seeme to you happy or vnhappy I know not because I was neuer conuersant with him but what if you had had his company would you then know him Can you take knowledge of his felicity by no other meanes No truly Then it seemeth ô Socrates that you will say likewise I cannot tell whether the great King of Persia bee happy or not and so it is true for I know not how he is instructed with learning or with iustice Doth all felicity consists in this Truly by mine opinion for I account that man or woman that is honest and good to be happy and him that is vniust and vnhonest vnhappy Then according to your words Archelaus is vnhappy Yea surely if he be vniust and vnhonest Thus much of Socrates Yet negligence is to be auoided and prouidence without ouermuch care and possession without feare is necessary and requisite It is a wise mans part to put aside dangerous things before they come to do hurt for the losse or harme a man receiueth by his own fault is more grieuous then that which happeneth to him by another man Thucidides saith It is no shame for a man to confesse his pouerty but it is a shame to fall into it by his owne fault He must haue all things premeditate that happeneth to men and thinke the same may fall vpon him for the things that are foreseene before pierce not so deepely as that which commeth suddenly and taketh a man vnwares He that will make his life pleasant must not take ouermuch care to prouide for it neither can any man take full pleasure of any thing except he haue a minde prepared for the losse of it One proâ—…steth by long study to haue learned this to contemne mortall things and not to bee ignorant of his ignorance Death is to all men by nature terrible but to a Christian that knoweth with how great an aduantage hee changeth his estate it ought to bee had in contempt whereof the heathens that knew not God nor what should become of them made little account who for friuolous causes would offer themselues voluntarily to die whose examples though they be not to be followed but auoyded as an vnlawfull and vnnaturall act yet they may serue to perswade men the rather to discharge themselues of all feare of death that haue an assured hope certaine knowledge to possesse the vnspeakable ioyes of heauen when the Infidels through a vaine hope of a better life wherein neuerthelesse they were deceiued would often make choise of a voluntary death CleoÌ„brotus hauing read Plato his booke of the immortality of the Soule wherein he disswadeth men from the ouermuch loue of this life thinking he had found the ready way to deliuer his soule out of prison cast himselfe downe headlong from a high wall and brake his necke They haue a custome in Narsinga that when the men die their wiues be buried aliue with them that with great solemnity and ioy when the king is dead there is a pile of wood of a most pleasant sauour set on fire the kings carkeise carried into it and then all his concubines whereof he hath great store and all his familiar friends and fauourites and such of his seruants as were in estimation with him are likewise carried into that pile of wood to which place they go with such haste ioy to be burnt that to accompany their king in that kind of death they seeme to esteeme it the greatest honour and felicity that can happen to them The Indians by custome doe marry many wiues and when the husband is dead there is great contention among his wiues which of them he loued best that she may be buried with him then she that hath iudgement with her with great ioy merry countenance is led by her friends to the place and casting her selfe into the fire vpon her husband is burnt with him as a most happy woman the rest remaining leading a sorrowfull life There hath been a people dwelling by the mountaines called Rifei who hold this for a custome when they come to the age of 50 They make great piles of wood and put fire to them there burne themselues aliue and sacrifice to their gods and the same day the kinsfolke children make a great feast and do eate their flesh halfe burnt and drinke with wine the dust of their bones How much lesse then should Christians feare death when it pleaseth God to send for them that hope for a crowne of glory after this life They make a good bargaine that with the death of the body seeke the saluation of their Soule Plato saith All the life of wise men is the meditation vpon death that men ought not to be carefull to liue long but to liue well For the honourable age saith Saâ—…mon is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And Euripides saith This life is life by name but in very deed labour Death is not a torment but a rest and end of all mans miseries and labours And Seneca Before old age come a man should learne to liue well and in old age to die well But the day of our death saith Gregory our Creator would not haue knowne to vs that the same being alwayes vnknown may be alwayes thought to be at hand and that euery man should be so much the more feruent in operation by how much hee is vncertaine of his vocation that whilest we be vncertaine when we shall die wee may alwayes come prepared to death And because that is so certaine a thing that no man can escape it shall bee good alwayes to thinke vpon death especially in the time of prosperity â—…or the thinking often thereof will bridle and restraine all other cuill thoughts and desires of worldly vanities for in prosperity we forget humane srailty It is reported that the Emperour Charles the fift fiue yeeres before he died euen when he was occupied in his greatest affaires caused a sepulcher to be made with all things appertaining to it that was necessary for his buriall being dead and that secretly lest it might be taken for ostentation or hypocrisie which things he had closely carried with him whithersoeuer he went fiue yeeres together some thinking there had been some great treasure in it some other that there had been bookes of old stories some thought one thing some another but the Emperour smiling said that he carried it about with him for the vse of a thing to him aboue all others most precious In that sort he seemed to set death alwayes before his eyes that the coÌ„tinuall remeÌ„brance therof might driue from his heart the vaine pompe pride of this world Let vs imagine that we see a maÌ„ of mean estate whose mind is cleansed from all perturbations vnquietnes that hath
give over untill hee had run one course more and looking round about seeing almost none left he called Count Mongomery to him that was Captaine of his guard and commanded him to goe to the end of the Tilt but hee refusing to runne against him desired to be pardoned but the King his destinie drawing him strongly to his end would allow no excuse but putting the staffe in Mongomeries hand that killed him willed him to go to the end of the tilt hee would breake one staffe more before hee departed As they ran 〈◊〉 brake the staffe upon the King with a counterbuffe that the splinters ran into his eye and up toward his braine so as languishing a few daâ—…s he dyed Thus he that thought himselfe by the alliaâ—… of this mightie Prince to bee advanced to great glorie wherein by his new title he seemed to set his felicitie was taken away by the Captaine of his guard that was appointed for his defence in the beginning of his supposed happinesse Sâ—…ctransit transit gloria mundi This strange death of the Kings seemed to be fatall and was presaged before by Ganricus an Italian Astronomer who wrote to the King five yeares before that he had calculated his nativitie that the heavens threatned him in the yeare in which hee should be one and fortie a dangerous wound in the head by which hee should bee either striken blinde or dead both which came to passe therefore hee advised him that yeare to bew are of tilâ—…s tourneys such like pastimes Likewise Nostradamus told some of his friends secretly that the King would be in great danger of his life at the triumph which made them the more attentively behold the same to see the event There was also a child of sixe yeares old brought thither with his father to see the Iustes which boy as hee saw them run to breake their staves would alwaies cry out without ceasing They will kill the King they will kill the King But what danger soever followeth or what care or trouble is in comming by it there are very few examples of them that have refused honour and rule when they have had opportunitie meanes to attaine it But an infinite number of examples of them that by unlawfull means have sought rule to their owne destruction And no part of the world can afford more than the Romane Empire where within the space of one hundred yeares â—…n which were 〈◊〉 and thirteene 〈◊〉 there were but three that dyed in their beds by sicknesse all the 〈◊〉 suffred violent death In the Reign of Galienns there were 〈◊〉 that usurped the name of Emperour The Romanes had a custome to have certaine bands of choice men lodged without thâ—… wals of the Citie of Rome for the guard of their Emperours which they called Pretorian souldiers who by the negligence of some evill Emperours forgetting their old discipline grew so licentious that they used to kill such of their Emperours though they had beene beneficiall to them for whose defence they were appointed as went about to reforme their rapines and dissolute manners and advance others in their places For this hath been alwaies the manners of men to bee moved rather with the hope of a good turne to come than with the remembrance of a benefit already received and to depend rather upon them whose power and reputation they see doth increase than upon them that bee at the highest and have no possibilitie to climbe higher Pertinax was the sonne of a slave that was made free and being trained up in the warres through his vertue and valour hee obtained to the highest dignities in the Romane Empire and after Commodus the cruell Tyrant was slaine hee was made Emperour But after hee had reigned some three moneths to the great liking of the Senate and people of Rome the Pretorian souldiers finding his severitie not so fit for their purpose as the libertie they enjoyed by his Predecessour Commodus certaine of them conspired against him went armed through the Citie of Rome to his Palace with their halberds and swords drawne whereof the Emperour being advertised sent to the Captaine of the 〈◊〉 bands who brought him the first newes of Commodus death whereof he was the principall Author and cause of this mans election to the Imperiall crowne that hee would appease the souldiers but he was so farre from disswading them that hee rather allowed of the enterprise following the common course of tho world and as the Poet saith Dum fueris felix multos â—…merabis amicos Tempor a si fuerint nubila solus â—…ris Whilst happy thou hast many friends but try Them in foule weather and away they fly The Emperour thinking it not agreeable with the majestie of his estate nor answerable to his vertues and former valour by which hee was advanced to so many dignities to flye or hide himselfe as he was counselled hee came forth boldly to the souldiers hoping by his authoritie and majestie of his person to appease them And after hee had demanded of them the cause of their comming in this disordered sort My souldiers quoth he if you come to kill me you shall doe no great or valiant act nor a matter to me very grievous that am so striken in age and have gotten such honour and fame that death cannot much trouble me who am not ignorant that the life of man must have an end But take yee heed that it be not infamous to your selves first to lay hands upon your Emperour that hath done you no harme whose person is committed to your guard defence from all treason violence I may not flye that which the destinies have ordained neither that which you have determined But if this be my last day fatall houre I pray the immortal Gods that the vengeance of the innocent bloud which shall bee fhed of me fall not upon my mother Rome but that every one of you doe feele it in his person his house And though some of the souldiers when Pertinax came to the point to speak these words were moved with the authority and grave words of the good Emperour and were about to retire yet the rest that came after pursued their furious intent and especially one Tuncius seeing all men refusing to kill Pertinax he thrust a launce thorow the middest of his bodie with which wound Pertinax fell to the ground Which being done they cut off his head and put it on a launce and carried it through the streets of Rome and returned againe to their campe with the like speede as they came forth which they fortified and prepared themselves for defence fearing the 〈◊〉 of the people of whom Pertinax they knew was well beloved But after a day or two when they saw that none sought to revenge his death they gathered to them a more boldnesse and by a rare example the like wherof was never heard before the souldiers standing upon the walls of their
of vice or images of vertue The old Romanes desirous to excite their yong men to vertuous acts and considering how men are inclined to the love of honour they built two temples the one of which they dedicated to vertue the other to honour joyned them so artificially together that no man could come into that of honor but he must first come through vertue By which apt device they would have it knowne to all nations that the right way to honour is by vertue But in these latter ages the temple of vertue is so little frequented that the path which was wont to leade to it and be well troden is growne greene and another way found to that of honour by some backe doore not so well knowne in the elder time And if any chance to seeke to come the right and old accustomed way to honour through vertue the doore is kept so fast shut by a porter called envy and his servant detraction that hardly one among thousands can come to honour that way which is a great discouragement to those that would come to honour through vertue and maketh their devotion cold and slow to freqâ—…ent that temple One saith Virtute ambire opoâ—… non â—…bus but if hee have no other helpe in these dayes to prefer him but his vertue he is like to have but a cold sute Wee may wish it were in use that Plaâ—…us sayth Sat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the case is much altered For in stead of favourers he shall have deracters secret enemies alwayes to vertue Which made Plato commend the law of the Lydians that punished detracters with the like punishment as they did murderers For as one taketh away the life of a man so the other taketh away his reputation and good fame which after Saloman is more worth than worldly goods The Poets saying could to no age be more aptly applied than to these latter dayes Virtus 〈◊〉 alget Vertue is praised but not cherisht Which confirmeth Seneca his saying That men allow better of honesty than follow it Medea sayth video 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I see allow of the things that be better but I follow the worse Vertue is a medicine to the minde and healeth the diseases thereof as drugs are medicinable to the body restore it to health For the minde hath his diseases as the body hath For when the body is distempâ—…d and not in his perfect estate he is sayd to be sicke of this or that disease as of an ague of a pleuâ—…sie or such like and needeth Physicke So the mind that is distempered with this or that passion or perturbation as with pride covetousnesse vaineglory voluptuousnesse or such like is not in his perfect estate but needeth vertue as a medicine to restore him to health or his perfect estate againe Which was well signified by Agesilâ—… king of Sparta to Menelaâ—… a vaineglorious Physitian who being puffed up with pride through a reputation he had gotten by his skill in physicke called himselfe Iupiter and having occasion to write to the king his superscription was in Latin and English signification thus Menelâ—… Iupiter Agesilao Regi salute 〈◊〉 Iupiter wisheth to king Agesilaus health He answereth him with this superscription Agesilaus rex Menelao 〈◊〉 king Agesilaus wisheth to Menelaus health of minde reprehending his vanitie with one word by which he signified that want of health and perfection in his mind which hee wished to his body Moral vertue therfore is to be embraced of all men as a necessary and excellent thing and a speciall gift in our carnall nature by which mens mindes are purged and purified of all vehement passions and perturbations with which whosoever is oppressed can not enjoy the happinesse of this life and by which they are continued or restored to their perfect estate and health The good are by this vertue excited and maintained in honest conversation and civillity the bad are reformed and reduced to good life Yet for all that it is not eternall Iustice by which wee are justified before God for that Iustice free-will or reason cannot bring forth But morall vertue maketh men live civilly and honestly which God looketh for even of the heathens or infidels themselves It is better sayth one to live so as thine enemies may bee amazed at thy vertues than that thy friends should have cause to excuse thy vices The Poets faine that as Hercules in his youth sate musing alone what course of life were best for him to take there appeared to him two virgins the one representing vertue the other vice She that represented vertue told him that if hee would follow her hee must climbe over mountaines and craggie rockes and take great paines and labours But the other to allure him to follow her promised him a plaine and pleasant way downe the hill all at his case without any paine or labour Hercules after hee had considered of the matter refused the faire ossers and promises of the virgin that represented vice made choice with labour and paines to follow vertue by which he became the most famous man of the world The heathens were diligent observers of morall vertues through which many of them in all ages became excellent men By them they learned to know their duties to their countrey in generall and to private men in particular to moderate their affections to estimate things as they are and not as they are commonly reputed to contemne the vanities of this world to preferre an honest death before a shamefull life Regâ—…s a man endued with great vertue was sent by the Romanes into Affrica with an army to make warre upon the people of Carthage who after divers victories and overthrowes given to them of Carthage was himselfe at last taken prisoner and sent by them to Rome to treat of peace upon his oath that if that could not be obtained not the exchange of prisoners for himselfe hee should returne to them againe When he came to Rome and had delivered his embassage hee disswaded the Senate from peace and told them that either Carthage must be subject to Rome or Rome to Carthage and advised theÌ„ to make no change of lusty yong Gentlemen that were able to doe their country great service against the Romans for him that was but one man and old and unable to doe his countrey any great good and though the Romans were loth that the old man who had done them such service should returne againe to them that would put him to some unworthy death yet he was so affected to the love of his countrey and to the keeping his promise with his enemies that hee refusing to be stayd by the Romanes told them he would rather chuse to dye any cruell death than that it should be said he had broken his faith And so returning to Carthage with the other Ambassadours for the hatred they conceived against him for disswading the Romanes from their petition they cut off his
man cannot comprehend the lewd and wicked manners and customes that be in Rome ô cursed Rome cursed thou hast been cursed thou art and cursed thou wilt be as thou hast with tyranny made thy selfe Lady of Lords so the time will come when thou with justice shalt returne to be the servant of servants In the time of our forefathers all the youth did exercise themselves in armes now all their pastime is in courting yong women In times past when thou wert peopled with true Romanes and not as thou art now with bastards the armies that went out of Rome were as well disciplined as the Academies of Philosophers that were in Greece if the gods would raise up our forefathers againe either they would not know us for their children or else they would bind us for madmen A yong man told the Senatours that hee came out of strange countries onely to see Rome and now hee found Rome without Rome if my judgment saith he deceive me not either ye be not Romans of Rome or else this is not Rome of the Romans ô Rome if thou knewest truly the vertue of our forefathers and didst consider the lightnesse of us the day that they ended their life the same day not one stone in thee should have bin left upon another and so the fields should have savoured of the bones of the vertuous which now stinke of the bodies of the vicious that which our forefathers did fly from our vaine people in these daies run after Thus may yee see what accouâ—… wise men have do make of Italy the country manners which our Nation hath so great a desire to see and imitate for the Italians have drawne their viocs and evill manners from the Romanes being one natin as the Romanes brought them from other countreyes might not our forefathers have truely prophesied that when our nation became travellers into Italy our manners and conditions would be made worser might they not have said we shal then learn to speak much and performe little to know how to dissemble injuries and never to forgive them to bee very constant in hatred and very changeable in love friendship and out of other countries also other conditions worse than our owne is there a more unseemely thing for a man than quaffing and carowsing even to drunkennesse and to death which happeneth often Antiquity did so much detest luxuriousnesse gay clothes that at Thebes there was a pillar set up in the Church wherin was contained cruell curses against the king Menin that first invented a more delicate life And wil you see how odious this vice of quaffing drunkennes was to the old Romanes Plutarch reporteth that in the Senate of Rome there was an ancient man who made great exclamations that a yong man had so dishonoured him that hee deserved death when the yong man was called to his answer Fathers conscript quoth he though I seeme yong yet I am not so yong but that I knew the father of this old man who was a vertuous and noble Romane and kinne to mee And I seeing that his father had gotten much goods fighting in the warres and this old man spending them in eating and drinking I said to him one day I am very sorry my Lord and uncle for that I heare of thy honor in the market place for that I see done in thy house wherein we have seene fifty armed men here before in onehouse and now wee see an hundred knaves made drunke and as thy father shewed to all those that came into his house the enfignes he had wonne in the warres thou shewest them diverse forts of wines when the Senate had hear dihâ—… both speake they gave judgement that all the goods should bee taken from the old man a tutor provided to governe him and his house who should not give him one cup of wine because hee was noted of drunkennesse The old Romances so much detested this vice of quaffing and drunkennesse that when the Consull Lucius Pius was sent to make war upon the Sarmatians after a season a truce was made in which time the Consull made them a banquet and filled them so full with wine a thing which the Sarmatians above all things most desired that their Captaines yeelde themselves and their countrey into subjection of the Romanes After the wars were ended the Consull returning to Rome required the accustomed triumph which was not only denied him by the Senate but also by decree in recompence of his service his head was striken off and all his acts defaced and the Sarmatians set at libertie againe and freed from the subjection of the Romanes who would not winne kingdomes and countries by quaffing and drunkennesse but by vertue and valor The people of Brasill make a feast when they kill their prisoners and sit drinking three dayes three nights never leave quaffing untill they have emptied all their vessels every draught they drinke is of execeding great quantity and hee that holdeth not out to the end is accounted infamous and effeminate And seeing wee with so great liking imitate the Italians because we thinke their manners agree better with civilky them ours then contrariwise we should reject and concenâ—… the manners which are usuall among those barbarous Heathens that disagree with civility humanity Christianity Mens minds and desires are growne very variable and therefore their resolutions and labours very uncertaine but will yee see what the things be whereabout mens minds are most occupied in these dayes In getting of riches they care not how encreasing their possissions untill they know not when In setting out their bodies with they cannot tel what Carried away with pleasure they wot not whither Hunting after reputation they know not fro whence Seeking happinesse they cannot tell where Luxuriousnesse saith one and the intemperanese of meat and drinke is a flattering evill creepeth sweetly into mens minds but with these vices vertue is destroied the glory that hath bin gotten is turned into insamie the strength of the body and mind is weakned the laws of honesty are overcome neither can there bee any thing invented that is more lothsome hurtfull And as Valerius sayth it is hard for a man to know whether it bee more hurtfullto bee taken of his enemies or of those vices A poore table is the mother of health and a rich table the mother of diseases Ense caduns multi crapula sed perimit plures Many fall by the sword but more by surfet Sophecles said to one I esteeme thee greatly happy for thy life but the best is if thou hast never bin in a strange country The happy man indeed sayth hee will stay at home When I thinke upon Lycurgus laws I cannot but have the má in admiration that could so providently foresee the corruption of good simple maners by the intercourse with strangers for which cause hee did forbid trassique out of the kingdome or suffer strangers
of this disease was so great that there was no roome in the Church-yards to bury the dead and many finding themselues infected with this disease being out of all hope of recouery would presently sow themselues in sheetes looking when death would come to separate the soule from the body These were the whips that God vsed in a generalitie for punishment of sinnes But what would we speake of diseases when Plinie and others write that in two thousand yeeres to their time they haue discouered aboue three hundred diseases to which men are subiect we may say with the Poet Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus 〈◊〉 Prima fugii subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor durae rapit inclementia mortis The best dayes of vs miserable men The first are that make haste from vs and then Diseases come with sorrowfull old age Labour and lust Deaths implacable rage Let vs descend to some particular matter which hath happened to men either by the secret iudgement of God or by some rare accidents Popyelus King of Polonia a man of euil life would often wish that he might be deuoured of mice At last as he was sitting at dinner banquetting and 〈◊〉 a company of great mice set vpon him which came from the carkasses of his vncles which he and the Queene his wife had killed with poyson These mice in great heapes assaulted him his wife and children as they sate feasting and neuer left gnawing vpon them day and night though his guard and souldiers did all they could to driue them away great fires were made and the King his wife and children placed in the middest yet notwithstanding the Mice ran thorow the fire and fell to their gnawing againe Then they went into a ship and prooued what the water would doe the Mice followed them and gnawing continually vpon the Ship the Mariners seeing themselues in danger of drowning the water comming in at the holes which the Mice made brought the Ship to land where another companie of Mice ioyned with these and molested them more then before when his followers saw these things perceiuing it to be the Iudgement of God they all fled The King seeing himselfe left alone and those departed that should defend him he went vp into an high tower but the Mice climbed vp and deuoured him his wife and two sonnes By which it appeareth that there is no policie nor power to be vsed against God The Emperour Arnolphus was likewise eaten vp with Lice his Physicions being vnable to giue him any remedy Hotto Bishop of Ments in Germanie perceiuing the poore people in great lacke of victuals by the scarcitie of corne gathered a great many of them together and shut them into a barne and burnt them saying That they differed little from Mice that consumed corne and were profitable to nothing But God left not so great a crueltie vnreuenged for he made Mice assault him in great heapes which neuer left gnawing vpon him night nor day he fled into a Tower which was in the midst of the Riuâ—…r of Rhyne which to this day is called the Tower of Mice of that euent supposing hee should be safe from them in the midst of the Riuer But an innumerable companie of Mice swam ouer the riuer to execute the iust Iudgement of God and deuoured him The like happened to a Bishop of Strasbrough who was also deuoured with mice When Harold King of Denmarke made warre vpon Harquinus and was ready to ioyne battell there was a dart seene in the aire flying this way and that way as though it sought vpon whom to light And when all men stood wondering what would become of this strange matter euery man fearing himselfe at last the dart fell vpon Harquinus head and slew him An Italian Gentleman being vniustly condemned to die as it was thought by Pope Clement the fift at the request of Philip the faire King of France seeing them both out of a window speaketh to them aloud in this sort Thou cruell Clement for as much as there is no iudge in the world before whom a man may appeale from that vniust sentence which thou hast pronounced against me I appeale from thee as from an vniust Iudge to the iust Iudge Iesus Christ before whom I summon thee and likewise thee King Philip at whose suite thou hast giuen iudgement of death vpon me within one yeere to appeare before the Tribunall seat of God where I shall plead my cause which shall be determined without couetousnesse or any other passion as yee haue done It chanced that about the end of the time by him prefixed both the Pope and the King dyed The like happened to Ferdinando the fourth King of Castile who puttìng to death two knights rather through anger then iustice whose fauour could not be obtained neither by weeping and lamenting nor by any petitions they summoned the King to appeare before the Tribunall seat of Christ within thirtie daies the last of which the King died A Captaine likewise of the Gallies of the Genowayes tooke a vessell the Captaine whereof neuer did harme to the Genowayes yet for the hatred that the Captaine of the Genowayes did beare to his Nation he commanded him to be hanged And when no petitions nor prayers would be heard nor excuses allowed nor any mercy would be found hee said to this cruell Captaine that he did appeale to God that punisheth the vniust and summoned him to appeare at a certaine day appointed to render account before God of the wrong he had done him the very same day that he appointed the Captain of the Genowayes dyed of like went to yeeld his account A strange example likewise by a false accusation of an Archbishop of Mentz called Henry This man was indued with many vertues and had great care of his flocke and would punish seuerely publike sinners which procured the hatred of many wicked persons who accused him to the Pope as a man insufficient for his charge laying many faults against him The Pope holding a good opinion of the Bishop aduertised him of it who to purge himselfe and to declare his innocency made choise among all his friends of one Arnand whom he loued dearely and aduanced to many dignities to go to Rome This man being rich intending to depriue his master and to occupie his place suborned two wicked Cardinals with a great summe of money to fauour his practice when he came to answer for his master hee confessed how much bound he was to him yet he was more bound to God and to the truth then to men and said that the accusations laid against the Bishop were true By meanes whereof the Pope sent the two corrupted Cardinals to heate determine the Bishops cause when they came into Germanie they sent for the Archbishop and vpon hearing of his cause depriued him of his dignities and placed Arnand in his roome The Bishop being present at
sensitive and understanding Now let us see in which of these wee may lay the end or felicity of mā The soul giveth life to the body the perfection of life is health If we respect nothing else in this life then he that was first created healthfull had nothing wherewith to occupy himselfe But if sithence our corruption our principall care ought to bee of our health what thing is more unhappy than a man whose felicity standeth upon so false and feeble a ground Seeing the body is subject to an infinite number of perils of hurts of mischances weak and fraile alwaies uncertaine of life and most certaine of death which commeth to him by many means and wayes who is he that is so sound of body or so feeble of mind that if his choise be given him will not rather chuse a sound mind in a sickely body than a little frenzie or imperfection of mind in a very healthful body In the mind therfore our chiefe good must be seeing we be willing to redeem the perfect estate of our mindswth the miseries of our bodies Next unto this is the sensitive part whose felicity seemeth to bee in pleasure but then were beasts more happy than men that feele pleasures more sweetly and fully And how soone are these pleasures ended with repentance also It pleased the gods said Plautus that sorrow should follow pleasure as a companion But wee seeke for the greatest or soveraigne good and if it be good it will amend men aud make them better But what doth more weaken and corrupt men than pleasures and what doth lesse satisfie men and more weary them But wee looke not for that which doth finish but that continueth our delight whereas these pleasures contrariwise soone decay and quickly spoyle us As Petrarke saith Extrema gaudii luctus occupat The extremity of joy and pleasure sorrow doth possesse The delight of the mind is greater and more meet for a man and more agreeable to his end than the pleasures of the senses And if choyce be given to him that hath passed all his life in pleasures and hath but a few houres to come either to enjoy the fairest curtisan in Rome or else to deliver his countrey who is so beastly or barbarous that will not presently chuse rather to delight his mind with so noble an act than to satisfie his senses with pleasure And to conclude the place of pleasures is in the senses which are decayed taken away by sicknesse by wounds by old age And if these pleasures that be exercised by the sensitive part will not sooner be abated yet death will utterly extinguish them But seeing man hath two kindes of life mortall and immortall the one of which he preferreth as farre the better before the other we must not seeke for such an end or good as perish both together but such as maketh men happy indeed everlasting and immortall which cannot be found in these transitory things Now followeth the third part of the soule which is understanding which is occupied sometimes in it selfe sometimes in the matters of the world and other while in the contemplation study of divine things Of these three operatiōs springeth three habits vertue prudence sapience And seeing that understanding is the most excellent thing in man let us see in which of these we may place our soveraigne good For in this part of the soul the end beatitude of man must needs consist for what thing can be imagined beyond man beyond the world beyond the Creator of both That vertue cannot be his end or soveraigne good hath bin shewed before For vertue is nothing but the tranquility quietnes of the affections what be affections but a sodaine tempest in the soule that are raised by a very smal wind which overthrow the mightiest ship that is in a moment and maketh the most skilfull mariners to strike saile and reason it selfe to give over the stern And if our end of felicity should be in vertue what were more miserable than man that must fight continually against his affections which neverthelesse will not be overcome as the mariners labour to save themselves in a tempest from the raging of the sea that gapeth every moment to devoure them So that in this life vertue cannot bring us to felicity and in the other life it can stand us in no stead where wee shall have no affections Therefore vertue cannot bee our end or Soveraigne good Neither is prudence the thing we seeke for which is nothing but the right use of reason in exercising the affaires of this world And what bee the affaires of this world but contention strifes sutes warres bloudshed spoile murders burnings and sackings of townes and countries with an infinite number of such like stuffe Neither can they that have the charge of government in common-wealths which are all subject to these things be accounted happy but they rather are happy that are defended from them by their cares and unqui◅nesse for the Physitians care is more profitable to the f◅che body than to himselfe Besides that men are turned to dust and the world will be destroyed but the soule liveth and forsaketh these kind of affaires Therefore prudence cannot bee the end and felicity of man that is included within the limits of this world CHAP. II. Divine co◅ the best wisedome That our greatest knowledge is ◅eere ignorance Of wonderfull and strange secrets in nature The excellency of faith Religion our reconciliation to God All nations acknowledge a supreame Deity That no vertues are vertues that swerve from religion and godlinesse Of the only true religion Salvation of man the only true beatitude Markes by which the true religion is knowne The necessity of a Mediatour Who and what our Mediatour is And that the soveraigne beatitude is onely to be attained unto by our blessed Saviour Christ Iesus the Righteous LEt vs now examine sapience after Morney as we have done the rest or that part of wisedome which is conversant in the contemplation of God and divine matters for that in all mens judgements seemeth to bee a mostexcellent thing By instinct of nature every man knoweth that there is a God for the workes of God doe present him continually to us But how should we enter throughly into the knowledge of the Creator of all things when we know not the things before our eyes Socrates confessed freely that he knew this one thing That he knew nothing Which confession as himselfe thought was the cause he was by the Oracle called the wisest man of his time And Porphyrius said that all Philosophy was but a conjecture or light perswasion delivered from one to another and nothing in it that was not doubtfull and disputable But he that knoweth God in this wherein is hee the more happy Reason sheweth us that God is good that he is just that hee loveth the good and hateth the evill Our conscience whispereth us in the