Philosophie But I pray you my very good friend quoth I unto him forbeare this vehement and accusatorie humour of yours and be not angry if haply you see that some because they be borne of leud and wicked parents are punished or else doe not rejoice so much nor be ready to praise in case you see nobilitie also of birth to be so highly honored for if we stand upon this point and dare avow that recompence of vertue ought by right and reason to continue in the line and posteritie we are by good consequence to make this account that punishment likewise should not stay and cease together with misdeeds committed but reciprocally fall upon those that are descended of misdoers and malefactors for he who willingly seeth the progenie of Cimon honoured at Athens and contrariwise is offended and displeased in his heart to see the race of Lachares or Ariston banished driven out of the citie he I say seemeth to be too soft tender and passing effeminate or rather to speake more properly over-contentious and quarrelsome even against the gods complaining and murmuring of the one side if the children childrens children of an impious wicked person do prosper in the world and contrariwise is no lesse given to blame and find fault if he doe see the posterity of wicked and ungracious men to be held under plagued or altogether destroied from the face of the earth accusing the gods if the children of a naughtie man be afflicted even as much as if they had honest persons to their parents But as for these reasons alledged make you this reckoning that they be bulwarks and rampars for you opposed against such bitter sharpe accusers as these be But now taking in hand again the end as it were of a clew of thread or a bottom of yearne to direct us as in a darke place and where there be many cranks turnings and windings to and fro I meane the matter of gods secret judgements let us conduct and guide our selves gently and warily according to that which is most likely probable considering that even of those things which we daily manage and doe our selves we are not able to set downe an undoubted certaintie as for example who can yeeld a sound reason wherefore we cause and bid the children of those parents who died either of the phthisick and consumption of the lungs or of the dropsie to sit with their feet drenched in water until the dead corps be fully burned in the funeral fire For an opiniō there is that by this meanes the said maladies shall not passe unto them as hereditarie nor take hold of their bodies as also what the cause should be that if a goat hold in her mouth the herbe called Eryngites that is to say Sea-holly the whole flocke will stand still untill such time as the goat-herd come and take the said herbe out of her mouth Other hidden properties there be which by secret influences and passages from one to another worke strange effects and incredible as well speedily as in longer tract of time and in very truth we woonder more at the intermission and stay of time betweene than we doe of the distance of place and yet there is greater occasion to marvell thereat as namely that a pestilent maladie which began in Aethiopia should raigne in the citie of Athens and fill every street and corner thereof in such sort as Pericles died and Thucydides was sicke thereof than that when the Phocaeans and Sybarits had committed some hainous sins the punishment therefore should fall upon their children go through their posteritie For surely these powers and hidden properties have certaine relations and correspondences from the last to the first the cause whereof although it be unknowen to us yet it ceaseth not secretly to bring foorth her proper effects But there seemeth to be verie apparent reason of justice that publicke vengeance from above should fall upon cities many a yeere after for that a citie is one entire thing and a continued body as it were like unto a living creature which goeth not beside or out of it selfe for any mutations of ages nor in tract and continuance of time changing first into one and then into another by succession but is alwaies uniforme and like it selfe receiving evermore and taking upon it all the thanke for well doing or the blame for misdeeds of whatsoever it doth or hath done in common so long as the societie that linketh holdeth it together maintaineth her unitie for to make many yea innumerable cities of one by dividing it according to space of time were as much as to go about to make of one man many because he is now become old who before was a yong youth in times past also a very stripling or springall or else to speake more properly this resembleth the devises of Epicharmus wherupon was invented that maner of Sophisters arguing which they cal the Croissant argument for thus they reason He that long since borrowed or tooke up mony now oweth it not because he is no more himselfe but become another he that yesterday was invited to a feast cōmeth this day as an unbidden guest cōsidering that he is now another man And verily divers ages make greater difference in ech one of us than they do commonly in cities and States for he that had seene the citie of Athens thirtie yeeres agoe and came to visit it at this day would know it to be altogether the very same that then it was insomuch as the maners customes motions games pastimes serious affaires favours of the people their pleasures displeasures and anger at this present resemble wholly those in ancient time whereas if a man be any long time out of sight hardly his very familiar friend shall be able to know him his countenance will be so much changed and as touching his maners and behaviour which alter and change so soone upon every occasion by reason of all sorts of labour travell accidents and lawes there is such varietie and so great alteration that even he who is ordinarily acquainted and conversant with him would marvell to see the strangenesse and noveltie thereof and yet the man is held and reputed still the same from his nativitie unto his dying day and in like case a citie remaineth alwaies one and the selfe same in which respect we deeme it great reason that it should participate aswell the blame and reproch of ancestours as enjoy their glorie and puissance unlesse we make no care to cast all things in the river of Heraclitus into which by report no one thing entreth twise for that it hath a propertie to alter all things and change their nature Now if it be so that a citie is an united and continued thing in it selfe we are to thinke no lesse of a race and progenie which dependeth upon one and the same stocke producing and bringing foorth a certeine power and communication of qualities and the same doth
which is full of ripe understanding of considerate wisedome and of good directions and plots well and surely laied In which persons the white head and gray beard which some laugh and make good game at the crow-foot about the eies the furrowes in the forehead the rivels and wrinckles in the face besides appearing beare witnesse of long experience and adde unto them a reputation and authoritie which helpe much to perswade and to draw the minds of the hearers unto their will and purpose For to speake truely youth is made as it were to follow and obey but age to guide and command and that citie or State is preserved wherein the sage counsels of the elders and the martiall prowesse of the yonger beare sway together And for this cause highly and woonderfully are these verses following praised in Homer and namely in the first place Then to begin a goodly sort of ancient captaines bold Assembled he in Nestors ship a counsell there to hold upon the same reason also that counsel of the wisest and principall men assistant unto the kings of Lacedaemon for the better government of the State the oracle of Apollo Pythius first called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Elders and Lycurgus afterwards directly and plainly tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Old men and even at this very day the counsell of Estate in Rome is named a Senate that is to say an assembly of ancient persons And like as the law and custome time out of minde hath allowed unto Kings and Princes the diademe that is to say a roiall band or frontlet the crowne also to stand upon their heads as honourable mots ensignes of their regall dignitie and sovereigne authoritie even so hath nature given unto olde men the white head and hoarie beard as honourable tokens of their right to command and of their preeminence above others And for mine owne part I verily thinke that this nowne in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a prize or reward of honour as also the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much to say as to honour continue still in use as respective to the honour due unto olde men who in Greeke are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for that they bathe in hot waters or sleepe in softer beds but because in cities well and wisely governed they be ranged with kings for their prudence the proper and perfect goodnesse whereof as of some tree which yeeldeth winter fruit which is not ripe before the latter end of the yeere nature bringeth forth late and hardly in olde age and therefore there was not one of those martiall and brave couragious captaines of the Greeks who found fault with that great king of kings Agamemnon for making such a praier as this unto the gods That of the Grecian host which stood of many woorthie men Such counsellers as Nestor was they would vouchsafe him ten but they all agreed with him and by their silence confessed That not onely in policie and civill government but also in warre olde age carrieth a mightie great stroke for according as the ancient proverbe beareth witnesse One head that knowes full wisely for to reed Out goesten hands and maketh better speed One advice likewise and sentence grounded upon reason and delivered with perswasive grace effecteth the greatest and bravest exploits in a whole State Well say that olde age hath many difficulties and discommodities attending upon it yet is not the same therefore to be rejected for the absolute rule of a king being the greatest and most perfect estate of all governments in the world hath exceeding many cares travels and troubles insomuch as it is written of king Seleucus that he would often-times say if the people wist how laborious and painfull it were to reade and write onely so many letters as he did they would not deine to take up his diademe if they found it throwen in their very way as they goe And Philip being at the point to pitch his campe in a faire ground when he was advertised that the place would not affoord forage for his labouring beasts O Hercules quoth he what a life is this of ours that we must live forsooth and care to serve the necessitie of our asses Why then belike it were high time to perswade a king when he is aged for to lay downe his diademe to cast off his robes of purple to clad himselfe in simple array to take a crooked staffe in hand and so to go and live in the countrey for feare lest if he with his gray haires raigned stil he should seeme to do many superfluous and impertinent things and to direct matters out of season Now if it were unseemely and a meere indignitie to deale with Agesilaus with Numa and Darius all kings and monarchs after this sort unmeet likewise it is that we should remove and displace Solon out of the counsell of Areopagus or depose Cato from his place in the Romane Senate because of their olde age Why should we then goe about to perswade such an one as Pericles to give over and resigne his government in a popular State for over besides there were no sense at all that if one have leapt and mounted into the tribunall seat or chaire of estate in his yoong yeeres and afterwards discharged upon the people common-wealth those his violent passions of ambition and other furious fits when ripe age is now come which is woont to bring with it discretion and much wisdome gathered by experience to abandon and put away as it were his lawfull wife the government which hee hath so long time abused The foxe in Aesops fables would not suffer the urchin to take off the tiques that were setled upon her bodie For if quoth she thou take away these that be already full there will come other hungry ones in their place and even so if a State rejected evermore from administration of the common-wealth those governours that begin once to be olde it must needs be quickly full of a sort of yoong rulers that be hungrie and thirstie both after glory but altogether void of politike wit and reason to governe for how can it otherwise be and where should they get knowledge if they have not bene disciples to learne nor spectatours to follow and imitate some ancient magistrate that manageth state affaires The Cards at sea which shew the feat of sailing and ruling ships can not make good sea-men or skilfull pilots if they have not beene themselves many times at the stearne in the poope to see the maner of it and the conflicts against the waves the winds the blacke stormes and darke tempests What time in great perplexitie The mariner doth wish to see Castor and Pollux twins full bright Presaging safetie with their light How then possibly can a yoong man governe and direct a citie well perswade the people aright deliver wise counsel in the Senate having but read one little booke treating of pollicy or haply
making a solemne speech in the assembly of the people grew to these tearmes with him before them all And what are you sir if we may be so bold as to know that you beare your selfe so bigge and thinke so well of your selfe are you a man at armes are you an archer a pike man or a footman or what are you I am not indeed quoth he any of these but he I am who knowes how to command and direct all these TIMOTHEUS had the name to be a fortunate captaine rather than otherwise a speciall warriour and some who envied his good estate shewed him a picture wherein certaine cities were entrapped and of themselves fallen into the compasse of net and toile whiles hee lay asleepe whereupon he said unto them Consider now if I can catch and take such cities lying asleepe what shall I be able to doe when I am awake When one of these venturous and too forward captaines shewed upon a glorious braverie unto the Athenians what a wound he had received upon his bodie But I quoth he my selfe was greatly abashed and ashamed one day being your captaine generall before the citie of Samos that a shot discharged from the walles light but neere unto me When the oratours highly praised and recommended captaine Chares saying Lo what a brave man is here to make the generall of the Athenians shewing his goodly personage Timotheus answered againe with a loud voice Never say Generall but rather a good stout groome to carrie the truste of a captaines bedding after him CHABRIAS was woont to say that they were the best captaines who had most intelligences of their enemies desseignes proceedings Being accused together with Iphicrates of treason he gave not over for all that to frequent the publicke place of exercises and to take his dinner at his accustomed howers and when Iphicrates rebuked him for being so rechlesse standing in such danger as he did hee answered him in this manner In case the Athenians proceede against us otherwise than well they shall put you to death all foule and fasting but me full and faire cleane washed anointed and having well dined This was his ordinarie speech That an armie of stags and hindes having a lion for their leader was better than an armie of lions led by a stag HEGESIPPUS surnamed Crobylus solicited and incited the Athenians to take armes against King Philip and when one spake unto him alowd from out of the assembly What Sir will you that we draw upon us war Yea verily quoth he and bring in among us blacke mourning roabes solemne and publicke obsequies yea and funerall orations too if we desire to live free still and not to be servile and subject to the Athenians PYTHEAS being but yet verie yoong presented himselfe one day in open place to crosse and contradict the publike decrees which had passed by the peoples voices in the honour of King Alexander what saith one unto him Dare you presume so yoong as you are to speake of these so weightie matters And why not quoth he seeing that Alexander whom you will needs make a god by your suffrages is yoonger than my selfe PHOCION the Athenian was a man of so staied and constant behaviour that he was never seene of any person either to laugh or weepe Upon a time in a great assembly of the citie one said unto him You are verie sad and pensive Phocion it seemeth you are in a deepe studie Guesse againe quoth he and guesse not so for I am indeed studying and devising with my selfe how I may cut-off somewhat of that which I have to speake unto the Athenians The Athenians understood by an oracle that they had one man among them in the citie who was thwart contrary to the opinion advice of all others Now when they caused diligent search enquirie to be made for this fellow and cried out upon him in great furie whosoever he was Phocion stood up and with a loud voice I am the very man quoth he seeke no further for I am he alone who am nothing at al pleased with whatsoever the people either doth or faith One day when he had delivered his advice in a frequent assembly of the people he pleased the whole au dience very well and seeing that they all with one accord approoved his speech he was abashed thereat and turning toward his friends What quoth hee have I let fall and escaped some words that are not good and otherwise than I meant The Athenians were minded upon a time to solemnize a great and festivall sacrifice and for the better furnishing of this solemnitie they demanded of every man a contribution of money toward it all other gave liberally only Phocion after he had bene called upon by name sundry times to do the like in the end said thus unto them I would be abashed to give any thing I trow unto you and not be able to pay him there pointing with his finger to an usurer unto whom he was indebted When Demades said unto him The Athenians will one of these daies kill thee if they fall once into their furious fits True indeed quoth he they will kill me in their mad mood but thee they will put to death when they be come againe into their right wits Aristogiton the sycophant or false promotor being condemned to death for troubling men with wrongfull imputations and at the point to be executed within the prison sent unto Phocion requesting him to come and speake with him but Phocions friends would not let him goe to talke with such a leaud and wicked wretch Why quoth he unto them in what place may honest men more willingly and better speake with Aristogiton When the Athenians were highly offended and angrie with the Bizantines for that they would not receive into their citie captaine Chares whom they had sent with a power for to aid them against king Philip Phocion came among them and said That they were not to be displeased with their confederates for being mistrustfull but rather with such captaines as they mistrusted upon which remonstrance of his hee was immediatly himselfe chosen captaine who being admitted and well trusted by the Bizantines defended them so valiantly against king Philip that he forced him to raise his siege and retire from thence without effect King Alexander the great sent unto him a present of one hundred talents but he demanded of the messengers that brought it why the king their master sent unto him alone cōsidering there were so many Athenians besides himselfe they answered It was because he esteemed him to be the onely honest and vertuous man among them all Why then quoth he could not hee let me both to seeme and also to be a good man still Alexander upon a time demanded of the Athenians certeine gallies whereupon the people called unto Phocion by name for to give his advice and to counsell them what was best to be done in this case then he stood up
effect but in the battell of Mantinea he admonished and advised the Lacedaemonians to take no regard at all of other Thebans but to bend their whole forces against Epaminondas onely saying That wise and prudent men alone and none but they were valiant and the sole cause of victorie and therefore if they could vanquish him they might easily subdue all the rest as being blockish fooles and men in deed of no valour and so in truth it proved for when as the victory now enclined wholy unto Epaminondas and the Lacedaemonians were at the verie point to be disbanded discomfited and put to flight as the said Epaminondas turned for to call his owne together to folow the rout a Lacedaemonian chanced to give him a mortall wound wherewith hee fell to the ground and the Lacedaemonians who were with Agesilaus called themselves made head againe and put the victorie into doubtfull ballance for now the Thebanes abated much their courage and the Lacedaemonians tooke the better hearts Moreover when the citie of Sparta was neere driven and at a low ebbe for money to wage warre as being constrained to entertaine mercenarie souldiers for pay who were meere strangers Agesilaus went into Aegypt being sent for by the King of Aegypt to serve as his pensioner but for that hee was meanely and simply apparelled the inhabitants of the countrey despised him for they looked to have seene the King of Sparta richly arraied and set out gallantly and all gorgeously to be seene in his person like unto the Persian King so foolish a conceit they had of kings but Agesilaus shewed them within a while that the magnificence and majestie of Kings was to be acquired by wit wisedome and valour for perceiving that those who were to fight with him and to make head against the enemie were frighted with the imminent perill by reason of the great number of enemies who were two hundred thousand fighting men and the small companie of their owne side he devised with himselfe before the battell began by some stratageme to encourage his owne men and to embolden their hearts which policie of his he would not communicate unto any person and this it was He caused upon the inside of his left hand to be written this word Victorie backward which done he tooke at the priests or sooth-saiers hand who was at sacrifice the liver of the beast which was killed and put it into the said left hand thus written within and so held it a good while making semblance as if he mused deeply of some doubt and seeming to stand in suspense to be in great perplexity untill the characters of the foresaid letters had a sufficient time to give a print and leave their marke in the superficies of the liver then shewed he it unto those who were to fight on his side and gave them to understand that by those characters the gods promised victory who supposing verily that there was in it a certaine signe presage of good fortune ventured boldly upon the hazard of a battell And when the enemies had invested and beleaguered his campe round about such a mightie number there were of them and besides had begun to cast a trench on everie side thereof King Nectanebas for whose aid he was thither come sollicited and intreated him to make a sally and charge upon them before the said trench was fully finished and both ends brought to gether he answered That he would never impeach the deseigne and purpose of the enemies who went no doubt to give him meanes to be equall unto them and to fight so many to so many so he staied until there wanted but a verie little of both ends meeting and then in that space betweene he raunged his battell by which device they encountred and fought with even fronts and on equall hand for number so he put the enemies to flight and with those few souldiers which he had he made a great carnage of them but of the spoile and booty which he wan he raised a good round masse of money and sent it all to Sparta Being now ready to embarke for to depart out of Aegypt upon the point of returne home he died and at his death expresly charged those who were about him that they should make no image or statue whatsoever representing the similitude of his personage For that quoth he if I have done any vertuous act in my life time that will be a monument sufficient to eternize my memorie if not all the images statues and pictures in the world will not serve the turne since they be the workes onely of mechanicall artificers which are of no woorth and estimation AGESIPOLIS the sonne of Cleombrotus when one related in his presence that Philip K. of Macedon had in few daies demolished and raced the citie Olinthus Par die quoth he Philip will not be able in many more daies to build the like to it Another said unto him by way of reproch that himselfe king as he was and other citizens men growen of middle age were delivered as hostages and neither their children nor wives Good reason quoth he and so it ought to be according to justice that we our selves and no others should beare the blame and paine of our faults And when he was minded to send for certaine dog-whelps from home one said unto him that there might not be suffered any of them to goe out of the countrey No more was it permitted heeretofore quoth hee for men to be lead foorth but now it is allowed well enough AGESIPOLIS the sonne of Pausanias when as the Athenians said to him That they were content to report themselves to the judgement of the Megarians as touching certaine variances and differences between them and complaints which they made one against another spake thus unto them Why my masters of Athens this were a great shame indeed that they who are the chiefe and the verie leaders of all other Greeks should lesse skill what is just than the Megarians AG is the sonne of Archidamus at what time as the Ephori spake thus unto him Take with you the yoong able men of this citie go into the countrey of such an one for he wil conduct you his owne selfe as farre as to the verie castle of his city And what reason is it quoth he my masters you that be Ephori to commit the lives of so many lustie gallants into his hands who is a traitour to his native countrey One demaunded of him what science was principally exercised in the citie of Sparta Marie quoth he the knowledge how to obey and how to rule He was woont to say that the Lacedaemonians never asked how many their enemies were but where they were Being forbidden to fight with his enemies at the battell of Mantinea because they were far more in number He must of necessity quoth he fight with many that would have the cōmand rule of many Unto another who asked what number there might be
all just and honest actions when it hath chased and removed out of the way ire and wrath and therefore men are mollified appeased and become gentle by examples of men when they heare it reported how Plato when hee lifted up his staffe against his page stood so a good while and forbare to strike which hee did as he said for to represse his choler And Architas when he found some great negligence and disorder at his ferme-house in the countrey in his houshold servants perceiving himselfe moved and disquieted therewith insomuch as he was exceeding angrie and readie to flie upon them proceeded to no act but onely turning away and going from them said thus It is happie for you that I am thus angrie with you If then it be so that such memorable speeches of ancient men and woorthy acts reported by them are effectuall to represse the bitternesse and violence of choler much more probable it is that we seeing how God himselfe although he standeth not in feare of any person nor repenteth of any thing that he doth yet putteth off his chastisements and laieth them up a long time should be more wary and considerate in such things and esteeme that clemencie long sufferance and patience is a divine part of vertue that God doth shew and teach us which by punishment doth chastise and correct a few but by proceeding thereto slowly doth instruct admonish and profit many In the second place let us consider that judiciall and exemplarie processe of justice practised by men intendeth and aimeth onely at a counter change of paine and griefe resting in this point That he who hath done evill might suffer likewise proceeding no farther at all and therefore baying and barking as it were like dogges at mens faults and trespasses they follow upon them and pursue after all action by tract and footing but God as it should seeme by all likelihood when hee setteth in hand in justice to correct a sinfull diseased soule regardeth principally the vicious passions thereof if haply they may be bent wrought so as they will incline turne to repentance in which respect he staieth long before that he inflict any punishment upon delinquents who are not altogether past grace incorrigible for considering withall and knowing as he doth what portion of vertue soules have drawen from him in their creation at what time as they were produced first and came into the world as also how powerfull and forcible is the generositie thereof and nothing weake and feeble in it selfe but that it is cleane contrary to their proper nature to bring forth vices which are engendered either by ill education or els by the contagious haunt of leaud company and how afterward when they be well cured and medicined as it falleth out in some persons they soone returne unto their owne naturall habitude and become good againe by reason heereof God doth not make haste to punish all men alike but looke what he knoweth to be incurable that he quickly riddeth away out of this life and cutteth it off as a very hurtfull member to others but yet most harmefull to it selfe if it should evermore converse with wickednesse but to such persons in whom by all likelihood vice is bred and ingendred rather through ignorance of goodnesse than upon any purpose and will to chuse naughtinesse hee giveth time and respit for to change and amend how beit if they persist still and continue in their leaud waies hee paieth them home likewise in the end and never feareth that they shall escape his hands one time or other but suffer condigne punishment for their deserts That this is true consider what great alterations there happen in the life and behaviour of men and how many have beene reclaimed and turned from their leaudnesse which is the reason that in Greeke our behaviour and conversation is called partly 〈◊〉 that is to say A conversion and in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one because mens maners be subject to change and mutation the other for that they be ingendered by use or custome and the impression thereof being once taken they remaine firme and sure which is the cause also as I suppose that our ancients in olde time attributed unto king Cecrops a double nature and forme calling him Double not for that as some said of a good element and gracious prince he became a rigourous fell and cruell tyrant like a dragon but contrariwise because having bene at the first perverse crooked and terrible he proved afterward a milde and gentle lord and if we make any doubt hereof in him yet we may be sure at leastwise that Gelon and Hiero in Sicilie yea and Pisistratus the sonne of Hipocrates all usurpers who atteined to their tyrannicall dominion by violent and indirect meanes used the same vertuously and howsoever they came unto their sovereigne rule by unlawfull and unjust meanes yet they grew in time to be good governours loving and profitable to the common weale and likewise beloved and deare unto their subjects for some of them having brought in and established most excellent lawes in the countrey and caused their citizens and subjects to be industruous and painfull in tilling the ground made them to be civill sober and discreet whereas before they were given to be ridiculous as noted for their laughter and lavish tongues to be true labourers also and painfull who had bene idle and playfull And as for Gelon after he had most valiantly warred against the Carthaginians and defaited them in a great battell when they craved peace would never grant it unto them unlesse this might be comprised among the articles and capitulations That they should no more sacrifice their children unto Saturne In the citie also of Megalopolis there was a tyrant named Lydiades who in the mids of his usurped dominion repented of his tyrannie and made a conscience thereof detesting that wrongfull oppression wherein he held his subjects in such sort ' as he restored his citizens to their ancient lawes and liberties yea and afterwards died manfully in the field fighting against his enemies in the defence of his countrey Now if any one had killed Miltiades at the first whiles he exercised tyrannie in Chersonesus or if another had called judicially into question Cimon enditing him for keeping his owne sister and so being condemned of incest had caused him to be put to death or disfranchised and banished Themistocles out of the citie for his loose wantonnesse and licentious insolencie shewed publickly in the Common place as Alcibiades afterwards was served and proscribed for the like excesse and riot committed in his youth Where had bene then that famous victorie At chieved on the plaines of Marathon Where had bene that renowmed chivalrie Performed neere the streame Eurymedon Or at the mount faire Artemision Where Athens youth as poet Pindare said Freedome first the glorious ground-worke laid For so it is great natures and high minds can bring foorth no meane matters nor the
warred against the Lacedaemonians and when the time was come that magistrates should be elected at Thebes himselfe in person repaired thither having given order and commandement in the meane while unto his sonne Stesimbrotus in no wise to fight with the enemie The Lacedaemonians having intelligence given them that the father was absent reproched and reviled this yoong gentleman and called him coward wherewith he was so galled that he fell into a great fit of choler and forgetting the charge that his father had laid upon him gave the enemies battell and atchieved the victorie His father upon his returne was highly offended with his sonne for transgressing his will and commandement and after he had set a victorious crown upon his head caused it to be strooken off as Ctesiphon recordeth in the third booke of the Boeotian histories The Romanes during the time that they maintained warre against the Samnites chose for their general captain Manlius surnamed Imperious who returning upon a time from the camp to Rome for to be present at the election of Consuls straightly charged his son not to fight with the enemies in his absence The Samnites hereof advertised provoked the yoong gentleman with most spitefull and villanous tearmes reproching him likewise with cowardise which he not able to endure was so farre mooved in the end that he gave them battel and defeated them but Manlius his father when he was returned cut him shorter by the head for it as testifieth Aristides the Milesian 13 Hercules being denied marriage with the Ladie Iole tooke the repulse so neere to heart that he forced and sacked the citie Oechalia But Iole flung herselfe headlong downe from the wall into the trench under it howbeit so it fortuned that the winde taking hold of her garments as she fell bare her up so as in the fall shee caught no harme as witnesseth Nicias of Malea The Romans whiles they warred upon the Tuskans chose for their commander Valerius Torquatus who having a sight of Clusia their kings daughter fancied her and demanded her of him in marriage but being denied and rejected he wan the citie and put it to the saccage The ladie Clusia flung herselfe downe from an high tower but through the providence of Venus her habillements were so heaved up with the winde that they brake the fall and albeit shee light upon the ground shee escaped alive Then the captaine before named forced her and abused her bodie in regard of which dishonour and vilanie offered unto her by a generall decree of all the Romanes confined he was into the Isle of Corsica which lieth against Italy as witnesseth Theophilus in the third booke of his Italian historie 14 The Carthaginians and Sicilians being entred into league banded themselves against the Romanes and prepared with their joint forces to warre upon them whereupon Metellus was chosen captaine who having offered sacrifice unto all other gods and goddesses left out onely the goddesse Vesta who thereupon raised a contrarie winde to blow against him in his voiage Then Caius Julius the soothsayer said unto him that the winde would lie in case before he embarked and set saile he offered in sacrifice his owne daughter unto Vesta Metellus being driven to this hard exigent was constrained to bring foorth his daughter to be sacrificed but the goddesse taking pitie of him her in stead of the maiden substituted a yoong heyfer and carried the virgin to Lavintum where she made her a religious priestresse of the Dragon which they worship and have in great reverence within that citie as writeth Pythocles in his third booke of Italian affaires In like manner is the case of Iphigenia which hapned in Aulis a citie of Boeotia reported by Meryllus in the third booke of Boeotian Chronicles 15 Brennus a king of the Galatians or Gallo-Greekes as he forraied and spoiled Asia came at length to Ephesus where he fell in love with a yoong damosell a commoners daughter who promised to lie with him yea and to betray the citie unto him upon condition that he would give unto her carquanets bracelets and other jewels of gold wherewith ladies are woont to adorne and set out themselves Then Brennus requested those about his person to cast into the lap of this covetons wench all the golden jewels which they had which they did in such quantitie that the maiden was overwhelmed under them quick pressed to death with their waight as Clitipho writeth in the first booke of the Galatian historie Tarpeia a virgin and yoong gentlewoman of a good house having the keeping of the Capitoll during the time that the Romanes warred against the Albanes promised unto their king Tatius for to give him entrance into the castle of mount Tarpeius if in recompence of her good service he would bestow upon her such bracelets rings and carquanets as the Sabine dames used to weare when they trimmed up themselves in best manner which when the Sabines understood they heaped upon her so many that they buried her quick underneath them according as Aristides the Milesian reporteth in his Italian historie 16 The inhabitants of Tegea and Phenea two cities maintained a lingring warre one against the other so long until they concluded in the end to determine all quarrels and controversies by the combat of three brethren twinnes of either side And the men of Tegea put soorth into the field for their part the sonnes of one of their citizens named Reximachus and those of Phinea for themselves the sonnes of Damostratus When these champions were advanced foorth into the plaine to performe their devoir it fortuned that two of Reximachus his sonnes were killed outright in the place and the third whose name was Critolaus wrought such a stratagem with his three concurrents that he overcame them all for making semblance as though he fled he turned suddenly back slew them one after another as he espied his advātage when they were singled and severed asunder in their chase after him At his returne home with this glorious victorie all his citizens did congratulate and rejoice with him onely his owne sister named Demodice was nothing glad therefore because one of the brethren whom he had slaine was espoused unto her whose name was Demoticus Critolaus taking great indignation hereat killed her out of hand The mother to them both sued him for this murder and required justice howbeit hee was acquit of all actions and enditements framed against him as writeth Demaratus in the second booke of Arcadian acts The Romans and the Albanes having warred a long time together chose for their champions to decide all quarrels three brethren twinnes both of the one side and the other For the Albanes were three Curiatii and for the Romans as many Horain The combate was no sooner begun but those of Alba laid two of their adversaries dead in the dust the third helping himselfe with a feigned flight killed the other three one after the other as they were divided asunder
seene at all with him the master beleeved this lay with her but one time above the rest desirous to know who she was with whom he companied called for a light and so soone as he knew it was his owne daughter he drew his sword and followed after this most vilanous and and incestuous filth intending to kill her but by the providence of Venus transformed she was into a tree bearing her name to wit Myrtle as Theodorus reporteth in his Metamorphoses or transmutations Valeria Tusculanaria having incurred the displeasure of Venus became amorous of her owne father and communicated this love of hers unto her nourse who likewise went cunningly about her master and made him beleeve that there was a young maiden a neighbous child who was in fancie with him but would not in regard of modestie be knowen unto him of it nor be seene when she should frequent his companie Howbeit her father one night being drunk called for a candle but the nourse prevented him and in great hast wakened her who fled therupon into the countrey great with child where she cast her selfe downe from the pitch of a steep place yet the fruit of her wombe lived for notwithstanding that fall she did not miscarie but continued still with her great belly and when her time was come delivered she was of a sonne such an one as in the Roman language is named Sylvanus and in Greeke Aegipanes Valerius the father tooke such a thought thereupon that for verie anguish of mind he threw himselfe downe headlong from a steepe rocke as recordeth Aristides the Milesian in the third booke of Italian histories 23 After the destruction of Troy Diomedes by a tempest was cast upō the coast of Libya where raigned a king named Lycus whose maner and custome was to sacrifice unto his owne father god Mars all those strangers that arrived and were set a land in his countrey But Callirohōe his daughter casting an affection unto Diomedes betraied her father and saved Diomedes by delivering him out of prison And he againe not regarding her accordingly who had done him so good a turne departed from her and sailed away which indignitie she tooke so neere to the heart that she hanged her selfe and so ended her daies this writeth Juba in the third booke of the Libyan historie Calpurnius Crassus a noble man of Rome being abroad at the warres together with Regulus was by him sent against the Massilians for to seize a stronge castle and hard to be won named Garaetion but in this service being taken prisoner and destined to be killed in sacrifice unto Saturne it fortuned that Bysatia the kings daughter fansied him so as she betraied her father and put the victory into her lovers hand but when this yoong knight was retired and gone the damsell for sorrow of heart cut her owne throat as writeth Hesianax in the third booke of the Libian historie 24 Priamus king of Troy fearing that the city would be lost sent his yoong sonne Polydorus into Thrace to his sonne in law Polymester who married his daughter with a great quantity of golde Polymester for very covetousnesse after the destruction of the city murdered the childe because he might gaine the gold but Hecuba being come into those parts under a colour and pretence that she should bestow that golde upon him together with the helpe of other dames prisoners with her plucked with her owne hands both eies out of his head witnesse Euripides the tragaedian poet In the time that Hanniball overran and wasted the countrey of Campania in Italy Lucius Jmber bestowed his sonne Rustius for safetie in the hands of a sonne in law whom he had named Valerius Gestius and left with him a good summe of money But when this Campanian heard that Anniball had wonne a great victorie for very avarice he brake all lawes of nature and murdered the childe The father Thymbris as he travelled in the countrey lighting upon the dead corps of his owne sonne sent for his sonne in law aforesaid as if he meant to shew him some great treasure who was no sooner come but he plucked out both his eies and afterwards crucified him as Aristides testifieth in the third booke of his Italian histories 25 Aeacus begat of Psamatha one sonne named Phocus whom he loved very tenderly but Telamon his brother not well content therewith trained him foorth one day into the forest a hunting where having rouzed a wilde bore he launced his javelin or bore-speare against the childe whom he hated and so killed him for which fact his father banished him as Dorotheus telleth the tale in the first booke of his Metamorphoses Cajus Maximus had two sonnes Similius and Rhesus of which two Rhesus he begat upon Ameria who upon a time as he hunted in the chase killed his brother and being come home againe he would have perswaded his father that it was by chaunce and not upon a propensed malice that he slew him but his father when he knew the truth exiled him as Aristocles hath recorded in the third booke of Italian Chronicles 26 Mars had the company of Althaea by whom she was conceived and delivered of Meleager as witnesseth Euripides in his tragoedie Meleager Septimtus Marcellus having maried Sylvta was much given to hunting and ordinarily went to the chase then Mars taking his advantage disguising himselfe in habit of a shepherd forced this new wedded wife and gat her with childe which done he bewraied unto her who he was and gave her a launce or speare saying unto her That the generositie and descent of that issue which she should have by him consisted in that launce now it hapned that Septimius slew Tusquinus and Mamercus when he sacrificed unto the gods for the good encrease of the fruits upon the earth neglected Ceres onely whereupon she taking displeasure for this contempt sent a great wilde bore into his countrey then he assembled a number of hunters to chase the said beast and killed him which done the head and the skinne he sent unto his espoused wife Scimbrates and Muthias her unckles by the mother-side offended heereat would have taken all away from the damosell but hee tooke such displeasure thereat that hee slew his kinsmen and his mother for to be revenged of her brethrens death buried that cursed speare as Menylus reporteth in the third booke of the Italian histories 27 Telamon the sonne of Aeacus and Endeis fledde by night from his father and arrived in the isle of Euboea ** The father perceiving it and supposing him to be one of his subjects gave his daughter to one of his guard for to be cast into the sea but he for very commiseration and pitty sould her to certaine merchants and when the shippe was arrived at Salamis Telamon chaunced to buy her at their hands and she bare unto him Ajax witnesse Aretados the Gnidian in the second booke of his Insular affaires Lucius Trocius had by his wife Patris a daughter
caused him to be condemned for his contumacy in that he failed to answer at the day assigned for his triall that verie yeere when Theopompus was Provost of the citie under whom the foure hundred conspiratours and usurpers of the common-weale were put downe and overthrowen Now the decree of the Senate by vertue whereof ordained it was That Antiphon should be judicially tried and condemned Cecilius hath put downe in these tearmes The one and twentith day of Prytaneia when Demonicus of Alopece was secretarie or publike notarie Philostratus of Pellene chiefe commander upon the proposition or bill-preferred of Andron the Senate hath ordained as touching these persons namely Archiptolemus Onomacles and Antiphon whom the captaines have declared against that they went in embassage unto Lacedaemon to the losse and detriment of the citie of Athens and departed from the camp first in an enemies ship and so passed by land by Decelia that their bodies should be attached and cast into prison for to abide justice and punishment according to law Item that the captaines themselves with certaine of the Senate to the number of ten such as it pleased them to chuse and nominate should make presentment and give in evidence that upon the points alledged and prooved judgement might passe according Item that the Thesmothetes should call for the said persons judicially the verie next morow after they were committed and convent them before the judges after that they be chosen by lot when and where they should accuse the captaines with the orators abovesaid of treason yea whosoever els would come in he should be heard Item when sentence is concluded and pronounced against them then the judgement of condemnation shall be executed according to the forme and tenure of the law established in case of traitors Vnder the instrument of this decree was subscribed the condemnation of treason in this manner Condemned there were of treason Archiptolemus the sonne of Hippodamus of Agryle present Antiphon the sonne of Sophilus of Rhamus likewise present and awarded it was by the court that these two should be delivered over into the hands of the eleven executors of justice their goods to be confiscate the disme whereof to be consecrate unto the goddesse Minerva their houses to be demolished and pulled downe to the very ground and upon the borders of the plots wherein they stood this superscription to be written Here stood the houses of Archiptolemus and of Antiphon two traitours of the State *** Also that it might not bee lawfull to enter or burie the bodie of Archiptolemus and of Antiphon within the citie of Athens nor in any part belonging to their domain or territorie That their memorie should be infamous and all their posteritie after them as well hastards as legitimate and that whosoever adopted any one of Archiptolemus or Antiphons children for his sonne himselfe should be held infamous Finally that all this should be engrossed and engraven in a columne of brasse wherein also should be set downe the sentence and decree which passed as concerning Phrynichus ANDOCIDES II. ANdocides was the sonne of that Leagoras who somtime made a peace betweene the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians borne in the tribe of Cydathene or Thurie descended from a noble house and as Hellanicus saith even from Mercurie for the race of the Ceryces that is Heraults pertaineth unto him and therefore chosen he was upon a time with Glaucon for to go with a fleet of twentie saile to aide the Corcyreans who warred upon the Corinthians But after all this accused he was of impietie and irreligion for that hee with others had mangled and defaced the images of Mercurie that stood within the citie also for that he had trespassed against the holy mysteries and sacred ceremonies of Ceres in as much as being before time a wild youth and loosely given he went in a maske one night and brake certaine images of the god Mercurie whereupon I say he was judicially convented And because he would not deliver and bring foorth to be examined upon torture that servant of his whom his accusers called for he was held attaint convict of that crime which was laid to his charge yea for the second imputation charged upon him verie deeply suspected for which also he was called into question not long after the setting foorth of the great Armada at sea which went into Sicily when the Corinthians had sent certaine Aegesians and Leontines into the citie of Athens unto whom the Athenians privately were to yeeld aid succour in the night season they brake all the images of Mercury which stood about the market place as Cratippus saith Well being suspected for offending against the sacred mysteries of Ceres thereupon judicially called to his answer he escaped judgement of condemnation and was acquit so that he would discover and declare the delinquents and offenders indeed Now having emploied his whole studie endever there about he wrought so that he found out those who were faultie as touching the sacred mysteries aforesaid among whom was his owne father As for all the rest when they were convicted he caused them to be put to death only his fathers life he saved although he was already in prison promising with all that he would doe much good service unto the common-weale wherein he failed not of his word For Leagoras accused many who had robbed and embezilled the cities treasure and committed other wicked parts by the meanes whereof he was absolved Now albeit Andocides was in great name and reputation for mannaging the affaires of common-weale yet neverthelesse he set his mind to trafficke and merchandize at sea whereby hee got amitie and entred into league of hospitalitie which many princes and great potentates but principally with the king of Cyprus and it was than that he stole and carried away a citizens child the daughter of Aristides and his owne niece without the privitie and consent of her friends and sent her closely for a present to the said king of Cyprus but when he was upon the point to be called in question judicially for this fact he stole her privily away againe out of Cyprus and brought her home to Athens Hereupon the king of Cyprus caused hands to be laid upon him where he was kept in prison but he brake loose and escaped to Athens at the verie time when the foure hundred conspiratours and usurpers governed the State and being by them cast into prison he got away againe when the said Olygarchie was dissolved Howbeit he was drawen out of the citie when the thirtie tyrants ruled all and usurped their government During which time of his exile he abode in the citie of Elis but when Thrasibulus and his adhaerents returned into the city he also repaired thither and was sent in an embassage to Lacedaemon where being taken againe in a trip he was for his ill demeanour banished All these premises appeare evidently by his orations which he hath written for in some of them
Not long after there fell out to be a great drouth and the the citie was sore visued with famine insomuch as the Corinthians sent unto the oracle for to know by what meanes they might be delivered from this calamitie unto whom the god made this answer That the wrath of Neptune was the cause of all their miserie who would by no meanes be appeased untill they had revenged Actaeons death which Archias hearing who was himselfe one deputed to this embassage he was not willing to returne againe to Corinth but crossed over the seas into Sicily where he founded and built the city Syracusa and there hee begat two daughters Ortygia and Syracusa but in the end was himselfe trecherously murdred by one Telephus whom in his youth he had abused as his minion and who having the conduct of a shippe had sailed with him into sicilie 3 A poore man named Scedasus who dwelt in Leuctra a village within the territorie of the Thespians had two daughters the name of the one was Hippo and of the other Miletia or as some write clepid they were Theano and Enippe Now this Scedasus was a bounteous and kind person yea and a good fellow in his house and curteous to all strangers notwithstanding he had but small store of goods about him So there fortuned to visit him two yoong men of Sparta whom hee friendly and lovingly enterteined who being fallen into fancie with his two daughters had thus much power yet of themselves that in regard of their father Scedasus and his kindnesse unto them they attempted nothing prejudiciall unto the honest pudicitie of the virgins for that time but the next morning tooke their leave and went directly toward the city of Delphos unto the oracle of Apollo Pythius for to that purpose expresly tooke they this journey and pilgrimage after that they had consulted with the god about such matters as they came for they returned backe againe into their owne country as they passed thorough Baeotia tooke Scedasus house by the way there for to lodge who at that time was not at Leuctra but gone forth howbe it his daughters according to their courteous bringing up their usual maner of intertainment received these two guests into the house who seeing their opportunitie that they were alone forced defloured the silly maidens and after this deed seeing them exceedingly offended and angry for this villany offered unto them so as by no meanes they would be appeased they proceeded farther murdred them both and when they had so done threw them into a certeine blinde pit and so departed Seedasus being returned home found all things else in his house safe and sound as hee left them onely his two daughters hee could not meet with neither wist he what to say or doe untill such time as a bitch that he had began to whine and complaine running one while to him and another while training him as it were to the pit side whereupon at length he suspected that which was and so drew foorth the dead bodies of his two daughters understanding moreover by his neighbors that the day before they had seene going into his house those two yoong men of Lacedaemon who not long before had beene lodged with him he doubted presently that they were those who had committed this crime and namely when he called to minde that the first time they came they did nothing but praise the maidens saying That they reputed them most happy whose fortune should be to espouse them for their wives Well to Lacedaemon he went for to conferre with the Ephori about this matter and by that time that he entred within the territory of Argos he was benighted so that he took up his lodging in a common inne or hostelry within which he found another poore old man borne in the city Oreos within the province Hestraea whom when Scedasus heard to sigh and groane grievously yea and to fall a cursing of the Lacedaemonians he demaunded what the Lacedaemonians had done unto him that he fared thus against them the old man set tale an end and said That a subject he was of the Spartans and that when one Aristodemus was sent as governour from the State of Sparta into the citie Oreum he had dealt very cruelly and committed many outrages and enormites for being quoth he wantonly fallen in love with a sonne of mine and seeing that he would not frame nor be induced to satisfie his will he assaied to enforce him and by violence to hale him out of the publicke wrestling place where he exercised himselfe with other his feeres and companions the warden of the exercises empeached the said governour with the assistance of many yoong men who ranne into the rescue in such sort as for that present Aristodemus retired without effect but the next morrow having set out and manned a galley of purpose hee came with a second charge and caried away my childe and no sooner was he rowed from Oreum to the otherside of the water but he offred to abuse his body which when the youth would in no wise abide nor yeeld unto he made no more adoo but cut his throat and killed him outright in the place which done he returned backe to Oreum where hee feasted his friends and made great cheere This accident was I soone advertised of quoth the old man whereupon I went and performed the last dutie unto my sonne and solemnized his funerall and so immediately put my selfe upon my journey toward Sparta where I complained unto the Ephori or lords controulers declaring unto them the whole fact but they gave no eare unto me nor made any reckoning of my grievance Seedisus hearing this tale was il appaid troubled in his mind imagining that the Spartans would make as little account of him and therewith to requite his tale related for his part likewise unto the stranger his owne case who thereupon gave him counsel not so much as once to go unto the Ephori but to returne immediately backe into Boeotia and to erect a tombe for his two daughters Howbeit Seedasus would not be ruled by him but held on his journey forward to Sparta opened his griefe unto the lords cōtroulers before said when he saw that they tooke small heed of his words he addressed himselfe to the kings of Sparta yea and afterwards to some particular burgeosies of the citie unto whom he declared the fact and bewailed his owne infortunitie But seeing that all booted not heran up and downe the streets of the citie stretching forth his hands up to heaven and to the sun and stamping upon the ground with his feet calling upon the furies of hell to be revenged and at the last killed himselfe But in processe of time the Lacedaemonians paid deerely for this their injustice for when they were growen to that greatnes that they commanded all Greece and had planted their garrisons in everie citie first Epaminondas the Theban cut the throtes of
most sant oblations that is for so saith Epaminondas the Thebane fighting valiantly and exposing your selves to the most honorable and bravest services that be in defence of countrey of your auncestors tombes and sepulchers and of your temples and religion mee thinks also I see their victories comming toward mee in solemne pompe and procession not drawing or leading after them for their prize and reward an ox or a goat neither be the said victories crowned with ivie or smelling strong of new wine in the lees as the Bacchanales doe but they have in their traine whole cities islands continents and firme lands as well mediterranean as maritime sea-coasts together with new colonies of ten thousand men a piece to be planted heere and there and withall crowned they be and adorned on every side with trophaes with triumphes pillage and booty of all sorts the ensignes badges and armes that these victorious captaines give the images also that they represent in shew be their stately beautiful temples as the Parthenon the Hecatompedos their city walles on the south side the arcenals to receive lodge their ships their beautifull porches and galleries the province of the demy isle Chersonesus the city Amphipolis as for the plaine of Marathon it goeth before the laureat garland and victorie of Miltiades Solanius accompanieth that of Themistocles trampling under his feet and going over the broken timber and shipwracke of a thousand vessels as for the victory of Cimon it bringeth with it an hundred Phaenician great gallies from the rivers Eurymedon that of Demosthenes and Cleon comes from Sphacteria with the targuet of captaine Brasidas wonne in the field and a number of his souldiers captive and bound in chaines the victory of Conon walled the city and that of Thrasibulus reduced the people with victorie and liberty from Phyle the sundry victories of Alcibiades set upright the State of the city which by the infortunate overthrow in Sicilie reeled and was ready to fall to the ground and by the battel 's fought by Neleus and Androclus in Lydia and Carta Greece saw all Jonta raised up againe and supported And if a man demaund of each one of the other victories what benefit hath accrued unto the city by them one will name the isle Lesbos and another Samos one will speake of the Euxine sea and another of sive hundred gallies and he shall have another talke of ten thousand talents over and above the honour and glory of trophaees These be the causes why this city doeth solemnize and celebrate to many festivall daies and heereupon it is that it offreth sacrifices as it doeth to the gods not iwis for the victory of Aeschylus or Sophocles nor for the prizes of poetry no nor when Carcinus lay with Aerope or Astidamus with Hector But upon the sixth of May even to this present day the city holdeth festivall the memory of that victory in the plaines of Marathon and the sixth day of * another * moneth maketh a solemne offring of wine unto the gods in remembrance of that victorie which Chabrias obteined neere unto the isle Naxos and upon the 12. day of the same moneth there is another sacrifice likewise performed in the name of a thankes-giving to the gods for their liberty recovered because upon the same day those citizens which were prisoners and in bondage within Phyle came downe and returned into the city upon the third day of March they wonne the famous field of Platea and the sixteenth day of the said March they consecrated to Diana for on that day this goddesse shone bright and it was full moone to the victorious Greeks before the isle of 〈◊〉 The noble victory which they archieved before the citie of Mantinea made the twelfth day of September more holy and with greater solemnity observed for upon that day when all other their allies and associates were discomfited and put to flight they onely by their valour wonne the field and erected a trophae over their enemies who were upon the point of victory See what hath raised this city to such grandence Lo what hath exalted it to so high a pitch of honor and this was the cause that Pindarus called the city of Athens the pillar that supported Greece not for that by the tragedies of Phrynichus or Thespis if set the fortune of the Greeks upright but in regard of this that as himselfe writeth in another place along the coast of Artemisium Where Athens youth as poet Pindar said Of freedome first the glorious ground worke laid And afterwards at Salamis at Mycale and Plataees having setled it firme and strong as upon a rocke of diamonds they delivered it from hand to hand unto others But haply some man will say True it is indeed all that ever poets doe are no better than sports and pastimes But what say you to oratours they seeme to have some prerogative gative and ought to be compared with martiall captaines whereupon it may seeme as Aeschynes scoffing merily and quipping at Demosthenes said That there is some reason why the barre or pulpit for publicke orations may commence action and processe against the tribunall seat of generals and their chaire of estate Is it then meet and reasonable that the oration of Hyperides intituled Plataicus should be preferred before the victory which Aristides wonne before the city Platea or the oration of Lysies against the thirty tyrants goe before the massacre and execution of them performed by Thrasybelus and Archias or that of Aeschines against Timarchus being accused for keeping harlots and a brothell house before the aide that Phocion brought into the city of Byzantium besieged by which succour he impeached the Macedonians and repressed their insolent vilanies and outrages committed in abusing the children of the Athenian consederates or shall we compare the oration of Demosthenes as touching the crowne with those publicke and honorable coronets which Themistocles received for setting Greece free considering that the most excellent place of all the said oration and fullest of eloquence is that wherein the said oratour conjureth the soules of those their auncestors and citeth them for witnesses who in the battell of Marathon exposed their lives with such resolution for the saftie of Greece or shall we put in balance to weigh against woorthy warriours these that in schooles teach yoong men rhetoricke namely such as Isocrates Antiphon and Isaeus But certeine it is that this city honored those valiant captaines with publicke funerals and with great devotion gathered up the reliques of their bodies yea and the same oratour canonized them for gods in heaven when he sware by them although he followed not their steps and Isocrates who extolled and highly praised those who manfully sought willing were to spend their hartbloud in the battell of Marathon saying that they made so little account of their lives as if their owne soules had bene else-where other mens in their bodies magnifying this their resolution and the small
his body to be hanged up when he was dead and the other to be pricked whiles he was alive And this our Historiographer hath used this cruelty which they shewed unto Leonidas dead for a manifest proofe that the Barbarous king hated Leonidas in his life time above all men in the world And in avouching that the Thebans who sided with the Medes at Thermopylae were thus branded marked as slaves and afterwards being thus marked fought egerly in the behalfe of the same Barbarians before Plateae me thinks he may well say as Hippoclides the feat moriske dancers unto whom when at a feast he bestirred his legges and hopped artificially about the tables one said unto him Thou dancest truly Hippoclides answered againe Hippoclides careth not greatly for the trueth In his eighth booke he writeth that the Greeks being affrighted like cowards entred into a resolution for to flie from Artemisium into Greece and that when those of Euboea besought them to tarry still a while untill such time as they might take order how to bestow their wives children and familie they were nothing moved at their praiers nor gave any eare unto them untill such time as Themistocles tooke a peece of mony of them and parted the same betweene Eurybiades and Adimantus the Pretour or captaine of the Corinthians And then they staied longer and fought a navall battell with the Barbarians And verily Pindarus the Poet albeit he was not of any confederate city but of that which was suspected and accused to hold of the Medians side yet when he had occasion to make mention of the battell at Artemisium brake forth into this exclamation This is the place where Athens youth sometime as writers say Did with their bood of liberty the glorious groundworke lay But Herodotus contrariwise by whom some give out that Greece hath bene graced and adorned writeth that the said victory was an act of corruption bribery and mere theft and that the Greeks fought against their wils as being bought and sold by their captaines who tooke mony therefore Neither is here an end of his malice For all men in maner doe acknowledge and confesse that the Greeks having gotten the upper hand in sea fight upon this coast yet abandoned the cape Artemisium and yeelded it to the Barbarians upon the newes that they heard of the overthrow received at Thermopylae For it had bene no boot nor to any purpose for to have sitten still there and kept the sea for the behoofe of Greece considering that now the warre was hard at their dores within those straights and Xerxes master of all the Avenies But Herodotus feigneth that the Greeks before they were advertised of Leontidas death held a counsell and were in deliberation to flie For these be his words Being in great distresse quoth he and the Athenians especially who had many of their ships even the one halfe of their fleet shrewdly brused and shaken they were in consultation to take their flight into Greece But let us permit him thus to name or to reproch rather this retrait of theirs before the battell but he termed it before a flight and now at this present he calleth it a flight and hereafter he will give it the name of flight so bitterly is he bent to use this vile word flight But quoth he there came to the Barbarians presently after this in a barke or light pinnace a man of Estiaea who advertised them how the Greeks had quit the cape Artemisium and were fledde which because they could not beleeve they kept the messenger in ward and safe custody and thereupon put forth certaine swift foists in espiall to discover the trueth What say you Herodotus What is it you write That they fled as vanquished whom their very enimies themselves after the battell could not beleeve that they fled as supposing them to have had the better hand a great deale And deserveth this man to have credit given him when he writeth of one perticular person or of one city apart by it selfe who in one bare word spoileth all Greece of the victory He overthroweth and demolisheth the very Trophaee and monument that all Greece erected He abolisheth those titles and inscriptions which they set up in the honor of Diana on the East side of Artimisium calling all this but pride and vaineglory And as for the Epigram it ran to this effect From Asia land all sorts of nations stout When Athens youth sometime in navall fight Had vanquished and all these coasts about Disperst their fleet and therewith put to flight And staine the hast of Medes Loe heere in sight What monuments to thee with due respect Diana virgin pure they did erect He described not the order of the battels and how the Greeks were ranged neither hath he shewed what place every city of theirs held during this terrible fight at sea but in that retrait of their fleet which he termeth a flight he saith that the Corinthians sailed formost and the Athenians hinmost he should not then have thus troden under foot and insulted too much over those Greeks who tooke part with the Medes he I say who by others is thought to be a Thurian borne and reckoneth himselfe in the number of the Halicarnasseans and they verily being descended from the Dorians come with their wives and children to make warre against the Greeks But this man is so farre off from naming and alledging before the streights and necessities whereto those states were driven who sided with the Medians that he reporteth thus much of the Medians how notwithstanding the Phocaeans were their captiall enemies yet they sent unto them aforehand that they would spare their countrey without doing any harme or damage unto it if they might receive from them as a reward fifite talents of silver And this wrote he as touching the Phocaeans in these very termes The Phocaeans quoth he were the onely men who in these quarters sided not with the Medians for no other cause as I finde upon mature consideration but in regard of the hatred which they bare against the Thessalians for if the Thessalians had bene affected to the Greeks I suppose the Phocaeans would have turned to the Medes And yet a little after himselfe wil say that thirteene cities of the Phocaeans were set on fire and burnt to ashes by the Barbarian king their countrey laid waste the temple within the citie Abes consumed with fire their men and women both put to the sword as many as could not gaine the top of the mount Pernassus Neverthelesse he rangeth them in the number of those that most affectionatly tooke part with the Barbarians who indeed chose rather to endure all extremities and miseries that warre may bring than to abandon the defence and maintenance of the honour of Greece And being not able to reproove the men for any deeds committed he busied his braines to devise false imputations forging and framing with his pen divers surmises and suspicions against them not
be blamed if haply they be not well used but impure all the fault unto them that abuse the same And therefore if any one from his childhood shall be well instructed and trained up in Musicke and withall employ his labour and diligence therein he will receive and approove that which is honest and commendable blame also he will and reject the contrary not in musicke onley but in all things else and such a one will decline all unhonest and unwoorthy actions and thus reaping from musicke the greatest and best contentment that can be he may benefit exceeding much as well himselfe as his whole countrey using no word nor deed unseemely but observing at all times and in every place that which is befitting decent temperate and elegant Moreover that cities and states best governed by pollicie and good lawes have alwaies had a speciall regard of generous and good musicke many and sundry testimonies may be alledged and namely a man may very well cite to this purpose Terpander who suppressed in times past the great sedition and civill descord that was in Lacedaemon Thales also the Candiot who went as it is said by the commandement and oracle of Apollo to Lacedaemon and there cured the citizens and delivered them from that great pestilence which reigned in that citie and all by the meanes of musicke as writeth Pratinas Homer also himselfe saith that the plague which afflicted the Greeks was by musicke staied and appeased Then all day long the Grecian youth in songs melodious Besought god Phoebus of his grace to be propitious Phoebus I say who from a farre doth shoot his arrowes nie They chaunt and praise who takes great joy to heare such harmonie with these verses as with Corollarie good master I will conclude this my discourse of Musicke and the rather because you first by the very same verses commended unto us the force and power of Musicke for in very trueth the principall and most commendable worke thereof is thanksgiving unto the gods and the acknowledgement of their grace and favour the second and that which next followeth is a sanctified heart a pure consonant and harmonicall estate of the soule When Soterichus had said Thus you have quoth he my good master heard us discourse of Musicke round about the boord as we sit And verily Soterichus was highly admired for that which he had delivered for he shewed evidently both by his voice and visage how much he was affected unto Musicke what study he had emploied thereto Then my master Over and above other things this also I commend in you both that you have kept your owne course and place the one as well as the other For Lysias hath furnished our feast with those things which are proper and meet for a Musician who knoweth onely to handle the lute or harpe and hath no farther skill than manuall practise Soterichus also hath taught us whatsoever concerneth both the profit and also the speculation thereof yea and withall comprehendeth therein the power and use of Musicke whereby he hath mended our fare and feasted us most sumptuously And I suppose verily that both of them have of purpose and that right willingly left thus much unto me as to draw Musicke unto feasts and banquets neither will I condemne them of timidity as if they were ashamed so to doe For if in any part of mans life certes in such feasts and mery meetings it is right profitable For according as good Homer saith Both song and daunce delight affoord And things that well beseeme the boord Neither would I have any man to inferre heereupon that Homer thought Musicke good for nothing else but to delight and content the company at a feast considering there is in those verses couched and hidden a more deepe and profound meaning For he brought Musicke to those times and places wherein it might profit and helpe men most I meane the feasts and meetings of our ancients and expedient it was to have her company there for that she is able to divert and temper the heat and strength of wine according as our Aristoxenus also else where saith Musicke quoth he is brought in thither because that whereas wine is wont to pervert overturne as well the bodies as the minds of those who take it immoderatly Musicke by that order symmetry and accord which is in it reduceth them againe into a contrary temperature and dulceth all And therefore Homer reporteth that our ancients used Musicke as a remedy and helpe at such a time But that which is principall and maketh Musicke above all things most venerable you have my good friend let passe and omitted For Pythagoras Archias Plato and all the rest of the old Philosophers doe hold that the motion of the whole world together with the revolution of the starres is not performed without Musicke For they teach that God framed all things by harmonie But to prosecute this matter more at large this time will not permit and besides it is a very high point and most Musicall to know in every thing how to keepe a meane and competent measure This said he sung an hymne and after he had offered a libation of wine unto Saturne and to all the gods his children as also to the Muses he gave his guests leave to depart OF THE FORTVNE OR VERTUE OF K. Alexander The Summarie IN this treatise and that which followeth framed both in forme of a declamation Plutarch magnifieth Alexander a praise worthy prince for many good parts that were in him wherein he sheweth also that we ought to attribute unto vertue and not to fortune those brave exploits which he performed By fortune he meaneth that course of the affarres in this world whereby it falleth out many times that the wisest men are not alwaies most happy and best advanced To proove therefore that Alexander was endued with exquisit qualities for execution of those enterprises which by him were atchieved afterwordes and brought to an end he compareth him in the beginning of this treatise with the kings of Persia raised up to their greatnesse by fortune and then sheweth that Alexander being an excellent Philosopher we ought not to wonder or be astonished if by his vertue he saw the end of many things which the most fortunate princes of the world durst never take in hand and begin Now the better to set out the excellencie of this Philosophy of Alexander he compareth his scholars with the disciples of Plato and Socrates proving that those of this prince surpassed the others as much as a good deed or benefit done to an infinit number of men surmounteth a good speech or instruction given to some perticular persons the most part of whom make no account thereof He proceedeth forward and discribeth the wisdome and sufficiencie of Alexander in politicke government which he amplifieth by the consider ation of his amiable behaviour and lovely cariage toward those nations which by him were subdued also by the recitall of some notable
or debarre shooting for that we may overshoot and misse the marke or to condemne hearing of musicke because a discord or jarre is offensive to the eare For like as in sounds musicke maketh an accord and harmonie not by taking away the loud and base notes And in our bodies Physicke procureth health not by destroying heat and cold but by a certaine temperature and mixture of them both in good proportion Even so it fareth in the soule of man wherein reason hath the predominance and victorie namely when by the power thereof the passions perturbations and motions are reduced into a kind of moderation and mediocritie For no doubt excessive sorrow and heavines immeasurable joy and gladnesse in the soule may be aptly compared to a swelling and inflammation in the body but neither joy nor sorrow simply in it selfe And therefore Homer in this wise sentence of his Aman of woorth doth never colour change Exce ssive feare in him is verie strange doth not abolish feare altogether but the extremitie thereof to the end that a man should not thinke that either valour is desperate follie or confidence audacious temeritie And therefore in pleasures and delights we ought likewise to cut off immoderate lust as also in taking punishment extreme hatred of malefactours He that can do so shall be reputed in the one not indolent but temperate and in the other not bitter and cruell but just and righteous Whereas let passions be rid cleane away if that were possible to be done our reason will be found in many things more dull and idle like as the pilot and master of a ship hath little to do if the winde be laid and no gale at all stirring And verily as it should seeme wise Law-makers seeing this well enough have with great policie given occasion in cities and common-wealths of Ambition and Emulation among citizens one with another and in the field against enemies devised to excite the courage of souldiours and to whet their ire and manhood by sound of trumpets fifes diums and other instruments For not onely in Poetrie as Plato saith verie well he that is inspired and as it were ravished with the divine instinct of the Muses wil make a rediculous foole of him who otherwise is an excellent Poët and his crafts-master as having learned the exquisite knowledge of the art but also in battels the heat of courage set on fire with a certaine divine inspiration is invincible and cannot be withstood This is that martiall furie which as Homer saith the gods do infuse or inspire rather into warlike men Thus having said he did in spire The Princes heart with might andire And againe One god or other surely doth him assist Else faring thus he never could persist As if to the discourse of reason they had adjoined passion as a pricke to incite and a chariot to set it forward Certes even these verie Stoicks with whom now we argue and who seeme to reject all passions we may see oftentimes how they stirre up yoong men with praises and as often rebuke them with sharpe admonitions and severe reprehensions Whereof there must needs ensue of the one part pleasure and of the other part displeasure For surely checkes and fault-findings strike a certaine repentance and shame of which two the former is comprised under sorrow and the latter under feare and these be the meanes that they use principally to chastice and correct withall Which was the reason that Diogenes upon a time when he heard Plato so highly praised and extolled And what great and woorthy matter quoth he finde you in that man who having been a Philosopher so long taught the precepts thereof hath not in all this time greeved and wounded the heart of any one person For surely the Mathematicall sciences a man cannot so properly call the eares or handles of Philosophie to use the words of Xenocrates as he may affirme that these affections of yoong men to wit bashfulnesse desire repentance pleasure and paine are their handles whereof reason and law together taking hold by a discreet apt and holesome touch bring a yoong man speedily and effectually into the right way And therefore the Lacedaemonian schoolemaster and governour of children said verie well when he professed that he would bring to passe that the child whom he tooke into his tuition should joy in honest things and grieve in those that were fould and dishonest Then which there cannot possibly be named a more woorthy or commendable end of the liberall education and bringing up of a yoong youth well descended OF VERTVE AND VICE The Summarie IN this little treatise adjoyned aptly unto the former the Author prooveth that outward and corruptible things be not they that set the soule in repose but reason well ruled and governed And after that he hath depainted the miserable estate of wicked and sinfull persons troubled and tormented with their passions both night and day he prooveth by proper and apt similitudes that philosophie together with the love of vertue bringeth true contentment and happinesse indeed unto a man OF VERTVE AND VICE IT seemeth and commonly it is thought that they be the garments which do heat a man and yet of themselves they neither doe heat nor bring any heat with them for take any of them apart by it selfe you shall finde it colde which is the reason that men being verie hote and in a fit of a fever love often to change their clothes for to coole and refresh their bodies But the trueth is this Looke what heat a man doth yeeld from himselfe the clothes or garments that cover the body do keepe in the same and unite close together and being thus included and held in suffer it not to evapotate breathe out and vanish away The same errour in the state of this life hath deceived many man who imagine that if they may dwell in stately and gorgeous great houses be attended upon with a number of servants retaine a sort of slaves and can gather together huge summes of golde and silver then they shall live in joy and pleasure wheteas in verie sooth the sweete and joifull life proceedeth not from any thing without But contrariwise when a man hath those goodly things about him it is himselfe that addeth a pleasure and grace unto them even from his owne nature and civill behaviour composed by morall vertue within him which is the very fountaine and lively spring of all good contentment For if the fire do alwaies burne out light More stately is the house and faire in sight Semblably riches are more acceptable glorie hath the better and more shining lustre yea and authoritie carieth the greater grace if the inward joy of the soule be joined therewith For surely men doe endure povertie exile and banishment out of their owne countries yea and beare the burden of olde age willingly and with more ease according as their maners be milde and the minde disposed to meeknesse And like as sweet odours
serve to heare out the tale But bids say on and tell us more And close he holds his eare therefore So that this sentence How sooner much are ill newes understood And heard by men alas than tidings good is well and truely verified of these curious Polypragmons For like as cupping glasses boxes and ventoses draw the woorst matter out of the flesh even so the eares of curious and busie folke are willing to receive and admit the most lewd and haughtiest speeches that are or rather to speake more properly as townes and cities have certaine cursed and unluckie gates at which they send out malefactors to execution carrie and throw foorth their dung ordure filthines and cleansings whatsoever but never commeth in or goeth out that way any thing that pure is and holy semblably the eares of these curious intermedlers be of the same nature for there entreth and passeth into them nothing that is honest civill and lovely but the bruit and rumours of cruell murders have accesse unto them and there make aboad bringing there with wicked abominable profane and cursed reports and as one said The onely bird that in my house doth ever sing Both night and day is dolefull moane much sorrow and wailing So this is the Muse Syrene Mere-maid alone that Busie folke have neither is there any thing that they hearken to more willingly for Curiositie is an itching desire to heare secrets and hidden matters and well you wot that no man will lightly conceale any good thing that he hath considering that manie times we make semblance of good parts that be not in us And therefore the busie intermedler who is so desirous to know and heare of evils is subject to that which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vice coosen germaine or sister rather to envie and eie-biting Forasmuch as envie is nothing else but the griefe for another mans good and the foresaide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joy for his harme and verily both these infirmities proceed from an untoward roote even another untamed vice and savage disposition to wit malignitie or malice And this we know well that so irkesome and odious it is to everie man for to bewray and reveale the secrets evils and vices which he hath that many men have chosen to die rather than to discover and open unto Physicians any of their hidden maladies which they carrie about them Now suppose that Heraclitus or Erosistratus the physicians nay AEsculapius himselfe whiles he was a mortall men should come to an house furnished with drugs medicines and instruments requisite for the cure of diseases and aske whether any man their had a Fistula in Ano that is an hollow and hidden ulcer within his fundament Or if she be a woman whether she have a cankerous sore within her matrice albeit in this art such inquisitive curiositie is a speciall meanes making for the good and the health of the sicke each one I suppose would be readie to hunt and chase away from the house such a Physician who unsent for and before any neede required came upon his owne accord and motion in a braverie to enquire and learne other folks maladies What shall we say then to these busie medlers who enquire of another the selfe same infirmities and worse too Not of any minde at all to cure and heale the same but onely to detect and set them abroad In which respect they are by good right the most odious persons in the world For we hardly can abide Publicanes Customers and Tol-gatherers but are mightily offended with them not when they exact of us and cause us to pay toll for any commodities or wares that are openly brought in but when they keepe a firetting and searching for such things as be hidden and meddle with the wares and carriages of other men notwithstanding that law granteth and publike authoritie alloweth them so to do yea and if they doe it not they sustaine losse and dammage themselves But contrariwise these curious fellowes let their owne businesse alone and passe not which ende go forward caring not to hinder themselves whiles they be intentive to the affaires of other men Seldome go they into the countrie for that they cannot endure the quietnes and still silence of the wilde and solitarie fields But if haply after long time they make a cast thither they cast an eie to their neighbours vines rather than to their owne they enquire how many beeves or oxen of his died or what quantity of wine sowred under his hand and no sooner are they full of these newes but into the citie they trudge and make haste againe As for the good farmer and painefull husbandman indeed he is not verie willing to give eare unto those newes which without his hearkning after come from the citie of the owne accord and are brought unto him for his saying is My ditcher will anon both tell and talke upon what points concluded was the peace For now the knave about such newes doth walke And busie he to listen doth not cease But in trueth these busie-bodies avoiding countrey life and husbandrie as a vaine trade and foolish occupation a cold maner of living which bringeth forth no great and tragicall matter intrude and thrust themselves into the high courts of Justice the tribunal seats the market place and publike pulpits where speeches be made unto the people great assemblies and the most frequented quarter of the haven where the ships ride at ankor what No newes saith one of them How now Were you not this morning at the market or in the common place What then How thinke you is not the citie mightily changed and transformed within these three houres Now if it chaunce that some one or other make a overture and have something to say as touching those points downe he alights on foot from his horse he embraceth the man kisseth him and there stands attending and giving care unto him But say that the partie whom he thus encountreth and meeteth upon the way tell him that he hath no newes to report what saist thou will he infer againe and that in displeasure and discontentment Wert not thou in the market place of late Didst not thou passe by the Princes court Hadst thou no talke or conference at all with those that came out of Italie In regard of such therefore as these I hold well with the Magistrates of the citie Locri and commend a law of theirs That if any citizen had beene abroad in the countrey and upon his returne home demaunded what newes he should have a fine set on his head For like as Cookes pray for nothing but good store of fatlings to kill for the the kitchin and Fishmongers plentie of fishes even so curious and busie people wish for a world of troubles and a number of affaires great newes alterations and changes of State to the ende that they might evermore be provided of gaine to chase and hunt after yea and to kill Well
have fallen out so I was in great hope of other matters and little looked I for this so they shall be able to rid us of all sudden pantings and leapings of the hart of unquiet disorderly beating of the pulses and soone stay and settle the furious troublesome motions of impatience Carneades was woont in time of greatest prosperitie to put men in minde of a change for that the thing which hapneth contrarie to our hope and expectation is that which altogether and wholy doth breed sorrow and griefe The kingdome of the Macedonians was not an handfull to the Romaine Empire and dominion and yet king Perseus when he had lost Macedonie did not only himselfe lament his owne fortune most pitiously but in the eies also of the whole world he was reputed a most unfortunate and miserable man But behold Paulus Aemelius whose hap it was to vanquish the said Perseus when he departed out of that Province and made over into the hands of another his whole armie with so great commaund both of land and sea was crowned with a chaplet of flowers and so did sacrifice unto the gods with joy and thanks-giving in the judgement of all men woorthily extolled and reputed as happie For why when he received first that high commission and mightie power withall he knew full well that he was to give it over and resigne it up when his time was expired where as Perseus on the contrarie side lost that which he never made account to lose Certes even the Poet Homer hath given us verie well to understand how forcible that is which hapneth besides hope and unlooked for when he bringeth in Ulysses upon his returne weeping for the death of his dog but when he sate by his owne wife who shed teares plentifully wept not at all for that he had long before at his leasure against this comming home of his prevented and brought into subjection as it were by the rule of reason that passion which otherwise hee knew well enough would have broken out whereas looking for nothing lesse than the death of his dog he fell suddenly into it as having had no time before to represse the same In summe of all those accidents which light upon us contrarie to our will some grieve and vexe us by the course and instinct of nature other and those be the greater part we are woont to be offended and discontented with upon a corrupt opinion and foolish custome that we have taken and therefore we should do verie well against such temptations as these to be ready with that sentence of Menander No harme nor losse thou dost sustaine But that thou list so for to faine And how quoth he can it concerne thee For if no flesh without it wound Nor soule within then all is sound As for example the base parentage and birth of thy father the adulterie of thy wife the losse or repulse of any honor dignitie or preeminence for what should let notwithstanding all these crosses but that thy bodie and minde both may be in right good plight and excellent estate And against those accidents which seeme naturally to grieve and trouble us to wit maladies paines and travels death of deere friends and toward children we may oppose another saying of Euripides the Poët Alas alas and well a-day But why alas and well away Nought else to us hath yet beene delt But that who daily men have felt For no remonstrance nor reason is so effectuall to restraine and stay this passionate and sensuall part of our mind when it is readie to slip and be carried headlong away with our affections as that which call 〈◊〉 remembrance the common and naturall necessitie by meanes whereof a man in 〈◊〉 his bodie being mixed and compounded doth expose and offer this handle as it were 〈◊〉 vantage whereby fortune is to take hold when she wrestleth against him for otherwise a the greatest and most principall things he abideth fast and sure King Demetrius having 〈◊〉 and woon the citie Megara demaunded of Stilpo the wise Philosopher whether he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any goods in the sackage and pillage thereof Sir quoth he I saw not so much as one man carrying any thing of mine away semblably when fortune hath made what spoile nee can and taken from us all other things yet somewhat there remaineth still within our selves Which Greeks do what they can or may Shall neither drive nor beare away In which regard we ought altogether so to depresse debase and throw downe our humaine nature as if it had nothing firme stable and permanent nothing above the reach and power of fortune but contrariwise knowing that it is the least and woorst part of man and the same fraile brittle and subject to death which maketh us to lie open unto fortune and her assaults whereas in respect of the better part we are masters over her and have her at command when there being seated and founded most surely the best and greatest things that we have to wit sound and honest Opinions Arts and Sciences good discourses tending to vertue which be all of a substance incorruptible and whereof we can not be robbed we I say knowing thus much ought in the confidence of our selves to cary a minde invincible and secure against whatsoever shall happen be able to say that to the face of Fortune which Socrates addressing his speech indeed covertly to the Judges seemed to speake against his two accusers Anytus and Melitus Well may Anytus and Melitus bring me to my death but hurt or harme me they shall never be able And even so Fortune hath power to bring a disease or sicknesse upon a man his goods she can take away raise she may a slander of him to tyrant prince or people and bring him out of grace and favour but him that is vertuous honest valiant and magnanimous she can not make wicked dishonest base-minded malicious envious and in one word she hath not power to take from him a good habitude setled upon wisdome and discretion which wheresoever it is alwaies present doth more good unto a man for to guide him how to live than the pilot at sea for to direct a ship in her course for surely the pilot be he never so skilfull knoweth not how to still the rough and surging billowes when he would he can not allay the violence of a tempest or blustering winde neither put into a safe harbor and haven or gaine a commodious bay to anker in at all times and in every coast would he never so faine nor resolutely without feare and trembling when he is in a tempest abide the danger and under-goe all thus farre foorth onely his art serveth so long as he is in no despaire but that his skill may take place To strike main-saile and downe the lee To let ship hull untill he see The foot of mast no more above The sea while he doth not remove But with one hand in other fast Quaketh and panteth
so much as to bring him in some sort in grace and favour againe with their father and when he hath failed so far foorth in neglecting the opportunity of time or omitting some other businesse which hardly will afoord excuse they are to lay the fault and blame upon his very nature and disposition as being more meete and fitted for other matters And heereto accordeth well that speech of Agamemnon in Homer He faulted not through idlenesse nor yet for want of wit But lookt on me and did expect my motive unto it even so one good brother may excuse another and say He thought I should have done it and left this duetie for me to doe neither are fathers themselves strait laced but willingly enough to admit such translations and gentle inversions of names as these they can be content to beleeve their children when they terme the supine negligence of their brethren plaine simplicitie their stupiditie and blockishnesse upright dealing and a good conscience their quarrellous and 〈◊〉 nature a minde loth to be troden under-foot and utterly despised In this maner he that will proceed with an intent only to appease his fathers wrath shal gaine thus much morcover That not only his fathers choler will therby be much diminished toward his brother but his love also much more encreased unto himselfe howbeit afterwards when he hath thus made all well and satisfied his father to his good contentment then must he turne and addresse himselfe to his brother apart touch him to the quicke spare him never a whit but with all libertie of language tell him roundly of his fault and rebuke him for his trespasse for surely it is not good to use indulgencie and connivencie to a brother no more than to insult over him too much and tread him under foote if hee have done amisse for as this bewraieth a joy that one taketh at his fall so that implieth a guiltinesse with him in the same transgression but in this rebuke and reproofe such measure would be kept that it may testifie a care to do him good and yet a displeasure for his fault for commonly he that hath beene a most earnest advocate and affectionate intercessor for him to his father and mother will be his sharpest accuser afterwards when he hath beene alone by himselfe But put the case that abrother having not at all offended be blamed notwithstanding and accused to father and mother howsoever in other things it is the part of humanitie and dutifull kindnesse to susteine and beare all anger and froward displeasure of parents yet in this case the allegations and desenses of one brother in the justification of an other when he is innocent unjustly traduced and hardly used or wronged by his parents are not to be blamed but allowable and grounded upon honestie neither need a brother feare to heare that reproch in Sophocles Thou gracelesse imp so farre growen out of kinde As with thy Sire a counter plea to finde when frankly freely he speaketh in the behalfe of his brother seeming to be unjustly condemned and oppressed For surely by this manner of processe and pleading they that are convicted take more joy in being overthrowen than if they had gained the victorie and better hand Now after that a father is deceased it is well beseeming and fit that brethren should more affectionaly love than besore and sticke more close together for then presently their naturall love unto their father which is common to them all ought to appeere indifferently in mourning together and lamenting for his death then are they to reject and cast behimde them all suspicions surmized or buzzed into their heads by varlets servants all slanderous calumniations and false reports brought unto them by pick-thankes and carrie-tales on both sides who would gladly sow some diffension betweene them then are they to give eare unto that which fables doe report of the reciprocall love of Castor and Pollux and namely how it is said That Pollux killed one with his fist for rounding him in the eare and whispering a tale against his brother Castor Afterwards when they shall come to the parting of their patrimonie and fathers goods among them they ought not as it were to give defiance and denounce warre one against another as many there be who come prepared for that purpose readie to encounter singing this note O Alal Alala now hearken and come fight Who art of warre so fell the daughter right But that verie day of all others they ought to regard and observe most as being the time which to them is the beginning either of mortall warre and enmitie irreconcileable or else of perfect friendship and amitie perdurable at which instant they ought among themselves alone to divide their portions if it be possible if not then to do it in the presence of one indifferent and common friend betweene them who may be a witnes to their whole order and proceeding and so when after a loving and kinde maner and as becommeth honest and well disposed persons they have by casting lots gotten ech one that which is his right by which course as Plato said they ought to thinke that there is given and received that which is meet and agreeable for every one and so to hold themselves therwith contented this done I say they are to make account that the ordering mannaging and administration onely of the goods and heritage is parted and divided but the enjoying use and possession of all remaineth yet whole in common between them But those that in this partition and distribution of goods plucke one from another the nourses that gave them 〈◊〉 or such youths as were fostered and brought up together with them of 〈◊〉 and with whom alwaies they had lived and loved familiarly well may they pervaile so farre forth with eager pursuing their wilfulnesse as to go away with the gaine of a slave perhaps of greater price but in stead thereof they lose the greatest and most pretions things in all their patrimonie and inheritance and utterly betray the love of a brother and the considence that otherwise they might have had in him Some also we have knowen who upon a peevish wilfulnesse onely and a quarrellous humour and without any gaine at all have in the partition of their fathers goods carried themselves no better nor with greater modestie and respect than if it had bene some bootie or pillage gotten in war Such were Charicles and Antiochus of the citie Opus two brethren who ever as they met with a piece of silver plate made no more ado but cut it quite thorough the mids and if there came a garment into their hands in two pieces it went slit as neere as they could aime just in the middle and so they went either of them away with his part dividing as it were upon some tragicall curse and execration Their house and all the goods therein By edge of sword so sharpe and keen Others there be who make their boast and
dead whereas if he could have held his tongue a little while longer and mastered himselfe when the king afterwards had better fortune and recovered his greatnesse and puissance he should in my conceit have gotten more thanks at his hands and beene better rewarded for keeping silence than for all the courtesie and hospitalitie that he shewed And yet this fellow had in some sort a colourable excuse for this intemperate tongue of his to wit his owne hopes and the good will that he bare unto the king but the most part of these pratlers vndo themselves without any cause or pretense at all of reason like as it befell unto Denys the tyrants barbar for when upon a time there were some talking in his shop as touching his tyrannicall government and estate how assured it was and as hard to be ruined or overthrowen as it is to breake the Diamond the said barbar laughing thereat I marvell quoth he that you should say so of Denys who is so often under my hands and at whose throat in a maner every day I holde my rasor these words were soone carried to the tyrant Denys who faire crucified this barbar and hanged him for his foolish words And to say a trueth all the sort of these barbars be commonly busie fellowes with their tongue and no marvell for lightly the greatest praters and idlest persons in a countrey frequent the barbars shop and sit in his chaire where they keepe such chat that it can not be but by hearing them prate so customably his tongue also must walke with them And therefore king Archelaus answered very pleasantly unto a barbar of his that was a man of no few words who when he had cast his linnen cloth about his shoulders said unto him Sir may it please your Highnesse to tell me how I shall cut or shave you Mary quoth he holding thy tongue and saying not a word A barbar it was who first reported in the city of Athens the newes of that great discomsiture and overthrow which the Athenians received in Sicily for keeping his shop as he did in that end of the suburbs called Pyraeum he had no sooner heard the said unlucky newes of a certaine slave who fled from thence out of the field when it was lost but leaving shop and all at sixe and seven ran directly into the city and never rested to bring the said tidings and whiles they were fresh and fire-new For feare some els might all the honour win And he teo late or second should come in Now upon the broching of these unwelcome tidings a man may well thinke and not without good cause that there was a great stirre within the city insomuch as the people assembled together into the Market place or Common hall and search was made for the authour of this rumour hereupon the said barbar was haled and brought before the bodie of the people and examined who knew not so much as the name of the partie of whom hee heard this newes But well assured I am quoth he that one said so mary who it was or what his name might be I can not tell Thus it was taken for an headlesse tale and the whole Theatre or Assembly was so moved to anger that they cried out with one voice Away with the villaine have the varlet to the racke set the knave upon the wheele he it is onely that hath made all on his owne singers ends this hath he and none but he devised for who els hath heard it or who besides him hath beleeved it Well the wheele was brought and upon it was the barbar stretched meane while and even as the poore wretch was hoised thereupon beholde there arrived and came to the citie those who brought certaine newes in deed of the said defeature even they who made a shift to escape out of that infortunate field then brake up the assembly and every man departed and retired home to his owne house for to bewaile his owne private losse and calamity leaving the silly barbar lying along bound to the wheele and racked out to the length and there remained he untill it was very late in the evening at what time he was let loose and no sooner was he at liberty but he must needs enquire newes of the executioner namely what they heard abroad of the Generall himselfe Nicias and in what sort he was slaine So inexpugnable and incorrigible a vice is this gotten by custome of much talke that a man can not leave it though he were going to the gallowes nor keepe in those tidings which no man is willing to heare for certes like as they who have drunke bitter potions or unsavory medicines can not away with the very cups where in they were even so they that bring evill and heavie tidings are ordinarily hated and detested of those unto whom they report the same And therefore Sophocles the Poet hath verie finely distinguished upon this point in these verses MESSENGER Is it your heart or els your eare That this offends which you do heare CREON. And why do'st thou search my disease To know what griefe doth me displease MESSENGER His deeds I see offend your heart But my words cause your eares to smart Well then those who tell us any wofull newes be as odious as they who worke our wo and yet for all that there is no restreint and brideling of an untemperate tongue that is given to walke and overreach It fortuned one day at Lacedaemon that the temple of Iuno called there Chalciaecos was robbed and within it was found a certeine emptie flagon or stone bottle for wine great running there was and concourse of the people thither and men could not tell what to make of that flagon at last one of them that stood by My masters quoth he if you will give me leave I shall tell you what my conceit is of that flagon for my minde gives me saith he that these church-robbers who projected to execute so perilous an enterprise had first drunke the juice of hemlocke before they entred into the action and afterwards brought wine with them in this bottle to the end that if they were not surprised nor taken in the maner they might save their lives by drinking each of them a good draught of meere wine the nature and vertue whereof as you know well enough is to quench as it were and dissolve the vigour and strength of that poison and so goe their waies safe enough but if it chance that they were taken in the deed doing then they might by meanes of that hemlocke which they had drunke die an easie death and without any great paine and torment before that they were put to torture by the magistrate He had no sooner delivered this speech but the whole companie who heard his words thought verily that such a contrived devise and so deepe a reach as this never came from one that suspected such a matter but rather knew that it was so indeed whereupon they
be crossed out of his booke but he that hath already more than enough and sufficient and yet craveth more surely it is neither golde nor silver that will cure him neither horses nor sheepe nor yet beeves will serve his turne need had he of purgation and evacuation for povertie is not his disease but covetousnesse and an unsatiable desire of riches proceeding from false judgement and a corrupt opinion that he hath which if a man do not rid away out of his mind as a winding gulfe or whirle-poole that is crosse and overthwart in their way they will never cease to hunt after superfluities and seeme to stand in need thereof that is to say to covet those things which they know not what to doe with When a Physitian commeth into the chamber of a patient whom he findeth lying along in his bed groaning and resusing all foode he taketh him by the hand feeleth his pulse asketh him certaine questions and finding that he hath no ague This is a disease quoth he of the minde and so goeth his way even so when we see a worldly minded man altogether set upon his gets and gaines pining away and even consumed with the greedie worme of gathering good weeping whining and sighing at expenses and when any money is to goe out of his purse sticking at no paine and trouble sparing for no indignitie no unhonest and indirect meanes whatsoever nor caring which way he goes to worke whether it bee by booke or crooke so that hee may gaine and profit thereby having choise of houses and tenements lands lying in everie countrey droves heards and flockes of cattell a number of slaves wardrobes of apparell and clothes of all sorts what shall we say that this man is sicke of unlesse it be the poverty of the soule As for want of money and goods one friend as Menander saith may cure and helpe with his bountifull hand but that penurie and needinesse of the soule all the men in the world that either live at this day or ever were before time are not able to satisfie and suffice and therefore of such Solon said verie well No limit set nor certaine bound men have Of their desire to goods but still they crave For those who are wise and of sound judgement are content with that measure and portion which nature hath set downe and assigned for them such men know an ende and keepe themselves within the center and circumference of their need and necessitie onely But this is a peculiar propertie that avarice hath by it selfe For a covetous desire it is even repugnant to satietie and hindereth it selfe that it never can have sufficient whereas all other desires and lusts are aiding and helpfull thereto For no man I trow that is a glutton forbeareth to eate a good morcel of meat for gourmandise nor drunkard abstaineth from drinking wine upon an appetite and love that he hath to wine as these covetous wretches do who spare their money and wil not touch it through a desire onely that they have of money And how can we otherwise thinke but it were a piteous and lamentable case yea and a disease next cousin to meere madnesse if a man should therefore spare the wearing of a garment because he is readie to chill and quake for cold or forbeare to touch bread for that he is almost hunger-starved and even so not to handle his goods because he loveth them certes such a one is in the same plight and piteous perplexitie that Thrasonides was who in a certaine comedie describeth his owne miseries At home it is within my power I may enjoy it everte hower I wish a thing as if I were In raging love yet I forbere When I have lockt and seald up all Or else put foorth by count and tale My coine to brokers for the use Or other factours whom I chuse I plod and plonder still for more I hunt I seeke to fetch in store I chide and branle with servants mine The husbandman and eke the hine I bring to count and then anon My debters all I call upon By Dan Apollo now I sweare Was any man that earth did beare Whom thou hast ever knowen or seene In love more wretched to have beene Sophocles being on a time demaunded familiarly by one of his friends whether he could yet keepe companie with a woman if need were Godblesse quoth he my good friend talke no more of that I pray you I am free from those matters long since and by the benefit of mine olde age I have escaped the servitude of such violent and furious mistresses And verily it is a good and gracious gift that our lusts and appetites should end together with our strength and abilitie especially in those delights and pleasures which as Alcaeus saith neither man nor woman can well avoide But this is not to be found in avarice and desire of riches for shee curst sharpe and shrewd queane forceth indeed a man to get and gather but she forbiddeth him withall to use and enjoy the same shee stirreth up and provoketh his lust but shee denieth him all pleasure I remember that in old time Stratonicus taxed and mocked the Rhodians for their wastfull and superfluous expences in this manner They build sumptuously quoth he as if they were immortall and should never die but they fare at their boords as though they had but a small while to liue But these covetous misers gather wealth together like mightie magnificoes but they spend like beggerly mechanicals they endure the paine and travell of getting and taste no pleasure of the enjoying Demades the Orator came one day to visite Phocion and found him at dinner but seeing but a little meat before him upon the table and the same nothing fine and daintie but course and simple I marvell quoth he ô Phociou how you can take up with so short a dinner and so small a pittance considering the paines you doe endure in mannaging the affaires of State and common-wealth As for Demades he dealt indeed with government and was a great man in the city with the people but it was all for his bellie and to furnish a plentifull boord insomuch as supposing that the citie of Athens could not yeeld him revenew and provision sufficient for to maintaine his excessive gourmandise he laid for cates and victuals out of Macedon whereupon Antipater when he saw him an old man with a wrinkled and withered face said pleasantly That he had nothing left now but his paunch and his tongue much like unto a sheepe or some other beast killed for sacrifice when all is eaten besides But thou most unhappie and wretched miser who would not make a woonder at thee condering that thou canst lead so base and beggerly a life without societie of men or courtesie to thy neighbors not giving ought to any person shewing no kindnesse to thy friends no bountie nor magnificence to the common-wealth yet still dost afflict thy poore selfe lie awake all
the night long toile and moile like a drudge and hireling thy selfe hire other labourers for day-wages lie in the winde for inheritances speake men faire in hope to be their heire and debase thy selfe to all the world and care not to whom thou cap and knee for gaine having I say so sufficient meanes otherwise to live at ease to wit thy niggardise and pinching parsimonie whereby thou maist be dispensed for doing just nothing It is reported of a certaine Bizantine who finding an adulterer in bed with his wife who though she were but foule yet was ilfavoured enough said unto him O miserable caitise what necessitie hath driven thee thus to doe what needes Sapragoras dowrie well goe to thou takest great paines poore wretch thou fillest and stirrest the lead thou kindlest the fire also underneath it Necessarie it is in some sort that Kings and Princes should seeke for wealth and riches that these Governours also and Deputies muder them should bee great gatheres yea and those also who reach at the highest places and aspire to rule and soveraigne dignities in great States and cities all these I say have need perforce to heape up grosse summes of money to the end that for their ambition their proud port pompe and vaine-glorious humour they might make sumptuous feasts give largesses reteine a guard about their persons send presents abroad to other States mainteine and wage whole armies buie slaves to combat and fight at sharpe to the outtrance but thou makest thy selfe so much adoo thou troublest and tormentest both body and minde living like an oister or a shell-snaile and for to pinch and spare art content to undergo and indure all paine and travell taking no pleasure nor delight in the world afterwards no more than the Baine-keepers poore asse which carying billots and fagots of drie brush and sticks to kindle fire and to heat the stouphes is evermore full of smoake soot ashes and sinders but hath no benefit at all of the bane and is never bathed washed warmed rubbed scoured and made cleane Thus much I speake in reproch and disdaine of this miserable asse-like avarice this base raping and scraping together in maner of ants or pismires Now there is another kind of covetousnesse more savage and beast-like which they prosesse who backbite and slander raise malicious imputations forge false wils and testaments lie in wait for heritages cogge and cousen and intermeddle in all matters will bee seene in everie thing know all mens states busie themselves with many cares and troubles count upon their fingers how many friends they have yet living and when they have all done receive no fruition or benefit by all the goods which they have gotten together from all parts with their cunning casts subtil shifts And therefore like as we have in greater hatred and detestation vipers the venemous flies Cantharides and the stinging spiders called Philangia Tarantale than either beares or lions for that they kill folke and stinge them to death but receive no good or benefit at all by them when they are dead even so be these wretches more odious and woorthy to be hated of us who by their miserable parsimonie and pinching doe mischiefe than those who by their riot and wastfulnesse be hurtfull to a common-weale because they take and catch from others that which they themselves neither will nor know how to use Whereupon it is that such as these when they have gotten abundance and are in maner full rest them for a while and doe no more violence as it were in time of truce and surcease of hostilitie much after the maner as Demosthenes said unto them who thought that Demades had giuen over all his lewdnesse and knavery O quoth he you see him now full as lions are who when they have filled their bellies prey no more for the lice untill they be hungrie againe but such covetous wretches as be imploied in government of civill affaires and that for no profit nor pleasure at all which they intend those I say never rest nor make holiday they allow themselves no truce nor cessation from gathering heaping more together still as being evermore emptie have alwaies need of al things though they have all But some man perhaps will say These men I assure you do save lay up goods in store for their children and heires after their death unto whom whiles they live they will part with nothing If that be so I can compare them very well to those mice and cats in gold mines which feed upon the gold-ore and licke up all the golden sand that the mines yeeld so that men can not come by the golde there before they be dead and cut up in maner of anatomies But tell me I pray you wherefore are these so willing to treasure up so much money and so great substance and leave the same to their children inheritours and successors after them I verily beleeve to this end that those children and heires also of theirs should keepe the same still for others likewise and so to passe from hand to hand by descent of many degrees like as earthen conduct-pipes by which water is conveied into some cesterne withhold and reteine none of all the water that passeth through them but doe transmit and send all away from them ech one to that which is next and reserve none to themselves thus doe they untill some arise from without a meere stranger to the house one that is a sycophant or very tyrant who shall cut off this keeper of that great stocke and treasure and when he hath dispatched and made a hand of him drive and turne the course of all this wealth and riches out of the usuall chanell another way or at leastwise untill it fall into the hands as commonly men say it doth of the most wicked and ungracious imp of that race who wil disperse and scatter that which others have gathered who will consume and devour all unthristily which his predecessors have gotten and spared wickedly for not onely as Euripides saith Those children wastfull prove and bad Who servile slaves for parents had but also covetous carles pinching peni-fathers leave children behind thē that be loose riotous spend-thrifts like as Diogenes by way of mockery said upon a time That it were better to be a Megarians ram than his sonne for wherein they would seeme to instruct and informe their children they spoile and mar them cleane ingrafting into their hearts a desire and love of money teaching them to be covetous and base minded pinch-penies laying the foundation as it were in their heires of some strong place or fort wherein they may surely guard and keepe their inheritance And what good lessons and precepts be these which they teach them Gaine and spare my sonne get and save thinke with thy selfe and make thine account that thou shalt be esteemed in the world according to thy wealth and not otherwise But surely this not to instruct a
that prudence and wisedome over-ruleth this blind fortune by considering the maistrie and dominion that man hath above beasts the arts also and sciences whereof he maketh profession together with his judgement and will directly opposite and contrarie to all casualties and changes OF FORTVNE BLind fortune rul's mans life alway Sage counsell therein beares no sway said one who ever it was that thought all humane actions depended upon meer casualtie and were not guided by wisedome What and hath justice and equitie no place at all in this world can temperance and modestie do nothing in the direction and managing of our affaires Came it from fortune and was it indeedby meere chance that Aristides made choise to continue in povertie when it was in his power to make himselfe a Lord of much wealth and many goods or that Scipio when he had forced Carthage tooke not to himselfe nor so much as saw any part of all that pillage And was it long of fortune or by casualty that Philocrates having received of King Philip a great summe of gold bought therewith harlots and daintie fishes or that Lasthenes and Euthycrates betraied the citie Olynthus measuring soveraigne good and felicity of man by belly-cheere and those pleasures which of all other be most dishonest and infamous And shall we say it was a worke of fortune that Alexander sonne of Philip not onely himselfe forbare to touch the bodies of the captive women taken in war but also punished all such as offred them violence and injurie and contrariwise came it by ill lucke and unhappie fortune that another Alexander the sonne of King Priamus slept and lay with his friends wife when he lodged and entertained him in his house and not only so but carried her away with him and by that occasion brought all manner of calamitie upon two maine parts of the continent to wit Europe and Asia and filled them both with those miseries that follow warres If we graunt that all these occurrents came by fortune what should let us but we might as well say that cats goats and apes be likewise by fortune given to be alwaies lickorous lecherous shrewd and sawcy But in case it be true as true it is that the world hath in it temperance justice and fortitude what reason is there to say that there is no prudence and wisdome therein now if it be yeelded that the world is not void of prudence how can it be maintained that there should not be in it sage counsell For temperance as some say is a kinde of prudence and most certeine it is that justice should be assisted by prudence or to say more truely ought to have it present with her continually Certes sage counsell wisdome in the good use of pleasures and delights whereby we continue honest we ordinarily do call continence and temperance the same in dangers and travels we tearme to lerance patience and fortitude in contracts and management of State affaires we give the name of loialtie equitie and justice whereby it commeth to passe that if we will attribute the effects of counsell and wisedome unto fortune we must likewise ascribe unto her the works of justice and temperance And so beleeve me to rob and steale to cut purses and to keepe whores must proceed from fortune which if it be so let us abandon all discourse of our reason and betake our selves wholly to fortune to be driven and caried to and fro at her pleasure like to the dust chaffe or sweepings of the floore by the puffes of some great wind Take away sage discreet counsell farewel then all consultation as touching affaires away with deliberation consideration and inquisition into that which is behovefull and expedient for surely then Sophocles talked idlely and knew not what he spake in saying thus Seeke and be sure to finde with diligence But loose what you for-let by negligence And in another place where dividing the affaires of man he saith in this wise What may be taught I strive to learne what may likewise be found I seeke for wishes all I pray and would to God be bound Now would I gladly know what is it that men may finde and what can they learne in case all things in the world be directed by fortune What Senate house of citie would not be dissolved and abolished what counsell chamber of Prince should not be overthrowen and put downe if all were at the disposition of fortune we doe her wrong in reproching her for blindesse when we runne upon her as we doe blinde and debasing our selves unto her for how can wee chuse but stumble upon her indeed if we plucke out our owne eies to wit our wisdome dexteritie of counsell and take a blinde guide to lead us by the hand in the course of this our life Certes this were even as much as it some one of us should say the action of those that see is fortune and not sight or eies which Plato calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Light-bearers the action likewise of them that heare is nothing else but fortune and not a naturall power and facultie to receive the stroke or repercussion of the aire carried by the care and the braine But better it were I trow and so will everie wise bodie thinke to take heed how to discredit our senses so as to submit them to fortune For why Nature hath bestowed upon us sight hearing taste and smelling with all the parts of the body indued with the rest of their powers and faculties as ministers of counsell and wisedome For it is the soule that seeth it is the soule understanding that heareth all the rest are deafe and blinde and like as if there were no sunne at all we should for all the starres besides live in perpetuall night as Heraclitus saith even so if man had not reason and intelligence notwithstanding all his other senses he should not differ in the whole race of his life from brute and wilde beasts but now in that we excell and rule them all it is not by chance and fortune but Prometheus that is to say the use and discourse of reason is the very cause that hath given us in recompence Both horse and asse with breed of beefs so strong To cary us and ease our labour long according as we read in Aeschylus the poet Forasmuch as otherwise fortune and nature both have beene more favourable and beneficiall to most of the brute beasts in their entrance into this life than unto man for armed they be with hornes tusks spurs and stings moreover as Empedocles saith The Urchin strikes with many a pricke Which grow on backe both sharpe and thicke Againe there be many beasts clad and covered with scales and shag haire shod also with claws and hard hooses onely man as Plato saith is abandoned and forsaken by nature all naked unarmed unshod and without any vesture whatsoever But by one gift which she hath given Amends she makes and all is even
hapneth it that you never told me of it the woman being a simple chaste harmlesse dame Sir saith she I had thought all mens breath had smelled so Thus it is plaine that such faults as be object and evident to the senses grosse and corporall or otherwise notorious to the world we know by our enemies sooner than by out friends and familiars Over and besides as touching the continence and holding of the tongue which is not the least point of vertue it is not possible for a man to rule it alwaies and bring it within the compasse and obedience of reason unlesse by use and exercise by long custome and painfull labour be have tamed and mastered the woorst passions of the soule such as anger is for a word that hath escaped us against our willes which we would gladly have kept in of which Homer saith thus Out of the mouth a word did fly For all the range of teeth fast-by And a speech that we let fall at aventure a thing hapning often-times and especially unto those whose spirits are not well exercised and who want experience who runne out as it were and breake forth into passions this I say is ordinary with such as be hastie and cholerike whose judgement is not setled and staied or who are given to a licentious course of life for such a word being as divine Plato saith the lightest thing in the world both gods and men have many a time paied a most grievous and heavie penalty whereas Silence is not only as Hippocrates saith good against thirst but also is never called to account nor amerced to pay any fine and that which more is in the bearing and putting up of taunts and reproches there is observed in it a kinde of gravitie beseeming the person of Socrates or rather the maghanimity of Hercules if it be true that the Poet said of him Of bitter words he lesse account did make Than dath the flie which no regard doth take Neither verily is there a thing of greater gravitie or simply better than to heare a malicious enemie to revile and yet not to be moved nor grow into passions therewith But to passe-by a man that loves to raile Asrocke in sea by which we swimme or saile Moreover a greater effect will ensue upon this exercise of patience if thou canst accustome thy selfe to heare with silence thine enemie whiles he doth revile for being acquainted therewith thou shalt the better endure the violent fits of a curst and shrewd wife chiding at home to heare also without trouble the sharpe words of friend or brother and if it chance that father or mother let flie bitter rebukes at thee or beat thee thou wilt suffer all and never shew thy selfe displeased and angrie with them For Socrates was woont to abide at home Xanthippe his wife aperillous shrewd woman and hard to be pleased to the end that he might with more ease converse with others being used to endure her curstnesse But much better it were for a man to come with a minde prepared and exercised before-hand with hearing the scoffes railing language angrie taunts outragious and foule words of enemies and strangers and that without anger and shew of disquietnesse than of his domesticall people within his owne house Thus you see how a man may shew his meeknesse and patience in enmities and as for simplicity magnanimitie and a good nature in deed it is more seene here than in friendship for it is not so honest and commendable to do good unto a friend as dishonest not to succout him when he standeth in need and requesteth it Moreover to forbeare to be revenged of an enemie if opportunitie and occasion is offered and to let him goe when he is in thy hands is a point of great humanitie and courtesie but him that hath compassion of him whē he is fallen into adversity succoreth him in distresse at his request is ready for to shew good will to his children and an affection to susteine the state of his house and familie being in affliction whosoever doth not love for this kindnesse nor praise the goodnesse of his nature Of colour blacke no doubt and tincture sweart Wrought of stiffe steele or yron he hath an heart Or rather forg'd out of the Diament Which will not stirre hereat nor once relent Casar commanded that the statues erected in the honour of Pompeius which had bene beaten downe and overthrowen should be set up againe for which act Cicero said thus unto him In rearing the images of Pompeius ô Caesar thou hast pitched and erected thine owne And therefore we ought not to be sparie of praise and honour in the behalfe of an enemie especially when he deserveth the same for by this meanes the partie that praiseth shall winne the greater praise himselfe and besides if it happen againe that he blame the said enemie his accusation shall be the better taken and carie the more credit for that he shall be thought not so much to hate the person as disallow and mislike his action But the most profitable and goodliest matter of all is this That he who is accustomed to praise his enemies and neither to grieve or envie at their well-fare shall the better abide the prosperitie of his friend and be furthest off from envying his familiars in any good successe or honour that by well-doing they have atchieved And is there any other exercise in the world that can bring greater profit unto our soules or worke a better disposition and habit in them than that which riddeth us of emulation and the humour of envie For like as in a city wherein there be many things necessarie though otherwise simply evill after they have once taken sure sooting and are by custome established in maner of a law men shall hardly remove and abolish although they have bene hurt and endammaged thereby even so enmity together with hatred and malice bringeth in envie jealousie contentment and pleasure in the harme of an enemie remembrance of wrongs received and offences passed which it leaveth behinde in the soule when it selfe is gone over and besides cunning practises fraud guile deceit and secret forlayings or ambushes which seeme against our enemies nothing ill at all nor unjustly used after they be once setled and have taken root in our hearts remaine there fast and hardly or unneth are removed insomuch as if men take not heed how they use them against enemies they shall be so inured to them that they will be ready afterwards to practise the same with their verie friends If therfore Pythagoras did well wisely in acquainting his scholars to forbeare cruelty and injustice even as farre as to dumb and brute beasts whereupon he misliked fowlers and would request them to let those birdes flie agine which they had caught yea and buy of fishers whole draughts of fishes and give order unto his disciples to put them alive into the water againe insomuch as hee expressely forbad the killing of any
tame beast whatsoever certes it is much more grave and decent that in quarrels debates and contentions among men an enemie that is of a generous minde just true and nothing treacherous should represse keepe downe and hold underfoot the wicked malicious cautelous 〈◊〉 and ungentleman-like passions to the end that afterwards in all contracts and dealings with his friend they breake not out but that his heart being cleere of them he may absteine from all mischievous practises Scaurus was a professed enemie and an accuser of Domitius judicially now there was a domesticall servant belonging to the said Domitius who before the day of triall and judgement came unto Scaurus saying That he would discover unto him a thing that he knew not of the which might serve him in good steed when he should plead against his master but Scaurus would not so much as give him the hearing nay he laid hold on the party and sent him away bound unto his lord and master Cato the younger charged Muraena and indited him in open court for popularitie and ambition and declaring against him that he sought indirectly to gaine the peoples favour and their voices to be chosen Consull now as he went up and downe to collect arguments and proofes thereof and according to the maner and custome of the Romanes was attended upon by certeine persons who followed him in the behalfe of the defendant to observe what was done for his better instruction in the processe suit commenced these fellowes would oftentimes be in hand with him and aske whether he would to day search for ought or negotiate any thing in the matter and cause concerning Muraena If he said No such credite and trust they reposed in the man that they would rest in that answere and go their waies a singular argument this was of all other to proove his reputation and what opinion men conceived of him for his justice but sure a farre greater testimonie is this and that passeth al the rest to proove that if we be accustomed to deale justly by our very enemies we shal never shew our selves unjust cautelous and deceitfull with our friends But forasmuch as every larke as Simonides was wont to say must needs have a cop or crest growing upon her head and so likewise all men by nature do carie in their head I wot not what jealousie emulation and envie which is if I may use the words of Pindarus A mate and fellow to be plaine Of brain sicke fooles and persons vaine A man should not reape a small benefit commoditie by discharging these passions upon his enemies to purge clense himselfe quite thereof as it were by certeine gutters or chanels to derive and drein them as farre as possibly he can from his friends and familiar acquaintance whereof I suppose Onomademus a great politician wise States-man in the Isle Chios was well advised who in a civile dissention being sided to that faction which was superior had gotten the head of the other coūselled the rest of his part not to chase banish out of the city al their adversaries but to leave some of them still behind For feare quoth he least having no enemies to quarrel withall we our selves begin to fall out and go together by the eares semblably if we spend these vitious passiōs of ours upon our enemies the lesse are they like to trouble molest our friends for it ought not thus to be as Hesiodus saith That the potter should envy the potter or one minstrell or musician spite another neither is it necessarie that one neighbor should be in jealousie of another or cousens and brethren be concurrents have emulation one at another either striving to be rich or speeding better in their affaires for if there be no other way or meanes to be delivered wholy from contentions envies jealousies emulations acquaint thy selfe at leastwise to be stung and bitten at the good successe of thine enemies whet the edge sharpen the point as it were of thy quarrellous contentious humour turne it upon them and spare not for like as the most skilfull and best gardiners are of this opinion that they shall have the sweeter roses and more pleasant violets if they set garlicke or sow onions neere unto them for that all the strong and stinking savour in the juice that feedeth and nourish the saide flowers is purged away and goeth to the said garlick and onions even so an enimie drawing unto himselfe and receiving all our envie and malice will cause us to be better affected to our friends in their prosperitie and lesse offended if they out go us in their estate and therefore in this regard we must contend and strive with our enimies about honour dignities government and lawfull meanes of advancing our owne estates and not onely to be greeved and vexed to see them have the better and the vantage of us but also to marke and observe everie thing whereby they become our superiors and so to straine and endevour by carefull diligence by labour and travell by parsimonie temperance and looking neerely to our selves to surpasse and go beyond them like as Themistocles was wont to say That the victorie which Miltiades atchieved in the plaine of Marathon brake his sleepes and would not let him take his nights rest for he who thinketh that his enemie surmounteth him in dignities in patronage of high matters and pleading of great causes in management of state affaires or in credit and authoritie with mightie men and grand Segniors and in stead of striving to enterprise and do some great matter by way of emulation betaketh himselfe to envie onely and so sits still doing nothing and looseth all his courage surely he bewraieth that he is possessed with naught else but an idle vaine enervat kind of envy But he that is not blinded with the regard sight of him whom he hateth but with a right just eie doth behold consider al his life his maners deseigns words and deeds shall soone perceive find that the most part of those things which he envieth were atchieved and gotten by such as have them which their diligence wisedom forecast vertuous deeds he thereupon bending all his spirits whole mind therto wil exercise I trow sharpen his own desire of honor glory honesty yea cut off contrariwise that yawning drowsines idle sloth that is in his hart Set case moreover that our enemies by flattery by cautelous shifts cunning practises by pleading of cases at the bar or by their mercenarie and illiberall service in unhonest foule matters seem to have gotten some power ether with princes in courts or with the people in States cities let the same never trouble us but contrariwise cheere up our harts and make us glad in regard of our owne libertie the purenesse of our life and innocencie unreprochable which we may oppose against those indirect courses and unlawfull meanes For
a trim man indeed as thou art doest waile weepe and lament that thou drinkest not thy selfe drunke as those doe yonder nor lie in soft and delicate beds richly set out with gay and costly furniture Now when such temptations and distractions as these be returne not often but the rule and discourse of reason presently riseth up against them maketh head turneth upon them suddenly againe as it were in the chace and pursued in the route by enemies and so quickly discomfiteth and dispatcheth the anxietie and dispaire of the minde then a man may be assured that he hath profited indeed in the schoole of Philosophie and is well setled and confirmed therein But forasmuch as the occasions which doe thus shake men that are given to Philosophie yea and otherwhiles plucke them a contrarie way doe not onely proceed from themselves by reason of their owne infirmitie and so gather strength but the sad and serious counsels also of friends together with the reproofes and contradictorie assaults made upon them by adversaries betweene good earnest and game doe mollifie their tender hearts and make them to bow bend and yeeld which otherwhiles have beene able in the end to drive some altogether from Philosophie who were well entred therein It may be thought no small signe of good proceeding if one can endure the same meekly without being mooved with such temptations or any waies troubled and pinched when hee shall heare the names and surnames of such and such companions and equals otherwise of his who are come to great credit and wealth in Princes courts or be advanced by mariages matching with wives who brought them good dowries portions or who are wont to go into the common Hall of a citie attended upon and accompanied with a traine and troup of the multitude either to attaine unto some place of government or to plead some notable cause of great consequence for he that is not disquieted astonied or overcome with such assaults certaine it is and we may be bold to conclude that he is arrested as it were and held sure as he ought to be by Philosophie For it is not possible for any to cease affecting and loving those things which the multitude doth so highly honor and adore unlesse they be such as admire nothing else in the world but vertue For to brave it out to contest and make head against men is a thing incident unto some by occasion of choler unto others by reason of folly but to contemne and despise that which others esteeme with admiration no man is able to performe without a great measure of true and resolute magnanimitie In which respect such persons comparing their state with others magnifie themselves as Solon did in these words Many a wicked man is rich And good men there be many poore But we will not exchange with sich Nor give our goodnes for their store For vertue ay is 〈◊〉 Whereas riches be 〈◊〉 And Diogenes compared his peregrination and flitting from the city of Corinth to Athens and againe his removing from Thebes to Corinth unto the progresses and changes of abode that the great king of Persia was wont to make who in the Spring season held his Court at Susis in Winter kept house at Babylon and during Summer passed the time and sojourned in Media 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hearing upon a time the said king of Persia to be named The great king And why quoth he is he greater than my selfe unlesse it be that he is more just and righteous And 〈◊〉 writing unto Antipater as touching Alexander the great said That it became not him onely to vaunt much and glorifie himselfe for that his dominions were so great but also any man els hath no lesse cause who is instructed in the true knowledge of the gods And Zeno seeing Theoplird stus in great admiration because he had many scholars Indeed quoth he his auditory or quite is greater than mine but mine accordeth better and makes sweeter harmonie than his When as therefore thou hast so grounded and established in thine heart that affection unto vertue which is able to encounter and stand against all externall things when thou hast voided out of thy soule all envies jealousies and what affections soever are woont either to tickle or to fret or otherwise to depresse and cast downe the minds of many that have begunne to professe philosophie this may serve for a great argument and token that thou art well advanced forward and hast profited much neither is it a small signe thereof if thou perceive thy language to be changed from that it was wont to be for all those who are newly entred into the schoole of philosophie to speake generally affect a kinde of speech or stile which aimeth at glory and vaine ostentation some you shall heare crowing aloud like cocks and mounting up aloft by reason of their levity and haughty humour unto the sublimitie and splendor of physicall things or secrets in nature others take pleasure after the maner of wanton whelps as Plato saith in tugging and tearing evermore whatsoever they can catch or light upon they love to be doing with litigious questions they goe directly to darke problemes and sophisticall subtilties and most of them being once plunged in the quillits quidities of Logicke make that as it were a means or preparative to flesh themselves for Sophistrie mary there be who goe all about collecting and gathering together sententious sawes and histories of ancient times and as Anacharsis was wont to say That he knew no other use that the Greeks had of their coined pieces of mony but to tell and number them or els to cast account and reckon therewith even so do they nothing els but count and measure their notable sentences and sayings without drawing any profit or commodity out of them and the same befalleth unto them which one of Platoes familiars applied unto his scholars by way of allusion to a speech of Atiphanes this Antiphanes was wont to say in merriment That there was a city in the world whereas the words so soone as ever they were out of the mouth and pronounced became frozen in the aire by reason of the coldnesse of the place and so when the heat of Summer came to thaw and melt the same the inhabitants might heare the talke which had bene uttered and delivered in Winter even so quoth he it is with many of those who come to heare Plato when they be yoong for whatsoever he speaketh and readeth unto them it is very long ere they understand the same and hardly when they are become olde men and even after the same sort it fareth with them abovesaid who stand thus affected universally unto Philosophie untill their judgement being well setled and growen to sound resolution begin to apprehend those things which may deepely imprint in the minde a morall affection and passion of love yea and to search and trace those speeches whereof the tracts as Aesope was woont to say leade rather in
of their transmigration named thereupon Metageitnion yea and do celebrate a festivall holiday and sacrifice which in memoriall of that remooving they call Metagetnia for that this passage of theirs into another neighbourhood they received and interteined right willingly with joy and much contentment I suppose you wil never say so Now tell me what part of this earth habitable or rather of the whole globe and compasse thereof can be said farre distant or remote one from the other seeing that the Mathematicians are able to proove and make demonstration by reason that the whole in comparison and respect of heaven or the firmament is no more than a very pricke which hath no dimension at al But we like unto pismires driven out of our hole or in maner of bees dispossessed of our hive are cast downe and discomforted by and by and take our selves to be foreiners and strangers for that we know not how to esteeme and make all things our owne familiar and proper unto us as they be And yet we laugh at the folly of him who said That the moone at Athens was better than at Corinth being in the meane while after a sort in the same error of judgement as if when we are gon a journey from the place of our habitation we should mistake the earth the sea the aire and the skie as if they were others and farre different from those which we are accustomed unto for Nature hath permitted us to goe and walke through the world loose and at libertie but we for our parts imprison our selves and we may thanke our selves that we are pent up in straight roomes that we be housed and kept within wals thus of our owne accord we leape into close and narrow places and notwithstanding that we do thus by our selves yet we mocke the Persian Kings for that if it be true which is reported of them the drinke all of the water onely of the river Choaspes by which meanes they make all the continent besides waterlesse for any good they have by it whereas even we also when we travell and remoove into other countries have a longing desire after the river Cephisus or Eurotas yea and a minde unto the mountaine Taigetus or the hill Pernassus whereby upon a most vaine and foolish opinion all the world besides is not onely void of water but also like a desert without citie and altogether inhabitable unto us Contrariwise certaine Egyptians by occasion of some wrath and excessive 〈◊〉 of their King minding to remoove into Ethiopia when as their kinsfolke and friends requested them to turne backe againe and not to forsake their wives and children after a shamelesse manner shewing unto them their genitall members answered them That they would neither want wives nor children so long as they carried those about them But surely a man may avouch more honestlie and with greater modestie and gravitie that hee who in what place soever feeleth no want or misse of those things which be necessarie for this life cannot complaine and say That he is there out of his owne countrey without citie without his owne house and habitation or a stranger at all so as he onely have as he ought his eie and understanding bent hereunto for to stay and governe him in maner of a sure anchor that he may be able to make benefit and use of any haven or harborough whatsover he arriveth unto For when a man hath lost his goods it is not so easie a matter to recover them soone againe but surely everie citie is straight waies as good a native countrey unto him who knoweth and hath learned how to use it to him I say who hath such rootes as will live be nourished and grow in every place and by any meanes 〈◊〉 Themistocles was furnished with and such as Demetrius the Phalerian was not without who being banished from Athens became a principall person in the court of King Ptolomoeus in Alexandria where he not onely himselfe lived in great abundance of all things but also sent unto the Athenians from thence rich gifts and presents As for Themistocles living in the estate of a Prince through the bountifull allowance and liberalitie of the King of Persia he was woont by report to say unto his wife and children We had beene utterly undone for ever if we had not beene undone And therefore Diogenes surnamed the Dog when one brought him word and said the Sinopians have condemned thee to be exiled out of the kingdome of Pontus And I quoth he have confined them within the countrey of Pontus with this charge That they shall never passe the atmost bonds Of Euxine sea that hems them with her stronds Stratonius being in the Isle Seriphos which was a verie little one demaunded of his host for what crimes the punishment of exile was ordained in that countrey and when he heard and understood by him that they used to banish such as were convicted of falshood and untrueth Why then quoth he againe hast not thou committed some false and leawd act to the ende that thou mightest depart out of this straight place and be enlarged whereas one Comicall Poet said A man might gather and make a vintage as it were of figs with slings and foison of all commodities might be had which an Iland wanted For if one would weigh and consider the trueth indeed setting aside all vaine opinion and foolish conceits he that is affected unto one citie alone is a verie pilgrim and stranger in all others for it seemeth nether meete honest nor reasonable that a man should abandon his owne for to inhabite those of others Sparta is fallen to thy lot saith the proverbe adorne and honor it for so thou art bound to doe be it that it is of small or no account say that it is seated in an unholesome aire and subject to many 〈◊〉 or be plagued with civill dissentions or otherwise troubled with turbulent affaires But whosoever he be whom fortune hath deprived of his owne native countrey certes she hath graunted and allowed him to make choice of that which may please and content him And verily the precept of the Pythagoreans serveth to right good stead in this case to be practised Choose say they the best life use and custome will make it pleasant enough unto thee To this purpose also it may bee wisely and with great profit said Make choice of the best and most pleasant citie time will cause it to be thy native countrey and such a native countrey as shall not distract and trouble thee with any businesse nor impose upon thee these and such like exactions Make paiment and contribute to this levie of money Goe in embassage to Rome Receive such a captaine or ruler into thine house or take such a charge upon thee at thine owne expenses Now he that calleth these things to remembrance if he have any wit in his head and be not overblind every way in his owne opinion and selfe-conceit will wish and
have not libertie IOCASTA A spight it is no doubt and that of servile kind For men to be debard to speake their mind POLYNICES Besides they must endure the foolishnesse And ignorance of rulers more or lesse But herein I cannot allow of his sentence and opinion as well and truely delivered For first and formost not to speake what a man thinketh is not the point of a slavish and base person but rather he is to be counted a wise and prudent man who can hold his tongue at those times and in such occasions as require taciturnitie and silence which the same Poet hath taught us in another place more wisely when he saith Silence is good when that it doth availe Likewise to speake in time and not to faile And as for the folly and ignorance of great and mightie persons we must abide no lesse when we tarrie at home than in exile nay it falleth out many times that men at home feare much more the calumniations and violence of those who injustly are in high places of authoritie within cities than if they were abroad and out of their owne countries Againe this also is most false and absurd that the said Poet depriveth banished persons of their libertie and franke speech Certes this were a woonderfull matter that Theodorus wanted his freedome of tongue considering that when King Lysimachus said unto him And hath thy countrey chased and cast thee out being so great a person among them Yea quoth he againe for that it was no more able to beare me than Semele to beare Bacchus neither was he daunted and afraid notwithstanding that the King shewed unto him Telesphorus enclosed within an iron cage whose eies he had caused before to be pulled out of his head his nose and eares to be cropt and his tongue to be cut adding withal these words See how I handle those that displease and abuse my person And what shall we say of Diogenes Wanted he thinke you his libertie of speech who being come into the campe of King Philip at what time time as he made an expedition against the Grecians invaded their countrey and was ready to give them battell was apprehended and brought before the king as a spie and charged therewith I am indeed quoth he come hither to spie your infariable avarice ambition and folly who are about now to hazard in one houre as it were with the cast of a die not onely your crowne and dignitie but also your life and person semblably what thinke you of Annthall the Carthaginian was he tongue-tied before Antiochus banished though himselfe were and the other a mightie monarch For when he advised Antiochus to take the opportunitie presented unto him and to give battell unto the Romans his enemies and the king having sacrificed unto the gods answered againe that the entrails of the beast killed for sacrifice would not permit but forbad him so to do Why then quoth he by way of reproofe and rebuke you will doe that belike which a peece of dead flesh biddeth you and not that which a man of wisedome and understanding counselleth you unto But neither Geometricians nor those that use linearie demonstrations if haply they be banished are deprived of their libertie but that they may discourse speake frankly of their art and science of such things as they have learned and knowen how then should good honest and honorable persons be debarred of that freedome in case they be exiled But in trueth it is cowardise and basenes of minde which alwaies stoppeth the voice tieth the tongue stifleth the wind-pipe and causeth men to be speechlesse But proceed we to that which followed afterwards in Eurpides IOCASTA But thus we say those that are banished With hopes alwaies of better dates be fed POLYNICES Good eies they have a farre off they doe see Staying for things that most uncertaine be Certainely these words implie rather a blame and reprehension of folly than of exile For they be not those who have learned and doe know how to apply themselves unto things present and to use their estate such as it is but such as continually depend upon the expectance of future fortunes and covet evermore that which is absent and wanting who are tossed to and fro with hope as in a little punt or bote floting upon the water yea although they were never in their life time without the wals of the citie wherein they were borne moreover whereas we reade in the same Euripides IOCASTA Thy fathers friends and allies have not they Beene kind and helpfull to thee as they may POLYNICES Looke to thy selfe from troubles God thee blesse Friends helpe is naught if one be in distresse IOCASTA Thy noble blood from whence thou art descended Hath it not thee advanc'd and much amended POLYNICES I hold it ill to be in want and need For parentage and birth doth not men feed These speeches of Polynices are not onely untrue but also bewray his unthankfulnesse when he seemeth thus to blame his want of honor and due regard for his nobility and to complaine that hee was destitute of friends by occasion of his exile considering that in respect of his noble birth banished though he were yet so highly honoured he was that he was thought woorthie to be matched in marriage with a kings daughter and as for friends allies and confederates hee was able to gather a puissant armie of them by whose aide and power he returned into his owne countrey by force of armes as himselfe testifieth a little after in these words Many a lord and captaine brave here stands With me in field both from Mycenae bright And cities more of Greece whose helping hands Though loth I must needes use in claime of right Much like also be the speeches of his mother lamenting in this wise No nuptiall torch at all I lighted have To thee as doth a wedding feast besceme No mariage song was sung nor thee to lave Was water brought from faire Ismenus streame whom it had become and behooved rather to rejoice and be glad in heart when she heard that her sonne was so highly advaunced and married into so roiall an house but in taking griefe and sorrow her-selfe that there was no wedding torch lighted that the river Ismenus affoorded no water to bathe in at his wedding as if new maried bridegroomes could not be furnished either with fire or water in the city Argos she attributeth unto exile the inconveniences which more truly proceed from vanitie and follie But some man will say unto me That to be banished is a note of ignominie and reproch true it is indeed but among fooles onely who thinke likewise that it is a shame to be poore to be bald to be small of stature yea and to be a stranger forsooth a tenant in-mate or alien inhabitant For certes such as will not suffer themselves to be caried away with these vaine perswasions nor do subscribe thereto esteeme have in admiration good and
yet clad themselves with their apparell of which they spolie them but first one is destroied than a second followeth after and is allured as a prey by the other And this is much like to a wilde fire which still consumeth and yet encreaseth alwaies by the utter decay and destruction of all that falleth into it and devoureth one thing after another And the usurer which maintaineth this fire blowing and kindling it with the ruine of so many people gaineth thereby no more fruit than this that after a certaine time he taketh his booke of accounts in hand and there readeth what a number of debters he hath bought out of house and home how many he had dispossessed of their land and living from whence he hath come and whither he hath gone in turning winding and heaping up his silver Now I would not that you should thus thinke of me that I speake al this upon any deadly war and enmitie that I have sworne against usurers For God be praised they neither horses mine Have driven away nor oxen ne yet kine But onely to shew unto them who are so ready to take up money upon usurie what a villanous shamefull and base thing there is in it and how this proceedeth from nothing else but extreame folly and timiditie of heart If thou have wherewith to weld the world never come into the usurers booke considering thou hast no need to borrow Hast thou not wherewith yet take not money up and pay not interest because thou shalt have no meanes to make paiment But let us consider the one and the other apart by it selfe Old Cato said unto a certaine aged man who behaved himselfe verie badly My friend quoth he considering that old age of it selfe hath so manie evils how commeth it to passe that you adde thereto moreover the reproch and shame of leawdnesse and misdemeanor even so may we say seeing that povertie of it selfe hath so many and so great miseries do not you over and above go and heape thereupon the troubles and anguishes that come of borrowing and being in debt neither take thou from penurie that onely good thing wherein it excelleth riches to wit the want of carking and pensive cares for otherwise thou shalt be subject unto the mockerie implied by this common proverbe A goat alone when beare unneth I may An oxe upon my shoulder you do lay Semblably you being not able to sustaine povertie alone do surcharge your selfe with an usuter a burden hardly supportable even for a rich and wealthie man How then would you have me to live haply some man will say And doest thou indeed aske this question having hands and feet of thine owne having the gift of speech voice and being a man unto whom it is given both to love and also to be loved as well to doe a pleasure as to receive a courtesie with thankesgiving Thou maist teach Grammar bring up yoong children be a porter or doore-keeper thou maist be a sailer or mariner thou maist row in a barge or galley for none of all these trades is more reprochfull odious or troublesome than to heare one say unto thee Pay me mine owne or discharge the debt that thou owest me Rutilius that rich Romane comming upon a time at Rome to Musonius the Philosopher said unto him thus in his eare Musonius Juptter surnamed Saviour whom you and such other Philosophers as you are make profession to imitate and follow taketh up no money at interest but Musonius smiling againe returned him this present answere No more doth he put foorth anie money for use Now this Rutilius who was an usurer reproched the other for taking money at interest which was a foolish arrogant humour of a Stoicke for what need hadst thou Rutilius to meddle with Jupiter Saviour and alledge his name considering that a man may report the selfe same by those very things which are familiar and apparent The swallowes are not in the usurers booke the pismiers pay not for use of money and yet to them hath not nature given either hands or reason or any art and mysterie whereas she hath indued man with such abundance of understanding and aptnesse to learne and practise that he can skill not onely to nourish himselfe but also to keepe horses hounds partridges hares and jaies why doest thou then disable and condemne thy selfe as if thou wert lesse docible and sensible than a jay more mute than a partridge more idle than a dogge in that thou canst make no meanes to have good of a man neither by double diligence by making court by observance and service nor by mainteining his quarrell and entring into combat in his defence seest thou not how the earth doth bring foorth many things and how the sea affoordeth as many for the use of man And verily as Crates saith I saw my selfe how Mycilus wooll did card And how with him his wife the rols did spin Thus during warre when times were extreame hard Both jointly wrought to keepe them from famin King Antigonus when he had not of a long time seene Cleanthes the Philosopher meeting him one day in Athens spake unto him and said How now Cleanthes doest thou grinde at the mill and turne the querne-stone still Yea sir quoth Cleanthes againe I grinde yet and I doe it for to earne my living howbeit for all that I give not over my profession of Philosophie O the admirable courage and high spirit of this man who comming from the mill with that verie hand which turned about the stone ground the meale and kneaded the dough wrote of the nature of the gods of the moone of the starres and the sunne But we do thinke all these to be base and servile works and yet verily because we would be free God wot we care not to thrust our selves into debt we pay for the use of money we faltter vile and base persons we give them presents we invite and feast them we yeeld as it were tribute under-hand unto them and this we do not in regard of povertie for no man useth to put forth his money into a poore mans hand but even upon a super fluity and riotous expense of our owne for if we could content our selves with those things that are necessarie for the life of man there would not be an usurer in the world no more than there are Centaures and monstrous Gorgones But excesse it is and deintinesse which hath ingendered usurers like as the same hath bred gold-smithes silver-smithes confectioners perfumers and diers of gallant colours We come not in debt to bakers and vinteners for our bread and wine but wee owe rather for the price and purchase of faire houses and lands for a great number and retinue of slaves of fine mules of trimme halles and dining chambers of rich tables and the costly furniture belonging thereto besides other foolish and excessive expenses which we often-times are at when we exhibit plaies and solemne pastimes into whole cities for to
looke to many and even so a Philosopher wil be more affectionate to take care for that soule and spirit which he seeth to be vigilant for many and which ought to be wise prudent and just for many for such an one if he were skilfull and cunning in the art of finding gathering and conducting of waters as we read in Histories that Hercules and many other in old time were would not take delight to goe into some desert corner farre remote from the frequencie of men and to dig or sinke pits there nere to the Ravens rocke as the Poet saith and to open that Swine-heards marish Arethusa but would studie rather to discover the lively sources and overruning springs of a river to serve some great citie or campe or to water the orchards gardens and groves of kings According as we heare that Homer called Minos Jupiters Oaristes which is as much to say as Plato himselfe doth interpret the word his Familiar Disciple for he never meant that the disciples of the gods were private persons home-keepers and such as meddle in nothing but house matters keeping in and living idlely without any action but Princes and Kings who being wise just debonaire and magnanimous as many as be under their government and command shall live in blisse and happines An herbe there is called Eryngium or Sea-holly which hath this propertie that no sooner one goat taketh it in his mouth but she herselfe first and afterwards all the rest of the flocke will stand still untill such time as the goat-heard come and take away out of the flocke which he will in like maner the defluxions which proceed from persons of great power and authoritie have the same swiftnesse and celeritie which doth dilate and spread it selfe in one moment and in maner of fire seiseth upon whatsoever is neere thereto on every side And verily the speech and remonstrance of a Philosopher if it be addressed and directed unto a private man and that loveth to live in repose and who doth limit and circumscribe himselfe as within a center and circumference geometricall with the necessities of his owne bodie the same speech is not distributed and divided unto others but after it hath in that one man alone composed and wrought a great tranquillitie and calme of all perturbations it fadeth vanisheth away and so doth end incontinently but on the contrarie side if the said remonstrance meet with a man of State and government a magistrate a polititian and one that dealeth in great affaires and by the effectuall vertue thereof replenish him with goodnesse and honestie by the meanes of that one person the benefit will be imparted unto many In this wise Anaxagoras kept companie with Pericles Plato conversed with Dion and Pythagoras did associate himselfe to the princes and lords of Italie and as for Cato he departed alone from the campe and sailed to Athenodorus Scipio likewise laid for Panaetius and sought after him at what time as the Senate sent him forth with commission for to goe in visitation as it were and survey to see what right and wrong what justice and injustice reigned in the world according as Posidonius maketh report What then ought Panaetius for to say If you were either Castor or Pollux or some other private person desirous to flie and avoid the frequency of great cities and retire your selfe into some corner of a schoole apart there at your leasure and full repose to folde and unfolde to resolue and compound the syllogismes of Phylosophers I would willingly accept your offer and be desirous to converse and stay with you but seeing you are the sonne of Paulus Aemilius who had beene twise Consull and the nephew of Scipio Africanus who defeated Anniball the captaine of the Carthaginians I will not reason and dispute with you Moreover to say that speech is two folde the one interior or inward the gift of Mercurie surnamed Hegemon that is Guide the other pronounced and uttered foorth which is instrumentall and a very interpreter to give notice of our conceptions a meere vaine and stale position and may wel be comprised under this old proverbe Thus much I knew before Theognis was borne But let not this distinction trouble or impeach us in that which wee are about to say for aswell of that which is conteined within the secret minde as of the other which is pronounced and uttered the end is all one to wit Love or amitie of this in respect of a mans owne selfe and of that in regard of others for that speech which by the precepts of Philosophie bendeth unto vertue and there doth end maketh a man in tune and accordant with himselfe never repining and complaining of ought full of peace full of love and contentment In all his limmes is no sedition No strife no warre no strange dissention no passion rebellious and disobedient to reason no combat of will or appetite against will and appetite no repugnancie and contrarietie of reason against reason there is no impleasant bitternesse or turbulent disorder mixed with joies and pleasures as it falleth out in the confines of desire repentance and sorow but all things there be uniforme delightsome and amiable which causeth each one to content himselfe and joy as in abundance of all goods As for the other kind of speech that is pronounced Pindarus saith That the Muse thereof was never in old time covetous greedie of gaine or meere mercenarie neither beleeve I that it is so at this day but rather through the ignorance and negligence of men who be carelesse of their owne good and honour Mercurie who before was free and common is now become an occupier and merchant willing to doe nothing without a fee and reward For it is not likely or probable that Venus in times past was so deadly offended and angry with the daughters of Prospolus because they devised first to sow hatred and enmity among yong folke and that Urania Clio and Calliope take pleasure in them who debase the dignitie of speech and literature by taking silver but in mine opinion the workes and gifts of the Muses ought to be more amiable than those of Venus for same and honour which some propose for the end of their speech and learning hath bene held deare and highly beloved for that it is the very beginning and seminarie of friendship and that which more is the common sort of people measure honour by good-will and benevolence esteeming that we ought to praise those onely whom we affect and love but certeinly these men fare like unto Ixion who in love following after the goddesse Juno fell upon a cloud for even so they in stead of amitie embrace a vaine image of popularitie deceitfull pompous wandering and uncertaine howbeit a man of good conceit and judgement if he manage State affaires or intermeddle in government of the common-weale will seeke for honour and reputation so far forth onely as to mainteine his authoritie and credit in all his
actions for the better management of publike affaires for it is no pleasure neither is it easie to doe them good who are not willing to profit and receive good and the disposition of the will proceedeth from beliefe and confidence Like as the light doth more good unto them that see than to those who are seene even so is honour more profitable unto them who perceive and feele the same than to such as are neglected and contemned But hee who dealeth not in affaires of State who liveth to himselfe and setteth downe his felicitie in such a life apart from others in rest and repose saluteth a farre off vaine-glorie and popularitie which others joy in who be conversant in the view and sight of people and in frequent assemblies and theaters much like unto Hippolytus who living chaste saluted the goddesse Venus a great way off but as for the other glory which proceedeth from men of woorth and honour he neither refuseth nor disdaineth it Now when as the question is of amitie we are not to seeke for it and to contract friendship onely with such as be wealthie have the glorie credit and authoritie of great lords no more than we ought to avoid these qualities if the same be joined with a gentle nature which is of faire and honest conditions The Philosopher seeketh not after beautifull and wel-favoured yoong men but such as be docible tractable well disposed and desirous of knowledge but if withall they be endued with beautifull visage with a good grace and are in the flower of youth this ought not to fright him from thence neither must the lovely casts of their countenance and amiable aspects drive him from comming neere unto those nor chase him away if he see them worthy paines taking and for to be regarded Thus when power riches and princely authoritie shall be found in men of good nature who be moderate and civill the philosopher will not forbeare to love and cherish such neither be afraid to be called a courtier or follower of great personages They that strive most dame Venus to eschue Do fault as much as they who her pursue Even so it is with the amitie of princes and great potentates and therefore the contemplative philosopher who will not deale at al in affaires of weale-publicke must not avoid and shun such but the civill philosopher who is busied in managing of the common weale ought to seeke for them and finde them out not forcing them after a troublesome maner to heare him nor charging their eares with reports and discourses that be unseasonable and sophisticall but framing himselfe willingly to joy in their companie to discourse to passe the time with them when they are willing and so disposed Twelve journeis long are Berecynthian plaines And those I sowe yeerely with sundry graines He that said this if he had loved men as well as he affected husbandry and tillage would more willingly have plowed and sowed that ground which is able to maintaine and feed so many men then that little close or pindle of Antisthenes which hardly was sufficient to find himselfe alone Certes Epicurus who placed the soveraigne good and felicitie of man in most sound rest and deepe repose as in a sure harbour or haven defended and covered from all windes and surging waves of the world saith That to doe good unto another is not onely more honest and honorable than to receive a benefite at anothers hand but also more pleasant and delectable for there is nothing that begetteth so much joy as doth beneficence which the Greekes terme by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Grace Well advised he was therefore and of wise judgement who imposed these names upon the three Graces Aglaia Euphrosyne and Thalia for without all question the joy and contentment is farre greater and more pure in him who doeth a good turne and deserveth a thanke than in the partie who receiveth the same and therefore it is that many times men doe blush for shame when a good turne is done unto them whereas alwaies they rejoice when they confer a benefite or favour upon another Now do they a benefit unto a whole multitude and nation who are the meanes to make those good whom the people and multitude can not misse but have need of whereas contrariwise they that corrupt and spoile princes kings and great rulers as doe these flatterers false sycophants and slaunderous promoters are abominable unto all are chased out and punished by all like unto those that cast deadly poison not into one cup of wine but into a fountaine or spring that runneth for to serve in publike and where of they see all persons use to drinke Like as therefore according to Eupolis it is said onely by way of mockerie concerning those flatterers and comicall parasites who hanted the table of rich Callias that there was neither fire brasse nor steele that could keepe them out but they would come to sup with him but as for the minions and favorites of tyrant Apollodorus Phalarit or Dionysius after the decease of their lords and masters the people fell upon them did beat them with cudgels torture upon the rack burne at a stake range them with the accursed and damned crew for that they before named did wrong to one alone but these did injurie unto many by the meanes of corrupting one who was their ruler even so those philosophers that converse and keepe companie with private persons do cause them to be well contented pleasant gracious and harmelesse to their owne selves and no more but whosoever reformeth some evill conditions in a great ruler or soveraigne magistrate framing and directing his will and intention to that which he ought this man I say after a sort is a philosopher to the publike State in that he doth correct the mould and amend the pattern to which all the subjects be composed and according to it governed The cities and states which be well ruled decree and yeeld honour and reverence to their priests for that they doe pray unto the gods for good things not in regard of themselves nor of their kinsfolke and friends alone but universally in the behalfe of all the citizens and yet these priests doe not make the gods good nor the givers of good things but being such alreadie of themselves to them they powre their praiers make invocations But philosophers who live and converse with princes and great lords cause them to be more just and righteous more moderate and better affected to well doing by meanes whereof it is like that they receive more joie and contentment And if I should speake my conceit it seemeth unto me that the harpe-maker wrought and made his harpe more cheerefully and with greater pleasure when he knew that the master owner of the said harpe should build the wals about the citie Thebes as Amphion did or to staie and appease the great civil sedition of the Lacedaemonians by singing
him in cure but if peradventure he tumble and tosse in his bedde fling and cast off his clothes by reason that his bodie is tormented with some grievous hot fit no sooner stirreth he never so little but one or other that standeth or sitteth by to tend him is ready to say gently unto him Poore soule be quiet feare none ill Deare heart in bed see thou lie still he staieth and keepeth him downe that he shall not start and leape out of his bed but contrariwise those that be surprised with the passions of the soule at such a time be most busie then they be least in repose and quiet for their violent motions be the causes moving their actions and their passions are the vehement fits of such motions this is the cause that they will not let the soule to be at rest but even then when as a man hath most need of patience silence and quiet retrait they draw him most of all abroad into the open aire then are discovered soonest his cholerike passions his opinionative and contentious humors his wanton love and his grievous sorrowes enforcing him to commit many enormities against the lawes and to speake many words unseasonably and not befitting the time Like as therefore much more perillous is the tempest at sea which impeacheth and putteth backe a ship that it can not come into the harbour to ride at anchor than that which will not suffer it to get out of the haven and make saile in open sea even so those tempestuous passions of the soule are more dangerous which will not permit to be at rest nor to settle his discourse of reason once troubled but overturneth it upside downe as being disfurnished of pilots and cables not well balllaised in the storme wandring to and fro without a guide and steeresmen carried mauger into rash and dangerous courses so long untill in the end it falleth into some shipwracke and where it overthroweth the whole life in such sort that in regard of these reasons and others semblable I conclude that woorse it is to be soule-sicke than diseased in bodie for the bodies being sicke suffer onely but the soules if they be sicke both suffer and doe also amisse To proove this what neede we further to particularize and alledge for examples many other passions considering that the occasion of this present time is sufficient to admonish us thereof and to refresh our memorie See you not this great multitude and preasse of people thrusting and thronging here about the Tribunall and common place of the citie they are not all assembled hither to sacrifice unto the Tutelar gods Protectors of their native countrey nor to participate in common the same religion and sacred ceremonies of divine service they are not all met heere together for to offer an oblation unto Jupiter Astraeus out of the first fruits of Lydia and to celebrate and solemnize in the honor of Bacchus during these holy nights his festivall revils with daunses masks and mummeries accustomed but like as by yeerly accesse and anniversarie revolutions the forcible vigor of the pestilence returneth for to irritate and provoke all Asia so they resort hither to entertaine their suits and processes in law to follow their pleas and a world here is of affaires like to many brookes and riverers which run all at once into one channell and maine streame so they are met in the same place which is pestered and filled with an infinite multitude of people to hurt themselves and others From what fevers or colde ague-fits proceed these effects from what tensions or remissions augmentations or diminutions from what distemperature of heat or overspreading of cold humours comes all this If you aske of everie severall cause here in suite as if they were men and able to answere you from whence it arose how it grew and whereupon it came and first began you shall finde that one matter was engendred by some wilfull and proud anger another proceeded from a troublesome and litigious spirit and a third was caused by some unjust desire and unlawfull lust THE PRECEPTS OF WEDLOCKE The Summarie WE have heere a mixture and medley of rules for married folke who in the persons of Pollianus and Eurydice are taught their mutuall duety upon which argument needlesse it is to discourse at large considering that the whole matter is set out particularly and tendeth to this point That both at the beginning in the sequell also and continuation of mariage man and wife ought to assist support and love one another with a single heart and affection farre remooved from disdainfull pride violence vanitie and fill hinesse the which is specified and comprised in 45. articles howbeit in such sort that there be some of those precepts which savour of the corruption of those times bewraying the insufficiency of humane wisedome unlesse it be lightened with Gods truth We see also in this Treatise more particular advertisements appropriate to both parties touching their devoir as well at home as abroad and all enriched with notable similitudes and excellent examples In summe if these precepts following be well weighed and practised they are able to make mans life much more easie and commodious than it is But Plutarch sheweth sufficiently by the thirtieth rule how hard a matter it is to reteine each one in their severall dutie and that in manner all doe regard and looke upon things with another eie than they ought How ever it be those persons whom vertue hath linked and joined together in matrimonie may finde here whereby to profit and so much the more for that they have one lesson which naturall equitie and conscience putteth them in minde of everie day if they will enter never so little into themselves which being joined with the commandements of the heavenly wisedome it can not be but husband and wife shall live in contentment and blessed estate THE PRECEPTS OF WEDLOCKE PLUTARCH to POLLIANUS and EURYDICE sendeth greeting AFter the accustomed ceremoniall linke of marriage in this countrie which the Priestresse of Ceres hath put upon you in coupling you both together in one bed-chamber I suppose that this discourse of mine comming as it doth to favorize and second this bond and conjunction of yours in furnishing you with good lessons and wise nuptiall advertisements will not be unprofitable but sound verie fitting and comformable to the customarie wedding song observed in these parts The musicians among other tunes that they had with the haut-boies used one kind of note which they called Hippotharos which is asmuch to say as Leape-mare having this opinion that it stirred and provoked stallions to cover mares But of many beautifull and good discourses which philosophie affoordeth unto us one there is which deserveth no lesse to be esteemed than any other by which shee seeming to enchant and charme those who are come together to live all the daies of their life in mutuall societie maketh them to be more buxome kinde tractable and pliable one to
in to be pronounced by captaines unto their soldiours when they be armed and stand arranged in battell-ray a man may say of such as the Poet did What fooles would speake thus many words So neere to edge and dint of swords Over and besides true it is that a man of government may otherwhiles give a taunt and nipping seoffe he may cast out also a merrie jest to moove laughter and namely if it be to rebuke chastise yea and to quippe one and take him vp for his good after a modest maner and not to touch him too neere and wound him in honour and credite to his disgrace with a kinde of scurrilitie But aboue all it may beseeme him thus to doe when he is provoked thereunto and is driven to replie and give one for another by way of exchange for to begin first in that sort and to come prepared with such premeditate stuffe is more befitting a pleasant or common jester who would make the companie laugh besides that it carieth also an opinion of a malicious and spitefull minde and such are the biting frumpes and broad jests of Cicero and Cato the elder likewise of one Euxitheus a familiar and disciple of Aristotle for these many times began first to scoffe and taunt but when a man never doth it but by way of reply or rejoinder the sodaine occasion giveth him pardon to be revenged and withall such requitals carie the greater grace with them Thus dealt Demosthenes by one who was deepely suspected to be a theese for when he would seeme to twit Demosthenes by his watching and sitting up all night at his booke for to endite and write I wot well quoth Demosthenes that I trouble and hinder thee very much with keeping my candle or lampe burning all night long Also when he answered Demades who cried out aloud Demosthenes would correct me as much to say forsoorth as if according to the common proverbe the sow should teach Minerva Minerva quoth he taking that word out of his mouth what 's that you say Minerva was surprized not long since in adulterie Semblably it was with no ill grace that Xenetus answered his country-men and fellow citizens who cast in his teeth and upbraided him for that being their leader and captaine he fled out of the field With you quoth he my loving and deere friends I ran away for companie But great regard and heed would be taken that in this kinde he overpasse not himselfe nor go beyond the bonds of mediocritie in such ridiculous jests for feare that either he offend and displease the hearers unseasonably or debase and abject himselfe too grosly by giving out such ridiculous speeches which was the fault of one Democrates who mounting one day up into the pulpit or publicke place of audience said openly to the people there assembled That himselfe was like unto their citie for that he had small force and yet was puft up with much winde Another time also and namely when the great field was lost before Chaeronea he presented himselfe to speake unto the people in this maner I would not for any thing that the common wealth were driven to such calamitie and so hard an exigent that you should have patience to heare me and neede to take counsell at my hands for as in the one he shewed himselfe a base and vile person so in the other he plaied the brain-sicke foole and sencelesse asse but for a man of State neither is the one nor the other decent and agreeable Furthermore Phocion is had in admiration for his brevitie of speech insomuch as Polyeuctus giving his judgement of him said Demosthenes indeed is the greatest Oratour and the most famous Rhetorician but Phocion beleeve me is the best speaker for that his pithie speech was so couched that in few words it coutained much substance and good matter And even Demosthenes himselfe howsoever he made no reckoning of all other orators in his time yet if Phocion rose up to deliver a speech after him would say Lo heere standeth up now the hatchet or pruning knife of my words Well then endevour you as much as possibly you can when you are to make a speech before the multitude to speake considerately and with great circumspection directing your words so as they may tend to safetie and securitie and not in any case to vse vaine and frivolous language knowing well that Pericles himselfe that great governour was woont to make his praier unto the gods before hee entred into his oration in publicke audience That he might let fall no word out of his mouth impertinent to the matter which he was to handle and yet for all this you must be well exercised neverthelesse and practised in the knowledge how to be able to answere and replie readily for many occasions passe in a moment and bring with them as many sudden cases and occurrences especially in matters of government In which regard Demosthenes was by report reputed inferior to many others in his time for that otherwhiles he would withdraw himselfe and not be seene when occasion was offered if he had not well premeditated and studied aforehand of that which he had to say Theophrastus also writeth of Alcibiades that being desirous to speake not onely that which was convenient but also in maner and forme as it was meet many a time in the mids of his oration would make a stay and be at a nonplus whiles he sought and studied for some proper tearmes and laboured to couch and compose them sitting for his purpose but he who taketh occasion to stand up for to make a speech of sudden occurrences and respective to the occasions and times presented unto him such a one I say of all others doth most moove and astonish a multitude he I say is able to leade them as he list and dispose of them at his pleasure After this maner plaied Leon the Bizantine who was sent upon a time from those of Constantinople vnto the Athenians being at civill debate and dissention among themselves for to make remonstrances unto them of pacification and agreement for a very little man was he of stature and when the people sawe him mounted up into the place of audience everie one began to teigh tittre and laugh at him which he perceiving well enough And what would you do and say then quoth he if you sawe my wife whose crowne of hir head will hardly reach up so high as my knee At which word they tooke up a greater fit of laughter then before throughout the whole assembly And yet quoth he againe as little as we both be if we chance to be at variance and debate one with another the whole citie of Constantinople is not big enough for us nor able to holde us twaine Pytheas likewise the Orator at what time as he spake against the honors which were decreed for king Alexander when one said unto him How now sir dare you presume to speake of so great matters being as
you are so yoong a man And why not quoth he for Alexander whom you make a god among you by your decrees is yoonger than my selfe Furthermore over and besides a ready tongue and well exercised he ought to bring with him a strong voice a good breast and a long breath to this combat of State government which I assure you is not lightly to be accounted of but wherein the champion is to be provided for all feats of masteries or fight for feare lest if it chance that his voice faile or be wearie and faint he be overcome and supplanted by some one Catchpoll Crier and of that ranke Wide-mouth'd Jugler or mount-banke And yet Cato the yoonger when he suspected that either the Senate or the people were forestalled by graces laboring for voices and such like prevention so as he had no hope to perswade and compasse such matters as he went about would rise up and holde them all a day long with an oration which he did to drive away the time that at least-wise upon such a day there should be nothing done or passe against his mind But as touching the speech of a governor how powerfull and effectuall it is and how it ought to be prepared we have this already sufficiently treated especially for such an one as is able of himselfe to devise all the rest which consequently followeth hereupon Moreover two avennes as it were or waies there be to come unto the credit of government the one short and compendious yeelding an honourable course to win glory and reputation but it is not without some danger the other longer and more base and obscure howbeit alwaies safe and sure For some there be who making saile and setting their course as a man would say from some high rocke situate in the maine sea have ventured at the first upon some great and worthy enterprise which required valour and hardinesse and so at the very beginning entred into the middes of State-affaires supposing that the Poet Pindarus said true in these his verses A worthy worke who will begin Must when he enters first therein Set out a gay fore front to view Which may farre off the lustre shew For certeinly the multitude and common sort being satisfied and full already of those governours whom they have bene used to a long time receive more willingly all beginners and new-commers much-like as the spectatours and beholders of plaies or games have better affection a great deale to see a new champion entring fresh into the lists And verily all those honours dignities and powerfull authorities which have a sudden beginning and glorious encrease doe ordinarily astonish and daunt all envie for neither doth the fire as Ariston saith make a smoke which is quickly kindled and made to burne out of a light flame nor glorie breed envie when it is gotten at once and speedily but such as grow up by little and little at leisure those be they that are caught therewith some one way and some another And this is the cause that before they come to flower as it were and grow to any credit of government fade and become dead and withered about the publike place of audience But whereas it falleth out according to the Epigram of the courrier or runner Ladas No sooner came the sound of whip to eare But he was at the end of his carreare And then withall in one and selfe-same trice He crowned was with laurell for his price that some one hath at first performed an ambassage honourably rode in triumph gloriously or conducted an armie valiantly neither envious persons nor spightfull ill-willers have like power against such as against others Thus came Aratus into credit the very first day for that he had defaited and overthrowen the tyrant Nicocles Thus Alcibiades woon the spurres when he practised and wrought the alliance betweene the Mantimeans and the Athenians against the Lacedaemonians And when Pompey the great would have entred the citie of Rome in triumph before he had shewed himselfe unto the Senate and was withstood by Sylla who meant to impeach him he stucke not to say unto him More men there be sir who worship the Sun rising than the Sun setting which when Sylla heard he gave place and yeelded unto him without one word replying to the contrary And when as the people of Rome chose and declared Cornelius Scipio Consull all on a sudden and that against the ordinary course of law when as himselfe stood onely to be Aedile it was not upon some vulgar beginning and ordinary entrance into affaires of State but for the great admiration they had of his rare and singular prowesse in that being but a very youth he had mainteined single fight and combat hand to hand with his enemy in Spaine and vanquished him yea and within a while after in the necke of it had atchieved many worthy exploits against the Carthaginians being but a militarie Tribune or Colonel of a thousand foot for which brave acts and services of his Cato the elder as he returned out of the campe cried out with a loud voice of him Right wise and sage indeed alone is he The rest to him but flitting shadowes be But now sir seeing that the cities States of Greece are brought to such tearmes that they have no more armies to conduct nor tyrants to be put downe nor yet alliances to be treated and made what noble and brave enterprise would you have a yoong gentleman performe at his beginning and entrance into government Mary there are left for him publike causes to plead ambassages to negotiate unto the Emperour or some sovereigne potentate which occasions do ordinarily require a man of action hardy and ardent at the first enterprise wise and warie in the finall execution Besides there be many good and honest customes of ancient time either for-let or growen out of kinde by negligence which may be set on foot renewed and reformed againe many abuses also by ill custome are crept into cities where they have taken deepe root and beene setled to the great dishonour and damage of the common-wealth which may be redressed by his meanes It falleth out many times that a great controversie judged and decided aright the triall likewise and proofe of faithfull trust and diligence in a poore mans cause mainteined and defended frankly and boldly against the oppression of some great and mightie adversarie also a plaine and stout speech delivered in the behalfe of right and justice against some grand Signiour who is unjust and injurious have affoorded honorable entries unto the management of State affaires And many there be who have put foorth themselves made their parts knowen and come up by enterteining quarrels and enmities with those personages whose authoritie was odious envied and terrible to the people for we alwaies see that presently the puissance and power of him that is put downe and overthrowen doth accrue unto him who had the upper hand with greater reputation which I speake not
them any true enmitie in deed or discord as did sometimes a popular man and a governour of Chios named Onomademus who after he had in a certeine seditious tumult gotten the upper hand of his adversaries would not banish out of the citie all those who had taken part against him For feare lest that quoth he we fall out with our friends when we have no more enemies for surely this were meere follie But whensoever the people shall supect any ordinance or act proposed which is of great consequence and tending to their good it behooveth not at such a time that all as it were of one complot should deliver one and the same sentence but that two or three opposing themselves without violence should contradict their friend and afterwards being convinced and overweighed by sound reasons change their minde and raunge themselves to his opinion for by this meanes they draw the people with them namely when they seeme themselves to be brought thereto in regard of a publike benefit and cōmoditie And verily in trifling matters of no great importance it were not amisse to suffer our very friends in good earnest to differ and disagree from us and to let every one take his way and follow his owne minde to the end that when some maine points and principall matters of greatest moment shall come in question and be debated it might not be thought that they have complotted together and so growen to a point and accord about the best Moreover we are thus to thinke That a wise man and a politician is by nature alwaies the governour and chiefe magistrate of a citie like as the king among the Bees and upon this perswasion he ought to have evermore the reines in his hand and to sway the affaires of State howbeit he is not very often nor too hotly for to seeke after and pursue the offices and dignities which the people doe nominate and chuse by their free voices for this office-managing and desire to be alwaies in place of authoritie is neither venerable for his person nor yet plausible to the people and yet must not he reject the same in case the people call him lawfully to it and conferre the same upon him but to accept thereof although peradventure they be offices somewhat inferiour to the reputation that he hath already yea and to employ himselfe therein willingly and with good affection for reason it is and equitie that as we our selves have bene honoured already by places of great dignitie so reciprocally we should grace and countenance those which be of meaner qualitie and whensoever we shall be chofen to supreame magistracies to wit unto the estate of L. Governour and generall captaine in the citie of Athens or the Prytanship in Rhodes or Boeotarchie which is here in Boeotia it may beseeme us very wel in modestie to yeeld and rebate a little of the sovereigne power in our port and with moderation to exercise the same but contrariwise unto meaner roomes to adde more dignity and shew greater countenance to the end that we be not envied in the one or despised in the other Now for a man that entreth newly into any office whatsoever it be he ought not onely to call to remembrance and use the speeches that Pericles made the first time that he tooke upon him the rule of State and was to shew himselfe in open place namely Looke to thy selfe Pericles thou rulest free men and not bond-slaves thou governest Greeks and not Barbarians nay thou art the head magistrate of the citizens of Athens but also he is to reason and say thus to himselfe Thou art a commander and yet a subject withall thou art the ruler of a citie under Romane Proconsuls or els the Procuratours Lieutenants and Deputies of Caesar. Here are not the plaines as he said of Lydia for to runne with the launce nor the ancient city Sardeis ne yet the puissance of the Lydians which was in times past The robe must not be made so large it must be worne more straite your eie must be alwaies from the Emperours pavilion unto the tribunall seat of justice and you are not to take so great pride nor trust so much unto a crowne standing upon the head seeing how horned shoes of the Romane Senators are above the same but herein you ought to imitate the actours and plaiers in Tragedies who adde somewhat of their owne to the roll or written part that they do play to wit their passionate affection gesture accent and countenance which is fit and agreeable to the person that they do represent and yet withall they forget not to have an eie and eare both to the prompters This I say we must do for feare lest we passe those bounds and exceed the measures of that libertie which is given us by those who have the power to command us for I assure you to goe beyond those precincts and limits bringeth with it danger I say not to be hissed from off the stage and to be laughed out of our coats but many there have bene Upon whose necks for punishment The edge of trenchant axe and gleave Hath fallen to end all their torment And head from bodie soone did reave as it befell to Pardalus your countrey-man with those about him for stepping a little at one side without their limits And such another also there was who being confined into a certaine desert isle became as Solon saith A Sicinit an or Pholegandrian Who borne sometime was an Athenian We laugh hartily at little children to see how otherwhiles they goe about to put their fathers shooes upon their owne feete or to set crownes upon their heads in sport and governors of cities relating foolishly oftentimes unto the people the woorthie acts of their predecessors their noble courage and brave minds their notable enterprises atchieved farre different and disproportioned to the present times proceedings in their daies and exhorting them to follow the same set the multitude aloft but as they doe ridiculously so afterwards beleeve me they suffer not that which deserveth to be laughed at unlesse haply they be so base minded that for their basenesse there is no account made of them For many other histories there bee of ancient Greece which affoord examples to bee recounted unto men living in this age for to instruct and reforme their manners as namely those at Athens which put the people in remembrance not of the prowesse of their ancestors in martial affaires but for example to decree of that generall abolition and oblivion of all quarrels and matters past which sometimes was concluded there after that the citie was delivered and freed from their captivitie under the thirtie Tyrants as also another act by vertue whereof they condemned in a grievous fine the Poet Phrymchus for that he represented in a Tragedie the winning and racing of the citie Miletus Likewise how by a publike ordinance every man woare chaplets of flowers upon their heads when they heard say
that Cassander reedified Thebes and how when intelligence came of the cruell execution and bloody massacre committed in Argos wherein the Argives caused to be put to death 1500. of their owne citizens they caused in a solemne procession and generall assembly of the whole citie an expiatorie sacrifice to be carried about that it might please the gods to avert and turne away such cruell thoughts from the harts of the Athenians semblaby how at what time as there was a generall search made throughout the citie in everie house for those who banded with Harpalus they passed by one house onely of a man newly married and would not suffer it to be searched For in these precedents such like they might well enough in these daies imitate and resemble their ancient forefathers But as for the battell of Marathon the field fought neere the river Eurynedon and the noble fight at Plateae with other such examples which doe nothing else but blow and puffe up a multitude with vanitie they should leave such stories for the schooles of Sophisters and masters of Rhetorike Well we ought not in our severall governments to have a due regard onely to mainteine our selves and our cities so wisely that our sovereignes have no occasion to complaine but we must take order also to have one great Seigniour or other who hath most authoritie at Rome and in the court of the emperour to be our fast and speciall frend who may serve us in steed of a rampier to backe us and to defend all our actions and proceedings in the government of our countries for such lords and great men of Rome stand ordinarily passing well affected to those affaires which their dependants and favorits doe follow and the fruit which may be reaped by the amitie and favour of such grand-Seigniours it were not good and honest to convert into the advancement and enriching of our selves and our particular private frends but to imploy the same as Polybius did sometime and Panaetius who by the meanes of the good grace of Scipio wherein they stood did benefit and advantage their countrey exceeding much in which number may be ranged Arius for when Caesar Augustus had forced the citie Alexandria he entred into it holding Arius by the hand and devising with him alone of all his other friends what was to be done more afterwards when the Alexandrians looked for no other but sackage and all extremities and yet besought him to pardon them I pardon you quoth he and receive you into my grace and favour first in regard of the nobilitie and beautie of your city secondly for Alexander the great his sake the founder thereof and thirdly for the love of this my friend Arius your citizen May a man with any reason compare with this gracious favour the most large and gainfull commissions of ruling and governing provinces which many make so great suit for at the court and that with such abject servitude and base subjection that some of them have even waxen old in giving attendance thereabout at other mens gates leaving in the meane while their owne home affaires at sixe and seven were it not well to correct and amend a little the sentence in Euripides singing and saying it thus If it bee honest and lawfull to watch and make court at the gates of another and to be subject to the sute of some great Seigniour surely most commendable and behoovefull it were so to doe for the love and benefit of a mans country in all other cases to seeke and embrace amities under just and equall conditions Moreover a governour in yeelding and reducing his country unto the obedience of mightie sovereignes abroad ought to take good heed that he bring it not into servile subjection lest when it is once tied by the legge he suffer it to be bound also by the necke for some there be who reporting all things both little and great unto these potentates make this their servitude reprochable or to speake more truely they deprive their country of all policie and forme of government making it so fearefull timorous and fit for no authoritie and command at all and like as they who use themselves to live so physically that they can neither dine nor suppe nor yet bath without their physitian have not so much benefit of health as nature it selfe doth affoord them even so those cities and States which for every decree and resolution of their counsell for all grace and favour yea and for the smallest administration of publike affaires must needs adjoigne the consent judgement and good liking of those Seigniours and good masters of theirs they even compell the said great lords to be more powerfull and absolute over them than they would themselves The causes hereof commonly be these to wit the avarice jealousie and emulation of the chiefe and principall citizens in a State for that being desirous otherwhiles to oppresse and keepe under those who be their inferiors they constraine them to abandon their owne cities or else being at some debate and difference with other citizens their equals and unwilling to take the foile one at anothers hand in their owne citie they have recourse unto other superior lords and so bring in forreiners who are their betters Heereupon it commeth to passe that Senate people judiciall courts and all that little authoritie and power which they had is utterly lost A good governour therefore ought to remedy this mischiefe by appeasing such burgesses as be private and meane citizens by equalitie and those who are great and mightie by reciprocall yeelding one to another and so by this course to keepe all affaires within the compasse of the citie to compose all quarrels and determine all controversies at home curing and healing such inconveniences as secret maladies of a common-wealth with a civill and politicke medicine that is to say to chuse rather for his owne part for to be vanquished and overthrowen among fellow-citizens than to vanquish win the victorie by forren power not to offer wrong unto his natural country and be a cause to overthrow the rights and priviledges thereof as for all others he is to beseech them yea and to perswade with them particularly one by another by good reasons and demonslrances of how manie calamities peevish obstinacie is the cause and now because they would not ech one in his turne course frame and accommodate themselves at home to their fellow-citizens who manie times be of one minde and linage to their neighbours and companions in charges and offices and that with honour and good favour they are come to this passe as to detect and lay open the secret dissentions and debates of their owne citie at the gates of their advocates and to put their causes into the hands of pragmaticall lawyers at Rome with no lesse shame and ignominie than losse and damage Physicians are wont when they cannot expell and fully exclude out of the bodie inwardlie some kinde of maladies to turne and
note of insolencie and presumption because he forgat or omitted so small a demonstration and token of humanitie how can it be that he who goeth about to impaire the dignitie and credit of his companions in government or discrediteth and digraceth him in those actions especially which proceed from honour and bountie or upon an arrogant humour of his owne will seeme to do all and attribute the whole to himselfe alone how can such an one I say be reputed either modest or reasonable I remember my selfe that when I was but of yoong yeres I was sent with another in embassage to the Proconsul and for that my companion staid about I wot not what behind I went alone and did that which we had in commission to do together after my returne when I was to give an account unto the State and to report the effect of my charge message back againe my father arose and taking me apart willed me in no wise to speak in the singular number say I departed or went but We departed Item not I said or quoth I but We said in the whole recitall of the rest to joine alwaies my companion as if he had been associat at one hand with me in that which I did alone And verily this is not onely decent convenient and civill but that which more is it taketh from glorie that which is offensive to wit envie which is the cause that great captaines attribute and ascribe their noble acts to fortune and their good angell as did Timoleon even he who overthrew the Tyrannies established in Sicilie who founded and erected a temple to Good-Fortune Pythou also when he was highly praised and commended at Athens for having slaine king Cotys with his owne hand It was God quoth he who for to doe the deed used my hand And Theopompus king of the Lacedemonians when one said unto him that Sparta was saved and stood vpright for that their kings know how to rule well Nay rather quoth he because the people know how to obey well and to say a truth both these depend one upon the other howbeit most men are of this opinion and so they give out that the better part of policie or knowledge belonging to civill government lieth in this to fit men and frame them meete to be well ruled and commanded for in every citie there is alwaies a greater number of subjects than rulers and ech one in his turne especially in a popular state is governour but a while and for it afterwards continueth governed all the rest of his life in such sort that it is a most honest and profitable apprentiship as it were to learne for to obey those who have authoritie to command although haply they have meaner parts otherwise and be of lesse credite and power than our selves for a meer absurditie it were that wheras a principall or excellent actour in a Tragedie such as Theodorus was or Potus for hire waiteth oftentimes upon another mercenarie plaier who hath not above three words in his part to say and speaketh unto him in all humilitie and reverence because peradventure he hath the roiall band of a diademe about his head and a scepter in his hand in the true and unfained actions of our life and in case of policie and government a rich and mightie person should despise and set light by a magistrate for that he is a simple man otherwise and peradventure poore and of meane estate yea and proceede to wrong violate and impaire the publike dignitie wherein he is placed yea and to offer violence thereby unto the authoritie of a State whereas he ought rather with his owne credite and puissance helpe out the defect and weakenesse of such a man and by his greatnesse countenance his authoritie for thus in the citie of Lacedemon the kings were woont to rise up out of their thrones before the Ephori and whosoever els was summoned called by them came not an ordinary foot-pace or faire and softly but running in great haste in token of obedience and to shew unto other citizens how obeisant they were taking a great joy and glorie in this that they honour their magistrates not as some vaine-glorious and ungracious sots voide of all civilitie and manners wanting judgement and discretion who to shewe forsooth their exceeding power upon which they stande much and pride themselves will not let to offer abuse unto the judges and wardens of the publike games combats and pastimes or to give reprochfull termes to those that leade the dance or set out the plaies in the Bacchanale feast yea and mocke captaines and laught at the presidents wardens of the publik exercises for youth who have not the wit to know That to give honour is oftentimes more honorable than to be honored for surely to an honourable person who beareth a great sway carieth a mightie port with him in a citie it is a greater ornament grace to accompany a magistrate and as it were to guard and squire him than if the said magistrate should put him before or seeme to waite upon him in his traine and to say a truth as this were the way to worke him displeasure and procure him envie from the hearts of as manie as see it so the other would win him true glorie which proceedeth of love and benevolence And verily when such a man is seene otherwhiles in the magistrates house when he saluteth or greeteth him first and either giveth him the upper-hand or the middle place as they walke together he addeth an ornament to the dignirie of the citie and looseth thereby none of his own Moreover it is a popular thing and that which gaineth the hearts of the multitude if such a person can beare patiently the hard tearmes of a magistrates whiles he is in place and endure his cholericke fits for then he may with Diomedes in Homer say thus to himselfe How ever now I little do say It will be mine honor another day Or as one said of Demosthenes Well he is not now Demosthenes onely but he is a law-giver he is a president of the sacred plaies and solemne games and a crowne he hath upon his head c. and therefore it is good to put up all nowe and to deferre vengeance untill another time for either we shall come upon him when he is out of his office or at least wise wee shall gaine thus much by delay that choler will be well cooled and allaied by that time Moreover in any government or magistracie whatsoever a good subject ought to strive as it were a vie with the rulers especially if they be persons of good sort and gracious behaviour in diligence care and fore-cast for the benefit of the State namely in going to them to give notice and intelligence of whatsoever is meet to be done in putting into their hands for to be executed that which he hath with mature deliberation rightly resolved upon in giving meanes unto them for to
performed but a token rather and a memoriall that the remembrance thereof might continue long as theirs did whom erewhiles we named whereas in those three hundred statues of Demetrius Phalereus there gathered not so much as rust canker or any ordure or filth whatsoever but were all of them ere himselfe died pulled downe and broken And as for the images of Demades melted they were everie one and of the mettall were made pispots and basins for close stooles yea and many such honours have beene defaced as being displeasant and odious to the world not in regard onely of the wickednesse of the receiver but also of the greatnesse and richnesse of the thing given and received and therefore the goodliest and surest safegard of honour that it may endure and last longest is the least costlinesse and price bestowed thereupon for such as bee excessive massie and immeasurall in greatnesse may bee well compared unto huge colosses or statues not well ballaised and counterpoised nor proportionably made which soone fal downe to the ground of thēselves And here in this place I cal Honors these exterior things which the common people so far forth as beseemeth them according to the saying of Empedocles so call Howbeit I also affirme as wel as others that a wise governor man of State ought not to despise true honor which consisteth in the benevolence good affection of those who have in remēbrance the services and benefits that they have receivedneither ought he altogether to contemne glorie as one who forbare to please his neighbours among whō he liveth as Democritus would have him for neither ought horse-keepers or esquierries of the stable reject the affection of their horses lovingly making toward them nor hunters the sawning of their hounds spaniels but rather seeke to win keepe the same for that it is both a profitable and also a pleasant thing to be able for to imprint in those creatures who are familiar do live converse with us such an affectiō to us as Lysimachus his dog shewed toward his master which the poet Homer reporteth that Achilles horses shewed to Patroclus For mine own part I am of this mind that Bees would be better entreated escape better in case they would make much of those suffer them gētly to come toward them who norish them and have the care and charge of them rather than to sting and provoke them to anger as they do whereas now men are driven to punish them and chase them away with smoake also to breake and tame their frampold and unruly horses with hard bits and bridles yea and curst dogs which are given to run away they are faine to lead perforce in collars or tie up and hamper with clogs But verily there is nothing in the world that maketh one man willingly obeisant and subject to another more than the affiance that he hath in him for the love which hee beareth and the opinion conceived of his goodnesse honestie and justice which is the reason that Demosthenes said verie well That free cities have no better meanes to keepe and preserve themselves from tyrants than to distrust them for that part of the soule whereby we beleeve is it which is most easie to be taken captive Like as therefore the gift of prophesie which Cassandra had stood her countrey-men and fellow-citizens in no steed because they would never give credit or beleefe unto her for thus she speaketh of her selfe God would not have my voice propheticall When I for etell of things to take effect Nor do my countrey any good at all Or why alwaies they do my words reject In their distresse and woes they would correct Their folly past then am I wise and sage Before it come they say I do but rage even so on the otherside the trust and confidence that the citizens reposed in Archytas the good will and benevolence which they bare unto Battus served them in right good stead for that they used and followed their counsell by reason of the good opinion which they conceived of them This is then the first and principall good which lieth in the reputation of States-men and those who are in government namely the trust and confidence which is in them for it maketh an overture and openeth the doore to the enterprise and execution of all good actions The second is the love and affection of the people which to good governours is to them a buckler and armor of defence against envious and wicked persons Much like unto a mother kind who keepes away the flies From tender babe whiles sweetly it a sleepe in cradell lies putting backe envie that might arise against them and in regard of might and credit making equall a man meanly borne of base parentage with those who are nobly descended the poore with the rich the private person with the magistrates and to be briefe when vertue verity are joined together with this popular benevolence it is as mightie as a strong and steedy gale of a forewind at the poope and driveth men forward to the managing and effecting of all publike affaires whatsoever Consider now and see what contrarie effects the disposition of peoples hearts doth produce and bring foorth by these examples following For even they of Italie when they had in their hands the wife and children of Denys the Tyrant after they had vilanously abused and shamefully forced their bodies did them to death and when they had burnt them to ashes threw and scattered the same out of a ship into the sea Whereas one Menander who reigned graciously over the Bactrians in the end when he had lost his life in the warres was honorably enterred for the cities under his obeisance joined altogether and by a common accord solemnized his funerals and obsequies with great mourning and lamentation but as touching the place where his reliques should be bestowed they grew into a great strife and contention one with another which at the last with much adoo was pacified upon this condition and composition that his ashes should be parted and divided equally among them all and that everie citie should have one sepulcher and monument of him by it selfe Againe the Agrigentines after they were delivered from the Tyrant Phalaris enacted an ordinance That from thence foorth it should not be lawfull for any person whatsoever to weare a roabe of blew colour for that the Guard Pensioners attending about the said Tyrant had blew cassockes for their liveries But the Persians tooke such a love to their Prince Cyrus that because he was hauke-nosed they ever after and even to this day affect those who have such noses and take them to be best favoured And verily of all loves this is the most divine holy and puissant which cities and States do beare unto a man for his vertue as for other honors so falsely called and bearing no true ensignes in deed to testifie love which the people bestow upon them who
and readie to be spoken withall whosoever comes having his house open alwaies as it were an haven or harbour of refuge to as many as have occasion to use him Neither is this debonairity and care of his seene onely in the businesse and affaires of such as employ him but also in this that he will as well rejoice with them who have had any fortunate and happie successe as condole greeve with those unto whom there is befallen any calamitie or misfortune never will he be knowen to be troublesome and looke for double diligence of a number of servitors and verlets to waite upon him to the baines or stouphes nor to keepe a stir for taking up and keeping of places for him and his traine at the theaters where plaies and pastimes are to bee seene ne yet desire to be conspicuous and of great marke above others in any outward signes of excessive delights and sumptuous superfluities but shew himselfe to be equall like and sutable to others in apparell in his fare and furniture at the table in the education and nouriture of his children in the keeping of his wife for her state and array and in one word be willing to carrie and demeane himselfe in all things as an ordinary and plaine citizen bearing no greater port and shew than others of the common multitude moreover at hand to give advise and counsell friendly to every man in his affaires ready to enterteine defend follow their causes as an advocate freely and without taking fee or any consideration whatsoever to reconcile man and wife when they be at ods to make love-daies and peace betweene friends not spending one little peece of the day for a shew at the tribunall seat or in the hall of audience for the common-wealth and then afterwards all the day the rest of his life drawing unto himselfe al dealings all negotiations and affaires from everie side for his owne particular behoofe and profit like unto the north-east winde Caecias which evermore gathereth the clouds unto it but continually bending his minde and occupying his head in carefull studie for the weale publike and in effect making it appeere unto the world that the life of a State-man and a governor is not as the common sort thinke it easie and idle but a continuall action and publike function by which fashions and semblable courses that he taketh he gaineth and winneth unto him the hearts of the people who in the end come to know that all the flattering devises and entisements of others be nothing else but false baits and bastard allurements in comparison of his prudence and carefull diligence The flatterers about Demetrius vouchsafed not to call any other princes and potentates of his time Kings but would have Seleucus to be named the Commander of the elephants Lysimachus the keeper of the treasurie Ptolomeus the admirall of the sea and Agathocles the governour of the islands But the people although peradventure at the first they reject a good wise and sage person among them yet in the end after they have seene his truth and knowen his disposition and kinde nature they will repute him onely to bee popular politike and woorthie to be a magistrate indeed and as for the rest they wil both repute and call one the warden and setter out of the plaies another the great feaster and a third the president of games combats and publike exercises Moreover like as at the feasts and bankets that Callias or Alcibiades were at the cost to make none but Socrates was heard to speake and all mens eies were cast upon Socrates even so in cities and States governed aright well may Ismenias deale largesses Lichas make feasts and Niceratus defray the charges of plaies but Epaminondas Aristides Lysander and such as they are those which beare the magistracie they governe at home they command and conduct armies abroad Which being well and duly considered there is no cause why you should be discouraged or dismaid at the reputation and credit that they win among the people who have for them builded theaters and erected shew-places founded halles of great receit and purchased for them common places of sepulture for to burie their dead all which glorie lasteth but a while neither hath it any great matter or venerable substance in it but vanisheth away like smoke and is gone even assoone as either the plaies in such theaters or games in shew-places are done and ended They that have skill and experience of keeping and feeding bees doe hold opinion and saie that those hives wherein the bees yeeld the biggest sound make most humming and greatest stir within like best are most sound healthfull and yeeld most store of home but he upon whom God hath laid the charge and care of the reasonable swarme as I may say and civill societie of men will judge the happinesse and blessed state thereof most of all by the quietnesse and peace therein and in all other things he will approove the ordinances and statutes of Solon endevoring to follow and observe the same to his full power but doubt hee will and marvell what hee should meane by this when he writeth that he who in a civill sedition would not range himselfe to a side and take part with one or other faction was to bee noted with infamie for in a naturall bodie that is sicke the beginning of change toward the recoverie of health commeth not from the diseased parts but rather when the temperature of the sound and healthie members is so puissant that it chaseth and expelleth that which in the rest of the bodie was unkind contrary to nature even so in a citie or State where the people are up in a tumult sedition so it be not dangerous and mortall but such as is like to be appeased and ended there had need to be a farre greater part of those who are sound and not infected for to remaine and cohabit still for to it there commeth and hath recourse that which is natural and familiar from the wise and discreet within and the same entreth into the other infected part and cureth it but such cities as be in an universall uprore and hurly-burly utterly perish and come to confusion if they have not some constreint from without and a chastisement which may force them to be wise and agree among themselves Neither is my meaning that I would have you a politike person and States-man in such a sedition and civill discord to sit still insensible and without any passion or feeling of the publike calamitie to sing and chaunt your owne repose and tranquillitie of blessed and happie life and whiles others be together by the eares rejoice at their follie for at such a time especially you are to put on the buskin of Theramenes which served as well the one legge as the other then are you to parley and common with both parties without joyning your selfe to one more than to the other by which meanes neither you
shall be thought an adversarie because you are not ready to offend either part but indifferent to both in aiding as well the one as the other and envie shall you incur none as bearing part in their miserie in case you seeme to have a fellow-feeling and compassion equally with them all but the best way were to provide and forecast that they never breake out to tearmes of open sedition and this you are to thinke for to be the principall point and the height of all pollicie and civill government for evident it is and you may easily see that of those greatest blessings which cities can desire to wit peace libertie and freedome plentie and fertilitie multitude of people and unitie and concord as touching peace cities have no great need in these daies of wise governors for to procure or mainteine the same for that all wars both against the Greekes and also the Barbarians are chased away and gone out of sight as for libertie the people hath as much as it pleaseth their sovereignes and princes to give them and peradventure if they had more it would be woorse for them for the fertility of the earth and the abundance of all fruits the kind disposition and temperature of all seasons of the yeere That mothers in due time their babes into the world may beare Resembling in all points their sires to wit their fathers deare and that children so borne may live and be live-like every good and wise men wil crave at Gods hands in the behalfe of his owne fellow citizens Now there remaineth for a States-man and politike governour of all those works proposed one onely and that is nothing inferiour to the rest of the blessings above-named to wit the unitie and concord of citizens that alwaies dwell together and the banishing out of a citie of all quarrels all jarres and malice as the maner is in composing the differences and debates of friends namely by dealing first with those parties which seeme to be most offended and to have taken the greatest wrong in seeming to be injuried as well as they and to have no lesse cause of displeasure and discontent than they afterwards by little and little to seeke for to pacifie and appease them by declaring and giving them to understand that they who can be content to strike saile a little do ordinarily go beyond those who thinke to gaine all by force surmount them I say not onely in mildenesse and good nature but also in courage and magnanimitie who in yeelding and giving place a little in small matters are masters in the end and conquerors in the best and greatest which done his part is to make remonstrance both particularly to every one and generally to them all declaring unto them the feeble and weake estate of Greece and that it is very expedient for men of sound and good judgment to enjoy the fruit and benefit which they may have in this weakenesse and imbecilitie of theirs living in peace and concord one with another as they doe considering that fortune hath not left them in the midst any prize to winne or to strive for For what glorie what authoritie what power or preeminence will remaine unto them that haply should have the better hand in the end be masters over their adversaries but a proconfull with one commandement of his will be able to overthrow it and transport it unto the other side as often and whensoever it pleaseth him but say that it should continue stil yet is it not woorth all this labour and travell about it But like as scare-fires many times begin not at stately temples and publike edifices but they may come by some candle in a private and little house which was neglected or not well looked unto and so fell downe and tooke hold thereof or haply straw or rushes and such like stuffe might catch fire and suddenly flame and so thereupon might ensue much losse and a publike wasting of many faire buildings even so it is not alwaies by meanes of contention and variance about affaires of State that seditions in cities be kindled but many times braules and riots arising upon particular causes and so proceeding to a publike tumult and quarrell have beene the overthrow and utter subversion of a whole citie In regard whereof it perteineth unto a politike man as much as any one thing els to foresee and prevent or else to remedy the same to see I say that such dissentions do not arise at al or if they be on foot to keep them down from growing farther and taking head or at leastwise that they touch not the State but rest still among whom it began considering this with himselfe giving others to understand that private debates are in the end causes of publike and small of great when they be neglected at first and no convenient remedies used at the verie beginining Like as by report the greatest civill dissention that ever hapned in the citie of Delphos arose by the meanes of one Crates whose daughter Orgilaus the sonne of Phalis was at the point to wed now it hapned by meere chance that the cup out of which they were to make an essay or effusion of wine in the honour of the gods first and then afterwards to drinke one to another according to the nuptiall ceremonies of that place broke into peeces of it selfe which Orgilaus taking to be an evill presage forsooke his espoused bride and went away with his father without finishing the complements of marriage Some few daies after when they were sacrificing to the gods Crates conveied covertly or underhand a certaine vessell of gold one of those which were sacred and dedicated to the temple unto them and so made no more adoo but caused Orgilaus and his brother as manifell church-robbers to be pitched downe headlong from the top of the rocke at Delphos without any judgement or forme and processe of law yea and more than that killed some of their kinsfolke and friends notwithstanding they entreated hard and pleaded the liberties and immunitie of Minervaes temple surnamed Provident into which they were fled and there tooke sanctuarie And thus after divers such murders committed the Delphians in the end put Crates to death and those his complices who were the authors of this sedition and of the money and goods of these excommunicate persons for so they were called seazed upon by way of confiscation they built those chapples which stand beneath the citie At Syracusae also of two yoong men who were verie familiarly acquainted together the one being to travell abroad out of his countrey left in the custodie of the other a concubine that he had to keepe untill his returne home againe but he in the absence of his friend abused her bodie but when his companion upon his returne home knew thereof he wrought so that for to crie quittance with him he lay with his wife and made him cuckold this matter came to hearing at the counsell table of the
commeth to a feast or a rude traveller who seeketh for lodging when it is darke night for even so thou wouldest remoove not to a place nor to a region but to a life whereof thou hast no proofe and triall As for this sentence and verse of Simonides The city can instruct a man true it is if it be meant of them who have sufficient time to be taught and to learne any science which is not gotten but hardly and with much ado after great studie long travell continuall exercise and practise provided also that it meet with a nature painfull and laborious patient and able to undergo all adversities of fortune These reasons a man may seeme very well and to the purpose to alledge against those who begin when they be well stricken in yeeres to deale in publike affaires of the State And yet we see the contrary how men of great wisedome and judgement divert children and yoong men from the government of common-weale who also have the testimonie of the lawes on their side by ordinance whereof at Athens the publicke Crier or Bedle calleth and summoneth to the pulpit or place of audience not such as yoong Alcibiades or Pytheas for to stand up first and speake before the assemblie of the people but those that be above fiftie yeeres of age and such they exhort both to make orations and also to deliver their minds and counsell what is most expedient to be done And Cato being accused when he was fourescore yeeres olde and upward in pleading of his own cause thus answered for himselfe It is an harder matter my masters quoth he for a man to render an account of his life and to justifie the same before other men than those with whom he hath lived And no man there is but he will confesse that the acts which Caesar Augustus atchieved a little before his death in defaiting Antonius were much more roiall and profitable to the weale-publicke than any others that ever hee performed all his life-time before and himselfe in restraining and reforming secretly by good customes and ordinances the dissolute riots of yoong men and namely when they mutined said no more but thus unto them Listen yoong men and heare an olde man speake whom olde men gave eare unto when he was but yoong The government also of Pericles was at the height and of greatest power and authoritie in his olde age at what time as he perswaded the Athenians to enter upon the Peloponesiacke warre but when they would needs in all haste and out of season set forward with their power to encounter with threescore thousand men all armed and well appointed who forraied and wasted their territorie he withstood them and hindered their dessigned enterprise and that in maner by holding sure the armour of the people out of their hands and as one would say by keeping the gates of the citie fast locked and sealed up But as touching that which Xenophon hath written of Agesilaus it is worthy to be delivered word for word as he setteth it downe in these tearmes What youth quoth he was ever so gallant but his age surpassed it what man was there ever in the flower and very best of all his time more dread and terrible to his enemies than Agesilaus was in the very latter end of his daies whose death at any time was more joyfull to enemies than that of Agesilaus although he was very olde when he died what was he that emboldened allies and confederates making them assured and confident if Agesilaus did not notwithstanding he was now at the very pits brincke and had in maner one foot already in his grave what yoong man was ever more missed among his friends and lamented more bitterly when he was dead than Agesilaus how olde so ever he was when he departed this life The long time that these noble personages lived was no impediment unto them in atchieving such noble and honourable services but we in these daies play the delicate wantons in government of cities where there is neither tyrannie to suppresse nor warre to conduct nor siege to be raised and being secured from troubles of warre we sit still with one hand in another being roubled onely with civill debates among citizens and some emulations which for the most part are voided and brought to an end by vertue of the lawes and justice onely with words Wee forbeare I say and draw backe from dealing in these publicke affaires for feare confessing our selves herein to be more cowardly and false-hearted I will not say than the ancient captaines and governours of the people in olde time but even worse than Poets Sophisters and Plaiers in Tragedies and Comedies of those daies If it be true as it is that Simonides in his olde age wan the prize for enditing ditties and setting songs in quires and dances according to the epigram made of him which testifieth no lesse in the last verses thereof running in this maner Fourescore yeeres olde was Simonides The Poet and sonne of Treoprepes Whom for his carrols and musicall vaine The prize he won and honour did gaine It is reported also of Sophocles that when he was accused judicially for dotage by his owne children who laied to his charge that he was become a childe againe unfitting for governing his house and had need therefore of a guardian being convented before the judges he rehearsed in open court the entrance of the chorus belonging to the Tragedie of his entituled Oedipus in Colono which beginneth in this wise Wel-come stranger at thy entrie To villages best of this countrie Renowmed for good steeds in fight The tribe of faire Colonus hight Where nightingale doth oft resort Her dolefull moanes for to report Amid greene bowers which she doth haunt Her sundrie notes and laies to chaunt With voice so shrill as in no ground Elswhere her songs so much resound c. And for that this canticle or sonet wonderfully pleased the judges and the rest of the company they all arose from the bench went out of the Court and accompanied him home to his house with great acclamations for joy and clapping of hands in his honour as they would have done in their departure from the Theater where the Tragedie had bene lively acted indeed Also it is confessed for certeine that an epigram also was made of Sophocles to this effect When Sophocles this sonnet wrote To grace and honour Herodote His daies of life by just account To fiftie five yeeres did amount Philemon and Alexis both comicall Poets chanced to be arrested and surprised with death even as they plaied their Comedie upon the stage for the prize and were about to be crowned with garlands for the victorie As for Paulus or Polus the actour of Tragedies Eratosthenes and Philochorus do report That when he was threescore yeeres olde and ten he acted eight Tragedies within the space of foure daies a little before his death Is it not then a right great shame that olde men
when it hath beene nourished and fed therewith it is not so troublesome and churlish but becommeth more kinde and gentle and this is the reason that some have likened envie unto a smoke which at the first when the fire beginneth to kindle ariseth grosse and thicke but after that it burneth light and cleere vanisheth away and is gone In all other preeminences and superiorities men are wont ordinarily to debate and quarrell namely about vertue nobilitie of bloud and honour as being of opinion that the more they yeeld unto others the more they doe abridge from themselves but the prerogative or precedence of time which properly is called Presbeion as if a man would say the Honor of age or Time-right is voide of all jealousie and emulation and there is no man but will willingly yeeld it to his companion neither is there any kinde of honour whereunto so well sorteth this qualitie namely to grace him more who giveth the honour than the party who is honoured as to the prerogative which is given to old men Moreover all men doe not hope nor expect to have credit one time or other by their riches by their eloquence or wisedome whereas you shall not see so much as one of those that rule in common-wealth to despaire of comming one day to that authoritie and reverence which old age bringeth men unto He therefore who after he hath wrestled long against envie retireth in the end from the administration of the common-weale at what time as it is well appeased and at the point to be extinguished or laid along should doe like unto that pilot who in a tempest having winde and waves contrarie spreadeth saile and roweth in great danger but afterwards when the weather is faire and a gentle gale of forewinde serveth doth goe about to strike saile and ride at anchor in the pleasant sunne-shine he should I say in so doing abandon together with his publike affaires the societie felowship alliance and intelligences which he had with his good friends for the more time that he had the more friends by good reason he ought to have gotten for to stand with him and take his part whom he neither cannot all at once leade foorth with him like as a master of carols his whole quire of singing men nor meete it is and reason that he should leave and forsake them all but as it is not an easie peece of worke to stocke up by the root olde trees no more is it a thing soone done to extirpe a long government in the common-weale as having manie great rootes and those enterlaced enwrapped one within another by reason of sundrie and weightie affaires the which no doubt must needs worke more trouble and vexation to those that retire and depart from it than to those that tarrie still by it and say there remained yet behind for old men some reliques of envie emulation and contention which grew in the time of their government it were farre better to extinguish and quench the same by power and authoritie than to turne both side and backe unto them all naked and disarmed for envious persons and evill willers never doe assaile them so much with despight who make head againe and stand their ground as they doe by contempt those who yeeld backe and retire and to this accordeth well that which in times past that great Epaminondas said unto the Thebans For when the Arcadians had made offer unto them yea and requested them to enter in their cities during the winter season and there to lodge and abide under covert he would not permit them so to doe nor to accept of their courtesie For now quoth he all while that they behold you exercising and wrestling in your armour they have you in great admiration as valiant and hardy men but if they should see you once by the fire side punning and stamping beanes they would take you to be no better then themselves even so I would make my application and inferre heereupon that it is a venerable and goodly sight to behold a grave and ancient personage speaking to the people dispatching affaires of State and generally to be honored of every man but he who all the day long stirres not out of his warme bed or if he be up sitteth still in some corner of a gallerie prating and talking vainely or else reaching hawking spitting or wiping his nose that drops for cold such an one I say is exposed to contempt Homer verily himselfe hath taught us this lesson if we will marke and give good eare to that which he hath written For old Nestor being at the warre before Troie was had in honour and reputation whereas contrariwise Peleus and Laertes who taried behinde at home were set little by and despised For the habitude of wisedome doth not continue the same nor is any thing like it selfe in those who give themselves to ease and doe not practise the same but through idlenesse and negligence it diminisheth and is dissolved by little and little as having need alwaies of some exercise of the cogitation and thought which may waken the spirit cleere the discourse of reason and lighten the operative part of the minde to the dealing in affaires Like as both iron and brasse is bright and cleere All while mans hand the same doth use and weare Where as the house wherein none dwels at all In tract of time must needs decay and fall Neither is the infirmitie and feeblenesse of the bodie so great an hinderance unto the government of State in those who above the strength of their age seeme either to mount into the tribunall or to the bench or to the generals pavilion and place of audience within the campe as otherwise their yeeres bring good with them to wit considerate circumspection staied wisedom as also not to be troubled or driven to a non plus in the managing of any busines or to commit an absurditie error partly for want of experience in part upon vaine-glorie so to draw the multitude therewith and doe mischiefe to the common-wealth all at once like unto a sea tossed with windes but to treat and negotiat gently mildly and with a setled judgement with those who come unto them for advice or have any affaires or to doe with them And heereupon it is that cities after they have susteined some great shake or adverse calamitie or when they have beene affrighted desire streight waies to be ruled by auncient men and those well experienced in which cases they have many times drawen perforce an old man out of his house in the countrey for to governe them who thought or desired nothing lesse they have compelled him to lay his hand upon the helme for to set all streight and upright againe in securitie rejecting in the meane while greene headed generals of armies eloquent oratours also who knew well enough how to speake aloud and to pronounce long clauses and periods with one breath and never fetching their
Asians had a custom to call the King of Persia the Great King And why quoth Agesilaus is he a greater king than I if he be not more just and temperat Being demaunded his opinion as touching Fortitude Justice whether of them was the better vertue We have no need or use quoth he of Fortitude if we were all just Being enforced to breake up his campe and dislodge one night in great haste out of his enemies countrey and seeing a boy whom hee loved well weeping and all blubbered with teares for that he was left behind could not follow by reason of weaknes It is quoth he an hard matter to be pitifull and wise both at once Menecrates the physician who would entitle himselfe with the name of Jupiter wrote a letter unto him with this superscription Menecrates Iupiter unto King Agesilaus long life c. Unto whom hee returned this answere King Agesilaus unto Menecrates better health meaning in deed that he was braine-sicke The Lacedaemonians having defaited those of Athens with their allies and confederates neere unto the citie of Corinth when he heard what a number of enemies lay dead in the field O unhappie and unfortunate Greece quoth he that hath destroied so many men of her owne as had beene able to have subdued all the Barbarians in the world Having received an answer from the oracle of Jupiter at Olympta according to his minde the great Lords controllers called Ephori willed him also to consult with the oracle of Apollo as touching the same when he was therefore at Delphos he demaunded of the said god whether he were not of the same minde as his father was When he sued for the deliverance of a friend of his who was taken prisoner and in the hands of Idrieus a prince of Carta he wrote unto him about it in this manner If Nicias have not trespassed deliver him for justice sake if he have transgressed deliver him for my sake but howsoever it be in any wise deliver him He was requested one day to heare a man sing who could maruellous lively and naturally counterfeit the voice of a nightingale I have heard quoth he the nightingale her selfe many a time After the overthrow at the battell of Leuctres the lawe ordained that as many as saved themselves by their good footmanship should be noted with infamy but the Ephori fore-seeing that in so doing the citie would be dispeopled and emptie were willing to abrogat disanul this ignominie and for this purpose declared Agesilaus for law-giver who going into the market place and mounting up into the pulpit ordained that from the next morrow forward the lawes should remaine in their ancient force and vertue Sent he was upon a time to aide the King of AEgyt where he together with the King was besieged by the enemies who were many more in number than they had begun to cast a great trēch about their camp so beleaguered them that they could not escape Now when the king commaunded him to make a sally upon them and to keepe them battell I will not quoth he empeach our enemies but that they may as I see them go about it willingly fight with us so many to so many and finding that their trench wanted but a little of both ends meeting and joining together in that verie distance and space betweene he set his souldiers in battell array and so comming to encounter on even hand he defaited his enemies When he died he charged his friends to make no image nor statue of him For if I have quoth he done any thing in my life worthy of remembrance that will be a sufficient monument and memoriall for me after my death if not all the statues and images in the world shall never be able to perpetuate my memorie ARCHIDAMVS the first time that ever he saw the shot discharged out of an engin or battering peece which had beene newly brought out of Sicilie cried out aloud O Hercules the prowesse and valour of man I see well is now gone for ever When Demades mocking at the Lacedaemonian courtilasses said merrily That they were so little and short as that the juglers and plaiers at leger-demain were able to swallow them downe whole as they be AGIS the yoonger answered verie fitly and said Yet as short as they be the Lacedaemonians can reach their enemies verie well with them The Ephori charged him upon a time to deliver vp his souldiers into the hands of a traitour I will beware I trow quoth he to commit another mans souldiers to him who betraied his owne CLEOMENES when one promised to give him certaine cocks of the game so courageous that they would with fighting die in the place and never give over Give me not quoth he those that will die themselves but such rather as in fight will make others to die PAEDARETVS missing the place to be chosen one of the great councell consisting of three hundred returned from the assembly very jocond merrie and smiling I am well appaied quoth he that in the citie of Sparta there be found three hundred better men and more sufficient than my selfe DAMONIDAS being by the master of the Revels set in the last place of the dance Well fare thy heart quoth he thou hast devised a good meanes to make this place honourable NICOSTRATVS captaine of the Argives being sollicited by Archidamus to take a good round summe of money for to deliver up unto him by treason a place whereof he had the keeping with a promise also that he should espouse and wed what damosell he would himselfe choose in all Sparta excepting those of the blood-roiall made him this answer You are not quoth he of the race of Hercules for that Hercules went thorow the world punishing and putting to death in all places malefactors and wicked persons but you go about to make those naught and leaud who are good and honest EYDAMONIDAS seeing in the great schoole Academie Xenocrates an auncient man among other yoong scholers students in Philosophie and understanding that he sought for vertue And when will he use vertue quoth he if he have not yet found it Another time hearing a philosopher to mainteine this paradox That a learned Sage was onely a good captaine Brave words quoth he and a marvelous position but the best is he that holdeth it never in his life heard the sound of a trumpet in the campe ANTIOCHUS one of those controllers in Sparta named Ephori being advertized that king Philip had given unto the Messenians their territorie But hath hee withall quoth he given them the meanes to vanquish in battell when they shall be put to it for to defend the same ANTALCIDAS answered unto an Athenian who termed the Lacedemonians ignorant persons Indeed quoth he it may well be so for wee are the onely men who have learned of you no evill Another Athenian contested with him and said we have driven you manie a time
from the river Cephtsus which is in Attica but he replied againe and said And we never yet chased you from the river Eurotas which is neere Lacedemon There was a certeine Rhetorician would needs rehearse an oration which he had made concerning the praise of Hercules Why quoth he was there ever any man that blamed or despised him So long as EPAMINONDAS was captaine general of the Thebans there was never seene in his campe any of these sudden foolish frights without any certeine cause which they call Panique Terrores He was wont to say that no death was so honourable as to die in the warres Also that a man of armes or warriour ought to keepe his bodie not exercised after the maner of champions for to be faire and full but rather hardned with travel and made lanke as becommeth good soldiours He loved therefore to fight with those enemies who were corpulent and such soldiours as he found in his owne bands grosse fat he would be sure to cassier displace them if it were for nothing else For he was wont to say of them that three or foure bucklers would hardly cover their grand-panch which bare out so bigge that they could not see for it their privy parts Moreover so strict and precise he was in his living and hated so much all excesse superfluity that one time above the rest being biddē to supper by one of his neighbors when he saw in the house great provision of viands cates junquets comfutures and sweet perfumes he said unto him I had thought you made a sacrifice and not an expense of superfluitie and so went his way would not stay supper When the head cooke or clerke of the kitchin gave up his account unto him and other his companions in government of their ordinary charges for certeine daies he misliked nothing in his bill but the great quantitie of oyle that was spent and when his collegues wondered that he should fare so at that he said unto them That it was not the cost and expence that hee stood upon but onely this that so much oyle should goe down mens throats The city of Thebes upon a time made a great publike feast and besides privately they were all in their bankets inviting one another and meeting in companies to make merrie together he contrariwise all this while without being either annointed with oile and sweete perfumes or clad in his best clothes all pensive and sad walked alone thorow the citie and when one of his familiar friends who met him woondered thereat and woulds needs know why he went so alone and out of order and formalitie Mary quoth he that you all might in securitie follow your drinking and good cheere and not bee troubled with thinking of any other cares He had caused a meane man and of base condition to be put in prison for some light trespasse that he had committed and Pelopidas requested him for to set him at large but he denied him flatly howbeit afterwards a woman whom he loved intreated him and at her sute he granted his libertie saying That in such pettie favours and curtesies as these it became him to gratisie concubines and harlots but not generals and great warriours When the Lacedemonians came with a puissant power to make cruell war upon the Thebans there were brought oracles unto the Thebans from sundrie parts some promising the victory others menasing an overthrow he went up therefore into the tribunall seat and commanded that the oracles of victorie should be set upon the right hand and those of discomfiture on the left when they were thus disposed and bestowed he stood up and in this wise spake unto the Thebans If you will be directed by your captaines shew obedience unto them and withall put on a resolution and good heart to encounter your enemies these heere shewing the good oracles on the right hand be yours but if for want of courage you cast doubts and start backe for seare of perils those there pointing to the bad oracles on the lefthand are for you Afterwards as he led the armie into the field for to meet with the Lacedemonians it began to thunder whereat they that were neerest unto him asked what he thought this might presage and signifie Surely quoth he it betokeneth thus much That God hath aslonished our enemies and put their braines out of temper who having such commodious places neere unto them for to encampe in have pitched here where they are Of all the honorable and happie fortunes that ever befell unto him he said This was most to his hearts joy and contentment that he had defeited the Lacedemonians in the battell at Leuctres whiles his owne father that begat him and mother who bare him were both alive Being a man who otherwise all his life time used to be seene abroad fine neat wel anointed with a cheeefull and merrie countenance also the morrow after the said battell he came foorth into the publicke place all foule sullied heavy and pensive whereupon his friends by and by were in hand with him to know whether any sinister accident was come unto him None quoth he but I perceived yesterday that for the joy of my victorie my heart was lifted up more than it ought and therefore to day I doe abate and correct that which was the day before too excessive and out of order knowing full well that the Spartans used to cover and hide as much as they could such misfortunes and being desirous to make them see and acknowledge the great losse and overthrow which they had susteined hee woulde not in any wise permit them to gather their dead all together and pile them up in one entire heape but to every citie he gave leave one after another to enterre them by which it appeered that there were more of the Lacedemonians slaine by a thousand Jason a prince and monarch of Thessalia being allied and confederate with the Thebans came one day into the citie of Tales and sent unto Epaminondas a present of two thousand pieces of gold knowing that indeed he was exceeding poore this gold would not he receive at his hands but the first time after that he saw Jason he came unto him and said You begun twise to offer me injurie and in the meane while he borrowed of a certeine burgesse of the citie fiftie drams of silver for to defray the charges of a journey or expedition which he entended and therewith entred in armes and invaded Peloponesus After this when the great king of Persia sent him thirtie thousand pieces of gold called Dariques he was displeased highly with Diomedes and sharpely checked him asking him if he had undertaken so great a voiage thinking to bribe and corrupt Epaminondas and with that commmaunded him to deliver this message backe unto the king his master That so farre foorth as he entended and procured good unto the Thebans hee should make reckoning of him to be his friend without any pennie
am advertised quoth he that thou against the lawes of military discipline usest many times to lie out of the campe and I understand likewise ful well that setting that fault aside thou art a souldier good enough well in regard of thy good services I am content to pardon all that is past but from hencefoorth thou shalt abide and tarie with me for I have a good pawne and suretie within that thou shalt not start and with that he caused the woman to come forth and appeare and so he gave her into his hands to be his wedded wife Anniball held all the citie of Tarentum with a strong garrison saving onely the castle but Marcellus by a wile and subtile stratageme trained him as farre as he could from thence and then returning with all expedition was master of the whole towne and sacked it in the execution of which service his scribe or chancellour asked him what should be done with the sacred images of the gods among the rest of the pillage Mary let us leave quoth he unto the Tarentines their gods being thus angred as they are with them When M. Livius who had the keeping of the castle vanted and boasted that by his meanes the citie was woonne all the rest who heard him laughed and mocked him but Fabius answered Thou saiest trueth indeed for if thou hadst not lost it once I had never recovered it againe After he was stepped farre in yeeres his sonne was chosen consull and as he was giving audience in open place and dispatching certaine publike affaires in the presence of many Fabius his father being mounted on horsebacke came toward him but the sonne sent one of his lictors or hushers before to command him to alight from his horse whereat all the rest there present were abashed and thought it a great shame and unseemly sight but the olde man dismounting quickely from his horse came toward his sonne as fast as his yeeres would give him leaue imbraced him and said Thou hast well done my sonne to know whom thou doest governe and to shew that thou art not ignorant what the greatnesse is of that charge which thou hast undertaken SCIPIO the elder whensoever he was at any leasure and repose either from military affaires or politike government emploied all that time in his private study at his booke whereupon he was woont to say That when he was alone he had most companie and when hee was at leasure he had greatest businesse After hee had woonne by assault the city of New Carthage in Spaine some of his souldiers brought a most beautifull damosell taken prisoner and her they offered unto him I would receive her willingly quoth he if I were a private person but being as I am a captaine generall I will none of her Lying at siege before a certeine citie situated in a low place and over which might be seene the temple of Venus he gave order unto them that by vertue of writs were to make appearance in court that they should come and plead before him within the said temple where they should have audience the third day after which hee made good for before that day hee had forced the citie When one demaunded of him being in Sicilie ready to embarke and passe over to Africke upon what confidence hee presumed so much to crosse the seas with his armada against Carthage See you not heere quoth he 300. men how they disport and exercise them selves armed all in militarie feats of armes along an high tower situate upon the sea side I tell you there is not one of all this number but if I bidde him will runne up to the top of this tower and cast himselfe downe from thence with the head forward Being passed over sea and soone after master of the field when hee had burnt the campes of his enimies the Carthaginians sent immediately unto him an embassage to treat of peace in which treatie it was concluded that they should quit all their vessels at sea abandon their elephants and besides pay a good grosse summe of money But so soone as Annibal was retired out of Italy into Africke they repented themselves of these capitulations and conditions for the trust which they had in the forces and person of Anniball whereof Scipio being advertised said unto them That although they would performe the articles of the foresaid agreement yet the accord should not stand for good unlesse over and above they paid 5000. talents because they had sent for Anniball to come over Now after that the Carthaginians had beene vanquished by him in open battell they sent new embassadors for to treat of peace againe but hee commaunded them presently to depart for that he would never give them audience unlesse they brought backe unto him lord Terentius a knight of Rome and a man of woorth and honor who by the fortune of warre was taken prisoner and fallen into the hands of the Carthaginians now when they had brought Terentius he caused him to sit close by his side in the counsell and then gave he audience to the foresaide embassadors and graunted them peace Afterwards when he entred Rome in triumph for this victorie the said Terentius followed hard after his triumphant chariot wearing a cap of libertie on his head like an affranchised slave and avowing that he held his freedome by him and when Scipio was dead unto all those who accompanied his corps when it was caried foorth to sepulture Terentius allowed to drinke a certeine kinde of mede made of wine and honie and for all other complements belonging to an honorable funerall he tooke order with great diligence but this was performed afterwards Moreover when king Antiochus saw that the Romanes were passed over into Asia with a puissant armie to make warre upon him he sent his embassadors to Scipio for to enter into a treatie of peace unto whom he answered This you should have done before and not at this present now that your king and master hath already received the bit of the bridle in his mouth and the saddle with the rider upon his backe The Senat had graunted out a commission unto him that he should take foorth certeine money out of the publick chest and chamber of the citie but when the treasurers would not suffer him that day to open the treasury for to be furnished from thence he said He would be so bold as open it himselfe Which quoth he I may well doe considering that by my meanes it was kept fast shut and locked first for the great quantitie of gold and silver which I have caused to be brought into it Petilius and Quintus two Tribunes of the commons accused him before the people and laid many grievous matters to his charge but he in stead of pleading his owne cause and justifying himselfe said thus My masters of Rome upon such a day as this I defaited in battell the Carthaginians and Annibal and therefore will I goe my selfe directly from hence with a chaplet
aids upon a sudden but from the Celtiberians who for to succour him demaunded two hundred talents now the other Romane captaines would not yeeld that hee should make promise unto those barbarous nations of this money for their hire and sallarie but Cato said They were much deceived and out of the way for if we winne quoth he we shall be able to pay them not of our owne but of our enemies goods if we lose the day there will be none left either to be paied or to call for pay Having woon more townes in Spaine than he had beene daies there according as he said himselfe he reserved of all that spoile and pillage for his owne use no more than he did eat and drinke but hee divided and dealt to every one of his souldiers a pound weight of silver saying That it were better that many should returne home out of warre with silver in their purses than a few with golde for that rulers and captaines ought not to grow rich themselves by their provinces and places of government in any thing but in honour and glorie In that expedition or voiage of his hee had with him in his traine five of his owne servitours of whom one there was who bought three prisoners taken in warre but when he knew that his master had intelligence thereof before that ever he came in his sight he hung and strangled himselfe Scipio surnamed Africanus praied him to favour the causes of the banished and fugitive Achoeans and to be good unto them namely that they might be recalled and restored againe to their owne countrey but he made semblance as though hee tooke no great heed and regard to such affaires and when hee saw that the matter was followed hotly in the Senate and that there grew much speech and debate about it he stood up and said Here is a great stirre indeed and as though we had nothing els to do we sit here spend all the long day disputing about these old gray-beard Greeks and all forsooth to know whether they shal be caried forth to their buriall by our porters and coresbearers heere or by those there Posthumius Albius wrote certeine histories in Greeke in the Preface and Proeme whereof he praied the readers and hearers to pardon him if he had committed any soloecisme or incongruitie in that language but Cato by way of a mocke scoffed at him and said That he deserved indeed to be pardoned for writing false Greeke in case that by the ordinance and commandement of the high commission of the Amphyctiones who were the chiefe Estates of all Greece he had bene compelled against his will to enterprise and goe in hand with the said histories SCIPIO the yoonger in foure and fiftie yeeres for so long he lived neither bought nor solde nor yet built and it is for certaine reported that in so great an house and substance as his might seeme to be there was never found but three and thirtie pound weight of silver plate and two of golde notwithstanding the city of Great Carthage was in his hand and he had enriched his souldiers more than ever any captaine did before him Observing well the precept which Polybius gave he hardly without much ado would not returne out of the market place before he had assaied to make in some sort one new friend and familiar or other of those whom he met withall Being but yet yoong he was of such reputation for his valour and wisedome that Cato the elder being demanded his opinion as touching others that were in the campe before Carthage among whom he was one delivered this commendation of him Right wise and sage indeed alone is he The rest to him but slitting shadowes be whereupon after his returne to Rome from the campe they that remained behinde called for him againe not so much by way of gratification and to do him a pleasure but because they hoped by his meanes more speedily and with greater facilitie to win Carthage now when he was entred to the very walles and yet the Carthaginians fought from the castle Polybius gave coūsel to scatter in the sea betweene which was not very deepe betweene his campe and the said castle certaine colthrops of yron or els planks beset with naile points to overcast and spread the shallow shelves with sticking upon them for feare lest that the enemies passing that arme or firth of the sea might come to assaile their rampars but he said It was a meere mockery considering that they had already gained the walles and were within the citie of their enemies to make meanes not to sight with them Finding the citie full of statues and painted tables which were brought out of Sicilie he made proclamation that the Sicilians from al their cities should come for to owne and cary away whatsoever had bene theirs but of all the pillage he would not allow any one either slave or newly affranchised of his owne traine to seize upon nor so much as buy ought notwithstanding that there was driving and carying away otherwise on all hands The greatest and most familiar friend that he had Laelius sued to be consull of Rome him he favoured and set forward his sute in all that hee could by which occasion hee demanded of one Pompeius who was thought to make labour for the same dignitie whether it were true that hee was a competitor or no now it was supposed that this Pompeius was a minstrels sonne that used to play on the flute who made answere againe that he stood not for the consulship and that which was more hee promised to assist Laelius and to get all the voices that hee could for him thus while they beleeved his words and expected his helping hand they were deceived in the end for they were given to understand for certeine that this Pompieus was in the common hall labouring hard for himselfe going about unto every citizen one after another requesting their voices in his owne behalfe whereat when all others tooke stomacke and were offended Scipio laughed apace and said We are even well enough served for our great follie thus to stay and wait all this whiles upon a fluter and piper as if we had bene to pray and invocate not men but the gods Appius Claudius was in election and concurrence against him for the office of cenfourship saying in a braverie That he used to salute all the Romans by name and by surname upon his owne knowledge of them without the helpe of a prompter whereas Scipio scarse knew one of them all Thou saiest trueth quoth Scipio for I have alwaies beene carefull not to know many but rather not to be unknowen of any He gave counsell unto the Romane citizens at what time as they warred against the Celtiberians for to send both him and his competirour together into the campe in qualitie either of lieutenants or of colonels over a thousand foot to the end that they might have the testimonie of other captaines and
expert warriours indeed whether of them twaine performed his service and devoir better Being created censour he deprived a yoong gallant of his horse for that being given excessively to feast and make good cheere whiles the citie of Carthage was besieged he had caused a certeine marchpaine to be made by pastry-worke in forme of a citie and called it Carthage and when he had so done set it upon the boord to be spoiled and sacked forsooth by his companions and when this youth would needs know of him why he was thus disgraced and degraded as to lose his horse of service which was allowed him from the State Because quoth he you will needs rifle and pill Carthage before me During the time that he was censour he seeing one day C. Licinius as he passed by Now surely I knew this man quoth he for a perjured person but for that there is none to accuse him I will not be both his judge and a witnesse also to give evidence against him Being sent by the Senate a third commissioner with other Triumvirs according as Clitomachus said Mensmanners to observe and oversee Where they doe well and where they faultie bee to visit also and looke into the States of cities nations and kings When he was arrived at Alexandria and disbarked as he came first to land he went hooded as it were with his robe cast over his head but the Alexandrians running from all parts of the citie to see him requested him to discover his head that his face might be the better seene and he had no sooner uncovered his visage but they all cried out with great acclamations applauding and clapping their hands in signe of joy And when the king himselfe of Alexandria streined and strived with great paine so grosse so idle and delicate he was otherwise to keepe pace with him and the other commissioners as they walked Scipio rounded Panaetius softly in the eare and said The Alexandrians have reaped already the frure and enjoied the benefit of my voyage for that by our meanes they have seene their king to walke and go afoot There accompanied him in this voiage a friend of his and a Philosopher named Panaetius and five servitors besides to wait upon him and when one of these five hapned to die in this journey he would not buy another in a foreine countrey for to supply his place but sent for one to Rome to serve in his turne It seemed to the people of Rome that the Numantines were invincible and inexpugnable for that they had vanquished and defeated so many captaines and leaders of the Romans whereupon they chose this Scipio Consull the second time for to manage this warre now when many a lustie yoong gallant made meanes and prepared to follow him in this service the Senat empeached them alleaging colourably that Italy thereby should be left destitute of men for the defence of the countrey what need soever should be so they would not suffer him to take that money out of the treasurie which was prest and ready for him but assigned and ordeined certaine monies from the Publicanes and fermers of the cities customes and revenues to furnish him whose daies of paiment were not yet come As for money quoth Scipio I stand not in such need thereof that I should stay therefore for out of mine owne and my friends purses I shall have sufficient to defray my charges but I complaine rather that I may not be allowed to levie leade forth my soldiors such as I would and be willing to serve considering that it is a dangerous warre which we are to wage for if it be in regard of our enemies valour that our people have so often beene beaten and foiled by them then we shall finde it a hot peece of service and a hard to encounter such but if it be long of our owne mens cowardize no lesse difficult will it be because we are to fight with the slender helpe of such When he was newly arrived at the campe he found there great disorder much loosenesse superstition and wastfull superfluity in all things so he banished presently all diviners prophets and tellers of fortune he rid out of the way all sacrificing priests all bauds likewise that kept brothel-houses he chased foorth and he gave slreight charge that every man should send away all maner of vessels and utensils save onely a pot or kettle to seeth his meat in a spit to roast and a drinking jugge of earth as for silver plate he allowed no man more in all than weighed two pounds he put downe all baines and stouphes but if any were disposed to be annointed he gave order that every man should take paine to rubbe himselfe for he said that beasts who had no hands of their owne needed another for to rub and currie them he ordeined that his soldiers should take their dinner standing and eate their meat not hot and without fire but at supper they might sit downe who that list and feed upon bread or single grewell and plaine potrage together with one simple dish of flesh either boiled or rost as for himselfe he wore a cassocke or soldiors coat all blacke buttoned close or buckled before saying That he mourned for the shame of his armie He met with certaine garrons and labouring beasts belonging to one Memmius a collonel of a thousand men carying drinking cups and other plate enriched with precious stones and wrought curiously by the hands of Thericles whereupon he said unto him Thou hast made thy selfe unsit to serve me and they countrey for these thirtie daies being such an one as thou art and surely being given to these superfluities thou art disabled for doing thy selfe good all the daies of thy life Another there was who shewed him what a trim shield or target he had finely made and richly adorned Here is a faire goodly shield indeed quoth he my yoong man but I 〈◊〉 thee a Romane soldior ought to trust his right hand better than his left There was one who carying upon his shoulder a bunch of pales or burden of stakes for to pitch in the rampar complained that he was over-laden Thou art but well enough served quoth he in that thou reposest more confidence in these stakes than in thy sword Seeing his enemies the Numantines how they grew rash desperate and foolishly bent he would not in that fit charge upon them and give battell but held off still saying That with tract of time he would buy the surety and securitie of his affaires For a good captaine quoth he ought to doe like a wise physician who will never proceed to the cutting or dismembring of a part but upon extremitie namely when all other means of physicke doe faile howbeit when he espied a good occasion and fit opportunitie he assaulted the Numantines and overthrew them which when the old beaten soldiers or elders of the Numantines saw they rebuked and railed upon their owne men thus defaited asking them
why they ran away and suffered themselves to be beaten by those who had foiled them so often before but one of the Numantines answered Because the sheep be the verie same that they were in times past mary they have changed their shepheard After he had forced the citie of Numance by assault and entred now the second time with triumph into Rome he fell into some variance and debate with C. Gracchus in the behalfe of the Senate and certaine allies or confederates whereupon the common-people taking a spleene and displeasure against him made such clamours at him upon the Rostra when he was purposed to speake and give remonstrances unto them that thereupon he raised this speech There was never yet any outcries and alarmes of whole campes nor shouts of armed men ready to give battell that could astonish and daunt me no more shall the rude crie of a cofused multitude trouble me who know assuredly that Italy is not their mother but their stepdame And when Gracchus with his consorts and adherents cried out aloud Kill the tyrant there kill him Great reason quoth he have they to take away my life who warre against their owne countrie for they know that so long as Scipio is on foot Rome cannot fall nor Scipio stand when Rome is laid along CAECILIUS METELLUS devising and casting about how to make sure his approches and avenues for to assault a strong fort when a Centurion came unto him and saide With the losse but of ten men you may be master of the piece Wilt thou then quoth he be one of those tenne And when another who was a colonell and a yoong man demaunded of him what service he intended to do If I wist quoth he that my wastcoat or shirt were privie to my minde I would put it off presently and cast it into the fire He was a great enemie to Scipio so long as Scipio lived but when he was once dead he tooke it very heavily and commanded his owne sonnes to goe under the beare and carrie him upon their owne shoulders to buriall saying withall That he gave the gods heartie thankes that Scipio was borne at Rome and in no place else C. MARIUS being risen from a base degree by birth unto the government of State and all by the meanes of armes sued for the greater Aedileship called Curule but perceiving that he could not compasse it made sute the verie same day for the lesse and notwithstanding that he went besides both the one and the other yet he said That he doubted not one day to be the greatest man of all the Romanes Being troubled with the swelling of the veines called Varices in both his legges he suffered the chirurgian to cut those of the one legge without being bound or tied for the matter enduring the operation of his hand and never gave one grone or so much as bent his browes all the whiles but when the chirurgian would have gone to the other legge Nay staie there quoth he for the cure of such a maladie as this is not woorth the greevous paines that belongeth thereto He had a nephew or sisters sonne named Lusius who in the time that his uncle was second time Consull would have forced and abused a youth in the prime of his yeeres named Trebonius who began but then under his charge to beare armes this yoong springall made no more adoe but slew him outright and when many there were who charged and accused him for this murder he denied not the fact but confessed plainly that he had killed his captaine and withall declared the cause publikely Marius himselfe being advertised heereof caused to be brought unto him a coronet such as usually was given unto those who had performed in warre some woorthie exploit and with his owne hand set it upon the head of this youth Tribonius Being encamped very neere to the campe of the Tentones in a plot of ground where there was but little water when his soldiers complained that they were lost for water and ready to die for very thirst he shewed them a river not far off running along the enemies campe Yonder quoth he there is water enough for to be bought with the price of your blood Then leade us to it quickly answered his souldiers whiles our blood is liquid and will runne and never let us stay so long till it be cluttered and dried up quite with drought During the time of the Cimbrians warre he endued at once with the right of free Burgeousie of Rome a thousand men all Camerines in consideration of their good service in that warre a thing that was contrarie to lawe now when some blamed him for transgressing the lawes he answered and said That he could not heare what the lawes said for the great rustling and clattering that harneis and armor made In this time of the civill warre seeing himselfe enclosed round about with trenches and rampars and streight beleaguered he endured all and waited his best opportunitie and when Popedius Silo captaine generall of the enemies saide unto him Marius if thou be so great a warrior as the name goeth of thee come foorth of the campe and combat with me hand to hand Nay saith he and if thou art so brave a captaine as thou wouldest be taken force me to combatif thou canst CATULUS LUCTATIUS in the foresaid Cimbrian warre lay encamped along the river Athesis and when the Romans saw that the Barbarians were about to passe over the water and to set upon them retired and dislodged presently what reasons and perswasions soever their captaine could use to the contrary but when he saw he could doe no good nor cause them to stay himselfe ranne away with the formost to the end that it should not seeme that they fled cowardly before their enemies but dutifully followed their captaine SYLIA surnamed Foelix i. Happie among other prosperities counted these two for the greatest the one that he lived in love and amitie with Metellus Pius the other that he had not destroied the citie of Athens but saved it from being raced C. POPILIUS was sent unto king Antiochus with a letter from the Senate of Rome the tenor whereof was this That they commanded him to withdraw his forces out of Aegypt and not to usurpe the kingdome which apperteined to the children of Ptolomaeus being orphans The king seeing Popilius comming toward him through his campe faluted him a farre off very curteously but Popilius without any resalutations or greeting againe delivered him the letter which Antiochus read and after he had read it answered him that he would thinke upon the matter that the Senate willed him to doe and then give him his dispatch whereupon Popilius drew a circle round about the king with a vine rod that he had in his hand saying Resolve I advise you sie before you passe foorth of this compasse and give me my answer all that were present woondered and were astonished at the boldnesse and resolution
lawyer although he had no law in the world in him and was besides a man of very grosse capacity this man was served with a writ to appeare in the court for to beare witnesse of a trueth touching a certeine fact in question but he answered That he knew nothing at all True quoth Cicero for peradventure you meane of the law and thinke that you are asked the question of it Hortensius the orator who pleaded the cause of Verres had received of him for a fee or a gentle reward a jewel with the portraiture of Sphinx in silver it fell out so that Cicero chanced to give out a certeine darke and ambiguous speech As for mee quoth Hortensius I can not tell what to make of your words for I am not one that useth to solve riddles and aenigmaticall speeches Why man quoth Cicero and yet you have Sphinx in your house He met upon a time with Voconius and his three daughters the foulest that ever looked out of a paire of eies at which object he spake softly to his friends about him This man I weene his children hath begot In spight of Phoebus and when he would it not Faustus the sonne of Sylla was in the end so farre endebted that he exposed his goods to be sold in open sale and caused billes to be set up on posts in every quarrefour to notisie the same Yea mary quoth Cicero I like these billes and proscriptions better than those that his father published before him When Caesar and Pompeius were entred into open warre one against another I know full well quoth Cicero whom to flie but I wot not unto whom to flie He found great fault with Pompeius in that he left the citie of Rome and that he chose rather in this case to imitate the policy of Themistocles than of Pericles saying That the present state of the world resembled rather the time of Pericles than of Themistocles Hee drew at first to Pompeius side and being with him repented thereof When Pompey asked him where he had left Piso his son-in-law he answered readily Even with your good father-in-law meaning Caesar. There was one who departed out of Caesars campe unto Pompey and said That he had made such haste that hee left his horse behinde him Thou canst skill I perceive better to save thy horses life than thine owne Unto another who brought word that the friends of Caesar looked soure and unpleasant Thou saiest quoth he as much as if they thought not well of his proceedings After the battell of Pharsalia was lost and that Pompeius was already fled there was one Nonius who came unto him and willed him not to despaire but be of good cheere for that they had yet seven eagles left which were the standerds of the legions Seven eagles quoth he that were somewhat indeed if we had to warre against jaies jackdawes After that Caesar upon his victorie being lord of all had caused the statues of Pompey which were cast done to be set up againe with honor Cicero said of Caesar In setting up these statues of Pompey he hath pitched his owne more surely He so highly esteemed the gift of eloquence and grace of well speaking yea and he tooke so great paines with ardent affection for to performe the thing that having to plead a cause onely before the Centumvirs or hundred judges and the day set downe being neere at hand for the hearing and triall thereof when one of his servants Eros brought him word that the cause was put off to the next day he was so well contented and pleased therewith that incontinently he gave him his freedome for that newes CAIUS CAESAR at what time as he being yet a yoong man fled and avoided the furie of Sylla fell into the hands of certeine pirats or rovers who at the first demanded of him no great summe of money for his ransome whereat hee mocked and laughed at them as not knowing what maner of person they had gotten and so of himselfe promised to pay them twise as much as they asked and being by them guarded and attended upon very diligently all the while that he sent for to gather the said summe of money which he was to deliver them he willed them to keepe silence and make no noise that he might sleepe and take his repose during which time that he was in their custodie he exercised himselfe in writing aswell verse as prose and read the same to them when they were composed and if hee saw that they would not praise and commend those poemes and orations sufficiently to his contentment he would call them senselesse fots and barbarous yea and after a laughing maner threaten to hang them and to say a truth within a while after he did as much for them for when his ransome was come and he delivered once out of their hands he levied together a power of men and ships from out of the coasts of Asia set upon the said rovers spoiled them and crucified them Being returned to Rome and having enterprised a sute for the soveraign Sacerdotall dignitie against Catulus who was then a principall man at Rome whenas his mother accompanied him as farre as to the utmost gates of his house when he went into Mars field where the election was held he took his leave of her and said Mother you shall have this day your sonne to be chiefe Pontifice and high priest or else banished from the citie of Rome He put away his wife Pompeia upon an ill name that went of her as if she had beene naught with Clodius whereupon when Clodius afterwards was called into question judicially for the fact and Caesar likewise convented into the court peremptorily for to beare witnesse of the truth being examined upon his oath he sware that he never knew any ill at all by his wife and when he was urged and replied upon againe wherefore he had put her away he answered That the wife of Caesar ought not onely to be innocent and cleere of crime but also of all suspicion of crime In reading the noble acts of Alexander the great the teares trickled downe his cheeks and when his friends desired to know the reason why he wept At my age quoth he Alexander had vanquished subdued Darius and I have yet done nothing As he passed along through a little poore towne situate within the Alpes his familiar friends about him merrily asked one another whether there were any factions and contentions in that burrough about superioritie and namely who should be the chiefe whereupon he staid suddenly and after he had studied and mused a while within himselfe I had rather quoth he be the first here than the second in Rome As for hautie adventerous enterprises he was wont to say They should be executed not consulted upon and verily when he passed over the river Rubicon which divideth the province of Gaul from Italy for to leade his power against Pompeius Let the Die
shoe upon a litle foot When one in reasoning debating a matter upon a time challenged him and said Sir you gave your consent once unto it and eftsoones iterating the same words charged him with his grant and promise True indeed quoth he if the cause were just I approved it in good earnest gave my promise but if not I did but barely say the word no more but as the other replied againe and said Yea but kings ought to accomplish performe whatsoever they seeme once to grant it be but with the nod of the head Nay said he againe they are no more bound thereto than those that come unto them are tied for to speake and demand all things just and reasonable yea and to observe the opportunity and that which fitteth and sorteth well with kings When he heard any men either to praise or dispraise others he said That it behoved to know the nature disposition and behaviour no lesse of those who so spake than of the parties of whom they did speake Being whiles he was very yoong at a certeine publicke and festivall solemnitie wherein yoong boies daunced as the maner was all naked the warden or overseer of the said shew and daunce appointed him a place for to beholde that sight which was not verie honourable wherewith notwithstanding he stood well contented albeit he was knowen to be heire apparant to the crowne and already declared king and withall said It is very well for I will shew that it is not the place which crediteth the person but the person that giveth credit and honour to the place A certeine Physician had ordeined for him in one sicknesse that he had a course of physicke to cure his maladie which was nothing easie and simple but very exquisit curious and withall painfull By Caslor and Pollux quoth he if my destinie be not to live I shal not recover though I take all the drogues and medicines in the world Standing one day at the altar of Minerva surnamed Chalceoecos where he sacrificed an oxe there chanced a louse to bite him and he was nothing dismaied and abashed to take the said louse but before them all who were present killed her and swore by the gods saying That it would do him good at the heart to serve them all so who should treacherously lay wait to assaile him yea though it were at the very altar Another time when he saw a little boy drawing a mouse which he had caught out of a window and that the said mouse turned upon the boy and bit him by the hand insomuch as shee made him leave his holde and so escaped hee shewed the sight unto those that were present about him and said Loe if so little a beast and sillie creature as this hath the heart to be revenged upon those that doe it injurie what thinke you is meet and reason that men should doe Being desirous to make warre upon the king of Persia for the deliverance and freedome of those Greeks who did inhabit Asia he went to consult with the oracle of Jupiter within the sorest Dodona as touching this desseigne of his and when the oracle had made answere according to his minde namely That if it pleased him he should enterprise that expedition he communicated the same to the controllers of State called Ephori who willed him also to goe forward and aske the counsell likewise of Apollo in the citie of Delphos and being there he entred into the chapell from whence the oracles were delivered and said thus O Apollo art thou also of the same minde that thy father is and when he answered Yea whereupon hee was chosen for the generall to conduct this warre and set forth in his voiage accordingly Tissaphernes lieutenant under the king of Persia in Asia being astonied at his arrivall made a composition and accord with him at the very first in which treatie he capitulated and promised to leave unto his behoofe all the townes and cities of the Greeks which are in Asia free and at libertie to be governed according to their owne lawes meane while hee dispatched messenges in post to the king his master who sent unto him a strong and puissant armie upon the confidence of which sorces he gave defiance and denounced warre unlesse he departed with all speed out of Asia Agesilaus being well enough pleased with this treacherous breach of the agreement made semblant as though he would go first into Caria and when Tissaphernes gathered his forces in those parts to make head against him all on a sudden he invaded Phrygia where he won many cities and raised rich booties from thence saying unto his friends That to breake faith and promise unjustly made unto a friend was impietie but to abuse and deceive an enemie was not onely just but also pleasant and profitable Finding himselfe weake in cavallery he returned to the citie of Ephesus where he intimated thus much unto the rich men who were willing to be exempt from going in person unto the warres that they should every one set sorth one horse and a man by which meanes within few daies he levied a great number both of horse and also of men able for service in stead of those that were rich and cowards wherein he said That he did imitate Agamemnon who dispensed with a rich man who was but a dastard and durst not go to the warre for one faire and goodly mare When he solde those prisoners for slaves whom he had taken in the warres the officers for this sale by his appointment made money of their clothes and other furniture apart but of their bodies all naked by themselves now many chapmen there were who willingly bought their apparell but few or none hads any minde to the persons themselves for that their bodies were soft and white as having bene delicately nourished and choisly kept within house and under covert and so seemed for no use at all and good for nothing Agesilaus standing by Beholde my masters quoth hee this is that for which you fight shewing their spoiles but these be they against whom you fight pointing to the men Having given Tissaphernes an overthrow in battel within the country of Lydia and slaine a great number of his men he overran and harried all the kings provinces and when he sent unto him presents of gold and silver praying him to come unto some agreement of peace Agesilaus made this answere As touching the treatie of peace it was in the citie of Lacedaemons power to doe what they would but otherwise for his owne part he tooke greater pleasure to enrich his soldiers than to be made rich himselfe as for the Greeks they reputed it an honour not to receive gifts from their enemies but to be masters of their spoiles Megabaetes the yoong sonne of Spithridates who was of visage most faire and beautifull came toward him as it were to embrace and kisse him for that he thought as he was right amiable to
be exceedingly beloved of him but Agesilaus turned his face away insomuch as the youth desisted and would no more offer himselfe unto him whereupon Agesilaus demanded the reason thereof and seemed to call for him unto whom his friends made answere That himselfe was the onely cause being afraid to kisse so fasire a boy but if he would not seeme to feare the youth would returne and repaire unto him in place right willingly upon this he stood musing to himselfe a good while and said never a word but then at length hee brake foorth into this speech Let him even alone neither is there any need now that you should say any thing or perswade him for mine owne part I count it a greater matter to be the conquerour and have the better hand of such than to win by force the strongest holde or the most puissant and populous citie of mine enemies for I take it better for a man to preserve and save his owne libertie to himselfe than to take it from others Moreover he was in all other things a most precise observer in every point of whatsoever the lawes commanded but in the affaires and businesse of his friends he said That straightly to keepe the rigour of justice was a very cloake and colourable pretence under which they covered themselves who were not willing to doe for their friends to which purpose there is a little letter of his found written unto Idrieus a prince of Caria for the enlarging and deliverance of a friend of his in these words If Nicias have not transgressed deliver him if he have deliver him for the love of me but howsoever yet deliver him and verily thus affected stood Agesilaus in the greatest part of his friends occasions howbeit there fell out some cases when he respected more the publike utility used his opportunity therefore according as he shewed good proofe upon a time at the dislodging of his campe in great haste hurry insomuch as he was forced to leave a boy whō he loved full well behind him for that he lay sicke for when the partie called instantly upon him by name besought him not to forsake him now at his departure Agesilaus turning backe said Oh how hard is it to be pitifull wise both at once Furthermore as touching his diet the cherishing of his bodie he would not be served with more nor better than those of his traine and company He never did eat untill he was satisfied nor tooke his drinke untill he was drunke and as for his sleepe it never had the command and mastrie over him but he tooke it onely as his occasions and affaires would permit for cold and heat he was so fitted and disposed that in all seasons of the yeere he used to weare but one and the same sort of garments his pavilion was alwaies pitched in the mids of his soldiers neither had he a bed to lye in better than any other of the meanest for he was woont to say That he who had the charge and conduct of others ought to surmount those private persons who were under his leading not in daintinesse and delicacie but in sufferance of paine and travell and in fortitude of heart and courage When one asked the question in his presence What it was wherin the lawes of Lycurgus had made the citie of Sparta better he answered That this benefit it found by them to make no recknoning at all of pleasures And to another who marvelled to see so great simplicitie and plainnesse as well in feeding as appearell both of him and also of other Lacedaemonians he said The fruit my good friend which we reape by this straight maner of life is libertie and freedome There was one who exhorted him to ease and remit a little this straight and austere manner of living For that quoth he it would not be used but in regard of the incertitude of fortune and because there may fall out such an occasion and time as might force a man so to do Yea but I said Agesilaus do willingly accustome my selfe hereto that in no mutation and change of fortune I should not seeke for change of my life And in verie truth when he grew to be aged he did not for all his yeeres give over and leave his hardnes of life and therfore when one asked him Why considering the extreame cold winter and his old age besides he went without an upper coat or gabardine he made this answer Because yoong men might learne to do as much having for an example before their eies the eldest in their countrey and such also as were their governors We reade of him that when he passed with his armie over the Thasians countrey they sent unto him for his refection meale of all sorts geese and other fowles comfitures and pastrie works fine cakes marchpanes and sugar-meats with all manner of exquisite viands and drinks most delicate and costly but of all this provision he received none but the meale aforesaid commanding those that brought the same to carrie them all away with them as things whereof he stood in no need and which he knew not what to do with In the end after they had beene verie urgent and importuned him so much as possibly they could to take that curtesie at their hands he willed them to deale all of it among the Ilots which were in deed the slaves that followed the campe whereupon when they demaunded the cause thereof he said unto them That it was not meet for those who professed valour and prowesse to receive such dainties Neither can that quoth he which serveth in stead of a bait to allure draw men to a servile nature agree wel with those who are of a bold and free courage Over and besides these Thasians having received many favours and benefits at his hands in regard whereof they tooke themselves much bound and beholden unto him dedicated temples to his honour and decreed divine worship unto him no lesse than unto a verie god and hereupon sent an embassage to declare unto him this their resolution when he had read their letters and understood what honour they minded to do unto him he asked this one question of the embassadors whether their State and countrey was able to deifie men and when they answered Yea Then quoth he begin to make your selves gods first and when you have done so I will beleeve that you also can make me a god When the Greeke Colonies in Asia had at their parliaments ordained in all their chiefe and principall cities to erect his statues he wrote backe unto them in this manner I will not that you make for me any statue or image whatsoever neither painted nor cast in mould nor wrought in clay ne yet cut and engraven any way Seeing whiles he was in Asia the house of a friend or hoste of his covered over with an embowed roofe of plankes beames and sparres foure-square he asked him whether the trees in those parts grew so
square and when he answered No but they grew round How then quoth he if they had growen naturally foure cornered would you have made them round He was asked the question upon a time how farre forth the marches and confines of Lacedaemon did extend then he shaking a javelin which he held in his hand Even as farre quoth he as this is able to goe One demaunded of him why the citie of Sparta was not walled about See you not quoth he the walles of the Lacedaemonians and therewith shewed him the citizens armed Another asked him the like question and he made him this answer That cities ought not to be fortified with stones with wood and timber but with the prowesse and valiance of the inhabitants He used ordinarily to admonish his friends not to seeke for to be rich in money but in valour and vertue And whensoever he would have a worke to be finished or service to be performed speedily by his soldiers his maner was to begin himselfe first to lay hand unto it in the face of all He stood upon this and would glorie in it that he travelled as much as any man in his company but he vaunted of this that he could rule and command himselfe more than in being a king Unto one who woondering to see a Lacedaemonian maimed and lame go to war said unto the partie Thou shouldest yet at leastwise have called for an horse to serve upon Knowest not thou quoth he that in warre we have no need of those that will flie away but of such as will make good and keepe their ground It was demaunded of him how he wonne so great honour and reputation In despising death quoth hee And being likewise asked why the Spattanes used the sound of flutes when they fought To the end said he that when in battell they march according to the measures it may be knowen who be valiant and who be cowards One there was who reputed the King of Persia happie for that he attained verie yoong to so high and puissant a State Why so quoth he for Priamus at his age was not unhappie nor infortunate Having conquered the greater part of Asia he purposed with himselfe to make warre upon the king himselfe as well for to breake his long repose as also to hinder him otherwise and stop his course who minded with money to bribe and corrupt the governors of the greeke-Greeke-cities and the oratours that lead the people but amid this deseigne and deliberation of his he was called home by the Ephori by reason of a dangerous warre raised by the Greeke-States against the citie of Sparta and that by meanes of great summes of money which the king of Persia had sent thither by occasion whereof forced he was to depart out of Asia saying That a good prince ought to suffer himselfe to be commaunded by the lawes and he left behinde him much sorrow and a longing desire after him among the Greek-inhabitants in Asia after his departure and for that on the Persian pieces of coine there was stamped or imprinted the image of an archer he said when he brake up his campe that the king of Persia had chased him out of Asia with thirtie thousand archers for so many golden Dariques had beene carried by one Timocrates unto Thebes and Athens which were divided among the oratours and governors of those two cities by meanes whereof they were sollicited and stirred to begin warre upon the Spartanes so hee wrote a letter missive unto the Ephori the tenor whereof was this Agesilaus unto the Ephori greeting We have subdued the greatest part of Asia and driven the Barbarians from thence also in Ionîa we have made many armours but since you commaund me to repaire home by a day appointed Know yee that I will follow hard after this letter or peradventure prevent it for the authority of command which I have I hold not for my selfe but for my native countrey and cōfederates and then in truth doth a magistrate rule according to right justice when he obeieth the lawes of his countrey the Ephori or such like as be in place of government within the city Having crossed the straights of Hellespont he entred into the countrey of Thrace where he requested of no prince nor State of the Barbarians passage but sent unto every one of them demāding whether he should passe as through the land of friends or enemies And verily all others received him friendly and accompained him honorably as he journeyed through their countries onely those whom they call Troadians unto them as the report goeth Xerxes himselfe gave presents to have leave for to passe demaunded of him for licence of quiet passage a hundred talents of silver and as many women but Agesilaus after a scoffing manner asked those who brought this message And why doe not they themselves come with you for to receive the money and women so he led his armie forward but in the way he encountred them well appointed gave them battell overthrew them and put many of them to the sword which done he marched farther And of the Macedonian king he demaunded the same question as before who made him this answer That he would consult thereupon Let him consult quoth he what he will meane while we will march on the king wondring at his hardinesse stood in great feare of him and sent him word to passe in peaceable and friendly maner The Thessalians at the same time were confederate with his enemies whereupon he forraied and spoiled their countries as he went and sent to the citie of Larissa two friends of his Xenocles and Scytha to sound them see if they could practise effectually for to draw them to the league and amity of the Lacedaemonians but those of Larissa arrested those agents and kept them in prison whereupon all the rest taking great indignation were of this minde that Agesilaus could doe no lesse but presently encampe himselfe and beleaguer the citie Larissa round about but hee saide that for to conquer all Thessalie he would not leese one of those twaine so upon composition and agreement he recovered and got them againe Being given to understand that there was a battell fought neere to Corinth in which very few Lacedaemonians were slaine but of Athenians Argives Corinthians and their allies a great number he was not once seene to have taken any joy or contentment at the newes of the victorie but sighed deepely from the bottome of his heart saying Alas for unhappie Greece who hath herselfe destroied so many men of her owne as had beene sufficient in one battell to have defeated all the Barbarians at once But when the Pharsalians came to set upon the taile of his armie in his march and to doe them mischiefe and damage with a force of five hundred horse he charged and overthrew them for which luckie hand he caused a Trophe to be erected under the mountaines called Narthacii and this victorie of all others pleased
in all of the Lceadaemonians As many quoth he as are enough to chase and drive away wicked persons In passing a long the wals of Corinth when he saw them so high so wel built and so large in extent What maner of women quoth he be they that inhabit within To a great master of Rhetorick who praising his owne skill profession chaunced to conclude with these words When all is done there is nothing so puissant as the speech of man Why then be like quoth he so long as you hold your peace you are of no worth The Argives having bin once already beaten defaited returned neverthelesse into the field shewed themselves in a bravado more gallantly than before and prest for a new battell and when therupon he saw his auxiliaries and confederates to be some what troubled and frighted Be of good cheere quoth he my masters and friends for if we who have given them the foile be affraid what thinke you are they themselves A certaine embassador from the citie Abdera came to Sparta who made a long speech as touching his message and after he had done and held his toong a little he demaunded at last a dispatch and said unto him Sir what answer would you that I should carry backe to our citizens You shall say unto them quoth Agis that I have suffred you to speake all that you would and as long as you list and that I lent you mine eare all the while without giving you one word againe Some there were who commended the Eliens for most just men and precise in observing the solemnitie of the Olympick games And is that so great a matter and such a wonder quoth he if in five yeeres space they exercise justice one day Some buzzed into his eares that those of the other roiall house envied him Then quoth he doe they suffer a double paine for first and formost their owne evils will vexe and trouble themselves then in the second place the good things in me and my friends will torment them Some one there was of advice that he should give way and passage to his enemies when they were put to flight Yea but marke this quoth he if we set not upon them who runne away for cowardise how shall we fight against them that staie and make good their ground by valour One there was who propounded a meanes for the maintenance of the Greekes libertie which no doubt was a generous and magnanimous course howbeit very hard to execute unto whō he answered thus My good friend your words require great store of money and much strength When another said that king Philip would watch them well enough that they should not set foote within other parts of Greece My friend quoth he it shall content us to remaine and continue in our owne countrey There was another embassador from the city Perinthus came to Lacedaemon who having likewise made a long oration in the end demaunded of Agis what answer he should deliver backe to the Perinthians Mary what other but this quoth he that thou couldest hardly finde the way to make an end of speaking and I held my peace all the while He went upon a time sole embassador to king Philip who said unto him You are an embassador alone indeed True quoth he and good enough to one alone as you are An auncient citizen of Sparta said unto him one day being himselfe aged also and far stept in yeeres Since that the old lawes and customes went every day to mine and were neglected seeing also that others farre woorse were brought in and stood in their place all in the end would be naught and runne to confusion unto whom he answered merilie thus Then is it at it should be and the world goes well enough if it be so as you say for I remember when I was a little boy I heard my father say that every thing then was turned upside downe and that in his remembraunce all wentkim kam and he also would report of his father that he had seene as much in his daies no marvell therefore if things grow woorse and woorse more woonder it were if they should one while be better and another while continue still in the same plight Being asked on a time how a man might continue free all his life time he answered By despising death AGIS the yoonger when Demades the oratour said unto him That the Lacedaemonians swords were so short that these juglers and those that plaied legerdemain could swallow them downe all once made him this answere As short as they be the Lacedaemonians can reach their enemies with them wel enough A certaine leud fellow and a troublesome never linned asking him who was the best man in all Sparta Mary quoth Agis even he who is unlikest thy selfe AGIS the last king of the Lacedaemonians being forelaid and surprised by treachery so that he was condemned by the Ephori to die as he was ledde without forme of law and justice to the place of execution for to be strangled with a rope perceiving one of his servants and ministers to shed teares said thus unto him Weepe not for my death for in dying thus unjustly and against the order of law I am in better case than those that put me to death and having said these words he willingly put his necke within the halter ACROTATUS when as his owne father and mother requested his helping hand for to effect a thing contrarie to reason and justice staied their sute for a time but seeing that they importuned him still and were very instant with him in the end said unto them So long as I was under your hands I had no knowledge nor sence at all of justice but after that you had betaken me to the common-weale to my countrey and to the lawes thereof and by that meanes informed and instructed me in what you could in righteousnesse and honestie I will endevour and straine my selfe to follow the said instruction and not you and for that I know full well that you would have me doe that which is good and considering that those things be best both for a private person and much more for him who is in authoritie and a chiefe magistrate which are just sure I will doe what you would have me and refuse that which you say unto me ALCAMENES the sonne of Teleclus when one would needs know of him by what meanes a man might preserve a kingdome best made this answer Even by making no account at all of lucre and gaine Another demanded of him wherefore he would never accept nor receive the gifts of the Messenians Forsooth quoth he because if I had taken thē I should never have had peace with the lawes And when a third person said That he marvelled much how he could live so straight and neere to himselfe considering he had wherewith and enough It is quoth he a commendable thing when a man having sufficient and plentie can neverthelesse live within
and lying Another for to animate him to this warre alleaged the prowesses and worthy exploits atchieved by them at other times against the Persians Me thinkes quoth he you know not what you say namely that because we have overcome a thousand sheepe we should therefore set upon fiftie woolves He was upon a time in place to heare a musician sing who did his part very well and one asked him how he liked the man and what he thought of him May quoth he I take him to be a great amuser of men in a small matter When another highly extolled the citie of Athens in his presence And who can justly and dulie quoth he praise that citie which no man ever loved for being made better in it When Alexander the great had caused open proclamation to be made in the great assemblie at the Olympick games That all banished persons might returne unto their owne countries except the Thebanes Behold quoth Eudamidas heere is a wofull proclamation for you that be Thebans howbeit honorable withall for it is a signe that Alexander feareth none but you onely in all Greece A certaine citizen of Argos said one day in his hearing That the Lacsedaemonians after they be gone once out of their owne countrey and from the obeisance of their lawes proove woorse for their travelling abroad in the world But it is contrary with you that be Argives and other Greekes quoth he for being come once into our cities Sparta you are not the woorse but proove the better by that meanes It was demaunded of him what the reason might be wherefore they used to sacrifice unto the Muses before they did hazard a battell To the end quoth he that our valiant acts might be well and woorthilie written EURYCRATIDAS the sonne of Anaxandrides when one asked him why the Ephori sat every day to decide and judge of contracts betweene men For that quoth he we should learne to keepe our faith and truth even among our enemies ZEUXIDAMUS likewise answered unto one who demaunded of him why the statutes and ordinances of prowesse and martiall fortitude were not reduced into a booke and given in writing unto yoong men for to reade Because quoth he we would have them to be acquainted with deeds and not with writings A certaine Aetolian said That warre was better than peace unto those who were desirous to shew themselves valorous men And not warre onely quoth he for by the gods in that respect better is death than life HERONDAS chaunced to be at Athens what time as one of the citizens was apprehended arraigned and condemned for his idlenesse judicially and by forme of law which when he understood and heard a brute and noise about him he requested one to shew him the partie that was condemned for a gentlemans life THEARIDAS whetted his sword upon a time and when one asked him if it were sharpe he answered Yea sharper than a slanderous calumniation THEMISTEAS being a prophet or soothsaier foretold unto king Leonidas the discomsiture that should happen within the passe or streights of Thermopylae with the losse both of himselfe and also of his whole armie whereupon being sent away by Leonidas unto Lacedaemon under a colour and pretense to enforme them of these future accidents but in truth to the end that he should not miscarie and die there with the rest he would not so doe neither could he forbeare but say unto Leonidas I was sent hither for a warrior to fight and not as an ordinary courrier and messenger to carrie newes betweene THEOPOMPUS when one demaunded of him how a king might preserve his kingdome and roiall estate in safetie said thus By giving his friends libertie to speake the truth and with all his power by keeping his subjects from oppression Unto a stranger who told him that in his owne countrey among his citizens he was commonly surnamed Philolacon that is to say a lover of the Laconians It were better quoth he that you were called Philopolites than Philolacon Another embassadour there came from Elis who said That he was sent from his fellow-citizens because he onely of all that citie loved and followed the Laconike maner of life of him Theopompus demaunded And whether is thine or the other citizens life the better he answered Mine Why then quoth he how is it possible that a citie should safe in which there being so great a number of inhabitants there is but one good man There was one said before him that the citie of Sparta maintained the state thereof entier for that the kings there knew how to governe well Nay quoth he not so much therefore as because the citizens there can skill how to obey well The inhabitants of the citie Pyle decreed for him in their generall counsell exceeding great honors unto whom he wrote backe againe That moderate honors time is woont to augment but immoderate to diminish and weare away THERYCION returning from the citie Delphos found king Philip encamped within the streight of Peloponnesus where he had gained the narrow passage called Isthmos upon which the city of Corinth is seated whereupon he said Peloponnesus hath but bad porters and warders of you Corinthians THECTAMENES being by the Ephori condemned to death went from the judgement place smiling away and when one that was present asked him if he despised the lawes and judiciall proceedings of Sparta No iwis quoth he but I rejoice heereat that they have condemned me in that fine which I am able to pay and discharge fully without borrowing of any friend or taking up money at interest HIPPODAMUS as Agis was with Archidamus in the campe being sent with Agis by the king unto Sparta for to provide for the affaires of weale publicke and looke unto the State refused to goe saying I cannot die a more honorable death than in fighting valiantly for the defence of Sparta now was he fourescore yeeres old and upward and tooke armes where hee raunged himselfe on the right hand of the king and there fighting by his side right manfully was slaine HIPPOCRATIDAS when a certaine prince or great lord of Caria had written unto him that he had in his hands a Lacedaemonian who having beene privie unto a conspiracie and treason intended against his person revealed not the same demaunding withall his counsell what he should doe with him wrote back againe in this wise If you have heeretofore done him any great pleasure and good turne put him to death hardly and make him away if not expell him out of your countrey considering he is a base fellow uncapable altogether of vertue He chaunced to encounter upon the way a yoong boy after whom followed one who loved him and the boy blushed for shame whereupon he said unto him Thou oughtest to goe in their company my boy with whom thou being seene needest not to change colour for the matter CALLICRATIDAS being admirall of a fleet when the friends of Lysander requested him to pleasure them in killing some of
One came to him and said How shall we be able to defait conquer the Thracians Mary quoth he if we chuse the valiantest man for our captaine A certaine Physician advised looked upon him very wistly after he had well considered his person said Thou ailest nothing neither is there any evil in thee I thinke so quoth he because I use none of thy counsell physick His friends reprooved him for speaking ill of a physician of whom he had no proofe nor experience and at whose hands he had received no harme True indeed quoth he I have made no triall of him for if I had surely I should not have bene a lives-man at this day When a Physician said unto him You are now become old sir Thou saist trueth quoth he because I have not enterteined thee for to minister physicke unto me He was wont also to say That he was the best Physician who would not let his patients rot above ground but dispatch them at once and send them quickly to their graves PASDARETUS when one said unto him There is a great number of our enemies Then quoth he shall we win greater honour for kill we may the more of them Seeing one who by nature was a very dastard and coward howbeit commended otherwise by his fellow-citizens for his modestie and mildnesse I would not have men quoth he praised for being like women nor women for resembling men unlesse peradventure a woman be driven upon some occasion of extremitie to play the man Having the repulse upon a time when hee should have bene chosen into the counsell of the three hundred which was the most honourable degree of State in all the citie he departed from the assembly all jocund mery and smiling and when the Ephori called him backe againe and demanded of him why he laughed Because quoth he I joy in the behalfe of the citie that it hath in it three hundred better and more sufficient citizens than my selfe PLISTARCHUS the sonne of Leonidas when one enquired of him the cause why they caried not the denomination of their families from the names of their first kings but of the later Because quoth he those in the olde time chose rather to be leaders than kings but their successors not There was a certeine advocate at the barre who in pleading for his client was full of his jests and frumps never ceasing to scoffe and move laughter My friend quoth he unto him do you not consider and regard that in seeming to make others for to laugh you will cause your selfe to be ridiculous and a laughing stocke even as those who by wrestling oft become good wrestlers Report there was made unto him one day of a certeine foule-tongued fellow who used to slander and back-bite all men and yet spake all good of him I wonder much quoth he if no man tolde him that I was dead for surely he cannot for his life affoord any man living one good word PLISTONAX the sonne of Pausanius when a certeine Athenian oratour called the Lacedaemonians unlettered and ignorant person Thou saiest true quoth he for we alone of all other Greeks are the men who have learned no naughtinesse of you POLYDORUS the sonne of Alcamenes said unto one who ordinarily did nothing els but menace his enemies Doest not thou perceive how thou spendest the most part of thy revenge in these threats He led upon a time the army from Lacedaemon against the citie of Messene and one demanded of him whether his heart would serve to fight against brethren No quoth he but I can finde in mine heart to march into that inheritance which is not yet set out and parted by lots The Argives after the discomfiture of their three hundred men who fought against so many of the Lacedaemonians were defaited a second time all in a ranged battell by reason whereof the allies and confederates of the Lacedaemonians were earnest with Polydorus not to let slip so good an opportunitie but to follow the traine of victory and to go directly to the oppugnation of their city walles and to win it by force which he might effect right easily considering that all the men were killed up in the field and none but women left alive within to desend the citie unto whom he answered I am well appaied and take this for my great honour and glory that I have vanquished mine enemies in battell fighting on even-hand so many to so many but being to determine the quarrell by dint of sword for our confines onely and having exploited that to proceed forward and covet to affault and winne their city I holde it not to be just and equall for come I am to recover those lands of ours which they occupied and not to seize upon their home-stalles Being demanded why the Lacedaemonians exposed themselves so manfully to the hazzard of warre It is quoth he because they have learned to reverence and not to feare their rulers and captaines POLYCRATIDAS being sent with others in ambassage to the lieutenats of the king of Persia when they demanded of him the rest whether they were come of their own proper motion or sent by commission from the State If we speed of that quoth he which we demand then are we come in the behalfe of the common weale but if we misse we come of our owne heads PUOEBIDAS immediatly before the battell of Leuctres when some gave out and said This day will trie and shew who is a good man Such a day quoth hee is much worth in deed if it be able to shew a good man Sous as it is reported being upon a time straightly besieged by the Clitorians in a place which was very rough and without water made offer to render into their hands all those lands which he had conquered from them in case that he and all his company might drinke at a certeine fountaine which was neere at hand the Clitorians accorded thereto and this covenant was concluded and confirmed by oath betweene them so hee assembled all his men together and declared unto them That if there were any amongst them would abseine from drinke he would resigne up into his hands all his sovereigne power and roialtie but there was not one of all his troupe who could conteine and forbeare so exceeding thirsty they were all but everie man drunke heartily himselfe onely excepted who went last downe to the spring where he did nothing els but coole and besprinkle his body without in the presence of his very enemies not taking one drop inwardly by which evasion he would not afterwards yeeld up the foresaid lands but alledged that they had not all drunke TELECRUS when one came unto him said That his owne father gave him alwaies hard words made him this answer Surely if there were not cause to use such speeches he would never speake so His brother also was discontented and complained in this wise The citizens do not beare mee such favour and kindnesse as
they shew in your behalfe notwithstanding we are the sonnes of one father and mother but they misuse me most injuriously The reason is quoth he because you know not how to put up a wrong as I doe Being demaunded why the custome was in their country that yoong men should rise up from their places where they were set and do reverence unto their elders It is quoth he to this end that in doing this honor unto those who nothing belonged unto them they might learne so much the more to honour their parents unto another that asked him of what wealth he was and how much goods he had he answered I have no more than will suffice CHARILLUS being asked the question why Lycurgus had given them so few lawes Because quoth he they have no need at all of many lawes who speake but little Another demaunded of him the cause why as Sparta they suffered to goe foorth into publick place virgins with their faces open but wives vailed and covered For that quoth he maidens might finde them out husbands to be wedded unto and wives keepe those whom they have maried already One of the slaves called Ilotes behaved himselfe vpon a time over boldly and malapertly with him unto whom he said Were I not angrie I would kill thee at my foot One asked him what kind of government he esteemed best Even that quoth he wherein most men in managing of publicke affaires without quarrels and sedition strive a vie who shall be most vertuous And unto another who would needs know the reason why at Sparta the images and statues of the gods were made in armor he shaped this answer To the end that the reproches which are fastned upon men for cowardise might not take hold of them also that yoong men should never without their armes make their praiers unto the gods The Samiens had sent certaine embassadors unto Sparta who after audience given were very long and somewhat tedious in their orations but when they had found the way to make an end THE LORDS OF SPARTA made them this answer The beginning of your speech we have forgotten and we conceived not the rest because the beginning was out of our remembrance The Thebanes upon a time had contested bravely and contradicted them stoutly in certaine points in question unto whom they answered thus Either lesse hearts or more puissance There was one asked a Lacedaemonian upon a time why he let his beard grow so long Because quoth he whensover I see my hoary and grey haires I might be put in minde to doe nothing unbeseeming them When another highly praised certaine men for most valiant a Lacedaemonian heard him and said Oh such were sometime at Great Troy Another of them hearing it spoken that in certaine cities men were forced to drink after supper And doe they not quoth he compell them also to eate The poet Pindarus in one of his canticles nameth the citie of Athens the prop of al Greece Thē wil Greece quickly come tumbling down quoth a Laconian if it beare but upon so sleight a pillar Another beheld a painted table wherin was the pourtrature of the Lacedemonians how they were killed by the Athenians and when one that stood by said Now surely these Atheniās be valiant men Yea mary quoth he in a picture There was one seemed to take pleasure in hearing certaine opprobrious and slanderous words untruely given out against a Laconian to beleeve the same but the partie thus misused said Cease to lend your eare against me Another when he was punished went crying If I have don amisse it was against my wil Why then answered a Laconian let it be against thy wil also that thou art punished Another seeing men going forth of the countrey set at their ease within coches God forbid quoth he that I should sit there where I can not rise up to doe my dutie unto him that is elder than my selfe Certaine Chians there were who being come to see the citie of Sparta chaunced to be well whittled and starke drunke who after supper went to see also the consistorie of the Ephori where they cast up their gorges yea and that which more is both vomited and discharged their guts even upon the very chaires where the Ephori was wont to sit the morrow after the Lacedaemonians made great search and diligent enquirie at the first who they were that thus had plaid the slovens and beasts and namely whether they were any of their owne citie or no but when they understood that they were these strangers and travellers from Chios they made open proclamation with sound of trumpet That they gave the Chians leave thus filthily to abuse themselves Another Laconian seeing hard almonds sold at the double price What quoth he are stones so geason heere Another having plucked all the feathers off from a nightingale and seeing what a little body it had Surely quoth he thou art all voice and nothing else There was likewise a Lacedaemonian who seeing the cynick philosopher Diogenes in the mids of winter when it was extreme cold embrasing and clipping a brasen statue very devoutly asked him if he chilled not for cold and when the other answered No Why then quoth he what great matter doe you A certaine Laconian reproched upon a time one borne in Metapontium saying They were all cowards and false-hearted like women If it be so quoth the Metapontine how is it that wee hold so much of other mens lands as wee doe Why then replied the Laconian I see that you are not cowards onely but unjust also A traveller being come to Sparta for to see the citie stood upright a long while upon one foore onely and said unto a Laconian I doe not thinke thou canst stand so long of one leg as I do Not I indeed quoth the other but there is not a goose but can do as much There was one vaunted greatly what a Rhetorician he was and namely that he was able to perswade what he would Now by Castor and Pollux I sweare quoth a Laconian there never was nor ever will be any arte indeed without verity A certaine Argive boasted much that there were in their citie many graves tombes of the Lacedaemonians And contrariwise quoth a Laconian there is not among us one sepulcher of the Argives giving him thus much to understand that the Lacedaemonians had many times entred with a puissant armie into the countrey of Argos but the Argives never into the territorie of Sparta A Laconian being taken prisoner in warre when hee should bee sold in port sale as the crier began with a loud voice to pronounce Who will buy a Laconian who put his hand to the criers mouth and said Cry for Gods sake who wil buy a prisoner One of those mercenary soldiers whom king Lysimachus waged being demanded of him this question Art thou one of these Lacedaemonian Ilots Why thinke you quoth the other that a Lacedaemonian will deigne to come and
serve for foure obols by the day After that the Thebans had defaited the Lacedaemonians at the battell of Leuctres they invaded the countrey of Laconia so farre as to the verie river Eurotas and one of them in boasting glorious maner began to say And where be now these brave Laconians what is become of them a Laconian who was a captive among them straight waies made this answer They are no where now indeed for if they were you would never have come thus farre as you doe At what time as the Athenians delivered up their owne citie into the hands of the Lacedaemonians for to be at their discretion they requested that at leastwise they would leave them the isle Samos unto whom the Laconians made this answer When you are not masters of your owne doe you demand that which is other mens hereupon arose the common proverbe throughout all Greece Who cannot that which was his owne save The Isle of Samos would yet faine have The Lacedaemonians forced upon a time a certaine citie and wan it by assault which the Ephori being advertised of said thus Now is the exercise of our yoong men cleane gone now shall they have no more concurrents to keepe them occupied When one of their kings made promise unto them for to rase another citie and destroy it utterly if they so would which oftentimes before had put those of Lacedaemon to much trouble the said Ephori would not permit him saying thus unto him Doe not emolish and take away quite the whetstone that giveth an edge to the harts of our youth The same Ephori would never allow that there should be any professed masters to teach their yong men for to wrestle and exercise other feats of activitie To this end say they that there might bee jealousie and emulation among them not in artificiall slight but in force and vertue And therefore when one demaunded of Lysander how Charon had in wrestling overcome him and laid him along on the plaine ground Even by slight and cunning quoth he and not by pure strength Philip king of Macedonia before he made entrie into their country wrote unto them to this effect Whether they had rather that he entred as a friend or as an enemie unto whom they returned this answer Neither one nor the other When they had sent an embassador to Demetrius the sonne of Antigonus having intelligence that the said embassadour in parle with him eftsoones gave him the name of King they condemned him to pay a fine when he was returned home notwithstanding that hee brought as a present and gratuitie from the said Demetrius in time of extreme famine a certain measure of corne called Medimnus for every poll throughout the whole citie It hapned that a leud and wicked man delivered in a certaine consultation very good counsell this advice of his they approoved right well howbeit receive it they would not comming out of his mouth but caused it to be pronounced by another who was knowen to be a man of good life Two brethren there were at variance and in sute of law together the Ephori set a good fine upon their fathers head for that he neglected his sonnes and suffred them to maintaine quarrell and debate one against another A certaine musician who was a stranger and a traveller they likewise condemned to pay a summe of money for that he strake the strings of his harpe with his fingers Two boies fought together and one gave the other a mortall wound with a sickle or reaping hooke when the boy that was hurt lay at the point of death was ready to yeeld up the ghost other companions of his promised to be revenged for his death and to kill the other who thus deadly had wounded him Doe not so I beseech you quoth he as you love the gods for that were injustice and euen I my selfe had done as much for him if I had beene ought and could have raught him first There was another yong lad unto whom certaine mates and fellows of his in that season wherin yong lads were permitted freely to filtch whatsoever they could handsomely come by but reputed it was a shamefull and infamous thing for them to be surprized and taken in the maner brought a yong cub or little foxe to keepe alive which they had stollen those who had lost the said cub came to make search now had this lad hidden it close under his clothes the unhappie beast being angred gnawed bit him in the flanke as far as to his very bowels which he endured resolutely and never quetched at it for feare he should be discovered but after all others were gone and the search past when his companions saw what a shrewd turne the curst cub had done him they child him for it saying That it had been far better to have brought forth the cub and shewed him rather than to hide him thus with danger of death Nay Iwis quoth he for I had rather die with all the dolorous torments in the world than for to save my life shamefully to be detected so for want of a good heart Some there were who encountred certaine Laconians upon the way in the countrey unto whom they said Happie are you that can come now this way for the theeves are but newly gone from hence Nay forsooth by god Mars we sweare we are never the happier therefore but they rather because they are not fallen into our hands One demaunded of a Laconian upon a time what he knew and was skilfull in Mary in this to be free A yoong lad of Sparta being taken prisoner by King Antigonus and sold among other captives obeied him who had bought him in all things that he thought meet for to be done by a freeman but when he commaunded to bring him an urinall or chamber-pot to pisse in he would not endure that indignitie but said Fetch it your selfe for me I am no servant for you in such ministeries now when his master urged him thereto and pressed hard upon him hee ran up to the ridge or roofe of the house and said You shall see what an one you have bought and with that cast himselfe downe with his head forward and brake his owne necke Another there was to be sold and when the partie who was about him said thus Wilt thou be good and profitable if I doe buy thee Yea that I will quoth he though you never buy me Another there was likewise upon market and when the crier proclaimed aloud Here is a slave who buies him who A shame take thee quoth he couldst not thou say a captive or prisoner but a slave A Laconian had for the badge or ensigne of his buckler a slie painted and the same no bigger than one is naturally whereupon some mocked him and said That he had mad choise of this ensigne because he would not be knowen by it Nay rather quoth he I did it because I would be the better marked for I meane
and made all the images of their gods as well female as male with launces and javelins in their hands as if they all had militar and martiall vertue in them Also they used this saying as a common proverbe Call upon fortune in each enterprise With hand stretcht foorth wot otherwise As if they would say that we ought when we invocate the gods to enterprise somewhat our selves and lay our hands to worke or else not to call upon them They used to let their children see the Ilotes when they were drunk to keepe them by their example from drinking much wine They neverknocked and rapped at their neighbours doores but stood without and called aloud to to those within The curry-combes that they occupied were not of iron but of canes and reeds They never heard any comedies or tragedies acted because neither in earnest nor in game they would not heare those that any wise contradicted the lawes When Archilochus the poet was come to Sparta they drave him out the very same houre that he came for that they knew he had made these verses wherein he delivered That it was better to fling away weapons than to die in the field A foole he is who trusting in his shield Doth venture life and limme in bloody field As for mine owne I have it flung me fro And left behind in bushes thick that gro Others translate it thus Some Saïan now in that my doubtie shield Doth take great joy which flying out of field Though full against my mind I flang me fro And left behind in bushes thicke that grow Although it were right good yet would not I Presume to fight with it and so to dy Farewell my shield though thou be lost and gone Another day as good I shall buy one All their sacred and holy ceremonies were common as well for their daughters as their sonnes The Ephori condemned one Siraphidas to pay a summe of money for that he suffred himselfe to take wrong and abuse at many mens hands They caused one to be put to death for playing the hypocrite and wearing sackcloth like a publike penitent for that the saide sackcloth was purfled with a border of purple They rebuked and checked a yoong man as hee came from the ordinary place of exercise for that hee frequented it still knowing as he did the way to Pytaea where was held the assembly of the States of Greece They chased out of the citie a Rhetorician named Cephisophon because he made his boast That he could speak if it were a whole day of any theame proposed unto him for they said That speech ought to be proportionable to the subject matter Their children would endure to be lashed whipped all the day long yea and many times even to death upon the altar of Diana surnamed Orthia taking joy and pleasure therein striving a vie for the victorie who could hold out longest and looke who was able to abide most beating he was best esteemed and caried away the greatest praise this strife emulation among them was called the Whippado and once every yeere they observed such an exercise But one of the best most commendable and blessed things that Lycurgus provided for his citizens was the plentie abundance that they had of rest leisure for they were not allowed at all to meddle with any mechanicall arte and to trafficke and negotiate painfully for to gather and heape up goods was in no wise permitted for he had so wrought that riches among them was neither honored nor desired The Ilotes were they that ploughed and tilled their ground for them yeelding them as much as in old time was downe and ordeined and execrable they esteemed it to exact more of any of them to the end that those Ilotes for the sweetnesseof gaine which they found thereby might serve them more willingly and themselves covet to have no more than the old rate Forbidden likewise were the Lacedaemonians to he mariners or to fight at sea yet afterwards for all that they fought navall battels and became lords of the sea howbeit they soone gave that over when they once saw that the maners and behavior of their citizens were thereby corrupted and depraved but they changed afterwards againe and were mutable as well in this as in all other things for the first that gathered and hoarded up money for the Lacedaemonians were condemned to death by reason that there was an auncient oracle which delivered this answer unto Alcamenes and Theopompus two of their kings Avarice one day who ever lives to see Of Sparta citie will the ruine bee And yet Lysander after he had wonne the citie of Athens brought into Sparta a great masse of gold and silver which the citizens received willingly and did great honour unto the man himselfe for his good service True it is that so long as the citie of Sparta observed the lawes of Lycurgus and kept the othes which it was sworne by she was a paragon yea and the soveraigne of all Greece in good government and glorie for the space of 300. yeeres but when they came once to transgresse the said lawes and breake their oathes avarice and covetousnesse crept in among them by little and little and they with all their puislance authoritie decreased yea and their allies and confederates heereupon began to be ill affected unto them and yet being as they were in this declining estate after that king Philip of Macedonia had woon the battell at Chaeronea when all other cities and states of Greece by a generall consent and with one accord had chosen him the generall captaine of all the Greeks as well for land as sea yea and after him his sonne Alexander the Great upon the destruction of the citie Thebes onely the Lacedaemonians notwithstanding their citie lay all open without any wall about it and themselves were brought to a very small number by occasion of their continuall warres which had wasted and consumed them whereby they were become very feeble and by consequence more easie to be defeated than ever before yet for that they had retained still some little reliques of the government established by Lycurgus they would never yeeld to serve under those two mightie monarches no nor other kings of Macedonia their successors neither would they be present at the generall diets and common assemblies of other states nor contribute any money with the rest untill they having utterly cast aside and rejected the lawes of Lycurgus they were held under and yoked with the tyranny of their owne citizens namely when they reteined no part of the ancient discipline whereby they grew like unto other nations and utterly lost their old reputation glory and libertie of franke speech so as in the end they were brought into servitude and even at this day be subject unto the Romane empire aswell as other cities and states of Greece THE APOPHTHEGMES THAT IS TO SAY THE NOBLE SAYINGS AND ANSWERS OF LACEDAEMONIAN DAMES ARGILEONIS the mother of Brasidas
should salute their kinsfolke and those that be joined in blood to them by kissing their lips for the Trojan men seeing as it should seeme in what necessitie they stood were well enough content and withal finding the inhabitants of the sea-coasts courteous and ready to receive and entertaine them friendly approoved that which the women had done and so remained and dwelt in the same part of Italy among the Latines THE DAMES OF PHOCIS THE woorthy act of the dames of Phocis whereof we now meane to make mention no Historiographer of name hath yet recorded and set downe in writing howbeit there was never a more memorable deed of vertue wrought by women and the same testified by the great sacrifices which the Phocians do celebrate even at this day neere unto the citie Hyampolis and that according to the ancient decrees of the countrey Now is the totall historie of this whole action from point to point particularly recorded in the life of Daiphantus as for that which the said women did thus stood the case There was an irreconcilable and mortall warre betweene the Thessalians and those of Phocis for that the Phocians upon a certaine fore-set day killed all the magistrates and rulers of the Thessalians who exercised tyrannie in the cities of Phocis and they againe of Thessalia had beaten and bruised to death two hundred and fiftie hostages of the Phocaeans whom they had in custodie and after that with all their puissance entred and invaded their countrey by the way of the Locrians having before hand concluded this resolution in their generall counsell not to pardon nor spare any one that was of age sufficient to beare armes and as for their wives and children to leade them away captives as slaves whereupon Daiphantus the sonne of Bathyllus one of the three soveraign governours of Phocis mooved and perswaded the Phocaeans as many as were of yeeres to fight for to go forth and encounter the Thessalians but their wives and children to assemble all together unto a certaine place in Phocis environe the whole pourprise and precinct thereof with a huge quantity of wood and there to set certaine guards to watch and ward whom hee gave in charge that so soone as ever they heard how their countrey-men were defaited they should set the wood on fire and burne all the bodies within the compasse thereof which desseigne when all others had approoved there was one man among them stood up and said It were just and meet that they had the consent also of the women as touching this matter and if they would not approve and allow of this counsell to leave it unexecuted and not to force them thereto this consultation being come to the eares of the said women they held a counsell together apart by themselves as touching this entended action where other resolved to follow the advice of Daiphantus and that with so great alacritie and contentment that they crowned Daiphantus with a chaplet of flowers as having given the best counsell that could be devised for Phocis It is reported also that their verie children sat in counsell hereabout by themselves and concluded the same but it fortuned so that the Phocaeans having given the Thessalians battell neere unto a village called Cleonae in the marches or territorie of Hyampolis defaited them This resolution of the Phocaeans was afterwards by the Greekes named Aponaea that is A desperat desseigne and in memoriall of the said victorie all the people of Phocis to this day do celebrate in Hyampolis the greatest and most solemne feast that they have to the honour of Diana and call it Elaphebolia THE WOMEN OF CHIOS THE men of Chios inhabited sometime the colonie Leuconia upon such an occasion as this A gentleman one of the best houses in Chios chanced to contract a marriage and when the bride was to be brought home to his house in a coach King Hippoclus being a familiar friend unto the bridegroom one who was present with others at the espousales and wedding after he had taken his wine wel being set upon a merrie pin and disposed to make sport leapt up into the coach where the new wedded wife was not with any entent to offer violence or vilanny but only to dallie toy make pastime in a meriment as the maner was at such a feast howbeit the friends of the bridegroome tooke it not so but fell upon him and killed him outright in the place upon which murder there appeered unto those of Chios many evident tokens and signes of Gods anger yea and when they understood by the oracle of Apollo that for to appease their wrath they should put all those to death who had murdered Hippoclus they made answere That they all were guiltie of the fact and when the god Apollo commanded them that if they were all tainted with the said murder they should all depart out of the citie Chios they sent away as manie as either were parties and principals or accessaries and privie to the said blood-shed yea and whosoever approoved and praised the fact and those were neither few in number nor men of meane qualitie and power as far as to Leuconta which citie the Chians first conquered from the Coroneans and possessed by the helpe of the Erythraeans but afterwardes when there was warre betweene the said Chians and the Erythraeans who in those daies were the mightiest people in all Ionia insomuch as the Erythraeans came against Leuconia with a power intending to assault it the Chians being not able to resist grew to make a cōposition in which capitulated it was agreed that they should quit the city depart every person with one coat cassock only without taking any thing els with them The women understanding of this agreement gave them foule words bitterly reproched them for being so base minded as to lay off their armor thus to go naked thorow the mids of their enimies but when their husbands alleaged that they had sworn taken a corporal oth so to do they gave them counsel in any wise not to leave their armes and weapons behind them but to say that a javelin was a coat and a shield the cassocke of a valiant and hardie man The Chians perswaded hereunto spake boldly to the Erythraeans to that effect and shewed them their armes insomuch as the Erythraeans were affraid to see their resolute boldnesse and there was not one of them so hardie as to come neere for to empeach them but were verie well content that they abandoned the place and were gone in that sort Thus you may see how these men having learned of their wives to be couragious and confident saved their honours and their lives Long after this the wives of the Chians atchieved an other act nothing inferiour to this in vertue and prowesse At what time as Philip the sonne of Demetrius holding their citie besieged caused this barbarous edict and proud proclamation to be published That all the slaves of the
citie should rebell against their masters and come to him for that he would make them all free and give them libertie to espouse and marie their mistresses even the wives of their former masters The dames conceived hereof so great choler and indignation in their harts together with the slaves themselves who were provoked likewise to anger as well as they and readie to assist their mistresses that they tooke heart to mount upon the walles of the citie and to carrie thither stones darts and all manner of shot beseeching their husbands to fight lustily and with good courage eftsoones admonishing and encouraging them to quit themselves like men and do their devoir which they did so effectually both in word and deed that in the end they repulsed the enemie and constrained Philip to raise his siege from before the citie without effecting his purpose and there was not so much as one slave that revolted from his master unto him THE WOMEN OF ARGOS THe exploit of the Argive dames against Cleomenes king of Lacedaemon in defence of the citie Argos which they enterprised under the conduct and by the perswasion of Telesilla the poëtresse is not lesse glorious and renowmed than any action that ever was atchieved by a crew of women This dame Telesilla as the fame goeth was descended of a noble and famous house howbeit in body she was very weake and sickly by occasion wherof she sent out to the oracle for to know how she might recover her health answer was made that she shoulde serve honour and worship the Muses she yeelding obedience to this revelation of the god and giving herselfe to learne poesie and likewise vocall musicke and skill in song in short time was delivered from her maladie and became most renowmed and highly esteemed among women for hir poeticall veine and musicall knowledge in this kind in processe of time it fortuned that Cleomenes the king of the Spartans having in a battell slaine a great number indeed of Argives but not as some fabulous writers have precisely set downe seven thousand seven hundred seventie and seven advaunced directly to the citie of Argos hoping to finde and surprize the same void of inhabitants but the women as many as were of age sufficient as it were by some heavenly and divine instinct put on a resolute minde and an extraordinary courage to doe their best for to beate backe their enemies that they should not enter the citie and in very truth under the leading of Telesilla they put on armes tooke weapon in hand and mounting up the wals stood round about the battlements thereof and environed them on every side defending the citie right manfully to the great wonder admiration of the enemies thus they gave Cleomenes the repulse with the losse and carvage of a great number of his men Yea and they chased Democrates another king of Lacedaemon out of their citie as Socrates saith who had made entrance before and seised that quarter which is called Pamphyliacum when the citie was thus saved by the prowesse of these women ordeined it was that as many of them as chaunced in this service to be slaine should be honorably enterred upon the great causey or high-way called Argeia and unto them who remained alive graunted it was for a perpetuall monument and memoriall of their prowesse to dedicate and consecrate one statue unto Mars This combat and fight as some have written was the seventh day or as other say the first of that moneth which at Argos in old time they called Tetartos but now Hermeus on which day the Argives do celebrate even in this age a solemne sacrifice and feast which they call Hybristica as one would say reprochfull and infamous wherein the custome is that women went clad in soldiers coates and mantels but men were arraied and attired in womens peticoates frocks and veiles Now to replenish and repeople the citie againe for default of men who died in the wars they did not as Herodotus writeth use this pollicie to marrie their slaves to their widdowes but they granted free burgeosie of their citie unto the better sort of men who were their neighbors and borderers and granted unto them for to affiance and espouse the said widowes but it should seeme that these wives disdained despised in some sort these husbands of theirs as not comparable to their former for they made a law that these wives should have counterfeit beards set to their chins whensoever they slept and lay with their husbands THE PERSIAN WOMEN CYrus having caused the Persians to rebel against king Astyages the Medes hapned to be discomfited vanquished together with the Persians now when the Persians fled amaine toward the city and their enemies followed hard at their heeles ready to enter pel-mell with thē the women issued out of the gates met them even before the citie and plucking up their clothes before from beneath to their waste cried unto them Whither away and whither doe you flie the most beastly cowards that ever were for run as fast as you wil there is no reentrance here for you into that place out of which you came first into the world the Persians being ashamed as well to see such a sight as to heare those words blamed and rebuked themselves whereupon they turned againe and made head at their enemies sought freshly and put them to flight from which time forward there was a law established That whensoever the king returneth from some farre voiage and entreth into the citie everie woman should receive of him a piece of gold and that by the ordinance of king Cyrus who first enacted it But it is reported that king Ochus one of his successors who being bad enough otherwise was the most covetous prince that ever raigned over them turned alwaies out of the way passed besides the citie and never would come into it after such a journey whereby the women alwaies were disappointed of that gratuitie and gift which they ought to have had but king Alexander contrariwise entred the citie twice and gave to every woman with childe double so much that is to say two such pieces of gold THE WOMEN OF GAULE BEfore that the Gaules passed over the mountaines called Alpes and held that part of Italy which now they doe inhabit there arose a great discord and dangerous sedition among them which grew in the end to a civill warre but when both armies stood embattailed and arranged ready to fight their wives put themselves in the very mids betweene the armed troupes tooke the matter of difference and controversie into their hands brought them to accord and unitie and judged the quarrell with such indifferent equitie and so to the contentment of both parts that there ensued a woonderfull amitie and reciprocall good will not onely from citie to citie but also betweene house and house insomuch that ever after they continued this custome in all their consultations aswell of warre as peace to take the counsell
upon the land which had remained a long time among them and had passed by descent from father to sonne and by their forefathers had beene first brought unto them from Brauron unto the isle Lemnos and which they caried with them from thence into all places wheresoever they came after this sudden fright and tumult was passed as they sailed in the open sea they missed the said image and withall Pollis also was advertised that a flouke of an anker was wanting and lost for that when they came to weigh anker by great force as commonly it hapneth in such places where it taketh hold of the ground among rocks it brake and was left behinde in the bottome of the sea whereupon he said that the oracles were now fulfilled which foretold them of these signes and therewith gave signall to the whole fleete for to retire backe and so he entred upon that region to his owne use and after he had in many skirmishes vanquished those who were up in armes against him he lodged at length in the citie Lyctus and wan many more to it Thus you see how at this day they call themselves the kinsfolke of the Athenians by the mothers side but indeed by the father they are a colonie drawne from Lacedaemon THE LYCIAN WOMEN THat which is reported to have beene done in Lycia as a meere fable and tale devised of pleasure yet neverthelesse testified by a constant same that runneth verie currant For Amisodarus as they say whom the Lycians name Isarus came from about the marches of Zelea a colonie of the Lycians with a great fleet of rovers and men of warre whose captaine or admirall was one Chimaerus a famous arch-pirate a warlike man but exceeding cruell savage and inhumane who had for the badges and ensignes of his owne ship in the prow a lion and at the poope a dragon much hurt hee did upon all the coasts of Lycia insomuch as it was not possible either to saile upon the sea or to inhabit the maritime cities and townes neere unto the sea side for him This man of warre or arch-rover Bellerophontes had slaine who followed him hard in chase with his swift pinnace Pegasus as he fled untill he had overtaken him and withall had chased the Amazones out of Lycia yet for all this he not onely received no worthy recompence for his good service at the hands of Iobates king of Lycia but also which was woorse sustained much wrong by him by occasion whereof Bellerophontes taking it as a great indignitie went to sea againe where he praied against him unto Neptune that he would cause his land to be barraine and unfruitfull which done hee returned backe againe but behold a strange and fearfull spectacle for the sea swelled overflowed all the countrey following him everie where as he went and covering after him the face of the earth and for that the men of those parts who did what possibly they could to entreat him for to stay this inundation of the sea could not obtaine so much at his hands the women tooke up their petticots before went to meet him shewed their nakednes wherupon for very shame he returned back the sea likewise by report retired with him into the former place But some there be who more civilly avciding the fabulosity of this tale say That it was not by praiers imprecations that he drew after him the sea but because that part of Lycia which was most sertill being low and flat lay under the levell of the sea there was a banke raised along the sea side which kept it in and Bellerophon cut a breach thorow it and so it came to passe that the sea with great violence entred that way and drowned the flat part of the countrey whereupon the men did what they could by way of praiers and intrearie with him in hope to appease his mood but could not prevaile howbeit the women environing him round about by great troups companies pressed him so on all sides that he could not for verie shame deny them so in favour of them said downe his anger Others affirme that Chimaera was an high mountaine directly opposite to the sunne at noon-tide which caused great reflections and reverberations of the sunne beames and by consequence ardent heats in manner of a fire in the said mountaine which comming to be spread and dispersed over the champion ground caused all the fruits of the earth to dry fade and wither away whereof Bellerophontes a man of great reach and deepe conceit knowing the cause in nature caused in many places the superfice of the said rocke or mountaine to be cloven and cut in two which before was most smooth even and by that reason consequently did send back the beames of the sun cansed the excessive heat in the countrey adjoining now for that he was not well considered and regarded by the inhabitants according to his demerit in despite he meant to be revenged of the Lycians but the women wrought him so that they allaied his fury But surely that cause which Nymphus alleageth in his fourth booke as touching Heraclea is not fabulous nor devised to delight the Reader for he saith That this Bellerophontes having killed a wilde bore that destroied all the fruits of the earth all other beasts within the Xanthiens countrey had no recompense therefore whereupon when he had powred out grievous imprecations against those unthankfull Xanthiens unto Neptune hee brought salt-water all over the land which marred all and made all become bitter untill such time as he being wonne by the praiers and supplications of the women besought Neptune to let fal his wrath Loe whereupon the custome arose and continueth still in the Xanthiens countrey That men in all their affaires negotiate not in the name of their fathers but of their mothers and called after their names THE WOMEN OF SALMATICA ANnnibal of the house of Barca before that he went into Italic to make warre with the Romaines laid siege unto a great citie in Spaine named Salmatica the besieged were at the first affraid and promised to do whatsoever Annibal would commaund them yea and to pay him three hundred talents of silver for securitie of which capitulation to be performed they put into his hands three hundred hostages but so soone as Anmbal had raised his siege they repented of this agreement which they had concluded with him and would do nothing according to the conditions of the accord whereupon hee returned againe for to besiege them afresh and to encourage his souldiers the better to give the assault he said That hee would give unto them the saccage and pillage of the towne whereupon the citizens within were wonderfully affraid and yeelded themselves to his devotion upon this condition That the Barbarians would permit as many as were of free condition to goe foorth every man in his single garment leaving behind them their armes goods money slaves and the citie Now the dames
the ground and not interred the sight heereof and the words withall were so patheticall that there was not one present so hard hearted or so spightfully and malicously bent against the tyrant but deplored their wofull estate and pitied the generositie and magnanimitie of these two yoong ladies Now albeit there be infinit presidents of noble deeds that in old time women have done in companies together yet me thinkes these few examples which I have already delivered may suffice from hencefoorth therefore I will rehearse the particular vertuous acts of severall women by themselves as they come scattering into my remembrance for I suppose that such narrations and histories as these doe not require of necessitie the precise order and consequence of the times PIERIA OF those Ionians who were come to dwell in the citie of Miletum some chaunced to be at variance and debate with the children of Neleus by occasion whereof in the end they thought the city too hot for them and constreined they were to remoove and retire themselves into the citie Myus where they made their abode habitation and yet even there also much molested they were and troubled by the Milesians who warred upon them for their revolt and apostasie howbeit this warre was not so bloudie and mortall but that they used to send one unto another yea and to communicate and negotiate reciprocally in divers things for even upon certaine solemne and festivall daies the wives and women of Myus would repaire boldly unto Miletum now among these Myuntines there was a noble man and of great name one Pythes who had to wife a ladie called Japygia by whom he was father of a faire daughter cleped Pieria when as therefore the great feast unto Diana and a solemne sacrifice called Neleus was celebrated by the Milesians Pythes sent thither unto this solemnitie his wife and daughter aforesaid for they had requested leave of him to be partakers of the feast It fortuned whiles they were there that one of the sonnes of Neleus a man of most credit and greatest authoritie in the citie named Phrygius cast a fancie to Pieria and in courting her after the manner of lovers desired to know of her what it might be wherein he might gratifie her most and best content her unto whom she answered If Sir you will so bring about that I my selfe with many more may oftentimes resort hither you shall doe me the greatest pleasure that you can devise Phrygius conceiving presently what her meaning was namely that there might bee continuall peace and amitie betweene those two cities wrought so that he composed the warre on both sides in regard hereof Pieria was highly esteemed and honoured in both cities in such wise that unto this day the Milesian dames do wish ordinarily and pray unto the gods that they may be as well beloved as Pieria was of Phrygius POLYCRITE THere was in times past warre betweene the Naxians and the Milesians about Neaera the wife of Hypsicreon and the same arose upon this occasion This Neaera was enamoured upon Promedon a Naxian insomuch as she would embarke take the sea and saile with him for why an ordinarie guest he was of Hypsicreons and used to lodge in his house whensoever hee came to Miletum yea and secretly she had him to lie with her she loved him so well but in processe of time when shee feared that her husband perceived it he faire tooke her cleane away with him to Naxos where he ordained that she should be a suppliant of Vesta Hypsicreon sent for her againe but when the Naxians in favour of Promedon refused to render her alleaging for a colourable pretense of their excuse the priviledge and franchises of suppliants hereupon the warre began between them in which quarrell the Erythraeans favoured the Milesians verie assectionatly and sided with them insomuch as it grew to a long and lingering warre and many miseries and calamities that follow warres it drew withall as well to the one part as the other until at last the quarrel was finally ended by the vertue of one woman like as it began first by the vice and wickednesse of another For Diognetus the captaine generall of the Erythraeans unto whom was cōmitted the charge of keeping a fort seated upon a very commodious place to annoy endamage the Naxians made rodes and incursions into their territorie where with many other huge booties that he drave and carried away he took and led as his prisoners many maidens and wives of good houses and parentage among whom there was one named Polycrite whom himselfe fancied and fell in love with her he kept and entertained not like a captive or prisoner but as if she had beene his espoused wife now it fortuned that the day was come when the Milesians lying in campe were to solemnize a great feast by reason where of they fel to drinking freely and making good cheere inviting one another as the maner was thon Polycrite asked captaine Diognetus whether hee would be offended if she should send certaine tarts pies and cakes provided for that feast unto her brethren who answered that he not onely permitted but also willed her so to doe she taking the opportunitie of good occasion put within one of these tarts a little thinne plate of lead which was written upon charging him expressely who had the carriage thereof to say unto her brethren that in any case none but they should taste of the said cakes or tarts this message was done accordingly and when they came to eate the tarts they found within one a writing of their sisters whereby shee advertised and advised them not to faile but that very night to come and assaile their enemies for that they should finde them in great disorder without sentinell and corps-de-guard without any watch and ward at all for that they were all drunke by occasion of the good cheere that they had made at that feast having this intelligence they presently acquainted the captaines generall of the Naxians armie therewith praying them to enterprise this service by their direction and with them thus were the Erythraeans deseized of their strong hold and a great number of them within put to the sword but Polycrite craved Diognetus of her fellow-citizens and by that meanes saved his life now when she approched neere unto the gates of Naxos seeing all the inhabitants comming foorth to meet her with exceeding great joy and mirth putting garlands of flowers upon her head and chanting songs of her praises her heart was not able to endure so great joy for she died at the very gate of the citie where afterwards she was enterred and entombed and her monument was called the Sepulcher of Envie as if there had beene some envious fortune which had grudged unto Polycrite the fruition of so great glorie and honour Thus the Historiographers of Naxos have delivered this narration howbeit Aristotle saith that Polycrite was never taken prisoner but Diognetus having had a sight of her by some
of discontentment nor directly and in open maner seemed to warre against him but privily practised and cunningly disposed all for first and formost she raised warre upon him out of Lybia by the meanes of a prince there named Anabus betweene whom and her there passed secret intelligence him shee sollicited and perswaded to invade his countrey and with a puissant armie to approch the citie Cyrene then she buzzed into Leanders head certeine surmizes and suspitions of disloialtie in his peeres his friends and captaines giving him to understand that their stood not to this warre but that they loved peace and quietnesse rather Which quoth she to say a truth as things now stand were better for you for the establishment of your roial state dominion in case you would rule in deed holde under and keepe in awe your subjects and citizens and for mine owne part I holde it good policie for you to make meanes for a treatie of peace which I will labour to effect and for that purpose bring you and Anabus together to an interview and parle if you thinke so good before that you grow to farther tearmes of hostilitie and open warre which may breed a mischiefe that afterwards will admit no cure nor remedie This motion she handled and followed with such dexteritie that Leander condescended thereto and shee her selfe in person went to conferre with the Lybian prince whom she requested that so soone as ever they were met together to treat of this pretended accord he should arrest the tyrant as his prisoner and to doe this feat she promised him great gifts and presents besides a good reward in money the Lybian soone accorded hereto now Leander made some doubt at first to go into this parle and staied a while but afterwards for the good respect that he had unto Aretaphila who promised in his behalfe that he should come to conference he set forward naked without armes and without his guards when he approched the place appointed for this interview and had a sight once of Anabus his heart misgave him againe and being much troubled and perplexed he would not go on but said he would stay for his guard howbeit Aretaphila who was there present partly encouraged him and in part rebuked and checked hin saying That he would be taken and reputed for a base minded coward and a disloiall person who made no account of his word if he should now flinch and start backe at the last when they were at point to meet she laied holde upon him plucked him forward by the hand and with great boldnesse and resolution haled him untill she had delivered him into the hands of the barbarous prince then immediatly was hee apprehended and his bodie attached by the Lybians who kept him bound as a prisoner and set a straight guard about him untill such time as the friends of Aretaphila with other citizens of Cirene were come to the campe and brought the money and gifts unto her which she had promised unto Anabus For so soone as it was knowen in the city that Leander was taken prisoner in sure hold a number also of the multitude ran forth to the place appointed of conference and so soone as they had set an eie on Aretaphila they went within a little of forgetting all their anger and malice which they bare unto the tyrant thinking that the revenge and exemplarie punishment of him was but accessarie and by-matter as being now wholly amused upon another thing and supposing the principall fruition of their libertie consisted in saluting and greeting her most kindly and with so great joy that the teares ran downe their cheeks insomuch as they were ready to kneele yea and cast themselves downe prostrate at her feet no lesse than before the sacred image and statue of a goddesse thus they flocked unto her by troups out of the citie one after another all day long insomuch as it was wel in the evening before they could advise with themselves to seize upon the person of Leander and hardly before darke night did they bring him with them into the citie Now after they were well satisfied with giving all maner of praises and doing what honour they could devise unto Aretaphila in the end they turned to consultation what was best to be done with the tyrants so they proceeded to burne Calbia quicke and as for Leander they put him in a leather poke and sowed it up close and then cast it into the sea Then ordeined and decreed it was that Aretaphila should have the charge and administration of the weale publicke with some other of the principall personages of the citie joined in commission with her but she as one who had plaied many and sundry parts alreadie upon the stage so well that shee had gotten the garland and crowne of victorie when shee saw that her countrey and citie was now fully free and at libertie immediatly betooke her selfe to her owne private house as it were cloistered up with women onely and would no more intermeddle in the affaires of State abroad but the rest of her life she passed in peace and repose with her kinsfolke and friends without setting her selfe to any businesse save onely to her wheele her web and such womens works CAMMA THere were in times past two most puissant Lords and Tetrarches of Galatia who also were in blood of kinne one to the other Sinatus and Synorix Sinatus had espoused a yoong virgin named Camma and made her his wife a ladie highly esteemed of as many as knew her as well for the beautie of her person as the floure of her age but admired much more in regard of her vertue and honestie for she had not onely a tender respect of her owne good name and honour carried an affectionate love and true heart unto her but also was wise magnanimous and passing well beloved of all her subjects and tenants in regard of her gentle nature and her debonair and bounteous disposition and that which made her better reputed and more renowmed was this that she was both a religious priestresse of Diana a goddesse whom the Galatians most devoutly honour and worship and also in every solemne procession and publicke sacrifice she would alwaies be seene abroad most sumptuously set out and stately adorned It fortuned so that Synorix was enamoured of this brave dame but being not able to bring about his purpose and to enjoy her neither by faire meanes nor foule perswade he or menance what he could so long as her husband lived the divell put in his head to commit a most heinous and detestable fact for he said waite for Sinatus and treacherously murthered him he staied not long after but he fell to wooing of Camma and courting herby way of marriage she made her abode within the temple at that time and tooke the infamous act committed by Synorix not piteously and as one cast downe and dejected therewith but with a slout heart and a stomacke mooved to anger
altogether in his presence to runne upon him from everie side to teare him in pieces and make an end of him this plot was not projected so closely but it came to Mithridates eares who caused them al to be apprehended and sent to chop off al their heads one after another but immediately after he called to remembrance that there was one yoong gentleman among the rest for the flower of his yeeres for beautie also and feature of bodie the goodliest person that he had set eie on in his daies whom he tooke pitie of and repented that he had condemned him to die with his fellowes shewing evidently in his countenance that he was mightily greeved and disquieted in his minde as thinking verily that he was executed already with the first howbeit at a very venture he sent in all haste a countermaund that if he were yet alive he should be spared and let goe this yoong mans name was Bepolitanus and verily his fortune was most strange and woonderfull for had away hee was to the place of execution in that habit wherein he was attached and the same was a very faire and rich sute of apparell which because the butcherly executioner desired to reserve cleane and unsprent with bloud he was somewhat long about the stripping of him out of it whiles he was so doing he might perceive the kings men come running apace toward him and with a loud voice naming Bepolitanus See how covetousnesse which hath beene the death of many a thousand was the meanes beyond all expectation to save the life of this yoong gentleman as for Toredorix after he was cruelly mangled with many a chop and hacke his bodie was cast foorth unburied to the dogs neither durst any of his friends come neere for to enterre it one woman onely of Pergamus whom this Galatian in his life time had knowen in regard of her fresh youth and beautie was so hardie as to hazard the taking of his dead corps away and to burie it which when the warders and watchmen perceived they attached her and brought her to the king and it is reported that Mithridates at the very first sight of her had compassion for that she seemed to be a yoong thing a simple harmelesse wench every way but when he understood withal that love was the very cause thereof his heart melted so much the rather whereupon he gave her leave to take up the bodie and commit it to the earth allowing her for that purpose funerall clothes and furnishing her at his owne charges wish all other things meet for comly and decent buriall TIMOCLIA 〈◊〉 the Theban carried the like minde and purpose for the defence of his countrey and the common-wealth as sometimes Epaminondas Pelopidas and the bravest men in the world had done but his fortune was to fall in that common ruine of Greece when as the Greeks lost that unfortunate battell before Chaeronea and yet for his owne part he was a victour and followed them in chase whom he had disarraied and put to flight for he it was who when one of them that fled cried out unto him How farre wilt thou pursue and follow us answered Even as farre as into Macedonia but when he was dead a sister of his who survived him gave good testimony that in regard as well of his auncestors vertue as his owne naturall disposition he had beene a worthy personage and worthy to be reckoned and renowmed amongst the most valiant knights in his daies for some fruit received and reaped vertue which helped her to beare and endure patiently as much of the common miseries of her country as touched her for after that Alexander the Great had woon the citie of Thebes by assault the soldiers ran to and fro into al parts of the towne pilling and ransacking whatsoever they could come by it chanced that one seised upon the house of Timoclia a man who knew not what belonged to honour honestie or common curtesie and civilitie but was altogether violent furious and out of reason a captaine he was of a coronet of Thraciā light horsemen and caried the name of king Alexander his lord and master but nothing like he was unto him in conditions for having filled himselfe with wine after supper and good cheere without any respect unto the race and linage of this noble dame without regard of her estate and calling he was in hand with her to be his bedsellow all that night neither was this all for he would needs search and know of her where she had laid up and hourded any gold or silver one while threatning to kill her unlesse she would bring him to it another while bearing her in hand that he would make her his wife if she would yeeld unto him she taking vantage of this occasion which himselfe offred and presented unto her It might have pleased the gods quoth she that I had died before this night rather than remaine alive for though I had lost all besides yet my bodie had beene undefiled saved from all violence and villanie but since it is my fortune that heere after I must repute you for my lord my master and my husband and seeing it is gods will to give you this puissance and soveraigntie over me I will not deprive and disapoint you of that which is yours and as for my selfe I see well that my condition from hencefoorth must be such as you will I was woont indeed to have about me costly jewels and ornaments for my bodie I had silver in plate yea and some gold in good coine and other ready money but when I saw that the citie was lost I willed my women and maid-servants about me to get altogether and so I cast it away or rather indeed to say a truth I bestowed it and reserved it in safetie within a dry pit wherein no water is an odde blinde corner I may say to you that few or none doe know for that there is a great stone lieth over the mouth of it and a many of trees grow round about to shade and cover the same as for you this treasure will make you a man yea and a rich man for ever when you have it once in your possession and for my part it may serve for a good testimony and sufficient proofe to shew how noble and wealthy our house was before-time When the Macedonian heard these words his teeth so watred after this treasure that he could not stay untill the morrow and attend the day light but would needs out of hand be conducted by Timoclia and her maidens to the place but he commanded her in any wise to shut fast and locke the fore-yard gate after them that no man might see and know and so he went downe in his shirt into the foresaid pit but cursed and hideous Clotho was his mistresse and guide who would punish and be revenged of his notorious wickednesse by the hands of Timoclia who standing above for when she perceiued by his
equitie justice and pietie and in stead thereof hath filed and polluted his life with shame trouble and danger For like as Simonides was woont to say in mirth That he found one coffer of silver and money alwaies full but that other of savors thanks and benefits evermore emptie even so wicked men when they come to examine and peruse aright the vice that is in themselves they finde it presently for one pleasure which is accomplained with a little vaine and glosing delight void altogether and destitute of hope but fully replenished with feares cares anxieties the unpleasant remembrance of misdemeanors past suspicion of future events and distrust for the present much after the manner as we do heare ladie Ino in the theaters repenting of those foule facts which she had committed and speaking these words upon the stage How should I now my friends and ladies deere Begin to keepe the house of Athamas Since that all whiles that I have lived heere Nought hath beene done by me that decent was Or thus How may I keepe ô ladies deere alas The house againe of my lord Athamas As who therein had not committed ought Of those leud parts which I have done and wrought For semblably it is meet that the minde and soule of every sinfull and wicked person should ruminate and discourse of this point in it selfe after this maner After what sort should I forget and put out of remembrance the unjust and leud parts which I have committed how should I cast off the remorse of conscience from me and from hencefoorth being to turne over a new leafe lead another life for surely with those in whom wickednesse beareth sway is predominant there is nothing assured nothing firme constant nothing sincere and sound unlesse haply we will say and maintaine that wicked persons and unjust were some Sages and wise philosophers But we are to thinke that where avarice reigneth excessive concupiscence and love of pleasure or where extreme envie dwelleth accompanied with spight and malice there if you mark and looke well about you shall finde superstition lying hidden among sloth and unwillingnesse to labour feare of death lightnesse and quicke mutabilitie in changing of minde and affection together with vaine glory proceeding of arrogancie those who blame them they feare such as praise them they dread and suspect as knowing well how they are injured and wronged by their deceitful semblance and yet be the greatest enemies of the wicked for that they commend so readily and with affection those whom they suppose and take to be honest for in vice and sinne like as in bad iron the hardnesse is but weak and rotten the stiffenesse also brittle easie to be broken and therefore wicked men learning in processe of time better to know themselves what they are after they come once to the full consideration thereof are displeased and discontented they hate themselves and detest their owne leud life for it is not likely that if a naughtie person otherwise though not in the highest degree who hath regard to deliver again a pawne or piece of money left in his hands to keepe who is ready to be suretie for his familiar friend upon a braverie and glorious minde hath given largesses and is prest to maintaine defend his countrey yea and to augment and advance the good estate thereof soone repent and immediately be grieved for that which he hath done by reason that his mind is so mutable or his will so apt to be seduced by an opinion or conceit of his considering that even some of those who have had the honor to be received by the whole bodie of the people in open theater with great applause and clapping of hands incontinently fall to sigh to themselves and groane againe so soone as avarice returneth secretly in place of glorious ambition those that kill and sacrifice men to usurpe and set up their tyrannies or to maintaine and compasse some conspiracies as Apollodorus did circumvent and defraud their friends of their goods and monies which was the practise of Glaucus the sonne of Epicydes should never repent their misdeeds nor grow into a detestation of themselves nor yet be displeased with that they have done For mine owne part I am of this opinion if it be lawfull so to say That all those who commit such impieties and misdemeanors have no need either of God or man to punish them for their owne life onely being so corrupt and wholy depraved and troubled with all kind of wickednesse is sufficient to plague and torment them to the full But consider quoth I whether this discourse seeme not already to proceed farther and be drawen out longer than the time will permit Then Timon answered It may well so be if peradventure we regard the length and prolixitie of that which followeth and remaineth to be discussed as for my selfe I am now ready to rise as it were out of an ambush and to come as a fresh and new champion with my last doubt and question forasmuch as me thinks we have debated enough already upon the former for this would I have you to thinke that although we are silent and say nothing yet we complaine as Euripides did who boldly chalenged and reproched the gods for that The parents sinne and their iniquitie They turne on children and posteritie For say that themselves who have committed a fault were punished then is there no more need to chastise others who have not offended considering it were no reason at all to punish twise for one fault the delinquents themselves or be it so that through negligence they having omitted the punishment of wicked persons and offenders they would long after make them to pay for it who are innocent surely they doe not well by this injustice to make amends for the said negligence Lke as it is reported of Aesopc who in times past came hither to this city being sent from king Craesus with a great summe of golde for to 〈◊〉 unto god Apollo in magnificent wise yea and to distribute among all the citizens of Delphos foure pounds a piece but it fortuned so that he fell out with the inhabitants of the city upon some occasion and was exceeding angry with them insomuch as he performed in deed the sacrifice accordingly but the rest of the money which he should have dealt among the people be sent backe againe to the city of Sardis as if the Delphians had not bene worthy to enjoy the kings liberalitie whereupon they taking great indignation laied sacriledge to his charge for deteming in such sort that sacred money and in trueth after they had condemned him therof they pitched him downe headlong from that high rocke which they call Hyampia for which act of theirs god Apollo was so highly displeased that he sent upon their land sterilitie and barennesse besides many and sundry strange and unknowen diseases among them so as they were constreined in the end to goe about in
all the publicke feasts and generall astemblies of the Greeks of purpose to make proclamation by sound of trumpet That whosoever hee was kinseman or friend of Aesope that would require satisfaction for his death should come foorth and exact what penaltie he would desire and thus they ceased not continually to call upon them untill at length and namely in the third generation after there presented himselfe a certeine Samian named Idmon who was nothing at all of kin to Aesope but onely one of their posteritie who at the first had bought him for a slave in open market within the isle of Samos and the Delphians having in some measure made satisfaction and recompense unto him were immediatly delivered from their calamities and it is said that from that time forward the execution of sacrilegious persons was translated from the foresaid rocke olde unto the cliffe of Nauplia And verily even those who of all others most admire Alexander the Great celebrate his memorial of which nūber we also confesse our selves to be can in no wise approve that which he did unto the Branchides when he rased their citie to the very ground put all the inhabitants thereof to the sword without respect either of age or of sex for that their ancestours in olde time had betraied and delivered up by treason the temple of Miletum And Agathocles the tyrant of Syracusa who laughed and scoffed at the men of Corphu for when they demanded of him the occasion why hee forraied their isle made them this answere Because quoth hee your forefathers in times past received and enterteined Ulysses Semblably when the islanders of Ithaca made complaint unto him of his souldiers for driving away their sheepe Why quoth he your king when he came one time into our island not onely tooke away our sheepe but also put out the eie even of our shepheard Thinke you not then that Apollo dealt more absurdly and unjustly than all these in destroying the Pheneotes at this day in stopping up the mouth of that bottomlesse pit that was wont to receive and soake up all the waters which now doe overflow their whole countrey because that a thousand yeeres agoe by report Hercules having taken away from the Delphians that sacred trefeet from which the oracles were delivered brought the same to the citie Pheneum And as for the Sybarites he answered them directly That their miseries should then cease when they had appeased the ire of Juno Leucadia by three sundry mortalities Certes long agoe it is not since that the Locrians desisted and gave over sending every yeere their daughters virgins unto Trote Who there went bare-foot and did serve all day from morne to night In habit of poore wretched slaves in no apparell dight No coife no caule nor honest veile were they allow'd to weare In decent Wise for womanhood though aged now they were Resembling such as never rest but Pallas temple sweepe And sacred altar dayly cleanse where they do alway keepe and all for the lascivious wantonnesse and incontinence of Ajax How can this be either just or reasonable considering that we blame the very Thracians for that as the report goes they use still even at this day to beat their wives in revenge of Orpheus death Neither do we commend the barbarous people inhabiting along the river Po who as it is said do yet mourne and weare blacke for Phaeton his fall Yet in my conceit it is a thing rather sottish and ridiculous that whereas the men who lived in Phaeton his time made no regard of his ruine those that came sive yea and ten ages after his wofull calamitie should begin to change their raiment for his sake and bewaile his death for surely herein there is nothing at all to be noted but meere folly no harme no danger or absurditie otherwise doth it conteine But what reason is it that the wrath and judgement of the gods hidden upon a sudden at the very time of some hainous fact committed as the propertie is of some rivers should breake out and shew it selfe afterwards upon others yea and end with some extreame calamities He had no sooner paused awhile and staied the current of his speech but I doubting whereto his words would tend and fearing lest he should proceed to utter more absurdities and greater follies presently made this replie upon him And thinke you sir indeed that all is true that you have said What if all quoth he be not true but some part thereof onely thinke you not yet that the same difficultie in the question still remaineth Even so peradventure quoth I it fareth with those who are in an extreame burning fever who whether they have more or lesse clothes upon them feele evermore within them the same excessive heat of the ague yet for to comfort and refresh them a little and to give them some ease it is thought good to diminish their clothes and take off some of them But if you are not so disposed let it alone you may do your pleasure howbeit this one thing I will say unto you that the most part of these examples resemble fables and fictions devised for pleasure Call to mind therefore and remembrance the feast celebrated of late in their honour who sometime received the gods into their houses and gave them intertainment also that beautifull honorable portion set by apart which by the voice of an herald was published expresly to be for the posterity descended from Pindarus and record with your selfe how honorable and pleasant a thing this seemeth unto you And who is there quoth he that would not take pleasure to see this preeminence and preference of honour so naturall so plaine and so auncient after the maner of the old Greeks unlesse he be such an one as according to the same Pindarus Whose heart all black of metall forg'd twis And by cold flame made stiffe and hardened is I omit quoth I to speake of the like solemne commendation published in Sparta which ensued ordinarily after the Lesbian song or canticle in the honor and memoriall of that auncient Terpander for it seemeth that there is the same reason of them both But you who are of the race of Opheltes and thinke your selfe woorthy to be preferred before all others not Baeotians onely but Phocaeans also and that in regard of your stock-father Daiphantus have assisted and seconded me when I maintained before the Lycormians and Satilaians who claimed the priviledge and honor of wearing coronets due by our lawes and statutes unto the progenie of Hercules That such dignities and prerogatives ought inviolably to be preserved and kept for those indeed who descend in right line from Hercules in regard of his beneficiall demerites which in times past he heaped upon the Greeks and yet during his life was not thought woorthy of reward and recompence You have quoth he revived the memorie of a most pleasant question to be debated and the same marvelous well beseeming the profession of
setting pleasure onely aside what other thing is there in the world be it never so pure holy and venerable that they embrace and love Had it not beene more reason for the leading of a joyfull life to be offended with sweet perfumes and to reject odoriferous oiles and ointments as bettles jeires and vultures doe than to abhorre detest and shun the talke and discourses of Humanitians Criticks Grammarians and Musicians for what maner of flute or hautboies what harpe or lute how well soever set tuned and fitted for song What quire resounding loud and shrill From pleasant mouth and brest so sweet A song in parts set with great skill When cunning men in musicke meet so greatly delighted Epicurus and Metrodorus as the discourses the rules and precepts of quites and carols the questions and propositions concerning flutes and hautboies touching proportions consonances harmonicall accords would affect Aristotle Theophrastus Hieronymus and Dicaearchus as for example what is the reason that of two pipes or flutes otherwise even and equall that which hath the straighter and narrower mouth yeeldeth the bigger and more base sound also what might be the cause that the same pipe when it is lifted and set upward becommeth loud in all the tones that it maketh but holde it downward once it soundeth as low so doth one pipe also when it is set close unto another give a base sound but contrariwise if it be disjoined and put asunder it soundeth higher and more shrill As also how it commeth to passe that if a man sow chaffe or cast dust thicke upon the stage or scaffold in a Theater the people there assembled be deafe and cannot heare the plaiers or minstrels Semblably when king Alexander the Great was minded to have made in the citie of Pella the forepart of the stage in the Theater all of brasse what mooved his workman or Architect not to permit him so to doe for feare it would drowne and dull the voice of the plaiers Finally why among sundry kinds of Musicke that which is called Chromaticall delighteth enlargeth and joieth the heart whereas the Harmonicall contracteth and draweth it in making it sad and dumpish Moreover the maners and natures of men which Poets represent in their writings their wittie fictions the difference and varietie of their stile the solution of darke doubts and quaint questions which besides a delightsome grace and beautifull elegance carie with them a familiar and perswasive power whereout ech one may reape profit insomuch as they are able as Xenophon saith to make a man forget even love it selfe so effectuall is this pleasure and delight Howbeit the Epicureans here have no feeling and experience nay which is woorse they desire to have none as they say themselves but imploying the whole contemplative part of the soule in thinking upon nothing els but the bodie and plucking it downward together with sensuall and carnall lusts as fishers nets with little rols and plummets of lead they differ nothing at all from horsekeepers or shepherds and other herdmen who lay before their beasts hay straw or some kinde of grasse and herbs as the proper fodder forage for the cattell which they have in charge for do they not even so intend to feed the soule fat as men franke up swine with bodily pleasures in that they would have her to be glad for the hope shee hath that the body shall shortly enjoy some pleasure or els in the remembrance of those which it hath enjoied in times past as for any proper delight or particular pleasure of her owne they suffer her to receive none from herselfe nor so much as to seeke thereafter And verily can there be any thing more absurd beside all apparance and shew of reason than whereas there be two parts whereof man is compounded to wit soule and body of which the soule is more woorth and placed in the higher degree to say and affirme that there is in the bodie some good thing proper peculiar familiar and naturall unto it and none in the soule but that she sits still tending the bodie and looking onely to it that she smileth upon the passions and affections thereof joying and taking contentment with it onely having of herselfe originally no motion no election no choise no desire nor pleasure at all Now surely they should either by putting off their maske and discovering themselves have gone roundly to worke making man flesh and nothing else but flesh as some there be who flatly denie that there is any spirituall substance in him or else leaving in us two different natures they ought to have let either of them alone by it selfe with their severall good and evill that I say which is familiar or contrarie unto it like as among the five senses everie one is destined appropriat to one object sensible although all of them by a certaine woonderfull sympathy be affected one to the other Now the proper sensative organ or instrument of the soule is the understanding and to say that the same hath no peculiar subject to worke upon no proper spectacle to behold no familiar motion no naturall and inbred passion or affection in the fruition whereof it should take pleasure and delight is the greatest absurditie of all others And verily this is the saying of these men unlesse haply some ther be who ere they be aware charge upon them some slanderous and false imputations Heereat began I to speake and say unto him Not so sir if we may be judges but I pray you let be all action of inquirie and proceed hardly to finish and make an end of your discourse And why quoth he should not Aristodemus succeed after me if you haply refuse slatly or be loth to speake You say true indeed quoth Aristodemus but that shall not be untill you be wearie of speech as this man is and for the present since you are yet fresh and in heart I beseech you my good friend spare not your selfe but use your facultie lest you be thought for very sloth and idlenesse to draw back and goe out of the lists Certes quoth Theon then it is but a small matter and the same very easie which is behind for there remaineth no more but to shew and recount how many joies and pleasures there be in active life and that part of the soule which is given to action First and formost even they themselves in some place graunt and confesse that it is a greater pleasure to doe good and to benefit others than to receive a benefit from another as for good turnes a man I confesse may doe them in bare words and sayings but surely the most and greatest are performed by acts and deeds and thus much doth the verie word of benefit or weldoing import and even they themselves testifie no lesse For but a while since wee heard this man report what words and speeches Epicurus delivered what letters he wrot and sent unto his friends in extolling praising and magnifying
Metrodorus how bravely and valiantly he went downe from the citie of Athens to the port Pyreaeum for to aid and succour Mythris the Syrian albeit Metrodorus did no service at all in that sally What manner of pleasures then and how great ought wee to esteeme those which Plato enjoied when Dion a scholar of his one of his bringing up rose up to put downe the tyrant Dionysius to deliver the state of Sicily from servitude what contentment might Aristotle find when he caused the citie of his nativitie which was ruinate and rased to the ground to be reedified and his countrimen fellow-citizens to be called home who were banished what delights and joies were those of Theophrastus and Phidias who deposed and overthrew those tyrants who usurped the lordly dominion of their countrey and for private persons in particular how many they relieved not in sending unto them a strike or a bushell of corne and meale as Epicurus sent unto some but in working and effecting that those who were exiled out of their native countrey driven from their owne houses and turned out of all their goods might returne home againe and reenter upon all that such as had beene prisoners and lien in irons might be delivered and set at large as many also as were put from their wives and children might recover and enjoy them againe What need I make rehearsall unto you who know all this well enough But surely the impudence and absurditie of this man I can not though I would passe over with silence who debasing and casting under foot the acts of Themistocles and Miltiades as he did wrot of himselfe to certeine of his friends in this sort Right nobly valiantly and magnificently have you shewed your endevour and care of us in provision of corne to furnish us withall and againe you have declared by notorious signes which mount up into heaven the singular love and good will which you beare unto me And if a man observe the manner of this stile and writing he shall find that if he take out of the misteries of this great philosopher that which concerneth a little corne all the words besides are so curiously couched and penned as if the epistle had beene written purposedly as a thankes giving for the safety of all Greece or at leastwise for delivering setting free and preserving the whole citie and people of Athens What should I busie my head to shew unto you that for the delights of the bodie nature had need to be at great cost and expences neither doth the chiefe pleasure which they seeke after consist in course bisket-bread in pease pottage or lentile broth but the appetites of these voluptuous persons call for exquisit and daintie viands for sweete and delicate wines such as those be of Thasos for sweet odours pleasant perfumes and precious ointments for curious junkets and banketting dishes for tarts cake-bread marchpanes and other pastrie works well wrought beaten and tempered with the sweet liquor gathered by the yellow winged Bee over and besides all this their mind stands also to faire and beautiful yoong damosels they must have some pretie Leontium some fine Boïchon some sweet Hedia or daintie Nicedion whom they keepe and nourish of purpose within their gardens of pleasure to be ready at hand As for the delights and joies of the mind there is no man but will consesse and say That founded they ought to be upon the greatnesse of some noble actions and the beautie of worthy and memorable works if we would have them to be not vaine base and childish but contrariwise reputed grave generous magnificent and manlike whereas to vaunt and glory of being let loose to a dissolute course of life and the fruition of pleasures and delights after the maner of sailers and mariners when they celebrate the seast of Venus to boast also and please himselfe in this That being desperatly sicke of that kinde of dropsie which the Physicians call Ascites he forbare not to feast his friends still and keepe good companie neither spared to adde and gather more moisture and waterish humours still unto his dropsie and remembring the last words that his brother Neocles spake upon his death-bed melted and consumed with a speciall joy and pleasure of his owne tempered with teares there is no man I trow of sound judgement and in his right wits who would tearme these sottish sollies either sound joies or perfect delights but surely if there be any Sardonian laughter as they call it belonging also to the soule it is seated in my conceit even in such joies and mirths mingled with teares as these which do violence unto nature but if any man shal say that these be solaces let him compare them with others and see how farre these excell and go beyond them which are expressed by these verses By sage advice I have effected this That Spartaes martiall fame eclipsed is Also This man ô friend and stranger both was while he lived heere The great and glorious starre of Rome his native citie decre Likewise I wot not what I should you call An heavenly God and man mortall And when I set before mine eies the noble and worthy acts of Thrasibulus and Pelopidas or behold the victories either of Aristides in that journey of Plateae or of Miltiades at the battell of Marathon I am even ravished and transported besides my selfe and forced to say with Herodotus and deliver this sentence That in this active life there is more sweetnesse and delectation than glorie and honour and that this is so Epaminondas will beare me witnesse who by report gave out this speech that the greatest contentment which ever he had during his life was this That his father and mother were both alive to see that noble Trophee of his for the victorie that he wan at Leuctres being generall of the Thebans against the Lacedaemonians Compare we now with this mother of Epaminondas Epicurus his mother who tooke so great joy to see her sonne keeping close in a daintie garden and orchard of pleasure where he and his familiar friend Polyenus gat children in common upon a trull and courtisan of Cyzicum for that both mother and sister of Metrodorus were exceeding glad of his marriage may appeare by his letters missive written unto his brother which are extant in his books and yet they goe up and downe everie where crying with open mouth That they have lived in joy doing nought els but extoll and magnifie their delicate life faring much like unto slaves when they solemnize the feast of Saturne supping and making good cheere together or celebrate the Bacchanales running about the fields so as a man may hardly abide to heare the utas and yelling noise they make when upon the insolent joy of their hearts they breake out into many fooleries and utter they care not unto whom as vaine and fond speeches in this maner Why sut'st thou still thou wretched lout Come let us drinke and quaffe about The
to mount Palatine and when she had passed over the river Tiber even there as it should seeme she cast off her wings then she put off her flying patins her boule so inconstant turning and rolling to and fro she forsooke and so entred Rome as to make her stay and abode there and in this guise and maner sheweth she her selfe now and maketh her apparance for to heare justice have this quarrell decided Not as a base unknowne and obscure person as Pindarus saith nor guiding and resting with her hand two helmes but rather as the sister of Eunomia that is to say Aequitie and of Peitho that is to say Perswasion and the daughter of Promethia that is to say Providence according as Alcinus the poet deriveth her genealogie and pedigree Moreover she holdeth betweene her hands that plentifull Horne of all aboundance so much celebrated and renowmed and the same filled not with store of frutes alwaies fresh and verdant which Autumue yeeldeth but brim full of all those pretious and exquisite commodites Which any land or sea doth breed or out of rivers spring Which in deepe mines by delfe are found or hauens by vessels bring And those powreth she foorth aboundantly and giueth abroad in great largesse There are about her also to be seene in her traine a number of most noble and right excellent personages to wit Numa Pompilius descended from the Sabines Tarquinius Priscus from the citie Tarquinii whom being aliens and meere strangers she enstalled kings and enthronized in the roiall seat of Romulus Also Paulus Aemilius who brought backe his armie safe and sound from the defaiture of Perseus and the Macedonians where he atchived so fortunate a victorie that there was not seene one Romane with a weeping eye for the losse of any friend in that warreand when he returned in triumph magnified Fortune Even so did that good olde knight Caecilius Metellus surnamed Macedonicus aswell in regard of his brave victories as of this rare felicitie of his that he was caried unto his sepulture by foure of his owne sonnes who had bene all consuls namely Quintus Balearius Lucius Diadematus Marcus Metellus and Caius Caprarius there attended also upon his corps two sonnes in law of his that married his daughters both consular men and as many nephewes his daughters children men of marke and name all both for great prowesse in feats of armes and also for their high place which they held in government of State and commonweale Aemilius Scaurus likewise who being of a low degree and condition of life yet came from a stocke more base than it a new upstart and of the first head was raised and advanced by her and by the meanes of her favour made a great lord and prince of that high court and honourable counsell called the Senate Cornelius Sylla likewise whom she tooke out of the lap bosome of Nicopolis a courtisan for to exalt him above all the Cunbricke Trophees and Laureat Triumphs yea and the seven consulships of Marius to raise him to that high pitch and sovereigne degree of an absolute monarch in the world and a dictatour he I say openly and directly gave himselfe as it were by way of adoption unto Fortune and attributed his whole estate and all his actions to her favour crying with a loud voice with Oedipus in Sophocles To Fortunes court I owe all sutes And her good sonne my selfe reputes Insomuch as in the Romane language he surnamed himselfe Felix that is to say Happie and unto the Greeks he wrote thus in their tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Lucius Cornelius Sylla beloved of Venus and the Graces And verily those trophees of his which are to be seene in our countrey of Chaeronea in regard of those noble victories which he gained against the lieutenants generall of king Mithridates have the like inscription and that right worthily For it is not the night as Menander saith but Fortune that is best acquainted and in greatest favour with Venus Should not he therefore who is desirous to plead the cause of Fortune doe very well to lay this for a good ground of his plea and in the forefront and Exordium of his oration bring in very fitly and properly for his witnesses to depose the Romans themselves who have ascribed more unto Fortune than to Vertue Certes late it was among them after many ages ere Scipio Numantinus builded a temple to Vertue after him Marcellus caused to be built that chapel bearing the name Virtutis Honoris that is to say Of Verand Honour like as Aemilus Scaurus gave order for another to be reared by the name of Mentis that is to say of understanding even about the time of the Cunbricke warre in which age when literature and professors of learning eloquence flocked thicke as it were and resorted to the citie of Rome they beganne to have in price and reputation such matters and yet to this very day there is not one chapell of Wisdome Temperance Patience Magnanimitie ne yet of Continence whereas of Fortune there be temples so stately so glorious and so ancient withall that a man would take them to have bene edified even in maner when the first foundations of the citie were laid For first and formost Ancus Martius the nephew or daughters sonne of king Numa and the fourth king of Rome after Romulus founded one in the honour of Fortune And peradventure he it was that surnamed Fortune Virilis and derived it of Fortis for that Virility that is to say Manhood and Fortitude that is to say Prowesse and Valour have most helpe by Fortune to the atchieving of victorie As for that temple of Feminine Fortune named otherwise Muliebris they built it also before the daies of Camillus at what time as Martius Coriolanus who led under banners displaied against the city of Rome a puislant power of the Volscians was turned backe and retired by the meanes and intercession of certeine noble dames that encountered him for those ladies went in a solemne ambassage toward him accompanied with his wife and mother and so earnestly intreated and effectually perswaded with him that in the end they prevailed insomuch as for their sakes he pardoned and spared the citie and so withdrew the forces of that barbarous nation and then it was by folks sayings that the statue or image of Fortune at the dedication thereof pronounced these words You have good Romane dames according to the ordinance of the citie consecrated me right devoutly And verily Furius Camillus at what time as he had quenched the flaming fire of the Gaules and recovered the city of Rome out of the very scoles of the balance where it was to bee weighed in counterpoise against a certeine quantitie of golde erected a temple neither to Good counsell nor to Valour but unto Fame and Rumour even in that very place by the new street where by report Marcus Caeditius as hee went by the way heard in
before the citie And Servius Tullius who augmented the puissance of the people of Rome and brought it unto a goodlie and beautifull maner of government no prince so much having set downe and established a good order for the giving of suffrages and voices at the elections of magistrates and enacting of lawes and besides instituted the order of millitarie discipline having been himselfe the first censour of mens maners and the controller or overseer of every mans life and behaviour who seemed also to have been a right valiant prince and most prudent withall this man I say whollie avowed himselfe the vassaile of Fortune and did homage to her acknowledging all principalitie to depend upon her in such sort as men say Fortune her selfe used to come lie with him descending downe by a window into his chamber which now the call the gate Fenestella He founded therefore within the Capitoll one temple to the honor of Fortune called Primigenia which a man may interpret first begotten and another to Fortune obsequens which some take to be as much as obeisant others gratious and fauourable But not to stand any longer upon the Romaine names and appellations I will leave them endevour to reckon up and interpret in Greeke the meaning and signification of all these temples founded and dedicated in the honor of Fortune For in the mount Palatine there standeth one chappell of private Fortune and another of gluing Fortune which tearme may haplie seeme to be ridiculous howbeit by way of a metaphor it carieth a signification verie important as if we were to understand thus much by it That it draweth unto it and catcheth those things which be farre off and holdeth fast whatsoever sticketh and cleaveth to it Moreouer neere unto the fountaine called Muscosa that is to say mossie there is another chappell of Fortune the virgin as also in the mount Esquiltus another of Aduerse Fortune upon the streete called the Long Way an altar there is erected to Fortune Good-hope or as it were Hope and neere adjoining unto the altar of Venus Epi-talaria that is is to say Foote-winged Venus a chappell and image of Fortune Masculine besides a thousand honors and denominations more of Fortune which Servius for the most part instituted and ordeined as knowing full well that in the regiment of all humane things Fortune is of great importance or rather can doe all in all And good reason he had therefore considering that himselfe by the beneficiall favor of Fortune being descended as he was by birth from a captive and that of an enemie nation was raised and advaunced to royall dignitie For when the citie of the Corniculanes was won forciblie by the Romanes a certaine young damsell named Ocrisia being taken prisoner who notwithstanding her infortunate captivitie was neither for beauty of face nor comely behaviour blemished or stained was given unto queene Tanaquil the wife of king Tarquin to serve her and afterwards bestowed in marriage upon one of the reteiners or dependants to the king such as the Romans call Clientes and from these two came this foresaid Servius Others say that it was nothing so but that this maiden Ocrisia taking ordinarily certaine first-frutes or assaies as it were both of viands and wine from the kings table carried the same to the hearth of the domesticall altar and when one day above the rest she cast these primicies or libaments aforesaid as her usuall manner was into the fire upon the hearth behold all on the sudden when the flame went out there arose out of the said hearth the genitall member of a man whereat the yoong damosell being affrighted reported what a strange sight she had seene unto queene Tanaquil alone who being a wise and wittie ladie appparelled and adorned the maiden like a bride in every respect and shut her up with the foresaid apparition taking it for a divine thing presaging some great matter Some say that this was the domesticall or tutelar god of the house whom they call Lar others Vulcane who was enamored of this yoong virgine but whatsoever it was Ocrisia was thereupon with childe and so was Servius borne Now whiles he was but an infant there was seene a shining light much like unto the flash of lightning to blaze out of his head round about But Valerius Antias recordeth this narration otherwise saying that Servius had a wife named Gegania who hapned to die by occasion of whose death hee grew into a great agonie and passion of sorrow in the presence of his mother untill in the end for very heavinesse and melancholy hee fell a sleepe and as he slept the woman of the house might perceive his head shining out in a light fire a sufficient argument and testimonie that engendred he was of fire yea and an assured presage of a kingdome unlooked for which he attained unto after the decease of Tarquinius by meanes of the port and favour that Tanaquil graced him with For otherwise of all the kings that were of Rome he seemed to bee the man that was unlikest to reach unto a monarchie and least intended or minded to aspire thereunto considering that when he was king he determined to resigne up the crowne though hee was empeached and staied for so doing because Tanaquil upon her death-bed conjured and bound him by an oath to continue in his roiall estate and dignitie and in no case to give over the politike government of the Romans wherein hee was borne Lo how the regall power kingdome of Servius may be wholly ascribed unto Fortune seeing that as hee came unto it beyond all hope and expectation so hee held it even against his will But to the end it may not be thought that we withdraw our selves and retire flying unto antiquitie as it were into a place obscure and darke for want of more cleere and evident proofes let us leave the historie of the kings and turne our speech unto the most glorious acts of the Romans and their warres which were of greatest name and renowme wherein I will not deny and who is there but must confesse there did concurre Both boldnesse stout and fortitude with martiall discipline In warre which aie cooperant with vertue doth combine according as Timotheus the poet writeth but the prosperous traine and happy course of their affaires the violent streame also current of their progresse into such puissance growth of greatnesse sheweth evidently unto those who are able to discourse with reason and to judge aright that this was a thing conducted neither by the hands nor counsels ne yet by the affections of men but by some heavenly guidance and divine direction even by a fore-winde and gale of Fortune blowing at the poupe and hastening them forward Trophees upon trophees by them were erected one triumph met with another continually the former bloud upon the weapons not yet cooled but still warme was washed away by new bloudshed comming upon it they reckoned and numbered their victories not
by the multitude of enemies slaine and heapes of spoiles but counted them by realmes subdued by nations conquered and brought to subjection by isles and firme lands of the continent reduced into servitude and bondage and all to augment the greatnesse of their empire In one battell king Philip was chased out of Macedonia one blow and one conflict caused Antiochus to abandon and forgoe Asia by one defaiture the Carthaginians lost Lybia one man alone in one expedition and by the power of one armie conquered unto them Armenia the kingdome of Pontus the sea Euximus Syria Arabia the Albanians the Iberians all the nations even as farre as the mountaine Caucasus and the Hircanians yea and the very ocean sea which environeth the world round about saw the same man thrise victor and conquerour the Nomades in Affricke he repressed and vanquished even to the coasts of the south sea he subdued Spaine which revolted and rebelled with Sertorius as far as to the atlantike sea the kings of the Albanians he pursued never left the chase until he had driven them to the Caspian sea Al these brave exploits and glorious conquests he atchieved so long as he used the publique Fortune of the citie but afterwards he was overthrowen and came to ruine by his owne private desires Now that great Daemon and tutelar god of the Romans did not second them for a day as it were and no more neither in a short time did his best and came to the height and vigor of his gracious favour as that of the Macedonians nor gave them his assistance upon the land onely as he who was the patron of the Lacedemonians or at sea alone as the Athenians god ne yet was long ere he would stirre as he whom the Colophonians trusted upon no nor gave over quickly as the Persians patron did but even from the very nativitie and foundation of the citie it began it grow up waxed and went forward as it did it managed the government of it it continued firme and sure with it by land by sea in warre in peace against Barbarians and against the Greeks He it was that when Anniball the Carthaginian overspred all Italy in manner of a land 〈◊〉 or violent brooke wrought it so that partly through envie and in part through the malice of his spightfull fellow-citizens no succours and supplies were sent to feed and mainteine him and so by that meanes wasted spent and consumed him to nothing in the end he it was that dispersed and kept the armies and forces of the Cimbrians Teutonians a great way and a long time asunder so as they could not meet to the end that Marius might be furnished and provided sufficiently to fight with them and to defait them both one after another hee empeached the joining together of three hundred thousand sighting men at one time all invincible soldiers and appointed with armes insuperable that they might not invade and over-runne all Italy For this cause and by the meanes of this protector Antiochus sat still and stirred not to aid Philip all the whiles that the Romans made sharpe warre upon him likewise when Antiochus was in distresse and danger of his whole estate Philip being discomfited before durst not hold up his head and died the while he and none but he procured that whiles the Marsians warre set all Rome and Italy on a light fire the Sarmatian and Bastarnianwarre held king Mithridates occupied Finally through his procurement king Tigranes when Mithridates flourished and was in his ruffe most puissant upon suspition envie and distrust would not joine with him and afterwards when the said Mithridates had an overthrow combined and banded with him that in the end he might also lose his life and perish with him for company What! in the greatest distresses and calamities that lay heavie upon the citie was it not the Romane Fortune that redressed all and set it upright againe As for example When as the Gaules were encamped round about the mount Capitoll and held the castle besieged A plague she sent the souldiers soone fell sicke Throughout their host whereof they died thicke Fortune also it was meere chance that revealed their comming in the night gave advertisement thereof when no man in the world either knew or doubted thereof and peradventure it would not be impertinent and besides the purpose in this place to discourse of it more at large After the great discomfiture and overthrow that the Romans received neere the river Allia as many as could save themselves by good foot-manship when they were come to Rome filled the whole citie with a fright and trouble insomuch as the people woonderfully amazed with this fearefull newes fledde scattering heere and there excepting onely a few who put themselves within the castle of the Capitoll resolved to keepe that piece and abide the extremitie of the siege others who escaped after that unfortunate battell and defeiture assembled themselves immediately in the citie Veii and chose for their dictator Furius Camillus a man whō the people proud insolent upon their long prosperitie had before time rejected and sent away into banishment condemning him for robbing the common treasure but then being humbled by his affliction and brought to a low ebbe called him backe againe after that discomfiture committing and putting into his hands the absolute power and soveraigne authoritie but to the end it might not be thought that it was by the occasion of the iniquitie and infortunity of the time and not according to order of law that the man excepted of this high magistracie and that in a desperate state of the citie without all hope that ever it should rise againe he was elected by the tumultuary suffrages of a broken armie dispersed and wandring heere and there his will was that the senators of Rome who had retired themselves within the Capitoll aforesaid should be made acquainted and advertised thereof and that by their uniforme consent they might approove and confirme that election of him which the souldiors and men of warre had decreed Now among the others there was one named Caius Pontius a valiant and hardy man who undertooke and promised in his owne person to goe and carry the newes of that which had beene determined unto those who abode within the Capitol and verily he enterprized a thing exceeding dangerous for that hee was to passe through the middes of the enemies who then invested the Capitoll with trenches and a strong corps-de-guard when he was come to the river side by night he fastened just under his brest certeine broad pieces of plates of corke and so committing his body to the lightnesse of such a barge hee bare himselfe thereupon and hulled with the course of the water which was so good and favourable unto him that it carried him over and set him gently upon the banke on the other side of the river without any danger at all where he was no sooner landed but hee went directly
thus much of the reasons and allegations of my father for his plea. But Timon my brother on the contrary side answered That he was not wiser than sage Bias and considering that he refused alwaies to be arbitratour or umpire betweene two of his owne friends though they requested him why should himselfe become a judge at once among so many kinsefolke and friends yea and other persons besides especially where the question is not about money and goods but as touching preeminence and superiority as if he had sent for them all not to be merry and make good cheere but to disquiet them and set them out one with another who were good friends before For if quoth he Menelaus in olde time committed one great absurdity insomuch as there grew upon it a proverbe and by-word in that he intruded himselfe unsent for into the counsell of Agamemnon far greater reason there is that he should be thought more absurd who constituteth and maketh himselfe of a courteous host and civill master of a feast an austere judge and precise censurer of those that require no such matter nor willingly desire that one should determine and judge of them who is the better man or the worse seeing they are not cited peremptorily to a judiciall court for triall of a controversie but invited friendly to a good supper for to mak merry Over and besides no easie matter it is to make distinction aright for that some go before in age others in degree of kinred and linage and therefore he that should take such a taske or charge in hand ought evermore to be studying upon the degrees of comparison or els of the argument in logicke A comparatis that is to say drawen from comparison and to have alwaies in his hand either the Topiques of Aristotle or els the Precedences of Thrasymachus a booke which he entituleth Hyperbollontes wherein a man should doe no good at all but contrariwise much harme by transferring the vain-glorie about higher place from judiciall courts common halles and theaters to sitting at feasts and when he hath endevored to abate and represse other passions of the soule by good fellowship and company keeping now stirre up and set on foot pride and arrogance of which in mine advice we ought to studie more for to cleanse out soules than to wash and scoure away the dirt and silth from our feet to the end that wee may converse familiarly and fellowlike at the table with all mirth and singlenesse of heart But now when we goe about and do what we can with one hand to take away from our guests all rancor and enmitie bred either upon anger or some worldly affaires that they have had together in making them eat at one table and drinke one to another wee doe as much as lies in us with the other hand to fret an old sore and kindle a new fire of grudge and malice by ambition in debasing one and exalting another but if withall according to the preference which wee have made in the placing of them we take the cuppe also and drinke oftner or set better meat and daintier dishes to some than to others if I say we make more of this man than of that cheere one up and speake unto him after a more familiar manner than to another surely in stead of a feast of friends and familiars it will be a stately assembly altogether of lords and potentates But if in all things else we are carefull and precise in our feasts to observe and maintaine equalitie of persons why beginne we not at the first in the placing of our guests to accustome and acquaint them for to range themselves and take their seats simply and familiarly one with another considering at the first entrance into the hall or great chamber they see that they were nor summoned aristocratically to a senate house of lords and great States but invited democratically and after a popular manner to supper where the poorest may take his place with the richest like as in the state of a citie and common-wealth called Democratie After these opposite reasons were alledged and that all the company there present demaunded my sentence I said That taking my selfe chosen as an arbitrator and not as a judge I would deale indifferently and with an equall hand in the middle betweene both As for those quoth I who feast yoong men their equals all friends and of familiar acquaintance they ought to accustome them as Timon saith to carie themselves so void of pride and arrogance that they may take contentment in any place whatsoever that falleth out unto them and to think this facilitie singlenesse of heart to be a singular meanes and provision for the feeding and nourishing of amity but in case the question be of enterteining strangers or worshipfull personages of high calling great place in common-weale or of elder persons I feare me that as wee shut out at one dore in the forefront pride and arrogance so we let it in at another backe-gate behinde by our indifference and making no distinction Heerein therefore we ought to give somewhat unto use and custome or else we must altogether forbeare all manner of cheering up drinking to and saluting of our guests which fashions we use not without judgement and discretion hand over head to such as we meet with or see first but with as great regard and respect as we can honoring them according to their woorth and qualitie With highest place with viands of the best With most cups full and those not of the lest as said Agamemnon that great king of the Greeks putting as you see the seat in the first and cheefe place of honor We commend also king Alcinous for that he placed the stranger who came in next unto himselfe And caus'd his sonne Laodama a gallant for that guest To rise who close to father sat and whom he loved best For to displace a best beloved sonne and in his roome to set an humble suppliant was a singugular example of rare courtesie and humanitie And verily the gods themselves doe observe this distinction of place and of sitting for Neptune although he came last into the assemblie of the gods in counsell Yet tooke his owne place for all that And in the mids of them he sat as being the seat which of right apperteined unto him And Minerva seemeth alwaies to chalenge as proper and peculiar to her above all others the very next place to Jupiter which the poet Homer doth after a sort covertly insinuate unto us speaking of dame Thetis in this maner By Jupiter she sat of speciall grace And favour For Minerva gave her place But Pindarus signifieth as much in expresse tearmes when he saith To lightning next that flasheth fire Sat Pallas close unto her sire Howbeit Timon said That we ought not to take from others for to gratifie and pleasure one and take he doth away who maketh that vulgar and common which by right is proper proper
no insolencie some delight or disport profitable and procure laughter not accompanied with wanton reproofe and scornefull reproch but such as carieth a grace and pleasure with it for this is it wherein most part of feasts suffer shipwracke namely when they are misgoverned or not ordered as they ought to be But the part it is of a wise and prudent man to know how to avoid enmity and anger in the market-place gotten by avarice in the publicke halles of bodily exercises by contention and emulation in bearing offices and suing for them by ambition and vain-glory and last of all in feasts and banquets by such plaies and pastimes THE FIFTH QUESTION What is meant by this common proverbe Love teacheth musicke and poetrie THe question was mooved one day in Sossius Sesnerius house after certeine verses of Sappho were chanted how this saying of Euripides should be understood Love teacheth musicke marke when you will Tough one before thereof had no skill considering that the poet Philoxenus reporteth how Cyclops Polyphemus the giant cured his love by the sweet tongued muses Whereupon it was alledged that Love is of great power to moove a man for to be bold hardy and adventurous yea and ministreth a readinesse to attempt all novelties according as Plato named it the enterpriser of all things for it maketh him talkative and full of words who before was silent it causeth the bashfull and modest person to court it and put himselfe forward in all maner of service it is the meanes that an idle carelesse lubber and a negligent becommeth diligent and industrious and that which a man would most marvell at a miching hard-head and mechanicall penifather if he fall once to love doth relent and waxe soft as iron in the fire and so prooveth more liberall courteous and kinde than ever before so that this pleasant and merry proverbe seemeth not to be altogether ridiculous impertinent namely that Loves purse is tied knit up with a leeke or porret blade Moreover it was there spoken That Love resembled drunkennesse for that the one aswell as the other doth set folke in a heat it maketh them cheerfull merry and jocund and when as men be come once to that they fall soone to sing to rime and make verses And it is said that the poet Aeschylus composed his tragedies when he had well drunken and was heat with wine I had a grandfather also my selfe named Lamprias who seemed alwaies more learned witty and fuller of inventions yea and to surpasse himselfe in that kinde when he had taken his cups liberally and he was wont to say That at such a time he was like unto incense which being set on fire rendereth the sweet odour that it hath Moreover they that take exceeding great pleasure to see their loves are no lesse affected with joy when they do praise them than in looking upon them for love as it is in every thing a great pratler and full of words so especially and most of all in praises insomuch as lovers would willingly perswade others to that wherein they are themselves perswaded first namely that they love nothing but that which is perfect in goodnesse and beautie and others they would have to be witnesses with them of it This was it that induced the Lydian king Candaules to draw and traine Giges into his bed-chamber for to see the beautie of his wife naked for why such are willing to have the restimonie of others Loe what the reason is that if they write the praises of that which they love they embelish and adorne the same with verses songs and meeter like as images with golde to the end that the said praises might be heard more willingly and remembred better by more people for if they bestow a fighting-cocke an horse or any other thing whatsoever upon those whom they love their minde is principally that this their present should be faire and beautifull in it selfe afterwards that it be most gallantly and in best maner set out but above all in case they be disposed to flatter them in words or writings their chiefe care is that the same run roundly and pleasantly that they be also glorious and beautified with fine figures such as is ordinarily the stile of poets Then Sossius approving well of these reasons said moreover That it were well if some would take in hand to draw and gather arguments out of that which Theophrastus left in writing as touching musicke For long it is not quoth he since I read over that booke wherein he delivereth thus much after a divine maner That three principall causes or roots there be of musicke to wit paine or griefe pleasure or joy and the ravishment of the spirit of which three every one doth bend and turne the voice a little out of the ordinary tune for griefs and sorrowes usually bring with them moanes and plaints which quickly run into song which is the reason that we see oratours in the perorations or conclusions of their speeches the actours also in tragedies when they come to make their dolefull lamentations bring their voices downe gently to a kinde of melodie and by little and little tune them as it were thereto Also the great and vehement joies of the minde do lift up all the body of them especially who are any thing lightsome by nature yea and provoke the same to leape skip and clappe their hands observing a kinde of motion according to number and measure if they can not dance And otherwise in furious sort Like frantike folke they do disport They shake they wag they set out throat And send out many a foolish note according as Pindarus saith But in case they be somewhat more grave and staied than others when they finde themselves moved with such a passion of joy they let their voice onely go at liberty speaking aloud and singing sonnets But above all the ravishment of the spirit or that divine inspiration which is called Enthusiasmus casteth bodie mind voice and all far beyond the ordinary habit which is the cause that the furious and raging priests of Bacchus called Bacchae use rime meeter those also who by a propheticall spirit give answeres by oracle deliver the same in verse and few persons shall a man see starke mad but among their raving speeches they sing and say some verses This being so if you would now display love and view it well being unfolded and laied open abroad hardly shall you meet with another passion which hath either sharper dolours or joies more violent or greater exstasies and ravishments of the spirit lying as it were in a trance so that a man may discover in amorous persons a soule much like unto that city which Sophocles describeth Full of songs and incense sweet Of sighs and groanes in every street No marvell is it therefore nor a strange thing if love conteining comprehending in it selfe all those primitive causes of musicke to wit dolour joy and ravishment of spirit be
in great capitall letters Why quoth he a man may see this if hee were starke blinde and had never an eie in his head but Theocritus of Chios his prisoner he put to death for that when one to comfort him came and said That if the kings eies once had a sight of him he should be pardoned and save his life Why then quoth he God have mercie upon me for impossible it is for me to escape death which he said because king Antigonus had but one eie Leo the Bizantine when Pasiades objected unto him his bleered eies saying Mine eies before with looking upon yours Goe to quoth he you twit and reproch me for a bodily infirmity that I have and never looke your selfe upon a sonne of your owne who carrieth the vengeance of God upon his shoulders now this Pasiades had a sonne who was crumpt-shouldred and bunch-backed Likewise Archippus who in his time bare a great sway in Athens as being one of the oratours who led the people and ruled the State was very angry with Melanthius who alluding to his bunch backe and scoffing thereat used these tearmes That he did not stand manfully upright in the defence of the citie but stouped and bended forward as if he had suffered it likewise to leane reele and sincke downward And yet some there be who can carrie these broad jests patienly and with good moderation as one of the minions of king Antigonus who having craved of him a talent in free gift and seeing that he was denied it required at the kings hands that he would allow him a good strong guard to accompanie him For feare quoth he that I be forlaied by the way and risled by him who enjoined me to carrie a talent of silver at my backe See how men are diversly affected in these externall things by reason of the inequallitie of their maimes some after one sort and some after another Epaminondas sitting at a feast with his companions and colleagues in government dranke wine as sharpe as vineger and when they asked him why he did so and whether it made for his health I know not that quoth he but well I wot this that good it is to put mee in minde of my home diet And therefore in casting out of jests and pleasant taunts regard would be had of mens natures and dispositions for that some have broader backs to beare scoffes than others and endevour we must so to converse with men both in bourd and in earnest that wee offend no person but be acceptable unto all As for love a passion very divers it is and passing variable as in all other things so in jests and gibes especially for that some will take offence and be soone angry others will be merrie and laugh it out if they be touched in that point and therefore above all things the opportunitie of the time would be well observed for like as when a fire is newly kindled and but weake at the first the winde will put it quite out but when it hath gotten strength and burneth foorth it mainteineth feedeth and augmenteth the flame even so love when it is a breeding and whiles it lieth secret and sheweth not it selfe quickly taketh displeasure and offence against those that discover it but when it is once broken foorth and is made apparent and knowen to all then nourished it is and taketh delight to be blowen as it were and enflamed more with scoffes and merry jestes and that which pleaseth lovers best is this when they be jested with in the presence of those whom they love and namely in love matters otherwise not and if the case stand so that they be woonderfully enamoured upon their owne wedded wives or yoong laddes by the way of honest and vertuous love then they joy exceedingly they glory and take a pride in being scoffed at for the love of them Heereupon Arcesilaus being upon a time in his schoole when one of these professed lovers and amorous persons chaunced in communication to give him these words Me thinks this that you have said toucheth none of this companie replied thus and said No more than you are touched and mooved and withall shewed him a faire and well favoured youth in the prime of his yeeres sitting by him Furthermore good regard and consideration would be had who they be that are present and in place for otherwhiles men are disposed to take up a laughter at merry words which they heare among friends and familiars who would not take it well but be offended thereat if the same were delivered before wife father or schoole-master unlesse it were some thing that agreed very well with their humour as for example if one should mocke a companion of his before a philosopher for going bare-footed or sitting up at his booke all night long studying and writing or in the presence of his father for being thristie and spending little or in the hearing of his owne wife that he cannot skill of courting and loving other dames but is altogether devoted and serviceable unto her alone thus Tigranes in Xenophon was mocked by Cyrus in these tearmes What and if your wife should heare say that you made a page of your selfe and caried your bedding and other stuffe upon your owne necke She shall not quoth he heare it but be an eie witnesse thereof and see it in her presence Furthermore when they who give out such merrie taunts as these be partakers therein and in some sort doe include themselves withall lesse blame-woorthy they are and nothing so much to be reproved as for example when a poore man glaunceth against povertie or a new upstart and gentleman of the first head against meane parentage or an amorous person girdeth at the wantonnesse of another lover for it may seeme thereby that there was no meaning and intent to offend or offer wrong but that all was merrily spoken seeing they participate in the like defects for otherwise it might nippe very much and go too neere to the quicke Thus one of the affranchised or freed men of the emperour growen up on a sudden to be exceeding rich bare himselfe very proud and disdainfull to certeine philosophers who sat at the table and supped together with him insulting very insolently over them and in the end comming out with this foolish question How it came to passe that the broth or pottage made of beanes whether they were blacke or white looked greene alike Aridices one of the philosophers there in place asked him presently againe what the reason was that the wales or marks of stripes and lashes were all red indifferently whether the whippes were made of white or blacke leather thongs at which reply the other was so dashed and disquieted that he rose from the boord in a pelting chafe and would not tarie But Amphias of Tarsis supposed to be no better than a gardiners sonne having by way of scorn scoffed at one of the familiar friends of the lord deputie there for his meane
excesse in unmeasurable curtesie and humanitie when it cannot omit nor leave out any of those with whom a man heeretofore hath feasted or made merrie but draweth all of them as if the case were to goe for to see a plaie behold solemne sights or to heare musicke and for mine owne part I thinke that the good man of the house or master of a feast is not so much woorthy to be blamed or laughed at for being at a fault of bread or drinke for his guests as when hee hath not roome enough to place them of which he ought to make provision with the largest not onely for those who are formally invited but also for commers in and such as bid themselves for strangers also that passe by moreover if there chaunce to be some want of bread or wine the fault may be laid upon the servants as if they had made it away or plaied the theeves but if there be no roome left it cannot chuse but be imputed to the negligence and indiscretion of him who invited the guests Hesiodus is woonderfully much commended for writing thus At first no doubt it was so cast That there might be a Chaos vast For in the beginning of the world requisit is was that there should bee a void place for to receive and comprehend all those things that were to be created Not quoth hee as my sonne yesterday made a supper according to that which Anaxagaras said All things were hudled and jumbled together pell-mell confusedly and admit that there bee place and roome enough yea and provision of meat sufficient yet neverthelesse a multitude would be avoided as a thing that bringeth confusion and which maketh a societie unsociable and a meeting unmeet and not affable certes lesse harme it were and more tolerable a great deale to take from them who are bidden to our table their wine than their communication and felowship of talk and therefore Theophrastus called merrily barbars shops dry banquets without wine for the good talke that is betweene a number of persons sitting there one by another but they who bring a sort together into one place thrumbling them one upon another deprive them of all conference and discoursing reciprocally or rather indeed they bring it so to passe that but verie few can commune converse together for by that meanes they sort themselves apart two by two or three by three for to have some talke as for those who are set farder of hardly they can not discerne no nor know them being distant and remooved a sunder as a man would say the length of an horse race Some where Achilles tents are pight close for to make their stay And some where Ajax quarter is as farre another way Thus you shall see how some rich men heereby otherwhiles shew their foolish magnificence to no purpose in building halles and dyning chambers conteining thirtie tables a piece in them yea and some of greater capacitie than so and verily this manner of preparation for to make suppers and dinners is for folke that have no amitie nor societie one with another when there is more need of some provost of a field to marshal thē than an vsher of an hall to see good order among them but these men may in some sort well bee pardoned for doing so because they thinke their riches no riches but that it is blinde deafe lame also or shut up that it cannot get forth unlesse it have a number of witnesses like as a tragedie many spectators but as for us this remedie we have of not assembling so many at once together namely to bidde often and to make divers suppers to invite I say our friends and well-willers at sundrie times by few at once and so by this meanes wee may make amends for all and bring both ends together for they that feast but seldome and as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say by the cart loades are forced to put in the roll all those that any way belong unto them either by kinred friendship or acquaintance whatsoever whereas they who ordinarily picke out three or sower at a time and doe so oft make their feasts as it were little barks to discharge their great hulkes and the same to goe light and nimble moreover when a man considereth continually with himselfe the cause why he inviteth his friends it maketh him to observe a difference and choise in that great multitude of them for like as for every occasion businesse that we have we assemble not all sorts of people but such onely as be meet for ech purpose for if we should have need of good counsell we call for those who be wise if we would have a matter pleaded we send for eloquent oratours if a voiage or journey performed wee seeke for such as will take up with short meales and who have little else to doe and be best at leisure even so in our invitations and feasts we must have regard ever and anon to chuse those who are meet and will sort well together meet men I call these for example sake if he be a prince or great potentate whō we invite to supper the fittest persons to beare him company be the head officers the magistrates and principall men of the citie especially if they be friends or already acquainted if we make a marriage supper or a feast for the birth of a childe those would be bidden who are of kindred and affinitie and in one word as many as are linked together by the bond of Jupiter Homoginos that is to say the protectour of consanguinitie and in all these feasts and solemnities we ought evermore to have a carefull eie to bring them together who are friends or well willers one to another for when we sacrifice unto some one god we make not our praiers to all others although they be worshipped in the same temples upon the same altars but if there be three cups or boules brought full unto us we powre libations out of the first to some the second we offer to others and the last we bestow likewise upon a third sort for there is no envie abideth in the quire ordaunce of the gods semblably the daunce and quire of friends is divine in some sort if so be a man know how to distribute and deale his courtesie and kindnesse decently among them and as it were to goe round about with them all THE SIXTH QUESTION What is the cause that guests at the beginning of a supper sit close together at the table but afterwards more at libertie THese words thus passed and then immediately a new question was mooved namely What the cause might be that men commonly at the beginning of dinner or supper sit at the table very streight and close but toward the end more at large whereas it should seeme by all reason that they should doe cleane contrary for that then their bellies be full Some of the company attributed this unto the forme and positure
sacrifice invited to the feast and after we had performed all ceremonies and complements therto belonging and were set at the table some question there was moved first as touching the vocable it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it should signifie and afterwards of the words uttered unto the slave when he is driven out but most of all of that maladie so called and of the accidents and circumstances thereof As for the tearme Bulimos every man in maner was of opinion that it betokened a great and publike famine but especially we Greeks of Aeolia who in our dialect use the letter π for β for we commonly do not say Bulimos but Pulimos as if it were Polylimos or Polilimos that is to say a great famine or a generall famine thorowout the citie and it seemed unto us that 〈◊〉 was another thing different from it and namely by a sound argument which we had from the Chronicles penned by Metrodorus as touching the acts of Ionia wherein thus much he writeth That the Smyrneans who in old time were Aeolians use to sacrifice unto Bubrostis a blackebull as an holocaust or burnt offering which they cut into pieces with the hide and so burne it all together But forasmuch as all maner of hunger resembleth a maladie and principally this called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which commeth upon a man when his bodie is affected with some unkind and unnaturall indisposition it seemeth that by great reason as they oppose wealth to povertie so they set health against sicknesse like as the heaving and overturning of the stomacke a disease when as men are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tooke that name first upon occasion of those who are in a ship when they saile or row fal to be stomack sicke and are apt to cast but afterwards by custome of speech whosoever feele the like passion of the stomacke and a disposition to vomit are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to saie to be sea sicke even so the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the noune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the beginning as is before said there is come unto us and signifieth a dogs-appetite or extraordinary hunger And to this purpose wee all spake and made a contribution as it were of all our reasons to make out a common supper or collation but when we came to touch the cause of this disease the first doubt that arose among us was this that they should most be surprized with this maladie who travell in great snowes like as Brutus did of late daies who when he marched with his army from Dyrrhachium to Apollonia was in danger of his life by occasion of this infirmitie it was a time when the snowe lay very deepe in which march he went such a pace that none of those who had the carriage of victuals overtooke him or came neere unto him now when as he fainted so for feeblenesse of stomacke that he now swooned and was ready to give up the ghost the souldiers were forced to runne in haste unto the walles of the city and to call for a loafe of bread unto their very enemies warding and keeping the watch upon the walles which when they had presently gotten therewith they recovered Brutus whereupon afterwards when he was master of the towne hee grievously intreated all the inhabitants for the courtesie which he had received from thence This disease hapneth likewise to horses and asses especially when they have either figges or apples a load but that which of all the rest is most woonderfull there is no manner of food or sustenance in the world that in such a case so soone recovereth the strength not of men onely but of labouring beasts also as to give them bread so that if they eat a morsell thereof bee it never so little they will presently finde their feet and be able to walke Hereupon ensued silence for a while and then I knowing well enough how much the arguments of ancient writers are able to content and satisfie such as are but dull and slow of conceit but contrary wise unto those that be studious ripe of wit and diligent the same make an overture and give courage and heart to search and inquire further into the truth called to minde and delivered before them all a sentence out of Aristotle who affirmeth That the stronger the cold is without the more is the heat within our bodies and so consequently causeth the greater colliquation of the humours in the interior parts Now if these humours thus resolved take a course unto the legges they cause lassitudes and heavinesse if the rheume fall upon the principall fountaines and organs of motion and respiration it bringeth faintings and feeblenesse I had no sooner said but as it is wont in such cases to fall out some tooke in hand to oppugne these reasons and others againe to defend and mainteine the same and Soclarus for his part The words quoth he in the beginning of your speech were very well placed and the ground surely laid for in truth the bodies of those who walke in snow are evidently cold without and exceedingly closed fast and knit together but that the inward heat occasioned thereby should make such a colliquation of humors and that the same should possesse and seize upon the principall parts and instruments of respiration is a bold and rash conceit and I cannot see how it should stand Yet rather would I thinke that the heat being thus kept in and united together and so by that meanes fortified consumeth all the nourishment which being spent it cannot chuse but the said heat also must needs languish even as a fire without fewell and heereupon it is that such have an exceeding hunger upon them and when they have eaten never so little they come presently to themselves againe for that food is the maintenance of naturall heat Then Cleomenes the physician This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say hunger quoth hee in the compound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth nothing else but is crept into the composition of it I know not how without any reason at all like as in the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which betokeneth to devoure or swallow downe solid meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to drinke hath no sense or congruitie at all no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to bend downward or fall groveling hath any thing to doe in the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth to rise aloft or to hold up the head as birds doe in drinking for surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemeth not unto me to be any hunger as many have taken it but it is a passion of the stomacke which concurring indeed with hunger engendreth a fainting of the heart and an aptnesse to swoone and even as odors and smels doe fetch againe and helpe those that be in a swoone so bread doth remedie and recover those
to saie with eight and twentie bases likewise in pyramidals and cubes unlesse there had been some worke-man to limit ordeine and dispose every thing Geometrically thus a limit or terme being given unto that which was infinit all things in this universall world composed ordered and contempered accordingly in excellent manner were first and made and are made now every day notwithstanding the said matter striveth and laboureth daily to returne unto her infinit estate as very loth and refusing to be thus geometrized that is to say reduced to some finit and determinate limits whereas reason on the contrariside restreineth and comprehendeth her distributing her into divers Ideaes from which all things which are ingendred take their generation and constitution He had no sooner thus said but he requested me to contribute somewhat also of mine owne unto this discourse and question in hand but I for my part commended highly their opinions thus delivered as being naturally and directly devised by themselves and their owne proper inventions saying withall That they caried with them sufficient probabilitie But for that quoth I you should not be displeased and offended with your selves nor altogether have your eie abroad and looke unto others listen and heare what meaning and interpretation of the said sentence was most approoved unto our masters and teachers for there is among the propositions or positions rather and theoremes geometricall one above the rest to wit When two formes or figures are given and put downe to set a third thereto equall to the one and semblable to the other for the invention whereof it is said that Pythagoras sacrificed unto the gods for this Theoreon without all doubt is more gallant witty and learned than that by which he did demonstrate and proove that the slope line Hypotinusa availeth as much as the two laterales which make a right angle in a triangle Well said of you quoth Diogenianus but what serveth this for the matter now in question You shall understand soone quoth I in case you will call to memory that division in Timaeus whereas the philosopher made a tripartite distribution of those principles whereby the world had the beginning of generation of which the one he called by a most just name God the second Matter and the third Forme or Idea So the matter of all subject things is most disordinate the Idea of all mouldes and patterns most beautifull but God of all causes simply the best Thus would not he admit or leave any thing as farre foorth as possibly might otherwise be infinit and undeterminate but adorne nature with proportion measure and number making of all subjects one thing in quantity equall to the matter in quality semblable to the forme setting therefore before him this proposition having already twain a third to it he made doth make and preserve for ever equal to the matter semblable to the forme to wit the world which being alwaies in regard of that inbred necessitie of a bodie subject to generation alteration all kinds of passion is aided and succoured by the creatour and father thereof who determineth the substance by reason of just proportion according to the image of the patron whereby the pourprise and circuit of this universall world is more beautifull being thus vast and great than if it had beene lesse and competent THE THIRD QUESTION What is the reason that the night is more resonant or resounding than the day AS we sat at supper one evening in Athens with Ammonius we heard a great tumult noise which rang all the house over of people in the street without crying aloud Captaine captaine now was Ammonius then the third time praetor or captaine of the citie Hee sent foorth immediately some of his men about him to see what the matter was who presently appeased the hurry and dismissed those who had raised this outcry upon which occasion wee in the meane while entred into question Why those who are within house heare them very well that cry without but they that are abroad heare not so easily those within crying as loud Ammonius incontinently made answer and said that this question had already beene solved by Aristotle in this wise For that the voice of those within being once gotten foorth and flowen into a wide place of much aire vanisheth away and is dissipated immediately whereas the voice of them without when it is entred in doth not the like but is reteined and kept close and so by consequence more easie to be heard But there is another thing quoth hee which requireth rather to have a reason rendred thereof namely Why in the night season all voices doe resound greater than in the day time and besides the greatnesse are more cleere distinct articulate audible For mine owne part quoth he I am of this minde that the divine providence hath in great wisedome ordeined that our hearing should be more fresh and quicke when as our sight serveth us in little or no stead at all for seeing that the aire of the night which accorcording to Empedocles Wandreth alone and solitary And doth blind eies about her cary is obscure and darke looke how much defect it maketh in our sight so much it supplieth and requiteth in our eares but for that of things also which necessarily are done by nature the causes ought to be sought out and the proper peculiar office of a philosopher and naturalist is to busie himselfe in seeking after the materiall causes instrumentall principles which of all you will first come forth with some probable reason as touching this matter whereupon there being some pause silence for a time Boethus said thus When I was my selfe a yong man and a student I made use otherwhiles of those principles which are in Geometrie called Positions and certeine propositions I supposed as undoubted truthes without any need of demonstration but now will I use some of those which heeretofore have beene prooved by Epicurus as for example Those things which be are caried in that which is not nor hath any being for much vacuitie or voidnesse there is stored as it were and intermingled among those atomes or indivisible little bodies of the aire which when it is spred abroad in spacious capacitie and by reason of the raritie and thinnesse thereof runneth too and fro round about there be a number of small void and emptie places among those little motes or parcels scattered here and there and taking up the whole region but contrariwise when they are pent in and a restreint and compression made of them being thrust together into a little space these small bodies being hudled perforce one upon another leave a large voide space to vague and range abroad and this doth the night by reason of cold for heat doth loosen disgregate scatter and dissolve all thicke things which is the reason why those bodies which either boile thaw or melt occupie more roome contrariwise such which gather congeale and bee frozen come
and daintie feeding which without any just or lawfull cause troubleth disquieteth the seas and descendeth into the very bottome of the deepe for we have no reason at any time to call the red sea-barbell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say corne devourer nor the guilt-head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say vine waster or grape eater nor yet any mullets lubins or sea-pikes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say seed gatherers as we name divers land beasts noting them thereby for the harme and annoiance they doe unto us neither can we impute unto the greatest fish in the sea the least wrong or shrewd turne wherewith wee charge in our exceeding neerenesse and parsimonie some cat or wezill a mouse or rat which haunt our houses in which regard they precisely contemning themselves not for feare of law onely to doe wrong unto men but also by the very instinct of nature to offer no injurie unto any thing in the world that doth them no harme nor displeasure used to feed on fish lesse than on any other meat admit there were no injustice in the thing all busie curiositie of men in this point being so needlesse as it is bewraieth great intemperance and wastfull gluttony and therefore Homer in his poeme deviseth this that not onely the Greeks encamping upon the streight of Hellespont absteined wholy from eating fish but also that the delicate and daintie toothed Phaeacians the wanton and licorous woers likewise of lady Penelope dissolute though they were otherwise and all islanders were never served at their tables with any viands or cates from the sea no nor the companions of Ulysses in that grear and long voiage of theirs which they had at sea ever laid hooke leape or wee le or cast net into the sea for fish so long as they had a bit of bread or handfull of meale left But when their ship had vittailes none But all therein was spent and gone even a little before that they laid hands upon the kowes of the sunne then began they to fish not iwis for any deintie dishes but even for necessary food With bended hookes for now their maw Great hunger bit and guts did gnaw So that for extreme need they were forced to eat fish and to kill the sunnes kine whereby wee may perceive that it was a point of sanctimonie and chastitie not onely among the Aegyptians and Syrians but the Greeks also to forbeare feeding upon fish for that beside the injustice of the thing they abhorred as I thinke the superfluous curiositie of such food Heereupon Nestor tooke occasion to speake And why quoth he is there no reckoning made of my countrey-men and fellow-citizens no more than of the Megarians and yet you have heard me to say often times that the priests of Neptune whom we call Hieromnemones never eat fish for this god is surnamed Phytalmios that is to say the President of breeding and generation in the sea and the race descending from that ancient Hellen sacrificed unto Neptune by the name and addition of Patrogeneios that is to say the stock-father and principall Progenitour being of opinion that man came of a moist and liquid substance as also be the Syrians which is the very cause that they worship and adore a fish as being of the same kinde generation and nouriture with themselves philosophizing and arguing in this point with more apparence and shew of reason than Anaximander did who affirmed not that men and fishes were bred both in the same places but avouched that men were first engendred within fishes themselves and there nourished like their yoong frie but afterward when they became sufficient and able to shift and helpe them they were cast foorth and so tooke land like as therefore the fire eateth the wood whereby it was kindled and set a burning though it were father and mother both unto it according as he said who inserted the marriage of Ceyx among the works of Hesiodus even so Anaximander in pronouncing that fish was both father and mother unto men taxeth and condemneth the feeding thereupon THE NINTH QUESTION Whether it be possible that new diseases may be engendred by our meats PHilo the physician constantly affirmed that the leprosie called Elephantiasis was a disease not knowen long since for that none of the ancient physicians made any mention of this maladie whereas they travelled and busied their braines to treat of other small trifling matters I wot not what and yet such subtilties as the common sort could hardly comprehend But I produced and alledged unto him for a witnesse out of philosophie Athenodorus who in the first booke of his Epidemiall or popular diseases writeth that not onely the said leprosie but also Hydrophobie that is to say the feare of water occasioned by the biting of a mad dogge were first discovered in the daies of Asclepiades now as the companie there present marvelled that these maladies should newly then begin and take their consistence in nature so they wondered as much on the other side how so great and grievous diseases could be hidden so long and unknowen to men howbeit the greater part inclined rather to this second later opinion as being more respective and favourable to man for that they could not be perswaded that nature in such cases should in mans bodie as it were in some citie studie novelties and be evermore inventing and working new matters As for Diogenianus he said that the passions and maladies of the soule held on their common course and went the accustomed way still of their predecessours And yet quoth he wickednesse is very manifold in sundry sorts and exceeding audacious to enterprise any thing and the mind is a mistresse of herselfe and at her owne command having puissance to turne and change easily as she thinketh good and yet that disordinate confusion of hers hath some order in it keeping a measure in her passions and conteining herselfe within certeine bounds like as the sea in the flowings and tides in such sort as that she bringeth forth no new kinde of vice such as hath not bene knowen unto those in olde time and of which they have not written for there being many different sorts of lusts and desires infinite motions of feare as many kinds of paine and no fewer formes of pleasure which would require great labour to reckon up and not to give over These neither now nor yesterday Began but all have liveday And no man knowes nor can say well Since when they first to men befell nor yet whereupon any new maladie or moderne passion hath arisen in our body considering it hath not of it selfe the beginning of motion properly as the soule hath but is knit and conjoined with nature by common causes and composed with a certeine temperature the infinite varietie whereof wandereth notwithstanding within the pourprise of set bounds and limits like unto a vessell which lying at anchor in the sea neverthelesse doth wave and
Macellus who after he had committed many outrages and robberies was with much ado in the end taken and punished and of his goods which were forfeit to the State there was built a publike shambles or market place to sell flesh-meats in which of his name was called Macellum 55 Why upon the Ides of Januarie the minstrels at Rome who plaied upon the haut boies were permitted to goe up and downe the city disguised in womens apparell A Rose this fashion upon that occasion which is reported namely that king Numa had granted unto them many immunities and honorable priviledges in his time for the great devotion that hee had in the service of the gods and for that afterwards the Tribunes militarie who governed the citie in Consular authority tooke the same from them they went their way discontented and departed quite from the citie of Rome but soone after the people had a misse of them and besides the priests made it a matter of conscience for that in all the sacrifices thorowout the citie there was no sound of flute or hautboies Now when they would not returne againe being sent for but made their abode in the citie Tibur there was a certeine afranchised bondslave who secretly undertooke unto the magistrates to finde some meanes for to fetch them home So he caused a sumptuous feast to be made as if he meant to celebrate some solemne sacrifice and invited to it the pipers and plaiers of the hautboies aforesaid and at this feast he tooke order there should be divers women also and all night long there was nothing but piping playing singing and dancing but all of a sudden this master of the feast caused a rumor to be raised that his lord and master was come to take him in the maner whereupon making semblant that he was much troubled and affrighted he perswaded the minstrels to mount with all speed into close coatches covered all over with skinnes and so to be carried to Tibur But this was a deceitfull practise of his for he caused the coatches to be turned about another way and unawares to them who partly for the darkenesse of the night and in part because they were drowsie and the wine in their heads tooke no heed of the way he brought all to Rome betimes in the morning by the breake of day disguised as they were many of them in light coloured gownes like women which for that they had over-watched and over-drunke themselves they had put on and knew not therof Then being by the magistrates overcome with faire words and reconciled againe to the citie they held ever after this custome every yeere upon such a day To go up and downe the citie thus foolishly disguised 56 What is the reason that it is commonly received that certein matrons of the city at the first founded and built the temple of Carmenta and to this day honour it highly with great reverence FOr it is said that upon a time the Senat had forbidden the dames and wives of the city to ride in coatches whereupon they tooke such a stomacke and were so despighteous that to be revenged of their husbands they conspired altogether not to conceive or be with child by them nor to bring them any more babes and in this minde they persisted still untill their husbands began to bethinke them selves better of the matter and let them have their will to ride in their coatches againe as before time and then they began to breed and beare children a fresh and those who soonest conceived and bare most and with greatest ease founded then the temple of Carmenta And as I suppose this Carmenta was the mother of Evander who came with him into Italy whose right name indeed was Themis or as some say Nicostrata now for that she rendred propheticall answeres and oracles in verse the Latins surnamed her Carmenta for verses in their tongue they call Carmina Others are of opinion that Carmenta was one of the Destinies which is the cause that such matrons and mothers sacrifice unto her And the Etymologic of this name Carmenta is as much as Carens mente that is to say beside her right wits or bestraught by reason that her senses were so ravished and transported so that her verses gave her not the name Carmenta but contrariwise her verses were called Carmina of her because when she was thus ravished and caried beside herselfe she chanted certeine oracles and prophesies in verse 57 What is the cause that the women who sacrifice unto the goddesse Rumina doe powre and cast store of milke upon their sacrifice but no wine at all do they bring thither for to be drunke IS it for that the Latins in their tongue call a pap Ruma And well it may so be for that the wilde figge tree neere unto which the she wolfe gave sucke with her teats unto Romulus was in that respect called Ficus Rumtnalis Like as therefore we name in our Greeke language those milch nourses that suckle yoong infants at their brests Thelona being a word derived of 〈◊〉 which signifieth a pap even so this goddesse Rumina which is as much to say as Nurse and one that taketh the care and charge of nourishing and rearing up of infants admitteth not in her sacrifices any wine for that it is hurtfull to the nouriture of little babes and sucklings 58 What is the reason that of the Romane Senatours some are called simply Patres others with an addition Patres conscripti IS it for that they first who were instituted and ordeined by Romulus were named Patres 〈◊〉 that is to say Gentlemen or Nobly borne such as we in Greece tearme Eupatrides Or rather they were so called because they could avouch and shew their fathers but such as were adjoined afterwards by way of supply and enrolled out of the Commoners houses were Patres conscripti thereupon 59 Wherefore was there one altar common to Hercules and the Muses MAy it not be for that Hercules taught Evander the letters according as Juba writeth Certes in those daies it was accounted an honourable office for men to teach their kinsefolke and friends to spell letters and to reade For a long time after it and but of late daies it was that they began to teach for hire and for money and the first that ever was knowen to keepe a publicke schoole for reading was one named Spurius Carbilius the freed servant of that Carbilius who first put away his wife 60 What is the reason that there being two altars dedicated unto Hercules women are not partakers of the greater nor tast one whit of that which is offered or sacrificed thereupon IS it because as the report goes Carmenta came not soone enough to be assistant unto the sacrifice no more did the family of the Pinarij whereupon they tooke that name for in regard that they came tardie admitted they were not to the feast with others who made good cheere and therefore got the name Pinarij as if one
would say pined or famished Or rather it may allude unto the tale that goeth of the shirt empoisoned with the blood of Nessus the Centaure which ladie Deianira gave unto Hercules 61 How commeth it to passe that it is expresly for bidden at Rome either to name or to demaund ought as touching the Tutelar god who hath in particular recommendation and patronage the safetie and preservation of the citie of Rome nor so much as to enquire whether the said deitie be male or female And verely this prohibition proceedeth from a superstitious feare that they have for that they say that Valerius Soranus died an ill death because he presumed to utter and publish so much IS it in regard of a certaine reason that some latin historians do alledge namely that there be certaine evocations and enchantings of the gods by spels and charmes through the power wherof they are of opinion that they might be able to call forth and draw away the Tutelar gods of their enemies and to cause them to come and dwell with them and therefore the Romans be afraid left they may do as much for them For like as in times past the Tyrians as we find upon record when their citie was besieged enchained the images of their gods to their shrines for feare they would abandon their citieand be gone and as others demanded pledges and fureties that they should come againe to their place whensoever they sent them to any bath to be washed or let them go to any expiation to be clensed even so the Romans thought that to be altogether unknowen and not once named was the best meanes and surest way to keepe with their Tutelar god Or rather as Homer verie well wrote The earth to men all is common great and small That thereby men should worship all the gods and honour the earth seeing she is common to them all even so the ancient Romans have concealed and suppresse the god or angell which hath the particular gard of their citie to the end that their citizens should adore not him alone but all others likewise 62 What is the cause that among those priests whom they name Faeciales signifying as much as in geeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Officers going between to make treatre of peace or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Agents for truce and leagues he whom they call Pater Patratus is esteemed the chiefest Now Pater Patratus is he whose father is yet living who hath children of his owne and in truth this chiefe Faecial or Herault hath still at this day a certain prerogative speciall credit above the rest For the emperours themselves and generall captains if they have any persons about them who in regard of the prime of youth or of their beautifull bodies had need of a faithfull diligent and trustie guard commit them ordinarily into the hands of such as these for safe custodie IS it not for that these Patres Patrati for reverent feare of their fathers of one side and for modest shames to scandalize or offend their children on the other side are enforced to be wise and discreet Or may it not be in regard of that cause which their verie denomination doth minister and declare for this word PATRATUS signifieth as much as compleat entire and accomplished as if he were one more perfect and absolute every way than the rest as being so happie as to have his owne father living and be a father also himselfe Or is it not for that the man who hath the superintendance of treaties of peace and of othes ought to see as Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say before and behind And in all reason such an one is he like to be who hath a child for whom and a father with whom he may consult 63 What is the reason that the officer at Rome called Rex sacrorum that is to say the king of sacrifices is debarred both from exercising any magistracie and also to make a speech unto the people in publike place IS it for that in old time the kings themselves in person performed the most part of sacred rites and those that were greater yea and together with the priests offered sacrifices but by reason that they grew insolent proud and arrogant so as they became intollcrable most of the Greeke nations deprived them of this authoritie and left unto them the preheminence onely to offer publike sacrifice unto the gods but the Romans having cleane chased and expelled their kings established in their stead another under officer whom they called King unto whom they granted the oversight and charge of sacrifices onely but permitted him not to exercise or execute any office of State nor to intermedle in publick affaires to the end it should be knowen to the whole world that they would not suffer any person to raigne at Rome but onely over the ceremonies of sacrifices nor endure the verie name of Roialtie but in respect of the gods And to this purpose upon the verie common place neere unto 〈◊〉 they use to have a solemn sacrifice for the good estate of the citie which so soone as ever this king hath performed he taketh his legs and runnes out of the place as fast as ever he can 64 Why suffer not they the table to be taken cleane away and voided quite but will have somewhat alwaies remaining upon it GIve they not heereby covertly to understand that wee ought of that which is present to reserve evermore something for the time to come and on this day to remember the morrow Or thought they it not a point of civill honesty and elegance to represse and keepe downe their appetite when they have before them enough still to content and satisfie it to the full for lesse will they desire that which they have not when they accustome themselves to absteine from that which they have Or is not this a custome of courtesie and humanitie to their domesticall servants who are not so well pleased to take their victuals simply as to partake the same supposing that by this meanes in some sort they doe participate with their masters at the table Or rather is it not because we ought to suffer no sacred thing to be emptie and the boord you wot well is held sacred 65 What is the reason that the Bridegrome commeth the first time to lie with his new wedded bride not with any light but in the darke IS it because he is yet abashed as taking her to be a stranger and not his owne before he hath companied carnally with her Or for that he would then acquaint himselfe to come even unto his owne espoused wife with shamefacednesse and modestie Or rather like as Solon in his Statutes ordeined that the new maried wife should eat of a quince before she enter into the bride bed-chamber to the end that this first encounter and embracing should not be odious or unpleasant to her husband
even so the Romane lawgiver would hide in the obscuritie of darkenesse the deformities and imperfections in the person of the bride if there were any Or haply this was instituted to shew how sinfull and damnable all unlawfull companie of man and woman together is seeing that which is lawfull and allowed is not without some blemish and note of shame 66 Why is one of the races where horses use to runne called the Cirque or Flaminius IS it for that in old time an ancient Romane named Flaminius gave unto the citie a certeine piece of ground they emploied the rent and revenues thereof in runnings of horses and chariots and for that there was a surplussage remaining of the said lands they bestowed the same in paving that high way or causey called Via Flaminia that is to say Flaminia street 67 Why are the Sergeants or officers who carie the knitches of rods before the magistrates of Rome called Lictores IS it because these were they who bound malefactors and who followed after Romulus as his guard with cords and leather thongs about them in their bosomes And verily the common people of Rome when they would say to binde or tie fast use the word Alligare and such as speake more pure and proper Latin Ligare Or is it for that now the letter C is interjected within this word which before time was Litores as one would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say officers of publike charge for no man there is in a maner ignorant that even at this day in many cities of Greece the common-wealth or publicke state is written in their lawes by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 68 Wherefore doe the Luperci at Rome sacrifice a Dogge Now these Luperci are certeine persons who upon a festivall day called Lupercalia runne through the citie all naked save that they have aprons onely before their privy parts carying leather whippes in their hands where with they flappe and scourge whom soever they meet in the streets IS all this ceremoniall action of theirs a purification of the citie whereupon they call the moneth wherein this is done Februarius yea and the very day it selfe Febraten like as the maner of squitching with a leather scourge Februare which verbe signifieth as much as to purge or purifie And verily the Greeks in maner all were wont in times past and so they continue even at this day in all their expiations to kill a dogge for sacrifice Unto Hecate also they bring foorth among other expiatorie oblations certeine little dogges or whelpes such also as have neede of clensing and purifying they wipe and scoure all over with whelpes skinnes which maner of purification they tearme Periscylacismos Or rather is it for that Lupus signifieth a woolfe Lupercalia or Lycaea is the feast of wolves now a dogge naturally being an enemie to woolves therefore at such feasts they facrificed a dogge Or peradventure because dogges barke and bay at these Luperci troubling and disquieting them as they runne up and downe the city in maner aforesaid Or else last of all for that this feast and sacrifice is solemnized in the honor of god Pan who as you wot well is pleased well enough with a dogge in regard of his flocks of goates 69 What is the cause that in auncient time at the feast called Septimontium they observed precisely not to use any coaches drawen with steeds no more than those doe at this day who are observant of old institutions and doe not despise them Now this Septimontium is a festivall solemnity celebrated in memoriall of a seventh mountaine that was adjoined and taken into the pourprise of Rome citie which by this meanes came to have seven hilles enelosed within the precinct thereof WHether was it as some Romans doe imagine for that the city was not as yet conjunct and composed of all her parts Or if this may seeme an impertinent conjecture and nothing to the purpose may it not be in this respect that they thought they had atchieved a great piece of worke when they had thus amplified and enlarged the compasse of the citie thinking that now it needed not to proceed any further in greatnesse and capacitie in consideration whereof they reposed themselves and caused likewise their labouring beasts of draught and cariage to rest whose helpe they had used in finishing of the said enclosure willing that they also should enjoy in common with them the benefit of that solemne feast Or else we may suppose by this how desirous they were that their citizens should solemnize and honour with their personall presence all feasts of the citie but especially that which was ordained and instituted for the peopling and augmenting thereof for which cause they were not permitted upon the day of the dedication and festival memorial of it to put any horses in geeres or harnesse for to draw for that they were not at such a time to ride forth of the citie 70 Why call they those who are deprehended or taken in theft pilferie or such like servile trespasses Furciferos as one would say Fork bearers IS not this also an evident argument of the great diligence and carefull regard that was in their ancients For when the maister of the family had surprised one of his servants or slaves committing a lewd and wicked pranck he commaunded him to take up and carrie upon his necke betweene his shoulders a 〈◊〉 piece of wood such as they use to put under the spire of a chariot or waine and so to go withall in the open view of the world throughout the street yea and the parish where he dwelt to the end that every man from thence forth should take heed of him This piece of wood we in Greeke call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Romanes in the Latin tongue Furca that is 〈◊〉 say a forked prop or supporter and therefore he that is forced to carie such an one is by reproch termed Furcifer 71 Wherefore use the Romans to tie a wisp of 〈◊〉 unto the bornes of kine and other beefes that are woont to boak and be curst with their heads that by the meanes thereof folke might take heed of them and looke better to themselves when they come in their way IS it not for that beefes horses asses yea and men become fierce insolent and dangerous if they be highly kept and pampered to the full according as Sophocles said Like as the colt or jade doth winse and kick In case he find his provender to prick Even so do'st thou for lo thy paunch is full Thy cheeks be puft like to some greedie gull And thereupon the Romans gave out that Marcus Crassus caried hey on his horne for howsoever they would seeme to let flie and carpe at others who dealt in the affaires of State and government yet be ware they would how they commersed with him as being a daungerous man and one who caried a revenging mind to as many as medled with him
and above all others when Oeonus the sonne of Licymnius was slaine by a dog he was enforced by the Hippocoontides to give the battell in which he lost many of his friends and among the rest his owne brother Iphicles 91 Wherefore was it not lawfull for the Patricians or nobles of Rome to dwell upon the mount Capitoll MIght it not be in regard of M. Manlius who dwelling there attempted and plotted to be king of Rome and to usurpe tyrannie in hatred and detestation of whom it is said that ever after those of the house of Manlij might not have Marcus for their fore-name Or rather was not this an old feare that the Romans had time out of mind For albeit Valerius Poplicola was a personage verie popular and well affected unto the common people yet never ceased the great and mightie men of the citie to suspect and traduce him nor the meane commoners and multitude to feare him untill such time as himselfe caused his owne house to be demolished and pulled down because it seemed to overlooke and commaund the common market place of the citie 〈◊〉 What is the reason that he who saved the life of a citizen in the warres was rewarded with a coronet made of oake braunches WAs it not for that in everie place and readily they might meet with an oake as they matched in their warlike expeditions Or rather because this maner of garland is dedicated unto Jupiter and Juno who are reputed protectors of cities Or might not this be an ancient custome proceeding from the Arcadians who have a kind of consanguinitie with oakes for that they report of themselves that they were the first men that issued out of the earth like as the oake of all other trees 93 Why observe they the Vultures or Geirs most of any other fowles in taking of presages by bird-flight IS it not because at the foundation of Rome there appeared twelve of them unto Romulus Or because this is no ordinarie bird nor familiar for it is not so easie a matter to meete with an airie of Vultures but all on a sudden they come out of some strange countrey and therefore the sight of them doth prognosticke and presage much Or else haply the Romains learned this of Hercules if that be true which Hero dot us reporteth namely that Hercules tooke great contentment when in the enterprise of any exploit of his there appeared Vultures unto him for that he was of opinion that the Vulture of all birds of prey was the justest for first and formost never toucheth he ought that hath life neither killeth hee any living creature like as eagles falcons hauks and other fowles do that prey by night but feedeth upon dead carrions over and besides he forbeareth to set upon his owne kind for never was there man yet who saw a Vulture eat the slesh of any fowle like as eagles and other birds of prey do which chase pursue and plucke in pieces those especially of the same kind to wit other fowle And verily as Aeschylus the poet writeth How can that bird which bird doth eat Be counted cleanly pure andneat And as for men it is the most innocent bird and doth least hurt unto them of all other for it destroieth no fruit nor plant whatsoever neither doth it harme to any tame creature And if the tale be true that the Aegyptians doe tell that all the kinde of these birds be females that they conceive and be with yoong by receiving the East-wind blowing upon them like as some trees by the Western wind it is verie profitable that the signes and prognosticks drawen from them be more sure and certaine than from any others considering that of all besides their violence in treading and breeding time their eagernesse in flight when they pursue their prey their flying away from some and chasing of others must needs cause much trouble and uncertaintie in their prognostications 94 Why stands the temple of Aesculapius without the citie of Rome IS it because they thought the abode without the citie more holesome than that within For in this regard the Greekes ordinarily built the temples of Aesculapius upon high ground wherein the aire is more pure and cleere Or in this respect that this god 〈◊〉 was sent for out of the citie Epidaurus And true it is that the Epidaurians founded his temple not within the walles of their city but a good way from it Or lastly for that the serpent when it was landed out of the galley in the Isle and then vanished out of sight seemed thereby to tell them where he would that they should build the place of his abode 95 Why doth the law for 〈◊〉 them that are to live chaste the eating of pulse AS touching beanes is it not in respect of those very reasons for which it is said That the Pythagoreans counted them abominable And as for the richling and rich pease whereof the one in Greeke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words seeme to be derived of Erebus that fignifieth the darknesse of hell and of Lethe which is as much as oblivion and one besides of the rivers infernall it carieth some reason that they should be abhorred therfore Or it may be for that the solemne suppers and bankets at funerals for the dead were usually served with pulse above all other viands Or rather for that those who are desirous to be chaste and to live an holy life ought to 〈◊〉 their bodies pure and slender but so it is that pulse be flateous and windy breeding superfluous excrements in the body which had need of great purging and evacuation Or lastly because they pricke and provoke the fleshly lust for that they be full of ventosities 96 What is the reason that the Romans panish the holy Vestall virgins who have suffered their bodies to be abused and defiled by no other meanes than by interring them quicke under the ground IS this the cause for that the maner is to burne the bodies of them that be dead and to burie by the meanes of fire their bodies who have not devoutly and religiously kept or preserved the divine fire seemed not just nor reasonable Or haply because they thought it was not lawfull to kill any person who had bene consecrated with the most holy and religious ceremonies in the world nor to lay violent hands upon a woman consecrated and therefore they devised this invention of suffering them to die of their owne selves namely to let them downe into a little vaulted chamber under the earth where they left with them a lampe burning and somebread with a little water and milke and having so done cast earth and covered them aloft And yet for all this can they not be exempt from a superstitious feare of them thus interred for even to this day the priests going over this place performe I wot not what anniversary services and rites for to appease and pacifie their ghosts
witnesseth Aeschylus 11 Who be they that are named Aposphendoneti IN times past the Eretrians held the Island Corcyra untill Charicrates arrived there with a fleet from Corinth and vanquished them whereupon the Eretrians tooke sea againe and returned toward their naturall countrey whereof their fellow-citizens being advertised such I say as stirred not but remained quiet repelled them and kept them off from landing upon their ground by charging them with shot from slings Now when they saw they could not win them by any faire language nor yet compel them by force of armes being as they were inexorable and besides many more than they in number they made saile to the coasts of Thracia where they possessed themselves of a place wherein they report Methon one of the predecessors and progenitors of 〈◊〉 sometime dwelt and there having built a citie they named it Methone but themselves were surnamed Aposphendoneti which is as much to say as repelled and driven backe by slings 12 What is that which the Delphians call Charila THe citizens of Delphos do celebrate continually three Enneaterides that is to say feasts celebrated every ninth yeere one after another successively Of which the first they name Septerion the second Herois and the third Charila As touching the first it seemeth to be a memorial representing the fight or combat that Phoebus had against Python and his flight after the conflict and pursuit after him into the valley of Tempe For as some do report he fled by occasion of a certaine manslaughter and murder that he had committed for which he sought to be purged others say that when Python was wounded and fled by the way which we call Holy Phoebus made hot pursuit after him insomuch as he went within a little of overtaking him and finding him at the point of death for at his first comming he found that he was newly dead of the wounds which he had received in the foresaid fight also that he was enterred and buried by his sonne who as they say was named Aix this novenarie feast therefore called Septerion is a representation of this historie or else of some other like unto it The second named Herois containeth I wot not what hidden ceremonies and fabulous secrets which the professed priests in the divine service of Bacchus called Thyades know well enough but by such things as are openly done and practised a man may conjecture that it should be a certaine exaltation or assumption of Semele up into heaven Moreover as concerning Charila there goeth such a tale as this It fortuned upon a time that after much drougth there followed great famine in the citie of Delphos insomuch as all the inhabitants came with their wives and children to the court gates crying out unto their king for the extreame hunger that they endured The king thereupon caused to be distributed among the better sort of them a dole of meale and certaine pulse for that he had not sufficient to give indifferently to them all and when there came a little yong wench a siely orphane fatherlesse and motherlesse who instantly besought him to give her also some reliefe the king smote her with his shoe and flung it at her face The girle poore though she was forlorne and destitute of all worldly succour howbeit carying no base mind with her but of a noble spirit departed from his presence and made no more a doe but undid her girdle from her wast and hanged her selfe therewith Well the famine daily encreased more and more and diseases grew thereupon by occasion whereof the king went in person to the Oracle of Apollo supposing to finde there some meede and remedie unto whom Pythia the prophetesse made this answere That the ghost of Charila should be appeased and pacified who had died a voluntarie death So after long search and diligent enquirie hardly found in the end it was that the young maiden whom he had so beaten with his shoe was named Charila whereupon they offered a certaine sacrifice mixed with expiatorie oblations which they celebrate and performe from nine yeers to nine even to this day For at this solemnity the king sitting in his chaire dealeth certaine meale and pulse among all commers as well strangers as citizens and the image of this Charila is thither brought resembling a young girle now after that everie one hath received part of the dole the king beateth the said image about the eares with his shoe and the chiefe governesse of the religious women called Thyades taketh up the image and carieth it into a certaine place ful of deepe caves where after they have hung an halter about the necke of it they enterre it under the ground in that verie place where they buried the corps of Charila when she had strangled her selfe 21 What is the meaning of that which they call among the Aeneians Begged-flesh THE Aeneians in times past had many transmigrations from place to place for first they inhabited the countrey about the Plaine called Dotion out of which they were driven by the Lapithae and went to the Aethicae and from thence into a quarter of the province Molossis called Arava which they held and thereof called they were Paravae After all this they seized the citie Cirrha wherein after that they had stoned to death their king Onoclus by warrant and commandement from Apollo they went downe into that tract that lieth along by the river Inachus a countrey inhabited then by the Inachiens and Achaeans Now they had the answere of an oracle on both sides to wit the Inachiens and Achaeans that if they yeelded and gave away part of their countrey they should lose all and the Aeneians that if they could get once any thing at their hands with their good wils they should for ever possesse and hold all Things standing in these tearmes there was a notable personage among the Aeneians named Temon who putting on ragged clothes and taking a wallet about his necke disguised himselfe like unto a begger and in this habite went to the Inachiens to crave their almes The king of the Inachiens scorned and laughed at him and by way of disdaine and mockerie tooke up a clod of earth and gave it him the other tooke it right willingly and put it up into his budget but he made no semblance neither was he seene to embrace this gift and to joy therein but went his way immediately without begging any thing else as being verie well content with that which he had gotten already The elders of the people woondring hereat called to mind the said oracle and presenting themselves before the king advertised him not to neglect this occurrent nor to let this man thus to escape out of his hands But Temon having an inckling of their desseigne made haste and fled apace insomuch as he saved himselfe by the meanes of a great sacrifice even of an hundred oxen which he vowed unto Apollo This done both kings to wit of the Inachiens and the Aeneians sent
things unlesse by way of exchange he might receive of them some of their land the children therefore taking up a little of the mould with both hands gave the same unto him and having received from him the foresaid gauds went their waies The Aeolians hearing of this and withall discovering their enemies under saile directing their course thither and ready to invade them taking counsell of anger and sorrow together killed those children who were entombed along that great high way by which men go from the citie to the streight or frith called Euripus Thus you see wherefore that place was called the Childrens sepulcher 23 What is he whom in Argos they call Mixarchagenas and who be they that are named Elasians AS for Mixarchagenas it was the surname of Castor among them and the Argives beleeve verily that buried he was in their territorie But Pollux his brother they reverenced and worshipped as one of the heavenly gods Moreover those who are thought to have the gift to divert and put by the fits of the Epilepsie or falling sickenes they name Elasiae and they are supposed to be descended from Alexidas the daughter of Amphiaraiis 24 What is that which the Argives call Encnisma THose who have lost any of their neere kinsfolkes in blood or a familiar friend were woont presently after their mourning was past to sacrifice unto Apollo and thirtie daies after unto Mercurie for this they thought that like as the earth receiveth the bodies of the dead so doth Mercurie the soules To the minister of Apollo they give barley and receive of him againe in lieu thereof a piece of flesh of the beast killed for sacrifice Now after that they have quenched the former fire as polluted and defiled they goe to seeke for others elsewhere which after they have kindled they roste the said flesh with it and then they call that flesh Encnisma 25 Who is Alastor Aliterios and Palamnaeus FOr we must not beleeve it is as some beare us in hand that they be Alitery who in time of famine goe prying and spying those who grind corne in their houses and then carrie it away by violence but we are to thinke that Alastor is he who hath committed acts that be Alasta that is to say not to be forgotten and the remembrance whereof will continue a long time after And Aliterius is he who for his wickednesse deserveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to be shunned and avoided of all men and such an one is otherwise called Palamnaeus and thus much saith Socrates was written in tables of brasse 26 What should the meaning of this be that the Virgins who accompanied the men that drive the beefe from Aenus toward the citie Cassiopaea go all the way even unto the verie borders chanting this dittie Would God returne another day To native soile you never may THe Aenians being driven out of their owne countrie by the Lapithae inhabited first about Aethacia and afterwards in the province of Molossis neere unto Cassiopaea But seeing by experience little good or none growing unto them out of that countrey and withall finding the people adjoining to be ill neighbours unto them they went into the plaine of Cirrha under the leading of their king Onoclus but being surprised there with a wonderfull drought they sent unto the oracle of Apollo who commanded them to stone their king Onoclus to death which they did and after that put themselves in their voiage againe to seeke out a land where they might settle and make their abode and so long travelled they until at the last they came into those parts which they inhabit at this day where the ground is good and fertill and bringing forth all fruitfull commodities Reason they had therefore you see to wish and pray unto the gods that they might never returne againe unto their ancient countrey but remaine there for ever in all prosperitie 27 What is the reason that it is not permitted at Rhodes for the her ault or publicke crier to enter into the temple of Ocridion IS it for that Ochimus in times past affianced his daughter Cydippe unto Ocridion but Cercaphus the brother of Ochimus being enamoured of his niece Cydippe perswaded the herault for in those daies the maner was to demand their brides in mariage by the meanes of heraults and to receive them at their hands that when he had Cydippe once delivered unto him he should bring her unto him which was effected accordingly And this Cercaphus being possessed of the maiden fled away with her but in processe of time when Ochimus was verie aged Cercaphus returned home Upon which occasion the Rhodians enacted a law that from thence forth there should never any herault set foot within the temple of Ocridion in regard of this injurie done unto him 28 What is the cause that among the Tenedians it is not lawfull for a piper or plaier of the fluit to come within the temple of Tenes neither is it permitted to make any mention there of Achilles IS it not because when the stepmother of Tenes had accused him for that he would have laien with her Malpus the minstrell avouched it to be true and most falsely bare witnesse against him whereupon he was forced to flie with his sister unto Tenedos Furthermore it is said that Thet is the mother of Achilles gave expresse commandement unto her sonne and charged him in any wise not to kill Tenes for that he was highly beloved of Apollo Whereupon she commanded one of his servants to have a carefull eie unto him and eftsoones to put him in mind of this charge that he had from her lest haply he might forget himselfe and at unwares take away his life but as he overran Tenedos he had a sight of Tenes sister a faire and beautifull ladie and pursued her but Tenes put himselfe betweene for to defend and save the honour of his sister during which conflict she escaped and got away but her brothers fortune was to be slaine but Achilles perceiving that it was Tenes when he lay dead upon the ground killed his servant outright for that being present in place during the fray he did not admonish him according as he was commanded but Tenes he buried in that verie place where now his temple standeth Lo what was the cause that neither a piper is allowed to go into his temple nor Achilles may be once named there 29 Who is that whom the Fpidamnians call Polletes THe Epidamnians being next neighbours unto the Illyrians perceived that their citizens who conversed commerced and traded in trafficke with them became nought and fearing besides some practise for the alteration of state they chose everie yeere one of the best approved men of their citie who went to and fro for to make all contracts bargains and exchanges that those of Epidamnus might have with the Barbarians and likewise dealt reciprocally in these affaires and negotiacions that the Illyrians had with them now this
named Florentia her Calphurnius a Romane deflowred whereupon he commaunded the yoong maid-childe which she bare to be cast into the sea but the souldiour who had the charge so to doe tooke compassion of her and chose rather to sell her unto a merchant and it fortuned so that the ship of a certeine merchant arrived in Italy where Calphurinus bought her and of her body begat Contruscus 28 Aeolus king of Tuskan had by his wife Amphithea six daughters and as many sonnes of whom Macareus the yoongest for very love defloured one of his sisters who when the time came brought foorth a child when this came once to light her father sent unto her a sword and she acknowledging the fault which she had committed killed her-selfe therewith and so did afterwards her brother Macareus as Sostratus reporteth in the second booke of the Tuscan storie Papyrius Volucer having espoused Julia Pulchra had by her six daughters and as many sonnes the eldest of whom named Papyrius Romanus was enamoured of Canulia one of his sisters so as she was by him with childe which when the father understood hee sent unto her likewise a sword wherewith she made away her-selfe and Romanus also did as much thus Chrisippus relateth in the first booke of the Italian Chronicles 29 Aristonymus the Ephesian sonne of Demostratus hated women but most unnaturally he had to doe with a she asse which when time came brought foorth a most beautifull maide childe surnamed Onoscelis as Aristotle writeth in the second booke of his Paradoxes or strange accidents Fulvius Stellus was at warre with all women but yet he dealt most beastly with a mare and she bare unto him after a time a faire daughter named Hippona and this is the goddesse forsooth that hath the charge and overseeing of horses and mares as Agesilaus hath set downe in the third booke of Italian affaires 30 The Sardians warred upon a time against the Smyrneans encamped before the walles of their city giving them to understand by their embassadors that raise their siege they would not unlesse they sent unto them their wives to lie withall the Smyrneans being driven to this extremity were at the point to doe that which the enemies demaunded of them but a certeine waiting maiden there was a faire and welfavoured damosell who ranne unto her master Philarchus and said unto him that he must not faile but in any case chuse out the fairest wenches that were maide-servants in all the citie to dresse them like unto citizens wives and free borne women and so to send them unto their enemies in stead of their mistresses which was effected accordingly and when the Sardians were wearied with dealing with these wenehes the Smyrneans issued foorth surprized and spoiled them whereupon it commeth that even at this day in the citie of Smyrna there is a solemne feast named Eleutheria upon which day the maide-servants weare the apparell of their mistresses which be free women as saith Dositheus in the third booke of Lydian chronicles Antepomarus king of the Gaules when he made warre upon the Romans gave it out flatly and said that he would never dislodge and breake up his campe before they sent unto them their wives for to have their pleasure of them but they by the counsell of a certeine chamber maide sent unto them their maid-servants the Barbarians medled so long with them that they were tired and fell sound asleepe in the end then Rhetana for that was her name who gave the said counsell tooke a branch of a wilde figge tree and mounting up to the toppe of a rampier wall gave a signall thereby to the Consuls who sallied foorth and defeated them whereupon there is a feastivall day of chambermaids for so saith Aristides the Milesian in the first booke of the Italian historie 31 When the Athenians made warre upon Eumolpus and were at some default of victuals Pyrander who had the charge of the munition was treasurer of the State for to make spare of the provision diminished the ordinary measure and cut men short of their allowances the inhabitants suspecting him to be a traitor to his country in so dooing stoned him to death as Callistratus testifieth in the third booke of the Thracian history The Romans warring upon the Gaules and having not sufficient store of victuals Cinna abridged the people of their ordinary measure of corne the Romans suspecting therupon that he made way thereby to be king stoned him likewise to death witnesse Aristides in his third booke of Italian histories 32 During the Peloponnesiack warre Pisistratus the Orchomenian hated the nobles and affected men of base and low degree whereupon the Senators complotted and resolved among them selves to kill him in the Counsell house where they cut him in pieces and every one put a gobbet of him in his bosome and when they had so done they scraped and clensed the floore where his blood was shed The common people having some suspition of the matter rushed into the Senat house but Tlesimachus the kings youngest sonne who was privy to the foresaid conspiracie withdrew the multitude from the common place of assembly and assured them that he saw his father Pisistratus carying a more stately majesty in his countenance than any mortal man ascending up with great celerity the top of mount Pisaeus as Theophilus recordeth in the second of his Peloponnesiackes In regard of the warrs so neere unto the city of Rome the Roman Senat cut the people short of their allowances in corne whereat Romulus being not well pleased allowed it them a gaine rebuked yea and chastised many of the great men who thereupon banded against him and in the middest of the Senat house made him away among them cut him in pieces and bestowed on every man a slice of him in his bosome Whereupon the people ran immediatly with fire in their hands to the Senat house minding to burne them all within but Proculus a noble man of the city assured them that he saw Romulus upon a certeine high mountaine and that he was bigger than any man living and become a very god The Romans beleeved his words such authority the man caried with him and so retired back as Aristobulus writeth in the third booke of his Italian Chronicles 33 Pelops the sonne of Tantalus and Eurianassa wedded Hippodamia who bare unto him Atreus and Thyestes but of the Nimph Danais a concubine he begat Chrysippus whom he loved better than any of his legitimate sonnes him Laius the Theban being inamoured stole away by force and being attached and intercepted by Atreus and Thyestes obteined the good grace and favour of Pelops to enjoy him for his love sake Howbeit Hippodamia perswaded her two sonnes Atreus and Thyestes to kill him as if she knew that he aspired to the kingdome of their father which they refusing to doe she her selfe imploied her owne hands to perpetrate this detestable fact for one night as Layus lay sound asleepe she
drew forth his sword and when she had wounded Chrisippus as he slept she left the sword sticking in the wound thus was Laius suspected for the deed because of his sword but the youth being now halfe dead discharged and acquit him and revealed the whole truth of the matter whereupon Pelops caused the dead body to be enterred but Hippodamia he banished as Dositheus recordethin his booke Pelopidae Hebius Tolieix having espoused a wife named Nuceria had by her two children but of an infranchised bond woman he begat a son named Phemius Firmus a childe of excellent beauty whom he loved more deerely than the children by his lawfull wife Nuceria detesting this base son of his solicited her own children to murder him which when they having the feare of God before there eyes refused to do she enterprised to execute the deed her selfe And in truth she drew forth the sword of one of the squires of the body in the night season and with it gave him a deadly wound as he lay fast asleepe the foresaid squire was suspected and called in question for this act for that his sword was there found but the childe himselfe discovered the truth his father then commanded his body to be buried but his wife he banished as Dositheus recordeth in the third booke of the Italian Chronicles 34 Theseus being in very truth the naturall sonne of Neptune had a sonne by Hippolite a princesse of the Amazones whose name was Hippolytus but afterwards maried againe and brought into the house a stepmother named Phaedra the daughter of Minos who falling in love with her sonne-inlaw Hippolitus sent her nourse for to sollicite him but he giving no eare unto her left Athens and went to Troezen where he gave his minde to hunting But the wicked and unchaste woman seeing her selfe frustrate and disapointed of her will wrot shrewd letters unto her husband against this honest and chaste yong gentleman informing him of many lies and when she had so done strangled her selfe with an halter and so ended her daies Theseus giving credit unto her letters besought his father Neptune of the three requests whereof he had the choise this one namely to worke the death of Hippolytus Neptune to satisfie his mind sent out unto Hippolytus as he rode along the sea slde a monstrous bull who so affrighted his coatch horses that they overthrew Hippolytus and so he was crushed to death Comminius Super the Laurentine having a sonne by the nimph Aegeria named Comminius espoused afterwards Gidica and brought into his house a stepmother who became likewise amorous of her son-in law and when she saw that she could not speed of her desire she hanged her selfe and left behind her certaine letters devised against him containing many untruths Comminius the father having read these slanderous imputations within the said letters and beleeving that which his jealous head had once conceived called upon Neptune who presented unto Commintus his sonne as he rode in his chariot a hideous bull which set his steeds in such a fright that they fell a flinging and so haled the young man that they dismembred and killed him as Dositheus reporteth in the third booke of the Italian historie 35 When the pestilence raigned in Lacedaemon the oracle of Apollo delivered this answer That the mortalitie would cease in case they sacrificed yeerly a young virgin of noble blood Now whē it fortuned that the lot one yeere fell upō Helena so that she was led forth all prepared and set out readie to be killed there was an eagle came flying downe caught up the sword which lay there and caried it to cerraine droves of beasts where she laid it upon an heyfer whereupon ever after they forbare to sacrifice any more virgins as Aristodemus reporteth in the third Collect of fables The plague was sore in Falerij the contagion thereof being verie great there was given out an oracle That the said affliction would stay and give over if they sacrificed yeerly a yong maiden unto Juno and this superstition continuing alwaies still Valeria Luperca was by lot called to this sacrifice now when the sword was readie drawen there was an eagle came downe out of the aire and caried it away and upon the altar where the fire was burning laid a wand having at one end in maner of a little mallet as for the sword she laid upon a young heyfer feeding by the temple side which when the young damsell perceived after she had sacrificed the said heyfer and taken up the mallet she went from house to house and gentl knocking therewith all those that lay sicke raised them up and said to everie one Be whole and receive health whereupon it commeth that even at this day this mysterie is still performed and observed as Aristides hath reported in the 919. book of his Italian histories 36 Phylonome the daughter of Nyctimus and Arcadia hunted with Diana whom Mars disguised like a shepherd got with child She having brought foorth two twinnes for feare of her father threw them into the river Erymanthus but they by the providēce of the gods were caried downe the streame without harme or danger and at length the current of the water cast them upon an hollow oake growing up on the banke side whereas a she woolfe having newly kennelled had her den This woolfe turned out her whelps into the river and gave sucke unto the two twins above said which when a shepherd named Tyliphus once perceived and had a sight of he tooke up the little infants and caused them to be nourished as his owne children calling the one Lycastus and the other Parrhasius who successively reigned in the realme of Arcadia Amulius bearing himselfe insolently and violently like a tyrant to his brother Numitor first killed his sonne Aenitus as they were hunting then his daughter Sylvia he cloistred up as a religious nunne to serve Juno She conceived by Mars and when shee was delivered of two twins confessed the truth unto the tyrant who standing in feare of them caused them both to be cast into the river Tybris where they were carried downe the water unto one place whereas a shee woolfe had newly kennelled with her yoong ones and verily her owne whelps shee abandoned and cast into the river but the babes shee suckled Then Faustus the shepherd chauncing to espie them tooke them up and nourished as his owne calling the one Remus and the other Romulus and these were the founders of Rome citie according to Artstides the Milesian in his Italian histories 37 After the destruction of Troy Agamemnon together with Cassandra was murdred but Orestes who had beene reared and brought up with Strophius was revenged of those murderers of his father as Pyrander saith in his fourth booke of the Peloponnesian historie Fabius Fabricianus descended lineally from that great Fabius Maximus after he had wonne and sacked Tuxium the capitall citie of the Samnites sent unto Rome the image of Venus Victoresse which was so highly
honoured and worshipped among the Samnites His wife Fabta had committed adulterie with a faire and well favoured yoong man named Petronius Valentinus and afterwards treacherously killed her husband Now had Fabia his daughter saved her brother Fabricianus being a verie little one out of danger and sent him away secretly to be nourished and brought up This youth when he came to age killed both his mother and the adulterer also for which act ofhis acquit he was by the doome of the Senate as Dositheus delivereth the storie in the third booke of the Italian Chronicles 38 Busiris the sonne of Neptune and Anippe daughter of Nilus under the colour of pretended hospitalitie and courteous receiving of strangers used to sacrifice all passengers but divine justice met with him in the end and revenged their death for Hercules set upon him and killed him with his club as Agathon the Samian hath written Hercules as he drave before him thorow Italy Geryons kine was lodged by king Faunus the sonne of Mercurie who used to sacrifice all strangers and guests to his father but when hee meant to do so unto Hercules was himselfe by him slaine as writeth Dercyllus in the third booke of the Italian histories 39 Phalaris the tyrant of the Agrigentines a mercilesse prince was wont to torment put to exquisite paine such as passed by or came unto him and Perillus who by his profession was a skilfull brasse-founder had framed an heyfer of brasse which he gave unto this king that hee might burne quicke in it the said strangers And verily in this one thing did this tyrant shew himselfe just for that he caused the artificer himself to be put into it and the said heyfer seemed to low whiles he was burning within as it is written in the third booke of Causes In Aegesta a citie of Sicilie there was sometime a cruell tyrant named Aemilius Censorinus whose manner was to reward with rich gifts those who could invent new kinds of engines to put men to torture so there was one named Aruntius Paterculus who had devised and forged a brasen horse and presented it unto the foresaid tyrant that he might put into it whom he would And in truth the first act of justice that ever he did was this that the partie himselfe even the maker of it gave the first hansell thereof that he might make triall of that torment himselfe which he had devised for others Him also hee apprehended afterwards and caused to bee throwen downe headlong from the hill Tarpeius It should seeme also that such princes as reigned with violence were called of him Aemylii for so Aristides reporteth in the fourth booke of Italian Chronicles 40 Euenus the son of Mars Sterope tooke to wife Alcippe daughter of Oenomaus who bare unto him a daughter named Marpissa whom he minded to keepe a virgin still but Aphareus seeing her carried her away from a daunce and fled upon it The father made suce after but not able to recover her for verie anguish of mind he cast himselfe into the river of Lycormas and thereby was immortalized as saith Dositheus in the fourth booke of his Italian historie Anius king of the Tuskans having a faire daughter named Salia looked straightly unto her that she should continue a maiden but Cathetus one of his nobles seeing this damosell upon a time as she disported herselfe was enamoured of her and not able to suppresse the furious passion of his love ravished her and brought her to Rome The father pursued after but seeing that he could not overtake them threw himselfe into the river called in those daies Pareüsuis and afterwards of his name Anio Now the said Cathetus lay with Salia and of her bodie begat Salius and Latinus from whom are discended the noblest families of that countrey as Aristides the Milesian and Alexander Polyhistor write in the third booke of the Italian historie 41 Egestratus an Ephesian borne having murdered one of his kinfmen fled into the citie Delphi and demaunded of Apollo in what place he should dwell who made him this answere that he was to inhabit there whereas he saw the peasants of the countrey dauncing and crowned with chaplets of olive branches Being arrived therefore at a certaine place in Asia where he found the rurall people crowned with garlands of olive leaves and dauncing even there hee founded a citie which he called Elaeus as Pythocles the Samian writeth in the third booke of his Georgicks Telegonus the sonne of Vlysses by Circe being sent for to seeke his father was advised by the oracle to build a citie there where he should find the rusticall people and husbandmen of the countrey crowned with chaplets and dauncing together when he was arrived therefore at a certaine coast of Italie seeing the peasants adorned with boughes branches of the wild olive tree passing the time merily and dauncing together he built a citie which upon that occurrent he named Prinesta and afterwards the Romans altering the letters a little called it Preneste as Aristotle hath written in the third booke of the Italian historie THE LIVES OF THE TEN ORATOVRS The Summarie IN these lives compendiously descibed Plutarch sheweth in part the government of the Athenian common-weale which flourished by the meanes of many learned persons in the number of whom we are to reckon those under written namely Antipho Andocides Lysias Isocrates Isaeus Aeschines Lycurgus Demosthenes Hyperides and Dinarchus but on the other side he discovereth sufficiently the indiscretion of cretaine oratours how it hath engendred much confusion ruined the most part of such personages themselves and finally overthrowen the publick estate which he seemeth expresly to have noted and observed to the end that every one might see how dangerous in the managemēt of State affaires he is who hath no good parts in him but onely a fine and nimble tongue His meaning therefore is that lively vertue indeed should be joined unto eloquence meane while we observe also the lightnesse vanitie and ingratitude of the Athenian people in many places and in the divers complexions of these ten men here depainted evident it is how much availeth in any person good in struction from his infancie and how powerfull good teachers be for to frame and fashion tender minds unto high matters and important to the weale publicke In perusing and passing through this treatise a man may take knowledge of many points of the ancient popular government which serve verie well to the better understanding of the Greeke historie and namely of that which concerneth Athens As also by the recompenses both demanded and also decreed in the behalfe of vertuous men we may perceive and see among the imperfections of a people which had the soveraigntie in their hands some moderation from time to time which ought to make us magnifie the wisedome and providence of God who amid so great darkneffe hath maintained so long as his good pleasure was so many States and governours in Greece which
which begin three tragoedies of Euripides 1 King Danaus who fiftie daughters had 2 Pelops the sonne of Tantalus when he to Pisa came 3 Cadmus whilom the citie Sidon left He lived 98 yeeres or as some say a full hundred could not endure for to see Greece fower times brought into servitude the yeere before he died or as some write fower yeeres before he wrote his Panathenaick oration as for his Panegyrik oration he was in penning it tenne yeeres and by the report of some fifteene which he is thought to have translated and borrowed out of Gorgias the Leontine and Lysias and the oration concerning the counterchange of goods he wrote when he was fourescore yeeres old twaine but his Philippike oration he set downe a little before his death when he was farre stepped in yeeres he adopted for his sonne Aphareus the yoongest of the three children of Plathane his wife the daughter of Hippias the oratour and professed Rhetorician He was of good wealth as well for that he called duely for money of his scholars as also because he received of Nicocles king of Cypres who was the sonne of Euagoras the summe of twenty talents of silver for one oration which hee dedicated unto him by occasion of this riches he became envied and was thrice chosen and enjoined to be the captaine of a galley and to defray the charges thereof for the two first times he feigning himselfe to be sicke was excused by the meanes of his sonne but at the third time he rose up and tooke the charge wherein he spent no small summe of money There was a father who talking with him about his sonne whom he kept at schoole said That he sent with him no other to be his guide and governour but a slave of his owne unto whom Isocrates answered Goe your waies then for one slave you shall have twaine Hee entred into contention for the prize at the solemne games which queene Artemisia exhibited at the funerals and tombe of her husband Mausolus but this enchomiasticall oration of his which he made in the praise of him is not extant another oration he penned in the praise of Helena as also a third in the commendation of the counsell Areopagus Some write that he died by absteining nine daies together from all meat others report but fower even at the time that the publike obsequies were solemnized for them who lost their lives in the battell at Chaeronea His adopted sonne Aphareus composed likewise certeine orations enterred hee was together with all his linage and those of his bloud neere unto a place called Cynosarges upon a banke or knap of a little hill on the left hand where were bestowed the sonne and father Theodorus their mother also and her sister Anaco aunt unto the oratour his adopted sonne likewise Aphareus together with his cousen germain Socrates sonne to the a foresaid aunt Anaco Isocrates mothers sister his brother Theodorus who bare the name of his father his nephewes or children of his adopted sonne Aphareus and his naturall Theodorus moreover his wife Plathane mother to his adopted sonne Aphareus upon all these bodies there were six tables or tombs erected of stone which are not to be seene as this day but there stood upon the tombe of Isocrates himselfe a mightie great ramme engraven to the height of thirtie cubits upon which there was a syren or mere-maid seven cubits high to signifie under a figure his milde nature and eloquent stile there was besides neere unto him a table conteining certaine poets and his owne schole-masters among whom was Gorgias looking upon an astrologicall sphaere and Isocrates himselfe standing close unto him furthermore there is erected a brasen image of his in Eleusin before the entrie of the gallery Stoa which Timotheus the sonne of Caron caused to be made bearing this epi gram or inscription Timotheus upon a loving minde And for to honour mutuall kindnesses This image of Isocrates his friende Erected hath unto the goddesses This statue was the handi-worke of Leochares There goe under his name threescore orations of which five and twentie are his indeed according to the judgement of Dionysius but as Cecilius saith eight and twentie all the rest are falsly attributed unto him So farre was he off from ostentation and so little regard had hee to put foorth himselfe and shew his sufficiencie that when upon a time there came three unto him of purpose to heare him declame and discourse he kept two of them with him and the third he sent away willing him to returne the next morrow For now quoth he I have a full theater in mine auditorie He was wont to say also unto his scholars and familiars That himselfe taught his art for ten pounds of silver but hee would give unto him that could put into him audacity and teach him good utterance ten thousand When one demanded of him it was possible that he should make other men sufficient orators seeing himselfe was nothing eloquent Why not quoth he seeing that whet-stones which can not cut at all make iron and steele sharpe enough and able to cut Some say that he composed certeine books as touching the art of rhetorick but others are of opinion that it was not by any method but exercise onely that he made his scholars good oratours this is certeine that he never demanded any mony of naturall citizens borne for their teaching His maner was to bid his scholars to be present at the great assemblies of the citie and to relate unto him what they heard there spoken and delivered He was wonderfull heavy and sorrowfull out of measure for the death of Socrates so as the morrow after he mourned put on blacke for him Againe unto one who asked him what was Rhetorick he answered It is the art of making great matters of small small things of great Being invited one day to Nicocreon the tyrant of Cypres as he sat at the table those that were present requested him to discourse of some theame but he answered thus For such matters wherein I have skill the time will not now serve and in those things that sit the time I am nothing skilfull Seeing upon a time Sophocles the tragicall poet following wantonly and hunting with his eie a yoong faire boy he said O Sophocles an honest man ought to conteine not his hands onely but his eies also When Ephorus of Cunes went from his schoole non proficiens and able to doe nothing by reason whereof his father Demophilus sent him againe with a second salary or minervall Isocrates smiled thereat and merily called him Diphoros that is to say bringing his money twice so hee tooke great paines with the man and would himselfe prompt him and give him matter and invention for his declamatorie exercise Inclined he was and naturally given unto the pleasures of wanton love in regard whereof he used to lie upon a thinne and hard short mattresse and to have the pillow and bolster under his
the fine of a thousand drachines in which he was condemned upon his overthrow at the barre Others say that over beside he was noted with infamie because he would not depart out of the citie and that he retired himselfe to Ephesus unto Alexander But upon the decease of Alexander when there was great troubles towards he returned to Rhodes where he kept a schoole and beganne to teach the art of Rhetoricke He read other-whiles unto the Rhodians and that with action and gesture the oration which he had pronounced against Ctesiphon whereat when all the hearers marvelled and namely how possibly he could be cast if he acted such an oration You would never wonder at the matter quoth he my masters of Rhodes if you had beene in place and heard Demosthenes impleading against it He left behinde him a schoole at Rhodes which afterwards was called the Rhodian schoole From thence he sailed to Samos and when he had staied a time in the Isle within a while after he died A pleasant and sweet voice he had as may appeare both by that which Demosthenes hath delivered of him and also by an oration of Demochares There be found foure orations under his name one against Timarchus another as touching false embassage and a third against Ctesiphon which in truth be all three his for the fourth entituled Deliaca was never penned by Aeschines True it is indeed that appointed and commanded he was to plead judicially the causes of the temple of Delos but he pronounced no such oration for that Hyperides was chosen in stead of him as saith Demosthenes And by his owne saying two brethren he had Aphobus and Demochares He brought unto the Athenians the first tidings of the second victorie which they obtained at Tamyne for which he was rewarded with a crowne Some give it out that Aeschines was scholar to none and never learned his Rhetoricke of any master but being brought up to writing and a good pen-man he became a clarke or notarie and so grew up to knowledge of himselfe by his owne industrie for that he ordinarly conversed in judiciall courts and places of judgement The first time that ever he made publike speech before the people was against king Philip and having then audience with with great applause and commendation he was presently chosen embassadour and sent to the Arcadians whither when he was come he raised a power of ten thousand men against Philip. He presented and indited Timarchus for maintaining a brothell house who fearing to appeare judicially and to have the cause heard hung himselfe as after a sort Demosthenes in some place saith Afterwards elected he was to go in embassage unto Philip with Ctesiphon Demosthenes about a treatie of peace wherein he carried himselfe better than Demosthenes A second time was hee chosen the teuth man in an embassage for to goe and conclude a peace upon certaine capitulations and covenants for which service he was judicially called to his answere and acquit as hath beene said before LYCURGUS VII LYcurgus was the sonne of Lycophron the sonne of Lycurgus him I meane whom the thirtie tyrants did to death by the procurement instigation of one Aristodemus that came from Bata who having beene treasurer generall of Greece was banished during the popular government Of the borrough or tribe he was named Buta and of the family or house of the Eteobutades At the beginning the scholar he was of Plato the philosopher and made profession of philosophie but afterwards being entred into familiar acquaintance with Isocrates hee became his scholar and dealt in affaires of State where he wan great credit as well by his deeds as words and so put in trust he was with the mannagement of the cities revenues for treasur our general he was the space of fifteene yeeres during which time there went thorow his hands fortie millions of talents or as some say fourscore millions six hundred and fiftie talents And it was the orator Stratocles who preferred him to this honor by propounding him unto the people Thus I say at the first was he himselfe chosen treasurour in his own name but afterwards he nominated some one of his friends and yet neverthelesse mannaged all and had the whole administration of it in his owne hands for that there was a Statute enacted and published that none might be chosen to have the charge of the publicke treasure above five yeeres He continued alwaies an overseer of the citie workes both winter and summer and having the office and charge committed unto him for provision of all necessaries for the warres he reformed many things that were amisse in common-wealth He caused to be built for the citie foure hundred gallies He made the common hall or place for publicke exercises in Lyceum and planted the same round about with trees He reared also the wrestling hall and finished the theater which is at the temple of Bacchus being himselfe in person to oversee and direct the workmen He was reputed a man of such fidelitie and so good a conscience that there was committed upon trust into his hands to the summe of two hundred and fiftie talents of silver by divers and sundrie private persons to be kept for their use He caused to be made many faire vessels of gold and silver to adorne and beautifie the citie as also sundrie images of Victorie in gold And finding many publicke workes unperfect and halfe done he accomplished and made an end of them all as namely the Arsenals the common hals for armour and other utensiles and implements serving for the cities uses He founded a wall round about the spatious cloisture called Panathenaike which he finished up to the verie cape and batilments yea and laid levell and even the great pit or chinke in the ground for that one Dinius whose plot of ground it was gave away the proprietie which he had in it unto the citie in favour especially of Lycurguss and for his sake He had the charge and custodie of the citie and commission to attache and apprehend malefactours whom he drave all quit out of the citie insomuch that some of the oratours and subtle sophisters would say that Lycurgus dipt not his pen in blacke inke but in deadly blood when he drew his writs against malefactours In regard of which benefit unto the common-weale so well beloved he was of the people that when king Alexander demaunded to had him delivered into his hands the people would not forgo him But when as king Philip made warre upon the Athenians the second time he went in embassage with Polycuctus and Demosthenes as well into Peloponnesus as to other States and cities All his time he lived in good estimation among the Athenians reputed evermore for a just and upright man in such sort that in all courts of justice if Lycurgus said the word it was held for a great prejudice good foredoome in his behalfe for whom he spake He proposed brought in certaine lawes
of the one or the other **** When Aristophon was now so aged that he could not take paines nor attend to set out the solemne dances and shewes for which he was chosen commislarie and overseer he gave over his place and Demosthenes in his roome was substituted the master of the said dances and for that in the open theater as he was busie in his office about setting out and ordering the dances Medias the Anagyrasian gave him a box of the eare with his fist he sued him in an actiō of batterie howbeit he gave over his sute for the sum of three thousand drachmes of silver which Midias paied him This is reported of him that being a yoong man he 〈◊〉 himselfe apart into a certeine cave where he gave himselfe unto his booke having caused his head to be shaven the halfe of it because he might not goe abroad to be seene and so leave his booke also that he lay upon a very streight and narrow bed for that he would the sooner 〈◊〉 and with more ease and there he exercised and forced himselfe to frame his speech better but for that he had an ill grace with him ever as he spake to shake and shrinke up his shoulder he remedied that by sticking up a broch or spit or as some say a dagger to the floore over head that for feare of pricking his shoulder he might forget this evill custome that he had in his gesture and according as he profited and proceeded forward in the art he caused a mirrour to be made just as bigge as himselfe before which he used to declame that thereby he might observe the evill gestures or ilfavoured faces that he made when he spake and learne to reforme and a mend them also he used otherwhiles to goe downe to the water side to the haven Phalerium for to exercise himselfe in declaming even where the surging waves of the sea did beat upon the banks to the end that he might at no time after be troubled nor put out and driven to an 〈◊〉 with the noise and clamour of the people when hee should speake before them but for that naturally hee was short-winded and his breath commonly failed him hee 〈◊〉 upon Neoptolemus a famous actour or stage-plaier tenne thousand drachmes of silver to teach him for to pronounce long periods and sentences with one breath and not taking his winde betweene When he began to enter into the management of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 State finding that the citizens were divided into two factions the one siding and taking part with king Philip the other speaking and pleading still for their liberties and freedom he chose to joine with that which was opposite in all their dooings unto Philip and all his 〈◊〉 time he continued countelling and perswading the people to succour those who were in danger to fall under the hands of Philip communicating his counsels in the administration 〈◊〉 State affaires devising evermore with Hyperides Nausicles Polyeuctus and 〈◊〉 and therefore he drew into league confederacy with the men of Athens the Thebanes 〈◊〉 Corryceans Corinthians Boeotians and many others besides One day he chanced to be out and his memorie to faile him so that he was histed at by the people in a great assembly of the citie for which disgrace he was out of heart and ill appaid insomuch as in great 〈◊〉 he went home to his house where by the way Eunomus the Thriasian being now an ancient man met with him who cheered up Demosthenes and comforted him all that he could out most of all Andronicus the stage-plaier who said unto him That his orations were as good as possibly might be only he was wanting somwhat in action thereupon rehearsed certaine places out of his oration which he had delivered in that frequent assembly unto whom Demosthenes gave good eare and credit whereupon he betooke himselfe unto Andronicus insomuch as afterwards when he was demaunded the question which was the first point of eloquence he answered Action which the second he made answer Action and which was the third he said Action still Another time he put himselfe foorth to speak in open audience of a great assembly and was likewise whistled at and driven lusty out of countenance for speaking some words that savoured too much of youthfulnesse so that he was flouted by the comicall poets Antiphanes and Timocles who used to twit him with these tearmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say By the earth by the fountaines by rivers flouds and streames For having sworne in this maner before the people hee raised a stirre and hurli-burly among them He tooke his oath another time by the name of Asclepius which hee sounded aloft with accent in the second syllable and although he did this upon errour in Prosodia yet hee mainteined and proved that he had pronounced the word aright for that Aesculapius was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a milde and gracious god and for this maner of swearing he was oftentimes troubled but after he had frequented the schoole of Eubulades the Milesian and a Logicien he corrected and amended all Being one day at the solemnitie of the Olympian games and hearing Lamachus the Terinaean how he rehearsed an encomiasticall oration in the praise of king Philip and of Alexander his sonne namely how they invaded and over-ran the Thebans and Olynthians he came forward and standing close unto him on the contrary side alledging testimonies out of auncient poets importing the commendation of Thebans and Olynthians both for the brave exploits by them atchieved which when Lamachus heard hee gave over and would not speake a word more but slipt away as soone as hee could out of the assemblie King Philip himselfe would say unto them who related unto him the cautions and orations that he made against him Certes I beleeve verily that if I had heard him with mine owne eares pleading in this wise I should have given the man my voice and chosen him captaine to make warre upon my selfe And much to the same purpose the said Philip was wont to liken the orations of Demoshenes unto souldiers for the warlike force that appeared in them but the speeches of Isocrates he compared to fensers or sword-plaiers for the delightfull shew and flourish that they made Being now thirtie seven yeeres old counting from Dexitheus to Callimachus in the time of whose provostship the Olynthians by their embassage required aid of the Athenians for that they were fore plagued with the warre that king Philip levied against them he perswaded the people to send them succour but in the yeere following wherein Plato changed this life king Philip utterly destroied the Olynthians Xenophon also the disciple of Socrates had a knowledge of Demosthenes either in his prime when hee began to rise and grow up or else in the very floure and best of his time for Xenophon wrote his Chronicles as touching the acts and deeds of the Greeks and specially of those
affaires which passed about the time of the battell at Mantinea or a little after namely in that yeere when Charicles was provost and Demosthenes somewhat before that had given his tutors and guardians the overthrow at the barre When as Aeschines upon his condemnation was fledde toward Athens there to live in exile Demosthenes being advertised thereof made after him on horse-backe whereupon Aeschines imagining that he should be taken prisoner fell downe at his feet and covered his face but Demosthenes willed him to arise and stand up gave him comfortable words and besides put a talent of silver into his hands He gave counsell unto the Athenians to enterteine a certeine number of mercenarie souldiers strangers in the isle of Thasos and to this effect he sailed thither as captaine with the charge of a great galley under his hands He was chosen another time chiefe purveior of corne and being accused for demeaning himselfe badly and purloining the cities money he cleared himselfe and was acquit When Philip had forced the city Elatia and was master of it Demosthenes abandoned the said city together with those who had sought in the battell of Cheronaea whereupon is thought that he forsooke his colours and sledde now as he made haste away there chanced a bramble to take hold of his cassocke behinde whereat he turned backe and said unto the bramble Save my life and take my ransome Upon his target he had for his mot or device Good fortune And verily he it was that made the oration at the funerals of those who lost their lives in the said battell After this he applied his minde and bent his chiefe care to the reparations of the citie and being chosen commissarie for repairing the walles he laide out of his owne besides the defraying of the cities money an hundred pounds of silver over and above that he gave ten thousand for to be emploied in the setting out of shewes games and plaies which done he embarked himselfe in a galley and sailed up and downe from coast to coast for to levie money of the allies and confedetates for which good services hee was crowned many times first by the meanes and motion of Demoteles Aristonicus and Hyperides who propounded that he should be honoured with a coronet of gold and last of all at the instant sute of Ctesiphon which decree was empeached and blamed as contrarie to the lawes by Diodotus and 〈◊〉 against whom he defended and maintained it so well that he carried it cleane away so as his accuser had not the fifth part of the suffrages and voices of the people on his side Afterwards when Alexander was passed onward his voyage into Asia Harpalus sled into Athens with a great summe of money at the first hee would not suffer him to bee entertained and kept safely but after he was once arrived and set aland and that he had received of him a thousand good pieces of gold called Dariks then he changed his note and sung another song for when the Athenians were minded to deliver the man into the hands of Antipater he withstood them and withall set downe under his hand-writing that his money was laid up safe in the Citadel the summe whereof he had declared already unto the people whereas Harpalus had specified it to be seven hundred and fiftie talents or somewhat above as saith Philocharus But after this when Harpalus had broken prison wherein hee should have beene kept untill some messenger and newes came directly from Alexander and was escaped and retired as some say to Candie or as others to Tenarus in Laconia Demosthenes was called into question for corruption briberie and taking his money for that he neither declared the just quantitie and summe of coine that thither was brought not the negligence of those who had the custodie of it and him thus I say was he brought to his answere judicially by Hyperides Pytheus Menesechmus Hymeraeus and Patrocles who followed the sute so hard that they caused him to be condemned in the high court and chamber of Ariopagus and thus condemned he went into exile being not able to pay five fold for charged he was to have taken thirtie talents others say that he would not abide the issue of judgement and therefore went voluntarie before the day of triall into banishment After this time the Athenians sent Polyeuctus in embassage to the communaltie of the Arcadians for to divert and withdraw them from the league and confederacie of the Macedonians but when Polyeuctus could not perswade them to revolt Demosthenes came upon them and shewed himselfe to second the motion where he spake so effectually that he prevailed with them for which service he was highly admired and thereby wanne such favour and reputation that after a certaine time by vertue of a publicke decree he was called home againe out of exile and a galley was set out of purpose to bring him backe to Athens and the Athenians moreover ordained that whereas he owed unto the State thirtie talents in which he was condemned he should cause an altar to be built unto Jupiter the Saviour in the port Pyreaeum in so doing be held aquit and discharged This decree was propounded by Daemon the Paeanian his cousen germain By this meanes he returned to the politicke mannaging of affaires as before Now when as Antipater was streightly besieged by the Greeks and enclosed within the citie Limia whereupon the Athenians offered sacrifices for the good and joyfull tidings thereof he chaunced to let fall a word in talking with Agesistratus a familiar friend of his and to say that he was not of the same mind and opinion with other as touching the State For I know full wel quoth he that the Greeks are skilfull and able both to run a short carriere and good to make a skirmish for a spurt and away but to hold on a long race and to continue the warre unto the end they can never abide But afterwards when Anipater had wonne Pharsalus and threatned the Athenians to lay siege unto their citie unlesse he would deliver into his hands those oratours who had inveighed against him Demosthenes for feare of himselfe left the citie of Athens and fled first into the Isle Aegina for to put himselfe within the liberties and franchises of the temple or sanctuarie called Aeacium but afterwards being affraid that he should be fetched out from thence by the eares he passed over into Calauria where having intelligence that the Athenians were resolved and had concluded to deliver those oratours and himselfe principally among the rest hee rested as a poore distressed suppliant within the temple of Neptune and when there came unto him thithere Archias the pursuvant surnamed Phygadotheres that is to say the hunter of Fugitives who was a disciple and sectarie of Anaximenes the philosopher perswading him to arise and that no doubt he should be reckoned one of the friends of Antipater he answered thus When you play a part in a
Having thus begun his tale he came downe and went his way the people then called him backe and praied him to tell the tale out and make an end thereof Why my masters quoth he how is it that you are so desirous that I should tell you a tale of the shadow of asse and will not give me the hearing when I am to speake unto you of your affaires of great importance Polus the famous actour and stage-plaier made his boast upon a time that in two daies wherein he plaied his part he had gotten a whole talent of silver And I quoth he have gained five in one day for holding my peace and keeping silence His voice upon a time when he made a speech unto the people failed him whereupon his audience being not well pleased and himselfe somewhat troubled he said aloud unto them You are to judge plaiers by their pleasant and strong voice but oratours by their good and grave sentences Epicles seemed to upbraid and reproch him for that he was alwaies musing and premeditating I would be ashamed quoth he unto him if being to speake before so great an assembly of people I should come unprovided It is written of him that he never put out his lampe that is to say that he never ceased studying how to file and polish as it were his orations untill he was fiftie yeres old He said of himselfe that he drunke nothing but faire water Lysias the oratour had knowledge of him and Isocrates saw him to manage the affaires of State untill the battell of Chaeronea yea and some also of the Socraticall oratours The most part of his orations he pronounced ex tempore and of a sudden as having a ready and pregnant wit and one who naturally was fitted to speake The first that ever proposed and put up a bill unto the people that he should be crowned with a coronet of gold was Aristonicus the Anagyrasian the sonne of Nicophanes and Diondas did second the motion with an oath HYPERIDES IX HYperides the sonne of Glaucippus who was the sonne of Dionysius of the burrough Colyttea had a sonne who bare the name of his father Glaucippus an orator who composed cerreine orations and he begat another oratour named Alphinus He was at one time the scholar of Plato the Philosopher of Lycurgus and of Isocrates He dealt in the State at what time as Alexander the Great intended the affaires of Greece and he crossed him as touching those captaines which he demanded of the Athenians as also about the gallies which he required to have He advised the people not to casse and discharge those souldiers which were enterteined at Taenara who had for their captaine Chares and whose friend particularly he was He pleaded ordinarily at the first as an advocate for his fee and was suspected to have received part of that money which Ephialtes brought out of Persia. Chosen he was the captaine of one great galley at what time as king Philip went to lay siege unto the citie Bizantium and sent he was to aide the Bizantines The very same yeere he tooke the charge of defraying the expenses of the solenme dances whereas the rest of the captaines were exempt from all publicke offices for that yeere He passed a decree that certeine honours should be done unto Demosthenes and when the said decree was by Diondas repealed as made against the lawes and himselfe thereupon accused yet found he was unguiltie and thereupon acquit Friend he was to Demosthenes Lysicles and Lycurgus howbeit in this amitie he continued not unto the end for after that Lysicles and Lycurgus were dead when Demosthenes was once called in question for taking money of Harpalus he alone for that his hands onely were free of bribery was nominated and picked out from the rest to frame an accusation against him because they were all thought culpable in the same fault and so he judicially accused him but himselfe was charged by Aristogiton for publishing acts contrary to the lawes after the battell at Chaeronea namely That all the inhabitants and dwellers in Athens should be burgesses of the citie that all slaves should manumized and made free that all sacred and holy reliques that women and children should be bestowed within the port or haven Pireaeum howbeit absolved he was and went cleere away And when some there were who found fault with him and marvelled how he should be so negligent and overseene as not to know so many lawes which were directly opposit to the said decrees he made this answere If quoth he the armes of the Macedonians and the battell of Chaeronea had not dazzeled and dimmed my sight I had never written nor proposed such an edict But certeine it is that after this Philip being affrighted gave the Athenians leave to take up the bodies of their dead that lay in the field which before he had denied unto the heralds that came of purpose unto him out of Lebadia Afterwards upon the defaiture at Cranon when he was demanded by Antipater and the people resolved to deliver him into his hands he forsooke the citie and fled into the Isle Aegina with other persons who likewise were condemned where meeting with Demosthenes he desired him to holde him excused for that he had by constraint accused him And when he minded to depart from thence surprised he was by one Archias surnamed Phygadotheres a man borne in the citie of Thurit and who at the first was a professed stage-plaier but then imploied in the service and aid of Antipater so he was apprehended perforce within the temple of Neptune notwithstanding hee held the image of the said god in his armes and from thence brought to Corinth before Antipater where being set upon the racke and put to torture he bit his tongue off with his owne teeth because he would not discover the secrets of the city and so ended his daies the ninth day of the moneth October howbeit Hermippus saith that as he went into Macedonie he had his tongue cut out of his head and his dead corps was cast forth unto the beasts of the field without sepulture yet one Alphinus his cousen germaine or as some say the cousen of Glaucippus his sonne obteined licence by the meanes of Philopithes a certeine physician to take up his bodie who burnt the same in a funerall fire the ashes and bones whereof he caried to Athens afterwards among his kinsfolke and friends contrary to the orders and decrees set downe both by the Macedonians and the Athenians for by vertue thereof they were not onely banished but interdicted so as they might not be interred within their owne countrey Others say that he was carried unto the citie Cleonae with others where he died and that his tongue was cut and afterwards himselfe murdred in maner aforesaid Howbeit his kinsemen and friends gathered up his bones when his corps was burnt and buried them amongs his parents and progenitours before the gates called Hippades according as Heliodorus
hath recorded in the third booke of his monuments But his sepulchre at this day is quite demolished and no token remaineth thereof to be seene He had a singular name above all other oratours for speaking before the people insomuch as some have ranged him even above Demosthenes There go in his name three score and seventeene orations of which two and fitie are truely attributed unto him and no more Given he was exceeding much to the love of women which was the cause that he drave his owne sonne out of his house and brought in thither Myrrhina the most sumptuous and costly courtisan in those daies and yet in Pyreaeum he kept Aristagora and at Eleusin where his lands and possessions lay he had another at command namely Philte a Thebane borne who cost him twentie pounds weight of silver His ordinarie walke was every day thorow the fish market And when the famous courtisan Phryne whom he loved also was called into question for Atheisme and impietie inquisition was made after him likewise and so he was troubled with her and for her sake as it should seeme for so much he declareth imselfe in the beginning of his oration now when she was at the very point to be condemned he brought the woman foorth in open court before the judges rent her clothes and shewed unto them her bare brest which the judges seeing to be so white and faire in regard of her very beautie absolved and dismissed her He had very closely and secretly framed certeine accusatorie declarations against Demosthenes yet so as they came to light in this maner for when Hyperides lay sicke it fortuned that Demosthenes came one day to his house for to visit him where he found a booke drawen full of articles against him whereat when he was much offended and tooke it in great indignation Hyperides made him this answere So long as you are my friend this shall never hurt you but if you become mine enemie this shall be a curbe to restreine you from enterprising any thing prejudiciall unto me He put up a bill unto the people that certeine honours should be done unto Jolas who gave unto Alexander the cuppe of poison Hee sided with Demosthenes and joined in the raising of the Lamiacke warre and made an admirable oration at the funerals of those who lost their lives therein When king Philip was ready to embark passe over into the isle Eubaea whereupon the Athenians were in great feare and perplexitie he gathered together in a small time a fleete of fortie saile by voluntarie contribution and was the first man who for himselfe and his sonne rigged and set foorth two gallies of warre When there was a controversie in law betweene the Athenians and Delians to be decided unto whether of them apperteined by right the superintendance of the temple at Delos and that Aeschynes was chosen to plead the cause the counsell of Areopagus elected Hyperides and his oration as touching this matter is at this day extant entituled The Deliaque oration Moreover he went in embassage to Rhodes where there arrived other embassadours in the behalfe of Antipater whom they highly praised as a good milde and gracious prince True it is quoth Hyperides unto them again I know well that he is good and gracious but we have no need of him to be our lord and master how good and gracious soever he be It is said that in his orations he shewed no action nor gesture at all his maner was onely to set downe the case and lay open the matter plainely and simply without troubling the judges any otherwise than with a naked narration Sent hee was likewise unto the Elians for to defend the cause of Calippus one of the champions at the sacred games unto whom this imputation was laid that by corruption he had caried away the prize and indirectly obteined the victorie He opposed himselfe also against the gift which was ordeined in the honour of Phocion at the instant sute of Midias of Anagyrra the sonne of Midias the yeere wherein Xenius was provost the 27. day of the moneth of May and in this cause he was cast and had the overthrow DINARCHUS X. DInarchus the sonne of Socrates or Sostratus borne as some thinke in the countrey of Attica or as others would have him in Corinth came to Athens very yoong at what time as king Alexander the Great passed with his armie into Asia where he dwelt and frequented the lecture of Theophrastus who succeeded Aristotle in the Peripateticke schoole he conversed also with Demetrius the Phalerian and tooke his time especially to enter into the administration of State affaires after the death of Antipater when the great oratours and states-men were some dead and made away others banished and driven out of the citie and being besides friended and countenanced by Cassander he grew in short time to be exceeding rich exacting and taking money for his orations of those at whose request he composed them Hee banded against the most renowmed oratours in his time not by putting himselfe foorth to come in open place to speake before the people for no gift nor grace he had therein but by penning orations for those who made head against them And namely when Harpalus had broken prison and was fled he composed divers accusatorie declarations against all such as were suspected to have takē money of him and those he delivered into the hands of their accusers to be pronounced accordingly Long time after being accused himselfe to have communicated conferred and practised with Antipater and Cassander about the time that the haven Munichia was surprised by Antigonus and Demetrius who placed there a garrison in that yeare when Anaxicrates was provost of the city he sold most part of his goods and made money and when hee had done fled out of the way to Chalcis where he lived as it were in exile the space well neere of 15. yeeres during which time he gathered great riches and became very wealthy and so returned againe to Athens by the meanes of Theophrastus who procured both him and other banished persons to be recalled and restored he abode then in the house of one Proxenus his familiar friend where being now very aged and besides weake-sighted he lost his gold that he had gotten together and when Proxenus his host would have given information thereof and seemed to make inquisition Dinarchus called him into question judicially for it and this was the first time that ever he was knowen to speake plead personally at the barre This oration of his is now extant and there are besides in mens hands threescore and foure more acknowledged all to be his and yet some of these are to be excepted as namely that against Aristogiton He did imitate Hyperides or as some thinke Demosthenes in regard of that patheticall spirit in mooving affections and the emphaticall force which appeereth in his stile Certeinly in his figures and exornations he followeth him very evidently DECREES
this request That he might be allowed his diet in the palace Prytanaeum according to the free gift granted before time to his father Lycurgus by the people in that yeere wherein Anaxicrates was Provost of the citie and the tribe Antiochis President of Prytanaeum which Stratocles the son of Euthydemus of the borrough Diomeia proposed it in this forme Forasmuch as Lycurgus the sonne of Lycophron of Buta hath received of his ancestors as it were from hand to hand a certaine hereditarie love and affection to the people of Athens and his progenitours likewise Diomedes and Lycurgus both during their lives were esteemed and highly honoured by the people and after their death had this honour done unto them in testimonie of their vertue and valour as to be enterred at the publike charges of the citie in that conspicuous street called Ceramicum considering also that Lycurgus himselfe whiles he managed the affaires of the State enacted many good and holsome lawes for his countrey and being treasurer-generall of all the cities revenues by the space of fifteene yeeres during that time had the receit and laying out of the publicke moneys to the summe of eighteene thousand and nine hundred talents and for that many private mens stocks were put into his hands upon trust for the considence they had in him in regard of his fidelitie in regard also that he hath disbursed and laied foorth of his owne moneys at sundry times and upon divers occasions for the benefit of the citie and communaltie as much as amounteth in all to sixe hundred and fiftie talents for that likewise in all his imploiments having beene ever found most trustie just and loyall and to carie himselfe as an honest man and good citizen he hath bene many times crowned by the city moreover in this respect that having beene chosen by the people the receiver of the finances hee gathered together a great masse of money and brought the same into the common chest within the citadell and besides provided ornaments for the goddesse Minerva to wit images of victorie all of beaten gold vessels to carie in procession both of golde and silver besides other jewels of fine gold for the service and worship of the said goddesse and namely to the number of one hundred Canephorae that is to say Virgins carrying paniers or baskets with sacred reliques upon their heads Item for that being elected commissarie for the munitions and provisions necessarie for the warres he brought into the citadell a great number of armours and weapons and among the rest fiftie thousand shot rigged and set a float foure hundred gallies some new built others repaired and trimmed over and besides for that finding certeine of the citie works unperfect to wit the Arcenall the Armorie and the Theater of Bacchus he caused them to be made up and withall finished both the Cirque or running place Panathenaicurn and also the empaled parke for publicke exercises and built the Lycium likewise and adorned the citie with many faire buildings and publicke edifices whereas also king Alexander the Great having already subdued all Asia and intending generally to be commander over all Greece demanded to have Lycurgus delivered up into his hands for that he onely stood in his way and crossed his desseignes the people would not deliver him for any feare they had of Alexander and for that being oft times called judicially to his answere and to render an account of his government and administration in a free citie and governed by a popular State he was alwaies found innocent and unreproveable not tainted with any briberie nor spotted with corruption and taking gifts for to pervert justice all his life time To the end therefore that all men might know that they who are well affected to the maintenance of liberty and popular government be highly acounted of by the people whiles they live and that after their death the citie is willing to render unto them immortall thanks in a good and happie houre let it be ordeined by the people that Lycurgus the sonne of Lycaphron of Buta be honoured for his vertue and righteousnesse and that the people erect his statue all of brasse in the market-steed unlesse it be in some place where the trade expresly forbiddeth it to stand Item that there be allowance of diet in the Prytanaeum to the eldest of his house in every descent for ever Also that the decrees by him proposed shal be ratified and engrossed by the publicke notarie of the citie yea and engraven in pillars of stone and set up in the citadell neere unto the offerings consecrated unto the goddesse Minerva and for the engraving of the said pillars the treasurie of the citie shall defray fiftie drachmes of silver out of those moneys which are allowed for the citie decrees OF THREE SORTS OF GOVERNMENT MONARCHIE DEMOCRATIE AND OLIGARCHIE ASI devised with my selfe and purposed to put to question for to be decided by this judicious companie a matter which yesterday I discoursed of before you me thought that I heard politicke vertue in a true vision in deed and not in the vaine illusion of a dreame thus to say unto me The golden base and ground that now belongs Unto our worke is laied with sacred songs I have already laied the foundation of a discourse perswading and exhorting to the management of State affaires if now we can proceed to build upon it the doctrine fit for such an exhortation which is a due debt unto Articus for meet it is and requisit that after a man hath received an admonition inciting him to deale in politicke matters of common-weale there should consequently be given unto him and sounded in his eares the precepts of policie the which he observing and following may as much as lieth in man to performe be profitable to the common-weale and withall in the meane time manage his owne private businesse both in safetie and also with such honour as is just and meet for him First and formost therefore we are to consider and discourse of one point which as it is a very materiall precedent unto all that shall be said so it dependeth and is necessarily to be inferred of that which hath bene delivered already namely What maner of policie and government is best for as there be many sort of lives in particular men so there are of people in generall and the life of a people or commonaltie is the politicke state and government thereof Necessarie it is therefore that we declare which is simply the best that a man of State may chuse it from among the rest or at leastwise if that be impossible take that which most resembleth the best Now there is one signification of this word Politia that is to say Policie which is as much as Burgeosie that is to say the indument and enjoying of the right and priviledges of a citie as for example when we say that the Megarians by a publicke ordinance of their city gave unto Alexander the great
and spitefull speeches for envious and malicious persons NARRATIONS OF LOVE The Summarie IN this discourse Plutarch relateth five tragicall histories which shew the pitifull accidents that befell certeine persons transported with the inordinate and irregular affection of Love leaving thereby unto the reader a faire and cleere mirrour wherein to beholde the judgements of God upon those that abandon themselves to be carried away by intemperance and loosenesse NARRATIONS OF LOVE IN the citie Aliartos situate within Boeotia there was sometime a yoong maiden of excellent beautie named Aristoclea and the daughter she was of Theophanes and two yoong gentlemen there were that made sute unto her in way of mariage to wit Straton an Orchomenian Callisthenes of Aliartos aforesaid Now was Straton the richer of the twaine and farre more enamoured of the damosell for seene her he had when she washed herselfe in the fountaine of Ercyne which is in Lebadia against the time that she was to carrie in procession to Jupiter surnamed King a sacred panier as the maner was of the Canephorae to do But Callisthenes had the vantage of him and was deeper in her love for that he was besides neere of kin unto the virgin So Theophanes her father being doubtfull what to doe for he stood in feare of Straton as one who for wealth and noble parentage went well-neere beyond all the Boeotians resolved at length to referre the choise unto the oracle of Jupiter Trophonius but Straton who was borne in hand by those of the house about Aristoclea that she inclined more unto him laboured earnestly that the matter might be put unto the election of the damosell herselfe whereupon when Theophanes the father demanded of her in the face of the world Whom she loved better and would chuse to be her husband she preferred Callisthenes whereat Straton shewed himselfe immediatly not a little discontented for this repulse and disgrace but two daies after he came unto Theophanes and Callisthenes pretending and saying that he would not fall out with them but was desirous still of their good favour and friendship how ever his ill fortune had envied him the marriage of the yoong virgin They approving well of this speech and taking his words in very good part invited him as a guest to the wedding feast meane while he provided himselfe of a good number of his friends and besides no small troupe of servants whom he disposed secretly in their houses heere and there against the time that this maiden after the custome and maner of the countrey should go downe to a certeine fountaine named Cissoeisa there to sacrifice unto the Nymphes before her marriage day now as she passed by those who lay in ambush came all running forth from every side and seized upon her bodie but Straton himselfe principally who drew and haled the damosell unto him as hard as he could Callisthenes againe on the other side for his part as became him held her fast so did they about him thus the silly maiden was tugged and pulled to and fro so long betweene them that before they were aware dead she was among them in their hands upon which strange occurrent what became of Callisthenes it is not knowen whether he presently made away himselfe or fled into voluntary exile for he was no more seene as for Straton in the very sight of all men there in the place he killed himselfe upon the very body of his espoused bride 2 There was one named Phidon a Peloponnesian affecting the seignorie of all Peloponnesus and being desirous that the citie of Argos his native seat should be ladie over all others laied an ambush first for the Corinthians to intrap them for he sent an embassage unto Corinth to demand a levie of a thousand yoong men that were the lustiest and most valourous gallants of the whole citie The Corinthians sent them accordingly under the conduct of one of their captaines named Dexander Now the purpose of this Phidon was to set upon this troupe and kill them every one to the end that he might thereby enfeeble the Corinthians and make the citie serve his owne turne as a strong bulwarke most commodiously seated to command and subdue all Peloponnesus This desseigne of his he communicated unto certeine of his friends for to be put in execution accordingly among whom there was one named Abron who being a familiar friend unto Dexander revealed unto him the conspiracie whereupon the said regiment of a thousand yong men before they were charged by the said ambush retired themselves and recovered Corinth in safetie Then Phidon bestirred himselfe to finde out the man who had thus betraied and discovered his plot which Abron fearing withdrew himselfe to Corinth taking with him his wife children and his whole familie where he setled and remained in a village named Melissa belonging to the territorie of that citie there begat he a sonne whom of the very place which he inhabited he named Melissus and this Melissus in processe of time had a sonne of his owne called Actaeon who proved the most beautifull and withall the modestest lad of all other youths and springals of his age in regard whereof many there were enamoured of him but among the rest one especially named Archias descended lineally from the noble race of Hercules and for wealth credit and authoritie the greatest person in all Corinth This Archias seeing that by no faire meanes and perswasions he could prevaile with yoong Actaeon and winne his love resolved with himselfe to use violence and forcibly to ravish and carrie away this faire boy so he came upon a time as it were to make merrie unto the house of Melissus his father accompanied with a great traine of friends and attended upon with a good troupe of his owne householde-servants where he gave the attempt to have away the boy by force but the father with his friends made resistance the neighbours also came foorth to rescue and did all what they could to holde and keepe the youth with them but what with the one side and what with the other poore Actaeon was so pulled and tugged that betweene them hee lost his lfe which done all the rest went their waies and departed but Melissus the father brought the dead corps of his childe into the market place of the Corinthians presented it there unto them and demaunded justice to be done upon those who had committed this foule outrage The Corinthians made no greater a matter of it but onely shewed that they were sory for his mishap and so he returned home as he came without effect attending and waiting for the solemne assembly at the Isthmicke games where being mounted up to the top of Neptunes temple he cried out against the whole race of the Baccharides and withall rehearsed by way of commemoration the beneficence of his father Abron unto them and when he had called for vengeance unto the gods hee threw himselfe downe headlong among the rocks and brake his necke
notwithstanding that he cast him bread and other meat he would none so the night following the theese laid him downe to sleepe the dog likewise kept all night hard by him and the morrow morning when he tooke his way againe the dog likewise arose and went after Met he any passengers or waifaring men hee would fawne upon them and wag his taile contrariwise he barked eagerly at the theese and was readie to fly upon him They who had the charge to follow with huy and crie being enformed thus much by the travellers whom they met as also of what bignes colour and haire the dog was continued their chase more willingly and made such hot pursute that they evertooke the fellow at Crommyon from thence brought him to Athens The dog he marched before them all and leade them the way as jocound pleasant and gamesome as possibly could bee as taking great joy that this church-robber had beene the game and prey that he had hunted and gotten The Athenians when they heard the truth of this matter related unto them ordained that the said dog should have a certaine measure of corne allowed him at the cities charges for his bread and gave an especially charge to the priests of that temple to have a care of him so long as he lived following herein the kindnesse and liberallitie of their ancestours which they extended in times past to a mule For what time as Pericles caused to be built the temple of Minerva named Hecatompedon within the castle of the citie there were is ordinarie for such buildings conveighed thither daily stones timber and other stuffe in carts and wagons drawen with beasts Now when many of those mules which before time had willingly and painefully served were now for verie age discharged and sent away to pasture one there was among the rest who everie day would come into the high broad street Ceramicum and go before those draught beasts which drew up stones to the mount yea accompanie them as if he encouraged and hartned them to labour and travell The people of Athens commending and admiring the good heart and industrious mind of the beast gave order by a publike decree for his maintenance and keeping at the cities cost no lesse than they would have done for an old bruised souldier who now was past service And therefore we must say that those philosophers who hold That there is no communion nor societie of justice betweene us and bruit beasts say true if they restraine theirspeech unto those creatures onely which live in the sea and deepe bottomlesse waters with who m in deed we can have no fellowship at all of good will love and affection as being beasts farre remote from all gentlenesse sweet converse and good nature and therefore Homer speakingunto a man who seemed to be inhumane cruell and unsociable said elegantly thus The blackish blew sea Ithinke well Engendred thee thou art so fell as if he would thereby give us to understand that the sea brings forth no creature that is milde lovely meek and gentle but he that should say as much and apply the former proposition unto the land-beasts were himselfe cruell and savage if I say he denied that there was no reciprocall commerce of amitie and justice betweene king Lysimachus and his dog Hyrcanus who remained continnally alone about his corps when he was dead yea and at the time that it was burned in the funerall fire lept into it and was consumed into ashes with him for company And reported it is that there was another dog named Actus did no lesse which Pyrrhus kept I meane not the king of that name but another private person for after his master was dead he would never stirre from the bodie and when the corps was carried forth in a couch upon the biere he leapt upon it and was borne withall and finally sprung himselfe into the fire and was burnt with him When king Porus was sore wounded in a battell against king Alexander the Great the elephant upon whose backe he rode and fought drew foorth with his trunke right gently for feare of doing harme many darts arrowes and javelins wherewith hee was shot and albeit himselfe was grievously hurt yet never fainted he and gave over before he perceived that his lord the king was readie to reele and sinke downe by reason of the effusion of blood which hee had lost and then fearing that he would fall from on high to the ground he gently couched and yeelded with his bodie downeward to the earth that he might alight with ease and without all danger King Alexanders horse called Bucephalus all while he was bare without his saddle and caparison would wel enough abide that his keeper should mount upon his backe was he trapped once and richly set out with the kings royall furniture harnesse and ornament hee would suffer none to sit him but Alesander alone And if others came neere him and went about to get upon his backe he would runne a front upon them snuffing snorting and neighing rising up all afore at them and if they made not good haste to retire behind him and fly hee would bee sure to have them under his feet and trample over them I know full well that you thinke these examples are hudled together in a confused varietie but surely it is no easie matter to find any action of these noble beasts which representeth one bare vertue and no more for together with their kindnesse and naturall love there is to be seene a certaine desire of honour amid their generositie a man may perceive a kind of industrious sagacitie and wisedome neither is their wit and subtiltie void of courage and magnanimitie howbeit if men be disposed to distinguish and separate one from another by themselves the dogs do represent an example of a mild and gentle nature together with an haughtie courage and high mind namely when they passe by and turne aside from those that submit themselves before them according to that which Homer saith in one place The dogs ran foorth with open mouth they cried and bark't amaine Ulysses wise his slafe let fall and stirred not againe For their manner is not to fight any longer against those who humbly fall downe prostrate or shew any semblance of lowly suppliants Certes the report goeth of a principall Indian dogge who being for a singularitie above all other sent to fight a combat before king Alexander the Great when there was let loose at him first a stag then a wild boare and afterwards a beare made no reckoning of them nor deigned once to stirre out of his place nor rise up but when hee saw a lion presented unto him then incontinently he stood upon his feet and addressed himselfe to the combat shewing evidently that he esteemed the lion alone worthie to fight with him and disdained all the rest As for those here among us which are woont to hunt hares if they themselves chaunce to kill them with faire
unspoken or not expressed now it hapned that there were solemnized great funerals of one of the welthiest personages in the city and the corps was caried foorth in a great state with the sound of many trumpets that marched before in which solemnitie for that the maner was that the pompe and whole company should stand still and rest a time in that verie place it fell out so that the trumpetters who were right cunning and excellent in their arte staied there founding melodiouslie all the while the morrow after this the pie became mute and made no noise at all nor uttered not so much as her naturall voice which she was wont to doe for to expresse her ordinarie and necessarie passions insomuch as they who before time woondered at her voice and prating marvelled now much more at her silence thinking it a very strange matter to passe by the shop and heare her say nothing so as there grew some suspition of others professing the same art and trade that they had given her some poison howbeit most men guessed that it was the violent sound of the trumpets which had made her deafe and that together with the sense of hearing her voice also was utterly extinct but it was neither the one nor the other for the trueth was this as appeared afterwards she was in a deepe studie and through meditation retired within herselfe whiles her minde was busie and did prepare her voice like an instrument of musicke for imitation for at length her voice came againe and wakened as it were all on a sudden uttering none of her olde notes nor that which she was accustomed before to parle and counterseit onely the sound of trumpets she resembled keeping the same periods the same stops pauses and straines the same changes the same reports and the same times and measures a thing that confirmeth more and more that which I have said before namely that there is more use of reason in teaching of themselves than in learning by another Yet can I not conteine my selfe but I must needs in this place recite unto you one lesson that I my selfe saw a dogge to take out when I was at Rome This dog served a plaier who professed to counterfeit many persons and to represent sundry gestures among sundry other prety tricks which his master taught him answerable to divers passions occasions and occurrents represented upon the stage his master made an experiment on him with a drogue or medicine which was somniferous indeed and sleepie but must be taken and supposed deadly who tooke the piece of bread wherein the said drogue was mingled and within a little while after he had swallowed it downe he began to make as though hee trembled quaked yea and staggered as if he had beene astonied in the end he stretched out himselfe and lay as stiffe as one starke dead suffering himselfe to be pulled haled and drawen from one place to another like a very blocke according as the present argument and matter of the place required but afterwards when hee understood by that which was said and done that his time was come and that he had caught his hint then beganne he at the first to stirre gently by little and little as if hee had newly revived or awakened and stared out of a dead sleepe and lifting up his head began to looke about him too and fro at which object all the beholders woondered not a little afterwards he arose upon his feet and went directly to him unto whom he was to goe very jocund and mery this pageant was performed so artificially I cannot tell whether to say or naturally that all those who were present and the emperour himselfe for Vespasian the father was there in person within the theater of Marcellus tooke exceeding great pleasure and joied woonderfully to see it But peradventure we may deserve well to be mocked for our labour praising beasts as we doe so highly for that they be so docible and apt to learne seeing that Democritus sheweth and proveth that we our selves have beene apprentises and scholars to them in the principall things of this life namely to the spider for spinning weaving derning and drawing up a rent to the swallow for architecture and building to the melodious swanne and shrill nightingale for vocall musicke and all by way of imitation As for the art of physicke and the three kindes thereof we may see in the nature of beasts the greatest and most generous part of each of them for they use not onely that which ordeined drogues and medicines to purge ill humours out of the body seeing that the tortoises take origan wezels rue when they have eaten a serpent dogges also when they be troubled with choler of the gall purge themselves with a certeine herbe thereupon called dogges-grasse the dragon likewise if he finde his eies to be dimme clenseth scoureth and dispatcheth the cloudinesse thereof with fenell and the beare so soone as she is gone out of her denne seeketh out the first thing that she doth the wilde herbe called Aron that is to say wake-robin for the acrimonie and sharpnesse thereof openeth her bowels when they are growen together yea and at other times finding herselfe upon fulnesse given to loth and distaste all food she goes to finde out ants nests where she sits her downe lilling out the tongue which is glibbe and soft with a kinde of sweet and slimy humour untill it be full of ants and their egges then draweth she it it againe swalloweth them downe and thereby cureth her lothing stomacke Semblably it is said that the Aegyptians having observed their bird Ibis which is the blacke storke to give herselfe a clister of sea water by imitation of her did the like by themselves Certeine it is that their priests use to besprinkle purifie and hallow themselves with that water out of which she hath drunke for let any water be venemous or otherwise hurtfull and unholsome the Ibis will none of it but also some beasts there be which feeling themselves ill at ease are cured by diet and abstinence as namely woolves and lions when they have devoured too much flesh and are cloied or glutted therewith they lie me downe take their ease cherishing and keeping themselves warme It is reported likewise of the tygre that when a yoong kidde was given unto her she fasted two daies according to the diet which she useth before she touched it and the third day being very hungry called for other food ready to burst the cage wherein she was enclosed and forbare to eat the said kid supposing that now she was to keepe it with her as a familiar domesticall companion Nay that which more is recorded it is that elephants practise the feat of chirurgery for standing by those that are wounded in a battell they can skill of drawing out tronchions of speares javelin heads arrowes and darts out of their bodies with such dexterity and ease that they will neither teare and
fought a battell at sea as if they had beene on firme land the Athenians likewise who upon the land embattailed themselves and fought as if they had beene within their gallies at sea againe in the Sicilian warre the description which he maketh of the two armies arranged on the land hard by the sea side to behold their men fighting a navall battell wherein the victory hung a long time in equall ballance and inclined neither to the one side nor the other by occasion of which doubtfull issue they were in an intollerable agony distresse and perplexity to behold the sundry encounters and reciprocall charges and recharges communicating their violence and heat of contention even to the very bodies of the beholders upon the strond who puffing blowing panting and sweating in as great paine and feare as if they had beene personally in the very conflict the orderly disposition the graphicall description and the lively narration which he maketh of all this what is it but an evident representation of a picture Now if it be not meet to compare painters with captaines there is as little reason to set historians in comparison with them He who brought the newes of the battell and victorie at Marathon as Heraclides of Pontus writeth was one Thersippus of Eroe or as most historians report it was one Eulees who came running in a great heat from the field in his armour as he was and knocking at the gates of the principall mens houses of Athens was able to say nothing else but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say rejoice yee all is well with us and therewith his breath failed and so he gave up the ghost and yet this man came and brought tidings of that battell wherein himselfe was an actour But tell me I pray you if there were some goat-herd or neat-herd who from the toppe of an hill or an high banke had beheld a farre off this great service and indeed greater than any words can expresse should have come into the city with newes thereof not wounded himselfe nor having lost one droope of bloud and for his good tidings demaund afterwards to have the same honors and memorials which were graunted unto Cynagirus to Callimachus and Polyzebus onely because forsooth he had made report of the doughty deeds the wounds and death of these brave men would you not thinke that he surpassed all the impudencie that can be imagined considering especially that the Lacedaemonians by report sent unto him who brought the first word of the victory at Mantinea which Thucydides described in his story a piece of flesh from one of their dinners or hals called Pbiclitia for a recompence of his happy newes And to say a truth what are historiographers else but certeine messengers to relate and declare the acts of others having a loud and audible voice and who by their pleasant eloquence and significant phrases are able to set foorth the matter to the best which they take in hand unto whom they own indeed the reward due for good tidings who first doe light upon their compositions and have the first reading of them for surely praised they bee onely when they make mention of such exploits and read they be in regard of those singular persons whom they make knowen as the authours and actours thereof Neither are they the goodly words and fine phrases in histories that performe the deeds or deserve so greatly to be heard for even poetry hath a grace and is esteemed for that it describeth and relateth things as if they had beene done and which carie a resemblance of truth and according as Homer in one place saith Many false tales how for to tell Much like to trueths she knowes full well And it is reported that one of Menanders familiar friends said unto him upon a time Menamder the Bacchanale feasts are at hand and hast not thou yet done thy comoedy who returned him this answer Yes iwis have I so helpe me the gods composed if I say I have for the matter thereof is laid foorth and the disposition digested already there remaineth no more to be done but onely to set thereto the verses that must go to it So that you see that the poets themselves reputed the things and deeds more necessary and important than words and speech The famous courtizan Corinna one day reprooved Pindarus who then was a yoong man and tooke a great pride in himselfe for his learning and knowledge Thou hast no skill at all Pindarus quoth she in poetrie for that thou doest not invent and devise fables which is indeed the proper and peculiar worke of poesie as for thy tongue it ministreth some rhetoricall figures catachreses and metaphrases songs musicall measures and numbers unto the matter and argument onely as pleasant sauces to commend the same Pindarus pondering well these words and admonitions of hers thought better of the matter and thereupon out of his poeticall veine powred out this canticle Ismenus or the launce with staffe of gold Sir Cadmus or that sacred race of old Which dragons teeth they say sometime did yeeld Of warriours brave when sowen they were in field Or Hercules who was in such account And his maine force of body to surmount c. Which when he had shewed to Corinna the woman laughed a good said That corne should be sowen out of ones hand and not immediately from out of the full sacke for in trueth much after this sort had Pindarus gathered and heaped up a miscellane deale of fables and powred them foorth all huddle together in this one canticle But that poesie consisteth much in the fine invention of fables Plato himselfe hath written and verily a fable or tale is a false narration resembling that which is true and therefore farre remote it is from the thing indeed if it be so that a narration is the image of an act done a fable the image or shadow of a narration Whereupon this may be inferred that they who devise and feigne fabulous deeds of armes are so much inferiour to historiographers that make true reports as historiographers who relate onely such deeds come behinde the actours and authours themselves Certes this city of Athens had never any excellent or renowmed worke-men in the feat of poetrie no not so much as in the Lyrick part thereof which professeth musicall odes and songs for Cynesias seemeth to have made his dithyrambes or canticles in the honor of Bacchus hardly and with much ado and was himselfe barren and of no grace or gift at all besides he was so mocked and flouted by the comicall poets that he grew to be of no reckoning and reputation but incurred an ill and odious name As for that part of poetrie which dealeth in representation of personages in plaies upon a stage so small account they made at Athens of the Comedians and their profession nay they disdained and scorned it so much that a law there was
susceptible of folly But wherefore should any man be offended and scandalized hereat if hee call to mind that which this philosopher wrote in his second booke of Nature where he avoucheth That vice was not made without some good use and profit for the whole world But it will be better to recite this doctrine even in his owne words to the end that you may know in what place they range vice and what speech they make thereof who accuse Xenocrates and Speusippus for that they reputed not health to be an indifferent thing nor riches unprofitable As for vice quoth he it is limited in regard of other accidents beside for it is also in some sort according to nature and if I may so say it is not altogether unprofitable in respect of the whole for otherwise there would not be any good and therefore it may be inferred that there is no good among the gods in as much as they can have none evil neither when at any time Jupiter having resolved the whole matter into himselfe shall become one shall take away all other differences wil there be any more good considering there will be no evill to be found But true it is that in a daunce or quier there wil be an accord measure although there be none in it that singeth out of tune maketh a discord as also health in mans body albeit no part thereof were pained or diseased but vertue without vice can have no generation And like as in some medicinable confections there is required the poyson of a viper or such like serpent and the gall of the beast Hvaena even so there is another kind of necessarie convenience betweene the wickednesse of Melitus and the justice of Socrates betweene the dissolute demeanor of Cleon and the honest 〈◊〉 of Pericles And what meanes could Jupiter have made to bring foorth Hercules and Lycurgus into the world if he had not withall made Sardanapalus and Phalaris for us And it is a great marvell if they 〈◊〉 not also that the Phthisicke or ulcer of the lungs was sent among men for their good plight of bodie and the gout for swift footmanship and Achilles had not worne long haire unlesse Thersites had beene bald For what difference is there betweene those that alledge these doting fooleries or rave so absurdlie and such as say that loosenesse of life and whoredome were not unprofitable for continence and jniustice for justice So that we had need to pray unto the gods that there might be alwaies sinne and wickednes False leasing smooth and glosing tongue Deceitfull traines and fraud among in case when these be gone vertue depart and perish withal But will you see now and behold the most elegant devise and pleasantest invention of his For like as Comoedies quoth he carrie otherwhiles ridiculous Epigrams or inscriptors which considered by themselves are nothing woorth how be it they give a certaine grace to the whole Poeme even so a man may well blame and detest vice in it selfe but in regard of others it is not unprofitable And first to say that vice was made by the divine providence even as a lewd Epigram composed by the expresse will of the Poet surpasseth all imagination of absurditie for if this were true how can the gods be the givers of good things rather than of evill or how can wickednes any more be enemie to the gods or hated by them or what shall we have to say and answere to such blasphemous sentences of the Poets sounding so ill in religious eares as these God once dispos'd some house to overthrow Twixt men some cause and seeds of strife doth sow Againe Which of the gods twixt them did kindle fire Thus to contest in termes of wrath andire Moreover a foolish and leawd epigram doth embelish and adorne the Comedie serving to that end for which it was composed by the Poet namely to please the spectatours and to make them laugh But Jupiter whom we surnamed Paternall Fatherly Supreame Sovereigne Just Righteous and according to Pindarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the best and most perfect artisan making this world as he hath done not like unto some great Comedie or Enterlude full of varietie skill and wittie devices but in maner of a city common to gods and men for to inhabit together with justice and vertue in one accord and happily what need had he to this most holy and venerable end of theeves robbers murderers homicides parricides and tyrans for surely vice and wickednesse was not the entry of some morisque-dance or ridiculous eare-sport carrying a delectable grace with it and pleasing to God neither was it set unto the affaires of men for recreation and pastime to make them sport or to move laughter being a thing that carrieth not so much as a shadow nor representeth the dreame of that concord and convenience with nature which is so highly celebrated and commended Furthermore the said lewd epigram is but a small part of the Poeme and occupieth a very little roome in a Comedie neither do such ridiculous compositions abound overmuch in a play nor corrupt and marre the pleasant grace of such matters as seeme to have beene well and pretily devised whereas all humane affaires are full thorowout of vice and mans life even from the very first beginning and entire as it were of the prologue unto the finall conclusion of all and epilogue yea and to the very plaudite being disordinate degenerate full of perturbation and confusion and having no one part thereof pure and unblamable as these men say is the most filthy unpleasant and odious enterlude of all others that can be exhibited And therefore gladly would I demaund and learne of them in what respect was vice made profitable to this universall world for I suppose he will not say it was for divine and celestiall things because it were a mere reciculous mockery to affirme that unlesse there were bred and remained among men vice malice avarice and lesing or unlesse we robbed pilled and spoiled unlesse we slandered and murdered one another the sun would not run his ordinary course nor the heaven keepe the set seasons and usuall revolutions of time 〈◊〉 yet the earth seated in the midst and center of the world yeeld the causes of winde and raine It remaineth then that vice sin was profitably engendred for us and for our affaires and haply this is it which they themselves would seeme to say And are we indeed the better in health for being sinfull or have we thereby more plenty and aboundance of things necessary availeth our wickednesse ought to make us more beawtifull and better favoured or serveth it us in any stead to make us more strong and able of body They answere No. But is this a silent name onely and a cretaine blinde opinion and weening of these night-walking Sophisters and not like indeed unto vice which is conspicuous enough exposed to the view of the
the tyrant Demylus and having no good successe therein but missing of his purpose maintained the doctrine of Parmenides to be pure and fine golde tried in the fire from all base mettal shewing by the effect that a magnanimous man is to feare nothing but turpitude and dishonour and that they be children and women or else effeminate and heartlesse men like women who are affraid of dolor and paine for having bitten off his tongue with his owne teeth he spit it in the tyrants face But out of the schoole of Epicurus and of those who follow his rules and doctrines I doe not aske what tyrant killer there was or valiant man and victorious in feats of armes what lawgiver what counsellour what king or governour of state either died or suffred torture for the upholding of right and justice but onely which of all these Sages did ever so much as imbarke and make a voiage by sea in his countries service and for the good thereof which of them went in embassage or disbursed any mony thereabout or where is there extant upon record any civill action of yours in matter of government And yet because that Metrodorus went downe one day from the city as far as to the haven Pyraeaeum tooke a journey of five or six miles to aide Mythra the Syrian one of the king of Persias traine and court who had bene arrested and taken prisoner he wrot unto all the friends that he had in the world of this exploit of his and this doubty voiage Epicurus hath magnified exalted in many of his letters What a doe would they have made then if they had done such an act as Aristotle did who reedified the city of his nativity Stagira which had bene destroied by king Philip or as Theophrastus who twice delivered and freed his native city being held and oppressed by tyrants Should not thinke you the the river Nilus have sooner given over to beare the popyr reed than they bene weary of discribing their brave deeds And is not this a grievous matter and a great indignity that of so many sects of Philosophers that have bene they onely in maner enjoy the good things and benefits that are in cities without contributing any thing of their owne unto them There are not any Poets Tragedians or Comedians but they have endevoured to doe or say alwaies some good thing or other for the defence of lawes and policie but these here if peradventure they write ought write of policie that we should not intermeddle at all in the civill government of state of Rhetoricke that we should not plead any causes eloquently at the barre of Roialty that we should avoid the conversing and living in kings courts neither doe they name at any time those great persons who manage affaires of common weale but by way of mockerie for to debase and abolish their glorie As for example of Epaminondas they say that he had indeed some good thing onely in name and word but the same was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say as little as might be for that is the very terme that it pleaseth them to use Moreover they name him heart of yron demaunding why he marched up and downe through out all Peloponnesus with his armie as he did and sat not rather quiet at home in his owne house with a dainty chaplet upon his head given wholly to make good chere and to sleepe with his belly full in a whole skin But me thinks I should not for any thing omit in this place to rehearse what Metrodorus hath written in his booke of philosophy wherein abjuring all dealing in government of state he saith thus Some there be of these wisemen quoth he who being full of vanity and arrogancy had so deepe an insight into the businesse thereof that in treating of the rules of good life and of vertue they suffer themselves to be carried away with the very same desires that Lycurgus and 〈◊〉 fell into What was this vanity indeed and the aboundance of vanity and pride to set the city of Athens free to reduce Sparta to good policy and the government of holsome lawes that yong men should doe nothing licenciously nor get children upon curtisans and harlots and that riches wanton delicacie intemperance loosenesse dissolution should beare no sway nor have the commaund in cities but law onely and justice for these were the desires of Solon And thus Metrodorus by way of scorne and contumelious reproch addeth thus much more for a conclusion to the rest And therefore quoth he it is well beseeming a gentleman to laugh a good and right heartly at all other men but especially at these Solones and Lycurgi But verily such an one were not a gentleman Metrodorus nor well borne but servile base unruly and dissolute and who deserved to be scurged not with the whip which is for free borne persons but with that whip Astragalote where with the maner was to whip and chastice those gelded sacrificers called Gally when they did amisse in the cerimonies and sacrifices of Cylote the great mother of the gods Now that they warred not against the lawgivers but the very lawes themselves a man may heare and learne of Epicurus for in his questions he demaundeth of himselfe whether a wise man being assured that no man ever should know would doe and commit any thing that the law forbiddeth and he maketh an answere which is not full nor an open plaine and simple affirmation saying doe it I will marry confesse it and be knowen thereof I will not Againe writing as I suppose unto Idomeneus he admonisheth him not to subject and enthrall his life unto lawes and the opinions and reputations of men unlesse it be in this regard onely that otherwise there is prepared odious whipping chere and that neere at hand If then it be so that they who abolish lawes governments and policies do withall subvert and overthrow mans life if Metrodorus and Epicurus doe no lesse withdrawing and averting their friends and followers from dealing in publicke affaires and spitefully hating those who doe meddle therein miscalling and railing at the chiefe and wisest lawgivers that ever were yea and willing them to contemne the lawes so that they keepe themselves out of the feare of the whip and danger of punnishment I cannot see that Colotes hath in any thing so much belied others and raised false imputations against them as he hath indeed and truely accused the doctrine and opinions of Epicurus OF LOVE The Summarie THis Dialogue is more dangerous to be read by yoong men than any other Treatise of Plutarch for that there be certeine glaunces heere and there against honest marriage to upholde indirectly and under hana the cursed and 〈◊〉 filthinesse covertly couched under the name of the Love of yoong boyes But minds guarded and armed with true chastitie and the feare of God may see evidently in this discourse the miserable estate of the world in that there be found
patrons and advocates of so detestable a cause such I meane as in this booke are brought in under the persons of Protogenes and Pisias Meane while they may perceive likewise in the combot of matrimoniall love against unnaturall Poederastie not to be named that honestie hath alwaies meanes sufficient to defend it selfe for being vanquished yea and in the end to go away with the victorie Now this Treatise may be comprised in foure principall points of which the first after a briefe Preface wherein Autobulus being requested to rehearse unto his companions certeine reports which before time hee had heard Plutarch his father to deliver as touching Love entreth into the discourse conteineth the historie of Ismenodora enamoured upon a yoong man named Bacchon whereupon arose some difference and dispute of which Plutarch and those of his companie were chosen arbitratours Thereupon Protogenes seconded by Pisias and this is the second point setting himselfe against Ismenodora disgraceth and discrediteth the whole sex of woman kinde and praiseth openly enough the love of males But Daphnaeus answereth them so fully home and pertinently to the purpose that he discovereth and detecteth all their filthinesse and confuteth them as be hoovefull it was shewing the commodities and true pleasure of conjugall love In this defence assisted he is by Plutarch who prooveth that neither the great wealth nor the forward affection of a woman to a man causeth the mariage with her to be culpable or woorthy to be blamed by divers examples declaring that many women even of base condition have beene the occasion of great evils and calamities But as he was minded to continue this discourse newes came how Bacchon was caught up and brought into the house of Ismenodora which made Protogenes and Pisias to dislodge insomuch as their departure gave entrie into the third and principall point concerning Love what it is what be the parts the causes the sundry effects and fruits thereof admirable in all sorts of persons in altering them so as they become quite changed and others than they were before which is confirmed by many notable examples and similitudes In the last point Plutarch discourseth upon this argument and that by the Philosophy of Plato and the Aegyptians conferring the same with the doctrine of other Philosophers and Poets Then having expresly and flatly condemned Paederastie as a most 〈◊〉 and abhominable thing and adjoined certaine excellent advertisements for the entertening of love in wedlocke betweene husband and wife of which he relateth one proper example his speech endeth by occasion of a messenger who came in place and drew them all away to the wedding of Ismenodora and Bacchon beforesaid OF LOVE FLAVIANUS IT was at Helicon ô Autobulus was it not that those discourses were held as touching Love which you purpose to relate unto us at this present upon our request and intreaty whether it be that you have put them downe in writing or beare them well in remembrance considering that you have so often required and demanded them of your father AUTOEULUS Yes verily in Helicon it was ô Flavianus among the Muses at what time as the Thespians solemnized the feast of Cupid for they celebrate certeine games of prise every five yeeres in the honour of Love as well as of the Muses and that with great pompe and magnificence FLAVIANUS And wot you what it is that we all here that are come to heare you will request at your hands AUTOBULUS No verily but I shall know it when you have tolde me FLAVIANUS Mary this it is That you would now in this rehersall of yours lay aside all by-matters and needlesse preambles as touching the descriptions of faire medowes pleasant shades of the crawling and winding Ivie of rils issuing from fountaines running round about and such like common places that many love to insert desirous to counterfeit and imitate the description of the river Ilissus of the Chast-tree and the fine greene grasse and prety herbs growing daintily upon the ground rising up alittle with a gentle assent and all after the example of Plato in the beginning of his Dialogue Phaedrus with more curiositie iwis and affectation than grace and elegancie AUTOBULUS What needs this narration of ours my good friend Flavianus any such Prooeme or 〈◊〉 for the occasion from whence arose and proceeded these discourses requireth onely an affectionate audience and calleth for a convenient place as it were a stage and scaffold for to relate the action for otherwise of all things els requisit in a Comedie or Enterlude there wanteth nothing onely let us make our praiers unto the Muses Mother Ladie Memorie for to be propice unto us and to vouchsafe her assistance that we may not misse but deliver the whole narration My father long time before I was borne having newly espoused my mother by occasion of a certeine difference and variance that fell out betweene his parents and hers tooke a journey to Thespiae with a full purpose to sacrifice unto Cupid the god of Love and to the feast hee had up with him my mother also for that 〈◊〉 principally apperteined unto her to performe both the praier the sacrifice So there accompanied him from his house certeine of his most familiar friends Now when he was come to Thespiae he found Daphnaeus the sonne of Archidamus and Lysander who was in love with Simons daughter a man who of all her woers was best welcome unto her and most accepted Soclarus also the sonne of Aristion who was come from Tithora there was besides Protogenes of Tarsos and Zeuxippus the Lacedaemonian both of them his olde friends and good hosts who had given him kinde enterteinment and my father said moreover that there were many of the best men in 〈◊〉 there who were of his acquaintance Thus as it should seeme they abode for two or three daies in the citie enterteining one another gently at their leasure with discourses of learning one while in the common empaled parke of exercises where they youth used to wrestle and otherwhiles in the Theaters and Shew-places keeping companie together But afterwards for to avoid the troublesome contentions of Minstrels and Musicians where it appeared that all would go by favour such labouring there was before hand for voices they dislodged from thence for the most part of them as out of an enemies countrey and retired themselves to Helicon and there sojourned and lodged among the Muses where the morrow morning after they were thither come arrived and repaired unto them Anthemion and Pisias two noble gentlemen allied both and affectionate unto Barchon surnamed The Faire and at some variance one with another by reason of I wot not what jealousie in regard of the affection they bare unto him For there was in the city of Thespiae a certeine Dame named Ismenodora descended of a noble house and rich withall yea and of wise and honest carriage besides in all her life for continued shee had no small time in widowhood without blame
thing that she hath to beare himselfe equall unto her and in no wise subject giving by his good demeanour and carriage a counterpeise to the balance for to hold her firme or a waight rather to make her incline and bend that way which is good for them both Now to returne unto Ismenodora her yeeres are meet for mariage and her person fitte for breeding and bearing children and I heare say the woman is in the very floure and best of her time for elder she is not and with that he smiled upon Pisias than any of her suters and corrivals neither hath she any gray haires as some of those that be affectionate to Bacchon and follow him Now if they thinke themselves of a meet age to converse familiarly with him what should hinder her but she should affect and fancie the yong mans person as well if not better as any yong maiden whatsoever And verily these yong folke are otherwhiles hard to be matched united and concorporated together and much a doe there is but by long continuance of time to cast aside and shake off wantonnesse and wildenesse for at the first there is many a soule day and blustring tempest and 〈◊〉 will they abide the yoke and drawe together but especially if there be any inkling or jelousie of other loves abroad which like unto windes when the pilot is away do trouble and disquiet the wedlocke of such yoong persons as neither be willing to obey nor have the skill to commaund If it be so then that a nourse can rule her little babe sucking at her pap a schoolemaster the boy that is his scholar a master of exercises the yong springall a lover the youth whom he loveth the law and the captaine a man growen and him that is able to beare armes insomuch as there is no person of what age soever without government and at his owne libertie to doe what he list what absurdity is it if a wife that hath wit and discretion and is besides the elder governe and direct the life of a yong man her husband being as she is profitable unto him in regard she is the wiser and besides milde and gentle in her government for that she loveth him Over and besides to conclude we all that are Boeotians quoth he ought both to honour Hercules and also not to be offended with the mariage of those who are in yeeres unequall knowing as we doe that he gave his owne wife Megara being thirty three yeeres olde in mariage to Iolaus being then but sixteene yeeres of age As these words passed to and fro there came as my father made report one of 〈◊〉 companions galloping hard one horsebacke from out of the city bringing newes of a very strange and wonderfull occurrent For Ismenodora perswading her selfe as probable it was that Bacchon misliked not this mariage in his heart but that he held off for the respect and reverence that he carried unto those who seemed to divert him from it resolved not to give over her suit nor to cast off the yong men Whereupon she sent for such of her friends as were lusty yong and adventurous gallants and withall her favourits those that wished well to her love certaine women also who were inward with her and most trusty and when she had assembled them all together in her house and communicated her mind unto them she waited the very houre when as Bacchon was wont ordinarily to passe by her dores going well and orderly appointed forth to the publicke place of wrestling Now when he approched nere unto her house all enhuiled and anointed as he was accompanied only with two or three persons Ismenodora her selfe stepped forth of dores crossed the way upon him and only touched the mandilion that he had about him which signall being given all at once her friends leapt forth faire caught up this faire youth in his mandilion and dublet as he was and gently caried him into her house and immediatly shut the dores fast locked No sooner had they gotten him within dores but the women in the house turning him out of his upper mandilion aforesaid put upon him a faire wedding robe with all the servants of the house ran up and downe and adorned with ivie and olive branches the dores and gates not onely of Ismenodora but also of Bacchons house and with that a minstrill wench also passed along through the street piping and singing a wedding song As for the citizens of Thespiae and the strangers who were there at that time some of them tooke up a laughter others being angry and offended hereat incited the masters and governours of the publicke exercises who indeed have great authority over the youth and carry a vigilent eie unto them for to looke nerely unto all their behaviours whereupon they made no account at all of the present exercises then in hand but leaving the theater to the dore they came of Ismenodora where they fell into hot reasoning and debating of the matter one against another Now when the said friend of Pisias was come in all haste riding upon the spurre with this newes as if he had brought some great tidings out of the campe in time of warre he had no sooner uttered panting for want of winde and in maner breathlesse these words Ismenodora hath ravished Bacchon but Zeuxippus as my father told the tale laughed heartily and out of Euripides as he was one who alwaies loved to reade that Poet pronounced this sentence Well done faire dame you having wealth at will Are worldly wise your minde thus to fulfill But Pisias rising up in great choler cried out O the will of God what will be the end of this licentious libertie which thus overthroweth our citie seeing how all the world is growen already to this passe that through our unbrideled audaciousnesse we doe what we list and passe for no lawes but why say I lawes for haply it is but a ridiculous thing to take indignation for the transgressing of civill law and right for even the very lawe of nature is violated by the insolent rashnesse of women Was there ever the like example seene in the very isle Lemnos Let us be gone quoth he goe we and quit from hence foorth the wrestling schooles and publike place of exercises the common hall of justice and the senate house and commit all to women if the city be so inervate as to put up such an indignitie So Pisias brake company and departed in these termes and Protogenes followed after him partly as angry as he and in part appeasing mitigating his mood a little Then Anthemion To say a trueth quoth he this was an audacious part of hers and savouring somwhat of the enterprise of those Lemnian wives in old time and no marvell for we our selves know that the woman was exceeding amorous Hereat Soclarus Why thinke you quoth he that this was a ravishment indeed and plaine force and not rather a subtile devise and stratageme as
wise Convey unto me that Musicall wench of thine that sings so daintily and receive for her ten talents which I send by this bearer let me have her I say unlesse thou thy selfe be in love with her When Antipatrides another of his minions came in a maske on a time to his house accompanied with a prety girle that plaied upon the psaltery sung passing well Alexander taking great delight contentment in the said damosell demanded of Antipatrides whether he were not himselfe enamoured of her And when he answered Yes verily and that exceeding much A mischiefe on thee quoth he leud varlet as thou art and the divell take thee but the wench he absteined from and would not so much as touch her But marke moreover besides of what power even in martiall feats of armes Love is Love I say which is not as saith Euripides Of nature slow dull fickle inconstant Nor in soft cheeks of maidens resiant For a man that is possessed secretly in his heart with Love needeth not the assistance of Mars when he is to encounter with his enemies in the field but having a god of his owne within him and presuming of his presence Most prest he is and resolute to passe through fire and seas The blasts of most tempestuous windes he cares not to appease And all for his friends sake and according as he commandeth him And verily of those children aswell sonnes as daughters of lady 〈◊〉 who in a Tragoedie of Sophocles are represented to be shot with arrowes and so killed one there was who called for no other to helpe and 〈◊〉 her at the point of death but onely her paramor in this wise Oh that some god my Love would send My life to save and me defend Ye all know I am sure doe ye not how and wherefore Cleomachus the Thessalian died in combat Not I for my part quoth Pemptides but gladly would I heare and learne of you And it is a storie quoth my father worth the hearing and the knowledge There came to aide the Chalcidians at what time as there was hot warre in Thessalie against the Eretrians this Cleomachus now the Chalcidians seemed to be strong enough in their footmen but much adoe they had and thought it was a difficult piece of service to breake the cavallerie of their enemies and to repell them So they requested Cleomachus their allie and confederate a brave knight and of great courage to give the first charge and to enter upon the said men of armes With that he asked the youth whom he loved most entirely and who was there present whether he would beholde this enterprise and see the conflict and when the yong man answered Yea and withall kindly kissing and embracing him set the helmet upon his head Cleomachus much more hardy and fuller of spirit than before assembled about him a troupe of the most valourous hosemen of all the Thessalians advanced forward right gallantly and with great resolution set upon the enemies in such sort as at the very first encounter he brake the front disarraied the men of armes and in the end put them to flight Which discomfiture when their infanterie saw they also fled and so the Chalcidians woon the field and archieved a noble victorie Howbeit Cleomachus himselfe was there slaine and the Chalcidians shew his sepulchre and monument in their Market place upon which there standeth even at this day a mighty pillar erected And whereas the Chalcidians before-time held this paederastie or love of yoong boies an in famous thing they of all other Greeks ever after affected and honoured it most But Aristotle writeth that Cleomachus indeed lost his life after he had vanquished the Eretrians in battell but as for him who was thus kissed by his lover he saith that he was of Chalcis in Thrace sent for to aide those of Chalcis in 〈◊〉 and hereupon it commeth that the Chalcidians use to chant such a caroll as this Sweet boies faire impes extract from noble race Endued besides with youth and beauties grace Envie not men of armes and bolde courage Fruition of your prime and flowring age For here aswell of Love and kinde affection As of prowesse we all do make profession The lover was named Anton and the boy whom he loved Philistus as Dionysius the Poet writeth in his booke of Causes And in our city of Thebes ô Pemptides did not one Ardetas give unto a youth whom he loved a complet armour the day that he was enrolled souldier with the inscription of Ardetas his owne name And as for Pammenes an amorous man and one well experienced in love matters he changed and altered the ordinance in battell of our footmen heavily armed reprooving Homer as one that had no skill nor experience of love for ranging the Achaeans by their tribes and wards and not putting in array the lover close unto him whom he loveth for this indeed had beene the right ordinance which Homer describeth in these words The Morians set so close and shield to shield So iointly touch'd that one the other held And this is the onely battalion and armie invincible For men otherwhiles in danger abandon those of their tribe their kindred also and such as be allied unto them yea and beleeve me they forsake their owne fathers and children but never was there enemie seene that could passe through and make way of evasion betweene the lover and his darling considering that such many times shew their adventerous resolution in a bravery and how little reckoning they make of life unto them being in no distresse nor requiring so much at their hands Thus Thero the Thessalian laying and clapping his left hand to a wall drew forth his sword with the right and cut off his owne thumbe before one whom he loved and challenged his corrivall to doe as much if his heart would serve him Another chanced in fight to fall groveling upon his face and when his enemie lifted up his sword to give him a mortall wound he requested him to stay his hand a while untill he could turne his body that his friend whom he loved might not see him wounded in his backe part And therefore we may see that not onely the most martiall and warlicke nations are most given to Love to wit the Boeotians Lacedaemonians and Candiots but also divers renowmed princes and captaines of olde time as namely Meleager Achilles Aristomenes Cimon Epaminondas And as for the last named he had two yong men whom he deerely loved Asopicus and Zephiodorus who also died with him in the field at Mantinea and was likewise interred neere unto him And when Asopicus became hereupon more terrible unto his enemies and most resolute Euchnanus the Amphyssian who first made head against him resisted his furie and smote him had heroique honors done unto him by the Phocaeans To come now unto Hercules hard it were to reckon and number his loves they were so many But among others men honour and worship to
us of this 〈◊〉 for there is no man but desireth to know the reason and cause why this oracle hath given over to make answer in verses and other speeches as it hath done Whereto Theon spake thus But now my sonne we may seeme to doe wrong and shamefull injurie unto our discoursers and directours heere these Historians in taking from them that which is their office and therefore let that be done first which belongeth to them and afterwards you may enquire and dispute at leasure of that which you desire Now by this time were we gon 〈◊〉 as farre as to the statue of king Hiero and the stranger albeit he knew well all the rest yet so courtious he was and of so good a nature that he gave eare withall patience to that which was related unto him but having heard that there stood sometime a certaine columne of the said Hiero all of brasse which fell downe of it selfe the very day whereon Hiero died at Saracose in Sicilie he wondred thereat and I thereupon recounted unto him other like examples as namely of Hiero the Spartan how the day before that he lost his life in the battellat Leuctres the eies of his statue fell out of the head also that the two starres which Lysander had dedicated after the navall battell at the river called Aigos-potamos were missing and not to be seene and his very statue of stone put forth of a sodden so much wilde weedes and greene grasse in so great quantity that it covered and hid the face thereof Moreover during the time of those wofull calamities which the Athenians sustained in 〈◊〉 not onely the golden dates of a palme tree sell downe but also the ravens came and pecked with their bils all about the scutcheon or sheeld of the image of Pallas The Cuidians coronet likewise which Philomelus the tyrant of the 〈◊〉 had given unto Pharsalia the fine dauncing wench was the cause of her death for when she had passed out of Greece into Italie one day as she plaied and daunced about the church of Apollo in Metapontine having the said coronet upon her head the yong men of the city came upon her for to have away the gold of that coronet and striving about her one with another who should have it tare the poore woman in peeces among them Aristotle was wont to say that Homer was the onely Poet who made and devised words that had motion so emphatical they were lively expressed but I for my part would say that the offrings dedicated in the city to neat statues jewels other ornaments mooved together with the divine providence do foresignifie future things neither are the same in any part vaine and void of sense but all replenished with a divine power Then Boethus I would not else quoth he for it is not sufficient belike to enclose God once in a moneth within a mortall bodie unlesse we thrust him also into every stone and peece of brasse as if fortune and chance were not sufficient of themselves to worke such feates and accidents What quoth I thinke you then that these things every one have any affinitie with fortune and chance and is it probable that your Atomes doe glide divide and decline neither before nor after but just at the very time as each one of them who made these offrings should fare better or worse And Epicurus belike as farre as I see serveth your turne now and is profitable unto you in those things which he hath said or written three hundred yeares past but this god Apollo unlesse he imprison and immure himselfe as it were and be mixed within every thing is not able in your opinion to give unto any thing in the world the beginning of motion nor the cause of any passion or accident whatsoever And this was the answere which I made unto Boethus for that point and in like maner spake I as touching the verses of Sibylla For when we were come as farre as to the rocke which joineth to the senate house of the city and there rested our selves upon which rocke by report the first Sibylla sat being new come out of Helicon where she had beene fostered by the Muses although others there be that say she arived at Maleon and was the daughter of Lamia who had Neptune for her father Serapion made mention of certaine verses of hers wherein she praised her selfe saying that she should never cease to prophesie and foretell future things no not after her death for that she her selfe should then goe about in the Moone and be that which is called the face therein appearing also that her breath and spirit mingled with the aire should passe to and fro continually in propheticall words and voices of oracles prognosticating and that of her bodie transmuted and converted into earth there should grow herbes shrubs and plants for the food and pasturage of sacred beasts appointed for sacrifices whereby they have all sorts of formes and qualities in their bowels and inwards and by the meanes whereof men may foreknow and foretell of future events Hereat Boethus made semblance to laugh more than before And when Zous alledged that howsoever these seemed to be fabulous matters and meere fables yet so it was that many subversions transmigrations of Greeke cities many expeditions also and voiages made against them of barbarous armies as also the overthrowes destructions of sundry kingdomes and dominious give testimonie in the behalfe of ancient prophesies and praedictions And as for these late and moderne accidents quoth he which hapned at Cumes and Dicaearchia long before chanted and foretolde by way of priophesie out of Sibyls books did not the time ensuing as a debt accomplish and pay the breakings forth and eruptions of fire out of a mountaine the strange ebullitions of the sea the casting up aloft into the aire of stones cinders by subterranean windes under the earth the ruine and devastiation of so many and those so great cities at one time and that so suddenly as they who came but the next morrow thither could not see where they stood or were built the place was so confused These strange events I say and occurrents as they be hardly beleeved to have hapned without the finger of God so much lesse credible it is that foreseene and foretolde they might be without some heavenly power and divinitie Then Boethus And what accident good sir quoth he can there be imagined that Time oweth not unto Nature and what is there so strange prodigious and unexpected aswell in the sea as upon the land either concerning whole cities or particular persons but if a man foretold of them in processe and tract of time the same may fall out accordingly And yet to speake properly this is not soretelling but simply telling or rather to cast forth and scatter at random in that infinity of the aire words having no originall nor foundation which wandering in this wise Fortune otherwhiles encountreth and concurreth with
they be very engenious and witty mary in every plot they cannot avoid the note of bald devices affected curiositie in their inventions Like as therefore he that painted Apollo with a rocke upon his head signified thereby the day-breake the time a little before sunne rising even so a man may say that these frogs doe symbolize and betoken the season of the Spring at what time as the Sunne begins to rule over the aire and to discusse the winter at least waies if we must according to your opinion understand the Sunne and Apollo to be both one god and not twaine Why quoth Serapion are you of another minde and doe you thinke the Sunne to be one Apollo another Yes mary doe I quoth he as well as that the Sunne and Moone do differ Yea and more than so for the Moone doth not often nor from all the world hide the Sunne whereas the Sunne hath made all men together for to be ignorant of Apollo diverting the minde and cogitation by the meanes of the sense and turning it from that which is unto that which appeareth onely Then Seripion demanded of those Historians our guides and conductors what was the reason that the forsaid cell or chappell was not intitled by the name of Cypselus who dedicated it but called the Corinthians chappel And when they held their peace because as I take it they knew not the cause I began to laugh thereat And why should we thinke quoth I that these men knew or remembered any thing more being astonied and amased as they were to heare you fable and talke of the meteors or impressions in the aire For even themselves we heard before relating that after the tyranny of Cypselus was put downe and overthrowen the Corinthians were desirous to have the inscirption as well of the golden statue at Pisa as of this cell or treasure house for to runne in the name of their whole city And verily the Delphians gave and granted them so much according to their due desert But for that the Elians envied them that priviledge therefore the Corinthians passed a publicke decree by vertue whereof they excluded them from the solemnity of the Isthmian games And heereof it came that never after that any champion out of the territorie of Elis was knowen to shew himselfe to doe his devoir at those Isthmicke games And the massacre of the Molionides which Hercules committed about the city of Cleonae was not the cause as some doe thinke why the Elians were debarred from thence for contrariwise it had belonged to them for to exclude and put by others if for this they had incurred the displeasure of the Corinthians And thus much said I for my part Now when we were come as far as to the hall of the Acanthians and of Brasidas our discoursing Historians and expositours shewed us the place where sometimes stood the obelisks of iron which Rhodopis the famous courtisan had dedicated Whereat Diogenianus was in a great chafe and brake out into these words Now surely quoth he the same city to their shame be it spoken hath allowed unto a common strumpet a place whether to bring and where to bestow the tenth part of that salarie which she got by the use of her body and unjustly put to death Aesope her fellow servant True quoth Serapion but are you so much offended hereat cast up your eie and looke aloft behold among the statues of brave captaines and glorious kings the image of Mnesarete all of beaten gold which Crates saith was dedicated and set up for a Trophae of the Greeks lasciviousnesse The yong gentleman seeing it Yea but it was of Phryne that Crates spake so You say true quoth Serapion for her proper name indeed was Mnesarete but surnamed she was Phryne in meriment because she looked pale or yellow like unto a kinde of frogge named in Greeke Phryne And thus many times surnames doe drowne and suppresse other names For thus the mother of king Alexander the great who had for her name at first Pollyxene came afterwards to be as they say surnamed Myrtale Olympias and Stratonice And the Corinthian lady Eumetis men call unto this day after her fathers name Cleobuline and Herophile of the city Erythre she who had the gift of divination and could skill of prophesie was afterwards in processe of time surnamed Sibylla And you have heard Grammarians say that even Leda her selfe was named Mnesinoe and Orestes Achaeus But how thinke you quoth he casting his eie upon Theon to answere this accusation as touching Phryne Then he smiling againe In such sort quoth he as I will charge and accuse you for busying your selfe in blaming thus the light faults of the Greeks For like as Socrates reprooved this in Calltas that gave defiance onely to sweet perfumes or pretious odors for he liked well enough to see the daunces and gesiculations of yong boies and could abide the sight of kissing of pleasants buffons and jesters to make folke laugh so me thinks that you would chase and exclude out of the temple one poore silly woman who used the beauty of her owne body haply not so honestly as she might and in the meane time you can abide to see god Apollo environed round about with the first fruits with the tenth and other oblations arising from murders warres and pillage and all his temple throughout hanged with the spoiles and booties gotten from the Greeks yea and are neither angry nor take pity when you reade over such goodly oblations and ornaments these most shamefull inscriptions and titles Brasidas and the Acanthians of the Athenian spoiles the Athenians of the Corinthians the Phocaeans of the Thesalians the Oraneates of the Sicyonians and the Amphyctions of the Phocaeans But peradventure it was Praxiteles alone who was offensive unto Crates for that he had set up a monument there of his owne sweet heart which he had made for the love of her whereas Crates contrariwise should have commended him in that among these golden images of kings and princes he had placed a courtisan in gold reproching thereby and condemning riches as having in it nothing to be admired and nothing venerable for it well beseemeth kings and great rulers to present Apollo and the gods with such ornaments and oblations as might testifie their owne justice their temperance and magnanimity and not make shew of their golden store and abundance of superfluous delicates whereof they have their part commonly who have lived most shamefully But you alledge not this example of Croesus quoth another of our historians directours who caused a statue in gold to be made set up here of his woman-baker which he did not for any proud and insolent ostentation of his riches in this temple but upon an honest just occasion for the report goeth that Alyattes the father of this Croesus espoused a second wife by whom he had other children whom hereared and brought up This lady then purposing secretly to take
sit yet about the oracle for to receive and catch some words there delivered which presently and extempore they reduce and contrive into verse meeter and rhime as if they were panniers to bestow all the answers in And heere I forbeare to speake what occasion of blame and matter of calumniation in these oracles these Onomacritoi Prodotae and Cinesones have ministred by adding unto them a tragicall pompe and swelling inflation of words when as neither they had need thereof nor yet received any varietie and alteration thereby Moreover certeine it is that these juglers and vagarant circumforanean landleapers these practisers of legier de main these plaiers at passe and repasse with all the packe of those vagabonds ribauds and jesters who haunt the feasts of Cybele and Serapis have greatly discredited and brought into obloquie the profession of Poetrie some by their extemporall facultie and telling fortunes others by way of lotterie forsooth and by certeine letters and writings forging oracles which they would give to poore varlets and sily women who were soonest abused thereby especially when they saw the same reduced into verse and so were caried away with Poeticall termes And from hence it is now come to passe that Poesie for that she hath suffered herselfe thus to be prophaned and made common by such cousiners juglers deceivers enchanters and false prophets is fallen from the trueth and rejected from Apolloes three-footed table And therefore I nothing woonder if otherwhiles in old time there was some need of this double meaning circumlocution and obscuritie for I assure you there was not woont to come hither one for to enquire and be resolved about the buying of a slave in open market nor another to know what profit he should have by his traffike or husbandry but hither came or sent great and puissant cities kings princes and tyrants who had no meane matters in their heads to consult with Apollo as concering their important affaires whom to provoke displease and offend by causing them to heare many things contrary to their will and minde was nothing good and expedient for those who had the charge of the oracle for this god obeieth not Euripides when he setteth downe a law as it were for him saying thus Phoebus himselfe and none but he Ought unto men the prophet to be for he useth mortall men to be his ministers and underprophets of whom he is to have a speciall care for to preserve them that in doing him service they be not spoiled and slaine by wicked persons in which regard he is not willing to conceale the trueth but turning aside the naked declaration thereof which in poetrie receiveth many reflexions and is divided into many parcels he thereby did away the the rigor and odious austerity therein conteined And it skilled much that neither tyrants should know it not enemies be advertised and have intelligence thereof For their sakes therefore he enfolded in all his answeres doubts suspitions and ambiguities which from others did hide the true meaning of that which was answered But such as came themselves to the oracle and gave close and heedfull eare as whom it concerned particularly those he deceived not neither failed they of the right understanding thereof And therefore a very foolish man is he and of no judgement who doth take occasion of slander and calumniation if the world and estate of mens affaires being changed this God thinketh that he is not to aide and helpe men any more after his accustomed maner but by some other Furthermore by the meanes of poetrie and versification there is not in a sentence any greater commoditie than this that being couched and comprised in a certeine number of words and syllables measuted a man may reteine and remember the same better And necessarie it was for those in olde time to cary away in memory many things because there were delivered many signes and marks of places many times and opportunities of affaires many temples of strange gods beyond sea many secret monuments and repositories of demi-gods hard to be found of those who sailed farre from Greece For in the voyages of Chios and Candie *** enterprised by Onesichus and Palanthus beside many other captaines and admirals how many signes and conjectures went they by and were to observe for to finde the resting seat and place of abode which was ordeined to every one of them and some of them quite missed thereof as for example Battus for his prophesie ran thus That unlesse he arrived to the right place he should be banished Failing therefore of the countrey whereto he was sent he returned againe to the oracle in humble maner craving his favour And then Apollo answered him in this wise Thou knowest thy selfe aswell as I can tell That uneth yet in Afrike thou hast beene For thither sent I thee to build and dwell Nor Meliboea that place so fertile seene If thither now accordingly thou wend Thy wisdome then greatly will I commend And so he sent him away the second time Likewise Lysander being altogether ignorant of the little hill Archeledes of the place called Alopecon as also of the river Oplites And of the dragon sonne of earth by kinde Full craftily assailing men behinde all which hee should have avoided was vanquished in battell and slaine about those very places and that by one Inachion and Aliartian who had for his device or armes in the target that he bare a dragon purtraid But I thinke it needlesse to recite many other ancient oracles of this kinde which are not easily to be related and as hardly remembred especially among you who know them well enough But now thanks be to God the state of our affaires and of the world in regard whereof men were woont to seeke unto the oracle is 〈◊〉 for which I rejoice and congratulate with you For great peace there is and repose in all parts warres be staied and there is no more need of running and wandring to and fro from one countrey to another civill dissentions and seditions be appeased there are no tyrannies now excercised neither doe there raigne other maladies and miseries of Greece as in times past which had need of soveraigne medicins exquisit drogues and powerfull confections to remedy and redresse the same Whereas therefore there is no variable diversity no matter of secrecie no dangerous affaires but all demands be of petie vulgar matters much like to these schoole questions Whether a man should marry or no Whether a man may undertake a voiage by sea or no or Whether he is to take up or put forth mony for interest where I say the greatest points about which cities seeke unto Apollo are about the fertility of their ground plenty of corne and other fruits of the earth the breed and multiplying of their cattell and the health of their bodies to goe about for to comprise the same in verse to devise and forge long circuits of words to use strange and obscure tearmes to such interrogatories
as require a short simple and plaine answere were the part of an ambitious and vainglorious Sophister who tooke a pride in the elegant composing of oracles Over and besides Pythia of her selfe is of a gentle and generous nature and when she descendeth thither and converseth with the god she hath more regard of trueth than of glory neither paseth she whether men praise or dispraise her And better iwis it were for us if we also were likewise affected But we now in a great agony as it were fearefull perplexity lest the place should leese the reputation which it hath had for the space of three thousand yeeres and doubting that some would abandon it and cease to frequent it as if it were the schoole of a Sophister who feared to lose his credit and to be despised devise apologies in defence thereof faining causes and reasons of things which we neither know nor is beseeming us for to learne and all to appease and perswade him who complaineth and seemeth to finde fault whereas we should rather shake him off and let him goe For with him first It will be worst who hath such an opinion of this our God as that he approved and esteemed these ancient sentences of the Sages written at the entrance of the temple Know thy selfe Too much of nothing principally for their brevity as containing under few words a pithy sentence well and closely couched and as a man would say beaten soundly togehter with the hammer but reproved and blamed moderne oracles for delivering most part of their answeres briefely succinctly simply and directly And verily such notable Apophthegmes and sayings of the ancient Sages resemble rivers that runne through a narrow streight where the water is pent and kept in so close that a man cannot see through it and even so unneth or hardly may the bottom of their sense be sounded But if you consider what is written or said by them who endevour to search unto the very bottom what every one of these sentences doth comprehend you shall finde that hardly a man shall meet with orations longer then they Now the dialect or speech of Pythia is such as the Mathematicians define a straight and direct line namely the shortest that may be betweene two points and even so it bendeth not it crookeneth not it maketh no circle it carieth no double sense and ambiguity but goeth straight to the trueth and say it be subject to censure and examination and dangerous to be misconstured and beleeved amisse yet to this day it hath never given advantage whereby it might be convinced of untrueth but in the meane time it hath furnished all this temple full of rich gifts presents and oblations not onely of Greeke nations but also of barbarous people as also adorned it with the beautiful buildings and magnificent fabricks of the amphictyons For you see in some sort many buildings adjoined which were not before and as many repaired and restored to their ancient perfection which were either fallen to decay and ruined by continuance of time or else lay confusedly out of order And like as we see that neere unto great trees that spred much and prosper well other smaller plants and shrubs grow and thrive even so together with the city of Delphos Pylaea flourisheth as being fed and maintained by the abundance and affluenee which ariseth from hence in such sort as it beginneth to have the forme and shew of solemne sacrifices of stately meetings and sacred waters such as in a thousand yeeres before it could never get the like As for those that inhabited about Galaxion in Baeotia they found and felt the gracious presence and favour of our God by the great plenty and store of milke For From all their ewes thicke milke did spin As water fresh from lively spring Their tubs and tunnes with milke therein Brim full they all home fast did bring No barrels bottels pailes of wood But full of milke in houses stood But to us he giveth better markes and more evident tokens and apparent signes of his presence and favour than these be having brought our countrey as it were from drinesse and penurie from desert waste wildernesse wherein it was before to be now rich and plentiful frequented and peopled yea and to be in that honor and reputation wherein we see it at this day to flourish Certes I love my selfe much better for that I was so well affected as to put to my helping hand in this businesse together with Polycrates and Petraeus Yea and him also I love in my heart who was the first author unto us of this government and policy and who tooke the paines and endevoured to set on foot and establish most part of these things But impossible it was that in so small a time there should be seene so great and so evident a mutation by any industry of man whatsoever if God himselfe had not bene assistant to sanctifie and honour this oracle But like as in those times past some men there were who found fault with the ambiguity obliquity and obscurity of oracles so there be in these daies others who like sycophants cavill at the overmuch simplicitie of them whose humorous passion is injurious and exceeding foolish For even as little children take more joy and pleasure to see rainbowes haloes or garlands about the Sunne Moone c. yea and comets or blasing starres than they do to behold the Sunne himselfe or the Moone so these persons desire to have aenigmaticall and darke speeches obscure allegories and wrested metaphors which are all reflexions of divination upon the fansie and apprehension of our mortall conceit And if they understand not sufficiently the cause of this change and alteration they go their waies and are ready to condemne the God and not either us or themselves who are not able by discourse of reason to reach unto the counsell and intention of the said gods OF THE DAEMON OR FAMILIAR SPIRIT OF SOCRATES A Treatise in maner of a Dialogue The Summarie THe The bans having lost their freedome and liberty by the violent proceedings of Archias Leontidas and other tyrants who banished a great number of good citizens and men of woorth in which roll and catalogue Pelopidas was one as appeareth in the storie of his life wherein Plutarch writeth of all this matter at large it fell out at last that the exiled persons tooke heart drew to an head and wrought so as they reentred the city of Thebes slew the tyrants and displaced the garrison of the Spartans Which done they dispatched their ambassages to other States and Common wealths of Greece for to justifie this their action and namely among the rest they sent Caphisias to Athens who being there at the request of Archidamus a personage of great authoritie related and reported the returne of the banished men the surprising of the tyrants and the restoring of the citie to their ancient franchises and that with discourses woonderfull patheticall and such as
the possession thereof dishonorable To what end then shall we receive it quoth my father It seemed of late quoth Epaminondas unto Jason a captaine of the Thessalians that I made him an uncivill and rusticall answere when he sent hither a great masse of gold and requested me to take it as a gift for I chatged him plainly that he did me great wrong and began to picke a quarrell with me in that he affecting and aspiring to a monarchie came with money to tempt solicit me a plaine citizen of a free city and living under the lawes But as for you sir who are come unto us as a stranger I approove your good will for it is honest vertuous and beseeming a Philosopher yea and I love and embrace it singularly well but this I must needs say unto you that you bring medicines and physicke drogues to men that are not sicke and aile nothing Like as therefore if you hearing that our enemies warred upon us were come to bring us harnesse armes and weapons as well defensive as offensive for our succour and being arrived and landed in these parts should finde all quiet and that we lived in peace and amitie with our neighbours you would not thinke that ye ought to give or leave the said armes among them that had no need nor desire thereof even so come you are to aide us against povertie as if we were afflicted and distressed thereby but it is cleane contrary for we can beare it with ease and well content we are to have it dwell with us still in the house and therefore we feele no want either of money or munition against her that doth us no displeasure But this message you shall cary backe unto your fellowes and brethren in the same profession beyond sea that as they use their goods and riches most honestly and in the best maner so they have friends here also that can make use of their poverty as well Now for the keeping funerals sepulture of Lysis he hath himselfe sufficiently paied us therefore and discharged all in that among many other good instructions he taught us not to be afraid of povertie nor to take it in ill part To this Theanor replied in this maner Doeth it I pray you bewray a base minde and want of courage to feare povertie and is it not as absurd and as great a default in judgement to dread and eschue riches in case I say a man not upon any sound reason but for outward disguised shew and in a foolish humor of vanitie refuse and reject it And what reason is there to disswade and debarre the getting and possession of goods by all just and honest meanes as Epaminondas useth But rather forasmuch as you are ready enough in your answeres as appeareth by that which you made as touching this point unto Jason the Thessalian I demand of you first Epaminondas whether you thinke any kinde of giving money to be just and lawfull but no maner of taking or that simply both givers and takers do offend and sinne Not so quoth Epaminondas but of this opinion I am that as of other things so of riches likewise there is one giving and possessing that is civill and honest and another dishonest and shamefull Well then quoth Theanor what say you of him who giveth willingly and with a good heart that which he ought doeth he not give it well The other granted and confessed it Go to then quoth Theanor he who receiveth that which is given well and honestly doth he not take it honestly also or can there be a more just and lawfull taking or money than that which is received of him who giveth righteously I suppose quoth Epaminondas there can not be Betweene two friends therefore quoth he ô Epaminondas if the one may give the other likewise may justly take for in battels I confesse a man ought to turne away and decline from that enemie of whom he hath received some pleasure but in the case of benefits and good turnes it is neither seemly nor honest either to avoide or to reject that friend that giveth well and honestly No in trueth quoth Epaminondas but you are to consider with us thus much That there being in us many lusts and desires and those of sundry things some are naturall and as they say inbred budding and breeding in our flesh and about our bodies for the enterteinment of those pleasures which be necessary others be strangers proceeding from vaine opinions which gathering strength and force by tract of time and long custome in bad nouriture grow to such an head that many times they plucke downe and holde our soules in subjection more forcibly and with greater violence than doe those naturall before said Now reason by good use and vertuous exercise ministreth meanes that a man may draw away and spend many of those very passions which are inbred within us but he had need to employ all the power and strength of custome and exercise against those other concupiscences which be forreners and come from without forth for to consume cut off and chastice them by all means of repressions and retentions that be reasonable For if the resistance which reason maketh against the appetite of eating and drinking forceth many times and conquereth both hunger and thirst far more easie is it to cut off avarice and ambition by forbearing and absteining those things which the same do covet so farie forth as in the end they will be discomfited and subdued How say you thinke you not that it is so The stranger confessed no lesse See you not then quoth he againe that there is a difference betweene an exercise and the worke unto which the exercise is addressed And like as of the art which teacheth how to exercise the body a man may say that the worke is the emulation strife and contention to win the prize of the crowne against the concurrent or adversarie but the exercise thereof is the preparation that the champion makes for to have his body apt nimble and active thereto by continual trials of masteries even so you will grant that a difference there is betweene vertue and the exercise of vertue The stranger said yea unto it Then tell me first and formost quoth he To absteine from vile filthy and unlawfull lusts what thinke you is it an exercise unto continency or rather the very worke it selfe and proofe of continency The very worke and proofe I take it to be quoth he againe and the exercise and accustomance to sobriety temperance and continency is not that which you all practise when after you have travelled your bodies and like brute beasts provoked your appetites you sit downe to meat and there continue a long time having your tables before you furnished with exquisit viands of all sorts but touch not one dish leaving them afterwards for your servants to engorge themselves therewith and make merry when you the while present some little thing and that plaine and simple
quoth he to the number of thirty at the least If there be so many quoth he how commeth it to passe that you onely crosse and gainsay yea and hinder that which hath beene concluded and agreed upon by us all and to this purpose have dispatched a light-horseman to ride in poste unto the banished persons who had put themselves in their journey hitherward charging them to returne backe and that in no wise they should goe forward this day considering that the most part of those things which went to this journey fortuneit selfe had procured prepared fit for their hands upon these words of Phyllidas we were all much troubled and perplexed but Charon aboue the rest fastning his eie upon Hipposthenidas and that with a sowre and sterne countenance Most wicked wretch that thou art quoth he what hast thou done unto us No harme said Hipposthenidas in case leaving this curst angrie voice of yours you can be content and have patience to heare and understand the reasons of a man as aged as your selfe and having as many gray haires as you have for if this be the point to shew unto our fellow citizens how hardy and couragious we are that we make no reckoning of our lives and care not for any perill of death seeing we have day enough Phyllidas let us never stay for the darke evening but presently and immediately from this place run upon the tyrants with our swords drawen let us kill and slay let us die upon them and make no spare of our selves for it is no hard matter to do and suffer all this mary to deliver the citie of Thebes out of the hands of so many armed men as hold it to disseize and expell the garrison of the Spartanes with the murder of two or three men is not so easie a thing for Phyllidas hath not provided so much wine for his feast and banquet as will be sufficient to make fifteene hundred souldiers of Archius guard drunken and say we had killed him yet Crippidas and Arcesus are ready at night both of them sober enough to keepe the corps du guard why make wee such haste then to draw our friends into an evident and certeine danger of present death especially seeing withall that our enemies be in some sort advertised of their comming and approch for if it were not so why was there commandement given by them to those of Thespiae for to be in their armes upon the third day which is this and readie to goe with the Lacedaemonian captaines whensoever they gave commandement And as for Amphitheus this very day as I understand after their judiciall proceeding against him they minded to put to death upon the comming of Archias And are not these pregnant presumptions that the plot and enterprise is to them discovered Were it not better then to deferre the execution of our designments a while longer untill such time as the gods be reconciled and appeased for our divinors and wisards having sacrificed a beese unto Ceres pronounce that the fire of the sacrifice denounceth some great sedition and danger to the common weale and that which you Charon particularly ought to take good heed of is this Yesterday and no longer since Hippathodorus the sonne of Erianthes a man otherwise of good sort and one who knoweth nothing at all of our enterprise had this speech with me Charon is your familiar friend Hippathodorus but with me not greatly acquainted advertise him therefore if you thinke so good that he beware and looke to himselfe in regard of some great danger strange accident that is toward him for the last night as I dreamed me thought I saw that his house was in travell as it were of childe that he and his friends being themselves in distresse praied unto the gods for her delivery standing round about her during her labour and painfull travell but she seemed to loow and rore yea and to cast out certeine inarticulate voices untill at the last there issued out of it a mightie fire wherewith a great part of the citie was immediately burnt and the castle Cadmea covered all over with smoke onely but no part of the sire ascended thereto Loe what the vision was which this honest man related unto me Charon which I assure you for the present set me in a great quaking and trembling but much more when I once heard say that this day the exiled persons were to returne and be lodged here within an house of the citie In great anguish therefore I am and in a wonderfull agonie for feare least we engage our selves within a world of calamities and miseries without being able to execute any exploit of importance upon our enemies unlesse it be to make a garboile and set all on a light fire for I suppose that the citie when all is done will be ours but Cadmea the castle as it is already will be for them Then Theocritus taking upon him to speake and staying Charon who was about to reply somewhat against this Hipposthenidas I interpret all this quoth he cleane contrary for there is not a signe that confirmeth me mor ein following of this enterprise although I have had alwaies good presages in t eh behalfe of the banished in all the sacrifices that I have offred than this vision which you have rehearsed if it be so as you say that a great and light fire shone over all the citie and the same arising out of a friends house and that the habitation of our enemeis and the place of their retreat was darkned and made blacke againe with the smoke which never brings with it any thing better than teares and troublesome confusion and whereas from amogn us there arose in articulate vocies in case a man should construe it in evill part and take exception thereat in regard of the voice the same will be when our enterprise which now is enfolded in obscure doubtfull and uncerteine suspicion shall at once both appeere and also prevaile as for the ill signes of the sacrifices they touch not the publike estate but those who now are most powerfull and in greatest authoritie As Theocritus thus was speaking yet still I said unto Hipposthenidas And whom I pray you have you sent unto the men for if he be not too farre onward on his way we will send after to overtake him I am not able to say of a trueth Caphisias whether it be possible to reach him quoth Hipposthenidas for he hath one of the best horses in all Thebes under him and a man he is whom yee all know very well for he is the master of Melons chariots and his chariot men one unto whom Melon himselfe from the very first discovered this plot and made privie unto it With that I considering and thinking with my selfe what man he should speake of It is not Chlidon quoth I ô Hipposthenidas he who no longer since than the last yeere wanne the prise in the horse running at the solemne feast of
leapt out of their pallets upon their feete and willingly drew their chaines and irons after them but such as had their feet fast in the stockes stretched forth their hands and cried unto us beseeching they might not be left behinde and whiles we were busie in setting them loose many of the neighbours by this time who dwelt neere and perceived what was done were run forth already into the streets with glad and joifuil hearts The very women also as any of them heard ought of their acquaintance without regard of observing the custome and maner of the Boeotians ran out of dores one unto another and demanded of every one whom they met in the street what newes And as many of them as light either upō their fathers or husbands followed them as they went and no man impeached them in so doing for the pitifull commiseration the teares praiers and supplications especially of honest and chast wives were in this case very effectuall and moved men to regard them When things were brought to this passe so soone as we heard that Epamtnondas and Gorgidas with other friends were now assembled within the temple of Minerva we went directly unto them and thither repaired also many honest citizens and men of quality flocking still more and more in great frequencie Now after relation was made unto them how al things sped that they were requested to assist us in the performance and execution of that which was behind and for that purpose to meet all together in the common market place incontinently they set up a shout and cried unto the citizens Liberty liberty distributing armes and weapons among as many as came to joine with them which they tooke forth of the temples and halles being full of the spoiles of al sorts won from enimies in times past as also out of the armorers furbushers and cutlers shops there adjoining Thither came Hipposthenidas likewise with a troupe of friends and servants bringing those trumpetters with him who were by chaunce come to the city against the feast of Hercules and immediatly some sounded the al'arm in the market place and others in all parts of the city besides and all to astonish and affright those of the adverse part as if the whole city were revolted and had risen against them who making a great smoake for the nonce in the streets because they would not be descried put themselves within the castle Cadmea drawing with them those choise soldiers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the better who were wont usually to ward all night and keepe a standing corps de guard about the said castle Now those who were above in the said fort seeing their owne captaine to run so disorderly and in great affright and to make hast to get in perceiving also from above how we were gathered together about the market place in armes and no part of the city quiet but full of tumult uprores and garboiles whereof the noise ascended up unto them durst not adventure to come downe though they were to the number of five thousand as fearing the present danger but pretended for their excuse the absence of Lysanoridas their captaine who was ever wont to remaine with them but onely that day which was the cause that afterwards as we have heard the Lacedaemonians making meanes by a peece of money to apprehend him in Corinth whether he was retired and immediately put him to death but upon composition and safe conduct they delivered up the castle into our hands and departed with all the soldiers in it OF THE MALICE OF HERODOTUS The Summarie PLutarch considering in what credit and reguest Herodotus the Historiographer was who in many places of his bookes which are at this day extant in our bands defameth divers states and hcnorable persons of Greece is minded heere in this treatise to arme as it were and prepare the readers against all such false suggestions and imputations and in the very entry of his discourse accuseth Herodotus of malice and leasing For proofe of this challenge he setteth downe certaine markes whereby a man may discerne a slanderous writer from a sage and discrect Historiographer Which done he applieth the said markes unto Herodotus shewing by a number of examples drawen out of his stories and narrations that often times he useth odious words when as others more milde and gentle were as ready for him to use that he describeth an evill matter when as there was no need to make mention thereof that he taket hpleasure to speake ill to raile that among praises he inserteth the bitter blames of one and the same personage and in recounting one thing two maner of waies and more he resteth alwaies in the worse and imputeth worthy deeds and brave exploits unto disordinate andirregular passions and so after an oblique maner doth the persons injury So that this treatise teacheth as well the writers of histories to looke well about themselves and stand upon their guard lest they be esteemed slanderous foolish and impudent as also the readers to carry with them a pure and sincere judgement for to make their profit by those bookes which they take in hand to read OF THE MALICE of Herodotus MAny men there be ô Alexander whom the stile phrase of Herodotus the Historiographer because it seemeth unto them plaine simple naturall and running smoothly upon the matters which he delivereth hath much deceived but more there are who have bene caught and brought into the same errour by his maners and behaviour For it is not onely extreame injustice as Plato said to seeme just and righteous when a man is nothing lesse but also an act of malice in the highest degree to counterfait mildenesse and simplicity and under that pretence and colour to be covertly most bitter and malicious Now for that he sheweth this spight of his against the Boeotians and Corinthians especially although he spareth not any others whatsoever I thought it my part and duty doe defend heerein the honor of our ancesters in the behalfe of trueth against this onely part of his writings and no more For to pursue and goe thorow all other lies and forged tales of his dispersed in that historie would require many great volumes But as Sophocles said Of eloquence the flattering face Prevaileth much and winneth grace especially when it meeteth with a tongue which is pleasant and carieth such a force asto cover among other vices the malicious nature of an Historiographer Philip king of Macedonie was woont to say unto those Greeks who revolted from his alliance and sided with Titus Quintius that they had changed their former chaines and given them for others that were indeed more polished howbeit longer a faire deale Even so a man may say that the malignitie of Herodotus is smoother and more delicate than that of Theopompus but it toucheth neerer to the quicke and stingeth more like as the windes are more sharpe and piercing which blow through a narrow streight or
close glade than such as are spred more at large I thinke therefore that I shall doe very well first to describe generally and as it were in grosse the tracts and marks as it were of a narration which is not pure sincere and friendly but spightfull and malicious for to apply the same afterwards to ech point that we shall examine and see whether they doe agree fitly thereto First and formost therefore he that useth the most odious nownes and verbs when there be others at hand more milde and gentle for to expresse things done as for example whereas he might say that Nicias was very ceremonious and somewhat supersticiously given reporteth that he was fanaticall and chuseth rather to chalenge Cleon for rash audacitie and furious madnesse than for light and vaine speech surely he carieth not a good and gentle minde but taketh pleasure to make a narration in the woorst maner Secondly when there is some vice otherwise in a man which apperteineth not unto the history and yet the writer catcheth hold thereof and will needs thrust it into the narration of those affaires which require it not drawing his historie from the matter fetching a compasse about after an extravagant maner and all to bring in either the infortunitie or unhappy accident or else some absurd and shamefull act of a man it is very evident that such an one delighteth in reprochfull and evill language And therefore contrariwise Thucydides howsoever Cleon committed an infinite number of grosse and foule faults yet he never traduced him openly for them in his writings And as touching the busie oratour Hyperbolus he glanced at him onely by the way terming him a naughtie man and so let him goe Philistus likewise passed over all the outrages and wrongs many though they were of Dionysius the tyrant which he offered unto the barbarous nations so long as they were not interlaced among the affaires of the Greeks For the digressions excursions of an history are allowed principally for some fables or antiquities Moreover he who amōg the praises of some great personages thrusteth in some matter tending to reproch blame seemeth to incurre the malediction of the tragicall Poet Cursed be thou that lov'st a roll to have Of mens mishaps who now lie dead in grave Furthermore that which is equipollent and reciprocall thereto every man knoweth that the leaving out and passing over quite of some good qualitie or laudable fact seemeth not to be a thing reprehensible and subject to account though done it were maliciously and the same were left out in some such place as perteined well to the traine of the historie for to commend a man coldly and after an unwilling maner savoreth no more of civilitie than to blame him affectionately and besides that it is nothing more civill it smelleth haply more of malice and of the twaine is woorse The fourth signe of a malicious nature in an historian in my account is this when one and the same thing is interpreted or reported two waies or more to encline unto the harder construction For permitted it is unto Sophisters and Rhetoricians either for to gaine their see or to winne the name and reputation of eloquence otherwhiles to take in hand for to defend and adorne the woorse cause because they imprint not deepely any credit or beliefe of that which they deliver and they themselves doe not deny that they undertake to proove things incredible even against the common opinion of men But he that composeth an historie doeth his part and devoir if he writeth that which he knoweth to be true but of matters doubtfull obscure and uncerteine those which are better seeme to be reported more truely alwaies than the worse And many there be who omit quite and overpasse the worse as for example Ephorus having said as touching Themistocles that he was privy to the treason that Pausamas plotted and practised and what he treated with the lieutenants of the king of Persia Howbeit he consented not quoth he nor never could be induced to take part with him of those hopes whereto he did sollicite him And Thucydides left this matter wholly out of his storie as not acknowledging it to be true Againe in matters confessed to have beene done but yet not knowen for what cause and upon what intention he that guesseth and casteth his conjecture in the woorse part is naught and maliciously minded and thus did the comicall Poets who gave out that Pericles kindled the Peloponnesian warre for the love the of courtisan Aspasia or else for Phidias sake and not rather upon an high minde and contention to take downe the pride of the Peloponnesians in no wise to give place unto the Lacedaemonians For of arts approoved and laudable affaires he that supposeth and setteth downe a leud and naughty cause and by calumniations draweth men into extravagant suspicions of the hidden and secret intention of him who performed the act which he is not able to reproove or blame openly as they who report of Alexander the tyrants death which dame Thebe his wife contrived that it was not a deed of magnanimity nor upon the hatred of wickednesse and vice but proceeding from the passionate jealousie of a woman as also those who say that Cato Uttcensis killed himselfe fearing lest Caesar would execute him shamefully these I say are envious and spightfull in the highest degree Semblably an historicall narration smelleth of malice according as the maner of a worke or act done is related as if it be put downe in writing that it was by the meanes rather of money and corruption than of vertue valour that some great exploit was performed as some there were who did not sticke to say as much of Philip or else that it was executed without any travel and danger as others gave out of Alexander the Great also not by forecast and wisedome but by the favour of fortune like as the enviour and ill willer of Timotheus who in painted tables represented the pourtrature of divers cities and townes that of themselves fell within the compasse of his net and toile when he lay fast asleepe evident it is that it is that it tendeth to the empairing of the glorie beautie and greatnesse of those acts when they take from them the magnanimity vertue and diligence of the authors and give out they were not done and executed by themselves Over and besides those who professedly and directly speake evill of one incurre the imputation of quarrellers rash-headed and furious persons in case they keepe not within a meane but such as doe it after an oblique maner as if they discharged bullets or shot arrowes at one side from some blinde corner charging surmises and suspicions and then to turne behinde and shift off all by saying they doe not beleeve any such thing which they desire most of all to be beleeved howsoever they disclame all malice and evill will over and besides their cancred nature they are steined with the
this matter thus word for word Pactyas quoth he being advertised that the Persian army approched fled first to Mitylenae and afterwards to Chios and there he fell into the hands of Cyrus Moreover this our author in his third booke describing the expedition or journey of the Lacedaemonians against Polycrates the tyrant saith that the Samians both are of opinion and also report that it was by way of recompence and requitall because they had sent them aid in their warre against Messene that the Lacedaemonians entred into armes and warred upon the tyrant for to reduce the exiled persons home againe and restore them to their livings and goods but he saith that the Lacedaemonians deny flatly this to have bene the cause saying it was neither to set the Isle Samos at liberty nor to succour the Samians that they enterprised this warre but rather to chastice the Samians for that they had intercepted and taken away a faire standing cup of gold sent by them as a present unto king Croesus and besides a goodly cuirace or brestplate sent unto them from king Amasis And yet we know for certaine that in all those daies there was not a city in Greece so desirous of honour nor so infest and deadly bent against tytants as Lacedaemon was for what other cuppe of gold or cuirace was there for which they chaced out of Corinth and Ambracia the usurping race of the Cypselidae banished out of Noxos the tyrant Lygdamis expelled out of Athens the children of Pisistratus drave out of Sicyone Aeschines exiled from Theses Symmachus delivered the Phocaeans from Aulis and turned Aristogenes out of Miletus as for the lordly deminions over Thessaly they utterly ruinated and rooted out which Aristomedes and Angelus usurped whom they suppressed and defaited by the meanes of Leotychidas their king But of these things I have written else where more exactly and at large Now if Herodotus saith true what wanted they of extreame folly and wickednesse in the highest degree indisavowing and denying a most just and honorable occasion of this warre to confesse that they made an invasion upon a poorer and miserable nation oppressed and afflicted under a tyrant and all in remembrance of a former grudge to be revenged for a small wrong upon a base minde and mechanicall avarice Now haply he had a fling at the Lacedaemonians and gave them a blur with his pen because in the traine and consequence of the story they came so just under it but the city of the Corinthians which was cleane out of his way he hath notwithstanding taken it with him and bespurted and dashed as he passed by with a most grievous slander and heavy imputation The Corinthians also quoth he did favor and second with great affection this voiage of the Lacedaemonians for to requite an hainous outrage and injury which they had received before time at the Samians handes And that was this Periander the tyrant of Corinth sent three hundred yoong boies that were the sonnes of the most noble persons in all Corfu to king Aliattes for to be guelded These youths arrived in the Isle Samos whō being landed the Samians taught how to sit as humble suppliants within the temple and sanctuary of Diana set before them for their nourishment certaine cakes made of Sesam seed hony And this forsoth was it that our trim historiographer calleth so great an outrage abuse offred by the Samians unto the Corinthians for which he saith the Lacedaemonians also were stirred up and provoked against them because they had saved the children of Greeks from eviration But surely he that fasteneth this reproch upon the Corinthians sheweth that the city was more wicked than the tyrant himselfe As for him his desire was to be revenged of the inhabitants of Corfu who had killed his sonne among them but the Corinthians what wrong received they of the Samians for which they should in hostile maner set upon them who opposed themselves and empeached so inhumane and barbarous crueltie to be committed and namely that they should revive and raise up againe an old cankred grudge and quarrels that had lien dead and buried the space of three generations and all in favour and maintenance of tyranny which had laine very grievous and unsupportable upon them and whereof being overthrowen and ruined as it is they cease not still to abolish and doe out the remembrance for ever Loe what outrage it was that the Samians committed upon the Corinthians but what was the revenge and punishment that the Corinthians devised against the Samians For if in good earnest they tooke indignation and were offended with the Samians it had beene meet not to have incited the Lacedaemonians but to have diverted them rather from levying warre upon Polycrates to the end that the tyrant not being defaited and put downe they might not have beene freed nor delivered from tyrannicall servitude But that which more is what occasion had the Corinthians to bee angrie with the Samians who though they desired yet could not save the Corcyreans children considering they tooke no displeasure against the Cnidians who not onely preserved but also restored them to their parents And verily the Corcyreans make no great regard nor speake ought of the Samians in this behalfe mary the Cnidians they remembred in the best maner for the Cnidians they ordeined honours priviledges and immunities and enacted publicke decrees to ratifie and confirme the same For these Cnidians sailing to the Isle of Samos arrived there drave out of the foresaid temple the guard of Pertander tooke the children foorth and brought them safe to Corfu according as Antenor the Candiot and Dionysius the Chalcidian in the booke of Foundations have left in writing Now that the Lacedaemonians undertooke this expedition not for to be quit with the Samians and to punish them but to deliver them rather from the tyrant and for to save them I will beleeve no other testimonie but the Samians themselves For they affirme that there is among them now standing a tombe or monument by them erected at the publike charges of the citie for the corps of Archias a citizen of Sparta whose memoriall they doe honour for that in the said service he fought valiantly and lost his life for which cause the posteritie descended from that man doe yet unto this day beare singular affection and do all the pleasures they can unto the Samians as Herodotus himselfe beareth witnesse Furthermore in his fifth booke he writeth that Clisthenes one of the most noble and principall personages of all Athens perswaded the priestresse Pythia to be a false prophetesse in mooving the Lacedaemonians alwaies by her answers that she gave out for to deliver the citie of Athens from the thirtie tyrants and thus unto a most glorious peece of worke and right just he adjoineth the imputation of so great an impietie and a damnable device of falshood and withall bereaveth god Apollo of that prophesie which is so good and honest yea
and beseeming Themis who also as they say assisteth him in the oracle He saith also that Isagoras yeelded his wife unto Cleomenes for to use her at his pleasure whensoever he came unto her and then as his ordinary maner is intermingling some praises among blames because he would be the better beleeved This Isagoras quoth he the sonne of Tisander was of a noble house but I am not able to say of what antiquitie before-time his pedegree was but onely that his knisfolke and those of his bloud doe sacrifice unto Jupiter surnamed Carius Now I assure you this our Historian is a proper and pleasant conceited fellow to send away Isagoras thus to the Carians as it were to ravens in a mischiefe And as for Aristogiton he packeth him away not by a backe doore or posterne but directly by the broad open gate as far as unto Phoenice saying that his first originall came long since from the Gephyrians but what Gephyrians trow yee not those in Euboea or in Eretria as some doe thinke but he saith plainly they be Phoenicians and that he is so perswaded of them by heare-say And not being able to deprive the Lacedaemonians of their glory for delivering the city of Athens from the servitude of the thirty tyrants he goeth about to obliterate quite or at leastwise in some sort to disgrace and dishonor that most noble act with as foule a passion and as villanous a vice for hee saith that they repented incontinently as if they had not well done by the induction of false and supposed oracles thus to have chaced out of their countrey the tyrants their friends guests and allies who promised to deliver Athens into their hands and to have yeelded the city unto an unthankfull people and that anon they sent for Hipptas as farre as to Sigaeum for to reduce him to Athens but the Corinthians opposed themselves and diverted them whiles Sosicles discoursed and shewed how many miseries and calamities the citie of Corinth had endured whiles Periander Cypselus held them under their tyrannicall rule and yet of all those enormous outrages which Periander committed they could not name any one more wicked and cruell than that of the three hundred children which he sent away for to be gelded Howbeit this man dareth to say that the Corinthians were mooved and provoked against the Samians who had saved the said youthes and kept them from suffering such an indignity and caried the remembrance thereof for revenge as if they had done them some exceeding great injurie so full is his malice and gall of inconstancie of repugnance and contradiction in all his speeches which ever and anon is ready to offer it selfe in all his narrations After all this comming to describe the taking of the citie Sardis he diminished deformeth and discrediteth the exploit all that ever he can being so armed with shamelesse audacitie that he termeth those shippes which the Athenians set out and sent to succor the king and to plague the Ionians who rebelled against him the originall causes of all mischiefe for that they assaied to set at liberty and deliver out of servitude so many goodly and faire cities of the Greeks held forcibly under the violent dominion of the barbarous nations As touching the Eretrians he maketh mention of them onely by the way passeth in silence a most woorthy and glorious piece of service which they performed at that time for when all Ionia was now already in an uprore hurliburly and the kings armada neere at hand they put out their navie and in the maine sea of Pamphylia defeated in a navall battell the Cyprians then returning backe and leaving their navie in the rode before Ephesus they went by land to lay siege unto the capitall citie of Sardis where they beleagured Artaphernes within a castle into which he was fledde intending thereby to raise the siege before the citie Miletus which service they put in execution and performed causing their enemies to remoove their campe and dislodge from thence in a woonderfull great feare and affright but seeing a greater number of enemies to presse hard upon them they returned Many Chroniclers report the historie in this maner and among the rest Lysanias Mallotes in his chronicle of the Eretrians And verily it would have beseemed well if for no other reason yet after the taking and destruction of their citie to have added this their act of valour and prowesse Howbeit this good writer contrariwise saith that being vanquished in the field the Barbarians followed in chase and pursued them as farre as to their shippes and yet Charon the Lampsacenian maketh no mention thereof but writeth thus word for word The AThenians quoth he put to sea with a fleet of twentie gallies for to aid the Ionians and made a voiage as farre as to Sardeis where they were masters of all except the kings fortresse or wall which done they returned to Miletus In the sixth booke our Herodotus after he had related thus much of the Plataeans that they had yeelded and committed themselves to the protection of the Lacedaemonians who made remonstrance unto them that they should doe farre better to raunge and side with the Athenians their neighbours and able to defend them he addeth moreover and saith afterwards not by way of opinion and suspicion but as one who knew it was so indeed that the Lacedaemonians thus advised and counselled them at that time not for any good will and loving affection that they bare unto them but because they were all very well appaied to see the Athenians to have their hands full and to be matched with the Baeotians If then Herodotus be not malicious it cannot chuse but that the Lacedaemonians were very cautelous fraudulent and spightfull and the Athenians as blocking and senselesse not to see how they were thus deluded and circumvented The Plataeans likewise were thus posted from them not for any love or honor entended unto them but because they might be the occasion of war Furthermore he is convinced to have falsly devised and colourably pretended the excuse of the full moone against the Lacedaemonians which whiles they attended and staied for he saith they failed and went not in that journey of Marathon to aid the Athenians for not onely they began a thousand voiages and fought as many battels in the beginning of the moneth and new of the moone but also at this very battell of Marathon which was fought the sixth day of the moneth Boedromion that is to say November they missed very little but they had arrived in due time for they came soone enough to finde the dead bodies of those that were slaine in the field and lying still in the place and yet thus hath he written of the full moone It was impossible for them to doe this out of hand being as they were not willing to breake the law for that as yet it was but the ninth day of the moneth and they made answere that they might
not set foorth unlesse the moone were at the full And thus these men waited for the full moone But you good sir transferre the ful moone into the beginning of the halfe moone or second quarter confounding the course of heaven and the order of daies yea and shuffling every thing together Over and besides promising in the forefront and inscription of your historie to write the deeds and affaires of the Greekes you employ all your eloquence to magnifie and amplifie the acts of the Barbarians and making semblance to be affectionate to the Athenians yet for all that you make no mention at all of that solemne pompe and procession of theirs at Agrae which they hold even at this day in the honour of Hecate or Proserpina by way of thankes giving for the victorie the feast whereof they do celebrate But this helpeth Herodotus verie much to meet with that improperation and slander that went of him namely that he flattered the Athenians in his storie for that he had received a great summe of money of them for that purpose for if he had read this unto the Athenians they would never have neglected nor let passe that wicked Philippides who went to moove and sollicite the Lacedaemonians to be at that battell from which himselfe came and he especially who as he saith himselfe within two daies was in Sparta after he had beene at Athens if the Athenians after the winning of the field did not send for the aide of their confederates and allies But Diyllus an Athenian none of the meanest Chroniclers writeth that he received of the Athenians the summe of ten talents of silver by vertue of an an act that Anytus propounded Moreover many are of opinion that Herodotus in his narration of the battell of Marathon himselfe marred the whole grace and honour of the exploit by the number that he putteth downe of them who there were slaine for he saith that the Athenians made a vow to sacrifice unto Proserpina or Diana surnamed Agrotera as many yeere-old goats as they slew of the Barbarians but when after the discomfiture and overthrow they saw that the number of the dead bodies was infinit they made supplication to the gooddesse for to be dispensed for their vow and promise and to acquit them for five hundred every yeere to be killed in sacrifice for her But to passe over this let us see what followed after the battell The Barbarians quoth he with the rest of their ships drawing backe and retiring into the open sea and having taken a ship boord those slaves of Eretria out of the Isle where they had left them doubled the point of Sunium with a full purpose to prevent the Athenians before they could recover the citie And the Athenians were of opinion that they were advised thus to do by a secret complot betweene them and the Alcmaeonidae who had apponted and agreed with the Persians to give them a signall so soone as they were all embarked by holding up aloft and shewing them a shield afarre off And so they fetched a compasse about the cape of Sunium And here I am content that he should go cleere away with this that he called those prisoners of Eretria by the name of slaves who shewed as much courage and valour in this warre yea and as great a desire to win honour as any Greeks whatsoever although their vertue sped but ill and was unworthily afflicted And lesse account I make also of this that he defameth the Alcmaeonidae of whom were the greatest families and noblest persons of all the citie But the worst of all is this that the honour of this brave victorie is quite overthrowen and the issue or end of so woorthy and renowmed a piece of service is come just to nothing in a maner neither seemeth it to have beene any such battell or so great an exploit but onely a short scuffling or light skirmish with the Barbarians when they were landed as evill willers carpers and envious persons give out to deprave the service if it be so that after the battell they fled not when they had cut the cables of their ships permitting themselves to the winde for to cary them as far as possibly might be frō Attica but that there was a shield or targuet lifted up aloft in the aire as a signall unto them of treason and that of purpose they made saile toward the city of Athens in hope to surprise it and having without any noise in great silence doubled the foresaid point of Sunium and were discovered a float hovering about the port Phalerae insomuch as the principall and most honourable personages of the Athenians being out of all hope to save the citie betraied it into their hands for afterwards he dischargeth and cleereth the Alcmaeonidae and attributeth this treason unto others And certeine it is quoth he that such a targuet or shield was shewed And this he saith so confidently as if himselfe had seene the thing But impossible it is that it should be so in case the Athenians won the victorie cleere and say it had so beene the Barbarians never could have perceived it flying so as they did in great affright and danger wounded also as they were and chased both with sword and shot into their ships who left the field every man and fled from the land as fast as ever he could But afterwards againe when he maketh semblance to answere in the behalfe of the Alcmaeonidae and to refute those crimes which himselfe broched and charged upon them I woonder quoth he and I can not beleeve the rumour of this imputation that ever the Alcmaeonidae by any compact with the Barbarians shewed them the signall of a shield as willing that the Athenians should be in subjection to the Barbarians under Hippias In thus doing he putteth me in mind and remembrance of a certeine clause running in this maner Take him you will and having taken him let him goe you will Semblably first you accuse and anon you defend write you do and frame accusatorie imputations against honourable persons which afterwards you seeme to cancile discrediting herein no doubt and distrusting your selfe for you have heard your owne selfe to say that the Alcmaeonidae set up a targuet for a signal to the Barbarians vanquished and flying away but in relieving them againe and answering in their defence you shew your selfe to be a slanderous sycophant for if that be true which you write in this place that the Alcmaeonidae were worse or at leastwise as badly affected to tyrants as Callias the sonne of Phenippus and father of Hipponicus where will you bestow and place that conspiracie of theirs against the common wealth which you have written in your former books saying that they contracted alliance and affinitie in marriage with Pisistratus by meanes whereof they wrought his returne from exile to exercise tyrannie neither would they ever have banished him againe had it not beene that their daughter had complained and accused him that he
Thebans the vision which appeared unto him For he saw as he thought all the greatest and most principall cities of Greece in a sea troubled and disquieted with rough windes and violent tempests wherein they floted and were tossed to and fro But the city of Thebes surpassed all the rest for mounted it was on high up to heaven afterwards suddenly the sight therof was lost that it would no more be seene And verily these things as a type resembled that which long time after befell unto that city But Herodotus in writing of this conflict burieth in silence the bravest act of Leonidas himselfe saying thus much barely They all lost their lives in the straights about the top of a certaine hill But it was far othewise For when they were advertised in the night that the enimies had invested them round about they arose and marched directy to their very campe yea and advanced so far forth as they came within a little of the kings roiall pavilion with a full resolution there to kill him and to leave their lives all about him And verily downe they went withall before them killing slaying and puting to flight as many as they met even as farre as to his tent But when they could not meet with Xerxes seeking as they did for him in so vast and spacious a campe as they wandred up and downe searching for him with much adoe at the last hewed in peeces they were by the Barbarians who on ever side in great number came about them And albeit we will write in the life of Leonidas many other noble acts and worthy sayings of his which Herodotus hath not once touched yet it shall not be amisse to quote heere also by the way some of them Before that he and his noble troupe departed out of Sparta in this journey there were exhibited solemne funerall games for his and their sakes which their fathers and mothers stood to behold Leonidas himselfe when one said unto him That he led forth very few with him to fight a battell Yea but they are many enough quoth he to die there His wife asked him when he tooke his leave ofher what he had else to say No more quoth he turning unto her but this that thou marry againe with some good man and beare him good children When he was within the vale or passe of Thermopylae and there invironed two there were in his company of his owne race and family whom he desired to save So he gave unto one of them al letter to carry whether he directed it because he would send him away but the party would not take it at his hands saying in great cholarand indignation I am come hither to fight like a warrior and not to conveigh letters as a carrier The other he commanded for to goe with credence and a message from him unto the magistrates of Sparta but he made answere not by word of mouth but by his deed for he tooke up his shield in hand and went directly to his place where he was appointed to fight Would not any man have blamed another for leaving out these things But this writer having taken the paines to collect and put in writing the bason and close stoole of Amasis and how he brake winde over it the comming in of certaine asses which a theese did drive the congiary or giving of certaine bottles of wine and many other matters of such good stuffe can never be thought to have omitted through negligence nor by oversight and forgetfullnesse so many worthy exploits and notable sayings but even of peevishnesse malice and injustice to some And thus he saith that the Thebans at first being with the Greeks fought indeed but it was by compulsion because they were held there by force For it should seeme forsooth that not only Xerxes but Leonidas also had about him a company that folowed the campe with whips to scourge those I trow who lagged behinde and these good fellowes held the Thebans to it and made them to fight against their willes And thus he saith that they fought perforce who might have fled and gone their waies and that willingly they tooke part with the Medes whereas there was not one came in to succor them And a little after he writeth that when others made hast to gaine the hill the Thebans being disbanded and divied asunder both stretched forth their hands unto the Barbarians and as they approched neere unto them said that which was most true namely that they were Medians in heart and so in token of homage and fealty gave unto the king water and earth that being kept by force they were compelled to come into this passe of Thermopylae and could doe withall that their king was wounded but were altogether innocent therof By which allegations they went clere away with their matter For they had the Thessalians witnesses of these their words and reasons Lo how this apologie and justificarion of theirs had audience among those barbarous outcries of so many thousand men in those confused shouts and dissonant noises where there was nothing but running and flying away of one side chasing and pursuit of another See how the witnesses were deposed heard and examined The Thessalians also amid the throng and rout of those that were knocked downe and killed and over those heapes of bodies which were troden under foot for all was done in a very gullet and narrow passage pleaded no doubt very formally for the Thebans for that a little before they having conquered by force of armes all Greece chased them as far as to the city Thespiae after they had vanquished them in battell and slaine their leader and captaine Lattamias For thus much passed even at that very time betweene the Thebans and the Thessalians whereas otherwise there was not so much as civill love and humanity that appeared by mutuall offices from one to the other Besides how is it possible that the Thebans were saved by the testimony of the Thessalians For the Barbarous Medes as himselfe saith partly killed outright such as came into their hands and in part whiles their breath was yet in their bodies by the commandement of Xerxes set upon them a number of the kings markes beginning first at the captaine himselfe Leontiades And yet neither was Leontiades the generall of the Thebans at Thermopylae but Anaxander as Aristophanes writeth out of the Annals and records in the arches of Thebes as touching their soveraigne magistrates and so Nicander likewise the Colophonian hath put downe in his cronicle neither was there ever any man before Herodotus who knew that Xerxes marked branded in that maner any Theban for this had bin an excellent plea in their defence against the foresaid calumniation and a very good meanes for this city to vaunt and boast of such markes given them as if king Xerxes meant to punish and plague as his greatest and most mortall enimies Leonidas and Leontiades For he caused the one to be scourged and
naked thay had to deale with the Lacedaemonians that were heavily armed at all pieces What honor then or great matter of glory could redound unto the Greeks out of these foure battels in case it be so that the Lacedaemonians encountred naked and unarmed men And for the other Greeks although they were in those parts present yet if they knew not of the combat untill the service was done to their hands and if the tombs honored yeerely by the severall cities belonging to them be emptie and mockeries onely of monuments and sepulchres and if the trevets and altars erected before the gods be full of false titles and inscriptions and Herodotus onely knew the trueth and all men in the world besides who have heard of the Greeks and were quite deceived by the honorable name and opinion that went of them for their singular prowesse and admirable vertue what is their then to be thought or said of Herodotus Surely that he is an excellent writer and depainteth things to the life he is a fine man he hath an eloquent tongue his discourses are full of grace they are pleasant beautifull and artificiall and as it was said of a Poet or Musician in telling his tale how ever he hath pronounced his narration and history not with knowledge and learning yet surely he hath done it elegantly smoothly and with an audible and cleare voice And these I wis be the things that move delight and doe affect all that reade him But like as among roses we must beware of the venimous flies Cantharides even so we ought to take heed of detractions and backebiting of his base penning likewise of things deserving great praise which insinuate themselves and creepe under his smooth stile polished phrase and figurative speeches to the end that ere we be aware we intertaine not nor foster in our heads false conceits and absurd opinions of the bravest men and noblest cities of Greece OF MVSICKE A Dialogue The persons therein discoursing ONESICRATES SOTERICHUS LYSIAS This treatise little or nothing at all concerneth the Musicke of many voices according and interlaced together which is in use and request at this day but rather apperteineth to the ancient fashion which consisteth in the accord and consonance of song with the sense and measure of the letter as also with the good grace of gesture and by the stile and maner of writing it seemeth not to be of Plutarchs doing THe wife of that good man Phocion was wont to say that the jewels and ornaments wherein she joined were those stratagemes and worthy feats of armes which her husband Phocion had atchieved but I for my part may well and truely avouch that the ornaments not onely of my selfe in particular but also of all my friends and kinsfolke in generall is the diligence of my schoolemaster and his affection in teaching me good literature For this we know full well that the noblest exploits and bravest pieces of service performed by great generals and captaines in the field can doe no more but onely save from present perill or imminent danger some small armie or some one citie or haply at the most one entire nation and countrey but are not able to make either their souldiers or citizens or their countreymen better in any respect whereas on the other side good erudition and learning being the very substance indeed of felicitie and the efficient cause of prudence and wisdome is found to be good and profitable not onely to one family city and nation but generally to all mankinde By how much therefore the profit and commodity ensuing upon knowledge and good letters is greater than that which proceedeth from all stratagemes or martiall feats by so much is the remembrance and relation thereof more worthy and commendable Now it fortuned not long since that our gentle friend Onesicrates invited unto a feast in his house the second day of the Saturnall solemnities certeine persons very expert and skilfull in Musicke and among the rest Soterichus of Alexandria and Lysias one of those who received a pension from him and after the ordinary ceremonies and complements of such feasts were performed he began to make a speech unto his company after this maner My good friends quoth he I suppose that it would not beseeme a feast or banquet to search at this time what is the efficient cause of mans voice for a question it is that would require better leasure and more sobrietie but for asmuch as the best Grammarians define voice to be the beating or percussion of the aire perceptible unto the sense of hearing and because that yesterday we enquired and disputed as touching Grammar and found it to be an art making profession and very meet to frame and shape voices according to lines and letters yea and to lay them up in writing as in the treasury and storehouse of memorie let us now see what is the second science next to it that is meet and agreeable to the voice and this I take to be Musicke For a devout and religious thing it is yea and a principall duty belonging unto men for to sing the praises of the gods who have bestowed upon them alone this gift of a distinct and articulate voice which Homer also by his testimonie hath declared in these verses Then all day long the Grecian youth in songs melodious Besought god Phoebus of his grace to be propitious Phoebus I say who from afarre doth shoot his arrowes nie They chaunt and praise who takes great joy to heare such harmony Goe to therefore my masters you that are professed Musicians relate unto this good company here that are your friends who was the first inventour of Musicke what it is that time hath added unto it afterwards who they were that became famous by the exercise and profession of this science as also to how many things and to what is the said study and practrise profitable Thus much as touching that which Onesicrates our master moved and propounded whereupon Lysias inferred againe and said You demand a question good Onesicrates which hath alreadie beene handled and discussed for the most part of the Platonique Philosophers and the best sort of the Peripateticks have emploied themselves in the writing of the ancient Musicke and of the corruption that in time crept into it The best Grammarians also and most cunning Musicians have taken great paines and travelled much in this argument and yet there is no small discord and jarre among them as harmonicall otherwise as they be about these points Heraclides in his Breviarie wherein he hath collected together all the excellent professours of Musicke writeth that Amphion devised first the maner of singing to the Lute or Citherne as also the Citharaedian poësie for being the sonne of Antiope and Jupiter his father taught him that skill And this may be proved true by an olde evidence or record enrolled and diligently kept in the city Sicyone where in he nameth certeine Priestresses in Argos as also Poets
saying of his likewise by the love and affection which he caried unto wisdome and mens of knowledge In briefe his acts be evident proofes of his vertue and in no wise of the temerity and rashnesse of fortune But even in this very place Plutarch hath broken off his treatise leaving the end thereof defectuous namely where he began to discourse of the contempt of death and of the constant resolution of Alexander against the most churlish and boisterous assaultes of fortune OF THE FORTUNE OR vertue of K. Alexander THese are the sayings and allegations of fortune affirming and proving that Alexander was her owne peculiar peece of worke and to be ascribed unto her alone But we must gainesay her in the name and behalfe of Philosophy or rather of Alexander himselfe who taketh it not wel but is highly displeased that he should be thought to have received his empire at fortunes hand gratis and as a meere gift and benefit which he had bought and purchased with sheding much of his owne blood and receiving many a wound one upon another Who many restlesse nights did passe Without all sleepe full broad awake And many a bloody day there was Whiles be in field did skirmish make Whiles he fought against forces and armies invincible against nations innumerable rivers impassable rocks inaccessible and such as no shot of arrow could ever reach accompanied alwaies with prudent counsell constant patience resolute valour and staied temperance And verily I am perswaded that himself would say unto fortune chalenging unto herselfe he honor of his hautie worthy acts in this maner Come not heere either to deprave my vertue or to deprive me of my due honor in ascribing it unto thy selfe Darius was indeed a peece of worke made by thee whom of a base servitor no better than a currior or lackey to a king thou didest advance and make the lord of the Persians Sardanapalus likewise was thy handy worke upon whose head when he was earding and spinning fine purple wooll among women thou diddest set the imperiall diademe As for me I mounted up and ascended as farre as to Susa with victory after the battell at Arbela The conquest of Cilicia made the way open for me to enter into Aegypt and the field that I wan at the river Granicus which I passed over going upon the dead budies of Mithridates and Spithridates leutenants to the king of Persia gave me entrance into Cilcia Vaunt now and boast as much as thou wilt of those kings who never were wounded in figat nor lost one drop of their blood These say may well be counted fortunate and thy derlings Ochus I meane Artaxerxes whom immediately from the very day of their nativity thou hast enstalled in the roial throne of Cyrus But this body of mine carieth the markes tokens of fortune not favourable and gracious but contrariwise adverse and opposit unto me First in Illyricum I had my head broken with a great stone and my necke brused and crushed with a Pestill Afterwards in the journey and battell of Granicus my head was cloven with a Barbarians cimeter At the field fought neere Issus my thigh was run through with a sword before the city of Gaza I was shot through the ancle above my foot with one arrow and into the shoulder with another whereupon I was unhorsed and falling heavy in mine armour out of my saddle I lay there for dead upon the ground Among the Maracadarts my shin bone was cut in sunder with shotof quarels and arrowes Besides many a knocke wound which I gat among the Indians and every where I met with hot service among them untill I was shot quite through the shouder Another time as I fought against the Gandridae I had the bone of my leg cut in twame with another shot likewise in a skirmish with the Mallotae I caught an arrow in my brest and bosome which went so farre and stucke so fast that it left the head behinde and with the rap and knocke of an iron pestill my necke bone was crushed And at what time as the skaling ladders reared against the wals brake fortune enclosed and shut me up alone to fight and maintaine combate not against noble concurrents and renowmed enimies but obscure and simple Barbarous soldiers gracing and gratifying them thus farre forth as that they went with in a little of taking away my life And had not Ptolemaeus come betweene and covered me with his targuet had not Limnaeus in defence of me opposed his owne body and received many a thousand darts and there lost his life in the place for me had not I say the Macedonians by force of armes and resolure courage broken downe the wall and laid it along certes that base village that Barbarous burrow of no name had bene at this day the sepulcher of Alexander Furthermore all that journey and expedition of mine what was it else but tempestuous stormes extreame heat and drought rivers of an infinit depth mountaines so exceeding high as no bird could flie over them monstrous beasts and so huge withall as they were hideous and terrible to be seene strange and savage fashions of life revolts of disloiall states and governours yea and afterwards their open treasons and rebellions And as for that which went before his voiage all Greece panting still and trembling for remembrance of the warres which they endured under his farther Philip now up their head The city of Athens now shaking off from their armour the dust of the battell at Chaeronea began to rise againe and recover themselves after that overthrow To it joined Thebes and put forth their helping and. All Macedonia was suspected and stood in doubtfull termes as enclining to Amyntas and the children of Acropus The Illyrians brake out into open warres and make hostile invasions The Scythians hung in equall ballance uncertaine which side to take expecting what their neighbours would doe that began to stir and revolt Besides the good gold of Persia which had found the way into the purses of orators and governors of every citie made all Peloponnesus to rise in armes The coffers of Philip his father were emptie and had no treasure in them but in insteed thereof they were indebted and paid interest as Onesicritus writeth for two hundred talents In these great wants in such poverty and so troubled a state see a yong man newly come out of his infancie childhood durst hope and assuredly looke for to be lord of Babylon and Susa nay to speake more truely and in a word he intended in his designements the conquest of the whole world and that with a power onely of thirty thousand fooumen and foure thousand horse for no greater forces brought he into the field as Aristobulus reporteth or according as king Ptolemaeus writeth they were thirty thousand foot and five thousand three hundred footmen and five thousand five hundred horsemen Now all the glorious meanes and great provision for the maintenance and
entertainment of this power more or lesse which fortune had prepared for him came to seventy talents as Aristobulus hath set it downe in writing or as Duris recordeth he was furnished with mony and victuals to serve for thirty daies and no longer How then was Alexander so inconsiderate rash and void of counsell as to enterprise warre with so small meanes against so puissant an armie of the Persians No I wis for never was their captaine that went forth to warre better appointed and with greater and more sufficient helpes than he to wit magnanimity prudence temperance fortitude wherewith Philosophy had furnished him as with munition for his voiage as being better provided for this enterprise against the Persians by that which he had learned of his muster and teacher Aristotle than by all the patrimonie and revenewes which his father Philip had left him Well to beleeve those who write that Alexander himselfe would otherwhiles say that the 〈◊〉 and Odyssaea a of Homer accompanied him alwaies as his voiage provision to the warres we may be esily enduced for the reverence and honor which we owe unto Homer but if a man should say that Homers Ilias and Odyssaea were unto him an easement of his travels or an honest pastime and recreation at his leasure and that the true municion and voiage provision indeed for the maintenance of his wars were the discourses precepts which he had learned out of Philosophy and the treatises or commentaries as touching confidence fearelesseresolution of prowesse valour magnanimity and temperance we are ready to mocke and deride him and why so because forsooth he hath written nothing of Syllogisnres of Axiomes or of the elements and principles of Geometry because he hath not used to walke in the schoole of Lycen nor held positions and disputed of questions in the Academie for these be the things whereby they measure and define Philosophy who thinke that it consisteth in words and not in deeds And yet Pythagoras never writ ought nor Socrates nor Arcesilaus no nor Carneades who all no doubt were most renowmed Philosophers neither were they imploied and occupied in so great warres in reducing Barbarouskings to civillity or in founding and building great cities among savage nations neither travelled they through the world visiting lawlesse and cruell people to teach them to live peaceably and in order who had never heard of peace or of lawes but these great and famous personages for all the leasure and rest that they had from imploiments and busie affaires left all writing for Sophisters onely How came it then that thy were reputed Philosophers Surely it arose either upon their saying which they delivered or the maner of life that they led and the actions which they did or else the doctrine which they taught Let us now therefore judge of Alexander also accordingly by the same for it will be found and seene by the words which he said the deeds that he wrought and the lessons which he taught that he was some great Philosopher and in the first place if you thinke good consider which at first sight may seeme most strange and wonderfull what disciples Alexander had and compare them with the scholars of Plato or of Socrates These men taught those who were of quicke wit and spake the same language that they did and if they had nothing else yet understood they at leastwise the Greeke tongue howbeit for all this many of their auditours and disciples there were whom they could never perswade to their rules and precepts but such as Crittas Alcibiades and Clestiphon rejected and shoke off all their doctrine as the bitte of a bridle and turned another way Whereas if you marke and consider the discipline of Alexander you shall finde that he taught the Hyrcanians to contract mariage and live in wedlocke the Arachosians to till the ground and follow husbandrie the Sogdians he perswaded to nourish their aged fathers and not to kill them the Persians to reverence and honour their mothers and not to mary them as they did before O the admirable Philosophie of this prince by meanes whereof the Indians adore and worship the gods of Greece the Scythians burie their dead and eate them not We woonder at the powerfull and effectuall speech of Carneades for that he knew how to make Clitomachus named before Asdrubal and a Carthaginian borne to conforme himslefe to the Greekes fashions and language Wee admire the emphaticall gift of Zeno who was able to perswade Diogenes the Babylonian to give himselfe to the studie of Philosophie But while Alexander conquered Asia and reduced it to civilitie Homer was read ordinarily the sonnes of the Persians Susians and Gedrosians chaunted the tragoedies of Euripides and Sophocles As for Socrates condemned hee was and put to death by the Athenians at the sute of sycophants and promoters who enformed against him that he had brought into Athens new gods whereas by the meanes of Alexander the inhabitants of Bactra and the mountaine Caucasus even at this present adore the gods of Greece Plato hath left in writing one forme of policie and government of common-wealth but he could never perswade so much as one man to use and follow it so harsh and austere it was found to be But Alexander having founded above threescore and ten cities among the barbarous nations and sowen throughout all Asia the mysteries sacrifices and ceremonies of Divine service which were used in Greece reclaimed them from their savage and brutish life And verily few there be among us who read and peruse the lawes of Plato whereas there be infinit thousands and millions of men who have used and doe at this day practise those of Alexanders ordeining and such nations were much more happy whom he conquered and subdued than they that escaped his puissance For these had never any person who eased and delivered them out of their miserable life but the other were forced by the conquerour to lead a blessed life in such sort as that which Themistocles sometime said when being banished out of Athens and fled to the king of Persia at whose hands having received rich gifts and the donation besides of three cities which paid him yeerely tribute one for bread another for wine and the third for his meat and other viands he spake thus unto his sonnes Oh how had we bene undone if we had not beene undone The same may more justly be verified of those who were then subdued by Alexander Never had they beene civilized if by him they had not beene vanquished and brought under his subjection there had beene no citie Alexandria built in Aegypt no Seleucia in Mesopotamia no Prophthasia in the Sogdians countrey no Bucephalia among the Indians neither should the mountaine Cacausus have had neere unto it the citie Hellas inhabited and peopled by the meanes of which cities their rude bestiality being first staied and held under by little and little was extinct and by custome of the better changed the
Aristonicus among others who in a certeine battell running in to rescue and succour him fought manfully and there was slaine and fell dead at his foot Alexander heereupon caused his statue to be made in brasse and to be set up in the temple of Apollo Pythius holding a lute in the one hand and a launce in the other In so doing he not onely honored the man but also Musicke as being an art which breedeth animositie in mens hearts filling those with a certeine ravishment of spirit and couragious heart to fight valiantly who are naturally framed and bred up to action for even himselfe one day when Antigenides sounded the battell with his flute and singing thereto a militarie song called Harmation was thereat so much mooved and set in such an heat by his warlike tune that he started out of the place where he sat and caught up the armes that hung up thereby ready to brandish them and to fight bearing witnesse thereby to the Spartans chaunting thus Sweetly to play on Lute and Harpe To sing thereto as pleasantly Beseemeth those that love at sharpe To fight it out right valiantly There lived also in the time of Alexander Apelles the Painter and Lysippus the Imager the former of these two painted Alexander holding a thunderbolt in his hand but so exquisitely to the life and so like unto himselfe that it was a common saying Of two Alexanders the one king Philips sonne was invincible the other of Apelles drawing was inimitable As for Lysippus when he had cast the first image of Alexander with his face up toward heaven expressing thereby the very countenance of Alexander who was woont so to looke and withall to turne his necke somewhat at one side there comes me one and setteth over it this epigram alluding very pretily to the said portraicture This image heere that stands in brasse all bright The portraict is of Alexander right Up toward heaven he both his eies doth cast And unto Jove seemes thus to speake at last Thou Jupiter in heav'n maist well be bold Mine is the earth by conquest I it hold And therefore Alexander gave commandement that no other brasse founder should cast his image but only Lysippus for he alone it was as it should seeme that had the feat to represent his naturall disposition in brasse and to expresse his vertue answerable to the lineaments and proportion of his shape As for others howsoever they might be thought to resemble the bending of his necke the cheerefull cast amiable volubility of his quicke eie yet could they never observe and keepe that virilitie of visage and lion-like looke of his In the ranke of other rare workmen may be ranged a famous Architect named Stasicrates who would not seeme to busie himselfe in making any thing that was either gallant pleasant or delectable and gracious to the eie but intended some great matter and such a piece of worke and of that argument as would require no lesse then the riches and treasure of a king to furnish and set foorth This fellow comes up to Alexander being in the high countries and provinces of his dominion where before him he found fault with all his images as well painted and engraven as cast and pourtraied any way saying they were the hand-works of base minded and mechanicall artificers But I quoth he if it may please your majestie know how and doe intend to found and establish the similitude of your roiall person in a matter that is living and immortall grounded upon eternall roots the weight and ponderositie whereof is immooveable and can not be shaken For the mountaine Athos quoth he in Thracia whereas it is greatest and riseth to a most conspicuous height where the broad plaines and high tops are proportionate to it selfe every waie having in it members lims joints distances and intervals resembling for all the world the forme of mans body may be wrought and framed so as it would serve verie well both to be called and to be indeed the statue of Alexander and worthy his Greatnesse the foote and base whereof shall touch the sea in one of the hands comprehending and holding a great citie peopled and inhabited by an infinit number of men and in the right a runing river with a perpetuall current which it powreth as it were out of a great pot into the sea as for all these petty images and puppets made of gold brasse and ivorie these wodden tables with pictures away with them all as little paltrey portracts which may be bought and sold theefe-stollen and melted defaced and marred Alexander having heard the man speake highly praised him as admiring his hautie minde his bold courage the conceit of his extraordinary invention Good fellow quoth he let Athos alone and permit it to stand a Gods name in the place where it doth and never alter the forme of it it sufficeth that it is the monument of the outragious pride insolent vanitie and folly of one king already and as for me the mountaine Caucasus the hilles Emodi the river Tanais and the Caspian sea shall be the images and statues to represent my acts But set the case I pray you that such a piece of worke had beene made finished as this great architect talked of is there any man thinke you seeing it in that forme disposition and fashion that would thinke it grew so by chance adventure No I warrant you What say we now to his image called Ceraunophoros that is to say the thunder-boltbeare what say we to another named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say leaning upon a launce Can not the greatnesse majestie of such a statue be performed by fortune without the artificial hand of man howsoever it conferre and allow thereto great store of gold brasse ivorie and all maner of rich precious matter and shall we thinke it then possible that a great personage nay rather the greatest that ever the world saw was made perfected by fortune without vertue and that it was fortune onely who made for him that provision of armes of money of men cities and horses all which things bring perill to those that know not how to use them well and neither honour and credit nor puissance but rather argue their seeblenesse and impuissance For Antisthenes said very well and truely that we should wish unto our enemies all the good things in the world save onely valour and fortitude for by that meanes they be not theirs who are in present possession of them but become theirs who are the conquerors And this is the reason men say that nature hath set upon the head of an Hart for his defence the most heartlesse and cowardly beast that is woonderfull hornes for bignesse and most dangerous by reason of their sharpe and branching knagges teaching us by this example that bodily strength and armour serveth them in no stead who have not the courage and resolution to stand their ground and fight it out And even
without the losse of bloud what citie or towne didst thou cause to be yeelded unto him without a garrison or what army without their weapons where found he ever through thy grace any kings sluggish and slothfull any captaine carelesse and negligent any warder or porter of the gates drowsie and sleepie nay he never met with river that had farre passable Winter that was tolerable or Summer that was not painfull and irkesome Goe thy waies goe to Antiochus the sonne of Seleucus to Artaxerxes the brother of Cyrus to Ptolomaeus Philadelphus These were they whom their fathers in their life time declared heires apparent yea and crowned them kings these wonne fields and battels for which never eie shed teare these kept holiday continually these celebrated festivall solemnities daily in theaters with all maner of pompes and goodly sights every one of these reigned in all prosperitie untill they were very aged whereas Alexander if there were nothing else lo how his body is wounded and piteously mangled from the crowne of his head to the sole of his foot gashed heere thrust in there drie beaten brused and broken with all maner of hostile weapons With launce and speare with sword most keene With stones that bigge and massie beene At the river Granicus his armet or morion was cleft with a curtelace as farre as to the haire of his head before the towne of Gaza he was shot into the shoulder with a dart in the Maragandians countrey his shin was wounded with a javelin in so much as the greater bone thereof was so broken and shattered that it came out at the wound in Hircania he gat a knocke with a great stone behinde in his necke which shooke his head so as that his eie-sight was dimmed thereby so as for certeine daies he was afraid that he should have beene starke blinde for ever in a skirmish with the Assacans his ancle was wounded with an Indian dart at what time when he saw it to bleed he turned unto his flatterers and parasites and shewing them the place smiled and said This is very bloud indeed And not that humour say all what you will Which from the gods most blessed doth destill At the battell of Issus his thigh was pierced with a sword even by king Darius himselfe as Chares writeth who came to close with him at hand fight And Alexander himselfe writing simply and the plaine trueth to Antipater I my selfe also caught a stab with a short sword in my thigh but thanked be God quoth he I had no great hurt thereby either at the present or afterwards Fighting against the Mallians he was wounded with a dart two cubits long that being driven through his cuirace entred in at his brest and came out againe at his necke according as Aristobulus hath left in writing Having passed over the river Tanais for to march against the Scythians when he had defaited them in battell he followed the chase and pursued them on horsebacke for a hundred and fifty stadia notwithstanding all the while he was troubled with a sore laske or flux of the belly Now truly fortune much beholden is Alexander unto thee for advancing his estate Is this thy making of him great by suffering him thus to be pierced through on every side Here is a faire upholding of him indeed to lay open thus all the parts of his bodie cleane contrary to that which Minerva did unto Menelaus who with her hand turned aside all the shot of the enimies and made them light upon his armour where it was most sure and of the best proofe to wit upon his cuirace his bawdricke or belt or upon his helmet and by that meanes brake the force of the stroke before it could come to the bare bodie so as all the harme it could do was but a little to rase the skin and let out some smal shew and a few drops of blood but thou contrariwise hast exposed his naked and unarmed parts and those most dangerous to be wounded causing the shot to enter so farre as to goe through the very bone environing and hemming in his body round besetting his eies and feet impeaching him for chasing his enimies diverting the traine of his victories and overturning all his hopes Certes I am of this opinion that there never was king who had fortune more adverse a shrewder stepdame than he although she hath beene curst envious and spightfull enough to many besides for whereas she hath fallen upon others violently like a thunderbolt or shot of lightning whom she hath cut off and distroied right out at once her malice and hatred unto Alexander hath bene cankred obstinate and implacable even as it was before him unto Hercules For what Typhons or monstrous Giants of prodigious stature hath she not raised up as concurrents to fight with him What enimies hath not she fortified and furnished against him with infinit store of armes with deepe rivers with prerupt and craggy rocks or with extraordinary strength of most savage beasts Now if the courage of Alexander had not bene undaunted and the same arising from exceeding great vertue firmely grounded and settled thereupon to encounter fortune how could it otherwise have bene but the same should have failed and given over as being wearied and toiled out with setting so many battels in array arming his soldiers so daily laying seege so many times unto cities and townes chasing and pursuing his enimies so often checked with so many revolts and rebellions crossed so commonly with infinit treasons conspiracies and insurrections of nations troubled with such a sort of stiffe necked kings who shooke off the yoke of allegeance and in one word whiles he conquered Bactra Maracanda and the Sogdians among faithlesse and trecherous nations who waited alwaies to spie some opportunity and occasion to do him a displeasure who like to the serpent Hydra as fast as one head was cut off put forth another and so continually raised fresh and new warres I shall seeme to tell you one thing very strange and incredible howbeit most true Fortune it was and nothing but fortune by whose maligne and crosse aspect he went very neere of losing that opinion that went of him namely that he was the sonne of Jupiter Ammon For what man was there ever extract and descended from the seed of the gods who exploited more laborious more difficult and dangerous combates unlesse it were Hercules againe the sonne of Jupiter And yet one outrageous and violent man there was who set him a worke enjoining him to take fell lions to hunt wilde bores to chase away ravenous fowles to the end that he should have no time to be emploied in greater affaires whiles he visited the world namely in punishing such as Antaeus and in repressing the ordinary murders which that tyrant Busiris and such like committed upon the persons of guests and travellers But it was no other thing than vertue alone that commanded Alexander to enterprise and exploit such a peece of
worke as beseemed so great a king and one derived from a divine race the end whereof was not a masse of gold to be caried along after him upon ten thousand camels backs nor the superfluous delights of Media not sumptuous and dilicate tables not faire and beautifull ladies not the good and pleasant wines of Calydonia nor the dainty fish of Hyrcania out of the Caspian sea but to reduce the whole world to be governed in one and the same order to be obedient to one empire and to be ruled by the same maner of life And verily this desire was inbred in him this was nourished and grew up with him from his very infancie There came embassadors upon a time from the king of Persia to his father Philip who at the same time was not in the country but gone forth Alexander gave them honorable intertainement very courteously as became his fathers sonne but this especially was observed in him that he did not aske them childish questions as other boies did to wit about golden vines trailed from one tree to another nor of the pendant gardens at Babylon hanging above in the aire ne yet what robes and sumptuous habiliments their king did weare but all his talke and conference with them was concerning matters most important for the state of an empire inquisitive he was what forces and power of men the king of Persia could bring out into the field and maintaine in what ward of the battell the king himselfe was arranged when he fought a field much like unto that Ulysses in Homer who demanded of Dolon as touching Hector His martiall armes where doth he lay His horses tell me where stand they Which be the readiest and shortest waies for those who would travel from the coasts of the Meditteranean sea up into the high countries in so much as these strangers the embassadors wondered exceedingly and said Now surely this child is the great king and ours the rich No sooner was his father Philip departed this life but presently his heart served him to passe over the straights of Hellespont and being already fed with his hopes and forward in the preparation and provision of his voiage he made what speed he could to set foot in Asia But see heere how fortune crossed his designes she averted him quite and drew him backe againe raising a thousand troubles and busie occasions to stay hinder his intended course First she caused those barbarous nations bordering and adjoining upon him to rise up in armes and thereby held him occupied in the warres against the Illyrians and Triballians by the meanes whereof he was haled away as farre as to Scythia and the nations inhabiting along the river Danubie who diverted him cleane from his affaires intended in the high provinces of Asia Howbeit having overrunne these countries and dispatched all difficulties with great perils and most dangerous battels he set in hand againe with his former enterprise and made haste to his passage voiage a second time But lo even there also fortune excited the city of Thebes against him and laid the warre of the Greeks in his way to stop his expedition driving him to extreame streights and to a very hard exigent by fire and sword to be revenged of a people that were his owne countrymen and of the same kinred and nation the issue whereof was most grieveous and lamentable Having exploited this he crossed the seas at the last furnished with provision of money and victuals as Phylarchus writeth to serve for thirty daies and no longer or as Aristobulus reporteth having onely seventy talents of silver to defray the whole charges of the voiage For of his owne demaine and possessions at home as also of the crowne revenewes he had bestowed the most part upon his friends and followers onely Perdiccas would receive nothing at his hands but when he made offer to give him his part with the rest demanded thus of him But what reserve you for yourselfe Alexander Who answered My hopes Why then quoth he I will take part thereof for it is not reason that we should receive your goods but wait for the pillage of Darius And what were those hopes of Alexander upon which he passed over into Asia Surely not a power measured by the strong wals of many rich populous cities not fleets of ships sailing through the mountaines not whips and fetters testifying the folly and madnesse of barbarous princes who thought thereby to punish and chastice the raging sea But for externall meanes without himselfe a resolution of prowesse in a small power of armed men well trussed and compact together an aemulation to excell one another among yong men of the same age a contention and strife for vertue and glory in those that were his minions about him But the great hopes indeed and most assured were in his owne person to wit his devout religion to Godward the 〈◊〉 confidence and affiance that he had in his friends frugality continence bounty a contempt of death magnanimity and resolution humanity courtesie affable intertainment a simple nature plaine without plaits not faigned and counterfait constancie in his counsell celerity in his execution soveraignty and priority in honor and a resolute purpose to accomplish any honest duty and office For Homer did not well and decently to compose and frame the beautifull personage of Agamemnon as the patterne of a per fect prince out of three images after this maner For eies and head much like he was in sight To Jove who takes in lightning such delight God Mars in wast and loines resembled he In brest compar'd to Neptune he may be But the nature of Alexander in case that God who made or created him formed and compounded it of many vertues may we not well and truly say that he endued with the courageous spirit of Cyrus the sober temperance of Agesilaus the quicke wit and pregnant conceit of Themistocles the approoved skill and experience of Philip the valourous boldnesse of Brasidas the rare eloquence and sufficiencie of Pericles in State matters and politicke government For to speake of those in ancient times more continent he was and chast than Agamemnon who preferred a captive concubine before his owne espoused and lawfull wife as for Alexander he absteined from those women whom he tooke prisoners in warre and would not touch one of them before he had wedded her more magnanimous than Achilles who for a little money yeelded the dead corps of Hector to be ransommed whereas Alexander defraied great summes in the funerals and interring of Darius bodie Againe Achilles tooke of his friends for the appeasing of his choler gifts and presents after a mercenary maner but Alexander enriched his very enemies when he had gotten the victorie More religious he was than Diamedes a man who was evermore ready to fight against the gods whereas he thought that all victory happy successe came by the grace and favour of the gods Deerer he was to his
neere kinsfolke and friends and more entirely beloved than Ulysses whose mother died for sorrow and griefe of heart whereas when Alexander died his very enemies mother for kinde affection and good will died with him for company In summe if it was by the indulgence of Fortune that Solon established the common-wealth of Athens so well at home that Miltiades conducted the armies so happily abroad if it was by the benefit and favour of fortune that Aristides was so just then farewell vertue for ever then is there no worke at all effected by her but onely it is a vaine name and speech that goeth of her passing with some shew of glorie and reputation thorow the life of man feined and devised by these prating Sophisters cunning Law-givers and Statists Now if every one of these persons and such like was poore or rich feeble or strong foule or faire of long life or short by the meanes of fortune againe in case ech of them shewed himselfe a great captaine in the field a great politician or wise law-giver a great governour and ruler in the city and common-wealth by their vertue and the direction of reason within them then consider I pray you what Alexander was in comparison of them all Solon instituted at Athens a generall cutting off and cancelling of all debts which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much to say as A discharge of burdens but Alexander out of his owne purse paied all debts in the name of debtors due unto their creditors Pericles having imposed a tax and tribute upon the Greeks with the money raised by that levie beautified the citadell or castle of Athens with temples and chapels whereas Alexander sent of the pillage and treasure which he gat from the Barbarians to the number of tenne thousand talents into Greece with commandement to build there with sacred temples to the honour of the gods Brasidas wan a great name and reputation of valour among the Greeks for that he passed from one end to another thorow his enemies campe pitched along the sea side before the towne Methon but that wonderfull leape that Alexander made into a towne of the Oxydraques which to them that heare it is incredible and to as many as saw it was most fearefull namely at what time as he cast himselfe from the battlements of the walles among his enemies ready to receive him with pikes with javelins with darts and naked swords whereto may a man compare but unto a very flash of lightning breaking volently out of a cloud and being carried with the winde lighteth upon the ground resembling a spirit or apparition resplendent all about with flaming and burning armours insomuch as at the first sight men that saw it were so affrighted as they ran backward and fled but after that they beheld it was but one man setting upon many then they came againe and made head against him Heere Fortune shewed no doubt many plaine and evident proofs of her speciall good will 〈◊〉 Alexander namely first when she put him into an ignoble base and barbarous towne and there inclosed him sure enough within the walles thereof then after that those without made haste to rescue him and reared their scaling ladders against the walles for to get over and come unto him she caused them all to breake fall in pieces whereby she overthrew and cast them downe who were climbed halfe way up againe of those three onely whose hap it was to mount up to the top before the ladders brake and who flang themselves desperatly downe and stood about the king to guard his person she fell upon one immediatly and killed him in the place before he could do his master any service a second overwhelmed with a cloud of arrowes and darts was so neere death that he could do no more but onely see and feele All this while the Macedonians without ranne to the walles with a great noise and outcry but all in vaine for artillerie they had none nor any ordinance or engins of battery onely they laied at the walles with their naked swords and bare hands and so earnest they were to get in that they would have made way with their very teeth if it had beene possible Meane while this fortunate prince upon whom Fortune attended at an inch ready now to accompany and defend him you may be sure as at all times els was taken and caught as a wilde beast within toiles abandoned and left alone without aide and succour not iwis to win the city of Susa or of Babylon nor to conquer the province of Bactra nor to seize upon that mighty body of king Porus for of great and renowmed attempts although the end alwaies prove not happy yet there can redound no infamy But to say a trueth Fortune was on his behalfe so spightfull and envious but on the other side so good and gracious to the Barbarians so adverse I say she was to Alexander that she went about as much as lay in her to make him not onely lose his life and body but also to forfeit his honour and glory for if he had beene left lying dead along the river Euphrates or Hydaspes it had beene no great desastre and indignitie neither had it beene so dishonorable unto him when he came to joine with Darius hand to hand if he had beene massacred among a number of great horses with the swords glawes battle-axes of the Persians fighting for the empire no nor when he was mounted upon the wals of Babylon if he had taken the foile and bene put by his great hope of forcing the city for in that sort lost Pelopidas and Epaminondas their lives and their death was rather an act of vertue than an accident of infortunitie whiles they gave the attempt to execute so great exploits and to gaine so worthy a prise But as touching fortune which now we examine and consider what piece of worke effected she In a Barbarous countrey farre removed on the further side of a river within the walles of a base village in comparison to shut up and enclose the king and sovereigne lord of the earth that he might perish there shamefully by the hands rude weapons of a multitude of Barbarous rascals who should knocke him downe with clubs and staves and pelt him with whatsoever came next hand for wounded he was in the head with a bill that clove his helmet quite thorow and with a mighty arrow which one discharged out of a bow his brest-plate was pierced quite thorow whereof the steile that was without his bodie weighed him downe heavily but the yron head which stucke fast in the bones about one of his paps was foure fingers broad and five long And to make up the full measure of all mischiefs whiles he defended himselfe right manfully before and when the fellow who had shot the foresaid arrow adventured to approch him with his sword to dispatch him outright with a dead thrust him he got within
who hold and affirme such fables as these touching the blessed and immortall nature whereby especially we conceived in our minde the deity to be true and that such things were really done or hapned so indeed We ought to spit upon their face And curse such mouthes with all disgrace as Aeschylus saith I need not say unto you for that you hate and detest those enough alreadie of your selfe who conceive so barbarous and absurd opinions of the gods And yet you see verie well that these be not narrations like unto old wives tales or vaine and foolish fictions which Poets or other idle writers devise out of their owne fingers ends after the maner of spiders which of themselves without any precedent subject matter spin their threeds weave and stretch out their webbes for evident it is that they conteine some difficulties and the memorials of certeine accidents And like as the Mathematicians say that the rainbow is a representation of the Sunne and the same distinguished by sundry colours by the refraction of our eie-sight against a cloud even so this fable is an apparence of some doctrine or learning which doeth reflect and send backe our understanding to the consideration of some other trueth much after the maner of sacrifices wherein there is mingled a kinde of lamentable dole and sorrowfull heavinesse Semblably the making and disposition of temples which in some places have faire open Isles and pleasant allies open over head and in other darke caves vaults and shrouds under the earth resembling properly caves sepulchers or charnell vauts wherein they put the bodies of the dead especially the opinion of the Osirians for albeit the bodie of Osiris be said to be in many places yet they name haply Abydus the towne or Memphis a little citie where they affirme that his true body lieth in such sort as the greatest and welthiest persons in Aegypt usually doe ordeine and take order that their bodies be interred in Abydus to the end they may lie in the same sepulchre with Osiris and at Memphis was kept the beese Apis which is the image and figure of his soule and they will have his body also to be there Some likewise there be who interpret the name of this towne as if it should signifie the haven and harbour of good men others that it betokeneth the tombe of Osiris and there is before the gate of the citie a little Isle which to all others is inaccessible and admitteth no entrance insomuch as neither fowles of the aire will there light nor fishes of the sea approch thither onely at one certeine time the priests may come in and there they offer sacrifices and present oblations to the dead where also they crowne and adorne with flowers the monument of one Mediphthe which is overshadowed and covered with a certeine plant greater and taller than any olive tree Eudoxus writeth that how many sepulchres soever there be in Aegypt wherein the corps of Osiris should lie yet it is in the citie Busiris for that it was the countrey and place of his nativitie so that now there is no need to speake of Taphosiris for that the very name it selfe saith enough signifying as it doeth the sepulture of Osiris Well I approove the cutting of the wood and renting of the linnen the effusions also and funerall libaments there performed because there be many mysteries mingled among And so the priests of Aegypt affirme that the bodies not of these gods onely but also of all others who have beene engendred and are not incorruptible remaine among them where they honoured and reverenced but their soules became starres and shine in heaven and as for that of Isis it is the same which the Greekes call Cyon that is to say the dogge-starre but the Aegyptians Sothis that of Orus is Orion and that of Typhon the Beare But whereas all other cities and states in Aegypt contribute a certeine tribute imposed upon them for to pourtray draw and paint such beasts as are honored among them those onely who inhabite the countrey Thebais of all others give nothing thereto being of opinion that no mortall thing subject to death can be a god as for him alone whom they call Cneph as he was never borne so shall he never die Whereas therefore many such things as these be reported and shewed in Aegypt they who thinke that all is no more but to perpetuate and eternize the memorie of marvelous deeds and strange accidents of some princes kings or tyrants who for their excellent vertue mighty puissance have adjoined to their owne glory the authoritie of deitie unto whom a while after there befell calamities use heerein a very cleanly shift and expedite evasion transferring handsomly from the gods unto men all sinister infamie that is in these fable and helpe themselves by the testimonies which they finde and read in histories for the Aegyptians write that Mercurie was but small of stature and slender limmed that Typhon was of a ruddy colour Orus white Osiris of a blackish hew as who indeed were naturally men Moreover they call Osiris captaine or generall Canobus pilot or governor of a ship after whose name they have named a starre and as for the shippe which the Greeks name Argo they hold that it was the very resemblance of Osiris ship which for the honour of him being numbred among the starres is so situate in heaven as that it mooveth and keepeth his course not farre from that of Orion and the Cyon or dogge-starre of which twaine the one is consecrate unto Horus the other to Isis. But I feare me that this were to stirre and remoove those sacred things which are not to be touched and medled withall and as much as to fight against not continuance of time onely and antiquitie as Simonides saith but also the religion of many sorts of people and nations who are long since possessed with a devotion toward these gods I doubt I say lest in so doing they faile not to transfer so great names as these out of heaven to earth and so goe very neere and misse but a little to overthrow and abolish that honour and beliefe which is ingenerate and imprinted in the hearts of all men even from their very first nativitie which were even to set the gates wide open for a multitude of miscreants and Atheists who would bring all divinity to humanity and deitie to mans nature yea and to give a manifest overture and libertie for all the impostures and jugling casts of Euemerus the Messenian who having himselfe coined and devised the originals of fables grounded upon no probability nor subject matter but even against the course of reason and nature spred and scattered abroad throughout the world all impietie transmuting and changing all those whom we repute as gods into the names of admirals captaines generall and kings who had lived in times past according as they stand upon record by his saying written in golden letters within the citie
estate and degree which is meet for them and according to their nature These things and such like for all the world they say are reported of Typhon who upon envy and malice committed many outrages and having thus made a trouble and confusion in all things filled sea and land with wofull calamities and miseries but was punished for it in the end For Isis the wife and sister of Osiris in revenge plagued him in extinguishing and repressing his fury and rage and yet neglected not she the travels and paines of her owne which she endured her trudging also and wandring to and fro nor many other acts of great wisdome and prowesse suffered she to be buried in silence and oblivion but inserting the same among the most holy ceremonies of sacrifices as examples images memorials and resemblances of the accidents happing in those times she consecrated an ensignement instruction and consolation of piety and devout religion to godward as well for men as women afflicted with miseries By reason whereof she and her husband Osiris of good Daemons were transmuted for their vertue into gods like as afterwards were Hercules and Bacchus who in regard thereof and not without reason have honours decreed for them both of gods and also of Daemons intermingled together as those who in all places were puissant but most powerfull both upon and also under the earth For they say that Sarapis is nothing else but Pluto and Isis the same that Proserpina as Archemachus of Eubaea and Heraclitus of Pontus testisie and he thinketh that the oracle in the city Canobus is that of father Dis or Pluto King Ptolemaeus surnamed Soter that is to say saviour caused that huge statue or colosse of Pluto which was in the city Sinope to be be taken from thence not knowing nor having seene before of what forme and shape it was but onely that as he dreamed he thought that he saw Serapis commanding him withall speed possible to transport him into Alexandrta Now the king not knowing where this statue was nor where to finde it in this doubtfull perplexity related his vision aforesaid unto his friends about him and chanced to meet with one Sosibius a great traveller and a man who had bene in many places and he said that in the city of Sinope he had seene such a statue as the king described unto them Whereupon Ptolemaeus sent Soteles and Dionysius who in long time and with great travell and not without the especiall grace of the divine providence stole away the said colosse and brought it with them Now when it was come to Alexandria and there seene Timotheus the great Cosmographer and Antiquary and Manethon of the province Sebennitis guessed it by all conjectures to be the image of Pluto and namely by Cerberus the hel-dog and the dragon about him perswading the king that it could be the image of no other god but of Serapis For it came not from thence with that name but being brought into Alexandria it tooke the name Serapis by which the Aegyptians doe name Pluto And yet Heraclitus verily the Naturalist saith that Hades and Dronisis that is to say Pluto and Bacchus be the same And in trueth when they are disposed to play the fooles and be mad they are caried away to this opinion For they who suppose that Hades that is to say Pluto is said to be the body and as it were the sepulcher of the soule as if it seemed to be foolish and drunken all the while she is within it me thinkes they doe allegorize but very baldly And better it were yet to bring Osiris and Bacchus together yea and to reconcile Sarapis unto Osiris in saying that after he hath changed his nature he became to have this denomination And therefore this name Sarapis is common to all as they know very well who are professed in the sacted religion of Osiris For we ought not to give eare and credit to the bookes and writings of the Phrygians wherein we finde that there was one Charopos the daughter of Hercules and that of Isatacus a sonne of Hercules was engendred Typhon neither yet to make account of Phylarchus who writeth that Bacchus was the first who from the Indians drave two beeses whereof the one was named Apis and the other Osiris That Sarapis is the proper name of him who ruleth and embelisheth the universall world and is derived of the word Sairein which some say signifieth as much as to beautifie and adorne For these be absurd toies delivered by Phylarchus but more monstrous and senselesse are their absurdities who write that Sarapis is no god but that it is the coffin or sepulchet of Apis that is so called as also that there be certain two leaved brasen gates in Memphis bearing the names of Lethe Cocytus that is to say oblivion and wailing which being set open when they interre and bury Apis in the opening make a great sound and rude noise which is the cause that we lay hand upon every copper or brasen vessell when it resoundeth so to stay the noise thereof Yet is their more apparence of trueth and reason in their opinion who hold that it was derived of these verbes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to move as being that which moveth the whole frame of the world The priests for the most part hold that Sarapis is a word compounded of Osiris and Apis together giving this exposition withall and teaching us that we ought to beleeve Apis to be an elegant image of the soule of Osiris For mine owne part if Sarapis be an Aegyptian name I suppose rather 〈◊〉 it betokeneth joy and mirth And I ground my conjecture upon this that the Aegyptians ordinarily call the feast of joy and gladnesse termed among the Athenians Charmosyna by the name of Sairei For Plato himselfe saith that Hades which signifieth Pluto being the sonne of Aidos that is to say of shamefastnesse and reverence is a milde and gracious god to those who are toward him And very true it is that in the Aegyptians language many other proper names are significant and carry their reason with them as namely that infernall place under the earth into which they imagine the soules of the dead doe descend after they be departed they call Amenthes which terme is as much to say as taking and giving but whether this word be one of those which in old time came out of Greece and were transpotted thither we will consider and discusse better hereafter Now for this present let us prosecute that which remaineth of this opinion now in hand For Osiris and Isis of good Daemons were translated into the number of the gods And as for the puissance of Typhon oppressed and quelled howbeit panting as yet at the last gaspe and striving as it were with the pangs of death they have certaine ceremonies and sacrifices to pacify and appease Other feasts also there be againe on the contrary side wherein they
potable water and with that all those who are present set up a note and shout as if they had found Osiris againe then they take a piece of fatty and fertile earth and together with the water knead and worke it into a paste mixing therewith most precious odors persumes and spices whereof they make a little image in forme of the Moone croissant which they decke with robes and adorne shewing thereby evidently that they take these gods to be the substance of water and earth Thus when Isis had recovered Osiris nourished Orus and brought him up to some growth so that he now became strengthned fortified by exhalations vapors mists and clouds Typhon verily was vanquished howbeit not shine for that the goddesse which is the ladie of the earth would not permit suffer that the power or nature which is contrary unto moisture should be utterly abolished onely she did slacken and let downe the vehement force thereof willing that this combat and strife should still continue because the world would not have beene entier and perfect if the nature of fire had beene once extinct gone And if this goe not currant among them there is no reason and probability that any one should project this assertion also namely that Typhon in times past overcame one part of Osiris for that in olde time Aegypt was sea whereupon it is that even at this day within the mines wherein men dig for mettals yea and among the mountaines there is found great store of seafish Likewise all the fountaines welles and pits and those are many in number cary a brackish saltish and bitter water as if some remnant or residue of the olde sea were reserved which ranne thither But in processe of time Orus subdued Typhon that is to say when the seasonable raine came which tempered the excessive heat Nilus expelled and drave forth the sea discovered the champian ground and filled it continually more and more by new deluges and inundations that laied somewhat still unto it And hereof the daily experience is presented to our eies for we perceive even at this day that the overflowes and rising of the river bringing new mud and adding fresh earth still by little and little the sea giveth place and retireth and as the deepe in it is filled more and more so the superficies riseth higher by the continuall shelves that the Nile casts up by which meane the sea runneth backward yea the very Isle Pharos which Homer knew by his daies to lie farre within the sea even a daies sailing from the continent firme land of Aegypt is now a very part thereof not for that it remooved and approched neerer and neerer to the land but because the sea which was betweene gave place unto the river that continually made new earth with the mudde that it brought and so mainteined and augmented the maine land But these things resemble very neere the Theologicall interpretations that the Stoicks give out for they holde that the generative and nutritive Spirit is Bacchus but that which striketh and divideth is Hercules that which receiveth is Ammon that which entreth and pierceth into the earth is Ceres and Proserpina and that which doth penetrate farther and passe thorow the sea is Neptune Others who mingle among naturall causes and reasons some drawen from the Mathematicks and principally from Astrology thinke that Typhon is the Solare circle or sphaere of the Sunne and that Osiris is that of the Moone inasmuch as the Moone hath a generative and vegetable light multiplying that sweet and comfortable moisture which is so meet for the generation of living creatures of trees and plants but the Sunne having in it a pure firy flame indeed without any mixture or rebatement at all heateth and drieth that which the earth bringeth forth yea and whatsoever is verdant and in the flower insomuch as by his inflamation he causeth the greater part of the earth to be wholly desert and inhabitable and many times subdueth the very Moone And therefore the Aegyptians evermore name Typhon Seth which is as much to say as ruling lordly and oppressing with violence And after their fabulous maner they say that Hercules sitting as it were upon the Sunne goeth about the world with him and Mercurie likewise with the Moone by reason whereof the works and effects of the Moone resemble those acts which are performed by eloquence and wisedome but those of the Sunne are compared to such as be exploited by force and puissance And the Stoicks say that the Sunne is lighted and set on fire by the Sea and therewith nourished but they be the fountaines and lakes which send up unto the Moone a milde sweet and delicate vapour The Aegyptians faine that the death of Osiris hapned on the seventeenth day of the moneth on which day better than upon any other she is judged to be at the full and this is the reason why the Pythagoreans call this day The obstruction and of all other numbers they most abhorre and detest it for whereas sixteene is a number quadrangular or foure-square and eighteene longer one way than another which numbers onely of those that be plaine happen for to have the ambient unities that environ them equall to the spaces conteined and comprehended within them seventeene which falleth betweene separateth and disjoineth the one from the other and being cut into unequall intervals distracteth the proportion sesquioctave And some there be who say that Osiris lived others that he reigned eight and twenty yeeres for so many lights there be of the Moone and so many daies doth she turne about her owne circle and therefore in those ceremonies which they call The sepulture of Osiris they cut a piece of wood and make a certeine coffin or case in maner of the Moone croissant for that as she approcheth neere to the Sunne she becommeth pointed and cornered untill in the end she come to nothing and is no more seene And as for the dismembring of Osiris into foureteene pieces they signifie unto us under the covert vaile of these words The daies wherein the said planet is in the wane and decreaseth even unto the change when she is renewed againe And that day on which she first appeareth by passing by and escaping the raies of the Sunne they call an Unperfect good for Osiris is a doer of good and this name signifieth many things but principally an active and beneficiall power as they say and as for the other name Omphis Hermaeus saith that it betokeneth as much as a benefactour Also they are of opinion that the risings and inundations of the river Nilus answere in proportion to the course of the Moone for the greatest heigth that it groweth unto in the countrey Elephantine is eight and twenty cubits for so many illuminations there be or daies in every revolution of the Moone and the lowest gage about Mendes and Xois sixe cubits which answereth to the first quarter but the meane betweene about the city
as if they thought to hide themselves within the bodies of the blacke storkes called Ibides of dogges and haukes passeth all the monstrous woonders and fixions of tales that can be devised Likewise to hold that the soules of those who are departed so many as remaine still in being are regenerate againe onely in the bodies of these beasts is as absurd and incredible as the other And as for those who will seeme to render a civill and politicke reason heereof some give out that Osiris in a great expedition or voiage of his having divided his armie into many parts such as in Greeke are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say bands and companies he gave unto every of them for their severall ensignes the portractures and images of beasts and each band afterwards honored their owne had in reverence as some holy and sacred thing Others affirme that the kings who succeeded after Osiris for to terrify their enimies went forth to battell carying before them the heads of such beasts made in gold and silver vpon their armes Some there be againe who alledge that there was one of these their subtile and fine headed kings who knowing that the Aegyptians of their owne nature were lightly disposed ready to revolt and given to change and innovations also that by reason of their great multitude their power was hardly to be restrained and in maner invincible in case they joined together in counsell and drew jointly in one common line therefore he sowed among them a perpetuall superstition which gave occasion of dissention and enmity among them that never could be appeased For when he had given commandement unto them for to have in reverence those beasts which naturally disagreed and warred together even such as were ready to eat and devour one another whiles every one endevored alwaies to succor and maintaine their owne and were moved to anger if any wrong or displeasure were done to those which they affected they sell together themselves by the eares ere they were aware and killed one another for the enmity and quarell which was betweene those beasts whom they adored and so fostered mutuall and mortall hatred For even at this day of all the Aegyptians the Lycopolitans onely eat 〈◊〉 because the wolfe whom they adore as a god is enimy unto sheepe And verily in this our age the Oxyrinchites because the Cynopolites that is to say the inhabitants of the city Cynopolis eat the fish named Oxyrinchos that is to say with the sharpe becke whensoever they can entrap or catch a dogge make no more adoe but kill him for a sacrifice and eat him when they have done Vpon which occasion having levied warre one against the other and done much mischiefe reciprocally after they had beene well chastised and plagued by the Romans they grew to attonement and composition And for as much as many of them doe say that the soule of Typhon departed into these beasts it seemeth that this fiction importeth thus much that every brutish and beastly nature commeth and proceedeth from some evill daemon and therefore to pacific him that he doe no mischiefe they worship and adore these beasts And if paradventure there happen any great drowght or contagious heat which causeth pestilent maladies or other unusuall and extraordinary calamities the priests bring forth some of those beasts which they serve and honor in the darke night without any noise in great silence menasing them at the first and putting them in fright Now if the plague or calamity continue still they kill and sacrifice them thinking this to be a punishment and chastisement of the said evill daemon or else some great expiation for notable sinnes and transgressions For in the city verily of Idithya as Manethos maketh report the maner is to burne men alive whom they called Typhony whose ashes when they had boulted through a tamise they scattered abroad untill they were reduced to nothing But this was done openly at a certaine time in those daies which are called Cynades or Canicular Mary the immolation of these beasts which they accounted sacred was performed secretly and not at a certaine time or upon perfixed daies but according to the occurrences of those accidents which happned And therefore the common people neither knew nor saw ought but when they solemnize their obsequies and funerals for them in the presence of all the people they shew some of the other beasts and throw them together into the sepulcher supposing thereby to vex and gall Typhon and to represse the joy that he hath in doing mischiefe For it seemeth that Apis with some other few beasts was consecrated to Osiris howsoever they attribute many more unto him And if this be true I suppose it importeth that which we seeke and search all this while as touching those which are confessed by all and have common honors as the foresaid stroke Ibis the hauke and the Babian or Cynecephalus yea and Apis himselfe for so they call the goat in the city Mendes Now their remaineth the utility and symbolization heereof considering that some participate of the one but the most part of both For as touching the goat the sheepe and the Ichneumon certaine it is they honor them for the use and profit they receive by them like as the inhabitants of Lemnos honor the birds called Corydali because they finde out the locusts nests and quash their egges The Thessalians also have the storkes in great account because whereas their country is given to breed a number of serpents the said storks when they come kill them up all By reason whereof they made an edict with an intimation that whosoever killed a storke should be banished his country The serpent Aspis also the wezill and the flie called the bettill they reverence because they observe in them I wot not what little slender images like as in drops of water we perceive the resemblance of the Sunne of the divine power For many there be even yet who both thinke and say that the male wezill engendreth with the female by her care and that she bringeth forth her yoong at the mouth which symbolizeth as they say and representeth the making and generation of speech As for the beetils they hold that throughout all their kinde there is no female but all the males doe blow or cast their seed into a certaine globus or round matter in forme of bals which they drive from them and roll to and fro contrary waies like as the Sunne when he moveth himselfe from the west to the east seemeth to turne about the heaven cleane contrary The Aspis also they compare to the planet of the Sunne because he doth never age and wax old but mooveth in all facility readinesse and celerity without the meanes of any instruments of motion Neither is the crocodile set so much by among them without some probable cause For they say that in some respect he is the very
was in no lesse reputation for both the one and the other was sought unto And in that of Ptous Apollo when the priest or prophet who served in the oracle used the Aeolian language and made answer unto those who were sent thither from the Barbarians insomuch as none of the assistants understood one word this Enthusiasme or divine inspiration covertly gave thereby thus much to understand that these oracles perteined nothing unto the Barbarians neither were they permitted to have the ordinary Greeke language at their command As for that of Amphiaraus the servant who was thither sent falling a sleepe within the sanctuarie thought as he dreamed that he saw and heard the minister of the god as if with his word and voice he seemed at the first to drive him out and command him to depart foorth of the temple saying that his god was not there but afterwards to thrust him away with both his hands but in the end seeing that he staid still tooke up a great stone and therewith smot him upon the head And verily all this answered just to that which afterwards befell and was a very prediction and denunciation of a future accident for Mardonius was vanquished not by the king himselfe but by the Tutour and lieutenant of the king of Lacedaemon who at that time had the conduct and command of the Greeks armie yea and with a stone felled to the ground according as the Lydian servant aforesaid imagined in his sleepe that he was smitten with a stone There flourished likewise about the same time the Oracle of Tegyrae where the report goeth that the god Apollo himselfe was borne and verily two rivers there are that runne neere one to the other whereof the one some at this day call Phoenix that is to say the date tree the other Elaea that is to say the olive tree At this Oracle during the time of the Medes warre when the prophet Echecrates there served god Apollo answered by his mouth that the Greeks should have the honour of the victory in this warre and continue superior Also in the time of the Peloponnesiaque warre when the Delians were driven out of their Island there was brought unto them an answer from the Oracle at Delphi by vertue whereof commanded they were to search and seeke out the place where Apollo was borne and there to performe certeine sacrifices whereat when they marvelled and in great perplexity demaunded againe whether Apollo were borne any where else but among them the prophetesse Pythia added moreover said That a crow should tell them the place Whereupon these deputies who were sent unto the Oracle in their returne homeward chanced to passe through the city Chaeronea where they heard their hostesse in whose house they lodged talking with some passengers and guests who were going to Tegyrae as touching the Oracle and when they departed and tooke their leave they saluted her and bad her farewell in these termes Adieu dame Cornice for that was the womans name which signifieth as much as Crow By this meanes they understood the meaning of the forsesaid Oracle or answer of Pythia and so when they had sacrificed at Tegyrae not long after they were restored and returned into their native countrey Moreover there were other apparitions besides of Oracles more fresh and later than those which we have alledged but now they are altogether ceased so that it were not amisse considering that we are met neere unto Apollo Pythius for to enquire into the cause of this so great change alteration As we thus communed talked together we were now by this time gone out of the temple so farre as to the very gates of the Gnidian hall and when we were entred into it we found those friends of ours sitting there within whom we desired to meet withall and who attended our comming Now when all the rest were at leisure and had nothing else to doe being at such a time of the day but either to anoint their bodies or else looke upon the champions and wrestlers who there exercised themselves Demetrius after a smiling maner began and said What were I best to tell some lie Or make report of truth shall I It seemeth as farre as I can perceive that you have in hand no matter of great consequence for I saw you sitting at your ease and it appeareth by your cheerefull and pleasant looks that you have no busie thoughts hammering in your heads True it is indeed quoth Heracleo the Megarian for we are not in serious argument disputation about the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether in the Future tense it should lose one of the two comparatives neither reason we about these two comparatives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Worse and better of what Positves they should come nor of what Primitives these two Superlatives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Worst and best be derived For these questions such like are those that make men knit and bend their browes but of all other matters we may reason and Philosophize well enough and quietly without making any furrowes in our forheads and looking with an austere and soure countenance for the matter upon the companie present with us Why then quoth Demetrius admit and receive us into your societie and together with us enterteine the question also which erewhile was moved among us being as it is meet for this place and in regard of god Apollo pertinent unto us all as many as we be but I beseech you of all loves let us have no srowning nor knitting of browes whiles we reason upon the point Now when we were set intermingled one with another and that Demetrius had propounded the foresaid question immediately Didymus the Cynique Philosopher surnamed Planetiades started up and stood upon his feete and after he had stamped with his staffe twise or thrice upon the floore cried out in this maner O God! Come you hether with this question indeed as if it were a matter so hard to be decided and had need of some long and deepe inquisition for a great marvell no doubt it is if seeing so much sinne and wickednesse is spred over the face of the whole world at this day not onely shame and just indignation or Nemesis according as Hesiodus prophesied before have abandoned mans life but also the providence of God being dislodged and carying away with it all the Oracles that be is cleane departed and gone for ever But contrariwise I will put foorth unto you another matter to be debated of namely how it comes to passe that they have not rather already given over every one and why Hercules is not come againe or some other of the gods and hath not long since plucked up and caried away the three-footed table and all being so full ordinarily of shamefull vilanous and impious demands proposed there daily to Apollo whiles some preferre matters unto him
as a Sophister to trie what he can say others aske him concerning treasure hidden some againe would be resolved of succession in heritages and of incestuous and unlawfull marriages Insomuch as now Pythagoras is manifestly convinced of errour and lesing who said that men were then best and excelled in goodnesse when they presented themselves before the gods for such things as it would well beseeme to hide and conceale in the presence onely of some ancient personage I meane the foule maladies and passions of the soule the same they discover and lay abroad naked before Apollo And as he would have gone forward still and prosecuted this theame both Heracleon plucked him by the cloke and I also who of all the company was most familiar inward with him Peace quoth I my good friend Planetiades and cease to provoke Apollo against you for a cholericke and testie god he is and not milde and gracious but according as Pindarus said very well Misdeem'd he is and thought amisse To bee Most kinde to men and full of lenitie And were he either the Sunne or the lord and father of the Sunne or a substance beyond all visible natures it is not like and probable that he would disdaine to speake any more unto men at this day living of whose generation nativity nourishment being and understanding he is the cause and author neither is it credible that the divine providence which is a good kinde and tender mother produceth and preserveth all things for our use should shew herselfe to be malicious in this matter onely of divination and prophesie and upon an old grudge and rankor to bereave us of that which at first she gave us as if forsooth even then when Oracles were rise in all parts of the world there was not in so mightie a multitude of men the greater number of wicked And therefore make Pythicke truce as they say for the while with vice and wickednesse which you are ever woont to chastice and rebuke in all your speeches and come and sit downe heere by us againe that together with us you may search out some other cause of this generall eclipse and cessation of Oracles which now is in question but withall remember that you keepe this god Apollo propitious and moove him not to wrath and displeasure But these words of mine wrought so with Planetiades that without any word replying out of the dores he went his waies Now when the company sat still for a prety while in great silence Ammonius at length directing his speech to me I beseech you quoth he Lamprias take better heed unto that which we doe and looke more neerely into the matter of this our disputation to the end that we cleere not the god altogether and make him to be no cause at all that the Oracles doe cease For he who attributeth this cessation unto any other cause than the will and ordinance of God giveth us occasion to suspect him also that he thinketh they never were not be at this present by his disposition but rather by some other meanes for no other cause and puissance there is more noble more mighty or more excellent which might be able to destroy and abolish divination if it were the worke of God And as touching the discourse that Planetiades made it pleaseth me never a whit neither can I approove thereof as well for other causes as for that he admitteth a certaine inequality and inconstance in the god For one while he maketh him to detest and abhorre vice and another while to allow and accept thereof much like unto some king or tyrant rather who at one gate driveth out wicked persons and receiving them in at another doth negotiate with them But seeing it is so that the greatest worke which can be sufficient in it selfe nothing superfluous but fully accomplished every way is most beseeming the dignity and majesty of the gods let this principle be supposed and laied for a ground and then a man in mine opinion may very well say that of this generall defect and common scarcity of men which civill seditions and warres before time have brought generally into the world Greece hath felt the greatest part insomuch as at this very day hardly is all Greece able to make three thousand men for the warres which are no more in number than one city in times past to wit Megara set forth and sent to the battell of Plataea and therefore whereas the god Apollo in this our age hath left many oracles which in ancient time were much frequented if one should inferre 〈◊〉 and say that this argueth no other thing but that Greece is now much depopulate dispeopled in comparison of that which it was in old time I would like well of his invention and furnish him sufficiently with matter to discourse upon For what would it boot and what good would come of it if there were now an Oracle at Tegyrae as sometime there was or about Ptoum whereas all the day long a man shall paradventure meet with one and that is all keeping and feeding cattell there And verily it is found written in histories that this very place of the Oracle where now we are which of all others in Greece is for antiquity right antient and for reputation most noble and renowmed was in times past for a great while desert and unfrequented nay unaccessable altogether in regard of a most venimous and dangerous beast even a dragon which haunted it But those who write this doe not collect heereupon the cessation of the Oracle aright but argue cleane contrary for it was the solitude and infrequency of the place that brought the dragon thither rather than the dragon that caused the said desert solitarinesse But afterwards when it pleased God that Greece was fortified againe and replenished with many cities and this place well peopled and frequented they used two Prophetesses who one after the other in their course descended into the cave and there sat yea and a third there was besides chosen as a suffragane or assistant to sit by them and helpe if need were but now there is but one Propehtesse in all and yet we complaine not for she onely is sufficient for all commers that have any occasion to use the Oracle And therefore we are in no wise to blame or accuse the god for that divination and spirit of prophesie which remaineth there at this day is sufficient for all and sendeth all suiters away well contented as having their full dispatch and answere for whatsoever they demand Like as therefore Agamemnon in Homer had nine Heraults or Criers about him and yet hardly with them could he containe and keepe in order the assembly of the Greeks being so frequent as then it was but now within these few daies you shall see heere the voice of one man alone able to resound over the whole Theater and to reach unto all the people their contained even so we must thinke that this divination and
pathes I know not whether Suffer me I beseech you to make a convenient end heere of my light discourses For now are wee just come so farre as we may also be bold after many others to affirme and pronounce that seeing the Daemons ordained for the presidence and superintendance of prophesies and Oracles doe faile of necessity these Oracles also and divinations must cease with them and when they be fled and gone or change their residence it cannot chuse but the former places must loose their propheticall power and vertue also that when after long time they be returned thither the said places will begin againe to speake and sound like unto instruments of musicke namely if they be present who have the skill to handle and use them accordingly After that Cleombrotus had thus discoursed There is not quoth Heracleon any one of this companie that is a prophane miscreant and infidell not professed in our religion or who holdeth any opinions as touching the gods discordant from us Howbeit let us take heed our selves ô Philippus lest ere we be aware we doe not in our discourse disputation put downe some erroneous suppositions and such as may make great ground workes of impiety You say very well quoth Philip but what point is it of all those that Cleombrotus hath put downe that is so offensive and scandalizeth you most Then Heracleon That they be not gods indeed who are the presidents of Oracles because we ought to beleeve of them that they be exempt from all terrestrial affaires but that they be Daemons rather or the angels and ministers of the gods in my conceit is no bad nor impertinent supposall but all at once abruptly by occasion of Empedocles his verses to attribute unto these Daemons crimes plagues calamities transgressions 〈◊〉 and errours sent from the gods above and in the end to make them for to die as mortall men this I take to be somewhat to presumpteously spoken and to smell of barbarous audacity Then Cleombrotus asked Philippus who this yong man was and from whence he came And when he had heard his name and his country he answered in this wise We are not ignorant our selves ô Heracleon that we are fallen into a speech savoring somewhat of absurdity but a man cannot possibly discourse of great matters without he lay as great foundations at the beginning for to proceed unto probability and prove his opinion And as for your selfe you are not aware how you overthrow even that which you grant for consesse you doe that there be Daemons but when you will needs maintaine that they be neither lewd nor mortall you cannot make it good that they be at all For wherein I pray you doe they differ from gods in case they be in substance incorruptible and in vertue impassible or not subject to sinne Heereupon Heracleon when he had mused with himselfe not saying a word and studied what answere to make Cleombrotus went on and said It is not Empedocles alone who hath given out there were evill Daemons but Plato also himselfe 〈◊〉 also and Chrysippus yea and 〈◊〉 when he wished and praied that he might meet with lucky images both knew and gave us no doubt thereby to understand that he thought there were others of them crooked and shrewd and such as were badly affected and had evill intentions But as touching the death of such and how they are mortall I have heard it reported by a man who was no foole nor a vaine lying person and that was Epitherses the father of Aemilianus the oratour whom some of you I dare well say have heard to plead declaime This Epitherses was my fellow-citizen and had beene my schoolemaster in grammar and this narration he related That minding upon a time to make a voiage by sea into Italy he was embarqued in a ship fraught with much marchandize and having many passengers beside aboord Now when it drew toward the evening they hapned as he said to be calmed about the Isles Echinades by occasion where of their thip hulled with the tides untill at length it was brought neere unto the Islands Paxae whiles most of the passengers were awake and many of them still drinking after supper but then all on a sudden there was heard a voice from one of the Islands of Paxae calling aloud unto one Thamus insomuch as there was not one of all our company but he wondred thereat Now this Thamus was a Pilot and an Aegyptian borne but knowen he was not to many of them in the ship by that name At the two first calles he made no answere but at the third time he obeied the voice and answered Here I am Then he who spake strained his voice and said unto him When thou art come to Palodes publish thou and make it knowen That the Great Pan is Dead And as Epitherses made report unto us as many as heard this voice were wonderfully amazed thereat and entred into a discourse and disputation about the point whether it were best to doe according to this commandement or rather to let it passe and not curiously to meddle withall but neglect it As for Thamus of this minde he was and resolved If the winde served to saile by the place quietly and say nothing but if the windes were laid and that their ensued a calme to crie and pronounce with a loud voice that which he heard Well when they were come to Palodes aforesaid the winde was downe and they were becalmed so as the sea was very stil without waves Whereupon Thamus looking from the poupe of the ship toward the land pronounced with a loud voice that which he had heard and said The great Pan is Dead He had no sooner spoken the word but there was heard a mighty noise not of one but of many together who seemed to groane and lament and withall to make a great wonder And as it falleth commonly out when as many be present the newes thereof was soone spred and divulged through the city of Rome in such sort as Tiberius Caesar the emperour sent for Thamus and Tiberius verily gave so good credit unto his wordes that he searched and enquired with all diligence who that Pan might be Now the great clerks and learned men of whom he had many about him gave their conjecture that it might be he who was the sonne of Mercurie by Penelope And verily Philippus had some of the companie present to beare witnesse with him such as had beene Aemilianus scholars and heard as much Then Demetrius made report that many little desert and desolate Isles there were lying dispersed and scattering in the sea about Britaine like unto those which the Greeks call Sporades whereof some were named the Isles of Daemons and Heroes or Demi-gods also that himselfe by commission and commandement from the emperour sailed toward the neerest of those desert Isles for to know and see somewhat which he found to have very few inhabitants and those all were by
such things as manifestly do appeere For in divers and sundry countries we see that lakes and whole rivers yea and many more sountaines and springs of hot waters have failed and beene quite lost as being fled out of our sight and hidden within the earth but afterwards in the very same places they have in time shewed themselves againe or else run hard by And of mettall mines we know that some have beene spent cleane and emptied as namely those of silver about the territory of Attica semblably the vaines of brasse oare in Euboea out of which they forged sometime the best swords that were hardned with the tincture of cold water according to which the Poet Aeschylus said He tooke in hand the keene and douty blade Which of Euboean steele sometime was made The rocke also and quarry in Carystia it is not long since it gave over to bring foorth certeine bals or bottomes of soft stone which they use to spin and draw into thred in maner of flax for I suppose that some of you have seene towels napkins nets caules kerchiefes and coifes woven of such thred which would not burne and consume in the fire but when they were foule and soiled with occupying folke flung them into the fire and tooke them foorth againe cleane and faire but now al this is quite gone and hardly within the said delfe shall a man meet with some few hairie threds of that matter running here there among the hard stones digged out from thence Now of all these things Aristotle and his sectaries hold That an exhalation within the earth is the onely efficient cause with which of necessity such effects must faile and passe from place to place as also otherwhiles breed againe therewith Semblably are we to thinke of the spirits and exhalations prophetical which issue out of the earth namely that they have not a nature immortall and such as can not age or waxe olde but subject to change and alteration For probable it is that the great gluttes of raine and extraordinary flouds have extinguished them quite and that by the terrible fall of thunder-bolts the places were smitten and they withal dissipated and dispatched but principally when the ground hath beene shaken with earthquakes and thereupon setled downward and fallen in with trouble and confusion of whatsoever was below it cannot chuse but such exhalations conteined within the holow caves of the earth either changed their place and were driven forth or utterly were stifled and choked And so in this place also there remained and appeered some tokens of that great earth-quake which overthrew the city and staied the Oracle heere like as by report in the city Orchomenos there was a plague which swept away a number of people and therewith the Oracle of Tiresias the prophet failed for ever so continueth at this day mute and to no effect And whether the like befell unto the Oracles which were woont to be in Cilicia as we heare say no man can more certeinly enforme us than you Demetrius Then Demetrius How things stand now at this present I wot not for I have beene a traveller and out of my native country a long time as yee all know but when I was in those parts both that of Mopsus and also the other of Amphtlochus flourished and were in great request And as for the Oracle of Mopsus I am able to make report unto you of a most strange and woonderfull event thereof for that I was my selfe present The Governour of Cilicia is of himselfe doubtfull and wavering whether there be gods or no upon infirmity as I take it of miscredance and unbeliefe for otherwise he was a naughty man a violent oppressour and scorner of religion But having about him certeine Epicureans who standing much upon this their goodly and beautifull Physiologie forsooth as they terme it or else all were marred scoffe at such things he sent one of his affranchised or freed servants unto the Oracle of Mopsus indeed howbeit making semblance as if he were an espiall to discover the campe of his enemies he sent him I say with a letter surely sealed wherin he had written without the privity of any person whatsoever a question or demaund to be presented unto the Oracle This messenger after the order and custome of the place remaining all night within the sanctuary of the temple fel there asleepe and rehearsed the morrow morning what a dreame he had and namely that he thought he saw a faire and beautifull man to present himselfe unto him and say unto him this onely word Blacke and no more for presently he went his way out of his sight Now wee that were there thought this to be a foolish and absurd toy neither wist we what to make of it But the governour aforesaid was much astonied thereat and being stricken with a great remorse and pricke of conscience worshipped Mopsus and held his Oracle most venerable for opening the letter he shewed publikely the demaund conteined therein which went in these words Shall I sacrifice unto thee a white Bull or a blacke insomuch as the very Epicureans themselves who conversed with him were much abashed and ashamed So he offred the sacrifice accordingly and ever afterwards to his dying day honoured Mopsus right devoutly Demetrius having thus said held his peace but I desirous to conclude this whole disputation with some corollary turned againe and cast mine eie upon Philippus and Ammonius who sat together Now they seemed as if they had somewhat to speake unto me and thereupon I staied my selfe againe With that Ammonius Philip quoth he ô Lamprias hath somewhat yet to say of the question which hath beene all this while debated For he is of opinion as many others beside him are that Apollo is no other god than the Sunne but even the very same But the doubt which I moove is greater and of more important matters For I wot not how erewhile in the traine of our discourse we tooke from the gods all divination and ascribed the same in plaine termes to Daemons and angels and now we will seeme to thrust them out againe from hence and to disseize them of the Oracle and three footed table of which they were possessed conferring the beginning and principall cause of prophesie or rather indeed the very substance and power it selfe upon windes vapours and exhalations For even those temperatures heats tinctures and consolidations if I may so say which have beene talked of remove our minde and opinion farther off still from the gods and put into our heads this imagination and conceit of such a cause as Euripides deviseth Cyclops to alledge in the Tragoedie bearing his name The earth must needs bring forth grasse this is flat Will she or nill she and feed my cattell fatte This onely is the difference because he saith not that he sacrificed his beasts unto the gods but unto himselfe and his belly the greatest of all the Daemons but we both sacrifice and
gratifieth them nothing at all nor deserveth any thanks and that which worse is because no man will beleeve that he giveth be it never so little for nothing he incurreth the suspicion and obloquie of being cautelous illiberall and simply naught But forasmuch as the gifts that be in the nature of silver gold and temporall goods be in regard of beautie and liberall courtesie farre inferiour to those which go in the kinde of good letters and proceed from learning it standeth well with honesty both to give such and also to demand the like of those who receive the same And therefore in sending presently unto you and for your sake unto those friends about you in those parts certeine discourses gathered together as touching the Temple and Oracle of Apollo Pythius as an offering of first fruits I confesse that I expect from you others againe both more in number and better in value considering that you live in a great city have more leasure and enjoy the benefit of more books and all sort of scholasticall conferences and learned exercises And verily it seemeth that our good and kinde Apollo doth indeed remedy ease and assoile the doubtfull difficulties ordinarily incident to this life of ours by giving answer unto those who repaire unto his Oracle but such as concerne matter of learning he putteth forth and proposeth himselfe unto that part of our minde which naturally is given to Philosophize and study wisedome imprinting therein a covetous desire to know and understand the trueth as may appeare by many other examples and namely in this petie mot EI consecrated in his temple For it is not like that it was by meere chance and adventure nor by a lotterie as it were of letters shuffled together that this word alone should have the preeminence with this god as to precede and goe before all others ne yet that it should have the honour to be consecrated unto God or 〈◊〉 in the temple as a thing of speciall regard for to be seene and beheld but it must needs be that either the first learned men who at the beginning had the charge of this temple knew some particular and exquisit propertie in this word or els used it as a device to symbolize some matter of singularity or covertly to signifie a thing of great consequence Having therefore many times before cleanly put by and avoided or passed over this question proposed in the schooles for to be discussed and discoursed upon of late I was surprized and set upon by mine owne children upon occasion that I was debating with certeine strangers as desirous to satisfie them whom being ready to depart out of the city of Delphi it was no part of civility either to deteine long or altogether to reject having so earnest a minde to heare me say somewhat When therefore as we were set about the temple I beganne partly to looke unto some things my selfe and partly to demand and enquire of them I was put in minde and admonished by the place and matters then handled of a former question which before-time when Nero passed thorow these parts I heard Ammonius to discourse and others besides in this very place and as touching a question of the same difficultie likewise propounded For consideting that this god Apollo is no lesse a Philosopher than a Prophet Ammonius then delivered that in regard thereof the surnames might very well be fitted and applied which were attributed unto him very rightly and with good reason shewing and declaring that he is Pythius a Questionist to those who begin to learne and enquire Delius and Phanaeus that is to say cleere and lightsome unto such as have the trueth a little shining and appearing unto them Ismenius that is to say skilfull and learned unto as many as have atteined unto knowledge already and Leschenorius as one would say Eloquent os Discoursing when they put their science in practise and make use thereof proceeding for to conferre dispute and discourse one with another And for that it apperteineth unto Philosophers to enquire admire and cast doubts by good right the most part of divine matters belonging to the gods are couched hidden under darke aenigmes and covert speeches and thereupon require that a man should demand why and whether as also to be instructed in the cause As for example about the maintenance of the immortall or eternall fire Why of all kinds of wood they burne the Firre only Also Wherefore they never make any perfume but of the Laurell Likewise What is the reason that in this temple there be no more but two images of two destinies or fatall sisters named Parcae whereas in all places els there be three of them Semblably What should be the cause that no woman whatsoever she be is permitted to have accesse unto this Oracle for counsell or resolution Againe What is the reason of that fabricke or three footed table and such other matters which invite allure and draw those who are not altogether witlesse void of sense and reason to aske to see and heare somewhat yea and to dispute about them what they should meane And to this purpose doe but marke and consider these inscriptions standing in the forefront of this Temple Know thy selfe and Nothing too much what a number of questions and learned disputations they have moved also what a multitude of goodly discourses have sprung proceeded from such writings as out of some seed or graine of corne And this will I say unto you that the matter now in question is no lesse fertile and plentifull than any one of the other When Ammonius had thus said my brother Lamprias began in this wise And yet quoth he the reason which we all have heard as touching this question is very plaine and short For reported it is that those ancient Sages or wise men who by some are named Sophisters were indeed of themselves no more than five to wit Chilon Thales Solon Bias and Pittacus But when first Cleobulus the tyrant of the Lindians and then Periander the tyrant likewise of Corinth who had neither of them any one jot of vertue or wisdome by the greatnesse of their power by the number of their friends and by many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents acquired forcibly this reputation in despite of all usurped the name of Sages and to this purpose caused to be spred sowen and divulged throughout all Greece certaine odde sentences and notable sayings as well as those of the others wherewith the former Sages above named were discontented Howbeit for all this these five wisemen would in no hand discover and convince their vanity nor yet openly contest and enter into termes of quarell with them about this reputation ne yet debate the matter against so mighty personages who had so great meanes of countenance in the world but being assembled upon a time in this place after conference together they consecrated and dedicated here the letter E which as it standeth fifth
be made much of and loved for their good conceit and pleasant wit because they repose the notion of god in that which of all things that they know and desire they honour and reverence most And now so long as we are in this life as if we dreamed the most beautifull dreame that a man could imagine of this god Apollo let us excite and stirre up our mindes to passe yet farther and mount higher for to contemplate and behold that which is above our selves in adoring principally indeed his essence but yet honoring withall his image to wit the Sunne and that generative vertue which he hath infused into it for to produce and bring forth representing in some sort by his brightnesse some obscure resemblances and darke shewes of his clemency benignity and blessednesse as far forth as it is possible for a sensible nature to shew an intellectuall and for that which is movable to expresse that which is stable and parmanent Moreover as touching I wot not what extasies and leapings forth of 〈◊〉 and his owne nature certaine strange alterations likewise as namely when he casteth fire and withall dismembreth and teareth himselfe as they say as also that he stretcheth dilateth and spreadeth forth and contrariwise how he gathereth and draweth in himselfe heere below into the earth the sea the windes the starres and uncouth accidents of beasts and plants they be such absurdities as are not to be named without impiety Or else if we admit them he will become worse than the little boy whom the Poets seigne playing upon the sea shore with an heape of sand which he first raised and then cast downe againe and scattered abroad if I say he should continually play at this game like fast and loose namely in framing the world first where before it was not and then anon destroying it so soone as it is made For contrariwise how much or how little soever of him is infused into the world the same in some sort containeth and confirmeth the substance thereof maintaining the corporall nature of it which otherwise by reason of infirmity and weakenesse tendeth alwaies to corruption In my conceit therefore against this opinion principally hath beene directly opposed this Mot and denomination of god EI that is to say Thou art as giving good testimony in his behalfe that in him there is never any change or mutation But either to do or suffer this as is beforesaid belongeth to any other god or rather indeed to any other Daemon ordained to have the superintendance of that nature which is subject both to generation and corruption as may appeare immediately by the significations of their names which are quite contrary and directly doe contradict one the other For our god here is named Apollo the other Pluto as if one would say Not Many and Many The one is cleped 〈◊〉 that is cleere and evident the other Aïdoneus that is to say obscure blinde and unseene Againe the former is named Phoebus which is as much as Shining or resplendent but the latter Scotius which is all one with Darke About him are seated the Muses and Mnemosyne that is to say Memory but neere to this are Lethe that is to say Oblivion and silence Our Apollo is surnamed Theorius and Phanaus of Seeing and shewing but Pluto is The Lord of night so bleake and darke Of idle sleeps that can not warke who also is To gods and men most odious And to them as malicious Of whom Pindarus said not unpleasantly Condemn'd of all he was for that He never any childe begat And therefore Euripides to this purpose spake right well Soule-songs dirges libations funerall Faire Phoebus please not he likes them not at all And before him Stesichorus Apollo joies in mery songs in dances sports and plates But Pluto takes delight in sighs in groanes and plaints alwaies And Sophocles seemeth evidently to attribute unto either of them their musicall instruments by these verses The Psalterie and pleasant Lute With dolefull mones do not well sute For very late it was and but the other day to speake of that the pipe and hautboies durst presume to sound and be heard in matters of mirth and delight but in former times it drew folke to mourning and sorrow to heavie funerals convoies of the dead and in such cases and services emploied it was as it were not very honourable nor jocund and delectable howsoever after it came to be intermingled in all occasions one with another Mary they especially who confusedly have hudled the worship of the gods with the service of Daemons brought those instruments in request and reputation But to conclude it seemeth that this Mot EI is somewhat contrary unto the precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet after a sort to accord and agree therewith For as the one is a word of devout admiration and reverent worship directed to God as eternall and everlasting so the other is an advertisement given unto men mortall to put them in minde of their fraile and weake nature AN EXPLANATION OF SUNDRY TEARMES SOMEWHAT obscure in this translation of Plutarch in favour of the unlearned Reader after the order of the Alphabet A. AUlus A forename among the Romans Abyrtace A deintie kinde of meat with the Medes other Barbarous nations sharpe quicke of taste to provoke and please the appetite composed of Leeks Garlike Cresses Senvie Pomgranate kirnels and such like Academie A shadowy place full of groves a mile distant from Athens where Plato the Philosopher was borne and wherein hee taught Of it the Academicke Philosophers tooke their name whose maner was to discourse and dispute of all questions but to determine and resolve of nothing And for the great frequence and concourse of scholars to that place our Universities and great schooles of learning be named Academies Aediles Certeine magistrates or officers in Rome who were of two sorts Plebeij and Curules Plebeij of the Commons onely two in number more ancient than the other chosen by the people alone to second and assist the Tribunes of the Commons as their right hands This name they tooke of the charge which they had to mainteine temples and chapels albeit they registred the Sanctions and Acts of the people called Plebiscita and kept the same in their owne custodie were Clerks of the Market and looked to weights and measures c. yea and exhibited the games and playes named Plebeij Curules were likewise twain elected out of the order and degree of the Patritij so called of the Yvorie chaire wherein they were allowed to sit as officers of greater state and by vertue whereof in some cases and at certein times they might exercise civill jurisdiction It belonged unto these to set forth the solemnities called Ludi Magni or Romani overseers they were likewise of the buildings thorowout the city aswell publike as private in maner of the Astynomi in Athens they had regard unto the publike vaults sinks conveiances and conduits
an Indian Dog of rare 〈◊〉 964.10 a Dog counterfeited a part in a play 967.30 Dogs crucified at Rome 638.30 a Dog saluted as king in AEthiopia 1087.40 a Dog resembleth Anubis 1305.10 a Dog why so much honoured in AEgypt 1305.20 Dogs why they pursue the stone that is throwen at the. 1015.10 a Dog why he resembleth Mercurie 1291.40 Dolphins loving to mankind 344.30.751.20.979.1.10 delighted in Musicke ib. Dolphins spared by fishers 344.30 a Dolphin saved a maidens life 344.40 a Dolphin the armes that Vlysses bare in his shield 980.20 Dolphins how affectionate to a boy of Jasos 979.40 Dolphin how crafty he is and hard to be caught 972.10 Dolphins in continuall motion 974.1 C. Domitius his apophthegme 431.30 he overthrew K. Antiochus ib. Dorian Musicke commended by Plato 1253.40 Dorians pray to have an ill hey harvest 1008.10 Doryxenus who it is 893.30 Cocke Doves squash their hennes egges 954.20 Dragon consecrated to Bacchus 699.20 A Dragon enamoured of a yong damosell 966.10 who never Dreamed in all their life time 1349.50 Dreames to be considered in case of health 618.10 Dreames how they come 841.30 how to be regarded 255.10 Dreames in Autumne little to be regarded 784. 1. the reason thereof ib. how to be observed in the progresse of vertue 255.10 Drinke whether it passe through our lungs 743.20 the wagon of our meat 743.50 Drinkes which are to be taken heed of 613.30 Drinking leisurely moistneth the belly 743.50 Drinke five or three but not foure 695.20 Dromoclides a great states man in Athens 348 40 Drunkenesse what persons it soonest assaileth 652.10 Drunckenesse is dotage 765.20 Faults committed in Drunkenesse doubly punished 336.50 Halfe Drunke more brainsicke than those who be thorow drunke 694.20 Drunkenesse most to blame for intemperate speech 194.10 how defined 194.40 soone bringeth age 690.10 Dryades what Nymphs 1141.30 Duality the authour of disorder and of even numbers 1341.1 Duplicity of the soule 65.40 Dying is a kinde of staining or infection 774.40 Dysopia what it is 163.20 E EAres give passage to vertue for to enter into yong mens mindes 52.10 Eare delights are dangerous 18.40 Eare-sports how to be used 〈◊〉 10. when to be used at a feast 761.30 Eares of children and yong 〈◊〉 how to be desended 52.10 Earely eating condemned in olde time 775.30 Earth whether it be the element of colde 999.40 Earth called Estia or Vesta wherefore 1002.1 Earth by god not alwaies placed below 649.1 Earth whether but one or twaine 829.50 Earth what prerogative it hath 1345.30 what it is 830. 1. what forme it hath 830. 10 the situation thereof 830.10 why it bendeth southerly 830.30 Earth whether it moove or 〈◊〉 830.40 Earthquakes how occasioned 831.20 Earth corrupteth waters 〈◊〉 it causeth diversity of waters 774.40 Earth for the most part not inhabited 1177.40.50 Echemythia 139.10 Echeneis a fish 676.10 the reason how she staieth a ship 676.50 Echo how it is caused 839.20 In Eclipses of the moone why they rung basons 1183.20 Eclipses of the Sunne 1171.20.30 Eclipses why more of the Moone then of Sunne 1172. 10. of eclipses the cause 1172.10 Education of what power it is 4.10.6.40 Eeles comming to hand 970.1 Eeles bred without generation of male or female 672.10 Egge or henne whether was before 669.50 Egges resemble the principles of all things 670.50 The Egge whereof came Castor and Pollux 671.20 E. signifieth the number five 1354 30 EI. written upon the temple at Delphi what it signifieth 1353 30.1354 EI. an gold in brasse and in wood 1354.30 EI. a stone 345.20 EI. as much as 〈◊〉 EI. of what force it is in logicke 1355. why E. is preferred before other letters 1356.40 Eight resembleth the female 884.20 Eight the first cubicke number 884.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both the fruit and the tree of the olive 32.1 Elaeus the city whereof it tooke the name 917.40 Elaphebolia a feast when instituted 485.10.699.50 Elasiae who they be 895.40 Electra concubine to Deiotarus with the privity and permission of his wife 50.40 Elegie whose invention 1257.10 Elements 4. 994.40 which be elements 805.10.808.1 Elements before elements 813.50 Eleon 901.10.20 Elephants how they be prepared for fight 959.1 Elephants docible 961.10 their wit patience and mildenesse 961.30 Elephant of king Porus how dutifull unto him 963.40 Elephants witty and loving to their fellowes 965.40 devout and religious ib. 50. full of love and amorous they can abide no white garments 323.40 Elephantiasis a disease not long knowen 780.30 Eleutherae 899.50 Eleutheria what feast 914.40 Elians why excluded frō the Isthmick games at Corinth 1194.40 Elieus the father of Eunostus 900.40 Ellebor root clenseth malancholie 659.10 Ellebor 91.50 Elops the onely fish swimming downe the streame and winde 973.50 Eloquence becommeth old men 391.10 in princes most necessary 352.10 Elpenor 899.20 Elpenor his ghost 791.40 Elpisticke Philosophers 709.1 Elysius the father of Euthynous 518.30 Elysian field in the moone 1183.30 Emerepes his apophthegme 557.1 Empona her rare love to her husband 1157.1158 cruelly put to death by Vespasian ib. Empusa 598.30 Empedocles his opinion touching the first principles 807.50 how he averted a pestilence 134.10 a good common wealths man 1128.10 Emulation that is good 256.50 Enalus enamoured of a virgin destined for sacrifice 345.1 Encnisma what it is 895.50 Encyclia what sciences 9.1 Endrome the name of a canticle 1256.40 Endimatia what dance 1251.30 Engastrinythi what they be 1327 1 In England or great Brittaine why folke live long 849.50 by Enimies men may take profit 237.20.30.50 of Enimies how to be revenged 239.30 Enneaterides 891.1 Entelechia 805.30.808.10 No enterring the reliques of triumphant persons within the city of Rome 876.50 Enthusiasme 1344.20 Enthusiasmus 654.40 of sundry sorts 1142. 50. what kinde of fury 1142.40 Envy 1070.50 Envy a cause of mens discontent 156.1.10 Envy among brethren 183.10 how it may be avoided 184.1.10.20 Envy and hatred differ 234.1 Envy what it is 234.20 Envious men be pitifull 235.50 Envy hurtfull especially to scholars and hearers 53.50 Envy of divers sorts 53.50.54.1 Envious eie hath power to bewitch 724.20 Envy whome it assaileth most 388.20 compared to smoake ib. 30 how it is to be quenched 389.1 Envy not excusable in old age 399 10. in yong persons it hath many pretenses 399.10 Enyalius what god 154.50.1141.10 Epacrii a faction in Athens 1149 10 Epact daies 1292.10 Epaenetus his apophthegme 557.1 Epaminondas beheadeth his owne sonne 910.1 Epaminondas his commendation 53.20 Epaminondas accused of a capitall crime 477.40 his plea. ib. his death 428.1 Epaminondas the nickename of a talkative fellow 207.20 Epaminondas had a grace in denying his friends requests 361.10 how carefull for the Thebans 295.40.50 he retorted a reprochfull scoffe upon Calistratus 363.50 his valiant exploit 400 10. his magnanimity 303 20. his apophthegmes 425.40 he could not abide fat and corpulent soldiers ib. his sobriety and frugality ib. 50. debased by the Epicureans 1129.10 his apophthegme 625.50 admired in commending himselfe 303.10 Epaphus 1302.20
weake stomacks 709.40 Fish more deinty and costly than flesh 708.10.20 sea Fish most pleasant and holsome 709.40 abstinence from Flesh. 340.40 certeine Fishes why called Ellopes 778.10 Fishes mute and dumbe ib. why Pythagoras forbare to cate Fish 778.1 to kill Fish cruelty 779.30 to eate them gluttony ib. Fishes harmelesse creatures ib. Fish not eaten by Vlysses and his mates but upon extremity 779.50 a Fish adored as god by the Syrians 780.10 Fish among the Aegyptians symbolyzeth hatred 1300.20 Fish a name implying blockishnesse 969.1 Fishes and their properties described 969.50 Fishes very obsequious 970. 1. used in divination ib. 20. more wary and circumspect than land beasts ib. 30. how ready they be to helpe one another 971.30.40 why they swim for the most part against the streame 973.50 how kinde to their yoong fry 976.30 Fist-fight or buffets the first exercise by Homers reckoning 673.30 Five the number what preogative it hath 1357.1.10.1341.30 Five the number why called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say The mariage 1357 1 Five a number most be seeming mariage 850.50 why it is called Nature 1357.20 Flamen Dialis why he might not touch meale nor leven 886.10 forbidden to touch raw flesh ib. 30. he might not touch nor name a goat or dogge ib. 40. in steed of an altar or sanctuarie 887.1 not permitted to touch an Ivie tree nor to goe under a vine 887.30 Flamen dialis not admitted to sue for government of estate 888.10 Flamina 879.30 Flamin or priest of Jupiter gave up his sacerdotall dignity if his wife died 867.40 Flaminius circus 872.30 Flaminia via ib Flatterers the overthrow of yoong men 15.30 they are depainted in their colours 16.40.50 Flattery to whom most hurtfull ib. what Flatterers be most dangerous 86.20 Flatterers how they be discovered 89 10.20. c the Flatterers of Denys 90.20 Flatterers abuse the world by franknesse of speech 97.40.50.98.10.20 Flatterers of K. Ptolomaeus 98.1 Tiberius Caesar Flattered under liberty of speech 98.20.30 Flatterers how they abused Antonie 99.20 compared to gadflies and ticks 92.40 Flatterers tame and wilde 99.40 50 Flatterers about Demetrius 379 10 Flavius whipped his wife 856.50 Flesh Pythagoras forbad to be eaten 572.10 Flesh eating might be well dispensed with in the first age of the world 572.50.573.1 Flesh eating condemned in men 574 Flesh meats apt to breed 〈◊〉 84.50 Flesh killed hanging upon a figtree soone becommeth tender 741. 20. it sooner corrupteth in the Moone than in the Sunne-shine 696.10 Flinging of stones or weightie things how performed 1022.20 Floures of trees may be gathered 683.20 Flyes will not be tamed 777.20 Food fit for students 620.40 Forme 805.30 Fornacalia what feast 888.20 Fortitude what it is 69.10 Fortitude of brute beasts compared with mens valour 565.1 Fortitude in men not naturall 565.40 Fortune by whom attended when she pleads against vertue 630.10 Fortune not sufficient to make miserie 299.50 Fortune in geatest favour with Venus 630.40 Fortune primigenia 635.20 885.30 Fortune virilis 631.1 Fortune a word unknowne to poets 31.20 Fortune had many temples at Rome 630.50 Fortune although it differeth from wisdome yet it produceth like effects 765.50 Fortune viscata ib. 635.30 Fortune with divers attributes 875.1 Fortune 631.1 by whom erected 635.1 Fortune much honoured by king Servius Tullius 875.1 Fortune muliebris or foeminine 631.1 when erected 635.10 little Fortune and short Fortune with their temples 874.50 temple of Fortune fortis where built 631.20 Fortune what it is 817.10.1051 50. how it differeth from rash adventure ib. Fortune favorable to Julius Caesar 631.40 Fortune envieth great felicitie 513.40 against Fortune 230 1.10. c Fortune and vertue at debate 628.10 Fortune obsequens 635.20 Fortune commeth to plead against vertue 629.40 Fortune favourable to Ser. Tullius 635.10 Fortune private 635.30 Fortune in what maner she came to the city of Rome 629.40.50 Fortune the virgine 635.30 Fortune good hope 635.30 Fortune as it were hope ib. the Fox of Telmessus 565.30 Fox more spotted than the leopard 313.10 his suttelty in passing over rivers frozen 962.1 Franke speech beseemeth a ruler in extremities 370.1 it beseemeth not a flatterer 971 Franke speech to friends how to be used 105.30.40 in Franke speech scurrility and biting is to be avoided 108.1.10 Free will 1051.1 of Freinds but few paires 224.50 a Freind why he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke 225.1 Friend the word how to be taken 699.10 Freindship true how many things it requireth 225.30 Freindship ought not to be in a meane 227.40 Freinds how to be used by a magistrate 360.30 Freinds how they may be denied in their unlawfull sutes 361.10 Freindship not unpleasant 85.30 Freinds may praise friends aswell as blame them 85.50 Freinds how they differ from flatterers 91.40.50 a true Friend will doe his friend good secretly 102.40.50 plurality of Freinds 224.30 Frogs why they coake against raine 1004.10 how they engender 977.20 they prognosticate rain ib. Fulvius sharply rebuked by Augustus Caesar for his lavish tongue 199.40 he killeth himselfe and dieth with his wife 199.40 Functions meet for aged Rulers 395.20 Furciferi who they were 873.40 Furie of divers sorts 1142.40 Fyre the best sauce 85.40.615.20 argued to be better than water 991. 1. found out by Prometheus 990.1 the principle of all things 807. 20. worshipped by the Assyrians Medes 1174.40 how made 808.40 in olde time might not be put out 748.40 not alwaies by God placed aloft 649. 1. dieth two maner of wates 748.40 why it was so religiously preserved unextinct 749.1 not to be digged into with a sword 15.10 stronger in Winter and more seeble in Summer 1323.20 seemeth to have life 875.20 G G. and C. letters of great affinitie 869.1 G. devised first by Sp. Carvilius ib. Galaxion a place plentifull of milke 1201.30 Galepsus a towne in Euboea pleasantly seated 707 Galli the priests of Cybele 1129.30 the Gallion of Delos 387.50 Garrulity 192.20 compared with other vices 193.10 accompanied with curiositie and much medling 199. 50. compared with treason and treachery 202 20 Garrulity how to be cured 202.40 the Garrulity of a Romane dame 198.30 Garments how they are said to warme the body 78.40 they both heat and coole 735.30 Gates of Rome not hallowed 859.50 Gaule women their vertuous act 487.10 their advice is taken in counsell house ib. Gegania 636.10 Geirs or vultures most observed by the Romans in their Auspices 881.10 strange birds and seldome seene in Italie ib. most harmlesse and just ib. 20. most significant in Augurie ib. 30. all females and conceive by the East winde ib. Gelon scoffed at by allusion to his name 305.40 his apophthegms 405.40 he reclaimed the 〈◊〉 from sacrificing children to Saturne ib. 〈◊〉 ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifieth in Hesiodus 1327 Genitamana a goddesse at Rome 868.20 a dogge sacrificed unto her ib. Generation and corruption 816.1 Generation what it is 1114.1115 Generation and creation different 1018.10 act of Generation
hapned againe unto Romulus just upon the very same day when hee was translated out of this life for they say that even at the very instant when the sunne entred into the ecclipse he also departed out of sight and was no more seene which fell out to be upon the day called Nonae Capratinae upon which day the Romans doe still at this present celebrate a solemne feast Now when these first founders were in this manner bred and borne after that the tyrant sought to make them away by good fortune it hapned that the minister to take them and execute the deed was neither a barbarous nor a mercilesse cruell slave but a gracious and pitifull servitour who would in no wise murder the silly babes but finding a convenient place upon the banke by the river side adjoyning hard to a faire greene meddow and shadowed with pretie trees growing low by the ground there he bestowed the infants neere unto a wilde sigge tree which they called afterwards Ruminalis for that a teat or pappe in Latin is called Ruma which done it chaunced that a bitch-woolfe having newly whelped her litter and feeling her pappes bestruct with milke and so stiffe by reason that her yoong ones were dead that they aked againe and were ready to burst seeking to be eased and to discharge her-selfe thereof came gently to these babes stooped downe and seemed to winde about them put unto them her teats desirous labouring to be delivered of her milk as if it had beene a second litter And then see the fortune of it a certeine bird consecrated to Mars which thereupon men name in Latine Picus Martius that is to say a Speght or Wood-pecker chaunced to approch neere and having alighted gently upon the tips of her toes fast by them softly opened with one of her clees the mouthes of these infants one after another she conveied into them certeine morsels minced small even of her owne food provision That this is true the said wilde fig tree at this day is named Ruminalis of the woolves teat called in Latine Ruma which she held unto the babes for to suckle them doth testifie And long time after the inhabitants about that place have observed this custome not to expose and cast foorth any thing that is bred and borne amongst them but to reare and nourish all in a venerable memoriall of this happe and resemblance of the accident which befell unto Romulus and his brother Remus Now that these two fondlings were nourished and brought up afterward in the citie of Gabii unknowen to all the world that they were the children of Sylvia and the nephewes or daughters children of Numitor the king may seeme to be a craftie theevish cast and deceitfull sophistrie proceeding from Fortune to the end that they shold not perish before they had done some woorthy exploit by reason of their noble birth but be discovered by their very deeds and effects shewing their vertue as a marke of their nobilitie And heere I call to minde a certeine speech which Themistocles a brave and wise captaine upon a time gave to some other captaines who after him and in a second place were in great name at Athens and much esteemed howbeit pretending to deserve more honour than he The morrow-mind quoth he quarrelled and contended upon a time with the feast or holi-day which went before it saying That she was full of labour and businesse and never had any rest whereas in her there was nothing but eating and drinking that which before hand had beene prepared and provided with great paine and travell unto whom the feast made this answer Certes true it is that thou saiest but if I had not bene where hadst thou bene Even so quoth Themistocles if I had not conducted the Medians warre what good would you have done now and where had your imploiment bene Semblably me thinks that Fortune saith the same unto the Vertue of Romulus Thy acts are famous and thy deeds renowmed thou hast shewed by them indeed that descended thou art from divine bloud and some heavenly race but thou seest againe how farre short thou art of me how long after me it was ere thou didst come in place for if I had not when time was shewed my selfe kinde gracious and courteous unto those poore infants but had forsaken and abandoned them silly wretches how could you have had any being and by what meanes should you have bene so gloriously seene in the world in case I say a female wilde beast even a shee-wolfe had not come in the way having her bigs swollen enflamed and aking with the plentie of milke flowing as it were a streame unto them seeking rather whom to feed than by whō she should be fed or if she had bene altogether savage indeed hunger-bitten these roiall houses these stately temples these magnificent theaters these faire galleries these goodly halles palaces and counsell-chambers had they not bene at this day the lodges cottages and stalles of shepherds and herdmen serving as slaves some lords of Alba and Tuscan or els some masters of the Latine nation The beginning in all things is chiefe and principall but especially in the foundation and building of a city and Fortune is she who is the authour of this beginning and foundation in saving and preserving the founder himselfe for well may Vertue make Romulus great but Fortune kept him untill he became great It is for certeine knowen and confessed that the reigne also of Numa Pompilius which continued long was guided and conducted by the favour of a marvellous Fortune for to say that the nymph Aegeria one of the Wood-Fairies called Dryades a wise and prudent goddesse was enamoured of him and that lying ordinarily by his side taught him how to establish governe and rule the weale-publicke peradventure is a meere fabulous tale considering that other persons who are recorded to have bene loved by goddesses and to have enjoied them in mariage as for example Peleus Anchises Orion Emathion had not for all that thorowout their life contentment and prosperitie without some trouble and adversitie but surely it seemeth that Numa in very trueth had good Fortune for his domesticall and familar companion and to reigne jointly with him which Fortune of his receiving the citie of Rome as in a boisterous and troublesome tempest or in a turbulent sea to wit in the enmitie envie and malice of all the neighbor-cities and nations bordering upon it and besides disquieted within it selfe and troubled with an infinit number of calamities and seditious factions quenched all those flames of anger and alaied all spightfull and malicious grudges as some boisterous and contrary windes And like as men say that the sea even in mid-winter receiveth the yong brood of the birds Halcyones after they be newly hatched and giveth them leave to be nourished and fed in great calme and tranquilitie even so Fortune spreading and drawing round about this people newly planted and as
yet ready to wag and shake every way such a quiet and still season void of all busie affaires without warres without mortalitie without danger or feare of danger gave good meanes unto the citie of Rome to take root and set sure footing growing still in repose with all securitie and without any hinderance and impeachment whatsoever Much like therefore as a great carraque hulke or gallie is framed wrought and set together by many a knocke and stroke and that with great violence whiles it feeleth the blowes of sledges and hammers is pierced with spikes and great nailes cut with sawes axes and hatchets and when it is once made and finished by the shipwright ought to rest quiet and in repose for a competent time untill the braces be well setled and fastened and the joints firmly knit and compact for otherwise he that should stirre it and shoot it into the sea whiles yet the junctures and commissures be yet greene fresh loose and not well consolidate all would chinke cleave and open when it came to be never so little shaken and tossed by the boisterous billowes of the sea so that she would leake take in water thorowout even so the first prince authour and founder of the city of Rome having composed it of rusticall peisants and herdmen as it were of rough-hewen planks and posts of tough and stubburne oake had much adoe and tooke no small paines but engaged himselfe farre into sundry warres and exposed his person and estate to manifold and great dangers being of necessity enforced to encounter and fight with those who opposed themselves and withstood the nativitie as it were and foundation thereof before he could bring his worke to an end but the second king receiving the same at his hands gave it good time and leasure to gather strength and to confirme the growth and augmentation thereof by the favour of happie Fortune who affoorded him the meanes to enjoy great peace and long repose But if at that time some such as king Porsenna had come against it pitching his campe before it and leading a strong armie of Tuskans to give assault thereto whiles the walles were yet greene soft and ready to shake with every small thing or if some puissant prince and potentate or woorthy warriour from among the Marsians upon apostasie and revolt or els some Lucan for envie or upon a troublesome spirit and desire of contention a busi-headed person factious and quarelsome such an one as afterwards Mutius or stout Silon was surnamed the Bolde or last of all Telesinus with whom Sylla scuffled an found himselfe somewhat to do him I meane who as it were with one signall could make all Italie rise and take armes if one of these I say had come and given the alarme environing and assailing with sound of trumpets this Sage-like prince and philosopher Numa whiles he was at sacrifice or in his devotions and praiers to the gods surely the citie in that infancy of hers and first beginnings had never bene able to have held out and withstood so great a storme and tempest neither had it growen up as it did to so goodly a number of lustie and serviceable men whereas it seemeth that the long peace which continued under this king served in stead of a provision of furniture and all sorts of munition for innumerable warres ensuing and the people of Rome much like unto a champion who hath to fight a combat having bene exercised and enured at leasure in a peaceable time for the space of three and forty yeeres after the warres which they had fought under Romulus became strong enough and sufficient to make head against those that afterwards assailed them for it is for certeine recorded that during all that time there was neither pestilence nor famine no unkinde barrennesse of the earth nor unseasonable distemperature of Winter or Summer to afflict or trouble the city of Rome as if there had beene no humane providence but onely a divine Fortune which tooke the care and government of all those yeeres In those daies likewise it was that the two-leaved doores of the temple of Janus were shut up and locked fast those I meane which they call the gates of warre for that they were set open in the time of warre and kept shut when it was peace No sooner was king Numa dead but these gates were opened for the Albane warre which brake out suddenly and with great violence and so stood open still during an infinit number of other warres ensuing continually one after another thereupon but in processe of time namely about foure hundred and foure score yeres after they were shut againe when the first Punicke warre was ended and peace concluded with the Carthaginians even that yeere wherein C. Attilius and Titus Manlius were consuls After this they were set open by occasion of new warres which lasted untill the very time that Caesar Augustus wan that noble victorie under the Promontory Actium Then had the Romans a cessation or surcease of armes but the same continued not long for that the tumultuous stirres of the Biscains the Galatians and Germains comming all together troubled the peace And thus much may serve out of histories for testimonies in behalfe of the felicity and good Fortune of king Numa But the Kings also that raigned in Rome after him highlie honoured Fortune as the chiefe patronesse nourse and the prop or piller as Pindarus saith which supported and upheld the citie of Rome as we may judge by the reasons and arguments following There is at Rome I wot well the temple of Vertue highlie honored but founded it was and built of late daies even by Marcellus who forced and won the citie of Syracusa There was another also in the honor of reason understanding or good advice which they called by the name of Mentis but Aemilius Scaurus was the man who dedicated it about the time of the Cimbricke warres For that by this the learning the artes and pleasant eloquence of the Greekes were crept already into the citie but to wisdome there is not yet to this day so much as one temple or chappell neither to temperance not patience ne yet to magnanimitie wheras of Fortune there be many churches and temples verie auncient and those much frequented and to speake in one word celebrated with all kinds of honor as being founded and erected amid the noblest parts and most conspicuous places of the citie For there is the temple of Masculine Fortune called Fortuna virilis which was built by Martius Ancus the fourth king of Rome and by him so called for that he thought that Fortune availed as much as Fortitude to the obtaining of victorie As for the other entituled by the name of Fortune Feminine otherwise called Fortuna Muliebris everie man knoweth that they were the dames of the citie who dedicated it after they had averted and turned backe Martius Coriolanus who was come with a puisant power of enemies and presented himselfe