banishment I did helpe him with money and moreouer he was banished another time for the lightnes hee did commit in the night in the Citie and I maruell not hereof For we see by experience that Olde men which are fleshed in vices are more obstinate to correct then the young Oh what euill fortune haue the old men which haue suffered themselues to waxe olde in vice For more dangerous is the fire in an old house then in a newe and a great cut of a sword is not so perillous as a rotten Fistula Though olde men were not honest and vertuous for the seruice of the Gods and the commonwealth for the saying of the people nor for the example of the young yet he ought to bee honest if it were but for the reuerence of their yeares If the poore old man haue no teeth how shall he eate If he haue no heate in his stomacke how can he disgest If hee haue no taste how can he drinke if he be not strong how can hee be an adulterer if he haue no feet how can he goe if he haue the palsey how can he speake if he haue the gowte in his hands how can he play Finally such like worldly vicious men haue employed their forces being young desirous to proue al these vices and when they are old it grieueth thē extreamly that they cānot acomplish their desire Amongst all these faultes in olde men in myne opinion this is the chiefest that since they haue proued all things that they should still remaine in theyr obstinate follie There is no parte but they haue trauelled no villanie but they haue essayed no Fortune but they haue proued no good but they haue persecuted no euill but hath chanced vnto them nor there is any wickednes but they haue attēpted These vnhappie men which in this sort haue spent all their youth haue in the ende theyr combes cut with infirmities and diseases yet they are not so much grieued with the vices which in them doe abound to hinder them from vertues as they are tormented for want of corporall courage to further them in their lustes Oh if wee were Gods or that they would giue vs licence to knowe the thoughtes of the olde as wee see with our eyes the deedes of the young I sweare to the God Mars and also to the Mother Berecynthia that without comparison wee would punish more the wicked desires which the aged haue to be wicked then the light deedes of the young Tell mee Claude and Claudine doe you thinke though you behaue your selues as young you shall not seme to be olde Knowe you not that our nature is the corruption of our bodie and that our bodie hindereth our vnderstandings and that the vnderstandings are kept of our soule and that our soule is the mother of desires and that our desires are the scourge of our youth and that our youth is the ensigne of our age and age the spye of death and that death in the end is the house where life taketh his harbor from whēce youth flyeth a foot frō whence age cānot escape a horseback I would reioyce that you Claude and Claudine would but tell mee what you finde in this life that so much therwith you should be contented since no we you haue passed foure-score yeares of life during the which time either you haue bin wicked in the worlde or else you haue bin good If you haue bin good you ought to thinke it long vntill you bee with the good Gods if you haue bin euill it is iust you dye to the ende you be no worse For speaking the truth those which in threescore and ten yeares haue bin wicked in workes leaue small hope of their amendment of life Adrian my Lord beeing at Nola in Campania one brought vnto him a nephew of his from the studie whereas the yong childe had not profited a little for hee became a great Grecian and Latinist and moreouer hee was faire gratious and honest And this Emperour Adrian loued his Nephew so much that he saide vnto him these wordes My Nephewe I knowe not whether I ought to say vnto thee that thou art good or euill For if thou be euill life shall be euill employed on thee and if thou be good thou oughtest to dye immediately and because I am worse then all I liue longer then all These words which Adrian my Lord said doe plainly declare and expresse that in short space the pale and cruell death doth assault the good and lengtheneth life a great while to the euill The opinion of a phylosopher was that the gods are so profound in their secrets high in their mysteries and so iust in their works that to men which least profite the commonwealth they lengthen life longest and though he had not saide it we others see it by experience For the man which is good and that beareth great zeale friendship to the Commonwealth eyther the Gods take him from vs or the Enemyes doe slay him or the daungers doe cast him away or the trauells doe finish him When the great Pompeyus and Iulius Caesar became enemyes and from that enmitie came to cruell warres the Gronicles of the time declare that the kings and people of the occidental part became in he fauour of Iulius Caesar and the mightiest and most puissant of al the oriental parts came in the ayde of great Pompeius because these two Princes were loued of a few and serued and feared of all Amongst the diuersity and sundry nations of people which came out of the Orientall part into the hoast of the great Pompeius one nation came maruellous and cruell barbarous which sayde they dwelled on the other side of the mountaine Riphees which goe vnto India And these Barbarians had a Custome not to liue no longer then fifty yeares and therefore when they came to that age they made a greater fire and were burned therin aliue and of their owne wils they sacrificed themselues to the Gods Let no man be astonied at that we haue spoken but rather let them maruell of that wee will speake that is to say that the same day any man had accōplished fifty yeares immediately hee cast himselfe quicke into the fire and his friends made a great feast And the feast was that they did eate the flesh of the dead halfe burned and dranke in wine and water the ashes of his bones so that the stomacke of the childrē being aliue was the graue of the Fathers being dead All this that I haue spoken with my tongue Pompeius hath seene with his eyes for that some being in the camp did accomplish fifty yeares and because the case was strange hee declared it oft in the Senate Let euery man iudge in this case what he will and condemne the barbarians at his pleasure yet I will not cease to say what I thinke O golden world which had such men O blessed people of whom in the World to ome shall be
the state of the rich is good if they will Godly vse it I say the estate of the Religious is good if they be able to profite others I say the estate of the communaltie is good if they will content themselues I say the estate of the poore is good if they haue pacience For it is no merite to suffer troubles if wee haue not pacience therein During the time of this our miserable life we cannot denie but in euery estate there is both trouble danger For then onely our estate shall be perfite when we shall come gloriously in soule and bodie without the feare of death and also when we shall reioyce without daungers in life Returning againe to our purpose Mightie Prince although wee all be of value little wee all haue little we all can attaine little wee all know little we all are able to doe little we all loue but little yet in all this little the state of Princes seemeth some great and high thing For that worldly men say There is no such felicitie in this life as to haue authoritie to cōmaund many and to be bound to obey none But if eyther subiects knew how deere Princes by their power to command or if princes knew how sweet a thing it is to liue in quiet doubtles the subjects would pittie their rulers and the rulers would not enuie their subiects For full fewe are the pleasures which Princes enjoy in respect of the troubles that they endure Since then the estates of Princes is greater then all that hee may do more then all is of more value then all vpholdeth more then all And finally that from thence proceedeth the gouernement of all it is more needefull that the House the Person and the life of a Prince be better gouerned and ordered then all the rest For euen as by the meate-yard the Marchaunt measureth all his wares So by the life whole of the Prince is measured the whole common-weale Many sorrowes endureth the woman in nourishing a way-ward child great trauell taketh a Schoolmaster in teaching an vntoward scholler much paines taketh an Officer in gouerning a multitude ouer-great How great then is the paine and perill wherevnto I offer my selfe in taking vpon mee to order the life of such an one vpon whose life dependeth all the good estate of a Common-weale For Noble Princes and great Lords ought of vs to bee serued and not offended wee ought to exhort them not to vexe them wee ought to encreate them not to rebuke them wee ought to aduise them and not to defame them Finally I say the right simple reckon I that Surgion which with the same plaisters hee layed to a harde heele seeketh to cure the tender Eyes I meane by this comparison that my purpose is not to tell Princes and Noble-men in this booke what they be but to warne them what they ought to bee not to tell them what they do but to aduise them what they ought to doe For that Noble-man which will not amende his life for remorse of his owne conscience Iidoe thinke hee will doe it for the writing of my pen. Paulus Dyaconus the first Hystoriographer in the second booke of his Commentaryes sheweth an antiquitie right worthie to remember and also pleasaunt to read Although indeed to the hinderaunce of my selfe I shall rehearse it It is as of the Henne who by long scraping on the Dung-hill discouereth the knife that shall cut her owne throate Thus was the case Hanniball the most renowmed Prince and captain of Carthage after hee was vanquished by the aduenturous Scipio fled into Asia to king Antiochus a prince then liuing of great vertue who receyued him into his realme tooke him into his protection and right honourably intertayned him in his house And truly king Antiochus did heerein as a pittyfull prince For what can more beautifie the honour of a Prince then to succour Nobilitie in their needefull estate These two Noble Princes vsed diuers exercises to spende the time honourablie and thus they diuided their time Sometime to hunt in the mountains otherwhiles to disporre them in the fields oft to view their Armeys But chiefly they resorted to the Schooles to heare the Phylosophers And truely they did like wise and skilfull men For there is no houre in a day otherwise so well employed as in hearing a wise pleasant tongued man There was at a time in Ephesus a famous Philosopher called Phormio which openly and publikely read and taught the people of the realme And one day as these two Princes came into the Schoole the Philosopher Phormio chaunged the matter whereupon he read and of a sudden began to talke of the meanes and wayes that Princes ought to vse in warre and of the order to bee kept in giuing battell Such so strange and high phrased was the matter which hee talked of that not onely they maruelled which neuer before saw him but euen those also that of long time had daily heard him For herein curious and flourishing wits shew their excellency in that they neuer want fresh matter to entreate vpon Greatly gloried the King Antiochus that this Philosopher in presēce of this strange Prince had so excellently spoken so that strangers might vnderstand he had his realme stored with wise men For couragious and noble Princes esteem nothing so precious as to haue men valiāt to defend their Frontiers and also wise to gouerne their common-weales The Lecture read King Antiochus demaunded of the Prince Hannibal how he liked the talke of the Philosopher Formio to whom Hanibal stoutly answered and in his answer shewed himselfe to bee of that stoutnesse he was the same day when he wan the great battell at Cannas for although noble hearted and couragious Princes lose all their estates and realmes yet they will neuer confesse their harts to be ouerthrowne nor vanquished And these were the words that at that time Hannibal sayde Thou shalt vnderstand K. Antiochus that I haue seene diuers doting old men yet I neuer saw a more dotard foole thē Phormio whom thou callest such a great Philosopher For the greatest kinde of folly is when a man that hath but a little vaine science presumeth to teach not those which haue onely science also such as haue most certaine experience Tell me King Antiochus what hart can brooke with patience or what tongue can suffer with silence to see a silly man as this Philosopher is nourished all his life time in a corner of Greece studying Philosophie to presume as hee hath done to talke before the prince Hannibal of the affayres of warre as though hee had beene eyther Lord of Affrique or Captaine of Rome Certes hee eyther full little knoweth himselfe or else but little esteemeth vs For it appeareth by his vaine wordes hee would seeme to know more in matters of warre by that hee hath read in bookes then doth Hanniball by the sundry great battels which he hath fought in the fields Oh King Antiothus how
bin too vniust a thing as hee thought to haue spurned it with his feet wherewith we trust from our enemies to bee desended he caused the stone to bee taken vp not thinking any thing to bee there vnder and immediately after they found another wherein likewise was the forme of the Crosse and this beeing taken vp they found an other in like manner and when that was pluckt vp from the bottome there was found a Treasure which contained the summe of two millions of Duckets for the which the good Emperour Tiberius gaue vnto Almighty God most high thankes and whereas before hee was liberall yet afterwards hee was much more bountifull For all those treasures hee distributed amongst the poore needy people Let therefore mightie Princes and great Lords see reade profite by this example and let them thinke themselues assured that for giuing almes to the poore they need not feare to become poore for in the end the vicious man cannot call himselfe rich nor the vertuous man cannot count himselfe poore CHAP. XVI How the Chiefetaine Narsetes ouercame many battailes onely for that his whole confidence was in God And what hapned to him by the Empresse Sophia Augusta wherein may be noted the vnthankefulnesse of Princes towards their seruants IN the yeare of the Incarnation of Christ 528. Iustinian the Great being Emperour who was the sonne of Iustines sister his Predecessor in the Empire the Histories say in especially Paulus Diaconus in the 18. booke De gestis Romanorum that there was a Knight of Greece in Rome who from his tender yeares had bene brought vp in Italie Hee was a man of meane stature of a cholericke complexion and in the law of Christ very deuout which was no small thing For at that time not onely many knights but almost all the Bishops of Italie were Arrians This Knights name was Narsetes and because he was so valiant in arms and so aduenturous in warres he was chosen Chieftaine generall of the Romane Empire For the Romanes had this excellencie that when they had a valiant and stout Captaine although they might haue his weight of golde giuen them they would neuer depart from his person Hee enterprised so great things he ouercame such mightie Realms and had such notable victories ouer his enemyes that the Romanes said he had in him the strength of Hercules the hardinesse of Hector the noblenes of Alexander the pollicie of Pyrrhus and the fortune of Scipio For manie of the vaine Gentiles held opinion that as the bodyes did distribute their goods in the life so did the soules part theyr gifts after the death This Narsetes was a pittifull Captain and very constant in the Faith of Christ liberall to giue almes effectuous to build newe Monasteryes and in repairing Churches a man very carefull And truly it was a rare thing For in great warres vpon smal occasions Captains vse to beat down churches that which was greatest of all was that he feared God deuoutly visited the Hospitals said his deuotions with penitent teares and aboue all be resorted very often to the Churches in the night And this excellencie was no lesse then the other For the Captaines in such an houre are readier to kill men in their Campe then to bewaile their sinnes in the Church Finally hee was a Christian and so deuoure that God gaue him the victories more through the prayers which hee vsed then through the weapons wherewith hee fought For there was neuer man that saw him shed the bloud of his enemies in battell before he had shed the teares of his eyes in the Temple And to the end Christian Princes and Captaines may see how much better it is to pacific God by teares and prayers then to haue their Campe full of souldiers and riches of many of his doings I will declare part as heere followeth Iustinian the Emperour beeing in Alexandrie Totila King of the Gothes did many mischiefes and great dammages throughout all Italy so that the Romaines durst not goe by the way nor could bee in safeguarde in their houses For the Gothes in the day kept the wayes and in the night robbed and spoyled all the people wherefore Iustinian the Emperour not knowing the matter sent the noble Narsetes Captaine Generall against the Gothes who being arriued in Italy immediately confedered with the Lumbardes the which at that time had their mansion in Hungarie and sent his messengers to King Albonius at that time their King for ayde against the Gothes and in so doing hee sayde hee should see how faithfull a friend hee would be to his friends and how cruell an enemie to his enemies Albonius hearing the message of Narsetes was very glad and without delay armed a great and puissant Army which by the Adriatical sea came into Italy so that the aunswere and the offer came both at one time with effect and so together arriued in one day for the succour of Narsetes the two Armies that is to say that of the Romanes and of the Lumbardes the which assembled all in one and marched vnder the banner of their Captaine Narsetes Wherefore Totila King of the Gothes beeing aduertised as one that had not proued the happy fortune of Narsetes nor the force of the Lumbardes sent to offer them the battell which was giuen in the fields of Aquileia and it was of both parts so fierce and cruell that infinite were they that dyed but in the end Totilla King of the Gothes was ouercome and neyther hee nor any of his hoast escaped aliue The good Captaine Narsetes after the battell gaue many and noble gifts to the Lumbardes and so with riches and victory they returned into Hungarie towards their King Albonius And truly this Narsetes did as he was bound to doe For the friend cannot bee recompenced by riches when for his friend he putteth his life in ieopardy When the Lumbards were gone Narsetes caused all the spoile of his Campe to bee deuided amongst his souldiers and that which belonged vnto him he gaue it wholly to the poore Monasteries so that by this victory Narsetes got triple renown that is to say very bountifull in that hee gaue to the Lumbardes charitable in that hee gaue to the poore and valiant in that he vanquished so puissant enemies Dagobert King of France beyond the Alpes being a couragious young Prince and very desirous of honour for no other cause but to leaue of him some memory determined himselfe in person to passe into Italy although hee had no iust title thereunto For the hearts puffed vp with pride little passe though they war of an vniust quarrell His mishap was such that the same day he passed the riuer of Rubico where the Romanes in old time limited the marches of Italy newes came to him that his own country was vp and those which were there one rebelled against the other that which was not without the great permission of God For it is but reason that
defile them nor sell them but caused them to bee apparrelled and safely to bee conducted to their owne natiue Countries And let not this liberty that he did be had in litle estimation to deliuer the captiues and not to defloure the virgins For many times it chaunceth that those which are ouercome with the weapons of the Conquerours are conquered with the delights of them that are ouercome This deede amongst the Greekes was so highly commended and likewise of their enemies so praysed that immediatly the Metinences sent Ambassadors to demaund peace of the Prienenses And they concluded together a perpetuall peace vpon condition that they should make for Bias an immortall Statue sith by his hands and also by his vertues hee was the occasion of the peace and ending of the wars betweene them And truely they had reason for hee deserueth more prayse which winneth the hearts of the enemies in his tents by good example then hee which getteth the victory in the field by shedding of bloud The hearts of men are noble and wee see dayly That oftentimes one shal sooner ouercome many by good then many ouercome one by euill And also they say that the Emperour Seuerus spake these words By goodnesse the least slaue in Rome shall leade mee tyed with a hayre whether hee will but by euill the most puissant man in the world cannot moue mee out of Italy For my heart had rather bee seruant to the good then Lord to the euill Valerius Maximus declareth that when the City of Priene was taken by enemies and put to sacke the wife of Bias was slaine his children taken prisoners his goods robbed the City beaten downe and his house set on fire but Bias escaped safe and went to Athens In this pittifull case the good Philosopher Bias was no whit the sadder but rather sang as he went by the way and when hee perceyued that men maruelled at his mirth hee spake vnto them these words Those which speake of mee for wanting my City my wife and my children and loosing all that I had truely such know not what Fortune meaneth nor vnderstand what Philosophie is The losse of children and temporall goods cannot bee called losse if the life bee saued and the renowne remaine vndefiled Whether this sentēce be true or no let vs profoundly consider if the iust God suffer that this City should come into the hands of the cruell Tyrants then this prouision is iust For There is nothing more conformable vnto Iustice then that those which receiue not the Doctrine of the Sages should suffer the crueltite of the Tirants Also though my enemies haue killed my wife yet I am sure it was not without the determination of the Gods who after they had created her body immediately appointed the end of her life Therfore why shuld I bewayle her death since the Gods haue lent her life vntill this day The great estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death seemeth vnto vs sodayne and that the life vnwares with death is ouertaken but these are words of the children of vanitie for that by the will of the Gods death visiteth vs and against the willes of men life for saketh vs. Also my Children bee vertuous Philosophers and albeit they be now in the hands of tirants we ought not therefore to call them captiues for a man may not call him a captiue which is laden with yrons but him which is ouerwhelmed with vices And although the fire haue burnt my house yet I know not why I ought to be sad for of truth it was now olde and the winde did blowe downe he tiles the wormes did waste the wood and the waters that ranne downe perished the walles and it was olde and like to fall and perchaunce would haue done greater displeasure For most commonly enuie malice and old houses suddenly without any warning or knocking at the dore assaulteth men Finally there came the fire which quited mee of many troubles First of the trouble that I should haue had in repayring ◠Secondarily it saued mee money in plucking it downe Thirdly it saued me and mune heyres frō much cost and many daungers For ofentimes that which a man consumeth in repayring an old house would with aduantage buy him a new Also those which say that for the taking away of my goods I lacke the goods of Fortune such haue no reason so thinke or say for fortune neuer giueth temporall goods for a proper thing but to those whom shee list when shee will dispose them therefore when Fortune seeth that those më whom shee hath appointed as her distributers do hoarde vp the same to them and to theyr heyres then shee taketh it from them to giue it to another Therfore by reason I should not complaine that I haue lost any thing for Fortune recommendeth vnto any other the temporall goods but I carrie patience and Philosophie with me so that they haue discharged me from all other and haue no more charge but for my selfe alone Laertius declareth in his fifth booke of the sayings of the Gretians That this Byas determined to goe to the Playes of the Mount Olympus wherevnto resorted people of all Nations and he shewed himselfe in this place of so high an vnderstanding that hee was counted supreame and chiefe of all Phylosophers and wonne the name of a true Phylosopher Other Philosophers then being in the same Playes called Olymp calles asked him many questions of diuerse and sundry matters where of I will make mention here onely of some of the chiefest The Questions demaunded of the Phylosopher Byas THE first Question was this Tell mee who is the vnhappiest man in the Worlde Byas answered Hee is most vnhappie that is not patient in aduersitie For men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impatience which they suffer The second was What is most hardest and most troublesome to iudge He aunswered There is nothing more difficult then to iudge a contention betwixt two Friends For to iudge between two enemyes the one remaineth a Friende but to iudge betweene two Friendes the one is made an enemie The third was What is most hardest to measure Wherevnto Byas answered There is nothing that needeth more circumspections then the measuring of Time For the Time should bee measured so iustly that no Time should want to doe well nor any time should abound to doe euill The fourth was What thing is that which needeth no excuse in the accomplishment thereof Byas answered The thing that is promised must of necessitie be performed For otherwise hee that doth loose the credite of his word should lose more then he that should lose the promise to him made The fifth was What thing that is wherein the men as well good as euill should take care Then Byas answered Men ought not in any thing to take so great care as in seeking counsell and counsellours For the prosperous Times cannot bee maintained nor the multitude of enemyes
was founded in Europe the rich Carthage in Affricke and the hardy Rome in Italy the goodly Capua in Campaigne and the great Argentine in Germanie and the holy Helia in Palestine Thebes onely was the most renowmed of all the World For the Thebanes amongst all Nations were renowned as well for their riches as for their buildings and also because in their lawes and customes they had many notable and seuere things and all the men were seuere in their works although they would not bee knowne by their extreame doings Homer saith that the Thebanes had fiue customes wherein they were more extreame then any other Nation 1 The first was that the children drawing to fiue yeeres of age were marked in the forehead with a hot Iron because in what places soeuer they came they should be knowne for Thebanes by the marke 2 The second was that they should accustome their children to trauaile alwayes on soote And the occasion why they did this was because the Egyptians kept their beasts for their Gods and therefore whensoeuer they trauelled they neuer rid on horsebacke because they should not seeme to sit vpon their god 3 The third was that none of the Citizens of Thebes should marry with any of strāge nations but rather caused thē to mary parents with parents because the friendes marrying with friends they thought the friendship and loue should be more sure 4 The fourth custome was that no Thebane should in any wise make a house for himselfe to dwell in but first hee should make his graue wherein hee should bee buried ◠Mee thinketh that in this point the Thebanes were not too extreame nor excessiue but that they did like sage and wise men yea and by the law of verity I sweare that they were sager then wee are For if at least we did imploy our thought but two houres in the weeke to make our graue It is vnpossible but that wee should correct euery day our life 3 The fift custome was that all the boyes which were exceeding fayre in theyr face should be by them strangled in the cradell and all the gyrles which were extreame foule were by them killed and sacrificed to the Gods Saying that the Gods forgot themselues when they made the men fayre and the women foule For the man which is very fayre is but an vnperfect woman and the woman which is extreame foule is but a sauage and wilde beast The greatest God of the Thebanes was Isis who was a red bull nourished in the riuer of Nile and they had a custome that all those which had red haire immediate should be sacrifised The contrary they did to the beasts for sith their God was a Bull of tawny colour none durst bee so bold to kill any beasts of the same colour In such forme and maner that it was lawful to kill both men and women and not the brute beasts I doe not say this well done of the Thebanes to slay their children nor yet I do say that it was well done to sacrifise men and women which had red or tawny haire nor I thinke it a thing reasonable that they should doe reuerence to the beasts of that colour but I wonder why they should so much despise foule women and faire men sith all the world is peopled both with with faire and foule Then sith those barbarous liuing as they did vnder a false law did put him to death whom the gods had adorned with any beautie we then which are Christians by reason ought much lesse to esteeme the beauty of the body knowing that most commonly thereupon ensueth the vncleannesse of the soule Vnder the Christall stone lyeth oft-times a dangerous worme in the faire wall is nourished the venomous Coluler within the middle of the white tooth is ingendred great paine to the gummes in the finest cloth the moths do most hurt and the most fruitfull tree by wormes is soonest perished I meane that vnder the cleane bodyes and faire countenances are hid many and abominable vices Truly not onely to children which are not wise but to all other which are light and frayle beutie is nothing else but the mother of many vices and the hinderer of all vertues Let Princes and great Lords beleeue me which thinke to be fayre and well disposed that where there is great aboundance of corporall goods and graces there ought to be great bones of vertues to bee able to beare them For the most high trees by great winds are shaken I say that it is vanity to bee vaine glorious in any thing of this world be it neuer so perfit and also I say that it is a great vanitie to bee prowd of corporall beautie For among all the acceptable gifts that nature gaue to the mortals there is nothing more superfluous in man and lesse necessary then the beauty of the body For truly whether be we faire or foule we are nothing the better beloued of God neither thereby the more hated of men O blindnesse of the world O life which neuer liueth O death which neuer shall end I know not why man through the accident of this beauty should or durst take vpon him any vaine glory or presumption sith he knoweth that all the fairest and most perfitest of flesh must be sacrificed to the wormes in the graue And know also that all the propernesse of the members shall be forfeited to the hungrie wormes which are in the earth Let the great scorne the little as much as they will the fayre mocke the foule at their pleasure the whole disdaine the sicke the well made enuy the deformed the white hate the blacke and the Giants despise the Dwarfes yet in the ende all shall haue an ende Truly in my opinion the trees beare not the more fruit for that they are straight onely nor for being high neither for giuing great shadow nor for being beautifull nor yet for being great By this comparison I meane that though a noble and stout man be proper of person and noble of linage shadowing of fauor comely in countenance in renowne very high and in the commonwealth puissant that therefore he is not the better in this life For truely the common wealthes are not altered by the simple laborers which trauell in the fields but by the vicious men which take great ease in their liues Vnlesse I be deceiued the Swine and other beasts are fed vnder the Oakes with the Acornes and among the pricking briers and thorns the sweet Roses doe grow the sharpe Beech giueth vs the sauory chestnuts I meane that deformed and little creatures oft times are most profitable in the commonwealth For the litle and sharpe countenances are signes of valiant and stout hearts Let vs cease to speak of men which are fleshly being eftsoons rotten and gone and let vs talke of sumptuous buildings which are of stone which if we should goe to see what they were we may know the greatnesse and the height of them Then
danger In the olde time when vertuous Princes dyed and that they left their children for Successors in their Realmes and besides that forasmuch as they saw their children young and euill instructed in the affayres of their Realmes they committed them to Tutours that should teach them good works and doctrine rather then they would giue them Suruayors which should encrease and augment their Cofers and Rents For truely if the Common-wealth bee defended with great treasures it is not gouerned with good counsels The princes which are young accustomely are giuen to vices for in the one part youth raigneth and on the other part honesty wanteth And to such truely vices are very dangerous specially if they want Sages to counsel them to keepe them from euill company For the couragious youth will not bee brideled nor their greate liberty can bee chastised Princes without doubt haue more neede of wise and stayed men about them to profite them in theyr counselles then any of all their other Subiects for since they are in the view of all they haue lesse licence to commit vice then any of all For if you behold all and that they haue authority to iudge all will they nill they they are beholden and iudged of all Princes ought to be circumspect whom they trust with the gouernement of their Realmes and to whom they commit the leading of their Armies whom they send as Ambassadours into strange Countries and whom they trust to receyue and keepe their treasures but much more they ought to bee circumspect in examining of those whom they choose to bee their Counsellours For looke what is he that counselleth the prince at home in his pallace so likewise shall his renowne be in strange countries and in his owne Common-wealth Why should they not then willingly examine and correct theyr owne proper palace Let Princes know if they do not know that of the honesty of their seruants of the prouidence of their Counsels of the sagenesse of their persons and of the order of their house dependeth the welfare of the Common-wealth for it is impossible that the branches of that tree whose rootes are dryed vp should bee seene to beare greene leaues CHAP. XLIIII How the Emperour Theodosius prouided â—ise men at the houre of his death for the edification of his two sonnes Archadius and Honorius I Gnatius the Historian in the booke that he made of the two Theodosij of the 2. Archadij and of the 4. Honorii declareth that the first great Theodosius being â—0 yeares olde and hauing gouerned the empire 11. years lying on his death bed called Archadius and Honorius his two sons and committed them to Estilconius and Ruffâ—nus to be instructed and ordayned them likewise for gouernours of their estates and signiories Before that the father dyed hee had now created his children Caesars being then of the age of 17. yeares Therefore the Father seeing them not as yet ripe nor able to gouerne their Realms and Signiories he committed them vnto masters and tutors It is not alwayes a generall rule though one be of 25. yeares of age that he hath more discretion to gouerne realms then another of fifteene for dayly wee see that wee allow and commend the ten yeeres of one and reproue the forty yeares of an other There are many Princes tender of yeares but ripe in counsels and for the contrary there are other Princes olde in yeares and young in counsels When the good Emperour Vespatian dyed they determined to put his sonne Titus in the gouernement of the Empire or some other aged Senatour because they sayde Titus was too young And as they were in controuersie of the matter the Senator Rogerus Patroclus said vnto the Senate For my part I require rather a Prince which is young and sage then I do a Prince which is olde and foolish Therefore now as touching the children of Theodosius one day Estiltorius the tutor of Archadius speaking to a Greeke Philosopher very sage whose name was Epimundus sayd thus vnto him Thou and I long time haue beene acquainted together in the Palace of the Emperour Theodose my Lord who is dead and we are aliue thou knowest it had been better that we two had dyed and that he had liued for there bee many to bee seruants of Princes but there are few to be good Princes I feele no greater griefe in this world then to know many Princes in one Realme For the man which hath seene many Princes in his life hath seene many nouelties and alterations in the common wealth Thou knowest well that when Theodosius my master dyed hee spake to mee these words the which were not spoken without great sighes and multiplying of teares O Estilconus I dye and am going into an other world wherin I shall giue a streight account of the Realmes and Seignories which I had vnder my charge and therefore when I thinke of mine offences I am maruellously afrayde But when I remember the mercy of God then I receyue some comfort and hope As it is but meet wee should trust in the greatnesse of his mercy so likewise is it reason wee should feare the rigour of his iustice For truely in the christian law they are not suffered to liue as we which are Princes that liue in delights of this world without repentance to goe to Paradise Then when I thinke of the great benefites which I haue receyued of God and of the great offences which I haue committed and when I thinke of the long time I haue liued and of the little which I haue profited and also that vnprofitably I haue spent my time On the one part I am loath to dye for that I am afrayde to come before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ and on the other part I would liue no longer because I doe not profite The man of an euill life why doth hee desire to liue any longer My life is now finished and the time is short to make amends And sith God demaundeth nought else but a contrite heart with all my heart I doe repent and appeale to his iustice of mercy from his iustice to his mercy because it may please him to receyue mee into his house and to giue mee perpetuall glory to the confusion of all my finnes and offences And I protest I dye in the holy catholike faith and commend my soule to God and my body to the earth and to you Estilconus and Ruffinus my faithfull seruants I recommend my deere beloued children for hereby the lone of the children is seene in that the Father forgetteth them not at the houre of his death In this case of one onely thing I doe warne you one onely thingâ—â— require you one thing I desire you and one onely thing I command you and that is that you occupie not your minds in augmenting the realms and seignories of my children but onely that you haue due respect to giue theÌ„ good education and vertuous seruaÌ„ts for
and in this place they talked with him that had businesse and truely it was a great policie for where as the Prince doth not sit the suitor alwaies abridgeth his talke And when the day began to waxe hot he went to the high Capitoll where all the Senate tarryed for him and from thence hee went to the Coliseo where the Ambassadours of the Prouinces were and there remained a great part of the day Afterwards he went to the Chappell of the Vestall Virgins and there he heard euery Nation by it selfe according to the order which was prescribed Hee did eate but one meale in the day and it was very late but he did eate well not of many and diuers sorts of meate but of few and good for the abundance of diuers strange meates breedeth sundry diseases They sawe him once a weeke goe through Rome and if hee went any more it was a wonder at the which time he was alwayes without company both of his owne and also of strangers to the entent all poore men might talke with him of their businesse or complaine of his Officers for it is vnpossible to reforme the Common-wealth if he which ought to remedie it be not informed of the iniuries done in the same He was so gentle in conuersation so pleasant in words so Noble amongst the Great so equall with the least so reasonable in that hee did aske so perfect in that he did worke so patient in iniuries so thankefull of benefites so good to the good and so seuere to the euill that all loued him for being good and all the euill feared him for being iust A man ought not little to esteeme the loue that the people bare to this so good a Prince and Noble Emperour for so much as the Romanes haue been thus that for the felicitie of their estate they offered to their Gods greater Sacrifice then they did in any other Prouinces And Sextus Cheronensis saith that the Romanes offered more Sacrifices to the Gods because they should lengthen the life of the Emperour then they did offer for the profite of the Common-wealth Truely their reason was good for the Prince that leadeth a good life is the heart of the Common-wealth But I doe not maruell that the Emperour was so well willed and beloued of the Romane Empire for he had neuer Porter to his Chamber but the two houres which hee remayned with his wife Faustine All this being past the good Emperour weat into his house into the secretst place hee had according to the counsell of Lucius Seneca the key whereof he alone had in his custodie and neuer trusted any man therewith vntill the houre of his death and then he gaue it to an olde ancient man called Pompeianus saying vnto him these words Thou knowest right well Pompeianus that thou being base I exalted thee to honour thou being poore I gaue thee riches thou being persecuted I drew thee to my Palace I being absent committed my whole honour to thy trust thou being olde I marryed thee with my daughter and doe presently giue thee this Key Behold that in giuing thee it I giue thee my heart and life for I will thou know that death grieueth mee not so much nor the losse of my wife and children as that I cannot carry my Bookes into the graue If the Gods had giuen mee the choyse I had rather choose to be in the graue inuironed with Bookes then to liue accompanied with fooles for if the dead doe read I take them to be aline but if the liuing doe not read I take them to be dead Vnder this key which I giue thee remayneth many Greeke Hebrew Latine and Romame Bookes and aboue all vnder this key remaineth all my paynes swet and trauells all my watchings and laboures where also thou shalt finde Bookes by mee compiled so that though the wormes of the earth doe eate my body yet men shall finde my heart whole amongst these Bookes Once againe I doe require thee and say that thou oughtest not a little to esteeme the key which I giue thee for wise men at the houre of their death alwayes recommend that which they best loue to them which in their liues they haue most loued I doe confesse that in my Studie thou shalt finde many things with mine owne hand written and well ordered and also I confesse that thou shalt finde many things by me left vnperfect In this case I thinke that though thou couldest not write them yet thou shalt worke them well notwithstanding and by these meanes thou shalt get reward of the Gods for working them Consider Pompeian that I haue beene thy Lord I haue beene thy Father-in-law I haue beene thy Father I haue beene thy Aduocate and aboue all that I haue beene thy speciall friend which is most of all for a man ought to esteeme more a faithfull friend then all the Parents of the world Therefore in the faith of that friendshippe I require that thou keepe this in memorie that euen as I haue recommended to others my Wife my Children my Goods and Riches So I doe leaue vnto thee in singuler recommendation my Honour for Princes leaue of themselues no greater memorie then by the good learning that they haue written I haue beene eighteene yeeres Emperour of Rome and it is threescore and three yeeres that I haue remayned in this wofull life during which time I haue ouercome many Battailes I haue slayne many Pyrates I haue exalted many good I haue punished many euill I haue wonne many Realmes and I haue destroyed many Tyrants but what shall I doe wofull man that I am sith all my companions which were witnesses with me of all these worthy feates shall be companions in the graue with the greedy wormes A thousand yeeres hence when those that are now aliue shall then be dead what is hee that shall say I saw Marcus Aurelius triumph ouer the Parthians I saw him make the buildings in Auentino I sawe him well beloued of the people I saw him father of the Orphanes I saw him the scourge of Tyrants Truely if all these things had not beene declared by my Bookes or of my friends the dead would neuer haue risen againe to haue declared them What is it for to see a Prince from the time he is borne vntill the time hee come to dye to see the pouertie he passeth the perills he endureth the euill that hee suffereth the shame that he dissembleth the friendshippe that hee fayneth the teares which hee sheddeth the sighes that hee fetcheth the promises that hee maketh and doth not endure for any other cause the miseries of this life but onely to leaue a memorie of him after his death There is no Prince in the world that desireth not to keepe a good house to keepe a good table to apparell himselfe richly and to pay those that serue him in his house but by this vaine honour they suffer the water to passe through their lippes not drinking thereof As
proper pappes and when thou diddest cast mee from thee out of thy sight shee receiued mee and nourished mee in her proper armes Fifthly Women ought to enforce themselues to nourish their children to the end they may keepe them the better and that in their cradles they be not changed for others Aristotle sayth that the Cuckow commêth to the nest of another bird when she hath laid her eggs and sucketh them and layeth in the same place her owne egges so that the other birde thinking that they are her owne hatcheth and nourisheth them vp as her owne vntill such time as they are able to flye then the Cuckow killeth and eateth the silly bird that hath nourished her through the which occasiō the males of those birds are at so great contention that they haue beene so deceiued that the one of them killeth the other the which they might let if euery bird did nourish her owne In the same time that Philip raigned in Macedonia which was the father of Alexander the great Arthebanus was King of the Epirotes who in his age had a child borne the which was stolne out of the Cradle and another put in his stead The Nurse which did nourish it through couetousnes of mony consented to that treason for the heart that is with couerousnes ouercome will not feare to commit any treason It chanced not long after that King Arthebanus dyed and left as hee thought his owne sonne for his heire but within few dayes after the Nurse her selfe which had consented vnto the robberie discouered the theft and sayd that shee could tell where the lawfull childe of the good King Arthebanus was and that that child which now was Heire was but the sonne of a meane Knight but indeed it had beene better for those of the miserable Realme that the woman had neuer discouered the secret for it chanceth oft times that a man maketh such haste off his horse that he hurteth his leg and through that occasion afterwards falleth and breaketh his necke But what shall we say to the Plebeicall women of base and meane estate I doe not meane the Noble Gentle and vertuous Ladies whereof they are many that though in great secret their chiefest friend telleth them any thing yet before they drinke they will vtter it to another Thus when the treason was discouered cruell warres betweene these two Princes beganne so that in the end in a great battaile they were both slayne the one in defending and the other in assaulting At that time Olimpias raigned who was the fayre and worthy wife of Philip and mother of Alexander Shee had a Brother named Alexander who was both pollitike hardy and hearing the Epirotes were in conrouersie and that two Kings were slaine in the field he placed himself in the Realme more of wil then of right And let no man maruell that this King occupyed the Realme for in the old time all the tyrrannous Princes thought that all that which they could obtaine without resistance did vnto them belong by Iustice This King Alexander was he which came into Italy in the fauour of the Tarentines when they rebelled against the Romanes who afterward was slaine in battel at Capua where his body was vnburied And truly it was a iust sentence that the tirant which beteaueth many of their liues should himselfe taste some shamefull death I haue declared this Historie to this end that Princesses and great Ladies should see that if the wife of King Arthehanus had nourished his sonne they could not haue robbed it in the Cradle nor these two Princes had not beene slayne in battaile nor the Common-wealth had not beene destroyed nor Alexander had not entred into the Land of another nor had not come to conquer the Country of Italy nor the dead corps had not wanted his graue for oft times it chanceth for not quenching a little coale of fire a whole Forrest and house is burned The diuine Plato among the Greeks and Licurgus among the Lacedemonians commanded and ordayned in all their lawes That all the Plebeica women and those of mean estate should nourish all their children and that those which were Princesses great Ladyes should at the least nourish their eldest and first begotten Plutarch in the booke of The raigne of Princes saith That the sixth King of the Lacedemonians was Thomistes the which when hee dyed left two children of which the second inherited the Realme because the Queene her selfe had brought it vp and the first did not inherite becaue a strange Nurse had giuen it sucke and brought it vp And hereof remained a custome in the most part of the Realmes of Asia that the childe which was not nourished with the papps of his mother should inherite none of his mothers goods There was neuer nor neuer shall be a mother that had such a Sonne as the Mother of God which had Iesus Christ nor there was neuer nor neuer shall be a sonne which had such a mother in the world But the Infant would neuer sucke other milke because hee would not bee bound to call any other mother nor the mother did giue him to nourish to any other mother because that no other woman should call him sonne I do not maruell at all that Princesses and great Ladies doe giue their children foorth to nourish but that which most I maruell at is that shee which hath conceiued and brought foorth a childe is ashamed to giue it sucke and to nourish it I suppose that the Ladies do think that they deserue to conceiue them in their wombs that they sinne in nourishing them in their armes I cannot tell how to write and much lesse how to vtter that which I would say which is that women are now adayes come into such folly that they thinke esteeme it a state to haue in their armes some little dogs and they are ashamed to nourish and giue their children sucke with their owne brests O cruell mothers I cannot thinke that your harts can bee so stony to endure to see and keepe fantastic all Birds in cages vnhappy Monkeys in the windowes fisting Spaniels betweene your armes and so neglect and despise the sweete Babes casting them out of your houses where they were borne and to put them into a strange place where they are vnknowne It is a thing which cannot be in nature neither that honestie can endure conscience permit nor yet consonant either to diuine or humane lawes that those which GOD hath made Mothers of children should make themselues Nurses of dogges Iunius Rusticus in the third booke of the sayings of the Ancients saith that Marcus Porcio whose life and doctrine was a lanthorne and example to the Romane people as a man much offended said on a day to the Senate O Fathers conscript O cursed Rome I cannot tel what now I should say sith I haue seene in Rome such monstrous things that is to say to see women carry Parrots on their fists to see
a perpetuall memorie What contempt of world what forgetfulnesse of himselfe what stroke of fortune what whippe for the flesh what little regard of life O what bridle for the vertuous O what confusion for those that loue life O how great example haue they left vs not to feare death Sithens those here haue willingly despised their owne liues it is not to be thought that they dyed to take the goods of others neither yet to thinke that our life should neuer haue end nor our couetousnesse in like manner O glorious people and ten thousand fold happy that the proper sensuality being forsaken haue ouercom the naturall appetite to desire to liue not beleeuing in that they saw and that hauing faith in that they neuer saw they striued with the fatall Destenies By the way they assaulted fortune they changed life for death they offered the body to death and aboue all haue wonne honour with the Gods not for that they shoulde hasten death but because they should take away that which is superfluous of life Archagent a Surgeon of Rome and Anthonius Musus a Physition of the Emperour Augustus and Esculapius father of the Phisicke should get little money in that Countrie Hee that then should haue sent to the barbarous to haue done as the Romanes at that time did that is to say to take sirrops in the mornings pils at night to drinke milke in the morning to annoint themselues with gromeâ—seed to bee let bloud to day and purged to morrow to eate of one thing and to abstaine from many a man ought to thinke that hee which willingly seeketh death will not giue money to lengthen life CHAP. XXII The Emperour concludeth his letter and shewed what perils those olde men liue in which dissolutely like young children passe their dayes and giueth vnto them wholesome counsell for the remedy thereof BVt returning to thee Claude and to thee Claudine me thinketh that these barbarous men beeing fifty yeares of age and you others hauing aboue threescore and tenne it should be iust that sithence you were elder in yeares you were equall in vertue and though as they you wil not accept death patiently yet at the least you ought to amend your euill liues willingly I doe remember that it is many yeares sithens that Fabritius the young sonne of Fabritius the olde had ordayned to haue deceiued mee of the which if you had not told me great inconueniences had happned and sithens that you did me so great a benefite I would now requite you the same with another the like For amongst friends there is no equal benefite then to deceiue the deceyuer I let you know if you do not know it that you are poore aged folks your eyes are sunke into your heads the nostrels are shut the haires are white the hearing is lost the tongue faultereth the teeth fall the face is wrinkled the feete swolne and the stomacke cold Finally I say that if the graue could speake as vnto his Subiects by iustice he might commaund you to inhabite his house It is great pitty of the yong men and of their youthfull ignorance for then vnto such their eies are not opened to know the mishaps of this miserable life when cruell death doth end their dayes and adiorneth them to the graue Plato in his booke of the Common wealth sayde that in vaine wee giue good counsels to fond and light young men for youth is without experience of that it knoweth suspitious of that it heareth incredible of that is tolde him despising the counsell of an other and very poore of his own For so much as this is true that I tell you Claude and Claudine that without comparison the ignorance which the young haue of the good is not so much but the obstination which the olde hath in the euill is more For the mortall Gods many times doe dissemble with a thousand offences commited by ignorance but they neuer forgiue the offence perpetrated by malice O Claude and Claudine I doe not maruell that you doe forget the gods as you doe which created you and your Fathers which begot you and your parents which haue loued you and your friends which haue honoured you but that which I most maruell at is that you forget your selues For you neuer consider what you ought to bee vntill such time as you bee there where you would not bee and that without power to returne backe againe Awake awake since you are drowned in your dreames open your eyes since you sleepe so much accustome your selues to trauels sithence you are vagabonds learne that which behoueth you since now you are olde I meane that in time conuenient you agree with death before he make execution of life Fifty two yeeres haue I knowne the things of the world and yet I neuer saw a Woman so aged thorough yeares nor old man with members so feeble that for want of strength could not if they list doe good nor yet for the same occasion should leaue to bee euill if they list to be euill It is a maruellous thing to see and worthy to note that all the corporall members of Man waxeth old but the inward hart and the outward tongue For the heart is alwayes giuen to inuent euills and the tongue is alwayes able to tell Lyes Mine opinion is that the pleasaunt Summer beeing past you should prepare your selues for the vntemperate winter which is at hand And if you haue but fewe dayes to continue you should make hast to take vp your lodging I meane that sith you haue passed the dayes of your life with trauell you should prepare your selues against the night of death to be in the hauen of rest Let mockeryes passe as mockeries and accept trueth as truth that is to say that it were a very iust thing and also for your honour necessarie that all shose which in times past haue seen you young and foolish should now in your age see you graue and sage For there is nothing that so much forgetteth the lightnesse and follyes of youth as doth grauity and constancie in Age. When the Knight runneth his carriere they blame him not for that the Horses mane is not finely combed but at the end of his race he shold see his horse amended and looked vnto What greater confusion can be to any person or greater slaunder to our mother Rome then to see that which now a dayes therein we see That is to say that the old which can scarcely creepe through the streetes to beholde the playes and games as young men which search for nought else but onely pompe and vanitie It grieueth mee to speake it but I am much more ashamed to see that the olde Romaines do daylie cause the white haires to be plucked out of their heads because they would not seeme old to make their beard small to seem yong wearing their hosen very close their shyrts open before the gowne of the Senatour embrodered the Romane signe richly enamelled the
doe fall ought to be occupied in the noble armies sithens thou art noble of bloud valiant in person auncient of yeares and not euill willed in the Common-wealth For thou oughtest to consider that more worth is reason for the pathway of men which are good then the common opinion which is the large high way of the euill For if it be narow to go on the one side there is no dust wherewith the eyes be blinded as in the other I will giue thee a counsell and if thou feelest thy selfe euill neuer count thou mee for friend Lust no more after the greasie fatte of temporal goods since thou hast short life For wee see daily manie before they come to thy age dye but wee see fewe after thy age liue After this counsell I will giue thee an aduise that thou neuer trust present prosperitie For then alway thou art in daunger of some euill Fortune If thou art mounted into such pricking thornes as a foole me thinketh thou oughtest to discend as a Sage And in this sort all will say amongst the people that Cincinnatus is descended but not fallen My Letter I will conclude and the conclusion thereof see well thou note that is to say That thou and thy Trade shall bee cursed where you other merchaunts will liue poore to dye rich Once againe I returne to curse you for the couetousnes of an euill man is alwayes accomplished to the preiudice of manie good My wife Faustine doeth salute thee and she was not a litle troubled when she knew thou wert a Marchaunt and that thou keepest a shop in Capua I send thee a Horse to ride vppon and one of the most richest Arras of Trypolie to hang thy house withall a precious ring and a a pommel of a sword of Alexandrie And all these things I do not send thee for that I know thou hast neede thereof but rather not to forget the good custome I haue to giue Pamphile thy aunt and my neighbour is dead and I can tell thee that in Rome dyed not a woman of a long time which of her left such renowme for so much as she forgot all enmities shee succoured the poore she visited the banished she entertained friends and also I hearde say that shee alone did light all the temples Prescilla thy cousin hath the health of body thogh for the death of her mother her heart is heauie And without doubt she hath reason for the onely sorrowes which the Mothers suffer to bring vs forth though with drops of bloud we shold bewaile them yet wee cannot recompence them The Gods be in thy custodie and preserue mee with my wife Faustine from all euill Fortune Marke of Mount Celio with his owne hand CHAP. XXVIII ¶ The Authour perswadeth Princes and great Lordes to flye couetousnes and Auarice and to become bountifull and liberall which vertue is euer pertinent to the royall person c. PIsistratus the renowmed Tyrant among the Athenians since his friends coulde not endure the cruelties that he committed eache one returned to his owne house and vtterly forsook him The which when the Tyraunt saw hee layd all his treasure and Garments on a heape together and went to visite his friends to whome with bitter teares hee spake these word All my Apparell and money here I bring you with determination that if you will vse my company we will go all to my house and if you will not come into my company I am determined to dwell in yours For if you bee weary to follow mee I haue great desire to serue you sithens you know that they cannot be called faithfull Friendes where the one cannot beare with the other Plutarchus in his Apothegmes saith that this Tyraunt Pisistratus was verie rich and extreame couetous so that they write of him that the golde and siluer which once came into his possession neuer man saw it afterwards but if hee had necessitie to buy anie thing if they would not present it vnto him willinglie hee would haue it by force When he was dead the Athenians determined to weigh him and his treasure the case was maruellous that the gold and siluer hee had weied more then his dead body sixe times At that time in Athens there was a Philosopher called Lido of whom the Athenians demaunded what they should doe with the treasure and dead body Mee thinketh qd this Philosopher That if those which are liuing did know any siluer or gold which the tyrant tooke from them it should bee restored againe immediately and doe not maruell hereat that I doe not require it to bee put in the common treasure For God will not permit that the Common wealth bee enriched with the theft of tyrants but with the swet of the Inhabitants If any goods remaine which doe not appeare from whom they haue beene taken me thinketh that they ought to bee distributed among the poore for nothing can bee more iust then that which the goods wherewith the tirant hath empouerished many with the selfe same wee should enrich some As touching his buriall me thinketh hee ought to bee cast out to the fowles to bee eaten and to the dogs to be gnawne And let no man thinke this sentence to bee cruell for we are bound to do no more for him at his death then hee did for himselfe in his life who being so ouercome with auarice that he would neuer disburse so much money as should buy him seuen foot of earth wherein his graue should bee made And will you know that the Gods haue done a great good to all Greece to take life from this tirant First it is good because much goods are dispersed which heretofore lay hid and serued to no purpose Secondly that many tongues shal rest for the treasures of this Tirant made great want in the Common-wealth and our tongues the greatest part of the day were occupied to speake euill of his person Me thinketh this Philosopher hath touched two things which the couetous man doth in the cōmon-welth that is to say that drawing much golde and siluer to the hidden Treasure hee robbeth the marchandize wherewith the people doe liue The other damage is that as hee is hated of all so he causeth rancour and malice in the hearts of all for he maketh the rich to murmur and the poore to blaspheme One thing I reade of in the lawes of the Lumbardes worthy of truth to bee noted and knowne and no lesse to be followed which is that all those which should haue gold siluer money silkes and clothes euery yeare they should bee registred in the place of iustice And this was to the ende not to consent nor permit them to heap much but that they should haue to buy sell and traffique wherby the goods were occupied among the people so that he which did spēd the money to the profit of his house it was taken for good of the common-wealth If Christians would do that which the Lūbards did there should not
of her Husband doe spoyle her of her goods For in this case their heires oftentimes are so disordered that for a worne cloake or a broken shirt they wil trouble and vexe the poore widdowe If perchance the miserable widdow haue children I say that in this case shee hath double sorrow For if they are young shee endureth much paine to bring them vp so that each houre and moment theyr Mothers liue in great sorrows to bethinke them only of the life death of their children If perhaps the Children are olde truely the griefes which remaine vnto them are no lesse For so much as the greatest part of them are either proud disobedient malicious negligent Adulterers gluttons blasphemers false lyars dull-headed wanting witte or sickly So that the ioy of the woefull Mothers is to bewaile the deaths of their well beloued Husbands and to remedy the discordes of theyr youthfull children If the troubles which remaine vnto the careful mothers with their sonnes be great I say that those which they haue with their Daughters bee much more For if the Daughter be quicke of wit the Mother thinketh that shee shall be vndone If shee be simple she thinketh that euery man will deceyue her If she be faire shee hath enough to doe to keepe her If shee be deformed she cannot marrie her If she be well mannered she will not let her go from her If shee be euill mannered she cannot endure her If she be too solitary she hath not wherewith to remedy her If she be dissolute she will not suffer her to bee punished Finally if she put her from her she feareth she shal be slaundered If she leaue her in her house she is afraid she shal be stollen What shall the wofull poor widdow doe seeing herselfe burdened with daughters and enuironed with sonnes and neyther of them of sufficient age that there is any time to remedy them nor substance to maintaine them Admit that shee marrie one of her sonnes and one daughter I demand therfore if the poor widdow wil leaue her care anguish truly I say no thogh she chuse rich personages wel disposed she cānot scape but that day that shee replenished her selfe with daughters in law the same day she chargeth her heart with sorrows trauels and cares O poore widdowes deceyue not your selues and doe not imagine that hauing married your sonnes and daughters from that time forwardes yee shall liue more ioyfull and contented For that layde aside which their Nephewes doe demaund them and that their sonnes in Law do rob them when the poore olde woman thinketh to be most surest the young man shall make a claim to her goods what daughter in Law is there in this world who faithfully loueth her stepmother And what sonne in Law is there in the world that desireth not to bee heyre to his father in Lawe Suppose a poore widdow to be fallen sicke the which hath in her house a sonne in Law and that a man aske him vpon his oath which of these two things hee had rather haue eyther to gouerne his mother in Law with hope to heale her or to bury her with hope to inherite her goods I sweare that such would sweare that he could reioyce more to giue a ducket for the graue then a penny for a Physition to cure and heale her Seneca in an Epistle sayeth That the Fathers in Law naturally do loue their daughters in Law and the sons in Law are loued of the mothers in Law And for the contrary he saieth that naturally the sonnes in law doe hate their mothers in Law but I take it not for a generall rule for there are mothers in Law which deserue to be worshipped and there are sonnes in Law which are not worthie to be beloued Other troubles chaunce dayly to these poore widdowes which is that when one of them hath one onely sonne whom she hath in steade of a husband in stead of a brother in steade of a sonne shee shall see him dye whom sith shee had his life in such great loue shee cannot though she would take his death with patience so that as they bury the deade body of the innocent childe they burie the liuely heart of the woefull and sadde mother Then let vs omit the sorrowes which the mothers haue when their children dye and let vs aske the mothers what they feele when they are sicke They will aunswere vs that alwayes and as oftentimes as their children bee sicke the death of their husband then is renued imagining that it will happen so vnto them as it hath done vnto others And to say the truth it is no maruell if they doe feare For the vine is in greater perill when it is budded then when the grapes are ripe Other troubles oftentimes increase to the poore widdowes the which amongst others this is not the least that is to say the little regard of the Friendes of her Husband and the vnthankfulnes of those which haue been brought vp with him The which since hee was layde in his graue neuer ented into the gates of his house but to demaund recompence of their old seruices and to renew and beginne new suites I would haue declared or to say better briefly touched the trauells of widdowes to perswade Princes that they remedie them and to admonish Iudges to heare them and to desire all vertuous men to comfort them For the Charitable worke of it selfe is so Godly that hee deserueth more which remedyeth the troubles of the one onely then I which write their miseries altogether CHAP. XXXVII Of a letter which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romane Lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband MArcus of mount Celio Emperour of Rome chiefe Consull Tribune of the people high Bishop appointed against the Daces wisheth health and comfort to thee Lauinia noble and worthy Romane matron the late wife of the good Claudinus According to that thy person deserueth to that which vnto thy husband I ought I thinke well that thou wilt suspect that I weigh thee little for that vnto thy great sorrowes complaints and lamentations are now arriued my negligent consolations When I remember thy merites which cannot fayle and imagine that thou wilt remember my good will wherewith alwayes I haue desired to serue thee I am assured that if thy suspition accuse mee thy vertue and wisdome will defend me For speaking the truth though I am the last to comfort thee yet I was the first to feele thy sorrowes As ignorance is the cruell scourge of vertues and sputre to all vices so it chaunceth oft times that ouer much knowledge putteth wise mē in doubt and slaundereth the innocent For as much as wee see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fall into most perilous vices We find the Latines much better with the ignorance of vices then the Greekes with the knowledge of vertues And the reason hereof is for that of things
their trauell and with a good will it should be granted for the gods vse for a little seruice to giue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expences they demaunded no other reward but that it would please him to giue them the best thing that might bee giuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profite saying That the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedome to chuse the good The god Apollo answered that he was contented to pay them their seruice which they had done and for to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dined suddenly at the gates of the temple fel down dead so that the reward of their trauel was to plucke them out of their miserie The reason to declare these two examples is to the ende that all mortall men may knowe that there is nothing so good in this worlde as to haue an ende of this life and though to lose it there be no sauour yet at the least there is profite For wee would reproue a traueller of great foolishnes if sweating by the way he would sing and after at his iourneyes ende hee should beginne to weepe Is not hee simple which is sorry for that hee is come into the Hauen is not hee simple that giueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victorie Is not he stubborne which is in great distresse and is angry to be succoured Therefore more foolish simple and stubborn is hee which trauelleth to dye and is loath to meete with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure Hauen the whole victorie the flesh without bones Fish without scales and corne without slrawe Finally after death wee haue nothing to bewayle and much lesse to desire In the time of Adrian the Emperour a Phylosopher called Secundus being meruellously learned made an oration at the funerall of a Noble Romaine Matrone a Kins-woman of the Emperours who spake exceedingly much euill of life and maruellous much good of death And when the Emp demanded him what death was The phylosopher aunswered thus Death is an eternall sleepe a dissolution of the bodie a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inhetitable a pilgrimage vncertaine a Theefe of men a kinde of sleeping a shadow of life a separation of the liuing a companie of the dead a resolution of all trauels and the end of all ydle desires Finally Death is the scourge of all euill and the chiefe reward of the good Truely this Phylosopher spake very well and hee should not doe euill which profoundly would consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an Epistle declareth of a Phylosopher whose name was Bessus to whom when they demanded what euill a man can haue in Death since men feare it so much Hee aunswered If any damage or feare is in him who dyeth it is not for the feare of death but for the vice of him which dyeth Wee may agree to that the Phylosopher saide that euen as the deafe cannot iudge harmony nor the blind colours so likewise they cannot say euill of death especially he which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complaine of Death and of these fewe that liue all complaine of life If any of the dead returned hither to speak vvith the liuing and as they haue proued it so they vvould tell vs. If there were any harme in secrete death it were reason to haue some feare of death But though a man that neuer saw heard felt nor tasted death doeth speake euill of Death should wee therefore feare Death Those ought to haue done some euill in their life which doe feare speake euill of death For in the last houre in the streight iudgement the good shal be known the euill discouered There is no Prince nor Knight rich nor poore whole nor sicke lucky nor vnluckie which I see with their vocations to be contented saue onely the dead which in theyr graues are in peace rest and are neither couetous proud negligent vain ambicious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therein to bee euill contented And since therefore those which are poore â—oe seek the meanes wherwith to endch themselues those which are sad rio seeke wherby to reioyce and those which are sicke to seeke to be healed why is it that those which haue such feare of Death doe seeke remedie against that feare In this case I would say that he which will not feare to die let him vse himself well to liue For the guyltles taketh away feare from death The diuine Plato demaunded Socrates how hee behaued himselfe in life and how he would behaue himselfe in death He answered I let thee know that in youth I haue trauelled to liue well and in age I haue studyed to die well and sith my life hath been honest I hope my death shall be ioyfull And although I haue had sorrow to liue I am sure I shall haue no paine to dye Truely these wordes are worthie of such a man Men of stout harts suffer maruellously when the swear of theyr trauell is not rewarded when they are faithful and their rewards aunswereth nothing to their true seruice when for their good seruices their Friends become vnthankefull to them when they are worthy honour and that they preferre them to honorable room and office For the noble and valiant harts doe not esteeme to loose the rewarde of their labour but thinke much vnkindenesse when a man doeth not acknowledge theyr trauells Oh happie are they that dye For without inconuenience and without paine euery man is in his graue For in this Tribunall iustice to all is so equally obserued that in the same place where wee haue deserued life in the same place we merited death There was neuer nor neuer shall be iudge so iust nor in iustice so vpright that giueth reward by weight and paine by measure but that somtimes they chasten the innocent absolue the guiltie they vexe the faultlesse and they dissemble with the culpable For little auaileth it the playntife to haue good iustice if conscience want to the iudge that should minister it Truely it is not so in Death but all ought to account themselues happie For he which shall haue good iustice shall bee sure on his parte to haue the sentence When great Cato was Censor in Rome a famous Romaine dyed who shewed at his death a maruellous courage and when the Romains praised him for that hee had so great vertue and for the words he had spoken Cato the Censor laughed at that they sayd for that they praised him And he being demanded the cause of his laughter annswered Yee maruell at that I laugh and I laugh at that yee maruell For the perills
vs to a new builded Pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherin we shut our selues from the assaults of life and broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee finde in death then of that wee haue in life If Helia Fabricia thy wife doe greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doe not care for shee presently hath little care of the perill wherein thy life dependeth And in the end when she shall know of thy death shee will be nothing greeued Trouble not thy selfe for that she is left a widdow for yong women as shee is which are married to olde men as thou when their husbands die they haue their eyes on that they can robbe and their hearts on them whom they desire to marrie And speaking with due respect when with their eyes they outwardly seeme most for to bewayle then with their hearts inwardly doe they most reioyce Deceiue not thy selfe in thinkeing that the Empresse thy wife is yong and that she shall finde none other Emperor with whom again she may marrie For such and the like will change the cloth of gold for gownes of skinnes I meane that they would rather the young shepheard in the field then the olde Emperour in his royall pallace If thov takest sorrow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shouldst do so For truely if it greeue thee now for that thou diest they are more displeased for that thou liuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may be counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that he is not maintained and if hee rich he desireth his death to enherite the sooner Since therefore it is true as indeed it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing and thou weepe If it greeue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces and these sumptuous buildings deceiue not thy selfe therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death doth finish thee at the end of threescore and two yeeres time shall consume these sumptuous buildings in lesse then 40. If it greeue thee to forsake the company of thy friends and neighbors for them also take as little thought since for thee they will not take any at all For amongst the other compassions that they ought to haue of the dead this is true that scarcely they are buried but of their friends and neighbours they are forgotten If thou takest greatest thought for that thou wilt not die as the other Emperours of Rome are dead me seemeth that thou oughtest also to cast this sorrow from thee for thou knowest right well that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankefull to those which serue her that the great Scipio also would not be buried therein If it greeue thee to die to leaue so great a Seignory as to leaue the Empire I cannot thinke that such vanity be in thy head for temperate and reposed men when they escape from semblable offices doe not thinke that they lose honour but that they be free of a trouble some charge Therefore if none of all these things moue thee to desire life what should let thee that throgh thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dy for one of these two things either for the loue of those they leaue behinde them or for feare of that they hope Since therefore there is nothing in this life worthy of loue nor any thing in death why we should feare why doe men feare to die According to the heauy fighes thou fetchest the bitter teares thou sheddest and according also to that great paine thou shewest for my part I thinke that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods should commaund thee to pay this debt For admit that all thinke that their life shall end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soon For that men think neuer to die they neuer begin their faults to amend so that both life and fault haue end in the graue together Knowest not thou most noble Prince that the long night commeth the middest morning Doest thou not know that after the moist morning there cometh the cleare Sun Knowest not thou that after the cleare Sun commeth the cloudy Element Doest thou not know that after the darke myst there commeth extreme heate And after the heate commeth the horrible thunders and after the thunders the sodaine lightnings and after the perilious lightnings commeth the terrible haile Finally I say that after the tempestuous and troublesome time commonly commeth cleare and faire weather The order that time hath to make himselfe cruell and gentle the selfe same ought men to haue to liue and die For after the infancy commeth childhood after childhood commeth youth after youth commeth age and after age commeth the feareful death Finally after that feareful death commeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read and of thee not seldome heard that the gods onely which had no beginning shall haue also no ending Therefore mee thinketh most noble Prince that sage men ought not to desire to liue long Formen which desire to liue much either it is for that they haue not felt the trauels past because they haue bene fooles or for that they desire more time to giue themselues to vices Thou mightest not complaine of that since they haue not cut thee in the flower of the herbe nor taken thee greene from the tree nor cut thee in the spring tide and much lesse eate thee eager before thou wert ripe By that I haue spoken I meane if death had called thee when thy life was sweetest though thou hadst not had reason to haue complayned yet thou mightest haue desired to haue altered it For it is a greater griefe to say vnto a yong man that he must die and forsake the world What is this my Lord now that the wall is decaied ready to fall the flower is an hered the grape doth rot the teeth are loose the gowne is worne the lance is blunt the knife is dull and dost thou desire to returne into the world as if thou hadst neuer knowne the world These threescore and two yeeres thou hast liued in the proportion of this body and wilt thou now that the yron fetters haue rot thy legges desire yet to lengthen thy daies in this so wofull prison They that will not be contented to liue threescore yeeres and fiue in this death or to die in this life will not desire to liue threescore thousand yeeres The Emperour Augustus Octauian saide That alter men had liued fiftie yeeres either of their owne will they ought to dye or else by force they should cause themselues to bee killed For at that time all those which haue any humaine felicitie are at the best Those which liue aboue that age passe their daies in grieuous torments As in the death of children in the losse of goods and importunitie of
sonne in lawes in maintaining processes in discharging debts in fighing for that is past in bewayling that that is present in dissembling iniuries in hearing woful newes and in other infinite trauels I So that it were much better to haue their eyes shut in the graue thē their hearts and bodies aliue to suffer so much in this miserable life He whom the gods take from this miserable life at the end of fiftie yeeres is quitted from all these miseries of life For after that time hee is not weake but crooked hee goeth not but rowlleth he stumbleth nor but falleth O my Lord Marke knowest thou not that by the same way whereby goeth death death cometh Knowest not thou in like manner that it is 62. yeers that life hath fled from death that there is another time asmuch that death goeth seeking thy life and death going from Illiria where he left a great plague thou departing frō thy pallace ye two haue now met in Hungarie Knowest not thou that where thou leapedst out of thy mothers intrailes to gouerne the land immediately death leaped out of his grauè to seeke thy life Thou hast alwayes presumed not onely to bee honored but also to be honorable if it bee so since thou honouredst the Embassadors of Princes which did send them the more for their profite then for thy seruice why dost thou not honor thy messenger whom the gods send more for thy profite then for their seruices Doest thou not remember well when Vulcan my sonne in law poysoned me more for the couetousnesse of my gods then any desire that hee had of my life thou Lord that diddest come to comfort mee in my chamber and toldst me that the gods were cruell to slay the yong and were pitiful to take the old from this world And thou saidst further these wordes Comfort thee Panutius for if thou wert borne to the now thou drest to liue Since therefore noble Prince that I tell thee that which thou toldst me and counsell thee the same which thou counsellest me I render to thee that which thou hast giuen me Finally of these vines I haue gathered these cluster of grapes CHAP. LII The answer of the Emperour Marcus to Panutius his Secretarie wherein he declareth that he tooke no thought to forsake the world but all his sorow was to leaue behind him an vnhappie child to inherit the Empire PAnutius blessed be the milke which thou hast sucked in Dacia the bread which thou hast eaten in Rome the larning which thou hast learned in Greece and the bringing vppe which thou hast had in my pallace For thou hast serued as a good seruant in life and giuest mee good counsell as a trustie friende at death I command Commodus my son to recompence thy seruice and I beseech the immortall gods that they acquite thy good counsels And not without good cause I charge my son with the one and requrie the gods of the other For the payment of many seruices one man alone may doe but to pay one good counsell it is requisite to haue all the gods The greatest good that a friend can doe to his friend is in great and waightie affaires to giue him good and wholesome counsell And not without cause I say wholesome For commonly it chaunceth that those which thinke with their counsell to remedy vs doe put vs oftentimes in greatest perils All the trauells of life are hard but that of death is the most hard and terrible Al are great but this is the greatest All are perillous but this is most perrillons All in death haue ende except the trauell of death whereof wee know no end that which I say now no men perfectly can know but he which seeth himselfe as I see my selfe now at the point of death Certainly Panutius thou hast spoken vnto mee as a wise man but for that thou knowst not my griefe thou couldst not cure my disease for my sore is not there where thou hast layde the plaister The fistula is not there where thou hast cutte the flesh The opilation is not there where thou hast layd the oyntments There were not the right veines where thou didst let me bloud Thou hast not yet touched the wound which is the cause of all my griefe I meane that thou oughtest to haue entred further with mee to haue knowne my griefe better The sighes which the heart fetcheth I say those which come from the heart let not euerie man think which heareth them that he can immedialy vnderstand them For as men cannot remedie the anguishes of the spirit so the gods likewise would not that they should know the secrets of the heart Without feare or shame many dare say that they know the thought of others wherein they shew themselues to bee more fooles then wise For since there are many things in me wherein I my selfe doubt how can a stranger haue any certaine knowledge therein Thou accusest me Panutius that I feare death greatly the which I deny but to feare it as man I doe confesse For to deny that I feare not death should bee to denie that I am not of flesh We see by experience that the Elephants do feare the Lyon the Beare the Elephant the wolfe the Beare the Lambe the Wolfe the Rat the Cat the Cat the Dog the Dog the man Finally the one and the other do feare for no other thing but for feare that one killeth not the other Then since bruite beasts refuse death the which though they die feare not to fight with the suries nor hope not to rest with the gods so much the more ought we to feare death which die in doubt whether the furies will teare vs in peeces with their torments or the gods will receiue vs in to their houses with ioy Thinkest thou Panutius that I doe not see well my vine is gathered and that it is not hid vnto me that my palace falleth in decay I know well that I haue not but the kernell of the Raison the skin and that I haue not but one sigh of all my life vntill this time There was great difference betweene me and thee now there is no great difference betwixt me and my selfe For about the ensign thou dost place the army In the riuers thou castest thy nets within the parkes thou huntest the buls in the shadow thou takest cold By this I meane that thou talkest so much of death because that thou art sure of thy life O miserable man that I am for in short space of all that is life I haue possessed with mee I shall carrie nothing but onely my winding sheete Alasse how shall I enter into the field not where of fierce beasts I shall bee assaulted but of the hungrie wormes deuoured Alasse I see my selfe in that distresse from whence my fraile flesh cannot escape And if any hope remaine it is in thee O death When I am sicke I would not that hee that is whole should comfort me When
I am sorrowfull I would not that he which is merrie should comfort me When I am bannished I would not that hee which is in prosperitie should comfort mee When I am at the houre of death I would not that hee should comfort me which is not in suspition of life But I would that the poore should comfort me in pouertie the sorrowfull in my sorrowes the banished in my banishment and he which is in as great danger of his life as I am now at the point of death For there is no counsell so healthfull nor true as that of the man which is in sorrow when he counselleth another which is likewise tormented himselfe If thou considerest well this sentence thou shalt finde that I haue spoken a thing profound wherein notwithstanding my tongue is appeased For in my opinion euill shall hee be comforted which is weeping with him that continually laugheth I say this to the ende thou know that I know it and that thou perceiue that I perceiue it And because thou shalt not liue deceiued as to my friend I will disclose the secret and thou shalt see that smal is the sorrow which I haue in respect of the great which I haue cause to haue For if reason had not striued with sensualtie the sighes ended my life and in a pond of teares they had made my graue The things which in mee thou hast seene which abhore meate to banish sleepe to loue care to bee annoyed with company to take rest in sighes and to take pleasures in teares may easily declare vnto thee what torment is in the sea of my heart when such tremblings doe appeare in the earth of my body Let vs now come to the purpose and we shal see why my bodie is without consolation and my heart ouercome with sorrowes for my feeling greatly exceeds my complaining because the body is so delicate that in scratching it it complaineth and the heart is so stout and valiant that though it be hurt yet it dissembleth O Panutius I let thee know that the occasion why I take death so grieuously is because I leaue my sonne Commodus in this life who liueth in this age most perillous for him and no lesse dangerous for the Empire By the flowers are the fruits knowne by the grapes the vines are knowne and by the face men are knowne by the colt the horse is iudged and by the infant youth is knowne This I say by the Prince my sonne for that hee hath bene euill in my life I doe imagine that he will bee worse after my death Since thou as well as I knowst the euill conditions of my sonne why doest thou maruell at the thoughts and sorrowes of the father My son Commodus in yeares is yong and in vnderstanding yonger Hee hath an euill inclination and yet hee will not enforce himselfe against the same hee gouerneth himselfe by his owne sence and in matters of wisedome he knoweth little of that hee should be ignorant hee knoweth too much and that which is worst of all he is of no man esteemed Hee knoweth nothing of things past nor occupieth him about any thing present Finally for that which mine eyes haue seene I say and that which within my heart I haue suspected I iudge that shortly the person of my sonne shall be in hazard and the memory of his father perish O how vnkindely haue the gods vsed themselues toward vs to command vs to leaue our honour in the hands of our children for it should suffice that wee should leaue them our goods and that to our friends we should commit our honor But yet I am sorry for that they consume the goods in vices and lose the honour for to bee vitious The gods being pittifull as they are since they giue vs the authoritie to diuide our goods why do they not giue vs leaue to make our wils of the honor My sonnes name being Commodus in the Romain tongue is as much to say as profite but as he is wee will be content to bee without little profite which he may do to some so that we may bee excused of the great damage which he is likely to doe to all For I suppose hee will be the scourge of men and the wrath of God He entreth now into the pathway of youth alone without a guide And for that he hath to passe by the high and dangerous places I feare lest hee bee lost in the wood of vices For the children of Princes and great Lord◠for so much as they are brought vp in libertie and wantonnesse doe easily fal into vices and voluptuousnesse and are most stubborn to be withdrawne from folly O Panutius giue attentiue eare to that I say vnto thee Seest thou not that Commodus my sonne is at libertie is rich is yong and is alone By the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that the least of these windes would ouerthrow not onely a young tender Ash but also a mightie strong Oake Riches youth pride and liberty are foure plagues which poyson the Prince replenish the common wealth with filth kill the liuing and defame the dead Let the olde men beleeue me and the young men marke mee well what I say that where the gods haue giuen many gifts it is necessary they haue many vertues to sustaine them The gentle the peaceable the coūterfeit the simple and the fearefull doe not trouble the common wealth but those whom nature hath giuen most gifts For as experience teacheth vs with the fairest women the stewes are furnished the most proper personage are vnshamefast the most stout and valiant are murderers the most subtill are theeues and men of clearest vnderstanding oft times become most fooles I say and say againe I affirme and affirme againe I sweare and sweare againe that if two men which are adorned with naturall gifts doe want requisite vertues such haue a knife in their hands wherewith they do strike and wound themselues a fire on their shoulders wherewith they burne themselues a rope at their neckes to hang themselues a dagger at theyr breast wherewith they kill themselues a thorne in their foote wherwith they pricke themselues and stones whereat they stumble so that stumbling they fall and falling they finde themselues with death whom they hate and without life which so much they loued Note well Panutius note that the man which from his infancy hath alwayes the feare of the gods before his eyes and the shame of men saieth truth to all and liueth in preiudice to none and to such a tree though euill fortune do cleaue the flower of his youth doe wither the leaues of theyr fauours drie they gather the fruites of his trauels they cut the bough of his offices they bow the highest of his branches downewards yet in the end though of the windes hee be beaten hee shall neuer be ouercome O happy are those Fathers vnto whom the Gods haue giuen quicke children wise fayre able light and
offer therin the sacrifice accustomed For wee doe not this honour to the substance wherewith the Temples are made but to the gods to whome they are consecrated I commend vnto thee the veneration of Priests I pray thee though they be couetous auaritious dissolute vnpatient negligent and vitious yet that they bee not dishonoured for to vs others it appertaineth not to iudge of the life they lead as men but wee must consider that they are mediators between the gods and vs. Behold my sonne that to serue the Gods honour the Temples and reuerence the Priests it is not a thing voluntary but verie necessarie for Princes For so long endured the glorie of the Greekes as they were worshippers of their goods and carefull of their temples The vnhappy realm of Carthage was nothing more cowardly nor lesse rich then that of the Romanes but in the ende of the Romaines they were ouercome because they were great louers of their treasures and little worshippers of their Temples I commend vnto thee my sonne Helia thy stepmother and remember though she be not thy mother yet shee hath beene my wife That which to thy mother Faustine thou oughtest for bringing thee into the world the selfe same thou oughtest to Helia for the good entertainement she hath shewed thee And indeed oftentimes I beeing offended with thee shee maintained thee and caused me to forget so that shee by her good wordes did winne againe that which thou by thy euill workes didst lose Thou shalt haue my curse if thou vsest her euill and thou shalt fall into the ire of the Gods if thou agreest that other doe not vse her well For all the damage which shee shall feele shall not bee but for the inconuenience of my death and iniury of thy person For her Dowrie I leaue her the tributes of Hestia and the Orchards of Vulcanus which I haue made to bee planted for her recreation Be thou not so hardy to take them from her for in taking them from her thou shalt shew thy wickednes and in leauing them her thy obedience and in giuing her more thy bounty and liberality Remember my sonne that shee is a Romane woman young and a widdow and of the house of Traiane my Lord that shee is thy mother adoptatiue and my naturall wife and aboue all for that I leaue her recommended vnto thee I commend vnto thee my sons in law whom I will thou vse as parents and friends And beware that thou be not of those which are brethren in words and cousins in workes Bee thou assured that I haue willed so much good to my daughters that the best which were in all the Countries I haue chosen for their persons And they haue beene so good that if in giuing them my daughters they were my sonnes in law in loue I loued them as children I commend vnto thee my sisters and daughters whom I leaue thee all married not with strange Kings but with naturall Senators So that all dwell in Rome where they may doe thee seruices and thou mayest giue them rewards and gifts Thy sisters haue greatly inherited the beauty of thy mother Faustine and haue taken little nature of their Father Marke But I sweare vnto thee that I haue giuen them such husbands and to their husbands such and so profitable counsailes that they would rather lose their life then agree to any thing touching their dishonour Vse thy sisters in such fort that they be not out of fauour for that their aged Father is dead and that they become not proud for to see their brother Emperour Women are of a very tender condition for of small occasion they doe complaine and of lesse they waxe proud Thou shalt keepe them and preserue them after my death as I did in my life For otherwise their conuersation to the people shall bee very noysome and to thee very importunate I commende vnto thee Lipula thy youngest sister which is inclosed within the Virgine Vestals who was daughter of thy mother Faustine whom so dearely I haue loued in life and whose death I haue bewailed vntill my death Euery yeere I gaue to thy sister sixe thousand sexterces for her necessities and indeeed I had married her also if shee had not fallen into the fire and burnt her face For though she were my last I loued her with all my heart All haue esteemed her fall into the fire for euill lucke but I doe count that euill lucke for good fortune For her face was not so burned with coales as her rerenowne suffered perill among euill tongues I sweare vnto thee my sonne that for the seruice of the gods and for the renowne of men she is more sure in the temple with the Vestall Virgins then thou art in the Senate with thy Senators I suppose now that at the end of the iourney shee shall find her selfe better to be enclosed then thou at liberty I leaue vnto her in the prouince of Lucania euery yeare sixe thousand sexterces trauell to augment them for her and not to diminish them I commend vnto thee Drusia the Roman widdow who hath a processe in the Senate For in the times of the commotions past her husband was banished and proclaymed Traytor I haue great pitty of so noble and worthy a widdow for it is now three monethes since shee hath put vp her complaint for the great warres I could not shew her iustice Thou shalt finde my sonne that in 35. yeares I haue gouerned in Rome I neuer agreed that any widow should haue any sute before me aboue eight dayes Be carefull to fauour and dispatch the orphans and widdows for the needy widdow in what place soeuer they be do incur into great danger Not without cause I aduertise thee that thou trauell to dispatch thē so soone as thou mayest and to administer iustice vnto them for throgh the prolonging of beautifull womens suites their honour and credite is diminished so that their businesse being prolonged they shall not recouer so much of their goods as they shall lose of their renowme I commend vnto thee my sonne my olde seruants which with my yong yeeres and my cruell wars with my great necessities with the cumbrance of my body and my long disease haue had great trouble and as faithful seruants oftentimes to ease me haue annoyed themselues It is conuenient since I haue profited of their life that they should not lose by my death Of one thing I assure thee that though my body remaine with the worms in the graue yet before the gods I will remember them And herein thou shalt shew thy selfe to be a good child whē thou shalt recompence those which haue serued thy Father well All Princes which shall do iustice shall get enemies in the execution thereof And sith it is done by the hands of those which are neere him the more familiar they are with the Prince the more are they hated of the people all in generall doe loue
those that contrary your opinion Be not proud and seuere vnto those you doe commaund neyther doe any thing without good aduisement and consideration For albeit in Princes Courts euery man doth admire and beholde the excellencie and worthines of the person yet are those alwayes that are most in fauour of the Prince more noted regarded and sooner accused then others 10 If you will not erre in the counselles you shall giue nor fayle in those things you shall enterprise Embrace those that tell you the truth and reiect and hate those whom you know to be Flatterers and dissemblers For you should rather desire to bee admonished of the thing present then to be counselled after the dammage receyued Although wee suppose assuredly that all these things aboue-written are not likely to happen nor yet come euen so to passe as I haue spoken yet if it may please you Syr to remember they are not therefore impossible For spitefull Fortune permitteth oftentimes that the Sayles which in stormie weather the Lightnings and boystrous Tempests could not breake and teare in piecâ—â— are afterwardes vpon a sudden euen in the sweete of the mornings sleepe each man taking his rest leauing the Seas before in quiet calme all to shiuered and torne a sunder He that meaneth to giue another a blowe also the more he draweth backe his arme with greater force hee striketh And euen so neyther more nor lesse sayeth Fortune with those on whom for a time shee smyleth For the longer a man remayneth in her loue and fauor the more cruell and bitter she sheweth herselfe to him in the ende And therefore I would aduise euery wise and Sage person that when Fortune seemeth best of all to fauour him and to doe most for him that then hee should stand most in feare of her and least of all to trust her deceits Therefore Syr nake no small account of this my Booke little though it bee For you know that doubtlesse as experience teacheth vs of greater price and value is a little sparke of a Dyamond then a greater ballast It forceth little that the Booke bee of small or great volume sith the excellencie thereof consisteth not in the number of leaues more or lesse but only in the good and graue sentences that are amply written therein For euery Authour that writeth to make his booke of great price and shew ought to be briefe in his words and sweete and pleasaunt in his matter hee treateth of the better to satisfie the minde of the Reader and also not to growe tedious to the hearer And Syr I speake not without cause that you should not a little esteeme this smal treatise of mine since you are most assured that with time all your things shall haue ende your Friendes shall leaue you your goods shall bee diuided your selfe shall dye your fauour and credit shall diminish and those that succeede you shall forget you you not knowing to whome your Goods and Patrimonie shall come and aboue all you shall not knowe what conditions your heyres and children shall be of But for this I wryte in your royall Historic and Chronicle of your laudable vertues and perfections and for that also I serue you as I doe with this my present worke the memorie of you shall remaine eternized to your Successors for euer Chilo the Phylosopher beeing demanded whether there were anything in the world that Fortune had not power to bring to nought aunswered in this sort Two things only there are which neither Time can consume nor Fortune destroy And that is the renowne of man written in bookes and the veritie that is hidden For though truth for a time lye interred yet it resurgeth againe and receiueth life appearing manifestly to all And euen so in like case the vertues we find written of a man doe cause vs at this present to haue him in as great veneration as those had in his time that best knewe him Reade therefore Syr at times I beseech you these writings of mine albeit I feare me you can scant borrow a moment of Time with leysure once to looke vpon it beeing as I knowe you are alwayes occupyed in affayres of great importance wherin me thinketh you should not so surcharge your selfe but that you might for your commodity and recreation of your spirits reserue some priuate houres to your selfe For sage and wise men should so burden themselues with care of others toyle that they shold not spend one houre of the day at the least at their pleasure to looke on their estate and condition As recounteth Suetonius Tranquillus of Iulius Caesar who notwithstanding his quotidian warres he had neuer let slip one day but that he reade or wrote some thing So that being in his Pauillion in the Campe in the one hand hee held his lance to assault his enemie and in the other the penne he wrote withall with which he wrote his worthy CoÌ„mentaries The resonable man therfore calling to mind the straight account that he must render of himselfe and of the time he hath lost shall alwayes be more carefull that hee lose not his time then he shall be to keepe his treasure For the well imployed time is a meane and helpe to his sal saluation and the euill gotten good a cause of his eternall damnation Moreouer yet what toyle and trauell is it to the body of the man and how much more perill to the liuing soule when hee consumeth his whole dayes and life in worldly broyles and yet seely man hee cannot absent himselfe from that vile drudgery til death doth summon him to yeelde vp his account of his life and doings And now to conclude my Prologue I say this booke is diuided into two parts that is to say in the first tenne Chapters is declared how the new-come Courtier shall behaue himselfe in the Princes Court to winne fauour and credit with the Prince and the surplus of the work treateth when hee hath atchieued to his Princes fauour and acquired the credite of a worthy Courtier how he shall then continue the same to his further aduancement And I doubt not but that the Lords and Gentlemen of Court will take pleasure to reade it and namely such as are Princes familiars and beloued of Court shall most of all reape profite thereby putting the good lessons and aduertisements they finde heretofore written in execution For to the young Courtiers it sheweth them what they haue to do and putteth in remembrance also the olde fauoured Courtyer liuing in his princes grace of that he hath to be circumspect of And finally I conclude Syr that of all the Treasures riches gifts fauours prosperities pleasures seruices greatnesse and power that you haue and possesse in this mortall and transitorie life and by the Faith of a true Christian I sweare vnto you also that you shal carrie no more with you then that onely Time which you haue well and vertuously employed during this your Pilgrimage THE ARGVMENT OF THE BOOKE