minister vnto vs the matter of those pleasures which we seek And as we haue said that molestation goeth before vaine and vnruly delight so doth displeasure and griefe follow as if it should finally resolue into his first principle and beginning The feare whereof diminisheth part of the hope a man might haue to liue stil contented disturbeth the ioy which he feeleth in his vnruly pleasures and delights But to those pleasures and delights which accompany vertue which are pleasures of such a kind as they neuer carry with them any displeasure or annoyance at all wheras the other that are vnruly beginne with pleasure and end with bitter paine And this moued Aristotle to say that the right iudgment of those pleasures is to be made at their farewell not at their comming for that they leaue behind them euermore sadnes and repentance So said Theocritus that he that stroue to fulfill his pleasures and delights prepared to himself matter of perpetual griefe and sorow There was a Sophist called Ileus who though he had spent his youth wantonly in pleasures yet he so called himselfe home when he was come to riper yeeres that he neuer after suffered any vaine delights to tickle him neither beauty of women nor sweetnes of meates nor any other such pleasures to draw him from a sober and temperate life To which sobrietie and temperance of life Licurgus being desirous to draw the Lacedemonians by his lawes he forbad them all those things that might turne their minds frō manly thoughts and make them soft and effeminate for he said that wanton pleasures were the flatterers of the mind And as flatterers by their deuices and arts draw men that giue eare vnto them besides themselues as hath bin already declared so pleasures through their sweetnesse corrupt the sense together with the mind to whom they are the ministers And Agesilaus being once asked what good the lawes of Lycurgus had done to Sparta Marry sayd he they haue brought our men to despise those delights which might haue made them to be no men There are so many wise and graue sayings to this purpose that to repeate them all the day would be too short It may therefore suffice what is already sayed and confirmed by the cōsent of all the wise mē in the world to shew you manifestly that the true proper end of man is not to be atchieued by this sensual kind of life And since that which is truly proper to any thing cannot be common with any other as to laugh is so proper to man as no other creature can laugh but he and pleasure is common to other creatures besides man therefore it cannot in any wise be proper to him It cannot be gainesaid with any reason said my Lord Primate and therefore no doubt but euery man ought to apply himselfe to follow that which is most proper to his owne nature for that is his best and pittie it is and maruell eke to see such numbers that neither for loue of vertue nor feare of God will frame themselues to a good and comendable course of life but follow their vaine delights and pleasures insatiably Pittie indeed it is said I but no great maruell because perfect iudgements are rare and many there be who though they know the truth of things yet suffer themselues to be caried away with apparances For their delight proposing to them certaine figures or images of what is good and faire they are content to be deceiued and to become bondslaues to their senses or rather charmed by them as by some witch or inchantresse and by them to be guided But this notwithstanding I must aduertise you that I haue not so absolutely spoken against pleasures that you should therefore inferre that vertues should be without their pleasures also For albeit pleasure be not vertue nor yet mans true good yet doth it follow vertue euen as the shadow followeth the bodie And though vertues haue difficulties and trauels before they be gotten yet when they are gotten pleasure is the inseparable companion vnto them not such as keepeth company with lasciuious and wanton affections and is soone conuerted to griefe and repentance but a delight that is permanent and stable insomuch as some of very good iudgement haue thought there is no pleasure worthy the name of delight but that which proceedeth from vertue and maketh our actions perfect For this cause did Aristotle say that most perfect was that delight which was comprehended by the most perfect part of the soule which is the vnderstanding And this delight is so perfectly perfect in God that he is far from any annoyance or molestation for delight is not in God a passion as in vs our delights are which neuer come to vs without molestation it being as hath bin said the begining of them Therfore the pleasures of the mind are esteemed so much the more perfect as the vnderstanding is more perfect then the sense which vnderstanding delighteth onely in that pleasure that is accompanied with honestie and this pleasure he esteemed to be so excellēt that he wished some new excellent name to be found for the same But we hauing no other name to giue it call it by similitude with that name which is fit for the delightfullest thing that the senses can yeeld vs and therefore we call as well the imperfect delight of the senses as that most perfect of the vnderstanding by the name of pleasure though the one of them consist in extremes which is vicious and the other in the meane where vertues haue their place Here Captaine Norreis spake saying We haue heard you sundrie times say that vertues consist in the meane betweene two extremes but how that meane is to be found you haue not yet declared to vs therefore I pray you let vs be made acquainted with the way to compas the same that we may learne to take hold of vertue and not be deceiued with the false semblance thereof to fall into vice This meane said I is found when a man doth what he ought to do when time serueth in maner as he should for such as becommeth him to do and for causes honest and conueniet And whosoeuer setteth this rule to himselfe in all his actions which being so conditioned shall be farre off from the extremes and neere vnto vertue Yea said Captaine Norreis this is soone said but not so soone done for it is not so easie a matter to hitte vpon these conditions but that a man may more easily misse them But since by your words neither delight alone nor profit onely can worke humane felicitie it should seeme the qualitie and trade of the world considered that it may well be gathered that they which haue them both linked together are worthy to be esteemed happie since plenty of wealth may yeeld them all their desires and fulfill their delights And this haply may be the cause why Kings and Princes are so accounted in this life Of the happinesse or
A DISCOVRSE OF CIVILL LIFE Containing the Ethike part of Morall Philosophie Fit for the instructing of a Gentleman in the course of a vertuous life By LOD BR Virtute summa Caetera Fortunâ ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed for EDVVARD BLOVNT 1606. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HIS SINGVLAR GOOD LORD ROBERT Earle of Salisbury Vicount Cranborne Lord Cecill Baron of Essenden Principall Secretarie to his Maiestie Knight of the most noble order of the Garter c. THis booke treating of the Morall vertues being now to come vnder the censure of the world doth summon me of it self to craue protection from your Lordships honorable fauour as the personage who knowing best their worth may best protect him from the iniury of any that should attempt to carpe the same And my priuate obligations for your manifold fauours among which the great benefite of my libertie and redeeming from a miserable captiuitie euer fresh in my remembrance doth make me hope not onely of your Honors willingnesse to patronize both my selfe and my labour but also that you wil be pleased therein to accept of the humble and deuoted affection wherwith most reuerently I present it vnto your Lordshippe Vouchsafe therefore my most honored good Lord to yeeld me the comfort of so gracious an addition to your former fauors and benefits and to giue to all the yong Gentlemen of England encouragement to embrace willingly that good which they may receiue by reading a booke of so good a subiect the title whereof bearing in front your noble name shall giue them cause to think it worthy to be passed with the approbation of your graue iudgement VVhich being the most desired frute of my endeuour I will acknowledge as none of the least of your great graces and euer rest Your Lordships most bounden and humbly deuoted LOD BRYSKETT TO THE GENTLE and discreet Reader RIght well saith the Wise man that there is nothing new vnder the Sunne and further that there is no end of writing books For howsoeuer in a generalitie the subiect of any knowledge be declared yet the particulars that may be gathered out of the same be so many as new matter may be produced out of the same to write thereof againe so great is the capacitie of mans vnderstanding able to attaine further knowledge then any reading can affoord him And therefore Horace also affirmeth that it is hard to treate of any subiect that hath not bene formerly handled by some other Yet do we see dayly men seeke partly by new additions and partly with ornaments of stile to out-go those that haue gone before them which haply some atchieue but many moe rest farre behind This hath bred the infinitenesse of bookes which hath introduced the distinction of good from bad vsed in best Common-weales to prohibite such as corrupt manners and to giue approbation to the good For that the simpler sort by the former drinke their bane in steed of medicine and in lieu of truth the proper obiect of mans vnderstanding they introduce falshood decked in truths ornaments to delude the vnheedful Reader Whereas on the other side the benefite which we receiue by the reading of good books being exceeding great they deserue commendation that offer their endeuours to the benefiting of others with books of better matter Which hath made me resolue to present vnto thy view this discourse of Morall Philosophie tending to the wel ordering and composing of thy mind that through the knowledge and exercise of the vertues therein expressed thou mayst frame thy selfe the better to attaine to that further perfection which the profession of a Christian requireth and that euerlasting felicitie which assisted with Gods grace neuer refused to them that humbly and sincerely call for the same thou mayst assuredly purchase As my meaning herein is thy good chiefly so let thy fauourable censure thankfully acknowledge my labor and goodwil which may moue me to impart after vnto thee another treating of the Politike part of Morall Philosophie which I haue likewise prepared to follow this if I shall find the fauourable acceptation hereof such as may encourage me thereunto The booke written first for my priuate exercise and meant to be imparted to that honorable personage qui nobis haec otia fecit hath long layne by me as not meaning he being gone to communicate the same to others But partly through the perswasion of friends and partly by a regard not to burie that which might profit many I haue bin drawne to consent to the publishing thereof Gather out of it what good thou canst and whatsoeuer thou mayst find therein vnperfect or defectiue impute charitably to my insufficiencie and weaknesse and let not small faults blemish my trauell and desire to benefite thee But say to thy selfe with that worthy bright light of our age Sir Philip Sidney Let vs loue men for the good is in them and not hate them for their euill Farewell A DISCOVRSE CONTAINING THE ETHICKE PART OF MORALL PHILOSOPHIE FIT TO INstruct a Gentleman in the course of a vertuous life Written to the right Honorable ARTHVR late Lord Grey of Wilton By LOD BRYSKETT WHen it pleased you my good Lord vpon the decease of maister Iohn Chaloner her Maiesties Secretarie of this State which you then gouerned as Lord Deputie of this Realme to make choice of me to supply that place and to recommend me by your honorable letters to that effect I receiued a very sufficient testimonie of your good opinion and fauourable inclination towards me And albeit your intention and desire in that behalfe tooke not effect whether through my vnworthinesse or by the labour and practise of others yet because your testimonie was to me instar multorum Iudicum and because that repulse serued you as an occasion to do me after a greater fauor I haue euermore sithens caried a continual desire to shew my selfe thankfull to your Lordship For when at my humble sute you vouchsafed to graunt me libertie without offence to resigne the office which I had then held seuen yeares as Clerke of this Councell and to withdraw my selfe from that thanklesse toyle to the quietnes of my intermitted studies I must needes confesse I held my selfe more bound vnto you therefore then for all other the benefits which you had bestowed vpon me and all the declarations of honorable affection whereof you had giuen me many testimonies before And therefore being now freed by your Lordships meane from that trouble and disquiet of mind and enioying from your speciall fauour the sweetnesse and contentment of my Muses I haue thought it the fittest meanes I could deuise to shew my thankfulnes to offer to you the first fruites that they haue yeelded me as due vnto you from whom onely I acknowledge so great a good That they will be acceptable vnto you I make no doubt were it but in regard of the true and sincere affection of the giuer who in admiring and reuerencing your vertues giueth place to no
the last to be put in execution And as when it is brought to perfection it beareth the name of effect so is it the cause that moueth all other to bring it to effect And therefore to treate of that end which is now the motion inducing vs to discourse hereupon we must come to the first principles which may be the causes to bring a man to this end In which respect it were needfull for me first to speake of the generation of man since as all seeds bring forth their fruit like to themselues so falleth it out for the most part in men for such as are the father and the mother such are most commonly the children I should likewise declare how he that wil be a commendable father ought to haue a speciall care not of himselfe onely for him we wil suppose to be a man endewed with all the ornaments required for a wel composed body and mind but of the mother also For albeit she receiue the seed of generation from the man yet howsoeuer it be the children when they be once conceiued take their nourishment from the mother and in her wombe vntill the time of their birth whereby we see the children very often to retaine the vices of the mother Also that in regard hereof euery man that intendeth to take a wife ought to be very carefull in the choice of her so that she may not be base of parentage vitious wanton deformed lame or otherwise imperfect or defectiue but well borne vertuous chaste of tall and comely personage and well spoken to the end that of father and mother by kind gentle vertuous modest and comely of shape and proportion like children may betweene them be brought forth For frō wise men hath proceeded that warning to men that such wiues they should chuse as they wished to haue their children And Archidamus King of Sparta was condemned by his citizens to pay a fine for hauing taken to wife a woman of very low stature because said they she is like to bring vs forth no kings but dandiprats Thereby declaring how they accounted no small part of the maiestie of a king to consist in the comely presence and stature of his body and not without cause For it is written that the goodly shew and apparance of a man is the first thing worthy soueraigntie But because in the request made to me I am required to begin onely at his birth I thinke it shall suffice if I declare vnto you in what maner he ought to be nourished and brought vp and instructed till he come to such ripe yeares and iudgement as he may rule himselfe and be his owne guide to direct all his actions to that same end which in all humane things is the last and best Neuertheles before I begin therewith I would haue you to vnderstand that the first gift which the father bestoweth on the son after he is borne is his name by which he is all his life time to be called Which name is to be wished may be decent and fit so as it may seeme the life of the child is marked with a signe or pronostication of good hap and of being framed to the course of vertue for some are of opinion that the name oftentimes presageth the qualities and conditions of the child And therefore they are not to be commended that name their children by the names of brute beasts as in some countries is vsed where the names of Leo of Orso of Astore of Pardo of Cane and such like are in vse as if their desire were that their children should resemble those wild and bruite beasts in their conditions Let men therfore in Gods name be intitled with names meet for men and such as may signifie or carry with them dignitie or rather holinesse and religion and leaue to bruite beasts their owne possesion Then said sir Robert Dillon before you proceed any further I pray you let vs vnderstand whether that point be cleare or no of the nourishing all manner of children For among Lycurgus his lawes there was one whereby it was ordained that such children as were borne vnperfect in any part of their bodies crooked mis-shapen of ill aspect should not onely not be fostered vp but also be throwne downe from the top of a high rocke as creatures condemned by God and nature in their conception and so marked by them to the end that men might know that such if they were through ignorance bred nourished were likely to bring harme and ruine to the houses and common-wealths wherein they should liue Let vs therfore heare your authors opinion concerning that law There is no doubt said I but that such was the opinion of Lycurgus and such his law though cruell and vniust Neuertheles though the felicitie of man be a perfection of all the good gifts of body and mind and he that is so borne cannot indeed be properly termed happie in the highest degree of worldly happines yet much more prudently haue those wise men determined who say that the imperfections of mens bodies which are borne with them are not to be imputed to them as hurtful or shamefull because it is not in their power to auoid them And who is he that can be so hard hearted as to slay an infant so cruelly onely because nature hath shaped him vnperfect in any of his lims The mind of any good man abhorreth to thinke such a thing much more to put it in execution Indeed replied sir Robert Dillon pittie ought alwaies to be before the eyes of al men as a thing natural to them and without which they are vnworthy the name of humanitie yet must not this pittie extend so farre for any particular compassion as thereby to confound the vniuersall order of things The pittie which Hecuba had of Paris as Poets haue taught vs was the cause that Troy was burnt and Priamus with all his worthy family destroyed which things say they had neuer happened if contrary to the directiō of the Gods who by her dreame forewarned her of those euils she had not saued him If then it were true as Lycurgus affirmed that the markes or tokens so brought into the world by children from their mothers wombe should foretell such to be likely to bring ruine or calamitie to their cities or countries were it not better that he that is so brone should rather die in his cradle then be nourished to become the ouerthrow and desolation of a whole people We know that by the opinion of the wisest it is expedient rather one should die to saue a multitude then by sparing his life a number should perish That opinion sayd I is not vnworthy wise men but it is deepely to be considered and their meaning to be looked into for so shall we find no such sense therein as you inferre for those men spake not of children newly borne who are not able either by speech or deed to giue any signe or token whereby it may be gathered
the which can be no vertue Neither he that by rage and furie suffered himselfe to be transported to attempt any danger since there can be no vertue where reason guideth not the mind And for this cause wilde beasts though they be terrible and fierce by nature cannot be termed valiant because they being stirred onely by naturall fiercenesse wanting reason do but follow their instinct as do the Lions Tygers Beares and such other like Neuertheles he denied not but that anger might accōpany fortitude for that it is rather a help vnto it then any let or impediment so long as reason did temper them and that it serued but for a spurre to pricke men forward in the defence of iust and honest causes Moreouer he declared vnto his scholer that there is a kind of fortitude that hath no need of any such spurre of anger which kind concerned the bearing of grieuous and displeasing accidents and the moderating of a mans selfe in happie and prosperous successes And this is that blessed vertue which neuer suffereth a man to fall from the height of his minde being called by some men patience who will not onely haue her to be a vertue separate from the foure principall vertues but also that she should be aboue them But this opinion of theirs is not well grounded since in truth she is but a branch of fortitude through which as Virgil sayth men beare stoutly all iniuries whether they proceed from wicked persons or from the inconstancie and changeablenesse of fortune but remaineth alwayes inuincible and constant against all the crosses thwarts and despites of fortune This vertue is fitly described by Cicero where he saith that it is a voluntary and constant bearing of things grieuous and difficult for honesties sake And in the Scriptures it is said that it is better for a man to beare with inuincible courage such things then to be otherwise valiant or to hazard himself how where when it is fit For who so beareth stoutly aduersities deserueth greater commendation and praise then they which ouercome their enemies or by force win cities or countries or otherwise defend their owne because he ouercometh him selfe and mastereth his owne affects and passions Hauing respect to these things this wise schoole-master shewed his disciple that the valiant man was like a square solid body as is the die whereunto Aristotle also agreeth which in what sort soeuer it be throwne euer standeth vpright so he being still the same man which way soeuer the world frame with him or the malice and enuie of wicked men or the freakes of fortune tosse him which fortune some call the Queene of worldly accidents though as a blind cause she alwayes accompanieth her selfe with ignorance Moreouer he added that hope of gaine or profit ought not to moue a man to put his life in apparant danger for if it chanced as often it doth that the hope began to quaile forthwith courage failed withall and the enterprise was abandoned because vaine conceiued hope and not free choice of vertue had guided him A thing which neuer happeneth to them that in honest causes hazard their liues For though any vnexpected terror chance vnto them so as on the sudden they cannot deliberate what were best to do yet euen by habite which they haue made in the vertue of fortitude they loose not their courage but the more difficult and fearefull the accident appeareth the more stoutly will they resist and oppose themselues against the same Likewise he declared to him that it was not true fortitude when men not knowing what the danger was which they entred into did vndertake any perillous enterprise for it must be iudgement and not ignorance that shall stirre men to valorous attempts Neither yet that they were to be esteemed properly valiant who like wilde sauage beasts moued by rage and fury sought reuenge and to hurt them that had prouoked them to wrath for such were transported by passion and not guided by reason Last of all he concluded that he was iustly to be accounted a man of valour who feared not euerie thing that was perillous yet of some things would be afraid So as true fortitude should be a conuenient mean betweene rashnesse and fearefulnesse the effect whereof was to be ready and hardie to vndertake dangerous actions in such time place and maner as befitted a man of vertue and for such causes as reason commanded him so to do and because the doing thereof was honest and commendable and the contrary was dishonest and shamefull All these points did this worthy schoolmaster seeke to imprint in the yong Princes mind that he might become stout and haughtie of courage to the end that he who was borne to rule and commaund might not through any sudden or vnlooked for accidents be daunted with feare or become base and cowardly minded nor yet by ouermuch rashnesse or furie waxe fierce and cruell but with mild yet awfull behauiour gouerne and commaund the people subject vnto him These were the seeds of vertue which these wise and worthy masters did cast into the tender mindes of those yong Princes from whence as out of a fertile soile they hoped to reape in their riper yeares fruite answerable to their labour and trauell And this is all said I that this author hath discoursed vpon this matter and as much I suppose as is needfull for the education of children till they come to yeares of more perfection wherein they may begin to guide themselues And then sir Robert Dillon who as well as the rest had giuen a very attentine eare to the whole discourse sayd Truly these were right good and worthy documents and meete to traine a Prince vp vertuously neither could any other then a glorious issue be expected of so vertuous principles and education And though this diligence and care were fitting for so high an estate as the son of a mightie monarke yet hath the declaration therof bin both pleasing and profitable to this companie and may well serue for a patterne to be followed by priuate gentlemen though not with like circumstances since the same vertues serue as well for the one as for the other to guide them the way to that ciuill felicitie whereof our first occasion of this dayes discourse began But euening now hasting on and the time summoning vs to draw homeward we will for this present take our leaues of you hauing first giuen you harty thanks for our friendly entertainment especially for this part thereof whereby with your commendable trauell in translating so good and so necessary a worke you haue yeelded vs no small delight but much more profite which I am bold to say as well for all the companie as for my selfe whereunto they all accorded But said the Lord Primate we must not forget one point of your speech which was that you tied vs to a condition of three dayes assembly that as the author had deuided his work into three dialogues so we should giue
to know that which is necessary for them to know In which respect it is determined that who so for want of knowing this generalitie will do amisse should be esteemed wicked by his owne free wil and election Seneca said very fitly that such men did in the mids of the cleere light make darknes to themselues And this is that ignorance which Plato calleth the defiling of the soul Let vs suppose that there may be one that knoweth not adultery to be sin or vice and that in ignorance committeth adultery shal we say he deserueth to be excused God forbid for he is cause of his owne ignorance since it is in his power and in the power of all reasonable men to know what is fit and honest for vertuous life and that the same is made knowne as well by Gods law as by the ordinances and customes of man to all those that will not wittingly hood-winke themselues Wherefore it is a wilfull sin committed by free election and worthy punishment as a voluntary offence And S. Augustine sayed not without cause that all ignorance was not worthy pardon but onely that of such men as had no meanes to attaine knowledge or learning but they that haue teachers to instruct them and for want of studie and diligence abide in their ignorance and so do euill are not onely vnworthy excuse but deserue also sharpe punishment So in another place he sayth that no man is punished for that which naturally he knowes not as the child for that he cannot speake or because he cannot reade But when he will not set his mind to learne as he ought being of yeeres and vrged thereunto he deserueth to be chastised because it is in euery mans power to be able to learne all that is necessary for him to know how to liue well and what things are to be embraced as good and what to be eschewed as euill and he that will not learne them remaineth wilfully in his ignorance Yea but if I should chance said Captaine Dawtrey to be abroade with my bow and arrowes and perceiuing somewhat to stirre in a bush should shoote thereat supposing it to be a Deere or some other game and should so kill my wife that were hidden there as Cephalus did should not my ignorance in that case excuse me This case said I appertaineth to the second part of ignorance already spoken of which is about the circumstances of the particular things the ignorance whereof deserueth excuse and so should this But this ignorance should become wilfull wickednesse if when you saw you had slaine your wife intending to kill a Deere you were not heartily sory therefore but rather glad to be so rid of her and so farre should you then be from excuse that you should deserue to be seuerely punished for the fact Much like to the case of Cephalus was that of Adrastus but more miserable in slaying of Atys the sonne of Croesus King of Lidia For Croesus hauing giuen in charge to Adrastus his sonne and they being one day gone to hunt a great wild Bore that did great harme in the countrey accompanied with many yong gentlemen of Lidia whiles the Bore was rushing forth Adrastus threw a dart at him and Atys comming by chance in the way the dart hit him and slew him Now though Atys were the only sonne of Croesus and were slaine by the hand of him that had him in charge yet finding that it was done by meere mischance and through ignorance and knowing how grieuously Adrastus sorrowed for the same he not onely freed him of any punishment therefore but frankly pardoned him And the repentance of the fact might haue sufficed the doer but he ouercome with extreme griefe slew himselfe at the funerall of the dead young Prince being vnable to beare with a stout courage the anguish and vexation of minde that his mishappe did breed him But this shewed Adrastus to be rather faint-hearted and weake of minde then otherwise for the purchasing of death to auoyde griefe or any other annoyance of the mind is not the part of a valorous and couragious man as the best among the ancient Philosophers haue alwaies held And because we know by the rule of Christ that it is no matter disputable it needeth not that thereof any further words be made You say well said my Lord Primate and I know that Aristotle is of minde that it is a vile act for a man to kill himselfe to auoyde ignominie or afflictions But to omit the iudgement of the auncient Romanes who held it the part of a stout heart for a man to kill himselfe rather then to suffer shame or seruitude as we reade that Cato did and Cassius and Brutus yet it seemeth that Plato whom your author determined to follow as well as Aristotle maketh Socrates in his dialogue intituled Phoedon to say that a Philosopher ought not to kill himselfe vnlesse God lay a necessitie of doing it vpon him Out of which words it may well be gathered he thought that not onely the common sort but euen Philosophers themselues when necessitie constraineth them might ridde themselues of their life That place said I is aduisedly to be examined for Socrates there meant not that any man willingly should lay violent hands vpon himselfe but if there be no remedy but that die he must and that diuers kindes of deaths are proposed vnto him he may chuse that kind which is lesse noysome to him or lesse grieuous as Socrates chose to die with the iuice of hemlocks and Seneca by the opening of his veines You may haply conster that meaning out of that place said my Lord Primate but what will you say to that which is in his bookes of the Common-weale where he writeth that a man sicke of any grieuous or long infirmitie when he shall see himselfe out of hope to procure remedie he should then make an end of his life To that place I say quoth I that it is to be considered how Plato sought to frame his Common-wealth in such sort as it should be rather diuine then humane and therfore as the citizens of the heauenly Common-wealth liue in continuall happinesse and contentment without feeling any annoyance or molestation at all euen so was his purpose that the citizens of his Common-wealth should haue no grieuance paine or molestation among them but in an ordinary humane Common-wealth he would not haue set downe any such precept You haue salued that sore reasonable well also sayed my Lord Primate though there might be obiections made against your answer But how will another place of his be defended which is in his booke of Lawes where he sayth that whosoeuer hath committed any offence in the highest degree and findeth that he hath not power to abstaine from the like eftsoones ought to rid himselfe out of the world The answer to that said I is easie for Plato his meaning therein is that whosoeuer is wickedly giuen and of so euill example as there is
and the next morning coming downe he found his dogge lying in the hall and looking somewhat angerly vpon him he spoke these words Ah thou sheepbiter thou sheepbiter thou must be hanged and so indeed had purposed with himselfe to haue had him executed But whiles he was busied in some household affaires the dog stole out of doores and ran away so as when his master gaue order how he should be hanged he was no where to be found And these circumstances of the tale I haue the rather related that you may wonder at the vnderstanding of this beast Now for his gratitude thus it fell out Some two yeeres after or lesse that he was thus runne away to escape hanging it was the gentlemans chance vpon some occasions to trauell on foote through the countrey and in a certaine wood fit for such purposes he met two tinkers that set vpon him suddenly to rob him these two tinkers had with them a mastiffe that caried their packes as many in England do which dog when in the fight for the gentleman defended himselfe manfully he had knowne either by his voice or otherwise his old master he ranged himselfe to his partie and set vpon his latter masters so fiercely that they lost their courages and being wounded ran away and then the gentleman also refigured his old seruant by whose meanes he was deliuered from so great a danger and so tooke home his dog again who had in the meane time forgone his naughtie qualitie and was euer after much made of by his master as he right well deserued How shamefull a thing is it therefore to man that brute beasts should giue him examples of gratitude and he cōtrariwise on whom God hath bestowed so great a gift as reason to discerne the good from the bad should rather follow the example of the worst sort of beasts in doing ill then of such as by naturall instinct shew him the way to goodnesse For the vngratefull man is of the nature of the wolfe of whom it is written that being suckled when it was yong by an Ewe when it grew great in recompence of his nourishment he deuoured her declaring that the wickednes of the vnthankfull person cannot be ouercome by any benefits be they neuer so great But of this abhominable vice we haue said enough and more then needed but that I was willing to giue you to vnderstand how farre it ought to be from him that is vertuous and would be raysed to the reputation of a magnanimous man of whom returning to speake thus much is to be added that he vseth himselfe and all his abilitie euermore with greatnesse of courage spending when occasion serueth magnifically in workes worthy admiration and in helping of others honorably Towards all men he is courteous gentle and affable neuer giuing occasion of offence or mislike in his conuersation such due regard he hath to place time persons and other circumstances so as he neuer doth anything vnseemely or vnworthy himselfe And so he tempereth pleasantnesse with grauitie benignitie with dignitie that to the humble he neuer seemeth proud nor to the great ones neuer base or demisse but valewing him neither more nor lesse then he is worth insisteth still vpon truth discouering himselfe modestly and decently as he is indeed a man of vertue and with graue yet gentle speeches giuing satisfaction to all persons of what degree soeuer And finally in all his actions and behauior he taketh great heed that he commit not any thing whereby he may haue cause to die his cheeke with the purple blush but euermore deserue of all men praise and commendation If I should not interrupt or prolong your discourse too much I would be glad said Captaine Norreis to learne what is the cause that shamefastnesse maketh the red colour come into a mans face and that feare doth make him pale The reason is said I because shamefastnes springeth in vs for some thing that we thinke blame-blame-worthy and the minde finding that what is to be reprehended in vs commeth from abroade it seeketh to hide the fault committed and to auoide the reproch thereof by setting that colour on our face as a maske to defend vs withall And albeit that shamefastnesse or blushing seeme to be a certaine still confession of the fault yet it carieth with it such a grace as passeth not without commendation specially in youth as hath bin said But feare which proceedeth from imagination of some euill to come and is at hand maketh the mind which conceiueth it to startle and looking about for meanes of defence it calleth al the bloud into the innermost parts specially to the heart as the chiefe fort or castle whereby the exterior parts being abandoned and depriued of heate and of that colour which it had from the bloud and the spirits there remaineth nothing but palenesse And hereof it commeth to passe that we see such men as are surprised with feare to be not only pale but to tremble also as if their members would shake off from their bodies euen as the leaues fall from the tree as soone as the the cold wether causeth the sappe to be called from the branches to the roote for the preseruation of the vertue vegetatiue But such feare is vnseemly and a token of a cowardly mind and is seldom seene in men of valour For they are neuer so suddenly ouertaken by any humane accident but that they are armed and know that their vertue is to be made knowne in fearfull and terrible occasions which are the very matter and subiect of their glory Neither doth fortune with her smiling so assure thē but that they look for her frowning countenance to follow and therefore in prosperity prepare thēselues for aduersity whereby when others fal vnder her strokes they not only feare her not but couragiously fight against her ouercome her Yet you must vnderstand that euery sort of feare is not reprochfull for that feare which withholdeth men from doing euill or things that may breed them shame is worthy cōmendatiō which made Xenophon to say that he was most fearful to do any thing that was dishonest And much more commendable is that feare which groweth from the reuerence and respect we beare to God to our parents and our superiours for that leades a man to goodnes whereas the other bringeth a man to all euill and wickednesse And now hauing satisfied your demaund let me briefly runne through the rest of the vertues before mentioned in their order Next therefore to Magnanimitie cometh the goodly vertue of Mansuetude being a meane betweene wrathfulnesse with desire of reuenge stirred vp in the irascible appetite in respect of some iniury done or supposed to be done and coldnesse or lacke of feeling of wrongs when they are offered which coldnesse or insensibilitie of wrongs is by this vertue kindled or stirred vp to feele and mislike the iniuries which vnruly persons do oftentimes offer to men of vertue For as it is necessary vpon many