more sure when by white hayres they seemed to bee olde when they retired to the Aultars of the Temples Oh what goodnesse Oh what wisedome what valiantnesse and what innocencie ought the aged men to haue in the auncient time since in Rome they honoured them as Gods and in Greece they priuiledged those whyte haires as the temples Plinie in an Epistle he wrote to Fabarus saith that Pyrrus king of the Epyrotes demaunded of a phylosopher which was the best citie of the world who aunswered him thus The best Citie of the world is Molerda a place of three hundreth Fyres in Achaia because all the walles are of blacke stones and all those which gouerne haue hoary heads And further he saide Woe bee vnto thee Rome Woe be vnto thee Carthage Woe be vnto thee Numantia Wo be vnto thee Egipt and woe bee vnto thee Athens Fyue Cittyes which count themselues for the best of the Worlde whereof I am of a contrary opinion For they auaunte themselues to haue whyte Walles and are not ashamed to haue young Senatours This phylosopher saide very well and I thinke no man will say lesse then I haue saide Of this word Senex is deriued the name of a Senatour For so were the gouernours of Rome named because the first King that was Romulus chose an hundred aged men to gouerne the Common-wealth and commaunded that all the Romane youth should employ themselues to the warres Since wee haue spoken of the honour which in the old time was giuen to the auncient men it is reason wee know now from what yeares they accounted men aged to the end they should reuerently bee honoured as aged men For the makers of lawes when they hadde established the honours which ought to be done to the Aged did as well ordain from what day and yeare they should beginne Diuers auncient phylosophers did put six ages from the time of the birth of man vntill the houre of his death That is to say Childe-hood which lasteth vntill seuen yeares Infancie which lasteth vntill seuenteene yeares Youth which continueth till thirtie yeares Mans estate which remaineth till fiftie and fiue yeares Age which endureth till three-score and eighteene yeares Then last of all Crooked-age which remaineth till death And so after man had passed fiue and fifty yeares they called him aged Aulus Gelius in his tenth booke in the 27 Chapter sayth that Fuluius Hostilius who was King of the Romanes determined to count all the olde and yong which were amongst the people and also to know which should be called Infants which yong and which old And there was no little difference among the Romane Philosophers and in the end it was decreed by the King and the Senate that men till seuenteene years should bee called Infants and till sixe forty should be called young and from sixe and forty vpwards they should be called olde If wee will obserue the Law of the Romanes wee know from what time we are bound to call and honor the aged men But adding hereunto it is reason that the olde men know to what prowesses and vertues they are bound to the end that with reason and not with fainting they bee serued for speaking the truth if wee compare duty to duty the olde men are more bound to vertue then the young to seruice Wee cannot deny but that all states of Nations great small young and old are bound to bee vertuous but in this case the one is more to bee blamed then the other For oftentimes if the young men doe offend it is for that hee wanteth experience but if the old man offend it is for the aboundance of malice Seneca in an Epistle sayde these words I let thee know my friend Lucillus that l am very much offended and I doe complaine not of any friend or foe but of my selfe and none other And the reason why I thinke this is that I see my selfe old in vices so little is that wherein I haue serued the Gods and much lesse is that I haue profited him And Seneca sayeth further Hee which prayseth himselfe most to bee aged and that would bee honoured for being aged ought to bee temperate in eating honest in appartell sober in drinking soft in words wise in counsell and to conclude he ought to be very patient in aduersity and far from vices which attempt him Worthy of prayse is the greate Seneca for those wordes but more worthy shall the olde men if they wil conforme their workes according to these words For if wee see them for to abandon vices and giue themselus to vertues we will both serue them and honour them CHAP. XVIII That Princes when they are aged should be temperate in eating sober in drinking modest in apparrell and aboue all true in communication IT is consonant to the counsell of Seneca that the aged should bee temperate in eating which they ought to doe not onely for the reputation of their persons but also for the preseruation of theyr liues For the olde men which are drunke and amorous are persecuted with their owne diseases and are defamed by the tongues of other That which the ancient men should eate I meane those which are noble and vertuous ought to bee very cleane and well dressed and aboue all that they doe take it in season time for otherwise too much eating of diuers things causeth the young to bee sicke and enforceth the olde to die Young men though they eate dishonestly very hastily and eate speaking we can doe no lesse but dissemble with them but the olde men which eate much and hastily of necessitie we ought to reproue them For men of Honour ought to eate at table with a great grauitie as if they were in any counsell to determine causes It is not mine intention to perswade the feeble olde men not to eate but onely to admonish them to eate no more then is necessarie We doe not prohibite them to eate delicate things but to beware of superfluous things We doe not counsell them to leaue eating hauing need but to withdraw themselues from curiositie For though it bee lawfull for aged men to eate sufficient it is not honest for them to eate to ouercome theyr stomacks It is a shame to write it but more shame ought they to haue which doe it which is that the goods which they haue wonne and inherited by their predecessours they haue eaten and drunken so that they haue neyther bought House not vyne nor yet marryed any Daughter but they are naked and their poore children goe to the Tauernes and Innes and the miserable Fathers to the Hospitalles and Churches When any man commeth to pouertie for that his house is burned or his shippe drowned or that they haue taken all from him by Lawe or that hee hath spent it in pleading against his enemies or any other in conueniēce is come vnto him me thinketh we are all bound to succor him and the hart hath cōpassion to behold him
valiant but all these giftes are but meanes to make them vicious And in such case if the Fathers would bee gouerned by my counsell I would rather desire that members should want in them then that vices should abound Of the most fairest children which are borne in the Empire my sonne Commodus the Prince is one But I would to the immortall Gods that in face hee resemble the blackest of Ethiope and in manners the greatest Philosopher of Greece For the glory of the Father is not nor ought not to bee in that his child is fayre of complexion and handsome of person but that in his life hee bee very vpright Wee will not call him a pittifull Father but a great enemy who exalteth forth his child for that he is faire and doth not correct him though hee be vicious I durst say that the father which hath a child endued with many goodly gifts and that hee doth employ them all to vices such a child ought not to bee borne in the world and if perchance he were borne hee ought immediately to be buried CHAP. LIII The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sondry young Princes for being vicious haue vndone themselues and empouerished their Realms O What great pitty is it to see how the father buyeth his child of the gods with sighes how the mother deliuers thē with pain how they both nourish them with trauels how they watch to sustain them how they labour to remedy them afterwards they haue so rebelled and be so vicious that the miserable Fathers oftentimes do die not for age but for the griefes wherewith their children torment them I doe remember that the Prince Commodus my sonne beeing young and I aged as I am with great paines we kept him from vices but I feare that after my death hee will hate vertues I remember many yong Princes which of his age haue inherited th' Empire of Rome who haue bin of so wicked a life that they haue deserued to loose both honour and life I remember Dennys the famous tyraunt of Scycile of whom is saide that as great reward hee gaue to those that inuented vices as our Mother Rome did to those which cōquered realms Such worke could not be but of a tyraunt to take them for most familiar which are most vicious I remember foure young Princes which gouerned the Empyre but not with such valiauntnes as the great Alexander that is to say Alexander Antiochus Syluius and Ptholomeus vnto whom for their vanity and lightnes as they called Alexander the Great Emperour in Greece so likewise do they call these young men tyrants in Asia Very happie was Alexander in life and they vnhappy after his death For all that which with glorious triumphs hee wanne with vile vices they lost So that Alexander deuided betweene them foure the worlde and afterwards it came into the handes of moe then foure hundreth I doe remember that king Antigonus little esteemed that which cost his Lorde Alexander much Hee was so light in the behauiour of his person and so defamed in the affayres of the Common-wealth that for mockerie and contempt in the steed of a crown of golde hee bare a garland in the steed of a scepter hee carryed nettles in his hand and of this sort and manner he sate to iudge among his counsellors vsed to talke with strangers This yong Prince doth offend me much for the lightnes he committed but much more I maruell at the grauitie of the Sages of Greece which suffered him It is but meete hee be partaker of the paine which condescended to the faulte I do remember Caligula the fourth Emperor of Rome who was so young and foolish that I doubt of these two things which was greatest in his time That is to say The disobedience that the people bare to their Lorde or the hate which the Lord bare to his people For that vnhappie creature was so disordered in his manners that if all the Romaines had not watched to take life from him hee would haue watched to take life from them This Caligula wore a brooche of gold in his cap wherein were written these wordes Vtinam omnis populus vnam precise ceruicem haberet vt vno ictu omnes necarem Which is to say would to God all the people had but one necke to the ende I might kill them all at a stroke I remember the Emperour Tiberius th'adoptiue sonne of the good Caesar Augustus which was called Augustus because hee greatly augmented the Empyre But the good Emperor did not so much augment the state of his Common-wealth during his life as Tyberius did diminish it after his death The hate and malice which the Romain people bare to Tiberius in his life was manifestly discouered after the time of his death For the day that Tyberius dyed or better to say when they killed him the Romaine people made great processions and the Senators offered great presents in the temples and the priests gaue great Sacrifices to their Gods and all to the end their gods shold not receiue the soule of this Tyraunt amongst them but that they would sende it to be kept among the Furyes of hell I remember Patrocles 2. K. of Corinth inherited the realm at xxii yeres of his age who was so disordred of his flesh so indiscret in his doings so couetous of goods such a coward of his person that wher his father had possessed the Realm 40. yeres the sonne did not possesse it thirtie moneths I remember Tarquine the prowde who though among eight Knights of Rome was the last and comlyest of gesture valiaunt in Armes Noblest of bloud and in giuing most liberall yet he employed all his gifts and grace◠which the Gods had giuen him euill For hee employed his beautie to ryot and his forces to tyrannie For through the treason villanie which hee committed with the Romaine Lucretia he did not only lose the realme and flying saued his life but also for euer was banished and all his Linage likewise I remember the cruell Emperour Nero who liued inherited and dyed young and not without a cause I say that hee liued and dyed young For in him was graffed the stocke of the noble worthie Caesars and in him was renued the memory of those tyrants To whom thinkest thou Panutius this Tyrant would haue giuen life since he with his owne hand gaue his Mother her death Tell mee I pray thee who thinkest thou hath made that cursed heart who slewe his Mother out of whose wombe he came opened the breasts which gaue him sucke Shedde the bloud wher of he was born Tore the armes in which hee was carryed saw the entrails wherin he was formed The day that the Emperour Nero slewe his mother an Orator said in the Senate Iure interficienda erat Agrippina qua tale portentum peperit in populo Romano Which is to say iustly deserued Agrippina to bee put to death which brought forth
ouerthrowne a Chaunge which neuer wearieth a Spye which euer returneth a signe which beguyleth no man a way very straight a Friend that succoureth all necessities a Surgion that immediately healeth and a Renowne which neuer perisheth If thou knewest my Sonne what thing it is to be good thou wouldst be the best of the world For the more vicious a man is so much the more hee is intangled in vices and how much more a man is vertuous so much more to vertues he cleaueth If thou wilt bee vertuous thou shalt doe seruice to the Gods thou shalt giue good renowme to thy predecessours and for thy selfe thou shalt prepare a perpetuall memorie Thou shalt doe pleasures to straungers and get thee fauour of thine owne people Finally the good will honour thee with loue and the euill will serue with feare In the hystories of the warres of the Tarentines I found that renowmed Pyrrus king of the Epyrots did weare in a ring these words written It is too little punishment for a vicious man to take his life from him and it is too small reward for a vertuous man to giue him the seigniorie of all the whole earth Truly these wordes were worthy of such a man What thing can bee begunne of a vertuous man whereof wee hope not to see the end and come to good proofe I am deceyued if I haue not seene in my dayes many men which were base borne vnfitte for sciences voide of vices in the Common welth poore of goods and vnknowne of birth which with all these base conditions haue learned so many vertues that it seemed great rashnesse to beginne them and afterwards for being vertuous onely they haue founde the effects such as they thought it By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee and so the God Iupiter take me into his holy house and confirme thee my sonne in mine if I haue not knowne a Gardner and a Porter in Rome which for beeing vertuous were occasion to cast fiue rich Senators out of the Senate And the cause to make the one to gaine and the other to lose was that to the one they would not pay the pots and to the other his apples For at that time more was hee punished which tooke an apple from a poore man then hee which beat downe a rich mans house All this I haue tolde thee my son because vice abaseth the hardy prince and vertue giueth courage to the bashfull From two things I haue alwayes kept my selfe That is to say not to striue against open iustice nor to contend with a vertuous person CHAP. LV. The Emperour Marcus Aurelius followeth his purpose and among other wholesome counsels exhorteth his son to keepe wise and sage men about him for to giue him counsel in al his affayrs HItherto I haue spoken to thee generally but now I wil speake vnto thee particularly and by the immortall gods I coniure thee that thou bee very attentiue to that I will say For talking to thee as an aged Father it is reason thou heare mee as an obedient childe If thou wilt enioy long life obserue well my doctrine For the gods will not condiscend to thy hearts desires vnlesse thou receyue my wholesome counsels The disobedience and vnfaithfulnesse which children haue to their fathers is all their vndoing for oftentimes the gods do pardon the offences that are done vnto them and do not pardon the disobediences which the children bare to their Fathers I doe not require thee my sonne that thou giue mee money since thou art poore I doe not demaund that thou trauell since thou art tender I doe not demaund the reuengement of mine enemies since I haue none I doe not demaund that thou serue me since I dye I doe not demaund the Empire since I leaue it vnto thee Onely I demaund that thou gouerne thy selfe well in the Common wealth that the memory of my house bee not lost through thee If thou esteeme much that I leaue vnto thee so many realms I thinke it better to leaue to thee many good counsels wherewith thou mayest preserue thy selfe sustaine thy person and maintaine thine honour For if thou hast presumption not to profite with my counsell but to trust to thine owne mind before my flesh be eaten with wormes thou shalt be ouercome with thy enemies My sonne I haue beene young light bold vnshamefast proud enuious couetous an adulterer furious a glutton slothfull and ambitious and for that I haue fallen into so great excesses therfore I giue thee such good aduise for that man which in his youth hath beene very worldly from him in age proceedeth ripe counsell That which vntill this time I haue counselled thee that which to my death I will counsell thee I desire that once at the least thou proue it And if it doe thee harme leaue it and if it doe thee good vse it For there is no medicine so bitter that the sicke doth refuse to take if thereby hee thinke hee may bee healed I pray thee I exhort thee and I aduise thee my sonne that thy youth beleeue my age thy ignorance beleeue my knowledge thy sleepe beleeue my watch the dimnesse of thy eyes beleeue the clearenesse of my sight thy imagination beleeue my vertue and thy suspition beleeue my experience For otherwise one day thou shalt see thy selfe in some distresse where small time thou shalt haue to repent and none to finde remedy Thou mayest say vnto me my sonne that since I haue beene young I let thee to bee young and that when thou shalt bee aged thou wilt amend I aunswere thee that if thou wilt liue as young yet at least gouerne thy selfe as olde In a Prince which gouerneth his cōmon wealth well many miseries are dissembled of his person euen as for mighty affayres ripe counsels are necessary so to endure the troubles of the Empire the person needeth some recreation for the bow-string which alwaies is stretched either it lengthneth or it breaketh Whether Princes be young or old there can be nothing more iust then for the recreation of themselues to seeke some honest pastimes And not without a cause I say that they bee honest for sometimes they accompany with so dishonest persons and so vnthrifty that they spend their goods they lose their honour and weary their persons more then if they were occupied in the affaires of the common wealth For thy youth I leaue thee children of great Lords with whom thou maiest passe the time away And not without cause I haue prouided that with thee they haue been brought vp from thy infancy for after thou camest to mans estate inheriting my goods if perchance thou wouldest accompany thy self with yong men thou shouldst find them well learned for thy wars I leaue thee valiant captains though indeed things of war are begunn by wisedome yet in the end the issue falleth out by fortune for stewards of thy treasurs I leaue thee faithful men And not without cause I
ΑΡΧΟÎΤΟΡΟΛΟΓΙΟΠOR THE DIALL OF PRINCES CONTAINING THE GOLDEN AND FAMOVS BOOKE OF MARCVS AVRELIVS Sometime Emperour of Rome DECLARING What Excellency consisteth in a Prince that is a good Christian And what euils attend on him that is a cruell Tirant WRITTEN By the Reuerend Father in God DON ANTONIO of Gueuara Lord Bishop of Guadix Preacher and Chronicler to the late mighty Emperour CHARLES the fift First translated out of French by THOMAS NORTH Sonne to Sir EDWARD NORTH Lord NORTH of Kirthling And lately reperused and corrected from many grosse imperfections With addition of a Fourth Booke stiled by the Name of The fauoured Courtier LONDON Imprinted by Bernard Alsop dwelling by Saint Annes Church neere Aldersgate 1619. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR HENRY MOVNTAGVE Knight Lord Chiefe Iustice of the Pleas Holden before his most Royall Maiestie c THe Emperour Traiane Right Honourable writing a Letter to the Senate of Rome concerning the weightie and carefull condition of Princes among many other matters vsed these wordes of himselfe I doe freely confesse vnto you that since I tasted the cares and trauels attending on this Imperiall dignitie I haue repented a thousand times that euer I did vndertake it because if it bee accounted Honour to enioy an Empire there consisteth farre greater paine and labour to order and gouerne it as it ought to be But beside what enuie doth hee expose himselfe to multitude of mislikes that hath the charge of gouerning others If hee be iust hee is branded with cruelry if mercifull hee is contemned if beautifull tearmed lauish and prodigall if hee hoorde vp money then basely couetous if inclined to peace then hee is a coward If full of courage proudly anbitious if discreetly graue surly and scornefull if affably courteous silly and simple if affecting solitude a dissembling hypocrite if addicted to mirth and pleasure then wantonly dissolute In the end of all te worthy Emperour thus concluded Although willingly I accepted this high office at the first yet sorrow hath since made mee shrinke vnder so brdensom a charge For the Sea and dignitie are thinges pleasing to looke â—n but very perillous to meddle withall I haue alledged his example worthie Lord because present vnto your gracious acceptance his ancient and famous Booke called The Diall of Princes wherein is at lige and amply set downe what care and respect awayteth on the liues of Prinâ—â—s and great persons for if they canot runne into the smallest errour but redoundeth to the hurt of many nor neglect their duty without other mens userie Then sayde the Philosopher well A Prince should not appropriate the Common-wealth to himselfe but shape himselfe wholy to the Common wealth And so much the rather because he standing accountable to no man in this Life ought to remember a farre stricter account before him that maketh no respect of Princes saue onely in this that they shall finde the Iudge the more seuere against them by how much they haue abused their place of eminencie as also their power and princely authority In the learned Discourses following set downe by that good Emperour Marcus Aurelius the honourable Argument of all this worke are three especiall duties and actions obserued necessarily required in an absolute and perfect Prince as namely In Ruling Iudging and Defending To rule by iust lawes and good Example To Iudge by Wisedome Prouidence and Iustice And Defend by valour care and vigilancy And this is that which the Spirit of God so often intimateth by the Prophet Ieremie â—ap 22. verse 3. To execute Iudgement and righteousnesse To deliuer the oppressed from the handes â—â— the oppressour Not to vexe the Stanger fatherlesse or Widdow Neyther to doe violence or shedde the innocent bloud Into infinite other famous presidents for Princes I could enter and set them downe expressely but that I know they are so frequent to your Honour both in reading and memorie that it were as lost labour as to hold a burning Taper in the bright Sunne at Noone-day and therefore these few shall suffice Nor doe I dedicate this vnto your graue and learned iudgement as a new labour of mine owne or as a worke neuer seene before because it hath already past diuers impressions albeit not in so exact a maner nor with the like paines as hath now bin bestowed vpon it from many absurde and grosse imperfections and yet not so cleanely purged as I could wish it were nor as it shall bee if euer it come to the Presse againe Wherefore I humbly entreate your Honour to accept it as it is and as an oblation of my loue vnfainedly to you which gladly would shew it selfe by any possible meanes as time hereafter may better enable me Til when I remain ready at your Honours seruice to the very vtmost of my best abilitie Your Honors in all duty A. M. A GENER ALL PROLOGVE VPON THE BOOKE ENTITVLED THE DYALL OF PRINCES WITH THE FAmous Booke of MARCVS AVRELIVS Compyled by the Reuerend Father in GOD the Lord ANTONY of GVEVARA Byshop of Guadix Confessor and Chronicler to Charles the fifth Emperour of Rome vnto whom and to all other Princes and Noble-personages this worke was directed APolonius Thianeus disputing with the schollers of Hiareas said that among all the affections of nature nothing is more naturall then the desire that all haue to preserue life Omitting the dispute of these great Phylosophers herein wee our selues hereof haue daily proofe that to liue men do trauell to liue byrds do flie fishes do swimme and to liue beasts do hide themselues for feare of death Finally I say there is no liuing creature so brutish that hath not a naturall desire to liue If many of the auncient Paynims so little regarde life that of their owne free willes they offered themselues death they did it not for that they despised life but because they thought that for their little regarding life wee would more highly esteem their fame For wee see men of hauty courages seeke rather to winne a long-during-Fame then to saue a short lasting-life How loth men are to die is easily seen by the great paines they take to liue For it is a naturall thing to all mortall men to leaue their liues with sorrowe and take their deaths with feare Admit that all doe taste this corporall death and that generally both good and euill doe die yet is there great difference between the death of the one and the death of the other If the good desire to liue it is onely for the greater desire they haue to do more good but if the euill desire to liue it is for that they would abuse the world longer For the children of vanity call no time good but onely that wherein they liue according to their owne desires I let you vnderstand that are at this present and you also that shall come heereafter that I direct my writings vnto those which embrace vertue and not vnto such as are borne away with vice GOD
although it forsaketh them in deedes yet they will not forsake it in their desires And I durst sweare that if the World could grant them perpetuall life they would promise it alwayes to remaine in their customable folly O what a number of vaine men are aliue which haue neyther remembrance of God to serue him nor of his glorie to obey him nor of their conscience to make it cleane but like bruit beasts fellow and runne after their voluptuous pleasures The bruit beast is angry if a man keepe him too much in awe if he bee weary hee taketh his rest hee sleepeth when hee lifteth he eateth and drinketh when hee commeth vnto it and vnlesse hee be compelled hee doth nothing hee taketh no care for the common-wealth for he neither knoweth how to follow reason nor yet how to resist sensuality Therefore if a man at all times should eate when hee desireth reuenge himselfe when he is moued commit adulterie when hee is tempted drinke when he is thirsty sleep when he is drousie wee might more properly call such a one a beast nourished in the mountaines then a man brought vp in the common-wealth For him properly wee may call a mā that gouerneth himselfe like a man that is to say conformable vnto such things as reason willeth not where sensuality leadeth Let vs leaue these vaine men which are aliue and talke of them that bee dead against whom wee dare say that whiles they were in the world they followed the world and liued according to the same It is not to be maruelled at that since they were liuing in the world they were noted of some world point But seeing their vnhappy and wicked life is ended why will they then smell of the vanities of the World in their graues It is a great shame and dishonour for men of noble and stout hearts to see in one moment the end of our life and neuer to see the end of our solly Wee neyther reade heare nor see any thing more common then such men as bee most vnprofitable in the Common wealth and of life most reprobate to take vpon them most honour whiles they liue and to leaue behind them the greatest memory at their death What vanity can bee greater in the world then to esteeme the world which esteemeth no man to make no account of God who so greatly regardeth all men What greater folly can there bee in man then by much trauell to encrease his goods with vaine pleasures to loose his soule It is an olde plague in mans nature that many or the most part of men leaue the amendement of their life farre behind to set their honour the more before Suetonius Tranquillus in the first booke of the Emperours sayth that Iulius Caesar no further then in Spaine in the City of Cales now called Calis saw in the Temple the triumphes of Alexāder the great painted the which when hee had well viewed he sighed maruellous sore and being asked why hee did so hee answered What a wofull case am I in that am now of the age of thirty yeares and Alexander at the same yeeres had subdued the whole world and rested him in Babylon And I being as I am a Romane neuer did yet thing worthy of prayse in my life nor shall leaue any renowne of mee after my death Dion the Grecian in the second booke De audacia sayeth that the noble Drusius the Almaine vsed to visite the graues and tombes of the famous and renowmed which were buryed in Italie and did this alwayes especially at his going to warfare And it was asked why hee did so Hee answered I visit the sepulchers of Scipio and of diuers others which are dead before whom all the Earth trembled when they were aliue For in beholding their prosperous successe I did recouer both strength and stoutnesse He saith furthermore that it encourageth a man to fight against his enemyes remembring hee shall leaue of him a memory in time to come Cicero saith in his Rhethorike and also Plynie maketh mention of the same in an Epistle that there came from Thebes in Egipt a knight to Rome for no other purpose but only to see whether it were true or no that was reported of the notable things of Rome Whom Moecenas demanded what he perceyued of the Romaines and what he thought of Rome He answered The memory of the absent doth more content me then the glory of the present doth satisfie me And the reason of this is The desire which men haue to extoll the liuing to be equall vnto the dead maketh things so straunge in their life that they deserue immortal fame after their death The Romaines reioyced not a little to heare such wordes of a straungers mouth wherby he praised them which were departed and exalted them which yet liued Oh what a thing it is to consider the auncient heathens which neyther feared Hell nor hoped for Heauen and yet by remembrance of weaknes they tooke vnto them strength by cowardnes they were boldened throgh feare they became hardy of dangers they tooke encouragement of enemyes they made friends of pouertie they tooke patience of malice they learned experience Finally I say they denyed their owne willes and followed the'opinions of others only to leaue behind them a memorie with the dead and to haue a little honour with the dead Oh how many are they that trust the vnconstantnesse of Fortune onely to leaue some notable memorie behinde them Let vs call to minde some worthie examples whereby they may see that to be true which I haue spokē What made king Ninus to inuent such warres Queene Semiramis to make such buildings Vlisses the Grecian to sulke so many Seas king Alexander to conquere so many Lands Hercules the Thebane to set vp his Pillars where hee did Caius Casar the Romaine to giue 52. battells at his pleasure Cyrus King of Persia to ouercome both the Asiaes Hanniball the Carthaginian to make so cruell warres against the Romaines Pyrrhus king of the Epirotes to come down into Italie Attila King of the Hunnes to defie all Europe Truely they would not haue taken vpon them such daungerous enterprises onely vpon the wordes of them which were in those dayes present but because we should so esteem them that should come after Seeing then that wee bee men and the children of men it is not a little to bee maruelled at to see the diuersitie betweene the one and the other and what cowardnes there is in the hearts of some and contrarywise what courage in the stomackes of others For we see commonly now-adayes that if there bee tenne of stoute courages which are desirous with honour to dye there are ten thousands cowards which through shamefull pleasures seeke to prolong their life The man that is ambitious thinking him most happie who with much estimation can keepe his renowm and with little care regard his life And on the other side hee that will set by his life
What is there to see but hath bin seene what to discouer but hath bin discouered what is there to read but hath bin read what to write but hath bin written what is there to knowe but hath bin knowne Now-adayes humaine malice is so experte men so well able and our wittes so subtill that wee want nothing to vnderstand neyther good nor euill And wee vndoe ourselues by seeking that vaine knowledge which is not necessary for our life No man vnder the pretence of ignoraunce can excuse his fault since all men know all men reade and all men learne that which is euident â—n this case as it shall appeare Suppose the Plough-man and the Learned-man do goe to the Law and you shall perceyue the Labourer vnder that simple garment to forge to his Counsellour halfe a dozen of malitious trickes to delude his aduersarie as finely as the other that is learned shall bee able to expound two or three Chapters of this booke If men would employ their knowledge to honesty wisedome patience and mercy it were well but I am sorry they know so much onely for that they subtilly deceiue and by vsury abuse their neighbours and keepe that they haue vniustly gotten and dayly getting more inuenting new trades Finally I say if they haue any knowledge it is not to amend their life but rather to encrease their goods If the deuil could sleep as meÌ„ do he might safely sleepe for whereas he waketh to deceyue vs wee wake to vndo our selues Well suppose that all this heretofore I haue sayde is true Let vs now leaue aside craft and take in hand knowledge The knowledge which we attaine to is small and that which wee should attain to so great that all that wee know is the least part of that wee are ignorant Euen as in things naturall the Elements haue their operations according to the varietie of time so morall Doctrines as the aged haue succeeded and sciences were discouered Truly all fruites come not together but when one fayleth another commeth in season I meane that neyther all the Doctors among the Christians nor all the Philosophers among the Gentiles were concurrant at one time but after the death of one good there came another better The chiefe wisdome which measured all thinges by iustice and dispearseth them according to his bounty will not that at one time they should bee all Wisemen and at another time all simple For it had not beene reason that one should haue had the fruit and the other the leaues The old world that ranne in Saturnes dayes otherwise called the golden world was of a truth much esteemed of them that saw it and greatlie commended of them that wrote of it That is to say it was not guided by the Sages which did guild it but because there was no euill men which did vnguilde it For as the experience of the meane estate and Nobility teacheth vs of one onely person dependeth as well the fame and renowne as the infamy of a whole house and parentage That age was called golden that is to say of gold and this our age is called yron that is to say of iron This difference was not for that gold then was found and now yron nor for that in this our age there is want of them that be sage but because the number of them surmounreth that be at this day malicious I confesse one thing and suppose many will fauour mee in the same Phauorin the Philosopher which was master to Aulus Gelius and his especiall friend saide oft-times that the Phylosophers in olde time were holden in reputation Because there were fewe teachers and many learners We now-adayes see the contrarie For infinite are they which presume to bee Maisters but fewe are they which humble themselues to be Schollers A man may know how little Wise-men are esteemed at this houre by the great veneration that the Phylosophers had in the olde time What a matter is it to see Homer amongst the Grecians Salomon amoÌ„gst the Hebrewes Lycurgus amongst the Lacedemonians Phoromeus also amongst the Greeks Ptolomeus amongst the Egiptians Liuius amongst the Romaines and Cicero likewise amongst the Latines Appolonius amongst the Indyans and Secundus amongst the Assyrians How happie were those Phylosophers to bee as they were in those dayes when the world was so full of simple personnes and so destitute of Sage men that there flocked great numbers out of diuers countreys and straunge Nations not onely to heare their doctrine but also to see theyr persons The glorious Saint Hierome in the prologue to the Byble sayth When Rome was in her prosperitie then wrote Titus Lyuius his deedes yet notwithstanding men came to Rome more to speake with Titus Linius then to see Rome or the high capitol therof Marcus Aurelius writing to his friend Pulio saide these wordes Thou shalt vnderstand my Friende I was not chosen Emperor for the Noble bloud of my predecessors nor for the fauour I had amongst them now present For there were in Rome of greater bloud and Riches then I but the Emperour Adrian my Maister set his eyes vpon mee and the Emperor Anthonie my Father in law chose mee for his Sonne in law for none other cause but for that they saw me a friend of the Sages and an enemie of the ignoraunt Happie was Rome to chuse so wise an Emperour and no lesse happie was he to attaine vnto so great an Empire Not for that hee was heire to his predecessours but for that hee gaue his minde to studie Truely if that Age were then happie to enioy his person no lesse happie shall ours bee now at this present to enjoy his doctrine Salust saith they deserued great glory which did worthie feates and no lesser merited they which wrote them in high stile What had Alexander the great bin if Quintus-Curtius had not written of him what of Vlysses if Homer had not bin borne what had Alcybiades bin if Zenophon had not exalted him what of Cyrus if the phylosopher Chilo had not put his actes in memorie what had been of Pyrrus king of the Epyrotes if Hermicles chronicles were not what had bin of Scipio the great Affricane if it had not bin for the Decades of Titus Liuius what had been of Traian if the renowmed Plutarch had not bin his friend what of Nerua and Anthonius the meeke if Phocion the Greeke had not made mention of them How should wee haue knowne the stoute courage of Caesar and the great prowesse of Pompeius if Lucanus had not written them what of the twelue Caesars if Suetonius Tranquillus had not compyled a booke of their liues And how should we haue knowne the antiquities of the Hebrues if the vpright Ioseph had not beene Who could haue knowne the comming of the Lombardes into Italie if Paulus Dyaconus had not writ it How could we haue knowne the comming in and the going out of the Gothes in Spayne if the curious Roderious had not showed it vnto
whom he neyther lifted speare nor sword because all yeelded to his cōmandment With these and such other like things they would haue feared them for that words oft times maketh men more afraide especially when they are spoken of braue stoute men then doe the swords of cowards Lucius Bosco saith in his third booke of the antiquityes of the Grecians of whom the originall of this hystorie is drawne that after the Embassadours of Alexander had spoken to the Garamantes they were nothing at all troubled for the message neither did they fly away from Alexander nor they prepared any warre neyther tooke they in hand any weapon nor yet they did resist him Yea and the chiefest of all was that no man of the Countrey euer departed out of his house Finally they neyther answered the Ambassadors of Alexander to theyr right message nor yet spake one word vnto them concerning their coming And truly the Garamantes had reason therein and did in that right wisely For it is but meere follie for a man to perswade those men with words who enterprise any thing of will It is a maruellous matter to heare reported the hystories of these Garamantes that is to say that all theyr houses were of equall height all men were apparelled alike the one had no more authority then another in feeding they were no glouttons in drinking wine they were temperate concerning pleas and debates they were ignorant they would suffer no idle man to liue among them they had no weapons because they had no enemyes and generally they spake few words but that which they spake was alwayes true King Alexander being somwhat informed of those Garamantes and their life determined to send for them and called them before his presence and instantly desired them if they had any wise men among them to bring them vnto him and by writing or by word of mouth to speake somewhat vnto him For Alexander was such a friend to sage men that all the realms which he ouercame immediately he gaue to his men excepting the Sages which he kept for his owne person Quintus Curtius by king Alexander sayth that a Prince doth wel spende his treasors to conquer many Realms only to haue the conuersation of one wise man And truely he had reason for to princes it is more profit in their life to bee accompanied with Sages then after their deaths to leaue great treasours to their heires Certaine of those Garamantes thē being come before the presence of Alex the great one among them as they thoght the most ancientst himselfe alone the residue keeping silence in the name of them all spake these words CHAP. XXXIII Of an Oration which one of the Sages of Garamantia made vnto King Alexander a goodly lesson for all ambitious men IT is a custome king Alexander amongst vs Garamantes to speake seldome one to another scarsely neuer speake to strangers especially if they be busie and vnquiet men For the tongue of an euil man is no other but a plaine demonstration of his enuious heart When they tolde vs of thy comming into this countrey immediately wee determined not to goe out to receyue thee nor to prepare our selues to resist thee neyther to lifte vp our eyes to beholde thee nor to open our mouthes to salute thee neyther to moue our hands to trouble thee nor yee to make warre to offend thee For greater is the hate that we beare to riches and honours which thou louest then the loue is that thou hast to destroy men and subdue Countreyes which we abhorre It hath pleased thee we shuld see thee not desiring to see thee and wee haue obeied thee not willing to obey thee and that we should salute thee not desirous to salute thee wherewith wee are contented vppon condition that thou be patient to heare vs. For that which we will say vnto thee shall tend more vnto amendmēt of thy life then to disswade thee frō conquering our countrey For it is reason that Princes which shal come hereafter doe know why wee liuing so little esteeme that which is our owne and why thou dying takest such paines to possesse that which is another mans O Alexander I aske thee one thing and I doubt whether thou canst aunswer me thereunto or no For those hearts which are proud are also most commonly blinded Tell me whether thou goest from whence thou commest what thou meanest what thou thinkest what thou desirest what thou seekest what thou demandest what thou searchest and what thou procurest and further to what Realms Prouinces thy disordinate appetite extendeth Without a cause do I not demand thee this question what is that thou demandest and what it is that thou seekest For I think thou thy selfe knowest not what thou wouldest For proud and ambicious hearts know not what will satisfie them Sith thou art ambitious honor deceiueth thee sith thou art prodigall couetousnes beguyleth thee sith thou art yong ignorance abuseth thee and sith thou art proude all the world laugheth thee to scorne in such sort that thou followest men and not reason thou followest thine owne opinion and not the counsell of an other thou embracest flatterers and repulsest vertuous men For Princes and Noble men had rather bee commended with lyes thē to be reproued with truth I cannot tell to what ende you Princes liue so deceyued and abused to haue keepe in your pallaces more flattrers iuglers and fooles then wise and sage men For in a princes pallace if there bee any which extolleth theyr doings there are ten thousand which abhorre their tyrannies I perceiue by these deeds Alexander that the gods will sooner end thy life then then wilt end thy wars The man that is brought vp in debates discentions and strife all his felicitie consisteth in burning destroying and bloud shedding I see thee defended with weapōs I see thee accōpanied with tirants I see thee rob the tēples I se thee without profit wast the treasors I see thee murder the Innocent and trouble the patient I see thee euill willed of all and beloued of none which is the greatest euill of all euils Therefore how were it possible for thee to endure such and so great trauels vnlesse thou art a foole or else because God hath appointed it to chastice thee The Gods suffer oftentimes that men being quiet should haue some weighty affayres and that is not for that they should be honoured at this present but to the end they should be punished for that which is past Tell mee I pray thee peraduenture it is no great folly to empouerish many to make thy selfe alone rich It is not peraduenture folly that one should commaund by tyranny and that all the rest lose the possession of their Seigniory It is not folly perchance to loue to the damnation of our soules many memories in the world of our body It is not folly perchance that the Gods approue thy disordinate appetite alone and condemne the will and opinion of all the
and had memorie fresh being meanely learned in Philosophy but he was of much eloquēce and for to encourage and counsell the Athenians he was sent to the warres For when the Ancients tooke vpon them any warres they chose first Sages to giue counseil then Captains to leade the souldiers And amongst the Prisoners the Philosopher Epicurus was taken to whom the tyrant Lysander gaue good entertainement and honoured him aboue all other and after hee was taken hee neuer went from him but read Philosophy vnto him and declared vnto him histories of times past and of the strength and vertues of many Greekes and Troians The tyrant Lysander reioyced greatly at these things For truly tyrants take great pleasure to heare the prowesse and vertues of Ancients past and to follow the wickednesse and vices of them that are present Lysander therefore taking the triumph and hauing a Nauie by sea and a great Army by land vpon the riuer of Aegeon he and his Captaines forgot the danger of the wars and gaue the bridle to the flothfull flesh so that to the great preiudice of the Common wealth they led a dissolute and idle life For the manner of tyrannous Princes is to leaue off their ownt trauell and to enioy that of other mens The Philosopher Epicurus was alwayes brought vp in the excellent Vniuersity of Athens whereas the Philosophers liued in so great pouerty that naked they slept on the ground their drinke was colde water none amongst them had any house proper they despised riches as pestilence and labored to make peace where discord was they were onely defenders of the Common wealth they neuer spake any idle word and it was a sacriledge amongst them to heare a lye and finally it was a Law inuiolable amongst them that the Philosopher that should bee idle should bee banished and he that was vicious should be put to death The wicked Epicurius forgetting the doctrine of his Master and not esteeming grauity whereunto the Sages are bound gaue himselfe wholly both in words and deedes vnto a voluptuous beastly kind of life wherin he put his whole felicity For hee sayde There was no other felicity for slothfull men then to sleepe in soft beds for delicate persons to feele neyther hote nor cold for fleshly men to haue at their pleasure amorus Dames for drunkards not to want any pleasant wines and gluttons to haue their fils of al delicate meats for herein hee affirmed to consist all worldly felicity I doe not maruell at the multitude of his Schollers which hee had hath and shall haue in the world For at this day there are very few in Rome that suffer not themselues to be mastered with vices and the multitude of those which liue at their owne wils and sensuality are infinite And to tell the truth my friend Pulio I do not maruell that there hath been vertuous neither doe I muse that there hath beene vitious for the vertuous hopeth to rest himselfe with the Gods in an other World by his well doing and if the vitious bee vitious I doe not maruell though he will goe and engage himselfe to the vices of this world since he doth not hope neyther to haue pleasure in this not yet to enioy rest with the gods in the other For truly the vnstedfast beleefe of an other life after this wherein the wicked shall bee punished and the good rewarded causeth that now a dayes the victous and vices raigne so as they doe Of the Philosopher Eschilus ARtabanus beeing the sixt king of Persians and Quintus Concinatus the husbandman beeing onely Dictator of the Romanes in the Prouince of Tharse there was a Philosopher named Aeschilus who was euill fauoured of countenance deformed of body fierce in his lookes and of a very grosse vnderstanding but hee was fortunate of credite for he had no lesse credite amongst the Tharses then Homer had among the Greekes They say that though this Philosopher was of a rude knowledge yet otherwise he had a very good naturall wit and was very diligent in harde things and very patient with these that did him wrong hee was exceeding couragious in aduersity and moderate in prosperities And the thing that I most of all delighted in him was that hee was courteous and gentle in his conuersation and both pithie and eloquent in his communication For that man onely is happy where all men prayse his life and no man reproueth his tongue The auncient Greekes declare in their Histories that this Philosopher Aeschilus was the first that inuented Tragedies and that got money to represent them and sith the inuention was new and pleasant many did not onely follow him but they gaue him much of their goods And maruel not thereat my friend Pulio for the lightnesse of the Common people is such that to see vaine things all will runne and to heare the excellency of vertues there is not one will goe After this Philosopher Aeschylus had written many bookes specially of Tragedies and that he had afterward trauelled through many Countries Realmes at the last hee ended the residue of his life neare the Isles which are adioyning vnto the Lake of Meatts For as the diuine Plato saveth when the auncient Philosophers were young they studied when they came to be men they trauelled and then when they were old they retyred home In mine opinion this Philosopher was wise to do as he did and no lesse shall men now a dayes bee that will imitate him For the Fathers of wisdome are Science and Experience and in this consisteth true knowledge when the man at the last returneth home from the troubles of the World Tell me my friend Pulio I pray thee what dooth it profite him that hath learned much that hath heatd much that hath knowne much that hath seene much that hath beene farre that hath bought much that hath suffered much and hath proued much that had much if after great trauell he doth not retire to repose himselfe a little truly hee cannot be counted wise but a foole that willingly offereth himselfe to trauell hath not the wit to procure himselfe rest for in mine opinion the life without rest is a long death By chance as this ancient Philosopher was sleeping by the lake Meatis a Hunter had a Hare with him in a Cage of woode to take other Hares by whereon the Eagle seazed which tooke the Cage with the Hare on high and seeing hee could not eate it hee cast it downe againe which fell on the heade of this Philosopher and killed him This Philosopher Aeschylus was demaunded in his life time wherein the felicity of this life consisted hee answered that in this opinion it consisted in sleeping and his reason was this that when wee sleepe the entisements of the flesh do not prouoke vs nor the enemy persecute vs neyther the friends do importune vs nor the colde winter oppresse vs nor the heate of long Sommer doth annoy vs nor yet wee
in my life and for the gifts he sends mee now at my death For one friend can doe more to another then to offer him his person to depart with his proper goods Tell the king thy father that I maruell what hee should meane that I now beeing foure score yeares of age and haue walked all my life time naked in this world should now be laden with vestures and money since I must passe so great a gulfe in the Sea to go out of this world The Egyptians haue a custome to lighten the burden of their Camels when they passe the Desartes of Arabia which is much better then to ouercharge them I meane that he onely passeth without trauell the dangers of the life which banisheth frō him that thought of temporall goods of this world Thirdly thou shalt say to the King thy Father that from hence forth when any man will dye he doe not succour nor helpe him with Money Golde nor Riches but with good and ripe counsell For Golde will make him leaue his life with sorrow and good Counsell will moue him to take his death with patience The fifth king of the Macedonians was called Archelaus who they say to be the grandfather of king Philip father of the great Alexander This king boasteth himselfe to descend from Menelaus King of the Grecians and principall Captaine which was at the destruction of Troy This king Archelaus was a great friend to the Sages and amongst others there was a Poet with him called Euripides who at that time had no lesse glory in his kinde of Poetrie then Archelaus in his king dome being king of Macedonia For now a dayes we esteeme more the Sages for the bookes which they wrote then we do exalt kings for the Realms which they ruled or the battels which they ouercame The familiaritie which Euripides had with the king Archelaus was so great that in the Realme of Macedonie nothing was done but first it was examined by the hands of this Philosopher And as the simple and ignorant would not naturally be subiect to the Sage it chanced that one night Euripides was talking a long time with the King declaring vnto him the ancient Histories and when the poore Poet would depart to goe home to his house his enemies espyed him and let the hungrie dogges flie vpon him the which did not onely teare him in peeces but also eate him euery morsell So that the intrayles of the dogges were the wofull graue of the most miserable Poet. The King Archelaus being certified of this wofull case immediately as soone as they told him was so chafed that almost he was bereft of his senses And hereat maruell not at all For gentle hearts doe alter greatly when they are aduertised of any suddaine mishappe As the loue which the King had to Euripides in his life was much so likewise the sorow which he felt at his death was very great for he shed many teares from his eyes he cut the hairs off his head he rounded his beard hee changed his apparrell which he ware and aboue all he made as solemne a funerall to Euripides as if they had buried Vlisses And not contented with al these things he was neuer merry vntill such time he had done cruell execution of the malefactors for truely the iniury or death which is done vnto him whom wee loue is no other but as a bath and token of our owne good wills After iustice was executed of those homicides and that some of the bones all gnawne of the dogs were buried a Grecian Knight said vnto King Archelaus I let the know excellent king that all Macedonta is offended with thee because that for so small a losse thou hast shewed so great sorrow To whom king Archelaus aunswered Among Sages it is a thing sufficiently often tryed that noble hearts ought not to shew themselues sad for mishaps and sodaine chances for the king being sadde his Realme cannot and though it might it ought not shew it selfe merry I haue heard my father say once that Princes should neuer shed teares vnlesse it were for one of these causes 1 The first the Prince should bewaile the losse danger of his common wealth for the good Prince ought to pardon the iniuries done to his person but to reuenge the least act done to the Common-wealth he ought to hazard himselfe 2 The second the good Prince ought to lament if any man haue touched his honour in any wise for the prince which weepeth not drops of bloud for the things touching his honour deserueth to be buried quicke in his graue 3 The third the good Prince ought to bewayle those which can little and suffer much For the Prince which bewayleth not the calamities of the poore in vaine and without profit liueth on the earth 4 The fourth the good Prince ought to bewayle the glory and prosperity wherein the tyrants are For that Prince which with tyranny of the euill is not displeased with the hearts of the good is vnworthy to bee beloued 5 The fift the good Prince ought to bewayle the death of Wise men For to a Prince there can come no greater losse then when a wise man dyeth in his Common wealth These were the words which the King Archelaus answered the Grecian Knight who reproued him because he had wept for the death of Euirpides the Philosopher The ancient Historiographers can say no more of the estimation which the Philosophers and wise men had as well the Greekes as the Latines but I will tell you one thing worthy of noting It is well knowne through all the world that Scipio the Ethnicke was one of the worthiest that euer was in Rome for by his name and by his occasion Rome got such a memory as shall endure And this was not only for that he conquered Affricke but for the great worthinesse of his person Men ought not to esteeme a little these two giftes in one man that is to say to be happy and aduenturous For many of the Auncients in times past wanne glory by their swords and after lost it by their euill liues The Romane Historiographers say that the first that wrote in Heroicall meeter in the Latine tongue was Ennius the Poet the workes of whom was so esteemed of Scipio the Ethnick that when this aduenturous and so luckie Romane dyed he commaunded in his will and testament that they should hang the image of this Ennius the Poet ouer his graue By that the great Scipio did at his death wee may well coniecture how great a friend he was of Sages in his life since he had rather for his honour see the Statue of Ennius on his graue then the banner wherwith he wonne and conquered Affricke In the time of Pirrus which was King of the Epirotes and great enemy of the Romanes flourished a Philosopher named Cinas borne in Thessaly who as they say was the Disciple of Demosthenes The Historiographers at that time did so much
and in this place they talked with him that had businesse and truely it was a great policie for where as the Prince doth not sit the suitor alwaies abridgeth his talke And when the day began to waxe hot he went to the high Capitoll where all the Senate tarryed for him and from thence hee went to the Coliseo where the Ambassadours of the Prouinces were and there remained a great part of the day Afterwards he went to the Chappell of the Vestall Virgins and there he heard euery Nation by it selfe according to the order which was prescribed Hee did eate but one meale in the day and it was very late but he did eate well not of many and diuers sorts of meate but of few and good for the abundance of diuers strange meates breedeth sundry diseases They sawe him once a weeke goe through Rome and if hee went any more it was a wonder at the which time he was alwayes without company both of his owne and also of strangers to the entent all poore men might talke with him of their businesse or complaine of his Officers for it is vnpossible to reforme the Common-wealth if he which ought to remedie it be not informed of the iniuries done in the same He was so gentle in conuersation so pleasant in words so Noble amongst the Great so equall with the least so reasonable in that hee did aske so perfect in that he did worke so patient in iniuries so thankefull of benefites so good to the good and so seuere to the euill that all loued him for being good and all the euill feared him for being iust A man ought not little to esteeme the loue that the people bare to this so good a Prince and Noble Emperour for so much as the Romanes haue been thus that for the felicitie of their estate they offered to their Gods greater Sacrifice then they did in any other Prouinces And Sextus Cheronensis saith that the Romanes offered more Sacrifices to the Gods because they should lengthen the life of the Emperour then they did offer for the profite of the Common-wealth Truely their reason was good for the Prince that leadeth a good life is the heart of the Common-wealth But I doe not maruell that the Emperour was so well willed and beloued of the Romane Empire for he had neuer Porter to his Chamber but the two houres which hee remayned with his wife Faustine All this being past the good Emperour weat into his house into the secretst place hee had according to the counsell of Lucius Seneca the key whereof he alone had in his custodie and neuer trusted any man therewith vntill the houre of his death and then he gaue it to an olde ancient man called Pompeianus saying vnto him these words Thou knowest right well Pompeianus that thou being base I exalted thee to honour thou being poore I gaue thee riches thou being persecuted I drew thee to my Palace I being absent committed my whole honour to thy trust thou being olde I marryed thee with my daughter and doe presently giue thee this Key Behold that in giuing thee it I giue thee my heart and life for I will thou know that death grieueth mee not so much nor the losse of my wife and children as that I cannot carry my Bookes into the graue If the Gods had giuen mee the choyse I had rather choose to be in the graue inuironed with Bookes then to liue accompanied with fooles for if the dead doe read I take them to be aline but if the liuing doe not read I take them to be dead Vnder this key which I giue thee remayneth many Greeke Hebrew Latine and Romame Bookes and aboue all vnder this key remaineth all my paynes swet and trauells all my watchings and laboures where also thou shalt finde Bookes by mee compiled so that though the wormes of the earth doe eate my body yet men shall finde my heart whole amongst these Bookes Once againe I doe require thee and say that thou oughtest not a little to esteeme the key which I giue thee for wise men at the houre of their death alwayes recommend that which they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my Studie thou shalt finde many things with mine owne hand written and well ordered and also I confesse that thou shalt finde many things by me left vnperfect In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not write them yet thou shalt worke them well notwithstanding and by these meanes thou shalt get reward of the Gods for working them Consider Pompeian that I haue beene thy Lord I haue beene thy Father-in-law I haue beene thy Father I haue beene thy Aduocate and aboue all that I haue beene thy speciall friend which is most of all for a man ought to esteeme more a faithfull friend then all the Parents of the world Therefore in the faith of that friendshippe I require that thou keepe this in memorie that euen as I haue recommended to others my Wife my Children my Goods and Riches So I doe leaue vnto thee in singuler recommendation my Honour for Princes leaue of themselues no greater memorie then by the good learning that they haue written I haue beene eighteene yeeres Emperour of Rome and it is threescore and three yeeres that I haue remayned in this wofull life during which time I haue ouercome many Battailes I haue slayne many Pyrates I haue exalted many good I haue punished many euill I haue wonne many Realmes and I haue destroyed many Tyrants but what shall I doe wofull man that I am sith all my companions which were witnesses with me of all these worthy feates shall be companions in the graue with the greedy wormes A thousand yeeres hence when those that are now aliue shall then be dead what is hee that shall say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumph ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I sawe him well beloued of the people I saw him father of the Orphanes I saw him the scourge of Tyrants Truely if all these things had not beene declared by my Bookes or of my friends the dead would neuer haue risen againe to haue declared them What is it for to see a Prince from the time he is borne vntill the time hee come to dye to see the pouertie he passeth the perills he endureth the euill that hee suffereth the shame that he dissembleth the friendshippe that hee fayneth the teares which hee sheddeth the sighes that hee fetcheth the promises that hee maketh and doth not endure for any other cause the miseries of this life but onely to leaue a memorie of him after his death There is no Prince in the world that desireth not to keepe a good house to keepe a good table to apparell himselfe richly and to pay those that serue him in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe through their lippes not drinking thereof As
to come with me from Capua to Rome the selfesame thou hadst to goe with another from Rome to Capua It is an euill thing for vicious â—eâ— to reprooue the vices of others wherein themselues are faulty The cause why I condemn thee to dye is onely for the remembrance of the old Law the which commandeth that no nurse or woman giuing sucke should on paine of death be begotten with childe truly the Law is very iust For honest women do not suffer that in giuing her child sucke at her breast she shold hide another in her entrails These words passed between Gneus Fuluius the Consul and the Ladie Sabina of Capua Howbeit as Plutarche saith in that place the Consull had pitie vpon her and shewed her fauour banishing her vpon condition neuer to returne to Rome againe Cinna Catullus in the fourth booke of the xxij Consulls saith that Caius Fabricius was one of the most notable Consulles that euer was in Rome and was sore afflicted with diseases in his life onely because hee was nourished foure moneths with the milke of a Nurse being great with Childe and for feare of this they locked the nurse with the Childe in the Temple of the Vestall virgines where for the space of iij. yeares they were kept They demaunded the Consul why he did not nourish his children in his house He answered that children being nourished in the house it might bee an occasion that the Nurse should begotteÌ„ with child and so she should destroy the children with her corrupt milke and further giue me occasion to do iustice vpon her person wherefore keeping them so shut vp wee are occasion to preserue their life and also our children from perill Dyodorus Siculus in his librairy and Sextus Cheronensis saith in the life of Marc. Aurelius that in the Isles of Baleares there was a custom that the nurses of young children whether they were their owne or others should be seuered from their Husbands for the space of two yeares And the woman which at that time though it were by her husband were with child though they did not chasten her as an adulteresse yet euery man spake euill of her as of an offender During the time of these two yeares to the ende that the Husband should take no other wife they commanded that hee should take a concubine or that hee should buye a Slaue whose companie hee might vse as his wife for amongst these barbarous hee was honoured most that had two Wiues the one with child and the other not By these Examples aboue recited Princesses and great Ladyes may see what watch care they ought to take in choosing their Nurses that they be honest since of them dependeth not onely the health of their children but also the good fame of their houses The seueÌ„th condition is that Princesses and great ladies ought to see their nurses haue good conditions so that they be not troublesome proud harlots liars malicious nor flatterers for the viper hath not so much poyson as the woman which is euil coÌ„ditioned It little auaileth a man to take wine from a woman to entreate her to eate little and to withdrawe her from her husband if of her owne nature she be hatefull and euill mannered for it is not so great daÌ„ger vnto the child that the nurse be a drunkard or a glutton as it is if she be harmfull malitious If perchaunce the Nurse that nourisheth the child be euil conditioned truly she is euill troubled the house wherin she dwelleth euil coÌ„bred For such one doth importune the Lorde troubleth the Lady putteth in hazard the childe aboue all is not contented with her selfe Finally Fathers for giuing too much libertie to their nurses oft times are the causes of manie practises which they doe wherewith in the ende they are grieued with the death of their childreÌ„ which foloweth Amongst all these which I haue read I say that of the ancient Roman Princes of so good a Father as Drusius Germanicus was neuer came so wicked a son as Caligula was being the iiij Emp of Rome for the Hystoriographers were not satisfied to enrich the praise the excellencies of his Father neyther ceased they to blame and reprehend the infamies of his Sonne And they say that his naughtines proceedeth not of the mother which bare him but of the nurse which gaue him sucke For often times it chaunceth that the tree is green and good when it is planted and afterwardes it becometh drie and withered onely for being carryed into another place Dyon the Greeke in the second book of Caesars saieth that a cursed woman of Campania called Pressilla nourished and gaue suck vnto this wicked child Shee had against all nature of women her breasts as hayrie as the beardes of men and besides that in running a Horse handling her staffe shooting in the Crosse-bowe fewe young men in Rome were to bee compared vnto her It chaunced on a time that as shee was giuing sucke to Caligula for that shee was angrie shee tore in pieces a young child and with the bloud therof annoynted her breasts and so she made Caligula the young Childe to sucke together both bloud and milke The saide Dyon in his booke of the life of the Emperour Caligula saieth that the women of Campania whereof the saide Pressilla was had this custom that wheÌ„ they would giue their Teat to the childe first they did annointe the nipple with the bloud of a hedge-hog to the ende their children might be more fierce and cruell And so was this Caligula for hee was not contented to kill a man onely but also hee sucked the bloud that remained on his Sworde and licked it off with his tongue The excellent Poet Homer meaning to speake plainely of the crueltyes of Pyrrus saide in his Odisse of him such wordes Pyrrus was borne in Greece nourished in Archadie and brought vp with Tygers milke which is a cruell beast as if more plainely he had saide Pyrrus for being borne in Greece was Sage for that hee was brought vp in Archadie he was strong and couragious for to haue sucked Tygars milke he was very proud and cruell Hereof may be gathered that the great Grecian Pyrrus for wanting of good milke was ouercome with euill conditions The selfe same Hystorian Dyon saith in the life of Tiberius that hee was a great Drunkard And the cause hereof was that the Nurse did not onely drinke wine but also she weyned the childe with soppes dipped in Wine And without doubt the cursed Woman had done lesse euill if in the stead of milke she had giuen the child poyson without teaching it to drinke wine wherefore afterwardes he lost his renowne For truely the Romane Empire had lost little if Tiberius had dyed being a childe and it had wonne much if he had neuer knowne what drinking of Wine had meant I haue declared all that which before is mentioned to the intent that Princesses and great Ladyes might
your Bookes full of lawes and the common wealth full of vices Wherefore I sweare vnto you that there are more Thebaines which follow the delitiousnesse of Denis the tyrant then there are vertuous men that follow the lawes of Lycurgus If you Thebaines doe desire greatly to know with what lawes the Lacedemonians doe preserue their Common-wealth I will tell you them all by word and if you will reade them I will shew you them in writing but it shall bee vpon condition that you shall sweare al openly that once a day you shall employ your eyes to reade them and your persons to obserue them for the Prince hath greater honour to see one onely law to be obserued in deed then to ordaine a thousand by writing You ought not to esteeme much to be vertuous in heart nor to enquire of the vertue by the mouth nor to seeke it by labour and trauell of the feet but that which you ought greatly to esteeme is to know what a vertuous law meaneth and that knowne immediately to execute it and afterwards to keepe it For the chiefe vertue is not to doe one vertuous worke but in a swet and trauell to continue in it These therfore were the words that this Philosopher Phetonius sayde to the Thebaines the which as Plato sayeth esteemed more his words that hee spake then they did the Lawes which he brought Truly in mine opinion those of Thebes are to bee praysed and commended and the Philosopher for his word is worthy to be honoured For the ende of those was to search lawes to liue well and the end of the Philosopher was to seeke good meanes for to keepe them in vertue And therefore he thoght it good to shew them and put before their eyes the gibbet and the sword with the other Instruments and torments for the euill do refraine from vice more for feare of punishment then for any desire they haue of amendment I was willing to bring in this history to the end that all curious and vertuous men may see and know how little the Ancients did esteeme the beginning the meane and the end of vertuous works in respect of the perseuerance and preseruation of them Comming therefore to my matter which my penne doth tosse and seeke I aske now presently what it profiteth Princesses and great Ladies that God doe giue them great estates that they be fortunate in marriages that they bee all reuerenced and honoured that they haue great treasures for their inheritances and aboue all that they see their wines great with Childe and that afterward in ioy they see them deliuered that they see their mothers giuing their children sucke and finally they see themselues happy in that they haue found them good nurses health full and honest Truly all this auayleth little if to their children when they are young they doe do not giue masters to instruct them in vertues and they also if they doe not recommend them to good guides to exercise them in feates of Chiualry The Fathers which by sighes penetrate the heauen by praiers importune the liuing God onelie for to haue children ought first to thinke why they will haue children for that iustly to a man may be denied which to an euill end is procured In mine opinion the Father ought to desire to haue a child for that in his age he may sustaine his life in honour and that after his death hee may cause his fame to liue And if a Father desireth not a sonne for this cause at the least he ought to desire him to the end in his age hee may honour his hoary head and that after his death hee may enherite his goods but we see few children do these thinges to their fathers in their age if the fathers haue not taught them in their youth For the fruit doth neuer grow in the haruest vnlesse the tree did beare blosoms in the spring I see oftentimes many Fathers complaine of their children saying that they are disobedient and proude vnto them and they do not consider that they themselues are the cause of all those euils For too much abundance and liberty of youth is no other but a prophesie and manifest token of disobedience in age I know not why Princes and great Lords do toyle oppresse so much scratch to leaue their children great estates and on the other side wee see that in teaching them they are and shewe themselues too negligent for Princes and great Lordes ought to make account that all that which they leaue of their substance to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their consciences are vpright and of their honours carefull ought to bee very diligent to bring vppe their children and chiefly that they consider whether they bee meete to inherite their estates And if perchance the fathers see that their children bee more giuen to folly then to noblenes and wisdome then should I bee ashamed to see a father that is wise trauell all the dayes of his life to leaue much substance to an euill brought vp childe after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thing to see the cates which the Fathers take to gather riches and the diligence that children haue to spend them And in this case I say the sonne is fortunate for that hee doth enherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeath In my opinion Fathers are bound to instruct their children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also because they ought to be their heyres For truly with great griefe and sorrow I suppose hee doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrift the toyle of all his life Hyzearchus the Greeke Hystorian in the booke of his Antiquities Sabellicus in his generall hystory sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complain to the famous Philosopher and ancient Solon Solinon the Sonne complained of the father and the father of the sonne First the sonne informed the quarrell to the Philosopher saying these words I complaine of my Father because hee being rich hath disinherited mee and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the which thing my father ought not nor cannot doe for since he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason hee giue me his goods to maintaine my seeblenes To these wordes answered the father I complaine of my sonne because hee hath not beene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemie for in all things since hee was borne hee hath beene disobedient to my will wherefore I thought it good to disinherite him before my death I would I were quit of all my substance so that the gods had quit him of his life for the earth is very cruell that swalloweth not the child aliue which to his father is disobedient In that he sayeth I haue adopted another child for mine heyre I confesse it is true and for so much
weight and measure plentifull and chiefly if there be good doctrine for the young and little couetousnesse in the old Affro the Historiographer declareth this in the tenth booke De rebus Atheniensium Truly in my opinion the words of this philosopher were few but the sentences were many And for none other cause I did bring in this history but to profite mee of the last word wherein for aunswere hee sayeth that all the profite of the Common wealth consisteth in that there be princes that restraine the auarice of the aged and that there bee Masters to teach the youthfull We see by experience that if the brute beasts were not tyed and the corne and seedes compassed with hedges or ditches a man shold neuer gather the fruit when they are ripe I meane the strife and debate will rise continually among the people if the yong men haue not good fathers to correct them and wise masters to teach them Wee cannot deny but though the knife be made of fine steele yet sometimes it hath neede to bee whet and so in like manner the young man during the time of his youth though he doe not deserue it yet from time to time hee ought to bee corrected O Princes and great Lords I know not of whom you take counsell when your sonne is borne to prouide him of a Master and gouernour whom you chuse not as the most vertuous but as the most richest not as the most sagest but as the most vile and euill taught Finally you doe not trust him with your children that best deserueth it but that most procureth it Againe I say O princes and great Lords why doe you not withdraw your children from their hands which haue their eyes more to their owne profite then their hearts vnto your seruice For such to enrich themselus doe bring vp princes viciously Let not Princes thinke that it is a trifle to know how to finde and chuse a good Master and the Lord which herein doth not employ his diligence is worthy of great rebuke And because they shall not pretend ignorance let them beware of that man whose life is suspitious and extreame couetous In my opinion in the pallace of princes the office of Tutorshippe ought not to be giuen as other common offices that is to say by requests or money by priuities or importunities eyther else for recompence of seruices for it followeth not though a man hath beene Ambassadour in strange Realms or captaine of great Armies in warre or that hee hath possessed in the royall pallace Offices of honour or of estimation that therefore he should bee able to teach or bring vp their children For to bee a good Captaine sufficeth onely to be hardy and fortunate but for to bee a Tutour and gouernour of Princes hee ought to be both sage and vertuous CHAP. XXXV Of the two children of Marcus Aurelius the Emperour of the which the best beloued dyed And of the Masters he prouided for the other named Comodus MArcus Aurelius the 17. Emperour of Rome in the time that hee was married with Faustine onely daughter of the Emperour Antonius Pius had onely two sonnes whereof the eldest was named Comodus and the second Verissimus Of these two children the heyre was Comodus who was so wicked in the 13. yeares he gouerned the Empire that hee seemed rather the Disciple of Nero the cruell then to discend by the mothers side from Antonius the mercifull or sonne of Marcus Aurelius This wicked child Comodus was so light in speech so dishonest in person and so cruell with his people that oft-times hee being aliue they layed wagers that there was no vertue in him to bee found nor any one vice in him that wanted On the contrary part the second sonne named Verissimus was comely of gesture proper of person and in witte very temperate and the most of all was that by his good conuersation of all hee was beloued For the fayre and vertuous Princes by their beauty draweth vnto them mens eyes and by their good conuersation they winne their hearts The child Verissimus was the hope of the common people and the glory of his aged Father so that the Emperor determined that this child Verissimus should bee heyre of the Empire and that the Prince Commodus should bee dishenherited Wherat no man ought to maruell for it is but iust since the childe dooth not amend his life that the father doe dishenherite him When good will doth want and vicious pleasures abound the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being 52. yeares old by chance this childe Verissimus which was the glory of Rome and the hope of the Father at the gate of Hostia of a sodaine sicknesse dyed The death of whom was as vniuersally lamented as his life of all men was desired It was a pittifull thing to see how wofully the Father tooke the death of his entirely beloued son and no lesse lamentable to beholde how the Senate tooke the death of their Prince being the heyre for the aged Father for sorrow did not go to the Senate and the Senate for a few dayes enclosed themselues in the hie Capitoll And let no man maruell though the death of this young Prince was so taken through Rome for if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewayle and lament his death When a Knight a Gentleman a Squire an Officer or when any of the people dyeth there dyeth but one but when a Prince dyeth which was good for all and that he liued to the profite of all then they ought to make account that all do dye they ought all greatly to lament it for oft times it chanceth that after 2. or 3. good Princes a foule flocke of Tyrants succeede Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperor as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely person though the inward sorrow from the rootes of the heart could not bee plucked yet hee determined to dissemble outwardly to bury his grieues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shewe extreame sorrow vnlesse it be that hee hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good Prince as one that hath his vineyarde frozen wherein was all his hope contented with himselfe with that which remaineth his so deerly beloued sonne being dead and commaunded the Prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his onely heire Iulius Capitolinus which was one of those that wrote of the time of Marcus Aurelius saide vpon this matter that when the Father saw the disordinate frailenesse and lightnes and also the little shame which the prince Comodus his Sonne brought with him the aged man beganne to weepe and shed teares from his eyes And it was because the simplenesse and vertues of his deere beloued Sonne Verissimus came into his minde Although this Noble Emperour Marcus Aurelius for the death of
of counsel they themselues imagine and other flattrers telleth that thogh they haue much in respect of other princes yet they can doe little Also they say vnto them that if their substaunce bee great their Fame ought to bee greater Further they tell them that the good Prince ought little to esteeme that hee hath inherited of his predecessors in respect of the great deale more hee ought to leaue to his successours Also they tell them that neuer prince left of him any great memory but inuenting some cruell Warre against his enemie Also they tell them that the houre that one is chosen Emperour of Rome hee may boldely conquer the whole earth These vaine reasons being heard of the princes afterwardes as their Fortune is base and their mindes high immediately they defie their enemies they open their Treasures they assemble great armies and in the end of all the Gods suffer that they thinking to tkae an other mans goods they waste and lose their owne Oh Princes I knowe not who doth deceyue yee that you which by peace may be rich and by war wil be poore Oh Princes I know not who doth deceiue you that you which may be loued doe seeke occasions to be hated Oh princes I knowe not who doth beguyle yee that yee which may enioy a sure life doe aduenture your selues to the mutabilitie of Fortune Oh princes I knowe not who doeth deceyue you that you so little esteeme and weigh your owne aboundance and so greatly set by the wants of others Oh princes I know not who doth deceiue you that all hauing need of you you should haue neede of others I let thee to knowe my Cornelius though a prince bee more quicke and carefull then all other his predecessors haue bin in Rome yet it is vnpossible that all things touching warre should succeede vnto him prosperously For in the greatest neede of warres eyther he wanteth money or his subiects do not succour him or time is contrarie vnto him or he findeth perilous pasges hee lacketh Artillerie or the captaines rebell or else succour commeth to his aduersaryes so that hee seeth himselfe so miserable that thoughtes doe more oppresse his heart then the enemies do harme his land Though a prince had no warre but for to suffer men of warre yet he ought to take vpon him no warre I aske thee now my Cornelius what trauell so great to his person or what greater damage to his Realme can his Enemies do then that which his own men of warre doe c The Enemies to doe the worst they can will but robbe our Frontiers but our men of War do robbe the whole countrey The Enemies we dare and may resist but to ours we cannot nor dare not speake The Enemyes the worst they can do is once in a moneth to robbe and runne their wayes but ours daily do robbe and remaine still The Enemyes feare their enemies only but ours doe feare their enemyes and haue no pitie on their friends The enemies the further they goe on the more they diminish but ours the further they goe the more they encrease I know no greater warre that Princes can haue then to haue men of warre in their realmes For as experience doth shew vs before the Gods they are culpable to Princes importunate and to the people troublesome so that they liue to the damage of all and to the profit of none By the God Mars I swear vnto thee my friend Cornelius as hee may direct my hands in the war that I haue more complaints in the Senate of the thefts which my Captaines did in Illyria then of all the enemies of the Romane people Both for that I say and for that I kept secret I am more afraid to create an Ensigne of two hundred men of warre then to giue a cruell battell to thirty thousand men For that battell fortune good or euill forthwith dispacheth but with these I can bee sure no time of all my life Thou wilt say vnto me Cornelius that since I am Emperour of Rome I should remedy this since I know it For that Prince which dissembleth with the fault of another by reason hee will condemne him as if it were his owne To this I answere that I am not mighty enough to remedy it except by my remedy there should spring a greater inconuenience And since thou hast not beene a Prince thou couldest not fall into that I haue nor yet vnderstand that which I say For Princes by their wisdom know many things the which to remedy they haue no power So it hath beene so it is so it shall be so I found it so I keepe it so will I leaue it them so I haue reade it in bookes so haue I seen it with my eyes so haue I heard it of my predecessors And finally I say our Fathers haue inuented it and so will wee their children sustaine it and for this euill wee will leaue it to our heyres I will tell thee one thing and imagine that I erre not therein which is considering the great dammage and little profite which men of warre do bring to our Common wealth I thinke to doe it and to sustaine it eyther it is the folly of men or a scourge giuen of the Gods For there can be nothing more iust then for the Gods to permit that wee feele that in our owne houses which wee cause others in strange houses to lament All those thinges I haue written vnto thee not for that it skileth greatly that I know them but that my heart is at ease for to vtter them For as Alcibiades sayde the chests and the hearts ought alwayes to be open to their friends Panutius my Secretary goeth in my behalfe to visite that Land and I gaue him this Letter to giue thee with two Horses wherewith I doe thinke thou wilt be contented for they are Genets The Weapons and riches which I tooke of the Parthians I haue now diuided notwithstanding I do send thee two Chariots laden with them My wife Faustine greeteth thee and shee sendeth a rich glasse for thy Daughter and a iewell with stones for thy sister No more but I doe beseech the gods to giue thee a good life and me a good death CHAP. XVII An Admonition of the Author to Princes and great Lordes to the entent that the more they grow in yeares the more they are bound to refrayne from vices AVlus Gelius in his booke De noctibus Atticis sayeth that there was an auncient custome among the Romanes to honour and haue in great reuerence aged men And this was so inuiolate a Law amongst them that there was none so noble of bloud and linage neyther so puissant in riches neyther so fortunate in battels that should go before the aged men which were loden with white hayres so that they honoured them as they did the Gods Amongst other the aged men had these preheminences that is to say that in feasts they sate highest in the
thousand to helpe to marry her and the other thousand to helpe for to releeue your pouerty My wife Faustine is sicke and I send you another 1000. Sesterces to giue to the Vestall virgins to pray to the Gods for her My wife sendeth to thee Claudine a Cofer by the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee I cannot tell what is in it I beseech the Gods sithence you are aged to giue you a good death and to me and Faustine they suffer vs to leade a good life Marcus of mount Celio with his own hand writeth this CHAP. XXIII Princes ought to take heede that they be not noted of auarice for that the couetous man is both of God and man hated THe great Alexander King of Macedony and Darius the vnfortunate King of Persians were not onely contrary in wars and conquests which they made but also in the conditions and inclinations which they had For Alexander naturally loued to giue and spend and Darius to the contrarie to heape locke and keepe When the fame of Alexander was spredde abroade throughout all the word to bee a Prince of honour and not couetous his owne loued him intirely strangers desired to serue him faithfully The miserable King Darius as he was noted of great auarice and of small liberality so his did disobey him and strangers hated him whereof may be gathered that Princes and great Lords by giuing do make them selues rich and in keeping they make themselues poore Plutarch in his Apothegmes declareth that after King Darius was dead and Alexander had triumphed ouer all the Orientall parts a man of Thebes being in the market place of Athens setting forth the fortune of Alexander for the sundry Countryes which hee had conquered and describing the euill fortune of Darius for the great number of men which hee had lost a Philosopher with a loude voyce sayd O man of Thebes thou art greatly deceyued to think that one prince loseth many seigniories and that the other Prince winneth many Realmes For Alexander the Great wann nought but stones and couerings of Cities for with his liberality hee had already gotten the good wils of the Citizens and on the contrary the vnfortunate Darius did not lose but stones and the couertures of Cities for with his couetousnesse and auarice hee had now lost all the hearts of those of Asia And further this Philosopher sayde vnto him that Princes which will enlarge their estates and amplifie their realmes in their conquests ought first to winne the hearts and to bee noble and liberall and afterwards to send their armies to conquer the Forts and wals for otherwise little auayleth it to winne the stones if the hearts do rebell Whereby a man may gather that that which Alexander wanne he wanne by liberality and stoutenesse and that which King Darius lost he lost for being miserable and couetous And let vs not maruell hereat for that Princes and great Lordes which are ouercome with auarice I doubt whether euer they shall see themselus Conquerours of many realmes The vice of auarice is so detestable so euil so odious and so perillous that if a man should employ himselfe for to write all the discommodities thereunto belonging my penne shoulde do nought else then to presume to drye vp all the water in the sea For the stomacke where auarice entreth causeth a man to serue vices worship Idols If a vertuous man would prepare himselfe to thinke on the great trauel and little rest that this cursed vice beareth with him I thinke that none would be vicious therein Though the couetous man had no other trauell but alwayes to goe to bed with daunger and to rise vp with care Mee thinketh that it is a trouble sufficient for such a one when he goeth to bed thinketh that hee should bee killed in his bedde or that sleeping his coffers should be rifled and from that time he riseth hee is alwayes tormented with feare to lose that which he hath wonne and carefull to augment that little too much The diuine Plato in the first booke of his Common-wealth sayde these words The men be made rich because they neuer learned to bee rich for he which continually and truly will become rich first ought to abhorre couetousnesse before he begin to occupie himselfe to locke vppe goods For the man which setteth no bond to his desire shall alwayes haue little though hee see himselfe Lord of the world The sentence of the Stoyckes doth satisfie my mind much whereof Aristotle in his politikes maketh mention where he sayth That vnto great affayres are alwayes required great riches and there is no extreame pouertie but where there hath beene great aboundance c. Thereof ensueth that vnto Princes and great Lordes which haue much they want much because vnto men which haue had little they can want but little If wee admonish worldlings not to be vicious they will alwayes haue excuses to excuse themselues declaring why they haue been vicious the vice of Auarice excepted to whome and with whom they haue no excuse For if one vaine reason be ready to excuse there are two thousand to condemne them Let vs put example in all the principall vices and wee shall see how this onely of Auarice remaineth condemned and not excused If we reason why a noble Prince or great Lord is hautie and proude He will aunswere that hee hath great occasion For the naturall disposition of men is rather to desire to commaund with trauell then to serue with quyetnes and rest If we reproue any man that is furious and giuen to anger hee will aunswere vs that we maruell not since we maruell not of the proude For that the enemy hath no more authority to trouble any man then the other to take reuenge of him If we blame him for that he is fleshly and vicious he will answer vs that hee cannot abstaine from that sinne For if any man can eschew the actes he fighteth continually with vncleane thoughts If wee say that anie man is negligent hee will answere vs that he deserueth not to be blamed For the vilenes of our nature is such that if we do trauell it immediately it is wearie and if we rest it immediately it reioyceth If wee rebuke any man that is a glutton hee will answere vs that without eating and drinking wee cannot liue in the world for the Diuine Word hath not forbidden man to eate with the mouth but the vncleane thoughts which come from the heart As of these few vices we haue declared so may wee excuse all the residue but to the vice of couetousnesse none can giue a reasonable excuse For with money put into the coffer the soule cannot profite nor the bodie reioyce Boetius in his booke of consolation said That Money is good not when wee haue it in possession but when wee want it And in very deede the sentence of Boetius is very profound For when man spendeth money he attaineth to that he
demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue heard thee speake so well of death doe presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease doth cause it thy feeble nature doth permit it the sinfull Rome doth deserue it and the sickle fortune agreeth that for our great miserie thou shouldest die Why therefore sighest thou so much for to die The trauels which of necessitie must needes come with stout heart ought to be receiued The cowardly heart falleth before hee is beaten downe but the stout and valiant stomacke in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou owest one death to the gods and not two Why wilt thou therefore being but one pay for two and for one onely life take two deaths I meane that before thou endest life thou diest for pure sorrow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doe render thee in the safe Hauen once againe thou wilt runne into the raging Sea where thou scapest the victorie of life and thou dyest with the ambushments of death Threescore and two yeeres hast thou fought in the Field and neuer turned thy backe and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the Graue Hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast beene enclosed and now thou tremblest being in the sure way Thou knowest what dammage it is long to liue and now thou doubtest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeeres since death and thou haue beene at defyance as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy Weapons thou flyest and turnest thy backe Threescore and two yeeres are past since thou wert bent against fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtest ouer her to triumph By that I haue told thee I meane that since wee doe not see thee take death willingly at this present we do suspect that thy life hath not in times past beene very good For the man which hath no desire to appeare before the gods it is a token he is loaden with vices What meanest thou most noble Prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in despaire If thou weepest because thou dyest I answer thee that thou laughest as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath alwaies for his heritage appropriated the places being in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the minde who shall bee so hardy to make steadie I meane that all are dead all die all shall die among all wilt thou alone liue Wilt thou obtaine of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to say that they make thee immortall as thēselues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demandeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to die well or to liue euill I doubt that any man may attaine to the meanes to liue well according to the continuall and variable troubles and vexations which daily we haue accustomed to carrie betweene our hands alwayes suffering hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptations persecutions euill fortunes ouerthrowes and diseases This cannot be called life but a long death and with reason wee will call this life death since a thousand times we hate life If an ancient man did make a shew of his life from time he is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the time hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that body would declare al the sorrowes that he hath passed and the heart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which he hath suffered I imagine the gods would maruell and men would wonder at the body which hath endured so much and the heart which hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greeks to be more wise which weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romanes which sing when their children are borne and weepe when the olde men die Wee haue much reason to laugh when the olde men die since they dy to laugh and with great reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe CHAP. LI. Panutius the Secretarie continueth his exhortation admonishing all men willingly to accept death vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities SInce life is now condemned for euill there remaineth nought else but to approoue death to be good Oh if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue heard the disputation of this matter so now that thou couldest therewith profite But I am sorry that to the Sage and wise man counsell sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleaue much to his owne opinion but sometimes he should follow the counsell of the third person For the man which in all things will follow his owne aduise ought well to be assured that in all or the most part hee shall erre O my Lord Marke sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and ancient didst not thou thinke that as thou hadst buried many so likewise some should burie thee What imaginations were thine to thinke that seeing the ende of their dayes others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rich honorably accompanied olde and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the commonwealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast alwaies beene a friend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Since thou hast prooued what honours and dishonours deserue riches and pouertie prosperitie and aduersitie ioy and sorrow loue and fear vices and pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remaineth to know but that it is necessarie to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble Lord that thou shalt learne more in one houre what death is then in an hundred yeares what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to be good and hast liued as good is it better that thou die and goe with so many good then that thou scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doe maruell that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discreet Many things doe the sage men feele which inwardly doe oppresse their heart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honour If all the poyson which in the sorrowfull heart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the wals would not suffice to rubbbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore wherewith to shut the shop wherein all the miserie of this wofull life are vendible What wrong or preiudice doe the gods vnto vs when they call vs before them but from an old decayd house to change
offer therin the sacrifice accustomed For wee doe not this honour to the substance wherewith the Temples are made but to the gods to whome they are consecrated I commend vnto thee the veneration of Priests I pray thee though they be couetous auaritious dissolute vnpatient negligent and vitious yet that they bee not dishonoured for to vs others it appertaineth not to iudge of the life they lead as men but wee must consider that they are mediators between the gods and vs. Behold my sonne that to serue the Gods honour the Temples and reuerence the Priests it is not a thing voluntary but verie necessarie for Princes For so long endured the glorie of the Greekes as they were worshippers of their goods and carefull of their temples The vnhappy realm of Carthage was nothing more cowardly nor lesse rich then that of the Romanes but in the ende of the Romaines they were ouercome because they were great louers of their treasures and little worshippers of their Temples I commend vnto thee my sonne Helia thy stepmother and remember though she be not thy mother yet shee hath beene my wife That which to thy mother Faustine thou oughtest for bringing thee into the world the selfe same thou oughtest to Helia for the good entertainement she hath shewed thee And indeed oftentimes I beeing offended with thee shee maintained thee and caused me to forget so that shee by her good wordes did winne againe that which thou by thy euill workes didst lose Thou shalt haue my curse if thou vsest her euill and thou shalt fall into the ire of the Gods if thou agreest that other doe not vse her well For all the damage which shee shall feele shall not bee but for the inconuenience of my death and iniury of thy person For her Dowrie I leaue her the tributes of Hestia and the Orchards of Vulcanus which I haue made to bee planted for her recreation Be thou not so hardy to take them from her for in taking them from her thou shalt shew thy wickednes and in leauing them her thy obedience and in giuing her more thy bounty and liberality Remember my sonne that shee is a Romane woman young and a widdow and of the house of Traiane my Lord that shee is thy mother adoptatiue and my naturall wife and aboue all for that I leaue her recommended vnto thee I commend vnto thee my sons in law whom I will thou vse as parents and friends And beware that thou be not of those which are brethren in words and cousins in workes Bee thou assured that I haue willed so much good to my daughters that the best which were in all the Countries I haue chosen for their persons And they haue beene so good that if in giuing them my daughters they were my sonnes in law in loue I loued them as children I commend vnto thee my sisters and daughters whom I leaue thee all married not with strange Kings but with naturall Senators So that all dwell in Rome where they may doe thee seruices and thou mayest giue them rewards and gifts Thy sisters haue greatly inherited the beauty of thy mother Faustine and haue taken little nature of their Father Marke But I sweare vnto thee that I haue giuen them such husbands and to their husbands such and so profitable counsailes that they would rather lose their life then agree to any thing touching their dishonour Vse thy sisters in such fort that they be not out of fauour for that their aged Father is dead and that they become not proud for to see their brother Emperour Women are of a very tender condition for of small occasion they doe complaine and of lesse they waxe proud Thou shalt keepe them and preserue them after my death as I did in my life For otherwise their conuersation to the people shall bee very noysome and to thee very importunate I commende vnto thee Lipula thy youngest sister which is inclosed within the Virgine Vestals who was daughter of thy mother Faustine whom so dearely I haue loued in life and whose death I haue bewailed vntill my death Euery yeere I gaue to thy sister sixe thousand sexterces for her necessities and indeeed I had married her also if shee had not fallen into the fire and burnt her face For though she were my last I loued her with all my heart All haue esteemed her fall into the fire for euill lucke but I doe count that euill lucke for good fortune For her face was not so burned with coales as her rerenowne suffered perill among euill tongues I sweare vnto thee my sonne that for the seruice of the gods and for the renowne of men she is more sure in the temple with the Vestall Virgins then thou art in the Senate with thy Senators I suppose now that at the end of the iourney shee shall find her selfe better to be enclosed then thou at liberty I leaue vnto her in the prouince of Lucania euery yeare sixe thousand sexterces trauell to augment them for her and not to diminish them I commend vnto thee Drusia the Roman widdow who hath a processe in the Senate For in the times of the commotions past her husband was banished and proclaymed Traytor I haue great pitty of so noble and worthy a widdow for it is now three monethes since shee hath put vp her complaint for the great warres I could not shew her iustice Thou shalt finde my sonne that in 35. yeares I haue gouerned in Rome I neuer agreed that any widow should haue any sute before me aboue eight dayes Be carefull to fauour and dispatch the orphans and widdows for the needy widdow in what place soeuer they be do incur into great danger Not without cause I aduertise thee that thou trauell to dispatch thē so soone as thou mayest and to administer iustice vnto them for throgh the prolonging of beautifull womens suites their honour and credite is diminished so that their businesse being prolonged they shall not recouer so much of their goods as they shall lose of their renowme I commend vnto thee my sonne my olde seruants which with my yong yeeres and my cruell wars with my great necessities with the cumbrance of my body and my long disease haue had great trouble and as faithful seruants oftentimes to ease me haue annoyed themselues It is conuenient since I haue profited of their life that they should not lose by my death Of one thing I assure thee that though my body remaine with the worms in the graue yet before the gods I will remember them And herein thou shalt shew thy selfe to be a good child whē thou shalt recompence those which haue serued thy Father well All Princes which shall do iustice shall get enemies in the execution thereof And sith it is done by the hands of those which are neere him the more familiar they are with the Prince the more are they hated of the people all in generall doe loue
entent that afterwardes suddenly and at vnawares shee may bring vs into some great aduersity By experience dayly we see that the Sea is seldome times calme but immediately there followeth some perillous Tempest The extreame heate of the day doth prognosticate that terrible thunder is the Euentide I meane when Fortune doth flatter vs with her golden pilles it is a token that shee intendeth to catch vs in her snares The Mylner before the banke broken repayreth the dammes The husband man before it raineth thacketh his house fearing the snow and raine that is to come So likewise the sage man ought to cōsider that during this life he hath prosperitie but by leaue and aduersity as by patrimony Marcus Aurelius among all other men was hee that knew how to enioy prosperity and also to preuaile of aduersity Though fortune gaue him much prosperitie yet he neuer trusted therein nor for any troubles that euer he receyued in this life he was at any time abashed CHAP. V. Of the sharpe words which Marcus Aurelius spake to his wife and to his daughter WHen the triumphes before named were finished this good Emperour then beeing willing to vnburden his heart and to aduise Faustine and to teach the yong damosell his daughter and to the end that no man should heare it he called them a part and sayde vnto them these words I am not content Faustine with that thy daughter did nor yet with that which thou hast done being her mother The daughters if they will bee counted for good Children must learne to obey their fathers and the mothers if they will be counted good mothers must learn to bring vp their daughters well When the mother is honest and the daughter shamefast the father is excused in giuing counsell It is great shame to the Father being a man that the Mother beeing a woman should chastife his sonne And this is a great reproach to the mother that the daughter should bee chastised by the hands of any man There was a Law enacted amongst the Rhodians that neyther the Fathers should haue to do with the daughters nor the mothers with the Sonnes but the men vsed to bring vp the men and the women the women And in such wise that they abiding all in one house it seemeth vnto the fathers that they had no daughters and vnto the mothers that they had no sonnes Oh Rome Rome I bewaile thee not to see thy streets vnpaued nor to see thy houses so decayed nor to see thy battlements so fallen downe nor thy timber hewed downe not for the diminishing of the inhabitants for all this Time bringeth and Time taketh away but I weepe for thee againe to see thee vnpeopled of good-fathers and vnprouided in the nourishing of their children Rome beganne to decay when the discipline of Sonnes and Daughters was enlarged and that their bridle was set at libertie For there is now such boldnes in Boyes and so little shamefastnes in Gyrles with dishonestie of the Mothers that whereas one Father sufficed for xx Sonnes and one Mother for xx daughters now xx fathers dare scarcely vndertake to bring vp well one Sonne and xxx Mothers one daughter I say this to you Faustine you remember not how you are a Mother For you giue more libertie to your Daughter then ought to bee suffered And now Lucilla remember not how you are a daughter for you shew to haue more libertie then requireth for a young Maiden The greatest gift that the Gods haue giuen to the Matrones of Rome is because that they are women they keepe themselues close and secret because they are Romanes they are shamefast The day when the women want the feare of the Gods secretlie and shame of men openly beleeue me they shall either faile the world or the world them The common wealth requireth it of great necessity that the women which therein inhabite should bee as honest as the Captaines valiant for the Captaines going to warre defend them and the women which abide at home conserue them As now foure yeares passed you saw this great pestilence and I demaunded then to haue account of the people and I found that of a C. and xl M. honest women lxxx M. dyed and of x. M. dishonest women in a manner they scaped all I cannot tell for which I should weep eyther for the lacke that wee haue of the good and vertuous Women in our common wealth or else for the great hurt and dammages that these euill and wicked women doe to the youth of Rome The fire that burneth in Mount Ethna doth not so much endamage those that dwell in Scicill as one euill woman doth within the walls of Rome A fierce beast and a perillous enemie to the Common wealth is an evill woman for shee is of power to commit all euils and nothing apt to doe any good O how many realmes and Kingdomes reade wee of which by the euill behauiours of one woman haue been lost and to resist against them there hath beene neede both of wisedome perils money and force of many men The vices in a woman is as a green Reede that boweth euery way but the lightnes and dishonesty is as a dry Kyxe that breaketh in such wise that the more euill they vtter the more vnlikely is the amendment therof Beholde Faustine there is no creature that more desireth honour and worse keepeth it then a Woman and that this is true wee see by Iustice by Orations by writing and other Trauells man getteth fame and renowm but without it bee by flattering and faire speaking this houre by auncient wryters we can read of few women or none which eyther by writing reading working with Needle spinning or by weauing haue gotten them any great renowme But euen I say of one so I say of another certainly of diuers we reade by keeping themselues closed in their houses being well occupyed in their busines temperate modest in their wordes faithfull to their Husbandes well-ordered in theyr persons peaceable with their Neighbours and finally for beeing honest amongst their owne Familie and shamefast amongst strangers they haue obtained great renown in their life time and left perpetuall memorie of them after their death I will tell you an ancient history as profitable to restraine your vices as it did then augment vertues which is this The Realme of the Lacedemonians saieth Plato was a long time as dissolute through the vnthriftines of the women-kinde as infamed by the vices of the men So that of all Nations they were both called and esteemed barbarous what time Greece of the Phylosophers was called The Mother of Phylosophers Lycurgus a moste wise Phylosopher in knowledge and a right iust king concerning his gouernāce partly with his doctrine very profitable and partly with his life most pure ordayned Lawes in the said Realm whereby hee expelled all vices and planted all vertues I cannot tell which of these two were most happyest the King hauing so obedient people or else the
art esteemed beautifull bee likewise honoured for taking of good councell In this sort though my losse be much and thy patience little yet shall they account me wise in giuing counsell and the most happie to follow it One thing I will say vnto thee and pardon mee therein Women bee much defamed in that they will take no counsell and such as doe assure their renowme so much on the iudgement of others as they condemne well doing before I thinke good if it so like thee and would if thou wilt that thou shouldest doe in all 〈…〉 I haue counselled thee I will say no more Lady Lyuia but that I do present vnto thee all my vnfortunate troubles my sighes as a desperate man my seruice as thy seruant my troubled griefes my wordes of Phylosophie and my teares as a Louer I send thee heere a gyrstle of Gold on condition that thou alwayes sixe thine Eyes on that and thy heart on mee I pray the Gods giue mee to thee and thee to mee Marke the open Phylosopher wrote this in great 〈◊〉 FINIS The heatheÌ„ may teach Christians how to liue 〈…〉 A worthy sentence of Plato A prettie sentence The trees of the earth sheweth the malice of man A good lesson for all persons to follow A comparison necessiry to be respected A Sentence of Paulus Dyaconus The end of warre both fickle vnconstant A speech of Xenophon How daÌ„gerous a thing it is to meddle with Princes affaires The paines that the Authour tooke in this booke The inordinate loue betweene Nero and Pompeia The folly of the Emperour Nero described A commendation of Demosthenes the Philosopher How happy a thing it is to liue vnder a vertuous prince 〈…〉 Diuers Historiographers at controuersie what things were most authentike New things and vnaccustomed ought not to be vsed The prouidence of the Ants. A description of the Alphabet A worthy sentence of Plato 〈…〉 Spayne coÌ„mended for learned meÌ„ expert in the warres The property of this â—ooke of the Dyall of Princes A notable sentence Iulius Caesar A worthy sentence of What was the occasioÌ„ the ancients aduentured their liues How difficult hard a matter it is to attaine to true honour The cruelty of Tyrants heee described layd open A mans owne conscience a iudge betweene truth and lyes A poesie which Cato the Censor had engrauen in his Ring How much Homer was helde in account The commendation of the 〈…〉 of Marcus Aurelius The definition of time according to Archimenedes The saying â—o Plato The opinioÌ„ of Aulus Gellius coÌ„cerning time The reason why this is called the Iron-age For what cause Marcus Aurelius was chosen Emperour The diuersity of mens opinions One ought not rashly to coÌ„demne another mans wryting The time when the Author began to translate the booke of Marcus Aurelius The booke of Marcus Aurelius at the first imprinted without the knowledge of the Authour Marcus Aurelius a Romane born A 〈…〉 to â—l Rome The Epitaph on the graue of Camilla A worthy law among the RomaÌ„s Chaunges of rulers breed florâ— of vices Concerning the Father of Marcus Aurelius The Romanes foure Garrisons Distribution of offices Honourable Armies of the Romans Gbâ—â—uation among the Roman Antiquaries The answere of Phalaris to a Romane Philosopher The triumphes of Marcus Aurelius The Climateriall yeares of mans life The imperfections of young men deserue no publication A most wise and worthy obseruation The heart of a man is seldome satisfied A notable custome in Rome The happines of any Kingdome Cicero in lib de Legibus Idlenes is the badge of all lewdnes The golden and copper dayes of Rome A famous Visitation vsed by the ancient Romanes A towne in the middest of Campania The folly of a Romane Censour The wisedome of a poore Host of Nolo The harme ensuing by euill education of children A Countrey of the lesser Asia neere Phrygia Conference betwixt Marcus and his Master Fiue especial respects among the Romanes Where the Gods are displeased all goodnes decayeth A most diuine and Christian Confession Diuersity of Nations The occasion of the warres betweene the Alleines â—â— Armenians Cicero de natura Deorum â— Notable sentences of Bruxellus The speech of Bruxellus at his death Paul Oros De Mach. Mund. lib. 6 An ancient custome among the Romanes A rule deseruing obseruation Considerations resolued on bâ— the Romans for their owne good The wilfull ignorance and peruersity of the Gentiles Of the great concorde agreement of Noahs Arke The saying of Aristotle Weake is the arine of man to resist against God The mighty Army of Senacherib ouerthrowne The succes of Ioshua ouer Kings and Kingdomes The God of Troy could not resist the Grecian The dignity of the church militant The enmity of nations one against another Variety of opinions concerning the true God Arist in Metaph lib. 12. Mar. Var. in lib mist Theol. Cic. in lib. de nat Deorum Emperours made Gods or Deuils by decree of the Senate Fiue things fitting an Emperour Romaine 〈…〉 goddesse A worthie saying No goodnesse but proceedeth from God All power is in the hand of of God Wherefore Princes should obey God How much men are bound to the Almightie God Hercules de repub Cicero de natura Deorum Pub. Vict. De nuptiis Antiq. Naturall peculiar Gods Plin. ad Rutil Cic de na tu Deorum Couetousnes the root of all euill The iust iudgement of God Good counsell for women Difference betweene a good Prince a Tyrant The speech of Sophia vnto Tiberius Tiberius answere The frailtie of man The saying of Epimenides 〈…〉 The memorable deedes of Tiberius Treasure found by Tiberius A good Lesson Paul Diacon Lib 18. de gestis Roman The false opinion of the Gentils 〈…〉 The outrages of the Gothes A worthy saying approned by Narsetes Buccelinus did many outrages in Italy The inconstancy of Fortune King Synduals Epitaph Ennie a foe to all vertue Narsetes reply The seuere sentence of the Empresse Strange sights seene in the ayre The ingratitude of the Emperour against Narsetes A good obseruation 〈…〉 Marcus Aurelius speech to Gorbon Afflictions incident to all men The miseries of Marcus Aurelius All is worth nothing without the helpe of God The fickle estate or the worlde Difference betweene the good the euill The dâ—â—ty of a good Prince The difference betweene a good prince and a Tyrant Hee that violateth the Temple feareth not God An ancient 〈…〉 The vow of Marcus Camillus The duetie of euery good Captaine The reward of well doing The 〈…〉 into the hands of Pylates The great zeale of the Romains The difference of women in Rome Titus Liuius lib 2. 5. and 9. Difference betweene the true God and the false Princes ought to excell their Subiects What pleasure it is to serue the liuing God What is required in a good Prince Like Prince like people How circumspect Princes ought to be God onely is iust What vertue 〈…〉 to bee in a good prince God the
beginner ender of all things God the giuer of all things Laert. de antiq Graec. The wisdome of Bias the Philosopher Bias the occasion of peace Laert de antiq Graec. Certaine questions resolued by Byas Laws made by Byas God the Creator of all things Rewards 〈…〉 to the 〈…〉 the wicked The mercifull goodnes of God How God punisheth ingratitude Leuit. 10. God the onely ruler of all estates The iust iudgement of God The permission of God The plague of God vpon Idolaters 2. Reg. 6. A good admonition for all Estates Babylon besieged The stout resolution of Pirius The reward due to those that contemne God A good caneat for Magistrates The wickednes of Ahab The punishment of Ahab What mischiefe followes the contemners of God The cruelty of Pompeius The punishment of sacriledge The pride of Xerxes euerthrown The misrable end of Brennus The valour of Gracian What maketh a man to be respected in this world Gracian chosen Emperour The heresie of Arian The description of a religious man The cruelty of Valente The duety of euery good Prince The folly and ouersight of the Emperour The miserable end of the Emperour Valentinian A custome among the Romanes The duty of euery good Christian The description of the Emperour Valentinian The saying of Seneca The death of the Emperour The wisedome and discretion of young Gracian The olde Prouerbe not alwayes true The Oration of the Emperour The duety of euery good Souldier The tyranny of Thyrmus The death of Thyrmus The wickednes of Valent. The death of Theodosius The iudgement of God The lawes ordained by the Counsel of Hyponense What is required of euery true Christian No respect of persons with God Man may purpose but God disposeth The speech of Appolonius A wort saving 〈◊〉 worthie obseruation What we lost by the fall of Adam The difference of opinions The soule mistresse of the body What is required in the gouernemēt of the common wealth God suffereth euill Gouernors for the offences of the people 1 Reg. 8. The folly of youth The power and 〈…〉 of a King The folly of men How much we are boūd to pray vnto God for good Gouernors The gouernment of Rome The care of Princes The reason why warres first began How seruitude began The first tyrant that euer was Belus the first inuentor of wars The mutability of the World God made al things for the vse of man What man loft by Adams fall A warning for all sorts of people Nothing so sure as death The reason wee haue to obey our Prince The pride of Alexander A compendious reprehension How wee ought to iudge of men The propertie of a tyrant In what true Honor consisteth How a Prince must winne honour How true honour is wonne The propertie of a wise man What mean a wise man should vse The greedy desires of man neuer satisfied The man is happie that hath content How a man ought to conceyue of himselfe The lawes of the Garamantes What gifts God bestoweth vp on Princes aboue other men What is required in a Prince What time Thales the Philosopher flourished Thales the first that found out the North starre Questions resolued by Thaks Princes and Magistrates supporters of the common wealth The description of Plutarch The authoritie of Princes What is most requisite in the Common wealth God the only letter vp of Princes Man differeth from all other creatures What benfite cōmeth by a good Prince Good lawes ordayned What the Prince ought to do The King compared to the Common wealth The King the onely head of all The death of Iulius Caesar A Prince ought not to be sparing in words What is required in a Prince for the gouernment of the Common-wealth The commendations of the Emperour Alexander Scue us The feasts of the Romanes The duty of euery good Christian An ancient custome in Rome An other custome in Rome Nothing so hurtfull as an enuious tongne Enuse an enemie to vertue The prayse of Marcus Aurelius Patience ouercommeth many matters True patience described The property of a wise man The replye of the Emperour How a Prince ought to behaue himselfe The Court neuer without flatterers The loue of the prince to his people The fondnes of our time Pride the ouerthrow of great personages Pride the fall of many great men Tarquine noted of vnthankfullnes The punishment of Tarqui The miserable end of euill Gouernours The true patterne of a vertuous Prince A true saying of Homer A description of a perfect friend What pleasure it is to remember dāgers past Two good properties of Marcus Aurelius The Epitaph of Periander An vsuall custome among all Nations Diuers laws made by to Periander the tyrant The punishment of ingratitude The commendation of Phylosophy The battell betweene the Athenians and Lysander The pouerty of the Philosophers of Athens The small hope of the wicked The Philosopher Aeschilus described Aeschilus the first inuenter of Tragedies Aeschilus his opinion wherein the felicity of this life consisted Wherein true felicity consisteth Of the Philosopher Zeno. The strength of Zeno. Wherein felicity consisteth No respect of persons with God The opinion of Anacharsis The felicity of the Sarmatians The Epitaph of Lucius Pius An ancient custome in Rome Warres in Greece euer since the destruction of Troy Idlenes and pastimes hated by the philosopher Crates the Philosopher Estilpho Simonides Archita Gorgias Chrysippus Antistenes Sophocles Euripides Palemon Themistocles Aristides Heraclitus No perfect felicity in this world A description of the City of Thebes Strabo de situ orbis A Law among the Aegyptians By the example of the Thebanes is shewed the duty of euery Christian An in humane custome among the Thebans Beauty the mother of vices Time the consumer of al things The smalest creatures profitable in the commonwealth What folly it is for man not to regard his own soule The vertue of the mind beautifieth the whole body The deformity of Iulius Caesar The valiant deeds of Hanniball The description of Alexander The letter of Marcus Aurelius What offence comes by much talke Learning well regarin ancient times An euill man a wicked member in a common-wealth How children should be brought The description of a yong man The of the wicked The office of death What death is The miserable estate of man The counsell of wise men euer respected among the Ancients What is required of euery Magistrate What hurt commeth by euill Counsellors What benefite proceedeth frō good Councellors Time best spent in the seruice of God How little wisedome now a dayes is regarded Youth subiect to many vices How circumspect Princes ought to be 〈…〉 Theodosius The duety of euery good Christian The loue of a master to his seruants The fault of many Princes The inconstancy of the world The younger sort must accompany with the vertuous Proud and ambitious men ought not to gouerne Plin lib. de nat hist The description of Cresus The godly minde of Cresus The letter of king Cresus The description
Iudaic What caused Cicero to bee famous The opinioÌ„ of Plato The commendation of Iulius Caesar The ordinances of Socrates How euerie man ought to guide gouerne himselfe Children compared to Trees How to choose Nurses for children The glory of the Ancients to enioy vertuous women Greece euer famous for learned women Disputation betweene the women of Greece and Rome The wickednes of Heliogabalus The ancient women farre excelled these in our times The difference betweene one man and another The commendation of Aretha The Epitaph of Aretha The proty of women Man without truth is not worthie to be regarded The humilitie of Pythagoras The wife of King Euander a Prophetesse A custome among the Macedonians K. Alexanders answer concerning his mariage The prayse of Cornificia The speech betweene Calphurnius and Cornificius How great Ladies ought to to esteeme of theÌ„selues What difference there is betweene the women of our time the ancients Fiue Families in Rome chiefly were esteemed The Epitaph of Cornelia A letter of a Romane Lady to her two sons The wickednesse of Rome described The vncertainety of mans life 〈…〉 The commendations of warlike men A Law among the Tharentines How euery man women ought to spend their time What a good traueller in this worlde ought to seeke for The vanity and foolish opinion of the commoÌ„ people The Philosopher Phetonius his answere to the Thebaines The Philosophers counsell acceptable to the Thebanes The reason why parents are bound to instruct then children How childreÌ„ ought to bee brought vp What mischiefe commeth by giuing childreÌ„ their owne will in their youth Questions demaunded of Dyogenes the Phylosopher 2. Things to be obserued of all men What comfort parents may looke for of their children Ordinances and customes of the Rhodians What youth ought to obstaine from A Lawe among the Athenians The miserable estate of man What misfortunes are incident to man in this life Men ought to flie the pleasures vanities of this life Wholsome and warie lawes of the Lacedemonians The speech of 〈…〉 concerning the professe of the Lygures The stoute answere of the English Ambassadour to the Romanes The prowesse of Viriatus and his vntimely death An ancient Law obserued by the inhabitants of Capua The answer of the Emperour Augustus Caesar The prouidence of a careful mother The commendations of the labouring man The more teÌ„derly children are brought vp the more diseased they proue ChildreÌ„ the dishonor of their pareÌ„ts wheÌ„ they be not well brought vp Distastfull things vnfit for either young or olde Vide Genes c. Excellent comparison and forewarning c. Aduised caueats for the bringing vp of teÌ„der youth What conditions belong to a good schol master Like master like scholler What is required in a well gouerned CoÌ„mon welth The speech of Camillus Camillus loued of the Romanes and feared of his enemies A good law in Rome fitte to bee vsed all the world ouer A custome of the Carthagenians The carefulnes of Princes in times past to bring vp their chidren A custome among the Athemans Questions demaunded by the phylosophers of Athens Affro de rebus Atheniensium A great thing for parents to chuse good Tutors to their children The descrip of a cruell and wicked Prince The death of the Prince Verissimus greatly bewayled The tendernes of the Emperour toward his sonne How euery man ought to examine their tutors How circuÌ„spect the Emperour was in chusing teachers for his sonne With what vertues Princes ought to be adorned How princes shoulde giue credite to their seruants Three of offences neuer pardoned in Rome The greate loue of the Romanes to the Emperour A question demaunded of the Emperour and his answere The wisedome of the Emperour Marcus Aurelius The speech of the Emperour to the philosophers How a wiseman is discerned from a foole An ancient Law among the Romans worthy obseruation What Rome was in ancient time Rome in auncient times â—â—iled the Mother of good workes One badde worke marres many good speeches What is required in a sage Phylosopher WheÌ„ Rome flourished in vertue What moued the Emperour to put away the Phylosophers The counsell of the Emperour What is required in good Tutors The Phylosophers speeche to K. Seleucus King Seuleucus his answer What profit cometh to children by good counsell Tutors ought not to beare with the vices of theyr schollers Custome in sinning is hardly to be reclaimed Schoolemasters ought not to bee couetous The complaint of Apuleius Rufynus to the Emperour Seuerus The senteÌ„ce of the Emp Seuerus What euil followed covetousnesse The speech of the Emperour to the nine Masters of his sonne Comodus The duty of euery good Father to prouide good instructors for their children Good tutors compared to naturall Fathers What is required in a good instructor of children Difference betweene the Teachers of Princes children others What is required in a Scholler The earefulnes of the Emperour for the Common-wealth Children in their youth apt to entertain all vices What is required in the master towards his Schollers An ancient Law in Rome A cruell sentence vpon a lyer The speech of a Senator to the Emperour The Emperours answere How carefull masters ought to be to refraine their schollers from lying and gaming The speech of the Emperour Octauian The sentence of the Emperour vpon the Prince and his master What is required in great mens Children The reward of shamefastnes Commendation of the Empeperour The odosius A memorable thing of the Emperour Theodosius The ordinances of Plato Young meÌ„ ought to abstaine from the vice of the flesh What inconuenieÌ„ce followeth the fleshly minded man A good lesson for Parents The excellency of vertue How vile man were if Iustice were wanting Nothing mor profitable to the Common-wealth then true lustice No nation so barbarous but it founded of instice The office of euery Magistrate What a great thing it is to doe iustice vprightly Hee that in his life is vn iust cannot doe iustice to another Lawes giueÌ„ to the Egyptians What is required in a vertuous Iudge How circuÌ„spect Princes ought to be in chusing Iudges How Iudge ought to bestowe their time Difference betweene him that is iust and him that administreth iustice Ancient Lawes and customes ought nor to be broken Princes ought not to be partiall in iudgement Princes the ministers of God for Iustice An excelleÌ„t saying of Alexander Seuerus The Lawes of Plato concerning princes The difference betweene a tyrant and a good prince A great pestilence in Rome in the time of M Aurelius The description of the villaine The oration of the villaine to the Senators of Rome Hee that taketh away another mans goods putteth his life also in peril Euery man giuen to one sinne or other The villain continueth his Oration wherein hee layeth open the tyranny and oppression of the Romanes against the Germanes Man may giue the battell but God must giue the victorie Iniury done wher iustice is neglected An Apologie of the
described Cares that are incident to them that hoorde vp riches Deceyuers neuer go vnpunished either in this life or the other A good counsell to reframe froÌ„ couetousnes Couetousnes alwayes accursed A saying of Pisistratus the Tyrant The opinioÌ„ of the Philosopher Lido concerning a couetous man A custome among the Lumbards worthy to be noted and followed Couetousnes in great personages a greater blemish theÌ„ in the poore The safetie of Princes consists in the loue of his subiects A Question lemau ded of great Alaxander his answere An olde prouerbe A worthy â—aying of the Emperour Seuerus The prayse of King Ptolomeus A wise saying of King Ptolomeus A worthy saying of Titus the Emperour A worthy saying of great Alex to king Darius A worthy saying of Phocion the phylosopher Great difference betweene the ancieÌ„t warriours these of our times An ancient custome among the Romanes A Letter of the Emperour to Mercurius What profiteth it a man to couet much since his day â—s are so short Riches neuer letteth man be in quiet Socrates teacheth vs how to esteeme the goods of this world The conclusion of the Emperours letter shewing the nature of couetous men A superscriptio written ouer the gates of the King of Lacedemonia The vices of Rome and Alexandria layd open What it is that couetous men doe long for in this life The tyranny of Mydas described The answere of the Oracle concerning the life of King Mydas Conference betweene Mydas and the Philosopher Silenus The speech of the Philosopher Silenus A worthy thing to bee considered of among Christians A worthy saying of Eschynes the Philosopher Beasts more prouicent in their kinde then man The miserable estate of man in his infancy Nature of men and beasts compared both together The cares troubles that followe man in this life Man of all other creatures subiect to dangers Brute beasts an instrument to punish man Malitious men worse then brure beasts We ought not to regard where our dead corpes are enterred A Letter of the Emperour to a banished man When good orders were obserued in Rome The time when good orders were broken in Rome The reason that Domitius was banished A worthy speech of Seneca to his mother Albina How little wee ought to regard the flatteries of forune Alexaander the great after his so many conquests dyed by poyson How quickly sodaine death ouertaketh many men How carefull men ought to be to liue wel A worthy example of an AtheniaÌ„ King A good custome among the ancient Romanes A rebuke of a frieÌ„d more acceptable then the slattring words of foes The pittifulnes of the Emperour Claudius The speech â—t King Alexander to king Darius Wherefore the worthie Anthoninus was renowm d. A worthy saying of the Emp worthy to be followed How accessarie it is for a wife to be in her owne house A custome vsed by widdowes in ancient times What a coÌ„fort a good husband is to a woman The care that Worldlings haue Sorrowes that women haue in bringing vp their children A saying of Seneca Troubles and cares incident to Widdowes 〈…〉 An ancient Law amoÌ„g the Carthagenians The life vertues of Claudinus described How little this life is to bee respected How little we ought to esteeme of this life MeÌ„ in their kinde more cruell then beasts The prosecutioÌ„ of the Emperours letter to widowes The dutie that euery Christian â—â—eth to God A custome vsed by the Romains in visiting widdowes A custome vsed among the Romane widowes An admonition of the Emperour to widowes to leaue off mourning 〈…〉 What punishment ought to be inflicted vpon a widow of light behauiour The opinion of sundry Philosophers of the description of the world 〈…〉 The deceitfulnes of the world layd open A worthy saying of K. SalomoÌ„ Nothing in this worlde but vanitie The vaine hope of the worldly minded man The speech of the Emp Traian The answer of Plutarch How little we ought to esteeme the flatteries of the world The inconstancie of the world How the world deceiueth sinfull men The vaine opinion of the worldly minded meÌ„ How suddeÌ„ly Death assaulteth vs comfor◠〈…〉 if the Emp Marc Aur. How a true friend is to be knowne The loue of Marcus Aurelius to his friend The considerations that euery man ought to haue A worthy saying of Plato No man in safety to long as hee liueth in this world The Emperour perswedeth meÌ„ to trust in the world What the world is compared vnto How malicious vnconstaÌ„t the world is Fortune Nature two contrary enemyes Doe what thou canst at last the world will deceyue thee Examples of the vncoÌ„stancy of the world Plutarch commendeth the Lacedemonians in obseruing their lawes A saying of Plutarch The laws of Plutarche Wherfore the Romans esteemed Fencers An ancient custome among the Romaines The reason wherefore the RomaÌ„s allowed Iesters Allowance giuen by the Romans to Iuglers The difference betweene Roscio the Iester and Cicero A good and ancient Law amoÌ„g the Lacedemonians Punishment infflicted by Augustus vpon a Iester An other worthy sentence of the Emperour Augustus The vanity of men in maintaining Iesters such idle persons How necessarie it is to bee beneficiall to the poore How hatefull Iesters and loyterers ought to be in a Common-wealth A custome vsed by the Romanes worthy to be vsed of euery Nation The cause wherefore the Emperour wrote this letter The Emperour bewayleth the folly of the Romanes Such company as meÌ„ haunt the same shall they shew in their life To what sorts of people men ought to giue to eate The Emp coÌ„mendeth the isle of Helespont How reuerently the Sages were esteemed in former time The noble minded respect antiquities What vnloked for mischiefes arise at such meetings The reason wherefore the Emperour banished fooles and loyterers The reward a poore Philosopher had for speaking truth Idlenes the mother of all vices The folly of fooles ought to be contemned of the wise The great riches of two Parasites The property of Iuglers A true patterne for good and vertuous children Death the best gift that can be giuen to mortall men How little we ought to esteeme of Death Comforts against the feare of death A Question of Plato demaunded of Socrates A question demanded of Cato his answer A worthie sentence of Seneca A sentence of Plinie A worthie speech of the Emp Theodose None ought to procrastinate or deny their amendment A great discouragemeÌ„t to loâ—e so worthie a personage Extreame sorrows oppressed the good Emp M Aur. Men ought to prouide a cleare conscience to depart this life c. Good counsell against the feare of death Wise men prepare theÌ„selues before death Death terrible to all men Repentance not to be omitted What care is had to inherit transitory goods The worthy secretary Panurius his speech The reason why men studie is to learne to liue well Stedfastnes of minde is commendable The words of a wise man workes strange effects How loath great
men are to die Too much merriment in life breedeth woe in death A custome of the Grecians and Romains Wise men do outwardly dissemble inward griefes The custoÌ„e of many widowes There are two things that grieue men at their death The same order that Time keepeth man ought to follow This transitory life not worth the desiring Man neuer happy till death The trauell of death is harder then all the trauell of life The cause why men feare death He giues best counsel to the sorrowfull that is himselfe likewise tormented The occasion why Aurelius tooke his death heauily Children brought vp in liberty wantonnes easily fals into vices It is perillous to be adorned with naturall giftes to want requisite vertues What parents should glory of in their children Many yong vicious princes in Rome The cruell inscription in Coligulaes brooch The cruelty of Nero to his Mother They seldome mend that are vicious in youth The difference betweene the poore and the rich in death Vicious children by an ancient law disinherited Fiue things that oppressed Marcus Aurelius heart The counsell of the Emperour to his sonne Comodus What words cannot doe treason will The sinnes of a populous Cittie not to be numbred As vice intangleth the vicious so vertue cleaneth to the vertuous Disobedience of children is their vndoing Ripe counsell proceedeth from the aged The pastime that Princes should seeke Princes are to accompanie Ancient men All young men are not light nor all olde men sage Princes that rule many must take counsell of many Weighty affayres are to be dispatched by counsell Whose couÌ„sell is to be refused The marks of an vndiscreet prince or ruler It is more perillous to iniure the dead then the liuing The duty of a thankefull child Ministers are to bee honoured of all men A good admonition for children how to vse their stepmothers Women are of a tender condition Princes that doe iustice doe get enemies in the execution thereof The Emperour here concludeth his speech and endeth his life Death altereth all things Deferring of the punishment is not the pardoning of the fault The wisedome of God in disposing his gifts A Table of good counsell The painefull iourney the Philosophers booke to viâ—â—t good â—en The properties of a true friende What Loue is A remarkeable saying of Zenocrates Great eate is to bee had in choosing a friend The saying of Seneca touching frindship Good workes doe maruellously cheare the heart The times past better then the times present A question demaunded by the Emperour Augustus of Virgil and his answere Sinne is not so pleasaot in the committing as it is likesome in the remembraÌ„ce Good counsell for all men especially for Courtiets Christians are in all things to be prefered before all others What the Author or wryter of books should ayme at A wise man reserueth some time for his profite and recreation Leâ—rned men greatly honored in times past The letter of K. Phili to Aristol at the birth of his sonne Alexander The benefite that accreweth by companying with wise men They are oft times most known that least seeke acquaintaÌ„ce No misery comparable to that of the Courtier Why this name Court was adhibited to the Pallace of Princes It is more difficult to bee a Courtier then a religious person Many a Courtier spends his time all The life of aâ— Courtier an open penance The Courtier is abridged of his liberty An honest hart is more greeued to shew his misery then to suffer it The Courtyer subiect to much trouble What epences the Courtier is at The misery that Courtiers are subiect vnto How Courtyers ought to order their expences The trouble courtyers haue with Friends The griefe of thâ— courtyer that caÌ„not pleasure his friend The mishaps of the Court are more then the fauors The Courtier wanteth many things hee would haue Few purchase fauor in the court A speech of Lucullus and may well bee applyed to euery Courtier Courtiers are rather grieued then relieued with the princely pompes of the Court. The particular troubles of theÌ„ which follow the Court. The Ambition of the Courtyers Many rather glory to be right Courtiers tken good Christians The Courtyer of least calling proues most troublesom All Courtiers subiectto the authority of the Harbingers How a courtyer may make the Harbinget his friend How the Harbinger is to appoint his lodgings The Courtier must entrear his host well where hee lyeth â—ow the Courtier may make his host beholden to him It is necessary for Courtiers to keepe quiet seruants The Courtier is to commaund his seruants courteously to aske of his Host all needfull things Too many women about the Court. The care the Courtier ought to haue of his Apparell How the Courtier is to demeane himselfe at his departure from his lodging The troble of him that is in fauour in the court is great Want of audacity hinders good fortunes The reason why fortune rayseth some and throweth down others The course he must take that would bee in his Princes fauour The saying of Dionisius to Plato other Philosophers that came to visite him Backbyting is a kinde of treason especialâ—y against princes The law of A drian the Emperour againest sedicious persons Good seruice demaÌ„ds recompence though the tongue bee silent Things to be eschewed of him that would speake with the King In what sort the Courtier is to demand recompeuce of the prince The Courtier shoulde not be obstinate How princes are to be spoken to if they be in an error How the Courtier must demean himselfe when his Prince sporteth before him Where wise men are best known What disposition should be in a Princes Iester He that will come to fauour in the Court must be acquainted with all the Courtiers in the Court. A Prince hath alwais some fauourite The inconueniences that follow the needles reasoning of that the King allowes Betweene words spokeÌ„ the inteÌ„t with which they were spoken is great difference It is best for the Courtier to bee 〈◊〉 friendshippe with all if can possible There is no man but giues more credit to one then another Wherein true visitation of our betters or friends consisteth The indiscretion of some that are visited The discretion the Courtyer is to vse in his curtesie One gyft in necessitie is better then a thousand words Two things which a maÌ„ should not trust any with A custome wherein the Courtier may lauish hia reputation When a wise man may put himselfe in perill How hee that is biddeÌ„ to a feast may purchase thaÌ„kâ— of the bidder To what ende wee should desire riches Many not 〈◊〉 to serue God as their own bellies How he is welcome that is a common runner to other mens Tables How he is to demeane himself that will visite noble means Table Many loue to haue their cheere and attendance commended Wine tempered with water bringth 2. commodities No man ought to complaine of want at anothers table What talke should bee vsed at the