De Legibus ordained and commanded that if any Cittizen did inuent any new thing which neuer before was read nor heard of the inuentour thereof should first practise the same for the space of ten yeares in his own house before it was brought into the Common-wealth and before it should bee published vnto the people to the end if the inuention were good it should be profitable vnto him and if it were nought that then the daunger and hurt thereof should light onely on him Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayeth that Lycurgus vpon grieuous penalties did prohibite that none should bee so hardy in his Common wealth to goe wandring into strange Countries nor that hee should be so hardy to admit any strangers to come into his house and the cause why this law was made was to the end strangers should not bring into their houses things strange and not accustomed in their Common wealth and that they trauelling through strange countries should not learne new Customes The presumption of men now adayes is so great and the consideration of the people so small that what soeuer a man can speake he speaketh what so euer he can inuent he doth inuent what hee would hee doth write and it is no maruell for there is no man that wil speak against them Nor the common people in this case are so light that amongst them you may dayly see new deuises and whether it hurt or profit the Common wealth they force not If there came at this day a vaine man amongst the people which was neuer seene nor heard of before if hee bee any thing subtill I aske you but this question Shall it not bee easie for him to speake and inuent what hee listeth to set forth what he pleaseth to perswade that which to him seemeth good and all his sayings to be beleeued truly it is a wonderfull thing and no lesse slaunderous that one should be sufficient
and iudgeth of his sound It is but reason hee should be so much the more circumspect before hee choose his Friend to examine his life and condition since all the other things wee haue spoken of may bee put in diuers houses and corners but our Friend we lodge and keepe deerely in our proper be wells Those that write of the Emperour Augustus say that he was very strange and scrupulous in accepting Friends but after hee had once receyued them into his friendship hee was very constant and circumspect to keepe them For hee neuer had any friend but first he had some proofe and tryall of him neyther would hee euer after forsake him for any displeasure done to him Therefore it shold alwayes be so that true friends should beare one to an other such loue and affection that the one beeing in prosperitie should not haue occasion to complaine of himselfe in that hee did not relieue his friends necessitie being in aduersitie nor the other being poore and needy should grudge or lament for that his friend being rich and wealthie would not succour him with all that hee might haue done for him For to say the trueth where perfect friendship is there ought no excuse to be made to doe what possible is the one for the other The friendship of young men commeth commonly or for the most part at the least by beeing companions in vice and follie and such of right ought rather to be called vacabonds then once to deserue the name of true friends For that cannot bee called true friendship that is continued to the preiudice or derogation of vertue Seneca writing againe to Lucillus saith these words I would not haue thee thinke nor once mistrust O my Lucillus that in all the Romaine Empire I haue any greater Friende then thuo but with all assure thy selfe that our Friendship is not so straight between vs that I would take vpon mee at any time to doe for thee otherwise then honesty should lead mee For though that loue I beare thee hath made thee Lord of my libertie yet reason also hath left mee vertue free The Authour proceedeth on Applying that wee haue spoken to that wee will now declare I say I will not acknowledge my selfe your seruant for so should I bee compelled to feare you more then loue you much lesse will I vaunt my selfe to bee your Kins-man for so I should importune and displease you and I will not brag that heretofore wee haue beene of familiar acquaintaunce for that I would not make any demonstration I made so little account of you and lesse then I am bound to doe neyther will I boaste my selfe that I am at this present your familiar and welbeloued For indeed I should then shew my selfe to bee too bolde and arrogant but that that I will confesse shall be that I loue you as a Friend and you mee as a Kins-man albeeit this friendship hath succeeded diuersly till now For you being Noble as you are haue bountifully shewed your friendship to mee in large and ample gifts but I poore and of base estate haue onely made you sure of mine in wordes Plutarch in his politikes sayd That it were far better to fell to our friends our workes and good deedes whether they were in prosperitie aduersitie or necessitie then to feede them with vaine Flattering wordes for nothing Yet it is not so generall a rule but that sometimes it happeneth that the loftie and high words on the one side are so profitable and the workes so few and feeble on the other side that one shal be better pleased and delighted with hearing the sweete and curteous wordes of the one then he shall be to be serued with the colde seruice and workes of the other of small profite and value Plutarche also in his booke De animalibus telleth vs that Denis the Tyrant beeing one day at the Table reasoning of diuers and sundrie matters with Chrysippus the Phylosopher it chaunced that as hee was at dinner one brought him a present of certaine Sugar-cakes wherefore Chrysippus ceasing his former discourse fell to perswade Denis to fall to his cakes To whome Denis aunswered on with your matter Chrysippus and leaue not off so For my heart is better contented with thy sweete and sugred wordes then my Tongue is pleased with the delicate taste of these mountain-cakes For as thou knowest these cakes are heauie of digestion and doe greatly annoy the stomack but good workes doe meruellously reioyce and comfort the heart For this cause Alexander the great had the poet Homer in greater veneration beeing dead then all the other that were aliue in his time not for that Homer euer did him seruice or that hee knew him but onely because of his learned Bookes hee wrote and compiled and for the graue sentences he found therein And therefore he bare about him in the day time the booke of the famous deedes of Troy called the Illyades hanged at his neck within his bosome and in the night hee layde it vnder his bolster at his beds-head where hee slept In recompence therefore Syr of the many good turnes I haue receyued at your hands I was also willing to compyle and dedicate this my little Treatise to you the which I present you with all my desires my studyes my watches my sweatte and my troubles holding my selfe fully satisfyed for all the paines I haue taken so that this my simple trauell be gratefull vnto you to whom I offer it and to the publike weale profitable Being well assured if it please you to trust me and credite my wryting you shall manifestly know how freely I spake to you and like a friend and not deceyue you as a flatterer For if the beloued and Fauourites of Princes chaunce to bee cast out of fauour it is because euery man flattereth him and seeketh to please him and no man goeth about to tell him trueth nor that that is for his honour and fittest for him Salust in his booke of the warres of Iugurtha sayth that the high heroycall facts and deedes were of no lesse glorie to the Hystoriographers that wrote them then they were to the captaine that did them For it happeneth many times that the Captaine dying in the battell hee hath wonne liueth afterwardes notwithstanding by the Fame of his noble attempt And this proceedeth not only of the valiant deeds of Arms he was seene doe but also for that wee read of him in worthy Authors which haue written thereof Wee may well say therefore touching this matter that as well may wee take him for a true friend that giueth good counsell as hee which doeth vs great pleasure and seruice For according to the opinion of the good Emperor Marcus Aurelius who who saide to his Secretarie Panutius that a man with one pay may make full satisfaction and recompence of many pleasures and good turns shewed but to requite a good counsell diuers thankes and infinite seruices are requisite If we
see infinite presents brought into his house to be greedy of money and to haue a great train of seruants to wayte vpon them All these are things not onely to make theÌ„ murmur and repine at but also when time and place serueth to condemne and accuse them to the Prince And this were but little to murmur at them and accuse them so that they did not defame them and diminish their honour and reputation For they tell it abroad afterwards eyther that they are corrupted with presents or that they doe robbe and steale from the Prince their master And therefore I returne once againe to admonish them and specially the officer of the Court that they shal not neede neyther is it requisire they make any ostentation of their riches if they be wise at least For besides that euery body will murmur against him they will not spare to bring it to the Princes cares quickly so that by misfortune it might happen to him that the King would doe that with his seruant that the hunter doth oft with his beasts hee taketh that many times he cherisheth him and giueth him meate to eate not to bring him vp but to fat and kill him for his owne eating CHAP. XV. That the fauoured of the Court shoulde not trust too much to their fauour and credite they haue nor to the prosperitie of their life A worthy Chapter full of good doctrine WHat reputation Paul the Apostle had amongest the Christians the like had the great Cato the Iudge among the Romanes who in the progression of his life proceeded so honestly and in the gouernement of the publike weale was so iust that hee deserued that this Epitaph should be written vpon his Pallace gate O Cato great whose euerlasting fame Amidst the earth still liues with honour due Was neuer none could thee oppresse with shame For iudgement wrong whereby the guiltlesse rule Was nere none durst presse to thee with suites Or fill thy hands with bribes or flatter thee Whereby thou shouldest not shew the worthy fruits Of iustice zeale as Iudges all should bee Among all the noble and renowmed Romanes hee onely would neuer suffer statue or Image of his to bee set vp in the high Capitoll Whereat diuers maruelling and imagining diuersly what was his meaning hee beeing one day in the Senate sayde to them these words openly I will they shall seeke the good workes I haue done by which I did deserue that my Image should be erected in the Capitoll then to giue theÌ„ cause to goe search and enquire what linage I was of what was my life with intent to pull downe my Image For it happeneth many times that those whom inconstant fortune from a low estate hath raysed vp to high degree and steppe of honour doe become afterwardes by the same occasion rather defamed then praysed for there are many that are reuerenced honoured openly by reason of theyr honour and dignity they haue at this present of whom they make a iesting stocke afterwards when they see them fall Lucan sayeth that Pompeius would say many times when he would speake of these worldly things My friends I can tell you a true thing whereby you may know the little occasion wee haue to trust humane felicities Example you may see in mee which attained to the Romane Empire without any hope I had euer to come vnto it and afterwards also not mistrusting any thing euen suddenlie it was taken from mee and I depriued of it Lucius Seneca beeing banished from Rome wrote a letter to his mother Albuina in which hee did both comfort her and himselfe and wrotte thus O my deare mother Albuina I neuer in all my life beleeued or trusted vnstabel Fortune although there haue bin many peaces and leagues made betwixt her and our house for if at a time the trayteresse consented that for a space I should bee quiet and at rest shee did it not of good will shee had to leaue to pursue me but for to giue me a more cloaked seuerity For when shee seeth wee thinke our selues assured then with al her force and fury shee giueth vs the assault as if shee came to assault the Enemies Campe And I tell thee further yet good mother that all the good shee wrought in mee and the honour shee heaped on mee and all the faculties and aboundance of riches she broght to my house hee tolde mee shee gaue them freely but I alwayes aunswered her I did accept in way of imprest not of gift Her promises therefore shee offered mee the honour she layd vpon mee and the riches she gaue me shee layde them vp in such a corner of my house that either by day or by night she might at her pleasur when shee would take them all from mee without that shee should trouble at all therefore my iudgement or that shee should sorrow my heart a whit And because thou shouldest know how I did esteeme of fortune I tell thee that I euer thought it good neuer to let any thing come within me â—or into my heart but only neere vnto me and so I was contented to esteeme it and to keepe it vnder good safety â—â—â— not that I therefore applyed and gaue all my affection and minde vnto it I was glad to haue fortune my friend but if I lost her I was neuer sorry for her Finally I conclude that when she came to assault mee and to robbe my house she might well conuay all that was to put in the Arke but not that shee could euer carry away the least sigh of my heart They say that K. Philip father of Alexander the Great beeing aduertised of three great victories hapned in sundry places to his Army kneeled down on both his knees and holding vp his hands to the heauens sayd O cruel fortune O merciful gods I beseech you most humbly that after so great a glory and victory as this you haue hitherto giuen mee you will moderate your correction and punishment which after this I looke for that you will graunt mee that you punish me with pity and not with vtter destruction and ruine And yet he added this furder to his words Not without cause I Conjure thee Oh Fortune and doe beseeche you immortall Gods that you wil punish me fauourably but not to vndoe me because I am assured that ouermuch felicitie and prosperitie of this life is no more but a prediction and presage of a great calamitie and an yll insuing happe Truely all the Examples aboue recited are worthie to be noted and to be kept alwayes before the eyes of our mindes sith by them wee come to know that in the prosperitie of this our thrawled life there is litle to hope for and much to be afrayd of It is true wee are very fraile by nature since we are borne fraile we liue fraile and daylie wee fall into a thousand fraylties but yet notwithstanding we are not so frayle but wee may if we will resist vice
he hath fetched in the night Truely I thinke and in my thought I am nothing deceiued that if a prince would declare vnto vs his whole life and that hee would particularly shewe vs euery thing wee would both wonder at that bodie which had so much suffered and also we would be offended with that heart which had so greatly dissembled It is a troublesome thing a dangerous thing and an insolent and proud enterprise for a man to take vpon him with a penne to gouerne the Common-wealth and with a Prince to reason of his life For in deed men are not perswaded to liue well by faire words but by vertuous deedes And therefore not without cause I say that hee is not wise but very arrogant that dare presume vnasked to giue a Prince counsell For princes in many things haue their mindes occupyed and haughtely bent and som of them also are affectionate and whereas wee peraduenture thinke to haue them mercifull wee finde them more angrie and heauie against vs. For counsell doeth more harme then profite if the giuer thereof be not very wise and hee also which receyueth it very pacient I haue not bin a Prince for to know the trauels of Princes nor am as president to counsell Princes and yet I was so bolde to compile this Booke it was not vpon presumption to counsell a Prince so much as by an humble sort to giue mine aduise For to giue counsell I confesse I haue no credite but to giue them aduise it sufficeth mee to bee a subiect What the order is in that I haue taken in this Booke how profitable it is to all men and how vnpleasaunt to no man how wholsom and profound doctrine in it is contayned and how the Historyes bee heerein applyed I will not that my pen doe write but they themselues shall judge which shall read this worke We see it oft come to passe that diuers Bookes doe loose their estimation not for that they are not very good and excellent but because the Authour hath been too presumptuous and vaine-glorious For in mine opinion for a man to praise his owne wrytings much is nothing else but to giue men occasion to speake euill both of him and of his workes Now let no man thinke that I haue written this which is written without great aduisement and examination I doe confesse before the Redeemer of the whole world that I haue consumed so many yeares to seeke what I should write that these two yeares one day hath scarcely escaped me wherein my Pen hath not done his dutie to write or correct in this worke I confesse that I tooke great paines in writing it for of truth it hath been written twice with mine owne hand and thrice with another mans hand I confesse I haue read and searched in diuers and sundrie partes manie good and straunge books to the end I might finde good and pleasaunt doctrine and besides that I trauelled much to set and apply the Hystories to the purpose For it is an vnseemely thing to applie an hystorie without a purpose I had great respect in that I was not so briefe in my wrytings that a man might note mee to bee obscure nor yet in anie thing so long that any man should slaunder mee with too much talke For all the excellencie of Wryting consisteth where many and goodly Sentences are declared in fewest and aptest words For oft times the long stile is loathsome and tedious both to the Hearers and Readers Nero the Emperour was in loue with a Ladie in Rome named Pompeia the which in beautie to his fantasie exceeded all others In the ende partly with intreatie partly with Money and presents he obtained of her that hee desired For in this case of loue where prayers and importunities bee paciently heard resistance doth lacke The inordinate loue that Nero bare to Pompeia proceeded of the yealow haires she had which were of the colour of Amber and in praise of her he compiled diuers and sundry songs in Heroicall-Meeter and with an instrument sang them himselfe in her presence Nero was a sage Prince wise and excellently well learned in the Latine tongue and also a good Musitian yet Plutarch in his book of the jests of noble women to declare the vanitie and lightnes of Nero reciteth this history and describing Pompeia that her bodie was small her fingers long her mouth proper her eyelids thin her nose somwhat sharpe her teeth small her lips red her necke white her fore-head broad and finally her eyes great and rowling her brest large well proportioned What think you would Nero haue done if hee had so affectionately set his fantasie vpon al other her beautiful properties since that for the loue only of her yellow locks he was depriued both of his wisdom also senses For vaine light men loue commonly not that which reason commandeth but that which their appetite desireth The loue of the Emperour increased with folly so much that not onely he counted seuerally al the haires that his louer Pompeia had on her head but also gaue to euery hayre a proper name and in prayse of euery one of them made a song insomuch that this effeminate Prince spent more time in banqueting and playing with his louer Pompeia then he did to reform and amend the faults of the common wealth yea his folly so much surmoūted all reason that he commaunded a combe of golde to bee made and therewith hee himselfe combed her yellow locks And if it chaunced that any one hayre in combing fell off hee by and by caused it to be set in golde offered it vp in the Temple to the Goddesse Iuno For it was an ancient custome among the Romanes that the thinges which they entirely loued whether it were good or euill should bee offered vp to their gods And when it was once knowne that Nero was so in loue with those haires of Pompeia which were of the color of amber all the Ladies endeauoured themselues not onely to make artificially theyr hayre of that colour but also to weare their garments and other attires of the same colour in somuch that both men and women did vse collers of amber brooches and ringes set with amber and all their other iewels were of amber For alwayes it hath beene seene and euer shall be that those things whereunto the Prince is most addicted the people follow and aboue all other couet the same Before this Emperour Nero plaied this light part in Rome the amber stones was had in little estimation after that hee set so much by it there was no precious stone in Rome so much esteemed Yea and furthermore the Marchant gained nothing so much whether it were in golde or silke as he did in the amber stones nor brought any kind of marchandize to Rome more precious or more vendible then that was I do maruell at this vanitie foras-much as the children of the world do loue desire and labour more to
that land so euil tilled so barren cold and little and that they should come and enhabite Italy which was a plaine Country fertile and ample temperate and very rich and that now or neuer they should conquer it And Narsetes therewith not contented but to prouoke his friends the more and make them the more couetous sent them part of euery good thing that was in Italy that is to say light horses rich armour sweet pleasant and daintie fruites fine mettals and may kindes of ointments very odoriserous silkes and Marchandises of many and diuers sorts The Ambassadors arriued in Pannony which now is called Hungarie were honourably receyued and the Lumbardes seeing that there were such and so many goodly things in Italy determined to leaue Pannonia and goe spoyle and conquer Italy although it belonged to Rome and were at that season friends with the Romanes yet notwithstanding they had little respect to this And hereat no man ought to maruell for in that place there is neuer perfect friendship where he that commandeth is constrayned to demaund helpe of others The Lumbards determined for to passe into Italy and at that time there was seene of the Italians visibly in the ayre sundry Armies of fire that one cruellie killed the other Which thing greatly feared the hearts of the people For by this they knew that within a short space much of theyr bloud of their enemies also should be shed for it is an olde ancient custome that when any great matter doth chance to any Realme first the Planets and Elements do declare the same by secret tokens the ingratitude of the Emperour Iustinian against Narsetes his Captaine and the euill words which Sophia spake vnto him were the occasion that the Lumhards inuaded and destroied all Italy which thing valiant Princes ought well to note to keepe themselues from ingratitude towards their seruants who hath done them great seruice For it is a generall rule That the ingratitude of a great benefite maketh the seruants despayre of recempence or of a faithfull jeruant maketh him become a cruell and mortall enemie And let not Princes trust men because they bee natiue of their realms brought vp nourished in their Pallaces and alwayes haue been faithfull in their seruices that therefore they will not of good subiects be turned to euill nor yet of faithfull become disloyall For such imagination is vaine For the Prince that in his doings is vnthankfull cannot keepe nor retaine any honest man long in his seruice One thing the noble Iustintan did with Narsetes whereof all noble and sage Princes ought to beware that is to know hee did not onely giue eare vnto his enemies and beleeued them but also before them he did dishonour him and shame him to his power which thing made him vtterly to despayre For there is nothing that spiteth a man more then to haue before his enemies any iniury or dishonour done vnto him of his superiour The Empresse Sophia therefore deserued great reproach for speaking such dishonest words to Narsetes to send him to thread the needles in that occupation where the damsels wrought For it is the duety of a Noble Princesse to mitigate the yre of Princes when they are angry and not to prouoke thē further to anger Narsetes then alwayes doubting the Empresse Sophia neuer after returned into Naples where shee was but rather came from Naples to Rome a yeare before the Lambards came into Italy where hee receyued all the Sacraments and like a deuout Christian hee dyed His body was carried to Alexandria in a cossin of siluer all set with precious stones and there was buried And a man cannot tell whether the displeasure were greater that all Asia had not to see Narsetes aliue or the pleasure that Sophia had to see him dead For the vnpatient heart especially of a woman hath no rest vntill shee see her enemie dead CHAP. XVII Of a Letter the Emperour Marcus Aurelius sent to the King of Sicilie in which he recordeth the trauels they endured together in their youth and reproueth him of his small reuerence towards the Temples MArcus Aurelius sole Emperour of Rome borne in Mount Celio called the old Tribune wisheth health and long life to thee Gorbin Lord and King of Sicilie As it is the custome of the Romane Emperours the first yeare of my raigne I wrote generally to all the Isle the second yeare I wrote generally vnto thy Court and Pallace and at this present I write more particularlie to thy person And although that Princes haue great Realmes yet they ought not therefore to cease to communicate with their olde friendes Since I tooke my penne to write vnto thee I stayed my hand a great while from writing and it was not for that I was slothfull but because I was ashamed to see all Rome offended with thee I let thee to know most excellent Prince that in this I say I am thy true friend for in my hart I feele thy trouble and so sayd Euripides That which with the heart is loued with the heart is lamented But before I shew thee the cause of my writing I will reduce into thy memory some thinges past of our youth and thereby we shall see what wee were then and what we are now for no man doth so much reioyce of his prosperity present as hee which calleth to mind his miseries past Thou shalt call to mind most excellent Prince that wee two together did learne to reade in Capua and after we studyed a little in Tarentum and from thence wee went to Rhodes where I reade Rhethorike and thou heardest Philosophy And afterwardes in the end of ten yeares wee went to the wars of Pannonia where I gaue my selfe to musicke for the affections of young men are so variable that dayly they would know strange Realmes and change offices And in all those iournies with the force of youth the sweete company with the pleasant communication of Sciences and with a vaine hope wee did dissemble our extreame pouerty which was so great that many times and often we desired not that which many had but that little which to few abounded Doest thou remember that when wee sayled by the gulfe Arpin to goe into Hellespont a long and tempestuous torment came vpon vs wherein we were taken of a Pirate and for our ransome hee made vs row about nine moneths in a Galley whereas I cannot tell which was greater eyther the want of bread or the aboundance of stripes which wee alwayes endured Hast thou forgotten also that in the City of Rhodes when wee were besieged of Bruerdus puissant King of Epirotes for the space of fourteene monethes wee were ten without eating flesh saue onely two cats the one which wee stole and the other which wee bought remember that thou and I beeing in Tarent were desired of our Host to go to the feast of the great Goddesse Dtana into the which Temple none could enter that day but
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
great Carthage who being of the yeares of 81 dyed in the first yeere of the wars of Punica they demaunded this Philosopher what it was that he knew he answered He knew nothing but to speake well They demaunded him againe what hee learned He answered Hee did learne nothing but to speake well Another time they demaunded him what hee taught Hee answered He taught nothing but to speake well Me thinketh that this good Philosopher in fourescore yeares and one said that he learned nothing but to speake well hee knew nothing but to speake well and that he taught nothing but to speake well And truely hee had reason for the thing which most adorneth mans life is the sweet pleasant tongue to speake well what is it to see two men in one counsell the one talking to the other the one of them hath an euill grace in propounding and the other excellent in speaking Of such there are some that in hearing them talke three houres wee would neyther be troubled nor wearied and of the contrary part there are others so tedious and rude in their speech that as soone as men perceiue they beginne to speake they auoyde the place And therefore in mine opinion there is no greater trouble then to hearken one quarter of an houre a rude man to speake and to be contrary there is no greater pleasure then to heare a discreete man though it were a whole weeke The diuine Plato in the Booke of Lawes sayde that there is nothing whereby a man is known more then by the words he speaketh for of the wordes which we heare him speake we iudge his intention eyther to bee good or euil Laertius in the life of the Phylosopher saieth that a young childe borne at Athens was brought vnto Socrates the great phylosopher being in Athens to the ende he should receyue him into his companie and teach him in his Schoole The yong childe was strange and shamefast and durste not speake before his Maister wherefore the Phylosopher Socrates sayd vnto him Speake friend if thou wilt that I know thee This sentence of Socrates was very profound I pray him that shall reade this writing to pause a while thereat For Socrates will not that a man be known by the gesture he hath but by the good or euill wordes which he speaketh Though eloquence and speaking well to euery man is a cause of augmenting their honour and no diminisher of their goods yet without comparison it shineth much more is most necessary in the Pallaces of Princesses and great Lords for men which haue common offices ought of necessity hearken to his naturall Countrimen and also to speake with strangers Speaking therefore most plainely I say that the Prince ought not to trauell onely to haue eloquence for the honour of his person but also it behoueth him for the Common-wealth For as the Prince is but one and is serued of all so it is vnpossible that hee haue so much as will satisfie and content them all And therefore it is necessary that hee requite some with money and that hee content others with good words For the Noble heart loueth better a gentle worde then a reward or gift with the tong of a rude man Plato Liuius Herodotus Vulpicius Eutropius Diorus Plinie and many other innumerable ancient Historiographers doe not cease to prayse the eloquence of Greeke princes and Latines in their workes Oh how blessed were those times when there were sage Princes and discreete Lordes truely they haue reason to exalt them For many haue obtayned and wonne the royall crownes and scepters of the Empire not so much for the great battels they haue conquered nor for the high bloud and generation from whence they are discended as for the wisedome and eloquence which they had Marcus Aurelius was naturall of Rome borne in Mount Celio hee was poore in patrimony and of base lynage little in fauour left and forsakē of his parents and besides all this onely for being vertuous in this life profound in doctrine and of so high eloquence the Emperour Antonius called Pius gaue him his daughter Faustine for wife who being reproued of many because he gaue his daughter to so poore a Philosopher answered I had rather haue a poore Philosopher then a rich foole Pulio in his seuenth booke of the Romaine lawes sayth that in Rome there was a law very well kept and obserued of the Consels by a custom brought in that the Dictators Censor and Emperors of Rome entred into the Senate once in the weeke at the least and in this place they should giue and render account in what state the common wealth remayned O would to God that at this present this Law were so kept and obserued for there is none who doth minister so good iustice as he which thinketh to giue account of his doings They say that Caligula the fourth Emperour of Rome was not onelie deformed infamous and cruell in his life but also was an Idiot in eloquēce and of an euill vtterance in his communication so that hee among all the Romane Princes was constrained to haue others to speake for him in the Senate This wicked man was so vnfortunate that after his cruell and infamous death they drew him throughout Rome and set vpon his graue this Epitaph Caligula lyeth here in endlesse sleepe That stretcht his raigne vpon the Empires head Vnfitte for rule that could such folly heape And fitte for death where vertue so was dead I Cannot tell why Princes do praise themselues to be strong and hardie to bee well disposed to bee runners to iust well and doe not esteeme to be eloquent since it is true that those gifts doe profite them onely for their life but the eloquence profiteth them not onely for to honour their life but also to augment their renowne For wee doe reade that by that many Princes did pacifie great seditions in the common wealth and besides that they deserued immortall memory Suetonius Tranquillus in the first book of Caesars sayth that the aduenturous Iulius Caesar being as yet but 16. yeares of age when there dyed in Rome an aunt of his called Cornelia at her buriall hee made an Oration in the which hee beeing so young shewed maruellous great eloquence which was so accepted that day in al people that in the end euery man iudged him to bee a valiant Romane Captaine And as Appianus declareth they say that Silla spake these words That which I perceyue of this young man Caius Caesar is that in the boldnesse of his tongue he declareth how valiant he ought to bee in his person Let therefore Princes and great Lordes see how much it may profite them to know to speake well and eloquently For wee see no other thing dayly but that a man of base lynage by his eloquence commeth to be exalted and the other which of linage is nobly borne for want of speaking well and being eloquent is the first that discendeth most vilest of all other
The intention whereupon I wrote these things was for no other but to admonish perswade and pray all princes and great Lords that whiles their children are young they should put them to wise and learned men to the end they should teach them not onely how they ought to liue but also how they ought to speake For to persons of estate it is a great infamy to doe or to inuent to doe a thing afterward not to know how to giue a reason thereof Polidorus in the third booke of his Commentaries sayth that when the Lacedemonians were put to flight by the Athenians In rota milina it is called Milina because the battell was in the riuer of Miline the Lacedemonians sent a Philosopher called Heuainus to treate of peace with the Athenians who made such an eloquent Oration to the Senate of Athens that he did nor onely obtaine the Peace which hee desired for his Countrey but for himselfe also hee wan perpetuall renowne At the Philosophers returne the Athenians gaue him a letter which sayd in this sort CHAP. XXVI Of a Letter which the Athenians sent to the Lacedemonians THe Senate people Sages of Athens wisheth health to the persons and peace to the Common wealth of you of the Senate and people of the Lacedemonians Wee take the immortall Gods to recorde that in the last battell we had no lesse displeasure to see you ouercome then on the contrary wee had pleasure to see vs remaine victorious for in the end the daungers and inconueniences of the cruell warres are so great that the euill and danger is certain to them that are vanquished and the profite is doubtfull to them that haue ouercommed We would gladly that that which now yee will yee would haue willed sooner and that which now yee require and demaund that before yee had required and demanded But what shall we doe since it was ordayned to your and our wofull destinies that hee should lose the battell and that wee of your losse can take no profite For it is a rule vnfallible that all that which the Gods haue ordayned no worldly wight can auoyde nor humane power resist Yee demaund that warre may leaue and cease off and that wee take truce for three monethes and that duriyg this time peace and concord may be concluded To this wee make answere That the Senate of Athens hath not accustomed to grant peace afterward for to returne to warre for amongst vs Athenians wee haue an ancient Law that freely wee doe accept the cruell warre and liberally we doe graunt perpetuall peace In our Schooles and Vniuersities we trauell to haue Sages in time of peace for to help vs with their counsels in the time of warre And they doe counsell vs that wee neuer take vpon vs truce vpon suspect condition And indeed they counsell vs well for the fayned and dissembled peace is much more perillous then is the manifest warre The Philosopher Heuxinus your Ambassadour hath spoken to vs so highly and eloquently in this Senate that it seemed to vs very vniust if wee should deny him and gaine-say that hee requireth vs. For it is much more honesty to grant him peace which by sweet and pleasant words doth demaund it then him which by force and sharpe sword doth require it Let the case therefore be that the Senate people and Sages of Athens haue ordained that warre doe cease with the Lacedemonians and that all discordes contentions dissentions and debates doe end and that perpetual peace bee granted vnto them And this thing is done to the end all the world should know that Athens is of such courage with the hardie and so very a friend to the Sages that she knoweth how to punish the foolish Captaines and suffereth to bee commanded and gouerned by sage Phylosophers Yee know right well that all our warre hath not been but onely for the possession of Cities and limits of the riuer Milina Wherefore by this letter wee declare vnto you and by the immortall Gods wee sweare that wee doe renounce vnto you al our right on such condition that you do leaue vs Heuxinus your Ambassadour and Philosopher The great Athens desireth rather a Philosopher for her Schooles then a whole Prouince of your Realmes And do not you other Lacedemonians thinke that that which wee of Athens doe is light or foolish that is to say that wee desire rather one man to rule then to haue a whole Prouince whereby wee may commaund many For this Philosopher shall teach vs to liue well and that land gaue vs occasion to dye euill and sith wee now of your old enemies do become your true friendes we will not onely giue you perpetuall peace but also counsell for to keepe it For the medicine which preserueth health is of greater excellency then is the purgation which healeth the disease Let the counsell therefore bee such that as yee will the young men doe exercise themselues in weapons that so yee doe watch and see that your children in time doe learne good letters For euen as the warre by the cruell sword is followed so likewise by pleasant words peace is obtained Thinke not yee Lacedemonians that without a cause we do perswade you that you put your children to learne when as yet they are but young and tender and that yee doe not suffer them to runne to vices for on the one part wise men shall want to counsell and on the other fooles shall abound to make debate We Atbenians in like manner will not that yee Lacedemonians doe thinke that wee bee friends to bablers For our Father Socrates ordained that the first lesson which should be giuen to the Scholler of the Vniuersity should be that by no meanes hee should speake any word for the space of two yeares for it is vnpossible that any man should be wise in speaking vnlesse he haue patience to be silent Wee thinke if you thinke it good that the Philosopher Heuxinus shall remaine in our Senate and thinke you if wee profite by his presence that yee may bee assuted that others shall not receyue any damage by the counsels hee shall giue vs For in Athens it is an ancient Law that the Senate cannot take vpon them wars but by the Philosophers first it must bee examined whether it be iust or not We write none other thing but that wee beseech the immortall gods that they bee with you and that it please them to continue vs in this perpetuall peace for that onely is perpetuall which by the Gods is confirmed CHAP. XXVII That Nurses which giue sucke to the children of Princes ought to be discreete and sage women THe Pilgrims which trauell through vnknowne Countries and strange mountaines wth great desire to goe forward and not to erre doe not onely aske the way which they haue to goe but also do importune those whom they meete to point them the way with their finger For it is a grieuous thing to trauell doubtfully in feare
the time past Wherin thou being a woman shewest thy selfe more then a woman because the nature of women is to cast their eyes onely in that that is present and to forget that is past They tell me that thou doest occupy thy selfe now in writing of our Country And truely in this case I cannot say but that you haue matter enough to write on For the warres and trauels of our times haue beene such and so great that I had rather reade them in bookes then to see them with my eyes And if it bee so as I suppose it is I beseech thee heartily and by the immortall Gods I coniure thee that in writing the affayres of thy Countrey thou doest vse thy penne discreetely I meane that thou doe not in this case blemish thy writing by putting therein any flattery or lesing For oft times Historiographers in blasing more then truth the giftes of their Countrey cause worthily to be suspected their writing Thou knowest very well how that in the battell past the Rhodians were ouercome and that ours remained victorious Mee thinketh thou shouldst not in this case greatly magnifie extoll or exalt ours because in the end they fought to reuenge their iuiury neyther thou oughtest to blame the Rhodians for they did not fight but in the ayde of Rome I speake this my sister because for to defend their owne women shew themselues Lyons and for to defend the things of another man men shew themselus chickens For in the end hee onely may bee counted strong the which defendeth not his owne house but which dyeth defending his and another mans I will not deny the naturall loue of my Country nor I will not deny but that I loue them that write and speake well thereof but mee thinketh it is not reason that they should disprayse the goodnesse and truth of other Countries nor that they should so highly commend the euill and vilenesse of their owne For there is not in the world this day so barren a realme but may bee commended for something therein nor there is so perfect a nation but in somthings may be reproued Thou canst not deny me but that amōgst thy brethren I am the eldest and thou canst not deny but that amongst all thy Disciples I am the youngest and since that for being thy Disciple I ought to obey thee thou likewise for that I am thy eldest brother oughtest to beleeue me By the faith of a people I doe counsell thee my sister that thou do trauell much to be profound in thy words vpright in thy life and honest of thy person and besides all this true in thy writing For I let thee vnderstand that if the body of the man without the soule is little regarded I sweare vnto thee that the mouth of a man without truth is much lesse esteemed CHAP. XXX The Authour followeth his purpose perswading Princesses and other Ladies to endeauour themselues to be wise as the women were in olde time THis therefore was the letter which Pythagoras sent to his sister Theoclea whereby is shewed the great humility of him and the hie eloquence of her Hierchus the Greeke and Plutarch also in the booke of the gouernement of Princes say that Pythagaras had not onely a sister which was called Theoclea of whom he learned so much Philosophy but also he had a daughter the wisedome and knowledge of whom surmounted her Aunt and was equall to her Father I thinke it no lesse incredible which is spoken of the daughter then that which is spoken of the Aunt which is that those of Athens did reioyce more to heare her speake in her house then for to heare Pythagoras reade in the Schoole And it ought to bee beleeued for the saying of the graue Authours on the one part and by that wee daily see on the other part For in the end it is more pleasure to heare a man tell mery tales hauing grace and comelynes in his words then to heare a graue man speake the truth with a rude and rough tongue I haue found in many writings what they haue spoken of Pythagoras and his Daughter but none telleth her name saue only in an Epistle that Phalaris the Tyrant wrote I found this worde written where hee saith Polychrata that was the Daughter of the Phylosopher Pythagoras was young and exceeding wise more faire then rich and was so much honoured for the puritie of her life and so highly esteemed for her pleasaunt Tongue that the word which shee spake spinning at her Distaffe was more esteemed then the Phylosophie that her Father read in the schoole And he saide more It is so great a pittie to see and heare that women at this present are so dishonest and in their tongues so malicious that I haue greater pleasure in the good renowme of one that is dead then in the infamie of all them which are aliue For a good woman is more worth with her distaffe spinning then a hundred euill Queenes with their royall Scepters reigning By the words which Phalaris said in his letter it seemed that this Daughter of Pythagoras was called Polichrate Pythagoras therefore made manie Commentaryes as well of his owne countrey as of strangers In the end he dyed in Mesopotamia where at the houre of his death hee spake vnto his Daughter Polichrate and saide these wordes I see my Daughter that the houre wherein I must ende my life approcheth The Gods gaue it mee and now they will take it from mee Nature gaue me byrth and now shee giueth me death the Earth gaue me the bodie and now it returneth to ashes The woefull Fatall destenyes gaue mee a little goods mingled with many trauells So that Daughter of al things which I enioyed here in this world I carrie none with mee For hauing all as I had it by the way of borrowing now at my death eache man taketh his owne I die ioyfully not for that I leaue thee rich but for that I leaue thee learned And in token of my tender heart I bequeathe vnto thee all my Bookes wherein thou shalt finde the treasure of all my trauells And I tell thee that that I giue thee is the riches gotten with mine owne sweate and not obtained to the preiudice of another For the loue I beare vnto thee Daughter I pray thee and by the immortall Gods I conjure thee that thou bee such and so good that although I die yet at the least thou mayst keepe my memorie For thou knowest well what Homer sayth speaking of Achilles and Pyrrhus That the good life of the Childe that is aliue keepeth the renowne of the Father which is dead These were the wordes which the Phylosopher spake to his daughter lying in his death bed And thogh perhaps hee spake not these wordes yet at the least this was the effect and meaning As the great Poet Mantuan sayth King Euander was father of the grant Pallas and he was a great friend of king Eneas he vaunted himselfe to
weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the young and little couetousnesse in the old Affro the Historiographer declareth this in the tenth booke De rebus Atheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I did bring in this history but to profite mee of the last word wherein for aunswere hee sayeth that all the profite of the Common wealth consisteth in that there be princes that restraine the auarice of the aged and that there bee Masters to teach the youthfull We see by experience that if the brute beasts were not tyed and the corne and seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man shold neuer gather the fruit when they are ripe I meane the strife and debate will rise continually among the people if the yong men haue not good fathers to correct them and wise masters to teach them Wee cannot deny but though the knife be made of fine steele yet sometimes it hath neede to bee whet and so in like manner the young man during the time of his youth though he doe not deserue it yet from time to time hee ought to bee corrected O Princes and great Lords I know not of whom you take counsell when your sonne is borne to prouide him of a Master and gouernour whom you chuse not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile and euill taught Finally you doe not trust him with your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes and great Lords why doe you not withdraw your children from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite then their hearts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselus doe bring vp princes viciously Let not Princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to finde and chuse a good Master and the Lord which herein doth not employ his diligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shall not pretend ignorance let them beware of that man whose life is suspitious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the pallace of princes the office of Tutorshippe ought not to be giuen as other common offices that is to say by requests or money by priuities or importunities eyther else for recompence of seruices for it followeth not though a man hath beene Ambassadour in strange Realms or captaine of great Armies in warre or that hee hath possessed in the royall pallace Offices of honour or of estimation that therefore he should bee able to teach or bring vp their children For to bee a good Captaine sufficeth onely to be hardy and fortunate but for to bee a Tutour and gouernour of Princes hee ought to be both sage and vertuous CHAP. XXXV Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the Masters he prouided for the other named Comodus MArcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome in the time that hee was married with Faustine onely daughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had onely two sonnes whereof the eldest was named Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these two children the heyre was Comodus who was so wicked in the 13. yeares he gouerned the Empire that hee seemed rather the Disciple of Nero the cruell then to discend by the mothers side from Antonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked child Comodus was so light in speech so dishonest in person and so cruell with his people that oft-times hee being aliue they layed wagers that there was no vertue in him to bee found nor any one vice in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of person and in witte very temperate and the most of all was that by his good conuersation of all hee was beloued For the fayre and vertuous Princes by their beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes and by their good conuersation they winne their hearts The child Verissimus was the hope of the common people and the glory of his aged Father so that the Emperor determined that this child Verissimus should bee heyre of the Empire and that the Prince Commodus should bee dishenherited Wherat no man ought to maruell for it is but iust since the childe dooth not amend his life that the father doe dishenherite him When good will doth want and vicious pleasures abound the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being 52. yeares old by chance this childe Verissimus which was the glory of Rome and the hope of the Father at the gate of Hostia of a sodaine sicknesse dyed The death of whom was as vniuersally lamented as his life of all men was desired It was a pittifull thing to see how wofully the Father tooke the death of his entirely beloued son and no lesse lamentable to beholde how the Senate tooke the death of their Prince being the heyre for the aged Father for sorrow did not go to the Senate and the Senate for a few dayes enclosed themselues in the hie Capitoll And let no man maruell though the death of this young Prince was so taken through Rome for if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewayle and lament his death When a Knight a Gentleman a Squire an Officer or when any of the people dyeth there dyeth but one but when a Prince dyeth which was good for all and that he liued to the profite of all then they ought to make account that all do dye they ought all greatly to lament it for oft times it chanceth that after 2. or 3. good Princes a foule flocke of Tyrants succeede Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperor as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely person though the inward sorrow from the rootes of the heart could not bee plucked yet hee determined to dissemble outwardly to bury his grieues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shewe extreame sorrow vnlesse it be that hee hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good Prince as one that hath his vineyarde frozen wherein was all his hope contented with himselfe with that which remaineth his so deerly beloued sonne being dead and commaunded the Prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his onely heire Iulius Capitolinus which was one of those that wrote of the time of Marcus Aurelius saide vpon this matter that when the Father saw the disordinate frailenesse and lightnes and also the little shame which the prince Comodus his Sonne brought with him the aged man beganne to weepe and shed teares from his eyes And it was because the simplenesse and vertues of his deere beloued Sonne Verissimus came into his minde Although this Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius for the death of
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
prosperous he loseth his goodes and honour and if he perchauce attaine to that he desired peraduenture his desire was to the damage of the Common-Wealth and then hee ought not to desire it For the desire of one should not hurt the profite of all When God our Lord did create Princes for Princes and people accepted them for their Lordes It is to beleeue that the Gods did neuer commaund such things nor the men would euer haue excepted such if they had thought that Princes wold not haue done that they were bound but rather that whereunto they were inclined For if men follow that wherunto their sensuality enclineth them they alwayes erre therfore if they suffer themselus to be gouerned by reasō they are alwayes sure And besides that Princes shold not take vpon thē warres for the burdening of their consciences the mis-spending of theyr goods and the losse of their honour they ought also to remember the duties that they owe to the Common-wealth the which they are bound to keepe in peace and iustice For wee others need not gouernours to search vs enemyes but good Princes which may defend vs from the wicked The diuine Plato in his 4. booke De Legibus sayth that one demaunded him why hee did exalt the Lydians so much and so much dispraise the Lacedemonians c Plato aunswered If I commend the Lydians it is for that they neuer were occupyed but in tylling the Fielde and if I doe reproue here the Lacedemonians it is because they neuer knew nothing else but to conquere realmes And therfore I say that more happy is that realme where men haue their hands with labouring full of blysters then where their arms in fighting are wounded with Swordes These words which Plato spake are very true and would to GOD that in the gates harts of Princes they were written Plinius in an Epistle sayeth that it was a Prouerbe much vsed amongst the Greekes That hee was king which neuer saw king The like may we say that he onely may enioy peace which neuer knewe what warres meant For simple and innocent though a man bee there is none but will iudge him more happy which occupieth his hand kerchiefe to drye the sweate off his browes then he that breaketh it to wipe the bloud off his head The Princes and great Lords which are louers of warres ought to consider that they doe not only hurt in generall all men but also especially the good and the reason is that although they of their owne wills doe abstaine from Battell doe not spoyle doe not rebell nor slay yet it is necessary for them to endure the iniuryes and to suffer their owne losse and damages For none are meete for the warre but those which little esteeme theyr life and much lesse their consciences If the warre were only with the euill against the euill and to the hurte and hinderance of the euill little should they feele which presume to be good But I am sorrie the good are persecuted the good are robbed and the good are slaine For if it were otherwise as I haue saide the euill against the euill we would take little thought both for the vanquishing of the one and much lesse for the destruction of the other I aske nowe what fame what honour what glorie what victorie or what Riches in that warre can be wonne wherin so many good vertuous and wise men are lost There is such penurie of the good in the world and such neede of them in the common-wealth that if it were in our power we with our tears ought to plucke them out of their graues and giue them life and not to leade them into the Warres as to a shambles to be put to death Plinie in one Epistle and Seneca in another say that when they desired a Romaine Captaine that with his armey he should enter into a great danger whereof great honour should ensue vnto him and little profite to the Commonwealth He made answere For nothing would I enter into that daunger if it were not to giue life to a Romane Citizen For I desire rather to goe enuironned with the good in Rome then to goe loaden with treasures into my Countrey Comparing Prince to Prince and law to law and the Christan with the Pagan without comparison the soule of a Christian ought more to be esteemed thē the life of a Romane For the good Romane obserueth it as a law to dye in the warre but the good christian hath the precept to liue in peace Snetonius Tranquillus in the second Booke of Caesars sayeth That among all the Romane Princes there was no Prince so well beloued nor yet in the warres so fortunate as Augustus was And the reason hereof is because that Prince neuer beganne any war vnles by great occasion he was thereunto prouoked O of how manie princes not Ethnicks but Christians we haue heard and read all contrary to this which is that were of such large conscience that they neuer took vpon them any warre that was iust to whom I swear and promise that since the warre which they in this worlde beganne was vniust the punishment which in another they shall haue is most righteous Xerxes King of the Persians being one day at dinner one brought vnto him verie faire and sauourie figges of the prouince of Athens the which beeing set at the table hee sware by the immortall Gods and by the bones of his predecessors that hee would neuer eate figges of his Countrey but of Athens which were the best of all Greece And that which by words of mouth king Xerxes sweare by valiant deedes with force and shield hee accomplished and went forthwith to conquer Grecia for no other cause but for to fill himselfe with the figges of that Countrey so that hee beganne that warre not only as a light prince but also as a vitious man Titus Liuius sayeth that when the French men did taste of the wine of Italy immediately they put them selues in Armes and went to conquer the Country without hauing any other occasion to make warre against them So that the Frenchmen for the licoriousnesse of the pleasant wines lost the deare bloud of their owne hearts King Antigonus dreamed one night that hee saw King Methridates with a Sithe in his hand who like a Mower did cut all Italy And there fell such feare to Antigonus that hee determined to kill King Methridates so that this wicked prince for crediting a light dreame set all the world in an vprore The Lumbardes being in Pannonia heard say that there was in Italy sweet fruits sauourie flesh odorifetous Wines faire Women good Fish little colde and temperate heate the which newes moued them not onely to desire them but also they tooke weapons to goe conquer Italie So that the Lumbardes came not into Italy to reuenge them of their enemies but to bee there more vicious and riotous The Romanes and the Carthagenians were friendes of long time but after they
orders which they haue peruerted Once againe I returne to say vnto thee that I haue not banished them so much for because they were occasion of murthers as to be teachers of all lyes Without comparrison greater is the offence to the gods greater is the damage to the Common-wealth to take away as the loyterers haue done the senses of wise men then that which the murtherers doe to take life from their enemies The end of these Iestes Scoffers Iuglers idle men and those kind of raskalr is alwayes to perswade men that they speake continually in mockeries treat continually in mockeries and to ridde them of their sorrowes and all this is but to deceiue them of their goods In the which case I say and so pleased it the gods that they shoulde content themselues with the goods without robbing vs of our wisedome When Scipio the Affrican had ended the warres of Affricke he went thorow Rome accompanied not with valiant Captaines but with the Players Iesters and Iuglers The which a Philosopher seeing sayde vnto him these words O Scipio according to the much they haue talked of thee and the little I see in thee it had beene better thou hadst dyed in Affricke then to come to Rome for thy high Acts in thy absence did astonish vs and thy lightnes in thy presence doth offend vs. To thee it is great infamie and to the sacred Senate little honesty that thou hauing conquered so mighty Princes in Affricke shouldst goe accompanied with fooles and mad men in Rome I let thee to vnderstand that thy Life had not then so much perill among thy enemies as thy honour hath at this present among fooles These words were very good although they were euill receyued of humane malice for by reason of these words the poore aged Philosopher was banished by the friends of Scipio out of Iraly and sent to the Isle of Helespont CHAP. XLVII The Emperour endeth his Letter and sheweth the cause and time why and when these Iesters and Iuglers were admitted into Rome AFter that these Loyterers vagabonds shall land in thy Isle thou shalt let them goe at liberty and shalt take none of their goods but thou shalt aduertise them that they be not so hardy to exercise their craftes nor feates For if they doe the contrary thou mayest make them lose their life in thy Isle which I haue conditionally pardoned here in Rome One thing I commaund thee and I beseech thee forget it not that is to say that thou compell them to labour and that in no meanes thou suffer them to bee idle For idlenes is the mother of all vices in the person and the causer of all slanders which arise in the common wealth Since wee knowe not but to labour and the loyterers knowe not but to loyter I would say that with more reason they might say that we were not sage then wee might say that they are fooles For wrongfully are they called fooles which by craft eate the sweat of others seeing the little regarde wee haue to these Loyterers and considering how much we presume by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee Lambert that with greater reason they should mocke our workes then wee others should laugh at their words for they profite more with our goods then we doe of their folly In the 251. of the foundation of Rome a sore plague came into Italy The which being ended they determined to tell not the thousands of men that were dead but the small number of those which remained aliue Rome afterwards being so solitarie and Italy so desolate onely to reioyce the people and to the end the Cities should not remaine vnhabited the first Theaters were inuented and then first were these players receyued For vntill that time the Romans knew no other thing but to offer sacrifice to their gods in the temples and to fight against their enemies in the fields O lamentable thing to heare that this plague lasted onely 24. monethes and the rage and folly of these players and idle men hath endured more then 53. yeares Would to the immortall gods that the plague had ended those few which remaine before this cursed generatiō had broght so abominable customes into Rome For much better had it beene for our mother Rome that she had wanted inhabiters then such raskals should haue come and dwelled therein I know Lambert that those persons doe greatly complaine of mee that the complaints which they do in the beginning shall not haue an ende there but I care not much for the complaints of the euil which do serue for no other thing but to reproue the Iustices which are ministred vnto thē by the good The Princes in that they command and the Iudges in that they execute ought not much to esteeme the complaints of all those which say they haue wrong Prouided that the cause bee iustified and that vnder the colour of iustice they do not wrong in deed In the flatteries which they tell vs concerning our glory and in the slanders which they speake of vs concerning our reproach wise men ought well to note the nature of the person which speaketh it whether that bee true which hee speaketh and what moueth him to tell it For as it is a shame for to bee rebuked of a man which is honest so it is no small infamie to be praysed of those which are euill Since the time I was borne I neuer saw any thing lesse profitable in the commonwealth nor more vaine neither worse inuentions nor colder recreations then these are which these iesters plaiers and iuglers doe inuent What thing can bee more monstrous then to see the folly of a foole bring diuers wise men out of their wits What greater mockerie can there be then that all doe thinke that the iests of a foole ought to bee reioyced at with the laughter of the Sage What greater slaunder can there be then that in the offices of the noble and worthy Romans the gates should alwayes be open for fooles and the wise men should finde them alwayes shut What greater cruelty can there be in Rome then that the Senators rich men giue more to a Player for a song which he singeth in one houre then they do to the seruants for seruing them a whole yeare what greater theft can there be then this that the Garrisons which are in Illyria want and Players Iesters Iuglers Flatterers and Loyterers in Rome haue too much What greater shame can Rome receyue then this when it shall bee sayde in time to come that Iuglers Players Parasites Iesters and Flatterers haue wonne more with their iugling playing iesting and flattering then diuers Captaines with their weapons and triumphes Beholde therefore Lambert what difference there is betweene Captames and Loyrerets For when the one went through Rome sowing their follyes from gate to gate the others went from realm to realme consuming their goods aduenturing their liues fighting against the
their trauell and with a good will it should be granted for the gods vse for a little seruice to giue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expences they demaunded no other reward but that it would please him to giue them the best thing that might bee giuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profite saying That the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedome to chuse the good The god Apollo answered that he was contented to pay them their seruice which they had done and for to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dined suddenly at the gates of the temple fel down dead so that the reward of their trauel was to plucke them out of their miserie The reason to declare these two examples is to the ende that all mortall men may knowe that there is nothing so good in this worlde as to haue an ende of this life and though to lose it there be no sauour yet at the least there is profite For wee would reproue a traueller of great foolishnes if sweating by the way he would sing and after at his iourneyes ende hee should beginne to weepe Is not hee simple which is sorry for that hee is come into the Hauen is not hee simple that giueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victorie Is not he stubborne which is in great distresse and is angry to be succoured Therefore more foolish simple and stubborn is hee which trauelleth to dye and is loath to meete with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure Hauen the whole victorie the flesh without bones Fish without scales and corne without slrawe Finally after death wee haue nothing to bewayle and much lesse to desire In the time of Adrian the Emperour a Phylosopher called Secundus being meruellously learned made an oration at the funerall of a Noble Romaine Matrone a Kins-woman of the Emperours who spake exceedingly much euill of life and maruellous much good of death And when the Emp demanded him what death was The phylosopher aunswered thus Death is an eternall sleepe a dissolution of the bodie a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inhetitable a pilgrimage vncertaine a Theefe of men a kinde of sleeping a shadow of life a separation of the liuing a companie of the dead a resolution of all trauels and the end of all ydle desires Finally Death is the scourge of all euill and the chiefe reward of the good Truely this Phylosopher spake very well and hee should not doe euill which profoundly would consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an Epistle declareth of a Phylosopher whose name was Bessus to whom when they demanded what euill a man can haue in Death since men feare it so much Hee aunswered If any damage or feare is in him who dyeth it is not for the feare of death but for the vice of him which dyeth Wee may agree to that the Phylosopher saide that euen as the deafe cannot iudge harmony nor the blind colours so likewise they cannot say euill of death especially he which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complaine of Death and of these fewe that liue all complaine of life If any of the dead returned hither to speak vvith the liuing and as they haue proued it so they vvould tell vs. If there were any harme in secrete death it were reason to haue some feare of death But though a man that neuer saw heard felt nor tasted death doeth speake euill of Death should wee therefore feare Death Those ought to haue done some euill in their life which doe feare speake euill of death For in the last houre in the streight iudgement the good shal be known the euill discouered There is no Prince nor Knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke lucky nor vnluckie which I see with their vocations to be contented saue onely the dead which in theyr graues are in peace rest and are neither couetous proud negligent vain ambicious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therein to bee euill contented And since therefore those which are poore â—oe seek the meanes wherwith to endch themselues those which are sad rio seeke wherby to reioyce and those which are sicke to seeke to be healed why is it that those which haue such feare of Death doe seeke remedie against that feare In this case I would say that he which will not feare to die let him vse himself well to liue For the guyltles taketh away feare from death The diuine Plato demaunded Socrates how hee behaued himselfe in life and how he would behaue himselfe in death He answered I let thee know that in youth I haue trauelled to liue well and in age I haue studyed to die well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shall be ioyfull And although I haue had sorrow to liue I am sure I shall haue no paine to dye Truely these wordes are worthie of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruellously when the swear of theyr trauell is not rewarded when they are faithful and their rewards aunswereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their Friends become vnthankefull to them when they are worthy honour and that they preferre them to honorable room and office For the noble and valiant harts doe not esteeme to loose the rewarde of their labour but thinke much vnkindenesse when a man doeth not acknowledge theyr trauells Oh happie are they that dye For without inconuenience and without paine euery man is in his graue For in this Tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place we merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall be iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpright that giueth reward by weight and paine by measure but that somtimes they chasten the innocent absolue the guiltie they vexe the faultlesse and they dissemble with the culpable For little auaileth it the playntife to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that should minister it Truely it is not so in Death but all ought to account themselues happie For he which shall haue good iustice shall bee sure on his parte to haue the sentence When great Cato was Censor in Rome a famous Romaine dyed who shewed at his death a maruellous courage and when the Romains praised him for that hee had so great vertue and for the words he had spoken Cato the Censor laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And he being demanded the cause of his laughter annswered Yee maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that yee maruell For the perills
those that contrary your opinion Be not proud and seuere vnto those you doe commaund neyther doe any thing without good aduisement and consideration For albeit in Princes Courts euery man doth admire and beholde the excellencie and worthines of the person yet are those alwayes that are most in fauour of the Prince more noted regarded and sooner accused then others 10 If you will not erre in the counselles you shall giue nor fayle in those things you shall enterprise Embrace those that tell you the truth and reiect and hate those whom you know to be Flatterers and dissemblers For you should rather desire to bee admonished of the thing present then to be counselled after the dammage receyued Although wee suppose assuredly that all these things aboue-written are not likely to happen nor yet come euen so to passe as I haue spoken yet if it may please you Syr to remember they are not therefore impossible For spitefull Fortune permitteth oftentimes that the Sayles which in stormie weather the Lightnings and boystrous Tempests could not breake and teare in piecâ—â— are afterwardes vpon a sudden euen in the sweete of the mornings sleepe each man taking his rest leauing the Seas before in quiet calme all to shiuered and torne a sunder He that meaneth to giue another a blowe also the more he draweth backe his arme with greater force hee striketh And euen so neyther more nor lesse sayeth Fortune with those on whom for a time shee smyleth For the longer a man remayneth in her loue and fauor the more cruell and bitter she sheweth herselfe to him in the ende And therefore I would aduise euery wise and Sage person that when Fortune seemeth best of all to fauour him and to doe most for him that then hee should stand most in feare of her and least of all to trust her deceits Therefore Syr nake no small account of this my Booke little though it bee For you know that doubtlesse as experience teacheth vs of greater price and value is a little sparke of a Dyamond then a greater ballast It forceth little that the Booke bee of small or great volume sith the excellencie thereof consisteth not in the number of leaues more or lesse but only in the good and graue sentences that are amply written therein For euery Authour that writeth to make his booke of great price and shew ought to be briefe in his words and sweete and pleasaunt in his matter hee treateth of the better to satisfie the minde of the Reader and also not to growe tedious to the hearer And Syr I speake not without cause that you should not a little esteeme this smal treatise of mine since you are most assured that with time all your things shall haue ende your Friendes shall leaue you your goods shall bee diuided your selfe shall dye your fauour and credit shall diminish and those that succeede you shall forget you you not knowing to whome your Goods and Patrimonie shall come and aboue all you shall not knowe what conditions your heyres and children shall be of But for this I wryte in your royall Historic and Chronicle of your laudable vertues and perfections and for that also I serue you as I doe with this my present worke the memorie of you shall remaine eternized to your Successors for euer Chilo the Phylosopher beeing demanded whether there were anything in the world that Fortune had not power to bring to nought aunswered in this sort Two things only there are which neither Time can consume nor Fortune destroy And that is the renowne of man written in bookes and the veritie that is hidden For though truth for a time lye interred yet it resurgeth againe and receiueth life appearing manifestly to all And euen so in like case the vertues we find written of a man doe cause vs at this present to haue him in as great veneration as those had in his time that best knewe him Reade therefore Syr at times I beseech you these writings of mine albeit I feare me you can scant borrow a moment of Time with leysure once to looke vpon it beeing as I knowe you are alwayes occupyed in affayres of great importance wherin me thinketh you should not so surcharge your selfe but that you might for your commodity and recreation of your spirits reserue some priuate houres to your selfe For sage and wise men should so burden themselues with care of others toyle that they shold not spend one houre of the day at the least at their pleasure to looke on their estate and condition As recounteth Suetonius Tranquillus of Iulius Caesar who notwithstanding his quotidian warres he had neuer let slip one day but that he reade or wrote some thing So that being in his Pauillion in the Campe in the one hand hee held his lance to assault his enemie and in the other the penne he wrote withall with which he wrote his worthy CoÌ„mentaries The resonable man therfore calling to mind the straight account that he must render of himselfe and of the time he hath lost shall alwayes be more carefull that hee lose not his time then he shall be to keepe his treasure For the well imployed time is a meane and helpe to his sal saluation and the euill gotten good a cause of his eternall damnation Moreouer yet what toyle and trauell is it to the body of the man and how much more perill to the liuing soule when hee consumeth his whole dayes and life in worldly broyles and yet seely man hee cannot absent himselfe from that vile drudgery til death doth summon him to yeelde vp his account of his life and doings And now to conclude my Prologue I say this booke is diuided into two parts that is to say in the first tenne Chapters is declared how the new-come Courtier shall behaue himselfe in the Princes Court to winne fauour and credit with the Prince and the surplus of the work treateth when hee hath atchieued to his Princes fauour and acquired the credite of a worthy Courtier how he shall then continue the same to his further aduancement And I doubt not but that the Lords and Gentlemen of Court will take pleasure to reade it and namely such as are Princes familiars and beloued of Court shall most of all reape profite thereby putting the good lessons and aduertisements they finde heretofore written in execution For to the young Courtiers it sheweth them what they haue to do and putteth in remembrance also the olde fauoured Courtyer liuing in his princes grace of that he hath to be circumspect of And finally I conclude Syr that of all the Treasures riches gifts fauours prosperities pleasures seruices greatnesse and power that you haue and possesse in this mortall and transitorie life and by the Faith of a true Christian I sweare vnto you also that you shal carrie no more with you then that onely Time which you haue well and vertuously employed during this your Pilgrimage THE ARGVMENT OF THE BOOKE
passioned in casting his seruice in the Princes teeth saying All others haue been recompenced saue onely him whom the Prince hath cleane forgotten For Princes will not that wee onely serue them but that we also at their willes and pleasures tarry for recompence and not to haue it when wee gape or are importune for it Howbeit it is lawfull notwithstanding humbly and lowly without choler or passion to put the Prince in remembrance of all that wee haue done for him and of the long time we haue spent in seruing him Also the curious Courtier shall not shew himselfe to dislike at all of the Prince neyther by heaping of many words to induce him to hear him with the better good will For mens hearts are so prone to ill that for one onely vnpleasant or ouerthwart word spoken to them they lightly forget a thousand seruices done them Socrates being one day demanded what hee thought of the Princes of Greece answered There is no other difference betweene the names and propeties of the gods that of princes but that the gods were immortall and these mortall For these mortall princes vse in a manner the like authoritie heere in earth that the Gods immortall do in Heauen aboue Saying further also that I alwaies was am and will bee of that minde that my mother Greece remain a common weale But since it is determined to bee gouerned by princely Monarchy I wish them in al and for al to acknowledge their obedience and allegiance to their King and Soueraigne For when they would otherwise vse it they may bee assured they shall not onely goe against mortal Princes but also against the eternall God Suetonius Tranqutllus sayth that Titus the Emperour being aduertised that the Consuls would kill him and vsurpe his Empire aunswered thus wisely Euen as without the diuine will and prouidence I could neuer haue possessed the Emperiall Crowne so without their permission sufferāce it lyeth in no mans power to depraue mee of it For to vs men it pertayneth onely to keepe the Emperiall iurisdiction and to the gods alone to giue and defend it Which wee haue spoken to the end no man presume to be reuenged of his Prince neyther in word nor deede for to speake ill of him wee should rather purchase vs their high indignation and displeasure then procure vs any cause or suggestion to be reuenged of him Let the good Courtier bee also aduised that in talking with the Prince he bee not too obstinate to contende with the Prince or any other in the Princes presence For this name of arrogant and selfe willed becommeth not the person of a wise Courtier For we know that in sport and argument euery man desireth to ouercome how trifling soeuer the matter bee And therefore wee reade in the Life of the Emperour Seuerus that Publius the Consull iested one day with Fabritius his Companion and tolde him he was in loue Whom Fabritius answered I do doe confesse it is a fault to bee in loue but yet it is a greater faulte for thee to bee so obstinate as thou art for loue proceedeth of wit and discretion but obstinacy commeth of folly and great ignorance If perchance the King aske the Courtiers opinion in those matters they discoursed if he know his opinion to agree with the Princes Let him therfore tell it him hardly but if it be contrary let him holde his peace not contend against him framing som honest excuse to conceale his opinion But if perhaps the King were obstinate and bent to his opinion in any thing and that through his selfe will and obstinacie he would do any thing vnreasonable or preiudiciall to his Common-wealth and that great detriment might come thereby yet for all this in such case the Beloued Courtier should not at that instant be too plain with him to let him vnderstand his error neyther yet should hee suffer him altogether to passe his way vntouched but in some fine manner and proper words as may become the place best to giue him to vnderstand the truth But to vse it with more discretion hee shall not need before them all to open his whole mind but to keepe his opinion secret expecting a more apter time when the King shall be apart in his Priuie Chamber and then franckely to tell him his whole minde with all humility and reuerence and to shew him the plaine truth without keeping any one thing from his knowledge For otherwise in telling the King openly he should make him ashamed and in dissembling his faulte also priuily he should not be admonished of his error committed Now therefore let our conclusion bee that the Courtier that proceeds in his matters rather with opinion obstinacy then discretion and iudgement shall neuer be in fauour with the Prince nor yet beloued in the Court For it is as necessary for the Courtier that will seeke the fauour of the Prince and loue of the Court to impose his tongue to silence as it is to dispose his body to all manner of seruice I know there are some such rash vndiscreet and arrogant fooles that as much do boast and reioyce to haue spoken vndiscreetly to the King and without respect of his princely Maiesty as if they had done some maruellous thankefull seruice with whome truely no man ought to be greatly offended for such fond bosts and vants as they make and much lesse also with that that happens to them afterward The Courtier also must bee well aduised that albeit the king for his pleasure doe priuilie play with his handes or iest with his tongue with the Courtier and that he take great pleasure in it yet that he in no case presume to doe the like yea thoogh hee were assured the Kings Maiesty would take it well but let him modestly behaue himselfe and shew by his words and countenance that hee thinketh the Prince doth honour him in pleasing his Maiesty to vse those pastimes and pleasant deuises with so vnworthy a person as he is For the Prince may lawfully play and sport himselfe with his Lordes and Gentlemen but so may not they againe with him For so doing they might be counted very fond and light With a mans companions and coequals it is lawfull fot euery man to bee merry and playe with all But with the Prince let no man so hardy once presume further more then to serue honour and obey him So that the wise Courtier must endeauour himselfe alwayes to come in fauour by his wisedome and courtly behauiour in mattsrs of weight and importance and by great modesty and grauity in thinges of sport and pastime Therefore Plutarch in his Apothegmes sayth That Alcibiades amongst the Greekes a worthy Captaine and a man of his owne Nature disposed to much mirth pleasure being asked once by some of his familiar friends why he neuer laughed in Theaters Banquets and other cōmon playes where hee was aunswered them thus Where others eate I faste where others
worthy person Albeit the Courtyer be come of a Noble house and that he be yong of yeares rich and wealthie yet would I like better hee should vse rather a certain mean and measure in his apparell wearing that that is comely and Gentlemanlike then others of most coste and worship For like as they would count him a foole for wearing that he could not pay for so they likewise would thinke him simple if hee ware not that that become him and that he might easily come by His apparrell should be agreeable with his yeares that is to say on the holy dayes some more richer and brauer then on the worke dayes and in the Winter of the hotest furres in the summer light garments of sattin and damaske and to ride with some others of lesser price and more durable For as the wisdome of man is knowne by his speaking so is his discretion decerned by his apparrell Let not the poore Courtier study to weare or deuise any new or strange fashioned garment for if he be of that humour he shall quickly vndoe himselfe and giue others occasion also to follow his light and vaine inuention There are now a dayes found out so many strange wayes to dresse meate and so many fashions and patterns of apparrell that now they haue vniuersities of Taylers and Cookes What more greater vanity and lightnes can there be then this that they will not suffer the mothers gowns to be made fit for their daughters saying that they are olde and out of fashion and that they vse now a new kinde of apparrell and attire farre from the old manner And notwithstanding those gownes bee it a manner new good whole cleane rich and well made without weme yet their daughters must needes haue new gownes at their marriage So that we may aptly say that a new folly seekes alwayes a new gowne namely when they are light persons without wit and discretion And I pray you is it not a goodly sight in the Court to see a foolish Courtier weare a demy cappe scant to couer the crowne of his heade to haue his beard merquizotted a payre of perfumed gloues on his hands his shooes cut after the best fashion a little curted cappe his Hose fayre pulled out his doublet sleeues brauely cut and pinct his rapier his dagger guilded by his side and then on the other side the pestilence of penny he hath in his purse to blesse him with and besides he is deepe in the Marchants booke for all those things hee hath taken vp of credit of him Their nagges foote clothes would not be so litle and narrow that should seeme a Fryers hood neyther so great large as the foot cloths of Bishops moyles Also the Courtier must see that his footcloth be good and whole cleane and without spot not tattered and seame rent This we speake because there are some miserable Courtiers that haue their footclothes threed bare broken and seeme rent foule and durty narrow and all digged full of holes with spurres And therefore no man deserueth to be called a right Courtier vnlesse hee he fine and neate in his apparrell hee weareth and also courteous and ciuill in his words and entertainement And yet touching the rest of the furniture of their horse or gelding their harnesse and trappes must bee kept blacke and cleane and they must looke that the reines of the bridle bee not brokeÌ„ nor vnsowed which I speak not without cause for there are a number of Courtiers that at Primero will not sticke to set vp a iest of a 100. or 200. crowns and yet will think much to giue their poore horsekeepers 12. pence to buy them a payre of reynes And truly the Courtier in my iudgement that is content to tye his horse with vntagged points to see his fire smoke when hee should warme them to ride with broken reines and to cut his meate at the table with a rusty knife I would thinke him base borne and rudely brought vp When the Courtier will ride his horse let him looke euer before hee take his backe that he haue all his furniture fitte for him his maine and tayle finely combed his stirroppes bright glistering his stirrops leather strong and his saddle well stuffed and aboue all let him sit vpright in his seate and carry his body euen swaruing of neyther side holding his legges still and keepe his stirrop For this name to bee called Chiuallier signifieth in our tongue a rider of a horse came first because hee could ride and manage his horse well And when he would stirre his legges to spurre his horse let him beware hee stoupe not forwardes with his body and when he doth spurre his horse let him not spurre him low but hie in the flankes and whether he will runne or stand still with his horse let him alwayes haue his eye vpon the reines that in no case the raines goe out of his hand And in giuing his horse a carere let him not writhe with his body nor bee too busie in beating or spurring his horse oft For in his carere to know when to spurre him when to giue him head or to pull him backe againe and to stoppe him I haue seene many take it vpon them but few indeed that euer were skilfull coulde do it well Now the Courtier being mounted on horse or moyle without his rapier by his side seemeth rather a Physitian that goeth to visite his sicke patients then a Gentleman of the Court that for his pleasure and disport rideth abroad throgh the streets and if he were by chance intreated by some noble man to accoÌ„pany him or to ride behind him throgh the streets euery honest Courtier ought not only to doe it but vnasked to be ready to offer himselfe to waite vpon him and â—o goe with him willingly And let the fine Courtier beware that in giuing his hand to a Gentlewoman hee be not gloued and if she bee a horsebacke that hee talke with her bare headed to doe her the more honour and if shee ride behinde him they chance to discourse together let him neuer looke backe vpon her to behold her for that is a rude manner and a token of ill education And one common courtesie there is among Courtiers that when they are in talke with Ladies and Gentlewomen and entertaining of them they suffer them to do with them what they will to raigne ouer them and to bee ouercommed in argument of them and they holde it good manners to doe them seruice when they haue any occasion offered to serue them And when he shal accompany any Gentlewoman to goe a visitation with her or to talke abroad for their pleasure through the streetes he must ride fayre and softly and if she should happen to keepe him so long in talke till she should alight the good Courtier must beare it courteously make a good countenance as thogh it grieued him nothing sith wee know very well that when
Suiters I say that the Disciples of the famous Philosopher Socrates were not bound to be silent in Athens aboue two yeares but the vnfortunate Suiters were bound to holde their peace ten yeares if their suites did continue so long For albeit the Iudge doe them open iniury yet they may not seeme to complaine but rather say hee thinketh hee hath done him the best iustice in the world And if for his mishap or plague of his offences hee would not so approue and speake them let him bee assured the Iudge will perceiue it by his countenance and afterwardes let him know it by his iudgement Some Suters say they are great Sinners and I say they are Saintes For of the seuen deadly sinnes that are committed onely of three they are but to bee accused for in the other foure although they would they doe not giue him time nor leaue to offend How can the Suiter euer offend in pride since hee must poore man goe from house to house with his cappe in his hand and all humilitie to solicit his cause How can hee euer offend in Auarice sith hee hath not many times a penny in his purse to buy him his dinner nor to pay for the infinite draughts and Copies proceeding out of the Chancerie How can hee offend in sloth and idlenes sith hee consumeth the long nights onely in sighes an complaints and the whole day in trotting and trudging vp and downe How can he offend in Gluttony since he would be content to haue onely to suffice nature and not to desire pies nor breakefasts nor to lay the Table euery day That sinne they most easily and commonly offend in is ire and indeed I neuer saw suter patient and although hee be angry wee may not maruell at it a whit For if euer once in the end of halfe a year he happen to haue any thing that pleaseth him I dare bee bound euery weeke after hee shall not want infinite troubles to torment and vexe him These men also offend much in enuy for indeed there is no man that pleades but is enuious and this proceedeth many times to see an other man by fauour dispatched of his sute that hath not continued onely two moneths in Court a suter and of his that hath continued aboue two yeares since it beganne not a word spoken They offend also in the sinne of backebiting and murmuring against theyr neighbours For they neuer cease complayning of the partiality of the Iudges of the slothfulnesse and timorousnes of his Counsellor that pleads his cause at the barre of the little consideration of the Attorney of the payments of the Notary and of the small curtesies or rather rudenes of the officers of the Iudge So that it may be well sayde that to striue in Law and to murmur are neere kinsfolks together The Egyptians were in times past plagued onely with ten plagues but these miserable and wofull suters are dayly plagued with a thousand torments And the difference betwixt their plague these is that the Egiptians came from the diuine prouidēce and these of our poore suters from the inueution of mans malice And it is not without cause we say that it is mans inuention and not diuine For to frame inditements to giue delayes to the party to alledge actions to deny the demaund to accept the proofe to examine witnesses to take out proces to note the declaration to prolong the cause alledging well or prouing il to refuse the iudge for suspect to make intercession to take out the copy of the plea and to call vpon it againe with a 1500. doubles Surely al these are things that neither God commaundeth in the olde Testament neyther Iesus Christ our Sauiour doth alow in his holy gospel The writings of Egypt although they were to the great losse and detriment of the Seigniory of the Egyptians yet were they neuerthelesse very profitable for the liberty of the Egyptians But the miserable Plaintifes are yet in an other great extremity for notwithstanding the plagues and miseries the poore wretches suffer dayly yet doe they leaue their soules buried in the Courts of Chauncery and cannot notwithstanding haue their goods at Liberty And if the plague of the Egyptians was by riuers of bloud frogs horse flyes death of cattel tempests leprosie Locusts mysts flyes and by the death of the first borne children The plague of the Plaintifes is to serue the Presidents to beare with the Auditors to intreat the Notaries to make much of their Clerks to please the Counsellers to follow their heeles that must open their causes to pray the vsshers to borrow money to goe from house to house to solicite their Atturneyes all these things are easily to tell but very hard to suffer for after they are once proued and tryed by experience they are enough to make a wise man contented rather to lose a peece of his right then to seeke to recouer it by any such extremity For hee may bee well assured that hee shall neuer want faire countenance sugred words and large promises but for good doings it is a maruellous wonder if euer they meet together And therefore before all other things it is necessary hee pray to God for his owne health and preseruation and next to him for the preseruation and long continuance of the Iudge if hee will obtaine his sute Therefore I aduise him that hath not the Iudge for his friend to beware as from the Diuel hee doth not commence any sute before him for to dispatch him the better eyther hee will finde the meanes to make his case very darke or at the least hee will prolong his sute as long as he please It skilleth not much whether the Iudges bee olde or yong men for both with the one and the other the poore plaintife hath enough to doe If they be olde men a man shall trauel long ere he wil heare his cause If they bee young men he shal wait long also ere hee can informe them of the very points of his cause An other great discommodity yet follow these olde Iudges that being euer sickly and of weak nature they neuer haue strength nor time in manner to examine their cases And as those that haue lost now a great peece of their memory onely trusting in forepassed expences they presume to dispatch their suites as lightly without further looking into them or throughly examining them as if they had already aduisedly studyed them And peraduenture their case is of such importance that if they had looked vpon it very well they could scantly haue told what to haue sayd in it And I would not that when any case should be determined and iudgement given vpon my matter that the Iudge should benefite himselfe onely with that hee had seene or read before For although experience bee a great helpe to the Iudge to giue the better iudgment vpon the matter yet notwithstanding he is to study a new to vnderstand the merits of the cause It
then all others and otherwise to fall in disgrace and to make the Prince forget all the good seruice he hath don him his whole life time hee need but the least displeasure and fault he can commit Eusenides was maruellously beloued with Ptolomey who after Fortune had exalted and brought him to honour and that he was grown to great wealth sayde one day to Cuspides the Philosopher these words O my friend Cuspides tell mee I pray thee of thy faith is there any cause in mee to be sadde sith Fortune hath placed me in so great authoritie and honour as she can deuise to doe and that the King Ptolomey my Lorde hath now now no more to giue me he hath already beene so bountifull to me To whom the Philosopher aunswered saying O Eusenides if thou wert a Philosopher as thou art a beloued seruant thou wouldest tell mee an other tale then that thou tellest mee now For although King Ptolomey hath no more to giue mee knowest thou not that spightfull fortune hath power to take away from thee many things For the noble heart feeleth more griefe and displeasure to come downe one stayre or steppe then to clime a hundred Not many dayes after these words passed betweene Cuspides and Eusenides it happened that one day King Ptolomey found Eusenides talking with a Lemman or Curtesan of his which hee loued dearely whereat hee was so much offended that hee made her straight drinke a cuppe of poyson and caused him to bee hanged before his owne gates The Emperour Seuerus had one in so great fauour and credit which was called Plautius and he loued him so extreamely and trusted him so much that he neuer read letter but Plautius must reade it and hee neuer graunted commission or licence to any man but it must passe vnder Plautius Seale neither did hee euer graunt anything but at the request of Plautius nor did make warres or peace without the counsell and aduise of Plautius The matter fell out so that Plautius entring one night into the Emperours Chamber with a priuy coate his ill happe was such that a little of his breast before was open whereby was spyed the male which Bahhian seeing being the Emperours eldest Sonne sayde vnto him these sharpe words Tell me Plautius Doe those that are beloued of Princes vse to come into theyr Bed-Chambers at these howers Armed with yron-coates I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods and so let them preserue me in the succession of the Empyre That since thou commest with yron thou shalt also dye with yron Which presently tooke place For before hee went out of the Chamber they strake off his head The Emperour Commodus that was sonne of the good Emperour Marcus Aurelius had a Seruant called Cleander a wise and graue man olde and very pollitike but withall a little couetous This Cleander was oft times requested of the Praetorian company that is to say of the whole band of souldiers that he would commaund they might be payd their pay due vnto them and to perswade him the better to pay it they shewed him a bill signed from the Emperour to which he answered That the Emperour had nothing to do in the matter For althogh he were lord of Rome yet had he not to deale in the affayres of the Common-weale These discurteous and vnseemely wordes related to the Emperour Comodus and perceyuing the small obedience and respect of duty that Cleander shewed to him hee commaunded forthwith he should be slaine to his great shame and that all his goods should be confiscate Alcimenides was a great renowned King among the Greekes as Plutarch writeth of him and hee fauoured one Pannonius entirely well to whom only hee did not commit his person his trust but also the whole affaires and doings of the common weale and hee might dispose of the goods of the king at his will and pleasure without leaue or licence So that all the Subiects found they had more benefite in seruing of Pannonius then in pleasing of the King Therefore the King and the beloued Pannonius playing at the ball together they came to contend vpon a Chase and the one sayde it was thus the other sayde it was contrary and as they were in this contention the king commaunded presently those of his guarde that in the very place of the Chace where Pannonius denyed they should strike off his head Constantius the Emperour also had one whome hee liked very well and made much of called Hortentius which might well bee counted a Princes darling for hee did not onely rule the affayres of the common weale of the pallace of warres his goods and person of the Emperour but also hee was euer placed aboue all the Ambassadours at his table And when the Emperour went in progresse or any other iourney he euer had him to his bedfellow Thus things being in this state I tell you it happened that one day a Page giuing the Emperour drinke in a glasse the glass by mishappe fell out of the Pages hand and brake in pieces whereat the Emperour was not a little displeased and offended And euen in this euill and vnhappy howre came Hortensius to the king to present him certaine billes to the signe of hasty dispatch which was a very vnapt time chosen and the Emperour yet contented to signe it could neyther the first nor the second time because the penne was ill fauouredly made the inke so thicke that it woulde not write which made the king so angry that euen presently for anger he commaunded that Hortensius head should be strucken off But to the end wee may come to the knowledge of many things in few words I will shew you how Alexander the Great slew in his choller his deere accounted Cratherus and Pirrhus king of the Epirotes Fabatus his Secretary The Emperour Bitillion his greatest friend Cincinnatus Domitian the Emperour Rufus of his Chamber Adrian the Emperour his onely fauoured Ampromae Dâ—cclesian his friende Patritius whom he loued as himselfe and alwayes called him friend and companion Diadumeus Phamphilion his great Treasurer for whose death hee was so sorrowfull that hee would haue made himselfe a way because he caused him to be so cruelly slaine All these aboue named and infinit others also some were Masters some Lordes some kings and som of great authority and fauour about Princes by whose tragicall histories and examples wee may plainely see that they did not onely loose their goods fauor and credit but also vpon very light occasions were put to death by sword Therefore mortall men should put no trust in worldly things sith that of little occasion they become soone great and of much lesse they suddenly fall and come to worse estate then before And therefore king Demetrius asking one day Euripides the Philosopher what hee thought of humane debility and of the shortnesse of this life answered Mee thinkes O king Demetrius that there is nothing certaine in this vnstable life sith all men liuing
greatest troubles or to tearme it better one of the greatest daungers I see the fauoured Courtier in is this that all the Courtiers and in a manner all the Citizens desire to see them out of fauour or dead by some meanes For euery man is of this minde that with the chaunge of things by his fall or death hee hopeth hee shall rise to some better state or happily to catch some part of his offices or liuing An other mischiefe and inconuenience yet happeneth to this fauoured Courtier by haunting other Tables and that is that many times it chanceth vnseemely and vnhonest wordes are let fall at the Table and perhapps quarrell arise vpon it which though hee bee present yet he can neyther remedy nor appease it And because these thinges were done spoken in the presence of the esteemed of the Prince he that spake them hath credit and those that heard it descryed it Yet there is an other disorder that commeth by these feasts that is that he which maketh the feast and biddeth guestes dooth it not for that they are of his acquaintance his kinsfolkes or his faithfull friends nor for that hee is bound and beholding to them but onely to obtaine his desire in his suites that he hath in hand for they are few that seeke to pleasure men but in hope to be greatly recompenced Therefore those that are in fauor and authority about the prince and that accept others bidding sure one of these two things must happen to them Eyther that hee must dispatch his businesse that inuiteth him yea although it be vnreasonable so vniust and damnable that obtayning it both he and the fauoured Courtier goe to the Deuill together for company for the wrong and iniury they haue done to another or on the other side refusing to doe it the Bidder is strucken dead and repenteth his cost bestowed on him Aboue all things I chiefly admonish the Courtiers and Officers of Princes not to sell chaunge nor engage their liberties as they doe the same day they beginne to follow such feasts or to receiue gifts or presents or to linke themselues in straight friendshippe with any or to deale parcially in any cause For by these foresayde occasions they shall oft binde themselues to doe that that shall not bee fit for them besides the losse of their liberty they had before to doe that was most honest and commendable CHAP. XIX That the fauoured of Princes ought not to be dishonest of their tongues nor enuious of their words ANaxagoras the Philosopher disputing one day of the cause why Nature had placed the members of mans body in such order as they are and of the propertie and complexion of euery one of them and to what ende they had beene so orderly placed by Nature each member in his place falling in the end to treat of the tong sayde thus of it You must vnderstand my good Disciples that not without art and great mystery Nature gaue vs two feete two hands two eares and two eyes and yet for all this but one tongue whereby shee shewed vs that in our going feeling smelling hearing and seeing we may bee as long as we will but in speaking wee should be as sparing and scant as could bee Alleadging further That Nature suffered vs to goe open and bare-faced the Eyes the eares the hands the feete and other partes of the bodie bare also excepting the Tongue which shee hath enuironned with jawes and empaled with Teeth and also shut vp with lips which shee did to giue vs to vnderstand that ther is nothing in this present life that hath more neede of Guarde and defence then hath this our vnbrydeled Tongue And therefore sayde Pythachus the phylosopher that a mans Tongue is made like the yron poynt of a Lance but yet that it was more daungerous then that For the poynt of the lance can but hurte the flesh but the Tongue pierceth the heart And surely it was a true saying of this philosopher For I know not that man how vertuous or pacient so euer he be but thinks it lesse hurt the bloudie sword should pierce his flesh then that he should be touched in honour with the venemous poynt of the Serpentine-Tongue For how cruell soeuer the wound be Time doth heale it and maketh it wel againe but defame or infamie neyther late nor neuer can be amended We see men refuse to goe by water for feare of drowning not to come too neer the fire for feare of burning nor to goe to the warres for feare of killing to eate no ill meates for beeing sicke to climbe vp on high for feare of falling to goe in the darke for feare of stumbling to auoyde the yll ayre and raine for feare of rewmes yet I see very few or none that can beware of detractors and ill tongues And that this is true I tell you I doe not thinke that in any thing a man is in such perill and daunger as when he liueth accompanyed with men dishonest in theyr dooings and vile and naught in their tongues I haue also read touching this matter that Aformius the phylosopher being asked what he meant to spend the most part of his time amongst the desart mountaines and in hazard euery houre to be deuoured of wilde beasts Answered thus Wild beasts haue no other weapons to hurt mee but theyr hornes and nayles and theyr Teeth to deuoure mee but men neuer cease to hurte and offend mee with all their whole members And that this is true behold I pray you how they looke at mee with their Eyes spurne mee with their feete torment mee with their hands hate mee with their hearts and defame me with their tongues So that we haue great reason to say That a man liueth with more securitie amongst wilde beasts then amongst malignant and enuious people Plutarch in his booke De exilio sayth That the Lidians had a Law that as they sent the condemned murtherers to rowe in the Galleyes so they confined those that were Detractors and euill tongued men into a secret place farre off from all company the space of halfe a yeare In so much that many times these lewde mates chose rather to rewe in the Galley three yeers then to bee exempt from company and speaking with any but sixe monethes Much like vnto this Law did Tiberius the Emperour make another and condemned a great talker and railer of his tongue and commaunded straightly that he should neuer speake word the space of a whole yeare And as the historic sayth hee remayned dumbe and neuer spake during the whole terme but yet that hee did with his dumbnesse more hurt with nods and signes with his fingers then many other would haue done with their ill tongues By these two examples wee may see that sith these naughty tongues are not to be repressed by silence in secret nor to entreate them as friends nor by doing them good nor by sending them to Galleyes nor to make them holde
their peace and to be as dumbe men By mine aduise I would haue them banished by general counsell out of all Colledges counsels chapters townes and Common-wealthes For wee see dayly by experience that let an apple haue neuer so little a bruise that bruise is inough to rotte him quickly if hee be not eaten in time Demosthenes the Philosopher was of great authority for his person graue in manners and condition and very sententious profound in his words but with these he was so obstinate wilfull and such a talker in all his matters that all Greece quaked for feare of him Whereupon all the Athenians one day assembled in their hall or common house and there they appointed him a great stipend of the goods of the Common wealth telling him that they gaue him this not that he should reade but because hee should holde his peace Also this great and renowmed Cicero that was so valiant and politicke in martiall affayres so great a friend to the Common weale of Rome and moreouer a Prince of Eloquence for the Latine tongue though he was cruelly put to death by Marke Antony it was not for any fact committed against him neyther for any wrong or iniurie hee had done him saue onely for that hee enuyed against him and spake euill of him Also the Noble and famous Poet Salust and famous Orator of Rome was not hated of strangers and not beloued of his owne neighbours for no other cause but for that hee neuer tooke penne in hand to write but hee euer wrote against the one and neuer opened his mouth to speake but hee alwayes spake euill of the other Plutarch touching this matter reciteth in his bookes De Republica that amongst them of Lidia in their publike weale it was holden an inuiolable Law that they should not put a murderer to death for killing of any but that they should onely execute and put him to tortur that would defame his neighbour or in any one Worde seeme to touch him in honour and estimation So that those barbarous Nations thought it more execrable to defame a man then to kill and murther him And therefore I say hee that burneth my house beates my person and robbeth me of my goods must needes doe me great dammage but he that taketh vpon him to touch my honour and reputation with infamy I will say hee offendeth mee much and that so greatlie as he may well stand in feare of his life For there is not so little an offence done to a man of stoute courage but hee carrieth it euer after imprinted in his heart till hee haue reuenged the villany done him euen so in Princes Courts there rise more quarrels and debates through euill tongues and dishonest reports then there dooth for any play or shrewde turnes that are done I know not what reason they haue to strike off his hand that first draweth sword and fauoureth and leaueth him vnpunished that draweth bloud with his il tongue O what a happy good turne were it for the Common weale if as they haue in all Townes and well gouerned policies penall lawes prohibiting for to weare or carry weapon they had like lawes also to punnish detractiue and wicked tongues Surely there can not be so great a blotte or vice in a Noble man Knight or Gentleman of honest behauiour and countenance as to bee counted and reputed a tatler of his tongue and therewithall a detractor of others But let not such deceiue themselues thinking that for their countenance or estates sake they bee priuiledged aboue others at their wills and pleasure to enlarge their tongues on whom they list in such maner but that their inferiours farre will as liberally speake of them yea as much to their reproach as they before had done of them repenting as much of their honesty and credite for their calling beeing in equiualent in estate or degree to them as they doe of their dignity and reputation At that time when I was a Courtier and liued in Princes Court there dyed out of the Court a worthy knight who at his noble funerals was commended of vs al to be a good and deuout Christian and chiefly aboue all his noble and heroicall vertues hee was onely lauded and renowmed for that they neuer heard him speake ill of any man So one of the company that was present hearing this great prayse of him tooke vpon him to say this of him If hee neuer spake ill of any then did hee neuer know what pleasur those haue that speake ill of their enemies Which words when we heard though wee passed them ouer with silence yet was there none but was greatly offended at them and good cause why For to say truly the first degree of malignity is for a man to take a felicity in speaking ill of his neighbour King Darius being at dinner one day there were put foorth of the Waighters and Standers by certain Arguments of the Acts and doings of Alexander the Great in which lispute one Mignus a Captaine of the King and greatly in fauour with him was very earnest against Alexander and went too farre in speech of him But Darius perceiuing him thus passioned sayde to him O Mignus holde thy tongue for I doe not bring thee into the warres with mee that thou shouldest infame Alexander and touch his honour with thy tongue but that thou shouldst with thy sword ouercome him By these examples wee may gather how much wee ought to hate detraction and ill speaking since we see that the very enemies themselues cannot abide to heare their enemies euill spoken off in their presence and this is alwayes obserued of the honourable graue and wise men that are of noble mindes For sure each noble heart disdaineth to bee reuenged of his enemy with his tongue for his iniuries done him if hee cannot be reuenged on him with his sword It is fitting for all in generall to be modest and honest in their speech but much more it is due for him that embraceth the fauour and credite of his Prince For it is his profession to doe good to helpe euery man and to speake ill of no man They haue such Centinels of spies vpon them continually which are officers in Court and about the Prince to marke what they speake and do that treading once awry how little soeuer it bee it is straight blowne into the Princes eares and they perhaps accused of that which they neuer thoght delighting and taking great pleasure to tell openly what they heard them say Such therefore as are dayly Courtiers attending vppon the Prince and in fauour with him must if they meane to continue that fauour and credite be gentle and courteous in their Wordes and bountifull to those that stand in need of them Also the esteemed Courtyer must beware hee doe not speake yll of no man but also that he be not too great a talker For commonly these great talkers besides that they are not esteemed bee also
art esteemed beautifull bee likewise honoured for taking of good councell In this sort though my losse be much and thy patience little yet shall they account me wise in giuing counsell and the most happie to follow it One thing I will say vnto thee and pardon mee therein Women bee much defamed in that they will take no counsell and such as doe assure their renowme so much on the iudgement of others as they condemne well doing before I thinke good if it so like thee and would if thou wilt that thou shouldest doe in all 〈…〉 I haue counselled thee I will say no more Lady Lyuia but that I do present vnto thee all my vnfortunate troubles my sighes as a desperate man my seruice as thy seruant my troubled griefes my wordes of Phylosophie and my teares as a Louer I send thee heere a gyrstle of Gold on condition that thou alwayes sixe thine Eyes on that and thy heart on mee I pray the Gods giue mee to thee and thee to mee Marke the open Phylosopher wrote this in great 〈◊〉 FINIS The heatheÌ„ may teach Christians how to liue 〈…〉 A worthy sentence of Plato A prettie sentence The trees of the earth sheweth the malice of man A good lesson for all persons to follow A comparison necessiry to be respected A Sentence of Paulus Dyaconus The end of warre both fickle vnconstant A speech of Xenophon How daÌ„gerous a thing it is to meddle with Princes affaires The paines that the Authour tooke in this booke The inordinate loue betweene Nero and Pompeia The folly of the Emperour Nero described A commendation of Demosthenes the Philosopher How happy a thing it is to liue vnder a vertuous prince 〈…〉 Diuers Historiographers at controuersie what things were most authentike New things and vnaccustomed ought not to be vsed The prouidence of the Ants. A description of the Alphabet A worthy sentence of Plato 〈…〉 Spayne coÌ„mended for learned meÌ„ expert in the warres The property of this â—ooke of the Dyall of Princes A notable sentence Iulius Caesar A worthy sentence of What was the occasioÌ„ the ancients aduentured their liues How difficult hard a matter it is to attaine to true honour The cruelty of Tyrants heee described layd open A mans owne conscience a iudge betweene truth and lyes A poesie which Cato the Censor had engrauen in his Ring How much Homer was helde in account The commendation of the 〈…〉 of Marcus Aurelius The definition of time according to Archimenedes The saying â—o Plato The opinioÌ„ of Aulus Gellius coÌ„cerning time The reason why this is called the Iron-age For what cause Marcus Aurelius was chosen Emperour The diuersity of mens opinions One ought not rashly to coÌ„demne another mans wryting The time when the Author began to translate the booke of Marcus Aurelius The booke of Marcus Aurelius at the first imprinted without the knowledge of the Authour Marcus Aurelius a Romane born A 〈…〉 to â—l Rome The Epitaph on the graue of Camilla A worthy law among the RomaÌ„s Chaunges of rulers breed florâ— of vices Concerning the Father of Marcus Aurelius The Romanes foure Garrisons Distribution of offices Honourable Armies of the Romans Gbâ—â—uation among the Roman Antiquaries The answere of Phalaris to a Romane Philosopher The triumphes of Marcus Aurelius The Climateriall yeares of mans life The imperfections of young men deserue no publication A most wise and worthy obseruation The heart of a man is seldome satisfied A notable custome in Rome The happines of any Kingdome Cicero in lib de Legibus Idlenes is the badge of all lewdnes The golden and copper dayes of Rome A famous Visitation vsed by the ancient Romanes A towne in the middest of Campania The folly of a Romane Censour The wisedome of a poore Host of Nolo The harme ensuing by euill education of children A Countrey of the lesser Asia neere Phrygia Conference betwixt Marcus and his Master Fiue especial respects among the Romanes Where the Gods are displeased all goodnes decayeth A most diuine and Christian Confession Diuersity of Nations The occasion of the warres betweene the Alleines â—â— Armenians Cicero de natura Deorum â— Notable sentences of Bruxellus The speech of Bruxellus at his death Paul Oros De Mach. Mund. lib. 6 An ancient custome among the Romanes A rule deseruing obseruation Considerations resolued on bâ— the Romans for their owne good The wilfull ignorance and peruersity of the Gentiles Of the great concorde agreement of Noahs Arke The saying of Aristotle Weake is the arine of man to resist against God The mighty Army of Senacherib ouerthrowne The succes of Ioshua ouer Kings and Kingdomes The God of Troy could not resist the Grecian The dignity of the church militant The enmity of nations one against another Variety of opinions concerning the true God Arist in Metaph lib. 12. Mar. Var. in lib mist Theol. Cic. in lib. de nat Deorum Emperours made Gods or Deuils by decree of the Senate Fiue things fitting an Emperour Romaine 〈…〉 goddesse A worthie saying No goodnesse but proceedeth from God All power is in the hand of of God Wherefore Princes should obey God How much men are bound to the Almightie God Hercules de repub Cicero de natura Deorum Pub. Vict. De nuptiis Antiq. Naturall peculiar Gods Plin. ad Rutil Cic de na tu Deorum Couetousnes the root of all euill The iust iudgement of God Good counsell for women Difference betweene a good Prince a Tyrant The speech of Sophia vnto Tiberius Tiberius answere The frailtie of man The saying of Epimenides 〈…〉 The memorable deedes of Tiberius Treasure found by Tiberius A good Lesson Paul Diacon Lib 18. de gestis Roman The false opinion of the Gentils 〈…〉 The outrages of the Gothes A worthy saying approned by Narsetes Buccelinus did many outrages in Italy The inconstancy of Fortune King Synduals Epitaph Ennie a foe to all vertue Narsetes reply The seuere sentence of the Empresse Strange sights seene in the ayre The ingratitude of the Emperour against Narsetes A good obseruation 〈…〉 Marcus Aurelius speech to Gorbon Afflictions incident to all men The miseries of Marcus Aurelius All is worth nothing without the helpe of God The fickle estate or the worlde Difference betweene the good the euill The dâ—â—ty of a good Prince The difference betweene a good prince and a Tyrant Hee that violateth the Temple feareth not God An ancient 〈…〉 The vow of Marcus Camillus The duetie of euery good Captaine The reward of well doing The 〈…〉 into the hands of Pylates The great zeale of the Romains The difference of women in Rome Titus Liuius lib 2. 5. and 9. Difference betweene the true God and the false Princes ought to excell their Subiects What pleasure it is to serue the liuing God What is required in a good Prince Like Prince like people How circumspect Princes ought to be God onely is iust What vertue 〈…〉 to bee in a good prince God the