to moch aboundaunce and libertie of youth is no other but a prophesie manifest token of disobedience in age I knowe not why princes and great lordes do toile and oppresse so much and scratche to leaue their children great estates and on the other syde we see that in teachyng them they are and shew theim selues to negligent for princes great lordes ought to make account that all that whych they leaue of their substaunce to a wicked heyre is vtterly lost The wise men and those which in their coÌ„sciences are vpright and of their honours carefull oughte to be very diligent to bring vp their children chiefly that they consyder whether they be mete to inherite their estates And if perchaunce the fathers se that their children be more giueÌ„ to follie then to noblenes and wysdome then should I be ashamed to se a father that is wise trauaile al the dayes of his life to leaue much substaunce to an euill brought vp child after his death It is a griefe to declare and a monstrous thyng to se the cares whych the fathers take to gather ryches and the diligence that children haue to spende them And in this case I saye the sonne is fortunate for that he doeth inherite and the Father a foole for that he doth bequeth In my opinion Fathers ar bound to enstructe theyr Children well for two causes the one for that they are nearest to them and also bycause they ought to be theyr heyres For truely with great greyfe and sorow I suppose he doth take his death which leaueth to a foole or an vnthrifte the toile of all his life Hyzearcus the Greeke hystorien in the booke of his antiquities and Sabellyquus in his generall history sayeth that a father and a sonne came to complaine to the famous phylosopher and auncient Solon Solinon the sonne complayned of the father and the father of the sonne First the son informed the quarel to the Phylosopher sayeng these wordes I complayne of my father bycause he beyng ryche hath dysheryted me and made me poore and in my steade hath adopted another heyre the whyche thyng my father oughte not nor cannot doe For sence he gaue me so frayle flesh it is reason he geue me hys goods to maintayne my feblenes To these wordes aunswered the father I complayne of my sonne bycause he hathe not bene as a gentle sonne but rather as a cruell enemye for in all thynges since he was borne he hath bene disobedient to my will wherfore I thought it good to dysheryte hym before my death I woulde I weâ—e quite of all my substaunce so that the goddes hadde quyte hym of hys lyfe for the earthe is very cruell that swalloweth not the chyld alyue whyche to hys father is dysobedyent In that he sayeth I haue adopted another chyld for myne heyre I confesse it is true and for somuche as he sayeth that I haue dysinheryted hym and abiected hym from my herytage he beynge begotten of my owne bodye hereunto I aunswere That I haue not disinheryted my sonne but I haue disinheryted his pleasure tothentent he shal not enioy my trauaile for there can be nothing more vniust then that the yonge and vitious sonne should take his pleasure of the swette and droppes of the aged father The sonne replyed to his father and sayd I confesse I haue offended my father and also I confesse that I haue lyued in pleasures yet if I maye speake the trueth thoughe I were disobedient and euill my father oughte to beare the blame and if for this cause he doeth dysherite me I thynke he doth me great iniurye For the father that enstructed not hys sonne in vertue in hys youthe wrongfullye dysheryteth hym though he be disobedient in hys age The father agayne replyeth and saieth It is true my sonne that I brought the vp to wantonly in thy youth but thou knowest well that I haue taughte the sondrye tymes and besydes that I dyd correcte the when thou camest to some discretion And if in thy youth I dyd not instructe the in learnyng it was for that thou in thy tender age dydest wante vnderstandyng but after that thou haddest age to vnderstand discrecion to receiue and strength to exercyse it I began to punyshe the to teache the and to instructe the. For where no vnderstandyng is in the chyld there in vaine they teache doctrine Sence thou arte old quoth the sonne and I yong sence thou arte my father and I thy sonne for that thou hast whyte heres of thy bearde and I none at all it is but reason that thou be beleued I condemned For in this world we se oftetimes that the smal aucthoryty of the parson maketh hym to lose hys great iustyce I grauÌ„t the my father that when I was a childe thou dydst cause me to learne to reade but thou wylte not denye that if I dyd coÌ„mit any faulte thou wouldest neauer agree I should be punyshed And hereof it came that thou sufferyng me to doe what I woulde in my youth haue bene dysobedient to the euer since in my age And I saye to the further that if in this case I haue offended trulye me thinketh thou canst not be excused for the fathers in the youthe of their children oughte not onely to teache them to dispute of vertues and what vertue is but they ought to inforce them to be vertuous in dede For it is a good token when youth before they know vyces hath bene accustomed to practice vertues Both parties thou diligentlie hard the good Philosopher Solon Solinon spake these wordes I geue iudgement that the father of thys child be not buried after hys death and I commaunde that the sonne bycause in hys youth he hath not obeyed his father who is olde should be dysinheryted whiles the father lyueth from all hys substaunce on suche condition that after hys death hys sonnes should inheryte the heritage and so returne to the heires of the sonne and line of the father For it were vniust that the innocencie of the sonne should be condempned for the offence of the father I doe commaunde also that all the goods be committed vnto some faithful parson to th end they may geue the father meate and drinke durynge hys lyfe and to make a graue for the sonne after hys death I haue not with out a cause geuen suche iudgement the which comprehendeth lyfe and death for the Gods wyll not that for one pleasure the punyshement be double but that we chastyse and punyshe the one in the lyfe takynge from hym hys honour and goods and that we punyshe others after there death takyng from them memorye and buriall Truly the sentence which the Philosopher gaue was graue and would to God we had him for a iudge of this world presentlye for I sweare that he should finde many children now a dayes for to disheryte and mo fathers to punishe For I cannot tell which is greater the shame of the children to disobey their fathers or
After that the wife doth see her louing husband in the graue I woold ask her what good could remayne with her in her house Since wee know that if her husband were good he was the hauē of al her trobles the remedy of al her necessitys the inuentour of all her pleasours the true loue of her hart the true lord of her parson and the idoll whom shee honored finally he was the faithfull steward of her house and the good father of her children and familye Whether family remayneth or not whyther children remayneth or not in the one and in the other trouble and vexation remaineth most assuredly to the poore widow If perchaunce shee remayne poore and haue no goods let euery man imagine what her life can bee For the poore miserable vnhappy woman eyther wil aduenture her parson to get or wil lose her honesty to demaund An honest woman a noble worthy womā a delicat woman a sweete woman a woman of renowme a woman that ought to maynteyne children and family ought to haue great reason to bee full of anguishe and sorow to see that if shee wil mainteyne her self which the needle shee shal not haue sufficiently to find her self bread and water If shee gaine with her bodie shee loseth her soule If shee must demaund others shee is sahamed If shee fulfill the testament of her husband shee must sell her gowns If shee will not pay his detts they cause her to be brought beefore the iudge As women naturaly are tender what hart will suffer theym to suffer such inconueniēces and what eyes can absteine to shed infinite tears If perchaūce goods doo remaine to the miserable widow she hath no litel care to keepe thē Shee is at great charges and expences to sustain and maintayn her self in long suit about her lands much trouble to augment them and in the end much sorow to depart from them For all her children and heirs doo occupy them selues more to think how they might inherit then in what sort they ought to serue her When I came to this passage a great while I kept my pen in suspence to see whither I ought to touch this matter or no that is to weete that oftentimes the poore wydows put openly the demaund of their goods and the iudges doo secretly demaund the possession of their parson So that first they doo iniury to her honor beefore they doo minister iustice to her demaunds Though perchance shee hath no child yet therfore shee remaineth not without any comfort and for that the parents of her husband doo spoyl her of her goods For in thys case their heirs often times are so disordered that for a worn cloke or for a broken shirt they trouble and sore vexe the poore wydow If perchaunce the miserable wydow haue children I say that in this case shee hath double sorow For if they are yong shee endureth much payn to bring them vp so that ech hour and moment their mothers lyue in great sorows to think onely of the lyfe and health of their children If perhaps the children are old truely the griefs whych remayn vnto them are no lesse For so much as the greatest part of them are eyther proud disobedient malycious negligent adulterers gluttons blasphemers false lyers dull headed wanting wit or sickly So that the ioy of the wofull mothers is to beewayl the death of their welbeeloued husbands and to remedy the discords of their youthfull children If the troubles which remain to the mothers with the sonnes bee great I say that those which they haue with their doughters bee much more For if the doughter bee quick of witt the mother thinketh that shee shal bee vndoon If shee bee simple shee thinketh that euery man will deceiue her If shee bee faier shee hath enough to doo to keepe her If shee bee deformed shee cannot mary her If shee bee well manered shee wil not let her go from her If shee bee euil manered shee cānot endure her If shee bee to solitary shee hath not wherewith to remedy her If shee bee dissolute shee wil not suffer her to bee punished Fynally if shee put her from her shee feareth shee shal bee sclaundeted If shee leaue her in her house shee is afrayd shee shal bee stollen What shal the wofull poore wydow doo seeing her self burdened with doughters enuironed with sonnes and neither of them of such sufficient age that there is any tyme to remedy them nor substāce to maintein them Admit that shee mary one of her sonnes and one doughter I demaund therfore if the poore widow wil leaue her care and anguish Truely I say no though shee choose rich personages and wel disposed shee cannot escape but the day that shee replenisheth her self with doughters in law the same day shee chargeth her hart with sorows trauels and cares O poore wydows deceiue not your selues and doo not immagin that hauing maried your sonnes doughters from that time forward yee shal liue more ioyful and contented For that laid aside which their nephews doo demaund them and that their sonnes in law doo rob them when the poore old woman thinketh to bee most surest the yong man shall make a claym to her goods What doughter in law is there in this world who faithfully loueth her stepmother And what sonne in law is there in the world the desireth not to bee heir to his father in law Suppose a poore widow to bee fallen sick the which hath in her house a sonne in law and that a man ask him vppon his oth which of these two things hee had rather haue either to gouern his mother in law wyth hope to heal her or to bury her with hope to inherit her goods I swear that such woold swere that hee coold reioyce more to geeue a ducket for the graue then a penny to the phisition to purge and heal her Seneca in an epistle saith that the fathers in law naturally loue their doughters in law the sonnes in law are loued of their mothers in law And for the contrary hee saith that naturally the sonnes in law doo hate their mothers in law But I take it not for a generall rule for there are mothers in law whych deserue to bee woorshipped and there are sonnes in law which are not worthy to bee beeloued Other troobles chance dayly to these poore wydows which is that when one of them hath one only sonne whom shee hath in the steed of a husband in steed of a brother in steed of a sonne shee shall see him dye whom sith shee had his lyfe in such great loue shee cannot though shee woold take his death with pacience So that as they bury the dead body of the innocent chyld they bury the lyuely hart of the wofull mother Let vs omit the sorows whych the mothers haue when their children dye and let vs ask the mothers what they feele when they are sick They will aunswer vs that always and as often tymes as their
Goddesse whom they named Lucina to whom they did commende women quick and great with chylde to sende them safe deliuerie And without the walles of Rome in a streate called Salaria she had a great churche wherin all the Romaine women conceiued with childe did sacrifice to their goddesse Lucina and as Fronten declareth de Veneratione deorum there they remayned nyne dayes and nyne nightes making their vowe Numa Pompilius buylte the churche of this goddesse which was plucked downe by the Consull Rutilius because a doughter of his great with childe made her vowe and kept her nyne Vigilles and vpon more deuotion was desirous to be deliuered in the saide temple Suche was her mishappe that her deliuery was not onely euill but her death was much worse Whereupon Rutilius in his rage caused the temple secretly to be burned For we reade many times that when the Gentyles sawe they were distressed and in great necessitie they recommended them selues to their Gods and if they did not then succour them in their necessitie immediatly they toke from them their sacrifice bette downe their temples or chaunged their Gods And further the Gentiles had an other god called Opis which was called the God of the babe newe borne euen as Lucina was goddesse of the mother whiche bare it The custome was that during all the nyne monethes that the woman was quick with chylde she caried the image of the God Opis hanging vppon her belly tyed to her girdle or sowed to her garmentes and at the houre of her deliuerie the mydwyfe toke in her hands the saide image and euen in the verye byrth before herselfe layde handes vpon it she first of all towched the childe with the Idoll If the childe were well borne the parentes that daye made great oblations to the Idoll but if it were euill or dead borne straight way the parentes of the childe did beate the image of the poore God Opis to powder or els burned it or drowned it in the ryuer Also the Gentyles worshipped an other God called Vaginatus and vnto him they did great sacrifice because their children should not weepe muche and therfore they caried the image of this god Vaginatus hanged about their neckes for the Gentiles thought it an euill signe and token whan the Babe wept muche in his infancie he should haue very euill fortune in his age They had also an other God called God Cuninus him they honoured with sacrifice to th end that he should be their Patrone for the safetie of their children in their cradels And those whiche were poore had the God Cuninus hanged vpon the cradell but the ryche had very sumptuouse cradelles wherein were painted many gods Cunini ▪ Herodian and Pulio declareth in the life of Seuerus that when the Emperour Seuerus was in the warre against the Gavvles his wyfe whose name was Iulia was deliuered of a daughter whiche was her first And it happened that a sister of this Iulia named Mesa natiue of Persia and of the citie of Mesa sent vnto her sister at Rome a cradell all of an Vnicornes horne and fine gold and about the same was painted many images of the god Cuninus The cradel was of so great value that many yeres after it was kept in the Treasurie of Rome Though in dede the Romaines kept those thinges more for the desire of memorie than for the loue of ryches The Romaines had likewise an other god whom they called god Ruminus whiche was as muche to saie as God of sucking Babes and to him the matrones of Rome offered diuerse sacrifices to th ende he woulde kepe their breastes from corruption and geue them mylke enough for their litle children And all the whyle they gaue the chyld sucke thei had the image of this god about their neckes hanging downe to their brestes And euery morning before she gaue the childe sucke the mother sent a dishe full of mylke to offer to the God Ruminus and if she happened to be in suche place where there was no churche dedicated to the God Ruminus then she bathed her god Ruminus she hadde with her in mylke They had also an other God whom they called God Stellinus and him they impropered to their children when they began to goe To this god the matrones offered many giftes that their children might not be lame Dwarfes nor impotent or decrepite but that they might be able to go well For among the Romaines those that were Criples or Dwarfes were had in suche contempt that they could neither beare office in the Senate nor be admitted priestes in the temples Hercules in his thirde booke De repub saith that Cornelia that worthy woman and mother of the Gracchi had her twoo first sonnes the one lame and the other a Dwarfe Whereupon supposinge the god Stellinus had bene wrath with her she bylte him a Temple in the .xii. region neare to the fieldes Gaditanus amongest the Gardens of Detha and this temple remained till the tyme of Randagismus who besieging Rome destroyed the Temples and brake vp their gardines about Rome They had also an other god called Adeon and his chardge was that when the childe could goe well he should go to his mother and make muche of her And allbeit Cicero in his booke De natura Deorum putteth this god amongest the other gods yet I do not remember that I haue euer read that this god had any Temple in Rome till the tyme of Mammea mother of the Emperoure Antoninus This excellente woman beinge lefte a wydowe and with two litle children desiering that they might be well and vertuously brought vp and that they should increase their loue towardes her she buylte to the god Adeon a sumptuous Temple in the .xii. region Vaticanus neare to the gardens of Domicilius and hard adioyning to that also she erected one other edifice called Sacellum Mammae where she abode solitarely for a tyme. For the maner and custome at that time was that all wydowes whiche woulde bryng vp their children in good discipline should immediatly seuer thēselues farre from the daungerous pleasures of Rome The auncientes had also an other god called Mentallis which was in effect god of wyt That is to wyte he had authoritie and power to giue children good or euill sence And to this god the auncientes did great sacrifices especially the Greekes muche more than the Romaines For as muche as Seneca saith that he doth meruayle nothyng at all of that the Greekes knewe but that whiche made him most to marueile was of that they knewe not since they had the temple of the god Mentallis within their scholes All the children whome they sent to learne Philosophie were by the lawes of Athens bounde to serue three yeares in that temple And to omyt that whiche Seneca spake of the Greekes I dare boldely saye and affirme to many whiche at these dayes are liuing that if it be true he gaue sence and vnderstanding to men that they would to daye rather than
ende of her lyfe Therfore why should I bewayle her death synce the gods haue lent her life but vntyll this daye The greate estimation that we haue of this life causeth that death semeth vnto vs sodayne and that the lyfe vnwares with death is ouertaken but these are wordes of the children of vanitie for that by the wyl of the gods death visiteth vs and against the wylles of men lyfe forsaketh vs. Also my chyldren be vertuous philosphers and albeit they be nowe in the handes of tyrauntes we oughte not therefore to call them captiues for a man may not call him a captiue whiche is laden with irons but him whiche is ouerwhelmed with vices And although the fire haue burnt my house yet I knowe not why I ought to be sad for of truthe it was now olde and the wynde did blowe downe the tyles the wormes did waste the woode and the waters that ran downe perished the walles and it was old and lyke to fall and perchaunce would haue done greater displeasure For most commonly enuy malice and olde houses sodainely without any warning or knocking at the doore assaulteth menne finally there came the fire whiche quited me of many troubles First of the trouble that I should haue had in repairing it secondarely it saued me money in pluckinge it downe thirdly it preserued me and myne heires from muche coste and many daungers For oftentimes that whiche a man consumeth in repayring an olde house would with auauntage by hym a newe Also those whiche saye that for the taking away of my goodes I lacke the goodes of fortune such haue no reason so to thinke or saye For fortune neuer geueth temporall goodes for a proper thing but to those whome she list and when she will dispose them therfore when fortune seeth that those men whome she hath appointed as her distributers doe hourde vp the same to them and to their heires then she taketh it from them to geue it to an other Therefore by reason I should not cōplayne that I haue lost any thing for fortune recommendeth vnto an other the temporall goodes but I cary pacience 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 fift boke of the sayings of the Gretians That this Bias determined to goe to the playes of Mounte Olimpus whereunto resorted people of all nations and he shewed hym selfe in this place of so highe an vnderstanding that he was counted supreame and chiefe of all other philosophers and wonne the name of a true philosopher Other philosophers then beinge in the same playes Olimpicalles asked him many questions of sondry matters whereof I wyll make mention here of the chiefest ¶ The questions demaunded of the Philosopher Bias. THe first question was this Tell me who is the vnhappiest man in the worlde Bias aunswered He is moste vnhappy that is not paciente in aduersities For men are not killed with the aduersities they haue but with the impacience whiche they suffer The second was what is most hardest troublesome to iudge he answered There is nothing more difficulte then to iudge a contention betwixte two friendes For to iudge betwene two enemies th one remaineth a frend but to be iudge betwene two friendes the one is made an enemy The third was what is moste hardest to measure whereunto Bias aunswered Ther is nothing that needeth more circumspection then the measuring of time for the time shold be measured so iustly that by reason no time should want to do wel nor any time should abound to do euill The fourth was what thing is that that nedeth no excuse in the accomplishment therof Bias answered the thing that is promised must of necessity be parformed for otherwise he that doth lose the creadite of his word shoulde lose more then he that should lose the promise to him made The 5 was what thinge that is wherin the men aswell good as euill should take care Bias aunswered men ought not in any thinge to take so greate care as in sekinge counsayle and counselours for the prosperous times cannot be maintayned nor the multitude of enemyes resisted if it be not by wise men and graue counsayles The sixte was what thing that is wherin men are praised to be negligent he aunswered in one thinge only men haue lycence to be neglygente and that is in chosing of frendes Slowly ought thy frendes to be chosen and they neuer after for any thing ought to be forsaken The seuenth what is that which the afflyeted man doth most desire Bias aunswered It is the chaunge of fortune and the thing which the prosperous man doth most abhorre is to thinke that fortune is mutable For the vnfortunate man hopeth for euery chaunge of fortune to be made better and the wealthye man feareth through euery chaunge to be depriued of hys house These wer the questions which the philosophers demaunded of Bias in the playes of the mount Olimpus in the 60 Olimpiad The philosopher Bias liued 95. yeres and as hee drew nere his death the Prienenses shewing them selues to be maruelous sorofull for the losse of suche a famous man desired him earnestly to ordeine some lawes wherby they myght know howe to chose captaynes or some Prince whiche after hym mighte gouerne the Realme The phylosopher Bias vnderstandinge their honeste requestes gaue theym certaine lawes in fewe woordes whiche folowe Of the whyche the deuine Plato maketh mencion in his booke De legibus and lykewise Aristotle in the booke of Occonomices ¶ The Lawes whych Bias gaue to the Prienenses WE ordeine and commaunde that no man be chosen to be prince amonge the people vnlesse he be at least 40 yeres of age For gouernours ought to be of such age that nether youth nor small experience should cause theym to erre in their affaires nor weakenes through ouermuch age should hinder them from taking paines We ordeine and commaund that none be chosen amongest the Prienenses gouernour if he be not wel learned in the greke letters For there is no greater plague in the publik weale then for him to lack wisedome whych gouerneth the same We ordeine and commaunde that ther be none amongest the Prienenses chosen gouernour vnlesse he hath bene brought vp in the warres 10. yeres at the leaste For he alone dothe knowe how precious a thing peace is whych by experience hath felte the extreme miseryes of warre We ordeine and commaund that if any haue bene noted to be cruel that he be not chosen for gouernour of the people For that man that is cruel is likely to be a tyrant We ordeine comaund that if the gouernor of the Prienenses be so hardy or dare presume to breake the aunciēt lawes of the people that in such case he be depriued from thoffice of the gouernour and lykewise exiled from the people For there is nothing that destroyeth soner a publike weale then to ordeine new and fond lawes and
him afraide in the night And Xerxes which was the sonne of kyng Darius when he passed into Italye to wage battaile before all other thinges he sente fower thousand horsemen to Delphos wher the Temple of God Apollo was to beate it downe for the pryde of Xerxes was so great that he would not onlye subdue men but also conquere the gods It chaunsed that euen as they approched nere the Temple to beat it downe a sodaine tempest fell vpon them so that with stones and thunder boltes they were al killed in the fields and so dyed Brennus was one of the renowmed Captaines of the Gothes who sithe he had conquered and subdued the Greekes determined also to robbe the treasours of the temples saying that gods should gyue vnto men and not men vnto gods and that it was greate honoure to the goddes that with their goodes men should be made riche But as they beganne to robbe the Temple there fell a multitude of arrowes from heauen that the Captaine Brennus dyed there and all his men with him not one left alyue After that Sextus Pompeius was vanquished in the battaile by sea neare vnto Scicile by Octavus Angustus he retired him selfe into the Arkes Lacinii where there was an auncient Temple consecrated to the godesse Iuno endewed with maruelous treasours And it chaunsed one day that his souldyers asking him money and he beinge then withoute he commaunded theym to beate downe the Temple of the goddesse Iuno and to paye them selues with the spoile of her treasure The historiographers saye that within a whyle after it chaunsed Sextus Pompeius to be taken of the knightes of Marcus Antonius and when he was broughte before Titus generall of the armye he spake vnto him these woordes I wil thou know Sextus Pompeius I do not condemne the to dye for thoffences thou hast committed against my Lord Marcus Antonius But because thou hast robbed and beaten downe the Temple of the Goddesse Iuno For thou knowest that the good Captaynes oughte to forget the offences against men and to reuenge the iniuryes done vnto the Goddes ¶ How Valentine the Emperoure because he was an euyll Chrystian loste in one day both the Empire and his lyfe and was burned alyue in a shepecote Cap. xxiiii WHen Iulian the Apostate was Emperour of Rome he sente to conquere Hongarie of no iust title hee had to it more then of Ambicion to vnite it to the Romaine Empire For tyrannous princes vse all their force to vsurpe others realmes by crueltye and lytle regard whether they maye do it by iustice And because the Romaine Empire was of great force this Ambicious Emperour Iulian had in that warres a mighty and puysant Armie which did wonderfull muche harme throughe al the countryes they came For the fruites of warres is to bereue the enemyes of lyfe and to spoyle the men of their goodes It chaunsed one day as 5 knyghtes wente out of the campe to make a rode they found a young man that caried a halter in hys hande and as they would haue taken it awaye from hym to haue tyed their horses to let them feede he was so hardy and stout that he defended hym selfe from them all so that he had more strength alone then they fyue altogethers The Romayne knyghtes amazed to see this younge man defend hym selfe from them all so stoutly very instauntly desired him to go to the Romaine campe with them and they promised him he should haue great interteynment For the Romaines were so dyligent that they woulde omit no good thinge for want of money so that it wer for the publike weale This yonge man was called Gracian and was borne and brought vp in the country of Pannonia in a citie they called Cibata his lynage was not of the lowest sort of the people nor yet of the most estemed Citizens but were men that lyued by the swete of their browes and in loue of the common people And truly it is no small benefite that God had made him of a meane estate for to be of base linage maketh men to be despised and not regarded and to come of a noble bloud and high synage maketh men to be proud and lofty This yonge man being come into the Romaynes campe the fame was immediatly spred how that he alone had vanquished fiue knyghtes And his strength and courage was so highely estemed that wythin a while after he was made Pretour of the armie For the Romaynes not according to fauour but according to the habilytie of men deuyded the offices and degrees of honoure in warres Tyme therfore working his nature and manye estates beinge decayed after thys yonge Gracian was made Pretour of the armye and that he was sufficiently tryed in the warres fortune which many times bringeth that to passe in a day that mans malyce cannot in many yeres raised this Gracian to be Emperoure of Rome For trulye one hower of good successe is more worthe thenne al worldly fauour This Gracian was not onlye singuler in strengthe couragious in battaile fortunate in all his affaires but also he was luckye of children That is to wete he had two sonnes which were Emperours of Rome the one was called Valente the other Valentinian In this case the children mighte glorye to haue a father so stout but the glorie of the father is greater to haue sonnes of such nobilytie For there is no greater felicitie in this world then duringe life to come to honour and riches after death to leaue good children to enioy them The eldest of the two sonnes was the Emperour Valente who ruled in the Orient for the space of .iiii. yeres was the xxxix Emperour of Rome from Iulius Cesar though some do beginne at the time of Octauian sayeng that he was vertuous and that Iulius Cesar vsurped the Empire lyke a tiraunt This Valente was beautifull of personne but poore of vertues so that he was more beautifull thenne vertuous more couragious thenne mercifull more riche thenne charitable more cruell then pitefull For there are manye Princes that are verye expert to deuise newe orders in a common wealthe but there are few that haue stoute hartes to put the same in execution In those dayes the sect of Arrian the cursed heretike florished and the Emperour Valente was greatly blinded therin in somuch that he did not only fauour the Arrians but also he persecuted the Christiās which was shewed for somuch as he killed caused to be killed for that occasiō many lay men toke many clerkes banished many Bishopps ouerthrew many Churches robbed the goods of the Chrishiās dyd infinite other mischeues in the comcomon wealth For the prince whych is infected wyth heresy liueth without feare of the Church ther is neyther mischiefe nor treasō but he wil comit In the desertes of Egipte in the mountaynes of Armenia and in the cityes of Alexandrie there was a greate multitude of fryers and relygious men amongest whom were many wise men and pure
if the father had not bene vertuous and the childe sage But the Senate would haue done this and more also for Valentinian because he did deserue it well of the Romaine people For it is reason in distributing of the offices that princes haue more respecte to the desertes of the fathers then to the tender age of the children This young Gracian began to be so temperate and was so good a Christian in fauouring the churche that it was muche quiete and great pleasure to the Romaine people to haue chosen him and greater ioye to the father being aliue to haue begotten hym so that he lefte for him after his death an immortall memorie of his life For the childe that is vertuous is always the memory of the father after his death In the yeare of the foundation of Rome a thousand a hundreth thirtie and two she said Gracian the younger was created sole heire of the whole empire his vncle Valent and his father being departed the worlde After Gracian came to the empyre many Byshoppes whiche were banished in the t me of his vncle Valent were restored to the curche againe and banished al the sect of the Arrians out of his region Truly he shewed him selfe to be a very religious and catholike prince For there is no better iustice to confounde humaine malice then to establishe the good in their estate In the first yeare of the reigne of Gracian emperour all the Germaines and the Gothes rebelled against the Romaine empire for they would not only not obey him but also they prepared an huge army to enuade his empire Imagining that sithe Gracian was young he neither had the wytte nor yet the boldnes to resiste them For where the prince is young there oftimes the people suffred muche wrong and the realme great misery Newes come to Rome howe that the Gaules and Germaines were vp the emperour Gracian wrote to all the catholike byshoppes that they should offer in their churches great sacrifices with prayers vnto God and in Rome likewyse it was ordeined that generally processions should be had to the ende almighty god shoulde moderate his ire against his people For good Christians first pacifie god with praiers before they resiste their enemies with weapons This good prince shewed him selfe to be no lesse warlike in his outward affaires then a good Christiā in his religion For god geueth victories vnto princes more through teares then through weapons These thinges thus finished and his affaires vnto god recommended the noble emperour Gracian determined to marche on and him selfe in persone to giue the battaile And truly as at the first he shewed him selfe to be a good christian so nowe he declared him selfe to be a valiaunt emperour For it were a great infamie and dishonour that a prince by negligence or cowardnes shoulde lose that whiche his predecessours by force of armes had gotten The army of the enemies exceaded far the Romain army in nombre and when they met togethers in a place called Argentaria the Romaines being inferiour to their enemies in numbre were afraide For in the warres the great multitude of ennemies and their puissaunte power maketh oft times the desired victorie to be doubtfull This thing seene of the Romaines and by them considered importunatly they besought the Emperour not to charge the battayle for they saide he had not men sufficiente And herein they had reason For the sage prince should not rashely hazarde his person in the warre nor yet should lightely put his life in the handes of fortune The Emperour Gracian not chaunging coūtenaunce nor stopping in his wordes to al his knightes which wer about him answered in this wise ¶ Of the godly Oration which the Emperour Gracian made to his souldiours before he gaue the battaile Cap. xxvi VAliaunt knightes and companions in warre moste thankefully I accept your seruice in that you haue solde your goodes and doe offer your liues here to accompanie me in the warres and herein you shewe your duties for of right you ought to lose your goodes and to venture your liues for the defence suertie of your countrie But if I geue you some thankes for your company knowe you that I geue much more for your good counsell which presently you geue me for in great conflictes seldome is founde together both good counsell and stoute hartes If I haue enterprised this battaile in hope of mans power then you had had reason that we shoulde not geue the battaile seing the great multitude that they haue and the smal numbre that we are for as you say the weightie affaires of the publike weale should not vnaduisedly be committed to the incertaintie of fortune I haue taken vpon me this daungerous and perillous warres firste trusting that on my part iustice remaineth and sith god is the same onely iustice I truste assuredly he will geue me the victorie in this perillous conflict For iustice auaileth princes more that they haue then the men of warre do whiche they leade Wherfore sith my cause is iuste and that I haue god the onely iudge thereof on my side me thinketh if for any worldly feare I shoulde cease to geue the battayle I should both shew my selfe to be a prince of small fayth and also blaspheme god saying he were of small iustice For god sheweth moste his power there where the fraylenes of man hath leste hope Then sithe I beginne the warre and that by me the warre is procured and for me you are come to the warre I haue determined to enter into the battaile and if I perishe therein I shal be sure it shal be for the memory of my personne and the saluation of my soule For to die through iustice is not to die but to chaunge death for life And thus doing if I lose my life yet therefore I lose not my honour and all this considered I doe that whiche for the common wealth I am bounde For to a prince it were great infamy and dishonour that the quarell being his owne should by the bloud of others be reuenged I wyll proue this day in battaile whether I was chosen Emperour by the deuine wyll or not For if god this day causeth my life to be taken from me it is a manifest token he hath a better in store for me and if through his mercy I be preserued it signifieth that for some other better thing he graunteth me life For in the ende the sword of the enemie is but the scourge of our offences The best that I see therfore in this matter to be done is that til three daies be passed the battayle be not geuen and that we confesse our selues this night and in the morning prepare our selues to receiue our redemer besides this that euery man pardon his christian brother if he haue had any wrong or iniury done him For oftimes though the demaunde of the warre be iust yet many mishaps befall therin through the offences of those which pursue and followe the same
Alexander though thou callest thy selfe lorde of all yet thou hast but onely the name thereof and others thy seruauntes subiectes haue all the profites for the gredy and couetous hartes do trauaile and toyle to get and in wasting that whiche they haue gotten they pyne awaye And finally Alexander thou wilt not denie me that all that whiche thou hast in the longe conquest gotten is litle and that whiche of thy wysedome and quietnes thou hast lost is much For the Realmes whiche thou hast gotten are innumerable but the cares sighes and thoughtes whiche thou hast heaped vpon thy harte are infinite I let the knowe one thing that you princes are poorer then the poore subiectes for he is not ryche that hath more then he deserueth but he that desireth to haue lesse then that he possesseth And therfore princes you haue nothing for though you abound in great treasures yet you are poore of good desires Nowe Alexander let vs come to the pointe and caste accompte and let vs see to what ende thy conquest wil come Eyther thou arte a man or thou arte a God And if thou be any of the gods commaunde or cause that we be immortall and if thou canst doe any suche thing then take vs and our goods withall For perpetuitie of the lyfe by no riches can be boughte O Alexander I let thee vnderstande that therefore we seke not to make warre with thee for we see that bothe from thee and also from vs death will shortly take away the life For he is a very simple man that thinketh alway to remayne in an other mans house as in his owne If thou Alexander couldest geue vs as god euerlastinge life eche man would trauayle to defende his owne house but sithe we knowe we shal die shortly we care litle whether to thee or any other our goods riches remaine For if it be folly to dwell in an other mans house as in his owne it is a greater folly to him that loseth his life in taking thought and lamenting for his goodes Presuppose that thou art not god but a man I coniure the then by the immortal gods and do require the that thou lyue as a man behaue thy selfe as a man and couet no more then an other man neither desyre more nor lesse then a man for in the end thou shalt die as a mā and shal be buried as a man and throwen into the graue then there shal be no more memorie of thee I tolde thee before that it greued me to see thee so hardy couragious so apte and so younge and nowe it greueth me to see thee so deceiued with the world and that which I perceiue of thee is that then thou shalt knowe thy folly when thou shalt not be able to finde any remedy For if the proude younge man before he feleth the wound hath all redy the oyntment You whiche are Grecians call vs Barbarous because we enhabite the mountaines But as touching this I say that we reioyce to be Barbarous in our speache and Greekes in our doinges and not as you which haue the Grecians tongue and doe Barbarous workes For he that doth well speaketh rudely is no barbarous man but he which hath the tongue good and the life euill Sithe I haue begonne to that ende nothing remaynd vnspoken I will aduertise thee of our lawes and life and marueile not to here it but desire to obserue and kepe it for infinite are they whiche extolle vertuous workes but fewe are they whiche obserue the same I let thee wete Alexander that we haue short life we are fewe people we haue litle landes we haue litle goodes we haue no couetousnes wee haue fewe lawes we haue fewe houses wee haue fewe frendes and aboue all we haue no enemies For a wyse man ought to be frende to one and enemy to none Besides all this we haue amongest vs great frendshippes good peace great loue much reste and aboue all we holde our selues contented For it is better to enioy the quietnes of the graue then to liue a discontented life Our lawes are fewe but in our opinions they are good and are in seuen wordes onely included as here foloweth We ordaine that our children make no more lawes then we their fathers doe leaue vnto them for newe lawes maketh them forget good and olde customes We ordayne that our successours shall haue no mo Gods then twoo of the whiche the one god shal be for the life and the other for the death for one God well serued is more worth then many not rewarded We ordaine that all be appareled with one cloth and hosed of one sorte and that the one haue no more apparell then the other for the diuersitie of garmentes edgendreth folly among the people We ordeine that whan any woman which is maried hath had thre childrē that then she be separated from her husband for the aboundaunce of children causeth men to haue couetous hartes And if any woman hath broughte forth any mo children then they should be sacrificed vnto the gods before her eies We ordeine that all men and women speake the truthe in all thinges and if any be taken in a lie committing no other fault that immediatly he be put to death for the same For one lyer is able to vndo a whole multitude We ordeine that no woman liue aboue .xl. yeres and that the man lyue vntill fiftie and if they die not before that time that then they be sacrifised to the gods for it is a great occasion for men to be vicious to thinke that they shal lyue many yeares ¶ That princes ought to consider for what cause they were made princes and what Thales the philosopher was of the .xii. questions asked him and of his aunswere he made vnto them Cap xxxv IT is a commen and an old saiyng whiche many times by Aristotle the noble prince hath bene repeted that in the ende all thinges are done to some purpose for there is no worke neither good nor euill but he that doth it meaneth it to some end If thou demaundest the gardener to what ende he watereth so oft his plantes he wil aunswere thee it is to get some money for his herbes If thou demaundest why the ryuer runneth so swift a man wil aunswere thee that his ende is to the sea from whence it came If thou demaundest why the trees budde in the spring time they will aunswere to the ende they may beare frute in haruest If we see a trauayler passe the mountaines in the snow the ryuers with perill the woodes in feare to walke in extreme heate in sommer to wander in the night time in the colde wynter if by chaunce a man doth aske one of them saiyng frend whether goest thou wherfore takest thou such paines and he aunswereth truly syr I know no more then you to what ende neither can I tell why I take so much paines I aske thee now what would a wyse man aunswere to
younge Epesipus was of a good and cleare iudgement well made of his body and fayre of countenaunce and sithe in his youth he estemed his beautie more then his learninge the Emperour his vncle wrote him a letter into Grece whiche sayde this Marcus Aurelius the Romaine Emperoure firste tribune of the people and Byshop wysheth to thee Epesipus his nephew and scholler health and doctrine In the thirde Calendes of December came thy cosyn Annius Verus at whose comming all our parentage reioyced and so muche the more for that he brought vs newes of Gretia For truly when the harte hath the absence of that he loueth it is no one minute of an houre without suspition After that thy cosyn Annius Verus had spoken in generally to all bryngyng newes from their frendes and chyldren we talked together and he gaue me a letter of thyne whiche is contrary to that was wrytten me out of Grece because thou wrytest to me that I shoulde sende thee money to continue the in studye and they wrote vnto me from thence that thou arte more youthful and geuen to the pleasures of the worlde than becommeth thee Thou art my bloude thou arte my Nephewe thou werte my scholler and thou shalte bee my sonne if thou arte good But God wyll neuer that thou be my Nephew nor that I call thee my sonne duryng the tyme that thou shalt be younge fonde lyght frayle For no good man should haue parentage with the vicious I can not denye but that I loued thee from the bottome of my stomack and so lykewyse thy vnthriftynes greaueth me with all my harte For when I redde the letter of thy follyes I lette thee knowe that the teares ranne downe my cheekes but I wyll contente my selfe For the sage and wyse men though againste their wylles they heare of suche thynges paste yet it pleaseth them to redresse other thynges that maye come hereafter I knowe well thou canst not call it to mynde though perhappes thou haste it that when thy vnlucky mother and my sister Annia Milena died she was then young enough for she was no more but .xviii. yeares of age and thou haddest not then foure houres For thou were borne in the morning and she died at nonetide so that when the wycked childe possessed life the good mother tasted death I can tell that thou hast lost such a mother and I suche a sister that I beleue there was no better in Rome For she was sage honest and fayre the whiche thinges are seldome seene nowe a daies For so muche as thy mother was my sister and that I had broughte her vp and maried her I loued her tenderly And when she died here at Rome I redde then Rethorike at Rhodes because my pouertie was so extreme that I had no other thing but that whiche by reading Rethorike I did gette When newes came vnto me of the death of thy mother and my sister Annia Milena al comforte layde on syde sorowe oppressed my harte in suche wyse that all my mēbers trembled the bones sheuered myne eies without reste did lamente the heauy sighes ouercame me at euery minute my harte vanished awaye from the bottome of my harte I inwardly lamented and bewayled thy vertuous mother and my dere syster Finally sorowe executing his priuilege on me the ioyfull company greued me and onely with the louely care I quieted my selfe I knowe not nor can not expresse vnto the howe and in what sorte I tooke the death of my sister Annia Milena thy mother for in sleaping I dreamed of her and dreaming I sawe her when I was awake she represented her selfe before me remembring then that she liued I was sory to remember her death Life was so greuous vnto me that I woulde haue reioyced to haue bene put in the graue with her For truly he feeleth assuredly the death of an other whiche alway is sorowefull and lamenting his owne life Remembring therefore the great loue whiche my sister Milena bare vnto me in her life and thinking wherein I might requite the same after her death I imagined that I could not by any meanes doe any thing more acceptable for her then to bryng thee vp thou whiche arte her chylde and lefte an orphane so young For of all trauayles to a woman this is chiefest to leaue behinde her children to bring vp My sister being dead the firste thing I dyd was that I came to Rome and then sent thee to Capua to be broughte vp there in the whiche place harde at my nose they gaue the sucke two yeares For thou knowest right well that the money which by reading Rethorike I gate scarcely satisfied for thy dayly finding but that in the night I reade some extraordinary lecture and with that I payed for the mylke which thou suckedst on the dugge so that thy bringing vp depended vpon the labour of my lyfe After that thou wer weyned and brought from the teate I sent the to Bietro to a frende and kinsman of mine named Lucius Valerius with whom thou remainedst vntill fiue yeares were fully accomplished where I founde both him and thee all thinges necessary For he was in great pouertie and a great babler of his tongue in suche sorte that he troubled al men and angred me muche For truly a man should as willingly geue money to cause him to be silente whiche is talkatiue as to geue to a wyse man to heare him speake The fiue yeares accomplished I sente thee to Toringue a citie of Campagnia to a maister whiche taught children there called Emilius Torquates of whom to the end he should teache thee to reade and wryte three yeares I tooke a sonne of his whom he gaue me to reade to him Greke foure yeres so that thou couldest not haue any profite in thee without the encrease of my great trauayle and augmenting paine to my harte After thou were seuen yeares olde that thou couldest reade and wryte well I sente thee to studie in the famous citie of Tarenthe where I kept thee foure yeares paying to the maisters a great summe of money Because nowe a dayes through our euyll fortunes there is none that will teache without great stipende Without lamenting I doe not tell thee that in the time of the Cincinos whiche were after the death of Quintus Cincinatus vntill Cyna and Catullus the philosophers and maisters of Rome did neuer receiue one peny to teache sciences to any that would learne them For all the philosophers and maisters were by the sacred Senate payde and none ceased to study for lacke of money For in those dayes they whiche woulde applie them selues to vertue and sciences were by the common treasure mainteined As our fathers were wel ordered in their thinges so they did not deuide offices by order onely but also by order they paide their money in suche sorte that they paied first with the common treasure the priestes of the temples Secondly the maisters of scholes and studies Thirdly the poore wydowes and orphanes Fourthly the
good to desire it to procure it to kepe it to praise it and to loue it wel for in the end if we loue the beautie in beastes and buildinges by greater reason we should desire it in our selues But what shall we saye that when we doe not watche this litle floure whiche yesterday florisshed on the tree faire and whole without suspicion to be lost one litle hory frost sodainly wasteth and consumeth it the vehement wynde ouerthroweth it the knife of enuie cutteth it the water of aduersitie vndoeth it and the heate of persecutions pineth it and finally the worme of shorte life gnaweth it and the putrifaction of death decayeth and bryngeth it downe to the grounde O mannes lyfe that arte alwayes cursed I counte fortune cruell and thee vnhappy synce she will that thou tariest on her whiche dreaminge geueth the pleasures and wakinge woorketh the displeasures whiche geueth into the handes trauayle to taste suffreth thee not only to listen after quiet which wil thou proue aduersitie and agree not that thou haue prosperitie but at her will finally she geueth thee life by ounces and death without measure The wicked vicious say that it is a great pleasure to liue in ease but I protest vnto them that ther was neuer any mortal man had so much pleasure in vices but that he remained in great paine after that they were bannished frō him For the harte which of long time hath ben rooted in vice incontinently is subiect to some great alteration I would all would open their eies to see how we liue deceiued for al the pleasures which delighte the body make vs beleue that they come to abide with vs continually but they vanishe awaye with sorowe immediatly And on the contrary parte the infirmities and sorrowes that blynde the soule saye that they come onely to lodge as gestes and remayne with vs continually as housholders I marueyle of thee Epesipus why thou doest not consyder what shall become of the beautie of thy bodye hereafter sythe thou seest presently the beautie of those departed interred in the graue By the dyuersitie of fruites manne dothe knowe the dyuersytie of trees in the Orcharde that is to wete the Oke by the acornes the Date tree by the dates the vines by the grapes but when the roote is drie the body cut the fruite gathered the leafe fallen when the tree is laide on the fire and become asshes I would now know if this ashes could be knowen of what tree it was or howe a man might know the difference of the one from the other By this comparison I meane to saye that for somuche as the life of this death and the death of this life cōmeth to seke vs out we are all as trees in the orcharde whereby some are knowen by the rootes of their predecessours others by the leaues of their wordes others by the braunches of their frendes some in the floures of their beauty and other some by the barke of their foule skynne The one in their mercifulnes the other in their stoutnes others in their hardines being aged others in the hastines of their youthe others in their barronnes by their pouertie others by their fruitfulnes in ryches fynally in one onely thinge we are all alike that is to wete that all vniuersally goe to the graue not one remaining I aske nowe when death hath done his office executing all earthely men in the latter daies what differēce is there then betwene the faire and the foule whiche lie both in the narrowe graue certainely there is none and if there be any difference it shal be in the making of the graues whiche vayne men inuented And I doe not repent me for calling them vaine since there is no vanitie nor fondnes comparable to this for they are not contented to bee vaine in their liues but will also after their deathes eternise their vanities in sumptuous and stately sepulchres The coale of the Ceder in my opinion that is highe and faire is nothing more whither when it is burnte then the coale of the Oke which is litle and croked I meane oftentimes the gods do permitte that the bones of a poore Philosopher are more honoured then the bones of princes With death I will threathen thee no lenger for sithe thou art geuen to the vices of this life thou wouldest not as yet that with a word it should destroye thee but I will tell thee one worde more though it greue thee to heare it whiche is that the Gods created thee to die men begot thee to die women bare thee to die and thou camste into the worlde for to die to conclude I saye some are borne to daye on condition they die to morow and geue their places to others When the great and fruitfull trees begin to budde forth by the rootes it signifieth that time draweth on for them to cut the drie and wythered braunches I meane that to see children borne in the house is no other but to cite the grandfathers and fathers to the graue If a man would aske me what death is I woulde saye a miserable lake wherin all worldly men are taken For those that most safely thinke to passe it ouer remaine therein moste subtilly deceiued I haue alwayes redde of the auncientes past and haue seene of the younge men present and I suppose that the selfe same will be to come hereafter That when life most swetest semeth to any man then sodainly death entreth in at their dores O immortal gods I can not tell if I may call you cruell I knowe not if I may call you mercifull because you gaue vs fleshe bones honour goodes frendes and also ye geue vs pleasure finally ye geue to men all that they wante saue onely the cuppe of lyfe whiche to your selues you did reserue Since I may not that I would I will that I may but if it were referred to my will I woulde rather one onely day of life then all the ryches of Rome For what auayleth it to toyle and take paine to increase honour and worldly goodes since lyfe daily diminisheth Returning therfore to my first purpose thou must knowe that thou estemest thy selfe and glorifiest in thy personage and beautie I would gladly know of the and of others whiche are yonge and faire if you doe not remember that once ye must come to be olde and rotten For if you thinke you shall lyue but a lytle then reason woulde you shoulde not esteme youre beauties muche for by reason it is a straunge thinge that lyfe shoulde abate vs and folie trayne vs. Yf you thinke to become aged ye ought to remember and alwayes to thinke that the steele of the knyfe whiche dothe muche seruice at length decayeth and is lost for lacke of lokynge to Trulye the yong man is but a new knyfe the whiche in processe of tyme cankerethe in the edge for on one daye he breaketh the poynte of vnderstandynge another he loseth the edge of cuttyng and
and reproue the .40 yeares of an other Ther are many princes tender of yeres but ripe in counsailes and for the countrary there are other princes old in yeares yong in counsailes When the good Emperour Vespasian died they determined to put his sōne Titus in the gouernement of the empire or some other aged Senator because they said Titus was to yong And as they were in controuersie of the matter the Senatour Rogerus Patroclus said vnto the Senate For my parte I require rather a Prince which is yong and sage then I do a prince which is old and foolysh Therfore now as touchyng the children of Theodosius one day Estilconus the tutour of Archadius speaking to a greke philosopher very sage whose name was Epimundus sayde thus vnto him Thou and I long time haue bene acquainted together in the palace of the emperour Theodose my lord who is dead and we ar aliue thou knowest it had bene better that we .2 had died and that he had liued For there be many to be seruauntes of princes but there ar few to be good princes I feele no greater griefe in this world than to know many princes in one realme For the man whiche hath sene many princes in his lyfe hath sene many nouelties and alterations in the common wealth Thou knowest well that when Theodosius my maister died he spake to me these wordes the which wer not spoken without great sighes and multiplienge of teares O Estilconus I dye and am going into an other world wherin I shall giue a streighte accompte of the Realmes and seignories which I had vnder my charge And therfore when I thinke of myne offences I am meruelously afrayed But when I remember the mercy of God then I receiue some conforte and hope As it is but mete we should trust in the greatnes of his mercy so likewise is it reason we should feare the rigour of his iustice For truly in the christian law they are not suffred to liue as we which are Princes that liue in delightes of this world and afterward without repentaunce to goe streighte to Paradyse Then when I thinke of the great benefittes which I haue receiued of God and of the great offences which I haue committed when I thynke of the long tyme I haue lyued and of the litle which I haue profited also that vnprofitably I haue spent my time On the one part I am loath to dye for that I am afrayed to come before the tribunall seate of Iesus Christ and on the other part I would liue no lenger because I do not profit The mā of an euil life why doth he desire to lyue any longer My lyfe is now finished the tyme is shorte to make amendes And sithe god demaundeth nought els but a contrite harte with all my harte I doe repente and appeale to his iustice of mercie from his Iustice to his mercy because it maye please him to receiue me into his house and to giue me perpetuall glorie to the confusion of al my synnes and offences And I protest I dye in the holy catholike faith commend my soule to god my body to the earth to you Estilconus Ruffinus my faithful seruauntes I recōmende my dere beloued children For herby the loue of the childrē is sene in that the father forgetteth thē not at the houre of his death In this case of one only thing I doe warne you one only thing I require you one only thing I desire you one onely thing I cōmaund you that is that you occupye not your mindes in augmentinge the Realmes seignories of my childrē but only that you haue due respect to giue thē good education vertuous seruāts For it was only the wise men which I had about me that thus long haue mainteined me in this great auctoritie It is a goodly thing for a prince to haue stoute captains for the warres but without comparison it is better to keape haue wise men in his palace For in the end the victory of the battaille consisteth in the force of many but the gouernement of the common weale oftentimes is putte vnder the aduise of one alone These so dolefull and pitiefull wordes my lord and maister Theodosius spake vnto me now tell me Epimundus what I should doe at this present to fulfill his commaundement For at his harte he had nothing that troubled him so much as to thinke whether his children would vndoe or encrease the cōmon wealthe Thou Epimundus thou art a Grecian thou art a philosopher thou hast vnderstandyng thou art an olde seruaunt thou arte my faithfull frend therfore for al these thinges thou art bound to giue me good healthful counsaile For many times I haue heard Theodosius my maister say that he is not accompted sage which hath turned the leaues of many bookes but he which knoweth and can geue good healthful counsailes Epimundus the philosopher aunswered to these wordes Thou knowest wel Lord Estilconus that the auncientes and great Philosophers ought to be brief in wordes and very parfect in their workes For otherwise to speake muche worke litle semeth rather to be done like a tyraunt then like a greeke philosopher The Emperour Theodosius was thy Lord and my frend I say frend because it is the libertie of a greeke Philosopher to acknowledge no homage nor seruice to any superiour For he in his hart can haue no true sciēce that to rebuke the viicous kepeth his mouth shut In one thing I cōtent my selfe in Theodose aboue al other princes which were in the Romaine empire and that is that he knew and talked wisely of al his affaires and also was very diligēt to execute the same For all the fault of Princes is that they are prompte bold to talke of vertues and in executing them they are very slacke fearefull For such Princes can not continew in the vertue which they doe commende nor yet resyste the vyce which they do dispraise I graunt that Theodosius was an executour of iustice mercifull stoute sober valiaunt true louyng thankfull and vertuous and finally in all thinges and at all times he was fortunate For fortune oftentimes bringeth that to Princes which they will and desire yea many times better then they looke for Presuppose it to be true as it is most true that the time was alwayes prosperous to the Emperour Theodosius yet I doubte whether this prosperity wil continew in the succession of his children For worldlye prosperitie is so mutable that with one only man in a moment she maketh a thousande shrewde turnes and so much the more it is harde to continue stedfast in the second heyre Of slowe and dull horses come oftentimes couragious and fyerse coltes and euyn so of vertuous fathers come children euill brought vp For the wicked children inherite the worste of the father whiche is ryches and are dysenherited of the best whiche are vertues That whiche I perceyue in this matter as
merite The contrary ought and may be saied of those whych are euill maried whom we wil not cal a compaigny of sayntes but rather a house of deuylles For the wife that hath an euil husbande may say she hath a deuyl in her house and the husband that hath an euil wife let him make accompt that he hath hel it selfe in his house For the euyl wyues are worse then the infernal furyes Because in hel ther are none tormented but the euil only but the euil woman tormeÌ„teth both the good and the euyl Concluding therfore this matter I say also and affirme that betwixt the busband and the wife which are wel maryed is the true and very loue and they only and no others may be called perfite and perpetuall frendes The other parentes and frendes if they do loue and praise vs in our presence they hate vs and dispise vs in our absence Yf they giue vs faire wordes they beare vs euill hartes finally they loue vs in our prosperitye and forsake vs in our aduersity but it is not so amongest the noble and vertuous maried personnes For they loue both within and without the house in prosperity and in aduersitie in pouertie and in riches in absence and in presence seing them selues mery and perceiuing them selues sad and if they do it not trulye they ought to doo it for when the husband is troubled in his foote the wyfe ought to be greued at her hart The fourth commodity of mariage is that the men and women maryed haue more aucthority and grauity then the others The lawes whych were made in old time in the fauour of mariage were many and diuerse For Chapharoneus in the lawes that he gaue to the Egiptians commaunded and ordeyned vpon greuous paynes that the man that was not maried should not haue any office of gouernment in the common wealth And he sayd furder that he that hath not learned to gouerne his house can euil gouerne a commoÌ„ wealth Accordyng to the lawes that he gaue to the Athenians he perswaded al those of the comon wealth to marie themselues voluntarily but to the heddes and captaines which gouerne the affaires of warre he commaunded to marye of necessity sayeng that to men which are lecherous God seldome giueth victories Licurgus the renowmed gouernour and geuer of the lawes of the Lacedemonians commaunded that al captaines of the armyes and the priestes of the Temples should be maried sayeng that the sacrifyces of maried men were more acceptable to the gods then those of any other As Plynie sayth in an epistle that he sent to Falconius his frende rebuking him for that he was not maried where he declareth that the Romaynes in old time had a law that the dictatoure and the Pretor the Censour and the Questor and al the knightes should of necessity be maried for the man that hath not a wife and children legittymate in his house cannot haue nor hold greate aucthority in the common wealth Plutarche in the booke that he made of the prayse of mariage sayth that the priestes of the Romaynes dyd not agre to them that were vnmaried to come and sytte downe in the Temples so that the yong maydens prayed without at the church dore and the yonge men prayed on their knees in the temple only the maried men were permitted to sitte or stande Plynie in an epistle that he wrote to Fabatus hys father in law sayth that the Emperour Augustus had a custome that he neuer suffered any yonge man in his presence to sitte nor permitted any man maried to tel his tale on foote Plutarche in the booke that he made in the prayse of women sayth that since the realme of Corinthe was peopled more with Bachelours then with maried men they ordeyned amongest theym that the man or woman that had not bene maried and also that had not kept chyldren and house if they lyued after a certaine age after their death shoulde not be buried ¶ The aucthoure folowing his purpose declareth that by meanes of maryage many mortal enemyes haue bene made good and parfite frendes Cap. iii. BY the sundry examples that we haue declared and by al that whych remayneth to declare a man may know wel enoughe of what excellency matrimony is not only for the charge of conscience but also for the thinges touching honour for to say the truth the men that in the common wealth are maried giue smal occasion to be sclaundered haue more cause to be honored We cannot denay but that matrimony is troublesome chargeable to them that be maried for two causes The one is in bringing vp their children and the other in suffering the importunityes of their mothers Yet in fiâ—e we caÌ„not deny but that the good vertuous wife is she that setteth a stay in the house and kepeth her husband in estimacion in the common wealth for in the publike affaires they giue more faith and credit vnto those that are charged with children then vnto others that are loden with yeres The fifth commodity that ensueth matrimony is the peace and reconciliacions that are made betwene the enemyes by meanes of mariage MeÌ„ in this age are so couetous so importune and malicious that there are very few but haue enemyes wherby groweth contencion and debate for by our weaknes we fall dayly into a thousande occasions of enimities and scarcely we can find one to bring vs againe into frendship CoÌ„sidering what men desire what thinges they procure and wherunto they aspire I meruaile not that they haue so few frendes but I much muse that they haue no moe enemyes For in thinges of weight they marke not who haue bene their frendes they consider not they are their neighbours neyther they regard that they are christians but their conscience layd a part and honesty set a side euery man seketh for himselfe and his owne affaires though it be to the preiudice of all his neighbours What frendship can ther be amongest proud men since the one wil go before and the other disdayneth to come behind What frendship can ther be amongest enuyous men â–ª since the one purchasseth and the other possesseth what loue can there be betwene two couetous men since the one dare not spend and the other is neuer satisfyed to hourd and heape vp For al that we can reade se go and trauaile and for al that we may do we shall neuer se nor here tell of men that haue lacked enemyes for eyther they be vycious or vertuous Yf they be euil and vycious they are alwayes hated of the good and if they be good and vertuous they are continually persecuted of the euill Many of the auncient philosophers spent a great part of their time lost much of their goodes to serche for remedies and meanes to reconcile them that were at debate contencion to make them by gentlenes good frends and louers Some said that it was good and profitable to forget the enimities for a time for many things
to be simple so that it semeth not that they are mete to vysite the one the other but to loke accuse the one the other It is a straung thing for the sage woman to thinke that she shold take pleasure abroad since she hath her husband at home to whom she may talke hath her children to learne her doughters to teach her family to order and her goodes to gouerne she hath her house to kepe and her parentes whom she ought to please then synce she hath within her house such pastime why do they accept company of straunge men That maryed women should haue priuate frendes and loue to be vysited it foloweth oftentimes that god is offended the husband iniuried and the people slaundered the woman that is maried taketh lytle profite it hindereth the mariage of her that is to mary For in such a case thoughe some desire her for her riches yet mo wyl forsake her for her euyl fame ¶ That women great with child inspecially the Princesses great Ladyes ought to be very circumspect for the daunger of the creatures wherein is shewed many misfortunes happened to women with child in the old tyme for suffering them to haue their willes Cap. ix ONe of the most necessary things for him that taketh in hand any great iorney ouer any daūgerous countries is at that the beginnyng he ought to learne the way which he ought to go for it is a thing no lesse troublesome then perillous that when he should come to rest of necessity he shold be enforced to trauel No man can denay but that mans lyfe is a long and tedious iorney the which beginneth at our birth endeth at our death for in the end to haue a long or short life is none other but to come soner or later to the graue The chiefest folly of al in mine opinion is this that some in their owne opinions thinke they haue counsel enough for others and to all others it semeth that they want for them selues For of right he may be called a foole that condemneth all other as fooles and auaunceth himselfe to be wise Euery man ought to let his neighbour lyue in peace and though he do esteame himselfe to be wise yet he oughte not to thinke his neighbour a foole for ther is none so wyse but that he may occupie it all For we neuer saw any man so wise of himselfe but that he neaded the counsel of an other And if this want be in those that be very old truly it is much more in them that be yong whose fleshe is not dry but grene the bloud not cold but hote no deadly heate but very liuely the bestial mocions not mortifyed but quickned and hereof ensueth that yong men loue their owne aduyce and opynion and dyspise the counsaile of all other When the trees are tender they bynde theym togethers bycause they grow right they brydel the horse when as yet they are but coltes to the end they may be easy hereafter to the brydel They take the haukes in the neast to make them more famyliar when the beastes are litle they take them to teach them I meane that a man ought to instruct his children to the end they may know to liue wel here after I admonish and tel the mothers that haue doughters that ther is no remedy to reforme the euil inclinacion of our children but to teach them and to bring them vp wel in their youth for ther is no wound but is daungerous if in tyme the playster be not layd therunto Returnyng now to our purpose synce that in al thyngs ther is order and measure we wil declare presently how the male child ought to be taught first of al we wil treat how a man ought to prouide when the infant is begotten and when as yet it is alyue in the mothers wombe to the entente Princesses and great Ladyes should lyue very circumspectlye when they know they are conceyued with child I should be excused to speake of this matter since it is not my profession and that as yet I was neuer maried but by that I haue red of some and by that I haue hard of others I will and dare be so bold to say one word For the sage oft times geueth a better accompt of that he hath red then the simple doth of that he hath proued Thys thing seameth to be true betwene the phisicion and the pacient for wher the pacient suffereth the euyl he oft tymes demaundeth the physicion what his sicknes is wher it holdeth him and what it is called and what remedy ther is for his disease so the phisicion knoweth more by his scyence then the pacient by hys exsperience A man ought not to denay that the women and in especially great ladyes know not by experience how they are altered when they are quycke and the great paynes they suffer when they are deliuered we could not denay but that ther is great daunger in the one greate peril in the other but they shal not knowe from whence al commeth and from whence al procedeth and what remedy is necessary For there are many which complayneth of robberyes but they know not what the theaues are that haue robbed them First according to my iudgement and opinyon that which the woman quicke with childe ought to do is that they go softly quietly and that they eschue running eyther in commyng or goyng for though she lytel esteme the helth of her person yet she ought greatly to regard the lyfe of the creature The more precious the licour is and the more weaker the vessell is which conteyneth it so much the more they ought to feare the daunger least the licoure shed and the vessel breake I meane that the complection of women being with child is very delicate and that the soule of the creature is precious therfore it ought with great diligence to be preserued for al the treasure of the Indes is not equal in valewe to that which the woman beareth in her bowelles Whan a man plāteth a vineyard forthwith he maketh a ditch or some fence about it to the end that beastes shold not croppe it while it is yong nor that trauailers shold gather the grapes when they are ripe And if the labourer doth this thing for to get a litel wine only the which for the soule and body is not alwayes profitable how much more circumspection ought the woman to haue to preserue her chyld since she shall render an accompte to the creator of her creature vnto the church of a christyan and vnto her husband of a child In my opinyon wher the accompt at the houre of death is so streight it is requisite that in the time of her life she be circumspect for god knoweth euery thinge so well in oure lyfe that ther is none that can begile hym in rendering hys accompt at his death Ther is no wighte can suffer nor hart dyssemble to see
a man haue hys desire that is to say to haue his wife great with child and redy to bring forth good fruite afterward to se the woful mother through some sodeine accident peryshe the innocent babe not to be borne When the woman is healthful bigge with child she is worthy of great reproch if eyther by runnyng leaping or dauncing any mischaunce hap vnto her And truly the husband hath great cause to lament this case for without doubt the gardiner fealeth great grefe in his hart when in the prime time the tre is loden with blosomes and yet by reason of some sharpe and bitter froste it neuer beareth fruit It is not only euyl that women should runne leape when they are bigge great with chyld but it is also dishonest and specially for great Ladies for alwayes women that be common dauncers are esteamed as light housewiues The wiues in general princesses and great ladies in particuler ought to go temperately to be modest in their mouinges for the modeste gate argueth discretnes in the person Al women naturally desire to be honoured reuerenced touching that I let them know that ther is nothing which in a common wealth is more honor for a woman then to be wise ware in speaking moderate quyet in going For it is vnpossible but that the woman which is lyght in her going and malycious in her talking should be dispised and abhorred In the yere of the foundacion of Rome .466 the romaines sente Curius Dentatus to make warre agaynst king Pirrus who kept the city of Tharent did much harme to the people in Rome for the Romaines had a great corage to conquere straunge realmes therfore they could haue no pacience to suffer any straunger to inuade theirs This Curius Dentatus was he which in the end ouercame king Pirrus was the fyrst that brought the Oliphantes to Rome in his tryumphe wherfore the fiercenes of those beasts astonyed the Romaine people much for they weyed lytel the sight of the kyngs loden with irons but to se the Oliphants as they did they wondered much Curius Dentatus had one only sister the which he intierly loued They wer seuen children two of the which dyed in the warres other thre by pestilence so that ther were none left him but that sister wherfore he loued her with al his hart For the death of vnthriftye children is but as a watch for childrē vnprouided of fauoures This sister of Curius Dentatus was maried to a Romaine consul was conceiued gone .7 moneths with child and the day that her brother triumphed for ioy of her brothers honor she leaped daunced so much that in the same place she was deliuered so vnluckely that the mother toke her death the chyld neuer lyued wherupon the feast of the triumphe ceased and the father of the infant for sorow lost hys speach For the hart which sodainly feleth grefe incontinently loseth vnderstanding Tibullus the Grecian in the third booke De casibus triumphi declareth the hystorie in good stile how and in what sorte it chaunced Nyne yeares after that the kings of Rome weare bannyshed from the rape that Tarquine dyd to the chast Lucretia the Romaine created a dignytie whiche they called DICTATVRA and the Dictatoure that hadde this office was aboue al other lord chiefe for the Romaines perceiued that the common wealth could not be gouerned but by one head alone And because the Dictatour had so great aucthority as the Emperour hath at this present to th end they should not become tirauntes they prouided that the office of the Dictatoursship should last no longer then vi moneths in the yeare the which past and expired they chose another Truly it was a good order that that office dured but vi moneths For oft tymes princes thinkinge to haue perpetual aucthority become necligent in vsing iustice The first dictatour in Rome was Largius Mamillus who was sent against the Volces the which at that time were the greatest enemies to the Romaines for Rome was founded in such a signe that alwayes it was beloued of fewe and abhorred of many As Titus Liuius saith this Largius Mamillus vanquished the Volces triumphed ouer theym in the end of the warre distroyed their mighty citye called Curiola and also distroyed and ouerthrewe many places and fortresses in that prouince for the cruel hartes do not only distroy the personnes but also take vengeaunce of the stones The hurtes which Largius Mamillus did in the country of the Volces were maruelous and the men which he slewe were many and the treasories he robbed were infinite and the captiues which he had in his triumphe were a great nomber amongest whom inespecial he brought captiue a noble mans doughter a beautiful gentlewoman the which he kept in his house for the recreacion of his person for the aunciente Romaines gaue to the people al the treasours to maintayne the warre they toke to them selues al the vycious things to kepe in their houses The case was that this damsel being with child Largius Mamillus brought her to solace herselfe in his orchard wher were sondry yonge fruites and as then not ripe to eate wherof with so great affection she did eate that forthwith she was delyuered in the same place of a creature so that on the one part she was delyuered and on the other part the chylde died This thinge chaunsed in the gardeins of Vulcan two dayes after the triumphe of Largius Mamillus a ruful and lamentable case to declare forasmuch as both the child that was borne the mother that was delyuered and also the father that begat it the selfe same day dyed and were buried all in one graue and this thing was not wythout great waylyng lamenting throughout al Rome For if with teares their lyues myght haue bene restored wythout doubt none of them should haue ben buried The first sonne of Rome which rebelled against rome was Tarquin the proud The second that wythstode Rome being as yet in Lucania was Quintus Marcius The third that went agaynst Rome was the cruel Silla The domages which these thre did to their mother Rome were such and so great that the thre seueral warres of Affricke were nothing to be compared to those thre euil children for those enemyes could scarcely se the walles of Rome but these vnnatural chyldrē had almost not left one stone vpon another A man ought not greatly to esteme those buildings that these tirauntes threw to the ground nor the buildings that they distroyed neither the men that they slew nor the women that they forced ne yet the orphanes which they made but aboue al things we ought to lament for that that they brought into Rome For the comon wealth is not distroyed for lacke of riches sumpteous buildings but because vices abound vertuous want Of these thre Romaynes he whose name was Quintus Marcius had ben consul thrise once Dictatour
foure times Censor and in the end he was with much shame banished from Rome wherwith to reueng this iniury he came with a great power army against Rome for the proud hart wounded with iniury is neuer quiet in his life time vntyl he se his enemyes destroyed or that on them he hath taken vengeance Quintus Marcius being very nigh to the gates of Rome was most instantlye requyred that he wold not distroy his mother Rome but he toke no regard nor would condiscend to any request vntil such time that his mother issewed with a niece of his whom he loued entierly At whose intercession teares he left his anger raised his siege from Rome for many are ouercome soner wyth teares then wyth importunate reasonable requestes The ladies of Rome vsed much to haue their heares long and yellowe and to weare their wastes high and streight And as the Niece of Quintus Marcius was great bigge with child the day that the peace was made betwene Quintus Marcius Rome lacinge her selfe to hard in her attire to seme more proper comely she long before her time was delyuered of a creature the case was so woful vnfortunate that the creature deliuered dyed the mother lost her lyfe and the mother losyng her lyfe sodainlye her graundmother fel dead to the ground through which occasion al the ioy and mirth was turned into sorow sadnes For it is commenly sene when the world is in the greatest ioy then fortune sodainly turneth it into sorow The aucthors hereof are Tibulus and Porphirius both Grecians ¶ The aucthour foloweth and declareth other inconueniences and vnluckye chaunces which haue happened to women with child Chap. x. THe warres of Tarent being ended immedyatly begonne the warres of Carthage of whych so long tedious warres the possession of the Isles of Maiorica Minorica were occasion forsomuch as the one would take it and the other defend it This warre endured wel nyghe the space of 40. yeres for oft tymes the wastes and domages which are done in the warres are greater then the profite for which they contend The first captayne in this warre of the Romaines was Gaius Duellus and the fyrst of the Carthaginiens was Hammon the whych wyth their shyppes fought on the sea of Sicili the whych was very cruel for there they feared both the fury of the sea and also the cruelty of the pike the which two things put mans life in great daūger Of thys cruel battaile the Romaine captaine remayned victorious forasmuch as he drowned 14 shippes and toke other 30. he slew 3. thousande men and brought 3. thousand Carthaginiens prysoners and thys was the first victory that the Romaynes had by sea And that that the Romaynes most reioysed at was that by sea also they remained conquerers The captaine Gaius Duellus departyng from Sicili came to Rome wher he had a sister no lesse vertuous then rych and beautifull in whose house he lodged where he made a costly supper to al the senatours of Rome to al the captaines whiche came wyth hym from the warres for the vicious men knew not wherin to shew their loue to their frendes but by inuiting them to costly bankettes The sister of the captaine Gaius Duellus for ioye of his comming and for the pleasure of the banquet feast which was made in her house did eate more then she was accustomed also more then it behoued one in her case so that in the presence of al she began to annoy the bidden gestes for she not onely vomited out the meate of her stomake but also the bloud of her vaines and therwithal most vnluckely brought forth her fruite which she had in her intrailes wherwith immediatly after the soule departed from the body and so died Truly this case was no lesse lamentable then the others for so much as Gaius lost his sister the husband lost his wife his child the wife the child lost their liues and for that that Rome lost so noble and excellent a Roman aboue al for that it so chaunced in such a time of so great ioy and pleasure For there can come no vnluckier newes then in the time of much mirth to heare tel of any great mischaunce Of this matter mention is made in Blundus in the booke of the declination of the Empire The second warre of Afrike which was betwene Rome and Carthage was the. 540. yeres after the foūdation of Rome wherin were captaines Paulus Emilius and Publius Varro the which two consulles fought the great and famous battaile of Cannas in the prouince of Apulia I say famous because Rome neuer lost such nobilitie and Roman youth as she lost in that day Of these two coūsulles Paulus Emilius in the battaile was slaine and Publius Varro ouercome and the couragious Hannibal remained conquerour of the field wherin died .xxx. senatours and 300. officers of the senate and aboue .xl. thousand fotemen thre thousand horsemen finally the end of al the Romain people had bene that day if Hannibal had had the wit to haue folowed so noble a victory as he had the corage to giue so cruel a battaile A litle before that Publius Varro departed to goe to the warres he was maried to a faire young Romain called Sophia with in seuen monethes she was quicke as newes was brought her that Paulus Emilius was dead her husband ouercome she died sodenly the creature remaining aliue in her body This case aboue al was very pitiful in that that after he him selfe was vanquished that he had sene his compaignion the consul Emilius slaine with so great a numbre of the Romaine people fortune would that with his owne eies he should beholde the intrailes of his wife cut to take out the child likewise to se the earth opened to bury his wyfe Titus Liuius saith that Publius Varro remained so sorowful in his harte to see him self ouercome of his enemies to see his wife so sodainly so vnluckely strikē with death that al the time that his life endured he neither comed his beard slept in bed nor dined at the table hereat we ought not to marueile for a man in his hart may so be wounded in one houre that he shal neuer reioyce all the daies of his life If we put no doubtes in Titus Liuius the Romains had long tedious warres against the Samnites which indured for the space of .lxiii. yeres continually vntill suche time as the consull Ancus Rutillus which was a vertuous man did set a good appointment of peace betwene the Samnites the Romains for the noble stout harts ought always by vertue to bring their enemies to peace These warres therefore being so cruell obstinate Titus Venurius Spurius Posthumius which were Romain captains were ouercom by Pontius the valiant captain of the Samnites who after the victory did a thing neuer sene nor hard of before That is to
wete that al the Romain prisoners whom he toke he put about their necks a yoke wherin were written these wordes In spighte of Rome the Romaines shal be subiect to the yoke of the Sanites Wherwith in dede the Romains were greatly iniuried wherfore they sought stoutly to be reuēged of the Samnites for the hartes that are haughty and proud cannot suffer that others haue their mindes lofty and high The Romaines therfore created to be captaine of the warre one named Lucius Papirius who had cōmissiō to go against the Samnites This Lucius was more fortunate in his doinges then comly of his persone for he was deformed of his face notwithstanding he did so good seruice in the warre fortune fauoured him so wel that he did not onely ouercome vanquishe but also destroied them and though the iniury which the Samnites did to the Romains was great yet truly the iniury which the Romains did to the Samnites was much greater For fortune is so variable that those which yesterday we saw in most prosperitie to day we see in greatest aduersitie This Lucius Papirius therfore did not only vanquishe the Samnites kept them prisoners and made yokes for their neckes but also bounde them with cordes together in suche sorte that they made them plough the grounde drawing twoo and twoo a plough And yet not herewith contented but with gaddes they pricked and tormented them If the Samnites had had pitie of the Romains being ouercome the Romaines likewise would haue taken compassion of them when they were conquerers And therefore the prosperous haue as muche nede of good councel as the miserable haue nede of remedy For the man whiche is not mercifull in his prosperitie ought not to meruaile though he finde no frendes in his necessitie This Lucius Papirius had a doughter maried to a senatour of Rome who was called Torquatus and she was called Ypolita And about the time that she shold haue bene deliuered she went foorth to receiue her father the which she ought not to haue done for the throng of the people in receiuing him being great she her selfe being great with childe by a heuy chaunce as she would haue passed in at a narrowe gate she was so preste in the throng that she chaunged her life for death her father turned his mirth ioy into sorow sadnes For he toke the death of his doughter very heauely so much the more because it was so sodeine I say he tooke it heauily since he was so stoute a man so sage withal that al Rome thought muche that any such sodaine chaunce should haue dismaied so wise a man that of his wisedome he could take no profite but hereat let no man marueile for there are many that hath hartes to shed the bloud of their enemies yet can not withhold the teares of their eies Annius Seuerus in the third booke De infelice fortuna saith that the day that this woful mishap chaunced to Lucius Papirius he lift vp his eies to the heauens weping said O fortune deceiuoure of all mortall men thou madest me to conquere in warre to thintent thou wouldest ouercome me in peace My mynde was to declare vnto you all these auncient histories to the end all may knowe how tender and delicate women with childe are and howe diligent their husbandes ought to be to preserue them since there is nothing so tender to be kept nor any glasse so easy to be broken For there is much glasse that though it fall to the grounde yet it doth not breake but a woman with childe only for treading her foote a wry we see with daunger to be deliuered ¶ That women great with childe and especially princesses and great ladies ought to be gently vsed of their husbandes Cap. xi IF we vnderstand the chapter before we shal finde that womē with child haue bene in great daungers some through leaping some by dauncing other by eatinge others by banquetinge others through gaddinge other by straight lacing al this proceadeth through their owne follies that seeketh to be destroyers of their own bodies Truly herein princesses great ladies are worthy of great rebuke when through their owne follies they are not safely deliuered of their creatures And I would gladly they toke example not only of reasonable men but also of brute beastes for there is no beaste so brute in the wylde mountaines but escheweth that which to his life death wil be hurtful The Beares the Lionesse the wolles neuer issue our of their caues dennes so long as they be bigge this they do to auoide the daunger of the hunters because at that time they woulde not be coursed Then since these thinges are done by brute beastes whose yonglinges are always hurtful to men to thintent that their gredy whealpes might safely be brought forth to deuour our innocent cattel how much more then ought the womā to be careful for her fruite which is the increase of Christian congregation If women brought not forth and children were not borne though there be earth yet there should be none to people it for god created al things to serue the creature created the creatures to serue their creator Let women with child take example by the chessenuttes and walnuttes howe in what sorte they defende their fruite after that of their blosomes they are depriued for the chessenut tree defendeth his fruite with a rough hard huske the walnut kepeth her fruite with a thicke shale in like maner so that the water can not wette them nor the wynde shake them Nowe since that the trees whiche haue but a vegetatiue lief and the beastes a sensitiue lief take suche hede to them selues when they feele them ready to bryng foorth their fruite much more women with childe ought to take hede to them selues since they haue reason and vnderstanding least through their negligence the creature should perish Let euery man iudge how litle he looseth whē he looseth nuts and chessenuts and for the contrary let euery man iudge what the churche looseth when the woman with child do not bring forth their fruite into the light of baptisme For our mother the holy churche bewayleth not for that the vines are frosen but for the soules whiche are lost To the ende that the man may see the fruitfull blessing whiche he desireth and that the woman with child may see her self wel deliuered the husband ought to beware that he enforceth her not much to labour and the woman likewise ought to be circumspect that she take not to muche idlenes For in women with childe this is a general rule that to much traueile causeth them before their time to deliuer to much idlenes putteth them in daunger The man is cruell that wil haue his wife trauaile take as muche paines when she is bigge as he would haue her at an other time whē she is not with child for the man which is clothed can not runne
Carthage had as great priuileges as now our sanctuaries haue for the safegard of misdoers for in times past al such offēdours as could enter into the house wher a woman lay in child bed should haue ben free frō correction of iustice As Fronto saith in his booke of the veneration of the gods the Galloys Transalpins did not only honour reuerence the womē with child but also with much care diligence watched her deliuery for it litle auaileth the shippe to haue passed safe the daungerous seas if at the shore she be cast away The case was in this sort that al the auncient gentils honoured some gods in their temples kept other in their houses the which were called Lares Penates when any woman began to labour eche neighbour brought his familiar god vnto her to present her with all because they thought that the more gods there were of so much more power they were to kepe her frō perils Speaking like a christian truly those gods were of small value since they could not helpe the woman safely to be deliuered that was in trauaile ¶ What the Philosopher Pisto was and of the rules he gaue concerning women with childe Cap. xii IN the tyme of Octauian the Emperour was a phylosopher called Pisto whiche was of the secte of Pithagoras and when Rome florished he was very familiar with the Emperour Octauian and welbeloued of all the people whiche ought not to be a litle estemed for he which of the prince is most fauoured commonly of the people is moste hated This Emperour Octauian was a prince very desirous of all vertuous thinges so that when he dyned with his captaines he spake of warre when he supped with the sages he reasoned of sciences and he that vttered any dishonest or idle worde in his presence he alwayes afterward toke him as his enemy This Pisto was very graue in weightie affaires very pleasaunt in slentes and iestes ofte times he was demaunded many questiōs of the Emperour whereof the answers of some according to the demaundes and questions here foloweth The Emperour said to Pisto of all these that liueth whom takest thou to be moste foole to whom the Philosopher aunswered In my opinion I take him to be moste foole of whose worde there commeth no profite for truly he is not so very a foole that slingeth stones into the winde as he that vttereth vayne wordes Tell me Pisto whom ought we of right to desire to speake and whom of right to commaunde to be silent he aunswered It is good when speache doth profite and good to kepe silence when speache is hurtfull for the one desiring to mainteine the good and the other to defende the euil warres beginne throughout all the worlde Tell me Pisto from what thing ought the fathers moste to kepe their children he sayd In my opiniō parentes ought in nothing to watche so much as to kepe them from being vicious for the father ought rather to haue his sonne die well then to liue euill Tell me Pisto what shall man do if he be brought to this extremitie that if he speake truthe he condempneth him selfe and if he make a lie he saueth him selfe The vertuous man saide he ought rather to chose to be ouercome by truthe then to ouercome by lies for it is vnpossible that a man which is a lier should continue long in prosperitie Tell me Pisto what shall man doe to obtaine reste he aunswered As I thinke the man can not haue reste vnlesse he forsake worldly affaires for the menne that are occupied with weightie affaires can not be without great cares are alwayes accompanied of great troubles Tell me Pisto wherein a man sheweth him selfe to be most wyse he aunswered There is no greater profe to knowe a wyse man then if he be paciēt to suffer the ignoraunt for in suffering an iniury the harte is more holpen by wysedome then by knowledge Tell me Pisto what is that thing that the vertuous man may lawfullye desire he aunswered All that that is good so that it be not to the preiudice of any other may honestly be desired but in my opinion that onely ought to be desired whiche openly without shame may be demaunded Tell me Pisto what shal men doe with their wiues when they are great with child to cause that the child in safetie may be deliuered he aunswered In the world there is nothyng more perylous then to haue the charge of a woman with child For if the husbande serue her he hath payne trauaile and if perchaunce he doe not contente her she is in daunger In this case the wiues of Rome and their husbandes also oughte to be very diligent and to the thinges folowyng more careful the which I shew them more for counsell then for commaundement For good coūsell ought to haue as much auctoritie in the vertuous as the commaundement hath in the vitious Thou Octauian as thou arte a mercifull and a pitieful Emperour and that kepest thy Nece Cossucia great with childe I know thou desirest that she had presentely good and luckye deliuery and that she were deliuered of her paine all the whyche thou shalte see if thou doest marke these thynges that I will shew the here folowynge First the woman oughte to beware of dauncing leapinge and running for leaping oftentimes maketh man to loose his speache and women with childe to loose their life wherfore it is not reason that the folly of the mother should be permitted to put in hazarde the lyfe of the childe The secound the woman beyng with child ought to beware that she be not so hardye to enter into gardeyns wher there is much frute and that for eating to many she be not yll deliuered for it is no reason that the likerousnes of the mother be punished with the death of the childe The third the woman with child ought to beware of ouer harde lacing herselfe about the midle for many Roman Dames for to seme propre doe weare their gownes so streighte that it is an occasion to kyll their creatures which is a heynous mater that the yonge babe should loose hys lyfe bycause his mother shoulde seme pretye The fourth the women with child ought to beware of eating in a great banket for oftetimes there commeth a sodayne deliueraunce only through eating without measure and it is not mete that for tastinge a thyng of litell value the mother and the child should both loose their liues The fifte the woman beyng with child ought to beware that she giueth no eare to any sodayne newes For she is in more daunger for hearynge a thing that greueth her then for suffering long sicknes that paineth her and it were vniust that for knowing of a trifeling matter the mother that is to be deliuered the child that is to be borne should both in one momēt perish The sixte the woman with child ought to beware that she go not by any meanes to any feastes wher ther
dothe determine to drie and shut vp the fountaines of milke whiche nature hath geuen her she ought to be very diligent to serch out a good nource the which ought not only to content her self to haue her milke whole but also that she be good of lyfe For otherwise the child shall not haue so muche profit by the milke which he sucketh as the nource shall do it harme if she be a woman of an euil life I do aduise princesses and great dames that they watche diligently to know what their nources are before they commytte their children to them for if such nources be euil and slaundered they are as serpentes which do byte the mother with their mouth and do stinge the child with her taile In my opinion it were lesse euill the mother should suffer that her childe should perish in deliuering it then for to kepe in her house an euill woman For the sorow of the death of the child is forgotten and brought to nought in time but the slaunder of her house shall endure as long as she liueth Sextus Cheronensis sayeth that the Emperour Marcus Aurelius commaunded his sonne to be broughte vp of a woman the which was more faire then vertuous And when the good Emperour was aduertised therof he dyd not only send her from his pallace but also he banished and exyled her froÌ„ Rome swering that if she had not nouryshed his sone with her pappes he woulde haue commaunded her to haue bene torne in pieces with beastes For the woman of an euil renowme may iustly be condempned and put to death Princesses and great ladies ought not greatlye to passe whether the nources be faire or foule for if the milk be swete whyt and tender it littel skilleth though the face of the nource be whit or blacke Sextus Cheronensis saieth in the booke of the nourture of children that euen as the blacke earth is more fertill then is the white earthe so likewise that woman which is browne in couÌ„tenaunce hath alwaies the most substaunciall milke Paulus Diaconus in hys greatest history sayeth that the Emperour Adocerus did mary him selfe with the daughter of an other emperour his predecessour called Zeno the Empresse was called Arielna The whych in bringing forth a Sonne had a woman of Hungarye marueylous fayre to nourishe it the case succeded in such sorte that the nource for being faire had by that emperour .iii. children the one after the other his wofull wife neuer had any but the first alone A man ought to beleue that the empresse Arielna did not only repent her selfe for taking into her house so faire a nource but also was sory that euer she had any at all syth the rybald therby was mystresse in the house she remained without husband all her life I do not say it for that ther are not many foule women vitious nor yet because ther are not many faire women vertuous but that princesses and great ladies accordyng to the qualities of their husbandes ought to be profitable and tender nources to bring vp their childreÌ„ For in this case there are some men of so weake coÌ„plection that in seyng a litell cleane water immediatly they dye to drinke therof Let therfore this be the first couÌ„sell in chousing nources that the nource before she enter into the house be examined if she be honest vertuous For it is a tryfell whether the nource be faire or foule but that she be of a good life and of an honest behauiour Secondarily it is necessary that the nource which nourisheth the child be not only good in the behauiour of her life but also it is necessary that she be hole as touching the bodily health For it is a rule vnfallible that of the milke which we do suck in our infancy dependeth all the corporall health of our life A child geueÌ„ to the nource to nourish â–ª is as a tree remoued froÌ„ one place to an other And if it be so as in dead it is it behoueth in al pointes that if the earth wher in it shal be new put were no better that at the lest it be not worse for thys should be a great crueltie that the mother beyng hole strong and well disposed should geue her child to a leane womaÌ„ to nource which is feable sore and diseased Princesses and great laâ—es do chose leane womâ—n weake and sycke for to nourishe their infantes And in that they do fayle it is not for that they would erre but it is bycause that such feable and weake nources by a vaine desire they haue to be nources in a gentilmaÌ„s house on the one part they say they will litel money on the other parte they do make great sutes What a thing is it when a princesse or a noble woman is deliuered of a child to se the deuyses of other women among them selues who shal be the nource and how those the whyche neuer nourished their owne children do preserue the milke to nouryshe the children of others To procure this thing for women â–ª me thinketh it proceadeth of aboundaunce of folly and to condescend to their requestes me thinketh it is for wante of wisedome They looke not alwayes to the manners and habilitie of the nource how apte she is to nource their childe but how diligent she is in procurynge to haue it to nourishe They care not greately whether they be good or no for if the firste be not good they will take the second and if the second pleaseth them not they will haue the thirde and so vpwardes vntill they haue founde a good nource But I let you to wete you princesses and great ladies that it is more daunger for the children to chaunge diuerse mylkes then vnto the old men to eate dyuerse meates Wee see dayly by experience that without coÌ„parison there dieth more children of noble women then children of women of the meaner estate And we will not say that it is for that they do flatter their children more nor for that the wiues of labourers do eate fine meates but that it chauÌ„ceth oft times that the children of a poore woman doth neither eat nor drinke but of one kinde of meate or milke in .ii. yeares and the childe of a Ladye shall chaung and alter .iii. nources in .ii. monethes If princesses and great ladies were circumspect in chousing their nources and that they did loke whether they were hole without diseases and honest in their maners and would not regarde so much the importunitie of their sutes the mothers should excuse them selues from many sorowes the children likewise should be deliuered from many diseases One of the most renowmed princes in times past was Titus the sonne of Vaspasyan and brother of Domitian Lampridius saieth that this good Emperour Titus the most parte of his lyfe was subiect to greuous diseases and infirmities of his persoÌ„ne and the cause was for that when he was yong he was geuen to a syck nourse to be nourished so that
and the house wherein she dwelleth euell combred For suche one doeth importune the lorde trobleth the ladye putteth in hazard the childe and aboue all is not contented with her selfe Finallye fathers for geuynge to much libertie to their nources oftetimes are the cause of many practises which they do wherwith in the end they are greued with the death of their children which foloweth Amongest all these which I haue red I saye that of the auncient Romaine princes of so good a father as Drusius Ge manicus was neuer came so wycked a sonne as Caligula was beyng the fourth Emperour of Rome for the historiographers were not satisfyed to enryche and prayse the excellencies of hys father neither ceased they to blame and reprehende the infamyes of his sonne And they say that hys naughtines proceadeth not of the mother which bare hym but of the nource which gaue hym sucke For oftimes it chaunceth that the tree is grene and good when it is planted and afterwardes it becommeth drye and wythered only for beyng caryed into another place Dion the greke in the second boke of Cesars sayeth that a cursed woman of Campania called Pressilla nouryshed and gaue sucke vnto thys wycked childe She had agaynst al nature of women her breastes as heary as the berdes of men and besides that in runnyng a horse handelyng her staffe shoting in the Crosbowe fewe yong men in rome were to be compared vnto her It chaunced on a time that as she was geuyng sucke to Caligula for that she was angry she tore in peces a yong child with the bludde there of annoynted her breastes and so she made Caligula the yong childe to sucke together both blud and milke The sayed Dion in hys booke of the lyfe of this Emperour Caligula sayeth that the women of Campania whereof the sayed Prescilla was had this custome that when they would geue their teat to the childe firste they dyd anoynte the nipple with the bludde of a hedge hogge to the end their children myght be more fyerce and cruell And so was this Caligula for he was not contented to kyll a man onely but also he sucked the bludde that remayned on his swerde and lyked it of with his tong The excellent Poet Homer meanyng to speake playnely of the crueltyes of Pirrus sayed in his Odisse of him suche wordes Pirrus was borne in Grece nourished in Archadye and brought vp with tigers milke whiche is a cruel beast As if more plainelye he had sayed Pirrus for beyng borne in Grece was Sage for that he was brought vp in Archadie he was strong and couragyous and for to haue sucked Tigars milke he was veray proude and câ—uell Hereof maye be gathered that the great Gretian Pirrus for wantinge of good milke was ouercome with euell condicions The selfe same historian Dion sayeth in the lyfe of Tiberius that he was a great dronckarde And the cause herof was that the nource dyd not onelye drynke wyne but also she weined the child with soppes dypped in wyne And wythout doubte the cursed woman had done lesse euill if in the steade of milke she had geueÌ„ the child poison wythout teachinge it to drinke wine wherfore afterwardes he lost his renowme For truly the Romayne Empire had lost lytell if Tiberius had died beyng a child and it had wonne muche if he had neauer knowen what drinkyng of wyne had mente I haue declared all that whyche before is mencioned to thentente that Princesses and great Ladyes myghte be aduertised that sinse in not nouryshyng their children they shewe them selues crewel yet at the least in prouidyng for them good nourses they should shew them selues pitifull For the children oftetymes folow more the condicion of the milke which they sucke then the condicion of their mothers whyche broughte them forth or of thâ—ir fathers whych begot them Therfore they oughte to vse much circumspectioÌ„ herin for in them consisteth the fame of the wyues the honoure of the husbande and the wealth of the children Of the disputations before Alexander the great concernyng the time of the suckyng of babes Chap. xxii QVintus Curtius sayeth that after the great Alexander whych was the last kyng of the Macedonians and first Emperour of the grekes hadde ouercome kynge Darius and that he sawe hym selfe onely lorde of all Asia he went to rest in babylon for among menne of warre there was a custome that after they had ben long in the warres euery on should retire to his owne house King Philip whych was father of kyng Alexander always councelled his sonne that he should lead with him to the warres valiaunt captaines to conquere the world and that out of his realmes and dominioÌ„s he should take chose the wysest men and best experimented to gouerne the empire He had reason in such wyse to councell hys sonne for by the councell of Sages that is kept and mainteined whych by the strengthe of valiaunt men is gotten and wonne Alexander the great therefore beyng in Babilon after he had conquered all the countrye since all the citye was vitious and hys armye so long without warres some of his owne men began to robbe one another others to playe their owne some to force women and others to make banquettes and feastes and when some were droncke others raysed quarels striffes and dyscentions so that a man could not tell whether was greater the ruste in their armours or the corruptions in their customes For the property of mans malice is that when the gate is open to idlenes infynite vyces enter into the house Alexander the great seing the dyssolution which was in his armye and the losse which myght ensewe hereof vnto his great empire commaunded streightly that they should make a shew and iuste thoroughe Babilon to the end that the men of warre should excersise their forces thereby And as Aristotle sayethe in the booke of the questions of Babylon the turney was so muche vsed amongest them that sometimes they caryed awaye more dead and wounded men then of a bloudy battaile of the enemy Speaking accordyng to the law of the gentiles whiche loked not glorie for their vertues nor feared hell to dye at the torney the commendemant of Alexander was veray iuste for that doyng as he dyd to the armye he defaced the vyce whych dyd wast it and for him selfe he got perpetuall memorye and also it was cause of muche suretye in the common weale This good Prince not contented to excersise his armye so but ordeined that daily in his presence the philosophers should dispute and the question wherin they shold dyspute Alexander him selfe would propounde â–ª wherof folowed that the great Alexander was made certayne of that wherin he doubted and so by his wisedom all men exercysed their craftes and wittes For in this tyme of idlenes the bokes wer no lesse marred with dust because they were not opened then the weapons were with rust which were not occupied There is a booke of Aristotle intituled the
questions of Babilon where is sayed that Alexander propounded the Philosophers disputed the pryncipalles of Persia replied and Aristotle determined And so continued in disputations as long as Alexander dyd eate for at the table of Alexander one day the captaines reasoned of matters of warre and another day the Philosophers dysputed of their philosophie Blundus sayeth in the booke intituled Italia Illustrata that amonge the Princes of Persia their was a custome that none could sit downe at the table vnlesse he were a kyng that had ouercome an other kyng in battaile none coulde speake at their table but a Philosopher And truly the custome was veray notable and worthy to be noted for there is no greater follie then for any manne to desire that a Prince shoulde reward him vnlesse he know that by hys workes he had deserued the same Kynge Alexander dyd eate but one meale in the daye and therefore the firste question that he propounded vnto them was That the man which did not eate but once in the day at what houre it was best to eate for the health of his personne and whether it shold be in the mornyng none dayes or nyght This question was debated among the philosophers wherof euery one to defend his opinion alleaged many foundacions For no lesse care haue the Sages in their mindes to issewe out of them disputations victorious then the valiaunt captaines haue in aduenturing their persones to vanquyshe theyr enemyes It was determined as Aristotle maketh mētion in his Probleames that the man whyche eateth but once in the daye shoulde eate a litell before nyght for it auayleth greatly to the health of the body that when the digestion beginneth in the stomacke a man taketh hys first steape The second question that Alexander propounded was what age the child should haue when he should be weyned from the dugge And the occasion of this question was for that he had begoten a yong doughter of a Quene of the Amazones the whiche at that tyme dyd suche and for to knowe whether it were tyme or not to weyne her there was great dysputations For the childe was nowe great to sucke and weake to weyne I haue declared this history for no other purpose but to shew howe in Babilon this question was disputed before kyng Alexander that is to wete how many yeares the chyld ought to haue before it were weyned from the teate for at that tyme they are so ignoraunt that they cannot demaunde that that is good nor cōplaine of that whych is nought In that case a man ought to know as the tymes are variable and the regions and prouynce dyuers so lykewyse haue they sondrye wayes of bryngynge vp and nouryshyng their chyldren For there is asmuche dyfference betwene the contryes of one from the contries of others in dyeng and buryeng the dead bodyes as there hath ben varyeties in the worlde by waye of nouryshyng and bryngyng vp of children Of sondrye kindes of sorceries charmes and witchecraftes whych they in olde time vsed in geuing their children sucke the which Christians ought to eschewe Chap. xxiii IT is not muche from our purpose if I declare here some olde examples of those whych are paste Strabo in hys boke de situ Orbis sayeth that after the Assirians whych were the first that reigned in the world the Siconians had signorie whych lōge tyme after were called Archades whych were great and famous wrastlers and scolemasters at the fence from whom came the best and first masters of fence the whyche the Romaynes kepte alwayes for their playes for as Trogus Pompeius sayeth the romaynes founde it by experience that ther wer no better men in weighty affaires then those of Spaine nor no people apter to plaies and pastimes then those of Archadia As those Siconians were auncient so they were marueilously addicted to follyes and superstitious in theyr vsages and customes for among other they honored for their god the Moone And duryng the time that she was sene they gaue their children sucke imagenyng that if the Moone shyned vpon the breastes of the mother it would do much good vnto the child The auctour herof is Sinna Catullus in the boke De educandis pueris And as the same historian sayeth the egiptians were great enemyes to the Siconians so that all that whych the one dyd alowe the others dyd reproue as it appereth For asmuche as the Siconians loued oliues and achornes they were clothed with lynnen and worshypped the Moone for theyr god The Egiptians for the contrary had no olyues neyther they nourished any okes they dyd were no lynnen they worshypped the sonne for their god and aboue all as the Siconians dyd geue theyr chyldren sucke whyles the Moone dyd shyne so the egyptians gaue theyr chyldred sucke whyles the sonne dyd shyne Amonge other folyes of the Caldians this was one that they honoured the fier for their god so that he that was not maried could not lighte fier in hys house bycause they sayed the custodye of Goddes shoulde be committed to none but to maryed and auncient men They had in mariages suche order that the daye when any children dyd marie the priestes came into his house to lyghte new fier the which neuer ought to be put out vntill the houre of his death And if perchaunce during the life of the husband and of the wife they should finde the fier ded and put out the mariage betwene them was dede and vndone yea thoughe they had ben .xl. yeares togethers before in such sorte And of this occasion came the prouerbe which of many is redde and of fewe vnderstanded that is to wete prouoke me not so muche that I throwe water into the fier The Chaldeans vsed such wordes when they woulde deuorce and seperate the mariage for if the woman were ill contented with her husbande in castinge a lytel water on the fier immediatelye she myghte marye with another And if the husbande in lyke maner dyd putte oure the fier he mighte with another woman contracte mariage I haue not bene maried as yet but I suppose there are manye christians whych wysheth to haue at this present the liberty of the Caldes for I am wel assured there are manye men which would cast water on the fier to escape from their wiues also I sweare that their would be a number of women whiche would not onely put out the fier but also the ashes imbers coles to make thē selues fre and to be dyspatched of their husbandes and inespecially from those whiche are ielous Therfore returnyng to oure matter the Chaldeans made before the fier all notable thinges in their lawe as before their God For they dyd eate before the fier they slepte before the fier They did contracte before the fier and the mothers dyd neuer geue the children sucke but before the fier For the milke as they imagined dyd profite the child when it sucked before the fier which was their god The aucthour of this that is spoken is
be beleued for the saying of the graue authours on the one parte and by that we dayly see on the other parte For in the ende it is more pleasure to heare a man tell mery tales hauing grace and comlines in his wordes then to heare a graue man speake the truthe with a rude and rough tongue I haue founde in many wrytinges what they haue spoken of Pithagoras and his doughter but none telleth her name saue only in a pistle that Phalaris the tyraunt wrate I fouÌ„d this word written where he saith Polichrata that was the doughter of the philosopher Pithagoras was young and exceading wyse more faire then riche and was so much honoured for the puritie of her life and so high estemed for her pleasaunt tongue that the worde which she spake spinning vpon her distaffe was more estemed then the philosophy that her father red in the schole And he sayd more It is so great a pitie to see and heare that women at this present are in their life so dishonest in their tongues so malicious that I haue greater pleasure in the good renowme of one that is dead then in the infamie of all them which are aliue For a good woman is more worth with her distaffe spinning then a hundred euel queenes with their roiall scepters reigning By the wordes which Phalaris saied in his letter it seamed that this doughter of Pithagoras was called Polichrate Pithagoras therefore made many commentaries as wel of his owne countrey as of straungers In the end he died in Mesopotamia where at the houre of his death he spake vnto his doughter Polichrate saied these wordes I see my doughter that the houre wherein I must ende my life approcheth The Gods gaue it me and nowe they wil take it from me nature gaue me birth now she geueth me death the earth gaue me the body and now it retourneth to ashes The woful fatall destinies gaue me a litle goodes mingled with manie trauailes so that doughter of all thinges which I enioyed in this world I cary none with me for hauing all as I had it by the waye of borowyng nowe at my death eche man taketh his owne I die ioyfully not for that I leaue thee riche but for that I leaue thee learned And in token of my tender harte I bequethe vnto the al my bookes wherin thou shalt finde the treasure of my trauailes And I tel thee that that I geue thee is the riches gotten with mine owne sweat and not obtained to the preiudice of an other For the loue I beare vnto thee doughter I pray thee and by the immortall gods I coniure thee that thou be such so good that althoughe I die yet at the least thou mayst kepe my memory for thou knowest wel what Hoâ—ere saieth speaking of Achilles and Pirrus that the good life of the childe that is aliue keapeth the renowme of the father that is dead These were the wordes which this philosopher spake vnto his doughter lieng in his death bed And though perhaps he spake not these wordes yet at the least this was the meaning As the great poet Mantuan saieth king Euander was father of the giant Pallas and he was a great frende of king Eneas he vaunted him selfe to discend of the linage of the Troyans and therfore when king Eneas prince Turnus had great warres betwene them which of them should haue the princesse Lauinia in mariage the which at that time was only heire of Italy king Euander ayded Eneas not only with goodes but also sending him his owne sonne in persone For the frendes ought for their true frendes willingly to shed their bloud in their behalfe without demauÌ„ding thei ought also to spend their goods This king Euander had a wyfe so well learned that that which the Grekes saied of her semeth to be fables That is to say of her eloquence wisdome for they say that if that which this woman wrote of the warres of Troye had not bene through enuy cast into the fire the name of Homere had at this day remained obscure The reason hereof is because the woman was in the time of the destruction of Troy and wrate as a witnes of sight These wordes passed betwene the Romaine Calphurnius and the poet Cornificius I desire to declare the excellency of those fewe auncient women as wel Grekes as Latines Romaines to thintent that princesses and great ladies may knowe that the auncient women were more esteamed for their sciences then for their beauties Therefore the princesses and great Ladies ought to thinke that if they be women they were also in lyke maner and if they be frayle the others were also weake If they be maried the other also had husbandes if they haue their wylles the other had also what they wanted if they be tender the others were not strong Finally they ought not to excuse them selues saying that for to learne women are vnmete For a woman hath more abilitie to learne sciences in the scholes then the Parate hath to speake wordes in the cage In my opinion princesses great ladies ought not to esteame theÌ„selues more then an other for that they haue fairer heares then other or for that they are better appareled then an other or that they haue more ryches then an other But they ought therfore to esteame them selues not for that they can doe more then others To say the truth the faire and yelow heares the riche and braue apparel the great treasures the sumptuous palaces and strong buildinges these and other like pleasures are not guides and leaders to vertues but rather spies scout watches for vices O what a noble thinge were it that the noble ladies would esteme them selues not for that they can doe but for that that they knowe For it is more commendation to knowe howe to teache twoo philosophers then to haue authoritie to commaunde a hundred knightes It is a shame to write it but it is more pitie to see it that is to wete to read that we read of the wisdome and worthines of the auncient matrones paste and to see as we doe see the frailenes of these younge ladies present For they coueted to haue disciples both learned and experimented and these of this present desire nothing but to haue seruauntes not only ignoraunt but deceitful and wicked And I do not marueile seing that which I se that at this present in court she is of litle value lest estemed among ladies which hath fairest seruauntes is lest enterteined of gentlemen What shall I say more in this matter but that they in times past striue who should write better compile the best bookes and these at this presente doe not striue but who shal haue the richest and most sumptuous apparel For the ladies thinke it a iolier matter to weare a gown of a new fachion then the auncientes did to read a lesson of philosophie The auncient ladies striue whiche of them was
wisest but these of our daies cōtend who shal be fairest For at this day the ladies would chose rather to haue the face adorned with beautie then the heart endued with wisedome The auncient ladies contented which should be better able to teache others but these ladies nowe a daies contend how they may moste finely apparel them selues For in these daies they geue more honour to a woman richely appareled then they geue to an other with honestie beautified Finally with this worde I doe conclude and let him marke that shall reade it that in the olde time women were such that their vertues caused al men to kepe silence and now their vices be such that they cōpell al men to speake I will not by this my word any man should be so bolde in generally to speake euil of all the ladies for in this case I sweare that there are not at this day so many good vertuous women in the world but that I haue more enuy at the life they lead in secreat then at al the sciences whiche the auncient women red in publike Wherfore my pen doth not shewe it selfe extreme but to those which onely in sumptuous apparell and in vayne wordes do consume their whole lyfe and to those whiche in readyng a good boke wold not spend one only houre To proue my intencion of that I haue spoken the aboue written suffiseth But to the ende princesses and great ladies maye se at the lest howe muche better it shal be for them to know litel then to haue and possesse much and to be able to do more I will remembre thē of that whych a Romaine woman wrate to her children wherby they shal perceyue how eloquent a woman she was in her sayinges and how true a mother in her counsel For in the end of her letter she perswadeth her children to the trauailes of the warre not for any other cause but to auoyd the pleasures of Rome Of the worthines of the ladye Cornelia and of a notable epistle she wrote to her .ii. sonnes which serued in the warres Tyberius and Caius diswadyng them from the pleasures of rome and exorting them to endure the trauailes of warre Chap. xxxi ANnius Rusticus in the boke of the antiquities of the Romaines saith that in Rome ther wer .v. principal linages that is to wete Fabritij Torquatij Brutij Fabij and Cornelij thoughe there were in Rome other newe linages wherof ther were many excellent personages yet alwayes these which came of the .v. linages were kept placed and preferred to the first offices of the common wealth For Rome honored those that were present in such sort that it was without the preiudice of those that are gone Amongest those .v. linages the romaines alwayes counted the Cornelij most fortunat the which were so hardy and couragious in fight and so modest in lyfe that of theyr familie there was neuer found any cowardly man in the feld nor any defamed woman in the towne They saye of this linage of the Cornelij amonge many other there were .iiii. singular and notable women among the whiche the chiefe was the mother of Gracchi whose name was Cornelia and liued with more honour for the sciences she red in Rome then for the conquestes that her children had in Affricke Before her children wer brought into the empire they talked of none other thing but of their strēgth hardines throughout all the worlde and therfore a Romaine one daye asked this woman Cornelia wherof she toke most vaine glory to se her selfe mistres of so many disciples or mother of so valiant children The lady Cornelia aunswered I doe esteme the science more whiche I haue learned then the Children whyche I haue brought forth For in the end the children kepe in honour the lyfe but the disciples continue the renowne after the death And she sayd further I am assured that the disciples dayly will waxe better and better and it maye bee that my Children wil waxe worse and worse The desyres of yong men are so variable that they daily haue newe inuentions With one accord all the wryters do greatly commende this woman Cornelia inespecially for being wyse and honest and furthermore bycause shee red philosophy in Rome openlye And therfore after her death they set vp in Rome a Statue ouer the gate Salaria whereupon there was grauen this Epigrame This heape of earth Cornelie doth encloose Of wretched Gracches that loe the mother was Twyse happye in the sckollers that she choose Vnhappye thrise in the ofspringe that she has AMong the latines Cicero was the Prince of al the Romaine rethorike and the chiefest with his pen inditing of Epystles yet they say that he did not only se the writinges of this Cornelia but red them and did not onely read them but also with the sentences therof profited him selfe And hereof a man ought not to meruaile for there is no man in the world so wise of him selfe but may furder his doynges with the aduice of another Cicero so highly exalted these writinges that he said in his rethorike these or such other like wordes If the name of a woman had not bleamyshed Cornelia truly she deserued to be head of all philosophers For I neuer sawe so graue sentences procede from so fraile flesh Since Cicero spake these wordes of Cornelia it can not be but that the writinges of such a woman in her time were very liuely and of great reputacion yet notwithstāding there is no memory of her but that an author for his purpose declareth an epistel of this maner Sextus Cheronensis in his booke of the prayse of women reciteth the letter whiche she sente to her children She remaynyng in Rome and they beyng at the warres in Affrike The letter of Cornelia to her .ii. sonnes Tiberius and Caius otherwise called Gracchi COrnelia the Romaine that by thy fathers side am of the Cornelij one the mother syde of the Fabij to you my .ii. sonnes Gracchii which are in that warres of Affrik such health to you do wish as a mother to her childrē ought to desire Ye haue vnderstode right well my children how my father died I being but .iii. yeres of age and that this .xxii. yeares I haue remained wydow and that this .xx. yeares I haue red Rethorike in Rome It is .vii. yeres sins I sawe ye and .xii. yeares sins your bretherne my children dyed in the great plage You know .viii. yeres ar past since I left my study and came to se you in Cicilia bycause you should not forsake the warres to come se me in rome for to me could come no greater paine thē to se you absent from the seruice of the common welth I desire my children to shew you how I haue passed my life in labour trauaill to the intent you should not desire to spēd youres in rest and idlenes For if to me that am in rome there can want no trobles be ye assured that vnto you which are in the warres shall
vertues their children are moste inclined and this ought to be to encourage them in that that is good and contrary to reproue them in all that is euill For men are vndone for no other cause when they be olde but for that they had so much pleasures when they are younge Sextus Cheronensis in the seconde booke of the saiynges of the auntientes saieth that on a daye a citezen of Athens was byenge thinges in the market and for the qualitie of his persone the greatest parte of them were superfluous and nothing necessary And in this case the poore are no lesse culpable then the ryche and the ryche then the poore For that is so litle that to susteyne mans lyfe is necessary that he which hath lest hath therunto superfluous Therfore at that tyme when Athens and her common wealth was the lanterne of all Grece there was in Athens a lawe long vsed and of great tyme accustomed that nothing should be bought before a philosopher had set the pryce And truly the lawe was good and would to God the same lawe at this present were obserued for there is nothing that destroyeth a cōmon wealth more then to permitte some to sell as tyrauntes and others to buye as fooles When the Thebane was buying these thinges a philosopher was there present who sayed vnto him these wordes Tell me I praye thee thou man of Thebes wherefore doest thou consume and waste thy money in that whiche is not necessary for thy house nor profitable for thy persone the Thebane aunswered him I let the knowe that I doe buye all these thynges for a sonne I haue of the age of .xx. yeares the whiche neuer did thinge that seamed vnto me euill nor I neuer denayed hym any thing that he demaunded This philosopher aunswered O howe happy were thou if as thou arte a father thou were a sonne and that which the father saieth vnto the sonne the sonne would saye vnto the father but I am offended greatly with that thou hast tolde me For vntill the childe be .xxv. yeares olde he ought not to gaynesaye his father and the good father ought not to condescende vnto the appetites of the sonne Nowe I call the cursed father since thou arte subiect to the wyll of thy sonne and that thy sonne is not obedient to the wyl of his father so that thou alterest the order of nature For so muche as the father is sonne of his sonne and the sonne is father of his father But in the end I sweare vnto thee by the immortall Gods that when thou shalt become old thou shalt weape by thy selfe at that whiche with thy sonne thou diddest laughe when he was younge Though the wordes of this philosopher were fewe yet a wyse man wyll iudge the sentences to be many I conclude therfore that princes and great lordes ought to recōmende their children to their maisters to th ende they may teache them to chaunge their appetites and not to folowe their owne wil so that they withdrawe them from their own will and cause them to learne the aduise of an other For the more a man geueth a noble man sonne the brydle the more harder it is for them to receiue good doctrine ¶ Princes ought to take hede that their children be not brought vp in vayne pleasures and delightes For oftetimes they are so wicked that the fathers would not only haue them with sharpe discipline corrected but also with bitter teares buried Chap. xxxiii BY experience we see that in warre for the defence of men rampiers fortes are made according to the qualitie of the enemies those which sayle the daungerous seas doe chose great shippes whiche may breake the waues of the raging Sea so that all wyse men according to the qualitie of the daunger doe seke for the same in time some remedy Oftetymes I muse with my selfe and thynke if I coulde finde any estate any age any lande any nation any realme or any worlde wherein there hath bene any man that hath passed this life without tasting what aduersitie was for if suche a one were founde I thinke it should be a monstrous thing throughout all the earth and by reason both the dead and liuing should enuie hym In the ende after my counte made I finde that he whiche yesterdaye was ryche to daye is poore he that was hole I see hym to daye sicke he that yesterdaye laughed to daye I see hym wepe he that had his hartes ease I see hym nowe sore afflicted he that was fortunate I see hym vnlucky finally hym whom we knewe aliue in the towne now we see buried in the graue And to be buried is nothing els but to be vtterly forgotten for mans frendshyp is so frayle that when the corps is couered with earth immediatly the dead is forgotten One thinge me thinketh to all men is greuous to those of vnderstandyng no lesse payneful whiche is that the miseries of this wicked worlde are not equally deuided but that oftetymes all worldly calamities lieth in the necke of one man alone For we are so vnfortunate that the world geueth vs pleasures in sight troubles in profe If a man should aske a sage man now a daies who hath liued in meane estate that he would be contented to tel him what he hath paste since three yeares that he began to speake vntill fifty yeares that he began to waxe olde what thinges thinke you he would tel vs that hath chaunced vnto him truly al these that here folowe The grefes of his children the assaultes of his enemies the importunities of his wife the wantonnes of his doughters sicknes in his person great losse of goods general famine in the citie cruel plagues in his coūtrey extreme colde in wynter noysome heate in sommer sorowful deathes of his frendes enuious prosperities of his enemies finally he wil say that he passed such so many thinges that oftimes he bewailed the wofull life desired the swete death If the miserable man hath passed such things outwardly what would he saye of those which he hath suffred inwardly the whiche though some discrete men may know yet truly others dare not tell For the trauailes which the body passeth in fifty yeres may wel be counted in a day but that which the hart suffereth in one day cannot be counted in a hundred yeres A man cannot denay but that we would coūte him rashe which with a rede would mete an other that hath a sword him for a foole that would put of his shoes to walke vpō the thornes But without cōparison we ought to esteame him for the most foole that with this tender fleshe thinketh to preuaile against so many euil fortunes for without doubt the man that is of his body delicate passeth his life with much paine O how happy may that mā be called which neuer tasted what pleasure meaneth For men whiche from their infancy haue bene brought vp in pleasures for want of wisdome know not how to
doth not amend hys lyfe that the father do disinherit him When good wil doth want and vicious pleasures abounde the children oft times by peruerse fortune come to nought So this Marcus Aurelius being .52 yeres old by chaunce this chylde Verissimus which was the glory of Rome the hope of the father at that gate of Hostia of a sodayne sicknes dyed The death of whom was as vniuersallye lamented as his lyfe of al men was desired It was a pitiful thynge to see how wofully the father toke the death of his intierly beloued son no lesse lamētable to behold how the senat toke the death of their prince beinge the heire For the aged father for sorow did not go to the Senate and the senat for few daies enclosed themselues in the high Capitol And let no man meruaile though the death of this yong prince was so taken through Rome For if men knew what they lose when they lose a vertuous Prince they would neuer cease to bewaile and lament hys death When a knight a gentleman a squyre an offycer or when any of the people dyeth ther dyeth but one but when a prince dieth which was good for all and that he lyued to the profit of al then they ought to make account that al do dye they ought al greatly to lament it For oft times it chaunseth that after ii or iii. good Princes a foule flocke of tyraunts succedeth Therfore Marcus Aurelius the Emperour as a man of great vnderstanding and of a princely parsonne though the inward sorow from the rootes of the hart could not be plucked yet he determined to dissemble outwardly and to burie his greues inwardly For to say the truth none ought for any thing to shew extreame sorow vnlesse it be that he hath lost his honour or that his conscience is burdened The good prince as one that hath his vineyard frosen wherin was al hys hope contented with him selfe with that whych remaineth his so derely beloued sonne being dead comaunded the prince Comodus to be brought into his pallace being his only heyre Iulius Capitolinus whych was one of those that wrote of the tyme of Marcus Aurelius sayd vpon this matter that when the father saw the disordinate fraylenes and lightnes and also the litle shame whych the prince Comodus his sonne brought with him the aged man began to weape and shed teares from his eyes And it was bycause the symplenes and vertues of his deare beloued sonne Verissimus came into hys mynd Though this Emperour Marcus for the death of hys sonne was very sorowful yet notwithstanding this he prouided how his other sonne Comodus should be gouerned this before that eyther of age or body he wer greater For we cānot deny but when Princes are mē they wil be such as in their youth they haue bene brought vp The good father therfore knowing that the euil inclinacions of his sonne should do him domage the empire in like maner he sent throughout al Italy for the most sagest expert men to be gouernours Tutors of Comodus the prince He made them seke for the most profoundest in learning the most renowmed of good fame the most vertuous in dedes and the most depest in vnderstandyng for as the dust is not swept with fyne cloth but with dry bromes so the lightnes follies of yong mē are not remedied but by the hard disciplyne of the aged Thys commaundement being published and proclaimed in Rome the bruit scattered through Italye there came and ranne thither dyuerse kinde of sages whom he commaunded to be examyned He being informed of the bloud of thier predicessours of the age of their persones of the gouernment of their houses of the spendyng of their goodes of their credit amongest their neighbours of the sciences they knew aboue al they were no lesse examined of the purenes of their lyues then of the grauitie of their personnes for ther are many men whych are graue in open wordes very light in secret works Speakyng therfore more particularly he commaunded they should examyne the Astronomers of Astronomy the phylosophers in philosophie the musitines in musike the Orators in oracions And so forth of other sciences in order wherin euery one sayd he was instructed The good emperour was not so contented to do this once but sondry times not al in one day but in many not only by an other man but also by him selfe Finally they were al examyned as if they had bene al one and that the same one shold haue remayned bene kept for al to be only master tutor of the young child and prince Comodus To acquire a perfect knowledge and to be sure not to erre in choyce of thinges in my opinion is not onely required experience of him selfe and a cleare vnderstanding but also the aduyse of an other For the knowledge of thinges wholly together is easy but the choyce of them particularly is harde This thing is spoken because the good Emperour sent and commaunded to chose gouernours and maisters of his children Of many he choose fewe and of fewe the most wysest of the most wysest the most expert of the most expert the best learned of the best learned the most temperate of the most temperate the most auncient and of the most auncient the moste noble Certainely such election is worthy prayse because they be true maisters and teachers of princes which are noble of bloud auncient in yeares honeste in life men of litle folly and of great experience According to the seuen liberal sciences two maisters of euery one were chosen so that the prince was but one and the others were .xiiii. but this notwithstanding the workes of this prince Comodus were contrary to the expectation of his father Marcus Aurelius because the intention of the good father was to teache his sonne all sciences and the study of the sonne was to learne all vices At the bruite of so great a thing as this was that the Emperour sought to prouide tutors for the prince Comodus and that they should not be those which were best fauoured but those whiche were found the most wysest in shorte space there came so many philosophers to Rome as if the deuine Plato had bene reuiued againe in Grece Let vs not marueile at all if the sages desired the acquaintaunce familiaritie of this good Emperour For in the ende there is no man so sage nor so vertuous in this life but sometime wyll seke after the fauours of the world Since there were many sages and that of those he chose but fourtene It was necessary he should honestly and wisely dispatche and geue the others leaue as did behoue him And herein the good emperour shewed him selfe so wyse that shewing to some a mery coūtenaunce to others speaking gently and to others by a certaine hope to others by giftes presentes al the good company of the sages departed the good emperour dispatched them not
the Senatours thoughe in dede they wer verye vnlucky in the bryngyng vp of the Prince Comodus For this cursed prynce had nyne masters whych instructed him but he hadde aboue nyne thousand vyces whych vndyd him The emperour Marcus Aurelius made fyue bokes of declamations and in the third booke the syxte Chapter vnder the title ad Sapientes pedagogos he brought in these nyne maysters and perswaded them greatly that they should be diligent and attentyue to teach hys sonne Comodus And in this matter he spake vnto them manye and graue sentences the wordes whereof doe folow The matter is manifest in Rome and no lesse publyshed thorough out all Italy what paynes I toke to searche oute to manye Sages to enstructe my sonne Comodus the whiche all beyng examined I kept onely the wysest and the best and though in verye dede I haue done muche yet I haue not done so muche as I am bounde For Prynces in doubtefull matters ought not only to demaunde councel of all the good that be alyue but also to take payne to talke with those which are dead That is to reade the dedes of the good in their writynges You were fouretene maysters chosen whereof I haue put out fyue so that presently you ar but nyne and if in dede you be wyse men you shall not be offended with that I haue done For the greefe of euill thynges procedeth of wisdome but the admiration of good thynges commeth of small experience I do not denay but that wyse men do fele in them passions as men but in the end there is no arte nor science that doth excuse vs from the miseries of men But that wher at I maruaile is how it is possible that a wyse man shoulde meruaile at any thyng in this world For if the wise man shuld be astonied at euery thing of the world it appeareth that ther is litle constancy or vertue in him at all Returnyng therfore to our particular talke I haue taken you to be masters of my son and you se of many I chose a few to the end that with few my son shold be taught For as it is the fathers dutie to search out good masters so it is the masters dutie to be diligent about his scoller The nource of my sonne Comodus gaue hym sucke two yeres with her teates at the gate of Hostia And hys mother Faustine other two yeares brought him vp wantonly in Capua How be it thys was a sufficient excuse I woulde as a pitiefull father yf I coulde geue hym correction at the leaste thys twentye yeares For I sweare by the immortall Goddes that to a Prynce that shal be an enheritour one yeares punyshement is more worthe then twenty yeares of pleasure Synce the nources whyche geueth the chyldren sucke knoweth lytell and synce the mothers whyche bare them doe loue them muche and synce the chylde peraduenture as yet is but of a weake vnder standynge they are occupyed about the thinges that are presente considerynge that chastysemente in muche more betters for him then pleasure But the wise man whyche hath vnderstandyng oughte to thyncke of that that is past and by much wysedome to prouyde for that that is to come For he can not be counted wise that onely in one thing is carefull My sonne Comodus was borne the laste daye of Auguste in a citie by Danubio I shall not forget the day that the gods gaue him vnto me nor yet this day in the whiche I commit hym vnto you Of greater reason I should remember that daye wherin I put him to be taught then the day whych I saw him to be borne For the gods gaue hym me as I gaue hym to you mortall since he is a man but you shall restore him againe vnto me and I lykewyse him to the Godds as immortall if he be wyse What will you I saye more vnto you but if you regarde that any thinge at all whyche I saye you will regarde much more thys whych I wyll saye When the Gods determined that I should haue a child of my wyfe and that my wofull destenies deserued that I should haue such a child truly the Gods made me a man in the sprite and I begot him a beast amongest the beastes in the fleshe But if you will you may make hym a god amongest the gods by science For princes winne infamye for beynge fearse and selfe willed but they get good renowme for beyng wise and pacient I would you should apply this busines well and therfore it is necessarye that you examine him ofte For it is a general rule that the precious iewel is litle regarded when he whyche hath it knoweth not the value thereof I require that you aunswere me in this one thynge What dyd I geue vnto my sonne Comodus when the gods gaue him me but frayle and mortall flesh by the corruption wherof hys life shal ende but you shal geue hym highe doctrine whereby he shall alwayes deserue perpetuall memore For the good renowme is not gotten by that the weake fleshe doth but by that whyche the highe vnderstandyng immagyneth and by that the curious harte executeth O if his tender age knew what I gaue to his weake flesh and if his dul vnderstanding could com to the wisedom which you may geue him he wold call you his right fathers me but his stepfather For he is the true father that geueth vs doctrine to liue and he is but an vniust stepfather that geueth vs fleshe to dye Certainely the naturall Fathers of children are but their open enemyes and cruell stepfathers synce we geue them such dul vnderstanding so weake a memory a wyll so frowarde lyfe so shorte fleshe so frayle honour so costly health so vncertaine ryches so troublesome prosperitie so scarse and death so fearefull Finally we geue them a nature subiecte to infinite alterations and great misfortunes Reason woulde not you shoulde lytle regarde that whiche I committe vnto your iudgement that is to wete that you haue the charge of Comodus my sonne For the thynge that Prynces chefely ought to foresee is to whome they oughte to recommende the gouernement of theyr children To be a mayster and Tutor of a Prince in the yearth is to haue an office of the Gods whyche are in heauen bycause he gouerneth him that ought to gouerne vs he teacheth him that ought to teache vs he chastneth him that ought to chasten vs. Finally he commaundeth one that oughte to commaunde all What wyll you that I saye more vnto you Truly he that hath the charge to teache the children of Prynces and great Lordes is as the gouernour of the shyppe a standarde of a battaylle a defence of the people a guyde of the wayes a father of the Orphanes the hope of pupylles and a treasourer of all For ther is no other true treasore in the common wealthe but the prince whyche doth mainteine and kepe it in good peace and iuste iustice I will tell you furthermore to the ende you
And I saye that they doe not suffer them to be to light or vnconstant for of younge men inconstant and light commeth oftētimes an olde man fonde and vnthriftie I saie that they doe not suffer them to be to rashe for of to hardy young men commeth rebellious and seditious persones I say that they doe not consent they be shamelesse for of the vnshamefastnes commeth sclaunderous persones Princes and great lordes ought to haue much circumspection that their children be brought vp in shamefastnes with honestie For the crowne doth not geue so much glory to a kyng nor the head doth more set forth the man nor the iewell more adourne the breast nor yet the scepter more become the hande then shamefastnes with honestie beutifieth a younge man For a man of what estate so euer he be the honestie which he sheweth outwardly doth hide many secret vices wherewith he is endued inwardly In the time of the reigne of the emperour Helius Pertinax the nyntenthe Emperour of Rome two consulles gouerned the commō welth the one named Verus and the other Mamillus one daye they came to the Emperour and were humble suiters to his highnes besechinge him that it would please hym to receiue their two children into his seruice the eldest of the whiche passed not as yet twelue yeares of age the whiche request after the Emperour had graunted the fathers were not negligent to bryng them vnto hym and being come before his presence each of them made an oration the one in Latine and the other in Greke Wherewith the Emperour was greatly pleased and all the residue amased for at that time none serued the Romaine princes but that he were either very apte to cheualry or els toward in sciences As these two children in the presence of the Emperour made their orations the one of thē behelde the Emperour in suche sorte that his eies neuer went of him neither once moued his head to loke down to the earth and the other contrary behelde the earth alwayes neuer lift vp his head during his oration Wherewith the Emperour being a graue man was so highly pleased with the demeanours of this child that he did not onely admitte him to serue him at his table but also he suffred him to enter into his chambre and this was a preferment of great estimation For princes did not vse to be serued at their tables nor in their chambers with any vnlesse they were of his owne kynred or auncient seruauntes And concerning the other childe whiche was his compaignion the Emperoure retourned againe to his father saiynge that when hereafter he shoulde bee more shamefast he woulde receiue hym into his seruice And certainly the Emperoure had reason for good and graue princes ought not to be serued with light and shameles children I woulde nowe demaunde fathers whiche loue their children very well and woulde they shoulde be worthy what it auaileth their children to be faire of countenaunce well disposed of body liuely of sprighte whyte of skinne to haue yellowe heere 's to be eloquent in speache profounde in science if with all these graces that nature geueth them they be to bolde in that they doe and shamelesse in that they saye the authour hereof is Patritius Senesis in the firste booke De rege regno One of the moste fortunate princes was the great Theodosius the whiche amongest all other vertues had one moste singuler which was that he was neuer serued in his pallace with any young man that was vnshamefast or seditious nor with an olde man which was dishonest For he said oftetimes that princes shall neuer be well beloued if they haue about thē liers or sclaūderers This good emperour spake as a man of experience and very sage for if the counsellers and familiars of princes be euil taught and vnpacient they offende many and if they be liers they deceiue all and if they be dishonest they sclaunder the people And these offences be not so great vnto them that committe them as they be vnto the prince whiche suffreth them The emperour Theodose had in his pallace two knightes the one called Ruffinus and the other Stelliconus by whose prudence and wisdome the cōmon wealth was ruled and gouerned And as Ignacius Baptista saieth they twoo were the tutors gouernours of the children of Theodose whose names were Archadius and Honorius For as Seneca saieth when good princes do die they ought to be more carefull to procure maisters and tutors whiche shall teache their children then to procure realmes or kingdomes for to enriche them These twoo maisters Stelliconus and Ruffinus had in the pallace of Theodose eche of them a sonne the which were maruellous wel taught and very shamefast and for the contrary the two princes Honorius and Archadius were euill manered and not very honest And therfore the good emperour Theodose tooke these children oftetimes and set them at his table and contrary he woulde not once beholde his owne Let no man marueile though a prince of suche a grauitie did a thing of so smal importaunce for to say the truthe the shamefast children and wel taughte are but robbers of the hartes of other men Fourthly the tutors and maisters of princes oughte to take good heade that when the younge princes their schollers waxe great that they geue not them selues ouer to the wicked vice of the fleshe so that the sensualitie and euill inclination of the wanton childe ought to be remedied by the wisedom of the chaste maister For this cursed fleshe is of suche condition that if once by wantonnes the wicket be opened death shall soner approche then the gate shal be shut agayne The trees which budde and caste leaues before the time our hope is neuer to eate of their fruite in season I meane that when chyldren haunte the vice of the fleshe whyles they be young there is small hope of goodnes to be loked in them when they be olde And the elder we see them waxe the more we may be assured of their vices And where we see that vice encreaseth there we may affirme that vertue diminisheth Plato in his seconde booke of lawes ordeyneth and commaundeth that younge men shoulde not marye before they were .xxv. yeares of age and the younge maydens at .xx. because at that age their fathers abide lesse daungers in begetting them and geuing of them lyfe and the children also which are borne haue more strength against the assaultes of death Therefore if it be true as it is true in dede I aske nowe if to be maried and get children whiche is the ende of mariage the Philosophers doe not suffer vntill suche time as they be men then I say that maisters ought not to suffer their schollers to haunte the vices of the fleshe when they be chyldren In this case the good fathers oughte not alone to committe this matter to their tutors but also thereunto to haue an eye them selues For oftetimes they wyll saye they haue bene at their
as if it were his owne To thys I aunswere that I am not myghtye ynough to remedy it except by my remedye there shoulde spring a greater inconuenience And since thou hast not bene a Prince thou couldest not fall into that I haue nor yet vnderstand that whych I saie For princes by theire wisedome knowe manye thinges the whych to remedy they haue no power So it hath beene so it is so it shal be so I founde it so I keepe it so wil I leaue it them so I haue read it in bookes so haue I seene it with my eyes so I heard it of my predecessours and finallye I saye so our fathers haue inuented it and so wyll wee theire children sustaine it and for this euyll wee will leaue it to our heires I wyll tell thee one thinge and imagine that I erre not therein whych is consideringe the great dommage and lytle profyte which the men of warre doe bringe to our common wealth I thynk to doe it and to sustaine it either it is the folly of menne or a scourge geuen of the gods For there can be nothinge more iust then for the goddes to permit that we feele that in our owne houses whiche we cause others in straunge houses to lament All those thinges I haue written vnto thee not for that it skilleth greatly that thou knowe them but that my harte is at ease to vtter them For as Alcibiades saide the chestes and the hartes ought alwaies to bee open to theire frendes Panutius my secretary goeth in my behalfe to visite that land and I gaue him this letter to geue the with two horses wherewith I think thou wilt be contented for they are gennettes The weapons and ryches whyche I tooke of the Parthes I haue nowe deuyded notwtstanding I doe sende thee .2 Chariottes of them My wyfe Faustine greeteth thee and I sende a riche glasse for thy doughter and a Iewell with stones for thy sister No more but I beseche the Gods to geeue thee a good lyfe and mee a good death ¶ The admonition of the Aucthour to Princes and greate Lordes to thintent that the more they growe in yeares the more they are bounde to refraine from vyces Cap. xvii AVlus Gelius in hys booke De noctibus Atticis sayeth that there was an auncient custome amongest the romaynes to honour and haue in great reuerence aged men And this was so inuiolate a law amongest them that there was none so noble of bloode and lynage neyther so puissaunt in ryches neither so fortunate in battayles that should goe before the aged men which were loden with whit heares so that they honoured them as the gods and reuerenced them as theire fathers Amongest other the aged menne had these preheminences that is to wete that in feastes they sate highest in the triumphes they went before in the temples they did sitte downe they spake to the Senate before all others they had their garments surred they might eat alone in secrat and by theire onlye woorde they were credited as witnesses Fynally I saye that in all thinges they serued them and in nothinge they annoyed them After the people of Rome began warre wyth Asia they forsooke all theire good Romayne customes immediatlye And the occasyon hereof was that since they had no menne to sustaine the common wealth by reason of the great multytude of people which dyed in the warre they ordeyned that al the yong menne should mary the yong maides the wydowes the free and the bonde and that the honour whyche hadde bene done vntyll that tyme vnto the olde menne from henceforthe shoulde be done vnto the maried menne though they were yong So that the moste honoured in Rome was hee not of moste yeares but he that had most children This lawe was made a little before the firste battaile of Catthage And the custome that the maried menne were more honoured then the old menne endured vntill the tyme of the Emperour Augustus whiche was such a frende of antiquyties that hee renewed all the walles of Rome with newe stones and renewed all the auncient customes of the common wealth Licurgus in the lawes whiche hee gaue to the Lacedemonians ordayned that the young menne passinge by the olde shoulde doe them greate reuerence whē the olde dyd speake then the younger shoulde bee sylent And he ordained also that if any olde man by casualtye dyd lose hys goods and came into extreame pouertie that he shoulde bee sustained of the comon wealth and that in suche sustentacion they shoulde haue respecte not onely to succour him for to sustaine hym but further to geue him to lyue competently Plutarche in hys Apothegmes declareth that Cato the Censoure visitinge the corners of Rome founde an olde manne sittinge at his doore weepinge and sheddinge manye teares from hys eyes And Cato the Censoure demaundynge hym why hee was so euyll handeled and wherefore he wepte so bitterlye the good olde manne aunswered hym O Cato the Gods beinge the onelye comfortours comforte thee in all thy tribulations since thou arte readye to comforte mee at this wofull hower As well as thou knowest that the consolations of the harte are more necessarye then the phisike of the bodye the whiche beeynge applyed sometymes doeth heale and an other tyme they doe harme Beholde my scabbed handes my swollen legges my mouth without teethe my peeled face my white beard and my balde heade for thou beinge as thou arte descreete shouldest be excused to aske mee why I weepe For menne of my age thoughe they weepe not for the lyttle they feele yet they ought to weepe for the ouermuche they lyue The manne which is loden with yeares tormented with diseases pursued with enemyes forgotten of his frendes visited with mishappes and with euill wyll and pouertie I knowe not why hee demaundeth long life For there can be no sharper reuengemēt of vyces whych we commit then to geue vs long lyfe Though now I am aged I was yong and if any yong manne should doe me anye iniurye truelye I would not desire the gods to take his lyfe but that they woulde rather prolonge his lyfe For it is a great pitie to heare the man whyche hath lyued longe account the troubles whiche he hath endured Knowe thou Cato if thou doest not knowe it that I haue lyued .77 yeares And in thys tyme I haue buried my father my graundefather twoe Auntes and .5 vncles After that I had buried .9 systers and .11 Brethren I haue buried afterwardes twoe lawfull wyfes and fyue bonde women whyche I haue hadde as my lemmans I haue buryed also .14 chyldren and .7 maryed doughters and therewith not contented I haue buryed .37 Nephues and .15 Nieces and that whyche greaueth me moste of all is that I haue buryed two frendes of myne one which remained in Capua the other which was residente here at Rome The death of whom hath greued me more then all those of my aliaunce and parentage For in the worlde there is no
then that of thy merits Thou hast taken on thee an office wherwith that which thy cōpaignions in many days haue robbed thou in one hour by disceit doost get afterwards the time shal come when all the goods which thou hast gotten both by trueth falshod shal be lost not only in an hour which is long but in a momēt which is but short Whether wee geeue much wee haue much wee may doo much or wee liue much yet in the end the gods are so iust that all the euill wee doo cōmit shal bee punished for all the good wee woork wee shal bee rewarded so that the gods oftentimes permit that one alone shall scourge many and afterward the long time punisheth all ¶ The Emperor concludeth his letter and perswadeth his frend Cincinnatus to despise the vanities of the world and sheweth though a man bee neuer so wyse yet hee shall haue need of an other mans counsell Cap. xxvii IF I knew thy wisdom esteemed the world vanities therof so much as the world doth possesse thee and thy days as by thy white hears most manyfestly doth appeere I neede not take the payns to perswade thee nor thou shooldst bee annoied in hearing mee Notwithstanding thou beeing at the gate of great care reason woold that some shoold take the clapper to knock therat with some good counsell for though the raser bee sharp it needeth sometimes to bee whet I mean though mans vnderstanding bee neuer so cleere yet from time to time it needeth counsel Vertuous men oft times do erre not because they woold fail but for that the thīgs are so euil of digestiō that the vertu they haue suffiseth not to tell them what thing is necessary for their profit For the which cause it is necessary that his will bee brydled his wit fyned his oppinion changed his memory sharpned aboue all now and then that hee forsake his own aduise and cleaue vnto the counsell of an other Men which couet to make high sumptuous fair and large buildings haue grete care that the foundacion therof be surely layd for where the foundacions are not sure there the whole buyldings are in great daunger The maners and conditions of this world that is to weete the prosperous estates whervpon the children of vanity are set are founded of quick sand in that sort that bee they neuer so valyaunt prosperous and mighty a litle blast of wynd dooth stirre them a little heat of prosperity doth open them a showre of aduersity doth wet them and vnwares death striketh them all flatt to the ground Men seeing they cannot bee perpetuall doo procure to continue thē selues in raising vp proud buyldings and leauing to their children great estates wherin I count them fooles no lesse then in things superfluous For admit the pillers bee of gold the beams of siluer and that those which ioyn them bee kings and those which buyld them are noble and in that mining they consume a thousand yeres beefore they can haue it out of the ground or that they can come to the bottoms I swere vnto them that they shall fynd no stedy rock nor lyuely mountain wher they may buyld their house sure nor to cause their memory to bee perpetuall The immortall gods haue participated all things to the mortall men immortality only reserued and therfore they are called immortall for so much as they neuer dye and wee others are called mortall bycause dayly wee vanish away O my frend Cincinnatus men haue an end and thou thinkest that gods neuer ought to end Now greene now rype now rotten fruit is seuered from this lyfe from the tree of the miserable flesh esteem this as nothing forsomuch as death is naturall But oft times in the leaf or flower of youth the frost of some disease or the peril of some mishap dooth take vs away so that whē wee think to bee aliue in the morning wee are dead in the night It is a tedious long woork to weue a cloth yet when in many days it is wouen in one moment it is cut I mean that it is much folly to see a man with what toil hee enricheth him self into what perill hee putteth him self to win a state of honor afterwards whē wee think litle wee see him perish in his estate leauing of him no memory O my frend Cincinnatus for the loue that is between vs I desire thee by the immortal gods I coniure thee that thou geeue no credit to the world which hath this condiciō to hide much copper vnder little gold vnder the colour of one truth hee telleth vs a thousand lyes with one short pleasure hee mingleth ten thousand displesures Hee beegyleth those to whom hee pretendeth most loue and procureth great domages to them to whom hee geeueth most goods hee recompenseth them greatly which serue him in iest and to those which truely loue him hee geeueth mocks for goods Finally I say that when wee sleepe most sure hee waketh vs with greatest perill Eyther thou knowst the world with his deceyt or not if thou knowest him not why doost thou serue him if thou doost know him why doost thou follow him Tell mee I pray thee wooldst not the take that theef for a foole which woold buy the rope wherwith hee shoold bee hanged the murtherer that woold make the swoord wherwith hee shoold bee beheaded the robber by the high way that woold shew the well wherin hee shoold bee cast the traitor that shoold offer him self in place for to bee quartered the rebel that shoold disclose him self to bee stoned Then I swere vnto thee that thou art much more a foole which knowest the world will folow it serue it One thing I wil tel thee which is such that thou oughtest neuer to forget it that is to weete that wee haue greater need of faith not to beliue the vanities which wee see then to beeleue the great malices which with our ears wee here I retorn to aduise thee to read cōsider this woord which I haue spoken for it is a sentence of profound mistery Doost thou think Cincinnatus that rych men haue litle care to get great riches I let thee weet that the goods of thys world are of such condicion that beefore the poore man dooth lock vp in hys chests a .100 crowns hee feeleth a thousād greefes cares in his heart Our predecessors haue seen it wee see it presently our successors shal see it that the money which wee haue gotten is in a certein nomber but the cares trauails which it bringeth are infinit Wee haue few paynted houses few noble estats in Rome the wtin a litle time haue not great cares ī their harts cruel enmities with their neighbors much euil wil of their heirs disordinat importunities of their frends perilous malices of their enemies aboue al in the Senate they haue innumerable proces oft times to lock a litle good in their chests
they make ten thousand blots in their honor O how many haue I known in Rome to whom it hath chaunced that all that they haue gotten in Rome to leaue vnto their best beeloued child an other heir with litle care of whom they thought not hath enioyed it Ther can bee nothing more iust then that al those which haue beegyled others with disceits in their life shoold bee found disceiued in their vayn immaginacions after their death Iniurious shoold the gods bee if in all the euil that the euill propound to doo they shoold geeue them tyme place conuenient to accomplish the same But the gods are so iust and wyse that they dissemble wyth the euill to th end they shoold beegin and folow the things according to their own willes and fantasies and afterwards at the best time they cut of their lyues to leaue them in greter torment The gods shoold bee very cruell and to them it shoold bee great greefe to suffer that that which the euill haue gathered to the preiudice of many good they shoold enioy in peace for many yeres Mee thinketh it is great folly to know that wee are borne weeping and to see that wee dysighing and yet for all this that wee dare liue laughing I woold ask the world and his worldlyngs sithens that wee enter into the world weeping and go out of the world sighing why wee shoold lyue laughing for the rule to measure all parts ought to bee equall O Cincinnatus who hath beegyled thee to the end that for one bottel of water of the Sea of this world for thy pleasure thou wilt blister thy hand with the rope of cares and broose thy body in thanker of troubles and aboue all to aduenture thyne own honor for a glasse of water of an other man By the faith of a good man I swere vnto thee that for all the great quantitie of water thou drawest for the great deal of money thou hast thou remainest asmuch dead for thrist drinking of that water as when thou were without water in the cup. Consider now thy yeres if my counsel thou wilt accept thou shalt demaund death of the gods to rest thee as a vertuous man and not riches to lyue as a foole With the teares of my eyes I haue beewayled many in Rome when I saw them depart out of this world and thee I haue beewayled and doo beewaile my frend Cincinnatus with drops of blood to see thee retorn into the world The credit thou hadst in the senate the blood of thy predecessors my frenship the aucthority of thy parson the honor of thy parentage the sclaunder of thy comonwealth ought to withdraw thee from so great couetousnes O poore Cincinnatus consider the white honored hears which doo fall ought to bee occupied in the noble armies sitheÌ„s thou art noble of blood valyant in parson auncient of yeres and not euil willed in the common wealth For thou oughtest to consider that more woorth is reason for the path way of men whych are good then the common opinion which is the large high way of the euyll For if it bee narrow to go on the one side ther is no dust wherwith the eyes bee blynded as in the other I will geeue thee a counsell and if thou feelest thy self euel neuer count thou mee for frend Lust no more after the greasy fatt of temporall goods sins thou hast short lyfe for wee see dayly many beefore they come to thy age dye but wee see few after thy age lyue After this counsell I will geeue thee an aduise that thou neuer trust present prosperitie for then alway thou art in danger of some euill fortune If thou art mounted into such pricking thorns as a foole mee thinketh thou oughts to descend as a sage And in this sort all wil say amongst the people that Cincinnatus is descended but not fallen My letter I will conclude and the conclusion therof see well thou note that is to weete that thou and thy trade shal bee cursed wher you other marchants wil liue poore to dy rich Once again I retorn to curse you for that the couetousnes of an euill man is alwais accomplished to the preiudice of many good My wife Faustinc doth salute thee and shee was not a little troubled when shee knew thou were a marchaunt and that thou keepest a shop in Capua I send thee a horse to ryde vpon one of the most richest arras of Tripoli to haÌ„g thy house withall a precious ring and a pommel of a swoord of Alexandrie and all these things I doo not send thee for that I know thou hast neede therof but rather not to forget the good custom I haue to geeue Pamphilâ— thy aunt and my neighbor is dead And I can tell thee that in Rome dyed not a woman of long time which of her left such renowm for so much as shee forgot all enmities shee succored the poore shee visited the banished shee entertained frends and also I heard say that shee alone did lyght all the temples Prestilla thy cosin hath the health of body though for the death of her mother her hart is heauy And without doubt shee had reason for the only sorows which the mothers suffer to bring vs foorth though with drops of blood wee shoold beewayl them yet wee cannot recompence them The gods bee in thy custody and preserue mee with my wife Faustine from all euill fortune Marke of mount Celio with his owne hand ¶ The aucthor perswadeth princes and great Lords to fly couetousnes and auarice and to beecome bowntifull and liberall which vertue is euer pertinent to the roiall parson Cap. xxviii PIsistratus the renowmed tyraunt among the Atheniens sins his frends coold not endure the cruelties that hee committed eche one retorned to his own house and vtterly forsook him The which when the tyraunt saw hee layd all his treasure and garments on a heap togethers and went to visite his frends to whom with bitter tears hee spake these woords All my apparell and money heere I bring you with determination that if you will vse my company wee 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 folow mee I haue great desire to serue you sithens you know that they cannot bee called faithfull frends where the one cannot bear with the other Plutarchê° in his Apothegmes saith that this tyrant Pisistratus was very rych and extream couetous so that they write of him that the gold siluer which once came into his possession neuer man saw it afterward but if hee had necessity to buy any thing if they woold not present it vnto him willingly hee woold haue it by force When hee was dead the Atheniens determined to wey him and his treasure the case was meruelous that the gold and siluer hee had weyd more then his dead body .6 tymes At that tyme in Athens there was a philosopher called
children bee sick the death of their husbands then is renued imagining that it wil happen so vnto them as it hath doon vnto others And to say the trueth it is not maruel yf they doo fear For the vyne is in greater peril when it is budded then when the grapes are rype Other troubles oftentymes encrease to the poore widows the which amongst others this is not the least that is to weete the lytle regard of the frends of her husband and the vnthankfulnes of those which haue been brought vp wyth him The which since hee was layd in his graue neuer entred into the gates of his house but to demaund recompence of their old seruices and to renew and beegin new suits I woold haue declared or to say better breefly touched the trauels of wydows to perswade princes that they remedy them and to admonish iudges to heare them and to desire all vertuous men to comfort them For the woork of it self is so godly that hee deserueth more whych remedyeth the troubles of one only then I which write their miseries all together ¶ Of a letter whych the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote to a Romayn Lady named Lauinia comforting her for the death of her husband Cap. xxxvii MArcus of mount Celio Emperor of Rome cheef consull tribune of the people high Bishop appointed against the Daces wisheth health and comfort to thee Lauinia noble and woorthy Romayn matron the late wyfe of the good Claudinus According to that thy person deserueth to that which vnto thy husband I ought I think well that thou wilt suspect that I way thee litle for that vnto thy great sorows complaints lamentacions are now aryued my negligent consolaciōs When I remēber thy merits which can not fail imagin that the wilt remember my good will wherwith always I haue desired to serue thee I am assured that if thy suspitiō accuse mee thy vertu and wisedome will defend mee For speaking the trueth though I am the last to comfort thee yet I was the first to feele thy sorows As ignoraunce is the cruell scourge of vertues and spurre to all vyces so it chaunceth oft times that ouer much knowlege putteth wise men in doubt sclaundereth the innocent For asmuch as wee see by experience the most presumptuous in wisedome are those which fall into most perilous vices Wee fynd the latins much better with the ignoraunce of vyces then the Greekes with the knowledge of vertues And the reason hereof is for that of things which wee are ignorant wee haue no payn to attayn vnto them and lesse grief also to lose them My intention to tell thee this was because I knew that which I woold not haue known and haue hard that which I woold not haue hard that is to weete that the days and troubles of Claudinus thy husband are ended now thy sorows Lauinia his wife doo begin It is now a good whyle that I haue known of the death of the good Claudinus my frend thy husband though I did dissemble it And by the god Mars I swere vnto thee that it was not for that I woold not beewayl him but because I woold not discōfort thee For it were extreme cruelty that shee which was so comfortlesse sorowful for the absence of so long time shoold bee killed with my hand through the knowledge of the death of her so desired husband It were to vnkynd vnseemly a thing that shee of whom I haue receiued so many good woorks shoold receiue of mee so euil news The auncients of Carthage held for an inuiolable law that if the father did tel the death of his sonne or the sonne the death of the father or the woman the death of her husband or the husband the death of his wife or any other semblable woful lamentable death that hee shoold bee cast into the prison among them which were condemned to dye It seemed to those of Carthage that hee which sayd vnto an other that his brother kinsman or frend was dead immediatly they shoold kil him or hee ought to dye or at the least hee shoold neuer bee seene in his presence If in this case the law of the Carthagians was iust then I ought to bee excused though I haue not told thee this heauy news For as oft as wee see him who hath brought vs any euill tydings our sorows by his sight is renued agayn Since Claudinus thy husband dyed I haue not had one hower of rest for to passe thy tyme away for feare lest such woful sorowful news shoold come to thy knowlege But now that I know thou knowst it I feele double payn For now I feele his death my care and thy want of consolation the domage by his death shal folow to the romayn Empire Thou hast lost a noble Romayn valyant in blood moderat in prosperityes pacient in aduersities coragious in dangers diligent in affaires wyse in counsels faithful to his frends subtill ware of his enemies a louer of the common wealth very honest in his person aboue all whereof I haue most enuy is that hee neuer offended man in his life nor hurt any with his tong Wee fynd seldom times so many vertues assembled in one man For saying the trueth if a man did narowly examin the vyces of many which presume to bee very vertuous I swere that hee shoold fynd more to reproue then to praise Since thou hast lost so good a husband I so faithful a frend wee are bound thou to beewayl so great a losse I to sigh for so good a cōpanion And this I doo not desire for Claudine who now resteth among the gods but for vs others which remayn in danger of so many euils For the dead doo rest as in the sure hauen wee others doo saile as yet in raging sea O thou heauy hart how doo I see thee beetweene the bell the clappers that is to weete that thou wantest the company of the good art enuironed with the flock of euil For the which occasion I doubt often times whether I may first bewaill the euil which liue or the good which are dead beecause in the end the euill men doo offend vs more which wee fynd then dooth the good men which wee lose It is a great pity to see the good vertuous men dye but I take it to bee more sorow to see the euill vicious men liue As the diuine Plato saith the gods to kill the good which serue them to geeue long life to the euill which offend them is a mistery so profound that dayly wee doo lament it and yet wee can neuer attayn to the secrets therof Tell mee I pray thee Lauinia knowst thou not now that the gods are so merciful with whom wee go when wee dye that men are so wicked with whom wee bee whiles wee liue that as the euill were born to dye so the good dye to lyue for the good man though hee
mother in the chariot to the temple So after that the feast was ended the mother not knowyng how to requite the benefite of her children with many teares beesought the goddesse Iuno that shee with the other gods woold bee contented to geeue her .ii. children the best thing that the gods coold geeue to their frends The goddesse Iuno aunswered her that shee was contented to require the other gods and that they woold doo it And the reward was that for this noble fact the gods ordeyned that Cleobolus and Biton shoold sleepe one day well and in the morning when they shoold wake they shoold dye The mother pitifully beewayling the death of her children and complaining of the gods the goddesse Iuno sayd vnto her Thou hast no cause why to complayn sins wee haue geeuen thee that thou hast demaunded and hast demaunded that which wee haue geeuen thee I am a goddesse and thou art my seruaunt therefore the gods haue geeuen to thy children the thing which they count most deare which is death For the greatest reuenge which amongst vs gods wee can take of our enemies is to let them liue long and the best thing that wee keepe for our frends is to make them dye quickly The auctor of this history is called Hisearchus in his politikes and Cicero in his first book of his Tusculanes In the I le of Delphos where the Oracle of the god Apollo was there was a sumptuous temple the which for want of reparacion fell down to the ground as often times it chaunceth to high sumptuous buyldings which from tyme to tyme are not repayred For if the walles dungeons castels and strong houses coold speak as well woold they complayn for that they doo not renew them as the old men doo for that wee doo not cherish them Triphon and Agamendo were two noble personages of Greece and counted for sage and rich men the which went vnto the temple of Apollo and buylt it new agayn as well with the labor of their persons as with the great expenses of their goods When the buylding was atchiued the god Apollo said vnto them that hee remembred well their good seruice wherefore hee woold they shoold demaund him any thing in reward of their trauail and with a good will it shoold bee graunted For the gods vse for a little seruice to geeue a great reward Triphon and Agamendo aunswered vnto the god Apollo that for their good will for their trauell and for their expenses they demaunded no other reward but that it woold please him to geeue them the best thing that might bee geeuen vnto man and that vnto them were most profit saying that the miserable men haue not the power to eschew the euill nor wisedom to choose the good The god Apollo aunswered that hee was contented to pay them their seruice which they had doon and to grant them that which they had demaunded By reason whereof Triphon and Agamendo hauing dyned sodeinly at the gates of the temple fell down dead So that the reward of their trauell was to pluck them out of their misery The end to declare these two examples is to th end that al mortal men may know that there is nothing so good in this world as to haue an end of this lyfe and though to lose it there bee no sauor yet at the least ther is profit For wee woold reproue a traueler of great foolishnes if sweating by the way hee woold sing and after at his iorneys end hee shoold beegin to weepe Is not hee simple which is sory for that hee is comen into the hauen is not hee simple that geeueth the battell and fighteth for that hee hath got the victory Is not hee stubbern which is in great distresse and is angry to bee succored Therefore more foolish simple and stubbern is hee which traueleth to dye and is loth to meet with death For death is the true refuge the perfect health the sure hauen the whole victory the flesh wythout bones fysh wythout scales and corne without straw Fynally after death wee haue nothing to beewail and much lesse to desire In the tyme of Adrian the emperor a philosopher called Secundus beeing marueilously learned made an oration at the funerall of a noble Romayn matrone a kinswoman of the emperors who spake exceeding much euill of lyfe marueilous much good of death And when the emperor demaunded him what death was the philosopher answered Death is an eternal sleepe a dissolucion of the body a terror of the rich a desire of the poore a thing inheritable a pilgrymage vncertain a theef of men a kynde of sleaping a shadow of lyfe a seperacion of the lyuing a company of the dead a resolution of all a rest of trauels and the end of all ydle desires Fynally death is the scourge of all euyll and the cheef reward of the good Truely this philosopher spake very well hee shoold not doo euill which profoundly woold consider that hee had spoken Seneca in an epistle declareth of a philosopher whose name was Bassus to whom when they demaunded what euil a man can haue in death since men feare it so much hee aunswered If any domage or fear is in him who dyeth it is not for the fear of death but for the vyce of him which dieth Wee may agree to that the philosopher sayd that euen as the deaf can not iudge harmony nor the blynd colours so lykewise they cannot say euill of death in especially hee which neuer tasted it For of all those which are dead none returned again to complayn of death and of these few that lyue all complayn of lyfe If any of the dead returned hyther to speak with the liuing and as they haue proued it so they woold tel vs. If there were any harm in secret death it were reason to haue some fear of death But though a man that neuer saw hard felt nor tasted death dooth speak euil of death shoold wee therefore fear death Those ought to haue doon some euil in their life whych doo fear and speak euill of death For in the last hour in the streight iudgement the good shal bee knowen and the euill discouered There is no prince nor knight rich nor poore whole nor sick lucky nor vnlucky whych I see with their vocacions to bee contented saue only the dead which in their graues are in peace and rest and are neyther couetous proud negligent vayn ambitious nor dissolute So that the state of the dead ought to bee best since wee see none therin to bee euil contented And since therefore those which are poore doo seeke wherewith to enrich them selues those which are sad doo seeke wherby to reioice and those which are sick doo seeke to bee healed why is it that those which haue such fear of death doo seeke some remedy against that fear In this case I woold say that hee which will not fear to dye let him vse him self well to liue For the giltles
space of an hour Considering the omnipotency of the diuine mercy it suffiseth ye and I say that the space of an hour is to much to repent vs of our wicked lyfe but yet I woold counsell all since the sinner for to repent taketh but one hour that that bee not the last hour For the sighs and repentaunce which proceed from the bottom of the hart penetrate the high heauens but those which come of necessity dooth not perse the seeling of the house I allow and commend that those that visit the sick doo counsell them to examin their conscienses to receiue the communion to pray vnto god to forgeeue their enemiez and to recommend them selues to the deuout prayers of the people and to repent their sinnes fynally I say that it is very good to doo all this but yet I say it is better to haue doon it beefore For the diligent and carefull Pirate prepareth for the tempest when the sea is calm Hee that deepely woold consider how little the goods of this lyfe are to bee esteemed let him goe to see a rich man when hee dyeth and what hee dooth in his bed And hee shall fynd that the wife demaundeth of the poore husband her dower the doughter the third part the other the fift the child the preheminence of age the sonne in law his mariage the phisition his duity the slaue his liberty the seruants their wages the creditors their debts and the woorst of all is that none of those that ought to enherit his goods wil geeue him one glasse of water Those that shall here or read this ought to consider that that which they haue seene doon at the death of their neighbors the same shall come to them when they shal bee sick at the point of death For so soone as the rych shutteth his eyes foorthwith there is great strife beetweene the children for his goods And this strife is not to vnburthen his soule but whych of them shall inherit most of his possessions In this case I will not my penne trauel any further since both rich and poore dayly see the experience hereof And in things very manyfest it suffyseth only for wyse men to bee put in memory without wasting any more tyme to perswade them Now the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had a secretary very wise and vertuous through whose hands the affairs of the Empire passed And when this secretary saw his lord and maister so sick and almost at the hour of death and that none of his parents nor frends durst speak vnto him hee plainly determined to doo his duity wherein hee shewed very well the profound knowledge hee had in wisdom and the great good will hee bare to his lord This secretary was called Panutius the vertues and lyfe of whom Sextus Cheronensis in the lyfe of Marcus Aurelius declareth ¶ Of the comfortable woords which the Secretary Panutius spake to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hour of his death Cap. l. O My lord and maister my tong cannot keepe silence myne eies cannot refrayn from bitter tears nor my hart leaue from fetching sighes ne yet reason can vse his duity For my blood boyleth my sinnews are dryed my pores bee open my hart dooth faint and my spirit is troubled And the occasion of all this is to see that the wholsom counsels which thou geeuest to others either thou canst not or wil not take for thy self I see thee dye my lord and I dye for that I cannot remedy thee For if the gods woold haue graunted mee my request for the lengthning of thy lyfe one day I woold geeue willingly my whole life Whether the sorow bee true or fained it nedeth not I declare vnto thee with woords since thou mayst manyfestly discern it by my countenaunce For my eies with tears are wet and my hart with sighs is very heauy I feele much the want of thy company I feele much the domage which of thy death to the whole common wealth shal ensue I feele much thy sorow which in thy pallace shal remaine I feele much for that Rome this day is vndoon but that which aboue al things dooth most torment my hart is to haue seen thee liue as wise and now to see thee dye as symple Tell mee I pray thee my lorde why doo men learn the Greek tong trauel to vnderstand the hebrew sweat in the latin chaunge so many maisters turn so many bookes and in study consume so much money and so many yeres if it were not to know how to passe lyfe with honor and take death with pacience The end why men ought to study is to learn to liue well For there is no truer science in man then to know how to order his life well What profiteth it mee to know much if thereby I take no profit what profiteth mee to know straunge languages if I refrain not my tong from other mens matters what profiteth it to study many books if I study not but to begyle my frends what profiteth it to know the influence of the starres and the course of the elements if I cannot keepe my self from vyces Fynally I say that it lytle auayleth to bee a maister of the sage if secretly hee bee reported to bee a folower of fooles The cheef of all philosophy consisteth to serue god and not to offend men I ask thee most noble prince what auaileth it the Pilot to know the art of sayling and after in a tempest by neglygence to perish What auayleth it the valyaunt captayn to talk much of warre and afterwards hee knoweth not how to geeue the battayl What auaileth it the guyde to tell the neerest way and afterwards in the midst to lose him self All this which I haue spoken is sayd for thee my Lord. For what auayleth it that thou beeing in health shooldst sigh for death since now when hee dooth approch thou weepest because thou wooldst not leaue life One of the things wherein the wise man sheweth his wisedom is to know how to loue and how to hate For it is great lightnes I shoold rather say folly to day to loue him whom yesterday wee hated and to morow to sclaunder him whom this day wee honored What Prince so hygh or what Plebeyan so base hath there been or in the world shall euer bee the whych hath so lyttle as thou regarded lyfe and so hyghly commended death What thyngs haue I wrytten beeing thy Secretary with my own hand to dyuers prouynces of the world where thou speakest so much good of death that sometymes thou madest mee to hate lyfe What was it to see that letter which thou wrotest to the noble Romayn Claudines wydow comforting her of the death of her husband which dyed in the warres Wherein shee aunswered That shee thought her trouble comfort to deserue that thou shooldst write her such a letter What a pitifull and sauory letter hast thou written to Antigonus on the death of thy child Verissimus thy sonne so much desired Whose death
thou tookest so that thou exceedest the limits of philosophy but in the end with thy princely vertues thou didst qualify thy wofull sorows What sentences so profound what woords so wel couched didst thou write in that booke entytuled The remedy of the sorowfull the which thou didst send from the warre of Asia to the Senators of Rome and that was to comfort them after a sore plague And how much profit hath thy doctrin doon since with what new kinde of consolation hast thou comforted Helius Fabatus the Sensour when his sonne was drowned in the ryuer where I doo remember that whē wee entred into his house wee found him weeping and when wee went from thence wee left him laughing I doo remember that when thou wentst to visit Gneus Rusticus in his last disease thou spakest vnto him so effectuously that with the vehemency of thy woords thou madest the tears to run down his cheeks And I demaunding him the occasions of his lamentacions hee said The emperor my lord hath told mee so much euils that I haue wonne and of so much good that I haue lost that if I weepe I weepe not for lyfe which is short but for death which is long The man whom aboue all thou hast loued was Torquatus whom thou didst obey as thy father and seruedst as thy maister This thy faithfull frend beeing ready to dy and desyring yet to liue thou sendst to offer sacrifices to the gods not for that they shoold graunt him lyfe but that they shoold hasten his death Herewith I beeing astonied thy noblenesse to satisfy my ignoraunce said vnto mee in secret these woords Maruel not Panutius to see mee offer sacrifyces to hasten my frends death and not to prolong his life For there is nothing that the faithfull frend ought so much to desyre to his true frend as to see him ridde from the trauels of this earth and to enioy the pleasures of heauen Why thinkest thou most noble prince that I reduce all these things to thy memory but for to demaund thee how it is possible that I which haue hard thee speak so well of death doo presently see thee so vnwilling to leaue life since the gods commaund it thy age willeth it thy disease dooth cause it thy feeble nature dooth permit it the sinfull Rome dooth deserue it and the fickle fortune agreeth that for our great misery thou shooldst dye Why therfore sighest thou so much for to dye The trauels whych of necessity must needes come wyth stout hart ought to bee receiued The cowardly hart falleth beefore hee is beaten down but the stout and valyaunt stomack in greatest perill recouereth most strength Thou art one man and not two thou oughtst one death to the gods and not two why wilt thou therefore beeyng but one pay for two and for one only lyfe take two deaths I mean that beefore thou endest lyfe thou dyest for pure sorow After that thou hast sayled and in the sayling thou hast passed such perill when the gods doo render thee in the safe hauen once agayn thou wilt run in to the raging sea wher thou scapest the victory of lyfe and thou dyest with the ambushements of death Lxii. yeres hast thou fought in the field and neuer turned thy back and fearest thou now beeing enclosed in the graue hast thou not passed the pykes and bryers wherein thou hast been enclosed and now thou tremblest beeing in the sure way Thou knowest what dommage it is long to liue and now thou doutest of the profit of death which ensueth It is now many yeres since death and thou haue been at defiaunce as mortall enemies and now to lay thy hands on thy weapons thou flyest and turnest thy back Lxii. yeres are past since thou were bent agaynst fortune and now thou closest thy eyes when thou oughtst ouer her to tryumph By that I haue told thee I mean that since wee doo not see thee take death willyngly at this present wee doo suspect that thy lyfe hath not in tymes past been very good For the man which hath no desire to appeere beefore the gods it is a token hee is loden with vyces What meanest thou most noble prince why weepest thou as an infant and complainest as a man in dispaire If thou weepest beecause thou diest I aunswer thee that thou laughedst as much when thou liuedst For of too much laughing in the life proceedeth much wayling at the death Who hath always for his heritage appropriated the places beeing in the common wealth The vnconstancy of the mynd who shal bee so hardy to make steddy I mean that all are dead all dye and al shal dye and among all wilt thou alone lyue Wilt thou obtayn of the gods that which maketh them gods That is to weete that they make thee immortall as them selues Wilt thou alone haue by priuiledge that which the gods haue by nature My youth demaundeth thy age what thing is best or to say better which is lesse euill to dye well or to lyue euill I doubt that any man may attayn to the means to lyue well according to the continuall variable troubles whych dayly wee haue accustomed to cary beetweene our hands always suffring hunger cold thirst care displeasures temptacions persecucions euil fortunes ouerthrows and diseases Thys cannot bee called lyfe but a long death and with reason wee will call this lyfe death since a thousand tymes wee hate lyfe If an auncient man did make a shew of his lyfe from tyme hee is come out of the intrailes of his mother vntill the tyme hee entreth into the bowels of the earth and that the body woold declare all the sorows that hee hath passed and the hart discouer all the ouerthrows of fortune which hee hath suffered I immagin the gods woold maruell and men woold wonder at the body whych hath endured so much and the hart whych hath so greatly dissembled I take the Greekes to bee more wise whych weepe when their children bee borne and laugh when the aged dye then the Romayns whych syng when the children are borne and weepe when the old men dye Wee haue much reason to laugh when the old men dye since they dye to laugh and with greater reason wee ought to weepe when the children are borne since they are borne to weepe ¶ Pannatius the secretary continueth his exhortatiō admonishing al men willingly to accept death and vtterly to forsake the world and all his vanities Cap. li. SIns lyfe is now condempned for euill there remaineth nought els but to approue death to bee good O if it pleased the immortall gods that as I oftentimes haue hard the disputacions of this matter so now that thow cooldst therewith profit But I am sory that to the sage and wise man counsaile sometimes or for the most part wanteth None ought to cleue so much to his own opinion but sometimes hee shoold folow the counsaile of the thyrd parson For the man which in all things will follow his own
aduise ought wel to bee assured that in al or the most part hee shall erre O my lord Mark sith thou art sage liuely of spirit of great experience and auncient didst not thou think that as thou hadst buried many so like wise some should burie thee What imaginacions were thine to think that seeing the end of their days others should not see the end of thy yeares Since thou diest rych honourably accompanied old and aboue all seeing thou diest in the seruice of the common wealth why fearest thou to enter into thy graue Thou hast always beene a frend as much to know things past as those which were hid and kept secret Sins thou hast proued what honors and dishonors doo deserue ryches and pouerty prosperity and aduersity ioy and sorow loue and feare vices pleasures mee seemeth that nothing remayneth to know but that it is necessarye to know what death is And also I sweare vnto thee most noble lord that thow shalt learn more in one hour what death is then in a hundreth years what life meaneth Since thou art good and presumest to bee good and hast lyued as good is it not better that thow dye goe with so many good then that thow scape and liue amongst so many euill That thou feelest death I maruell nothing at all for thou art a man but I doo maruail that thou dissemblest it not since thou art discrete Many things doo the sage men feele which inwardly doo oppresse their hart but outwardly they dissemble them for the more honor If all the poyson which in the sorowfull hart is wrapped were in small peeces in the feeble flesh scattered then the walles woold not suffice to rubbe neither the nayles to scratch vs. What other thing is death but a trap or doore where with to shut the shop wherein all the miseries of this wofull lyfe are vendible What wrong or preiudice doo the gods vnto vs whē they cal vs beefore them but from an old decaied house to chaunge vs to a new builded pallace And what other thing is the graue but a strong fort wherein wee shut our selues from the assaults of lyfe broyles of fortune Truely wee ought to bee more desirous of that wee fynd in death then of that wee leaue in lyfe If Helia Fabricia thy wife doo greeue thee for that thou leauest her yong doo not care For shee presently hath litle care of the perill wherein thy lyfe dependeth And in the end when shee shall know of thy death shee will bee nothing greued Trouble not thy self for that shee is left widow For yong women as shee is which are maried with old men as thou when their husbands dye they haue their eies on that they can robbe and their harts on them whom they desire to mary And speaking with due respect when with their eies they outwardly seeme most for to beewaile then with their harts inwardly doo they most reioyce Deceyue not thy self in thinking that the empresse thy wife is yong and that shee shal fynd none other Emperor with whom agayn shee may mary For such and the like will chaunge the cloth of gold for gownes of skynnes I mean that they woold rather the yong shepeheard in the field then the old emperour in his royall pallace If thou takest sorow for the children whom thou leauest I know not why thou shooldst do so For truely yf it greeue thee now for that thou dyest they are more displeased for that thow lyuest The sonne that desireth not the death of his father may bee counted the onely Phenix of this world for if the father bee poore he wisheth him dead for that hee is not maintained if hee bee rich hee desireth his death to enherit the sooner Sins therefore it is true as in deede it is it seemeth not wisedome that they sing thou weepe If it greue thee to leaue these goodly pallaces these sūptuous buildings deceiue not thy self therein For by the god Iupiter I sweare vnto thee that since that death dooth finish thee at the end of .lxii. yeares tyme shal consume these sūptuous buildings in lesse then xl If it greeue thee to forsake the cōpany of thy frends neighbors for them also take as litle thought sins for thee they wil 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 buryed but of their frends neighbors they are forgotten If thou takest great thought for that thou wilt not dye as the other emperors of Rome are dead mee seemeth that thou oughtst allso to cast this sorow from thee For thou knowst ryght wel that Rome hath accustomed to bee so vnthankful to those which serue her that the great Scipio also woold not bee buryed therein If it greeue thee to dye to leaue so great a seignory as to leaue the empire I can not think that such vanity bee in thy head For temperat reposed men when they escape from semblable offices do not think that they lose honor but that they bee free of a troblesome charge Therefore if none of al these things moue thee to desire lyfe what should let thee that through thy gates enter not death it greeueth men to dye for one of these two things eyther for the loue of those they leaue beehynd them or for the feare of that they hope Sins therefore there is nothing in this lyfe worthy of loue nor any things in death why wee shoold feare why doo mē feare to dye According to the heauy sighs thou fetchest the bitter tears thou she dest according also to the great payn thou shewest for my part I think that the thing in thy thought most forgotten was that the gods shoold cōmaund thee to pay this debt For admit that al think that their life shal end yet no man thinketh that death wil come so soone For that men think neuer to dye they neuer beeginne their faults to amend so that both life fault haue end in the graue togethers Knowst not thou most noble prince that after the long night cōmeth the moist morning Doost thou not know that after the moyst morning there commeth that cleere sunne Knowst not thou that after the cleare sunne cōmeth the cloudy element Doost thou not know that after the dark myst there commeth extream heat And that after the heat cometh the horrible thunders after the thunders the sodeyn lightnings that after the perilous lightnings commeth the terrible hayle Fynally I say that after the tempesteous troublesome time commonly commeth cleare faire weather The order that time hath to make him self cruel gentill the self same ought men to haue to liue dye For after the infancy cōmeth chyldhod after chyldhod commeth youth after youth cōmeth age after age cōmeth the fearfull death Finally after the fearful death cōmeth the sure life Oftentimes I haue read of thee not seldome hard that
oke Ryches youth pride and lyberty are fower plagues which poison the prince replenysh the common wealth with filth kill the lyuing and defame the dead Let the old men beeleeue mee and the yong men mark well what I say that where the gods haue geeuen many gyfts it is necessary they haue many vertues to susteyn them The gentle the peaceable the couÌ„terfait the simple and the fearful doo not trouble the common wealth but those whoÌ„ nature hath geeuen most gyfts For as experience teacheth vs with the fayrest weomen the stews are furnyshed the most proper personages are vnshamefast the most stout and valiaunt are murderers the most subtill are theeues and men of clearest vnderstanding oft times beecome most fooles I say and say again I affirm and affirm agayn I sweare and sweare agayn that if two men which are adorned with naturall gyfts doo want requisyt vertues such haue a knife in their hands wherewith they doo strike and wound them selues a fyer on their shoulders wherewith they burn them selues a rope at their necks to hang them selues a dagger at their breast wherewyth they kyll them selues a thorn in their foote wherewith they prick them selues and stones whereat they stumble so that stumbling they fall and falling they fynd them selues with death whom they hate and without lyfe which so much they loued Note well Panutius note that the man which from his infancy hath always the feare of the gods beefore his eyes and the shame of men sayeth trouth to all and lyueth in preiudice to none and to such a tree though euil fortune doo cleaue the flower of his youth doo wither the leaues of their fauors drye they gather the fruits of hys trauailes they cut the bough of hys offices they bow the highest of his braunches downwards yet in the end though of the winds hee bee beaten hee shall neuer bee ouercome O happy are those fathers to whom the Gods haue geeuen quick children wyse faire able lyght and valiaunt but all these gifts are but means to make them vicious And in such case if the fathers woold bee gouerned by my counsayl I woold rather desire that members shoold want in them then that vyces shoold abound Of the most fairest chyldren which are born in the Empire my sonne Commodus the Prince is one But I woold to the immortal gods that in face hee resemble the blackest of Ethiope in maners the greatest philosopher of Greece For the glory of the father is not nor ought not to bee in that his childe is faire of complexion and handsome of person but that in his lyfe hee bee very vpryght Wee will not call hym a pytifull father but a great enemy who exalteth foorth his childe for that hee is faire and dooth not correct him though hee bee vicious I durst say that the father which hath a chyld endued with many goodly gyfts and that hee dooth employ them all to vices such a chyld ought not to bee born in the world and if perchaunce he were born hee ought immediatly to bee buried ¶ The Emperour Marcus Aurelius concludeth his matter and sheweth that sundry yong princes for beeing vicious haue vndoone them selues and impoueryshed their Realmes Cap. liij O What great pyty is it to see how the father buyeth his chyld of the gods with sighs how the mother deliuer them with payn how they both nourish them with trauailes how they watch to susteyn them how they labor to remedy them and afterwards they haue so rebelled and bee so vicious that the myserable fathers oftentimes doo dye not for age but for the greeues wherewith their children torment theÌ„ I doo remember that the prince CoÌ„modê° my sonne beeing yong I aged as I am with great payns wee kept him froÌ„ vices but I fear that after my deth hee wil hate vertues I remeÌ„ber many yong princes which of his age haue enherited theÌ„pire of Rome who haue beene of so wicked a life that they haue deserued to lose both honor and life I remember Dennis the famous tyraunt of Scicil of whom is sayed that as great reward hee gaue to those that inuented vices as our mother Rome dyd to those which conquered realmes Such woork could not bee but of a Tyrant to take them for most famyliar which are most vicious I remember fower yong princes which gouerned the empire but not with such valyauntnes as the great Alexander that is to weete Alexander Antiochus Siluius and Ptholomeus to whom for their vanyty and lightnes as they called Alexander the great Emperour in Greece so likewise doo they call these yong men tiraunts in Asia Very happy was Alexander in life they vnhappy after his death For all that which with glorious triumphs hee wanne with vile vices they lost So that Alexander deuided between them fower the world and afterwards it came into the hands of mo then fower hundreth I doo remember that kyng Antigonus litle exteemed that which cost his lord Alexander much Hee was so lyght in the beehauior of his person and so defamed in the affaires of the common wealth that for mockry and contempt in the steede of a crown of gold hee bare a garland in the steede of a scepter hee caryed neitels in hys hand of this sort and maner hee sat to iudge among his counsailours and vsed to talk with straungers This yong prince dooth offend mee much for the lightnes hee coÌ„mitted but much more I marueyl at the grauity of the sages of Greece which suffred him It is but meete hee bee partaker of the payn which condescended to the fault I doo remember Calligulus the fowerth Emperour of Rome who was so yong and foolysh that I doubt of these two thyngs which was greatest in his time That is to weete the dysobedyence which the people beare to their lord or the hate which the lord beare to hys people For that vnhappy creature was so dysordered in his maners that if all the Romayns had not watched to take life from him hee woold haue watched to take life from them This Caligula ware a brooche of gold in his cap where in were writen these woords Vtinam omnis populus vnam precise ceruicem haberet vt vno ictu omnes necarem Whych is to say woold to god all the people had but one neck to the end I might kyll them all at a stroke I remember the Emperour Tiberius thadoptiue sonne of the good Cesar Augustus whych was called Augustus beecause hee greatly augmented the empire But the good Emperour did not so much augment the state of hys common wealth duryng hys lyfe as Tiberius dyd dymynish it after hys death The hate and mallyce which the Romayn people bare to Tiberius in hys lyfe was manyfestly dyscouered after the tyme of hys death For the day that Tiberius dyed or better to say when they kylled him the Romayn people made great processyons and the Senators offred great presents to the Temples and the priests
gaue great sacrifyces to their Gods and all to the end their Gods shoold not receyue the soule of thys tiraunt amongst them but that they woold send it to bee kept among the furies of hell I remember Patrocles second kyng of Corinthe inheryted the realme at two twenty years of his age who was so dysordered of hys flesh so vndyscreete in hys doings so couetous of goods and such a coward of hys person that where hys father had possessed the realme forty yeares the sonne dyd not possesse it thyrty moneths I remember Tarquine the proud who though among eyght knyghts of Rome was the last and comlyest of gesture valyaunt in armes noblest of blood and in geeuyng most lyberall yet hee employed all hys gyfts and graces which the Gods had geeuen hym euyll For hee employed hys bewty to ryot and hys forces to tyranny For through the treason and vyllany whych hee commytted with the Romayn Lucretia hee dyd not onely lose the realme and flying saued hys lyfe but allso for euer was banyshed and all hys lynage likewise I remember the cruell emperor Nero who lyued enherited and dyed yong and not without a cause I say that hee lyued and dyed yong For in him was graffed the stock of the noble and worthy Cesars and in him was renewed the memory of those Tyraunts To whom thinkest thou Panutius this tiraunt woold haue geeuen lyfe since hee with his own hands gaue his mother her death Tel mee I pray thee who thinkest thou hath made that cursed hart who slew hys mother out of whose womb hee came opened her breasts which gaue hym suck shed the blood whereof hee was born tore the armes in which hee was caryed saw the intrails wherein hee was formed The day that the emperour Nero slew his mother an orator said in the senat Iure interficienda erat Agrippina que tale portentum peperit in populo romano Which is to say iustly deserued Agrippina to bee put to death which brought foorth so straunge a monster amongst the Romayn people Thou oughtst not therefore to marueil Panutius at the nouelties whych thou hast seene in mee for in these three days that I haue beene troubled in my mynd and altered in my vnderstandyng all these things are offred vnto mee and from the botom of my hart I haue digested them For the carefull men are not blynded but with their own ymaginacions All these euil condicions which these Princes had scattered amongst them of whom I haue spoken doo meete togethers in my sonne Commodus For if they were yong hee is yong If they were rych hee is rych If they were free hee is free If they were bold hee is bold If they were wilde hee is wilde If they were euill certaynly I doo not think that hee is good For wee see many yong princes which haue been well brought vp and well taught yet when they haue inherited and come to their lands they beecome immediatly vitious and dissolute What hope haue wee of those which from their infancy are dissolute and euill enclined of good wyne I haue made oft times strong vineger but of pure vineger I haue neuer seene good wine This childe keepeth mee beetwene the sayles of feare the anker of hope hopyng hee shal bee good since I haue taught him wel fearing hee shall bee euill beecause his mother Faustine hath norished him euil And that which ys the woorst that the yong childe of his own nature is inclined to al euil I am moued to say this much for that I see his naturall inclinacion increase and that which was taught him dimynish for the which occasyon I doubt that after my death my sonne shal return to that wherin his mother hath norished him not to that wherein I haue taught him O how happy had I been if neuer I had had childe for not to be boūd to leaue him thempire for I woold chose then among the children of the good fathers woold not bee bound to such a one whom the gods haue geeuen mee One thing I ask thee Panutius whom wooldst thou cal most fortunat Vespasian which was naturall father of Domitius or Nerua the adopted father of the good Traiane both those two Vespasian Nerua were good princes but of children Domitian was the head of al mischief Traiane was the mirrour of al goodnes So that Vespasian in that hee had children was vnhappy Nerua in that hee had none was most fortunat One thing I wil tel thee Panutius the which by thee considered thou wylt litle esteeme life and shalt lose the feare of death I haue lyued lxii years wherein I haue read much hard much sene desired attained possessed suffred I haue much reioysed my self And in the end of al this I see my self now to dye and I must want my pleasures and my self allso Of all that I haue had possessed attained whereof I haue enioyed I haue only two things to weete payn for that I haue offended the gods and sorow for the time which I haue wasted in vices There is great difference beetweene the rych and the poore in death and more in lyfe For the poore dyeth to rest but yf the rich dye it is to their great payn So that the gods take from the one that which hee had putteth the other in possession of that hee desired Great care hath the hart to seeke the goods and they passe great troubles to heap vp them togethers and great diligence must bee had in keeping them and also much wyt to encrease them but without comparison it is greater grief to depart from them O what payn intollerable and grief it is to the wise man seeing hym self at the poynt of death to leaue the swet of his famyly the maiesty of his empire the honor of his present the loue of his frends the payment of his debts the deserts of his seruaunts and the memory of hys predecessours in the power of so euill a chyld the which neither deserueth it nor yet wil deserue it In their table of our auncyent laws were writen these woords Wee ordeyn and commaund that the father which shall bee good according to the oppinion of all may disheryt his sonne who according to the opinion of all is euill The law sayd further The chyld which hath dysobeyed hys father robbed any holy Temple iniuryed any wyddow fled from any battaile and committed any treason to a straunger that hee shoold bee banished from Rome and dysenherited from his fathers goods Truely the law was good though by our offences it bee forgotten If my breath fayled mee not as it dooth fayle mee for of trouth I am greatly payned I woold declare vnto thee how many Parthes Medians Egiptians Assirians Caldeans Indians Hebrues Greekes and Romains haue left their children poore beeing able to haue left them rych for no other cause but for that they were vicious And to the contrary other beeyng poore haue left them rych
for that they were vertuous By the immortall Gods I sweare vnto thee that when they came from the warre of Parthia triumphed in Rome confirmed the Empire to my sonne if then these nat nat had not withstoode mee I had left Commodus my sonne poore wyth hys vices and woold haue made heire of all my realmes some vertuous man I let thee to weete Panutius that fyue thyngs oppresse my hart sore to the which I woold rather see remedy my self then to commaund other to remedy it The first for that in my lyfe time I can not determyn the proces that the vertuous wydow Drusia hath with the senat Beecause since shee is poore and deformed there is no man that will geeue her iustice The second beecause I dye not in Rome And this for none other cause then that with the sound of the trumpet shoold bee proclaymed that all those which haue any quarell or debt against mee and my famyly should come thither to bee payd or satisfyed of their debts and demaunds The thyrd that as I made fower tyraunts to bee put to execucion which commytted tyranny in Asia and Italy so it greeued mee that I haue not also punished certayn Pyrats which roued on the seas The fowerth for that I haue not caused the Temple to bee fynished which I dyd beegynne for all the gods For I might haue sayd vnto them after my death that since for all them I haue made one house it were not much that any of them shoold receiue one into his which passe thys lyfe in the fauor of gods and wythout the hatred of men For dying after this sort men shal susteyn our honours and the gods shall prouide for our soules The fyfth for that I leaue in life for my onely heire Commodus the prynce yet not so much for the destruction which shall come to my house as for the great domage which shall succeede in the common wealth For the true princes ought to take the domages of their persons lyght and the domages of the common wealth for the most greeuous O Panutius let therefore thys bee the last woord which I will say vnto thee that is to weete that the greatest good that the Gods may geeue to the man that is not couetous but vertuous is to geeue hym good renowne in lyfe and afterwards a good heire at our death Fynally I say that if I haue anything to doo with the gods I require and beeseech them that if they should bee offended Rome slaundered my renowme defamed and my house demynished for that my sonne bee of an euill lyfe that they wyll take from hym lyfe beefore they geeue mee death ¶ Of the woords which the Emperour Marcus Aurelius spake vnto his sonne Commodus at the hower of death necessary for all yong gentlemen to vnderstand Cap. liiij SInce the dysease of Marcus Aurelius was so extream that in euery hower of his lyfe hee was assaulted with death after hee had talked a long tyme with Panutius his secretary hee commaunded his sonne Commodus to be wakened who as a yong man slept soundly in his bed And beeing come beefore his presence al those which were there were moued immediatly with cōpassion to see the eies of the father all swollen with weeping and the eies of the chylde closed with ouermuch sleepe They could not waken the chylde hee was so careles and they could not cause the goodfather sleape hee tooke so great thought All those which were there seeing how the father desired the good lyfe of the sonne and how lytel the sonne wayed the death of his father had compassion of the old man and bare hate to the wicked chylde Then the good Emperour casting his eies on high and directing his woords to his sōne sayd When thou were a chylde I told thy maisters how they ought to bring thee vp after that thou dydst waxe greater I told thy gouernors how they shoold counsaile thee And now will I tel thee how thou with them which are few and they with thee beeing one ought to gouern and maintayn the common wealth If thou esteeme much that which I wil say vnto thee my sonne know thow that I will esteeme it much more that thow wilt beeleue mee For more easely doo wee old men suffer your iniuryes then yee other yong doo receyue our counsailes Wysedome wanteth to you for to beeleeue vs yet yee want not boldnesse to dishonor vs. And that which is woorst the aged in Rome were wont to haue a chayr of wysedome and sagenes but now a days the yong men count it a shame and folly The world at this day ys so chaunged from that it was wont to bee in tymes past that all haue the audacity to geeue counsaile and few haue the wisedome to receyue it so that they are a thowsaund which sell counsailes there is not one that buyeth wisedom I beleeue wel my sōne that according to my fatal destinies thy euill manners litle shal that auaile which I shal tel thee For since thou wooldst not credyt these woords which I spake vnto thee in my life I am sure that thou wilt litle regard them after my death But I doo this more to satisfy my desyre and to accomplish that which I owe vnto the common wealth than for that I hope for any amendment of thy lyfe For there is no grief that so much hurteth a person as when hee him self is cause of his own payn If any man dooth me an iniury if I lay my hands vppon him or speak iniurious woords vnto him my hart is foorthwith satisfyed but if I doo iniury to my self I am hee which wrongeth am wrōged for that I haue none on whom I may reuenge my wrōg and I vexe chafe with my self If thou my sonne bee euill after that thou hast enheryted the empire my mother Rome wil complain of the gods which haue geeuen thee so many euil inclinacions Shee wil cōplayn of Faustine thy mother which hath brought thee vp so wantonly shee will complayn of thee which hast no will to resist vice but shee shall haue no cause to complayn of the old man thy father who hath not geeuen thee good counsailes For if thou hadst beeleeued that which I told thee men woold reioyce to haue thee for their lord and the gods to vse thee as their minister I cannot tel my sonne if I bee deceiued but I see thee so depriued of vnderstanding so vncertayn in thy woords so dissolute in thy maners so vniust in iustice in that thou desirest so hardy in thy duty so negligent that if thou chaunge alter not thy maners men wil hate thee and the gods will forsake thee O if thou knewst my sonne what thyng it is to haue men for enemies and to bee forsaken of the gods by the faith of a good man I sweare vnto thee that thou wooldst not onely hate the seignory of Rome but with thy hands also thou wooldst
cruel punyshment of those that liue that rather thē they would endure it they wysh to bee dead Thou oughtst to think my sonne that I haue beegot thee I haue nouryshed thee I haue taught thee I haue trymmed thee I haue chastised thee and I haue exalted thee And for this consyderation though by death I am absent it is not reasō that thou euer forget mee For the true not vnthākfull chyld ought the same day to bury his father in his tender hart when others haue layd hym in the hard graue One of the visible chastisements which the gods geeue to men in this world is that the children obey not their fathers in their life For the self same fathers did not remēber their owne fathers after their death Let not yong Princes think after they haue inherited after they see theyr father dead after they are past correction of their masters that al things ought to bee doone as they thē selues wil it for it will not bee so For if thei want the fauour of the Gods haue maledyction of their fathers they liue in trouble and dye in daunger I require nought els of thee my sonne but that such a father as I haue been to thee in my life such a sonne thou bee to mee after my death I commend vnto thee my sonne the veneracion of the gods and this cheefely aboue al thing For the prince with maketh accompt of the gods neede not to feare any storme of fortune Loue the gods thou shalt bee beeloued Serue them thou shalt bee serued Feare them thou shalt bee feared Honor them thou shalt bee honored Doo their commaūdements they will geeue thee thy harts desire For the gods are so good that they doo not onely receiue in accompt that which wee doo but also that which wee desire to doo I commend vnto thee my sonne the reuerence of the Temples that is to weete that they bee not in discorde that they bee cleane renewed that they offer therin the sacrifices accustomed For wee doo not this honor to the substaūce wherwith the temples are made but to the Gods to whome they are consecrated I commend vnto thee the veneration of priestes I pray thee though they bee couetous auaricious dissolute vnpacient negligēt vicious yet that thei bee not dishonored For to vs others it apperteineth not to iudge of the life they leade as mē but wee must consider that they are mediators beetwene the gods vs. Beehold my sonne that to serue the gods honor the temples reuerence the priestes it is not a thing voluntary but very necessary for Princes For so long endured the glory of the Greekes as they were worshippers of their Gods carefull of theyr Temples The vnhappi realme of Catthage was nothing more cowardly nor lesse rych then that of the Romaynes but in the ende of the Romaynes thei were ouercome beecause they were great louers of their treasours and litle worshippers of their Temples I commend vnto thee my sonne Helia thy stepe mother remember though shee bee not thy mother yet shee hath been my wyfe That which to thy mother Faustine thou oughtst for bringing thee into the world the selfe same thou oughtst to Helia for the good entertainmēt which shee hath shewed thee And in deede often tymes I beeing offended with the shee mainteined thee caused mee to forget so that shee by her good woords did winne againe that which thou by thy euill woorks didst loose Thou shalt haue my curse yf thou vsest her euyll thou shalt fall into theire of the gods if that agreest that other doo not vse her wel For all the domage which shee shal feele shal not bee but for the inconuenience of my death iniury of thy persō For her dowrye I leaue her the tributes of Hostia the orchyardes of Vulcanus which I haue made to bee planted for her recreation Bee thou not so hardy to take them from her for in taking them from her thou shalt shewe thy wickednes in leauing them her thy obedyence in geeuing her more thy bounty liberalyty Remember my sonne that shee is a Romaine woman yong a wydow of the house of Traiane my lord that shee is thy mother adoptatiue my naturall wyfe aboue al for that I leaue her recommended vnto thee I commend vnto thee my sonne in laws whome I will thou vse as parents and frends And beeware that thou bee not of those which are brethern in woords cousins in woorks Bee thou assured that I haue willed somuch good to my doughters that the best which were in al the countries I haue chosen for their persons And they haue beene so good that if in geeuing them my doughters they were my sonne in laws in loue I loued them as chyldren I commend vnto thee my Systers doughters whome I leaue thee al maryed not with straūge kings but with natural senatours So that al dwel in Rome where they mai doo thee seruices and thou maist geue them rewards gifts Thy sisters haue greatly inheryted the beauty of thy mother Faustine haue taken lytle nature of their father Marke But I sweare vnto thee that I haue geeuen them such husbands and to their husbands such and so profitable counsailes that they would rather loose their lyfe then agree to any thing touching their dishonor Vse thy sisters in such sort that they bee not out of fauor for that their aged father is dead and that they beecome not proud for to see their brother Emperor Women are of a very tender condicion for of small occasion they doo complayne of lesse they wax proud Thou shalt keepe them preserue them after my death as I did in my lyfe For otherwise their conuersacion to the people shal bee very noisome to thee very importunate I comend vnto thee Lipula thy yongest Sister which is inclosed with in the virgine vestalles who was doughter of thy mother Faustine whome so derely I haue loued in life whose death I haue beewailed vntil my death Euery yeare I gaue to thy sister sixe thousand Sexterces for her necessyties in deede I had maryed her also if shee had not fallen into the fire burnt her face For though shee were my last I loued her with all my hart All haue esteemed her fal into the fire for euyll luck but I doo coūt the euil luck for good fortune For her face was not so burned with coles as her renowme suffred peryl among euill tongs I sweare vnto thee my sonne that for the seruice of the gods for the renowme of men shee is more sure in the Temple with the vestal Virgins then the art in the Senate with thy Senatours I suppose now that at the end of the iourney shee shal find her selfe better to bee enclosed then thou at liberty I leaue vnto her in the prouynce of Lucania euery yeare six
vppon not aboue two yoke of oxen to till his land Titus Liuius Macrobius Cicero Plutarch Salust Lucan Seneca Aulus Gelius Herodian Eutropius Trebellius Vulpitius and all the other romayn writers doo neuer cease to praise the auncient romain pouerty saying the common wealth of Rome neuer lost one iott of her greatnes honor during the tyme that they went abroad to conquer other realmes and dominions but only since they began to geather treasor together Licurgus the Philosopher who afterwards was king of the Lacedemonians ordeined in his lawes hee made that no neighbor shoold haue any more goods then an other but that all houses lands vynes possessions gold siluer apparell mouables and generally all other things what soeuer shoold bee indifferently holden among them to the common vtilitie of all And beeing asked why hee woold not consent the common weal shoold haue her own priuate commodities and particulers answered thus The payns and trauels men indure in this mortall life and the great troubles disorders that come dayly to the comon weal chaunce not so much for that men haue neede of lyuing to maintain them selues with all but for that they doo desire to leaue to their heirs and successors And therefore I haue appointed euery thing in cōmon amōg subiects because that during their liues they might haue honestly to maintain them selues with all that they shoold leaue any thing to dispose by will after their deaths Herodotus sayth also that it was decreed by thinhabitans of the Iles Baleares that they shoold suffer none to come into theyr countrey to bring them any gold siluer silk iewels or precious stones And this serued them to great profit For by means of this law for the space of .iiii. C. yeres that they had warres with the Romains the Carthagians the Frēch the Spaniares neuer any of these nations once stirred to goe about to conquer their land beeing assured that they had neither gold nor siluer to robbe or conuey from them Promotheus that was the first that gaue lawes to the Egiptians did not prohibit gold nor siluer in Egipt as those of the Iles Baleares did in their territories neither did hee also comand that all thing shoold bee common as Licurgus but only commanded that none in all his kingdom shoold bee so hardy once to gather any masse or quantity of gold or siluer together to hoard it vp And this hee did vpon great penalties for as he said auarice is not showed in buylding of fair houses neither in hauīg rich moueables but in assembling gathering together great treasure laying it vp in their coffers And Plutarche in his booke De consolatione saith also that if a rich man dyed among the Rhodians leauing behind him one only sonne no more suruyuing him they woold not suffer that hee shoold bee sole heyre of all that his father left but they left him an honest heritage lyuing so hys state call to mary him well withall and the rest of all his sethers goods they dissipated among the poore orphans The Lydians that neither were Greekes nor Romains but right barbarous people had a law in their common weal that euery man shoold bee bound to bring vp his children but not to bee at tharges in bestowing them in mariage So that the sonne or daughter that were now of age to mary they gaue them nothing to their mariage more then they had gottē with their labor And those that will exactly consider this lawdable custom shal fynd that it is rather a law of true philosophers then a custom of barbarous people Since thereby the childrē were inforced to labor for their lyuing the parents also were exempted from al maner of couetousnes or auarice to heap vp gold siluer to enrich them selues Numa Pompilius second king of the romains establisher of their laws decrees in the law of the seuen tables which hee made hee left them order only which way the Romayns might rule their comon weal in tranquility put in no clause nor chapter that they shoold make their willes wherby their children might inherit their fathers goods And therfore being asked why hee permitted in his laws euery man to get asmuch goods as hee coold not to dispose them by wil nor leaue them to their heirs Hee answered because wee see that albeeit there are some children that are vnhappy vicious abhominable yet are there few fathers notwtstanding this that will depriue disherit them of their goods at theyr death only to leaue them to any other heir therefore for this cause I haue comaunded that al the goods that remain after the death of the owner of thē shoold bee geuen to the comon weal as sole heir successor of them to th end that if their children shoold become honest vertuous they shoold then bee distributed to them if they were wicked vnhappy that they shoold neuer be owners of them to hurt offend the good Macrobius in his booke De somno Scipionis saith that there was in the old tyme an old and ancient law amōgst the Tuscans duly obserued kept afterwards taken vp of the Romayns that in euery place where so euer it were in town or village within their territories on new yeres day euery man shoold present him self beefore the iudge or magistrate of the place hee was in to geeue him account of his maner of lyfe now hee mainteined himself in this examinatiōs they did accustome to punish him that lyued ydlely with knauery deceipt maintayned them selues as minstrels ruffyans dycers carders iuglers coggers foysters cosiners of men sylching knaues with other loytering vacabōds rogues that lyue of others swett toyl without any pain or labor they take vpon them to deserue that they eat I woold to god if it were his will that this Tuscan law were obserued of christians then wee shoold see how few they be in nomber that geeue them selues to any faculty or science or other trade to lyue by their own trauell industry and how many infinit a nomber they bee that liue in ydle sort The diuine Plato in his Timee sayth that although an ydle man bee more occasion of many troubles inconueniences in a common weal then a couetous man yet is it not alwais greater for the ydle mā that gladly taketh his ease dooth but desire to haue to eat but the couetous man dooth not only desire to eat but to bee rich and haue money enough All the eloquence and pleasant speche that the Orators studyed in their orations the lawyers in their law and the famous philosophers in their doctryne and teaching was for no other cause but to admonish and perswade those of the common weal to take very good heede in choosing of their gouernors that they were not couetous and ambitious in thadministration of their publyke affairs Laertius recyteth also that a
I doe appeale thee if thou hast dreamed that thou hast wrytten I saye beleue not in dreames and if thou wylt not it shoulde auayle to glorifie me as a frende yet thou mightest wryte it aduertising and repreuing me as the father to the sonne younge vertuous persones are bounde to honour auncient wyse men and no lesse olde wyse men ought to endoctrine the younge people and very young as I am A iust thing it is that the new forces of youth supplie and serue them that are worne by age For their longe experience instructeth our tender age and naturall ignoraunce Youthe is euill applied when it aboundeth in force of the body wanteth the vertues of the mind and age is honoured wherein the force dieth outwarde whereby vertues quickeneth the more inwarde We may see the tree when the fruite is gathered the leaues fall and when flowers drie then more grene and perfecte are the rootes I meane that when the first season of youth is passed whiche is the Sommer time then commeth age called Wynter and purifieth the fruite of the fleshe and the leaues of fauour fal the flowers of delite wither and the vynes of hope drye outwarde then it is ryght that much better are the rootes of good workes within They that be olde and auncient ought to prayse their good workes rather then their white heares For honoure ought to be geuen for the good life and not for the whyte head Glorious is that common wealth and fortunate is that prince that is lord of young men to trauaile and auncient persones to councell As to regarde the sustaininge of the naturalitie of the lyfe in likewyse ought to be considered the policy of gouernaunce the whiche is that al the fruites come nor drye not al at once but when one beginneth another faileth And in this maner ye that be auncient teaching vs and we be obedient as olde fathers and young pullettes being in the neste of the Senate Of some their fethers fallinge and other younge fethered and where as the olde fathers can not flie their trauayles are mainteined by their tender children Frende Catullus I purposed not to wryte one lyne this yeare because my penne was troubled with thy slouthe but the weakenes of my spirite and the great peril of myne offices alwayes called on me to demaunde thy councell This priuiledge the olde wyse men holde in their houses where they dwell They are alwayes lordes ouer them that be simple and are sclaues to them that be wyse I thinke thou hast forgotten me thinking that sithe the death of my dere sonne Verissimus the time hath bene so long that I should forget it Thou hast occasion to thinke so for many thinges are cured in time which reason can not helpe But in this case I can not tell which is the greatest thy trūpery or my dolour I sweare to thee by the gods immortall that the hungry wormes are not so puissaunt in the entrales of the vnhappy chylde as the bitter sorowes are in the heauy hart of the wofull father And it is no comparison for the sonne is dead but one tyme and the heauy father dieth euery momente What wylt thou more that I should saye But that one ought to haue enuy of his death and compassion of my lyfe because in dyeng he lyueth and in the lyuing I dye In the mischaunces of lyfe and in the great vnconstancie of fortune whereas her gyles profiteth but litle and her strengthe lesse I thinke the best remedy is to fele it as a man and dissimule it as discrete and wyse If all things as they be felt at heart should be shewed outward with the tongue I thynke that the wyndes shoulde breake the hearte with syghinges and water all the earth with weping O if the corporal eyes sawe the sorowe of the heart I sweare to thee they should see more of a drop of bloud sweatinge within then all the wepyng that appeareth without There is no comparyson of the great dolours of the body to the least greife of the mynde For all trauayle of the body men may finde some remedy but if the heauy heart speake it is not heard if it wepe it is not sene if it complaine it is not beleued What shal the poore harte doe Abhorre the lyfe wherwith it dieth and desire death wherwith it liueth The highe vertues among noble vertuous people consiste not all onely to suffer the passions of the body but also to dissimule them of the soule They be suche that alter the humours and shewe it not outward they brynge a feuer without altering of the poulce they alter the stomacke they make vs to knele to the earth to suffer the water vp to the mouthe and to take death without leauing of the lyfe and finally they length our life to the intente that we should haue no more trauayle and denieth vs our graue to the intent that we should not reste But considering as I am troubled with sorowes so am I voyde of consolations for when I haue either desire of the one or werynes of the other I vse alwayes this remedy to dissimule with the tongue to wepe with the eyes and to fele it with my heart I passe my lyfe as he that hoped to lese all that he hath neuer to recouer that that is loste I saye this though ye see me not nowe make funeral wepinges and waylinges as I did at the death of my sonne yet thinke not but it doeth bren my heart so that with the great heate inward is consumed the humiditie of the eyes for it brenneth al my spirites within Thou mayest knowe what an honorable father suffereth to lese a good childe in all thinges the gods be liberal except in geuing vs vertuous children Where there is aboūdaunce of great estates there is greatest scarsitie of good inheritours It is a dolefull thing to heare and greater pitie to see howe these fathers clime to haue rychesse and to see their children descende to haue viciousnes To see the fathers honoure their children and the children to infame their fathers yea and the fathers to geue reste to the chyldren and the chyldren to geue trouble to their fathers yea and sometyme the fathers die for sorowe that their children die so sone and we see their childrē wepe because their fathers die so late What should I saye more but that the honoure and ryches that the fathers haue procured with great thought the chyldren consume with litle care I am certayne of one thing that the fathers may gather ryches with strengthe and crafte to susteyne their children but the Gods wyll not haue durable that that is begonne with euyll intention as that is whiche is wonne to the preiudice of other and possessed with an euyll heyre And though the heauy destinies of the father permit that the ryches be lefte to their children to serue them in all their vyces for their pastime at last yet according to their merites the
Gods wyll that the heire and heritage should perishe Marke what I saye I had two sonnes Comodus and the prince Verissimus the yonger is dead that was greatest in vertue Alway I imagined that whyle the good liued I should be poore and nowe that the euill remayneth I thinke to be riche I will tell thee the cause the Gods are so pitifull that to a poore father they neuer geue euill childe and to a ryche father they neuer geue a good childe And as in all prosperitie there chaunceth alwayes some sinister fortune either sone or late so therewith fortune doth arme and apparell vs wherein she seeth we shall fall to our greatest hurte And therefore the Gods permit that the couetous fathers in gathering with greate trauayle should die with that hurte to leaue their ryches to their vicious children I wepe as muche for my childe that the Gods haue left me as for him that they haue taken from me For the small estimation of him that lyueth maketh immortall memory of him that is dead The ill rest and conuersation of them that liue cause vs to sighe for the company of them that be dead The ill is alway desired for his ilnesse to be dead and the good alwaye meriteth to haue his death bewayled I saye my frende Catullus I thought to haue lost wy wytte when I sawe my sonne Verissimus die but I tooke comforte againe for either he of me or I of him must see the ende considering that the Gods did but lende him to me and gaue him not and howe they be inheritours I to haue the vse of the fruite For all thinges is measured by the iust wyll of the Gods and not by our inordinate wylles and appetites I thinke when they toke away from me my childe I restored him to another and not that they haue taken myne But sithe it is the wyll of the Gods to geue rest to the good childe and hurte the father because he is euill I yelde thankes to theim for the season that they haue suffered me to enioye his life and for the pacience that I haue taken for his death I desire them to mitigate therewith the chasticement of their yre And I desire sith they haue taken away the lyfe from this childe to plante good customes in the prince myne other sonne I knowe what heauinesse thou haste taken in Rome for my sorow I praye the Gods to sende thee ioy of thy children and that I may rewarde thee with some good pleasure for that thou hast wept for my payne My wyfe Faustine saluteth thee and truly thou wouldest haue had compassion to see her for she wepeth with her eies and sigheth with her harte and with her handes hurteth her selfe and curseth with her tongue She eateth nothing on the daye nor sleapeth in the night She loueth darkenes and abhorreth light and thereof I haue no marueyle for it is reason that for that was nourished in her entrayles she should fele sorowe at her hart And the loue of the mother is so strong that though her childe be dead and layed in graue yet alwayes she hath him quicke in her harte It is a general rule that the persone that is entierly beloued causeth euer great griefe at his death And as for me I passe the life right sorowfully though I shew a ioyfull face yet I want mirth at my harte And among wyse men being sorowful and shewing their faces mercy is none other thing but burying the quicke hauing no sepulture And I sweare by the Gods immortall I feele muche more than I haue saide And diuers times me thinke I should fall downe because I dare not wepe with myne eyes yet I fele it inwardly in my harte I would fayne common with thee in diuers thinges Come I praye thee to Briette to the entent that we may speake together And sithe it hath pleased the Gods to take my chylde fro me that I loued so well I would counsayle with thee that arte my louing frende But few dayes passed there came thither an Embassadour fro the Rhodes to whom I gaue the moste parte of my horses and fro the farthest parte of Spayne there were brought me eight of the which I send the foure I would they were such as might please ye. The gods be thy saulfegard send me my wife som coÌ„fort Marcus Aurelius right sorowfull hath written this with his owne hande ¶ A letter sent by Marcus Aurelius Emperour to Catullus Censoâ—ius of the newes which at that time were at Rome Cap. ix MArcus the new Censore to thee Catullus now aged sendeth salutations There are ten daies paste that in the temple of God Ianus I receiued thy letter And I take that same God to witnes that I had rather haue sene thy persone Thou desirest that my letters may be longe but the sshortnes of tyme maketh me to aunswere thee more briefly than I would Thou wyllest me to geue thee knowledge of the newes here Therto I anwere that it were better to demaunde if there were any thing remayning here in Rome or Italy that is olde For nowe by our euill destinies all that is good and olde is ended and newe thinges which be euil nowe begynne The Emperour the Consull the Tribune the Senatours the Ediles the Flamines the Pretours the Centurions all thinges be newe saue the veretues which be old We passe the time in making newe officers in deuisinge newe counsailes in raysing newe subsidies In suche wyse that there hath bene now mo nouelties within these foure yeres theÌ„ in time passed in .400 yeres We now assemble together .300 to couÌ„sel in the capitol and there we bragge and boste sweare and promise that we will exalte the vertuous and subdue the vitious fauour the right and not winke at the wrong punishe the euil and rewarde the good repayre olde and edefie new plucke vices vp by the rootes and to plant vertues to amend the olde and folow the good reproue tyrauntes and assist the poore and when that we are gone from thence they that spake beste wordes are often taken with the worst dedes Oh wicked Rome that now a daies hath such senatours which in sayinge we wil doe we wil doe passe their life and so euery man seking his owne profite forgetteth the weale publyke Oftentimes I am in the senate to behold others as they regard me I maruaile much to heare the eloquence of their wordes the zeale of iustice and the iustification of their persons and after that I come thence I am ashamed to see their secret extortions their damnable thoughtes and their il workes And yet ther is an other thing of more marueile not to be suffered that such persones as are most defamed and vse most wicked vices with their most damnable incencioÌ„s make their auowes to doe moste extreame iustice It is an infallible rule and of humain malice most vsed that he that is most hardy to coÌ„mit greatest crimes is most cruel to
want no perils For in warres renoune is neuer sold but by weight or chaunged with losse of lyfe The yong Fabius son of my aunt the aged Fabia at the .iii. CaleÌ„des of March brought me a letter the whych you sent and truely it was more briefe then I would haue wyshed it For betwene so dere children and so louinge a mother it is not suffered that the absence of your parsonnes shoulde be so farre and the letters whyche you write so briefe By those that goe from hence thyther I alwayes do sende you commendations and of those that come from thence hyther I doe enquire of newes Some saye they haue sene you other tell me they haue spoken with you so that with thys my hart is somwhat quieted For betwene them that loue greatly it may be endured that â—he sight be seldome so that the health be certain I am sole I am a widow I 〈◊〉 aged and now all my kinred is dead I haue endured many trauailes in Rome and the greatest of all is my children of your absence For the paine is greater to be voide of assured frendes theÌ„ assault is daungerous of cruel enemies Since you are yong and not very ryche since you are hardy and brought vp in the trauailes of Afrike I do not doubte but that you doe desire to come to Rome to se and know that now you are men whiche you haue sene when you were children For men doe not loue their countrey so much for that it is good as they do loue it for that it is naturall Beleue me children ther is no maÌ„ liuing that hath sene or hard speake of Rome in times past but hath great griefe sorow and pitie to se it at this present For as their hartes are pitiefull and their eyes tender so they can not behold that without great sorow which in times past they haue sene in great glory O my children you shal know that Rome is greatly chaunged from that it was wont to be To reade that that we do reade of it in times past to se that whyche we se of it now present we must nedes esteme that whiche the auncientes haue writen as a gest or els beleue it but as a dreame Ther is no other thing now at Rome but to see iustice corrupted the commen weale oppressed lyes blowen abroade the truth kept vnder the satires silent the flatterers open mouthed the inflamed personnes to be Lordes and the pacient to be seruauÌ„tes and aboue al and worse then all to se the euil liue in rest contented and the good troubled displeased Forsake forsake my children that citie where the good haue occasioÌ„ to weape the euil haue liberty to laugh I can not tel what to say in this mater as I would say Truly the coÌ„mon weale is at this day such so woful that eche wise man without coÌ„parison wold haue greater pleasure to be in the warres of Affrik then in the peace at Rome For in the good war a man seeth of whom he shold take hede but in the euil peace no maÌ„ knoweth whom to truste Therefore my children since you are naturall of Rome I wil tel you what Rome is at this present I let you know that the vestall virgines are now dissolute the honour of the gods is forgotten the profit of the coÌ„mon weale no maÌ„ seketh of the excercise of chiualry ther is no memory for the orphanes widowes ther is no man that doth aunswere to ministre iustice thei haue no regard the dissolute vices of the youth ar without measure Finally Rome that in times past was a receypt of all the good vertuous is now made a denne of al theues vitious I feare me I feare me least our mother rome in shorte time wil haue some sodein great fal And I say not without a cause some great fall for both men Cities that fall froÌ„ the top of their felicity purchase greater infamy with those that shal com after theÌ„ the glory that they haue had of theÌ„ that be past Peraduenture my childreÌ„ you desire to se the walles buildinges of Rome for those thinges which childreÌ„ se first in their youth the same they loue kepe alwaies in memory vntill their age As the auncient buildinges of rome are destroyed the few that ar now builte so would I you should loose your earnest affection to come to se theÌ„ For in dede the noble hartes are ashamed to se that thing amisse which they caÌ„ not remedye Do not thynke my chyldren thoughe Rome be made worse in maners that therfore it is diminished in buildinges For I let you vnderstand if you know it not that if a wall doth decay there is no man that doth repaire it If a house fall ther is no man that wil rayse it vp again If a strete be foule ther is no man that wil make it cleane If the riuer cary awaye any bridge there is no man that will set it vp again If any antiquitie decaye ther is no man that wil amend it If any wood be cut ther is no man that wil kepe it If the trees waxe old ther is no man that will plant theÌ„ a newe If the pauement of the streates be broken ther is no man that wil ley it again Finally ther is nothing in Rome at this day so euil handled as those thinges whiche by the commoÌ„ voices ar ordered These thinges my childreÌ„ though I do greatly lament as it is reason yet you ought litle to esteme them al but this al only ought to be estemed with droppes of bloud to be lamented That now in Rome when the buildinges in many places fal downe the vices all wholy together are raised vp O wofull mother Rome since that in the the more the walles decay the more the vices increase Peraduenture my childreÌ„ since you are in those frountiers of Affrike you desire to se your parentes here in Rome And therat I meruaile not for the loue which our naturall countreye do gyue the straung countrey can not take awaye All those which come from those parties doe bring vs no other certaine newes but of the multitude of those which dye are slain in Afrik therfore since you send vs such newes froÌ„ thence loke not that we should send you any other then the like from hence For death hath such auctoritie that it killeth the armed in the warres sleyeth the quiet in peace I let you know that Licia your sister is dead Drusio your vnckle is dead Torcquatus your neyghbour is dead His wife our cousin her .iii. doughters are dead Fabius your great frend is dead Euander his childreÌ„ ar dead Bibulus which red for me in the chaire the last yere is also dead Finally ther are so many so good with al that be dead that it is a great shame pitie to se at this present so many euill as do liue Know ye my children that all
these and many others which ye left aliue ful high in rome are now become wormes meat ful low vnder the yearth death also doth summon me vnto the graue If you my childreÌ„ did consider what shal become of you herafter truly you will thinke it better to weape .1000 yeares with the dead then to laugh one houre with those that be aliue Remembryng that I baâ—e ye in great payne and haue nourished you in great trauell that ye came of my proper intrailles I would haue you as children about me for the confort consolation of my paines But in the end beholdyng the prowesses of those that are paste that bindeth their heires I am coÌ„tent to suffer so long absence your persons only to the end you may get honour in chiualrye For I had rather here tell you should liue like knightes in Afrik theÌ„ to se you vtterly lost here in Rome My childreÌ„ as you are in the warres of Afrike so I doubt not but that you desire to se the pleasurs of rome for ther is no man in this world so happy but at his neyghbours prosperity had som enuy enuie not the vitious nether desier to be amoÌ„g vices for truly vices ar of such a coÌ„dition that they bring not with theÌ„ so much plesure wheÌ„ they com as they leaue sorow behind theÌ„ wheÌ„ they depart for that true delight is not in the pleasure which sodeÌ„ly vanisheth but in the truth which euermore remaineth I thank the immortal gods for all these thinges first for that they made me wise not folish for to a woman it is a small mater to be called so fraile that in dede she be not folish The secoÌ„d I thank the gods bicause in al times of my troubles they haue geueÌ„ me pacieÌ„ce to endure theÌ„ for the maÌ„ only in this lif may be called vnhappy to whom the gods in his troubles hath not giueÌ„ pacience The third I thank the gods for that those .lxv. yeares which I haue liued I neuer hytherto was defamed for the woman by no reason can coÌ„plaine of her fortune if in none of her troubles she hath loste her honour The fourthe I thanke the Gods that in this forty yeres I haue lyued in Rome remained widow ther was neuer man nor woman the contended with me for since we women profite litle the commoÌ„ wealth it is but reason that she whych with euill demeanoures hath passed her lyfe shoulde by iustice receaue her death The fift I giue the gods tankes that they gaue me children the whych are better contented to suffer the trauailes of Affrik theÌ„ to inioy the pleasurs of Rome Do not counte me my childreÌ„ for so vnlouing a mother that I wold not haue you alwayes before my eyes but considering that many good meÌ„s children haue bene lost only for being brought vp in the excessiue pleasures of Rome I do content my selfe with your absence For that man that desireth perpetuall renowne thoughe he be not banished he ought to absent him self froÌ„ his natiue countrey My deare children I most earnestly desire you that always you accoÌ„panie your selues with the good with the most auncientes and with those which ar graue most expert in councel and with those that haue most sene the world and do not vnderstand most of the world by those that haue sene most countreis For the rype councel proceadeth not from the man that hath traueiled in many contreis but from him that hath felte him selfe in many daungers Since the nature of the countrey my children dothe knocke with the haÌ„mer at the gate of the hart of man I feare that if you come and se your frendes parentes you shal always lyue in care pensifnes and being pensife you shal always lyue euil coÌ„tented you shal not do that whiche becommeth Romain knights to do And you not beyng valiaunt knightes your enemies shal alwayes reioice ouer you your desires shall neuer take effect for of those men which are careful heauy proceadeth always seruices vnworthy I desire you hartely by this present letter I counsell you that you wil not in any wise seke to come to rome for as I haue saied you shal know few of those that did know you for eyther they are dead or banished poore or sicke aged or coÌ„me to nought sad or euil coÌ„tented so that sithens you are not able to remedy their grefes it is best you should not come hyther to se their troubles For no man coÌ„meth to Rome but to weape with the liuing and to sigh for theÌ„ that be dead Truly my children I know not what pleasure is in Rome that should cause any good man to come hyther and to forsake Affrik for if there you haue enemies here you shall want frendes If you haue the sworde that perceth the body we haue that tong here that destroyeth the renowme If you be vexed with the theues of Affrike we are wounded with the traitours Flatterers and liers of Italy If you lack rest we haue here to much trouble Finallye seyng that that I doe se in Rome and hearynge that which I heare of Affrik I commende your warre and abhorre our peace If you do greatly esteme that which I haue sayd esteme much more that whiche I shall say which is that we alwayes here that you are conquerours of the Africkans you shall here always that we are conquered by vyces Therfore if I am a true mother I had rather se you winne a perpetuall memory amonge straungers theÌ„ to liue with infamy at home in your couÌ„trey Peraduenture with hope that you shal enherit some goodes you wil take occasioÌ„ to come to Rome When this thing shall come to your mindes remember my children that your father being aliue had not much and that vnto your mother being a widow many thinges wanted And remember that your father bequethed you nothing but weapons and know that from me you shall enherite nothing but bookes For I had rather leaue my children good doctrine wherby they may liue them euil riches wherby they may perysh I am not riche nor I neuer trauailed to be rich and the cause was that I saw many mens children vndone only through the hope they had to enherite their pareÌ„tes goods and afterward went a huntinge after vices For they seldome times do any worthy feates which in their youth enherit great treasurs This thing therfore being true as it is in dead I do not say only that I would watche and toile as many do to get riches and treasurs but also if I had treasour before I would gyue them vnto you I would as the philosopher did cast theÌ„ into the fyre For I had rather haue my children pore and vertuous in Affrike theÌ„ riche and vitious in Rome You know very wel my children that there was amongest the Tharentins a law wel obserued that the sonnes shoulde not inherit any other thyng of their fathers but weapons to fight and