I assure you and do iudge many tymes with my selfe that for this cause God or the king shew you any fauor bicause you neuer talk with any man with words of fauor worship or curtesie He did so much féele this word that from thence forward he left to say thou and said vnto all men My maisters or by your fauors All men that shal come to talke and haue businesse with your Lordship you ought to vse with mildnesse honour and also fawne on them as euerie man shall deserue and according to their degrées cōmanding the olde men to couer the yong men to rise and some to sit downe For if they delight to serue as vassalles they will not that you intreate them as slaues many vassals wée doe sée euery day rise against their Lords not so much for the tributes they raise on them as for the euil dealings they vse towards them always your Lordship hath to remember that you and they haue one God to honor one King to serue one lawe to kéepe one land to inhabite and one death to fear and if you hold this before your eies you shall speak vnto them as vnto brothers and deale with them as with Christians Aboue all things take greate héede to say at the sodaine to any of your subiects any word that shall staine his kinred or iniurie his person for there is no villain of Saigo so insensible that doth not more féele an iniurious word that is spoken than the chastisement which is giuen and there is a greater euil therin than this that amongst the cōmon and countrey-people all the kinred doth aunswere for the iniurie and the shame to one redoundeth to the despite of the whole whereof it hapneth many times that to be reuenged of a worde the whole people do rise against their lord So in this case take my counsell that if any your subiects shal doe a thing whiche he ought not to do that you determine to chastise him not to vpbrayd or defame him for the chastisement he shal think to procéede of iustice but your vpraiding of malice For any distemperance that may gréeue you or maye happen to anger you Auoyde in any wise to call any man knaue Iew filth or villaine for besides that these woords be rather of tiplers than of Knightes or Gentlemen The Gentleman is bound to be as chast of his spéech as a virgin of hir virginitie for a gentleman to be of a distempred spéeche foule mouthed euill manered loude and foule spoken this maye not procéede of any other occasion but that he is melancholike a coward and feareful For it is notorious vnto all men that vnto the woman it appertaineth to be reuenged with the toung but the knight or Gentleman with his launce The king Demetrius had a certain loue named Lamia whiche when she demaunded Demetrius why he didde not speake and was not merrie he made answere Holde thy peace Lamia and let me alone for I doe as wel my office as thou dost thine for the office of the woman is to spin and prattle and the office of the man is to holde his peace and fight To buffet the boyes of the chamber to pull them by the heare to ioll them against the portall and to spurne with the féete Your Lordship ought not to do it neither consent that it bée done in your presence For in palaces of auctoritie and grauitie to the Lord it appertaineth to manifest his mind and to the stuarde to chastise If your lordship shall commaunde to chastise or to whip any page or seruaunt prouide that it be doone in a place priuie and secrete for it ought to be very strange vnto the Lord or Gentleman that is noble valiant to sée any man wéepe either to heare any complaine The writers of histories do muche prayse the Emperour Octauius Augustus which did neuer consent that any execution shoulde be doone whilest he was within the walles of Rome but for the taking away of any mans lyfe he always went to hunting By the contrarie the Historiographers do much reprehend the Emperour Aurelius who before his owne eyes commaunded his seruants to be whipt and chastised which certaynly he should not haue doone for the clemencie of the Prince oughte to bée such that not only they should not sée the execution neyther yet so much as the person that is executed Your Lordship also hath to beware to aduenture to recoūt newes to compound lies to relate fables and to tell tales For the foolishe man and the tatling tedious Gentleman be brothers children The officers and seruantes of your house you haue to kéepe them corrected warned and also in feare that they rayse no quarels robbe no orchardes spoyle no gardens neither dishonour maried women In such sort that the seruants presume not to doe that whiche theyr Maisters dare not commaunde the yong men and pages that shal attende on you cause them to learne the commandements to praye and fast and to kéepe the Sabbaoth dayes For God wyl neuer deale mercifully with you if you make not greatter accompt that they serue God than your selfe Suche as shall play at cardes or dice for drie money not only chastise them but also dispatch them away for the vice of play may not be susteyned but by stealing or disceyt The pages and yong mē that you shall take into your chamber you haue to make choyse of suche as be wyse honest clenly and secret for babling and foulemouthed boyes they will imbesill your apparell staine your fame Commaunde the Controller of your house that the pages be taught to go clenly to brushe and laye vp their apparel serue at the table put of their cap vse reuerence and to speake with good maner bicause it may not bée named a palace where there wants in the Lorde shamefastnesse and in the seruants good bringing vp To the seruaunt that shall be vertuous and agréeable to your condition trust him with your person let him cōmaund in your house incommend him with your honoure and giue him of your goods vpon suche condition that he presume not to be absolute lord of the common weal for that day that they holde such one in reuerence they shall estéeme you but little If you will enioy seruice and be frée from displeasures you shall giue no man suche rule in your estate that your seruant shall thwart you or your vassal disobey you Also your Lordship is to be aduertized in that as now ye enter of new you attempt not to doe manye newe thinges for euery noueltie doth not more please him that doth institute the same than the accomplishement therof displeaseth hym to whome it is commaunded Lactantius Firmianus doth saye that the common wealth of the Sicienians endured longer than that of the Grekes Aegyptians Lacedemonians and the Romaines bicause in seuen hundreth and fortie yeares they neuer made newe lawes neyther brake their olde Suche as shall counsell you
the Court whervnto I answer that as my aduersaries do follow me and my businesse enlarging I do nothing but vndoe my selfe Likewise you will that I write vnto you in what thing I do imploy the time to this I answere that according to the fashion of vs Courtiers beare euil will blaspheme loyter lye trafike and cursse with more truth we may say of time that we lose it than employe it Also you demaund with whō I am moste conuersant in this Court to this I answer that the Court and the people therof be grapes of so euill a soyle that we that goe in the same and from our childhode be brought vp therein studie not with whome to be conuersant but in discouering of whom to beware with muche payne wée haue tyme to defende vs from oure enimies and will you that wée occupie our selues in séeking newe friendes In the Courtes of Princes I doe confesse there is a conuersation of persons but no confederation of will for here enimitie is holden for naturall and amitie a straunger The Court is of such nature that they that do most visit them the worse they doe entreate them and such as speake beste vnto them the more euill they do wish them They which haunt the Courts of Princes if they will be curious and no fooles shall fynde many things wherat to wonder and muche more whereof to beware Also you demaunde how the difference betwixt the Admirall and the Earle of Myranda standeth to this I answer that the Admirall as one of muche power and the Earle as one in much fauor giues to eche other wherwith to be occupied and to vs sufficient wherat to murmure Sir you demaund what newes we haue of the Emperors comming to this I answer that which we presently vnderstand is that the Turke is retired Florence is alyed the Duke of Milane is reduced the Venetians did amaine the Pope and Caesar did consecrate the Estates of Naples be reparted the Coluna is deade the Marques of Villa Franca is made Viceroy of Naples the Prince of Orange is slayn and vnto the Chanceler and to the Confessor to either of them is giuen a Cardinals hat Other secret news they write from thence which be lamentable to such as be therewith touched and gracious to those that heare therof which is many of those that went into Italie with Caesar are became amorous and in the artes of loue haue raunged too farre But sir in this case I sweare vnto you as it foundeth in myne eares theyr wiues be here sufficientely reuenged of them for if they leaue there any women greate with childe also they shall fynde here theyr wyues brought a bed You will also that I write vnto you howe it goeth wyth vs for vittailes this Lent to this I aunswere that by diuine grace we haue not wanted this lent fishe to eat and also fins ynowe to confesse For the case is come to such dissolution and vnshamfastnesse that the Gentlemen hold it for an estate and aduancement of honour to eate fleshe in Lent. Also you demaund if the Court be deare or good cheape to this I answere that my steward telleth me that from October vnto Aprill it hath cost me in wood and cole an hundreth and fortie Ducates The cause of this is that this same towne of Medina as it is rich in faires so is it poore in moūtaines or woods in suche sorte that the count being wel cast the wood costs as deare as the dressing of the pot Other thinges are in this Court at a good price or to say it better very good cheap that is to wit cruel lies false news vnhonest women fayned friendship continuall enimities doubled malice vaine words and false hopes of whiche eight things we haue suche abundance in this Courte that they may set out bouthes and proclayme faires Sir you demaund of me if there be good expedition of causes for that you haue some to be dispatched to this I doe answere as the things of the court be tedious displeasant long deferred costely intricate vnfortunate desired besieged lamented and bescratched I conceyue of mine own part that if ten be dispatched nintie be despited Also you will mée that I write vnto you if the faire be good thys yeare at Medina To this I answer that as I am a courtyer and a suter and haue neyther marchaundise to sell and muche lesse money wherwith to buy I knowe not whereof to prayse it nor do I fynde why to mislyke it But in passing thorough the faire I sée in the bouthes of these Burgaleses so many riche and pleasaunt things that in beholding them I tooke great pleasure and being not able to buy them I was muche tormented The Empresse came foorth to sée the faire and as a Princesse most wise wold not be accompanied with hir maids of honor bicause the Gentlewomen that did serue hir being so poore and so fewe it coulde be no lesse but that they would vse their libertie in asking fairings and the gentlemen should thinke it their partes to giue them Sir you demaund if the Courte be in health or if the pestilence be thereaboutes to this I aunswere that of agues tertians and quartaines plague sores and such other infirmities of the body we are al in health and verie well excepte the licenciate Alarcon that being relating a proces before the counsell sodainly fell downe dead And of a trouth his death was to many in this Court very terrible although I sée none to amende his lyfe by the same Other infirmities be in this Courte that bée not corporall but spirituall as angers hatred quarels rancours wrath and slaughters the whiche maladies doe consist not that they go with bodies infected but in the swelling of the splene corruption of the gall I haue turned many tymes to reade your letter and haue not founde any more to aunswere For of a suretie it did rather séene an Interrogatorie to take witnesses than a letter to a frend I wil say no more but that I haue escaped in writing vnto you very wearie also angrie not for the answering to the matter but in construing youre ill fauored letter Our Lord be your protector and giue me grace to serue him From Medina del Campo the fift of Iune in the yeare .1532 A letter to sir Antonie of Cneua wherin is expounded an authoritie of holie Scripture very notable which is to wit why God did not heare the Apostle and did heare the diuell against Iob. MAgnificent sir particular beloued Alonso Espinell gaue me a letter from your worship here in Toledo the date whereof was the .12 of May and it is nowe the .16 of Iune in such sort that your letter neyther may by cōdemned for stale either for fresh Many from many partes do write vnto me sometime their letters be suche that to read them it is very tedious and to aunswere them no lesse displeasant To sée a
séeke that whiche we may when we cannot what we desire No more but our Lorde be youre protector and giue me grace to serue him From Valiodolid the xxvj of October .1520 A letter vnto sir Iohn of Moncada in whiche is declared what thing is Ire and how good is patience EXpectable Gentleman and magnificent Knight if it shall séeme vnto you that I aunswer youre Letters with slacknesse impute the fault to Palome your seruant which halteth and the horse whereon hée rideth is lame the way long the winter hard and I also am always in businesse although from the same I haue gathered small profit and as I suspect if this your seruant haue made any tarriance vppon the way in comming hither or hath made small hast in returning thither it hath procéeded of a certayne combat with loue that he hapned to encounter by the way Wherein you may then well thinke how much rather he would accomplishe the loue that he beares in his brest than with your letters that he carieth in his bosome If you will credit me to men inamored you shall neuer commend your busines For his office is not to be occupied in other affayres but in writing letters watching at corners playing on gitterns climing of walles and vewing of windowes As concerning that which you write vnto me in youre letter I shall aunswer you more briefly than your desire and more largely than I may Considering how I goe to the Inquisition to reforme and to the Court too preach and euery day in Caesars Chronicles to write My busines is ouermuch and my time too little By the holy God I do sweare that as many courtiers which be idle in this court I do more enuie the time they loose than the money they possesse But comming to the purpose I do sweare by the law of a friend I haue bene as muche gréeued for your greate mischance and misfortune as if it had bin myne owne cause For as Chilo the Philosopher said the mischances of a friend we must not onely remedy them but also bewayle them Agesisaus the Greek being demanded for what cause he did more lament the heauinesse of his frends than the death of his children made answere I do not bewayle the want of my wife the losse of my goodes or the death of my children for al these are partes of my selfe but I bewayle the death of my frend which is an other my selfe Sir I saye thus muche since I may not be there present to lamente with you neither doe I here finde my selfe of power sufficient to remedie your case I will write some letter to comforte you For sometimes the pen vseth no lesse pitie with the friende than the launce doth crueltie with the enimie to persuade that you shoulde not féele that which reason would you shoulde so muche féele it shuld be iust occasion for me to be worthily noted with want of due consideration and you accused to be insensible That which I dare speak in this matter is that you conceyue therof as a man and dissemble the same as aduised and discrete The iniuries that touche our honour done by suche of whom we may not be reuenged the most sounde counsell is to let it fal since with due vengeance it may not be quited If in these present gréeues you wil take the order of a Christian leaue the way of a worldly knight you shall fixe your eyes not on him that doth persecute you but in God that doth permit the same before whō you shal find your self so faultie that that is little whiche you suffer in respect of that ye deserue to suffer Moreouer ye ought to thinke that tribulations whiche God permitteth be not to lose vs but to proue vs For in the books of God they set downe no man as quited but he that is apte for trauell and amongst those of the worlde they giue wages to none but vnto him that is giuen to wantonnesse Sir you write vnto me that I certifie you what thing is anger and the definition therof To sée if you may forget the dispite of him that hath done you so cruel an outrage to know what thing is Ire and to cut of the furious curse of his rage Sir it semes to me no euill counsell the very troth being knowen many times it is more securitie for him that is iniuried to dissemble the iniurie than to reuenge it Aristides saieth that ire is no other thing but an inflaming of the bloud and an alteration of the hart Possidonius sayth that ire is no other thing but a short foolishnes Cicero saith that which the Latins do cal ire the Grekes do name desire of vengeance Aeschines sayth that ire was caused of the fume of the gall and of the heate of the heart Macrobius saith there is muche difference betwixte ire and testinesse bicause ire groweth of an occasion and testinesse of euyll condition The diuine Plato sayeth that the faulte is not in anger but in hym that giues occasion Laertius sayth when the chastisement excéedes the fault then is it vengeance and not zeale But when the fault doth excéede the chastisemente it is zeale and no vengeance Plutarche saith that the priuiledges of ire are not to beléeue our friends to be rash in attempts to haue the chéekes inflamed to vse quicknesse with the handes to haue an vnbridled toung at euery word to vse ouerthwartnesse to be fumish for small causes and to admitte no reason Solon Solonio being demāded whom we cal properly irous answered he that little estéemeth to lose his friendes and maketh no account to recouer enimies After so manie and so graue Philosophers that which I dare say is that the vice of ire is lightly written easy to persuade pleasaunt to preach ready to counsell and very difficile to refrayne Of any vice wée may speake euill but of the vice of anger we may say much and very much euil For ire doth not only transform vs into fooles but also maketh vs of al men to be abhorred To temper ire is sufficientely vertuous but vtterly to expell it is a thing more thā sure For all things that are euill of themselues and of condition hurtfull are more easily resisted than throwne away In the beginnings many thinges be in oure owne handes to admit or to send them away but after they haue taken power ouer vs if by chaunce reason rise against them they say they will not depart since they be in possession Ire hath so euil a condition that of one only tyme that we yéelde him our will he afterwards maketh our will vnto all the hée liketh In the Magistrates that gouerne the common wealthe we condemne not the good or euill correction they vse but the greate furie they shewe in the same For if they be bounde to chastise the offences they haue not licence to shew themselues passioned Those that offend it is a thing very iust that they remaine not vnpunished but
the one that you liue onely with your own and in the other that also you take profit of other mennes 8 In the one that alwaies you remember to dye in the other that for nothing you leaue to lead an ill life 9 In the one that alwaies you occupie your self in knowledge in the other that you giue your self to be of much power 10 In the one that you impart of that you haue with the poore and friends and in the other that alwaies you keepe for deare yeares 11 In the one that you vse much silence and in the other that you presume to be very eloquent 12 In the one that you beléeue onely in Christ and in the other that you procure to haue money If you my Lord Embassador with these xy conditions wil be a Romane much good may it do you For vpon the day of accoumpt you would rather haue bin a laborer in Spaine than an Embassadour at Rome No more but that our Lord be your protector and to you and to me he giue good endings From Granado in the yeare 1525. the daye and moneth aforesaid A letter vnto the said Sir Ierome Vique in whiche is declared an Epitaph of Rome RIght magnificent Embassadour to Caesar by your letter that I haue receiued I was certified that to you was deliuered an other of mine wherein I haue vsed no curious care For vnder your good condicion there is no place for any thing to be dispraysed much lesse to be condemned Mosen Rubine aduertised me that by sléeping in an ayry place you haue bin very reumatike which I certainly béeleue hath procéeded of the great heate of the moneth of August but by my aduise you shall not vse it neither others so giue counsell for that it is lesse euill in sommer to sweate than to cough You write and also send vnto me certaine Gothicke letters that you haue foūd written in an aunciēt place in Rome whiche you can neither reade or they in Italy can declare Sir I haue very well séene considered and also reconsidered them and to him that is not acquainted with this Romish cyphringes they séeme illegible and not intelligible and that to vnderstand and read them well it were necessary that the men that bée a liue shoulde deuine or those that wrote them shoulde rise from death to life But to expound these letters no dead man shall bée raysed either am I a soothsayer or diuine I haue tyred my wittes and called to remembrance I haue ouerturned my Bookes and also haue ouerloked meruailous and many histories to see and to know who it was that did write them and wherefore they were written and in the ende as there is nothing that one man doth that another can not do or that one man knoweth and an other knoweth not your good luck wold and my great diligence that I met with that whiche you desired and I sought for And for that it shall not séeme that I speake without Booke in few wordes I will recite the history In the times of Octauius Augustus the Emperour there was in Rome a Romane Knight named Titus Annius verely a man of great experience in causes of warre and right wise in the gouernment of the common wealthe There was in Rome an office that was called Tribunus Scelerum this had the charge of all criminall causes whiche is to wit to hang to whip to banish to cut throates and to drowne in wels in such maner that the Censor did iudge the Ciuill and the Tribune the Criminall This office amongst the Romanes was of great preheminence and of no lesse confidence they neuer incommended the same but to a man of noble bloud auncient in yeares learned in the lawes in life honest and in iustice very moderate for that all these condicions did concurre in Titus Annius hée was by the Emperour Augustus in the office of Tribune named by the Senate confirmed and of the people allowed Titus Annius liued and was resident in this office xxv yeres in all whiche time hée neuer spake to man any iniurious word either did any iniustice In remuneration of his trauell and in reward of his bountie they gaue him for priuilege that hée shoulde bée buried within the walles of Rome and that hée should bury by him selfe some money and that in that sepulcher there shoulde not any other bée buried For a man to bée buried in Rome was amongst the Romanes a great preheminence the one was bycause the priests did consecrate the sepulcher and the other for that malefactors to flie vnto sepulchers were more worth than the temples But now these letters woulde saye that Titus Annius Iudge of the faultie by him in his sacred sepulcher did hide certaine money whiche is to wit ten foote off and that in the same sepulcher the Senate doth commaund that none of his heyres be buried This Titus Annius when hée died left his wife aliue that was named Cornelia whiche in the sepulcher of hir husband did set this Epitaphe The aucthors of this history are Vulpicius Valerius Trebellius And bycause the declaration of the history shall appeare more cleare let vs set the exposition ouer euery letter and these be the letters Titus Annius Tribunus Scelerum Sacro T. A. T. Sce. S. Suo Sepulcro Pecuniam Condidit Non. S. S. P. Con. N. Longe Pedes Decem. Hoc Monumentum Lon. P. X. H. M. Heres Non. Sequitur Iure Senatus H. N. S. I. S. Cornelia Dulcissima Eius Coniux Posuit Cor. D. E. Con. P. Behold here my Lord Embassador your letters expounded and not dreamed and in my iudgement this that we haue said they would say and if you be not satisfied with this interpretation let the dead expound them that did write them or those bée whiche aline that gaue them No more but that our Lord be your protector and giue vs grace that we ende in his seruice From Toledo the third of April 1526. A letter vnto the Bishop of Badaios in whiche there is declared the auncient lawes of Badaios RIght magnificent and Caesars Precor I receaued a letter from your Lordshippe with the whiche I did much reioyce my selfe before I did read it and after that I had reade it I remained no lesse offended not for that whiche you had written vnto me but for that you commaunded me and also demaunded of me If Plutarch do not deceaue vs into the chamber of Dionisius the Siracusan none did enter in the librarye of Lucullus no man sate down Marcus Aurelius with the key of his study no not with his Faustine did vse any trust and of a troth they had great reason bycause there be things of such qualitie that not only they ought not to be dealt withall neither yet to be looked vppon Aeschines the Philosopher said that for very great frendship that might be betwixt one and other he ought not to shew him all thinges in his house nor to communicate
so glorious Princes from the office of Iudges did rise to be Emperours in suche wise that in those dayes they did not prouide offices for men but men for offices for the office of Gouernour Iustice and corrector many will be suters and for many they will make sute but in any wise you ought to be aduised howe ye make promise thereof to any man eyther for prayers or intreataunce to giue the same For your good you may giue to whome you shal think good but the rod of iustice to him who shall beste deserue it Also some of your seruants in recompence of seruice will craue the office of iustice and in my iudgement you oughte lesse to giue it vnto those than vnto any other for in saying they be your seruants that you shal beleeue them more thā the rest The people shal not dare to complayn and they shall haue libertie the more to robbe and steale If any man or woman shall come to complain before your Lordship of your Iustice giue him eare at leysure and with good will and if you shall fynd his complaynte to be true remoue his griefe and reprehende your Iusticer but if it bée not so declare how iust it is that he commaundeth and how vniust that he demaundeth for the base countrey people doe holde the words of their Lord for gospell of the officer as a passioned If it be not cōuenient for the Iudge you shal choose that he bée skilful to steale or bribe muche lesse dothe it beseeme your Lordeship to be a nigarde or couetous neyther with the price of iustice to profit your chamber Aduise your Iustices that haynous bloudy desperate and scandalous offences in no wyse be redeemed with money for it is impossible that any may liue in suretie eyther goe safe by the highe way if there be not in the common wealth the whip the halter and the sworde There are so many quarellers vagabonds and théeues murtherers rebels and sedicious that if they had hope for money to escape Iustice they would neuer cease to commit offences And therfore it is conuenient that the Iudge bée wyse and skilfull to the ende he chastise not all offences with extremitie neither that he leaue somtime with the voyce of the king to honoure the people Also your Lordship hath to prouide that the officers of your audience which is to wit Counsellers Atturneys and Scriueners be faithfull in the processe they make and no tyrantes in the Lawes they haue in hande for many tymes it doth happen that one cōming to complayn of an other they do not iustice vpon the person that gaue the quarel but they execute iustice vpon the pouche that he weareth Also aduise your Iustices that they dispatche their affaires with breuitie and with trouth with trouth bicause they shall iudge iustly with breuitie that it be done with expedition for it hapneth to many Clients that without obteyning that they craue they consume al that whiche they haue Also your Lordship ought to prouide and commaunde the ministers of your iustice that they doe not dishonor misvse shame or despise such as come to your audience but that they be mylde modest and manerly For sometimes the sorowful suter doth more féele a rough word they speake than the Iustice they delate I assure you there be officers so absolute without temperance and so yll manered that they presume to doe more cruelties with their pen than Roulande with his sworde Also your lordship hath to prouide that your Iudges doe not suffer themselues to be muche visited accompanied and muche lesse serued For the iudge can not hold narrow frendship with any man that is not in the preiudice of iustice for verie fewe resorte vnto the Iudge for that he deserueth but for the power he holdeth In the common wealthe dissentions angers quarelles of ambition amongst your officers of Iustice neither ought you to dissemble or in anye wise consente vnto for at the instant that they shall grow into quarels the people shal be deuided into partialities wherof may rise great offences in the common wealth and great want of reuerence to youre person Concluding in this case I say that if you will hold your Countrey in iustice giue your Officers occasion to conceyue opinion that you loue Equitie And that for no request or interest you will be remoued from the same for if the Lord be iust his officers neuer dare to be vniust That a Knight or Gentleman be mylde and of good gouernance ALso it is necessarie to the good gouernmēt of your house cōmon wealth that your behauior towardes your subiects be suche that with the meaner sort ye deale as with sonnes with the equall as with brothers with the ancient as with fathers and with the strangers as with felows for you ought much more to estéem your self in holding them for frends than to cōmaund them as vassals The difference betwixt the tirant the Lord is that the tyrant so he may be serued makes small accompt to be beloued but he that is a Lorde wise and will rather choose to be beloued than serued and I assure you he hath great reson for the person that giues me his heart will neuer denie me his goods The great Philosopher Licurgus in the laws he gaue to the Lacedemonians did commaund and counsel That the auncient men of his common wealth shoulde not talke standing neyther be suffred to stand bareheaded and I say it to this ende For that it shall diminishe nothing your authoritie or grauitie in that you shall say vnto the one be couered Gossip and vnto the other sit down frende The good Emperour Titus was worthily beloued for that the old men he called fathers the yong men fellowes Strangers Cousins the priuate frendes and all in generall brothers The gentleman that is humble courteous and of a good bringing vp strangers loue him and his owne do serue him for courtesie and friendly behauiour is more honour to hym that vseth it than to whom it is done I am not far in in loue with many Gentlemen vnto whom there goeth to talk and to dispatche affaires olde honorable and wise men although poore they neuer offer vnto thē so much curtesie as to say aryse neyther be couered and muche lesse to sit downe conceiuing all their greatnesse to consiste in not commaundyng to giue them a stoole eyther to put of their cap to any man note and consider well this which I say vnto your Lordship that the authoritie greatenesse and grauitie of Lordes and Gentlemen doth not consist to haue their vassals knéeling and bare headed but in gracious and good gouerning them When I heard a certain knight valiant and of noble bloud yet disdainfull and very proud that vsed always to say to all men although of worship he talked withal thou thou and he he neuer added wordes of fauor worship or curtesy I said vnto him By my life sir
drinking thereof it doth greate profit I would saye that the trauells which we suffer to be good they giue not so much paine when we endure them as they afterwards giue pleasure hauing passed them Prouide who will of the wines of Illana of the buttes of Candia and of the pipes of Rebedew but for my consolation and saluation I aske not of God but that al the days that remaine of my life he giue me leaue to drink if he please but one drop of his cup. There is another Cup which is called the cup of the wrath of God wherof to speake the entrailes do open the hart doth faile the flesh doth tremble and the eyes do wéepe with thys God doth threaten vs this is that whiche the Prophet speaketh of Of this the sorowfull Ierusalem did drinke of this the vnfortunate Sinagogue did make hir selfe dronke And the drunkennesse of this was the cause that Israell was banished from Iudea and translated into Babilon He drinketh of the cup of wrath that falleth from the state of grace wherein he stood wherof it foloweth that the soule is much more dead without grace than a body without a soule Then it is sayde that God is an angred when he is carelesse of vs and that day that we be forgetfull to feare him and he not delighted to loue vs and stumbling at euery steppe in the end of the iorney we shall be condemned Oh what difference there is in the wrath that men doe shewe and in that wrath and yre which is sayd to procéede from God for when men be angry they reuenge but God when he is angrie hee ceaseth to chastise In suche wise that God doth more chasten an euill man when he deferreth doth dissemble with hym than when he doth presently torment him There is not a greater temptation than not to be tempted there is no greater trouble than not to be troubled there is not greater chastisement than not to be chastised neyther is there a greater whip than not to be scourged of god The sick man of whose helth the phisition dispaireth is in small hope of his life I would say that his sinne which God doth not chastise I haue great suspition of his saluation It is much to be noted that the Prophete dothe not onely threaten Ierusalem for that she did drinke the cuppe of wrath but also bycause she did drink the grounds and dregs therof vntill nothing was left in suche wise that if there had bin more she woulde haue dronke more To drinke of the cuppe vnto the dregges is that hauing offended God greeuously committing all manner of sinnes wickedly forsaken some articles of the faith peruersely and hauing sinned with al the members damnably As if the commaundements being ten had bin ten thousand we had rather die than leaue any one of them disobeyed To drinke the Cup vnto the dregges is when we be not contented with breaking of one commaundement or two or thrée but that of force they must be broken al ten to drinke the cup vnto the dregs is if we leaue to commit any sinnes it is not for want of will but for want of power or for wante of occasion to drinke the cup vnto the dregges is that we doe not onely content our selues with sinning but that we doe presume and boaste ourselues of oure sinning to drinke the cuppe vnto the dregges is committing as we doe all manner of sinnes we can not suffer that they call vs sinners to drinke the cup vnto the dregges is to haue so greate vnshamefastnes in sinning that we dare not entire and vrge others to sinne to drinke the cup vnto the dregges is to haue our desires like a saint and our deserts like a deuill Behold here my Lorde Admirall what I conceaue of that text of the Prophet beholde here what I do thinke of youre doubt and I beséech God our Lord that he being pleased we may deserue to drinke of the cup that Christ did drinke of and not of the cup that Ieremie doth write of I write not vnto your lordship newes of the court as I was wont to write bicause it seemeth to commit treason vnto the holy Scripture if we should place any profane things at the foote of so holy a matter No more but that our Lord giue vs his grace From Madrid the xxv of March. Another letter vnto the same Commendathor Sir Lewes Braue wherein is written the conditions that the honorable old men ought to haue and that loue sildome or neuer departeth the hart where it is entred VEry noble and refourmed knight by the words of youre letter I vnderstoode how quickly the medicine of my writing came to youre hart and I do much reioyce to haue shotte at you with an arrow so inuenomed that was sufficient to make you stagger but not to strike you downe Although in the other letter whiche I did write vnto you it repented me to call you noble now I holde it for very well imployed in this letter to entitle you very noble bycause you haue amended the abuse of your life and answered according to your noblenesse Sir you write vnto me that the words of my letter did penetrate your hart and touch you to the quicke and to say you the troth I was right glad thereof for I did not write it that you should onely reade it but to the end you should cordially féele it Iointly with this I promise you as a Gentlemā and sweare vnto you as a Christian that it was not my meaning when I did write vnto you to offend you but to the intent to amend you Also you say that at the instant you read my letter you burned the tokens of your enamored dyd teare the letters of loue dispatch the page of messages remoued all talke of youre loue and gaue a quittance to the Pandor I cannot but praise what you haue done and much more will praise it when I shall sée you continue and perseuer in the same For vices be so euill to be vnrooted where they once take place that when we thinke they be all gone in the house they remayne hidden Sir I giue you great thankes for that you haue done and also do craue pardon for that I haue said although it be true to sée you amended I do little estéeme that you be offended For an vnkindnesse is sooner lost than vice remoued Also you craue of me in your letter that since I haue written you the conditions of an old man enamored that I write also vnto you the conditions that a wise olde man ought too haue bycause by the one may be knowne the shelfe that is to be shunned and by the other the channell obtayned that is nauigable wherein I delight to accomplish your request and to write your desire although it be true that I knowe not if my iudgement shall haue so delicate a vayne and my pen so good a grace in giuing counsell as in reprehending For
in bloud if they haue little and may doe little let them hold it for certaine they will estéeme them but little and therefore it were very good counsell that they shoulde rather remayne riche seruantes in their countries than to come to the Courts of Kinges to bée poore Gentlemen For after thys manner they shoulde in their countries be honored that now go in Court discountenaunced According to this purpose it came to passe in Rome that Cicero being so valiaunt of person and hauing so great commaundement and power in the common wealth they dyd beare him great enuie on all sides and beheld him with ouermuch malice Wherefore a certaine Romane magistrate said as if we should say vnto a frankling of Spaine tel me Cicero wherfore wilt thou cōpare with me in the Senat since thou knowest al others do know that I am descēded of glorious Romanes and thou of rusticall ploughmen where vnto Cicero made aunswer with very good grace I will confesse it that thou art descended of noble Romane magistrates and I procéede from poore ploughmen but ioyntly with thys thou canst not denie me but that all thy linage is ended in thée and all mine beginnes in me Of thys example your Lordship may gather what difference there is betwixt times betwixt linages and also betwixt persons Since we knowe that in Caius began the Augustus and in Nero ended the Caesars I would say by that which is saide that the want of noblenesse in many gaue an ende to the linages of the Knightes of the band and the valiantnesse of others gaue a beginning to other glorious linages that be now in Spaine bycause the houses of greate Lordes be neuer lost for want of riches but for want of persons I haue enlarged this letter much more than I promised and also more than I presupposed but I giue it all for well employed since I am sure that if I remaine wearied in writing thereof it will not be tedious vnto your Honour too reade it bycause therein are so many and so good things that of old Gentlemē they are worthy to be knowen and of yong gentlemen necessary to be followed From Toledo the xij of December 1516. A letter vnto the Constable of Castile sir Ynigo of Valesco in which is touched that the wise man ought not to trust his wife with any secret REnoumed and good Constable Sir Iames of Mendoza gaue me a letter from your honor written with youre hand and sealed with youre seale I would to God there were as good order taken with my letters that I aunswer you as is here vsed with such as you send me For I cannot say whether it be my hap or my mishap that scarcely I can write you a letter wherof al in your house vnderstand not As much as it doth please me that al men know me to be your friende so muche doth it gréeue me when you discouer of me any secret chiefly in graue and most waightie affaires for comming to the intelligence of youre wife and children that you communicat with me your delicat affayres they will make great complaint if to the profit of their substance I direct not your conscience My Lady the Duchesse did write vnto me aduertising to haue some scruple in me saying that I was against hir as concerning the house of Touare which I did neuer speake or thinke for the office that I do most boast myselfe of is to direct men that they be noble and vertuous and not to vnderstand in making or marring of heyres or Manor houses My Lorde Constable you do know that at all times when you discouer your selfe and take counsell of me I haue always sayd and do say that the Gentleman of necessitie must pay that he oweth and what he hath deuide at his will and that to make restitution there néedeth a conscience and too giue or deuide iudgement and wisdome if there passe eyther more or lesse betwixt vs two it is without néede that youre noblenesse should speake it or of my authoritie be confessed For the things that naturally be graue and do require secrecie if we may not auoyde that they iudge or presume of them at the least we may cut off that they knowe them not In that your Lordship hath let flie some words or lost some letter of mine my Lady the Duchesse is not a little offended with me and I do not maruell thereof in that she not vnderstanding the misterie of your spéech or the ciphers of my letters did kindle hir choller and raysed a quarrell against me Beléeue me my Lorde Constable that neither in iest or earnest you ought to put secret things in confidence of women for to the end that others shall estéeme them more they will discouer any secret I hold the husbands for very doltish that hide their money from their wiues and trust them wyth their secrets for in the money there is no greater losse than the goodes but in discouering their secretes sometime he loseth his honour The Consull Quintus Furius discouered al the conspiracie of the tirant Cateline to a Romane woman named Fuluia Torquata the which manifesting the matter to another friend of hirs and so from hande to hande it was deuulgate thorough all Rome whereby it happened that Quintus Furius lost his life and Cateline his life and honour Of this example your Lordship may gather that the things that be graue and effectuall ought not to be committed to the confidence of women muche lesse spoken in their presence for to them it importeth nothing the knowledge of them and their husbāds it toucheth much if they be discouered There is no reason to thinke either is it iust to presume and say that all women are like for that we sée there are many of them honorable honest wise discrete and also secrete whereof some haue husbands so foolish and such buzardes that it shoulde be more sure to trust them than their husbands Not offending the gentlewomen that be discrete and secrete but speaking commonly of all I saye that they haue more abilitie to breede children than to kéepe secrets As concerning this let it bée for conclusion that it happen you not another day to talke before any man much lesse before any woman That whyche we haue cōmuned and agréed betwixt our selues there might rise thereof that your Lordship might remaine offended and I disgraced At this present there is nothing more newe in Court to write thā that I am not a little offēded of that your Lordship dare discouer troubled with the wordes that my Lady the Duchesse hath sent me for which cause I beséeche you as my good Lord and commaund you as my godsonne that you reconcile me with my Lady the Duchesse or commaund me to be forbidden your house From Valiodolid the eight of August .1522 A letter vnto the Constable Sir Ynigo of Velasco wherein is touched that in the hart of the good Knight there ought not to raigne passion
or anger REnoumed Lord and pitifull Constaple I may saye by your honour that whiche God saide by the Sinagog which is to wit Curauimus Babilonian nō est curata relinquamus illam which is to say we haue cured Babilon and it woulde not bée cured let vs abandon it Sir I say thus muche for that it hath happened not a little gracious vnto me that whereas I craued in my letter that my Lady the Duchesse should not see any one part therof notwithstanding you haue not only shewed it and conferred theron with hir but also had great game thereat Wherevpon in the way of reuenge I shewed youre letter vnto the Earle of Nassaro who with Flemings Portingalles Almaines and Spaniards dyd also take some pastime therewith yet was it my very good lucke that all the euill that I saide of women in your letter my Lady the Duchesse conuerted into iest in such wise that with greate reason I may praise hir for hir wisedome and complaine me of your temeritie My Lord Constable I shall most hartely desire you not to haue such care to make proues of triacle with my letters but to reade them and to teare or else burne them for it may happen that some day you might reade them before some not very wise either yet of good condition that might deuine to my hurt that which they vnderstand not to their owne profit Leauing this a part your Lordship sayeth that for my sake you haue remitted the displeasure you did beare against the Gentleman the which I accept for so great courtesie and grace as if vnto my selfe the iniurie had bin pardoned for I am so tēder ouer him that is my dere friend that al which I sée to be done in the behalfe of his person to the amendment of his estate I set it downe in mine own account Besides the accomplishment of my desire your Lordship hath performed that which you were bound to doe for Princes and great Lordes haue no licence to doe iniuries eyther so muche as to reuenge them For as you know that whiche is in the meaner called wrath in the mightie is named pride and that which amōgst the smaller sort is chastisement in the mightie is termed vēgeance As oft as you shall make coniugation with youre noblenesse and conscience and shall call to remembrance that you be a Christian and a Knight it shall not mislike you of the offences you haue dissimuled and it shall grieue you of the iniuries you haue reuenged The pardoning of iniuries gyueth great contentation to the hart and the desire of reuengement is no small torment thereof By that whiche is said I woulde saye that sometimes for some man to reuenge some little iniurie he escapeth from thence much more iniuried There be some iniuries that onely are not to be reuenged neither as muche as to bée confessed for things of honour are so delicate that the same day that any confesseth to haue receyued an iniurie from that day he bindeth himselfe to take reuengement The Consull Mamilius demaunded at a certaine time of Iulius Caesar wherein it was that he had in this worlde most vaine glory and in the remembring thereof did take most pleasure to this the good Caesar made aunswer by the Goddes immortall I sweare vnto thée Oh Consul Mamilius that of nothing in all this life I doe thinke that I deserue so muche glory or any other thing doth giue me so greate ioy and contentation as pardoning of those that do offend me and gratifying such as do serue me Oh wordes worthy prayse and pleasant to heare notable to reade and necessary to followe for if Iulius Caesar did beléeue as a Pagane he did worke as a Christian but we all beléeue as Christians and worke lyke Paganes I speake it not without a cause that we liue as Paganes although we beléeue as Christians since in this case the malice of man is growen so great that many woulde pardon their enemies and dare not for feare of their friends for if they once perceiue them to speake of pardoning any man presently they will say they doe it more of cowardise than of conscience Be it as be may and let euery man speake as he thinketh good in this case of pardon your lordship hath done with that Gentleman like a faithfull Christian and with me like a very friend and beside fidelitie to God and frendship to a friend There is no more to be craued of any man in this world The memoriall that your Lordship sendeth me of that things that toucheth your goods and conscience I my Lord wil consider therof at leysure and wil answere vpon aduisement because in your charges or discharges in such wise I will giue you counsel as in my brest no scruple shall remaine In him that asketh counsell there ought to be diligence and no slackenes for that many times businesse lieth so in corners and so farre from hand that it shall be more sure counsell to trust to our weapon than to staye for that bookes shall say the contrary wherof is to be vsed of him the shall giue counsel vnto another which is to wit that he haue much wisedome and little diligence for counsell that is giuen if it be not vpon aduisement most times bringeth some repentance The diuine Plato writing of Orgias the Greeke sayd My frend Orgias thou writest vnto me that I should counsell thée how thou shouldest behaue thy selfe in Licaonia and on the other parte thou makest great haste to haue an aunswere which thing although thou doest rashly craue I dare not performe for that I doe much more studie to counsel my frends than to read in scholes to Philosophers the counsell that is giuen or taken ought to be giuen by a man that is wise for the good iudgement he hath a learned man for the much that he hath read an auncient man for that he hath séene a patient man for that of him selfe he hath suffered a man without passion bycause malice shall not blind him a man without interest for that couetousnesse shall not let him Finally I saye that the shamefast man and of a noble minde oughte to giue vnto his friendes money with liberalitie and counsell with greate grauitie If it bée true as it is moste certayne that he oughte to haue all these conditions that shoulde giue counsell vnto an other we dare wel say that to giue counsell is an office so cōmon that many vse it and very few can performe it There commeth a carefull man to aske counsell of his friende in giuyng whiche counsell the one way or the other there goeth lyfe honour goodes and also conscience and then his friend whose counsell he hath craued without remouing or further thinking therof voyde of all scruple or doubt sayeth what is to be doone in that case as though he had founde it written in the holy Scripture All this I say vnto youre Lordship bycause sometime you be
by the feare of death The couetous wretched niggard that he goeth seeking is carefulnesse for himselfe enuie for his neighbours spurres vnto his enemies a pray for théeues perill for his person damnation for his soule malediction for his heires and law for his children All these thinges Sir I thought good to write thereby to giue you to vnderstande the grosse office you haue taken in hande and the euill opinion they do couceyue of you the which to vs your friends is great shame and to you a most great infamie Sir amende youre fault and take some other order in your life for in the house of any honest manne any lacke of goodes is tollerable but no want in honour If you shall alwayes continue to be a miser a niggard and shall giue your selfe to kéepe and hoord money from henceforward I take my leaue of your friendship and also to call you my acquainted For I neuer delighted to hold acquaintance with the man that woulde presume to lie and giue himselfe to kéepe This letter I send you without head or foote which is to wit without date or firme for going with such choler and so vnsauorie it is not reason he shoulde bée knowen that did write it neither to whome it was written No more A letter vnto the Lady Mary of Padilia wife to Don Iohn of Padilia wherein the Authour doth perswade that she tourne to the seruice of the king and giue no occasion of the losse of Castile MAgnificent and vnaduised Lady in the dayes that the good Emperour Iustinian did raigne in the East a certaine Captaine of his dyd gouerne the kingdomes in the West that was named Narsetes a man of greate capacitie to gouerne and of great valiantnes in fighting and giuing battell of this Narsetes the Romanes did saye that in him only was the force of Hercules the boldnesse of Hector the noblenesse of Alexander the wisdome of Pirrhus the valiantnesse of Antheus and the fortune of Scipio After that thys glorious captain had ouercome and slaine Atholia King of the Gothes Vncelino king of the French men Sindual king of the Brittons and also pacified and triumphed ouer all the kingdomes of the West the Romanes sought meanes to disgrace him with his Lorde and maister Iustinian saying and giuing him to vnderstand that he sought meanes to obtaine the Empire wherefore Narsetes was constrayned to departe from Rome and to passe into Asia to appeare before the Emperour Iustinian and the Empresse Sophia his wife to declare his innocencie and to make proofe that enuie had raised that sclaunder certaine dayes were then past that the Empresse Sophia had conceyued disdaine against Narsetes some say it was for his great wealth others for that he commaunded in the Empire with too much authoritie and others bycause he was a gelded man and when she sawe time to vtter hir hatred she said vnto him in Court on a certaine day since thou Narsetes art lesse than a man and halfe a woman being an Eunuche I commaunde thée to leaue the gouernment of the Empire and that thou get thée vp to weaue where my maydes doe weaue and knit caules and that there thou help them what they commaund thée Although Narsetes were a man of great authoritie and of no lesse grauitie these words did so deepely pearce him to the quicke that he chaunged countenance the teares brake from his eyes and so chafed with teares he said Serene Princes I woulde right gladly that you shoulde chastise me as a Lady but not to defame me like a woman it gréeueth me not so much of that you haue said as the occasion which you giue me how to make you answer and said more I presently depart vnto Italy to weaue knit and frame such a toyle that neyther thou maist comprehend nor yet thy husband able to vnweaue Comming now to the purpose my Lord Abbot of Compludo gaue me here in Medina a letter frō your Ladiship which contained such ouerthwarts such want of measure and so greate rashnesse that he was ashamed too haue deliuered it and I astonied to sée the contents thereof And as the good Narsetes aunswered the Empresse Sophia it gréeueth me not of that you haue saide but of that whiche I must answer for of necessitie my penne must stand foorthe to make combat with your tong Your Ladiship doth say in your letter that you haue séene the letter that I sent vnto youre husband Iohn of Padilia and that it dothe well appeare in the same that it came from a frier irreguler foule spoken ouerthwart absolute and dissolute and that if I were one of the world not only I would not dare to wright such things neyther yet so much as in corners to speake them Also you do extréemely charge me that I haue suborned Sir Peter Lasso disswaded sir Peter Giron contended with the Bishop of Zamora resorted to Villa Braxima for the Gouernours that I preache publikely againste the commoners and that in my mouth there is no truth nor in my déedes any fidelitie Also you blame me charge condempne and threaten me for the letter I did write vnto your husbande and for the counselles and aduertisementes I gaue him affirming and swearing that since he had conference with me he hathe alwayes bene sorowfull penūue melancholicke and also vnfortunate Also you note blame and charge me that I neuer cease too lye vnto the gouernours deceyue the commoners discourage his men of warre preach against the commonaltie promise that which the King commaundeth not goe and come to Villa Braxima and to leade all Castile in suspence These and such other things are contayned within youre letter vnworthy the writing and scandalous to recount But since youre Ladiship hath first laide hand vpon the sword complaine not if I happen to giue you some wound on the head To that which your Ladiship sayth if I were of the world as I am of religion I durst not wright suche a letter vnto youre husband your Ladiship speaketh greate troth for I being the son of Sir Beltram of Gueuara and cousin to Sir Ladron of Gueuara and to be there in the worlde I shoulde not write vnto him but fighte with him not make pennes but sharpen the launce not gyue counsell or perswade your husbande but defye him bycause the contention betwixt loyaltie and treason ought not to be tried with wordes but with swords I am in profession a Christian in habite religious in doctrine a diuine in linage of Gueuara in office a preacher and in opiniō a gentleman and no commoner for which cause I presume to preach the troth and to impugne the communaltie I holde for sure that those whiche defende the troth be the most noblest knights and gentlemen in your Camp for they rob not vpon high wayes neyther steale out of Churches destroy no corne burne no houses spoyle no people neither do consent to men of vile conditions for they obserue the law
salutem Descendit ad inferos In the yeare a thousande fiue hundred twenty and thrée comming out of Fraunce by Nauarne in a little Churche in Viena not farre from the Growine I saw an Epitaph vpō the Tomb of the Duke Valentine which without writing I commended vnto my memorie and as I thinke thus it sayd Here lieth clad in a little clay That mortall men did feare VVhich in peace war the ful whole sway In all this world did beare O thou that goest with care to seeke VVorthy things of prayse most meete If worthy things thou wouldest prayse Here thou hast to direct thy wayes And therein farther to spend no dayes In the warres of Lumbardy there dyed an auncient soldier which was valiant and meanely rich who was buried by his friends in a little Village betwixt Plazentia and Voguera on whose Sepulture were written these words Here Campuzano doth lie VVith whose soule the Diuill did flie But his goodes had Sir Antonie In Alexandria de la Palla I found another soldier buried in the Churche within the Castell vpon whose Sepulture that is to say vpon the wall I saw writtē with a Cole these words Here lieth Horozco the Sergeant VVhich liued playing And died drinking In the Citie of Aste when Caesar went to make warre in Fraunce we stayed certayne dayes A Souldier was buried in the monasterie of Saint Frauncis as it séemed being very poore made his will very rich vppon whose Sepulture another Soldier placed these wordes Here lyeth Billandrando VVhich all that he had did not let to play And that which he had not he gaue away In the Citie of Nisa we buried an honorable soldier that had bin Captayne but in the morning and at night with a Cole I saw written vpon his Tomb these words Here lieth the Soldier Billoria VVhose body to the Church by his friēds did send But his hart to his loue he did incommende In a place of Spayne which shall be namelesse I founde the Sepulture of a certayne Gentlewoman vpon whose Tombe these words were written Here lieth the Lady Marina in earthly presse VVhich died thirty days before she was countesse In the .18 yeare I being warden of the Citie of Soria going to preach to the Camp of Gomara in a little Village I encountred with an old Sepulture vppon the stone whereof were written these words Here lieth bald Iohn Hussillo VVhich taught boyes to swimme And wenches to daunce very trim This yeare past in visiting my Byshoprick of Mondonedo I found in the Archdeaconship of Trasancos in a little Churche by the Sea side an auncient Tomb which they sayd was of a gentlemā naturall of the place which had these words writtē Here lieth Vasko Bell A good Gentleman and a fell The which neuer drew his sword indeede That made any man euer to bleede Going for Custos of my prouince of conception in a generall Chapter ioyntly with certayne religious Portingalls of my order bound to the same place amongst the which the warden of Sanctaren a man both wise and learned vnderstanding me to haue delight in old things sayde that in his Monasterie vppon a Tombe of a Portingall Gentleman were written these words Here lieth Basko Figueira Much against his will. So high a sentence so delicate words and so certain a troth as this as God saue me might not procéed either be inuēted but of a man of an high delicate iudgement they wer spokē in Portingall in a Monasterie of Portingall in the behalfe of a Portingall and a Portingall saide them whereof I gather vnto my selfe that the nobles of Portingall be wise in their attempts and of sharp iudgement in what they speake To my iudgemēt my appetite to my tast and liking to this daye I haue not heard or red a thing so gratious as the letter of that Sepulture bycause ther may not be said a greater troth than to say that Basko Figueira or any other persone is in hys Tomb much against his will. What Sepulture is in thys world so rich wherein any man desireth to dwel or wisheth to be buried what man is so insensible that woulde not rather liue in a narrow houell than in a large and ample sepulture Not only Basko Figueira lieth in his sepulture against his wil but also the Machabees in their Piramides Semiramis in hir Polimite the great Cirus in hys Obiesko the good Augustus in hys Columna the famous Adrian in his Mole magno the prowde Alaricus in hys Rubico All whyche if we coulde demaunde of them and they aunswere vs woulde sweare and affirme that they dyed without their owne consent and were buryed agaynste their willes My Lorde Admirall from hencefoorth I diuine that if Basko Figueira lyeth deade in his sepulture agaynst his will with an euill will I dare auouche you will bée buryed in yours although moste certayne the chappell is riche and your Tombe very stately Your honor hath to vnderstande that I thought good to enlarge this letter to the end you should haue wherat to maruel and also wherwith to laugh with a protestation that I make that if you wryte agayne within this halfe yeare I wyll refuse to answere for that I haue in hande certayne woorkes of myne owne presently to be printed and after to be published No more but that our Lorde be in your kéeping From Valiodolid the .xxx. of Marche 1534. A letter vnto Sir Alphonce Manrique Archebishop of Ciuill wherein is declared a certayne passage of holy Scripture conuenient to bee read of Iudges and prelates that be cruell RYght Noble and pitifull Prelate if your reuerend Lordship do conceyue that for the gallant baye mule which you haue sent mée by Orlande your Stewarde I shoulde submit my selfe to do you great seruice eyther to render greate thankes ye are greatly deceiued for although she be both faire and good I haue wonne and gayned the same by a sentence pronounced agaynste your honor for the costes of processe and the amendes wherein you are condemned when your moste reuerend Lordship and the Duke of Naiarra vppon a certaine contention did elect mée for your iudge which is to wéete where the situation of Sagunto shuld haue stande and the renowned Neomantia should haue bene wherein to determine and verifie your doubte I studied very muche and traueled not a little And since you are condemned in a Mule and consented vnto the sentence once againe I aduertise your honor that I will neyther restore hir and muche lesse pay for hir My Lord the Duke of Naiarra your brother at Courte doeth dayly threaten mée that eyther by violence he will take hir from mée or else cause hir to be stolen wherfore I humbly pray your honor to commaunde that he leaue me in peace otherwise I promise you to proue vnto him by my auncient histories that the borders and limites of Naiarra haue bene twoo leagues within the Duchie But nowe setting aside all iestes to speake in earnest I
the rest The conditions of a good king Princes ought so to recreate themselues that thereof ryse none offence Princes ought to limite their recreations In the auncient times yron was vsed in coyne It is to be noted that all lawes are reduced from three lawes Seuen maner of auncient lawes Lawes onely for Romane Senators The lawes for warre they vsed in Rome The first that made lawes for warres The procurer of the people was most priuiledged in Rome We receiue liberalitie from the Prince when he commaundeth to serue Note the great vertues of the Philosopher Licurgus Of him that brought vp one dog fat in idlenesse and in the house the other in the field To be good it doth much profite to be well brought vp A notable proclamation daily made A right worthy search Bathes and oyntmēts forbidden The authoritie of old men The disobedient sonne both chastised and disinherited A friend by fraternitie New inuentiō and the inuentors banished An honour vsed to the dead that valiantly died in the warres Gentlemen may commen but not cōtend For what causes a Gentleman may be inflamed with choler Helia is nowe Ierusalē and Byzantio is Constantinople Numantia was named of Numa Pompilius The Numantins in the warres did rather die than flee Rome was enuious of the fortune of Numantia Nine Consulles were slaine at the siege of Numantia The good Captaine ought rather loose his life than make an infamous truce In the warres vice doth more hurt thā the enimies The Numātines did eate the fleshe of the Romains To fight with a desparate man is no small perill The noble minded had rather die free than lyue a slaue The Numantines did kill their wiues and children No Numantine taken prisoner The continuance of the prosperitie of Numantia In the warres it importeth dot to write with an euill pen. More is spent to maynteyne opinion than to defende reason No excuse may excuse the losse of a battayle A iust warre is loste by an vniust captaine An euill lyfe doth come to make repayment in one day The more noble victorie is that which is obtayned by counsel thā by the sword Iron was made to eare fields and not to kill men We ought rather to make tryall by perswasion than by sworde The bloudie Captain doth finishe his days with an euill ende Iulius Cesar pardoned more enimies than he kilde It is more loued that is obteyned by request than by the sworde In tyme of warre it besemeth not a knighte to write from his house Note the right conditions of a right gētleman Is a gentleman a fault is tolerable if it be not vile The good knight hath in possessiō more armour than bookes Iudas Machabeus had rather lose his his lyfe than his fame To cōmaund many wil cost muche Note the wordes of a valiant captain To demaunde how many not where the enimies be is a signe of fear Words wordthy to be engraued on his tombe Of more value is the noble mynded expert captain than a greate armie Who was the valiāt Viriato captain of Spayne Viriato was inuincible in the warres Fewe vices are sufficiente to darken many victories Note what is due betwixte friendes Ingratitude seldom or neuer pardoned The grace that is giuen in preaching is seldome giuen in writing The hearte is more moued hearing the word of God than by reading The old lawe gaue punishment to the euill but no glorie to the good Vntill Christ none proclaymed rest For what cause Christe saide my yoke is sweete and my burden is light The propertie of a faithfull louer Perfect loue endureth all trauell Christ did not commaund vs to doe that whiche he did not first experimēt himself The worlde doth more chastise than pardon but in the house of God more pardoned than chastised In all the lawes of the world vices be permitted Christes lawes excepted The Lawe of christ is sharp vnto the wicked but easie and light to the vertuouse Daughters are to be married before they grow old The Ipineās did write the date of their letters with the superscriptiō With what paper they were wont to write Note the inck of old time Famouse eloquence of the Auctor in a base matter Notable exāples of cōtinēcie in Princes Catiline a tyrant of Rome It ought not to be written that cannot be written The inuētion of the A.B.C. The rentes of great Lords ought to be agreeable to their titles Gamsters at dice play them selues to nothing Postes in old time made great speede Euill newes neuer cōmeth to late The auctor reporteth of his linage of Gueuara To descend of a noble bloud prouoketh to be vertuous The auncient and noble Linages in Rome were much esteemed In Rome they bare no office that descended of traitours The properties of a man born of a good linage A note of the Giants of the old time The differēce betwixt the great and litle men Of a little Frier of the Abbay of Guysando Little thinges giue more offence than profite A sise is obserued in nothing but in sermōs More grauitie is required in writing thā in talking Note the breuitie of ancient writing Twoo Romane Captaines would two manner of warres The warres against Numantia was vmust The nature of warres that is to be holden iust Warres betwixt christiās dependeth of the secretes God. Eight condicions meete to be performed by a captaine generall of the warres The good knight ought to imitate his good predecessors He is not to be intituled a knight that is rich but vertuous In the talke of warres not that I haue heard but that I haue scene is most commendable for a gentleman The armes of a knight are giuen him to fight and not to behold Age and abilitie be mothers of good counsell The generous and noble mind dothe more feare to flie than to abide In soden perils it needeth not to vse lōg and delayed counsels A fort ought to be the sepulchre of the defendant If many be married they are not fewe that be repentant No married man may liue without trauell That man is miserable that is maried vnto a foolish woman Worship is not blemished by answering of a letter A Prince did write vnto a bitmaker A noble Romane did write vnto a plough man. No man is so euill in whom there is not somwhat to be praysed Negligence presumptiō be two things that loseth friends Euill nurture is hurtfull in all estates Where is money there is dispatch God doth many times bring things to passe rather by the weake thā by the strong Amongst .xij. sonnes the yongest was most excellent To lacke friends is perillous And some friends be tedious We ought rather to bewaile the life of the wicked than the death of the iust A man is to be knowne but not to be vnderstood The battell of Rauenna for euermore shall be renoumed Lesse in the warres than many other thing we haue to beleue fortune With great eloquence the aucthor declareth the nature of
fortune The words of a very friend without dissimulation Men do order warres but God onely giueth victorie To one person and one matter fortune very seldome sheweth fidelitie What he ought to do that hathe continued long in the warres There is no greater trauel than to be ignorant of quietnesse Men oughte to trauell vntill they haue wherwith to defende necessitie He is in some hatred with fortune that is not suffred to repose in his owne house It is more to know how to enioy a victory than to ouercome a battell Our greatest trauels be of our owne seeking Both wisedome and eloqueÌ„ce in writing of a letter bee discouered In the courte men doe not but vndoe In the courte ther are thinges to be wondered as also to be shunned Newes of those dayes from Italy In Italy they win not so muche money as they learne vice Eight conditions of the courte and all verie perillous In the courte more despited than dispatched Death giueth feare but not amendment The ploughman reuewing the straightnes of his forough giueth note to the wise to examin their writings A letter ought to be pleasant to reade discret to be noted God dothe more for vs in giuiÌ„g vs grace than to take away temptations God doth know what he giueth vs but we know not what to craue To haue the occasion of sinne taken awaye is no small benefite of God. To be without temptatioÌ„ is no good signe The deuil procureth great welfare vnto his dearlings Notable examples against such as do persecute Very great bee the priuileges of the vertuous He incurreth great perils that coÌ„tendeth with the vertuous The certaine before the doubtfull is to be preferted A Kintall is a hundreth waight It is better to be than to seeme to bee vertuouse The conditioÌ„s of a friends letter A text of scripture expounded Vertue the vertues by exercise be conserued God hath more regarde vnto vs than we our selues Not the suffring but the pacieÌ„ce wherwith we suffer God regardeth The teÌ„ptation of the Deuill is limited It is lesse trauel to serue God than the world Good company is more pleasant then great fare The old Romanes were superstitious Places where the good wine of Spaine doth grow Terrible notes for the rich nigard The deed do here leaue their moneye and carie awaye theyr sinnes Horrible to liue poorely to die in great wealth Strange customes in a coÌ„mon welth are perillous Notable coÌ„dicioÌ„s of a good President The wordes of the eloqueÌ„t containe great efficacie A straunge example of an Orator A text of the Psalmist expounded It is lesse euill to enuie vs thaÌ„ to pitie vs The causes of hatred of Iulius Cesar and Pompeius Enuie bendeth his artillerie against prosperitie Behold the fraternitie of enuie Courtiers loose time Iniuries don by the almightie are to bee dissembled The trefull of al men and at all times abhorred In him that gouerneth ire is perilious A notable example to reâ—traine ire An example of the heathen to be noted and learned For the doubt of vice libertie refused Libertie craueth wisdome Twelue coÌ„dicioÌ„s of Rome variyng from Christes law A condicion at be in braced A rewarde after death A darke Epitaph expounded He is depriued of libertie that discouereth a secret It staineth a Gentleman to tell a lye Fiue Knightes throwne downe Sometimes some things vnfortunat To profite by sicknes declareth great wisedome Priuileges profites obtained by sicknes Anger 's and excesse be no small enemies to health To manifest the secrets of Princes is perillous An olde Epitaph Who dyd write the historie of the Sibils The historie of the man and the Lion. Great liberalitie vsed in feastes Did acquaintance renued betwene a maÌ„ and a Lyon. The Emperour Titus talketh with a slaue A slaue and also noble was Andronicus Auarice is cause of great infamie Foure sextertios amounte to .iiij. d. Where noblenesse dwelleth no treason haunteth An extreme distresse A passing toye Beastes doe feele benefits The Lyon feedeth his Chirurgian Absence extremely lamented The slaue craueth mercie The people of Rome make humble supplication for the slaue Note the authors of the historie Of what things they murmur in the Court. Who be great murmurers The order of the noble or gentlemans house The sinne of Ingratitude before God is detestable Zorzales blackbirds He is not to be holden for noble that hath much but that geueth much The poore do reuenge with teares To forget an iniurie proceedeth of singular wisedome Things that many desire but few obtain Conditions of a good iustice The conditions of Iudges vsed to be choseÌ„ in Rome The office of Iustice is to be giuen for merit and not for affection Euill iudges do execute the purse and not the person Iudges ought to dispatche with speed and answere with pacience Humanitie to all men of the mighty is to be vsed Of all men to be noted The womans armour is hir tongue True gentilitie pitieth the distressed Brothers children A speciall aduenture The pretence of priuate profite is voyde of all good counsell A notable measure A quent of Meruedis whiche be .6 a penie amouÌ„t 2500. Ducates The harte of man is moste excelleÌ„t in his kynde CommeÌ„dable qualities A notable secret in the yere climatik A perillous time for old men Notable conditions of a noble man. A lesson for Lords The expositioÌ„ of the text To be ashamed of sinne is hope of ameÌ„dment No greter sinner than he that presumeth to be good Oracles of old time Antigonus to be noted Gods grace doth only saue vs. A benefit due to suche as serue princes Badges of Christ Withoute grace a soule is lyke a body without life To drinke of the one or of the other great choyce is to be vsed Rules for old men Conuersation for old men The exercise of good old men The notes of good old men Necessary prouision for olde men A diet for old men Temperance in old men prouoketh sleepe and auoydeth belke A conclusion with rules conuenient for old men A most certaine remedie for loue A sodaine and strange spectacle Note the eloquence of the Author The perfect condition of a friende Buried being alyue A good praise to a Gentleman The wyse man weepeth not but for the losse of a frend The honest care not to liue long but well Who is worthie of prayse The friende vnto the freÌ„d neither hideth secret nor denieth money Not in your labour but in patience Not the paine but the cause maketh the martir A poudred crane sent froÌ„ Asia to Rome Plato offended with Dionisius for eating twice on the day Seuen nations inhabited Spaine The importunat and the foole are brothers children A notable example of a pitifull Prince An answer of Cato to Ascanius The good Iudge wresteth his condition agreeable to good lawes An example for men to be intreated of other men A sugred speach A commendable eloquence Notes of Iulius Cesar of Alexander the great The order of the knights of the