massacring themselves which was vniversally embraced in all religions Even in our fathers age Amurath at the taking of Isthâ—us sacrificed six hundred yoong Graecians to his fathers soule to the end their blood might serve as a propitiation to expiate the sinnes of the deceased And in the new countries discovered in our daies yet vncorrupted and virgins in regard of ours it is a custome well nigh received everiewhere All their idolles are sprinkled with humane blood not without divers examples of horrible crueltie Some are burnt alive and halfe roasted drawn from the fire that so they may pull out their harts and entrails othersome yea women are fleade quicke and with their yet-bleeding skins they invest and cover others And no lesse of examples of constant resolution For these wretched sacrifiable people old men women and children some daies before goe themselves begging their almes for the offering of their sacrifice and all of full glee singing and dancing with the rest they present themselves to the slaughter The Ambassadours of the Kings of Mexico in declaring and magnifying the greatnesse of their Master to Fernando Cortez after they had tolde him that he had thirtie vassals whereof each one was able to levie a hundred thousand combatants and that he had his residence in the fairest and strongest Citie vnder heaven added moreover that he had fifty thousand to sacrifice for every yeere verily some affirme that they maintaine continuall warres with certaine mightie neighbouring Nations not so much for the exercise and training of their youth as that they may have store of prisoners taken in warre to supply their sacrifices In another province to welcome the saide Cortez they sacrificed fiftie men at one clap I will tell this one storie more Some of those people having beene beaten by him sent to know him and to intreat him of friendship The messengers presented him with three kinds of presents in this manner Lord if thou be a fierce God that lovest to feed on flesh and bloud here are five slaves eate them and we will bring thee more if thou be a gentlie milde God heere is incense and feathers but if thou be a man take these birdes and fruites that heere we present and offer vnto thee The thirtieth Chapter Of the Caniballes AT what time King Pirrhus came into Italie after he had survaide the marshalling of the Armie which the Romanes sent against him I wâ—â— not said he what barbarous men these are for so were the Graecians wont to call all strange nations but the disposition of this Armie which I see is nothing barbarous So said the Graecians of that which Flaminius sent into their countrie And Phillip viewing from a Tower the order and distribution of the Romane campe in his kingdome vnder Publius Sulpitius Galba Loe how a man ought to take heede lest he over-weeningly follow vulgar opinions which should be measured by the rule of reason and not by the common report I have had long time dwelling with me a man who for the space of ten or twelve yeeres had dwelt in that other world which in our age was lately discovered in those parts where Villegaignon first landed and surnamed Antartike France This discoverie of so infinite and vaste a countrie seemeth woorthy great consideration I wot not whether I can warrant my selfe that some other be not discovered heereafter sithence so many worthie men and better learned then we are have so many ages beene deceived in this I feare me our eies be greater then our bellies and that we have more curiositie then capacitie We embrace all but we fasten nothing but winde Plate maketh Solon to report that he had learn't of the Priests of the citie of Says in Aegypt that whilom and before the generall Deluge there was a great Iland called Atlantis situated at the mouth of the straite of Gibraltar which contained more firme land then Affrike and Asia together And that the Kings of that countrie who did not onely possesse that Iland but had so farre entred into the maine land that of the bredth of Affrike they held as farre as Aegypt and of Europes length as farre as Tusâ—ame and that they vndertooke to invade Asia and to subdue all the nations that compasse the Mediterranean Sea to the gulfe of Mare-Maggiore and to that end they traversed all Spaine France and Italie so farre as Greece where the Athenians made head against them but that a while after both the Athenians themselves and that great Iland were swallowed vp by the Deluge It is very likely this extreame ruine of waters wrought strange alterations in the habitations of the earth as some hold that the Sea hath divided Sicilie from Italie Haecloca vi quondam vasta convulsa ruina Dissiluisse ferunt cùm protinus vtr aque tellus Vna foret Men say sometimes this land by that forsaken And that by this were split and ruine-shaken Whereas till then both lands as one were taken Cypres from Soria the Iland of Negroponte from the maine land of Beâ—tia and in other places joyned landes that were sundred by the Sea filling with mudde and sand the chanels betweene them sterilisque diu palus apt áqueremis Viâ—inas vrbes alit grave sentit aratrum The fenne long barren to be row'd in now Both feedes the neighbour townes and feeles the plow But there is no great apparance the said Iland should be the new world we have lately discovered for it well-nigh touched Spaine and it were an incredible effect of inundation to have remooved the same more then twelve hundred leagues as we see it is Besides our moderne Navigations have now almost discovered that it is not an Iland but rather firme land and a continent with the East Indias on one side and the countries lying vnder the two Poles on the other from which if it be divided it is with so narrow a straite and intervalle that it no way deserveth to be named an Iland For it seemeth there are certaine motions in these vast bodies some naturall and other some febricitant as well as in ours When I consider the impression my river of Dordoigne worketh in my time toward the right shoare of her discent and how much it hath gained in twentie yeares and how many foundations of divers houses it hath overwhelmed and violently carried away I confesse it to be an extraordinarie agitation for should it alwaies keepe one course or had it euer kept the same the figure of the world had ere this beene overthrowne But they are subject to changes and alterations Sometimes they overflow and spread themselves on one side sometimes on another and other times they containe themselves in their naturall beds or chanels I speak not of sudden â—â—undations whereof we now treat the causes In Modoc alongst the Sea-coast my brother the Lord of Arsacke may see a towne of his buried vnder the sands which the Sea casteth vp before it The toppes of
lesson no more is the surcharge and relishing which we adde vnto our letcherous appetites neque illa Magno prognatum deposcit consule cunnum These strange lustfull longings which the ignorance of good and a false opinion have possest vs with are in number so infinite that in a maner they expell all those which are naturall even as if there were so many strangers in a City that should either banisn and expel all the naturall inhabitants thereof or vtterly suppresse their ancient power and authority and absolutely vsurping the same take possession of it Brute beasts are much more regulate then we and with more moderation containe themselves within the compasse which nature hath prescribed them yet not so exactly but that they have some coherency with our riotous licenciousnesse And even as there have beene found certaine furious longings and vnnaturall desires which have provoked men vnto the love of beastes so have diverse times some of them beene drawne to love vs and are possessed with monstrous affections from one kind to another witnesse the Elephant that in the love of an hearb-wife in the city of Alexandria was corivall with Aristophanes the Grammarian who in all offices pertayning to an earnest woer and passionate suter yeelded nothing vnto him For walking thorow the Fruite-market he would here and there snatch vp some with his truncke and carry them vnto hir as neere as might be he would never loose the sight of hir and now and then over hir band put his truncke into hir bosome and feele hir breasts They also report of a Dragon that was exceedingly in love with a yong maiden and of a Goose in the City of Asope which dearely loved a yong childe also of a Ramme that belonged to the Musitian Glausia Doe we not daily see Munkies ragingly in love with women and furiously to pursue them And certaine other beastes given to love the males of their owne sex Oppianus and others report some examples to shew the reverence and manifest the awe some beasts in their marriages beare vnto their kindred but experience makes vs often see the contrary nec habetur turpe iuvencae Ferre patrem tergo fit equo sua filia coniux Quà sque creavit init pecudes caper ipsaque cuius Semine concepta est ex illo concipit ales To beare hir Sire the Heifer shameth not The Horse takes his owne Fillies maiden-head The Goate gets them with yong whom he begot Birds breed by them by whom themselves were bred Touching a subtil pranke and witty tricke is there any so famous as that of Thales the Philosophers Mule which laden with salt passing through a River chanced to stumble so that the sacks she carried were all wet and perceiving the salt because the water had melted it to grow lighter ceased not assoone as she came neere any water together with hir loade to plunge hirselfe therein vntill hir master being aware of hir craft commanded hir to be laden with wooll which being wet became heavier the Mule finding hirselfe deceived vsed hir former policy no more There are many of them that lively represent the visage of our avarice who with a greedy kinde of desire endevour to surprise whatsoever comes within their reach and though they reape no commodity nor have any vse of it to hide the same very curiously As for husbandry they exceede vs not only in fore-sight to spare and gather together for times to come but have also many parts of the skill belonging there vnto As the Ants when they perceive their corne to grow mustie and graine to be sowre for feare it should rot and putrifie spread the same abroad before their neastes that so it may aire and drie But the caution they vse in gnawing and prevention they imploy in paring their graines of wheate is beyond all imagination of mans wit Because wheat doth not alwaies keepe drie nor wholesome but moisten melt and dissolve into a kinde of whey namely when it beginneth to bud fearing it should turne to seede and loose the nature of a store-house for their sustenance they part and gnawe-off the end whereat it wonts to bud As for warre which is the greatest and most glorious of all humane actions I would faine know if we will vse it for an argument of some prerogative or otherwise for a testimonie of our imbecilitie and imperfection as in truth the science wee vse to defeate and kill one another to spoile and vtterly to overthrow our owne kinde it seemeth it hath not much to make it selfe to be wished-for in beastes that have it not quando leoni Fortioreripuit vitam leo quo nemore vnquam Expiravit aper maioris dentibus apri When hath a greater Lion damnifide A lions life in what wood ever di'de A bore by tusks and gore Of any greater bore Yet are not they altogether exempted from it witnesse the furious encounters of Bees and the hostile enterprises of the Princes and Leaders of the two contrary Armies saepe duobus Regibus incessit magno discordia motu Continuoque animos vulgi trepidantia bello Corda licet longè praesciscere Oft-times twixt two no great Kings great dissention With much adoe doth set them at contention The vulgare mindes strait may you see from farre And hearts that tremble at the thought of warre I nevr marke this divine description but mee thinkes I reade humane foolishnesse and wordly vanitie painted in it For these motions of warre which out of their horror and astonishent breed this tempest of cries and clang of sounds in vs Fulgur vbi ad caelumse tollit totaque circum Aere renidescit tellus subterque virum vi Excitur pedibus sonitus clamoreque montes Icti reiectant voces ad sider a mundi Where lightning raiseth it selfe to the skies The earth shines round with armour soundes doe rise By mens force vnder feere wounded with noyse The hilles to heav'n reverberate their voyce This horror-causing aray of so many thousands of armed men so great furie earnest fervor and vndaunted courage it would make one laugh to see by how many vaine occasions it is raised and set on fire and by what light meanes it is againe suppressed and extinct Paridis propter narratur amorem Graeâ—ta Barbariediro collisa duello For Paris lustfull love as Stories tell All Greece to direfull warre with Asia fell The hatred of one man a spight a pleasure a familiar suspect or a jealousie causes which ought not to moove two scolding fish-wives to scratch one another is the soule and motive of all this hurly-burly Shall we beleeve them that are the principall authors and causes therof Let vs but hearken vnto the greatest and most victitorious Emperour and the mightiest that ever was how pleasantly he laughs and wittily he plaies at so many battells and bloody fights hazarded both by sea and land at the blood and lives of five hundred thousand soules which followed his fortune and
represent an into lerable passion misero quod omnes Eripit sensus mihi Nam simulte Lesbia aspexi nihil est super mî Quod loquar amens Lingua sed torpet tenuis sub artâ—s Flamma dimanaâ— soâ—â—â—u suopte Tinniunt aures gemina teguntur Lumina â—octe miserably from me This bereaves all sense for I can no sooner Eie thee my sweet heart but I wot not one word to speake amazed Tongue-tide as in trance while a sprightly thin flame Flowes in all my ioynts with a selfe-resounding Both my eares tingle with a night redoubled Both mine eies are veild Nor is it in the liveliest and most ardent heat of the fit that wee are able to display our plaints and perswasions the soule being then aggravated with heavie thoughts and the body suppressed and languishing for love And thence is sometimes engendered that casuall faintnes which so vnseasonably surpriseth passionate Lovers and that chilnesse which by the power of an extreame heate doth seize on them in the verie midst of their joy and enjoying All passions that may be tasted and digested are but meane and slight Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent Light cares can freely speake Great cares heart rather breake The surprize of an vnexpected pleasure astonieth vs alike Vt me conspexit venientem Troia circùm Arma amens vidit magnis exterrita monstris Diriguit visu in medio calor ossa reliquit Labitur longo vix tandem tempore fatur When she beheld me come and round about Sensel esse saw Troian armes she stood afraid Stone-still at so strange sights life heat flew out She faints at last with long pause thus she said Besides the Romane Ladie that died for joy to see her sonne returne alive from the battell of Cannae Sophocles and Dionysius the Tyrant who deceased through over-gladnes and Talua who died in Corsica reading the newes of the honours the Roman Senate had conferred vpon him It is reported that in our age Pope Leo the tenth having received advertisement of the taking of the Citie of Millane which he had so exceedingly desired entred into such excesse of joy that he fell into an ague whereof he shortly died And for a more authenticall testimonie of humane imbecillitie it is noted by our Ancients that Diodorus the Logician beeing surprized with an extreame passion or apprehension of shame fell downe starke dead because neither in his Schoole nor in publique he had been able to resolve an argument propounded vnto him I am little subject to these violent passions I have naturally a hard apprehension which by discourse I daily harden more and more The third Chapter Our affections are transported beyond our selves THose which still accuse men for ever gaping after future things and go about to teach vs to take hold of present fortunes and settle our selves vpon them as having no hold of that which is to come yea much lesse than we have of that which is already past touch and are ever harping vpon the commonest humane error if they dare call that an error to which Nature hir selfe for the service of the continuation of hir worke doth addresse vs imprinting as it doth many others this false imagination in vs as more jealous of our actions than of our knowledge We are never in our selves but beyond Feare desire and hope draw vs ever towards that which is to come and remove our sense and consideration from that which is to amuse vs on that which shall be yea when we shall be no more Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius A minde in suspense what is to come is in a pittifull case This notable precept is often all eaged in Plato Follow thy businesse and know thy selfe Each of these two members doth generally imply all our duty and likewise enfolds his companion He that should do his businesse might perceive that his first lesson is to know what he is and what is convenient for him And he that knoweth himselfe takes no more anothers matters for his owne but above all other things loveth and correcteth himselfe rejecteth superfluous occupations idle imaginations and vnprofitable propositions As if you grant follie what it desireth it will no-whit be satisfied so is wisedome content with that which is present and never displeased with it selfe Epicurus doth dispense with his age touching the foresight and care of what shall insue Amongst the lawes that regard the deceased that which ties the actions of Princes to be examined when they are dead seemes to me verie solide They are companions if not masters of the lawes That which justice could not work on their heads it is reason it effect vpon their reputation and goods of their successors things wee many times preferre before our lives It is a custome brings many singular commodities vnto nations that observe it and to be desired of all good Princes who have cause to complaine that the memorie of the wicked is vsed as theirs Wee owe a like obedience and subjection to all Kings for it respects their office but estimation and affection wee owe it only to their vertue If they be unworthie wee are to endure them patiently to conceale their vices and to aid their indifferent actions with our commendations as long as their authoritie hath need of our assistance and that ought to be ascribed unto politike order But our commerce with them being ended there is no reason we should refuse the unfolding of our felt wrongs vnto justice and our libertie And specially to refuse good subjects the glory to have reverently and faithfully served a master whose imperfections were so well knowne unto them exempting posteritie from so profitable an example And such as for the respect of some private benefite or interest do wickedly imbrace the memorie of an vnwoorthie Prince doe particular justice at the charge of publike justice Titus Liuius speaketh truely where he saith that the speech of men brought up under a royaltie is ever full of vaine ostentations and false witnesses every man indifferently extolling the king to the furthest straine of valour and Soveraigne greatnesse The magnanimitie of those two Souldiers may bee reproved one of which being demaunded of Nero why he hated him answered him to his teeth I loved thee whilest thou wast worthie of love but since thou becamest a parricide a fir-brand a juglar a player and a Coach-man I hate thee as thou deservest The other being asked wherefore he sought to kill him answered Because I find no other course to hinder thy uncessant outrages and impious deedes But can any man that hath his senses about him justly reproove the publike and generall testimonies that since his death have bin given and so snall be for ever both against him and all such like reprobates of his tyrannicall and wicked demeanors I am sorie that in so sacred a pollicie as the Lacedemonian was so fained and fond a ceremonie at the death of their kings was ever devised and brought
bastard and vulgar sort are vnworthy of Philosophie When we see a man ill shod if he chaunce to be a Shoomaker wee say it is no wonder for commonly none goes worse shod then they Even so it seemes that experience doth often shew vs a Phisitian lesse healthy a Divine lesse reformed and most commonly a Wiseman lesse sufficient then an other Aristo Chius had heeretofore reason to say that Philosophers did much hurt to their auditors forasmuch as the greatest number of minds are not apt to profit by such instructions which if they take not a good they will follow a bad course 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristippi acerbos ex Zenonis schola exire They proceed licentious out of the Schoole of Aristippus but bitter out of the Schoole of Zeno. In that excellent institution which Zenophon giveth the Persians wee find that as other Nations teach their children Letters so they taught theirs vertue Plato said the eldest borne sonne in their royall succession was thus taught As soone as he was borne he was delivered not to women but to such Eunuches as by reason of their vertue were in chiefest authoritie about the King Their speciall charge was first to shapen his limmes and bodie goodly and healthy and at seaven yeares of age they instructed and inured him to sit on horsebacke and to ride a hunting when he came to the age of fourteene they delivered him into the hands of foure men that is to say the wisest the justest the most temperate and the most valiant of all the nation The first taught him religion the second to be ever vpright and true the third to become Master of his owne desires and the fourth to feare nothing It is a thing worthy great consideration that in that excellent and as I may terme it matchlesse pollicie of Lycurgus and in truth by reason of her perfection monstrous yet notwithstanding so carefull for the education of children as of her principall charge and even in the Muses bosome and resting-place there is so little mention made of learning as if that generous youth disdaining all other yokes but of vertue ought onely be furnished in liew of tutors of learning with masters of volour of justice of wisedome and of temperance An example which Plato hath imitated in his Lawes The manner of their discipline was to propound questions vnto them teaching the judgement of men and of their actions and if by way of reason or discourse they condemned or praised either this man or that deede they must be told the trueth and best by which meanes at once they sharpned their wits and learned the right Afâ—â—ages in Zenophon calleth Cyrus to an accompt of his last lesson It is saith he that a great lad in our Schoole having a little coate gave it to one of his fellowes that was of lesser stature than himselfe and tooke his coate from him which was too big for him our Master having made me judge of that difference I judged that things must be left in the state they were in and that both seemed to be better fitted as they were whereupon he shewed me I had done ill because I had not onely considered the comelinesse where I should chiefly have respected justice which required that none should be forced in any thing which properly belonged to him and said he was whiâ—t for it as we are in our countrie-townes when we have forgotten the first preterperfect tense or Aâ—ristâ—e of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Regent might long enough make me a prolixe and cunning Oration in genere demonstrativo in the oratorie kind of praise or dispraise before ever hee should perswade me his Schoole is worth that They have gone about to make the way shorter and since Sciences even when they are right taken can teach vs nothing but wisedome honestie integritie and resolution they have at first sight attempted to put their children to the proper of effects and instruct them not by heare-say but by assay of action lively modelling and framing them not onely by precepts and wordes but principally by examples and works that it might not be a Science in their mind but rather his complexion and habitude not a purchase but a naturall inheritance To this purpose when Agesilaus was demaunded what his opinion was children should learne answered What they should doe being men It is no marvell if such an institution have produced so admirable effects Some say that in other Cities of Greece they went to seeke for Rhetoricians for Painters and for Musicians whereas in Lâ—â—â—dâ—mâ—â— they fought for Law-givers for Magistrates and Generals of a 〈…〉 s In A44Spanâ—â—s men learn'd to say well but heere to doe well there to resolve a sophisticall argument and to confound the imposture and amphibologie of words captiously enterlaced together heere to shake off the allurements of voluptuousnesse and with an vndanted courage to contemne the threats of fortune and reject the menaces of death those busied and laboured themselves about idle wordes these after martiall things there the tongue was ever in continuall exercise of speaking heere the minde in an vncessant practise of well-doing And therefore was it not strange if Antipater requiring fiftie of their children for hostages they answered cleane contrarie to that we would doe that they would rather deliver him twice so many men so much did they value and esteeme the losse of their countries education When Agesilauâ— invâ—tâ—â—h Xenophon to send his children to Sparta there to be brought vp it is not because they should learne Rhetorike or Logike but as himselfe saith to the end they may learne the worthiest and best science that may bee â—â—o wit the knowledge how to obey and the skill how to commaund It is a sport to see Socrates after his blunt manner to mocke Hippias who reporteth vnto him what great summes of money he had gained especially in certaine little Cities and small townes of Sicily by keeping schoole and teaching letters and that at Sparta he could not get a shilling That they were but Idiots and foolish people who can neither measure nor esteeme nor make no accompt of Grammer or of Rythmes and who onely ammuse themselves to know the succession of Kings the establishing and declination of estates and such like trash of flim-flam tales Which done Socrates forcing him particularly to allow the excellencie of their forme of publike government the happinesse and vertue of their private life remits vnto him to guesse the conclusion of the vnprofitablenesse of his artes Examples teach vs both in this martiall policie and in all such like that the studie of sciences doth more weaken and esteminate mens minds then corroborate and adapt them to warre The mightiest yea the best setled estate that is now in the world is that of the Turkes a nation equally instructed to the esteeme of armes and disesteeme of letters I find Rome to have beene most valiant when it was least learned The most warlike nations
then take my rest and live contented at mine ease Now for Gods sake Sir replied Cynoas Tell me what hinders you that you be not now if so you please in that estate Wherefore doe you not now place your selfe where you meane to aspire and save so much danger so many hazards and so great troubles as you enterpose betweene both Nimirum quia non bene norat quae esset habendi Finis omnino quoad crescat vera voluptas The cause forsooth he knew not what should be the end Of having nor how far true pleasure should extend I will conclude and shut vp this treatise with an ancient verse which I singularly applaud and deeme fit to this purpose Mores cuique sui fingunt fortunam Ev'ry mans maners and his mind His fortune to him frame and find The three and fortieth Chapter Of sumptuarie Lawes or Lawes for moderating of expences THE maner wherewith our Lawes assay to moderate the foolish and vaine expences of table-cheare and apparell seemeth contrarie to it's end The best course were to beget in men a contempt of gold and silk-wearing as of vaine and vnprofitable things whereas we encrease their credite and price A most indirect course to withdraw men from them As for example to let none but Princes eate dainties or weare velvets and clothes of Tissew and interdict the people to do-it what is-it but to give reputation vnto those things and to encrease their longing to vse them Let Kings boldly quit those badges of honour They have many other besides Such excesse is more excusable in other men then in Princes We may by the examples of divers Nations learne sundry better fashions to distinguish our selves and our degrees which truely I esteeme requisite in an estate without nourishing to that purpose this so manifest corruption and apparant inconvenience It is strange how custome in these indifferent things doth easilie encroch and sodainly establish the footing of hir authoritie We had scarce worne cloth one whole yeare at the Court what time we mourned for our King Henry the second but certainly in every mans opinion all maner of silkes were alreadie become so vile and abject that was any man seene to weare them he was presently judged to be some countrie fellow or mechanicall man They were left only for Chyrurgians and Physitians And albeit most men were apparreled a-like yet were there other sufficient apparant distinctions of mens qualities How soone doe plaine chamoy-jerkins and greasie canvase doublets creepe into fashion and credite amongst our souldiers if they lie in the field And the garishnesse neatnesse and riches of silken garments grow in contempt and scorne Let Kings first begin to leave these superfluous expences we shall all follow and within a moneth without edicts ordinances proclamations and acts of Parliament it will be observed as a law The statutes should speake contrarie as thus That no man or woman of what qualitie soever shall vpon paine of great forfeitures weare any maner of silke of skarlet or any gold-smiths worke except only Enterlude-players Harlots and Curtizans With such an invention did Zaleucus whilome correct the corrupted maners of the Locrines His ordinances were such Be it enacted that â—o woman of free condition shall have any more then one maid-servant to follow her when she goeth abroad except when she shall be drunken And further that she may not goe out of the Citie by night nor weare any jewels of gold or precious stones about hir nor any gowne beset with gold-smiths work or imbroiderie except she be a publike-professed whore and moreover that except panders and bawdes it shall not be lawfull for any man to weare any gold-rings on his fingers nor any rich garments as are such of cloth made in the Citie of Miletum So did he by these reprochfull exceptions ingeniously drive his Citizens from vaine superfluities and pernicious dainties It was a most profitable course by honor and ambition to allure men vnto their dutie and obedience Our Kings have the power to addresse all these externall reformations Their inclination serveth them as a law Quicquid Principes faciunt praecipere videntur Whatsoever Princes doe that they seeme to commaund The rest of France takes the modell of the court as a rule vnto it selfe to follow Let Courtiers first begin to leave-off and loath these filthy and apish breeches that so openly shew our secret parts the bumbasting of long pease-cod-bellied doublets which makes vs seeme so far from what we are and which are so combersome to arme These long effeminate and daugling locks That fond custome to kisse what we present to others and Besolas manos in saluting of our friends a ceremonie heretofore onely due vnto Princes And for a gentleman to come to any place of respect without his rapier by his side all vnbraced all vntrust as if he came from his close-stoole And that against our forefathers maner and the particular libertie of our French nobilitie we should stand bare-headed aloofe-off from them wheresoever they be and as about them about many others So many petty-kings and petty-petty-kinglets have we now adayes And so of others like new-fangled and vicious introductions They shall soone be seene to vanish and be left Although but superficiall faults yet are they of evill presages And we are warned that the foundation or maine summers of our houses faile and shrinke when we see the quarters bend or wals to breake Plato in his Lawes thinkes there is no worse plague or more pernicious in his Citie then to suffer youth to have the reines of libertie in her owne hand to change in their attires in their gestures dances exercises and songs from one forme to an other And to remove their judgement now to this now to that place following new-fangled devises and regarding their inventors By which old customes are corrupted and ancient institutions despised In all things except the wicked mutation is to be feared yea even the alteration of seasons of winds of livings and of humours And no lawes are in perfect credite but those to which God hath given some ancient continuance So that no man know their of-spring nor that ever they were other then they are The foure and fortieth Chapter Of Sleeping REason doth appoint-vs ever to walke in one path but not alwaies to keep one place And that a wise-man should not permit humane passions to stray from the right carrier he may without prejudice vnto his dutie also leave-it vnto them either to hasten or to slow his pace and not place himselfe as an immoveable and impassible Colossus Were vertue herselfe corporeall and incarnate I think her pulse would beat and worke stronger marching to an assault then going to dinner For it is necessarie that she heat and move herselfe I have therefore mark't-it as a rare thing to see great personages sometimes even in their weightiest enterprises and most important affaires hold themselves so resolutelyassured in their state
without any teaching to be vnderstoode nay which is more it is a language common and publike to all whereby it followeth seeing the varietie and severall vse it hath from others that this must rather be deemed the proper and peculiar speech of humane nature I omit that which necessitie in time of neede doth particularly instruct and sodainely teach such as neede it and the alphabets vpon fingers and grammars by jestures and the sciences which are onely exercised and expressed by them and the nations Plinie reporteth to have no other speech An Ambassador of the Citie of Abdera after he had talked a long time vnto Agis King of Sparta said thus vnto him O King what answere wilt thou that I beare backe vnto our citizens Thus answered he that I have suffered thee to speake all thou wouldest and as long as thou pleasedst without ever speaking one word Is not this a kinde of speaking silence and easie to be vnderstoode And as for other matters what sufficiencie is there in vs that we must not acknowledge from the industrie and labors of beasts Can there be a more formall and better ordred policie divided into so severall charges and offices more constantly entertained and better maintained then that of Bees Shall we imagine their so orderly disposing of their actions and mannaging of their vacations have so proporcioned and formall a conduct without discourse reason and forecast His quidam signis atque haec exempla sequuti Esse apibus partem divinae mentis haustus Aethereos dixere Some by these signes by these examples moved Said that in Bees there is and may be proved Some taste of heav'nly kinde Part of celestiall minde The Swallows which at the approch of spring-time we see to prie to search and ferret all the corners of our houses is it without judgement they seeke or without discretion they chuse from out a thousand places that which is fittest for them to build their nests and lodgeing And in that pretie-cunning contexture and admirable framing of their houses would birds rather fit themselves with a round then a square figure with an obtuse then a right angle except they knew both the commodities and effects of them Would they suppose you first take water and then clay vnlesse they guessed that the hardnes of the one is softned by the moistnes of the other Would they floore their palace with mosse or downe except they fore-saw that the tender parts of their yong-ons shall thereby lie more soft and easie Would they shroud and shelter themselves from stormie weather and builde their cabbins toward the East vnlesse they knew the different conditions of windes and considered that some are more healthfull and safe for them then some others Why doth the Spider spin hir artificiall webbe thicke in one place and thin in another And now vseth one and then another knot except she had an imaginarie kinde of deliberation fore-thought and conclusion We perceive by the greater part of their workes what excellencie beasts have over-vs and how weake our-arte and short our cunning-is if we goe about to imitate them We see notwithstanding even in our grosest workes what faculties we employ in them and how our minde employeth the vttermost of hir skill and forces in them why should we not thinke as much of them Wherefore doe we attribute the workes which excell what ever we can performe either by nature or by arte vnto a kinde of vnknowen naturall and servill inclination Wherein vnawars we give them a great advantage over-vs to inferre that nature led by a certaine loving kindnes leadeth and accompanieth them as it were by the hand vnto all the actions and commodities of their life and that she forsaketh and leaveth vs to the hazard of fortune And by arte to quest and finde-out those things that are behoâ—uefull and necessarie for our preservation and therewithall denieth vs the meanes to attaine by any institution and contention of spirit to the naturall sufficiencie of brute beasts So that their brutish stupiditie doth in all commodities exceede whatsoever our divine intelligence can effect Verely by this accoumpt we might have just cause and great reason to terme hir a most injust and partiall stepdame But there is no such thing our policy is not so deformed and disordered Nature hath generally imbraced all hir creatures And there is not any but she hath amply stored with all necessary meanes for the preservation of their being For the daily plaints which I often heare men make when the licence of their conceits doth somtimes raise them above the clouds and then head-long tumbling them downe even to the Antipodes exclayming that man is the onely forsaken and out cast creature naked on the bare earth fast bound and swathed having nothing to cover and arme himself withall but the spoile of others whereas Nature hath clad and mantled all other creatures some with shels some with huskes with â—â—ndes with haire with wooll with stings with bristles with hides with mosse with fethers with skales with fleâ—ces and with â—â—ke according as their quality might neede or their condition require And hath fenced and aâ—â—ed them with clawes with nailes with talents with hoofes with teeth with stings and with hornes both to assaile others and to defend themselves And hath more-over instructed them in every thing fit and requisit for them as to swim to runne to creepe to flie to roare to bellow and to sing where as man onely Oh silly-wretched man can neither goe nor speake nor shift nor feed himselefe vnlesse it be to whine and weepe onely except he be taught Tum porro puer vt saevis proiectus ab vndis Navita nudus humi iacet infans indigus omni Vitali auxilio cùm primùm in luminis oras Nexibus ex alvo matris natura profudit Vagitúque locum lugubri complet vt aequum est Cui tantùm in vita restet transire malorum At variae crescunt pecudes armenta feraeque Nec crepitacula eis opus est nec cuiquam adhibenda est Alma nutricis blanda atque infracta loquela Nec varias quaerunt vestes pro tempore caeli Denique non armis opus est non moenibus altis Queis sua tutentur quando omnibus omnia large Tellus ipsaparit natur à que daedalarerum An infant like a shipwracke ship-boy cast from seas Lies naked on the ground and speechlesse wanting all The helpes of vitall spirit when nature with small ease Of throw's to see first light from hir wombe lets him fall Then as is meete with morn'full cries he fils the place For whom so many ils remaine in his lives race But divers heards of tame and wilde beasts foreward spring Nor neede they rattles nor of Nurces cockring-kinde The flattering broken speech their lulluby neede sing Nor seeke they divers coates as divers seasons binde Lastly no armour neede they nor high-reared wall Whereby to guard their owne since all things vnto all
fashion themselves vnto it as to an exercise of honour for dissimulation is one of the not ablest qualities of this age Thus have I often considred whence this custome might arise which wee observe so religiously that we are more sharpely offended with the reproach of this vice so ordinary in vs than with any other and that it is the extreamest injurie may be done vs in words to vpbraid and reproch vs with a lie Therein I finde that it is naturall for a man to defend himselfe most from such defects as we are most tainted with It seemeth that if we but shew a motion of revenge or are but moved at the accusation we in some sort discharge our selves of the blame or imputation if we have it in effect at least we condemne it in apparance May it not also be that this reproch seemes to enfold cowardise and faintnesse of hart Is there any more manifest than for a man to eate and deny his owne Worde What To deny his Word wittingly To lie is a horrible-filthy vice and which an ancient writer setteth forth very shamefully when he saith that whosoever lieth witnesseth that he coâ—â—mneth God and ther withal feareth men It is impossible more richly to represent the horrour the vilenesse and the disorder of it For What can be imagined so vile and base as to be a coward towards men and a boaster towards God Our intelligence being onely conducted by the way of the Word Who so falsifieth the same betraieth publike society It is the onely instrument by meanes whereof our wils and thoughts are communicated it is the interpretour of our soules If that faile vs we hold our selves no more we enter-know one another no longer If it deceive vs it breaketh all our commerce and dissolveth all bonds of our policy Certaine Nations of the new Indiaes whose names we neede not declare because they are no more for the desolation of this conquest hath extended it selfe to the absolute abolishing of names and ancient knowledge of Places with a marvellous and never the like heard example offred humane bloud vnto their Gods but no other than that which was drawne from their tongues and eares for an expiation of the sinne of lying as well heard as pronounced That good-fellow-Graecian said children were dandled with toies but men with words Concerning the sundry fashions of our giving the lie and the lawes of our honour in that and the changes they have received I will refer to another time to speake what I thinke and know of it and if I can I will in the meane time learne at what time this custome tooke his beginning so exactly to weigh and precizely to measure words and tie our honour to them for it is easie to judge that it was not anciently amongst the Romans and Graecians And I have often thought it strange to see them wrong and give one another the lie and yet never enter into quarrell The lawes of their duty tooke some other course than ours Caesar is often called a thiefe and sometimes a drunkard to his face We see the liberty of their invectives which they write one against another I meane the greatest Chieftaines and Generals in war of one and other Nation where words are only retorted and revenged with words and never wrested to further consequence The nineteenth Chapter Of the liberty of Conscience IT is ordinarily seene how good intentions being managed without moderation thrust men into most vicious effects In this controversie by which France is at this instant molested with civill warres the best and safest side is no doubt that which maintaineth both the ancient religion and policy of the Country Neverthelesse amongst the honest men that follow it for my meaning is not to speake of those who vse them as a colour either to exercise their particular revenges or to supply their greedy avarice or to follow the favour of Princes But of such as doe it with a true zeale toward their Religion and an vnfained holy affection to maintaine the peace and vphold the state of their Country of those I say divers are seene whom passion thrusts out of the bounds of reason and often forceth them to take and follow vnjust violent and rash counsels Certaine it is that when first our religion beganne to gaine authoritie with the Lawes it 's zeale armed many against all sorts of Pagane bookes whereof the learned sort have a great losse My opinion is that this disorder hath done more hurt to learning than all the Barbarian flames Cornelius Tacitus is a sufficient testimonie of it for howbeit the Emperor Tacitus his kinsman had by expresse appointment stored all the libraries in the World with it notwithstanding one onely entire copy could not escape the curions search of those who sought to abolish it by reason of five or sixe vaine clauses contrary to our beleefe They have also had this easily to affoord false commendations to all the Emperours that made for vs and vniversally to condemne all the actions of those which were our adversaries as may plainly be seene in Iulian the Emperor surnamed the Apostata who in truth was a notable-rare-man as he whose mind was lively endowed with the discourses of Philosophie vnto which hee professed to conforme all his actions and truely there is no kind of vertue wherof he hath not left most notable examples In chastity whereof the whole course of his life giveth apparant testimony a like example vnto that of Alexander and Sâ—â—oio is read of him which is that of many wonderfull faire captive Ladies brought before him being even in the very prime of his age for he was slaine by the Parthians about the age of one and thirty yeares he would not see one of them Touching justice himselfe would take the paines to heare all parties And although for curiosity sake he would enquire of such as came before him what religion they were of neverthelesse the enmitie he bare to ours did no whit weigh downe the ballance Himselfe made sundrie good Lawes and revoked diverse subsidies and impositions his Predecessours before him had receaved We have two good Historians as eye-witnesses of his actions One of which who is Marcellinus in sundry places of his Historie bitterly reprooveth this ordinance of his by which he forbade schooles and interdicted all Christian Rhethoricians and Gramarians to teach Saying he wished this his action might be buried vnder silence It is very likely if he had done any thing else more sharpe or severe against vs he would not have forgot it as he that was well affected to our side Hee was indeede very severe against vs yet not a cruell enemie For our people themselves report this Historie of him that walking one day about the Citty of Calcedon Maris Bishop thereof durst call him wicked and traitor to Christ to whom he did no other thing but answered thus Goe wretched man weepe and deplore the losse of thine eyes to whom the Bishop
that ever was troubled with the gowt But let vs somewhat amplifie this chapter and patch it vp with another piece concerning blindnes Plinie reports of one who dreaming in his sleepe that he was blinde awaking the next morning was found to be starke blinde having never had any precedent sickenes The power of imagination may very well further such things as elsewhere I have shewed And Plinie seemeth to be of this opinion but it is more likely that the motions which the body selt inwardly whereof Phisitions may if they please finde out the cause and which tooke away his sight and were the occasion of his dreame Let vs also adde another storie concerning this purpose which Seneca reporteth in his Epistles thou knowest saith he writing vnto Lucilius that Harpaste my wiues foole is left vpon me as an hereditarie charge for by mine owne nature I am an enemie vnto such monsters and if I have a desire to laugh at a foole I neede not seeke one farre I laugh at my selfe This foolish woman hath sodainly lost hir sight I report a sirange thing but yet very true She will not beleeve she is blind and vrgeth hir keeper vncessantly to lead hir saying still my house is very darke What we laugh at in hir I entreat thee to belieeve that the same hâ—pneth to each for vs. No man knoweth himselfe to be covetous or niggardly Even the blind require a guide but wee stray from our selves I am not ambuiâ—us say we but no man can live otherwise at Rome I am not sumptuous but the Cittie requireth great charges It is not my fault if I be collerike If I have not yet set downe a sure course of my life the fault is in youth Let vs not seeke our evill out of vs it is within vs it is rooted in our entrailes And only because we perceive not that we are sick makes our recoverie to proue more difficult If we beginne not betimes to cure our selves when shall we provide for so many sores for so many evils Yet have we a most-sweete and gentle medicine of Philosophie for of others no man feeles the pleasure of them but after his recoverie where as she pleaseth easeth and cureth all at once Lo here what Seneca saith who hath somewhat diverted me from my purpose But there is profit in the exchange The sixe and twentieth Chapter Of Thumbs TAcitus reporteth that amongst certaine barbarous Kings for the confermation of an inviolable bonde or covenant their manner was to joyne their right hands close and hard together with enterlacing their thumbs And when by hard wringing them the blood appeared at their ends they pricked them with some sharpe point and then mutually entersuck't each one the others Phisicions say thumbs are the master-fingers of the hand and that their Latin eEtymologie is derived of Pollere The Graecians cal it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a man would say another hand And it seemeth the Latins likewise take them sometimes in this sense id est for a whole hand Sed nec vocibus excitata blandis Molli pollice nec rogata surgit It will not rise though with sweete words excited Nor with the touch of softest thumb invited In Rome it was heeretofore a signe of favor to wring and kisse the thumbs Fautor vtroque tuum laudabit pollice ludum He that applaudes will praise With both his thumbs thy plaies and of disfavour or disgrace to lift them vp and turne them outward converso pollice vulgi Quemlibet occidunt populariter When people turne their thumbs away The popularly any slay Such as were hurt or maymed in their thumbs were by the Romanes dispensed from going to warre as they who had lost their weapons hold-fast Augustus did confiscate all the goods of a Romane Knight who through malice had cut off the thumbes of two yong children of his thereby to excuse them from going to warre And before him the Senate in the time of the Italian warres had condemned Caius Vatienus to perpetuall prison and confiscated all his goods forsomuch as he had willingly cut off the thumb of his left hand so to exempt himselfe from that voyage Some one whose name I remember not having gained a great victorie by Sea caused all the enemies whom he had vanquished and taken prisoners to have their thumbes cut off thinking thereby to deprive them of all meanes of fighting of rowing or handling their oares The Athenians likewise caused them to be cut off from them of Aegina to take from them the preheminence in the arte of navigation In Lacedaemon masters punished their Schollers by byting their thumbs The seaven and twentieth Chapter Cowardize the Mother of Crueltie I Have often heard it reported that Cowardize is the Mother of Crueltie And have perceived by experience that this malicious sharpnes and inhumane severitie of corage is commonly accompanied with feminine remissenesse I have seene some of the cruelest subject to weep easily and for frivolous causes Alexander the tyrant of Pheres could not endure to see tragedies acted in the Theaters for feare his subjects should see him sob and weepe at the misfortunes of Hecuba and Andromaca he who without remorce or pittie caused daily so many poore people to be most cruelly massacred and barbarously murthered May it be weaknesse of spirit makes them so pliable to all extremities valor whose effect is onely to exercise it selfe against resistance Nec nisi bellantis gaudet cervice iuvenci Nor takes he joy to domineere But on the necke of sturdie steere refraines it selfe in seeing her enemie prostrate to her mercie But pusillanimitie to say that she also is of the feaste since it cannot bee joyned to the first part takes for her share the second which is massacre and blood Murthers after victories are commonly effected by the baser kinde of people and officers that waite vpon the baggage and cariage And the reason we see so many vnheard-of cruelties in popular warres is that this vulgar rascalitie doth martially flesh and enure it selfe to dive in blood vp to the elbowes and mangle a bodie or hacke a carcase lying and groveling at their feete having no manner of feeling of other valor Et Lupus turpes instant morientibus Vrsi Et quaecumque minor nobilitate fera est A Wolfe or filthie Beare the dying man oppresse Or some such beast as in nobilitie is lesse As the Craven Curres which at home or in their Kennels will tugge and bite the skinnes of those wilde beastes which in the fields they durst not so much as barke-at What is it that now adaies makes all our qaurrels mortall And whereas our forefathers had some degree of reuenge we now beginne by the last and at first brunt nothing is spoken of but killing What is it if it be not Cowardise Euery man seeth it is more bravery and disdaine for one to beare his enemie than make an end of him and to keepe him at a bay