there be many that in giuing counsell be very cold but in speaking malicious taunts very skilfull Sir I will doe my indeuour to do and say the best I can with an admonition that I gyue before all things vnto him that shall heare or reade the same that he prepare not to take so greate a tast in reading these counsels as profit by vsing them The olde men of your age they oughte to be so aduised in that they speake and such examplers of that they do that not only they are not to be séene to do euill works either so much as to speake vnhonest words For the olde man that is absolute and dissolute is sufficieÌ„t to corrupt or cast away a whole Towne or common wealth The old men of your age ought to giue not onely good examples but also good counsell for the inclination of the yong man is to erre and to varie and the condition of the old man ought to be to correct by discretion and giue good counsell to amende The old men of youre age ought to be gentle modest and patieÌ„t for if in times past they were bréeders of discorde now they ought to be makers of peace The olde men of youre age ought to be masters of such as know little and defenders of such as can do little and if they may not giue them remedie they leaue not to gyue them comfort For the hart that is tormented despited and in great distresse sometimes receyueth more comfort with the wordes which they speake than with that whiche they giue them The old men of youre age now haue no time to be occupied but in visiting of hospitalles and reléeuing the poore for there may not be a thing more iust than that so many paces as haue bin spent to brothel houses should now be spent to visit TeÌ„ples The old men of your age ought not to be busied but in making their discharges when they be in the house and to bewaile their sinnes when they go to Church for hée standeth in great suertie of saluation that in his life doth that he ought to do and in his death what he can do The olde men of youre age ought to vse great measure in the words they speake and pleasant breuitie in that they recount and also they ought to beware to tell newes and much lesse to vse to relate fables for in such a case if they call yong men light and foolish they wil say that old men dote and babble The old men of your age ought to be remoued from contentions and from troubles in law and if it be possible to redéeme them by the waight of money to the end to be frée from infinite trauells for yong men onely do feele the trauell but the old men do féele vexation and bewaile the displeasure The olde men of youre age ought to haue their communicatioÌ„ with persons wel complexioned not euil conditioned with whome they may repose and pleasantly be conuersant for there is not in this mortall life a thing that doth so recreate the hart as is swéete conuersation The old men of youre age ought to séeke men and chuse honest friends and muche to consider that the friendes whiche they shall chuse and the men with whome they shall be conuersant be not tedious in their spéech and importunate in crauing â—or friendship and importunitie neuer féede at one dish either name themselues to be of one band The old men of your age ought not as nowe to vse vayne and light pastimes but to haue regarde to the bestowing of their goodes and to consider for their houses for the olde man that lookes not to his substance shall want to eate and hée that watcheth not his house shall not lacke wherefore to wéepe The old men of your age be bound to go cleanly and well clad but they haue not licence to be curious either with nicenesse to weare their garmentes for in yong men to bée neat is a good curiositie but in old men it is great vanitie The olde men of your age ought much to flée brawling with your aduersaries either trauerse in words with your neighbours for if they replie any ouerthwart words or speake any bitter iniury the hurt is that you haue a hart to feele it and not strength to reuenge it The old men of your age oughte to be charitable pitifull and almes giuers for yong menne without experience walke so bedolted of the things of thys world that it seemeth vnto them sufficieÌ„t to be termed Christians but the old men that time hath aduised and age deliuered from disceit let them hold it for certaine that God of theÌ„ will neuer haue pitie if they haue not charitie The old men of your age ought to haue some good Bookes to profite and other histories to passe away the time for as nowe their age doth not suffer to walke muche lesse to trauell and as they are forced all day to be idle and pensiue so is it of more deseruing that they fill themselues with reading in bookes than too be tired in thinking of times past The old men of youre age ought to auoyde entering into conuocations sessions and Sises for in such places they intreat not but causes of the coÌ„mon wealth and interest for goodes and that by the iudgement of froward yong men and men passioned where they neuer beléeue the wise either heare the olde of experience The olde men of your age when you shall be in counsell or called to counsell ought not to be rash ianglers or contentious for it apertayneth to yong men to folow their opinion the old men but only reason The olde men of your age ought to be sober pacient and chast and to presume more to be named vertuous than old for in these times and also in time past they haue more respect to the life he leadeth than to the hoare heares he weareth The olde men of your age ought to hold for their chiefe exercise to go euery day to Church and to heare seruice on the holyday and if this shall séeme painefull or tedious I giue him licence to go no ofter to Church being old than he went to visite his innamored when he was yong The olde men of your age ought to haue all things well prouided for their soules to vnderstaÌ„d also for the health of their persons for as Galene sayth old age is so monstrous in condition that it is neither a sicknesse finished or a perfect health The old men of your age before all thinges ought to procure their houses good and healthy scituate in a gladsome sound ayre for I am of opinion that there is no goodes better imployed than that whiche old men bestowe vpon a good house The old men of your age ought to procure not only to dwell in a good house but also to sléepe in a good chamber in a bedde very clenly and the chamber very close for as the old man
they will rather amēd God than correct themselues Let houses fal the vines be blasted the stormes spoile corne the flocks die and rent gatherers run away if we giue thanks to God for that he leaueth vs if we do not murmur for that he taketh away if we grow not dul to serue him he will neuer grow negligent to giue vs prouision They say vnto me that your Lordship is vexed sorowfull and also vntractable these are priuileges of olde menne but not of wise olde men for it shoulde be a muche greater losse to haue the wit blasted thā the Corne destroied Vncle you know very well that in all the the markets of Vilada Palencia we shal find bread to be sold but in none of the faires of Medina shal we find wisdome to be bought For which cause men ought to giue more thanks vnto God for that hée did create them wise than for that he made them rich It is a more sounde welthinesse for a man to estéeme himselfe wise than to presume to be of great wealth for with wisdom they obtaine to haue but with hauing they come to lose thēselues The office of humanitie is to féele trauells and the office of reason is to dissemble them For when sodaine assaultes come vpon vs and infortunes knocke at our gates if the hart should receiue them all and of euery one complaine and bewayle he should euer haue wherof to recount and neuer want wherfore to lament Prometheus that gaue laws to the Aegiptians said that the Philosopher should not wepe for any thing but for the losse of his friend for all other things are contained in our chestes onely the friend dwelleth in the hart If Prometheus did not permit to shew any griefe but for a friende it is not credible that he would wéepe for the corne in the field wherin he had greate reason for notwithstandyng that the losse of temporall good is wherewith we be moste grieued yet on the other part it is that wherein our losse is least Séeing the incertayntie of this lyfe and the continuall chaunges that be in the same as little suretie men haue thereof that be in their houses as the corne that is in the field I dare say that wée haue very little wherin to trust and many things wherof to be afrayd It is not vnknowen to your Lordship that in this lyfe there is nothyng sure since wée sée the corne blasted trées striken downe floures fall woodde wormeaten cloath deuoured with moathes cattell doe ende and menne doe dye and that all thynges well marked in the ende all thyngs haue an ende Men that haue passed thrée score yeares haue for their priuiledge to sée in their houses great misfortunes whiche is to witte absence of friendes deathe of children losse of goodes infirmities in their persones pestilences in the common wealth and manye nouelties in Fortune and for thys cause Plinie durste saye that men ought not to bée borne if that he being borne foorthwith should die Oh howe well sayde the diuine Plato that men oughte not to be carefull to liue long but to lyue well I thought good thus muche to write vnto you to the ende you shoulde vnderstande to profite your selfe by olde age since you had skil to enioye the dayes of youth for in the age of fourescore yeares it is a tyme to make small accounte of lyfe and to vse great skill and no small reckening of death All these thinges I haue written vnto your Lordshippe and my good vncle not for that you haue néede but bicause you shall haue wherein to reade and also to the ende you shall vnderstande that although I go bescattered and wandring in thys Court I doe not leaue to reknowledge the good No more but that our Lorde be your protectour From Madrid the eleuenth of Marche 1533. A letter vnto Master Gonsalis Gil in which is expounded that which is sayd in the Psalmist Inclinaui cor meum ad faciendas iustificationes tuas in aeternum RIght reuerend and eloquent Doctor ad ea quae mihi scripsisti quid tibi sim respōsurus ignoro although I saye that to so many things I know not to answer I should haue sayd better that I dare not to wright For the affaires of our common wealth are come to that estate that though we be bound to féele them we haue no licence to reporte them It is too gréeuous in our humanitie to suffer iniuries but it is much more gréeuouse vnto the hart to kéepe them secret and not to vtter them for the remedie of the sorowfull hart is to discouer his poyson and to vnburden where he loueth He deserueth much and can do very much that hathe a hart to féele things as a man and dissembleth them as discret For he is of a greater courage that forgettes the sorowe that once entreth into the hart than he which reuengeth it If my memorie should reueale what it doth retaine my tong speake what it doth knowe and my pen write what me listeth I am sure those that be present would maruell and suche as be absent would growe offended for nowe burneth the pearcher without tallow and at randon all goeth to the bottom The armie of gentlemen be here in Medina del ryo secco and they of the communaltie in Villa Braxima in suche wise that too the one we desire victory and of the other we haue compassion For the one be our good Lords and the others our good friēds I desire that the part of the gentlemen may ouercome and it grieueth me to sée the deathe and fall of the poore chiefly for that they know not what they aske either vnderstand what they do If the trauell of the warre and the perill of the battel might light vpō their shoulders that were inuenters therof and that haue altered the people it shoulde be tollerable too sée and iust to suffer but alas the sorow they fight in safetie and chase the bull in great suretie wée haue the monasterie full of souldiors and the Celles occupied with knights wherin there is no place for a man to withdrawe eyther a quiet houre to studie In such wyse that if my Bookes be scattred also my wits be wandring What quietnesse or contentation will you that I haue séeing the king is oute of his kingdome the commons rebell the counsell fled the Gentlemen persecuted the townes men altered the gouernours astonied and the people sacked euery houre entreth men of warre euery houre they make alarums euery houre they sound to battell euery houre they ordeine ambushes euery hour there is skirmishes euery houre they intende repayres and also euery houre I sée them bring men wounded The Cardinal and the gouernours commaunde me to preache and instructe them in the affaires of peace that which I can say is euery thirde day I goe from one campe to an other and they of the cōmonaltie will not beléeue me neither will be conuerted in suche wise that
King a Prophet a Sainct and with God so priuate vnderstoode not what to present vnto God for the good things hée had receiued what shall we doe that are miserable that vnderstand not what to say nor haue not what to giue of our selues wée are so weake and our abilitie so small our valure so little and haue so few things that if God do not giue wherwith to giue of our selues we haue not what to giue And what we haue to craue or els that he should giue is his grace to serue him and not licence to offend him In remuneration of so great victory I would not counsell your Maiesty too offer iewels as the women of Rome eyther Siluer or Gold as the Greekes eyther your owne blud as Silla neyther your childrē as Iephtha but that ye offer the inobedience and rebellion against your Maiesty by the commons of Castile For before GOD there is no Sacrifice more accepted than the pardoning of enemies The iewels that we might offer vnto God procéede from our Cofers the Gold from our Chests the bloud from our Veynes but the pardoning of iniuries from our hartes and entrayles where enuie lyeth grinding and perswading reason to dissemble and the hart to be reuenged Much more sure is it for Princes to be beloued for their clemency than to be feared for their chastisements For as Plato sayeth the man that is feared of many hath cause also too feare many Those that offended your Maiestie in those alterations paste some of them bée deade some bée banished some hidden and some be fledde Most excellent Prince it is great reason that in reward of so great victory they maye boast themselues of your pietie and not complaine of your rigor The wiues of these vnfortunate men bée poore their daughters vpon the poynt to be lost their Sonnes are Orphans their kinsfolkes blushe and are ashamed In so muche as the pitie that yée shall vse towardes a fewe redoundeth to the remedie of manie There is no estate in this worlde whiche in case of iniury is not more sure in pardoning than in reuenging for that many times it dothe happen that a man séeking occasion too bée reuenged doth vtterly destroy him selfe The enemies of Iulius Caesar did more enuie the pardoning of the Pompeyans than the killing of Pompeyus himselfe For excellencie it was written of him that he neuer forgot seruice or euer did remember iniurie Two Emperours haue bene in Rome vnlike in name and much more in maners the one was named Nero the Cruell the other Antony the Méeke The which ouernames the Romaines gaue them the one of Méeke bycause he could not but pardon the other of Cruell bicause he neuer ceased to kill A Prince although he be prodigall in play scarce in giuing vncertaine of his woorde negligent in gouernement absolute in cōmaunding dissolute in liuing disordinate in eating and not sober in drinking is termed but vicious but if he be cruel and giuen to reuenge he is named a tyrant As it is sayde by Plutarch He is not a tyrant for the goods he taketh but for the cruelties he vseth Foure Emperours haue bene of this name The first was called Charles the great the second Charles the Bohemian the third Charles the Balde the fourth Charles the grosse the fifth which is your maiestie we wishe to be called Charles the Méke in following the Emperoure Antony the Méeke which was the Prince of all the Romaine Empire best beloued And bicause Calistines would that Princes should be persuaded by few things those very good and woordes well spoken I cōclude and say that Princes with their pietie and clemencie be of God pardoned and of their subiects beloued An Oration made vnto the Emperours Maiestie in a sermon on the day of Kings wherein is declared howe the name of Kings was inuented and howe the title of Emperours was first found out A matter very pleasaunt S. C. C. R. M. THis present day being the day of Kings in the house of Kings and in the presence of Kings it is not vnfitte that wée speake of Kings though Princes had rather be obeyed than counselled And seing we preache this day before him that is the Emperour of the Romains King of the Spaniards it shal be a thing very séemly also very necessary to relate here what this woorde King doth mean and from whence this name Emperor doth come to the end we may al vnderstand how they ought to gouerne vs and we to obey them As concerning this name of King it is to be vnderstood that according to the varietie of nations so did they diuersly name their Princes that is to saye Amongest the Aegyptians they were called Pharaones the Bythinians Ptolomaei the Persians Arsicides the Latines Murrani the Albans Syluij Sicilians Tyrants the Argiues Kings The fyrste king of this world the Argiues doe saye was Foroneus and the Greekes do report to bée Codor Laomor Whiche of these opinions is most true hée only knoweth that is moste high and only true Although we know not who was the first King neither who shal be the laste king of the worlde at the least we know one thing that is that al the Kings past are dead and al those that now liue shal die bicause death doth as wel cal the King in his throne as the laborer at his plow. Also it is to bée vnderstood that in olde time to be a King was no dignitie but onely an office as Maior or Ruler of a common wealth After this maner that euery yeare they did prouide for the office of King to rule as nowe they do prouide a Viceroy to gouerne Plutarke in his booke of Common wealth dothe reporte that in the beginning of the worlde all Gouernours were called tyrantes and after the people did perceiue what difference was betwéene the one and the other they did ordeyn amongst thēselues to name the euill gouernors tyrāts and the good they intituled Kings By this it may be gathered most excellent Prince that this name King is consecrated vnto persons of good deserning and that be profitable vnto the common wealth for otherwise he doth not deserue to bée called King that doth not knowe to gouern When God did establish an houshold for himself did constitute a Common Wealth in the land of the Aegyptians he would not giue thē kings to gouerne but Dukes to defend them that is to say Moses Gedeon Iephtha and Sampson This God did to deliuer them from paying of tributes and that they might be vsed as brethren not as vassals This maner of gouernment amōg the Hebrues did cōtinue vnto the time of Helie the high priest vnder whose gouernance the Israelites required a King to gouerne their cōmon welth and to lead them in their warres Then God gaue them Saul to be their King much against his will so that the last Duke of Israell was Helie and the firste king was
whiche we may gather for our purpose that chaunging the Captaines of the warres ioyntly therwith fortune doth alter In one self kingdome with one self people vnder one king in one ground and vpon one selfe quarell or demaunde hope you not that Fortune will alwayes be faithfull For in the place where she hath vsed to be moste fauourable it is hir deuise by the same meanes to shewe hir crueltie Rodrigo of Viuero did say vnto me that your honour was not a little gréeued to sée that your departure was prolonged and that the Kyng for this present helde it in suspense And further he sayd vnto me that you held it for so great displeasure that if it were with an other that were your equal you would demaund it at his hand as an iniurie To heare this I do maruell am not a little but muche offended for I holde him not for a good beaste that when they lade him wil stand stock still and when they vnlade him will yerke out behind Since the soule goeth charged with sinnes the hearte with thoughts the spirit with temptations and the body with trauels it is much conuenient for vs that if maye not altogether discharge oure selues of this burden at the least that in some parte we lighten the same Your honour is not so yong a man but that the more part of your life is past and since the lyfe goeth consuming and death approching in my iudgement it should be better counsell for you to occupie your selfe in bewayling your old sins than of newe to shed the bloud of enimies It is nowe time rather to wéepe than to fight to withdraw youre selfe than to vse libertie to make a reckoning with God more than with the king to accomplish with the soule and not with honour to call vpon God and not to prouoke with enemies to distribute your owne and not to take from others to conserue peace and not to inuent warres And if in this case your lordship will not beléeue me from hence forward I diuine that then you shall begin to féele it when you may not remedie the same Your honour deceyueth your self or else I know not what to say for that I sée you flée that you should procure which is quietnesse and you procure that which you should flée which is disquietnesse For there is no man in this world more vnfortunate than he that did neuer experiment what thing it is to be reposed Those that haue trauailed throughout diuers landes and haue had exprience of diuers fortunes the thing that they most desire in this lyfe is with honoure to sée themselues returned to their countrey Of which it may be inferred that it is great temeritie that you alone wil rather go to die amongst strangers than to liue with honor amongst your own Vntil men haue gotten necessarie to eate yea vntill they haue obteined also some surplusage also to giue in my iudgement they ought not much to be blamed although they wander through out diuers kingdomes and put themselues in great perilles For he is as muche worthie reprehension that doth not procure that whiche is necessarie as he that ceasseth not to prouide that which is superfluous After a man hath found that which he hath sought for and also perchaunce it hath happened him better than he thought of if after he be retired vnto his house in great quietnesse will returne to rubbe againe with the world I dare be bold to speake it that such a one eyther lacketh wit or else fortune will be to him vnhappie The diuine Plato doth saye in his bookes of common wealth that Fortune is more contrary vnto that man that he doth not suffer to enioye that which he hath than vnto him to whome he denieth what he craueth I doe beseche and also aduise your honour that after you haue red this sentence that you turne againe and againe too read the same for in my iudgement this sentence of Plato is very true and very profound and also vsed of many For almost we sée it by dayly experience that many men can obtaine fame honour quietnesse riches and haue not the meane afterward to enioye them Iulius Caesar was he that nature endued with most grace◠and to whom Fortune did giue most victories and with all this great Pompey did say of him that hée had great hardinesse to ouercome any battaile but that afterwardes he did not vnderstand how to enioy the victory If in the great renoumed battail of Canas Hanniball had knowen how to enioy the conquest he neuer afterwards in the fields of Carthage by Scipio the Aphrican had bin ouercome Your Honour may take it as it pleaseth you and vnderstand thereof as it may like you to cōmaund but in my iudgement he is not so cruell an enemie that hurles his darte at me in the warres as he that comes to driue mée from my house Cōformable to that which I haue said I do say that since we can not flée from cares and trauelles yet at the least that we procure to auoid some displeasures thereof For without comparison much more be the offences that wée seeke vnto our selues than be brought vnto vs by our enemies I will say no more in this letter but that the Gentleman Rodrigo of Viuero and I haue talked some things worthie the vnderstanding and perillous to be writtē I commend them with trust vnto his noblenes here he shal relate them vnto your excellencie there No more but our Lord be your protector and vnto me giue grace to serue him From Medina del Campo the .viij. of Ianuarie .1512 A letter to sir Enrique Enriques wherin the Authour doth answer to many gracious demaundes RIght magnificent and my olde frend Valdiuia your solicitour gaue mée a Letter the whiche séemeth verie well to be written with youre owne hande for that it helde fewe lynes and many blottes As God made you a Knight if he had made you a Scriuener you woulde haue bene more handsome to colour Cordouan skinnes than to haue written proces Sir alwayes frame if you shall write any Letter to bée sente that the lynes bée ryght the Letters close the reasons deuided the letter legible the paper cleane the folding equall the closyng smoothe and the seale cléere for it a lawe of Courte in that whiche is written the wysedome is vttered and in the manner of writyng good manner is knowne In the letter that was giuen mée were contayned many demaundes vnder verie fewe woordes And for that with one Turquois wée both will make but one shewe The case shall be thus to euery demaunde I will answere onely one word First you aske me wherfore I came to the Courte to this I answere that I came not willingly but constrained of necessitie for the contention betwixte me and the Churche of Toledo my comming was expedient to cléere my selfe and to withdraw the lawe Also you demaund of me what I doe in
great eyes a soft skinne colour baye and aboue all of courage maruellous fierce This horse being yet but a colt they came from Asia from Palestina from Thebes from Pentapolis and from all Greece by the meane of his fame some to sée him others to buy him and other some to praise him and set him a sale to the people for there was no person that desired not to sée him and much more to haue him And in this world as there is not a thing so perfit in whiche there is not some imperfection the destiny of this horse was so accursed for all they that bred him bought him and did ride him died miserable and infamed And for that it shall not séeme that wée speake at large and doe recounte an historie very suspicious briefly we will touche who were they that bought this horse and did possesse him and also the great misfortunes that came vnto them by the same In the yeare CCCCxiij from the foundation of Rome Quintus Cincinatus the Dictator being dead the Romanes did sende a Romane Consull into Grecia that was named Cneius Saianus a man in bloud holden famous and for gouernement in the common wealth very wise When the Consull Cneius Saianus went into Greece that horse was a Colt of thirtie monethes the which he cheapened bought and brake and was the first that did ryde him And for that this Cneius Saianus being in Rome did follow the partialitie of Octauius Augustus a yeare after hée went into Greece and not six moneths after hée had bought that horse Marcus Antonius commaunded his head to be cut off and also his body to be vnburied This maye it appeare that Cneius Saianus was the first that bought and brake this horse and also did experiment by death his vn happy destenie They named him then and from thence forwarde Saianus horse Cneius Saianus being beheadded there succéeded him in the office of Consulship a certayne Romaine named Dolabella whiche immediatly being Consull did buy that horse for an hundreth thousand Sestercios and surely if hée had knowen the euill that hée bought vnto his house I think hée would haue giuen an other hundreth thousand not to haue bought him Within a yeare after the Consull Dolabella had bought that horse there arose in the Citie of Epirus were hée was resident a popular sedition in whiche the sorowfull Dolabella was slaine and also drawen throughe the streates The Consull Dolabella being dead another Consull was desirous to buy that horse whose name was Caius Cassius a manne whome Plutarch writeth to haue borne great office in Rome and to haue done great déedes in Africa Not two yeares after the Cōsul Cassius had bought that vnhappy horse they gaue him suche herbes at his dinner that within an howre hée his wife and children lost their liues not hauing time to speake one word The Consull Caius Cassius being dead the famous Romane Marcus Antonius desired to buy that horse and hée was so pleased with the forme and shape thereof when they brought him that hée gaue as great reward to the bringer as hée paid vnto him that solde the same not twoo monethes after that Marcus Antonius had bought this horse a batell was fought at Sea betwixt him and his enemy Octauius Augustus In whiche bataill his onely beloued Cleopatra would be present to hir greate infamie and greater losse of him selfe What vnfortunate ende Marcus Antonius had and what an hastye death his Cleopatra did suffer is notorious to all men that haue reade Plutarch Marcus Antonius being dead yet still that vnfortunate horse remained aliue whiche came to the handes of a Knight of Asia who was named Nigidius and for that the horse as now was somewhat olde at that present he bought him good cheape although afterwards he cost him very deare for within one yeare after he bought him at the passage of the Riuer Marathon the horse stumbled and fell in suche wise that both master and horse were drowned and were neuer more seene These are the fiue Knightes that are throwen downe at the foote of Sayans horse to wit Saian Dolabella Cassius Marcus Antonius and Nigidius The whiche history although it bée delectable to reade on the other part it is lamentable to heare Afterwardes whē in Asia they fell in reckoning and to remēber the euill fortune that the horse had alway with him there arose amongest them a common prouerbe to saye vnto the man that was vnhappy or vnfortunate That he had ridden vpon Sayans horse The like chaunce happened when Scipio did robbe the Temples of Tolosa in France in that of all those which caried away any golde and riches to their houses none did escape but within one yeare died and all his familie and house destroyed To this daye it is a custome in France to saye vnto the man that is vnfortunate That he hath Tolouze golde in his house Laertius saith that in Athenes there was an howse where all were borne fooles and there was another house where they were all borne doltish and as by discourse of time the Senators fell into the reckoning therof they commāded that those houses shoud not bée inhabited but pulled downe Herodianus sayeth that in the Marcian field in Rome there was a Gentlemans house in whiche all the owners died sodainly And as the neighbourhod made relatiō thereof vnto the Emperour Aurelianus he did not onely commaund it to bée threwen downe but also that all the tymber shoulde be burned Solon Solonius forbiddeth in his Lawes to the Aegyptians that nothing of the dead should be sold but that all should bee parted amongst his heyres saying If the dead had any vnfortunate or vnluckie thing it should remayne in his family and kinred and should not passe vnto the common wealth Incontinent vpon the death of the infamouse Romane Princes Caligula and Nero the Senate prouided that all the riches and houshold stuffe should be burned and buried in welles fearing that in their tyrānicall goods ther might be hid some euill fortune by the couetousnesse whereof Rome might be lost and the common wealth impoysoned Sir I thought good to write all these examples and straūge chaunces not that you shoulde béeleue in Augureis but to the ende you should think that there be in this world some things so infortunate as they séeme to draw or bring with them the selfe same or other mishaps No more but that our Lord bée your protector c. A letter vnto the Duke of Alba Sir Frederique of Toledo in the whiche is entreated of infirmities and the profites of the same REnoumed and most magnificēt Lorde at the time that Palome your seruaunt came to visit me on your behalf and gaue me your letters I was in a furious feuer in suche wise that I could neither read your letter or speake a word vnto the bearer thereof After that the feuer begā to cease that I had reade your letter I vnderstood the desire you had of my
is delicate and of smal strength so be is more offended by a little ayre that cōmes in at a chinke thā the cold of one whole winter night did gréeue him when he was yong The old men of your age ought very much to procure to eate good bread and to drinke good wine and the bread that is well baked and the wine that is a yeare old for as old age is compassed with infirmities and laden with sadnesse the good vituals shall hold them in health and the good wine shall leade them in mirth The old men of your age ought much to consider that theyr meales be small their meate yong and well seasoned and if they eate much and of many meates they euer goe sicke for notwithstanding they haue money to buy them they haue not heate to disgest them The old men of your age ought too procure their bed curteyned their Chamber hanged a meane fire the chimney without smoke for the life of olde men consisteth in going clenly warme cōtented and without anger The old men of your age ought vtterly to auoide to dwel vppon any riuer either to do their busines in moist groundes either to sléepe in ayry places for olde men being delicate as they are be like children and naturally accraised the ayre shall penetrate their powers and moystnesse shall enter their bones The old mē of your age vpon paine of their life ought to be temperate in their diet refusing to eate late for old mē as they haue their stomacks weake and growen colde they may not disgest two meales in a day for the olde man that is vnsatiable and a glutton vsing the contrary shall belke much and sléepe little The olde men of your age to the ende that they be not sicke or grow heauie neyther turne to be grosse ought a little to refreshe them selues walke into the fielde vse some exercise or be occupied in some facultie for otherwise it might happen them to get a tisick or a lamenesse in their limmes in such wise that it will be hard to fetch breath and by puffing and blowing giue warning where you walk The old men of your age ought to haue great care to auoyde all contentious brabbling amongst their seruants and sometime to beare with their negligences to pay their wages too the ende they go contented for otherwise they will be negligent in seruice and very suttle in stealing For conclusion the old men of your age ought much to procure to weare their apparell swéete and cleanly their shirts very well washed their house neat and wel swept and their chamber very close warme and well smelling For the olde man whiche presumeth to be wise if he will liue in health and goe contented ought to haue his body without life his hart without strife In the end of your letter you write that hauing left to loue sorow leaueth not to vere you which vseth to folow the enamored and instantly you desire me to giue you some remedy or to sende you some comfort for notwithstanding you haue throwen it out of the house it leaueth not nowe and then too knocke at the gate Sir in this case I remit you to Hermogenes to Tesiphontes to Doreatius to Plutarch and to Ouid which spent much time and wrote many bookes to giue order in what manner the enamored shoulde loue and the remedies that for their loue they should vse Let Ouid write what him pleaseth Dorcas say what he thinketh good but in fine there is no better remedie for loue than is neuer to begin to loue for loue is so euill a beast that with a thread he suffereth to be taken but hée will not depart with thrusts of a launce Let euery man consider what he attempteth marke what he doth beholde what he taketh in hand note whither he dothe enter and haue regarde where he may be taken for if it were in his handes to set the tables he is not certaine to win the game There is in loue after it is begon infinite shelues immesurable sloughes daungerous rockes and vnknowen whirelpooles in whych some remaine defaced others blinded some besoilde and also some others vtterly drowned in such wise that he that is best deliuered I accoumpt to be euill deliuered Oh how many times did Hercules desire to be deliuered from his loue Mithrida Menelaus from Dortha Pyrrhus from Helena Alcibiades from Dorobella Demophon from Phillis Hāniball from Sabina and Marcus Antonius from Cleopatra from whome they could neuer not only depart but also in the end for them and with them they were cast away In case of loue let no man trust any man and much lesse him selfe for loue is so naturall to man or woman and the desire to be beloued that where loue amongst them dothe once cleaue it is a sore that neuer openeth and a bond that neuer vnknitteth Loue is a metall so delicat a canker so secret that he planteth not in the face where he may be sene nor in the pulse where he may be felte but in the sorowfull hart where although he be sensible they dare not discouer it After all this I say that the remedie that I giue for loue is that they gyue him no place to enter amongst the entrayles nor giue theyr eyes libertie to behold windowes or giue eare to bawdes either suffer any trade of Dames to come or goe if any come to house to shut the dores and not to walke abroade after euening if with these conditions loue may not altogither bée remedied at the least it may be eased and amended Sir and my gossip if you will in all these things profite youre selfe and well consider thereof you shall be excused of many angers and also saue much money For to youre age and my grauitie it is more conuenient to vnderstande of the best wines than to view the windowes of the enamored Take for example chastisement the Licentiat Burgos your acquainted and my great friend which being old and enamored as you died this saterday a death so straunge and fuddayne as was fearefull to al men and sorowfull to his friēds No more but our Lord be youre guide and giue me grace too serue him From Burgos the .24 of Febr. 1523. A letter vnto Sir Iames of Gueuara vncle to the Author wherein he doth comfort him for that he hath bin sicke MAgnificent and right honorable Vncle it pleaseth your Honor to complaine of mée in youre letter that I neither serue you as my good Lorde either do sue as vnto a father or visite as an vncle neyther write as vntoo a friende I may not denie but as concerning kinred your are my Fathers brother in merit my good Lord my father in curtesie and my Progenitor in giuing of liberall rewards which I haue receiued at your hands not as a nephew but as a sonne much beloued Since I haue confessed the affinitie that I hold and affirme the dette
that I do owe no more will I denie the fault that I haue committed in neglecting my dutie in visiting and writing vnto you for with our friendes we ought to accomplishe vntill we may doe no more and spende vntill we haue no more let it auayle what it may auayle and my excuse serue what it may serue The very troth is that I go in this court with myne offices so occupied and so bewandred in my busines that scarsely I knowe any man neither yet remember my selfe and this which I say is not so muche to excuse my fault as it is to accuse my liuing For in the time when I was aliue and abode in my monastery I did rise earely to go to Church I studied my bookes preached my sermons fasted the aduents performed my disciplines bewailed my sinnes and prayed for sinners in such sort that euery night I made a reckening of my life and euery day did renewe my conscience But afterwards I died afterwards they buried me and afterwards they brought me vnto the Court I grew negligent in fasting I brake holy days I forgot my disciplines I dyd no almes I prayed with negligence I preached sildome I spake at large I suffred little I celebrated wyth dulnesse I presumed much and ouer much and the worst of all is that I gaue my selfe to vnprofitable conuersations the which lead me vnto some tedious passions and also affectiōs to be auoyded Beholde here my Lorde and Vncle after what manner we goe in Court neither know we kindred or speake to friends neither be sensible of the mischiefe or profit vs of the time neyther do we séeke rest or haue any wit but wandring here and there we goe as certaine men bedolted and charged with a thousand thoughts But setting this apart since in time to come there shal be amends and for that which is past I may obtaine pardon I shall promise you by the faith of an honest nephew that the court hauing passed these ports I shall come to visit you and wil write by euery messēger Sir Ladron your sonne and my cosin willed me here in Madrid that I shoulde write vnto you the sorow which I conceyued of the sicknesse your Lordship hath had and the long diseases you haue passed The excesse you vsed is grief vnto mée the ague that held you sorroweth me the sorowes you haue paste displeaseth me the syropes you receyued irketh mée the purgations you vsed lothed me the oyntmentes you experimented despiteth me the bathes you proued are tedious and tormenteth mée the lauatories you tasted payneth me the money you wasted vexeth me bycause the sicke man consideryng the goodes he expended and the little that medicines haue profited many tymes it dothe more gréeue hym that he giueth to the Physition and Apoticarye than the maladie whiche hée suffered Behold here my Lorde howe I am not a man that giueth one sorowe but an hundreth if néed bée although it be true that a thousand tymes it soroweth me is not so much worth as one it pleaseth me Licurgus in the lawes that he gaue to the Lacedemonians did commaund that no man should bring euill newes to any man but that the pacient should diuine it or by discourse of tyme he shoulde vnderstande it The diuine Plato in the bookes of his common wealth did counsell the Athenians that they should not visite any of their neyghbours in tyme of aduersitie except they coulde by some meanes remedie them For he sayd and sayd well that colde and vnsauorie is that comfort when it commeth not be wrapt in some remedie Of a trouth to remedie and giue counsell bée two distinct offices very seldome conteyned in one person for counsel is to be giuē by the wife the remedy by him that possesseth the same My Lord vncle I would God that your remedie were in my hands as it is to desire it that I myght rather say It pleaseth me of your helth than that it soroweth me of your sicknes Sir you haue to vnderstand I beare you much enuie not of Paradilla where you dwel not to the newe plāted vineyard which you possesse or to the mil that you make either to the nintie yeares that you possesse but of the order that you vse in your house for that in nurtour it is a palace and in honest ciuilitie a Colledge Cato the iudge in his old age did withdrawe himselfe to a countrey house which stoode betwixt Nola and Caieta all the Romanes that past thereby did say iste solus scit viuere whiche is to vnderstand this man knoweth to liue by himself wherfore they reported that he had withdrawn himself thither in time and sequestred himselfe from the hurly burly of the worlde The greatest mercy that God vseth to an old man is to giue him to vnderstand that he is become old for if he know this of himself of a trouth he shal fynd that the olde man hath not of any thing more certaintie than euery day to look for death Plato saide Iuuenes citò moriuntur senes autē diu viuere nō possunt that is to say it is true that yong men die quickly but the old men can not liue long The stéele being spente the knife may not cut the talow consumed the candle goeth out the Sunne being set the day can not tarie the floure being fallen ther is no hope of fruite By that which is sayd I would say that after an olde man is past foure score yeres he ought to make more readinesse to die thā prouisiōs to liue Diodorus Siculus sayth that it was a lawe amongst the Aegyptians that no king after he had children either any old man hauing passed thréescore yeares shoulde presume to buylde an house without first for himselfe he had made a sepulcher My Lord thus much I say that not as an Aegyptian but as a good Christian you haue in the Monastery of Cuenca made a sepulture and indued a chapell where your bones shall rest and whereof your kynred may boaste Peter of Reynosa your neyghbour and my greate friende hathe aduertised mée that in the pleasant Peradilla the storm hath spoyled youre wheate and that in lowe places the vines be blasted with which lamentable and straunge chaunce although you féele much grief your lordship must shewe good courage and haue great pacience for that you now stande in suche an age as you shall rather wante yeares to lyue than corne to eate Those that ingrosse wynes to make it deare kéepe their corne against the moneth of May vpon such men heauinesse ought to fall and vpon suche losse is wel employd for there is nothing so méete eyther more iust than the man that wisheth an euill yeare to the common wealth shoulde neuer sée a good yeare enter his owne house It is a propertie of such as be muche couetous and little vertuous to murmure at that which nature doth performe and God doth permit in such sort that
they shoulde bée caried to the Church of Oiendo to be kept and gaue great rewards vnto such as had hid them This good King Alonso was the firsts that commaunded that all the greate writers and singers should resort to Leon to the end they should write great singing bookes and litle breuiaries to pray on the which he gaue and deuided amongst all the Monasteries and Churches that he had founded for the cursed Moores had not left a Church in Spaine that they did not ouerthrow either booke that they did not burne This good king Alonso was the first that did begin to make all the Bishops houses ioyning to the Cathedrall Churches bycause the heate in the Sōmer either the colde in Winter should not let them to be resident in the Quier and to sée how they worshipped God. This good king Alonso the first died in the age of .lxiiij. yeres in the Citie of Leon in the yeare of our Lord. 793. And hys death of the Castilians and Nauarrois was as much bewayled as of all men his life was desired How acceptable his life was vnto God it appeared most cleare in that the Lord shewed by him at his death whiche is to wit that at the point of his last breath they heard ouer his chamber Angelike voices sing and say Beholde how the iust dieth and no man maketh account thereof his dayes be ended and his soule shall bée in rest The lamentation was so great that was made through out Spaine for the deathe of this good King Alonso that from thence forward euery time that any named his name if hée were a man he put off his cap and if a woman she made a reuerence Not thrée months after the death of the good King Alonso all the mightie of the Kingdome ioyned in parliament wherein they did ordeyne and commaund by a publique Edict that from thence forward and for euermore none should presume to say coldly or driely the king Alonso but for his excellencie they should cal him the king Alonso the Catholique for that he had bin a prince so glorious and of the diuine seruice so zelouse This good king was sonne in law of sir Pelaius he was the third King of Castile after the destruction thereof he was the first king of this name Alonso he was the firste that founded Churches in Spaine he was the first King at whose death such Angelike voyces were heard he was the first king that was intituled Catholike by whose deseruings and vertues all the kings of Spaine his successors be called to thys day Catholike Kings My Lorde it séemeth to me that since the kings of Spaine presume to inherit the name they should also presume to follow his life which is to wit to make warre vpon the Moores and to be fathers and defendours of the Church And for that in the beginning of this letter I did vse the spéech of a friend and in this I haue accomplished what you craued as a seruāt I say no more but that our Lord be your protector and gyue vs all his grace From Segouia the xij of May. 1523. A letter vnto Mosen Rubin of Valentia beeing enamoured wherein is touched the displeasures that the amorous dames giue vnto their louers MAgnificent and old enamored being in Madrid the fourth of August where I receyued a letter of youres and for that it was torne and the firme somewhat blotted I sweare vnto you by the law of an honest mā I could not find meanes to read it or imagine or cal to remembrance who should write it For notwithstanding we were acquainted when I was Inquisitor in Valencia it is almost a thousand yeares since we saw eche other after I awakened and called my selfe to remembrance and did read and read againe your letter I fell in the reckoning that it was of Mosen Rubin my neighbour I say Mosen Rubin the enamored I remēber that sometimes we were wont to play at the chesse in my lodging and cannot aduise me that you gaue me the dame but I do certainly remember that you did not suffer me to sée your enamored I remember that at the rock of Espadon at the encounter we had with the Moores I escaped wounded and you with a broken head where wée could neyther finde Chirurgion to cure vs or as muche as a clout to bind vs I remember that in reward for that I caused your bill to be firmed by the Quéene you sent me a Mule which I did gratifie and not receyue I remember that when we went to accompany the French King to Requena whē we came to the seuen waters I complayned for want of meate and you for lacke of lodging and in the ende I receyued you into my lodging and you went foorth to prouide victualles I remember when Caesar commaunded me to repaire vnto Toledo you gaue me a letter to be deliuered vnto the Secretarie Vrias vppon a certaine businesse of yours to whome I dyd not only speake but also obtained your sute I remember that chiding with a Chaplayne of youre wiues in my presence when he said vnto you that it were not conuenient you shuld deale fowly with him for that he had charge of soules was a Curat you made answer that he was not a Curat of soules but of fooles I remember that I counselled you and also perswaded you being in Xatina that you shoulde giue to the Diuell the loue that you wot of and I also doe knowe bycause they were tedious perillous and costly I remember that after in Algezira you reported wéeping and sighing that you had no power to chase them from your minde either roote them from your hart and ther I returned to say and sweare that it was no loue eyther pleasant to your persone or too your estate conuenient I remember that after we mette at Torres where I demaunded to what conclusion you had framed your loue you answered in a thousand sorrowes and trauelles for that you had escaped from thence wounded abhorred beflouted infamed and also be pilled Of many other things I remember I haue both séene and hard you speake and do in that time that we were neighbours and couersant in Valentia whereof although we may talke they are not too be written In this present letter you aduertise me that now you are enamored and taken with other new loues and that since I sayd the troth in the first you pray me to write my opinion in the second holding it for certaine that my skil serueth to let bloud in the right vayne and also to bind vp the wound Sir Mosen Rubin I woulde you had written or demaunded some other matter for speaking the very troth in this matter of loue you are not in the age to follow it eyther may it be contained with my ingrauitie to write it of my habit of my profession and of my authoritie and grauitie you shoulde haue demaunded cases of counsell and not remedies of loue
of Asia the Heresie of Ebionites whereof Sainct Iohn in the Apocalips maketh reporte notwithstanding that Theodosius and Simachus had bene faithfull in their translations and of troth and veritable in their words our Church would at no tyme receyue their scriptures hauing no confidence in the credence of their persons Fourtéene yeares after the death of Simachus whiche was the fifth yeare of the Empire of Heliogabalus it came too passe that a certayne Patriarcke of Ierusalem béeyng named Ioannes Budeus founde in a caue at Iericho faythfully written and catholikely translated out of Greke into Latine all the olde and new Testament This is the translation the whiche at this present the Latine Church doth vse this is that which we call Quinta editio and of others is named the Translation Hiericontini which is to saye that which was founde in Hiericho the auctor whereof was neuer knowen In the eyght yeare of Alexāder Seuerus the sonne of Mamea which was about ten yeares after the translation Hiericontine was found a Doctor of ours named Origene did correct the trāslation of the .70 Interpreters which is to vnderstand in adding where they had bin briefe declaring the darke mysteries placing a little starre as a marke wher he had made declaration of any matter and where he did remoue or take away he added the marke of a little arrowe All these sixe translations aboue mentioned whiche is to say of the .70 Interpreters of Aquile of Simachus of Theodosius of Iericho that of Origene our auncients did vse for custome of them all to make one booke writing in euery leafe by six diuisions and this booke was named Hexapla ab ex quod est ex Latinè quasi sex traductiones in se continens Foure hundreth yeares after this a certaine Doctor of ours named S. Ierome most certainly a man very holy and in his tyme and of his temple most learned and greatest vnderstanding in the sacred Scriptures and humaine letters and no lesse expert in the Gréeke Hebrewe and Caldée tongue This man did in like maner correct the translation of the .70 Interpreters made also another by it selfe out of Greke into Latine as well of the olde as of the new Testament The greatest part wherof is now in vse in our Catholike Church and is the same that we most estéeme In like maner I will that you vnderstande that in the 314. yere after the natiuitie of our sauiour Iesus Christ there was raysed among you a certayne Iewe of Idumaea named Maier a man very subtyle and in the arte of Nygromancie no lesse skilfull which obtayned suche credite and reputation among you that he made you fully beléeue that God had gyuen twoo lawes vnto Moyses in the mount of Sinay the one in writing and the other in worde and sayde that God had done the same knowing that in time the wrytten lawe shoulde bée loste and that lawe shoulde raygne whiche was gyuen by woorde This cursed Iew Maier further sayde that God had reuealed this lawe vnto Moyses only and alone and Moyses did reueale the same to Iosue and Iosue to his successors and so from hand to hande it was reuealed vnto him and that vnto him onely God had commaunded to put the same in writing and to manifest the same to his Iewish people Insomuch that the lawe of Moyses beganne to bée abolished and the people and their lawe to be loste This lawe whiche your Iewe Maier had inuented in the Hebrwe speache was named Misna which is to saye the Secrete lawe This sayde lawe was glosed afterwards by many of your doctors namely by Rabby Manoa Rabby Andasy Rabby Butaora and Rabby Samuel the whiche in like manner with him did write many wretched and cursed things and no small lyes in preiudice of the lawe that Iesus Christe had preached vnto you and the lawe which Moyses had giuen you This lawe is the same whiche your Rabbyes haue otherwise named the booke of the Talmud wherein your doctors do say that when God vpon the Mount of Sinay did gyue the law vnto Moyses that then were present the soules of Dauid of Esay of Ieremie of Ezechiel and of Daniel and of all the other Prophetes And likewise they saye that there was present all the soules of theyr Rabbyes of the Synagogue whiche shoulde declare bothe the lawes of Moyses and also sayde that shortly after God would anew create their bodies to infuse these soules But it is right well knowen vnto you that according to the Prophesies and the lawes of Moyses the true Messias whiche was Iesus Christe was then come and that all your Iewish Common wealth is nowe finished for whiche cause ye haue preferred this lawe named Misna and his glose named Talmud by the meane of which law and glosse ye bold abused all the common people and yeelde destruction to your Iewishe estate Concluding I say that very well to good right and direct purpose I haue alleadged agaynste you that texte of Dauid whiche sayeth Scrutati sunt iniquitates And the other of Esay whiche sayeth Parum est mihi vt suscites feces In so muche as you haue falsified the Scriptures inuēted other new lawes Wherefore in respect thereof I haue done you neyther wrong nor iniurie considering also that at this present yee do more defende the lawe of Maier than the lawe of Moyses And for that I haue dilated this discourse more than I thought to haue done the reste shall remayne to bée verified in some other disputation An excellent disputation which the Auctor held against the Iewes of Naples wherein is declared the hyghe mysteries of of the Trinitie HOnorable Rabbyes and stiffenecked Iewes in the laste disputation holden betwixte vs on saterday last ye would haue pluckt out myne eyes and also haue beaten mée bycause I alledged thē these words of Iesus Christ which say Ego principium qui loquor vobis Answering ye sayde that neyther Iesus Christ vnderstoode what he sayde eyther I muche lesse what I defended scornfully mocking ye affrmed that I was but simple the whiche in déede may be very true But to note my Lord Iesus Christ of falsehoode most certaynly of your parte it procéedeth of your to too greate wretchednesse and moste excéeding and extreme wickednesse béeyng vtterly repugnant vnto his bountie to deceyue and to his diuinitie to lye Were it in you or had ye the grace to beléeue as I and all others do and ought to beléeue that his humanitie word is vnited ye would in like maner beléeue confesse that it were impossible that the blissed Iesus might erre in that which he commaunded eyther exercise his life as sinner eyther his speache as lyer But forasmuche as ye remayne obstinate in your lawes of Moyses ye deserue not to vnderstande so high mysteries The law of Moyses I do not deny but your Cabal I can in no wise credit but vtterly defie firmly beleue the