by the quality of the blood so rare a treasure know thou art an Heretique This sparkling Planet of Mars doth not influe vigour enough The fowre elementary qualities doe not know what it is to go to blowes they hate them the bloud cannot vnderstand so high a lesson quite contrary to his beeing This apprentiship doth come from elsewhere It is true as I haue said that there bee some soules better disposed to Vertue then others and likewise some bodies more fit to receiue the faire influences of the soule Yet for all that all men generally and naturally doe feare death It is a grieuous thing to forsake this pleasing light of the day and to goe with wormes whatsoeuer is imagined This default comes from sin this weakenesse hath drawne from thence her beginning It brought death which is irkesome to man because it was not so at the first creation Without going any higher in Theologie I will follow my point The feare of death mans perpetuall Hostesse whose efficient cause matter and forme be within the bones the blood and the arteries is a miserable worker of all the irresotions which doe ariue for this subiect Feare to die the hereditary maladie the domesticall weakenes the naturall falling-sickenesse to man is the beginner of all infirmities to them that doe not thinke to liue well Now to liue well a man must cast his eyes vpon his carriage he must thinke of the end he must meditate vpon this common and last passage of men It was all the Philosophy of the Auncients which in truth is a good part of perfection though not the principall To meditate vpon death to imagine that after this short and painefull life there is an eternall and blessed life is to enter into the way of Vertue though not to goe to the ende This answereth to that diuine sentence Know thy selfe represent thy selfe that thou art a cleare beame of God that thy house is heauen that the diuine essences doe pertaine to thee of proximitie that thou art a passenger in this miserable life that Vertue is the onely image whereof thou must bee an Idolater and which must wholly gouerne thee These considerations doe open the barre to faire actions but the gate is yet shut This Vertue is excellent without doubt which prepareth the soules to good lifteth vp thy vnderstanding to all high worthy things It is not enough for all that To command a mans selfe is more then all that The other hath the tongue this the hand one the word the other the effect the one prepareth the soule to the diet the other is the diet it selfe the one mooues humours the other purges them the one guides the other executes To conclude the one beginneth the other endeth the work To know a mans selfe answereth to the meditation of death to command a mans selfe answereth to the contempt of death The auncients made their Philosophy and loue of wisdome meditation of death only whereas they should haue said that it was the meditation and contempt both together For these two be sister-germanes and inseparable to conduct to the sacred Temple of Sapience But what is this attracting brightnes what is this charmious figure what is this diuine ladder which when in hath inlightened by the discourse of reason and by the knowledge of our selues and burned by the pleasing flames of the loue of it doth make vs enter into heauen It is Magnanimitie which is the contempt of death What is the end of it to doe alwaies well If they aske what Temples what Sacrifices shee desireth She will answer that shee is all that that she hath all in her selfe If they doe presse her to tell what mooueth her she will say That it is onely her affection to cary her selfe in all things vertuously Why she doth not feare death Because she feareth her selfe more Why she doth not desire the conuersation of life so sweete Because to liue without Vertue is to be dead without any hope to liue againe Let them question her euery manner of way she shall be as ready and wise to answer as firme and couragious to resist Now as you see to know a mans selfe goeth not so forward as to command a mans selfe so it must be said that to meditate vpon death is not so much as to despise it Many doe know their own infirmities they haue euen drawne the very picture of them with all the liuely colours there wants nothing They know that they are subiect to a thousand loose passions they resolue to combate these domesticall enemies they prepare themselues thereunto and euen in the very instant that they are ready to come to handy-blowes they do as Dolon did in Homer who cast away his Buckler in the cheife time of the skirmish or like to him who after hee had made proud marches cries out against his follies I see the best and like it and doe follow the worst It is cowardize they haue not force enough to resist hauing but one feeble obscure sparke of Vertue which hath not the power to heate though it giue light They which commaund themselues doe shewe that they haue beene longer exercised in this faire Academy that they haue beene vpon the iusting or fencing place that they haue wrestled against the prodiges of vice and throwne them to the ground which makes them worthy of praise and to haue their names graued in letters of gold in the holy Temple of Honour This then answereth to the contempt of death which cannot bee familiar with a man but by Valour which doth not consist onely in marshall actions neither is enclosed with those walles alone because there bee a thousand other instruments of this cruell enemy of nature besides those of warre Socrates who swallowed hemlocke did as much contemne death as Alexander in the middest of his combates The one was as it were transported with marshall fury and the other was no more mooued seeing his death prepared then if they had come to inuite to runne at the playes of Olympus The one was almost out of himselfe with choller the other was altogether in himselfe and quite out of the frailty of man through a firme and constant resolution to this last step Both of them did it through greatnesse of courage Valour was in them both all the worke was hers Notwithstanding the one of them was inflamed with the ardour of young blood with ambition and with the desire to make himselfe venerable to posterity the other was not stupide nor insensible but he had a constant coldnes a firme resolution with discourse iudgement and meditation hauing no other end but manfully to resist fortune and death without beeing thrust on by consideration of worldly vanities Wherein is to be noted that these latter parts be euen as necessary as the others and that the great and vnheard of effects of Vertue doe proceede cheifely from the vnderstanding and intelligence Truely they which haue not learned this
Estate You shall anew oblige France doe not frustrate it if it please you of the helpe which it expecteth from your Vertue in so faire an occasion You are inuited thereunto a man may say obliged seeing that you are one of the eyes of our great Monarch You shall get Honour in this affaire Faire actions ought to bee produced without designe of glorie in time to come But in doing for the Common good it is not vnlawfull to encrease the reputation of his Name Let your excellent spirit iudge if this action which is hoped for will not be a reliefe of all the others whereof France hath had a true feeling Whereupon I remaine MY LORD Your most humble and most obedient seruant CHEVALIER To the Nobility of FRANCE IT is long since this Discourse of Duells was made The Publication hath been hindred for important causes they cease now and here it is come into the light One of the occasions that brought it forth was the death of two Gentlemen of the Court who were killed in single Combate the 3. of Ianuary 1602. That rauished me with impatience to this worke They were both full of merit of Honour of reputation I lamented their losse especially of Sieur de VILLEMOR whom I knew whom I honoured for his vertue Hee feared God was courteous wise charitable adorned with all Christian Vertues especially with those which are altogether repugnant to the last act of his life The occasion of their Quarrell was feeble and very little sutable to so many faire qualities as all those of this time be Their ruine is to be lamented it is deplorable the Commonwealth hath lost thereby They were able to doe a great seruice by their Valour whereof they had rendred so many good testimonies in iust occasions Their courage was worthy to haue been reserued to some better seruice then that which rooted them vp Now my intention in this worke is altogether Christian without ostentation without vanity The end propounded is that it may serue It is indifferent to me whether it be pleasing or not That is not my reach If it be profitable to France it will be an vnspeakeable contentment vnto me it is my onely desire It was made for you I speake vnto you with all freenesse This shall testifie my zeale and my affection to your good Receiue it with a good heart if you thinke good I doe not regard your tast which is sicke but your profit There is nothing in all the world for this regard so rash so blinded so transported as the Nobility of France Hee that doth not know it let him come see here the picture The designe is the ruine of soule body and goods the action is inconsiderate ambition the proportions impatience the lineaments rashnesse the shadowes false iudgement the shortnings presumption the liuely colours doe shine by furie and by despaire Take heede of it none haue so much hurt by it as you If you know it not I aduertise you of it They doe in euery place deride your frensies They which haue charges and gouernements are protected and play the Romanes with your furies doe as they doe be wise they fight not and yet haue neuer the lesse courage If you thinke to receiue Honour thereby to be the sooner Dukes and Peeres Officers of the Crowne Knights du St Esprit Embassadours or gouernours of places I tell you that you are very farre from your accompt you know not why you runne so lightly to death At what good leisure you are to precipitate your selues to so many mischeifes without receiuing any aduantage Honour or profit thereby either death the ruine of your houses or a perpetuall quarrell be the ordinary fruites which hang ouer your heads There is all the glory you haue thereby See if you bee not in great heate Though you bee not ashamed of your rages at the least pity the losse of your soules you cannot doe better To conclude imitate them which doe not fight you shall bee the more perfect God be with you To the Reader Courteous Reader there are some faults escaped this 〈◊〉 Booke thou art not to impute the cause thereof to 〈◊〉 Author whose care and diligence both in translating 〈◊〉 writing may iustly deserue commendations but rather 〈◊〉 the negligence in reading and correcting the Printeâ—… that time beeing drawne away by vrgent occasions frâ—â— his more vsuall diligence Thus hoping thy loue will me these faults as thou meetest with them in reading I 〈◊〉 Pag. 11. lin I. it is lost put out it p. 17. l. 4. for Parevine read Poiteâ—◠〈◊〉 l. 24. for prickings read pricking p. 29. l. 19. for fare read faire â—… l. 2 â—… for his read this p. 32. l. 12. for garden read great garden p. 35. l. for duely read daily p. 39. l. 18. for whose fraile read who is fraile p. 41. for haue read haue had p. 48 l. 25. for mention of read mention made of â—… l. 19. for none at all read not any ibid. i 22. for geate read goâ—…t p. 54. l. â—… and read that ibid. l. 16. for heart and read heart into p. 58 l. 20. for coâ—…read courages p. 68. l. 10. for the read his ibid. l 14. for is damnable read damnable p. 72. l. 15. for laire read fairer ibid. l. 27. for a throug read the thâ—… p. 73. l. 4. for would read should p. 7â—… l. 23. put out the. p. 81. l. 3. for him read thinking p. 94. l. 20. for phillip read fillip p. 118 l. 8. for workeman workewoman p. 120. l. 2. for to their read to all their p. 122 l. 13. for a serable read the miserable ibid for irresotions read irresolutions p. 12 â—… for this the hand read this hath the hand p. 124. l. â—… for and contempt read the contempt p. 126. l. 15. for inuite read inuitehim p 127. l. 17 for euill euills p 123. l 20. for pleasure read pleasures ibid l. 23. for oues read â—… p. 129. l. 27. for be cleare read be the cleate p. 136. l. 8. for toyling readâ—…iings â—…iings p. 1 38. l. 8. for her lustice read her Iudgement Iustice p. 143. l. 23 belonging read belongeth p. 147. l. 11. for daaw read draw p. 149. l. 5 they like read they likeit THE GHOSTS OF VILLEMOR and FONTAINES To the KING WOnder of the World Mars of Christendome Great Monarch whose invincible Heart neuer found Equall whose Arme is a Thunder-bolt his Diligence Lightnings his High Deedes Thunder-cracks that thunder which astonish Fortune You will haue no apprehension of our Shadowes seeing you neuer had any of Death it selfe amidst the horrour the terrour of Armes amongst the sulphure the most thicke smoakes of Canons and Harquebuzes These obscure apparances and these dimensions confusedly dilated will bring you no feare This is the second time that we doe appeare hauing quitted our repose to come to procure yours and by the meanes of our particular harmes to represent those of France in generall for
then become more worthy beeing made fit to serue their Prince and Countrey they root themselues out from the breast thereof rashly cruelly detestably Men dare marry no more and they which haue children will not vouchsafe to bring them vp carefully as they were wont to make them capable to serue you They dare send them no more to your Court that is the Scylla and Charybdis where they perish miserably the Altar where they be sacrificed continually the mournefull Schoole where they find death instead of learning ability to defend the life of the Prince for the maintenance of the Estate France soyled with the blood of her owne children a furious parricide all horrible with wounds crieth out casteth her selfe at your feet tearing her haire and craues mercy of you will you deny it to your Subiects to your seruants hauing been so franke of it to your enemies Then are you well grounded Sir The Pardons which your Maiestie doth so often giue or to speake more properly which are snatched from you by such importunitie bee against the Lawes of GOD and Men against the vniuersall order of Kingdomes and Common-weales Wee say so often and not without cause that is too well knowne Wee will adde in so great a quantitie For in one day onely in the voyage of Savoy your Maiestie dispatched sixscore which is monstrous It is not simply to tollerate the euill but to approoue nourish and command it All Diuines with a generall accord and consent doe say that they which die in these miserable combates are damned a fearefull sentence and yet true Your selfe doe say Sir and promise that you will make lawes you doe make them and renew the old ones but to what end serue they if they be not obserued There be many springs which play vpon this worke many that haue the honour to approach your Maiesty doe detest quarrells in word and afterwards oftentimes are the cause of them taxing them that they doe thinke are not valiant we say are valiant for these follies for these friensies extreame friensies Is there any thing so ridiculous as the subiect of quarrells But alas there is nothing so deplorable as their euents Here is a strange mistery This iniustice is acknowledged and condemned of the most part and yet if a Gentleman doe not go to Duel he is despised he is reproached If he goes and escapes the iron he falls vpon the penne he must passe through iustice What a perplexitie is this What shall become of this miserable man He hath cut off one head and out of that arised seauen others Such a man is much troubled There is yet more and that is that although they know your Maiestie will take order for it and doe make edicts yet the report runnes that your Maiestie doe blame them which doe not fight This is it that prickes most The Iudgements of Kings be Oracles they excite the furics of Orestes no patience but it is lost no consideration retained What is all this light and darkenesse hot and cold The mischeife is that vpon the rocks of these contrarieties many doe rush and are miserably lost There is not any in the world that knowes what Honour and Valour is like you Sir none that makes them better vnderstood better tasted by discourse not any that for his owne particular hath so well practised them nor so exactly obserued and so diligently and gloriously acquired the first ranke and none that makes them lesse obserued and practised by others in these times You must of necessitie know the efficient cause of so many disasters And this it is the two rare peices so exquisite and so precious whereof we come to speake Honour and Valour By the one your Nobility will get the other which beeing euill vnderstood doth bring so much desolation by the meanes of Valour so ill knowne and so brutishly practised All the world knowes that the number of your trophies doe exceed the number of your years They are excellent tokens of the greatnes of your courage which hath made you put downe the statues of Caesar by so many great exploites There is nothing that your Maiesty can better vnderstand then these two points whereof it hath rendred so famous testimonies such extraordinary proofes It belongs then to your Maiesty to reforme the disorder caused by them since it knowes them so perfectly You haue both will and power the one from your clemencie and iustice the other from your Authoritie Your Maiestie is mooued thereunto by the knowledge of these iniust acts inuited pressed and as it were reproached by these fit subiects Your inimitable clemencie hath produced inimitable effects but who doubts of that which hath made you the most famous Prince of the world and of that which hath saued this Estate hauing made you expose your life so often and so freely for the conseruation thereof In the meane time here is a bloody disorder which continueth and encreaseth daily By dispersing these clouds which will obscure the brightnesse of your glory bought with so many hazardes you shall conserue and augment that which you haue worthily gained The continuance and perseuerance in doing well be the sinewes and reflexions of reputation It is that which mooues it it is that which encreaseth it And the Tombe onely ought to bee the last line of vertuous actions what can be imagined more exquisite more triumphant Let vs see the errour of men of this time rashnes put on by all the most brutish passions concupiscence vanity pride reuenge enuic and other furies naturall to men they call courage these are the lime and sand but the workeman and subtill Architect is the euill spirit That this is true doe but consider that euen they who hardly doe beleeue a Paradise who are so well pleased in the world not knowing any other and haue such occasion to abide in it doe cast away themselues without cause against their owne knowledge against their iudgement depriuing themselues of the world with the blindnesses whereof they are strooke as with the falling sicknes And how by a loose vanity by friuolous considerations without reason without foundation It is a high secret we must returne to that which we haue said that it is the euill spirit which forgeth all these miseries Doe we not also see these killers early or late end their dayes with a violent death Blood is in the ende expiated by blood sinne punished by the same sinne It is strange that making the delights of the earth their heauen respiring nothing but all sorts of pleasures not testifying in their fashions in their speach in their effects any apprehension of the estate of soules after this fraile life we say the most part are notwithstanding so forward so resolute to hazard that which they hold so deare But if they doe beleeue a more happy life after this mortall iudge what their end is what their iudgement to quit their part thereof so without purpose Some say there is great
pardonable before God and Men. This is to cut a purse before the Prouost to coyne money in open market and to serue as a false witnesse before the Magistrate In a word it is properly to mocke God and their King Who be they that precipitate themselues by these mischieuous occasions The creame the quintessence the floure the suttle of the suttle they that tearme themselues of the race of Iupiter who despise all the rest as the lees and the mire and discourse so hotly of Honour of Vertue of Reputation But yet such as are the most firme and most necessarie pillers of the Estate This is extrauagant Yet they are oftentimes those who haue reason to content themselues with the reputation which they haue bought by a thousand hazards in iust and lawfull occasions Yet for all that they cast themselues with bowed heads vpon these which they embrace with passion as if they were famished for Honour whereas they should enioy that which they haue acquired with so good assurance They do like Aesop his dog they leaue the body for the shadow the solid glory for that which is fantasticall They likewise runne the fortune of Ixion who in stead of Iuno had to doe with a cloud In the end all these proud vanities bee reduced into clouds of vanity and most commonly the miserable wheele of shame and losse remaines with them for a full recompence We are simple shadowes and cloudes that haue no disguise Your Maiesty will not be displeased Sir that we speake without flattery you neuer loued it They doe not often tell Kings the truth It is with that as it was ere while with your treasure when as fifty came to fiue They disguise it They plaister it before it hath passed so many hands so many conuerts with a lie with passion with cunning you haue nothing but the shadow Flattery is a mortall plague cheifely in a man of state that is in credit with his Master such a one neuer speakes true A coozening of greatest consequence and worthy of punishment These parasites are very pernicious We then that haue nothing but simplicity will speake truely They call the Kings of France most Christian ô excellent ô venerable title It surpasseth the magnificence of all the Diadems and Thyaras of the world This Diuine title hath beene attributed for some great causes to your auncient predecessors They had well deserued it But the disorders the Eclipses of ciuill warres haue much shaken and much obscured the foundations and light thereof Among such a prodigious multitude of arguments as strangers aleadge this holds the first ranke that the Nobility is abandoned to butchery by the Prince It is true as we haue said that your Maiesty haue found this disorder and many others which it desireth to take away It is your Maiesties greatest ambition What marke is it say they of most Christian to suffer such impieties This is the shamefull reproach they giue to all France They be miserable sacrifices that you offer daily so freely to death Is it not because you are more ashamed of the censure of mad men who haue put dreames and giddy conceits for principles of Honour then for feare to be rebells to God You would not doe that for his glory which you doe for the opinion of braine-sickemen You would not for that suffer a scratch And you are paid according to your deserts For after your death the most part of your inward friends and euen those who in appearance doe fauour so wicked a custome doe make a conscience to assist at your funeralls to lament you to speake of you yea those who the next day after would hazard themselues for as feeble an occasion They lift vp the shoulders turne the eyes knock with hands and feet grieuing and deploring this end You are to feele eternall punishment and you make your memorie also infamous to posteritie Had it not been better neuer to haue seene light You are farre from your accompt if you beleeue that your name is thereby more famous or more illustrious If you knewe the iudgement that they make of your end you would die yet an other time Some doe attribute these effects to enuie others to reuenge others to a foule and furious passion of loue the most part to the hope to remaine victorious by the aduantages of naturall force or dexteritie some to the hope to be hindred There is no mention of vertue in these actions How abiect how shamefull a thing it is And all men generally speakes of them as it were of dogs and beares that should strangle one an other Is it not a triumphant Epitaph to celebrate the last effects of men what men Such as thinke themselues aboue other men by brutish comparisons Proude soules mad soules If you could againe reuest your bodies how you would despise these actions how you would be offended with your selues how you would hate your false iudgements and your abhominable resolutions No man praiseth you after your death no man esteemes you few bewailes you if it be not in consideration of the losse of your saluation and then you are alwayes blamed for beeing so irreligious If such an action were vertuous the Historiographers would make volumes thereof would praise you would exalt you you should finde Homers and Virgils But alas your history is as of people lost If any bewaile you it is as of damned soules These words should be an earth-quake for these miserable quarrellers If any write your accident it is for an example of terrour in time to come a mirrour of temerity and of the corruption of the age a testimony of the wrath of God and not to approoue much lesse to exalt so execrable a folly You that be vpon the bloody Theatre of France in danger euery moment to represent pittifull tragedies of your selues consider this Euery thing is done to some end euery ende is profitable delectable or honourable Let vs see for your contentment what ende they propound to themselues that hazard themselues without iust cause in Duell If both remaine there men presently play vpon this great string It is for their sinnes it is a iust iudgement of God If the one die and the other remaine conquerour let vs exactly calculate the honour and profit that they reape thereby For him that is dead there is none of these three ends Let vs enquire of the conquerour if he doe better his condition thereby He answers that he is forthwith in danger of his life executed if they take him in the meane time condemned proclaimed hang'd in picture What a hard thing is this to digest he must haue recourse to his Soueraigne the onely remedy is a Pardon He must haue it whatsoeuer it cost with so much toyle with so many submissions begging the fauour of great ones He must passe it with so much feare with so much disquiet with so many difficulties it is the true image of hell They that haue passed through the examination of
Father-Confessors of the redoubtable Selletta would sound you out a lofty word thereupon This is not all he must haue wherewithall to passe it There bee the greifes For this effect the costs and the mulcts be another kinde of Duell another cut-throate From thence proceedes the totall ruine of houses With all these punishments there were yet some forme of respite if the roote of the mischeife were pulled vp But for a heape of glory and felicitie there he is all his life time with a quarrell vpon his armes against the kinred of him that died a mortall and irreconciliable quarrell For all this by tract of time there is some remedy For that which is the most important there is none at all The cruell torture that bursteth his soule by the continuall representation of his offence receiueth no condition What Goblins what tortures what goate what Minotaure But if such a one be puft vp with vaine-glory for that he beleeues that men doe hold him for a man of courage they shall tell him that that aduantage is very common as we haue shewed But how feeble is it how shamefull hauing regard to the foundation which is nothing Christian Notwithstanding he that would yeild some thing to his opinion a man might tell him that it is a glory dearely bought and as it were to take vp at interest a hundred for a hundred There is then the pleasure there is the profit there is the honour that he reapeth of his hazardes and vnbridled ambitions For him that is dead as hath beene said there remaineth to him no shadow of good his reputation is extinguished with his life It continueth but to be odious stinking and execrable Ah! how this is to be considered For he that dies for a faire subiect hath comfort for himselfe and leaues comfort to his posterity why because his memory hath a sweete sauour They bee more excellent and durable images then those of Phydias Oh! how precious be these old sayings oh how rare they be They say he was an honest man a vertuous man fearing God louing his Prince and the Common-wealth that he died in the bed of Honour Such a one liues in the tombe in despight of death his Vertue speakes within the dumbe silence exalts him glorifies him in the midst of forgetfulnesse euen in the cold dust They hold another manner of language of them that are lost in Duell What blindnes saith euery one what rage how impious a thing it is how detestable A notable consequence ariseth from this Discourse that is That there is some honourable death that a man ought not to shun although he could To vnderstand this we must consider the speach following in presupposing this maxime If they which fight in Duell did beleeue they should die there a man might well say they would not goe thither Imagine then that two men of great courage be in presence their weapons in their hands kindled with fury respiring nothing but blood that a man whom they both know to be an excellent Soothsayer comes in the way and saith vnto them You shall die both at this conflict and the profit that shal redound thereby is that the Common-wealth shall loose much your houses shall be desolate your memory detestable There is likelihood that they beleeuing these words would bee appeased and shake hands But if these magnanimious men were in an army neere Henry the 4. the glory of Kings and great Thunder of Warre and that he himselfe should come say vnto them My friends thinke with your selues this day must be the end of your dayes But in truth it shall bee the sauing of your Prince on whose life dependeth the conseruation of this great Estate No man doubts but that generous men would bee the more enflamed but they would bee all possessed with a laudable impatience to bee grapling to produce such an action so vertuous so glorious Moments would be ages vnto them They would be like Antheus touching the earth they would take new forces they would be all trasformed body and soule into heart and ambition and the feare of death would haue much lesse power ouer them then the desire to make themselues famous to future ages inuited forced by the consideration of this act pleasing to God and men They would thinke themselues very happy it would be Scepters and Crownes vnto them for as much as the end is holy and profitable and consequently honourable as beeing a perfect worke of Vertue They will say that there will be found no plenty of these faire soules It is true But there would bee found amongst the Nobilitie of France some that haue Horaces Scevolaes and Curtiusses as well as the auncient Rome So we conclude that there is some death very honourable that is to say That which serueth to the glory of God to the honour and profit of the Prince and of the Common-wealth Now the end of them which goe to Duell without lawfull cause is simply to satisfie their passion to reuenge their particular iniuries to content themselues It followeth that that is not onely blameable but also worthy of rigorous punishment In this the Prince should know that such combates doe absolutely derogate from his Authoritie for as much as it belongs to Him or to his Magistrates to doe reason for offences for which the violent satisfaction is not permitted to particular persons in any Common-wealth well polliced They follow these steps the mischiefe groweth insensibly and of such a fashion that in the ende all Diuine and Humane Lawes shall bee banished out of France They fight in Duell for the seeking of marriage for homages for sutes for precedence in Churches in politique Assemblies in the end for all sorts of differences This is daily seene So did in old time the Scytes so did the Tartarians people without faith without God without humanity If this continue we must speake no more of Iustice nor of Pietie All France shall be a Chaos a denne of theeues So we see a generall subuersion of all Orders No man containes himselfe in his own iurisdiction the stormes whereof hath ouerthrowne all They be so execrable before God that since they haue been tolerated there haue bin seen nothing but prodigies in France Before the Duells was there euer seen blood so horribly shed as hath been since The Sunne hid it selfe thereat the Earth mooued at it and the Sea stayed the course thereupon Was it euer heard that a great King most great most magnificent had been driuen out of his house and afterward murthered by one of them that daily preachet peace Waigh this well From the Duell they come to the contempt of Lawes and Orders from this to contemne the Soueraigne then to conspire against the Estate and after that to attempt the sacred person of the Prince The reason is because ambition accustomed to blood becomes a sauage beast which hath neither bounds nor limits hauing no other moouing but it owne extrauagant desire and
shall haue taken to make good lawes seeing this holy resolution will be ashamed to sue vnto you to destroy that which you shall haue built by their owne iudgement If they do importune you they shall be worthy to be denied and that deniall shall deserue the glory due to your vertue But how would they dare to presse you to doe that within your Realme which they would not suffer in their owne houses Knowing and detesting the malediction of this custome if we could returne how happy should we be to offer our selues in sacrifice for all France and that your Maiestie would put vs to death vpon condition that that which we propound might be exactly obserued How glorious would this curse be to giue two liues to saue so great a body It would surpasse all renowned deeds both auncient and moderne But if the death of some few seem cruell we say it is reasonable that a small number should bee sacrificed for an infinite some must necessarily suffer for the publique It is to preuent a thousand inconueniences Your Nobilitie is wholly diuided by means of quarrells If your Maiestie had occasion to raise armies as it may ariue let men iudge what mischiefes would come thereby At the meeting of the friends kinsfolkes and allies of them which be daily killed with the homicides What coyles what outrages what furies would there be By this counterpoise a man might know that it would bee a very Christian pitty to cause so great a gaine by a little losse If your Maiesty do not redresse these disorders we must neuer hope for it This worke with many others is reserued for your goodnesse and good fortune Alas for so many Gentlemen as die in France there are made so many bone-fires in Spain and amongst the other enemies of the French name They set vp their Trophies with your blood they build with your ruines and make themselues great with your losses We know with all the world that you are not a Nero you haue pardoned euen those that haue attempted your owne person It is certaine that you neuer loose any one of yours but you haue great sence of it aboue all you are sensible of the losse of them that haue hazarded their liues to defend yours and to maintain your Lawes That is not enough you must not stay in so faire a way What is to be done more to make it appeare by the effects which doe speake of themselues There be certaine laughers that fight not who lets escape this saying that there is no hurt to draw blood from a body full of euill humours It is the most caniball and bleeding maxime of the world Which sauours with a full throate the Democrasie of the Switzers an impious maxime and full of ignorance Impious for it is against all Lawes diuine and humane Full of ignorance for as much as it is not onely the choler and sleame that goes out it is the good blood let vs say the best oftentimes They answer that quarrells arise commonly from the rash and insolent and that modest men who vsually are most valiant doe not begin them It is a worthy obiection Is not the world fuller of fooles then of wise men The French Nobility who accompts Valour her summum bonum is she not as ready as a flash of lightning It comes to passe then that the peaceable by beeing in company either for that they are friends kinsfolkes allies or neighbours be wrapped in these disorders not of their owne motion but by the instigation of others So the â—ood blood is mingled with the euill It were a high secret to know how to separate them No Alchimist is capable of it See how France is wounded and torne with her owne hands behold how she fills her selfe with desolations in such sort that there is not a house in this kingdome exempt from one of these two miserable scourges or from both together from suite or bloodshed A lamentable thing worthy of commiseration But who craues the remedy which is denied him by an euill destiny what meanes is there to abate these fumes to temper these dog daies We haue said it so often good Lawes and well obserued to busie and content great mindes and to imploy them There be many iust occasions and faire meanes enough Let vs now consider the euent of our misery and let vs waigh the good that comes of it Ah! how remarkeable it is the faire schoole the fearefull example God hath shewed in this prodigious effect two things worthy to be noted The one that he is iust and true in that which he hath said Who killeth shall be killed Alas we had rooted out the soules of others from their bodies with an vnmercifull iron against the Law of God and we haue beene punished by our selues by the same wayes Iudges and parties executioners and criminalls infringers of mens repose and in danger to be depriued of the heauenly rest The other point remarkeable is that it must be a vowed by force that nothing is so detestable before the Maiesty of God as the Duell as it is practised in this Realm Oh iust oh admirable oh redoubtable iudgements Doe not you enter into this consideration Yes you doe Sir it penetrates all your soule Though you did not yet should you cast your eyes vpon this lamentable vessell your Nobility peirced from ribbe to rib which takes water at all sides which perisheth by little and little in all mens sight ready to make a pitifull strip wracke The heart cannot faile but the other members must be without force and all the world knowes the inuincible heart of this great Body cannot be subdued but by it selfe You are the Head you are the eies succour this noble part which beeing weakned by so many conclusions by so much losse of blood you can haue neither moouing nor light nor conduct nor vigor against the mischeifes which grow so often within the entralls of this Realme nor against them which may ariue from without Whosoeuer will narrowly marke to what a brutishnes the furies of the French are mounted he will tremble in the soule he will finde himselfe turned topsie turuy quite out of himselfe When they speake of causes which doe engage to Duell they confesse that according to God it is damnable wickednes and yet for all that they goe to it So as to practise Honour as they doe in these dayes it is iust not to be a Christian to make a glory of homicide is to loue Vertue to heape vp whole families with misery with desolation it is to be a light of men to conclude it is to be the image of all gentlenes to know well how to efface without cause from the world the image of God They that haue the dropsie of pride that are puffed vp with vanity and ignorance will say this is spoken like Diuines In the estimation of this age it is an ill argument to alleadge God or to be a Christian That is too
rich with that which groweth in her owne territory her rents doe suffice her to operate according to her flight although in certaine things she may haue need of Fortune Yet I doe not say that she is in perfection or that she may be for then a man should put off his humanity and that were to seeke a Valour in the aire as the Commonwealth of Plato or the perfect Oratour of Cicero But I say that the first and principall end of him that doth vertuously ought to be an action simple and purely vertuous That should be the end of it Let not the first intention of him that goeth to an exploit of danger knowing it well be the hope of immortality but let him goe thereto although he should know that that effect would remaine in the graue that his birth and death should be both at a time that he should haue his reward with the wormes and sad silence let him not forbeare to doe well because it is his duty Among the heathen they were perswaded that they ought to die for the Commonwealth and that that voluntary sacrifice of their liues for the publique which they did in a moment brought vnto them a perpetuall sacrifice among men who put such men in the ranke of the gods It was not onely a prouocation it was a furious transportation a desperate madnes which rapt them to all sorts of dangers by the hope of immortality It was a sweete vsury So Curtius cast himselfe into the fearefull gulph of Rome to make the inundation cease which following the answer of the Oracle could not be stayed but by that meanes So Sceuola went into the Campe of Porsena to kill him thinking by the death of this King to make the Romanes victorious So Horace who was called one eyed since that remarkeable effect stayed alone vpon the bridge of the town of Rome and sustained the violent assault of enemies with astonishment of all So the three twin-brothers did fight against three puissant Frenchmen to decide the difference betweene them and the people of Rome by the mutuall consent of both armies It was the hope to make themselues immortall by a famous renowne It was the statues and temples of Honour which were promised them that caused in them the contempt of death If a man should haue come and said to the first poore Romane Knight When thou shalt be cast into this horrible gulph which threateneth all thy towne with shipwracke there shall be no more remembrance of thee thou shalt haue no other oblation but those of thy selfe and thy horse And thou Sceuola thou deceiuest thy selfe to thinke that the Romanes doe erect statues and altars to thy Vertue Horace if thou diest to defend thy Country the earth the common Sepulture or Tiber shall be thy proud monuments and the only trumpets of thy glory You twin-brothers who runne to death for the Commonwealth of Rome all the Laurells that shall remaine vnto you shall be the complaints of your kinred and the teares of your wiues It is to be presumed that Curtius vpon the brimme of that fearefull gulph would haue giuen a musroll to his horse The second beeing ready to roote out this barbarous Kings soule from his body would haue told him the secret in his care so farre would he haue been from puting his hand in the fire with so incredible a constancy The third would not haue lost his eye as he did he would haue bin troubled with a phillip as a man would say not caring otherwise for the iournall of Land which he should haue had in recompence of so admirable a prowesse He would haue cast himselfe at the beginning into the water all whole as he did at the end all peirced with blowes The three brothers would haue all eadged their wiues their children and the vnmeasurable greatnesse of those French-bodies to be exempt from fightings or rather would haue faigned themselues sicke But the desire to make themselues as gods to posterity made them hazard their liues by a foolish hope and a vaine opinion of immortality It was then a false Valour In that case the Honourable desire to serue the Commonwealth should onely haue put them forward the desire to doe well and not to get a famous name after death or recompence after victory Yet notwithstanding that is the least imperfect Valour which is built vpon the beleife of a perpetuall renowne a worke of faire laudable hope and worthy of reward because of the example and of the profit that may come thereby to Commonwealths The Turkes who are so couragious and make no account of their liues doe not deserue by this meanes in any fashion whatsoeuer the name of Valiant because they hazard themselues vpon the hope that they haue to tast the agreeable delights which are promised them in that pleasant Paradise of Mahomet They be workes of faith the strong wings of a false perswasion that hath so charmed them and hauing plucked out the eyes of their soule doe couer also the eyes of their body to make a bloody sacrifice of all Should they haue the apples and the faire maides of the Alcoron taken from them they would haue much more affection to life then now they haue of brutish resolution to death If the desire to gaine glory and to perpetuate a mans name doe not deserue a perfect praise comming alone in consideration much lesse is the effect which proceedeth from a desperate necessity worthy of Honour The banished men at Antwerp beeing but sixe thousand did wonders because they knew well that by the military Lawes of Spaine they should neuer finde mercy with their Prince no more then the English with the Spaniards at Sea who for that cause haue recourse to the cruell element of fire But if pardon might be for the one and courtesie for the other it is to be supposed they would not make so good reckoning of their skins There be a thousand considerations in this deed which would be too long to deduce of which we must waigh some onely Ambition Loue and Couetousnes doe produce great effects cheifely Ambition at the Courts of great ones It is furie that carrieth away the soule that troubleth the braine that bewitcheth a strange Magitian which ouerthroweth all and sometimes giues the lyons courage to Harts To enter into credit to be honoured and esteemed of great Ones and likewise of the Prince to attaine to gouernements There be some that doe despise death and oftentimes these three causes that I haue named doe concurre to end the tragedy the sooner All these effects be false Valours because they be forced and if not altogether at the least somewhat like those of pyoners It ariueth also vnto them as to those that play vpon Theaters who haue the headbands royall and the clubbe of Hercules but this is neither so heauie nor so massy as that of this great mans was neither doe these Purple-robes and these Scepters make them Kings that doe weare
them At the Court neare the shining lights of the world there be foolish and blinde soules which doe swell mooue lift themselues vp and beeing thrust forward with vanity so naturall to man and so familiar at the Courts of Princes doe enterprise with hazard See what the desire is to be greater then others and to go before them not in laudable and vertuous actions but rather in dignities Marke this chace to pride Ambition and enuie be the weake ladders by which some doe ascend to reputation This is to take Honour by a Scalado Sometimes the ladder breakes and so they escape it there are they in a litter for euer an vndoubted testimony of a base and artificious soule resembling the woman that in old time gaue the Oracles beeing animated by the deuill she prophesied and as as soone as he had forsaken her the gate was shut against her for things to come It is a deuillish Valour which doth neither mooue nor breath but by the most blinde and furious passions If by these wayes beeing raised on high they can catch Honour and some gouernement according to their minde they make knots like reeds they rest themselues beginne to play Doctors with the furred gowne and cast themselues vpon discourse saying That there is a time to get a time to keep the thing gotten that a man must play the good husband and not be alwayes thus that they know that the excellent aeconomie of a generous and noble soule is to be alwayes prepared in the duty of a man of honesty and Honour which cannot be iustly reiected of any age of any quality nor of any ranke There be no letters of Chancery can helpe therein Loue also doth admirably whet the courage it doth animate it and while the feuer continues it putteth on violently the fit beeing past there remaines nothing but a shadow Paris loosing himselfe with contemplation of the rare beauties of his Helen admiring so many meruailous things in this cheife worke so soone as she representeth vnto him the reputation of Menelaus the highnes of his courage shewing him thereby that generous women are not friends of cowards enterpriseth a combate against him The sweete words that loue and beauty made slide downe from her lippes happy Arabia that respired nothing but heauenly Manna slid into his soule with such force that he found himselfe wholly mooued quite altered and returning as from a swound resolueth to make himselfe worthy of the loue of so faire a Mistris to assault this excellent champion He thinkes long to be at handy blowes remembers no more Cipres powder nor the curling iron for his haire hee hath nothing in his vnderstanding but the ruine of his enemy he burieth him already by hope he giueth him the mortall blow rids himselfe at one time of a troublesome man and getteth for euer a pleasing she-friend This inspiration of Loue beeing vanished away and the fumes of the altar of Venus beeing past he remembers himselfe of his Helen not to be pleasing vnto her and to make himselfe worthy of so rare a possession but indeed to make himselfe sure of her He hath recourse to flight and hath great need to be couered with the cloud of Venus in which he sheweth that the Carpet-Knights are not such friends of the sword as of perfumes This is a false Valour that makes this spruce adoe to assault one of the strongest and most redoubted men in the world He gained no Honour thereby because the feare of death had more power ouer him then either the desire of immortalizing his name or the consideration of his duty Iealousie and Enuie which be two deuillish instruments haue no lesse power and there haue beene some found who thrust on by their rages haue done miracles The couetousnes of all times hath held a great ranke among men and more in this corrupt age then euer it did It hath shewed notable effects in times past and doth dayly produce extraordinary ones Notwithstanding there is not any of sound iudgement that doth call the actions of such as are mastered with these monsters of vice Valour Despaire hath also a great share thereof and the desire to die whether it commeth of Loue or of any other malady corporall or spirituall from which a man cannot bee deliuered The example of the Souldier of Cyrus is as notable as well knowne Neare that same great King who made the second Monarchy whom the heauen had enriched with so many graces who was accompanied with so many vertues whose lustre was both the wonder and astonishment of the World There was a simple Souldiour who amongst all was remarked to haue an vndauntable courage and to be so resolute in the most dangerous encounters that it seemed he was a Faerie like Achilles so as the opinion to be invulnerable made him contemne the hazard The admiration of this so rare a Valour gaue a desire to this great Monarch to enquire more particularly of this man whom he found to bee afflicted with a strange maladie whereof hee made him to be dressed so carefully that in the end he was healed After that he was neuer seen to hazard himselfe as he vsed before he was not the man he was wont to be Cyrus asking him the reason he answered That he that caused him to bee healed was the onely cause thereof and confessed vnto him that the maladie which he had before was so insupportable that to rid himselfe of it he sought his end in that manner The health of his body made his spirit sicke He ranne after a common euill to shun a thousand extraordinary he sought one death to ridde himselfe of many It was despaire which proceedeth onely from weakenesse You shal not see any of these vulgar spirits and which are not debonaire but at the first griefe grow faint and desire their last ende to be deliuered thereof So there be a thousand passions which do animate and doe not doubt but outward things doe serue thereunto Flutes were in vse amongst the auncient Lacedemonians when they went to fight as at this day trumpets and drummes but without doubt it is more for courages which are not firme and for irresolute spirits then for the generous which haue no need of sauce to get them a stomacke Amongst all that mooueth so much the presence of great Ones and chiefely of the Prince is one He that is aduanced vpon the Theatre abutted neere the Sunne and the Starres illuminated with the great lights of the Kingdom though he were a pusillanimious Adon he would become a Roger a Larke there would play the Eagle a Hare the Lyon especially when there is a magnanimious King such an one as Ours the light of all Christian Princes the admirable and inimitable example of Valour a thundring tempest in combates whose heart is so high that no mortal thing can shake it He that shall come before so excellent a Prince that shall be seen of Iupiter and shall not be as hardie