sent from a Free State in Embassage to the Duke of Moscouia and as one of them kept his Cap vpon his head in the presence of the Duke he being therewith offended caused a nayle to be driuen thorow his Cap into his head Ludit in humanis diuina potentia rebus Et certam prasens vix habet hora fidem The Diuine power all humane things derides And scarce one certaine houre with vs abides The Emperour Marcus Aurelius meditating vpon the miserable condition of men spake in this sort I haue imagined with my selfe whether it were possible to find any estate any age any countrey any kingdome where any man might be found that durst vaunt he had not in his life tasted what manner of thing aduerse fortune is And if such a one might be found it would be such an ougly monster that both the quick and the dead would desire to see him Then he concludeth In the end of my reckoning I haue found that he which was yesterday rich is to day poore hee that was yesterday whole is to day sicke he that yesterday laughed to day I haue seene him weepe he that was yesterday in prosperitie to day I haue seene him in aduersitie he that yesterday liued I haue seene him by and by in his graue Saint Augustine entring deepely into the consideration of the miserable condition of men and wondering at their infelicitie maketh thus his complaint to God Lord after men haue suffered so many euill things mercilesse death followeth and carrieth them away in diuers manners some it oppresseth by feauers others by extreme griefe some by hunger others by thirst some by fire others by water some by the sword others by poyson some thorough feare others are stifled some are torne in pieces by the teeth of wild beasts others are peckt with the fowles of the ayre some are made meat for the fishes others for wormes and yet man knoweth not his end And when hee goeth about to aspire higher hee falleth downe and perisheth And this is the most fearefull thing of all fearefull things the most terrible of all terrible things when the soule must be separated from the body And what a miserable sight is it to see one lying in the pangs of death and how lothsome when he is dead And then followeth the dreadfull day of Iudgement when euery one must yeeld account of his life past This is the time when Monarkes and Princes must giue account whether they haue laid intolerable exactions vpon their subiects and beene the cause of the effusion of innocent blood to feede their ambitious humours This is the time when the Pastours and Prelates must giue vp a reckoning of their flocke and with what doctrine good or bad they haue fed them This is the time when Merchants must yeeld an account and all other Trades that stand vpon buying and selling for the falshood they haue vsed in vttering their Wares whose case is hard if it bee true the Poet saith Periurata sâ—…o postponit numina lucro Mercator Stygiis non nisi dignus aquis The periur'd Merchant will forsweare for gaine Worthy in Stygian waters to remaine This is the time when Lawyers will tremble how to answere the animating their poore Clyents to waste their goods to their great hinderance or vtter vndoing in continuing their suits in a wrong cause the end whereof is their owne gaine This is the time that Magistrates and Iudges must bee called to a reckning whether they haue administred iustice vprightly and indifferently without fauour or corruption This is the time when men of Warre must answer for their spoyles and rapines and intolerable outrages and cruelties vsed vpon euery sexe and age that Christ dyed for as well as for them This is the time that couetous men and vsurers must yeeld an account for their rapines and oppressions and for the vndoing of infinite numbers to enrich themselues with their excessiue and vnlawfull interest and gaines This is the time that Widowes and Orphanes and other afflicted people will cry out and present their complaints before God of the iniustice and wrongs they haue sustained and suffered This is the time when the wicked shall say quaking and trembling for feare and repenting too late Looke how yonder folkes which we had heretofore in contempt as base persons and of none account in respect of our selues are now exalted in the sight of God and are accounted among the Saints This is the time saith Saint Hierome when they that stut and stammer shall be more happie then the cloquent And many Sheepheards and Heardmen shall bee preferred before Philosophers many poore beggers before rich Princes and Monarkes many simple and grosse heads before the subtill and fine-witted Then shall the fooles and insensible persons saith Saint Augustine take hold vpon Heauen and the wise with their wisedome shall fall downe into hell where is the miserie of all miseries and such as the miseries of this world be pleasures and delights in respect of them This is the iudgement spoken of in Saint Matthew Goe yee cursed into hell fire where is nothing but lamenting and gnashing of teeth which is prepared for the Diuell and his angels before the beginning of the world where they shall bee tormented for euer and euer and shall wish for death but they shall not finde it they shall desire to die and death shall flie from them These miseries to which men are subiect made the Prophet Esay sorry that hee was not destroyed or styfled in his mothers wombe and murmured that his legges did hold him vp and complained vpon the paps that gaue him sucke â—…remie mooued with the like spirit considering that man is formed of the earth conceiued in sinne borne with paine and in the end made a prey for wormes and serpents wished that his mothers belly had serued him for a sepulchre and her wombe for a tombe The consideration of the miserable estate of this life brought in a custome to the people of Thracia to weepe and lament at the birth of their children and to reioyce when they dyed But the Philosopher Demosthenes discouered his conceit by a more particular passion For beeing demanded of the Tyrant Epymethes why he wept so bitterly for the death of a Philosopher being so strange a matter for a Philosopher to weepe To this Demosthenes answered I weepe not O Epymethes because the Philosopher dyed but because thou liuest being a custome in the Schooles of Athens to weepe more because the cuill doe liue then for the death of the good Seeing therefore wee haue perused the principall estates of life and can finde nothing in them worthy to be called Felicitie nor answerable to the thing which that word seemeth to purport but rather that they all defect so much from felicitie that they decline to infelicitie and miserie Let vs doe yet with a better minde as many now a dayes vse to doe
riches when men of so great wisedome are so easily overcome by them Guevâ—…rra thus censureth the Duke of Veiar who in his life had gathered so much treasure that at his death he left foure hundred thousand duckets This is a matter saith he perillous to write and odious to heare But my judgement is he went to seeke care for himselfe envy for his neighbours spurres for his enemies a prey for theeves travell for his person anguish for his spirit scruple for his conscience perill for his soule law for his children and curses for his heires Amurath the great Turke a few yeares past sent Hassan a man that he favoured greatly as Bassa to Caire in Egypt where by all undue courses he would wring and extort rewards and bribes from every man By which sinister and corrupt dealing hee made himselfe so odious that it came to the kings care Who perceiving that neither Religion nor Love nor Iustice nor Reason could remove his covetous minde from bribing exâ—…rting upon his subjects and that these publike exclamations went dayly so far that it was now a shame for him to let them goe any further without due punishment he sent for him and cansed all the treasure which he had gathered to be taken from him with all the rest of his private substance and the same to be carried into the great store-house and himselfe to be 〈◊〉 up in prison But the Queene obtained pardon for his life and set him at liberty with the losse neverthelesse of all his treasure which he had unjustly scraped together which remained among the kings gold jewels When a Poet had reckoned up nobility of bloud great kindred stately palaces and such like things wherein men use to glorie and vaunt themselves as happy men he proceedeth also with riches and concludeth thus Sint tibi drvitia sit lâ—…rga 〈◊〉 supellex Esse taâ—… vel sic bestia magnapotes Deniq quicquider is nisâ—… sit prudentia tecum Magna quidem dico bestia semper 〈◊〉 Say thou hast wealth and stuffe both rare and dainty Thou may'st be a great beast for all this plenty Be any thing if of no wit possest Thou shalt be still a great beast at the best Covetousnesse teacheth to set all things to sale which overthroweth fidelitie and goodnesse two instruments of good counsell The regard of private commodity hath and will be alwayes hurtfull to publike counsells and is a strong poyson to a true affection and upright judgement To what thing may covetous men and uâ—…rers that hunt after gaine by alluring and deceiving the simple and plaine meaning men be moreaptly likened than to the fish Polipus that lying in wait for other fishes upon the rockes changeth his colour to the colour of the rocke or place where he resteth so as the other fishes not perceiving him are taken in his act which he hath naturally behind his head and can spread at his pleasure before they finde themselves in danger So can these men frame and alter their speech countenance when they finde one meete to prey upon as though it were not the same man untill they have drawne him into their net that he have no meane to escape Non possidentem multa vocaveris Recte beatum rectiâ—… occupas Nomen beati qui deorum Muneribus sapienter 〈◊〉 Duramque callet pauperiem pati Pejusque lethe flagitium â—…imet Thou canst not truely call him blest That of great substance is possest That title he may rather chuse Who Gods good gifts knows how to use That can broole want though bare and thiâ—…e And worse than death doth feare to sinne Sir Thomas Moâ—…e pleasantly derideth our estimation of vaine things which wee call riches in his common-wealth of Utopia as gold and silver pearles and precious stones and such like where they tye their bondmen with chaines of gold and none weare pearles and precious stones but little children as toyes of none account There chanced saith hee to come into Uâ—…pia from a farre countrey three 〈◊〉 with an hâ—…ndred servants all apparelled in changeable colours the most of them in silkes the 〈◊〉 themselves being noble men in cloth of gold and gold hanging 〈◊〉 their eares with gold rings upon their singers brooches and aglets of gold upon their caps which glistered full of pearles precious stones To be short trimmed and adorned with all those things which among the Utopians were either the punishment of bondmen or the reproach of infamed persons or else triâ—…es for yong children to play withall These Ambassadours with their traine advanced themselves jetted so much the more 〈◊〉 proudly as they perceived the Utopians who were all come forth into the streets to bee basely attired But contrary to their expectation when they looked for great honour the Utopians esteemed all that gorgiousnesse of apparell shamefull and reproachfull and them that were most abject and basely apparelled they reverently saluted for Lords passing over the ambassadours without any honour judging them by their wearing golden chaines to be bondman with which they found fault as serving to no use or purpose seeing a bondman would easily breake them and escape away being so weake and small And children that had cast away their pearles and precious stones when they saw them sticking upon the Ambassadours caps would push their mothers on the side and say Looke mother how great a lubber doth yet weare pearles precious stones as though he were a little child stil. Peace son would the mother say I thinke hee be some of the Ambassadours fooles But after a day or two when the Ambassadours understood how little the Utopians esteemed their gorgiousnesse they layd aside their brave attire and went more plainely and decently apparelled The covetousnesse of the Frenchmen and Portingals was not unaptly derided by an old fellow of Brasile who perceiving that their long and dangerous trauell to Brasile was to turne their wood they transported to gaine and â—…iches asked them whether rich men did not dye in their countrey which being granted who should possesse their goods after their death being answered their children or if they have none then their brethren or next kinsfolkes Now quoth he I see you are very fooles For what necessity is there in wearying your selves to passe these troublous dangerous seas to draw the occasion of so many evils to your selves If it be to seeke after riches for your children or kindred is not the earth that brought you up sufficient to bring up them also We have also children and kin that be deareunto us but when we consider that the same earth which nourished us up is sufficient also to nourish them we rest satisfied The Barbarous people likewise of Peru seeing the Spaniards that first planted themselves in their countrey given to be covetous and luxurious feared lest they would corrupt and alter their accustomed maners And therefore at their departure they railed and called them the
knew that body He answered that he knew him wel to be the body of his most deare brother and Lord with whom he wished presently to be in the same world he was Assure your selfe said the king I will bring it to passe that you shall have your desire and that shortly The next day the king caused the Cardinall to bee brought into the place where his brother lay and to be slaine When the death of the Duke his brother was knowne the Duchesse their mother and the late wife of the Duke made sute to the king for the bodies of the two brethren W th being denied the mother expostulates bitterly with the King accusing him of infidelitie chargeth him with the breach of his oath of his promise of his agreement pucceth him in minde of the benefits which hee and his realme had received of the Duke and also of his father for which so great ingratitude and barbarous crueltie shee asketh vengeance of God upon him and his The king being moved with her bold speech commandeth her to prison And as shee was going away Madame quoth he be of good comfort the same kinde of death is happened to your sonne the Duke that chanced in times past to Iulius Casar who was killed in the Senate But when the wife or widow of the Duke saw that shee could not obtaine her sute of the king shee lifting up her eyes and hands to heaven shedding abundance of reares complaineth with a lamentable voyce upon the uncertaintie and unconstancie of humane matters that nothing was to be found any where certaine but onely with God who I hope saith she as a most just Iudge will not suffer mee to dye though nothing would bee more pleasant to mee than to dye and to enjoy the company of my most deare husband untill I see so barbarous and beastly a butchery of my Lord and husband revenged the like example whereof was never heard before And when she had reckoned up his vertue and valour and the great service he had done to the king and his countrey Is this O king sayd she the crowne of Lawrell which is due to them that regard not the danger of their estate and of their life for the safetie of their king Is this the 〈◊〉 that ought to be granted to him who hath not only defended France from strangers but also hath often overthrown and destroyed whosoever were enemies to his country Then turning to her husband O my Lord sayd shee how happy and fortunate had I beene if after thy prayeâ—… offered to God thou haddest been slaine giving charge upon thine enemies thy death in that sort taken would have beene to me much more tolerable nor would have wounded my mind so greatly so should you also have taken away all emulation from them that envie that honour And after shee had reprehended his emulâ—…tors and set forth his merits yea sayth she he had so great confidence in the king but I would to God hee had not done so that he feared not to come unarmed to him being armed of whom in steede of reward he was slaine Oh how great a wickednesse is this that he who hath so often defended the kings life shold by the kings commandement have his life taken from himâ—… That he who with so great perill of his life all his goods 〈◊〉 possessions hath kept the crowne upon the kings 〈◊〉 should be falsly suspected to affect the crowne himâ—… and without any kind of law or justice without 〈◊〉 of the cause so great a Prince should be so cruelly murdered O how great an injury is this to him that hath bestowed all his care for the preservation of his countrey safety of the kingâ—… But why doe I call him king ought hee to bee called a king who commanded him to be murdered in whom all his felicity and safety consisted O my God the most just revenger of wicked acts I â—…ye unto thee it is thy part to judge justly 〈◊〉 not the wicked slanders devised of his enemies to darken the perpetuall glory of my husband nor let not that villanous act committed upon him remaine 〈◊〉 Then she speaketh to her kinsfolkes and friends will ye behold with equall eyes minds the glory and fame of so great a chiefetaine and an invincible souldiour to be extinguished so quickly Will ye that I as it were alwayes for saken dye at last without any hope of revenge will ye that the revenge of so foule an act be deferred untill these my children yet voyd of reason come to be men O my little sons and daughters how happy had ye been if so soone as ye had been borne ye had presently changed life with death O king do you thinke that they be slaine that be yet alive You have taken the bread out of the hands of the little ones you would have buried the remembrance of an excellent Prince in oblivion for ever ye have in some sort your desire but the vengeance of God you shall not escape neither shall so barbarous an act go unpunished which your enemies do detest your friends bewaile O king who will hereafter beleeve you who will put his trust in you to whom will not your fidelity be suspected Do you thinke that your friends do commend you for this your fact especially seeing they see your mouth speaketh one thing and your heart thinketh another As for my selfe O King I will not hereafter call you my King but ye shall be in that place with me as they upon whom the judgement of God will assuredly fall that whereas yâ—…e ought to have protected widowes and orphanes ye have made me a widow and my children orphanes by taking away the life of my most dearely beloved husband In this mourning lamentation of this sorrowfull Duchesse in place of two brethren that were slaine shee was delivered of two sonnes To these extreme passions and miserable estate ambition and desire of dominion brought the Duke of Guise and his friends which not long after cost the king also his life and great trouble to the kingdome of France These be the fruits of worldly glory Vaine glorious men are not only hurtfull to themselves but also to others Solon saith To name a vaine glorious man in right termeâ—… is to call him a foole Whosoever escapeth best that is desirous of honour and glory he is sure not to strike the 〈◊〉 he shooteth at any thing the rather by that meanes that is felicitie or Summum bonum or soveraigne good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Genua by treason or cowardlinesse let Mahâ—…met the great Turke enter into Constantinople upon his promise to make him king And when Mahomet was gotten into the towne he made him king according to his promise and after three dayes he put him to death A short reigne with no long glory yet worthy of such a wretch by whose meanes the Emperour the Pâ—…triark and almost all the Christians in the towne were cruelly
strange attyres please best The Emperour Alexander Severus would not suffer any of his servants to wear any silke cloth of gold or silver used often to say that open excesse of apparell secret vice were the destruction of Courtiers It is hapned well that Diogenes is dead who surely would give bitter taunts make some men to blush if hee lived in these daies For meeting an effeminate yong man on a time that had attir'd himself finely but undecently for a man as he thought Art not ashamed quoth Diogenes when nature hath made thee a man to make thy self a woman Nec mulâ—…ebri comptu lotuque poâ—…ta Vir quisquam No man with such effeminate dreâ—…ing and polisht washing would disgrace himselfe King Philip of Macedon deprived a Magistrate from his office which hee had given him whom hee loved well only because he heard hee was more occupied in combing his head and trimming his person than in studying his bookes Quintus Hortensius a Roman Confull is infamed by Historians because he looked into a glasse when he made him ready and was too curious in trimming up himselfe But to leave Magistrates and speak of inferiour callings what would they have said what will hereafter be said to the infamy of this age if vertue ever come againe to be in estimation that men should be so effeminate and nice to bestow a good part of the day in trimming up themselves by a glasse like women as though they would transforme themselves out of one sexe into another and had rather resemble women than men If Aristotle spake thus of women then what would he have spoken now not only of women but of men also Neither the gorgeousnesse of apparell nor the abundance of riches maketh so much to the praise of women as doth modesty with honest and sober behaviour But this metamorphosis being now more common and usuall than in those daies is not so much perceived nor taken for so great a fault and peradventure may be justifiable by authoritie and prescription from Sardanapalus and Heliogabalus two of the greatest Monarks of the world He that will looke into the abuses of these dayes shall finde cause sufficient to cry out with the Orator O tempora O mores And it is to be feared lest that happen unto us that the Prophet wrote against the women of Ierusalem who after hee had reproved their stately gate their wanton lookes their rowling eyes the immodest trimming of their heads their chaines rings bracelets girdles jewels hanging at their eares and other proud attires It will happen to you saith the Lord that in place of your sweet savour yee shall become a great stincke instead of your girdles you shall have an halter in place of your frizled haire a shaven head and the â—…rest men in the company shall passe by the edge of the sword and the valiant and hardie shall dye in the warres But let us leave this Veritas odium parit and conclude with the Prophet who saith Wee passe over our dayes in vanitie and doe not perceive our owne extreme folly And what a madnesse and fleshly minde hath possesled them that not onely wallow in filthy pleasures like swine in the durt but thinke there wanteth that fulnesse they looke for of them except they glory also in their wickednes make that knowne to others which should be unknowne to themselves Such there be that rejoyce not onely in the sweetnesse of pleasures but in the infamie it selfe Proculuâ—… a Romane Emperour was unmeasurably addicted to the lust of the flesh and yet he thought there wanted something of the fulnesse except he also bragged thereof And therefore when hee made warres upon the Sarmatians hee vaunted that in fifteene dayes he had gotten with child an hundred virgins of that countrey which he had there taken prisoners Sardanapalus king of the Assyrians gloried so much in the pleasures hee had taken of the flesh that he commanded to be written after his death in his sepulchre These things I have which I have eaten which with love and pleasure I have taken It is strange to see what joy and pleasure men take in banquetting and quaffing and lasclvious talke as though they would make podicemexore and what contention there is for the victorie in such an unseemely and unchristianlike pastime which is so common that there need no rehearsall of examples The wise-man sayth It is better to goe into the house of sorrow than into the house of feasting And Iob saith of such men That they solace themselves with all kinde of musicke and passe over their dayes in pleasure and in a very moment they goe downe into hell Which is affirmed with a grievous threatning in the Apocalyps Quantum in delitiis fuit tantum date illi â—…rmentum Looke how much hee hath taken of delights let so much torments be laid upon him The felicity therefore we seeke for must bee sought in some other thing than in pleasures in riches or in honour and glory For in them as appeareth by that hath been said felicity is not to be found But it happeneth many times to them that seeke felicity in any of those things as it did to the boyes and the asse in the fable A man had laden an asse with a sacke full of birch and drave him homeward staying behind about some other businesse As the asse came by a schoole-house which was in his way he cryed apples apples who will buy any apples The boyes that were within at schoole hearing of merchandise so fit for their purpose ranne forth to the asse took down the sack thinking to have found it full of apples But when they perceived there was nothing but birch they fell all upon the asse that had deceived them and beat him cruelly with his owne rods The like happeneth to them whom the faire shewes and flattering promises of pleasures riches or honour and glory allureth to the inordinate desire of them But when they make tryall and looke into them with the eyes of the mind clensed from the corruption of impure affections they see how much they are deceived of that they looke for And where they sought felicitie they find matter of infelicity And they that possesse pleasures riches or honour and glory and make shew to be laden with felicitie or happinesse are many times punished with the burden they bear and worthily beaten with their own roddes that deceive not onely themselves but others also by their example with the false shew of feâ—…rie or happinesse For how can ambition or honour be taken for mans felicity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or his greatest good when so few attaine to it in respect of the great number that be excluded from it And wherin are they happier that have honour than they that lacke it They are many waies tormented either by envying others or being envied themselves eyther they suffer hard things themselves or they offer such measure to others
vlciscitur orbem The euils of long peace Now luxury is held w'indure Amongst vs raging worse then Warre To auenge the conquered world Philemon in his Comedie bringeth in a plaine Countriman that derided the Philosophers disputing vpon their Summum Bonum one placing it in this thing another in that according to the diuersitie of their conceits Yee mistake the matter quoth this homely fellow to the Philosophers peace is the thing wherein the felicitie of man consisteth for nothing is better nor more desired or pleasant that God hath giuen to men then peace Yet notwithstanding wee doe see that a long continued peace engendreth luxuriousnesse and intemperance whereof ensueth beastly drunkennesse and an infinite number of diseases both of body and minde that besides many torments hasten men to their end it encreaseth riches which bringeth foorth couetousnesse pride vaine glory and ambition whereof ensueth vncharitable contention by law and effusion of innocent blood by ciuill Warres to the vtter ruine and destruction oftentimes of many goodly Kingdomes and Common-wealths Which was the cause that mooued Scipio to disswade the Romans from the destruction of Carthage lest by liuing securely in continuall peace without feare of any enemie they should at the length turne their weapons to their owne bodies which came euen so to passe Lodouicus Guicciardine in his description of the Low-Countrey seemed to presage the fall of Antwerpe before their Ciuill Warres began by reason of their abundance of riches wherein they were thought to exceed all the townes in Europe and luxuriousnesse security of life by their long peace Which may be a warning to other countries that finde themselues drowned in the like vices Cato said that luxuriousnesse and couetousnesse were two plagues that ouerthrow all great Empires Cyprian findeth fault with the corruption of his time by long peace Idlenesse saith he and long peace hath corrupted the discipline deliuered by the Apostles euery man laboureth to increase his patrimonie and is carried away with an insatiable desire to augment his possessions What would he haue said of the couetousnesse and greedy desires of these dayes Many examples may be produced out of Histories of the ouerthrow of Cities and countries by the vices gathered by long peace Euscbius reporteth that the long peace and rest which the Christians enioyed from the persecution that was in the gouernment of the Emperour Aurelian to the raigne of Dioclesian was the cause that the Christians manner of liuing began to be corrupted so as many iniquities did grow presently and the former old holinesse began to decrease and such disorders and dissentions began to be mooued among the Bishops and Prelates that as Eusebius saith God suffered the persecution of Dioclesiâ—… to serue in place of reuenge and chastisement of his Church which was so extreme and bloody and full of crueltie that neither is it possible for a pen to write not tongue to pronounce it So that whether wee liue in the warres or in peace each of them hath in them their infelicitie Occidit ignavus dum pralia pace quiescunt The slothfull dyes whil'st warres sleepe in peace Now if wee should prosecute in a generalitie this discourse of the miseries of man as wee haue done of their particular estates how many kinds of paines and torments hee suffereth in this life and how many wayes and in what miserable estate hee commeth by his death wee should rather lacke time then matter to write of But to follow the course that we haue already taken in other things let vs of an infinite number of examples select some few What paines and troubles men suffer in this life in labouring to attaine to their desires something hath beene said before and more shall be said hereafter Likewise what miseries men haue suffered by the warres hath beene touched already Now resteth to speake something of the calamities that happen to men by diseases and accidents which bring them to their end whereof we will recite some few examples of those that be rare and somewhat strange But first wee will adde one more to that which hath beene spoken before of famine a most miserable plague and horrible kinde of death one of the whips and scourges wherewith God vseth to punish the sinnes of men In the fourth booke of the Kings mention is made of a famine in Samaria in the time of Helizeus which was in all extremitie and when all their victuals were consumed the mothers did eate their owne children insomuch that a poore woman made her complaint to the King seeing him vpon the walles that a woman her neighbour would not performe a bargaine made betweene them which was that they should eate her childe first which said shee vnto the King I haue performed for wee sod and ate my childe and shee presently hath conueyed away her childe and hath hidden him that I should not eate my part of him which when the King heard his heart was ready for griefe to breake and leape out of his body and hee beganne to rent his garments and couered his flesh with sack-cloth saying God make mee so and as followeth in the Text. CHAP. IIII. Of sundry sorts of plagues and pestilence and great mortalities The Iudgements of God vpon diuers euill men Of Popyelus King of Polonia and his Queene Arnolphus and Hotto Bishop of Ments c. Other strange accidents concerning Gods great Iustice. The miraculous effects of feare sorrow and ioy approoued by History The instability of fortune instanced in the story of Policrates King of Samos His daughters ominous dreame His great prosperity and miserable end That no man can be said to be happy before death Of the vaine trust in riches and of rich and couetous men Auarice reprooued and punished c. CRedible Authors report that in Constantinople there was a strange kinde of pestilence in such manner as those which were sick therof thought themselues to be killed by other men and being troubled with that feare died madde supposing men did kill them Thucidides reporteth that there was a corruption of the aire in Greece that infinit numbers of people died without finding any remedy and such as recouered health lost their memory knowledge so as one knew not another not the father his child Certaine souldiers that were vnder the Lieutenant of the Emperour Marcus Anthonius being in Seleucia went into the Church of Apollo where they opened a coffer thinking to find some great treasure but the contagious aire that came forth of it first destroyed a great part of the people of Babylon then it entred into Greece and from thence to Rome whereof ensued such a pestilence that it destroyed a third part of the people In France there was such a disease at Aix that the people would die eating and drinking many would fall into a frenzie and drowne themselues in welles others would cast themselues out of their windowes and breake their neckes The mortalitie growing
of this disease was so great that there was no roome in the Church-yards to bury the dead and many finding themselues infected with this disease being out of all hope of recouery would presently sow themselues in sheetes looking when death would come to separate the soule from the body These were the whips that God vsed in a generalitie for punishment of sinnes But what would we speake of diseases when Plinie and others write that in two thousand yeeres to their time they haue discouered aboue three hundred diseases to which men are subiect we may say with the Poet Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus 〈◊〉 Prima fugii subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor durae rapit inclementia mortis The best dayes of vs miserable men The first are that make haste from vs and then Diseases come with sorrowfull old age Labour and lust Deaths implacable rage Let vs descend to some particular matter which hath happened to men either by the secret iudgement of God or by some rare accidents Popyelus King of Polonia a man of euil life would often wish that he might be deuoured of mice At last as he was sitting at dinner banquetting and 〈◊〉 a company of great mice set vpon him which came from the carkasses of his vncles which he and the Queene his wife had killed with poyson These mice in great heapes assaulted him his wife and children as they sate feasting and neuer left gnawing vpon them day and night though his guard and souldiers did all they could to driue them away great fires were made and the King his wife and children placed in the middest yet notwithstanding the Mice ran thorow the fire and fell to their gnawing againe Then they went into a ship and prooued what the water would doe the Mice followed them and gnawing continually vpon the Ship the Mariners seeing themselues in danger of drowning the water comming in at the holes which the Mice made brought the Ship to land where another companie of Mice ioyned with these and molested them more then before when his followers saw these things perceiuing it to be the Iudgement of God they all fled The King seeing himselfe left alone and those departed that should defend him he went vp into an high tower but the Mice climbed vp and deuoured him his wife and two sonnes By which it appeareth that there is no policie nor power to be vsed against God The Emperour Arnolphus was likewise eaten vp with Lice his Physicions being vnable to giue him any remedy Hotto Bishop of Ments in Germanie perceiuing the poore people in great lacke of victuals by the scarcitie of corne gathered a great many of them together and shut them into a barne and burnt them saying That they differed little from Mice that consumed corne and were profitable to nothing But God left not so great a crueltie vnreuenged for he made Mice assault him in great heapes which neuer left gnawing vpon him night nor day he fled into a Tower which was in the midst of the Riuâ—…r of Rhyne which to this day is called the Tower of Mice of that euent supposing hee should be safe from them in the midst of the Riuer But an innumerable companie of Mice swam ouer the riuer to execute the iust Iudgement of God and deuoured him The like happened to a Bishop of Strasbrough who was also deuoured with mice When Harold King of Denmarke made warre vpon Harquinus and was ready to ioyne battell there was a dart seene in the aire flying this way and that way as though it sought vpon whom to light And when all men stood wondering what would become of this strange matter euery man fearing himselfe at last the dart fell vpon Harquinus head and slew him An Italian Gentleman being vniustly condemned to die as it was thought by Pope Clement the fift at the request of Philip the faire King of France seeing them both out of a window speaketh to them aloud in this sort Thou cruell Clement for as much as there is no iudge in the world before whom a man may appeale from that vniust sentence which thou hast pronounced against me I appeale from thee as from an vniust Iudge to the iust Iudge Iesus Christ before whom I summon thee and likewise thee King Philip at whose suite thou hast giuen iudgement of death vpon me within one yeere to appeare before the Tribunall seat of God where I shall plead my cause which shall be determined without couetousnesse or any other passion as yee haue done It chanced that about the end of the time by him prefixed both the Pope and the King dyed The like happened to Ferdinando the fourth King of Castile who puttìng to death two knights rather through anger then iustice whose fauour could not be obtained neither by weeping and lamenting nor by any petitions they summoned the King to appeare before the Tribunall seat of Christ within thirtie daies the last of which the King died A Captaine likewise of the Gallies of the Genowayes tooke a vessell the Captaine whereof neuer did harme to the Genowayes yet for the hatred that the Captaine of the Genowayes did beare to his Nation he commanded him to be hanged And when no petitions nor prayers would be heard nor excuses allowed nor any mercy would be found hee said to this cruell Captaine that he did appeale to God that punisheth the vniust and summoned him to appeare at a certaine day appointed to render account before God of the wrong he had done him the very same day that he appointed the Captain of the Genowayes dyed of like went to yeeld his account A strange example likewise by a false accusation of an Archbishop of Mentz called Henry This man was indued with many vertues and had great care of his flocke and would punish seuerely publike sinners which procured the hatred of many wicked persons who accused him to the Pope as a man insufficient for his charge laying many faults against him The Pope holding a good opinion of the Bishop aduertised him of it who to purge himselfe and to declare his innocency made choise among all his friends of one Arnand whom he loued dearely and aduanced to many dignities to go to Rome This man being rich intending to depriue his master and to occupie his place suborned two wicked Cardinals with a great summe of money to fauour his practice when he came to answer for his master hee confessed how much bound he was to him yet he was more bound to God and to the truth then to men and said that the accusations laid against the Bishop were true By meanes whereof the Pope sent the two corrupted Cardinals to heate determine the Bishops cause when they came into Germanie they sent for the Archbishop and vpon hearing of his cause depriued him of his dignities and placed Arnand in his roome The Bishop being present at
seeme to you happy or vnhappy I know not because I was neuer conuersant with him but what if you had had his company would you then know him Can you take knowledge of his felicity by no other meanes No truly Then it seemeth ô Socrates that you will say likewise I cannot tell whether the great King of Persia bee happy or not and so it is true for I know not how he is instructed with learning or with iustice Doth all felicity consists in this Truly by mine opinion for I account that man or woman that is honest and good to be happy and him that is vniust and vnhonest vnhappy Then according to your words Archelaus is vnhappy Yea surely if he be vniust and vnhonest Thus much of Socrates Yet negligence is to be auoided and prouidence without ouermuch care and possession without feare is necessary and requisite It is a wise mans part to put aside dangerous things before they come to do hurt for the losse or harme a man receiueth by his own fault is more grieuous then that which happeneth to him by another man Thucidides saith It is no shame for a man to confesse his pouerty but it is a shame to fall into it by his owne fault He must haue all things premeditate that happeneth to men and thinke the same may fall vpon him for the things that are foreseene before pierce not so deepely as that which commeth suddenly and taketh a man vnwares He that will make his life pleasant must not take ouermuch care to prouide for it neither can any man take full pleasure of any thing except he haue a minde prepared for the losse of it One proâ—…steth by long study to haue learned this to contemne mortall things and not to bee ignorant of his ignorance Death is to all men by nature terrible but to a Christian that knoweth with how great an aduantage hee changeth his estate it ought to bee had in contempt whereof the heathens that knew not God nor what should become of them made little account who for friuolous causes would offer themselues voluntarily to die whose examples though they be not to be followed but auoyded as an vnlawfull and vnnaturall act yet they may serue to perswade men the rather to discharge themselues of all feare of death that haue an assured hope certaine knowledge to possesse the vnspeakable ioyes of heauen when the Infidels through a vaine hope of a better life wherein neuerthelesse they were deceiued would often make choise of a voluntary death CleoÌ„brotus hauing read Plato his booke of the immortality of the Soule wherein he disswadeth men from the ouermuch loue of this life thinking he had found the ready way to deliuer his soule out of prison cast himselfe downe headlong from a high wall and brake his necke They haue a custome in Narsinga that when the men die their wiues be buried aliue with them that with great solemnity and ioy when the king is dead there is a pile of wood of a most pleasant sauour set on fire the kings carkeise carried into it and then all his concubines whereof he hath great store and all his familiar friends and fauourites and such of his seruants as were in estimation with him are likewise carried into that pile of wood to which place they go with such haste ioy to be burnt that to accompany their king in that kind of death they seeme to esteeme it the greatest honour and felicity that can happen to them The Indians by custome doe marry many wiues and when the husband is dead there is great contention among his wiues which of them he loued best that she may be buried with him then she that hath iudgement with her with great ioy merry countenance is led by her friends to the place and casting her selfe into the fire vpon her husband is burnt with him as a most happy woman the rest remaining leading a sorrowfull life There hath been a people dwelling by the mountaines called Rifei who hold this for a custome when they come to the age of 50 They make great piles of wood and put fire to them there burne themselues aliue and sacrifice to their gods and the same day the kinsfolke children make a great feast and do eate their flesh halfe burnt and drinke with wine the dust of their bones How much lesse then should Christians feare death when it pleaseth God to send for them that hope for a crowne of glory after this life They make a good bargaine that with the death of the body seeke the saluation of their Soule Plato saith All the life of wise men is the meditation vpon death that men ought not to be carefull to liue long but to liue well For the honourable age saith Saâ—…mon is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of yeeres but wisedome is the gray haire an vndefiled life is the old age And Euripides saith This life is life by name but in very deed labour Death is not a torment but a rest and end of all mans miseries and labours And Seneca Before old age come a man should learne to liue well and in old age to die well But the day of our death saith Gregory our Creator would not haue knowne to vs that the same being alwayes vnknown may be alwayes thought to be at hand and that euery man should be so much the more feruent in operation by how much hee is vncertaine of his vocation that whilest we be vncertaine when we shall die wee may alwayes come prepared to death And because that is so certaine a thing that no man can escape it shall bee good alwayes to thinke vpon death especially in the time of prosperity â—…or the thinking often thereof will bridle and restraine all other cuill thoughts and desires of worldly vanities for in prosperity we forget humane srailty It is reported that the Emperour Charles the fift fiue yeeres before he died euen when he was occupied in his greatest affaires caused a sepulcher to be made with all things appertaining to it that was necessary for his buriall being dead and that secretly lest it might be taken for ostentation or hypocrisie which things he had closely carried with him whithersoeuer he went fiue yeeres together some thinking there had been some great treasure in it some other that there had been bookes of old stories some thought one thing some another but the Emperour smiling said that he carried it about with him for the vse of a thing to him aboue all others most precious In that sort he seemed to set death alwayes before his eyes that the coÌ„tinuall remeÌ„brance therof might driue from his heart the vaine pompe pride of this world Let vs imagine that we see a maÌ„ of mean estate whose mind is cleansed from all perturbations vnquietnes that hath
honours and such like bringeth not felicity but the service of God Iugera non faciunt felicem plurima frater Non Tergestini dulcia musta soli Non Tyriae vestes Aurâ—… non pondera flavi Non ebur aut gemma non juvenile decus Non dulcis nati soboles non bellula conjux Non tenuisse suâ—… sceptra superbamanu Noveris rerum causas licet astra polique Et nostro quicquid sub Iove mundus habet At mea si quaeris quae sit sententia Frater Dicam vis felix vivere vive Deo Brother not many acres make thee blest Nor the sweet grapes in Tergestine prest Not Tyrian garments not thy golden treasure Not Ivory gemmes nor all thy youthfull pleasure Not thy faire issue not thy beauteous bride Not a proud scepter with thine hand to guide To natures secrets though thy skill extend And thou the starres and poles dost apprehend With all the world doth beneath Iove containe Yet if thou ask'st of me what thou shalt gaine By these I le speake if thou wouldst make thy ' boad In heaven so live that thou mayst live to God The end of the fifth booke THE FELICITIE OF MAN OR HIS SUMMUM BONUM THE SIXTH BOOKE CHAP. I. The Creation of Man and the estate he was in at the beginning before his fall Mans alteration after his fall how he participates with the nature of brute beasts All things made to serve man rebell against him Man only of all other Creatures declineth from his originall nature The reason why God suffereth evill to be committed The means that God hath given to man by which to escape the dangers into which he is fallen Of the three faculties of the soule vegetative sensitive and understanding c. IT appeareth by that which hath bin said what manner of felicitie men may enjoy in this life which is rather an usurped name and improperly so called than so indeed Now resteth to discourse upon the true end and felicity of man or beatitude and Summum bonum When God had created this goodly frame of the world being so called of his excellent and beautifull forme replenished with such varietie of creatures and placed the earth in the middest last of all he made man after his owne image which St. Paul interpreteth to bee justiâ—… and holinesse of truth who was after called Aâ—…am of the veine of red earth whereof hee was made And when God had finished this worke and made man hâ—… ceased from creating any more things and rested in him in whom hee delighted and would for ever after communicate himselfe his wisdome his justice and his joy and gave unto him a companion for his greater comfort and pleasure This man he adorned with many goodly gifts and placed him in Paradise which signifieth the best part of the earth and that estate of men in which they should have lived without sin and death In which place appointed for their habitation are the four fountaines of the goodly rivers of Euphrates Tigris Ganges and Nilus which they water passe through and containeth almost a third part of the earth But when this man by the temptation subtill practices of the Serpent tasted of the forbidden fruit withdrew himselfe from the due obedience of his Creator he lost many of those goodly ornaments wherewith God had endowed him and fell into the punishment appointed for his transgression eternall death and damnation But the son of God bearing a singular favour to man pacified his father to satisfie his justice which was immutable he took upon him to fulfill all that obedience 〈◊〉 God required of man and restored him into Gods favour againe though not with recovery of all his lost ornaments revealed the promise of God which he had also procured to send him to be a protector of mankind against the tyranny of the Divell therefore he is called the word because he revealed this secret decree out of the breast of the eternal Father And this was the first miracle that God wrought after his creation of the world and the creatures therin contained staying them that were to dye without the second causes and without that ordinarie course of life which before hee had established Iosephus writeth that Adam set up two tables of stone in which he wrote the beginning of the creation the fall of man and the promise Now if wee consider what a worthy and beautifull creature man was before his fall the very habitation temple of God without sinne and without death wee may easily judge what an ungrateful and unhappy creature he was to revolt from God to the Divell whereby he and his posterity became subject to sinne and death For first God made him after his own image likenes that is he made him most good uncorrupt holy righteous immortall furnished him with most excellent gifts that nothing might bee wanting unto him to all blessednesse in God His understanding was wholly divine his will most free most holy he had power of doing good evil a law was given him of God which shewed him what he should doe or what he should not doe For the Lord said Thou shalt not eate of the tree of knowledg both of good evil God simply required of him obedience faith that whole Adam should depend upon him that not constrained by necessity but should do it freely he told him also the perill willed him not to touch the tree lest he dye So that he left him in his own counsell whose will was then free might have chosen whether he would have broken Gods commandment or not Neither did â—…atan in the serpent compel him to eat but perswaded the womaÌ„ with hope of a more excellent wisedome who drew on her husband willingly to bee partaker of the same by the false and lying perswasion and promise of the divel by the delectable shew sightliness of the tree the fruit whereof after the woman had first tasted she gave to her husband also to eate By meanes whereof hee lost those goodly gifts ornaments which God had bestow'd upon him which gifts hee gave to Adam upon condition that hee would also give them to his posterity if himselfe did keep them but would not give them if hee by his unthankfulnes would cast them away so that by his transgression disobedience hee was cast out of Paradise that is out of that happy estate found al the elements lesse favorable His nature condition was alter'd from goodnes holines to sin and wickednes from sincerity to corruption the influences that descend from the stars and planets which are of themselves simply good through our sinnes and corruption turne to evill so as all things made for our use rebell and conspire together against us and our sinnes are the cause of all our evill Which fall and alteration of mans nature and his ingratitude towards
been said Man is immortall his soveraigne good or beatitude is not to bee had in this life but it is to bee joyned with God in heaven to which hee shall attaine if whilst he is here upon the earth he love and worship God with all his heart and bee obedient continually to his will But our first parent that was by nature free and capable of goodnesse revolted from God that is from his soveraigne good and by his rebellion was made a flave to sinne by means whereof he fell from God and from his beatitude And therefore except he find pardon by grace he is fallen into extreame misery which we call hell From this man wee derive our pedegree whose 〈◊〉 hath begotten our flesh and made us the servants of sinne as hee was made himselfe so that naturally we are to expect the reward of sin that is death for wee are heires to our father whose inheritance is death onely and damnation And we heape daily more coales upon our heads For no man performeth that to God which the law most justly requireth and therefore every one daily offendeth God many waies in thought word and deede so as they sinke continually deeper And against whom do wee commit these offences Against our Father our Creator that hath bestowed so many things upon us from whom we revolt to the deuill his enemy And as the offence doth multiply and encrease according to the respect of him against whom it is committed so doth the offence against his divine Majestie that is infinite deserve punishment In what case then are wee miserable creatures that dayly commit sinne upon sin except God himselfe discover some way how his justice may by satisfied and how wee may come into his favour againe In this distresse religion presenteth it selfe to us which sheweth us the true God But what is that but to present the guilty before the Iudge What doth religion then availe us It leadeth us to the Scripture which sheweth the expresse will of God to bee that we should love him with all our heart and our neighbour as our selfe and to them that obey his will he pronounceth eternall life to the disobedient eternall death Seeing the same Scripture sheweth that mankind is corrupted from the beginning and that all our imaginations and 〈◊〉 are wicked and seeing we all feele in our selves and in our members motions contrary to the will of God and therefore wee detest with horrour the botomelesse pit of hell But as this Scripture pronounceth against us our condemnation and a severe sentence of death so doth it also shew us a Mediator by whose helpe and meanes we may obtaine pardon and grace and be reconciled to God againe In which conjunction that beatitude and felicity may bee restored to us for which wee were created at the first And this is the third marke of the true religion for it is certaine that the religion which God hath so deepely engraven in our hearts is not in vaine Now he that will enter into himselfe and duely consider his owne insufficiency to performe the justice of the Lawe shall easily see how necessary it was for us to have a Mediaâ—…our to pacific Gods wrath and to satisfie his justice and how greatly we are bound to our Creator that would not reject or utterly destroy us as our demerits required but rather would leave us a meanes to returne into his favour againe without which wee must have all suffered eternall death and damnation which favour sheweth us plainely that as God is just so he is mercifull This Mediatour therefore must bee such as will not onely 〈◊〉 his wrath by fulfilling our obedience due to our Creator and purchase his grace and procure us his mercy but also satisfie his justice which is immutable And for as much as the offence is infinite and the punishment likewise being committed against the Creator which is infinite the satisfaction of the punishment must also be infinite If man should offer the world to God hee received it of God and by his owne fault hath lost it againe And seeing God made the world of nothing which must also have an end the world can bee no sufficient satisfaction for the offence that is infinite If man offer himselfe what doth hee offer but an unthankfull and rebellious mind blasphemous wordes and perverse deeds by which hee shall provoke the wrath of God and incense him the more against us If an Angell should intreat for us a creature will bee no sufficient Intercessor to pacifiethe the Creator and though hee bee good yet not being infinite hee cannot cover an infinite evill So that we must needs say that God must set himselfe between his justice and his mercy and that as hee created us at the first so he must new make us againe and as he created us in his favour so hee must absolve us from his wrath and as hee declared hi wisedome in creating us so hee must shew the same in restoring us But who then is that Mediator God against God Infinite against Infinite that can both cancel that infinit obligation satisfie that infinite punishment It is even Iesus Christ the only Sonne and wisedome of the eternall Father both God and man A man that he may be borne under the law God that he may fulfill the law a man that he may serve God that he may redeem a man that he may submit himselfe with all humility God that he may submit himself above all things a man that he may suffer God that he may overcome a man that he may die God 〈◊〉 hee may truimph over death It is also necessary to our salvation that our Mediatour be a man that he may suffer punishment for our sins and reconcile mankinde to God againe For except he were descended of the same kinde we are wee could not bee partakers in any sort of him nor he of us so should his satisfaction merits appertain nothing unto us therfore it is requisit that he should be borne of our progeny that he may be flesh of our flesh bones of our bones that as we be all in Adam the servants of sinne so we may be in the Mediatour free and discharged of the reward of sin that is from death againe he must overcom sin he must be without sin and because he must make us cleane he must be without spoâ—… for we are conceived in iniquity borne in filthiness and corruption insomuch that as it is necessary he should be a man so it is requisite hee should bee conceived in another sort than after the manner of men And after so many great miracles which God hath wrought we need not wonder at this that 〈◊〉 was conceived of the holy Ghost and brought forth by a Virgin Hee that could draw out a woman from a man without a man could also bring forth a man from a woman without a man Many things seeme unpossible if
the second who summoned him before the Tribunall seat in heaven 203 A contention betwixt the Abbot of Fulda and the Bishop of Hildeseme ibid. Of Pope 〈◊〉 a woman 204 Of the Popes scrutiny 205 The pride of king Herod and 〈◊〉 205 Divers examples of the Divels 〈◊〉 answers to the ruine of those that trust in him 206 A worthy example in one 〈◊〉 207 The insuffrable ambition of 〈◊〉 Magus 208 Of a 〈◊〉 in Constantinople 209 Of the Magician 〈◊〉 ibid. The Abbot 〈◊〉 a great Nocromancer 210 His Art shewed before the Emperour Maximilian 211 Albertus 〈◊〉 a Monke and Necromancer 212 Pope Gragory the seventh a Magician 213 A letter of 〈◊〉 to the Clergy 214 The Earle of Mascon a Magician ibid. A strange story of a Spanish woman of Corduba called 〈◊〉 215 Her hypocrisie disclosed and confest 218 The history of the false Prophet 〈◊〉 219 His miserable and wretched end 226 An Epitaph of a tyrannous Viceroy in Sicilia 227 Of Salmoxes 228 The strange ambition of an Hermite in Affrica 229 Who in three yeares became Monarch of six Kingdoms pag. 230 The miserable ends of him and his Councell 232 Of 〈◊〉 Adella sonne to the Hermit 233 The resolute end of those Turkes which starved the Hermit ibid. Of a blasphemous Iew 234 Of George 〈◊〉 a new Prophet 235 A strange history of a child borne in Babylon 236 A strange history extracted out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 237 Of the instigation of evill 〈◊〉 241 〈◊〉 IIII. A curious policy prosecuted by the King of France against the Duke of Guise 242 The Sacrament made a colour for murder 244 The death of the Duke of Guise 〈◊〉 The death of the Cardinal the brother to the Guise 245 The complaint of the 〈◊〉 of Guise 246 A great justice upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Genoway 248 Philip King of Macedon 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 249 Of Herostratus that burnt the Temple of 〈◊〉 and others ib. The great ambition of the Duke of Alva 250 The old Duke of Guise 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 251 Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who would have slaine the Prince of 〈◊〉 252 Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who slew the Prince of Orange His 〈◊〉 255 Of 〈◊〉 Clement a Dominican Monke who slew the 〈◊〉 King Henry the 〈◊〉 256 Of Pope 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 after the French Kings death 258 A Friar canoniz'd for a Saint because he was a 〈◊〉 259 The story of a Spanish Priest 260 Of the Lady Mary de 〈◊〉 261 That all glory is but vanity 263 Of 〈◊〉 a Portugall 264 Of 〈◊〉 ibid. Of Arsaces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probus 〈◊〉 Agelmund 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 Of 〈◊〉 of Leyden 266 The originall of the Amazons 267 Of 〈◊〉 King of 〈◊〉 268 Of c. 269 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Q 〈◊〉 270 A custome in the Indies 273 Of true nobility ibid. The rich are of true 〈◊〉 274 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 276 Of Beauty ibid. Of vanity in apparell 277 Of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Bernard 278 The excellency of learning 279 The modesty of Alexander 〈◊〉 Philip k. of Macedon pag. 280 Of Queene 〈◊〉 ib.d. 〈◊〉 and Heliogabalus 281 Of Proculus a Romane Emp. 282 The fable of the Boycs and the Asse 283 Envie attendeth honour 284 The frailty of glory 285 The Contents of the fourth Booke VVHerein the felicitie of man doth consist according to the ancient Philosophers Cap. 1. pag. 188 Three things required to attaine to true felicitie 289 Of vertue wisedome and knowledge 290 How a man may fall from blessednesse to infelicity 291 The Gordian knot dissolved by Alexander 292 Wherein true felicitie consisteth 293 Of Sydrach Mysach and 〈◊〉 294 The effects of vertue 295 Temples crected to vertue and honour 296 Detraction murder punisht 297 Vain-glory derided in 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 king of Sparta 298 Of Romane Regulus 299 Of divers who preferred their Countries before their own lives 300 Of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 king of Sparta 302 〈◊〉 Iustice in 〈◊〉 Cap. 2. 304 A remarkeable Act in Charondes 305 Severe Iustice in 〈◊〉 casar ibid. Great justice in 〈◊〉 306 Examples of Iustice and Policie in Trajan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Alexander 〈◊〉 ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 307 Marous 〈◊〉 concerning the choyce of Magistrates 308 Gregory 〈◊〉 concerning the same 310 Of Favorites to Princes 311 The counsell of Vegetius and vegetins to Princes 312 Good Lawes 〈◊〉 and Peace the three daughters of Honesty 313 Duties belonging to a Prince ibid. An Invective against 〈◊〉 314 Of Alexander 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 315 The remarkeable death of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Of three observable 〈◊〉 316 Divers 〈◊〉 reformed by Henry the 3d of France Cap. 3. pag. 318 The French nation reproved for many vices pag. 319 Miseries attending the neglect of 〈◊〉 318 The rare Temperance of Scipioâ—… 319 The Temperance of Alexander 320 〈◊〉 the Tyrant against adultery 321 Agapete to 〈◊〉 ibid. The rare friendship of 〈◊〉 and Everitus 324 The rare friendship of 〈◊〉 and Everitus ibid. Friendship without wisedome in Hading and Hunding two kings of Denmarke and 〈◊〉 325 How vices apparell themselves like vertues 326 Of Duke Valentine the Popes son 327 Italianisme deciphered with the danger of travell 328 The finnes of ancient times 329 In new Count eyes are learned new fashions 330 What Rome was and what it now is ibid. Marcus 〈◊〉 concerning the vices of Rome and Italy 331 King Memon an inventer of delicacy 333 An history out of plutarch to the fame purpose ibid Strange justice done upon Lueius 〈◊〉 by the Romane senate 334 Against drunkennesse ibid. Of the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 336 Against pride in apparell 337 The 〈◊〉 that carried the Image of 〈◊〉 338 A taxation of vanity in attyre and 〈◊〉 gesture 339 Due prayses conferred upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 340 Gaine getteth friendship 341 A discourse of friendship 342 The Story of a Beare ibid. Another of a Dogge 343 A french dogge the dogge of 〈◊〉 and the dogge of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 344 The Horse of 〈◊〉 345 Of an Oxe ibid. The history of Androcles and a Lyon 346 Of a Boy an Eagle Cap. 4 p. 349 Of a Boy and a Dolphin ibid. A witty and ingenious Host 350 Of riches 352 An aspersion layd upon dice-players 353 A custome in China and against new fashions 354 A Law amongst the Thebans 355 Forreine manners interdicted with perfumes c. ibid. Against excesse in 〈◊〉 and garments 356 The rare modesty of the ancient times 357 Of Regulus and 〈◊〉 the Dictator c. ibid. The Magnanimitie of 〈◊〉 the Philosopher pag. 358 The maners of this age compared with the former 359 Artaxerxes to Teribarus the Persian 360 To thinke our selves wise the greatest folly 362 The life contemplative preferred before the civill 363 Fortune hath no power over the life contemplative 365 3. bodily worlds concatinated 366 Examples of divers who forsooke the world for a life contemplative 367 Of Paul an Hermit c. 368 The Contents of the fifth Booke CHAPTER I. Simonides the Poet unto King Cyrus pag. 368 The true property of Felicity 369 Distinction betwixt the