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A05094 The French academie wherin is discoursed the institution of maners, and whatsoeuer els concerneth the good and happie life of all estates and callings, by preceptes of doctrine, and examples of the liues of ancient sages and famous men: by Peter de la Primaudaye Esquire, Lord of the said place, and of Barree, one of the ordinarie gentlemen of the Kings Chamber: dedicated to the most Christian King Henrie the third, and newly translated into English by T.B.; Academie françoise. Part 1. English La Primaudaye, Pierre de, b. ca. 1545.; Bowes, Thomas, fl. 1586. 1586 (1586) STC 15233; ESTC S108252 683,695 844

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too carefull to keep themselues But to come to the conclusiō of our discourse we say with Aristotle that concupiscences and desires change the bodie and make the soule outragious that so many as are infected with such a pernicious and damnable vice as intemperance is are no mē but monsters in nature leading a life altogether like to that of brute beasts which being destitute of all reason know nothing better or more honest than pleasure hauing no knowledge of the iustice of God neither reuerencing the beautie of vertue bestow al the courage craft force that nature hath giuen them to satisfie and to accomplish their desires So that if death brought with it an end of all sence and feeling and an vtter abolishing of the soule as well to men as to beasts intemperate folks should seeme to gaine much by enioying their desires and lusts during their life time and to haue good cause to waxe old and euen to melt in their foule filthie pleasures But seeing we know for truely he that doubteth hereof is very ignorant most miserable that sence and feeling remaine after death and that the soule dieth not with the body but that punishment yea euerlasting payne is prepared for the wicked let vs be careful to do the will of our father which is in heauen whilest we haue time that in the triumphing day of his eternal sonne we may not heare to our confusion that sentence of his mouth Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie At which time the iust shall shine as the sunne in the kingdome of God and the wicked shall be cast headlong into euerlasting fire where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Of Sobrietie and Frugalitie Chap. 19. ARAM. SOcrates vsed to dispute earnestly and grauely of the manner of liuing as of a thing of great importance For he said that continencie in meate and drinke was as it were the foundation and beginning of skill And truely the minde is much more prompt to comprehend all good reason when the operations of the braine are not hindered by vapours which the superfluitie of meates send vp thither I am of opinion therefore that we handle this vertue of sobriety which dependeth of temperance and is contained vnder the first part thereof namely vnder continencie ACHITOB. To liue well and frugally saith Plato is to liue temperately and as Epictetus saith there is great difference betweene liuing well and liuing sumptuously For the one commeth of temperance frugalitie discipline honestie and moderation of the soule contented with her owne riches and the other of intemperance lust and contempt of all order and mediocritie In the end the one is followed with shame and the other with true and lasting praise ASER. We can not well vse our spirite saith Cicero when we are stuffed with meate Neither must we gratifie the belly and intrailes only but also the honest ioy of the mind For that which is contained in the other parts perisheth but the soule separated from the body abideth for euer Let vs then harken to AMANA of whome we may vnderstand howe necessary sobrietie is for a happie life AMANA If we set before our eies the long and happy life of the Ancients so long as they obserued sobrietie and frugalitie out of doubt we will attribute one principall cause of our so short life and so full of infirmities to the riot superfluitie and curiositie of diet which at this day are seene amongst vs. The life of our first Fathers was it not maintained a long time with fruits milke honie and water Who euer came neere their long and happie daies since those times What preparation of exquisite victuals did those six hundred thousand Israelites thinke to find that came out of Egypt to go into a new land walking fortie yeeres through the wildernes drinking nothing but water and many times wanting that After those first ages the Grecians and Romanes loued sobrietie more than all other nations And as the Hebrewes vsed to eate but once a daye which was at dinner so the Grecians onely supped For this cause we read that Plato being demanded whether he had seene any new or strang thing in Sicilia answered that he had found a monster of nature which did eate twice a day This he spake of Dionysius the tyrant who first brought vp that custome in his countrey In the time of Iulius Caesar the Germaines a strong and warlike people liued onely of milke cheese and flesh not knowing what wheate and wine were nor yet what it was to labour the ground or to sowe Yea how many millions of men are there at this day in the West regions and Ilands who know not what all this superfluitie and daintines of fare meaneth and yet liue long and healthie in all frugalitie the greatest part of them vpon herbs and rootes whereof they make cakes in steede of wheate and others of raw flesh Whereby it is easie to iudge that sobrietie is the preseruation and maintenance of health and of naturall strength and vigor and so consequently of the life of man But when we looke higher and with the eies of our mind marke the excellent glorie and immortall praise deserued by so many Camilli Scipiones Fabriti● Metelli Catones and by a thousand other famous families which executed so many woorthy acts by their owne vertue and yet in the meane while kept such a simple and sober diet that the most of them were contented with bread herbs and water endured and tolerated cheerefully all iniuries of weather went but homely araied and altogither contemned gold and siluer out of question we will iudge those men very blind and farre from the white of such glorie and honour who imbrace nothing but dissolutenes superfluitie lust dronkennes pride and all such like imperfections that beare sway amongst vs who behold Vice mounted so high that men must in a manner blush as much to speake of Vertue or to be vertuous in a thousand companies as in that happy time of the Ancients they were ashamed of vice or to be vitious And truly I thinke that these men being past shame care but little for the glorie that hath beene in many ages seeing they liue for the body onely after a brutish impietie without all regard of the foule or of the second life What say I for the body Nay rather they are the destroiers thereof seeing it cannot be denied but that sobrietie is a great benefit and helpe to preserue health and bodily strength and to expell diseases and is to be vsed as a good foundation to attaine to a happy old age The experience heereof is well knowne to euery one although there were no other proofe but this that we see the simple sort of people that labor and trauell to liue with bread and water grow old in health whereas our Princes and great Lords being delicately brought vp in idlenes die yoong men tormented with infinite diseases especially when they
might refer all to the glorie of the diuine maiestie and to the profit and vtilitie as well of themselues as of their country And yet in the meane while these noble toward youths were not depriued of other exercises meete for them which as the diuine Plato saith are very profitable for this age and helpe much to quicken the spirits of yoong men and to make their bodies which are weake by nature more strong and apt to sustaine trauell as namely to ride horses to run at the ring to fight at barriers to applie themselues to all kind of weapons and to followe the chace of beasts All which exercises this wise and ancient Knight did intermingle with their earnest studies by way of recreation himselfe standing them in steade of a maister For in such exercises he was as fully furnished as is to be wished in a man of valure and actiuitie insomuch that he was more expert than many of our time who make no other profession Now this schoole hauing been continued for the space of sixe or seauen yeeres to the great profit of this nobilitie of Aniou the fower fathers on a day tooke their iournie to visite this good old man and to see their children And after the vsuall welcome which is betweene kinsfolks and friends they discoursed togither of the corruption which then was in all estates of France wherevpon they foresawe as they said some great storme at hand if euerie one did not put to his helping hand for the correction and reformation of them but chiefly the secular power authorised of God for this purpose They alledged for witnes of their saying many examples of ancient estates common-wealths and kingdoms which were fallen from the height of glorie and excellencie into a generall subuersion and ouerthrow by reason of vices raigning in them vnpunished And thus continuing their speech from one thing to another they fell in talke of the corrupt maners that might particularly be noted in all and those maintained by authoritie and with commendation insomuch that both great and smal endeuored to disguise vice with the name of vertue In fine they were of opinion to heare their children discourse heervpon that they might know and iudge whether they had profited so wel in the institution of good maners the rule of good life by folowing of vertue and by the knowledge of histories the patterne of the time past for the better ordering of the time present as their maister who was present at the discourses of these ancient gentlemen did assure them by intermingling the praises of his schollers in the midst of their graue talke and vaunting that they were well armed to resist the corruption of this age For truly vertue purchased and gotten by practise is of no lesse power against all contagion of wickednes than preseruatiues well compounded are of force in a plague time to preserue in good helth the inhabitants of a countrie and as heeretofore that famous physicion Hippocrates preserued his citie of Coos from a mortalitie that was generall throughout all Grecia by counselling his countrymen to kindle many fires in all publike places to the end thereby to purifie the aire euen so whosoeuer hath his soule possessed and his hart well armed with the brightnes and power of vertue he shal escape the dangers of corruption and eschew all contagion of euill maners But returning to the intent and desire of our good old men bicause they had small skil in the Latine tong they determined to haue their children discourse in their owne naturall toong of all matters that might serue for the instruction and reformation of euerie estate and calling in such order and method as themselues with their foresaid maister should thinke best For this purpose they had two howers in the morning granted vnto them wherein they should be heard and as much after dinner which was to each of them one hower in a day to speake in You may ghesse gentle readers whether this liuely youth did not bestow the rest of the day yea oftentimes the whole night vpon the well studying of that which they purposed to handle and with what cheerfulnes of hart and willingnes of mind they presented themselues before the honorable presence of their fathers who were so greatly delighted in hearing them that for the most part in stead of fower howers a day before mentioned they bestowed sixe or eight For after they had heard the two first discourse one morning they had not the patience to refer the rest of that matter vnto the afternoone when the other twain of their children should be heard but commonly commanded them presently to enter the lists and to proceed as being iealous ouer their glorie in regard of their companions In this commendable maner of passing their time they continued certaine daies But the sudden and sorrowfull newes of the last frantike returne of France into ciuill war brake vp their happie assemblie to the end that these noble youths betaking themselues to the seruice due to their prince and to the welfare and safetie of their countrie might make triall of their first feates of armes wherein they wanted neither readines nor valure of hart which being naturally in them was also increased by the knowledge of philosophie The studie whereof resembling as Plato saith to a separation of the soule from the bodie standeth wise men in stead of an exercise to die without feare when dutie requireth it and causeth them to esteeme of death as of the cause of the true and perfect good of the soule For which reason Socrates Xenophon Architas Thucidides Thales Epaminondas and a million of other famous men learned philosophers and historiographers hauing charge of armies neuer doubted or feared in any sort to offer themselues cheerfully vnto all perils and dangers when the question and contention was for publike benefit and safetie and in a iust war without which a wise man neuer ought to fight Yea I dare boldly say that the greatest and most famous exploits of warfare were atchieued for the most part by them and their like Which serued well for a spurre to our yoong Angeuins to cause them to vndertake this iournie with ioy and cheerfulnes of spirit being resolued to follow with all their might the examples of such great and notable personages as histories the treasurie of time did call to their remembrance When they were in the campe each of them according to his particular affection ranged himselfe vnder sundry cornets of great Lords and good captaines But as we said in the beginning after news of the peace proclaimed which was so greatly looked for and desired of all good men they labored foorthwith to meete togither knowing that their ioint-returne would be acceptable to their friends especially to that good olde-man by whome they were brought vp Moreouer they deliberated with themselues as soone as they were arriued at the old mans house to giue their fathers to vnderstand thereof to the end
sence obiect vnto it Aristotle maketh another distinction of the soule saying that one part of it is voide of reason in it selfe and yet may be guided by reason and that the other part is of it selfe partaker of reason And in another place this Philosopher saith that there are three thinges from whence humane actions proceed namely sence vnderstanding and appetite Many others both ancient and late writers make foure parts of the soule Vnderstanding reason anger desire The vnderstanding lifteth the soule vp to heauen to the contemplation of diuine intellectual things Reason guideth the soule by prudence in all her functions Anger is ruled and moderated by the vertue of magnanimitic and desire is gouerned by temperance Of these a very harmonicall Iustice is framed which giueth to euerie part of the soule that which belongeth vnto it But the most sensible common and true opinion which the wisest amongst the Philosophers had of the soule is that which diuideth it into two parts onely vnder which all the rest are comprised the one being spiritual and intelligible where the discourse of reason is the other brutish which is the sensuall will of it selfe wandring and disordred where all motions contrarie to reason and all euill desires haue their dwelling Amongst all the philosophical discourses of the soule written by these great personages this error is verie great when they attribute such a strength and power to reason which they say is resident in the soule as a lampe to guide the vnderstanding and as a queene to moderate the will as that by it alone a man may wel and iustly gouerne himselfe Now although we know that this reason of man is of it selfe wholy depraued corrupted yet we may say wel enough that the soule which is spirit and life cannot be diuided being immortall bicause whatsoeuer is diuided dissolueth and parteth a sunder and whatsoeuer is dissolued perisheth Neuertheles it may be said to be compounded and made subiect during the coniunction thereof with the body to these two principall parts of vnderstanding and will The vnderstanding serueth to conceaue and comprehend all things propounded vnto vs and to discerne and iudge what we ought either to approoue and allow or what to refuse and reiect The will is that which executeth and bringeth to effect whatsoeuer the vnderstanding iudgeth to be good and contrariwise flieth from that which it reprooueth and condemneth And herein we agree with the Philosophers that the vnderstanding vnder which we comprehend the sence is as the gouernour and captaine of the soule and that the will dependeth of it But withall we say that both the one and the other are so corrupted and altered from their nature the vnderstanding being obscured and dimmed with the clouds of darknes by reason of the first mans sinne descended vpon all his posteritie through hereditarie and naturall filthines and the will in such sort corrupted by this disobedience and so weakened and made feeble to all goodnes that if there be none other guide comming from aboue to teach the vnderstanding and to direct and leade the will I meane regeneration by the spirite of God both of them cannot but do euill drawing the soule with them to vtter ruine and perdition by causing her to consent to the law of her members which are the bodie and flesh ful of ignorance of obscure darknes of frowardnes miserie calamitie ignominie shame death and condemnation Notwithstanding if in the corruptible heauie and grosse lumpe of the bodie within which the soule is contained we found matter of praise and of the contemplation of heauenly things what shal we say of that which is immortal which in a moment in hir discourses and cogitations goeth through the whole heauen compasseth the earth about saileth all ouer the sea without which the body mooueth not at all and all the beautie thereof turneth suddainly into putrefaction This onely can make a man happie both in this and in the other life by reason of the treasures of wisedome the vnderstanding whereof is proper vnto it yea this is the onely instrument whereby a man may behold the diuine nature This is inuisible and cannot be perceiued by any naturall sence this is contemplatiue and actiue at one and the same time this beholdeth vniuersall things and practiseth particulars vnderstanding the one and feeling the other This hath for the actions and operations of her essence and nature Will Iudgement Sense Conceauing Thought Spirite Imagination Memorie Vnderstanding and Reason and for her incomparable beautie she hath Prudence Temperance Fortitude and Iustice without which the excellent order of all humane things would be changed into disorder and confusion This is that moreouer which being illuminated with wisedome bringeth foorth the fruites of loue ioy peace long suffering gentlenes goodnes faith meekenes temperancie Briefely to conclude our present speech we may well say that the soule is so great and diuine a thing that it is a verie hard matter to comprehend it by reason but altogither incomprehensible by the outward sence and that all mans felicitie as well present as to come dependeth of the soule when being regenerated as hath been said and made free and voide of al wicked perturbations as neere as the nature of man can approch to perfection her humane contentation and delight is onely in vertue and in the hope and certaine expectation of a more sound and perfect vertue by the renuing and changing of this mortall life into that which is immortall and most blessed as S. Paule exhorteth vs hereunto saying Let vs reioice in the Lord both bicause our names are written in heauen as Christ saith and that our modesty meeknes and goodnes may be knowne to all men Moreouer let vs learne that in the woonderfull composition coniunction and disposition of the soule bodie there is matter whereby to draw man greatly to the consideration of the chiefe ende for which he was first placed in the world namely to glorifie his Creator in godlines holines and religion He ought therefore both to serue him with all the parts of his body not abusing them in any sort but keeping them pure and cleane to be made members of the glorious body of his eternall Sonne in the resurrection and also to praise and glorifie him with all the gifts and graces of his soule not defiling it with vncleannes and vice that she may by the same diuine grace returne vnto the full fruition of that most happy essence and nature from whence she had her being In the meane while let vs learne that as the bodie vseth many instruments wherof it is compounded and which are proper vnto it so the soule being much more noble excellent and diuine ought to vse the bodie and all the parts therof and that the soule is the organ and instrument of God whereby he worketh in vs and lifteth vs vp to the contemplation of his
without a soule The memorie of such men of whome we see but too many examples among vs ought to be buried in obliuion and during their life time they should remaine vnknowne aswel for their owne honor as for the good of the common societie of men to which they could not but be offensiue and hurtfull For the most part they are not onely afraid of men of the hazards of warres of troubles seditions of the dangers of long voyages of the losse of their goods of diseases of dolors yea of the least discommodities and aduersities that can befall men the euent of all which causeth them vsually to forget all reason and dutie but they are also frighted with dreames they tremble at sights and visions they credite false abusing spirits and with a forlorne feare they stand in awe of the celestiall signes Briefly vpon the least occasions that may be and such as are vnwoorthie the care of a prudent and valiant mind they fall oftentimes into such vexation of spirite that they loose it altogither and become mad and inraged insomuch that many haue hastened forward with their owne hands the end of their so miserable daies As we read of Mydas king of Phrygia who being troubled and vexed with certaine dreames grew to be desperate and died voluntarily by drinking the bloud of a Bull. Aristodemus also king of the Messenians being in warre against his subiects it happened that the dogs howled like woolnes which came to passe by reason of a certain herbe called Dogsteeth growing about his altar at home Wherupon vnderstanding by the Southsayers that it was an euill signe he was stroken with such a feare and conceit thereof that he slue himselfe Cassius the captaine had a better hart when he answered a Chaldean Astrologian who counselled him not to fight with the Parthians vntill the Moone had passed Scorpio I feare not quoth he Scorpions but Archers This hee spake bicause the Romane armie had beene put to the worst before in the plaine of Chaldea by the Parthian archers Neuertheles that which we spake of Midas and Aristodemus is seldome followed yea is rarely found amongst cowards and base minded fellowes who commonly flie from temporall death as much as may be as also from griefe which they feare in such sort that contemning all vertue and iustice they labour for nothing more than to preserue their liues togither with their carnall commodities for the obtaining of which they seeme to liue cleane without all care of their soule as if hir portiō were in this world should end togither with the bodie The effects of this feare of death are sufficiently felt of euerie one in particular the number of them being verie small who would not willingly make as we say a sluce to their consciences that they might be deliuered thereof Let vs then confesse our selues to be fearefull and faint-harted and not boast of Fortitude and generositie of hart which will not suffer vs to stand in feare no not of certaine death in an holie and honest cause so farre is it from fearing and forsaking dutie through doubt of an vncertaine death That which Speron rehearseth in his dialogues of a gentleman of Padua sufficiently sheweth what maruellous force is in the apprehension and conceit of death which extendeth it selfe not onelie vpon the spirites of men but also changeth the nature of their bodies who want constancie to beare and sustaine a small and light griefe for the inioieng of eternall goods This yoong gentleman being put in prison vpon some accusation it was tolde him that of a certaintie his head should be cut off the daie following Which newes altered him in such sort that in one onelie night hee was all white greie-headed whereof before there was no shew or appearance and so he liued long time after Besides experience daily ministreth vnto vs sufficient proofe of the mischiefes which proceed of want of courage and faint-hartednes especially in matters of estate gouernment and publike offices wherein a fearefull and soft man for euerie reproch dislike or euill opinion of the world yea of such as are most ignorant and much more for the least dangers of his person and for feare and threatnings of the greater sort yeeldeth easilie against all dutie and suffereth himselfe to be drawne to the error of the wicked and common sort As for the middle and lesser sort wherefore serue they being void of reason and assurance Homer saith that king Agamemnon dispensed with a rich Coward for going to warre personally for a Mare which he gaue him Wherein truly he had great reason bicause a fearefull man hurteth much and profiteth little not onely in warre but euen in euery good and vertuous action This caused that great captaine Paulus Aemilius to say that magnanimitie and courage were for the most part reuerenced in euery enimie of theirs but that cowardlines although it had good successe yet was it alwayes and of all men despised I might here mention sundry vices which ordinarily growe and are nourished of cowardlines and pusillanimitie as namely crueltie treason breach of promise impatiencie idlenesse slouth couetousnes enuie backbiting and all iniustice were it not that I hope the sequele of our discourses will offer vs matter and occasion to handle these vices particularly our houre not affording vs time and leasure to enter vpon so many things togither There remaineth yet a word to be spoken of that feare which I said did accompany the froward and wicked many times being called by the Poet a seruile feare which through the onely horror of punishment holdeth them backe from practising their wicked purposes Of them spake Pythagoras when he sayd that he which careth not for doing of euill in any other respect but onely bicause he would not be punished is very wicked Now although such feare is accursed and to be condemned in all yet is it necessarie for the preseruation of humane societie For otherwise all things would run to confusion through the shameles malice of the wicked of whom the earth is full And it is a great deale better that through such feare they should be restrained from their wicked desires and wils than that they should without all feare abandon themselues to put them in execution albeit they are no way excusable before God who requireth to be serued with hart and spirit Neuerthelesse such feare doth not alwayes stay them from putting their malice in effect but the more they are retained so much the more are they inflamed and kindled with a desire to satisfie their corrupt will which in the end is constrained to burst foorth and euidently to shew that mischiefe which they kept secret a long time But if the commō sort saith Seneca be staied by lawes from committing euil the Philosopher contrarywise hath reason for all lawes doing good not bicause the law commandeth it and abstaining frō euil not bicause it forbiddeth it but bicause
recouering any victuals were taken from them To whome they made this onely answer that forasmuch as they had liued for the space of 338. yeeres in freedom they would not die slaues in any sort Whereupon such as were most valiant assembled togither and slew those that were most growne in yeeres with women and children Then they tooke all the riches of the citie and of the temples and brought it into the midst of a great hall and setting fire to all quarters of the citie each of them tooke the speediest poison they could find so that the temples houses riches and people of Numantia ended all in one day leauing to Scipio neither riches to spoile neither man or woman to triumph withal For during the whole time wherin their citie was besieged not one Numantine yeelded himselfe prisoner to any Romane but slew himselfe rather than he would yeeld Which Magnanimitie caused Scipio to bewaile the desolation of such a people in these words O happie Numantia which the Gods had decreed should once end but neuer be vanquished Now albeit these examples and infinite other like to these are set foorth vnto vs by Historiographers as testimonies of an excellent Magnanimitie whereby they would teach vs both to be neuer discouraged for the most tedious trauels and irkesome miseries of mans life and also to stand so little in awe of death that for feare thereof much lesse for any other torment or griefe we neuer commit any thing vnbeseeming a noble hart yet notwithstanding no man that feareth God and is willing to obey him ought to forget himselfe so much as to hasten forward the end of his daies for any occasion whatsoeuer This did Socrates knowe very well when he said that we must not suffer our soule to depart from the Sentinell wherein she is placed in this bodie without the leaue of hir Captaine and that so waightie a matter as death ought not as Plato saith to be in mans power But if it be offred vnto vs by the will of God then with a magnanimious hart void of al starting aside in any thing against dutie we must set free this passage being staied and assuredly grounded vpon that consolation which neuer forsaketh a good conscience not onely through the expectation of a naked and simple humane glorie which most of the Heathen propounded to themselues but of that life which abideth for euer following therein the constancie of Alcibiades a great Captaine of Grecia who hearing the sentence of his condemnation to death pronounced said It is I that leaue the Athenians condemned to die and not they me For I go to seeke the Gods where I shall be immortall but they shall remaine still amongst men who are all subiect to death Socrates also hauing a capitall accusation laid against him wrongfully directed his speech to the Iudges and said vnto them that his accusers by their false depositions might wel cause him to die but hurt him they could not adding further that he woulde neuer leaue his profession of Philosophie for feare of death I ●m per swaded quoth he in Plato that this my opinion is very good namely that euery one ought to abide constantly in that place and trade of life which either he hath chosen himselfe or is appointed him by his superior that he must account that for the best and hazard himselfe therein to all dangers without feare either of death or of any other thing whatsoeuer And therfore I should erre greatly if obeying the Generall of warre which ye appointed vnto me in Potidaea Amphipolis and Delos and abiding in that place wherein he set me without feare of death I should now for feare of death or of any other thing forsake that rancke wherein God hath placed me and would haue me remaine in as I alwaies beleeued thought namely that I should liue a student in Philosophie correcting mine owne and other mens vices Now if I should do otherwise I might iustly be accused for calling my selfe a wise man not being so indeed seeing to feare death is to thinke that to be which is not But neither I nor any other man ought to do all that we may either in iudgement or in warre to the end to auoid death For it is very certaine that he who would in time of battell cast downe his armour and flie away might by that meane auoid death and the like is to be vnderstood in al dangers perils if he were not afraid of infamie But consider O countreymen that it is no very hard matter to auoid death but farre more difficult to eschew wickednes and the shame therof which are a great deale swifier of foote than that is O speech woorthie of eternal praise and such a one as instructeth a Christian notably in a great and noble resolution namely to run the race of his short daies in that vocation wherunto God hath called him and that in the midst of tortures torments all agonies of death From which whilest we expect a happie passage we ought to be no more destitute of an apt remedie in all those things which according to the world are most irkesome and desperate but sustaine them with like constancie and woorthines not departing from the tranquillitie and rest of our soules which is a more noble act than to hasten forward the end of our daies that we may be deliuered of them But howsoeuer it be let vs alwaies preferre a vertuous and honest death before any kind of life be it neuer so pleasant And seeing that one and the same passage is prepared aswell for the coward as the couragious it being decreed that all men must once die the louers of vertue shall do well to reape to themselues some honor of common necessity and to depart out of this life with such a comfort Now to come to the second commendable effect of this vertue of Magnanimity wherof Heroical men were so prodigall heeretofore for the benefit and safetie of their enemies we can bring no better testimonie than the courteous fact of Fabritius the Romane Consul towards Pyrrhus who warred against him and whose Physition wrote vnto him that he offered himselfe to murder his maister by poison and so to end their strife without danger But Fabritius sent the letter vnto him and signified withall that he had made a bad choice of friends aswell as of enemies bicause he made warre with vpright good men and trusted such as were disloiall and wicked whereof he thought good to let him vnderstand not so much to gratifie him as least the accident of his death should procure blame to the Romanes as if they had sought or consented to end the warre by meanes of treason not being able to obtaine their purpose by their vertue Camillus a Romane Dictator is no lesse to be commended for that which he did during the siege of the citie of the Fallerians For he that was Schoolemaister to
haue not onelye infinite testimonies in the Scripture that the estate of Magistrates is acceptable before God but which is more it is adorned with honourable titles that the dignitie therof might be singularly recommended vnto vs. When we see that all men placed in authoritie are called Gods we must not esteeme this title to be of smal importance seeing it appeereth therby that they are authorized by him and represent his maiestie in the ruling gouerning of vs. If the Scripture as that heauenly word saith called them Gods vnto whom the word of God was giuen what is that else but that they haue charge cōmission from God to serue him in their office as Moses Iosaphat said to their Iudges whom they appointed ouer euery citie of Iudah to exercise iustice not in the name of men but in the name of God By me saith the wisedome of God kings raigne and princes decree iustice By me princes rule and the nobles and all the iudges of the earth Moreouer we see that many holye men haue obtained kingdomes as Dauid Iosias Ezechias some gouernments and great estates vnder kings as Ioseph and Daniel others the guiding of a free people as Moses Iosua and the Iudges whose calling and estate was acceptable to God as he hath declared by his spirite Wherefore no man ought to doubt of this that ciuill superioritie is not onely a holie and lawfull calling before God but also the holiest and most honourable of all other whereunto all the people is subiect aswell by the establishment of the right of the estate as by the holie and heauenly ordinance of God And if the Magistrate be perswaded as it is certaine that many Estates haue had that foundation that the cause of his first institution and voluntarie subiection whereunto the people submitted themselues for their cōmon benefit was that excellencie of vertue which appeered in some aboue the rest ought he not to thinke himselfe vnwoorthy of so honourable a title if he want the cause of the beginning thereof But further if the Magistrate know that he is appointed the minister of Gods iustice vnto what great integritie prudence clemencie moderation and innocencie ought he to conforme frame himselfe With what confidence dare he suffer any iniquitie to haue entrance into his seate which he vnderstandeth to be the throne of the liuing God With what boldnes will he pronounce any vniust sentence out of his mouth which he knoweth is appointed to be an instrument of the truth of God With what conscience will he subscribe to or seale any euill statute with his hand which he knoweth is ordained to write the decrees of God To be short if the Magistrate call to mind that as God hath placed the Sunne and Moone in the heauens as a token of his diuinitie so is he also appointed in earth for the like representation and light will he not thinke that he is to imploy and bestow all his care and studie that he may represent vnto men in all his dooings as it were an image of the prouidence defence goodnes clemencie and iustice of God It is certaine that the Magistrate is the same thing in the Common-wealth which the hart is in the body of a liuing creature If the hart be sound and pure it giueth life vnto the whole body bicause it is the fountaine of the bloud and of the spirits but being corrupted it bringeth death and destruction to all the members So fareth it with the Magistrate who is the soule of the people their glasse and the white whereat all his subiects aime If he liue vnder right reason truth and Iustice which are the proper wil of God onely he is not vnlike to a line or rule which being first right it selfe afterward correcteth all other crooked things that are applied vnto it For nothing is more natural than that subiects should conforme them selues to the manners deedes and words of their prince The wise Hebrew Plato Cicero and Titus Liuius haue left this Maxime vnto posteritie as an infallible rule of Estate And Theodoricus king of the Gothes writing to the Senat of Rome goeth yet further vsing these words as Cassiodorus rehearseth them That the course of nature would sooner faile than the people would leaue off to be like their Princes But further as the hart in the bodies of liuing creatures is last corrupted insomuch that the last relicks of life seeme to abide therein so it is meete that if any disease corrupt the people the soueraigne Magistrate should continue pure and sound vnto the end from all that pollution If there be any euill in the soule it proceedeth from the wickednes of the body being subiect to peruerse affections and looke what good thing soeuer is in the body it sloweth from the soule as from the fountaine thereof Now as it would be against nature if the euils of the body should come from the soule the good gifts of the body should be corrupted by the vices of the spirite so would it be very absurd that corrupt manners euill lawes vice and vngodlines should proceede from the Magistrate vnto the people seeing as Plato saith he holdeth the same place in the Common-wealth that reason doth in the soule which guideth the other parts by wisedome And forasmuch as the whole Common-wealth representeth but one certaine bodye compounded of diuers members whereof the Magistrate is the Head and most excellent of all he must also vse such equitie that he profit euery one of them and beware that he be not contagious to the whole publike body through his euil example The people saith Seneca giue more credite to their eies than to their eares that is to say they beleeue that which they see sooner than that which they heare And to instruct the people by precepts is a long and difficult way but to teach them by examples is very short and of greater efficacie Therefore the Magistrate must be more carefull of that which he doth than of that which he speaketh And that which he prescribeth his subiects for a rule as it were by law must be confirmed of him by works and deedes For as he is chiefly bound to follow the lawes of God and nature so he must make all those lawes and statuts which he establisheth in his estate according to that paterne And therfore one of the Ancients said very wel that the prince togither with his subiects had one and the same God to serue one law to keepe and one death to feare We will then briefly comprehend the dutie of the Magistrate in these three things in ruling in teaching and in iudging his people which duties are so neerely knit and ioined togither that the one cannot be well exercised without the other and he that faithfully dischargeth one fulfilleth them all For this cause Plato saith that the arte and science of the King of the
we consider that this tabernacle of our body which is weake vicious corruptible casuall and inclining to putrefaction is dissolued and as it were pulled downe by death that it may afterward be restored to a perfect firme incorruptible and heauenly glory shal not this certain assurance compel vs to desire earnestly that which nature flieth and abhorreth If we consider that by death we are called home from a miserable exile to dwel in our countrey yea in our celestial coūtrey shall we not conceiue singular consolation thereby But some man may say that al things desire to continue in their being For the same cause I say we ought to aspire to the immortalitie to come where we haue a setled estate which is not seene at all vpon earth How commeth it to passe that the bruite beasts and sencelesse creatures euen wood and stones hauing as it were some feeling of their vanitie corruption are in expectation of the iudgement day that they may be deliuered from their corruption and yet we that haue some light of nature boast that we are illuminated by the spirit of God lift not vp our eies aboue this earthly putrefaction when we talk of our beeing But what shal we say of those men whose number alas is very great who quenching all natural light opposing themselues directly against the testimonies of truth which presse their consciences sound daily in their eares dare yet doubt of yea impudently deny this day of iudgement and the change of this mortall life into a second which is immortal If the word of god so expresly set down for our assurance be of so litle credit that it wil not satissie them yet how is it that they are not conuinced by the writings of so many Ethnike and heathen Philosophers who make the immortalitie of the soule out of doubt by the consideration of the being of this life conclude a iudgemēt to come which bringeth perpetuall happines and felicitie to the soules of the blessed euerlasting miserie paine to them that are vnhappy Plato vnder the name of Socrates may serue for a fit teacher for such Epicures and Atheists that wil not heare the heauenly word of the almighty Frō whence commeth it saith he that we see so many wicked mē passe the course of their days in worldly happines and fclicitie and die in great rest quietnes whereas on the other side so many good men liue die in great afflictions most hard calamities The reason is bicause God doth not punish and chastise all the wicked vpon the earth to the end men may know that there is a iudgement to come wherin the vngodlines of such men shal be corrected Neither doth he recompence all good men with blessings in this world to the ende they may hope that there is a place in the other life where the vertuous shal be rewarded Likewise he doth not punish all the wicked nor reward al good men here beneath least men should thinke that the vertuous folowed vertue in hope of a carnal earthly reward or eschewed vice for feare of punishmēts torments in this world For so vertue should be no more vertue seing there is no action that may cary the surname of vertuous if the intent of him that doth it be in hope of some earthly carnal recompence not for the loue of vertue it self that he may be accepted of God and so conceiue hope of eternal rewards in the other life Also he punisheth and correcteth some wicked men vpon earth rewardeth some good men least if good men only were afflicted the wicked suffred in quiet men might be brought to beleeue that there were no prouidence that the diuine nature had no care of vs so all men would giue ouer themselues to folow iniustice By the sequele of this speech Plato inferreth proueth that there is one God that hath care ouer his cretures that naturally euery spirit loueth him better that striueth to resemble him in manners fashiōs of liuing that reuerēceth honoreth him thā those that feare him not but despise him whose conditions are altogither vnlike his Moreouer he prooueth euidētly that good men in feare reuerence of the Deitie striue to imitate it by good works done to the benefit and safetie of others and contrarywise that the wicked despise God and all lawes both diuine and humane whereupon it followeth that God loueth good men and hateth the wicked And bicause we see that good mē are subiect to calamity ignominy in this world we must therfore vndoubtedly confesse that there is another life after this wherein good men are eternally rewarded the wicked punished Otherwise it would folow that God cared more for the wicked than for the good which were too absurd to graunt From hence that diuine Philosopher draweth this conclusion that the life of a wise man ought to be a perpetual meditation of death and that the very feare to die not any desire to liue is that which maketh death fearefull to them that know not the immortalitie of the soule Now then ought not these men to blush for shame that dare doubt of the second life and future iudgement when they heare this discourse of an Ethnike and Pagan destitute of that true light of God and sincere religion which is manifested to vs in Iesus Christ Truly nothing is more cleere in all the holy scripture than that as before the first day mētioned in Genesis all things were possessed of Eternitie so that there was neither time nor yeere nor moneth nor season but all things were in that Eternitie so when the last day shal come all shall be eternall for the felicitie of the good torment of the wicked But to returne to our speech of death the worde of God giueth vs to vnderstand of three kinds of death the one is the separation of the soule from the body with the dissolution of the body vntill the resurrection and of this is our present discourse The second is the death of sinne as it is said oftentimes that they are dead that nourish themselues in sinne The third is called in the Apocalyps the second death and sometimes eternal death vnto which the wicked shal be condemned in the last iudgemēt Therfore to cōtinue our speech of corporal temporal death if the doctrine of the sonne of God be neuer so little apprehended of vs by faith we shall see cleerely enough that the faithful ought to haue that in great request which to humane sense seemeth neither happie nor to be desired seeing it turneth to their saluation It belongeth to him that will not goe vnto Iesus Christ to feare death and to be vnwilling to goe to Christ is a badge of such a one as wil not raign with him What traueller hauing passed many dangerous wayes reioyceth not when he draweth neer to his countrey
himselfe indebted for the glorifieng of his name whether it were by death or by life For it belongeth to him to determine what is expedient for his glorie Wherefore if it behooueth vs to liue and die vnto him let vs leaue both our life death to his good pleasure but yet so that we alwaies desire rather to die than to liue be ready cheerfully to renounce this life whensoeuer it pleaseth the Lord bicause it holdeth vs vnder sin And let vs hold this Maxime that no man hath throughly profited in the school of Christ Iesus but he that with ioy gladnes expecteth the day of death and of the last resurrection S. Paul in his epistle to Titus describeth al the faithful by this mark the scripture when it propoūdeth vnto vs matter of reioicing calleth vs backe thither Reioice saith the Lord in Luke and lift vp your heads for your redemption draweth neere It were absurd that that thing should breed nothing but sorow and astonishment in vs which Christ thought was fit matter to worke ioy in vs. Now than seeing death is dead to them that beleeue in him there is nothing in death which a mā ought to feare It is true that the image thereof is hideous and terrible bicause that besides the violent taking away of life it representeth vnto vs the wrath of God which biteth like a serpent but now the venome of it is taken away and can not hurt vs. And as through the brasen serpent which Moses lift vp in the wildernesse the liuing serpents died and their venome hurt not the Israelites so our death dieth and is not able in any sort to hurt vs if we behold with the eyes of faith the death of Iesus Christ Briefly it is nothing but an image and shadow of death and the beginning and entrance vnto true life Wherefore concluding our present speech let vs learne that as our miserable nature had brought vs to the like condition of death so the grace of God maketh this difference that some namely the wicked die to their destruction and others which are the children of God led by his spirit and word die to liue more happily so that their very death is precious in the sight of God And although the lust of our fleshe beyng blind and earthly striueth continually against the desires of the spirit seeking to separate vs as far as it can from our soueraigne Good yet let vs haue this ingrauen in our harts that they are happy that know the vanitie of this world more happy that set not their affections vpon it and they most happy that are taken out of it to be with GOD in the kingdome of heauen The ende of this Academie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist lib. 2. Eth. cap. 2. Aug. lib. 2. de doct chr cap. 40. Aug. lib. 8. de ciuit Dei cap. 6. 7. 8. c. Aristotle de Mundo Lib. 6. Strommat This commendation of vertue is chiefly to be vnderstood of faith the roote of all good vertues Hebr. 1. Psalm 8. All things were created for man To knowo our selues is true wisedome The soule is truly man Socrates was called the father of Philosophie Socrates said that the knowledge of God and of our selues must be ioined together Wherin the dutio of man consisteth Ignorance of our selues the cause of much euill What man is Gen. 1. Col. 3. The ende of mans being There is a double reason in man Heraclitus wept continually Democritus alwaies laughed The iudgement of Philosophers concerning the nature of man Pindarus Homer Timon Plinie The custome of the Scythians The presumptuous opinion of the Stoiks The end of the knowledge of our selues The wilfull fall of man The restoring of man All men naturally haue some loue and liking of the truth Effects of Christian regeneration The perfection of a wise mans life The wonderfull coniunction of the bodie and soule All things are preserued by agreeing discords The definition of a bodie Gen. 6. Rom. 8. Gal. 5. The works of the flesh Man is a little world Gen. 3. Of the conception and fashioning of man Of the excellencie of the bodie and of all the parts thereof Great secrets of nature The diuersitie of mens voices and writings The soule is infused not 〈◊〉 The definition of the soule Pythagoras was the first that was called a Philosopher The diuision of the soule Plato maketh sixe parts of the soule Aristotle diuideth it in two parts Foure parts of the soule The best diuision of the soule The soule cannot be diuided but is made subiect to two parts Both parts of the soule are corrupted Rom. 7. 23. The properties of the soule The actions of the soule The beautie of the soule Gal. 5. 22. 23. The true delight of the sense Phil. 4. 4. Luke 10. 20. How a man ought to vse both body and soule Nothing woorse to man than man himselfe Rom. 7. 18. 19. There is no good thing in the flesh of man Man is a mutable creature Pleasure and griefe the cause of passions Manis more carefull of his body then of his soule The ende cause and remedie of bodily diseases Naturall passions The definition of passion The diuision of passions All men haue naturally a desire of happines No man by nature can finde out the right way that leadeth to happines The word of God sheweth vs the right way to happines Of the perturbations of the soule The scope of our passions The ancient heathen may rise vp in iudgement against many Christians in these daies The originall nature and effects of perturbations All perturbations are contained vnder these foure heads Desire Ioy Feare Griefe An excellent comparison The cause of the diseases of the soule Reason is the medicine of the soule A sound soule correcteth the naughtines of the bodie The passions of the soule are headstrong and hard to be cured The passions of men commonly bring foorth effects contrarie to their purposes Reason is wisedome inspired from heauen A remedie against passions Examples of death by ouer-great ioy Herennus died for feare Plautius through griefe The effects of desire Vertue is alwais without excessiue passion The nature of worldly goods A wise soule gouerneth the affections What it is to liue happilie The common drife of men What men ought chiefly to leuell at The worke of philosophie The proper end and scope of Philosophie Why the philosophers could neuer attaine to the souereigne good in this life The definition of philosophie The di●ision of philosophie Of diuine philosophie How we must behaue out selues in searching our the secrets of God Of naturall philosophie A●ule to be kept in naturall philosophie Against sorcerers magitians and birth-gazers The issue of all things is to be referred to the prouidence of God Of morall philosophie God the Idea of all good The benefit that commeth by philosophie Philosophie is the art of life What it is to play the philosopher Where and how philosophie is
mislike publike charges and by and by they blame the priuate life labouring that they may be imploied They forsake one countrie to go and dwell in another and suddenly they desire to returne againe into their former waies They that haue neither wiues nor children seeke and wish for them and when they haue them they desire oftentimes nothing more than to be rid of them and soone after ye shall see them married againe Haue they heaped vp great store of wealth and increased their reuenues by halfe so much more they desire notwithstanding to make it altogither as much The soldier seeketh to be a captain from a captaine to be maister of the campe from maister of the campe to be lieutenant to the king then he would gladly make himselfe king The seelie Priest would be a Curate from a Curate Bishop from a Bishoppe Cardinall from a Cardinall Pope and then would commaund Kings and soueraigne Princes Kings are not contented to raigne ouer their owne subiects but bende themselues alwaies to enlarge their limits to make themselues if they can the onely Monarchs Briefly all men whose harts are set vpon worldly goods when they are come to this estate of life they would attaine to that and being come thereunto some other neae desire carieth them farther so that this mischiefe of continuall vncertaine and vnsatiable lustes and desires doth more and more kindle in them vntill in the ende death cut off the thred of their inconstant and neuer contented life This commeth to passe bicause the alteration of an Estate and condition of life plucketh not out of the mind that which presseth and troubleth it namely the ignorance of things and imperfection of reason But they who through the studie of wisedome are furnished with skill and vnderstanding and know that all humane and earthlie things are vncertaine deceitfull slipperie and so many allurements vnto men to drawe them into a downe-fall and destruction they I say doe laie a farre better and more certaine foundation of their chiefe Good contentation and felicitie For they are so farre off from being caried away as worldlings are with the desire of greatnes riches and pleasure that they rather desire lesse than they haue contemne them and so vse them as though they had them not And deliuering their soules by the grace of God from all those perturbations which besiege them in the prison of their bodies they lift vp their wishes and desires yea they refer al the endsof their intents actions to this only marke to be vnited and ioined to the last end of their soueraigne Good which is the full whole fruition of the essence of God that their holy affections might be at once fulfilled and satisfied by enioying that diuine light through a most happie immortal life when they shal be vncloathed of this body of death of all concupiscences passions reioice in such a felicitie as neither eie hath seene nor eare heard nor euer entred into the hart of man Moreouer we ought to know if we haue neuer so litle iudgmēt reason that in al worldly things how great goodly soeuer they seeme to our carnall eies sences there is such a mixture of bitternes dislike ioined with the fruition of them that if we could diuide the euil from that which of the ignorant sort is called good weigh them one against another there is no doubt but the bad part would easily weigh down what goodnes soeuer could be found amongst them But how shal we call that good which is so mingled with euill which oftentimes hurteth more than it profiteth and which being possessed abundantly cannot yet keepe the possessor thereof from being wretched and miserable What contentation can a man find therein seeing that such a Good commonly slippeth away as soone as it is receiued and alwaies worketh an vnsatiable desire thereof What felicitie shall we expect and looke for in the fruition of that thing which waxeth old and perisheth and which men are alwaies afraid to loose Now I pray you who can doubt iustly but that the qualitie and nature of riches of glorie of honour and pleasure is such Whereupon we must conclude that man can finde no goodnes contentation or happines in any thing that is earthly and mortall Besides who knoweth not sufficiently the poore estate of mans life which in the fairest of his race commeth to nothing in the twinkling of an eie so that all his bodily shewe and brightnes turneth suddenly into putrefaction Who doth not try more than he would how full his life is of sharpe griefes and pricking miseries and how it is assaulted with continuall troubles With how many percing cares doth it abound and what griping griefes doe pursue it Briefly as a wise Grecian said hauing but the bare name of life it is in effect and truth a continuall paine And truly that thing hath no beeing in deede which changeth without ceasing as the nature of man doth which neuer continueth in the same estate no not the least moment that is I would gladly aske of thee who readest this or doest meane to reade it what day or what hower thou hast passed or now passest ouer since thou hadst any iudgement or knowledge wherein thy body hath not felt some griefe or thy hart some passion As there is no sea without tempest warre without danger or iourney without trauell so there is no life without griefe nor calling without enuie or care neither did I euer see or know that man who hath had no cause to be grieued or to complaine Doth not experience daily teach vs that no man liuing can make choise of any estate void of all trouble or flie one inconuenience but that he is in danger to fall into another Is it not also most certaine that a sudden ioy or prosperitie is but a fore-warning or signe of some griefe heauie calamitie at hand But what Shall we for all this think man so miserable that sailing all his life time in stormes and tempests he cannot possibly attaine to any safe hauen against the rage of them Shall we in such sort depriue him during the time of his being in this world of all Good contentation and happines as if there were no meanes to auoid or at leastwise to mollifie the mishaps and miseries of mankind that he faint not vnder the heauy burden of them Wherefore then do wise men by so many learned writings inuite vs diligently to seeke after and with a burning zeale to embrace holy vertue saying that by hir alone a man may liue happily and contentedly in euery calling and may enioy therein the soueraigne Good through the tranquillitie and rest of his soule purged of perturbations by Philosophy Was it in vaine and fruitles that an infinite number of famous personages whom Histories the mother of antiquitie set before our eies imploied so great trauell passed infinite watchings for sooke and contemned riches pleasures honors and worldly
generally so manie wonderfull works vnder the cope of heauen I cannot maruell enough at the excellencie of Man for whom all these things were created are maintained and preserued in their being and moouing by one and the same diuine prouidence alwaies like vnto it selfe AMANA There is nothing more certaine than this that all things whatsoeuer either the eie can behold or the eare heare were created for the benefit profit and vse of man and that he was made excellent aboue all things to rule ouer them yea the very Angels are sent to minister for their sakes which shall receiue the inheritance of saluation ARAM. Oh vnspeakable and heauenlie goodnesse which hast created man little lower than thy selfe and crowned him with glorie and worship But tell vs I pray thee ACHITOB more particularly what this great and principall worke of nature Man is to what end his being was giuen him and how he hath shewed foorth the fruits thereof For it ●●st needes be that there is something in him greatly to be woondered at seeing all things were created to serue and obey him ACHITOB. Truely yee haue reason companions to begin our happie assembly with that knowledge which we ought to haue of our selues as being the storehouse of all wisdome and beginning of saluation wherof we may haue an assured testimonie from that father of Philosophie Socrates who beholding the first precept written at Delphos in that temple of Apollo which was so renowmed throughout Graecia namely Know thy selfe was foorthwith driuen into a very deepe cogitation and being rapt with contemplation of spirit he began from that time forward to doubt and to inquire of himselfe Wherupon contemning that way which all the Philosophers of his time who busied themselues about nothing but onely in finding out the causes of naturall things and in disputing curiously of them he gaue himselfe wholie to the knowledge of himselfe I meane of his soule which he maintained to be in deed man and by disputuation to intreat of the soueraigne good thereof and of vertue By which meanes the gate of wisedome was opened vnto him wherein he profited in such sort that according to the oracle at Delphos he was called of all men the wise the iust the prince of Philosophers and father of Philosophie And surely out of his sayings which being more diuine than humane were written by his disciples all other Philosophers haue drawne their knowledge Heraclitus another excellent man minding to giue out in speech that he had done some notable act woorthy of himselfe said I haue sought my selfe Which beginning truely is verie necassarie for man as being a guide to leade him to the true knowledge of God which is a heauenly gifte of God and peculiar to his And this is learnedly taught vs by the same Socrates where he saith that the dutie of a wise man is to seeke out the reasons of things that in the ende he may finde that diuine reason wherby they were made and hauing found it may worship and serue it that afterward he may enioy it and reape profite thereby Moreouer he addeth that the perfect knowledge of ones selfe which consisteth in the soule is in such sort ioined with the knowledge of God that the one without the other cannot be sincere and perfect And for the same reason Plato his disciple who for the excellencie of his writings was surnamed the Diuins saith that the perfect dutie of man is first to know his owne nature then to contemplate the diuine nature and last of all to bestow his labour in those things which may be most beneficiall to all men Ignorance of a mans selfe saith Lactantius and the want of knowledge wherefore and to what end he is borne is the cause of error of euill of leauing the right way to follow the crooked of wandring out of the plaine way to walke in the ragged and vneeuen way or vpon a dangerous and slipperie mountaine and lastly of forsaking the light to walke in darknes Now if we account it a shamefull thing to be ignorant of those things which belong to the life of man surely the not knowing of our selues is much more dishonest Let vs then consider what man is according to that meane knowledge which by the grace of God we are endued withal not staying in those curious definitions which the Philosophers haue made Man is a creature made of God after his owne image iust holy good and right by nature and compounded of soule and body I say of soule which was inspired of God with spirite and life and of a perfect naturall bodie framed of the earth by the same power of God In this sort man had his beeing of the eternal workmaster of the whole world of whom he was created by his incomprehensible goodnes to be made partaker of his immortalitie and permanent felicitie for this onely ende to set foorth the glorie of his Creator and to speake and do those things that are agreeable vnto him through the acknowledgement of his benefits From which ende man being fallen of his own free wil through ingratitude and disobedience was bereaued of all those ornaments which he had receiued before of God and in steede of righteousnes and holines all iniquitie filthines and vncleannes entred into him wherby he was made the slaue of sinne and of death from whence all those miseries had their beginning wherewith the life of man is ouerwhelmed His soule also was wrapped with infinite hurtfull passions and perturbations which worke in it a continuall disquietnes and his body became subiect to innumerable trauailes and violent vntowardnes Of which corruption the ancient Philosophers had great and assured knowledge but the first and true cause therof which was sinne and the voluntarie fall of man with his restoring vnto grace by the vnspeakeable goodnes and mercie of his Creator from whence he was fallen were alwaies hidden from them as we shall see anon as also from an infinite number of men who liuing holily according to the world neuer had the perfect knowledge of God in his eternall sonne As for any good thing whatsoeuer they vttered or found out it came through earnestnes of studie by discoursing and considering in the reasonable part of their soule of those things which offred themselues to their minde But forasmuch as they were not wholy ouerwhelmed in euery part of reason and yet had no knowledge of the heauenly word Iesus Christ they vttered many things contrarie one to another and in the midst of their great and woonderfull skill according to that saying of the Scripture who hideth his secrets from the prudent and reueleth them to babes they had a continuall troubled spirit wandring here and there aswell in the seeking out of themselues and of the causes of naturall things as of those things which are aboue nature And truely the reason of man naturally ingraffed in his hart which so farre foorth
time forward to liue a mortall life so that his bodie and soule became subiect to infinite miseries and damnable infirmities which draw vpon them the condemnation of eternall death Notwithstanding God whose goodnes and mercie are endles reestablished and assured the succession of his immortall inheritance vnto those whom it pleased him by grace to make dead to sin and aliue to himselfe through the satisfaction of his wrath made by the innocencie of his eternall sonne purging them in his bloud and opening vnto them by him the gates of heauen after he hath renewed them in righteousnes holines and innocencie that they may follow after godlines and religion And knowing that man so fraile and weake might easily fall downe vnder the heauie burden of those miseries and calamities whereunto the corruption of his nature made him subiect and wherein by reason of hereditarie sinne he should remaine during this mortall life as also that those furious and continuall passions which are mingled togither in his soule being ioined to the common infirmities of his bodie would be of too great force to throwe him againe headlong into destruction this infinite mercie of God appointed that from the beginning there should remaine in the spirite of man a little sparke of light which driueth him to a naturall loue of the truth and to a desire to inquire after it yea which pricketh and prouoketh him not to sleepe altogither in his vices This weake instinct being awaked stirred vp holpen and disposed by the pure grace vertue and power of the author of all goodnes draweth and moueth a Christian regenerated by the holie Ghost after knowledge of himselfe and hatred of that which is in him to seeke after and to couet with a speciall hartie desire that goodnes and righteousnes whereof he is void and that glorious libertie of which he depriued himselfe Furthermore the same heauenlie grace blessing this holie desire of the man regenerate causeth him to draw out of the doctrine of holie scriptures that wherewithall he may if not heale perfectly his wicked inclinations yet at the least containe and represse them in such sort that they breake not out into any damnable execution He teacheth him also to receiue the infirmities of his flesh as fatherly chastisements for his sin and as necessarie means to exercise him and to keepe him in awe And lastly for the vpshot and perfection of all happines and felicitie in this world he instructeth him how he may lead a quiet and peaceable life in beholding the woonderfull works of the diuinitie which he is to adore and honour and in the amendement and correction of his maners naturally corrupted by squaring them after the patterne of vertue that so he may be made worthie and fit to gouerne humane affaires for the profit of manie and at length attaine to the perfection of a wise man by ioining togither the actiue life with the contemplatiue in the certaine hope and expectation of a second immortall and most blessed life Whereunto also the precepts and discourses of learned and ancient philosophers may serue for-our instruction and pricking forward as also the examples which are liuely reasons of the liues of so manie notable men as histories the mother of antiquitie do as it were represent aliue before our eies And this in my iudgement is sufficient generally to vnderstand of Man seeing we are heerafter to discourse more particularly of both his principall parts the bodie and the soule Of the bodie and soule ACHITOB THe bodie and soule are so knit and conioined togither that nothing can separate them but death the destroier of all which through sinne and for the iust punishment thereof entred into the world And this is no sooner done but that whatsoeuer we see of man vanisheth from before our eies the earthie part returning into the masse of earth frō whence it came according to that saying of Aristotle that All things are resolued into those things whereof they are compounded likewise that which is spirituall and inuisible goeth into an eternall immortalitie from whence the being thereof proceeded ASER. Truly this knitting togither and coniunction of the bodie and soule is a most wonderfull thing in nature yea as manie of the philosophers say against nature seeing the soule which is light is contained within the bodie being heauie that which is of celestiall fire within that which is cold and earthie that which is inuisible within that which is palpable that which is immortall within that which is mortall But what Where is the sence of man which is able to comprehend the reason of the doings of that great Maister-builder of the vniuersall frame Yea there is more For during this coniunction as all things that mooue within this generall globe are maintained by agreeing discords euen so of necessitie there must be such a harmonie betweene the bodie and the soule that by the helpe of the one the other subsisteth and abideth and that through their continuall striuing sometimes the one and then the other be in the end obeied AMANA Thou tellest vs heere of a wonderful strange thing that that which is spirituall and immortall sometime obeieth that which is mortal and made of a corruptible lumpe But I vnderstand thee well This proceedeth of the imperfection and imbecillitie of our nature For as Socrates said if we were perfect philosophers we would neuer agree with our selues but resist continually Now following this matter make vs to vnderstand more particularly ARAM what the bodie and soule are what properties they haue and what is the excellencie both of the one and the other ARAM. With a good will my companions and first I will begin at the definition of a body A body as the Philosophers say speaking generally of all things that haue bodies is that which may be deuided and measured after three sorts in length in breadth and in deapth Or according to others a bodie is a masse or lump which asmuch as lieth in it resisteth touching and occupieth a place A body saith Plato is that which being in his proper place is neither heauie nor light but being in a strange place first inclineth somewhat then is driuen and caried forward either with heauines or lightnes Hereupon both he and other Philosophers discourse learnedly and profoundly of the particular nature of al bodies of the earth of the fire of the aire of the water and of all other both simple and compound bodies and of their contrarie motions But seeing all those discourses are at this present without the compasse of our Academy let vs simplie with more profite and that according to the scripture define the body which we haue vndertaken to handle We say then that the body is flesh that euery affection of the flesh is deadly and that the works therof are vncleannes pride fornication enmity debate wrath contention enuy murder gluttonie and such like and therfore that the bodie is made of
reason worketh in the soule of a prudent man by curing the passions and perturbations thereof and by causing him to rest ioyfull and contented in what estate and condition soeuer he be Let vs note moreouer which we touched in the beginning of this present discourse that all these passions of the soule are much more dangerous than those of the bodie bicause the most hurtfull passions of the bodie are first ingendred of those in the soule For the bodie yeeldeth it selfe ready to serue the desires appetites and pleasures of the soule which being ouercome and in the power of fleshly prouocations procureth in the end destruction to them both But contrariwise the soule being ruled by reason resisteth mightilie all corporall passions and is nothing at all or verie little made partaker of their euill dispositions whereas on the other side the bodie is constrained to alter and change with euery infirmitie of the soule If the minde be troubled what cheerefulnes can be seene in the face The diseases of the bodie hinder not the soule from effecting all good vertuous actions yea many haue brought forth the fruits of wise philosophers and great captaines when they were vexed with diseases which they could neuer do at least verie few of them that were corrupted and defiled in soule And therfore Democritus said very well that it was much more conuenient and meet for a man to haue care of his soule than of his bodie For if the soule be perfect she correcteth the naughtines of the body whereas the strength disposition of the body without the vse of reason hurteth both the soule and it selfe Moreouer that the passions of the soule are harder to be perceiued and knowne and consequently more vneasie to be cured who doth not easily feele it being greeued but in the least part of his bodie yea what griefe doth not of it selfe sufficiently appeere either by some inflammation or by the colour of the visage or by some other outward shew But how many do we fee whose soules are extreemly sicke spoiled and corrupted with vice and yet being depriued of all feeling they thinke themselues to be the soundest men in the world And that they are headstrong and vneasie to be cured we may know by this that the body is in the end so farforth obedient that if reason be vrgent vpon it she forceth euen the naturall passions of hunger thirst and sleepe findeth out besides a thousand remedies to help it self But when the passions of the soule haue once beene grounded and rooted within it without resistance they haue such pearcing pricks that oftentimes they presse ouerwhelme all reason which is their onely medicine and preseruatiue And yet to fill vp the measure of all miserie such is the froward nature of man that he is much more slothfull to seeke out this remedy of the soule than that of the bodie as we touched in the beginning of this present discourse Moreouer the iudgement of reason being oftentimes diseased within him is the cause that when he thinketh to finde health he encreaseth his euill and falleth into those inconueniences which he desired most of all to eschew Example hereof we haue in those who being led onely with a desire of glory and honor obtaine nothing by their dooings if we consider them well but shame and dishonor The like may be said of all the other diseases of the soule which commonly are accompanied and followed with effects contrary to their endes and desires What remaineth then seeing we perceiue the dangers to be great which follow al the perturbations of the soule but that knowing it to be more easie not to receiue them than to driue them out being receiued we preuent them and hinder them from taking liuely roote within our soules by making reason which as Hesiodus saith is a diuine guide and wisedome inspired from aboue so strong and powerfull that it may be able by the grace of God to resist al the assaults of vnbrideled desires and the froward affections of this flesh But behold yet a better and more certaine remedie namely that being assured that all perturbations are but opinions drawne from our will through a iudgement corrupted with the affections of this flesh we labor by good and sound reasons to ouerthrow and confound these false and erronious opinions perswading our selues that whatsoeuer we imagine to be good or euill in the world which is the cause that our minds are depriued of their rest and quietnes is indeede neither good nor euill and so consequently that it ought not in any sort to breed passions within vs. Hereof the sequele of our discourses shall by the helpe of God giue vs to vnderstand more at large and furnish vs with examples of pernicious effects which proceed from all the passions of the soule We will here by the way note their force hauing learned out of Histories that they haue oftentimes set vpon the harts of men in such violent maner that some through desire some for ioy those by feare others by griefe haue ended their liues Diagoras the Rhodian and Chilon hearing that their children had wonne the price at the games of Olympus felt such a motion in them of the spleene that they were stifled with laughter Herennus the Sicilian as he was led prisoner for being a copartner in the conspiracie of Caius Gracchus was so astonished oppressed with the feare of his iudgement to come that he fell downe strke dead at the entrie of the prison Plautius the Numidian looking vpon his dead wife tooke it so to hart that casting himselfe vpon the dead body he arose no more but was there stifled with sorrow As for extreme desire or coueting there is nothing that so greatly mooueth or carieth away the minds of men or that commeth neerer to their destruction than this foolish passion indangereth their life Galeace of Mantua saying oftentimes to a damsell of Pauia whom he courted and made loue to that he would suffer a thousand deaths for hir seruice if it were possible was in iest commanded by hir to cast himself into the riuer which he presently performed was drowned But we shal alleadge more fitly such testimonies of the fond effects of desire and of all the perturbations of the soule when we discourse more particularly of euery vice that proceedeth from them In the meane time I would gladly aske this question of him that is most ignorant vicious and carnall whether he will not grant vertue to be a good of the soule There is none so impudent whose conscience would not compell him to confesse the same And yet no man is caried away with too great a desire of vertue neither doth any reioice therein too excessiuely after he hath obtained it Likewise there is none that feareth so vehemently least he cannot obtaine hir as that the feare thereof driueth the soule out of his place and rest For
which did all intreat of vertue out of which men may reape infinite profite especially out of those that intreat of a common-wealth or of lawes In these books that he might not seeme vngratefull towarde his master Socrates who would neuer write any thing he bringeth him in rehearsing that which at other times he had heard him speake Stilpo the philosopher being in his citie of Megara when it was taken spoiled by Demetrius king of Macedonia who fauouring him asked if he had lost any thing that was his made this answer No sir quoth he for war cannot spoile vertue And indeede this is that riches wherwith we ought to furnish our selues which can swim with vs in a shipwrack and which caused Socrates to answere thus to one who asked him what his opinion was of the great king whether he did not thinke him very happy I cannot tell quoth he how he is prouided of knowledge vertue Who may iustly doubt whether vertue alone is able to make a man happie seeing it doth not onely make him wise prudent iust good both in his doings sayings but also commonly procureth vnto him honor glorie and authoritie It was through hir meanes that Alexander deserued the surname of Great by that experience which she gaue him in warre by his liberalitie in riches by his temperance in all his sumptuous magnificence by his hardines and constancy in fight by his continency in affections by his bountie and clemencie in victorie and by all other vertues wherein he surpassed all that liued in his time Yea the fame and renowme of his vertues procured a greater number of cities countries and men to submit themselues willingly vnto him without blowestriking than did the power of his armie Wherein this sentence of Socrates is found true that whole troupes of souldiers and heapes of riches are constrained oftentimes to obey vertue What said Darius monarche of the Persians when he vnderstoode both what continencie Alexander his enimie had vsed towards his wife who being exceeding beautifull was taken prisoner by him and what humanitie he shewed afterward in hir funerals when she was dead The Persians quoth he neede not be discouraged neither thinke themselues cowards and effeminate because they were vanquished of such an aduersarie Neither do I demand any victorie of the gods but to surmount Alexander in bountifulnes And if it be so that I must fall I beseech them to suffer none but him to sit in the royall throne and seat of Cyrus Will we haue testimonies of the inuicible force of vertue and of hir powerfull and praisewoorthy effects in most sinister and vntoward matters Histories declare vnto vs that amongst all the vertuous acts which procured praise and renowme to the men of old time those were the notablest most commended which they shewed foorth at such time as fortune seemed to haue wholy beaten them downe Pelopidas generall captaine of the Thebans who deliuered them from the bondage of the Lacedemonians is more praised and esteemed for the great and notable vertue which he shewed being prisoner in the hands of Alexander the tyrannous king of the Phereans then for all his victories gotten before For at that time his vertue was so farre from yeelding any iot to his calamitie that contrariwise with an vnspeakeable constancie he recomforted the inhabitants of the towne that came to visite him exhorting them to be of good courage seeing the houre was come wherin the tyrant should be at once punished for his wickednes And one day he sent him word that he was destitute of all iudgement and reason in that he vexed his poore citizens caused them to die in torments who neuer offended him and in the meane time suffered him to liue in rest of whom he could not be ignorant that escaping his hands he would be reuenged of him The tyrant maruelling at his great courage asked why he made such great haste to die To this end quoth he that thou being yet more hated of God and men than thou art mightest the sooner be destroied Philocles one of the most famous Athenian captaines of his time who caused this law to be made that the right thombe of all prisoners taken in war from that time forward should be cut off that they might not handle a pike any more but yet might serue to rowe with an oare being taken prisoner with three thousand Atheniens in one battell which Lysander admirall of the Lacedemonians obtained against him and al of them being condemned to die was demanded of Lysander what paine he iudged himselfe worthie of for counselling his country-men to so wicked and cruell a thing To whom he made this onely answere with an vnmoueable vertue Accuse not those who haue no iudge to hear know their cause But seeing the gods haue shewed thee this fauour to be conqueror deale with vs as we would haue done with thee if we had ouercome thee Which being said he went to wash and bath himselfe and then putting on a rich cloke as if he should haue gone to some feast he offered himselfe first to the slaughter shewing the way of true constancie to his fellow citizens Anaxarchus the philosopher being taken prisoner by the commandement of Nero that he might know of him who were the authors of a conspiracie that was made against his estate and being led towards him for the same cause he bit his toong in sunder with his teeth and did spit it in his face knowing well that otherwise the tyrant would haue compelled him by all sorts of tortures and torments to reueale disclose them Zeno missing his purpose which was to haue killed the tyrant Demylus did asmuch to him But what is more terrible than death Notwithstanding when did vertue better shew hir greatnes and power then when death laboured most to ouerthrow hir as being resolued of that saying of Cicero that all wise men die willingly and without care but that the vnwise ignorant are at their wits ende for feare of death If many who haue not knowne the true and perfect immortalitie of the soule and some onely led with a desire of praise worldly glorie others touched with duty and kindled with a loue towards their countrey haue shewed the increase of their vertue in the horrors and pangs of death what ought they to do who expect certainely an euerlasting life Phocion after he had beene chosen generall captaine of the Athenians foure and fortie times and done infinite seruices to the common-wealth being at length through certaine partakinges and diuisions ouercome with the weakest side which he had mainetained and being condemned to drinke poison was demaunded before he dranke whether he had no more to saye Whereupon speaking to his sonne he saide I commaunde thee to beare the Athenians no rancor and malice for my death And a little before this speech beholding one of those that were condemned to
countries as the histories of most nations in the world declare vnto vs and namely of the Germaines who in the time of Tacitus had neither law nor religion nor knowledge nor forme of commonwealth whereas now they giue place to no nation for good institution in all things Let vs not then be discouraged or faint by knowing our naturall imperfections seeing that through labor and diligence we may recouer that which is wanting but happie is that man and singularly beloued of God to whom both good birth and like bringing vp are granted together It followeth now to discourse particulerly of the maner of good education and instruction of youth but this will come in more fitely when we shall intreat of Oeconomy And yet seeing we are in the discourse of mans nature I thinke it wil not be from the purpose nor without profite if to make vs more seuere censurers of our owne faults we note that although our behauior be cheefely known by the effects as a tree by the fruit yet many times a mans naturall inclinatiō is better perceiued in a light matter as in a word in a pastime or in some other free and priuate busines wherein vertue or vice ingrauen in the soule may be sooner espied than in greater actions and works done publikely bicause in these matters shame or constraint commonly cause men to vse dissimulation Howbeit this also is true that the more power and authoritie a man hath when he may alleadge his owne will for all reason the inward affection of his hart is then best discouered For such an vnbrideled licence mooueth all euen to the verie depth and bottome of his passions and causeth all those secret vices that are hidden in his soule to be fullie and euidently seene Whereupon it followeth that great and noble men ought aboue all others to learne vertue and to studie to liue well especially seeing they haue all those requisite helps and commodities through want of which most men are hindred from attaining thereunto Let vs therefore learne by our present discourse to knowe that the nature of all men by reason of the corruption of sin is so depraued corrupted and vnperfect that euen the best men amongst many imperfections carry about them some enuie ielousy emulation and contention against some or other and rather against their verie friends This did Demas a noble man and greatly conuersant in matters of estate declare vnto the councel in the citie of Chio after a ciuill dissention wherin he had followed that part which ouercame For he perswaded those of his side not to banish all their aduersaries out of the city but to leaue some of them after they had taken from them all meanes of doing more harme least quoth he vnto them we begin to quarrel with our friends hauing no more enemies to contende withall For this cause we must fortifie our selues with vnderstanding and knowledge through labor and studie of good letters that we may restraine and represse so many pernitious motions mingled togither in our soules Let vs know moreouer that seeing our nature is assaulted and prouoked by a vehement inclination to do any thing whatsoeuer it is a very hard matter to withdrawe and keepe it backe by any force no not by the strength or feare of any lawes if in due conuenient time we frame not within it a habite of vertue hauing first wished to be well borne But howsoeuer it be let vs endeuor to be well borne through custome and exercise in vertue which will be vnto vs as it were another nature vsing the meanes of good education and instruction in wisedome whereby our soules shal be made conquerors ouer all hurtfull passions and our minds moderate and staied that in all our doings sayings and thoughts we passe not the bounds of the dutie of a vertuous man The ende of the fourth daies worke THE FIFT DAIES WORKE Of Temperance Chap. 17. ASER. THe diuine excellencie of the order of the equall wonderful constācie of the parts of the world aswell in the goodly and temperate moderation of the seasons of the yeere as in the mutuall coniunctiō of the elements obeying altogither with a perfect harmonie the gratious and soueraigne gouernment of their creator was the cause that Pythagoras first called all the compasse of this vniuersal frame by this name of World which without such an excellent disposition would be but disorder a world of confusion For this word world signifieth asmuch as Ornament or a well disposed order of things Nowe as a constant and temperate order is the foundation thereof so the ground-worke and preseruation of mans happie life for whom all things were made is the vertue of temperance which conteineth the desires and inclinations of the soule within the compasse of mediocritie and moderateth all actions whatsoeuer For this cause hauing hitherto according to our iudgment sufficiently discoursed of the first riuer of the fountaine of honestie I thinke we ought to set downe here in the second place although it be contrarie to the opinion of manie philosophers this vertue of Temperance saying with Socrates that she is the ground-worke and foundation of all vertues AMANA As a man cannot be temperate if first he be not prudent bicause euerie vertuous action proceedeth of knowledge so no man can be strong and valiant if he be not first temperate bicause he that hath a noble and great courage without moderation will attempt a thousand euils and mischeefes and will soone grow to be rash and headie Likewise iustice cannot be had without temperance seeing it is the cheefe point of a iust man to haue his soule free from perturbations Which cannot be done except he be temperate whose proper subiect the soule is ARAM. Heroicall vertue saith Plato is made perfect by the mixture and ioyning together of Temperance and fortitude which being separated will at length become vices For a temperate man that is not couragious easily waxeth to be a coward and faintharted and a noble hart not temperate becommeth rash and presumptuous Let vs then heare ACHITOB discourse of this Temperance so excellent and necessarie a vertue ACHITOB. Agapetus a man of great skill writing to the emperor Iustinian amongst other things had this saying We say that thou art truly and rightly both emperor and king so long as thou canst command and master thy desires and pleasures and art beset and decked with the crowne of Temperance and clothed with the purple robe of Iustice For other principalities end by death whereas this kingdome abideth for euer yea others are manie times the cause of perdition to the soule but this procureth a certaine and an assured safetie When we haue considered well of the woorthie effects and fruits of this vertue of temperance no doubt but we will subscribe to this wise mans opinion and to as many as haue written of the praises and roialties of that vertue Temperance saith thagoras is that light which
fifteene dayes he had gotten with child a hundred virgins of Sarmatia which he had taken prisoners in the warre Chilpericus the first king of France to the end he might the better enioy a whore called Fredegonda whō afterwards he maried compelled his first wife named Andeuora to become a religious woman and put to death two children which he had by her through the counsaile of his sayd concubine Then hauing in his second mariage taken to wife Galsonda daughter to the king of Spaine he caused her to be strangled and maried Fredegonda who perceiuing afterward that he noted in himselfe this loosenesse of life and offensiue kind of gouernment caused him to be slain A iust punishment suffred by God for his intemperance Xerxes monarch of the Persians was so intemperate and giuen to lust that he propounded rewards for those that could inuent some new kind of pleasure And therfore comming into 〈…〉 infinit number of men to subdue it he was ouercome and repulsed by a small number as being an effeminate and faintharted man Epicurus a learned philosopher was so intemperate that he placed the soueraigne Good and Felicitie in pleasure Sardanapalus monarch of Babylon the first of the foure Empires was so addicted to lust and intemperance that he stirred not all day long from the company of women being apparelled as they were and spinning purple Whereby he became so odious that two of his lieutenants iudging him vnworthy to command ouer Asia and ouer so many good men as were vnder his Empire raised his subiects against him and ouercame him in battell Wherupon dispairing of his safetie he caused a great Tabernacle of wood to be set vp in a sure place within the cloister of his palace and compassed it round about with great store of dry wood Then he caused his wife and his concubines whom he loued best to enter into it and all the wealth he had to be brought thither This done shutting himselfe within it his Eunuches and seruants according to the othe which he had taken of them put fire to the said frame and so this miserable king of the Chaldeans and Assyrians with all that was with him was suddenly consumed with fire and ended his monarchie which his victorious lieutenants diuided betwixt them the one taking himself for king of Babylon the other of Medea Antonius one of Caesars successors in the Empire procured his own ruine through intemperance loosenes and stirred vp against himselfe the enuie and murmuring of the Romans for his retchlesnesse of feats of Arms in that warre ouer which he was generall against the Parthians For to the end he might quickly return to his concubine Cleopatra Queene of Egypt he hazarded all in such sort that without doing any thing worthy his first reputation he lost more than twentie thousand of his own men Afterward Octauius his companion in the Empire beyng armed against him that he might reuenge the iniurie which he had done him in forsaking his sister whom he had wedded to liue in his vncleannes gaue him battell wherein Antonius seeing his friend Cleopatra flie who had born him company in that warre folowed her with three skore of his owne gallies albeit the fight was yet equal the victorie doubtful Thus he betraied those that fought for him to follow her who already had begun his destruction to the end she might accomplish the same as in deed it fel out after For being besieged within Alexandria by the said Octauius and without hope of safetie he thrust himself through the body with his sword wherof he died and Cleopatra also procured her own death by the biting of the serpent Aspis Boleslaus the second king of Polonia being giuen to all vncleannes and filthines made no dout to take women by violence from their husbands Whereupon the bishop of Cracouia often admonished him therof and when by reason of his obstinate perseuerance he proceeded against him euen with excommunication he was caried headlong with such fury that he killed this holy man After that his subiects comming against him he was constrained to flie into Hungarie where falling mad he slew himself The emperor Adrian tooke such glory and pride in al execrable vices that he commanded a Temple with a sumptuous tombe to be made for a naughtie man named Antinoüs whō he had miserably abused in his life In our time Iohannes a Casa Archbishop of Beneuento and Legate in Venice wrote a booke in praise of the abominable vice of Sodomitrie Sigismundus Malatesta lord of a part of Romaignola a prouince of Italy striued to haue carnal knowledge of his sonne Robert who thrusting his poinado into his fathers bosom reuenged that great wickednes By these examples and infinit others whereof histories are full it appeereth sufficiently that man burning with intemperance careth not at what price with what shame hurt or hinderance he may come to the execution and practise of all such pleasure delight as he propoundeth to himselfe As if he purpose to haue his fame continue for euer he will not stick to do it although it be by some notable wickednesse And thus we read of him that burnt the Temple of Diana which was accounted the fift wonder of the world was two hundred eight and twentie yeeres in building by the Amazones within the citie of Ephesus in Asia The planks thereof were all of Cedar wood and the doores and garnishing of the wals of Cypres This wretched caitife confessed that he put fire to that sumptuous building for no other cause than to leaue his fame and renowne behind him in the world but commandement was giuen that none should fet down his name in writing Neuerthelesse he is named Erostratus by Solinus and Strabo from whence came that prouerb This is the renowne of Erostratus vsed when any man seeketh to be famous by a wicked act which we may also apply to all intemperate men As touching the defect of Temperance wherof mention was made in the beginning of our present discourse and which hath no proper name but vnproperly is called by some Stupiditie orsencelesnes it is rarely found amongst men who by nature are giuen to pleasure and caried away with all kinds of desires lusts For where shal we find any so dul blockish that hath no feeling of pleasure and that is not mooued with glory and honor Such a man may be truly taken and accounted as one void of sence and feeling like to a blocke Neither doth it belong to temperāce to be depriued of all desires but to master them For that man as Cicero saith that neuer had experience of pleasures and delights neither hath any feeling of them ought not to be called temperate as he that hath done nothing which may testifie his continencie and modestie Thus ye see we haue no matter offred wherabout to bestow time in reproouing this vice of defect frō which men are
contrarywise he made him Consull the next yeere Whereat his familiar friends wondring and disswading him from it My meaning is quoth he to them that he should one day remember this good turne Let vs also propound to kings and princes that sentence of Titus the emperor who making a feast one day with a cheerful countenance to the contentation of euery one in the ende of the banquet strake himselfe on the brest at the table and fetched a great sigh withall Wherupon his fauorites demanding the cause why I cannot quoth he keepe my selfe from sighing and complaining when I call to mind that this great honor which I haue dependeth vpon the will of fortune that my estates and dignities are as it were in sequestration and my life as it were laid in pawne pledged vnto me Let the saying of that good prince Philip king of Macedonia be well noted of great men who on a day falling all along in that place where wrestling was exercised and beholding the fashion of his body printed in the dust Good Lord quoth he how little ground must we haue by nature and yet we desire all the habitable world According to his example let vs all humble our selues in the acknowledgement of our imbecillitie and poore humain estate and let vs moderate our vnruly affections through the contempt of those things which worldly men desire and seeke after iudging them an vnwoorthy reward for vertue Let euery one of vs content himself with his estate and calling so that it tendeth to the right end namely to his glory that gaue it vnto vs and to the benefit and profit of his creatures and let all be done according to that measure of graces which he shall bestow vpon vs. Of Voluptuousnes and Lecherie Chap. 22. ACHITOB AMong those faults which men commit being led with desire and pleasure that is naturally in them we noted a little before luxuriousnes and whoredome But bicause we then reserued it to a more ample handling of Voluptuousnes and of a lustfull life which is the chiefe worke therof whose desire and contentation is in lecherie to the end we may the better discouer that sugred poison which lurketh vnder these detestable vices I am of opinion that we must begin to enter into this large field so fruitfull for thornes and thistles which to sicke eyes many tymes seeme faire blossoms of some goodly fruits propounding to the sight of euery one the nature and effects of the tyrannical power of pleasure a mortall enemie to the raigne of Vertue ASER. Pleasure saith Plato is the hooke of all euils bicause men are taken thereby as fish by a hooke For it quencheth the light of the soule hindreth all good counsell and through inticements turneth men aside from the way of vertue throwing them downe headlong into the gulfe of confusion which is luxuriousnes and whoredom a most wicked abominable vice aboue all others wherby all vertue is hurt and offended AMANA He that is giuen to pleasure saith Cicero iudgeth all things not according to reason but according to sence esteeming that best which most delighteth him so that he easily suffreth himselfe to be kindled with the burning fire of luxuriousnes which is hurtfull to euerie age and extinguisheth old age But let vs heare ARAM vpon this matter ARAM. It is no new opinion that many iudging according to their sensualitie and being altogither ignorant of the true nature and immortality of the soule haue placed their soueraigne Good in pleasure and in the enioying of those things which most of all tickle the sences Aristippus and all the Cyrinaiks Epicurus Metrodorus Chrysippus and many others who falsly tooke vnto themselues the name of Philosophers laboured to prooue it by many arguments cloking their wickednes with graue and loftie words saying that none could perfectly attaine to pleasure except he were vertuous and wise But that which Cicero alleadgeth against them is sufficient to discouer the maske of their impudencie and to conuince them of lying namely that we must not simply looke to mens sayings but consider whether they agree in their opinions For how is it possible that he which placeth his chiefe Good in the pleasure of the bodie and in neuer-feeling griefe should make account of or imbrace vertue which is an enimie to delights and pleasures and commandeth vs rather to suffer a cruell and dolorous death than to start aside against dutie It is certaine that he which placeth his chiefe Good in pleasure hath no regard to do any thing but for his priuate profit Whereby he declareth sufficiently that he careth not at all for vertue especially iustice which commandeth nothing so much as to leaue our owne particular pleasure and profit and to imbrace though with our perill losse the publike welfare Moreouer how could he be couragious if he thought that grief were the extreamest and greatest euill or temperate supposing pleasure to be perfect felicitie Besides what can be more vnbeseeming man appointed for all great and excellent things than to take that for his chiefe Good whereof brute beastes haue better part than we and to leaue the care of that which is diuine and immortal in vs to attend to that which is mortall and subiect to corruption But these erronious and false opinions being contrarie to themselues are so absurd and full of blockish ignorance that we neede not here loose much time in confuting them and conuincing them of lies Notwithstanding it being so common a thing with men to imbrace pleasure as the principall end of their actions bicause naturally they desire pleasure and shun griefe it will be easie for vs to shew that ignorance only guideth them when being depriued of the knowledge of that Good which is to be wished for and is pleasant and acceptable they seeke after through an euill choice the greatest mischiefe of all I meane pleasure vnseparably followed of griefe which men labour most of all to eschew Let vs then see what pleasure is and what fruites she bringeth with hir Voluptuousnes or pleasure saith Cicero is properly called that delight which mooueth and tickleth our sences which slideth and slippeth away and for the most part leaueth behind it occasions rather of repentance than of calling it again to remembrance For many through wicked and vnnecessarie pleasure haue fallen intogreat diseases receiued great losses and suffred many reproches It alwaies saith Plato bringeth damage and losse to man ingendring in his mind sorow sottishnes forgetfulnes of prudence and insolencie Wheresoeuer sweete is saith Antipho there presently followeth sowre For voluptuousnes neuer goeth alone but is alwaies accompanied with sorow and griefe Pleasure saith Plutark resolueth mens bodies mollifieng them daily through delights the continuall vse of which mortifieth their vigor and dissolueth their strength from whence abundance of diseases proceedeth so that a man may see in youth the beginnings of the weakenes of old age Voluptuousnes is a
placed With such speeches he fought vnto the death Will wee haue other examples of woonderfull prowes and courage Iudas Macchabeus after many victories obtained by him against the Lieutenants of Antiochus and against those of Demetrius was set vpon and assailed with two and twentie thousand men others say two and thirty thousand hauing himselfe but eight hundred or a thousand with him And being counselled to retire into some place of safetie God forbid quoth he that the Sunne should see me turne my backe towards mine enemies I had rather die than staine the glorie which I haue gotten by vertue with an ignomintous and shamefull flight In this resolute perswasion he greatly weakened his enemies and yet died more through wearisomnes than of blowes or woundes which he had receiued in fight Leonides king of Sparta hauing with him but three hundred naturall Lacedemonians fought and put to flight at the strait of Thermopylis three hundred thousand Persians but he and all his died of the woundes which they receiued in that fight Lucius Dentatus a Romane was endued with such Fortitude and Generositie that one writeth of him that he was in sixe skore battels and skirmishes and eight times came away Conquerour from fighting hand to hand that he had receiued of his Captaines by waye of rewarde and in token of his valure eighteene launces twentie bards for horses foure skore and three bracelets and sixe and thirtie crownes and lastly that by his meanes nine Emperours triumphed in Rome Eumenus a Macedonian Captaine hauing beene put to the woorst by Antigonus retired into a strong hold where being besieged and brought to parly through necessitie of victuals and munition it was signified vnto him from his enemie that reason would he should come and speake with him vnder his faith and promise without Hostages seeing he was both greater and stronger But Eumenus made him this answer that he would neuer thinke any man greater than himselfe as long as he had his sword in his owne power And therefore demanding of him no woorse conditions than as one that thought himselfe to be his equall he sailed foorth vpon his enemies with such valure and courage that he saued himselfe out of their handes and afterward greatly troubled Antigonus Aristomenes the Messanian being taken by the Lacedemonians and deliuered fast bound to two souldiers to be kept he drew neere to a fire and burned asunder his bands with a litle of his flesh afterward comming suddenly vpon his keepers he slew them both and saued himselfe Lysimachus being cast to a Lion by Alexander bicause he gaue to Calisthenes the prisoner that poison wherewith he killed himselfe fought with it and stretching foorth his arme and hand all armed into his throte he tooke hold of his toong and strangled him Whereupon the Monarch euer after greatly esteemed and honoured him By this small number out of infinite examples which I could heere mention we see the great and woonderfull effects of this vertue of Fortitude which are no lesse in euerye part thereof touched in our discourse as heereafter I hope we shall declare at large Wherefore we may well say that this vertue is very necessarie to liue well and happily and to lead vs to the end of our being which is to referre both our life and death to the onely exercise of dutie and honestie that by it we enioy the true rest of the soule which is nothing else as Cicero saith than a peaceable sweete and acceptable constancie which vndoubtedly alwaies followeth Fortitude being crowned with these two inestimable rewardes the contempt of griefe and of death whereby we forsake that which is mortall that we may imbrace heauenlie thinges in the hope and certaine expectation of that happie immortalitie Of Timorousnes Feare and Cowardlines and of Rashnes Chap. 26. ACHITOB WE may call to remembrance that saying of Plato before mentioned that a temperate man not indued with the vertue of Fortitude falleth easilie into cowardlines basenes of mind which is the defect of that vertue which euen now we described and likewise that a strong and valiant man without the direction of Prudence and Temperance is easily caried away with temeritie and boldnes which is the excesse of the same vertue Which two vices are so hurtfull in the soule that he which is infected with them holdeth much more of the nature of a beast than of that essence wherein he was created Let vs then consider what these imperfections are that through the horror of that infamie which followeth them we may be more zealous to follow that which is decent and honest ASER. We must take good heede saith Cicero least through feare of peril we commit any thing that may iustly argue vs to be timorous and fearfull But withall we must beware that we offer not our selues vnto dangers without cause than which nothing is more foolish and blame-woorthie AMANA It is not seemely for a man saith Plato to commit any cowardly act to auoid perill Temeritie also setteth foorth it selfe with courage and contempt of dangers but vnaduisedly and to no purpose But let vs heare ARAM who will handle this matter more at large ARAM. Albeit there is no greater disgrace than to be iustly reproched with a cowardly and faint hart especially for youth to be called effeminate yet is that feare good which turneth vs away from dishonest things and maketh man staied and wel aduised This is the cause why the Ancients speaking of feare made it twofold the one good necessarie the other euill and hurtfull The first which they grounded vpon a good discourse of reason iudgement was so esteemed and honored of them that in the citie of Sparta which for armes arts flourished most among the Grecians there was a temple dedicated consecrated to this feare which as they affirmed better maintained and preserued the estate of Common-wealthes than any other thing whatsoeuer bicause thereby man was led to stand more in awe of blame reproch dishonor than of death or griefe Which thing maketh him both apter readier to vndertake to execute all vertuous laudable matters whensoeuer good iust occasion shall be offred also more staied against euerie rash vniust enterprise that might procure dammage to the common-wealth And this was the occasion of that Prouerbe Feare alwaies accompanieth shame Another reason alleadged by these wise men whie they honoured in such sort this fained goddesse was bicause to doubt and feare nothing was more hurtfull to Common-wealths than their verie neighbour enimies the feare of whome was their safetie and assurance The other naughtie and pernicious feare standeth of two kinds The first beeing destitute of all good reason and assured iudgement is that which we call Cowardlines and Pusillanimitie alwaies followed of these two perturbations of the soule Feare and Sadnes and is the defect of the vertue of Fortitude which wee purpose
hart as that which vndoubtedly is comprehended vnder the first part of Fortitude which Cicero calleth Magnificence or a doing of great excellent things yet notwithstanding it seemeth that this word Magnanimitie carieth with it some greater and more particular Empasis that a man may say that the wonderful effects thereof appeare principally in three points whereof I purpose here to discourse The first concerning extreme and desperate matters as when a man is past all hope of sauing his life wherein perfect magnanimitie always knoweth how to find out a conuenient remedie and wise consolation not suffering himselfe to be vexed therewith The second respecteth dutie towards enimies against whom generositie will in no wise suffer a man to practise or to consent to any wickednesse vnder what pretence so euer it be nor for any aduantage which may be reaped thereby The third causeth a noble minded man to contemne and to account that thing vnworthy the care of his soule which others wonder at labor by all means to obtaine namelie strength health beauty which the Philosophers call the goods of the bodie and riches honor and glory which they say are the goods of fortune and likewise not to stand in feare of their contraries Amongst the woorthy and famous men of olde time whose names and glorious factes crowned with an immortall Lawrell are ingrauen in the temple of Memorie we find no praise woorthie of greater admiration or that ought to awaken and stirre vs vp better in Christian dutie than the effects of this vertue of Magnanimitie vpon these three occasions presently touched Whereof one effect is that we yeeld not against reason nor passe the limits of duty by fainting vnder that heauy burthen of extreme distresses which the horror of death bringeth with it but that euen in the midst of greatest agonie which seemeth intollerable in mans iudgement we shew such grauitie and woorthines that we depart not in any sort from the peace and quietnes of our soules but with constancie and cheerefulnes of spirit meditate vpon the ioy of that hauen of saluation which we behold with the eyes of our soule whereinto through a happy death at hand we shall shortly be receiued Another effect is that we accomplish so farre as our frailtie can approch to perfection the commandement of the diuine will by louing our neighbors as our selues and by abstaining euen in regard of our greatest enimies from doing procuring or consenting yea by hindring that no treacherie or treason should be wrought them nor any other thing vnbeseeming that naturall loue which ought to be in euery one towards his like and further by procuring them all the good and profit that may be The third effect of this great vertue no les wonderful thā the rest is in that a noble minded man solong as he liueth wholy withdraweth his affection from worldly and corruptible things through a stedfast constant reason and lifteth it vp to the meditation and holy desire of heauenly and eternal things The remedy which these great personages destitute of the right knowledge of the truth most commonly vsed when their affaires were past all hope of mans helpe was death which they chose rather to bring vpon themselues by their owne handes than to fall into the mercy of their enimies whereby they supposed that they committed a noble act woorthie the greatnes of their inuincible courage And if peraduenture they were surprised and forced in such sort by their enemies that they were compelled to become their prisoners they neuer desired them to saue their liues saying that it beseemed not a noble hart and that in so doing they should submit both hart and bodie to him who before had but the bodie in his power Cato the yoonger being brought to such extremity in the towne of Vtica that by the aduice of all those that were with him he was to send Embassadors to Caesar the Conqueror to practise an agreement after submission to his mercie yeelded therevnto in the behalfe of others but forbad that any mention should be made of himselfe It belongeth quoth he to those that are ouercome to make request and to such as haue done amisse to craue pardon As for me I will account my selfe inuincible so long as in right and iustice I shall be mightier than Caesar He it is that is now taken and ouercome bicause that which hitherto he denied to take in hand against the Common-wealth is at this present sufficiently testified against him and discouered Neither will I be beholding or bound to a Tyrant for an vniust matter For it is a point of iniustice in him to vsurpe the power of sauing their liues like a Lord ouer whome he hath no right to command After many other speeches of Philosophie vsed by him standing much vpon that Stoicall opinion that onely a wise and good man is free and that all wicked men are bond men and slaues he went alone into his chamber and slew himselfe with his sword Sylla the Dictator hauing condemned to death all the inhabitants of Perouza and pardoning none but his Host he also would needes die saying that he would not hold his life of the murtherer of his countrey Brutus after the battel lost against Augustus Caesar was counselled by certaine of his friends to flie I must flie in deed said he but with hands not with feete And taking them all by the hand he vttered these words with a very good and cheerfull countenance I feele my hart greatly contented bicause none of my friends haue for saken me in this busines neither complaine I of fortune at all but onely so farre foorth as toucheth my countrey For I esteeme my selfe happier than they that haue vanquished as long as I leaue behind me a glorie of vertue for hazarding all liberally to free from bondage my brethren and countreymen Which praise our conquering enemies neither by might nor money can obtaine and leaue to posteritie but men will alwaies say of them that being vniust and wicked they haue ouerthrowne good men to vsurpe a tyrannous rule and dominion that belongeth not vnto them After he had thus spokē he tooke his sword and falling vpon the point thereof gaue vp the ghost Cassius also his companion caused his owne head to be cut off by one of his slaues whom he had made free and kept with him long time before for such a necessitie The historie which we read of the Numantines commeth in fitly for this matter which we handle heere For after they had sustained the siege of the Romanes fourteene yeeres togither and were in the ende inclosed by Scipio with a very great ditch of two and fortie foote in depth and thirtie in breadth which compassed the citie round about the Consul summoned them to commit themselues to the clemencie of the Romanes and to trust to their promise seeing all meanes of sallying foorth to fight and of
king of Macedonia after he receiued newes of three great and sundrie prosperities in one day to vtter this speech O fortune said he holding vp his hands towards heauen I pray thee send me for a counterbuffe some meane aduersitie Likewise after he had ouercome in battell the Athenians at Cherronesus and by this victorie obtained the Empire of Grecia he commanded a little Page to cry vnto him thrice a daye Philip remember that thou art a man so greatly did he feare least through arrogancie arising of his prosperitie he should commit anie thing that did not beseeme him The same thing did Archidamas the sonne of Agesilaus very well and wisely teach him to whome Philip after he was a Conqueror had written a very sharpe and rough letter If thou measurest thy shadow answered Archidamas thou shalt find that it is not waxen greater since thou didst ouercome The prosperitie which Cyrus Monarch of the Persians alwaies had in all his enterprises was the cause that trusting too much thereunto he would not giue eare to the counsell of Craesus when he disswaded him from that warre which he purposed to vndertake against Tomyris Queene of the Scythians which fell out hardly for him vsing these words Knowe that all worldly things haue a certaine course which doth not suffer them to end happily that haue alwaies had fortune prosperous which he might well speake by experience in him selfe But Cyrus hauing alreadie subdued all Asia part of Grecia the kingdome of Babylon with infinite other places and beholding his armie to consist of sixe score thousand men thought he could not be vanquished Whereupon giuing battell to Tomyris he lost his life togither with the renowne of so many goodlie victories being now ouercome by a woman his whole armie also being hewen in peeces And truly as one puffe of wind causeth the goodliest fruites which beautifie the whole Orchard to fall from the tree so a little disgrace a sudden mishap in one instant bringeth to nothing and pulleth downe the greatnes wealth and prosperitie of men And when we thinke to lay a sure foundation of prosperitie euen then is all changed and the order of our conceits peruerted turned into an vnlooked for disorder and confusion Now let vs come to consider particularly of the effects of aduersitie There are few folks if they be not destitute of all good iudgement that are ignorant and vnderstand not what belongeth to their dutie so long as prosperitie lasteth but fewe there are who in great ouerthwarts and shakings of fortune haue harts sufficiently staied to practise and imitate that which they commend and make account of or to flie from that which they mislike and reprehend Nay rather they are caried away and through custome of liuing at ease togither with frailtie and faintnes of hart they start aside and alter their first discourses This is that which Terence meaneth where he saith that when we are in good health we giue a great deale better counsaile to the diseased than we can take to our selues when we stande in neede thereof Notwithstanding he that is beaten downe and humbled by affliction easilie suffereth himselfe to bee directed gladlie receiueth and harkeneth to the aduice of good men and if there be any little seed of vertue in him it encreaseth daily whereas prosperitie would soone choke it And if he hath profited well in the studie of wisdome he doth as Bees do which draw the best and driest hony out of time although it be a very bitter herb So out of most troublesome Accidents he knoweth how to reape benefit and commoditie resoluing with himselfe and taking counsell according to the mishaps that light vpon him He doubteth not of this that it is the duetie of wise and vertuous men not onely to desire prosperitie in all things but also to indure aduersitie with constancie modestie He knoweth that as the fruition of prosperitie is for the most part full of sweetnesse when it is not abused so the constant suffring of aduersitie is always replenished and accompanied with great honour And such a one may truely be called noble and courageous yea he sheweth himselfe a great deale better to be so in deed whē he yeeldeth not nor fainteth in afflictions than if he were in prosperitie which puffing vp the harts of cowards and base minds causeth them somtimes to seem courageous when as they are lift vp by fortune into a high degree of honour and felicitie whereas in truth there is no such matter in them Craesus King of the Lydians beyng throwen from his estate made prisoner to Cyrus shewed greater vertue and generositie of hart at that time than he did all the while he enioied his great wealth through which being puffed vp with pride he would haue had Solon iudged him most happy For being vpon a block ready to be burned and both remembring and fitly applying to himselfe those wise discourses which he heard Solon make vnto him concerning the small assurance that we haue in worldly felicitie and how no man ought to be called happy before the houre of his death he resolued with himselfe to die constantly and cheerfully And calling to mind this benefit which he receiued by the means of that wise man whereupon he felt his soule filled with ioy he repeated aloud three times the name of Solon vsing no other words Whereof Cyrus asking the cause he vttered vnto him the selfe same discourses which touched the hart of this monarch in such sort that presently changing the ill will he bare to Craesus he fully restored him to the fruition of his kingdom and kept him neere vnto himself for one of his chiefe and principall counsailors The Romanes as Polibius saith neuer obserued their lawes more straightly neuer caused the discipline of warre to be kept more seuerely and were neuer so well aduised constant as after the Carthaginians had obtained of them the third victorie at the battell of Cannas And contrarywise there were nothing but part-takings and factions in Carthage lawes were neuer lesse esteemed magistrates neuer lesse regarded nor maners more corrupted than at that time But within a little while after they fell from the highest degree of their felicitie into vtter ruine and the Romanes restored their owne estate into greater glory than it was in before Vertue is always like to the Date tree For the more she is oppressed and burthened the higher she lifteth vp hir selfe and sheweth hir inuincible power and strength ouer which fortune can nothing preuaile And although aduersitie somewhat troubleth a vertuous man yet is it not able to alter his noble courage but remaining firme and constant he knoweth how to take all things as exercises of his vertue which as an ancient man said withereth and looseth hir vigor without aduersitie It is euidēt therfore that the effects of aduersitie are not so pernitious to a mā as those which prosperitie commonly bringeth
monie For they that are touched with this maladie follow after riches with such zeale as if they supposed that when they had gotten them no more euill should come neere them And then also they set so light by those which they haue that they burne with the desire of hauing more How then shall we call that good which hath no end or measure Or that which being gotten is the beginning of a further desire to haue more A horse saith Epictetus is not said to be better bicause he hath eaten more than another or bicause he hath a gilt harnesse but bicause he is stronger swifter and better made for euery beast is accounted of according to his vertue And shall a man be esteemed according to his riches ancestors and beautie If any man thinke that his old age shall be borne more easilie by the meanes of riches he deceiueth himselfe For they may well cause him to enioy the hurtfull pleasures of the bodie but cannot take from him sadnes horror and feare of death nay rather they double his griefe when he thinketh that he must leaue and forsake them In this short discourse taken from ancient men the vanitie of riches appeereth sufficiently vnto vs as also the hurtfull effects that flow from them if they be not ruled by the reason of true prudence Heereafter we are to see how we may vse those riches wel which God putteth into our hands being iustly gotten by vs which is a part of iustice whereof we are to intreat In the meane time that we fasten not our harts to so friuolous and vaine a thing let vs call to mind some examples of wise and famous men woorthie of immortall renowne who haue altogither contemned eschewed and despised the couetous desire and hoording vp of riches as the plague and vnauoidable ruine of the soule We read of Marcus Curius a Romane Consul the first of his time that receiued thrice the dignitie of triumphing for the notable victories which he obtained in the honor of his countrey that he made so small account of worldlie riches that all his possession was but a little farme in the countrey soryly built wherein he continued for the most part when publike affaires suffered him labouring and tilling himselfe that little ground which he had there And when certaine Embassadors vpon a day came to visite him they found him in his chimney dressing of reddish for his supper And when they presented him with a great summe of monie from their Comminaltie he refused it saying that they which contented themselues with such an ordinarie as his was had no need of it and that he thought it farre more honorable to command them that had gold than to haue it Phocion the Athenian being visited with Embassadors from Alexander they presented him with a hundred Talents being in value three score thousand crownes which this Monarch sent vnto him for a gift Phocion demanding the cause why seeing there were so many Athenians besides him they answered bicause their maister iudged him onely among all the rest to be a vertuous and good man Then quoth he let him suffer me both to seeme and to be so in deede and carie his present backe againe to him Notwithstanding he was needie as may be prooued by the answer which he made to the Athenian Councell who demanded a voluntarie contribution of euery one towards a sacrifice And when there were no moe left to contribute but he they were verie importunate with him to giue somewhat It were a shame for me said he vnto them to giue you monie before I haue paied this man and therewithall he shewed one vnto them that had lent him a certaine summe of monie Philopaemen Generall of the Achaians hauing procured a league of amitie betweene the citie of Sparta his owne the Lacedemonians sent him a present of sixe score Talents which were woorth three score and twelue thousand crownes But refusing it he went purposely to Sparta where he declared to the Councell that they ought not to corrupt and win honest men or their friends with monie seeing in their need they might be assured of thē and vse their vertue freely without cost but that they were to buy and gaine with hired rewards the wicked such as by their seditious orations in the Senate house vsed to raise mutinies and to set the citie on fire to the end that their mouthes being stopped by gifts they might procure lesse trouble to the gouernment of the Common-wealth A great Lord of Persia comming from his countrey to Athens and perceiuing that he stood in great neede of the aid and fauour of Cimon who was one of the chiefe in the citie he presented vnto him two cups that were both full the one of Dariques of gold the other of siluer Dariques This wise Grecian beginning to smile demanded of him whether of the twaine he had rather haue him to be his friend or his hireling The Persian answered that he had a great deale rather haue him his friend Then said Cimon carie backe againe thy gold and siluer For if I be thy friend it will be alwaies at my commandement to vse as often as I shall neede Anacreon hauing receiued of Polycrates fiue Talents for a gift was so much troubled for the space of two nights with care how he might keepe them and about what to imploy them best that he caried them backe againe saying that they were not woorth the paines which he had alrcadie taken for them Xenocrates refused thirtie thousand crownes of Alexander sent vnto him for a present saying that he had no neede of them What quoth Alexander hath he neuer a friend For mine owne part I am sure that all king Darius treasure will scarce suffice me to distribute among my friends Socrates being sent for by king Archelaüs to come vnto him who promised him great riches sent him word that a measure of floure was sold in Athens for a Double and that water cost nothing And although it seemeth quoth this Philosopher that I haue not goods enough yet I haue enough seeyng I am contented therewith What is necessarie sayd Menander for the vse of our life besides these two things Bread and Water Bias flying out of his citie which he foresawe would be besieged without hope of rescue would not lode himselfe with his wealth as others did And being demaunded the cause why I cary quoth he all my goods with me meaning the inuisible gifts graces of his mind Truly gold and siluer are nothing but dust and precious stones but the grauell of the sea And as Pythagoras said we ought to perswade our selues that those riches are not ours which are not inclosed in our soule According to which saying Socrates when he saw that Alcibiades waxed arrogant bicause of the great quantitie of ground which he possessed shewed him an vniuersall Map of the world and asked him whether he knew
that fall into it through negligence or misgouernment of those goods which God hath put into their hands that they should be faithfull keepers and disposers thereof in charitable workes This is that which Thucidides saith that it is no shame for a man to confesse his pouertie but very great to fal into it by his owne default Therefore to reape profite by that which hath beene heere discoursed let vs put off that old error which hath continued so long in mens braines that pouertie is such a great and troublesome euill whereas it is rather the cause of infinite benefits and let vs say with Pythagoras that it is a great deale better to haue a quiet and setled minde lying vpon the ground than to haue much trouble in a golden bed Moreouer let vs knowe that to possesse small store of earthlie goods ought not to be called pouertie bicause all fulnes of wealth aboundeth in the knowledge and assurance of the fatherlie grace and goodnes of the Author and Creator of all things which he offereth liberally to all without accepting either of pompe or greatnes And further when as continuing the care which it pleaseth him to take of vs he giueth vs although in trauell and sweate wherewith to feede and to cloth vs in all simplicitie and modestie and that according to our necessitie we should be vnthankfull and altogither vnwoorthie the assistance of his helpe and fauour and of his eternall promises if not contented nor glorifieng him for our estate we complained or wondred at desired the calling of other men offering thereby in will and affection our birthrights through a gluttonous desire whereas we ought to preserue to our selues the possession of that heauenlie inheritance wherein consisteth the perfection of all glorie rest and contentation Of Idlenes Sloth and Gaming Chap. 35. ARAM. TWo things being the cause of all passions in men namely Griefe and Pleasure they alwayes desire the one but flie from and feare the other But the occasion of the greatest euil that befalleth them is bicause these desires and affections being borne with them from the beginning do also grow encrease a long time before they can haue any iudgement framed in them through the right vnderstandyng of things Whereupon as well by nature which of it selfe is more inclined to euill than to good as through a long continuing in vice they are easily drawen to follow the appetite and lust of their sensualitie wherein they falsly iudge that pleasure consisteth and thinke it painfull not to please it Being thus guided by ignorance and walking like blindmen they haue experience for the most part of such an end as is cleane contrary to their purposes As we may see in those men who purposing with themselues to liue at their ease in ioy rest and pleasure giue ouer all intermedling in serious matters and such as beseeme the excellencie of vertue that they may liue in idlenes wherwith being bewitched they are partakers of many false pleasures which procure them a greater number of griefs and miseries all which they thought to auoyd very well And this we may the better vnderstand if we discourse of Idlenes the enemie of all vertue and cleane contrary to Perseuerance which is a branch of Fortitude Therefore I propound the handling of this matter to you my Companions ACHITOB. Although we haue not a singular excellencie of spirite yet we must not suffer it to be idle but constantly follow after that which we haue wisely hoped to obtaine For as Erasmus saith that which is often done reiterated and continually in hand is finished at last ASER. They that do nothing saith Cicero learne to do ill through idlenesse the body minds of men languish away but by labour great things are obtained yea trauail is a worke that continueth after death Let vs then giue eare to AMANA who will handle more at large for our instruction that which is here propounded vnto vs. AMANA As we admire and honour them with very great commendation in whom we may note as we think some excellent and singular vertues so we contemn them whom we iudge to haue neither vertue courage nor fortitude in them and whom we see to be profitable neither to themselues nor to others bicause they are not laborious industrious nor carefull but remain idle and slouthfull And to say truth the maners conditions and natural disposition of such men are wholy corrupted their conuersation is odious vnprofitable and to be auoided seeing that Idlenes is the mother and nurse of vice which destroieth and marreth all Therefore it was very well ordained in the primitiue Church that euery one should liue of his owne labor that the idle and slothfull might not consume vnprofitably the goods of the earth Which reason brought in that ancient Romane edict mentioned by Cicero in his booke of Lawes that no Romane should goe through the streets of the city vnles he caried about him the badge of that trade whereby he liued Insomuch that Marcus Aurelius speaking of the diligence of the ancient Romanes writeth that all of them followed their labor and trauell so earnestly that hauing necessarie occasion one daye to send a letter two or three daies iournie from the towne he could not find one idle bodie in all the citie to carie it That great Orator and Philosopher Cicero minding to teach vs how we ought to hate Idlenes as being against nature sheweth that men are in deede borne to good works whereof our soule may serue for a sufficient and inuincible proofe seeing it is neuer still but in continuall motion action And for the same cause he greatly commendeth Scipio who vsed to say that he was neuer lesse quiet than when he was quiet Whereby he giueth vs to vnderstand that when he was not busied with waightie affaires of the Common-wealth yet his owne priuate matters and the searching after knowledge were no lesse troublesome vnto him so that euen then in his solitarines he tooke counsell with himselfe It seemeth saith this father of eloquence that nature doth more require of a man such actions as tend to the profit of men than she doth the perfect knowledge of all things seeing this knowledge and contemplation of the workes of nature should seeme to be maimed vnperfect if no action followed it whereas vertuous deedes are profitable to all men for which end nature hath brought vs foorth which sheweth sufficiently that they are better and more excellent So that vnles the knowledge of things be ioined with that vertue which preserueth humane societie it will seeme to be dead and vnprofitable Therefore Chrysippus the Philosopher said that the life of those men that giue themselues to idle studies differed nothing from that of voluptuous men So that we must not studie Philosophie by way of sport but to the end we may profit both our selues and others Now if action must of necessitie be ioined to
the meane time we will heere note that the deniall of Iustice hath procured to many their death or vndoing Phillip the first king of Macedonia was slaine by Pausanias a meane Gentle-man bicause he would not let him haue Iustice against Antipater who had offered him wrong Demetrius the besieger hauing receiued many requests and supplications of his subiects threw them all into the water as he went ouer the bridge of a riuer whereupon his subiects conceiued such hatred against him that within a while after his army forsooke him and yeelded themselues to Pyrrhus his enimie who draue him out of his kingdome without battell In our time Henrie king of Sweathland striking with a dagger a Gentle-man that asked Iustice of him stirred vp the Nobilitie and people in such sort against him that putting him into prison where he is at this present they elected his yoonger brother to be their king who nowe raigneth But for a more woonderfull matter we might heere rehearse how God to shew vnto vs his detestation of Iniustice hath sometimes suffered his iudgement to fal out in that very howre and time which such as were vniustly condemned did assigne to their vniust Iudges In the liues of the kings of Castile we finde that Ferdinando the fourth of that name putting two knights to death more through anger than iustly one of them cried aloud in this sort O vniust king we cite thee to appeere within thirtie daies before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ to receiue iudgement for thy Iniustice seing there is no other Iudge in earth to whome we can appeale from thy vniust sentence Vpon the last of which daies he died likewise True it is some man may say that death is so naturall and the hower thereof so vncertaine although determined that no other cause thereof ought to be supposed but onely necessitie But yet when it followeth so neerely some notable wickednes committed and some disquietnes and torment of mind is mingled therewith in the soule as it commonly falleth out we may take such a death for a testimonie and beginning of the Iustice of God who will not suffer the vniust man to rule any longer but exerciseth his iudgements diuersly in due time and season vpon those that are not to giue an account of their doings to men like themselues And as for such as are of meaner estate and lower in degree God suffreth also many times their punishment to be notorious and that sometime by such as are not much better than themselues Heereupon Apollonius that great Philosopher said that in his peregrination ouer three parts of the world he maruelled most at two thinges whereof the first was that he alwaies sawe the greater theeues hang the lesse and oftentimes the innocent And thus it fell out in the time of king Phillip the long wherein a Prouost of Paris named Henrie Lapperell caused a poore man that was prisoner in the Chastelet to be executed by giuing him the name of a rich man who being guiltie and condemned was set at libertie by him But his reward followed him hard at the heeles being for the same accused conuicted hanged and strangled Not long after a President of the Parliament named Hugues of Crecy met with the same fortune for a certaine corrupt iudgement giuen by him Therefore let euery one of vs learne to flie from this pernitious vice of Iniustice namely from euery action repugnant to the dutie of christian charitie and destroying the bond of humane societie through the vtter spoiling of the riuers that flow from the fountaine of honestie And let vs be afraid through such impietie to fal into the indignation and wrath of the Almightie to whome onely as to the author of Iustice and to whome all time is as nothing it belongeth to define and to determine thereof when after what sort and how farre it standeth with reason all which things are vnknowne to vs. If he deferre sometime the punishment of Iniustice let vs know that it is for their greater and more greeuous condemnation who multiplie and heape vp daily vpon their heads iniquitie vpō iniquitie And for an example which great men ought to follow and not suffer Iniustice to be practised according to euery mans fancie or vnder any other pretence whatsoeuer we wil propound vnto them the fact of a Pagan king who shall rise vp in iudgement against them if they do otherwise The Prince I meane is Artaxerxes surnamed Longhand and king of the Persians who being requested by a Chamberlaine of his whome he greatly fauoured to do some vniust thing hauing by his diligence found out that he vndertooke this suit for another who had promised him thirty thousand Crownes called of them Dariques he commanded his Treasurer to bring the like summe vnto him and then said vnto his Chamberlaine Take this mony which I giue thee For in giuing it vnto thee I shall be neuer the poorer whereas if I had done that which thou requiredst of me I should haue beene more vniust Alexander Seuerus the Emperour handeled after another fashion yea more iustly a seruant of his who vsed like a horse-leech of the court to sucke their bloud that had to deale with his master by thrusting himselfe forward and profering his means to fulfill their request for a good reward by reason of the fauour which he bare him which turned to the great dishonor of his imperiall maiestie bicause a Prince ought not to make greater account of any thing than of the grace and fauor of his gifts and benefites This monarch caused him to be tied to a post and choked with smoke making this proclamation by sound of trumpet That they which sell smoke should so perish with smoke Now to enter into the last point of that matter which is here propounded vnto vs we must diligently note that as it is the dutie of all Magistrates and of such as haue authoritie ouer others to chastice to punish euery malefactor so likewise they must beware lest vnder pretēce of exercising Iustice they fall into another kind of Iniustice through ouer-much rigor which is as hurtfull or rather more than that vice whereof we discoursed euen now namely into Seueritie which causeth them to be misliked for crueltie and belongeth rather to a beastly and sauage nature than to the nature of man For clemencie and compassiō neuer ought to be separated from a good iust sentence which is to hold smal faults excused or but lightly to punish thē prouided alwayes that Iustice be not violated Clemencie saith the wise man is the true preseruation of the roial throne And therefore one of the ancients said that it was ill to be subiect to a prince vnder whom nothing was tolerated but worse when all things were left at randon We may alleage here for an example of ouer-great seueritie the fact of Manlius Torquatus a Consull of Rome who caused his
consequently the bond and preseruatiue of humane societie But if we being well instructed by the spirite of wisedome feede the hungrie giue drinke to the thirsty lodge them that want harbour and clothe the naked sowing in this manner by the works of pietie that talent which is committed to our keeping we shall reape abundantly in heauen the permanent riches treasures of eternall life Of Couetousnes and of Prodigalitie Chap. 42. ACHITOB IF that diuiue rule of Cicero were aswell written in our hart as he desired to haue it setled in his sonne that onely that thing is to be iudged profitable which is not wicked and that nothing of that nature should seeme profitable we should not behold amongst vs so many cursed acts as are daily committed through the vnbrideled desire of the goods of this world For that which most of all troubleth men is when they thinke that the sin which they purpose to practise is but small in respect of the gaine thereby craftily separating profite from honestie and so suffering themselues to be ouercome of couetousnes which is the defect of liberalitie whereof we discoursed euen now whose excesse also is Prodigalitie of which two vices we are now to intreat ASER. Every one that coueteth treasures said Anacharsis one of the wise men of Graecia is hardly capable of good coūsell and instruction For the couetous man commonly murmureth at that which God permitteth and nature doth so that he will sooner take vpon him to correct God than to amend his life AMANA It is a hard matter said Socrates for a man to bridle his desire but he that addeth riches therunto is mad For couetousnes neither for shame of the world nor feare of death will not represse or moderate it self But it belongeth to thee ARAM to instruct vs in that which is here propounded ARAM. Since the greedie desire of heaping vp gold and siluer entred in amongst men with the possession of riches couetousnesse folowed and with the vse of them pleasures and delights whereupon they began to saile in a dangerous sea of all vices which hath so ouerflowen in this age of ours that there are very few towers how high so euer seated but it hath gone vp a great deale aboue them For this cause I see no reason why men should esteeme so much or iudge it such a happy thing to haue much goodly land many great houses and huge summes of readie money seeing all this doth not teach them not to be caried away with passions for riches and seeing the possession of them in that maner procureth not a contentation void of the desire of them but rather inflameth vs to desire them more through an insatiable couetousnes which is such a pouerty of the soul that no worldly goods can remedie the same For it is the nature of this vice to make a man poore all his life time that he may find him self rich only at his death Moreouer it is a desire that hath this thing proper and peculiar to it selfe to resist and to refuse to be satisfied whereas all other desires helpe forward the same and seeke to content those that serue thē Couetousnesse saith Aristotle is a vice of the soule whereby a man desireth to haue from all partes without reason and vniustly with-holdeth that which belongeth to another It is sparing and skantie in giuing but excessiue in receiuing The Poet Lucretius calleth it a blind desire of goods And it mightily hindereth the light of the soule causing the couetous man to be neuer contented but the more he hath the more to desire and wish for The medicine which he seeketh namely gold and siluer encreaseth his disease as water doth the dropsie and the obtaining thereof is alwaies vnto him the beginning of the desire of hauing He is a Tantalus in hell who between water and meat dieth of hunger Now it is very sure that to such as are wise and of sound iudgement nature hath limited certaine bounds of wealth which are traced out vpon a certaine Center and vpon the circumference of their necessitie But couetousnesse working cleane contrary effects in the spirit of fooles carieth away the naturall desire of necessarie things to a disordinate appetite of such things as are full of danger rare and hard to be gotten And which is worse compelling the auaritious to procure them with great payne and trauell it forbiddeth him to enioy them and stirring vp his desire depriueth him of the pleasure Stratonicus mocked in olde ryme the superfluitie of the Rhodians saying that they builded as if they were immortall and rushed into the kitchin as if they had but a little while to liue But couetous men scrape togither like great and mightie men and spend like mechanicall and handy-craftesmen They indure labour in procuryng but want the pleasure of enioying They are like Mules that carie great burthens of golde and siluer on their backes and yet eate but hay They enioy neyther rest nor libertie which are most precious and most desired of a wise man but liue alwayes in disquietnesse being seruauntes and slaues to their richesse Their greatest miserie is that to encrease and keepe their wealth they care neither for equitie or iustice they contemne all lawes both diuine and humane and all threatnings and punishmentes annexed vnto them they liue without friendship and charitie and lay holde of nothyng but gayne When they are placed in authoritie and power aboue others they condemne the innocent iustifie the guiltie and finde alwayes some cleanly cloke and colour of taking and of excusing as they thinke their corruption and briberie making no difference betweene duetie and profite Wherfore we may well say in a word That couetousnes is the roote of all euill For what mischiefs are not procured through this vice From whence proceed quarels strifes suites hatred and enuie theftes pollings sackings warres murders and poisonings but from hence God is forgotten our neighbour hated and many times the sonne forgiueth not his father neither the brother his brother nor the subiect his Lord for the desire of gaine In a worde there is no kind of crueltie that couetousnesse putteth not in practise It causeth hired and wilfull murders O execrable impietie to be well thought of amongst vs. It causeth men to breake their faith giuen to violate all friendship to betray their countrey It causeth subiectes to rebell against their princes gouernours and magistrates when not able to beare their insatiable desires nor their exactions and intollerable subsidies they breake foorth into publike and open sedition which troubleth common tranquillitie whereupon the bodie politike is changed or for the most part vtterly ouerthrowen Moreouer the excesse of the vertue of liberalitie which is prodigalitie may be ioyned to couetousnesse and than there is no kind of vice but raigneth with all licence in that soule that hath these two guestes lodged togither And bicause it is a thing that
to loue and succour Of this wild plant of enuie backbiting is a branch which delighteth and feedeth it selfe with slandering and lying whereupon good men commonly receiue great plagues when they ouer-lightly giue credite to backbiters Therfore Diogenes the Cynick being demanded what biting of beasts was most dangerous answered of furious and wild beasts the backbiters and of tame beasts the flatterers To the same purpose Themistocles the Thebane said that it was the greatest griefe in the world to see the honor of a good man in the mercie of a venemous toong and wronged with slanderous speeches For seeing good fame and credite is more pretious than any treasure a man hath no lesse iniurie offered him when his good name is taken away than when he is spoiled of his substance But backbiting and slandering do then bring foorth most pernitious effects when Princes are ready to heare slanderers of whome they themselues are in the end corrupted For the enuious backbiting person doth as a naughtie painter did who hauing ilfauoredly painted certaine cocks commanded his boy to driue the naturall cocks farre from his picture so he laboureth as much as may be to withdraw good men frō those whom he would gouerne But bicause he cannot do it openly fearing their vertue whom he hateth from his hart he will seeme to welcome to honour and to admire them and yet vnder hand and behind their backs he will cast abroad and sow his slanders And if so be that his priuie and secret reports which pricke behind do not presently bring forth the end of his intent yet he keepeth in memorie that which Medius vttred long since who was as it were the master and captaine of the whole flock of flatterers banded togither about Alexander against all the honest men in the court This fellow taught that they should not spare to nippe boldly and to bite with store of slanders For quoth he although he that is bitten should be cured of the wound yet the skarre at the least will still remaine And by such skars of lies and falf accusations or rather to giue them a better name with Plutark by such fistuloes cankers Alexander being gnawen vniustly put to death Callisthenes Parmenion and Philotas giuing himselfe ouer to the wil and possession of three of foure flatterers of whom he was clothed decked set foorth and adored as it were a barbarian image Such is the force efficacie of lying ioyned with flattery ouer that soule which hath no sound iudgement of reason to discern truth from falsehood or a good nature from a malicious True it is that this comfort cannot be taken away from good men namely to be perswaded that the sleights of backbiters and slanderers are able to preuaile but litle against the inuincible tower of sacred vertue of an assured hope well grounded which whatsoeuer commeth to passe triumph alwaies and victoriously hold enuy and backbiting vnder their feete And although these vices by reason of their force cause them to suffer sometimes yet patience keepeth them from being ouercome so that they neuer sinke downe vnder aduersities but euen then lay handes vpon the hauen of their deliueraunce So that if princes would not fall into those inconueniences nor be deceiued as this great Macedonian monarch was they must vpon the reports of backbiters throughly and with reason waigh all things and not suffer themselues to be perswaded by slanderers but discerne their words with a sound iudgement Further let vs note that they which lend their eares to their lies and detractions are no lesse to be blamed and reprehended than the slaunderers themselues bicause they are both touched with the same imperfection I meane of taking delight in the euill report of another And as the slanderer hurteth by accusing those that are not present so doth he that suffereth himselfe to be perswaded before he hath learned the truth of things Moreouer they that accustome themselues to heare willingly reports and lies commonly also take more pleasure in reading and learning fables and dreames faults and vices noted in peoples and nations than in true narrations and goodly sentences made written with good iudgement and diligent studie or in perusing the honors heroicall facts and commendations giuen to vertuous and famous men which doth touch and grieue them no lesse than it doth the enuious and backbiter whereas they ought to accept of those things as of spurres to driue them forward vnto vertue Therefore whosoeuer considereth well all those pernitious effects that are procured through backbiting he shall know that it is a great point of modestie and most necessarie for him that hath profited well in Morall Philosophie not to suffer any man to be blamed and euill spoken of in his presence although he were his capitall enimie We see also that this crafty subtill kind of wickednes is vsually practised of backbiters and enuious persons when they perceiue that they cannot cause themselues to be accounted as honest mē as they are whō they purpose to slander then they labour to prooue that these men are not so honest as some others whom they commēd preferre seeking by that means to couer their hatred il-will and to get credit to their slander by that praise which they giue indirectly to others They spare not the dead many times neither is there any let in them why through their enuy they drawe them not out of that rest wherin they are which is detestable impietie Now seeing we know what euil proceedeth from these wild naughty plants of enuy hatred backbiting that naturally as inheritors of the vice sin of our first parents we cary in our harts I know not what enuy ielousie emulation against some one or other let vs beware that we norish not such vicious passions but weaken their force make thē altogither vnable to cause vs to depart from dutie let vs accustome our selues not to enuy the prosperitie of our enimies neither to backbite them in any sort And if it be possible let vs not be sparing in giuing vnto them their praise honor whensoeuer they do any thing that deserueth iustly to be commended bicause that also bringeth greater praise to him that giueth it For thē if it fall out so that he reproueth somwhat in his enimy his accusatiō carieth more credite and force with it as that which proceedeth not from the hatred of his person but from a dislike of his doings therby declaring that equitie iustice only are the bounds of his hatred Besides we shal reape a greater benefite than is hitherto rehearsed For when we accustome our selues to praise our enimies for well doing and are not grieued when any prosperitie befalleth them we shall vtterly driue from vs the vice of enuy and iealousie ouer the good successe of our friends acquaintance when they attain to honor Whereas on the contrary
aliue as after their death by refusing to ouer-liue them Queene Hipsicrates the wife of king Mithridates cōmeth first to mind who bare such loue towards hir husband that polling hir selfe for his sake although she was yong and very faire she acquainted hir selfe with the wearing of armour and rode with him to the war And when he was ouercome by Pompey she accompanied him in his flight through all Asia whereby she mollified the griefe and sorow which he receiued by his losse Triara wife to Lucius Vitellus brother to the emperour Vitellus seeyng hir husband in a daungerous battell thrust hir selfe amongst the souldiours to beare him company and to helpe him both in death and life and fought as well as the valiauntest amongst them When king Admetus his wife sawe hir husband very sicke and heard the answere of the oracle which was That he could not recouer except one of his best friendes died for him she slew hir selfe When the wife of Ferdinando Gonçales a prince of Italy knewe that hir husband was prisoner and in daunger of death she went to visite him and putting on his apparell abode in his place whilest he beyng clothed in hir garmentes saued him-selfe Zenobia Queene of Armenia seeing hir husband Radamisus flie from a battell and not beyng able to follow him bicause she was great with childe besought him to kill hir Which when he thought to haue done she was striken downe with the blowe of a sworde but being taken of the enimie and throughly healed Tyridates the king who had vanquished hir husband maried hir afterward for the great loue that was in hir The princesse Panthea loued hir husband Abradatus so well that when he died in Cyrus campe she slue hir selfe vpon his bodie Artemisia Queene of Caria for the great loue she bare to hir husband that was dead dranke all the ashes of his bodie meanyng thereby to be his sepulchre When Iulia the wife of Pompey sawe a gowne of hir husbande 's all bloodie wherewith he had offered some sacrifice she imagined that he was slayne and so died presently after When Porcia the wife of Brutus heard of hir husbandes death and perceiued that hir kinsfolkes tooke away all meanes of killing hir self she drew hote burning coles out of the fire and threw them into hir mouth which she closed so fast that shee was choked thereby Sulpitia beyng carefully restrained by hir mother Iulia from seeking hir husband Lentulus in Sicilia whither hee was banished shee went thither beyng apparelled like a slaue banishing hir selfe voluntarily rather than she would forsake hir husband Octauia sister to Augustus and wife to Antonius notwithstanding the iniurie that hir husband offered vnto hir in preferring before hir a Queene that was nothing so yong or faire as she bare such great loue towards him that setting aside al intreatie of hir brother she would neuer leaue hir husbands house but stil brought vp his children by his first mariage as carefully as if they had been hir owne Moreouer she sought by all means to reconcile those two emperors saying that it was an vnworthy thing that two so mightie princes the one for the euil intreatie of his sister the other bicause he was bewitched by a wicked woman should warre one against another As this vertuous princes had taken hir iourney as far as Athens where she ment to take shipping to seeke out hir husband being then in war with the Parthians bringing with hir souldiers mony furniture other munitions he sent hir word that she should passe no farther but stay for him at Rome This she performed and sent him all the aboue named things not seeming at all to be offended with him Wheras he in the mean while skorned hir sporting himself with Cleopatra in the sight and knowledge of all men and afterward delt worse with hir when the warre was begunne between him and Augustus For he sent a commandement to Octauia at Rome to go out of his house which she presently obeied albeit she would not therefore forsake any of hir husbands children but wept and bewailed hir mishap which had brought hir to be a principal cause of that ciuill warre Aria the wife of Cecinna followed in a little boate vnto Rome hir husband who was taken prisoner bicause he had borne armes against the emperour Claudius Being there condemned to die she would haue borne him companie but that hir sonne in lawe and hir daughter stayed hir When she sawe that she strake hir head so hard agaynst the wall that she fell downe amazed and beyng come to hir selfe agayne sayde vnto them You see that you can not hinder me from dying cruelly if ye stay mee from a more gentle death They being astonished at the fact and at hir words suffered hir to do what she would who then ran to the place where hir husband was and slewe hir selfe first after she had spoken thus courageously vnto him I am not Cecinna sorie for that which is done but bicause the race of thy life must end When Seneca was condemned to die by Nero and had libertie to chuse what kind of death he would he caused his veines to be opened in a bath His wife Paulina of hir owne accord did the like to hir self in the same bath mingling togither their blood for a greater vnion and coronation of their long and perfect loue Whereof Nero being aduertised presently commanded that hir veines should be stopt constraining hir thereby to liue a little longer in continuall griefe Hipparchia a very faire rich woman was so farre in loue with the Philosopher Crates who was hard-fauoured and poore that she maried him against all hir kinsfolks minde and followed him throughout all the countrie being poorely apparelled barefoote after the Cynick fashion Pisca seeing hir husband pine away daily through a great and strange discase which he had concealed from hir of long time hauing at the length knowledge thereof and perceiuing it to be incurable she was mooued with pitie for the euill which he suffered whom she loued better than hir selfe and therevpon counselled him with great courage to asswage his griefe by death and the better to stirre him vp thereunto she offered to beare him companie Whereunto hir husband agreeing they imbraced each other and cast themselues headlong into the sea from the top of a rocke The king of Persia taking prisoner the wife of Pandoërus whom he had vanquished and slaine would haue maried hir But she slew hir selfe after she had vttered these words God forbid that to be a Queene I should euer wed him that hath beene the murderer of my deere husband Pandoërus Camma a Greekish woman of the countrie of Galatia bare such loue to hir husband euen after his death that to be reuenged of a great Lorde called Synorix who had put hir husband to death that he might marrie hir she gently
If prudence and reason are most necessary in all parts of house-keeping their effects are well woorth the nothing and to be desired in this part of which we will now intreate For power and authoritie are of themselues too surlie and imperious in him that knoweth not how to represse them wisely yea they are easily turned into intollerable arrogancie if the bridle of reason restraine them not Therfore seeing we liue in a free countrie wherin the ancient absolute power of life death ouer slaues hath no place they to whome God hath granted this fauour to excell and to goe before others whether it be in gifts of nature or in graces of the soule or otherwise in the goods of Fortune they I say must in no wise contemn those that seeme to haue beene forgotten and stripped of all these good things Besides a father of a familie must consider that he ruleth not slaues but free persons Therfore he must vse their seruice although not franckly for nothing yet as that which commeth from a willing and free mind not dealing roughly with them vpon euery occasion but rather handling them gently as the creatures of God made after his image seeing the poorest man is created for the selfe same principall ende that the mightiest and richest is Aristotle granteth this that although a Maister is not bound in anie respect to his Vassaile so farre foorth as he is a Vassaile yet bicause slaues are men he is of opinion that all lawes of humanitie ought to be kept with them What then ought we to doe to such as submit themselues freely vnto vs to whome also we are vnited and linked by christian charitie as to brethren and inheritours of the same goods and promises And yet we see that maisters fall into bitter anger crie out offer outrage vse violence and lay handes of their seruants vpon small or no occasion at all as if they were vnreasonable creatures yea handling them woorse than they doe their brute beastes That this is true we see not one of them but he hath great care that his horses be well fed dailie looked vnto harnessed and decked Besides he taketh great heede that they be not tyred nor ouer-laboured but as for their seruants they neither spare nor comfort them one whit nor haue any respect to their ease and rest For mine owne part I thinke that such maisters deserue rather to be seazed vpon as mad men than admonished as sociable persons I wish therefore that euery maister of a house had these two properties in him namely that with all clemencie and meekenes he would vse the seruice obedience of them that are vnder him by considering of them with reason and by looking rather to the good affection and desert of his seruant than to the great and profitable seruice which he draweth from him The other point is that the maister vsing the sweate and seruice of his should not seeme to be displeased teastie or hard to content but rather alwaies shewe foorth a gentle kinde of fauour and curtesie or at least a seuere familiaritie seasoned with a cheerefull and merrie countenance Whosoeuer shewe themselues to be such men besides the glorie which they shall obtaine by being taken generally for gentle and curteous men their houshold seruants will loue them the more and will reuerence them as their fathers not standing in such awe and feare of them as men commonly doe of intollerable tyrants Moreouer as this assembly of a maister and of seruants tendeth as euery other societie also vnto some good end the maister hauing regard to that which concerneth him and his house and his seruants to the hope of profite and commoditie order must be taken that they which haue with all carefulnes discharged their dutie and yeelded that fidelitie and diligence that is requisite to their superiour be not defrauded of the price reward hire and desert of their trauels For if we thinke it great villanie to rob another man let vs esteeme it nothing lesse to keepe backe the fruite of life and to defraud the labours perils watchings and excessiue cares of our seruants in not recompencing them Therefore concerning this part of a house called the Maisterlie part we will note this that as the Ancients made their slaues free thereby to drawe from them voluntarie and vnconstrained seruice and to deliuer themselues of that feare and distrust which they alwaies had of their slaues accounting that prouerbe true As many enimies as slaues so ought we to bring vp and to nourish our hired and mercenary seruants which serue vs in these daies with a free and liberall kind of loue by dealing gratiously with them by perswading them with reason and by rewarding them liberally and this will induce them to serue honour and esteeme vs as if our weale and woe were wholy common with them The last part of the house remaineth nowe to be intreated of which is the perfection thereof and is called the Parentall part comprehending vnder it the Father and Mother or one of them with the children The head of a familie saith Aristotle commandeth ouer wife and children but ouer both as free persons and yet not after one and the same manner of commanding but ouer the wife according to gouernment vsed in a popular state and ouer the children royally or Prince-like This commandement ouer children is called royall bicause he that begetteth commandeth by loue and by the prerogatiue of age which is a kind of kinglie commanding Therefore Homer calleth Iupiter the father of Men and of the Gods that is king of all For a king must excell by nature and must be of the same kind as it is with the aged in respect of the yoonger sort and with him that begetteth in regard of his child ouer whome he ought to be as carefull as a king is ouer his subiectes Vnto this part of the house a Father of a familie must haue a carefull eye bicause heereuppon chiefly dependeth the honour and quietnes of his house and the discharge of his dutie towardes God and his countrie namely by making his children honest and of good conditions As the desire and pricke of nature sayth Dion driueth vs forward to beget children so is it a testimonie of true loue and charitie to bring them vppe and to intreate them after a free manner and to instruct them well Therefore a Father of a familie shall satisfie his dutie concerning this parte of a house by the good education and instruction of his children and by exercising them in vertue For manners and conditions are qualities imprinted in vs by longe tracte of tyme and vertues are gotten by custome care and diligence Heereafter we are to consider more amply and particularly of the instruction of youth and therefore at this time we will content our selues with the giuing of certaine generall precepts woorthie to be diligently obserued of euery good father of a familie towards
the constitutions of lawes aswell in the gathering of their duties and tributes as in their manner of life They vsed the seruice of Noble mens and of Princes children onely who were of the age of twentie yeeres and were instructed in all sciences The reason whereof was that the king being pricked forward with the sight of thē that were about him might beware how he committed any thing woorthie of reproch And truly there is nothing that corrupteth Princes so much as vitious seruants who seeke to please their sensuall desires and affections When the king arose in the morning he was bound first to take and receiue all the letters and requests that were brought vnto him that answering necessarie matters first all his affaires might be guided by order and reason Then he went to the Temple to offer sacrifice to the gods where the Prelate and chiefe Priest after the sacrifice and praiers were ended rehearsed with a loud voice in the presence of the people what vertues were in the king what reuerence and religion towardes the gods was in him and what clemencie and humanitie towards men Moreouer he told that he was continent iust noble-minded true liberall one that brideled his desires and punished malefactors with a more mild and light punishment than the greatnes of their sinne and offence required rewarding also his subiects with graces gifts that were greater than their deserts This done he exhorted the king to a happie life agreeable to the gods and likewise to good manners by following after honor and vertue and therewithall propounded vnto him certaine examples of the excellent deedes of ancient kings thereby to prouoke him the rather therunto These kings liued with simple meates as with veale birds for all dishes they kept very exactly all the lawes and ordinances of their countrie in euery point of their life which was no lesse directed euen in the least things than the simplest of their subiects And truly so long as the kings of Egypt were such zealous obseruers of their lawes and of iustice raigned peaceably among their subiects they brought many strang nations into their subiection gathered togither infinite riches whereby they adorned their countrie with great buildings and sumptuous works and decked their townes with many gifts and benefits The Barbarian kingdomes were the second kinde of Monarchy namely the ancient Monarchies of the Assyrians Medes and Persians whose Princes vsurped Lordlie rule ouer their goods and persons and gouerned their subiects as a father of a familie doth his slaues Which kind of gouernment sauoureth more of a tyrannie than of a kingdome besides it is directly against the law of nature which keepeth euery one in his libertie and in the possession of his owne goods Notwithstanding when by the law of Arms and of iust warre a Prince is made Lord ouer any people they properly belong to him that conquereth and they that are ouercome are made his slaues by the ancient consent of all nations and this maketh the difference betweene the Lord-like Monarchy and a tyrannic which abuseth free subiects as slaues Of this second kinde of Monarchy was the kingdome of Persia as Plato writeth vnder Cambyses Xerxes and other kings vntill the last Darius For vsurping more absolute authoritie to rule than was conuenient they began to contemne their Vassals and to account of them as of slaues and putting no more confidence in them they intertained into their seruice mercenarie souldiors and strangers whereby they made their owne subiects vnfit for warre and so in the end lost their estate when it seemed to haue attained to the top of worldlie prosperitie Such is the estate of the Turke at this day wherein he is sole Lord commanding ouer his subiects in rigorous manner aswell ouer the Musulmans as Christians and Iewes He vseth in his principall affaires which concerne peace and warre and matters of gouernment the seruice of runnagate slaues whom he placeth in authoritie changeth or deposeth as he thinks good without peril and enuie yea he strangleth them vpon the least suspition or dislike conceiued of them not sparing his owne children and others of his blood if they anger him So did Sultan Solyman deale with Hibrahim Bascha who was almost of equall authoritie with him insomuch that he was there called the Seignour king of the Ianitzaries the Bascha and king of the men of Armes Neuertheles in one night wherin he made him stay sup with him lie in his owne chamber he caused him to be slaine and his bodie to be cast into the sea The morrow after he seazed vpon his goods as confiscate and caried them away and yet no man euer knewe the cause of his death except it were this that he was growne too great and consequently suspected of his maister who was a Tyrant rather than a King Likewise he keepeth in his hands all the Lordships of his kingdome which he distributeth to men of warre who are charged to maintaine a certaine number of men of Armes and of horses according to the rate of their reuenew and when it pleaseth him he taketh them away againe Neither is there any man in all the countries vnder his obedience that possesseth Townes Castles and Villages or dwelleth in strong houses or that dare build higher than one storie or than a Dooue-house The great Knes or Duke of Moscouia exceedeth for seueritie and rigour of commanding all the Monarchs in the world hauing obtained such authoritie ouer his subiects both Ecclesiasticall and secular that he may dispose of their goods and liues at his pleasure so that none dare gainesay him in any thing They confesse publikely that the will of their prince is the will of God and that whatsoeuer he doth is done by the will of God The king of Ethiopia is also a Lordlike Monarch hauing as Paulus Iouius affirmeth 50. kings no lesse subiect vnto him than slaues And Frauncis Aluarez writeth that he hath seene the great Chancellour of that countrie scourged starke naked with other Lords as the very slaues of the prince wherein they thinke themselues greatly honoured The Emperour Charles the fift hauing brought vnder his obedience the kingdome of Peru made himselfe soueraigne Lord thereof in regard of goods which the subiects haue not but as they farme them or for terme of life at the most The third kind of Monarchy whereof the Ancients made mention was that of Lacedemonia wherein the king had not absolute power but in time of warre out of the countrie and a certaine preheminence ouer the sacrifices We made mention of their gouernment before The first kings in Rome were sacrificers also and afterward the emperors called themselues Pontifices that is chiefe bishops and those of Constantinople were consecrated as our kings of Frāce are In like maner the Caliphaes of the Sarasins were kings and chiefe bishops in their religion the
nothing doth cast forth more liuely marks and beames of a wonderful diuinitie than husbandry For most of other arts were inuented long time after man was created of God and augmented since by the industrie of many Onely husbandry gaue sufficient testimonie of it self of the incomprehensible power of God when presently after the creation of the elements there came out of the bowels of the earth all kinds of herbes and plants garnished with their proper vertues for the seruice commoditie of man Man himself also by a diuine and natural instinct hath been from the beginning more enclined and disposed to the tillage of the earth than to any other studie vocation whatsoeuer as we read of our first fathers who commonly called themselues Laborers of the earth and feeders of cattell Husbandry and the countrey life were so much commended esteemed of the auncients that many of them haue written sundry bookes therof in Greek Latin and many monarchs haue heretofore left their great palaces contemned their purple robes and diademes that they might giue themselues to the manuring of countrey cōmodities Cyrus was neuer better pleased and contented than whē he might be dressing of some goodly piece of ground and setting of a certaine number of trees checker-wise Dioclesian forsook the scepter of his empire that he might with-draw himselfe into the fields and trim with his owne hands trees graffs seuerall plots of ground and gardens Besides in husbandry and the countrey life profite aboundeth with pleasure and gaine with delight As for profite it is very euident For a good husbandman is alwais prouided of bread wine flesh fruit wood and other Aliments And concerning pleasure it is incredible to one that hath skill and will to consider of the maruels of nature besides a thousand delights with exercises as pleasaunt and profitable for his health as can be And that benefit which is most excellent and chiefest of all I meane tranquillitie of mind may more easily bee obtained by the Muses darlings and louers of knowledge in the midst of the open fields and pleasaunt sound of waters than amongst the noise of suites dissentions wherwith cities are replenished It belongeth to the dutie of labourers to liue in their simplicitie and to do their endeuor in tilling the fields For the performing hereof they stand in need of 3. things of skill to know the nature of the soile and the seasons of sowing and gathering of will to be diligent and carefull to continue in their countrey labour and lastly of abilitie to prouide oxen horses cattell other instruments of husbandrie By this discourse therefore we may see what things are most requisite and necessarie for the institution of a happy common-wealth and that no man is so industrious wittie or prudent that of himselfe without the helpe of another he can liue without societie and minister to himselfe all necessary things For this cause the fellowship of many togither was found out that by teaching iudging defending giuing taking changing seruing and communicating their works and exercises one with an other they might liue well and commodiously togither Which thing will vndoubtedly come to passe in euery Common-wealth when euery one walking in his vocation directeth his will and worke to the seruice of God his prince and countrey Of Peace and of Warre Chap. 67. ARAM. IVstinian the Emperor in the Preface of his Institutions saith That it is necessarie for the imperial maiesty to haue respect to two times namely of peace and of warre that it may be prouided against all euents either of the one or the other Lawes and good politike statutes are necessary for it in time of peace that the Prouinces may be quietly gouerned but in time of warre it must alwayes haue armour readie and couenient forces to helpe friends to resist enimies and to containe disobedient subiectes within compasse Nowe hauing hitherto intreated of that policie which chiefly respecteth the tyme of peace we must hereafter my companions referre to our discourses that small knowledge which we haue of warlike discipline And first I thinke we must oppose these times of peace and warre one agaynst the other and consider of their cleane contrary effectes that we may bee so much the more easily ledde and perswaded to desire and procure that which is best and most profitable for euery estate and monarchie Therefore I propounde vnto you this matter to discourse vpon ACHITOB. If it be possible as much as in you is saith the Apostle haue peace with all men and let the peace of God rule in your hartes to the which ye are called in one body For truely without peace all riches is but pouertie all mirth but mourning all life but death But no man can perfectly know the benefit of peace that hath had no triall of the burthen of warre ASER. If ye walke in my ordinaunces saith the eternall God I will send peace in the land but if ye will not obey me but despise mine ordinaunces I will send a sword vpon you that shall auenge the quarell of my couenaunt and ye shall be deliuered into the hand of the enimie Now let vs heare AMANA discourse vpon that which is here propounded vnto vs. AMANA Lycurgus entring into the gouernement of the Lacedemonians and finding their Estate greatly corrupted determined with himselfe to change their whole Policie For he thought that if he should onely make some particular lawes and ordinances it would doe no more good than a slender medicine would profit a corrupt bodie full of many diseases before order were taken for the purging resoluing and consuming of the euill humors that a new forme and rule of life might afterward be prescribed His enterprise although great and difficult yet fell out very well and his lawes were receiued approoued of the people after a little force and feare wherwith at first they were restrained But this law-maker referred all his lawes to warre and to victorie and kept his subiects in continuall exercise of Armes not suffering them to learne any other science or handi-craft vnto which he appointed the Ilotes onely who were men brought in subiection by the right of warre Whereby Lycurgus seemeth to haue beene of this mind that force ought to be mistres in all worldly matters and that other things serue to no purpose if they want Armes which by a certaine right of warre that shall alwaies continue amongst men bring in subiection to Conquerours the persons goods of those whome they ouercome It seemeth also he thought that there was neuer any true peace amongst men but onely in name and that all Princes and people liue in continuall distrust one of another and doe nothing else for the most part but watch how to surprize each other as Plutark elegantly setteth it out notwithstanding all leagues and goodly agreements that passe betweene them Numa Pompilius second king of
when themselues shal be vngently handled by thē when they shal endure reproch when they shal be polled or afflicted with any kind of iniurie their comfort in al these euils will be to haue the last day before their eies in which they know that the lord wil gather his faithful ones togither into the rest of his kingdom that he wil wipe away the teares frō their eies crown thē with glory clothe thē with gladnes satisfie them with the exceeding sweetnes of his delicacies exalt them vnto his high mansion in a word make them partakers of his happines In the meane time going on in their course with all tranquillitie ioy of spirit they are cheerfully to giue vnto God that homage worship that is due vnto him submitting themselues wholy to his greatnesse receiuing with all reuerence his cōmandements Next they must put that trust hartie assurance in him which they haue receiued by knowing him aright attributing to him all wisdom iustice goodnes vertue truth making this account that all their happines is in communicating with him Inuocation foloweth wherby their soules must haue recourse vnto him as to their only hope whē they are pressed with any necessity In the last place is thanksgiuing which is that acknowledgement wherby all prayse is giuē vnto him Vnder these 4. points of worship trust prayer and thanksgiuing all those innumerable duties which we owe to God may well be comprehended Moreouer the contempt of this present life and the meditation of that which is immortal heauenly will teach vs the right vse of earthly goods created of God for the seruice of man as necessary helpes for this life Which things we must not neglect in such sort that we neuer vse them but vpon constraint necessity taking no delight in them as if we were sencelesse blocks Much lesse may we abuse them by ouer-great lust in superfluity delights but apply them to that end for which God hath created appointed thē for our good not for our hurt namely that they should sustain nourish preserue delight our nature vsing thē in al temperance mediocritie with thanksgiuing So that we are to vse these goods as though we vsed them not that is to say our chief affection and desire must be so smally set vpō them as if we were wholy depriued of them and we must be disposed and affected as well to sustaine pouertie patiently with a quiet mind as to vse abundance moderately Especially let vs referre the true and holy vse of all our earthly commodities to the works of charitie as we haue already touched knowing that all things are so giuē vnto vs by the goodnes of God appointed for our commoditie as things cōmitted to our trust of which we must one day giue account before his maiestie For the conclusion therfore of our speech we learn that thelife of a Christian is a perpetuall studie and exercise of the mortification of the flesh vntil it be so throughly dead that the spirit of God may raigne fully in his soule We learn also that our whole life ought to be a meditation and exercise of godlines bicause we are called to sanctification that true happines of life in this world consisteth therein namely when being regenerated by baptisme and the spirit of God we haue the loue of righteousnes throughly imprinted in our harts and follow the diuine rule thereof by framing and directing all our actions to the glory of our God and profit of our neighbors Wherfore euery one of vs must take his vocation and calling for a principle and ground for a station assigned of God vnto which we must direct our leuell withdrawing our mindes from the yoke and bondage of those naturall perturbations that are in vs. Wee must not be led with ambition and desire to take hold of many sundry matters at once being assured that euery worke done according to our calling how contemptible soeuer it be among men shineth before God and shall be rewarded by him beyng accounted very precious in his sight Of Death Chap. 72. AMANA NO man ought to be ignorant of this that after God had created man in the beginning he placed him in a garden and paradise ful of al pleasures and delights and gaue him leaue to vse all things contained therin the fruit of the knowledge of good and euill onely excepted which was expresly forbidden Neuerthelesse being vnable to keepe himselfe in that high degree and great dignitie he fell by disobedience so that thinking to make choice of life he chose the fruit of death as God had foretold him saying Whensoeuer thou eatest of this fruit of the knowledge of good and euil thou shalt die the death which thing fell vpon him and vpon all his posteritie Whereby we see that the reward and recompence of sinne is death not onely bodily death but which is more spirituall whereby we are banished and shut out of the heauenly kingdome and inheritance if we apprehend not that great grace and mercy of the father offered to all that draw neere vnto him by true confidence in Iesus Christ to the ende as the Apostle saith that as sinne raigned vnto death so grace might raign by righteousnes vnto eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. And this is the onely way wherby to passe from death to life when we shall be subiect to no condemnation or afflictiō Moreouer neither sworde famine nor any other miserie can hurt vs no not temporal death which according to mās iudgement is the extreamest of all miseries shall in any sort confound vs but rather be a meane and pleasant way for vs to passe by from prison and bondage to ioyfull liberty and from miserie to happinesse Therfore my companions as death is the end of all men happy to the elect and vnhappy to the reprobate so let vs finish our discourses with the handling thereof ARAM. Nothing but death and the end of this bodily life is able to accomplish the wish and desire of a faithful christian For the spirit being then deliuered as it were out of a noisome and filthie prison reioyceth with freedom and libertie in those pleasant places which it seeketh after and desireth so earnestly ACHITOB. It is decreed that all men must once die And therfeore as the Wiseman saith whatsoeuer thou takest in hand remember the end and thou shalt neuer do amisse Now ASER as thou beganst to lay the foundation of our Academie so make thou an end of it with the treatise of Death that endeth all things ASER. It is no maruell if natural sense be mooued astonished when we heare that our body must be separated from the soule But it is in no wise tollerable that a Christian hart should not haue so much light as to surmount suppresse this feare whatsoeuer it be by a greater comfort and consolation For if
man must vse his own subiectes in warre Three causes from whence proceeded the ruine of the Romane empire The diuision of the empire weakened the same Dangerous to an Estate to call in forraine succours As appeereth by the Sequani By the Frenchmen The end that forraine souldiours propound to themselues Reasons why forraine force is woorth nothing The cause of the last destruction of Italy The discommoditie of bringing in hired Captaines Dangerous for a Prince to call in a Potentate to succour him Examples of the change of Estats by meanes of forraine succour Charles the fift bound by oath not to bring any forraine souldiors into Germany Charles 7. made decrees for French souldiors What inconueniences France is fallen into by hiring Switzers Francis 1. established seuen legions of footmen How a Prince may vse the succours of his Allies How a Captain should exhort his souldiors How victory is to be vsed Examples of such as knew not how to vse victorie wisely and to take opportunitie offered The Tyrians besieged and subdued by Alexander It is not good to fight with desperate men Iohn king of France taken by the Englishment Gaston de Foix. Small armies that ouercame great Victorie commeth only from God Valiant men are full of compassion No true victorie without clemencie Ringleaders of euill are to be punished and the multitude to be pardoned Humane sciences are but darkenes in regard of the word of God Psal 84. 4. 5. 11. Iohn 17. 3. Of the loue of righteousnes Leuit. 19. 2. 1. Pet. 1. 15. 16. Holines is the end of our calling Christ is a paterne of righteousnes vnto vs. Malach. 1. 6. Eph. 5. 26. 30. Col. 3. 1. 2. 1. Cor. 6. 19. 1. Thes 5 9. We must alwaies striue to come to perfection What the dutie of euery faithful man is Rom. 12. 1. 2. What it is to consecrate our selues to God Gal. 2. 20. True loue of God breedeth in vs a dislike of ourselues Matth. 16. 24. Fruits of the deniall of our selues Selfe loue is the cause of the most of our imperfections The definition of charitie 1. Cor. 13. 4. The effect of true charitie towards our neighbour The naturall inclination of men Corruptible things are no sufficient recompence for vertuous men Rom. 8. 28. Matth. 16. 24. 25. Rom. 8. 17. How God teacheth vs to know the vanitie of this life We must not hate the blessings of this life Psal 44. 22. The comfort of the godly in the midst of troubles Math. 25. 34. Isai 25. 8. Apoc. 7. 17. The summe of our dutie towards God The true vse of temporal things Wherein a happy life consisteth Gen. 2. 17. Rom. 6. 23. Rom. 5. 21. Temporal death is the way that leadeth the godly from bondage to blessednesse Heb. 9. 27. Ecclus 7. 36. The comsort of euery true christian against death Rom. 8. 22. Against Atheists and Epicures that deny the immortalitie of the soule Plato prooueth that there is a iudgement to come and a second life How good men are discerned from the wicked The afflictions of the godly in this world prooue a second life Three kinds of death Apoc. 20. 6. Why the faithfull ought to desire death What the life of man is Phil. 1. 23. 1. Cor. 15. 50. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 2. Cor. 4. 14. Phil. 3. 20. 21. Col. 3. 3. 4. 1. Thes 4. 13. 14. Heb. 2 14. 15. 2. Tim. 1. 9. 10. Iob 19. 25. 26. 27. Iohn 12. 17. 1. Cor. 2. 9. Who they be that feare not death A comparison betweene this life and that which is eternall Phil. 1. 23. Titus 2. 13. Luke 21. 28. How death can not hurt Psal 116. 15. A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL MATTERS CONTAINED IN THIS ACADEMIE A ADmonition sundrie instructions how to admonish wisely Pag. 153 Aduersitie who are soonest thrown downe with aduersitie 301. the cōmon effects thereof 345. the Romanes were wisest and most constant in aduersitie 347. examples of constancie in aduersitie 348 Adulterie the miserable effects of adulterie 240. the punishment of adulterers among the Egyptians 241. Zaleucus law and the law of Iulia against it 240. testimonies of Gods wrath against it 241 Age hath no power ouer vertue 61. the diuision of the ages of man 563-564 Ambition two kindes of ambition 224. the cause of ambitious desires 225. the effects of ambition 224. 229. examples of mê void of ambition 186. ambition breedeth sedition 225. ambitious men full of selfe-prayse 226. examples of ambitious men 227. c. they cannot be good counsellours to Princes 231 Anger the crueltie of Theodosius committed in his anger 316. Valentinian brake a veine in his anger 317 Apparell against excesse in apparell 219. examples of sobrietie in apparel 219 Archbishop the free gird of a Pesant giuen to an Archbishop 158. the Archbishop of Magdeburg brake his neck in dancing 216 Armes Armie the exercise of armes must alwayes continue 762. the auncient order of the Romane armie 766 Arrogancie dwelleth in the ends with solitarines 157 Aristocratie the description of an Aristocratie 579. the estate of Lacedemonia was Aristocraticall 580 Artes and Artificers the necessitie of artes and artificers in a common-wealth 750. artificers of one science ought not to dwell all togither 751 Authors how much we owe to good authors 45 Authoritie what authoritie a prince hath ouer his subiects 670 B Backbiting the prudence of Dionysius in punishing two backbiters 388. when backbiting hurteth most 460 Bankets the custome of the Egyptians and Lacedemonians at bankets 203 Beard what vse is to bee made of a white beard 572 Belly the belly an vnthankefull and feeding beast 201. 202. it hath no eares 212 Birth the follie of birth-gazers 42 Biting what biting of beasts is most dangerous 460 Body the wonderfull coniunction of the body and soule of man 19. the conceptiō framing and excellencie of the body 21 Brother he that hateth his brother hateth his parents 542. the benefite that brethren receiue by hauing common friends 544. examples of brotherly loue 545 C Calling callings were distinct from the beginning 478. sixe sundry callings necessary in euery common-wealth 744. holinesse is the end of our calling 795 Captaine the losse of a captaine commonly causeth the ruine of an armie III. how captaines were punished if they offended 768. a captaine must not offend twise in warre 773. what captains are woorthiest of their charge 784. the captains of an armie must be very secret 781. two faults to be eschewed of euery captaine 778. how a captain should exhort his souldiors 790 Cheere good cheere keepeth base mindes in subiection 206 Children must loue feare reuerence their father 533. the dutie of children towardes their parents 541. examples of the loue of children towards their parents 541 Choler whereof choler is bred 314. how the Pythagorians resisted choler 315. magistrates ought to punish none in their choler 316 Citie what Citie seemed to Clcobulus best guided 264 Citizens who are truly citizens 606
And who is not content to depart out of an olde ruinous house What pleasure haue wee in this world which draweth neere to an end euery day which selleth vnto vs so deere those pleasures that wee receiue therein What other thing is this life but a perpetual battell and a sharpe skirmish wherein we are one while hurt with enuie another while with ambition and by and by with some other vice besides the suddaine onsets giuen vpon our bodies by a thousand sorts of diseases and fluds of aduersities vpō our spirits Who than will not say with S. Paul I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Why do we daily pray that the kingdom of God should come if it be not for the desire which we ought to haue to see the fulfilling therof in the other life We haue a thousand testimonies in the scripture that the death of the body is a certaine way by which we passe into that true and eternal life and into our owne countrey Flesh and bloud saith Saint Paul cannot inherite the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherite incorruption For this corruptible must put on incorruptiō and this mortali must put on immortalitie then shall bee fulfilled that which is written Death is swallowed vp in victory They that beleeue in Iesus Christ haue already ouercome death sin and hell And therefore contemning death they may say O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law but thanks be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. He which hath raised vp the Lord Iesus shall raise vs vp also Our conuersation is in heauen from whence also we looke for the sauiour euen the Lord Iesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able euen to subdue all things-vnto himselfe Ye are dead saith he to the Colossians and your life is hid with Iesus Christ in God When Christ which is our life shall appeere then shall ye also appeere with him in glory My brethren saith he to the Thessalonians I would not haue you ignorant concerning them which are a sleepe that ye sorow not euen as other which haue no hope For if we beleeue that Iesus is dead and is risen euen so them which sleepe in Iesus will God bring with him Iesus Christ saith he to the Hebrewes was partaker of flesh and bloud that is to say was truly man that he might destroy through death him that had the power of death that is the deuill And that he might deliuer all them who for feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage God hath saued vs and called vs with an holy calling as he saith to Timothie not according to our works but according to his owne purpose and grace which was giuen to vs through Christ Iesus before the world was but is now made manifest by the appeering of our Sauiour Iesus Christ who hath abolished death hath brought life immortalitie vnto light through the Gospel I am sure saith Iob that my redeemer liueth and he shall stand the last on the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh Whom I my selfe shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for me Iesus Christ is our head and we are his members This head cannot be without his members neither can forsake them Where Christ is there shall we be also He that considereth diligently these places of Scripture and infinite others contained therein it cannot be but he should haue great ioy and comfort in his hart against all feare and horror of death And then comming to compare the miseries which neuer leaue this life with that vnspeakable happines and felicitie which eye hath not seene neyther eare hath heard neyther came into mans hart which God hath prepared in the second and eternall life for all faithfull beleeuers a christian will not onely passe ouer this mortall life with ease and without trouble but will euen contemne and make no account of it in respect of that which is immortall But to whome is death sweete if not to them that labour The poore hireling is well at ease when hee hath done his dayes woorke So death is alwayes sweete to the afflicted but to them that put their trust in wordly things the remembrance thereof is bitter Now then the children of God are not afrayd of death but as Cyprian writeth in an Epistle sent to the Martyrs of Christ hee that hath once ouercome death in his owne person doth daily ouercome him in his members so that we haue Iesus Christ not onely a beholder of our combates but also an assistant and fighter with vs. And by his grace abounding in the harts of the faithfull they are so much the more bent to meditate vpon the benefites of the future and eternall life as they see that they are inuironed with greater store of miseries in this fading and transitorie life Then comparing both togither they find nothing more easie than to finish sweetly their race and to value the one as litle as they account the other absolute in all felicitie Moreouer seeing heauen is our countrey what is the earth else but a passage in a strange land And bicause it is accursed vnto vs for sinne it is nothing else but the place of our banishment If our departure out of this world be an entrance to life what is this world but a sepulcher And to dwell heere what is it else but to be plunged in death If it be libertie to be deliuered out of this bodie what is this bodie but a prison And if it be our chiefe happines to enioie the presence of our God is it not a miserie not to enioie it Now vntill we go out of this world we shal be as it were separated from God Wherefore if this earthlie life be compared with the heauenlie no doubt but it may be contemned and accounted as it were doung True it is that we must not hate it but so far foorth as it keepeth vs in subiection to sinne And yet whilest we desire to see the ende of it we must not be carelesse to keepe our selues in it to the good pleasure of God that our longing may be far from all murmuring and impatiencie For our life is as a station wherein the Lord God hath placed vs that we should abide in it vntill he call vs backe againe Saint Paul indeed bewailed his estate bicause he was kept as it were bound in the prison of his body longer than he would groned with a burning desire vntill he was deliuered but withall to shew his obedience to the wil of God he protested that he was ready for both bicause he knew