in one word that even the gods themselves doe shew by deeds and effects without voice or speech unto wise men what their will and pleasure is Then Lucius mildely and simply answered That the true cause indeed might peradventure lie hidden still and not be divulged howbeit there is nothing to hinder or let us but that we may render one reason or other which carieth with it some likelihood probability so Theon the grammarian began first to discourse upō that point saying it was very difficult to shew prove that Pythagoras was a Tuskan born but for certeine knowen it was that he had made his abode a long time in Aegypt conversed with the sages of that countrey where he approoved embraced and highly extolled manie of their religious ceremonies and namely that as touching beanes for Herodotus writeth that the Aegyptians neither sowe nor eat beanes no nor can abide so much as to looke upon them and as for fishes we are assured that their priests even at this day absteine from them and living as they doe chaste and unmaried they refuse salt likewise neither will they endure to eat it as a meat by it selfe nor any other viands wherein any sea salt commeth whereof divers men alledge divers sundry reasons but there is one true cause indeed that is the enmitie which they beare unto the sea as being a savage element a meere alien estranged frō us or to speak more truely a mortall enimie to mans nature for the gods are not nourished therewith as the Stoicks were of opinion that the staries were fed from thence but contrariwise that in it was lost the father and saviour of that countrey of Aegypt which they call the deflux or running out of Osiris and in lamenting his generation on the right hand and corruption on the left covertly they give us to understand the end and perdition of Nilus in the sea In which consideration they are of opinion that lawfull it is not once to drinke of the water as being not potable neither doe they thinke that any thing which it breedeth bringeth foorth or nourisheth is cleane and meet for man considering that the same hath not breath and respiration common with us nor food and pasture agreeable unto ours for that the very aire which nourisheth and mainteineth all other living creatures is pernicious and deadly unto them as if they were engendred first and lived afterward in this world against the course of nature and for no use at all and marvell we must not if for the hatred they beare unto the sea they hold the creatures therein as strangers and neither meet nor worthy to be intermingled with their bloud or vitall spirits seeing they will not deigne so much as to salute any pilots or mariners whensoever they meet with them because they get their living upon the sea Sylla commending this discourse added moreover as touching the Pythagoreans that when they sacrificed unto the gods they wuld especially tast of the primices or parcels of flesh which they hadkilled but never was there any fish that they sacrificed or offred unto the gods Now when they had finished their speech I came in with mine opinion As for those Aegyptians quoth I many men there be as well learned as ignorant who contradict them plead in the behalfe and defence of the sea recounting the manifold commodities thereof whereby our life is more plentifull pleasant and happie as touching the surcease as it were of the Pythagoreans and their forbearing to lay hand upon fishes because they are such strangers unto us it is a very absurd and ridiculous device or to say more truely it is a cruell and inhumane part and savoring much of a barbarous Cyclops seeing that to other living creatures they render a reward and recompence for their kinred cousenage and acquaintance by killing eating and consuming them as they doe and verily reported it is of Pythagoras that upon a time hee bought of the fishers a draught of fish and when he had so done commaunded that they should be all let out of the net into the sea againe surely this was not the act of a man who either hated or despised fishes as his enemies or strangers considering that finding them prisoners as he did he paid for their raunsome and redeemed their liberty as if they had bene his kinsfolke good friends and therefore the humanitie equitie and mildnesse of these men induceth us to thinke and imagine cleane contrary that it was rather for some exercise of justice or to keepe themselves in ure and custome thereof that they spared and pardoned those sea-creatures for that al others give men cause in some sort to hurt them whereas poore fishes offend us in no maner and say their nature and will were so disposed yet cannot they execute the same moreover conjecture we may and collect by the reports records and sacrifices of our auncients that they thought it an horrible abominable thing not onely to eat but also to kill any beast that doth no hurt or damage unto us but seeng in processe of time how much pestered they were with a number of beasts that grew upon them and overspred the face of the earth and withall being as it is said commaunded by the oracle of Apollo at Delphos to succour the fruits of the earth which were ready to perish they began then to kill them for sacrifice unto the gods yet in so doing they seemed to tremble and feare as troubled in minde calling this their action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to doe or perpetrate as if they did and committed some great deed in killing a creature having life and even still at this day they observe a ceremony with all religious precisenesse not to massacre any beast before it hath given a nod with the head after the libations and effusions of wine upon it in signe and token of consent so strict they were and wary to commit no unjust act Certes to say nothing of other beasts if all men had forborne to kill and eat no more but pullen and conies within short time they should not have beene able to have dwelt within their townes or cities nor enjoied any fruits of the earth therefore although necessitie at the first had brought in the use of eating flesh a very hard matter it were now in regard of pleasure to put down abolish the same whereas the whole kind of sea-creatures using neither the same aire and water with us nor comming neere unto our fruits but being as a man would saie comprised within another world having distinct bounds and limits of their owne which they cannot passe but immediatly it costeth them their life for punishment of their trespasse giveth unto our belly none occasion or pretence at all more or lesse to runne upon them so that the whole hunting catching and running after fish is a 〈◊〉 worke of gourmandise
treatise as touching the amitie of brethren a gift common unto you both as those who are woorthie of the same for seeing that of your owne accord you practise that alreadie which it teacheth and exhorteth unto you shall be thought not so much to be admonished thereby as by your example to confirme and testifie the same which therein is delivered and the joy which you shall conceive to see that approoved and commended which your selves do shall give unto your judgement a farther assurance to continue therein as if your actions were allowed and praised by vertuous and honest beholders of the same Aristarchus verily the father of Theodectes scoffing at the great number of those Sophisters or counterfeit sages in his daies said That in old time hardly could be found seven wise men throughout the world but in our daies quoth he much adoo there is to finde so many fooles or ignorant persons But I may verie well and truely saie That I see in this age wherein we live the amitie of brethren to be as rare as their hatred was in times past The examples whereof being so few as they were among our auncients were thought by men in those daies living notable arguments to furnish Tragedies and Theaters with as matters verie strange and in a manner fabulous But contrariwise all they that live in this age if haply they meete with two brethren that be good and kind one to another woonder and marvell thereat as much as if they saw those Molionides of whom Homer speaketh whose bodies seemed to grow together in one and as incredible and miraculous doe they thinke it that brethren should use in common the patrimonie goods friends and slaves which their fathers left behind unto them as if one and the same soule alone ruled the feet hands and eies of two bodies And yet nature her selfe hath set downe a lively example of that mutuall behaviour and carriage that ought to bee among brethren and the same not farre off but even within our owne bodies wherein she hath framed and devised for the most part those members double and as a man would say brethren-like and twinnes which be necessarie to wit two hands two feet two eies two eares and two nose thrils shewing thereby that she hath thus distinguished them all not onely for their naturall health and safetie but also for a mutuall and reciprocall helpe and not for to quarrell and fight one with another As for the hands when she parted them into many fingers and those of unequallength and bignesse she hath made them of all other organicall parts the most proper artificious and workemanlike instruments insomuch as that ancient Philosopher Anaxagoras ascribed the verie cause of mans wisedome and understanding unto the hands Howbeit the contrarie unto this should seeme rather to be true for man was not the wisest of all other living creatures in regard of his hands but because by nature being eudued with reason given to be wittie and capable of arts and sciences he was likewise naturally furnished with such instruments as these Moreover this is well knowen unto everie man that nature hath formed of one and the same seed as of one principle of life two three and more brethren not to the end that they should be at debate and variance but that being apart and asunder they might the better and more commodiously helpe one another For those men with three bodies and a hundred armes apiece which the Poëts describe unto us if ever there were any such being joined and growen together in all their parts were not able to doe any thing at all when they were parted asunder or as it were without themselves which brethren can doe well enough namely dwell and keepe within house and go abroad together meddle in affaires of State exercise husbandrie and tillage one with another in case they preserve and keepe well that principle of amity and benevolence which nature hath given them For otherwise they should I suppose nothing differ from those feet which are readie to trip or supplant one another and cause them to catch a fall or they should resemble those hands and fingers which enfolded and claspe one another untowardly against the course of nature But rather according as in one and the same bodie the cold the hot the drie and the moist participating likewise in one and the same nature and nourishment if they doe accord and agree well together engender an excellent temperature and most pleasant harmonie to wit the health of the bodie without which neither all the wealth of the world as men say Nor power of roiall majestie Which equall is to deitie have any pleasure grace or profit but in case these principall elements of our life covet to have more than their just proportion and thereupon breake out into a kind of civill sedition seeking one to surcrease and over-grow another soone there ensueth a filthie corruption and confusion which overthroweth the state of the bodie and the creature it selfe semblably by the concord of brethren the whole race and house is in good case and flourisheth the friends and familiars belonging to them like a melodious quire of muscicians make a sweet consent and harmonie for neither they doe nor say not thinke any thing that jarreth or is contrarie one to the other Wher as in discord such and taking part The worse est soones do speed whiles better smart to wit some ill-tongued varlet and pickthanke carrie-tale within the house or some flattering claw-backe comming betweene and entring into the house or else some envious and malicious neighbour in the citie For like as diseases do ingender in those bodies which neither receive nor stand well affected to their proper familiar nourishment many appetites of strange and hurtfull meates even so a slanderous calumniation of jealousie being gotten once among those of a blood kindred doth draw and bring withal evill words and naughtie speechs which from without are alwaies readie enough to runne thither where as a breach lieth open and where there is some fault alreadie That divine master and soothsaier of Arcadie of whom Herodotus writeth when he had lost one of his owne naturall feet was forced upon necessitie to make himselfe another of wood but a brother being fallen out and at warre with a brother and constrained to get some stranger to be his companion either out of the market place and common hall of the citie as he walketh there or from the publike place of exercise where he useth to behold the wrestlers and others in my conceit doth nothing else but willingly cut-off a part or limme of his owne bodie made of flesh and engraffed fast unto him for to set another in the place which is of another kinde and altogether a stranger For even necessitie it selfe which doth entertaine approove and seeke for friendship and mutuall acquaintance teacheth us to honor chearish and preserve that which is of the same nature and kind
publike exercises The Lacedaemonians likewise would never have put up the insolent behaviour and mockerie of Stratocles who having perswaded the Athenians to sacrifice unto the gods in token of thankesgiving for a victorie as if they had beene conquerours and afterwards upon the certaine newes of a defeature and overthrow received when he saw the people highly offended and displeased with him demaunded of them what injurie he had done them if by his meanes they had beene merrie and feasted three daies together As for the flatterers that belong to Princes courts they play by their-lords and masters as those fowlers do who catch their birds by a pipe counterfeiting their voices for even so they to winde and insinuate themselves into the favour of kings and princes doe resemble them for all the world and by this devise entrap and deceive them But for a good governour of a State it is not meet and convenient that he should imitate the nature and the manners of the people under his government but to know them and to make use of those meanes to every particular person by which he knoweth that he may best win and gaine them to him for the ignorance and want of skill in this behalfe namely how to handle men according to their humours bringeth with it all disorders and is the cause of irregular enormities as well in popular governments as among minnions and favorites of princes Now after that a ruler hath gotten authoritie and credit once among the people then ought he to strive and labour for to reforme their nature and conditions if they be faultie then is he by little and little to lead them gently as it were by hand unto that which is better for a most painefull and difficult thing it is to change and alter a multitude all at once and to bring this about the better he ought first to begin with himselfe and to amend the misdemeanours and disorders in his owne life and manners knowing that he is to live from thence foorth as it were in open Theater where he may be seene and viewed on everie side Now if haply it be an hard matter for a man to free his owne mind from all sorts of vices at once yet at least wise he is to cut-off and put away those that bee most apparent and notorious to the eies of the world For you have heard I am sure how Themistocles when hee minded to enter upon the mannaging of State-matters weaned himselfe from such companie wherein hee did nothing but drinke daunce revell and make good cheere and when he fell to sitting up late and watching at his booke to fasting and studying hard hee was woont to say to his familiars that the Tropheae of Miltiades would not suffer him to sleepe and take his rest Pericles in like case altered his fashions in the whole course and maner of his life in his person in his sober and grave going in his affable and courteous speech shewing alwaies a staied and setled countenance holding his hand ever-more under his robe and never putting it foorth and not going abroad to any place in the citie but onely to the tribunall and pulpit for publike orations or els to the counsell house For it is not an easie matter to weld and manage a multitude of people neither are they to be caught of every one and taken with their safetie in the catching but a gracious and gainfull piece of worke it were if a man may bring it thus much about that like unto suspicious craftie wilde beasts they be not affrighted nor set a madding at that which they heare and see but gently suffer themselves to be handled and be apt to receive instruction and therefore this would not in any wise be neglected neither are such to have a small regard to their owne life and maners but they ought to studie and labor as much as possibly they can that the same be without all touch and reproch for that they who take in hand the government of publike affaires are not to give account nor to answere for that onely which they either say or doe in publike but they are searched narrowly into and manie a curious eie there is upon them at their boord much listening after that which passeth in their beds great sifting and scanning of their marriages and their behaviour in wedlocke and in one word all that ever they doe privately whether it be in jest or in good earnest For what need we write of Alcibiades who being a man of action and execution as famous and renowmed a captaine as any one in his time and having borne himselfe alwaies invincible and inferiour to none in the managing of the publike State yet notwithstanding ended his daies wretchedly by meanes of his dissolute loosenes and outragious demeanour in his private life and conversation at home insomuch as he bereft his owne countrey of the benefit they might have had by his other good parts and commendable qualities even by his intemperance and sumptuous superfluitie in expence Those of Athens found fault with Cimon because he had a care to have good wine and the Romaines finding no other thing in Scipio to reproove blamed him for that hee loved his bed too well the ill-willers of Pompey the Great having observed in him that otherwhiles he scratched his head with one finger reprochedhim for it For like as a little freckle mole or pendant-wert in the face of man or woman is more offensive than blacke and blew marks than scars or maimes in all the rest of the bodie even so small and light faults otherwise of themselves shew great in the lives of Princes and those who have the government of the weale-publike in their hands and that in regard of an opinion imprinted in the minds of men touching the estate of governours and magistrates esteeming it a great thing and that it ought to be pure and cleere from all faults and imperfections And therefore deserved Julius Drusus a noble Senatour and great ruler in Rome to be highly praised in that when one of his workemen promised him if he so would to devise and contrive his house so that whereas his neighbours overlooked him and saw into many parts thereof they should have no place therein exposed to their view and discoverie and that this translating and alteration thereof should cost him but five talents Nay quoth he thou shalt have ten talents and make mine house so that it may bee seene into on everie side to the end that all the citie may both see and know how I live for in trueth he was a grave wise honest and comely personage But peradventure it is not so necessarie that a house lie so open as to be looked into on all sides for the people have eies to pierce and enter into the verie bottom of governours manners of their counsels actions and lives which a man would thinke to be most covert secret no lesse quick-sighted are
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
Moreover there be other sorts of pleasant talke besides these and namely to heare and recite fables devised for mirth and pleasure discourses of playing upon the flute harpe or lute which many times give more contentment and delight than to heare the flute harpe or lute it selfe plaied upon Now the very precise time measured as it were and marked out to be most proper and meet for such recreations is when we feele that our meat is gently gone downe and setled quietly in the bottome of the stomacke shewing some signe of concoction and that naturall heat is strong and hath gotten the upper hand Now forasmuch as Aristotle is of opinion that walking after supper doth stirre up and kindle as one would say our naturall heat and to sleepe immediately after a man hath supped doth dull and quench it considering also that others be of a contrary minde and hold that rest and repose is better for concoction that motion so soone after troubleth and impeacheth the digestion and distribution of the meats which is the cause that some use to walke after supper others sit still and take their ease me thinks a man may reconcile and satisfie verie well after a sort these two opinions who cherishing and keeping his bodie close and still after supper setteth his mind a walking awakeneth it suffering it not to be heavie idle at once by and by but sharpneth and quickneth his spirits as is before said by little and little in discoursing or hearing discourses of pleasant matters and delectable such as be not biting in any wise nor offensive and odious Moreover as touching vomits or purgations of the bellie by laxative medicines which are the cursed and detestable easements and remedies of fulnesse and repletion surely they would never be used but upon right great and urgent necessitie a contrary course to many men who fill their gorges and bodies with an intent to void them soone after or otherwise who purge and emptie the same for to fill them againe even against nature who are no lesse troubled nay much more offended ordinarily by being fedde and full than fasting and emptie insomuch as such repletion is an hinderance to the contentment and satisfying of their appetites and lusts by occasion whereof they take order alwaies that their bodie may be evermore emptied as if this voidance were the proper place and seat of their pleasures But the hurt and dammage that may grow upon these ordinary purgations and vomits is very evident for that both the one and the other put the body to exceeding great straines and violent disturbances As for vomiting it bringeth with it one inconvenience by it selfe more than the former in that it procureth augmenteth an unsatiable greedinesse to meat for ingendered there is by that meanes a violent turbulent hunger like as when the course or stream of a river hath bene for a while stopped staid snatching or greedy at meat which is evermore offensive not a kind appetite indeed when as nature hath need of meat but resembling rather the inflammations occasioned by medicines or cataplasmes Hereupon it is that the pleasures proceeding from thence paste and slippe away incontinently as abortive and unperfect accompanied with inordinate pantings and beatings of the pulse great wrings in the enjoying of them and afterwards ensue dolorous tensions violent oppressions or stoppings of the conduits pores the reliques or retensions of ventosities which staie not for naturall ejections and evacuations but runne up and downe all over our bodies like as if they were shippes surcharged having more need to bee eased of their burden than still to be loden with more excrements As for the troublesome motions of the belly and guts occasioned by purgative drougues they corrupt spill and resolve the natural strength of the solide parts so that they engender more superfluties within than they thrust out and expel And this is for al the world like as if a man being discontented to see within his native citie a multitude of naturall Greekes inhabitants should for to drive them out fill the same with Scythians or Arabian strangers For even so some there be who greatly miscounting and deceiving themselves for to send foorth of their bodies the superfluous humors which are in some sort domesticall and familiar unto them put into them I wot not what Guidian graines Scammoni and other strange drougues fet from farre countries such as have no familiar reference to the bodie but are meere wilde and savage and in truth have more need to be purged and chaced out of the body themselves than power and vertue to void away and expell that wherewith nature is choked and overcharged The best way therefore is by sobrietie and regular diet to keepe the bodie alwaies in that moderate measure of evacuation and repletion that it may be able by proportionable temperature to maintaine it selfe without any outward helpe But if it fall out otherwhiles that there be some necessitie of the one or the other vomits would be provoked without the helpe of strange physicall drogues and not with much adoo and curiositie that they disquiet trouble no parts within but onely for to avoid cruditie and indigestion reject and cast up that gentlie which is too much and cannot be prepared and made meet for concoction For like as linnen clothes that bee scoured and made cleane with sopes ashes lees and other abstersive matters weare more and fret out sooner than such as be washed simply in faire water even so vomites provoked by medicines offend the body much more and marre the complexion But say the belly bee bound and costive there is not a drougue that easeth it so mildly or provoketh it to the siege so easily as doe certaine meats whereof the experience is familiar unto us and the use nothing dolorous and offensive Now in case the body be so heard that such kinde viands will not worke and cause it to be sollible then a man ought for many daies together to drinke thinne and cold water or use to fast or else take some clister rather than purgative medicines such as disquiet the body and overthrow the temperature thereof And yet many there be who ever and anon are ready to run unto them much like unto those lewd and light wanton women who use certeine inedicines to cause abortion or to send away the fruit which they have newly conceived to the end that they might conceive soone againe and have more pleasure in that fleshly action Now is it time to say no more but to let them goe that perswade such evacuations As for those on the contrarie side who interject certaine exact precise and criticall fastings observed too straightly according to just periods and circuits of daies surely they teach nature wherin they doe not well to use astriction before it have need and acquaint her with a necessarie abstinence of food which in it selfe is not necessarie even at a prefixed time which
their registers IS it for that Saturne himselfe was a stranger in Italy and therefore all strangers are welcome unto him Or may not this question besolved by the reading of histories for in old time these Questors or publick Treasurers were wont to send unto embassadors certeine presents which were called Lautia and if it fortuned that such embassadors were sicke they tooke the charge of them for their cure and if they chanced to die they enterred them likewise at the cities charges But now in respect of the great resort of embassadors from out of all countries they have cut off this expense howbeit the auncient custome yet remaineth namely to present themselves to the said officers of the treasure and to be registred in their booke 44 Why it is not lawfull for Jupiters priest to sweare IS it because an oth ministred unto free borne men is as it were the racke and torture tendred unto them for certeine it is that the soule as well as the bodie of the priest ought to continue free and not be forced by any torture whatsoever Or for that it is not meet to distrust or discredit him in small matters who is beleeved in great and divine things Or rather because every oth endeth with the detestation and malediction of perjurie and considering that all maledictions be odious and abominable therefore it is not thought good that any other priests whatsoever should curse or pronounce any malediction and in this respect was the priestresse of Minerva in Athens highly commended for that she would never curse 〈◊〉 notwithstanding the people commanded her so to doe For I am quoth she ordeined a priestresse to pray for men and not to curse them Or last of all was it because the perill of perjurie would reach in common to the whole common wealth if a wicked godlesse and forsworne person should have the charge and superintendance of the praiers vowes and sacrifices made in the behalfe of the citie 45 What is the reason that upon the festivall day in the honour of Venus which solemnitie they call Veneralia they use to powre foorth a great quantitie of wine out of the temple of Venus IS it as some say upon this occasion that Mezentius sometime captaine generall of the Tuscans sent certeine embassadors unto Aeneas with commission to offer peace unto him upon this condition that he might receive all the wine of that yeeres vintage But when Aeneas refused so to doe Mezentius for to encourage his souldiers the Tuskans to fight manfully promised to bestow wine upon them when he had woon the field but Aeneas understanding of this promise of his consecrated and dedicated all the said wine unto the gods and in trueth when he had obteined the victorie all the wine of that yeere when it was gotten and gathered together he powred forth before the temple of Venus Or what if one should say that this doth symbolize thus much That men ought to be sober upon festivall daies and not to celebrate such solemnities with drunkennesse as if the gods take more pleasure to see them shed wine upon the ground than to powre overmuch thereof downe their throats 46 What is the cause that in ancient time they kept the temple of the goddesse Horta open alwaies WHether was it as Antistius Labeo hath left in writing for that seeing Hortart in the Latine tongue signifieth to incite and exhort they thought that the goddesse called Horta which stirreth and provoketh men unto the enterprise and execution of good exploits ought to be evermore in action not to make delaies not to be shut up and locked within dores ne yet to sit still and do nothing Or rather because as they name her now a daies Hora with the former syllable long who is a certeine industrious vigilant and busie goddesse carefull in many things therefore being as she is so circumspect and so watchfull they thought she should be never idle nor rechlesse of mens affaires Or els this name Hora as many others besides is a meere Greeke word and signifieth a deitie or divine power that hath an eie to overlooke to view and controll all things and therefore since she never sleepeth nor laieth her eies together but is alwaies broad awake therefore her church or chapel was alwaies standing open But if it be so as Labeo saith that this word Hora is rightly derived of the Greeke verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to incite or provoke consider better whether this word Orator also that is to say one who stirrith up 〈◊〉 encourageth and adviseth the people as a prompt and ready counseller be not derived likewise in the same sort and not of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say praier and supplication as some would have it 47 Wherefore founded Romulus the temple of Vulcane without the citie of Rome IS it for the jealousie which as fables do report Vulcane had of Mars because of his wife Venus and so Romulus being reputed the sonne of Mars would not vouchsafe him to inhabit and dwell in the same citie with him or is this a meere foolerie and senselesse conceit But this temple was built at the first to be a chamber and parlour of privie counsell for him and Tatius who reigned with him to the end that meeting and sitting there in consultation together with the Senatours in a place remote from all troubles and hinderances they might deliberate as touching the affaires of State with ease and quietnesse Or rather because Rome from the very first foundation was subject to fire by casualtie hee thought good to honour this god of fire in some sort but yet to place him without the walles of the citie 48 What is the reason that upon their festivall day called Consualia they adorned with garlands of flowers aswell their asses as horses and gave them rest and repose for the time IS it for that this solemnitie was holden in the honour of Neptune surnamed Equestris that is to say the horseman and the asse hath his part of this joyfull feast for the horses sake Or because that after navigation and transporting of commodities by sea was now found out and shewed to the world there grew by that meanes in some sort better rest and more case to poore labouring beasts of draught and carriage 49 How commeth it to passe that those who stood for any office and magistracie were woont by anold custome as Cato hath written to present themselves unto the people in a single robe or loose gowne without any coat at all under it WAs it for feare lest they should carrie under their robes any money in their bosomes for to corrupt bribe and buy as it were the voices and suffrages of the people Or was it because they deemed men woorthy to beare publicke office and to governe not by their birth and parentage by their wealth and riches ne yet by their shew and
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
is no action considering it doth cleane contrary to action for that action intendeth commenseth and beginneth a processe or sute but exception or inhibition dissolveth undooeth and abolisheth the same semblably they thinke also that the Tribunate was an empeachment inhibition and restraint of a magistracie rather than a magistracie it selfe for all the authority and power of the Tribune lay in opposing himselfe and crossing the jurisdiction of other magistrates and in diminishing or repressing their excessive and licentious power Or haply all these reasons and such like are but words and devised imaginations to mainteine discourse but to say a trueth this Tribuneship having taken originally the first beginning from the common people is great and mighty in regard that it is popular and that the Tribunes themselves are not proud nor highly conceited of themselves above others but equall in apparell in port fare and maner of life to any other citizens of the common sort for the dignity of pompe and outward shew apperteineth to a Consull or a Praetour as for the Tribune of the people he ought to be humble and lowly and as M. 〈◊〉 was woont to say ready to put his hand under every mans foot not to carie a loftie grave and stately countenance nor to bee hard of accesse nor strange to be spoken with or dealt withall by the multitude but howsoever he behave himselfe to others he ought to the simple and common people above the rest for to be affable gentle and tractable and heereupon the maner is that the dore of his house should never be kept shut but stand open both day and night as a safe harbour sure haven and place of refuge for all those who are distressed and in need and verilie the more submisse that he is in outward appeerance the more groweth hee and encreaseth in puissance for they repute him as a strong hold for common recourse and retrait unto al commers no lesse than an altar or priviledged sanctuarie Moreover as touching the honour that he holdeth by his place they count him holy sacred and inviolable insomuch as if he doe but goe foorth of his house abroad into the citie and walke in the street the maner was of all to clense and sanctifie the body as if it were steined and polluted 82 What is the reason that before the Prators generall Captaines and head Magistrates there be caried bundels of roddes together with hatchets or axes fastned unto them IS it to signifie that the anger of the magistrate ought not to be prompt to execution nor loose and at libertie Or because that to undoe and unbinde the said bundels yeeldeth sometime and space for choler to coole and ire to asswage which is the cause otherwhiles that they change their mindes and doe not proceed to punishment Now forasmuch as among the faults that men commit some are curable others remedilesse the roddes are to reforme those who may be amended but the hatchets to cut them off who are incorrigible 83 What is the cause that the Romanes having intelligence given vnto them that the Bletonesians a barbarous nation had sacrificed unto their gods a man sent for the magistrates peremptorily as intending to 〈◊〉 them but after they once understood that they had so done according to an ancient law of their countrey they let them go againe without any hurt done unto them charging them onely that from thence foorth they should not obey such a law and yet they themselves not many yeeres before had caused for to be buried quicke in the place called the Beast Market two men and two women that is to say two Greekes and two Gallo-Greekes or Galatians For this seemeth to be verie absurd that they themselves should do those things which they reprooved in others as damnable MAy it not be that they judged it an execrable superstition to sacrifice a man or woman unto the gods marie unto divels they held it necessarie Or was it not for that they thought those people who did it by a law or custome offended highly but they themselves were directed thereto by expresse commaundement out of the bookes of Sibylla For reported it is that one of their votaries or Vestall nunnes named Helbia riding on horse-backe was smitten by a thunderbolt or blast of lightning and that the horse was found lying along all bare bellied and her selfe likewise naked with her 〈◊〉 and petticote turned up above her privie parts as if she had done it of purpose her shooes her rings her coife and head attire cast here and there apart from other things and withall lilling the toong out of her head This strange occurrent the soothsayers out of their learning interpreted to signifie that some great shame did betide the sacred virgins that should be divulged and notoriously knowen yea and that the same infamie should reach also as far as unto some of the degree of gentlemen or knights of Rome Upon this there was a servant belonging unto a certaine Barbarian horseman who detected three Vestal virgins to have at one time forfeited their honor been naught of their bodies to wit Aemilia 〈◊〉 Martia and that they had companied too familiarly with men a long time and one of their names was Butetius a Barbarian knight and master to the said enformer So these vestall Votaries were punished after they had beene convicted by order of law and found guiltie but after that this seemed a fearfull and horrible accident ordeined it was by the Senate that the priests should peruse over the bookes of 〈◊〉 prophesies wherein were found by report those very oracles which denounced and foretold this strange occurrent and that it portended some great losse and calamitie unto the common-wealth for the avoiding and diverting whereof they gave commaundement to abandon unto I wot not what maligne and divelish strange spirits two Greekes and two Galatians likewise and so by burying them quicke in that verie place to procure propitiation at Gods hands 84 Why began they their day at midnight WAs it not for that all policie at the first had the beginning of militarie discipline and in war and all expeditions the most part of woorthy exploits are enterprised ordinarily in the night before the day appeare Or because the execution of desseignes howsoever it begin at the sunne rising yet the preparation thereto is made before day-light for there had need to be some preparatives before a worke be taken in hand and not at the verie time of execution according as Myson by report answered unto Chilo one of the seven sages when as in the winter time he was making of a van Or haply for that like as we see that many men at noone make an end of their businesse of great importance and of State affaires even so they supposed that they were to begin the same at mid-night For better proofe whereof a man may frame an argument hereupon that the Roman chiefe ruler never made league nor concluded any
whereas other men doe conceive and thinke that these tearmes Ere while or not long since a while after or anon are different parts from the present time setting the one before the other after the said present And among these Archidemus who affirmeth that the present Now is a certeine beginning joint or commissure of that which is already past and neere at hand to come seeth now how in so saying he utterly abolisheth all time for were it true that Now is no time but onely a terme of extremity of time that every part of time is as it were Now it would seem then that this present Now hath no part at al but is resolved wholy into ends extremities joints commissures beginnings As for Chrysippus willing to shew himselfe witty artificial in his divisions in that treatise which he composed as touching voidnesse and in other places affirmeth that the Past and the Future of time subsisteth not but hath subsisted and that the present onely hath being But in the third fourth 〈◊〉 books of Parts he avoucheth that of the instant or present part is Future part Past in such sort as by this means he divideth the substance of time into those parts of subsistent which are not subsistent or to speake more truely he leaveth no part at al subsistent if the instant present hath no part at al which is not either past or to come and therefore the conceit that these men have of time resembleth properly the holding of water in a mans hand which runneth and sheddeth the more by how much harder it is pressed together Come now unto actions and motions all light and evidence is by them darkned troubled and confounded for necessarily it ensueth that if the Instant or present is divided into that which is past and to come part of that which now mooveth at this instant should partly be moved already and in part to remoove afterwards and withall that the beginning and end of motion should be abolished also that of no worke there should be any thing first or last all actions being distributed and dispersed together with time for like as they say that of the present some is past and some to come even so of every action in doing some part is already done and other resteth to be done When had then beginning or when shal have end To dine to write to go if every man who dineth hath dined already and shall dine and whosoever goeth hath gone and shall go and that which is as they say of al absurdities most monstrous if it be granted that he who now liveth hath lived already shal live life had neither beginning nor ever shall have end but every one of us as it should seeme by this reckoning was borne without beginning of life shall die without giving over to live for if there be no extreme part but ever as one that now liveth shal have somewhat of the present remaining for the future it will never be untruely said Socrates shal live so long as it shal be truely said Socrates liveth so that as often as it is true Socrates liveth so often it is false Socrates is dead And therefore if it be truely said in infinit parts of time Socrates shall live in no part of time shal it ever be truly said Socrates is dead And verily what end shal there be of any worke where shal any action stay cease in case as often as it shall be truly said a thing is now doing so often likewise it shall be truly said It shall be done for lie he shall who saith This is the end of Plato writing or disputing for that one day Plato shall cease to write or dispute if at no time it be a lie to say of him that disputeth He shall dispute or of him who writeth He shall write Moreover of that which is done there is no part which either is not finished already or shall be finished and either is past or to come Besides of that which is already done or of that which shal be done of that which is past or future there is no sense And so in one word and to speake simply there is no sense of any thing in the world for we neither see nor heare that which is past or to come ne yet have we any sense of things which have bene or which shall be no nor although a thing should be present is it perceptible subject to sense in case that which is present be partly to come and in part past already if I say one part thereof hath beene and another shall be and yet they themselves cry out upon Epicurus as if he committed some great indignitie and did violence to common conceptions in mooving as he doeth all bodies with equall celerity and admitteth no one thing swifter than another But farre more intolerable it is and farther remot from common sense to hold that no one thing can reach or overtake another No not although Adrastus horse So swift a Tortois flow should course according as we say in our common proverbe which must of necessity fall out if things move according to Before and Behind and in case the intervals which they passe through be divisible into infinit parts as these men would have them for if the tortoise be but one furlong before the horse they who divide the said interval or space betweene into infinit parts and moove both the one and the other according to Prius and Posterius shall never bring the swiftest close unto the slowest for that the slower alwaies winneth some space or interval before that which is divisible into other infinit intervals And to say that water which is powred forth out of a cup or boll shall never be powred all cleane out how can this chuse but be against common sense doeth not this consequently follow upon those things that these men avouch for never shall a man comprehend or conceive that the motion of things infinitly divisible according to before hath fully performed the whole intervall but leaving alwaies some space divisible it will evermore make all the effusion all the running foorth or shedding of the liquor all the motion of a solid body or the fall of a weighty poise to be imperfect I let passe many absurdities delivered in their doctrine and touch those onely which are directly against common sense As for the question touching augmentation it is very auncient For according as Chrysippus saith it was by Epicharmus put foorth And for that the Academicks thought it to be not very easie and ready all of a sudden to be cleered these men come with open mouth against them accusing them for overthrowing all anticipations whereas they themselves keepe not at all the common conceptions and that which more is pervert the very senses For whereas the question is plaine and simple these men grant and allow such suppositions as these that al particular
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
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
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