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
said he I would gladly know since he hath spoken of truth and vntruth and declared how the iniury receiued by taking the lie cannot be cancelled but by striking or chalenging the partie who gaue it whether this kind of chalenging and fighting man to man vnder the name of Duellum which is vsed now a dayes among souldiers and men of honour and by long custome authorized to discharge a man of an iniury receiued or for want of proofes in sundry causes be ancient or no whether it concerne honor or no and whether it appertaine to ciuill life and that felicitie which we are discoursing vpon or no You haue said I moued your question very right and to the purpose which to answer at full would require along speech so deepe rootes like an ill weed haue the opinions of men taken concerning the same in this our age which to cut downe or roote vp many sithes and howe 's would scarce suffice But as briefly as may be you shall be satisfied in part and he will make it appeare vnto you that the reasons which are set downe in defence of this foolish custome and wicked act are false and absurd And first of all you shall heare him say that this maner of combatting which through the corruption of the world hath taken strength and is permitted of some Princes is nothing auncient at all For in histories it is not to be found that for reuenge of iniury for want of proofes for points of honour or for any such like causes this wicked and vnlawfull kinde of fight was euer graunted or allowed in auncient time For when any difference or controuersie fell out among men of honor which might concerne their credit and reputation for matter of valor they neuer tried the quarrell by combat betweene themselues but stroue to shew which of them was most worthy honor by making their valour well knowne in fight against their common enemies as in Caesars Commentaries we haue a notable example And the singular fights or combats that are mentioned in the Greeke or Latine histories or fained by the Poets happened euermore betweene enemies of contrary nations or otherwise in time of publike warre though perhaps the quarrell might be priuat betweene some of the chiefe men of both camps as betweene Turnus and Aeneas Paris and Menelaus Turnus labouring that Aeneas might not haue Lauinia to his wife and Menelaus seeking to recouer his wife whom Paris had taken from him Or else they fought for the publike quarrell one to one or more in number on each side for preuenting of greater bloodshed as did the Horatij and the Curiatij before Rome Or by the ordinance of some publike games as those called Pithij and Olimpici among the Greeks and those called Circenses among the Romanes whether they were celebrated in honour of their Gods or at the funerals of their dead or for other causes In which games or spectacles were produced certaine men named by the Romanes Gladiatores and by the Greeks Monomachi to fight together the first inuention wherof appeareth to haue come from the people of Mantinea But other priuate combats for causes aboue mentioned was neuer so much as heard of among them much lesse receiued or allowed in their common-weales which were well ordered and maintained by honest and vertuous lawes The name of Duellum was giuen by the Latins not to singular fight betweene man and man but to the generall warre betweene two nations or States as may be seene by Plautus Horace Liuie and other authors And as for them that say the name of Duellum was vnproperly applied to an vniuersal warre they are not to be heard or beleeued because they that so vsed it were the fathers of the Latine tongue who knew better the proprietie of the words of their owne language then these fellowes now do But rather they are to be blamed for wresting that auncient name to so wicked a fight which they rightly gaue to the generall warre allowed by the lawes and by all ciuil and politike constitutions The Primate who had bin attentiue to this speech said as concerning the Latins it is true that hath bin alledged but it seemeth the Greeks knew very well this combat as may be gathered by the word Monomachia which signifieth the fight of one man against another And I remember Plato in his dialogue intituled Laches maketh mention of this same singular fight which sheweth that in his dayes the combat of body to body was knowne and vsed Two things said I the author hath said the one that this sort of battell or fight which is now in vse and called Duellum was not knowne to the ancient Greeks nor Romanes in their wel-ordered Common-weales and that therefore they gaue no such name vnto the same the other that the Romanes gaue that name of Duellum to the publike warre betweene two people or nations being enemies But that the Greeks gaue not the name of Monomachia to those singular fights which were vsed among them that hath he not said But though the name of Monomachia were vsed among them yet was it not meant of this kind of combat which we speake but of that onely which was sometimes vsed in their publike games and spectacles or else might fall out sometimes accidentally in their warres And that same place of Plato which you haue alledged doth sufficiently declare it For if my memory faile me not he saith there that when the generall battell ceaseth and that it is requisite either to fight with them that resist or to repulse those that would assault in such a case the Monomachia or fight of man to man was meet to end all strife Which word of Monomachia neuertheles I remember not to be vsed by Aristotle in any place of all his works from whom neuertheles these men that defend this folly seeme to fetch their arguments as hereafter I shall declare But by this you may perceiue that the vse of Monomachia was a fight betweene two men in their publike games and shewes not for priuate quarrell or hatred nor for want of proofes or for points of honour And further I will say that in well ordered martiall discipline and warres lawfully enterprised after the fury of the battell was ceased it was not lawfull to kill or hurt the publike enemy Which thing is cleerly set foorth by Xenophon in the person of Chrisantas who although he had cast downe his enemy and fastned hold in the haire of his head ready to haue stricken it off yet hearing the trumpet sound the retreit forbare to strike him but let him go holding it not fit to offend his enemy after the time of fight was past signified by the retreit sounding This sort of fight was likewise suffered against publike enemies by the Romanes when their state flourished For we reade in their histories of sundry that haue in the warres fought hand to hand with their enemies but yet could not the Romane souldier though
and accounted cruell what praise or commendation can be iustly giuen to two gentlemen of one citie or country that fight together with purpose to kill one another whereas then the circumstances aboue mentioned make the vniuersall warre iust and lawfull this wicked kind of priuate fight or combat is voyde of them all and cannot therefore be but most vniust and vnlawfull With like wrong do they also labour to make it seeme commendable affirming that men thereby shew their valour and fortitude For valour or fortitude being a principall vertue how can it haue place in so vniust and so vnnaturall an action proceeding onely from anger rage fury and rashnes Finally these men that will needs haue Aristotle to be their warrant might if they list see that he in his Ethikes where he directeth man vnto vertue and to ciuill felicitie putteth not among those whom he calleth fortes or men of valour such men as are delighted in reuenge but giueth them the title of warlike or bellicosi And in the same bookes he sayth that whosoeuer doth any thing contrary to the lawes is to be accounted vniust And I pray you what can be more directly contrary to the lawes then this kind of combat or priuate fight And if by taking iustice from the world all vertue must needs decay because she is the preseruer and defender of vertue how can this so excellent a vertue of fortitude be in them that despising the lawes and the magistrates and neglecting all religion and good of their cuntrey and weale publike do practise this wicked combat Moreouer they perceiue not that Aristotle in his Ethikes from whence the rules of ciuill life are to be drawne and not from his Rhetorikes out of which these men fetch their doutie arguments because elsewhere they can find none for their purpose saith that to fight for cause of honour is no act of fortitude Whereupon ensueth that such as come to the combat vpon points of honour as men do now a dayes for the most part make not any shew of their fortitude but onely of their strength and abilitie of body and of their courage whereas true fortitude is to vse these gifts well and honestly according to reason And what honestie or reason can there be in this so mischieuous and wicked a fight which neuertheles these men so farre allow and commend as they are not ashamed to say moued surely by some diuellish spirit that a man for cause of honour may arme himselfe against his country the respect whereof is and euer was so holy yea euē against his father and with cursed hands violate his person vnto whom next after God he must acknowledge his life and being and what else soeuer he hath in this world This cannot be but a most pestiferous opinion and a speech hardly to be beleeued could come out of the diuels owne mouth of hell who though he be the author of all euill yet scarce thinke I that he durst father so abhominable a conceit or sentence But it is a world to see how solemnly men wil become starke mad when they once vndertake to defend a mad cause For to make their frantike fancie to seeme reasonable they vtter such absurdities as are not only detestable to mē but euē bruite beasts also abhorre For among beasts many there are that by naturall instinct not onely feare and respect their begetters but do also nourish them diligently when they are waxen old and not able to purchase foode for themselues repaying thankfully the nouriture which themselues receiued whiles they were yong as it is certainly knowne the Storke doth But here to colour their assertions they say that so ought children to do to their parents and citizens to their country so long as the one ceaseth not to be a father and the country forgetteth not her citizens a saying no lesse foolish then the other For when can that come to passe what law of nature or what ciuill constitution hath taught vs this lesson or out of what schoole of Philosophie haue they learned it what iniuries can a father or a mans country do vnto him that may make him not to acknowledge his countrey which ought to be deerer vnto him then his life or to cast off the reuerence due to his father Good God what els is this but to inuite men and as it were to stir them vp to parricide a thing odious euen to be mentioned It is no maruel therfore if such as attribute so much to points of honor wil needs defend the combat in that respect fall by Gods sufferance as men blinded of the light of naturall reason into such absurd opinions fit for senslesse men which opinions in very truth are no lesse to be condemned then wicked heresies and the authors of them worthy sharpe punishment to be inflicted vpon them by such as haue authoritie in that behalfe And this do they the rather deserue because they seeke to maske and disguise the good and commendable opinions of the best Philosophers and to wrest them in fauour of their damnable and wicked doctrine But I should digresse too far if I should say all I could to confute this impietie and these wicked writings and cruell opinions and therefore returning to our purpose of honour whereof we were speaking you may vnderstand by that which I haue already sayd that honour there is none to be gotten by the combat yet because among other things they say the combat hath bin deuised for cause of honour I must let you know that in true and sound Philosophie they that respect honour as the end of their actions are not onely vnworthy to be accounted vertuous men but deserue blame and reproch But hereof I shall haue occasion to speake more amply in a fitter place Onely this I wil now adde that no actions are commendable but those that are honest and where honestie is not there can be no honour And honestie in truth there is none as before hath bin said in such a fight contrary to all vertue odious to all lawes to all good magistrates and to God himselfe though the folly of the fauourers of this diuellish deuice seeke most wrongfully to draw the summe of all vertues to this iniustice Furthermore either the offences done to men may be auouched before Princes and magistrates in iudgement as no wrongs but lawfull acts or not If they may be so auouched and proued then a thousand combats cannot take them away neither is there any cause of combat if so wicked a custome were allowable If not then he that hath done the iniury is already dishonest and dishonored and the victorie ouer such a man in faith what honour can it purchase Plato the diuine Philosopher and Aristotle his disciple after him considering the nature of iniury and finding that it caried with it alwayes vice and reproch affirmed that it was better to receiue an iniury then to do it And Plato concludeth that he that doth iniury cannot
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
their nature inclineth them whereas we notwithstanding the vse of reason should be like bond-slaues tied to what the necessitie of destinie should bind vs vnto This was the cause why Chrysippus was worthily condemned among all the auncient Philosophers for that he held destinie to be a sempiternal and vneuitable necessitie and order of things which in maner of a chaine was linked orderly in it self so as one succeeded another and were fitly conioyned together By which description of destinie appeereth that he meant to tie all things to necessitie For albeit he affirmed withall that our mind had some working in the matter yet did he put necessitie to be so necessary that there could no way be found whereby our mind might come to haue any part For to say that our mind or will concurred by willing or not willing whatsoeuer destinie drew vs vnto was nought else but a taking away of free choice from our vnderstanding or will since our mind like a bond-slaue was constrained to will or not to will as destinie did inuite it or rather force it And like to this were the opinions of Demetrius of Parmenides and of Heraclitus who subiected all things to necessitie and deserued no lesse to be condemned then Chrysippus Prince of the Stoikes Among which some there were who seeing many things to happen by chance or fortune whereby it appeared that it could not be true that things came by necessitie lest they should denie a thing so manifest to sense they supposed the beginnings and the endings of things to be of necessitie but the meanes and circumstances they yeelded to be subiect to the changes and alterations of fortune And of this opinion was Virgil as some thinke in the conducting of Aeneas into Italie For it should seeme that he departed his country to come into Italie by fatall disposition that he might get Lauinia for his wife but before he could arriue there and winne her he was mightily tossed and turmoyled by fortune which neuerthelesse could neuer crosse him so much but that in the end he obtained his purpose which by destiny was appointed for him But howsoeuer Virgil thought in that point which here need not to be disputed sure I am that he in the greatest part of his excellent Poeme is rather a Platonike then a Stoike Howbeit some Platonikes as I thinke were not farre different in opinion from the Stoikes for they say that fortune with all her force was not able to resist fatall destinie Though Plotinus thought otherwise and indeed much better who answering them that would needs haue the influence of starres to induce necessitie prooued their reasons to be vaine onely by an ordinary thing in dayly experience which is that sundry persons borne vnder one self same constellation are seene neuerthelesse to haue diuers ends and diuers successes which they could not haue if those influences did worke their effects of necessitie And as for Epicures opinion which was that the falling of his motes or Atomi should breed necessitie in our actions he rather laughed at then confuted Yea he was further of opinion that not onely humane prudence and our free election was able to resist the influences of the starres but that also our complexiō our conuersation and change of place might do the like meaning that the good admonitions and faithfull aduice and counsell of friends is sufficient to ouercome destinie and to free our mindes from the necessitie of fatall disposition Wherefore though it be granted that there is a destinie or that the starres and heauens or the order of causes haue power ouer vs to incline or dispose vs more to one thing then to another yet is it not to be allowed that they shall force vs to follow the same inclination or disposition For though the heauens be the vniuersall principle or beginning of all things and by that vniuersalitie as I may call it the beginning of vs also according to naturall Philosophie yet is it not the onely cause of our being and of our nature for to the making man a man must concurre and so restraine this vniuersall cause to a more speciall And as the heauen or the order of higher causes cannot ingender man without a man speaking according to nature so can they do nothing to bind the free election of man without his consent who must voluntarily yeeld himselfe to accomplish that whereunto the heauen or the order of causes doth bend and incline him And if we haue power to master our complexion so as being naturally inclined to lust we may by heed and diligence become continent and being couetous become liberall though Aristotle say that couetise is as incurable a disease of the mind as the Dropsie or Ptisike is to the body what a folly is it to beleeue that we cannot resist the inclinations of the stars which are causes without vs and not the onely causes of our being but haue need of vs if they will bring forth their effects in vs The beginning of all our operation is vndoubtedly in our selues and all those things that haue the beginning of their working in themselues do worke freely and voluntarily And consequently we may by our free choise and voluntarily giue our selues to good or to euill and master the inclination of the heauens the starres or destinie which troubleth so much the braines of some that in despite of nature they will needes make themselues bond being free whom Ptolomie doth fitly reprehend by saying that the wise man ouer-ruleth the starres For well may the heauens or the stars being corporall substances haue some power ouer our bodies but ouer our mindes which are diuine simple and spirituall substances can they haue none for betweene the heauens our minds is no such correspondence that they may against our wils do ought at all in our minds which are wholy free from their influences if any they haue And therefore do the best of the Platonikes say very wel that man must oppose himselfe against his destinie fighting to ouercome the same with golden armes and weapons to wit vertues which is as Plato saith the gold of the mind For he that behaueth himselfe well that is to say ruleth wel his mind or soule which is the true man indeed as we haue formerly shewed shall neuer be abandoned to destinie or fortune against which two powers mans counsell and wisedome resisteth in such sort if he set himself resolutely thereunto as it may wel appeere that he is Lord and master ouer his owne actions Neither without cause did Tully say that fatall destinie was but a name deuised by old wiues who not knowing the causes of things as soone as any thing fell out contrary to their expectation straight imputed it to destinie ioyning thereunto such a necessitie as it must needs forsooth force mans counsell and prudence A thing most false as hath bin declared Is it not said in the Scripture that God created man and left him in the power
that all the company were wel satisfied for after some few speeches whereby they had shewed an extreme longing after his worke of the Faerie Queene whereof some parcels had bin by some of them seene they all began to presse me to produce my translation mentioned by M. Spenser that it might be perused among them or else that I should as neare as I could deliuer vnto them the contents of the same supposing that my memory would not much faile me in a thing so studied and aduisedly set downe in writing as a translation must be And albeit I alledged for mine excuse that I had done it but for mine exercise in both languages not with purpose to haue it seene nor so aduisedly as had bin needful to come vnder their censures yet would they haue no nay but without protracting time in excuses I must needs fulfill their desires and so with a courteous force they made me rise from where I sate to go fetch my papers Which being brought before them I said Loe here you may see by the manner of these loose sheetes how farre I meant this labour of mine should come to light and the confused lying of them and the blots and interlinings which you see may giue you well enough to vnderstand how hard a thing it is to haue it read before you as you pretended Besides that it is of such a bulke and volume as you may easily vnderstand it cannot in a short time be runne ouer And therefore since you haue so easily acquited M. Spenser of that charge which you all with me seemed so desirous to impose vpon him you may do wel in like courteous manner to discharge me of the like burthen that you would lay vpon me Then said sir Robert Dillon though it appeare indeed vnto vs that the lose and disorderly placing of the papers with the interlinings do make it vnfit to be read as we desired and that the often interrupting of the sense to find out and match the places would take away the best part of the delight which the subiect might yeeld vs yet because we know that you hauing translated the whole may easily with your memory supply the defects of the papers I for my part do thinke and so I suppose do the rest here present that it is no sufficient reason to free you from so profitable a labour as this whereby you may acquaint vs with those worthy conceits in our owne language which you haue in the Italian found to be so delightfull and fit to be communicated by your trauell to others Therfore if you shal not think it good to reade it vnto vs as it is set downe in the translation precisely at the least yet this we will vrge you vnto that you will be content to deliuer vnto vs the general points of the same marshalling them in their order though in the circumstances of the dialogue and persons you follow not exactly the forme of the author and our dispensation in that case shall serue to deliuer you from the blame that otherwise as an interpreter you might be subiect vnto For being done to vs and at our request we shall be your warrants notwithstanding any law or custome to the contrary Be you onely willing to gratifie vs and for the rest feare you no danger since we sit not here as in the courts to examine whether there be as well due forme as sufficient matter in bills pleadings that are brought before vs but are here to passe the time with you in honest and vertuous conuersation And the drift of our speeches hauing growne to this issue that we should spend this short space which we may be together in the discoursing vpon the Ethick part of Morall Philosophie and you hauing the subiect so ready at hand in Gods name we pray you delay vs not by losing time in friuolous excuses but begin to open to vs this treasure which you would so faine hide from our eyes Here they began all to second his speeches and so importunatly to intreate me to accomplish their desire that being no further able to say them nay I answered Since such is your will I can no longer resist you onely thus much I must protest vnto you that you are guiltie not onely of whatsoeuer fault or error I shal commit against the lawes of an interpreter but also of breach of the law of hospitalitie in ouerruling me in mine owne house And as for this I may iustly complaine of violēce yet perhaps find no redresse so if any shal find fault with me for not obseruing the precise rules of a translator let him impute the same not to me but vnto you hauing some compassion vpon me that besides being constrained to produce that which I purposed to haue kept to my selfe I am also forced to do it not according to mine owne choice but in such sort as it hath pleased you to cōpell me Well then to gaine as much time as may be I wil omit the introduction of the author to his dialogue as a thing depending vpon former matter and occasion by which the persons introduced by him are fitted for his purpose supposing this present companie to be as apt to conceiue the reasons by him set downe to make as pertinent obiections as they did I will begin euen there where he following the course of most others that haue writtē vpon that subiect maketh entry into his discourse But with this prouiso that because this day will not serue vs to runne ouer the whole you wil be content that as he hath deuided his whole work into three dialogues so we may meete here three seuerall dayes to giue euery seueral dialogue of his one day to explane the same for so much I think may well be performed euery day To which they all agreeing I tooke my loose papers in hand and began in this manner following I must now presuppose that ye whō I esteeme to be as those gentlemen introduced by this author haue likewise moued the same question which they did to wit what maner of life a gentlemā is to vndertake and propose to himselfe to attaine to that end in this world which among wisemen hath bene and is accounted the best beginning frō the day of his birth and so guiding him therein vntill he be meet to purchase the same end And likewise where any occasion of doubt or question for the better vnderstanding may happen in the discourse that some one of you desiring to be resolued therein wil demaund such questions as shal be needfull Wherein you shall find this author plentifully to satisfie your expectations not tying himselfe absolutely to follow neither Plato nor Aristotle but gathering from both and from other excellent writers besides so much as may yeeld you the greater and fuller satisfaction Giue eare therefore vnto his words THe end in all things that men do in this world is the first that is cōsidered though afterwards it be
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